coincidence? no way! part I

there is no such thing as coincidence

my life is the perfect example of this

I started to believe this about 6 years ago… small things inflicted this idea

stories of an acquaintance (a man who travelled the world along prisons and wrote a book about it, hitchhiked home with a total stranger who was reading that book), the way my cousins and friends got to know there boy/girlfriends, winning the last tickets to a concert I really wanted to go to…

coincidence? it all seemed a bit too coincidental

4 years ago, at Christmas, this all took a massive turn: I was feeling down, my boyfriend dumped me and I felt a bit lost

I was sitting at the feast table, a bit absent, but happy with the company of my family, when my cousin B. had to make an announcement for his wedding. I told him “ho, wait a second… stand up! this kind of announcements deserves the proper treatment” ;)

he stood up and at that time he gave me THE best Christmas present I ever had and ever will have: he asked me to be his maid of honour :D

as an only child and having only good friends that have more than enough brothers and sisters as possible candidates, I never expected to be a maid of honour, now I could be my cousins, my “big brother”s…

I can assure you, this kind of presents at a time you’re feeling down do not at all feel like just a present… to me, it’s was a sign

even more… my cousin-in-law-to-be R. told us her younger brother Arnout would be her best man…

Arnout ... that name… hearing that name, only his name… I felt at ease, in that degree even I could let go of everything… I knew him somehow … it felt right

some months passed, and finally in April I got to know Arnout …

never met him before, but I knew him, he knew me, we could skip the “obligatory” getting to know each others’ occupancies etc. and go directly to hours of small talk about anything and everything

we got together, the greatest months of my life

everybody that knew us together told the same story: “you are SO great together”, “one wedding inflicts another”, “you’re made for each other, you can tell”

… and actually… we were made for each other

when I was with him, I felt good, I felt complete, nothing could take us apart

this was no coincidence, it was faith

they lived happily ever after (or so would the fairy tale end)

… to be continued

the internship - part II: the governmental copy machine

situation sketch: for the 78th time in 5 weeks my across-the-corridor neighbour (and genuine stereotype ambtenaar) comes and asks me about the study of one of the palaces in Belgium
it's an unpublished study that I need for my thesis, that is THE ONLY copy in the building
now, being occupied in a full-time internship, I can't devote myself full-time to the thesis (nobody can, at least not normal people, and besides the high level of craziness, I'm still quite normal on that level)
I know, the study is there on my desk (being THE ONLY copy), staring at me and giving me the feeling of guilth BUT all in good time... I will get to it

now... Jan (genuine stereotype ambtenaar's name) comes stumbling and hobbling out of his office, standing a while in his doorway (in the mean time I typed 10 sentences, read an article and checked my e-mails) and finally says

Jan : "do you still have the study of the Egmont Palace?"
me: "yes, I still have it on my desk", thinking it's been there for weeks, no I didn't take it home

Jan: "did you copy it yet?"
me: "no, do you need it urgently?", the word urgently almost making me burst into laughter since the concept of "urgent" is NOT in an ambtenaar's dictionnary
Jan: "no no, not at all but it's THE ONLY copy"

*boom* (that was me exploding... I know by now it's the only copy)

all right, all right... I'm off to the governmental copy machine that after 2 copies gives an error

... after 2 copies
... an error

OH SCREW THAT ONLY COPY :)

in the swimming pool

a little wave and celebration to me! I went swimming!! all together 850 meters if I'm not mistaking (counting and swimming at the same time is surprisingly difficult I must say... (or maybe it is my acute disability of doing several things at once... aka THE feminin capacity is not always applicable to me))

soit...

although I can't count and swim at the same time, I was able to remember some ...ehm... phenomena:

things you come across in a swimming pool
apart from the love handles and the very questionable bathing suits (some people really look like they go buy their bathing suits blindfolded), there are other ... ehm... issues you wouldn't expect in a swimming pool

first of all: central lane drivers, sorry... swimmers
this kind of driving is quite popular on Belgian highway (the average highway has three lanes, the middle one being particularly precious to drivers who don't belong there, like they see that lane literaly as the golden mean) but of course it annoys everybody trapped behind those drivers
they apparently also appear in the swimming pool
... it's annoying...
... they block the lane...
... create a "swimmer jam"...
and of course you can't pass them cause there are swimmers coming from the other direction and I don't swim fast enough :)

secondly: ghost drivers, sorry... swimmers
the outer lane in the swimming pool is particularly wide, wide enough for 3 lines of swimmers
everybody swims "on the right" of course, occassionaly a faster swimmer passes you in the "middle lane"
... or almost everybody...
last time I almost bumped into a ghost swimmer... he said "oops"
... "oops"... really?
guess he was British ...

thirdly : spitters
while swimming too enthousiasticly, some of the swimmers get a bit of water in their mouth and spit it out
usually in the pool
last week on me
I'm not joking ... I got "sprayed upon"
he as well said "oops"

swimming pools... always an adventure

very abercrombie&fitch

Monday 5th of December:

I'm walking the corridors of my internship place (sounds much cooler than it is, believe me) when I. stops me.
I.: "there's a website I'd like to show you and E." (the three of us are the only women on the floor, for the rest it bursts of testosterone (this being a severe exageration if you would know the "males" on the floor)) - "maybe a good idea for a field trip tomorrow... after lunch or something".

I am of course curious and go check the website and find this...

... a line of fine half-naked young gentlemen advertising for the new Abercrombie&Fitch store in Brussels.

as architects and art historians we have an eye for esthetics and since details cannot be judged on a picture, we need to go there in person (and with 3 people you always see more than when you're alone) ;)

let's check it out tomorrow


Tuesday 6th of December:

the birthday of Sinterklaas (Santa Claus' predecessor, a very popular holy man in Belgium and the Netherlands who, accompanied by his black servants (from the soot of the chimney, no racist motives involved), distributes candy and presents to the little and older ones)

anyway... checking out the naked chests myself today will be a bit difficult, but there might be a chance I can see a glimpse of them while passing by when we drive towards one of Brussels' museums

we drive by...
locate the gigantic A&F banner
see the guys...

... wearing vests! OOooh THE WOOSIES

I'm disappointed now

we have a government

for how long? isderegeringalgevallen

the internship - part I: the governmental printer

situation sketch:

I'm sitting at my internship desk (I have my own office... as an intern... quite decadent no :)) working on the computer and I come across an interesting report

I click on the print button, select some pages (to save the environment, after all I am talking about a 600 page report) and press "print"

25 minutes later I realize "ow right, I printed something" (which is normal given my short term memory dementia, like Finding Nemo's Dory)
I walked to the printer room where some little light is blinking "out of toner"

I look around... no toner
I check with my colleague, she says the following words: "ah yes, ehm... is it urgent?" - "no, not really" - "then maybe it's best to wait until tomorrow, Y. or M. usually replace the toner" - "ah ok"

now, three days including a weekend later Y. nor M. showed up

so I'm still waiting to print...
and I feel like becoming an ambtenaar of the government myself (oh boy...)

the technological revolution - part I

we all know… in the past decades technology changed massively!

people are reachable anywhere, at anytime, at anyplace; we need internet connection everywhere; checking mailboxes happens digitally, in the real one we only find bills; music files became abstract; and to my personal annoyance we all use GPS (except for me and my dad, cause I hate it), nobody knows how to read a map anymore (except for me, even though I’m a woman) etc…

technology changed so much in so little time, the phrase “do you know how to get there” is without any exception (except for me and my dad) answered by “don’t worry, I have my GPS”.

technology’s revolution even moves people, namely Rand E., to make a very cool flash adobe presentation with an overview of yesterday, today and tomorrow (thank you, Rand).

one of Rands wishes for tomorrow got my attention: “indoor GPS”…

now before I will elaborate on that, let me describe my skepticism towards GPS:

- 1. two examples of human stupidity: about every 5 months, one finds an article in some newspaper about a fool who drove into a pond, river or canal because he was following his GPS instructions;

- 2. a former friend of mine was going to a local theme park, at a specific point there was a signpost leading them towards that theme park (to the right) while the GPS said “turn left”… they turned left, ended up hitting another car in an alley in the centre of the middle of nowhere (PS: he’s not my friend anymore, but for a different reason J)

- 3. some years ago I carpooled with my cousin to another cousins wedding… the first cousin had a new GPS… he knew how to get to our destination but used the GPS anyway… there were two possible highways to take… he took the second… the GPS took the first…

result: over a distance of more than 10km, where every 200 meters you can turn around, the GPS ordered my cousin to make a U-turn… for about 50 times!!! It’s safe to say I went nuts

now… back to the “indoor GPS”

before Rand could explain this particular idea for the future, my imagination of course went crazy…

- 1. indoor GPS: suitable for morning grumpies who tend to bump into every obstacle on their way to the bathroom: “in 1 meter beware for the sock you carelessly left about yesterday evening”

- 2. in case of a cold or illness manifesting in the bathroom: “make a U-turn”

- 3. in case of severe short term memory dementia: “start: front door; destination: toilet – in 3 metres, turn right, go up the stairs, continue straight on for 12 steps, turn right… you’ve reached your destination” (maybe look around and make sure you have actually reached your destination… GPS’s aren’t always perfectly accurate ;))

- 4. in case of dilemma what route to choose: “start kitchen; destination: bath room – 1. choose most economic route, 2. choose most indoor route, 3. choose shortest route” (in my opinion same route each and every time)

- 5. in case of… *poof* (sound of me pull out of my imagination)

… Rand: “indoor GPS: to easily link surveyed rooms together in an AutoCad drawing”

pff… boring… my ideas were cooler!