dont stop now

exhaustion. busy busy at my first few days of work + uncle in town = no free time/tired
both good.
wor'sk excellent
uncle's great to have around

just wonder where time went to

don't stop now

saturday day i was dying of boredom, staring out the window from my desk. but i haven't stopped since then. incredible party in the evening, drunken conversations with a transport consultant about bus service in central london, uncle arriving early early sunday morning, the 'tour' from my flat down to the river and back, first day on the job and they have me so busy i dont stop until late, just in time to see The Producers with Nathan Lane in the West End. Arrive home at midnight to a druken kitchen and head off to bed immediately.

getting organized

sorting through the debris of my life,
cleaning out, folding and organizing, buying needed
clothes and books (spent more on books than clothes)
bicycle insurance, and a light for riding home in the dark
repotted the houseplants (our lavender is already smiling again)
dusted the flat and wiped down the walls
new chair for the desk and long walks in the weak sun,
the last i'll see of it for a long while.
my uncle is coming through london for a week,
it'll be a busy first week at work.

fights are cheap from US to LON next week

Jennifer, Cameron, Sarah and Thibault announce a

Sunday Afternoon Winter White Picnic

to be held on 5th Dec 2004

at #15 Melcombe Court, XXXX,XXX

in true picnic style, wander on over between 12 and 6
with any and all friends to join the casual fun

Come and celebrate new job happenings all around,
Stave off the Winter darkness by wearing something White
And bring your favourite picnic foods and drinks to share
We’re setting up for a feast with friends,
and we'll be waiting for you here : )

<>

employment

I've accepted a position of Associate Consultant with a small London-based consultancy that specialises in sustainable developments. What does that mean? It means that they focus on delivering quality urban developments in a just and responsible manner with an emphasis on planning for the future, both ecologically and socially. "the disciplines that help ensure the creation of excellent places and communities correspond well with those required for environmental protection; that the disciplines required to reduce social division and unfairness coincide with those needed to eliminate environmental injustice. They might even be indivisible."
The existing consultants specalise in
* communication strategies for involving project stakeholders (building a dialogue between residents, architects, developers and government; visioning and action planning)
* environmentally sound buildings and urban design (low carbon, high energy efficient materials and design; both new and refurbishments),
* putting sustainabilty first in project management (sourcing materials, marketing strategies, masterplans and design codes)

I'm initially going to be managing a large project for the firm, coordinating a town extension of Harlow, which is outside London, between all the consultants, the clients, and other outside partners like the property developer and the government. I will also be assiting one of the directors in the creation of a large symposia about best practices in urban design/housing in the UK. I start on Monday.

If you know me, you know that I'm crazy about cities and concerned about the way they are currently developing - both in the US and around the world. I've completed a master's in Building and Urban Design in Development and worked this summer learning about UK government changes towards devolution of public services and about sustainable urban growth and regeneration in the UK. This position is a culmination of my academic interests, my general concerns about the state of the earth's health and future, and my organisational/managment work in aiesec and otherwise. A good beginning.

lol, oh the memories

http://mixmaster.nomadlife.org/
i'm following the struggle, and good luck man.
in honour of your heroic effort in fluids,

i'll post one of my own sophomorific reminisces. i mad a 96 on the final, bio, i think.

How to study for a test in college;

Skip classes the week before.

Realize 3 days before you have 500 pages to read and understand.

Read some here and there.

Sit down at 5pm on night before and promise yourself you’ll study all night long.

Manage to procrastinate yet not clean your impossibly messy desk for 2 hours.

This must include making asian ramen, downloading mp3s, and looking at old photos.

Ok, work for a few hours, stopping frequently to chat on IM about malcom X

Take a 45 minute nap; wake in time to

Go shopping at Jester center. Make sure to pick up red bull, large amounts of sugarfull food, and spend a few minutes entranced with the easter-dyed hard boiled eggs in 1^st floor.

Drink red bull. Begin studying furiously.

In momentary lapse, realize you don’t have a costume for Saturday’s costume party.

At 12:30, agree to late night walmart run.

Be driven by a short (and high) Mexican theater student wearing dark sunglasses.

First, stop by local hippie house and after walking past naked man asleep, fix thier sewing machine.

Run from car when finally comes to a halt in Wal-mart parking lot.

Buy various items such as white stockings, black shoe polish, orange and white striped fabric. Splurge on m’m’s.

Refuse to get into car unless the high Mexican removes 70s sunglasses.

Meet roommate in stairs at 2am..returning from ECJ 12 hour engineering party.

Study furiously more.

Stop frequently for more jolly ranchers and bubblicious strawberry gum.

Build sugar shrine on your desk. Realize your teeth are rotting and eat peanut butter to counteract the damage. The salt will neutralize it, really.

Lay down at 4am. Proceed to dream about ex-boyfriend, skiing, and bad hotels.

Wake to alarm at 7. Drink another red bull. Go back to sleep.

Wake at 7:20 jumpy and nervous.

Study for 3 hours, chewing MORE bubblicious gum and get sick from sugar overdose.

Throw up.

10:30…the countdown begins. Get dressed.

Drink hideously expensive goodflow orange/strawberry/yogurt concoction on the way to class.

satisfaction

still waiting to sign the dotted line,
but it looks like i'll be in London for the long-term
joy. satisfaction. a deep breath.
i close one chapter of my life, walk knowingly into another.

it will rain for the next week, took advantage of the blustery but dry afternoon for a hearty, racing cycle around west central london. schoolboys were drawing on little stools in westminister park on millbank, and i was almost killed by a japanese toursit walking with video camera against her face. peripheal vision is important in large cities.

londra

my cheeks hurt when i return to the warmth of the flat
but it smells like home, and the carpet remembers me
london is my playground, and the city glows even in winter's sun
that fails to reach the pavements at one. fault the narrow streets
or the earths northerly tilt; the shade will linger until march.

the to do list done, the suitcases unpacked
woke up with the sun and a crystal blue sky
reading more of graham green, and chomsky deriding america
disussions on how french culture is aggressive, the individuals reserved
a sad goodbye to kate, off to china. she will be missed.

jen is happy, i am active, and tomorrow
i will wake up when i do, buy the papers hot chocolate
and spend the morning on the rug in living room
the afternoon walking in hyde park, the sun willing

florence and me : )

florence and me : )
Originally uploaded by wonderwomanyank.

le crete

le crete
Originally uploaded by wonderwomanyank.

london

he llegado en la lluvia,
y fui imediamente al otra entrevista (la segunda)
con una compania incredible. vamos a ver,
and meanwhile i have noam chomsky and a to do list so long it hurts
to tide me through the weekend
photos soon!

sometimes the g is soft in italian

try pronouncing vagliagle with a soft g. i speak in spanish to avoid being rude, asi como en espanolo ellos me capichcen y i capischo italiano bonito baste a segir los conversaciones de la cenas.
cant even begin to describe a landscape of urban cities and rural villas that has been in existence since estruscan times - the "negative" space of medeival villages, the roman roads, the endless yellow of november chiani leaves. i am staying in siena, having dinner in florence with scialians and being overfed by sienese mothers and aunts in countless villages around tuscany. grigolino, asciano, pienza, san quirico de orca, montepluciano.... currently im at the mothers, a 16th century 3 story house just outside porta pispini, with 18th century walpaper, frescos on the 12 feet ceilings and the lady who rents out the downstairs bringing by wild boar for the dinners meat.

so ill list food. (you will understand why ive gained back a few kilos, wont you)
its porcini season, so every veal, every tagatelli, every polenta... con fungi porchini
tuscan comida esta de carne. dried ham, salchicha made of meat so good youre supposed to eat it crudo, veal, boar, duck, pollo seco con heirbas....

and what herbs. you taste oregano with the pomodoros, basil con la salsas, sage and rosemary in the roased or grilled meats, dried sausage with fennel. i sit through every meal smiling a los sabores.

november is also the time of the olive harvest, so the oil is fresh, green, and strong.

1998 chianti DOC, 1987 brunello de multichino, 1995 vino noble de multipuciano, house wine made of only one chianti grape so smooth and the supertuscans with the braised duck and spinach. endless.

london news tonight

snippits from bbc, channels 4 and 3.

"well this is a one-sided fight, with one-sided reporting" (on falluja)

"9 marines killed across iraq today, with only 3 of them in falluja"

"we're facing an intelligent enemy now, as i think we've killed off all the dumb ones by now" (us capitan in falluja)

"clerics in baghdad calling on people to boycott the elections"

"the US doctrine of overwhelming force is working, but what about reistance in the other sections of iraq?"

and then a HILARIOUS budwiser commercial about wearing her old boyfriends sweater which is big, and how this new one has small hands.

american lit

reading graham green, i'm reminded of the four themes that link all great american literature:
religion
human battle against nature
the grotesque
race

twain, green, welty, steinbeck, flannery o'connor, hawthorne (the first, he combines all the themes and sets the stage), walker, poe, faulkner, zora neal hurston, salinger, cather, fitzgerald (well maybe not fitzgerald - he's rather urban), kerouac...

from dancing with the devils in the massachutsets forest, raping southern bible salesmen that steal wooden legs, the white boy and black man adrift in the mississippi...... humans get grotesquely lost in both their own mad, religious nature and do battle with the forces of mother nature

sigh

I'm going to respond to cat's recent posts.

1. Cat, it's not just Friedman (or the Washington post or the Economist) who thinks that people who voted for Bush are stupid. It's a large chunk of the rest of the world (see photo, and anecdote below). However, I don't believe that that because most of the western world thinks you're stupid, you are (I don't believe in a Christian god, and I like my logic to support that). BUT, I do hope it makes you reconsider why you voted for Bush. (see #3)

2. I entirely agree with Cat's comment on the sad fact that "That's the problem with the US system. There are really only two choices: RED (Republican) or BLUE (Democrat). And each party has defined itself by its extremist values." A friend yesterday made the point that the worst part about the whole US system is that Bush now feels he has a MANDATE of the public to do whatever his party wants regardless of the other 48% who didn't vote for him, instead a system where he'd have to compromise, negotiate with other parties to get things done. Here in the UK. Blair can't do everything he likes here, not because he'd be unpopular but just because he wouldn’t get them through the commons. He has to compromise with other parties to get enough MPs to vote for him to win a bill. bush/republicans are not going to change attitudes about taxation, national debt or the economy to appeal to the dems. They're not even going to think about doing that, especially now that they have congress too. (dont get me started on re-districting)

3. Cat, here are my refutations on your desires in a president, and some of my own comments on why I didn't vote for bush:
Is decisive...even if it's wrong (Bush is, Kerry NOT). But will admit when he's made mistake (Bush doesn't).
Bush WAS wrong. On quite a few issues! Other words for people who make rash, quick (often it seemed, emotional) decisions and then refuse to accept they were wrong: "jump to conclusions" "hard-headed” "arrogant" "egotistic". I personally wouldn't want to work for a boss who acted that way, much less a president of a militarilly active country with nuclear power. Also, I think Kerry can be decisive, he just takes his time. And I'd appreciate someone who thinks through issues and sorts out the possible answers before making a decision. Someone who can admit they made the wrong decision and change their mind.
Realizes the significance of a global economy (Bush does, Kerry doesn't with his rhetoric of demonizing Bush for sending manufacturing jobs overseas).
Neither do. Bush does not because he’s increased the US national debt so much that its gone past being DANGEROUS. While US debt is still the safest investment out there, the dollar's over-valued due to the fact that we have to keep receiving influxes of cash debt to keep our government afloat. The dollar is only as high as it is because Asian banks keep buying our debt. That's not a sustainable or safe; and the current state US economy and debt in the world markets is abominable. The moment the dollar starts to fall and people stop buying US government debt is the moment the castle in the sky comes crashing down.
Supports equal, fair taxation (neither one really does). I don't believe that the wealthy should get any more 'breaks' than anyone else, but I disagree that they should be taxed at a higher rate than anyone else. Kerry economic policies would have hammered our household.
At least Kerry planned ways to finance his proposals, and wanted to deal with the National Debt. So policies would have hammered your household – at the moment your household is living on borrowed money. The US government is borrowing the money from abroad to finance everything from new highways to health insurance. American families are NOT paying for their government or the benefits they recieve. I doubt you and your family would practice such risky, unresponsible, household finance.
Makes tough foreign policy decisions, regardless of international opinion (Bush does, not sure what Kerry would do)
While I don't think the international community should call people who voted for bush stupid, the point has to be made that America DOES NOT operate in a bubble. The US economy depends upon the international one. And foreign policy affects the economy. AND besides economics, WE SHARE ONE PLANET. Pollution, wars, international migration, cultural exchanges. At the most basic logic, the US government operates -spends money, supports development, supports OTHER GOVERNMENTS, puts troops - all over the world. Those international linkages (and their ripple effects) alone, regardless of economics, are enough reason for the US to BETTER consider international opinion in taking action.

<>Yes there are tough decisions to be made, ones that are not popular internationally. But its making the RIGHT decisions that count! And while nobody was sure what Kerry would do I don’t like voting for a man/party who has made some large, disastrous assumptions and refused to admit wrongdoing after they were proven wrong; badly damaged an existing, working system of foreign diplomacy that works for safety and against war; abandoned the reconstruction of one country to invade another on little solid evidence or international support; put the lives of my family and other servicemen at risk on generalizations like "saddam is bad" and then refused to commit or acknowledge the need for more troops.

That's only the beginning (and admittedly a negative one) of why I thought Kerry would have made a better alternative than Bush as president. The other reasons have to do with national security, close relationship between business and government (dems guilty here too), environmental issues, the role of the judiciary in the government, and women's rights.

not a joke

my old boss's first words to me yesterday after 2 months: "you come from a horrible country". he wasn't joking. when i mention how glad i am to be here instead of the US right now, people dont assume i'm joking, they sympathize. (it also helps that a lot of people in london are fleeing weird countries - i went to school with a guy from zimbabwe whose family was chased off their farm by the goverments thugs).

soho night!

soho night!
Originally uploaded by wonderwomanyank.

so its not the best picture of any of us, but here's to some of my best friends. kates, moving to china, sigh.

journalist's email from bagdad to friends

i almost feel sorry for Farnaz Fassihi - the wall street journal reporter whose private email to friends about her life in baghdad was leaked to the press - but it's good reading. full text on the poynter website

"From: [Wall Street Journal reporter] Farnaz Fassihi
Subject: From Baghdad

Being a foreign correspondent in Baghdad these days is like being under virtual house arrest. Forget about the reasons that lured me to this job: a chance to see the world, explore the exotic, meet new people in far away lands, discover their ways and tell stories that could make a difference.

Little by little, day-by-day, being based in Iraq has defied all those reasons. I am house bound. I leave when I have a very good reason to and a scheduled interview. I avoid going to people's homes and never walk in the streets. I can't go grocery shopping any more, can't eat in restaurants, can't strike a conversation with strangers, can't look for stories, can't drive in any thing but a full armored car, can't go to scenes of breaking news stories, can't be stuck in traffic, can't speak English outside, can't take a road trip, can't say I'm an American, can't linger at checkpoints, can't be curious about what people are saying, doing, feeling. And can't and can't. There has been one too many close calls, including a car bomb so near our house that it blew out all the windows. So now my most pressing concern every day is not to write a kick-ass story but to stay alive and make sure our Iraqi employees stay alive. In Baghdad I am a security personnel first, a reporter second.

It's hard to pinpoint when the 'turning point' exactly began. Was it April when the Fallujah fell out of the grasp of the Americans? Was it when Moqtada and Jish Mahdi declared war on the U.S. military? Was it when Sadr City, home to ten percent of Iraq's population, became a nightly battlefield for the Americans? Or was it when the insurgency began spreading from isolated pockets in the Sunni triangle to include most of Iraq? Despite President Bush's rosy assessments, Iraq remains a disaster. If under Saddam it was a 'potential' threat, under the Americans it has been transformed to 'imminent and active threat,' a foreign policy failure bound to haunt the United States for decades to come.

Iraqis like to call this mess 'the situation.' When asked 'how are thing?' they reply: 'the situation is very bad."

What they mean by situation is this: the Iraqi government doesn't control most Iraqi cities, there are several car bombs going off each day around the country killing and injuring scores of innocent people, the country's roads are becoming impassable and littered by hundreds of landmines and explosive devices aimed to kill American soldiers, there are assassinations, kidnappings and beheadings. The situation, basically, means a raging barbaric guerilla war. In four days, 110 people died and over 300 got injured in Baghdad alone. The numbers are so shocking that the ministry of health -- which was attempting an exercise of public transparency by releasing the numbers -- has now stopped disclosing them.

A friend drove thru the Shiite slum of Sadr City yesterday. He said young men were openly placing improvised explosive devices into the ground. They melt a shallow hole into the asphalt, dig the explosive, cover it with dirt and put an old tire or plastic can over it to signal to the locals this is booby-trapped. He said on the main roads of Sadr City, there
were a dozen landmines per every ten yards. His car snaked and swirled to avoid driving over them. Behind the walls sits an angry Iraqi ready to detonate them as soon as an American convoy gets near. This is in Shiite land, the population that was supposed to love America for liberating Iraq.
.....

I went to an emergency meeting for foreign correspondents with the military and embassy to discuss the kidnappings. We were somberly told our fate would largely depend on where we were in the kidnapping chain once it was determined we were missing. Here is how it goes: criminal gangs grab you and sell you up to Baathists in Fallujah, who will in turn sell you to Al Qaeda. In turn, cash and weapons flow the other way from Al Qaeda to the Baathisst to the criminals. My friend Georges, the French journalist snatched on the road to Najaf, has been missing for a month with no word on release or whether he is still alive.

....

One could argue that Iraq is already lost beyond salvation. For those of us on the ground it's hard to imagine what if any thing could salvage it from its violent downward spiral. The genie of terrorism, chaos and mayhem has been unleashed onto this country as a result of American mistakes and it can't be put back into a bottle.

The Iraqi government is talking about having elections in three months while half of the country remains a 'no go zone'-out of the hands of the government and the Americans and out of reach of journalists. In the other half, the disenchanted population is too terrified to show up at polling stations. The Sunnis have already said they'd boycott elections, leaving the stage open for polarized government of Kurds and Shiites that will not be deemed as legitimate and will most certainly lead to civil war.

I asked a 28-year-old engineer if he and his family would participate in the Iraqi elections since it was the first time Iraqis could to some degree elect a leadership. His response summed it all: "Go and vote and risk being blown into pieces or followed by the insurgents and murdered for cooperating with the Americans? For what? To practice democracy? Are you joking?"

-Farnaz

voted

(from princeton) Using County-by-County election return data from USA Today together with County boundary data from the US Census' Tiger database we produced the following graphic depicting the results. Of course, blue is for the democrats, red is for the republicans, and green is for all other. Each county's color is a mix of these three color components in proportion to the results for that county.

Alaska, Hawaii, and the New England states are missing because the data from USA Today doesn't match the county data from the US Census. For example, the New England states' election return data is given for each municipality and/or district rather than for each county. Hence, it couldn't be easily matched with the county boundaries.

sleepy mornings

i love waking up to the smell of a wonderful espresso two inches from my nose.
my brain cells salivate in antipacion, and my eyes open to a little white china cup, milk and caffeine.
my involuntary purr

its warm this morning in that damp humid way when it raines all night and low clouds keep the city's warmth hugging to the buildngs. the wind will blow in countryside crisp cold in an hour or two, but for now the circle line is sweating, and the train windows are fogged, warmer and wetter than in the tunnel.

westminister station must have been inspired by Metropolis, such a giant hunk of bare concrete and polished steel. its not inspiring in damp sleepy mornings

and oysters tonight

butterflies

do not feel happy in stomachs. i've had slight stomach cramps since yesterdsay evening, i thought it was because i had too much lemon juice in my water, but it's still here after a baked potato breakfast of champions (sometimes my carb intake is limited, but hey). if you think it helps, pray for me. this job is ideal for me and for where i want to be in 4 years.

channel 4 london

reporting exit polls in florida and iowa have kerry ahead by anywhere from 6-15%
it is going to be a long, nail biting, tv watching (obsessing about interview tomorrow) night.

things i didn't know

the US goverment bans American publishers from promoting or publishing works from Cuban, Iranian and Sudan authors. see the bbc: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3974099.stm

tuesday, november 2nd

because for once hawaii is important, it will not be until wednesday morning london time that we have some idea how bad the lawyer fracas will be over the results. i predict that the lawyers will go on for 3 weeks.

occupada

i enjoyed meeting new people this weekend. plus, we learned that shefali not only knows radha but also karan's mom. the world is small, and when indian men who were raised in dublin but then lived in singapore wear french fashion jennifer laughs.

i laughed in hero after we got in for free at odeon because their computer system rejected two texan girls asking for student discounts after the film had already begun. i was glad we didnt pay because i was looking for some good fighting instead of air dances. yes, the colours were good but bolly-wood style i had to think about the real world so i didnt laugh when she killed herself impossibly on top a desert mountain.

the time change has brought darkness forward to 5pm and last night i ran in the yellow leaves along the thames near the candyland albert bridge. there is a sign for the bridge that says "all troops must break step." victorians paint bridges pink but cannot engineer them to stop vibrating.

i like this time of the year, when the trees are coloured and its cold but not bitterly so. becuase the sun is low now, the antlers on the stags in richmond park cast long shadows.