Free online coloring & free online drawing tool & free drawings at TimTim.com
What's happened is the past, what will happen is the future. When the past meets the future, there's nothing, cause there's no room in between. How do we know if we even are really here? The more I think about it, the only thing that comes to mind is that I should clean my fingernails! When I was 14, one of my teachers turned my head around with the idea that there was really no up or down in space and that it was only in our minds that North was "up" and South was "down". He said it was a random decision made by Europeans. I tried to tell some friends about this during a lunch break and they thought I was nuts. But if you think about it, the globes of the Earth we all look at could just as well be upside down and remain exactly the same (of course the writing would have to be turned on its head). But it was Europeans who first started making globes of the Earth, and they liked the idea of being on top. Countries below the Equator were under them and therefore, by nature, were inferior.
I often have thoughts like those above (have done all of my years on this planet), but I have learned to keep most of them to myself. Being cultured today simply enables one to talk nonsense with distinction. And I am no more cultured than most. I also have difficulty conversing naturally in social settings and have had to learn consciously to do what comes so easy for others.
For the last 30 years I have been working at home in a foreign country. I suppose this is a priviledge many envy. For me, working at home was necessary. I have worked since I was 15 doing odd jobs and when I was finished with my education, I suffered a year of office work before going free-lance. I could never follow the social politics of an office and my work suffered from the constant distractions and interuptions. I was also unsure of my chosen profession. I needed to clear my head. In the late 70s I escaped on a trip to Europe where I lucked upon a free-lance job with the Disney publishers in Copenhagen, Denmark. Subsequent work and relationships have kept me busy to this day. At first, my work-at-home status was a joy and a freedom which allowed me to choose when and where I would gather with friends and associates and there were many interesting and challenging new projects. Sometimes money was stight other times it poured in. But with time and age, the routine of working at home carried me away from my contacts and I struggled to keep in touch, plugged in - to network, as it is phrased today.
After several years of Disney work, I landed a weekly free-lance magazine job that was easy, well paid and went on for over 20 years. Eventually, I bought a home, married and had a son. His mother ran off and quickly married another man leaving me with primary custody of a two year old. A year later it was discovered that he was autistic and in great need of attention. I was everything to him and he needed a very strong daily routine. I had no other family here and before i knew it, the years slipped by. My working at home allowed me to devote much time and energy to his upbringing. But I all but lost contact with the outside world. I spent almost 4 years alone with my son before I was lucky to meet Maria, my present wife (Photo of us here). It was her idea to make timtim.com and she has been a blessing to my son as well. Her influence over the last 8 years has greatly improved my son's social skills and his self esteem.
My bread & butter magazine contract eventually dried up. A series of publishing re-organizations and the retirement of my editors caught me off guard. My stay-at-home work life and my commitment to my son has resulted in an almost total lack of local network contact. Jobs in my field have become scarce and I am now totally reliant on what i can drum up online. It is not easy these days and I am at a disadvantage because very few people in Denmark know that I exsist. Timtim gets over 4,000 unique visitors per day, but only 30-40 of those are from Denmark. Danes tend to only use websites that are in Danish. On top of that, my wife, who is a nurse, was laid off from her job at the local hospital despite a growing need for healthcare professionals (something we never thought would happen in this social democracy with a total public healthcare system). Denmark has been very kind in regards to my son, providing him with special education needs that would cost a fortune in the US, but the present government here has implemented an austerity program and cut back thousands of healthcare positions.
You may be curious if I miss my country. I do. I enjoy living in Denmark and have a great affection for it's people and culture. But I love the US and often miss its open spaces and relaxed lifestyle. The USA has suffered from poor judgements and actions its government has inflicted upon the world at large. I was very hopeful when Barack Obama was elected President that this would change. God knows he inherited a financial disaster and 2 wars left by greedy bankers and Bush Jr. & Co., and the Republicans have done everything in their power to halt his success. But he needs to show the world what he feels, to get angry on behalf of those who followed his lead. When Nelson Mandela took office as President of South Africa, he said his office was too big for one man, slashed his his own salary by 30%, and said that the day he did not do what he thought was right for fear of losing his job was the day he no longer should be President. He led by example. Many of us who voted for Obama thought that he would do the same. Instead we got a Beige Oval Office. I like deep colors
My parents died a few years back and left me with a little money. That is what was used to start this website and allow me to share my drawings with kids and schools all over the world (My way of adding to the plus side of the karma balance sheet with the fun and joy timtim may bring to people who are tired of all the rubbish they find online). My son takes up a great deal of my time. Autists need a fixed schedule and slide backwards if it is not kept up. Between my son and timtim my time is fairly used up. Timtim is growing and I would love to act as a sort of ambasador from Denamrk to the rest of the world. But when I do, it will be with sponsorship by companies which I feel embody the same message I am trying to get across. Ccompanies like Lego, Vestas Wind, Novo Nordisk, Arla Foods, SAS Airlines, and VisitDenmark. Thanks for looking in on my time-out! signed - Tim Newlin in Copenhagen
