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Dear Steve Jobs,

July 3, 2008 in apple, highlights, life, love, luxury, music, relationship, short story, thoughts by Bettina Wohlgemuth | 25 comments

I was wondering whether you have ever considered inventing an “Apple Family of the Year” Award :-)

I am asking because my family – being my hubby-to-be, our unborn baby (due at the beginning of September) and me – would perfectly qualify for it.

Inspired by your Stanford commencement address in 2005, I would like to tell you our very personal “Apple” Story.

When my fiancé and I got together in March 2006, he already had one of your great 60GB iPods. Being a big fan of yours, he thought I should join the club and gave me an iPod nano as a birthday gift in May. This is how our story began.

It didn’t take long and I got my next gift – one of those awesome Nike + iPod Sport Kits and a Nike Sport Armband. And off I ran! Believe me, I have been the star in every gym and on every path or road I have been running on since then. My computer is already filled with lots of running profiles, reaching from 2006 up to 2008.

In 2007, my fiancé and I went to New York for 10 days to take our love for Apple products to the next level.

The shiny and at the same time awesome-looking Apple glass cube on Fifth Avenue had to be our first shopping destination, of course. My fiancé got all excited walking down the stairs, thrilled by its size and design. We had sworn ourselves to just “have a look”. After all, it was our first day in New York.

Well, this is what ACTUALLY happened. After strolling around in the store for about an hour, admiring all the computers, iPods, iPhones and other devices and gadgets, we both ended up buying a Mac – a silver MacBook Pro for my fiancé who is in programming and system development and a black MacBook for me to look all fancy and up-to-date at work and at university where I am currently doing my Ph.D.

Since we live in Austria, we couldn’t just stop there. So we bought two sets of adapters, different programs and a black MacBook case. One of our most life-changing purchases was the Apple TV Box. No more DVDs piled up on our shelves! As soon as we got home from the States we started copying our movies, saving them on our external hard-disks (we’ve had to buy 4 new ones since then ;-) ) and watching our movies via Apple TV.

If you checked our iTunes account you would probably find us under “Craziest People Spending Loads of Money on iTunes”. We are more-than-regular customers when it comes to music, movies as well as TV shows.

Christmas 2007 I was surprised one more time. I got the much longed for iPhone. People were all going “Ah” and “Oh” seeing me with it. When they asked me where I had gotten it from I just said: Santa Claus. Soon after that my fiancé got himself one, too.

In February this year, my beloved fiancé turned 30! I felt this strong urge and wish to give him something special … something to remember. So I bought him a 23″ Apple Cinema Display. You should have seen his face! :-)
We even documented the whole unpacking and setting up process with pictures. He has never loved sitting at the computer and working more. A dark brown – orange Crumpler case especially made for MacBook Pro’s was just a little extra.

Going with the display, we have got a German keyboard as well – you know, because of all those weird letters German-speaking people use. In the course of the last few months my fiancé thought we had to have the Time Capsule as well. I have to say – it has made working a lot more fun and way safer!!! (I am a specialist when it comes to accidentally deleting top important files ;-) )

Now that the iPhone 3G is out, we are already thinking about getting that one too.

What I am trying to say is that we admire your and your team’s work. We are delighted by your innovative and elegant inventions and impressed by the enormous number of great ideas you have come up with in the past years.

You should know that there is a little family out there (South of Austria, to be precise :-) ) fascinated by you as a person and businessman as well as by your outstanding and great products.

We wish you all the best!

B + S + a little Apple fan-to-be

 

PS. Maybe you could give that “Apple Family of the Year” Award some thought?! ;-)
PPS. I hope our email did not go directly into your spam filter.

Stranger

November 10, 2007 in drama, episode, short story by Bettina Wohlgemuth | 1 comment

I was looking at his face in a way I had never looked at it before. He seemed so different. I almost took him for a stranger.

The night I got to know him in front of that van, I didn’t think we would ever establish any sort of contact. Well, obviously I wasn’t right with that. We ended up having a great time together. First being good friends who would watch TV, eat pizza or take naps on Wednesday afternoons, he finally kissed me. That one night in my room, just being friends did not seem to be an option anymore. Having a boyfriend back home did not hold me back. I was too curious about finding out what those lips would actually taste like. He was sitting right in front of me; being so close that I could feel his breath on my skin; his eyes were following every single feature of my face. There were no more thoughts, no more doubts; reason seemed to be a never-been-there quality. It was this insecurity that got me right there. Time would just stand still in those seconds before he eventually kissed me. I can still remember what I felt in this very moment. It was like his kiss had brought me back to life. His lips wouldn’t just touch my lips; instead, he let them wander along my neck. It was the first time ever that I got goose-pimples from somebody kissing my neck. My whole body started to tremble. We were wondering if we were doing the right thing; but only for a moment, not even a second. The pleasure that I was experiencing that night was too intense and too sweet to give it up for something lifeless that was waiting at home.

Now I am looking at this very same guy that I felt for that night and I can’t see him anymore. All I can see is somebody who kinda changed his mind about me. I could just press my body towards his and kiss him, kiss him until this awkward feeling goes away. Even though I could easily touch him, it feels like we were a thousand miles apart. Sitting on this stool, blue hat on and smoking one cigarette after the other, he doesn’t really care anymore. Why should I care? Why do I have to be the one telling him that I miss him; that I am actually not okay with what is happening between the two of us? If he is all cool and distant, well, so am I. Talking about some unimportant things, we both get tired of this conversation real quick. Run, girl, run before you get hurt! I look at him again, trying to find an answer but there is nothing; just emptiness. I say ‘goodbye’, turn around, go down the stairs and walk to my apartment. I would usually turn one more time to see him smile at me; but not this time. He would read sadness in my eyes and I don’t want him to feel good about that. So, I just keep walking to finally unlock my door and disappear into the darkness of my living room.

Soul naked

November 6, 2007 in drama, episode, short story by Bettina Wohlgemuth | No comments

Have you ever felt completely empty on the inside? Have you ever felt nothing but darkness spreading all over your body? Have you ever stopped crying because you realized that you’ve run out of tears? I have. Too many times …

What if some people are not meant to be happy? What if some people keep running without actually knowing where they are headed? What if I am some people? I could ask a million questions but don’t expect any answer because I do not have a single one … Once being disappointed, finding myself laying on the ground, entirely devastated and broken, I have promised myself not to be hurting again. I have sworn myself to keep up my guards and not let anyone break down my defense. Got my tactics straight, determined not to get side-tracked in any way. To hell with fights, to hell with pain, and, for sure, to hell with loneliness! Following my plan, I was totally sure nothing would ever get me off track again. I was totally convinced no one would ever get the chance to hurt me the way I had been hurt before. But I forgot about one important thing. It was not other people hurting me, it was me … slowly killing my very hopes, my wishes, and my dreams. Call it my demons or the monster couching deep down inside of me … whatever it is, visible or not, it was eating me up, leaving nothing but dying dreams …

With every dream and every hope that was tardily but surely fading away, I was losing myself more and more. The moment I thought I was giving up forever, ceasing to struggle, ready to put my life into destiny’s hands, I met you. You were just standing there, smiling at me. Even if I had wanted to keep the distance … you would have caught me anyways. Just one look and you got me right there … soul–naked. Without me saying one word, you knew my whole story …

I don’t know what happened

November 2, 2007 in drama, episode, short story by Bettina Wohlgemuth | 2 comments

I was looking at his face in a way I had never looked at it before. He seemed so different. I almost took him for a stranger.

The night I got to know him in front of that van, I didn’t think we would ever establish any sort of contact. Well, obviously I wasn’t right about that. We ended up having a great time together. First being good friends who would watch TV, eat pizza or take naps on Wednesday afternoons, he finally kissed me. That one night in my room, just being friends did not seem to be an option anymore. Having a boyfriend back home did not hold me back. I was too curious about finding out what those lips would actually taste like. He was sitting right in front of me; being so close that I could feel his breath on my skin; his eyes were following every single feature of my face. There were no more thoughts, no more doubts; reason seemed to be a never-been-there quality. It was this insecurity that got me right there. Time would just stand still in those seconds before he eventually kissed me. I can still remember what I felt in this very moment. It was like his kiss had brought me back to life. His lips wouldn’t just touch my lips; instead, he let them wander along my neck. It was the first time ever that I got goose bumps from somebody kissing my neck. My whole body started to tremble. We were wondering if we were doing the right thing; but only for a moment, not even a second. The pleasure that I was experiencing that night was too intense and too sweet to give it up for something lifeless that was waiting at home.

Now I am looking at this very same guy that I felt for that night and I can’t see him anymore. All I can see is somebody who kinda changed his mind about me. I could just press my body towards his and kiss him, kiss him until this awkward feeling goes away. Even though I could easily touch him, it feels like we were a thousand miles apart. Sitting on this stool, blue hat on and smoking one cigarette after the other, he doesn’t really care anymore. Why should I care? Why do I have to be the one telling him that I miss him; that I am actually not okay with what is happening between the two of us? If he is all cool and distant, well, so am I. Talking about some unimportant things, we both get tired of this conversation real quick. Run, girl, run before you get hurt! I look at him again, trying to find an answer but there is nothing; just emptiness. I say ‘goodbye’, turn around, go down the stairs and walk to my apartment. I would usually turn one more time to see him smile at me; but not this time. He would read sadness in my eyes and I don’t want him to feel good about that. So, I just keep walking to finally unlock my door and disappear into the darkness of my living room.