Several Ways To Die Trying

Yeah, the weekly thing ain’t really happening, who would have guessed that right?
But none the less, here goes!

The best is yet to come. Because it’s true.

Last christmas, my sister Liesbet got me a little box of magnets with words on them:

I knew right away I wanted to something with them, not sure what, not sure when. Well, here we go
I made a list of all the words in the box, made little sentences with them and photographed them.

I’ve already shot couple and I think it’s time to start sharing Here is the first one:
(feel free to follow the special tumblr I set up for this: fuckyeahmagneticpoetry.tumblr.com)

(If you have a sentence in mind or you would like to see the list and help me, you’re more then welcome to do so! Leave a comment and I ‘ll get back to you very soon )

Yesterday evening, a friend of a friend invited me to join them to go for a death-ride from the Atomium in Brussels. My initial reaction was ‘Hell yeah ’, but a couple of hours later and this morning, I got kinda nervous…
The Atomium is 102m tall, getting up there and actually stepping off of it….I think you get the point

But what’s to life if you’re not going for it and taking the chances you get, right?
So screw my nerves, screw my fear of heights, I was going to do it.

Due to the crappy weather (it has been raining for almost 3 days in a row now), there were literally no other people there.
We waited for everyone to arrive (there were 8 of us in total) and we went for it. Paid, got our climbing-gear and took the elevator up to the top.

The person to go first was not with our group, and next up was, euh, me Here’s the photo I snapped just before it was my turn

You had to climb out of the top, they hooked you to a safety-line, told you what to do, hooked you to the actual line and unhooked the safety-line. Then you had to sit down (yes, on the ball itself) and push yourself off when you were ready.
That meant that you didn’t fall right away, the first 10, 20 meters, you slid along with the ball but without your weight on the rope, kind of a feeling of weightlessness. That felt truly amazing, just sliding into the nothingness, but knowing that the rope was going to catch you.

As I got to the top, I was very (very) nervous, but the instructor was calm and basically didn’t give me the time to worry. ‘Now do this, stand there, sit here and go when your ready’. And that’s what I did. And yes, I did scream on the way down, but not out of fear but out of shear joy and excitement

15 seconds later, with both feet on the ground and shaking from adrenaline rushing through my body, all I could say was: ‘Wow’

Life is for living it, right?

The whole thing was organized by the Atomium and Belventura. For those who want to do this as well I have some bad new, according to both websites, this was the very last edition….
There’s one more chance to do this:

Let me know if you’re going, I might just join you

When I’m stressed about something, when something is bothering me or when my own thoughts won’t leave me alone, I run. People do different things to relax, to clear their heads. Some find shelter is partying, in drugs (alcohol, cigarettes), in food, in sleeping, in videogames. I run.

Not that all the running I do is to get stuff off my mind, no, then I think I’d better consider therapy
I got back in the running-game a few months ago and by now, I think I’m almost back into shape.
But to keep at it, I like to give myself to goal to work towards, a target so to speak.
(this also applies to things besides running )

And the first ‘target’ is: running 10k at Dwars Door Mechelen, September 26th.
(there are a bunch of us going to be there, add yourself to the Twikilist if you want )
I’ve submitted my subscription and payment yesterday, so there’s no way back now

Here’s the run I did today. Slept good, got up early, had a decent breakfast and decided to for a run before the weather turned around. I left around 13h and had to face strong winds head on for the first 30 minutes, really really tough. Every corner I turned, every street crossed, I really had to push on to keep going and to keep my pace. That’s off course where the title comes from All in all, I’m happy with the time and distance.

Here’s something we’re going to try: I’ll post a music clip/video/song every Monday. Yes, this comes with a catch-phrase:
Musical Mondays

First up: a song by the Goo Goo Dolls. Most people only know them because their song ‘Iris’ was the theme-song for the movie City Of Angels, but the actually have quite a lot of great songs and albums, definitely worth checking out
The song for today is ‘Here is gone’ from the album Gutterflower (clicking the link will take you to iTunes where you can buy the album )

PS: Yes, yes, I’m posting this on Tuesday evening, I know. I’ll try to do better next week

At this year’s edition of Suikerrock, the organistion decided to give everyone a fabric bracelet, just like the other big festivals (Werchter, Pukkelpop, GMM, etc). The only problem was, they didn’t sell ticket for the entire festival, one had to buy a ticket for each separate day. And that also meant a new bracelet for every day. Yep, 5 days of Suikerrock, 5 bracelets

A bit much, I agree.
The one on the left (the paper one) is off already, the second one (Rock Werchter) stays and the Livestrong stays as well. Now, choosing between the Suikerrock-ones, I’d like to keep at least one, maybe two, probably the least flashy ones.

Which one do think I should keep?

Both as a figure of speech and as in actually getting it together.
It’s been a weird month for me. Make that a couple of months. Lots of up and downs, some great memories and a couple I’d rather forget. And in the end, I’ve gotten to know to great people and made a couple of new and good friends.

This is kinda vague, I know, but I wanted to write this anyway.

Because…..guess who’s back?
August is going to be a good month. I have to retake 2 of my exams, I’m getting back to running, I’m going to clean this place (my apartment) up, I’m going to start a couple of photography-projects that I’ve been thinking about for a while. I’m getting it together and I’m doing good

I’ve spent the last 4 days at Suikerrock, where I’m part of the ‘Digital Crew’. That means I get to take photos of all the bands. Yes, I’m having a blast
More pictures coming very soon, for now you can check suikerrock.be/live to see our work

The video bellow is an the official Editors music-video for their song ‘No sound but the wind’. The footage was shot at Rock Werchter, which was 2 weeks ago. At the end for the video, you’ll see a man/boy really getting caught up in it and letting himself go, so beautiful.
That’s what music can do to people. Different people have it with different music, but we all have that one song/bang/album that just does it, in good and bad way. Life is music

We can never go home
We no longer have one
I’ll help you carry the load
I’ll carry you in my arms
The kiss of the snow
The crescent moon above us
Our blood is cold
And we’re alone
But I’m alone with you

Help me to carry the fire
We will keep it alight together
Help me to carry the fire
It will light our way forever

If I say shut your eyes
If I say look away
Bury your face in my shoulder
Think of a birthday
The things you put in your head
They will stay here forever
Our blood is cold
And we’re alone, love
But I’m alone with you

Help me to carry the fire
We will keep it alight together
Help me to carry the fire
It will light our way forever

Help me to carry the fire
We will keep it alight together
Now help me to carry the fire
It will light up our way forever

If I say shut your eyes
If I say shut your eyes
Bury me in suprise
Where I say shut your eyes

Help me to carry the fire
We will keep it alight together
Help me carry the fire
It will light our way forever