Nimavenl - Nicole's Random Ramblings

I love clouds. I love nature. I love taking photos.  I love taking photos of clouds.  So, here's a photo of a gorgeous cloud. Enjoy! Cloud on the Horizon | Nimavenl

This is A-MA-ZING! and actually has me nodding at almost every point. I am autistic - I have Asperger's Syndrome. I am not weird or strange or unnatural, however it is likely that I am not what you would call normal or average. I am different, unique, special and amazing in my own way. Best of all - I like who I am and I do not need to be 'cured' by anyone. I simply want to be accepted for who I am as a person instead of treated as less than adequate because I don't fit someone's narrow interpretation of 'normal'. this is v me #actuallyautistic pic.twitter.com/ZgZMWeJgEu — heely doc martens (@ekamangan) January 28, 2015

Disclaimer first: I know Tommy personally. He's a great guy with a head full of amazing ideas. I honestly wish I'd written down some of the stuff I've heard him say in the past as he's an inspirational guy who never stopped following his dreams.    That out of the way, now let me say:  WOW!  This sounds ab-so-lute-ly amazing !!!!!!!! I'm a big fan of rock music, anything that sounds like I can dance to it while singing along, really. Trance music however tends to give me a headache - no joke. This music I turned on to listen to, thinking I wanted to reTweet it and needed to know it wasn't horrible or headache-inducing. Twelve minutes in I'm still listening and enjoying the sound. Half an hour in I'm surprised I'm still enjoying myself. I'm still in my chair - barely - however I'm certainly moving to the music and honestly, I'm liking the sound. A lot. An hour on and I've listened to the whole set. My very first hour of trance ev...

Let op: Spoilers voor de aflevering van 26-02-2015 helemaal onderaan Ik ben geen televisie fanaat, al kijk ik wel naar het nieuws en geniet ik van een aantal tv series. Ik ben allereerst een fan van science-fiction en fantasy en geniet van series / shows zoals Star Trek, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Primeval, Defiance en Supernatural. Bijna net zo goed als echte science fiction is Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden - een heerlijke show om te kijken. Verder ben ik gek op crime-shows zoals Bones, NCIS, Criminal Minds en Flikken Maastricht. Ook reisprogramma's doen het altijd goed bij mij - de wereld fascineert me enorm en nieuwe interessante plekken ontdekken vind ik fantastisch. Mijn lijst met "Places To Visit One Day..." wordt alleen maar langer dankzij Floortje Dessing, Chris Zegers en hun collega's! Programma's zoals De Wereld Draait Door en RTL Late Night zorgen ervoor dat ik weet waar Nederland het morgen over zal hebben en kaarten belangrijke onderwerpen aan met int...

Have you ever smiled when hearing a favourite quote or instantly liked someone because of the book they happened to be gushing about? Language connects us and words are powerful. The way we use them says a lot about who we are as people and as a society. Personally, I'd love to live in a world where insulting or belittling others is unncessary and hurting others using words is a thing of the past. A world where people talk to each other, accept and respect others as they are and do not feel the need to try to change people just because they don't happen to think or believe as we do. I am very much in favour of free speech and believe it is extremely important that people are able to honestly say (and write) what they think or feel, without having to fear for their lives. However I also believe that it is important that we respect others as they are, without belittling them using words or actions and without the need to insult the choices people have made in their lives or be...

Just imagine having a bad day on Mercury... Some say men are from Mars and women are from Venus... Today I'm mighty glad that we (women!) migrated to earth a long, long time ago as a bad day lasting almost 117 days is so not my idea of fun!  How long does a day last elsewhere in the solar system? #Space #Astronomy pic.twitter.com/2zHD17wQEn — Upper Atmos (@UpperAtmos) February 21, 2015

Money makes the world go round. According to website UK Essays "the quotation 'money makes the world go round' was first used in a musical play ' Cabaret', it was written in the 1960's ... The main aim of this line was to say that it is money that makes the world turn, not nobility or love. It highlights the fact that our society is heavily dependent on money." Our society is indeed heavily dependent on money. The Dutch say that 'geld maakt niet gelukkig' which translates as 'money does not make one happy' - a statement I agree with. Personally I am afraid that our society as it is cares WAY too much about money, power, wealth and influence. We seem to have forgotten that people matter and that living beings should come before money, before power and before wealth. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports today that Google will now be allowing developers to promote their Apps in the Google Play store . Just as sponsored results in Google S...

This remains one of my favourite photos ever! There is beauty all around us, if only we stop and take the time to look at our amazing world - something too many of us forget all too easily. "I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in."   ~ George Washington Carver Source: Quotations about Nature | The Quote Garden Bloomin' Beautiful * * * Gozo, Malta * * * Feb 2013 A photo posted by Nicole M. Verhaaf (@nimavenl) on Apr 20, 2013 at 2:43am PDT

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” ― G.K. Chesterton Just heard this quote on Criminal Minds and liked it. Feels very true.

Vanmorgen een berichtje ontvangen: "Heb je de aardbeving nog gevoeld?" We kijken elkaar aan - Welke aardbeving? Bij ons in Noord Holland of bij jullie in Groningen? , vragen we ons af terwijl we naar een nieuwskanaal zappen op televisie en druk beginnen te typen op laptop en telefoon om online ook eventjes te lezen wat er aan de hand is. Ik naar de website van het KNMI om daar naar hun kaartje van Nederland te kijken. Appingedam (in Groningen) staat bovenaan met een 2.3 op de schaal van Richter - uit eigen ervaring weet ik dat een 2.3 een lichte beving is die wat zal voelen als een vrachtwagen (of bus... of trein...) die langs rijdt, misschien wat stof naar beneden zal doen dwarrelen. Maar dat is in Nieuw Zeeland waar aardbevingen normaal zijn. Dat is in Nieuw Zeeland waar aardbevingen van nature voorkomen omdat er daar tektonische platen tegen elkaar aan schuiven die aardbevingen veroorzaken. Dat is in Nieuw Zeeland waar men op aardbevingen voorbereid is, er op bouwt en...

As much as I love eating cake, adoringly gazing at photos of delicious-looking cakes and other gorgeous food is lots of fun too! This cake makes me hungry, makes me want to visit my nearest library and may be one of my favourite cakes ever! Yum! Post by Title Wave . In case you can't see a photo above this text, click here to visit the Title Wave Facebook page to have a look at this super-gorgeous Library Cake for yourself!

A description of my day so far. Dramatised (if only a little) to insert humour, edited because my exact daily schedule is no-one's business really and polished because certain things simply don't need to be shared online with strangers! Wake up. Get dressed. Make coffee. Sit down to drink coffee while reading. Make myself breakfast and head out for the morning. Come back home, make coffee, then sit down to write down some thoughts. Get up to make more coffee - Walk to kitchen, rinse coffee cup and turn Senseo on. Wipe bench and stove, promise myself I'll clean the kitchen floor today. Fill sink for first load of dishes. Load washing machine and turn on. Sit down again. Turn laptop on, check emails.7 Remember I wanted coffee earlier - head back to kitchen, actually make cup of coffee. Check Twitter and reTweet interesting Tweets from my timeline. Sit while staring into space contemplating gender inequality and literacy rates around the world. Remember that I made coffee and ...

I love how easy it is to copy words, head over to Google Translate, paste the words and find a translation online without having to search through a dictionary to find the words. Having translated to and from languages I know, I understand that Google Translate is not foolproof or always right, however translations tend to make sense, especially when one understands the context of the words one wants to translate. With the recent murder of Özgecan Aslan in Turkey and my desire to learn more about what people write about that, I've been trying to translate Turkish via Google Translate. Whether I translate to Dutch or to English does not seem to matter - I am stumped by sentences that barely make sense to me. I'm used to being able to to translate Arabic and Hebrew with relative ease... I can only hope that Turkish translations will soon be as easy. I learnt some basic Turkish a very, very long time ago from friends. These days, I can still say some swearwords, count to ten and...

Bored Panda With all the anger, hatred and senseless violence humans bring to Planet Earth, it can feel like the world is going to hell in a hand-basket (to use a popular phrase). Some days I am mighty proud (to be a member) of the human race, other days I actually wish this was not my planet and that those committing atrocities were not my fellow human beings. The human race is capable of so much goodness and kindness, yet we are also capable of horrors and atrocities beyond even my wildest dreams (or should that be beyond even my scariest nightmares?) Will we ever learn to love and respect our fellow human beings just as they are? Will we ever understand that violence and destruction will only lead to more violence and destruction? Will we ever stop fighting and hating each other? Today, I am fed up with the human race. We may be capable of so much goodness, kindness, love, friendship, respect, hope, compassion, understanding and balanced thinking, however we do not show that...