Topic: House & Garden Philosophy
Here's one a friend sent me... :
"Respect requires accepting the fact you will never ever totally understand someone. You cannot catch another person" (R. Sennet).
I found a nice one of my own as well;
"Acquiring knowledge without thinking about what you have learned is useless, thinking only - without learning - leads to dangerous deliberations" (Confucius)

Turning pages...
Mood:  not sure
Topic: House & Garden Philosophy
Getting a bit cold feet la… loosing sleep over all the things that need to be done. Will the mortgage be settled in time ? Will my employer not give me a hard time when quitting my job ? Will I manage getting around in a far away country in a familiar yet totally different culture ? Will I have any kind of social life with the seven-days-a-week-schedule ? Will I have saved enough funds ? All these many questions… But the really hard things have already started; little by little I’m starting to get rid of my possessions…. Throwing away things I’d been keeping for years, lots of it for no reason at all except sentimental considerations. And the hardest yet to come after my farewell party at the last day of July; leaving my nice little house, probably for good and not to mention all my good friends and family. Sure, I’ll be hanging around for another 3 weeks, but it’s still like turning the page to the next chapter…

Mood swings
Mood:  not sure
Topic: House & Garden Philosophy
I had been having many contradictory feelings lately, adapting to the thought of having to stay for quite some more time in this place and after just having accepted the idea swinging right back again to the necessity of having to arrange everything after all for a departure on a short notice. I was just about to go into the “stay-here-a-little-longer-mode”, when finally last week I managed to find people to rent out my house to. Actually, there were several interested candidates; 2 couples, the single mom with high school-kid and finally again a 2nd German version of “friends”, this time 3 German girls. Would have been nice for the record, but better to take in a local couple. We all know students can be animals, although the German ones usually seem quite ok. So I chose for the couple. Let’s call them Dharma & Greg, until we come up with some better names; gotta protect some privacy here ok ? Anyway, maybe more about them later.
So as soon as I found out I called my parents right away. It gave me a somewhat peculiar feeling though. From one hand I wanted to let them share in my enthusiasm, but from the other hand it most have meant especially for my mom that a possibility that still seemed to be quite far away, in an instant suddenly became awfully close and real. I hope I haven’t upset them too much, although I know at the same time they feel happy for me as well.

Volkskrant 3 juli
Topic: House & Garden Philosophy
Geloof is de deur openhouden in de HEMA, vriendelijk lachen in het leven. Het ook echt doen dus.

Tour du sud
Mood:  party time!
Topic: Night life & other action
Just had 2 really great days :o)My friend Kuma and his Dutch girlfriend (I fixed him up) came over to the south to spend a few days @ my place. We had a great time. I gave them a short course in getting to know Belgium beers and after having slept till noon !! we made our way up to the nearest Belgium and German city... Actually, driving them around made me realize how tremendously beautiful some of the places are in my region. Especially the German city Aachen is a really trendy, hip place, full of young people. Moreover, the mix of classic and modern architecture adds to the really good atmosphere. This weekend I'll probably go North, to spend some more time with them in Amsterdam. Should be good fun, although the 2 late nights have worn me out a little bit...

Growing pains
Mood:  not sure
Topic: House & Garden Philosophy
Geez… they are getting old, aren’t they. Not that I hadn’t noticed. It’s just that they didn’t fit the concept yet. The concept of old age till now were my grandparents. And even then; my grandfather still frantically trying to escape this concept in wanting to practice fitness despite being passed 80 years of age. And my other grandmother – being the same age – who still manages to live her own life in her own house enjoying her own little garden. Anyway, that’s not the point, is it ?
So yesterday my mom suffered the really scary feeling of heart palpitations. I thought I’d be the good son and give then the ride to the hospital. Not that I was really worried… It reminded me though, of what a friend said to me last week. Something about trying to enjoy the time I still had with them… before leaving the country, she meant of course. Well it’s true I guess. It even started to make me wonder if I could even leave them here like that, now old age seems to kick in… Ah well, it’ll probably be the same family trait of stubbornness that’ll make them survive the next two decades as well. Let’s just pray for that…

Topic: House & Garden Philosophy
Words can be beautiful, but like the flower without a scent, they are not always sincere. The fragrant flower though, brings what its beauty promises. in the same manner ones words should be truthful.

Life is but an Oreo cookie
Mood:  mischievious
Topic: Everyday life (weirdness)
The article I wrote for the hospital journal got nominated for the MMC-award 2003 and therefore I was asked to attend the presentation and tell something about it. I arrived still in time, even though traffic had turned mad in the 2 years that passed since I stopped working in that hospital. I walk in and as a coincidence I bump into one of my former bosses, doc L. and one of my former colleague-MO’s, by now spOG as well. Turns out doc L. had to do the presentation himself, had I not turned up. So that’s why you were so persisting on the phone, I say to him. We fix ourselves a drink and I have a talk with my former colleague. I don’t even exactly remember how the subject turned up. I think it’s because she asked me whether my girlfriend would be coming with me to Malaysia. Well, actually there’s no girlfriend around anymore, I told her. She gives me this typical gaze, I don’t even know what to call it, but it’s the one that women can give you while they are trying to get some information from you while in the mean time acting in a manner as if they were just having a casual conversation about the number of calories in a donut versus an Oreo cookie. There have been quite some wild rumours after you left, she says. The word is you even have a child... this is the moment where they bring the cookie to their mouth... just picture it... and now I’m supposed to tell her all the details... I really don’t think so; I succeed in giving her the vague sort of statement that only men can give when they don’t really want to discuss something. So, now we’re even, I think...

Hello-o-o-o, do we all recognize this ?

I think I must have said something that things back then were even too complicated for myself to truly understand, let alone for explaining it to other people. It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it, it’s merely that I feel it’s not necessary they will know all about it. Why puncture this balloon, this fantasy, this presumption they’ve all been living in for the past 1? years ? It’s OK for me this way. Let’s have another cookie... The rest of the event kind of passes with ease, not unlike the pretty good red wine they serve. I manage to do my little presentation without losing either nerves or lines and in the end find out that even though I didn’t get the award, at least I got a nice amount of money out of it and a good looking bottle of red wine. Outside it’s cold and rainy – again – and I make my way over to my car fast, to enjoy my almost daily ride for an hour back home... Life is a highway as well....e

Bad boy....
Mood:  lazy
The whole weekend...passed without a single significant activity. I've been basically bumming around for 2 days... I can only say to have done the laundry I should have done a week ago and I got rid of a thick layer of dust covering the whole house. Gonna try to be a good boy now, study the rest of what is left of this afternoon... :o(

Finally a glimpse of sun...
Mood:  quizzical
Topic: House & Garden Philosophy

At last, a sunny day !! Last two weeks we only saw rain, after a very promising two weeks of spring sun. I love the sight of my garden, growing and blooming. The cherry tree full of blossoms, followed a few days later by the apple tree and finally the non-fruit tree, I don’t know its name, really. The blossoms were washed out though during the rains these last two weeks. But I can already see them; numerous cherries and apples as well. Now the time of the wallflowers and strawberries starts, and the grape plants are spreading their lustrous green ranks on the walls as well. It all gives me a very ambivalent feeling. I love this country during summertime and I wish I could spend the summer in my own garden, watching all the fruits grow and enjoy the result by September. But I also want to go ahead with my brand new start in Malaysia, which is still prevented by my not-sold-yet house… Especially when the mail came this morning; the final confirmation from UM, KL. Which, by the way, makes me wonder what the mailman would be thinking when he looks at the sender address, knowing this house is for sale. I wonder if the mailman puts 2 and 2 together and makes up his own imaginary story behind some of the letters he has to deliver. Or maybe he just thinks – geezz, with this kind of weather I ought to be sitting in my garden as well, enjoying a beer and the newspaper…