the man, the legend that is... ARNAUD VAN GALEN

So many memories packed into 1 single weekend at German Open 2009:

- The guy with the frustrating puzzles, which kept us up all night (that's what she said)
- The guy I can always count on to solve my magic ;)
- The guy who made it possible for 5 people to stay in a room that was meant for 1! Yes, you would even have slept in the dresser so we would have enough space!
- The guy who played the "Nearly-hit-Kai-in-the-head-with-a-juggling-ball"-game with us!
- The guy who shaved parts of his leg so he would look even cuter in his pink PJs.
- The guy who teaches people how to solve a 5x5x5 in less than 10 minutes :)
- The guy who lend his Smart to Erik so he can:
:: Drive on the freeway like a lunatic
:: Tell me about Kia girl
:: Solve cubes on the roof of the car (while driving)
:: Have fun in traffic jams
- The guy who taught us all that an attempt at a record, should not be called an "experiment", especially not if this attempt is to get 2 girls in a mobile home, parked on a parking lot in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night!
- The guy who simply rocks!

Happy Birthday Arnaud!

Too bad I can't make it to US Masters. Still, we shall meet again (WC / Dutch Open)!
 
So many memories, impossible to count :-)

The legendary mr. Nice Guy of the speedcubing community.
He is always in for fun and fooling around.
When we go out for a drink, he is always the only completely sober person.
When he gives you a ride, it's more like a ride in an amusement park :D
He can always find you a place to sleep.
He has great taste in music, but beware of his dancing when he's skating!
He is ALWAYS right! (I hate that :P)

The only person who's television is theft-proof (because no one seems to know how to turn it on except him)

My favourite quote (that I can remember):
Arnaud: "That's what she said"
Me: "She talks too much!"
Arnaud: "No, that's what I always say"
 
Overwhelmed with a humbling but also happy feeling

Thank you all so much for this. I didn't see it because I had no internet this weekend, but this certainly makes getting older a lot of fun.

Charlie: Picture 1 is me in pyjama, Picture2 is me only covered by ...a cover. It is a good thing you didn't post that Picture3 from the cupboard ;)

fazrulz: I never hear anything about my voice when I speak my native language, but apparently my English accent is appealing for a lot of people.

Lars: Nice Luxemburgisch earrings, and I will see you for another car-ride next friday

Ton: Sorry for my bad time managament in the past and thanks for noticing the improvements. I will certainly keep looking at the world (and my tiny piece in it) with enjoyment.

Joey: Well, it is YOUR house after all ;)

Mr Cubism: I am sure we will meet eventually. Whether at an official competition or at a meeting somewhere. I will just continue travelling the world with the excuse of "playing with a 30 year old piece of plastic"

Edam: Some people would consider such a meeting an assault, your attitude is a lot more positive. We had a lot of fun and I enjoyed your movie a lot

04mucklowd: Same for you as for Mr Cubism. We will meet eventually.

Anthony (+Charlie): Shopping cart racing "Jackass style" is a lot of fun. I can highly recommend it. That video SHALL be shared with the rest of the world, right?

Rama: Congratulations to you on finishing "high school - NL" and hopefully you will soon start your life of music (after getting rich next year). I will see you soon (or when we will drive to the Czech Open)

PJK: Thank you and hopefully we will still be enjoying this forum when you turn 33

Stachuk1992: You might get shocked next week. A new move will be introduced!

Ryanrex116: No new puzzles for my birthday this year. But I will be "supplementing" my "collection" during fall. This years presents: Jar of candy from my ex, surprise slippers from Maria, a fun weekend of relaxing with Erik/Hakan/Rama/Max and Maria and Ton and off course this thread!

msemtd: See you at UK
Feanaro: See you at Worlds ;)
Mike Hughey: See you at US Open ;) ;). Tell your daughters to start practising Magics so I won't beat them

Yalow: Can you organise that Canadian Open in the weekend of Aug 22-23? I would really like to do 4 competitions in 4 countries. I still have an empty spot that weekend between US--??--Indonesian--Swedish

Hadley: Next time I hope for big-smile-smileys on every of your scoresheets

The Joker: A legend? I need to come visit the Philippines then so I can make a video where I make fun of one of my many statues :)

rahulkadukar: You can see the future.....or you are confusing me with somebody that "god loves"

ConnorCuber: There might be such a video in the future. I have some tricks and ideas that aren't shared on video yet. You can find an extremely rough text-only version on this forum

Tobias: We actually met at Belgian Open 2007 for the first time. Keep making long haired Belgians look good please ;)

Joel (coolmission): You can't make it to US Masters? I hope that means US Nationals, so you can join Lars and me for UK Masters, but I guess you meant you couldn't go to UK Masters :(. I am certain we will meet soon though. Let's not scare (many) girls next time we meet ;)

Hakan: Thanks for visiting last weekend. You really should get skates and join on the Wednesday Night Skate Night. Also, make sure you will live 20 years longer ;) by practising in Spain.
My favorite Hakan quote: "This is pro". (after Erik and I asked Hakan if we could put some of our stuff in his bag. All of us make a lot of silly jokes about turkish people stealing stuff)

Stefan: Why don't you organise an Austrian Open before Worlds?
 
Lars: Nice Luxemburgisch earrings, and I will see you for another car-ride next friday
I first put up another picture from the same photoshoot (I think you know which one :p) but it looked a bit wrong. Especially combined with the text that I wrote, people might have gotten weird ideas about the nature of our "relationship". ;)
 
Hey AvG, happy (belated I guess?) birthday! See you at Indonesia Open. I hope to have a great time hanging out with you.

Oh yeah, thanks to you, I have an edge pairing method that I love.
 
Arnaud my man, long time no see. It must be like 12 hours now....

Arnaud van Galen, The AvG, mr. Nice Guy, the man who doesn't stop smiling and after this weekend: the man who never stops doing sports.

It seems quite foolish to make a post like this since if anything that I write will not be any close to the awesomeness to who he is.
Plus, I can't even say half of the things here about Arnaud since they are too personal. This in itself already says enough, AvG is a really great friend who's always there for you (if his cellphone is working ;) )! I owe him a LOT.
Things I popping into my mind when thinking about AvG:
- never worry
- always smile
- generosity
- give without expecting anything in return
- there's always a way to fix things
- girls are ment to be waved at/ talked to/ flirted with / not to be scared off ;)
- sleep is a waste of time
- craziness has NO limits
- sports and health are things not to be neglected ever
- always look on the bright side of life!
- adventure, traveling, exploring, having fun and meeting people is the best there is!
- hoola-hoops are good for belly musscles ;)

I'm honored to be able to call you my friend (friend who cubes, not a cubing-friend) and I'm already looking forward to meet you again (Czech will be awe-some-ness!)
 
) and I'm already looking forward to meet you again (Czech will be awe-some-ness!)
I will meet in again at the UK Masters.. that's before Czech! I win!

Darn it. I wanted to say sth like: it's about quality not about quantity but that'd be a bit odd in this situation ;) There's enough AvG for everyone? .... Actually you don't get or take AvG-time, he gives himself to you after a very tough multi-criteria-analysis with factors like: curlyness of hair, number of smiles, crazyness and your level of 'that's what she said' sayings. The full list of factors are still to be revealed by the MAN himself.
 
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