I went to the 11/10 concert, which was rather disappointing. The first piece was some weird Chinese modernist thing, which frankly just sounded noisy. I wanted to like it - supporting my sort-of countrymen & all - but I didn't. Gimmicky orchestral stuff isn't my thing. The young composer is quite handsome though. I was excited about Vadim Repin playing the Lalo Symphonie Espagnole, one of the staples of the solo violin repertoire, and yet again disappointed. He was out of tune a lot. At first I blamed it on nerves, but as it kept happening I couldn't figure out a good excuse for him. Also, he was wearing some kind of weird Nehru jacket & suede shoes that made him look as though he was playing in his pajamas & socks.
The only unqualifiedly good thing about the program was Beethoven's Seventh. I recognized a lot of the melodies, which had been floating around in my head unattached to any particular work. Yes, I was a typical diva violinist, only paying attention to concertmaster solos & the violin repertoire. I also pretty much stopped listening to classical music after I got out from under my mother's thumb 7 years ago so whatever I did know about orchestral music got jumbled up or forgotten.
I liked the whole experience of going to the concert though. It felt very grown-up & cultured; dressing up, having champagne beforehand, reading the program notes, etc. We used to go to concerts almost every week when I was growing up. I hadn't been to a New York Philharmonic concert since I moved here several years ago, & the only times I'd been in Carnegie Hall or Avery Fisher were when I was playing. Fortunately Sexy Englishman quite liked it as well, so we'll probably go to another one.
Sadly, I can't say as much for the ballet. A few months ago I begged him to take me to Sleeping Beauty, which was much more old-fashioned than I expected, with lots of solos & irrelevant (though beautiful) parts, & he hated it. He refuses to go to the Balanchine retrospective thingy they're putting on soon. I keep explaining that it was choreographed at least 100 years later but he won't listen. Maybe my lovely friend Dancer wants to go...
Showing posts with label dancing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dancing. Show all posts
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
off again
The Halloween party was an epic success - so much so that Sexy Englishman & his housemates are no longer allowed to throw parties with more than about 20 people. We had 200 people show up! It was awesome. & one of our favorite people in the whole world made a surprise visit from London... I was furious at not being told beforehand but so so happy to see him. I couldn't decide whether to whip him or hug him. SE & I, along with Cute Gay Guy & a couple other people, partied through to Sunday morning & then started cleaning up. This was our "bar" at that point.
We had such a great time we're not even going out for Halloween tonight. Plus, we're flying out to the Bahamas tomorrow for his college friend's wedding, & we have to look nice for the über-posh people there. It's going to be at Lyford Cay. The dress code is 4 pages long, I am not kidding. They are so crazy, for breakfast they say that men don't have to wear panama hats but it's encouraged. I'm excited to wear my new dress from Selfridges though!!
We had such a great time we're not even going out for Halloween tonight. Plus, we're flying out to the Bahamas tomorrow for his college friend's wedding, & we have to look nice for the über-posh people there. It's going to be at Lyford Cay. The dress code is 4 pages long, I am not kidding. They are so crazy, for breakfast they say that men don't have to wear panama hats but it's encouraged. I'm excited to wear my new dress from Selfridges though!!
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.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
I've totally backslid on my resolution to party less & get more done. Well, I did get a lot done, just mostly not anything I actually needed to do. I visited my parents one weekend, which is always stressful, but it was great to watch my little siblings play tennis & hang out with them. One of my slaves - who has a serious glove fetish - took me to Sermoneta (58th & Madison) for opera-length black leather gloves... amazing. The leather is some of the softest I've ever felt. I wish I could wear them somewhere besides home. Sexy English Boyfriend & I went to the last movie of the GenArt film festival, He Was a Quiet Man. It was disturbing & thought-provoking, although a bit confusing at the end. & Elisha Cuthbert is beautiful. We liked it better than Crashing (the first GenArt movie). I partied Wednesday & Thursday with the girls, & Friday SE actually came out with me. We went to a fantastic Italian place in the East Village, Cacio e Pepe. We had the shrimp wrapped in bacon, pecorino & black pepper tonnarelli & bucatini. It was unbelievably good. Gin Lane & Cabanas at the Maritime Hotel were cool too - Lovely Blonde came with us & helped spice things up. We all danced together & after much experimentation, the best positioning seemed to be one girl on each side. Although I also really enjoyed being the middle of a SE-LB sandwich. SE & I went home kind of early after seeing LB off on her sexy little Vespa.
Saturday we celebrated a friend's birthday at Carne Vale, a churrascaria in the East Village. I really really love meat. Fashionista was being a nasty little bitch but it was great to see our other friends & meet SE's buddy visiting from London. We were supposed to stay & drink more with the birthday boy, but got invited to Scores East so the choice was clear. We joined our friends GQ Banker & Eurasian Beauty & some random people they were hanging out with whom we vaguely knew. Then came the highlight of the evening - no, the month, possibly the year! Eurasian Beauty & I got onstage! We made out, we were topless about a minute into our song & I knelt on stage & bent all the way backwards as EB simulated going down on me. Outside that I basically just did some of my hip-hop moves instead of trying to be a stripper. Oh my god it was so hot dancing with EB. After that we were so excited that we got carried away giving girls in our group lapdances. I'm surprised management didn't stop us. I still know I could never be a real stripper but it was so much fun. I'm quite an exhibitionist when I get the excuse.
Sunday was shopping & exercise-new-toys day. We were exhausted from being out super late the night before but we couldn't resist trying everything. Very very fun. :) This week has been a lot of work & partying - SE is in Poland for a stag weekend so I have to amuse myself. I've ended up hanging out with Eurasian Beauty & GQ Banker every night... GQB has been hitting on me again. He is the friend that had a crush on me first but then SE & I started dating. Friday night all our friends left first & we went to Flashdancers at 3:30 & I chatted with him & his roommate at their place for about 20 minutes before finally going home. I wasn't doing anything wrong but I know I shouldn't have been hanging out with just him. I was drunk enough that I didn't want to resist the male attention. & SE has been away 4 whole days. It is hard to behave... I guess it's good that I'm this reflective & concerned about it though. Last night I made a point of not meeting up with GQB when I could have. He was going to an afterparty at Room Service but when EB said she was going home I said me too instead of hanging out with just him again. Plus I know that I don't want to cheat on SE so I won't.
Yesterday was yet another banner day of drinking. My friend organized an East Village pub crawl, exactly like the one we did for Halloween, except this time he made it like a golf game. Each hole was a different bar with a special drink that was worth more negative points. We started around 3pm & by the time I left at 8:30 I was quite inebriated. It was really fun though. I met a very cute Asian girl & beat her at Connect Four. Also, even though I only played 7 holes I ended up about 11 under "par". I had dinner with Double Trouble & her friend at Wild Salmon, which is much better than the reviews led me to believe. I had the crab & corn chowder & then linguine with clams, both of which were really good. I guess all the liquor filled me up because I couldn't even finish my linguine! & I can eat a lot. Afterwards we went to Penthouse, my home away from home, & I saw one of the sexy strippers I met before & this time she gave me her #. She lost mine last time. Another girl took such a shine to me she got in trouble with management - she asked me to spank her but apparently we are not allowed to do that. Also she is not supposed to bite me (nicely). I saw this other girl who was so thin & sinuous & delicious I couldn't stop staring at her, but once she danced for me I could tell she had her eyes on the goal & that didn't include fooling around with me. Oh well. I started giving Double Trouble a lapdance & security was a little mad, since they'd already scolded me for doing that for the naughty stripper at her request. We were leaving anyway. Man I really love strip clubs.
I am really tired but I'm going to dance class. I have to look good when I pick up SE at the airport tomorrow... I miss him so much. I can't wait for him to come home.
Saturday we celebrated a friend's birthday at Carne Vale, a churrascaria in the East Village. I really really love meat. Fashionista was being a nasty little bitch but it was great to see our other friends & meet SE's buddy visiting from London. We were supposed to stay & drink more with the birthday boy, but got invited to Scores East so the choice was clear. We joined our friends GQ Banker & Eurasian Beauty & some random people they were hanging out with whom we vaguely knew. Then came the highlight of the evening - no, the month, possibly the year! Eurasian Beauty & I got onstage! We made out, we were topless about a minute into our song & I knelt on stage & bent all the way backwards as EB simulated going down on me. Outside that I basically just did some of my hip-hop moves instead of trying to be a stripper. Oh my god it was so hot dancing with EB. After that we were so excited that we got carried away giving girls in our group lapdances. I'm surprised management didn't stop us. I still know I could never be a real stripper but it was so much fun. I'm quite an exhibitionist when I get the excuse.
Sunday was shopping & exercise-new-toys day. We were exhausted from being out super late the night before but we couldn't resist trying everything. Very very fun. :) This week has been a lot of work & partying - SE is in Poland for a stag weekend so I have to amuse myself. I've ended up hanging out with Eurasian Beauty & GQ Banker every night... GQB has been hitting on me again. He is the friend that had a crush on me first but then SE & I started dating. Friday night all our friends left first & we went to Flashdancers at 3:30 & I chatted with him & his roommate at their place for about 20 minutes before finally going home. I wasn't doing anything wrong but I know I shouldn't have been hanging out with just him. I was drunk enough that I didn't want to resist the male attention. & SE has been away 4 whole days. It is hard to behave... I guess it's good that I'm this reflective & concerned about it though. Last night I made a point of not meeting up with GQB when I could have. He was going to an afterparty at Room Service but when EB said she was going home I said me too instead of hanging out with just him again. Plus I know that I don't want to cheat on SE so I won't.
Yesterday was yet another banner day of drinking. My friend organized an East Village pub crawl, exactly like the one we did for Halloween, except this time he made it like a golf game. Each hole was a different bar with a special drink that was worth more negative points. We started around 3pm & by the time I left at 8:30 I was quite inebriated. It was really fun though. I met a very cute Asian girl & beat her at Connect Four. Also, even though I only played 7 holes I ended up about 11 under "par". I had dinner with Double Trouble & her friend at Wild Salmon, which is much better than the reviews led me to believe. I had the crab & corn chowder & then linguine with clams, both of which were really good. I guess all the liquor filled me up because I couldn't even finish my linguine! & I can eat a lot. Afterwards we went to Penthouse, my home away from home, & I saw one of the sexy strippers I met before & this time she gave me her #. She lost mine last time. Another girl took such a shine to me she got in trouble with management - she asked me to spank her but apparently we are not allowed to do that. Also she is not supposed to bite me (nicely). I saw this other girl who was so thin & sinuous & delicious I couldn't stop staring at her, but once she danced for me I could tell she had her eyes on the goal & that didn't include fooling around with me. Oh well. I started giving Double Trouble a lapdance & security was a little mad, since they'd already scolded me for doing that for the naughty stripper at her request. We were leaving anyway. Man I really love strip clubs.
I am really tired but I'm going to dance class. I have to look good when I pick up SE at the airport tomorrow... I miss him so much. I can't wait for him to come home.
Monday, February 12, 2007
birthday weekend extravaganza draws to a close
Yes, I'm a total princess & celebrated my birthday all weekend. My friends pulled through for me & made it awesome. I could have relaxed, it would have turned out great anyway - I have to learn how to be calm & let things work themselves out a lot more. Friday was very upsetting because Tech Exec disappeared again. He upset me already Wednesday at the client dinner, & we were supposed to have plans Saturday which I wanted to confirm except he didn't respond to me all day Friday. I don't know why I was surprised he started acting a fool again. So I was trying very hard & failing not to be depressed, when my friends Fledgling Designer & Cute Gay Guy were like come on let's have dinner! They took me to an adorable & yummy izakaya (Japanese tapas) called Kasadela in the east village & were just so sweet & cheerful that I perked right up & finally started having fun. We bounced around from China 1 to Lotus to Remix afterhours, & then hung out at CGG's house as usual.
Saturday, Nice Lawyer took me to Macelleria, where we shared the porterhouse & people looked at me strangely for wearing a little black dress & my new Proenza Schouler boots. It was very cold but I wanted to dress up. We had a drink at the Gansevoort while waiting for my friends to figure out where they wanted to go, then joined them at Double Happiness for more drinking. We popped downtown to some house party that turned out to be at my ex-boyfriend's building - freaky, we were on the floor below his! - & after frantically digging for our coats for about 45 minutes, we finally arrived at Penthouse with Fledgling Designer & another friend of ours. It is my favorite strip club & that night was absolutely amazing. Most of the time, even though that's the best club in Manhattan, I would say 50% of the girls are smokin' hot. Saturday, it was 80%. Like knock me over with a feather, drop-dead gorgeous. I got lots of lapdances & I was so excited, it's a good thing Nice Lawyer isn't pushy or I might actually have slept with him. He isn't much for staying out late & opted to go home when the rest of us decided on Korean barbecue after Penthouse said, "Gentlemen, put your dicks & wallets back in your pockets, it's closing time!" No they didn't but it sounds funnier that way. My friends laughed when I kissed NL good night & sent him on his way & said I was truly sadistic - it was his choice though, he could have asked me to come home or stayed out. & I was so hot I probably would have gone with him. Instead we ate like little piggies & that was good too.
Sunday I went to the gym, saw Prince Charming there, got several happy birthday phone calls & texts from unexpected people, & picked a nice outfit for dinner (Chanel skirt + see-through glittery black top). It ended up being 10 of us at Porcão, my favorite Brazilian steakhouse. Yes, I had meat all weekend & I like it that way. Dinner was so much fun!! Everyone got along famously, everyone was sweet to me, & I think someone told them to make my strawberry caipiroskas especially strong. So yummy. Afterwards we went over to Young Entrepreneur's loft (one of the hot guys from a prior post) since he's a few blocks away & drank some more. We were going to try for Milk & Honey but got distracted. & then, the high point of my whole weekend, his flatmate Sexy Englishman came home. We had bonded over books at their super bowl party the weekend before but their other friend was hitting on me & I didn't know SE liked me so I didn't really think about it. He emailed me the next day though, & asked me out a few days later for Thursday this week. On Sunday we started talking & realized we were really into each other. I decided to stay a bit longer & not share a cab home with the erstwhile favored friend. We were talking in SE's room - at one point he just leaned in & kissed me, & after extensive making out I ended up staying the whole night. We didn't do it although we fooled around all night. Literally. We fell asleep from exhaustion about 45 minutes before he had to get up for work.
Which is why I'm posting at such an ungodly early-for-me hour... I fell asleep again after he left, & just got home now. I can't remember ever being this into a guy (except maybe Prince Charming, but he's so flaky I've learned not to pay attention to those feelings). He gets me sooo excited & we have so much in common & I'm thinking about him right now with a smile on my face. We just find each other completely fascinating & yummy & keep discovering new adorable little quirks. I told him my current celibacy rule - no sex before we're in a relationship - & not only did he not pressure me about it the way Tech Exec did, he was totally sweet & understood without me having to explain any of the bad things that have made me that scared. I think this might be my new boyfriend. Wish me luck!
Saturday, Nice Lawyer took me to Macelleria, where we shared the porterhouse & people looked at me strangely for wearing a little black dress & my new Proenza Schouler boots. It was very cold but I wanted to dress up. We had a drink at the Gansevoort while waiting for my friends to figure out where they wanted to go, then joined them at Double Happiness for more drinking. We popped downtown to some house party that turned out to be at my ex-boyfriend's building - freaky, we were on the floor below his! - & after frantically digging for our coats for about 45 minutes, we finally arrived at Penthouse with Fledgling Designer & another friend of ours. It is my favorite strip club & that night was absolutely amazing. Most of the time, even though that's the best club in Manhattan, I would say 50% of the girls are smokin' hot. Saturday, it was 80%. Like knock me over with a feather, drop-dead gorgeous. I got lots of lapdances & I was so excited, it's a good thing Nice Lawyer isn't pushy or I might actually have slept with him. He isn't much for staying out late & opted to go home when the rest of us decided on Korean barbecue after Penthouse said, "Gentlemen, put your dicks & wallets back in your pockets, it's closing time!" No they didn't but it sounds funnier that way. My friends laughed when I kissed NL good night & sent him on his way & said I was truly sadistic - it was his choice though, he could have asked me to come home or stayed out. & I was so hot I probably would have gone with him. Instead we ate like little piggies & that was good too.
Sunday I went to the gym, saw Prince Charming there, got several happy birthday phone calls & texts from unexpected people, & picked a nice outfit for dinner (Chanel skirt + see-through glittery black top). It ended up being 10 of us at Porcão, my favorite Brazilian steakhouse. Yes, I had meat all weekend & I like it that way. Dinner was so much fun!! Everyone got along famously, everyone was sweet to me, & I think someone told them to make my strawberry caipiroskas especially strong. So yummy. Afterwards we went over to Young Entrepreneur's loft (one of the hot guys from a prior post) since he's a few blocks away & drank some more. We were going to try for Milk & Honey but got distracted. & then, the high point of my whole weekend, his flatmate Sexy Englishman came home. We had bonded over books at their super bowl party the weekend before but their other friend was hitting on me & I didn't know SE liked me so I didn't really think about it. He emailed me the next day though, & asked me out a few days later for Thursday this week. On Sunday we started talking & realized we were really into each other. I decided to stay a bit longer & not share a cab home with the erstwhile favored friend. We were talking in SE's room - at one point he just leaned in & kissed me, & after extensive making out I ended up staying the whole night. We didn't do it although we fooled around all night. Literally. We fell asleep from exhaustion about 45 minutes before he had to get up for work.
Which is why I'm posting at such an ungodly early-for-me hour... I fell asleep again after he left, & just got home now. I can't remember ever being this into a guy (except maybe Prince Charming, but he's so flaky I've learned not to pay attention to those feelings). He gets me sooo excited & we have so much in common & I'm thinking about him right now with a smile on my face. We just find each other completely fascinating & yummy & keep discovering new adorable little quirks. I told him my current celibacy rule - no sex before we're in a relationship - & not only did he not pressure me about it the way Tech Exec did, he was totally sweet & understood without me having to explain any of the bad things that have made me that scared. I think this might be my new boyfriend. Wish me luck!
Friday, December 29, 2006
Aruba: 6/10
I have returned safely... Aruba's too hot & humid though. The mosquitos bit me unmercifully, & the whole place looks like a ghetto. On the plus side, the beaches are gorgeous white sand, the cliffs overlooking the water are made of fascinatingly eroded rock, & the ocean is a very lovely shade of blue. I don't see why people make such a big fuss about it, although I think my opinion might be colored by my family's constant sniping at each other & complaining about everything. The best part was hanging out with my siblings. They're a little more grown-up now, so I can connect with them about more stuff, & I got to play tennis with them every day that my ankle didn't hurt. (It started giving me trouble in dance class a week before I left & only healed after 2 weeks of total rest.) I also finished 7.5 books. So I guess I had an ok time. But I'm very glad to be back.
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.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
fun night
I've had 3 sessions in 4 days. I guess men need discipline before the holidays. Or maybe it's just the sight of me in leather - yesterday's slave told me he loved me about 5 times. Wasn't sure what to say to that. Yay for me & yay for my bank, since I always put my cash away. My stripper friends keep telling me to put it somewhere safe at home but fuck that & holla at my HSBC 5% savings account. (Am I using that phrase correctly? I don't like hollering at things anyway. I'm an ex-classical musician, we protect our ears.) Besides, I pay exorbitant taxes on my lawyer earnings so I figure I'm ok throwing some undeclared cash in the bank.
I had a doctor's appointment & tough dance class before my session at 9. Hung out with Dancer & some of her friends afterwards... there was Gansevoort rooftop partying with yummy food, Home dancing, & Scores West lap teases. They played Sexyback at Home, so you know I got my sexy on with this cute guy friend of Dancer's, Resto Manager. There aren't many activities that can top shaking my ass on turbo for someone who appreciates it, especially since I can bellydance. (That's right, Asian Shakira is in the house.) Also the stripper hair toss with my super-long hair - the trick is to flip your hair up immediately & slowly, seductively, let the rest of you follow. Oooooh & Scores was really fun! This Korean-Japanese stripper took a shine to me &... let's just say the boys got quite a show. :) I got a dance from this smokin' hot Russian chick too but she had her eye on business more & I wasn't comfortable recklessly spending other people's money. We checked out Bungalow 8 afterwards. RM & I had fun dancing & dipping me. Now I am home, a bit tipsy, blogging before I forget how much fun I had tonight. Time to quit while I'm ahead? You betcha.
I had a doctor's appointment & tough dance class before my session at 9. Hung out with Dancer & some of her friends afterwards... there was Gansevoort rooftop partying with yummy food, Home dancing, & Scores West lap teases. They played Sexyback at Home, so you know I got my sexy on with this cute guy friend of Dancer's, Resto Manager. There aren't many activities that can top shaking my ass on turbo for someone who appreciates it, especially since I can bellydance. (That's right, Asian Shakira is in the house.) Also the stripper hair toss with my super-long hair - the trick is to flip your hair up immediately & slowly, seductively, let the rest of you follow. Oooooh & Scores was really fun! This Korean-Japanese stripper took a shine to me &... let's just say the boys got quite a show. :) I got a dance from this smokin' hot Russian chick too but she had her eye on business more & I wasn't comfortable recklessly spending other people's money. We checked out Bungalow 8 afterwards. RM & I had fun dancing & dipping me. Now I am home, a bit tipsy, blogging before I forget how much fun I had tonight. Time to quit while I'm ahead? You betcha.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Margot Fonteyn
I've almost finished this book about Margot Fonteyn, which is a good thing because I desperately need sleep. (I do most of my reading in bed, in an attempt to fall asleep.) I am currently obsessed with ballerinas & ballet, so much so that I just stay awake reading even when it's 5am & I have to get up in 2 hours. I'm also obsessed with going to hip-hop dance classes at Equinox but that's another subject.
Meredith Daneman has written a meticulously-researched biography of the great ballerina. She's an engaging writer & frequently quotes Margot's friends & contemporaries in a way that makes me feel like I'm right there with her. I was really enjoying myself, following Margot's career & all her triumphs, until she married Tito Arias. The more I read the more upset I get. Did Margot really think her marriage to a philandering, unsupportive, political bumbler was working? I almost can't believe that she watched him run around seducing tons of young women while she was dancing her heart out making money for his ill-conceived revolution. He couldn't even be bothered to care about her performances. Right when she finally starts considering divorce, one of his political rivals shoots him. He becomes quadriplegic & instead of taking her leave, Margot chooses to become a martyr. She continues dancing to pay their bills despite being in her fifties & takes care of her lousy husband like a saint.
I wish I could say I don't understand why she stayed, but I do. I stayed with my ex-boyfriend way too long as well, & though he didn't abuse me quite as much as Tito, it was transparent to everyone but me that he was a terrible choice. I guess it's a lot harder to be objective about a situation when you're in it. Anyway, the book is upsetting me, but it's well-written & makes me love dance even more, if that's possible. I wish my mother had made me take ballet class when I was little - I'd be a lot better at it now. Well, that's why we have hip-hop & jazz & all those other less stringent styles. :)
Meredith Daneman has written a meticulously-researched biography of the great ballerina. She's an engaging writer & frequently quotes Margot's friends & contemporaries in a way that makes me feel like I'm right there with her. I was really enjoying myself, following Margot's career & all her triumphs, until she married Tito Arias. The more I read the more upset I get. Did Margot really think her marriage to a philandering, unsupportive, political bumbler was working? I almost can't believe that she watched him run around seducing tons of young women while she was dancing her heart out making money for his ill-conceived revolution. He couldn't even be bothered to care about her performances. Right when she finally starts considering divorce, one of his political rivals shoots him. He becomes quadriplegic & instead of taking her leave, Margot chooses to become a martyr. She continues dancing to pay their bills despite being in her fifties & takes care of her lousy husband like a saint.
I wish I could say I don't understand why she stayed, but I do. I stayed with my ex-boyfriend way too long as well, & though he didn't abuse me quite as much as Tito, it was transparent to everyone but me that he was a terrible choice. I guess it's a lot harder to be objective about a situation when you're in it. Anyway, the book is upsetting me, but it's well-written & makes me love dance even more, if that's possible. I wish my mother had made me take ballet class when I was little - I'd be a lot better at it now. Well, that's why we have hip-hop & jazz & all those other less stringent styles. :)
Thursday, October 05, 2006
bringing sexyback
I hate Justin Timberlake but I will have to get that SexyBack song. Yesterday in class we were in plank (basically a pushup you hold at the top) & it came on & I couldn't help dancing a little to it. Twitching, really, which probably looked funny. So I give in, I'll get it.
Went to dance class with my Dancer friend today... it was hot sweaty sexy fun. We did a lot of super dirty moves & I got most of them when I focused. (Of course she got all of them & looked awesome doing it.) Afterwards we had some appetizers at Republic, one of my favorite places in Union Square, & ended up meeting this very good-looking guy. I feel a little bad because he liked me better than Dancer, but we all had a great time chatting & drinking at Blue Water Grill. Oh & Handsome Young Guy left me a cute message about how work is killing him. With all this male attention I feel much better about myself now. :)
Went to dance class with my Dancer friend today... it was hot sweaty sexy fun. We did a lot of super dirty moves & I got most of them when I focused. (Of course she got all of them & looked awesome doing it.) Afterwards we had some appetizers at Republic, one of my favorite places in Union Square, & ended up meeting this very good-looking guy. I feel a little bad because he liked me better than Dancer, but we all had a great time chatting & drinking at Blue Water Grill. Oh & Handsome Young Guy left me a cute message about how work is killing him. With all this male attention I feel much better about myself now. :)
Sunday, September 17, 2006
dancing mood
I feel totally in tune with my body & all rhythm today... even in exercise class when we were doing thigh work & I thought I was about to collapse, I couldn't help shaking it a little to "Sexyback." Now I really want to go dancing. I must be in a good mood! :)
Sunday, September 10, 2006
exhausted...
I was out until about 5 last night with Irish Ex & his friend & then I took a class at Equinox today with my friend the Dancer. Irish Ex wanted to fix me up with this guy & I liked him a lot - we went to Cute Lawyer friend's party, then we hung out at Salon & I danced my ass off. Met some hotties there which was really fun. Today's class was tough but not impossible like the other one, so I didn't feel like such a clumsy dodo. I love dancing by myself & doing my own thing, & it's hard to let go of my self-consciousness & embarrassment about being so slow to learn choreography. It's really cool when I can do it though. I also know that I might be uncoordinated & stupid-looking now, but I'll get the hang of it & I'll be a much better dancer soon. Now I've got 2 hours of practicing ahead of me - just wanted to say hi today for the 5 people who actually read this thing. :)
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