The debate also included the three other main contenders — the Socialist Benoît Hamon, the Republicans’ François Fillon, and the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon — but it was the fight between Mr. Macron and Ms. Le Pen that riveted attention.
Here are my initial reactions from this debate…
The Candidates:
Marine Le Pen (Far Right | Front National) — criticizing every single topic of discussion, without providing a single solution. Attacked on all sides, because her ideas are incoherent in any way, shape, or form — and because all she tried to do was trying to make viewers/supporters angry or scared — the usual racist/populist far-right tactics.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon (Far Left | La France Insoumise) — Master Troll of the night, he made a lot of people laugh/smile (myself included) with the way he spoke, similarly to how Trump was seen as fun to listen to during the first G.O.P. debate. However, his program and knowledge of Foreign Affairs and Economy is severely limited.
Benoit Hamon (Left of the Left | Parti Socialiste) — Fairly discreet all night, mostly pushed his Universal Basic Income ideas —which I personally think is way too ahead of its time, right now. He was in a position where he attempted to sway potential voters who'd normally look at Mélenchon or Macron. Also went on a rant against Macron in the evening —which came seemingly out of nowhere and didn't move the debate forward in any way.
François Fillon (Conservative Right | Les Républicains) — hard to state how discreet he was last night, almost avoiding the spotlight. It used to be his strategy ahead of the debates inside his own party, however this time, it felt more like him avoiding topics altogether, considering the different scandals he's involved in. In my eyes, the only program that makes sense is his conservative economic program, and even then, it remains symptomatic of this generation of people looking to the past for inspiration, rather than focusing on the future. Our modern times are completely different than the second half of the twentieth century, and I personally believe that the way we make the economy, society, and foreign affairs work needs re-thinking.
Emmanuel Macron (Liberal Centrist | En Marche) - I'm not the best judge, simply because I'm partially biased. Last night, Macron got attacked on all sides, by all candidates. When they did, he most often took it with a dash of humor, responding with "If you'll allow me, I'd like to respond — I believe this is directly targeted at me/my program." Last night was a big test for him, his first big presidential debate in the spotlight, facing other candidates. By that standard, he stayed strong, however I noticed the media, both French and Foreign feeling like he could have done a better job or could have been more aggressive and sent Le Pen packing. In my eyes, Macron is the only candidate who blends:
a pragmatic program on all fronts (economy, foreign affairs, security, health, education, entrepreneurship, etc.),
a strong focus on Europe,
forward-looking ideas,
a desire to leave partisan-issues and mix good ideas, regardless of where they came from.
Other things to note:
I'm kind of bummed that they didn't have time to talk about other subjects such as entrepreneurship, technology, and more importantly France's place within Europe. However, running at 200 minutes (3 1/2 hours long), this was already a very long and draining debate, for candidates as well as us, poor citizens behind our television sets.
Overall, this was just as I expected — a good way to display each candidate's program, values, ideas or tactics while attempting to contrast or attack their opponents' ideas.
It'll be interesting to see how the polls, public opinion, and the first round of voting on April 23rd go.
Hey friends, work is drying up after a few hectic weeks & months.
At this point, I have between 30-45 days to figure out a better solution to find something new to work on. I still have a couple of smaller ongoing missions, but I need something better.
Two avenues...
The way I see it, I have two choices ahead of me:
I can look for another mission, some more client work.
Or, I can try and cook up my own thing. Whatever that thing may be.
Client Work
This is more in line with what I already do. The idea is to look for another mission, first through word of mouth, in my network of friends and acquaintances, and professional connection.
Ideally, I’d prefer working with people that I can already reach, around me — it’s easier, pays better, and beyond that, I prefer working with people that I know, where there’s already a built-in level of trust.
When it comes to client work, my reputation is at play, and thus, it becomes easier to convince someone to work with me if we already have contacts in common who can vouch for them, or for me.
Online Course/Coaching/Mentoring
This is slightly different than focusing on a client project, but setting up an online course has been on my mind for a long time.
Since I started working, over 6 years ago, I’ve come to realise that I love educating people about how to make the most out of certain tools, or how to get started with a new project.
It took me a while to realise that I now have enough expertise to pass it on to others.Ideally, I’d like to focus on a niche that I feel:
- …is underserved.
- …I am legitimate enough to try and help.
There’s just a ton of work associated with this, and as with all projects, starting it is one thing, but launching is another beast entirely. One that requires a lot of work and polish. But the idea of having this slowly-growing passive income on the side, is enticing.
[caption id=“attachment_27” align=“aligncenter” width=“1932”] Looking for some new work…[/caption]
Decisions, Decisions...
So yeah, that’s where I’m at for now. I still have more things to think about, and a trip to Amsterdam this weekend. But the bottom line is that I’d love your input — what do you think I should focus on?
Final Questions
So, to wrap this up, I’d like to leave you with two questions:
In this case :
- what topic do you feel I have expertise on?- what is the value and what are the strengths that you feel I could bring, in offering an online course?Thanks for your help you guys!
I always have a great time in this city, but the real reason behind the trip was to see her again, and be able to spend some quality time together. In all honesty, we were just looking for a good place to meet, in Europe, and The Netherlands happened to be a cheap and direct flight for both of us.
She had been in Amsterdam once before when she was a child, with her family. As for me, I spent a week in the Netherlands last year but only two short days in the city. The rest had been spent outside and visiting other places.
Looking back, we were been lucky enough to find some rays of sunshine during a weekend when the forecast promised fairly constant rain.
Day One: Traveling outside of time and space
The weekend started with the first flight of the day at 6:30am for me. I landed at Schipol airport at 8:30am and met with S a couple of minutes after that.
Seeing her, holding her, and kissing her felt unreal at first, after spending a month away from one another. But the good habits came back quickly and naturally: talking, holding hands, and giving one another a relaxed look full of excitement, love, desire, and happiness.
With such an early arrival, and small bags, we decided to make the most of the day and started walking around the city, delaying our hotel check-in for later that afternoon.
We started with a coffee in Bocca, a coffeehouse recommended by some of my local friends. We both needed that extra caffeine.
From there, we went to the flower market, on the canals, and then walked to Museumplein, the park and museums district. Around this green space stand 4 museums, amongst which the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Museum of Design & Modern Art and Moco, a mansion-turned-Museum where they were having two artists in display – more on that later.
Museumplein is also the area where stands one of the few “I am sterdam” signs – there are a few of those located at different landmarks across the city. Walking by the sign was also a great opportunity to take a couple of pictures together.
We continued our walk along the canals and charming old buildings, heading North. As we reached midday, we stopped at Fou Fow Ramen, a Sino-Japanese modern ramen bar. The hot broth and warm food were exactly what we needed to recharge our batteries and power through the rest of the day.
As an early afternoon food coma hit us, we decided to head to the hotel to drop our bags and take a quick nap, before heading back out later in the evening.
We got back to the city around 6pm and went searching for yet another cappuccino. Then came the time to introduce S to another Dutch specialty: homemade fries with satay/peanut-sauce.
We shared a small cone ahead of dinner and went on the lookout for a nightly canal ride under the rain. A ticket with Blue Boat Company gets you a 90 minute tour as well as snacks and a drink. With the city lights along the canals, needless to say that it was as scenic and romantic as one would have hoped.
After the tour, we looked for dinner and ended up at Lotti’s, the restaurant inside of The Hoxton, one of Amsterdam’s coolest hotels. She went for a mushroom soup while I lost my mind over a plate of delicious pumpkin raviolis. There was a great and hip atmosphere at Lotti’s. Keeping in mind that it was St Patrick’s day, the restaurant/bar was filled with a mix of tourists and locally-based hip creatives coming from the office. A great blend over a great DJ-set: I can only recommend this place for the food, drinks, and local ambiance.
Coming out of dinner, it was time to go and pay a visit to Amsterdam’s infamous Red Lights District.
The funny thing about this is that photos are absolutely forbidden, which means that walking in these streets in the evening is something to experience, not something that one can picture, explain, or show to people unfamiliar with it. As such, S found herself amused and confused by the situation both at once. She wasn’t sure what to expect, which is probably the best way to see the nightworkers in their element.
Once we finished our visit, we decided to head back to the hotel and call it an early night.
Day Two: More Life
We left the hotel around 11am in the morning after a good night of sleep. We got a quick breakfast at Caffè Belmondo, nearby, just before hoping on the tram.
The program for the day was to visit museums before lunch and improvise after that. We decided to start with the Van Gogh Museum, and followed it with the smaller Moco Museum.
The first one is fairly self explanatory: a huge building exhibiting the best work from one of the most famous and influential artists of the 19th century, on about 4 or 5 different levels.
Moco, on the other hand, had two temporary exhibitions, one on the surreal Salvador Dali, and the other one on Banksy. As fans of streetart, we just had to get our tickets, if only for the Banksy one.
After educating ourselves a bit more about the Arts, we went searching for food. S was in the mood for a burger so we naturally thought about hitting the Hard Rock Café nearby. However, with a 45mn wait at 2:30pm, we decided to go elsewhere. That’s when we stumbled upon Palladium.
Palladium is predominantly a bar that serves food. However:
They also serve one of the best cappuccinos in town.
The food is actually amazing.
We were happily surprised by the atmosphere, the food, and our giant Gin and Tonics. S had a refreshing cucumber G&T, while I chose a cinnamon & orange one.
Leaving the restaurant, I wanted to show S one of my favorite places in town, that I knew she’d like, The American Book Center: a four-stories-high building with magazines, stationary, and books on books on books, all in English, and offering a variety of subjects.
One can find anything from Arts, fashion and design books, travel guides, comics or poetry collections. They also have a concept I love: “Blind Dates”: books all wrapped up in paper, without a title or author, just a 10 words description to get you to buy and be surprised by the reading material.
Once we were down browsing, it was time for more alcohol, so we naturally went to BeerTemple, an American Beer Bar sporting close to 20 beers in tap and about three times the same amount of bottles of imported brews from all around the world. As both fans of India Pale Ales, we were delighted to discover new drinks to try.
From BeerTemple, I took the initiative to take_S_ to another lesser-known landmark of the city: the public library. Located on the edge of the river, just after the main train station, the building has 7 floors with a restaurant and a terrace overlooking the city, a great place to just take a breather away from the packed center of the Dutch capital.
Unfortunately the terrace is closed until the beginning of April and we couldn’t get out. However, the final stop of the day would take us to an even more scenic panoramic view.
Right next to the Library is the Doubletree Hilton hotel, and more importantly, its Sky Lounge rooftop bar. We arrived around 7:30pm to find the place packed and it took us a couple of minutes to find a table.
Once we got there, S ordered a champagne-based cocktail called Seduction, while I chose something vermouth-based. The drinks came alongside chili-flavored popcorn, a very interesting mix. We decided to also grab a bite while enjoying this very romantic and intimate moment. We shared a plate of cheese and a pumpkin risotto, before finishing with a sweet treat consisting of a Stracciatella, Hazelnut and Cookies’n’Cream ice cream from a local Dutch store.
We took an Uber out of sheer laziness to walk and then wait for yet another tramway, and called it a night.
Day Three: Flying back to reality
After a restful night of sleep, we woke up in the room, had a shower, packed, and decided to get breakfast at the hotel before leaving. The convenience of having a delicious breakfast at the hotel, a 10mn train ride from the airport, was too good to pass on.
We arrived at the airport just before 10am and I left S at the international terminal. Her flight was a couple of hours before mine, but considering her long-er trip, it was worth me coming with her, leaving her at the check-in gate, before finding my own terminal and security stand.
Once at the airport, I had my third and fourth coffees of the day, a quick lunch, and some time by my boarding gate, to relax, catch up on some articles saved in my Instapaper, read some comics, and send a few messages with my friends. I also messaged S and we exchanged some of the pictures we took over the weekend.
Realizing our growing feelings and affection towards one another, taking our tickets to meet in Amsterdam was the best decision we could have possibly taken. All weekend long, being with her has been an intimate and timeless experience, where it felt like we were the only two humans around at times.
I mentioned previously that S travels a lot for work, and should continue to be in this situation until at least later this fall. However, with my upcoming trip starting in April, this may turn out making seeing each other again even easier.
At this point in time, there are talks of meeting again on other continents in another couple of weeks, for more adventures together, and the only obstacle to those upcoming adventures would be related to her superiors preventing her to have this time off. Not a big deal, in and out of itself.
I don’t know why my future is made of, but right now, all I know is that she’s in it.
This week-end, I was in Lyon to celebrate my little brother’s graduation.
We’re here with the family and actually went to a wonderful Michelin-star restaurant, which was booked last minute, with views overlooking the city.
And it literally turned out to be the best restaurant I’ve ever been too and best meal I’ve ever had. And did I mention this was my vegetarian set menu?!
If you haven’t been to Lyon, I can only recommend it — it brings some of this French charm, blends it with great cuisine, cityscapes, and a much friendlier local population than Paris.
On our end, we took the time to re-visit the scenic streets & architecture of this beautiful city. We even went to a great little Cinema Museum dedicated to movie sets, props, miniatures, and special effects —right in the center of the old town. I highly recommend this place if that’s the type of thing that interests you!
Something I’ve been saying to a few close friends and family members:given the current American Government, I’m going to avoid traveling to the US because I feel that I’m just vocal enough to be rejected at the border.
Here’s the short version of what I’m about to say:
Immigrants and visitors to the US—along with anyone participating in protests or visible resistance to the current administration—are the targets of intrusive governmental surveillance, including surveillance of their social networks. Both immigrants and political dissidents are being vilified by the administration and targeted for draconian and unconstitutional attacks. If your “friends”—or friends of friends—network includes people vulnerable to these attacks, you should assume that your constitutionally protected political speech may be used in bad faith to characterize your contacts as terrorists or criminals, and act accordingly.
Note: If this seems obvious to you, perhaps because you’ve already experienced some flavor of it, know that I wrote this post for your friends and family members and colleagues who haven’t thought about it yet.
Since January 2015, the FBI has also arrested more anti-immigrant American citizens plotting violent attacks on Muslims within the U.S. than it has refugees, or former refugees, from any banned country.
Consumer Reports will now include privacy as an important factor into how they rate new products. A great news in these troubled times.
Simple and to the point:
When consumers vote with their wallets and their clicks, we’ve seen that companies pay attention. We think companies will strive to out-do their competitors when it comes to privacy, security, and other consumer rights. The ones that do a better job will gain more customers.
alt-J is back!Announcing an album ("Relaxer") and a tour yesterday, they also took the time to release the first single, entitled “3WW” (three worn words).
A mix inspired by my recent trip to London. Some of those tracks are from British artists, some others were on repeat during my trip, and relate to the people I’ve met and shared good times with! #GoodVibesOnly
A reduction in working hours generally correlates with marked reductions in energy consumption [...] In fact, if Americans simply followed European levels of working hours, for example, they would see an estimated 20% reduction in energy use—and hence in carbon emissions.
I didn’t have any plans for the evening, and was originally planning to work on more music mixes and blog posts before heading back the following day.
A handful of minutes before entering the Design Museum, I received a notification on my phone: a message sent via the dating app I use.
I opened it and discovered a beautiful mixed Asian-American woman wishing me a belated happy birthday, adding that her own birthday happened two days after mine. She had just arrived in the city and was looking for some recommendations of things to do around London.
After a few exchanges we made plans to meet up later that evening. I arrived 5 minutes earlier than expected, after a quick pit-stop at the local florist, to pick up a rose — although I’m not usually stereotypically cheesy and romantic, it was February 14th after all.
I waited patiently in front of the restaurant — back to Khan’s. Her Uber dropped her off right on time. We hugged, said Hi, and went inside, to our table.
I learnt that S comes from Washington DC, and is of Vietnamese-American and Jewish-American descent. She was on holidays throughout Europe for 10 days, having been to Dublin until that day, and going to Paris in two days to meet up with friends.
She works in a corporate job that allows her to travel all around the world, which is one of those roles that sounds too good to be true. This, coming from someone who’s about to go nomad for about 9 months, later this year.
We hit it off, talking about everything and nothing, from our mixed identities and cultures to a little bit of politics (talking about the current Great American Debacle and the upcoming Presidential Election in France), and everything in between.
It was fascinating to meet her, especially considering our different backgrounds and yet very similar personalities. No alcohol was had during dinner, but we couldn’t help laughing, bouncing jokes off of one another, or having fun at the total lack of interest from the waiting staff at the restaurant. Just a great connection and conversation overall.
After dinner, we decided to go for a drink at a bar — however we couldn’t find one nearby and ended up in a pub instead. We had a cocktail and continued our ongoing conversation, learning about our different cultures and upbringing, she told me about her different trips and the countries she visited. I shared my stories growing up in the south of France, learning to properly speak English via Bad Boys II and 24. She told me about how she’s been ice skating since she was 6 and had continued up to the previous year. I talked about my practising the guitar since age 7. The evening continued.
The pub had a nice friendly atmosphere, but we were in the mood for a cocktail bar, so decided to look for another venue, walking alongside Hyde Park. (Unfortunately, this London landmark happens to be closed in the evenings.)
We arrived at the bar, realising that despite being Valentine’s Day, it was closed. It was a Tuesday. But above the bar was another pub, of a much higher standard than the place we had just come from. It looked kind of fancy if I’m being honest, but not pompous. It was also less crowded, which made it easier to sit, and talk.
She had another Gin & Tonic and told me that this second round was on her. Asking me what I wanted to drink, I responded with a simple “Surprise me” — she picked a Whiskey & Ginger Ale, something that neither I nor the staff had heard of. Apparently quite a common drink in the US.
All evening long, our conversation had been pretty much ongoing, interrupted only by the occasional waiter asking for more food or drinks. I learnt about her family, her friends, her education and in turns, shared my side of the story, my ups and down. It was freeing to just discuss those things without any barrier. A good, truthful, honest and transparent conversation. Just being ourselves with one another.
The pub was about to close when we left. Outside, standing in one of the streets leading back towards Hyde Park, I asked her if she had something in mind. It was close to 11pm, but all places around us were either closing or were about to close. She started off telling me that she had a great evening, but that given the lack of places being opened, she’d probably head back to her Airbnb.
I mentioned my hotel room, the fact that it was close, cosy, and within walking distance. It took a lot of effort for me to invite her to join me, innocently. But despite my crumbling shyness, I managed. And she took me up on that offer.
We continued our conversation, and arrived at the hotel. We went through the corridor, and I opened the door of my room for her. I should have cleaned the mess a little bit. She was impressed with the room, just like I was when I discovered it earlier that day. I did explain that this was very unusual for me too, and that it was nowhere near the type of luxury I was accustomed to.
After giving her a quick tour, she sat down on the sofa and took off her shoes and tights. I took my shoes off too and offered her some water. We sat in bed, talking, while turning on the TV, as a random distraction to keep on the side. We continued to laugh and chat and made fun of the ads on British TV (spoiler alert:they’re weird)
Slowly, we were moving closer to one another. At some point she asked me a question, and put her hand on my arm while I was responding. The dork in me instantly lost his train of thought but I tried to finish my answer, and keep my composure, while the voices in my head were shouting “Keep it cool, Tibz!”
It was then that she put her hand on the back of my neck and moved closer to my face. I moved towards her too. We kissed. That kiss felt like a “I really like you, you’re cute” mixed with a “shut up and kiss me, nerd!” — gentle yet cheeky, playful yet meaningful.
From this point on, our bodies started moving in sync, our lips interlocked, and our arms running down the bed sheets. There is no need to go into details. This is not a fan fiction, this is real life. The life of two human beings connecting on multiple levels, sharing a moment in time. But the most incredible thing was how natural it all felt. There was no pressure, no discomfort, as if we had known each other for years, knowing what made the other tick, and how to satisfy them.
Later on, in the middle of the night, we found ourselves lying down on the bed, under the sheets, cuddling, holding one another, all the while continuing the conversation we had started hours earlier.
There is no way that one can manufacture or fake this type of connection between other humans.
We woke up hugging and kissing in the morning, slowly, after only a couple of hours of sleep, and, for me, two hours until I had to leave. Getting out of bed was another very quiet and sensual moment that we shared.
The day started with a shower, some fresh clothes, and breakfast together in the hotel’s restaurant. Another shared moment, intimate, talking over a cappuccino and some orange juice. Asking more questions before having another bite of a delicious and needed pain au chocolat.
We went back to the room, and I continued packing while talking with her, taking micro-breaks to kiss her, or hold her against me. Each time felt like a very natural move, like she belonged there in my arms.
As I’ve tried to find my rationality, my composure, and my sanity writing those lines, we have continued to talk, to chat regularly, continuing our seemingly endless conversation.
It was one evening in time, but we both felt it, the unexplained bond. Looking back, and debriefing this with her, the entire evening has been surreal. It feels like mind, body and soul are talking the same language, and I can’t explain it. I consider myself to be optimistic but also pragmatic. But S quite literally fell out of the sky.
The coincidence and timing that led us to meet each other is uncanny: I hadn’t planned anything that evening, and to be frank, the entire trip to London was as unplanned as could be — I had booked my plane tickets in November and the hotel one week before my arrival. She booked her entire trip to London just one week before. The number of factors at play are too random for me to discard.
And the different background yet similar reactions, personality, and way of thinking. Our attraction to one another. I just can’t explain it, and I’m OK with that. But it remains a complete source of mystery. As she put it so well: I had no idea someone like her existed.
I don’t know what the future hold, but I’m not ready to let her go. We’re planning to meet again, in May at the latest, which sounds like an eternity away, especially when you live day-to-day as I most often do. But she is unlike anyone I’ve ever met, I have never heard about or felt that type of connection, and I have never felt like this towards anyone before, including in longer relationships I’ve been in.
After months of a romantic desert, Karma sure knows how to sneak up on you.
"Wordplay, turns into gun play
And gun play turns into pillow talk
And pillow talk turns into sweet dreams
Sweet dreams turns into coffee in the morning"
Looking for some new work…[/caption]
