Ahhhh
Dancing with the boy I currently fancied at a friend's 16th birthday party to 'Kiss Me' by sixpence none the richer....He was a right wanker.
(Pixel, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 18:30, Reply)

Also...
Was at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff watching leicester Tigers against Munster in the Final of the Heineken (European) cup. Approaching the end and i knew my team (Leicester Tigers) were going to win it. In exultation, I started singing 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.' Eventually got the whole stand singing it with me! (OK, so Leicester and Munster isn't exactly and England match, but it was close).
Ahh, happy days!
(The_Reaper, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 18:14, Reply)

Winning
The rugby seven's tournament plate (which isn't the best award in the tournament) but it was the first bit of silverware our team had won for the club (and I scored a try) :D
Priceless.
(The_Reaper, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 18:06, Reply)

the
day i got my gcse results was a beautiful day the buzz from having 2 years of pressure lifted of my shoulders was amazing.
(fwack bang on it, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 17:59, Reply)

So many to choose from
- The day I finally gave my hellhole school the two-finger salute and walked off to better things

- In a tiny village in the Austrian lake district watching the new moon rise over the mountains

- Getting walked home in the whirling snow by the boyfriend even though it's way out of his way (he threw snow at me)

- Being in an outdoor jacuzzi in Quebec in the middle of February on a beautiful clear night looking up at the steam and stars

- Walking around Montmartre at 1am

- Getting my GCSE results

- My lower sixth summer ball

- First week of uni, mainly passed in a whirl of getting drunker than ever before and making an awful lot of friends

- The night I met the boyfriend (see last week's post)
( Maladicta, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 17:38, Reply)

Another one...
Last year a patient of mine had been having treatment for cancer. She wrote me a letter after she'd finished treatment. The part I remember most was when she thanked me for being there, and the sentence, 'You made a difference'. I broke down in tears at that moment as up until then I wasn't sure how much good I was doing. Sadly she later died a few months later, and despite feeling sad that there wasn't anything I could have done, her letter helped me not feel bad about it, as I'd done what I could and she appreciated me for it.
(monkeymadness, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 17:11, Reply)

Switzerland
We had a skiing trip to Switzerland with school and from the mountain we were on there were two massive ones that we could see in the distance, one was in France, the other Italy.
( Gaz, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 16:50, Reply)

School Trip to France
When I was a wee Year 7, I went on a school trip to France. I loved every moment of the journey there. It was the dead of night, and we only saw large tankers and trucks that all had a wonderful set of lights on the road; it was so cold outside, but on the bus it was warm and relaxed. I remember listening to a variety of tapes I'd made, my friend trying to force feed a sleeping fat bastard who he had to sit next to. Getting a Hot Chocolate at a service station in the blistering cold, and finally falling asleep and waking up at the dark blue sky in Dover and seeing the start of sunrise.

On the last day there in Dieppe, I remember the warm weather at sunset, and me just frolicing about with my mates near the lake and throwing leaves everywhere. It was beautiful.

Apologsy for length.
( Flowers the little boy that santa claus forgot, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 15:59, Reply)

Belize.
Going to Belize (a small central american country for those not in the know). Not a single drop of rain fell, the temperature was hot, the food was perfect (i don't know what the fuck they do to their rice and beans, but i like it). The defining moment had to be when i climbed a Mayan pyramid, sat down to take a rest, and relised that i was sitting on a sacraficial alter. My first thoughts were "Ha! Some poor bugger had his heart cut out directly where i'm sitting!"
( Green Spanner and his magical lack of activity, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 15:16, Reply)

Africa
There are truly far too many beautiful moments, but here's what really stood out in my life.

A few years back I made the absolutely life changing 2 week trip to South Africa. Flying down there was long and boring, and after a long sleep on the plane, I awoke to a beautiful red glow coating everything. As I looked out the window, I could see the sun rising over the desert. Beautiful gradients from blue to pink, to red, to yellow filled the window, and as I scanned accross the view, I could see the gentle curve of the earth. It was utterly beautiful.

Follow that by spending 3 hours climbing table mountain in Cape Town (I was soooooo tired), and watching the sunset. All I could see was this burning hot, beautiful sun, reflecting right accross the ocean, whilst wildlife hopped along the edges of the cliff of the mountain, forming sillouettes. I just sat on a wall for what seemed like forever, watching the sunset, and crying my eyes out. It was beautiful.

Follow THIS by going right out into the Kalahari desert, and sitting under a tree late at night with a 360 degree view, watching the electric storms all accross the desert. the sky was everything from pink to blood red to purple to black. It was simply amazing to see forks of lightening shooting down all around.

Wake up the next day and see about 50 byson (i think...) in a long line trekking only 200 yards in front of my desert tent to water holes.

Sigh. Everyone should go to South Africa.
( FinestLittleSpace, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 15:11, Reply)

Dragoni
A best mate of mine was very well connected and managed to get him me and my other best mate into the most trendy club in Hong Kong, along with two attractive females. Now we are only 16 and this club is the hottest thing in HK and since we were so well connected all the staff were greeting us and we had our own stuff member the dept manager standing by. We also sat in the VIP area above everyone else. So five sixteen year olds sitting in the best club in the city above everone else, jealous as hell that they would not have been able to get in.

Another
I work at a Creche wensdays, these days are really special, just being able to play with the babies. 1 month to 24 months old. And my favorite called Tzing Zi but i call her Rosia. I tought her her first word 'Ge Ge' meaning older brother in chinese. This is what i am known as but i taught her her first word. and then she also made her first steps towards me, it was just so special.

Oh and forgot but how could i have?
When to South Africa on a mission trip last year and the year before, to build houses for people who lived in shacks. IT was the best 2 weeks of my life, but the one moment that stands out:
Me and the more techinaly minded boys had in 2003 made a roof for an hold man as his whole roof had perviously leaked. Then we went back in 2004, and between the projects we visted him. He was dieing, and he said in rough english "boy, thank you, you gave me the best gift i could have recived my final year on earth without a leaky roof". The next day he passed away. Just the fact that he knew death had taken him and that something i thought was insugnificant was such a big thing for him...
(Mkoll, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 15:07, Reply)

Sunshine
Sitting at the top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome with my missus a few years back. It was warm and sunny, the (copy of the) famous statue of Marcus Aurelius in the middle of the plaza between the museums after spending the day gawping like idiots at the Colosseum, etc.
(Audax, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 14:59, Reply)

Oh! Remembered another one...
For those of you in the South-East of the UK, you probably remember all the floods we had a few years back (As I recall most of Worthing was under water). The day that happened I went to school, I was in Year 11 at the time. Well, I arrived, and the entire front entrance to our school was under about a foot of water. Me and my friends climbed onto a wall and made our way around the water (it was seriously like a lake, about 100 metres both sides of the entrance), and got into school.

As it turned out, most of the teachers hadn't made it in as they all lived miles away, and everything was flooded. Our head of year assembled the 10 Senior Prefects (of which I was one - good boy, me), and told us to go to the various entrances of the school, and help divert traffic and such.

Me and my good friend Chris went to the front entrance, which was by far the most flooded, and put up cones and stuff, and got cups of warm coffee brought out to us by the school receptionist (Which brought with it a wonderful feeling of equality, as we were usually looked down on by all the staff).

Long story short, lots of the smaller kids couldn't get up onto the walls to climb around the water, so me and Chris ended up in bare feet with our trousers rolled up, wading through this water carrying children to the questionable safety of school, like some kind of bizarre extra-curricular RNLI.

I can remember taking a moment to stand back and look at the scene, it was a clear day, no traffic noise (as people couldn't drive anywhere), no airplane noise (as I think Gatwick was flooded too), and there was something eerily beautiful about seeing that usually sterile housing estate half under water.

Then we only got to miss first period and the year nines got to go home - fuckers.

EDIT - why do all of mine seem to involve me having fun desipte the fact I'm freezing my nuts off?
(Jon Norris, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 14:52, Reply)

Bee-yootiful
Both of my beautiful moments have occurred when I was with a boyfriend in my youth. Gorgeous he was. I went out with him in the glorious Spring of '98 and the first moment was walking between some trees arm in arm, loved-up while the breeze swirled blossom around us. *Sighs*

Second and best was lounging round a park with said bloke, again in glorious sunshine when a monster storm arrived from nowhere. We legged it to shelter and kissed, all soaking wet.

I've seen him recently and he was beautiful still. Til he opened his mouth and revealed that he'd been brawling. :(
(Bunnygirl, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 14:30, Reply)

When the suns setting/at night
If you stand at cornbrook metrolink station you can see all of Salford and Manchester lit up with everyones lifes going on.

Makes it look like the best place in the world*

*I'm a Manc so i will be biased
( Gaz, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 14:29, Reply)

more...
I agree with all those who've posted about it before... the day mum got the "all clear" from breast cancer was one of the greatest of my life, nine months of hell were finally over. every time i speak to her (being away at uni, it isn't all that often) i'm glad she's still around

also, the moment i cleared the air with one of my best friends about fancying her in the past, we became so much closer, its great :)
( mr_wicksy is.... old., Sun 13 Mar 2005, 14:04, Reply)

Here's a few
About a year ago, lounging at a friends house, the first time I done mushrooms, fan-fucking-tastic;

Mid-autumn, many many moons ago, finishing a late shift at KFC, laying back on the bench out front waiting for some mates, watching cigerette smoke float up into the night sky;

Snogging my best mate Steph at a party, I've fancied her for fucking ages. We're still not together, though. But any time I'm with her, I'm happy;

Ooh yeah, whenever I'm high, I'm happy
( Captain Tripps is your taxloss lover from Liverpool, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 14:04, Reply)

Another one
One more that I can think of was when me and my best mate were really drunk at the work Xmas party (2004) and we'd all gone on to a bar in town. We were both sitting on the sofa and she just leant over and started kissing me. It was really unexpected but was v erotic, especially with all our work colleagues milling about the bar and I could feel her tongue stud on my tongue. .....We are now referred to as the lesbians at work even though we both have boyfriends.
(ajfan, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 12:47, Reply)

H U G E - moleste
why does the word "H U G E" come out like "moleste" in my posts?
(Hammer Time, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 12:41, Reply)

right now
... my six month old is sleeping on my beer belly and reading your stories makes me regain faith in the human race and my son's future.

i thought you were all cynical bastards and i felt at home. now i realize you are all little pussy whimps... and i feel at home even more.

thanks guys.
( bierbelly, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 12:41, Reply)

Ibiza, summer of 2002
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful island, I fully recommend it. I went as a nipper of just 17 with my 2 bestest mates in the whole world. Young, full of money and fun, we had decided we were going to have the best time of our lives ever. One night we had heard about watching the sun set at the famous Café del Mar, and we settled ourselves down one night. The sun slowly set, with hundreds of people (including Bolton's Vernon Kay) fixated on this beautiful glowing orb resting on the horizon. And I mean a truly gigantic crowd of people, stood or sat around on a beach, chatting, laughing, but mainly concentrating on the sun. Slowly it sank, and a massive, feral, tribalistic roar went up from around the island as the chilled out beats continued. The night had begun - and everyone was going mad. I looked at my mates and we were all grinning like Cheshire Cats.

The sad thing is, I hardly keep in touch with those guys anymore. Maybe it's time to give them a call...
(Hammer Time, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 12:37, Reply)

Christmas eve, midnight
Growing up in a small village in scotland - as the church bells started tolling and the foot thick snow crunched under my feet, the snow started again as it turned into christmas day, and I went inside to eat mince pies and drink hot chocolate by the fire. ahhhh.
(Seaneeboy, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 11:38, Reply)

And on a different level...
When I was in high school I bought an old and exceptionally battered 12 string guitar, and old Guild import called a Madiera, which had the most amazing sound I've heard from a guitar. Probably had something to do with the fact that it had been smashed over some guy's head and repaired, so the top was far more responsive than it should have been... so when I went to college the guitar went with me, and I played it nonstop.

One of the people I met there was a guy named Dan who became one of my best friends. He asked me to teach him to play and I agreed, and taught him on this old 12 string. He fell completely in love with that instrument, and any time he came by my dorm room he would make a beeline for it and play it the whole time he was there. It was therapy of the best sort for him.

That Christmas when I went home, my big present was a brand-new Takamine 12 string. I was, of course, beyond ecstatic. But I already had a 12 string, so why did I need two of them?

The first day back at college I put the old Madiera in its case and walked up to Dan's room with it. I told him of my big present, then held out the old guitar. "Merry Christmas, Dan."

The expression on his face as he took it was one of the greatest memories I have.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Sun 13 Mar 2005, 10:19, Reply)

Another one...
I went to college in the northern Adirondacks at a tiny little place about ten miles from anything. Seriously- the nearest thing besides someone's house was a minimum security prison about seven miles away.

So one night in late spring I was on campus with some friends and we went for a walk along the road. (There was only one road to walk along.) It was a new moon and the sky was so clear that the Milky Way shone as plain as the Big Dipper, so it was very dark with only starlight to guide us- enough to see that we were on the road, but not a lot else.

As we went along I looked to the side, and we came upon an open area in the trees. I looked down at the ground there, and I would have sworn there was a humongous hole there filled with lights. I stopped dead in my tracks, trying to make sense of what I was seeing, and then realized it was a large pond. The water was so still that there were no ripples on it, and the stars were reflected perfectly. It gave a very convincing illusion that there was a city on the bottom of the pond.

One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Sun 13 Mar 2005, 10:08, Reply)

Moments
The first thing I thought of upon reading these QotW answers: "Whatever happens next, I must not cry (sniff)!" - Puss in Boots (Shrek 2)
---
Little moments of happiness, in the strictest sense of the word:

When you become completely entranced (or obsessed) with someone - when your whole body feels ablaze and every heartbeat is a "tiny explosion in your chest" (apologies to Izmael) every time you see them

When you have just read THAT BOOK or watched THAT MOVIE or heard THAT SONG/BAND that changes your life forever (see above)

Being with the one you love... in the dark... au natural... :D

That lovely feeling of freedom when tests are over

Just relaxing and hanging out with your friends and loved ones

Going abroad or, if you're really lucky, going abroad with someone you like
(Kitsune-chan I'm not a bunny I'm a grownup girl, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 9:58, Reply)

Moment the third... and fourth
A coiuple years ago, I drove from my home in Michigan, across good old America to California. By myself. To visit an internet friend. It was two weeks of great experience, but there are two moments from the drive out there that really stand out. After the first day of driving, I got a room in a motel.

The second day, I kept driving and driving. After a good 12 hours behind the wheel, I tell myself I'll stop at the next hotel I see. Being slightly tired, I fail to remember that I'm in the middle of Utah, which for those of you not in the know, is in the middle of the desert. Hotel indeed... I'd be lucky to find another human being. After a few hours, I cross into Nevada, and drive on. The desert at night and was utter darkness. I round a bend that passes around a hill, and out of nowhere... BAM! A lake of light. It's Las Vegas. So unexpected, and so out of place with the surrounding nothingness. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but it was a remarkable sight, nonetheless.

Anyhow, I'm not going to stop in Vegas to sleep, and pay the price. Again, my sleep deprivation and forgetfulness of geography betray me. There's not many places more to stop on into California. A few more hours on the road, and I can't take it anymore. I've been driving for roughly 19 hours and can't keep my eyes open. I pull into the parking lot of a strip mall in a town called Barstow in CA, and as the sky grows lighter, I recline the drivers seat and pass out.

I woke up a few hours later. I get on the road again, and realize exactly what the night has hidden. It's nothing like I've ever seen before. Blue-green sky, a highway, and nothing but brown desert, and a moleste mountain range to the west surrounding me. Again, the lack of sleep might be to blame, but it was a wonderful sight to behold.
(monkey explosion, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 7:22, Reply)

Moment the second
I recall going out with a girl for the first time. We had met in a mall parking lot, then went in one vehicle out to various locales. We had a great evening, just chatting, dining, windowshoping and whatnot. As the night wound down, we returned to the parking lot. As it was after midnight, the lot was empty, and we sat in my truck chatting, a storm broke out... the rain was pouring down in buckets. As often happens with young males and females, chating turned to more risque pursuits. Unfortunately, the front seat of a pickup truckisn't the best place for it. So we dashed for the back seat of her van. We were soaked, and the rain was thrumming on the roof overhead. And we proceeded to enjoy each others company. The view and the sensation of being all alone in this vast empty space in the rain was amazing. No action, but I did get to see her sizable norks. Not bad for a first date.
(monkey explosion, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 6:58, Reply)

Thunder rolls...
I've got a few... to be brief, I'll post them individually. I remember one day when a bunch of friends from high school and hangers on decided we'd go out to dinner. About 25 people and all. We rented out a banquet room at a restaurant. It just happened to be on the day of one of the worst storms to hit our area in years. While we dined, it rained and poured. The rain had finished by the time we had left. The world was a mud puddle, and there were tree branches and minor flooding everywhere. A few of us headed to my friend Adam's place, where we hung out in his front yard, shooting the breeze, nothing fancy. However, the storm clouds were still above us, and there was lightning. Insane amounts of lighting. Not striking the ground, but rolling over the clouds. It was an amazing light show. The sky was on fire, and the electricity just in the air just heightened all the senses. Good food, good folks, good show.

Why does every one apologize for length? Of course, the penile jokes are fun, but I generally find the longer stories to be the better ones.
(monkey explosion, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 6:33, Reply)