Her plane landed little past noon.  She took her bags and walked towards the exit, looking for a McDonald's or a Burger King on the way, but there was no McDonald's or Burger King in sight.  She saw a small cafe at a corner across from an even smaller bar, entered the cafe and ordered a corassaint filled with plum jam that tasted like the one her grandmother makes. She enjoyed the corassaint with a hot cup of tea, not thinking about anything in particular, immersed in peaceful serenity, observing the scurrying passarsby.  After about a half hour she took her bag and stepped out into the grayness of the day.  She found herself standing on the sidewalk of a wide boulevard paved with stones, tall, black lanterns on the sidewalk.  Men and women with stylish ling coats were hurrying or strolling past her as if not seeing her at all.  She saw a taxi in the distances and walked towards it.  She got in, greeted and told the driver the address.  The taxi dropped her off in front of the hotel.  It was a small, old building on a quiet sidestreet.  There was no bell-boys, no valleys, no baggage carts.  There was only the tiny foyer with two old, but well kept arm chairs and a colorful fishtank that contrasted with the austerety of the surroundings.  The polite man at the reception, who was reading a newspaper when she came in, took out a large reservation book with leather covers and yellowish pages and checked off her name with his fountain pen.  He took her bag up a narrow, windign staircase to the 4th floor.  Her room was tiny, but had everything she needed.  It was clean and cozy and the bed was confortable.  The small window overlooked the street.  After the man left, she took warm shower and immersed herself into the book she had brough with her. 

(to be continued)

I admit with some embarrassment that I went to see it tonight.  It was exactly what I expected, but that's exactly what I wanted.  It's commercial and overdone.  Half of the movie was fashion propaganda!  The other half a badly done soap opera.  I loved it though--it cheered me up.  I feel much more beautiful after watching Sarah Jessica Parker for 2 hours and a quarter, or at least what you could see of her after they had dressed, styled, and put make up on her.  Same goes for any of them for that matter. 

Real life is beautiful.  It's much more incredible than people give it credit for.  Strange thoughts and doubts have been creeping inside my head lately.  It's most likely because I have too much time on my hands...  Yet, I lie awake at night and sleep till 2pm dreaming of bizarre alternate realities.  I am nervous about this summer.  It's my decision and a very important one.  I guess all I can do is think and wait and think again...

People today are always looking for the next hip restaurant, original music or authentic feel because they are flooded with corporate and commercial, or as I like to call it the generic.  From the generic brands of cloths and grocery stores, the generic cars and houses, through the generic art (what an oxymoron!), all the way to the generic people.  Those I see everyday everywhere I go--the professionals with suits, leather cases, gym shoes and bland looks on the train, the students all wrapped up in North Face (what is with that brand anyway?), those elderly suburban ladies gossiping about everyone...there is really no end to the list.  No wonder everyone is trying to break free of the generic and enter into the original.  Fewer and fewer have that luck. 

It was one of those nights--a mall restaurant, the name of which is irrelevant, the usual 40-min wait amidst the usual people of the generic brand.  No underground bars, punk-rock hairstyles, thigh-high boots, and good music.  Yet, there is nothing I would change about tonight.  Despite the generic surroundings it was an unforgettable experience.  Sometimes all you need to have fun are good spirits and the best cliche movie I have seen in a very long time.