Amsterdam
.
HOW TO BUILD A TIME MACHINE
First, you need love, lots of it. Spend it all on your best friends when you are young, live with them in a same room in a boarding school, rent an apartment together right after high school - and go to Amsterdam together.
When you are in Amsterdam, fresh from high school, with your best friends - let the state of puppy's exaltation conquer you totally. Smoking in the open! Dutch herring, chips with mayo, bami&nasi at FEBO machines, "pssst, man, extasi, trips, coca, heroin - it's no problem, you can test it, if you don't like it, don't pay for it" pusher on the bridges of Red Lights District, coffeeshops again, amazing design of every inch of any street you go - let pure joy, delight, elation, rapture and enthusiasm become you. Stay like this for a whole month.
And then wait 20 years. Try to set up a startup tech company with the same team of your best friends. Watch the team molding together, ideas flowing, best friends dreaming on better future together again. Then go to Amsterdam to tech conference.
As you smoke your first joint at Prix D'Amis coffeeshop and find a black dud from london next to you, with a big "judge" badge there, and discover it's actually "World Cannabis Cup judge"; smell the blend of chips and mayo, hashish, herring, autumn leaves, Surinami food - the Amsterdam blend; ask for directions and get some nicest people in the world - and finally FEEL this thrilling trembling of your soul, when you feel so happy as you never felt in your life, and you are soon going to change the world with your best friends, and a sudden gust of autumn wind swings the yellow leaves under your feet at the bridge - and you are back home, in the times of infinite happiness, dreams and bright future. Mission accomplished.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A HERO
I come to Schiphol with 500 Euro bill in my wallet. No coins, no small cash. Have to take the train to Centraal Staation. And no ticket machine will take the 500 bill, and no shop, and the cashier at the train station can't take it. So I go to the change office, and they want to keep 1% just for changing the note. From Euro to Euro - and they want 5 Euro of my money, which I don't give a shit about - but I do give a shit about justice and don't like being robbed.
So I go back to the cashier at the station, and a black dude slightly above 40, with good smile and kind sad eyes can't take my credit card - there's no chip in it. And I tell him the change story, and he says - this is NOT JUST! And he breaks the rules, and takes my 500 Euro note, risking severe repercussions at work - because he fights injustice.
- You are a brave man, I tell him.
- Sometimes, sighs the dude, with his good smile and sad eyes. Sometimes I am.
- Let it be always, I wish him.
I had to go all the way from the scared sheep of Israel to find a hero an Amsterdam train station cashier.
LIKE IN LIFE
Лишь одна дорожка да на всей земле
Лишь одна тебе тропинка - твой белый свет,
Весь твой белый свет
Е.Летов
Time to get out of Prix D'Amis coffeeshop, find my way to the apartment. I ask the doorman, cool Jamaican-originated Dutchman, show him the pre-printed page with address of the flat.
- Go straight, there is a small narrow path that will cross big streets and channels. Go straight all the time, no right, no left, the path is narrow, but it is yours. You have to stay on the path, if you turn away - you are lost.
- Like in life, I say. Like in life.
- Ya man, you just made my day
Like in life. Always straight, no turning to big shiny roads. Like in life.
.
HOW TO BUILD A TIME MACHINE
First, you need love, lots of it. Spend it all on your best friends when you are young, live with them in a same room in a boarding school, rent an apartment together right after high school - and go to Amsterdam together.
When you are in Amsterdam, fresh from high school, with your best friends - let the state of puppy's exaltation conquer you totally. Smoking in the open! Dutch herring, chips with mayo, bami&nasi at FEBO machines, "pssst, man, extasi, trips, coca, heroin - it's no problem, you can test it, if you don't like it, don't pay for it" pusher on the bridges of Red Lights District, coffeeshops again, amazing design of every inch of any street you go - let pure joy, delight, elation, rapture and enthusiasm become you. Stay like this for a whole month.
And then wait 20 years. Try to set up a startup tech company with the same team of your best friends. Watch the team molding together, ideas flowing, best friends dreaming on better future together again. Then go to Amsterdam to tech conference.
As you smoke your first joint at Prix D'Amis coffeeshop and find a black dud from london next to you, with a big "judge" badge there, and discover it's actually "World Cannabis Cup judge"; smell the blend of chips and mayo, hashish, herring, autumn leaves, Surinami food - the Amsterdam blend; ask for directions and get some nicest people in the world - and finally FEEL this thrilling trembling of your soul, when you feel so happy as you never felt in your life, and you are soon going to change the world with your best friends, and a sudden gust of autumn wind swings the yellow leaves under your feet at the bridge - and you are back home, in the times of infinite happiness, dreams and bright future. Mission accomplished.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A HERO
I come to Schiphol with 500 Euro bill in my wallet. No coins, no small cash. Have to take the train to Centraal Staation. And no ticket machine will take the 500 bill, and no shop, and the cashier at the train station can't take it. So I go to the change office, and they want to keep 1% just for changing the note. From Euro to Euro - and they want 5 Euro of my money, which I don't give a shit about - but I do give a shit about justice and don't like being robbed.
So I go back to the cashier at the station, and a black dude slightly above 40, with good smile and kind sad eyes can't take my credit card - there's no chip in it. And I tell him the change story, and he says - this is NOT JUST! And he breaks the rules, and takes my 500 Euro note, risking severe repercussions at work - because he fights injustice.
- You are a brave man, I tell him.
- Sometimes, sighs the dude, with his good smile and sad eyes. Sometimes I am.
- Let it be always, I wish him.
I had to go all the way from the scared sheep of Israel to find a hero an Amsterdam train station cashier.
LIKE IN LIFE
Лишь одна дорожка да на всей земле
Лишь одна тебе тропинка - твой белый свет,
Весь твой белый свет
Е.Летов
Time to get out of Prix D'Amis coffeeshop, find my way to the apartment. I ask the doorman, cool Jamaican-originated Dutchman, show him the pre-printed page with address of the flat.
- Go straight, there is a small narrow path that will cross big streets and channels. Go straight all the time, no right, no left, the path is narrow, but it is yours. You have to stay on the path, if you turn away - you are lost.
- Like in life, I say. Like in life.
- Ya man, you just made my day
Like in life. Always straight, no turning to big shiny roads. Like in life.
.