Koninginnedag
I thought I understood what “the whole city” meant. I did not. # Koninginnedag. My feet hurt. My voice is slightly damaged. There is orange somewhere on my clothes that...
Traditions & Culture
ECLIXAR
digital diary
Journal.
fragments of quiet intelligence
There is a manner in which certain things ask to be written, not so that they may be found, but because to exist in silence, for too long, eventually becomes insufficient. It is not urgency. It is something closer to a necessity that makes no noise, waiting patiently until it discovers the proper form. This archive was born in such a way.
Not as a diary. Not as a blog. Not as something that is updated merely for the sake of appearing alive. It is a place where certain thoughts come to rest, those which do not dissolve, those which return, those which insist with the silent obstinacy of things that truly belong to you...
Every article is a scene. Every word, a frame of something that would not have remained, had it not
been writtenFrom the archive.
Traditions & Culture
Tomorrow
The city outside sounds like it has already decided midnight counts as tomorrow. # Tomorrow. Koninginnedag. First one living here. People are already out, already orange, already behaving as though...
Traditions & Culture
Orange Everywhere
I used to think orange was a colour. Apparently it is infrastructure. # Orange everywhere. Increasing by the hour. Hats. Shirts. Inflatable nonsense. Flags. Decorations. Food packaging attempting participation. I...
Traditions & Culture
Amsterdam Is Getting Ready
Barriers, decorations, orange objects, people discussing routes. The city feels like it knows something I don’t. # Amsterdam preparing for Koninginnedag has a pre-storm quality except the storm is orange...
Traditions & Culture
Orange Loading
The city has begun turning orange and I have been warned that this is only the beginning. # Orange loading. Shop windows. Decorations. Clothing appearing. Conversations about Monday. Everyone keeps...
Power & Society
I Am Learning Dutch Politics by Force
Apparently my Dutch education now includes coalition arithmetic. # I am learning Dutch politics because the news has made avoidance impossible. Minority government, parliamentary support, coalition agreements, negotiations, resignation, what...
Power & Society
The Government Has Fallen
There is a particular kind of foreignness in watching everybody around you understand the political subtext before you do. # The government has fallen. I wrote about the mechanics earlier...
Body & Energy
No Alarm
I woke naturally and for several seconds had no idea what time it was. Heaven. # No alarm. Stayed in bed until the light became accusatory. Yuri was already awake...
Body & Energy
Day Off
I did not open work email. Please record this historic achievement. # Day off. Properly. No work email. No portfolio. No job search because I HAVE A JOB, still satisfying...
Journey & Time
Ferry, Water, Wind
The wind here does not blow around you. It appears to have personal objectives. # Still thinking about yesterday mostly because my hair has only just forgiven the ferry. Water...
Journey & Time
Noord
Crossing the IJ feels like leaving Amsterdam without actually leaving Amsterdam. # Noord. Ferry. Wind immediately attempting to rearrange my face. I love that the crossing is so ordinary to...
Beauty & Art
Hair
Finding somebody new to touch your hair may be the most intimate administrative problem of moving countries. # Hair. I have delayed this because finding a new hairdresser feels irrationally...
Why?
Because every thought leaves a trace. If something moved you, disturbed you, softened you, or made you think, leave it here, quietly.