Personal Log: Rob Versteegt

Ah, today's the day. Today, 40 years ago, the first episode of 'Star Trek' aired. And while three years after that, the show got cancelled, the spirit of Star Trek lived on. So much even, that Star Trek got revived: movies were made, and more shows were produced: TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT. And even though the latest show got cancelled as well, Trek isn't dead. No, it's very much alive! Since even without new Trek on television, 'Trekkies' like myself (or well, I'm not allowed to call myself a Trekkie anymore I think, since I completely forgot about Trek's 40th aniversary... O_o) find other ways of getting their doses Star Trek. Via the RPG community, for instance.

For over three years already, I'm a member of a Star Trek RPG: ST Frontier Fleet. I've written thousands of posts in that time, and I'm not tired of it yet. That's how I get my daily Star Trek. Oh, and I watch one ep of TNG a day (not surprisingly, I bought season 3 and 4 of TNG, some time ago... and I'm planning to buy seasons 5, 6 and 7 as well...) Besides that, I chat about Star Trek, write Star Trek stories, and I read Star Trek books. I'm quite the Star Trek fan, as you can see.

But... this got me thinking. 40 years of Star Trek. What kind of world would this be if this wonderful show -and its successors- hadn't been around? What if the world hadn't been enriched with Star Trek? What if -Prophets forbid- Star Trek had never been invented? What if Gene Roddenberry had simply shrugged, put away his vision, and started to do other things? How would my life be then?

Well, for starters, instead of just sitting at my computer when I get from work, I could have a girlfriend with whom I would talk. Imagine that... a girlfriend! And... and I might even have a social life. Wow! I might actually get to know new people! And when I would, I wouldn't talk about Star Trek. No... I'd talk about music, and culture! I'd be a very popular guy. Heck, I might even make wedding plans, to get married with the woman I would love. I could be going to parties. Or even better, I could organise parties! Oh man, that would be great!

On the other hand, I could also just have gotten addicted to another show... let's say, pokemon. Ugh... I'd sit on my couch all day, watching... pokemon! I would know all those terrible little creatures by heart. I would have become a Pokemon nerd! Would I have actually joined a Pokemon RPG? And would I be honoured to be chosen to play one of those pokemon? Would I have loved to let my creative juices flowing by typing posts in which all my character -the pokemon- would say, would be his own name?

Yuck!

Thank goodness for Star Trek. Sure, I may not be all that socially developed, and I might not like public spaces... but at least I'm not writing for a pokemon!

Bless you Gene Roddenberry! And Star Trek, congratulations with your 40th anniversary!

Ah, the last day of the vacation for me. Tomorrow, I'm going to the school I work, to prepare everything for monday, since on monday, the schools officially begin again. So for me, tomorrow is my first day of work again. After having spent 5 to 6 weeks at home, work is finally calling to me once more. This has some positive sides, but not only positive.

Anyway, the positive side of going back to school is that I get to see all those children again. I once again get to make a difference: helping these children with the problems they're facing. Teaching them valuable skills which they'll need when they grow up. Helping them to enjoy life as a child. (eek, do I sound old now? )

The bad news of me going to work again, is that I won't be able to write as much posts as I did during the vacation. Okay, that might not be bad news for everyone in Frontier Fleet who is annoyed with the fact that I've been posting so much lately (or trying to, anyway), but still, it's too bad for me, since I'm now rather into all the stories on all the dutystations, and I'm afraid that soon I'll have to slow down posting. Ah well, we'll just see what happens then. ;-)

The last day of the vacation. Let's put it to good use. Everyone, expect a tidalwave of posts today!

One more week. Then the play I'm performing in will be performed for the first time. The premiere. I"m nervous already. I have played in other plays before, so I do know a bit about pre-performance jitters... but of course that doesn't make it any less jitter-y.

Still, there are quite some things that need to be done, and I'm worried about that. The chairs on which the audience has to sit, still need to be arranged. (I thought we did that already, but apparently not) Also, several fellow actors still have some trouble remembering their lines.

But despite all the set-backs, the worries, the jitters and the nerves, I do think that the play I'm in will be a great one. It's called 'Huisvrouw', which translates into English as 'housewife'. It's about a woman -a housewife- who has decided long ago that in order to be happy in life, she must desire nothing.

The two men in the play -I'm one of them.. duh ) play the alter-egos of the housewife. (The housewife herself is played by six ladies.) We try to convince the housewife to either chose, or follow what she thinks is best.

For those of you who know Dutch, who are interested to come to this play, and who don't mind paying about 6.50 euros, ( ) feel free to go to this site and order some cards already. ;-) And who knows, maybe I'll see you there.

And don't worry, you won't have to bring your own chairs. We'll get enough chairs, even if we have to get a few chairs from our homes...

About a year ago, I graduated from the 'teachers' academy', to say it like that. I was authorized to be a teacher for children from the age of 4, until the age of 12. However... during the four and a half years that I spent on that 'teachers' academy', (and especially in the last year) I found out that even though I want this very much, I cannot stand there in the classroom, and make sure everything goes smoothly. I found out that I found it extremely difficult to maintain order, and that I'm far too busy with that, than with teaching.

That was about a year ago. In a year's time, a lot has happened. Most of the times, I stayed at home, near my computer, posting. (I'm sure you've all seen that. ) I became the Nr. 1 poster in Frontier Fleet (hurrah!) and for a while, that was enough.

But not anymore. Or actually, not for a while anymore. Frontier Fleet became more than a hobby, and I forgot I had a real life outside FF. Well, I didn't forget, actually... I just didn't pay attention to it. But now... now, things are changing. Now, my life isn't just stuck at one place. Now, my life is getting back on track. How so? I'll tell you.

During my years in the teachers' academy, I've been on several internships at several primary schools. And now, after some help, I've finally called one of those schools. They agreed to offer me some sort of workplacementship: something like an internship, so without being paid. However, I will be doing the work that I want to do: helping children face their problems. Whether they're spelling problems or behavioral problems, I'll be able to assist them in working on their problems. Also, I'll be working with small groups of children, tutoring them. In other words, I'll be able to give more attention to individual children, which I couldn't do in a classroom where everything has to be orderly.

This new workplacementship begins at February 13th, and I'll have an appointment to talk about what exactly my function will be, at the 8th. I'll probably go and work only from 9 to 12, but that's okay: that'll leave the afternoon for posting.

And who knows... maybe this workplacementship can offer me a new job, somewhere... a paid job, maybe. We'll see. I'm just looking forward to this workplacementship/job. I'm so excited! ;-)

Well, that's it for me. Have fun all, and expect less posts from me in the future.

Regs,
Rob.

When I got received my (e-)mail today, I noticed two comments on two different blog articles of mine. Spam of course. I was slightly upset, although not really surprised, since this is the way society seems to work these days. Anyway, I deleted the spam messages and the mails, and I was about to log out of the blogs again when I noticed that I hadn't written something for a long time already. So I started writing. It's interesting to see how something as annoying as spam could lead me to once again pay attention to the blogs. (No Mr. or Ms. Spammer, that doesn't mean I want more spam )

Anyway... now that I am writing, I might as well tell you about a theatre-club I'm with. Yes that's right, I'm participating in a play. of course it's in Dutch, and it's called 'Huisvrouw', which means something like 'Housewife'. (No, I do not play that housewife ) It's a monologue, converted into a dialogue, and it's about the desires, needs, childhood dreams, etc. of this housewife. The housewife is played by *six* people, who all play the same role, yet different: one embodies the housewife's dreams, the other her 'down to earth' side, while another is the angry side of her.

In this performance, I play one of the housewife's inner voices: the reason. Since the reason is being (mis-)used by this housewife to justify her forsaking her dreams, it should be an interesting role to play for me. However, we have only just decided who plays which part, so it's not yet decided how exactly we'll play those parts. A lot of things can still change, but that's okay: the first performance is in May, somewhere. So we still have some time.

Well, that's about it for this blog-entry. Hope you enjoyed it, and found it as the title of the blog says. If not, too bad.