Baby Pics from D&J’s beauty

My friends D&J have produced a most delicious, beautiful baby girl. I held and cuddled her and showered her with presents.

wee cute-faced lovable baby cookie ready to eat:

My Friends had a Wee Baby Girl!

Image by Vermin Inc via Flickr

Yesterday early PM, my dear friend J. phoned me from the hospital, telling me that she had a wee baby girl in the morning. I was very excited and started firing questions such as:

Has the placenta come out yet? Is D. (her husband) going to eat it?

I also blurted out my disappointment at the baby not being born on my own DOB which is a few weeks away – I had planned to do everything in my power to make this happen hehe (the originally calculated DOB was in fact 31st December). Hence it’s not going to be a Capricorn but only a Sagittarius, just like my dad 😐

Either way it’s all good and I’m very happy for them. I even told her I loved her as I was getting ready to get off the phone. Now all I need to do is wrap the prezzies for the baby and maybe buy some more – will go on Amazon in a minute – and then view the baby some time this coming week 🙂

Happy days 🙂

Also as my sweet BF was with me when I got the phone call, this memory of him and I will be burnt into my memory for the rest of my days (in the same way that the memory of the person I was with on September 11th will stay with me forever).

Italy Holiday Day 13: Friends

Just a quick one about my friend P. whom I met up with yesterday. He is LOVELY! One of those people I only see once or twice a year (every time I’m down here basically), but to whom for some reason I’m very close. One reason surely is that his now ex-GF (I found out yesterday they’re no longer together, after 8 years w00t. Must have been something in the air this year 😛 ) was German. East German, if anyone’s interested, and from Berlin.

I’ve met her a few times and she was very nice, and quite organised/structured/strong, and P. was very comfortable with that (he tends not to be too keen on the regular Italian women who are often dolled up and very feminine etc. Of course not all are like that, but this stereotype is very strongly promoted in the media here). Actually I think that GERMAN women on the other hand are very good relationship material! At least those that I know 🙂

Either way, P. is also open-minded and himself quite ‘non-Italian’ in many ways. He’s travelled a bit and did an Erasmus-exchange programme I think to Heidelberg when he was a student (he’s 33 now so it’s some time ago). His being slightly different makes it easy for us to get on and appreciate one another, also he’s very intelligent and has good political views (his dad used to be very involved with the Communist or Socialist party hehe. Now of course Italy is Berlusconified).

It makes me think that I get on with people from all nationalities and ways of life. I.e. nationality, colour, creed, or anything like that doesn’t feature at all in what makes it easy for me to form friendships. Thinking about my friends, they tend to fit into either one or more of the following:

• lower/working class ‘made good’ (people who didn’t have much growing up but who are sorted due to application of own intelligence, work ethic, and motivation)
• exposed to other cultures/ways of thinking and seeing (by that I don’t mean having to understand or relate to cultures completely opposite to our Western one. Just appreciation for and engagement with the fine differences even within Europe for ex.)
• being fine-tuned and sensitive psychologically, enabling a fuller and more complete understanding of social relations between people and the world in general (often, in younger people this has a more negative effect i.e. ‘psychological problems’, which aren’t really problems as such but just arise due to their not being able to manage this special power and different, multiple viewpoints yet)
• being geeky (techheads including programmers, netheads, into strange films, know their way about the Internet i.e. not just thick consumers)

And I think that’s it! I’m pretty sure that all of my friends fit into one or more of the above. As to criteria for enemies (hehe), I’ll do those some other time. What I can’t stand most of all is people who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth and who have been set up by their mummy and daddy, without any drive inside themselves. People without drive or motivation in general, whatever class they’re from.

My Mate Has Been Charged with ABH

Last night I received a message on msn, but didn’t respond (and I was tired and about to shut the computer down). My mate J. (22-year-old London geezer/chav) said something like

Hi babe

this morning I got charged with ABH

The thing is, he’s always on msn with his mobile and it takes him ages to type. I should have just phoned him to find out more, but it’s too depressing! I mean I should go down to London and see him some time for a drink (and pick up my Xbox that is still at his mum’s house while I’m at it!), but not now, not yet, and I have no other reason to go down to London any time soon.

I’ve actually been looking for my mate’s pic to post up here (naturally with identity protected), but it’s probably inappropriate anyway. I like J., he’s a good guy and has a good heart, but I really can’t cope with that sort of ‘underworld’ thing of ABfuckingH and such. I mean what’s the point? But I like him! Jesus christ, what to do, what to do  😐

How to Throw a Baby Shower

Image by rshannonsmith via Flickr

On Sat. evening, we went to see my friends D&J. I hadn’t seen them in ages, and J. is now significantly more pregnant-looking than last time (she’s now 6 months). It was great – we played Mensch Aergere Dich Nicht, and the boy won, and they had prepared food and everything (I had brought a cheese cake).

In the overall happy mood, I thought about how I can support J. with this pregnancy thing (I’m really not a fan of babies and such, and am slightly worried they will ask me to be godmother, though I’m not sure if people do this kind of thing over here, i.e. having godparents). What I suggested to everyone’s amusement is to throw her a baby shower!

What IS a baby shower? Well I need to find out myself the intricate details. When I said it, it was a spur of the moment- thing, and I didn’t know/still don’t quite know what it entails. Some cultural things here in the UK, especially related to important life events (marriage, death/funerals, births etc.) to this day I don’t have a clue about. They happen so rarely within my social circle that I haven’t had a chance yet to practise. I mean, I even got engaged at one point as I didn’t know what it entailed (i.e. I didn’t realise that you were meant to marry that person! I thought engagement just meant showing some commitment 😛 ).

So, apart from my not knowing what a baby shower really is but suggesting it anyway, the other ‘problem’ is who to invite. D&J don’t really have that many friends – in fact in the 4 years I’ve known them, I’ve never met any of their other friends and I actually think they don’t have anyone else like me (close personal friend). J. has some girl friends/work colleagues and such, but she said it wouldn’t be a good mix to have ‘our’ circle with them at the same time, which I perfectly understand.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do. We kind of agreed at the end that, instead of ‘throwing a baby shower’, I would just come around some time before Christmas bearing gifts for the wee one, and that maybe we should combine a Christmas do with a ‘baby shower’ type – do. I.e. no actual baby shower.

Still, I’ll do some more research into this custom, and see what I can do to make it special for her either way 🙂