The Adrenaline Rush

You always hope that you're the one to remain level-headed in a crisis situation. I truly believe almost everyone thinks this of him or herself and I thoroughly understand that feeling, I've had it almost all my life as well. However, more and more, I'm really starting to believe that it may actually be true.

I'm not in a crisis situation very often, I don't have that much experience with disasters and the like, but I feel more and more confident about the few indications I've had.

After spending a couple of lovely weeks at La Farge, I'm now in the Pyrenees with my father, conquering cols by bike. Yesterday we did Col du Soulor and Col d'Aubisque and today Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet. Fun.

However, yesterday when descending from the Col du Soulor I looked behind me to see where my father was and unexpectedly did not see him, so I turned around further for a second look. I immediately knew I had made a mistake. I was going about 40-45 km per hour, my bike swerved to the other side of the road and onwards off of the road. Luckily this was the mountain side, but you can still seriously injure yourself if you fall like that. However, despite all the danger and stuff, I love what happens at those moments. It's  like time slows down and you think to yourself: Shit, this sucks, concentrate now, you have to fix this.

I shot on to the grass and while I struggled to keep my bike upright I was also busy trying not to steer it over a rock I would tumble over or into the ditch, which would turn me upside down (and probably break my forefork in the process). I considered steering it back on to the road but realized I would definitely fall over my bike if I did that, risking entanglement within my bike and related injuries. However, up ahead I noticed a side to the ditch that was not too steep where I could probably coax my bike down into if I managed to stay on the grass until that point. I managed reasonably well and as my bike went down into the ditch I used my right foot to stick into the side of the ditch, lifting me off of my bike without unnecessary entanglement. I did however hit my head rather hard to the side of the ditch but I was (of course) wearing a helmet which saved me a bit of bloody mess.

Final damage: Slightly bent handlebars and some dirt spots on my cycling clothes.

And it's not the first time.

When I was speeding down a slope at 90 km per hour on my snowboard and fell I had the same experience, time seems to slow down, conscious concentrated decisions and barely left without any scratches (though with a busted mp3 player).

When my car started slipping away under me while I was going 80 km per hour, exactly the same. Clear image of what seems to be every details of my surroundings. Clear decisions, counter steering, extra gas and put it away safely in the grass instead of the siderail. Final damage: One plan to get a slipping course because that was fun!

I can't be certain of course, but I really feel like that is the human body functioning at its finest. Fully focussed to solve the crisis situation. Has anyone else had similar experiences? I think I have heard similar stories but it's simply so rare that it happens in my life, I'd really like to hear some other people's perspective.

Let me know and tell me about your (own)life(oratleastawholelottamess)saving heroics!

Song of the day: Katzenjammer - Le Pop

What's so special about the Eiffel tower?

So I've been kind of roaming through Paris today. I didn't want to cycle anymore so I did everything by foot. Rather big city, actually, Paris. Anyway, I wanted to make the final place to write the Eiffel tower, so here I am.

I think the last time I was here (at the Eiffel tower) actually was the last time I cycled to Paris, which I believe was in '97 or '98. Quite a while ago in any case.

However, as I sat in the park here, I was wondering what I wanted to write about and I quickly realized that I wanted to write about how happy all these people around me are. About everything they're feeling, because everyone is feeling so extremely good and (as usual) it's infectious.

That, of course, got me to wondering: What in the world ARE they feeling and even more so, why the heck is it good? As I look around, I see people toasting, talking, laughing, playing, lot's of awkward picture taking is going on and in general the atmosphere is just very happy.

Is it just the fact that almost everyone here is on a holiday? THeir biggest problem being how to get the entire tower in a single photograph? Or is it something to do with the fact that the Eiffel tower is just one of those things that hs truly monumental? (Forever which reason that is). I think every person in the first or second world above five years old has heard of the Eiffel tower, so we all get a lot of time to look forward to it. However, somehow it feels like it's more than a simple "Achievement Unlocked" kind of exaltation. There's far more contentment than achievement here.

I guess the most annoying thing is. I have it too. I mean, it's a pretty tower and all, especially since they just turned the lights on, but it's still just a whole lot of metal cleverly arranged. But I'm still wonderfully happy to be here. I made Paris my destination and Paris made the Eiffel tower my destination. I really don't know why and I don't really care why, but still...

If you have any theories, let me know, I'm fresh out of ideas.

OK, they have flickering lights now. I believe I can agree with the entire park and say: Whoa...

Song of the Day: Marc Cohn - Walking in Memphis

Paris! C'est ici!

Paris! C'est ici!

So I made it to Paris from The Netherlands in two days. It wasn't exactly from Delft in two days but I'm happy enough. I cycled to Middelburg on the first day, which was about 110 kilometers. On the second day I did 185 kilometer, ending up on a campsite in Marchiennes, just beyond Orchies near Lille. Yesterday I did about 213 kilometer right into the heart of Paris, had time to spare to get a decent youth hostel booking as well.

However, since I think it's at least about 500 more kilometers to La Farge and I want to be there by Friday, I think I'm going to call it quits for now. I had three wonderfully grueling days on the bike and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to do two 250km days now. One would be impressive enough, but since I also wanted to focus on writing these few months I decided to stay in Paris for a day and work out the stories I thought up while cycling. The ones I haven't already forgotten that is... I'll make my way to La Farge on Friday through the magic that is parents that go to the Pyrenees on a holiday.

Right now, time for Paris! The traffic may be a god-awful mess but man does this city feel good!

***

OK, so that's what I wrote this morning, I'm now in Centre Pompidou and I found out that I could actually have made it (413 km according to google maps).

Well anyway, this way Paris, which is pretty Berlin if I may say so.

Song of the Day: Danko Jones - Lovercall

Wind, lots of it.

So it's been a while since my last post, mainly because I was in England volunteering at a special needs scout camp and I didn't get round to accessing the internet over there. (Mainly because I was too busy having fun with everyone there).

However, yesterday I decided to start my cycling trip down to La Farge and after quite a lot of delays I actually left Delft at around 15:30-ish. By the time I was in Rotterdam however, I had had so many bike problems and issues with the google maps cycling route I had printed that I was almost ready to call it quits. I actually went back to my home, but once there I went online and all the responses I had gotten on facebook actually helped me convince myself that I really want to give this a try so I just went ahead and left (Along a new rout I picked out myself).

However, the weather was not exactly on my side. I did make it about a good 100 kilometers today, which isn't too bad given how late I left and the kind of weather I had to soldier on through. Of course it was raining all day as well, but that wasn't the main problem, I can handle rain easily.

I'm talking wind. Lots of wind. Not the "Stap Op - Tegenwind" friendly kind of head wind either. We're talking the serious, down to business, freaking hard to breathe kind of head wind.

The kind of wind that makes you wish you were climbing Alpe d'Huez because then at least you've got a descent to look forward to.

The kind of wind that makes you switch up gears when there's so much as a single tree blocking the wind. Not because the wind is really affected by it, but if you try hard enough you can convince yourself it is and then at least you have somewhere to switch gears down to.

The kind of wind that makes you ride in the middle of a 5 meter wide road when crossing a bridge because you're actually afraid that otherwise you might be blown off.

The kind of wind that ... Well, I could go on for a while.

In hindsight, perhaps taking the coastal route wasn't the best decision after all.

La Farge Update No. 1 - Settling in.

My piano feels completely at home at La Farge, it blends right in and to me, it truly was the only thing missing over here. Now that I have my instruments here it is complete paradise. I gave all the different instruments a trial run yesterday and it feels good. Really good.

Right at home.

I drove my stuff here last Tuesday (3rd of July) and Wednesday I put everything neatly in the room I'm going to have as my sleeping+study chamber this summer.

The weather hasn't been what most people would describe as good, but the countryside over here is so extremely gorgeous that that doesn't matter at all. The only thing that rain means is that the whole world smells better and the temperatures are nicer, so that's awesome.

Annelies and Jon, the owners of La Farge are here now as well, which is great. We've been able to make all kinds of plans for the houses together. Seems I'm going to help fix up the roof in September. Looking forward to that, it's always fun to be climbing over and standing on rooftops, and apparently the guy they're hiring who actually knows what he's doing is going to hang up some kind of safety net, so that should be fun as well.

As of actual work done so far, I've mostly just been settling in. We did clean up some gigantic plastic sheets that were protection the atelier from rain and did some aggresive pruning on a kiwi plant that had fallen of the wall, but nothing spectacular.

Talking about kiwis, I had some bad news. Apparently the winter this year has been so cold that noone is getting any fruit this year. That kind of sucks, because I was rather looking forward to making jam and stuff. Ah well, there's still more than a plenty to do, so no biggie.

Song of the Day: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication

Writing Update No. 1 - First Story.

This morning I finished my first story written in France. I'm kind of surprised, I was kind of expecting me to mess around for about a month before getting some useful writing done. But, there it is, I finished my first story on (sort of) day two and I have several plans for quite a few more. Actually I also decided on one book I'm going to write at least. I'm sure more about that will follow later. The story will be published on the creative latrine blog somewhere over the next week.

I'm having a bit of an inspiration overload. As it is, I can't quite keep up with the writing. I promised myself to only write one story at a time, but I've got enough ideas for 3/4 stories, 5/6 blog posts and 1 book. Makes it difficult to stay focussed. But so far I've managed. Tomorrow I'm going back to the Netherlands again, since we're leaving for England on Saturday, but I intend to at least keep up some amount of writing. We'll see.

I'm now writing in the shadow of the castle at Jumilhac-le-grand. That one alone has been the inspiration for at least two story ideas so far. I'm fairly confident more will follow, and I'm very confident it will feature in quite a few. It's simply gorgeous! Also, apparently some big time alchemist lived here in medieval times, so that's of course a wonderful background for stories.

The Castle - There are 11 completely different towers and there is unlimited story potential.

I haven't even been inside yet, but I'm expecting lots of wonderful awesomeness.

Which is cool.

I like awesomeness, especially the wonderful kind.

La France!

So, two days in France, lots happened.

Next update in two weeks.

Ah wait, particulars. This is not really a coherent story, it's just that so much is happening, I feel like I have a lot to say.

You know what, actually, perhaps I should just split it up into different posts. I think that'll make them all easier to read and it'll make the whole thing easier to cherry pick. I'll put them on a publication schedule so people won't be overloaded by blog post mayhem.

So I guess this post is just about the fact that I've decided to split things up. I had already decided not to post the stories themselves here (But on either the Creative Latrine or the Stories in Music blog) so that at least won't be cluttering up the blog. Anyway, coming up: Writing Update No 1, Run-ins with the Police, La Farge update No 1, Sports and Motivation, Summer Itinerary, List of forgotten stuff.

I guess that's too much posts already to make it with a daily schedule. Guess I'll put them on twice daily or something like that. We'll see if I can keep that up.

Anyway, hope your summer will be awesome, mine already is.

Song of the day: Nick Drake - Pink Moon

P.S. My apologies to those I promised a going away party, hadn't properly figured out my itinerary, so turns out there's no time for that this weekend. I may give a going away party after I return, that sounds like fun :-).

The adventure begins!

OK, so most of my stuff is packed now (just need this PC and various other vices which are devices) so I'm almost ready to go. When you get down to it, my piano is pretty darn heavy.

I'll be driving to La Farge today, not the first time I've done it alone, but definitely the first time I've done it with a car that is this packed.

I can't really believe that I'm actually going to do it, but I'm seriously excited. This is just a bit of a trial run really, I've got to be back coming Saturday to pick up my passport and leave for England the Monday after that. But still, it feels real enough. I also move most of my stuff now, so that's work.

I've got so much awesome adventures planned for the summer it's almost a little overwhelming. No clue whether I'm going to be able to make everything work, or what the world has in store for me but I'm definitely sure that I'm going to enjoy every step of the way!

The idea is to keep this blog here regularly updated, but I make no promises, we'll see if I get round to it or not. Fun!

I decided that I'm going to try and cycle the 900 km from Delft to La Farge when I'm back from England, that should be a cool adventure. Right now I'm ambitious enough to say I'd like to do it in 4 days, but it'll probably be 5 or 6 (Probably healthier too, cycling alone is still a lot tougher than cycling with multiple people, especially over the long haul).

For today: Madness - Driving in my Car

Songs running through my head this morning (All predictable, all awesome):

• Sarah Bettens - Go
• Milow - Little in the Middle
• Republica - Ready to Go