What I've read in the newspaper today...

It has happened again. Yesterday some trains crashed into each other at train station Muiderpoort. That's like the fifth time in 2 years a train accident has happened at or around Amsterdam Central Station. One of the trains, a luckily empty two-deck passenger train, rolled on it's side after the collision, almost rolling off into a ditch.
I'm feeling less and less save in our Railwayservice. Point is, I have to take two trains everyday to school, one of which starts at the dreaded Amsterdam Central Station, and back at the end of the day. This is a bit over the top, but it does make on wonder...

Another nice one; two families dead because of trains. One family, a father and his two sons, jumped in front of a racing train. They ofcourse did not survive. This isn't the fault of the Railway service ofcourse. But this one is; a father and his two children died because they were hit by a speeding train at a railwaycrossing. The warninglights were probably faulty.

Now, why oh why is almost no self-respecting automobile driving commuter willing to simply go by train to his/her work? I really wouldn't know.

I love trains though. Remember, it is *still* a safer mode of transportation than by car. As most people can't drive. But that is another story.

Wrangler Button and Trouble at the Railways

Wrangler Button
Originally uploaded by Praetorianator.

So. This was one of those days.
One of those days in which everything doesn't quite seem to work, or go well.

I went to school today, followed exactly two classes. Well, not really followed, as they were boring as hell, so it was more like reading the newspaper for the length of two classes :D.
So I really didn't pick up any of it. I just couldn't get myself to focus. Oh well, it happens.

After those two *horrible* hours, I went on for another four of them, doing so-called 'machine parts'-exersizes. These are really study-specific exersizes, which involve looking up alot of formulas, going through heaps of tables, using alot of formulas, and reading alot of theory. This needs to be done on your own or with your 'study-group'. In any case, alot of time spent, little work done.
Today, Erik and me actually were quite serious, and worked quite hard. We worked for about four hours straight, and to let you know how much work is involved with one exersize; we finished three (!) exersizes (in four hours!).

After all that painstackingly hard work, we went home fatigued, hoping to catch diner at home. Ofcourse Erik, who lives quite near our university, arrived home about 30 minutes after we left school.
I, on the other hand, arrived home about 220 minutes after we left school! That much? Yes, that much. (BTW, this is Holland, so that IS quite much).
Now, ofcourse, I live in the neighbourhood of Amsterdam, and my university is in the neighbourhood of The Hague. Travelling from Amsterdam to The Hague takes about 90 minutes.
So what happened?

The train before us, just as we were about to pass Amsterdam Sloterdijk on the way back, had a packet on board which could possibly contain a bomb. So we stood there, in our train, for half an hour. Ofcourse, people were getting mad. I really never understood why people get all mad at the railway service? It's not like they can help the fact somebody left a packet on one of their trains. They also can't help the fact that the police has to arrive first, assess the situation and remove the packet before any train can start moving again at that particular station.

Anyway, we went back to Schiphol, were I got out of the train, and took one that takes another route to Amsterdam Central. All in all it cost me 130 extra minutes of travelling. And as it was around dinner time, I was getting quite hungry too :D Really annoying, the human need for food.

I have to say though, I do not like the fact many people commuting in the Netherlands are so small minded to not be able to see beyond their own little problems. No one considers the fact that maybe it's quite difficult to run a railway service, especially with possible bombs on trains. Instead, they just whine and whine at the first sign of trouble.

But enough about my pitty little problems (wouldn't want to contradict myself by whining a whole post about my problems, now would I), more pictures!

This time I have this picture I took a while ago of the button of one of my pants. While not executed perfectly, I do like the premise. I think I'll do it over one day. I think, when executed better, it'll be a picture worthy of Wrangler's Promotion Departement :D.

What's wrong with this photograph? Well, the 'Wrangler' on the button isn't quite sharp. Instead, it's focus lies on the 'Authentic' part of the button. Also, the jeans material itself is too dark. While this could've been easily corrected in Photoshop, I'd like to make my pictures as perfect as possible withouth the aid of Photoshop.
This does not mean however that I do not like to use Photoshop. It is a very versatile and useful tool in the creative process, but that's a whole other story. I'll devote a post on that later on.

Cheers,

Coen