Earrings and so...

Okay, as any person on earth I have some weaknesses I'm not always proud of. One of them are earrings. The last 8 years I've been 'collecting' them from all over the world. Don't think I'm a compulsive buyer - no sir - as a lot of people know I like them they give me earrings! They give me earrings for my birthday, because they traveled, etc. There are earrings from Italy, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Spain, Czech Republic, Belgium, etc.

So, one of the things of being unemployed is time to carry out ideas! When I spent last weekend in a friend's flat, I noticed she had her earrings hung up on a simple piece of wood. She had connected screws with a kind of thin copper wire. It was hung on the wall by a little hook and a pin. The 'bad' thing about it was that in some places the wire had already given up.

I thought - that's a good idea - and considering my amount of earrings and my unsettled life these weeks, it seemed like a perfect thing for me. Having all my earrings displayed so I only have to choose the pair I want to wear, but not too permanent so I can move to any place I want with only a bag (ofcourse, not considering an overseas move - in that case I would make it again). My dad, who is a carpenter, was totally willing to help me with this idea. Which made it a lot easier to produce it, although I'm convinced I could do it without his help. It would probably take longer and be a little uglier.

This is how it came out; not bad eh?

As you can see I also provided some space for my necklaces at the bottom. I chose wood because I like natural material (and it was recycling) and also the copper wire because I love the color and it seems quite strong. We didn't have to buy anything for this thing! Just great.

What do you need for this simple but handy earring-holder-thing?
* a (preferably recycled) thin piece of wood (you choose the size)
* some screws (we used 13) - 3,5 mm diameter, 25 mm long, flat head
* thicker copper wire --> we used electric wire and stripped the plastic off with a wire stripper - 1,5 mm diameter (I hope this thicker wire will not break that easily)
* screwdriver
* a bodkin 
* a pair of wire-cutters 
* a wire stripper
*  a little hook to hang the wood on your wall/closet/...


You choose where you want your screws, you punch the hole out with the bodkin, you gently screw your screws in the wood. Ofcourse not too hard, you don't want them to come out at the back. 
Then you have to measure your wire, cut  it with your pair of wire-cutters, strip the plastic off with your wire-stripper and patiently turn it around the screws. Finally when all is ready, you screw the hook into the wood on top and choose a place to hang it! 


I know the world is not waiting for this type of information and I also realize that others have probably come up with nicer things. But I had a lot of fun, thinking about it, making it and putting it up.
The idea of making something with your own hands in your home instead of having to drive up to a shop, and probably buy some crappy box made by chinese underpaid employees... I think it's worth it!

A little ray of sunshine

Today is a good day because I managed to get up before 10 A.M. ! Yeah yeah - you can guess it - I'm still unemployed and combing the job market. With no positive outcome so far. So that makes it a little more difficult to go to bed early and to get up early...

BUT... in spite of the shitty (pardon my use of words but it's true) weather all night ánd in the early morning I felt hopeful! And I started to answer and file emails. For me, that's a good sign. Because when I feel energetic and peaceful , I can organize my mails. Something I was totally neglecting the past two months... So after 'clean(s)ing the room where I'm staying for now, my emailaccount was next. I suppose it works for other people too: external order settles the mind. Weird eh?

And after that... I wrote two application letters! So I must say - this day is a good day.
It's still cloudy but the sun has come out - that also gives me more energy.

So for today I give you this sunny picture, one I shot in Central Park, New York this summer. I think it was kind of magic I was there at that moment both animals decided to land on the same flower. I like it.

I wish everyone can have a little victory today just as I had - and feel invincible too - even though it only lasts five minutes. It's worth it.

And for the ones that are still waiting for me to answer their email: I'm on it!

What life is not

In search for what I really want in this life - which is mainly mine but also that from other lives I touch - I regularly come across some parental guiding telling me 'what life is not'. They tell me things I already know. I know that life is not about watching a TV-series (like True Blood for example) until 2 A.M.... but that doesn't mean it doesn't help me relax or forget all my restlessness.
Apart from that, I don't really know what life is or is supposed to be. That's just why I want to take it step by step, thinking deeply and living it intensely, living the now. Because I don't really know it yet.

I just do not and will not understand or agree that life is all about what we buy and have. Because it seems so. It seems that a 'normal' conversation with (young)adults is about the new car they just bought, or the house on sale in that neighbourhood, or how outrageously expensive their latest furniture was.
What about talking about the latest nature disaster? Or talking about the doubts in life? Lost dreams? Far ambitions? Touching encounters?
It seems a lot of people think of these subjects as too wooly or profound to be thrown out in the open. Or maybe a lot of people just don't think about these things at all ...

Are the so-called realists maybe right if they say everyone has to fight his/her own battle without looking at the collateral damage? That in the end the mayority of mankind doesn't care what happens to their fellow beings? Believing this makes me incredibly sad because who would I be without all these people caring about me - not only family - but friends, travel companions, host families, mentors etc.?

Let's just give life the benefit of the doubt and not put forward any hard truths about it and enjoy living it to begin with. Hold that thought. Good Night.

Welcome to the world

Here we go. My new 'baby' is born. Compared to my friends', not one of flesh and blood. But a digital one. Hopefully a place where I can share and connect worldwide. 

I secretly hope that this writing will give me more peace. Because hell yeah - I've been messed up the past weeks. It seemed that all my values and beliefs I was so sure of for the past 26 years got torn down. Nothing is sure anymore.

I personally try to look at it as a chance. An opportunity to question what's obvious, to see the world in a different light.

"What will your new blog be about?" People have asked me. I don't know. I want it to be a place to reflect, a place to share. It's obvious that a lot of my little but true passions will be involved  ... such as photography, food (eating and cooking it) and music. Let's just give it a try and enjoy every minute of it. Because that's what I do. 

It wouldn't be my universe if I wouldn't start it with one of my favourite quotes in the world that knocked my world upside down about ten years ago. Enjoy and let it sink in. 

'I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.'

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), Walden; or, Life In The Woods