De ups en downs van een schrijver, tolk, therapeut, echtgenoot What we think we become
08-09-2011
Game of Thrones
So, the maxim 'I don't read, I am read' is clearly sent packing.
The series 'A song of fire and Ice' was highly recommended to us and we read the first part.
The plot twists and character list are very impressive, it's a higly entertaining read, full of fluff and just a tiny smitch of fantasy elements. Not the usual 'peasant boy turns out to be the saviour of the world' kinda crap.
Most of the characters are so backstabbing the book breathes the atmosphere of a teacher's room with more blood.
Highly recommended indeed.
The amount of evil in it, makes it immensely human.
If you like Russian classics with over 200 characters, but you like them better with more action and shorter sentences, go for it.
A man-woman friendship that ends in sex, ends well. Well, maybe it doesnt end well, but the friendship usually ends.
We
werent allowed to have sex. We werent available, so we shared any
physical pleasure we could without resorting to sexual intercourse.
Restaurants,
snack nights, sun bathing, massages, swimming, running, cycling,
windsurfing, wrestling (a lot of wrestling), but mainly:
Alcohol (mostly cocktails with dirty names), food (lots of red fruit and melons) and talk, talk, talk. Talk about anything.
Also a lot of shopping for clothes. Only sort of legitimate way I get to see your breasts.
I
never had so much fun with a girl. Wed go outside during the summer,
walking arm in arm under a UFO-sized, yellow umbrella. Telling people to
step out of the way who were already miles out of our way. Sneaking
into cinemas by the backdoor, so we wouldnt have to pay. The money we
saved I spent on cherry flavored candy for you.
I swelled with
pride when we walked the streets together. You were a pretty hot looking
chicks. A real hardbody with big steamy eyes, like a libidinous bambi.
When
we did have sex- Somewhere near the end of one of our wrestling
matches. Somewhere under your kitchen table- it didnt even feel like
our first time together. More like the 1000th time in a three year
relationship that still has fire in the belly and gone over to the first
step of kinkiness. Some biting, some mild to medium bruising, some
rough kissing that makes your lips feel like chewed gum.
We
wanted to keep the authenticity between us intact. We figured if we
started a real relationship we would cheat on each other within the next
three to four months. Probably even sooner. So we decided to leave it
at that one time.
Back to restaurants and all the rest.
But the ersatz activities didnt do it any more. So we were doomed anyway.
Its better to burn out than to fade away, you texted me.
I understood. We were that close.
Close enough to both realize at the same time, it was time to cherish the memories and be forever apart.
Church bells. If the music is not too loud, church bells
accompany our every fuck.
We are sharing two rooms in an old house, right next to a
small church. You fantasize about doing it in the backyard or in those box-like
cabinets where people come to confess their sins. There are videocameras hidden
in every corner of the church, so we end up not doing it.
Standing naked for one second in our doorway, is about as
far as you go, acting out your exhibitionism.
Sex is still relatively new, a bit newer to me than to you,
but still new enough to you, to make even doggy style sort of experimental.
Im really not used to being so intimate with a girl. So it
sort of feels like you are boy, only way prettier, with breasts and no penis. I
have no idea how to handle whats going on.
You break up every routine I have. I used to go running 12
kms every other morning. I dont do that any more. Sleeping in and having sex
with you, beats the hell out of getting up at 6am to go and run ten laps around
a park.
Your blue eyes and black hair will be on my wish list for
years to come after you are gone. Thats past now. I buried you, in a way, when
I buried the little boy inside me. His death knell started echoing when I met
you. I didnt realize it then. Though the song in the background No way back,
felt like some kind of adrenaline filled
omen.
Most first loves have to die too. Or at least be destroyed
at some point, before they can be allowed to be reignited. Our love died.
Mainly because I thought any pretty looking girl was exactly
like you. And so pretty looking girls should have been interchangeable. Nope.
They werent.
So our path didnt lead to church bells and two whispered I
dos.
You did break my autistic patterns. I still dont know if
thats such a good thing. It gave me the strange and rather self-sabotaging association
that a disciplined life cant be combined with great sex.
I should mention the obvious part: you left me because you
couldnt stand my ongoing self-analysis any more. I dont blame you.
If a relationship depended on sex and sex alone, wed still
be together.
I like your firm back, your broad American football shoulders,
the length of your shiny brown hair. And though your eyes are a bit small, they
burn brightly like glistening chestnuts. Your legs look slim in pants, but are
full and round naked. The red lipstick on your lips a blazing fire made of
flesh.
You are highly sensitive and cant watch drama movies for
fear you will break down and cry. You cry often enough, Ive come to see the
inflationary rate of your tears. Theres no sadness in your crying, only the
joy of living. With wet cheeks you have the mesmerizing beauty of a sad
sea-green mermaid.By the way, you look
the hottest, with your sea-green blouse and fiery red skirt.
Sex with you is only perfect if you end up bruised, with
islands of blue and purple marking the spots where I claimed you. Youre an
easy comer. And youre an animal. A ferocious glutton. If it gives you pleasure,
you have no limits. Its a miracle youre still so thin. And its a miracle you
havent dwarfed me and locked me back in your womb. You are that excessive.
When you are with friends, you look like you havent been
socialized yet. An eternal teenager, ever the playground outcast, your ways are
studied, non-spontaneous and crude. You give boys slaps on the backs that twist
their collar bones.
And maybe for that exact reason, you make such a lasting
impression on people. Men around you, are either too intimidated by your looks
to approach, or they turn into little school boys who play the equivalent of
pulling your hair, with their verbal teasing. Sexual tension behind every tiny
insult they throw at you.
You are everything I could ask for in a woman. Your height
dwarfs me, you are a divinely soft retreat from the scary outside world, in
your arms its suddenly ok to have a fear of life, all I have to do is cover
you in continuous caresses, youre a natural axiolytic with breasts. Tiny
breasts in comparison to your height, which arouses me all the more. They look
like perfect sculptures with no risk of ever sagging.
Transcendental. Bi-polar opposites attract, goes the song
in the background. I never thought my weaknesses could turn on a woman. I crawl
in your pantzer and you close the steel vaults behind me. I love the feel of
your protective pincers in the skin of my neck. And you relish the security
that I could never hurt you. A feeling you find contradicting, because: I am
never attracted to sweet boys. Maybe its because Im the only one with whom your
sweetness is not pretended.
A goddess. A monotheistic goddess. My Isis, your Osiris. You
keep me on a tight leash. No glancing at other women allowed. Granted the fruit
of your gifts, I will subject myself to you, to you and no other. Or you will
shun me and leave me to dry on the beach in the hot callous sand.
You text me about 150 times a day. It drives anyone around
me crazy. Im unable to hold any kind of coherent conversation with anyone any
more. Up until the point that people dont want to meet up with me if you are
not there in body and spirit, so at least we arent texting.
You are about an inch taller than me. Its strangely
soothing. And subversively pleasurable. People frown at our height difference.
Whoever made up conventional male-female roles was a dreadful bore. You wear
high heels on purpose to make it even worse. Normally, you wear comfortable,
sneaker-like shoes.
For months on end we are locked inside each other. And when
we wake up, its like arising from an opium dream. Eyes still misty and vision
still blurry. Head and body slightly numb.
Last week weve agreed to have children.
And maybe, just maybe Ill ask you to marry me.
If you dont beat me to it, though I think well adhere to
tradition in that respect.
You read and criticize everything I write, except this female
Alphabet.
Why do you have to do that? I at least hope it has some
commercial value for a change.
Its the perfect time for me to muse about bygones, because
youre the last one.
Dont be so fucking corny, or Ill have to tie you up for
the third time today and beat all the emo shit out of you
So you like my fledgling breasts do you, my lecherous
pedophile?
While I suck your tiny nipples, I think:
A)You read too much classics
B)No, I keep cupping them to keep my hands warm,
what do you think?
What do you mean, pedophile?, I ask.
Well, you ARE a pedophile, arent you?
What?
Im 17 and you are what? 24? Ergo: you qualify as a
pedophile.
My other three girlfriends are adults. Im a 25 percent
pedophile at best.
I hope you are kidding, promiscuous pedophile.
I am in fact kidding. I only have two other girlfriends. And
they are mature in age, but not in spirit.
You are my first groupie. If writers are entitled to have
groupies, that is. We started emailing after you read something on some site
where exhibitionist writer types post things to beg for attention. Sometimes it
gets you exactly that. Most of the time it gets you as much as what your writing
is worth. Nothing.
Are you naked in my bed because of what you read there? Or
in spite of what you read there?
Your self-control amazes me.
How do you mean that?
This is the third time we are naked, and you havent tried
to penetrate me.
Well, you are a virgin.
And you intend to keep me that way? Like a toy you dont
unwrap from its package? Is there some kind of perverse pleasure behind it?
No, I just dont think I should be the one to do it.
Why not? Am I not attractive enough?
Im not sure if what we have will last, so I dont want to
be the first and then leave you.
Oh, so you are planning to leave me?
I didnt say that.
But you implied it.
You sigh.
What?, I ask.
Nothing. I was just imagining what it would be like, if you
thought I was so attractive you just had to take me. Even if you knew youd
break my heart after.
Sometimes I think you read too many 19th century
classics.
When I read what you write I start to wonder if you ever read
anything at all.
Really?
Haha, ooh, got a soft spot there.
Arent groupies supposed to throw themselves at your feet,
unconditionally and uncritically?
You know, if you would just penetrate me and be done with
it, you might actually have something to write about.
I guess not.
Look, if you are so bloody intent on losing your virginity,
we CAN do it right now, you know.
Yes, it is a bloody intention, I must admit.
Now I sigh.
No, it isnt, Ive never seen it to cause any sort of
bleeding.
Said the expert.
Why do you make me feel like I am your study object?
Well, I am a psychology student for a reason.
You should be studying literature. Avant-garde stuff. Suits
you better.
Thats like taking a course on how to end up unemployed.
I wish I had your insight in the dynamics of university
education at your age.
Now you sound old. But seriously now, why cant you just
say you are not really that attracted to me?
I am attracted to you.
Then penetrate me.
Fine. I will.
Why are you such a slave to what you think I might want or
not want?
Look, I dont mind psychological analysis. Its very
fascinating, but its not exactly setting a sexy mood, is it?
Ok, Ill shut up. How long do I have to shut up?
What?
Well, how long does it take? On average.
I grab you at your waist and pull you on top of me.
You do it yourself, I say.
Ow, and you can wash your hands in innocence, right?
Pedophile Pilate.
This way I can be sure you really want it.
I demand the universal right to be passive during my first
time.
I nod to my right and you slide next to me again.
What s the big deal anyway, I ask myself.
When you got what you came for, apparently, you ask:
So are you going to write about this?
Maybe you should write about it.
I dont want to be a writer. I want to be happy.
You are not very fond of writers, for someone who reads as
much as you do.
So if I like cars, I should naturally like the people that
build cars? One can like books without liking their authors. How new are you to
being in the writer business?
What if I told you I already have two girlfriends?
I would say: tell me something I dont know already.
How do you know?
I didnt until now.
Silence.
What are they like?, you ask. No, wait, dont tell me.
They are in your latest story, right?
I nod.
I should do some research. Something about the harem
longing.
I think theres no research needed. Every man wants to have
a harem.
No, Im talking about women longing to be with men who are
already taken.
Oh that.
You are making me miss class, you say as you give a hard
squeeze in my balls.
I dont think you ever started that research.
You are a bass player in all girls band. The lead singer is
an Irish cousin of yours. You write most of the lyrics.
I used to read them, to see if you mentioned me anywhere.
But I dont think you did.
You wrote the only writer Ill ever like is the one who
knows he will die if he finishes a manuscript , knows that the manuscript will
never be read by anyone, but finishes it anyway with tipex on my laptop
screen.
Its still the most eloquent way someone told me he/she didnt
like me.
You lie tied up on the bed. It's like we stole it from some medieval castle, velvet roof included.
Your
wrists and ancles look even better, even more enticingly vulnerable,
with the thick rope curled around it, like some adamant snake, that
seems intent on strangling off your limbs.
I come and lie
next to you, repeating your question. For the past two weeks you have
been bombarding me with questions about my past exploits. Despite the
huge age difference, sex is sort of new to you.
'Why so many, hey?'
I take a deep breath and say:
'I don't know. Every woman is an adventure. A university of life moving on killer legs.'
'What do they teach you?'
I caress you, with slow strokes, my hand barely touching your naked skin.
'Some
teach me to enjoy life, to be less tense, some teach me to get a grip,
some heal me, some teach me about women in general, how to be good to
them, what it is they need. I enjoy pleasing them, I guess it heals the
wounds in my fragile manhood or something. Apart from giving me the
deepest pleasure I know.'
'What am I teaching you?'
'That the most freedom loving people find it most exciting to give themselves over to the feckle will of an obessed womaniser.'
'Don't flatter yourself.'
I grab your breasts, and kneed them like dow. You want me to come between them.
You are more excited than I am. I prefer to come in different fashion.
When
it's done, it's like there is a white jellyfish sucking on your neck. I
rub it off with my hand and put my fingers in your mouth.
'Why does it taste like salted coffee?', you ask.
'I don't know. It just tastes like that.'
'Is it because you drink so much coffee?'
'I don't know. Some say you can sweeten the taste of it by eating a lot of fruit. But I don't believe it.'
'Why don't you give it a try?'
'I don't know. It's time-consuming to eat a lot of fruit.'
'Then drink smoothies. You should take better care of yourself.'
I'm tempted to say 'yes, mummy', but given the circumstances, I don't.
'Choke me', you say.
Your sea-green eyeshade looks really hot. It's my fetish colour, but you don't know that.
I
straddle your belly and put my right hand firmly round your neck. Do
all girls like this? Maybe not all, but I'm starting to think 20 percent
is a fair estimate.
You breathe heavily and I move away to go down on you, my right hand still gripped tightly around your neck.
I lick you to the rhytm of the song 'When the levee breaks', by Led Zeppelin.
You come shaking and trembling, the bed moves a few inches.
I untie you, and you lie there, beaming, curled up, like a little child, half awake, half asleep.
I put on 'Summer of 69'
It's meant to tease you. You were born in '68.
You are the best friend of my aunt.
My
aunt introduced us. She thought it was exactly what you needed after a
24-year marriage to a guy who tried to plaster his insecurities with
lots of booze and lots of insults thrown at you. You have two children.
The eldest is already copying his father and calling you 'a limp brain
chicken'. You let him, you have no self-defence mechanisms. Your mother
was an alcoholic. The world crashing down on you, is your idea of normal
every day life.
Apart from a wrinkle here and there and the stretch marks on your belly, you look like you have just turned 18.
When I go down on you again, 20 minutes later, you say 'thank you'.
That's
the difference between 18-year old girls and 43-year old girls, the
former you thank for letting you go down on them, the latter insist on
thanking you.
I say you have nothing to thank me for. To me you really are 18.
My tongue moves so slowly, you almost sound like you're in pain.
I stop and say I give you 24 snail paced licks, for every year spent in a sham marriage.
'You make it almost worth it', you say.
When you come a second time, you say: 'good boy, very good boy, that was...lush'
You stroke through my hair.
A woman who understands dogs, has all the knowledge she needs to keep a man happy.
Before
we fall asleep, you say: 'I know I have to find someone my own age, but
for the next six months or so, you can give me all the licks I have
been missing out on.'
Orgasms do something to the spirit of woman. It makes them more self-confident.
When
you kick out your oldest son and send him packing for calling you names
again, I say, with a big smile, I think you can move on now.
'What was in it for you?', you ask.
'I never pass on beautiful 18 year old girls', I say.
'You're crazy', you say.
And you smile, with such radiance, I just have to give you one last kiss.
Women often try to fend off a compliment, because they know it's impossible for them not to believe a compliment.
When I close your frontdoor behind me, I'm also smiling.
In the bible of seduction, 'the game,' they say: always leave them better than you found them.
We had both started work on a PhD.
Different faculty, same building.
We met at the coffee machine. We called him
Eddy.
Giving names to things you both use,
creates a first layer of intimacy.
You always had some trouble putting
together a regular outfit. That day you were wearing a flowery dress with faded blue yeans
underneath. You always looked bored, because everything was just too easy for
you. I liked the way you dragged your feet passed my cubicle. You looked so
convincingly sleepy, it made me smile.
In a very quiet sort of way you radiated
more self-confidence than any girl I had ever met. When we would go for lunch
in the garden of a nearby restaurant, you would blurt out things like: 'By that
time I will already be head of the department'.
Your cocksure attitude gave me a feeling of
peace.
'If you behave I will hire you to serve me
coffee. And maybe if you really behave, you can serve me something else too'.
In your attitude towards me, you displayed
an uncommon degree of verbal cruelty.
I would say:
'We can have a candle light dinner on the
roof of the faculty building'.
And you would say:
'Great, I can throw you off after. Or right
before. More food for me'.
'Be sure to make it look like an accident'.
'Oh, don t worry, everybody knows how
clumsy you are'.
When we did have the candle light dinner I
asked:
'So when do you plan to throw me off?'
'Oh, I have decided it's too soon. I want
to torture you some more first'.
We only met when you felt like meeting.
Which wasn't often. You took your PhD very seriously easy work or not and
you had three girlfriends who were entitled to spend at least one night a week
with you.
Whenever you texted me to ask if we could
meet, everything had to give.
I started rushing as soon as I had put my
mobile back in my pocket. A whole battle plan would develop in front of my
eyes:
-get home, hit the shower
-change clothes
-perfume
-50 push-ups to pump up the muscles a bit
-buy a bottle of vodka and multivitamin
juice to make your favorite cocktail
-buy one freshly baked brownie at the
chocolate bar
I never arrived at your door without a
sweaty brow.
Friends started to wonder why I had let a
girl enslave-kiss me to life, would have been more exact- me virtually
overnight. They looked at me like I was volunteering to shovel coal to keep
hell's furnaces blazing. I couldn't answer their questions. I was puzzled
myself. It had something to do with with the adamant, stern, inflexible look on
your face. Like it was sculpted. It was hard to please you. I could almost
never do anything right.
I would be two minutes late and I would
apologize and say:
'I am sorry, but I had to walk my friend's
dog. He is in the hospital, so he can't do it himself.'
'Well, it's interesting to see where your
priorities lie.'
I'd bring a bottle of wine from a shop on
the outskirts of town where they were supposed to have the best wine North of
the Seine and you'd say:
'White wine? To go with spaghetti?
Interesting.'
When you did say something nice, it washed
my brain with endorphines, because I knew it must have been a very sincere
compliment.
What was I looking for? A strict,
disciplinary mother or just a hard to please girlfriend? Me falling asleep on
your chest and not the other way around, made it all the more worrisome.
I felt like a puppet on your string, but
the puppet felt he belonged there. Any other girl would have cut the string and
chucked the puppet out of the window. Who can stand someone who passionately
pursues the fulfilment of your needs? Who seems to thrive on satisfying you?
You could.
'I never needed anyone to feel complete,
but still you complete me. You complete what was complete already. I think the
most important thing is that with you I can combine the freedom of being single
and have the security of having someone who embraces my uniqueness, without
trying to mold me onto something I'm not and you are there when I want you to
be there.'
One year into our relationship, friends had
to recognize I was a stray bullet who had finally found a direction. You were
the only girlfriend they all respected and didn't look at with pity, but with
enthusiast glee.
I renamed you Zenobia. After the famous
strategist who bested the Roman legions more than just a few times.
The same quiet confidence, dignified
realism and unpretentious beauty emmanate from her portraits.
And it starts out with a Z, because my
story ends with a Z
I don't know why a similar taste in music should pave the way for sexual
intercourse, but it often does.
You liked Half Japanese, but you said it wasn't one of your favorite
bands. The reason you wore the T-shirt was because you actually were half
Japanese. Your father was Japanese, your mother was Belgian. At least she was
at the time, now we would call her Flemish.
We met on the second afternoon of Pukkelpop. I only go to music
festivals when a girlfriend drags me along or to get over one. That time the
latter was the case. We were in luck.
Normally I only like the atmosphere in the camping area. When I'm in
front of the stages I always catch myself watching the band on the tv screens.
Why go to a music festival if you are going to just stand there in a meadow and
watch tv? I can do that much more easily at home, without feeling like a cow
staring at passing trains. But I like the camping grounds and the smell of pot that
gently floats among the tents, like a marihuana sea breeze. I like the bits of
conversation that come to my ear and it makes me feel young and free and
neo-hippie-like to see people wash their hair out in the open. And I like
having sex in a tent with music in the distance and bass beats shaking the
earth under your twirling bodies.
You were there, because you worked there. You helped build the stages
and you were supposed to take them down after. In the mean time you were free
to catch some of the concerts. The only reason you became a roadie. That and
the sense offreedom the irregular
working hours gave you. You had 'the 9 to 5 world ain't no place for me' tatoed
on your wrist. In some kind of very aggressive pink. I guess roadie is one of
the few career options open to someone who has that kind of a tatoe displayed
in full view.
I was in the middle of getting over a break-up. So when when I was
walking back to my tent, after our first conversation, I was telling myself:
this time it's going to be different. This time I am not going to make the same
mistakes again. Not that you had just agreed to a life long relationship or
even a short festival fling, but one can dream, right?
We agreed to meet in front of a stall that sold something that was called
Chinese food, but wasn't. You knew Asian food, so I didn't argue. 'You were in
China?', I asked. 'Yes, is that strange?'
'Isn't that a bit like a German going to Russia?'
'How do you mean that?'
Yes, how DID I mean that? I wasn't making much sense. The sun, the vibes
of the masses, quite a bit of beer (I drink at the end of relationships and at
the start of new ones, and here the two situations blended, so yes, quite a bit
of it) and the old butterfly feeling was making me blurt out crap.
'Nevermind, I was just wondering how Chinese people look at Japanese
people. Knowing what a rowdy time the Japanese had in China right before and
during world war two.
'Right', you said, 'you are one of those guys who read history books.'
You looked at me like you'd just said: 'Right, you are one of those guys
who wake up every morning in their own vomit and like to brag about it.'
'Nevermind', I said again.
'Yes, Nevermind', you said with one eyebrow raised, 'great album, though
In Utero and Bleach are my favorite.'
'You look like the bass player of Shonen Knife', I said.
'Which one?', you asked.
Right, had to admit
a) I didn't know they went through more than one bass player.
b) I didn't know any of their names.
'It doesn't matter', you said, 'they're all good-looking. So thanks.'
I like girls who can take a compliment. Girls who don't fend off
compliments, usually have no trouble stating what they want in bed.
'Do you want to grab a bite?', I said. Being so near to all those food
stalls, it was the most logical thing to ask.
'No, I am not hungry.'
'Are you one of those girls who never eat?'
I can't stand girls who don't eat. They don't have calories to burn in
bed. Or tent.
'No, I eat. I'm sure I'll git a bit peckish when the sun goes down. It's
just too hot to eat anything now.'
'Are you sure? Because you are really slim.'
'Seriously, you should feel my thies.'
You pulled me and my left hand down and put it on your right thie.
'Feel that?'
'It's firm.'
'Maybe. Broad is more the word for it.'
'Seriously, you got a great waist and you got killer legs.'
You were wearing black shorts. So short, the rim barely peeked from
under the rim of your T-shirt.
'Ok, ok, enough with the compliments.'
'Sorry, but it's true.'
Grinning and silence.
'Ok, give me an other one.'
'You got a very feline look.'
'Is that a good thing?'
'That's a very good thing.'
'Ok then. Give me an other one.'
How many compliments does it take till you get to the centre of the...?
I didn't keep count, but we put up a seperate tent that night. All the
way in the back. You moved out of the one you were sharing with your friends, I
moved out of the tent I was sharing with mine. It sort of felt like moving to
the far corner of the island to engage in mysticalinitiating rites, which was a good feeling to
have. At least we could make a little bit more noise there. And we were closer
to the toilets. It wasn't like we needed to be close to the concert area any more.
'You smell like basmati rice, but better.'
'You talk too much.'
Silence.
'But come on, go on. How do I taste? And please don't say something like
hot Sushi.'
You tasted like the most expensive cocktail on the menu, and you don't
want to lose the taste, 'cause you can't afford an other one.
You sat on my face.
'Now you have your cocktail on tap.'
When you rolled away, you asked: 'Doesn't it make your tongue hurt?'
'We are those who ache with amorous love.'
'What?'
'It's the title of an album by Half Japanese, isn't it?'
'Yes, I know. Stop trying to impress me. You already have me naked.'
I was really starting to like you.
The tent at the border of the island, seceded from the rest and formed
it's own little kingdom. We only crossed back to the main island when we ran
out of food. Which we didn't buy at the stalls. We walked all the way to a
supermarket.
'I am what you would call a skinflint. I like that word to describe my
obsession with saving money.'
'I suppose a roadie doesn't get that much pay.'
'Ow, it's ok. Saving money is more like a hobby. Or a challenge I can't
resist. Has something to do with a residue of old Samurai perfectionism.'
Being cheap never sounded so sexy.
I had promised myself not to make the same mistakes again. But it all
felt so right, so I copied that habit of yours. And every time I pick up a new
habit, I overdo it just a tiny bit. The first month of our relationship, I
managed to save over 70 percent of my salary. It's amazing how much you can
save if you really want to.
After Pukkelpop we filled the gaps in your tour schedules with fucking.
The fucking was long, the gaps were short. Every time you left, felt like the
waiter snatched a big dessert I had barely touched right from under my nose.
We texted the skin of our fingers off. Saving money didn't seem to count
for our phone bills. Sometimes we even spoke on the phone. Every other day at
11 am. You were very given to routines for a girl who vowed to hate the nine to
five world.
There a lot of pauses when we were on the phone. Half of the time there
was silence, the other half of the time we were looking for a topic to talk
about. We had agreed not to fill telephone conversation by repeating over and
over how much we missed each other. I hated missing you, your physical presence
and your laughter, so much I drew up a wall between us, to not get too
emotioally attached to you.
That's not very smart. Going into a long-distance relationship while
rejecting the pain of missing, is like declaring war while rejecting the
violence it will cause.
During our last telephone I said: 'Who needs the disappointment of a
telephone call?'
'What?'
'It's in a song by Razorlight.'
'I know that. Tell me the title of the song.'
'Why?'
'Just say the title.'
'Who needs love?'
'Yes, if you can't fucking handle the distance, then fucking have the
guts to tell me so, straight on.'
You hung up.
Very girly thing to do.
I didn't call back.
Very boyish thing to do.
I still can't listen to Half Japanese without craving your body and
wondering in which tent you are sleeping tonight.
I called you the Lady of
the questionmarks. You flooded me with questions. It even started with
one. We were on a train. You sat across from me and you said: 'I am
sorry, but may I ask what you are writing?'
Nothing of any literary worth.
'Ehm, my diary', I said.
'You write a diary?'
Yes, but if you would read two sentences of what's in there, you would run to an other compartment at the speed of lightening.
Of
course, I didn't show you my diary and so we managed to have a drink at
the train station. More questions came. Normally that's my part of the
game, but you didn't even give me a chance to ask you one. It was a
welcome change, I must admit. A girl who showed initiative.
You asked my telephone number. You asked me in which part of the city I lived. You asked me if I wanted to go and see a movie.
And then finally, my first question to you: 'When?'
'How about tonight?'
When you woke up in my bed the next morning you asked:
'Why do you have so many pictures of dead people on your walls?'
'They inspire me.'
'To do what?'
Your best question so far.
I went to get you some breakfast. When I got back you had already cleaned my place.
'Do you mind if I tidy the place up a bit?'
You
didn't ask if you could move in, but you did. You would only ask if you
could put your this or that here or there. My closet started filling up
with your clothes very rapidly. That was fine, I'm used to using the
floor to store my clothes.
Sometimes you didn't ask
questions. Like when you were cooking. You liked cooking. You also liked
to braid my hair. You liked to wash, shampoo, brush and braid it. I
don't think you were trying to tell me something about personal hygiene.
I'm sure you would have asked me something about it otherwise.
When we went out to restaurants, I would pay. You were still studying. You could pick whatever you liked, but you asked:
'Why do you always order the cheapest on the menu and nothing to drink?'
'I am an artist. I don't believe in artists who eat well.'
'Why not?'
'Writers are like mushrooms. Keep them in the dark and feed them on shit.'
'No really, why do you never treat yourself to anything good? You always buy the best for me.'
'If
you choose to be an artist and never produce anything of any practical
use, you are like a parasite. So when I deny myself some of the luxuries
of life, I feel less like a parasite.'
'You don't like being an artist?'
'I love being an artist.'
'I
think if you had a different profession, you would invent some other
reason to deny yourself the luxuries of life. Maybe you are just not
satisfied with yourself?'
I could stand the questions, but the analysis that came with them was something else.
The
first time we had dinner with your parents I saw where you got your
questioning habit from. Your dad was a cop. He would ask your mother:
'How long was this chicken in the oven? How many degrees? Did you put
enough salt and pepper on it? How much does it weigh?'
Where
were you at the time the potatoes burned? What were you doing in the
bathroom? Was someone there with you at the time who can confirm this?
Any
question he had about me, he directed to you. I didnt have a name. I
was this guy. 'Is this guy treating you well? Is this guy good for
money? At what time does this guy get up? Is this guy handy with a
hammer? What kind of car does this guy drive?'
The answers rolled right out of your mouth. Like you had prepared for an exam.
The only question he ever asked me, was: 'What's your poison?'
Meaning my favorite drink. Apparently you weren't supposed to know anything about liquor.
I
knew it wasn't the right thing to answer to the man's question he had a
reddish, strawberry like nose-, but I said I didn't really like the
taste of alcohol.
When we were walking back to my place afterwards, you were bouncing up and down and telling me what a good impression I made.
I couldn't understand all this enthusiasm and asked:
'Why do you like me so much?'
You said: 'You are like a cute little bird with a broken wing. I just love taking care of you.'
Wrong answer.
I asked:
'What if you like taking care of the bird so much, you don't want the wing to ever heal?'
'What do you mean?'
I
don't know why I didn't keep my mouth shut. I mean, you were
good-looking, very girly, very soft skin, nice hips, fashionable, but
unpretentious clothes, subtle perfume and you had a sensual walk. I
could get used to your cleanliness. You spoiled me with your cooking,
but I liked the time it saved me. And your giving nature was most giving
in the bedroom. I was grateful, but tense. I prefer girls who exploit
me for their personalized hedonistic purposes. I guess it gives me a
sense of usefulness. But still, we had a good horizontal connection.
It didn't make much sense.
All those qualities landed you straight on the list of luxury items I like to deny myself.
'Why do you wanna break up with me?'
'I can't stand being pampered.'
'Why not?'
'Did
you ever read the novel Oblomov? You're going to rock me to sleep with
all this good care of yours. I'm afraid I'm going to be like a sedated
baby eternally suckling at his mother's breast.'
'But I like taking care of you! And it's good for you too. You're finally getting some colour.'
'Look, I don't wanna be your rosy cheeked baby, ok?'
'Is this your way of saying I clean too much? I have it from my mother. I can stop if that's what you want. What do you want?'
I walked out on you then and there,
but thanks for letting me discover, I was never looking for any easy ways out of adult life, but for hard ways in.
It took an altruist to make me see I'm a masochist.
In a relationship there can only be the certainty of choice. The
relationship by itself never comes with any certainty. I gave myself the
certainty of choice when we were together for about a year.
At one moment I said to myself: 'This is as good as it gets. I choose you
and rid myself of all the nagging what ifs'
I remember the moment well, because I was walking back to my place from a
night spent in bed with Hilde.
A very fine night it was, and now I
have the quietness of dawn in a sleepy city on Easter morning to be torn
between feeling elated and being scared out of my wits because you might
discover what I did. So no more of that. It's all very clear now. What this
fear is telling me, is that the one for me is you.
In choosing you, I wasn't settling for less than I thought I could have. I
must be clear about that, in all fairness to you. There was more I could praise
you for than there were things I could criticize you for. I am ready to admit
that.
You had good taste in everything. A bit posh sometimes, but still, good
taste. You looked great. A hardbody. Slim waist. Long legs. D-cup. Very Arian,
but with an original face. Iespecially
liked what you called your 'Ukranian slut look'. Tight glitter top, tiny tennis
shorts and leather orange high-heeled shoes with lots of kinky looking straps.
Purple eye-shade. A one-woman sex invasion.When you walked the streets, you
were like a magnificently glistening sword cutting through the masses.
The only reason I stopped telling you how beautiful you were, was because
you got it into your head to sign up for beauty contests. When you told me
that, I could already see you in glossy magazines, showing off your new slick
looking boyfriend.I was sure you would
trade me for a famous soccer player the second they put that crown on your
head.
You called me while I was jogging along the river. They didn't accept you.
I tried to sound empathic. Hard when you're smiling with relief. I said you
were too beautiful to enter. You wanted to believe that, but didn't. You said
it was the fault of me and my constant compliments that you even tried. I
promised to stop complimenting you. You promised to see beauty contests as what
they were: the mainstream promotion of a very shallow beauty ideal.
We had a very quiet dinner that evening. It takes a lot of talking to reach
a compromise, but as soon as you've reached it, an eery silence can creep in.
Silence was new to us. We were never silent before. Always laughing, or talking
and if we weren't talking, we filled the room with the sound of your moaning.
You were the loudest by far. Your orgasms could trick nearby factories, schools
and companies into thinking they were having a fire drill. My dad used to say:
'Something kept me awake last night. It's about 1.75 cm high, blonde and puts a
dumb grin on my son's face.'
Yeah, you were blonde. Out the window went my pathetic adolescent boast: 'I
don't do blondes.'
I also propagated I preferred small breasts.You asked: 'I can't figure it
out. What do you even see in me?'
How much time do you have?
When I first saw you, you were unlike any woman I'd ever seen before. You
looked like an angel with developped sexual organs and at the same time you
looked like you killed your five previous husbands in a way that would make the
most talented Nazi henchman envious. You even said you were a Nazi on our first
date. Not that you had anything against jews, but you couldn't stand the sight
of weaklings. I remember you saying something: 'Without inflicting pain, I go
insane.'
The part of you inflicting it, wasn't quite true. You liked being
administered pain. You could reach orgasm by hitting your 'chatte'. You spoke
French at home. Which makes it even worse that you beat me nine out of ten
times we played Scrabble. We played it in Dutch. As a break in between having
sex. Even you and I couldn't have sex ALL the time. Your father often had 'I
can't stand losing', playing in his car. I don't know if he did that on
purpose, but it was a fine soundtrack to those days.
The moment I chose to be with you for good, I became so scared of losing
you, that, instead of talking you up, with compliments I had always meant, I
started talking you down, with scathing comments I never even believed I meant.
Why do things become so clear only in hindsight?
You broke up with me, because I got too arrogant. Excellent observation, I
must say. Arrogance, a bombastic, yet very fragile shield for insecurity. In
all those sex marathons, you, looking so aggressively sexy and independent,
giving yourself over to me, so passionately, made me overflow with
self-confidence until it turned into blind over-confidence. I was starting to
feel infallible.
I was dealing with the same question. I could never quite figure it out
either, why did you ever fall for me? In the end I was too arrogant to ask you.
I think now, you fell for me because I wasn't a macho, wasmodest, funny andcaring. Walking hand in hand with someone
like you somehow convinced me I should be a bigger, better, much more confident
man todeserve you and so I turned into the exact opposite of what you liked.
How ironic can self-destruction get?
It took me six months and a lot ofinnocent broken hearts before I stopped trying to mend the cracks in my
arrogance. And three years to get over my fear of the certainty of choice.
We're still not on speaking terms, but at least I got rid of enough
arrogance to finally wish you a happy life.
What we had was brief, but the memory stretched. Hooking up with someone
when you least expect it, has the pleasurable quality of becoming a movie
stored in the library of the mind. It usually lasts no longer than one night in
real time, but it takes up more memory space than a boring year will.
You were half American, half German, but you felt German. We spoke
German. In a park, close to the outdoor reception where we met. The first hour
or so we talked about the feeling of guilt young Germans still carry with them.
You said you could travel nowhere without someone bringing up the Holocaust. I
was no exception. I apologized. You patted me on my shoulder a second too long
and said: 'It's ok, I'm used to it.'
You were used to a lot of things. Being compared to your mother for
example. The worst one is your father.He never fails to notice: 'It's a pity you don't have your mother's
nose'. She was a model when she was in her prime.
You are not a model. Not by rigid 21st century standards
anyway.You hate your nose, you say. I
protest and insist you have a very attractive nose. The outdoor reception seems
to get more and more distant, but one of your colleagues keeps bringing us
wine.
We end up in my bed at around six am. My roommate won't be able to concentrate
all day, because he woke up to the sight of your breasts. Very firm breasts you
have. Pointy nipples. You are very active, even after a night spent walking
through town. Is this an attempt at compensation for an inferiority complex? I
don't wanna feed your inferiority complex, but, damn, I like your action.
I walk you back to your hotel around 10 am. When my psychologist makes
me associate something with women I spontaneously say: 'lack of sleep'. All the
way to the hotel your head is on my shoulder, your eyes are closed and you say:
'You know, my boyfriend would never do this, he always falls asleep right
after.' I raise my eyebrows, but am too tired to react.
In the hall of your hotel I ask: 'Can I have your emailadress?' You say
no. 'There's no point, my boyfriend and I share the same emailadress.' I ask
how long the two of you are together. 'Five years', you say. 'Like an old pair
of shoes you are attached to and can't throw away.' I leave it at that. 'You
have an attractive nose', becomes my pick-up line for quite some time.
It works best with girls who already have boyfriends.
A girl in a relationship is a girl who hasn't had a spontaneous
compliment for the dure of the relationship minus the first three months.
Gratefulness is the
key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful,
then no matter how much we have we will not be happy -- because we will always
want to have something else or something more.~David Steindl-Rast
"The more gratefully we fix our minds on
the Supreme when good things come to us, the more good things we will receive,
and the more rapidly they will come; and the reason simply is that the mental
attitude of gratitude draws the mind into closer touch with the source from
which the blessings come." - Wallace D Wattles
One of my
biggest fears (I have to remind myself every day that fear is just a powerful trigger
to action, thanks to Tony Robbins)
is that
enough will never be enough.
So I make
lists of things (lists help me to get some structure in my emotions) Im grateful
for. Lists Im not going to bore you with, because these are very simple
things, things that wont be so different from the things you are grateful for
if you start summing them up.
So if you
read this, just think about, or write down, maybe ten things that happened in
your life so far that you are really grateful for.
Its
amazing that those things happened to you, so acknowledge how wonderful those
experiences were, re-live them with a feeling of gratitude and youll attract
more similar experiences as a matter of course.