It’s my birthday and I cry if I want to…..

Not that there is any need to cry this year. Some people might think this is a really traumatic birthday for me because of my age, but that doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t feel any different than yesterday, last year or ten years ago. Well, maybe I’m a bit wiser then ten years ago. At least, I like to think so….. :)

I think age is just a number, the total of times some planets danced around each other, a state of mind. If you feel old, let yourself go, stop showing interest in technology, people, you will act old and be old. If you stay active, growing and curious, connect with all sorts of people, listen to different styles of music, keep learning, keep up with technology and try new things, you probably never be the same age as you actually are.

So what’s with that title then? Nothing much! It’s just my way of saying that it’s my birthday and I can do what ever I want. I can celebrate my birthday with a big party or just have some friends over. I can spend my birthday with my family or just do something special on my own. This year I celebrate it twice. Saturday I had a nice dinner, yesterday I had brunch with my Mum, brother and sister-in-law. And today I had a great phone call from a friend I hadn’t heard from in months (we are going out to dinner soon) and later I have some friends over. Just perfect! Well that’s this year, who knows what I will do next year :)

Quote ;)
“I was grown up at ten, and first began to grow young at forty.”
-Madge Kendal-

Be back soon!

The next few days will be a bit hectic for me, so I won’t have time to write that much.

But I’ll be back soon! :)

Something to think about

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in most freezers?

What’s the weather like this year?

In June we had a heatwave, and in July, August and the first part of September it looked and felt like autumn. Okay, to be honest it was not all bad, just a lot of it was bad.

And now, since mid September we have this sort of temperatures.

CURRENT CONDITIONS
66°F(19°C)
Partly Cloudy
Rel. Humidity: 74%Wind: ENE at 4 mph (6 km/h)Sunrise: 6:53 AMSunset: 6:06 PMBarometric Pressure: 26.1"Hg (F)

It almost feels like spring (with autumn mist) in the morning . How weird is that!

May I introduce you to …..

Move your mouse and Pip will folow

adopt your own virtual pet!

Yesterday’s news!

I thought I lived in a country where censorship was not an issue, but it seems that these times are changing.

This week, it’s Children’s-book-week. The first Children’s-book-week was organized in 1954 and during this week children are introduced to reading, new books and all sorts of fun and games. Every year there is theme and this year the theme is “The Magic academy, books full of magic”. The Bible & Education Society is against this theme and has taken a position; they say NO, to magic (and fairytales). According to this society, children are overexposed to the dark side, wizards, witches and occult matters. When you let Harry Potter in schools, you let in the devil. (Huh?) Another point they make is: Children may think that magic and wizardry is harmless but it is very life threatening.

So according to this society it’s harmful to read Harry Potter. Why? Kids might experiment with the spells and then……? Nothing happens! Wow, how shocking!

I think children should be able to read all sorts of children books. It’s good for their imagination, development and reading skills. All my life I’ve been reading all the books I could lay my hands on and I turned out alright, didn’t I? Okay, maybe not according to some peoples standards, but hey, that’s their opinion :)

Words of wisdom.....

To dye, or not to dye..... That’s the question.

Every year, when the leaves change color, the same question pops in my head: To dye, or not to dye? I’m talking about my hair, of course. During the spring and summer I’m love my natural hair color. In the spring it's light brown and in summer it changes color to a sort of honey blond. As soon as the summer comes to an end and my hair is cut, I don’t like what I see in the mirror. Simple solution; don’t look in the mirror!! That doesn’t really work. For some things you just need a mirror. So, the same old question comes up again.

And the answer this year, after serious consideration, is YES! I dyed it a warm chocolate brown this time, at least that’s the color name on the package. However, I have never seen a chocolate this color :) I should have known better by now. Every time I dye my hair it turns out a different shade then the package says. My own hair has an auburn undertone and that’s why everything comes out with a bit of red to it. So now I’m warm chocolate brown with a reddish tone. Strange collor for a chocolate, don't you think? But not to worry, I love it! It takes a bit of getting use to, but I’m happy!

The Manual IV

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Without Photoshop!

In 1999 I bought a calendar with Photographs by Jerry Uelsmann and some of these photo’s are still, now framed, on my wall. I’m amazed by the things this guys did (and does) without Photoshop.

Jerry Uelsmann has been exploring the boundaries of the photographic medium for over 25 years. He has experimented with complex multiple prints, negative imagery, and other techniques. Uelsmann does not use any digital processes. He creates each print in the darkroom using three to eight enlargers. He uses all sort of elements including nudes, floating trees, clouds, reflections in bodies of water and details of plants.

If you want to know more, visit the official site.

Popstrology, What’s my sign.

It seems I was born in the second Beatles year. The Who? No, not the Who, The Beatles!! Oh and?……..nothing!. This is what popstrology has to say:

The Rolling Stones, Wayne Fontana, Petula Clark and the Dave Clark Five probably didn't bother the Beatles much as they rode the Fab Four's coattails to popstrological stardom. But Freddie and the Dreamers? Teenage Herman and his deeply unserious Hermits? No, these were too much for the Beatles to bear, and so they set about distancing themselves from the invasion they had spearheaded, reinventing themselves and reinventing pop music in the process. Will the children of this year all reach a point in their professional lives when they begin to loathe the crowd that surrounds them, and even to loathe themselves for being surrounded? Of course they will, everybody does. What sets the children of the second Beatles generation apart, popstrologically speaking, is their ability to take that loathing and channel it into some rather positive reinvention.

My Birthstar Birthsong is: The Beatles - Yesterday. Huh, those guys again hey! I can only say: Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away….. ;)

Do you want to know your sign, click here

The Art of living!

This weekend, I’ve read an article about the Art of Living! It all started with the heading: ‘The Art of Living is best copied from family and friends’. Huh? So according to this, there seems to be no need for all those self-help/Art of Living books and the Dr. Phil’s of the world.

The article states that life itself is life threatening. ‘A plant can fall from a balcony; a passer-by can have a screw loose and can turn violent or you get an illness that you didn’t invite. All these diverse dangers can really mess up the image of a long and happy life. How will you know if you can still eat that yoghurt that’s two days past the sell-by-date or how dangerous a trip to the tropics will be? Choices, choices, choises! Living is all about making choices and if you make the wrong choice too often, you won’t get old.'

But help is close at hand (according to the article). 'Just look around you. Of course it is fantastic that you can get advice from a supernanny on television, read all about ways to improve your sexlife in a glossy magazine, but you can learn just as much from your family, relatives, friends and acquaintances. When you see a hard working career junkie regretting that he never spent time with his kids, maybe you can think of a way to have the best of both worlds. If a friend lives in a trailer because his businessplan did not work out the way it should have, you learn that you have to come up with a better plan and make the necessary preparations. Just look around you, see all the pitfalls others have to deal with and learn. The Art of Living can be copied!’

I think the article is partly right. You can learn a lot from the people around you. But do people really tell all about their smashed hopes and dreams, failures and problems or do they just paint you a pretty picture? I think it’s often the latter. So I think I will do both (the best of both worlds) keep an eye on my surroundings and keep on reading about the Art of Living every now and then. Isn’t life all about learning too?

The Manual III

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World Animal Day

October, 4th that’s today and believe it or not I really feel like 3 animals right about now.

According to the zodiac years I’m a snake, according to the Cute Animal Test I’m a frog and this morning I discovered I’m a bit of a parrot too. When I resumed my English course today it started with pronunciations. Over one and half hours I had to repeat this stuck-up English guy. Then I just had to quit. I don’t want to grow colorful feathers and fall in love with peanuts or sunflower seeds :)

Look what I found?!?!

Is it wrong to fall in love…

with two guys at the same time? I think it isn’t! Oh, what a revelation. In Dutch, they would say: FOEI! In English that would be something like: Shame on you! Hmm.. if someone falls in love with two guys is that person then a sort of bigamist or an adulteress or just plane and simple, a slut? Questions, question, questions. So I guess, it’s time for some answers. I think I’m none of the above, because I didn’t actually fall in love with two guys, but with their CD’s :). Bummer hey! Here you are, hoping for a juicy revelation and all it turns out to be is just another boring CD review (or two actually). Well, if you are interested in music stay, if not, just GO! Push the Next Blog button.

So you are still here… welcome, I hope you enjoy your stay :)
At first I fell in love with Jack Johnson’s CD: In Between Dreams. I never heard of the guy until his first song ‘Sitting, Waiting, Wishing’ hit the charts over here. Shortly after that, ‘Good people’ was released and I liked that one too. Time to check out the album and it was love at first sight. Or should that in this case be: Love on first hear? The first track on the album ‘Better Together’ sets the mood. It begins with an instrumental introduction followed by his very sensitive voice. I especially like the first lines: ‘There's no combination of words, I could put on the back of a postcard. No song that I could sing, But I can try for your heart’. The song `Never Know' has great harmonizing vocals. `Banana Pancakes' is a real getaway. The sound of rain, some bird and the opening lines: ‘Well can’t you see that its just raining, aint no need to go outside...’ got me hooked the first time I heard it. It’s a great Sunday morning song. It's written about escaping the rest of the world and pretending like it's the weekend all the time. The song `No other way' is one that anyone in a relationship can relate to. Sometimes being together is the only way to survive and there aren’t always answers. The songs ‘Good People’, ‘Staple it Together’, and ‘Sitting, Waiting, Wishing’ all have a catchy tempo. ‘Situations’ and ‘Belle’ are short, but efficient. ‘If I Could’ and ‘Crying Shame’ really have a tropical island feel to them. His songs: ‘Breakdown’ and ‘Constellations’ really displays his laidback lifestyle. ‘Do you remember’ is a bit of reminiscing with just a guitar in the background. It’s a bit like a daydream and fits the album perfectly because it's very relaxing; listening to this album it’s almost as if you're in a dream or In Between Dreams.

The second CD I fell in love with is Catching Tales by Jamie Cullum. The first time I heard and saw Jamie Cullum, he was playing at the North Sea Jazz festival. And I was hooked. The way this little guy played, his sensitive voice, I had only one word for that: SUPERB!. I bought Twentysomething almost immediately and all I could think was ‘Wow, this guy is amazing!’. I loved the way he transformed the old songs, created his own and let's not forget Frontin’ originally by Pharrell Williams (The Neptunes). But that is all old news, back to this new album. The first time I heard it, I didn’t know what to make of it. This was different, so I immediately listened to it again. And then it hit me: different but great…. Again! Different is not bad in this case; I think it only shows development. The tracks mentioned here are just a few of the tracks on the album.‘Get Your Way’ is a killer opening track and basically the album just gets better and better as it goes on. ‘London Skies’ is a bit chilling, just as London skies can be. ‘Photograph’ is one of my favorites. I love the piano in this song…. goosebumps from the beginning.‘Only have eyes for you’ a real classic, resuscitated to become a hit in this century. ‘Nothing I do’ one of Cullum's own songs, is just fun. I noticed that this time round more songs are by him and they are instant favorites. I just love this album. Why? It’s a mix of beats, ballads, piano and jazz, it’s basically everything you want to hear. Just listen!

The Manual II

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And again… a waste of my time.

I've been looking for a nice job for quite some time now and today there was a job-market at my local job-center. At first I didn’t want to go, because I’ve been before and I left with no job offers, only tons of frustrations. But this time all would be different. They advertised it as the new and improved job-market: With lots of jobs on offer, small businesses with vacancies, information and temp-agencies. Yeah, right I thought, I’ve worked in advertising, I know how that works. But hey you can’t comment on something if you haven’t seen it with your own eyes, so I hopped on my bike this morning and went to discover the new and improved job-market. It was a bit chilly, but the sun was shining, I could already smell the autumn in the air and I was in a great mood.

When I got at the job-center I saw a lot of people exiting the building and they were all smiling and chatting. Hmmz, could that be a good sign? I couldn’t wait to enter, so through the doors I went, optimistic and hopeful. Upon entering the center, I was handed a questionnaire, a pen and a scribbling-pad. Oh, I could hardly contain myself…..this was going to be fun. At least that’s what I thought at that moment. One minute later, all fun had left the building. Where were all the promised jobs on offer? Where were all the small businesses with vacancies? Was I in the wrong building?? I almost went out to check :) But instead I asked another jobseeker: This is the new and improved job-market, right? And the answer was: Yes!!Hmm… rather the same old, boring and not very helpful job-market AGAIN!

I stayed about 5 minutes. All I could get was information about welfare/ unemployment benefits, logistics-jobs and army-jobs. So again, it was a waste of my time. And not only a waste of my time,
upon exiting the building I chatted with some girls and one of them said: This job-market is a bit like alcohol; it promises you a good time and all you get is a headache. We all smiled! And as I walked, still smiling, to my bike I saw the expression on other peoples faces change from doubtful to hopeful. Hmmz, there was something familiar about that………

Attitude is everything!
Happy Belated Birthday :Phil: !

Thanks for visiting my blog and your nice comments :)

Clouds!

What's fluffy, white, and floats up high,
Like piles of ice cream in the sky?