Category Archives: bio

The Twitter Diaries: Sept 2007

2: just back online after a weekend in Taos. Nice. Lots of art, some of it good. I got myself a fabulous ring.

3: feeling quite sick this morning. Don’t know if it’s yesterday’s BBQ or last night’s email bomb from my mother

more Ross: https://www.beginningwithi.com/Woodstock/rd070831.html

4: @lskrocki Duncan Retreat, B&B belonging to friend of a friend’s sister. Turns out we had common friends in Bangkok in the 60s

talked to both E and Ross yesterday, nice. Ross is in a Bollywood style production of Taming of the Shrew. Must get there in time to see it!

5: last day in Colorado tomorrow, heading on to the Bay Area to see lots of old friends, make new ones, and, oh, yes, work.

finally caught up translating Ross’ fotolog https://www.beginningwithi.com/Woodstock/rd070831b.html

I love online checkin!

6: a bit tired in San Francisco, trying to rest up before a week of complete insanity, followed by a week of likely stressful travel

7: Ross and the American expert: https://www.beginningwithi.com/Woodstock/rd070906.html

chi ci sara’? (aparte me) http://it.sun.com/sunnews/events/2007/sept/jc07/

@delymyth – benissimo! girl geeks forever!

@amandalorenzani at this horrible hour of the morning you’re at the airporrt?!?

waking up to good espresso, getting ready to take a train to Menlo Park. Very un-American, I know.

at a flexwork office at Sun Menlo Park. Mousepad says “Open work -the way we work at Sun” – photo: woman leaping w/laptop on beach. OTT?

8: stuck in the middle with respiratory problems: http://tinyurl.com/2x3erx

@jeffreytaylor I’m actually glad I’m NOT in Italy for the Pavarotti death fest.

a Woodstock classmate and I are startled to find that we now both work for Sun.

the calm before the storm… resting up before an intense week

I’ve been mostly out of the 200 blogs/day rat race for the last month, and glad to be. Now I’m going to sweep out the ones I haven’t missed.

enjoying a quiet day with old friend/former boss, tonight 40th party for another old friend/former boss, tomorrow… madness begins!

9:

“a major advantage of working for or doing business with Sun is that we’re too disorganized to be evil.” http://tinyurl.com/2ehd6q

I don’t like marketing via Twitter. I’m here to hear from friends, not advertisers.

about to settle down and watch TV (something I only do in hotels) – and remote doesn’t work. A sign?

10:

small changes: http://www.fotolog.com/rossella/20740143 when I was in school, there were few apples or pears anywhere in India!

must… stay… awake…

feeling America’d out. Too many “personalities” filling the vapid airwaves & occupying undeserved corners of my brain. Out, out, damned fool

11:

awake since 4 am and I don’t have jet lag!

wash my face, pop a pill, look at myself in the mirror, and – showtime, folks!

12:

another tiring day of filming

some companies don’t allow alcohol at company functions. Fortunately, this is not one of them.

13:

responding to a very harsh email from my mother. Not pleasant.

@michaelverdi – joining us for drinks at House of Shields Friday?

@kekkoz try “American Gods” instead

14:

back in SFO, looking forward to the weekend in the city, though I have some errandy stuff to get through tomorrow

who else is coming to the SFO meetup tomorrow? http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/261606

@scobleizer – congrats to you and Maryam. Have to say, though, Milan sounds to me like a football team. (soccer, that is)

@caseymckinnon I keep seeing people who remind me of you. Fortunately, none of them with Hitler mustaches.

@manfrys – a Halloween ho visto una vestita da “sock monster” – quello che, appunto, abita nella lavatrice e mangia i calzini

@mafe per la prima volta?!? Era uno dei film preferiti di mia figlia, da piccola. Burton e’ decisamente un genio. Anche un pazzo furioso

15:

just had a nice evening with videobloggers and Woodstockers. My worlds collide: I force them to! – mutual interests abounded.

@scobleizer – weird coincidence, a colleague of mine went into labor today, a month premature. Fingers crossed.

16:

had a very nice day, but missing my daughter ferociously just now.

@kitykity your kids have their own media room?

San Francisco Scavenger Hunt: https://www.beginningwithi.com/images/usa/ca2007/index.htm

17:

starting to head home tomorrow, but to a very different life. Scary. Good? Bad? I don’t know yet.

18:

survived the trip back to Europe. no sleep. then 30 mins in immigration at Heathrow and one hour waiting for a taxsi (Dad sent him wrong)

Rossella does Ramadan: https://www.beginningwithi.com/Woodstock/rd070918.html

19:

domani notte torno in Italia, dopo quasi 2 mesi di assenza. Casa senza flgia, ma piena di ospiti (nonche’ marito). E – food!

sooo glad I’m not going back to another year of my kid misfitting and suffering in Italian school.

tutti insieme: Sandoka-an! https://www.beginningwithi.com/italy/lang/sandokan.html

why does Amazon want $90 to ship two power strips worth $10 from the US to Italy?

@amandalorenzani I’m in Milton Keynes myself. When do you head back?

20: @missb – Geddes at every presentation would be a career deterrent for me! Sun mtg yesterday started with “baby with invisible spliff” photo

21:

honey, I’m home!

can I go to sleep now?

23:

cercasi altre candidate a Web Women Weekend, casa mia a Lecco, un weekend (da determinare) a Lecco. Fatevi amiche su Facebook.

I can sense winter already – 6:45 am and it’s still so dark!

24:

Madre Rossella? Dio ce ne scampi! http://www.fotolog.com/rossella/21084298

25:

troubleshooting a probably faulty LAN card. Argh. I hate computers.

network problem resolved by reboots. Mysteries of Windows. Looking forward to new laptop. Sorry everyone, it’s a Dell. In Italy, they’re ok

lunchtime already, no wonder I’m starving!

I don’t get facebook. How do I list someone as a friend when I know they’re already on there?

I think I have really, really worked enough now for the day!

26:

rain at last. Of course on the day I have to go in to Milan.

yay! passport back already with additional pages. Now I can go apply for my visa to India.

so glad Ross keeps her fotolog going – I’d miss her even worse without it.

@ruperthowe Don’t feel bad. All the “excitement” over a game is as dumb as endless Paris Hilton. I wish the media would grow up.

getting ready to go out and film another Sun event. First results of all this to be posted soon. Content won’t interest most people, but…

27: contemplating facing another rainy day in Milan. Ugh

30:

back from a wonderful weekend in Venice with old friends and new. Ate, drank, laughed, but didn’t sleep much!

The Junior-Senior Banquet

After weeks of various stresses and preparations, the famous JSB (Junior Senior Banquet) has arrived.

As soon as I woke up, coming out of my room, I saw many of my co-tenants wandering around the halls with their faces green with “vitalizing” masks and their hair wrapped in towels.

The estheticians from our favorite Beauty Parlor showed up at 10 to perfect nails and hairstyles, and remove any superfluous hair from more than 60 girls.

An entire day dedicated to beauty and excessive personal hygiene. But you need a day like that every now and then, especially for a group like us, so far away from our habitual consumerism!

Myself and one Sydney ventured into the kitchen, making cookies as a present for our dates.

Time passes among polishes, brushes, and tongs.

Finally it’s time to put on the dress that that poor tailor had to work so hard on, with all the modifications I asked him to make. The result is good, although I look like something out of a Disney film.

Our knights arrived, washed and ironed. The gray-black of their various jackets and ties contrast with the flowers and chocolates they bring. I walk down the stairs, awaiting the sound of general stupor… without success.

He who was supposed to be my cavalier shows up with a twinkling earring and the Ray Bans I had chosen for him the first day we went out together, and gives his flowers and chocolates to the plump little brown girl next to me, pretending that he doesn’t even see me. (The story of our breakup is complicated.)

My substitute date arrives late, with two sad roses and no chocolate, in fact I end up eating most of the cookies I made for him.

We arrive at school, where everything is decorated in a “Midnight Ball” theme, with stars and moons everywhere. Everything glitters, at a bar the younger students serve us cocktails – completely non-alcoholic. Every few seconds a flash blinds me.

When it becomes clear that my ex is eating his heart out (having seen the results of the dress, makeup, heels, etc.), I decide to make things worse by chatting with him, complimenting him for his sunglasses, and showing him that my nails are varnished in his favorite color. In the end, there’s nothing he can do but return to his date.

The food is extraordinarily good, although I eat fearing I will explode in my TIGHT little dress or, worse, make the dress explode! But everything goes smoothly, and then we’re dancing. Fortunately, my substitute date has a good sense of rhythm and, putting together our creative abilities, we manage to have fun making up any kind of dance.

Something lights up in me and I can’t help smiling with enjoyment when I note that my ex’s substitute date makes it impossible for him to look as good, by refusing to dance with him.

This is the first event anything like a party that I’ve attended in two months, what a strange sensation. The school dance – just like the OC! The girls look like sweets, or like little girls who play at dressing up like princesses. The boys are too tiny/skinny for their pinstriped suits. Everything was extremely ridiculous. I was at a party where adults were present and there was no alcohol available (almost) , and yet – I had fun!

Italian original

Choices Made

original

After more than a month, exhaustion – both mental and physical – is beginning to hit.

I didn’t leave myself time to realize where I am, what’s happened to me. All of a sudden, my life has changed, and it wasn’t an easy or gradual passage.

I’m happy, satisfied. Always. I’m sure I made the right choice, and if I was offered a return ticket, I’d turn it down.

But I’m tired, very tired.

I’m tired because my mind never stops.

I haven’t cried yet since I arrived here. Though every day, for one stupid thing or another, the tears rise and my eyes fill, I never manage to let them fall.

I’m tired, so tired I could whine and throw a hysterical scene. Get out while you can…

Slow Dancing

original

This school dance is serious stuff, there’s even a rehearsal.

MomComm: But what about electing Miss Woodstock? Do they not do that anymore?

My own class of ’81 failed to do so, actually. We voted three times, and each time reached a three way tie between Tina, Vinita, and Reem. I think this was because each represented a "faction": Tina for the missionaries, Vinita for the Indians (though her parents were also missionaries), and Reem for "everyone else".

Our solution? We decided to have three Miss Woodstocks. Then, just to keep people on their toes, we elected Durjoy "Mister Woodstock."