Just as I've always suspected, lucidity in dreams is not an all-or-nothing matter but (as in so many things, gender being another) it's more like a gradual spectrum, and I've come to assume that in many of my dreams I've actually been very close. And last night I broke through once more. Once again I was flying - coming to think of it, I've probably been flying in about 50% of my lucid dreams.
In last night's dream I was aware but barely so, I wasn't really in control of what I was doing, I was flying but struggling to do so. Cables supporting street lights were in the way, but moreover it felt like something was trying to hold me down. I think it was some people in the streets below staring at me, and by doing that they were creating a resistance holding me down. I was trying to gain height and get away, perhaps to Amsterdam...
This dream sums up my current situation pretty well. My life is great all in all, I'm pretty successful at my sport since I've started working out at McFit in 2012, I like my way of life. I like the place I live in, my apartment with the view across the fields, everything... if only it weren't for certain "people" - if they can even be referred to as that - who hold me down, who keep me from "flying" because they're destroying my peace of mind!
Yes, maybe my peace of mind is fragile. And maybe it will sound petty when I'm telling now what the main cause for my intense anger is: some idiots leaving the front door open.
It may sound like a silly reason and I'm certainly not some strict and bitter person who would insist on things always going their orderly way. And no, nothing of MY stuff was stolen yet (another neighbor was less lucky). It does wear thin though when it keeps happening constantly, again and again. For centuries (well, but certainly years) I put up signs on the front door asking everyone to close it when they're coming or leaving - the signs were always ignored. There are only five apartments in this house with five official, adult tenants, with me being one of them, plus one six-year-old boy. I told the little boy that the door ought to be closed just in case his mother might have failed to, he told me he always closes the door and I believe him. I talked to all other neighbors. The problem is still most likely with the guy downstairs and his many, many visitors, their frequent, noisy parties several times a week, certainly involving drugs and what not. Of course he claims it's not him and that he told all his friends to close the door too. But somehow I don't quite believe that it's ghosts who are leaving the door open...
Another neighbor of mine actually has more reason to be mad about this, because it was his bicycle that was stolen out of the basement, not mine. Instead, this neighbor has stronger issues with the frequent noise downstairs at night. Myself I've pretty much put up with having to use ear plugs to sleep each night... I wish I didn't have to but somehow I got used to it over the years and am much more agitated about the door. I guess the reason is that it's MY appeals, especially in form of the written signs, that have been ignored over and over! This is the one thing: disrespect.
I can put up with less than ideal living conditions, with discomfort, anything. But being disrespected is the one thing I can't handle!
I keep telling myself it's just lowly animals; would you really expect a rat or a cockroach to respect you, to recognize your superior status? You know that you can't because it's beyond a rodent's or insect's mental capacity to comprehend or to even consider this idea. This is exactly why you should never give a damn about what others might think about you. If they're worthy they'll respect me, if not then they're on a level with rodents (or lower). And would you really care what rodents think about you?!
But the question is, how to get rid of these pests I'm plagued by?
In other matters things are going quite well. I bought a frying pan downtown yesterday because I felt my diet may be a bit monotonous - and it was also once more a dream that incited me to do so.
So I can start happily frying. Yes, that thing I produced earlier today was supposed to be a sort of omelet... who cares how it looked. Ingredients: 2 eggs, protein powder, sweetener. I liked it. :)
Also, the lucid dreaming website is back up and here's the article I was referring to in the previous post, about How to Improve Your Self Awareness, it's really worthwhile! Although I must still insist that, at least to me, it's not by all means a given to have hands in a dream. Who agrees (or disagrees)?
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Monday, January 6, 2014
Are we really always ourselves? + Rainbow pics!
I actually meant to refer to an article on a website about lucid dreaming with today's entry; this morning the article was still there but I couldn't finish reading it as I had to leave, and now that I tried going back there I had to find the website is down!
Well, regardless... I hope it will be back up soon. What I meant to talk about is the following: the article was about self-awareness, and how it's much easier to become lucid in a dream if we build up our self-awareness in our waking lives. This is straightforward and I agree, but it mentioned further how we are always ourselves, even in our dreams... Now, at least for myself this is not true, occasionally I've had dreams in which I switched between the roles of different characters in it as well as the role of a disembodied observer, watching the dream story unfold like a movie.
And while I can't remember myself ever having been a different (non-human) animal in a dream, it does seem to happen as evident in the butterfly dream...
I certainly asked myself whether or not I was dreaming when this morning just after the late winter sunrise this glorious rainbow was stretching across my balcony! Beats me how a few morons were even walking around below not even looking at it! The rainbow kept disappearing and reappearing in different sections, eventually encircling the entire western sky. But apparently I was not dreaming - because I took pics of it!
Totally worth freezing my ass off for! :D
Well, regardless... I hope it will be back up soon. What I meant to talk about is the following: the article was about self-awareness, and how it's much easier to become lucid in a dream if we build up our self-awareness in our waking lives. This is straightforward and I agree, but it mentioned further how we are always ourselves, even in our dreams... Now, at least for myself this is not true, occasionally I've had dreams in which I switched between the roles of different characters in it as well as the role of a disembodied observer, watching the dream story unfold like a movie.
And while I can't remember myself ever having been a different (non-human) animal in a dream, it does seem to happen as evident in the butterfly dream...
I certainly asked myself whether or not I was dreaming when this morning just after the late winter sunrise this glorious rainbow was stretching across my balcony! Beats me how a few morons were even walking around below not even looking at it! The rainbow kept disappearing and reappearing in different sections, eventually encircling the entire western sky. But apparently I was not dreaming - because I took pics of it!
Totally worth freezing my ass off for! :D
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Bad Vibes...
I've been a bit on edge today, perhaps because I didn't sleep very well. I could feel it right before going to sleep... I'd been reading on in that lucid dreaming book and unfortunately I must say it's been giving me very bad vibes in places, and it's again because of the so awful, awful materialist world view I mentioned in yesterday's entry. On one hand the author of the dream book describes how exhilarating it feels to have a lucid dream... and then he goes on to say that it all takes place just in your mind and none of it is real.
So? Then it's not real either that I'm writing this blog here right now, or at least it's completely wasted efforts because no one else exists who might ever read it. That's right, whoever reads this: You don't exist. Now you may leave a comment below and tell me that's not true and that you do exist... but look, if I imagine in my head that you exist I may as well imagine that you leave a comment on my blog, so that's no proof at all!
This idea is called Solipsism, and I'm not sure if I like it... but if someone holds this view then at least they should hold it universally, for ALL experience and not dreams only!
As a side note, I wouldn't even abhor the idea of Solipsism as much as some other people would, people who are a lot more social and not loners unlike myself. I remember reading one of the experience reports of various drug trips posted on the highly recommendable website of Erowid.org, which are fascinating to read. I don't remember what kind of drug the person had taken but their experience was that they felt to be God, who had created the universe and the whole universe was actually part of himself, and nothing else existed besides himself, and he felt very lonely and forsaken and the person related it was the most horrifying experience. And myself, the natural loner I am, just thought, ok it may be a bit lonely but I could positively think of much worse scenarios for myself. My #1 priority is always freedom, and if no one else existed then at least no one could interfere with that. :)
But back to the materialist view that bothers me so much - it's this implied assumption that we're merely biological machines and our dreams being nothing but a side effect of neurological processes in the brain. It suddenly gave me this claustrophobic feeling of being locked in a tiny, dark box - the inside of my skull - and it also made me really angry because it indirectly implies that we're ultimately nothing but garbage. We're disposable, just like your cool and fancy new TV or video game console which is really only cool and fancy while it's new but will ultimately be just trash one day. And people are just the same if they're assumed to be just bodies with brains and nothing else - you can do fun things with that machine while it's relatively new, like, go surfing or snowboarding or why not try to learn lucid dreaming, but whatever you do, even if you win a Nobel Prize, is absolutely meaningless because one day you'll be dead and then you're nothing but garbage, just like a car that's totally wrecked and can't be fixed anymore.
What on Earth are these people living for who hold such a view?!
I still felt on edge when I was at the gym this morning. Yesterday had been so much better... I had to send a letter in an official matter and since it was to an address just on the other end of the city I rode there on my bike and delivered it myself in order to save the postage. On the way back it started raining a bit but I could already see it brightening and the sun coming back out. "Can I get a rainbow?," I just said to myself. And as I turned into the path on the dike along the Rhine river, there it was: a rainbow spanning right across the path, like a gateway for me to ride into!
I reminded myself, this morning at the gym, to rather think of this, and of a friend who had related her own experiences to me and who shares my view and understands - that "reality" is whatever we experience, and that there are many more than just one. Each life is a unique journey, but at least to me and most of my friends (so I hope) it's a journey somewhere rather than nowhere!
So? Then it's not real either that I'm writing this blog here right now, or at least it's completely wasted efforts because no one else exists who might ever read it. That's right, whoever reads this: You don't exist. Now you may leave a comment below and tell me that's not true and that you do exist... but look, if I imagine in my head that you exist I may as well imagine that you leave a comment on my blog, so that's no proof at all!
This idea is called Solipsism, and I'm not sure if I like it... but if someone holds this view then at least they should hold it universally, for ALL experience and not dreams only!
As a side note, I wouldn't even abhor the idea of Solipsism as much as some other people would, people who are a lot more social and not loners unlike myself. I remember reading one of the experience reports of various drug trips posted on the highly recommendable website of Erowid.org, which are fascinating to read. I don't remember what kind of drug the person had taken but their experience was that they felt to be God, who had created the universe and the whole universe was actually part of himself, and nothing else existed besides himself, and he felt very lonely and forsaken and the person related it was the most horrifying experience. And myself, the natural loner I am, just thought, ok it may be a bit lonely but I could positively think of much worse scenarios for myself. My #1 priority is always freedom, and if no one else existed then at least no one could interfere with that. :)
But back to the materialist view that bothers me so much - it's this implied assumption that we're merely biological machines and our dreams being nothing but a side effect of neurological processes in the brain. It suddenly gave me this claustrophobic feeling of being locked in a tiny, dark box - the inside of my skull - and it also made me really angry because it indirectly implies that we're ultimately nothing but garbage. We're disposable, just like your cool and fancy new TV or video game console which is really only cool and fancy while it's new but will ultimately be just trash one day. And people are just the same if they're assumed to be just bodies with brains and nothing else - you can do fun things with that machine while it's relatively new, like, go surfing or snowboarding or why not try to learn lucid dreaming, but whatever you do, even if you win a Nobel Prize, is absolutely meaningless because one day you'll be dead and then you're nothing but garbage, just like a car that's totally wrecked and can't be fixed anymore.
What on Earth are these people living for who hold such a view?!
I still felt on edge when I was at the gym this morning. Yesterday had been so much better... I had to send a letter in an official matter and since it was to an address just on the other end of the city I rode there on my bike and delivered it myself in order to save the postage. On the way back it started raining a bit but I could already see it brightening and the sun coming back out. "Can I get a rainbow?," I just said to myself. And as I turned into the path on the dike along the Rhine river, there it was: a rainbow spanning right across the path, like a gateway for me to ride into!
I reminded myself, this morning at the gym, to rather think of this, and of a friend who had related her own experiences to me and who shares my view and understands - that "reality" is whatever we experience, and that there are many more than just one. Each life is a unique journey, but at least to me and most of my friends (so I hope) it's a journey somewhere rather than nowhere!
Friday, January 3, 2014
Dogmatism (in general) & a dream about Jesus!
I didn't sleep too well, my dreams once more being disturbed by their most common intruder, my mother; I had things to do but she kept following me around and disrupting.
But later there was also an unusual intruder: J.C. himself - yes, being a Satanist I dreamed about Jesus! We weren't friends for sure but he undertook only a brief, half-assed attempt of persuading me to follow him. All I remember is me telling him something to the extent, "save your breath, I'm going to Hell!" Of course he wasn't pleased about this but he didn't object, nor did he try to tell me that I'd be suffering there or anything. It was like he could simply see I was too seasoned and too certain in my choices for him to try any further to win me over, he could see what I am and that any attempt would be fruitless and so he left it at that.
So I must say that, surprisingly, dealing with Jesus in my dream was much less unpleasant than it is with my mother who most often keeps bothering and harassing me no matter what. In real life I've been out of contact to her for nearly 7 years now and I don't even know if she's still alive or anything, but in my dreams she keeps intruding pretty frequently.
The appearance of Jesus may have been due to a talk I had the other day with a trainer at the gym in which he turned out to be a devout Christian and encouraged me to read the Bible. We first got to talk about religious subjects because he remarked about a metal shirt I was wearing, whereupon I also showed him my tattoo on the inside of my left forearm, the letters "SATAN" which I made myself with soot from a candle as a young teenager. I openly told him, as I usually do, that I'm still a Satanist, and was actually expecting perhaps some slight ridicule as I've experienced so often when talk comes to any kind of spiritual belief at all. Instead he confessed being a firm believer. We exchanged some ideas and I said that I believe every person simply has their own, very unique path in life, that there is no ONE path which is right for everyone.
I meant it,and now it seems even J.C. himself can't disagree with me there. ;) ...take this one with a grain of salt; of course I don't mean to claim it was really Jesus who personally came into my dream in order to try and convert me. More likely it was simply just a very ordinary dream caused by my thinking about the talk with the trainer.
...and then later today I learned that Jesus was actually a mushroom! :D
[Terence McKenna on Jesus]
From that side I'm not assailable at all. But I must admit to having somewhat less firm footing when it comes to militant atheism which is so very widespread these days, especially in many of my fields of interest which are of scientific nature. Even the author of the book about lucid dreaming I'm currently reading, as I mentioned in yesterday's entry, seems to hold the opinion that dreams (lucid or otherwise) are merely something that's going on inside the brain and nothing more - and by extension, that so is consciousness.
But the materialist view that consciousness is an arising phenomenon from "dead" matter is one I absolutely can't agree with.
You may argue that a living brain is not "dead" matter as I said, at least not while it's alive. But as a matter of fact your living brain is ultimately made of the very same kind of atoms as your computer or even the chair you're sitting on. And a dead brain is absolutely identical in composition to a living one, although the dead brain will soon start to decompose. And all of the atoms, in a living or dead brain as well as those in a computer or chair, are made up of 99.99% empty space.
"I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness."
(Max Planck)
The bottom line is, although modern science is fascinating and absolutely worthy of following and supporting it it does have a big problem with dogmatism. In part this may have arisen due to the need to counter extreme religious dogmatism (such as especially creationism) with an equally militant point of view. I ought to point out that skepticism doesn't necessarily equal dogmatism; I'm much in favor of a healthy measure of skepticism, especially when it comes to urban myths, conspiracy theories and the like (and by the way, for those who'd like to know how crop circles are created, you can certainly find tutorials online) but I just wish people would stop pretending science already knows everything when we have barely scratched the surface of everything that can possibly be known.
But later there was also an unusual intruder: J.C. himself - yes, being a Satanist I dreamed about Jesus! We weren't friends for sure but he undertook only a brief, half-assed attempt of persuading me to follow him. All I remember is me telling him something to the extent, "save your breath, I'm going to Hell!" Of course he wasn't pleased about this but he didn't object, nor did he try to tell me that I'd be suffering there or anything. It was like he could simply see I was too seasoned and too certain in my choices for him to try any further to win me over, he could see what I am and that any attempt would be fruitless and so he left it at that.
So I must say that, surprisingly, dealing with Jesus in my dream was much less unpleasant than it is with my mother who most often keeps bothering and harassing me no matter what. In real life I've been out of contact to her for nearly 7 years now and I don't even know if she's still alive or anything, but in my dreams she keeps intruding pretty frequently.
The appearance of Jesus may have been due to a talk I had the other day with a trainer at the gym in which he turned out to be a devout Christian and encouraged me to read the Bible. We first got to talk about religious subjects because he remarked about a metal shirt I was wearing, whereupon I also showed him my tattoo on the inside of my left forearm, the letters "SATAN" which I made myself with soot from a candle as a young teenager. I openly told him, as I usually do, that I'm still a Satanist, and was actually expecting perhaps some slight ridicule as I've experienced so often when talk comes to any kind of spiritual belief at all. Instead he confessed being a firm believer. We exchanged some ideas and I said that I believe every person simply has their own, very unique path in life, that there is no ONE path which is right for everyone.
I meant it,and now it seems even J.C. himself can't disagree with me there. ;) ...take this one with a grain of salt; of course I don't mean to claim it was really Jesus who personally came into my dream in order to try and convert me. More likely it was simply just a very ordinary dream caused by my thinking about the talk with the trainer.
...and then later today I learned that Jesus was actually a mushroom! :D
[Terence McKenna on Jesus]
From that side I'm not assailable at all. But I must admit to having somewhat less firm footing when it comes to militant atheism which is so very widespread these days, especially in many of my fields of interest which are of scientific nature. Even the author of the book about lucid dreaming I'm currently reading, as I mentioned in yesterday's entry, seems to hold the opinion that dreams (lucid or otherwise) are merely something that's going on inside the brain and nothing more - and by extension, that so is consciousness.
But the materialist view that consciousness is an arising phenomenon from "dead" matter is one I absolutely can't agree with.
You may argue that a living brain is not "dead" matter as I said, at least not while it's alive. But as a matter of fact your living brain is ultimately made of the very same kind of atoms as your computer or even the chair you're sitting on. And a dead brain is absolutely identical in composition to a living one, although the dead brain will soon start to decompose. And all of the atoms, in a living or dead brain as well as those in a computer or chair, are made up of 99.99% empty space.
"I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness."
(Max Planck)
The bottom line is, although modern science is fascinating and absolutely worthy of following and supporting it it does have a big problem with dogmatism. In part this may have arisen due to the need to counter extreme religious dogmatism (such as especially creationism) with an equally militant point of view. I ought to point out that skepticism doesn't necessarily equal dogmatism; I'm much in favor of a healthy measure of skepticism, especially when it comes to urban myths, conspiracy theories and the like (and by the way, for those who'd like to know how crop circles are created, you can certainly find tutorials online) but I just wish people would stop pretending science already knows everything when we have barely scratched the surface of everything that can possibly be known.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
A new start 2014!
I meant to continue this blog some day... and I guess now is the time! I'll be trying to post regularly, and the reason I've decided to do it is that I feel I have a need for it.
In the past one and a half years since I started working out at McFit I've made some major athletic progress; of course I'm determined to keep it up but I also need to work on my mental and spiritual development.
Many of the people following me on Facebook are probably doing so in the first place for the reason that I'm a female bodybuilder, so sorry to my "fans" but this blog won't be about bodybuilding.
One of the major subjects may be dreams.
I've started reading another book about lucid dreaming, it's called "Are You Dreaming?" by Daniel Love. I've been interested in lucid dreams for a long time but it's also been long that I last read a book about it and worked with my dreams more closely. I've kept a dream journal but added to it only very infrequently, and more often than not I've been unable to recall my dreams. I'm hoping to change this now as I feel there is a lot to be gained by paying close attention to this part of life's experiences.
But to follow the kind of training outlined in the above book seems daunting - much more so than the other books I read about lucid dreaming some years ago would make it seem, and so it's no wonder I felt pretty frustrated back then about having so little success in taking control of my dreams.
Mind you, little success doesn't mean none at all. It's probably just that the books I previously read kept silent as to how much it may really take in terms of work and especially patience in order to get more proficient at it. The new book and also certain websites don't fail to mention that (without training) only some percentage of people will experience a lucid dream in their lives.That is, one? In their entire lives??? Considering this, I've certainly been faring much better in that I've had at least the occasional, brief lucid dream, maybe about twice a year on average. My very first one was in the night after visiting a lecture about dreaming at a local library back when I was about 15; the lecturer mentioned lucid dreams and said that many people will spontaneously have a lucid dream after they learn for the first time about this possibility, and that's exactly how it happened to me. So I know first hand that lucid dreams are indeed a real possibility - I learned only recently that there apparently are people who claim otherwise!
I'm not sure if I'll be able to really take control of it, given the daunting prerequisites outlined in the above mentioned book, but I feel a need to at least start working much more closely with my dreams as well as general awareness as a I feel this mental and spiritual side of my life is somewhat lacking. According to the book it takes even more though than to simply write down one's dreams in a journal...
Well, I may write down some of them here, as well as more general insights about my life and life in general in order to keep track of where I'm headed.
Using this blog seems like a neat option to me, along with the opportunity to possibly share and discuss ideas with other people and thereby learn more along the way!
So this is one of my plans for this new year
See all the stars in my background here? The stars are not the limit - maybe the event horizon of our expanding universe is. But only for now. :)
In the past one and a half years since I started working out at McFit I've made some major athletic progress; of course I'm determined to keep it up but I also need to work on my mental and spiritual development.
Many of the people following me on Facebook are probably doing so in the first place for the reason that I'm a female bodybuilder, so sorry to my "fans" but this blog won't be about bodybuilding.
One of the major subjects may be dreams.
I've started reading another book about lucid dreaming, it's called "Are You Dreaming?" by Daniel Love. I've been interested in lucid dreams for a long time but it's also been long that I last read a book about it and worked with my dreams more closely. I've kept a dream journal but added to it only very infrequently, and more often than not I've been unable to recall my dreams. I'm hoping to change this now as I feel there is a lot to be gained by paying close attention to this part of life's experiences.
But to follow the kind of training outlined in the above book seems daunting - much more so than the other books I read about lucid dreaming some years ago would make it seem, and so it's no wonder I felt pretty frustrated back then about having so little success in taking control of my dreams.
Mind you, little success doesn't mean none at all. It's probably just that the books I previously read kept silent as to how much it may really take in terms of work and especially patience in order to get more proficient at it. The new book and also certain websites don't fail to mention that (without training) only some percentage of people will experience a lucid dream in their lives.That is, one? In their entire lives??? Considering this, I've certainly been faring much better in that I've had at least the occasional, brief lucid dream, maybe about twice a year on average. My very first one was in the night after visiting a lecture about dreaming at a local library back when I was about 15; the lecturer mentioned lucid dreams and said that many people will spontaneously have a lucid dream after they learn for the first time about this possibility, and that's exactly how it happened to me. So I know first hand that lucid dreams are indeed a real possibility - I learned only recently that there apparently are people who claim otherwise!
I'm not sure if I'll be able to really take control of it, given the daunting prerequisites outlined in the above mentioned book, but I feel a need to at least start working much more closely with my dreams as well as general awareness as a I feel this mental and spiritual side of my life is somewhat lacking. According to the book it takes even more though than to simply write down one's dreams in a journal...
Well, I may write down some of them here, as well as more general insights about my life and life in general in order to keep track of where I'm headed.
Using this blog seems like a neat option to me, along with the opportunity to possibly share and discuss ideas with other people and thereby learn more along the way!
So this is one of my plans for this new year
See all the stars in my background here? The stars are not the limit - maybe the event horizon of our expanding universe is. But only for now. :)
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Amsterdam & Keukenhof, April 2012
I arrived in Amsterdam around 6 PM on Sunday, April 15th, and was accommodated in the same dorm on the top floor of the youth hostel as on my latest visit in late September last year. The hostel is situated right next to the beautiful Vondelpark, and since it was already late I only went for a walk in the park that evening. The weather forecast hadn't been favorable and it was very cold, but I was grateful the sun had still come out late.
According to forecast (which proved correct), the weather would still be the most favorable on Monday, so I had planned my ride to "De Keukenhof" for that day, the famous, big exhibition of flowers which I finally wanted to visit because on the website it says, "If you haven't seen De Keukenhof you haven't seen Holland.".
So I inquired about it at the reception on Sunday night since they sometimes offer discounts for various tourist activities at the Stayokay hostels. They didn't have any discount for the entrance alone though, only for a bus trip including entrance (which would certainly have cost more than the entrance fee alone though, even with discount). I said I was gonna rent a bike to ride there. The guy at the reception desk told me, "you can't go there by bike."
"Why not?," I asked, and he said it was way too far.
"According to my map it's about the same distance as Zandvoort," I said unimpressed, "I'm an athlete, I'm on the bike every day at home and sometimes ride farther than that." They reception guy remained doubtful, and his colleague told him, "that's because you're a pussy!" :D
The way to De Keukenhof the next day proved very long indeed; I had chosen a route passing Schiphol (the airport) to the south, riding through "Het Amsterdamse Bos" (an artificially planted, small forest), after which I found a road closed off which drove me even farther off to the south. I entered a sandy track through the countryside where a sign warned of free ranging "Scotse hoglanders", and it gave the instruction to keep a distance of at least 5 meters to the animals. As I rode on I saw them crowded right across the path: Scottish Highland cattle with long, tan fur. One of them, certainly a bull with long, pointy horns, stood so close by the track to the right that I was forced to pass him closer than 2 meters - two others were not much farther off to the left. He ignored me.
Villages, fields, sheep, chickens... a beautiful windmill built back in 1778 and named "De zwarte ruiter" ("The black horseman").
Then I came to a canal and my route should continue, according to the map, on the other side of it. Puzzled I looked at the map and at the water when an elderly man addressed me who had been sitting by one of the boats. "You want to get to 'Four'?," he asked, referring to the number this route was given on the map. For 1 euro he set me over on his little ferry boat - only me, with my MacBike. He must be sitting there all day long waiting for some occasional customer...
Having struggled much against the strong wind on the latter part of the ride, I eventually arrived in Lisse, the town nearby which De Keukenhof is situated,found an Albert Heijn (supermarket) where I bought some food, then asked two young ladies in Dutch for directions, was given directions in Dutch and was proud to have understood everything. :)
De Keukenhof was... crowded, despite it being a Monday with somewhat rough and cold weather and the quite enormous entrance fee of 14.50 euro. There had certainly been a lot of effort put into the very artful gardening, but apart from that it's just another park and simply way too crowded, although I have to admit it wasn't early when I arrived; having started in AMsterdam around 10:30 AM it had in fact taken me 3 hours to get here due to my detour (at least 25 miles, I guess). I wouldn't be able to stay for all too long although I hoped to find a shorter way back. At least the atmosphere was friendly there, and then I found that hall with an exhibition of truly spectacular flowers. Many of them were huge or had very exotic shapes or coloring, and the sizable hall was filled with the intense fragrance of the giant lilies displayed near its center.
This exhibition hall was the highlight, but thereafter I still found a nice windmill open to the visitors, its wings continually spinning in the brisk wind, and of course I wouldn't miss to go up inside.
I did find a shorter way home (to Amsterdam) indeed, passing Schiphol to the north, and much closer this time - at one point the road would in fact pass under a taxiing road where airplanes would roll to the runway! I was fascinated and paused there for a while to take pictures of the big machines as they passed by.
It was evening when I arrived back at the Vondelpark.
***
On the remaining two full days I wouldn't leave the city again. My plans were to just visit some markets and the Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam's botanic garden. While entrance to the botanic garden back here in Bonn is free, the Hortus charges a steep 7.50, but thanks to a little discount card from the hostel I had to pay only 6 euro. Although the area of the garden is slightly smaller than Bonn's, it's definitely worth seeing, especially the very spacious tropical greenhouse. No good pics of it though because it was so damp inside that the lens of my cam would get cloudy.
The second largest greenhouse was home to the cycads, the ancient family of plants which are often called palm-ferns but are, as I learned, related to neither palms nor ferns. They were all planted in giant pots, and the oldest of them is 300 years old!
Then there was still a small but very lovely greenhouse which houses free-flying, tropical butterflies! Most numerous were the ones of vivid orange color, named "The Flying Dutchman". There were also some very ethereal ones with transparent wings framed with black and specks of white, and some few larger, black ones with white and violet marks on the wings. But the Flying Dutchmen were everywhere around.
Light rain had set in as I was leaving the Hortus, and my last plan for this day was to hopefully find myself a good book. There are two stores with English books I know in Amsterdam, one of them a smallish one across the street from the Munttoren (the lovely bell tower near the flower market), the books there are rather inexpensive but the downside is, the paperbacks stacked on the tables are unsorted and it's very hard to find anything. Along the walls are still some illustrated, mostly hardcover volumes on various subjects, but I didn't mean to buy anything unwieldy. I hoped to find something Lovecraftian...
The other bookstore I know is the American Book Center (abc.nl) on the Spui (square), it's three floors and well sorted but has astronomical prices. Discouraged I walked back once more to the store by the Munttoren. The weather had turned uncomfortable and I'd prefer to ride back to the hostel earlier this evening and just read a bit under the high roof of the cozy dorm, but just couldn't seem to find anything, not anything decent at all. I was about to give up disappointed when among all the covers, suddenly the name Hannibal sprang into my eye,along with a familiar face wearing an elegant hat and dark glasses and a cunning little smile. My hero, Hannibal Lecter? No doubt, I had found... not simply some halfway decent book but *my* book!
More photos of the trip will be found on my Facebook.
According to forecast (which proved correct), the weather would still be the most favorable on Monday, so I had planned my ride to "De Keukenhof" for that day, the famous, big exhibition of flowers which I finally wanted to visit because on the website it says, "If you haven't seen De Keukenhof you haven't seen Holland.".
So I inquired about it at the reception on Sunday night since they sometimes offer discounts for various tourist activities at the Stayokay hostels. They didn't have any discount for the entrance alone though, only for a bus trip including entrance (which would certainly have cost more than the entrance fee alone though, even with discount). I said I was gonna rent a bike to ride there. The guy at the reception desk told me, "you can't go there by bike."
"Why not?," I asked, and he said it was way too far.
"According to my map it's about the same distance as Zandvoort," I said unimpressed, "I'm an athlete, I'm on the bike every day at home and sometimes ride farther than that." They reception guy remained doubtful, and his colleague told him, "that's because you're a pussy!" :D
The way to De Keukenhof the next day proved very long indeed; I had chosen a route passing Schiphol (the airport) to the south, riding through "Het Amsterdamse Bos" (an artificially planted, small forest), after which I found a road closed off which drove me even farther off to the south. I entered a sandy track through the countryside where a sign warned of free ranging "Scotse hoglanders", and it gave the instruction to keep a distance of at least 5 meters to the animals. As I rode on I saw them crowded right across the path: Scottish Highland cattle with long, tan fur. One of them, certainly a bull with long, pointy horns, stood so close by the track to the right that I was forced to pass him closer than 2 meters - two others were not much farther off to the left. He ignored me.
Villages, fields, sheep, chickens... a beautiful windmill built back in 1778 and named "De zwarte ruiter" ("The black horseman").
Then I came to a canal and my route should continue, according to the map, on the other side of it. Puzzled I looked at the map and at the water when an elderly man addressed me who had been sitting by one of the boats. "You want to get to 'Four'?," he asked, referring to the number this route was given on the map. For 1 euro he set me over on his little ferry boat - only me, with my MacBike. He must be sitting there all day long waiting for some occasional customer...
Having struggled much against the strong wind on the latter part of the ride, I eventually arrived in Lisse, the town nearby which De Keukenhof is situated,found an Albert Heijn (supermarket) where I bought some food, then asked two young ladies in Dutch for directions, was given directions in Dutch and was proud to have understood everything. :)
De Keukenhof was... crowded, despite it being a Monday with somewhat rough and cold weather and the quite enormous entrance fee of 14.50 euro. There had certainly been a lot of effort put into the very artful gardening, but apart from that it's just another park and simply way too crowded, although I have to admit it wasn't early when I arrived; having started in AMsterdam around 10:30 AM it had in fact taken me 3 hours to get here due to my detour (at least 25 miles, I guess). I wouldn't be able to stay for all too long although I hoped to find a shorter way back. At least the atmosphere was friendly there, and then I found that hall with an exhibition of truly spectacular flowers. Many of them were huge or had very exotic shapes or coloring, and the sizable hall was filled with the intense fragrance of the giant lilies displayed near its center.
This exhibition hall was the highlight, but thereafter I still found a nice windmill open to the visitors, its wings continually spinning in the brisk wind, and of course I wouldn't miss to go up inside.
I did find a shorter way home (to Amsterdam) indeed, passing Schiphol to the north, and much closer this time - at one point the road would in fact pass under a taxiing road where airplanes would roll to the runway! I was fascinated and paused there for a while to take pictures of the big machines as they passed by.
It was evening when I arrived back at the Vondelpark.
***
On the remaining two full days I wouldn't leave the city again. My plans were to just visit some markets and the Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam's botanic garden. While entrance to the botanic garden back here in Bonn is free, the Hortus charges a steep 7.50, but thanks to a little discount card from the hostel I had to pay only 6 euro. Although the area of the garden is slightly smaller than Bonn's, it's definitely worth seeing, especially the very spacious tropical greenhouse. No good pics of it though because it was so damp inside that the lens of my cam would get cloudy.
The second largest greenhouse was home to the cycads, the ancient family of plants which are often called palm-ferns but are, as I learned, related to neither palms nor ferns. They were all planted in giant pots, and the oldest of them is 300 years old!
Then there was still a small but very lovely greenhouse which houses free-flying, tropical butterflies! Most numerous were the ones of vivid orange color, named "The Flying Dutchman". There were also some very ethereal ones with transparent wings framed with black and specks of white, and some few larger, black ones with white and violet marks on the wings. But the Flying Dutchmen were everywhere around.
Light rain had set in as I was leaving the Hortus, and my last plan for this day was to hopefully find myself a good book. There are two stores with English books I know in Amsterdam, one of them a smallish one across the street from the Munttoren (the lovely bell tower near the flower market), the books there are rather inexpensive but the downside is, the paperbacks stacked on the tables are unsorted and it's very hard to find anything. Along the walls are still some illustrated, mostly hardcover volumes on various subjects, but I didn't mean to buy anything unwieldy. I hoped to find something Lovecraftian...
The other bookstore I know is the American Book Center (abc.nl) on the Spui (square), it's three floors and well sorted but has astronomical prices. Discouraged I walked back once more to the store by the Munttoren. The weather had turned uncomfortable and I'd prefer to ride back to the hostel earlier this evening and just read a bit under the high roof of the cozy dorm, but just couldn't seem to find anything, not anything decent at all. I was about to give up disappointed when among all the covers, suddenly the name Hannibal sprang into my eye,along with a familiar face wearing an elegant hat and dark glasses and a cunning little smile. My hero, Hannibal Lecter? No doubt, I had found... not simply some halfway decent book but *my* book!
More photos of the trip will be found on my Facebook.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Saturnium
Where the elements reign
Was found an alchemist's stone
& it was given a name
& had its secrets made known
Recall the Lord's Castle
With its walls giving way
Meet again at the Crossroads
To the Trinity pray
Here roams naught but the wind
& it has seen a lot
Yet a cold heart has this wind
& it troubles it not
& the tumbleweeds spin
As they're driven along
By the cold-hearted wind
As it whistles its songs
An ode to a wasteland
At the dawn of scorched earth
Advent of a savior
The Destroyer of Worlds
Lord of all that is vicious
It is Thee I invoke
The element most pernicious
Offer forth from Thy trove
With primeval fire it sparkles
With all its might it be hurled
To spend a light to the darkness
& an end to the world
& the cold-hearted wind keeps whistling along...
© Diana the Warrior
- Addition
What's it actually about? Did you get the meaning?
Feel free to take a guess before scrolling down for the explanation.
Suggestions:
Do you say it is about
a) Alchemy
b) Religion/Satanism
c) Nuclear weapons
d) It's an invocation
It's ONE of the above; did you pick one?
...
Think about these... why would a Satanist suggest to pray to the Trinity?
The "alchemist's stone" was given a name... what name might that be?
...
The wind has only the role of a passive observer in the scenario, and even the savior is only an allegory - the Destroyer of Worlds? - it's only about what he does...
So, here's my inspiration, my fave of all faves on Youtube.
That sure explains everything... well no, not really everything, but at least which of the 4 options above is the correct one.
The title, Saturnium, is actually a hint at uranium and plutonium, of course.
The three words capitalized in the 2nd verse are names that were used for nuclear weapons test programs: Castle, Crossroads, and most famously Trinity, the first nuclear bomb test ever.
So, the name of this alchemist's stone is certainly Plutonium, and the correct answer is, of course, answer c).
Was found an alchemist's stone
& it was given a name
& had its secrets made known
Recall the Lord's Castle
With its walls giving way
Meet again at the Crossroads
To the Trinity pray
Here roams naught but the wind
& it has seen a lot
Yet a cold heart has this wind
& it troubles it not
& the tumbleweeds spin
As they're driven along
By the cold-hearted wind
As it whistles its songs
An ode to a wasteland
At the dawn of scorched earth
Advent of a savior
The Destroyer of Worlds
Lord of all that is vicious
It is Thee I invoke
The element most pernicious
Offer forth from Thy trove
With primeval fire it sparkles
With all its might it be hurled
To spend a light to the darkness
& an end to the world
& the cold-hearted wind keeps whistling along...
© Diana the Warrior
- Addition
What's it actually about? Did you get the meaning?
Feel free to take a guess before scrolling down for the explanation.
Suggestions:
Do you say it is about
a) Alchemy
b) Religion/Satanism
c) Nuclear weapons
d) It's an invocation
It's ONE of the above; did you pick one?
...
Think about these... why would a Satanist suggest to pray to the Trinity?
The "alchemist's stone" was given a name... what name might that be?
...
The wind has only the role of a passive observer in the scenario, and even the savior is only an allegory - the Destroyer of Worlds? - it's only about what he does...
So, here's my inspiration, my fave of all faves on Youtube.
That sure explains everything... well no, not really everything, but at least which of the 4 options above is the correct one.
The title, Saturnium, is actually a hint at uranium and plutonium, of course.
The three words capitalized in the 2nd verse are names that were used for nuclear weapons test programs: Castle, Crossroads, and most famously Trinity, the first nuclear bomb test ever.
So, the name of this alchemist's stone is certainly Plutonium, and the correct answer is, of course, answer c).
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