in the liminal space

in a little over 24 hours, this will be the view! despite all of the traveling i've done over the years, i still get the good kind of butterflies when on the verge of a trip - i love the energy of an airport, filled with people who are going somewhere. people are generally in a good mood, either happy to be heading off on a trip or happy to be home again. there's an excitement in the air. sabin and i are headed for the US tomorrow afternoon. first, we have the sad occasion of my mother's funeral and then we have a long road trip to phoenix with a couple of stops to see friends along the way. although the funeral is somber event, i am looking forward to the closure i'm sure it will bring. we are planning music that mom would love and going to give her a good send-off. our bags are packed and we're ready to go. husband is taking us to the airport tomorrow, but before that, he's going to a job interview for an exciting position he really wants. i just did a video interview for a position that i'd really like to have. so, here on the verge of all this travel, it feels like so many great possibilities are opening up. it really feels like the beginning of a new chapter, even as we close the chapter on my mother's life. it's that liminal space - where everything feels fairly quivering with possibility - and the feeling is heightened by impending travel. it's been too long since i felt this way. it's nice.

sights and well, sights...

several things about the journey. long layover in amsterdam due to optimization of ticket prices. happily, we decided to take the train to amsterdam and walk around. it was a beautiful day and that was wonderful. and no doubt fortified us for the horrendously long flight ahead. because it is a horrendously long flight. and there is a world of difference between monkey and business class (which i will regale you with tales of another day, when i don't have to get up early and fly to kuala lumpur for the day). in the meantime, here are some snapshots of the journey thus far...

totally adore these retro-painted SAS planes. SAS has class. too bad we flew KLM.

love those silver converse all-stars

mmm, frozen hazelnut coffee in (you guessed it) amsterdam

and little pancakes with lovely, tart lemony sauce.

worth the 7-hour layover alone.

playing drawing games in the sunshine.

an interminably long time later, cut to a japanese restaurant at clark quay, singapore

a fountain to play in and keep the sleepies at bay.
crocs are good for something, they can be wet.

and a couple of martinis for the folks.

plus a shirley temple for the pooka.

yes, that's outdoor air conditioning. indefensible.

sneaked a self-portrait in the fitting room of miss whatever while sabin tried on a dress.

gee, i don't look tired at all, do i?

keeping the jetlag at bay with a grande latte.

sorry, i just gotta do starbucks when i see it.

i adore this system of wooden clothespins used by the waitresses
at bi feng tang in the wisma food court.

also adore the sambal kung kang, but failed to photograph it.

will have to go back.

seen in the window of some telecom provider.

loved it.

and it seems like a good note to leave on...

see you soon...

p.s. blogger cutting off the right edge of my photos strangely and i don't have the energy to figure out why, so just know that i'm aware they're kinda cut off, but the originals aren't...i promise to fix it later.

the simple things

christina at soul aperture had the brilliant idea of doing a blog on june 10 of the simple things that make you happy. i love to make lists and i knew i'd be busy this week, so it was nice to have wednesday taken care of.

stones.

always stones.

what could be simpler?

the architectural beauty of plants

i see russian churches when i look at these chives

poetry on the streets of oslo

a sense of humor on the side of a plane

and another plane

and one more.

and then there's chemistry.
the chemistry you have with people.
i don't have a picture of that.
but it makes me happy.

and that's enough simple, joyful things for a wednesday.

what are the simple things that make you happy?

play along today on your blog.

but be sure to let christina know.

forgive me odin...

this picture has nothing to do with anything

i've just been taking my merfish for a walk again

and the paparazzi are always about when i do that.

i really love polly's weekly confessions and have been wanting to do some myself since i first read hers a couple of weeks ago, but all this blog camp excitement kinda blew away any plans for posts that i had. now that it's coming together and settled down to a dull roar (tho' we could still use someone in the US who would/could host a blog camp: US at the same time as our june 19-21 sessions in DK & SA), i feel a list coming on...

forgive me odin, for i have sinned, it's been...well...a lifetime (what with me not being catholic) since my last confession. however, i hereby confess...

~ it's really windy and blustery outside today and as much as i am starting to believe that google is controlling the weather, i sometimes also suspect that i am. because the weather often reflects my mood. and i feel a bit stormy and restless today. so sorry about that, anyone in my meteorological region.

~ i have to do an interview at my former place of work. it was supposed to be today and i was very nearly psyched up/prepared for it when they called and changed it to monday. in a way i am relieved and in a way, it only prolongs the dread of going back in there. because that place wasn't good for me and it's taken a long time to get over it. and i'm actually pretty worried about what just stepping into that stuffy, cold, stiff environment will do to me. and we don't really have any more space for any more structures in our garden, which is my therapy.

~ those little music player thingies that trigger automatically when you visit some blogs drive me up a tree. they interfere with my alanis, man.

~ i have a tendency, despite my new years' non-resolutions, to leave pots on the stove until they become scary and have incubated a new life form that may or may not cause a global pandemic if i then open the lid and release said life form. which is why i don't risk it. and why i'm jealous of extranjera's maid, even if she does break the glassware. wine tastes the same out of juice glasses, i say. and if i had a maid, she could take care of those pots. also the one outside on the outdoor stove. that one's bad.

~ i'm a little envious of extranjera's creative post labels.

~ i totally have stewardess flight attendant envy. i know they're waitresses in the sky, but they're always so perfectly coiffed with beautiful makeup, artfully swept-back hair, pumps of just the right height, perfect nails and great jewelry, probably bought in duty frees around the world. and they travel all the time. i love to travel. and they get to hang out with pilots and pilots are often pretty cute. sigh, why oh why didn't i become a stewardess?  oh well, maybe it's not too late. SAS does stand for Sexy After Sixty, after all.

~ i'm not above threatening to blog about bad service in order to get better service (be watching for a post on this one coming soon, since it didn't really work).

~ i need to stop obsessing about follower numbers. but it's just so much fun. except when someone stops following and they go down. which seems to usually be after i swear too much or tweet about faulty usage of it's/its. dammit.

see, not always ranting

far too often, i'm complaining about some aspect of denmark and the danes that i simply cannot understand or appreciate, but not today. today, i'm madly in love. with all of it. that pretty little red and white flag. the copper roofs, the efficient public transportation. even that ridiculously tiny statue of a mermaid (granted, not a misrepresentation, as the word "little" is in her title). i am just loving it.

it's probably spring. it's probably because i'm flying today and flying always makes me happy. it's probably because the trains were totally on time and i was 20 minutes early for my morning meeting. maybe it's because i'm sitting in the gold lounge and they have some really yummy bread and sandwich fixings and english newspapers and a l'avenir chenin blanc from the western cape. maybe it's because i'm gonna get a venti latte at starbucks before i board my plane.

perhaps it's because since i got on the metro to the airport about an hour ago i've heard the following languages: russian, danish, english, portuguese, dutch, swedish, german, japanese and norwegian and i love hearing lots of languages. maybe it's check-in via SMS and then direct bag drop at the gold counter, followed by fast track security which means i'm in the lounge within 2 minutes of arriving at the airport (odin bless you, SAS). maybe it's that the computers for public use in the lounge are, you guessed it, iMacs (odin bless you again, SAS).

maybe it's light, bright, tastefully decorated government offices filled with top end designer furniture (so that's what they're doing with all that tax money). maybe it's unexpectedly realizing that the guy you've got an appointment with is the top guy and he made time for you. cool!

but really, it's because of the extremely pleasant hour and a half i spent discussing the environment with that top guy. i was completely reminded of all of the personality traits i really love about danes. they're so pragmatic and straight-forward. they're honest (as in candid) and logical and have lots of common sense (something i see lacking in my own country of birth whenever i visit--just think of airport security before your hackles raise, my american dahlings). danes are so funny in an ironic, dry way that i adore. and lastly, they don't hesitate to swear for emphasis. they're really, really good at swearing at the right moments to make a point or put you at ease.  and did i mention smart and well-thought out? well-argued?

so today, no ranting about the danes and denmark. just love. mad, spring love.

great adverts

i'm not usually one for posting you tube videos here (unless they make fun of sarah palin and let's face it, she's a bit over), but there are several ads running in denmark at the moment that are just so good that i want to share them. the danish ad people are really irreverant and innovative and they must be some of the best in the world.

the first is for carlsberg sport, a soft drink (kind of a cross between sprite and mountain dew). it takes place on an antarctic research base and depicts what happens when you get really bored all by yourself and have only penguins for companions. you'll get the idea without any translation:



and this one from scandinavian airlines does such a great job of capturing the ennui of business travel and i love, love, love the plane at the end, where it's just the orange and blue of the engine and tail--pared down to the simplest elements, but still recognizable as a plane--scandinavian design at its best. the man in the ad is uffe elleman jensen, a former danish foreign minister. the ad may be echoing lost in translation a bit as well, there's a lot going on and i find it very evocative.



and on the lighter side, a commercial for a mobile phone plan where a girl goes into the changing room to try on clothes during winter and is having so much fun with her phone that when she comes out, it's summer. check out the awesome wallpaper in the changing room. love:



my response to watching that the other day was, "as if her battery would last that long." for some reason, husband laughed uproariously at me for that.

i'm off to put my studio in order now. a real post later...

i'm back on form

because i haven't made any for awhile, i bring you two campaign buttons for tangobaby's presidential quest.  two because i couldn't really decide. you'll see....

it's totally amazing what a little fluffy snow will do for one's mood. 

i was even charmed by the plane being de-iced. those little de-icing machines are so futuristic-looking:

i have a strange affection for SAS:

i'm not sure if the affection stems from the elderly stewardesses (SAS = Sexy After Sixty) or the charming scandinavian mix of onboard staff--the humor of the danes, the style of the swedes, the tree-hugging-ness of the norwegians. whatever it is, if one can feel affection for an airline, then oddly, i do for SAS.

leaving on a jet plane

in just a few hours, this will be the view out my window. actually, i'm not sure i have a window, as i usually ask for an aisle, but i can always go into the bathroom and take a new picture, that's where i usually do it anyway. SAS is one of the few airlines that orders windows on their planes for their biz class bathrooms. funny, that. actually, i'll have to wait 'til morning to take a pic, as my flight leaves at 22:50, so it won't be all sunny and cheery like the one above.  why am i rambling on about this minutiae, even i'm getting bored...

anyway, just wanted to say that i'm off and the next time i post, i'll be here. i've not stayed there before, but it looks pretty cool and it's on raffles blvd., so it must be right in the heart of everything! ya gotta like that! catch ya sometime tomorrow...