August 2010

Personal growth

Posted on 2010-08-14 07:32 by rv

Yeah, didn't have any :P

Seriously though, I think it's fascinating that people can experience so many things, and change their minds about things so much, but some core values are never changed. We never forgot what's important.

Quote out of a book somewhere obtained via Brian (freely adapted):

I regret not doing two things when I was young: take more risks, and reflect on my life more.

(This fascination is part of the reason why I'm interested in CogSci).

I still remember, and I'm still the same core person inside. Enjoy life.

Posted in Thoughts

Brainns

Posted on 2010-08-13 22:08 by rv

I'm still in Antwerp, enjoying the city in a leisurely way. Oh, and today was my birthday! A fact casually acknowledged in real life and then quickly forgotten, much like the way in which we are experiencing Antwerp, I guess. I never really cared for my own birthday. It's supposed to be a momentous occassion and a nice day to reflect on your life, but I do too much of that already >_<;

Anyway, I met Brian here in Antwerp and we've been focusing on the design of a nifty piece of software that will... do something that will be a surprise :) It's an interesting project that involves quite a lot of our personal interests as well as a good challenge in many different ways. It's not just the technical part; the entire process of software development from idea (or selection of idea, actually) all the way until actual product is what we're doing. It's been a while since my brain's worked on full power, and I very much appreciate the change in pace. We've got two weeks, and so far not a single line of code has been written. Because of that I am quite confident that we'll end up with a good program in the end.

Yesterday we went looking for a library and ended up in a peculiar high-security library instead of the public library. We even got free library cards, which we needed to even enter the place, after leaving behind our coats and backpacks. It was a rather dreary place though. On the way back we found a store with all kinds of viking things inside, and a creepy cellar with inside it a knight's armor and some axes. We bought a bottle of mead there which I am finding delicious. It's also making me sleepy. More later, for now I'm g

Posted in Daily Life , Thoughts | Tagged mead

Cathedral

Posted on 2010-08-12 08:08 by rv

Posted in Photography , Travel

Goals and things

Posted on 2010-08-11 19:58 by rv

I was going to make this a grand photo post with lots of photos from Antwerp. Unfortunately the internet connection at the hotel is so slow that I couldn't even upload one. Instead I present you with words.

So, I've met up with Brian, and we're doing a little software development project together. What it is exactly I don't want to tell you yet, as you'll find out soon enough. In any case, we're hanging around in Antwerp, walking through the city, sitting at cafes trying to get the creative spirit out. It's an interesting proof of concept for both of us. We're getting experience in programming, but more importantly we are going through the entire process of development, from idea to end product, which is very interesting. We've only just started though, so who knows what the end result will be.

Being away from home has become the standard for me for the past months: I've spent more time away from home than at home. It's been a while since I felt this free, and I must say that I like it very much. Catching up on old times, discussing about the future, I'm gaining a new perspective on life. Or rather, I'm regaining an old one that I dearly missed.

Every time I board a plane home, whether my home is Japan or the Netherlands, I always think about my life and my goals when I'm on the plane. By the time I've arrived on the ground I will have made big plans for my life, great things to accomplish and important things to change about my lifestyle. By the time I'm back in the safety of my own room those plans are quickly forgotten and I return to my old dastardly ways.

Sometimes I last longer. I might manage for a week or so to keep one of my resolutions, like going cycling every day, eating less snacks, or applying for jobs, but eventually that momentum starts to disappear and I find back my natural state of continuous procrastination. The cycling thing has finally become a regular activity for me, but it took my resignation and a two-month cycling trip to accomplish the regularity with which I now get on my bicycle. It's not easy to change. But that doesn't mean we should stop trying.

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged balls , bitter

Astonishing Antwerp

Posted on 2010-08-09 17:47 by rv

Astonishing Antwerp in Beautiful Belgium: the city of cleavage, daring and delightful!

After arriving in Antwerp, as soon as I approached the hotel, I was amazed by the amount of beauty. A bazillion beautiful Belgian babes! Breathtaking buildings, baroque boulevards, truly a celebrity city.

All alliteration aside though, I've traveled around a fair bit, but never before have I seen so many beautiful people together in one place. It did really surprise me. The city itself seems very nice, with a lot of traditional buildings, cobblestone roads etc. But the thing that surprised me most were the people. Well, I've only just arrived. More memorious messages later as myself makes many magnificent memories in this magnificent metropolis.

(/Ranting rv)

Posted in Travel

Germany

Posted on 2010-08-08 13:01 by rv

It's difficult for me to write about Germany. We live about 50km away from Germany ourselves, and the northern part of Germany, which was the destination of our trip last week, is almost exactly the same as the northern part of Holland. As we went further Eastwards away from Holland things got more and more different, and when we arrived in a place called Schwerin I finally had the feeling that I was really in Germany. The castle was quite impressive, and very different from English castles.

I over-HDR'ed this one a bit because the weather was not very good. You don't see it in the picture but the lighting was pretty bad.

Before arriving at Schwerin we day-tripped our way east by car, stopping at hotels near watery places, which are my dad's favorite. The first day we stayed at a place called Farge, which offered a pretty decent sunset.

Our final destination was the highlight for me: the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

I've never been to a concentration camp before, and I was quite moved. It was raining for the whole morning, but when we arrived at the camp the sky started to clear up. It kind of felt like inappropriately good weather for such an occasion. We walked around the camp and visited the museum, which itself looks deliberately bunker-y and drab.

My dad at Anne Frank's grave

Nazis

I was hugely impressed by some of the photos in the museum. Ever since I took up photography I've been looking at photos in museums with a different eye, and shocking photos like these really impressed me a lot. It was a valuable history lesson.

Next week I'll be going to Belgium for another holiday o_0. This one will be a bit different from usual holidays, but I'll keep that a surprise for next time. Until then!

Posted in Travel | Tagged germany

世の中狂ってる

Posted on 2010-08-07 09:03 by rv

Lately I am being confronted by a lot of bad parts about society. Stuff that basically wouldn't reach me while I was hiding myself in my tiny little room in Japan now reaches my ears, and I don't like what I hear. In the past few weeks I've seen cities that were unsafe at night because of all the beer-drinking teenage rebel scumbags that hang around the streets at night. I've heard stories of blatant nepotism in companies and educational facilities. I've seen a play about the company Enron which was a good example of how messed up things can really get. I also know people in real life who are making a mess of things time and time again, starting companies, going into debt and then wiggling their way out again by creative bankruptcy. The system is not bugfree, and it's being taken advantage of far too much. I would be very very annoyed at myself if I became involved in something like that, but I have to conclude that this limits my options, and it only gets worse with age. The older you get, the more you need favors from others to get higher up. Or at least, that appears to be the message that society is teaching us.

(Note on title: it's Japanese for "This world is fucked up", freely translated.)

Posted in Daily Life , Thoughts

Time lapses quickly in Germany

Posted on 2010-08-03 20:31 by rv

Side note: despite my attempts at not spending money I am seriously considering to buy a nice Intel Core i7 system for myself. Not sure about the graphics card though, should I waste money on a Radeon 5850 or just get a cheap 5770 instead? Hmm...

Posted in Photography , Tech

Gurrrrmany

Posted on 2010-08-03 19:03 by rv

I'm in northern Germany on a trip with my parents. I'm very meh about it. It doesn't really feel like we've really left Holland, as everything is the same, including our activities. Drive car, go to cafe, eat food, drive car, go to hotel, drink beer, eat food, go to sleep.

In the meantime I am amusing myself by drinking large beers while reading a book about cognitive science in English and at the same time trying to have a conversation with my parents in Dutch. Yay.

Posted in Travel | Tagged beer

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