Tuesday 21 December 2010

Free Stuff In Life

This morning was a bit of a rush job so far. I was supposed to be at the beauty salon at 9 AM, I got up in time, even prepared to leave a bit sooner than usual because it's snowy, cold and slippery outside. Don't want to take any chances, and such :) That's when things kind of grinded to a halt.

First I found out that my bike has a flat rear tire. The fix I did on the inner tube a few years ago probably gave out since it was on a rather unfortunate spot to begin with, on a seam. I'll probably want to have the whole inner tube replaced by a bike shop to avoid the hassle of disassembling and reassembling the gearing system.

Okay, so no bike available, but there's still the train, right? Unfortunately while the 8.45 AM train was supposed to be there, it got canceled suddenly, and everyone waiting on the platform had to move to the other train, which departed at 9 AM. So I was going to be late for my appointment.

The nice part is that while waiting on the first platform I had already been looking at the people around me, trying to get a feeling for the situation, as I'm sure many people do. When the train got canceled there was this girl who for some reason seemed receptive to a remark about the canceled train, so I made the usual remarks about them suddenly canceling without telling us.

You really shouldn't ask me how this keeps happening to me, but I frequently have very lively conversations with perfect strangers, it's like there's some kind of invisible signal, telling all parties involved who is up for a conversation or so.

So, this girl turned out to speak English, and Italian because that's where she's from. We were sitting next to each other in the train, talking about culture and language and things like that, I mentioned something about the difference between German and Dutch magazines, in how they handle things, and that's how we ended up talking about the articles I have been in. I didn't tell her anything about my situation, just told her I have done interviews and photoshoots for magazines, and gave her the address of my website.

I like it when things flow naturally like this, and I don't feel like I'm forcing it on the other person. It's not like I am a selfish person, it's just that I have so many things I want to tell others about, and so many things I want attention for and help with, that it is hard to contain oneself at times. The feeling that you're begging for attention is then the absolute worst, as it just makes you feel pathetic.

Anyway, I was only ten minutes late for my appointment, which wasn't a problem. Waiting 20 minutes on the platform for a train back home was a lot worse in comparison. It's freezing about 5 degrees or so, which makes it very unpleasant to wait outside like that.

What is pleasant are such random conversations, as they make me feel like a happy little social critter, and makes me feel better about the world in general. People who seclude themselves from their surroundings and people who derive pleasure from insulting and harassing others are the ones who make this world a miserable place. The former rarely do it on purpose, but the latter should know better and are really among the lower lifeforms on this planet. I do try to stay the heck away from them, as they're just not worth the trouble. Having been stuck among mostly those unpleasant people for the past months, such a random conversation really cheers me up. And it's free :D

Also free is the laser therapy treatment my beautician offered me for next week Tuesday, which I think is incredibly nice of her. With some luck it'll speed up the hair-removal process, and it's free too.

Before the TV broadcast of November 9th I had this thought that maybe someone would offer something to help me with getting my own place to live at. That didn't quite happen, but I sent an email to the city hall this morning, asking them whether they could maybe help me find a new place really soon, possibly through some financial support. Who knows, that might actually work. There are regulations for special, urgent cases after all.


Maya

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