“Zet zaterdag 30 juni maar in je agenda, want dan sta jij te hakken in ’t Leijpark!” Yes I know!! And YES I will. Yes yes. I gotz the tickets in mah pocketz. Can’t wait!! WOOT! If it’s going to be anything like it was last year, we’re in for a really good time! Silly Tilburg, with your silly after-and-90’s parties. I love you Tilburg! Cu soon old friend!
Personal
Bye bye Facebook
Today I will be removing my account from Facebook. Alongside with several thousands of other people in the Netherlands. Arjen Lubach, a famous talk-show host, has made a special event for this. In this informative video he explains in detail what Facebook has been up to and what they are capable of and have been doing with our data. This was no news for me but it’s good that a larger audience is also informed now. I’m hoping that many people will join this event so we can actually make a statement by removing ourselves from the Facebook.
Update: It’s done! I’m no longer on the Facebook. The Volkskrant wrote a nice article about the ZML event this evening. Check it out here.
Rest in Peace dear Kim
People tell me I’m a funny guy
People tell me I’m a funny guy. And I know I can be funny. I don’t know where it comes from or why I do it but it’s just something that helps me to get through my life or something. A coping mechanism perhaps? So I got that going for me which is nice. Here’s a lovely article I would like you to read. I’m only doing this to prove the idea that some people have of me is not 100% accurate. http://www.businessinsider.com/being-funny-is-associated-with-having-above-average-intelligence-2015-11?international=true&r=US&IR=T
On the Instagramz
I caved in, again. I created a new account on the Instagramz. My previous account was hacked and it made it so that I was following thousands of people I didn’t want to follow. So I disabled the account, made a new temporary one in the meantime, and now that my previous account name became available again I re-opened ustoopia at the Instagramz. Not sure yet if I’ll be using it actively a lot but I do know that I’ll be using it to lurk around here and there, now and then.
Very typical
Where I live there is an important road that leads to other places one of them being the nearest hospital. Now this road has been closed down for over a week already. This was announced weeks in advance and there are signs everywhere. Downside for me is that a lot of the traffic that know their way around here come drive through my street to avoid the road block. A valid option I would also choose to use probably. Yesterday though, I was on my bike and at the nearest traffic lights to the road block, and I saw an ambulance with it’s flashy lights on, and it’s siren blasting loud as fuck, wanting to take a turn towards the road that they noticed as they turned a right, and which made them decide halfway to not take and make a full 180 degrees on the crossover to use a different road that leads out of this godforsaken town. Now, that was a bad choice in my opinion because it means they would be underway longer as if it would have taken them if they would have taken the route that many people are now using. But worst part is that they, as a driver in an ambulance, had no idea that this road block is there, and they should know this because for them it’s the fastest way to the hospital from where they were at that moment. So I felt a bit surprised, but also a bit angry?? And that was a new sensation. Normally I couldn’t care less about a thought like that but this time I was thinking what if it was me in the back of that ambulance and in need of immediate care because my brain was having an anurism due to all the drugs I have taken. (just an example). So I came to the conclusion that I have now reached a point in my life where I actually do care about things like these and I never thought I ever would become that person but there you have it. Life in a nutshell.
I was there! God I feel old right now…
Here’s a video from the TV-news in 1994 about the traffic chaos problems around Eindhoven the Netherlands caused by the hard-rock festival Dynamo Open Air that was visited by 125.000 people. Looking at the video now makes me feel really old because I was at this festival with two good friends when I was in my puberty and it all looks so dated looking at it now. I must say it was one of the coolest things I had ever experienced up till then. Actually… it was one of the best festivals that I ever experienced! The mud-slides played an important role in this I guess. I left the festival wearing the exact same clothes I was wearing when we came to the festival a couple days before. And I slept in those same clothes and didn’t shower the whole weekend and I believe I didn’t used a toothbrush that weekend. You can imagine that we came home with an actual “festival scent” of sweat, mud, beer and smoke and whatnot. Totally worth it. It was awesome. I’ve visited plenty of festivals after this one, and I still visit one now and again but I came to the conclusion years ago already that I will never experience another festival that was as great, huge and awesome as this one. I also like to add that moving the yearly returning festival from Eindhoven to some other location was the worst idea ever because that all went down hill for the festival organization pretty fast. Perhaps the uprising of the House-music generation also played a part in this since hard-rock and house music became two separate youth-cultures. Anyways.. good memories, good times, life can be really good at times.
A quest to see the world for what it is
Let me tell you about Laurens. He’s a young Dutch guy with a fresh family and I know him because he also plays the game World of Warcraft. He became a member of our guild for a while and we had the opportunity to get to know him through Discord. He is an intelligent young man, with a great sense of humor and he also carries the ADHD label so he’s very energetic. He is running hard so he can stay ahead of the rest of us at all times. Just because he can, not so much because he feels he needs to stay ahead. Sometimes he can be annoying as fuck because he loves to talk. A lot. Because of this there are people who find him annoying. Personally I don’t mind the talking because the things he talks about vary from very informative useful information to general chat, to sharp funny remarks, to playing with words and just making funny sounds. The only time when I ever found him annoying is when he’s in a “Don’t Care” mood.
Laurens saw the video about my colorblindness that I also posted in my previous post, and decided to start some sort of fund raising project to bring in money for a pair of glasses that will allow a colorblind person to see the world how everybody else sees it. I was really surprised by this because it is the nicest thing a random person that I have met through the internet has ever done for me. It might actually be the nicest thing anybody has ever done for me! Check it out here. Now at first I was touched by the fact that Laurens did this for me. But when I saw that other people that I know from our guild actually donated money I was kinda flabbergasted and it made me feel a bit emotional. I didn’t cry of course because me manly man very manly, but it did touch me and it felt good. To me this proves once again that the World of Warcraft community is the best community out there. Great things can be done and achieved within this virtual realm that we can’t grasp that has the power to bring people together and share and interact and love one and other. Life can be good. Praise the internet hallelujah.
My condition (Deuteranomaly)
Many people have asked me questions about my colorblindness but I’ve never been able to explain it as clear and informative as the fellow who made this video.
Eye of the needle. An Ayahuasca journey
Somebody I know, and who is very dear to me, works as a guide who hosts Ayahuasca ceremonies so naturally I wanted to know more about that and I’ve been watching a lot of stuff on youtube and that included an episode of Eye of the Needle that I posted below.
What does your life sound like?
For me personally my life feels pretty much like the following audio bits. It does get rather depressing in the end, but don’t look too much into that. From where we are standing there is only one linear path ahead of us, and that’s not a bad thing, but it can sadden me. No life without death right? No light without darkness. I could go on and on with more of these alcohol infused sayings but I won’t, for now…
Celebrate Life
I just saw this video below and I found it to be very positive and inspiring. It’s about a company I “stumbled upon” about 20 years ago, and eventually it transformed in to something more meaningful than “just a company I knew of”. It’s difficult to describe. Let’s just say I’m thankful and proud that I had the privilege to be part of a very unique youth culture that did not last very long but will always be a part of me for as long as I live. This part of my life was really interesting for me personally because of various reasons. I will be sharing more on that at some other time.