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# stormy weather    02'02'26 13:52

had my lunchbreak walk in the windforce 12 out there.
this wind sweeps us, people, of our feet. people walking with a forward slant, literally holding on to their hats - what a nice oldfashioned gesture. wonder if there exists a museum for forgotten body language? police line, do not cross: streets closed off, tiles being blown of the roofs. lots of sirens going on, but they nearly drown in the noise of the storm that's on top of everything. it's eerie.
& you know, as long as i don't fall down and break my leg or get hit by a flying tile, i love this weather. Clouds racing through the clear blue sky. a sense of nature's powers, humbling us city folk.

# ingrid betancourt kidnapped in columbia    02'02'25 17:20    link

a few months ago, i read a long interview with ingrid betancourt, which left me very impressed. she left a safe life in france to return to her native country columbia, knowing that she could do more there than far away, but also that it would be so dangerous that her husband and children had to stay in europe, pretty much in hiding, not to mention that she needs fulltime bodyguards herself. her message against corruption, as expressed in books, interviews with (mostly foreign, ie. non-columbian papers) is simply too dangerous. a woman of incredible courage, intelligence, wit and heart.
she talked about the real danger not being the extreme forces on left and right, but the complaceny with the people who should know better - especially the press. she didn't come across as an extremist to me, rather the opposite - reasonable, just outspoken in a country where not many dare to speak out.
rebel forces kidnapped her yesterday - so far, the news coverage has been rather tepid. as if's was just another columbian politician. she isn't. it's as if the global media just follow what the columbian media report, with lukewarm articles as a result. They should be on fire! Especially the BBC!
i hope she makes it through - for her, and for the sake of honesty in a country that needs it badly.
here's a small article from the same paper that last year ran the full-page interview - with a photo that captures the essence of her choice (it's much more impressive than the small thumb on the right). very touching (article's in dutch).

#    02'02'25 11:31

don't do this... initiate new shoes with a full night out, dancing, walking, standing, spending the night somewhere else so next morning having to put them on again, blisters and all, then, being the true gent that i am, walking a lady all the way to her office through a remote office park - yes, on a sunday morning, what a work ethic. hers, not mine, i'll admit.
... ouch, my feet hurt. great weekend though!

# thankful, or: ah well.    02'02'22 00:09

since the summer, i've been staying at friends' places off and on, and after a break, i'm back to that lifestyle again.
No cat, this time. Not in the house, at least: i've got a real cat-lady nextdoor who feeds at least ten of them. not as crazy as some, just a little mad.
But that's all sidelines. i moved in with my backpack on a sunday afternoon, went out for a walk, then did the necessary shopping - by now, i know that i need thai curry paste, coconut milk and koriander stocked in the cupboard to at home (and bran flakes, soy milk and vitaday juice. and chocolate). so, settled in, i went for the tv.
to find out that it doesn't work. Damnit.
but... hey, that's not so bad after all. very quickly my feelings went from irritation, to emberassment that i found it out only hours after moving in, to a very light-hearted acceptance: ah well.
(which was nice. but i digress)

then, a week later, as i came in one evening, i flicked the light switch and nothing happened. no light in the hall. no light in the livingroom. no radio. no telephone - the only handset was a cordless one that needs juice, the phone plug is ten meters from the nearest outlet that's still live. and no extension cord in the house.
i assessed the situation. The heating still works, that's good. The kitchen has power, so the fridge won't thaw. good. Light's still on in the bathroom and the bedroom... hell, this could've been much worse. Ah well! more light-hearted acceptance.
as for the short-circuit, after double-checking and unplugging all bulbs and appliances it turned out to be a professional's job. And the first time that i could take time off and an appointment could be made was friday. Ah well. yet again.
(the electrician, who was supposed to come in the 'morning slot' - between eight and twelve, no further details could be given - in the end turned up at two in the afternoon. but i digress)

you know, i think i've learned something today. well, these weeks. i'm surprised how easy it has turned out to live without my tv and radio fix (not to mention having to dial in for internet, which takes the fun out of usenet and metafilter as well). i've been out with my camera. i've been out. i've read books. and i've even come to a quiet state of nothing, a few times. there's even a bag of crisps that i bought that first day, still unopened weeks later. and i feel thankful. i have no other word. and quiet and energetic at the same time.

... had dinner with an old friend tonight which was great. band rehearsal yesterday (band, band... yes, that band!) - and who said a band is only about music? it's about friendship, about fun, about hanging out, and about the art of fine cooking: Wil made us another one of his famous mails again, the table was stocked full with south indian dishes, amongst which a really lovely raita. Hey, if that's not a reason to book us, what is? c'mon, we need gigs!
... and a movie-date with interesting tension bubbling up the day before that. life is not dull at the moment. and there we have the weblog-paradox: the more interesting life gets, the more there is to write about, and less time. and vice versa (i loved the teenyblog generator from waferbaby, posted to metafilter a few days ago, which would make a nice related link here. haven't got the url at hand, writing this offline, probably waferbaby.com. nah. not important enough.)
The movie, btw, was Amelie and it had me almost rolling out of my seat with laughter several times. and touched, as well. A nice fairytalish story. So french. So Paris. A certain Paris, one of the many that exist, one that i brushed past this summer.
it's past midnight, so good night!

# please stand by    02'02'19 17:07    link

(grin... via ntk )

#    02'02'18 13:42    link

in typical web-serendipity, looking for the composer of a song brought me to a site with the wonderful-horrendous name of 'superseventies.com'. understand, i'm an eighties person. don't like the seventies (at least, not until they became kind of pre-eighties-eighties - sex pistols, early new wave and the like) but most of the band's material comes from that era: the other members keep coming with stuff that makes me feel so young. "Gee, what's this? I've never heard this in my life." to which Simone answers, "my god that you don't know that. it was number one for the whole summer."
so browsing this seventies-site, it's uncanny how many songs are on there that i either didn't know before a bandmember played it to me - or songs that i do know and would *never* *ever* want to play! (tie a yellow ribbon, to name the worst).

# like bad news 'bout a long lost friend    02'02'12 23:07

mail from a friend today, who is in Pune right now, in the ashram that i spent three months in a couple of years ago.
she's early thirties, just one year older than me, but she's been 'in' for ten years. while i was a student, full of naive pretensions and genuine enthousiasm about politics and art, she plunged into commune life. at least five times she spent an entire half year there. she *knows* the place. then i got this mail today.
it read like poetry: straight from the heart. no punctuation, no capitals - powerful and distressing.

"there are rules for everything," she wrote. "for work. for jumping in. for the music in the buddha hall.
"rules, rules, rules.
"it's not allowed to sing songs with Osho's name in it. Or even the word Master. And it seems like all his photographs are gone.
"i never knew i would say this, but i'm spending a lot of time outside... and i think this might be the last time.
"well, everything must pass, i guess."


and i'm thinking, i was afraid of this. i've been thinking of that ashram, sometimes wondering how it would be to go there again. but i knew it was turning into a church already when i was there. dogma's set in stone, new editions of books with key parts omitted or rewritten.
Osho left his body twelve years ago now. that is a long time ago. and i believe that he is around, his presence, like one of the many faces of god, to help us all. but the sannyasin organisation is run by people, and even when he was still around, it derailed spectacularly in oregon in 1985.
to keep a movement pure, you need people who are intensely honest, maybe not enlightened, but of Mandela statue at least, at the helm.
Here i am writing this, trying to bring to words what i feel, and instead i go into analysis and damnit, what can i say. nothing. but i know, love and respect the friend who wrote me today, and i'm deeply touched, as i was cherishing a memory as if it would be possible to go back someday. and it has shattered. and i cry for a place of silence and meditation which brought light in this world, that seems to have fallen to the dark.
yes, everything must pass, but it can be sad to see it go.

# new photos    02'02'09 22:21    link

added a small series of six to the b/w photos section: hoofddorp. I took them in november, printed them in december, scanned them in january, and now they've finally made it to the web.

# time off    02'02'08 17:55

living without broadband, and bruised by real life. lots of ideas and snippets in my head though, so maybe this weekend might see some action.

# that was the day that was    02'02'03 11:25

The wedding day was quite splendid: great weather, and hardly anybody in town! Nice to stroll around, glancing at the totally overdone security forces. The protest was quite nice, too, though the alternative media coverage was spotty to say the least. But the biggest protest was the protest of, to use that word, the masses. They voted with their feet. Turns out only 70.000 people came - optimistic estimate from the government, since there were hardly enough people to stand more than a single row thick along the carriage's course.