Bytes from the Big Apple

Hands up, who wants that title to be on the top of my blog??? Any other suggestions?

Get a cup of tea and put your feet up for this one, it's a saga!

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The Big Move

Where to start..............I arrived on the afternoon of Thursday the 29th after the easiest flight I have ever taken. On departure, there were no emotions at all - in fact, I fell asleep during taxi and was sort of awake during take-off. My neighbor was an amiable old fellow originally from Armenia and he and I got along splendidly.


Parkchester, where I am staying with my cousin for now

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The Shopping Day

Friday I went to Macy's and got my 11% discount visitor card good for 5 days from issue (note well, in case you need it: go to the Visitor Center upstairs, show them your passport or out of state driver's license and they'll hand it over no problem). Bought a couple of Givenchy necklaces, one gold and crystal choker and one short necklace studded with brown Swarovski crystals. I also satisfied my usual desire for Ralph Lauren clothing. I don't need Macy's for anything else really, not if I can always go to Filene's Basement. More on that another time.


The Empire State Building at night

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Staying Downtown

It is warm and summery here now, and by Saturday I was already slimming down and feeling energetic and healthy. My hair is soft, my skin is soft, my lung capacity is greater, no aches and pains, and no black soot in my nostrils.


Approaching Grand Central Station, the shiny Hyatt, and the Chrysler building, along 42nd Street

Saturday afternoon I checked in at the Park Lane Grand Hyatt at Grand Central, a rather nice establishment I must say. Got my room on the 25th floor.


That, I must say, is a very comfy bed


There were more toiletries than I could shake a stick at all over the bathroom


A room with a view...of 42nd Street and Grand Central

My black slippers from London no longer fit in the warm weather, so I had to run out to buy a pair in the afternoon. I was heading in the general direction of Macy's when across the road on Madison Avenue I spotted a swanky looking Payless Shoe Source, it's amazing the nice places that utilitarian shoe store pops up. You get great looking shoes, pretty good quality, for peanuts.

So $24.99 (for shoes, no tax under $100) gave me black patent peep toe kitten heels. Here is my outfit for the dinner:

As I walked down the street feeling very SATC, some old guy commented as he passed me, "Nice lady...", in all a very New York moment.

The event was held at a brasserie which serves "little plates" and my favorite thing to do is make a smorgasbord. As I was not very hungry, I had two lobster and artichoke spring rolls, and a plate of calamari washed down with sangria, and my dessert was puff pastry with whipped cream and raspberry coulis. The restaurant started us out with flutes of champagne and finished us off with tiny glasses of sweet muscat dessert wine.

It rained that night, and for the 3 blocks back to the hotel, I walked in it, enjoying the warm air and the warm droplets on my skin and the warm water in my shoes...




Back in my room I got a bit artistic with things. My bouquet on the windowsill of my room with the night view behind.


Good night New York

Surprise Post!

Yesterday, I did not regret braving the driving rain and biting wind to meet with fellow blogger Rick, he of Palm Springs fame, in South Kensington for tea. It was a bank holiday, so he had the day off from his frenetic business trip schedule. (The weather was so bad, the streets were nearly deserted.)



Rick is a most stylish fellow - too bad you can't see the ubiquitous cravat - so I had to dig an outfit out of my suitcase for the occasion. We had a lovely time together, but time cuts short even the best conversations, so this can be continued when I finally get round to visiting everyone in Southern California. (Yes, Nikki and Roomie, this includes you!)

I should not even be blogging at this moment (quiet keystrokes!). I have a million and one things to do....but it gave a nice ending to make an American connection in London before I go "home".

Olivia's Almost Ex-London Dispatches

As you can see from my blog's current title, we're nearing the end of an era. I'm pleased that you are all coming along with me. Though how you all still fit into my laptop is beyond me ;)

Thursday will be the day when I say goodbye to England for the second time in my life. I've started to describe it as "re-emigrating". Cuts a long story short.

I can't wait! But also, it isn't sinking in yet apart from moments of brief wowness when I realise/realize what I am doing. (Note, I will be reverting to American spellings.)

Or maybe it's just because my room looks like a bomb hit it. I mean, someone needs to send in the troops to clear up, if any can be spared just now. This to me is an immense stress, having to get rid of things in a country that doesn't know what a yard sale is, where few people own pickup trucks, and one must lug everything to some faraway charity shop.

When this is all over, I deserve a holiday.

Anyway, this address will stay the same, but I am starting afresh next week under a new title. This means hitting that big DELETE button in the settings tab...I'll grit my teeth and do it.
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Don't worry, all is not lost: I'm backing up my posts from the last three years to my spare Wordpress blog. Hehe, had you going there for a minute, didn't I? So you can still go there if you want to look up old topics...as if....

I will try to do a final post later this week, and of course visit you all before I fly.

Have a happy holiday Monday, whether you're tolerating the inevitably rainy Bank Holiday in the UK or celebrating Memorial Day in the USA.

Listen to the planets

There is a great interactive solar system at Spacesounds.com where you can listen to the "music of the spheres".

You can also hear flight recordings from space missions here, including Apollo 13.
(I watched it again for the nth time on Sunday - anyone else see it? - and appreciate it even more, hence this post.)

Thanks to their years of intensive military and mission training, the astronauts would have remained extremely calm. Lovell's famed "Houston, we have a problem" sounds surprisingly matter-of-fact, compared to the panic portrayed in the movie. (If you can hang on until 14 minutes in, out of a total of 38.) Throughout the crisis, from troubleshooting to resolution, you may perceive that the crew have snapped into a familiar military operation mode.

Those were the days of heroes...

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And now to the point of this post:

Join me on a tour of our universe...!

You will hear radio and gamma waves and elecromagnetic pulses converted into frequencies audible to humans.


Turn up the volume and listen to Jupiter (and enjoy the video):

Personally, I can't get enough of it.



Now turn the volume down a bit (tis scary) and listen to Saturn - with lots of info:

More here:
NASA's SSE Galileo site


And here is the sound of our Earth:

Planetary Multi-Pack: Here are a Uranian moon (Miranda), a Jovian moon (Io), Neptune, Uranus, our melodic Earth, and a very eerie Saturn:

You've got to love the universe even more now, for you have heard it.

Friends are diamonds, and diamonds are...

Friday was my last day at the office, where I had pleasant farewells, a card and gift. I left half an hour after I meant to simply because you keep finding one more thing you were working on and didn't finish, to pass on. Plus people want to hear what you'll be up to, so they stop you for a chat or come by your desk. I got hardly anything done, but they said that was alright.

Finally tore myself away, forgot to hand in my access card, and asked the front desk to let me out not knowing it was in my bag.

Once out on the street, I felt dazed. I couldn't believe I wasn't going back. Now, if this is how I feel after working there for only a few months, imagine when I leave somewhere after a few years.

Then I went off to my oldest/bestest friend's house to see Lydia, her Mum, twin brother, and Dad. Their house, let me tell you, is a little gem. It's so pretty and so cute. Every room is spotless, tastefully decorated, and the walls emanate peace and love. I even went to the loo and didn't want to leave!

After a couple of hours of chatting and giggling, we went to meet our mutual friend Angela. It was a triple celebration - Lydia's new project at the BBC, Angela's completion of her child studies course, and my farewell. Despite being old friends, Lyds and I gradually lost touch with Angela after she married and had her two kids. Last year for my birthday, Angela and I met up for the first time in a decade. Yes, it took me an entire year to manage this meetup since in the last year Lyds has been touring all over, studying a short course, and sometimes working 7 days a week, and Angela has been studying full time and bringing up her boys, one of whom was diagnosed with epilepsy earlier this year (it is thankfully under control after a trying few months).

Both their lives have settled down now, and ironically just when I leave Lydia gets a job a couple of stops from where I was working, and on the same 10am - 6pm schedule as I was on! What can you do...???

Anyway, we three girls ate yummy Thai food, were the last out of the restaurant, and when we left they gave us each a carnation wrapped in cellophane and finished with a curly ribbon. At one point I tuned out of the conversation, watching Lyds and Ange chatting away, and I felt sad that we hadn't been able to do this more often. But once again, what can you do???

Tomorrow I am going to Lydia's house again for some of her Mum's gorgeous Greek food. I've known this lovely family for nearly as long as my own. I don't even remember meeting Lydia, but it was at nursery so we may have been 2 or 3. I'm just as close with her brother Anthony. They call me "the other sibling". And so I call their mum Aunty, or Thia in Greek. Whenever my Mum went to hospital (she nearly died in the mid-80s), Thia would come and pack a bag and take me away, and the twins, being artistic, would create lovely hand drawn get well cards. Lyds and I would be afraid of the dark together, and we both remember the one night we imagined we saw a pair of red eyes in the halway. (Brrrr, just thinking of it gives me goosebumps.) Then Dad would pick me up when Mum was discharged, but I never wanted to go back home. I would sulk for the rest of the day. I now realise this wasn't fair on my poor Mumsy.

After nursery, Angela joined our school. Lydia and Angela and I were close. Other girls came and went, but it was always us. But Lyds and I were the core, inseperable. The teachers usually muddled our names up in class, and we even started ballet together. Still, undergoing the usual social development, we three would "break up and make up" in various combinations. Then we would pass "love notes" in class: "Are you still my freind?" (Angela always switched the i and e.) Lydia swears I came up with the idea of Yes and No boxes. Of course they always ticked the Yes box.

Here are the twins at my birthday celebration last year:





Alors, je suis finis. Would you believe I started this post with nothing to say?

A Treat

Although I had a long day (we were short one secretary), there was a lovely bright spot.

When I went to buy my sandwich the barista noticed it was the same as yesterday's (new artisan baguette with prosciutto ham, tomato, basil, cheese, mayo, and I like it). So I told her I was taking advantage of it because tomorrow is my last day at the office. All of them are so used to me now, so she offered me a free coffee, any type, but I don't drink coffee so I got a free hot chocolate :)

The staff are really friendly there so I told the manager that I think Pret has the best behind the counter service in London.

Really made my day!

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Now, read this small article I found in the Metro (free newspaper) yesterday:

Texting costs are 'out of this world'

Text messaging costs four times as much as receiving information from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. It cost £85 to obtain a megabyte of data from Hubble, 595 km (370 miles) from Earth, as opposed to sending a 5p text, which works out at about £375 per megabyte. Scientist Nigel Bannister, of Leicester University, said: 'Hubble is by no means a cheap mission - but the mobile phone text costs were pretty astronomical'.

Bits n Bobs

At this very moment I am watching on BBC Four a documentary about the Crooners (Sinatra, Deano, Nat King Cole et al) and they've got to Tony Bennett.

The narrator said, "Tony was born in 1926, at the height of the Great Depression..."

Tell me what is amiss with this line. And somebody fire that researcher. And the narrator for not spotting it. And the producers

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I thought of so many things to share with you today.

I was the last person out of the office at 6.30pm. Don't worry, I left at 7pm last week, as two consultants were quibbling over whose work I got to do first, but I was only the second to last then.

Well, if someone gives you meeting papers to copy, assemble, and bind for the last post at 5pm, and it's 3pm, then they're not going to bind themselves and they are just going to have to go on Monday.

What's more the master copy was out of order and I spent half an hour unmuddling myself and reshuffling the papers. I think I got it right. I've only just got the hang of assembling these things, and am now just about familiar enough with administration reports, Trustee reports and accounts, quarterly reports, business plans, and so on, to be able to look at them and understand what they are.

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Last night I had a dream. I was seeing all manner of 20s/30s jazz and dance being performed onstage. It was like a mishmash of "Anything Goes", "Thoroughly Modern Millie", the Charleston, Fred Astaire, and the Radio City Rockettes.

I started crying and wailed, "See? I told you I was born in the wrong decade!"

Oh to live in the 20s


When "sex appeal" was invented. At this early level I think I'd be in with a chance!

How to dance the Black Bottom


How to dance the Charleston



My Dad taught Vanessa and me the Charleston one day at the dorms. (He had been a dancer in his youth and was a champion at the Twist.)

The flappers were pretty wild 80 years ago, considering that Queen Victoria was still alive when some of them were born. But despite their so-called wildness, if we went back in time would we find them surprisingly naive? Or would we be scandalised at just how louche they really were?

What do you think?

Mini Med School

That was a long-ish hiatus, and I never even warned you!

So, what's been going on chez moi?

Not much apart from work.

I ended up working until 7pm yesterday to tie up loose ends, as it will be a long weekend with Bank Holiday Monday coming up. I took today off to go to the hospital for my long awaited echocardiogram which was recommended after my electrocardiogram last month. Damn, but the ultrasound thing really hurts - in searching for the best image of my heart they keep kneading the probe into all that sensitive tissue upholstering my female ribs. Go on, have you ever heard it described that way before?

It was a lovely sunny morning in the upper 50s to low 60s (avg 15C) so I wore a nice Ralph Lauren t-shirt and my cotton safari jacket. I preferred to briskly walk the 45 minutes (including getting slightly lost) rather than take the Tube or bus, both horrific roundabout journeys lasting an hour. Got hot and removed the jacket, and when I arrived I was sweating - for the first time in MONTHS! It felt great!

Anyway, I walked unscathed through Harlesden, appropriately comparable to Harlem, or more likely the South Bronx. I did receive a number of stares for looking distinctly out of place.

I arrived the alloted 15 minutes early but ended up waiting an hour even though there were only a handful of people in the waiting room (unusual for the NHS).

The reason I was given this test is because on my visits to the doctor after the shingles, the nurse was unhappy with my blood pressure and heart rate. When I was a teenager, a doctor said she thought I had a heart murmur and should get it checked out before I have children. A few years later another said he could hear a distinct click and whoosh and thought I had mitral valve prolapse (MVP), which is when the mitral valve doesn't close properly, flaps about a bit, and allows blood to seep back into the chamber (mitral regurgitation). This results in a higher risk of infection, so for instance, before going to the dentist I'd take a prophylactic course of antibiotic tablets the morning of the procedure, and then again afterwards. Bleurgh. This is to protect against any bacteria that might get into the bloodstream through the gums. More recently this treatment has been found to be unnecessary.

There are also frequent flutters, skipped or extra beats, and tachycardia (rapid heart rate).
MVP and tachycardia are often symptomatic of a condition called dysautonomia. It is a fickle and varied state, an imbalance of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates the glands and unconscious functions such as breathing and digestion. I have little control over my adrenal glands, for instance, and so it takes very little anticipation to have me awash in adrenaline but because I don't need to run anywhere, I must endure a half hour of weak knees, shaky hands, and some breathlessness due to the hammering heart until it wears off. What's more, sometimes just a half thought can cause my heart to leap. Finally, I sigh a lot and I'm really really easily startled - even if I know someone's coming I can hit the ceiling. Other symptoms of dysautonomia are easy bruising, forgetfulness, frequent headaches, fatigue, panic attacks, joint discomfort, fainting, orthostatic hypotension (dizziness when standing up) aaand so on. For me, personally, the unwanted "fight or flight" state ties for worst with the 2-hour periods of tachycardia when I can sit there feeling as though I've just stepped off the treadmill, only without the sweat.

Then there's the fatigue. Days when you wake up feeling drugged after a long struggle to wake up, somehow glued to the bed because your limbs are deadweight. You drag yourself to work, fighting for every step, then sit glued to the chair, holding your head up with an effort. Lifting your hand to the desk is almost out of the question. You just want to fall face forward into the soup, so to speak. For me, such episodes usually last until mid morning or early afternoon, when it seeps away and then suddenly I bounce up ready to start another day just when everyone else is winding down.

But we very often present as normal people since the symptoms are not always simultaneous, so on good days I doubt whatever happened on bad days. In this way you can go for years without treatment or acknowledgement. You also don't want to walk into a doctor's surgery sounding like a hypochondriac. My current GP is a classic product of the NHS in that the last time I was there and tried to bring up a few of my long-term complaints she clinically shot them down, making me feel rather foolish, and then sat there looking defiance - I think they train them as I've seen it on other British docs' faces before - and probably thinking, "I dare you to come up with another one." This is so that she can get me out of her office in the allotted 10 minutes.

It is 180 degrees from my doc in Houston, who told me that no question was ever a stupid question, so one day I brought up everything that had been troubling me, and in this way he was both kind doctor and reassuring therapist. I left the office that day with a bloody cauterised sinus but all aglow with confidence inside, rather than the mumbling booby I was at my GP last month.

It's ironic since because, let's see, in the US I may have gone to the doctor about 6 times in 14 years. Here, thanks to all the stress and malaise I've been about 6 times in 5 months.

On the other hand, there I went to the dentist every six months. Here, I've been unable to find one so haven't seen one since I visited my old one last time I stopped in Texas (2004).

What's more, I've been to a hospital twice this year (for the ECG and Echo). The last time I saw the inside of one, apart from visiting people, was when I was a few months old and had aspirated some milk which led to an infection and high fever. (Preemies have lazy swallowing reflexes).

Hm. This post became so much longer than I had intended. I always do this when I think I have nothing to blog about. Therefore I ought to blog more often.

Workaday images

The office last week was in chaos. Work backed up on Friday as we packed crates to be moved a short walk down the road over the weekend, to the new office in America Square (I know, a positive omen?). Monday, further business and more jeans-wearing as we unpacked and got dusty again. Tuesday I got some work done but wasted lots of time looking for things. I am still faffing about with the printers which don't work properly. I think that tomorrow, though, I will be able to catch up all the way.



Ibex House, an original 1937 Art Deco office building on The Minories. I post this for comparison with our new office:


America Square, our new office building just off The Minories. I like to call it modern Art Deco. Even in the fact that no detail is overlooked. The lifts are shiny, with lots of blue LED lights. I will have to try to take more photos. You enter the spacious lobby through revolving doors, and pass your card over what looks like the barcode reader at a checkout, set into stainless steel posts, and then "beep, whoosh" the little frosted glass gates slide open and you can enter.
Also the bathrooms - floor to ceiling frosted glass doors. Modern sinks sitting on the countertop. Bright clinical light so you can see the speck in your eye, yet not unkind to your complexion like the old fluorescents.




In the shiny lift, where you have to present your card in order to ascend to a floor
I look so serious! I am not sure I am allowed to take photos in this building, but I'm probably making that up.



Just outside Tower Hill tube station is this sundial
In the background you see part of the Tower of London



Wembley Stadium in the distance, left


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Today I was hot in my coat for the first time! I have a sneaking suspicion we might be approaching spring!

Is it spring yet?

When I left the house yesterday to go to work, I kept getting whiffs of manure. I thought someone had mulched their garden, but that's not really done around here. Walking up the street I kept glancing backwards and into the distance over the hill, as if I were expecting to see a giant stinky airship, I don't know! In addition to the usual grey sky, cold wind and dampness there was a light fog, which is forecast to last all week.

I was right to trust my instinct as I read in the paper that evening that this is the time of year when French and Belgian farmers usually do one big fertilisation of their fields. The smell had built up over the Continent for days during still conditions before a brisk wind came up and moved it to southern England.

Londoners spent all morning thinking they'd stepped in something, and the radio switchboards were alight with people wondering what on earth was going on.

Pepe le Pew, that's what!

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Anyway, it will rain for the rest of the weekend so the whiffy air is gone. But it's so cold, so grey, so damp, so windy! I'm still in layers, and my tired wool coat, and my tired cashmere scarf, and my tired 4 paris of black boots... :(
I'm thinking the extra daylight was a trick and it's still January.

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The Union Jack flies at the Ritz

These boys are guaranteed to light up my day! Two legends on one stage!

Marathon Birthday

Of course it's a great day for the London Marathon: grey, rainy, some hail, some sun, 8C (46F) with a possible high of 12C (53F). Good temps for running.

Those poor Maasai warriors have probably never felt anything like it though. They have never been outside their village in Tanzania before, but this year they opened the marathon and are running to raise money so that their village can obtain fresh drinking water. They will be in traditional clothing, carrying their shields and spears, wearing sandals made of rubber tires, and chanting - just as they do at home - and hope to complete the marathon in 4 hours.

They can run for days at a time hunting food and water and herding cattle, so this little marathon will be a walk in the park.


Near London Bridge



On the Tube

Because London is a completely alien experience, they were given a four-page cultural briefing that included info such as:

"Even though some may look like they have a frown on their face, they are very friendly people - many of them just work in offices, jobs they don't enjoy, and so they do not smile as much as they should."

"You cannot rely on the sun to tell the time accurately and will have to rely on clocks and watches. The sun will rise and set at different times." [Me. If they see the sun at all.]

"Whereas at home for you it is acceptable to spit, in England it is not but, if you have to, you must do so in a sink or in some trees when no one is looking." [Me. Then they'll be the only people not spitting on the street.]

"You will see many people who are wearing only small clothes and you will wonder why they are cold and may think they are being disrespectful....This is normal for England, especially when it is sunny or in the evening. However, it is illegal to show certain parts of the body and for this reason it is important that you wear underpants if you are wearing your blankets."

To read more, visit the article in the Daily Mail.

This just in:
Unsurprisingly, the first six men across the line were Kenyan with one American coming fifth. A Brit came in 5 minutes later.

The rest will be straggling in until well after sunset. Some people in costumes, raising money for various charities, may take a few more days!

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And now on to my birthday on Thursday.

I took the day off and my mother came along since she had the day off. This may be our last birthday together in a long time, and I wanted to spend the day in town appreciating London before I leave it.

1) Lunch with Lydia


Lydia is my oldest friend. We have known each other for over 27 years. We don't even remember meeting.



After lunch at Cumin Indian restaurant

2) Chores and banking

3) Wandering around Carnaby Street


One of three handbag flowerpots on a ledge outside a shop in funky Kingly Court, off Carnaby Street



The signed card that greeted me back at work thenext morning! It made my day.


As fine a sunset as you will get in London

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Addendum:
I've just received a final comment on my previous post.

Mark said: Some nice pics there. I think you secretly like living in London (despite the tales of travel delays)!! You'll miss it if you move away!?

No, Mark, I won't miss it enough to regret leaving and I didn't miss it before I came back.
And I can take nice pics anywhere, you'll see!

What I will miss are little things like perhaps some favourite foods and products. (I will make a list soon.) Also I might experience those split second sensory flashbacks, just as I do now with memories of Texas which come unbidden as I sit at my desk in the office. That's life.

First week of April

Except that I do want to complain about the 2.5 hour commute I endured on Tuesday morning. There were no eastbound services on the Tube, and I work at the eastern end of the Metropolitan Line. And it had taken 45 minutes southbound, stuck in a tunnel for half of it, to find that out! Followed by 3 buses and then a 15 minute walk.

Oh, not to mention a power outage on the entirety of the line I live along, on Thursday evening. Some people were stuck underground for 3 hours.
Fortunately it started before I left the office and so I took the Met line and a bus.

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My suburban street (spacious Edwardian houses) on a typical grey day. Once upon a time it was probably tree-lined with these huge trees, but they have been lopped to halt the damage caused to the house foundations.



I went for a little ramble last week because it was still light when I left the office!
Here you see Spitalfield's old shops.



Spitalfield's new shopping street next to the shiny ABN Amro building (see top left corner), Spitalfields Church, and the old shops opposite all span centuries



Christ Church Spitalfields, 300 years old, restored in 2004 not as a church but a venue



Lincoln, the life of the party, taking a nap whilst trying not to miss a thing.



With my honorary nephew, taking a guess as to where the phonecam was pointing, hence all the empty space.



Alicia and me covered in grins.



Snow on Saturday, my early birthday present.



Very wet clumpy snow which fell off soon after and melted.

The Cute List

This follows on from the Hot List I posted last week.

As you will see, my taste in females is more eclectic, though it seems I'm consistent with the almond-shaped eyes. There would have been more, only I can't remember enough to find them.



Clockwise from top left: Kristin Kreuk, Katherine Heigl, Aishwarya Rai, Thandie Newton

Kristin Kreuk hails from Vancouver, BC. She is half Dutch, half Chinese and Jamaican. She is ever so cute in Smallville. I wish her character had fallen in love with with Clark instead of Lex. Despite not watching the show, two cast members have made it to my list. (See Hot List for Tom Welling.)

Katherine Heigl is German and Irish from Washington, DC. Not usually the look I go for, but she usually comes across as a transplant from the 1940s silver screen. Unfortunately it was difficult saving those pics. And she does a great job being Izzy in Grey's Anatomy.

Aishwarya Rai, the Bollywood princess from Mumbai. Her eyes are legendary; it's too bad I hear she's not a very nice person. I would have liked to stick to principles and leave her out for that reason, but then you wouldn't have had a list of four.

Thandie Newton is a Londoner with a Zimbabwean mother and English father, and has been on my list since I saw her in MI:2. She is such a chameleon that she looks different in every photo. Her style is impeccable and she is a real doll, perfect for dressup. So obviously, I love all her outfits!

Sorry I couldn't put up more images but it was almost past my bedtime when I started this post!
Memo - *awaiting the verdict*
Matt - adding any to your list?

This is not the end of my lists. Coming soon are the oldie classic guys and gals for Planethalder.

Plan A

TO DO:

Next week I plan to do a list of actresses to match my Hot List of actors. My problem is when I see an attractive girl on screen I say so, but can't look her up on IMDB because I don't know her name. I'm working on it, though.

For Planethalder, I will also do a hot list of vintage Hollywood hunks, and that's much easier since their names are legendary.

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UPDATE:

But for now, here's the situation. After a very dark emotional crisis over the long Easter weekend, I have decided to accelerate my move back to the US to the end of May. It's when I was originally planning to go, before I agreed to stay in this temp role until August. I thought I could make it but I can't. The next few months I liken to an aircraft stuck in a holding pattern before landing. Why hang around wasting fuel?

It's every little thing that has happened and piled up since last year. Added to that the fact that I've felt deep down for a couple of years that the time for departure was approaching. I need to change things now, before the major part of yet another year passes in stagnation.

Since making my decision, my mood has improved so much, my spirit feels lighter, and I feel less angry and stressed inside. Things about life here that would normally have me snapping or grumbling, I can now let go with little more than a shake of the head, because I can see the end of it. You should have seen me chatting, smiling and joking around at work yesterday. It was approaching my old self. It makes me sad that although my colleagues there like me, they have no idea. Except for one of the directors, who is always fun on the phone when he calls and gets redirected to me. Yesterday I returned as good as I got and he commented with delight that this must be the real Olivia, not the usual cool and professional one.

I want to recapture the strong, outgoing, resourceful, independent person I used to be before what I am now becomes permanent. I probably need a period of "rehabilitation".

I know that it won't be a bed of roses, or paradise. It might not even be the solution to my situation, but the odds are greater that things will be better. Because the bottom line is, the things I want, the life I aspire to lead, the lifestyle I need for my general well-being, are not here.

So that's that. I am going home.

The Hot List

OK. For the girls (and one or two boys (as far as I know)):

My current four faves:



Josh Lucas (1971, Little Rock, Arkansas) - has been on my list the longest. Check out those piercing blue eyes. Looking great in uniform - I first noticed him in this movie (Stealth - very cool jet fighter).




Chris Evans (1981, Boston, Massachusetts) - the one with the most official body shots, for a very good reason. Polishes up well for GQ, though. Lovely long eyelashes and soft eyes. The newest addition to my list and the baby of the bunch.



Tom Welling (1977, New York City) - the cutie boy next door with gorgeous eyes and an air of mischievous innocence. Despite being a former model, has the least body shots. I'm 16 days older than he is.



Jensen Ackles (1978, Dallas) - had to get a Texas boy in there. Hm, he does look a bit like the one in the baseball team who asked me to the high school Prom. I refused to give him my number. *kicks self*

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Do you see a theme here?

Happy Easter

Happy Easter...
Joyeux Paques...
Christos Anesti...

...and all that...am not really observing it this year, unfortunately.

Have you noticed how freezing it is in the UK this weekend? We pretty much had a sleet blizzard on and off all day. Brrrrrrr. It's the kind of damp and pervasive English cold that attacks any part of you that's not under the hot shower and gives you cold shoulders, nose and toes in the house.

Good thing Monday is a holiday (as was Friday).

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What you see below is my light ball being reflected on the underside of the one-piece lamp. Occasionally I like to gawk at the light ball for a few minutes before falling asleep. This particular effect, though, captivated me the other night as soon as I switched the lamp off.

It kind of looks like pop art doesn't it? Who knew, me doing pop art? I know! Oof...

Typecast yourself

I took it twice and got the same result, so here it is:





Now it's YOUR turn.

Another spree

Okayyyy, so I went shopping AGAIN, this time with my mother. (She doesn't know about the first one though, so shhhh.) But I replenished her supply of White Musk!


1) So my hands smell of violets when I wash them...mmmmmmm...Italian toiletries are ace.

2) You know I like buttons. Well, here are some square ones on a sweet top by Nougat. The lacework yoke isn't bad either.

3) One of the Nine West sport luxe collection. I was not looking for boots but they were an unbeatable 71% off (£115 down to £34). You can never have too many boots in a climate like this.

4) Black soap made to an ancient Moroccan recipe of extra virgin olive oil with extracts of cinnamon, eucalyptus and cedar. I cannot stop sniffing at it, the aroma is divine. Cedar gives the pungency of cinnamon a pleasant roundness - cinnamon gives the flatness of cedar a pleasant spiciness - and eucalyptus balances both with its refreshing cleanness.

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And look, it's not dark anymore when I leave the office after 6pm!

Spree Lantern Fruit

Suitably random title for an unthemed post.

I have been working hard the last couple of weeks, and we are now mostly caught up, so the other day when I got to leave at 5pm, I treated myself :)




1. Shelli Segal, bless her for making jackets in size 2. Ready for summer in linen and cotton. (My classic LBD is also "off the Laundry line".)
2. A pleasant reunion with Etienne Aigner, and in sky blue. (One of my fave pairs of shoes were by him.)
3. Some random tiny leather belt that sits discreetly on the waist. (For when I don't want a noticeable buckle.)
4. A cream t-shirt with gorgeous crocheting and lace on the yoke. (Took it home, read the label and laughed. Once again I display my penchant for Danish clothing...)

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I completely forgot to share pictures from Chinese New Year.


Paper lanterns on Gerrard Street, Soho, Chinatown's main thoroughfare



Later on, lantern light displays at Oxford Circus


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Also, a couple of weeks ago I bought a dragon fruit because Vanessa had one in Thailand and said it didn't taste of anything. The perfect reason to try it when I saw one on sale. I would try it again, just in case that particular shop wasn't carrying the best specimens.


The crimson fruit of a Mexican cactus



Tiny, crispy black seeds scattered in non-juicy flesh. It tasted almost of nothing, though I could detect a slight rooty earthiness to it.

Tag tag double tag

Minstrel tagged me, but how am I ever going to do this? Six years in London and not that much to show for it, despite living in Paul McCartney's neighbourhood for three of them...In fact, I should also have bumped into Kate Moss, Noel Gallagher, Jude Law, Sienna Miller, et al. as well.

But here goes:

The rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you.
• Leave a comment on their blog so that their readers can visit yours.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• Share the seven (7) most famous or infamous people you have met. Or go with the original 7 weird things about yourself. Or with Sandra's change and list your 7 favorite writing websites. Lots of choices!
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post.
• Include links to their blogs.
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Seven (In)famous people I have met or seen face-to-face:

1. Liza Minelli - during intermission at a showing of Curtains in New York. However, she was on TV here in London last week and I totally forgot I'd seen her in NYC!

2. The 11th Duke of Marlborough - at a gala banquet at Christie's. He looks like a slim version of Churchill. (The Spencer-Churchill family resemblance is strong. Compare Diana's father Earl Spencer too.) I also saw his grandson Alexander S-C, who made a speech.

3. At school I used to be friends with the niece of the man who invented the Bic pen.

4. My mother's childhood friend Nalini became Miss Guyana 1974. Later the two of them moved to London, where Nalini met my uncle, an artist who only dated titled ladies or models. This is how my parents met.

5. A former classmate is exiled royalty. There's also a friend who knows Prince Harry. And another friend of mine introduced me to his school chum who is a lord.

6. Charles Dance - British actor, in the deli meats aisle a few weeks ago at Waitrose on Finchley Road. He really couldn't decide between the Prosciutto di Parma and the San Daniele.

7. Princesses Beatrice & Eugenie, and their mother Sarah, Duchess of York - in the Harley Street area (lots of private consulting doctors). The girls got out of a chauffered dark car after Fergie pulled up in another one, and hugged her before she went on to enter one of the buildings with a bodyguard, and then the girls were whisked away once more.

However, my dad did much more hobnobbing in the glamour days, jet-setting with a Lady and dating a Rothschild. I bet his list would be really cool.

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I tag any of you who know enough people to populate a list!

Ad astra per aspera

Internet is currently down at the house and unfixable. Wi fi from next door is intermittent and weak. So I am relying on my good old phone as modem again. Yay Orange. I just really wanted to blog! Let me know if you prefer the larger text...

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I read this book a couple of weeks ago:



It is powerfully and tightly written, impossible to put down, and haunting once you've finished. The detailed descriptions of dog fights between MiGs and Sabres in the skies above Korea are totally thrilling. More than that, though, Ascent is about the men who dedicated their lives to the Soviet space programme, never destined to become heroes like Yuri Gagarin. The ultimate sacrifice necessitated total anonymity, expurgation from the files, even. But no one can erase a man from his comrades' minds, can they?

Mostly, it is about flying ace Yefgenii Yeremin and his devastating struggle to break the bonds of earth to fly amongst the stars. He would walk on the Dark Side of the moon, but no one would ever know, not even his colleagues....

You have to read it to find out why.

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I rarely remember my dreams anymore, but last night I finally captured one. I was part of a large team of astronauts gathered in a large facility. Some of us were coming, some of us were going. We were on non-stop relay missions in one-man capsules, to do what I do not know. I had just returned, put on my pyjamas and was off to join the others (also in PJs) in a lounge area to keep an eye on the status of those still on missions. As I went, I passed one of my friends (who in real life did used to work at Space Center Houston, next door to his father at NASA's Johnson Space Center!).

One dream I will never forget I had in my teens. I was in the space shuttle on the perilous re-entry into earth's atmosphere. I can still remember the vivid orange glow outside the cockpit windows...




Sadly, this image was captured during re-entry seconds before Columbia broke up over Texas in 2003. Crew likened the glow to a "blast furnace".
(Courtesy of NASA/Spaceflightnow.com)

If a tree falls

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?

And if I stop blogging.....?

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I am still around, just not finding the energy for anything, and steadily falling behind on your fine blogs. Sadly, I have nothing to write about, and that looks set to continue with me in this holding pattern...to get out of here...

Plus it's that dead time of year where it's holding its breath between the new year and the start of spring, after which everyone comes out of the woodwork.

I know, I need to pull my socks up and write some of those interesting research-oriented posts you've been waiting for so patiently.

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I have started using agave nectar in my tea. I can't stop sweetening my tea because it's disgusting otherwise. You know how drinking pure hot water strips the throat and makes it kind of puckery? It is not a nice feeling at all, so I add sweetness to avoid it and enhance the flavour of the tea.

I'd been on brown sugar for the past 5 years, after feeling guilty about, and subsequently going off, refined white sugar. I moved to cane sugar and it got steadily darker to the point where I am now using fairtrade organic demerara.

But sugar is sugar and what I like about agave is I get the sweetness without the glycemic index, no insulin involved, no sugar highs or lows. Also, it has none of the aftertaste of other sugar substitutes. Tis all about getting older, and thinking about what goes into the body, isn't it?

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Today at work we all got new LCD screens! My desk is suddenly spacious.

And tomorrow I finally get an ID photo card, so no more signing in on silly paper visitor slips at the front desk. This comes 5 months from the beginning and 6 months from the end. Ha!

Nite nite all
xxx

Baby Tag

Being in the family way, Planethalder has tagged me for baby pics of myself and significant other. I chose one about the same age as the one she posted, but as I have no significant other, there is another one of even tinier me.

I was probably a year old here and just learning to walk. My theory is, being in a hurry to get out I was then in no hurry to grow.



The hair hasn't changed much...well, it's neater. What I am doing with my hand could be one of three things:
1) Greek Orthodox sign of blessing
2) Texas Longhorns team sign
3) Vulcan peace sign




Like a bag of sugar with spaghetti fingers and a somewhat transparent head. There are more here. I've seen these pics countless times but suddenly today I looked at them with new eyes, forgetting they were me, and I felt so sorry for that fragile little thing I nearly melted.


We have already seen Nikki's baby pics this year, so I tag ALL of you, come on, let's see eensy weensie you!

The Good Old Days

I was perusing some old posts today and am pleased to say that I didn't always used to be as miffed about life as I am at the moment.

So, since I have absolutely nothing to blog about at the moment, why don't I share two posts from the days when I used to be informative? Those of you relatively new to my blog may be pleasantly surprised ;)

April 2006:
Vesuvius and the Ten Billion Tonnes

March 2006:
Genes and the Super Volcano

Or one from April 2005, when I was in a witty and philosophical mood:
Art and Beauty

Or a sensuous and literary mood, also in April 2005:
Violets from End to End


If you like, later this week I could share some other interesting old posts, or suggest something you'd like me to research. Let's get this blog back on its feet!

My Cave

Behold, my little space at the top of the tower:


Stairs, kitchenette area, sitting/eating area, Aston Martin on TV



Ceiling and skylight, sleeping area, dressing area and bathroom, sunrise at the top.

It's ok, but my posture certainly isn't improving!

Stupid Dogbot

First for the "aside"

I was reading a heated discussion between a Californian visiting Houston who thought there was nothing to do there, and a few residents and natives. Three responses made me giggle.

One former Californian said:
Who gives a sh*t if there aren't any mountains, all you ever did with them was look at them or maybe drive up them and look back down.

A native Texan said:
There's this thing in West Texas called the Chihuahuan Desert. It's the largest desert in North America and much cooler than the Sonoran. They even have mountains out that way. Sure, they don't really compare with the mountains in California. While you're out there in West Texas you'll notice other drivers waving at you. No, they don't have designs on your pocketbook, they're just being friendly. Strange isn't it?

And a Houstonian said:
Otherwise...you know here in Texas we have lots of quaint sayings...and one of them is that the highway you drove in on goes both ways...

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Now for the stupid dogbot

Ford is airing an intriguing series of ads for its smart Fiesta. I love that stupid dogbot but am not going to tell you why. Just watch the videos, have a laugh or say "aaahhh", and then tell me why YOU want or don't want him!

Avalanche Dogbot:



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Head Trap Dogbot:



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Deadly Gramophone Dogbot:



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Bringing Down the Moon Dogbot:



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Water Hydrant Dogbot:



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Hamsterball Dogbot:

Arrrrggghhhhh [Addendum]

OK, it started yesterday, this nonsense...

But first the background. The kitchen for tenants' use is in a room the size of a large boiler closet. I can probably touch the walls from the centre of the room. And we thought the one in the Harrow flat was small but that was probably just the size of my walk-in closet in our first apartment in Dallas. My mother and I continually bounce off each other in there, it's so annoying, so she's fine just getting on alone down there. Thankfully there is a window with an ineffective little bathroom fan above it (!)

The water in the kitchen runs hot for about 30 seconds maximum, then painfully icy for about a minute, and so the cycle goes. In my bathroom it's hot for about 15 seconds and then NEVER gets hot again, so I have perfected the 15 second facewash, and now brush my teeth in the shower at night. This is apparently the problem with any combi-boiler.

The toilet, being a loft addition, uses a pump system. For ages I didn't trust flushing paper down the toilet, and feel insulted that the landlord thought I'd also flush feminine products down too...seriously...and when I am showering the system empties about once every minute.

Yesterday, feeling better, I helped my mother do some cooking to stock the fridge for the week. We were sauteeing onions first thing, and the smoke alarm went off. I fanned it frantically with a foil pan and it stopped, started and stopped.

In the evening, though, it was a lazy oven dinner of chips and chicken wings. My mother overbrowned but didn't burn the chips, and put the wings in the oven in their store packaging (silver plastic bowl, which she thought was foil) so the alarm went off again and the plastic melted. Landlord and I came rushing up/down the stairs at the same time.

He emphasised, pointlessly, that the (open) window must be open when cooking and that the (flimsy) fan must be on too. I told him that they were on when we were simply frying onions earlier and the same thing happened. Then he (thankfully) disappeared, hopefully getting the point.

I threw the wings away because I wasn't about to poison Mum or myself with carcinogens, and popped in some frozen Thai cakes.

After dinner I was washing the dishes, water running so cold my hands hurt, then putting the dishes away I kept knocking my elbow on the saucepan handle on the counter, and the kettle on the other side, and saying bad words.

Not only that but the only thing I have seen for the past week were the walls of my erstwhile cute loft, which I had wanted to bond with, but not in this way.

Tonight my mother decided to shower in my bathroom because the Korean girl next door to her left a lot of dirt in their shower, and Mum doesn't want to clean up after her again. Did I ever tell you how many times she burnt our favourite new saucepan and has now had to pay for a replacement?

Anyway, Mum turns on the shower and the water starts filling the shower floor. I flush the toilet to see if that will activate the pump, but the toilet bowl just fills too. Just when Mum doesn't really want to use the shower downstairs, and just when I really really need to wash my hair. I fiddle around a bit, then realise that the switch near the floor outside the bathroom is switched off. I haven't looked at it in weeks, but there is a box near it, and I did vacuum the floor this morning.

So...that's my rant. Wonder if any more fun lurks around the corner for next week?

Following: a rather shameful addendum, but it's true and I am sharing it with you.
[It occurred to me yesterday with a shock that I once lived in my family's own 4-bedroom house, with more money than we could spend. I was naive enough to think that this would always exist, no matter where in the world I lived - Mum and Dad and "home" represent security, no matter how old you are. Three years in a houseshare in a million-pound house in one of London's premier neighbourhoods was a step down from that because once upon a time I didn't know what a houseshare was...but even that was nothing compared to my current frustration. This has to end!

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Sweet! Vanessa just called from Houston and we talked for an hour and I have just smiled and laughed more than the last month altogether! :)