Thanks, YouTube. Based on my viewing history, apparently Sesame Street is a channel recommendation?? Whaaat?
And, moreover, what’s up with, right next to Sesame Street, a recommendation for a channel called ’69ferlyfe’ ?
WTF have I been watching on YouTube lately?
I went back to the US for the first time in nearly a year since moving to the UK, and consequently, there’s lots I can write about.
I could write about how it felt a little weird to be back, or could easily catalogue the differences I noticed between my perceptions of the two cultures, US and English. Or I could write about how loud and confrontational I found many of my fellow Americans to be after having adapted to Britain’s stiff-upper-lip polite social mores.
I can also write about how beautiful the coastline of my home state of California is, even moreso now that I’ve been away from it and have stopped taking it for granted. And it really is, see?
And I can write how voraciously eager I am to feel the ocean breeze and have the salty air whip against me as I take long morning runs in the mild temperatures of Southern Cali.
I can also write about how I feel like England is uncannily following me, how even after arriving in LA and gearing up for some Cali fun, I end up at the Underground Rebel Bingo Club, a super fun crazy, dirty, bingo event that was started in Clerkenwell, London and is now emceed in LA by its British founder. (Seriously, it’s spread around the world – if you have a chance to check it out, you totally should. It’s not your granny’s bingo.)
I could comment on all of those things, and about how much I miss America yet how much I’ve acclimated to England in the past year and feel now that London is home, but none of those things are as big a stone in my stomach as the realisation that hit me like a ton of bricks upon returning home.
And what exactly is that realisation?
The worrying feeling that I’ve lost my chi.
Ad-hoc memorial set up by fans at the Apple Store on Regent Street in London last week
I’m a bit late to the game here. Much better bloggers than I were writing eulogies days ago. But it’s been on my mind and I’ve been walking past memorials, so here goes:
I’m writing this on an Apple computer. Earlier this morning, I went for a long run through Hyde Park while listening to a playlist on my Apple iPod. How many Apple products are you touching right now? How many have you touched today?
Steve Jobs revolutionized not only personal computing but how we approach consumer electronics in our daily lives. He changed how we consume music and news, revolutionized digital content, and through his products, forged new consumer relationships.
As someone who works in and is passionate about tech, and as someone who grew up in the greater Bay Area, with Silicon Valley always on the horizon, Jobs’ death feels somewhat personal to me. The evolution towards a digital lifestyle was championed by Jobs and others, and it’s what has fascinated me and allowed me to make a living working within its landscape.
He was the man who reminded us to “Think Different” and told us to “Stay hungry, stay foolish” – inspiring words to a generation of young people told again and again by the status quo what to do and how to think.
I love Apple as a brand and am saddened to think that this is a massive end for a very innovative company. It’s unknown whether Apple’s leading innovation can and will continue without Jobs himself. Nevertheless, the products he gave us and things he taught us will not be forgotten.
For a bit of inspiration, check out Jobs’ TED Talk from 2005.
Chinatown, London – Everyone knows that whichever city you’re in, the best karaoke is always in Chinatown…
I heard about this concept called “Wegan Wednesday” where you eat vegan just one day each week.
I’ve jumped on board and decided to start devoting every Wednesday to avoiding meat and dairy, challenging myself to try new menu options.
Eating vegan/vegetarian in London is really quite easy, even if you eat take-out every meal. But when I have the time, I like to try making new recipes at home.
This week, I made a Vietnamese Tofu Salad. It’s delicious and simple to make:
You start by sautéing some tofu cubes, garlic, soy sauce and peanuts. Once sautéed, you place the mixture in a bowl to cool. In a separate bowl, combine chopped cucumber, coriander, lime juice and chilli oil. I like to add rice noodles, too. Let this mixture marinate in a separate bowl.
Once the tofu and peanuts have cooled, combine the two bowls into one for pure deliciousness. I love fire so I add extra chiles, and there you have it:
I really gotta work on my presentation. Plastic tupperware because mama always taught me to stay practical…
I’m going to keep at it, even though I’m more of a ‘get it done’ cook than a culinary goddess.
To check out recipes for some really amazing, irresistible vegan food, please see my friend Natasha Barnes’ blog. Natasha is a professional rock climber, devoted vegan and talented chef. Her recipes blow everyone away and she’s kind enough to share some of them on her blog.
Sometimes making just a small change to your routine, like changing how you eat and being conscious of what you eat, can make huge differences in how you experience the world and your own boundaries within it.
However you decide to do it, trying something new, if just once a week, can feel good and open doors you didn’t know existed.
There’s nothing like going to a retrospective on Nirvana (20 years of…) to make you feel old, especially if you remember listening to the music as a 13 year old.
Sadly, I only got into the music after Kurt Cobain had already died, and by then was still too young to have ever seen them live.
As I mentioned in my last post, Autumn is here, so it’s cooling down and starting to rain a bit. The days are shorter now and I’m starting to get my winter shopping planned, slowly accumulating sweaters, boots, tights. I’ve been coming across a lot of cute clothes for this season, and am quite keen on the Des Moines fashion label, made and sourced here in London.
I’m also cultivating an indoor Italian herb garden and making an effort to get outdoors more while I can, before it gets too cold. Autumn is the cleansing season, I’ve always believed, so an optimal time to plan things, prepare for winter, get things done, and begin to have everything in place to cozy up for the festive season.
I wonder how I’ll do this time around, in my second London winter? I’m more prepared, I’ll tell you that…
A grey (and rainy) autumn day in East London.
Autumn is in the air.
I’m not sure I’m allowed to even know what this means on this side of the ocean, as this is the first autumn I’ve spent here.
But maybe autumn is, in a way, the same everywhere?
There’s a different quality to the air that says ‘change’ and ‘endings’ and, even in a sense, ‘wistfulness’.
It’s mellow and sweet but at the same time feels grainy, like an old photograph that’s spent a lot of time in a shoebox somewhere, just now unearthed.
The sun is still there, but it’s got a different quality, like it’s passing out its rays while it still can.
I felt this year after year in San Francisco, when I would buy marigolds at the height of the Indian Summer, surrounding myself with their warm orange glow all the way through Dia de los Muertos.
It’s not quite the same here. There’s not that anticipation of a golden autumn, the anticipation of the usual fixtures that come with fall: pumpkin seeds, gourd fruits, dark berries, and woven baskets. The subtle mourning of summer, so full of life, now preparing to sleep.
I’m feeling autumn in my bones and wonder for a minute if it’s my mind playing tricks on me, convincing me that the season I’m feeling is just because I’ve been looking at calendars too long.
But I don’t believe that. I know autumn so well, the air has that smell and that feel. Here it is. Autumn.
Being from the West Coast of California originally, I’m used to a pace of life that is unlike anywhere else in the world. In California, our culture is one that is inherently tech savvy, creative, and independent. It’s quick-moving but paradoxically laid-back at the same time.
The American west was founded upon entrepreneurs seeking their own pace, forging a life on their own terms. Whether that meant creating your own path to success, or just creating your own chilled out life, it’s all out west – go-getters and slackers alike. Manifest destiny. In CA, we have one of the most robust economies in the United States (if not unfortunately one of the most indebted state treasuries!).
I’ve never lived in New York. It’s what a lot of of my peers did, though, after graduating either high school or college. The New York experience is one that many young professionals and young artists alike seek out to cut their teeth on the real world.
In New York, the pace of life is said to be very quick and frenzied. I recall, when I was 22, working for a CA clothing label, travelling to New York to work a trade show, seeing how amazingly quickly the Starbucks line moved as an example of just how intense the pace of life in NYC. Without much time before I had to start my shift at the convention center, I was dismayed to see that the line at the Starbucks was out the door when I took my place in it. In California, you’d stand about 15 minutes to get to the front of such a line. In New York, I was at the front of the line in about 30 seconds.
Now that I’m in London, I’m living a fast-lane life, just like what I imagine life in NYC to be like. Wireless internet may be utter crap here, but in general, life and business move very fast.
It’s not a digital lifestyle, but it’s a gruelling pace nonetheless. It’s one of the biggest newspaper cities in the world. Seeing how the news days unfolds, how late the world of business and information keeps ticking throughout the day is incredible.
London is fast, because time is money. And you can make a fortune, or die trying. (Well, maybe not die… but end up exhausted for sure.)
Even the most flaky friends in London will make concrete plans. You can’t be late, because people are busy, and don’t have much time to waste.
Work is hard, and the days are long. The cost of living is high, and salaries are low, and everyone is working hard, fighting for their piece of the pie. This is the case even in my industry – I can’t imagine what it must be like working in banking or law over here.
As such, I’ve been here 8 months now and the time has absolutely flown. It’s said that it takes about a year just to feel settled, and true enough, I’m definitely just starting to get into my own groove.
I don’t have the chilled-out, yoga-everyday life that I had in SF, but am starting to work on a creating a schedule that suits me, knowing that no matter what I do, my days will start a dawn and go late into the night. Every minute counts, so it’s all about choosing how you use every minute of every day to design the life you want. And chasing, always chasing that bit of success. I’ve never worked harder, and never had more of a crash course in staying true to myself. Or at least trying to.
It’ll be interesting to look back at the end of our 3 years here and see how this experience has impacted and changed me. If anything, grit and determination are take-away lessons, just as much as spending months living in weather below 40F.
“The answer to violence is more democracy, more humanity but not more naivety. You wil not destroy us. We are a small nation, but a proud nation. No one will reduce us to silence with bombs. No one will stop Norway from being itself.” -Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg
Someone’s guerilla project declaring love for the trees. I’ve seen this in different places around town and I like it.
