Do you remember this?

Well… I’m kind of looking for a life theme song myself. Any of you got life theme songs? Or am I the only one still watching Ally McBeal?

just because it moved me…

jigsaw puzzling!

Only last night “we” (being my mom, my sister and I) finally finished a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle after having worked on it for more than 3 years. We literally jumped for joy!

I cannot post a picture of THE puzzle here, simply because it’s too big for the camera to catch it in one go. But that doesn’t really matter. The point is: it’s finally finished. 

And now it’s on to the next one, i guess. I will probably have to wait until December because we normally buy mom a puzzle for Christmas. It’s quite funny actually. First, when she realizes what’s inside of that rectangular present, she pretends to be angry because she knows we have been secretly (We, on the other hand, simply know she will not be able to rest until the puzzle is finished.) laughing about her puzzle addiction. Then she laughs about it and tells us she will put it aside until a few months later when she’s got a few days off from work. And finally, after the dishes are done and everyone is watching some TV in the living room, we suddenly hear groping noises coming from the dining area, which means that mom has started sorting for straight edges…

I probably won’t become as addicted to puzzling as my mom is, but I know one thing: nothing gives me more satisfaction than finishing a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

Update Wednesday Feb 21: We did it! We managed to take a picture of our Puzzle.

I know I’ve been ‘rather’ quiet lately. Even one post a month seems hard to accomplish. Therefore, to break the silence, I’m posting this song by Elliot Friedman. I just love the lyrics. Enjoy!

Be yourself

So you are a flower in the breeze,
Softly swaying, dancing with such ease.
Along I come and pick you out from the field.
Rest in my hands, sleep now, I’ll be your shield.

Blossom for me,
Relax and just be,
Yourself.
Forget what they’re thinking.

No one will see,
Except you and me,
Be yourself.
Who cares what they’re thinking anyway.

Come home with me, see what I see.
Walking slowly, taking time to breathe,
Can’t you feel this moment touching your heart.
I knew that you would be here right from the start.

Blossom for me,
Relax and just be,
Yourself.
Forget what they’re thinking.

No one will see,
Except you and me,
Be yourself.
Who cares what they’re thinking anyway.
Who cares what they’re thinking.
Who cares what they’re thinking.

© Elliot Friedman 2007

It’s been a while since I last plucked my keyboard and produced a new post. But here - finally - it is: an update.

Numerous things have happened since my last post.
First and for most: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has finally found its way to the top shelf of my bookcase. I don’t want to brag, but I finished it in only 16 hours and 25 minutes. (yes, indeed, I timed it!) It was…amazing. That’s the least I can say. Maybe a bit predictable, but nevertheless incredibly breathtakingly exciting and suspensful. I could go on for ever boasting about J.K. Rowling’s writing ability, but I doubt whether any of you would be interested in reading what you already (should) know. And NO, I’m not going to give away the ending. I don’t want to spoil it for passers-by, and besides, if you really want to know what happens to Harry, Ron and Hermione, you should read the books yourself.

Next very interesting (*cough*) thing on the agenda: my holiday job as an assorted sliced cold meat assistant in the local GB/Carrefour supermarket. All I can say is: I’m so lucky I’m not a vegetarian! (Ok, they probably wouldn’t have hired me to do this job if I were, but still, meat is in some cases really distasteful). Oh, and I hereby owe an explanation to Bad, Mean & Ugly about my “blue smurfs’ willy”. I can demonstrate this by means of a picture:

As you can probably derive from the picture, I cut my finger when slicing a tomato. Lots of tears and blood, which I’m not going to expand on, but I had to wear the blue condom thingy for hygienic reasons. (NO it wasn’t a real condom it only looks like one). Anyway, I survived my holiday job and with half of the money I made I’m (finally) going to buy my own notebook!
Another exciting though less gory story I can tell you is my failed attempt of winning a Mio GPS navigation system in ‘1000 zonnen en garnalen‘. For those of you (in the US ;)) who don’t know this Belgian current affairs programme: every day during the summer holidays, the crew of this show places a deck chair somewhere in Dutch-speaking Belgium, and it is your job as a viewer to find out where this deck chair is and bring the object of the day (this can be anything ranging from curling pins to a bottle of ketchup). The first to sit in the chair holding the object wins the GPS.
So, I was watching Disney’s “Cars” when, suddenly, Thomas send me a text message saying that a television crew of 1000 zonnen en garnalen was standing at only 0.5km of where I live. So I patiently waited until the show ended and I would know what to bring to the chair: a valid Belgian license plate. My boyfriend was already on the spot with his car, but he didn’t have anything to detach the license plate so I grabbed a few screwdrivers and my bike and almost literally flew to the chair! Unfortunately, I was about 3 minutes too late: I arrived fifth-ish. Soooo close, but still it’s a nice story to tell our children.
These are the most exciting things I could think of right now to blog about. Didn’t make it to the news headlines: my sister who dropped out of school, birth of my neighbour’s second baby (Mathis, 52 cm, 3,9??), start of basketball practices for the new season and a new pair of basketball shoes, Thomas (sorry darling, at the moment you’re just too exciting to confront my readers with - I like keeping things to myself sometimes) and the upcoming re-examinations.
As for now: that’s all folks. Go back to your knitting.

Here follows the true account of what happened that night at the lake.

So I sat there, on platform 1, waiting for his arrival. He would park his car at the parking lot near railroad station and come and meet me on the platform.
One minute. Five minutes. Was I too early? Probably. Adrenaline rushing through my vains, my heart pounding with the fear for a failure, tons of thoughts throbbing painfully on both temples. I’ve never been very immune to stress.

As I was pacing up and down the platform, I suddenly saw a tall man’s figure approaching. At first, I couldn’t see his face because the sun was setting and I was practically blinded. But as I stood up and walked towards the end of the platform, I realised it must be him. My heart literally skipped a beat. I flipped my hear (hey that trick really works!) and I wondered how it would be for him to see me walking towards him, rosy-cheeked, obviously nervous and trembling at the knees.

And then we stood there face to face. For a fraction of a second I thought he would turn around and run away screaming. But than he said ‘hi’ and bowed his head to kiss me on the cheek. And suddenly being with him and talking to him turned out to be more easy than frying an egg sunny side up without breaking the egg yolk.

We went to the movies, he actually bought my ticket (wow!! I can’t remember the last time a boy insisted on buying my movie ticket) and we had a good time watching Shrek the Third. Afterwards, he decided to take me to the lake, and we walked side by side under my umbrealla, through the rain. And all the while, we talked and laughed and talked some more. Never in a million years I would have thought I would feel so at ease in his company. All my nerves had washed away with the raindrops falling on my shoulders, and I began to hope something more would happen.

As we were walking round the lake, we started looking out for some place to sit down, and eventually we found a bird observation-post hidden between the trees. It was dark inside, and it came as a surprise to him that I had brought some small candles. (Just for the record: normally I’m not a walking wax factory, but that day I had brought some candles because he had told me he wanted to tell me some things about himself and his life near a campfire. I can’t keep campfires in my pockets, so I just brought some candles.)

We were starting to get really cold and a bit tired, and I was giving him these hints hoping he would pull me close to him, but he didn’t, so I decided it was time to make a move. I slowly moved over a bit more to where he was sitting, until our legs were touching, and I laid my head on his shoulder. He put one arm around me and with his free hand he carefully started caressing my arm.
And than *poof* bye bye magical moment: some guy noisily came walking past the post, which gave my man time to look at his watch. It was already 4am!! So we decided to go home.

He parked the car.
We got out.
He asked me where the window of my bedroom was.
I pointed at it and then…
and then…
he softly pulled me in his arms and kissed me…

*lost for words - still floating*

So we finally set a date for our first, well, date: tomorrow, at about 7, I’ll know if this fairytale begins, or… how it ends. I know it’s just a chat, a movie and a drink afterwards, but still…

It’s crazy - I know - but I’m dead nervous. It feels as if someone is constantly pressing on my stomach. It’s as if I’m preparing for an exam that I’m almost certainly going to fail… How come I’m feeling so insecure?

And how do I prepare for this big event? What will I wear? Should I let him make a move, or should I just take my courage in both hands and go for it? It seems as if I’ve forgotten how to do it all…

I know that it will all come to light tomorrow, but still: how do you deal with this pre - first date nervousnes? What do guys expect from girls on a first date? What do you girls wear? All tips are welcome!

Someone once told me that if you want your dreams to come true, you just have to go to Disneyland. Whoever it was, he or she was wrong.

I spent six years at high school dreaming about that one boy who would stand near the drinks vending machine, chatting, joking and laughing with his friends. I was just too shy to talk to him. Whenever he came anywhere near me, I would blush. I never told my friends about my feelings for him, because well… He was one of those cute guys. Tall, dark hair, same eyes.. I was afraid that once I told anyone, he would know and my dream would be shattered.

After high school, we sometimes bumped into each other in town. Every time that happened, the same old feeling washed over me again. But it never occurred to me to step over and have a chat. No, he was just to…out of reach. When I saw him with other girls, I was jealous. And angry, because I couldn’t understand why I didn’t dare talk to him. After all, theoretically speaking, he was ‘just’ a boy. Normally, when I’d seen him somewhere, I would dream about him at night. Nothing special, he was just there. And I wondered why I couldn’t get over him. I have dated several guys, but he was always there, at the back of my mind.

Last week, even though I hadn’t heard from him or seen him since November, I dreamt about him, again. I woke up with a start, thought it over and I decided it was time to finally make a move. I didn’t know where he lived, I only knew his name, so I guessed at his email and… It was his! He sent me an email asking if I had gone to high school with him because he thought he knew who I was. So he added me on messenger, we chatted on Saturday, and on Sunday evening the strangest thing happened.

We were talking about high school and reminiscing the good old days, when he suddenly told me he was glad we had contact. I asked him why, but he didn’t answer me. There was an uncomfortable silence, and then he asked me whether I knew Whatshername. So I started feeling a bit sad, told him that I didn’t know her, and that he’d probably be very disappointed because I couldn’t give him her email address.

And than he simply said: “No, no it’s not that. But wait, I haven’t told you why I’m glad we finally get to meet each other. You see - and this will probably sound a bit silly - during high school, I had a major crush on you.”

What went through me at the moment when I read this, I simply cannot explain in words. But I’ll try anyway. I remember a shiver running down my spine, and a strange tickle in my stomach. After what seemed to be like an eternity, I managed to shake my hands over to the keyboard, and type “we could have been together for 10 years now…”
And we told each other about all the times we would’ve wanted to talk to each other. He even told me that he had been so jealous seeing me and one of my (ex)boyfriends walking down the street.

So today, all the feelings that were, are. All what was, is.

I find myself living in a double dream: mine and - for a change - his. We still haven’t met each other because I’m right in the middle of my end of year examination period… But I know that, when that moment comes, all demons of my love life’s past will have vanished.

Dreams do come true - sometimes you just have to chase them.