Le Blog

Le Creepy Winter

2011-04-03T04:42:00.003+02:00

Dear Winter,

We need to talk. We broke up on March 20th when I fell in love with Spring, but I don't think you've gotten the point, since I see you everywhere I go. You were there on March 21st when Spring and I were supposed to have our first date, and I've seen you every day since. It's like I'm being followed or something. Sometimes you let Spring shine some sun on me, but then you swoop in again and completely block any warmth that may come my way. In fact, you even snowed on me on Wednesday. Snow!! Spring and I were not pleased, to say the least.

Look, we've had a lot of fun together, you really let me indulge in cute hats, my new uggs, and cozy sweaters and I will always appreciate that. It was great while it's lasted, but it's time to let go. We both need to move on. I want the space to get to know Spring some more, and I've heard that you have a ticket to South America, which I'm sure will be great for you. So please please stop coming by to see me every day. It's starting to get creepy, and dare I say this is turning into stalking. I've got Spring waiting around the corner and some cute dresses that have been waiting patiently to be let out of my tiny NYC closet for months. Maybe when you're back from your trip in December, we can grab coffee or something. Until then, I hope we can give each other some much needed space.

All the best,
Sabrina

Le Gaga meets Anderson

2011-02-15T02:57:00.000+01:00

LOVE her!

Le 2011

2010-12-31T23:03:00.001+01:00

Source

Dear 2011,

We haven't met yet, but that will all change in a few short hours. I thought I would get a head start and not only introduce myself, but let you know about a few things I would like in the coming year, in addition to the usual health, happiness etc. If it's not too much trouble I would really like the following this coming year:

- Space. I realize every New Yorker (Parisian, Londoner, Tokyo-an) asks for this, but since I'm asking so early, maybe you can help out and just give me a little more room on this big island.

- A table. This is what I would put in said extra space [see above]. Eating dinner in my bed is not fun anymore.

- A TV. See above.

- Less weight. Yes, I know we should be thankful for everything we have, but I wouldn't mind a little less fat so that I can look nice in all my beautiful clothes. Some don't fit anymore and that makes me sad.

Thanks for listening, '11. I've got to go get ready now, to make sure you can arrive in style.

Happy new year everyone!!

S

Le Starr's Hair Whipping

2010-12-30T06:19:00.001+01:00

9-year old ice skater Starr Andrews performs to Whip My Hair. So cute!

Le Snow Day

2010-12-27T22:45:00.009+01:00

Snow Day

A blizzard swept into NYC yesterday, turning our three-day weekend into four. I woke up this morning to piles of snow and sleeping in in my cozy bed, took my camera for a walk through Central Park. For once I did not get lost in there...though I may have taken the long route a few times ;). Needless to say it was beautiful, but I'll let the photos below speak for themselves. Enjoy.

Le Human Handwriting

2010-12-17T04:52:00.002+01:00

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I love this article written by Ashton Kutcher for Harper's Bazaar, wondering if romance is dead in a digital age. It's surprisingly well-written. I especially liked this quote about the romance of a hand-written note:

"But, most important, it's flawed. There are errors in handwriting, punctuation, grammar, and spelling that show our vulnerability. And vulnerability is the essence of romance. It's the art of being uncalculated, the willingness to look foolish, the courage to say, 'This is me, and I'm interested in you enough to show you my flaws with the hope that you may embrace me for all that I am but, more important, all that I am not.'"

Love,
Sabrina

Le sunny days in the park

2010-12-09T05:02:00.003+01:00

Passing time in the Shakespeare in the Park line

A bitter cold has swept New York City as we inch closer to the shortest day of the year (or longest night - depending on how you want to see it). As I bundle up in my huge coat, scarf and hat, I like to think back to this summer when I spent six hours waiting in line for Shakespeare in the Park tickets.

My friend and I left our homes at 5:30 in the morning and headed into Central Park to get in line with all the other hundreds of people itching to get tickets to see Al Pacino in Merchant of Venice. We walked down the line towards the end, passing people who chose to spend the night there. There were groups of friends, couples and single people; most of them sound asleep. Many of them had air mattresses and looked like they had been kidnapped with their beds in the middle of the night and then dropped into the park, completely unaware that they weren't in their homes any more.

It was a fun experience and kind of relaxing (we basically chilled in the park for six hours) but my absolute favorite part of the whole thing was ordering food to be delivered to us. In line. Exactly. You call the deli, order your bagel with butter and jam, coffee with milk, and a 30 minutes later a guy on a bike rides down the line and calls your name. I got my breakfast still warm.

Hmm. Warm.

Six hours later, we were the second to last people to get stand by tickets for the play (apparently in the history of the theater, everyone who has ever received standby tickets has gotten in to see the play). It was amazing and worth every second of the wait.

Love,
Sabrina

Le Meryl Streep/ Julia Child

2010-11-22T04:43:00.001+01:00

Watch the full episode. See more Julia Child.

Meryl Streep's talks about her Julia Child Inspiration and how she saw her. 'Sometimes it's about being yourself' - love it!

Le Quitting

2010-11-10T04:36:00.004+01:00

A friend wrote to me and told me how disappointed he was that I was discontinuing Le Blog and said:

I like to get to "hear" your voice and experience your charm thru the blog and I imagine others feel the same way.

Thanks KDR, that's really sweet and I promise to keep trying to write.

Btw I'm not quitting Le Blog. My last blog post was an attempt to return to honesty and say what I think and write how I write now, as opposed to trying to recapture a past me who wrote differently. I don't think I would end or leave Le Blog. I did cheat on Le Blog though at one point. We were going through a rough patch and I swear I was thinking of Le Blog the whole time. Le Blog and I are working things through now (as you have been privy to)...I'm not sure what will happen with Le Nouveau Monde. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I leave you with more Zach Galifianakis.

Le Lanvin for H&M

2010-11-05T22:30:00.003+01:00

Lanvin's special collection for H&M

Can't wait for Lanvin to come to H&M on November 23rd (November 20th for you New Yorkers!). Don't you love that the 80s are back big time?

Le reasons for not blogging anymore

2010-11-05T01:10:00.006+01:00

You may be wondering why I don't blog anymore. It's because somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, on my way to New York City three years ago, I lost my voice; specifically, Le Blog's voice. In the thick of writing this blog, I never realized that it was less about me, and more about my journey to fulfilling my dream of moving to New York City. Once I moved to NYC, my journey - and the voice of this blog - went away. With no journey to document, that leaves me with the option of writing about my life in NYC, which feels weird for a few reasons. I loathe to fill these pages with stories of good things I'm doing because it feels contrived and, well, who gives a sh*t. I also don't want to write about the sad and difficult parts, or stories of my disappointments, because my intent with this blog is to create a space that people come to in order to escape the real world for a few minutes, and leave with a smile. That leaves the mundane experiences of my day to day life, which no one wants to read about. Also, I think the reason my voice has changed is because living in a city like New York inevitably changes you. I'm not the same person anymore; I've grown up. Yuck.

So what do I do, dear reader? Are you still there?

I leave you with a link to my new favorite show called "Bored to Death" starring Jason Schwartzman, Ted Danson, Zach Galifianakis (yes, my new obsession). It's silly, about creative people, funny and filmed mainly in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Enjoy.

Love,
B

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis

2010-11-04T18:13:00.002+01:00

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Bruce Willis from Bruce Willis

I love Zach Galifianakis, star of The Hangover. Check out his online talk show "Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis," where he interviews Bruce Willis in this episode. For more videos, go here.

B

Le Peter who sucks

2010-09-15T05:15:00.003+02:00

This cracks me up!

Le Blank Sheets of Paper

2010-09-06T03:21:00.013+02:00

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There is nothing as horrific, terrifying and frustrating like staring at a blank sheet of paper, pen in hand, with the intent to write.

Before you sit down, an idea pops into your head and starts to flirt. You giggle, and rush to capture it before it goes back to where it came from. Then Fear [the perpetual Joker] comes by as you get everything ready, and takes his seat at the table right when you're about to start writing.

You sit and stare. The paper stares back. You turn on the radio and try to round up your thoughts into the pastures of creativity. The guy on the radio keeps going on about Pepsi, and you shut him off. Your ideas start to get all mixed up and jumbled, words from your great sentences start to mingle with words from other sentences, and ruin the order. They start leave, walk out of the pasture gate, two by two, all leaving in different groups than the ones they arrived with. The blank page laughs in your face, and you wonder why you even bother.

Quickly, you manage to jot down the first line and on paper it's transformed from the eloquent into the bulky. You hate what you wrote and Fear nods in agreement as he puffs his cigarette and blows smoke in your face. You take a deep breath and keep going, praying that Genius comes to save you like a fairy Godmother. But he never does. Instead, you look up and see that Persistence has been there the whole time, looking Fear in the face with dark eyes. You smile, but it fades once you look down at the messy scribbles. After a big sigh, you keep chipping away at your clumsy sentences. Because none of your demons will leave until that blank page is full.

Le Thirty

2010-04-26T02:58:00.002+02:00

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There's a change that comes over you when you're about to turn thirty. A week and a half away from the big 3-0, I've noticed a shift in my attitude that started as far back as five months ago, something that I can only describe as growing up. I don't feel inclined to do things I don't truly want to do anymore, and not only can I see who I am, I can also accept who that person is. It's lovely.

I've also spent the past few months fighting the demons of thirty. They say it's just a number, but a big numerical shift is also a signifier that life moves constantly, that time will one day run out and that there are things in this world I have yet to do. Will they ever happen? I don't know... I've always wanted to live in New York, always. And now I've done that, I have the job, the apartment and the fabulous clothes. My plans don't go beyond this point and I kind of like it. It's nice not to know and just let life happen.

I've decided to celebrate thirty three times in style - with three parties. In New York, I went out for drinks at a rooftop bar with a few friends to say au revoir to my twenties. I plan to spend my actual birthday with my family, and then throw another party with my friends in Munich. Good or bad, you've got to enjoy the milestones in life, no matter how big or small.

At this point, after thinking about it so much, I've made my peace with it. I'm even sort of looking forward to it - three is my lucky number after all. And my friends summed it all up in a card they gave me last night at my NY shindig:

"Hey Sexy, Thirty is fabulous, regardless of what they may say about it. Enjoy."

Thank you. I'm planning on it.

Le Shakira's Caiparena

2009-11-17T04:06:00.002+01:00

Shakira - Did It Again (Official Video) HQ

Check out the amazing dancing. Enjoy.

Le Bad Romance

2009-11-11T04:02:00.003+01:00

New Lady Gaga craziness sexiness insaneness wowness. Enjoy.

Le Drive-By Tourism* in LA

2009-09-29T04:06:00.036+02:00

Where: Los Angeles
When: Labor Day Weekend
Duration: 2.5 Days
Who: Three adults
Who else: Two children under the age of three
What: 1 Car
Time: Best. Ever.
Cost: Priceless

Agenda:
- Catch up with old friends
- Meet the munchkins
- See as much of LA as possible - drive-by style with a camera hanging out the side of the car
- See the Hollywood sign to verify it is real and exists (it does)
- Chill with the coolness of James Dean
- Hang out like Vinnie Chase and the boys would, by trespassing his house
- Wear my new summer dress
- In 'n' Out - Double double animal style (hmmmmmmm)
- Witness the site of a baby's first army crawl (adorable)
- Spirituality - Ghandi style
- See celebrity(ies) (Perez Hilton, Kate Perry, Eliza Dushku, Ashley Tisdale)
- See a transformer

Mission:
Accomplished

Livability Index**: 6 months - 1 year

Thank you:
To the best Monkey gang ever for a wonderful time xoxo!!!

First stop Malibu: Paradise Cove Beach Cafe (try the salad with fresh tuna)

Paradise Cove Beach Cafe

Paradise Cove Beach Cafe

Paradise Cove Beach Cafe

Paradise Cove Beach Cafe

Paradise Cove Beach Cafe

Paradise Cove Beach Cafe

Self Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine Temple - Where someone stole a handful of Ghandi's ashes and sent them to LA to rest in this spot...just the way Ghandi would have wanted it.

Self Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine Temple - Someone promised me I would see lots of birds. But there were no birds. Just nature and some ashes.

Self Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine Temple

Self Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine Temple - Remnants of cuteness from moments before

Marilyn Monroe's Resting Place

Variety - The Mecca of LA

Drive by tourism

Urth Cafe - Where Vinnie, me and the boys do brunch

Venice Beach

Venice Beach

Venice Beach - Just like the canals in Italy

Drive-by Venice Beach

Drive-by Venice Beach

Drive-by Venice Beach

Drive-by Venice Beach

Drive-by Venice Beach

Drive-by Venice Beach

Drive-by Venice Beach

Drive-by Venice Beach

Venice Beach Dog

Venice Beach - Barber

Venice Beach - House ad

Venice Beach - Pause for coffee at Intelligencia

Venice Beach - Back on the road again

La Mirage Inn

Hollywood Hills

Hollywood Sign

Ashton Kutcher's restaurant Geisha House

Wax Museum

Kodak Theater - Home of the Oscars

Transformers - More than meets the eye!

Chinese Theater

Entourage Villa

Hills

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion - Construction next door. Probably a new Starbucks or McDonalds

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion

Greystone Mansion

Beverly Hills. 90210.

Drive-by tourism - The Spelling Mansion

Drive-by tourism

Drive-by tourism

Drive-by tourism - Beverly Hills Wilshire Hotel of Pretty Woman fame

Rodeo Drive

Drive-by tourism

Drive-by tourism

Drive-by tourism

Drive-by tourism

Drive-by tourism

Drive-by tourism - Kitson

Drive-by tourism - The Ivy

Drive-by tourism - Kitson

Finally, those birds I was promised, chilling like Vinnie Chase at a traffic light

Perez Hilton - My celebrity sighting

*With the archaic vacation system found in the US, I found it necessary to invent 'drive-by vacationing' - visiting new cities in as little time as possible - in order to see the country in addition to seeing my family in decent incriments. After two days of Boston this summer, I decided that LA and my lovely friends merited my precious three day weekend that marked the end of Summer 2009.

**I have also come to realize that every city I visit that I like, I measure not in terms of stars or thumbs up, but in how much time I would want to live there. I know it's crazy, but I can't stop wanting to live places. It's not something I do consciously, but recently discovered I just simply size up a city and remark "I would live here for 6 months, and I would do it in that neighborhood, in that apartment, where I would buy white furniture and shop at that grocery store". I guess I just can't sit still, and have a never-ending hunger to live in new places all the time. So I've decided to invent the Livability Index, where I rate a city according to how long I would live there. For example, Boston received a comfortable Livability Index of two Summer months. Frankfurt has a rating of -5 months. That's right. I am also pioneering the idea of negatively ratings of cities. Trust me. It makes sense if you've been to Frankfurt.

Le Penny Collector

2009-09-11T03:59:00.003+02:00

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My little homeless penny jar is full. I just thought I should let you know, since I’m sure you’ve been wondering what happened to all those pennies over the past two years. They are fine, sitting on my shelf, and ready to get sent to the bank. It’s the weirdest thing, because now that I’ve been picking up pennies off the street for two years, I kind of don’t feel like doing it anymore, but at the same time, I feel really guilty when I don’t. Like I’ll be walking down the street with someone I just met, or I’ll be on a date and I’ll see the penny. And part of me wants to pick it up, honest, but then the other part of me thinks, do I really want to be that first (and only) date who picked up a penny off the street? I mean, would you go out on a second date with someone who would do that? Or is it one of these things where like, I need to just be me, ‘the penny collector’ and the right guy, that knight in shining armor, will love me more because of my strange attraction to homeless coins. Is this one of those kind of life tests? But then, if it is a life test, and I don’t actually want to pick up pennies anymore, then what does that mean? Does it mean that I am a heartless person now? That I’ve changed and lost sight of the greater good? Sigh. This is all very confusing, it’s like I’ve created a monster with this whole penny-business. Whatever, I’m off to the bank, and I’ll just take it from there.

Le Autumn of Janis Joplin

2009-08-28T04:54:00.034+02:00

Summertime - Janis Joplin

Dear Janis Joplin,

I discovered you for the first time last week. I was at my new job, listening to music on Imeem.com, and letting it randomly take me from one song to the next, when suddenly you showed up singing 'Summertime' to me. It blew me away like nothing has in a long time, and I was sincerely sad that I've gone 29 years without your music in my life.

The irony of 'Summertime' entering my life at this point is not lost on me. Just as summer comes to an end in New York, and Autumn winds gently take over the hot summer days and nights, you have come to accompany me not only for the changing of the temporal seasons, but also a changing of seasons in my life. Right now, everything feels different than it did before, and I am relieved. And when I say different, I mean that I am right back where I started when I left for New York two years ago, much like the shepherd boy in The Alchemist, I feel like I'm back home after getting lost in the dark for a while. Thankfully, I made it in one piece even though I acquired a few cuts and bruises. Hopefully nothing that will scar, and I'm perpetually optimistic. I have a new job, new people in my life, and almost feel like my old self again. Everyday I watch me come back, and I am delighted. The wind of change that has been wafting for a few months now is in full force, and I am grateful for the beautiful music that it has brought with it.

So thank you, Ms. Joplin, for joining me this Fall, and bringing your guitar solo with you.

Love,
Sabrina

Le Yogi Sade

2009-06-11T15:08:00.007+02:00

Sade - Cherish the Day

I had to smile when I heard Sade in yoga class yesterday. It took me back to this post I made, when I was in Munich listening to Sade and thinking about living in New York. And now here I am and it is nothing like I imagined. In fact, one of the few places where I feel like it's right and all the planets are aligned is in yoga class. The room, the view from the window, the time of day, my teacher Jeffrey and even the other students feel just right. The rest of the time I wander around the city thinking "What am I doing here?" or "Was it worth all the trouble to move here? What for?" or just "Wow".

But in yoga class, all of that is different. Everything makes sense there, even my weirdly flexible, middle eastern, crooked body, which delights in each weird crooked strechy move. As a gym student who once got a D, it is fun to excel at a sport and feel like it comes naturally to me. My favorite poses are the ones are the really twisted bendy ones, and the ones I used to do as a kid for fun, like a shoulder stand with my legs wound around two times. Surrounded by serious grown-ups, it never occured to me that adults would ever do it too.

Yoga is also the one of the few commitments I've been able to make recently. Ever since my break up, this class has been my therapy session, where my mind gets to rest as my body takes over. Everytime Jeffrey would say open your heart (where you point your chest to the sky), I would open as wide as possible so forces from above could heal the broken parts of my heart. It hurt but it also felt nourishing.

And then there's the music; Sade and Thievery Corporation which sometimes come up, and are both artists who I just love.

All in all, I try to take a "yoga view" to my life. Regardless of why I'm here, or if it was right or wrong, now that I'm in New York, I might as well live in the moment, enjoy it to the fullest and remember to breath.

Namaste

Le Closure

2009-06-10T04:59:00.005+02:00

"Loneliness is not being alone; it's loving others to no avail." - Mario Stefani

Today was a day of closure for me. I had a long overdue talk with my ex in order to understand exactly what happened and why things ended up the way they did. We've had these chats before, but I've always come away feeling confused. But today was different, I got some answers I needed and finally understood what happened.

In some ways I feel like Carrie in the 'Sex and the City' episode where she feels like Barbra Streisand in 'The Way We Were'. That I am the crazy, emotional person who overwhelms Hubbell and he decides he can't handle her. I am relieved and happy that the permanent state of confusion that has plagued me for months has finally come to an end, and I can leave the past behind. And being Barbra/Carrie is not so bad.

After my long discussion, I came home to find a baggage-free apartment, since my undependable landlord was kind enough to help me and put my winter suitcase away where I can't reach. He only left one small bag behind. I smiled, put it away and wrote that one last email I knew I had to write, the period at the end of a sentence.

Le Goodbye to Paris

2009-06-05T12:17:00.009+02:00

My Parisian Home

I didn't realize when I went to Paris last week, that it would be goodbye to the city of lights. It was just like going to dinner with a boyfriend without suspecting it would be your last meal together. Then you sit down across from each other and realize you have nothing left to say. It is evident your time together has come to an end, as you sit there chewing and staring.

Our "last" meal was at Cafe Marly. I was sitting at the same restaurant I always go to, having just ordered the same thing I always order. I looked at the amazing view of I.M. Pei's pyramids and I felt nothing. How many times can you go to the same place? Or see the same buildings? Or eat the same steak and mashed potatoes followed by Chocolat Fondant? Isn't it time to move on when the magic just isn't there? I felt an ending running through my bones.

We took a walk after dinner and I found my past lurking behind every corner. I returned to all my old favorite places only to find them haunted by memories. I greeted my friendly ghosts - they are all warm and happy in Paris - and I walked on. At some point, you just want to see something new, and begin a new phase in life, and I may be overdue.

I felt a door closing and another one opening. With one last glance at the city of lights, at Pont Neuf and Les Invalides, I shut the door and turned around. I couldn't wait to see those yellow taxi cabs of New York.

Le Dream Resurrection

2009-06-02T11:31:00.006+02:00

Source

How to bring back dreams that have died or left you:

1. Acknowledge the death of the dream

2. Investigate the possible causes

3. Once found, remove the instigator immediately. Due to their virus-like nature, dream-killers will eventually spread to your other dreams and soul

4. Wait. Allow your soul to slowly get accustomed to the now safe environment

5. Begin to act as if the dream were still alive, and proceed with small steps that you would have taken had it had never gone away. For example, if your dream is to go on a roadtrip on Highway 1 in California, purchase a USA guidebook. This sends a positive message to your deceased dream, letting it know it is safe to return.

6. Keep at it time and again, and with regular intervals of space, it will return one day. Perhaps you will be taking a nap at home, and upon waking up, you get a wanderlust for the late-afternoon Californian sun. You dream the brilliant ocean is glistening to your left, while you drive a red convertable on those beautiful windy cliffs.

Love,
Breens

Le List of Deeds

2009-05-23T17:13:00.008+02:00

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I did the most amazing thing last week. I was writing and couldn't remember the chronology of my life after college. A bit sad since I'm only 29, but all those late nights out drinking are starting to turn into one. So I decided to write a brief list summarizing each year, and when I got to the years I've been in New York, the lists started to get longer and the deeds bigger. I was shocked. I didn't feel like I had accomplished anything here, especially last year. I felt more down on myself and kept seeing the things I hadn't done, or the things wrong with what I had done, and just thinking to myself, 'Yes, I know moving to NY is hard, but I didn't do it right because blah blah blah.' And last year, the year I remember as empty, flat, and coming short of my expectations, turned out to be the biggest list of all and included:

- Finding and accepting a job in NY
- Living with a boy for 1.5 months
- Finding an apartment in NY without a broker's fee
- Learning how to drive and getting my driver's license
- Traveling to several places including back to my USA childhood home, Atlanta, Napa Valley and Mexico
- Learning how to read and write in Hebrew (I have since forgotten)
- etc.

I was surprised when I finished. I did all that? I guess it wasn't so much that I didn't do anything, it was a false perception of my strength and my capabilities. I figure if I had saved the world, I still wouldn't have felt like I did anything worthy, since my perception of myself was based on something other than what was really happening. Maybe things people had said to me, or ways in which I had disappointed myself in the past, causing me to peg myself as a not successful. Writing the list didn't heal that, but it opened my eyes to my false perception, and since acknowledgment is the first step, it has helped me change the way I look at myself.

You should definitely try it, it's kind of mind-blowing even though it sounds so simple. I'd love to hear about it, but first I'm off to look at shoes. I think I deserve a little reward for learning and forgetting a new alphabet last year :).

Love,
Sabrina

Le Pierre Menard

2009-05-13T03:24:00.007+02:00

Source

Foreigner to New York seeks English to English translator/interpreter. Person should be fluent in American verbal and written (emails, text messages, etc.) American and New York English, as well as non-verbal communications (unanswered emails, text messages, long pauses in conversation, eye contact). The person should be able to translate these messages into plain old European (UK, Ireland, Expat) English or German. Must decipher what people actually mean to say without actually saying it directly. Please send a photo with your application. No phone calls.

Thank you.
Pierre Menard

Le Convenience of 29

2009-05-04T23:39:00.004+02:00

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I conveniently decided today that I don't believe in age anymore. I think you just need to *be* and when you're ready for things to happen, they happen, and you can't really go by a number because people do things at different ages, so there really are no rules. Oh yeah, I'm also 29 today. Yay me.

I have a lot of opinions about being 29. First, I really like having a 9 in my age. I don't know, it feels soothing. 27 and 28 were a bit so so and involved a lot of drama, so I'm kind of glad to be in a new age bracket. I think this one is going to be a winner, where I sort of return to my roots and find happiness again.

This is also the last of my 20s. At first I was a bit depressed, to be honest. I felt like I hadn't accomplished much, and most importantly, I was really nervous about celebrating without my family and close friends. But then I decided to make the best of it, and I actually got excited about my birthday again. I don't think I've been excited for a birthday in over 5 years. I made plans, saw people, enhanced budding friendships, did fun things like go see Marc Jacobs talk at the New York Times and watch No Doubt perform at Rockefeller Plaza on the Today show. And of course I went shopping at the Hello Kitty store. It was a successful spree if you must know. I figured if I could survive my birthday "alone", then I can live here on my own as well. It's not over yet, but I think so far it's been good and I have a good shot at this whole New York thing.

So the last of my 20s. I started writing all these rules about things I had to do this year since next year I won't be able to, like dress like Gwen Stefani or wear mini skirts, but honestly...who cares? Gwen Stefani is 39 and she dresses like herself, so why can't I in my 30s? That's kind of silly.

I also started writing a list of accomplishments and was going to complain to you about how I don't feel like I've accomplished anything. But honestly, who the hell am I to judge that? It all comes down to seeing how happy you are, and if you feel like you are being true to yourself, and right now I am trying as hard as possible to do just that. I want to go back to truth and honesty like I used to be before I moved here. You can't really go wrong in that case as long as you refrain from doing things that feel wrong. Like not dressing like Gwen (I know I keep bringing her up, I just really like stripes right now). It feels really right and makes me happy so I'm doing it.

Anyway, I'm off to enjoy the rest of my birthday. I wish you happiness, truth and beautiful clothes. Here's to a new year :).

Love,
Sabrina

PS
Join me on my Facebook music page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Le-Beat-Song-of-the-Day/69948538314?ref=ts

Le Love Lockdown

2009-05-04T04:27:00.001+02:00

Kanye West - Love Lockdown

Le Beat - Song of the Day

2009-04-28T15:07:00.004+02:00

Lady Gaga

I started a new Facebook Page yesterday called "Le Beat - Song of the Day". I love putting up songs you don't normally think of onto Facebook for my friends, so I decided to start a page doing just that. If you like my taste in music (mainly pop, lots of older songs from when we were growing up and some new stuff), come join me!

Love,
Breens

Le Johnny Weir does "Poker Face"

2009-04-28T00:43:00.001+02:00

Johnny Weir dances to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face". Now this is passion. Look how happy he is! That's how I feel when I dance to Lady Gaga or Madonna :).

Enjoy!

Love,
Breens

Le Shutter View of New York

2009-04-18T16:32:00.032+02:00

Museum of the City of New York

Lately I've let my camera take the lead on my walks through New York. There is so much history written in the buildings: a faded paper company sign on a midtown building; a white gate that stands out in a sea of green ones in Soho. Signs of what once was and is now something else...and may one day transform into businesses and industries unknown today. And if I get in trouble at Armani for taking pictures of their beautiful Gaudi-esque staircase, so be it.

Architecture is an interesting phenomena in this city, almost like trophies of golden ages past, of companies that were once thought of as indestructible and only proved to fade away after they'd made their mark on the city that never sleeps. I just read a great New York Magazine article about it, where they say:

"We live surrounded by the emblems of hubris, glittering corporate skyscrapers arranged on the skyline like trophies on a mantel. What fulminator could resist the delicious irony of two high-rise financial headquarters nearing completion just as the corporations that erected them fall to their knees? Bank of America, the country’s largest bank, is putting the finishing touches on the city’s second-tallest tower, a gracious, twisting paperweight at Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street. And Goldman Sachs is quietly slipping a 43-story glass scepter into Battery Park City."

New York is like a graveyard devoted to the notion that nothing lasts forever, as well as the fact that life (and this city) always goes on. Everyone here leases time and power until the city moves on without them. Not even the Rockefellers could last. And those that leave architectural marks keep the city gleaming for generations of workers to come, while they themselves hold on tight until they too, fade away.

Let's take a walk together...

Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the City of New York

Upper East Side Garden

New York Times Building - Midtown

Times Square

Times Square

Virgin Megastore Closes in Times Square

Armani 5th Avenue by Doriana e Massimiliano Fuksas

Armani 5th Avenue by Doriana e Massimiliano Fuksas

Armani 5th Avenue by Doriana e Massimiliano Fuksas

Fifth Avenue Fog

Fifth Avenue Fog

Publisher in Midtown

Playful shadows - Midtown off of 8th Avenue

Candylike Clean

Somewhere near 18th Street and 7th Avenue

Broadway and 12th Street

Jersey City from the Financial District

Financial District

Financial District

Sunset in the Upper West Side

Sunrise in the Upper West Side

Sunrise in the Upper West Side

Church in the West Village

Church in the West Village

Soho

Singer turned Mango

Building built on top of building - Soho

Shop Window - Soho

Houston Street

Small Soho street

Blue Shutters - Soho

Pop Art - Soho

Soho

Soho

Soho

Apple does Soho

Faded sign - Soho

Single white gate - Soho

Queens

Queens

Queens Subway

Le Recipe for Stormy Sunday Nights

2009-04-02T19:11:00.002+02:00

Recipe for a spending a lovely four minutes of your life feeling like a kid again

Source

Ingredients:
1 cold crunchy pear
1 Sunday night
Mild Temperatures
Tbsp Thunder
Tbsp Lightening
7 cups angry rain
Comfy clothes

Preparation (4 minutes):
- Place pear in the refrigerator in the morning.
- Wait for night time and the first signs of lightening
- When the rain starts, remove pear from fridge and wash it. Pear should be deliciously cold
- Turn off lights
- Open window
- Lean out and watch people run around as everything gets wet
- Take your first bite to the sound of the rain and the cars splashing in the puddles
- Finish pear at window
- Turning off the lights is optional
- Best enjoyed in pajamas

Love,
Breens

Le Driving Rules for Life

2009-03-29T15:38:00.014+02:00

Adorable Roadtrip Car

My roadtrip with Zenmaster K last week got me thinking how driving and driving rules are very applicable to life as well. Like in life, I managed to follow most of them on the road (except for speeding up when changing lanes and not letting your foot off the breaks in traffic). So in honor of an excellent roadtrip, I would like to share my driving rules for life as well as photos of my roadtrip:

- Always watch where you're going.

- If you reverse, make sure there are no people or objects behind you.

- If you are changing lanes, speed up. It's safer that way.

- If you make a minor mistake mid-road, don't stop to contemplate. You have to keep going.

- If you hit another car or a person, always stop and make sure they're okay.

- If you hit a parked car, leave a note.

- If you are going long distances, make sure you have good music and a bottle of water in the car. Enjoying the journey is important.

- Know how to use the car, including the windows. It's important when you go through a toll booth.

- If you need to stop don't do it mid-road where you will get in the way of other cars. Retreat to a quiet parking spot.

- If you are putting on a sweater in traffic, do not let go of the breaks (I speak from experience).

- Fear is your worst enemy. It will cloud your judgement and can cause you to make mistakes.

- Never ever close your eyes because you are afraid.

- In the beginning it is important to have a good companion to be your second set of eyes.

- If you feel like just enjoying the view, forgo driving for the passenger seat. It's also an ideal spot to control the radio.

Lunch

Seaside Heights

Seaside Heights

Seaside Heights

Amusement Park in Seaside Heights - Getting Ready for the Season

Empty Amusement Park

Empty Amusement Park

Empty Amusement Park

Empty Amusement Park

Half Open - Half Closed

Half Open - Half Closed

Half Open - Half Closed

Half Open - Half Closed

Seaside Heights

Seaside Heights

Seaside Heights

Beautiful reflections

Successful parking job at the end of the day

Le Retraction

2009-03-22T22:41:00.006+01:00

Source

Le Blog would like to formally retract the statement "big brothers" used in line 13 of the post "Le Roadtrip" from March 20, 2009.

Le Blog does not condone the use of judgmental and potential hurtful words that allude to any age, size or status, and would like to apologize to any offended parties.

To clarify, the term "big" was meant in the form of "lordly", "cool", "hip" and "the best damn driver the world has ever seen".

Le Blog thanks you for your understanding.

Regards,
Breens

Le Roadtrip

2009-03-20T14:07:00.003+01:00

Source

When I my boyfriend and I broke up, I lost one of my favorite driving teachers. I got my drivers license in October last year, after three months of lessons from a school in Chinatown and a whole lot of luck. It was great and I learned a lot, but I still don't have the confidence and skills to drive alone. In order to practice, I used to go on roadtrips with my exboyfriend, but now that we've broken up, I decided it wasn't such a good idea anymore. I'm a very emotional person and you're not supposed to operate heavy machinery in that state of mind.

However I still want to learn to drive alone by summer so I can take full advantage of being in a new country. Therefore I've turned to my pseudo 'big brothers' ie. my awesome guy friends in order to help me out. Tomorrow I'm going on a roadtrip and I'm mega excited. I'm a bit nervous but I'm hoping it all goes well.

Here are some driving videos to start off your weekend!

Happy Friday!

Love,
Breens

Jennifer Lopez Que Hiciste
Uploaded by abc2222

Cardigans - My Favorite Game
Uploaded by bebepanda

red hot chili peppers Scar tissu
Uploaded by get-s

Le Playlist of Breakup Songs

2009-03-14T05:23:00.004+01:00

No Doubt - End It On This

Dusty Springfield - You Don't Have to Say You Love Me

Coldplay - Viva La Diva

Britney Spears - Unusual You

Madonna - Revenge

Le Gregor Samsa

2009-03-12T15:41:00.001+01:00

Source

One morning, as Sabrina LeBreens was waking up from anxious dreams, she discovered in her hallway Gregor Samsa, a monstrous verminous bug, searching through her trash. Sensing someone watching him and hearing the terrified screams, he quickly scurried into the bathroom. He hid as he listened to the fearful panting coming from the next room. The lights came on, and he watched Sabrina grab a tall yellow rain boot. It would be her weapon of choice. She examined the boot to make sure he wasn't hiding in it, then scurried back into the other room. Both vermon and human were equally terrified. He heard curses and waited. She curried back into the corridor, grabbed the trash - his trash - and left the apartment. He watched sadly from behind the toilet as she closed the door behind her. He waited until she was asleep, and made his way into the apartment next door.

At 7:37, two loud bangs on the wall were heard coming from Sabrina's neighbor's apartment. Silence ensued.

The End.

Le Commercial Interruptus

2009-03-04T15:06:00.002+01:00

Source

Commercial Interruptus
By Tim Manners

A pair of research studies finds that we enjoy television programs more when they include commercial interruptions, reports Benedict Carey in the New York Times (3/3/09). This is true even when the commercials suck, according to Leif Nelson, an assistant marketing professor at the University of California, San Diego. "When I tell people this, they just kind of stare at me, in disbelief. The findings are simultaneously implausible and empirically coherent." But in some ways, it's not unlike the way "people eat chocolate bars in pieces, waiting and savoring."

In one study, two groups of students watch episodes of the old sitcom, Taxi -- one group watches with commercials and the other without. The group watching with commercials rated the show more enjoyable than did the commercial-free group. A followup study, "using other video clips and a variety of interruptions" produced similar results. The phenomenon did not hold up "for irritating experiences, like listening to vacuum cleaner noise; a break only made it seem worse, they found." Apparently, irritating television programs weren't tested.

Lief's explanation is that even enjoyable experiences quickly become routine, and the commercial breaks renew one's enjoyment. Wharton's Gal Zauberman meanwhile suggests that "people are not fully aware of what makes them happy, especially when there's a temporal component, when one experience affects another in time." However, as Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of "The How of Happiness," explains: "If you adapt so quickly to pleasurable activities, and the pleasure decreases, how do you sustain a level of happiness or ever move up on the scale?" It's simple: You watch the commercials.

Source

Le Analog to Digital

2009-02-27T15:24:00.000+01:00

Le Contents of My Suitcase

2009-02-25T17:38:00.001+01:00

Source

When I packed for my big move to New York City from Munich, I chose things I love, things that made me happy, and special finds that I rarely used but loved dearly. I didn't think I would need anything too practical, since I thought I would get settled very quickly.

Today, I would like to share with you, some of the contents of my suitcase for my move from Munich to New York:

Two pairs of jeans
Countless dresses/skirts
A few sweaters
Towel - Hello Kitty design
Face towel - pink
Face products
Prada perfume
White patent leather boots
Elegant fall coat (not warm enough for NY winter)
Home made pink scarf
Hot blue leather gloves
My CD collection
iPod
4.5 mm wooden knitting needles
Furry yarn - Pink
Hello Kitty stickers
Laptop
Pink gym bag
Gym shoes
Four fedora hats
Fur stole from Zara
Pink feather evening bag
All work recommendations and articles I had written
Mini disk player with a set of empty mini disks
The Notebook

Love,
Breens

Le Pet Shop Boys - Rent

2009-02-24T23:37:00.001+01:00

I recently rediscovered this 80s classic.

Enjoy.

Love,
Sabrina

Le Time Out NY

2009-02-19T15:08:00.009+01:00

Time Out NY Issue 699

Dear Entity Who Sent Me A Time Out NY Magazine,

I came home last night from a merry night out, to find Time Out NY Issue 699 February 19-25, 2009 (pictured above) in my mailbox. Upon closer inspection, I found my name and address correctly spelled on the label, beneath a series of numbers and letters. This was obviously not a mistake, but completely intentional and well-thought out. I was puzzled. I have not purchased a subscribtion to TONY, nor have I recently entered any competitions where the grand prize was randomly receiving unwanted magazines in the mail.

I have one question for you: why?

Could someone secretly gave me a gift subscribtion? Was it you? But why not send me a nice note announcing the impending magazine? Why just do it so sneakily, behind my back, so that I have to come home and experience this kind of shock in the lobby of my apartment building? Who are you???

Or was it the publisher? You know I just renewed my subscription to New York Magazine, right? I have no interest in other publications about the same city. And why just send me an issue? What sick game are you playing? Is this supposed to be some sort of promotion? Well, to me you are nothing more than a petty drug dealer, giving out free drugs to children and then making them pay once they are addicted. I shall not be promoted to! Maybe you will even send me a bill at one point, claiming I read the magazine and so should pay you for it. Are you watching me right now???

And while we're at it, what the hell is up with your magazine? It's so confusing, I can't even tell the difference between the ads and the articles. Do you only hire people who have ADD?

I think you are vile for playing these games.

Know that I will find you.

Breens

Le Love Today

2009-02-14T23:27:00.000+01:00

Mike - Love Today

Happy Valentines Day! I hope you have a day full of love, no matter whom you spend today with. I'm off soon to go see girls get rejected in "He's just not that into you" followed by dinner with some girls.

Love,
Breens

Le Peter Max

2009-02-12T01:58:00.004+01:00

Valentine

Just discovered Peter Max and he's amazing. Modern but still warm and tangible. His website also offers Ecards which I think are perfect for sending to friends on Valentines Day.

Love,
Breens

Angel in Pink

Le Angel-A

2009-02-09T04:51:00.003+01:00

A movie about an angel who comes down to earth in order to help a 28 year old man understand how to stand still and enjoy life. Takes place in Paris.

Enjoy :)

Le Standing Still in the City That Never Sleeps

2009-02-09T02:26:00.004+01:00

Traffic

I recently realized that every since I moved to New York City, I have been pursuing something. Whether it was employment, an apartment, a drivers license, new friends or whatever, I was always on the go. I worked so hard to move to the city, and haven't even had the chance to enjoy it. So I decided it was time to stop the never-ending pursuit of perfection, and just live for a while.

I started off by sleeping a ton. I was sooo exhausted from all the stress of moving here and you can't really enjoy anything fully if you are always tired. Therefore I make my bed every morning so that each evening, I can rest my head in a comfortable and clean environment. I keep my apartment clean so that every night I come home and my mind can rest too. I only do things I want to do. If I want to go home at 10 and go to bed, I do so. I have removed all the social pressure to go out and act like I am still 22. Instead, I enjoy take out Chinese food while catching up on TV shows. Similarly, I have been spending quality time with my few friends in the city, and enjoying meaningful chatter over coffee. And I don't worry about losing weight, and just eat what I feel like eating, which in return, means that I have stopped overeating since I am not stressing out anymore.

Today, I went to the movies alone for the first time in my life. I was looking forward to the date with me. I went to see Man's Castle, a romantic movie from 1933. I took myself out for a delicious breakfast (which included Nutella), and walked around Soho admiring all the little shops and basking in the sun.

And now I am ending my day in my pajamas, drinking tea and blogging, not because I have to but because I want to. I am happy since the joy of writing has returned, now that I decided to stop and smell the roses.

Love,
Breens

Le 25 Random Things About Me

2009-02-04T05:06:00.005+01:00

Source

1. When I go to foreign countries I LOVE to go to supermarkets and discount stores, just to see what they have. I always make sure to look at the chocolate, soaps and shampoo. This is why I have socks from Ireland and gummi bears from Germany.

2. I am a gummi bear racist and will eat them in the following order of preference: red, green, orange, the other pale ones.

3. I am secretly planning a world tour with a friend where the only song we will play is Michael Jackson's 'Earth Song', and actually just the part where he throws himself on the ground and screams with his shirt open. Our performance will consist of taking turns standing in front of a wind machine, sliding across the stage and screaming "ahhhhh" together with Michael.

4. I was born in Bavaria and like any true Bavarian, began drinking beer with my dad when I was 4.

5. After a long day at work I go home and eat olives out of a jar, standing up, with one foot over the other.

6. I think I would make a great spy, and would wear red boots all the time.

7. I constantly practice for a guest appearance on Oprah one day. Usually I work on my jokes and what I will be wearing. The outfits vary depending on the reason I am on her show. If it is to promote a book, I would wear boots. If I saved the world, I think I would have to go more low key and go with stilettos. On both occassions, though, my hair would be fabulous.

8. I still cuddle with my sister.

9. I love my clothes, bags and shoes and have been told that I treat them like people. I think that is a nice compliment because I never throw any away and won't let anyone else wash them lest they get ruined.

10. I love fixing things and am handy. When I was little I used to follow the handy men around the house and just watch them fix stuff. That was awesome.

11. I love watching cooking shows. I find it soothing.

12. I can recognize almost any joke that has been on Friends and can usually pinpoint it to the episode.

13. I am HYPER organized and clean. If you use the wrong sponge in my home you get a dirty look and I get an anxiety attack.

14. When I am happy I dance.

15. Listening to Madonna makes me very happy, especially her older music and her older interviews.

16. If I was forced to give up one of my languages, I think it would be English or German. I can't give up Azerbaijani because I can't do that to my parents, and French is just too pretty.

17. I don't know how you would be forced to give up a language, but I think you should be mentally prepared for any scenario.

18. Buttons on a duvet cover HAVE to be on top, otherwise I will not sleep there.

19. I often play out a scenario in my head of my airplane getting hi-jacked, and what I would do to defeat the bad guys. Again, I just like to be mentally prepared.

20. I hate megaphones and when I hear protestors yelling into them I always have the impulse to run into a bunker and hide from the oncoming war.

21. I hate conflict.

22. When I moved to NY I did not bring a winter coat. I did however bring a pink-feather evening purse and hello kitty stickers. They did not keep me warm.

23. When I finish a really good book, I sometimes get homesick for it. The last such book I read was 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'.

24. Sometimes I am scared of the dark and I have to convince myself there is no one there.

25. I keep all of my shoes in shoe boxes and have them labeled with post its. The labels include a name and an abstract drawing of the shoe. Some find this funny. I find it very normal and necessary.

Le Single in the City

2009-01-12T15:19:00.012+01:00

I began the new year as a single girl in New York. Albeit the sadness, it's also a strange feeling, as if I was a goldfish in a bowl and someone drove me to the big wide ocean and threw me in, and said, "Here, it's playtime." And here I am, a single goldfish in the big colorful ocean of New York City.

This shift spurred me to look at my life and see what else needs to be changed. A very tough year and a half left me a perpetually worried and nervous person. Thus I wrote new year's resolutions (below) which will hopefully help lead me back to calm.

1. Listen to my instincts
2. Do things that make me happy
3. Listen to my instincts
4. Just have as much fun as possible
5. Listen to my instincts
6. Don't think practical first, think what I love and what makes me happy first.

Resolution #6: Aquisition of a mini sewing machine

7. Listen to my instincts
8. Listen to my instincts
9. Listen to my instincts

Happy [belated] New Year!

Love,
Breens

Le Holiday Today

2008-11-11T00:57:00.003+01:00

Madonna |MTV Music

Madonna "Holiday" circa 1991

- Because I made something of myself
- Because everyone deserves a holiday
- Because I am happy today
- Because I've wanted this outfit since I was 11. Anyone know where I can get those pants?

Love,
Breens

Le Art of Living

2008-09-10T01:44:00.003+02:00

I love taking ordinary moments and making them special. Like taking the time to buy fresh baguette on a Saturday morning to serve yourself a delicious breakfast for one. Or getting all dressed up to go to a museum, an occasion that perhaps merits it more than others since you are showing respect to the artist who spent all that time and turmoil on the pieces you will see. Or like the scene in Sideways where he finally drinks his special bottle of wine in a fast food restaurant, taking the present moment and turning it into perfection rather than waiting for the perfect moment.

There are few, if any, that speak of the art of living. There is living for material items, for the next thrill in life, for work, for love, for addictions and for other people. But the art of living, like other art forms, seeks to create perfection and expression; but rather than tell a story, you live it, like the main character in your own movie. I guess some people would call this performance art, but it's not quite the same thing. While performance art is created in a specific setting and on certain occasions, the art of living is about creating perfection, balance and beauty out of ordinary life. It is wearing an outfit that perfectly expresses the mood of the weather and the people around you. It is celebrating your first laptop with a lovely dinner, than just waiting for another birthday to come around. It's finding 20 dollars on the street and buying a book and hot and sour soup. It is listening to Inna City Mama while riding the subway in New York. It is street jazz performed in Paris on a hot sticky day.

I wish all you budding artists a beautiful Tuesday evening.

Love,
Breens

Le Scarlett in the Summertime

2008-07-31T18:21:00.002+02:00

Scarlett Johansson doing a beautiful rendition of the old classic Summertime, set to scenes from Lost in Translation. Enjoy.

Love,
Breens

Le 90s Snow

2008-07-04T18:01:00.004+02:00

Are you ready to go back deep into the heart of the 90s?

Snow - Girl I've Been Hurt

I used to LOVE this song and listen to it over and over and over again :). Informer wasn't so bad either.

Happy weekend!

Le Murky Wednesday

2008-06-25T20:14:00.002+02:00

Source

Do you feel it too? How it's the middle of the week, it's all hot and everything seems to be moving sooooooooo slow (yes, even in New York). Well I have selected two awesome links to help you snap out of it.

Behind door one, I have a scandalous music video from '90s Europe.

Here is the link, for my readers who don't youtube on blogs.

And behind door number two lies the blog of Ricky Gervais, of The Office and Extras fame.
Ricky Gervais's Blog

Enjoy!

Le Road to Self Discovery: Getting Fit

2008-06-20T22:10:00.004+02:00

A belly dancer who looks nothing like me in class. Source

I have frequently been going to the gym recently in order to get into shape. I am learning a lot about my body such as what kind of machines I react well too and my pain threshhold. But the most significant discovery I have made is that I am a dyslexic belly dancer.

I have always been bad with my lefts and rights, constantly having to make an effort to remember which is which. However I never thought my body was the same way until I took Belly Dancing class. I watch the teacher go left, and my body will do the same thing to the right. I look at her in the mirror, and I start going backwards. God forbid we have to move from the spot we are standing, because then I can't even walk. Basically, I look a lot like Goldie Hawn in House Sitter at her dance class. I just do my own dysliexic thing while everyone else is gracefully in sync.

Nevertheless the class is fantastic and I highly recommend it. My teacher is this tiny skinny thing who goes nuts when she turns on the music. I love how happy she looks when she's doing it, it makes me enjoy the class more while I get into shape, both backwards and forwards.

Le Road to Self Discovery: Individualism

2008-06-18T22:36:00.002+02:00

Source

I have learned a lot about myself this past year. One thing is that I am an individualist. Many people have told me that in the past, however it didn't become truely evident until an incident this past Sunday.

I was in a car with three other people and we were listening to the radio. I was falling in and out of sleep when the first few bars of "Victims" from Culture Club came on. I got very excited and began singing the song to myself quietly, letting nothing stop me from enjoying it. Not even when I realized that the radio station was playing a completely different song. I just kept on going, despite sideway glances from other passangers in the car.

Four people in the car, three of them gently humming David Bowie and one of them engaged in a heart-felt balad with Boy George. Individualism. It doesn't get more obvious than that.

PS
Before you judge me, give me a minute. Put yourself in a restless state of mind, where you feel hungry for something but don't know what. Something is missing, it's within your reach, if only you could put your finger on it. Now close your eyes and listen to Boy George's beautiful (yes, beautiful) voice and the words to this song.

Do you feel it too?

PSS
Boy George is giving a concert of his 80s music in the US!!! I wonder if he'll remember me from the last time we met.

Le Restlessness

2008-06-18T01:51:00.005+02:00

The source of my restlessness: Wes Anderson's short film Hotel Chevalier

My feet have been itchy and I've been restless for days. It all started when I watched Hotel Chevalier and the beginning of The Darjeeling Limited right before I went to sleep. I just couldn't get over the last shot of Hotel Chevalier, showing the rooftops of Paris. I could just feel the city running through my veins, and I felt so homesick for Paris at dusk, the way the street lamps are on even though it's still light out, and the air is sweet with Spring.

The next day I was all over the place. I couldn't get comfortable, and felt starved for...something. In an attempt to cure my situation, I went to Barnes and Nobles and unleashed my imagination on the two stories of books. First, I sat in the International Travel and Maps Aisle as I went for a drive on the California coast, with a brief bike ride in the middle. I went to The Big Sur, admired the color of the water and of course paid a visit to Napa. Then I moved on to classics like Siddhartha and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I loved baking cupcakes with the tidy utensils that come in the set with the book, and finally got to decluttering my apartment with Feng Shui in the spirituality aisle (which I ended up taking with me).

Two hours later, I left; body still unnerved, but my mind full from all its adventures and in need of a rest.

Le Oprah at Stanford

2008-06-17T04:35:00.004+02:00

Source

Tuesday inspiration. Excerpts from Oprah's commencement speech at Stanford.

The world has so many lessons to teach you. I consider the world, this Earth, to be like a school and our life the classrooms. And sometimes here in this Planet Earth school the lessons often come dressed up as detours or roadblocks. And sometimes as full-blown crises. And the secret I've learned to getting ahead is being open to the lessons, lessons from the grandest university of all, that is, the universe itself.

It's being able to walk through life eager and open to self-improvement and that which is going to best help you evolve, 'cause that's really why we're here, to evolve as human beings. To grow into more of ourselves, always moving to the next level of understanding, the next level of compassion and growth.

I think about one of the greatest compliments I've ever received: I interviewed with a reporter when I was first starting out in Chicago. And then many years later, I saw the same reporter. And she said to me, "You know what? You really haven't changed. You've just become more of yourself."

And that is really what we're all trying to do, become more of ourselves. And I believe that there's a lesson in almost everything that you do and every experience, and getting the lesson is how you move forward. It's how you enrich your spirit. And, trust me, I know that inner wisdom is more precious than wealth. The more you spend it, the more you gain.

...

When you're doing the work you're meant to do, it feels right and every day is a bonus, regardless of what you're getting paid.

It's true. And how do you know when you're doing something right? How do you know that? It feels so. What I know now is that feelings are really your GPS system for life. When you're supposed to do something or not supposed to do something, your emotional guidance system lets you know. The trick is to learn to check your ego at the door and start checking your gut instead. Every right decision I've made—every right decision I've ever made—has come from my gut. And every wrong decision I've ever made was a result of me not listening to the greater voice of myself.

If it doesn't feel right, don't do it. That's the lesson. And that lesson alone will save you, my friends, a lot of grief. Even doubt means don't. This is what I've learned. There are many times when you don't know what to do. When you don't know what to do, get still, get very still, until you do know what to do.

And when you do get still and let your internal motivation be the driver, not only will your personal life improve, but you will gain a competitive edge in the working world as well. Because, as Daniel Pink writes in his best-seller, A Whole New Mind, we're entering a whole new age. And he calls it the Conceptual Age, where traits that set people apart today are going to come from our hearts—right brain—as well as our heads. It's no longer just the logical, linear, rules-based thinking that matters, he says. It's also empathy and joyfulness and purpose, inner traits that have transcendent worth.

These qualities bloom when we're doing what we love, when we're involving the wholeness of ourselves in our work, both our expertise and our emotion.

So, I say to you, forget about the fast lane. If you really want to fly, just harness your power to your passion. Honor your calling. Everybody has one. Trust your heart and success will come to you.

...

Now I want to talk a little bit about failings, because nobody's journey is seamless or smooth. We all stumble. We all have setbacks. If things go wrong, you hit a dead end—as you will—it's just life's way of saying time to change course. So, ask every failure—this is what I do with every failure, every crisis, every difficult time—I say, what is this here to teach me? And as soon as you get the lesson, you get to move on. If you really get the lesson, you pass and you don't have to repeat the class. If you don't get the lesson, it shows up wearing another pair of pants—or skirt—to give you some remedial work.

And what I've found is that difficulties come when you don't pay attention to life's whisper, because life always whispers to you first. And if you ignore the whisper, sooner or later you'll get a scream. Whatever you resist persists. But, if you ask the right question—not why is this happening, but what is this here to teach me?—it puts you in the place and space to get the lesson you need.

My friend Eckhart Tolle, who's written this wonderful book called A New Earth that's all about letting the awareness of who you are stimulate everything that you do, he puts it like this: He says, don't react against a bad situation; merge with that situation instead. And the solution will arise from the challenge. Because surrendering yourself doesn't mean giving up; it means acting with responsibility.

...

So, Dr. King said, "Not everybody can be famous. But everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service." Those of you who are history scholars may know the rest of that passage. He said, "You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato or Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love."

Courtesy of Stanford University
For complete commencement speech, please go to: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/june18/como-061808.html

Love,
Sabrina

Le J.K at Harvard

2008-06-07T00:22:00.003+02:00

Sunny Weekend Inspiration

Commencement speech by J.K. Rowling at Harvard. June, 2008

President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.

The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I’ve experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am at the world’s best-educated Harry Potter convention.

Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can’t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.

You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ‘gay wizard’ joke, I’ve still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement.

Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that has expired between that day and this.

I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called ‘real life’, I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.

These might seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.

Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.

I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.

They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents’ car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.

I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.

I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.

At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.

I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.

However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person’s idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.

Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.

Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.

One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working in the research department at Amnesty International’s headquarters in London.

There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.

Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to think independently of their government. Visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had been forced to leave behind.

I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.

And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since. The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. She had just given him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country’s regime, his mother had been seized and executed.

Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.

Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard and read.

And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.

Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.

Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s minds, imagine themselves into other people’s places.

Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.

And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.

I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.

What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.

One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing.

But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people’s lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden.

If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children’s godparents, the people to whom I’ve been able to turn in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me when I’ve used their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.

So today, I can wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:
As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
I wish you all very good lives.
Thank you very much.

Copyright of JK Rowling, June 2008
http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html

Le 28th Birthday

2008-05-12T03:31:00.016+02:00

I spent the days leading up to my 28th birthday in a frenzy. It wasn't 28 that was getting to me, but 30, which was suddenly in plain sight and staring me down. I was also a bit down about celebrating so far from my family and Europe friends. However when 28 did arrive, I had a wonderful weekend.

The night before my birthday, I went out with friends and caught up with everybody in a chill environment. I love being surrounded by people. The next day, which was my actual birthday, I went out for brunch in Freemans restaurant which is located in an ally in NOLITA.

Afterwards we walked around SOHO and went to some of my happy places; a bookstore, Dean & DeLuca and a street market. I loved the walk.

When we finished, we went back uptown closer to home to have some dinner at Boat Basin on the Hudson River. We sat and watched the water while we waited for our table.

After dinner of hot dogs, cole slaw and coke it was time to call it a day. As we walked home, they sun was making it's graceful exit in time for night.

I love being 28. I feel more confident than I ever have and feel like I am one inch closer to who I really am.

Love,
Sabrina

Le Homesickness of the Arctic Monkeys

2008-04-29T05:21:00.003+02:00

Old Yellow Bricks - because there is no place like home

Whenever I hear the Arctic Monkeys, I miss the times I spent in Munich missing England. I have never lived in England, but most of my Munich friends had, and their whistfulness in the lyrics of these young boys were infectious. They were a new band then, and it was all very exciting, going along to their concert and intently discussing their vivid descriptions. I listened to them replace "something" with "summit", sing about "mardy bums" [definition: sulky] or tell stories about weddings with horrible bands singing songs about hilly cities they've never been to. It made me feel like I had lived through it all too, just like everybody else.

Today I am in NYC and the boys are not very famous here. In the beginning, I kept looking for cafes and bars where they would play the Arctic Monkeys, proclaiming that when I found that venue I would have found home in this city. It wasn't until today that I realized that that home I seek is not a bar, but the feeling of sitting around in a foreign city, missing a place that never really existed for me. I guess in your 20s, especially in today's gypsy society, that's what home is for everybody.

Love,
Sabrina

Arctic Monkeys - Old Yellow Bricks

Old yellow bricks,
Love's a risk,
Quite the little Escapoligist
Looked so miffed,
When you wished,
For a thousand places better than this,

You are the fugitive,
But you dont know what you're runnin from,
You can't kid us,
And you couldn't trick anyone,
Houdini, love you don't know what you're runnin away from,

Who wants to sleep in the city that never wakes up?
Blinded by nostalgia,
Who wants to sleep in the city that never wakes up?

She wasn't raised by the way,
That the emperor put traps in the cage,
And the days she being dull,
Lead to nights readin beer bottles,

You're such a fugitive,
But you don't know what you're runnin from,
You can't kid us,
And you couldn't trick anyone,
Houdini, love you don't know what you're runnin away from,

Who wants to sleep in the city that never wakes up?
Blinded by nostalgia,
Who wants to sleep in a city that never wakes up?

You're at a loss,
Just because,
It wasnt all that you thought it was,

You are a fugitive but you don't know what you're runnin away from,

She said I want to sleep in the city that never wakes up,
And revel in nostalgia,
I know I said he wants to sleep in the city that never wakes up but,
Dorothy was right though

Le Brain Slap

2008-04-21T04:27:00.005+02:00

Jabba, bearing a remarkable resemblance to my brain.

I ran away from mediation class a couple of weeks ago, after my brain attempted to slap me. I've been attended the Kagyu Dzamling Kunchab Tibetan Buddhist Center in New York City and this was my third class. It had been going well until this moment, when I was sitting there trying to think of nothing, and had an aggressive urge to stand up and walk out dramatically. My brain would simply not shut off. In fact, it was as if we had the following conversation:

Me: Okay. Let's hang out, just you and me. No thoughts, no worries, no past, no present.
Brain (who looks a bit like Jabba the Hut) stares me in the eyes, a cigarette dangling from it's mouth (yes, my brain smokes. I was surprised too since my body quit the habit months ago).
Brain: What, are you kidding me?
Brain pulls cigarette out of its mouth and slaps me with that hand. Ashes spill everywhere into cosmic spiritual space. I pray none of it gets on the other meditators in the room).

I didn't quite know what to do, it's not a situation I've ever been in before. So when the session ended and everyone mingled over cookies, I put my shoes back on and ran away. I went to Barnes and Nobles Bookstore and hid in the photography section behind tall book shelves, where meditation couldn't find me.

Le Postcard from New York

2008-03-25T01:03:00.009+01:00

Dear Le Blog,

What happened to us? We just don't hang out like we used to, and when I do stop by it's only to give you a stingy snippet of my life. I hate excuses, so telling you that I have been busy feels cheap. In reality, ever since I've moved to New York City, I've been struggling to get it together. It hasn't been easy. I put my life on hold, and shut the door on things I enjoyed doing and people I enjoyed being around to give all my energy to getting settled here. I wanted to be liberated of doubt and worry. After months of giving it what I have, I seem to have made it to the other side.

I don't have many updates. Work is going well. I have been here for almost two months and I love feeling useful again. It feels like drinking fresh, cold water while standing in the July sun.

I have also found a place to live. It is a studio is the size of a shoebox, so it is a good thing I like shoes. I selected earth-tones for my sheets, curtains and meditation pillows, but inside the cabinets, I lined the shelves with bright pink wrapping paper. Everytime I open a drawer in the kitchen, it says Happy Birthday in girly letters, so that I feel everyday is special even if it's just a Tuesday in late March. The place is near the water, so when I left this morning to go to work, I was greeted by a glowing sky shining in the river.

Last night, I set the fire alarm off with the steam from my first shower here. I kept running back and forth like a headless chicken with wet hair and a Hello Kitty towel. I opened the window and tried to reach the fire alarm, but since I am height-challenged, I couldn't get to it. Finally the superintendent's son came to turn it off, and all it took was him walking through the door and the horrific sound went away. It was very funny.

That's about it. I've missed you and am glad we were able to chat after such a long break. Now that I can breathe freely again, I am looking forward to sharing more of my New York stories with you.

Love,
Sabrina

Le Love in The Times

2008-02-16T01:58:00.008+01:00

Love quarantined behind a barrier in New York

There is a wonderful definition of Love page in the New York Times. My favorites are Hollywood Love (the eyes, the smile, the raised eyebrows), Lawful Kisses (including spiritual ones) and Ingredients (traces of mixed emotions??).

I know I am a day late with the Love stuff, however I was busy doing laundry yesterday and did not have time to post. Yes, laundry. I am not a big observer of the V-Day holiday since I feel like no matter what I do romantically, it will never fulfill the expectations the name arouses. Laundry did not disappoint me though. Everything came out very clean and smells fantastic, so I was very content.

I hope you all had a clean, yummy smelling and happy Valentines Day.

Love,
Sabrina

Le Desiderata

2008-02-10T23:11:00.000+01:00

DAMIEN HIRST
All You Need Is Love, 2006
Source

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Le Chanel No 5 Ad

2008-01-25T03:45:00.000+01:00

Chanel No 5 Ad featuring Estella Warren

This is one of my favorite ads ever made. I saw it for the first time in Paris in the late '90s early '00s and I just found it on youtube. Enjoy.

Le Return of the '90s

2008-01-23T21:31:00.000+01:00

Source

If babydoll dresses, heroin-chic, short hair and the rise of drugs-use weren't enough proof that the '90s are coming back, check out Louis Vuitton's latest ad campaign (above). It features almost as many supermodels as a George Michael video, including Claudia Schiffer, Stefanie Seymour, Eva Herzigova and Naomi Campbell. The only person missing is Cindy Crawford. I wonder why they didn't ask her to be in the shoot as well.

My favorite supermodel in fashion today is Natalia Vodianova and I love what they did with her hair in the February issue of Vogue.

Source

Le Homeless Penny Shelter

2008-01-15T00:40:00.001+01:00

Unemployed and Homeless Penny

Most people I meet in New York are involved in some sort of charity organization. Since I am not working right now, I have also decided to devote my time to philanthropic causes. I chose something very close to my unemployed and homeless heart.

When I first came to this city, I was appalled to see how many people would throw pennies onto the street or leave them in supermarkets. Sure, they do not have a high monetary value, however they are still part of the country and deserve as much respect as the flag or national monuments. I couldn't bare to see this anymore, and therefore opened the country's first Homeless Penny Shelter.

Homeless Penny Shelter

It is an attractive milk jar kept in a warm spot next to a photograph of Toscan hills, so that the pennies have something nice to look at while they rest from their weary journey. All pennies are welcome as long as there is space. Once the jar is full, the pennies will be enrolled in math, microeconomics, stock market, and living with other loose change seminars to prepare them for the real world. Then, they will be taken to the bank where they will be put back into the circulation.

Love,
Sabrina

The Homeless Penny Shelter does not accept donations. Please contact this blog for more information or if you know the whereabouts of a penny that needs help.

Le Memory Lane

2008-01-11T15:02:00.000+01:00

a happy gathering by artist Marisa Haedike. Source

My past caught up with me this week in three independent incidents.

On Monday I was woken up by a call from an old family friend I haven't seen in 11 years. Our parents used to work together and he has known me since I was a baby. We went out to lunch where he told me stories about my parents, and then he took me home with home with him to Queens to meet his children. He told his eight year old daughter that for him, I too would always be eight years old. Looking at him was like looking at my childhood.

On Wednesday, I e-stalked my best friend from sixth grade. I not only found her, but she happens to be living right outside NYC. Not only that, but she was in Paris for a year while I was in Paris, only we had lost touch by then. I haven't seen her in almost 16 years and we made plans to see each other soon. I can't wait to see how she's grown up.

Thanks to Facebook, I found three people from my high school class (and the class before me) in New York. We met up for coffee last night and it was fun to see how one of them have changed while the others still retained the person they were when I knew them. There is something about meeting your old high school friends as adults. In school, everyone is so stuck in their cliques and images. But once you see each other in the real world, none of that matters and you find a connection with people who you thought you would never even see again.

Pieces of my life scattered over various countries are coming together here in New York. I don't know if I knew those people for a reason, and that reason is going to reveal itself in some sort of second coming experience at some point, or it's just because New York is one of those places that draws people from all over the place. I guess I'll have to wait and see. Until then, I am going to enjoy the city with my new old friends.

Le 12-Year Itch

2008-01-06T04:54:00.000+01:00

Tony on Are you Smarter Than a Ten-Year Old

My former classmate Tony was on a game show recently (see clip above). The last time I saw him, in tenth grade, his voice was cracking and he was shorter than me. We used to sit next to each other in history class and I feel strangely proud that I was able to witness him learn facts that he just used on this game show. What makes me even more proud, however, is hearing that he is currently studying marine biology and I specifically remember the moment 12 years ago when he told me that that was his dream job. There is nothing like than seeing the people you care pursue their dreams.

Le Italian Summer

2007-12-27T20:45:00.001+01:00

Only You [Source]

I'm sitting in bed today, wrapped in my new soft blanket. It's raining and cold outside and I'm watching Only You, a '90s romantic comedy about an Italian road trip, as I catch up on my correspondence. The movie is a postcard of some of the most beautiful places in Italy, and I love the story of Marisa Tomei running around trying to find her destiny.

With the shortest day of the year behind us, we are well on our way to warmer days and nights. For a little taste of summer on a grey Manhattan day, here are some photos of my sister's own little road trip through Italy this summer.

Umbria

Umbria

Cinque Terre - Hidden in the mountains

Cinque Terre - Perched on top of a ragged cliff

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre - Sparkly water

A Brescia street

The Lesser-Known Straight Tower of Pisa

Sunset in Pisa

Le Six Months in New York

2007-12-19T23:47:00.000+01:00

Sex and the City

Today is six months that I have been in New York. I sit here all dressed up and ready to go out for a drink with a group of girls and then dinner later with a boy. I feel very Carrie in my black leggings, new short haircut and pink feather handbag. Six months. Wow.

It's been a roller-coaster, but I finally feel like I am getting a grip on things. The battles I fought have paid off and I feel like I have built a foundation on which to build my life. I know my way around a bit more, have a place to stay for the time being thanks to good friends, have enough money to last me for a while and am meeting new people so that I can keep busy in the evenings. All of this gives me the freedom to focus on looking for a permanent job and even that has gotten easier with all the interview-experience that I have gained since July. I can understand people better and know how which answers go across better than others. And most importantly I am finally almost healthy.

It was difficult, and even though I am still up in the air, it was worth it. I never knew fulfilling a dream would be so hard and along the way I often asked myself what I was doing here and why. I still don't know the real answer, but I believe that when the time is right it will unveil itself. The surprises that lie around the corner excite me so much more than the monotony of my former life.

But now is not the moment to get into the meaning of life and dreams. I am running late to meet the girls and it is time for me to go.

Love,

Sabrina

Le Birth of a Christmas Tree Part 2

2007-12-12T02:11:00.000+01:00

The blurry lighting of the Rockefeller Tree

The subsequent stages of the Rockefeller Christmas tree looked very similar to the first, mainly because the tree didn't change. I paid a visit the morning of the tree-lighting and it looked exactly the same as it had three days before.

That night I made my way over there to witness the ceremony. Unfortunately I didn't make it even close because this got in my way:

I decided to skip the mayhem and do what everyone else does; namely watch the ceremony on TV. I didn't actually realize they have concerts and celebrities there until Tony Bennett popped up on the screen. I finally understood the fuss. I went back a few nights later and got the shots I wanted:

At some point the shots became a little artistic:

Le Day of Endings

2007-12-02T16:55:00.000+01:00

Friday was my Day of Endings. I had my last day at work and then ran off to finish my National Novel Writing Month novel which I uploaded around 2.5 hours before the deadline. The last week of November was one of the hardest. I got sick again with a mutant earache and was very stressed about finishing everything, being broke and mostly about what will happen after this month. But once Friday hit so did Zen. I finished everything with ease and I felt like something new was about to begin. I even got a lovely text message from a Kind Soul that commemorated the ending:

I am so proud of you..congrats, not just this month but overcoming every obstacle that has come across your path with grace.

I decided to take Saturday for myself and celebrate this new phase. I woke up to find out that I was getting a manicure and massage as an early holiday present, which was perfect. After the pampering, I continued my day by going to the Guggenheim Museum, doing some holiday shopping and then rounding it off with a Thank God it's Over Party in the Financial District. I loved going all over the city and just enjoying it.

Today is the first day of snow in New York City and it's fab, but of course I would say that considering I haven't been outside yet. I am off to Brooklyn today and then off to Munich on Tuesday to see my family and friends after five months. I am very excited and trying not to worry about what happens afterwards. Hopefully this new phase will be a good one. By the way this weekend has been going, it sure looks like it.

Love,

Breens

Le Birth of a Christmas Tree Part 1

2007-11-27T03:12:00.000+01:00

Day 1 of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Day 2 of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Day 2 of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Now that Thanksgiving weekend is over, New York is starting to prepare for Christmas. They put the famous tree up at Rockefeller Center a couple of weeks ago and now they have just started to decorate it. I'm hoping to catch them in the process this week and catching it all on camera. I love going to Rockefeller Center, I always get really excited when I'm in that area.

My book is going well. I finished my project for work and am now being very diligent with the novel I have 31,276 words and have until Friday midnight to get to 50,000. I'm not too worried, it's going to be fun to tell my story.

In other news I am going home next week to see my family and friends in Munich. It's been five months and I've missed them soooo much. It would be great if I was able to get on that plane an employed woman, but we'll see what happens. You never know.

Le Writing Group

2007-11-18T13:31:00.000+01:00

My little bit of blue sky peeking through the clouds

I can feel that my current wave of tough times is coming to an end, at least for now. I am finally healthy for the most part, I stopped actively looking for jobs and have been concentrating on finishing a short-term project I am working on, and I feel mentally, emotionally and spiritually stronger. I will resume my job search in a week. It's almost as if the city was gently toughening me up so I have the endurance to last here. It was a dark two months but one of the things that pulled me out of the darkness was beginning to write again. It gave me such joy and I can't believe I ever stopped.

Another thing that helped me was reading the blog of my fellow Munich writing group (http://www.sofiasays.com/Blog/). She also writes an excellent website called http://www.reasontoexist.com/. If you ever feel down or lost, I found it very inspirational. I miss my Munich writing group, but we have been keeping in touch over group email and sharing news about our novels. I am also attending New York Nanowrimo meetings trying to meet local writers. Everytime I walk into the room full of writers I am hit by a wave of warm energy. It's lovely and I have met some good people.

I am currently at around 7000 words with my novel when I should be at over 25,000. But I know I will still finish. The bulk of my project ends tomorrow so I will have my evenings free to write and catch up. I can't wait.

Love,
Sabrina

Le Summertime

2007-11-16T06:52:00.000+01:00

Summertime by Ella Fitzgerald

This song found me today on the internet. I was on YouTube looking for background music to get me going at work and the first thing that came to mind was Ella Fitzgerald. This song was at the top of the search and I clicked on it not knowing what it was. Turns out it's the song I've been looking for since I first heard it at Symphony in the Park this summer. I just kept searching for 'hush little baby' on Google but with no luck. So packaged in the voice of an angel, she came and found me instead.

I guess if it's meant to be it will be; even if destiny has to come find you.

Love,
Sabrina

Le Halloween in NY

2007-11-02T02:48:00.000+01:00

My holiday greeting

Yesterday was my first Halloween in America as an adult. Since I have never really been trick or treating before, a Kind Soul let me trick or treat in his apartment on Tuesday. I was greeted with a HUGE holiday greeting spelled out in candy, and the rest was like a scavenger-hunt and very fun. I have to admit I was very giddy as I wandered around with my little basket looking for candy.

My basket full of candy

On Halloween there were special cupcakes for everyone at work:

The cupcake tasted a bit like chalk but the ghost turned out to be a ring which I was very pleased about.

That night the Kind Soul and I went down to the Village to see the parade. It was CRAZY. There were thousands of people in the streets all dressed up and it was a unique experience. Even my favorite downtown clock put on a special colorful costume for the occasion:

Halloween also marks another important day for me: It is the day before National Novel Writing Month begins. I am very excited to start writing again this year. I decided to do a continuation of last year's novel which was a diary of my November/survival guide for being 26 and confused. This year's theme will be a diary of my November/ survival guide to being homeless in New York. I will try to share as many tidbits with you as possible, especially since I feel like I haven't been sharing enough of my life with you guys. I'm looking forward to a fun month!

Love,
Sabrina

Le 20 Dollar Bill

2007-10-15T16:09:00.000+02:00

Courtesy of http://www.nolimitsladies.com/ep31_carrie_street_pinksnakeskinboots.jpg

I was walking down the street the other day and found a 20 dollar bill on the sidewalk. I feel like a little kid when I find money, even pennies that have been discarded all over the city. This time it was even more special because I've been a bit broke and have been trying not to buy anything I don't really need. Money I find on the street, however, is a whole other story. I was only allowed to use it on spoiling myself.

I decided to break out the 20 on a cold, rainy October day, the third week into my annoying cough/cold and on another motivational low. I purchased the following:

- "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert
- A very girly bookmark
- Soup and a roll at Ollies the Dim Sum place which I enjoyed over my new book

I had read about the book the day before I found the money and feel like it was something I was meant to have. It is about a woman who goes through a divorce and decides to randomly learn Italian one day for no other reason than because she finds it beautiful. After a couple of spiritual instances, she decides to take a year out of her life to travel. The book is well written and feels especially relevant to me right now because it is about someone making something out of nothing, about someone who travels and someone who fulfills her dream. I guess I can relate to that a bit and it was nice to be inspired when I get close to giving up.

I still have 59 cents left from my 20 and I am saving it for another day. It's going to be more difficult to spend it on something special, but it will be fun wandering around Manhattan trying to find something. Another journey to look forward to.

Love,
Breens

Le First Day of Work in America

2007-10-02T03:43:00.000+02:00

No Schultutes in America (Source)

The Zen must be working because last week my friend found a temporary position for me at her company. It is a relief considering I am a couple of weeks short of broke. Things have progressed very quickly and today was my first day of work in New York. I would like to sum up the experience in list form, if I may.

My First Day of Work in America
By Sabrina

- I was sick on my first day of work in America
- However I did not call in sick
- Instead I got to work early and needed to get picked up at the front desk
- I had to bring my own computer
- This was my first time in a cubicle
- My cubicle was formly a storage space
- My cubicle is colder than the rest of the office
- The office is very cold, therefore my cubicle is freezing
- They say 90% of your body heat escapes from your head
- I worked the whole day hidden in my cubicle with a pink self-made scarf around my neck and my sweatshirt hoodie on my head
- I looked quite ghetto
- Tea cost only 50 cents in the cafeteria
- I get 50% off all the products the company sells
- I like the products the company sells
- It was someone's birthday so there was birthday cake minus the birthday song
- The bottom of my shoe half came off right before the birthday cake, so I walked around part of the day with a flapping shoe
- I couldn't find any glue
- I had to announce during the birthday gathering why I was wondering around looking for glue
- I purchased Krazy glue for the first time, which worked for a total of 4 hours
- Everybody was very friendly
- I didn't really see any differences between German offices and American offices
- I didn't really see much of a difference between my first day of school and my first day of work
- It was fun, but I am looking forward to working from home starting next week

Le Zen in New York

2007-09-27T04:16:00.000+02:00

It was worth it. You know, the move to New York. I'm homeless, unemployed, and a couple of weeks away from broke, but I can't help but smile as I stare out the window of my friend's midtown apartment. I let myself get lost in the vertical lights as I try to peer beyond the edge to see what comes next. Neneh Cherry is singing in the background.

It hasn't been easy. In fact, it was only last week that I found Zen and decided to stay in New York. Up until then I was just worrying and rushing to find my dream job and moving from one person's apartment to the next. I was waiting to find a home and have a steady income until I allowed my life to begin. But what if life only went until tomorrow? How sad would it be if I finally fulfilled my dream of coming to New York, but spent the entire time worrying, feeling inadequate and spending ten days depressed for every three days of fun I allowed myself?

After hitting rock bottom last week, I felt like I had nothing to lose. I woke up one morning, listened to some music which cheered me up and went to a job interview at my dream company. It went well and even though I still don't have a job yet, that whole experience put me in a firm 'Zen' place. I need to enjoy New York, I need to let go of my worries. It will all fall into place because there is a place for me in this city. And most importantly, life is short, don't wait for it to begin.

Love,
Sabrina

Le Germans in New York

2007-09-18T19:53:00.001+02:00

I went to the German-American Steuben Parade on Saturday in New York City. I have to be honest, I was expecting something along the lines of this:

Scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off

What I ended up getting was something more along the lines of this:

Scene from German-American Steuben Parade 2007

I was a bit disappointed, not only because Matthew Broderick was nowhere to be seen, but also because the parade itself was just very...random. It filled with anyone who had anything remotely to do with Germany, as well as other groups who chose to identify themselves with the meaning of German-American friendship. These include:

Flag bearing police

German car owners

Sailors

The English

The French

The New York fire department

and

Donald Trump of course.

There were tons of German police there that flew in just for the parade, although I suspect they just wanted to party in New York. There were a lot of older people marching and I can just see them all getting jiggy with each other in the tent afterwards. Other highlights included:

A guy with a big head

A big head marching band

This float

And German nationalism

After the parade we went to the tent to have some German beer and food. I personally was expecting something along the lines of the Oktoberfest in Munich (see below).

Munich Oktoberfest

But instead I got Weisswurst with American hot dog buns, plastic pitchers of beer the size of one German mass and what felt more like the Fourth of July in Munich than O'fest in New York (see below).

German-American Steuben Tent

All in all it was a fun day and that's what matters in the end.

Le Motivational Low in New York

2007-09-13T22:09:00.001+02:00

Get into the Groove with Madonna

After an extreme motivational low in New York, there is nothing like vintage-80s-live-Madonna to bring you back. The amount of energy she exhibits onstage is enough to power a windmill or fly to the moon. And knowing that she too once moved to New York and was broke for years as she struggled to fulfill her dreams only makes it better. Because if it doesn't work out for me, I can clearly blame it all on her for filling my head with this garbage.

Love,
Sabrina

Le 80s Childhood in Munich

2007-09-09T01:55:00.000+02:00

During my last week in Munich, in the midst of getting all my errands done, I took my camera on a little trip down memory lane to my childhood homes and playgrounds. I began assembling a post for you which I never got around to finishing until today. I know it's been almost three months, but somehow the timing fits. Summer is ending and each day I let a little bit of Munich out and some NY in. It's scary...the letting go. I'm not a big fan, but life moves on whether you like it or not. You can choose to look out the window and watch it as it goes by, or you can stare out the back and watch the past get smaller and smaller while you miss the now at it's biggest and shiniest.

Anyhow, here is my bit of Munich for the day, just for you. Keep in mind the post was written before I came to New York.

Love,
Sabrina
September 8, 2007

**********************
Yesterday I hopped on my bike and took a trip down memory lane. I rode to my old neighborhood and stopped only for photo opps and, well, traffic lights of course. I ended up having a blast and took tons of photos to prove it. Come join me and Jimmy Somerville, I want to show you some of the landmarks of my childhood. Jimmy can set the 80s mood in the background.

Part 1

Welcome to my favorite childhood neighborhood!

For some strange reason, I often associate summer with this area of Munich and the 80s. The 80s were like one long hot summer for me, filled with ice cream, messy hair, Italy, top-notch music and exploring the neighborhood with my friends.

Here is the bridge.

When I moved here this was allllll just a field. I went to a circus here and everything.

The swings

The monkey bars

The bars where we would do turns and flips and stuff. Thanks to that I am still very flexible.

The bench

My balcony. I loved living here. It was a small but happy apartment. I remember that whenever my parents would go out at night my 16 year old sister and 7 year old me would pop in a video tape and dance to this very video:

We would also watch Madonna's Ciao Italia tour obsessively. We had the video tape see, cause they showed the concert on German TV. But the night they aired it we had a blackout and couldn't tape the show. But then my sister got it from her friend Donna who was able to tape it and we would watch it all the time.

Me and my best friend Kashia LOVED Madonna and would do the little True Blue dance.

Kashia's balcony. We were neighbors.

Our door

We used to sit on the bulls allllll the time.

We would try to jump to the island in the fountain without falling into the water. What was even harder was trying to jump on the metal ball without falling in. Turns out I'm still too short to do it.

Kashia had a bike and I had a walkman we would trade and I would ride her bike and she would listen to music. I loved riding down this trail and spray water everywhere.

Shop to buy ice cream

Mountain. You're supposed to run to the top and slide down the white stones

The fountain

Cadillac movie theater! The floors are made of glass and there are posters under them. Soooo cool to walk on because you think you're gonna fall in.

We used to come to this hotel for free candy and to chill out on the leather couches in the lounge.

I used to see these hotels from our living room window. I would look at the lights shining from the tiny windows and dream. Somehow it reminds me of New York.

Part 2

Our next house. Not as happy, but still retaining the excellent caliber of the music. I loved and love this song:

Domino Dancing by the Pet Shop Boys

The view from my window

The place where it all started. That's right, my skateboarding career.

My treehouse

The old wall still old

The fence I would climb. I was really little and remember struggling to get onto it and being scared to go all the way to the end since it was the high part. Now I'm taller than the fence.

The cigarette machine where my dad would get his Camels. I used to come with him sometimes.

The mountain we sled on in the winter and rolled down in the summer.

Barbie's Dream House

My friend Ivona and I painted our names onto stone in tipex (white-out). Traces of my name are still there

My steps!

Our balcony. My mom and sister would throw sandwiches down to me when I was outside playing with my friends.

The big tree

My friend Catherine's house

The kiosk near my dad's old work. My mom would take me to work with her when I was little, and we always stopped here to get white gummi mice on the way.

The place where it all began. The hospital where I was born.

Thank you, hope you enjoyed the tour! Today was my last day of work. And I identify with this child now more than ever. I love that it's summer and I love that I'm going to NYC. I don't know, in my head I picture it a mixure between going to Paris and going to Israel to visit family.

Love,
Sabrina
June 12, 2007

Le August in New York

2007-09-07T23:25:00.000+02:00

Nighttime shot in midtown

Aristotle says that there is a point at which one must stop thinking and start experiencing. And since it is impossible for me to write without thinking, I chose to experience the past couple of weeks without pulling myself out of the moment to analyze all the new things I've been seeing and doing. Here are just some of the photos of my August. More to follow. I miss being here and can't wait to share all my NYC stories with you.

Love,
Sabrina

Le Met

Le Saturday Night in NY

Little Italy

Little Italy

Little Italy

Waiting for the uptown train

Waiting for the uptown train

Waiting for the uptown train

Random NY

Random NY

Traces of a long night out

Le Atlantic City

Le Moma

Le South Street Seaport

Random New York

A street sign

A train ride

The market introduction of Toffifee in the USA with pivotal name change

Flatiron building

A rainbow in Washington Square Park

A piece of Munich in New York

NY street art

Le Britney's Comeback

2007-09-02T01:01:00.001+02:00

My and the gang dancing to Britney's new song.

Britney Spears is coming back, y'all. We went apeshit when we heard Gimme More, it's pretty good. Enjoy!

Le Job Interview Craze

2007-08-09T23:50:00.001+02:00

I have finally found out the reason I am still unemployed. Its because I am not part of this whole 'job interview craze' that people keep talking about. What you haven't heard about it either? Maybe because you didn't receive the special email that I received today. Haha!

*********
Dear Subscriber

Have you seen all the latest craze about Job Interviews recently?

People are going crazy over it but seem to have a lack of real, genuine information....

I've just discovered an ebook that says it can help you crack the Job Interview game and gain rapid success.

If that interests you hurry over to...

A COOL LINK

This is a really excellent guide and you'll learn techniques like how to enhance your results and Discover the #1 secret to Job Interview success

Check it out immediately..

THE COOL LINK AGAIN

Kind Regards,

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PS: This ebook really will help you understand all the fuss over Job Interviews
and how YOU can get results with this vital ebook.

WOW THE SAME COOL LINK AGAIN!

Le Hunger Strike

2007-08-06T22:22:00.000+02:00

It's been almost five weeks since I have been unemployed and I am prepared to take drastic measures. That's right, I am going to go on a hunger strike until somebody here hires me. No, don't try to reason with me! After I eat this cupcake, it's done. I drafted the following email to send to employers. Let me know what you think:

To: theman@thecompany.org
Subject: Job Position: Interesting PR/Marketing Job - You will have blood on your hands if you don't hire me
Attachments: Resume.pdf; Recommendation.pdf

Dear The,

I am interested in the Interesting PR Job. I have three years international PR experience at an agency in Munich, Germany and I recently moved to New York. I speak four languages and in my free time I enjoy knitting and long walks on the beach. I really like The Company and believe I would be an asset to your oragnization. You guys are neat.

I am currently in the midst of a hunger strike protesting my unemployment. My very life is at risk and it is all your fault because you won't hire me. In addition to the fact that I may go hungry or even lose weight, I am the best thing that never happened to your organization. You will spend your days at work wishing you hired me, wishing I was there to help out or even spend an odd lunch with. With my very own chocolate drawer and Hello Kitty office supplies, I am a very hip and fun person to work with.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you. Remember, you will have blood on your hands if you don't hire me now. I could die.

Kind Regards,
Me

Le Stoned Britney

2007-08-03T03:49:00.001+02:00

OMG sooooo funny. She's SUPER high and keeps flicking air and shit. Enjoy.

Le Spirit of New Jersey

2007-08-03T02:55:00.001+02:00

I was invited to Long Beach Island (LBI) over the weekend and had THE BEST TIME. A group of us stayed at a friends house overlooking the bay. We spent our days chilling out. I watched the boys cook our fish, steaks and vegatables on the bbq as I lay on the hammock and rocked back and forth. At night we played card games and then went out to local clubs where Journey and Bon Jovi were musts. I loved feeling like I was back in the eighties of my older sister and brother. In the mornings we caught up on sleep at the beach, tanning and enjoying the sound of the waves. My favorite part of the weekend was the people I was with, they were all very warm but also very funny and fun.

PS
Warning: If the good times keep up like this, all the cynicism is going to get squeezed out of the blog like a lemon. And all that will be left are happy go lucky posts. Yuck. Also, if I don't find a job soon, I might go postal. But at least I'll do it with a big fat smile on my face.

Le Spirit of Sailing

2007-07-19T19:26:00.001+02:00

The spirit of sailing is infectious, specifically when you go in the early evening. The waves slowly rock you back and forth, back and forth while the sun sheds a deep golden light as it begins its graceful exit. The silence is a peaceful one, calming even the most tense of minds. In order to get to this point of zen you must first get past your avid fears of drowning. This often requires twenty minutes of intense praying, clinging onto the sides of the boat and a snug, albeit unflattering, life vest. After indulging your anxieties, a good dose of pride and calm sailing partners help you begin to relax. At this point, the color of the sky should be changing from gold to pink. After reaching the point of absolute relaxation, make sure to take lots of photos and dare to go to the front of the boat for the best views of the pink sea.

Le Walt's View of Crossing Brooklyn

2007-07-13T23:34:00.000+02:00

Brooklyn Bridge, lithograph by Currier and Ives, 1883. Courtesy of http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=8370&rendTypeId=4

Walt Whitman, one of America's greatest poets, lived and grew up in Brooklyn. Here is what he has to say about crossing over from Brooklyn to Manhattan in his amazing masterpiece Crossing Brooklyn Ferry. I guess like me, he also like to write on public transportation. I love that he looks forward to future generations. Guess he knew I was going to come here one day and admire what he admired *flick hair*. All jokes aside, enjoy the excerpts of his poem.

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
by Walt Whitman
(1819-1892)

1
Flood-tide below me! I see you face to face!
Clouds of the west--sun there half an hour high--I see you also face
to face.
Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes, how curious
you are to me!
On the ferry-boats the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning
home, are more curious to me than you suppose,
And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more
to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose.

2
The impalpable sustenance of me from all things at all hours of the day,
The simple, compact, well-join'd scheme, myself disintegrated, every
one disintegrated yet part of the scheme,
The similitudes of the past and those of the future,
The glories strung like beads on my smallest sights and hearings, on
the walk in the street and the passage over the river,
The current rushing so swiftly and swimming with me far away,
The others that are to follow me, the ties between me and them,
The certainty of others, the life, love, sight, hearing of others.

Others will enter the gates of the ferry and cross from shore to shore,
Others will watch the run of the flood-tide,
Others will see the shipping of Manhattan north and west, and the
heights of Brooklyn to the south and east,
Others will see the islands large and small;
Fifty years hence, others will see them as they cross, the sun half
an hour high,
A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundred years hence, others
will see them,
Will enjoy the sunset, the pouring-in of the flood-tide, the
falling-back to the sea of the ebb-tide.

3
It avails not, time nor place--distance avails not,
I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many
generations hence,
Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt,
Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd,
Just as you are refresh'd by the gladness of the river and the
bright flow, I was refresh'd,
Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the swift
current, I stood yet was hurried,
Just as you look on the numberless masts of ships and the
thick-stemm'd pipes of steamboats, I look'd.

For the rest of the poem please go to: http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/wwhitman/bl-ww-crossing.htm