Kiss & Cry

Yesterday I watched the figure skating contest at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Stop. Don’t go away.

Stay here, and let me finish. Takes only three minutes of your time.

If I remember well, figure skating was broadcasted between speed skating and ice hockey. Speed skating for the Dutch part of me and ice hockey for the Czech part.

In both cases, not a good day for Czech Dutch sports.

Czechs out, and the Netherlands only one bronze medal.

Anyway.

I was watching a Belgian athlete, Loena Hendrickx, perform on the music of Elton John’s ‘your song.’ She performed very well, so I decided to wait for her scores before turning back to my work.

While she was waiting for her scores, sitting next to her coach (who happens to be also her brother), the ID card around her brother’s shoulders caught my eye.

Kiss & Cry.

Kiss & Cry? What does that mean? Why does this guy have an ID with Kiss & Cry around his neck? My curiosity got triggered.

I needed to know.

Sorry, but that’s me.

It drives the people around me, including myself, nuts sometimes. I have this ability to observe, see, and get my curiosity triggered by the most negligible peculiarities. And then I need to know. Perhaps there’s a story.

And there is a story of why this Belgian coach had this ID around his neck.

“The kiss and cry is the area in a figure skating rink where figure skaters wait for their marks to be announced after their performances during a figure skating competition. It is so named because the skaters and coaches often kiss to celebrate a good performance or cry after a poor one.”

Wikipedia

There’s even a movie called Kiss & Cry.

I never knew. But now I do, and so do you.

Few people can get to the Kiss & Cry area.

Instant FOMO (fear of missing out) on my side.

I can hear you think now:

“Ok, Erikjan, why on earth are you telling me this. Great that you are obsessive about small things that don’t matter, but I have better things to do.”

Well, apparently not because you’re reading this email (emoji).

Here’s why this story matters in my life right now.

I’m in a little Kiss & Cry area myself at the moment.

I don’t need an ID; I let myself in.

As you may know (I posted on social media earlier this week), I need 100 followers on my Medium.com profile before the 22nd of February. Otherwise, I will be kicked out of the Partnership Program.

Since my last post, I’ve made good progress, but I’m not there yet. At the time of writing this post, I’m missing 32 fan followers.

Just 32!

The suspense is killing me.

Will it be KISS?

Or will it be CRY?

Please help! (emoji).

If you feel like celebrating with me, and you’re not following me yet on Medium, here’s the link to click.

You won’t get any emails from me (unless you subscribe). You don’t have to be on Medium anymore if you don’t want to. Although I think it has great stories. You just do me a huge favor.

Please don’t make me cry.

Your turn: Kiss or Cry?

Do more of what makes you happy!

I appreciate you,
Erikjan