Sometimes it’s more interesting on the ground than from the aerie. More pix at my Flickr site.
Carnivale from my window
Sunday started out with sunshine and blue skies, biting cold but with some warm colors starting to gather on the steps across from the apartment. 
…then, within two hours, it was Carnivale.
The big parade rerouted this year, passing directly beneath my apartment window. We organized a party and watched the 3 1/2 hours of floats, bands, costumes, and creatures roll past.
I’d done the parade from the street before, but the bird’s-eye perspective was really amazing.
Opening Carnivale
As I write this, a tall thin man in an orange jumpsuit makes his way across to the riverside while a brass marching band practices beneath my office window. Workmen are setting up tables to catch drink glasses, port-a-loo’s are being distributed around the city. Red, yellow, and green striped flags are fluttering everywhere.
In short, it’s Carnivale.
The event defies narrative description, unfortunately: it is just a whirl of color, music, and street parties day and night for five days. The opening parade is being held tomorrow with the raising of the Moose-Wife at 11, but the serious revelry got rolling last night.
Back to the Stedelijk
The Municipal Museum (the Stedelijk) in Amsterdam has been closed for too long, while the old halls being renovated next to the van Gogh museum and the new building lies half-complete and interrupted behind it. So their collections of Mondrian’s and Matisse’s, modern works and contemporary, have been visible only intermittently and occasionally in the Temporary halls.
This is starting to change now that the old halls have reopened, with 10 euro admission and daily access. I took time for a stroll through the galleries on Thursday, their second official day of opening.
It’s good to have the museum back, even though it’s coming online slowly at this stage. Several of the exhibit halls are completely empty, many have only a single work (although this may be intentional for some installations), and the staff is still in training (I tried to confirm that a large mural was done by Matisse and the first three staff people I asked had no idea). My impression was that the works that are being shown so far are probably not their best pieces. The newer installations, while interesting, are not yet compelling, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of the major art return.
Nonetheless, it’s good to have the Stedelijk back. Within a few weeks, things should be well up to speed and I’ll look forward to making a return visit. (I really appreciate, too, that they don’t discourage photography inside the museum).
A narrative break
Narrative, observed British author David Lodge, organizes events through time, in the same way that Images organize events through space.
It’s been a busy time, but lately most of my writings have been about place. ‘take a few photos and put some first-person commentary alongside, knowing that it will be of interest to folks looking for a city break, a new restaurant, or a museum exhibition.
The prosody, the rhythms, of everyday life are harder to capture, telling a story in which the illustrations are secondary to the plot and characters. It’s harder still when the arc of events is still incomplete. Do I foreshadow success or failure? Which overlooked events are pivotal? Who is the hero; who is the villain?
The broad strokes of ongoing events are easy to paint.
I’m still rushing between countries on alternate weeks.
The British business, CamStent, has finally been funded. Checks are arriving daily as investors tumble over one another to be part of the club; the business now has a paper value of 1 million GBP.
Negotiations are back on-track for funding and acquisition of a US company, to be relocated to Europe.
I’m forming another company in Florida with three partners for a new surgical instrument; first meeting was in Brussels last weekend.
Two ongoing partnerships, bioMRC and the Atlantic Accelerator, are generating consulting jobs and the occasional dinner.
My teaching assignment at Cambridge has been an absolute joy the past two weeks.
I’m getting traction on my inburgering, tracking on personal resolutions for the new year, minding my ABC’s (Ambitions, life-Balance, and Connections).
Still, though,this is just another series of snapshots, not a story that tells the daily experience. Like the principal character in “Next to Normal”, it misses the lonely climb and dizzy heights, magic days and darkened nights.
I did tell my story yesterday, talking with a kindred ‘mature’ candidate for a slot in the Cambridge program, and putting my sabbatical experience and life-changes into some sort of context.
Was it worth it? Absolutely, there is a story to tell.
Any regrets? A few: some major, some trivial.
Would you do it again? I look at the path untaken, 2000 more laid off last week at my former employer, vs. the budding promise of the coming months on my winding, hilly path ahead
Am I happy as a reiziger? Yes.
I just need a little more narrative in my thinking and my exposition to express and explore it.
Literature is mostly about having sex and not much about having children. Life is the other way round.
Time for Carnivale
The annual pre-Lent celebration is fast approaching, a bit late this year (since it is linked to Easter, also late) but a welcome relief from the winter cold and darkness. The green, yellow, and red bunting and creepy masks are in all of the store windows, with larger decorations on the beer halls. And, of course, the camel has resumed it’s place of honor atop the pole high above the streets of the Wyck.
