The story of the phoenix

This marvelous creature, so the various stories say, lived alone in an earthly paradise feeding upon the light of stars. At the end of a thousand years, knowing that death was approaching he descended into the outer world and flew to the land of his name, Phoenicia.

There on the tallest palm tree he built a nest of spices. At dawn, lifting his voice, he sang a hymn so ravishingly beautiful that the rising sun reined in his horses to listen. In that instant the universe stood still and sparks from the flaming halo of the sun set fire to the aromatic phoenix nest. Thus the phoenix was consumed in flames but instantly a new phoenix rose from the ashes. Soon the infant bird grew strong and lifting up its nest flew to Aeliopolis - the city of the Sun. There he placed the nest upon the altar of the temple.

Thousands of birds had followed him together in friendship, the hawk with the sparrow, the eagle with the dove. As soon as the might phoenix has laid its nest upon the altar, he soared aloft once more and winged his way toward the distant paradise followed by a multitude of birds, all singing in harmony.

30th anniversary

Still one month to go and then I'll be 30 years old. Since you only celebrates your 30th anniversary once (and your 31th, 32nd, 33nd, ...), me and some friends decided to organise a weekend and invite some mutual friends.

Opportunities have been spotted, contracts has been signed, ideas have materialized, the guest list has been short-listed, flyers and invitations have been printed and finally the website has been put into place.

Tomorrow we'll be sending out the invitations. D-day minus 1.

Portrait of an ENTJ (me)

One may argue this a 'text-book example' of the Forer effect, but this the best description I have ever read about myself.

As an ENTJ, your primary mode of living is focused externally, where you deal with things rationally and logically. Your secondary mode is internal, where you take things in primarily via your intuition.

ENTJs are natural born leaders. They live in a world of possibilities where they see all sorts challenges to be surmounted, and they want to be the ones responsible for surmounting them. They have a drive for leadership, which is well-served by their quickness to grasp complexities, their ability to absorb a large amount of impersonal information, and their quick and decisive judgments. They are "take charge" people.

ENTJs are very career-focused, and fit into the corporate world quite naturally. They are constantly scanning their environment for potential problems which they can turn into solutions. They generally see things from a long-range perspective, and are usually successful at identifying plans to turn problems around - especially problems of a corporate nature. ENTJs are usually successful in the business world, because they are so driven to leadership. They're tireless in their efforts on the job, and driven to visualize where an organization is headed. For these reasons, they are natural corporate leaders.

There is not much room for error in the world of the ENTJ. They dislike to see mistakes repeated, and have no patience with inefficiency. They may become quite harsh when their patience is tried in these respects, because they are not naturally tuned in to people's feelings, and more than likely don't believe that they should tailor their judgments in consideration for people's feelings. ENTJs, like many types, have difficulty seeing things from outside their own perspective. Unlike other types, ENTJs naturally have little patience with people who do not see things the same way as the ENTJ. The ENTJ needs to consciously work on recognizing the value of other people's opinions, as well as the value of being sensitive towards people's feelings. In the absence of this awareness, the ENTJ will be a forceful, intimidating and overbearing individual. This may be a real problem for the ENTJ, who may be deprived of important information and collaboration from others. In their personal world, it can make some ENTJs overbearing as spouses or parents.

The ENTJ has a tremendous amount of personal power and presence which will work for them as a force towards achieving their goals. However, this personal power is also an agent of alienation and self-aggrandizement, which the ENTJ would do well to avoid.

ENTJs are very forceful, decisive individuals. They make decisions quickly, and are quick to verbalize their opinions and decisions to the rest of the world. The ENTJ who has not developed their Intuition will make decisions too hastily, without understanding all of the issues and possible solutions. On the other hand, an ENTJ who has not developed their Thinking side will have difficulty applying logic to their insights, and will often make poor decisions. In that case, they may have brilliant ideas and insight into situations, but they may have little skill at determining how to act upon their understanding, or their actions may be inconsistent. An ENTJ who has developed in a generally less than ideal way may become dictatorial and abrasive - intrusively giving orders and direction without a sound reason for doing so, and without consideration for the people involved.

Although ENTJs are not naturally tuned into other people's feelings, these individuals frequently have very strong sentimental streaks. Often these sentiments are very powerful to the ENTJ, although they will likely hide it from general knowledge, believing the feelings to be a weakness. Because the world of feelings and values is not where the ENTJ naturally functions, they may sometimes make value judgments and hold onto submerged emotions which are ill-founded and inappropriate, and will cause them problems - sometimes rather serious problems.

ENTJs love to interact with people. As Extroverts, they're energized and stimulated primarily externally. There's nothing more enjoyable and satisfying to the ENTJ than having a lively, challenging conversation. They especially respect people who are able to stand up to the ENTJ, and argue persuasively for their point of view. There aren't too many people who will do so, however, because the ENTJ is a very forceful and dynamic presence who has a tremendous amount of self-confidence and excellent verbal communication skills. Even the most confident individuals may experience moments of self-doubt when debating a point with an ENTJ.

ENTJs want their home to be beautiful, well-furnished, and efficiently run. They're likely to place much emphasis on their children being well-educated and structured, to desire a congenial and devoted relationship with their spouse. At home, the ENTJ needs to be in charge as much as he or she does in their career. The ENTJ is likely best paired with someone who has a strong self-image, who is also a Thinking type. Because the ENTJ is primarily focused on their careers, some ENTJs have a problem with being constantly absent from home, physically or mentally.

The ENTJ has many gifts which make it possible for them to have a great deal of personal power, if they don't forget to remain balanced in their lives. The are assertive, innovative, long-range thinkers with an excellent ability to translate theories and possibilities into solid plans of action. They are usually tremendously forceful personalities, and have the tools to accomplish whatever goals they set out for.

For more information, see Myers-Briggs Type Indicator on Wikipedia

Stage fever

I'm getting nervous to blog something. Every time I see someone looking at me, I'm thinking : Have they been reading my blog, the pressure of fame is becoming too much. NOT

Today had another 102 visitors, I don't understand where do keep coming from.

Let me tell you a bit more about myself. I'm the guy who seems to get from one situation in another one, from one adventure into the next. I'm the guy you see sitting at the bar talking and telling stories the entire evening. Most of the time someone has experienced something fantastic, I have a better story. Do I make them up ? None, I just can't understand how some people can lead their lives and stumbling from one anecdote into another one. In Medieval times I would have been the travelling troubadour, travelling the countries and entertaining city by city with my stories.

The story of tonight is in fact not worth mentioning, but I think it was rather fun.

So, last Saturday on a prom, I met someone new and you could feel the magic in the air. It being already late (3h30pm) and not risking to become too frisky on the first encounter, I empty my beer in a gone, said goodnight, exchanged phone numbers and drove home.

For some reason, I decided to return to Antwerp not taking the highway (If you have been drinking the highway is most of the time the safest way to get home. Seldom they are conduction alcohol control on an highway), so I was making some speed when suddenly I saw a police officer in the middle of the road, who signed me to slow and to stop. I opened my driver's side window

Me : Good evening sir
PO : Good evening. Alcohol control. Have you been drinking ?
Me : (Being honest) Yes, I've drunk 2 pints of beer
PO : Just 2
Me : Yes, I still have to drive over 70 kilometers to get home (And now I realise this was my first mistake, if someone has to drive over 70 kilometers, he takes the highway)
PO : I will have to ask you to conduct a test. Can you please park your car ?

So I pulled over my car to the parking lane and kept waiting in the car
PO : Can I have your drivers license
I did so
PO : And your identification
Identification coming up
PO : And your insurance
Completely missed that one and gave him the old one and he corrected me, so I started to get nervous.
PO : Your vehicle registration
After 2 minutes of searching, I finally found it

Meanwhile a second officer had inspected my car and told the first one that my vehicle was equipped with a pull hook, so the first one asked my permit.
Me : You need a permit ? Never heard of it, besides this is a leasing car, which was handed over to me from my predecessor.
PO : You need an extra permit if you have a pull hook installed
Me : Never heard of it

Police Officer 2 meanwhile had assembled the alcohol tester and asked me to blow very hard until I heard a beep. Due to my asthmatics nature, I have been doing long tests for the last 15 years and my long contents is almost 6 liters, but to no avail I had to restart 2 time, before the tester proved me 'drunk'. In Belgium that is more than 0,5 promille.

I couldn't believe my hears. I had only drunk 2 pints of beer, most of time I drink a quadruple of that amount, but this time I ought to be safe.
PO : You'll have to come to the station, to conduct a blood analysis test

So, completely dismayed I stepped out of my car and locked the car. Now my car has a coming home function, so the lights stay on for another minute after locking the car.
PO : You have forgotten to switch off your lights
Me : Nope, they switch off automatically
PO : I think you have drunk way (notice the WAY) too much and you have forgotten to switch them.

Not feeling to argue, I entered the police car who was going to drive my to the station. The second police officer entered the car and starting to explain the procedure (He was quite nice, but firm). I asked him what happened if I had drunk too much, because I couldn't see how it could have happened, so he told me I would lose my permit for at least 3 hours.

Suddenly I felt very tired, knowing that I had to call my parents to pick me up (given the fact that half of my family has drinking problems and my parents wouldn't be too happy)
Just having departed, I heard the first police officer calling it of the controls for the day (Had I only arrived 2 minutes later).

Arrived at the station, they put me between a drugs dealer and a whore, with whom I have a nice talk for 15 minutes (I didn't know 80 grams of Cocaine went that amount of money on the street and neither did I know you have to pay more if you want a whore to undress completely).
Made some real good friends that evening (ahem)

Meanwhile the second police officer was trying to reassure me
PO2: You see sir, you are not the only one in the station tonight (being compared to a drugs dealer and a whore, I really felt better)

The first police offer called me over to his desk and asked me to blow (again) until I heard a sound. After 1 minute of grinding, the blood analysis test printed a ticked with only 1 number : 0,19. (Meaning I had 0,19 mg of alcohol in my blood, which is way lower that the 0,25 mg that is allowed), so I was safe.

Not, the first police officer let me do the test again with the breathalyzer and again it beeped positive. Back to the blood analysis machine: 0,19. At that time, I started looking around for a hidden camera. The first police officer not believing the machine contacted a third police officer (they do go to a great deal of trouble to earn a buck) and that one finally brought the relief :
PO3 : Those new testers tend to display an A (positive) if they started running out of batteries

So, finally, I was off the hook. Police officer 2 returned my stuff and escorted me back to the police car. Meanwhile police officer 1 kept on telling me : It's not always bad news, eh.

During the trip back, both officers kept on apologizing them for the trouble they had caused and the time I had lost and now I had a good story to tell to my friends (I do know better ones, but hey). Arrived at my car, I both shook their hands and wished them a good night and drove home.

Time of arrival at home : 6am.

Motivation

Psychology tells us that motivation- true, lasting motivation- can only come from within. Common sense tells us it can't be manufactured or productized. So how is it that a multi-billion dollar industry thrives through the sale of motivational commodities and services? Because, in our world of instant gratification, people desperately want to believe that there are simple solutions to complex problems. And when desperation has disposable income, market opportunities abound.

AT DESPAIR, INC., we believe motivational products create unrealistic expectations, raising hopes only to dash them. That's why we created our soul-crushingly depressing Demotivators® designs, so you can skip the delusions that motivational products induce and head straight for the disappointments that follow!

I have heard about reverse psychology, but I've some serious doubts about the effectiveness of these poster. Nevertheless, it's always a nice laugh to see one of your collegeaus gasping in disbelief at one of the posters behind your desk, not knowing if it is a joke or me just going mental.

Anyhow, here are my favorites ones. Some of them already date back to 1998, but they still rock







And the one with a very special meaning for me, since I choose to differ