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Archive for November, 2008

Opera

published on: 30.11.2008 in: All entries

My man and I went to the opera Marco Polo on Friday and last night we saw a string of documentaries during the International Documentary Festival. The opera turned out to be a rational experience, the documentaries an emotional one. I would have expected this to be the other way around.

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Last lesson

published on: 28.11.2008 in: All entries

I think I’m getting the knack of this whole flamenco dancing thing. Last lesson, our teacher intently studied us while we danced. She was focused, her expression seemed both exasperated and pleased. It’s rewarding to have a teacher look at you that way, because it means that not only is she interested, she’s engaged. There’s […]

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Affairs of the state

published on: 27.11.2008 in: All entries

I visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as research for my novel. A few minor details caught my attention. One of them being a print-out of a man's picture against the wall next to the elevator stating, "40 years of loyal service for the Ministry! Send Sam a text message – 7946." I tried to imagine […]

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Partir c’est mourir un peu

published on: 26.11.2008 in: All entries

Finding yourself dependent on something is a tricky situation to be in. Dependent on a glass of wine to calm down, dependent on sleeping pills to sleep, dependent on chocolate to feel happy, cocaine for confidence, fast driving for a buzz. Still, with this type of dependency, at least you are able to control the […]

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Practicalities

published on: 25.11.2008 in: All entries

Allow me to rephrase what I wrote yesterday. Sometimes, daily life becomes top-heavy on practicalities which need taken care of. I won't start listing them as that would be really boring. The thing is though, practicalities have this way of being the greatest ever distractions from writing. I find it impossible to be writing (even […]

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Uprooted

published on: 24.11.2008 in: All entries

Suddenly, I'm really busy. This combined with no longer having access to my office space, I feel kind of uprooted and therefore haven't been able to settle in to writing a decent post. More tomorrow, that's a promise.

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Definitions

published on: 23.11.2008 in: All entries

When taking naked pictures of ourselves and keeping them a secret, this may be called existentialism. When doing so but proudly showing them to our friends, this may be called narcissism. And if you happened to be a photographer who uses them for an exhibition, this would be called art.

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To

published on: 21.11.2008 in: All entries

To lift up her hair, and to find a butterfly there. This is a sentence I had intended to put in my novel. It doesn't seem to fit anywhere. So I put it here for now.  

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By-product

published on: 20.11.2008 in: All entries

Taking flamenco classes is leading to another interesting by-product. It exercises the brain. You need to concentrate, remember the steps and sequences, and think of another dozen things at the same time (hands, elbows, position of chin, heel-toe or toe-heel or both at the same time or interchanged, knees bent or straight, the music, tummy in […]

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The ‘one day I’ll show you’ syndrome

published on: 19.11.2008 in: All entries

“One day, I’ll show you all.”How many times do we catch ourselves thinking this? It usually happens when we are treated unfairly, yet find ourselves unable to roll up our sleeves and put up a fight. Instead, we stick our tail between our legs and whimper “you just wait and see, one day, one day…”I […]

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