English
Nederlands
2005-08-31
Efteling
Last week our dear friend W. was suddenly on our doorstep. He wanted to make an appointment to take us to the Efteling amusement park. We decided today would be the day...
The first attraction we visited was the "Panda Dream". I had never seen that, because I thought it wasn't interesting. Well, that was a mistake. This is really beautiful and quite exiting as well. It is a three-dimensional movie theatre where the animals get so close to you that you feel inclined to touch them. Or, you fear that they are going to touch you. For some of the children this was too heavy and they started to cry...
Several special effects are used as well, to make the sensation even more true to life, but I won't tell you about those, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. Just go and have a look yourself!
After that we went to the theatre for the 'fairy tale show'. I didn't feel like going there. I didn't want to have sit in a chair for an hour and watch something childish, but W. and Julia really wanted to go there. So... OK, let's do it!
Just like I feared it was a musical we got to see. I don't like musicals at all, but I have to admit that this one was very professional. The theme was Andersen's fairy tales and the first tale that was told was... There we have it again: "The Ugly Duckling"! As you know this story touches me and I was in tears again...
"Villa Volta" was also new to me. Villa Volta is a bewitched house, that will really turn you upside-down. Of course your senses are fooled in here, because things happen that are not possible, but the illusion is very strong. If you don't understand how it works, have a close look at the threshold when you leave the magic room. Maybe that will solve the mystery for you...
It was time for me to conquer yet another fear. There is a large swing in the Efteling that is shaped like a ship. I have never dared to enter that. But when we had done all the roller coasters and the wild water track, I could no longer escape the dreaded question "Would you like to have a ride in the ship-swing?" "nooooo" I said in a scared tone, but meanwhile I was heavily nodding my head. Yes I do!
With lead-filled shoes, but also with butterflies in my stomach, I followed W. to the swing. There was no queue, we didn't have to wait, so before I knew it, I was seated in the swing in a seat at the far end of the ship. According to W. that is the most scary place to sit...
And then there was no escape. The swing is driven by an electric motor and on every swing it goes a bit higher. I was terribly scared. At the high end of the swing you are completely weightless and I was scared I would fall out. I held on to the bar were tightly, but I fell anyway, just like the designer of this swing intended, back into my seat...
I was glad when the trip was over and we were allowed to get out. Because it wasn't busy, we could have gone for another round, but that wasn't necessary for me. I was in a trance already...
We still had time for a ride in the "Dream Flight" before it was time to leave the part. On the way out I visited the bathroom, but when I came out of there it turned out there had been a change of plans. "We are going to see another performance", said Julia: "And we are going to have dinner here in the park." Er... What? What are we going to do? I still hadn't completely returned to planet Earth yet and I understood only half of what she told me.
It turned out we were going to have dinner in the theatre restaurant, while the "King and Queen of Hearts" were doing a performance. Err... Alice in Wonderland?? No, except for their names there was not a trace of Lewis Carroll to be found in the show. They were doing popular Dutch songs with a 'cultural value' comparable to "Tulips from Amsterdam". But they did manage to create a nice atmosphere and they made children participate in a playful way. One of the songs had been censored because it contains the words "horny" and "ass", which are apparently not acceptable when children are present. This became a little complicated when the hearty royal couple tried to tell the story of "The Table, the Donkey and the Stick"...
Everybody in the restaurant got personal attention. The King of Hearts visited our table for a little chat. He said we looked a bit like a jury, the three of us sitting side by side behind a table. I think he was right, it did look that way! Well the jury has come to a positive verdict: these are professional entertainers. It is a pity we don't know their names...
The first attraction we visited was the "Panda Dream". I had never seen that, because I thought it wasn't interesting. Well, that was a mistake. This is really beautiful and quite exiting as well. It is a three-dimensional movie theatre where the animals get so close to you that you feel inclined to touch them. Or, you fear that they are going to touch you. For some of the children this was too heavy and they started to cry...
Several special effects are used as well, to make the sensation even more true to life, but I won't tell you about those, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. Just go and have a look yourself!
After that we went to the theatre for the 'fairy tale show'. I didn't feel like going there. I didn't want to have sit in a chair for an hour and watch something childish, but W. and Julia really wanted to go there. So... OK, let's do it!
Just like I feared it was a musical we got to see. I don't like musicals at all, but I have to admit that this one was very professional. The theme was Andersen's fairy tales and the first tale that was told was... There we have it again: "The Ugly Duckling"! As you know this story touches me and I was in tears again...
"Villa Volta" was also new to me. Villa Volta is a bewitched house, that will really turn you upside-down. Of course your senses are fooled in here, because things happen that are not possible, but the illusion is very strong. If you don't understand how it works, have a close look at the threshold when you leave the magic room. Maybe that will solve the mystery for you...
It was time for me to conquer yet another fear. There is a large swing in the Efteling that is shaped like a ship. I have never dared to enter that. But when we had done all the roller coasters and the wild water track, I could no longer escape the dreaded question "Would you like to have a ride in the ship-swing?" "nooooo" I said in a scared tone, but meanwhile I was heavily nodding my head. Yes I do!
With lead-filled shoes, but also with butterflies in my stomach, I followed W. to the swing. There was no queue, we didn't have to wait, so before I knew it, I was seated in the swing in a seat at the far end of the ship. According to W. that is the most scary place to sit...
And then there was no escape. The swing is driven by an electric motor and on every swing it goes a bit higher. I was terribly scared. At the high end of the swing you are completely weightless and I was scared I would fall out. I held on to the bar were tightly, but I fell anyway, just like the designer of this swing intended, back into my seat...
I was glad when the trip was over and we were allowed to get out. Because it wasn't busy, we could have gone for another round, but that wasn't necessary for me. I was in a trance already...
We still had time for a ride in the "Dream Flight" before it was time to leave the part. On the way out I visited the bathroom, but when I came out of there it turned out there had been a change of plans. "We are going to see another performance", said Julia: "And we are going to have dinner here in the park." Er... What? What are we going to do? I still hadn't completely returned to planet Earth yet and I understood only half of what she told me.
It turned out we were going to have dinner in the theatre restaurant, while the "King and Queen of Hearts" were doing a performance. Err... Alice in Wonderland?? No, except for their names there was not a trace of Lewis Carroll to be found in the show. They were doing popular Dutch songs with a 'cultural value' comparable to "Tulips from Amsterdam". But they did manage to create a nice atmosphere and they made children participate in a playful way. One of the songs had been censored because it contains the words "horny" and "ass", which are apparently not acceptable when children are present. This became a little complicated when the hearty royal couple tried to tell the story of "The Table, the Donkey and the Stick"...
Everybody in the restaurant got personal attention. The King of Hearts visited our table for a little chat. He said we looked a bit like a jury, the three of us sitting side by side behind a table. I think he was right, it did look that way! Well the jury has come to a positive verdict: these are professional entertainers. It is a pity we don't know their names...
2005-08-26
MOBILedit!
I bought a new mobile phone at the Lidl supermarket: The Motorola V220. Unfortunately it turned out that the digital camera in this set was of little use to me: There was no way to transfer the pictures to my PC!
The phone does have a USB-connector, but no cable was provided for that. Such a cable can be bought, but you'll also need the right software. According to the documentation "Mobile Phonetools 2.0" is needed. This includes the software and the cable. However, it is not for sale in the phone shops. They only have "Mobile Phonetools 3.0", but they cannot guarantee that this works with the V220. And they also won't take it back if it turns out that it does not work. The price is 60 Euro. Quite an amount to spend if you cannot be sure it will work. So I decided against that.
It was not too difficult to find a suitable cable. I bought one for 20 Euros in a local electronics shop. But I still needed the software. I tried to find it on the World Wide Web and on Usenet, but failed...
But now I have the solution: MOBILedit! is a universal program for reading and editing the data of almost any mobile phone, including the Motorola V220.
So now I can finally make a snapshot and put it in my weblog on the same day.
By the way: The camera in the V220 doesn't allow you to make high-quality pictures, don't expect anything better than a simple snapshot. For more advanced photos I still need to use my 'old fashioned' analog camera.
MOBILedit! is not freeware. You can download it for free and test whether it is compatible with your phone without risk. But after a trial period you'll have to buy an activation code on the Internet to make it work again. The price is 19 Euros. If you pay with your credit card, the code is emailed to you and you can use it again within five minutes.
The phone does have a USB-connector, but no cable was provided for that. Such a cable can be bought, but you'll also need the right software. According to the documentation "Mobile Phonetools 2.0" is needed. This includes the software and the cable. However, it is not for sale in the phone shops. They only have "Mobile Phonetools 3.0", but they cannot guarantee that this works with the V220. And they also won't take it back if it turns out that it does not work. The price is 60 Euro. Quite an amount to spend if you cannot be sure it will work. So I decided against that.
It was not too difficult to find a suitable cable. I bought one for 20 Euros in a local electronics shop. But I still needed the software. I tried to find it on the World Wide Web and on Usenet, but failed...
But now I have the solution: MOBILedit! is a universal program for reading and editing the data of almost any mobile phone, including the Motorola V220.
So now I can finally make a snapshot and put it in my weblog on the same day.
By the way: The camera in the V220 doesn't allow you to make high-quality pictures, don't expect anything better than a simple snapshot. For more advanced photos I still need to use my 'old fashioned' analog camera.
MOBILedit! is not freeware. You can download it for free and test whether it is compatible with your phone without risk. But after a trial period you'll have to buy an activation code on the Internet to make it work again. The price is 19 Euros. If you pay with your credit card, the code is emailed to you and you can use it again within five minutes.
2005-08-21
Twentieth Column
Tonight my twentieth column was broadcast in Gendertalk #524.
You can find the complete program in the Gendertalk archive.
Or you can find just my column at:
http://eveliensnel.nl/audio/PRIDE11.mp3
A full transcript of the text is below:
Gay-Pride
The summer is the time for gay parades. I had never been to any gay-pride event, so it was time for a change in this! Two weeks ago, Julia and I happened to be in Amsterdam for a weekend just when the annual gay parade was planned.
The Amsterdam gay parade consists of a lot of boats that go all the way along the Prinsengracht around the ancient center of the city. Most of the boats have been decorated and the people on the boats have all dressed themselves for the occasion. Some groups start the preparations for this months before the event and they get very beautiful results.
Of course the main color used on most of the boats is pink. And on board we saw a lot of guys dressed as girls and also some girls dressed as boys.
Some boats were decorated in very special ways. One of them had an inflatable love-doll on it that stood 25 feet high. And they had to deflate it time and time again because she needed to pass under the bridges! There are at least ten bridges along the route of the parade and every time this poor inflatable girl had to arch her back as if she was doing a giant's limbo-dance.
There were also boats that were about supporting an organization or getting across a point of view, like the Amnesty International boat: "Gay rights are human rights" and the AIDS fund boat.
In this category there was also a boat on which everybody was holding up a sign with a text starting "I want to kiss again..." How about "I want to kiss again in Iran"
The boat from Shell company was very remarkable. It had a great banner saying: "Shell colleagues celebrate Diversity & Inclusiveness" It turns out that Shell organizes get-togethers for gays and transsexuals within the company! That sounds like a fine example of acceptance on the job!
On the last boat we saw Boy George. I don't know whether it was really him or just a very good imitation and that doesn't really matter. I like his looks because he is not a transvestite, but still he is about as feminine as a boy can get...
It took several hours for all the boats to pass and in the end I began to feel quite cold. I don't envy those guys who have to stand half naked on one of those boats. And for them it was not over yet, because they had to sail the full length of the Prinsengracht, all the way to the Amstel where they would all get together.
Such a parade is fun to watch, but I do have some objections to it.
On the boats we saw lots of "Bearded Beauties". It is easy to understand why this is the case. These people want the world to see they are gay, but that doesn't show! So that's why you see a lot of transvestism on these boats.
To the general public this can be confusing. It may strengthen the prejudice amongst the public that all transvestites are gay. It may even give the impression that most gay people are transvestites. And that is not the case!
But on the other hand it is just a nice party and we wouldn't want to spoil that. I enjoyed it very much and so did the hundred thousand people who came to watch it, not to mention the millions of people who have seen it on TV!
You can find the complete program in the Gendertalk archive.
Or you can find just my column at:
http://eveliensnel.nl/audio/PRIDE11.mp3
A full transcript of the text is below:
The summer is the time for gay parades. I had never been to any gay-pride event, so it was time for a change in this! Two weeks ago, Julia and I happened to be in Amsterdam for a weekend just when the annual gay parade was planned.
The Amsterdam gay parade consists of a lot of boats that go all the way along the Prinsengracht around the ancient center of the city. Most of the boats have been decorated and the people on the boats have all dressed themselves for the occasion. Some groups start the preparations for this months before the event and they get very beautiful results.
Of course the main color used on most of the boats is pink. And on board we saw a lot of guys dressed as girls and also some girls dressed as boys.
Some boats were decorated in very special ways. One of them had an inflatable love-doll on it that stood 25 feet high. And they had to deflate it time and time again because she needed to pass under the bridges! There are at least ten bridges along the route of the parade and every time this poor inflatable girl had to arch her back as if she was doing a giant's limbo-dance.
There were also boats that were about supporting an organization or getting across a point of view, like the Amnesty International boat: "Gay rights are human rights" and the AIDS fund boat.
In this category there was also a boat on which everybody was holding up a sign with a text starting "I want to kiss again..." How about "I want to kiss again in Iran"
The boat from Shell company was very remarkable. It had a great banner saying: "Shell colleagues celebrate Diversity & Inclusiveness" It turns out that Shell organizes get-togethers for gays and transsexuals within the company! That sounds like a fine example of acceptance on the job!
On the last boat we saw Boy George. I don't know whether it was really him or just a very good imitation and that doesn't really matter. I like his looks because he is not a transvestite, but still he is about as feminine as a boy can get...
It took several hours for all the boats to pass and in the end I began to feel quite cold. I don't envy those guys who have to stand half naked on one of those boats. And for them it was not over yet, because they had to sail the full length of the Prinsengracht, all the way to the Amstel where they would all get together.
Such a parade is fun to watch, but I do have some objections to it.
On the boats we saw lots of "Bearded Beauties". It is easy to understand why this is the case. These people want the world to see they are gay, but that doesn't show! So that's why you see a lot of transvestism on these boats.
To the general public this can be confusing. It may strengthen the prejudice amongst the public that all transvestites are gay. It may even give the impression that most gay people are transvestites. And that is not the case!
But on the other hand it is just a nice party and we wouldn't want to spoil that. I enjoyed it very much and so did the hundred thousand people who came to watch it, not to mention the millions of people who have seen it on TV!
2005-08-07
Nineteenth Column
While we were in a pub in Amsterdam, Gendertalk #522 was broadcast, featuring my nineteenth column.
You can find the complete program in the Gendertalk archive.
Or you can find just my column at:
http://eveliensnel.nl/audio/HOW11.mp3
A full transcript of the text is below:
How will I know?
When you listen to Gendertalk you hear so many people who claim they are transsexual. And maybe you have wondered how they can be so sure of that. How do they know? It is not a virus, there is no injury. There is really no objective way to determine whether someone is a transsexual. It is something they feel inside. They have a male body, but they say they feel they are women. Isn't that silly? What does it mean to feel you are a woman? How can you tell?
Those are very good questions. And believe me, I have struggled with those questions for years. And I went looking for information -- on the Internet of course. I found many diaries and stories written by transsexuals. They knew what was the matter with them. But I was looking for scientific material, Hard evidence, a litmus test, I needed to be sure.
And I did find material that was labeled 'scientific'. I found "The transsexual phenomenon", by Harry Benjamin, I found "The Man who would be Queen", by J. Michael Bailey.
Yes, Bailey's book! At the time I didn't know his book made many transsexual people very angry. I just thought I had found a reliable source of information.
In this book he presents the results of a research he claims to have done about transsexual people. In his view there are two types of transsexuals: Type one, which he calls the 'homosexual type' and type two, which he calls the 'autogynephilic type'.
He goes on to describe type one as misdirected gay men who want to transition because they think their attraction to men would be more acceptable and their chances of finding a man would increase if they were women. He also says these are the 'early onset' transsexuals, i.e. those who transition at a young age.
Type two is described as the group of misdirected heterosexual men, who sort of invert their attraction to women onto themselves, so that they can become the object of their own lust. He also calls this group the 'late onset' transsexuals, i.e. those who transition at an older age.
This book got me very confused. First of all, Bailey calls both types of transsexuals 'misdirected' in one way or another. Secondly I didn't fit into either of his categories, so the logical conclusion seemed to be that I was not a transsexual. Based on the book, one could even say that nobody is a transsexual. They are all just 'misdirected' people.
But the truth of the matter is that you only need to listen to your heart. You will know! I knew it! I was just looking for excuses for not admitting to this strong feeling. But that didn't work. The book didn't give me such an excuse. I felt the book just wasn't about me. Maybe I was a new kind of transsexual? The thought that Mr. Bailey could be all wrong didn't occur to me at the time...
You can find the complete program in the Gendertalk archive.
Or you can find just my column at:
http://eveliensnel.nl/audio/HOW11.mp3
A full transcript of the text is below:
When you listen to Gendertalk you hear so many people who claim they are transsexual. And maybe you have wondered how they can be so sure of that. How do they know? It is not a virus, there is no injury. There is really no objective way to determine whether someone is a transsexual. It is something they feel inside. They have a male body, but they say they feel they are women. Isn't that silly? What does it mean to feel you are a woman? How can you tell?
Those are very good questions. And believe me, I have struggled with those questions for years. And I went looking for information -- on the Internet of course. I found many diaries and stories written by transsexuals. They knew what was the matter with them. But I was looking for scientific material, Hard evidence, a litmus test, I needed to be sure.
And I did find material that was labeled 'scientific'. I found "The transsexual phenomenon", by Harry Benjamin, I found "The Man who would be Queen", by J. Michael Bailey.
Yes, Bailey's book! At the time I didn't know his book made many transsexual people very angry. I just thought I had found a reliable source of information.
In this book he presents the results of a research he claims to have done about transsexual people. In his view there are two types of transsexuals: Type one, which he calls the 'homosexual type' and type two, which he calls the 'autogynephilic type'.
He goes on to describe type one as misdirected gay men who want to transition because they think their attraction to men would be more acceptable and their chances of finding a man would increase if they were women. He also says these are the 'early onset' transsexuals, i.e. those who transition at a young age.
Type two is described as the group of misdirected heterosexual men, who sort of invert their attraction to women onto themselves, so that they can become the object of their own lust. He also calls this group the 'late onset' transsexuals, i.e. those who transition at an older age.
This book got me very confused. First of all, Bailey calls both types of transsexuals 'misdirected' in one way or another. Secondly I didn't fit into either of his categories, so the logical conclusion seemed to be that I was not a transsexual. Based on the book, one could even say that nobody is a transsexual. They are all just 'misdirected' people.
But the truth of the matter is that you only need to listen to your heart. You will know! I knew it! I was just looking for excuses for not admitting to this strong feeling. But that didn't work. The book didn't give me such an excuse. I felt the book just wasn't about me. Maybe I was a new kind of transsexual? The thought that Mr. Bailey could be all wrong didn't occur to me at the time...
2005-08-06
Gay-pride Parade
| It seems like a small step from Pink Monday to pink Saturday, but there are two whole weeks between these events. I am afraid I am lagging behind a lot with updating my blog. That is a pity. It is also a sign little is happening at the moment. But I cannot skip our outing to Amsterdam. We had arranged to swap our house with an Amsterdam couple for the weekend, so we were suddenly living in a 17th century house in the Jordaan for two days! |  | |
 We had not realized in advance that this weekend would be pink Saturday in Amsterdam, we just got lucky. The Gay-Pride Parade is another event I had been longing to witness for years. So I put on a pink outfit and we headed for the Prinsengracht. (which was just a matter of walking to the end of 'our' street  ). But first we took a cup of coffee in a side street... | ||
| It is very busy along the Prinsengracht on this day, so one should find a good spot early. We found a nice spot on the quay at noon. Two and a half hours early, but there was plenty to see already. Many boats were passing that were on their way to the starting point of the parade. |  | |
 | At half past two the first boats were passing in the right direction. On the boats we was the usual image of a gay-pride parade: Lots of "Bearded Beauties"... | |
| Such a parade is fun to watch, but I do have some objections to it. You see a lot of transvestism on these boats. That will only strengthen the prejudice amongst the public that all transvestites are gay. It may even give the impression that most gay people are transvestites. And that is not the case! | ||
| Some boats were decorated in very special ways. One of them had an inflatable love-doll on it that stood 25 feet high. And they had to deflate it time and time again... |  | |
 | ...because she needed to pass under the bridge! There are at least ten bridges along the route of the parade... | |
| There were also boats that were about supporting an organization or getting across a point of view, like the Amnesty International boat: "Gay rights are human rights" and the AIDS fund boat. In this category there was also a boat on which everybody was holding up a sign with a text starting "I want to kiss again..." How about "I want to kiss again in Iran"? |  | |
 | | |
 | The boat from Shell was very remarkable it had a great banner saying: "Shell colleagues celebrate Diversity & Inclusiveness" That sounds like a fine example of acceptance on the job! | |
At four o'clock all the boats had passed and I felt I had really seen enough. I also began to feel quite cold. I don't envy those guys who have to stand half naked on one of those boats. And for them it was not over yet, because they had to sail the full length of the Prinsengracht, all the way to the Amstel where they would all get together.
When we were back 'home' we switched on the TV and, of course, AT5 was doing a life report on the arrival of the boats on the Amstel. Technically this broadcast was a bit primitive and the reporters were no very well informed about the event they were reporting on. However they did manage to mix a lot of sexist and disciminatory remarks into their report.
But AT5 knew of one detail that is worth mentioning here. They had some background information on the Shell boat. It turns out that Shell organizes get-togethers for gays and transsexuals within the company!
So it is time for me to apply for a position at Shell? No, I don't think so: Shell has recently laid off several hundreds of innocent IT-professionals because they think they can have the same work done in India more cheaply. It will take a few years before Shell will realize this was a mistake and they will hire IT-staff in the Netherlands again...
In the evening we went down town. We wanted to visit the Lellebel, a famous transvestite café on the Utrechtsestraat (Very near Rembrandt square), but it was not a wise choice of us to try that on this particular evening. It was absolutely crammed with people. We managed to wrestle ourselves a way in and then we backed out again. It was just too busy.
So we walked back to the Jordaan and went to a little café on our 'own' street instead. That turned out to be very pleasant. We met several people we could have a nice conversation with and when the pub closed, one of them asked us to come along to another bar. He was very interested in my work as an author/translator and in Julia's experiences in amateur theater. After a few hours of talking we spoke about our relationship and about my transsexuality. He was very surprised. He hadn't yet noticed anything unusual about me. But now that he knew he could see it. My Adam's apple is still too large and my breasts are still too 'fresh'.
He thought the most remarkable thing about our situation was that our marriage has survived my transition. This is very strong evidence for Julia's love and fidelity towards me! He was really touched by our story.
We also talked about the pros and cons of such a gay-pride parade. Of course it is not very heroic to demonstrate for gay rights in Amsterdam, which may be the most accepting place in the world for gay people. And the image of this outrageous parade is more likely to sustain the prejudice that gay people are unadapted than to disempower it. But on the other hand it is just a nice party and we wouldn't want to spoil that.
We went on chatting until after 4 AM. Then this pub closed too, so we all went back to 'our' homes. What a nice encounter, what a good conversation! Who was that guy? Well, it was Justus van Oel (Dutch language link) a well-know Dutch publicist...
© 1985-2006 E.G. Snel
