Collecting stories

A close friend of mine is beautifully pregnant with only about 5 short weeks to go before becoming an awesome momma. With all the baby present buying, placing bets on whether it's going to be a boy or girl, and talk of baby names (and trying to make her feel guilty that she's not letting me in on the secret of the names they've picked out - I'm so incredibly curious!), I have babies on the brain. Personally, I don't want them. I don't see myself as a mom, I don't see myself taking on the massive task of raising kiddos, and I absolutely don't see myself walking around with a gigantic belly (although, I had this weird dream once...). Somehow my biological clock isn't ticking. At all! Every once in a while it bothers me a little. Sometimes it feels like everyone around me is either getting pregnant or talking about wanting to get pregnant and I feel like the odd one out. Why am I different? Why don't I feel the same way? But once those little moments are over, I mostly feel pretty happy with not wanting kids. I get to spend my life however I want. I get to spend all of my money on myself and don't have to spend a boatload of cash on a tiny person who depends on me. My boobs get to stay pretty and not used to feed someone (too much info? I'm sorry, it just makes me happy!). I also don't have to worry about finding the right guy in time. And if there happens to come a time when my uterus is starting to make deafening clock-like sounds after all, I'm okay with having kids a little later in life. I always used to think I'd better change my mind pretty quickly, because I didn't want to be old like my parents. They had their first child (me!) at 31. Which, of course, isn't that old at all! But I was young and annoying and I felt like my parents were ancient. My mom told me once that when she used to pick me up from school, some of the other moms thought she was there for her grandchild. So I felt I needed to have kids before I was 30 or not have them at all. Since then, however, I've come to appreciate my parents for being a little older (nowadays, 31 isn't old at all, but in those days most people started having babies in their twenties). I always like to listen to their stories of times from before I was born. Things they've experienced. People they've known. Heartaches they've been through. Happinesses they've enjoyed. Places they've travelled to. They had time to collect those stories before I (and a little later, my brother) came into their lives. I haven't collected nearly enough stories yet! There is still extremely much I want to see and do in my life. In the first place, obviously, for myself. But if I ever decide I do want children after all, I like the idea of being a little older and having a beautiful collection of stories to tell (and if I never change my mind, which I'm starting to suspect, I'll just annoy all of my friends' kids with my stories!).

Just to be sure:

Of course this little story isn't meant to offend anyone who decided to have kids a little younger than what I'm talking about here. I think you're awesome! And beautiful! And you rock! Perhaps I'm a little late in life with collecting my stories and you've already collected some great stories to tell (I'm jealous!). Perhaps you didn't want to be seen as a grandmother when picking up your kids from school. Anyway, this is just how I feel about my own life and it doesn't reflect one tiny bit how I feel about anyone elses choices and paths in life.

On a perfectly lazy sunday afternoon

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 -6 - 7 - 8 - 9

Some things I've pinned on Pinterest. Looks like I'm madly in love with all shades of blue lately.



I'm having the most perfect lazy Sunday! I decided to take one day off from things that I have to do (such as looking for a job!). Tomorrow I will start bright and early and work my ass off (I work on Saturdays, so my 'weekends' are on Sundays and Mondays, which is when I try to do things like look for a job).

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PS: That Human Rights Tattoo project I wrote about the other day? Yesterday, fully ready to get my tattoo, I went... I basically got laughed at for showing up so late... I left. Bummer! Turns out you had to get there really early (like, extremely early, before-it-even-started early, which I hadn't understood from the website), so I got dinner instead of a tattoo. They did tell me that there might be another tattoo-day in a month in Amsterdam, so maybe I'll get my tattoo then (although I'm not looking forward to having to take the whole day off from work so I can be there ridiciously early and wait all day, so... we'll see).

PPS: In exactly one month from today, I'll be turning 28. Yikes, 30 is getting so close! I'm thinking about some things I want to add to my so-called bucketlist (I really don't like the word bucketlist!), since I decided to do that for every birthday.

Rooftop snowattack

The view from my bedroom window onto my tiny balcony a week ago.

I'm a mailman (well, ehm, mailwoman actually, but that sounds kind of weird... either way, I deliver mail for a living), in case you didn't know. I went to law school and this is how I make my money, what can I tell you, it's a bad economy! Anyway, when I was working earlier today and was standing at someones front door about to put their mail into the mailbox, a big (gigantic! huge!) pile of cold icy snow slid of the roof and landed right on top of me! Cold. So, so cold! First, I just stood there, pretty much in shock of what the hell just happened. Then, it took me a good 10 minutes to get all of the icy chunks of snow off my face, out of my hair and off my coat. I got back to business, but I decided right then that I was going to spend the rest of the afternoon (at least one good thing about my job: I'm home pretty early most days - of course I start working at the crack of dawn, but hey, let's just ignore that for a minute, shall we?) looking for a new job. You know, one where I'm not running the risk of being attacked by icy snow! And one where I don't have to wear leggings under my pants to keep my butt from freezing off. I don't think I'm asking for very much here! I'm not sure I believe in such things, but it's almost like the universe is asking me (not very subtly I might add) what the heck I'm still doing at this job! Well, alright universe, I'm looking for a new job (and drinking a nice cup of hot tea) as we speak. Now promise me you're not going to dump any more snow on top of my head! Better yet, please just make the snow go away and let it be spring.

Just me

Before I officially start this post, I feel I should warn you. With a few exceptions, I don't really like to get too personal on this blog. That's just not my style. But in the post I'm about to write (although I must admit I'm still debating whether I should actually write it, and if so, whether I really want to publish it) I will be getting a little bit more personal. So, if that's not really your style either, if that doesn't interest you one tiny bit, you should probably run away... right... about... now!

Not too long ago, I finally joined Facebook. I had actively and persistantly resisted it before (you see, even though I have not one, but two blogs, I am in fact not very much - or not at all - into technology), but when a good friend of mine who is perhaps even more technologically challenged than I am, ventured onto Facebook, I couldn't very well stay behind. So, like the millions and millions of people who went before me, I now am the proud owner of my very own Facebook-page. Once I found some people who were actually willing to publicly admit to being my friends, Facebook started to throw all of these people my way, suggesting that I might know them. Some of them I know or knew, most of them I have never heard of. Of the ones I actually know or have known, most I like and if for some reason we haven't stayed in touch, I would very much like to see what they're up to these days. However, there are also a few I don't really care for and I would have been fine to have never been reminded of them ever again (thank you very much, Facebook!).  These few people (really, just one or two, I don't want you to think there are all these people out there that I don't like) I met in high school. Which kind of brought me back and got me thinking about my time in school (thanks again, Facebook!). I guess I was a pretty weird kid in high school. I was really shy. I never quite knew what to say. I was awkward and quirky. I wore cheap and often second-hand clothes, with which I desperately tried to create my own style (I failed miserably, if you must know). In short, I wasn't cool at all. Definitely not one of the popular kids. Don't get me wrong, I had some amazingly awesome friends! Still do! But there were also a few people who just didn't really seem to like me very much. Fortunately, I didn't get teased too often or too badly. But I did get made fun of every once in a while and especially when you're already a shy kid, that's not exactly doing you much good. So... I became even more shy and I desperately wished to be different. Cooler, prettier, less shy, more outspoken. Just anything but myself. And although I absolutely, more than anything in the world, wanted and tried to be different, I never really knew how. It actually took me the longest time (ok, this makes me sound kind of old, it might have just felt like a long time) to figure out why I wasn't very succesful at being different. The answer is actually quite obvious. Because you just can't be different. You just can't be what you're not (I know, this is starting to sound a bit too philosofical, but bear with me). This doesn't mean you will always be the same. You change, you grow, you learn, you evolve. And you should. But I believe this only concerns the nuances of who you are. The person that you are, your personality, your soul, that doesn't change. Nor should it. You just simply are who you are and you don't have to do anything about it. Now, realising that is one thing, accepting it is another. Accepting who you are, weird quirks and all, isn't the easiest thing to do (especially after having been teased for who you are and after trying to be different for so long). But personally, I like to think I've come a long way! Now I like that I'm a little different and that I have some weird little quirks. I like it when my boyfriend calls me his little weirdo (which he means in the nicest possible way, I assure you). Being normal is just boring anyway! I like it that I'm just me now. That doesn't mean that I'm never insecure anymore, but what I guess I'm trying to say is (I guess, because half the time I don't even really know myself what I'm trying to say): Just be yourself! Because there isn't anybody else you're going to be. And if you're a little bit different? Even better! And if people don't like who you are? That's their problem, not yours!

Oops, did I get way too personal here? Too much information? Well, I warned you. You should have run when you had the chance!

Less = more

Why I don't eat meat... a lot.

I guess my way of eating is not easily labeled. I'm not a vegetarian, because I eat, and don't have a problem with eating, fish. And I'm definitively not vegan, since I absolutely love (almost) all things dairy and cheese. But I don't eat a lot of meat. I've consiously made the decision to eat less meat after learning more about the modern meat industry and the effects that it has on the environment, ourselves and (perhaps most surprisingly to me) world hunger.

"Earth's 6,8 billion residents produce enough food to feed between 9 and 11 billion, yet 1 billion go hungry."
-- Joel Cohen, mathematical biologist - BigThink.com

So, we produce more than enough food to feed all the people on the planet, but there are still people starving. How can this be? This is, in part, because about 2/3 of the food (mostly grain) is being fed to animals in the meat industry. It takes 16 pounds of grain to produce only 1 pound of edible meat. How illogical!

"Meat consumption is an ineffecient use of grain - the grain is used more efficiently when consumed directly by humans. Continued growth in meat output is dependent on feeding grain to animals, creating competition for grain between affluent meat-eaters and the world's poor."
-- The Worldwatch Institute

Here in The Netherlands, about 60% of our grain is being fed to animals. Even worse, developing countries are also growing grain which is exported to Western countries where it is used to feed livestock. This is financially more benificial than using it to feed their own people (Vegetariërs.nl). Not only does the meat industry use a whole lot of grain, it also takes up huge amounts of other resources, such as water, land and energy.

"It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat, while growing 1 pound of wheat only requires 25 gallons. You save more water by not eating a pound of meat than you do by not showering for six months! A totally vegan diet requires only 300 gallons of water per day, while a typical meat-eating diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day."

-- PETA

A lot of land is needed to not only house the animals, but also to grow the grain that is used to feed them. This leads to deforestation, which in turn leads to other environmental problems (such as the extinction of species and an increase in the amount of CO2 in the air).

And energy... the meat industry is a gigantic consumer of lots and lots of energy. It takes a 100 times more energy to produce 1 kilogram of meat than it does to produce 1 kilogram of potatoes. - Vegetariërs.nl

Furthermore, the meat industry is a major contributor to global warming and pollution. Worldwide, 18% of greenhouse gases ('broeikasgassen') can be contributed to the production of meat. This is 5% more than that of all types of transportation - cars, trains, boots and planes - combined! - Vegetariërs.nl

 The best known greenhouse gas is CO2, but the meat industry also exposes us to other greenhouse gases, most notably methaan (which is 21 times stronger than CO2!) due to the massive amounts of manure that the animals produce. - Vegetariërs.nl

"Rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases than driving cars."
-- United Nations

So, the modern meat industry is clearly not all that good for the environment. But the eating of meat isn't really all that good for ourselves either. It has been scientifically proven that eating lots of meat is unhealthy and that vegetarians generally suffer less from heart- and cardiovascular diseases and usually have less problems with obesity and diabetes (Vegetariërs.nl and ChooseVeg.com). It has also recently been in the news that (Dutch) scientists have now been able to proof definitively that eating meat (meanly chicken) can make your body resistent against antibiotics. This has to do with the antibiotics that are given to the animals that is still in their meat once you eat is.

After learning all this, and more, I decided to eat less meat. A whole lot less. Which for me, wasn't really all that much of a sacrifice, because I wasn't the biggest fan of meat in the first place. I do eat meat occasionally when I feel like it, and because I'm not necessarily against the slaughter of animals, I don't feel guilty when I do. Therefore, I'm also not saying that everyone should become a vegetarian, but just eating a little bit less meat would make such a great difference. It would be better for the environment, for yourself and it could make a small difference in the fight against world hunger. This is definitely a case where less = more! By eating less meat (and still eating delicious meals) you give other people, who desperately need it, a chance to have more food.

The ramblings of a frustrated jobhunter

Hello, my name is Sylke... and I'm a frustrated jobhunter.

I've graduated in August and ever since then (and a little bit before that time as well), I've been looking for a job. Preferably a job that relates in some way to the subject that I have studied (international law), but really I'm just looking for any job. Any job that can provide me with some kind of practical experience or from which I will be able to learn something... anything. Because my current job of delivering mail isn't really doing that, at all. So I don't think I'm asking for that much. Then why is nobody offering me a job? Or even inviting me to come for an interview?

Because for the legal positions that are in some way related to 'my field' I do not have enough experience. And for a lot of the other positions I am either too highly educated or do not have the right education.

First of all, how can I get some experience when nobody wants to hire me?

Secondly, how can I be too highly educated when I still have so much to learn?

I understand that an experienced candidate might be more desirable than a candidate like me, who needs more training which costs more time and money. But that doesn't mean that I don't come with my own wonderful set of benefits. I'm not necessarily more intelligent than most people, but I'm smart nonetheless. I'm a quick study, hard worker and eager to gain experience and learn new things. So I'm thinking I could be a great asset to many companies and organizations. But people like me, recently graduated and without a lot or any experience, still have a lot to learn even after having studied hard for several years. And employers don't want to spend the time and money to teach us what we need to learn. If they did, however, they might just gain an employee that they could mold into someone that fits perfectly within their company. Employers need to start seeing us not as burdens that will be time consuming and expensive, but as blank slates that they can train and teach to be the perfect employee.

Ok, I think that's enough of my by frustration induced incoherent ramblings for today.

Volunteer work

I haven't found a new job yet, but I did find me some volunteer work to keep busy with. I'm helping with the organisation of the 'collecteweek' for Simavi here in our small town. It looks like it is going to be a little bit more work than I thought it would be, but I think it will be worth it. It's a great cause!

No more waiting!

The stressful days of nervously waiting are over! I received the liberating news that I got an 8 (out of 10) for my thesis. I am probably as much happy as I am surprised (apparently my boyfriend already knew I was going to get an 8, and my dad predicted it as well, but I was definitely not so sure!). Mostly I am just relieved the waiting is over, and that I apparently did a pretty good job. Tomorrow I will be baking celebratory cupcakes!