Lannie.net

One of the most baffling things about being an adult is realizing how CHILDISH grownups can be. Adulthood = responsibility, for me. Owning up to consequences, trying to be the best you can be, and sitting on the blisters by yourself when you’ve burned your ass. Throughout my childhood and teen years I’ve always been told not to behave childish… so imagine my surprise that even though I worked hard at not being a twat, the rest of humanity is kind ignoring that pothole. That’s not to say that I can’t be childish and petty every now and then – I’m completely aware that I’m not perfect and I definitely have moments where I’m full of the suck. Still, I try.

And it just makes me cringe to see other people fail at it so spectacularly. Especially if they are supposed to be the people in power – the ones that we’ve elected to RUN THE COUNTRY. You know, the most responsible job there is. The economy is in the crapper, Greece is about to go bankrupt, and here the dutch politicians are bickering over things to stupid to even mention. I don’t even want to talk about it. It makes me want to go “LA LA LA I can’t hear you” every time I hear something about it on the news. (The irony over how childish that is is not lost on me, btw…)
It just goes against everything I’ve been taught and raised on, against the values that I set myself. I just want to bitch slap all the politicians and tell them to man the fuck up and be polite to each other. What the hell are we paying them for? Fuck, this is not some internet forum or Youtube where teenagers are hiding behind screen names to troll each other! If you’re in a position of responsibility, you should man the fuck up and be responsible. Otherwise don’t DO it.

Maybe it’s just that nobody is able to man the fuck up and be responsible. If no one would do it, we wouldn’t have anyone to run the country… a little bit like Belgium.
I’m beginning to wonder if that might not be better. And yeah, those are not good thoughts.

Somewhere in early 2000, Olli and I were lying in bed in our Siriusstraat apartment when it had not yet been furnished with curtains, and we were looking at the starry sky through our window, chatting before we would fall asleep. I think it was a Saturday or something, because it was really late, like 2am or something. That night the sky looked really weird, like red mists were showing between the stars. At first we thought it was reflected light from the greenhouses, but on closer look we knew this could not be the case. The light wasn’t orange-red like we were used to, but pinkish red. Also, there were no clouds for possible greenhouses to reflect upon.

And then we noticed that the pink-red mists were shifting somewhat over time (think an hour). Despite the fact that it was rather pretty to look at, we of course began to crack jokes about apocalypses and doom. It was kind of weird and vaguely worrying, so Olli did get up to send an e-mail to our local astronomy club, asking them what was up. Turns out we had been looking at the Northern Light, which had been visible that night… a very rare occasion.

Today in the car I heard that this northern light in the Netherlands is caused by solar flares that have a cycle of twelve years between occurring. So we’re up for another one tonight. I don’t think that the greenhouses in Nuttyville and the big city to the west of here will allow us to see the Aurora Borealis tonight, which is a pity.

But if you are in a more rural area in NL, be sure to check it out. I hope it’s visible!
I remember it being very pretty back then.