Worst possible song to listen to on your birthday:
When she was 22 the future looked bright
But she's nearly 30 now and she's out every night
I see that look in her face she's got that look in her eye
She's thinking how did I get here and wondering why
It's sad but it's true how society says
Her life is already over
There's nothing to do and there's nothing to say
Til the man of her dreams comes along picks her up and puts her over his shoulder
It seems so unlikely in this day and age
She's got an alright job but it's not a career
Whenever she thinks about it, it brings her to tears
Cause all she wants is a boyfriend
She gets one-night stands
She's thinking how did I get here
I'm doing all that I can
It's sad but it's true how society says
Her life is already over
There's nothing to do and there's nothing to say
Til the man of her dreams comes along picks her up and puts her over his shoulder
It seems so unlikely in this day and age
- Lily Allen, "22"
It's a good thing I've got Ozzie Chick to take me out, fill me with champagne, and help me remake the world.
Showing posts with label Age. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Age. Show all posts
Dec 2, 2009
Nov 26, 2009
32 things
It's my birthday soon. I'm turning 32. And yes, that is my real age.
In order to help you feel included in this magical celebration of my birth, here are 32 things you may not have known about me (unless you are my mother). In no specific order.
1. When I was 5, I played violin for the King of Belgium. These days, I wouldn't play violin for a deaf person.
2. For the first two years of my life, I lived in Waterloo. Yes, I also think that's funny sometimes.
3. Until the age of 17, I never wanted to study law. I only went to law school to spite my parents, which sounds odder than it is. Five minutes into my first class, I was really glad I did.
4. When we moved to France, I was so upset my father had to promise me a horse so I would agree to talk to him. I never got the horse. I talk to my dad anyway.
5. I've had three jobs. I have quit four times. Each time, I didn't have another one lined up. There's a reason some people think I'm completely irresponsible.
6. When I was 4, I ran away from home with my best friend to go on an adventure after magically putting my mother to sleep with a strawberry toothpaste potion. We turned around when we got to the witch's house.
7. Four out of my five cats have had names starting with M. For some reason, I believe names starting with M are lucky. Although I can think of at least 3 ex-boyfriends whose names started with M so maybe I'm wrong. My real name doesn't start with M.
8. I like to make lists. Obviously. It is only one of the many ways in which I am slowly turning into my mother.
9. If I had been a boy, my parents would have named me Nicolas. Initially, my mother wanted to name me Sophie Charlotte. My grandmother vetoed and for that I will forever be grateful to her.
10. I am the tallest female (tied) on my mother's side of the family. I you knew me, you would realize how funny that is.
11. When I was 9, I was a published poet in the US. It is possible that will turn out to be the pinnacle of my writing career.
12. When I was 4, I made up a story about a little girl who falls in love with a boy who lives in a violin case. I didn't write it down but somehow I still remember it. I don't remember a thing about a trip to Athens my parents took me on a year later.
13. I have had the same diary since I was 10. It has Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph in it, next to Mickey Mouse's.
14. I had seen Patrick Bruel, Michael Jackson and U2 in concert by the time I was 14. I try not to be embarrassed by that first one. I can't remember the last concert I went to, which is sad.
15. I can't think of a single really close friend of mine who hasn't lived in at least two countries. I have lived in four and I feel that's not enough. (If you consider yourself a friend of mine and have only lived in one country, please forgive me, you're probably the wonderful exception that confirms the rule.)
16. I have no idea which language I dream in. I think only people who speak one language ever ask that question.
17. Like the true little fake American that I am, I secretly love malls. My absolute favourite one is in Stamford, CT, just because that's where I went as a kid. I haven't been back since so in my mind it's a mystical palace of pre-teen 1980s consumerism. (PS: I have recently discovered that someone in or near Stamford reads my blog. Whoever you are, hi!)
18. Sometimes I purposefully make life hard for myself, like deciding that every single chapter in my book will have a rather complex structure requiring me to write two stories at once. Or deciding that I will find 32 amusing anecdotes about my life to share with you.
19. I do not have an accent when I speak French. I do not have an accent when I speak English (although the Brits will disagree with me on that one). I do have an accent when I speak German. Which infuriates me.
20. The books I have read the most often are probably Lolita by Nabokov and La Nuit des Temps by Barjavel. If you haven't read one or either of those, go do it now. Go on. I'll wait.
21. My mother's name and my real name start with the same letter. I like that about us. I've decided that if I ever have a daughter, her name will also start with that letter. It's a tricky letter, though, so she might end up with a weird name and require years of therapy to stop hating me.
22. I am obsessed with Tiffany's. Obsessed. As in, I would turn down Cartier. Audrey has a lot to answer for.
23. In a movie of my life, I would want Natalie Portman to play me. Or maybe Sophie Marceau but she'd have to brush up on her English.
24. You know how all little girls go through that phase where they think boys are yucky? I never went through that phase. And we can see how well that's turned out.
25. I get cabin fever if I live in the same place for more than a couple years at a time. Even the old US/UK/France rotation is getting boring. My dream is to find someone equally insane so we can move around constantly and raise lots of unbalanced children together.
26. I once became completely infatuated with a cello player because of Dvorak's Cello Concerto. The second movement, to be precise.
27. When I was growing up in the US, I was that kid that always got picked last for sports teams in gym class. Always. It has a lot to do with me having absolutely no hand-eye coordination. Which is why I now run. The psychological scars from childhood remain, though.
28. When I was born, my mother thought I looked like King Kong. Because I was hairy and had really long fingers and toes. Not because I was freakishly tall with a penchant for blondes and skyscrapers.
29. I have never seen any of the Godfather movies. After 15 minutes of the first one, I got bored, turned off the television, and went and did something more exciting like wash dishes or proofread a legal brief. I have no regrets.
30. I don't like oysters. Which is a shame because I'm oddly attracted to the concept of the oyster bar.
31. Sometimes, when I can't sleep at night, I wonder if maybe I shouldn't be out there employing my remaining neurons doing something useful like saving the world or at least a couple polar bears, instead of amusing myself writing a silly love story. But I like amusing myself. And silly love stories.
32. This is probably the most outrageously self-focused, ridiculously unwarranted act of exhibitionism I have ever performed in my life. Except for the very fact of having a blog in the first place, of course.
In order to help you feel included in this magical celebration of my birth, here are 32 things you may not have known about me (unless you are my mother). In no specific order.
1. When I was 5, I played violin for the King of Belgium. These days, I wouldn't play violin for a deaf person.
2. For the first two years of my life, I lived in Waterloo. Yes, I also think that's funny sometimes.
3. Until the age of 17, I never wanted to study law. I only went to law school to spite my parents, which sounds odder than it is. Five minutes into my first class, I was really glad I did.
4. When we moved to France, I was so upset my father had to promise me a horse so I would agree to talk to him. I never got the horse. I talk to my dad anyway.
5. I've had three jobs. I have quit four times. Each time, I didn't have another one lined up. There's a reason some people think I'm completely irresponsible.
6. When I was 4, I ran away from home with my best friend to go on an adventure after magically putting my mother to sleep with a strawberry toothpaste potion. We turned around when we got to the witch's house.
7. Four out of my five cats have had names starting with M. For some reason, I believe names starting with M are lucky. Although I can think of at least 3 ex-boyfriends whose names started with M so maybe I'm wrong. My real name doesn't start with M.
8. I like to make lists. Obviously. It is only one of the many ways in which I am slowly turning into my mother.
9. If I had been a boy, my parents would have named me Nicolas. Initially, my mother wanted to name me Sophie Charlotte. My grandmother vetoed and for that I will forever be grateful to her.
10. I am the tallest female (tied) on my mother's side of the family. I you knew me, you would realize how funny that is.
11. When I was 9, I was a published poet in the US. It is possible that will turn out to be the pinnacle of my writing career.
12. When I was 4, I made up a story about a little girl who falls in love with a boy who lives in a violin case. I didn't write it down but somehow I still remember it. I don't remember a thing about a trip to Athens my parents took me on a year later.
13. I have had the same diary since I was 10. It has Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph in it, next to Mickey Mouse's.
14. I had seen Patrick Bruel, Michael Jackson and U2 in concert by the time I was 14. I try not to be embarrassed by that first one. I can't remember the last concert I went to, which is sad.
15. I can't think of a single really close friend of mine who hasn't lived in at least two countries. I have lived in four and I feel that's not enough. (If you consider yourself a friend of mine and have only lived in one country, please forgive me, you're probably the wonderful exception that confirms the rule.)
16. I have no idea which language I dream in. I think only people who speak one language ever ask that question.
17. Like the true little fake American that I am, I secretly love malls. My absolute favourite one is in Stamford, CT, just because that's where I went as a kid. I haven't been back since so in my mind it's a mystical palace of pre-teen 1980s consumerism. (PS: I have recently discovered that someone in or near Stamford reads my blog. Whoever you are, hi!)
18. Sometimes I purposefully make life hard for myself, like deciding that every single chapter in my book will have a rather complex structure requiring me to write two stories at once. Or deciding that I will find 32 amusing anecdotes about my life to share with you.
19. I do not have an accent when I speak French. I do not have an accent when I speak English (although the Brits will disagree with me on that one). I do have an accent when I speak German. Which infuriates me.
20. The books I have read the most often are probably Lolita by Nabokov and La Nuit des Temps by Barjavel. If you haven't read one or either of those, go do it now. Go on. I'll wait.
21. My mother's name and my real name start with the same letter. I like that about us. I've decided that if I ever have a daughter, her name will also start with that letter. It's a tricky letter, though, so she might end up with a weird name and require years of therapy to stop hating me.
22. I am obsessed with Tiffany's. Obsessed. As in, I would turn down Cartier. Audrey has a lot to answer for.
23. In a movie of my life, I would want Natalie Portman to play me. Or maybe Sophie Marceau but she'd have to brush up on her English.
24. You know how all little girls go through that phase where they think boys are yucky? I never went through that phase. And we can see how well that's turned out.
25. I get cabin fever if I live in the same place for more than a couple years at a time. Even the old US/UK/France rotation is getting boring. My dream is to find someone equally insane so we can move around constantly and raise lots of unbalanced children together.
26. I once became completely infatuated with a cello player because of Dvorak's Cello Concerto. The second movement, to be precise.
27. When I was growing up in the US, I was that kid that always got picked last for sports teams in gym class. Always. It has a lot to do with me having absolutely no hand-eye coordination. Which is why I now run. The psychological scars from childhood remain, though.
28. When I was born, my mother thought I looked like King Kong. Because I was hairy and had really long fingers and toes. Not because I was freakishly tall with a penchant for blondes and skyscrapers.
29. I have never seen any of the Godfather movies. After 15 minutes of the first one, I got bored, turned off the television, and went and did something more exciting like wash dishes or proofread a legal brief. I have no regrets.
30. I don't like oysters. Which is a shame because I'm oddly attracted to the concept of the oyster bar.
31. Sometimes, when I can't sleep at night, I wonder if maybe I shouldn't be out there employing my remaining neurons doing something useful like saving the world or at least a couple polar bears, instead of amusing myself writing a silly love story. But I like amusing myself. And silly love stories.
32. This is probably the most outrageously self-focused, ridiculously unwarranted act of exhibitionism I have ever performed in my life. Except for the very fact of having a blog in the first place, of course.
Mar 26, 2009
What defines me
Just found this entry on Schott's Vocab blog and couldn't resist sharing:
"Amortality
A state of hopeful agelessness wherein one acts the same from adolescence to the grave.
Catherine Mayer related her theory of amortality in Time magazine:
It’s about more than just the ripple effect of baby boomers’ resisting the onset of age. Amortality is a stranger, stronger alchemy, created by the intersection of that trend with a massive increase in life expectancy and a deep decline in the influence of organized religion – all viewed through the blue haze of Viagra. …
Amortals live among us. In their teens and 20s, they may seem preternaturally experienced. In later life, they often look young and dress younger. They have kids early or late – sometimes very late – or not at all. Their emotional lives are as chaotic as their financial planning. The defining characteristic of amortality is to live in the same way, at the same pitch, doing and consuming much the same things, from late teens right up until death.
According to Mayer, Simon Cowell, Madonna, Nicolas Sarkozy and Mark Zuckerberg are just some of those who inhabit the amortal realm."
Wow, I'm part of a realm?! (not sure I'm totally happy about the company...)
"Amortality
A state of hopeful agelessness wherein one acts the same from adolescence to the grave.
Catherine Mayer related her theory of amortality in Time magazine:
It’s about more than just the ripple effect of baby boomers’ resisting the onset of age. Amortality is a stranger, stronger alchemy, created by the intersection of that trend with a massive increase in life expectancy and a deep decline in the influence of organized religion – all viewed through the blue haze of Viagra. …
Amortals live among us. In their teens and 20s, they may seem preternaturally experienced. In later life, they often look young and dress younger. They have kids early or late – sometimes very late – or not at all. Their emotional lives are as chaotic as their financial planning. The defining characteristic of amortality is to live in the same way, at the same pitch, doing and consuming much the same things, from late teens right up until death.
According to Mayer, Simon Cowell, Madonna, Nicolas Sarkozy and Mark Zuckerberg are just some of those who inhabit the amortal realm."
Wow, I'm part of a realm?! (not sure I'm totally happy about the company...)
Mar 16, 2009
A day of silly
One of the things I love about not being at work (besides getting my gluttonous fill of Elle, Cosmo, Gala, etc...) is skimming through the "silly news", those stories that, while not quite news, still somehow manage to make it to the top of the BBC News website. OK, I have to be honest, I do that when I'm at work too.
In any event, two titillating snippets caught my eye yesterday as I lay browsing. First, North Korea has apparently opened its first pizzeria. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, those lucky subjects of Kim Jong-il will no longer be deprived of mozzarella toppings and cheesy crust; all is right again in the world. According to the article, the driver behind the restaurant's opening (for which North Korean chefs were sent to Italy to be specially trained) is to allow North Koreans "access to the world's famous dishes." Seriously? Pizza? Now I'm the biggest Italian-restaurant junkie there is, but again I ask: seriously? Pizza?
Now if you thought that was disturbing, check out this next item: "Brain decline begins at age 27". OMG. Whatever you do, don't tell BM. I think they thought they were actually getting a good deal, what with me being an MBA-toting lawyer and all, but apparently I am but an addled brain far past its prime and bordering on senility. Well, actually, that explains a few things.
Enough silly news for now. In actual res ipsa news, my health is coming back at a gallop, which is nice. Objectively speaking, I'm certainly not in top form, but the difference is so striking from a few days ago that I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life and could casually saunter out the door and run a marathon. An observation which has led me to discover the meaning of life (really).
Here it is.
You ready for it?
OK.
It has nothing to do with your actual state of being. It's all about the delta.
I'll let you think about that for a while...
In any event, two titillating snippets caught my eye yesterday as I lay browsing. First, North Korea has apparently opened its first pizzeria. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, those lucky subjects of Kim Jong-il will no longer be deprived of mozzarella toppings and cheesy crust; all is right again in the world. According to the article, the driver behind the restaurant's opening (for which North Korean chefs were sent to Italy to be specially trained) is to allow North Koreans "access to the world's famous dishes." Seriously? Pizza? Now I'm the biggest Italian-restaurant junkie there is, but again I ask: seriously? Pizza?
Now if you thought that was disturbing, check out this next item: "Brain decline begins at age 27". OMG. Whatever you do, don't tell BM. I think they thought they were actually getting a good deal, what with me being an MBA-toting lawyer and all, but apparently I am but an addled brain far past its prime and bordering on senility. Well, actually, that explains a few things.
Enough silly news for now. In actual res ipsa news, my health is coming back at a gallop, which is nice. Objectively speaking, I'm certainly not in top form, but the difference is so striking from a few days ago that I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life and could casually saunter out the door and run a marathon. An observation which has led me to discover the meaning of life (really).
Here it is.
You ready for it?
OK.
It has nothing to do with your actual state of being. It's all about the delta.
I'll let you think about that for a while...
Jun 13, 2007
Moving forward
I've been pretty productive these last few days (had to, really, classes start in two months). As of this morning, I am the proud tenant of a small, over-priced room complete with ADSL line (a blogging necessity!) Following in a proud INSEAD tradition, I will be living in a gigantic house filled with way too many MBA students, partners, electronic gadgets and endless supplies of alcohol. I don't know who any of my housemates are yet, but I do know some of them are from the D'07 Singapore class. Maybe they'll let me borrow their notes... So anyway, if I'm about to live with you, just wanted to say "hi" and "I promise not to hog the bathroom".
Also checked off my 3-mile list of things to do before I run off on my pre-MBA holiday ("Holiday?", I hear my friends shout, incredulous, "but you haven't worked in a YEAR????!!!!!") is my loan application. It's official, I am in debt. A lot of it. And all it took was hours spent in traffic in the sweltering heat of my non-airconditioned car (yes, a Renault), and a casual, 30-min meeting which ended with me signing away my first-born. Ah, the joys of private post-graduate education...
Having gotten so much done, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. Until my anonymous friend, "A", mentioned that I was probably one of the "older" INSEAD-ers. And so the panic rises again. Does that mean I won't get invited to any parties? What's the age cut-off between old INSEAD-ers and young INSEAD-ers anyway? Should I frantically start plucking grey hairs? Are my chances of getting a job with Bain after graduation inversely proportional to the number of wrinkles I have?
Also checked off my 3-mile list of things to do before I run off on my pre-MBA holiday ("Holiday?", I hear my friends shout, incredulous, "but you haven't worked in a YEAR????!!!!!") is my loan application. It's official, I am in debt. A lot of it. And all it took was hours spent in traffic in the sweltering heat of my non-airconditioned car (yes, a Renault), and a casual, 30-min meeting which ended with me signing away my first-born. Ah, the joys of private post-graduate education...
Having gotten so much done, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. Until my anonymous friend, "A", mentioned that I was probably one of the "older" INSEAD-ers. And so the panic rises again. Does that mean I won't get invited to any parties? What's the age cut-off between old INSEAD-ers and young INSEAD-ers anyway? Should I frantically start plucking grey hairs? Are my chances of getting a job with Bain after graduation inversely proportional to the number of wrinkles I have?
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