Kitty needs to relax, and yet...

While walking in the little old fashion shopping streets of Fukuoka (Japan), last November, I entered a pet store. Actually it was a pet accessories store. And I picked up a brochure of Bach Flower remedies for ANIMALS. Perhaps you're familiar with the Bach flower remedies, they make the famous "Rescue Remedy"... but to make a version for Pets? This is just a little too much. (And I do love my cat, especially when she's not walking all over me trying to wake me too early on a weekend morning). I guess that confirms how far the Japanese will go to take extra good care of their pets.

Sunday afternoon readings...

I just read in TIME magazine (yes, I have a subscription!) that "a new Canadian study suggests that being bilingual will, on average, postpone the onset of dementia by 4.1 years. (...) What's not clear is why. Researchers speculate the ability to operate in two languages could - like exercise or stimulating leisure and social activity - help the brain continue normal functions even as it decays physically. (...) The study defines bilingual are "regularely using at least two languages" throughout adulthood."

Back pain

When you have trouble putting your socks on and sitting in your car, that means trouble.

Before the big 3-0...

Here's a list of things I ideally would like to do before I turn 30. Considering the limited amount of time left, I'll just try to do as many as possible...
If you think you can help me with any of these items, let me know :-)

1. Go to the train station and randomly pick a destination where I will have to spend the night
2. Volunteer at a charity / food kitchen
3. Do a 10 km run
4. Eat at a restaurant where I've never had that country's food before
5. Have a letter to the editor published in a newspaper / magazine
6. Attend a flash mob
7. Attempt a Guinness book of records record
8. Hire a scooter for the day
9. No mobile phone for a week
10. Send a message in a bottle
11. Go alone on holidays
12. Write a book
13. Learn how to fly a (small) plane
14. Take a weekend break more than 500 kms from home
15. Get lost in a country where I don't speak the language
16. Make a parachute jump
17. Dye hair an unusual colour
18. Drive across America
19. Visit each of the continents
20. Scuba dive
21. Learn to sign language
22. Walk on the great wall of China
23. Write a poem
24. See the northern lights

To tunnel

Almost at the same time I was looking at Canada from my hotel room window, (Canada is on the other side of the river where the city of Detroit stands), Segolène Royal (who's the President of the "Région" (Province) where I come from) was making a fool of herself with improvised declaration about Quebec and its sovereignity. She's never even been to Quebec.

I can see it coming

Oh OK now I see... Maybe it's because I'm slow or something, but I think TODAY is going to be that "bad day of the year"... Oh yeah. I can see it coming.

bad day?

As you perhaps remember from my post last year, there is a calculation to figure out the worst day of the year... And for 2007, it was today!
And the fact that the Abbé Pierre died this morning, surely confirms that bad day theory... I don't know how popular he was outside of France, but he is a real symbol in France, there will be a national event in France on Friday, national mourning...

Honestly today has been personally very "average"... But if you think you can help making this day happier for me, don't hesitate, I'm always interested :-)

Must - reduce - book - buying

Oh and I've bought 1 book in Turkey and 2 in the States, so that brings me to 74 books to read still... before December 31st, 2007. Aaaaaargh.

“If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on Istanbul.” (A. de Lamartine, French poet)

Some souvenirs of my Turkish adventure from 10 days ago...
Got to ride a bus/taxi for 5 hours at night instead of less than 3 due to the dense fog preventing the ferries from functionning thus taking the long way from Istanbul to Bursa...
Bursa, relatively nice city, on the Asian side of Turkey... Used to be the silk capital of Turkey... now there are car factories and fabric factories. But still interesting. And I had the best kebap over there, it's a local chain called "Kebapçi Iskender" (and they have a website). Just ask for 1 Porsiyon İskender Döner Kebap. Simple, yet very yummy.
While in Bursa I also had the very rare pleasure of watching the daily News program about Azerbaidjan in English. I'm glad to be up to date on what's going on there. (Can't really remember to be honest).
I also experienced a turkish Burger King, which tasted like any other Burger King except that this one finally tasted better because (1) we were in Turkey, (2) we had been riding on the bus for 3 hours, (3) I hadn't has BK for a while (doesn't exist in Belgium nor France).
And then finally Istanbul. Next long weekend I have, I'm heading back. It's such a great city. Very good atmosphere. A mix of Asian and European, I know you've all heard that before. I was taken to the "flower passage" ("Çiçek Pasaji" in turkish) near Taksim place, it's a covered passage with restaurant and flowers hanging, and we sat and had mezze and beer (well I had beer, the others had raki, I can't handle that stuff's taste).

(that's a bad picture of the Çiçek Pasaji)

And then, may I mention again the amazing Ciragan Palace Kempinski... Besides the amazing pool outdoors, it's a hotel where there actually is a "Pillow Menu". You can actually select, from a booklet (the menu), your pillow for the night. And the breakfast buffet is wonderful, from Champagne to sushi, from french cheese to simit bread (my favorite, simple turkish food).
So, if YOU have been to Turkey, what do you recommend I experience next time I go?

The Big 3 and Me

I'm back from Detroit, Michigan, U.S. of A. Yeah!

So between last week's Turkish delights (pun intended) and this recent American adventure + some leftovers from Japan and China, I think I'm going to be blogging all weekend.

Until then, my friends, take care.

Sultan's luxury...

I’ve just had the most exquisite and amazing swimming experience (well the hotel itself also was amazing, but I’ll stick to the swimming details for this post, more about the hotel later... it's the Ciragan Palace Kempinski in Istanbul, by the way, voted 14th most luxurious hotel in the world).

Picture yourself getting up at the crack of dawn, which would be 7AM local time for me, meaning 6AM in Belgium, hopping in your gown and Kempinski slippers…

It’s quiet. You slip out of your room and get to the health club. Ask for the pool. "There’s an interior one" you're told. "But also an exterior heated one". Yes? Yes!

You go outside, it’s 10°C. The water is 30°C. The view is unbelievable. The sky is dark blue, grey and pink, the sun is just getting up, and there is the Bosphorus right at the foot of the pool… You swim one (long) lap, you see the old çiragan Palace, you swim back you see the sky rising and the Bosphorus bridge…

No one else in the water. It's all for yourself. There is steam rising above the water. It’s amazing. In the small heated veranda, there’s someone looking like Prince Williams. But due to the absence of bodyguards, I conclude that’s he’s just a look alike.

You swim, the boats pass on the bosphorus… The silhouettes of the mosques appear…

It is the most peaceful, amazing, beautiful experience. I am in love with the world. A bomb has just exploded 30 minutes ago in the US embassy in Greece, and I feel completely in another world. Relaxed and amazed.

And with that experience in my head, I know my day will be great because I will remember this morning and how good I felt.

This picture was taken at 9AM, the sky had already turned more blue, but perhaps you can still imagine how it was at sunrise just 2 hours before...

You know what can make you forget about your little worries... a big scare.

Last night I had a really nice dinner with a couple of friends to celebrate the new year, downtown Brussels... nice wine, nice food, nice atmosphere. Then I drove home, turned into my street and saw 2 fire trucks right in front of my house. Of course, I couldn't find a parking space and my heart was beating really really fast, finally I stopped in the middle of the street and asked the police who was blocking entrance to my street. They told me the fire was at my house level, on my house side, but they couldn't tell me which house exactly (duuuuuuuuh)... It was the longest 20 second walk to the firemen, only to realize that it was the building right next to mine that had caught fire.
For the second time in 2 months, by the way.

Learning points:
- don't bother with the police, check directly with the firemen
- I live next to pyromaniacs
- it's difficult to fall asleep after having your heart beat really really really fast
- it's always when your apartment is potentially on fire that you cannot find a decent parking space.

I'm probably writing down this quote because I'm still a little... something, but I'll erase it if necessary.

" I can’t just sit here and have coffee with you. (...) I know the other night didn’t mean for you what it did for me but I don’t regret it and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since it happened. And not just because it was great. Which it was. But because it was right. It was so right, and you may not see that right now but I do and if I have to wait until we’re both 80 years old for you to see it then …then I’ll wait. I’m not going anywhere. This is it for me, you’re… it for me and I can’t pretend to feel any less than I do, I’m sorry… I just can’t. "

(And that's Gilmore Girls season 7 episode 3 for you, and what's not to love about a series that has Sonic Youth guest-star in it at some point, eh?)

I’m going to try to post a normal post, before this blog starts looking like quoteland.

The other night I was talking to a friend about the books I got for Christmas. He made fun of me as they were yet more books that would go on the pile of the other unread books I have been accumulating. Which is true. Because I love books. I buy books, I trade books (try Bookmooch), I get books, etc. And then while we were talking, I decided to count the books I had waiting to be read.
I count 73. Seventy-three.
That’s over a year of reading if I read one book per week.
So I decided not to reduce my book buying (well, maybe by a little) but to seriously read the books I have at hand, and keep track of my reading.
Let’s say it’s new year’s resolution #1.
New year’s resolution #2 is saving the world, new year’s resolution #3 is to worry less about everything, new year’s resolution #4 is to stop being so self conscious about everything, and new year’s resolution #5 is to try to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.
So from now on (I hope), I’ll keep track on this blog of the books I’ve read, or most of them anyway.
And, I can happily say that I’ve already done a good job since Christmas, since I’ve read 2 books…
« Poulet au Prune » by the Paris based Iranian Marjane Satrapi, who you must all already know (I wish there were a Persepolis 5, 6, 7, 8... I loved the 4 volumes so much! - read it all, it's a must, that is, if you read french, I'm not sure there are English versions available yet?)
« Une fille dans la ville : New York, Paris, Kaboul, etc. » by Flore Vasseur. Reads very easily, and I like reading books written by people my age more or less.

Well, so now that’s 71 books to go.

But of course, I bought a book today. So we’re back at 72.

Hee hee.

And I would like to thank the band "We're from Barcelona" for making this day less sad with the song "I'm from Barcelona" (and these guys are swedish).

yet another quote I like.

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.”
(Neil Gaiman)

Happy Happy Happy New Year!

(...) Essaie de vivre
Essaie d'être heureux,
Ça vaut le coup.

(Try to live,
try to be happy,
it's worth it.)

(Michel Berger - "Il jouait du piano debout" who would've thought I'd quote such a song...)

I wish you HAPPINESS for 2007.

(And next post's topic will be Sabine's new year good resolutions for 2007... Your suggestions are most welcome, before I make my final list... hee hee)