Welcome
To my little space on the web. Whatever crosses my mind, whatever seems worth writing down, whatever will help me practise my writing abilities in English. Here you’ll find little pieces of writing about anything that interests me or that keeps me awake at night.

Have you ever had the feeling you were having the time of your life, and were you afraid it would pass without anyone noticing? I have. I’m 20, in love, in short: truly happy. Perhaps my life isn’t the most interesting or inspiring you can imagine, but it’s my only life and I hold it dear

I’m studying Dutch and English Literature in Antwerp, I love to read and write. A little more practice than I already have won’t do me harm, so that is the main reason why I started this weblog.

Feel free to let me know what you think.

Stephanie

[version #3 Wodka Lime]

CHECK BACK SOON FOR THE NEW ADRESS OF WEAPON OF MASS DISTRACTION

Hm. I guess it wasn’t very polite of me not to let you know I was going on a holiday. Anyway.

I did and now I’m back.

I’ll be working on the new site for the next three weeks, don’t feel like opening it before Sarah re-opens hers

Keep checking back for the new URL! (And many thanks for doing so!)

Good day to you all,

This will probably be my last post here. I’m moving out thanks to Sarah whom I love and adore. Check back here soon for the new adress.

On another note, my exams are over and I think I did well. I’ll know the 6th of July… I’d like to have another cum laude like last year.

See you guys soon in my new space!

There’s this cute song I can’t get out of my head. It’s called Automatic and it’s sung by Belgian EliZe. I had never heard of her before and frankly, I don’t think I ever will again. But I didn’t want to discuss the quality of the song, it’s the lyrics that interest me. I hadn’t even noticed what the song was about until a friend told me it reminded him of someone we both know (let’s call him X).

Every single boy I know is thinking that he’s in control
Nothing you can do to break his track ’cause he’s mister cool and this is his party
I’ve seen it half a million times you can play it forward or rewind
You will always do what she decides ’cause she’s got the key to getting you started

I’m talking to you
She’ll make a slave out of you
But you can’t help it boy so it’s ok

It’s amazing how people change when they’re in a serious relationship for the first time. Funny thing is; they don’t notice it. X started dating a girl about a year ago. She seemed lovely and I was glad a nice girl was about to join our group of friends. X was one of our best friends and we were all thrilled at how happy he was. That was over a year ago. I don’t call X my best friend anymore, simply because I never see him anymore. He’s always with her. He cancels appointments, doesn’t show up at parties or turns down invitations to all kinds of activities he used to participate in with so much enthusiasm. Because of her. Everywhere he goes, she goes. Where she goes, he goes.

My friend and I soon were having a heated discussion about the mutual friend. We were gushing out our frustrations and basically turned the girlfriend into a mean witch in our minds. In the end she looked somewhat like the girl EliZe sings about…

Then I received a phone call. My boyfriend rang to check up on me and to discuss our plans for the weekend. He mentioned a barbeque some friends were having that evening and I swiftly responded with a reminder of a family barbeque we had planned way ahead. I then mentioned that I needed new shoes and that he needed some new polo shirts after which he moaned and grumbled and eventually gave in to go on a shopping spree with me on Saturday. Some further deliberation was needed because he had to be home in time for a bicycle race on TV he could just not miss.

As I was chattering away I saw the eyes of my friend, who was still sitting next to me, practically popping out of his head. You could say some sort of revelation opened my own eyes at that moment. I wasn’t any better, or worse for that matter, than X’s girlfriend.

We were all so used to having X around all the time, without any attachments. He was always up for the craziest plans and he never needed to take other people into account. He came to every party, organised several himself, always tagged along on trips or activities the rest of the group undertook. Of course he didn’t only do all these things because otherwise he would be lonely, but I think it’s a factor nevertheless. And honestly? My boyfriend and I don’t join our group of friends every single time either… Sometimes it’s just fun to hang out with the two of you, or you’re obligated to pay the “in-laws” a visit, or you’re just tired… Of course you change when you’re in a relationship. It’s only normal to accommodate to life with the two of you, and it’s unfair of other people to judge you by the frequency with which you show up on group events. Suddenly no excuse is good enough anymore, everything is blamed on the new partner.

My friend and I were quite at a loss for words after the phone call. Neither of us considered my relationship to be anything like the one X was in, but it was exactly the same situation. We just weren’t used to X being in one.

As I said before, it’s amazing how much you change when you’re in a relationship. But it’s even more amazing how blind people can be. Commenting on others is easy enough, commenting on ourselves seems to be a little more difficult…

Have you ever read something you didn’t understand at all, but when you read ABOUT the text suddenly it all made sense?

I never really liked Beckett. Waiting for Godot, yes. But what it meant? I could care less.

This semester I took a course about Beckett in order to finally find out what it was that made his drama so special. At least that was what I already believed it to be. You never hear someone say: “Beckett is not a good writer, his plays are idiotic.” So why not? It’s the same with Picasso. I keep thinking; anyone could “do a picasso”. But if Picasso is anything like Beckett, my thoughts should be reconsidered.

It wasn’t until I learned about Beckett’s life, his ideologies and his opinions that I started to understand his writings. A Piece of Monologue is pure genius. Happy Days is both that AND funny.

It’s all not that humourous at the moment though. I don’t think I’ll be as enthusiastic about Beckett tomorrow at the exam. But for now I want to do the world a favour and convince you all to run to the library, surf to amazon.com or hurry to the bookshop to read at least a few plays by Beckett if you haven’t already done so.

If you know nothing of Beckett, I’ll be happy to put some thoughts about him and his life in writing and send it to you (or perhaps I’ll put it on this site) so that you can enjoy the reading experience as much as I did.

A few days ago I went to my GP. He held surgery from 6 pm. One minute past six I entered the waiting room… Only to find there wasn’t even a seat left for me to sit on.

There are several ways in which I sometimes like to waste my time. But sitting in a waiting room, listening to people talking about their diseases, holidayplans and bratty grand children is most definitely not one of them. I hate waiting rooms. The magazines you’re expected to read are always too old to be interesting or too boring to stay awake while reading them. My GP’s waiting room had a flatscreen, but the only thing it would show was National Geographic. There were THREE little children annoying me in all kinds of ways, from whining to spilling water all over the floor (I was wearing flip flops) to kicking and screaming when they had to go in. Some parents should be forbidden to take their children anywhere.

Okay so perhaps I was just a little bit edgy.

Come join this terrific message board, brought to you by the lovely Sarah.

FlashMB simply is the freshest, cutest, liveliest, funniest, best-est message board out there for the moment.

It’s also the perfect way for me to keep working on my “English skills” without having to come up with brilliantly original ideas (cough) to transform into equally brilliant (cough cough) posts…

Come and join us. Today!

I decided to break my own rule and post something that is strictly personal, in the sense that it has nothing to do with you. (yeah, you there…)

My previous posts have all been a kind of exercise to practise writing, but since I am now in the middle of my exams I don’t really feel like doing any exercise at all!

[edit 22:01]

It would be nice if all of you lurkers would leave some kind of a signal… Please tell me, do you enjoy my logs, do you hate them, why? I’m not learning much at the moment… I’d like to know whether I can tackle certain subjects so that many people can relate to them… Please please please let me know… It would mean a lot to me.

Also, I forgot to do some major plugging before, in this strange little post of mine… In no particular order, thanks goes out to Delasol, Lien, Aurora, Claudia, jr, Lisa, Shauna, Kelly, Damelza and of course, the ever fabulous Sarah.

[/edit 22:09]

So that is why, for the very first time ladies and gentlemen… tadadadadadaaaa…. I’m actually using this web-log for what it is supposed to be used. Random rantings about me, myself and I that will not interest you in the least!

Like I said, I’m very busy studying right now. Which is hell. I really can’t figure out why I love going to university so much. I’m always blabbing to people how I would like to obtain more than just one degree. How I would like to travel and study in foreign countries. (Okay, the States.) How one degree isn’t going to get me anywhere, EVERYONE has one. So I need at least two.

At the moment, these thoughts don’t really make any sense. It’s 30° Celsius outside and all I want to do is smash the wall between my garden and that of my neighbour, call all my friends and have a pool party by my neighbour’s pool. Oh come on, you don’t think it’s unfair my neighbour has one and I don’t? I do.

Yet, this all being very well, I must return to my books. Today I have taken the exam about Whitman, Emerson, Dickinson, Bishop and most importantly… Frost. I love Frost. He is my favourite poet. Ooh, and Tennessee Williams! How I adore A Streetcar Named Desire! “A woman’s charm is fifty per cent illusion.” You have to love a woman like Blanche.

In a week I’ll have to deal with Dutch Literary History. Slightly less fun, a whole bunch more to study.

Got to run, I’ve still got miles to go before I sleep.

I have recently watched Bowling for Columbine. I can not believe one country (though a very large one indeed) can produce as many maniacs and lunatics as it can bring forth great, admirable people. The oppositions in this part of the world seem indestructible.

Of course Michael Moore’s films have to be taken with a pinch of salt. He overly dramatizes several situations I am sure, he knows like no other how to portray emotions so that the viewer feels like he is going through the same. But still, there has to be some truth in the stories he tells, and that truth isn’t very pretty.

Americans do seem to have an entirely different culture than Europeans, never mind how much alike we superficially may seem. There is a show running on our local network, it is called “Bart in alle staten” which means as much as “Bart in every state”. A news reporter, Bart investigates different layers of American society. The episodes are all based on a different theme: death penalty, cowboys in the wild west, porn industry…

I love to watch him be amazed by everything he encounters over there. People in the States seem to be more inspired, enthusiastic about what they believe in, than the guarded, diffident Europeans. This often ensures lovely images, like the one of the cowboy proudly demonstrating his ability to throw a lasso and to catch cattle. He did not succeed in catching anything for at least 23 attempts, but he did not seem to care? Another scene I will never forget shows the inside of an entire museum devoted to the tradition of death row and death penalty. I forgot where it was, somewhere in Texas I think. This is something you will just not find in Europe.

I am still not sure what to think of the differences between the US and Europe, and the oppositions in the States themselves. I am not in the position of having a well-considered view on things. Not even after watching a Belgian show about this wonderful country, nor after watching any of Michael Moore’s films.

I wonder if there is any way in which one *can* form an opinion about this matter, when nobody is even capable of knowing everything about either of the two very different continents, let alone about the two of them. I would love to have lived in America for a while myself, so that I can experience rather than read what these people are about. Perhaps then I’ll be able to see things the way they are, not the way they are presented to me.

They confuse the Persian carpet with the toilet. They terrorize big sisters. They put peas everywhere, except in their mouth. They’re not so much little angels as little rascals, but sometimes they turn into little “monsters”. For families with unmanageable kids there’s help on the way. As of 8 May: “Supernanny”.

In “Supernanny” six Flemish families experiencing serious problems with the upbringing of their offspring make an appeal to Wendy. Six times she enters into the challenge and tries to turn the unruly kids into angels again, all of this in less than three weeks.

Imagine the fun I had watching this show. In episode one, two little cute kids were able to exasperate their parents. Whining, fighting, kicking and screaming were just a few of their tactics to raise Cain. Curiously enough, they did this only when their parents were around and preferably when they where in a public place. One scene was shot by a hidden camera in the bedroom of the little boys of about 3 and 6 years old. The oldest one had smuggled in a bar of chocolate and was sweet enough to share with his overjoyed brother. Not a sign of rumpus now…

Of course there are the cases of kids with real disorders who are beyond the control of their parents. Kids with ADD or autistic children can often prove to be refractory, but the reason for that is purely medical. But in my opinion most of the children considered ‘problem children’ by their parents are not to blame. If there is no medical explanation for their bad behaviour, it is the parents who should admit their guilt.

In the next scene of episode one, mom and dad “tuck in” the kids. That is: they usher them upstairs, make them undress on the way up, force them to jump into their pyjamas the minute they enter their room and make them climb straight into bed. The entire “ritual” takes about three minutes. No kiss goodnight, no hugs nor bedtime stories and the little boys were not even allowed to let a light on or to leave the door ajar. In fact, the door was locked. “We don’t want them hopping out of bed and coming downstairs now, do we?” Harry Potter flashback, anyone?
Minutes later the parents hear bawling and yelling through the baby intercom. Furiously, dad races upstairs holding his secret weapon. Threatening the boys with his slipper seems to be effective. The kids shut up after having received a spanking on their bums.

Please do tell me families like this are rare.

Wendy had to send dad to the library (which he had never visited before in his life) to get some books to read his children stories from. Dad complied and went…straight from the library to the local pub. “To recover from the shock of doing a thing like that!” A cultural shock, I’m sure.
Wendy did more than that. She obliged mom to spend fifteen minutes with her kids after work, every day! Imagine, every single day! Dad protested against the rule about washing his kids before tucking them in. “Ten minutes?! Have you got any idea how long that is?! I just want to watch television…”

I thought only the Bundy’s or the Simpsons lived a life like this. At least now I know where Matt Groening got his inspiration from.