Deck the Boughs

Being in the fiercely competitive environment of Fortune, the departments and teams pitted against each other to see who could spread the most Christmas cheer.  For two weeks each team devised, strategized and sometimes even sabotaged plans to come up with the most colourful, creative (and winning!) idea possible.

Hear our masterpieces:

1.       A Very White Christmas

I’m dreaming, of a white, Christmas…Just like the ones I used to know…..Where the treetops glisten with toilet paper. Wait?! What?! Not that kind of White Christmas. This is red neck, BOGAN Christmas! This team turned their aisle into a trailer park with neon flashing lights in the shape of some savory objects. To add to the decor, tacky Christmas decorations were dispersed throughout including mounted plastic reindeer heads, draped green and red tinsel and their most prized possession; a giant inflatable Santa Claus gurgling out the Christmas songs we all know and love: “Walmart Wonderland”, "Jingle Coins” , "Help Yourself to a Marie Christ Mas” and “All I Want for Christmas is Mo Bling”.  In addition to the decorations the employees also dressed in their finest. Pit-stained wife-beaters with tobaccy and beer stains running down the front and a big ol’ smile, missing teeth and all!

2.       Naughty and Nice

This team had two rows fully dedicated to each cause.  The “naughty” row took on a freakish Hollowmas theme.   A skeleton wearing a Santa Claus hat hung limply from a bough of tinsel with its head stuck in trash can with empty rum bottles scattered around.  Pictures of naughty political leaders hung from the ceiling: Silvio Berlusconi, Elliot Spitzer, William Jefferson, Bill Clinton, Nixon, Tom DeLay etc . (they definitely didn’t get any presents). At the end of the aisle, a beautifully decorated Christmas Tree, compiled from recently cut Eucalyptus limbs, had coke cans, empty cigarette cartons, and 12 dead partridges as its apparel.  The desks, ceilings and floor were completely covered with brown paper. The patrons of this row were also in on the gig.  The women dressed as burlesque Santa helpers and the men were dressed completely in black.  One of them even dressed as “bad” Santa.

The “nice” aisle was the complete opposite.  It had colourful lights and decorations hanging from the ceiling, desks wrapped in colourful wrapping paper and a 15 foot tall Christmas tree at the end of the row decorated with precious ornaments, boxes tied with string underneath and boughs of tinsel wrapped with love around the tree.  The employees of this row wore outfits of red, green and gold.

3.       Superheroes

This team, which never fulfils their target, having had enough of being the butt-end of all the work gossip and chatter decided that some grandiose and drastic measures were needed to turn the team around.  Being a bit of a psych person, the manager decided that Robert K. Merton’s  theory of “self-fulfilling prophecy” should be put into practice.

Every member of the team dressed as a superhero with their individual desks decked out as their lair.  Heroes included: Superman, Spiderman, The Hulk, Batman, Wonder Woman, Banana Man, Catwoman, She-Ra and Green Lantern.  Surprisingly, none of them were dressed as Fortune 500 heroes (maybe this explains their performance?) I guess we will find out at the end of the half if this had any effect on crime in the area….

4.      The Twelve Personalities of Santa

Did you know that Santa Claus has dissociative identity disorder? How else could a man be accepted so widely and unconditionally in society who:

•        Lives in the only environment people can not
•        Uses “magic” to sneak into people’s houses
•        Believes reindeer can fly
•        Can travel in a one-horse open sleigh laden with hundreds of millions of gifts
•        Invites children to sit on his lap
•        Lives solely on cookies and milk

Anyhow, I digress….. This group decided to represent each of the places where a Santa Claus exists.

Germany- Saint Nikolaus

The Netherlands- Sinterklaas

China- Dun Che Lao Ren

Italy- La Befana

France- Pere Noel

Belgium- Kerstman

Chile- Viejo Pascuero

Afghanistan- Baba Chaghaloo

Albania- Babadimri

Finland- Joulupukki

Hawaii- Kanakaloka

Poland- Swiety Mikolaj

Needless to say, the office looked like a volcano erupted with Christmas. There were so many lights, wrapping paper, tinsel and themes I’m sure it was a fire hazard. So who was able to spread the most Christmas cheer? Vote now!

Merry Christmas J

Back by Popular Demand….

Updates: Tis the Season to?

There seems to be something in the air, I mean other than Santa Claus and lerv (courtesy of Celine Dion).  Over ½ a dozen of my friends have decided to entrust their lives to a 2 foot by 4” long nylon strap as they are suspended 60,000 feet in the air hurdling at over 1300 mph to start a new life.  Although I am “losing” some friends I have been adding new ones thus keeping my friendship balance in check.  (I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that Judgement and I have parted ways…I guess she gave up on me. I’M DOOMED to be a better person FOREVER!!!!)  

In addition to people physically moving to other countries, tis also the season of emotional moving: Break-Up Season.  In the realm of “good” break-ups, this is prime time…Just enough time before Christmas, NYE and Valentine’s Day to not look like a total douche plus with the added bonus of not needing to buy presents! So what does this mean for me?  In 3-6 months’ time, I will be prime meat. I’ll be in that sweet spot between Rebound Girl and Ms Right Now. 

On a side note, I did meet someone very, very interesting (but also very stupid) from another Fortune 500 Company, which happens to be one of our biggest, if not our biggest, competitor.  We met on a dark grey night in the middle of the day.  I was dressed to the gills with my 2 year-old scuffed  work boots, hair stapled back into a messy pony tail, 12-hour old make-up, baggy pants and a non-descript work shirt (yes, Judgement would have been proud!)  I’m not sure how I caught Fish, but there he was; cute, tall, rich, funny, intelligent and totally into me.  So, now the stupid....After buying me incredibly expensive drinks, flirting ostentatiously with me, and being completely dazzled by my whit, charm and sexy exotic accent, his friends decided that NOW was the perfect time to take the plunge.  They whoop and holler as they rip off ALL their clothes to expose their budgie smugglers, which Fish had so kindly already shown me, as they jump into the pool.  After 5 minutes of watching Fish and Co. swim around, my friends and I leave the poolside to catch up with the rest of our party.  So, I leave Fish in the pool, never to be seen again…Why couldn’t he have asked for my number BEFORE jumping in?? Who knows, stupid.

So, now enter the season of drear: I have just started my 5^th month at Fortune and things are right on track.  As with the most popularly used four-letter words, work is right up there. 

I have been thrown head first into the deep-end of a labyrinth of processes and procedures twice, (soon to be thrice…) now.  However, instead of an anvil forging its way back to its origins tied to my waist, I have Larry, Curly, and Moe helping out.  All joking aside, support at Fortune has been outstanding. I’ve had approximately 10 hours of training a week for the past 3 months, but despite this rigour I still have SOO much to learn and feel like I’m playing “job” rather than actually doing my job.  Learning more about my role and what is expected of me, I’m still not convinced that being a slave to Outlook and being at the beck and call of Emperor Hirohito, Stalin, Attila The Hun and Adolf is my dream job (I knew I should have picked basket weaving as my elective!).

Book Review: Heart of Darfur

Biographies and Autobiographies are one of my favorite genres as I relish the life lessons learned by others. These individuals have helped me overcome obstacles in my own life, inspired me to better myself, provided me with a strong and positive role model, and helped me better understand this complex world around us.  

So, when I picked up this book, I had high expectations that the author would also be this inspiring and strong woman. The Heart of Darfur is written by a MSF worker, Lisa Blaker, who goes to Darfur, Sudan for 9 months to help with humanitarian aid in this war torn forgotten country in Africa.

After reading the first chapter or two, I saw that this was not to be the case.  I felt the author was weak and that I would have reacted much differently. Although Lisa didn't impress me much, I was instead inspired by the people around her; the ones who walked for 17 hours, escaping under the cover of night, sometimes running from gun-fire to seek medical help for their children; the ones who experienced and witnessed some of the most horrendous crimes in humanity yet still had such strong conviction, faith and hope that things will be better. They found strength by focusing on the little things they DID have: another day of life, obtaining medical treatment, a day of peace, rain, a family member making it back after a raid, a child waking up from the cold chill of death after receiving life-saving re-hydration solution, a blanket, clean water.....Something that we could all do to remember: there is always something to give thanks for.

I won't go into too much detail about the atrocities these people faced, but would like to touch on some interesting comments/thoughts/statistics that Lisa made.

• Diarrhea, severe dehydration, cerebral malaria and malnutrition are the most common ailments children face. Many mothers run out of breast milk and turn exclusively to goat's milk mixed with often contaminated water.  This rich, yet nutrient poor milk mix often leads to diarrhea, dehydration and death in babies under one year.
• Cerebral malaria kills an estimated 700,000-900,000 in Sub-Saharan Africa every year. Three thousand children a day. But who knows the true numbers. their births are often not registered, their death unrecorded in remote, hidden villages and river beds. 
• Threats of full-scale assaults were always there. They stole goods, attacked woman, chased villagers...and according to the government none of this was happening. They claimed attacks on locals were exaggerated and fighting was simply "tribal warfare". 
• The outreach workers were key to the community. They represented every tribe. The government was telling us there was no problem...yet our outreach workers were telling us a different story.
• Our workload seemed to increase exponential. Attacks on locals occurred every day. The injuries increasing in number and intensity. Rape, attempted rape, torture, theft, and murder all left their scars. All tribes were affected.  Incursions into town took prisoners who were as badly treated as any other. There were no rules or clear lines- good and evil, right and wrong.  All sides seemed able to inflict punishment and they wailed into the night when their own kin were injured or killed.
• Tribal squabbling and grievances were a very real and potential volatile part of life in every community.  And each situation had to be dealt with, while treating everyone fairly. Perceived favouritsm could be dangerous.  If one sector received some input from out team then all the others wanted the same. And there wasn't enough time or resources to go around.
• Long-term solutions were almost impossible in a war and we were barely keeping these children alive week by week. They needed water from a deep borehole, clean and free. Boiling water was impossible for them, there wasn't enough firewood for everyone to use. If they couldnt' afford to buy clean water then they would continue to use water they found in puddles. The diarrhea would never end.
• "The baby did look better and it will be okay..for today. But tonight it will be fed goat's milk and dirty water again and it will die. Tomorrow or next week. What else dose the mother have if she has no other milk and no clean water?"
• I leaned back on my boots and looked along the line of gulping, sobbing children.  That is the reality of war- not frightening statistics of death, front lines and the changing allegiances of tribes. the reality of war is those children, their dusty feet lying on the sand as they drank and sniffed. Flies gathering on their wet clothes...
• What are we doing here?  I wondered. saving a life here and there, so they can be killed tomorrow? Is spending billions of dollars to help people live a life of  prolonged suffering or providing valuable medicine to someone who is beyond help worth the expenditure?
• I've heard people say, "it's different there, those people are used to death and for them it is just natural.' Stand listening to a crying mother as she holds her dead child in her arms and tell me if you really believe that. They cry and grieve and ache inside and the aching never goes. The difference is that they have no choice, without the care we take for granted. Their children die and they can only watch.
• Woman speaking to Lisa: "I run classes with local military leaders, telling them of their responsibilities under international humanitarian law. I think they are really listening. If we can just teach them the rules of engagement then this was will dramatically change and civilians wont be at risk"..."I think you and I disagree on some fundamental points, you are dealing with an ideal situation, how people should behave. I deal with reality, how soldiers and militia actually behave. We don't live in an ideal world, and we never will.  Your programme assumes that people want to be good, want to change and want to move toward the ideal. They don't."
• Shot from behind in their homes or chased by night with lasers of light.  This was no game. It was their lives. Their painful, miserable lives, dragged out in a place too far away for anyone to care. It was their deaths that made up the statistics in reports far away. So that people could sit reading the morning newspaper and shudder. "they're fighting again in Darfur" and turn the page.
• In the midst of war, children are the future.

After finishing this book, I gained much more respect for Lisa.  She taught me that anyone, regardless of who they are, can make a difference. You don't have to be a powerful politician or a person with deep pockets. Anyone can help.  I always kept telling myself that one day I will start donating to charity....once I've finished paying for my education, have a good job with a steady income, saved a nice chunk for a rainy day, and then, only then would I start donating funds to organisations.  How selfish.....

Murdered!!!

Had a very interesting dream the other day, and for all you Freudian and Carl Jung fans, this should be a FANTASTIC chance to analyze my inner workings.

My dream starts out with me and Worthless (a guy I used to date that's not even worth having a name) in a room.  We aren't talking, but I know that he wants to spend the night with me. I've had similar dreams before, but with various people, but somehow Worthless steals the spot light in this one.

So anyhow, Worthless has a girlfriend, and in my dream I want to spend the night with Worthless too (usually when Worthless is in my dreams and we have any kind of intimacy I'm not into it at all and feel nothing, wish he was someone else (anyone else!), and then wake up feeling gross, but in this dream it seems that we just wanted to literally sleep). Anyhow, we're in a house, which seems to be my parents', and my Mom has put a single inflatable bed in my room, next to my bed. Through image communication, Worthless and I are able to communicate that that is where we'll be sleeping.  Now, Worthless has to convince his girlfriend that for some weird reason they aren't able to spend the night together as there are only single beds.  So all three of us go around looking at the rooms (and this is still through image communication) to figure out where everyone will sleep. We come across my parents' large bed and Worthless' girlfriend looks at the bed, and I say "Oh, this is my parents' bed.  It's their birthday today, so they'll be using this bed later." So we keep walking, and I make small talk to the girlfriend. I just remember laughing and being nice to her.

All the sudden we've all been separated and I'm outside, and Gemini comes up and starts talking to me. For some reason she knows what Worthless and I are planning and she starts giving me grief about it telling me that I'm lying to myself and that I do actually care if I sleep with Worthless and that I've been pretending to be happy all along.  I, of course, defend myself, saying I don't care whether Worthless and I sleep together and she keeps reiterating my false happiness.  I see that I can't convince her otherwise, and I stand up to walk away from her, and see a pool with ice over the top of it, like it's frozen, and lots of people swimming and talking around the pool.

I go into the water to swim, and Gemini is right behind me yelling at me, that I should be looking after Worthless' girlfriend and how inconsiderate I was.  Worthless sees me in the pool, and decides to join me. Gemini points out that his girlfriend is looking at us through one of the windows, so I look up to look for her. I then feel Gemini grab shards of the broken ice and go after Worthless underwater.  Me and another party goer try to go under water to stop Gemini, but she's thrashing around so much that we can't get her.  I feel some cuts on my legs, and then the other guy helping is able to pull Gemini up.  I want to see what's happened to my legs, so I do kind of an under water handstand, and it feels like I'm bleeding.  I start getting scared and I can see the helpers eyes' glaze over with white as he is sickened by all the blood coming out.  Then I knew that I had been hurt badly and was going to die. I go back to my underwater handstand and my legs slowly go numb as all my blood drains out of them.

Verdict

With the completion of my challenge, I can now finally answer my questions and quench your suspense (I know you've been holding your breathe all week).

Observations Continued:
Day 3
-Noticeable difference in BM's

Day 4
-Feeling extremely full and bloated today. Could barely eat.
-Going...or rather running to the bathroom every 20 minutes
-People are starting to ask questions

Day 5
-Really struggling today. Feeling sick and full.
-Others have rallied in support and have jumped on the drinking bandwagon.
-Noticed new pimple which may or may not be related to the family size bag of Doritos I ate yesterday
-Unable to achieve 4 litres....Drank a little over 3
-Bladder needs vacating every 45 minutes or so

Day 6
-Still struggling (Officially giving up)
-Drank 2 litres, was much easier as I ran for an hour beforehand
-HUGE (new) zit on my face, situated in super strategic location right in the middle of my forehead between the eyes which may or may not be related to the King sized chocolate Kit Kat bar I ate yesterday

Day 7
-Drank 2 litres
-Lips cracking
-Zit on forehead has orbiting moons

Thoughts/Conclusions:

• Four litres daily is entirely way too much to drink (unless you're a horse, which may explain why I had to pee like one)
• I chose the worst time to conduct this experiment; wrong time of the month
• I chose the best time to conduct this experiment; I was in training and didn't actually need to be productive
• The real reason why people lose weight doing this is because of all the running to and from the toilet

Answers:

1. Does drinking water cause skin to glow?? Unless you're drinking water sourced from near a nuclear power plant or an actor in the movie Cacoon...I think not.
2. Does drinking water cause skin to look younger, fresher and more vibrant? Definitely yes...my skin is EXACTLY how it was all those years ago.
3. Will it finally solve world hunger, bring peace to all the nations, balance the budget and end the recession? Hmm...this isn't a Miss Universe panel, so I would have to go with "I think not".

Verdict:

• No one has commented on my silky smooth, pimple-free skin
• I hold more influence over my co-workers and friends than I thought (woo hoo popular band nerd is back!!!)
• Whoever thought drinking 4 liters a day was a good idea is crazy stupid

Gotta Go! Gotta Go RIGHT NOW!!!

Title: An Experiment on Myself

Introduction:

The purpose of this experiment is to determine if drinking will improve my life.

Problem:

Ever since I was preteen, I've been plagued with acne. Not normal acne, but deep, oozing nasty acne requiring medication, numerous products and heaps of make-up. I remember explaining to my friends that I had 'accidentally run into a door', when in reality I had poked and prodded my pimple so much it gave me a huge bruise and scab...right in the middle of my forehead!

By conducting this research I hope to address and answer these very important questions:

1. Does drinking water cause skin to glow?? 
2. Does drinking water cause skin to look younger, fresher and more vibrant? 
3. Will it finally solve world hunger, bring peace to all the nations, balance the budget and end the recession? 

Methodology:

My method is quite simple. DRINK!! My task is to drink at least 3+ litres of water a day for the next 7 days.  I intend to do this by drinking a litre of water with every meal and then one between/after meals.  

Control Group: Past Upside Down Girl

Experimental Group: Future Upside Down Girl

Limitations: Many

Observations: 

Day 1-

Captain's Log stardate 030911.1  

Today is Sunday, and I've decided that today is the day. However, I forgot one little thing; I don't have a water bottle or anything bigger than a mug. After searching my room I found a bottle of wine...Finished that off and topped it up with water. So, I began to drink and drink and drink. Finally, I finished my 4 litres at 8:30pm (2 of which I had in under an hour). From there on, just like clock work, I was going to the bathroom every 30-45 minutes. My last time was at 2:15am....

Note to self...Stop drinking at least 2 hours before bed time! Another observation: After 2 litres, my pee actually looked like water. Now I know why they say it's OK to drink it if you're ever stuck in the desert (with 2+ litres of water.....).

Day 2:

Stardate 040911.2: Situation: Uncomfortable.

Because it takes me over an hour to get to work, and is semi-inappropriate to bring a bottle of wine (even if it is filled with water), I decided to be smart and drink my first litre before going to work. I made sure to try and go, as my mother always told us to, right before leaving but apparently I was completely empty.

About 20 minutes into my 50 minute trip I felt a slight tingle in my bladder, and thought: 

Ah this isn't too bad, I can wait another 30 minutes. Then I started noticing all the little bumps, shakes and vibrations.

You can do it Upside Down! Remember how you went right before you left? It's OK, just think about something else..

Yes all the work I have to do and (jolt!!) ummm...yeah work and quoting and (sudden stop) eek! I have training all week so I can sleep in and (lots of vibrations)...

Almost there Upside Down. Look! There's the first bridge! Only 15 more minutes until your stop! Really close now! Just think how beautiful your skin is going to be, so nice.... (jolt, bump, jolt) and shiny (jostle) just pinch a bit harder....Remember that time in High School when you really had to go? I wonder which one was worse? This time or that time, cuz that time was REALLY bad. You were searching for cups in the car and started crying cuz you had to go so badly.. 

Whoa! Why am I thinking of this? This is the worst possible thing to be thinking of. Think of ummm......(Screetch!!) My bladder!!! Oh good, the girl who gets on 5 minutes before my stop yes!!! Yes! YES!!! OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! TRAFFIC?? why me!?!?!? 

Just think how good you'll feel in a couple of minutes...you will be completely empty and....

Ooooh! I can see my bridge now! Yup, just a wee bit closer now. C'mon traffic MOVE! Oh good. Thank God! 

You can hold on...just 10 more minutes. Just a quick 1 km walk..

Really? JUST 1km...

Yes Upside Down, JUST ONE K! You run 5 minute K's..If you walk really fast you can get there in 8 minutes...You can do it!! 

Hmmm...I wonder if there's a bathroom on the way there? or is there a bathroom on the ground floor? Yes! Finally! my stop!!! 

Ok, just walk really quickly, and there will be no problem. 

Oh gosh! Walking is worse than sitting on bumpy bus....sooo far to go!! I wonder if someone would notice if I had an 'accident'? I mean I am wearing black. Black is black whether its wet or dry! Eww gross! Did I just really think that it would be OK to pee on myself? 

Ok, just calm down, and think of something different; I know....sing a song! 

"Ohhh! Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh, over and over and over the fields we go....Oh my God its so far away!! 

Sweet! A bush!!! I bet you could go there. No one would be able to see you.  You're wearing that big black coat and if you squatted, no one could tell!! 

NO NO NO!! I can do it, just 6 more minutes...

Man you are making really good time this morning! 

Ok made it to the traffic lights...dang it! I walked too quickly and now I have to wait for two cross walks to turn green. Man gotta go gotta go!! hurry up! hurry up!! 

Look, Upside Down you're so close, all you have to do is get in the elevator and go straight to the bathroom! You don't even have to go to your desk, just make it to the elevator...

Phew! Ok crossed the road without getting hit (or peeing)...there's the building! 

Ok now just cross the parking lot...good! Now, push the buttons for the elevator...

OMG! slowest elevator ever!..The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout....why are these the only songs that come to my mind? Why can't I think of a cool song like...uuhhhh...eerrr.... Twinkle Twinkle...haha twinkle rhymes with tinkle and I really need to....Oh good, door open....uggg! why oh why is my office on the 25th floor????

Ok, really close Upside Down, nearly there...hold on....

Yes! The doors have opened! Outta my way!!! 

And so for the next 2 minutes I was in heaven.  Hallelujah!!!

Conclusions:

My bladder works!

Recommendations:

-Invest in Depends, or other adult diaper

-Invest in running shoes

-Possible torture device

The ultimate throne:

Florentino

I'm sure all my (2) readers are just dying of anticipation to know what has happened with Clark Kent and Office Hottie 2....Turns out Clark Kent is definitely no Superman. Just plain boring Clark. Office Hottie 2 is  just some eye candy for when I get bored looking at the soups and salads around me.

So, unfortunately for you my dear readers there is not much to report.  No flying sparks, no fireworks erupting, no inappropriate office comments, no walking down aisles to accidentally on purpose strike up a conversation, no electrical outages....nada. 

But I guess it's all for the best because I know my prince is out there....... somewhere.....beneath the pale moonlight......

So, I've decided to dedicate this post to another one of my friends.  This lucky fellow is Florentino, after the character in one of the worst novels I've ever read: "Love in the Time of Cholera" (just click on his name). How this story was likened to Romeo and Juliet's love in portraying how love conquers all I shall never know.

Anyhow, I met Florentino at a restaurant.  He was passing by our table and we happened to have mutual friends. As soon as I saw him and learned of our mutual friends, my first reaction, was "Oh gosh, I hope he doesn't get a crush on me since we just both happen to be single.....AWKWARD!!!" and well, that is pretty much EXACTLY what happened.   

For Florentino love is and never shall be easy. Part of this has to do with his highly negative pessimistic outlook on life. You know how pessimists see the glass half empty? Well for him, there is no glass. The water is just a wet mess that no matter how much he tries to capture it, how much he yells at it to keep still, no matter how many people he asks for help, the water keeps just slightly out of reach.  This is of course no fault of Florentino's. The world actually is against him. Every time he tries to clean up the water from the right, the world takes notice and wobbles to the left. Every time he tries to capture it from the left, the world says "mwha ha ha...I shall stop spinning for thee" and then the water turns into little droplets which float tantalizing above his head. It seems that no matter what Florentino does the world does something to keep him from obtaining his water. This of course leaves poor Florentino frustrated, and he wants to make sure EVERYONE knows this by leaving countless message postings day in and day out for the world to read and comment upon.

To ensure that the world is and remains against him, he chooses the most impossible tasks to accomplish and tries to solve them in the worst possible way one can imagine. For example, one of his interesting flirting techniques was to tell me how unattractive I was and that I wasn't his type to see if I was interested in him. Of course this didn't phase me a bit and responded quickly with: "Right back at ya, I'm not attracted to you at all. You definitely aren't my type in any way shape or form." 

With his spirit crushed (again...), Florentino was suddenly filled with an unstoppable desire. His new mission in life, like Florentino, was and still is to do everything he can to win my heart over. This has been going on for over 3 years and sees little sign of slowing. To woo me, he has taken me on "romantic" getaways, wined and dined me, serenaded me with music, surprised me with gifts of chocolates and slideshows, checks up on me to make sure I'm OK (including calling my friends to ask about me), writes poems about how beautiful my eyes are (which he reads to my friends..thank goodness I've never had to hear one), invites me every week to do something with him and (tries to) ensure my jealousy by telling me about all the girls he's "dating", but then asks me permission if he can....

This list could go on and on, but I think you get the point. I'm sure one day (hopefully) he'll make someone very happy...but that someone is not me. Keep holding on Flor.