I made a new blog for 2008: http://www.sapp2008.blogspot.com/

It's supposed to show when you visit http://www.sapp.nl/

If it doesn't show and you're my mom, ask my dad to fix it. For the rest: try emptying the cache of your browser.

posted by Marian @ 3:43 PM 0 comments

Lately there seems to be a lot to celebrate: Some friends got married, Jesus had His birthday and now the year 2007 is about to make place for the year 2008. It's pretty cool to be me at the moment, it's fun!

This year I got older, probably not much wiser though: I wouldn't change a thing if I had to do it all again.
Yes, I was often miserable and stressed, I drank too much, I wasted a lot of time. But still I don't regret one single bit of it.
If every single year, untill I die at the age of 82, will be this rich in experiences and events, I will die a happy woman with a lot of friends and family.

I salute you all and wish you the best of luck.
Have fun, be careful with fireworks and make sure to live life to the fullest!

posted by Marian @ 6:09 PM 2 comments

Last night I went to the new Italian take-away to get the pizza that I ordered over the phone. As I left home, on my bike, I saw a big fancy car slowly drive up the road and park on the corner. Some people got out and the car wanted to leave again. Unfortunately though I was just passing him on the left. The driver had not seen me at first, so he hit the breaks in shock when he did. Of course I was a bit startled as well.
The driver rolled down his window and yelled I should turn on the light of my bike. He was right, so I immediately turned it on and yelled thanks. A bit embarrassed I drove on.
The roads at my place are constructed so, that I met the same car again when I tried to cross a road some 100m further. I stopped waiting for him to pass, but then he stopped as well, right in front of me. The guy got out of the car and asked me in a rough tone if I was crazy. My answer was (of course) negative, but he wasn't particularly interested in it. Het started walking around his car, at which point I hastily turned my bike around and took an alternative route to the pizzeria.

There's a lesson to be learned: don't yell anything, not even if it's something polite. And of course: don't forget to turn on the light of your bike when it's dark.

posted by Marian @ 1:58 PM 2 comments

My studies are going great. I'm inspired and enthousiastic. After next week all that remains of this semester is writing a huge paper about a subtopic of philosophy of science, I'm not sure yet what it will be.
There is hardly any stress now, I really feel like I can quietly work. I have plenty of time and meet up with friends a lot. The sewing machine I borrowed from my mother offers a nice diversion from studying as well. I'm planning on going to the market again soon to get some cloth to make myself some jeans.
It's all lovely, I have nothing to complain about.

This year has been a turmoil of emotions for me. I cried my eyes out, screamed, yelled and cursed...
But it's all fine now. The absence of those strong emotions makes me feel a bit numb. I'm sure that's only to be expected.

posted by Marian @ 6:44 PM 2 comments

Today it's my birthday, I turn 25. A quarter of an age is a pretty long time, you can really do a lot of different things in such a stretch of time. Make friends and enemies, see family die and be born, move around, travel around, learn a lot, forget even more.
I'm not quite done yet, let's see what happens in the next 25 years of my life!

posted by Marian @ 12:48 PM 1 comments

My mom let me borrow my sisters sewing machine. I couldn't wait to get started when I got it yesterday, so this morning I went to buy cloth at the market. This is the result!


New curtains!

posted by Marian @ 8:31 PM 0 comments

What happens if you put a philosopher in a group of artists and ask them to discuss mental spaces?

Her head explodes.

I should be in The Hague at this moment. Joining a group discussion on the nature of mental spaces. This discussion has been going on for a couple of weeks now. Sadly though the question whether there even is something like a mental space did not seem to occur to anyone.
The assignment is funny: you have to make a simulation of a mental space in which people can navigate.
I expect my fellow students will all come up with magnificent installations, visual effects and illusions. That's what the teachers have been aiming at for weeks now.
I think this approach is rather silly, if there is something like a mental space, it is not perceivable in a conventional way, through our five senses. Noone quite understood my point, or saw the relevance of it. Luckily last week another student gave an example that seemed to explain it a bit.
In the village he grew up they didn't have any of the modern media, but once in a while a story teller would visit and they would all sit and listen and loose themselves in their imagination. He claimed this was the way to view mental space, with our inner eye. The teachers were in awe, they said it had not occurred to them that maybe mental spaces can not be perceived in a conventional way, through the five senses.

Today I didn't go to class. I'll try and come up with something nice for the assignment, I'll work on it at home. I'm a bit sick of the uninformed, vague discussions. Let them have their way, I'll have mine.

posted by Marian @ 11:12 AM 1 comments