On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning by Haruki Murakami

One beautiful April morning, on a narrow side street in Tokyo's fashionable Harujuku neighborhood, I walked past the 100% perfect girl.


Tell you the truth, she's not that good-looking. She doesn't stand out in any way. Her clothes are nothing special. The back of her hair is still bent out of shape from sleep. She isn't young, either - must be near thirty, not even close to a "girl," properly speaking. But still, I know from fifty yards away: She's the 100% perfect girl for me. The moment I see her, there's a rumbling in my chest, and my mouth is as dry as a desert.


Maybe you have your own particular favorite type of girl - one with slim ankles, say, or big eyes, or graceful fingers, or you're drawn for no good reason to girls who take their time with every meal. I have my own preferences, of course. Sometimes in a restaurant I'll catch myself staring at the girl at the next table to mine because I like the shape of her nose.


But no one can insist that his 100% perfect girl correspond to some preconceived type. Much as I like noses, I can't recall the shape of hers - or even if she had one. All I can remember for sure is that she was no great beauty. It's weird.


"Yesterday on the street I passed the 100% girl," I tell someone.


"Yeah?" he says. "Good-looking?"


"Not really."


"Your favorite type, then?"


"I don't know. I can't seem to remember anything about her - the shape of her eyes or the size of her breasts."


"Strange."


"Yeah. Strange."


"So anyhow," he says, already bored, "what did you do? Talk to her? Follow her?"


"Nah. Just passed her on the street."


She's walking east to west, and I west to east. It's a really nice April morning.


Wish I could talk to her. Half an hour would be plenty: just ask her about herself, tell her about myself, and - what I'd really like to do - explain to her the complexities of fate that have led to our passing each other on a side street in Harajuku on a beautiful April morning in 1981. This was something sure to be crammed full of warm secrets, like an antique clock build when peace filled the world.


After talking, we'd have lunch somewhere, maybe see a Woody Allen movie, stop by a hotel bar for cocktails. With any kind of luck, we might end up in bed.


Potentiality knocks on the door of my heart.


Now the distance between us has narrowed to fifteen yards.


How can I approach her? What should I say?


"Good morning, miss. Do you think you could spare half an hour for a little conversation?"


Ridiculous. I'd sound like an insurance salesman.


"Pardon me, but would you happen to know if there is an all-night cleaners in the neighborhood?"


No, this is just as ridiculous. I'm not carrying any laundry, for one thing. Who's going to buy a line like that?


Maybe the simple truth would do. "Good morning. You are the 100% perfect girl for me."


No, she wouldn't believe it. Or even if she did, she might not want to talk to me. Sorry, she could say, I might be the 100% perfect girl for you, but you're not the 100% boy for me. It could happen. And if I found myself in that situation, I'd probably go to pieces. I'd never recover from the shock. I'm thirty-two, and that's what growing older is all about.


We pass in front of a flower shop. A small, warm air mass touches my skin. The asphalt is damp, and I catch the scent of roses. I can't bring myself to speak to her. She wears a white sweater, and in her right hand she holds a crisp white envelope lacking only a stamp. So: She's written somebody a letter, maybe spent the whole night writing, to judge from the sleepy look in her eyes. The envelope could contain every secret she's ever had.


I take a few more strides and turn: She's lost in the crowd.


Now, of course, I know exactly what I should have said to her. It would have been a long speech, though, far too long for me to have delivered it properly. The ideas I come up with are never very practical.


Oh, well. It would have started "Once upon a time" and ended "A sad story, don't you think?"


Once upon a time, there lived a boy and a girl. The boy was eighteen and the girl sixteen. He was not unusually handsome, and she was not especially beautiful. They were just an ordinary lonely boy and an ordinary lonely girl, like all the others. But they believed with their whole hearts that somewhere in the world there lived the 100% perfect boy and the 100% perfect girl for them. Yes, they believed in a miracle. And that miracle actually happened.


One day the two came upon each other on the corner of a street.


"This is amazing," he said. "I've been looking for you all my life. You may not believe this, but you're the 100% perfect girl for me."


"And you," she said to him, "are the 100% perfect boy for me, exactly as I'd pictured you in every detail. It's like a dream."


They sat on a park bench, held hands, and told each other their stories hour after hour. They were not lonely anymore. They had found and been found by their 100% perfect other. What a wonderful thing it is to find and be found by your 100% perfect other. It's a miracle, a cosmic miracle.


As they sat and talked, however, a tiny, tiny sliver of doubt took root in their hearts: Was it really all right for one's dreams to come true so easily?


And so, when there came a momentary lull in their conversation, the boy said to the girl, "Let's test ourselves - just once. If we really are each other's 100% perfect lovers, then sometime, somewhere, we will meet again without fail. And when that happens, and we know that we are the 100% perfect ones, we'll marry then and there. What do you think?"


"Yes," she said, "that is exactly what we should do."


And so they parted, she to the east, and he to the west.


The test they had agreed upon, however, was utterly unnecessary. They should never have undertaken it, because they really and truly were each other's 100% perfect lovers, and it was a miracle that they had ever met. But it was impossible for them to know this, young as they were. The cold, indifferent waves of fate proceeded to toss them unmercifully.


One winter, both the boy and the girl came down with the season's terrible inluenza, and after drifting for weeks between life and death they lost all memory of their earlier years. When they awoke, their heads were as empty as the young D. H. Lawrence's piggy bank.


They were two bright, determined young people, however, and through their unremitting efforts they were able to acquire once again the knowledge and feeling that qualified them to return as full-fledged members of society. Heaven be praised, they became truly upstanding citizens who knew how to transfer from one subway line to another, who were fully capable of sending a special-delivery letter at the post office. Indeed, they even experienced love again, sometimes as much as 75% or even 85% love.


Time passed with shocking swiftness, and soon the boy was thirty-two, the girl thirty.


One beautiful April morning, in search of a cup of coffee to start the day, the boy was walking from west to east, while the girl, intending to send a special-delivery letter, was walking from east to west, but along the same narrow street in the Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo. They passed each other in the very center of the street. The faintest gleam of their lost memories glimmered for the briefest moment in their hearts. Each felt a rumbling in their chest. And they knew:


She is the 100% perfect girl for me.


He is the 100% perfect boy for me.


But the glow of their memories was far too weak, and their thoughts no longer had the clarity of fouteen years earlier. Without a word, they passed each other, disappearing into the crowd. Forever.


A sad story, don't you think?


Yes, that's it, that is what I should have said to her.

Read Ephesians 3:20-21

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

God's work is not stifled by our human limitations. What we have to offer may seem insignificant, but when we joyfully place it in God's hands, there's no telling what could happen. Let's be willing to give our all to Jesus and His work; and prepare to be changed! :)

I'm Right Here

“I will never leave you or forsake
you. I know your name and have engraved it
on the palm of my hand. I hold your tears in
a bottle and ache with you. My grace is
sufficient and I have told you these things,
so that in me you may have peace. In this
world you will have trouble. But take heart! I
have overcome the world. I’m right
here.” (Deuteronomy 31:6, Psalm 139, Psalm
56:8, 2 Corinthians 12:9, John 16:33)

I just had a huge fight with Ate. She just called me a slut after I told her that she should know na paano mag saing 'cause HELLO?! She's turning 21 already?! I mean c'mon, she's the Ate for pete's sake! Goodness! She said, she was just asking if the rice is okay na. I'm sorry I got so fed up that everytime na mag sasaing sya, she always has to ask me if "Hey is this okay?" "Is this enough?" "Luto na ba?" My gawd! I couldn't contain the feeling of annoyance anymore! I just screamed! Okay, I know that wasn't right, I should've controlled myself but I was so angry that words came out from my mouth like a flash of a thunderstorm. Yeah. And then we started shouting. Threw my books at her but didn't aim boohoo! When it's her chance na, sapul! HAHA okay I'm a loser. I know, she gets to play Angry Birds and I don't, that's a plus for her. Okay then, she started saying "You're too focused on the computer and your cellphone! Di ka maistorbo! Ano bang ginagawa mo? Flirting? Slut!" and horror of all horrors, para akong nag super science like blood's pumping triple times, no a hundred times throughout my body but then I just said "Yeah you know me too well nga. We've been together for 20 years nga pala." I was so in rage but I just cried. That's the only thing na ayokong sabihin sakin ng ate ko. Like she can tell me, I'm stupid. I'm no one or anything negative just not a slut or a flirt. I don't know, I guess it's not of a big deal to anyone, but for me it is. For the fact that she's my sister and I tell her everything about me, what's in my mind, what I did in times were not together, who's making me blush and stuff, how disgusting to see couples lip locked at a public transportation, how naive teenagers are now when it comes to courtship and stuff. How can she dare tell me that? She knows how conservative I am when it comes to boys and specially to someone I like. Hay, she's crazy. BEYOND CRAZY. I'm really upset. I know it's my fault but I wished she shouldn't went below the belt. Not gonna talk to her at the moment. Will try to ease the pain inside, ALONE. We'll be okay din in time, but not now.

Sorry, I have to post this. Like the NERVE naman this girl post this pa! Well anyway, I don't have anyone to blurt my feelings out to. Can't talk to Rosa (the child, Mom's supporting sa pagaaral) she would never understand me. And no one has been replying to my texts! I guess they think naglolokohan lang kami ni ate and nothing serious. So yeah, decided to post this. If you have problems or violent reactions which I don't care to hear and know about but if you're a friend of mine I'll accept it but if not, you're just a random people who happened to be directed to my blog in circumstances I don't know, you can click the link "click here" in my sidebar NO.2 just left of your screen or you can just hit the back and go somewhere else. Thank you.

I devoted my quiet time kanina thanking God for all the blessings He has given me for the past weeks. I know there are a lot pa but I listed down the first 10 that popped into my mind.

Here it goes:

Isaiah 58:11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Be blessed and be a blessing! ♥

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Very Random at 11 o'clock pm

Ganda ng buhok ko ngayon, thanks to Sunsilk straight and sway. :)
Lumaki daw ang braso ko. . . .AWESOME! :D
Ako na lang ang gising dito sa bahay. 8)
I miss papadoo :\

Been editing my sidebar for an hour now, can't bring back my interactive multiply badge :(

I've been thinking of ***** and kept browsing h** (secret ang gender lol) profile. :|
It's cold.
My lower back aches.
Thinking if I should change my facebook dp.
I'm wearing a blue shirt with white stripes and my trusted jammies :D
Still undecided if I'm joining my girl Daisy tomorrow :|
Haven't finish my research on the 19th Century Philippine Revolution :{
REPORTS! Got plenty of 'em. :\
He's a boy with lotsa girls on his side :[
Turn off the computer or extend one more hour?
Wanna go to the beach. . . .and I hope Mr. Puckerman is there :P
Wish it's always Sunday.
Excited for the fasting! =D
Gonna prepare myself for a week-break from facebook and cellphone use, yeah! I'm pretty sure I can surpass that! =))



. . . .pretty random, eh? :| :D :)) :P

Oh yeah, this is my first post for this year 2011 haha oraaayytt!!!!! :DDD