What a fucking shitty time

The recent time has been really shitty. My brother Donald was killed in Afghanistan in June. Needless to say, a much needed vacation to Portugal was only a way to take my mind slightly off of the problem at hand.

Photos in Portugal

The place I'm in...

Up until now, my blog has mainly been a way for me to talk about the stupid shit that was going on in my life. Most of it extremely irrelivant, but on June 6th that all changed. My brother, Cpl. Donald M. Marler, was killed in Afghanistan while fighting there as a Marine.

I don't know what to say or to do.

A finished painting

I've finised only one painting in 2008 and need to begin shortly on a few new ones for 2010.

A good painting

"De tiranie der stralen helmen"
@Booijman van Beuningen in rdam

Quiting again

This quitting smoking bullshit is not fun. I quit smoking a few years ago, and the started again in October.

Now I haven't smoked in about 20 days and I am still going nuts. It's not pleasant.

So much has happened

I feel like so much has happened the past few months. I've been busy teaching which is tough and not too rewarding and I have been busy with my personal life. I started smoking towards the end of 2009 and have recently quit.

Already this year seems quite shitty to me. Not like the last few years have been bad. Actually I've had quite a good few years. But still!

LaKeidra Kemp, an old friend from Mid-Mo, died on the 27th of December. One of the fathers of one of my students died a few days ago on the 5th of January, and once again I find my self in one of those morbid moods.

Overall I hope that MMX (2010) will be a good year. I hope that we fix global warming and restore some sense of peace. Personally I will be working on restoring some sense of self-dignity!

Leaving...

It's 8:47 and it's almost time to get going. I am really excited to go
on this trip. For me, this is most definately the most exotic place
I've ever been.

In exactly five hours I'll be on the plane to Frankfurt. Then we have
a layover of six hours (yikes) before it's time for the 9 hour 55 min
flight.

Salutations!

7 Days till the Seychelles

In exactly seven days I'll be on an airplane heading towards the
Seychelles which is exciting and scary. It's exciting because it's an
exotic place that very few people have the pleasure of going to. And
it's exciting because I'm not sure what I'm supposed to expect.

I'm the type of person that always needs to know everything in advance
so I can prepare. This has made me rather uptight. This trip will
definately be a learning experience for myself.

Plus I'll get to see some of the most beautiful islands and untouched
nature on the planet.

Het Weiland

Mijn bureau

Volgende week is mij laatste week bij 'het bedrijf'.

Ik deze foto genomen om mijn tijd daar te herineren. Hopelijk is deze
baan mijn laatste 'desk job'

Possibly failing

On the eve of my test for aspects of GB I am sitting here is my
bedroom wondering if i'm actually going to pass the test tomorrow?

I am getting more and more fed up with the HRO. It seems as though I
don't actually have to prove that I know anything; I just have to be
able to do assignments and add them to a portfolio at the end of the
year. This is my biggest personal fault. I can study for a test. And I
can write my way out of any situation. It's just the administrative
bullshit that I'm bad at. Oh well, genoeg zijgen!

Just a thought

To all of those out there stockpiling Tamiflu, I suggest you read Edgar Allen Poe's "Masque of the Red Death."

And most importantly, stop umnecissarily buying medication that should be reserved for those who are actually sick.

That was just a thought.
Goodday :)

I'm so tired of the media whores

And when I say that, I'm not talking about Paris Hilton and company
but rather the media as a whole.

In the past few days, and especially after today's events at the
Queen's Day Parade, all we can do is sit back and listen to the
newsman tell us how bleek and miserable the world really is.

But in reality, nothing is that bad. Even though very few people have
died, I have to be subject to the news experts that want to tell me
about how this virus could mutate and end all humanity as we know it.

After I see the terrible things that people can do to each other, I
sometimes think, "good riddens."

Swine flu preparedness kit

Wat je nodig heb om de varkensgriep te bestrijden.

Choosing art for the livingroom

One of my projects last weekend was to go to the ikea and buy three
frames to start decorating the house. So I am now trying to decide
which photographs I'm going to use in the frames. I have to choose
carefully because each print can cost anywhere from €4-€20.

I like the one above. It's part of my series called "Recreation and
Industry"

Who would have known?

I have never been a believer in the idea that one learns something new everyday, but today I did learn something that makes me feel slightly nostalgic and proud about Missouri, the place from which I was spawned.

I learned just today, during a lackluster surf on Facebook that the Missouri Clean Energy Initiative passed overwhelmingly with 66% last November. Needless to say, I am pleasantly pleased and a bit surprised.

I was ashamed only a few months ago when while watching the film Jesus Camp on local television. I saw that many extremist Christian right wingers actually teach their children that global warming is somehow not real; that it is something made up by the leftist atheists who want to destroy the very foundation that America was built on.

Watching the movie gave me the impression that all of my presumptions about my birth state were true. That many people refused to change and would rather cling to their own obstinacy then rethink what they hold to be true. When I stumble upon these little gems of information, I begin to realize that things are not always what they seem, and that I am sometimes guilty of assuming that everyone is the label they own.

I am, however, most of the time right.

Looking forward to the Seychelles

I am as giddy as a child right now. For I have realized that it is only a few more weeks until I go on my vaccation to the Seychelles.

This will be a great excercise for me, because I will be forced to leave my little technological bubble and enter a world where people are less connected and move slower.

Now I must start the research phase of what I will do when I'm there.

Berlin 2009

Berlin 2009