# the man, the legend that is... ARNAUD VAN GALEN



## CharlieCooper (Jul 5, 2009)

this guy is awesome! he is helpful and thoughtful and always wants to teach people things. while his late organisation of meeting up (note: didn't say disorganised) drives me mad, i don't mind that much because he's a good friend. he has this great hotel that you are always allowed to stay at and his dog is nice. 

why not post something you like about arnaud too?

some of my favourite snaps (arnaud, can you tell which one i DIDN'T put up? hint: it involves a cupboard


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## Faz (Jul 5, 2009)

His voice!
Lol @ second picture


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## jazzthief81 (Jul 5, 2009)

I agree, Charlie. Arnaud is awesome! So many times he's given me a ride back home from a competition at the most impossible hours.

Favourite snap:


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## Ton (Jul 5, 2009)

Well Arnaud has improved his time management a lot lately, so we probably never seem his late at a competition any more. It is fun with Arnaud around and race 4x4 or 5x5 with him. If you can say , Arnaud is my friend you are lucky. 

Keep up your positive few of the world Arnaud....


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## jazzthief81 (Jul 5, 2009)

Oh, and of course: Happy Birthday, Arnaud!!!


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## joey (Jul 5, 2009)

Arnaud is totally awesome.. Putting me up in Holland ALL the time!

Happy Birthday!


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## Mr Cubism (Jul 5, 2009)

I don´t personally know the "Master Of Keyhole", but in the vids on youtube that he made, I get a very kindly and humble feeling about him.


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## Edam (Jul 5, 2009)

My first experience with Arnaud was him running up to me and Charlie and hugging us, then we went to disneyland. which was nice 





He's wonderful and can fit into surprisingly small places for the purpose of 'knock knock' jokes.
Happy birthday!


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## 04mucklowd (Jul 5, 2009)

I would love to meet Arnaud
He sounds like a great guy

P.S I love his voice


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## Anthony (Jul 5, 2009)

I had the privilege of meeting and hanging out with Arnaud at the French Open. 

One of my favorite memories at a cubing tournament involves Arnaud, a shopping cart, and a girl.

It was hilarious.. You had to have been there. 

Charlie will probably remember.


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## CharlieCooper (Jul 5, 2009)

i don't just remember, i have a video


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## Rama (Jul 5, 2009)

Arnaud smiles when he is angry.
I also like him when he is shaved..........

I have THAT much respect for him that I scramble HIS cubes instead the other way round: http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b73/WuZweng/IMG_0491.jpg


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## pjk (Jul 5, 2009)

Happy Birthday, Arnaud!


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## StachuK1992 (Jul 5, 2009)

Happy Birthday!! Don't forget to do that sexy move ;p


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## Ryanrex116 (Jul 5, 2009)

I remember his last birthday. I wonder how many puzzles we will get this year?


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## MichaelErskine (Jul 5, 2009)

Happy Birthday Arnaud. I look forward to meeting you next weekend at UK Masters.


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## Feanaro (Jul 6, 2009)

Happy Birthday Arnaud! I look forward to meeting you at worlds! 

Edit: It seems that you and I are tied with our best times in competition, 16.91! Weird isn't it?


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## Mike Hughey (Jul 6, 2009)

Happy Birthday, Arnaud! I look forward to seeing you again at US Nationals!

How very American of you to be born the day after our bicentennial!


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## JustinJ (Jul 6, 2009)

Happy Birthday Arnaud, you're one of my favourite cubers 

If you're going to US Nationals, it's only fair that you come to the Canadian Open too


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## Anthony (Jul 6, 2009)

Yalow said:


> Happy Birthday Arnaud, you're one of my favourite cubers
> 
> If you're going to US Nationals, it's only fair that you come to the Canadian Open too



Or you can just come to US Nationals.  It's only fair that if he crosses an ocean, you can cross a border.


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## Hadley4000 (Jul 6, 2009)

Arnaud is pretty awesome. At US nationals he was my judge for magic, and let me initial my solves with a frowny face.


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## TheJoker (Jul 6, 2009)

wow... here is me greeting ARNAULD a happy birthday... here in my country he is a legend...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY...


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## rahulkadukar (Jul 6, 2009)

Happy birthday Arnaud. I love your 7x7x7 Centers tutorials it was simply awesome


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## ConnorCuber (Jul 6, 2009)

rahulkadukar said:


> Happy birthday Arnaud. I love your 7x7x7 Centers tutorials it was simply awesome



Eh? Where is this? On Arnaud's youtube channel there is no such video. Are you thinking of qqwref's video?


anyway, Happy birthday, Arnaud!


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## TobiasDaneels (Jul 6, 2009)

Congrats Arnoud,

You are the gentleman of speedcubing.
I loved to meet you for the very first time (Gütersloh 06? or 07?)
and I still do. See you in October.


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## coolmission (Jul 6, 2009)

So many memories packed into 1 single weekend at German Open 2009:

- The guy with the frustrating puzzles, which kept us up all night (that's what she said)
- The guy I can always count on to solve my magic 
- The guy who made it possible for 5 people to stay in a room that was meant for 1! Yes, you would even have slept in the dresser so we would have enough space!
- The guy who played the "Nearly-hit-Kai-in-the-head-with-a-juggling-ball"-game with us!
- The guy who shaved parts of his leg so he would look even cuter in his pink PJs.
- The guy who teaches people how to solve a 5x5x5 in less than 10 minutes  
- The guy who lend his Smart to Erik so he can:
:: Drive on the freeway like a lunatic
:: Tell me about Kia girl
:: Solve cubes on the roof of the car (while driving)
:: Have fun in traffic jams
- The guy who taught us all that an attempt at a record, should not be called an "experiment", especially not if this attempt is to get 2 girls in a mobile home, parked on a parking lot in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night!
- The guy who simply rocks!

Happy Birthday Arnaud!

Too bad I can't make it to US Masters. Still, we shall meet again (WC / Dutch Open)!


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## rahulkadukar (Jul 6, 2009)

ConnorCuber said:


> rahulkadukar said:
> 
> 
> > Happy birthday Arnaud. I love your 7x7x7 Centers tutorials it was simply awesome
> ...



Guess you are right


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## Hakan (Jul 6, 2009)

So many memories, impossible to count 

The legendary mr. Nice Guy of the speedcubing community.
He is always in for fun and fooling around. 
When we go out for a drink, he is always the only completely sober person.
When he gives you a ride, it's more like a ride in an amusement park 
He can always find you a place to sleep.
He has great taste in music, but beware of his dancing when he's skating!
He is ALWAYS right! (I hate that )

The only person who's television is theft-proof (because no one seems to know how to turn it on except him) 

My favourite quote (that I can remember):
Arnaud: "That's what she said"
Me: "She talks too much!"
Arnaud: "No, that's what I always say"


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## Sin-H (Jul 6, 2009)

Happy birthday Arnaud!!! It´s been too long since we´ve met  see you in Duesseldorf =)


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## AvGalen (Jul 6, 2009)

*Overwhelmed with a humbling but also happy feeling*

Thank you all so much for this. I didn't see it because I had no internet this weekend, but this certainly makes getting older a lot of fun.

*Charlie*: Picture 1 is me in pyjama, Picture2 is me only covered by ...a cover. It is a good thing you didn't post that Picture3 from the cupboard 

*fazrulz*: I never hear anything about my voice when I speak my native language, but apparently my English accent is appealing for a lot of people.

*Lars*: Nice Luxemburgisch earrings, and I will see you for another car-ride next friday

*Ton*: Sorry for my bad time managament in the past and thanks for noticing the improvements. I will certainly keep looking at the world (and my tiny piece in it) with enjoyment.

*Joey*: Well, it is YOUR house after all 

*Mr Cubism*: I am sure we will meet eventually. Whether at an official competition or at a meeting somewhere. I will just continue travelling the world with the excuse of "playing with a 30 year old piece of plastic"

*Edam*: Some people would consider such a meeting an assault, your attitude is a lot more positive. We had a lot of fun and I enjoyed your movie a lot

*04mucklowd*: Same for you as for Mr Cubism. We will meet eventually.

*Anthony *(+Charlie): Shopping cart racing "Jackass style" is a lot of fun. I can highly recommend it. That video SHALL be shared with the rest of the world, right?

*Rama*: Congratulations to you on finishing "high school - NL" and hopefully you will soon start your life of music (after getting rich next year). I will see you soon (or when we will drive to the Czech Open)

*PJK*: Thank you and hopefully we will still be enjoying this forum when you turn 33

*Stachuk1992*: You might get shocked next week. A new move will be introduced!

*Ryanrex116*: No new puzzles for my birthday this year. But I will be "supplementing" my "collection" during fall. This years presents: Jar of candy from my ex, surprise slippers from Maria, a fun weekend of relaxing with Erik/Hakan/Rama/Max and Maria and Ton and off course this thread!

*msemtd*: See you at UK
*Feanaro*: See you at Worlds 
*Mike Hughey*: See you at US Open  . Tell your daughters to start practising Magics so I won't beat them

*Yalow*: Can you organise that Canadian Open in the weekend of Aug 22-23? I would really like to do 4 competitions in 4 countries. I still have an empty spot that weekend between US--??--Indonesian--Swedish

*Hadley*: Next time I hope for big-smile-smileys on every of your scoresheets

*The Joker*: A legend? I need to come visit the Philippines then so I can make a video where I make fun of one of my many statues 

*rahulkadukar*: You can see the future.....or you are confusing me with somebody that "god loves"

*ConnorCuber*: There might be such a video in the future. I have some tricks and ideas that aren't shared on video yet. You can find an extremely rough text-only version on this forum

*Tobias*: We actually met at Belgian Open 2007 for the first time. Keep making long haired Belgians look good please 

*Joel* (coolmission): You can't make it to US Masters? I hope that means US Nationals, so you can join Lars and me for UK Masters, but I guess you meant you couldn't go to UK Masters . I am certain we will meet soon though. Let's not scare (many) girls next time we meet 

*Hakan*: Thanks for visiting last weekend. You really should get skates and join on the Wednesday Night Skate Night. Also, make sure you will live 20 years longer  by practising in Spain.
My favorite Hakan quote: "This is pro". (after Erik and I asked Hakan if we could put some of our stuff in his bag. All of us make a lot of silly jokes about turkish people stealing stuff)

*Stefan*: Why don't you organise an Austrian Open before Worlds?


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## jazzthief81 (Jul 6, 2009)

AvGalen said:


> *Lars*: Nice Luxemburgisch earrings, and I will see you for another car-ride next friday


I first put up another picture from the same photoshoot (I think you know which one ) but it looked a bit wrong. Especially combined with the text that I wrote, people might have gotten weird ideas about the nature of our "relationship".


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## coolmission (Jul 6, 2009)

Sadly, I meant UK Masters  Work is pretty much eating me alive.


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## StachuK1992 (Jul 6, 2009)

AvGalen said:


> *Stachuk1992*: You might get shocked next week. A new move will be introduced!



A SEXIER MOVE??!??!


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## mazei (Jul 6, 2009)

Hey AvG, happy (belated I guess?) birthday! See you at Indonesia Open. I hope to have a great time hanging out with you.

Oh yeah, thanks to you, I have an edge pairing method that I love.


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## Erik (Jul 6, 2009)

Arnaud my man, long time no see. It must be like 12 hours now....

Arnaud van Galen, The AvG, mr. Nice Guy, the man who doesn't stop smiling and after this weekend: the man who never stops doing sports.

It seems quite foolish to make a post like this since if anything that I write will not be any close to the awesomeness to who he is.
Plus, I can't even say half of the things here about Arnaud since they are too personal. This in itself already says enough, AvG is a really great friend who's always there for you (if his cellphone is working  )! I owe him a LOT.
Things I popping into my mind when thinking about AvG:
- never worry
- always smile
- generosity 
- give without expecting anything in return
- there's always a way to fix things
- girls are ment to be waved at/ talked to/ flirted with / not to be scared off 
- sleep is a waste of time
- craziness has NO limits
- sports and health are things not to be neglected ever
- always look on the bright side of life!
- adventure, traveling, exploring, having fun and meeting people is the best there is!
- hoola-hoops are good for belly musscles 

I'm honored to be able to call you my friend (friend who cubes, not a cubing-friend) and I'm already looking forward to meet you again (Czech will be awe-some-ness!)


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## joey (Jul 6, 2009)

Erik said:


> ) and I'm already looking forward to meet you again (Czech will be awe-some-ness!)


I will meet in again at the UK Masters.. that's before Czech! I win!


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## cookingfat (Jul 6, 2009)

msemtd said:


> Happy Birthday Arnaud. I look forward to meeting you next weekend at UK Masters.



Ditto to this, I'll be there too and looking forward to saying hello etc. You're the man. And happy birthday.


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## Erik (Jul 6, 2009)

joey said:


> Erik said:
> 
> 
> > ) and I'm already looking forward to meet you again (Czech will be awe-some-ness!)
> ...



Darn it. I wanted to say sth like: it's about quality not about quantity but that'd be a bit odd in this situation  There's enough AvG for everyone? .... Actually you don't get or take AvG-time, he gives himself to you after a very tough multi-criteria-analysis with factors like: curlyness of hair, number of smiles, crazyness and your level of 'that's what she said' sayings. The full list of factors are still to be revealed by the MAN himself.


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## joey (Jul 6, 2009)

Erik said:


> curlyness of hair, number of smiles, crazyness and your level of 'that's what she said' sayings. .


Wow, I didn't know that I could be expressed in so few qualities


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## Erik (Jul 6, 2009)

Well, those are the only criteria arnaud told me while I hypnotised him last night  the real full list of criteria are hidden too deep within him to get out


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## coolmission (Jul 6, 2009)

Erik said:


> Well, those are the only criteria arnaud told me while I hypnotised him last night  the real full list of criteria are hidden too deep within him to get out



OR, you offer him a room, persuade him to shave his legs and dare him to show you he can fit in a cupboard. That did the trick


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## AvGalen (Jul 7, 2009)

*Lars*: With all the weird things we have done, I consider it very respectful that these are the images that made it onto the web.

*Joel*: , but Dusseldorf for sure?

*Stachuk1992*: You'll just have to wait...see...and decide for yourself

*mazei*: See you in Indonesia. I expect you to beat me (easily) on 5x5x5 by then

*Erik*: I am really glad that I got to know you and that you have picked up so much of my lifestyle while maintaining your own style at the same time. I am glad you enjoyed the weekend after that horrible week. Good times have started again.

*joey*: Erik has my car which he uses quite often. You have my house which you don't use as often as I would like. I guess Erik wins 

*cookingfat*: I certainly hope we will exchange more than just "hello's". I'll see you there.

*Erik*: Those are some of the factors , but I change them constantly as I learn more about the important things in life. Nobody (including me) will ever be able to make a formula for this.

*joey*: Don't worry, there are more factors, like "look on face when going on a Dutch roundabout"

*Erik*: You hypnotised me last night? Then I guess you can do that without physically being there or you have met Nina.

*coolmission*: You are the only man I ever shaved my leg for. Joey and Erik got nothing on you 

Thanks again everyone for sharing all of this. I surely hope that I can spread some of my joy for life with as many of you as possible and hope you keep doing the same with me.


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## mazei (Jul 7, 2009)

Well I expect you to beat me at Multi-blind easily.


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## Yes We Can! (Jul 7, 2009)

The sexy move remix has gone :O
Happy Birthday


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## AvGalen (Jul 7, 2009)

*mazei*: Your single blindfold is better than mine...and I never practise multi anymore

*Yes, We Can!*: It isn't gone. It is still at http://vaughnsulit.bandcamp.com/


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## Yes We Can! (Jul 7, 2009)

I hear a song by a woman there


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## Novriil (Jul 7, 2009)

I don't have any experiences with him but. Wait. I think I asked something from him on PM. anyway. Great guy, helpful and friendly. Happy birthday.

And come to Finnish Open 2009  Then I can meet you


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## StachuK1992 (Jul 7, 2009)

Yes said:


> I hear a song by a woman there


look to the right on that page

http://vaughnsulit.bandcamp.com/track/sexymove


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## Raffael (Jul 7, 2009)

I totally agree with everything said before.
Arnaud: you are the greatest! Happy birthday to you!
I'm really looking forward to meeting you again.

I couldn't find a picture of you which would fit in here, so instead I post one of your dog


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## MichaelErskine (Jul 7, 2009)

AvGalen said:


> *joey*: Don't worry, there are more factors, like "look on face when going on a Dutch roundabout"



Is a "Dutch Roundabout" a euphemism like "Dutch Cap" or "Dutch Bus Conductor"?


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## joey (Jul 7, 2009)

No.. He just means a roundabout


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