1st of April

(Couple in love at the beach)

It was my brother's birthday yesterday. No real big celebration, as he seemed a little 'distracted'. Perhaps the fact of turning 27 isn't something to look forward to. I can imagine, four years from now, how that must feel like.

Though I did get him some present. He may not have remembered my birthday, I did remember his. Because he loves to drink coffee, and makes huge mugs in the morning with those instant powdered coffee, I thought I'd get him a coffee maker. The latest 'sensation' is called Senseo, an invention made by Philips and Douwe Egberts, which is a famous Dutch brand of coffee. Basically, instead of coffee powder or beans, the coffee comes in pads that you put into the machine. With the help of high pressure and boiling water, a really aromatic blend of coffee comes out! Or so I hear... personally I don't really like coffee.

I had gotten the machine about a week ago. Went to a couple of stores to compare prices, and before buying I thought to myself I'll spend a maximum of around €50... But when I got to the store, I looked around and there were a couple of models on sale. The cheapest, and oldest model, was indeed around 50... but it was blue and plastic... the next best was 20Euros more, and the only difference was the water storage was bigger... and then I saw it. The very best, metalic coating, adjustable nozzle, extra, extra large water storage, coffee brewed in 30seconds... a must have! But the price....

I remember standing at the store, and the lady telling me all these functions. She could see that I was struggling, and that I probably wanted to spend only a little. I told her it was for my brother, and that actually birthdays come only once a year. She smiled, and sympathetically said it must be a hard choice. I stood in that showroom for like ten minutes... wondering whether my brother deserved such a nice present. To be honest, I can't remember the last time he did anything for me... I wondered if I would be a fool, and whether I would be, as always, much too nice to the point that people just take for granted the things I do... I thought about the kind of treatment I've be getting at home, and but balanced that thought against the fact that things have been going better between us recently... I thought about what someone once told me about how those instant coffee powder can be bad for your health, and reminded myself that brother's been drinking the same coffee day in and day out for years... I thought about how if you buy something, it'll be for a long time to come...

Later I would walk out that store parting with €130. Exactly enough to pay my mothly tuition fee instalment, but I was happy because I knew I could make someone else happy.

So the machine's been sitting in my room, hidden under some clothes for a week, and finally this morning I put it in the kitchen before brother went downstairs. I was excited, doing something so 'sneakily' without arousing any suspicion at all. Brother was of course very surprised, in a pleasant way, and kept saying I shouldn't have. Even just before bed, he thanked me again.

After all, it was his birthday, which really does come once in a year, and only once in a lifetime, if you think about it...

'Why don't you like me?"

Do I attract you?
Do I repulse you with my queasy smile?
Am I too dirty?
Am I too flirty?
Do I like what you like?

I got to be wholesome
I could be loathsome
Guess I'm a little bit shy
Why dont you like me?
Why dont you like me without making me try?

I tried to be like Grace Kelly ( mmmm )
But all her looks were too sad (ahhh ahhh)
So I tried a little Freddie (MMMM)
I've gone identity maaaad!

I could be brown
I could be blue
I could be violet sky
I could be hurtful
I could be purple
I could be anything you like
Gotta be green
Gotta be mean
Gotta be everything more
Why dont you like me?
Why dont you like me?
Why don't you walk out the door!

'I DO feel like dancing...'

She likes to push open my door late at night, and sneak in, sit around a bit, maybe even jump around on my bed, before she leaves, only to come back one or two hours laters. As sweet as Kitty can be, she can be pretty annoying at night, especially when she can pay a night visit to my bedroom.

I usually get woken up by her visit, since she's always so (hyper)active at night, jumping around and up and down, making the bell around her neck ring and ring. So I didn't sleep too well last night, and had to wake up only for work.

With the BIG event drawing closer and closer, I promised my boss to dedicate three days of my week off this week to work. Originally I wanted to spend some time working on my thesis and doing some reading, or even go on a long cycle trip... but a promise is a promise.

There's really lots of things to do, the little organising details and procedures, tonnes of printing to do, evelops to stuff, and emails to write. Less than three weeks, and it's really show time. All these months of preparations and organising the moot court will hopefully all come together and hopefully everything will go smoothly as planned. But before that, there's still a lot of work to be done.

At first I didn't feel like it, since I'm so clumsy with my body, and always feel so self-conscious. But two girls from school managed to convince me (and another) to join as their dance partners for their salsa class. I was pretty tired after work, but still went anyways.... since I had said I would go, and a promise is a promise. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it.

But enjoy salsa I did! Not exactly a pro after the first ever dance lesson, but I guess I'm getting the hang of it... We had to first master the 'simple' the four-step Bolero movement, and from there we could build on the routine... left leg forward, resting the weight on that leg, lifting the right leg up (ONE)... right leg down, resting all the weight on that leg, while lifting the left leg up (TWO)... bring left leg together with right leg (THREE)... rest a little (FOUR)... and repeat, but stepping backward this time. Sounds easy, but with my clumsy and stiff body, it took me a while to get into the rhythm, and the teachers were patient enough to dedicate extra time and attention to me, so I could eventually stop tripping over!

The friend I went with was also very patient with me, and stayed by my side to count the steps as I practiced. I'm not a very 'touchy' person, especially when it comes to girls... which was one reason I originally didn't want to go dancing... but it actually turned out to be alright. We held hands, I rested my hand on her back, and she rested hers on my shoulder, and it was pretty alright. At least I didn't start to shake with nervousness or sweat my palms... though it was still pretty weird to be so close to another person, literally face to face, alsmost lips to lips... especially a girl!

Then came the hip moving... and I realised, boy, I can really move those hips!! : ) Up, down, up down, left, right, left, right... to the beat of quick-beat latin dance music. It was pretty amazing, and the hour of class went by all too quickly. I was sweaty, my stiff bones were aching from having not excercised for I don't know how long, but I was smiling and looking back at myself in the mirror-wall in the dance room.

Till next week!

'Interview with God'

Something to watch and think about...