Pigeons. Everybody loves them. But are they suitable as pets?

So this hotel I'm staying at has loads of pigeons in the parking lot area. Since it was really hot out I opened the window and forgot to close it when I left.

I came back to find two pigeons perching on the lamp.

I was kind of freaked out and a bit afraid to go near them so I just got a towel and threw it near the lamp (not at them). They immediately flew out the window.

Now I feel immensely guilty ...

I wasn't sure if they would attack me or feel threatened by my presence so I'm glad I scared them away. It made me do some research online to see if pigeons really can become aggressive, and the answer is a resounding YES.

This video is indisputable proof:

Aberdeen, Scotland

Last week I made my third visit to Aberdeen, Scotland (where my husband used to live). 

Aberdeen (Scottish Gaelic Obar Dheathain) is a great little city that is now a burgeoning metropolis due to the North Sea Oil trade. Located near the ocean, many people who live here or visit here are connected to the petroleum trade (the hotel I stayed in had three clocks, two of which told the time in Oslo, Norway and Houston, Texas: oil hubs of the world). It's nicknamed "The Granite City," and it's easy to see why: nearly all the buildings are constructed from the locally sourced, beautiful granite. It has one of the smallest international airports in the world, the Aberdeen Heliport, which is growing more and more busy in proportion to the amount of oil that is flowing through the city. 

Me in Aberdeen: You can see why it is called "The Granite City"

I love Scotland. The people are so friendly and the atmosphere is much more relaxed there. We stayed at the Marriot Hotel in Dyce, which was unusual for us because we usually go Hilton. It was located very nearby to the train station, which was great because it gave me the opportunity to go to Union Square every day!


Union Square is a fairly recent mall that was built in the centre of Aberdeen, and it has some stores that I really love. H&M, Pandora, River Island, New Look, Deichmann, Zara and especially Dune are some of my favorite high street brands and they are all there at Union Square. 
What makes this mall even better is that it is directly connected to the train station. Aside from the obnoxious loud teenagers and misbehaving children, I had a lot of fun shopping there. 

Union Square @ Aberdeen

My hubby even took me to see The Great Gatsby. I am an English Literature major from American but bizarrely I had never read the novel up until this summer, so it was very coincidental that they would come out with a modern movie version this winter. Since the movie featured Leonardo Dicaprio, the love of my life (I don't care that he's old and ugly now, I still adore him!), I HAD to see it. I know the movie got some negative reviews, but of course, you can never really compare a movie to a novel anyway. Every movie version of a famous novel is bound to fail at some point: it's nearly impossible to encompass the emotional journey of a whole book in 2 hours. The soundtrack was unbelievable (Beyonce, OutKast, Jay-Z, Florence & The Machine, Lana del Ray, Gotse, etc), although a bit jarring in a movie that takes place in 1918. Lana del Ray's "Young and Beautiful" is such a gorgeous, haunting song that perfectly encapsulates the false values and superficiality that is the basis of The Great Gatsby. 

My car photo

The first time I went to Aberdeen, my sweet husband insisted on driving there from London (8 hours!!!) to show me the beauty of the northern England countryside and the Scottish highlands. And, my, was I impressed! That was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the beauty I saw during that road trip remains unsurpassed by anything I've ever seen. The photos I took are a sad reflection of the actual beauty I saw in person. Unfortunately, my camera died just as we were going through the Highlands!

Beautiful, rolling countryside

This time, however, we took a flight to Aberdeen. The British Airways business class lounge in Aberdeen is really nice and quiet. I made a pig of myself and ruined my diet eating scones, cookies, little turkey and salmon sandwiches, soup, cheese and downing three (3) whiskey drinks (I got inventive and combined it with apple cider: it was actually a good combo!). However, the location was kind of weird: we were seated at a level slightly above the regular waiting area with a see-through window. 

We had a number of travel failures this week. On our way to our flight after seeing The Great Gatsby, the train we were in broke down just a few yards from the station. We were stuck in a train for an hour until it pushed back into the station. Then, they had the nerve not to let us off the train until they fixed the problem! We were there for around an hour and a half until they were able to push off. At that point we would have missed our flight, but my husband received an email telling him that it was cancelled anyway. 

Strange: my horoscope said nothing about troubles with travel that day!

So we booked an extra night at the Doubletree Hotel, and got one of those insanely delicious, high-caloried, diet-ruining Doubletree Cookies! Recipe Here!

Senseless Acts of Kindness

Last night I had the weirdest dream.

It was one of the first dreams I've had in a long time during which I wasn't able to control the outcome. You see, I've been trying this whole "lucid dreaming" thing where I'm hoping to some day gain control of my dreams (so I can meet the love of my life Leonard DiCaprio in Inceptionland). I know I have a small it of the ability, because whenever something bad is going to happen I can control it. For example, if I'm about to fall off a cliff in my dream I can devise something to save myself or else wake myself up immediately.

Last night I had the closest thing to a nightmare in a long time.

These guys pull up to me in a car and hop out and grab me and say very aggressively, "YOU'RE COMING WITH ME."

At this point in the dream I remember getting quite alarmed, as I would naturally in such a situation.

When they stuffed me into the backseat of the car, they turned around and said, "WE'RE GOING ON VACATION. AND WE'RE GOING SHOPPING. AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE STORES, THEN WE'RE GONNA GO TO SOME OTHER STORES! AND IF YOU DON'T HAVE FUN, WE'LL DO SOMETHING YOU WANT!"

So it was kind of like the opposite of a nightmare.

Strange, because in the dream I was convinced I was gonna get abducted or mugged or murdered.

It made me think of how much better a place this world would be if people were prone to extreme acts of charity instead of extreme acts of sadistic violence. Seems like you always hear about these freaks like Adam Lanza or Chris Holmes or the Columbine dorks killing people for fun, but when do you ever hear about senseless acts of kindness?

I just wanna hear ONE story in which some crazy guy just bursts through the security at his local elementary school and forcibly delivers handmade gourmet cupcakes to every classroom in the building. Or some dorky kid shuts down an entire high school so he can make sure everyone gets a brand new iPad before they leave.

"HERE'S A BRAND NEW IPAD! TAKE IT!" he would yell. Of course, a few people would say, "But I already have an iPad." At this point he would become agitated and start gesticulating madly and attempt to force the person to take the brand new iPad. "Oh, ok, calm down buddy, I guess I could always sell it on eBay." Think about it. That kid might have been nerdy and socially awkward, but do you think he would get made fun of after doing something like that? "The kid in the trenchcoat with the black cowboy hat sure is weird, but hey, he gave us all free iPads so we'll let him hang out with us cool kids." The news reporter today would comment on the new trend: "Social psychologists believe that kids are being exposed to too many Oprah reruns."

*****
(Somewhat) related question: Do you ever read things in your dream? I do all the time, although I am quite sure it is not "real reading." I'll still be looking at a page of words and comprehending them, though, and in my dream it seems as if it is not coming from my own invention. Strange, huh?

Gotcha, captcha!

You know those "captcha" phrases you have to enter whenever you want to register for something online or if you've forgotten your password?

 You'll get this strange non-word written in illegible cursive and you have to re-type it.

One time I had to type in one of those and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what it said.

Which made me think: AM I A ROBOT?

OK, sure, I've always accepted it as a possibility but I never thought I'd find out in this way!!

Michael Kors - CopyCat Designer?

While I have always had an affinity for the Michael Kors brand, perhaps simply (and egotistically) because his famous monogram MK corresponds to my own initial, I have always noticed that the designer has made a habit of ripping off more well-established designers, namely Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Gucci.

Is there anything wrong with this? I'm not sure. Shouldn't us regular folks have access to the cool designs and fashion trends that are normally reserved only for the elite? Maybe, but doesn't that come very close to the line of intellectual theft and downright counterfeiting?

Do you see what I mean?

The signature monogram MK, much like the signature monogram LV, is in light tan colors with a brown background. The structure and shape of many of the MK bags are also similar to the LV designs, as can be seen below:

Louis Vuitton Monogram Speedy
(pic from Shen's Addiction)

Michael Kors Logo Satchel

Louis Vuitton Speedy Damier Azur

Pic from Bagaholic Boy

They even have a
design quite similar to the very popular Totally and Neverfull lines:

Michael Kors Jet Set Tote

    

Totally MM

Louis Vuitton Neverfull collection

Michael Kors Jetset Macbook Tote

These are all just the most glaring examples. There are many more MK designs that are clearly based on the LV legacy, but to showcase them all would take up too much space on this blog!

Michael Kors doesn't just stick to Louis Vuitton, though. He also crosses into Hermes territory:

Hermes Birkin Bag

Michael Kors Hamilton Tote

MaryFashionLove

And even dares to violate the name of Gucci!

Gucci Tote (unknown)
pic from William Yan

Michael Kors Jet Set East/West tote

I have noticed this trend in MK for awhile but really became cognizant of it when I was on a flight and asked a lady if her watch was MK -- my friend had one that looked identical to it -- but she said no, it was Chanel. 

I don't know if it's necessarily a bad thing, though. In many ways I think the MK brand is an improvement on the original designs and for a price that is actually affordable for most of the populace. Whether it verges on intellectual copyright infringement, I don't know. 

Thoughts, anyone?