Goodbye my lover

I miss you already. I regret the terrible cursing I've ever said to you. There were signs that things were not going well, but why was I so careless about your well-being? When it did happen, I was frantic and frightened, afraid of what my life would be without you, desperate to salvage whatever I could of our relationship and to tell you how much you meant to me.

The loss is so hard to bear, we've spent so many hours together, shared so many memories. The emails, photos, the music... the music, I want to lock myself in the bathroom and listen to Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart" on repeat mode.

In the end, you left me with no choice but to give up. To start afresh. But this time I've learnt my lesson.

From now on, I will promptly back up all important data onto disk.

Random ramblings

There is an interesting story about a family (the the Colin-Beavens) on Lower Fifth Avenue who is doing a yearlong lifestyle experience titled No Impact. The rules are not hard-set but basically includes:
- eating only organic food grown within 250-mile radius of Manhattan (reflecting the longest distance a farmer can drive in and out of the city in one day),
- no shopping for anything except food - though small purchases in thrift shops are allowed on special occasions,
- producing no trash,
- using no paper - this includes toilet paper,
- using no carbon-fueled transportation which translates to no microwave/coffee machine/trains/cars/elevator.

Besides the motivation from his pending book deal with publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Mr Beaven sites "An Inconvenient Truth" as one of the sources of his inspiration for this project.

What is most interesting about their project is the way they have translated environmental consciousness into practical lifestyle choices. A bit extreme perhaps. And possibly attention-seeking and egocentric, but admirable and interesting nonetheless.

Project is diarised on his blog, No Impact Man.

On a completely different note, one which will disgracefully expose my superficial nature, Abercrombie & Fitch opened its London flagship store last night. I have spent many hours in front of the computer lusting for their clothes and perhaps for the models too (you will know what I mean once you've seen their website). Their tag line is "Casual Luxury" and their prices do reflect that, even when it is in pounds. Perhaps I can wait til my NY trip in late June. Meanwhile I will just feast my eyes on those sculpted pecs and melt-me eyes.

Birthday

Just the photos for now, complete write up coming soon.

At the Piano Bar on Friday night.



Birthday and Helen's farewell drinks at the Ebury Wine Bar on Saturday.
I think Joe T made half the night for us with his delightful birthday gift which everyone else had so much fun with too. It was just oh-so-educational. Let it be made known that his gift is more a reflection of his character than mine okay? As the night wore on, more smoochy faces were made along with musical numbers from a drunk but cheerful guest and so many more inappropriate comments. I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time, the night was a scream and I was amazingly happy. Thankyou all.

Full set of photos will be uploaded very soon. Promise.

Cambridge

Cambridge was meant for another time, with another person. I like my plans so changes often unsettles me. But last Saturday's unexpected day trip to Cambridge was delightful, esp. when it's with one of my dearest friends. I can not think of a more relaxing and perfect way to have spent the weekend. Cambridge is such a quaint, romantic little town complete with beautiful colleges & chapels, lush green lawns (which by the way no one is allowed to walk on except for senior academics), and a rich sense of history. We spent the morning on a 2 hour walking tour, visiting the colleges & chapels, listening and absorbing the history of the town. The highlight of the day for me was in the afternoon when we went punting. The views by the river banks were breathtaking.

By the end of the day, we had both earnestly wished we could be back at university.

Istanbul

A late post about my trip to Istanbul at the end of Feb.

Being my first time in an Islamic country, I found it fascinating. The sights were so beautiful. We had such a good time exploring the mosques and markets, and sampling the Turkish cuisine. One of the highlights was the cruise down the Bosphorous, the strait that forms the boundary between the European part of Turkey and its Asian part. It was a perfect blue-skied morning and the views were breathtaking.

Other noteworthy mentions - tasting proper turkish delight for the first time (so much better than the ones found in the 'Cadbury chocolate selection'), apple tea, Hookah - I loved the Hookah, Turkish baths which is better described as a sauna with hot marble slabs, and the friendly, or should I say over-friendly, locals.

Left to right, top to bottom:
1. Beautiful night view
2. Mustafa smoking apple-flavored hookah
3. Mosaic inside Hagia Sophia, it's very interesting in that both symbols of the Christian and Muslim religions can be found throughout the building
4. Blue Mosque - I think it's absolutely stunning
5. Hagia Sophia from across the beautiful park that lies between Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia
6, 7, 8. Topkapi Palace
9. Mustafa & I at lunch
10. There were lots of shops selling pretty lights, glass-mosaic candle holders and tapestry
11. Outside the famous Grand Bazaar
12. Emily and I inside the Grand Bazaar. Poor Em, she got 'befriended' by one too many shop owners
13. Mustafa found his love for Turkish Delight
14. We went to a Turkish tea house one night after dinner to smoke hookah. One of the locals there was very kind and taught us how to play Backgammon despite difficulties in communicating - it was a very fun night.
15. View of the shore from the Bosphorus cruise
16. Um... lots of birds! I found it quite scary, like something from a Hitchcock movie.

Won over

At first I was unsure, a bit hesitant, but now I'm truly won over.

Gwen Yip's website/blog is wonderful esp the London travelogue.

Thanks Chungkingexpress for the good recommendation!

Starbucks in Ethiopia

After seeing a Starbucks store inside The Forbidden City in Beijing, I didn't think I could ever again be shocked by Starbucks' globalisation efforts. I guess I was wrong.

Customers wait for their coffee outside a local Starbucks Coffee shop in Mekele March 12, 2007. Ethiopia, Africa's biggest coffee producer and the birthplace of coffee, accuses Starbucks of blocking its efforts to trademark its Sidamo and Harar beans

Source: Reuters

I think this is made worse because they are pushing bad American coffee to the very country from which coffee originated.

Sleeping alone

It often amuses me what makes it to the headline news. It was reported on BBC Breakfast this morning, with a panel of 'expert' guests no less. And the article about this very topic is currently claiming the #1 spot on NYT's Most Popular.

What appears to be grabbing everyone's attention is the increase in the demand for dual master bedrooms. The translation is that for many couples, they want their own separate sleeping nooks.

The notion makes good practical sense when one considers the number of men who snore (and thunderously at that) and different lifestyle patterns of modern day relationships - of one blackberrying late into the night and the other waking up at the crack of dawn to go to pilates class. But what of the romance of cuddling deep into the night and waking up to the person you love?

One older woman interviewed by Professor Rosenblatt* said she had her own bedroom because, “I’ve paid my dues. I’m old enough that I don’t want to have sex at 1 a.m.”

I couldn't help but laugh.

*A professor in the department of family and social science at the University of Minnesota

Editor's note: Oh, I forgotten to clarify why stories like this amuse me. If the 'most popular' online articles are any indication, then people are generally only interested in their micro environment and light-hearted matters at that. Perhaps I'm harsh and stories such as this serve as reprieve in a world where there are no shortages of tales about human tragedies and injustices.

Found one, lost another

After what seemed like weeks of stress and ceaseless whining to friends, I've finally found a flatmate! He's a FoF (friend of friend), from Sydney and seems very nice and easygoing. He likes fish sauce, as well as OC, Dawson's Creek and Friends, and claims to be a "9/10" on the tidiness scale. My manager thinks he was just telling me what I wanted to hear and now that I've put it all down in one sentence, I am starting to have my doubts too. Perhaps I should have put him under the lie detector. I guess only time will tell but living with a boy will most certainly add a new dynamic to my London experience.

Spoilt, doublefold

I was spoilt rotten last night. And I enjoyed every second of it. I am not sure why, from an evolutionary perspective, women desire romance so much. Surely romantic gestures such as a bunch of flowers, no matter how beautiful, will not increase our chance of survival or success in rearing our young. But it is uncontestable that romance we do desire. And flowers have the power to turn us into a happy, sappy puddle.

On another note, after hearing on the BBC Breakfast report that yellow roses symbolised infidelity, I got curious and searched for the symbolic meaning of other flowers. Here's a sample:

• Tulips: perfect lover
• Red rose: I love you
• Primrose: I can't live without you
• Lily - yellow: I am walking on air. False and gay (???)
• Carnation - yellow: you have disappointed me, rejection
• Poppy - red: pleasure
• Violet - white: let's take a chance

Valencia

It was another whirlwind weekend trip and this time it was to Valencia. We were greeted by beautiful sunshine which was a very welcome change from the gloomy, grey London skies. Everyone was in such good spirits (despite having woken up at 4am that morning to catch the flight) by mere fact of the warm weather.

We spent our first day exploring the city center, indulging in tapas and relaxing over glasses of sangria. At night, we ventured out to the beach side for dinner. Having grown up in Sydney, the beach didn't really impress but the cheap cocktails at the bars certainly did. Dinner was fabulous at a traditional restaurant whose specialty is lobster paella (to my surprise, Spanish paella is really quite simply rice cooked in broth unlike the ones which I had back at home which threw in an assortment of veggies). However the real adventure was when we realised that we had missed the last metro / bus. After waiting for a very long time for a taxi and in our somewhat delirious / tired state, we accidentally tried to wave down a police car, thinking at the time, why does this cab have two lights instead of the standard one and why are the lights blue instead of green.

Second day was spent at their Science Museum which is massive and quite interesting (reminded me of year 10 science excursions). Spent the rest of our time eating, drinking, did more walking and drank some more.

I really enjoyed Spain - I love the architecture, the leisurely atmosphere of taking things easy (always a bonus when there's uplifting street music playing as well), the sun and the food / wine.

From left to right, top to bottom
Lots of map reading outside LOEWE (which I found out is Spanish) to decide where to go
At the produce markets. Valencia oranges anyone?
Bull ring
Lobster paella
Mary & I
Flee market
The cutest dog with the floppiest ears
City of Arts and Sciences
Street performer giving Karen's hair a restyle

And my favourite photo of all...

Happy New Year

New year, new beginnings. Thanks to the kind encourage from my good friend (see comment to previous post), I am now back to posting my photos. Link to the full album is on the sidebar.

New year celebrations: Predrinks at Gonk & Binh's before heading out to Turnmills. Having bopped to RnB music at friends' Asian dance parties most of my life (shameful I know), I can't say electro / techno is my thing. But it was a good night with good friends and the club was very cool too.

Christmas celebrations: xmas eve at Gonk & Binh's and xmas day spent at Joe & Keith's.


Germany: the xmas markets in Munich and Nurnbery were very festive and delightful.


Budapest has a quiet charm, thoroughly enjoyed the food and relaxing at the Turkish baths.


Paris: it was very much like what everyone says about Paris - beautiful and romantic.

Just too hard :(

It's just too hard to post photos on blogspot (in the format I want with the speed I want). I know this comment will undoubtedly reflect poorly on my less-then-developed computer skills but given that I may not have internet access in the coming fortnight, I don't have the patience to struggle.

Photos from Bath / Paris are loaded on Song ImageStation:
URL: http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/index.html
Member name: happy_pics
P/w: Access
Album: Bath & Paris

Belgium

From top 1-2 Market Square in Bruges; 3 one of the beautiful canals surrounding Bruges; 4 Shirley & I with our delicious chocolate Belgian waffles (note to Alan & Marki - I had two waffles in my hands b/c one of them belonged to Kris who was taking the photo, they were not both mine!), 5-6 Grand Place in Brussels, 7 Brussels Stock Exchange (Kris insisted taking me there, not my idea), 8 Kris, my wonderful Belgian friend who took us on a Brussels-in-three-hours-windwhirl tour, 9 the royal palace in Brussels.

My London home

This is the street where my place is.











My favourite part of the apartment is the upstairs living area :)








Helen & I are quite in love with our current place, it's a such a shame that we can't afford it. At GBP700 / week, we are not even close!

Goodbye Sydney

It's hard to think that exactly one week ago (Sat morning 3.33am), I was in my Sydney home frantically packing and sorting out what to take to London in preparation for the moving company's arrival that morning at 7am. Fastforward one week and I am here in my Westminister apartment taking a rest pause from the activity of the past few days.

Big thanks to everyone for indulging me so generously with your time for my 'multiple' farewells (in my mind, there really was only one farewell) and all the well-wishes. I really enjoyed my last two weeks in Sydney bathing in special pre-departure attention of dear friends :) I will really miss you all!