inspiration

Two weeks ago I went to the tropenmuseum in Amsterdam.. I almost didn't go, but I am so happy that I did! The museum is really great (I had never been there). It gives an impression of lots of different cultures in a really nice figurative way. I went there especially for the Che Guevara exposition, which was quite small, but worth it. As an amateur photographer I ofcourse really enjoyed seeing an enlarged copy of the film by Alberto "Korda" Diaz in 1960, which showed not only Guevara but also a young Fidel Castro and among the spectators was Sartre.. Pretty cool and the shots are quite powerful. Much more powerful than the almost cartoonlike figure of Ernesto Guevara that is printed nowadays..

Furthermore (the exhibition that I first skipped and looked at last) a bead collection, with lots of dresses and other (stranger) clothing, quite nice and colourful to look at :).

But the permanent exposition of the museum is definitely worth a closer look! I didn't even finish looking at everything. Ofcourse I went to check out the Mexico parts (including a movie about Mexico city!) and the Arabian parts were also quite interesting (including music!).

So if anyone wants to go there some time, count me in! :)

female issues :P

Lately I've been thinking about how scary it is that about half of the female population is constantly on drugs aka hormones aka anticonception.. I've have been on "the pil" for the last five years and I must say that I never really liked the idea, but wasn't sure whether it had really a negative effect on my mood, weight, libido, or health in general. Then about half a year ago I switched to another pil for six months, because the one I was taking caused pimples (the only side-effect I really noticed). Then I started feeling not too great, but I thought it just had to do with the period of my life, never making any link to this different pil. I guess I mentioned that I was feeling emotionally flat, depressed, not such great libido etc.. (yes you can now remove your hands from your ears :P). Then I stopped and switched to something with less hormones and I all of a sudden noticed a great difference.. Only then I realised what kind of effect these hormones really can have on you.. Really scary. Now I start to feel normal again and realising what normal is.. (And no, this doesn't mean I'll be ácting normal now :P). It is that I really don't want to get pregnant, otherwise I would have quited this crap all together..
I found this interesting article about it (it's in Dutch, but I assume the english speaking men are not interested in it anyway :P):

http://www.intermediair.nl/artikel.jsp?id=98331

‘De hormonen in de pil hebben invloed op ongelofelijk veel systemen in ons hele lichaam. Van de huid tot verschillende organen en de hersenen. En door dat laatste ook op stemming en seksualiteit. Over die invloed wordt de laatste jaren steeds meer bekend. De huidige vorm van hormonale anticonceptie is eigenlijk slaan met een moker op een mug.’

‘Bij de anticonceptiepil gaat het echter om honderdduizenden kerngezonde vrouwen die vele jaren lang permanent medicatie gaan gebruiken. In dat geval zijn die bijwerkingen natuurlijk veel minder acceptabel.’

I am really wondering (and I know together with me a lot of other women) why the development of anticonception isn't progressing more. Why almost everyone settles with taking hormones, while hormones influence everything..
And another thing I am wondering..do guys between 25 and 30 have some kind of life crisis in which they decide that they like their first crush again or reálly need a girlfriend now, or just hit on any female friend, even when that is the last thing they need? I wonder.. ghehe