Monday, February 16, 2009

RUB MY NOSE IN ICING SUGAR














We're meant to do this assignment for Developing the Novel where we make a detailed list of things that make us happy, an excercise inspired by that woman Barbara Ann Kipfer's book 14,000 Things to be Happy About (actually, Panda, I mailed you one of her books a couple months ago The Wishlist). Kind of EXTREMELY Maria from The Sound of Music singing about brown paper packages, but, I have a definite love of lists, so I'll attempt (and I'll try not to make it too fashion-focused):

*complete towns of pastel coloured buildings with white accents in Curacao
*road-tripping from Vegas to San Jose and back with Panda
*the idea of hiding out in a half empty motel in Mexico with nothing but notebooks and pens for writing and a bottle of red wine; or more. There must also be a leafy pool.
*long letters (writing them and receiving them)
*all you can eat grilled cheese sandwiches by the pool at All-Inclusive hotels
*fresh notebooks without the lines
*the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle that is so aptly portrayed in Hanif Kureishi's AMAZING novels
*smooth prominent collarbones
*the shape of perfectly waxed thick eyebrows (I notice a lot of Arab and Indian girls have the most perfect kind)
*browsing new words in dictionaries just for fun
*warmth; namely sweaters that provide it (I collect them), and being able to stay in and just do nothing but sit in my sweater.
*the intense energy and the feeling of invincibility I get after doing mantras, breathing and yoga (completely beats Prozac)
*heavy rain storms back home in Trinidad, waking up from the racket of one (sounds like bullets falling from the sky onto the roof), being pissed, then realizing it's a Saturday and I don't have to get up
*watching old school Tom and Jerry episodes late in bed when everyone is asleep, in Abu Dhabi
*Long bus rides around London (people totally flip out when I choose to spend hours on buses to meet them instead of taking the tube)
*unexpected emails or packages in the post (I got some recent things that MUST be posted about. Stay tuned!)
*People like Mary Kate Olsen who pair the most hideous and unlikely things together and make something completely jaw-dropping, so much so that it just becomes its own living invincible thing.
*Asian eyes
*Iced Chai Tea Lattes from Starbucks
*going to Wagamama and just having to sit there because they already know what you want (and it's in front of you in an instant and it's just as amazing as the first time you tried it - Amai Udon)
*Setting to work scouring an densely packed charity shop
*finding a perfectly mixed Virgin Pina Colada (this is my favourite drink...I'm like a connoisseur about it. It's such a sad thing for me when I order one and it's not 'together')
*Lounging around in big soft worn tshirts, but only when my legs are shaved (alternatively, I like to see women in movies and editorials smoking a cigarette and wearing nothing but a crisp men's shirt
*the nape of my boyfriend Panda's neck
*the way he stretches in bed and the sleepy scent he gives off when he's tired/sleeping
*telling people I'm a writer; I get a tingle. My writing career is actually happening!
*buying and testing out toiletries and new products (notice I didn't say make-up; not make-up; rather things like face wipes or washes, lotions, sprays, body scrubs blah blah...)
*how people hold and smoke their cigarettes and their bottles of beer
*familiarizing myself in a definitely abnormal way with the lives of people and their friends in their photo blogs; especially when it looks as stylish and chill as the sets on Epicly Later'd and The Skullset (see blog roll)
*Interiors on The Selby (see blog roll again) and elsewhere where the styling is so careless and chill yet very thought out. When things are just thrown together, but with purpose. (does that make sense?)
*scalding baths back home in Abu Dhabi where I have access to my own bath tub, rather than a communal shower in campus housing (egh!)
*being extremely busy and tired at the end of the day, but only when it's amazing projects that you can't believe you're part of and are working on (right now my life is like this and it just keeps getting better and better. Not looking forward to the inevitale crash that will soon follow)
*white, black and grey t-shirts with the right kind of baggy fit
*girls who are so in their own world that they look a mess; it's the beautiful type of mess I enjoy.
*being the one sitting at a gate at the airport, ready to board (when all the packing and stress of rushing is over with and you can think about what you're going to do when you hit the next country at the end of the day)....

[images: a random-ass set of inspiration (a mon avie) photos on my desktop: The Skullset (5), The Selby (1), my own (1), The Lookbook (1), Epicly Later'd (3) and The Cobra Snake (1)]

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