Soul shack

It's seriously been a shit day.

It's been a shitty week.

I would really really really like to go on holiday to a beach shack somewhere and watch the waves roll in with a cup of tea,
away from computers.

In my head I am reading a book in the shelter of a front deck of a beach house,
while the sun is beating down on the beach,
and a plate of cheese and strawberries are within arm's reach,
I am waiting for a home made casserole and roast lamb to finish cooking in the oven.

In my head I am wearing tracksuit pants and a tee shirt and thongs,
and a bright pink headscarf and big Jacqui O sunglasses.

I'm about to put the book down and lie in a hammock.

And snooze a little bit, and sway a little,
as the ocean breeze brushes my face.

There's soft indie pop playing in the background.

I want to be home for a little while.

"Eureka - It's foreign cows that are the real problem in this country!"

PVV turns its attention to Highland cows
Thursday 17 February 2011

The anti-Islam PVV in the province of Gelderland think ‘imported exotic’ animals such as Scottish highland cows and ponies from Poland should be removed from the landscape, the Telegraaf reports.

The paper says the PVV’s local provincial election campaign leader Olof Wullink believes the animals should go, saying the region needs ‘our own nature’.

The comments were made in a local television programme on Sunday.

A spokesman for the Dutch nature conservation group Natuurmonumenten told the broadcaster on Thursday that the PVV´s suggestion is ´absurd´. Highland cattle make a good substitute for the original Dutch wild cattle which have since died out, the organisation said.

© DutchNews.nl

Lemme at it!

"Don't waste time. Get dressed and catch your dream today."

Mission accepted

I'm about to make a dent in the Universe.

Who is...Seth Godin?

images courtesy of Moo Business cards ( So hot!)

"SETH GODIN has written twelve books that have been translated into more than thirty languages. Every one has been a bestseller. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything.

American Way Magazine calls him, "America's Greatest Marketer," and his blog is perhaps the most popular in the world written by a single individual. His latest book, LINCHPIN, hit the Amazon top 10 on the first day it was published and became a New York Times bestseller.

As an entrepreneur, he has founded dozens of companies, most of which failed. Yoyodyne, his first internet company, was funded by Flatiron and Softbank and acquired by Yahoo! in 1998. It pioneered the use of ethical direct mail online, something Seth calls Permission Marketing. He was VP of Direct Marketing at Yahoo! for a year.

His latest company, Squidoo.com, is ranked among the top 125 sites in the US (by traffic) by Quantcast. It allows anyone (even you) to build a page about any topic you're passionate about. The site raises money for charity and pays royalties to its million plus members."

via SethGodin.com

I'm so excited, and i just can't hide it!

My life recently? Late nights, 18 hour working days, Repetitive Strain Injury on the cards for the not too distant future...

And I'm still excited!

Why?

One of the things I mentioned in this post is about to come to fruition....

Countdown!!!

Brussels = Salmon + Pickles

I went to Brussels last weekend. (aka. The town of salmon and pickles - coined by me because French culture and dutch culture don't seem to be the most blendable of things. Funnily enough this is also how the Belgians see it, having been without a properly formed government for the past 7.5 months because of the reality that...surprise, surprise, french culture and dutch culture are VASTLY different.)

Fun and weird at the same time. Met lots of nice, intellectual and funny individuals. They study important things like International human rights law and Conflict and Security, and I am pretty damn sure that all of them will change or shape the world for the better. I'm going to turn on the news one night and see these people ratifying treaties for the disarment of nuclear situations or bringing North and South Korea together as one. Mark my words.

Some of these heresaid people came with me to see a bit of my world in their city ( ie. less about articles, books and treaty documents and more about arts, culture and theatre) We ended up seeing one of the best performance art pieces I am likely to see in my entire life.


When we rolled up to the theatre, a lady led us outside of the theatre and took us to a metro stop. We had no idea what we were doing there, until some guy on the opposite platform starts harassing one of the people I was with about taking photos of him (with my camera.)

It wasn't until he turned his boom box on that the penny dropped and I suddenly realise the performance had already begun. We were watching street theatre and breakdancing where it was born and bred - on the streets.

Then we went to see some guy eat yogurt at an intersection, and he was talking in dutch and I lost the point of it all. Too avante gard for me. I was exceptionally confused when he ran away from us. Then we were led back into the theatre and the show in the theatre was amazing, and powerful.

Just a casual game between friends... infront of a palace. BSIS lads get into a game of football - infront of the grand palace Leopold built after colonising Congo.

A couple of pensive characters @ Le Montmartre bar

Another pensive one: this time at a beautiful little secret called L'Atelier bar


The gi-normous Belgian Beer selection at L'Atelier


The entrance of L'Atelier. We were almost going to give it a miss because it was closed when we got there but the owners turned up at the same time, chased after us and let us in as they opened. Magical.

Hip Hop(e) @ KVS ( Royal Flemish Theatre)

Being led down the Rabbit Hole.


"Take my picture dude!"

Bad Ass.

Man eating yoghurt. At an intersection.

Girls! Girls! Girls!

A few weekends ago, I was accompanying my visiting friends Vanessa and Luke to find a money dispensing machine prior to their impending departure.

We were in Leidseplein, a busy bar and cafe area in town, and as I was walking my bike across the square, a photographer asked me if I would pose, there and then, for a picture for an up and coming art exhibition he was having about Amsterdam Girls and their bicycles.

Amstersam was his name an he specialises in taking photos of people in Amsterdam, as reflections of puddles on the ground. Makes sense considering how often it rains here.

I was feeling experimental with my attire that day, and was wearing a new hat that Vanessa had convinced me to buy.

His exhibition has started and I am making plans to go see it this week. Check out the details here.

You can see more of Amstersam's work here and here.

This ticket is good for one ride

Peeling oranges

I love this blog post by Paolo Coelho, for so many reasons.


Peeling Oranges

Ernest Hemingway, the author of the classic The Old Man and the Sea, went from moments of harsh physical activity to periods of total inactivity. Before sitting to write pages of a new novel, he’d spend hours peeling oranges and gazing into the fire.

One morning, a reporter noticed this strange habit.

“Don’t you think you’re wasting your time?” asked the journalist. “You’re so famous, shouldn’t you be doing more important things?”

“I’m preparing my soul to write, like a fisherman preparing his tackle before going out to sea,” replied Hemingway.

“If I don’t do this, and think only the fish matter, I’ll never achieve anything.”