My beautiful moment
is now, I have recently finished my PhD after returning to university 7 years ago having left school with only GCSEs. Don't know how I managed it but lots of people helped along the way. The day after my viva I also finally managed to get a job. The true single moment was being able to repay the people that have helped me keep a smile on my face through all the tough times.

Luckily I captured the moment that sums it all up www.flickr.com/photos/stuke/2876768455
(Studentken is looking for motivation on, Wed 11 Aug 2010, 10:58, 26 replies)

Timing
I was at a county show the other day, perusing a stand selling those little indoor helicopters which are almost impossible to control.

There was a young lad trying to sell me one by operating a demonstration model.

"Yeah this one is very stablllllllle!" he exclaims as the little helicopter catches a gust of wind and flys off towards a crowd of people and he goes running after it.

"MMMMNnnnnnneeowwwwwwwBRZZZZZZZ SLAPSLAPSLAPSLAP!" is the sound the helicopter made as it hit an unaware passing woman in the side of the head.

I was left at the stand laughing me arse off. The timing was so perfect in every aspect it couldn't have have been better if it was scripted.
(stubbledchin, Wed 11 Aug 2010, 10:27, Reply)

Getting home
yesterday to be greeted by Mrs. Arrow, wearing nothing but stockings and suspenders and a lacy bra and knickers. I quickly checked the back door to check if some scoundrel was running out of the back door ;) But luckily it was for me! Pictures included!!
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Wed 11 Aug 2010, 10:11, 6 replies)

I just got out of bed....
and I've got a day off work.

cup of coffee

telly on

feet on the table

and then this

.

came and sat down beside me.

Happens all the time, but the first time each day is always the bestest.

How many lovelies is that.
(tinypod will never learn. Ever., Wed 11 Aug 2010, 10:03, 6 replies)

Seeing it turn up in the mail.
Taking it out of the envelope, lovingly opening it, reading the contents while absently mindedly stroking the pages.

Thinking of all the get-togethers I wouldn't be missing, all the weekends I'd spend time with people, all the days not being exhausted and miserable. All the time spent on not doing shift work. All the interesting and challenging work I'd be able to finally do.

I love my new job, I love my new normal hours, signing that contract was fantastic. A moment to remember, all for me.
(Scritty Bakerman., Wed 11 Aug 2010, 9:12, 1 reply)

So Mrs Vagabond and I are going through something of a shit-storm at the moment with both work and family
I am absolutely up to my eyes at work (hence me slacking off and writing these), and we've got members of our families behaving like dicks towards us.

So last night after doing a couple of hours overtime, I had a couple of beers with a workmate, then hooked up with Mrs Vagabond and her mates for a couple more.

Around 12am Mrs Vagabond and I were in lying bed, listening to her tunes on her pink iPod headphones, singing along and dancing.

Mrs Vagabond is, quite frankly, the very definition of ace.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 11 Aug 2010, 8:36, 2 replies)

A cup of coffee (and you may want to get one as this is a bit long...)
Nine years ago I was coming out of a particularly bad stretch of things--divorce, a job that had me traveling 'most all the time, a falling out with my family, and the icing on the cake was a psychotic stalker ex-girlfriend who cost me many sleepless nights and many thousands of dollars in legal costs to simply leave me alone. (She was truly mentally ill but decided that taking her meds was optional. Lucky me. Amazing how a high-functioning physician who happens to also be a crazy person can keep up a facade for two months of dating...but I digress...)

My trust in people had been badly shaken, my ability to relax and enjoy anything was gone, and my relationships--friends, family, and romantic--had all suffered. I was a mess--alive, but not well, drinking quite a bit, teetering on the brink of depression. It was only a matter of time before I came off the rails completely.

Part of the way I acted this out was by becoming something of a sexual adventurer (read: lothario, aka male slut.) I began having fairly anonymous flings but never getting involved. I discovered internet dating and sites like adultfriendfinder (in its early days quite the place), alt.com, nerve.com personals (great site--they billed themselves as "literate smut", and attracted slightly more intellectual horny people) and even match.com and yahoo personals would yield up occasional liaisons. In 1999-2001 it was still a novelty, and there was much casual sex to be had in and around the San Francisco area where I lived.

At that time if one was in his early 30s, could write an entertaining ad, could follow it up with good email banter, was decently handsome, and in the case of the adult sites, had a few nice pics of key body parts, one could fall madly in bed almost at will. My record: two hours from initial email. That includes a one-hour drive.

Trust me kiddies…while this may sound like fun and games it's not all it's cracked up to be. Despite all of the beast-with-two-backs-making, it's hollow as hollow can be and it's a short step from there to full-blown (snicker) sexual addiction. It can distort one’s view of life and love and women and men and one’s self. But it was also exciting as hell (will she be a goer? will she pull a knife?) and for someone who had stopped feeling very much except lust it was a way to remind myself I was still alive.

So…where was the beauty in all of this debauchery? I shall only call her L, for she enjoys some fame and success in her field. Eight years older than me, an artist in Chicago, and a sharp-minded flirt. While not classically beautiful, she had quiet charisma, an air of goodness, and a hot petite body. Some email and picture exchange, chat, and phone, and within a few weeks I am on a plane to Chicago for a weekend of…who knows what? Like I said, not knowing what to expect was part of the thrill.

She met me at the airport, we kissed on the way to her car, and by the time we reached her apartment we were tearing one another’s clothes off—in part due to passion, but also because Chicago in July is bloody hot and humid. We proceeded to do the dirty hula for a few hours, took a break to have dinner, then went back to her place only to go at it again until the wee hours. I remember her falling asleep on my chest, sweaty and sticking to me, and as I drifted off I wondered if she would tie me to the bed in the night and cut out my liver. Luckily, my liver would survive only to be abused for many more years.

I didn’t feel her slip out of bed in the morning and was only barely aware that I was someplace new, but as I spent most of my life in hotels this was not unusual. When I finally became fully conscious and opened my eyes I took in the scene as I heard L puttering about the kitchen. The morning sun was slanting through the windows, dancing across the offbeat, eclectic décor. Her cat was stretched out in a pool of sunlight, flicking his black tail. It was not quite cool, but the heat of the day had not yet arrived, and all of my bits had that wonderful pearly ache of having been ridden hard and joyously for several hours.

And then…there was L, curly red hair still mussed, smiling, barefoot, and wrapped in a sarong, strolling across the apartment with a mug of strong, hot coffee and milk for me.

In that moment, the havoc and tumult of the preceding four years largely dissolved. The simple act of bringing me a cup of coffee in bed touched me and reminded me of the goodness that people can do to each other. A solitary gesture of kindness, a bit of generosity, and curling up in bed next to me as the coffee cleared away the cobwebs was all it took to bring beauty and a measure of contentment back to my life.

That weekend was the last time I saw her. We stayed in touch for a while, but ultimately agreed that the distance was too great, and I was a bit too mainstream for her tastes. Nonetheless, I will go to my grave with the beauty of that moment in my memory and gratitude in my heart for L.

Length…I think that’s rather obvious now, isn’t it? And width to match...
(grundig Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!, Wed 11 Aug 2010, 3:41, Reply)

two kids selling assorted bits on the sidewalk
sweets and stuff, they were about 6. i just gave them a little money and said they could have it, and good luck. by the looks on their faces it was more money than they'd ever seen. i felt a warm glow all the way down the street, so cute. i still wonder what they were saving up for.
(Mortal Wombat - he's just an excitable boy, Wed 11 Aug 2010, 1:36, 5 replies)

Hot white cum oozing out of my big mac
first hot big mac i've ever had
(Mortal Wombat - he's just an excitable boy, Wed 11 Aug 2010, 1:31, Reply)

A northern bee-keeper
Has such a reassuring way of communicating the affirmative.

The beauty is in the 'Aye' of the bee-holder.

Apiologies
(roysin, Wed 11 Aug 2010, 1:27, 1 reply)

The first time I heard this
www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=5xfdGXA62ZM
(Internet Hardman Headbutts Honda Accords to death, Wed 11 Aug 2010, 0:41, 3 replies)

Last Christmas...
It was just the beginning of a brand spanking new relationship with the boyfriend - let's call him Bobby - and we were going to be apart for a couple of weeks. It's not that long, I know that, but at the time it seemed like a while especially since I was overly terrified about the whole newness of it all.

A friend of ours was driving us up to the train station to drop him off, and in the car ride up I didn't say anything - I imagine I was trying to act fine and convince myself I was fine in the process. Sitting in the front seat, at one point Bobby reached back, tapped me on the knee and held my hand.

It's not the most beautiful thing that's been posted, or probably that's ever happened to me, but it's the first thing I thought of. Just someone, without a word, realising my upset and doing the simplest thing to comfort me.
(kaleid0sc0pic, Wed 11 Aug 2010, 0:22, 1 reply)

Don't know about beautiful, but I thought it was funny.
Saw someone trying to get one of those little Smart cars up a side street in Batley, "up" being the operative word: it was a steep slope, nearly 1 in 4, and the driver was definitely losing. The frustrated revving and helpless backward rolling made me picture the car as a young animal in the Serengeti, maybe captured on camera in a David Attenborough documentary, and this thought made my mouth laugh. Which was nice.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 22:27, 1 reply)

Northern Lights
I was living in Labrador City, Labrador a few years back. It is a fairly land-locked city above Quebec where they mine hematite. It had been a cold winter and the sun went to bed far too early for my tastes so I decided to try and make friends with the cold.

A buddy and I decided to go cross country skiing and ended up on some groomed trails, part of which went across a lake. The snow on the side of the trails was about four feet high and offered some shelter from the wind.

About half-way across the lake the northern lights appeared, like a gossamer dancing green phantom. It was absolutely amazing and stopped us up mid trek.

We both fell backwards into the snow bank and spent the better part of two hours in -40 degree weather watching the heavenly lights, warmed by the snow and the majesty of nature.
( BrokenCoccyx doesn't mind if you grope on, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 22:22, 12 replies)

Backpacker Bingo
I live and travel a lot in South East Asia. I see a lot of backpackers and "mind the Gappies" is seldom far from my thoughts. I have a game, Backpacker Bingo, simply a list of typical gap year, traveler type attributes that I can only tick off after I take a picture of them. Examples: unfortunate beards, too many wrist/ankle/arm bracelets, dressing overtly like a local, gingers, tour t-shirts, walking with a staff, new dreds,studied boredom, matching outfits, overly large water bottles, misery, carrying your own toilet paper in public and so on. I saw this in Yangon international departures and grinned like an idiot.
www.flickr.com/photos/amasc/4868388358
(occassional, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 19:45, 4 replies)

perfect timing...
Well tonight has been a bit shitty, just been told by my girlfriend that she needs to be alone and even though she loves me to bits and thinks the world of me, she wants to back away from everything and everyone while she sorts all the shit in her head out. Not totally unexpected and I've been expecting it for a few weeks but tried to hang on in there. Still love her to bits and would do anything for her, more importantly just want to be there for her and help her through the shit she is going through. If it's meant to be then suppose it will all work out for the best and all the other cliches to go along with that.

So anyway, sitting here feeling all sorry for myself, I get a text off my little girl who is on holiday with her Mum at the minute which simply said "hope you're OK Dad, love you loads". She has no idea what just happened and she'll never know just how much those words meant to me tonight.

Just seeing those 7 words has helped me more than she'll ever know, not just a beautiful moment but absolutely perfect timing.
(brocky, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 19:30, 2 replies)

And.... breathe.
Kids have an amazing ability to disappear. There's nothing quite so chilling as turning around in a crowded place, and realising that they're nowhere to be seen...

One of the most beautiful moments I can remember was seeing the museum worker leading my 4-year-old daughter towards me, after about 40 years minutes of buttock-clenching panic and mental horror shows.
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 17:41, 7 replies)

One of those relieving beautiful moments!
Thought I'd lost all my bank cards, credit cards and drivers license, today.

The particular compartment of the wallet they were in, was somewhat loose and they obviously slipped out.. But OMG, where!!??? I have £10 to my name!! Arghhh!

What a beautiful moment when I found them all neatly stacked in the door pocket in the car! Phew!!!!

We don't do length jokes any more, but if we did it would have been 4 hours of sheer panic until I got home!
(Miggyman, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 17:11, 2 replies)

Amsterdam
in the hours leading up to the World Cup Final.
So orange and good natured.
( toadfish, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 16:57, 1 reply)

Sydney Harbour Bridge between my toes
When I buggered off to Oz to marry my other half in February she had arranged a surprise for me. We had two tickets to the Roar and Snore at Taronga Zoo on the outskirts of Sydney.

Now I've always wanted to go to Sydney. It seems to me to be the perfect city. Clean, cosmoplitan, easy to navigate on foot and wherever you turn there's an agreeable expanse of water. It seems that every time you walk down one of its streets, there's a picture postcard view you've seen a million times in front of you.

Well you can imagine how I felt, waking up a dawn listening to the sounds of all of the wild animals in the zoo waking up, looking down between my toes though the fly net at the front of our tent to be greeted by a view of the Harbour Bridge, slowly being lit by the sunrise between my toes! And by craning my neck a little, I could even see the Opera House.....

So I was lying next to my sweetheart in a post coital bliss, listening to gibbons saying good morning and looking out at the finest city in the world. Very nearly perfect and one of the happiest days of my life, second only to the moment I said "I do", three days before on Flagstaff Hill in Wollongong....
(penrose your dog's got tits, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 16:36, 3 replies)

I'm scared of flying
so my beautiful moment was getting out of the plane at a cold, grey, wet Luton Airport after 2 weeks in sunny Majorca.
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 16:07, Reply)

Is my uncle beautiful?
My uncle is the negative, half-empty, grumbling wart that afflicts every family gathering. Every social event we arrange is obliged to have him blighting his way through it; a smokey unsmiling beige-jumper of a man.

The beautiful moment? On a rather playfully windy November 11th, seeing the sad wanker chased around the garden by a blown-over firework.

It was sparkly white and followed him through quite five changes of direction; he squealed little a girl and none of the rest of us could stand through laughing. A truly magical moment.
(IChewCandlewax, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 15:08, Reply)

beauty is.....
.....looking down at your missus (whilst maintaining a straight-face) at the imminent moments before reaching the Billy Mill roundabout and knowing that she's about to get a face-full.





No apologies for length - your Mum loves it.
(stonersmurf stuckin' foned, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 14:42, Reply)

After giving an ex a disappointing 2 minutes
I pulled out, splooged and witnessed a glistening arc of jizz shoot out from my cock, fly right over her stomach and norks, and then land straight up her left nostril.

That was quite the sight.

She took it rather well considering, but then it wasn't intentional. She even confirmed it happened to my mates later in the pub.

She had no ill effects, but she did complain that it stung a bit and she could smell cum for ages no matter how hard she blew her nose.
( Dervel OTBC, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 14:35, 5 replies)

Next generation
Six year old little sister is sitting on my knee in the car. I can hear her humming and then doing some sort of amateur beatbox drum sound, and then whisper 'miaow, miaow' to herself. I also noticed she was moving her hands in an odd fashion.

It took a moment to click, but she was being keyboard cat. A beautiful moment right there
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 14:09, 3 replies)

I've had a few beautiful moments recently
- My friend's son wouldn't quieten down while his Dad had nipped to the toilet, so I picked him up and sat him on my lap, to read to him. By the time his Dad came back, he was asleep on me, cute as hell!

- Was at a pub quiz, during the music round McFly came on. Seeing the group of Rugby players across from us, with one knowing what song it was, but refusing to admit it, on fear of being mocked by the others. They came 2nd, by half a point. That was genius.

- Seeing a short lad flatten someone twice his size, after the big guy had started on him for knocking his drink over (he'd already bought a full pint to replace it)

But my favourite currently is something that a friend managed to fit into a goodbye letter. A mutual friend of ours has moved to Singapore for a year, so we've done a book for her, full of good luck messages, etc. He managed to fit the sentence "I’m as confused as a retard missing a window" into an otherwise sad letter. The beautiful moment in this was hearing her snort with laughter through her tears. Fantastic.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 13:52, 1 reply)

Sitting in a rubber dinghy
on Lake Annecy in the French Alps. Amazing views. Got a brilliant picture of me in the dinghy at medium range, with the mountains in the background. Unfortunately it's on one of my hard drives on my desk.
(Young Blood wasting 30 seconds of your time on, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 13:44, 2 replies)

Man's Best Friend
Watching my lovely three-year-old son and adorable Staff/Taso cross, Suzie, sleeping side by side on the marital bed in identical 'corkscrew' postures, with paws/forearms aloft.

I wonder if they were in the same dream-space.
(Happybara The jungle came alive and took him, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 13:36, Reply)

When I was on holiday somewhere
I saw the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen, here is a photograph of it:



Unfortunately I forgot to remove the lens cover.
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 13:04, 9 replies)