The New Focus System On Splinterlands: Mission Impossible
So as you all know we switched on Splinterlands from quests to focus system. Before you could get rewards based on completing your quest and the higher your rank the better your rewards. When the focus point system was first announced I was intruiged, but now I am worried.
When you receive a new focus you have 24 hours to unlock as many chests as you can. To get one chest you must get at least 300 FP or Focus Points. And now here is where the trouble starts. For people like me, who don't have a lot of cards and who did not invest a lot of money into Splinterlands, it is prett much impossible to get 300 focus points in 24 hours. It would mean having to win 300 games in a day, meaning I would have to play around 500 games to get to 300 win games just to get 1 single chest. This is crazy, I have a job and a life and no time to be playing 500 games a day.
The Issue
The issue is that you can points substracted for using standard cards, or cards that all players of the game have access to. I understand why Splinterlands does this, you want people to invest in the game and get the cards. But for those like me, who do not have lots of money to invest it means one of two things: 1 start investing lots of money to get cards or 2 rent cards to get enough so that you can win your focus points.
As you can see lots of factors influence the amount of FP you can earn, you get rewarded for using better cards or having a win streak and you get punished for using starter cards.
This means, I my eyes that the people who have just started and who enjoyed the game, got mediocre rewards because they played in a pretty low league are now faced with an impossible task. I for one, am not sure if I want to keep playing at all because it has now become impossible for me to ever open a chest....
What are your experiences? Are you happy with the system? Any tips for me?
Maus: A Comic Book About The Holocaust
This year I have set myself the challenge to read 52 books in 2022 or one book a week. This is a decent challenge but I am very excited about it!
Book number 17 was my first comic book in this challenge: Maus by Art Spiegelman, who turned his fathers' story of the holocaust into a comic book.
Source https://www.bol.com/nl/nl/f/maus/39481316/
The Story
The story is not that of the writer, Art Spiegelman, but of his father Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of the horrors of Nazi deathcamps. Vladek lives a happy life in the Czech Republic where he finds love and starts a family. All seems to be well but war is catching up with them. Vladek will have to rely on all his ingenuiety to try to make it out alive.
Source http://www.saramanda-swigart.com/new-blog/tag/Maus
The beauty of the story lies in that it does not just tell the story of Vladek and the holocaust, but also the story of how his son Art, the writer, tries to deal with his ageing father and his trauma. Art hopes to get closer to his father and closer to understanding the mystery of something as horrid as Auschwitz. He tries to do this by writing down his fathers story now that he is still alive. He also tries to come to terms with his own childhood that was sometimes made difficult by his father who had traumas from the camps.
The Comic
This book is of course so special because it is a comic book. It portrays the jews as mice, the nazi's as cats and the Polish as pigs. By making these groups into animals it makes the story clear and more impactful. It clearly shows that the racism of World War II makes no sense, by clearly showing the mice being murdered at the hands of the cats. But at the same time it also cleverly shows people caught in the middle, like the Polish pigs. It throws up the age old question of would you do the right thing if it could cost your life?
I really loved this comic book. I think it showed both the story of Vladek and the holocaust as well as that of his son Art really well. I would really recommend this read!
WE 104: See The USA In A Chevrolet
When it was still on TV I always used to watch the Oprah Show. I would come home from school and switch on Oprah and chill out after a long day. At some point Oprah and her best friend Gayle decided to do a roadtrip together through the USA in a Chevrolet. They must have been sponsored by the car brand, but anyway they always played this song by Dinah Shore: see the USA in your chevrolet. Watch the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boertpylK0M&ab_channel=KingRoseArchives
Anyway, that inspired me for my post about a road trip through the USA with two people! I would bring my fiance, who I actually built a van with before and I would bring my best friend Linda. And since we are imagining the trip, I would also bring our old van we used to have: Rhino. This is me in rhino:
Our Road Trip
I would start our road trip in Seattle. I love Seattle and it would be a good chance to visit my friend Leah who lives there. We would go to the market and of course visit the Space Needle.
We would then move on towards Oregon, camping in nature on the way before heading into Idaho and down into Wyoming to head into the Grand Tetons NP for a lovely camp by the lake and the mountains.
After a long drive, where many annoying road song would be sung we would end up visiting Yellowstone. We would come at a very quiet day, without all the tourists and enjoy the park. We would look at they geysirs and the beautiful colors of the minerals in the water
Then we would visit a local fun evening in a village and watch a rodeo. Linda even tried to ride a bull, but it didn't last long... The next day we get up with slight hangovers and start our long journey to Zion NP in Utah. Here we would stay for two weeks, hiking and climbing and camping and having beers in the evening.
After that we would decide we are never going home and will travel the rest of the USA instead! But I will spare you the details of that travel haha!
All pictures are my own, as I have made quite some trips around the US, but I would love to come back with my friends and have a van to see all these beautiful things!
May Earnings of a Small Fish
Do you ever wonder what common people without huge piles of money make in passive income? Well this is the place to be!! I, teacher, currently not investing any of my own money in crypto will show you what I manage to make each month to enlarge my pile of crypto currencies.
Well, May was not my best month. Of course for all of us the markets were down, but I also suffered from a loss of motivation to write for a couple of weeks. But the good news is I am out of my slump and ready to pump!
My May Earnings
**Hive: $84.92** Hive is, as always, my shining star! I didn't post that much, but got good returns on what I did publish. I have also just powered up to add to my HP and I have started saving some HBD because of the great returns. Referral https://ecency.com/signup?referral=plint
**Read.Cash: $18.71** I normally make more, but read is typically a place where you get back what you put in and with me struggling with motivation, well not a lot went in... Referral here https://read.cash/r/Plint
**Noise.Cash: $4,76** It is very very sad, but Noise Cash seems to be dying a slow death... I lost my free tips a while ago and a lot of other people did too so the tips are few and far between... Referral https://noise.cash/u/plints
**Coinbase Earn: $3** Always nice to get free funds from coinbase earn. Once again, if you are not using this yet, you are missing out on free money. Referral https://www.coinbase.com/join/smolde_q8?src=android-share/
**Celsius: $2.87** Celsius is my main place for staking coins. With the markets down the profits have taken a hit, but it is still nice to make some money from my tokens. Referral https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/1196075cd9
**Cake DeFi: $1.79** I got into Cake during the Olympics when they had a deposit $50 and get $50 in DFI, that has increased a lot in value and I received a referral bonus, overall Cake DeFi has been very good for me. Now you can get $30 worth of DFI when signing up with a referral code: 348795 is mine if you are interested you can go here:https://app.cakedefi.com/ and enter the code when you sign up!
Grand Total For May: $116.05
Well it is a lot less then usual, but I am happy to be above $100 and I am feeling motivated to blog again so bring it on!
For next month the plan is to gather as much HP as I can on Hive, be very active on read.cash and put my effort into Splinterlands and RisingStar.
How was your May?
My First Home Baked Bread
I recently decided to bake my own bread. It was a decision I made for two reasons, first is I am pretty sick of store bought bread that is often dry after just a day or just not that yummy. Secondly, I want to make more products myself to live a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle and avoid eating bread with preservatives from the supermarket.
So I decided to get a book and start with the easiest recipe in it! A white loaf and it came out beautiful!
I mixed 450gr of wheat with 5gr of dry yeast and 300ml of water add a pinch of salt. Mixed the two in a bowl, first with a wooden spoon and then with my hands.
You leave it for 10 mins, covered up. Then you gently pull the bread from the side to the middle in about 8 pieces and then leave it again for 10 mins. You repeat this 3 more times.
After the final one you leave the bread to rise for about an hour, in that time it should about double in size. After that hour you are ready to work the bread!
Gently squeeze out the air with your knuckles, spread some flour on your work bench and put the dough down and flatten it into a rectangle. Pull the right hand side of the dough into the center. Repeat the same with the left. Make it into a square again with your hands and then pull the top of the rectangle down to about 1/3 and fold in. Turn the dough 180 degrees and do this again. Repeat until it starts to become the shape of your bread tin. Like this:
Make sure your bread tin is well greased, your oven is 220 degrees celcius and pop the bread in for 35 minutes.
I was surprised at how nice my first attempt turned out! I can't wait to try different kinds of bread, trying a whole wheat one after this!
I had a lovely slice this morning with some of my home made butternut squash hummus, nomnom!
Any other bread bakers out here?
Educated: Sometimes Real Life Is More Shocking Than A Novel
This year I have set myself the challenge to read 52 books in 2022 or one book a week. This is a decent challenge but I am very excited about it!
Book number 16 was Educated by Tara Westover. I read a lot of fiction, but I picked up this non-fiction book after my fiance read it and loved it. And I have to say, it is one of the best reads I have had in a long while!
Source https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35133922-educated
The Story
Tara Westover grew up in what we would call an unusual family. Set in the beautiful landscape of Idaho her family lives in the hills, but her life is far from idyllic. Her family are fundementalist mormons who do not believe in modern medicine or education. Tara therefore stays home like the rest of her siblings. While her mother is a midwife who does natural births and reads peoples energy her father runs a scrap yard where the working conditions are anything but safe.
If you think this might sound idyllic and not that bad, then think about the injuries one could have at a scrap yard and how bad they get left untreated because they don't believe in modern medicine. Tara had a brother and mother who suffered traumatic brain injuries from accidents left untreated and her father was burned horribly in an accident....
Source https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/book-review-educated-by-tara-westover-fztrfjknf
If this book was a novel instead of a memoir you would not believe the kind of things that happened to her and her family, but that is exactly what makes this book so impressive.
The Turnaround
So at some point in this book comes the turn around. Tara realizes she needs to get out of that toxic situation and the only way is through education. She takes an entry exam for the local college and manages to get in. It will be the start of an amazing journey.
Source https://www.vogue.com/article/tara-westover-memoir-educated-vogue-march-2018-issue
It turns out that Tara is a gifted scholar who gets offered the opportunity to study at Cambridge in the UK and there is told that she could get into any program in the world she would like. But as her academic career takes flight, Tara struggles to combine that world with that of her parents. She comes to the conclusion that she will have to choose, her education and career or her family....
I really loved this book! I am not always the biggest fan of non-fiction, but this one is an exception for sure!
Splinterlands Weekly Battle: Cruel Sethropod Gets His First Use
This weeks card for the weekly battle is the Cruel Sethropod. I have to say that until now I had never used this card, so it was a good chance to explore how useful this card could be for me!
The Cruel Sethropod is a common water card. It has one attack, one speed, 4 health and a shield of 3. So the health and protection are pretty good, but the attack and speed are pretty bad. I therefore decided to put this fella in the front of the row to absorb some hits. I also decided to use Kelya Frendul as she gives more shield and speed, which I could use well. Here are the three cards I decided to use:
Review
I have to say, I don't think I'll be using this card much in the future. It took quite a while to win a game. In high mana battles it is simply not good enough and in low mana battles you want a bit more attack to end it quickly. So I am sorry Cruel Sethropod, but I shall not be using you any time soon.....
Find my battle link here: https://splinterlands.com?p=battle&id=sl_7c999976a5902d399bf32ef6ef993d6b&ref=plints
When I Became A Couch Potato
So I have a confession to make, this past winter I have become a true couch potato. To be fair I already started to become a semi-potato before that during the whole covid lockdowns. But last winter I really just gave up on pretending not to be a couch potato. I got pneumonia in the fall and the recovery took forever and in the mean time I just sat on the couch and didn't move...
Source https://inglesmalaga.com/2015/03/23/are-you-a-couch-potato-3/
I spend a lot of time browsing the internet and watching series. I got completely addicted to Downton Abbey and I read lots of books. I also started doing a lot of Lego and I gained about 15 kg's. Though the Lego was lots of fun, what was not so fun was not being well and getting pretty big...
Luckily the fiance always know how to get me motivated again. He booked a vacation to Belgium where we would do lots of walking in nature. I had also recovered quite a lot from my pneumonia so I was more able to do things. There in the Belgian nature, things just clicked and I decided to come off the couch!
Source https://www.amazon.com/Couch-Potatos-Guide-Getting-Fit/dp/1786857324
I realized that the outdoors is where I need to be. Tough I am also going to the gym again, my favorite way to exercise is to just be active outdoors. Ihave lost 7 kilos since this decision and I am already happier, though I still have a long way to go!
Since that time we have gone on lots of walks, went hiking in the alps, went climbing again for the first time since covid and I have been cycling 22km a day to get to work and back.
I also got really inspired by some people here on Hive that shared their stories of becoming healthier. I have also found more fun again to put time into cooking nice things, make our own sauces and bread and cook healthy meals with lots of veg. It is insane how much better you feel when you improve your diet! Anyway, if any of you are currently being couch potatoes and need some motivation then consider this it!
The Invention To End My Biggest Annoyance
I have a big annoyance in this world, you will probably find it silly, but ey, isn't life just silly?
I will give you an example of my annoyance: last weekend in was the Eurovision Song contest. I was at a friends place to watch the contest and drink some beers. While she was struggling to get a banana bread out of the oven and slice it, I decided I might as well make myself useful and turn the TV on so we wouldn't have to miss anything.
Turns out, there were 4 remotes to choose from. Some controlled the sound, some the screen, some the box to receive the signal and they all had very specific buttons to press in a very specific order or the TV wouldn't work.
After testing some things out and failing I asked my friend, who then had to admit she also had difficulty with finding the right sequence and had in fact written it down....
How is it possible that we live in the year 2022, where there are self tying shoelaces (I kid you not, it's a thing!) and, as I recently found out we even have floating wind turbines. Here you can see how cool they are
But we are not capable of just having a simple remote that works for all the devices in our home entertainment sets. This baffles me, and it annoys me too! https://ocean-energyresources.com/2020/11/02/floating-wind-turbine-nezzy%C2%B2-passes-second-test-in-the-baltic-sea/
So see here: my greatest invention:
The Remote That Does It All!
Just press the on button to turn everything on, press the volume to turn up the speakers, use your smart TV with on press of a button and turn on the radio in a heartbeat! No more struggling with different remotes. Welcome to the 21st century, we have finally made it!
And don't worry, it won't have 300 buttons, because half the buttons on a remote are useless and nobody uses them anyway. I propose a sleek model that will do all the actions in a jiffy!
Soul: A Pixar Masterpiece
Last week I got a prescription for Disney+ and so a world of Pixar opened for me! I decided to watch Soul, the Pixar movie that got raving reviews but somehow I had not seen it yet. And let me tell you, it is worth a watch as the movie has Soul in two different ways!
Source https://www.disney.nl/films/soul
The Story
Joe Gardner always dreamed of playing the piano for a famous jazz band and spreading his love for music. Instead, he ended up as a band teacher in middle school. When he is offered a full time contract at school he must choose between his dreams of being a jazz musician or going for financial security. Just as he tries to make the decision he is invited by famous jazz musician Dorothea Williams to play with her, in his excitement he misses a manhole when he walks off and dies....
Source https://kinepolis.com/NL/films/soul
He ends up in a great line with other people who have died and who are ready to go the 'the great beyond' but Joe is by no means ready! He wants to return to earth and play his show. He tries to escape and ends up in 'the great before' where souls are getting ready to go to earth and be born. All souls get different personality traits and have to find their spark, the interest that they will have on earth in order to get their earth pass so they can be born. These souls are helped by mentors to find their individual sparks. Joe is matched up with a difficult unborn soul, number 22 who has been avoiding finding his spark so he can stay in the great before forever.
In his eagerness to return to earth Joe accidentaly takes 22 with him, with 22 ending up in his body and Joe ending up in the body of a nearby cat. It is in that body that 22 finally finds her spark to live. Joe finally, with some help, manages to get back into his own body and do the show. In order to do that he had to leave 22 behind in the great before and use her earth pass. He feels bad about it and returns to the great before to rectify the situation. Now 22 will go to earth to live her life, while Joe seems doomed to now die..... I won't spoil the end so you can watch it too!
source https://https//www.fortressofsolitude.co.za/disney-pixars-soul-movie-review-a-must-see/
Why I Loved It
So I loved this movie. I loved how it dared to deal with this difficult topic of what happens after we die? And where do we come from before we are born? And the best thing is it manages to deal with these questions in a way that is plausible but also not too heavy or depressing. So I would really recommend watching this movie!
Pressing Pause on My Best Year
Time is a funny and fickle thing isn't it? When you want it to go slow it usually flies by, especially during vacations and great weather. When you want it to go quicker it usually comes to a grinding halt. Like at night when you can't sleep or during an insanely boring work meeting. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could bend time to our will? If I could I know exactly what I would do, I would pause time in the year 2013.
It was 2013, I had just graduated from my bachelor degree the year before, I had worked my ass of at a local McDonalds for a year to save enough money and I was heading towards freedom. I booked a one-way ticket in what would become a year long trip to South America. Safe to say, 2013 was an awesome year for me and I would not mind being stuck in that year for quite a while!
One of the most memorable things was that I had decided to travel solo. I love my friends, but the idea of seeing one of them 24/7 for a year was just too much. It turned out that going solo was the best decision I could have ever made. I met loads of people, sometimes also solo travellers, sometimes whole groups, like the picture above at the salt flats in Bolivia. Travelling solo also allowed me to change my plans at any time without having to consult anyone, so if somebody would ask me where I was going next I could change my plans on the spot.
In the end I got to meet so many amazing people, had learned to speak Spanish and seen incredible parts of the world without having felt lonely for one second of it. If I could manipulate time I would go back to 2013 and do it all over again in slow motion. Though in all fairness, it would also not be great if it had no end whatsoever, I guess that is the thing about time, if it didn't move at all anymore you would also get bored!
Anyway I would recommend everyone to make a trip of a lifetime, it can also be achieved by poor burger flipping students like myself and it will be the experience of your life!
April Earnings of a Small Fish
Do you ever wonder what common people without huge piles of money make in passive income? Well this is the place to be!! I, teacher, currently not investing any of my own money in crypto will show you what I manage to make each month to enlarge my pile of crypto currencies.
So I know this is a bit late, as we are 9 days into the new month, but I was on vacation and you know, relaxing is important! So also because of said vacation and because of the flu I had earlier I missed out on quite some days online, but lets see how I did!
My April Earnings
**Hive: $ 165,49** My Hive earnings were good! Mostly thanks to a great post I had in the travel community. Referral here https://ecency.com/signup?referral=plint
**Read.Cash: $ 47,43** It was a good month on read cash too, despite not being able to post loads. It is still a steady earner for me! Referral here https://read.cash/r/Plint
**Noise Cash: $8,78** Now this is where it gets sad. I used to make a steady income in Noise, but where it was in a steady decline for a while it has now plummeted to almost nothing. Seriously considering just giving up on this....
**Celsius: $3,60** I love Celsius! Since the markets have been down I kind of stay around the same amount of rewards, but it still beats my bank by a lot! Referral here https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/1196075cd9
**Cake DeFi: $2,87** I don't have that much money in cake but it makes a beautiful profit each month! Now you can get $30 worth of DFI when signing up with a referral code: 348795 is mine if you are interested you can go here:https://app.cakedefi.com/ and enter the code when you sign up!
**Coinbase Earn: $1** Gotta love free money. If you are not yet picking it up then start doing it now! Referral https://www.coinbase.com/join/smolde_q8?src=android-share/
My Total For April: $229,17
Now bad considering I was offline for quite a bit! I didn't really play any rising star or splinterlands during this month so I didn't include them. I hope to keep trucking with Hive and Read.Cash and honestly not sure what to do with noise...
How was your April?
Overcoming My Own Mind
Life is all about overcoming obstacles and I would like to share an obstacle I am currently trying to overcome and am at the verge of overcoming I think.
So back to what happened: in October 2021 we were on vacation in the UK and driving in the car when I suddenly felt unwell. Like seriously unwell. I had trouble breathing, my heart rate shot up to 150 while I was just sitting and my hands and face were tingling. I ended up in the hospital where I got diagnosed with pneumonia. Now I know pneumonia is a serious illness nobody wants, but if you would have told me it would take me the better part of 6 months to get better again I would not have believed you.
The first two weeks I was still ill, on antibiotics and short of breath. I couldn't do much during that time and I also got heart palpitations, which I had never had before. So I had to get my heart checked out, but turns out the old ticker was fine! After 2 weeks I went back to work. Now to get to work I cycle 11 km to get there and 11km back, suddenly now I would get a super high heart rate and chest pains when I cycled it. And I mean I would just cycle easily and my heart rate would be 170. Not ideal.
So back to the doctor, who checked me top to toe and who didn't find anything medically wrong and sent me to a psychosomatic physio, where it turned out my stint with pneumonia caused me to develop hyperventilation. It has been months now of training my breath and my mind that I am not dying, not getting a heart attack, but I just have to take some time and breathe!
It has been the longest process, I feel like my mind has to overcome my body. I really have to consciously tell myself that it is OK and breathe trough it. But the good news is I am heading the right way! So it took me about 2 months to be able to cycle normally again, without crazy heartbeats, but I am doing it! And currently I am in the Alps hiking up mountains and gaining confidence in my body again! I guess it just shows we can overcome massive mental hurdles. This is me being very happy in the mountains last week, celebrating I can do things again!
Lac de Taney: My Hidden Gem in Switzerland
I am currently in Switzerland, in a place very dear to my heart. My family has an apartment in Switzerland in the beautiful mountains near the lake of Geneva and I have been coming here since I was very young.
Now I am here again and want to share my favorite spot with you. It is kind of a hidden gem, it requires quite the walk to get there, but especially now in the off season, you have the place virtually to yourself. I present Lac de Taney:
The Road
We took the car to the town of Miex and went on foot from there. It is a pretty steep path that will go up for about 1 hour- 1h20 depending on your fitness and how many breaks you want to take. The walk up itself is beautiful too, giving you great views across the valley. I would recommend to go on a sunny day for the best views, like the ones we had:
After your climb you will find the tiny village of Taney, in the summer there are two restaurants where you can have a drink or a bite to eat. Since we are in the off season now they were closed, we even had some snow on the path still!
You can walk around the lake on a beautiful route and, in the summer, even dare to take a plunge in the lake. Though mind you, it is water straight from the mountains, so as cold as it gets! I put my hand in it yesterday and it remained frozen for quite a while! We decided to have our lunch at the lake and take some pictures. We were also celebrating our 4 year anniversary!
The walk to the other side of the lake is lovely as well, it goes through the treeline and brings you to the more picture perfect side of the lake. As you can see I was very happy while walking around there:
Then we started our way back, we didn't want to go the same way back as we came so we decided on a circular route, which brought us to a viewpoing over the valley where we could also see Lac Leman, or the Lake of Geneva.
After this point though the route becomes pretty steep while it drops down to the village. Our poor feet and knees got a bit sore as it was really dteeply declining. After about 5 hours (with a very generous stop for lunch) we came back to the car!
The Librarian of Auschwitz: A Story of Hope in the Darkest Place
This year I have set myself the challenge to read 52 books in 2022 or one book a week. This is a decent challenge but I am very excited about it!
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe was the 11th book I read this year for my challenge and my what an impressive read it was!
Source https://www.orellfuessli.ch/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1053508582
As a historian I am always fascinated by books about Auschwitz, the brain just finds it so difficult to cemprehend the absolute evil that the human race is capable of. But although this book of course shows the incredible misery of that place, it also shows how strong the human mind is and how important something like a couple of books are. So a truly impressive read
The Story
The story is based on the life of Dita Kraus, a Jewish girl from the Czech Republic who ends up in the ghetto of Theresienstadt and later is transported from there for Auschwitz, where she arrives at age 15.
Source https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dita_Kraus
There, in the misery of that extermination and concentration camp she ends up in a German experiment: the family camp. This camp was set up to make the international community believe that Jews were just interned in these camps and the aim was to hide the true purpose: the extermination of the Jews. Dita ends up in the family camp, the only place in Auschwitz where children are allowed to survive. They even start a school there where teachers who have also arrived teach the young children.
The Library
It might be the last place where you think of books, but the family camp in Auschwitz has 8 books. Smuggled in by prisoners while in danger of losing their lives. When Dita, her mother and father arrive in the camp, Dita is made responsible for these books. As the librarian she must make sure the teachers can use these books, but they must not be discovered by the Germans.
What I loved so much about this is that in such a dark place as Auschwitz these books brought a little spark of hope, of normalcy to some of the people in that camp. The idea that the Germans could take away anything, but they cannot take your soul, your capacity to dream, to read stories that transport you out of that place for a short while.
You follow Dita as the end of the war draws near, and the Nazi's get restless to solve the "problem of the Jew" as quick as possible before the camps are liberated. And the main question that pops up towards the end of the book is: will Dita make it out of this hell hole? I won't spoil the book for you, but I will recommend it to you, for it is a harrowing but beautiful read!
This Picture Brings Back So Many Memories
So I am currently at a place that I hold very dear in my heart. I have been coming here for over 25 years, first with my parents, my grandparents and now with my fiance. And everytime I come here and I look from the terrace this is the view I see:
Welcome to Torgon, Switzerland! The history of my family goes back way further than mine with this place. My grandparents bought an apartment in this tiny Swiss village in 1974. They fell in love with the place, near the Lake of Geneva, in the high hills with views of amazing mountains all around you: Diablerets and the Mont Blanc Massif. When my grandmother was no longer able to go here herself my aunt took over the property. I have been coming to this place since I was just a small girl. I always loved being here and sitting on this terrace and seeing that view just makes me happy!
We are currently in the apartment as we speak, I have taken my fiance to this spot for the very first time. I felt very vulnurable actually taking him up her. It is kind of like introducing your best friend and hoping they get along. Obviously I hope to take our future children here one day and hope they will love it as much as I do, but I need to have the fiance love it as much as me of course. Luckily he loves it too!
Last night I had quite an emotional moment in the apartment actually. We have an old guesbook here, which we use with the family members who visit to update each other on the weather, what we did and nice places we visited. I went all the way to the start of the guestbook and actually found an entry of my grandmother, from 2004. It was the last time she was here, for her 75th birthday. She has passed away about 4 years ago and it was really nice, but also emotional to see her written account of when she was here. I still miss her very much so it was great to see a piece of her still here, in the place she loved so much in the middle of the Swiss mountains.
So I guess this place reminds me of my favorite vacations, happy moment, a valuable person and a moment with nature all in the same time!
High Rise: How A Skyscraper Descends Into Chaos
This year I have set myself the challenge to read 52 books in 2022 or one book a week. This is a decent challenge but I am very excited about it!
I am getting behind on my challenge a little bit but last week I finished book number 10: High Rise by JG Ballard.
This was what I would call a golden oldie, the book was written in 1975 and though the language has dated a bit, the book is still super relevant I think.
Source https://www.amazon.nl/High-Rise-J-G-Ballard/dp/0871404028
The Book
The book is about a new sky scraper, or high rise building being made and it follows different tenants living in the building. I mean this is a building you would want to live in! It has two pools, a grocery store, a liquor store, a school, a sculpture garden and a restaurant. The residents of the high rise differ depending on the part of the building they live in. On the bottom floors we have the hard working citizens, many of whom have childeren. In the middle are the citizens that are better off, often in their middle age and enjoying life. In the hight of the building there is the upper class living in penthouses and enjoying the high life.
It doesn't take long for tensions to rise in the building. The different classes can't seem to get along in the building. The ones who do not have children are annoyed by the children and a fight breaks out over parking places and elevators. Laing, a doctor who lives in the middle of the building, is the first to notice that the parties in the building are spiralling out of control.
Source https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462335/
What happens in what can only be called tribal warfare. The different floors team up against those they cannot connect with. Before long, the first murder, a jeweler from the top floor, takes place. The situation gets totally out of control when the inhabitants stop going to work and lock themselves up in the building instead.
The Style
What I love is the dystopian aspect of this novel. You can feel things spinning out of control, but at the same time you can sense that the inhabitants are unwilling or unable to stop it from spiralling. In the end the high rise becomes their lives and obsession. No longer caring about the world outside, they feel trapped on an island with all its intricacies. Despite failing power, death and destruction, most inhabitants refuse to leave the high rise and instead get completely muddled up in its inner workings.
Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Rise_(novel)
If you love dystopian novels like 1984, Oryx and Crake etc this is one you should read as well! Though the language is a bit old fashioned, its concept is still very much alive!
Three Ways to Unwind From a Stressful day
So as a teacher my days can sometimes be stressful and I use my head a lot at work, so I like to rewind in the evenings when I get home and not use my brain too much!
I have three activities that I use the unwind from stressful or long days:
Lego
Yes you read that right. I love Lego! I loved it as a kid and then stopped doing it when I grew up, like most people do I'm afraid. Then Covid came around and I got bored out of my skull like everyone else in lockdown. So I thought why not Lego again? And I am happy I did. Rather than staring at a screen you can unwind with some Lego. It also is very nice to do together with my partner, sometimes we each work on our own project, sometimes we build together.
This has been my favorite project this year: the medieval castle! I happen to be a medievalist (somebody who studied the Middle Ages) so this was right up my alley!
Reading
Oh I love to read! I have been an avid reader since childhood, as a child I used to devour books and I guess I still do! I have given myself the challenge to read 52 books this year, 1 book per week. I am a couple of books behind, but not too far and I am confident I can still catch up! I prefer reading to watching TV because I feel like I still learn a bit and am not just staring at a screen. I also love to relax with some good music and a good book, feels great!
This has been my favorite novel of this year so far, really recommend reading her books, she is a great writer!
Coloring
This is my accidental hobby. My fiance has trouble relaxing in the evening. He is the type that sits down and then thinks of 300 things to do and then goes off and does them. So he was looking for something to help him unwind and he read that coloring for adults can work. So he bought a coloring book and some pencils. I have to admit that while I tried to act supportive, I did have a little smirk on my face because I thought it was a bit odd as a hobby. But while the fiance has not picked up a single coloring pencil, I have and I love it! I sometimes spend an entire evening coloring and it is super relaxing!
I had a lot of fun with this coloring exercise, I like picking colors that I like and then try to draw as neatly as I can...
Well those are my ways to relax, will be interested to see how all of you wind down! Enjoy the last bit of the weekend!
Rising Star: Progress Update and New Card Pack
So last time I updated you all I had just opened the Local Gig Circuit, but wasn't able to do anything there yet. Well I changed that up and in the mean time also was able to buy a new pack!
So in order to be active on the Local Gig Circuit I needed an i6 Midrange Accoustic, which I bought on the marketplace
So I was finally able to get started, but since I don't have enough fans yet beyond the Radio Interview, I must admit I haven't gotten far yet!
The New Pack
I got together the funds to buy a new pack and this is what I opened:
Just my luck to open a Mid Range Accoustic just after I bought one!
It currently goes for about 1500 Starbits, less then what I paid for mine.... Ah well sometimes you get something nice and sometimes not..
I also got this funky rare card, the Sax-A-Boom, I love it, mostly for how colorful it is haha. It currently goes for about 3200 starbits.
Finally, I got Dean, who is not great, currently worth about 500 starbits.
To be honest, I had hoped for a bit more. Got 5200 starbits of value from a 10.000 starbits card pack and didn't get my much needed fans! But better luck next time!
Are you not playing yet and are you curious? Here is my referral https://www.risingstargame.com/?referrer=plint
Conversations With Friends: This Novel Blew Me Away
This year I have set myself the challenge to read 52 books in 2022 or one book a week. This is a decent challenge but I am very excited about it!
I am getting behind on my challenge a little bit but last week I finished book number 9: Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney.
I recently read a later novel of her, Normal People and loved that. So I decided to also order this one, her first book written. And I think it trumped it! If you are interested in my earlier review of the other book: @plint/normal-people-a-triumph-of https://ecency.com/hive-180164/@plint/normal-people-a-triumph-of
Source https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32187419-conversations-with-friends
The Book
Conversations with friends is all about Frances, poet and university student and her ex/best friend Bobbi, who she performs spoken word with. The two have a relationship where they are so familiar with each other, they become some sort of extension of each other, though they also know each other so well they know exactly how to hurt the other person.
At one of their spoken word events they get to know Melissa and her husband Nick. Bobbi is immediatly intrigued by the older, more mature Melissa as she is sucked into her world. Reluctantly Frances hangs out with Melissa as well, but is more interested in Nick, the husband. The two orbit around each other, but find themselves more and more attracted to each other.
What ensues is a complicated interaction between 4 people who each have different interests in each other. As the affair between Frances and Nick develops, so does the health of Frances start to deteriorate. What should you do if you are attracted to someone when you know there is only the chance of getting hurt? As the story advances Frances loses control and her carefully spun web starts to disintegrate...
Source https://www.vogue.com/article/conversations-with-friends-cast
Why I Loved It
Because I did, I loved it. I already loved normal people, but I love this even more. Sally Rooney manages like no other to write believable characters. The complexity of life and the fact that simple decisions do not exist when it comes to love and relationships becomes painfully clear here. What I also loved is that it so clearly shows something we all try: to keep in control. But what if we don't really have control? Or what if we lost control? How would you react then?
It means her books are filled with incredibly human people. People you can relate to, who feel the same happiness, despair and love as you do, but who also often don't really understand what they are feeling.
I would really recommend this book to you! I read they are thinking of making a television adaption as well, I look forward to seeing how that works out as well.
Have you been reading anything good lately? I am always looking for recommendations for new books for my 52 book challenge!
How I Sacrificed my Elbow for a Sandwich
I was very thrilled when I saw the weekend engagement topics of this week on Hive. I felt immediatly drawn towards the Childhood Accidents one. Now that might sound strange, but I am in fact a very very clumsy person. So if there is anything I can write about with experience it is this topic! But I will focus on only one of my accidents here! The time I sacrificed my elbow for a sandwich, and then realizing that was a horrible trade...
The Accident
I was 7 years old and playing outside with my friends, having a good time. We realized we were hungry but it was still two hours before dinner, so I offered to go home and bring back a sandwich so we could keep on playing. I went home, made a sandwich and ran back out to meet my friends.
Only, I tripped on a tile of the garden path which sent me flying in the air. As I was flying through the air I realized I didn't want to drop my sandwich, as I was hungry. So in all my stupidity, in a reflex, I decided not to fall on my hand (holding the sandwich) but I stuck out my elbows instead.
Now if I can give you any advice in life at all, don't ever break a fall with your elbows. Really. Don't. The moment I landed I realized the gravity of my mistake as with a nauseating crack my weight came down on my right elbow and I was left screaming in pain. My parents came to see what all the noise was about and quickly realized I had done something to my arm.
The Aftermath
When we got to the hospital it turned out to be a bit worse than we had thought. I had managed to break the joint in not one, not two but three places. Including my funny bone, which in fact is not funny at all! I needed surgery to put it all back together and they put two large pins in my elbow and stuck the whole things in a massive cast that ran from my fingers to my arm pit. I wish I had pictures, but it turns out no pictures were taken of the cast!
And the funny thing was that because of my love for the sandwich I broke my elbow, but then was no longer allowed to eat as I needed surgery. I spent the entire time in the hospital hungry haha.
It was actually my first major accident, but not my last at all, as I would go on later to break a hand, 4 ribs (on 2 seperate occasions) and my ankle, but those are stories for a different time!
March Earnings of a Small Fish
Do you ever wonder what common people without huge piles of money make in passive income? Well this is the place to be!! I, teacher, currently not investing any of my own money in crypto will show you what I manage to make each month to enlarge my pile of crypto currencies.
February was not my highest earning month, but I did alright. I feel like March was much the same, work was still crazy busy and I didn't always have time to put into crypto. But luckily April will be a lot less busy, so I am looking forward to that!
My March Earnings
**Hive: $140,55** Hive remains my number 1 earner, love the platform and the people. Though I didn't manage to write a lot, what I did write earned pretty well! Referral here https://ecency.com/signup?referral=plint
**Read.Cash: $38,09** Not so much for read this month, but that was all due to my inactivity for almost a week (sorry sorry, offline life got the better of me!) But I feel like I am getting back in the swing of it, so feeling good! Referral here https://read.cash/r/Plint
**Noise.Cash: $20** Once a top earner for me, noise seems to be dying down a lot. There is a lot less interaction and the tips seem to be drying up... I really hope Noise recovers because I love that place! Referral here https://noise.cash/u/plints
**Celsius: $3,73** Every month I earn a bit more here as I stake more coins. I would really recommend staking if you haven't done so, it is lovely when your money just makes money sitting around. You can use my referral here https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/1196075cd9
**Rising Star: $3,63** Was less active than I would like to be, but still got some new cards and added value! Referral here https://www.risingstargame.com/?referrer=plint
**Cake DeFi: $2,69** A steady earner for the once $50 I invested in it. Now you can get $30 worth of DFI when signing up with a referral code: 348795 is mine if you are interested you can go here:https://app.cakedefi.com/ and enter the code when you sign up!
**Splinterlands: $1,81** Not a great month but I didn't play much and the cards went down in value. I did get some new cards, so still made a bit of profit. Referral here https://splinterlands.com/?ref=plints
**Coinbase Earn: $1** It was not so much this time haha, but hey, can't complain about free money! If you don't use it yet do, because free money is nice! Referral here https://www.coinbase.com/join/smolde_q8?src=android-share/
Total Earnings For March: $ 211,50
I made just a smidge more than in February and considering the stress I had from work I am pretty pleased. I hope April will be better, but I have faith since work should be getting a lot better too!
Then on my goal to get to 0.5 ETH, I got a bit closer again, I am currently at 0.19 for this year!
I hope you had a great March. How did you do and what were your places of revenue?
Our Adventure on Ben Nevis
In the spring of 2019 my partner and I had just finished work on our van and decided to test living/vacationing in it by going up to Scotland for two weeks. We would also finally get to climb the mountain we both wanted to go up: Ben Nevis!
There she is in the distance, isn't she a beauty!?
The Plan
So the plan was to do the arete of Ben Nevis, as we didn't want to do the touristic route and we wanted to do a bit of a scramble (we are both climbers and confident with heights).
The arete means that instead of going up the usual path on the mountain, which is not that difficult, you go for the difficult path on the other side. The main difficulty is that it is, well, steep and has a sharp drop on both sides.
This is the arete route
We started off well and made pretty good time, as you can see in this happy smiley picture here:
But as you can maybe tell by my hair, the wind was picking up and when we checked the forecast again, we saw that we needed to change our plans right there and then.
What we actually did
So our beautiful plan in ruins, as you cannot walk an arete in wind, for the danger of being blown off the small ridge you are walking on. So we decided to walk around the mountain and walk the regular path instead. This did mean adding about 10km to the trip.
As we walked on we realized we had made the right decision as the weather turned worse quickly. The wind picked up to 30 mph and there were some snowy clouds drifting in...
We had prepared for bad weather so we had good boots, multiple jackets, hats, gloves and sticks for walking in snow, but we saw lots of unprepared people in shorts and sandals. Which was a bit silly, since Scotland in April is not usually very nice! When we got near to the summit we found lots of snow, but also poor visibility and we had to navigate on the compass.
This picture shows how much I love my North Face jacket because it is keeping me warm and alive! When we got to the summit we had no view to take a picture of so we decided to take one of ourselves instead!
We were very happy with our decision to go the regular path as that was difficult enough. We started heading back down and popped under the cloud at the summit to find the sun was still there. We still had about 10 km to get back to the campsite where the van was, making it a long day of about 30 km in total, but the last bit was wonderful as we walked downhill in the sunshine.
On this picture you can see the north face of Ben Nevis, and in the background in the clouds the route we were supposed to take. It was a wonderful path down, although the last 4km my feet got a bit sore and I wanted to be back in the van to heat up some instant noodles haha. You always get weird cravings when on mountains I find.
We crossed a stream, walked past several little streams and made it back to camp pretty tired. Though our original plan hadn't worked I was happy we still managed to go up, despite pretty bad weather conditions. It is one of the nicest walks I have done in Scotland!
Have you ever been on a nice mountain trip?
My Final 250 Minutes
Science has really advanced lately, apparently we can now be told exactly how much time is left in our lives. Unfortunately it seems I only have 250 minutes left to live.... before you get worried, I am not actually dying, but participating in the weekend-engagement topic on Hive!
Source https://pixabay.com/images/search/time/
Who Would You Call?
It is an interesting thing to ponder on. If you knew you only had limited time to live, and you were aware of how long that would be, who would you spend it with? Who would you call to say goodbye to?
Provided I would be in the place that I currently am in when I hear the news, the options would be limited. My father lives 2.5 hours away, my mother lives in a different country. So I would have to call them instead of going over. I guess I would do the phone calls first, you don't want a phone call to be the last thing that you do.
I think that is all I would call, maybe send friends a message to say thank you and I love you and then switch off my phone. I mean you don't want to have to answer hysterical calls all day and end up not having done anything other than look at your phone on the final day. So a short call with my parents, a message to the important people, switch the phone off and focus on the here and now.
Take Me To The Beach
I would go to the beach with my fiance. What better than to look out over the sea and spend some time with the person you love in your final moments. I live close to the sea and would drive to our favorite spot at Hargen aan Zee, park the car and walk to the beach. We would have hours to sit in the sand, talk about the things we want and cuddle lots (and knowing me, crying lots as well).
Source https://www.istockphoto.com/nl/search/2/image?phrase=netherlands+beach
I guess since this would be my death we are planning here, I would make sure that as the sun dips into the sea it all comes to an end. Now on the practical side that does leave my fiance with a body on a beach, but I guess that is no longer my problem...
Source
I think this would be my favorite way to go. I love the beach in the Netherlands, it is wide, with beautiful dunes and it is calm and beautiful, with my fiance there it would be the best way to spend my final 250 minutes I think.... https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/netherlands-sunset.html
What about you? How would you spend your final 250 minutes?
To The Moon And Beyond
When I was a small girl I had only one dream of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I devoured every TV show on it, my whole room was covered in posters of it. I read as much as I could on the topic, reading every book in the library on the topic.
I was going to Mars. At least, that was the dream. I dreamt of the great red planet. Knew all known pictures, studied maps and read every article that came out with new ideas on the planet. I had this huge National Geographic map right above my bed so I could see it day and night.
Source https://www.bol.com/nl/nl/f/national-geographic-maps-mars/36851131/
I am not even sure where the fascination started. It must have been a book I read or something. I was a book devourer and became fascinated by the idea of going up to the stars. I was going to be the first female astronaut that would land on Mars. The red planet had a special attraction on me. I studied details of all planets, but Mars was it for me. It seems reachable, but still mysterious at the same time!
I started watching movies and TV shows on the topic as well. One of the most impressive I found was From the Earth to the Moon, an HBO series with Tom Hanks. The show looked at a lot of the technical aspects, but also the lives of the first astronauts.
Source https://www.filmvandaag.nl/serie/78-from-the-earth-to-the-moon
I liked the science behind it, though much of it flew over my head. But the other thing I loved was the mystery around it. What would one find when you finally got to Mars? What would it be like? Would there be life? My favorite movie became Mission to Mars, it followed those first astronauts as they explore the planet and find what they did not expect: intelligent life.
Source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiWsYR2zPl0
The End of a Dream
I dreamt about Mars for years, most of my time in elementary school was spend dreaming about it and looking up more information. But then I went to highschool. Not only did other things become more important to me, but I also realized I was horrible at science and math. Which was going to be a problem to say the least.
I still think though that my later profession has some grounds in this first love of mine. I became a historian because I love unraveling things, finding out about the unknown and still have a love for adventure, even though the ones I look at are in the past. The love for reading and finding out more about the world never went away....
Wednesday Walk to the Voting Station
This is my first post in the Wednesday Walk community on Hive, but wanted to share it here on read.cash as well! The idea of the community is to take the time to go for a walk on wednesday, take pictures and make a post. I had a nice walk yesterday and one with a purpose as well. It was voting day yesterday in the Netherlands for the local council. I could decide where in my city I wanted to vote and decided to vote in the local park where there is a petting zoo, because I always wanted to see the petting zoo, but didn't want to pay to go in haha.
**The Walk**
The walk itself was only about 2 km, but a nice stretch of the legs to the local park next to our house. It was getting dark but I managed to shoot this beautiful picture of the lake near the park after I went to vote.
I love it when the water reflects the sky! But before I went to the lake I had already voted. In the Netherlands you can always recognize the voting station by these yellow signs:
The reason I chose to vote there and not in the voting station closer to my house was that I needed a walk, but also I was super curious about the petting zoo and wanted to see what it was like. The petting zoo is close to our house and I pass it often, but you have to pay to go in and I am always too cheap. So I had hoped to go in for free with the voting.
But alas! The petting zoo had already closed and the voting was in the building just in front of it. I did get to peek in through the entrance and saw these funny ducks with little fluffy tops on their heads, aren't they cute?
I then walked back via the water and came home refreshed from my walk and ready to get dinner started!
Hope you had a nice wednesday walk as well!
Palm Springs (2020): Funny and Unnerving All in 1
I recently watched the movie Palm Springs (2020) and I was surprised by the story line and the depth of this movie! So I wanted to share my thoughts with you.
Source https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9484998/
The Story
Nyles (Andy Samberg) wakes up on the morning of a wedding in Palm Springs. All seems well and at the wedding Nyles meets Sarah (Cristin Milioti) and they seem to hit it off. Despite some strange vibes in the air, they totally hit it off and spend the whole evening together. But then something totally weird happens. Nyles is shot at by a man with a crossbow and has to run away. Sarah also runs and ends up at a mysterious cave with a large light...
Granted when I tell it like that it seems super lame, but somehow with the air of comedy Samberg manages to make it seem super normal. It turns out that that cave is like a giant reset button. The next morning, both wake up, only to find out that it is the day of the wedding... again!
Source https://www.sceen-it.com/sceen/5057/Palm-Springs/The-Bronson-Caves
It turns out that Nyles has been dealing with this issue for quite some time now, stuck in this perpetual time loop. Sarah, who is new to it, struggles with her place in all this. They go through different phases, but in the end resolve to not just have fun, but to seek for a solution. But it seems like something else is developing between them during this time loop...
Why I Liked It
Funny thing is that when you write it down it all sounds very silly. But this movie manages to marry the funny with the unnerving. Samberg is of course great at comedy as we have seen in Brooklyn 99, but it turns out he can also give depth to this movie.
As time goes on the movie starts to unnerve you more and more. You start to wonder what it would be like to be stuck in a time loop. What would you do? How would your relationships with other people be? Would you go mad? And this movie makes you think about all of it.
Source https://www.phillyvoice.com/palm-springs-review-hulu-andy-samberg-cristin-milioti-jk-simmons-lonely-island-0599966/
I would really recommend to watch it!
And just out of curiosity. How would you respond to being stuck in an infinate time loop?
If I Could Be Charlemagne
Well if I could be Charlemagne I would! I love this weeks weekend engagement, because I could be anyone I wanted to be. As a historian that is the stuff we dream of!
And who wouldn't want to be Charlemagne? Even his name is cool!
Who Would I Be?
For those of you not that familiar with medieval history I might need to explain myself. Imagine this:
In 476 AD the West Roman Empire fell, ceased to exist. The empire that had dominated most of Europe for centuries was no more and Europe was thrown into the abbyss of chaos. Tribes moved around, roads were unsafe to travel, cities became deserted and people went back to a small agricultural life for safety. It would stay that way until 800 AD when, you guessed it Charlemagne came into the picture as Holy Roman Emperor.
So Charlemagne originally was a Frankish king (of the area now called France) but managed to unite most of western Europe. For the first time since the Romans! Therefore he is also known as the father of Europe, which would be a pretty cool nickname to have! He managed to gather this crazy big empire:
More interestingly, Charlemagne also loved arts and science, and created a little renaissance of both in his lands. He was also a knight and is said to have inspired the tale of the knights of the round table. His love life would have been pretty cool too, he had numerous lovers, concubines and was also married.
Of course it cannot be all fun and games. If I were Charlemagne I would die at the age of 66, not what I was hoping for. I would also have to know loss, with 2 children and 4 wives dying before me. But my final resting place would not be too shab, in this silver and gold casket.
I mostly thing it would be amazingly cool to be the first person to unite Europe since the Roman times and someone who clearly lived through a lot of exciting things in his life.
Who would you be if you could be a historical figure?
Ardennes: Glorious Walk in Winter Sunlight
Recently me and my partner visited the Ardennes region in Belgium. It is a lovely wooded area, with rolling hills and perfect distance from the Netherlands for a trip! As you can see in the picture we chose a glorious sunny day to go for this walk, which was about 15 km in length.
The Mind
Just as a bit of background, I have been struggling with my body and mind a bit lately. I shall spare you the details but after a severe pneumonia I still have some complaints. The physio told me: exercise, exercise, exercise. Nothing too strenuous but cycling and walking would be perfect he said. So we grabbed our hiking boots and our rainjackets and headed to Belgium for a week of walking!
The route we set out to do was about 15km long and started in La Roche-en-Ardenne, the heart of the Ardennes region. We would walk through wooded areas, come down into a small village called Maboge at the river, follow a stream to the tiny village of Borzée (4 houses and a church) and then a forest path back to the starting point.
The Walk
Man, it was a glorious walk! The sun was shining and you could feel, despite the cold wind, that spring is slowly creeping up on us! We walked up into the forest, and then down into the village where we arrived by the Ourthe river.
We had our sandwiches at this incredible river view. During the summer the Ardennes is heaving with people, but in winter we didn't come accross a single person on the entire 15km walk! In the summer many people kayak this river or go for walks in the forest. The area also holds many caves (we love caving, but my poor chest is not yet ready) and also some climbing areas. The Ardennes are easy to visit from parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France and there are plenty opportunities to stay! The paths for walking are generally good, though can be a bit muddy after periods of long rain.
Have you done any lovely travels lately?
Normal People: A Triumph of a Book
This year I have set myself the challenge to read 52 books in 2022 or one book a week. This is a decent challenge but I am very excited about it!
I am getting behind on my challenge a little bit but last week I finished book number 6: Normal People by Sally Rooney.
Source https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bol.com%2Fnl%2Fnl%2Ff%2Fnormal-people%2F9200000089384270%2F&psig=AOvVaw04hmDiVefA6Awwk2z6qZgM&ust=1646850086116000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCMCoxuaQt_YCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAK
Sally Rooney
The writer Sally Rooney is Irish and that is something that comes through in this work, but also in her other books. Normal people was only the second book she published, after Conversations With Friends, the book that I ordered immediatly after this, because I found Normal People an absolute triumph!
Source https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/sally-rooney-i-m-really-paranoid-about-my-personal-life-i-feel-self-conscious-1.4655068
Normal People was a succes for Rooney as well as she was shortlisted for the presigious Man Booker Price. What makes her so remarkable is the intelligence that she shows with the characters she makes and how human they are: failing and fragile, like all of us.
The Book
So I found Normal People absolutely amazing. It is one of those books that you pick up and then don't want to put down again. It sucks you in, it leaves you wanting to know everything about the characters and it spits you out at the end, a bit sad that it is all over.
The story is one of attraction and rejection. How two people fall in love and cannot seem to let go, despite being so very different. Connell and Marianne meet in high school. He, from a working class background, lots of friends and doing well in school. She, brilliantly smart, but socially less so, from a high class but cold family home. They shouldn't be together and yet they cannot stay apart.
The interesting twist comes when college arrives and everything changes. They move to Dublin and he loses his friends and popularity, has to reinvent the world and himself. At the same time her past, and her lack of connection with others back home, is forgotten and therefore she blossoms into a popular girl. And what is more interesting, Rooney describes perfectly what all these new emotions do with their relationship. A relationship that they both crave, and somehow need, but that also makes them miserable at times.
Source https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/apr/26/normal-people-review-sally-rooney-bbc-hulu
I mean it. Go read this book. Apparently it is also a series now, which I will go watch. But read the book first! It is magical...
@Plint
