Tuesday, May 30, 2006

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!!!

Monday, May 29, 2006

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.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

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...

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

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."

Monday, May 22, 2006

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

Sunday, May 21, 2006

'Mustek, Prestup na linku A'

And that's what's the lady says when we are at station Namisti republiky in Prague...
and it's only the second sentence I know in Csech, apart from 'Dobry Den' which means good day.

I've just got back last evening and trying to gather my wits together after 3 days of sleep deprivation. Drinking, window shopping, and sightseeing were the daily activities, and most enjoyable was the dancing in Solidny Nejistota: 80-90 music playfully remixed...awesome!! The hardest part was to remeber how to dance on Vanilla Ice 'ice ice baby'...magnificent.

I was so happy to reunite with my good crazy purple friend (no, the Smurfs are blue). I did stay in her room at the Hilton, when we had the chance to sleep that is.

The city is beautiful, once you get over the uninspiring soviet block building used for social lodging or dorms.

Upon arrival (wednesday) I got a quick tour of the famous Old Town Square and its clock. I also got the first taste of the cobblestone streets and sidewalks. It seemed the city made every effort to design beautiful patterns with the cobblestones, but disregarded their long time effect on tourists' feet: mind defying pain. With the complicity of coffee shops and cafes all over town, it sure brings in the Krone.

Pargue is known for its beer. But I had none of that. instead I got a huge paprika hotdog, goulash and loads of ice cream...mmm. It's also the capital of Bohemian crystal and all souvenir shops would sell you every quality of Crystal and porcelain.



The castle in Prague is on the hill that overlooks the river Vtlava and the sinuous Karlov Most (Charles Bridge), and the view is magnificent. The famous bridge is packed with stalls and tourists during the day so on our last night, we pulled an allnighter and caught the sunrise on the bridge, almost alone.

And now, I am trying to pack, and hopefully will catch on some sleep before going to work.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Snake and crisps

'Snakes tend to be extravagant creatures and love beautiful clothes and possessions. Luckily, you have a stout financial mind so you are gifted at making your money go a long way.

Although the Chinese Snake is not as sly as the western stereotype, you do enjoy being party to a good bit of gossip and you are very skilful at eliciting people's secret confidences.

Snakes have a deep-rooted scepticism and jealousy and distrust can mar your relationships if you don't loosen the reins of control occasionally.'

For chilli lovers, this is my favourite chips (or crisps they are called over here).

At the back it says:
'In this bag, real chilli creates a gentle heat, while a dash of soy sauce, onion, tomato and garlic add a delicate sweetness for a sublime taste contrast.'
And it's 202 calories...grrrr

Wow, that's proper english!!

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Baishakhi Mela

Yeah, a festival just outside the house.

Check out the programme of the event here.

Unfortunately I was working night shift so I had to sleep until at least noon on Sunday. When I managed to wake up, clean up the remnants of the previous night's house party, take a shower and dress, it was already 2pm. As I walked down Brick Lane, I noticed nothing unisial except for the horrible amount of people. It was 10 times more than usual!!And restaurants were having tables and chairs set up outside. The good thing though is that they blocked off traffic so pedestrians could fight among themselves to walk the lane.

I didn't manage to get any interesting pictures of floats or colorful banners.

I did visit smaller alleys off Brick Lane but then decided I needed to enjoy my short afternoon and went to Spitalfield market:found a pair of crocheted gloves, a cute hair accessories.

On my way back, I saw this group next to the 1001 bar.


In fact they were trying to show up capoeira but it wasn't very good. Looked like people trying to have a chat then act up some leg ups and all that...quite embarassing really, I hope they didn't expect any money for their show. The musicians, those hitting on the weird instruments were much more interesting to observe.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Sunshine in the City



Unbelievable. I got to enjoy sunbathing in the garden while writing this, with my iced chai on the side and chicken salad on the other. Unfortunately my free wifi network is not reachable from this end of the house. My suspiscion is confirmed, the
network I usually use is an office network that is only switched on during weekdays during office hours. And it is on the east side of the house. Ah well, at least I am roasting in a peaceful garden.



I'm trying to decide whether to write that love letter or not. It was meant to be addressed to a particular person but then i realize I might write all the unexpressed feelings I have ever had for so many people before as well. I am not expecting any reciprocated feelings, although that would be great. Sometimes it's as if I was in love with Love more than anything else. Or the fact that I am relatively new in this environment makes me vulnerable to wanting a companion so bad I just fall for the first nice guy that comes along, without knowing better.

And I'm taken into the same painful cycle of being thunderstruck, unable to speak or get my act together in his presence, which doesn't really help in putting myself forward. And all I can do is replay each encounter word by word, second by second, sometimes delighting in what he could have meant, or being dissapointed by what I
understood or did...why is life so difficult????ARGHHHH

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Aquarius

"An emotional love letter could come your way today, or perhaps an affectionate phone call. If the latter, you can also expect a proposition! What you choose to do about it is, of course, up to you, but whatever happens with this, you can rest assured that love, sex, and romance are going to be a large part of your day. If you're currently involved, your partner might cook you a very special meal. Enjoy your day."


In fact, I was about to write a love letter...Maybe I should wait for one to come to me first???? But how long should I wait for?

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Teeth check ups and Parisian theatre

Last weekend, on my trip to France, I got to meet my high school friend and her sister for lunch at her parents and an evening to see a play. Lunch was delicious as usual, and I had the full tour of the lovely garden. The parents even got me culianry herbs to season my dishes, so I travelled with Eurostar with bushes of laurel, celerey and sauge in my suitcase. Later on, I joined the sisters (and their respective boyfriends) to see a play about a character Sophie who is torn between the guidance of Louise (her Lucifer angel) and Angelique (her good angel)...she becomes a runaway bride and discovers herself as a woman who wants more than just being someone's wife...I really enjoyed the piece. Note that Sophie comes from the greek that means wisdom...torn between good and evil...it's very dynamic, and most of all, the audience is seated in comfy sofas!!!!

However, the place is up the Butte Montmartre so we had to climb a 70% slope!!!! arghhh, under the rain...But it was all worth it.

On Sunday, my aunt planned to go to Chartres to get everybody's teeth checked up by my uncle. So off we went, on a gloomy weather. But the sun came out later on, we all had a huge lunch (i ate a 200g bison steak, yum). I showed off the pictures from Madagascar, and then hopped on the torture chair..turned out my teeth are ok (ouf, relief!).

My uncle gave me a salty toothpaste to prevent gengivitis..and I tried it and it is very very salty...

So now am back in London and at work after merely 5h sleep, here and there during the day. And I got the invite for the Microsoft conference on user web experience on Wednesday, with free lunch...we'll see if I'll manage to drag my tired body to that thing....

Monday, May 08, 2006

Un weekend a Lutece

Arrivee jeudi soir et depart lundi apres-midi.

Quelques trucs etonnants ce weekend:
-le ipod se comporte bizarrement dans le RER; le volume varie terriblement lors des deplacements entre Gare du Nord et Anthony. Au debut je pensais que je tournais le bouton par megarde, mais en fait soit c'est le ipod qui deconne, soit le telephone portable emet des ondes qui le perturbent, soit c'est la ligne de chemin de fer qui le gene.
-les tickets de metro se demagnetisent au contact du telephone portable. Je me suis faite engueuler au guichet quqnd j'ai demande au monsieur pourquoi mon ticket Paris Visite de 3 jours ne marchait plus. Je l'ai mis dans mon sac a main, normal, et donc mon portable lui a fait desmiseres. Ben franchament, faudra l'indiquer sur le foutu ticket que la technologie qu'ils utilisent est nulle et que le plus simple telephone mobile, ou meme les cles vont demagnetiser le ticket!
-Il n'y a plus de ticket hebdomadaire pour les zones 1-3. Donc j'ai du m'acheter un ticket Pari Visite. Ils essayent de tout mettre sur le Navigo, et eventuellement virer tous les employes de la RATP au guichet...d'ailleurs, s'ils ont peur pour leur boulot, peut etre ils seront plus aimables.

Sinon, j'ai fais mon plein a Carrouf....yeah!

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

gas prices, rush hour

What I read today:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1190182,00.html

Yesterday I went for a show that ultimately was full. The thing was at 6:45pm so I jumped into the tube around 5:45pm...and tried to squeeze myself into carriages flled with 'sarary men' arghhhh, and then got lost because I took the wrong connection train...so more time spent with 'salaly men'...re-arghhhh

In the end, got drunk on a smirnoff ice and got home to sleep before coming to work with a hang over this morning...arghhhh..

Not a rushhour fan

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Snowhite and garden gnomes

May Day 2006.

After merely 1h at the gym, the two ladies cooked and baked while I took a nice warm shower. Afterwards, warm pancakes awaited be, to compensate for the loss of huge amount of energy at the gym...I do have awesome flatmates who can cook!!!!! Anyway, afterwards, we just started to hang out in the garden, trying to figure out what's to be done to clean it up for the upcoming house party in 2 weeks. Nadia went to shower, Lorena opened a plastic garden cupboard that turned out to be full of cool tools for gardening:giant scissors, giant nail clippers, giant forks, etc...So we kind of clipped away the tangled branches that took over the fence. We enjoyed it so much we started to cut away the bad grass and untamed plants, swept the ground, discovered thousands of horrific little bugs that are still traumatizing me.

We got seriously involved when we both changed into proper shoes (the bugs, you see, arghhh). We moved the benches, cleared the flower pots of dying plants, swept some more dirt, but most of all, arranged the pile of unused white stones into a nice border path around the tree in the back of the garden...strained our back and sored our legs but the result is really nice. The garden now doubled its living space and we are just waiting for the landlord to sod off and leave for a holiday to pollute it.

This morning though, my arms are sore for clippignt hat fence away with the heavy giant scisors..really, we deserved that pasta bolognese for dinner!