Weekend in London in 11 pictures

Stared at London Bridge...
Did an evening of Dirty Dancing...

Watched Catherine Tate in a London Cab...

Jo bought me a wee gem of a guidebook...

and took me to remote corners of London...

for a stencil hunting adventure...
Humbled by Congolese art at the Tate...

Gaped at the cool kids ...

Celebrated the Chinese New Year ...

Drooled over a few window displays ...

And took Jo The Vegetarian, to Ed's Diner for a burger
because "she needed iron"...

What the Bleep does anyone know really?

I have to blog tonight despite it potentially damaging my credibility as both a scientist and a rational human being. A few years ago, I watched the documentary "What the Bleep do we know?"

It features interviews with several scientists (physicists, neuroscientists,...) as well as the infamous JZ Knight, otherwise known as the channel of Ramtha. (Bare with me on this). The film is a strange blend of spiritual concepts and scientific theory and whilst the storyline is rather lame, at times, the documentary comes across as highly empowering, stating that how we perceive reality is largely up to us. It goes on to say that life is therefore our own responsibility entirely, and that by tweaking our inner self, and tapping into this particular conciousness, we can shape our own realities.

On a intuitive level, I like this interpretation. But the scientific theories presented as "proof" are downright fishy. I am aware that science isn't the begin all and end all of things, but it's in my nature to at least try to figure out arguments in favour of a theory or idea. I checked many of the references of the documentary, as well as the backgrounds of the interviewees, and the whole documentary soon lost all credibility.

Apart from feeling frustrated with the misrepresentation and manipulation of science, I also struggled with the fact that I can feel so empowered by an idea that feels intuitively right to me, yet feel so entirely deflated in the absence of sound scientific proof of it?

It comes to a point where I feel almost embarassed at having nearly fallen for an idea that is so scientifically unsound. It unsettles the scientist in me. Yet, at the same time, my own rejection of the intuitive side of me, leaves me somewhat puzzled and confused.

Discussions about religion aside, when you strongly believe in something that is not scientifically sound, do you feel the need to justify it to yourself? And how DO you justify it to yourself? Does it make you feel slightly out of whack with your rational self?

Locution and Location

On the way back from our favourite pub last Friday, Jo was reading out all the street signs, by way of practicing her budding Dutch. It’s an act that rarely requires my input, and more often than not, her mutterings simply provide a soft familiar background sound against the usual humdrum of city noise.

“Sint-Pietersplein (Saint-Peterspline), videotheek (videotek), vegetarisch (vegietarisj), broodjes (broedjes), vooruit (fooruut), ontbijthuis (ontbiethows)..."

And then I heard her mutter to herself: “mijn niederlands is ech goe” followed by a wee self-congratulatory giggle.

Foreigners can be so damn cute.

On another note... We need your input. For pratical as well as sensible reasons, Jo and I will not be moving in together. We're struggling to decide which city would be the best option for her to live in. We've established a few candidate locations that are close enough to her job (Tessenderlo), yet reasonably commutable to both my flat (Ghent) and my own workplace (Turnhout). But we're stuck. So, we'd appreciate your vote.

Which city should Jo live in?
	Hasselt
	Lier
	Antwerpen
	Genk
	Other
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Right then. The Scoop.

My girrel's got ants in her pants. And that, ladies and gents, is the essence of today's Big Scoop. But let me go off on a lazy sunday tangent.

We've all got our wee nickity pickety "wars" to battle in life. Mine's probably intrinsic antinomicity. How does one successfully enable co-existence of one's intrinsic contradictory needs, wants and beliefs? How to satisfy, for instance, a want for chaos but need for stability? How to merge the longing for novelty with the need for the familiar?

If we were one-dimensional creatures it'd be complicated at best. Take into account the multi-dimensionality of our existence and the fact that sometimes, different aspects of our lives seem to evolve at different speeds, and it's like trying to figure out a rubic's cube when colour blind.

Since I've met Jo, it's like that rubic's cube has developed a will of its own. The more I try to force it, the more it unravels. But if I simply lay out my options, and probe my way around with an open mind, the planes magically appear to line up. Things start making sense. That's a rather unnerving discovery for a control freak like myself.

I've been restless. I know I need to hang fire here in Belgium to finish this particularly steep learning curve before I can take the next step in life. But I have an urge to skip ahead. Dive into that next comfort zone. A clash of a need and a want. Meeting Jo, at first, seemed like the ideal escape route. An excuse to skip ahead. But when her and I are together, it's like an entirely new dynamic emerges. Whenever we feel like speeding up, skipping ahead or get entangled in a war of two opposing wants, needs or beliefs, it slows us down. Forces us to focus on what we would otherwise fail to notice. And every time we let it, the planes of the rubic's cube start lining up. Not always correctly, but ever closer to a solution.


After weeks of charting both our options, struggling with our own and each other's antinomicity, the dynamic suddenly gained unexpected speed. Circumstances changed and Jo decided to quit her job in England. She's been successfully unemployed for 4 weeks now and last Thursday, she landed herself a wonderful job in... Belgium.

It will bring chaos to the stability, novelty to the familiar. And chocolate waffles to the wee Scot. It might bring out the best opportunities for both of us, blend opposing wants and needs. In any case, we're about to cross over into a new comfort zone in at least one life aspect. And suddenly... I feel surprisingly calm.

Refreshing

Went to see Juno last night. Whilst its advertising makes it come across as a bit of a teen flick, it was a really enjoyable film. There is a lot of hype about Ellen Page at the moment, but with good reason. She's a natural talent. Extra bonus to the film is its soundtrack. Ranging from Regina Spektor to the Moldy Peaches. Most certainly worth a visit.

The trailer previews looked equally promising: Lars and the real girl with the phenomenal Ryan Gosling. The plot of the film reminds me of this somewhat unsettling documentary (live viewable on google video). Also on my list: Horton hears a who. After all, variety IS the spice of life ;-)

Patent on Futility

One of the upsides of my job is having a boss that is willing to foot the bill for his employees' continuing education initiatives. These last two months, I've been attending a once-weekly evening class at university, aimed at professionals working in the Biotech sector.

As it turns out, things haven't changed all that much since I left school. Despite the fact that the "class" constitutes some 40-odd professionals aged 30-50, there is always the one who insists on sitting at the front of the class, finger forever at risk of puncturing the ionosphere. I wonder whether he also does that every time he has to ask his wife something ...

The last two lectures were actually interesting enough to grab my attention for the full 2,5 hours: they dealt with Intellectual Property & Patenting. If you direct your browser here, you will be able to search the patent database. Hours of fun.

It seems too many people have far too much time on their hands. And money for that matter, for the patent application process itself can cost anywhere from 5 grand to 150 grand. The summum of futility, by far, would have to be this particular one. It's an apparatus designed to give one's self a pat on the back. It makes me ponder the levels of loneliness that spurred on its inventor.

- A self-congratulatory apparatus having a simulated
human hand carried on a pivoting arm suspended form shoulder
supported member. The hand is manually swingable
into and out of contact with the user's back to give an
amusing or an important pat-on-the-back -

Downright scary is the "Apparatus for facilitating the birth of a child by centrifugal force". The patent application for this one would likely have cost some 100 grand, and thankfully the investor failed to make much money on it. I dare say sales for birth-control methods would rise substantially if this device were to ever make it onto the maternity ward. And then maybe this one would have been more successful.

A break

I'm having my first proper break in almost a year, hence the silence. It was highly due. There's a lot of changes on the horizon in the coming weeks and months, so an exotic holiday was neither financially nor logistically advisable. We spent 4 days in London, 4 days in Vienna, and will be spending the rest of the week here in Ghent, sorting through the "to do" & "to overthink" lists in our heads and reading/writing over coffees in the springtime sun.

Almost ready to announce a few of those changes. But not quite yet. Hopefully by the weekend.

On another note. I'm picking up my first pair of myopic specs this afternoon, which should make driving on the E17-E34 a lot safer for everyone from next week onward ;-)

Valentine

I'm early, I realise.

I'm not a big fan of Valentine's personally, but my girrel is rather more romantically inclined, so I am quite a willing loved-up victim this time around. We decided to make something for each other, rather than buy the usual crap. Not the brightest of ideas, in hindsight.

Last weekend, after a delightfully long brunch with a friend, I decided to stroll into Schleiper for some inspiration. Out of habit, I walked straight up to the spray paint section, but then I realised there'd be very little surprise for her in that. I finally came up with an idea that took me an ENTIRE Sunday to make. And I'm kinda proud of the result, hoping that it will tug at my girrel's heartstrings.

And then Jo rang me.

"Hey babe, what you up to?"

"I just finished yer prezzie and lemme tell you, in terms of manhours, it is waaaaay more expensive than any other gift I could've got you"

"Yay!"

"So how're you getting on with mine?"

"Well. Not. I can't decide. I've so many ideas. Oh, but I did eliminate one idea."

"Which one?"

"Well, I was gonna make you a wee dough heart, you know, with flour and salt?"

"U serious?"

"Wha?"

"It took you two weeks to eliminate the idea of dough hearts?"
"Uhuh"

"Christ. Yer going to make me sock-puppets or summat aren't you?"
"Babe, even that's way too elaborate for me."

"So hang on... I spend 10 hours making your prezzie, and I'm not even entitled sock-puppets?"

"It's the thought that counts hun."

"Yeah, but, dough hearts?!?"

"Yip."

I think next year, we're going back to bookvouchers.