Day 5: Mom and dad

What shall I say about my parents without sounding cheesy. I can't beat the sentence, I wouldn't be here without them. And biologically that's correct.:) My dad is my hero. Period. I was a rebel in my teenage years. I was quite terrible. There I said it. But after an incident where my dad had to pull me out of a situation, me and my dad have grown closer to eachother. I'm talking about peanutbutter and jelly.

Dad
By the way, last year my dad celebrated his 25th job anniversary. Hereby I want to thank Emma Safety Footwear for our happy family.

My dad earns money with being a rock star in shoe making.

FYI: Not my dad's hands

The money takes care of the food and food makes (Asian) people happy. And that's how we roll.

Someone at Emma safety shoes asked us if we could spread the word about their shoes. They already have big customers like the Dutch government. Emma designed shoes for operation Dessert Storm, shoes for construction workers, scientists who needs solid shoes, etc ... Need Italian leather protection shoes for an Italian job? Sure. You name it, they have it.

At the end we went to the conference room where some of the shoes designed by Emma over the years were displayed.

Brutus was really heavy

Can't remember the name of this one. I can't imagine this one could have been popular. It's so not masculine.

This one reminded me of Mike *infomercial* Levey .:D

If you don't know who Mike is, you probably aren't as old as I am or lived under a rock during the 90ies.

Back in the days when Google didn't exist. When we had to memorize the Alt codes on the numeric keypad, Alt+0131 was my favourite. Money! :D

Anywayz, you can buy Emma protection shoes from last season for a reduced price at the factory store. And if you become bffs with my dad you can get shoes from the current collection with a pretty good discount.


Emma Safety Shoes

Horizonstraat 57

6446 SC Brunssum

The Netherlands

www.emmashoes.nl

Mom

My mom taught me to work hard for my money, take care of the less fortunate, not to gossip and save my money for food and fun things. I've got my fashion sense from her. If you see me wearing something awesome. No doubt I would be wearing something my mom has bought for me. She also gave me the 'Lets-take-pictures-of-tourists-traps-gene'.

Ritter Sport chocolate store

Berlin, Germany. 2011

Have a nice life.

Happy new year everyone. I have no resolutions for this year cause I feel quite blessed by the big dude. I remember I made some bad ones with Michelle last year. I hope for the both of us we burnt our lists. Hope she's doing well in Israel serving Jesus. Well for now I just want to share a list for those (and myself) who have some stress now and then. Found this list on common ground consulting. Anyway, have a nice 2010.

40 Tips for a Better Life in 2010

01. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant. I already take one everyday. Check!

02. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Should do that more often. I'm having problems with sitting still.

03. Buy a DVR and tape your late-night shows and get more sleep. What's a DVR? 0_o

04. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today.' Grote kei in GTD taal.=)

05. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy. Doing that already.

06. Play more games and read more books than you did in 2008. I hate reading books.=( Do computer games count as well?

07. Make time to practice meditation and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives. Amen to that.

08. Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6. Elderly people are awesome. Don't like kids that much.

09. Dream more while you are awake. I do that all the time.

10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured IN plants. Intending to do that more often but so expensive.:/

11. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds, & walnuts. I don't like green tea.

12. Try to make at least three people smile each day. Alrighty then.

13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk, and let new and flowing energy into your life. Doing this since december and it really works.

14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, or issues of the past, negative thoughts, or things you cannot control. Instead, invest your energy in the positive present moment. Avoiding the Telegraaf (tabloid newspaper), SBS6 (Camping tv -___-) and blogs like www.pinkisthenewblog.com and Perez Hilton (never read that one though).

15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class, but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime. I'm a wannabe teacher.=P

16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card. Pizza for everyone?

17. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the negative blues away. I have yellow teeth.=(

18. Life isn't fair, but it's still good. Yup.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Boo to all the haters.

20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does. Ow?

21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree. Really worked for me last sunday.:)

22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present. Amen to that.

23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Amen to that.

24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you. Amen to that.

25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?' Amen to that (seriously need to go to bed so I won't comment every tip from now on -___-).

26. Forgive everyone for everything.

27. What other people think of you is none of your business.

28. Remember, faith heals everything.

29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

30. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

31. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful, or joyful.

32. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

33. The best is yet to come.

34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up. I heart fashion.

35. Do the right thing!

36. Call your family often. (Or e-mail them to death!) Or write a letter. You know, with a pencil and a piece of paper.

37. Each night before you go to bed, complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________.Today, I accomplished _________.

38. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

39. Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you certainly don't want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life, so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.

40. Share this with those you care about. I just did. May your troubles be less, May your blessings be more, May nothing but happiness come through your door!

How to pursue happiness.

Two years ago I discovered I was living in a world with rules created by other people. I felt like I was dead inside. For the third time I was told by someone, I (thought) I loved, the love was gone. My finances were crap. My career planning was a mess and my inner child was seriously injured. I stopped talking to people, stopped eating and stopped contacting family. And just that because a guy didn't want you anymore? Nah, I think I was already on a verge of a nervous breakdown and that was the straw that broke the camel's back (In Dutch: de druppel die de emmer deed overlopen). I can go on and on about what I did wrong but I rather choose for the happy ending.:) How did I manage to find my inner child again? Simple, I chose happiness. Happiness is a choice. YOU are the one who allows people to talk you down. YOU are the one who allows others to treat you bad. YOU are the one who makes good but also bad decisions. But you can't always succeed. We also need to fail so we can learn from our mistakes. So we can learn when to say no to situations which can hurt us and embrace the little things we enjoy to celebrate life.^^

This is an old blogpost I once wrote on my old blog but to remind myself what my goals are I will repost it again. Normally I don't reread my posts because they might be too silly, boring or embarrassing. But to my own opinion this was one of my best posts I ever wrote because it was inspired by a man I admired for years, Professor Arnold Heertje. There are four men I really admire who are not related to me. Professor Heertje is the only one who is still alive and not celestial.XD

A while ago I went to a lecture of Professor Heertje, former economics professor at the university of Amsterdam, on his book 'Echte economie' (real economy). When I was still a puppy I read some of his articles, I admired his point of view on social economic problems in our society. So it was kind of a dream come true to meet him. He even took time to talk to me, I was in heaven for a few minutes.^^ I haven't read his book yet (cause I'm waiting till it's my turn to borrow the book at the library cause I'm a cheap bastard ^^) but we share the same passion for economics. The thing is that the economy we know it became too financial. Of course you need money to realise your dreams in life but don't see them as short term projects. Actually you should think about how your finacial plans are going to affect you grand children. I know this sounds geeky but some years ago I was saving for my kid's college fund. No, I'm not that kind of woman who desperately wants kids. If God doesn't want me to have kids that would be actually awesome. I have enough kids at school to take care of. I even wanted to save for my future pet's medical bills. Yes, that's even more insane IMO.XD

Professor Heertje said the economy shouldn't destroy our heritage and culture. At the beginning I thought the Frisians were a bunch of hill billies with a weird dialect but now I kind of love the Frisians and am proud to say I'm an import Frisian.XD I even want to learn the language (yes, it's an official language). There is a we-feeling you don't find a lot in The Netherlands, even not in the world. Ow and don't forget my other three cultures, Dutch and Vietnamese.^^

Education is the key point to our economy. You should never stop learning. He says education has become so crap because teachers aren't well educated in their subject. He picked out the second grade teacher chemistry education .... Great, I'm studying that. He said the students only have one chemistry book and 6 books about how to handle your pupils when they fall asleep (that's my joke, I kind of forgot what he said). Teachers became some kind of sex ed specialists. I'm not but my pupils think I am. Bunch of little pervs! He said teachers have burn-outs because they lost their passion in their subjects. They focus too much on maintaining discipline in the class. I never had real discipline problems in my class cause you really shouldn't piss me off cause I already silenced some kids. No I didn't kill them. I just talked to them after class. Yes, it would really be a problem if you can't maintain discipline in your class. What if you can't controle the kids? What can you achieve with your teacher's degree then? Not much. Well, he has a point their. I do have a lot of passion for my subject and if I get deaf and can't hear the children I can't always work in a lab or in business.

He also talked about greedy managers, destroying our society and economics. Managers only think about profit and negotiating behind closed doors. Professor Heertje pleads for an integrated decision-making. Involve the consumer or the product in the process to minimize future problems. He gave a solution and especially for eduction:

Overview ---> Insight ---> Courage

First overview the situation. Overview means knowing what you don't know cause things you already know you don't have to focus on at the first place. Insight, use the knowledge. Courage, feel the courage to change the situation. Even though we are in deep trouble there's still a way out. I thought this was really good. I can use this solution for my Christian life, study, love life, family life and social life. Overview, insight and courage is the same as believe, hope and love. Love is the most important of all as the corps officer once said, love will concur all. Rock on, rock on.XD

During the break I had a conversation with a college teacher. She doesn't teach at my school but she agreed with professor Heertje that the quality of the exams are bad. Because managers tell her to lower the norms for tough exams so more students pass the exams and graduate. I think schools get €10.000,- per graduated student. So you can understand why schools are lowering the norms. I think that's unfair cause I had very tough exams in the past. Well, who knows maybe we get more stupid in the future. Of course pupils can get information on the internet. Kids go well-informed into the class but does it mean they can process the information. Science is something you have learn to understand. Some need more time than the other, it's not totally hocus pocus.

At the end I went to professor Heertje. I said, "This is not a joke but I'm studying teacher's education chemistry second grade but have a lot of passion for my subject." He asked me if I had good teachers at my school. I don't agree with my teachers a lot but they know a lot about their subject and yes, I see their eyes twinkle when they talk about their subject so there's nothing wrong with the teachers. I never said I won't do my first grade in teaching but I was planning to do that for fun when I'm in my 40ies cause I want to focus on children with learning disabilities and maybe want to teach at a school with kids with mental problems. I like to do games with my cousin Ilja. She's mentally disabled and she gets epileptic attacks sometimes so I know how to act in those situations. I've worked a lot with kids with an ADHD and dyslexia. You need a lot of patient but I really love to work with those kids cause everyone thinks those kids are stupid and have no future. It really makes me angry when I hear people say that. I like to motivate these kind of kids. And I really makes me smile when I see these kids get more self esteem and smile. I really want to become a good teacher.=)

Happy boxing day

Currently I'm reading the book 'The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self'. My teacher lend it to me once. It took me a long time to get to page 63 because I'm not familiar with a lot of phychological terms. I really had no idea what sisyphean meant.* Anywho, one passage striked me because it's so right and it's my life motto. During Christmas a lot of people commit suicide (or intend to). Hopefully these words from a cured patient with suicidal thoughts in the past can help you.

The world hasn't changed, there is a lot around me that is bad and evil and I see that more clearly than in the past. But nonetheless, for the first time I think life is really worth living. Maybe because I have the feeling for the first time in my life that I'm living my life. And it's an exciting adventure.

A quote from a patient of Alice Miller Ph.D

*An adjective meaning that an activity is unending and/or repetitive. It could also be used to refer to tasks that are pointless and unrewarding.