One Pizza Later

About 36 hours until I leave for Tilburg. At first I was worried that by moving to a sleepy little university town in the south, that I'd become bored and disappointed with it in relation to Amsterdam. However, after being in Amsterdam for 3 weeks and finding myself with little time other than on the weekends to do stuff (during which time I am usually bored), I'm no longer worried about that. In fact, I am sure that in many ways it will be an improvement. There'll be lots of other philosophers around and the department seems pretty lively. Also, I've already started making contacts with psychometricians there, so I'll have two possible social ponds to swim in. By request I've included a map of the Netherlands to show ya'll where Tilburg is.Matt, you'll notice the proximity to Belgium. You can bet your bottom dollar that I'm going to try to find some people with whom to explore breweries. I don't think you'd want to go anyway. All the monks are ID proponents, I think.

News: I've lost 6 pounds since getting here.

News

As Matt has noted, my recent deluge of posts has slowed to a trickle. There are various reasons for this though one of them is not that I have nothing to report. On Friday I move to Tilburg where I will reside for 3 months. Tomorrow I must vacate my flat and move across town (closer to work) because my lease at this place ends, but I cannot occupy my place in Tilburg until Friday. A professor in the department here was gracious enough to let me crash at his place for the 3 nights. I'll miss this apartment, the neighborhood, and the few people that have shared the building with me over the past 3 weeks.

Other news: today I found out that a paper of mine has been accepted for publication at a peer-reviewed journal. The reviewers, all of whom thought the paper was interesting and well-written, have called for some revisions that I think will be a bit time consuming. But if I just reserve it for weekend work, it should only take about a month to get through the revisions. Reviewer #1 was quite long-winded and I think he actually hated the letter of the paper, even if he liked its spirit. If he is correct in his complaints, then there are some major booboos that may make for a considerable overhaul. Then there is the logistical problem of finding the sources again. The main paper I discuss in my own paper is a whopping 90 pages long and I don't think that I brought it with me. It is also not available online.

In any case, when I get it done, that'll be 2 forthcoming publications that I got under my belt while I was here. Then there's the nascent paper currently in development. If that gets done and is favorably received, that'll be 3. My advisor is pushing me to publish something is a squarely philosophical journal (the other journals are psychology and measurement journals). I have something I can send out as soon as I get his comments. If *that* works out too, then we'll be at 4. If I can't get a job with 2-4 publications, then I give up. Back to McDonald's or Subway for me.

No pictures for this post, unfortunately.

Reckless Indulgence

The plastic bag crinkles like white noise as I unfold the clear polymer bag. 8 small chocolate nuggets sit inert, each more curious than the last, for I know that I will be days before I experience the one that remains after all others have been consumed. My gaze fixes on those nearest to me, and I carefully contemplate my selection. None so obviously bears its character, so my decision is but arbitrary. I suspect that jasmine tea sits closest to me, so I with great care and purpose bypass it searching for serendipity, an arbitrary surprising pleasure that will take great care to discern. I also see what I perhaps erroneously infer to be olive and I dig a bit deeper into the bag, noisily complaining, as I search for an unfamiliar morsel. And my choice is made. As I carefully ingest its smell, I can detect only cocoa. An awaiting surprise indeed. The crystalline formations on its crown I recall being salt, but all is an enigma. The first bite. Wow. The salt a perfect compliment to the bitterness of the dark chocolate. A creamy filling resides inside and, honestly, I make neither heads nor tails of what I taste. With disappointment in my ability to identify the overwhelming flavor, I describe it as neither here nor there. It is so subtle as to evade analysis, despite my efforts to cleanse my palate and ready myself for this encounter. Desperate to lift the fog of disorientation, I lift the chocolate to my mouth and take the remainder in hopes that full sensorial inundation will remedy my sorry state. Again, the salt pleasantly resounds on my tongue, but I still cannot make out what I am tasting. Frantically I rub my tongue over the roof of my mouth before the flavor fades, and as it flees existence I'm left unenlightened. My pleasure is empty. Moments of bliss, ephemeral and base. Awash in regret, I contemplate indulging once again.

There's no rain

I've come to realize that clear days are a celebratory occasion here in Amsterdam. Therefore, I have chosen to celebrate today as the first clear day in over a week. In observance of "first clear day in over a week" I have procured several delightful goodies. On the way home I had the quinessential Dutch snack, the Haring Broodje. It is a sandwich with raw herring and onions. There are places all over town that sell these yummy yums. Bones are left intact, but they are small and easily consumed. At 3.50 euros, they are a bit pricey, however. Without bread (just raw fish and onions) it is 3.00 euros. Unfortunately the sandwich is not pictured. It is in a warm dark place right now. I also picked up a mini baguette to go with dinner tonight, 2 celebratory Jupiler beers (which I now realize I've been calling 'Jupiter' since my first visit last March). Last, but not least, I picked up some chocolates from the legendary "Unlimited Delicious" chocoshop. I'll write more about them once I've tasted them, but the flavors include hot-chocolate and pepper, olive, jasmine tea, espresso, rosemary, ginger, among others. 100 grams for 5 euros. I'm sure it is worth it considering they gave me a taste of the hot-chocolate pepper and it was divine. Tomorrow's forecast: rain.

Not funny, Basty

Today I found this picture on the internet with the following letter below:

Dear Daddy #1 (or #2)

We have your beloved Basty. If you want to see or smell him alive again, you will send 170 jars of peanut butter, 3 bunnies, and 5...monies to the following address

Florida Apartment
Florida, USA

Failure to comply will result in many baths and scary times and other unpleasantness. You are a bad daddy, number 1.

P.S. I...I mean Basty stinks.

First, Sebastian, I just want to say that this is not funny. Aside from what excessive peanut butter does to your teeth (and, hence, breath), and your overall incompetence in dealing with small furry critters (which only you refer to as 'bunnies'), the attempted ruse is in poor taste. Last time I checked, extortion was still a crime. Why can't you just send me a nice email to tell me how you are in your subtropical paradise? Not even a 'hello' from you in the past month. At least you haven't forgotten about me altogether. Anyway, you need to mind Temprorary Daddy #3 and stay off his computer.

One of my favorite things...

is not waiting for a bus that is no less than 45 minutes late.
However, one of my favorite things is one of my few selfish rituals I have here. I love stopping by one of the neighborhood bakeries on my way home from work every day to pick up fresh bread to go with dinner. I also got some unpasturized French cheese that I can't wait to dig into.

Who needs friends when you have a fresh loaf of bread?

Me: Hello, Mr. Bread, how are you?

MB: Hi there B, how was your day at work?

Me: Oh, Mr. Bread, you know...same as always, just trying to make the world a better place for Basty.

MB: Well, sir, what will you do tonight? I noticed that yesterday you took the tiny Baguette Twins home. Are they around? Perhaps we could all watch television and recount the events of the day.

Me: I'm afraid the Baguette Twins are not around tonight.

MB: Oh yeah?

Me: 'Fraid so.

MB: Hey, I read on Facebook that you were wanting to go see "Control" this weekend at The Movies down the street.

Me: Yup.

MB: Perhaps we could go together! I love Joy Division.

Me: I'm afraid I have other plans for you, Mr. Bread.

MB: Oh yeah! Fun! What's that?

Me: I'm going to smear unpasturized goat cheese on you and...

MB: Oh wow! You read my very thoughts, B! Let's put on some Barry White and get down to business!

Me: and eat you like the stinking loaf you are!

MB: Oh no! :( But why?! I thought you were adopting me...oh no! The Twins! What Have you done with the twins? You sick bastard!

B: First I put them in the microwave to make them nice and chewy...

MB: Oh god...

B: and then I gobbled them up!

MB: B, what are you doing? Put me down! Oh no! My spleen! You've eaten my spleen! Oh jesus, I'm getting woozy. World fading...can't keep...my eyes...OH GOD! YOU"VE EATEN MY HEEL!!!! Oh please help me! Please, anyone? I know you all speak English out there! Fading...fading...oh what a world, what a world.

Matt, your wish is my command

Matthew, as requested, I have provided pictures of my workplace. All these were taken today, so you can get an idea of how quickly the weather changes. At 11, the skies were mostly clear and we were approaching the high of 48 degrees, but by the time I took the later pictures around 13:00, the temperature had dropped and it was cloudy. It was raining steadily by the time I left the office at 16:00.

The cafe, Kriterion, is run by psychology students mostly. It is a good place to go for a cup of coffee or beer and is usually packed with students. The building where I work houses psychology and (I think) economics (perhaps sociology too). The campus is pretty spread out all over the city, so you don't get a campus feel. There is a restaurant next door called The Roeter that is not bad. I haven't been there since coming back, but it is a cool place to hang out after Kriterion closes. I once had drinks with Keelan there.

I share my office with 3 people, but usually there are only 2 of us in there. I would have snapped a photo of them, but they were not around much today. You can see the mess that is my desk with my laptop. Taking pictures was an excuse for getting away from the paper that I'm writing.

Today I got a postcard from China (not pictured (neither China nor the postcard)). It was nice to get a little mail, espcially from such a good friend. She's the postcard queen. I hadn't received any post from her in a while, so it was a nice surprise to find when I got home.

So, here I am home by 15:00 and little to do. I suppose it is time to get back to work.