When I was living in Sydney, Australia
I was about four years old and it was just mum and I at that stage. She took me for a holiday into the country and we stayed at a little B&B.
The day we left we drove way up a mountain and into the rainforest and went for a long walk, and we could hear water gushing rapidly close by.
We came to a stream and we followed it to a clearing where we could see we were at the very top of a waterfall and she took my hand and we stepped very cautiously over the slippery green pebbles until we were close to the edge. And mum and I got on our stomachs and wriggled carefully to the edge of the rocks and looked down at the amazing view... we were so so so high up. It was the best feeling, just us girls alone in the forest with this amazing view.
(notmother, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 10:56, Reply)

Beautiful Moments
Playing frisbee with my wife at our wedding reception. Married for two hours, and I knew right then that it would always be alright.
(faragher dub, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 10:42, Reply)

I have a beautiful moment on CD
It's called 'Pwdin Wy 2' by Gruff Rhys, he's the front man of the Super Furry Animals.

This track is on his solo album 'Yr Atal Genhedlaeth' which as you may have guessed is in Welsh.

I'm not Welsh, nor do I speak it. It doesn't matter though, as it is the sounds that are important, not the actual words. This track is about being in love with a woman who is far away and dying.

Possibly one of the most touching pieces of music I have ever heard, and I am a masive fan of all things musical. I urge you all to seek it out and listen for yourselves...
(Smoking Joe, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 10:32, Reply)

Absolutely Perfect
When I was doing my degree I was always a upper 2:2 student, but was determined to get a 2:1. After the christmas exams in my 3rd year I had worked my average up to a very high 2:2, which meant that I had to work bloody hard for my finals in the summer.

From a couple of months before my exams I basically started living in the library, revising and working all the time (and putting my end away with the missus in the library toilet (John Rylands - Manchester - 1st Floor - 2003)). All this working plus going to lectures and doing my dissertation was really getting me down and wearing me thin.

Forward to 2 months later on results day: I had driven to manchester to get my results (2 hr drive) with my girlfreind, walk into to computer science dept with it in my head I had a 2:2. Walked up to the board where it had all results in classification order.

Started at the bottom.... Not got a 3rd (start to get a smile)
Worked up.... Not on the 2:2 list (smile grows)
Worked up further... Find my name on the 2:1 list, turn around to my girlfreind and the looks on both our faces was amazing. Knowing that we had both worked together for this. For the rest of the day I was so so happy.

Nothing has beaten that feeling.... so far.

Length.... as she says... its worth it
(Robble, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 10:22, Reply)

Anyone for fried Orca?
As a family we were always on boating holidays in New Zealand. We were coming back around Separation Point at the top of the South Island and spotted what we thought was a pod of dolphins...motoring right up to them we soon noticed the size was a little different - we were soon surrounded by a pod of killer whales...Orca's....cruising at about 2 knots with these magnificent creatures all around our boat - just rolling over on their sides and checking us out....before they decided to then swim away - we had no say in the matter about moving on....incredible...
(essbeenz there done that, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 9:54, Reply)

Tenerife, 1997...
Working on a Whale and Dolphin conservation project. We were having a big press launch with the TV and newspapers from the island on one of the participating boats. We had been out of harbour for about an hour and the dolphins we had been looking for to impress the media with had been less than forthcoming.

The sun began to set and the captain of the boat decided to head back to harbour. Right at that moment, a large pod of dolphins appeared from out of nowhere. They started the swim and catch up with us. When you looked over the bow, you could see the little buggers looking back up at you! The magic reached epic proportions when a small dolphin calf breached the water beside us, easily jumping 4-5 feet in the air. They were really enjoying playing with us and we enjoyed watching them play.

One of the most tranquil and peace filled memories I have.
( Beejay Proper old bastard, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 9:50, Reply)

Ahh memories
Weirdly enough all my best memories are when I've been on my own.

1. Spent a week working in Paris when I was 21, scared shitless all week. On the last day I decided to explore the city, just touristy places but it was great as I could go wherever I wanted. Then on the night time I walked up to the Sacre Coeur - sun shining, can of beer in hand, looking out at the city knowing that I had no-one to share the memory with, which I think made it all the more special. Didn't bother taking any pictures as I didn't need to, just absolutely breath-takingly amazing.

2. First Glastonbury. Sunday afternoon lying on the grass next to the pyramid stage, sun beaming down, big cup of strawberry cider, phat bag of sensimena in my bag, toking on a massive spliff without a care in the world. Then my favourite song "Raspberry Beret" came on and I just smiled all the way through, thinking this is just the perfect moment

Ahhhhh good times...
(kendoddsdadsdogsdead, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 9:39, Reply)

My Daughters.
So far the most beautifull moments have to be the birth of my two lil girls.... all the pain, blood, vomit, stiches, sweat and tears.. all forgotten in a moment so perfect.
(mrsd, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 9:28, Reply)

The most beautiful thing
I have ever seen is this collection of posts. It has genuinely given me such a warm, content feeling. I can actually feel the tears of happiness welling up inside me.

God, my life is empty and pointless. I'm off to work.

edit: seriously. My housemate is in the kitchen, and I hope he doesn't come in here 'cos I'm crying my fucking eyes out.

edit: Still reading... I love you guys! You're my best friends in the whole world...
(babery was never here, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 8:59, Reply)

Beautiful moment...
I think it was a night I spent sitting on the beech of Findhorn Bay with the girl I loved. Campfire in front of us, bottle of whisky shared between us and the northern lights dancing overhead and reflecting right across the North Sea in front of us.

It was very, very nice :-)
( swimmy, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 8:38, Reply)

Zen turd
One of my most cherished memories is the last time I did a bowel movement that didn't need wiping - you know the type: a perfect torpedo-shaped stool that just glides out your rectum and slides into the pan without splashing. And then when you wipe there's nothing on the paper. What a satisfying feeling.
That was years ago. When I shit now it's like a firehose full of gravy with bits in.
(mudskipper, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 5:38, Reply)

Lost in Chicago
I spent a weekend in Chicago with my family a few years ago. We accidentally found ourselves walking underneath Michigan Avenue late one night. After wandering around on the completely empty streets for half an hour, our only company being the muffled sound of rushing cars overhead, we came to a bridge. As we trudged up the stairs, we heard the sound of a wailing saxophone drifting from a street performer on a landing across the river. After stopping a minute to listen to the music and watch the lights of the city reflected on the rippling water below, we walked up the bridge to head back to the hotel.

Smarmy tourist moment, I know, but I enjoyed very much.
(Sawtooth, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 5:26, Reply)

I'm a high school student, living in a house on the eastern coast of USA, within earshot of the ocean.
I drink lots of water, and on nearly every school-night, I finish my homework just a bit before midnight.

So, nearly every night at about midnight, I quite need to urinate.

So, nearly every night at about midnight, I relieve myself.

I quietly unlock the back door to my house, walk outside onto the deck in my bare feet (no matter the temperature or weather), stand against the side of the deck, unzip my pants, and piss over the edge, over a small patch of my lawn and into the woods.

And I see the clouds/mist/clear, starry sky, and I sometimes see the moon, and I sometimes see lights on in the houses across the pond nearby. And I always hear the sound of the waves breaking at the shore.

And all is perfect, for about forty seconds.

I then walk back inside, quietly lock the back door, go upstairs to my bedroom, undress, and warm my generally cold feet in my warm bed.

Nightly, I experience the most beautiful moment of my life.


And all is perfect until my mom slaps me awake in the morning, screaming, "You'd better not make me late!"
(Corn Dog, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 5:21, Reply)

I was fifteen.
It was a warm summer night. I climbed out my window and went away with him. We spent in the back of his car proclaiming our love for one another (and honestly, little else. It was great). We were parked by the beach, so we could hear the waves and watch the sky turn pink at dawn. I never wanted it to end. He drooped me off at six in the morning to sneak back into my room, feeling all dizzy and lovely.

I got his call at 7:15 informing me that he had fallen asleep at the wheel and crashed head-on into a brick wall. Car was totalled. He was in hospital with nothing but whiplash and a couple stitches.

I told him to sing along to the radio and turn on the AC on the way home.

We broke up a few months later. I still have heart ouchies. =(

Still... I always snicker when I drive by the spot where he crashed. His car paint is still smudged all over the bricks five years later.
(Fishy_Queen, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 5:00, Reply)

In ebriated

I see the most beautiful things.
(Corn Dog, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 3:19, Reply)

A night with the girl I would have given my life to
After taking my friend, the most beautiful redhead ever, out one night, we went back to her house in the country. We jumped on her trampoline and talked for half an hour, and then Laid down next to each other and stared up at the most beautiful starry sky for another hour and talked and watched shooting stars.
Unfortunately, nothing ever happened between us, and I haven't talked to her in two years.
But one of my favourite songs ("Your Wildest Dreams" by the Moody Blues. Look up the lyrics.) captures exactly the way I feel about her, and I never think of or hear the song without thinking about her and that night.
( Or is it?, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 1:44, Reply)

a particular moment came to mind.
I had met a fellow online and we became quite close for a while. He had to go to Australia for a few months on business. We chatted about it before he left and I told him I would like to go there someday, and that the stars you see in the sky are different from the ones in the Northern Hemisphere, and how cool it would be to see that...etc., and so forth.

He wasn't able to stay in touch very well while down under, but at one point he sent me an email. He had been lying out by a pool at his hotel, at night, looking at the stars. He had remembered our conversation. And, he said, "I looked at the stars and thought of you so that you could see them too."

It probably sounds silly, but it meant so much to me at the time.
( Shiksa, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 0:59, Reply)

Snow stars
Me and my mates have the general college gathering things where we go to someone's house of a weekend, have a few beers, wander around a bit (as we all live out in t'country) and go back happy. We had one at mine for my birthday a few weeks ago, and on the second wander we went up to my local windmill, and it started snowing really heavily. Since there's only one light there, there was only one bit you could see it at, and we all lay in the grass watching it go past us, and it was like the snow was the stars, and we were rushing through them in an intense, spiritual way. Great for bonding us all, and the subsequent hypothermia was worth it.
( Whillow, Mon 14 Mar 2005, 0:31, Reply)

Two summers ago....
A group of friends of mine from school met up as we have done every year since leaving, i had recently broken up from my girlfriend of two years and almost didn't go to the gathering because i was feeling down. We had a barbecue by the river with a lovely view of the big old suspention brige. Anyway the best moment was 6 of us, at 5 am, all full of beer, sharing old stories sitting around the glowing embers with the bridge lights reflecting on the water. i felt better from that moment on
( You drive like a mong in a dodgem today is, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 23:47, Reply)

just a couple....
age 16,1987....went on holiday with my parents and evil older sister to canada for 3 weeks,staying with my grandparents.they are lovely,but at sixteen and having done this thing twice before i was not expecting anything special but the day we arrived my uncle,a wannabe mountain man,says im on a camping trip with him the day after,for a week.
i spent that night at his buddys drinking home brew and projectile vomited all over my hosts garden and porch.the trip up north was enjoyed while nursing my first hangover(8hrs...bad)we camped at a place on the ottawa/ontario border caled samuel de champlain. it was the most remote place i had ever been.the highlight was on the first day when we followed a small trail for about 15 minutes.we just moaned and bitched about the bugs biting all the way when ,out of the blue ,we came across a cliff over a gorge with a stunning still green river at the bottom,but looking around,there was nothing as far as the eye could see but trees.360 degrees of awesome nature!the most stunning holiday i have ever had.
another ,more emotional one is when my dog died a year ago today.i had had him from a pup and he was 13.he had been suffering from cancer and i had to have him put down.as we came out of the crematorium,my partner and i,it was pissing down and black clouds were gathering,but as we left the car park the sun burst through the clouds and a stunning rainbow appeared.i am not a spiritual person,but that was definately a thank you and goodbye!
(discodaz *generic witty comment*, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 22:53, Reply)

Got two more
In earls court on the 26th of November 2003 singing the last lines of Karma Police by Radiohead with the thousands of other people being led by Thom Yorke singing with no music.

And sitting on a plane going to Italy whilst reading a really romantic letter from my (then) girlfriend and listening to fake plastic trees by radiohead
(newcustomerserviceteam, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 22:19, Reply)

Listening to the
last couple of minutes of Backdrifts by Radiohead whilst driving through the Alps on a coach. With some girl I was obsessed with (and eventually went out with) a couple of seats behind me. Woo!
(Marioshi, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 20:21, Reply)

Finally seeing
the graph that proved my PhD thesis. It took way too long to get the data, but seeing that graph appear and tell me I had finally finished gave me the shivers up and down my spine.
(Cousin It, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 19:42, Reply)

I've thought of something else.
I think anyone living in Canada can agree with me, this is probably one of the most beautiful countries.
Living in Western Canada I only have a short drive to get the the Rockies and can see them from my window. And going up there during the winter and seeing the humungous pristine walls of snow and ice hanging from cliff edges is without a doubt nature at its finest. (Not to mention the amazing skiing that's close by!)
Hiking through the wilderness where there isn't even a hint of a path, knowing that you're probably the only human to have ever stepped in those exact spots, and if you're lucky you can spot the wildlife, like seeing a grizzly bear and her cubs playing by the river (quite a shock and somewhat frightening, let me tell you).
Walking through the old growth forests in Vancouver knowing that those trees have been there for hundreds, and maybe thousands of years. Before humans even came to the land.
But probably the best is being able to see the Northern Lights from my front porch. They really are quite spectacular.
There are so many more but this can only be so long.
(lo_ho_ho_la, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 19:34, Reply)

2nd year at Aberystwyth uni
No way to really describe it or why it was beautiful the whole thing was just a whirlwind but if I had to pick moments:

2am swimming around the bay under the moon and stars with friends.

Late 2002, in the 1st year. Staring out to sea, probably also about 2am with an amazing girl I knew.

As im sure alot of Aber graduates would tell you, there is something about that place.
(Reesy, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 19:01, Reply)

nothing special....just.....
A moment in my life, probably concocted from alchohol, but bear with me......

Just been for a night on the town, and was walkin home (only got halfway because of a distinct money problem heh) anway, was walkin home, in the early hours of a summer pre-morning, you know the kind of night that never quite gets dark, theres always that warm reddish glow to the sky, where the clouds seem to pack together as if huddling round the warmth of the distant sun, and me in my mildly drunk state suddenly stopping, turning to look at the sky, feeling the wind pick up, but strangely the wind itself felt like an old friend wrapping his arm around me to say hello, and in that exact moment the dawn broke, with its first few rays climbing into the sky, bringing with it a surreal beauty and majesty...

at that moment i felt truly alive, as if god had just noticed me, smiled to say hello, and shuffled on to take care of the rest of the world, for me that moment was a lifetime, a moment that made me realise things will be okay, that things will always work out, you just have to stop for a minute and you'll notice how beautiful the world can be...

when your surrounded with that kind of beauty you know things can't be all bad...
(supafunk, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 18:52, Reply)

Ireland is Great.
Walking along a path along a cliff top in miserable weather with no one about at Howth in Ireland, (it was eerily lovely).

On a Gunnies search in Dublin at 3am on my own.

My mate’s 6th form leavers ball.

Riding a camel through the Sahara

Sitting on the beach at Pett Level (it’s in Sussex) watching the sun going down.
( Sheep in Socks it is illegal to take a lion to the cinema., Sun 13 Mar 2005, 18:38, Reply)

Peru
We were in Nasca, Peru. We had been on the go all day and were finally making our way back to the hotel for a little dinner and some rest before we had to leave that night on a 10pm bus. When we got back to the hotel we were pleasantly surprised to find that everyone else had checked out. It was just me and my girlfriend and we had the entire place to ourselves. We immediately grabbed some wine and some food and positioned ourselves by the pool. We drank some wine, ate some bread and watched an amazing sunset over the desert. The hotel staff was great and even came out to serve dinner to us but waited until after sunset to do so, so that they wouldn't spoil the mood.
(Stone1295, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 18:36, Reply)

So I'm a sappy cunt, but
my most beautiful moment so far has to be last Wednesday night, sitting with my favorite lass across a candlelit table at a nice informal type live music place, listening to some guys jamming up the front with some reggae, ska, and jazz stylings, and watching the candlelight play off her face while she was smiling and listening to the music.
(Tetsuo, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 18:33, Reply)

My best moment was finishing this scientist bloke but making
it look like suicide. I did such a good job, I was terrible pleased with myself.
(Chopper3, Sun 13 Mar 2005, 18:31, Reply)