Monday, January 25, 2010

January 25, 2010

"The" standby travel...

I think its the frickin groundhugs day... the same day keep happening over and over and over again.. let alone living it, i dont even want to write about it. getting ready for the airport, getting picked up by the same driver, carrying lugguges downstairs, 40min trip to airport, getting money out of the atm to pay him (yet again), waiting in the lobby cursing and hoping to get on...cross your fingers, smile at the CSRs, hope for a miracle (oh I donno maybe this force called god exists or at least shows up for the party tonight and does me a favor)

Friday, Saturday, Sunday...

then...
Finally, i got on the flight last night, last standby to get on, happy as a child settled in my window seat... thought about all the things I could do during the flight... read, watch a movie, sleep, eat, write... Although the guy next to me was extremely talkative, i didnt even mind listening to his uninteresting life in Vegas with his "girl". I was forgiving and tolerant...
an hour later we were deboarding due to a mechanical delay... We couldnt even get to a gate so they deboarded us in 40s and put us on a bus to the terminal. We waited in the terminal for 45min before re-boarding. The problem was fixed. Everyone was happy again... oh so they thought... we took our original seats. I even took my shoes off and put my light on to read my book. And even the kid next to me shut up. Everything was perfect. An hour later, still at the runway, waiting... and then the pilot regrets to announce: The problem is back and we are going to deboard to the terminal and the flight is most probably be cancelled.... at 3am i was home, again...


i dont know how long i can do this...

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

January 19

When I was studying statistics in college, one day my IE 393 teacher said: There are two types of errors in statistics.
1- A TRUE null hypothesis can be incorrectly REJECTED (Type I error)
2- A FALSE null hypothesis can be fail to be rejected. (Type II Error)

He then gave an example for us to relate better
1- Convicting an innocent person (Type I error)
2- Failing to convict a guilty person (Type II Error)

As a student who tried to apply every "class knowledge" to life, I tried to do the same with this piece of info. It stick with me and as I would meet new people, I would consider these potential errors in my pre-judgments. I think I mostly commit the Type II. I dont know why I starting to think this.
I guess as I am getting ready to make a change in life and move to Turkey; I am scared of being judged by people and actually being a victim of Type I.... we will see I guess.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

January 13

I am sitting at my desk and trying to make a plan for my future... starting at the near future: when and how to complete the work to be completed? As I keep covering it up and pushing it away, it grows bigger and bigger in my eyes. I need to start with a sentence, TODAY.
far future is yet to be worried about...Pressures of moving back to my hometown and living up to everyone's expectations... and more importantly living up to my own...finding a house, finding a job, finding a purpose and moving towards it... (to be continued)

... I have had an amazing 13days and I am happy.

Monday, December 28, 2009

December 28th

One last day before he comes...
I am here...anxious, excited and in-waiting

Monday, December 14, 2009

December 14th

No inspiration to form sentences... so here are my bullet points:
  • Watched Karanliktakiler (DH Score: 6.3 /10)
  • Watched In Search of a Midnight Kiss (DH Score: 6.7 /10)
  • Reading "Amerika Dersleri" Calvino...
Activities:
Long lunch at a parilla... wine/salad/steak
Chilling time at home
Wrote 2 disgustingly boring paragraphs.
Shower/ nap/ a glass of wine
Milonga at La Viruta -Black Label. (dancing and atmosphere: so so...It caused me interesting dreams though.)


Saturday, December 12, 2009

December 12th

I went to bed at 8pm...with a migrane
I woke up at 7:30am without one =)
I call this success.

i will read my calvino book until it is time for BA to wake up so I can have some breakfast. I need to write.. will I? that is the question...

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

December 7th

I woke up with the smell of freshly baked Medialunas coming from the small and cozy bakery downstairs, filling my room in Palermo. It must have been around 10:30am. I got up from my comfortable bed and walked towards my balcony, to open the curtains and formally welcome the new day. The sun accompanied with a soft breeze greeted me and I smiled. I had to take a walk...

After a quick shower, I left my house with my computer and a book. Palermo is one of Buenos Aires’ most colorful and hip neighborhoods. In this city, there is something surprising waiting for you at every corer… Let it be a graffiti, a cute accessories store, a coffeehouse that you have never seen before or a couple making out passionately. Flirtatious whistles follow you as you walk on Buenos Aires' streets. It doesn't bother me today. I take a short but fulfilling walk to one of the cafes I like working from: Bar6. I spend almost all day there... breakfast first, a coffee afterwards and the final touch was the shrimp and rice wok. It was hard to concentrate on any sort of work or personal writing while I was researching for airline tickets for Erhat and I think I was extremely frustrated with every airline in the world. -Now, (the next day) embodying a completely different mood, it is hard to remember my levels of frustration -

Around 5pm, I left Bar 6 with a to-go box that carried half of my lunch, which now became: dinner. At home, in order to get over my so spoilt frustration, I watched couple of my lame tv. shows. Because I set my mind to dancing tango tonight, I took a 2 hour nap around 10pm. When I woke up, I was feeling already better... The cab ride to Salon Canning was 10peso worth, and very slow. We were there around 1...2...3...4...5...5:30... It was daylight when we left... The night was good, fun, busy.

We came home around 6am, and after checking my emails, I went to bed. It was hard to sleep... at 10:30 am, I woke up and as usual, immediately checked my email. Since then, I cant stop smiling! =) He is coming.


Saturday, December 5, 2009

December 5th

after genuinely exciting times with friends with a bit of an emotional roller coaster now and then, there is a long week ahead of me...

It was amazing to have my friends here...Pinar/Gizem/Ali got here on Friday, 27th...we covered much touristy and local ground in Buenos Aires...
Friday:
Bar 6-breakfast
MALBA
Cabanas Las Lilas (steak)
Saturday:
La Madeline -breakfast
Recoleta Cemetary & Fair
Floris Generica
Cafe Tortoni
Sunday:
La Boca - caminito
San Telmo
Museum of Nature and Science
Japonese Gardens (Pinar's favorite) !! bad mosquito incident!!
Monday:
Colonia, URUGUAY (WOW!)
Tuesday:
Oui Oui -breakfast
Puerto Madeiro
Florida Av = shopping
La Cabrera (Steak)
Wednesday-Friday: IGUAZU!!
Friday:
Sudestada (South Asian food)
Green Label in Terrace
La Cabana (steak)

I am exhausted... I worked a bit today, watched couple tv shows, went to Sarah's for dinner and am lying in my bed trying to organize my thoughts and to-do list in my head/blog.
~
off to dreams...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

November 25, 2009

WORK DAY*

Trying to cram as much work as possible before Galipınar get here! Got up around 10:30 and worked on the thesis for 10hours! the only break was when I talked to my boyfriend online oh and ate (kinda : eggs in the morning, salad later on, and a very blend spaghetti) soon I will leave for a milonga (La Catedral)...
la la la...

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

November 24, 2009

Happy TEACHER'S Day Mom!

Very productive day at Malasartes (2nd office)
  • Rented the best apartment in Palermo for my best friends! We will live in luxury for one week, within a two bed*two bathroom, new-big kitchen, balcony and a terrace all to ourselves!
  • Bought a phone card (though it doesnt work with my phone )
  • Wrote 1000words
  • Asked the Pilates place for schedule
  • Practica X *Tango - good dances!


Monday, November 23, 2009

November 22, 2009

Spontaneously picked up my bag and went to Mar Del Plata with Sarah on Saturday morning. We chilled by the beach, grabbed coffee and walked around, had a nice conversation accompanied by a bottle of wine and then went to eat... We had a picada and an other bottle of wine at the first bar(Kerry Keel- http://www.kerrykeel.com.ar/inicio.html) We had conversations with the bartender who did modern dance and waiters that Sarah already knew. Everything was ok when we left Kerry Keel and went to the bar around the corner: La Bodeguita ( http://www.labodeguitamdq.com/index2.html) We had couple whiskeys and lots of conversations in Spanish. I remember talking about politics, economy, writing and traveling within 4 different conversations. I guess the way to the language speaking part of the brain opens up with alcohol! We came to the hotel around 5am.

Sunday: The worst hangover of my life. I honestly thought I was going to die... Yet I survived the day under the sun and 5hour bus ride back.

Friday, November 20, 2009

November 20, 2009

November 19, Thursday was a good day overall... Woke up around 11am, stayed in bed for longer... finally got up around 1 and walked to an old "office cafe" Malasartes in Plaza Serrano with Irina and Lee (who came from Chicago on Wednesday) As I have declared that day to be a "pleasure day" I didnt do any technical writing. I decided to start writing a new story... Without a specific idea in mind, I started typing...(in Turkish) I wrote for the next 3hours and currently am pretty curious about my character. She seems interesting and I hope as I get to know her, she doesnt disappoint me. This alone, the ability to spend time writing satisfied me and made me happier than I have been in a while. In the evening, we had dinner at an amazing restaurant by our house: SUSHI!! The waitress was a pretty hot and she took good care of us. As we got home, we rebuilt the energy to go out to a milonga... after consecutive showers, picking outfits and make up; we were ready around 1am to leave the house.. We walked to a milonga and faced utter disappointment. There was noone at Salon Canning. Without even going in, we continued to the next one: La Viruta. An other semi-disappointment. La Viruta who is always filled with charming dancers appeared like a room full of the readers of "How to Dance Tango for Dummies". I had a good dance with Rod, a friend from Chicago and a beer. Rod brought my new bank card: Finally I am independent again!....We returned home at 3 and went to bed.

November 20: Today was a bad day. I am tired (yet I am suppose to meet a friend of mine in a short while), Lee had some emergency health problems which scared us and we had to spend some time in the hospital, I didnt really accomplish any work or writing today, I spent a loooong time online searching for tickets (to Iguazu) and on the phone... Not much accomplishment there either. I have to physically go to the office to buy the tickets by 1pm tomorrow...argh....

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

November 18, 2009

Rainy day... I feel mellow and lonely in a rainy day. Even when I am not far away from people I miss, or when I am not distant from the person i want to be; I still feel lonely...
~*~*~*~*~*

Last night, after a long time, Irina and I went to a Milonga: Practica X. We got dressed up, and took our lately underused tango shoes for a night out. After couple of dances, I was back in the mood for more tango in my life. I have enjoyed the dances and the feeling that the slippery floor gave me. I came back around 2, played couple rounds of the word game that Derya recently introduced me to. (I will yet have to beat her more than once as this drives me crazy) I went to bed around 3...

~~~~~
3am, just came back from a milonga. Now this sounds more like Buenos Aires!... (Milonga: El Beso, Dance Count: 4, Good Dancers: 1.5)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

November 17, 2009

I guess today deserves a summary of the past 5 days... I should be able to fit it in one blog entry since it hasn't been extremely "happening"...

Thursday - A visit to old office: "Casa Bar"
Irina and I left the house to have couple drinks at Casa Bar, and say hi to friends and ex-colleagues. It was nostalgic and interesting to be back. Patrick was his usual self: miserably unhappy and unsatisfied. Still, I did enjoy seeing him again. I think he would be a great character in one of my books... Loner, boring life, filled with self pity, hates everyone, desperate for friendship, unable to confess, extreme drinker, smoker, cat lover bar owner. I gave him a bottle of Jagermeister that I brought from USA. Sarah joined our modest table half an hour later. We shared summer stories, future plans, wine & whiskey, smokes with friends. Later on, as I was getting ready for my chevalier action of taking on the check, I had one of my usual freak-out moments about not finding stuff in my bag. (Trust me my bag can swallow the whole universe) Unfortunately this time, i had the right to freak-out. My wallet was not there. My only credit card, 300pesos, 2US IDs, some memories and my calm were gone with the wallet... -I did whats necessary and drank more. J/K I took care of credit cards and my anger. Everything is fine now.

Friday - Girl's Night In, Girls Night Out
Irina was worrying me about how much ice she thought we needed for the "girls night out" that was going to be only 3 girls. She kept making more and more ice. I watched.

Candice came over around 11, a bit later than promised. However she had a bottle of Vodka and Grapefruit juice in her hand, which made everything ok. (or better). And we had ice.(thankfully) We had good conversation along with strong drinks and went out around 2am. It's safe to say that I didnt have amazing balance by that time. Irina took us to the bar that is 2blocks away from our house, which is always packed. Sarah joined us within half an hour, completely sober! After 2,3,5 shots; I dragged myself home, somehow I got in, and was able to even open the door for Irina when she came back.

Saturday - The Hat Party
I know now, why they have those hangover pills. I couldnt move my head, fingers, eyelashes until 8pm... I didnt even drink water because the kitchen was really far away. Irina might have been in better shape than I was. She did the dishes. I cant understand how, she must have a superpower. By 8pm, we had to get up and put something in our stomach. 4-5blocks away from the house, we found the place that suited our appearance the most... The most casual steakhouse in the neighborhood.

When we returned to the house, Irina reminded me about the Museums hosting free events that night. Although I sent her a very sarcastic look, she convinced me to take a shower, get dressed and leave the house. "We are in Buenos Aires, Deniz!"... Yes... we are. We would then go to the "Hat Party" where everyone had to wear hats. Although I have 5million and one clothing items here in BA, I couldnt find one single hat. Thankfully Irina had 2.

The Immigration Museum (How fitting that we went there!) had an international food court in the garden. Agustin, Johnny, Candice and Sarah were already there. We hung around for a bit, watched some "international" dances and food and then went to the famous hat party Agustin was talking about. (Well, first we each waited in one corner of the road to stop a cab -for abour 30-40mins) Our main goal at the party was to meet the "Folder Girl", the girl who made a folder with Agustin's pictures after their second date. The goal was accomplished. We danced, drank champagne and had lots of fun.

Sunday - Mac and Cheese

Dinner at Sarah's. Johnny and Sarah made mac&cheese, one of the best and richest I have even eaten. We smoked hookah, drank wine, played with the dog, chatted... etc... I picked up all the luggage that I have left at their place in May... WOW... I have lots of shit.


Thursday, November 12, 2009

November 12,2009

This of course had to happen the second day that I came to Buenos Aires... I went to Casa Bar to visit my old environment and lost my wallet... well I guess more than "losing" it I had it stolen!... GREAT welcome back!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

November 11, 2009

Guess who is back in town?!

how does Buenos Aires feel like after a 5month time-off? well, i will need to properly sit down and examine, understand, express my feelings...

right now, I am at Johnny's new office in Palermo and will be working intensely (like a normal person) for a week to finish some stuff up, and make money...

last night, we had sushi and amazing Malbec wine at a new place in Palermo, called Budabar. i remember my spanish, and the taste of great wine here. I have missed the people I left behind and this colorful city. I had "the best medialunas in town" this morning with Johnny's special coffee... so far, so good.

(more to come)

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

June 30 -Sapanca, Turkey

home country...

Observation #1: Worst traffic in the whole world: Istanbul
Observations #2: Breakfast including all sorts of Turkish pastries ROCKS! Excessive care and attention, NOT SO MUCH.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Memlekete 7 kala

7days to the motherland...

is it harder to get inspired in summer?


Saturday, June 20, 2009

June 20th

So it has been a while since I wrote here... Busy-ness and laziness go hand in hand in this absentee. 

Coming to Chicago was/is like meeting up with an ex-boyfriend whom you still have feelings for. It has been 3 weeks. I have missed my family and friends here so much... but I am accustomed to that feeling...

Time has gone by so fast... so far:

Meeting up with ex co-workers, and friends
Day&Night conversations with Derya
Cursing at the weather (also something we secretly (maybe) enjoy  doing in Chicago)
Seeing Paris Hilton at a Club
Work for EliteHealth
Darkroom discoveries and fun
Meeting for Lunch in the loop
Milongas (dancing more than I did in BA!=) )
Tango performance at Sonotheque
Visa Rejection from Germany
Thai, Cuban, Japanese food
Happy Hour Drinks