Happy New Year

And so I am once again in the country of big cars, big roads and food store filled with terribly tempting food. The trip was pretty awful and tiring, what with the 2h queue for securiy at Gatwick and the tiniest leg room ever fo a flight across the Atlantic. But I survived it so far, and was glad to get through another security check that took about 30minutes in Philadelphia. I got a pretzel and a small (american size so it's only 1L) pink lemonade...mmmmmm

I am now rested and sleepy. but it's nice to have daylight up till 5ish, give that so far I have slept throgh most part of the morning.

I expect no fireworks today. Just a bit of food, loud music, drunk college people.

Happy...happy Christmas and New Year

There are people who cry of joy and happiness, and those who blush and loose their tongue. And everyone should experience both at least once in their life. I did, after my belly filled up with Ikan Bumbu Bali and red wine, and with the warm confort and company of 2 great friends: Hobbes - aka Moo Moo- and Bambi. The light was right, the air got thick, and it was one of those moments that seem so bright in memory.

And so I go on facing the terrible grey fog around me, wrapped in that fuzzy warm feeling that will keep me cheered up for a long time again.

I have no words to convey my contentment. I do hope to spread the feeling around me.

Thank You.

Karaoke: All I want for Christmas...

Lost in fantasy

I forgot to metion that on Halloween day, a group of very excited people worked their back off to dig holes in the park and plant palm trees. But I suppose back then the weather was clear and warmish and din't remind them at all that it was autumn. As if in some part of their collective brain were bent to force the winter season to never touch this blessed island. Well, tough luck! Winter has now come to claim its hold, and I wonder what the palm trees' spirits would think in the 3C and -1C temperature.

Lately though, I felt that parallel worlds were more visible. Is it because of the magic of Christmas or the fact that the cold weather gives brain freeze and only the few sensitive cells to be working? After all, how do you differentiate a delirium with a legitimate out of this world vision?

In my case, it seems that all around me, fatanstic worlds are appearing and coexisting with this so called physical world. Reading Terry Pratchett's books populates my mind with wizards, giant turtles and clueless tourists in a world of almost believable dragons, octarine color and time travelling. My friend Zabador is being lured down the vortex of WOW (sniff, the World Of Warcraft is so big we cannot just ignore its impact on our lives). And I cannot make out what I really want for myself as a career or partnership.

It is only momentarily comforting to wrap oneself in the coziness of this end of year season, as the aftermath of the festivities is looming over our head, with grim work boredom, short dayligh, and emotional pain.

But as I close my eyes and see the sparkling and exciting worlds that could be, and the things that can or could have happen, I file the depressing physical world behind my image of Wentworth Miller, and will deal with it soon enough in time. Let me believe that people are good and kind, and that my loved ones are safe and happy as well.

Caro nome (Rigoletto-VERDI)

(Maria Callas, 1956)
Caro nome che il mio cor festi primo palpitar,
Le delizie dell'amor mi dêi sempre rammentar!

Col pensier il mio desir a te sempre volerà,
E fin l'ultimo sospir, caro nome, tuo sarà.

Col pensier il mio desir a te sempre volerà,
E fin l'ultimo mio sospir, caro nome, tuo sarà.

Col pensier il mio desir a te sempre volerà,
A te volerà, fin l'ultimo sospir, fin l'ultimo sospir, caro nome,
tuo sarà.

Caro nome tuo sarà, il mio desir a te ognora volerà,
Fin l'ultimo sospiro tuo sarà!

Gualtier Maldè!.. Gualtier Maldè!..
Caro nome che il mio cor festi primo palpitar, (Borsa: E là.)
E fin l'ultimo sospir, (Ceprano: Miratela.) (Cortigiani: Oh, quanto è bella!)
Caro nome tuo sarà. (Marullo: Par fata od angiol.)
Gualtier Maldè!.. Gualtier Maldè!.. (Cortigiani: L'amante è quella
di Rigoletto! Oh, quanto è bella!)

Order, Order

This is the Royal Courts of Justice. Across the road are the building of Kings college. And between them, a formidable dragon stands up to the traffic on a high column that splits the wind that flows up to St Paul Cathedral. Without the multicolored buses, cars, bicycles and other (almost)metallic machines, the date could be sometime in 19th century. Its gothic architecture and the dragon outside invites to toughts of magic, wizards, unexplained powers, strong and wise powers.

Upon entering the building (ignore the metal detectors), I felt tranported into that era of magic and fairy tales. It is the place where Justice prevails, in its cold and beautiful hard stone and wood temple. light would fall upon the blindfolded figure of the assembly, and Justice would be fairly delivered in a magical, satisfying, and beatifying way.

After wandering about the great corridors, and loosing ourselves like arguments thrown out between sollicitors, we finally decided on a court room to visit. Court room 19 held a hearing of a financial case that we didnt quite understand until 45minutes into the hearing. His Lordship the Judge had decided to clear his head and speak his thoughts to explain the matter at hand to himself. It was then made clear to himself, and to us poor bored ignorant, that the witness was complaining about some £100 000 that were due to his company by another fellow in the audience. But there were 6 big files of evidence that the sollicitors argued upon, and so many accountancy detailts that bothered us, so we fled the scene and let Justice work its way. That was not magic at work, it was poor human mind, obstructed by the heaviness of lunch and naptime trying to sort out among huge amount of details...a train wreck in the making.

So we were in the corridors again, spotting the black robes of sollicitors speeding with their grey curles wigs. And they indeed could pass for wizards (except for the wig part). One such big belly man invited us to another court room, which appreared to contain much uniformed policemen. The room was much bigger, with a really high ceiling that was adorned by a graceful candelabra (without the candles, alas). Dusty books filled both sidewalls, and on the right, a human cage contained another uniformed policeman in uniform (such an anachronism to my 19th century theme). We sat behind what looked like the prosecutor. Speaking before 2 judges was a man in a pink/salmon/orange polo shirt, with papers all over the table in front of him. He seemed panic-stricken and completely disorganized. We were a bit surprised he was not wearing the black robe. We tried to figure out from his references from the files dispersed in front of him the nature of the case, but it was a bit complicated and we gave up after 15 minutes fo pape discussion. Outside the court room, our kinf host inquired about us and explained the speaker was the prisoner defending himself and appealing for a case that happened in 1995 (a heist of thousands of pounds).

In any case, the place was magical, but the exercise of Justice sure didn't feel like magic. Seemed all very bureaucratic (12 folders of evidences in the last case), and completely mind exhausting task. I love the atmosphere in the ground floor hall though, as it is a place where one is inspired by the balance of light, stone and wood. It is probbaly the only place where one can take a break peacefully under the eye of lady Justice.

Do you believe in Fairies?

Ahem, yes I do!
I wasn't too sure what sort of show I was going to see on Tuesday, but I knew it would be somewhere I have never been so that was already worth the trip. After a nice sunbath in bed (the only few times I get sunrays is between 08:00 and 10:30am), I equipped myself with my best mood and my strongest determiantion to have a walk in Wimbledon area (45min by tube). The weather was getting cloudy with all the polar winds blowing about (no tornadoes this time), but I had double dose of left over lasagna to keep me grounded.

Met a lonely colleague (still looking for her screename/alias), and was shown about the Wimbledon village. It reminded me of Paris suburb, the one in Sceaux or towards Versailles...so posh, clean and proper. I wondered if I could spit in the streets? maybe not. After walking to the Thai Budhist temple, and breathing so much clean air, I was offered some Chinese home cooking before we went on to the purporse of my visit...



And so it turned out that 'Fonzie' from 'Happy Days' was playing Captain Hook...It was my first ever pantomime: it started out like a musical, with dances and songs with the London skyline as a background. Then most characters asks the audience for its opinion ('do you know where Tinkerbell is hiding, boys and girls?'). They used and mixed songs from various movies, including Rocky, Star Wars, Grease, Saturday Night Fever, and many more I did not recognize. They also have parents dancing and singing silly noises, and throw toilet paper rolls at the audience while we are singing from the top of our lungs (or was it just me?). And most importantly, they shot water from waterguns at the audience.

All in all, a quite fun experience even if we were among the oldest kids on the balcony. It was easy for Tinkerbekll to get better after drinking the poison intended for Peter Pan, given that in that area, most people probably believe in fairies...it is almost in the countryside after all, and the woods were not so far away.

Electra scissorhands

First off, the link to the song posted before. I have no idea why the cat meows in the song, but it must be some inside joke between the songwriters:)



And now for Electra....
She chose it because it means The Truth, Light, and anything blinding. She was meant to take advantage of free tickets for a great party and ended up spendin the evening beating me at Ligretto, then Mikado (I only won at dominoes and dodo:)

She was the more depressed as she tore off her pyjama to make up a stylish t-shirt with open back...LOL. So anyone who would be kind to her, please get her new PJs, preferably ones that she can rip off.

Note that similar ripped off tees are available on Brick Lane at a price no lower than £15...I wont leave her with my PJs.

All I do is dream of you

All I do is dream of you
The whole night through
With the dawn, I still go on
Dreaming of you
You're every thought
You're everything
You're every song I ever sing
Summer, winter, autumn and spring.

And were there more
Than twenty-four hours a day,
They'd be spent in sweet content
Dreamin' away

When skies are gray
When skies are blue
Morning, noon and nighttime too
All I do the whole day through
Is dream of you

It's cat's meow!

All I do the whole day through
Is dream of you!

[from Singin' in the rain]

Jingle bells

Saturday was sunny! So I escaped my newly curtained indoor to join the crowd on oxford Street, unsuspecting the major shopping spree that was going on until I realized they blocked off the street to all vehicle. Among the hordes of families and suburb gangstas, there were many Santas, a truck promoting the Tour de France, an asian/scottish band...


Then walking on to Oxford Circus, I came upon fake snow falling in the wind and four huge white balloons carrying dancers/acrobats moving along some deafening seasonal music. It was very nice but the cold was eating my ears despite the crowd packing itself together to watch the dancers and take pictures with their phones...and this is the kind of footage you get with a crappy mobile phone like mine:




On my way home, I managed to grab a program of the Spitalfields Festival and hopefully will catch a free concert or a choir sometime in the coming week..a yuletide season without music is unacceptable.

A special week

I am having a surreal week

Monday: Went to the free music recital in Covent Garden on Monday and really enjoyed it. Guitar and cello played some spanish and latin american music. It was full as usual and the average age was 60. We probably caught a disease in there but the music was nice. But then again we are 40 years too young, and still with our own teeth..I am mean. After that, we enjoyed the reasonably clement weather for 30min, just enough to head for a Japanese restaurant that specializes in okonomiyaki...very good stuff. It's a Japanese version of an omelette, with cabbage, onions and whatever you want int here, cooked with the love by the waitress that makes you wanna take her place because you want to play with food like her...An experience I would recommend. By the time we stuffed ourselves with okonomiyaki and green tea ice cream, it was time to walk to Oxford Street to buy some trousers, except it took us 3hours to get to H&M because we were also looking for f* me boots...ahhhh..And a big achievement (and a frustration) for me was that I bought nothing that day. Well except for food and tickets for ballet...they don't count, they're not clothes!

Tuesday: Am not sure what happened during the morning since I probably slept until I got to the eye test exam at midday. Then after being forced to read small letters, and had air blown at my pupils, I was too awake to miss some really cheap junk that I haven't even used yet...paint brushes, Christmas cards, backgammon travel set (how many of these do I buy? and where did they all go?), ribbons for my future curtains (still in design at the back of my head), and more I can't rememebr becasue it is lost in my junkyard bedroom. Even dragged Hobbes home to sort out my computer problems. I have a feeling he does that a lot...being patient toward us, internet novice. Then it was time for catching up with Bambi who obviously had a fun day at work, sorting out the workflow. Hot chocolate and crisps in good companyat tea time, which flew by smoothly like cold water running on your head on a hot summer day (feels good).

Wednesday: Work was hell. My heart felt like lead, my head hurt like acid, and it was busy like a Monday. Time was sluggish and wouldn't give me a break. I finished the day longing for a comatose sleep.

Thursday: Started with the all so not healthy English breakfast (yum), and a clear head (at least I was awake). Were pushed on the main stage by puppet master ( yes we have a dictator). It allowed me to see the gallery and the stage of some news broadcasts, which are cool but oh so not glamour...but at least I went in there..yay, and without asking..I was actually asked. Later on, got to tag along to go to the newsroom where a colony of journalists cram into an open space office and work..yikes..scary but had to feel like a tourist in there. So a pretty good day considering the previous day...not to forget: Congrats to Hobbes, good luck in being my boss!

Friday: Not sure if I'll live till tomorrow, but am sure it'll be alright
Saturday: Hope the weather is sunny, I'd like to smile in the sun
Sunday: Day of the Lord, I'll try to go to Church in St Paul...to say Thanks

Buy Nothing Day

in the US, they have 'Black Friday', the day after Thanksgiving that opens the Christmas shoppign season. Hordes of people rush to the stores to spend loads of money for presents or bargains. In the UK, they have 'Buy nothing day', which is today, and it apparently started as a way to remind the business the consumer's power...so You enter any shop and you can try, touch, play with everything, knowing that you will not buy it....and shopkeepers will have to stand you do it...Unfortunately I am working today so I cannot go out there and get tempted. It's probably better because they most probably put out so many nice and gorgeous things so that even if you went in the shops with the intention of buying nothing, you end up coming back home with bags of impulse buys...aaaaaaa, just thinking of it, I have shivers in my back (caused mainly by lack of sleep)

Outer Space

Surviving Monday

Some people should be neutered...

I was walking quietly back to the office when someone walking behind me moaned about the weather being a bit chilly. In this country, that means they're trying to start a conversation. And it's considered polite to respond with a nod, a smile or something like grumpy 'yeah'. So I did emit some sounds repulsive sounds, but instead of discouraging the other person, he actuyally walked past, looked at me and said:
'can you give me your telephone number?'

In my head I imagined his head self-combusting and bursting into flames, him screaming in unberable pain, and dying slowly by suffocating on his own burnt flesh and fluids...

I said:' No, it's confidential. Good day'
Seriously, how dare he sneek on me like that and ambush me with a stupid question like that???Do I go to people and ask for their phone number? The mere fact that he has to do that for me means he's not worth my phone number...geez...

Anime-thon

I yielded to temptation yesterday by feasting on a Happy Meal in McDOnalds at the London old County Hall. There was nothing else open, and we had to get dinner one way or another before the next anime started. The 'meal' came in a colorful kiddie box, half occupied by a terrigying toy:



Without complaint, I choked on the chicken nuggets and was saved by the vanilla milkshake that tasted of my younger days. Then it was time to get kicked out of the premises at 19:00, and for a festival of weird anime series.

Elfen lied. Surely the genre is familiar: a naked female alien, with bouncy boobs and some form of horns of another on the head to differentiate her from human, lands in the care of an unsuspecting, naive young man. He is already struggling in a friendship/relationship with a human female, possibly a childhood friend. They end up living in the same house, and there are plenty of situations where the wholesome alien is naked...and slaps all over the place to punish him from being all over the alien. Really, not so much different from Lamu, Chobits ro Dears as far as I'm concerned. Just another male fantasy serie. In this one, it is made worse by the sexists dialogues and the bloody scene of chopped limbs and heads...not very enjoyable.

Next door was Yugo the negotiator. A bit of a Nicky Larson meets Cowboy Beebop. Except I like Cowboy Beebop...:) Later, it was a dark fanstasy story of travelling illusionist, writer, and unidentified woman who encounter characters that live in complete denial of their vice or past murders. The episode we saw was about this woman in a village who had an incestuous relationship with her father, and kept her litle sister in a closet while doing it...then it turned out she had complete control over her father, making him kill her mother and everything else that is in her path. She also already killer her litle sister so that she would not see her doing it with her Dad...very very sick indeed! All that with interesting graphics though, that really conveys the uneasiness or the disturbing feelings about the situation.

The last Anime was the best one so far. called Paranoia Agent, each episode is about acharacter struggling with its own mental condition. The beginning credit is very very strange and again, disturbing. The characters are all laughing, the lyrics talk about the mushroom cloud, and yes, they are laughing, and in the background the mushroom cloud erupts and seems not to affect their laughing. It is a s if the deaath and destruction that is to come has already been there, and everyone was detached from the usual feelings. In a sense, as the episodes showed, they all have some sorts of schizophrenia. One teenage boy struggles between being cool and being cruel. His cute timid teacher is fighting against her other self, called Maria who is a prostitute. Another woman, a designer, thinks her toy or plush animal can talk...all of them are very very insane, but they do show the inner voices distilled in us. Each character is legitimate and believable in their dialogues and storylines...very intersting and addictive anime.

And again we got kicked out of the building at 22:00...I wish I could go see Panda Z just for the name's sake but it is better to get back tor eality of rainy and sombre London, and pack my stuff for the upcoming flat move. Also, better food probably maked me feel happier...

Hush hush

I have a tendency to fall for the guy I dream him to be instead of the guy he is.

So I'm building myself up for a dissapointment. My horoscope didn't give much good news either:
'A romantic climate will reign and your heart will be on fire. Do not make any lavish investments for the time being; it is the opportune moment to tighten your belt. Examine your various projects more closely. At work, a situation that was shaky will improve, strengthen and solidify. Improve your health by limiting your consumption of alcohol and sweets. Take care of your appearance; this could help you to positively influence others.'

Soooo I need to save money, go on a diet, and stop biting my nails...this is worse that trying to fit my priorities and life goals into a sudoku grid. And my heart is so not on fire, more like hardening...just hoping it wont get brittle and break into pieces at the slightest shock...or high cholesterol level..arghhhhh

Sooooooo cold my bladder shrank!

Autumn finally dares show its chill after our version of indian summer. So I went south, to France...hehehe..looking for stinky cheese, sweet wine, and dessert. It's cold as well though..brrr....

BRAINFREEZE !!

Can't we maintain peace without guns, bombs etc...?

Note to selfL look up those paintings titled 'War' and 'Peace'

So last weekend with Zab, I finally bought my own rubber rain boots: brown with stylish pink flower petals. And I even wore them today as London weather poured its cool autumn sorrow onto the city. I did miss most of it as I slept though the whole day after my night shift. I woke up chilled by the lack of food in my belly (almost 24hr without solid food!).

An unsuccessful shopping trip on Monday was to look for Sun Tzu's Art of War in bookshops. They usually store it in the business and management aisles, but I couldn't find any. I guess I should have headed straight to the British Museum store. I also found my Janson & Janson History of Art book but it was so expensive (£54.90) I'll probably wait till January to buy it in the US online or something. I still have loads to read anyway.

There is a heaviness in the air. I feel like walking through fog and smoke (duh, it's London), and seeing different landscapes in the horizons through the clearings and sunny spots. And I am not sure how to get to any of them, because I don't really know what I am doing or what I want to do. It's quite frustrating and I fight the urge to close my eyes and let it pass. It's a balancing act I've never had to do before and it won't be the last one I face. Someon said to me once it looks so boring and common to be set for the postcard family in a house path. No matter how I long for adventure in the Sahara or in Asia, I know I still need that kind of comfort.

but then again I have been accumulating so much junk all my life. It is really a therapy but I need to find the source of it, not just to relieve the symptoms. Why do I keep buying trinkets and useless crap everywhere? Is it to remind me where I've been or to show off to my friends? Because most likely I would not give it away but keep it among my other junk. I rarely get it for charity and often buy because it's so pretty, colorful, strange, shiny. And in most cases, the items would have decreased value the following year, making them a very bad investment. Do I buy it because I can, so that it becomes a power trip? Or is it because I find the world ugly around me I need those trinkets to remind me of the beautiful countries, landscapes and people I encountered?


Greed. When I'm as spoiled and lucky as I am, it'll be the end of me. For those struggling to eat, sleep and drink properly, is it called differently?

Zab in London

So I managed to trap my friend Zab into coming to visit me in London, and I dragged her through the big touristy sites, as well as my favourite resto..yeah!!! Did the Queen's walk and attended the show 'Les Miserables', got drunk everyday, ate some good food (malaysian, korean, indian, mexican)...Also slid on the giant slides in Tate Modern, and knicked my right elbow.

This weekend though I hope to finally spend some quality time with mr John Smith, and not work and rush from work....who knows..maybe Brighton or Richmond area could be nice for a change of air.

10K runlondon (8/10/2006)

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....that is the only sound I muttered when ...my browser showed up with the 'your connection was reset' message. This was supposed to be my spontaneous deluge of words after my mind went blank for ...ages!

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and that what came out of my beatiful mouth and soul when crossing the finish line of that 10km runin Hyde Park.

I did finish in good time, considering I have never run 10km in my entire life. I was aiming to run it in 90 minutes so that it wouldn't be too shameful. I am so happy I finished in 80mintes and 44seconds!!! The bagels, the pizzas, the shawarmas (carbs carbs carbs!), the curry, the chocolates, the nibbles, the thai chilli crisps, and the ice creams got the best of me. Of course you can imagine I didn't run all the way. By 2km, I had to walk..hehehhe..then at 3km, my colleague just said to run towards the sign...and it worked..basically walk fast, then when your breath is back, run as fast as you can..then walk again...if we see the sign for the kilometer, we run toward it like bugs to the light. By the 5th kilometer, we were dead..but the prospect of some water gave me wings and I almost ran up the hill to sign, then sprinted to get some water...had to cool down my face as it was a nice weather yet not hot..I did get a tan.

I have never felt this before. By the 6th kilometers, I was just running and walking for the sake of not collapsing on the spot. By the 8th kilometer, I was exulted because it was finally going down..and in the other direction I could see the other runners from the next wave running up the hill (yeah, like I did 40mintues earlier). My legs were not obeying me anymore, but I could finally see the arch at Hyde Park corner..which meant the finish line was near..and that sign that says 9km pumped the adrenaline in me and just made me run...until I realized that finish line was still so far!

Finally, as the crowd on the sidelines cheered, I ran to the finish line.....The time is not brilliant, but it's much better than I expected. During training, I ran 5km in 40mintes, so it's satisfactory for me.


Next time though, I'll train properly.

To be underestimated is...

- to be able to go about without effort and not being bothered by other people screaming after you to try harder...
- to be praised as soon as you do a little bit more than they expected
- knowing you can do more but just decided people around you do not deserve to see the best of you
- to never be blamed when you try something and you fail. You're disapointed at yourself but dont have to deal with everyone else being dissapointed at you.
- to be invisible when people discuss 'important' things. They think you are nothing and your presence or abscense doesn't really matter because you cannot possibly understand or be concerned about what they are dealing with. This is probably what most spies are counting on.
- to quiety suggest something and the others think it is their idea...and really, you wanted them to think that way anyway...most women can do this...if guys notice it, they call it manipulation:)

I am sure there are more but I am a bit tired and I don't want to give away some thousands year old secrets...

She says, He says

'Did you have your hair cut?'
'No, they fell by themselves'
'Oh, like a week ago!'

Typical exchange there. Now what guys don't usually understand is that if the haircut is horrible the ladies won't mention it at all because the change would be very obvious and it would save them a lie. In general though, the guys have a trim and it looks nice and neat. So the compliment is usually free. I missed that TV show where they try to investigate if we buy clothes for ourselves or to impress others...duh! Same for a haircut...we do it because we find it nice or necessary, or both. And we just hope everybody we care about would see it the same way we do. At the very least we do not want to hear that it is ugly. Let's face it, every investment we do is aimed at boosting our ego, because we hope it will be a success...whether a car (penis extention), a mansion, a factory, bling bling, etc...And a show of appreciation is always so welcome. And this is where guys usually fail our expectations.


So sure, guys don't notice haircuts as much as women. I think they notice it but then disregard it completely and put it on the hairstyling instead. Mind you, I cannot remember people's eye colours sometimes unless I make a consious note of it for its own sake. Hmmm, imagine some guy staring at you because he tries to remeber your hair, just in case it changes the next day...creeepy! Still, it is justified to expect a compliment about one's haircut or hair colour when so much effort and money have been put into it. Also maybe because they sometimes don't really realize we have a head. There are advantages at being underestimated, but that is another blog entry.

Addiction

According to Wikipedia, 'Addiction is a chronic disorder proposed to be precipitated by a combination of genetic, biological/pharmacological and social factors. Addiction is characterized by the repeated use of substances or behaviors despite clear evidence of morbidity secondary to such use.'



Having ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, I find I cannot find many things I can get addicted to. I am not sure I am addicted to the Internet for example. If I don't have it, and am somewhere beautiful and keeping busy, then I can forget about it, or at least stay away from my emails without going nuts...same thing for TV, or video games, even Cubis or Tetris. I get bored quite easily with everything so far. When first encountered, a situation or an activity or something is exciting because it is unusual. When I get used to it or if I think I to understand why or how it works, and if it does not change, then I am quite bored with it soon enough.

For instance I was so happy to be a volleyball referee (though it could be just a power trip), but then once the games got so uninteresting, it became boring. It was fun to play but after a while, with only 3 or 4 combinations of settings to work with, it also became routine. I can see the pattern already:
- discovery : the wow moment
- let live : enjoying it as it happens
- learning : figuring out the bits and parts
- assimilation : I dont even realize it's there anymore
- modification : trying to change it

If that last step fails, then it becomes routine. Most of my close friends being away from me, we are quite stuck in the discovery phase, or at most the learning phase. They usually have different specialties as well, so that I can listen for them for hours...Places I've lived in were places where I never got involved enough to learn the bits and parts of the way people lived or organized themselves to go about their daily worries and concerns. I was always in a transit mode. I suppose I still am, moving every 6 months and all that. I have never been interested in voting about anything, so detached I was from the issues to be dealt with.

My only true known addiction is biting my nails. Unlike TV or Internet, I cannot ignore them or forget about them. It has become as basic as breathing to bring my fingers to my mouth. Some therapist might have some complicated interpretations of it, say oral phases, etc...I can only resist for a few weeks at a time, with the help of gloves or a knitting kit. I can only knit scarves though so it becomes boring very quickly! Despite all the bitter nails polishes or even chilis smeared all over them, my nails still have that awesome taste! The chilis didn't work at all...it actually made them more delicious...LOL...I take my evil from them...

Spartacus?

I wonder if many people picked up on the fact that in the movie Ice Age 2: the Meltdown, the litle obsessed squirel gets to St Peter's gates of heaven, dancing ont he music of the classical ballet 'Spartacus' by Kachaturian...very funny, and yet so appropriate..what a parrallel, between Spartacus' yearning for freedom and the nameless squirel's hunger for nut...LOL
I didn't find this movie as hilarious as the first one though. Somehow I felt pity for the squirel, which in this one get a bigger part if not his nut. And it actually advances the storyline, not just an intermission scene...but his quest is sooooo painful. There were many issues in this movie and not that many one liners...

Who put the colours in the rainbow?

Can I add someone on my list? Ryan Philippe. Yesssssss.

I joined the very closed circle of sofa slackers...doesn't feel too good though, but it sounds like the first wives' club. Except I don't have a collection of expensive rings or wedding memorabilia to show off. Instead, I have bad memories of break ups. Mind you, after moult discussion, we got it to this point: women do not want to force their men to do anything. We obviously prefer that those men WANT to do what the women want. LOL. Reality bites though as we never want the same thing! A Saturday night well spent.

I finally got to enjoy a quiet weekend. It hasn't happened in a while. Also realized that there is a price to pay in living in an popular area. It wa simpossible to go out and do groceries on Saturday and it was even worse on Sunday, with all the gallery goers. Because the Truman brewery is now such a trendy place to organize shows, there is a show in all galleries every weekend if not every day. This weekend, there were various exhibitions part of the London Design Expo. It is very interesting, especially the [Re]-Design section where artists recycle many things in totally awesome useable art: like the lamps made from milk bottles, or sofas made of cardboard, or old manuals transformed into bookshelves! There were also 2 routemaster buses in the outdoor parking lot instead of the sandy ebach (sniff)...It's always so exciting to see the staff setup the next expo, but it's such a drag to navigate the crowd sometimes.

I dreamt of MK last night, and since I still haven't heard from him, I just hope he's alright and kept me in the corner of his mind, somewhere between some musical notes, swing dancing, and rocket science.

secret life of dot dot dot

One day I met a guy who was almost perfect. By that I mean he's soft spoken, a bit timid, cute, charming and meant what he said. I could relax around him and feel secure. I could be silly and loving without feeling him recoil in his privacy. We shared intimate laughs and silent moments. Time might have stopped in our infinite bliss. But then other events changed its pace. At least for me.
From slow motion embraces and gazing into each other's eyes to frantic smiling and hugging other people. Not only could I feel his head next to my ear, I could also see others entertain him and make stories about him. You may call it jealousy, and I have never been able to share. He became a public person and I could not cope with his public life: the cheers, the laughs, the praises of the crowd. The nameless faces that mentions his life or inquires about him to me. I could have become his spokesperson or his shadow, but I could no longer speak for him as he was no longer mine or was never one with me, and I would not be a shadow.

I much prefer our interaction to stay how it used to be...silent understanding and caring. In other words, telepathic.

:)

Mind you, I love movie stars like Orlando bloom and Wentworth Miller (gasp)...Aquarius woman, I am. Lunatic.

Keeping mum

The title of a quite funny film.

These few days have been a bit strange. Had fun with a college friend and rediscovered London all over again. Have been living away from everyone else for almost a week, despite some rare human contacts. And am a bit curious about the return to reality and the state of my motivation. There's an eerie feeling about it allt hat makes it confusing (discombobulating?).

I feel I am at a crossroad again in my life where I need to choose fast if I need to move on. I haven't identified the options yet though. In any case I don't like the pressure. I alwyas wish there was someone to motivate me and push me along the way but I realize it's a journey I have to take by myself. No matter how insoiring Coco or Purplina can be, the decisions are all mine and there is quite noone to catch me when I fall (some song lyrics, right there...aww).

So, in the meantime, let autumn fall and winter chill our bones...maybe my dozing mind would awake some day

What happens in Amsterdam...

Hopefully stays in Amsterdam.

I've been bad. I'm sorry. The weather was perfect, sunny and a bit breezy, but it was so nice. And I spent most of my time inside, smiling with my yellow teeth and standing on my blistered and bloodied feet. Time flew by...and I may have managed to annoy or hurt some. I'll make it up to them someday.

It's good to get back, the way it's good to wake up from a dream, no matter how nice the dream is. And at least dreams are private. This trip was experienced by so many people, it'll be impossible to repress everyone's memeory of it. LOL

Ah well, it's called dealing with reality and I'll have to learn how to do that..

Let's buy a conscious

Lately, it's been very easy to make yourself good and empowered and deserving of heaven: all you need to do is buy a certain brand of water bottles and you help Africa drink. Buy or use a certain credit card and you help raise funds for AIDS research.

So now you can spend money, indulge in all luxury, and still fell great and guiltless because you are doing it for a good cause...doesn'it remind you of something..ah yeah, when catholics used to give money to the Church to have their sins erased from the God's log...

a British weekend

There are a few things that I'd say are specifically British, if not just English. I managed to do a lot of those things this whole weekend alone. Forget sailing on the Thames, going to Westminster, drinking in a pub. Those are all very much acccessible to anyone visiting London, doing touristy stuff.

This weekend, I came back from work, had a drink with my flatmate and got so hammered there was no way I could drag myself to the gym. Okay, that is not exceptionally British, I admit, it's just me. However, having a full English breakfast the next morning is quite unusual for me. Imagine: fried egg, baked beans in tomato sauce (mmmm), mushrooms, sausage, and most of all...2 fried toasts! My life span just shortened by 10 years. It also brought back childhood memories of breakfast while travelling with the family.

Another novelty for me was catalog shopping. Even in Africa we used to buy cereals by catalog (and ginger cookies..mm) along with housekeeping items and electronics. That was home shopping though, as we comfortably order from the safety of our sofas. A quite different catalog shopping in London is through Argos. This shop has all invetories on catalog that you can pick up from several 'stores'. For the first time since I've moved to London, I finally got the courage to try shopping from Argos. In the 'store' you get to browse the ctalog as well if you think you can bring it home by yourself. You get to mark the catalog number of the item you need (in my case, blank DVDs), then proceeed to a cashier to pay for it, then wait for the items to be delivered to another counter...and it's really fast!!! It's as fast as ordering and getting a burger!!

It's surprising I haven't seen similar shops anywhere else because the company saves money on retail space by just having stocks out of the way of the customers. Saves them money from theft and magnetic antitheft machine that rings annoyingly at the door. At this point I just imagine everything is automated (like those electronically sorted wardrobes)...

Anyway, it's been a weekend full of new experiences! Next weekend will be a bit different though...

Anime otaku

Yes, I am shameless and admit I still watch japanese animes. The ones I have however have no cyborg or cars transforming into a giant fighter by combining with other truck or flying jumbo jet. There are real soap opera anime out there, and it is more fun to watch than real bad actors. I must say I like the voice actors in these anime as well, as even when I don't understand much (well, I can only order food, let's face it), I enjoy watching the unsubtitled episodes.

A shortlist of what's out there for instance, all followed weekly:
- Ouran Host club
-Nana

I also started watching Kasimasi but it seems a bit too slow and boring. And of course I sometimes try to catch up on Bleach.

It's really only because there is nothing on tv and I am too lazy to go to the movies. And there is nothing out there anyway..I mean...snakes on a plane..hahahaha what kind of a plot is that? Now that you can take matches and cigarettes but no lipstick or eye drops on a plane...

Cars and disco

Ahh.. so am actually enjoying this 'Top Gear' show on TV..I can only watch it from time to time. My knowledge of car is still very inexistent: 4 wheels, seats, steering wheel, stick shift...really, the rest is if it looks cute or not...those guys go on and on about the model V50K or ZER-O serie (hahahaha)...ah well, let me be girly.

It is september already so I'll get more depressed each day again until next spring...I need to get out more...am serious! But before I can get into the skimpy outfit and show some meat (arghh) I need to face up to the daunting challenge of running the 10Km (yeah yeah, it haunts me...why did I even sign up?)

Until then, I have laundry to do, room to sweep, data to backup, and most frightening, I need to live for 7 days without my dear cocovanille (I can't let go).

You're just too good to be true

Really, one of my favourite songs.

It's funny how being out of my element makes me notice the smallest details about people and their effor tot blend in or not. This is one of those occasions where I assume the form of a wall or blend into the wallpaer to observe what people are doing when they think noone is watching.

Another funny, yet typical of me as well at least, is to almost forget about someone, and then be completely overwhelmed by surprise and mixed feelings when that person is mentioned. More suprising even is the fact that the particular person actually seems responsive from miles away...it is a hell of a rollercoaster ride! It's like when you give up waiting for someone at dinner, order some food, and they just turn up when the food has come...


Note to self:running gives me sore shoulders...unbelievable!

Covent Garden

So here is the inside of the Royal Opera House. Been there again for the Premiere of Don Quixote by the Bolshoi.

Hang on, Irina! I'm being sued!

really, some people have a rich imagination!

CSI: Completely socially incapacitated

Ah yes I spent my evenings watching CSI for the past 2 days. I did miss watching it on TNT and Fox with all those Pizza Hut and Wendy's commercials..heheheh. But now I'm up to date and I can't wait for the next season. My social skills aren't improving and I suprise myself in preferring to stay indoors and watch a serie than go clubbing...yikes! am getting old!

Which reminds me: I need to train for the freaking 10k coming up in October.

I also suprise myself in not being worried about all the news at the moment. Maybe because I don't care anymore, or just because it really doesn't concern me for now. I'd pay attention to it if I was travelling...being self centered really does help not being worried to much and enjoy life as much as I can.:)

My cousin asked why I was working all the time. He's right, I need a holiday! I'm just trying to afford it so that I won't worry so much about how much would be left in the bank (if anything). Which reminds me of that dissertation I had to write in high school (philosophy class):' what is work and why do we work?' ...What i never understand is why they ask that kind of question to 15 year old kids whose only jobs were probably to wash the car, wait tables (with variable amount of clothes) and do other people's homeworks...ahem. How can you write a 4 page paper if all you can find is ' i do it for the money'? At least now I can add ' and also to kill some time otherwise I'll be so bored'...

'Ring ring' by ABBA..LOL

I was sitting by the phone
I was waiting all alone
Baby, by myself I sit and wait and wonder about you
It's a dark and dreary night
Seems like nothing's going right
Won't you tell me honey how can I go on here without you

Yes, I'm down and feeling blue
And I don't know what to do, oh-oh

Ring, ring, why don't you give me a call
Ring, ring, the happiest sound of them all
Ring, ring, I stare at the phone on the wall
And I sit all alone impatiently
Won't you please understand the need in me
So, ring, ring, why don't you give me a call
So, ring, ring, why don't you give me a call

You were here and now you're gone
Hey, did I do something wrong
I just can't believe that I could be so badly mistaken
Was it me or was it you
Tell me, are we really through
Won't you hear me cry and you will know that my heart is breaking

Please forgive and then forget
Or maybe darling better yet, oh-oh

Ring, ring, why don't you give me a call
Ring, ring, the happiest sound of them all
Ring, ring, I stare at the phone on the wall
And I sit all alone impatiently
Won't you please understand the need in me
So, ring, ring, why don't you give me a call
So, ring, ring, why don't you give me a call
Oh-oh, ring, ring, why don't you give me a call
So, ring, ring, why don't you give me a call

Musical moment

Our sunday morning concert in Wien

Schonbrunn garden & zoo

So this is the castle where Sissi used to hang out in the summer..lucky girl

We visited the zoo with Caroline's Melman

Wien Rathaus

Last June in front of the Wien rathaus, they had a stage up for worker's day or something. Professions showcasing were hairdressers, fashion clothes makers, dancers, etc...



We just sat on the ground and hummed with them..ok, sometimes scaring the people around us as usual

Codes, ciphers and languages

Ciphers

Am reading this litle book (10cmx10cm) on codes and ciphers at the moment, just hoping it is a good short version of the other serious 'intro to cryptography' book I borrowed for life from my prof. And in paralle, am also reading another book, also borrowed, on the English language. Made me realize some langugae actually express some thought sbetter than others...learned for example that in English there is 'home' and 'house' but only one word in French, 'maison'. I am sure there are words in French as well that have no direct equivalent in English (I can't think of any at the moment because am tired and I don't want to switch my brain to French). Mostly though, there are some things that are shorter to say in a language or other, so my lazy brain just picks that up.

The worst thing though is trying to quote or repeat someone, usually a line in a movie or book, then realizing I cannot remeber in which language it was...Follows a series of bactracking in time and space to figure out when where and with whom the episode was, and by the time I get the correct quote in the correct language, nobody is interested anymore!

This is why I am much more comfortable writing that talking. I have more time to think about each word, and to use it with its full meaning. I'd be interested if you have an example of the 'house-home' subtelty in French or Spanish though...

And to finish on a suspense, tonight I'll upload some videos about my trip in Vienna...

Ohayoo gozaimasu!

Darn, it's monday...and I'm not sleepy despite an all nighter.
Thoughts for today:
-happy and chilled: weather is rainy and I have to catch up on sleep!
-wishing to dream of flying. Well given my weight at the moment it'll be a welcomed miracle!
-I need to do more mental math exercises, because I can't multiply anymore.
-Am actually thinking in Japanese sometimes, thanks to all these animes I watch...sugoi!
-The radio keeps mentioning '6 weeks of summer'...how depressing...I wish there were 6 months of summer!
-A special comforting thought to Zab who must not feel very good these days. Life really sucks at times.

Alright, the God of my dreams calls me into sleep (ahem, Wentworth Miller)..MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

More seriously, someone told me once I am using comedy or laughter to mask everything and don't allow anyone to get close to me...maybe. I only feel I enjoy a good time in good company though, even if sometimes I also enjoy the silence of an early morning by myself.

A day in the life of -H-

This looks more and more like a diary entry:
Today, walked across London for an hour to buy shoes (yes, I needed a pair after I couldn't find one that satisfied my fancy from my cupboard). To afford these new ones I will have to sell my old clothes and shoes that bore me next week. Then went for drink in Notting Hill with a coworker (sorry I metion work). On my way back, saw a disgraceful woman in the bus: wearing a lycra top too small for her, and a pair of tight jeans also too small for her. It was so small she was showing her full black laced panties to the whole bus..beuark. Viva liberty of expression...

Thought about something I discussed earlier in the evening: I do envy people with childhood friends. I have great friends but I don't see them very often. Someone asked if our time spent together were fantastic, joyful, awesome, yet superficial moments as they are only blips in time. For me they are not, as I give myself heart and soul to that moment, forgeting how ugly and miserable life can be, rejoicing only in the time spent together. They may be mere blips in time, but they are happy blips that make it worth waiting for the next blips.

I'm not even sure how you spell that word: bleeps, blips, bleaps...

And there is no childhood friend for me to share the stories of the past.

Oh and i've been let down quite unexpectedly by a local good friend who decided to go to the beach with some other girls without telling me (let alone inviting me). I always expect so much of people and let myself be disapointed.

I'm afraid to be blue in a white rage, green hatred and red anger so I'll just get in my shell and stay brown and spicy

Until all is rosy again...(think of a happy thought)

Shopping a Belle Epine

J'ai traine toute la petite famille a Thiais, au centre commercial Belle Epine pour acheter de la cire a epiler et des dentifrices a Carrefour. Resultat des courses? On a acheter 2 sachets de courses, incluant deodorants, gel douche, fromage, yaourt, detachant, detartrant, et meme du talc...Les hommes se sont meme achetes des pantalons chez Celio.

Puis ce fut le gros repas chez le marocain d'a cote, ou on s'est empiffre de couscous..mmm trop bon. Finalement il faudra se coucher parce que demain, je vais devoir prendre un prise de sang.

C'est une bonne journee de balade en famille.

Happy birthday ZAB

Ahhh joyeux anniversaire ma vieille. C'est fini la puberte maintenant! Bon, les sauces de fajitas sont en route.
xxxx

'I'm practically perfect in every way'

This is what happens when you're delirious and feel cold even if you're sweating. Some silly song trots in your head and all you want to eat is chocolate. Ah wait a minute, this is happening to me everyday! And this monday it's even worse because my head feels like it's going to explode.

Last night, crazy Nadia brought the 4 Inu Yasha movies. So after the ratatouille fajitas, and some chai tea for my throat, we watched the first movie until midnight (entouree de mes culottes blanches toutes propres et fraichement lavees). I still don't know how to say 'shit' in Japanese though. The subtitles are not consistent.

Because I can't do anything because my body is so weak even taking a shower and eating is tough (well, if you do it at the same time), all I can do is lie down and try to sleep, before the neighbourhood kids get back from school and scream outside. And then my mind wanders: must be nice being dead and feel no pain; must be cool to forget everything and feel light; how does it feel to be skinny? would I change my future if I had the gift of foresight?

Ahh sweet delirium.

I am getting a cold!

I think I am depressed. I am getting a cold and I slept without eating last night. LOL
And I was pissed off and almoist killed the flatmate for taking the last roll of toilet paper from our bathroom to the guy's bathroom...I wish him to be very miserable for the rest of his very long long life and to not be pitied or loved at all...right I was not in rosy mood.

Today, I am not too happy either because it is so busy I can't relax and I am missing the sunday market on a nice pleasant summer day: not too hot (actually chilly inside at 23C). And I ahve a dry cough and can't sleep straight ahead. I only sleep when exhausted.

Arghh, can't wait to be leave and change air again...

The heat is on!

Ahhh lovely summer. Waking up drenched in sweat, a cool breeze from the window, blue sky, yellow sun..and no single smell of the ocean or sea...yup, stranded on a isalnd and miles away from the coast...And the water from the bathtub is not even cold anymore!

Welcome to Eileen, who will soon celebrate her first month in this world...congrats to the happy parents and enjoy bthe freshness of Chamonix. Another wedding in perspective for me to attend I guess...(sigh)

Another ridiculous news: I signed up to run a 10km race in october. Now I know what you are thinking, I just did it to have a T-shirt. But the fact is I already have a green t-shirt, so really I am doing this to motivate my fat ass to drag itself to the gym and sweat the fat out. Am sick of the jelly and woobly thing that surrounds my beautiful body. So may disgust drive my will till I get fit as a GI Jane.

If I was very vain, I would hope that Orlando Bloom will race too, and we'll be in the same group...let me hold that thought for now, it makes my heart race and it's good before going to jog...

IMAX and 3D effects

I was walking to go see Superman, and got mugged. Superman never flew in to save me from separating me from my bag and purse.

Superman is definetely created by men who probably don't know much about women right? because:
-the writers think women wouldn't notice that Clark Kent IS Superman. I mean come on! We notice when we cut an inch of hair, how stylish a shoe is, a change of complexion, etc..and you really think we won't notice that it's the same person wearing those geeky glasses and those blue leotard with red cape???? At least Spiderman had a mask on...
-Superman always rips off his civilian clothes somewhere in the elevator or somewhere he's never seen going back to...and how many of those clothes are ripped and tossed in mid air? And then they say we women spend too much on clothes? grrrr

hmm, I'll think about it more today and will add to the list later...

'Proming'

If someone asks you to the Proms in London, you might not wear that big prom dress just yet.

If you ever pass by the Royal Albert Hall from today, then you may find hordes of people over 40 nonchalantly sitting on the stairs under the blazing sun, wearing straw hats or with umbrellas, sipping white wine and holding the bottle. It is an odd place to have a picnic or an evening drink. Of course, there will be some tourists as well, hanging in there just in case it becomes wild and a 'happening'. But mostly those are freinds getting together to get entrance to the BBC Proms, which runs from July 14 till September.

In a way, it is a tailgating of some sorts. However, out here the goods are coming from a picnic basket or a Tesco bag (maybe even Mark & Spencer) instead of the back of a pickup truck or a Beamer. They drink wine instead of Miller lite or Bud Lite, and they certainly don't barbecue or have KFC.

I have yet to witness their peculiar behaviour inside the concert Hall, but I have no doubt they are not as rowdy as American football spectators in the arena. Those who didn't get ticket probably listen to the concert from outside anyway, as they are broadcasted live on BBC2 or BBC3.

All this to say I miss the Hokie games and the friends I used to hang out with...sniff

'If you can't say something nice....

Don't say nothing at all' (Thumper, in Bambi)

It is the FIFA World Cup final in the world I am living,and I wish all fans good luck..the players, they know what they have to do I suppose...play ball.

Comfortable afternoon, and I'm struck with grief. Remembering the last time I saw someone that I would never see again. Denying it would just increase the pain next time I'll remember. I was planning a great trip, enjoying and worrying what lied ahead. He was visiting to give out some news about an ailing family member.

Those are not tears of pain but of regrets. I cry for having overlooked that last moment with him. I cry for not being able to comfort his loved ones. I cry because I will not see him again in church, up there among the deacons, his dad and family. And I cry because I needed to cry!

Then I stop and life goes on...very sad!

Cult of aloneness:

'The need for autonomy at all costs, usually at the expense of long-term relationships. Often brought about by overly high expectations of others.' (Generation X, D. Coupland 1991)

Amen!



Stumbled on that book again on a somehow rainy day that interrupted Wimbledon live feed. Take that for an eye opener. There are funnier definitions as well such as...

'Black holes: An X generation subgroup best known for their possession of almost entirely black wardrobes.'
'Green division: To know the difference between envy and jealousy.'
'Native Aping: Pretending to be a native when visiting a foreign destination.' this one is can lead to hilarious situations.
'Option Paralysis: The tendency, when given unlimited choices, to make none.' yup, happens to everyone. Though for groceries, I tend to get whatever I haven't tried before.

And of course this one which is still very much practiced by 98% of movie stars:
'Dorian Graying: The unwillingness to gracefully allow ones's body to show signs of aging.'

And to finish this Generation X special, let's see if you can guess this one.
'Air Family:...?'

Heat 'wave', no fireworks, no BBQ!

Happy Fourth of July..I got pop corn and sushi..what did you get?

Tennis, beach and Champagne

So I did wake up at 8:00 again on Sunday but only managed to go to the farmer's market. I was too lazy to go out again and run to the Columbia flower market to get some flowerpots. Also managed to get to Wapping at 11:30 just in time to warm up for 15minutes and play with that exercise ball again until noon. It was 30degrees outside but I was goign to play with somebody else's raquet so I figured I should get ready for the worse...and it was horrible. The raquet was really heavy on the head and the grip was tiny (that husband of Helen must have tiny hands..LOL).

We played for about 1h45min total, including chat time...Had to drag myself home for a shower then it was time to wander to the market with Huene and Laureline, friends of my ex-flatmates, visiting London... And here is a view of the Truman Brewery Beach.

Later that evening, after having some korean tea (well, we had juice, no tea in that scortching weather), Nadia made risotto and we brought saucisse seche and champagne to the parc just behing Shoreditch station...

Yup, had to pop the champagne and take some pictures.


And after that bubbly I tried to get some sleep...

90 minutes of silence

This should have been up since saturday... ah well

I woke up too early as usual (8:00) but managed to moderate my excitement at the prospect of going to my first tennis coaching in years...which was at noon! After turning around like a caged lion, I finally set off to the Isle of Dogs, to the John Orwell Centre. Believe it or not, I got there at 10:30, and had to wait patiently for my coaching by doing some exercise machines...I probably spent 15 minutes on that cross training machine, then played around with the exercise ball for 30 minutes, pretending to do abs exercises..who am I kidding? Then I discovered the 2 machines that work out the thighs...hmmm I'll be addicted to those. Then soon enough, it was noon and I finally hit some balls, not too impressively but still I was feeling the shots pretty good, given I haven't played since last summer. Ieven hit one long volley in the 15th minute of coaching, which destroyed my strings! Arghhh...had to play with the trainer's racquet for the rest of the hour, under the blazing sun...mind you, the coach brought some sunblock with her...yup, it's a her...showing her black lace bra and everything..seriously..I miss Sibanda!!And the court (yup, the centre has ONE tennis court), is made of bitume, which will destroy my shoes in 2 months. But at least there are only 2 big cracks on ecah side of the net...It was a group lesson (3 students) and the 2 others were...beginners..sniff sniff...so they had to be explained the technique and all...arrrrghh. The only thing the coach told me was to move my feet and run for the balls...as usual...I need to make tennis playing friends............

Then I ended up in Charing Cross road looking for a bus to Oxford Circus, and got a sample of the remnants of the Gay Pride Parade: men with cute buns in electric blue speedos...and they were tanned and fit and very gay..ah well...I didn't have my camera, and lost my camera phone so I can't share that sight here. Also got dragged into a parade of England fans, for the upcoming match against Portugal...

Which brings me to the late afternoon walk up Brick lane, on my way back home:no soul outside walking, except for police officers strolling in pairs every 50m. It was dead silent and all you could hear was the TV commentator. Peeking at the score between the shoulders of the spectators outside looking into the various pubs, the score was 0-0. But the match seemed intense enough and everyone I saw just had their eyes stuck to the screen. I bought a mint magnum on the way (to compensate for my loss of calories earlier at tennis!!!), and the shopkeeper didn't even give me a single glance. The corner indian shop didn't sell any pakora today because football spectators took all the space...I was left without dinner and had to make do with chicken strips from the local joint. And when I finally got home, England had lost by penalty shots...how disgusting...The whole country must be crying now...except the Scots...(no names, promise). And cute Gerrard was lying on the grass, contemplating his tears...I wish I could console him in my arms but i think the German women entertainers would do that...or maybe he'll get a spanking...yay!

All in all, a very nice day spent doing nothing brainy...Tomorrow is another day, hopefully filled with flower pot shopping.

Ohhh Buddy!

Often uttered when he just asphyxiated you...I don't have any luck, Buddy is about my size now, at 8 months old.
Here's the beast with his 'Mummy'..hehehe


And here are 4 happy shoppers on the Stroget
. J. still loves wearing caps, and L. is keen on paper napkins, so all visitors out there, bring some of those to the young couple. If however you pass by London, bring me some candy...hihihi

I'll eventually snap back to the present time at some point, and live a normal life. Until then, let me hang on to my past...

hvor er in tog station?

I am not even quite sure it's grammatically correct. The original version that I could extract from my residual memory was: 'hvor er el toiletett?'which is a very useful question when looking for the 'powder room'. In this case, the sentence was used to interrogate a bemused salesman in a gas station, when trying to find Fredensborg train station. I even did the 'tchoutchou' sound, and another patron took pity and gave me directions in English (courtesy of Danish TV which dubbs rarely).

What's this all about anyway? Well, a long weekend in Denmark, to attend the wedding of J. & L., blissfully married on this nice last Staurday afternoon of June. R. and I experienced a full Danish wedding, with hilarious speeches, songs, quizz games, and of me (and other ladies at the reception) kissing the groom as soon as the bride went for the 'toilettet' (R. going for the bride when he goes)...and the dancing on live disco music, always so much fun!


Most importantly, and on the young couple's request, everyone dressed up according to their table theme: halloween trick or treaters, Christmas characters, pirates, cowboys, hawaian party goers, or Chicago gangsters. Everyone made a huge efforts and many had it down to the last details: boa scarves, jingle bells, Santa present bag, cowboy guns, cigarettes holders, vests and hats...it was the most amazing showing of costumes...and an unforgetable hunger for life, fun and food! Everyone were very kind and took pity on us foreigner with no notion of Danish.


While the S. enjoyed their honeymoon, R. and I drove around with caution (missig the passenger window that shattered and fell on my lap), exploring the area...well, actually retraced our steps to the Fredericksborg castle in Hillrod. We were looking for Ullrod I think, but I suck at directions so we ended up going to the same pkace J. took us two days before...And of course chillig in the house doing nothing but taking cat naps and playing with Buddy (who can poison a whole house with his farts).



I will remember this trip in Denmark fondly as those two showed me how it is to be in that happy place they see in each other's eyes...(sigh) And I have gained a whole new family in Denmark...people so friendly, simple and generous..

John Smith and Pocahontas

Today lots of things happened: I woke up at 9am for no reason, when I had nothing planned for the morning. All I had to do was to join Zab at University to grab lunch, a giant XXL modified Scnitzel (with ham and cheese inside). I managed to drag myself to the Belvedere castle under the scortching heat.
This is the residence of Eugene de Savoy, a Frenchman who defended Vienna back in the days:)



I could have explored the botanical garden nearby but I was drenched in sweat so headed home instead to have a nap. Later in the evening, John Smith and Pocahontas decided to have a little paddling afternoon on the Old Danube. So we sailed passed little bridges, passed the naked naturists, passed the various rowing boats and even a beautiful swan.



Then headed for the waterfront grill restaurant that had the slowest service ever in the history of serving drinks...we even got yelled at because we sat at a table of 6 and there were only 2 of us. But hte spare ribs were awesome and I know for sure now I'm completely hopeless in loosing that belly of mine.

Mozart concert and koalas...

Sunday morning rain is falling....and we had to go to a Mozart concert at 11am. After much cleaning and no eating (still digesting last night's fajitas), we headed out driving to the concert hall.


Only the second movement of the last piece was known to us, plebeians, and we were so happy we almost forgot we spent the whole concert jumping from one foot to another as we had...standing 'seats'...
Most impressive was the conductor who was also the piano soloist. So he would conduct when he was not playing his part.

Got gyros and moussaka for lunch, then headed for the summer residence of imperatrice Sissi...We headed straight for the garden, passed the maze and went straight for the zoo.


We managed to see the classic ones, including the pouting koala and the invisible giant pandas...

Traditional Vienna: Clergy and Army

We managed to spot a real monk in Stephan's Dom.


And we also saw these two weird guards guarding the Hofburg castle.

Finished the evening watching some guy doing haircuts onstage with techno music (Hair salon: black and white in colour) and walked home in disgust to get drunk on Pimm's and lemonade and lemon liquor....

Swimming in Wien and drinking Weissgespritzt

Watching the Old Danube....

Day 1 - memories of Vienna and lost in Wienerwald: Landing in an airport in construction, in a 23C city, I got a quick tour of the city and a refresher from 2001 trip: The Danau Kanal, the StaatOpera, the Rathaus, the Stefansdom. But most memorable this time is the search of that sweet swimmingpool that overlooks the whole city from the heigh of the hill next to Kalhenberg.




And overlooking the Wienerwald...

Finished the day in a Wine garden, listening to an accordeon and a violin play, eating local specialties while the mosquitoes eat us....

a cure from the effect of tryptophane? a trip to vienna and a trip to Copenhagen

After quite a weird tiring week, here comes a new exciting period of the month.....it's trip-time!!!
And for those who are completely out of the loop, there are many many many football fans in Germany at the oment watching loads of people running and kicking after a ball (World Cup 2006).

My contribution is to drink loads of alcohol while trying to watch some of the matches on boat on the Thames...have done it 3 times this week!

But this weekend I'll be in Vienna to eat chocolate, listen to Mozart concerts (maybe), drink some wine, play some board games and hang out with Zab.

Next weekend I'll be in Roskilde to attend Jay's wedding...so it's about time I loose a bit of weight...hmmmm..seems hopelesly late at this point but at least the spirit is there...

What a week!

After a week's worth of silence, a short entry to report that unfortunately World Cup fever took over the area..I even have a brazil fan outfit without any effort: green skirt, yellow top and flip flops, and green and yellow hair ribbons....shame!

Fortunately the weather is gorgeous, blue sky and sun (another blue and yellow), so I could escape seeing TV by going outdoors..and not paying attention to the huge screens out there.

The week has been very strange. Halluciantions, 6.6.6, and what not..but most of all realized how affected I was by last weekend sighting..grrrrr...stupid stupid subconscious.

Still I refuse to be defeated by some idiotic revelations and will have to work harder in getting in a better place, emotionally at least.

In the meantime, I'm a bit broke and will have to stop eating chocolate...arghhh...and will have to keep my room clean...so many earthly task to distract my wandering mind...ah well, my body will travel soon and hopefully will fit into those skimpy outfits for the wedding...nanda yooooo!

'Bloody' Titus Andronicus

We went to see a play in the Theatre in Southwark!!! Titus Andronicus, with fake blood that made the audience faint (seriously!) and fantastic Elizabethan special effects!

Inside the Shakespeare Globe Theatre.


Coco in front of the Globe Theatre

Weekend with a plan

Ahh so my friend Coco is visiting from Zurich this weekend and am expecting to be yelled at because I havent been keeping in shape at all! She my driving force when it comes to ambition and fitness. So I know I'll be sore and tired but also happy because of all that adrenaline.

So what's in for me?
-drinks at a fancy place in Covent Garden (St Martin's Lane Hotel)tonight. We could possibly catch a show if she's motivated.
-Saturday: Running along the Thames on the queen's walk..okay, make it jogging because I aint running anywhere! Good way to show her St paul and Tate Modern, along with all the fun around in the area. Maybe I'll do that London Dungeon thing..we'll see.
In the evening, if I can stand, we'll try that brazilian place for drinks and maybe dancing (Guanabara).
-Sunday: staying in Brick lane to enjoy the market and shopping in Spitalfields market.

-Monday: let's not think about it. It's only work.

I am invoking the Sun God with all my spite and spirit to be gracious this weekend and to give us sunny, warm, not too windy weather, here in this great city of London! Join me in prayers by writing and singing 'let the sunshine in...'

bittersweet Monday

Had mussels (yiikes in May?) and 3 or maybe 4 rasberry beers...gulp..topped by a disgusting dark beer in a middle age fiola after dessert...what was I thinking? By 11pm I was starting to nfeel like I lived in the bathroom.

After much debate and much bloodying my feet, we ended up in a well tucked lounge in soho (Soho Lounge). Music was good, crowd was good, and I got to sweat off the alcohol with the coworkers...mmm Let's face it, I'll probably be unable to look them in the eye after that..

Ironiquement, le moment le plus long que je passe avec toi est pendant ta soiree d'adieu. Et on se parle a peine, sur des banalites, mais ca me convient parce que je suis fatiguee et voudrais juste poser ma tete sur ton epaule.


Nothing else happened really. And I shouldn't look back because there is no point. My feet are sore and I need to ge tready for my Saturday jog with Miss C. arghhhhh!!!

Rainy days

So this is early summer in London...temperatures not exceeding 16C, strong winds shifting heavy black clouds and destroying umbrellas, and intermittent rainstorms.

Far far away under a warmer climate was Daddy's birthday: Happy Birthday Dada!!!
And because it always falls with Mother's day: Happy Mother's day Neny!

For me, except for being splashed with a big roadside puddle, there is nothing going on...I haven't even managed to catch on my sleep yet. Luckily this coming week is a light week, so I should regroup and rest.

Four corners of 'my' world

Upon urgent requests, here is the state of my new room... I'll include the leafy garden when the weather is sunny and I get to enjoy it later in the year I hope!




So the left side of the room is almost viable.


All these are going on the oversold bookcase and in the drawers of the desk still to be included in the room. The wine goes in our stomachs when we everything is cleaned up.

Anecdote from our late trip to IKEA last night: after shopping, we got some really creamy ice cream before going out in the dark and the 22h30 rain. Then it was time to visit the toilet. So we, ladies, set off in pairs (typical). We found 3 closed doors with relevant signs: men, disabled, woman and baby. We thought out loud: 'really, you cannot be a regular woman without babies. It's either disabled or baby bearer, how rude!' So we opened the door with the baby changing room sign, rushed in it and found... a sofa, a changing table in a room the size of a small closet.

After exchanging a puzzled look and a good laugh we finally found the door with the single woman sign on it. It was already opened so we didn't spot it...

Aquarius Woman?

So, another horoscope or at least a description of the Aquarius woman:

"If you are in love with a woman in this zodiac be prepared to be very happy
or be very sorry. She is a very busy person with her own matters similar to a guy in this zodiac. She is able to live by herself without any guy in her life, a very strong person indeed.

Not because she does not have a dream guy, but if she can not find such person, so what. Because she thinks she could do anything that a man can do. She is a leader , a real confident type.

She likes to do things by herself, such as serving herself, opening the door
herself. Because she thinks waiting for a helping hand is a waste of time,
and she is not patient enough to wait around for that. If she starts to ask
you out, do not think she starts to flirt with you, but because she thinks
it is a waste of time to wait for you to be the one who asked.

She likes a COOL guy who sometime act like he is ignoring her, so he has a
chance to show him his own confident. She like to guess her man's reaction,
but at the same time she likes to has many men wanting her. She is a daring
type who could just do thing differently from other people in her same
society. She dare to fight for what she thinks belonged to her.

Even she acts confident she mostly feel lonely and alone. If she breaks up
with someone , she won't show any emotion even deep down inside pain and
agony. Not for long she will come back to be the cheery and merry person
again, because she looks at the world positively and has "Faith" in the
word "Love".

She has more men friends than women friends, so do not be a jealous type if
you date her. She could be slightly jealous, but she hates jealous guy. She
loves "Freedom" so before and after marriage, her freedom has to be the
same. She likes you to trust her, even if she does not trust you anyhow.

She likes to be the one who is "Right", so if you argue with her , let her
win if it is not a big deal for you in that subject. She is a straight
forward type, so if she does not love you anymore, she will just tell you
straight to your face. Her love and relationship are always real, so if she
say "It's over" be prepare to leave, she is not testing you.

She is not a vulnerable type, so do not have to worry about her, she will
survive by herself. If she is with you when you get sick, she will certainly
take care and look after you, even look after you mean "small loan". Do not
have secret with her, she hates it and really can piss her badly. When
she is sad , be understanding. When she is happy, be happy with her,she likes
that.

You will not get bore with this type of girl. Someone who is close to her will know that deep down beneath that confident and cold hearted person, she is just as fragile as any woman. She is a fun and talkative person and she likes to tease you. Do not let she talk alone, if you do she will leave.

She has many type of jobs because she beliefs what a man can do, I can do.
If you want her to work for you, forget it. When she is in love, she will
just leave her job in the day time just to come to see you, but not for long
she will go back to work seriously again. Prepare to live and love with a
"Working Woman" then you will be OK.

If she mad, find a shelter for the "Hurricane" is here! Her bad temper will
last very shortly though. She is not a revenge type and will not think of
"pay Back" time. Most people might think of her as "One of a guy", but in
fact she is a 100% woman. She is easily hurt, so be nice with her. If she
really loves you, then you are lucky because she is an honest, truthful
and will never bored you. Understand that sometimes she will be over
confident and sometimes like to have power or act bossy."

Another monday

So it's Monday evening...and I'm looking forward Sunday.

Nothing much except the weather is aweful, cold rainy, windy...so much for summer. And I'm still trying to recover from my trip in Praha.

Woke up because it was too cold, realized I was in my new room, which is a dump since I have no furniture, went downstairs to have breakfast and found the kettle completely disgusting with that brown thingy all over (beuaaaark!) and the microwave didn't look promising either, so ended up drinking water from my Brita...I guess I'll get my own kettle.

Went back to bed and cuddled with the laptop, which surprisingly has got a good wifi signal, yay! probably had a nap until it was time to write those birthday cards that will get to Yemen late...anyway, got into the garden to check out on the millions of birds feeding in the neighbours (he has like 7 birdhouses and feeders). Got myself some flowers for my room, and then got ready to face the working world...Really, Mondays should be optional.

And this year, I'll support Englad at the World cup because there is £80 at stake!!!They managed to enroll me in this sweepstake at the office so now I'm all for England. but I won't go as far as learn their songs!!!

moi...et...

Moi et… un animal que je pourrais jamais bouffer ? Ben..du moment que c'est cuit, et qu'il ya de la sauce tomate, je pense que je mangerai.

Moi et… mon permis de conduire ? Euhhh. j'ai le permis de marcher aux US..

Moi et… un truc qui me fait me cacher les yeux ? Tous les films d'horreurs

Moi… en mieux ? peut etre avec des jambes carrement plus fines. Sinon, je suis bien la!

Moi… et le pire truc au monde ? La bombe atomique

Moi et… un secret ? Ben le secret reste un secret, sauf si on me le dit quand je suis saoule, alors la, je ne me rappelle plus que c'est un secret

Moi et… une inculture flagrante ? Hmmm, les stats de sports. J'aime bien regarder a la limite, mais les resultats, performances, etc....je ne sais pas du tout...

Moi et… mon premier amour ? Bah j'avais 10 ans...et je revais qu'il me tombait dessus d'un escalier...plutot effrayant a 10ans.

Moi et … mon dernier acte héroïque ? bah vu que je n'ai pas ete felicitee recemment, je ne sais pas si j'ai ete herouique ou pas...

Moi et… mon prochain achat ? un ticket pour le danemark pour voir un beau gosse se marier, sniff.

Moi et… ma vie ? bah, je la survit.

Moi et… les blogs? tres accros. Entre Zab, Eveine, franponais, New Scientist, Itadakimazu, Ati, ca me prend bien 1h a chaque fois

Moi et… ma fringue fétiche ? Mon jean tres (tres tres tres) serre qui est maintenant transparent entre les cuisses a force de frottements.

Moi et… le cinéma ? J'aime beucoup sauf que je n'y suis pas allee depuis septembre vu que c'est cher a Londres

Moi et… le café ? Seulemet quand je suis de rota a 7h du mat. ca me done des palpitations ce truc et je pete la forme quand je le prend.

Moi et… mes sales manies ? je me ronge les ongles des 10 doigts de la main depuis que j'ai 6ans.

Moi et… mes bons côtés ? Il y en a tellement....

Moi et… ma plus grosse connerie ? je la fait tout le temps, je ne saute pas sur les mecs que j'aime bien et du coup ils me sautent pas dessus non plus..

Je rajoute:

moi...et le pire boulot