Rest and Relaxation...

The above statement is nothing for me. I still feel I need to rest after Saturday's run, but I want to really get back on the road. Luckily the weather is crap at the moment, as we are getting lots of snow and hail storms across the country, so sitting inside is a lot easier than expected. I posted the wrong time yesterday, the right time is a bit quicker: 2:09:19. Yes, those 20 seconds make all the difference for my self-confidence.

Yet rest and relaxation is not all good for me, it gives me way too much time to think. Especially since I'm up at 8 to walk the dog anyway, and you can only read so many academic articles on leveraged buy-outs before you fall asleep, or the mind drifts off. Working is a lot easier because there is a sense of urgency behind each bit of work that you do. So once my mind starts wandering to places, some completely silly, and others way too serious I came across one question;
Wrong time, wrong place, right person, what can you do?
Think about each section and split it up into many different points of view, and the question becomes a real brainteaser. For example, wrong time does not have to mean the specific time, but can also mean your personal time or stage of your life, etc. This is why people warn me about thinking too much, and having too much time on my hands.
Besides, the question used to be; Right time, right place, wrong person, what can you do?
Its a small but extremely significant difference...

The Official Time...

The official time it took me to run the half marathon today:

2:09:34

But the best part is I came in 4835th place... yeah yeah...

And to top it all off I have pain in places you cannot imagine...

Have a great weekend everyone

The Day Before...

Its been a couple of days since I've last written anything down, but with the start of my "running season" less than a day away I thought I'd write a little. The weather looks like it'll hold up, and even if it rains, it's no like I'm made of sugar, so I'm kind of looking forward to it. My motivational worries are gone for the moment and all that's left is to get a good night rest and be ready for the afternoon.

The reason I haven't written anything is that I'm at my parents place taking care of our elderly dog. There is nothing like an 11 year-old dog to get you out of bed in the morning and walking come rain or shine. And I've been a bit too lazy to write and busy with my research proposal to write an extended review of whats been happening the past couple of days, primarily because there hasn't been much happening in the past couple of days. In my case the saying "no news is good news" holds I guess.

Watch for tomorrow's announcement on how quickly (or slowly) I've run... For those of you going partying this weekend, have a good one...

Spring has come at last...

Its a beautiful day, the sun is shining, I feel good, no ones going to stop me now...

Well, that's one way of enjoying the first real spring day, 15 degrees and sunny. Yet still I have a feeling that everything is not sunny and beautiful. I trained for the last time before this weekends half marathon. Went for a 10 km run and feel like I won't be ready this weekend. But I put that to nerves. Its funny, according to my schedule I have to run competition/matches/ runs every 4 weeks. That means running a half marathon every one and a half months if I want to be ready for September. Today is the first time I actually doubted what I'm doing, and wondered why the hell I want to run two marathons. I've convinced myself that it's because I tend to do things the hard way. Almost everything I try I do the hard way, I try sports even though I might not have trained for ages. I pick thesis subjects that prove to be almost impossible to find data for yet still I want to pursue them. I tend to get into relationships that only really have a 10 per cent chance of succeeding... Life sucks doesn't it...

I'm still angry at the world once in a while. I talked about it over the weekend with my friends and I was told that I shouldn't think too much. Its something that I've heard before, but an active mind is hard to slow down. In many cases this is not a bad thing, as long as I apply my thinking to the right things, but I don't do that 7 out of 10 times, and I'm probably better for it. Its easy to put things away just because you don't want to think about it anymore, or its something you don't want to confront. It may take me longer to get through things that are difficult to accept or deal with, but at least I deal with those things. And I have a firm belief that a lot of stuff is worth remembering, which apart from leading me to remember the most stupid little facts, gives me the privilege of remembering a lot of fantastic things that others feel are insignificant. When it comes to other people, nothing is insignificant...

Enjoy the start of spring, and the birds and the bees, blah, blah, blah, etc...

An interesting and disturbing couple of days...

Its Sunday again, which means for most of you that the working week is set to begin again tomorrow. For me it will be just another day sitting behind the computer and academic articles researching my thesis. Life is good... The weekend has been good, I had a beer with friends in the inhabited area of Holland, the western part, and it was good to catch up with them. Its good to be able to talk about absolutely nothing once in a while, and enjoy it, which makes life so much easier to cope with. For example, a couple of my friends have a passion for motorbikes. Their girlfriends disapprove of course, and we came to the unanimous conclusion that women/girlfriends are not really that interested in the hobbies of men. This point is further illustrated when I say that I have never been able to turn a girl on by telling them all about how fantastic my 58 degree lob wedge is the more it rusts, because then I get more grip on the golf ball and more spin. And I doubt that any girlfriend will find it cool if their boyfriend is out of bed and gone at 9 on Sunday morning, which mean no breakfast in bed, and gone for most of the day. I have definitely chosen the wrong hobby, its a shame I enjoy it so much.

The disturbing part of the last weekend was actually just before the weekend. I saw a documentary on TV called "beperkt houdbaar" (translated: limited shelf-life), and was about the plastic surgery industry in America and how magazines and fashion models influence our self image. What shocked me was that a plastic surgeon basically sat down, looked at a woman as a piece of meat which doesn't conform to a certain image, and tells her that her body looks like crap and has to be completely rebuilt. The women are not seen as patients, but candidates for surgery. But hold on, the most shocking is still to come. At the moment there is a huge trend in plastic surgery called labia corrections. Basically, the vagina is operated on so that they look like so-called Playboy vagina's. Incomprehensible that this is done. I can understand that in some cases this type of surgery may be medically necessary, but to have this type of surgery because you want to look like a photo-shopped model that appeared in the Playboy is unbelievable. Its an ultimate form of putting aesthetics over function, because some feeling is lost if parts of the vagina are removed. Crazy, nuts, unbelievable, and shamefull that men try to convince women to get that type of surgery. How hypocritical is it to be outraged by female circumcision in the Islam culture, but then let your daughters go and get a labia correction in the name of aesthetics? Just so that you don't understand me wrongly, I feel that female circumcision and these labia correction should be banned outright, outside of purely medical reasons. But its been a long time since I've been shocked in such a way and I sat in front of the TV with my mouth open in horror. Unbelievable...

Nothing more to add for the moment, just want to get across that we should be aware what kind of effect magazine covers, models, actors, movies, etc. have on our self-image and confidence for both women and men. Hell, I get horribly insecure about how I look and my self-confidence picks up a huge dent when I pick up a copy of Men's Health, GQ, or other men's magazines. I know I'll never have the six-pack, massive arms, and make women drool when I walk down the street, but there's nothing wrong with that. Is there????

Happy International Women's day...

As if I haven't made it clear enough that women rule the world in yesterday's post I'd just like to say:

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!!!!!!!

Yes, women have their own day. Do we have an International Man's Day??? No, because women rule the world. Can't live with them, can't live without them, love them anyway...

Self-destructive behaviour...

It's finally stopped raining in Groningen, which means I might actually get to play some golf this weekend. What a relief, I was starting to get really bad withdrawal symptoms. Playing golf is my natural relaxant. However, it also meant that I went for a run tonight, and that can be seen as self-destructive behaviour for me at the moment, due to the niggling sours and pains in the body. I shouldn't be running at all and stretching and resting so that I'll be able to run the 21 km next week, but no, I go and run 9 km today. Very smart on my part. I have a bit of a history of self-destructive behaviour. I'd start smoking again if I didn't want to run the marathons, because one pack of cigarettes will put me back 3 months of training. I'd rather feel pain in my body at the moment than anything else. I drink too much, but not excessively, if that makes any sense. I barely know what it feels like to go to sleep sober, and I still sleep like crap. I just tend to do certain things to extremes. I rationalise to extremes because then I can cope with the situation even if its not the right thing to do. I want to push my body to extremes this year, I think I'm actually punishing myself in this way for some reason. I think about things to extremes, and I want to get things right even if the situation doesn't allow for that at that time. Now this characteristic is probably my worst, as when the things inevitably go wrong I tend to put the blame on myself. I cling to what I want to achieve even if I know the right thing is to let go and cut my losses, and be happy with the stuff I did achieve and still have. Let's just say that this kind of behaviour is not always the best. Okay, to call my behaviour self-destructive is another extreme, because I'll never go that far, I'm too stubborn and don't want to give up. In my own way I'm impossible to live with.

I'm going to keep running I guess.

Nothing I didn't already know: Women rule the world...

Its been women in the news today in Holland. The prevailing message has been that men are screwed for the future, and that's nothing new to me I guess. The first bit of news is that girls are finishing their university degrees earlier and with better marks than men. This should inherently mean that the women should get the top jobs in the future, and if that doesn't happen then there is something seriously wrong with the system. Women are usually better at multi-tasking, organising, languages, making a personal connection with customers, and as good at analytical thinking as men. All these skills are essential in modern business, so we're screwed. I guess the only reason there is a glass ceiling is that women let us pretend that we make the world go round, which is of course absolute bullshit. Plus there is continuously more attention put towards child-care provision for mothers so they can go back into the work place if they choose to. All good things, now we should also see more equal pay between men and women. If the super stiff and unchanging Wimbledon Tennis organisation offers equal pay for men and women, why shouldn't the rest of the world?

The second bit of news is something I read in the Economist. Men beware where you get married, because if your wife decides she's had enough of you (which is certain to happen since there is always something better out there) she is almost always on the winning side financially. Men, do not marry in England or America. Women, marry in England or America. Get married in Germany or France or somewhere in continental Europe. Why? Because in those countries there is a limit on the amount and the number of years men have to pay 'maintenance' fees. Germany is high on the divorce "friendliness" list which is a list that shows how a divorce is arranged for a "non-adulterous high-earning man hoping for a speedy exit from a ten-year marriage concluded without a pre-nuptial agreement". France is second, America definitely last. So there we go, women have more "earning potential", should be more successful in business and get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to divorce settlements.

The third bit of women's news is that women should start with having children earlier in life. Why? its more dangerous for the woman to have children at ages 35 and over, there is more of a chance for complications. Many women might disagree with the idea of having children at a younger age because they feel they lose the option of having a career. At the moment this is a valid point, but not for the next generation of mothers. Think of it this way, women are more highly qualified, more willing to work, and there is better child-care these days (if you can get your foot in the door). This means that if women have children earlier, the sooner they can get back into the workplace, and the longer they can enjoy a career. Gender is no longer a barrier in business, but age is the universal discriminator for men and women, so the sooner women get back in the workplace, the more they can enjoy a career. Plus it has the benefit to strengthening the gene pool because the babies will probably be healthier if the women are younger when they get pregnant. Now of course I'm not advocating teenage girls to go out and get pregnant, don't get me wrong, but the average age of women having children should not go over the 35 years old, if circumstances allow that. But its an individual decision of course...

Men Unite, For We Are The Breeding Stock Of The Future...

Its not like we picked who we want as a girlfriend or wife now anyway, so what's new. The meek will not inheret the earth, women will and have...and that's another reason why nice guys will always finish last, but I'll explain that statement some other time...

After the fit...

Life sucks at the moment...I've gone and injured my calf muscle, or the tendon attached to the muscle above the ankle on my left leg. And that sucks... As if I don't have enough shit to deal with besides a body breaking down two weeks before the half marathon. At least I've found someone to run the City-Pier-City with, which should keep me going. I have to try and rest the leg, and that's quite easy when it rains all day, but I feel like a caged animal in a zoo pacing along the boundaries. DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS... But I'm stubborn and stupid enough to not fail, always have been, always will be. Everyone warns me that there is such a thing as responsible running, which is bullshit, because there is no such thing as doing things in such extremes and doing them responsibly...The body is weak, yet the mind is determined.

The sum of our past...

Who am I? Am I just a sum of what I've done and seen? If you read my CV will you know me? We think we can see what a person is like by first impressions, and first impressions are important, but not conclusive. I tend to scrub up pretty good, and if I wear a suit you probably won't write me off at that moment. Yet still you will never be able to know me at that moment. We are profiled, prodded, questioned, judged by people who want to know us for whatever reason. All the answers I give will not let those people truly know me. I doubt whether my parents truly know what goes on in my head, and who I am. Leaving the house at 17 I've spent the most important and forming years of my life out of the parental radar. I've lived alone and independently for the past 7 years making my own mistakes, so the question remains if they really know me. Sure, I talk to them often enough, and ask advise on different subjects, and sometimes I even follow their advise, but the choices I make are mine to make and I get to hear often enough that they would have done things differently. So be it, choices made are consequences accepted. And do we ever really let our parents get to know us, do we want to? What if they don't like what they see?

One of the most common things I hear about my personality is that people find it hard to get a feel for who I am. It took my friends, those who stuck it out anyway, 7 years to get to know me. They'll tell you that I don't open up to just anyone, which is true, but if you have the patience and interest then you'll get a fairly good idea of who I am and that you won't regret having to wait. I don't think I'll ever let anyone to truly get to know me, it's just not worth their disappointment. But that doesn't mean that I won't let people try, and I don't let people down if they put in the effort. Can I accept it if people rule me out because they judge me on my past or on first impressions? Not really, but do I have a choice? And have I done that in the past? Definitely, but I know plenty of people that I shouldn't have come close to or bothered with (even with a long stick) based on their past or who they are related to. I shouldn't be friends with my brother based on his family, but we're friends nonetheless.

I am not purely the sum of my past. More importantly, although there are parts of me that may never change and I can't change, there are parts of me that are yet to come. It's up to me to find those out, and up to others to bother to see and find that there is more to me than meets the eye. I'll let you see who I am if you're interested in knowing me for a long time. Try me...

Cheated by Life...

I feel like life has cheated me out of some of the best things out there. Life has been cheating me out of stuff from the day I was born. A simple example, Life has made and decided that I should be tall, which has cheated me out of wearing certain types of clothes, and means I have to search through massive amounts of stores before I can find a pair of pants, jeans, shirts, jumpers, etc. that fit me. I have size 46 shoes, which means I went to three cities to find a pair of sneakers that fit me in the model I wanted to buy, and means that my feet don't fit in certain makes of shoes because they are a different shape. Those are simple examples of me being cheated by life.

Life has cheated me because the thing I wanted most over the past year, and in the future, I can't have. Circumstances can be worked with if you want something bad enough, which I did, yet still it wasn't good enough, I wasn't good enough. Still the effort I put into it wasn't good enough for life, as life decided that I wasn't going to get what I wanted. Life didn't bother to think that what I wanted, and deserve, was right there. Life screwed me by not having a little patience and giving me the time I deserve to have what I wanted. I can't change what I've experienced over my life, and I can't change what point I have reached in my life, but to screw me over because I couldn't show who I really am, what I stand for and why I made my choices, most importantly what I'm capable of, and not bothering to find out, is a punch below the belt. Why is it when I want to be happy and make those choices that make me happy (however much they change me in the future), Life decides that those choices aren't good enough? Why? What is it about me that gives Life the right to screw me over? And would it have been any different if I had a little more experience with Life? Don't the choices you make for your future form you as much as the choices you've made in the past? Don't the things you want to see and experience in the future count as much towards who you are, as the things you've seen and experienced? The past can't be changed, and just because you've seen and done things in the past doesn't mean you're fixed to be that person. Life seems to have decided that there is no such thing as potential. Even though potential doesn't always show up, it should never be ignored, or taken away.

WHO IS LIFE TO CHEAT ME OUT OF SOMETHING I WANTED, IN THIS MANNER, WITHOUT GIVING ME THE CHANCE TO REALISE THE POTENTIAL IT HAD? I DESERVED THAT CHANCE...I WORKED HARD FOR THAT CHANCE...

Life seems to have hidden four aces up its sleeve while playing poker with me over the past year, and that makes not having what I had all the more difficult to accept.

SCREW WITH LIFE, BECAUSE IT WILL CERTAINLY SCREW WITH YOU....

My Top 5 women's fashion hates...

I love women but there are just some things I can't accept and are instant turn-offs for me:

1. The short tight bermudas/trousers that are worn in the winter or while going out.
2. The skinny jeans: Just the thought that you've spent I don't know how long squeezing yourself into those tiny jeans, and the thought that they're a bitch to get off doesn't appeal to me.
3. The pointy toe flat shoes: Those stupid flat type shoes that have the pointy toes. Made even worse if they have a small thin pointy heel (not a deal breaker though).
   
4. The furry boots or ugh boots: Based on the Ugh boots, they look stupid and they were originally made for indoor use only, they only looked good on the person that made them all that at the start, Elle MacPherson (lets face it, she looks good in anything).
5. The Gucci or any other super tacky designer bag: lets face it, you'll either be way too high maintenance or way above my standards...

But a cool, funny, interesting, and intriguing personality will definitely always turn me on, even though you might be wearing the above fashion atrocities...

Lists...the expert's answer to everything...

It doesn't matter what you're asked to do there always seems to be a list involved. SWOT analyses are glorified lists. Excel files are also all glorified lists. There is very little that can't be defined as a list. A problem with lists is that they can backfire. It's as simple as with statistics, if you put in the wrong type of stats and try and find relationships between two variables which are completely unrelated, for example rainfall and visits to the toilet, you might find a connection but it will not really mean anything. What's even more frustrating is that when we're asked to list something because the list is supposed to help us in some way, and we do so, but the list ends up showing something completely the opposite and we end up even further from home. Not only is this frustrating, but it sends the wrong messages. You're so focused on the fact that you'll get a definite answer from your pretty list that it hits you twice as hard if the list fails to give you meaningful results. It is equally frustrating when your fantastic list gives you different results to what you were expecting. After compiling several lists on particular subjects and not getting the results I was hoping for, I have all but given up on lists and their results. The problem is obviously me because I should accept the results as truth, according to experts, but maybe its better to find out how we can use the results to gain some sort of benefit.

These expectations that we attach to lists are equally important in other situations. When you play a sport that's primarily a one-on-one sport its best for your mental resolve to always expect that your opponent will pull off that one crazy shot or action that will win the game. It smooths out the mental roller coaster that we go through. But can we do this for other situations besides competition, sport, and lists? Can we smooth out the highs and lows we experience that are common to the expectations we and others have when it comes to the choices we make in our life? Can we cope with others and our own expectations? And in what way are our own expectations formed by the expectations that others have of us? There are enough examples in the sports world where the parents expectations break up the person that has to live up to those expectations. The suicide rate of Japanese teenagers is the highest in the world because they are expected to perform to crazy standards by parents and institutions alike. I'm not saying that we should set goals and expectations to a low level which we can achieve easily, I wouldn't be running if that was my opinion, but we should become more aware of how expectation influence us.

What is more difficult is to make a choice while expecting to get negative results even though there is a chance that the results might be great. However, I still need a little more time to think on this subject. It's a subject for another time and for the Comments column...

A comment on Happiness...

After another sleepless night with a nagging question in my head I got to thinking about whether there is such a thing as being 100% happy. I use being happy in the context of being content with what you have in life, I don't care whether all the money in the world or living in the street makes you happy, as long as it's what you want. I take the position that there is no such thing as being 100% happy, there are always little things that I'm not satisfied with. However, it is my goal to be as happy as possible in the situation I'm in at that moment, and grasping every opportunity that may be out there to be that little bit more happy, without losing the stuff I've got unless the sacrifice is worth it. Now this may mean being satisfied with 75% happiness. The problem with this is that when you've tasted a period of 90% happiness (I believe this is about as high as you can go on the happiness scale), it becomes extremely difficult to accept the 75% you have at that moment.

Another problem is the humans insatiable desire to be happy. We want to reach that 100% mark all the time, every time, and the question is whether we lose sight of what we have at that moment that made us so happy. It also leads us to wondering whether there is something better out there. There's a Dutch proverb: Andermans grass is altijd groener, which translated freely means: The other guy's grass is always greener. With modern society being focused on success, money and living up to the expectations of others, it's fairly easy to look at the guy next door and ask yourself why it is that he's so much more better off than you are. This leads to wanting to find the other person's level of happiness or means to happiness without looking at ourselves and what makes us happy. The problem this creates in our search for happiness is that we may take one step forwards towards happiness after having taken five steps backwards searching for someone else's level of happiness. Not an ideal situation. I tend to do this particularly when I'm in a bad mood and feeling sorry for myself. I start asking myself why I can't do stuff others can, like getting the 0.3 extra points to get a higher mark. Mostly I tend to ask myself why I can't play golf like Ernie Els, and what did I do to not deserve that sort of talent so that I could make my hobby my profession. Inevitably I snap out of that and concentrate on what I have got going for me. I'm not the most stupid person in the world (being a Master's university student you automatically fall in the top 20% on the "smart" scale in Holland), I'm half decent looking, I've seen and learned more about the world than most others, I've achieved the goals I set for my studies, and I have a good set of family and friends. In the end when I think about it I will never fall below that 75% happiness mark, since that's basically my base level, and I'm fortunate to have such a high base level.

The question remains, when I'm in that bad mood or not sleeping because I'm thinking about my happiness and cursing myself for the choices I've made to achieve a form of happiness that is not my own, will I be big and brave enough to admit my mistake of letting the things go that made me 90% happy. In the end everyone deserves their own high level of happiness, and that can be achieved by recognising those factors that make you happy, and holding on to those, or getting them back if you feel you've let them go, probably the hardest thing to do. The things that are most important are always the most difficult to achieve and hold on to, and I guess there is no right or wrong way to achieving happiness.

Top 5 niggling injuries you get from running...

This is my second Top 5 list. Although I'm not much of a fan of lists they can be good to warn or show stuff more clearly. So here's my list of niggling (small) injuries that you might get when training for a long run:

1. Bleeding nipples: Maybe a little too personal, but this injury is extremely irritating and caused by your shirt rubbing against your nipples while you run.
2. Nails falling off: If you wear shoes that are too small, you're going to get stubbed or blue toes, and eventually your toenails might fall off, buy running shoes that are a size larger than normal.
3. Shin splits: Its an injury thats caused by the constant pounding on your shin bones from running on hard surfaces, 4 times your bodyweight goes through your heels and legs at impact.
4. Whiplash: Not the whiplash in your nek, but in your calves. Can just shoot down your calf muscle if you don't warm up or stretch properly.
5. Nagging pain caused by tight muscles: As you train your muscles in your legs get stronger and bigger. If you don't stretch properly those muscles pull on your tendons and joints causing a continuous pain. STRETCH, STRETCH, STRETCH, is the only remedy.

From personal experience all these small injuries really stink and are extremely irritating. Warm up and stretch is the only remedy to keeping injury free. You can prevent injury number 1 by using vasaline. Enjoy your running...

Choices made are consequences accepted...

It irritates me that decisions have to be made without realising the consequences of those choices. Life would be a whole lot more easy, although a lot more boring, if we could see all possible consequences of the decisions we make. Of course this holds less for the more simple decisions we make. If I decide to kick a tree bare foot, I've accepted the consequence of having a fair amount of pain and a splinter or two in my foot. However, if I decide that the happiness gained by kicking the tree is greater than the pain I will experience, I will kick the tree, even though some others might not agree with me. This reasoning also applies to me running two marathons in quick succession. It's guaranteed that this is going to be the most unpleasant activity that I can go through physically, but the happiness gained from achieving a goal will far outweigh the pain. In many ways this is how I tend to make decisions that affect my current and future happiness.

However, going through the process of pitching the idea of running a marathon, let alone two, to others, I became more aware that people give the reason for not going through with it as that I would be happier if I make a different choice. Thinking back, the same thing occurs throughout the choices you make or the situations you face while living your life, and it pisses me off that people presume that their choice or advice is best for your happiness. I make the choices, with the cards I'm dealt, that make me happy and its frustrating to feel that others have taken that choice away from you by saying that certain things are best for you. Whether the choices I make involves education decisions, weekend plans, summer plans, relationship ideas or career choices, the primary person affected by the choice I make is myself. Although I am the type of person that thinks a lot on how my choice will affect others (not always a bad thing), the person most affected by my decision is me, and the decisions I make are the ones that make me happy, and should not be doubted when it comes to their intention. From this perspective the decisions made by others, that involve me, should be based on their own happiness and not on mine, and not presume that their choice will make me any more or less happy or let me not miss out on something.

So far my choices haven't backfired on me yet, there is no choice that I have huge regrets about. Additionally, I have no doubt that my choice to train for and run two marathons this year will not be a choice I will live to regret. My succes in decision-making can be shown through one clear example: I have yet to kick a tree.

The Natural Highs Gained Through Exercise...

In a world filled with drugs few people realise that any form of exercise creates the best high on a budget. Just to get some politics with drugs straightened out. Holland has a tolerant policy towards soft drugs, they are not fully legalised. Basically, you're allowed to have 5 grams of soft drugs in your possession at any one time, and each household is allowed to grow 5 marijuana plants in their backyard or greenhouse if they want to and only get arrested if the policeman is in a really bad mood, or you're causing some form of unrest. I'm sure that neighbours with little kids aren't going to be too pleased with you growing your weed outside their kid's bedroom window, and the "oregano" excuse doesn't work as well as it used to, so don't piss off more people than necessary when growing your own stash. This gedoog (tolerant) policy has made drugs (at least soft drugs and other 'natural' drugs like magic mushrooms) much less of a problem in Holland, and contrary to belief we are not a generation thats permanently stoned because drugs are easily available. If anything there are less problems with drugs because its not that special to smoke a splif in Holland.

Back to serotonins...formally known as 5-HT, its a neurotransmitter or chemical made by the brain and affects the body temperature, mood (its an anti-depressant), sleep, appetite, and sex drive. To get an extreme rush of serotonin take an XTC pill because XTC stimulates the brain to produce massive amounts of serotonin. The production of serotonin in the brain during exercise leads to a so-called "runner's high", one more reason to run. The second drug produced through exercise is dopamine. Dopamine is a "feel good" drug or chemical which other drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and marijuana induce or copy. Dopamine can also be copied by using coffee, cigarettes or alcohol. If you haven't experienced a dopamine rush through exercise or any of the above drugs you've probably experienced it through engaging in a different form of exercise, sex. Unfortunately, the levels of dopamine and serotonin decrease the longer you're together, after about 3 months of great highs you're less likely to experience those fantastic rushes. So get exercising to keep those drugs circulating and the libido going.

So remember, while its raining outside and you're laying on the couch or any other place with your significant other experiencing dopamine and serotonin highs, spare a thought for me running in that same rain trying to get a little high as well.