travel plans for winter

24 - 31 Dec Japan
1 Jan - 9 Jan Singapore
10 Jan - 13 Jan Seattle
14 Jan - 18 Jan Cancun

Wah all this in less than a month. IF ONLY I could do this for work :(

No Matter

What Happens/Where We Work/Where We Live/Who We're With Eventually

You'll always be special to me. And extraordinary.

For the past, I don't know, one and a half hours(?), I was working downstairs in the living room on my mini laptop. Deprived of privacy (Keith and I were sitting at the dining table which has plenty of space for lappys and books and sheets of paper), and an internet connection (because my mini laptop can't remember the wifi password and I can't be bothered to retrieve it), I found myself more productive than I've been in SUCH A LONG TIME. I was able to complete what I would ordinarily (i.e. in the privacy of my own room and with an internet connection) take double the time (or more!) to do. What does that say?

I'll shout it from the mountaintop, I want the world to know...

That I LOVE DC! I mean, I really love the city. Just came back from this club called Town which had a drag show - 4 drag queens impersonating various divas and lip synching their way down a runway. So there's audience seated by the runway and the rest of us are like on the perimeter. And they go around lip synching and people actually give them dollar bills. It's pretty cool. Some were not very good (mouth and lyrics not even co-ordinated, tsk as Andrea would say), but some really went all the way - outrageous outfits, synchronized synching, and even a few kicks and splits in high heel boots - not the easiest thing to do. And omg all the songs they sang to - Sweet Dreams, Party in the USA, 3, It's Not Right But It's Ok etc etc. I can't remember the others but you get the idea. And then after the show the music came on, and they screened the accompanying music videos on these huge-ass screens behind the bar counter - Poker Face, Crazy in Love, Since U Been Gone, Down, SOS (Rescue Me), Disturbia, 3!! (they showed various clips of Brit Brit on screen since the video isn't out yet), Party in the USA (which A LOT of people seem to really like, notwithstanding (or because of?) it being a Miley song) and so on and so forth. I absolutely loved it,

The great thing about living where I live is that... you can walk home from the club. About 1 mile and 20 minutes. And it was hella cold cause the weather here seems to have skipped fall and gone straight to winter, and there was a very light but constant drizzle falling down (the rain almost drifted down like snow), and I was only in my D&G tank top with my CK jacket over it, but the alcohol was coursing through my veins and while my ears felt kindda cold, I relished walking through the leafy streets of this city while listening to music from my phone. It really can be such a charming place. I had to take photos. Love this city.

glass half full

*part of a renewed effort on my part to halt this dangerous loss of passion for and rising abhorrence of all things legal*
I'm reading a judgment on the enforceability of foreign arbitral awards by the United States Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit, and this sentence came to my attention. It can be so stimulating to read something in a judgment that just stands out for how well-written it is, in terms of getting a point across succinctly and powerfully.

Context: an American firm broke a contract with an Egyptian corporation to build and manage a paperboard mill in Alexandria, Egypt following the advent of the 1967 six-day war between the Arabs and Israelis, which precipitated Egypt's expulsion of all Americans and a branch of the State Department cutting off funding for the project. The American firm argued that the arbitral award in favor of the Egyptians should not be recognized as it fell within the public policy exception [to the enforceability of international arbitral awards] in the New York Convention.

And this was what the court had to say:

'To read the public policy defence as a parochial device protective of national political interests would seriously undermine the Convention's utility. This provision was not meant to enshrine the vagaries of international politics under the rubric of "public policy."'

So maybe I'm grasping for straws here but it isn't too often - especially given my current antagonism to the law - that a line stands out to me like this one.

Oh and dare I say, someone should cite the italicized quote to the judges back home sometime (without the term 'international' of course).

when the cold comes we freeze together

its funny that everyone is feeling the cold now. from leonard in boston to angela in new york to me in dc. and it gets worse in scandinavia apparently. brrr

only you can make me stay up for 3 hours to talk when i have a class in the morning that i haven't prepared for

'It's kindda disturbing, doing that in front of your parents'

So said Pink after performing a cover of 'I Touch Myself' and writhing around on a sofa wearing very little at the Wachovia Center last night. It was a homecoming of sorts for the 30 year old star, who was born in a small town 50km from Philadelphia. The moment was not lost on her, as she declared that she'd 'waited 30 years of this day'. And what a day it was. The audience was introduced to her mum, who was seated a surprising distance from the stage, wearing a red cape with a t-shirt that said 'I'm the mom'.

Pink has been in the business for nearly a decade now, and apart from debut RnB tinged debut 'Can't Take Me Home', she mined her extensive - and solid - catalog throughout the show. Even 'Trouble', the less than successful lead single from the commercial disappointment 'Try This', enjoyed stage time. From the dark, relentless 'Just Like A Pill' to the cheeky, irresistible 'U + Ur Hand' to the rousing "screw you" anthem 'So What', there was no shortage of jump-in-the-air pop-rock.

But it was her performance of 'Dear Mr President' that - in the opinion of this reviewer - stole the show. Set against a screen flashing images of the Iraq War, scenes from Katrina, 'God Hates Fags' signs and a liberal sprinkling of George W (the first sight of which illicited an almost universal jeer from the audience), Pink sung with an intensity and depth that was, frankly, surprising, even to someone who has followed her career and been awed by her talent for many years.

Other highlights included the heart-wrenching 'Family Portrait', the pure pop joy of 'Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)' and the soaring 'Sober', which featured a thrilling acrobatic performance that Pink would surely have taken on herself had she not injured her shoulder socket.

The 'Funhouse' tour was a timely reminder of the amazing talent of this sometimes underrated artist, who has an incredible richness and color in her whisky-drenched vocal, bucket loads of charisma (which she flaunted throughout the night, with plenty of engaging banter with the audience) and who can even bust a few moves. Nothing short of an electrifying.