When you are OLD...

Today I turned 23. Yes, the 26th of October. The same birthday as Trotsky. Hurrah!
Aside from revelling in this bizarre revolutionary connection, I feel old, though i see no coming of wiseness. And this scares me. Why? I suddenly feel that the clockwork of time is gyrating faster and faster, and i am running out of time! Not being of the persuasion that life is but a preparation for death, i feel like we have only one chance to make the most of what we've got. There is so much to do! So much to see!
Perhaps one day, I , like Yeats will find consolation in my own Byzantium, some sort of articfice of eternity, no longer concerned "of what is past, or passing, or to come.." Maybe the body is really a dying animal, and our time in purgatory just another learning experience for the soul....
Until i figure this out, can someone please pass me the cookies?

Divided we stand - "United" we're not..YET.

Just a brief thought.
Happy 60th Birthday, United Nations. It was formally inaugurated by 29 nation-states at the US State Department. Ironic, isn't it? Its greatest patron has become its greatest critic...

Yet many still see the UN as "bruised but intact" and "indispensable". Say what you like about it, many nation-states feel awkward? uneasy? acting without its sanction.
It is to its credit that it somehow emerged after the Cold War paralysis, to act more often in the last 15 years than it did since 1945. For an ideal that suffers from the identity crisis of - "United what? United IN what? United FOR what? United HOW?" , it also suffers from the eternal criticism of damned it if does, damned if it doesn't.

Perhaps it has just become a bad apple off a really good tree, that has along the way become rotten through the nepotistic and corrupt worms that infiltrate its core to eat the original idealism away. It is an interesting time for the UN and where it goes from here. Staying along its "midlife crisis" course is not an option. I desperately hope it chooses the path of reform, because i dread a future without the United Nations...

Feast of the Goats

OK. The falafel was excellent. The shrimps were a bad idea. But i really blame the waffle smothered in chocolate. Or should that be gallon of melted chocolate with hint of waffle?? Yes, wandering up and down Portobello Road for several hours is dangerous. Too many temptations to resist. But oh so much fun. As Mr. Wilde would say - one can resist everything except temptation.

Prize for most surreal exchange of the day goes to S. & J.

S: (munching on bunch of fresh parsley) - "I feel like a goat!"
J: I hate it when that happens.
S: Meeeeeeeeeh meeeeh.


Thank you all for a WONDERFUL day. :) V. come back soon. We will miss you muchly.

T'was The Penguins What Won It

Hello. Remember me? Yeeeessssss..... i own this blog. Yes, OWN. HAH! Started as a dissertation distraction project, but i seem to have become fond of it, its a good place to spill my more random...no - correction "inspirational" - thoughts. Also now that V. and Ms. D-Rack and Squiggly O (i've tried in vain to find the symbol!!!) are reading it too...i cannot disappoint my fans!!!!!!!!!!! Ah....thank you, thank you.

So where have I been? Having fun of course! Yeeeeeeeesss...FUN! Walking around London. Reading wonderful books that are not intellectual alcoholism in the style of "ooooh, im so smart i think ill use 5 big unnecessary, unpronouncable words here and call it a critique". Reading papers and magazines without the constant gut-wrenching feeling of guilt (Aaaah National Geographic. And YES! Vogue. There i said it.) Fabulous exhibitions (Londoners take note: the Tate Britain Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Sickert exhibition is fantastic). Just enjoying life really. I am no longer confined to the (albeit beautiful) mole-hole. I no longer have to sit staring blankly at a computer screen waiting for divine inspiration, and praying that two of my braincells collide strongly enough to produce something vaguely resembling an intellectual spark. Although what i still need to do is find a job. So the endless application process has begun in earnest. (Please don't let banking be the only option, please don't let banking be the only option......!)

Back to fun. So several thoughts on the subject.

1 - Penguins. Yes, my penguin worship has reached an ultimate high. And for very good reason. Please refer to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4318888.stm for the benefits of penguin poo to humanity. I jest not.

2 - Friends reunions. Yes!!!!!!!! The Passfield crew reigns supreme!!! I cannot wait for tomorrow - a day of falafelesque decadence, topped with one...maybe two...maybe three crepes? waffles? crepes? Mmmmmmmmm.

3 - Music. Soundtrack to the past couple of days:
The genius that is Antony & The Johnsons.
The divine Rufus Wainwright (worship! worship!).
Chavela Vargas, ex-lover of Frida Kahlo (watch out for the coolest line - "Yo soy como el chile verde, picante pero sabroso" - Im like a green chile, spicy yet delicious!)
U2. Aaaaaaaaaaah.

4 - Orchids. After months of being an ugly mass of roots and fat leaves, my orchid has begun growing again. And there was much rejoicing. I have named it Phoenix. My little orchid growing out of the ashes.

And now, I must now go and take my current hyperactivity out on something..... Adios!