In a world of illusion...

Yay stuff!

2009-07-13T21:39:05Z

Had my graduation ceremony last Friday. I invited my parents, one of my grandmas (not the one I stayed with last month -- she didn't feel quite up to it), my sis and her boyfriend, and my sis' in-laws, who are good friends of ours. Would've invited Iris and Rel, too, but I thought Rel had said they'd be away the 10th... though I saw Rel made a post on the 11th, so now I'm not sure. If they weren't, I'm sorry, my mistake guys...
I made a few cakes, too -- one for us, one for my prof. I'm getting better at this home-made fondant thing, and I taught myself to properly sculpt roses :-)
Picture of the one for us (the one for my prof doesn't appear to have been photographed):

People even got me gifts for my graduation, yay! My parents let me pick out some stuff I wanted at the Media Markt electronics store -- I got a Wii, Guitar Hero World Tour, Wii Fit, Wii Play and Super Paper Mario. I felt very spoiled after that -- and then they gave me money, too! Hella and Harry (Samir's mom and stepdad, i.e. sis's in-laws) got me Phoenix Wright: Justice For All for my DS, and some 'party picks' (the little skewer things you serve finger foods with) that look like nails (and even have a wooden board as a holder!). My grandma gave me some money, and a nice bouquet of flowers. My other grandma got my parents to buy me a bouquet of red roses (my fave flowers) in her name.

Guitar Hero is seriously awesome, by the way. Renske and Samir (that would be my sis and her bf) invited me over to their place Saturday night to play, so we hauled the entire shebang over to Amsterdam Noord (my dad was nice enough to give me a ride), and then our little electronic band -- called Binary Trifecta, a cool name the randomizer came up with -- played well into the early hours of the morning, until I fell asleep on the couch and Renske managed to accidentally buy a Hawaii performance for most of our earnings, which is when we decided it was time for bed.

Translation test at potential employer tomorrow. Let's hope I don't screw up. I'm second in line for the job, afaik (they said they wanted to wait if their intern wanted the position before deciding if they'd offer it to me), and it sounds really nice, so fingers crossed...

My week (and the next one)

2009-07-05T16:11:47Z

Got back from London late last Monday night (see myarra for a report) and slept through most of Tuesday.
Thursday I went over to Sna & Lies' new place to help paint. I was assigned to the bedroom team on Thursday. We painted two walls pinkish-red (camelia, now renamed 'Chuck Norris Red' for its absolute manliness), one purplish-silver (was supposed to be pinkish-silver, but the idiots at the home improvement store put both the purple and the pinkish-silver pigments into the same tin of paint, leaving us with one tin of white that should've been purple, and one tin of purplish silver), and the last one (light) purple (using a new tin of paint we got).
Friday saw another day of painting, the living room and hallway this time. The walls became green, and we (that's Lies, Silly and me) did a pretty good job until we got to the last wall... it seemed to dry a bit weird and spotty, and we didn't understand why, until a light blinked on in my head -- "isn't that where we switched to a fresh tin of paint?" It was, and it was one shade off. Grmbl. Oh well, shit happens. Had a nice bbq after painting, and then put together some chairs. Rik (not sure on the spelling) walked me to the tram, and I got home well past midnight.
Yesterday, I just went over for the big 'end of moving weekend' bbq, which was fun, but would've been more fun if I'd been feeling a bit better. You see, when I was on my way there, my face started to feel like it was literally on fire. Ow. At first I thought I was allergic to the sunscreen I'd used, but it was just my face hurting (when I'd put sunscreen on every exposed bit of skin on my body), and washing my face didn't help. Then I realized it'd started hurting near my sinuses, and that it felt a lot like the burning feeling I get when I get certain metal salts (especially zinc) on my skin, so I figured it was probably the nose spray I'd used that morning. I think there were some salts in that stuff that triggered an allergic reaction, which irritated a nerve, making my face feel all burned. Anyway, it sucked, but after a while it died down again. Unfortunately, this was near the end of the bbq, so I was pretty happy when a few of us decided that there would be an afterparty at Simon's. Pretty nice afterparty, too -- I got to read a WoD book (Urban Legends) that I hadn't read yet, and I was forced to play Guitar Hero, which was pretty funny (because I suck at it).

Tomorrow will be my interview at a subtitling company, then Wednesday I do believe a few of us were going to see the new Transformers film, and the rest of the week shall be spent on putting together a Powerpoint for my graduation on Friday, as well as baking a cake for the same. Lots to do!

How hard is it to care for an old lady??

2009-06-20T21:04:35Z

Went to stay with my gran last week, because she just came home from the nursing home she was staying at because she broke her hip (for the 2nd time) and I wanted to help her out a bit. Seriously though... that house is CURSED. I'm usually not THAT accident-prone...
List of injuries sustained the past week:

- Bruised ligaments in right foot due to twisted ankle
- Bruises on left knee, right foot and right knee
- Scraped right knee
- Bruised ribcage on the right
(the above all due to getting my foot caught in my jeans and taking a tumble, twisting my ankle and banging my ribs on something -- probably my gran's walker, but it happened kinda fast so I don't quite remember)
- Painful left hip (from limping due to the busted ankle)
- Nicks on a few fingers (from losing control of stupidly dull knives in the kitchen)
- Three scratches (one bleeding) on my right wrist
- Bleeding scratch on my left boob
- Painful stomach (kicked)
(the above due to tripping over a garbage can while holding an easily freaked out kitty in my arms)
- Bruised up legs (from the rolling suitcase thingy I borrowed from my mom banging into them -- the bar you pull it along with is too short to control the thing properly)
- Painful tailbone - NO IDEA WHY.

Seriously. This is an old lady's house, not boot camp or something. I just hope it doesn't devour her whole, now that I'm gone...

Celebration

2009-06-09T00:31:41Z

Hey everyone,

Because I officially graduate this Friday (though the graduation ceremony is only next month), everyone who feels like it is invited to come over to my place in the afternoon/evening for a little celebratory get-together. Let me know (by comments or email) if you want to come, so I know how much food to get.

Poem/lyrics thingy, inspired by visual illusion

2009-06-02T18:42:48Z

Limbo

The vase is a face in reverse
The dancer dances both ways
Universally strange universe
Do you see what you see? Do you say what you say?

Secret compartments are waiting for me
A door lies ahead, rabbit's gone with the key
The rabbit's a duck and the changes go on
Do I see what I see? Am I here when he's gone?

The door is ahead -- is a hat
A duck or a dove or a hare
Cycles into a shower of silks
Do you know what you know? Will you care once you're there?

And the cat in the hat isn't dead
Nor alive, 'till I open the door
Turn the key, and I see it turn me
...Will my life ever be as before?

Done

2009-05-26T10:29:15Z

Just handed in my graduation request (aanvraag getuigschrift). Officially done June 13th, graduation ceremony on July 3rd. Yay... now I need to find work and grow up. :/

Also: The mental health people keep trying to convince me to go live in a special housing project for high-functioning autistic people. I just don't see that happening... okay, I don't like the thought of living all by my lonesome (I don't like being alone for too long, and I suck at planning my days on my own), but I'm pretty much far quirkier, louder, and more outgoing than any other autist I know. I like throwing weird costume parties, or having people over for movies or dinner, or, y'know, doing whatever random shit I manage to come up with. Which is probably not very conductive to a proper relationship with neighbors who prefer to be quiet and play at their hobbies on their own (which is most autistic people I know through support groups).
Also, just TRY getting a partner when you live in a place like that. Might as well just stamp 'malfunctioning' on my forehead...

Eye of the Storm

2009-04-24T03:38:07Z

The trials you now are facing
They are not greater than your will
For there is nothing under heaven
You cannot overcome

See the door that lies before you
And know this too shall pass
The confrontation of your fears
In strength drawn from the past

Where the silent voices whisper
Find the course that is your own
And however great the obstacle
You will never be alone

For I have watched the path of angels
And I have heard the heavens roar
There is strife within the tempest
But there is calm in the eye of the storm.

From: The Crüxshadows, Eye of the Storm

Almost done...

2009-04-22T15:48:00Z

Thesis is done. Now I just need to burn the material I used for the subtitles onto a few DVDs, make a pretty bound version of the heap-of-paper, and hand it in for grading. If it gets a passing grade (which I do think it will; judging from my prof's remarks, though probably -- sadly -- not the 8.5 I need to graduate with honors), I'll have my M.A. title sometime this summer (graduation ceremony is in July, official graduation date somewhere in June iirc).

And then, full-time job hunt... I've sent in a few applications already, but it seems that all the translation agencies out there are looking for people with 5-10 years of experience, which... well, how am I supposed to GET experience if they won't hire me? Illogical, hm.
If the job thing doesn't work out, I'll just go freelance, but that means I'm dependent on the goodwill of the agencies doling out freelance jobs here and there, which means no steady income, which means finding an apartment will be even more of a hassle. Seeing as moving out before winter is high on my to-do list, that would sort of suck. Oh well.

Bye bye, kitty

2009-04-15T21:38:34Z

My cat Minet was put to sleep tonight. People expect me to be sad, but I´m ok -- it was to be expected, she was old and sick, and I was already at peace with it. Still, I'd like to tell you a bit about her, remember her on here.

I got Minet when I was eleven. She was the runt of a double litter (mother and daughter had joined their litters), a tiny mewling red girl. She was angry with me for taking her away from her home, and I was annoyed I didn't get one of the bouncier, happier kittens. I wasn't exactly nice to her those first few months -- I was only eleven, and my idea of disciplining a kitten was to hold her until she stopped fighting me, or to drop her if she bit me. Still, by and large, we grew on each other, and we became friends.

When she was about a year old, she went into heat. Normal cats would mate with any tom, right? Not her. She had a boyfriend. A red and white tom, beautiful through all his battle scars. They fought off competing toms together. And believe it or not, they mated with their faces towards each other, like humans do. No, I wasn't aware that was anatomically possible for a cat, either, but I saw it with my own eyes.

She had four red and white kittens (I know, backyard breeding... I was twelve, ok?), and we kept two of them, Mio and Marie. One of the others went to live with our neighbors. Mio unfortunately died when he was a little over a year (freak accident). Vosje (the eldest) died of a brain tumor a few years ago. Marie still lives with us.
When the kittens were little, Minet was a really good mom. She even went out and caught them some pre-packaged chicken fillets (and was really annoyed when we wouldn't let her feed those to them).

When the kittens were grown up, and I was still growing up, she decided I was her kitten now. Often enough, when I'd had another teenage fight with my parents and was laying on my bed crying, she'd lay beside my head and lick the tears off my face. Of course, if I didn't stop crying after that, she'd paw my face and bite my nose. "Stop making noises, or the bird-of-prey will eat you".

She was my cat-mom, and my cat-baby again when she got old. She was a weirdo milk addict who believed she was part human. She never understood the idea of 'under' (put a hanky over an object and she'd get entirely confused). She was my kitty, but she was old and sick, degraded and in pain. So we had her killed. Such is life -- it always ends. I just hope she enjoyed most of it.

De kaashaas bestaat!

2009-04-12T08:37:51Z

Ik heb hem zelf gezien...

Vrolijk Pasen iedereen!

And a Happy Easter to my foreign readers!

Interview meme

2009-03-31T20:20:09Z

The rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you ANY five questions.
3. You WILL update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

I replied twice, so it's actually 10 questions for me.

woran's questions (translated, because otherwise I'd have a half-Dutch post ;)):

1: So how did you start LARPing?

Long story. When I was 16 or 17, I went to the first EFF (@ the Archeon), and there were these weird people with spells on bits of paper, and I had no clue what they were doing. Thought it was some silly cult thing or something like that. However, about a year later, my sister brought home this magazine that had an article about LARP in it, and it sounded really cool (also, I now understood that what I saw was pretend magic, and it made sense again).

Later, in the summer of '01, I met a bunch of guys who were into rp'ing and LARPing, and I loved all the LARP props, though they made it sound all complicated (guys trying to impress the little girl... *grins*). I did start rpíng with them, though.

One summer later, I actually signed up for a beginners' LARP and my parents would pay if I managed to get my propedeuse. I, ehm, went to Lowlands instead of studying for my exams, and failed a few subjects. Exit LARP attempt #1.

Then, a few years later -- '04, iirc -- my band played @ the first Midwinterfair @ Archeon. We arrived, tried to get to the stage area to put our stuff away, and almost stumbled over a roomful of sleeping LARP people. Turned out the Cauldron delegation had been assigned the front-stage area as a sleeping spot. We got into a conversation with this guy in a marvelous mage costume, who introduced himself as Sna. :) After a bit, I wandered off to the market, but my friends/bandmates stayed and chatted with Sna a bit more, and got told about Born. They told me, and we all signed up. And actually went there, too. Finally, after 5 years, a succeeded attempt... ;)

So after that, I got busy with school and stuff, and I never signed up for any LARP, until my friends went to a fair again and got an EE flyer. Went to the website, thought hard about signing up for Lex, but didn't, in the end. But I did keep checking the website, and when I read about Exodus, I loved the idea. Borrowed a costume, created a character and signed up. So Exodus I was my 1st LARP. Never played another LARP yet, either. Something about costs, and all that. :P

2: Who's your favorite writer?

Wow, hard one. I like stories, not writers, usually. If I have to pick one, I'd say Isaac Asimov, because I like almost all his stuff. But there's so many more... Philip K. Dick, Robert Silverberg, Jack Vance, Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Terry Pratchett and many many others from all kinds of eras of literature. And that's not even counting graphic novels, and poetry, etcetera...

3: What do you have with you at all times?

Chapstick.

4: What animal would you most like to have as a pet?

Another hard one... I love a lot of animals, but I think it's sort of sad to keep animals that need to be in cages or aquariums all the time. I'd love to have an axalotl, but it would need to be confined to an aquarium, which is kind of sad in my eyes.
The only animal I know that can be relatively free-range and that's still one of my fave animals is a cat, so I'll have to go with that. I love rats, too, but I'm not sure if I could care for them properly -- I'm more experienced with cats. I'm not really a dog person, they're too needy for me.

5: What would you really like to have?

A house/apartment/place of my own.

pieter_d's questions:

1: Name three things you would NOT want to change about yourself.

My hair (apart from minor things, like black streaks or something), my creativity, my thirst for knowledge.

2: What is your favorite *fiction* story- book, movie, comic, game or otherwise?

GAH hard one again! I love many stories. I guess I'll go with Vacuum Flowers, a punk SF novel I read long ago, because it's really weird and wonderful. Or the Dr Urth story about the silicony (silicon-based creature), by Asimov. Forgot the title, though.

3: Imagine the following scene, and then think about which road you would take.
You need to catch the bus. The bus stop is on the opposite side of the block. To get there, you can go either via the left side of the block, or the right side. Both take exactly the same amount of time.
If you take the left side, you walk past a pastry shop and bakery that always smells deliciously like freshly baked yummies.
If you take the right side, you walk past a clothing shop that always has the most awesome of dresses, shoes and accessories.

Do you miss the bus?

No, I'll just visit the stores after I go wherever I'm off to, and spend the rest of the day dreaming about what I'll buy. :)

4: You are given the opportunity to choose any one object in the world, and the object you choose would then belong to you. The object must be buyable (so not "mount everest" or "the ability to walk again")

That's not a question, it's a statement. But assuming you want to know what object I'd choose, I'd go and find a nice and pretty (and uninhabited!) old mansion, and that's what I'd wish for. I'll even let you stay over, if you want to. :P

5: A well-spoken, non-descript man of average height in a grey suit approaches you and gives you a small box. He says that the size of the box and the size of what is IN the box have no relation. Inside is the source of all evil.
As you open the box, what do you see?

A human brain. Eww.

Note to Self

2009-03-23T15:03:33Z

Next time you're asked to help pitch a huge tent, GET A COAT FIRST. Dammit.
I hate being sick... I'm cold even though my temp is 38 Celsius, my body feels like somebody's having fun with knives, I can hardly swallow and it hurts to breathe. On that note, how the hell does having no tonsils help anything if having the flu just makes the damn SCARS swell and hurt? Oh, and my head feels like it's about to explode. And watching TV makes it worse. And I already finished my Constantine/Hellblazer graphic novel collection thing (btw: Hold Me is so my new fave story!). As well as the Warcraft manga thing, that ended at a cliffhanger with no warning! Now I'll have to find the sequel. Once I'm actually able to leave my bed again, that is. Grmbl.

Uh, yeah. Being sick and bored out of my skull makes me grumpy and whiny. Sorry 'bout that. :/

Meme: How much have I changed in 6 years?

2009-03-19T12:30:56Z

Nabbed from myarra

1.) How old were you?: 20
2.) Where did you go to school? I didn't
3.) Where did you work? Praxis (aka Hell)
4.) Where did you live? Amsterdam, with my parents
5.) Where did you hang out? Arnhem, with Martin and Jorrit and their friends, and at the Vondelpark with Yuri and with Iris & Rel
6.) Did you wear glasses? Yup.
7.) Who was your best friend: Martin and Iris
8.) How many tattoos did you have? None
9.) How many piercings did you have? None
10.) What car did you drive? None
11.) Had you been to a real party? Yeah
12.) Had You had your heart broken? Not really -- been disappointed, yeah, but nothing that bad.
13.) Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? Single

-------------3 years ago----------

1.) How old were you?: 23
2.) Where did you go to school? University of Utrecht, about to graduate
3.) Where did you work? Nowhere, except the odd poetry translation job (through my mom)
4.) Where did you live? Same as above
5.) Where did you hang out? Band, Iris and Rel's place, concerts, goth/fantasy fairs
6.) Did you wear glasses? Yup
7.) Who was your best friend? Iris, Martin, Rel
8.) How many tattoos did you have? None
9.) How many piercings did you have? None
10.) What car did you drive? None
11.) Had you been to a real party? Yeah
12.) Had your heart broken? Not really -- I don't consider my heart 'broken' that fast ;)
13.) Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? Single

--------------------Today--------------------

1.) How old are you?: 26
2.) Where do you go to school? VU University of Amsterdam, about to graduate :)
3.) Where do you work? Not anywhere atm, looking for a job :)
4.) Where do you live? Same
5.) Where do you hang out? Rel's place, my place, Pieter's place, anywhere fun ;)
6.) Do you wear glasses? Yup
7.) Who is your best friend? Iris and Rel
8.) How many tattoos do you have? None, but I do want one
9.) How many piercings do you have? None
10.) What car did you drive? None
11.) Have you been to a real party? Yeah
12.) Had your heart broken? See above
13.)Single/Taken/Divorced? Single

Life update

2009-03-18T18:33:37Z

Whoa... long time no post! Been a bit busy. So... what did I do? In somewhat chronological order:

-Had a movie night with Pieter and Tineke, who surprised me with really cool birthday gifts (magic supplies from Pieter, and a really sweet antique silver tea set from Tineke, plus a very happy little bumblebee plushie she made for me for the gift meme)
-Pieter and I visited Martin (and Do and Martin's coworker Cynthia) to watch the finals of The Next Uri Geller
-I booked the trip to London for Rel, Rij, Joren, Cynthia (my friend Cynthia, that is), Pieter and me. Yay, shopping, museums and Enigma!
-I got to the prefinal version of my thesis! Just a few weeks and it'll be done.
-My grandmother broke her hip, but they fixed her up nicely at the hospital (metal pin) and she's well on the way to recovery.
-Rel and me went to Nightwish

Aaand that leaves us at today. Tomorrow I'm off to the fairground with my sister, and Friday-Sunday is Exodus.
I'm (yet again) kinda worried, because my char seems to have annoyed some other characters last time, and I'm kind of unsure whether that means I myself am annoying actual players/NPCs. I hope not. I don't intend to, but somehow I always seem to end up with people misunderstanding my intentions, or getting annoyed instead of just telling me what I'm doing wrong, so I can fix it. That's one of the fucked up parts of being autistic -- often, I just don't realize that I'm doing something 'wrong' (i.e. something that annoys people). So I hope I'm not going to find myself at the center of some unintended animosity thing, or whatever.

Ah well. We'll see. At least now you know I'm still alive. :P

Atheist Bus Fun :D

2009-02-19T23:09:18Z

Know that Atheist Bus Campaign I talked about a few weeks ago? Somebody took a picture of that and turned it into a sign generator thingy. Lookit what I made!

Try it yourself at this website.

Another year has come and gone...

2009-02-11T21:43:19Z

As of yesterday, I'm 26 years old. More than a quarter century. Weird, that. I'm still in school (okay, working on my master's thesis, technically), I still live at home, I'm still single, I still love shiny things, weird stuffed animals, and kitties. I still ~~want to~~ am secretly convinced I will be famous and have a manor full of Victorian strangeness one day.
In other words... still not getting this 'growing up' thing. And am not very much into the 'growing old' version, either.

Anyway, I had a birthday, and a cake, and spaghetti*, and gifts. Iris and Rel came over, as well as Renske and Samir. They tried to sing Happy Birthday, but I stopped them. Maybe at my party, but it's rather cheesy if you ask me. So then they whispered it. Which was funny.

Spoils of ~~war~~ birthday:

-A cake pan (which I'm going to exchange for a slightly smaller diameter version, so that it matches my mom's cake pan and I can make sandwich cakes)
-A ticket to the Nightwish concert next month
-Five dark red roses
-Omnibus version of the first two Lucifer Box novels (twice; will exchange one of them tomorrow)
-75 Euros, with which I bought the following:
-A pinstripe undershirt
-A faux-satin short-sleeved shirt
-A bright red lipstick
-A somewhat Japanese-goth-ish blazer (looks like a very frilly version of an old-style officer's jacket, in a stripey pattern) -- will have to go back to the store tomorrow, as they left the security tag on :(
-A hat (Finally found one! In the men's dept. at H&M. Silly big head of mine's too large for girls' hats.)
-A bag with a print of a bunny, which has an actual fluffball as a tail. It came with a change purse with a mini fluffy-tailed bunny! ^^

So I guess it was a pretty good birthday. Despite the getting old thing.

*Cake and spaghetti were served as separate courses, in case you were wondering.

Summer Plans (or: Field Trip!)

2009-02-08T23:17:35Z

Hey everyone -- just a heads up, so I know who wants to come.

I don't have any dates yet, but sometime the coming summer, I'd like to plan a trip to London, for myself and whoever wants to come. The more the merrier, really, because if we're a group, we could probably book a dorm at one of the hostels in town (probably Astor Kensington or Astor Museum Inn, because they rock), and it'd be a lot more affordable.

If there's going to be a London run of Derren Brown's theatre show Enigma, I'd love to go there, so anyone who'd like some theatrical magic, please say so. Of course, you'd be free to just do something else that night. There's lots of lovely musicals, as well as some pretty nice clubs/bars that you could visit.

Things I would want to plan into the trip would be:
-Shopping
-Museums
-Swimming @ Hampstead Heath
-Theatre show
-Some sightseeing (changing of the guards, houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey)
-Possibly a visit to Hampton Court

If anybody who'd like to come has additional ideas, that's cool, too.
I'll try and fit these things together so that we'd be able to do most of them in what will probably be a 3 or 4-day visit.

Oh, and personally, I'd want to travel by Eurostar, as flying tends to wreak absolute havoc on my ears and sinuses (last time I flew to London, I spent half the visit very dizzy, in pain and unable to hear very well), but if others prefer flying, we could always just meet up at the hostel or something. :)

So... let me know if you're interested, and I'll mail you when plans are a bit more definite.
When they are, I'll have to book things that sell out sort of quickly, so I'd need a yes or a no within a few days at that point -- and payment not very much later. So, who wants to be on the list?

It'll be a lot of fun, I promise!

As promised...

2009-02-06T03:20:13Z

I seem to recall promising a rant. Kinda forgot about it, but here it is.

Item the first: The refusal of the humanist ad. You may have heard about the ad that ran on London buses: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
I love that ad. Not offensive -- at the very least, not more so than those "I am the Light and the Way" kind of ads you see in stations everywhere -- but it gives you a friendly, lighthearted push in the direction of thinking for yourself. And, as I've said on other forums, if you're firmly convinced that your God IS the real deal, you can simply say "Oh my, how misguided those poor people are", and go on your merry way. Not so to the Christian crowd. They sued the people behind the ad for making a false/unprovable statement. They preached and wrote and whined about how MEAN and WRONG this ad was. Oh, Teh Dramaz.
...as opposed to their own God-fearing ads, I assume?

Anyway, a Dutch humanist group took up this idea, and has saved up some money to place a Dutch version of this ad: 'Er is waarschijnlijk geen god. Durf zelf te denken. En geniet van dit leven!' (There's probably no god. Dare to think for yourself. And enjoy this life!) Guess what? Ad-space selling company CBS Outdoor refused the ad, on the grounds that they do not accept ads that are offensive, religious or political. That's interesting, because they're the people selling ad-space on train and subway stations -- locations where I clearly remember seeing God-themed ads (the obvious 'The Light and the Way' and 'gave His only Son' things, but also the anti-cursing ads that tell you not to insult God and his son). Double standard, ahoy! Luckily, the humanists won't give up, and are looking into ad zeppelins now. I look forward to seeing some rationality floating over this city.

Second verse, same as the first: Now that we're on the topic of the religious ad-war, some Christian organization is planning on mass-spamming our snail mail inboxes with brochures that advocate creationism. The old 'evolution is just a theory, you can't prove it' song and dance. Yeah, I can't PROVE that Great Ctulhu doesn't lie dreaming deep under the sea, either -- it just seems very unlikely to me. Of course, I will defend their right to spam me. As long as I can reserve the right to point and laugh at their irrational argumentation. Expect a review of the brochure when I get it.

By the way, the Christian dude from this organization who was interviewed in the newspaper offered an interesting opinion. "There either is a God, or there isn't. If there isn't one, both me and a non-believer are on an equal footing. However, if there is one, the non-believer is very much out of luck."
I see a few flaws here. First off, religion requires an investment. Time, at the very least, and usually money, too. I consider lotteries a waste of money, and I do believe those offer better odds at 'winning'. Of course, losing the lottery doesn't damn you to an eternity of suffering -- but as they say, one goes to Heaven for the weather, but to Hell for the company. I'd rather be among the free thinkers than among the shepherd's flock.
Also, even if you're thinking of this as a rational bet, it is NOT 50/50. You see, if there's a 50% chance of there being a God... well, that just says something about the existence of a god. You cannot just assume that your god of choice is automatically the winning gamble. If we simplify matters, and lump Jahwe, God and Allah together as one god (because, let's face it, the Bible and the Quran are just the second and third installment in the series), we still have the Hindu semi-pantheon, Asatru, Greek/Roman, Egyptian, Mayan and Inca pantheons, Buddhist maybe-a-gods, and so on and so forth. I'm all for equal opportunity in the religious world -- why would Christ-god get dibs on this existence gig? So even if you believe there's a 50% chance that there's a god (I don't -- the only evidence is hearsay, for crying out loud...), there's still only a rather small chance that it's actually YOUR god. Worth the investment? Maybe that lotto ticket isn't looking so bad, all of a sudden...

By the way, I'm still kind of miffed that I didn't get the plastic replica fetus that the anti-choicers promised to spam us with. I wanted to put it in a jar with some food dye... goodbye, proper start to a mad scientist's collection. Must've either come to their senses, or run out of fetuses. Sadly, knowing anti-choicers, I suspect the latter...

Weird dreams

2009-02-05T13:14:19Z

Posting from uni, as I was SUPPOSED to have an appointment with my thesis supervisor, but the damn subway was about 15 minutes late, which made me late by that same amount. So I get there... no supervisor. Wait for an additional 20 minutes, he appears. "O hey, you weren't there, so I went somewhere else". Which I never do when HE is late. Damn power balance. And then he had to go teach class, so now my appointment has been moved to Monday. Yeah, I'm sure to finish that thesis soon, this way. So anyway. Now I have 30 minutes to kill before my meeting with my 'students with autism' counselor, so I figured I might as well post some stuff on my LJ.

Dreams. WEIRD dreams, last night. First, I dreamt that I was at some LARP, and my char had somehow gotten locked up in a haunted windmill with one other char, while everybody else was out following a major plotline. So of course, after a couple hours, it gets dark and I get bored, so I stick up my hand and make my way to the OC area to get some sleep. Wake up the next day (still in my dream -- I dreamt about waking up, didn't actually wake up), only to be approached by the SL and told that I missed the haunting plot, and because I wasn't there, it's assumed that my char remained in the windmill and died. Oh, and that that was a good thing anyway, since, according to them, my char was annoying everyone and sticking her nose in other people's plot. Was about to do some bodily harm to said SL, when I realized that it was all a dream. That's a bit of a safety mechanism I taught myself in my early teens -- whenever a dream gets too emotional, I become aware that I'm dreaming, and have the choice to change the circumstances, wake up, or go into another dream.

This time, I chose to dream something else. Dream-awareness goes away again, and I'm in my room, tidying up my DVD collection. Grab a Derren Brown DVD, and for some reason inspect the cover. It says "producer: Rob Greene". Which, now that I'm awake, makes no sense at all - that's supposed to be Andy Nyman, I think. Which makes me wonder where on earth I got that Rob Greene name, and why it was inserted on the DVD cover like that.

Oh, and when I inspected the DVD cover a bit further (as I was vaguely aware of something not making sense), there was a vague picture of two guys kissing hidden in the background. Then I woke up. Dammit, just when it was getting interesting...

More when I get home. Expect some discussion of that idiot anti-evolution ad campaign, and the discrimination against the humanist ad. Read about it in the newspaper yesterday, and it got me kind of riled up. Stay tuned for rantage.

W00t...

2009-02-03T00:07:37Z

Finished chapter 3. Which is good, because I now have the bulk of my thesis done (just needs an intro and a conclusion), and bad, because I only have half the word count I'm supposed to have (...and here I was thinking that quality beats quantity :P). I was supposed to have it finished yesterday, but I effectively lost my Saturday due to some bad planning (that turned out to be kinda fun).

See, I was gonna go watch Batman Begins over at pieter_d's last Friday. Cool, right? We met up at the train station, found a bus, headed to his home, and did some shopping for dinner. Watched some YouTube, he showed me some awesomecool card tricks, and then we cooked dinner (tacos...loltacos!). Had dinner, then the dessert I'd brought as my part of the gift meme. Some more magic, popcorn making, and movie! Good movie.

Except, halfway through the movie, my dad called me to ask what time I'd get home. So we looked up the buses, only to find that my last possible connection left about 10 mins from then. Which, y'know, not good... wanna see rest of movie! So we decided I'd just stay the night.

Which was rather cool -- we spent all night talking about comics, doing magic and looking at YouTube vids, like the entirety of Derren Brown's An Evening Of Wonders (the theatre show me and myarra went to). One of the parts of the show ended on a really funny still, so we made a Derren Brown-macro. Which was kinda hilarious, especially at 6 am when you've not slept all night.

Then we fell asleep on the living room couches, and slept for about 2 hours. After which we had breakfast, and then decided we needed more YouTube and more magic. Then we looked up the buses again, and as one was about to leave, we decided I'd catch the next one. Except when I was about to leave, it turned out that Pieter had thrown my pudding mould (from the dessert) in the trash. When that had been retrieved, I'd missed another bus.

So we set off to catch the next bus... only to have me exclaim "FUCK, it's Saturday". Which is poor student code for "Oh my, I'm unable to travel because my travelcard isn't valid on weekends, and I believe I'm entirely broke". Checked my account at the ATM, and was indeed broke. So Pieter lent me some money for the bus, and I called my dad to have him transfer some money to my account for the train ticket.

Got to the station, bought a ticket, then found out that the service to Holendrecht station wasn't running, and I had to take the coach service that Dutch Rail had thankfully provided. Which turned out to be an hour and a half of loud muzak, but I did witness something pretty funny.

At the Maarssen train station, the Dutch Rail people had helpfully cordoned off the entrances to the platforms with caution tape, since the service wasn't running. There were also people in neon yellow vests that said 'INFO' standing around. Oh, and a coach that said 'NS dienst' ('Dutch Rail service'). So guess what I saw a lady do? That's right. Crawl under the caution tape, and make her way up to the platform anyway. Good luck with that...

So I got home late in the afternoon, rather frozen from the walk home, had a hot shower, some food, and slept for about 20 hours.

Sunday, I had a pretty bad headache (sniffles), so I got only about one page done.

Which meant I had to finish the chapter today... and I did. Yay! Now I'm on schedule again! ^^

And rambling. Yay lack of sleep. Need to get some, 'cause I do have a dentist's appointment tomorrow...

Late-night musings

2009-01-26T01:42:56Z

Say one of those self-styled mediums holds a seance to invoke the spirit of a famous dead person. At the seance, while the medium claims to be able to speak to Dead Person's spirit, somebody else shows up claiming to be the reincarnation of that same Dead Person.
Assuming both have the same general knowledge of the DP's life (and manner of death), who do you think will win? And by win, I mean convince the audience that their version is the real deal. Or do you think the audience's heads would explode?

It's like the pirates vs ninjas of wooism! Please discuss.

Coolest meme ever, or: Present time!

2009-01-22T14:44:15Z

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

- What I create will be just for you.
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- You will receive your item before the end of the year (or sooner).
- You will have no clue what the item is going to be. It could be a story or poetry. It could be jewelry. I may draw, paint, collage or photoshop something. I might bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to repost this meme and make and send out five surprises of your own.

Now, any takers? :P

New band member wanted :)

2009-01-18T02:17:42Z

Hey guys and gals,

As most of you know, I write lyrics (and sometimes do a bit of singing) for a band called Masked. We do a kind of gothic rock/symphonic metal blend. My sister plays the keys (synth), but as she's about to graduate and start a real job (at the University of Amsterdam... whee my sis is smart :)), she has less time to devote to practicing and playing. Which means that (with her consent) we're kinda sorta looking for a new keys person.

We play together infrequently, but we're trying to do so at least twice a month, and we expect people to practice their music in order to be able to actually play it at those sessions. Music is usually written by our guitar player/male vocalist and our singer, but anybody's free to contribute.

We play in Amsterdam, so if you're interested, it'd be a good idea to either live in the city or have a way of getting to it. ;)

Anybody interested? Or know someone who might be? I'd be glad to hear from you! :)

Because everybody's doing it...

2008-12-31T02:33:08Z

Question meme thingy.

Do you have someone of the opposite sex you can tell everything to?
Yeah, my dad.

Are you listening to music right now?
Nope.

Last time you saw fireworks, With who?
Today, with my mom and dad, we were walking over to a neighbor's house when some arsehole and his arsehole-in-training kid set it off.

Where is your mom right now?
Sleeping.

Where is your dad?
Also sleeping.

Do you prefer warm or cold weather?
Neither -- I like spring and autumn weather, when it's not freezing, but not too hot either.

Are you happy with life?
Occasionally.

Any one see your last kiss?
What kiss?

What mood are you in right now?
Nervous (need to get a LOT of stuff done before tomorrow night)

Are you mad at anyone right now?
Not really.

What are you currently hearing right now?
The sound of my own typing.

Will your next kiss be a mistake?
I certainly hope not -- I'm saving it so it won't be.

Could you go a day without eating?
No. If I don't eat a proper breakfast, I get low blood sugar and faint.

Do you look more like your mom or your dad?
Neither, really. Or both, I guess.

Does the last person you talked to mean anything to you?
Yeah, that would be my dad.

How many clothes do you have in your closet?
Too many!

At what age do you want to be married?
Never. Love shouldn't be defined by a contract.

Did you have any unread text messages this morning when you woke up?
In the sense that I have some old automated missed-call messages that I never opened, yeah.

Where is your phone right now?
Downstairs, in my inside coat pocket.

Are you good at hiding your emotions?
Dunno, ask the people I'm hiding them from I guess?

Who is the last person you talked to on the phone today?
My sister.

Do you get along with girls or boys better?
Either -- I don't see all that many differences, aside from boobs and other obvious things.

If you could seek revenge on someone would you?
No, but I'll vividly imagine doing so. :P

Favorite month?
I don't really have one.

Excited for anything?
Party tomorrow night, and organizing the London trip come summer.

Who is your last text from and what does it say?
An automated text, saying I missed a call from home.

Do you know anyone with the same name as you?
Met a few, but not in the sense that I hang out with them or anything.

How's your heart lately?
Beating.

Are you happier single or in a relationship?
Haven't experienced relationship yet, so I can't say.

What do you wear more; jeans,sweat pants?
Jeans-ish.

You're a sharpie marker, what color are you?
Red.

What is one thing you do before you go to sleep?
Turning off the light. Oh, and (before that, of course) clearing out the dishwasher.

Have you ever broken someone's heart?
A few times, but never maliciously.

Have you ever walked outside in the snow barefoot?
I can vaguely recall doing so, which means that either I did, or this question is making me imagine I did.

Did you speak to your father today?
Of course -- we live in the same house, would be kind of hard not to.

Who was the last person you were on the phone with after 2am?
Today? Nobody. In general, probably Martin, as he also tends to be up late.

How will life be 4 years from now?
Job, house, cat. I think.

Was middle school a bad experience for you?
'Bad' doesn't even begin to describe it. That's one of the reasons I'd like to give talks to schoolkids about autism.

Have you ever hugged a complete stranger?
Yup. Apart from my tendency to hug entertainers to thank them for a good performance and/or a generously given autograph (which I don't think counts, because if I like their work, they're not COMPLETE strangers), there's the one time I was walking to the Melkweg to get some concert tickets, when a couple of builders came walking the other way, and one of them jokingly asked me for a hug. Which, to his surprise, I gave him. :)

Does the wallpaper on your phone mean something?
Yeah, it's myarra and me in London last summer.

Is anyone ashamed of you?
I hope not, but it could be.

Is there anyone mad at you?
Quite possibly. Though I try to be as nice to people as I can, I do make mistakes.

Whats the fondest memory you have?
Unfortunately, the way my memory works, it stores mostly bad experiences (probably as a sort of 'should avoid this next time' system, I guess). But if I think about it, it's probably the memory of the time, when I was really little, that I fell asleep in my dad's lap while telling him about how much I liked skippy-balls, and then woke up the next morning to a huge gift-wrapped skippy-ball.

Has someone close to you died of a murder?
No, unless you count suicide.

Is your favorite number three, five, or twelve?
Twelve, I guess. I like even numbers.

Have you kissed a random person for money?
...Eww.

Do you chew gum like a cow?
No. Chewing gum is GROSS. It smells, it looks stupid, it tastes bad, and it sounds horrid. All-out sensory assault, yay!

Do you have a crush on more than one person?
Not currently, I think. But I often do -- usually a male and a female, but two males or two females also happens.

Is it okay to like someone else when you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
Of course it is. Love is infinite.

Did you watch elmo as a child?
Nope, because Elmo wasn't in the Dutch Sesame Street cast when I was little.

What about bear in the big blue house?
Nope.

Do you tell your mom/dad everything?
No, but I do tell them a lot.

Are you sexually active?
Nope.

What do you like more, Fruits or Veggies?
Tomatoes, which are a bit of both, I think.

Do you know anyone who doesn’t eat meat?
Several.

When you throw up do you cry?
Not generally, no. Unless I'm feeling really bad.

Do you find it funny when someone snores?
No, it sounds horrid and it's bad for them, too.

Who do you talk to the most about your problems?
My mom and my counselor, I guess.

Are you single? If so, who do you like flirting with?
Yes, and people that flirt back but don't go all stalker on me, I guess. :P

Were you born in Florida?
No, were you?

Are you a myspace whore?
Nope.

Do you have a stickam, or a webcam too?
I think webcams are way overrated, so no.

Do you have a vagina or a penis, maybe even both?
I am of the Slot B persuasion.

My name is Stephanie, what’s yours?
Berber Anna.

Have you ever played hopscotch?
Yup.

Do you have aim?
Usually, yes.

What’s your favorite color out of these five? Green, Yellow, Blue, Pink, Or purple?
Pink.

What do you currently hear right now?
My computer humming. Are you obsessed with this question?

Where did you get the shirt you are wearing?
I'm wearing a sweater.

Do you wish you never dated someone you dated?
No.

Do you wear your seat belt in the car?
Yes.

Is the last person you hugged older than you?
That would be either my mom or my dad, so by necessity, yes. ;)

How has the week been?
Pretty good. Made gifts, gave gifts, received gifts. I like gifts. Also, did fun stuff like hiking with my dad and visiting family.

Did you ever waste too much time on someone?
Hell yes.

What color is your underwear seriously?
Knickers: White with little Snoopy and Woodstock cartoons. Bra: White with black flowers and black lace-up ribbons.

Last night, did you go to sleep smiling?
I honestly don't remember that.

Have you lived in a big city?
Have, am and will.

Have you ever moved away from a place and then moved back?
Nope.

When was the last time you cried?
Saturday night, watching the Muppets Christmas Carol. I always cry when Tiny Tim dies.

Who woke you up today?
I woke up because I was done sleeping...

Do you miss someone?
Not really.

What did you do yesterday?
Which yesterday? Monday, I visited family. Tuesday (technically yesterday, but I haven't slept yet), I visited neighbors and went shopping.

Is your bedroom clean?
HELL no.

Wow.

2008-12-30T22:44:13Z

Some of you may remember that earlier this year, I attended a taping of The Next Uri Geller. I saw there's a new season coming up, so I went looking for tickets. Last year, all you had to do was e-mail the production team, and they'd put you on the list for a free bus trip to the studios in Germany. This year? Taping's in Holland, but the tickets are 20 euros! Man, talk about a rip-off. Twenty euros for something that's televised live? Which is actually MORE entertaining when viewed on TV, due to the placement of the audience? I mean, not that I regret going there, I liked the excitement of a live TV show, and I gave Geller a hug (who can say that?), but I got a much better look at what was actually going on on stage when I watched the taped show after I got home. For 20 euros, I guess I'll be watching from the comfort of my own living room.

...I'll be in the studio again when it's me on stage. :P