FIRST DAY OF SPRING

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinsr/3337471271/

Every year it is a special feeling if you can open all the doors and windows of your apartment and breath some fresh air. Today was for me the first day I was able to do that without getting sick of the draft, my carpet wet by the rain or my fingers freezing off by the cold. It was even possible to sit on my balcony to enjoy the sun.

Therefore today, not a post with much content or meaning: simply, enjoy the day and let good feelings enter. Today was also the second day of my newly introduced scheme to speed up looking for a new job; the latest idea is to imagine that my job is to find a new job; so I will start my day at my desk at nine and work until twelve. After a lunch break (2 hours may seem a little bit long, but hey, there is more to life than work) I return to my desk for the afternoon session from two to five.

OK; it is only my second day, but until now it worked; although I start my day with reading some motivational texts to get me, oh wonder, motivated. Let's see how it works in the long run. I have tried now every trick in the book to get going and I know every trick to sabotage myself. This might be an interesting future post, but today I won't let me ruin my day by highlighting my own inefficiency.

The Hague is slowly getting to normal again, after a first day of spring and a hectic Afghanistan conference in town. Helicopters are flying the whole day to keep an eye on the safety in the city and the police is blocking roads and crossings to get delegations to and from the conference. Maybe they have got time tonight to look for the Labrador of Hillary Clinton, which has escaped and is still missing.

CHECKING REGISTRATIONS

The last few weeks I have started to take my political activities up a notch. With the European elections and the community elections coming up this year and next year the political parties are taking up their campaigning activities and so does the party that I joined a year or two ago, D66. As a social-liberal party they have the following guidelines for their political points of view:

- trust in the self-relying power of people;

- think and act international;

- reward performance and share prosperity;

- strive for a sustainable and harmonious society;

- cherish the fundamental rights and shared values;

On paper this is beautiful and very impressive, but in practice it is not always easy to act in line with all these guidelines. In essence, it is completely in line with my own views as a liberal with high regard for the person of the individual in our current society. I joined a working group on public transport in the city of The Hague; I volunteered to be president of a voting office here in town for the European elections on the 4th of June of this year and I volunteered to write some texts for the campaign for the European elections. I would have liked to have contributed to the special D66-web log on the 4th of June but it is not possible and not democratically sound to combine contributing to a web log and president of a voting office. You have to keep these activities carefully separated.

Our member in the European Parliament, Sophie in 't Veld has been very active in the field of gay rights on a European level; she was even arrested during a demonstration in Moscow. I am confident that she will be again chosen to be an MEP; if we can rely on the polls she will be joined by someone else. She will receive my vote because she is also very active in the field of privacy protection, especially vis-à-vis the US.

Later more on my activities.

ELECTRONIC WAVE

It is time for some music again. As a fan of electronic music I was surprised that suddenly non-European bands entered the scene with catchy songs. Electronic music seemed exclusively European. These two songs stuck into my mind; although they are relatively similar, they are not from the same band.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMJjF4LHOkY
EMPIRE OF THE SUN - WALKING ON A DREAM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtUI5MC9tVM
MGMT - ELECTRIC FEEL


Once again it does not work to upload the youtube files to my blog; is it me or blogger?

IT'S A SHAME

This morning I read on the website of Der Spiegel, that a study of the University College of London (UCL) among psychotherapists in Britain, had produced some surprising results. One in six therapists (17%) has stated that he/she "helped" patients to reduce gay or lesbian feelings, usually through therapy.


I can tell from my own experience that accepting that you belong to a minority that is discriminated against is not easy. Denying it is in the end more damaging than facing it. The fact that it is not visible to see whether someone is gay or not, does not make it easier. Hide it and do not suffer discrimination or simply do what you want to do or want to feel.


In this struggle you want help and not a therapist who brainwashes you with his/her own discriminative or religious feelings against gays. You have trust in them that they know what they are doing and that the therapy is in your best interest. If you are questioning this or if a therapist is questioning your feelings, leave immediately!! You are not taken seriously.


When I read in the article that one therapist has answered that the sexual act between gays can lead to 'mental damage', is the main reason for Aids and HIV, and is simply perverse I do not understand why such a person is accepted as a licensed psychotherapist. It is simply a sign that we are still not taken serious and looked upon as sick people who must be healed.


I am lucky that I am helped by people who do not try to "heal" me, but support me in the battle and stand beside me. Thank God!!

http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/0,1518,615701,00.html
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-244X/9/11/abstract

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF SAN FRANCISCO (4 and final)

I started this short series with only one post in mind; than it was getting more and more and now I am on four posts on the same subject. But don't worry; there will not be more. My last reflections on SF:

it is fun to walk in the supermarket and look at products you do not know at home; I had a talk with the guy at the fish department on a fish called mahi-mahi, supposedly living in the Pacific - completely unknown to me; it was marinated with coconut and macadamia-nuts; surprising combination;

On the last day I took a bus to the beaches of San Francisco on the Pacific side; beautiful cliffs and views; felt like you were somewhere far away from the city; did not see a mahi-mahi though;

Had a chat with Lindsay, the manager of the oyster bar I was before. Is she flirting with me? Got some wine on the house (saved me $ 9 a glass!!); sorry that it was on my last day - she could have shown me a bit of town; promised that I would write positively about here; no reason to do otherwise; Lindsay, you are a great person and sorry it did not work out;

Time to say goodbye; at SF International airport it was a mess; they changed the type of airplane at the last minute; 50 people could not join us for the flight to Washington DC and all the people who checked in on the internet had to check in again; I held on tight to my seat;

Stopover at Washington DC - extremely busy airport; was surprised nobody checked my passport - there are so many security measures and the most basic one, the passport, is not checked; strange;

Had a good flight; found in my suitcase a message of the American authorities that my bag was checked; got annoyed; why not ask me ?; I would have liked to be present; what if they put drugs in my suitcase or take something out? I have got no proof - letter to the ambassador I published on the net before;

Returned safely home. Hope to get back soon. I really enjoyed SF and California.

CUT OFF FROM THE WORLD

Today I ended my subscription to the Volkskrant. Wtih pain in my heart because I had this subscription for almost 18 years; just after I finished university. Besides the fact that I have to cut down on my monthly costs, I noticed that I read less and less; just skimming the headlines.

In these times of crisis I felt bad after reading the newspaper. Everything is deteriorating and even if you know it is going OK, the newspapers always tend to make things catastrophic. If they continue like this they will make it catastrophic for themselves; people do not want to read how bad it is and that it will even be worse in the future.

"Good news is no news"; this is rubbish. Of course you do not have to shut your eyes for what is happening in the world, but informing us that we are in a recession is also no news. Nice; now it is official what everybody already knew.

I will get my news now from the internet and from TV; and I will still buy a newspaper at the supermarket on Thursday (for the cultural agenda) and on Saturday (for the background stories and entertainment).

I will miss my newspaper in the morning, but I will not miss the costs involved and the frustration why I have to read all the shit that is happening in the world. Hope is what we need.

CONFIDENCE

I am able to choose my behaviour with implicit trust in my behaviour, and knowing that I can deal with whatever happens.

source: http://theconfidenceguyonline.com/

THE UPS & DOWNS OF SAN FRANCISCO (3)

It is already two weeks that I am back from San Francisco and it is time to get along with my little series on the things that struck me on this trip:

There is no city that is more fun in the rain than in sunshine; some get more authentic (London), but most cities simply get dreary. I had plenty of rain and storm in SF - on a rainy Sunday I have to watch myself not to become to melancholic; I have had my experiences;

On such a rainy day it is time to hit the museums or other indoor activities; luckily SF has some which are worth visiting; the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) has a phantastic museum shop (the biggest I have ever seen) and is housed in a sensational building.

I thought the art in the museum was a little disappointing; maybe over the years I have seen too much to compare it with; it was nice to see the famous "LOVE"-painting by Indiana and the "American Flag" by Jasper Johns - they were included in my modern art course I did a few years back;

Fisherman's Wharf is the biggest disappointment of San Francisco; what a tourist trap !; it reminded me of Scheveningen, the beach resort of The Hague; the sea lions are fun, but that's the only thing;

Went to see the Wells Fargo History Museum with the stage coach and all other documents on the discovery of the Wild West; for me fascinating; great idea of a company to start its own museum; maybe an idea for Shell in The Hague ?;

Met a personal trainer in an Italian cafe on Columbus Avenue; had an amusing talk with this Greek / Italian guy; bit too simple but fun, a lively guy and a great body; what else can you do when the rain is pouring down;

Japantown was very interesting; Japan appeals more to me than Chinese; more classy, more Zen; quite an experience to enter a book store with only books in Japanese;

The aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences is a must; go and see it; fantastic !!

The great thing of SF is that every burrough has its own atmosphere and people; whether you go to the Marina, South of Market, Chinatown, The Castro - completely different and a world of itself; great fun;

Haight Ashbury is the hippie area; great alternative shops with stuff nobody needs (and actually nobody with any sense of style would want to buy), but it is authentic and going back in time;

Finally Castro Street; for us gays a very famous name and a very special place, although not as I expected; maybe because it was March it was not crowded and, I could say, almost dated - no "open" atmosphere; this was a bit disappointing, but coming from a country where gays are almost completely assimilated in society, it is great to have a place where we are present and in majority;

THE I-POD AGE

Usually I am not the first to buy and use technological innovations; I wait till the use of the device is more common practice and the prices have gone down. In San Francisco I bought my first I-pod at the Apple Store in Stockton Street. I am now downloading music of my CDs at home on to the I-pod and I came across some beautiful CDs and songs I almost forgot. Although John Legend is sometimes getting too "sweet", this song always touches my heart. I have downloaded the song not to glorify the US-Army (although the video might suggest otherwise); armies do not need glorification, they are unfortunately a necessary evil. We could read "coming home" as not the coming home of the individual soldier, but of the whole army. Impressive song !

The video did not open after downloading; therefore the link to youtube.com:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pGSk2-jZ-4&feature=related


JOHN LEGEND - COMING HOME

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF SAN FRANCISCO (2)

San Francisco is a fascinating city; a few days ago I started a short series of postings with things, thoughts and experiences that in my opinion were typical for San Francisco, the USA and also of me. This is the second in that series:


Alcatraz is one of the main sights in SF; very touristic but still fun; take at least half a day and in season you have to book tickets in advance; as a single traveller I could be squeezed in at the last moment;















They have done a lot of effort to make Alcatraz an interesting and exciting place; in fact you are in a rundown and partially burned down jail - but the stories on the head phone make the prison come alive (even tour in Dutch !);

Chinatown is one of the other highlights of SF, especially for people, like me, who have never been to China; huge area and in February not overrun by tourists and, what seems to me, authentic; no signs in English and a lot of people do not even speak English;











In North Beach I walked past an Italian café, Mama's, with a line of 20 people waiting outside to be seated; and it was 10.30 on a Friday morning; I have never seen such a thing and I do not know whether I would be willing to wait that long for a seat in a café; it seems to be normal in the USA to wait for a table;


Walked past Levi's Plaza (head office of Levi Strauss); reminded me that I always want to bring something typical of the city or country back home with me; Levi's are a lot cheaper overhere, but I do not need them and I am on a budget ...


I had late lunch in the Ferry Building, which has been transformed into a food plaza with restaurants and shops; Everything is fresh and specialized in seafood (oysters, muscles, clams); I am a big fan of seafood, so I enjoyed eating there and looking at the people; Had fun with the staff and would be back later on in the week;

As a theatre lover I wanted to visit a theatre performance; the ticket booth at Union Square did not have anything suitable for half price, so I went to the theatre around the corner of the hotel; Zeum Theatre was linked to the Art academy and was a fun little theatre; they were not used to foreigners and I was treated as someone special;

I watched on saturday night The Philistines of Maxim Gorki; strange to see a play in American English (I always had to remind myself that it played in Russia and not in the Wild West), but it was played with flair and with humor; audience was a different side of SF - more the boheme and intellectuals;

One of my most popular pastimes in a foreign city is to roam around bookshops and musicstores; usually I have to come to the conclusion that Dutch bookshops are top of the bill, but SF also did very well; bought some CDs of Billy Holiday and Nina Simone in the final sale of Virgin and some books on writing English (desperately needed !) and the Russian Revolution (typical to buy in SF);

Bizarre people on the streets; in the neighbourhood was a convention on videogames, which thousands and thousands of videogames-nerds attended; some of them were dressed as their heroes, but as a videogames-nitwit for me not recognizable who they personify; fun to watch though;

One of the advantages of the crisis is that the shops are empty and the prices are low; you can shop around and sales people have time for a chat or a laugh; usually in men's clothing stores the male staff is very attractive and fun to flirt with; for me, being 6 foot 6, it is easy to start a conversation ("do you have trousers in my size ?");

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF SAN FRANCISCO

Last week I returned from San Francisco; a very fascinating city. I enjoyed it very much. Cosmopolitan, friendly and modern - characteristics I like in a city. After 10 days in SF I have not seen and experienced the whole of the city but I stayed there for a longer period than the average tourist. It enabled me to enjoy the city in a relaxed way without rushing from one site to the other. Notes on specific experiences, remarkable people, thoughts and experienced typical American characteristics I wrote down in a tiny booklet. Following are some extracts:

Everyone seems to own a laptop and in café's far more people sit alone to work on their laptops as overhere;
I can not get used to the plastic or paper cups in which coffee is served, like in the omni-present Starbucks (I tried to avoid them, but they are so typical for America that I had to at least try once, so I did in Berkeley); enormous cups though;

SF is much more Asian as I expected; I had the opinion that more than half of the inhabitants of SF are Asian-Americans;

The hills are really very steep (Telegraph Hill !) - cycling is no option;

Even in a "walking city" as SF Americans do not seem to walk; outside the city center you see hardly any person walking the pavements;

On several places in town the victims of AIDS are remembered - must have a huge impact on the town and was impressive;

Americans are easy to get in contact with - more than in Europe people start a conversation with complete strangers, which makes it easier for single travelers;

Strange is the price system in shops; you do not pay what is on the price tag - the cashier adds another percentage for taxes: for example instead of $ 9.99 you pay $ 10.68 - impractical;

When I am abroad my home country is almost non-existant. But the first thing I heard on the TV news was a plane crash at Amsterdam-Airport. The airport where I had started my trip that morning; weird;

Art and a healthy lifestyle are more present in SF than in most other cities - everything has to be healthy, organic and environmentally friendly; they just keep on going to the supermarket in their huge SUVs;

I had to get used to the fact that if you eat at a restaurant you get the bill presented the moment you have taken your last bite - do they want you to go ? I am not sure what they expect; as a "stupid" foreigner you can do what you like and that is what I did;

Lot of homeless people on the street; I do not know whether this is the crisis or whether it is normal for an American city; suppose they are not victims of the crisis, but drunks and/or drug addicts; as long as they do not bother me I am fine;

Service in the organic supermarkt round the corner of my hotel was fantastic - everything was fresh and it was possible to fill yourself a box with a lot of hot fresh food (usually Asian) for just $ 6 irrespective of what you take;

Food is in general cheaper in America - wine and other drinks are more expensive - a glass of wine costs you in general $ 8 or $ 9, you should expect otherwise with the Californian vineyards so close by;

In the style department Americans are no front-runners. Although the major designers are present in the shops around town, it does not reflect what you see on the streets. No style or "hoodies" dominate.














Golden Gate bridge is magnificent. I did not expect to get excited by a bridge, but the blue of the water, the green of the hills, the bright red of the bridge, the aesthetic, the sheer magnitude ... Great !











No better views of SF than from a ferry or from Sausalito and Tiburon across the bay.

For the first time in my life I have seen the Pacific !!

Enjoyed hearing and looking at the man with the guitar-playing dog ( a tiny Pekinese). Something was "loose";

Traffic lights for pedestrians indicate how long these lights still are green. Good initiative - should be done overhere as well !

Almost no people were shopping at the big stores - what is happening ? Crisis ?

Another first in a lifetime experience: an escalator with a curve (in Nordstrom); never seen such a thing before;

And so the list of my experiences (big and small) goes on and on. But not for today. Till next time !

BACK

I am back in The Hague. San Francisco was fantastic; on that later. First my frustration on the treatment by the American custom authorities. Do not mess with me - if I feel not treated well I will not keep silent. The letter below I wrote today to the American Ambassador in the Netherlands. I do not think it will make a difference, but OK, if you simply tolerate for sure nothing will change. Tomorrow more on San Francisco.


Mr. James B. Culbertson
Ambassador to the Netherlands
Embassy of the United States of America
Lange Voorhout 102
2514 EJ The Hague


The Hague, 10 March 2009


Ref.: Inspection


Your Excellency,

Last weekend I returned to The Hague after a very enjoyable 10-day stay in San Francisco. Back home I found inside my suitcase a notification of inspection (NOI) signed by an employee of Covenant Aviation Security (CAS), stating that the CAS is required by law to inspect all checked baggage.

As a national of a free country I can not accept the fact that without my consent and without me being present my belongings were searched. If they would have asked me, I was more than willing to open the suitcase and let them see what is inside. Luckily I heard by accident that travellers should leave their suitcases unlocked, otherwise also my suitcase would have been damaged.

The fact that CAS is a private company under contract with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) gives me little confidence that my belongings are in reliable hands. Who is responsible if some of my belongings are missing (I can not prove anything and I am thousands of miles away) and who ensures me that no forbidden substances are put inside my suitcase (for example drugs) ? The fact that I had to leave my suitcase open made me feel very uncomfortable.

Last but not least, I was very surprised that on my trip with United Airlines back to the Netherlands no US authorities checked my passport; nor at San Francisco International Airport, nor at my stop-over Washington Dulles International Airport. What is the use of all the security measures and bureaucracy if basic documents are not checked ?

By the way, I fully understand that security measures are necessary and essential. But the execution of these measures should be done with more respect for the privacy and the belongings of the people visiting your country. This should not be very difficult.

I hope you take these remarks into consideration and forward the complaints to the responsible US authorities. Thank you.

Kind regards.