Going Dutch

 I'm writing this because I have heard that many Americans are applying to immigrate to the Netherlands. I wanted to share what I have learned from experience, because you can make things easier for yourself, or harder, and the whole process is already hard enough. It's not just the administrative side of things, it's also all of the things that you will have to learn and all of the things that you will have to unlearn.

Confronted With Reality

 Getting older forces you to face some facts. The thing is, it's a natural process. All of the things that you are confronted with as you grow older are simply nature taking its course. Another part of it is that you have learned things through experience, which in most cases I think we can rightly call "trial and error". 

Win Or Lose

 Sometimes I ponder what it is about the way Americans are socialized that makes us so self-destructive of our relationships. One of the things that occurs to me is the American preoccupation with winning and competition. On the one hand, being part of a team and winning is a heady experience. On the other hand, it really does foster an "us versus them" mentality, and it starts young in America.

Introspection

 I've been thinking about the other thing I miss about growing up on the great plains. It was the ability to be truly alone with your thoughts. I know that there are people who can't stand the idea of being alone with their thoughts, but I am not one of them. 

Star Date

I was brought up on a dairy farm, getting up at dawn to go and milk the cows. My foster father believed that classical music made the cows give more milk, and so we listened to the only station that played classical music in our part of the Great Plains. Prairie Public Radio. The juxtaposition of little kids milking cows to a chamber orchestra isn't lost on me. 

Mannenwerk

 Here in the Netherlands a lot of the work is still divided into vrouwenwerk and mannenwerk. Each has its inequalities for the people doing them and make them wish that the other gender knew how hard they really work. 

Negative Emotions

 Lately I've been working on something. I'm trying to learn how to face my negative emotions head-on and deal with them. It's something I was never taught growing up. Instead I had to learn all of the same defense mechanisms everybody else did: run away, get angry, deny reality, etc.

I Can Write My Own Bad Copy, Thank You Very Much

 

Something very interesting is happening in the world of generative AI, especially large language model AI. It is proving the adage, "garbage in, garbage out".

Hello Again

 

I decided to write something again. I've been busy since I last did so, and much life has been lived.

I had to get away from social media and the internet. When I met a lot of my friends online, the internet was still fairly new. The advertisers and powers that be hadn't really figured out how to use it against us yet. You could talk to people from all over the world and get to know them. You could find them human and relatable and come to the understanding that we're not all that different from one another. Most of the differences are culture-deep, and not insurmountable. It's how I ended up in the Netherlands via the most convoluted of routes. 

Dutch Dentistry

I'm about to recount something that would leave most Americans writhing in their seats to imagine. In the Netherlands, it's perfectly normal for dentists to drill and fill teeth without novocaine.

Passed

So anyway, I have finally taken all of my inburgeringsexamens and passed them. With flying colors. I'm proud of myself and I think I've really earned it this time. I never imagined this life for myself even in my wildest dreams. It blows my mind a little every time I think about it. Not only have I decided to do this for myself, but I've followed through with it. You can't fake learning a language. You can't make people accept you unless it's what they want to do. I've accomplished something difficult. It does wonders for the self-confidence. Nobody else could have done this for me. I did this. Honestly? I'm as surprised as anybody.