Sunday, November 30, 2008
When My Friends Talk, I'm Taking Notes
Context:
Sidney Webb House, London, friends together.
Fragments of deeply engaging conversation that occurred late at night in my room.
G.: I have to discipline myself. If I read 10 more pages I can have two more cubes of chocolate.
Anh: You’re still at page 106. Wait. How come you’re at page 106? When did you read this much?
[long break in conversation]
G.: Oh, I actually started at chapter 6. Page 96.
------
Anh: How many pages are left in this chapter?
G.: Oh not much, not much, I’m halfway through the chapter actually.
[immediately after]
Andrew: Did I scare you?
Anh: No.
G. [to me, as I was typing]: What are you gonna do with that [these notes]? Write a book?
Anh: “The Life of Dinu”
G.: Yeah, write a short story. It’s better. More concise.
------
Anh: Giu’s a teddybear.
------
G.: SO if she [Anh] were 40 pounds more obese than she already is…
Andrew: Wait, where would you put those pounds?
Anh: Seriously, skinny people are so scary.
G.: Yeah, some people are too bony…
Anh: Like, when you throw them around, they don’t have that sponginess.
G.: When more than 50% of your body mass is bone, that’s not ok.
------
Anh: My butt is freezing.
G.: Don’t be obtuse. That’s a very obtuse thing to say.
------
G.: [describing an econ graph] This could be a rollercoaster. It could be anything.
------
G.:You know what this is? It’s chocolate residue dispatched from my hand. [on the new book and my sheets].
Anh: You know how on every 10 pages you get chocolate. You should leave a chocolate mark at every 10 pages.
G.: Oh you know, I could hold the chocolate with my left hand…
Anh: [interrupting G.] I am not listening anymore. I am sorry.
------
G.[randomly]: Ay. Zimbabwe…
N.: What?
Anh: That’s a country.
------
Thursday, November 27, 2008
A Proper Blog Entry
I haven’t written a “proper” blog entry in a long time. Now, however, I do have some random thoughts to share.
1. Instant coffee turns out to be a pretty good replacement for the badly Nessa-made normal one.
2. My friend Dan has been writing quite a lot lately. I have been reading his blog and it's brilliant. Read, enjoy, learn, get informed. Thank you, Dan.
3. London got pretty cold and I don’t have a hat that fits me well yet. I am also systematically afraid that getting a hat might ruin the effects of my newly-acquired professional hair-dryer.
4. Lack of sleep is not good. Unless it happens for a good reason.
5. I decided to spend my New Year’s Eve in Venice and booked the flights already. All I have to do now is inform my parents of my brilliant decision and make them cope with the fact that I will fly low-cost, low-safety, and won’t be home for a week or so. Because I didn’t tell them in advance, I feel adventurous and I am happy about it.
6. I took out about 8 books from the library, for an essay, and read none of them. I like their smell, though.
7. I think it’s worth working for Oliver Wyman primarily because they give you umbrellas and bottle-openers when you go for their company presentations. This clearly shows that they have a vision of what’s important in life, especially when in London. P&G comes second, with their free detergent and free electrical toothbrushes. They have a vision as well, emphasizing the necessary…which should never be placed ahead of the important. Uhm… I also rank them second because I was too shy to get one of those free noisy toothbrushes and I’ve thought about them ever since.
8. I don’t understand why everyone is so excited about the last James Bond movie. I regarded it as plain and unsalty.
9. Body lotion doesn’t have the moisturizing properties of hand cream.
10. I have been discussing the fact that “group dynamics shapes the outcome of foreign policy decision-making, especially in the situation of a crisis” for the last week or so. And I still haven’t finished.
11. It’s my name day on the 6th. Buy me presents.
I love you all, most of the times,
Nessa
1. Instant coffee turns out to be a pretty good replacement for the badly Nessa-made normal one.
2. My friend Dan has been writing quite a lot lately. I have been reading his blog and it's brilliant. Read, enjoy, learn, get informed. Thank you, Dan.
3. London got pretty cold and I don’t have a hat that fits me well yet. I am also systematically afraid that getting a hat might ruin the effects of my newly-acquired professional hair-dryer.
4. Lack of sleep is not good. Unless it happens for a good reason.
5. I decided to spend my New Year’s Eve in Venice and booked the flights already. All I have to do now is inform my parents of my brilliant decision and make them cope with the fact that I will fly low-cost, low-safety, and won’t be home for a week or so. Because I didn’t tell them in advance, I feel adventurous and I am happy about it.
6. I took out about 8 books from the library, for an essay, and read none of them. I like their smell, though.
7. I think it’s worth working for Oliver Wyman primarily because they give you umbrellas and bottle-openers when you go for their company presentations. This clearly shows that they have a vision of what’s important in life, especially when in London. P&G comes second, with their free detergent and free electrical toothbrushes. They have a vision as well, emphasizing the necessary…which should never be placed ahead of the important. Uhm… I also rank them second because I was too shy to get one of those free noisy toothbrushes and I’ve thought about them ever since.
8. I don’t understand why everyone is so excited about the last James Bond movie. I regarded it as plain and unsalty.
9. Body lotion doesn’t have the moisturizing properties of hand cream.
10. I have been discussing the fact that “group dynamics shapes the outcome of foreign policy decision-making, especially in the situation of a crisis” for the last week or so. And I still haven’t finished.
11. It’s my name day on the 6th. Buy me presents.
I love you all, most of the times,
Nessa
Sunday, November 23, 2008
G. and One of The Best Days of The Year
Context:
G. studies in Italy at present and came to briefly visit London…for three weeks. G. loves travelling.
Saturday:
Geeky A. and Nessa (London hosts) decide not to go to Oxford because of schoolwork. They assume they will meet G. back in London on Monday, when he is supposed to return from Oxford where he visits another friend.
They don’t know that:
G. suddenly decides to leave to Bratislava from London.
G. books flight to Bratislava, thinking that a cheap flight is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit such a major city. He bases his judgment on the core assumption that some relatives he hasn’t ever seen in his life (relatives that his grandfather mentioned briefly in the past) would welcome him with arms wide open. G. does not think that annoucing his London friends of his departure would be necessary. After all, why would they care?
Saturday night:
London hosts worry about G. They have no idea where he is, or what were the reasons for his sudden departure. They assume he might be dead or robbed. All attemps of reaching G. or anyone else who might have a vague idea of his present situation fail, during the night and early morning.
As a result, A. and Nessa stay up until 5 am. Not necessarily because they’re worried. They need to design the punishment plan for G.’s return. Violence is certain.
Sunday morning:
A. finds out from Oxford friend that G. left to the airport. The destination of his flight is unclear – A. and Nessa assume it’s Italy. Still no sign of G. Anything is still possible, including death or high degree of physical injury.
Sunday afternoon:
G. calls Nessa. From the relatives’ house in Bratislava. He found their phone number and address - IN THE PHONEBOOK.
Nessa and A. do not worry as much anymore – since G. has a charged phone and enough money on him. Worst case scenario: G. could get hit by a car or a bike – but the two of them still decide that’s highly unlikely. Bratislava should not be worse than Italy.
Sunday evening:
G. calls Nessa again, for an update on the situation. The family turns out to have a sick son. They attempt to put drugs in G.’s wine. G. also suspects they want to take one of his kidneys and transplant it to their sick son.
G. makes the first wise decision of the past days and leaves their house, while still in one piece. G. books a flight back to London from an Internet Café. He is to return to London the next day, after one evening, night and afternoon spent in the Bratislava airport.
G. shall return right on time to attend the Christmas Party on Monday that he had bought tickets for…unless he misses his flight, gets robbed in the airport, takes a wrong flight, loses his possesions, misses the bus, gets hit by a bike, a car or other such vehicle.
Sunday late evening:
A. calls Nessa. G. has never left Oxford. It was all a two-day bad joke. Incredibly brilliant bad joke. Violent punishment is a must.
G. studies in Italy at present and came to briefly visit London…for three weeks. G. loves travelling.
Saturday:
Geeky A. and Nessa (London hosts) decide not to go to Oxford because of schoolwork. They assume they will meet G. back in London on Monday, when he is supposed to return from Oxford where he visits another friend.
They don’t know that:
G. suddenly decides to leave to Bratislava from London.
G. books flight to Bratislava, thinking that a cheap flight is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit such a major city. He bases his judgment on the core assumption that some relatives he hasn’t ever seen in his life (relatives that his grandfather mentioned briefly in the past) would welcome him with arms wide open. G. does not think that annoucing his London friends of his departure would be necessary. After all, why would they care?
Saturday night:
London hosts worry about G. They have no idea where he is, or what were the reasons for his sudden departure. They assume he might be dead or robbed. All attemps of reaching G. or anyone else who might have a vague idea of his present situation fail, during the night and early morning.
As a result, A. and Nessa stay up until 5 am. Not necessarily because they’re worried. They need to design the punishment plan for G.’s return. Violence is certain.
Sunday morning:
A. finds out from Oxford friend that G. left to the airport. The destination of his flight is unclear – A. and Nessa assume it’s Italy. Still no sign of G. Anything is still possible, including death or high degree of physical injury.
Sunday afternoon:
G. calls Nessa. From the relatives’ house in Bratislava. He found their phone number and address - IN THE PHONEBOOK.
Nessa and A. do not worry as much anymore – since G. has a charged phone and enough money on him. Worst case scenario: G. could get hit by a car or a bike – but the two of them still decide that’s highly unlikely. Bratislava should not be worse than Italy.
Sunday evening:
G. calls Nessa again, for an update on the situation. The family turns out to have a sick son. They attempt to put drugs in G.’s wine. G. also suspects they want to take one of his kidneys and transplant it to their sick son.
G. makes the first wise decision of the past days and leaves their house, while still in one piece. G. books a flight back to London from an Internet Café. He is to return to London the next day, after one evening, night and afternoon spent in the Bratislava airport.
G. shall return right on time to attend the Christmas Party on Monday that he had bought tickets for…unless he misses his flight, gets robbed in the airport, takes a wrong flight, loses his possesions, misses the bus, gets hit by a bike, a car or other such vehicle.
Sunday late evening:
A. calls Nessa. G. has never left Oxford. It was all a two-day bad joke. Incredibly brilliant bad joke. Violent punishment is a must.
G.'s Closure
Facebook message:
"wait i just checked, the oxford tube should be coming in about 4 in the afternoon in Victoria Station tomorrow. I can send you a text
Yo dude, sorry, i think i've been dialing too many numbers this past night, i might have called you a couple times. Awwhh dude, Oxford is too crazy, i dont think i can cope with this. Matt took me to meet his Jamaican friend Ayman, and then... we had this big reggae party, and he offered us all this stuff... i think we drank a little bit too much... and they had all these pipes with hashish, i think there was like a giant hookah. It loked like a big octupus, with these 8 pipes.I dont remember much but i think we had some kinda trip to bratislava, and oh god there were kidneys involved... i dunno whose.Poor Matt, after a kebab lunch today he totaly passed out on the bed, with this big headache. But at one point, i think he was making phone calls too, on the phone.I hope we can wake up for class tomorrow morning..."
The problem with G. is that he is one of those people that you consider capable of actually going through or doing crazy things. It's all about his lack of luck. Bad things happen to him all the time. We love you G. You shall still be violently punished though.
"wait i just checked, the oxford tube should be coming in about 4 in the afternoon in Victoria Station tomorrow. I can send you a text
Yo dude, sorry, i think i've been dialing too many numbers this past night, i might have called you a couple times. Awwhh dude, Oxford is too crazy, i dont think i can cope with this. Matt took me to meet his Jamaican friend Ayman, and then... we had this big reggae party, and he offered us all this stuff... i think we drank a little bit too much... and they had all these pipes with hashish, i think there was like a giant hookah. It loked like a big octupus, with these 8 pipes.I dont remember much but i think we had some kinda trip to bratislava, and oh god there were kidneys involved... i dunno whose.Poor Matt, after a kebab lunch today he totaly passed out on the bed, with this big headache. But at one point, i think he was making phone calls too, on the phone.I hope we can wake up for class tomorrow morning..."
The problem with G. is that he is one of those people that you consider capable of actually going through or doing crazy things. It's all about his lack of luck. Bad things happen to him all the time. We love you G. You shall still be violently punished though.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
