My only aspiration is to become a failed writer someday.

Call 911-CARE

2006-02-09T23:06:09Z

One of the many nice aspects of looking like a decent citizen is that people tend to trust you unconditionally. Last Monday, I was waiting for the bus; I'd just lit a cigarette when a car pulled over. The driver opened her side window and asked me where I was headed.

"Tilburg University."
"Oh, hop on in then."

It doesn't really happen on a daily basis that random elderly women offer you a lift so I was pleasantly surprised and seated myself. We talked a bit about work, her grandchildren and life in general until we got to my destination. All in all, it was a really nice experience.

Het leven van een Tilburger gaat niet over rozen

2006-02-03T01:52:19Z

When you think you've got everything going for you, you're bound to lose grip on your life. I will make this update angst-free to the best of my abilities, but don't expect miracles.

I failed four out of five exams and broke up with Femke last week. The only positive news is that the supermarket offered me a contract for another year.

There, it wasn't that bad, was it? I'm currently maintaining eleven courses (!) and maybe more, but let's keep that for another time, shall we?

Level 30 drag-queen

2005-12-18T00:22:30Z

Sometimes, reading the news makes my day; yesterday I learned that three Dutch newspapers (de Volkskrant, het NRC Handelsblad and het Parool) as well as three major opinion magazines (HP/De Tijd, de Groene Amsterdammer and Vrij Nederland) are going to boycott the new Dutch spelling. There are other major media that support the boycott and I don't think I'll adapt either.

I received het Groene Boekje ('the green booklet', a small elaboration on the official Dutch spellingrules) for St. Nicholas this year, and I've glossed over most of the major changes ever since. A variety of rules that were suggested and made official a small ten years ago - when the Taalunie ('language union') released the first version of the green booklet - are now reversed for no apparent reason. As well as a some other absurd changes, which lead to hilarious spellings.

A variety of examples I just heard on the news. The Dutch word nazi-top, which I believe needs no further explanation, will be written as nazitop. For a Dutch person, this reads as "na-zit-op"; "after-sit-on".

Another example: appèl, a French loan-word; when you do an appèl on someone, you're falling back on them. This word will now be written as appel and will form a homonym with the existing word appel, which means apple.

On reversing old rules for no reason; as per definition, eras are capitalized in Dutch, as well as religious celebrations. The new spelling states a couple of exceptions to that rule; being middeleeuwen ('Middle Ages') - an era that will go uncapitalized from August on out and Bevrijdingsdag ('Liberation Day') - a non-religious celebration that will go capitalized from August on out.

Now, I know that the Taalunie has announced to update the spelling once every ten years, but to just push through meaningless changes in order to make it seem like they actually did something is merely a form of popular management.

Fight the powers that be!

Which polaroids?

2005-12-12T00:03:36Z

It's been a good four months since I started this new major and finally, it's time for the first tentaminations, Semantics is scheduled first; tomorrow early in the afternoon.

I never bitched or whined about this course in my blog before - something that kind of surprises me in retrospect. I believe I followed two of the course's classes and they made me think: "fuck this, I'm not paying tuition for this chaotic mess." So I followed the entire class at home, by reading the college sheets online.

There are two lecturers for Semantics, one of whom rules the entire thing, she'd prepare the topics, powerpoint presentations and she probably corrects all the papers too. Then there's her little lapdog who had to lecture a couple of times, but didn't even have a fucking clue about what was on the sheets. Whenever his colleague would be in the room whilst he lectured, she'd correct him and criticize him every goddamn minute of the class.

To make a long story short: not just my knowledge of the course will be tested tomorrow, but also my ability to teach myself. Let's all root for me, ok?

French debread-card

2005-11-30T00:22:54Z

One of the things I love about Femke is how she can't get out of bed in the morning. She wakes up, silences her alarm clock, turns around and falls asleep again.

Arguably, we stayed in bed too long. Arguably, Femke should have gone to college this afternoon. Arguably, I should have taken a shower today. As a counter-argument, I recall typing "Bedtimes are funtimes" in my first entry.

And it's true, my little brother was complaining about how the average person spends about 50% of his lifetime sleeping and therefore "doesn't live" half his life, I suppose some people just don't enjoy the comfort, warmth and security of their beds as much as I do. And, of course, it's even better when Femke's there as well.

On a negative side-note; it might just be a bit too much fun. I'm practically looking up to waking up tomorrow morning.

No news is good news

2005-11-21T13:27:24Z

I'm quite aware that I haven't been around a lot the past three weeks. This isn't all that surprising when you consider that I celebrated my three-week anniversary with Femke yesterday.

But life's been overall busy recently, the store reopened so I had to work three full-time weeks, combined with college no less. I'm finally starting to get a decent sleeping-pattern again, which is good because midterms are coming up. My speculations are that I'll pass at least four out of five courses, which isn't half-bad.

I'm also considering to do a double-major, which is less tough than it sounds. The two majors I'm thinking of have such a huge overlap that it's basically one major and seven extra courses spread out over three years. For the rest of the year, it means I'll have to take the extra course Sociolinguistics.

She's giving me good vibrations

2005-10-31T22:49:31Z

On a whim and out of a certain juvenile nostalgia; I bought Myst II: Riven yesterday. I played the game for a bit this afternoon and while I have to agree that the graphics and the sound are completely outdated, it has the Myst-vibe and that's all I bought it for. And I suppose you can take the gamble when you fetch it from a budget-rack for only five euros, no?

On an entirely different note: I had two mid-week parties last week. The best fun I've had since I quit Chemical Engineering. Ironically, the first party involved the Student Union from back then, which organizes three major parties each year. Last Tuesday was one of them, and I was invited. I believe I threw up for three hours in the ladies' restroom, but eh, shit happens.

The second party was entirely financed by my employer who wanted a Pre-opening party, seeing how the supermarket will reopen next Friday (Champaign-breakfast here I come!). Free alcohol and a vast amount of teenagers always stands for a lot of fun, I guess.

If the average customer looked nearly as good as her, I'd quit college again

2005-10-26T22:18:38Z

Splendid evening I had; as the renovation is in full progress, our boss organized a team-night in which the rules of the house were re-explained and new information on detection gates was handed out to us. This is where I can pretty much quote the MTWiki; "It's all common sense rules, but it seems that there are a lot of people who don't Get It™"

Unfortunately, the facilities weren't all that, I had to sit on the tables with a small variety of colleagues, next to me was one of my favorites: Anne.

"I really don't like having to sit on the edges of two adjacent tables, Bart. Especially when one of the tables moves and takes one of my buttocks with it."
"Haha, here let me help you." I helpfully shoved my hand under her ass, so as to even out the gap underneath. We sat like that for a while until she said:
"Bart..."
"Hm?"
"People are watching."

I tried the same trick a couple of times that night, and we nudged and touched each other the entire time; I missed being nonsensually physical with good friends, I really did.

Work is marginally more fun when I'm around

2005-10-12T00:45:43Z

"Welcome back, your dinner's in the fridge."
"Thanks."
"How was work?"

Work was boring. Of course, it was a Tuesday-night, so I expected nothing else, but tonight was particularily boring. I had to babysit some jock-chick who had her first work-day today. Which means that she'd be running the caisse, and I'd just be sitting behind her, watching if she made mistakes. Oh, the joy.

"Hello?"
"Hello Bart."
"Hey, did you clean up the canteen already?"
"Yes, why?"
"Oh, nothing. Just that I was just told to do so."
"Hahaha, you know how chaotic our boss can be."
"Yeah, by the way; you forgot to switch off the microwave, waterheater, coffee-machine and fridge. And there's still this big bag of garbage you didn't take out as well."
"Oh, thanks for the feedback I guess."
"No problem."

No, I'd rather not go to Spain by bus

2005-10-08T00:28:38Z

"I'm not on the list."
"Sure you are on the list."
"I'm telling you; I've checked each page five times now and I'm not on the list!"
"Don't shove your disability to search on me now."

And I wasn't on the list. The supermarket I work at is slowly reaching a major renovation and in a couple of weeks, it'll close for a week and a half for the finishing touch. To do that, the entire supermarket has to be empty - and I wasn't on the list to clear any of the chests.

Instead of that, I apparently have to scrape candy, DVDs, ink-cartridges, tobacco, pre-pay phone-vouchers and even bags from the chests around the caisses. My manager has this wonderful way of enthusiasming people for the job at hand, by telling me "he kept the best people for that." Heh.

Dokken vader!

2005-09-07T22:21:06Z

A week's passed already since my last class of Discourse Studies, the more I get used to its professor, the more I like him. He has a very dry, almost stand-up comedian sense of humor and he uses it to show how miscommunications occur.

"So, if I were to mask an FTA (Face Threatening Act), by avoiding asking the actual question, I might ask for a beer by saying 'I'm thirsty.'
'Then that's the suck.' Would be a highly inappropriate answer."

In comparison to Chemical Engineering, I now really have the idea I'm learning something that actually sticks. All the abstractions are subjects we have to ponder about, rather than understand. In fact, the abstractions in this major pale in comparison to a course as Thermodynamics. Until now, I'm really confident about switching majors.

But fun things aside; I met a girl last Saturday and I've basically allowed her to take over my life slightly. I have no idea whether or not she's in love with me, and it doesn't really matter because I don't have these feelings for her. We're just two people having hell of a lot of fun together, right? Right.

Could you pass me the salt?

2005-08-31T22:13:45Z

Some people never cease to surprise me. Tansu, one of my all-time best friends, plays the guitar. I had no idea. He's been doing so for years and not ever have I heard him talk about practice, his band or even so much as seen a guitar around his parents' house or his room.

The culturally diverse band he's in made that I had to speak English most of the day, which can be weird sometimes, but we didn't really surpass small talk, so it wasn't too bad I guess.

My new bicycle showed to be worth its money today as I was approached by a small group of not inattractive girls:

"That's a nice bicycle."
"It really is, isn't it?"
"Why do you have a women's bicycle?"
"They don't make these for men. Besides, ladies' bikes are easier to get on."
"I guess that's true."
"Why don't you ask him if he'll ride you around for a bit?"

Communication proves too much of a challenge

2005-08-30T23:31:41Z

Today (which is yesterday, by the time I'm typing this) was one of those days in which everything that seems miserable at first, turns out great in the end. I'd woken up early, because I thought I had two classes today. Upon reading through my online schedule, it turned out I wouldn't have to do the morning-class for the next six months. Happily perplexed, I stared at my monitor while my mom came in.

"Want some coffee?"
"I just finished my milk, so yea, sure."
"Heh, where would the world be without coffee?"
"In bed."

Being awake four hours too early gives you a lot of time to do things you'd never do otherwise. Such as taking naps. Rested and caffeinated, I arrived at my first class Organizational Communication.

Much like I expected, it was mainly an introductory class, in which the goal of the course was explained, as well as the various tests that'd define my grade. Apart from anecdotes about the self-overestimation of both the Nasa's and FBI's managements (which were brought up to show how hiërarchies aren't always good organizations), nothing too interesting happened.

Thankfully, Mondays go by fast

2005-08-29T20:47:25Z

There are days when it's harder to get up than usually; Mondays generally fall in that category. "Bedtimes are funtimes," as I'm typing this, I casually delete a spam-mail for vibrators - despite our reasons being different, I couldn't agree more.

However, I had good reasons to indulge myself with caffein this morning and actually get up before dawn - three hours after I went to bed no less - as it was the first day of college. After six months of menial tasks, I lost my citizenship again in order to enrich my critical capacaties, communicational skills and general intellect, or something.

As I slowly approached this day, I often rehearsed conversations in front of the mirror, "[...] and of course, the institute doesn't want me to promote fucking around at college and being forced to switch majors, but quite frankly, it's something I'd recommend to all of you." After taking a deodorant-quickshower and finding some fashionably casual clothes, I was good to go.

Quite nervous, I then showed up at the classroom, where it soon turned out that the studygroup I'm scheduled in consists solely of guys like me. People who decided law was too boring, reporting required too much homework or had just partied too much in their first (two) year(s). Wonderful, we're diverse in our equalities and I believe all of us appreciate a good beer every now and again.