I'm hooked on the soundtrack of Romeo and Juliet. I just love it. Go to music.download.com, search for Romeo and Juliet and give yourself about an hour of pleasure... Here are the thoughts of "Everybody's free to wear sunscreen" by Quindon Tarver (original text by Kurt Vonnegut). This is my message for today. I'm happy.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 2007,
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy.
Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance - even if you have nowhere to do it but your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.
Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen."
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
A new way of tackling the problem
We've been talking about depression and suicide for two weeks in my Psychopathology class. According to Robert (who is a practicing psychotherapist) the number of pleasurable activities per day positively correlate with reported mood. Let's not get into the debate of whether pleasurable activities make your mood better or whether you are more likely to evaluate your day as full of fun when you are in a good mood; my point is that from now on, I'll increase the number of pleasurable activites in my day because who knows. Actually, not only that. I was thinking about this whole issue and came to the conclusion that it's not only about how much I like those activities that I carry out during the day but also about how many things I've done. For example, today I have not done many things that I would call "fun" but I do feel good about myself because I did get a lot of things done.
So, for the next two weeks at least, I'll try to keep in mind that I'll account for the number of activities at the end of the day. No more being a lazy bum... I'm not going to be stuck in this deep yucky mud of feeling-tired-not-doing-anything-being-unproductive-and-unsatisfied-with-myself. I'll be active, I'll be efficient and I'll struggle through these two and a half weeks. Then I can collapse, but only after my exams. In less than three weeks, I'll be in Bologna, recharging my batteries and enjoying my boyfriend. Isn't it a great birthday present?
And just to prove that I did do stuff today, here's the list:
- meeting with Fried Keesen (Director of Education) and Anne, ASIC business
- typing up the minutes of the meeting
- lunch office hours
- 10 e-mails (3 to the UCSA, 1 to Britt, 1 to my supervisor, 1 to Aafke (Head of Departent, SSC), 1 to the chiefs, 1 to Maarten (Housemaster), 1 to Fried and Anne, 1 to my ex-roommates in AC )
- 4 hours of classes (Psychopathology and Cognitive Neuroscience)
- typing up the stimuli for the pre-test of my SCI 301 research project
Still to come:
- patrolling in the Bar tonight from 1.30 till 3.30
Pleasurable activities:
- talking to Joram
- blogging while drinking tea and listening to my best playlist
So, for the next two weeks at least, I'll try to keep in mind that I'll account for the number of activities at the end of the day. No more being a lazy bum... I'm not going to be stuck in this deep yucky mud of feeling-tired-not-doing-anything-being-unproductive-and-unsatisfied-with-myself. I'll be active, I'll be efficient and I'll struggle through these two and a half weeks. Then I can collapse, but only after my exams. In less than three weeks, I'll be in Bologna, recharging my batteries and enjoying my boyfriend. Isn't it a great birthday present?
And just to prove that I did do stuff today, here's the list:
- meeting with Fried Keesen (Director of Education) and Anne, ASIC business
- typing up the minutes of the meeting
- lunch office hours
- 10 e-mails (3 to the UCSA, 1 to Britt, 1 to my supervisor, 1 to Aafke (Head of Departent, SSC), 1 to the chiefs, 1 to Maarten (Housemaster), 1 to Fried and Anne, 1 to my ex-roommates in AC )
- 4 hours of classes (Psychopathology and Cognitive Neuroscience)
- typing up the stimuli for the pre-test of my SCI 301 research project
Still to come:
- patrolling in the Bar tonight from 1.30 till 3.30
Pleasurable activities:
- talking to Joram
- blogging while drinking tea and listening to my best playlist
Monday, 26 February 2007
Hoi, met Dia. Je weet wat je moet doen. Beeep.
Finally, I managed to figure out how to put a chatbox on the blog. Scroll down, yes, it's there! Isn't it beautiful? And it's only mine! So, please leave a message.
Sunday, 25 February 2007
A promise broken...
I'm braking my promise. I didn't finish my Psychopathology assignment, in fact, I haven't even written a word and here I am, posting. I did finish watching As Good As It Gets though, the movie that I'll use for my paper. I wish I were more motivated, but inspiration doesn't seem to come. Not even for SCI 301, my research requirement. I set this Wednesday as the deadline to finish editing the first pre-test for the experiment, and I haven't even started it. Of course, this does not automatically mean that I'll miss my own deadline, but it's quite likely. And the more deadlines I'm missing, the worse I'm feeling about myself, not being able to concentrate, motivate myself and work...
I wonder what it is that makes me so unproductive. At the end I'll turn out to be a bipolar. Ok, maybe not that, but something is wrong, I can feel it. My need for afternoon naps returned, a habit I took on in the second semester of AC, when I needed to get away from reality.
Hm, what if I just stopped complaining and started getting organized? I have a bit more than two weeks till my exams and the reading of half a semester to do before the 15th of March, because I haven't done anything so far. I wonder how I managed to trick my teachers into believing that I know the material, when I haven't done more than skimming a couple of pages for each of my courses. I guess that's an art too. An art that is worth knowing, but one that concentrates the pressure of two months into two weeks. I should be able to deal with it. At the end, it always works out. The more unbearable the pressure becomes, the more likely I'll start reducing it by doing some reading. But till then, I should come up with a plan.
1. Minimize time spent in front of the computer. This one is hard. Half of my social connections bind me to the other side of the world.
2. Minimize time spent with just hanging out with people. Yuck, this one sounds cruel and anti-social; I'll rethink the issue.
3. Follow the course manuals and catch up with the reading. Ok, this is reasonable but painful. If I'm only considering the books, I'm about 700 pages behind. Haha, I'm not even thinking about the readers, that would double it at least...
And now, I'll go and open the Bar in half an hour. I might bring something to read, even though my experience says that it's ridiculous because I never manage to read more than 10 pages during a shift.
I wonder what it is that makes me so unproductive. At the end I'll turn out to be a bipolar. Ok, maybe not that, but something is wrong, I can feel it. My need for afternoon naps returned, a habit I took on in the second semester of AC, when I needed to get away from reality.
Hm, what if I just stopped complaining and started getting organized? I have a bit more than two weeks till my exams and the reading of half a semester to do before the 15th of March, because I haven't done anything so far. I wonder how I managed to trick my teachers into believing that I know the material, when I haven't done more than skimming a couple of pages for each of my courses. I guess that's an art too. An art that is worth knowing, but one that concentrates the pressure of two months into two weeks. I should be able to deal with it. At the end, it always works out. The more unbearable the pressure becomes, the more likely I'll start reducing it by doing some reading. But till then, I should come up with a plan.
1. Minimize time spent in front of the computer. This one is hard. Half of my social connections bind me to the other side of the world.
2. Minimize time spent with just hanging out with people. Yuck, this one sounds cruel and anti-social; I'll rethink the issue.
3. Follow the course manuals and catch up with the reading. Ok, this is reasonable but painful. If I'm only considering the books, I'm about 700 pages behind. Haha, I'm not even thinking about the readers, that would double it at least...
And now, I'll go and open the Bar in half an hour. I might bring something to read, even though my experience says that it's ridiculous because I never manage to read more than 10 pages during a shift.
Promise of the day
"I will not write a post till I get my Psychopathology assignment done."
"post": a piece of writing that is larger than this
"done": have the paper ready to be handed in (or almost...)
"post": a piece of writing that is larger than this
"done": have the paper ready to be handed in (or almost...)
Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Sex, drugs, reggae
When do you ever know what is in the head of the other person? This was one of the first questions I asked myself this morning. X was still coming down from E (XTC) and weed, explaining to me that from the outside everything seems in place, his eyes, his shoulders, his arms, but inside his head there is a different world. My first thought was that this is always the case. I could never be sure what is going on in the mind of someone else (I hardly ever know what is going on in mine) but based on the limited amount of external cues given a weakened capacity to speak, or at least to put your thoughts into coherent sentences, it would be even harder to understand the experience of another individual.
I have to admit that based on what I've seen last night taking E must be an experience. Overwhelming happiness, touchiness, the satisfaction from the closeness of another person, sensuality: these are the things that Y was talking about when she was inviting me to join and indeed, the things that appeared during the night. We were dancing. Pendulum, country and reggae. I don't need an excuse to look crazy when dancing so I was asked twice during the night whether I had taken anything. But I think it was more than that - some kind of invisible spread of mood, emotional contagion that made me feel happy and carefree too. After all, in a company where everyone is already behaving in an out of ordinary way, why wouldn't you dare to do so too?
I liked being more or less sober, nevertheless. I got dizzy from the smoke, and my voice started to sound different to me, which I hate, because it reminds me of a horrible experience, but I was alright. Reality check: yes, that's still me in the mirror, yes, there is still cold air outside, and yes, there are still people around in the Bar. I.e. the world is not collapsing, I am not dead yet, and probably not even dying. I am in control of my thoughts, I can move (as opposed to I cannot), I see contours (as opposed to seeing a cornerless world), the music comes from the laptop (and not from my head) and I have a prefect sense of time. These are all reassuring for someone who had experienced a mental death of some sort previously.
So, when do you stop? When do you say no to taking something? Probably, you say no when you start to feel uncomfortable. When you feel that you had enough, tried it (or maybe something else), and think that it is not for you for one reason or another. Your friends might be reassuring you that it is a great experience and different from what you had earlier. Then, I guess you just need to listen to your intuition. It helps if they are understanding (of course, you could argue that otherwise they couldn't be called friends). I still hated saying no. I, a well-rounded and secure person, was afraid of being judged. The power of social pressure (even if unintended) almost shapes your lips to pronounce "yes". At the end, X and Y had an extraordinary experience, I was privileged to be part of that and this morning I still felt happy with my decision.
I have to admit that based on what I've seen last night taking E must be an experience. Overwhelming happiness, touchiness, the satisfaction from the closeness of another person, sensuality: these are the things that Y was talking about when she was inviting me to join and indeed, the things that appeared during the night. We were dancing. Pendulum, country and reggae. I don't need an excuse to look crazy when dancing so I was asked twice during the night whether I had taken anything. But I think it was more than that - some kind of invisible spread of mood, emotional contagion that made me feel happy and carefree too. After all, in a company where everyone is already behaving in an out of ordinary way, why wouldn't you dare to do so too?
I liked being more or less sober, nevertheless. I got dizzy from the smoke, and my voice started to sound different to me, which I hate, because it reminds me of a horrible experience, but I was alright. Reality check: yes, that's still me in the mirror, yes, there is still cold air outside, and yes, there are still people around in the Bar. I.e. the world is not collapsing, I am not dead yet, and probably not even dying. I am in control of my thoughts, I can move (as opposed to I cannot), I see contours (as opposed to seeing a cornerless world), the music comes from the laptop (and not from my head) and I have a prefect sense of time. These are all reassuring for someone who had experienced a mental death of some sort previously.
So, when do you stop? When do you say no to taking something? Probably, you say no when you start to feel uncomfortable. When you feel that you had enough, tried it (or maybe something else), and think that it is not for you for one reason or another. Your friends might be reassuring you that it is a great experience and different from what you had earlier. Then, I guess you just need to listen to your intuition. It helps if they are understanding (of course, you could argue that otherwise they couldn't be called friends). I still hated saying no. I, a well-rounded and secure person, was afraid of being judged. The power of social pressure (even if unintended) almost shapes your lips to pronounce "yes". At the end, X and Y had an extraordinary experience, I was privileged to be part of that and this morning I still felt happy with my decision.
Thursday, 15 February 2007
It was maybe the sunshine...
(Warning! Don't expect anything overly sophisticated in this post. I just had a nice day, that's all.)
I woke up at 8 am. after 4 hours of sleep, had a warm shower, made some adjustments in a document and headed to the center to get our presentation printed on a transparent sheet. It took 5 minutes. I had more than half an hour to get back to campus and meet up with Anne (ASIC) and Michiel (ex-ASIC). The weather was beautiful, the sunshine made everything look and feel warm... People walking and biking on the street still had their coats on and you could see the vapour of their breaths slowly dicomposing in the air, but the sun was promising a warm day. I decided to walk home from the Janskerkhof instead of taking the bus to enjoy the first day of spring in Utrecht.
Anne, Michiel and I biked to the zeedhuis to give our presentation in the final round of the Teacher of the Year award competition. It went very well, we all had a very positive feeling about it. We were prepared, we spent the whole evening yesterday making a scheme of Jos' engagement with teaching, history, the students and UC... Anne did a great job presenting, and our answers complemented each other during the interview. I'm fully satisfied. Even if Jos doesn't win, we did our part well. But the jury seemed satisfied and happy too.
It was maybe the sunshine that gave everyone such a good mood. We walked around the small old university garden across the small paths, under the huge Ginkgo biloba and round the ponds. We checked out the collection of the university museum and headed back to campus (except for Anne who was heading to have some "happy time!"). After lunch I spent the whole afternoon on our balcony. I put an armchair ouside, wrapped myself into two blankets and I was on the top of the world. As the sun was moving across the sky, more and more light reached my side of the building. At one point I couldn't carry on reading and I just gave in to the temptation. I leaned back bathing my face in sunshine. I woke up around 4.45 pm.
Then dinner: a tasty chicken dish with olives. I found my lost book (Pablo Neruda: Antologia) in the UCSA lost&found and I had relaxed office hours. Now, I'll just run a workshop on MediaLab and DirectRT (for one person only, probably, but oh well), enjoy a cup of tea and read.
Sometimes you just need days when things work out.
Let the sunshine in!
I woke up at 8 am. after 4 hours of sleep, had a warm shower, made some adjustments in a document and headed to the center to get our presentation printed on a transparent sheet. It took 5 minutes. I had more than half an hour to get back to campus and meet up with Anne (ASIC) and Michiel (ex-ASIC). The weather was beautiful, the sunshine made everything look and feel warm... People walking and biking on the street still had their coats on and you could see the vapour of their breaths slowly dicomposing in the air, but the sun was promising a warm day. I decided to walk home from the Janskerkhof instead of taking the bus to enjoy the first day of spring in Utrecht.
Anne, Michiel and I biked to the zeedhuis to give our presentation in the final round of the Teacher of the Year award competition. It went very well, we all had a very positive feeling about it. We were prepared, we spent the whole evening yesterday making a scheme of Jos' engagement with teaching, history, the students and UC... Anne did a great job presenting, and our answers complemented each other during the interview. I'm fully satisfied. Even if Jos doesn't win, we did our part well. But the jury seemed satisfied and happy too.
It was maybe the sunshine that gave everyone such a good mood. We walked around the small old university garden across the small paths, under the huge Ginkgo biloba and round the ponds. We checked out the collection of the university museum and headed back to campus (except for Anne who was heading to have some "happy time!"). After lunch I spent the whole afternoon on our balcony. I put an armchair ouside, wrapped myself into two blankets and I was on the top of the world. As the sun was moving across the sky, more and more light reached my side of the building. At one point I couldn't carry on reading and I just gave in to the temptation. I leaned back bathing my face in sunshine. I woke up around 4.45 pm.
Then dinner: a tasty chicken dish with olives. I found my lost book (Pablo Neruda: Antologia) in the UCSA lost&found and I had relaxed office hours. Now, I'll just run a workshop on MediaLab and DirectRT (for one person only, probably, but oh well), enjoy a cup of tea and read.
Sometimes you just need days when things work out.
Let the sunshine in!
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
"Next Blog >>" button
I'm addicted to pressing the "Next Blog >>" button. I don't know what it is, I just can't put my finger on it. Is it curiosity? An innate source of human pleasure to find out what the other thinks/does/sees? Not sure, but probably it does have something to do with it. I am surprised by the quality of writings and photos that I see on Blogger. I've seen some of the most beautiful and capturing images in the last two weeks. Same for the stories. I found a guy who has been travelling for three years or so and he is sharing his impressions with the rest of the world. It's just amazing. Same for the reasons. Someone needs to be recognized as a lesbian, someone is just writing what she ate that day to motivate herself on the long road of losing weight, a Chinese teenager writes about schoolwork, an American woman paints a picture per day then puts it on her blog, another one preaches about god, and a French girl shares her artistic photos.
Every time you click, you get something new (ok, that's not completely true because the function is not perfect and you do end up with Viagra advertisements and sites that you have seen already, so you have to be patient enough...), from the other side of the world, from a different aspect. If you are lucky, you even understand the language. Long live the English, French and Spanish languages! I was happy how much I could get on some of the French and Spanish sites. I'm pretty sure that I could revive my French, but my spoken Spanish is very elementary. Maybe my new hobby/obsession/procrastination will help me keep these things at the present level of proficiency at least.
But in every other aspect, this is not a very convenient pastime. If I had hours of free time, it would be fine, but unfortunately I don't. But the experience is worth it. It's like a drug. It reminds me of the poor little lab rat, whose cerebral pleasure centers are stimulated with an electrode. When the rat presses the lever, it gives him the stimulation. It turns out that the rat rather presses the thing than eats or sleeps. Ok, I'm not that bad, but I definitely rather press the button than study... Again, let's hope that the procrastination is key to success motto works.
Every time you click, you get something new (ok, that's not completely true because the function is not perfect and you do end up with Viagra advertisements and sites that you have seen already, so you have to be patient enough...), from the other side of the world, from a different aspect. If you are lucky, you even understand the language. Long live the English, French and Spanish languages! I was happy how much I could get on some of the French and Spanish sites. I'm pretty sure that I could revive my French, but my spoken Spanish is very elementary. Maybe my new hobby/obsession/procrastination will help me keep these things at the present level of proficiency at least.
But in every other aspect, this is not a very convenient pastime. If I had hours of free time, it would be fine, but unfortunately I don't. But the experience is worth it. It's like a drug. It reminds me of the poor little lab rat, whose cerebral pleasure centers are stimulated with an electrode. When the rat presses the lever, it gives him the stimulation. It turns out that the rat rather presses the thing than eats or sleeps. Ok, I'm not that bad, but I definitely rather press the button than study... Again, let's hope that the procrastination is key to success motto works.
Sunday, 11 February 2007
Sleeping
Finally, I slept for 14 hours (almost) straight. It truly makes a difference. Now I feel being ready to work. What a shame I won't have time for it... By the time I'll finish my usual morning shower and my brunch, it will be time for our ASIC meeting. It should be fun today; we're painting the new Asicles red! Anyway, I think I should sleep more. I love sleeping, so maybe I should sacrifice more time for it. I don't even feel sick any more. Sleeping is healing. Love it!
Oh, and of course the snow melted within a day...
Oh, and of course the snow melted within a day...
Thursday, 8 February 2007
Snow!
Jess, you would love this! This morning I woke up an hour later than I had wanted to, but I was still on time. I peeped out the window, the sky looked gray-white-nothingcoloured, but nothing. Grrr, nothing! Rosemary (my linguistics teacher) sent an e-mail yesterday saying that she might be late to class because the weather forecast predicted traffic jams due to the snow. Snow??? - I thought - yeah, sure. Last year I saw campus covered in snow; it was beautiful, but the snow melted very quickly. I kind of wished that I could see it again, also that my Speech Production and Perception class would start late (I like that class, but you know what students are like, and after all I am a student too), and just for the fun of it it should snow. So, I got up, had a nice shower, started our lab report and went to class. It was freezing cold outside. And out of the sudden, a snowflake. Two. Ten. Wow, it's snowing! Now, don't think that it was the kind of snow that they try to imitate in American movies, large flakes etc. No. But slowly and steadily it was snowing.
And it kept on snowing during the rest of the class, with larger and larger snowflakes. You could see campus through a light white curtain. During the break we became 5-year-old kids again and joined a snowfight. Even Rosemary did so too! Everything looks gorgeous now... The trees are covered in a white blanket, a seriously huge snowman stands on the middle of the Quad and even people seem to look happier and more beautiful. If only it would last.
Joram, why did you need to go? Look what you are missing! Two days before: drunk me, yesterday: high me, today: the probability of a snowfight with me and then warming up together by a cup of tea or glühwein... I hope it's worth it over there. And just to make you homesick (and because I have the tendency to carry around my camera and capture the moment) some pictures.
The clock tower.
The Quad and the snowmen from College Hall.
Campus view from Kromhout 149.
And it kept on snowing during the rest of the class, with larger and larger snowflakes. You could see campus through a light white curtain. During the break we became 5-year-old kids again and joined a snowfight. Even Rosemary did so too! Everything looks gorgeous now... The trees are covered in a white blanket, a seriously huge snowman stands on the middle of the Quad and even people seem to look happier and more beautiful. If only it would last.
Joram, why did you need to go? Look what you are missing! Two days before: drunk me, yesterday: high me, today: the probability of a snowfight with me and then warming up together by a cup of tea or glühwein... I hope it's worth it over there. And just to make you homesick (and because I have the tendency to carry around my camera and capture the moment) some pictures.
The clock tower.
The Quad and the snowmen from College Hall.
Campus view from Kromhout 149.
Wednesday, 7 February 2007
Tolerance tested
Tolerance tested - and failed miserably. I have a pretty good alcohol tolerance, in general. But yesterday...
We had a plan. Simone, Tom and I were supposed to have a J. However, since Tom had a strong preference for Primus, Simone and I decided to spend our time nicely, without him. After an hour of dressing and other preparations (you know, the girly stuff... shave your legs, do your hair, choose your outfit, put on make-up; and we actually did look gorgeous) we ended up at my place. While we were drinking tea and smoking sheesha, the old UWC feeling and the calmness of sheesha smoke filled me up again. It was relaxing. Tom was away still, so we joined the party in Wall 45. It was a very nice, small scale party with a lot of fun people and two bowls of punch. Now, punch is something innocent, isn't it? It's just some drinks mixed together, like lemonade with a bit of vodka, or so it seemed. In fact, it was the other way around. A lot of vodka with a bit of lemonade to soften the taste and colour the drink.
Within about half an hour Simone drank two and I drank three (long drink) glasses of the punch. It tasted pretty good, I have to say. I was talking to Jo, Merel and Laurens in memoriam AC, even smoking a cigarette, which was such a surprise to Jo that she said I should have put that in the Sunley update. Simone was talking to some guy. When people seemed to leave we figured we would pick up the materials from Tom - he can enjoy his evening out with the boys and we will enjoy our evening too. We then walked up to G, rushed into a unit kitchen where a bunch of fraternity guys were playing cards, we stood there in front of them already completely trashed, laughing, they sat in front of us startled, we got what we wanted and stormed out (including my almost tripping over). On the way to K, walking already seemed such a hassle.
So, we had the remainders of a plant, but we didn't have paper, nor tobacco. Simone solved the issue by entering a party in a unit next to hers and asking random people for paper and tobacco... By that time, the crowd felt a bit overwhelming. I still had to go to the bar as I promised to Jo and Merel, so this wasn't the time to give up. Back to Anne's room, sat down on the sofa, Simone was rolling, me halfway between sleeping and awakeness. We went to Simone's room... me on the bed... moving ceiling... water... My last memory is that Simone's pulling my boots off. No, the last one is: "Give me your earrings." And the first one this morning at 7 30: beep, beep, beep, beep, beep... "Ah, sh*t, I need to work."
I don't know how I survived this day (from 9 till 4 in a laboratory, recording sounds and helping out people with recording their sounds) but I like!!! (in Anne's creepy Borat-voice)
Respect.
We had a plan. Simone, Tom and I were supposed to have a J. However, since Tom had a strong preference for Primus, Simone and I decided to spend our time nicely, without him. After an hour of dressing and other preparations (you know, the girly stuff... shave your legs, do your hair, choose your outfit, put on make-up; and we actually did look gorgeous) we ended up at my place. While we were drinking tea and smoking sheesha, the old UWC feeling and the calmness of sheesha smoke filled me up again. It was relaxing. Tom was away still, so we joined the party in Wall 45. It was a very nice, small scale party with a lot of fun people and two bowls of punch. Now, punch is something innocent, isn't it? It's just some drinks mixed together, like lemonade with a bit of vodka, or so it seemed. In fact, it was the other way around. A lot of vodka with a bit of lemonade to soften the taste and colour the drink.
Within about half an hour Simone drank two and I drank three (long drink) glasses of the punch. It tasted pretty good, I have to say. I was talking to Jo, Merel and Laurens in memoriam AC, even smoking a cigarette, which was such a surprise to Jo that she said I should have put that in the Sunley update. Simone was talking to some guy. When people seemed to leave we figured we would pick up the materials from Tom - he can enjoy his evening out with the boys and we will enjoy our evening too. We then walked up to G, rushed into a unit kitchen where a bunch of fraternity guys were playing cards, we stood there in front of them already completely trashed, laughing, they sat in front of us startled, we got what we wanted and stormed out (including my almost tripping over). On the way to K, walking already seemed such a hassle.
So, we had the remainders of a plant, but we didn't have paper, nor tobacco. Simone solved the issue by entering a party in a unit next to hers and asking random people for paper and tobacco... By that time, the crowd felt a bit overwhelming. I still had to go to the bar as I promised to Jo and Merel, so this wasn't the time to give up. Back to Anne's room, sat down on the sofa, Simone was rolling, me halfway between sleeping and awakeness. We went to Simone's room... me on the bed... moving ceiling... water... My last memory is that Simone's pulling my boots off. No, the last one is: "Give me your earrings." And the first one this morning at 7 30: beep, beep, beep, beep, beep... "Ah, sh*t, I need to work."
I don't know how I survived this day (from 9 till 4 in a laboratory, recording sounds and helping out people with recording their sounds) but I like!!! (in Anne's creepy Borat-voice)
Respect.
Sunday, 4 February 2007
Bartenders' weekend pictures
So, here I am again, recovering from the weekend, licking my non-existent wounds, hoping to start studying soon, but till then just procrastinating. "Procrastination is the key to success" said once Brittany, my Canadian roommate, and although I know it's not true, I can't help but do it. I uploaded the bartenders' weekend pics on facebook, which was an obligation after having taken so many pictures of everybody. Here are a couple just to demonstrate what I meant by people looking weird on photos. Maybe they will brighten your day up.
1. Check out the facial expression of the girl behind the bar.
2. The guy hugging the girl on the right.
3. The girl on the left in the red shirt.
4. The girl wearing a blue top on the right.
I guess I should start reading now... If you knew how long it took to arrange the pictures!
1. Check out the facial expression of the girl behind the bar.
2. The guy hugging the girl on the right.
3. The girl on the left in the red shirt.
4. The girl wearing a blue top on the right.
I guess I should start reading now... If you knew how long it took to arrange the pictures!
Bartenders' weekend
I think I suffered several traumas during previous bartenders' weekends so I wasn't looking forward to this Friday and Saturday. The concept is that experienced, promoted bartenders (the so-called chiefs) train a large group of new bartenders for the semester, which in itself sounds like fun. What happens in reality is that 70 people get completely drunk in the bar and enjoy playing dumb games while not learning much about how to serve drinks. That's supposed to come later, with experience, they say. I don't necessarily agree, but this bartenders' weekend was actually nice. I tried to pinpoint the thing that made me feel different this time. Was it the better organization? Was I in a better group? No accidents this time? (On my first ever bartenders' weekend a drunk chief kicked my foot, my big toenail vertically tore and half of it fell off leaving a bleeding and sensitive nailless toe on my foot.) Was I tipsy? Maybe a combination of all these.
In fact, my group did quite well in the weekend-long competition. I was leading a group with Fede, a new chief appointed at the end of last semester. (It's always confronting to think about the time when I became a chief - this is my third semester of chiefing already...) We didn't do very well in the drinking games on Friday but today (or already yesterday) we steadily moved from being 5th, I think, to being 2nd. We won almost everything that the day could offer: best sketch, fastest chair-run, most kisses... Had there not been a pubquiz, we could have retained our position.
As always, I also assumed the role of the photographer. I haven't counted but I think I took at least 200 pitures. The best ones will go on facebook, but I still need to upload them all. I would have done it tonight if I had a cable but I need to borrow one to be able to connect my camera to the computer. I love pictures, in the background of which someone looks weird. I mean seriously weird. Sometimes you don't even see that till you zoom in and then you are like "what the ****?" I already found a couple of pearls in yesterday's collection.
Now I'm just waiting to get sleepy again. By the time I got back to my room I was completely exhausted and after a Skype conversation with Joram I just fell asleep on my bed. I woke up about an hour ago. I knew I shouldn't have brushed my teeth - that was too much activity to fall asleep again... Now at least I taste nice. What a shame no one can test it...
In fact, my group did quite well in the weekend-long competition. I was leading a group with Fede, a new chief appointed at the end of last semester. (It's always confronting to think about the time when I became a chief - this is my third semester of chiefing already...) We didn't do very well in the drinking games on Friday but today (or already yesterday) we steadily moved from being 5th, I think, to being 2nd. We won almost everything that the day could offer: best sketch, fastest chair-run, most kisses... Had there not been a pubquiz, we could have retained our position.
As always, I also assumed the role of the photographer. I haven't counted but I think I took at least 200 pitures. The best ones will go on facebook, but I still need to upload them all. I would have done it tonight if I had a cable but I need to borrow one to be able to connect my camera to the computer. I love pictures, in the background of which someone looks weird. I mean seriously weird. Sometimes you don't even see that till you zoom in and then you are like "what the ****?" I already found a couple of pearls in yesterday's collection.
Now I'm just waiting to get sleepy again. By the time I got back to my room I was completely exhausted and after a Skype conversation with Joram I just fell asleep on my bed. I woke up about an hour ago. I knew I shouldn't have brushed my teeth - that was too much activity to fall asleep again... Now at least I taste nice. What a shame no one can test it...
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