The beautiful game

I’ve just seen the game between Liverpool FCand AC Milan in the Champions League final. AC Milan won 2-1 in the end. As some of you know I am a huge Liverpool FC fan, and have been since I was about 10 years old. That’s 20 years of passion, laughter, tears, hope and glory. A lot has happened to both Liverpool FC and myself in the last 20 years. I am disappointed of the result tonight, but I am not down and beaten like I used to be in the old days. Maybe the game is just a game after all.

Overall I would say the last 20 years has been happy years, not so much for Liverpool FC, but for myself. In all my wins and losses I can still see the man in the mirror and praise him of a job well done. I’m proud of that guy. I know that he loses with me and he wins with me, just like all the Liverpool FC fans out there. It’s great to belong to a community, a place where your opinion matters, a place where you can share your joys and woes.

So Liverpool FC lost the final, well its ok. The future is very bright indeed for both Liverpool FC and myself. I have everything I ever wanted, my life is good, really good. My love Kei, my friends, my family, my job, myself. Those are the cold facts if you will, a testament to my happiness. They are all there in my life, to guide me, to help me. How can I be unhappy because of a game of football when I have all that?

It may still be a beautiful game, but not as beautiful as the game of life. Take a thing like love, the love between me and Kei. The beautiful Kei is part of my life, and it’s not a game, it’s real and tangible. Like two attractors, we are pulled towards each other during strange events in the universe. There’s no need to ask the questions, because we already have the answers we need. Tomorrow is another beautiful day. Rise and shine people!

Option A or option B

Today in training, one of the team coaches came to tell us what they did and what they expect of us. One interesting part of his presentation was how to get to where we want to be in the company. He told us an inspiring story of Miriam who had been a helpdesk analyst for 7 months when she got promoted. He really inspired me, and it seemed possible to go places in this company. He mentioned what kind of people they were looking for. He had 11 points, but one point was especially important, pro-active. He went on and on how being pro-active will get us places, getting noticed by the ones in charge. He said there were lots of excellent analysts, but the ones who stood out where the ones who contributed to the company in other ways as well.

I sat there thinking to myself that I can do this, no problem. What kind of worker do I want to be here? I have the option to do really well, get noticed and get a higher position in a huge company or I have the option of just being a ground floor worker. At first the choice was easy, obvious. I wanted to be the best and move up. The more I thought about it, I kind of disliked it. I got a feeling that if I wanted to the top I had to step on some toes, I might have to be a person I wouldn’t like to be. I know for a fact that other people in the company value money and power. If I took that away from them, what kind of person would I be?

Also I don’t know the future, except I need it to be with Kei. If I strive after better positions, I am actively seeking a long career there. I’m not sure how long I will be there. I got a lot of thinking to do. Speaking of thinking. I was no concentrating at all today. Every time I tried, I just felt the presence of Kei. It was powerful. Still the stuff they teach me, I already know, so I can afford to think about my favorite subject. We talked again today, and it turns out that the flowers I ordered to her wasn’t the one that arrived. Normally that would be a bad thing, but I can forgive them in this case. Kei loved the flowers and she will take a picture of them so I can see what they look like, haha.

How’s everybody?

Mondays aren’t so bad…

I thought the weekend was great, and after a great weekend, you kind of look back instead of forward when Monday comes. It turns out, the weekend was just a little teaser of what was to come. Today was a really great day for so many reasons. I got up at 4am, texted Kei that I was awake in hope that she was awake too (We kind of talked into the night yesterday). Moments later she was there on Messenger. I was a bit concerned, because after last night I wondered if she felt better. Luckily she did.

As we were talking, she got a phone call from the florist saying that they had a delivery for her. Hehe, little did she know that last week I had ordered a big flower bouquet for her to be delivered today when she was back from her vacation (The flowers in the pic). She was so happy, and that just said it all. It wasn’t the flowers itself, but that it was from me. What a great start to a great day!

We talked from 4am to about 6.45 when I had to get to work. I kept texting her during the day, and the best was yet to come. You remember how I thought the workplace was a good place to be? It’s phenomenal now because they allow personal calls, even during work hours if it isn’t too busy. So a little after 4pm I called her up from my work phone. We talked, we laughed, we cried (happy tears) and we even sang to each other. I must have been looking like a real idiot since my workmates were still there around me, but it didn’t matter. We were so focused on each other that I didn’t pay attention to the time or that everyone left at some point. We talked for almost 2 hours…

The time flies when you are having fun. I was home at about 6.30pm. It’s been a long day, but it’s been quality all the way. It will probably be long days from now on since I plan to call Kei a lot more from now on. Can Tuesday top this? If it does, I’ll change my middle name to Tuesday :P.

Smashing success

Yesterday morning I got to go the center of Manchester and look around a bit. I was surprised how small everything was. It’s funny how my perception of big/small has changed. I grew up and spent most of my life in a place with about 2000 people. Back then, even my closest city Tromsø with about 40000 people seemed massive. So I went out in the world, Dublin, Shanghai, Beijing and Oslo. I’m happy to have experience with all sorts of places.

From Manchester I bought myself a British sim-card and an international call card so I can call Kei cheaply. Then I took a train to Stoke where Katy picked me up for the barbecue party. After the party officially started, it was fun all the way. We started off by playing some Nintendo Wii. It was so much fun! I had never played on a Wii before. We played the Wii Sports game and I got creamed in boxing and tennis, and my arms hurt a bit today. Definitively have to think about getting a Wii.

After that we went out in the garden, had a wonderful barbecue. The sausages were burnt to coal, but they tasted ok. We also had cool furnace outside and we burnt pieces of fence. Poor Phil got most of the paint fumes; I just got most of the smoke. All in all a smashing success I would say. I Met some wonderful people who I will definitively meet again.

Wow, long distance relationships are really hard. I know someone who was in a 3 year ldr, and they are now married. We have to learn from these people. The worst thing is thinking it’s not real; we can’t touch or have a proper conversation. We just have to believe and trust each other. I know that nothing is certain in this world, but I know that I will not give up on something I really want. When I want it I go for it, and I’m determined to get it.

BBQ in Stoke!

I’m thinking about a very good friend of mine who is in trouble. That’s the backside of having friends a million miles away. You can’t really be there for them, give them a hug when needed. Luckily I’m good with words, so I am able to do something to ease their pain. Still, I wish I could do more. Tomorrow I am going to look for some international call cards, because I want to speak to Kei more often, but also talk to my international friends. It’s good to hear a friendly voice once in a while. If I can do that, then I will.

It’s Friday, and my first week at my new job is officially over. It went very well and exceeded my expectations. I can’t wait to see what the next week will bring. Friday in one weeks time I have to go to the DSS office for an interview, because I need a national insurance number to be able to work here. I don’t anticipate any problems, other than finding the place. I’m still new with buses and stuff like that, but tomorrow I get to travel a bit. I will take the bus to the center of Manchester and then a train to Stoke. There my friend Katy will pick me up and we will go to her and her boyfriend’s barbeque party! Yeay, I’m so excited about that. It will be good food, beer, some football and a lot of new people to meet. I hear about 20 people might come, none of which I know. I’ll probably sleep over there and come back home on Sunday.

Sweet Kei came online this morning just before I was going to get to work. She didn’t have much time because she was at the airport waiting for her plane to Kuala Lumpur. She just came online to tell me how much she loved me. Needless to say, I’ve been smiling as much, if not more than the employees at work today. She’s such a sweet girl. I’m so lucky to have her :).

Time

I got up at 4am this morning. I did that for a while when I was in Tromsø. I think I will start again with this routine. Why am I getting up so early you ask? Well, since I have started working now, I have less hours in the day to do whatever I need to do. I have to take the bus at 7.15. Then I take the bus home around 16.15 so I will be home 16.35. That means I lose 9 hours of my precious time at work. So if I go to bed 11pm or midnight it means I will have about 10 hours when I can do what I want. I feel I need that much because the days are really just flying by. The good thing about that is that it’s shorter time until I meet Kei.

No word from Kei today. She can only receive text messaged and not send them out. I sent lots today, just keeping her updated on my daily life. I know she likes that. On Saturday I will buy an international call card so I can call her as often as I like :). For now I can only send her text messages and write these blogs because I know she reads them. Miss you Kei!

What if we all ended up in the same place?

Wouldn’t it be cool? Well there are strange things happening in Manchester. I moved in on Sunday and there was this Brazilian guy here called Fernando. We just said hi a couple of times, but yesterday we got to talk for the first time. He told me: “Hmm, you look familiar”. “Well we both work at Shell” I replied. “Have you been in Dublin, Ireland before?” He asked. “Sure have, I worked for a company called ClientLogic”. Then he laughed and yelled “Me too!” At that point I almost fell down, I swear. And it gets better. It turns out he lived in Carlton Court, the same as me! We both end up in the same little house in some unknown road in Manchester, come on! What are the odds?

My heart suffered a blow today. I wrote something in yesterday’s blog that feels natural for me, but it made Kei worried. In Ireland I lived with two girls, and yesterday I was thinking about moving in with this Norwegian girl and a French guy. It didn’t even occur to me that it is unheard of in Indonesia. Kei got worried, and then I got worried. She said it was ok, but I had to call her. I cried a little and we laughed a bit. If losing her feels just a little bit worse than I felt at the moment that I realized I could lose her, then it is indescribable pain. She told me it was ok, but I can’t make her worried. It pains me too much. This girl is so special to me and I just can’t risk losing her for any reason. So I am going to find a place on my own here in Manchester, and it will be a bit more expensive, but I don’t care. It’s for love, and it’s worth doing. I love you Kei, and I didn’t mean to scare you. As you will learn to know, I am a faithful guy. It’s just hard with a LDR, but we will make it. There’s nothing like having a near death experience, to truly appreciate what you have.