bitful

I was just wondering what I look like, so I entered my first and last name into Google's image search facility which was, as usual, spot on (this morning my face is as pale as a bed sheet, with green circles around bloodshot eyes).
I am sure that is not what I was taught the colours [...]

I'm off to bed with a cup of tea, a stack of today's papers and Mark Steel's Reasons To Be Cheerful.
No party frolicking for me this Saturday night, I am still recovering from last night's shenanigans (which involved doing something for the very first time and something else for the second time in my life [...]

I cheerfully grinned my way through some errands today, despite the fact that I woke up at 5:30am for no reason. I must have looked like a complete lunatic, positively chuckling loudly while I walked through busy streets. The reason? No, I am not in love, it's just some stuff I read recently, which keeps [...]

More about warchalking from Google (link via plasticbag.org). And here's my contribution (click on thumbnail to view image).
[Credits: logo on t-shirt > www.warchalking.org; warchalk at Kynance Mews, London SW7 > Ben; doll > blogger's own; Warchalking Ken is absolutely not connected with Mattel Inc.]

Fantastic dinner party last night at some friends' attic in Carnaby Street.
Watching the sunset from the balcony, over a dramatic view of W1 buildings. I think I could very easily get used to that.
A few people in catering were there, so we had excellent food and my glass of champagne was constantly and carefully topped-up [...]

So much to learn, so much curiosity to satisfy, so much fast-paced information, and yet so little time.
I finally managed to find out what warchalking is all about, thanks to this simple explanation.
I currently do not have the technology to benefit from it, nevertheless it's amazingly brilliant in its simpleness.

After a couple of pints at Barcode with a friend who unfortunately had to go home early (I understand some people have jobs), I checked out Retro Bar's pop quiz last night.
I only got to hear the last 5 or 6 questions, and frankly I mostly did not know have a clue. Some of the [...]

<warning>
  <personal>
    <rant>
      Another job-searching day that has left me
      feeling rather inadequate and purposeless.
      Wondering if I did the right thing getting
      involved in so many different projects over
      the years, acquiring many skills apparently
      not related to each other thus very hard to
      turn into professional satisfaction.
      Calling it a day now, having a shower and a
      shave and going out to soak shameless [...]

Ok, I know I had wished not to hear about football anymore now that England are out, but at BBCi you can create your own World Cup dream player.
What's funny about it is that if you just load the page and don't start playing, you get Beckham's face along with a "Loading Brains" status bar [...]

My weekend in figures:

Duration of weekend (days): 4
Consecutive times the neighbours played Baddiel and Skinner's 3 Lions after England lost to Brazil: too many
I love you's uttered by Spencer-obsessed housemate as I told her I had taped his eviction from the Big Brother house: 12
Minutes spent trying to come up with the perfect text message [...]

Find of the day (through a comment he left at Swish Cottage): Michael. I apparently am 92% similar and 61% complementary to him, which is not that surprising since I was born a handful of hours before him (well, a day, which makes me technically older). Darn, I've just given away my age; now I'll [...]

My plans of being the official mascot for the 2006 Football World Cup are put to an end by Brazil. I've figured out that I was living in Italy when Italy won the World Cup in 1982, and since I was living in France when they won four years ago, I was really hoping [...]

I'm gay. I'm a foreign national. I'm applying.

If I was to have something tattooed on my body, it would definitely have to be this. It's a "vegvisir", a Viking compass that sits on Björk's upper left arm. When asked what it represented, she said "It's so I don't get lost," (…) "If the Vikings had bad weather or fog, they used to [...]

A short extract from the job interview from hell:

Interviewer: "So how well do you know your way around MS Excel?"
Me (expecting to be asked about macros, queries and the like): "I have a full working knowledge of it and use it all the time."
Interviewer: "I hope I don't sound patronizing, but how would you go [...]

Beam me up, Scottie!

Come on, get into the boy lab and make yourself your dream man. Or be a narcissist like me and try and reconstruct your own face - this is the best I could come up with, and it only remotely looks like me. (link via plasticbag)

Emergency, calling Dr. Freud! Last night I dreamt of the Dame Edna Experience. She was on stage in a classy venue (mustn't have been the Royal Vauxhall Tavern then), a slow harmonious shower of tinkering notes wrapping her, and with her best husky, come-to-bed voice she started going:
Seeeexy, everything about you soooo…. (long pause)
Seeeexy
at which [...]

Oi me 'ead, me poor 'ead.
Not a good idea to skip Sunday lunch knowing it was going to be a long drinking afternoon.
Not entirely a bad idea (but completely unnecessary yesterday of all times) to arrive at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern at 4:15 to be sure to get it before the crowd.
Not a good idea [...]

Quiet Saturday evening yesterday, just a quick drink (and this time it was just one, and very quick) with Chiara and Doriano before seeing Monster's Ball. Good movie, just a tad disappointed at seeing Heath Ledger make his exit so early into the movie. And, although she did deliver an outstanding performance, I am not [...]

I keep hearing stuff like "Ooh, I've heard an awful lot of shagging was going on on the Italian Big Brother". Although I'm flattered on behalf of my compatriots, I feel the need to set the record straight and destroy this myth.GF1 (Il Grande Fratello #1): Pietro and Cristina did it. Once. In a make-shift [...]

I've never loved the rain so much! David is absolutely right: wet footie gear rules! (and almost got me interested in the match).You may go a step further and check out Donna Moderna's (Italian mag for "modern women") 2001 football players calendar, where much less is left to the imagination. I personally wish it was [...]

Note to self: when going to a bank in order to apply for a personal banking account, avoid putting passport in same pocket as "overnight kit" (condoms, gel, contact lens case and toothbrush). Alternatively, put extra care in extracting passport as to prevent condom and small gel package to fly in the face of sadly [...]

I've put together quite a few pieces of Ikea furniture over the years, and I'm certainly not new to the joys of alcohol. But until last night, never the twain had met. Hilarious. Until a half-together bookcase fell on me, and I cut myself with some cardboard (!). Evil, evil furniture with absurd names.

Et un, et deux, et troix - zéro!Four years ago this was the official chanting, as the French Team paraded down the Champs Elisées, and it was meant to represent their 3-0 victory over, ehm, Brazil, wasn't it?It's sadly still applicable today though, as France played 3 matches and scored 0 goals. (courtesy of straight [...]

I'd love to see their menu:

It must look something like this. Can you do better?

Webmasters beware, they are in town:

If London was in New York (right, Jade?), I have just taken a stroll down SoKe (South Kensington). And I live in HeHi (you figure it out). I like the sound of it actually, it conjures up an image of Madonna on a mechanic bull. Heee-Hi! (I know it's lame, but pleeeeez Don't Tell Me [...]

A closet queen, with a crystal-smoking junkie sister and a non-committal escapist brother who shags complete strangers in airport utility rooms. Add a control-freak mother and a the haunting presence of a deceased father. No wonder I enjoyed watching 6 Feet Under last night: I kept seeing bits of myself in ALL caracters. Now, if [...]

Squirrels and birds and foxes, I can handle them. Then, I was out in our garden smoking and I stepped on something that made a cracking sound, looked down and saw a dozen snails. Fine, no problem. But burgling monkeys? Is London a bloody zoo? What next? Drug-peddling armadillos? Joy-riding iguanas? Hustling komodo dragons? I [...]