December 2006 Archives

I am on the journey back from paradise. Currently in St John's, Antigua as I have a few hours before my Virgin flight back to London. It's nice here, but part of me which I was still in Montserrat. It rained a lot during the last 10 days, but being around family and new friends made it a wonderful time. Thus, despite how hectic it was to get there, I'm already thinking about my next trip.

Airport Guy called me yesterday and after chatting for some while, we made plans to meet up at festival village. However as there wasn’t much going on, we ended up going for a walk on the nearby beach. There we talked for quite some time. It was magical. Maybe it was being under the stars near the beach. Maybe it was the kiss that came towards the end of the evening. Whatever, I feel like I’m in my own pg-rated version of How Stella Got Her Groove Back. For the record though, Airport Guy is not a younger man, he is 4 years my senior. So just perfect!

Here's hoping that everyone who celebrates Christmas is having a good time. I know I am. Of course, visiting paradise makes it quite easy!

Being here in Montserrat confirms one of the reasons why I have stayed away. I have become even more emotional than normal. Plus feelings that I normally suppress related to becoming someone’s wife and mother are stirring. Heck, I feel like people can read my mind as one of my cousin’s from America asked me when I was getting married. This was most unnerving. And as my best guy friend pointed out to me a few weeks back being too emotional can be a major liability when it comes to relationships. As such, even though I’m having a good time, I am thinking about my more reserved life in London. Oh so crazy but true.

I’m not sure what has come over me. I have these crazy thoughts and feelings for Airport Guy. Considering I just met him a few days ago, I find the whole thing a bit scary to be honest. Plus even though I’m emotional, outwardly I am quite guarded. Not here, my emotions seem to be running away with me.

I saw him again tonight at festival village. We talked and I found out that he had transcribed my local number incorrectly. We have corrected the situation so we’ll see what happens. Part of me wants to let my hair down but the more reserved side of me is holding me back.

Also, things were a bit contained, as I was actually at the festival with someone else. I know, quite scandalous! Actually, it was all rather innocent. It was the guy who offered to be my tour guide. That said, I found myself totally distracted after Airport Guy showed up shortly after midnight. Thus at 3am, I called it a night. It was just too frustrating looking across the park at someone I wanted to get to know, while trying to have polite conversation with another.

When my mother knew her days were numbered, she told me she wanted to go home. I immediately knew that she wasn’t talking about leaving the hospital for our house in Boston, she was talking about Montserrat. I got her out of the hospital but she died before I could bring her back to Montserrat alive. In any event, this is where she is buried and so I visited her grave today. For a while I stood at a distance and cried my eyes out. I always knew the day would come when I would bury my mother, I just never thought I would face that challenge in my early twenties. She was so young. Thus, it’s difficult at times not to regress and get angry with God over the whole situation.

Yesterday while at the airport waiting for my luggage to arrive, I had a drink at the bar with my Aunt. Across the bar from me what this guy (now to be known as Airport Guy) who I knew was checking me out. Normally, I would be obviously to such things, but I felt his gaze. It was intense. Eventually, he waived at me and something within me gave me the courage to walk over to where he was sitting. We spoke briefly before I was called away to go through security to collect my luggage. Later we ended up chatting again and he told me among other things that I was beautiful. Now I know it was totally a line but I fell for it. Blame it on the heat. Or maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with the fact that he was tall, dark and really good looking.

Later, I saw him at the carnival. We spoke again and I felt butterflies in my stomach. It’s weird but I can’t stop thinking about him. Thus I am a bit disappointed that he hasn’t called but perhaps it is for the best. He lives in Jamaica and so he’s geographically undesirable. Of course, that hasn’t stopped me from day dreaming.

Two distractions also occurred today. The first happened when I went to the BBC (not the radio station but a store in town) to buy a few supplies. While there, it started to rain really hard. So once I came out of the store, I just stood around waiting for the rain to stop. This guy came up and started talking to me. At first I thought it was mindless chatter, but then it became apparent that he was hitting on me. Of course, I got immediately turned off when through a series of questions I uncovered that he was married with children.

Then when I got home, Nenen told me that someone I knew back in the day, popped around a few times to visit. I didn’t remember him which I know was somewhat disappointing for him as he said we were really good friends. It was a bit weird. He seemed genuinely excited to see me and offered to be my tour guide to the island. I just might take him up on the offer.

It was an ordeal to get to Montserrat. What should have taken about 12 hours door to door, took over 24 hours. The flight from London to Antigua was delayed by 5 hours. As such, I missed my connecting flight from Antigua to Montserrat. I end up staying in Antigua for the night and then taking a mid morning flight the next day. Then once I landed in Montserrat, my suitcase with all my clothing didn’t arrive. I was most distressed. Luckily the gods were on my side and it arrived later that day.

Now I’ve been in Montserrat for a full 24 hours and I’ve had time to reflect on my environment. Things are very much the same as I remember, but they are also quite different. St John’s which uses to be the sleepy part of the island is now the center of the island. It is buzzing with people and cars. The amount of activity makes it feel like there are more than five thousand on the island. It feels like twenty thousand. I suppose this shouldn’t be too surprising as the island’s population does swell during carnival each year.

Everything also seems smaller and closer together. I suppose a lot of this had to do with the fact that since the volcano covered two-thirds of the island in ash some years ago; those that remained have all been forced to move to the north which has meant building additional houses. My family house on Mongo Hill use to be at the top. Now there are other massive houses above. Plus the rugged roads to the mountain are now paved to allow traffic to go further up. Part of me is distressed by this, but it’s good to see the island still alive and vibrant. Shortly after the volcano, the British government wanted to shut the place down.

On a personal front, it was good to see many familiar faces again – especially my grand aunt, Nenen – who raised my mom and us when we were little. At 86, she is a firebird. Her memory is sharp and she tells me stories. Stories of myself, my mother and any family member or person I happen to point to in her photo album. She is the ultimate family historian. Plus in many ways, she is the link to the old way of life. Thus, it’s a shame that I have not always been consistent with my letters.

When words fail you, just post a picture of your cat!

Coconut flavored beer is an ok idea but banana flavor is definitely not!

Best Guy Friend barely beat out Choo-Choo for my best friends honor. I know some would think it's strange but it's true. I really like love my cat and I think most days he likes loves me too.

Kitty power: A woman's best friend
Once seen as the preserve of the spinster class, felines have become young females' pet of choice - prompting one cat-food brand to invest millions to win their business.
By Guy Adams, The Independent, Published: 13 December 2006

Six hundred years after Dick Whittington, dogs may still command the honorific, "man's best friend", but they can no longer claim to be companion of choice for the average, upwardly-mobile female.

In a development that would have delighted London's most famous mayor, that distinction now rests with the humble cat, a pet that outnumbers its canine rival in this country by a million and a half. Not only do an estimated 4.7 million women in the UK own cats - almost four times the number of men - but developments in the £7m-a-year cat-food market suggest an ever-increasing proportion are drawn from the trendiest sections of society.

This week, the makers of Sheba announced they had hired a Hollywood director to film a new advertising campaign aimed at attracting, "stylish" and "independent" women to their product. The£1m, three-part commercial based on Alice in Wonderland, will be directed by Martha Fiennes, sister of the actor Ralph. It stars the ballerina Monica Zamora, together with two sought-after models: Eva Imsa and Meritxell.

For a creature that has suffered in the past from its association with spinsterhood, the TV advertisement, which stars a British Blue Shorthair cat, marks the latest in a remarkable series of PR triumphs. Not only has the advertising industry begun to re-invent their image - the Bacardi Breezer adverts star a silver-haired cat for example - but several leading style-icons, including the artist Tracey Emin have used them in recent work.

According to experts, this reversal of fortunes is in part due to low-maintenance ownership, which lends itself to the lifestyle of upwardly-mobile career women. Men, who tend to want unconditional loyalty in their pets, still prefer a dog. "There used to be this stereotype of the post-menopausal spinster of this parish, who would live with 15 cats and was ever so slightly mad," says the cat behaviour counsellor, Vicky Halls. "But it's just not so any more, in my professional experience.

"Nowadays, you get a lot of stylish, successful and independent women whose Achilles heel is their cat. They can be strong and self-assured and in control, and then a cat comes into their life and they suddenly become all gooey."

I long for the day when blood will be thicker than water. I long for the day when I can ask a favor of a family member and they'll actually follow through. I long for the day when I'll no longer cry myself to sleep because the one family member I thought I could count on, no longer ignores my phone calls and emails.

Not to talk shop, but as everyone is now realizing, Sarbanes-Oxley and other US market regulations has made it less attractive for companies to seek capital on US Stock Exchanges. As a result, European exchanges like the London Stock Exchange and its subsidiary Alternative Investment Market (AIM) are in the midst of a renaissance as more and more companies are choosing to list over here. Therefore, no one is really surprised that NASDAQ continues its hostile approach for the London Stock Exchange.

With that, it will be interesting to see whether or not NASDAQ is successful. More importantly if the Prime Minister moves forward with plans to protect the London Stock Exchange from having to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley if it falls under American rule. As if it does, the London Stock Exchange will loose its competitive edge.

Nasdaq launches £2.7bn hostile bid for LSE
By Sarah Spikes and Norma Cohen
Financial Times, Published: December 12 2006 08:26 | Last updated: December 12 2006 10:05

Nasdaq on Tuesday formally launched its long-anticipated £2.7bn ($5.3bn, €4bn) hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange, as the US exchange seeks to buy the 71.25 per cent of the exchange that it does not already own.

Nasdaq set January 11 as the first closing date of the offer – which it can extend to February 10 – adding that the £12.43 a share on the table was its final offer.

However, Nasdaq revised down the minimum number of share of acceptances needed for the deal to succeed to 50 per cent plus one share, from 90 per cent. Given that Nasdaq already owns 28.75 per cent of the company, the lower acceptance level means Nasdaq needs only a little more than 21.25 per cent to get to over 50 per cent and secure the deal.

I am not going to discuss the merits or lack thereof of Gwyneth Paltrow's assertion that “the British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans" because one could go in circles arguing for either side.

That said, I totally reject her statement that the English don't talk about money or work over dinner. Perhaps the blue bloods and upper crust that she hangs out with don't, but the middle class and those upwardly mobile are obsessed with discussing money. So obsessed are they with money and all the materalistic things it can buy, that consumer debt in England is out of control. In fact, according to a recent report "the average UK household is now a mere 15 days away from financial meltdown."

Further, while the approach may not be direct, people try and find out what you do for a living and how much you earn, by asking you where you live and whether or not you have flatmates. They will go so far as to ask you how much you pay in rent each month. Or if you own the house, how much you paid for it. Slightly vulgar but true.

As for the whole intelligence thing, well one just has to have a conversation with a chav to debunk that whole notion that all English people are well spoken and intelligent.

Talking the Yanks Under the Table
New York Times, By SARAH LYALL
Published: December 10, 2006

NO sooner had her words been reported in the British newspapers then she frantically took them back, saying that she had been misunderstood and misquoted. But the question remains: was Gwyneth Paltrow on to something when she noted (or didn’t) that “the British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans,” and that “people here don’t talk about work and money; they talk about interesting things at dinner”?

Whether Britons are objectively cleverer and more amusing than Americans, or whether they just sound that way, is one of the deep mysteries of British life for expatriates like Ms. Paltrow, who lives in London with her husband, the British rock star Chris Martin, and their children, Apple and Moses.

Britons seem to have the advantage of accent: their exotic pronunciation can make even dubious observation sound like unimpeachable truth. They are also experts at the art of speaking coherently and with authority on topics they know little or nothing about. “Every Englishman can talk for 15 minutes on any subject without a note,” Norman Mailer has been quoted as saying.

My outlook on dating is not exactly positive at the moment, but I couldn't help but smile when I read via The Snippet, lessons for dating in the modern world. The advice with a fairytales twist offered by Wendy Paris, author of Happily Ever After is as follows:

Rule 1 from Cinderella: Don't let past bad luck cloud your vision of a brighter future. Have the courage to believe in a better life.

Rule 2 from The Princess and the Pea: Whoever you are, you are somone's ideal. Hold out for the person who sees you as theirs.

Rule 3 from The Little Mermaid: Don't turn your back on your beliefs trying to "win" someone over. IT's not a victory if you lose yourself.

Rule 4 from Fairies: Hold yourself to the highest standards no matter how lowly a particular activity may seem.

Rule 5 from Thumbelina: Wait for the person who feels right to you not your friends or family.

Rule 6 from Grace and Derek: Don't let a bad experience with one person make you suspicious of the next.

Rule 7 from Beauty and the Beast: Focus on seeing the best in people, not the worst. You never know how a relationship will evolve.

Rule 8 from Bluebeard: Don't make people prove their love. Commitment tests and truth traps create suspicion, never devotion.

Rule 9 from The Fisherman and His Wife: Don't fish for external solutions to internal problems. NO amount of money makes up for a mediocre match.

Rule 10 from Sleeping Beauty: Don't give up on love, even if it seems lik you've been single for 100 years. The length of time it takes is no reflection on your worth or appeal.

Producer and Entreprenur Damon Dash when asked by London Lite Reporter Alistair Foster what he wanted for Christmas replied:

I would like it if no one asked me for money. If that happened I would have a happy Chistmas.

When I read Damon's response, I said a few amens. Not to be a scrooge or anything, but the commercialization of Christmas has totally gotten out of hand.