You would see the biggest gift would be from me

30 09 2007

I always try my very best to find really unique and fun presents for my friends’ birthdays - something a bit different than the usual CDs and books etc, something that makes them happy and makes me look utterly wonderful too. Of course it gets harder every year to come up with something new and spectacular but still within budget. Then a year and half ago I had a brainwave. Vouchers! I’m not talking gift vouchers from a shop but rather home made ones. More on the lines of a scribbled note saying ‘This piece of scrap paper entitles you to three flying lessons over Basra’ than ‘ Twenty Euro worth of DVDs’. The glory of the eccentric home made one is that you look great for having come up with a incredibly original idea, it doesn’t cost a penny and chances are your friend will quickly forget all about it without trying to ‘cash it in’. You get all the gratitude with none of the hassle.

This is how it is supposed to go in theory although I have found out that not all recipients understand the rules of this game. Simple and all as they are. My Occasionally Sober Friend for example has been earnestly trying to validate hers for well over a year now. A day trip to the national park in the east of the Netherlands where you cycle about admiring the wonders of nature and the unusual experience of not being able to see a building anywhere in your field of vision (this almost never happens in NL). The high point being a wonderful art museum slap bang in the middle reachable only by bike.

I had finally run out of every excuse known to man and many more specifically crafted ones for the occasion. My growing embarrassment eventually drove me to agree on a date and plan. It was finally going to happen after all this time. She had even carefully saved the piece of paper just in case there was any contention over the contents. Everything was arranged, packed lunches planned, weather proofs ready and waiting just in case. And then what would you know….. I get a cold. A horrible debilitating cold which forced me to my bed with hot lemon drinks and DVDs of Northern Exposure. The disappointment was palpable honestly but I hardly had enough energy to lift my medicinal chocolate cake let alone tear about the Dutch countryside in search of mother nature.

And so the voucher lives on. A present that just keeps on giving if you will - I bet she can’t even remember any of the other presents she received a year ago. One of these days my Occasionally Sober Friend, one of these days…

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Date : 30 September 2007
Categories : Colds, Friends, Nature, Northern Exposure, Unusual Birthday Presents

32 responses to “You would see the biggest gift would be from me”

30 09 2007: Sassy Sundry (13:57:46) :

Northern Exposure always makes me feel better. Especially Ed.

I suggest that you only give these vouchers to drunk people. However, even as a drunk person, I would try to cash that one in. That day sounds great.
30 09 2007: Sassy Sundry (13:58:15) :

Oh, and feel better!
30 09 2007: conortje (15:27:39) :

Sassy - My friends tend usually to be drunk. Can’t image why.
30 09 2007: savannah (15:39:06) :

what a lovely gift, sugar! btw, this sentence sums up why i adore you:
The disappointment was palpable honestly but I hardly had enough energy to lift my medicinal chocolate cake let alone tear about the Dutch countryside in search of mother nature.
hope you’re feeling better, darlin!
30 09 2007: laurie (16:17:04) :

i fear you will drive your occasionally sober friend to drink.

i once cashed in one of those vouchers. a friend had offered to dogsit for me. hahahha! never again! her cat barely survived the weekend. heh heh heh.

hope your cold is better. in addition to medicinal chocolate cake, might i recommend hot rum with brown sugar. yum.
30 09 2007: Nick (17:03:08) :

Great idea. BTW, about that voucher you gave me last March for a special trip on the space shuttle with Claudia Schiffer. You haven’t forgotten about it, have you?
30 09 2007: hidh (18:08:17) :

Here’s an idea:

1. Wait until your friend is drunk
2. Give him the voucher
3. Gracefully accept his grateful sobbing
4. Wait until he is drunk *again*
5. Steal the voucher

As time goes by (and with the aid of a little more alcohol), and as there is no physical proof of a voucher left, he will forget it ever existed.

With your OSF, stages 1 and 4 are the rule rather than the exception, so carrying out the plan should not be very difficult.
30 09 2007: nick2 (19:22:27) :

Have you got the dvds of northern exposure??? I fell in love with maggie but thought Chris was so cool…..i’ve been looking for them for years. the best TV series ever made - I’m so jealous - I’ll burn you my entire Van Morrison collection for copies….
30 09 2007: conortje (19:32:56) :

savannah - you’re too sweet, thanks

laurie - hot rum withbrown sugar sounds absolutely scrummy - almost worth getting sick for

nick - of course not - I’m on to it it’s just that Claudia’s schedule is so incredibly full - I’ll let you know as soon as I make some progress

hidh - I like your thinking. You’ve never used that on me have you????

nick2 - it’s my absolute favourite too. I finally have all the DVDs - am on the last series at the moment. Love every moment. I think I might have fallen in love with Maggie too. And Chris
30 09 2007: alan (19:33:48) :

What would be your ideal gift to receive Conor?
30 09 2007: hidh (22:55:12) :

Ehm… nooo……. why do you ask….?
1 10 2007: 73man (08:20:10) :

Nicely organised: cold kicks in just as you have been forced to do something you thought would never happen. Brings new meaning to the word psychosomatic
1 10 2007: Cath (08:50:34) :

Kroller-Muller versus a day in bed with John Corbett? What a dilemma, cold or no cold…
1 10 2007: Townygirl (08:54:46) :

medicinal chocolate cake lol. i too once gave the boyf vouchers . . hoooooge mistake, never again. I spent a week making him breakfast in bed, washing the car, washing up, taking him to the pub (and back), cleaning the dog pen (oook) etc etc . . . i’ll stick to socks and dvds now hehe
1 10 2007: conortje (18:12:05) :

alan - gosh, there’s a big question. I’ll have to think about it

hidh - no reason, I’m sure you never be so deceptive with me anyway!

73man - hehe I probably invented it

cath - I know! I read though that he’s become a born again christian (!!)

townygirl - at least you can benefit from the DVDs too
1 10 2007: manuel (20:49:57) :

I gave about 5 or 6 people the book of American Psycho for birthday presents the year it came out. I hadn’t read it or bothered to see what it was about, it was just everywhere thus an easy present. Yikes! Some people took it as a message or a cry for help.

Now I give vouchers or food baskets/hampers, handpicked I should add….
1 10 2007: Medbh (23:28:47) :

Oh, that Chris in the morning could charm the blue off your jeans, Conor. He’s actually a conservative asshole in real life but a near-poet on the show.
Mr. M and I felt an affinity when the show started and we left Philly for the Midwest, which was as alien to us as Alaska was to Joel.
Plus Mr. M’s from a Jewish family so it resonated.
Love that show.
2 10 2007: Jovica (06:30:14) :

Don’t trust hidh… he’s evil!
2 10 2007: tallulahbloom (06:54:38) :

You might want to consider putting valid until date on my next voucher!!
2 10 2007: Gaye (09:35:49) :

I think your custom made, special gift idea is brilliant. I can never go out with the express purpose of getting someone a present and actually find something on the day. The best presents I get are those that I bump into when I am not looking. I see something and immediately think, for instance, CONOR! I get it regardless when it’s Conor’s birthday and put on the side. Then on the birthday, voila!
It doesn’t always work though especially if it’s perishable foods that I put on the side for a birthday that is in about 4 months time… *sigh* oh well, even every great plan may have a small downfall.
2 10 2007: backpedalbrakes (09:38:47) :

Eek… disturbing John Corbett fact there Conor! He’s not aging particularly well either… Tom Jones anyone?

http://us.imdb.com/gallery/granitz/3069/Events/3069/JohnCorbet_Grant_4908308_400.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Corbett,%20John%20(I)
2 10 2007: Jovica (14:01:24) :

Urgh. What happened to him?
Conservative and ageing awfully… I’ll have to find new fantasy lovers. How depressing.
2 10 2007: alan (19:17:14) :

Wowsers. Gimme George O’Malley over that yetti (Corbett) anyday
2 10 2007: irishflirtysomething (19:30:31) :

I like the stealing back the voucher plan.
2 10 2007: Minge (20:45:53) :

Booze is fabulous. You can touch people’s bums and they neither know nor care.
3 10 2007: townygirl (08:56:33) :

where is that line from “you would see the biggest gift would be from me?” is it a song? Help me, it’s driving me a bit nuts trying to remember hehehe
3 10 2007: alan (10:27:50) :

Townygirl: Golden Girls TV Themetune.
3 10 2007: Townygirl (14:06:09) :

alan, thank you, thank you and thank you. the relief. now i can hum along in peace !
3 10 2007: conortje (14:26:19) :

manuel - food hampers. Is your full name Manuel Redcross?

medbh - should have known you’d be a fan too

jovica - what have I told you about jealousy?

tallulahbloom - I have definitely learned my lesson there

gaye - wow, I’m reading this to mean you’ve bought me a present. I’m so excited!

backpedalbrakes - oh my god. I’m in shock. what has happened? I blame god and the christians.

alan - you have to see what he looked like in his prime Northern Exposure days. It was his character too though - the whole package.

flirty - plus it involves booze which is always a bonus

minge - and that is indeed why we love it

alan - top marks for helping townygirl. You win a bun!
3 10 2007: Gaye (22:49:26) :

Yup, just need to know your birthdate…
5 10 2007: Gaye (23:56:25) :

Never mind, a little bird told me already it’s May 29th! :p
7 10 2007: conortje (10:15:10) :

hehe those little birds will be the death of me