Vote or Die

Dutch universities have student bodies. Like most student bodies in the Netherlands, they have no power whatsoever, nobody knows who's in them, what they do all day and if they actually achieve anything. So, a bunch of lazy students (ehm... active students with an interest in their environment) take part in it and the rest of us don´t care. Spins like a kitten on drugs.

One flaw in the situation: the lazy sons or daughters of bitches need to be chosen.

I guess they could have solved it with a game of cards or a duel but that would have been too easy and therefore once a year university wide elections are being held. So far so good, aside from the fact that to have elections you need voters, and that's where the plot thickens.

Last year only 17% of students at the University of Amsterdam voted, and that is one of the lowest turnouts in the country. I believe this is mostly because the Amsterdam student bodies are among the most invisible, although the fact that we Amsterdam students actually have a life (unlike those damn Leiden people) might also play a part.

Personally, I like politics and I feel you should always vote, if only to be able to feel utterly betrayed by your political party the day after the results are announced, but I generally can't be bothered to vote for these student bodies either. Last year I felt guilty and did vote, but I voted on the guy with the nicest smile on the posters so I'm not sure that's how the system is supposed to be. This year again none of my friends are candidates (all: yeey!) so I'm down again to having to pick one of the 40 total unknowns on the different lists.

Crap.

Anyway, I went through all the candidates' descriptions of themselves and managed to pick out two. Since none of the candidates really had any surprising points (more freedom! more vacation! more money!) it's down to looks and general writing skills again.

(drum roll)
Candidate 1:


- pro's; seems to want to make studying more difficult.
- con's: studies language (not a language but language in general), which can't be good. Also, is member of a party that my buddy the Squirrel describes as 'the cool kids'
- not sure yet: makes word jokes



Candidate 2:



- pro's: history student (we's smart folk you know), also made the effort to make up a big comparison between a university and flying an airplane
- con's: made up a big comparison between a university and an airplane
- not sure yet: independent candidate. feels like throwing away your vote doesn't it?



So to make it all as democratic as possible; faithul readers (that would be you Merel and Jari) can vote which of the two and then I'll probably ignore the result but at least we had fun.

25 hours of flu

Yep, I got the flu again. Last time was in January (see archives), therefore no coherent blog with jokes and amusing stories but some random fever infested thoughts. Enjoy!

THURSDAY

3 PM: Jump into bed. With jump I mean stumble. With stumble I mean drag. With drag I do not mean the other meaning of ‘drag’.

4 PM: Bored. Start watching the first season of the American version of Queer as Folk

4:05 PM: Decide that, despite better judgment, I like the American version of Queer as Folk.

4:50 PM: Finally recognize the woman playing Michael’s mother. Nice to know at least one person still has a career after Cagney & Lacey. Wonder if Cagney & Lacey is out on DVD yet. Wonder how I can avoid it if it is.

5:10 PM: Text my friend Merel (not the Merely one, she’s in the UK watching 21 Jump Street 24/7) to tell her that I won’t be coming over for dinner. She texts back that she hopes I’m doing better soon since it’s no weather to be sick.

5:25 PM: Decide I like how Showtime can show naked people and not have Oprah or George Bush complain about it.

6:30 PM: Stop to watch the news. Want to physically attack former politician for talking complete rubbish. Consider this a good sign of recovery.

7:40 PM: Starting to get really good at the self invented game “Find the lines the writers of US QAF stole from Russel T Davies, the writer of UK QAF”. Wonder if English QAF would have been interesting for 22 episodes. Realize nobody cares but me.

11 PM: Turn off TV.

FRIDAY

7 AM: Wake up. Therefore start watching the rest of the Queer as Folk season. Ah well, made sense in my head.

11 AM: Finished QAF. Hate the ending. Officially want to hurt the guy playing the guy with the baseball bat (confused? Me no care… notice how flu makes me so friendly). Probably can’t listen to “Save the last dance for me” again… bastards.

1 PM: Text the Squirrel to tell him I have to cancel movie night. He texts back that he hopes I’ll be doing better soon since it’s no weather to be sick. Wonder if my friends secretly communicate with each other.

2 PM: Start watching Brokeback Mountain on my computer.

2.30 PM: Wonder if the sex scense would have been more attractive if they hadn’t been directed by the man who previously made the Hulk but by the Queer as Folk guys.

2.50 PM: Deeply confused. I was convinced that everybody in the world had agreed that a) Dawsons Creek actually sucked and b) all the actors involved should remain off screen. Katie Holmes was bad enough, do we need to keep Michelle Williams in business?

3 PM: Want to hit Michelle Williams. Also consider this a sign of recovery.

3:20 PM: I don’t like Jake Gyllenhaal’s father in law. Also, start wondering if, just like the sheep, Heath Ledger’s accent is also computer generated. Would explain a lot.

3:50 PM: *#$%^@&*^#%@^&*!^@^!&^@!!!!!!!!!!!

4 PM: Just fucking great. Wonder if I should pull out my DVD of Beautiful Thing, but figured I’ve seen enough gay drama. Decide to watch Oprah instead. Realize this is probably a contradictio in terminis.

4:10 PM: Text message from my mom. Hopes I’m doing ok, especially considering the weather. Am now convinced all my friends and close relatives spent their free time calling eachother.