A very lazy day. Very lazy indeed.
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Author: Wilfrid
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Dialogues at a Restaurant
What a good life. Woke up at late afternoon, went out and bought my water supply and FF20 worth of strawberry. Not very sweet at all, but I love strawberry. Still remember those days back in the strawberry field in UK. Sweet strawberry, big strawberry and fresh strawberry. Oh, those good old days.
Actually wanted to go down to Champs-Elysees for a movie, the Ghost and the Darkness. Went into a Thai Restaurant and had quite an unusual experience. On my left was two well-pass-mid-age ladies speaking in English. While on my right was a honeymoon couple from HK. I understood perfectly well what they were talking about.
I think I am really detached from HK as I really don’t think I can ever imitate their accent. (Why I use “their” by the way?) The guy was doing the talking all the time and the pretty wife (yeah, very pretty indeed) just listened. If I was the girl, I think his conversation was pretty dry and boring. Talking about his childhood and working progression. I mean, does she know it already by now? And talked about how he charmed his ladies and so on. Somewhere along the story, this wife of his wanted a watch, so he sent somebody up to her (office?) with a box of watches so that she could just select one. How romantic <flat voice>.
Towards the end of the dinner, one of the lady on my left wanted a cigarette. I mean she spent a few minutes explaining that it was very rude and so on. I mean, if you want one, you have one. As simple as that. At the end, she bought me a drink and I wanted a cup of tea. Totally unnecessary.
And I bought a CD, “Elysian Fields”. Kind of very dark music but I just liked it. First CD I bought in Paris this trip so far.
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FF308 Valentine Day Dinner, Alone
Last night I slept at 9:00 pm, incredible! And I have missed my “Tonight Show”. After sleeping for 10 and a half hours, I was totally retarded the whole day. Being so slow and so quiet and so on.
Called my girlfriend late afternoon, Singapore time and she told me that after 4 years of training, she finally received roses on Valentine’s Day (though the roses were not so fresh). What a relief! Really gone through a lot of trouble ordering those flowers.
And I worked late with Michel. After work, I went down to Champs-Elysees and could not find one single restaurant I want to walk into. So I walked and walked and ended up very near to the Eiffel Tower. A very nice restaurant (expensive as well, cost FF308) overlooking the Eiffel Tower. I was the only single there and all others were lovers. Oh, I miss being with my girlfriend.
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Welcome to World Wide Wilf Interactive System (WWWIS)
copyright 1997
Good evening. Today is 14th Feb, check out the Valentine Special Forum.
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Topics
- A Little Bit of History
- Special Report – Valentine in Paris
- A Few Interviews
- A Few Thoughts
- Feedback
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It was only a few days ago had I discovered the history behind Valentine’s Day due to my inadequate level of common knowledge. According to one of the writing in the Net, Valentine’s Day is a day for memory of the death of St. Valentine, a priest who had secretly married a lot of couples during the war time and this noble action had unfortunately gone against the wish of the King as only single men were required to go into battle. He was executed in the name of Love. Very touching, isn’t it? We shall all have a minute of silence for the Love of St. Valentine.
[ready] read message 2
Thinking that Paris is a Paradise of Romance, I cruised along the streets of Paris center in order to feel Love, to embrace Love and to lose myself into the immense atmosphere of Love.
So I went down to Champs-Elysees, the famous street of Paris and witnessed a lot of couples together. People selling flowers everywhere and when I looked into the faces of the couples, I found one thing in common, the girls smiled sweetly with a bunch of flowers while the guys didn’t seem to enjoy the whole occasion at all! I had one theory before I set off, that is, no pretty single lady will walk alone on a Valentine night. True enough, there wasn’t any.
Not only we have the normal kind of lovers. I saw man and man walking very closed by each other. I saw ladies walking in pair with affection(?) and I guess in this century, love has not restricted herself into man and woman relationship and has truly become, universal.
The French always pride themselves very romantic (romantique), so my mission tonight was to see how true it is. I looked into McDonald’s and could only find some groups of boys and girls and tourists. Okay, at least they won’t just dine cheap.
And all the restaurants were packed. There were more than 30 couples queuing up in front of Planet Hollywood. Really wanted to check out whether Stallone was in house but it was just too packed. Normally I wouldn’t walk into a restaurant alone in such an occasion but in order to complete this report, I have got to do it.
So I chose one which overlook the Eiffel Tower. I thought it was a good place for rendezvous so I just walked to wherever my feeling told me to. Inside the restaurant, there were two wings. I just called them the Left Wing and the Right Wing for simplicity. Initially I wanted a table by the window but I thought I should have the courtesy to reserve those seats for the lovers. So I was being sat right in the middle of the Wing. Around me was a line of tables arranged in a U-shape. Felt kind of uncomfortable. Just imagine, you are in the middle while all the couples eating around you.
Love was indeed all around. Funny enough, they all had live seafood. Maybe the French believe that it is good for the S drive afterwards, who knows?
[ready] read message 3
Tonight’s guests are all basically my clients. Really curious on what other cultures think of St. Valentine’s Day and to see how “romantique” a Frenchman is.
Our first guest is Nick, a truly handsome Frenchman, medium built, who just have a new born baby. As we were walking along the street, I began my interview.
Nick :
Me :
Nick : It is just commercial. Why must it be on one particular day ..
Me : Well ..
Nick : Why can’t it be just any day else except the 14th of February.
Me :
Nick :
Me : And flowers as well?
Nick : And it is so stupid. And we are going to have Grandfather and Grandmother day ..
Me : Really?
Nick : .. in France and it is just for commercial.
Me :
Nick : My wife is in the hospital.
Me :
Nick : Nothing special, just for a night.
Me :
My next guest is Moha, one of my best buddy here. A North African and Muslim who believe in “Plutonic Love”. What the hell is “Plutonic Love”? You got to ask him for this, something like you love another woman with a distance, besides your wife.
Moha :
Me : Yeah, you know I am always free at night. How come?
Moha : We will have a dinner then.
Me :
Moha :
Me :
Moha :
Me :
Moha :
A few days after.
Me : Tell me, what is the first picture or word that strikes you when you heard of the word “Valentine”?
Moha :
Me :
Moha :
Me :
Moha : ..
Me :
Moha :
Me : Yes, Sophie. So? What’s the answer?
Moha : Sophie.
Mike, a heavily built, happily married (I think) Romanian with a rugged look.
Me : Mike, what do you think of when you first hear the word “Valentine”?
Mike : Commercial.
Me : That’s it? Does your wife like Valentine’s Day at all?
Mike :
Me : Do you?
Mike :
Me : Does your wife expect a present or flowers?
Mike :
Me : Have you brought your present yet?
Mike :
Me :
Mike :
Me :
Mike :
And we only have one lady guest, Aurore, with us tonight. (For I don’t really dare to go up and ask Sophie the same question.) It was kind of hard for me to ask as knowing that she properly doesn’t have a lover at the moment, it could be quite an embarrassment. But she is very open minded so I just have to be careful.
Me : Aurore, may I ask you one question?
Aurore :
Me : What is the first image or sound that strike you when you hear the word “Valentine”?
Aurore :
Me :
Aurore : Yes, Love.
Me :
Aurore :
Me : Okay, you don’t have to tell me.
Aurore : Well, I need long sleep.
Me :
Aurore :
Me :
Aurore :
Me :
Aurore : Maybe I should explore my area ..
Me : As you have just moved into a new place, right?
Aurore : That’s right and I need to find a Bread Store.
Me : You mean, a Bakery.
So we talked about supermarkets in Paris center instead.
Our next guest is another truly Frenchman, living together with his girlfriend. They love each other a lot (4 years) but have no plan of marriage. Guess what’s his name. That is Wilfrid. Yes, the one with the letter “I”. Shorter than me but with very cheerful personality. He preferred to be called Willie so as to avoid confusion.
Me :
Willie : My girlfriend, present and flowers.
How sweet! And he actually went on with the present and the kind of flower his girlfriend like. Truly romantic. He continued with the detail description of a romantic dinner. I was so scared that he would go on and describe what happened after dinner, I had to stop him. As it is not professional enough to talk about one’s S life during office hour.
Me : So, what are you planning to do tonight?
Willie : Japanese food with my girlfriend.
Me :
Willie :
Me :
Willie :
Me :
Willie : Oh ..
Me : Oh ..
Our last guest tonight is not exactly my buddy during the office hour. He is what I call, a Bug Explorer. Our nature of work conflicts from time to time. A very tall and fair North African with a very neat and fashionable beard. Nobody knows if he has love at all as he had once declared that he hated social meeting and he hated people. But to complete this mission, I have got to approach him.
Me :
Noubi : My girlfriend.
Me :
Noubi : Yes.
Me : But I thought you hate everything!
Noubi : As a matter of fact, yes.
Me :
Noubi : What do YOU think of then?
Me : Me?
Noubi : Yes, you.
Me : Well, the first image is a Big Pink Heart-Shaped Balloon.
Noubi : In fact, me too.
[ready] read message 4 -option -summarized
It is a day of celebration, with the one(s) you love. As we can see, the formula is always the same. The flower, the present (and card, perhaps), the dinner and some private time with your lover(s) before the night ends.
A perfect example of “I-give-you-take” for men. Totally headache to shop for a present, to reserve a bunch of flowers (with an exceptionally high price) and to book for a nice restaurant with so many people siting around with you. Thought it would have been nice if it is being done on a different day instead. Probably men are so tired that they just doze off to sleep after dinner.
When I returned to the Hotel, I planed to interview some of the lady receptionists who were unfortunate enough not being able to stay with their lovers. To my relief, I could only find one guy at the reception. Love is all around.
It is a special day for lovers. Hope you all enjoy your Valentine’s Day and let’s make it a night to remember.
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100 Million French Franc Lotto
100 million French Franc. Can you imagine? That’s is the Lotto of this week. So me, Mohamed, Michel, Nicolas and Willie gathered together, each of us contributed 100 FF. And the tickets are with Nicolas right now. Just wondering if we do win 100 million, will we ever see Nicolas again. Could have been a very nice story line.
Today, very busy doing knowledge transfer. Like I said, don’t wish too hard or you may get it. And I spent a very stressful day.
Tomorrow is Valentine Day. I really miss my girlfriend.
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French Loves to Flirt?
Got an Email from Grace this morning saying that they are planning to visit Euro-Disney. Wow! I mean how I have been looking forward to have someone to come with me and it is such a “family” thing. Been alone for too long.
Listen to this, the people working in Societe Generale has one mentality – that is to flirt (f**k) around. And according to Mohamed (who believe in only two kinds of woman, one is “goat” or “animal” and the other one is “feeling” and “sentiment”), people just stay together for a while and break up. What a culture!
Grace is thinking of getting me into BNP. Well, do I really want it? I don’t know. Really don’t know. Bridgit Fonda was on Tonight Show. What a girl! I have never seem someone so naturally feminine in my life (except my girlfriend when I first knew her).
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A Few Random Thoughts (1)
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Topics (12/02/97)
- Culture Shock
- Logic Talk
- A Very Tiny Discovery
- A Very Tiny Entertainment Preview
- 7 Deadly Sins
- Feedback
[ready] read message 1
When men get together, there is only one single topic that goes across all language and culture barriers. You know what I mean. No need to spell it out.
According to my clients (you know where they come from), there are only two types of women existing in this breathing world. The “goat” and the “sentimental”. Well, to translate to English, I think they meant “slut” and “angel”. I was a bit confused, so I asked them to educate me. The “goat” inevitably behaves in an “animal” way. And I do think this is very pictorial and easily understood. (Got to admit that they are very direct with this!) They are the ones just meet and do it, in a primitive way.
The “sentimental” type is harder for me to swallow. They are the ones who have “feeling” with the partners they are with, even though they may be having two or more at the same time. So to translate, I think one is called “One Night Stand” and the other is called “Affairs”. No wonder they told me that it is very “usual” that men are having more than one woman at the same time here. And it is very “common” for colleagues to this thing each other.
[ready] read message 2
One fine evening, I was (unfortunately) working late with one client. He is darker than me so I call him Muddy in here.
Muddy : Your enemy’s enemy is your enemy.
Me : What!? I think you are wrong!
Muddy :
Me : I think your enemy’s enemy is your friend. (0,0)=1
Muddy : Nope. It’s enemy.
Me : Okay, your friend’s friend is your friend, right? (1,1)=1
Muddy :
Me : Your friend’s enemy is your enemy. (1,0)=0
Muddy :
Me : Your enemy’s friend is your enemy. (0,1)=0
Muddy :
Note : In PERFECT model, we have Logic Negate Exclusive OR (N-XOR).
It took me a while to take in all the negation and when I relate this into real life, and real experience, I seemed to have thought otherwise.
Me : Okay, let’s be frank. Your enemy’s friend could be your friend. (0,1)=1
Muddy :
Me : And your friend’s enemy could be your friend. (1,0)=1
Muddy : Maybe.
Me : And your friend’s friend could be your enemy! (1,1)=0
Muddy : Maybe.
Me : So your enemy’s enemy could be your friend! (0,0)=1
Muddy : See, you’ve learnt! Ho! Ho!
Note : In REALITY model, we have Logic Negate AND (NAND).
Are we just bored or what!!
Exercise : Try this. If I say that (perfect model) your lover’s lover is you and your ex-lover’s ex-lover is also you, try out all other cases. And in reality model, we may have, your lover’s lover could be him. Try that out as well. Answer attached.
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Probably you are sick with all the comparison so I will keep it short.
When someone is too demanding, I may said, “He drained me out”. That is to say he has drained all my energy out of my mind or body. But the French will said, “He pumped me up”. Drain and pump is so fundamentally different and the only thing that is possibly fundamentally similar is that in both cases, I am being referred as a water tank.
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The long awaiting U2 album is due to be out sometime in March. Always heard the new single “Discotheque” on air, truly techno in a U2 style. They still claim that it is a rock album but we have to wait and see in March.
David Bowie, just turned 50, is getting more weird. With the new album called, “Earthling”, and personally I don’t think you’ve heard anything like that. Any of you heard of “Little Wonder”, just wonder how the hell they remix the whole damn song.
Cyndi Lauper just came out a new album. She wrote the whole album with her band-mate Jane (I think) and it’s kind of modern. Mind you, her high pitch voice is still there.
Don’t watch “The Crow – The City of Angel” unless you are a big fan of the comic.
[ready] read message 5
Ever since I arrived in this dreamland, I have commit all the 7 deadly sins. I eat like a pig and every night has this nightmare of being haunted by the cows, lambs and ducks which I had consumed during daytime. Hence, gluttony. I sleep like a pig during weekends and wake up at 8 am in the morning. Hence, sloth. With all the bugs in the system, I raged. As I am the only one who is qualified to say, “Hey man. I know a bug when I see one. This is NOT a bug”, I fantasized myself as superman, hence pride. Too much cyber sex and detail skipped, is that lust? My quality of life seems to have improved quite dramatically but I am still not happy at all. Right now I demand an international phone on my desk (and probably won’t get it), that is greed.
Lastly, I ENVY you guys back home eating all the home cook food and all those beautiful curry chicken and Dim Sum. Hey, next time when you cannot finish your food, think about ME. Someone somewhere is dying to taste what you are about to throw away. GET THAT??
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[feedback] I THINK YOUR STORIES SUCK AND YOUR MIND IS SCREWED.
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Answer for message 2.
[Perfect Model]
Your lover’s lover is you. (1,1)=1
Your ex-lover’s ex-lover is you. (0,0)=1
Your lover’s ex-lover is him. (1,0)=0
Your ex-lover’s lover is him. (0,1)=0
[Reality Model]
Your ex-lover’s ex-lover could be you. (0,0)=1
Your lover’s ex-lover could be you. (1,0)=1
Your ex-lover’s lover could be you. (0,1)=1
Your lover’s lover could be him!! (1,1)=0
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I’m an Idiot
Yesterday I felt like a superhuman, today I felt like an idiot. Well, I think I still have a lot to learn in real working life.
Aurore and Noubi was not with me the whole day as they had a demo to do with the Spanish. Sophie was sick so I was pretty freed of distraction. Had a nice phone call with my girlfriend and the Florist drove me insane. I still couldn’t get hold of them.
Stayed late quite a fair bit with Mohamed and Wilfrid (French) and finally found that they run a wrong version of VTF, as I had suspected.
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More SIRs
Today, I had the best mood. I have replied 10 SIR. My ever best record and the whole day I was so wild. Felt like a superhuman. And I got to listen to the new Cyndi Lauper Album. I think I really like it. And I finally found the novel, “Emma”, in one of the record store. Great day, isn’t it?
Michel was back after his one week sudden departure. And everything is just the same as they were.
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This is My Life
I definitely I have been deeply affected by “The Crow” way of life. Got up at 2 in the afternoon and ordered a bouquet of roses for JP in the coming Valentine Day. Had a nice shower and read my classic novel with nice kind of music. Faint sunlight came quietly into my room. Sitting comfortably by the bed and I was thinking to myself. This is definitely my kind of lifestyle. I begin to find myself.