2007-05-07 I Love You... I guess

Nobody likes to hear "you need professional help" said to them. It makes one feel helpless and stupid. I'm not an exception here. However, it dawned on me that I might need professional help to get to New Zealand. I found this site that resuscitated my hope for a "better life in the new world".
I went to a travel agency today, to ask what a flight to New Zealand would cost. I felt a little like Truman, only without the plaid suitcase. The woman at the counter made me wait almost as long as him, and her answer was as unsatisfying: more than 1,400 €. If I had so much money to spare, I'd get a sky diving training!
So let's calculate what it would cost to go there by car (while we're at it, let's ignore the fact that there is no bridge long enough). According to Google Earth, the distance from here to Auckland is 18,259.81 km Let's make it an even 20,000 km. The gas consumption of my car is 6 liter/100 km, so it would take 20,000 / 100 * 6 = 1,200 liters of gas. The current price of gasoline is 1.39 €/liter, which means that the trip would cost approximately 1,668 €. That's not too far from the real thing, considering that I need to get to an airport first. Speed might be a bigger problem: Assuming that my car can constantly endure 150 km/h, it would still take me the better part of one week to get there.
When I told Thomas today, he suggested a side job on one of these huge container ships that go around the world in six weeks. Too bad my asparagus arms don't qualify for that kind of work.

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But now for something completely different: What does "I love you" actually mean? Seemingly it's not as easy as it looks! Of course you can say it to your girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband. And it's not uncommon to say it to your parents, grandparents and perhaps a few other relatives. But when it comes to friends, I'm getting confused. You don't really love your best buddy, do you? Consider two soldiers on the battlefield saying "I love you" to each other before they go on a dangerous mission. (The Greeks actually did that, but that's another story to be told at another time.) It just seems wrong, even among girls. How can you tell the difference between "I like you" (meaning "you're a reasonably nice guy") and "I love you" (meaning something between "I've got a crush on you" and "I want to bear your children") when it all sounds the same? As a matter of facts, some girls don't give a damn about my confusion, and so I occasionally find myself confronted with emails from 16 year old girls ending with "I love you". Now, do they mean "you're a reasonably nice guy", which would be okay, or do they rather mean "I want you to rot in prison for suspected underage seduction", which would be rather disturbing? Who knows...