Rondon

Hey y'all

OK. so my apologies about writing so damned sporadically are getting uber-lame, but its the same old excuse; I am just so busy and am never home.

But THAT is soon to change my amigos. PrincessHalfu is buying her own casa! Oh yes, un petit pad just for moi in Notting Hill (the place from the movie, for you Yanks). Its wee, its not perfect, but it will be aaaaall mine...muuuuhahahaha....

Currently all proceedings have come to a lawyer-induced standstill, but if all goes well, I should be moved in prior to my trip to NYC in a months time.

I other news, I've been to Zanzibar for a revoltingly luxurious break (pics below - excuse the bathtub one, but it was huge and we had an indoor and outdoor shower!) and had a very brief five days in Tokyo for work where I think I managed to eat myself into a stupor. Either that or my extra pounds are due to "happy fat" from the new beau...but more on him at another juncture.

Anyway, suffice to say that life is good. Boy, family, friends, job and extra-curricular activities all seem to be meshing together rather well in what feels like one of those brief moments in time where I have nothing to complain about....apart from the usual exhaustion that comes with just 'being', natch.

Anyway, with the new pad will come broadband, my own PC and more time to devote to le blog and my favourite pastime of self-obsessed ramblings. Tanoshimi!


The moon!

Wedding in Looooong Island

Took a whistle-stop trip to the Big Ringo two weeks ago for what can only be described as a mega-wedding. 500 people, 4 days of events for the guests, a stringent dress-code and more vino than you could shake a fist at. Unfortunately for me, I rather let down my good old Japanese heritage and didnt manage to take ANY good pictures of the rather amazing venues...we had Teddy Roosevelt's old house, now owned by the bride's granny, her Godmother's palace, then her country home in Oyster Bay...where the 'Library' was three times the size of the place I call home. Wealth beyond measure, no-holds-opulence, and a seriously stressed out Princess by the end of it. Yes, it was very impressive, but dear Lord, did it HAVE to have so many moving parts, and did there HAVE to be so many events that we all felt like headless British chickens running around Long Island trying to get from one thing to the other.

Note to self (should I ever get hitched), SMALL WEDDING.

Have to admit that the highlight of the trip was the very short but sweet time spent with my gal-pals in Manhattan. They all got together, taking a night out of their busy schedules, just to me, and I can't tell you how special that is. Love them and miss them all so much - I think there are some pics that they took, and I will upload when and if I get them.

Anyway, took some wedding pics, which I have previously apologised for, but here they are.

 

So what do I love about Rondon?

Things like today.

Everything is at your doorstep, and so is everybody.

For those of you abroad, this weekend in Rondon is a bank holiday - meaning that most people are out of town, and I love it! Saturday is errand day - laundry, waxing, manicure, etc. But then, suddenly a pal from Tokyo (Kimbo) is in town.

So of I head to meet her for an impromptu dinner, followed immediately by a trip to see X-Men III with another gal pal. I JUST love the spontanaeity, the fact that everybody lives around the corner, and the fact that I can spend the whole day in a tracksuit and still strut about town like I own the place. It may be raining all the time, but London is wonderful.

Just to Say...

Thanks for bearing with me...I feel much better today.

We are all the same!

Following a conversation with some of my lady-colleagues, I started to beg the question:
Why, why, why are most gals the same, and why, why, why do most men disappoint?

So please excuse me while I postulate.

100 years ago, do you think we heard women complain half as much as we do?
Were they as demanding?
Did they spend as much time over coffee and ciggies giving blow-by-blow desciptions to each other about how their men just piss them off?

I THINK NOT!

So what happened?

I'll tell ya.

Women's lib and mass media.

Growing up, it never occured to me that their were options for my future other than having a career and a power-suit. It never crossed my mind that some women just got married. Neither did it enter my malleable little head that anything but Mr. Perfect was right for me. "EXPECT MORE", "DEMAND MORE", "NOTHING BUT THE BEST IS GOOD ENOUGH".
So what's the problem? Of course, we should expect, demand and only be satisfied with being treated with the utmost respect and love. But honestly, I think that the bar is just too high!

Mr. Darcy is fictional! So is Heathcliff, Maximus the Gladiator, Wolverine, Mr. Big, Romeo and every 2D character I ever sighed over in Mills & Boon. In reality, those strong and silent types, that never waver, are chivalrous to the end, courageous beyond imagination, rich beyond calculation and goddam give-it-to-me-now-drop-dead-gorgeous, are relationship retards!! THAT's why they're gruff, scowling, and have those thunderous intense eyes that make you weak at the knees. And I personally think every author, director and play-write should take responsibility for leading millions of women into a life of romantic disappointment.

Trust me, any bloke who was honestly that hot is out there getting laid every weekend and is riddled with STD's. BRING ON THE MEDIOCRES AND THE SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGES!! Who wants someone who pouts more than you do anyway???

Every cloud has a platinum and diamond-encrusted lining

Somehow, I have managed (and I still can't quite work out how) to have TWO "this isn't working" conversations in 3 weeks. No, I didn't have a rebound relationship, and no, I didn't jump into bed or even hold hands with the first unsuspecting bloke to pay attention to me either. So what happened?

Well, I decided that staying at home post breakup was just too depressing, so accepted an invitation from a very nice guy for dinner. Then, I discovered that maybe it will take me a while to exorcise my previous relationship demons, so had to nip it in the bud before anyone got hurt.

Another thing I managed to figure out in the past few days, is that I actually like having an uncomplicated life. I haven't cried in nearly two weeks - surely a 2006 PH record! I have time to see my friends, do my laundry, do some work and sleep all day if I want to. That's not to say I don't miss him, because of course I do. But I'm trying to focus on the benefits, and there seem to be quite a lot of them. 26 is a funny old age, with everyone around me getting married, settling down and planning a future with their partner. I think its wonderful, but it isn't for me yet. I feel like I was chasing commitment, when in reality, if I got it I would have done a flying leap in the other direction. I realised that I only wanted those things because it would make me feel more confident about a relationship where I just knew he wasn't sure about me. A last-ditch effort to feel like he wanted me, and of course it just pushed him further away. Ahhhh well....I DID warn you about the self-analysis!!!

So what's the answer? It's a cliche, but you just gotta love yourself. I am sick and tired of having my happiness and feeling of self-worth being dictated by whatever man happens to be in my life at the time. ESPECIALLY when I am totally unappreciated! Time for some good ol' self-luuuurve. Yes, I am totally self-obsessed, but I think I'm a nice person and a damn good girlfriend. No more basket cases for me! Real men only please, and bloody well get in line!!!

What the...??

Well, you don't often see a giant elephant trampling through central London, but this was a rather random moment from the weekend. (As well as a few others, but we won't go into those here)...

Giant Elephant

Remember me...? Probably not

There has to be something wrong with life when for months on end, even the most self-obsessive of us (now don't you all object at once ;-)) can't find anything interesting to write about themselves. It's not all that dreary, just rather monotonous and work-centric.

HOWEVER, there has been some fun and games in the form of a whirlwind trip to Tokyo, where my host-sister got hitched in an uber-cool fashion. Yours truly was maid (HAH!) of honour, and had to give a speech in English and Japanese to make the family look all international. True to form I decided the best way to go was to get rid of stage-fright by downing as much champers as I could get my hands on. End result was that I ended up blubbing on stage as an alcohol-induced wave of nostalgia and emotion hit me. Thank god its Japan, where they love all that stuff.

Anyway, since then, PH has been spending a lot of time on a plane. Regular visits to Scotland and Holland being interspersed with visits to rather more remote locations like The Gambia and Dorset. For those who want deets on any of those places, let me know as I won't bore you with them now. You'll have to excuse me for my lack of gusto when it comes to regaling stories of these holidays, as I was accompanied by someone who has now entered the PH relationship history books. Time will heal all, so they say. We all know from experience that its true, but the interim "sucks a big fat dick", as darling Kimbo put so eloquently.

However, every cloud has a silver lining, and some time to myself is much appreciated. In the coming weeks, I will no-doubt use da blog as a medium to purge myself of self-analytical rubbish, so I warn you now. Caveat emptor - I already know I will make the same mistakes and choose the wrong man AGAIN, but hopefully having something on paper to remind me of what a fool I am will at least make me hesitate.

Now, its time to catch up with the girls. Thank God for girlfriends. Love may make the world go round, but its your friends who stop it spinning too fast.

This is what it feels like to work hard

So, suddenly, Princess has been forced to get off her butt and do some proper work. Been a bit of a shock to the system, and I seem to spend every weekend sleeping. Of course there is always time for house parties, dinner and seeing the fam. I think Von Dutch and I should start writing a restaurant review book with the number of new places we end up going to. (Although apparently he is concerned about how much I eat - hahah!).

So what is to report in London? Well, for a start, winter has arrived. Apparently this will be the coldest winter in a decade.....so still 15 degrees warmer than New York and perfectly agreeable if it weren't for the real plague of London, the miserable, tireless rain. Also, if you were planning a romantic jaunt to Paris, now would be the time to cancel.

So instead, how about a trip to Edinburgh? "WHAT?", I hear you cry. "But surely not, as you go there so often on business and must be bored stupid of haggis and whisky". Ahhh yes, but herein we discover the sacrificial tendencies of luuuuurve. The real reason I am going there next weekend is to attend a screening of the new Harry Potter film. Am I excited......? IS THE POPE CATHOLIC??? WOOOHOOOOO!!!! And the reason I am staying there for an extra day is to visit Edinburgh Castle, eat at the best restaurant, and stay at a lovely hotel with my boy, as is his wish. But seriously, he wouldnt have a chance if it weren't for Harry.

58 Minutes, 39 Seconds

...Was my time for doing the 10K Nike run. If I ever get talked into doing anything like this ever again, remind me to grow a brain. I hate running. I hate the cold. I hate pain. I don't do any training. I hate when my competetive streak forces me to run faster than is good for me (not very fast!) and makes me walk like John Wayne for 3 days.

At one point, I actually thought about doing the London Marathon.

My friends, I beseech thee. And so does my sore arse.