halloween

halloween
Originally uploaded by wonderwomanyank.

what else to do on a dark october thursday night but have a few drinks at the pub and carve pumpkins with your flatmates. then sit with a 7 inch knife, sorting seeds from pumpking goop, just so you can roast them tomorrow and eat them all in one go...

so this is neal's carving. we're outta candles, but you get the idea.

weird UK fact you didn't want to know. here, 'trick or treat' means 'give me a treat, or i'll give you a trick'. i.e. do something bad to you. give the kids their candy, girls, or they'll egg the house!! scary....

i haven't touched a pumpkin since adam was here in 2003 and we carved a giant TEX into the face.

what everyone's getting for christmas

desksmall10
Originally uploaded by wonderwomanyank.

i'm researching the cotton industry for a SKY tv pilot my boss is doing. Positive learning, things like "Of the more than 660 million pounds of pesticides used by third world countries each year, 50% is for cotton."

but i'll do a shameless plug for HOWIES (www.howies.co.uk) and their ethical clothing line. sweet clothes, good photos, and great inspiration.

"bulgarian social club"

Bellydancer
Originally uploaded by MelT..

preparing to leave

john moyer on the stereo, the sun out and warming my skin.
the slow pack, the long memories....
mirch basement lunches, homemade chai on the rooftops, bookstore browsing,
soho wine infused dinner chats, long central park strolls, beer and football over american food, late night wanders in the neon wet streets, the wind blowing my hair against my skin.

'bulgarian social club' said the old unlighted door, but up a crowded dingy staircase and the old drinking club transforms into an eastern european/arabic/latin/hiphop dancing madness. a wild current flowing under the crowd, the floor shaking and the beer flowing. from the tables to the hallway, all hips and shoulders gyrating in unison.

central park has fortified me; i can face the 12 hours of super-sanitized over-crowded transit insanity that awaits me.

new york, or cameroon

"i ended up with a sweet thick tomato sauce and some steak fries, which was as wel as i had hoped for. i ate them all and sank into an oily haze, alternately napping and reading 'le mystere du capital' i got up to get water and found enough ants anywhere near where oil had splattered to carry off a premature baby. they would only use the oil to nurture the queen and multiply,t hey wouldn't even use it to create surplus value in their market enabling them to develop agriculture, writing and breast implants. they would just eat the delicious oil. bastards." jlovegren

rainy mornings

and huge smiles.
flags fluttering in the damp breeze, steam rising from the sewers,
new york accents, pretzl stands and hispanic workers breaking for tamales.
it's the smells that get to me the most, the cleaning products and the airconditioning.
reveling in the food - brazillian seafood, quesadillas, proper mohitos and good columbian coffee.

_

IMG_3718
Originally uploaded by MelT..

delays, rickshaws, and hugs

tried to enjoy flights that are hours late, and multiple rail journeys, but after musing over the pros and cons of 4 different people mover systems (there is something to be said for the bonding qualities of tiny carriages), i was about to scream, and at penn station, hailed a bicycle rickshaw.
flipped my jacket collar up, and in the rush-hour dusk of new york, we headed south. hot dog stands on the streets, the pizza joints spilling out on the pavement, past the flatiron building and the snazzy bars of gramercy. i smiled the entire way, laughing with the driver, infected by nyc's infamous energy.

the champagne has yet to be cracked, but the craving for mexican is half-satiated with good guacamole and cheviche.

and the hugs, the surprises, the good conversations, the smiles, and the introductions. how do you catch up on two years' absence, except to pour a drink, grab a huge hug, and plunge in.

next post from nyc

i'm off

tingles down the spine

a simply gorgeous run this morning -
started in pitch black, deserted streets, the park's gaslamps casting tiny pools of light into the park's emptyness. bats and foxes dart in and out of view, the wet leaves reflecting the full moon.
at the serpintine, grey flat waters, the london regiment's running practice, camoflauged men clapping me on as i jog past them.
over the bridge and 50 horses loom in the darkness, the guards in full red and gold regalia drilling slowly with the royal carriages.
approaching the palace's golden glowing windows, turning to see the london eye lit against a slowly lightening sky. cloudless blue and grey sky doubled in the round pound's still surface, swans napping. small birds flying low in the ground mist, the golden twinkling lights of the city behind trees shrouded in fog.

half full or overflowing?

in the middle of all this new york frenzy some good people have appeared in london, mirages in my life. and more good people this weekend.
if focault believed identity exists only in one's interactions with others, then 15 versions of sarah will appear by the end of this week, reminding me of other sides and personalities i'd almost forgotten about. my brains' creaking, stretching, but definitly waking back up. it's schitzophrenic, but it also develops a healthy depth to personality. prisms are more interesting than mirrors.

heating up....

well dody's flying in from chicago...
surya from penn...
old friends from high school....
aiesecers (and all their friends) out the ears..........
(shhh..that's good..you need them at a great party)

the 20th is starting to look sweet, and i can't wait to see everyone!

going carbon neutral..

A medium haul flight, for example a flight from London New York, produces 1.3 tonnes of CO2 per person.
My Offset Cost for next week's flight: £20 pounds,
I chose to support a forest in Scotland. : )
www.carbonneutral.com

One single shorthaul flight produces roughly the same amount of the global warming gas as 3 months worth of driving a 1.4 litre car. And we're all flying more. You can't do much about the fuel efficiency of aircraft, but if you need a holiday or if you're travelling on business, you can help reduce your personal contribution to global warming by making your flight CarbonNeutral. That means we organise for the CO2 associated with your flight to be ‘balanced out’ by forestry and climate friendly energy projects which save equivalent amounts of CO2.

lunch break reading

Guatemala's floods.

New Urbanism...on a big scale

The NYTimes has a great article on an ongoing charette process to determine the future of the Gulf Coast. I've been to some CNU charettes, and to a national conference, and am continually impressed by the methods used to involve residents, developers, goverments and design profesionals in thinking about what places should look like. CNU also has the design experience and know-how to actually build neighbourhoods, but the charette process alone is a much needed catharsis for the coast.

NYTIMES
"BILOXI, Miss., Oct. 12 - The work facing architects and urban planners who convened here today at a battered resort is visible right outside the window. A beach strewn with uprooted trees and the detritus of ravaged buildings. Deserted streets lined by flooded empty houses. Hulking casino hotels gone dark.
Over the next several days, this group of some 200 professionals from around the country will struggle to come up with a comprehensive regional plan to rebuild the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It's a design challenge on a grand scale, covering 11 communities in 3 Mississippi counties damaged by Hurricane Katrina."

taking every excuse to party...

I'm celebrating two years in London by coming to New York…
and organising some fun in NYC with everyone I know,
all out for a good night's party. (aka as a mad piss up)

I'm landing on the 20th, and we'll be at B-Bar & Grill on 40 E Fourth St (4^th and Layfayette). 7ish onwards… If you're in NYC, and can lay some vague claim to knowing me, come and join the fun. The place should be large enough, and there's plenty of food and drink for those peckish, parched or just plain up for a pint (ok ok I'll stop the puns…).

crumbling infrastructure.

The pump operator's story reflects a spirit of civic responsibility that rallied in humble quarters like these when Hurricane Katrina roared through the Gulf Coast, soon to be followed by Hurricane Rita. At the same time, it illustrates the degree to which the once-solid foundations of that system have become an illusion. For decades now, we have been witnessing the slow, ruthless dismantling of the nation's urban infrastructure. The crumbling levees in New Orleans are only the most conspicuous evidence of this decline: it's evident everywhere, from Amtrak's aging track system to New York's decaying public school buildings.

Rather than confront the causes of that deterioration, we are encouraged to overlook it, lost in a cloud of tourist distractions like casinos, convention centers, spruced-up historic quarters and festival marketplaces.

This represents more than a loss of nerve. It is an outgrowth of the campaign against "big government" that helped propel Ronald Reagan to the presidency 25 years ago. And it was fueled by uglier motives, including a latent fear of cities, a myth of the city as a breeding ground for immorality.

Eventually, those fears prompted cities to transfer chunks of the public sector to developers - through the creation of the public-private partnerships that have come to define the contemporary city. The results of that Faustian bargain are well documented, in particular the transformation of affluent urban neighborhoods into self-sufficient enclaves while other communities, dependent on faltering city services, were allowed to decay. "how the city sank" NYTIMES

sinking to the depths,

i have become the worst of all brand/gadget obsessed consumers; sold my soul for flashy silver and grammy-award winner composed ringtones. switched a perfectly good cell provider and very old phone for a new provider and a very very gorgeous nokia 8800.

glorious autumn

weather
Originally uploaded by wonderwomanyank.

i've always wanted to drive in london...

the getaway 2.....
now i just need a playstation.

sweet travelling...

for all those concerned about the environment but love to wander.... travelroots.
and for all the CO2 emissions from the flight, offset them with climatecare

flatmates

flatmates
Originally uploaded by wonderwomanyank.

neal and cameron.

pet peeves

+allergies.
+having to leave groove armada at ministry of sound because i've been wearing heels for 3 days and the balls of my feet are screaming so bad another drink won't hush them.
+4am leg cramps. see above + working out too much
+having to wait 13 months to find great 'late night' venues (open after 11) near my house. I go with my new flatmate to her friends club, and find my new home. 10 minute walk, great djs, everyone dancing, fit bartenders, 4 pound tanqueray G+T, 6 pound margaritas. a mixed crowd, black to pale white, punk to rnb, suits to students. i will be back - mayby not on saturday, but you can probably find me there next thursday.
+ friends that live in other countries. so many people i should be sharing my life with in one way or another.....

SMILES
+ clean, organised closets
+ bollinger. bollinger. bollinger.
+ sparkly clean, lubed cycle, ready for sunday night
+ napping in my bed, in the sun, on saturday afternoon
+ sparkly 3inch heels and gorgeous flirty skirts
+ little girls wearing furry boots, skirts, and peasant shirts playing in hyde park
+ friends in other countries who call, just to say hello