Cogs can think.

Princess Maxima, Prince Heir Willem-Alexander, Queen Beatrix

How unnervingly moving is this.

It was Koninginnedag today in The Netherlands. An Afghan refugee, who fled to our country in 2001, walked 50km from Heerenveen to Franeker last night. Franeker is one of the cities the Royal Family visited today. It was his goal to extend a personal letter to the Queen in which he thanked her for the support The Netherlands has given, and is giving, to the Afghan people.

Noble.

He got to shake the Queen’s hands, but she didn’t take the letter. He got to shake the Prince Heir’s hand, but he didn’t take the letter (these people have to shake 4395398589307593 hands, no surprise there).

He was sad.

And then, at the last minute, Princess Laurentien passed by. She shook his hand, he explained his intentions, and Princess Laurentien took his letter, and assured him she’d give it to the Queen.

God I love this place.

256 Bit should be enough for everyone.

Literally.

I’ve fallen in love. With the Eee PC 900. That made me think.

An Eee 900 configured with a Fiona background.

That’s eternal happiness RIGHT THERE.

Seriously, keyboard people? Want free advice?

Make keys that read ‘ok’, ‘cool’, and ‘OMFG UR SUCH AN IDIOT!!!!’.

Would make IRC so much easier.

I just noticed my previous three entries were quite sad and deppressing, or at least ‘heavy’.

Let me make it up to you.

FART ASS PENIS SEX WEE VAGINA POO.

My mother went into surgery Tuesday. She had a complicated breast reconstruction done - her remaining breast (the other, cancerous one was removed 3 years ago) was removed, and two ‘new’ ones were constructed, using flaps of skin from her armpit, and… Well, it’s complicated plastic surgery, I won’t bore you with the details.

It was quite the ride too, of course. My mother was nervous ever since last Wednesday, when she got the call it was her turn. The hospital she’s at is most likely the best hospital in the country - the Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (the AVL) in Amsterdam. The AVL specialises in treating patients with cancer and patients with cancer-related issues - like my mom’s case. It’s so good because it doesn’t look like your average hospital - the atmosphere is almost cosy. You’d pay a good deal of money per night if it was a hotel. The contact with the staff and doctors is also very close and warm, and they guide you from the moment you enter through the revolving doors - literally.

The surgery went perfectly, and she already sat up straight and made a few first steps this morning - only twelve hours after a very serious piece of surgery. There’s like ten million tubes draining blood and fluids from her wounds into bottles that lie scattered around her bed.

When my father and I drove up there late Tuesday night, at around 21:00, I said to my dad, look, she’s probably gonna be all talkative already.

And she was.

I have an intrinsic fear of the concept of suicide. The whole idea frightens me so much, it even makes me panic a little bit. The idea that someone can be so deep in a pit that he’s willing to take his own life seems so unreal to me I simply cannot imagine it. I start locking up, and feel all uncomfortable and uneasy for days.

Last Saturday, when my bestest best friend Renate and I had one of our meet ups at my place (think us making fun of one another, watching TV, having deep conversations until deep in the night), one of our talks was about suicide. I explained to her the whole idea makes me sick to my stomach, how I find it highly unnerving, and how it makes me feel very scared and upset.

You know, it might have to do with the fact that I discovered my brother’s suicide note when I was 10 years old. THANKS FOR THAT ONE, ASSHOLE.

I just saw Der Untergang for the first time.

And I cried. Out loud.

This is by far the best film ever made. This is the first ever film that did not depict the high-ranking Nazi officers as brutal monsters with no conscience or emotions - bear with me here before accusing me of Nazi sympathising - they were portrayed as human beings, with human feelings, human emotions, not just as sick killing machines.

And it is that element of humanity that made the sickness ever more apparent.

They were like you, like me. This film makes you realise more than ever that the brutality of the Nazi regime is not something of the past, it’s not something that we can leave behind. It’s not a page we can rip out of our history books, and put away in a sealed envelope on the top shelf of our existence. This is a page that we must always bear with us, a page that we must keep in the back of our heads during our every day decisions, our judgements, our characterisations of other people.

And when we vote.

If there is one thing that Bruno Ganz’s astonishing acting performance makes clear, it’s that there is no reason to assume it will never happen again. The acts of the Nazis were committed by monstrous humans, not by humanly monsters.

Of het ooit terecht is
Dat het een gevecht is
Om gewoon ergens te zijn
Om te wonen en te leven
En al was het ook maar even
Echt een mens te kunnen zijn
En dan los te komen van je plaats en tijd…

Someone just told me his apartment lacks curtains.

So, I said, no prancing around naked while singing Spice Girls songs?

Not that I do that, of course. At least, not regularly.

We have a guest lecturer tomorrow. She posted an article online for us to read.

Two scanned images embedded in a Word document.

SHE BETTER BE PRETTY.