Cerza

Finally I had my ten days off !

But : what to do and where to go during those ten days ?

After looking around quite a bit, we stumbled upon this website. I must admit I was a bit hesitant at first. I mean : visiting a zoo can be quite fun but spending an entire midweek there ? How many times can you look at the same animal without getting bored after a while ?

Well, I can tell you I couldnt have been more wrong !

It’s been a long time since I’ve spent such a relaxed holiday. The concept of the zoo isnt that groundbreaking but the fact you can stay several days there, walk around amongst the animals (well, sort of at least) and get a private tour during which a guide explains the park’s intentions and talks about the projects they support, really raises an awareness and makes you feel committed to what is happening to the (wild) animals in the world nowadays. Or, as the park says itself : “To protect, we need to respect. To respect, we need to understand.“

Sadly enough we got several examples of people’s arrogance towards animals in the zoo itself : we witnessed several people (mostly kids) throwing rocks at animals, just to get their attention. I found it quite hallucinating to see how comfortable even grownups were with this.  But then again, when you think about all the harm people do towards animals or the hunting trips people spend fortunes on  just so they can hang a lion’s head on their wall, I guess it’s not really a big surprise.

But of course the Cerza zoo experience was most of all a relaxing, educational and wonderfull experience. We spent 5 days there, saw all the animals more than once, accompanied a member of the zoo while she fed the wolves and finally also had the private tour I talked about.

It’s definately an experience I’d recommend to anyone and I for one will surely go back there !

To get an impression of the animals we saw there, click here.

Who will give me a new home ?

It’s that time of the year again : people go on holiday, don’t know what to do with their pets so they just dump them by the side of the road.

Last weekend, one of my collegues found a 4-5 year old yellow labrador in a ditch (see pic above), barely moving, underfed and covered in mud. She took it to the vet to see if they could track down the owners via the microchip, only to notice there that the microchip had been manually removed (yes, you have every right to look shocked).
Since she already has three dogs, she can’t keep this one so she is looking to find the doggie a new home.

After hearing this story I promised to help her as much as I can. Since I already have a cat and a dog, I cant take the dog either.

But maybe one of you is looking for a dog or knows about someone who does ? If so, please let me know.

Help us to find this poor animal a new home !

Oh and as far as the owners are concerned … I hope they ************ (censored)

Virtual insanity

I’ve been surfing the net for over 10 years now.

I’ve been chatting, getting information, doing my financial business and all the other basic stuff most people use the internet for.

Since one year I’ve tentively started discovering the world of social networks and about two months ago I started blogging on and off.

As a rookie entering the big, unknown world of blogging and microblogging, I didnt really know what to expect.

I guess I assumed I’d be meeting  open-minded people, who were feirce believers of “freedom of speech”, who firmly believed that the internet is a  place where you are intitled to express your opinion, as long as it was respectfull.

I guess I assumed I’d end up in a place where you could speak your mind without having your head being bitten off, something that had happened to me quite often in the cruel, vicious chat-world.

But during this last year, I’ve been very often surprised about certain reactions in this world. People were liked until they said something the others didnt like, something they didnt agree with or, god forbid, wrote an article in which they dared to question certain things about this world.

So I started thinking (yes, it happens sometimes). And then realised I had all the wrong expectations from the beginning. I mean, why would the world of social networks and (micro)blogging be any different from the chat world or even the real world ?

No matter which world you spend your time in, you will always be confronted with people, who may or may not agree with what you are saying, or who may even get offended by your points of view. People with feelings, certain experiences (good or bad) and a temperament.

The only downside I see with the “virtual” world is that you risk being misunderstood, because no one can hear intonation, or see the expression on someone’s face (then again, in certain situations that may be considered a plus .. )

I guess what I’m trying to say is that maybe the interaction between people isnt that different after all, whether or not we hide behind a screen.

And I’ll try to keep that in mind next time someone bites my head off. Or tries to at least

I admit it : I’m a fan

 

 

Tomorrow

Tomorrow she’ll be back, with her big brown eyes and her innocent smile.

After all these months, she’s almost become a stranger to me. Or what a couple of months of silence can do ..

I’ll be glad to see her again but sad at the same time, because by the time the familiar closeness will be back, it will be time for her to leave again.

And all i can do from then on, is wait .. wait until I get to see her again.

Shut up

Freedom .. it’s a funny thing.

It’s also something I have been wondering about lately : how and when does freedom need to be limited ?

The most heard reply to this question is  that freedom should be limited as soon as it insults, discriminates or hurts others.

But then another question arises : who determines when something is insulting or discriminating ? Who draws the lines where freedom goes from acceptable to discriminating and therefore no longer acceptable.

Obviously not the one who exercises the right – the one who’s the “subject” then ? Now that can hardly be considered an objective party.

The majority ? Very tricky as well since that may give them even more power to control the minority.

Lots of questions, no easy answers ..

I’ve been thinking about this ever since people got all bent out of shape about an episode of this cooking program on tv, ‘Plat Préféré’. For those of you who don’t know this program : each week Jeroen Meus, the cook, prepares the favorite dish of some famous (usually dead) person.

After several episodes, Jeroen Meus wanted to prepare the favorite dish of Hitler. Protest all over the place ! What WAS he thinking ??

Because of all the reactions and consternation, the program finally got canceled.

Why, I ask myself ? Yes, Hitler was an absolutely horrific person but this was a cooking program ffs ! And like it or not, he WAS en still IS a very famous historical person. And it was just preparing TROUT ! I mean, what are they gonna do : ban trout from every menu from now on ?

Now I had barely digested all this, when not too long after that Humo got banned ! And why ? Because they had DARED to publish photoshopped pics (and yes, the photoshopping was as obvious as the reason why she got the promotion) of Sylvie Ricour and her boss Fernand Koekelberg. Now come on .. if you are really upset about these pics, don’t make such a big deal about it ! If you dont want people to see these pics, then going to court and creating a mediacircus around it really is the way to do it. 

Now what about blogging … am I free here to vent and to express my opinion ? Or will I get swamped with comments of people telling me off as soon as I write something that they think is about them ? Or when they think its crossing a line or insulting ?

Now as far as my blog is concerned : I will say whatever I feel like. If you dont like what I write, dont read it. And if I dont want people to criticize my opinions, I shouldnt blog about them.

Cause after all : if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Disappointment

I never thought I’d say it but today I’m actually disappointed I was proven right.

Caught redhanded

I caught someone cheating.

I’m not gonna share any details but let’s just say I stumbled upon it by accident.

Now for several reasons I am absolutely allergic to cheaters in any way possible. They take advantage of someone’s trust, trust they obviously don’t deserve.

So as soon as I found out, I made sure that for this person, there would be consequences to deal with.

And now that the day is almost there, when that person will be confronted with these consequences, I find myself doubting : did I do the right thing ? Did I make a mistake somewhere ? Maybe there is a justification for it ?

I have seen this with other people as well, who try to justify someone else’s cheating.

Why do I/we always keep looking for “the better” side in people, when reality shows that very often there is none .. and cheating is just downright cheating.

I shouldn’t feel bad for someone who’s only feeling bad because he or she got caught redhanded.

But I guess this blogpost tells otherwise ..

Something went wrong with my cat’s reincarnation

Second post today. Dont get used to it, I am more than convinced this is beginner’s enthousiasm combined with having the day off and shitty weather. But still ..

Now I wouldnt be me if my second post wouldnt be about the second most important person in my life : my cat, Rufus.

He’s absolutely adorable, beautiful, irresistably charming, has a HUGE ego and a mind of his own – in short : he’s just like me.

There’s only one thing that makes me wonder about his sanity : he’s totally obsessed with water.

Yeah yeah, so what, you’ll say. But I’m telling you, his behaviour crosses the line of what is to me normal behaviour for a cat.

I know there are other cats who like water as well, but with him, it goes beyond that. He would literally claw his way past you to get to, for instance, a glass of water. No tap is safe for him, nor are the dishes (which I have to cover with a towel if I dont want him to lick them “dry”).

Taking a bath can be very relaxing but not with little prince charming around : if I lock him outside the bathroom, he wont stop miauwing until I let him in and when I let him in, he goes straight for the tub.

When I dont allow him to actually enter the bath, he tries to drink the water.

Attacking the bath

 

Why dont you try taking a shower instead, I hear you all say.

 

Attacking the shower

Been there, done that …

 

I’ve really tried everything : from putting vinegar on the taps to splashing water on him to actually taking him under the shower with me (if he hasnt already jumped into the tub/shower himself).

Nothing helps, he justs seems to enjoy it more.

So the only conclusion I can come up with, is that he was actually a fish in his former life and something definately went wrong with his reincarnation.

Still love him to bits and pieces though.

Ranting – the censored edition

So, here we are … after months of reading blogs myself, thinking and talking about it, the day has finally come : I’ve started blogging !

While my geek gf was setting things up for non-geeky me, I was already making wild plans about the topics I would write about. Finally a place I could rave and rant without having someone sitting across from me with rolling eyes. Oh the possibilites seemed endless .. years and years of surpressed thoughts, locked up radical ideas .. yes, the sky would be the limit from now on ! Freedom of speech, here I come !

As I was trying to make up my mind about what I would blog about first, I got the message the website was ready and I was all set to go. But not without receiving a 5 page “verbal manual of introduction” first, containing subjects going from “subjects I was not allowed to blog about” to “subjects I should be carefull to blog about”.

So I guess this website would be best categorized as “the censored ranting of ms powder” after all.

Ah well, at least I had my five minutes illusion of “freedom of speech”. And who knows, maybe I’ll rant about the off-limit topics elsewhere on the net. Up to you to find out !