Mortality -- hot or not?

This week has been a sobering one. My friend's grandma died. My colleague's roommate's father died. My November 22 death anniversary came and went. Sean Taylor died. All chances of seeing the sun in London during November died.

Also the past two mornings when I got out of bed, I got really dizzy. I get head rushes from time to time when I'm laying down and jump up quickly. And I kind of enjoy them. But on these two occasions I stood up and teetered around and slammed into walls. I kind of enjoyed that too but I was also like: WHAT?!

Anyhoo, I think I just need to eat at more regular intervals, start hitting the gym again and keep the ole' blood sugar at a more consistent level. And maybe I should stop OD'ing on gnocchi and stroopwafels.

Also, based on the comments and inspiration from my readers, I changed my movie and now one of the main characters dies. I think it's just the gravitas that the story required. If you want to read it, let me know and I'll send you a copy. It's 104 pages.

So yeah thanks for your feedback. I got the required amount of responses so I dropped my strike after a single day. So for now I will continue writing the blog and my scab will have to keep finding temp work.

I forgot I was supposed to die last week

During college I had a very vivid dream in which I learned that I would be dying on November 22nd of an undisclosed year. Looks like I'll be around for at least another year!

Typically towards the end of November, I start thinking about what I'll be doing on the 22nd, and whether any of those activities could end in tragedy. If I would've been thinking about it last week it would've been unnerving to realize that my day was filled with riding 4 trains and flying on a commuter jet. And spending the entire day with people I don't really know and half of it in a different country. But then again the Dutch are so kind.

Anyhoo, glad to have that behind me and know that I'm invincible until next year.

By the way in the dream I was shot in the back by an unknown shooter while leaning into the back seat of a parked car. My mom was sitting in the passenger's seat looking right at me, so she may know something I don't. Not sure who was in the driver's seat either. But I distinctly remember looking down and seeing a bullet emerge from my chest and knowing that that was it. And then I remember dying in my dream and it being complete peace.

This is kind of related -- if you've ever had one of those dreams where you just fall and fall... the rumor is that you always wake up before you land. Well not so for my dad. He lands all the time.

Strike, subsequent riots

No, I'm not talking about Paris. I'm talking about my failed solicitation for comments/ideas on my movie. Apart from Ben Wideman, who still has the imagination of a 10 year old, the rest of you have been quiet. And that quiet is coming from a bunch of friends and family who usually won't shutup.

So I'm going on blog strike, and I'll probably burn a car or something because that's what happens eventually. No new content until I hear from at least a 10% of my constituency (approximately 5 people, counting Ben). That should be easy.

Speaking of Paris though, I hope they get that all sorted out before my weekend trip there (my last trip of the year before heading home for Christmas) in December.

Yeah go on

No new blog today as punishment since no one sent me any comments or ideas in response to yesterday's post.

Come on people, engage yourselves! I know you have good ideas and creative minds even if all you do all day is browse around the internet amusing yourself with substandard blogging.

How should my screenplay end?

So I'm going to finish this movie I've been writing on and off since March, in the hopes of dropping a few copies off during my trip to New York over New Years.

I'm really happy with the story so far. I think it's got potential. I just don't know how to end it. So I'm going to explain the story and themes here, and please let me know either via the notes or email or some other format how you think I should end it. Seriously. I need some real inspiration and I know one of you will point me in the right direction if you give it a few minutes of thought.

ACT I

Married couple in their upper twenties living in the midwest. Husband is the main character; he works in middle management; a bit naive because of the small/homogenous world he's always lived in and a bit complacent because his parents died while he was in college. So he's kind of stuck in the 90s. His wife is a nurse; wants kids right away; is growing distant from her husband because he won't grow up; has developed an addiction to painkillers.

The wife disappears and the husband struggles to figure out what's happened. He's given some cryptic assurances that she's not hurt when he finds out that a patient at the hospital -- an African woman who's just fallen into a coma -- had developed a friendship with his wife. But in any case she's gone away for a while. He has to come to terms with that but also just learn to function on his own.

The husband eventually finds out that his wife has gone to Africa. In an altered state after a company party he buys a plane ticket to go and find her.

ACT II

The husband arrives in the wrong country and is immediately robbed. He's taken in by a kind family with some similarities to his own, and in the process of living with them he learns a lot about himself and his place in the world.

ACT III

The husband returns home with a new outlook on life (still no sign of his wife). His wife comes back into the picture and most of the confusion is explained away by a series of innocent misunderstandings.... or are they?

Should they get back together? Have a baby? Should a baby be on the way? Whose? Happy ending, tragedy or irony?


If your idea is good enough to push me over the finish line, you might even get a screenwriting credit when the movie is released national-wide starring Nick Thune in the role of John Bird, Kirsten Dunst in the role of Jane Bird, with Larry Bird appearing as himself. (oh yeah, did I mention it's hilarious?!)

Country M&A

While touring around Northern Ireland last week, a ridiculous idea occurred to me that I'd like to publish here: we should buy Mexico.

This came about during a tour of Derry. If you're not familiar with the history of Northern Ireland (or it's present day status), it's worth learning about. Present day status is that Northern Ireland is a constituent country of the UK. My Irish friend Rick O'Pedia gives a more substantive history here, but the short story is that at one point Britain drew a line in the Republic of Ireland and claimed the top as their own, kind of. And that line wasn't expected to include the city of Derry (Free Derry as it's still referred to by many Irish/Republicans, Londonderry as it's referred to by Britain and I guess 'officially', and Derry as it's referred to by tourists who don't want to rub anyone the wrong way).

Anyhow, when the line got drawn Derry was included in the UK portion.

So that got me thinking about how random the country divisions are. From colonialism to present day Iraq, it's just a bunch of people drawing lines for their own reasons. Made me wonder why we don't think about redrawing them more often outside of civil war and the like.

So maybe we buy Mexico and do the whole deal like corporate M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions). We pay a premium of 15 or 20% on GDP to the shareholders (all Mexicans), and give stock options and board positions to the Mexican government (where stock options = futures of some sort and board positions = seats on local and national government).

Then we put together some sort of integration plan for labour and state divisions/standardization, language and currency.

With the reorganization we get the benefits of a shorter border to protect. Our current border is 3,141km. That's a big and expensive wall. Our new border would be with Guatemala and Belize: 871km's with Guate and 251km with Belize.

Combined we'd have the strengths of a developed economy and the labor of an emerging market.

We make English and Spanish the national languages and start teaching everyone both instead of insisting that somehow speaking two languages is a bad thing.

...that's about as far I got. Lots of holes including the obvious fact that Mexicans are proud to be Mexican and also the fact that by combining countries you combine cultures and ultimately lose traditions and all of that, and it's probably not worth thinking anymore about. But whatever. Blogs are perfect for this kind of Sunday afternoon rambling.

USA!M!
(actually we wouldn't even need to change the name)

Black Friday/Buy Nothing Day

Being out of the country, I completely forgot that yesterday was my least favorite day of the year: Black Friday (or as I call it and I hope you do too: Buy Nothing Day).

This year I'm thankful that I didn't have to hear news stories about people lining up at Walmart at 4am so they could trample over each other at 5am in an effort to buy a flat-screen TV or new video game console at a low price; attempts that will give them a momentary feeling of false accomplishment, followed a month later by a few moments of misguided happiness, followed by another year of emptiness.

I know it's callous but I really hate Black Friday and retail therapy and the giving of gifts as an alternative or perceived supplement to investing real time and energy towards the most important relationships.

Ok, getting off the soapbox now.

Eastbound

I'm back in town and will be moving flats next weekend. Decided to go the easy route and move in with two friends of a friend who were flat-hunting at the same time and came across a 3BR. Which meant I never had to look at places and there are three of us to divide the paperwork (and rent/utilities) between.

On the flip side, since I've been out of town for the last two weeks, it means I'll be moving into an apartment I've never seen in an area I've never been to with a flatmate I've never met (I know 1 of 2).

So that's exciting.

My new address will be something extremely intriguing like: "The Denim Factory, Flat 10, Whitechapel".

It'll be interesting to see how much stuff I've accumulated since I moved here in March with all my possessions packed into 4 bags (and a carry-on).

Hi everyone!

I'm back. For the day. Tomorrow I'm off again for what will likely be my last work trip of the year. So Holland through Thursday (Thanksgiving unless you're working in the UK in which case it's just called Thursday).

Last week I was traveling with my good friend/former housemate/current work colleague Travis Geiser. Saturday we flew to Copenhagen. We were there for the weekend before heading to Dublin on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night we took the train to Galway, on the west coast of the Republic. After a night there we headed north on a long bus ride to [London/Free]Derry in Northern Ireland. Spent two nights there before ending the trip in Belfast.

Had a pretty good go of it, making the best of some pretty poor cold/wet weather. Copenhagen was especially cold but also pretty enjoyable. It's a really nice place; lots of attention on microbreweries and sausages. In the summer it'd be absolutely ace. Since it's noticeably not summer, we got snowed on there. Hard. Ireland was more just wet but also turned cold in the end. Fair bit of sightseeing and we stayed in some nicer places and also some pretty low grade ones. But then variety is the spice of life.

Recurring themes from the trip were (1) happening upon random Mexican restaurants and eating at them; (2) Elton John songs; (3) being cold and/or wet; (4) nearly being hit by rollerbladers (still incredibly popular among Eurotrash).

One awesome thing that happened during the trip was: the hostess at a restaurant asked me my surname. I said Sir Eric. Zing!

So tomorrow it's Amsterdam. I hope it's dry.

Back Friday.

Second Friday

Aye. It's been one of those weeks where every day I think it's a day later in the week than it actually is. Stupid Wednesday but I thought it was Thursday. And now today is Friday again.

Anyhoo... some news, hmmm. Something interesting for you all to read...

hmmm.

Okay well I've been looking for flats lately. Tough job here in Londres what with all the shady estate agents and outrageous prices. I think I know where I want to live down to a few blocks, so at least I've got a pretty specific focus. And I know what I'd like to pay and what I might need to pay (if you live in a small town, rent is comparable to a mortgage for a house on a golf course).

If you're interested in the geography, I'm looking as far west as Farringdon, as far east as Bethnal Green, as far north as Angel, and as far south as Aldgate. That's kind of a crooked square but it works.

Right, so now that's really my last post for 9 days. Start the countdown.

P-T-O Y do Americans like to work so much?

Despite a generous U.S. corporate holiday policy, I still have less paid holiday than a typical U.K. employee. Starting October 1 of this year, British law required that all full-time employees be given a minimum of 24 paid holidays per annum. A typical policy here would consist of 25 days + a few sick days each year (starting from day 1).

In April of 2009 the minimum will be raised to 28 days (which can include public & bank holidays). If you work more than 48 hours/week, you must sign an opt-out agreement. Otherwise working more than 48 hours on a weekly basis is illegal.

And the U.K.'s policy is less generous than that of much of Europe. Some have a maximum 35 hour work week (Le French); some get 6 weeks holiday (Ze Germans).

Me, I'm happy with my policy so long as I can sprinkle in the occasional business trip or hybrid business/pleasure trip. Work hard, play hard.

So I'm playing hard in Copenhagen this weekend and all over Ireland next week with my buddy Travis, who is a good friend because he's visiting me here. Are you a good friend? If you've not been a good friend, start making some plans for the spring. The blog will be making cricket sounds until I return so give www.kayak.com a look in the meantime.

Blah Bloh Blog

"You alright?" = sounds accusatory, but actually just means hi

"Straight away" = now

"Take away" = to-go

"Ace!" = great!

"have done/did do" = abbreviated ways of saying you've done something

"Who are you?" = you're terrible at whatever you're doing and a bad person

"Naff" = not cool.

"Taking the piss (out of someone)" = teasing them

"Smart" = high class; new word posh people use instead of posh

"If she sounds good on the phone, add 2 stone" = mean old English blokes

The new workout plan

Going to any Eurogym is an experience. From the less-than-modest spandex patches of the hammam to the highly entertaining stretching routines brought to us via Eastern Europe, there is something for everyone.

Alternative workouts are the name of the game lately. When I first started going to Virgin Active, Boxing Fitness classes were all the rage. That was followed by Russian Kettleball workouts. Which was followed by this Boot Camp type class where this humongous guy screams at you. And most recently we have Power Plates. The newest trend consists of standing on a vibrating platform while exercising; it's marketed as taking 10 minutes for an entire workout. I tried it once but I had to scratch my nose continuously.

Kettleballs are pretty hilarious, but the Boot Camp thing has the highest unintentional quotient.

We'll call it... another loss

This time from the No Fun League. Colts blew it.

Watching the game at the most miserable sports bar ever compounded things, but somehow, after the game I was completely consolable. Which is a departure from the past for sure. Games like this used to leave me sick to my stomach for a good 3-4 days. I think it's because I've replaced [American] football with [European] football as my primary sport of interest. Which was good timing given Arsenal's form of late. Lots fewer commercials too, which is nice.

We'll call it a loss

Notre Dame lost to Navy. They play every year and unless you're older than 44, you would've never seen Notre Dame lose.

Seemed like the worst thing in the world last night when I saw the final score, and it put me in a pretty foul mood. But then I realized there are worse things in the world, like Boston College being undefeated.

We'll call it a draw

Arsenal 2, Manchester United 2.

Probably a fair end result and it took a fantastic injury-time goal to even it up.

As sly as a Fawkes

Ever wonder why we call people "guy"?

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

So this dude Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament a long time ago (1605). And here in London this weekend we'll be celebrating that he failed! And also starting bonfires and setting off fireworks to symbolize burning Guy at the stake (even though he was hung -- a more humane method of institutional killing we can all agree).

He was also gently tortured: The gentler tortours [tortures] are to be first used unto him, et sic per gradus ad maiora tenditur [and thus by steps extended to greater ones], and so God speed your good work."

God loves speedy tortour.

Big game

Saturday
Noon
Arsenal v Manchester United
Emirates Stadium

Teams are tied for first place in the league.
Arsenal is my favo(u)rite team.
Manchester United are ________s.
Stadium is 10 minutes from my flat.
Tickets are... £175... if I'm lucky.
And that's not a dollar sign.

Worth it?