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

'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.

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!!

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.

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

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?

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....

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!

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

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!

Sunday car boot sale

Today, the London weather was almost cooperative. At 10, the sky showed fairly large patched of blue. And we all woke up before noon to put our old or small sized clothes into a bag and sell them on the sidewalk on Brick Lane. Sunday is market day and locals and tourists alike stroll along the street to forage for treasures among junk. There is the long queue to get bagels, the smell of pancakes and hot coffee. vegetable and fruit market, and all sorts of leather shops setting up stalls in the streets.

We set out around 11:30 and finished exposing the things in a nice spot in the sun. The hardest part was to sort out what to sell because I myself really care about those clothes! Sure, they may be too small now, or I've never worn them, but I still have that ounce of feeling towards them...So nothing would be sold for less than £4.

It started out quite nicely, with the sun burning our sun deprived skins. We even had our jackets off for an hour or more and doing business in t-shirt. With water, almonds and oatmeal cookies, 3h passed by and we made £17, £18, and £36...yup!

By 14:45 it got cloudy and some jerks decided to park their BMW in front of our stall, so we went home tired and a bit angry at them. They really should close the street to cars on Sunday because they're just nuisance to the kids in their trolleys and pedestrians lazily strolling.

Hopefully, this first experience will be repeated and I'll try selling more of the crap that clutters my room. With such ecclectic buyers, there is a market for everything.

The Geek and the Freak

Of course, there should be a Beauty involved to make the perfect triangle.

I am talking about the people that wanders in this grey vast dull kingdom which is the office. There are few gossips to entertain the masses, and testosterone-filled jokes, and swearing towards silly customers. Underneath it all is a general laziness and boredom. From time to time though, there is the odd challenging and interesting problem that sparks a bit of interest from everyone.

Apart from that quite depressing work, I finally got myself a flat that would ruin me for the next 3 months at least! But I'm guaranteed easy access to Brick Lane, and not far from where I am at the moment. I won't quite have the sun as bright because the window is facing west, but at least it's a good-sized room.

Fortunately I already have my outfit for the June wedding. I'll just have to buy the plane ticket later on. Next on the agenda is more packing and cleaning, strolling to catch the sun, and maybe a bit of drawing.

It's Labor Day weekend after all, and no work should be done.

Spring cleaning

It's that time of the year you might say. For me, it's that time when I am so angry and annoyed that all I can think of is clean. I suppose the state of my room lends to it....



The other reason really is that I have to move out of the room by the end of May so I am trying to pack up my winter clothes to bring to Paris next week. It already filled a huge suitcase and the cupboard is till stuffed! I will try to send out some books later on probably because that will be quite heavy to move.

It's a good time to sort out my paperworks as well...argh***. What annoys me is not to visit new flats, it's to meet new potential flatmates. To be forced to talk to someone you don't know for the sake of a not too expensive roof. A cheap room is so rare!A cheap room with decent flatmates? Even rarer!

At least the weather is cooperating. There are already some asian gangsta cruising with their convertibles and loud hip hop music...very flashy...by the way, asian boys here are more likely to be from the Indian subcontinent.

So am out with the old, and in with the new.

Once upon a time...

There was this girl surrounded by IT geeks!!! And they were all Star War fans and...never mind, it's just me getting a bit bored at work.

Something new this week,I have Sunday off due to expected massive partying on saturday: Belle and Sebastian on Trafalgar Square on Saturday, then Drum 'n Bass somewhere I don't know.

Until then it's tic tac toe and cubis on msn.

I hate Mondays

So last night I couldn't sleep and stayed up late. And when the alrm went off at 6am, hell broke loose: I had to take a shower, grab some breakfast and lunch for work, in 15min...which was feasible, but then I couldn't find my binocles, and that was less cool..so I gave up, missed the bus, and came in late...

Work was busy hell, and I just wanted to sleep. On top of that, the landlord pissed me off so bad on sunday that I am this close(.) to kill him...but I won't because they have laws against that in this country....pfffff...civilized...the landlord is definetely not civilized, just a heap of ignorant alcoholic stupid crap. In short, am looking forward to move out and move in a new place where people are considerate of others.....hopefully the place exists.

On top of that am broke, because I've been buying plane tickets for all over the world for the past 2 weeks. And to top it all, I miss my buddy hokies...So ate whatever what was in front of me: donuts, orange and chocolate biscuits, hot chocolate or mocha, the lunch I managed to grab, more biscuit...(I need professional help)

Damn...some mondays....Definetely a black cloud hovering over me.

What is a personal trainer?

So yesterday, I had an appointment with my would-be personal trainer. I have been doing the cross trainer machine for 2 weeks, and hoping not to be too rusty for whatever he'll have me do.

His first question was: 'What do you want ot what are your goals?'
Me:'To loose half my legs and tummy, and the flabs on my arms' (a reasonable request don't you think? Would take a novice genie to fix right?)
Him:'What do you do at home about it?'

Me:'Errr, nothing, I come to the gym to exercise.' (DUH, I paied to be here, remember?)

At this point he started to scribble stuff on this exercise chart.
Him:'What machine do you use?'
Me:'I've been doing that ski thingy for about 2 weeks, every two days or so, for 45minutes. '(The idea was to flood him with info to shut him up)
Him:'What about the bike?'
Me:'I dont' like the bike because it hurts my bums' (clear, direct, concise)

After more scribbling, the verdict came.
Him:'20minutes of treadmill, 6.3km/h, at 6% gradient. Then 20 minutes of bike and level 4, and 80rpm, then 10minutes of rowing to do 2km at level 10'
Me:'Sure'
Him:'After that come and see me I'll show you the things you have to do in the weight room'
Me: 'OK' (more like what? how long is this going to take?)

On the treadmill, I started to run it but lost my breath and my legs after only 5 minutes, so I just walked it all. He came once to check on me and was pleased to see I was still standing (or maybe surprised?), so he upped the speed to 6.5km/h....bastard!!

On the bike, I barely reached the 80rpm, and my bums, back and thighs were sore after only 4 minutes of that biking stuff...really boring too, so I just biked in aleisurely pace in between 2 minutes of effort. The rowing was easier though I only did 1.8km in 10 minutes....Level 10 is the highest level!

My flatmate was laughing so hard at me, and she was kind of getting bored of watching me suffer already. After a bit of stretching with her, I dragged my sore limbs to the weight room where all sort of torture machines awaited me.

The first exercise was ok, though after a serie of 30, I was ready to go home. Then he put me on another one that works another part of the arm....which kind of hurt my neck. Then he tried to put me on the press bench for the legs, but only managed to fold myself into 6 and be stuck, so he gave up and gave me the exercise ball and some heavy weight instead to play against the wall(squats and stuff). Then it was another arms exercise (bloddy hell!) and finally abs...

Now, I never liked doing abs exercises, and these were no exceptions. First, you're put into a vulnerable position, lying down on your back and having to sit up, with your belly tucked. Unfortunately his exercises requires more than a belly being tucked, which was too much for my fatigued brain and will. So I painfully tried to do the series, and wasnt at all amused by the use of different color balls...

Then another verdict came after all that was done. I'll have to do all that 4 times!

So now, I'll be my own trainer for weekdays, and will try to associate weight loss with exhaustion and pain...Thank GOD I don't pay that dude!!!

To celebrate my lack of extreme soreness or pain this morning though, I am waiting for my flatmate to wake up and make some pancakes before we go to the Tate Modern see the expo on Henri Fuselli Gothic Nightmare.

Queen's 80th birthday

So today is the country's ruler's birthday. Yesterday she was actually within the building I was working in, and saw it on TV, but kind of didn't realize it until someone rang the office to tell us...really, our work is very fascinating.
Enough sarcasm....here's a quick shot of what's leading to Buckingham Palace...a full row of those.



On TV, they had a show called 'The great British Menu', where chefs across the country face each other in a cooking competition. Each of them cook a 4 course meal to be served to the 300 or more guests of the Queen for her birthday. In my mind though, except chicken curry or fish and chips, I have no idea what a British menu should be, so it is a very interesting show! Let's face it, it's a good idea to showcase the different ingredients that can be found in this country but that we barely use, for lack of inspiration.

Another sight today was the mounted police force, strolling between Trafalgar Square and Aldwych (no worries, those places will be covered in London 103 or something like that).




Tonight, to celebrate her Majesty, I'm going to see the Premiere of 'La fille mal gardee' at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Very appropriate, don't you think?

Thank God it's the weekend

It's Thursday and I will soon finish my week's work. It's been a very difficult week because I have been trying to go to the gym everyday. The only problem is the more I exercise the hungrier I get and of course, there is no stopping me eating...ah well, at least I am eating.

Other than that, I lost Chip, the weird chick at work. There is a suspected mouse living under my desk at work so maybe it's that rodent that stole it for fun..

And I am going to see the premiere of the ballet 'La fille mal gardee' tomorrow evening. It looks really good on the preview I saw during the tsunami fund concert last summer.

Other than that, it's the usual market browsing, late morning sleeping and movie watching.

Easter Tuesday

I woke up to a nice sunny day.



And all the flowers in the vase were open.


Because I had so much chocolate and onion and spinach pakoras yesterday, I am now disfigured with millions of zits (ok, 3 but in top star location), so I will only leave my dear cover at dusk, when the red or orange rays of the sun will set a golden glow to my skin, and prevent other people from distinguishing red zits from red face!

Those are the signs...

A bit of sign seeing:


Yes you can afford a dog, but can you afford the fine? If you live in Notting Hill, where this sign is located, then you surely can!

In contrast, this is what I see outside in the street I live:


Notice that it is not screwed on the post but attached? Yes, it's a different level of income definetely. We don't care about dogs, just about the properties.

Happy Easter!

This is the season when one eats his/her weight of chocolate! So Happy Easter everyone and hope you don't abuse of the yummy goods. I didn't get to do an egg hunt this year, but got 2 new pet office: Chip and Tweety. See for yourself.



Tweety is on the left, as it looks very happy and always singing about. Chip is on the right and it is looking puzzled. I saved them from being dusty decorations at the cafeteria on the second floor. And instead of buying Cadbury chocolate eggs, I stole these cute chicks....hehehe



So instead of eating chocolate eggs, I ate this whole bar of white chocolate and peppers instead...

Tourist in London 101

I finally managed a larger enough collection of photographs to share...Well, as a long term tourist in London, what else is there to do than roam around and mingle with the flash tourists? Sure, I got friends to tend to, but it is quite a pleasure to rediscover places without a purpose.

So I jumped on a bus and ended up at Westminster tube station...For tourists, it's one of the first stop becaus eof the House of Parliament and Big Ben. The Westminster Abbey is also quite a popular venue, and the trick is to come and visit early in the morning to avoid the huge queues at the entrance.



That's a view of the House of Parliament from the South Banks. Big Ben is quite impressive and towers over the Thames.



As you walk towards the Abbey, colourful banners surprise you at the turn, and reminds you of how the world is full of savagery and massacre, and how the Parliament should be dealing with these issues to affect the daily lives of those fortunate enough to be represented.





And at that time, the old London signature doubledecker bus 159 drove by.


Across the bridge, on the south banks stand the London Aquarium in the old County Hall, and next to it, the British Airways London Eye.


The other part of the County Hall is a restaurant and here is the entrance to it.


I am aware that there is more to see in the area, but that is probably the must-see that can be done in an hour or two. I prefer to be around in the evning, when all the crowds have gone home or to their hotel, but others, like this man here, would indeed prefer a crowd to cheer him up.



He was trying to move on next to the London Eye...To be fair, the wind was really strong, but not enough to discourage the crowd to stay out..it is London after all.

January blues

I've got the blues.
The sun is ignoring this parcel of land where the wind is blowing death through my bones! Mr Sandman brings me weird dreams of snowy mount Fuji and someone I like is enjoying himself up there, and bacterias are populating my sore throat.

As I said, I've got the blues.
My younger body is leaving me, making me weak and feeble.
My eyes are sleep deprived, brain unchallenged.




And I like blue.

Food diary

This week, I really used my days off to do some culinary travel...to try out the things that people advised me to try..and more.
So here is the verdict.

For lunch I managed to walk to Queensway and try this Shawarma place:
Taza, between Queensway and Bayswater station: excellent shawarma. I had a lamb shawarma take away, as the shop is pretty small and Hyde park was just nearby. I ran to the park, sat on the bench and just ate it all in less than 5 minutes! It's so good, for 3£ only...

Then I took the bus for Oxford Circus to look for dessert...ended up in Piccadily Circus instead and found this Donughts and Sandwiches shop right off the place..oh my goodness, I was eager to get one warm donought...Alas, it turned out to be a disaster. All I wanted was an apple custard filled donut..and it cost me...£1.25....And it was the worst ever donut: hard like cardbox, cold, and so small..I almost cried in the cold.

Test Griffor

Sur le test griffor (http://test.griffor.com/) mon score est
47 points
39% positive sur les questions sur le sexe
11% sur les boissons
0% sur les drogues

Commentaire general:
Vous etes presque normale mais vous avez du mal a vous lacher....

My Cupid profile: The Sonnet

Just did a test here
http://www.okcupid.com/profile?tuid=17240047800557806434 and my profile came up as:


Romantic, hopeful, and composed. You are the Sonnet. Get it? Composed?

Sonnets want Love and have high ideals about it. They're conscientious people, caring & careful. You yourself have deep convictions, and you devote a lot of thought to romance and what it should be. This will frighten away most potential mates, but that's okay, because you're very choosy with your affections anyway. You'd absolutely refuse to date someone dumber than you, for instance.


Lovers who share your idealized perspective, or who are at least willing to totally throw themselves into a relationship, will be very, very happy with you. And you with them. You're already selfless and compassionate, and with the right partner, there's no doubt you can be sensual, even adventurously so.

You probably have lots of female friends, and they have a special soft spot for you. Babies do, too, at the tippy-top of their baby skulls.
Your exact opposite:Genghis Khunt(Random, Brutal, Sex Master)

Made in Belgium

4kg overweight (ok, more than a week before), and a lot of things to remember, I 've just returned from Bruxelles...yes yes, where you eat fries and chocolate until you die...
So I survived..my dear friend and her husband made sure I eat healthy. Still, the fact is there..So you wonder if everything made in Belgium is so delicious?

I can confirm that the fruit beers are actually nice and I can drink those without wrinkling my little nose to the smell of manly, bitter beer. I tried a kriek beer, which is a cherry one. It drinks like juice and I like it that way.

Other things nice about Belgium? It is a fact that Belgium has the most density of population owning comic books (bandes dessinees) in the world. And I can assure you that after going throgh the comics or graphic novel section at the Made in Belgium Expo, all I wanted was to have all those comics and read them for the rest of my life....just imagine
Natasha, Thorgal, XIII, Lucky Luke, Boule et Bill, Cubitus, Pierre Tombal, Largo Winch, Bob et Bobette, Blake & Mortimer, Alix, Le Psy, Claire et Julie et..., Le Chat, Marsupilami, les stroumpf, Tintin et Milou....arghh..and so many more!

Also at the Expo, I discovered that so many artists are from Belgium: benny B, Lio, Annie Cordy, technotronix...and even Adamo...Phillippe Lafontaine, and of course, Jacques Brel...

So hurrah for Belgium....

More shopping...

Saturday morning. I managed to stay awake on my home from an overnight shift. Out of the warm underground, I met the quiet streets and the chilled air. My favourite time of the day. The beautiful sound of silence and the illusion of clean crisp air. Hopped on the 52 bus, struggled to keep my eyes open, and didn’t miss my stop. Dropped the handbag, undressed, and slipped deep in the soft warm comforter. Closed eyes, exhaled, and drifted into heavenly sleep.


Sweat dropping down my back. Roaring engines covering the whispers of the leaves in the wind. It must be afternoon. I need my daily walk into sunlight before my night shift tonight. Besides, I have nothing to read anymore and could use some window shopping. And I remember I should get those leather belts down at the market. They were only 12 pounds. Gathered all my strength, grabbed a peach, and headed for the crowded market.

On a mission to find something to lift my spirit.
A pair of handmade earrings made of seashells and grains? 7 pounds.
A chocolate brown fake suede leather jacked with white woolly lining? 20 pounds
One handmade wide leather belt with metal thingies incrusted in it? 40 pounds (gasp)
Smells of great Caribbean food? Free!
Colourful handmade glass jewellery: rings, earrings, pendants? 25 pounds at least

Wait. I need a lamp or a light bulb for my room. Bought light bulbs the day before but they don’t fit. Looking at those garland lights in the shape of flowers and stars (10 pounds). Got into the deco shop having a clearance sale. Got 2 candles for 2 pounds. That will do. I won’t dress in the dark tonight.

Laughter tickled my sleepy brain: just saved 38 pounds and won light!

Going shopping

While waiting for the tube, I blankly stared at a huge poster promoting Toronto as a destination. The top level showed four young women, arm in arm, laughing with their teeth out, and looking very happy in a bustling street bordered with tall skyscrapers. The text in huge font was spelling out RETAIL. The bottom of the poster displayed a woman wrapped in a white towel, lying on her belly with her eyes closed, and awaiting for a masseur. The word THERAPY spanned the width of the picture. And it quite fitted my needs at the time: retail therapy or shopping session was always welcome in my world.

I used to consider grocery shopping as a mere activity to get bread and milk for the fridge. Living 15minutes from the Portobello Road fresh market changed all that. One Day I had a good list of groceries set up in my head: bread, milk, some oranges, tomatoes, and most importantly, toilet paper. I got out, and decided to walk my way down to the market in an attempt to burn some fat. To be honest though, it was because my bus card had expired the day before, and the weather was pretty sunny. I rolled down Ladbroke Grove road, turned left and found myself in the middle of hordes of tourists. I forgot it was Saturday, which meant thousands of tourists with cameras admiring the antique market and the handmade goods at various stalls.

So I fought my way through, and started admiring the vivid colors of the fruits and vegetables on display. I got myself a box of raspberries to nibble through my shopping. The cries of “5 mangoes for a pound” startled me and I instinctively walked back to the stall and got 5 mangoes. Which was not a good idea because they were huge and heavy and I haven’t even bought anything on my list yet. I told myself this was my weight training of the day.

My next stop was the flower stall, where I stared long minutes at flowers of unknown names, and bought nothing. I suspect it was just an excuse on my part, a way to calm down before passing by the bread and snack vendor just next to it. The stall was adorned with bagels, fruit tarts, pizza, baguettes, round breads with Italian names, foccacias, donuts, and more…

Walking up the hill with a newly bought chocolate donut, I almost bought a stamping rubber with an intricate flower design. Fortunately I didn’t have enough cash on me. I passed by various jewelry stalls, old and antique leather and wooden toys and games stall, an expensive macaron shop, and more antique merchants. Finally I got to Notting Hill gate station and topped up my bus card. I got home by bus, to realize I absolutely didn’t buy anything useful. And while washing those beautiful mangoes, I discovered they were all very ripe and soft, and needed to be eaten soon.

The day’s worth? 5 mangoes and no toilet paper!

Random things

Cool books:
-Idoru, by William Gibson, same guy who wrote the Neuromancer. Very futuristic and lots of technical computing jargon.
-Microserfs, by Douglas Coupland, very funny story/diary of a tester working at microsoft. A must for all people who know what ADA, OOP and coding on sundays are.

Very random:
-top up your mobile here! = add money to you cellphone so you can actually call people!
-Jog on! = Fuck off
-Take away = to go (when ordering food)
-coppers, the fuzz, the old bill, the bill = the cops
-one large Domino pizza 2 toppings here (medium in the US) cost almost £20 = $40....eeeks!
-I've been told over here that real men have beer belly (muahahah)
-I am officially a spinster I think (where is Mr Darcy?)
-Chandi or something like that = beer+lemonade(or sprite)...yuck
-Pubs stop serving alcohol at 23h....unbelievable! But there are off license shops that sell alcohol after hours..
-Tesco = city Walmart
-Sainsbury = city Kroger
-Kebab =favorite food of drunk people

british way of life

For 3 full days now I've experienced a british way of life.
here are few things
-always bring an umbrella, no amtter how beautiful it is outside
-it is better to cook at home vecause every meal is over £5 at the cheapest restaurant
-to add minutes to your cell, it's called to top up
-prepare to walk if you want to save on public transportation
-most people share a house, since it is so expensive to live in London
-people come back from work and hang out at the pub before coming home. Then everyone go back to sleep at around 10pm..
-of course you look right firt before crossing the road

well thats it for now, I'm still adjusting...watching tv is nice though, even if there is no cable. The accent is worth listening to, just to adapt my hearing to it.

Pick up (bus) lines

So I was late for work, and ran fo the bus. Breathless, I got in, after noticing that the hanidcapped, limping, bearded guy on our floor is going to campus. He sat in his usual chair (reserved for disabled) next to the conductor, and I strolled passed, towards the middle of the bus (my favourite seat).

The bus was early so it waited at the station. I just glanced sullenly in front of me, trying to remeber what was I supposed to do in my morning project. My right eye corner vision caught some movement, and sure enough, here he was, limping towards me (of course, who else?) arghhh tough luck.

I was polite, except he said something I did not understand. So I mde him repeat it 5 times..yes, 5 times..then I realized he was saying something like:
I just wanted to say that you look sexy with you hair back and your jeans"...WOW, well, take that for a morning horny dude...

The very annoyed person in my head said:
"and what about my top? Or were you just staring at my butt?"

I said I was polite, so I said (flashing my teeth and all):
" Thank you, that's sweet"
Now I hope the ppor guy does not get the wrong idea.

Why can't the cute guy living next door to Josh say that? Well, I need to sneak up on him when he does his laundry...

Did you say heavy sleep?

Wake up! wake up!

Well...so much for that. I woke up one morning, went to the bathroom and discovered (gasp!) everything was soaked, drenched: the toilet rug, the bathtub rug...That sure woke me up..
Then later that evening my dear sister told me the story. She had to wake up so early that her system didn't agree too much with that. So while she attempted to take a shower, her sleepy head was still in a world of cotton clouds and warm bedsheets. When she turned around, she saw the whole bathroom, which should have been blocked by the (arghhh!) shower curtain...How a sleepy head can do tricks to you.
So she tried to twist the rugs to get the water out of them....good idea right? Well, trouble was...she did it outside, on the bathroom floor, not in the bathtube...so now the floor was soaked..LOL
Anyway, since the weather is gloomy and the sun is not sharing its beautiful warm rays with us, those bath rugs are still trying to dry ..in the living room...

So wake up! wake up!

Fire ! Fire!

On Sunday night I was reminded of another fire incident that happened 3 years ago. Time flies by but that episode is carved forever in my head. Sunday evening, the single fire alarm in our apartment started to ring like mad when I popped out of the oven my slightly burned apple & pear pie. Being in an 11 stories building, I was dreading the evacuation of hundreds of people, and the reproaches of the firemen (whoam I sure are not even cute). But we managed to stop the alarm by waving a fan beneath the litle gadget.

Now that was easy! Well 3 years ago, it unfortunately happened as smoothly. First of all, it was winter (January) and it was a 3 stories dormitory. The spring semester was starting the next day and most students have come back from their Christmas holidays. I was sharing room 341 with my German-Argentinian friend who was still not back from the break. So I went to the reception dinner at the Cranwell Center to welcome the new international students arrived for the spring semester. There were not many of them but that was where I met my good scottish friend and my good mexican friend. We had fun, with all the other orientations mentors, and around 8-9pm, my german friend and his girlfriend drove me back to the dorm.

While parking, we could hear an alarm ringing, and we all joked that someone must have had a really heavy sleep because that alarm was so loud. Then upon climbing the stairs, I realized in horror that the alarm is coming from my room and that smoke was coming out from underneath the door! We all rushed in like crazy to open the door, and found that the bottom of one of my plastic drawer was in flame, and that the smoke was all over the place. My German friend took off the batteries from the alarm device to stop it from yelling. By then, the window was open and the fire extinguished under the sink, but unfortunately, the whole building alarm went off as well! I was petrified! I hated to run outside naked with only a towel in the January weather, and I knew it was late enough for people to be in their showers.

But most of all, I would have to face the police, the firemen, and all those people evacuated outside...arghhh. In the meantime, I had to give a call to my other friends waiting for me to go bowling at Squires. SO I told them I couldnt because I had a problem. So they all decided to come to my room. So by the time we were outside waiting for the police and firemen (who took about 8min), I had to decide what to do. The officers went in, looked at a silly board with blinking lights, and immediately knew where the fire started.

So I went to talk to them, with the support of my dear friends, and told them all about it: I just stupidly forgot a candle on, and left it there for 2 hours. We all went to my room which was well ventilated by now, and I swear, all my friends were there. Kim from Cranwell came as well to support me, and my friends from the bowling place. They charge my german friend from shutting off the alarm device, and issued a probation for me. Fortunately nothing from the University was damaged. I had to appear to a court and all that. But with the great reference of Kim and my helpful german buddy, I ended up doing a poster for the dorm informing the students about the danger of fire and candles and allt hat stuff (very boring poster).

My whole head was spinning in fear. I thought I was finished because I was in the process of applying for graduate schoola dn didn't know if that probation business was going to show on my academic records..but Kim kindly reassured me and all was well...I couldnt sleep in my room that night. I was trembling all over the place and went to sleep at my indian friend's place.

Until now, Kim asks me if I 've had other pyrotechnic adventures..well, I make sure I leave nothing burning ever in the apartment since then. pffffff

Confessions

I haven't seen a good romantic comedy lately. You know, one where the guy makes a love declaration so sweet it just brings tears to your eyes...and even guys wish they had that eloquence...anyway, well, I haven't seen anything of that sort lately.

Instead, I've seen a hot guy being rejected on tv (Jerry, so hot!), by a bachelorette who couldnt make up her mind..shame on her, but then again, what is she doing on tv? So I wonder, where are all those passionate, heart felt, enchanting, amazing words of love? Sure, flowers, chocolate, kneeling, a big diamond, or a kidney will do, but the most difficult thing to do still seems to express the feeling in words! (I guess the song "more than words" is not that 'extreme' anymore)...

I just need some inspiration because I am planning to use words as proof of caring. Trouble is I am not sure if I should do it at all, given that I am not sure I have the correct feelings....call it lust, infatuation, crush, anything you want. And I know it probably won't be the last. But I want to make sure I don't miss anything by just shutting up. I have less than 40 days to build up courage, and then I'll do the scariest thing I've ever done for a while.....pick up a guy..LOL

Go ME.

A beautiful poem

by W.H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Sunny side up

Motion pictures: moving and colorful

I spent the afternoon watching a little movie that made all the tears well out of my body. The fact that I have been inhaling bleach while cleaning the bathroom before may explain the inconvenience. But I know it was mostly from being moved by a brilliant storytelling.

Hero
I will not explain the movie but merely attempt to describe its impression on me. One could identify multiple heroes in the story, but apparently the chinese character covers the plural as well. Maybe because all of them possess unique qualities, and any additional word or letter will not enrich or reveal any of those qualities.

The beginning of the movie sets the tone, when captions show that some are willing to die for love, a cause, a country, and some are all equally ready to kill for those. This prepares you for a great epic movie, with great battles between great armies. This movie does nothing of such. There is no single hero and multiple sidekicks. Instead, it shows you how simple individuals go through their life battling their past, desire of revenge, hardships of life. It shows you how someone would struggle to achieve a perfect martial arts move, or a great calligraphy on a scroll full of meanings. Even the advertised tyran with the huge army is found to be struggling to be understood and finding a way to accomplish his goal: to unify the land (China).

In the end, our conventional heroes face death peacefully and with the knowledge they have reached their goals of loving, teaching and understanding their obstacles. One hero is left to continue the mission of appeasing the Chinese land, after facing the pain of killing those who have helped him get there. It is a new approach to the becoming of a ruler.

combining all arts in this movie, it brings you despair and hope at the same time: Despair, for even with the greatest intentions (like the ruler), one would hurt close friends or peers' feelings and loose them; Why would anyone even try to help, explain, save, etc...? And hope because the photography, music, movements , and interactions reveal something worth trying.

Those landscapes, beautiful colors and slow motion details of leaves, rain drops and sand are the little details that are worth living for. And for an emotional girlie girl like me, it is the ultimate lesson that hopefully will bring me courage.

Quoting the Director of another great movie (Four Feathers):
"True courage is not the ability to face death. True courage is the ability to face life"

late night sport

I know what you're thinking. It could involve some panting and a lot of emotions, and foreplays, and two partners...well this one is a bit different.

I fell asleep watching the Australian open game, Federer vs. Agassi. It was like 4am and I couldn't keep my eyes open. So when I woke up, my eyes fell on this very odd program on ESPN2: Basscenter. it is a whole program with specials and breaking news, championships around the world (I doubt their meaning of world here), and famous sponsors. To sum up, it is about fishing bass.

You may wonder what kind of breaking news they had. Well, the bass tournaments schedule and rules have changed apparently..big deal! This time, they set the date first and ask everyone where would be the best place to fish...aha! So ont hose dates, some lake would be raided by hundreds more fishermen...wonderful.
What annoyed me most (I know, how could Iw atch more than 1min of it?)..I was saying, what annoyed me most was the amount of sponsorship those people get. It's a bit normal given that they have TV airtime, at 6am....but those sponsors included Ray Ban, Nike, etc..I mean, I don't want to be associated with some fishermen because I wear the same brand...Tough.
So there you go...a real sport for real men...in a democratic country.

In the meantime, I think I fancy some salmon carpaccio, so ciao ciao..

Love conquers all

Omnia vincit amor
A book, the rule of four, borrowed from a friend, included a reference and a discussion of the painting. In the book, Love (Cupid as the cute naked baby) is beating upa grown satyre (the hairy sexy man with a horse body...hmmm). Now why would that be? And why are there two women present there? One explanation is on the MET art page.

I like the interpretation in the book. What happens when you have two loves? Kicks the one love for a lifetime theme out of the window isnt it? Some would argue one of the loves would be unhealthy obsession, butif you look deeply, there might be something stronger. Someone told me I knowI love someone or something when I won't care what my parents think....I sure witnessed that last weekend (Bless you two).

And then they say Love is blind..now mybe that cupid is beating up thewrong character there! Go figure...