So it's Friday at last. I've been too busy at work to think about how I feel. But I think stressed is certainly a word that applies so much work to do, so little time, but my boss is very receptive at the moment and has agreed to ask our 'board of directors' to recruit an extra person for our service. Only 2,5 people in the Communications service for an organisation of 600 people is a bit 'optimistic'.

On a less serious note, spring is in full swing. 23 degrees centrigrade yesterday, that's summer weather! The temperature has been halved today, but I see the buds on the trees. Soon my street will be decorated with the colors of NN, the cherry trees blossoming.

TGIF!

I think that everybody knows the horrors of the second world war and the holocaust by now. But it's another thing to see personal testimonies.

I just finished watching a documentary about two good Belgian friends. One was the son and brother of adamant nazi enthusiasts, who participated in the deportation etc. of Belgian Jews almost until the end of the war (changing sides in the end). The other one was a Jew who escaped from a deportation train, but lost his mother and sister.

To see these two men sharing their stories, sharing their pain and even visiting an old concentration camp together... To see this unlikely friendship... Powerful stuff, the tears in their eyes were mirrored by tears in my eyes. I'm such a softie

So I've rediscovered my fractal software and I've been playing with it the past couple of weeks.

Results:





And my favorite:

I just won a staring contest with a baby on the bus. Hey, don't diss it, babies are really good at staring! And they're creepy when they stare

I now know that no matter how little I accomplish today, my day will have been worthwhile because of this one phenomal feat.
Have a great day

When bad things happen in the world, I can be shocked or even outraged. But usually the wall between my consciousness and my sense of mortality isn't shaken.

However, when a close colleague comes out of the bathroom sniffling and red-eyed and I ask her if everything is OK (presuming she has bad allergies) and she says that a friend of hers has been admitted into hospital for palliative care... Someone my age, who has been battling brain cancer for 3 to 4 years... I felt tears sting my eyes, and I feel them again writing this now. And darkness lurks in the corner of my mind, despite my best efforts.

It was a glorious day today, more summer than spring. And quite a change from the near freezing temperatures we had until recently. So after I ate in a restaurant with my parents in Bruges (squid ink pasta with prawns), we went for a walk in Knokke, the seaside town where my dad grew up. It's a town that is now well known for its rich neighborhoods of holiday homes. Quite snob, but nice green and calm streets for a long walk.

We ended up going to my grandmother's house there, once again seeing if there were objects we wanted to take home. Such a sad sight, the old house emptied of anything valuable and what was left strewn about as if someone had been throwing everything around.

And to see the house itself in such poor condition, cracks in the walls, crooked doors... All because of the building works next door, the demolition of the neighboring house to build an expensive apartment block which ruined the foundations. If my grandmother hadn't died, she would have been in an uninhabitable house, waiting to get an apartment next door, so her own house could be demolished as well to build more apartments.

It might have been the last time I saw the old house before its demolition, memories will soon be all that's left.

For some strange reason, spending the weekend at my parents often makes me melancholy. Is it the house that breathes a sad story? Is it my mind that finds its positive side in suspended animation?

Kitty goes wild: catching a robin and a mouse. Poor little critter I would feel better if he actually ate them, but it's just killing for sport...

I go wild: rocking out to some oldies... Tutti frutti... Reet Petite... The loco-motion... Rock around the clock...
Yes, way before my time, but I went from "Oh my God, I feel like crap, I just want to drape myself across the couch" to shaking my ass off and singing along. Great medicine

But it doesn't solve everything, I'll get back to my mountains of tissues now, sniffling away, have a good evening/day

I guess I must be 'sensitive', but I find it disgusting that people danced and partied at the death of Margaret Thatcher and hung signs saying "the bitch is dead". I'm not saying everybody should be feeling bereaved, but there is such a thing as respect for human life.

I was typing a blog comment and wanted to type the words 'screen shot', but instead ended up with the words 'screen snot'. Subliminal message there I think, very appropriate

On a second note, some people just love to complain. Our company recently set up a facebook profile, people from our personnel spontaneously asking to be friends very quickly after that. A few days later and some people are making a huge fuss, claiming an infringement on their personal life etc.
Hey, we never ordered you to like us on facebook or anything, so get over it.