Thursday, June 30, 2005
Who cares?
Last Monday evening, I read a post on Nienna's blog (in Dutch, sorry), a rather sad story about her grandmother and the bitterness that accompanies old age so often. Once again, it got my thoughts off and running at full speed, especially since at the moment the Dutch Red Cross is starting a new to fund new activities, on the theme of "Who cares?"
I do...
It's a tie-in with a broader theme going on here in the Netherlands, now that the government and public organisations are rationalising left, right and center and those in society who aren't able to compete or perform to the accepted standard are being sidelined in a disgraceful way. Here's another, taken from the Dutch Red Cross site (English introduction)...
Am I overreacting? I'm wondering now...
I do...
It's a tie-in with a broader theme going on here in the Netherlands, now that the government and public organisations are rationalising left, right and center and those in society who aren't able to compete or perform to the accepted standard are being sidelined in a disgraceful way. Here's another, taken from the Dutch Red Cross site (English introduction)...
Am I overreacting? I'm wondering now...
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Seized up
Damn, I'm feeling cynical today and don't even know why... somethings bothering me and I can't pinpoint what's going on in that stupid head of mine. I can't even f*ing concentrate and it's irritating me no end. Time for a cheap shot to cheer me up...
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Expression of self
Hmmm... I got lucky today and received some material to use for the National Ballet. One of the most graceful ways of expressing one's self is through dance and through movement. The almost dreamy elegance captivates me, the human body transformed into an instrument to transcend self and touch the infinite...
Monday, June 27, 2005
Sunday outside of time
Sometimes I wish weekends could last forever. OK, sometimes you'd wish they weren't there at all and need be gotten over and done with as quickly as possible, but this one was really good for a change. Saturday was calm, the usual household nonsense and getting things done that needed doing and finally managing to make a bit of headway for a change...
Sunday was better though... I went off to the east of the country, to a small place close to Arnhem for an afternoon with a group from the Elf Fantasy Forum with which I'm pretty involved with these last few months.
We first went for a long walk through the countryside, through the dunes and along streams and lakes...
...and ended up under a tree somewhere, and spent most of the afternoon picknicking, playing cards or just being a bit silly... totally unwinding.
It was really quiet there, probably one of the few places in the country where it can be silent when people take the effort to shut up and be listen for once ;-)
The trees there were really beautiful, I managed to get a fair bit of photography done, just practicing some technique and composition as the group don't mind and are pretty accommodating generally.
Katie came along with me and had the time of her life... most of those present were pretty young too so she felt fairly comfortable. Pity that we lost our way in the woods later in the afternoon, the upshot was that a couple of us decided to go swimming along the way after which we all descended on one of the restaurants and made a total disgrace of ourselves.
A really relaxed day, worth doing over some time soon... more photos can be found here.
Sunday was better though... I went off to the east of the country, to a small place close to Arnhem for an afternoon with a group from the Elf Fantasy Forum with which I'm pretty involved with these last few months.
We first went for a long walk through the countryside, through the dunes and along streams and lakes...
...and ended up under a tree somewhere, and spent most of the afternoon picknicking, playing cards or just being a bit silly... totally unwinding.
It was really quiet there, probably one of the few places in the country where it can be silent when people take the effort to shut up and be listen for once ;-)
The trees there were really beautiful, I managed to get a fair bit of photography done, just practicing some technique and composition as the group don't mind and are pretty accommodating generally.
Katie came along with me and had the time of her life... most of those present were pretty young too so she felt fairly comfortable. Pity that we lost our way in the woods later in the afternoon, the upshot was that a couple of us decided to go swimming along the way after which we all descended on one of the restaurants and made a total disgrace of ourselves.
A really relaxed day, worth doing over some time soon... more photos can be found here.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Wonders of technology
OK, things have settled down, it's 35 degrees outside, inside the air-conditioning is roaring away at full blast and we've come to the realisation that some of our colleagues are not as familiar with digital techniques as they should be...
One of those days
It's going to be one of those days. It's just gone 8 a.m., I've had two annoyed customers on the line complaining about things I have no idea about, a courier waiting impatiently at the door when I arrived at 7.30 and being rather rude as he'd expected somebody to have been present at 7.15. Need to find things other people have left undone, call suppliers for materials not delivered, the FTP server refuses to work (the hub broke down yesterday), the email server seems to be living a life of its own at the moment, choosing when and how it will deliver our mail and I need to deliver an evaluation this afternoon on new equipment installed last week.
Which, incidentally was purchased to streamline our production flow and automate a lot of the standard processing but seeing as most of the stuff-ups are more of a logistical nature than anything else I'm going to have to take a few shots at one or two of my colleagues/superiors because I'm fed up with wiping somebody elses ass day in day out.
I'm in the middle of a rush job, an 8 page full colour magazine with a lot of colour correction and rather fiddley layout which usually costs me 8 hours to put together. Proofs are needed this morning but with all the nonsense in between (on the instructions of and with approval of our supervisor) I'm in a foul mood because I'm going to be called to task in an hour or two to explain why I haven't gotten things done on time.
OK, that was my 8.15 whinge... got to get down to doing something done. Oh, and just to top it all off, one of my colleagues who is responsible for one of the jobs that snarled has washed his hands of it because he's taken over some work for one of the downstairs people who has the day off.
Well done, lovely attitude eh?... (and it's now 8.20)
Update 9.30: three of us got together and tackled the problem together, after a lot of nonsense and correcting material that should have been supplied properly, we managed to get the required result... sigh...
Right, lets hope things get back to normal now. Oh yeah, Eldest Daughter just called to say she's sick, and didn't want to go to school. Have to tackle that one now as well.
Which, incidentally was purchased to streamline our production flow and automate a lot of the standard processing but seeing as most of the stuff-ups are more of a logistical nature than anything else I'm going to have to take a few shots at one or two of my colleagues/superiors because I'm fed up with wiping somebody elses ass day in day out.
I'm in the middle of a rush job, an 8 page full colour magazine with a lot of colour correction and rather fiddley layout which usually costs me 8 hours to put together. Proofs are needed this morning but with all the nonsense in between (on the instructions of and with approval of our supervisor) I'm in a foul mood because I'm going to be called to task in an hour or two to explain why I haven't gotten things done on time.
OK, that was my 8.15 whinge... got to get down to doing something done. Oh, and just to top it all off, one of my colleagues who is responsible for one of the jobs that snarled has washed his hands of it because he's taken over some work for one of the downstairs people who has the day off.
Well done, lovely attitude eh?... (and it's now 8.20)
Update 9.30: three of us got together and tackled the problem together, after a lot of nonsense and correcting material that should have been supplied properly, we managed to get the required result... sigh...
Right, lets hope things get back to normal now. Oh yeah, Eldest Daughter just called to say she's sick, and didn't want to go to school. Have to tackle that one now as well.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Safe computing practices
Remember:
- Always wear protective clothing when installing new software.
- Do not allow yourself to be distracted whilst performing an update
- Allow sufficient recovery time available afterwards...
- Always wear protective clothing when installing new software.
- Do not allow yourself to be distracted whilst performing an update
- Allow sufficient recovery time available afterwards...
Seen in the streets
Once again, an occasional t-shirt text to get me smiling again. Seen this morning, on my way to work...
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Extreme sports
Last weekend, while I was away, the colleagues had a bowling evening planned. By all accounts it was very warm and great fun.
On the face of it, perhaps it was good I didn't go along... seems to have gotten dangerous after a while.
On the face of it, perhaps it was good I didn't go along... seems to have gotten dangerous after a while.
Good news, bad news and worse...
The good news: yesterday a vote was rejected to resume the hunting and slaughtering of whales. The bad news: the margin was very small, with a number of members who probably would have voted for the proposal not being present. Intense lobbying is going on at the moment, trying to push the hunters rights through the Commission, led by delegations from Japan and Norway.
Poetry in motion...
I wonder, who in their right minds, would even consider slaughtering these most elegant of creatures who are probably as intelligent as humans but on a totally different level
Having a whale of a time.
The most ludicrous debates are going on at the moment, about the most "humane" way of killing a unique form a life instead of stopping to think about the ethical consequences of what is being done. I'll resist going into rant mode at the moment, but there are so many double standards and hidden agendas going on here, I'm almost ashamed to be human at times.
Poetry in motion...
I wonder, who in their right minds, would even consider slaughtering these most elegant of creatures who are probably as intelligent as humans but on a totally different level
Having a whale of a time.
The most ludicrous debates are going on at the moment, about the most "humane" way of killing a unique form a life instead of stopping to think about the ethical consequences of what is being done. I'll resist going into rant mode at the moment, but there are so many double standards and hidden agendas going on here, I'm almost ashamed to be human at times.
Found 'em
After two and a half weeks of hiding, my keys turned up again... at work, where I'd originally thought they'd been left. The little terrors had been quietly tucked away in the arm-rest of my chair, unnoticed and having the time of their lives I imagine.
Family portrait.
Here's a photo, just for the record and just in case they turn up anywhere else in the near future, I'd appreciate you give them good scolding and sending them off home. Thanks.
Family portrait.
Here's a photo, just for the record and just in case they turn up anywhere else in the near future, I'd appreciate you give them good scolding and sending them off home. Thanks.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Leaving the rats to do their own racing.
Hmmm... it's certainly been an interesting, rushed, relaxing and strange weekend all things told. Just a couple of days away from the daily grind, leaving all the stuff and nonsense for what they are and getting hold of some serious down time.
In my case, down time is just slowing down, paying more attention to the family and getting stuck into a book I've put off reading too long. The girls enjoyed themselves greatly... I think that if you give a kid access to a swimming pool or a beach and a couple of other kids in the area, they're content.
A rather nice one of Youngest Daughter, taken at high tide.
Just sitting on a beach, swimming little, looking at and listening to the people around you and becoming participant in their own interestingly different worlds and realising that my own life mightn't be as bad as I'd imagined in the first place. The things people say to each other at moments, and particularly to their children, is amazing/confronting/embarrassing/shameful.
The four of us managed to get our act together most of the time, although Middle Daughter can be quite the grumpy teenager at moments and my partner going into stress mode more often than necessary but less than usual so lets be thankful for small mercies.
Youngest Daughter (with new sunglasses) and Middle Daughter, in the sun.
It was hot, very hot and each of us managed to get sunburnt in different ways. I couldn't sleep last night because my back is so totally red and sore... I don't know what's happening, I used to be able to get away with Factor 5 or 8 suncream but now Factor 15 didn't seem to be enough. So me's wondering if this has something to do with ozone layer issues or that the suncream companies are fiddling around with their product names and compositions...
In a preferred, reasonably characteristic pose.
OK, so it's Tuesday morning now, back to reality. One thing has become painfully apparent though... I need to sleep more because nights of five hours max and then sleeping badly has totally wrecked me by now. I just need to find a way of doing the things I need to do or find important in a place where there's no noise or distraction. Upstairs my bureau have been turned into a place for my partner to dump anything and everything that can't be found a place straight away, downstairs the television's always on until the kids go to bed and I can't concentrate. By the time it's quiet, it's past 22.00 and almost time for me to hit the sack as well... so I just push on until I can't keep my eyes open and try to make the best of things.
Time to look into time management issues and start looking after myself for a change as well.
OK, back to work now... this little bit of catharsis has worked for today :D
In my case, down time is just slowing down, paying more attention to the family and getting stuck into a book I've put off reading too long. The girls enjoyed themselves greatly... I think that if you give a kid access to a swimming pool or a beach and a couple of other kids in the area, they're content.
A rather nice one of Youngest Daughter, taken at high tide.
Just sitting on a beach, swimming little, looking at and listening to the people around you and becoming participant in their own interestingly different worlds and realising that my own life mightn't be as bad as I'd imagined in the first place. The things people say to each other at moments, and particularly to their children, is amazing/confronting/embarrassing/shameful.
The four of us managed to get our act together most of the time, although Middle Daughter can be quite the grumpy teenager at moments and my partner going into stress mode more often than necessary but less than usual so lets be thankful for small mercies.
Youngest Daughter (with new sunglasses) and Middle Daughter, in the sun.
It was hot, very hot and each of us managed to get sunburnt in different ways. I couldn't sleep last night because my back is so totally red and sore... I don't know what's happening, I used to be able to get away with Factor 5 or 8 suncream but now Factor 15 didn't seem to be enough. So me's wondering if this has something to do with ozone layer issues or that the suncream companies are fiddling around with their product names and compositions...
In a preferred, reasonably characteristic pose.
OK, so it's Tuesday morning now, back to reality. One thing has become painfully apparent though... I need to sleep more because nights of five hours max and then sleeping badly has totally wrecked me by now. I just need to find a way of doing the things I need to do or find important in a place where there's no noise or distraction. Upstairs my bureau have been turned into a place for my partner to dump anything and everything that can't be found a place straight away, downstairs the television's always on until the kids go to bed and I can't concentrate. By the time it's quiet, it's past 22.00 and almost time for me to hit the sack as well... so I just push on until I can't keep my eyes open and try to make the best of things.
Time to look into time management issues and start looking after myself for a change as well.
OK, back to work now... this little bit of catharsis has worked for today :D
Friday, June 17, 2005
Winding down
It got to be a lot later than I'd expected. I collapsed into bed far earlier than usual, slept like a log and woke up feeling totally wretched. For the first time this week I decided to be sensible and called in sick, giving me a long, very long weekend now :D (It worked, I'm feeling a lot better right now)
Having managed to get my act together today, everythings more or less packed now and Eldest Daughter and I will be off in half an hour or so. My partner called, she and the girls went there earlier by bus today and had been swimming already, enjoying themselves enormously by the sound of things.
Received an enormous compliment from one of the teacher at school for the work done to date on the yearbook for Middle Daughter's leaving class. Lots still to be done, but the broader line has been set out and we're all comfortable with the progress made.
This is one of the pages, more here
I'm off... cheers...
Having managed to get my act together today, everythings more or less packed now and Eldest Daughter and I will be off in half an hour or so. My partner called, she and the girls went there earlier by bus today and had been swimming already, enjoying themselves enormously by the sound of things.
Received an enormous compliment from one of the teacher at school for the work done to date on the yearbook for Middle Daughter's leaving class. Lots still to be done, but the broader line has been set out and we're all comfortable with the progress made.
This is one of the pages, more here
I'm off... cheers...
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Quick shots
Just a short post, from work where I shouldn't be posting really but I'm into living dangerously, having had enough practice at home by now ;-)
I'm looking forward to next weekend, away at the coast with the tribe and perhaps managing to relax as well. My wife and myself need to do some serious talking and I'm not looking forward to it at all but it needs to get done. Middle and Youngest Daughters will be along with us, Eldest Daughter refused to go and will be staying with friends Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday until I get back. I've got Monday off as well, but I'll probably stay at home until I go to pick up my partner and the kids
Bored silly, still got a headache and looking forward to going home now... More later...
I'm looking forward to next weekend, away at the coast with the tribe and perhaps managing to relax as well. My wife and myself need to do some serious talking and I'm not looking forward to it at all but it needs to get done. Middle and Youngest Daughters will be along with us, Eldest Daughter refused to go and will be staying with friends Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday until I get back. I've got Monday off as well, but I'll probably stay at home until I go to pick up my partner and the kids
Bored silly, still got a headache and looking forward to going home now... More later...
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Whatever
Why does everything seem to go wrong at the same time? OK, I'm sick, I've been feeling like crap ever since the weekend, the two eldest women in my household are tearing strips off each other, making life totally miserable for each other and for myself and my two youngest daughters, a project I was working, on which I was really getting some grip AND some good results, got canned... etc...
Fun and games all round, enjoying every moment of it and developing some new skills in cynicism. Wonder if there are prizes for "Most Improved" this year? Definitely on the up and up though...
I was feeling really terrible yesterday so I took the afternoon off, just went to the park near home and just did absolutely nothing for a change. It was warm and quiet, did a little reading and a little more looking around me, talked for a while with Monique who happened to pass by and with another guy I hadn't seen for ages and just caught up with each other. Sometimes I seem to be so busy and preoccupied I forget what it's all about really... other people and their company.
Therapeutic, yes. Worthwhile, yes. Fun, yes. Solved anything, no. Who cares, it was worth it :D
Fun and games all round, enjoying every moment of it and developing some new skills in cynicism. Wonder if there are prizes for "Most Improved" this year? Definitely on the up and up though...
I was feeling really terrible yesterday so I took the afternoon off, just went to the park near home and just did absolutely nothing for a change. It was warm and quiet, did a little reading and a little more looking around me, talked for a while with Monique who happened to pass by and with another guy I hadn't seen for ages and just caught up with each other. Sometimes I seem to be so busy and preoccupied I forget what it's all about really... other people and their company.
Therapeutic, yes. Worthwhile, yes. Fun, yes. Solved anything, no. Who cares, it was worth it :D
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Past tense
August 19th, 1963... me at 3 and a half years of age, my mum 32 and my dad 39 on a not-too-cold winters day in Byron Bay, Australia.
Click here for an enlargement
My parents had arrived in Australia some 6 years earlier and were busy building up a new life in a country they were having difficulty understanding and yet loved dearly. My father had just finished his studies, we'd moved away from Sydney to the Northern Rivers (some 100km south of Brisbane) where my father had been appointed a few months earlier and life was on the up and up. I had a little brother by then, who was 15 months but not on this photo for whatever reason.
We lived about 30km inland from where this picture was taken, in a small village with about 200 inhabitants in which we felt truly at home. A time and a place in which life was easy-going and uncomplicated, children could be just that and didn't need to worry about all that much. Where trust was a given and not something that needed to be achieved time and time again. Strangers were taken up well in the community, nobody really made much fuss beyond the blatently obvious and we just got on with our lives together.
How much different than today, when even our next door neighbour can be subject to suspicion for being just slightly different, foreigners mistrusted at best and vilified at the first signs of non-acceptance of "the rules" dictated by an "in-crowd".
How sad.
Click here for an enlargement
My parents had arrived in Australia some 6 years earlier and were busy building up a new life in a country they were having difficulty understanding and yet loved dearly. My father had just finished his studies, we'd moved away from Sydney to the Northern Rivers (some 100km south of Brisbane) where my father had been appointed a few months earlier and life was on the up and up. I had a little brother by then, who was 15 months but not on this photo for whatever reason.
We lived about 30km inland from where this picture was taken, in a small village with about 200 inhabitants in which we felt truly at home. A time and a place in which life was easy-going and uncomplicated, children could be just that and didn't need to worry about all that much. Where trust was a given and not something that needed to be achieved time and time again. Strangers were taken up well in the community, nobody really made much fuss beyond the blatently obvious and we just got on with our lives together.
How much different than today, when even our next door neighbour can be subject to suspicion for being just slightly different, foreigners mistrusted at best and vilified at the first signs of non-acceptance of "the rules" dictated by an "in-crowd".
How sad.
Sunday morning, too early
A couple of years ago, I made a year book for Eldest Daughter for her and her class on the occasion of their leaving primary school. A kind of overview, with all the class photos that could be found, lots of photos of various activities and just a nice way of giving the kids something to remember their primary school days by.
The project went well, and I've been asked to make another, for Middle Daughter and her class which she moved along with in the course of the last 9 years.
Middle Daughter's kindergarten class
More or less the same group, years later
You see them grow up, the little terrors become little people ;-), the changes come thick and fast and the more that happens, the more I can be proud of this lot. I'm glad I'm able to do something like this for them, from what I've understood, Eldest Daughter's edition was a great success in 2002
Here's me, on Sunday morning before 7 a.m., (I must be mad, or badly masochistic) working on the next stage of the book... scanning all the material that's been supplied. I've already done some preliminary layouting in the last few days, but now the real stuff starts.
Liftoff...
I've got a presentation this week, so need to get my act together and layout what I've got. Still waiting for a lot of photos though, hope they'll come soon so I can get this job well and truly started.
Just need to get rid of this cold though, would make life a little easier in the meantime...
The project went well, and I've been asked to make another, for Middle Daughter and her class which she moved along with in the course of the last 9 years.
Middle Daughter's kindergarten class
More or less the same group, years later
You see them grow up, the little terrors become little people ;-), the changes come thick and fast and the more that happens, the more I can be proud of this lot. I'm glad I'm able to do something like this for them, from what I've understood, Eldest Daughter's edition was a great success in 2002
Here's me, on Sunday morning before 7 a.m., (I must be mad, or badly masochistic) working on the next stage of the book... scanning all the material that's been supplied. I've already done some preliminary layouting in the last few days, but now the real stuff starts.
Liftoff...
I've got a presentation this week, so need to get my act together and layout what I've got. Still waiting for a lot of photos though, hope they'll come soon so I can get this job well and truly started.
Just need to get rid of this cold though, would make life a little easier in the meantime...
Friday, June 10, 2005
Friday, finally...
OK, first of all a promise... I'm not going to talk about trains or transport today, not even about another one that ran off the tracks this morning at about the same place as a few days ago.
I think Reverend Tawdry didn't have this in mind either...
Shit, I just did... sorry, I'm just a little annoyed about being late for the fourth time this week and not being able to do terribly much about it.
Sorry Alice...
It's Friday, finally, at the end of week I'd rather not have had I guess. An almost crushingly low level headache that just won't go away, no matter what I try, chaos at work, party meeting yesterday evening to resolve a local crisis and humidly warm weather are getting me down today and we could be in for a thunderstorm again this evening.
Can't concentrate, music's on but fails to interest my much at the moment... a rather nice recording by the Amsterdam Kletzmer Band, a delightfully strange mix of Gypsy, Balkan and Yiddish music. Margo dislikes it unfortunately, so we usually only play it once a week, on Fridays.
The band members themselves.
Damn, one of the PCs crashed again... glad I'm running a Mac, give me time to think up a nice anti-Microsoft rant.
And the band played on...
Actually, I think Bill Gates is a pretty cool guy, and far nicer than most people suspect... such a pity the company he owns peddles such crap from time to time...
I think Reverend Tawdry didn't have this in mind either...
Shit, I just did... sorry, I'm just a little annoyed about being late for the fourth time this week and not being able to do terribly much about it.
Sorry Alice...
It's Friday, finally, at the end of week I'd rather not have had I guess. An almost crushingly low level headache that just won't go away, no matter what I try, chaos at work, party meeting yesterday evening to resolve a local crisis and humidly warm weather are getting me down today and we could be in for a thunderstorm again this evening.
Can't concentrate, music's on but fails to interest my much at the moment... a rather nice recording by the Amsterdam Kletzmer Band, a delightfully strange mix of Gypsy, Balkan and Yiddish music. Margo dislikes it unfortunately, so we usually only play it once a week, on Fridays.
The band members themselves.
Damn, one of the PCs crashed again... glad I'm running a Mac, give me time to think up a nice anti-Microsoft rant.
And the band played on...
Actually, I think Bill Gates is a pretty cool guy, and far nicer than most people suspect... such a pity the company he owns peddles such crap from time to time...
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Chasing rainbows
I don't think there has ever been a moment in my life in which I haven't been in love with the colours around me in my daily life.
One of the styles I particularly like
One of my first memories is one of myself as a small child, standing on the back step of the house, looking out toward the horizon at the dark and darkening clouds of a thunderstorm which was rolling in. The greys and shades of almost black punctuated by lightning and the drum-rolls of oncoming thunder added to an almost unheimlich effect at that moment.
This is more or less how I remembered it, but in memory it was even darker at that moment...
Suddenly, everything became quiet, the wind died down, the birds stopped their noisy warm afternoon chattering and nature laid itself down in quiet awaitence of that which was to come. At that momoent, the orange-red rays of the setting sun broke through for just one last moment, almost as an afterthought and scattering in the evening light formed a rainbow of such intensity it toched something deep inside of me, a wake-up call to something larger and more elemental than I'd ever experienced before in my short life.
I was four or five at the time but I realised that something important was going on and I kept on watching and waiting, seeing a rainbow growing even more intense and quietly multiplying until there were three of them, another fainter and the third the faintest and fairest of all silhoetted against the background of the approaching storm... it was a major turning point in my life.
I learned to look further at that moment, realising that there was more than met the eye, absorbing the forms and the colours, wondering and waiting for meaning that might or might not be there.
There are always moments I am brought back to remembering... puddles of water at the garage on which thin films of oil float and scatter the light, breaking the drabness of mechanical self-absorption into a riot of swirling colour and abstraction, neither past nor present but ever changing... the colouring exercises at school in which I never seemed to be able to whatever I needed to do in a way that satisfied my teacher, combining the "wrong" colours or forms or invariably colouring outside of the lines that were dictated to me... watering the garden, creating my own rainbows and watching in fascination the beauty in the droplets of the mist I'd created. All sorts of moments helping remind me that there is a whole realm of meaning far beyond that whichI face daily...
Rainbow Song
Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue.
I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
You can sing one too!
Listen with your eyes,
Listen with your eyes,
And sing everything you see.
You can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing a long with me.
Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue.
You can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Now you've sung one too!
Photo made last year whilst on holidays...
One of the styles I particularly like
One of my first memories is one of myself as a small child, standing on the back step of the house, looking out toward the horizon at the dark and darkening clouds of a thunderstorm which was rolling in. The greys and shades of almost black punctuated by lightning and the drum-rolls of oncoming thunder added to an almost unheimlich effect at that moment.
This is more or less how I remembered it, but in memory it was even darker at that moment...
Suddenly, everything became quiet, the wind died down, the birds stopped their noisy warm afternoon chattering and nature laid itself down in quiet awaitence of that which was to come. At that momoent, the orange-red rays of the setting sun broke through for just one last moment, almost as an afterthought and scattering in the evening light formed a rainbow of such intensity it toched something deep inside of me, a wake-up call to something larger and more elemental than I'd ever experienced before in my short life.
I was four or five at the time but I realised that something important was going on and I kept on watching and waiting, seeing a rainbow growing even more intense and quietly multiplying until there were three of them, another fainter and the third the faintest and fairest of all silhoetted against the background of the approaching storm... it was a major turning point in my life.
I learned to look further at that moment, realising that there was more than met the eye, absorbing the forms and the colours, wondering and waiting for meaning that might or might not be there.
There are always moments I am brought back to remembering... puddles of water at the garage on which thin films of oil float and scatter the light, breaking the drabness of mechanical self-absorption into a riot of swirling colour and abstraction, neither past nor present but ever changing... the colouring exercises at school in which I never seemed to be able to whatever I needed to do in a way that satisfied my teacher, combining the "wrong" colours or forms or invariably colouring outside of the lines that were dictated to me... watering the garden, creating my own rainbows and watching in fascination the beauty in the droplets of the mist I'd created. All sorts of moments helping remind me that there is a whole realm of meaning far beyond that whichI face daily...
Rainbow Song
Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue.
I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
You can sing one too!
Listen with your eyes,
Listen with your eyes,
And sing everything you see.
You can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing a long with me.
Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue.
You can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Now you've sung one too!
Photo made last year whilst on holidays...
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Laughing stock...
I should have known better than to imagine that things had been solved by the end of the day yesterday. It appears that the NS (Dutch Railways) are now taking their time to do some mantainance and get their rolling stock reorganised as well, so the evening rush hour dissolved into a kind of ants-nest festival with a bit of jostling and some muttering.
It was interesting though, you get to see people at their funniest and their worst at these moments...
This morning wasn't much better... missed one train and had to change twice, but the mood was pretty pleasant really...
*****
more later, my brain hurts right now...
It was interesting though, you get to see people at their funniest and their worst at these moments...
This morning wasn't much better... missed one train and had to change twice, but the mood was pretty pleasant really...
*****
more later, my brain hurts right now...
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Confusion Central
Hmmm... just going to feed my somewhat unhealthy obsession with trains, stations, travelling and photography in general :D
Yesterday a train carrying 1900 tons of metal and stones derailed just outside of Amsterdam Central Station. Of course, on our side of it, so that no trains were able to get in or out for most of the night and only very infrequently this morning.
Seeing as I couldn't get to work on time anyway, I made thankful misuse of the situation to make some pictures, have a look around and do a little experimenting, with varying success.
These were the best ones, will have to try and figure out how I can get the camera more stabilised and get rid of the blurring in low light situations.
So you wait, and fill your time as constructively as possible. Some reading their newspapers for the third time, others adjusting their make-up and other just staring blankly into thin air and wondering how to amuse themselves before they start grumbling about the lack of service etc...
... or just keep staring at the information boards themselves and hope that things might, just might change in about three seconds (or five, or twenty)...
It certainly was an interesting start to the day, albeit with having to take all sorts of detours to get here, but who cares!
I don't :D
Yesterday a train carrying 1900 tons of metal and stones derailed just outside of Amsterdam Central Station. Of course, on our side of it, so that no trains were able to get in or out for most of the night and only very infrequently this morning.
Seeing as I couldn't get to work on time anyway, I made thankful misuse of the situation to make some pictures, have a look around and do a little experimenting, with varying success.
These were the best ones, will have to try and figure out how I can get the camera more stabilised and get rid of the blurring in low light situations.
So you wait, and fill your time as constructively as possible. Some reading their newspapers for the third time, others adjusting their make-up and other just staring blankly into thin air and wondering how to amuse themselves before they start grumbling about the lack of service etc...
... or just keep staring at the information boards themselves and hope that things might, just might change in about three seconds (or five, or twenty)...
It certainly was an interesting start to the day, albeit with having to take all sorts of detours to get here, but who cares!
I don't :D
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