Yeah

Well, my beloved Twins lost tonight in 10 innings. No shame though, we played hard. We'll win tomorrow night. I'm going to the game with my lucky glove. It's late Friday night, I'm watching "A Walk To Remember," and am in a generally reflective mood. I'm always in a pretty reflective mood though. Tomorrow, I'm getting up and going to Caribou Coffee. I'm usually a Starbucks man, but I have a coupon to get whatever I want at Caribou, and I'm psyched to use it. I've been thinking about the mysterious girl lately. I think I'm going to e-mail her and see if she wants to catch a Twins game. Well, not only her, but the other girl as well. She is a Twins fan, so that might be fun. I think the real question is, can I be myself around her fully? I don't know, what's frustrating is that every girl that I really feel I can be completely open with, I'm already friends with. That pretty much confines any potential dating scenario to nothing. Aaron, stop spending so much time thinking about girls. You're a young man, 20 years old. God will bring you someone. You just have to wait. I hope it comes soon though. Yesterday, a Farmington girl was killed. She was working for the city, weedwacking or something on the side of the road, and a driver who fell asleep at the wheel crashed into her, killing her instantly. I never knew her, even though I was at FHS when she was. But I got to thinking about the fragility of life. I mean, she didn't have a chance to say goodbye. Her life was stolen. I felt really bad. I still do feel really bad. Why does this stuff happen? Why does a young woman with her whole life ahead of her get snuffed out so cruelly? No one knows. I have to believe it is for some sort of reason. I hope it doesn't happen to me. I want to lead a productive, happy life. I want to fall in love, have a wife and family. There are so many things I want. I want to live. I hope God will grant me some of these wishes. Anyways, getting ready for England. It's going to be hardcore. Hope everyone is well.

Mystery No Longer

Today I hung out for a bit with the mysterious girl and this other chick going to England. She's very beautiful girl, both outwardly and inwardly. After I left the two of them, I instantly looked forward to our next meeting. So, I think that is a sufficient explanation to how I felt. It was a very pleasant meeting. It's not like I swept her off her feet or anything. Definitely not. But even though I was nervous, I felt like I was myself. I mean, I was still operating under the automatic guarded mode with a person I didn't know, but other than that, I didn't try to be someone I wasn't. I didn't hide the fact that I was a Star Wars fan, or a Twins fan, general stuff like that. I think I made a good impression. End of story. Maybe not. The thing that really depresses me is that this will most likely go the way of every other girl I've liked before. The problem I think is, I'm just so awkward about expressing myself. I don't think ever in my life have I asked a girl out on a date. Like, an outing that both of us knew was created because there was a special connection. I'm just, sick of living like this. Feeling half here. Well, the mysterious girl said we should get together in August. It's a shame I have to wait so long. Damn, I make this sound like it was such a big failure. We all had fun. And the smile she gave me when I said goodbye, well, it's burned into my brain until August, or September 10th, whichever comes first. And that's a good thing to have burned in. Hope everyone is well.

Desires

I want to be educated. I want to have one of those photo buttons of my kid in a baseball uniform, and wear it everywhere, even in situations that could cause me great personal embarrassment. I want to whisper sweet nothings into her ear as we dance. I want to take my family to Disney World. I want to have a European car. I want to look in her eyes and tell her she is the most beautiful thing in the world, and mean it. I want to go back to Paris. I want to be with people who think it's cool I own a Jedi robe. I want to see the first game in the Twins' new ballpark. I want to see a World Series game. I want to dance. I want to take her dancing. I want to not be mundane. I want to lead a vicarious lifestyle. I want to lose weight. I want to try new things. I want to take my kids fishing. I want to walk with her through a city park, holding hands, taking our time. I want to learn from my parents. I want to have a collection of all black luggage. I want to sleep with her outside. I want to be in the U of M marching band. I want to have lifelong friends. I want to play the trombone well. I want to play in a jazz group. I want to go to a Star Wars convention. I want one of those honor roll stickers on my car. I want to see a World Cup soccer match. I want to pick her up from the airport, and hold her close when she comes off the gate. I want to see epic sights. I don't want any regrets. I want to love being alive. I want to love God. I want to love. I want a lot of things.

See You Soon?

I got an e-mail from mysterious girl today, responding to an announcement I made for a metro area Nottingham rendezvous. She seemed very peppy, and ended with "see you soon." I don't know if that means anything. Most likely not. But I never end my letters with that. I don't know. If nothing else, it brought a smile to my face, and made me eagerly anticipate next Saturday. We're hitting up Starbucks. If things go well, perhaps I could mention swing dancing on Thursdays... That's it for now. Just a quick post. Hope everyone is well.

World Cup and Other News

It is with a heavy heart that I report the already passe news that France lost the World Cup on penalty kicks to Italy. I'll be the first to say it, I am very new to the sport of soccer, but this year's World Cup really turned me on to the game. And given the exit of my own country's team, I cheered for my adopted country of France. I was very sad to see them lose. I wasn't impressed with that head butt thing that got Zinedine Zidane kicked out. Quite unsportsmanlike. But, cheers to Italy. Even though they got outplayed for like, the whole game, they still won. France has four more years. As a matter of fact, the United States has four more years too. Anyways, I'd like to announce the creation of a new blog. It has been generated for the sole purpose of documenting my life in England. You can find the link on the right side of this page. I would encourage anyone interested to check it out, especially when I start to regularly update it, which will be soon after I arrive in England on September 11th. I expect it to mainly focus on aspects related to living abroad, as it will be readily avaliable to a large amount of people, and I wouldn't feel comfortable with such large numbers reading some of the topics posted here. This blog may be updated occasionally, but the builk of time will be devoted to "Beyond the Dune Sea" So, please check it out.