by Henk ter Heide on Saturday November 12, 2011
To see more of these beautiful and dark pictures visit Vitaly Alexius
Chronoscape darkness
Catatonic atrocity
Tree hugger
Road to salvation
Final destination
Thou shall not pass
Smog
Derelict isle
Expedition to hell
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by Henk ter Heide on Friday November 11, 2011
I never really considered it a problem, but I have been
wondering the last couple of years. Why is it that I
always have so many problems. And why is it that almost
everybody I know has a lot of problems.
.
..
…
….
…..
Bored….
Bored….?
Bored….!
Bored!
It always takes me a few weeks to figure out what it is
that I’m feeling.
A month ago I realized that I was feeling bored.
I had nothing left to think about.
So my first reaction was to go out and find me some kind
of problem to solve.
But after a few days it dawned on me that this is why I
always have so many problems. I search them out.
I love solving problems. Whether they are personal
problems, work related problems, problems of other
people or just problems I’ve read about.
People who worked at boarding houses group homes
where trained in recognizing problems by the way
people behaved. So it actually happens that I know
what is wrong with people with whom I’ve never talked.
I love figuring out what is wrong and finding a
way to solve the problem.
But there is a down side.
When problems get solved people run of in search
for a more happy life and I go out and find the next
problem. Which leads to a somewhat depressing life style.
On further thought I concluded that it isn’t the finding
of the solution that I love. It’s the thinking process
that precedes it. But this thinking process isn’t exclusive
to solving problems.
So I’m done with solving (other people’s) problems.
Now I’m going to work on my own future.
Let’s see how much fun I can get out of writing
stories for this blog.
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by Henk ter Heide on Thursday November 10, 2011
Gramatik is a producer from Slovenia who likes to mix Soul, Funk, Jazz, Blues and Classical Music into his tunes.
To enjoy more of his music visit him at his youtube channel
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by Henk ter Heide on Wednesday November 9, 2011
I’m in grate shape. I’m bursting with energy.
About two months ago I started training with weights. Although
I haven’t lost any body weight it has done a lot for my condition.
I should have started with this years ago.
One of the advantages of a visual thinking process (which is a
symptom of both autism and dyslexia) is the way I count.
I can see how many objects there are just by looking at them
for a moment.
Actually until a few years back I thought everybody could.
I was very surprised when I saw the wife of Boyd (from the
Discovery show “American Hotrod”) point at three cars and say
“there are one, two, three, three cars” (of a specific type).
At first I thought see was joking or acting deliberately stupid.
It took me a while to realize that she actually couldn’t see
how many cars there where without counting them.
It took me even longer to realize that this is probably true
for most people.
It seems that I have a special ability. Not only can I see how
many objects there are by just looking at them. But I can even
do that while there’re moving. (The number of ducks swimming in
a pool.)
It works better with odd shaped objects, like ducks, then with
even shape objects, like ball bearings in a box.
There is one drawback though.
Since I hardly ever count in the regular way I don’t have much
practice with it and get easily distracted.
Especially if I have to count past ten. “1, 2, 3, 14, …15,
…16?” Or when I have to count sets of anything. “Is this the
second or the third set?”
But it isn’t really a problem because I almost never count the
regular way.
Or at least that is what I’ve been telling myself for the last
couple of years.
Of course everything changes when I start training with weights.
Sport instructors advise to do 3 sets of 15 repeats with 30 to
60 second brakes between sets. But after counting to 15 I’m
never sure whether I actually did 15 repeats. And after the
brake I’m never sure whether I’m about to start with the second
or with the third set.
So I’ve been putting training with weights off.
I was always afraid that someone would notice and accuse me of
cheating. Or, even worse, I would have to admit that I can’t
count passed ten.
Two months ago I decided that I would no longer bully myself
with thoughts about what people could do or say and just start
training using 3 sets of 10 repeats.
Nobody noticed.
Even better.
It turns out that there are more people training with a different
scheme. Not a lot but enough not to make me stand out.
If you like the stories I tell. Or like the art and music I show. Feel free to leave a donation.
by Henk ter Heide on Tuesday November 8, 2011
Taylor Mali poem
Stephen Fry on language
If you like the stories I tell. Or like the art and music I show. Feel free to leave a donation.
by Henk ter Heide on Monday November 7, 2011
At sheltered workplace Promen work about 500 people with disabilities and
1500 people with all kind of problems that lead to a high sick leave.
Most of those people have problems they can’t solve themselves. So, as
you can imagine, this leads to a lot of complaining and whining.
And of course most people complain to the staff.
Last year one of my colleagues called her manager with a problem. The
conversation went something like this:
“Phi…il my sewer pipe is leaki..ing. I have called the sewer servi..ice.
Could I please get the day o..off.” And Phil reacted with “No, you know
the rules. Leave days must be planned three days in advance.” “Yes, but
Phi..il, how could I have known that my sewer would start leaki..ing?”
Phil put the phone down.
She didn’t understand why see couldn’t get a day off. Which surprised me
since it is general known that Phil hates whining.
In 2006 I discovered that I’m autistic. Which made it possible to
understand the problems I had. And also made it possible to find solutions
for all those problems.
So now I’m at the point where I could leave Promen and find a real job.
But for one thing. I’m 50 yr and my only experience for the last 10 years
is doing unskilled labor.
I can only get work as a temp. Which means that I would be send to a
different company on a daily basis.
Only thinking about that gives my panic attacks.
So, except if I find a way to earn a living via the Internet, I will be
working at Promen for the next 15 years.
Which means that I had to find a way to deal with managers who consider every
politeness as a form of whining.
I have.
When I want a day off I’ll enter my manager’s office and tell him “Steve
tomorrow I will be taking a day off!” and then I turn around and leave
his office before he has the opportunity to react.
That feels like a very rude way of dealing with a manager, but it beats being
smacked down with some childish rule.
If you like the stories I tell. Or like the art and music I show. Feel free to leave a donation.
by Henk ter Heide on Sunday November 6, 2011
One of my favorite artists and the winner of the 2008 Australia’s Got Talent
If you like the stories I tell. Or like the art and music I show. Feel free to leave a donation.
by Henk ter Heide on Saturday November 5, 2011
Years ago my father told me about an add he saw in the papers, somewhere in the fifties,
which read “Send me one guilder”.
I always wondered what would have happened
On the one hand this guy didn’t offer anything.
So if he didn’t send anything back he wouldn’t be in remission.
But on the other hand, it wasn’t easy to send money in the fifties.
You had to fill in a credit form
put it in an envelop
and snail mail it to your bank.
Which seems like a lot of work for something that probably was only a joke.
Nowadays it’s much easier to send money.
The only thing you have to do is click on the donation button below.
I wonder how many people would actually do…
If you like the stories I tell. Or like the art and music I show. Feel free to leave a donation.
by Henk ter Heide on Friday November 4, 2011
To see more of these beautiful pictures visit Lars Van De Goor
Funghi town
Dressed to shine VII
Elforet
Trork
Shower in light
That same other world
The wooden ballet dancers
BlocKing
Running in green
Path of joy
Reacht
If you like the stories I tell. Or like the art and music I show. Feel free to leave a donation.
by Henk ter Heide on Thursday November 3, 2011
The new ballroom of the local wheel chair dancing group is on the second floor of a building without an elevator.
One would think that this will lead to a few problems…
Is this true?
No it isn’t.
But I do come across a lot of these kind of stupid situations where you would think that it’s obvious what is going wrong and that someone should fix it. But nobody ever does.
For instance 40% of the employees of sheltered workplace Promen have back problems.
So you would think that we get very little assignments that demand heavy lifting. But we have a lot of them.
Or you would think that if there’s a need for heavy lifting people would help each other. But they don’t.
They complain a lot about pain in there backs but they never seem to realize that they can change the situation.
For years I’ve been wondering why that is.
There seem to be several reasons.
For one thing people want to fit in. So instead of trying to change the circumstances, they try to change themselves to fit the circumstances.
But there are also a few other reasons.
Some people don’t recognize the problems as common problems, but feel that everybody should solve it for him self.
Some feel that since it is a common problem it isn’t their responsibility to solve it.
And some simply feel that isn’t possible to solve common problems; you can’t change the world.
In fact it is quite possible and fairly easy to solve common problems.
It is as easy to complain about common problems as it is to complain about personal problems.
The trick is to never lay blame and never expect anyone to be grateful for your efforts.
If you do that people really appreciate the fact that you are calling attentions to their problems.
The next step is to suggest ways to solve the problems. By changing the way they behave and the way they do their work people could make life much easier for them selves.
It take a few months but at some point someone will try it and find that it indeed makes his life easier.
And since it’s a common problem it also improves the lives of his colleagues. A little. But as the circumstances improve more people are willing to change their behavior. And little by little common problems get solved.
I’ve been doing this for the last 20 years with ever more success.
It won’t change the world, but it does change my corner of the world.
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