I have been dreadfully behind on posts, I know, but I've been holding down a full-time job at Giant Multinational Corporation, rehearsing for an off-off-Broadway musical that opens this weekend, exercising, auditioning, writing a book, learning poker, dating and trying to keep in touch with friends all at the same time. That's not even counting personal projects. So it's been a little crazy. There's good news though. I finally finished my legal project, which always makes me happy because it sucks, I've been shopping too much but found amazing deals, I have my very first starring role & I have a new boyfriend! He's terrific. I honestly thought I couldn't upgrade from Sexy Englishman but what do you know, miracles happen. Our first date was election day - go Obama! - & 3 days later we made it official. It's been a few days over a month now. I'm scared, of course, but I'm trying very hard to open up & trust that he's for real. It helps that I've met his family & if we don't see each other every day he misses me (& tells me so, even more importantly).
I'm pretty nervous about my show. It is kind of my responsibility for it to go well, since my character is the only one with a story arc and I am central to almost all the scenes. I keep freaking out, as I usually do, but also tell myself to calm down & be effective. Speaking of being effective, I've stopped drinking for a while to lose weight (that's going pretty well) & I finally stopped shopping. I just need to find time to sleep more. Which I should probably go do right now. Wish me luck, everybody!
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Monday, September 24, 2007
yet another trip
Sexy Englishman & I just got back from a week in London & Malta. I spent a lot of time wandering around London by myself, since SE had to work, & managed to only get lost a few times with the help of Google maps on my BlackBerry, a London map book & a Tube map. I have no sense of direction so it's pretty difficult navigating by myself. But after several days of doing it, I'm much better. We flew out Wednesday night, arriving early Thursday morning. SE went to work & I set off in search of Wagamama after a very long nap. I found the Kensington one after getting turned around a few times. My feeling of accomplishment quickly evaporated when I tried to get to Gaucho Grill (in Broadgate) to meet SE & some of his friends. He told me to take the Central Line from Bayswater to Liverpool St. Station. He should have said Lancaster Gate, & unfortunately I hadn't ever taken the Tube on my own at that point so I didn't know anything about it. After walking a long time in pretty but painful heels, I found Bayswater. When I told people where I was headed they directed me to the Circle Line, which also goes to Liverpool St. but is much slower. Are you confused yet? My BlackBerry had decided to stop recognizing the Vodaphone network, so I couldn't even get in touch with SE. One of his emails got through though, & he told me to hop in a cab. £20 ($40) later, I finally arrived. Fortunately, the steak was good, & SE's friends teased him until he apologized for giving me bad & un-detailed directions, so I cheered up.
Friday went better. I found a Ping Pong for dim sum & was fairly impressed. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the British Museum. I tried to go to the First Emperor Terracotta Soldier exhibit - supporting my peeps, you know - but it was sold out for the day & it cost £12 ($24) so I wasn't really sure I wanted to go. I had fun wandering around more thoroughly this time. I saw the other Egyptian rooms, the rest of the Asian rooms, the slavery photographs, Greek pottery, Assyrian jewelry, etc... that museum is ridiculously huge. This time I wore sensible sneakers but 3 hours of walking & learning all by myself was exhausting. Afterwards I sat in Hyde Park for a little while until I had to meet SE to go to the wedding in Malta.
We took the express train to Gatwick but couldn't find our flight. This turned out to be because it was at Heathrow, 40 miles away. With 1.5 hours to go, we managed to snag a cab for £81 ($162!!) & actually made it in 35 minutes. Despite some issues carrying on my violin & the tennis rackets, we got on board ok. Nerve-racking though. We had lunch with SE's parents Saturday before playing some lousy tennis. We both used to be pretty good but it's been a while. & serving is so much harder than it looks. We stopped after a very sweaty hour & I got ready super fast (for me) in an evening gown I first wore at age 18. Amazingly, it fits. Not sure how that can be - perhaps my dress follows its own laws of physics, as I'm still trying to lose the inches I gained in Africa.
SE's childhood friend was the groom, & the bride was Maltese. The Catholic ceremony at the church of St. Patrick in Sliema was beautiful. The standing wasn't great, nor the "lamb of God" stuff or the music but the bride & groom were obviously glowing with happiness & I love that part where they ask, "Do you take this woman, in sickness & in health," etc. I cried a bit. Plus now I know I definitely don't want to get married in a church & SE agrees completely. I just want to say that part of the rite. There was a lovely cream-colored Rolls Royce waiting for the newlyweds afterward, & we all trooped back to the hotel for the open bar portion of the night. I had way too many cocktails & glasses of champagne while trying to look sober for SE's parents. After they went upstairs SE & I tried out our new moves from ballroom dance class & got a little rambunctious - I ended up in the pool! We went to bed soon after that & couldn't drag ourselves out of bed until about 1:30 the next afternoon, & that was only because we had to leave for the airport around 2:45. We flew back to London without incident.
We'd stayed in the Queensway Hotel initially, but I wanted to switch so we booked the Rose Court for the second part of our London stay. Not good. We moved to the Edward Lear hotel on Seymour St. the next day, which was much better & whimsical besides. Lear was a nature illustrator & nonsense poet, most famous for "The Owl & the Pussycat." The whole place was being renovated & our room was absolutely charming. Everything was so cute & cozy I really wished I could stay longer just for that. Although it is much easier to delight in coziness when you just have 2 suitcases of stuff. The staff at the Lear are very friendly, it's in a great location (Marble Arch) & a double room with bathroom is under £100 even in the high season. It's a really good deal, I definitely recommend the place.
I'm impressed with the food in London. This time was very Indian-intensive - I ended up "having a curry" 4 days in a row. That just means eating Indian, not necessarily curry per se. Sunday night we went to La Porte des Indes. It's much bigger than it looks from outside. The cuisine is supposed to be French-influenced authentic from the Pondicherry region. We did the tasting menu & were blown away. It was almost as good as the Mughal Room in Cairo. The service was unobtrusive & excellent, while the space managed to be inviting despite its size, & I got an orchid sprig when we left. (They do that for all the ladies.) It was still alive when I flew home Wednesday; really wish I could've brought it home.
Monday I made a pilgrimage to Brick Lane after visiting the Old Spitalfields Market. At Famous Curry House I had an actual curry, which was quite small, so when I saw the 2007 Best Chef place Papadoms, I decided to try it too. Both were good; Papadoms was definitely better though. The chicken jalfrezi there was scrumptious. Later, when SE got home from work, we checked out Crazy Bear in Fitzrovia. It was a Thai fusion place recommended in some little guide I picked up in Heathrow. The drinks were fantastic & so was the food. It was a bit of an odd crowd in our section - I swear one couple was an oldish Thai escort & her long-term john - but we had a great time. The bathrooms alone are worth the trip. In fact, it's like being on a trip when you go inside. The room is hidden, first of all; you just push one of the wood panels in the hallway. Then you're inside a completely mirrored room. The only reason I found a stall was because those doors had knobs. The sink is a trough affair where you can reach across to the men's bathroom under the mirror. Very cool, though I bet a lot of inebriated customers get lost in there. Tuesday we had dinner with one of SE's friends at Bombay Palace in Westminster, which was also great. (Thanks to Google, now I know they have one here in NYC as well. Yay!) The boys got chicken murgh tikka, basically equivalent to tikka masala, & I got the chicken kohlapuri. Yummy yummy. So now after 2 very satisfying trips, I can confidently say that the restaurant scene in London is nothing for a New Yorker to sneeze at. The only drawback is the expense. Everything's pretty much the same price as here, except the price is in pounds so it's really double.
Since SE worked every weekday, I had to amuse myself a lot. I tried to avoid the department store Selfridges, because I have to be a bit sensible with money, but he insisted that it was really cool & I should look around. It was indeed really cool. I discovered my new favorite goth/domme jewelry brand, Chrome Hearts. I desperately wanted to buy something, but there were no price tags on the jewelry. So I astutely inferred from a tank top price tag of £100 that everything would be out of my reach. It's ok. One day. I wandered on, into the contemporary area, where I was waylaid by the prettiest dress ever. It was cream silk with black lace & embroidery flowers - I had to buy it. It was £90 ($180), not too bad. I got vinyl round-toed pumps for £40 & sexy buckled black leather gloves for £22. At which point I realized I had better leave before my wallet took another hit. The Old Spitalfields area was not very interesting since it's basically just a lot of semi-expensive yuppie shops now, but some of the restaurants looked cool. There was one store, Fairy Goth Mother, which had amazing corsets & goth/fetish-y clothes. I ended up buying a very pretty skirt there for only £20.
Tuesday was sightseeing instead of shopping. I started with the London Eye, which is quite expensive (£15) but a breathtaking view of a beautiful city. I always forget how much bigger London is than NYC. A nice English couple on the ride answered all my "What's that building?" questions - I think my favorite was Charing Cross Station. Afterward I made my way to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. Definitely not worth the £6. It's not even interesting to see Baker St., since it doesn't look Victorian anymore at all. The top floor of 221B was an extremely creepy wax museum of scenes from the stories. They were bad, but lifelike enough to make me reluctant to put more than my head close to any of them. My next stop, the Dickens Museum, was much better. It's in one of his actual houses at 48 Doughty St., & has a lot of paintings of him or people in his life, as well as some manuscripts, first editions & other Dickensiana. I loved his books as a child & I rediscovered how much fun his books are with Martin Chuzzlewit recently. Sure, the happy endings are always a bit too neat, but the journey there is always a great ride & it's so nice when things finally work out.
I really like London. SE has said several times that he'd like to live there part of the time in the future, & I think I'd be on board with that. They have got to sort out airport security though, that is a real pain in the ass. I hope in a few years planes will be flying faster as well. My flight turned out to be 7.5 hours of screaming &/or chair kicking from the little brat behind me. I love kids, but damn. I restrained from doing more than turning around to glare at her useless mother periodically. I figured if we started talking about it I'd get more pissed & the kid would get upset, which would be counterproductive. Anyhow, as much as I like London, it's good to be home.
Friday went better. I found a Ping Pong for dim sum & was fairly impressed. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the British Museum. I tried to go to the First Emperor Terracotta Soldier exhibit - supporting my peeps, you know - but it was sold out for the day & it cost £12 ($24) so I wasn't really sure I wanted to go. I had fun wandering around more thoroughly this time. I saw the other Egyptian rooms, the rest of the Asian rooms, the slavery photographs, Greek pottery, Assyrian jewelry, etc... that museum is ridiculously huge. This time I wore sensible sneakers but 3 hours of walking & learning all by myself was exhausting. Afterwards I sat in Hyde Park for a little while until I had to meet SE to go to the wedding in Malta.
We took the express train to Gatwick but couldn't find our flight. This turned out to be because it was at Heathrow, 40 miles away. With 1.5 hours to go, we managed to snag a cab for £81 ($162!!) & actually made it in 35 minutes. Despite some issues carrying on my violin & the tennis rackets, we got on board ok. Nerve-racking though. We had lunch with SE's parents Saturday before playing some lousy tennis. We both used to be pretty good but it's been a while. & serving is so much harder than it looks. We stopped after a very sweaty hour & I got ready super fast (for me) in an evening gown I first wore at age 18. Amazingly, it fits. Not sure how that can be - perhaps my dress follows its own laws of physics, as I'm still trying to lose the inches I gained in Africa.
SE's childhood friend was the groom, & the bride was Maltese. The Catholic ceremony at the church of St. Patrick in Sliema was beautiful. The standing wasn't great, nor the "lamb of God" stuff or the music but the bride & groom were obviously glowing with happiness & I love that part where they ask, "Do you take this woman, in sickness & in health," etc. I cried a bit. Plus now I know I definitely don't want to get married in a church & SE agrees completely. I just want to say that part of the rite. There was a lovely cream-colored Rolls Royce waiting for the newlyweds afterward, & we all trooped back to the hotel for the open bar portion of the night. I had way too many cocktails & glasses of champagne while trying to look sober for SE's parents. After they went upstairs SE & I tried out our new moves from ballroom dance class & got a little rambunctious - I ended up in the pool! We went to bed soon after that & couldn't drag ourselves out of bed until about 1:30 the next afternoon, & that was only because we had to leave for the airport around 2:45. We flew back to London without incident.
We'd stayed in the Queensway Hotel initially, but I wanted to switch so we booked the Rose Court for the second part of our London stay. Not good. We moved to the Edward Lear hotel on Seymour St. the next day, which was much better & whimsical besides. Lear was a nature illustrator & nonsense poet, most famous for "The Owl & the Pussycat." The whole place was being renovated & our room was absolutely charming. Everything was so cute & cozy I really wished I could stay longer just for that. Although it is much easier to delight in coziness when you just have 2 suitcases of stuff. The staff at the Lear are very friendly, it's in a great location (Marble Arch) & a double room with bathroom is under £100 even in the high season. It's a really good deal, I definitely recommend the place.
I'm impressed with the food in London. This time was very Indian-intensive - I ended up "having a curry" 4 days in a row. That just means eating Indian, not necessarily curry per se. Sunday night we went to La Porte des Indes. It's much bigger than it looks from outside. The cuisine is supposed to be French-influenced authentic from the Pondicherry region. We did the tasting menu & were blown away. It was almost as good as the Mughal Room in Cairo. The service was unobtrusive & excellent, while the space managed to be inviting despite its size, & I got an orchid sprig when we left. (They do that for all the ladies.) It was still alive when I flew home Wednesday; really wish I could've brought it home.
Monday I made a pilgrimage to Brick Lane after visiting the Old Spitalfields Market. At Famous Curry House I had an actual curry, which was quite small, so when I saw the 2007 Best Chef place Papadoms, I decided to try it too. Both were good; Papadoms was definitely better though. The chicken jalfrezi there was scrumptious. Later, when SE got home from work, we checked out Crazy Bear in Fitzrovia. It was a Thai fusion place recommended in some little guide I picked up in Heathrow. The drinks were fantastic & so was the food. It was a bit of an odd crowd in our section - I swear one couple was an oldish Thai escort & her long-term john - but we had a great time. The bathrooms alone are worth the trip. In fact, it's like being on a trip when you go inside. The room is hidden, first of all; you just push one of the wood panels in the hallway. Then you're inside a completely mirrored room. The only reason I found a stall was because those doors had knobs. The sink is a trough affair where you can reach across to the men's bathroom under the mirror. Very cool, though I bet a lot of inebriated customers get lost in there. Tuesday we had dinner with one of SE's friends at Bombay Palace in Westminster, which was also great. (Thanks to Google, now I know they have one here in NYC as well. Yay!) The boys got chicken murgh tikka, basically equivalent to tikka masala, & I got the chicken kohlapuri. Yummy yummy. So now after 2 very satisfying trips, I can confidently say that the restaurant scene in London is nothing for a New Yorker to sneeze at. The only drawback is the expense. Everything's pretty much the same price as here, except the price is in pounds so it's really double.
Since SE worked every weekday, I had to amuse myself a lot. I tried to avoid the department store Selfridges, because I have to be a bit sensible with money, but he insisted that it was really cool & I should look around. It was indeed really cool. I discovered my new favorite goth/domme jewelry brand, Chrome Hearts. I desperately wanted to buy something, but there were no price tags on the jewelry. So I astutely inferred from a tank top price tag of £100 that everything would be out of my reach. It's ok. One day. I wandered on, into the contemporary area, where I was waylaid by the prettiest dress ever. It was cream silk with black lace & embroidery flowers - I had to buy it. It was £90 ($180), not too bad. I got vinyl round-toed pumps for £40 & sexy buckled black leather gloves for £22. At which point I realized I had better leave before my wallet took another hit. The Old Spitalfields area was not very interesting since it's basically just a lot of semi-expensive yuppie shops now, but some of the restaurants looked cool. There was one store, Fairy Goth Mother, which had amazing corsets & goth/fetish-y clothes. I ended up buying a very pretty skirt there for only £20.
Tuesday was sightseeing instead of shopping. I started with the London Eye, which is quite expensive (£15) but a breathtaking view of a beautiful city. I always forget how much bigger London is than NYC. A nice English couple on the ride answered all my "What's that building?" questions - I think my favorite was Charing Cross Station. Afterward I made my way to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. Definitely not worth the £6. It's not even interesting to see Baker St., since it doesn't look Victorian anymore at all. The top floor of 221B was an extremely creepy wax museum of scenes from the stories. They were bad, but lifelike enough to make me reluctant to put more than my head close to any of them. My next stop, the Dickens Museum, was much better. It's in one of his actual houses at 48 Doughty St., & has a lot of paintings of him or people in his life, as well as some manuscripts, first editions & other Dickensiana. I loved his books as a child & I rediscovered how much fun his books are with Martin Chuzzlewit recently. Sure, the happy endings are always a bit too neat, but the journey there is always a great ride & it's so nice when things finally work out.
I really like London. SE has said several times that he'd like to live there part of the time in the future, & I think I'd be on board with that. They have got to sort out airport security though, that is a real pain in the ass. I hope in a few years planes will be flying faster as well. My flight turned out to be 7.5 hours of screaming &/or chair kicking from the little brat behind me. I love kids, but damn. I restrained from doing more than turning around to glare at her useless mother periodically. I figured if we started talking about it I'd get more pissed & the kid would get upset, which would be counterproductive. Anyhow, as much as I like London, it's good to be home.
Friday, August 31, 2007
London: 9.5/10
[This post has been sitting on my desk in longhand all week - typing is much faster than writing, but it also requires more time than you'd think.] I never thought I'd welcome drizzle! London was a bit damp & after the frying heat of Sharm, I was quite glad of it. We took the very nice Heathrow Express train into Paddington. I don't understand why we can't have trains out to NYC airports like that. The AirTrain to JFK is good, but the pain of getting to Queens for it completely negates its benefits. Anyhow, we met about 10 of his friends at Carluccio's for dinner. Their style of humor, consisting mainly of teasing each other non-stop, took some getting used to, but I immediately understood why SE does it to me all the time. & it's funny when it happens to other people. His friends were really sweet to me & all said a variant of "I've heard so much about you," which is always music to a girlfriend's ears. I liked them a lot. It being a Thursday, everyone went home after dinner. People don't seem to do the weekday party thing as much as here.
Friday SE had some visa issues to sort out at the embassy so I had to amuse myself all day. After breakfast & getting very specific directions from place to place on the tube, , I set off on my explorations. First stop: British Library. I got distracted by Top Shop in Oxford Circus though. I'd read that it's a high street store & that Kate Moss had a line there, so of course I had to see for myself. (Sadly, her stuff was a bit out of budget.) I ended up with a cute polka-dot dress & black lace leggings. SE later explained to me that "high street" doesn't mean really good, as I'd thought, it means the shop is on every high street (meaning "main street"). Basically it's a more stylish H&M. After an hour I dragged myself away & onto the Tube. We love to complain about the subway in NYC but we still only pay $2/ride here & $7 for an all-day pass. The Tube is £4/ride & £5.10/day - that's $8 & $10.20 respectively! They have an unlimited Oyster card which is generally £1.50/ride, but I can't buy one online unless I have a London address so it's still much more expensive for visitors. The trains do come a lot more often, but there's no air conditioning on the trains & they are generally much further underground. I saw electric signs in every station keeping passengers updated about which lines were working, which hints at frequent problems, & though I didn't experience delays myself all the Londoners I talked to complained about unreliability. It's more of a problem there because cabs are also much pricier, so when there's a Tube issue, jumping in a cab is not as easy. Although the cabs are so much nicer I almost think they're worth it. They look really cool, like better PT Cruisers; they're roomy inside, so 5 people or fewer plus luggage can get in comfortably; you can have privacy or talk to the driver by pressing a button; lots of the cars have phones inside, like on an airplane except free; & there are often phone & iPod chargers built into a side panel. I want LTI, the carmaker, to come over here.
So where was I? Right, on my way to the British Library. It's a beautiful building inside & out. There's a very interesting exhibit called Sacred, about ancient manuscripts of Judaism, Islam & Christianity, especially the Torah, Qu'ran & Bible. I've always thought Arabic a lovely-looking language. & seeing it with gold leaf, calligraphy & painstakingly drawn details made quite an impression. I wish I could get a tattoo in Arabic but that would probably be a bit silly. As much as I love the concept of libraries, they get kind of boring after ~5 minutes if I'm not reading so when I was done wandering around the exhibits I made my way to the British Museum. I meandered around the Chinese, Central America, Japanese, Enlightenment & various other rooms. I checked on the Egyptian mummies, too - we didn't see any in the Egyptian Museum, go figure. They are super creepy & I stayed about 4 seconds, long enough to read the description, before I was too nervous to stay touching-distance from a very lifelike dead body. Eventually I got tired of walking around & being by myself in a strange city & decided to go home. I got off the Tube at Oxford Circus & that's when I realized that I hadn't asked SE how to walk from there to the apartment. I couldn't remember how I got to the station initially because I'd gotten lost & asked about 5 people. Plus my sense of direction is nonexistent. I didn't have a map & thought the apartment was northwest of the station when it was actually northeast & didn't recognize landmarks correctly so I spent about 2 hours walking around in circles with painful shoes. I couldn't call SE & was so clueless that when he called to see if I was coming home, I mistakenly thought I was almost there & didn't ask for help so I was unnecessarily lost for another half hour. At length I found the right street & got safely home. Fortunately we had a bit of time for me to gather my wits before meeting some of his friends at an All Bar One (it's a chain) on Henrietta St.
A few glasses of champagne sorted me out nicely. We went to Bar Shu on Frith St. to meet SE's old colleague & his current girlfriend. Bar Shu is an absolutely fantastic Szechuan restaurant, better than in New York - I was so happy. We all got along very well & continued on to Milk & Honey for a drink, where another friend of SE's met us. Since it was a Friday night SE wanted to see how the London club scene was doing & off we 5 went to Paper. We got a bottle of vodka - if you think NYC clubs are bad, imagine paying the same price in £s (= 2 x $s) - & one of Kahlua so we could continue with the Black Russians. Party girls in London aren't as cute as here, but they're as persistent & freeloading. Some slags attempted to pour themselves drinks from our bottles though we didn't know them. Plus they kept trying to talk to SE & slinking away if I came within eyeshot. I've been working on my jealousy & trusting SE more, so after the initial impulse to kick their flabby asses, I found the humor in the situation. The music was pretty good, I really liked SE's friends, & vodka + Kahlua + Red Bull is a nice potent cocktail. I tend to make crazy drinks if left to my own devices, since I can't really taste alcohol unless it's about 80% of the drink. Pretty odd considering my pickiness with food tastes.
We had a great night & came home at maybe 2:30. I couldn't sleep right away & dove back into Harry Potter. SE was woken up by sobbing then & 5 hours later when I woke up ridiculously early (as usual after drinking) & was finishing the book. I must have spent a good 1/3 of it bawling, which is not necessarily because sad things happen - don't want to spoil it for anyone - but how intense & emotionally involving it is.
The next morning one of SE's college friends took us on a walking tour of Westminster which was really interesting. We did some pub-hopping afterwards, saw my friend who moved to London 2 years ago, & had a nice casual dinner at Busaba Eathai on Wardour St. Thai food is hugely popular in London. I think people see it the way we New Yorkers look at Japanese - healthy, yummy & tasty. There are Japanese restaurants but not so many as in NYC. SE & I were very tired, so we went home in the rain instead of staying out even though it was Saturday.
We took a train from Victoria Station to his parents' in Sussex - I was pretty nervous since I'd never stayed at a boyfriend's family home before. They were very sweet & I tried to be helpful. His mother made toad-in-the-hole one night because I'd read about it in a book as a kid, Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World, & never had it. Sausages baked in batter, nothin' wrong with that. SE showed me around the neighborhood, his old school, the trees he used to climb, paths he used to ride his bike on, stuff like that; really cute. I can just imagine him as a boy getting into trouble & outwitting the other kids. He also took me to Brighton, which was cool because I've read about it in lots of books. I met one of SE's childhood friends with his new wife - good example for SE - & they were delightful, plus I learned some embarrassing things about SE when he was little. I'm happy I finally have some stuff to tease him about.
Tuesday morning we went back to London for lunch with his friend who's getting married in November. SE had told me lots about her, how they went to college together, were roommates with 2 other girls & he had a crush on her for a long time so I was a little jealous but once I met her I thought she was lovely & we got along very well. Later we met one of SE's old work colleagues at Ronnie Scott's, a famous jazz club on Frith which makes amazing drinks, before dim sum at the very fancy Yauatcha on Broadwick. It was quite good, maybe the not best in the world but they did a great congee & once I spoke Chinese to the waiters they were falling all over themselves to make sure we were happy. Then one of the best parts of our London trip - we went to Stringfellows after dinner! It's a very upscale strip club & girls can get naked in London, top AND bottom! I had a dance from a wife & wife team (or so they said) & some other hotties. Plus those girls know how to work a pole, oh boy. Flashdancers except better & much hotter. We had a really good night.
The next day SE did some touristy stuff with me; we wanted to go on the London Eye but the line looked too long. The Aquarium is right there as well [see right] - they have storm troopers on the roof! There was some crazy Star Wars exhibit going on.
There was also a Dalí exhibit in the same building so they had sculptures of Dalí paintings outside.
We decided to check out the London Dungeon, which looked delightfully scary. Fortunately we got a FastPass by the Aquarium & didn't have to wait too long. Now, it's quite cheesy & funny but if you're easily startled like me, it's terrifying. The actors jump out at you & wear ghoulish face paint that makes them look dead &/or severely injured so even when they're just walking around they're still awful. We learned about the Great Plague, torture techniques, the Great Fire, Sweeney Todd & Jack the Ripper. I enjoyed the real torture instruments on display but everything else was a re-creation. I was so scared that during the Sweeney Todd part, I refused to lean back in my chair as directed & missed the faux throat-slitting. Not a problem. At the end there's a "free fall" ride. After 1.5 hours of looking around nervously & getting the crap scared or startled out of me every 5 minutes I was completely demoralized, & although it was only a small drop, I screamed like a banshee. Of course they took a picture at that moment & I wish I could show you, because it's the most terrified look I've ever seen on my or anyone else's face. My eyes are popping out & my mouth is open so wide my jaw seems ready to fall off. SE recognized its comic gold & bought it, & every time we look at it we still crack up, it's so ridiculous.
SE showed me around Canary Wharf & the City (the financial area of London) after that. We rode the Docklands Light Railway & I saw bankers in their current preferred habitat. Business is increasingly flowing to the City - the dollar's weakness is really fucking NYC. I like the architecture there, especially the Gherkin, properly known as the Swiss RE building at 30 St. Mary's Axe.
We had dinner with another childhood playmate of SE's at the best kosher restaurant in the city, Bevis Marks, because the friend is converting to Orthodox Judaism. I didn't know much about kosher & just figured it would be crappy like vegetarian food, but this place was great. The Thai crispy beef salad, matzoh ball soup, lamb & salmon were all amazing. Kosherness doesn't seem to make a difference in taste, it just restricts the kinds of foods you can put together.
Thursday, our last full day, we went shopping. First Harvey Nichols, where I had a severe case of sticker shock. Everything is so much more expensive there, they think a rack of £900 ($1800) & under is "on sale." My favorite wish was a luscious pair of leather ankle boots by McQueen with python trim & a skull zipper detail (sorry, Treo takes bad pix) that I really wanted... told my footslave about them. Obviously I didn't buy anything, & got bored perambulating so I went to check on SE who had succumbed to temptation & got a $100 Evisu t-shirt. Silly boy. We then visited the eyesore that is Harrod's - clearly money doesn't buy taste. Although, it's kind of fun looking at the horrible stuff & guessing what outlandish price it is. The most disgusting part was a Dodi & Princess Diana memorial that had an unwashed wine glass from their last night & the engagement ring he got for her the day before. That thing was an utter monstrosity. It's almost the size of my fist & covered in pavé diamonds with an enormous rock in the middle. The placard underneath said this was "proof of their love." Proof of bad taste & Daddy being a billionaire, more like. I would only call that proper proof if Dodi bought it on a janitor's salary. SE was annoyed with the spurious reasoning, though his opinions are a bit skewed when it comes to jewelry & big gifts like that since he's a banker & sees colleagues make those hollow gestures all the time while cheating on their wives. I don't know - I still believe you can do nice things & mean them. We're both cynical romantics but he leans more to the cynical side than I do.
Around 4 we met up with SE's college buddy who just got married (SE was best man & threw him a bachelor weekend in Krakow). He's really cool. Plus I heard some more stories about stupid or asshole things SE did, which wasn't always very comforting - I worry if he's really a changed man now - but hilarious nonetheless. We gathered more friends as we moved from bar to bar, ending up at a Wagamama. It's a yummy UK noodle chain that strongly reminds me of Republic in Union Square. SE said the one we went to was not representative of their normally high quality but I quite liked my ramen. Sadly, in America only Boston has the pleasure of Wagamamas at this point. We went to one more pub after dinner & then everyone headed home.
The next morning SE got birthday sex & I took him out to lunch & the Transformers movie. Liked the first 2 a lot. The Transformers were a little before my time & I hardly knew what they were growing up so I wasn't as into the movie as SE was. The story was also achingly stupid, but I thought the transformations were super cool & the leading ladies very yummy. That Megan Fox has a heartbreaking pair of legs. & Rachael Taylor was what I'd want to look like if I were blonde. SE was excited as a little boy & it was worth the £19.50 ($39, London is crazy!) to see that smile on his face. & that, boys & girls, was the conclusion of our grand tour.
Friday SE had some visa issues to sort out at the embassy so I had to amuse myself all day. After breakfast & getting very specific directions from place to place on the tube, , I set off on my explorations. First stop: British Library. I got distracted by Top Shop in Oxford Circus though. I'd read that it's a high street store & that Kate Moss had a line there, so of course I had to see for myself. (Sadly, her stuff was a bit out of budget.) I ended up with a cute polka-dot dress & black lace leggings. SE later explained to me that "high street" doesn't mean really good, as I'd thought, it means the shop is on every high street (meaning "main street"). Basically it's a more stylish H&M. After an hour I dragged myself away & onto the Tube. We love to complain about the subway in NYC but we still only pay $2/ride here & $7 for an all-day pass. The Tube is £4/ride & £5.10/day - that's $8 & $10.20 respectively! They have an unlimited Oyster card which is generally £1.50/ride, but I can't buy one online unless I have a London address so it's still much more expensive for visitors. The trains do come a lot more often, but there's no air conditioning on the trains & they are generally much further underground. I saw electric signs in every station keeping passengers updated about which lines were working, which hints at frequent problems, & though I didn't experience delays myself all the Londoners I talked to complained about unreliability. It's more of a problem there because cabs are also much pricier, so when there's a Tube issue, jumping in a cab is not as easy. Although the cabs are so much nicer I almost think they're worth it. They look really cool, like better PT Cruisers; they're roomy inside, so 5 people or fewer plus luggage can get in comfortably; you can have privacy or talk to the driver by pressing a button; lots of the cars have phones inside, like on an airplane except free; & there are often phone & iPod chargers built into a side panel. I want LTI, the carmaker, to come over here.
So where was I? Right, on my way to the British Library. It's a beautiful building inside & out. There's a very interesting exhibit called Sacred, about ancient manuscripts of Judaism, Islam & Christianity, especially the Torah, Qu'ran & Bible. I've always thought Arabic a lovely-looking language. & seeing it with gold leaf, calligraphy & painstakingly drawn details made quite an impression. I wish I could get a tattoo in Arabic but that would probably be a bit silly. As much as I love the concept of libraries, they get kind of boring after ~5 minutes if I'm not reading so when I was done wandering around the exhibits I made my way to the British Museum. I meandered around the Chinese, Central America, Japanese, Enlightenment & various other rooms. I checked on the Egyptian mummies, too - we didn't see any in the Egyptian Museum, go figure. They are super creepy & I stayed about 4 seconds, long enough to read the description, before I was too nervous to stay touching-distance from a very lifelike dead body. Eventually I got tired of walking around & being by myself in a strange city & decided to go home. I got off the Tube at Oxford Circus & that's when I realized that I hadn't asked SE how to walk from there to the apartment. I couldn't remember how I got to the station initially because I'd gotten lost & asked about 5 people. Plus my sense of direction is nonexistent. I didn't have a map & thought the apartment was northwest of the station when it was actually northeast & didn't recognize landmarks correctly so I spent about 2 hours walking around in circles with painful shoes. I couldn't call SE & was so clueless that when he called to see if I was coming home, I mistakenly thought I was almost there & didn't ask for help so I was unnecessarily lost for another half hour. At length I found the right street & got safely home. Fortunately we had a bit of time for me to gather my wits before meeting some of his friends at an All Bar One (it's a chain) on Henrietta St.
A few glasses of champagne sorted me out nicely. We went to Bar Shu on Frith St. to meet SE's old colleague & his current girlfriend. Bar Shu is an absolutely fantastic Szechuan restaurant, better than in New York - I was so happy. We all got along very well & continued on to Milk & Honey for a drink, where another friend of SE's met us. Since it was a Friday night SE wanted to see how the London club scene was doing & off we 5 went to Paper. We got a bottle of vodka - if you think NYC clubs are bad, imagine paying the same price in £s (= 2 x $s) - & one of Kahlua so we could continue with the Black Russians. Party girls in London aren't as cute as here, but they're as persistent & freeloading. Some slags attempted to pour themselves drinks from our bottles though we didn't know them. Plus they kept trying to talk to SE & slinking away if I came within eyeshot. I've been working on my jealousy & trusting SE more, so after the initial impulse to kick their flabby asses, I found the humor in the situation. The music was pretty good, I really liked SE's friends, & vodka + Kahlua + Red Bull is a nice potent cocktail. I tend to make crazy drinks if left to my own devices, since I can't really taste alcohol unless it's about 80% of the drink. Pretty odd considering my pickiness with food tastes.
We had a great night & came home at maybe 2:30. I couldn't sleep right away & dove back into Harry Potter. SE was woken up by sobbing then & 5 hours later when I woke up ridiculously early (as usual after drinking) & was finishing the book. I must have spent a good 1/3 of it bawling, which is not necessarily because sad things happen - don't want to spoil it for anyone - but how intense & emotionally involving it is.
The next morning one of SE's college friends took us on a walking tour of Westminster which was really interesting. We did some pub-hopping afterwards, saw my friend who moved to London 2 years ago, & had a nice casual dinner at Busaba Eathai on Wardour St. Thai food is hugely popular in London. I think people see it the way we New Yorkers look at Japanese - healthy, yummy & tasty. There are Japanese restaurants but not so many as in NYC. SE & I were very tired, so we went home in the rain instead of staying out even though it was Saturday.
We took a train from Victoria Station to his parents' in Sussex - I was pretty nervous since I'd never stayed at a boyfriend's family home before. They were very sweet & I tried to be helpful. His mother made toad-in-the-hole one night because I'd read about it in a book as a kid, Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World, & never had it. Sausages baked in batter, nothin' wrong with that. SE showed me around the neighborhood, his old school, the trees he used to climb, paths he used to ride his bike on, stuff like that; really cute. I can just imagine him as a boy getting into trouble & outwitting the other kids. He also took me to Brighton, which was cool because I've read about it in lots of books. I met one of SE's childhood friends with his new wife - good example for SE - & they were delightful, plus I learned some embarrassing things about SE when he was little. I'm happy I finally have some stuff to tease him about.
Tuesday morning we went back to London for lunch with his friend who's getting married in November. SE had told me lots about her, how they went to college together, were roommates with 2 other girls & he had a crush on her for a long time so I was a little jealous but once I met her I thought she was lovely & we got along very well. Later we met one of SE's old work colleagues at Ronnie Scott's, a famous jazz club on Frith which makes amazing drinks, before dim sum at the very fancy Yauatcha on Broadwick. It was quite good, maybe the not best in the world but they did a great congee & once I spoke Chinese to the waiters they were falling all over themselves to make sure we were happy. Then one of the best parts of our London trip - we went to Stringfellows after dinner! It's a very upscale strip club & girls can get naked in London, top AND bottom! I had a dance from a wife & wife team (or so they said) & some other hotties. Plus those girls know how to work a pole, oh boy. Flashdancers except better & much hotter. We had a really good night.
The next day SE did some touristy stuff with me; we wanted to go on the London Eye but the line looked too long. The Aquarium is right there as well [see right] - they have storm troopers on the roof! There was some crazy Star Wars exhibit going on.
There was also a Dalí exhibit in the same building so they had sculptures of Dalí paintings outside.We decided to check out the London Dungeon, which looked delightfully scary. Fortunately we got a FastPass by the Aquarium & didn't have to wait too long. Now, it's quite cheesy & funny but if you're easily startled like me, it's terrifying. The actors jump out at you & wear ghoulish face paint that makes them look dead &/or severely injured so even when they're just walking around they're still awful. We learned about the Great Plague, torture techniques, the Great Fire, Sweeney Todd & Jack the Ripper. I enjoyed the real torture instruments on display but everything else was a re-creation. I was so scared that during the Sweeney Todd part, I refused to lean back in my chair as directed & missed the faux throat-slitting. Not a problem. At the end there's a "free fall" ride. After 1.5 hours of looking around nervously & getting the crap scared or startled out of me every 5 minutes I was completely demoralized, & although it was only a small drop, I screamed like a banshee. Of course they took a picture at that moment & I wish I could show you, because it's the most terrified look I've ever seen on my or anyone else's face. My eyes are popping out & my mouth is open so wide my jaw seems ready to fall off. SE recognized its comic gold & bought it, & every time we look at it we still crack up, it's so ridiculous.
SE showed me around Canary Wharf & the City (the financial area of London) after that. We rode the Docklands Light Railway & I saw bankers in their current preferred habitat. Business is increasingly flowing to the City - the dollar's weakness is really fucking NYC. I like the architecture there, especially the Gherkin, properly known as the Swiss RE building at 30 St. Mary's Axe.
We had dinner with another childhood playmate of SE's at the best kosher restaurant in the city, Bevis Marks, because the friend is converting to Orthodox Judaism. I didn't know much about kosher & just figured it would be crappy like vegetarian food, but this place was great. The Thai crispy beef salad, matzoh ball soup, lamb & salmon were all amazing. Kosherness doesn't seem to make a difference in taste, it just restricts the kinds of foods you can put together.
Thursday, our last full day, we went shopping. First Harvey Nichols, where I had a severe case of sticker shock. Everything is so much more expensive there, they think a rack of £900 ($1800) & under is "on sale." My favorite wish was a luscious pair of leather ankle boots by McQueen with python trim & a skull zipper detail (sorry, Treo takes bad pix) that I really wanted... told my footslave about them. Obviously I didn't buy anything, & got bored perambulating so I went to check on SE who had succumbed to temptation & got a $100 Evisu t-shirt. Silly boy. We then visited the eyesore that is Harrod's - clearly money doesn't buy taste. Although, it's kind of fun looking at the horrible stuff & guessing what outlandish price it is. The most disgusting part was a Dodi & Princess Diana memorial that had an unwashed wine glass from their last night & the engagement ring he got for her the day before. That thing was an utter monstrosity. It's almost the size of my fist & covered in pavé diamonds with an enormous rock in the middle. The placard underneath said this was "proof of their love." Proof of bad taste & Daddy being a billionaire, more like. I would only call that proper proof if Dodi bought it on a janitor's salary. SE was annoyed with the spurious reasoning, though his opinions are a bit skewed when it comes to jewelry & big gifts like that since he's a banker & sees colleagues make those hollow gestures all the time while cheating on their wives. I don't know - I still believe you can do nice things & mean them. We're both cynical romantics but he leans more to the cynical side than I do.Around 4 we met up with SE's college buddy who just got married (SE was best man & threw him a bachelor weekend in Krakow). He's really cool. Plus I heard some more stories about stupid or asshole things SE did, which wasn't always very comforting - I worry if he's really a changed man now - but hilarious nonetheless. We gathered more friends as we moved from bar to bar, ending up at a Wagamama. It's a yummy UK noodle chain that strongly reminds me of Republic in Union Square. SE said the one we went to was not representative of their normally high quality but I quite liked my ramen. Sadly, in America only Boston has the pleasure of Wagamamas at this point. We went to one more pub after dinner & then everyone headed home.
The next morning SE got birthday sex & I took him out to lunch & the Transformers movie. Liked the first 2 a lot. The Transformers were a little before my time & I hardly knew what they were growing up so I wasn't as into the movie as SE was. The story was also achingly stupid, but I thought the transformations were super cool & the leading ladies very yummy. That Megan Fox has a heartbreaking pair of legs. & Rachael Taylor was what I'd want to look like if I were blonde. SE was excited as a little boy & it was worth the £19.50 ($39, London is crazy!) to see that smile on his face. & that, boys & girls, was the conclusion of our grand tour.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Cairo: 7.5/10
I'm so bored at work that I'm writing these posts out longhand & typing them when I have time, which is why I'm posting a lot more than I thought I would. Continuing on... We arrived in Egypt very early & were greeted by someone our hotel sent. He didn't have to wait outside baggage claim; he walked us through customs in what would have been record time if the official hadn't looked at me & kept insisting "you China!" despite my American passport. After frightening me for a while he said he was joking & let us through. How amusing. At long last we were driven to the Mena House Oberoi, a lovely old palatial hunting lodge-turned-hotel. It is literally across the street from the Pyramids, as Giza is now an area of Cairo. We got a Pyramid view room. Basically, when we woke up each morning it was like, "Oh look honey, out the window!" We had a lovely spacious room with lounge area & lots of space for our bags. There were balconies for our French doors as well. It was fun to walk into the heat in the mornings then go back into air conditioning. I was pretty good this trip - for four weeks I packed a big suitcase & a tiny one only. Usually I need the big one for just a week so I was very restrained. We were exhausted after all the jumping off bridges & baiting great white sharks with ourselves so we had a very quiet first day by the pool. Other than the maddeningly persistent flies, it was lovely. The pool is an enormous oval & there's a guitarist who plays all afternoon. Sexy Englishman dozed & read The Elegant Universe, a gift from me, while I caught up on more Economists & Mind Performance Hacks.
I don't understand how Arab women can stand being so hot in those burqas. It was about 95° & I couldn't bear wearing much more than a bikini! (Although I did, of course, I'm not stupid.) I find it odd that a religion mandating so much black clothing popped up in the desert of all places, instead of Scandinavia or something. I guess it's because people wanted to wear so little that men had to be "protected" from temptation. Learn some self-control, boys, jeez. According to the Lonely Planet guide (LP), it is wise for a woman traveler to just say her male companion is her husband, because they respect married women much more. Since a good Muslim girl has to be a virgin for her wedding night, foreign women are their chance for easy pussy. LP also said to keep as much of myself covered as possible. SE wasn't quite ready for a Mrs. SE but my safety won out. He'd made fun of me all through South Africa for packing so many long-sleeved shirts & pants & I was finally vindicated when man after man stopped & turned to stare at me regardless. One guy even tripped in the street while walking backwards, staring. To be fair, I think part of it may have been that they never see any young attractive Asian women, only old Japanese & Chinese tourists, but it was still disconcerting & made me nervous. It was much funnier when hawkers jokingly tried to buy me from SE for outrageous numbers of camels - the highest offer he got was 100 million. Each one is worth ~$1000 so it's lucky the 7-year-old kid didn't seem to actually have any camels or I'd be trapped in some harem right now.
That first night we went to the Sound & Light Show "narrated" by the Sphinx. It's super cheesy & pompous, although it's cool to see the Pyramids & Sphinx lit up at night. We had dinner at the Mughal Room in the hotel which was probably the best Indian food I've ever had. We did the tasting course & each one was more scrumptious than the last. The mains, especially, were so good we wanted to keep eating even though we were totally full. Partly as a result of that plus all the sunshine earlier, we decided to take a disco nap before the belly dancing show at the hotel's nightclub later. LP said Cairo was the birthplace of belly dancing & had the best dancers in the world so I was extremely excited. I was so sleepy though, when SE woke me up at 2am I couldn't be bothered. The next morning we had a tour bright & early with Sharif of Abercrombie & Kent Tours. We grabbed some delicious (& amazingly cheap at E£3 = $0.55 for 4 sandwiches) falafel from Felfela & visited the Pyramids. We went to the 3 big ones by us, Khufu, Khafre & Menkaure.
They look a bit like step pyramids now because their limestone coverings & some of the inner limestone was taken to build other things, but they're still massive. Each block is about 1 meter x 3m & although Sharif explained how they were put together, it's mind-boggling. The current consensus is internal & external ramps winding around & around the pyramid & then disassembled. Contrary to what I'd read as a child, the workers weren't slaves, they were farmers keeping busy during the fallow season, given the very high honor of building Pharaoh's tomb. I guess if you want to call it that. We climbed inside the Great Pyramid & the most amazing thing was how smooth the walls were. I can't even get my head around the amount of labor it must have taken. When we'd had our fill of giant rock monuments, Sharif took us to a Papyrus store which was quite interesting & its curio shop which was not. Stuff in Egypt can look so tacky.
We stopped for lunch at Abou Tarek, which specialized in kushari, a noodle-type dish with spices which is pretty good. Then it was time for the Egyptian Museum. Sharif was in his element - he was a fount of information on the highlights of the Museum, as we obviously couldn't see every single thing in 2 hours. A bit overwhelming, actually - 2 hours of relentless lectures & not much walking around makes my eyes droop. My favorite exhibit was the diorite statue. Sharif said diorite is the second hardest material in the world, behind only diamond. & yet the ancient Egyptians carved 23 statues out of it. The weird thing is, we can't figure out how they did it. Apparently the only way they've been able to make a dent in diorite nowadays is with lasers, & they can't manage that level of detail either (nostrils, eyelids, etc.). Very mysterious. (A quick Google search revealed that Sharif was perhaps more patriotic than knowledgeable, as diorite is only a 6/10 on the Moh hardness scale & it is certainly not only lasers that can carve it.) It was also interesting to learn that silver was actually much more valuable in ancient Egypt because it had to be imported, whereas gold was so plentiful they buried their pharaohs with tons of it. Even a weak, short-lived king like Tutankhamen had a several gilded sarcophagi & a treasury's worth of gold. Maybe that's why their jewelry now is surprisingly expensive - they locked most of it away with dead people. My favorite part was the small pond outside the building with reeds & lilies which represented the papyrus & lotus of the kingdoms of Upper & Lower Egypt.
For dinner we went to Bird Cage at the Semiramis InterContinental, touted as the best Thai in Cairo. I don't know if that's true but it was certainly the best Thai I've ever had. We tried the chicken satay, crab & corn soup & crispy shrimp appetizers - then chicken cashew & spicy beef something after that, which were all fantastic. I could eat there every night. There was a belly dancer coming on later that night in the same hotel so we went across the street to El Mojito at the Nile Hilton to wait for her. However, we'd eaten too early - 8pm - & after 2 hours we were too bored to wait until 1 am for the show. We went home & I think we just played Scrabble.
On Friday we were really lazy, got up late & ended up sitting by the pool again. We tried Abu Sid, highly recommended by LP, & were extremely disappointed. It is not sumptuous or fit for a pasha & the food was ok but certainly nothing special, while the service was glacial & mixed up. I've had better meals at Le Souk in NYC. As it was our last night in Cairo, I was absolutely hell-bent on seeing a dancer before we left. SE was tired & tried to beg off but I convinced him by arguing that we'd probably never come back to Cairo & thus would miss out forever, & also I needed protection from the men. Fortunately for us lazy bums, the hotel night club was having a performance so all we had to to do was stay awake. When we got down there the audience totaled 12 people - including us. The singer soon finished & musicians began pouring out. it was like the circus act with the clowns popping out of a VW. We counted 19 people on stage! At long last the dancer herself came out. She was terrible. She had some basic moves, the requisite smile & was even pretty cute, but there was no rhythm or passion. Maybe she was a novice, I don't know. I was so disappointed I cried a little on our way back to the room. To his credit, SE comforted me instead of saying told you so.
Saturday we realized that we had forgotten to go shopping. We decided on the Khan Al Khalili bazaar as suggested by LP but when we told the cabbie where we wanted to go, he told us it was at least an hour there, plus Cairo traffic is horrible so probably it would be longer. We only had 2.5 hours total before we had to be at the airport so we were happy to take his suggestion of shopping near the hotel. I got some sheets, since people are always talking about Egyptian cotton, & we bought some cute clothes & jewelry. We managed to cross the street without getting run over - you think jaywalking is bad in NYC, you'd be horrified at Cairo. People basically walk whenever & wherever they feel like it, & there are hardly any stoplights. In any case we got what we wanted, although we didn't have time to get proper shawarma before our flight as I'd hoped. Our cabbie took it upon himself to stop & get us some, & wouldn't let us give him money. SE only had E£100 ($18.18) bills & said so when the driver stopped to get us drinks, but again he insisted it was his hospitality & that he had change for the fare of E£50, no worries. When we arrived SE gave him the E£100 & the guy just said thanks & started walking away. SE was like, No, I need change, you said you had it. It turned out he only had E£12 so we had to take that. This was one of the more egregious examples of how annoying baksheesh (tipping) is in Egypt. He clearly wanted us to tip him a lot, which is reasonable, but it sucks when people try to manipulate you into it. We might have just given him the extra 50 if it weren't for the fake "hospitality" & the bullshit about change. Don't call it hospitality when you have an agenda. We were also frustrated by how hard it was to get change. Whenever we wanted to break a bill they always asked if we had smaller, & on the frequent occasions when we didn't they were quite happy to pocket the excess unless SE got annoyed & walked away. LP said baksheesh is the custom for any kind of service but we got really tired of feeling fleeced all the time. In any case, we made it through both security gates (I suppose just in case we'd created a weapon in the 100 feet between the 1st X-ray/metal detector & the 2nd) & onto our flight to Sharm safely.
I don't understand how Arab women can stand being so hot in those burqas. It was about 95° & I couldn't bear wearing much more than a bikini! (Although I did, of course, I'm not stupid.) I find it odd that a religion mandating so much black clothing popped up in the desert of all places, instead of Scandinavia or something. I guess it's because people wanted to wear so little that men had to be "protected" from temptation. Learn some self-control, boys, jeez. According to the Lonely Planet guide (LP), it is wise for a woman traveler to just say her male companion is her husband, because they respect married women much more. Since a good Muslim girl has to be a virgin for her wedding night, foreign women are their chance for easy pussy. LP also said to keep as much of myself covered as possible. SE wasn't quite ready for a Mrs. SE but my safety won out. He'd made fun of me all through South Africa for packing so many long-sleeved shirts & pants & I was finally vindicated when man after man stopped & turned to stare at me regardless. One guy even tripped in the street while walking backwards, staring. To be fair, I think part of it may have been that they never see any young attractive Asian women, only old Japanese & Chinese tourists, but it was still disconcerting & made me nervous. It was much funnier when hawkers jokingly tried to buy me from SE for outrageous numbers of camels - the highest offer he got was 100 million. Each one is worth ~$1000 so it's lucky the 7-year-old kid didn't seem to actually have any camels or I'd be trapped in some harem right now.
That first night we went to the Sound & Light Show "narrated" by the Sphinx. It's super cheesy & pompous, although it's cool to see the Pyramids & Sphinx lit up at night. We had dinner at the Mughal Room in the hotel which was probably the best Indian food I've ever had. We did the tasting course & each one was more scrumptious than the last. The mains, especially, were so good we wanted to keep eating even though we were totally full. Partly as a result of that plus all the sunshine earlier, we decided to take a disco nap before the belly dancing show at the hotel's nightclub later. LP said Cairo was the birthplace of belly dancing & had the best dancers in the world so I was extremely excited. I was so sleepy though, when SE woke me up at 2am I couldn't be bothered. The next morning we had a tour bright & early with Sharif of Abercrombie & Kent Tours. We grabbed some delicious (& amazingly cheap at E£3 = $0.55 for 4 sandwiches) falafel from Felfela & visited the Pyramids. We went to the 3 big ones by us, Khufu, Khafre & Menkaure.
They look a bit like step pyramids now because their limestone coverings & some of the inner limestone was taken to build other things, but they're still massive. Each block is about 1 meter x 3m & although Sharif explained how they were put together, it's mind-boggling. The current consensus is internal & external ramps winding around & around the pyramid & then disassembled. Contrary to what I'd read as a child, the workers weren't slaves, they were farmers keeping busy during the fallow season, given the very high honor of building Pharaoh's tomb. I guess if you want to call it that. We climbed inside the Great Pyramid & the most amazing thing was how smooth the walls were. I can't even get my head around the amount of labor it must have taken. When we'd had our fill of giant rock monuments, Sharif took us to a Papyrus store which was quite interesting & its curio shop which was not. Stuff in Egypt can look so tacky.We stopped for lunch at Abou Tarek, which specialized in kushari, a noodle-type dish with spices which is pretty good. Then it was time for the Egyptian Museum. Sharif was in his element - he was a fount of information on the highlights of the Museum, as we obviously couldn't see every single thing in 2 hours. A bit overwhelming, actually - 2 hours of relentless lectures & not much walking around makes my eyes droop. My favorite exhibit was the diorite statue. Sharif said diorite is the second hardest material in the world, behind only diamond. & yet the ancient Egyptians carved 23 statues out of it. The weird thing is, we can't figure out how they did it. Apparently the only way they've been able to make a dent in diorite nowadays is with lasers, & they can't manage that level of detail either (nostrils, eyelids, etc.). Very mysterious. (A quick Google search revealed that Sharif was perhaps more patriotic than knowledgeable, as diorite is only a 6/10 on the Moh hardness scale & it is certainly not only lasers that can carve it.) It was also interesting to learn that silver was actually much more valuable in ancient Egypt because it had to be imported, whereas gold was so plentiful they buried their pharaohs with tons of it. Even a weak, short-lived king like Tutankhamen had a several gilded sarcophagi & a treasury's worth of gold. Maybe that's why their jewelry now is surprisingly expensive - they locked most of it away with dead people. My favorite part was the small pond outside the building with reeds & lilies which represented the papyrus & lotus of the kingdoms of Upper & Lower Egypt.
For dinner we went to Bird Cage at the Semiramis InterContinental, touted as the best Thai in Cairo. I don't know if that's true but it was certainly the best Thai I've ever had. We tried the chicken satay, crab & corn soup & crispy shrimp appetizers - then chicken cashew & spicy beef something after that, which were all fantastic. I could eat there every night. There was a belly dancer coming on later that night in the same hotel so we went across the street to El Mojito at the Nile Hilton to wait for her. However, we'd eaten too early - 8pm - & after 2 hours we were too bored to wait until 1 am for the show. We went home & I think we just played Scrabble.
On Friday we were really lazy, got up late & ended up sitting by the pool again. We tried Abu Sid, highly recommended by LP, & were extremely disappointed. It is not sumptuous or fit for a pasha & the food was ok but certainly nothing special, while the service was glacial & mixed up. I've had better meals at Le Souk in NYC. As it was our last night in Cairo, I was absolutely hell-bent on seeing a dancer before we left. SE was tired & tried to beg off but I convinced him by arguing that we'd probably never come back to Cairo & thus would miss out forever, & also I needed protection from the men. Fortunately for us lazy bums, the hotel night club was having a performance so all we had to to do was stay awake. When we got down there the audience totaled 12 people - including us. The singer soon finished & musicians began pouring out. it was like the circus act with the clowns popping out of a VW. We counted 19 people on stage! At long last the dancer herself came out. She was terrible. She had some basic moves, the requisite smile & was even pretty cute, but there was no rhythm or passion. Maybe she was a novice, I don't know. I was so disappointed I cried a little on our way back to the room. To his credit, SE comforted me instead of saying told you so.
Saturday we realized that we had forgotten to go shopping. We decided on the Khan Al Khalili bazaar as suggested by LP but when we told the cabbie where we wanted to go, he told us it was at least an hour there, plus Cairo traffic is horrible so probably it would be longer. We only had 2.5 hours total before we had to be at the airport so we were happy to take his suggestion of shopping near the hotel. I got some sheets, since people are always talking about Egyptian cotton, & we bought some cute clothes & jewelry. We managed to cross the street without getting run over - you think jaywalking is bad in NYC, you'd be horrified at Cairo. People basically walk whenever & wherever they feel like it, & there are hardly any stoplights. In any case we got what we wanted, although we didn't have time to get proper shawarma before our flight as I'd hoped. Our cabbie took it upon himself to stop & get us some, & wouldn't let us give him money. SE only had E£100 ($18.18) bills & said so when the driver stopped to get us drinks, but again he insisted it was his hospitality & that he had change for the fare of E£50, no worries. When we arrived SE gave him the E£100 & the guy just said thanks & started walking away. SE was like, No, I need change, you said you had it. It turned out he only had E£12 so we had to take that. This was one of the more egregious examples of how annoying baksheesh (tipping) is in Egypt. He clearly wanted us to tip him a lot, which is reasonable, but it sucks when people try to manipulate you into it. We might have just given him the extra 50 if it weren't for the fake "hospitality" & the bullshit about change. Don't call it hospitality when you have an agenda. We were also frustrated by how hard it was to get change. Whenever we wanted to break a bill they always asked if we had smaller, & on the frequent occasions when we didn't they were quite happy to pocket the excess unless SE got annoyed & walked away. LP said baksheesh is the custom for any kind of service but we got really tired of feeling fleeced all the time. In any case, we made it through both security gates (I suppose just in case we'd created a weapon in the 100 feet between the 1st X-ray/metal detector & the 2nd) & onto our flight to Sharm safely.
Monday, March 26, 2007
my busy week
I keep trying to stay focused & get things done, but I'm very easily sidetracked. This past week was split between work, exercise, etc & stuff I'm not supposed to do. I had 2 sessions - one of my slaves brought me Godiva chocolates & a Barnes & Noble gift card as a belated birthday present, isn't that sweet? I also worked an exhausting promotion for a new VH1 show called Acceptable TV. It was not a well-thought-out way for them to reach their target young demographic but I got paid & I always enjoy analyzing how to get people to respond so that was fine.
Unfortunately the pay wasn't munificent, which is why it was so bad that I shopped. Last week I saw 2 of my friends wearing super hot dresses from American Apparel. Up to this point, I wouldn't shop there. I think I disliked the not-hot-enough models, then after I read the disturbing article in the NY Times about Dov Charney I definitely was not a fan. But these dresses were so good I had to check them out. I ended up buying 3 on Tuesday & 3 more on Thursday. They not only look sexy, they're about $26-36 with good, comfortable material. I can't go in there again for a while, it's too dangerous. Sexy Englishman helped by threatening (& carrying out) "punishment" if I shopped any more. Or maybe that was just an excuse for us to try spanking...
Even worse, I bought jewelry: I lost my favorite ring Monday, & I was kind of down all week so I went to Tiffany's & replaced it. I forgot that it was about $200 (had a gift card the first time), & I haven't exactly been economical lately so that was a problem. The other jewelry I got from a street vendor by my house, which wasn't as much damage except I'll pass him every time I go to the train & will need to tape my hands inside my jacket or something. I think I'm in that stage of being broke where it's gone on long enough to make me impulsive & restless, much more likely to say "oh fuck it" & just buy things instead of being disciplined. I'm usually really good about resisting temptation, so this is kind of scary.
I ended up spending a fortune on dinners this weekend too - Thursday I visited Fashionista at Lan where she just started working, & my dinner was $100. I guess I should have asked her first what the deal was. It's a fantastic resto in the East Village, & certainly not overpriced for the quality of the food, but I can't remember the last time I actually paid in full for myself to eat somewhere like that. I'm always on a date or someone rich is having a party. On Saturday Lovely Blonde very kindly accompanied me to a reception in Brooklyn for an art showing by one of my photographers. He takes pictures & then turns them into giant canvases, they look really cool & Warhol-esque. We took the train, not knowing we were venturing into Bed-Stuy! Nothing happened though, & the show went well. Afterwards we decided to take advantage of Brooklyn Restaurant Week & go to Blue Ribbon. It was really good, & the bartender gave us all our drinks, but that was another $100. Sunday was Fashionista's birthday & another wonderful, expensive meal at Lan. I got really pissed off for a few minutes because it was supposed to be $35 prix fixe & the bill came to $105/person. Alcohol is surprisingly expensive. I guess I don't notice usually because I rarely buy drinks. I forced myself to calm down & rationalized that it was her birthday & there was nothing to be done at that point.
I barely slept last week, what with having work early one day, being inexplicably unable to sleep one night, & staying out all night with Fashionista 2 nights. Got home at 9:30 this morning - her birthday was of course the occasion for indulgence on a larger-than-usual scale. After dinner we did gay night at Hiro, where I was admiringly called Naomi Campbell 3 times (I suppose because she's a quarter Chinese), & then a very noisy APT before the regulation apartment afterparty. I managed to make myself get up after a few hours' nap but I feel guilty for not getting much done & I'm trying to figure out why it's so hard to get myself home at a reasonable hour. I guess I'd rather go play than work on what I'm supposed to do. At least I manage to go to the gym & whip my ass into shape almost every day.
In happier thoughts, Lovely Blonde & I were virtually attached at the hip all weekend - we met up briefly Friday, then she went on the Brooklyn adventure with me Saturday & stayed over that night. We wanted to fool around but she had a tummy ache so we just snuggled. Sunday we wandered down to Soho & ended up at Kiki de Montparnasse & Agent Provocateur, which got us all excited. We both desperately want these adorable little vibrators at Kiki but they are crazy expensive. Afterwards we had brunch at Ideya with some friends of hers, then I had to go pick up my auntie from Penn Station. Lovely Blonde came to Fashionista's birthday dinner too & stayed out with us all night. We finally made out for the first time. Sexy Englishman was in Vegas for the weekend with some guy friends, & despite getting back late last night, joined us at the restaurant for a little while. We were so happy to see each other we had really hot sex in the bathroom. LB even joined in at first, but I think we all felt our first three-way should be on a bed where we could all be naked & have space. We are planning to go to Vegas some weekend soon, just the three of us. :)
Well, I only got 2 things crossed off my list today, but I'm going to the Snow Patrol concert with SE so I have to get ready. Another day semi-wasted...
Unfortunately the pay wasn't munificent, which is why it was so bad that I shopped. Last week I saw 2 of my friends wearing super hot dresses from American Apparel. Up to this point, I wouldn't shop there. I think I disliked the not-hot-enough models, then after I read the disturbing article in the NY Times about Dov Charney I definitely was not a fan. But these dresses were so good I had to check them out. I ended up buying 3 on Tuesday & 3 more on Thursday. They not only look sexy, they're about $26-36 with good, comfortable material. I can't go in there again for a while, it's too dangerous. Sexy Englishman helped by threatening (& carrying out) "punishment" if I shopped any more. Or maybe that was just an excuse for us to try spanking...
Even worse, I bought jewelry: I lost my favorite ring Monday, & I was kind of down all week so I went to Tiffany's & replaced it. I forgot that it was about $200 (had a gift card the first time), & I haven't exactly been economical lately so that was a problem. The other jewelry I got from a street vendor by my house, which wasn't as much damage except I'll pass him every time I go to the train & will need to tape my hands inside my jacket or something.
I ended up spending a fortune on dinners this weekend too - Thursday I visited Fashionista at Lan where she just started working, & my dinner was $100. I guess I should have asked her first what the deal was. It's a fantastic resto in the East Village, & certainly not overpriced for the quality of the food, but I can't remember the last time I actually paid in full for myself to eat somewhere like that. I'm always on a date or someone rich is having a party. On Saturday Lovely Blonde very kindly accompanied me to a reception in Brooklyn for an art showing by one of my photographers. He takes pictures & then turns them into giant canvases, they look really cool & Warhol-esque. We took the train, not knowing we were venturing into Bed-Stuy! Nothing happened though, & the show went well. Afterwards we decided to take advantage of Brooklyn Restaurant Week & go to Blue Ribbon. It was really good, & the bartender gave us all our drinks, but that was another $100. Sunday was Fashionista's birthday & another wonderful, expensive meal at Lan. I got really pissed off for a few minutes because it was supposed to be $35 prix fixe & the bill came to $105/person. Alcohol is surprisingly expensive. I guess I don't notice usually because I rarely buy drinks. I forced myself to calm down & rationalized that it was her birthday & there was nothing to be done at that point.
I barely slept last week, what with having work early one day, being inexplicably unable to sleep one night, & staying out all night with Fashionista 2 nights. Got home at 9:30 this morning - her birthday was of course the occasion for indulgence on a larger-than-usual scale.
In happier thoughts, Lovely Blonde & I were virtually attached at the hip all weekend - we met up briefly Friday, then she went on the Brooklyn adventure with me Saturday & stayed over that night. We wanted to fool around but she had a tummy ache so we just snuggled. Sunday we wandered down to Soho & ended up at Kiki de Montparnasse & Agent Provocateur, which got us all excited. We both desperately want these adorable little vibrators at Kiki but they are crazy expensive. Afterwards we had brunch at Ideya with some friends of hers, then I had to go pick up my auntie from Penn Station. Lovely Blonde came to Fashionista's birthday dinner too & stayed out with us all night. We finally made out for the first time. Sexy Englishman was in Vegas for the weekend with some guy friends, & despite getting back late last night, joined us at the restaurant for a little while. We were so happy to see each other we had really hot sex in the bathroom. LB even joined in at first, but I think we all felt our first three-way should be on a bed where we could all be naked & have space. We are planning to go to Vegas some weekend soon, just the three of us. :)
Well, I only got 2 things crossed off my list today, but I'm going to the Snow Patrol concert with SE so I have to get ready. Another day semi-wasted...
Friday, January 26, 2007
on the road again
I'm packing for my weekend trip to Vegas with Nice Lawyer tomorrow, & unpacking the booty from my long shopping day. Today my favorite consignment shop, Ina, had an end-of-season sale. I was going to clean out all 4 branches but had already spent $562 after visiting 2 stores so I restrained myself. Although Jewish Princess (who was shopping with me) persuaded me to go across the street to Lunessa, an adorable & inexpensive jewelry store, where I parted with another $200. Actually it wasn't bad, considering I bought 15 items total today. & spent 1/4 of that entire sum on one fabulous Chanel lace skirt. Here are pictures!
In the beginning, there were boots: Constança Basto & Proenza Schouler.
Then there were S&M pumps. Look how pretty & Yves Saint-Laurent-y!! They were only $69 too.
Fabulous Chanel skirt that JP insisted I buy over my objections of expense, & now I'm glad:
The rest of the clothes & jewelry are great but not as amazing. Oddly enough, I'm a size 7 but all of today's shoes were 6 or 6.5. Shopping was so much fun but when I got home I was completely exhausted.
Also, I ran into this guy, Prince Charming, at the gym yesterday. I don't have the energy to go through the whole story, so in a nutshell: when we met 2.5 years ago we looked at each other & were both rendered speechless. He's a very tall, gorgeous WASP from Park Avenue, my favorite kind of guy. After 5 minutes the thought, "This is my future husband," popped into my head. I've never felt like that about anyone before or since. We kinda dated, but he lived in LA, so nothing happened even though every time we saw each other there was ridiculous chemistry. About 6 months ago he moved back to NYC. Unfortunately I had a boyfriend - & then a few boyfriends after that - & he was with some chick for a couple months as we kept running into each other at the gym or in the neighborhood & kind of went out but not really. Anyway, yesterday we had a date & it felt just as amazing as when we first met. We were little lovebirds (well, I'm little compared to him) & he walked me home & I was so excited about how well the night went that I couldn't sleep for hours. I guess I should be grateful that I have such a fun dilemma - which of three (so far) wonderful guys should I choose?
Oops, it's getting late. I have a manicure, pedicure & voice lesson all before noon tomorrow & I still haven't packed. Will tell you guys how amazing & fun Vegas was when I get back. :) Wish me luck at the tables!
In the beginning, there were boots: Constança Basto & Proenza Schouler.
Then there were S&M pumps. Look how pretty & Yves Saint-Laurent-y!! They were only $69 too.
Fabulous Chanel skirt that JP insisted I buy over my objections of expense, & now I'm glad:
The rest of the clothes & jewelry are great but not as amazing. Oddly enough, I'm a size 7 but all of today's shoes were 6 or 6.5. Shopping was so much fun but when I got home I was completely exhausted.
Also, I ran into this guy, Prince Charming, at the gym yesterday. I don't have the energy to go through the whole story, so in a nutshell: when we met 2.5 years ago we looked at each other & were both rendered speechless. He's a very tall, gorgeous WASP from Park Avenue, my favorite kind of guy. After 5 minutes the thought, "This is my future husband," popped into my head. I've never felt like that about anyone before or since. We kinda dated, but he lived in LA, so nothing happened even though every time we saw each other there was ridiculous chemistry. About 6 months ago he moved back to NYC. Unfortunately I had a boyfriend - & then a few boyfriends after that - & he was with some chick for a couple months as we kept running into each other at the gym or in the neighborhood & kind of went out but not really. Anyway, yesterday we had a date & it felt just as amazing as when we first met. We were little lovebirds (well, I'm little compared to him) & he walked me home & I was so excited about how well the night went that I couldn't sleep for hours. I guess I should be grateful that I have such a fun dilemma - which of three (so far) wonderful guys should I choose?
Oops, it's getting late. I have a manicure, pedicure & voice lesson all before noon tomorrow & I still haven't packed. Will tell you guys how amazing & fun Vegas was when I get back. :) Wish me luck at the tables!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
action-packed week
I've had the craziest week of working, shopping, partying, fucking & exercising. Let's see - Tuesday was the GenArt sale & capoeira with Brooklyn Hottie, all pretty fun. We got some sushi on St. Mark's place afterwards & Tech Exec met us there & then we (TE & I) went to his apartment nearby. He is such a stand-up guy, especially compared to my ex - if that had been the ex, he would have just said "come over when you're done." Instead, TE came to hang out with us, grabbed the check away, & insisted that we take a cab the three blocks to his house because "princess, you're shivering." He calls me princess because I mentioned I love that nickname the first time we met. More importantly, he generally treats me like a princess too. He called himself my boyfriend that night, which was really sweet. & he has more energy than I know what to do with. We got home & had sex twice before bed, he woke me up at 3:30 to do it again, & if he hadn't overslept we would have done it before work too.
Wednesday TE took me & Fashionista to a client dinner at Buddha Bar. The food's great there, although the place is a little loud. I was talking to his boss by the bar while we waited for our table & Tech Boss says, "I see why [he] is falling for you more & more. But don't tell him I told you that." I was like wow! I really didn't take TE seriously before, knowing that he dates a lot of beautiful young models & is quite the player. Lately with all that's been happening, I'm starting to look at him differently. Anyhow, I made sure the clients had a great time, intelligent conversation-wise, & TE & I somehow stumbled home (don't mix red wine & copious cocktails) & pretty much had sex all night until he had to get up a couple hours later. His firm is signing a contract with those very same clients next week, which makes me feel like I helped.
Thursday I had a session with a strange guy who may have been high on coke. It was fun despite that - I got to break a cane on him. Well, he did ask me to cane him bloody (I did not, too dangerous with a new client). Then I had one of the best shopping trips of my life. There was a crazy Sigerson Morrison sale, where all the shoes were $60 or $40. These shoes retail for $350 & up - one pair I bought was $515. Made me wonder if the inventory fell off the back of a truck. I picked up only 2 pairs after some disciplined decision-making. Next stop: my favorite consignment shop, Ina, where I got a Michael Kors leather jacket for $125, fierce Burberry cargo pants for $75 & an incredible S&M-looking big purse by Jennifer Scott for $150. It's embossed leather that looks like crocodile & has all these straps & hardware. I love it so much I've been carrying it around every day even when I don't really need to. Although everything was a ridiculously good deal, it was still a lot - I think I got too excited by Sunday's cash.
Thursday night I wore the new pants & jacket out with Hollywood Ex & Jewish Princess, whom I was trying to set up. JP was extremely not zen. She got especially frazzled because of the bitter cold & I felt terrible because this was HE's first time meeting her & she was basically being an ass. I did explain to him that she's usually not like that. She went home early, he went back to his hotel after we had a drink, & I met up with Cute Gay Guy. We ended up at Guesthouse & Home where I discovered that I, too, can choreograph! I made up a club-friendly Sexyback dance (the combinations we learn in dance class generally require too much space) & almost got into a fight with a big guy I rejected. I politely gestured no thanks, I was dancing with CGG; the gorilla grabbed my arm really hard & shouted something I couldn't hear over the music. I wanted to shove him or something but I could tell he was at least 3 times stronger than me so I contented myself with screaming at him not to fucking touch me. Very scary. It reminded me of a quote from The Gift of Fear: "At core, men are afraid women will laugh at them, while at core, women are afraid men will kill them." Good thing he walked away & we left shortly thereafter. Spent the rest of the night hanging out with CGG & talking about everything... really meant to go to dance class at 11 but I left his apartment a little too late & was too jittery to do a good job dancing, so I wisely opted to take a nap instead.
Friday I had an orchestra rehearsal in NJ & then a fashion party back in the city. Took Brooklyn Hottie, who pulled out all the stops to look super sexy. We went to Crobar after, where we danced a lot, even on top of the bar for a couple minutes, & met a cute bartender. BH stayed over (platonically) & we went down to Chinatown for lunch the next day. I had a liquor promo that night, & I was so exhausted from my very busy week & lack of sleep that I just went home afterwards. Today has been a lazy day. I did dance class & have been napping for the last 5 hours. TE finally got back to me - I hadn't heard from him since he said "Love you miss you have a great day Princess" Thursday morning - saying he was flying out to the clients from Wednesday. I was worried about him before, & now I'm a little pissed that he was too busy to say hi for 4 days, but he seems to take his work ultra seriously so I'll wait & see what happens when he gets back. It sucks because I was just starting to take him seriously & I feel like this is a huge step back. Anyway, I have got to get at least something done today. 'Til next time...
Wednesday TE took me & Fashionista to a client dinner at Buddha Bar. The food's great there, although the place is a little loud. I was talking to his boss by the bar while we waited for our table & Tech Boss says, "I see why [he] is falling for you more & more. But don't tell him I told you that." I was like wow! I really didn't take TE seriously before, knowing that he dates a lot of beautiful young models & is quite the player. Lately with all that's been happening, I'm starting to look at him differently. Anyhow, I made sure the clients had a great time, intelligent conversation-wise, & TE & I somehow stumbled home (don't mix red wine & copious cocktails) & pretty much had sex all night until he had to get up a couple hours later. His firm is signing a contract with those very same clients next week, which makes me feel like I helped.
Thursday I had a session with a strange guy who may have been high on coke. It was fun despite that - I got to break a cane on him. Well, he did ask me to cane him bloody (I did not, too dangerous with a new client). Then I had one of the best shopping trips of my life. There was a crazy Sigerson Morrison sale, where all the shoes were $60 or $40. These shoes retail for $350 & up - one pair I bought was $515. Made me wonder if the inventory fell off the back of a truck. I picked up only 2 pairs after some disciplined decision-making. Next stop: my favorite consignment shop, Ina, where I got a Michael Kors leather jacket for $125, fierce Burberry cargo pants for $75 & an incredible S&M-looking big purse by Jennifer Scott for $150. It's embossed leather that looks like crocodile & has all these straps & hardware. I love it so much I've been carrying it around every day even when I don't really need to. Although everything was a ridiculously good deal, it was still a lot - I think I got too excited by Sunday's cash.
Thursday night I wore the new pants & jacket out with Hollywood Ex & Jewish Princess, whom I was trying to set up. JP was extremely not zen. She got especially frazzled because of the bitter cold & I felt terrible because this was HE's first time meeting her & she was basically being an ass. I did explain to him that she's usually not like that. She went home early, he went back to his hotel after we had a drink, & I met up with Cute Gay Guy. We ended up at Guesthouse & Home where I discovered that I, too, can choreograph! I made up a club-friendly Sexyback dance (the combinations we learn in dance class generally require too much space) & almost got into a fight with a big guy I rejected. I politely gestured no thanks, I was dancing with CGG; the gorilla grabbed my arm really hard & shouted something I couldn't hear over the music. I wanted to shove him or something but I could tell he was at least 3 times stronger than me so I contented myself with screaming at him not to fucking touch me. Very scary. It reminded me of a quote from The Gift of Fear: "At core, men are afraid women will laugh at them, while at core, women are afraid men will kill them." Good thing he walked away & we left shortly thereafter. Spent the rest of the night hanging out with CGG & talking about everything... really meant to go to dance class at 11 but I left his apartment a little too late & was too jittery to do a good job dancing, so I wisely opted to take a nap instead.
Friday I had an orchestra rehearsal in NJ & then a fashion party back in the city. Took Brooklyn Hottie, who pulled out all the stops to look super sexy. We went to Crobar after, where we danced a lot, even on top of the bar for a couple minutes, & met a cute bartender. BH stayed over (platonically) & we went down to Chinatown for lunch the next day. I had a liquor promo that night, & I was so exhausted from my very busy week & lack of sleep that I just went home afterwards. Today has been a lazy day. I did dance class & have been napping for the last 5 hours. TE finally got back to me - I hadn't heard from him since he said "Love you miss you have a great day Princess" Thursday morning - saying he was flying out to the clients from Wednesday. I was worried about him before, & now I'm a little pissed that he was too busy to say hi for 4 days, but he seems to take his work ultra seriously so I'll wait & see what happens when he gets back. It sucks because I was just starting to take him seriously & I feel like this is a huge step back. Anyway, I have got to get at least something done today. 'Til next time...
Thursday, November 30, 2006
busy day & pretty new shoes
Today was a very busy day of strenuous exercise, dance, voice lesson & errands. I left my house around 10:30 to get to the gym & got home at about 7, so it was like a full day of work. I'm also extremely sore all over from the conditioning classes I've been punishing myself with (missed exercise entirely last week), which means that I walk a bit stiffly & squeak in pain when trying to sit down. The teachers really love thigh work.
My voice lesson went very well - my teacher has me learning Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing", among other songs. I'm supposed to listen & sing it exactly the way she does, down to every note of every riff. Today he exclaimed happily, "In one month you went from white girl licks to black girl licks!!" I don't always know what I'm listening for but I guess my ear knows.
After my lesson I walked by Columbus Circle & noticed that Stuart Weitzman is having a sale. Against my better judgment, I went in to browse, & was seduced by these shoes:
Aren't they gorgeous? They're the same patent leather shoe, just different colors. I ended up buying both, because I couldn't bear to leave either behind. I will have to cut back on food in December but you know what, I had a good lesson despite being sick half this month, I had to deal with my mother all last week & I've had several sessions recently so I think a little indulgence is ok.
My voice lesson went very well - my teacher has me learning Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing", among other songs. I'm supposed to listen & sing it exactly the way she does, down to every note of every riff. Today he exclaimed happily, "In one month you went from white girl licks to black girl licks!!" I don't always know what I'm listening for but I guess my ear knows.
After my lesson I walked by Columbus Circle & noticed that Stuart Weitzman is having a sale. Against my better judgment, I went in to browse, & was seduced by these shoes:
Aren't they gorgeous? They're the same patent leather shoe, just different colors. I ended up buying both, because I couldn't bear to leave either behind. I will have to cut back on food in December but you know what, I had a good lesson despite being sick half this month, I had to deal with my mother all last week & I've had several sessions recently so I think a little indulgence is ok.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
fun with toys
Today was toy shopping day... Future Lawyer friend is visiting for interviews, so I've been showing him around the city. After visiting Babeland, we went by that new store, Kiki de Montparnasse, in Soho. It's gorgeous. They have some cool clothes, but the accessories are really the draw. They have all sorts of things, from glass dildos to sex jewelry & elaborate bondage kits, even discreet little cameras & camcorders to spice things up, which are so tiny I thought they were toys at first. In particular there's an adorable Leica, smaller than the palm of my hand. I was really lusting after the Samsung Handicam too but it's $650. Everything in the store is so expensive you'd think it was plated gold - which, in fact, some of the vibrators are. They've got some other naughty things that you should probably see yourself on their site. Today was also fun because Mama Gena's School of Womanly Arts was throwing a party there so as we walked in we saw a bar & lots of cute girls & a couple women dressed as dommes. I don't know much about the school but it definitely made for a unique shopping experience.
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