Sometimes there an be more to an introduction than meets the eye. Or less. I have a nasty habit of tuning out *exactly* as the other person is telling me their name. I don't know why it happens, I get this brain freeze quite involuntarily. It's like I receive the information and then shut off immediately, no time to commit the information to short term memory, it falls between the cracks. I have no control over it, when I first meet a person I keep thinking about it "ok now don't tune out" and then 30 seconds later it happens anyway. Knowing a name isn't that big a deal, it's not like you have to start every sentence with their name, but it's a little tense cause you never know when you're going to need that information. So I tried to find out without asking, sometimes it takes a bit of time. When I moved into my new house, I met all the roommates and of course I missed one of the names. It took me 2 weeks to recover it.

But then there's the other side of the introduction and I've no idea what goes on there. For some reason, whenever I say my name, the other person repeats it as if to verify. As if I have such a complicated name.  :confused:

For some reason I'm never just on time for anything in life. I'm always either early or late, sometimes too early or too late. Appointments, classes, trains, flights. Too early. On my last flight, I was at the airport a whopping 2.5h in advance. For appointments and classes I'm often up to 15 minutes early, which is pointless because I end up walking around the block until it's time. Why am I early? I don't want to be late. When I'm late, I'm rarely just a little late (usually I take precaution and turn up too early as mentioned). When I don't, when something's come up or I've dropped the ball, I'm usually later than just late. Deadlines, exams. Too late. Not as a rule, but sometimes. If I'm not too late, I'm late. Not late to hand in something or show up, but late in starting. I've often studied for exams the night before. Of course I _planned_ to start 3 days in advance, but that always gets pushed back. The same with assignments, start late and rush to get it done on time. Do I ever start right on time? No. But sometimes I start early, get it done way before anyone else does. Then I rest on my laurels and start slacking. Then the next assingment comes along and I'm late. Hopefully not too late. But being on time isn't always as satisfying as one might think. 6 days ago 'we' celebrated Queens Day here in Utrecht. Well, more like they did, it didn't exactly phase me much. I planned to walk around town and take some pictures to document the event. Instead, I lingered around the house and by the time I stepped outside, it was 8pm. It turns out 8pm is too late to start celebrating Queens Day. By that time the town was filled with lots of garbage and orange banners *after* the people who had been there. Well there were still people about, but not many. Today is Liberation Day (yes, from World War 2). Resident Dutchman and All Round Expert Erik tracked down a celebration event in Utrecht for me to go to. Yes, he's a wizard with web searchees. The website even had a map and I thought "oh it's not far from here". I knew I was looking for a park, on the way I went into a supermarket to do some much needed restocking and having found no park, I thought "I don't want to carry this fruit around, it'll go bad". So I returned home. It was 4pm. I had planned to get to that park at 2.30. Well anyway. The stores here close at 6, so I thought I'd go shopping before it's too late, I needed some sandals. Later on, I felt like taking a walk in my new sandals, the event in the park was supposed to last until 10.30. Hell, why not. Turns out the park isn't nearby, it's a 25 minute walk. And I wouldn't have found it earlier cause it's much further than I thought it was. I get to the park, it's dark, there's a stage, a band playing music that isn't much to write home about, there are lots of booths selling beer and whatnot aaand lots of people. Although I was late by conventional standards, there were actually people on the way in so apparently I was right on time. I walk around the park, make sure I cover all the ground and I head home. Wasn't exactly much to see. But at least I wasn't too late. Yay.

If you've ever dieted, have you noticed that during the diet you crave the evil foods (junk food, candy etc) a lot more than otherwise? I keep trying to keep myself on a diet of salads, which I keep failing at, but when I'm not dieting I eat mostly regular food, without a lot of indulgences. Then when I go on a diet, I suddenly feel a much stronger urge to pig out. :lazy: