Random Stranger

I am actually a very cold person who keeps his distance. And to be honest, I really need someone to slap some sense into me one of these days. So what happened today? Today, I went to school. I usually go to school, but this time, I took a different route. I took a bus instead of a tram, and caught the train from a different station. And I was not prepared for what I was about to witness.

Well, maybe that’s an overstatement. I certainly do not live a rich sheltered life, but I do enjoy comfort in my life that I should not take for granted. I knew that the bus drove though the less nice neighborhoods of The Hague (that’s an understatement). Of course, It wasn’t the locally infamous Schilderswijk (If there’s a ghetto somewhere in NL, it’s there), but Zuiderpark and Moerwijk are certainly the coziest of places. The first thing I noticed was that there were some terribly dressed loud-mouthed girls in the back. They kept on talking about some uninteresting and irrelevant experiences from their lives that my fellow passengers and me had to hear (why I have no idea). That was pretty much the highlight of my bus ride.

The train station was depressing at best. Its best days were obviously long gone, and judging by the large number of badly dresses young men (black coats, tight jeans, terrible haircuts) the good days were not about to be back soon. So I am standing there, feeling very out of place and counting minutes until the train arrived.

And out of the blue, a little balding man, perhaps not taller than a meter and a half and in his late 40s came up to me and asked: What’s the time? He took me by complete surprise. I was so surprised that I even checked the time on my mobile phone and told him. With hindsight, this was quite stupid. Obviously, since we were at a train station, there were clocks all around us and they all worked. Could the man not tell the time? Did he lose his glasses? Obviously, I did not want to ask about that, because I think that everyone, not just IB graduates and University students should be able to tell time, and by suggesting that he could not, it might offend him. So we chatted about school, whether I like Holland and about studying in Delft until the train came.

I realized that this was the first time in years that I had a conversation with a random stranger. Whenever I talk to new people, I actually expect to see more of them later on in my life. I never approach someone just for the sake of talking to them. I always considered that a waste of time and energy, but it’s actually quite ‘gezellig’. What made this random stranger approach me, and why did he carry on the conversation after I told him the time.

I am perhaps too detached to understand his motives, but I think, that if we all became random strangers to each other, we’d make our city a more pleasant and enjoyable place to live. I think that such contact between people of different races, backgrounds, social groups and religion makes everyone more human. You are no longer the Easter European, the Muslim, the poor person. You are a part of the larger community that is aware of everyone’s humanity. And so I hope I meet more random stragers. And next time I need to ask time or directions, I might even start a little conversation.

Peter

Peter’s Top 1

And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. After ten weeks of blatant Madonna references, bits about Butters, stuff from my personal life and even things that piss me off and things that make me happy. So what is my ultimate article. I suppose I should name a few things which I think should be in a good blog. You should be able to relate to it, it should be amusing, well written and have a bigger message, but it should not be too serious.

So, which article answers to this description. I think that a lot of them are from summer of 2007, when I had the time to sit down, think and write. This one is short, funny and to the point. And it is:

25 July 2007

Laginas or Why Ten Year Olds Should Not Be a Part of Pop Culture

 

I guess all of us have gone through a certain phase in our lives. As a ten year old, I guess we were considered old enough be part of popular culture. But, somehow, we could never filly be part of it, especially due to our lack of understanding of sex. Yes, you must notice that there are a lot of jokes in today’s mainstream comedies that deal with it. Even in Shrek, when Donkey comments: “Shrek thinks he [Farquaad]’s compensating for something, which must mean he’s got a very small …”.

As ten year olds we lagh on these jokes by default, because our parents, older siblings, cousins, and their friends do. We do not know their meaning, and we cannot really apply them in a real life situation. The same thing is happening to my cousin. God knows that nowadays, he’s more difficult than ever, but he tries to fit in using jokes and words he doesn’t yet understand.

Couple of weeks ago, there was a comment on Kamasutra on the tv. It was just a small thing, nothing vulgar or rude. Most of us laughed. As my cousin isn’t stupid he deduced it’s a book. When I asked him what sort, he answered “Well, you know, the kind that you (this was addressed to me) read before you go to bed every night” and he giggled. This was disturbing enough, but I said to myself that this one time, it can be forgiven.

Of course, the second, more serious incident happened a week ago when we watched Scary Movie 4 on DVD. There is this one part which parodies “The Village”, and the retarded/insane guy says a prayer before meal (“penis and vagina”), while the rest of the community utters “amen”. My cousin isn’t hearing impaired, but I suppose he misheard that one. He laughed out with the rest of us and said “That was really funny”, he said “penis and lagina’, ha ha”. When I finally got around top asking him what exactly lagina was, he answered in a very similar manner when I asked what Kamasutra was; he said :”It’s what you and he [pointed to his older brother] have, but I don’t have it”.

Great! He got one third of it right, but if I told him lagina was a giant man-eating sock, I suppose he would believe me. And think it was even funnier than before. The moral of the story is not to let small kids watch Scary Movie (which is a pretty stupid idea, considering the type of humour in there), or let them take part in poular culture until they are 13 or 14 and know a little bit about reproduction and stuff. Or traumatize little kids by telling them all about it and brutally ending the beutiful innocence of their childhood years. Or even if they don’t understand the term, just tell them the correct way it’s pronounced, so that you don’t have to hear about ‘laginas’ and similar nonsensical words.

Next time, I’ll discuss why we love people despite their faults, or maybe anything else that comes to mind while spending too much time with your younger brother and cousin.

Yeah, whateffa

Peter S

English vs American

I owe my life to spell check. God knows my grammar is not perfect, but I always make sure that my spelling is up to scratch. The spell check on this thing is American, but I really prefer the English spelling. Somehow, words like colour, neighbourhood, metre are so much classier in British English. So if what I write lacks class, I suppose I blame the American spell check (even if I am susing it is not compulsury, I hate seeing the red stripes underneath words). So, I should really see if I can change the spell check to British English.

Haha

Peter

Friendless 3000 (& A Side Dish)

MTV is a pretty rotten thing. Far from being the music video channel that it once was, MTV is nowadays filled with more crap than ever. I mean, look at SuperSweet 16, The Virgin Diaries, and all the VH1 Specials (Paris’ Most Shocking, OMG… gasp). And then you have some other pointless shows, which are not morally questionable, but whose existence cannot be justified my any concrete arguments. Such as The fabulous Life of… (which is a VH1 program, but here in the Netherlands, it’s MTV which airs it). This program, it seems, has no other objective but to inform us of the obscenely rich life of our ‘favorite’ celebrities and make us believe that mloney buys happiness (which I actually believe is true up to a certain limit).

In one of the episodes of the aforementioned show, i heard “P Diddy invited 3000 of his closets friends to a massive party somewhere in hell…’. Apart from the fact that the guy’s name is now something else (don’t ask it of me, who’s supposed to keep track) then when it was during the time of the episode’s release, what interested me even more was the sheer number of Diddy’s friends. Three thousand? I mean THREE THOUSAND!!!’

The most active person in, well everything actually, but also in making friendships, that I know has currently more than 600 friends (makes me feel rather less special) I have currently just below 40 friends (on one of those social network thingies, and no, it ain’t myspace). But… I actually do not care all that much for some, and downright dislike a few. They are ‘friends’ only because we seem to acknowledge each other’s existence. So, really, you cannot count all the people you know as your friends, because that’s not true.

Back to Diddy. He, I am sure, has a much more fulfilling social life than me (understatement of the century), so he has much more opportunities to meet new and interesting people. But really, inviting 3000 people to your party and call them all friends. It seems far-fetched., because I always thought you actually have top know the person to call them a friend. But how can anyone know 3000 people well enough. That’s like a whole village!

But, I suppose being rich means that ‘friends’ are never too far away (GOLDDIGGERS!*cough). And then, after hearing that Diddy has 3000 friends (half of whom probably work for him, and the about quarter he probably said ‘Hi, I’m P Diddy, Fucka! to on the red carpet and then went away. Most of us cannot imagine this more likely scenario, because MTV never lies, so we really we believe that P Diddy has 3000 friends. So we all create a myspace account and try to beat Diddy. Yeah, let’s show the world that not only rich people have friends!

Yeah! …NO! From what I heard, the most friends you pick up on those networks (not actually the ones you know from real life) are skanky 13 to 14 year old girls who have too much free time and already saw all the guys within a 1000 kilometer radius naked anyways, so they want some fresh blood. This might be a little too perverted, but the point is, that a lot of these people are as much your friends as you are P Diddy’s friend. Surely, there are exceptions, but a lot, for me, there’s about 10 ‘friends’ in my network that I couldn’t care less about, and I’m pretty certain they feel the same way about me. I’m not saying that forming friendships on the internet is less valuable, but it seems that it is more about the quantity than the quality.

To finally cut the long story short, I suppose the best way for you to meet your 3000+ myspace friends is to become rich and organize the biggest, baddest party ever. Or you could spend time with the friends you have near you, the ones you actually know and those special people who care. What do you think? Oh yeah, whatever you say, definitely lame….hmm. I guess I’m just an old fashioned guy.

Peter

Side Dish (An article written about a similar topic a long time ago) :

25June 2007

Erotic, erotic, put your hands all over my body/ Try too hard

 

‘Twas shocking that when I opened my email yesterday, I found out that some random American girl wanted to add me as a friend on myspace. Let’s get things straight. My myspace account is frankly an embarrassment , as it contains a link to my Windows Live Space, and that’s about it. What was more surprising was that the American girl’s myspace had a caption stating she is sorry that her revealing pictures (nude) had to be moved elsewhere, but she can distribute them anyways.

I am aware that many of my entries are somewhat personal, and perhaps emotionally revealing, but I would never post nude pictures of myself. My guess is that the American girl wants to be a model, and hopes that her pictures will end up in the hands of a modeling scout. But why nude pictures? I know of some other people who post revealing pictures on their myspace, but this is to get attention and respect (ie be called ‘hot’ by 13 year old girls). That’s one way to boost your self esteem.

Perhaps all of that is about relieving the tension inside, or it’s just trying too hard to get laid. Personally, I don’t think so. I know of another person, who, I heard is trying too hard to… well,you know,… but he does not need to show revealing pictures of himself for everyone to see. I, on the other hand, am not trying at all, and the quality of my life does not really suffer because of it. So it seems that the efforts to grab attention at all costs, and trying too hard are very individual and unrelated. It would be undoubtedly sad if these people died virgins or if the girl did not get her modeling contract, but it’d much worse to waste one’s youth away, taking pictures of oneself, that will never get you anywhere, and trying so hard, when all you need is some more time.

Or maybe the random American girl wants to be my ‘friend’ because she read some of my incredible blogs and admires my intellect, but somehow, I don’t think so. If you are that random American girl, I hope you can forgive me. If you recognize yourself as the two other people I wrote about, I’m sorry, I tried so hard so that nobody knows who your identity.

As for the article I promised in my last entry, don’t worry, it’s coming, it will be called Parallel lives: Synopsis.

Peter S.

Peter’s Essentials

Since I have been active for some time, I realize that I’m maybe starting to run out of 100% original ideas, and that I might write about a similar topic with a different twist. So a lot of articles will be published with a little side dish of extra old-skool Peter writings (from before September 2007). I suppose this way, you, as my reader can say if I improved, or if I’m not being too unoriginal.

Tomorrow, watch out for the article Friendless 3000 with a special side dish.

Enjoy

Peter

Shoes, 27 November 2007

Or rather, shoelaces.

I’m am not a Sarah Jessica Parkeresque type of person when it comes to shoes, but I do expect a certain standard. My shoues aren’t really fancy, I use them to walk in, and they don’tneed to be very couture (but they can’t look too old-fashioned either). The problem with my shoes is: shoelaces.

This month, I manged to tear shoelaces on two pairs of shoes. This does not mean they cannot be fixed, but I have to wait some time to find the right laces, and as the days get colder, I really cannot wear converses all the time. So, on my Sinterklaas (St Nick) wish list: ‘Two pairs of shoelaces, both beige, one slightly thicker than the other’.

What is this entry about. Nothing. Except the trivial matters of my daily life.

Peter

Chameleons

No, this is not about the song. This is about a person. Or perhaps a type of person. For those of you who know little about animals, chameleons, except having a long sticky shootable lounge and a nasty habit of eating insects, are lizards that can change their color to that of their surroundings. They can blend in with the crowd, they are perfect, unspottable, and we think we know them well. But when they come to a new environment, they seem to change, and they are not the same. Some people are like this…

Do not confuse change with reinvention. Change, if slow and gradual can lead to reinvention, or reinvention can be simply showing different parts of your persona. But chameleons are not like that. They retain some of their basic features, while their whole self undergoes a massive change.

I have had the pleasure of meeting a chameleon. I even got to know the person (or at least I thought). But being a part of The Hague international and mobile community, I suppose one cannot expect to enjoy the company of one’s friends very long. This particular person, however, has been known to adapt perfectly wherever they go. Whatever the school, whatever the country and whatever the community, these people use their chameleon-like powers to blend in with the crowd. They never have any problems with life, they change themselves to suit the life they are leading.

But this brings questions? Who is the real person behind the chameleon? What does this person want? Does this person know it or is it just possible that, somehow, these people do not mind changing their self to suit their environment? Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s admirable that they can take on new challenges with ease and make the best of their time somewhere. Nevertheless, it leaves me wondering, do they know what they want?

There are two answers, either yeas or no. If yes, the chameleon-ishness is a means to achieve their goals. It is a valuable tool, that, combined with brainpower, determination and skill, is essential to survival in our world. If the answer, however, is no, then the constant change is a failure, because the person does not know, and perhaps doesn’t want to admit what they want. But don’t worry, the chameleon I know is of the first type, and I must say, it’s one of the coolest, smartest and funny people I know.

If you are a chameleon, I hope you are the one that always goes after their goal and does not hide from the inevitable truth. If you do not want to be a chameleon, well, I cannot help you, becasue I am not a shrink and I have never been one so I really don’t know how it feels. But hey, people are different, and as long as you do not want to hurt others (for any reason), there is no reason to worry. Even if you are a chameleon.

Peter

Dystopia High Characters 2: Andy Rogers

I was thinking lately, what makes a good work of literature, be it a novel, a play, a script for a movie or a sitcom (although one might argue that sitcoms by definition cannot be regraded as good literature and certainly not good acting). Apart from plot, humor and a good theme we also need good characters.

All the great works have characters that are either identifiable, admirable, amiable and most importantly have the ability to develop. One cannot present a character that is whole at the beginning of the book, play, whatever, because if the plot does not make the characters learn anything, then either the plot is crap, or the characters are. Perhaps the most blatant (and quite effective) way to show character development is when at the end of the story, the characters say (a la South Park): “You know, I learnt something today…’ (or sometimes even without that catchphrase) a character then explains the moral of the story (ie, always travel with a valid ticket, etc.) for those who aren’t bright enough.

So it is evident, characters need to evolve and develop and grow. However, one cannot expect them to be completely normal. Look at the World’s favorite American: Homer Simpson. A character that says ‘It’s every parent’s dream to overlive their children’ cannot be normal, yet we all love Homer, don’t we?

than we also need to discuss the umber of main characters. Even though there are works with only one main and other very peripherycharacters. But really, it is more interesting to show how real life works, and real life is seldom about one person only. So we need more. Harry potter has 3 main characters (Harry is number 1, but Hermione and Ron cannot be called supporting roles). There are 5 Simpsons and 4 South Park boys. There are 2 guys in Dumb and Dumber, there’s Laurel &Hardy and of course, there are 6 Friends. So it seems that the more, the merrier.

So we need someone who is strange and yet  likable, someone who can change and we need more of them. The firts such caharacter would be Andy Rogers. (Andy is technically second, but the first character is a bit stuck and I still need to fine tune her). So, ladies and gentleman, I present, Andy Rogers, one of the main characters.

Andy is a true chameleon. Andy appears to change gender very often, change hair color and eye color (although her hair and eyes are brown). For those of you who didn’t figure it out, Andy Rogers is a play on word on ‘androgyny’ . Andy is very honest about everything and is very open minded. This gueats her in lot of trouble. Oh yeah, and Andy doesn’t like the way that people are confused about his/her gender. Although deep inside, Andy is very insecure about ‘it’self. On more mundane matters, Andy is average height, so she can well be a taller girl or a shorter boy. Andy is bout 15  or 16 years. Oh, and her parents are really rich, but nobody knows this, since no one is really friends with ‘that freak’.

Peter’s Top 2

Boy, am I late! (Again) I promise number 1will bw here on time.

Although I have had my doubts lately, becuase the thing this article is about might not be what I first saw in it (due to my infamous ability to idolize the things and people I like). But I made my choice, and I will stick ti it.

This article is up here only because I want it to be. It was meant to be my masterpiece, the one thing that my readers will remember me by. Shame I didn’t write it as soon as I got the idea, it could have been great. So after countless revisions, additions and corrections, the thing stands before you as it is. Not well written, but the thought behind it is so beautiful, that it doesn’t really matter. This is my thinking at its best. Confused and sometimes making huge leaps of faith, but that’s me, so in a way I think this is the good piece. Shame it’s not that funny. It could have been great. Who knows, maybe I will revisit it after some time.

So, without any further ado, my top 2: An Ode To Butters. (Now the big question, what is number one?)

An Ode to Butters 15/6/2007

This piece is dedicated to all the nice people in the world.

The world we live in is full of paradoxes and ironies. Take soap, for example. Soap is meant to make things clean, to get stains off clothes. Isn’t it ironic, that one of the main ingredient in soap-making is fat, something that in itself causes the most terrible sort of stains. And talking about fats, you have different kinds of fat you know? Solid or liquid ones, vegetable or animal ones One of the solid fats is butter. When you have more butter, someone not all that good in English would think: butters. So following this rather twisted logic we arrive at Butters. But what on earth does this have to do with the South Park Butters? Butters is yet another paradox in our cynical, self-centered  world. Butters is not just a character from South Park. Butters is the goodness and innocence surviving, in our cynical world.

To elaborate and substantiate this claim, we need to explore the fictional life and features of this  character. Many (not only South Park characters, but also real people) seem to reject him as ‘lame’ or ‘uncool’, his parents are unable to love him unconditionally, and others just exploit him. Little do they realize that there is (or was) a little piece of Butters in them too (except perhaps with the exception Eric Cartman who’s rotten to the core). Even so, it is a sad irony that someone so nice and innocent should be rejected by the community, that they would try to make him feel inferior, even though he deserves recognition for who he is. Although it is technically incorrect to call Butters innocent or pure, he possesses a beautifully uncomplicated insight into things that can only be achieved through a degree of ‘naivety’ and being yourself that is neither found in today’s modern society, nor in the restrained lifestyle led according to strict religious dogmas. It is insight based on life itself, on one’s own terms.

And even when Butters tries to avenge himself, he cannot really do it, as most of his (Professor Chaos’) plans end up less successfully than he would wish. We see that although terrible wrongs have been inflicted upon him, he cannot avenge himself properly; he is not a natural at wrongdoing (unlike the above mentioned Eric Cartman). It is not in Good’s nature to be vengeful, but good must always be acknowledged as such and never rejected to the very periphery of the society. Butters can be unkind, but then again, truth hurts, and sometimes and often what we believe to be the truth hurts even more.

Let me also make one interesting comparison. For those of you who read Tess of the D’Urbervilles, you know how Tess being the good and the pure, is exposed to the outside world suffers a downfall and is forever rejected, and despite all her suffering, she always goes on, staying true to herself and (as one critic put it) she always springs back to life. So it is with Butters, his downfall being his inability to be ‘cool’ enough. All the suffering that his (fictional) fate inflicted upon him, he never ceases being an optimist and all the negative things make him grow stronger in a positive way .

The fact that we seem to regard the goodness and innocence as ‘lame’, that we do not accept in its purest form, but rather we try to change it, dilute it, use it to our own advantage is the greatest paradox in a society which we claim is built upon good . We should accept all Good, whether we think it cool or uncool, and maybe learn a few important lessons it has to offer. Lessons about friendship, care, forgiveness, sadness and most importantly, never despairing or looking back, but always looking forward, into a future that’s hopefully brighter (even if for poor Butters, this isn’t always the case).

And if anyone dismisses you as ‘too good’, a ‘geek’ do not bow your head down in shame. Rejoice. Because you know that good things happen to good people (eventually). And never regret being a tiny bit like Butters. It’s not every time that you can be like one of the nicest fictional people in the universe.

Long live Butters! (Even though that’s not technically possible, but you know what I mean)

Peter S.

Something To Read About

I must confess I was, and will always be, a little bit of a nerd. Therefore it will come as no surprise that I always had an affinity with books. I remember that the first book I was really into was the Disney’s edition of the Jungle Book. This is not to be confused with the real thing, it was just a simplified and Disneyfied version of Maugli’s epic tale. From then on, I read many books, none of which can be considered haute literature, but I liked it all the same.

Then there was Jules Verne and the Harry Potter series, of course, a bit of Roald Dahl in between (the funny thing is that Eastern Europe isn’t as Dahl-conscious as the West), and then of course, all the books we had to read for English Literature, some of which do indeed belong to haute literature. But this isn’t a piece about how I discover the magical world of reading. This is about something else.

During the summer vacation, I was talking to one of my cousins about life and such unimportant matters, when she commented: “Do you not think that Literature leaves a lot of things out?”. It was no use explaining that a book was probably written about everything, even if the quality is questionable, because she just went on: “Do you notice how no one in the Bible ever uses the bathroom?’. After a brief conversation full of assurances that people 2000 years ago went to the toilet and indeed even washed their hair now and then, she tried a different approach: ” Or what about Harry Potter? JK Rowling never really describing how Harry kisses with Cho or Ginny or if the only thing they do in their dormitory is sleep and argue.’

After I got her to agree that graphic sex isn’t really what people look for when they  buy a children’s book, I actually got down to think. TV characters rarely use the toilet, and in books, such simple human need is not even mentioned in passing. We all know scenes when a couple gets down to dinner, but they seem to have a 100% efficient metabolism.

Back to the point. Literature is Art. Of course we can argue that this isn’t so, because some books and poetry are truly horrible, but so are some paintings or sculptures. Art deals with things that are far above the ordinary. Art explores the human psyche and its intellectual limits (it should!) and therefore, such earthly and ordinary things as washing one’s hair is not considered worthy (unlessyou’re into pop art).  Anyways, Literature is a way to escape the routine, the well known ordinary day to day living. Therefore, it needs to focus more on the emotion, perception and intellect. The earthly aspects of life are often omitted for the sake of briefness. Imagine the 7 years of Harry Potter’s ‘life’ that was ‘documented’ by JK Rowling. If Harry washed his hair every other day, she’d have to mention it  about 1 277 times. If Harry used the restroom three times a day, the author would need to write this down 7 665 times. If The author would extend this realism onto Ron and Hermione (who spend about 10 months with Harry), the total number of potty breaks would for our trio would rise to 12 432.

Therefore, not only is it redundant, from an artistic point of view, to write about such things, it is also impractical. The half of the book would be about going to the bathroom. And that’s not something to read about, we can do that ourselves.

Keep reading

Peter