Long, long ago we saw a man (I hope you realize by now that when I say "we" I mean Marilyn and I) on the street. He was, quite simply, the most inspiring man I'd ever come across (I am easily inspired and haven't come across much in my short life, but still) and very quickly became my secret role model.

I wrote an entry on the man, shared it with ( Read more... )

Through various occasions it has become apparent that I am, in short, a wuss. Whenever I experience pain or am severely anxious or see something especially gruesome, I pass out. I suppose on one hand it is quite handy: it is, for example, absolutely no use torturing me. I mean, what's the fun of torture if someone passes out at the mere sight of a ( Read more... )

We live in a condominio, a particularly large building consisting of about sixty apartments, divided into 'scalas' (stairs) and 'interni'. Receiving packages is horrible; if the Italian postal service doesn't eat your package, the mail man will (or just leave it in the middle of the hall for everyone to take ( Read more... )

I forgot to tell you something awfully important.

Last weekend Marilyn and I were walking back from the theatre, soft rain in the background, and suddenly there he was: a middle-aged man in a neat brownish striped suit, his hands in his pockets and a serene expression on his face...

... with a brightly coloured umbrella hat attached to his head ( Read more... )

Worms don't usually come out on the tiles. They stay below them, making their way through the dirt, and I should have known. But this one was fat and multi-coloured and it looked so ready to take on the world that I initially thought that maybe he had just come up to take a look, see what else life had to offer to him. But soon he was writhing and ( Read more... )

I got back the results of my first exam. I was so assured of my triumph. But a few clicks and then woosh. Bye bye, pride. Bye bye, self-knowledge. Another one down. Score so far: two skipped, two failed. Today's went well but since my feelings apparently mean nothing, I fear that all the past few weeks of stressing and studying and doing my best ( Read more... )

I had to get up at 4:30 am today to travel to Nijmegen to take an exam. It went quite well ( Read more... )

Arrr! Yes, the fun! We'd prepared so well -- we had our costumes ready, I'd picked up the tickets, everyone had been notified... We went to pick up Clair and we listened to Within Temptation when suddenly the car went BRRRRRRR and everything started smoking and we were in the middle of the highway and oh my god I was sure we were going to blow up ( Read more... )

When I cycled home from the uni this morning (it was 10:30, getting up at 4:30 am is so not cool) the streets were nearly empty. I had to wait for a traffic light at a usually very busy intersection so that no more than one lonely man could pass. It was so strange: me on my bike waiting and him walking to the other side. We exchanged glances and ( Read more... )

I went to visit my grandmom in the hospital. Her lungs are so at their end and she coughed so loud and hard that I could almost feel it myself. She looked like a corpse, her bright blue eyes, surrounded by large bags of wrinkles, hardly shining anymore. Yesterday she tried to put on make-up. She hates to look like shit, she hates pity and whiny ( Read more... )