Book Releasing Spree, Wageningen

Wonderful weather today. We went to Wageningen for lunch, nice day!

Short!

The hairdresser & I are getting used to each other. The first couple of times she was careful not to give me a too butchy/boyish haircut, but now she grabs the tondeuse rightaway and I don't even have to re-do my hair when I come home. This is the style that suits me at the moment, this feels like "me". Wish I could have her dye my hair as well, but the wallet doesn't allow a professional colouring. Ah well, a pack of dark red dye plus a can of peroxide is waiting for me to be creative, it's gonna be just fine :)

Well, appointment with the shrink went well this morning, my hair doesn't look like our former prime minister/Harry Potter anymore, I did 6 themed book releases and the whole trip was panic free, so I'm satisfied!


Oh and I may have found the perfect volunteering job: the organisation where Albert works, is looking for people who want to teach some of their (mentally challenged) clients to read & write. Would love to do that!
I've also found two other projects: a local gay magazine needs a person who can write, edit and illustrate for them and another local magazine (mental health related) has got a similar opening. Hmmm, maybe this is the opportunity I was waiting for!

Whatever happened to equality?

This song gives words to how I feel right now about our little country full of hate towards "foreigners"...


I've got a soul
That cannot sleep
At night when something
Just ain't right
Blood red
But without sight
Exploding egos
In the night
Mix like sticks
Of dynamite
Red black or white
This is my fight
Come on courage
Let's be heard
Turn feelings
Into words
American equality
Has always been sour
An attitude
I would like to devour
My name is peace
This is my hour
Can I get
Just a little bit of power

The power of equality
Is not yet what it ought to be (ought to be)
It fills me up like a hollow tree (hollow tree)
The power of equality

Right or wrong
My song is strong
You don't like it
Get along
Say what I want
Do what I can
Death to the message
Of the Ku Klux Klan
I don't buy supremacy
Media chief
You menace me
The people you say
'Cause all the crime
Wake up motherfucker
And smell the slime
Blackest anger
Whitest fear
Can you hear me
Am I clear
My name is peace
This is my hour
Can I get
Just a little bit of power

The power of equality
Is not yet what it ought to be (ought to be)
It fills me up like a hollow tree (hollow tree)
The power of equality

I've got tapes
I've got CD's
I've got my public enemy
My lilly white ass
Is tickled pink
When I listen to the music
That makes me think
Not another
Motherfuckin' politician
Doin' nothin' but something
For his own ambition
Never touch
The sound we make
Soul sacred love
Vows that we take
To create straight
What is true
Yo he's with me
And what I do
My name is peace
This is my hour
Can I get
Just a little bit of power

The power of equality
Is not yet what it ought to be (ought to be)
It fills me up like a hollow tree (hollow tree)
The power of equality

Madder than a motherfucker
Lick my finger
Can't forget
'Cause the memory lingers
Count 'em off quick
Little piccadilly sickness
Take me to the hick
Eat my thickness
I've got a welt
From the bible belt
Dealing with the hand
That I've been dealt
Sitting in the grip
Of a killing fist
Giving up blood
Just to exist
Rub me wrong
And I get pissed
No I cannot
Get to this
People in pain
I do not dig it
Change of brain
For Mr Bigot

Little brother do you hear me
Have a heart oh come get near me
Misery is not my friend
But I'll break before I bend
What I see is insanity
What ever happened to humanity
What ever happened to humanity
What ever happened to humanity

Didn't know that!

Watched a nice documentary about The Doors on one of the Belgian tv channels and learned something new: I had no idea the origin of Alabama Song ("Whisky Bar") lies in German opera. Nice to learn something new!

Dutch Delight

Scored some red/white/blue ribbons today, so I could finally finish the bookmarks I'm making for the convention. Printing, cutting and laminating was already done, so this evening it was all about punching & attaching ribbons. Done!

It feels weird though, to work with this Dutch theme while keeping one eye on the news about local elections that were held today. Lots of votes for the extreme right party. I don't feel very 'proud of Holland' at the moment. Yuk. :(

Say (&eat!) cheese!

Kitschy but oh so cute, these ribbons ;)

Watching the elections...

Dutch Linebacker for Dallas!

Dallas Does Happy Dance

News from our local reporter

The Dallas Cowboys, an American football team from Texas, USA, are dancing for joy: a new and very talented linebacker was scouted and will lead the team to victory during the next NFL season.
This promising new member was scouted in The Netherlands, a weird little country somewhere in Europe, also referred to as "Holland". He was born & raised there, but he believes he's been born into the wrong part of the world. "I feel all American inside", he claims, "I discovered my true identity when I started drinking Coca Cola and it got worse after Mac Donald's opened its doors in our little Bible Belt village on the Dutch country side."

A mysterious box arrived at his home this week. A gift for his wife, our new man Albert figured: "she's involved in a mysterious movement called "BookCrossing" and those book people seem to like sending each other gifts, mostly books. I'm not a big reader, so I didn't show much interest in the box, until my wife said I should open the box because there was a surprise in it. A surprise for me!"

When Albert opened the box, he immediately recognized the blue star printed on two heavy duty football caps. The Cowboys! His favourite team! But there was more: a life size football helmet was enclosed as well!

"I just went crazy," Albert tells, "I grabbed my Cowboys shirt, put on the helmet, placed the caps on my wife's and my cat's heads and ran over to the soccer field near our home. I started making crazy football moves and my wife and cat were cheering. And then a car stopped. An American dude walked towards me and shook my hand. The rest is history: before I knew it, I was signing deals. It felt like coming home!". The big guy wipes a tear from his face. "Yes, we'll have to move to the States, the sooner the better. But I had to make one commitment to my old lady: we can't leave before the international BookCrossing convention has taken place and I promised to be on her side during that event."

Whispering, he adds: "I don't understand those people, why would you read books if you can watch the movies? But the people in that cult are friendly and hey, it's an American concept after all, so I'm kinda looking forward to that convention-meeting-thingy!".

Albert will have to work on his body, he admits: "A little extra padding here & there will make me a stronger linebacker. Jonathan Kirksey is my inspiration, he played for the Dutch team when the NFL Europe was still alive." 

If we look closely at Albert's picture, we notice something strange: twigs and leaves are growing out of his face. When we ask Albert about that curious disorder, he shakes his head and mumbles something about his wife being a vegetarian tree hugger. We wish him good luck with that, but most of all we wish him a wonderful carreer and new life in the States!

The Cowboys and their Happy Dance

Curious to see what else was in that mystery box?

Displayed below!

Munchkin

It's nice that cameras come with cat toys!

Gotcha!

So glad Gotcha! is rising from its ashes, brings back some sweet ole memories :)



More from that time:




And of course:





(gosh, I miss Grunge!)

Closing with this one, it still makes me cry sometimes:

The neighbours hate me so much right now ;)

Found back my MJ album "Dangerous" and felt the need to pump up the volume ;)


Ah well, don't need MJ to piss off the neighbours, a leaf of our tree landing in their garden is enough. We laughed so hard a few days ago: it snowed and it would keep snowing all day. When the snow had stopped for a few minutes, the lady nextdoor came already out to sweep her path clean. An hour later everything was white again and on she went. And late in the evening, she swept it again. Right before a night that promised to be snowy. I know boredom when I see it...
Thinking of spraying fake snow on her tiles at night so she can enjoy it longer;)

Jeez, my moods are all over the place at the moment. Getting more & more hyper.
Next moodswing in 5, 4, 3, 2...
(gosh bps is so boring)

Labels for the BC Convention online!

For blue and eco version, click here

Tattoo on my mind

Uh-oh, visiting that piercing/tattoo shop reactivated the wish for another tattoo. Browsing the web & dreaming what it should look like, what spot on my body begs for ink the hardest...

I love how one symbol keeps popping up in my quest for a meaningful and strong way to express the changes I'm going through.

A Buddhist symbol, especially the Ohm sign, would be a good one. I'm not a Buddhist (yet), but that way of life matches with my values and parts of that culture (I'd rather see it as a culture instead of a religion) are embedded in my life already. I love how this one is done.

Another symbol with meaning to me is the Egyptian Ankh, which stands for (eternal) life. It often comes back in my drawings and in the jewelry I buy, I'm attracted to it. It's great that it has similarities with the female sign as well and it brings back fond memories of our trip to Egypt many years ago. It was just magical to walk around in that surreal landscape, the atmosphere in the Valley of the Kings almost sacred. Haha, well, not the atmosphere in Cairo though, that was just hectic ;)

But the one symbol that keeps crossing my path is the Hopi labyrinth. It represents the path of life. When you're finding your way through the mazes, you might get stuck and search for other ways. One moment you're close to the centre, while the other you're closer to the outlines, which could represent the world outside. When I saw these labyrinths in the past (when I first heard about the Hopi), my thought was: getting out of that maze, that's what life and surviving is about. But when I look at it now, I don't feel a need to escape, I want to be inside that labyrinth, walking that path. And we'll just see where it leads to and what will cross my path.

But there's another twist: Hopi symbols always remind me of my father. We share wonderful memories of a celebration we organised together, many years ago. It made a lasting impression on me and I know my dad cherishes those memories as well. It was a string that attached us during his stay in the hospitals, where his own story evolved into a book about a tiny King. And as a symbol of trust, he gave Albert the last remain of that celebration during our wedding ceremony.

A lot comes together in this Hopi symbol and I'm thinking of having it tattoed on my right arm, the arm that wears the scars. It would be perfect to have it on the inside of my wrist, covering the place that tempted me so often to cut deeper.
I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave the self harm behind. Probably not, not yet. But I am ready to close the chapter of suicide.

The last couple of weeks I felt I was going down the drain again and I was scared to lose my grip on life again.

I haven't lost it. I'm still here & going strong. I'm still alive and I'll continue my travel. Hopefully with a small symbol on my skin soon, to remind me.

Cats in progress

April is coming closer and so is the BookCrossing Convention date! Over 200 tickets have been sold and the team of organising BookCrossers is working hard to make it a wonderful happening. It's gonna be a blast!
They asked me to design (or adjust a design) for a convention themed bookplate and of course I didn't say no, I love making those!
It took a while before anything decent would come out of the drawing pens, hadn't been drawing in a while and having a little injury on your writing/drawing hand doesn't help much either. Haha, figuring out how to draw tulips was the most challenging part ;) (not to mention windmills!)

The design is not completely ready, I'm not sure if I'll stick with the cheese background and the colours and I want the convention team to 'approve' it before I put it online. So you'll have to do it with a sneak peak for now:)

For more info on the convention, click here!

:)

New Cat in Town

Today it was Munchkin's job to guard the garden.

Suddenly he returns to the house.
"Guys, guys, you'll never believe what I've just seen!"

"I thought I saw Molotov..."

"but when I watched closer..."

"...and closer..."

"...it was a whole different cat!
I'm still quite confused."

Brave old Puschkin cane out to see what all the fuzz

was about, but the snow was cold on his paws.

Very cold!

"Munchkin, you sissy, it's just a kitten, don't make such

a big deal of it!"

"and it's way too cold, I'm outta here!"

Molotov: "Did someone say my name? A kitten?

Where, where?!"

The End.

Sweet Old Famous Cat

As some of you might know, I collect books & stuff with (one of) the names of our cats on the cover. Most of those items are books (a perfect combi of my love for both cats & books!), written by the Russian writer Alexander Puschkin. Thanks to fellow BookCrossers, I've got a whole range of Puschkin books in different languages now and I'm very proud of that collection.

And then sometimes you bump into gems like these:

Wow, a must-have for me!
I got in touch with the writer (she self published this book and it's not available in bookstores) and, lucky me, she still had 6 copies of this book! Whoohoo!

It's a children's book about a stray cat and it involves themes like friendship, trust and care.

The writer was surprised to hear from someone far away (she lives in Canada) and she's sending me an authographed copy. How great is that?

Here you can read more about this book and you wanna click here for her other animal themed children's book.

In the mean time, sweet old Puschkin is growing older and older, but we believe he's still happy. He sleeps all day, but his ears & appetite are still very good: whenever one of us goes into the kitchen, he wakes up and asks for (I should say demands) food. He seems very satisfied with the large basket we got from my sister, he's been using it about 22/23 hours a day since we put it in the living room.

(yippeeee, new graphic software!)

But Puschkin is not the only famous cat in the house: Muchkin has got his own card game! (Also a present of my sis)

Don't be such a baby, get pierced!

My gosh, how horrible is this?!

Bumped into this product when I was browsing for info on different piercing methods, was curious what people had to say about that push through method (much like a piercing gun, but it uses manual force instead of shooting). From what I've read so far, I'm not a fan of this method for anything other than earlobes.

Anyway, what I also found was this:

"your child has to be at least 6 weeks before having their ears pierced"

Excuse me??? I always feel so bad when I see todlers or even babies with earstuds. There should definitely be a law that forbids things like that!

I'm finally done thinking about what piercing to get and where. I adore lip piercings, would love to have one, but my teeth are damaged already and I don't want more damage there, so I've dropped that plan.

My 2nd choice was an eyebrow piercing, but now that I'm wearing glasses again I think there's enough bling going on in my face. It's gonna be a helix: a piercing through the upper part of the ear. Not world shocking, but I like how they look:

Will go for a smaller ring and maybe placed a bit higher.

Another step in the right direction :) I hope to be able to have the tattoo on my lower arm adjusted/ transformed into something nicer someday and I think my upper right arm and one of my ankles could use some decoration as well, but that's for later, when we are rich ;)

Worth a click!

Another Mathijs design...on yellow this time!
Who's in for a vote?

Helpdesk :)

Rotterdam, december 21!

(click on slide to watch show in full size)