Serendipity

Last night, when I should have been asleep, I watched The Godfather part II.  Gah.  What a movie!

I woke up too early this morning.  Not horribly early, just before 9, which I wasn't into. So I went back to sleep.  And woke up really late.  :-P  This happens to me sometimes.  If I wake up at a decent hour but just don't want to get up yet, I tend to get caught up in dreams when I go back to sleep.  And I have a harder time waking up.  This isn't always a bad thing.  I tend to have some pretty rockin dreams during this time.  This morning they were pretty scattered.  I don't remember much, except Robert was there, and so was Morpheus, the god of dreams.  

I rolled out of bed (ok, not literally, I sleep 10ft (3m) off the ground!) around noon, and decided I needed to get something accomplished.  So I went shopping! ;-)  I got a Dutch-English dictionary and a zucchini!  Haha, not exactly shopping until dropping, but I had fun!  For me shopping is more about looking at the beautiful things in the story, and especially about looking at the people on the street.  I don't really enjoy the buying part all that much, but I could look all day!  

I studied some Spanish today.  Not as much as I wanted to, but I can conjugate verbs!  A perfect start!  I also watched videos on Ted.com (which you should check out, if you haven't! Good stuff!) and cleaned the heck out of my room.  I am constantly amazed at the amount of hair!  And now that I literally have 6 or 7 times more floor space, I end up with lots of dust and fuzz.  I need to get house shoes, so I can just leave my shoes at the door.  Right now, I keep them on because my little be-socked feet get too cold!  :-)  I'm going to have to stock up on warming things for the winter.  House shoes, and blankets, and maybe gloves.  Ooh, and earmuffs!  I'm a cold natured gal anyway, and summer is about to kill me! 

I also watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Laura (my neighbor.)  She dragged her comfy chair over to my room, and we jammed out on a bag of popcorn.  I don't know if you've seen this movie, but you probably should at some point.  Absolutely hilarious!  Puts any relationship trouble you've ever had into a very nice perspective!  :-P

I think it's funny how the universe seems to send you little hints.  (Speaking of Ted.com, check out Amy Tan's talk on creativity for more on this!)  I think my view of the whole fate vs. choice debate is best summed up by the movie Serendipity: 

Jonathan:  Everything's predestined?  We don't have any choice at all?

Sara:  I think we make our own decisions.  I just think that fate sends us little signs, and it's how we read the signs that determine whether we're happy or not.

Anyway, here's the signal I've been getting:  GET OVER YOUR HATRED (read: fear) OF THE COLD!  Now, recently I got really mad at Robert for telling me that I shouldn't dislike onions as much as I do.  I got mad because I thought, hey, I have a right to dislike anything I please, thank you!  The point wasn't that I don't care for onions (you can't like everything, even if you try!)  The point was, I was trying to define myself by my dislike of onions, and defining yourself based on negatives is just dumb.  Besides, I might love onions tomorrow, or in 7 years.  And sometimes I really don't mind them all that much, anyway.  My relationship with onions is simply too complicated!  

So, maybe the universe was speaking through Robert, because even though I still like to laugh about how gross onions are, I can't say I hate them.  This little, seemingly meaningless exchange opened my eyes to what the universe is screaming at me.  I kept getting little signs that the Netherlands was where I was supposed to be.  Dutch showed up everywhere in the months leading up to my decision to study here.  I mean, everywhere.  The one thing I don't like about this place?  The weather is too cold.  

I'm a warm weather girl, and I don't mind defining myself based on that.  Warmth brings me joy, and I want to be defined by what I love!  But it comes down to this: If I continue to hate (fear) cold weather, I will not be happy for the next two years.  And I'm just not willing to let that happen!  If I can learn to love the cold, then I will just be opening myself up for more joy.  

So, here I go.  If you catch me complaining about the cold, please, gently remind me that I must love it.  I may need help! ;-)