Merigoesaround

Tattooed in his fingers, letter by letter, dream after dream. Seen at Marais housewarming party. This is Paris!

...and the 5th of February arrives I wanted to list the good news that fill my life today. Happiness overload. I am not sure if I'll have time in 15 min. First, BH became a civil servant for yet another bureaucracy. One that he has already tasted, the European Union. I don't know anybody more European than BH, a man with refined transatlantic culture though. Sometimes he would say things like "we are Europe", "Europe is us". No brainwashing needed. I think this job might be good for him. Europe is fine but I still prefer Washington DC 100 times better than Brussels. I can't help it. There is something about the US that not even Belgium waffle can beat. Well, maybe French croissant can. So my future household breadwinner has found a job for life, something that in current economic times seems like a sensible choice. This is good because we won't have to worry for our kids' education ever again but it is bad if the boredom of bureaucracies eats him...

There are few times when you leave the office feeling that you are part of history. Today I felt that way. Just in front of our building, Egyptian demonstrators peacefully chanted for change in their country. Their warm voices, the extreme cold, the Eiffel tower presiding the scene...a romantic view of freedom that almost made me drop a tear. A liberating one. I took pictures with my improvised journalistic weapon, my cell, felt like a war reporter for a minute, found my lips mimicking theirs, chanting in Arabic with perfect gutturality. I wondered what kind of journalist would I be, probably not a neutral one, my emotional delivery from Avenue d'Iena would not make it to BBC. As I write these lines confrontation is taking place at Liberation Square in Cairo. But when dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right. - Victor Hugo (via my friend Alex).

It is with pain in my lower back, swollen left knee and random thigh discomfort that I happily announce having completed my first semi-marathon. Ever. 21km (13 miles) of joy. Well, maybe 19 of joy and 2 of impatience and monolithic legs. Only some months ago I would write to my good friend Dimi seeking running inspiration. Couldn't go beyond 5k. After that my heart would hurt, my breathing get messy and my toes painful. BH and Dimi convinced me that I could do it and since that's the way I function, challenge after challenge, persevering towards personal improvement I have managed to check off my 2011 resolutions' list a big one, and we are still in January. If I keep this progress I will need another list by August! (*) note that this if the first time in a long, very long time, that you can see splendorous BH. Thanks to him for running 2.29' by my side. The race of life is ahead of us.