One year and counting

One year ago - on this exact date - I was a bit nervous; it was the day before my first face-to-face with Gorgeous (well, she hadn't turned into Gorgeous yet at that point) and apart from being my first date in a while, it was also my first date with someone I'd met on ye olde interweb. Here we are, one year later, and things have turned out pretty well - great, even.

Over the course of a few Summer months, Cute and Nervous Date blossomed into Gorgeous, and these last 8 months we've met each others' friends and families, we've laughed and cried together, traveled together, made and eaten a number of dinners and cakes together, watched way too many seasons of a number of TV series together and seen a reasonably balanced mix of chick flicks and guy movies. We've exchanged strengths and weaknesses, musical preferences, hugs, kisses, hickeys and zerberts; we've learned a few new things about our respective cultural backgrounds, made some small and some slightly bigger plans together, developed some routines and habits (some good, some... interesting), looked each other deeply in the eyes and said profoundly silly things and sometimes said profoundly serious things while looking rather silly. Hey; it's a balancing act and we're doing pretty good so far.

So, I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly say "Thanks!" to Gorgeous for hunting me down and... uhm... I mean, for changing my life for the better - mind you, it WAS pretty good to start with, but there's always room for improvement - and for bringing that perfect blend of love, appetite for life (and food - especially the yellow, banana-shaped kind), insanity, spontaneity, noise and silence into my life. U are teh roxxor!

Top 7 signs you're no longer a single geek

(Tongue firmly in cheek and all that. All references to actual, living people are purely coincidental and should be taken with a huge grain of salt. Oh, and I'm more than happy to have my newfound love disrupt my geeky routines and rituals, thankyouverymuch.)

Not too long ago, my status as a single geek changed into that of a geek-in-a-relationship. This has brought about certain changes in my life and lifestyle (or lack of such), and I'm happy to say they are mostly for the better (of course, I say this because there's a good chance my girlfriend will be reading this blog). I thought perhaps a short summary of these changes may be of value to other geeks (of one persuasion or the other) in a relationship or about to enter one.

So, here they are, the top 7 tell-tale signs you're no longer a single geek:

1. Your otherwise spotless order history of quality music and cult/action/horror-movies with your favorite web-shop (*cough*Play*cough*) suddenly becomes tainted with Top 20 CDs and chick-flicks.

2. You find yourself - somewhat reluctantly - actually enjoying said Top 20 CDs and chick-flicks to some extent. I repeat: to SOME extent.

3. "Going shopping" no longer means checking out the nearest Apple Store or scavenging for cheap X-Men comics.

4. There are at least 10 new cosmetics products in your bathroom that you cannot identify - and most of their content cannot be found in the periodic table.

5. Two words: "Couple dinners". 'Nuff said!

6. No more careless tossing about of pop-cultural references: if you say something in Klingon, Elvish or Wookie, be prepared to explain it. Thoroughly. In a language spoken on Earth.

7. With the above point fresh in mind: Yes, most sci-fi and fantasy will lose some of its initial attraction once properly explained (read: dissected), scrutinized and lovingly ridiculed.

8. "Playing games" no longer means hooking up your Playstation or dusting off your Star Wars action figures... Which is quite an improvement, really. No further elaboration required or granted.

There you have it, fellow geeks: it's not so bad as it may seem. Life is change, and not all change is for the worse - even if it means a bit less obsessive re-watching of Firefly episodes.

PS! I don't really speak Klingon, Elvish or Wookie - well.

Space

(Disclaimer: if my somewhat overactive brain has somehow nicked any central themes or ideas here from your favourite song/movie/book - then I assure you it's purely coincidental and all in your mind. Really)

Space is a strange thing. No, not that big, unfathomable darkness in which our tiny speck of a planet is hanging, but space as in that somewhat smaller area that's surrounding us at any given time. Space breathes, it expands, collapses, twists and warps and can turn from a comfort zone to a cage in a fraction of a second. It can be a massive field of freedom or a suffocating void of emptiness. Space - or lack of it - is what makes a room seem crowded even when occupied by just two people, or a crowded room seem enormous and empty - apart from that person whose space you share at the moment.

Space has voids: not the mind-bogglingly huge ones, but the small, people-sized ones. Ever noticed that special emptiness left behind by someone close or special to you? It's not the same space that was there before, but a space without meaning, without substance. Space without substance may seem like a ridiculous idea, but I suspect some of you know the feeling (or a similar one, although differently phrased): like the face of a loved one suddenly missing from a family photo, the image incomplete – something is missing.

Why this sudden obsession with space, I hear you ask. Well, my space (not MySpace) has been invaded. It was not a hostile invasion, but a quiet, comfortable one. I made some feeble attempts at resistance, but this space-invader (pun intended) was a cunning and stealthy opponent and I was outsmarted, out-gunned – my line of defense broken and left crumbling in the hands of the invader. Slowly, the space in which I've been residing started growing, its outer perimeters harder to monitor and the invader found a way in – and my space will never be the same again. For now, this invader's space and mine seem to have formed a symbiotic relationship – each person's space leaving a vacuum in the other one's when that person is not around.

My space is no longer empty. :)