I keep writing in my head, or drafting posts on the computer, but I never upload them. My bad. Today will not be much of an exception, as I should try and finish a text while hoping for the traditional early release from work so I can get home and prepare the Christmas hoopla. I love Christmas, so much more than NYE, which can sometimes get a little depressing. I am not planning anything big, just dinner at home with M.A., but I still want the works. I downloaded plenty of Christmas music, bought the red tablecloth, the wine, the Champagne, the Pandoro. The food should be scrumptious as usual, the cocktails just right. The tree is lighted and the wifi network for Skype videoconferencing with the families is set. Bring it on!
Have a wonderful Christmas y'all!
Deck tha hall with boughs of holly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.
'Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la ... …
A mini Xmas post
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
The party was a major success
Sunday, November 2, 2008
I have uploaded a lot of pictures on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40323&l=e4e9c&id=500078515
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40337&l=ff0c4&id=500078515
and in the meantime, enjoy this:
Some of the books half read or waiting to be read by my bed, on the left side
Sunday, October 26, 2008
The Working Poor, Invisible in America by David K. Shipler (you can have a good chuckle reading this guy's opinion on the book);
Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion by Pema Chodron;
The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge, M.D.;
Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman;
Leap! What Will We Do with the Rest of Our Lives? by Sara Davidson;
Train Your Mind Change Your Brain by Sharon Begley;
The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout, Ph.D.;
How Language Works by David Crystal;
The Mole People by Jennifer Toth.
Piece of fiction
Saturday, October 25, 2008
This is one imaginative bullshitter. I just went to Geneva and back for one night. I obviously never considered the possibility of not going out so I met old and new friends at a bar and restaurant in the Old Town. The place was lively enough when we got there, although the crowd looked a bit like UN interns. The mojitos were good and desserts were great. I was having a grand time and then, at precisely midnight, we were asked to leave because they were closing. The walk to the cars was straight out of a sci-fi movie. Thursday night, absolutely nobody out. Dark. Quiet. Dead.
More on the trip later, now I have to get back into a NY state of mind. Brunch. Then getting ready for the play tonight. Then drinks. Then the play. Then more drinks at Dawn's later on.
Middle of the night musings
Monday, October 20, 2008
There is not much on TV these days. It seems every time I turn it on there's a new ridiculous reality show. They sure seem to chose, in the best of cases, the most uninteresting, self-centered and emotionally retarded people, leaving dull, vapid lives. First it was the spectacularly depressing gated-community blondes from the Real Housewives of Orange County. Then the sad wanna bes from the New York season. Now there's the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Grown women in petty fights, flaunting their terrible taste and god awful table manners. Depressing. There's I love money, Rock of Love, Charm School, The Girls Next Door. Basically a bunch of seriously dysfunctional train wrecks, most of them absolutely illiterate. It's not that I only want to see fascinating social documentaries, it's that I would welcome more compelling characters. I am a voyeuse, always have been, and I used to love reality shows. I was a big fan of MTV's Real World, back when it was something more than just the token perfectionist Asian, the token gay, the token angry black man or woman, the token stupid middle American, all pumped, all naked in a hot tub. Now it's so predictable, so boring. And I won't even go into The Pick Up Artist. I don't know who decided this imbecile had something worth teaching, but whoever it was needs to have his/her head examined.
I am also tired of the celebrity blogs. There is only so much I can handle of David Duchovny's sexual addiction, Brit Brit Cheeto addiction, SamRo and HoHan's escapades, etc. etc. etc. etc. For the record, I think Vadje looks like a mean old junkie and I couldn't care less about her divorce. Who in their right mind could have married her in the first place?
So after all this crap, I find it extremely refreshing to stumble upon a well written, inspiring blog from an genuine human being. Here it is. Enjoy it.
Anyway, now that I pronounced my deep statement for the week, let me tell you that ... OMG!!!! OMG!!!! OMG!!!!!!!! I saw Tom Cruise on Friday!!!!!! Live!!!!! And he is GORGEOUS!!!!!
I was at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, already comfortably seated, ready for my Arthur Miller cry fest, when I looked to my left and saw somebody who looked like Oprah walking to her seat, more or less on my row, but in the middle of the orchestra. I looked really hard and saw Gayle, so I knew it was Oprah. And then TA DAN!!! Tommy Boy himself! Flashing his trademark grin. I did my best to play it cool. Not like those tourists from NJ or Ohio, all dressed up like they were going to a funeral (it's very easy to tell who's not from NY on Broadway), who were hanging from the mezzanine straining to see them.
I could marry that man! I don't give a damn if he believes in little green monsters. I don't find his faith any more or any less far-fetched than the more mainstream ones and if he does everything with the same intensity he puts in that dazzling smile, Katie must be a very satisfied woman.
And now I gotta go back to my text (thankfully, I should be done in an hour or so).
Bits and pieces
Friday, October 17, 2008
Going to see All My Sons tonight. Gotta check out Katie Holmes.
Last week (was it last week?) I saw The Atheist and stayed over for the chat with the director and the actor. Loved everything about the play except for the ending and I was not alone in my thinking.
Other than that, I've been working nights (4 to 12.30 but really 2 or 3 AM), and putting in a lot of hours a day editing the video clip for the exhibit. It will be launched on Monday and I am invited (free booze, free food).
The big news (well, one of the big news anyways) of the week was that we finally got completely fed up of the Italian theater group director and just told him to shove it. We are now rehearsing independently. I'll have to expand on that eventually.
So tomorrow it's rehearsals at 1 PM and then work work work. Gotta do 30 pages for Monday, but at least I don't have to come to the office. Monday will be a little hectic, finishing this text and probably doing last minute editing on the video. And then ... big news number 2 .... I am taking Tuesday day off to prepare for my super quick trip to Geneva. Leaving on Wednesday, arriving on Thursday, coming back on Friday. Susan, if you are reading this, maybe we could meet at some bar in the Old Town on Thursday evening?
My cell won't work in Europe, but I will be bringing my MacBook for Skype, Twitter and Facebook, among other things.
Getting ready for the debate
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Spur of the moment kinda thing, I invited a few people over for the debate drinking game. I bought a bottle of Stoli, 4 bottles of wine (2 red, 2 rosé) and I have a few beers (guests will contribute). I also bought some finger food and juice for the pregnant one. A quick shower and I will start connecting the laptop to the larger screen and the speakers. I will also turn on an additional TV and start preparing the food. Must not forget to charge my cell for the twitters.
I have no idea who is coming. We might be two or three, we might be a whole bunch.
Getting ready ...
Thursday, October 2, 2008
for the great Palin comedy act tonight. I am working nights this week so I will have to follow it on the Web. I will probably watch it at Current, and I will be twittering (or is it tweeting, maybe twitting?) away. I will also be following the scrolling twits (tweeters,witters?) at Election 2008. Unfortunately I cannot play the Palin bingo, nor can I join one of the Palin drinking games.
By the way, as much as I dislike McCain, his mom rocks. With a mother like that, how could he ever go marry that creepy creature?
Rolling my eyes
Friday, September 26, 2008
I do like the idea 
but it's hard not to barf at the explanation:
After graduated B.A. Fine Art at Byam Shaw School and a Master at Middlesex University she was widely shown at Sprovieri Gallery in London, Auditorium e Temple Gallery in Rome, guest at Locarno Festival in 2007 and in Wrap! For the International Festival Cinema in Rome. The notion of restoration is central to the work of Guendalina Salini. However restoration here is not to be understood as historical reconstruction, rather it serves to disclose the internal dynamic which is at the genesis of the image. The work brings into play images belonging to the history of art and recontextualise them. By "redrawing" the image the artist intends to open it to a spatial-temporal suspension, a suspension that places the emphasis on the process of art itself.
Oh, and I forgot ...
Monday, September 22, 2008
the evening when we saw Celebrity Autobiography (for the second time in my case). You can see my head right there, in the first row!!!! The writer was probably thinking of me when he wrote about the martini. I was indeed sipping martinis and I was laughing so hard the actress smiled at me on her way out and mouthed something that hopefully was not "Fuck you!".
Great weeks, even better weekends. Little time to blog.
There was the party on the roof deck in Roosevelt Island, attended by quite a crowd of cancer researchers. Most of them smokers. Some of them not limited to tobacco. I spent most of the evening debating with a couple of students of philosophy. At the end of the lively conversation we exchanged our Second Life avatars.
There was the evening of Pedro's surprise birthday party, where all this third husband thing started and were I discovered some kind of little Brazilian bonbons I could kill my mother for (well, actually I could kill my mother for so many reasons this might not be the best way to convey my fondness for those thingies).
There was the Saturday at Park Slope. I had never been there, except once, for a party. I liked it, really like it. The houses are beautiful, the shops are not all Gaps.
There was the Sunday a bunch of us met at the fake beach near the Coney Island boardwalk for the social/cultural/political tour given by Juan (if you could see me, I am giving him a standing ovation). Some of us (Andrea, Pedro, Andrea II, Jimena, Jose and yours truly) ended up having a late dinner at Tatiana in Brighton Beach, which is like what I imagine it must have been like in Odessa in the 50s.
And the other Sunday, yesterday, when we had dinner and I-need-two-hands-to-count caipirinhas (I am using "we" in a very broad sense, I am afraid most people were basically eating, while I was managing to eat like a pig, drink like a sailor and talk non-stop, too) at Esperanto. One of the guys in our party is somebody with whom I work but had never socialized with. Yesterday I discovered he's a kick-ass photographer whom I have mentally hired for my next year birthday bash, although he does not know it yet. The main purpose of dinner (to me, but then again, it's my blog so I am the only one that matters) was for me to meet my future third husband. I had seen a picture of him on the wall at Pedro's birthday and it was love at first sight. I finally met him yesterday. Well, maybe "met" is a little stretch. Let's say I got to say hello. A very meaningful hello, evidently, one that will alter the course of his life, but still only a hello. In person he is actually handsomer than in pictures, and his command of the triangle is impressive. His hip movements ain't bad either. Then again, and I know how this sounds, he might be too handsome. Not as in "too handsome for me" because, as you might know, I have had my share of devastatingly beautiful men. Just maybe a tad too pretty. Maybe I have just outgrown prettiness. I known I have outgrown my phase of "there's never too much muscles" and I now prefer a slightly more natural built. I must admit though that I still get a little overexcited when I am surrounded by bodyguards and secret service. A guy from work used to say that earpieces are sex toys to me. He is right. A humongous guy in black with a cable coming out of his ear and an air of murderous purpose makes me weak at the knees. But I digress. After dinner yesterday we went to La Esquina, neat little place I wasn't aware of. To get there you start at a dingy diner looking taquería, walk through the "Employees only" door and down to the kitchen and through it.
And last but not least, the Ramadan dinner with Meriem's parents. They are very interesting people, just like their daughter, but they are also sweet and kind and you can't help but wonder what went wrong! Even more amazingly, her father is an optimist!
Something to read ...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
while I update posts.
Pictures from the Paralympic Games.
and
The Brave New World of Digital Intimacy.
Just another day at the office
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Yesterday I was having lunch at the cafeteria with Elena when she started coughing. Then making strange sounds. Then pointing at her throat and turning a nice shade of purple. Having received extensive training for such cases, it did not take me long to recognize the international sign language for "I am fucking choking". I immediately took action and proceeded to punch her in the stomach, in a modified Heimlich maneuver. By then she was bent over on her chair, wheezing. She was doing everything by the book. Very exciting. Then some party pooper from a nearby table totally stole my show and started an annoying mantra of "Harder, harder, harder". He really pissed me. If you're so much better at this, you jerk, why don't you do it yourself? So he did. It worked.
So the guy helped. Big deal. I'd like to take credit for saving her life, even though she's one step ahead of me on the corporate ladder and her demise might facilitate my unstoppable ascension. I think my response to the situation was nothing short of heroically selfless.
We spent the afternoon in the ER killing time trying to figure out what was wrong with our fellow patients. Having watched many an episode of House, it's surprising we did not come up with several diagnosis of Lupus.
I hope the world is still here tomorrow morning
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Gloom and doom.
Yes, I know, they think nothing is going to happen. They are wrong so often it's really scary.
Tight schedule
Friday, September 5, 2008
Jimena, my niece, is in town with her boyfriend. She's almost 4 months pregnant, with the cutest little round belly. They arrived on Wednesday night and yesterday we had a quick bite at home and then we went to see Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I had heard plenty of good things about the movie. As usual, I did not like it. Neither did Jimena and Jose. Tonight we are meeting at PIADA. I am going there with the Italian Meetup group for their first anniversary party. We'll probably hang out downtown afterward.
Tomorrow, after rehearsal, I have three options: 1) girls night at Heba's, 2) birthday party at Martha, a colleague, 3) caipirihna-sangria party at Pedro's. Guess my choice.
Sunday I'd like to set some time apart for artsy fartsy. Next couple of weeks are going to be busy. So far the line up is as follows:
African dance on Monday.
Aperitivo on Wednesday.
Roofdeck party on Thursday.
Boat ride on Saturday.
Then
African dance on Monday.
Comedy club on Tuesday.
Aperitivo on Wednesday.
Coney Island's Tour on Sunday.
and the days are filling up quickly.
Pulling an all nighter
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
My head is finally working again, but that means I can see the shit it produced these days. Most of the work I have done on this never ending document has to be heavily, heavily edited. And so many parts are still missing. The deadline was today, and I worked from home, through a headache. It has to be done by tomorrow. I'd rather stay up as long as possible now that I am on a roll. For a while I watched the Republican Convention on CNN, then Larry King. Now I am replying to random twits. All this as background activities, though in a while I might need a coffee break.
My fault
Monday, September 1, 2008
I am working on Labor Day. True I haven't felt good all of last week (today I am almost, almost fine), but still. Now I have a long document to finish by tomorrow night and I still can't focus. Argh!!!! I am dividing it in more manageable chunks (psychological trick) and really looking forward to an African dance class later on.
Disturbingly crazy
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Today was my second day off work. My throat is killing me and I was feeling like shit yesterday. It's still killing me now but I can't stay home another day, I have a document with a tight deadline and will have to work through the weekend. So instead of doing anything vaguely productive yesterday and today, I surfed the web. That's it. That's all I did. That and chat/talk with friends. The good thing about not being at the office during the day is that I can call friends in Europe at decent hours. So I chatted/talked to Gabriela, M.A., his mother (it was her birthday yesterday) and Quique. I also played a bit with SecondLife and somehow landed on this gem of a blog. I am still unsure whether the woman is completely bonkers or I should alert Amnesty International! If you google the name of the doctor on youtube, you will get to watch a video version of the blog.
Cougar on the prowl
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday I had dinner with Pam, Dawn and a friend of hers from Pennsilvanya at Dos Caminos. Then we joined a group of Egyptian guys friends of Hany at the Bull and Bear Bar. One of them, probably in his thirties, was kind of interesting. On the cute side, spoke several languages, cocky with a good sense of humor. Too bad he had an MBA. And too bad whatever bad intentions I had got derailed a little later on. From the bar we all came home for a brief stop so I could take a shower and change and they could check my roofdeck and then we went over to the Opal. It had been years since I was last there. I used to go with M.A. all the time, and it's one of the places (actually there only a couple of them) from which I stay away to avoid missing him like crazy. Still, it paid to overcome my heartbreak :)
I walked in, tried to walk across the dance floor to get to the corner of the bar. Never made it. Very nice looking black boy in his twenties lassoed me and never let me go. By the time the rest of my group had made its way to the bar I was already grinding to the music (a tamer version than this girl, obviously). The guy was very cute and very driven, as men tend to be at that age. He also had gorgeous friends he did not mind sharing. So I danced, and I danced and I danced some more. Then I realized it was time to either put out or stop dancing with him. That's what I tried to do, given that I am not really interested in random sex with strangers. It was not an easy task though, I had to use every trick in the book, the fake phone call, the text messages, the dancing with the guys in my party, the fascinating conversation with a girl friend. He kept coming for more. Finally I decided to leave. I walked across the dance floor again, towards the exit, and was grabbed by another twenty something. Too bad I was working on Saturday. No way I could stay.
I was surprised when thing like this happened to me when I was myself in my 20s but I am frankly thrilled at how they happen way more consistently now that I am hitting 50. I was by far the oldest broad in the club, the most covered up too. And I certainly was not dipping to the floor (can't do that even if I tried - too many years of high impact aerobics and dance). I am aware it would be totally pathetic if I was to define my own worth by how many hard ons I am able to produce, but it would also be a flat out lie if I said I don't care. I do. I love it.
Saturday the friends of friends and I saw Fuerza Bruta (LOVED IT!) and then met Juan and Leandro at The Ritz. The place was so packed it was impossible to breathe, let alone dance, so I just tried for a while and then gave up.
Memory jolt
Friday, August 22, 2008
Reading from New York On Tap:
A succession of straight bars (Ice Bar, Patio) have tried and failed to make a home here. Now it's finally gay as the day with the aim of providing an upscale alternative to its next door neighbors The Urge and The Cock.That's it! That's the name of the club from last week! The Urge! Yup, a very classy establishment indeed ...
I agree
maybe not a 100%, actually, certainly not a 100% (I always cringe at patronizing undertones), but it is still a good read:
Confused
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Saturday night, after the pre-show ceviche and mojito snack at Mercadito, after the show, after the bar with the long funny name I can't remember, and after the gay place with the half naked dancers on the bar (where I saw a guy who is a host/judge on some reality show I don't watch so I can't remember his name and it's driving me up the wall), we went to Star Lounge, or at least that's where I think we were, although it's very difficult to tell from the web reviews. It sure was in the basement of the Chelsea Hotel. Tough door policy? Celebrities? Where???? We walked in, no problemo, no line, no nothing. Inside, tons of B&T people, 99,9% gay. I don't know about prices because I only had water, but it did not seem such a big deal of a place at all.
Yesterday the friends of friends and I did the Brooklyn Bridge, tried to get to Grimaldi's but it was too late and they were only doing take out, and ended up at Toro. Nothing panasian when we got there. The kitchen was closed so we had very ordinary bison hamburgers before venturing to the top floor and its all black crowd. And I mean ALL black. I was the only blonde in there. Lots of brothers, some latinos. The friends of friends found it very interesting.
Senior workout
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Conductorcise!!! Yup, that's what we did this morning on Park Ave., in broad daylight, perfectly sober. Yup, no shame here.
To dos ...
Friday, August 15, 2008
I tried making these paper flowers yesterday (in the middle of the night) and now I want to make them as a present for the hostess on Sunday. I also like these, and these, and these.
I also want to try and make some felt so I can copy these hats.
I have to buy a frame and decorate it to match my little painting for Ana.
And I'd like to get to Girls Girls Girls one more time on Sunday, after dinner.
There ... and I still haven't sent Gabriela the letters she needed translated ...
I am a little behind, I know
Sunday, my NJ experience ...
Monday, dinner with friends of friends ...
Tuesday, I don't remember ...
Wednesday, drinks and dinner with the Arab crowd ...
Thursday, stayed home ...
Friday, I am meeting Rommy at Mercadito after work, then going to see COBU, then meeting the friends of friends
Tomorrow it's Summer Streets in the morning with Meriem, then I will be working from home, both on the mini-video and a text (passing on rehearsals tomorrow). I've been invited to a party in the evening, but I might go to the movies.
Then it gets complicated: Sunday I have a brunch in D.C. and a dinner in NY. And I had promised Daniel I would visit him in Connecticut. And Pam is coming to NY in the evening. I will probably just stay home and work a bit, go to the gym, go out for brunch in NY and then go to my dinner party.
I still have to post about the NJ experience ...
Pathetic
Saturday, August 9, 2008
I was all worked up about going out dancing yesterday. But then on my way home I stopped at the Plaza, our little outdoor cafe/bar and this guy at our table bought a second bottle of wine, so I had a second glass of wine (between the protesters screaming at the top of their lungs and the band playing loudly, you couldn't really talk much) and then I got home, started reading up on the club we were going, eat something and promptly fell asleep. Ugh!
They give me the creeps
Monday, August 4, 2008
Yesterday I had dinner at the Water Club with Dawn.
Nearby, a big "happy family" was celebrating a grandfather's birthday. To me, of course, they all looked like deviants. I don't know what is it about "proper" families that make me immediately think of awful secrets and pent-up hate. No wonder I was never into having one of my own. For some reason I don't have the same reaction to lower class families, but as soon as I see "fine people", "people like us", men in beige slacks or, even worse, blue jackets, women with foulards and little girls in dresses, I get immediately suspicious. I wonder what's behind that painstakingly built facade. I get the same feeling in white picket fence suburbia, the breeding ground of serial killers. I don't buy into the charade. For similar reasons I also intensely distrust people who don't drink. I don't have a problem with alcoholics who stay dry, obviously, but I don't trust teetotalers. I wonder what they are hiding that they cannot let go. Recently priests and nuns creep me out too. Just watch "Deliver us from evil" and feel the revulsion factor grow. My lack of respect for men of the cloth has gradually transformed into absolute despise.
Last time I was in Rome, a couple of years ago, a priest visited the house of the friends with whom we were staying. I tried to ignore the calls from the kids, beckoning me to come say hi to the guy. I stayed put in my room, hoping they would tire. They did not. These kids are being raised Catholics and I was a guest of their parents, so I actually had to get out of the room, go meet the guy, shake his hands and maintain some kind of pointless chitchat, all the while thinking I was associating with scum.
And speaking of authority figures, I don't get people who look back at childhood as a happy time in their life. I hated every minute of it. I hated being a teenager too, although I did have lots of fun behind the back of the authority figures in my life. As a child and as a teen I felt controlled by adults, adults I did not particularly like nor admired, in a state of complete dependency. Life, in my book, starts when you get rid of those petty tyrants, the day when it's not their house, their rules any more, but your house, your rules. Your life, finally! And boy, so far it just rocks.
Roller Rink
Marc, Pedro and I had a grand time at Dreamland yesterday!
Marc on his first try on roller skates.
