Cogs can think.

I was just driving through my hometown, with The Cardigans in my car’s CD player, at maximum volume. At the side of the road, I see a man and a woman, in their late 50s I suppose; the woman is supporting the man, the guy was clearly having trouble walking, despite his walking stick. He may have been blind as well, I couldn’t tell.

As I’ve been taught by my parents, I stopped, and waved at them that they could safely cross the road. As they get to the other side, the woman raises her hand in greeting, and I greet back; I release the clutch, and just as I’m about to set my foot on the gas pedal, Nina Persson sings:

Well you get what you give

I felt all sparkly and warm inside.

After Adam, I now too am giving Opera (v9.1) a chance. My main problem with Firefox 2.0 was the fact that it refused to remember my toolbar settings, switching back to the default set and size in each new windows. This started to piss me off so badly, I simply decided to ditch Firefox.

Other than that, Gecko is evil. I don’t know why, but I don’t like the way it renders pages.

Opera has a few quircks though. I cannot get the bookmarks bar underneath the address bar, and, more annoyingly, when you click on a directory in the bookmarks bar, the first two items are Bookmark page, and Open all folder items; this means I can no longer automatically click on the first item in the drop down menu. Annoyging, since I have had the same order of bookmarks for three to four years now, meaning my spatial memory is all messed up [insert sad smiley face].

It’s American, so it falls apart because the build quality is unimaginably low, and of course it will handle like an oil tanker in a ditch. On the bright side, in a crash, you’re always at least 6 metres away from the point of impact.

But, who cares. People will be scared of you.

I developed a situation so that various subjects could be defined by the constraints of exactly the same mechanical apparatus. The scenario consisted of someone passing through a subway turnstile. At the moment that the subjects passed through the turnstile, unknown to them, I took their picture stationed at a distance of eleven feet. I stood there turning pages of a magazine observing subjects out of the corner of my eye, waiting for only the moment when they pushed the turnstile bar to release the shutter.

Brilliant, no doubt. Very realistic.

Two things about these pictures disturb me though. First, god, you Americans are fat. I mean, seriously. Fat. Get out more.

Secondly, and maybe even more disturbingly, don’t you Americans know how to dress properly? The clothes people wear in these everyday photos are just so void of any imagination; it’s obvious barely any thought has been put into it by these people. I noticed this in other countries too. It always feel me to me as if the Dutch are simply better at picking out matching clothes than other nationalities do.

Now, this is not a fashion issue; fashion differs per country. Fashion is irrelevant, I do not follow it either. What I do follow, however, is what shirt goes well with what pants, that sort of stuff. For instance, my gloves are gray, and so is my scarf. My shoes are red (Pumas), and so is my messenger bag. That sort of thing. I take care that whatever I wear is a ‘complete’ package in which thought has been put.

It’s also not about how pretty or ugly they are; I ain’t exactly Brad Pitt myself, you see.

It’s all about presentation, folks. I have a hard time trusting people who don’t take proper care of their presentation.

When I decided to quit Psychology, almost two years ago now, I was in an utter state of panic. My entire lifeplan fell apart, its remains vanishing in puffs of smoke. I had planned to become a psychologist in the doctor-kind-of-way (so not in a researcher-kind-of-way), and I had already found peace with that idea.

Even though I decided to stop at the end of my second year, I actually already had second thoughts after the first year, in the summer months preceding the second year. I had grown very close with a friend of mine, but I already knew she would quit the study after that first year; during the summer, I was afraid that ‘losing’ her would kind of defeat the point of going to university. This sounds heavy, but with that I mean we did everything together at university; I kind of had the feeling I had to do it alone when she quit. And I didn’t want that.

In any case, now I obviously realise that my doubts then had nothing to do with the feeling of having to do it alone; I had a lot of friends there with whom I could work together without a hitch (and in fact, this is what I did in the second year). I now know I simply was not yet ready to accept I had made the wrong choice with psychology, and constructed this oddball reasoning to be able to vent my worries without having to acknowledge my own mistake. I am like that a lot.

In any case, I was in a state of panic. I needed a vacation, a break away from it all, so I went to Berlin to think about my future. When I returned, I made little progress. It took me months to find a new study, but in the end, I did; and as you all know, I’m very happy with it.

My lifeplan is back now. I will become a professional journalist. I am currently already filling my minor with subjects specifically to be able to enter the Journalism master after I’m done with my bachelor. Luckily, the ladies (Marco, Martin, and Levi) will be doing the same.

I have a plan again. I like it when I know what’s a’cumin’. I fcuking hate uncertainty.

I actually made a FAQ a few days ago. Enjoy.

It’s no secret I despise the Toyota Prius. Not only is it ugly, it is also anything but environmentally friendly.

Anyway, if you want to know what car all those supposedly eco-friendly fake Hollywood-people will be driving this year, look no further than the Lexus LS 600h L. This car has a 5.0l V8, augmented by an electric engine, and it can drive on the petrol engine alone, or on the electric engine alone, or any other possible distribution in between. It looks stunning (I mean, seriously, it’s stunning), and as an option, you can have creme-coloured leather. Hollywood types are gonna love this. And, of course, because it’s hybrid, people get all warm and fuzzy inside and think it’s eco friendly! Which makes no sense! But who cares! It’s hybrid!

Of course, these people will only use their hybrid cars when they go to Letterman or Oprah. For the rest, they’ll continue to use normal petrol guzzling cars (big SUVs, sportscars, whatever).

Oh, hypocrisy. It should get its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

I’m one of the early Alanis Morissette adopters. After having heard ‘You Oughta Know’ for the first time somewhere in 1995 on MTV, I ordered the Jagged Little Pill album (one of the best selling albums of all time; 30 million copies!) via one of those CD clubs my parents were enlisted to. As clear as a glass of Martini on the rocks, I remember the afternoon it arrived; I was at home during my lunch break from primary school (I was 10, I was a music addict from a very young age), and there it lay in our mailbox, together with some irrelevant albums my parents had bought. I ran to my parents’ Hi-Fi set.

My life would never be the same again. I kid you not. Even though it sounds cheesy now, I was hooked. For months to follow, I listened to nothing else but this album. I remember, a few years later; my brother had stolen it (as well as my bike) and lost the album somewhere in Schagen. I don’t think I have ever been that angry. There’s a reason I defend my album collection with violence. I will kill, if necessary, to defend it.

Anyway, when I was in high school, Alanis released her second international album (actually her fourth album, but anyway), Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. It was almost a culture shock; so different it was from Jagged Little Pill. It was deeper, more complicated, and definitely much, much darker. It was harder to swallow, but once it had passed through your throat, it would suddenly start to make sense. Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie is definitely one of the best albums of the ’90s; personally, it is one of the best albums ever made. I can pop it into my CD player right now, and it still feels fresh and novel.

I have always remained a devout fan of Alanis, despite the fact she has never been able to reach the level of Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie again; which is not to say her later albums were not good– they were just less. Let me state that even though her later material did not grip me as much as her first two albums, they still rise above anything most others have ever been able to make (the new material on ‘Feast On Scraps‘, but the way, is an exception to the above. The eight new songs on that DVD are really good).

I never much cared for her Indiabackpacking attitude, but if I had to name three people in this world I would like to meet, she is definitely on it (Fiona Apple, Alanis Morissette, the Queen). She seems like a truly nice, kind, and caring person.

Shaking the hand of one of the greatest singer songwriters ever would be a heartfelt honour.