“Then a person starts thinking about existence. This is where the world begins.”
2026-04-16
Endless Dreams 2026
2026-04-15
Dumb and Dumber
I had an experience on a trip. During March on the journey from Brussels to Strasbourg, a French woman was sitting next to me. In the seat ahead of us was a lady from Brazil, apparently living in France. In front of her was a darker-skinned woman also living in France. Across the aisle sat a Spaniard. And behind him was a girl — I don’t know where she was from.
On the highway, you could start to feel wind inside the bus. I was quietly amused when I saw the French woman take off layers down to a T-shirt after she had sat beside me. Someone on the bus had left a window open or opened one. For a moment, nobody knew where the draft was coming from. It was still dark outside. It turned out to be a roof window, with cold air blowing directly into someone’s face.
First, a discussion started in English about where the wind was coming from. The French woman asked what was happening. I said that the roof window was open. The Spaniard tried to close it. But meanwhile, the lady who had become friendly with the Brazilian woman passionately insisted that he should leave the window open. Her reasoning was that the bus needed fresh air.
Everyone seemed quite surprised by the confidence of that lady — that the younger generation, which all of us were, were complaining about the cold, while the older woman saw it only as fresh air.
Maybe she did not realize that icy wind was blowing directly into someone’s face. She was sitting in the seat in front of the window. Of course, the French woman immediately put her jacket back on and was probably covering herself with a scarf as well.
To me, the whole situation was almost comical. When the bus was moving fast and smoothly on the highway, you could really feel it on your body and face. After a while, the Spaniard threw his jacket directly over his face. I started wondering whether my own face was freezing too, while laughing at the sight of the Spaniard with his winter jacket draped over his head. This weird situation reminded me the movie Dumb and Dumber, where these idiots ride through freezing weather across America on a tiny motorbike and end up frostbitten. I thought to myself, “That’s going to be us in a minute…”
The girl sitting behind the Spaniard finally couldn’t take it anymore and asked us whether the window really had to stay open, or what was going on. Spaniard said that he was closing the window, but the lady wished it to remain open. Once the girl said that, the Spaniard silently stood up to that older lady. He went to close the window again.
This time, the older lady did not object.
Across all those languages — French, Portuguese, Spanish, maybe Irish, Czech language I know, and others — we managed to communicate on the bus in one language. If someone had not known that language, they would have been lost when it came to solving problems on the bus.
2026-04-14
EDM 2018 as the Peak of One Era and the Changes After the Pandemic
Because of my relationship with techno music for instance, some people may be surprised by my attitude. But I also like EDM, Martin Garrix (Garrix also brought my person to Dua Lipa because his collaborations with Dua Lipa), Alesso, or MATTN from the female DJs for example.
What saddens me is that many things changed after the pandemic. To this day, I regret that I did not visit Tomorrowland in 2018. I see it as the peak point for EDM, and also the peak point of the time when EDM was dominant at Tomorrowland. Attendance was also at its peak.
Honestly, I am not very enthusiastic about the fact that Tomorrowland became something else after the pandemic. And EDM gave way out. It may be a case for sociologists to explain why. In practice, I no longer have much interest in visiting Tomorrowland. I wanted to experience the EDM atmosphere and community there, and that time is gone…
Drum and bass is also visible at Tomorrowland today. In the past, it was mainly the Belgian Netsky at a Belgian festival who stood out. I like Netsky. Although there may now be people performing at Tomorrowland from DnB whom I personally like, I still do not like that DnB is now common at Tomorrowland. I do not like it in relation to the EDM community and to the experiences I may never have had.
When I look at the changes at Liquicity Festival, in my opinion it is similar. 2022 was the break point, after which what came next is no longer something that attracts me. I also see some similar reasons there as at Liquicity for why the changes happened. But at Tomorrowland among these reasons is not a person :D
2018 as a Symbol of the Peak
The year 2018 can be seen as one of the strongest moments in Tomorrowland’s history. At that time, the festival benefited from the peak of EDM popularity, massive international interest, and an atmosphere that had been building throughout the previous decade. Mainstage culture, festival anthems, big melodies, and euphoric moments were still at the center of the festival’s identity.
At that time, Tomorrowland did not represent only a music event, but also a cultural phenomenon. For many fans, it meant a place where the global EDM community came together. That is exactly why, for many people, 2018 is associated with a feeling of the peak — not only in production, but also emotionally.
EDM as the Dominant Identity of the Festival
In the pre-pandemic period, for years EDM at Tomorrowland was perceived as the main language of the festival. Progressive house, big room, and the festival sound defined the character of the main stages and the overall image of the event. Names such as Martin Garrix, Alesso, Hardwell, or Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike were symbols of that era.
That does not mean that other genres did not exist. Tomorrowland was always musically broader. The difference was in what formed its dominant identity and what most people automatically associated with the festival.
Changes After the Pandemic
After the pandemic, festival culture changed, and Tomorrowland changed with it. Styles such as techno, afro house, tech house, or harder modern directions of electronic music, including neurofunk gained more space. If someone longed to experience the atmosphere of the peak EDM era, they may feel that they will never experience it now.
EDM 2018… Both weekends were sold out in about an hour. With a capacity of around 400,000 visitors across two weekends, the festival was already fully established as the biggest EDM event in the world.2026-04-11
The approach as a Mirror of Economy
In the article The Landscape as a Mirror of Society, I wrote about Dutch land management, which is clearly visible at first sight.
the second-largest exporter
As in other areas of the economy, the Netherlands is also remarkable in how much it can earn from exports.
I already wrote in the above-mentioned article about Dutch farming, and the truth is that the Netherlands uses high-tech greenhouses, precision agriculture, automation, and innovative cultivation methods. Thanks to this, it is able to achieve high yields even on a small area and with lower resource consumption.
A one of the major roles is played by the connection between farmers, companies, and research institutions. Dutch Wageningen University & Research is globally known for its research in agriculture and food production.
Another key factor is strong logistics, especially the Port of Rotterdam. Goods quickly reach both European and global markets. The Netherlands also functions as an important trade hub. Thanks to its strong ports and logistics centers, goods from all over the world are in the Netherlands and are then distributed further to other countries.
Last but not least, a major reason is that instead of focusing on cheap commodities, the Netherlands concentrates on products with higher value due to quality, specialization, or technology. These include seeds, greenhouse vegetables, flowers, cheeses, dairy products, or processed foods.
2026-04-06
Life Shorter by One Hour
I feel like I’m missing an hour of my life. First of all, back in autumn I left daylight saving time on one of my watches—my favorite ones. I keep catching myself thinking that the time shown on the watch is the real current time. And that brings me to the second point: I’m missing that hour of life in my life. Because of it, I can’t keep up with what I want to do. I wish a day had 28–32 hours.
Now I associate this with the loss of that hour. A 24-hour day feels too short to me, and on top of that, according to my own watch, I’ve even lost an hour of my life. It’s no longer five in the evening—it’s six. I always pause, realizing the watch is now set correctly, and it’s already six. The same goes for the morning. It’s already so late, when it feels like it should be an hour earlier.
In fact, I feel like I’ve lost two hours of my life — one hour in the evening, and another hour in the morning.



