My Blue Heaven

Hello from Shepherds Bush!

As the title suggests, I’ve finally moved out from my cousins place. Yay! I am now (temporarily) residing in good ol Shepherds Bush (a.k.a home of the antipodeons). I’m only here for a week, after which I’ll move on.. somewhere. Gumtree is my friend. (Yes there is a reason for my current itinerant living).

So I’m renting a rather nice 3rd (top) floor loft double room in this huge house. The room is really spacious, double bed, ensuite :D, and fully furnished with kettle, fridge, toaster, tv and dvd player! Sweet! I wish I could stay here longer but the couple who have rented it out to me come back in a week. There are about 9 other people living in this house atm, mostly aussies too! Hehe.. I haven’t been surrounded by so many aussies since I left Sydney. Anyway, it doesn’t feel crowded coz the house is so big and my room is the only one on the top floor (feels more like a studio apartment!) I met some of my housemates last night, and their aussie friends. really nice, friendly bunch. I reckon aussies are more fun and funnier in conversation than Brits. 😛

So that has kept me busy… found the place just last Tues and moved in yesterday. Took me absolutely ages to pack my stuff – I have waaaay too much stuff here. Really need to learn the meaning of the phrase “pack light”. :\ But I s’pose I didn’t expect to be moving around so much.

Here’s a view from my window..

Other updates and more Europe

In other news… it’s just been work work work and some travel. I worked another 12 hour day on Friday. I think last week I worked a total of almost 50 hours – and thats also with starting at lunchtime on Monday (had to fly back from a short trip in Europe – they only called me about the job on the Friday evening before!!)

So yeh did I mention I went to Amsterdam and Brussels last weekend? (I’ve been a busy girl! Hence lack of updates. :)) Brussels (Belgium) was very… french. Hehe. And the chocolates are to die for!!! No other chocolates, not even Lindt, compares to the hand made chocolates in Belgium. We discovered this small chocolate store/cafe on a quiet street away from central Brussels. Run soley by this guy who took on the business from his grandmother.. he sells chocolates all handmade by himself, and they were The. Best. Chocolates. I have ever tasted. Esp the truffle chocolates. *drools* I think they are even better than the bigger more commercial chocolate stores in central Brussels (which are incidentally also more expensive). I bought myself a big box to take back. Hehe. If you ever head to Brussels – go to a street called Rue Dublin. The place is called “Maison Renardy”. It’s kinda near the Marriot Hotel.

Amsterdam was cool! I have never seen so many bicycles in one place before in my life. Deciding to do as the locals do… we hired bicycles, which is the best way to explore Amsterdam. I love the many canals that weave their way through Amsterdam. So very picturesque. Didn’t have much time there, but we did eat at probably one of the best pancake houses in town, called The Pancake Bakery. Situated by a canal.. serving traditional and not-so-traditional dutch pancakes and poffertjes. Mmmm. I loooooove poffertjes (mini fluffy pancakes) – we had them for dessert, served with fresh strawberries, cream, with a bit of butter and powdered sugar sprinkled over. Yummmm. I also took a brief cycle through the red light district, which is like two streets away from central station. It was.. an interesting experience. And I thought the germans were liberal. There were so many brothels and sex theatres boldly advertising their products/services down the streets. There were scantily clad women in windows above the street posing, and trying to attract more “business” from the many men oggling them from below. I didn’t linger in the place as there were too many testosterone filled men about. Anyway, some piccies of Amsterdam below.

More pics from both Amsterdam and Brussels here. So yes, last weekend was filled with waaaay too much food. Kazzart = Mega Piggy = Putting on weight. :\ Ah well. It’s worth it. 😛

Current listening :: “The Title” – Ciara

In brief

Life is super hectic. I’m a contractor now. Not at Adgistics anymore as of end of August. Took a short trip to Europe before starting my first contracting job here at AKQA. It’s a pretty cool workplace, and people seem to work really hard. The technology they produce (websites etc) is very cool, at the forefront of web development etc etc.

The project I’m working on has a very tight deadline for next Friday, hence I’ve been working like a dog since starting here on Monday. It’s now 8:45pm and I’m still at work. I started this morning at about 8:45am. Damn its been 12 hours. I had lunch at 5:30pm. The past 2 days I’ve worked about 9-10 hour days. It’s hard work but I don’t really notice – I think I actually enjoy the work I’m doing here. I’m creating front end web pages given psd designs. Doing lots and lots of CSS. My CSS file is at 229 lines currently. :\ And the html has to be “Level 1 DDA Compliant” with everything pixel perfect on Windows Internet Explorer 6.0+ & Mozilla Firefox and Mac 1.0+ Safari 1.0 and Firefox 1.0. If you know what that means. Hm maybe I should do the same for this site. It probably has hundreds of html and css errors all over the shop. Maybe I should do a redesign… if I ever get time. Hah. Unlikely at this stage. Anyway you can actually see my work in progress here. Its working close to perfectly on every browser except Safari. Grr.

Ack. Ok feeling pretty braindead right now. Just thought I’d blog a short entry before going home coz I noticed I hadn’t updated in over a week. Outta here!

Current listening :: “Full Moon” – Brandy

Maudlin musings

Life. Sometimes it just doesn’t go how you planned. And sometimes bad things happen at the worst time. But I guess its those hard times that are the most character building. As many people have often quoted to me, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. I never really found that statement to be quite 100% right.. I think its an oversimplification. But I guess, the sentiments are accurate enough.

Life has just been a whirlwind of situations and problems lately. It’s been hard.. trying to deal with all these things bombarding me. Am currently taking some time out to sort myself out, get my head straight, and organise my shiznit. Sometimes I doubt myself, especially at this time. I start wondering… maybe I’m not one of those types that can do the whole living/working overseas thing. Or even the type to succeed in my chosen career path.. or just a career in general. I think I’m not very career oriented. And do I even enjoy what I’ve been doing? Sometimes I can’t stand it. But I don’t know what else I would do. Do you have to be a certain type to be successful at all this? Maybe I took too big a step.. too much too soon? Jumping in the deep end… and drowning? Who knows. But I’m not dead yet. There is hope. Ack.. ok not making much sense now. Methinks it is time to hit the sack. Sorry about the cryptic post. Nite.

Current listening :: “Try Try Try” – Smashing Pumpkins

I think I’m in love…

With Europe! Just came back from Verona, Italy on the weekend. It is so beautiful there. Just so different. The culture so rich, the architecture so old and beautiful. I took heaps of pics, which I will endeavour to get uploaded. (Hm methinks my server is starting to run low on space. :() Anyway, I really wanna see more of Italy. I love it there. The food is just awesome. And the coffee is… simply divine. I’ve never tasted such good coffee in my life. I didn’t even need to add sugar to my caffe latte.. coz it tasted soooo goooood. Coffee is a big part of Italian culture. They don’t have pubs there.. they have cafe/bars.. which serve both alcohol and coffee any time of day. And the locals just stand at the bar, order an espresso and drink it down like a shot. Heheh. Oh, and the gelati. Mmmmmm.. words cannot express how good it is! I think I must have shaved about 5 years off my life from the amount of coffee and gelati I had over the weekend. 😛

I did a bit of sightseeing and stuff. But the main attraction there is the ancient roman arena. The 3rd largest roman coloseum left. And during summer in Verona they have the Opera Festival at the Arena. So of course we had to take the opportunity to watch an opera in a roman arena in Italy! We saw La Boheme.. classic tragic opera. Was very cool – I think this is the first time I’ve ever watched an opera. I quite enjoyed it. 🙂 And its quite cool walking inside the arena, knowing that it’s been standing there for like 2000 years. Sends a tingle up the spine.

Also went to see Juliet’s balcony.. was sooo crowded with tourists. Its quite funny.. the wall inside is absolutely covered with writing and notes.. love notes. People writing “Julie 4 Steven 4ever” etc etc. Hehe. Kinda romantic, kinda not. Heheh. There was a really long queue for girls to go stand up on Juliet’s balcony! Quite funny.

Anyways, better get back to work. Ugh. Thats the worst thing about going away – coming back to the daily grind. 🙁

Current listening :: “Rich Girl” – Gwen Stefani (ft Eve)

Shoot the moon

Its 11:24pm.. and I’m full, content and tired. Spent most of the evening exercising and just finished my rather filling dinner of 1/4 crispy aromatic duck with pancakes, hoisin sauce, cucumbers and shallots. Mmmm.. (Its become one of my fave takeaways from Mr Liu’s. In fact its the only thing I ever order there. Just 6 quid too!)

I had myself an awesome session of exercise tonight. Finally decided to go for a swim at a nearby leisure centre. But before that, I decided it would be a good idea to incorporate a jog.. so taking a very roundabout route, I spent the next 20 mins jogging to the pool, with a backpack on my back. Then at the pool I broke my record…. for the first time ever… I swam 1km!!! Yep, 40 laps of the 25 metre pool. I’m proud of me! 😀 Spent a good 15/20 mins relaxing & stretching in the sauna, had a shower then walked to buy dinner and walked back home. Boy did I feel goooood after all that. 😀

It’s been a while since I’ve had a really decent exercise session like that.. where you feel really relaxed afterwards. I totally needed it too – after the amount of food I consumed over the weekend. Kazzart = Piggy. Heh.

My weekend was pretty good. Went to see The Island at the nicest cinemas I’ve been to in London (West India Quay, out near Canary Wharf). I rather liked the movie – it was very exciting and action-packed, and quite well done. I like Ewan McGregor. And Scarlett Johansson is quite pretty in this movie. Raised some interesting moral questions too. Other than that, went to a friend’s birthday do on Sunday arvo. And also did some chinese grocery/food shopping! I was taken to the main asian grocery stores and cake shops in china town.. where you can get all your typical chinese goods. It made me feel all nostalgic… coz I guess its the thing that is most similar to home for me – chinese are the same everywhere! And guess what else I discovered (for you WS guys!)… they had INDO MIE MI-GORENG noodles in one of the shops!!!! Hahahahahah. How cool is that!! I was so happy I bought 2 packs. 😀 They also had milo! So I bought myself a tin of that too. Other purchases included some fresh udon noodles, instant cup noodles for work, and a few packs of frozen dim sums to steam at home (some man tao, har gao, and siew mai), and some fresh baked bor lo bao!

*yawn* Anyways, tis getting late. I should sleep. Gonna need rest to help my body recover. Esp as I’m gonna do a jazz dance class tomorrow nite! Going hardcore… yeh!!!

Current listening :: “The Long Day Is Over” – Norah Jones

Die spammers die!

Ok. I finally got around to implementing an extra security check for comments. I’m using that cool image code thing you see around sometimes. So now before you submit a comment, you must enter the code you see in the image. It works too! But whether it will successfully completely block spammers… we shall see…. Feel free to test it out and let me know if u find any bugs.

Reinstated health kick

I’ve decided that I don’t like what I’ve been doing to my body. In the past 3 months here, I’ve gained about 5 kgs due to lack of exercise (and discipline), laziness, snacking unhealthily at work and emotional comfort-eating! This is just NOT ON. I am better than this.

So I decided to do something about it. I’ve been kicking my lazy butt into shape this past week or so. Went to 4 dance classes in the last 5 days, plus a half hour jog around the park. I felt soooo out of shape and fat last week… BUT by Tuesday this week in my jazz class, I actually started to feel a difference. My body just felt stronger, fitter, more limber. The hardest part was over!

I’ve also decided to discipline myself and eat healthier. No more snacking on fattening biscuits and choccies at work. I gave away my choccies and biscuits, and have been *trying* to (not 100% successful here) cut back on tea/coffee and resist the temptation to snack on the constant supply of free biscuits in the kitchen. (I think I should just not even open the biscuit cupboard to check what is there.) To help reduce my cravings, I’ve been snacking on carrot sticks and fruit instead. It really does help. Though one day I was so hungry I ate 4 bananas in a day! Is there a limit to how many pieces of fruit one should have in a day? The carrot sticks were a bit ordinary to start… but you get used to them… and they’re good if you have the munchies whilst working. Just something to crunch on. They’re quite filling too. 🙂 Now I don’t get as hungry as often as I used to. Strange how that happens.

So, combining the healthier eating, eating less and exercising/dancing more… I’m starting to feel and see the effects already. Yay! Just gotta keep this up and not get complacent. I was in such good shape before leaving Sydney – I had promised myself I would not lose that. And that is a promise I intend to keep!

I’ve also gotten back into reading “7 Habits Of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. I need a kick up the butt in my personal effectiveness. I’ve re-read habit 1 (Be proactive) and now have started on habit 2 (Begin with the end in mind). This book is pretty good. I was sinking into a directionless self-pitying rut… was getting lazy, unmotivated, depressed, and lethargic. I think the reason I had so much energy before I left Sydney was because I had a clear goal to work towards – preparing for the move to London. I felt motivated – I was disciplined, organised, and effective. I think it’s even more important to maintain that here, because I have much more to look after now. I need to take care of everything myself.. I need to be responsible. To learn from Mr Covey.. I choose to be responsible. I am able to choose my response to any situation.

It all seems related. The healthier eating makes me more energised… and exercising more makes me more energised… being energised makes me more effective and motivated and happy.. which in turns helps me continue to eat healthier (no emotional binging), and exercise more…. it’s an upwards cycle! 🙂 As opposed to the downwards spiral of eating unhealthily which gives you energy lows, not exercising makes it worse, you feel more lethargic and tired, less effective, unhappy with self… leads to emotional binging… etc etc.

Anyway its Friday today! Woohoo! 🙂

Current listening :: “Goodies” – Ciara (I got her album recently… I likey!)

Frankfurt pics

New pics finally uploaded from my last visit to Frankfurt! Being the financial hub of Germany, it’s an interesting city combining the old and the new. And germans are interesting – they truly don’t understand the meaning of the word sarcasm. Some pics below, or clicky here for more. Still lots more pics to come from Paris, Canterbury, more of London, and various gigs I’ve been to etc.

Weekend Update

I had a fairly uneventful weekend. Just spent the time sleeping in, tidying up my stuff, washing clothes, went to 2 dance classes (jazz and zoonation), did some exercise/jogging, watched Fantastic Four (Jessica Alba is HOT! I’ve always liked her… ever since Dark Angel. Movie was good too.. quite enjoyed it!), and went to Fruitstock music festival. Unfortunately all done by myself, but hey, you get that sometimes. Back at work today.. bleh.

Got some good news. I found a place to rent!! It’s a really pretty mews house in Marylebone/Baker Street. Zone 1 – which means it’s pretty much walking distance from the West End and central london. It’s a very lovely area to live, quieter than other central london areas, and right near Regents Park which will be nice for weekends. The rent is actually quite reasonable too, esp for a place in such a great location, in Zone 1!

The house is a 3 double bedroom, newly refurbished house. Quite nicely designed with exposed brick walls, over 2 floors. Two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, and 1 bedroom (with ensuite) downstairs. Also downstairs is the living/dining area (leather couches and hard wood dining table) and fully equipped kitchen (with dishwasher!) and wood floors. The living room has lots of light coz of this really cool huge skylight that you can open up. 🙂 The place is small, but not that bad, esp for a zone 1 house. The rooms aren’t too bad, better than many I’ve seen. So me and my friend are going to move into this place after 1st Sept. We just have to find a 3rd flatmate in the meantime – otherwise we’ll be forking over that 3rd persons rent, which would make it a little bit pricey.

Current listening :: “Brave New Girl” – Britney Spears

Very busy bee

Man life has been hectic lately. I’ve suddenly turned into Miss Super-Flat-Hunting-Machine. The clock is ticking, and my time is now very short. I’ve been requested to vacate my cousins place by end of August (as they have friends staying with them in Sept). Which really doesn’t give me much time coz I am going to be away the last 2 weekends of August! Ideally I’d like to find a place to move into by the weekend of 13/14th Aug. Which means I really gotta get my act together! Eeek!

I’m now going with the option of moving in with a friend I met here in London, who was looking for someone to move into a new place with. This way, neither of us has to move into an existing houseshare. I’m looking at 2 bedroom houses/flats around Clapham/Battersea as I’m quite fond of the area now. I think we should be able to find something really nice after combining both our budgets. And the places will mostly be new or newly refurbished, which is really nice. I hate living in old places.

So I viewed a nice top floor Edwardian conversion flat last night, and am viewing a modern Victorian conversion tonight. Tomm night I’ll be looking at an old warehouse modern industrial conversion – apparently the apartments are really cool in this place. Here’s hoping I find something soon!

So, other than flat hunting, I’ve been pretty busy with work. Plus I went to Frankfurt again on the weekend, which was really really nice. I love it there. The weekend markets are great, esp the freshly made crepe stalls.. mmmm.. and bike riding is the easiest (and coolest) way to get around. Everyone gives way to a bicycle over there – cars and pedestrians, the bicycles rule the roads and you can go literally anywhere on them – roads, footpaths, malls.. everywhere except on trains and trams. Oh and would you believe, I discovered an AUSTRALIAN ICE-CREAM cafe!!! Yes.. Australian Ice-cream.. as in like the one in Pitt Street mall in Sydney. How wierd is that!! Anyway, I took my camera this time and will upload piccies when I have time. Ugh I have soooo many photos to upload now. 🙁

I also did a spot of shopping whilst in Frankfurt, and in the airport. They had a special sale on at all the shops that weekend, and duty free shopping is great too. 🙂 I bought myself a new pair of Nike airmax runners for quite cheap, and 2 pairs of Tommy Hilfiger combat pants (a black and a rather “bling-bling” white! :P) which are really very nice – the material is so silky smooth, and were a bargain! 🙂 Also stocked up on some hair conditioner/products and face moisturiser that I was running low on, coz its just so much cheaper to buy stuff in Europe than it is in London, esp with the stronger UK gpb. 😉

Starsailor live

I went to the Starsailor gig at the Somerset House on Tues night, which was great. 🙂 Again, I went with Ai (we really are getting our fill of gigs over here!!) The support acts were ok. The 2nd support act, a band called El Presidente has to be the most well-dressed, best-looking band I’ve seen in a while. Hahah. And even more.. they have an ASIAN CHICK as a drummer! Singaporean girl – not bad looking either, wearing a pretty strapless yellow dress. Yeh.. what the!? Hehe. As a band, they certainly put effort in their appearance. I found them to be rather poser-ish. Starsailor was cool. And they played my favourites… Alcoholic and Fever. Yay. 🙂 The venue itself was really nice too. Outdoor venue, in the courtyard of the old Somerset House. Pics to come.

Alrighty… I will endeavour to make an effort to upload at least SOME of the many photos back-logged on my laptop tonight. I’ve taken these few evenings off to devote to flat-hunting, and just relax at home. I realise I’ve been trying to do way too much and my body just isn’t coping very well. I’m exhausted for work from sleeping late, trying to fit in too many dance classes or exercising and travelling. Amazingly enough, I haven’t actually gotten sick yet – I’ve had other health issues, but no cold/flu type sickness! Thats pretty amazing for me coz I used to get colds really easily back in Sydney! Even during summer! Maybe there are less bugs here. Anyway, I’ve taken a bit of a break from dance classes *sniff* over the next week whilst I flat hunt. Once I get settled into my own place, I can resume the dancing and exercise regime. But there are just too many different dance classes I wanna do – I can’t fit it all in, and it gets a bit pricey! I wanna keep up my new-found salsa, plus there’s hiphop, zoonation and fusion funk classes, and then there’s good ol jazz that I’ve gotten back into again. I’ve forgotten how much I love jazz dance. *sigh* So much I want to do.. not enough time and money

Yikes this has been a looong post. Lots to update eh. 🙂 And I promise there will be visual updates tonight. 🙂 Well I’m off soon to that flat viewing appointment. Any hints on renting and dealing with real estate agents?

Current listening :: “Coming Down” – Starsailor

It wasn’t hard, to get the party started..

No, not for The Cat Empire. They have this remarkable ability to be able to rock out the house. A full house at that. You just can’t not get into their music when you see them perform live. You can’t sit down at their gigs… the whole packed out venue (all four floors) were up and hands-in-the-air dancing. There was an amazing vibe and energy at the gig.

Me (Myself) and Aileen *cough* had an excellent view at the front-most spot on the 1st level – we were practically overlooking the stage, from a side-on vantage. I forgot to bring my camera, but I did have my pda which takes not-too-bad photos, albeit at a fairly low resolution. I even took some video, which, admittedly has fairly crap sound quality compared to the gig, but hey better than nothing! I’ve uploaded pics in my gallery (snippets below) and also might put up a vid or 2 (tho quality isn’t very good, and the camera was shaking a bit coz I was trying to dance whilst taking video.. haha).

The played about equal amounts from old and new albums, which was great coz I hadn’t heard much of their older stuff live before. I enjoyed classics like “Hello”, “The Chariot”, “Days Like These” and “The Rhythm”. Ooh and they even played “The Crowd” too, which was cool. The new stuff included opening with “Sly”, and also included “Lullaby”, “Sol Y Sombra” etc.. in fact I think they played most of the songs on their two albums, as well as a number of improv sections – very cool, like suddenly breaking out into the opening act of The Lion King… which they did rather well, harmonies and all. Haha. They pulled in a freaky variety act mid-concert too – some guy who stuck two sharp swords ALL the way down his throat into his belly?!!!

Anyway, it was great to hear some awesome aussie music again (though it did make me feel slightly homesick.. *sigh*). Bit funny calling them “aussie music”.. their style is so hard to describe.. a fusion of funk, jazz, latin/cuban, with a smattering of rock, laced with some hiphop & rap. It’s just music, and it’s clear they are all incredible musicians, the band is really tight, and the pianist/keys guy Ollie is particularly awe-inspiring. His solos are just amazing! 🙂 And if you can get over the aussie accent, there’s few reasons not to love Cat Empire’s stuff! Gee it sounds like I’m promoting for them huh.

Definitely will be seeing them again at next opportunity – ages away as that may be.

Current listening :: “Two Shoes” – The Cat Empire

The Potter addiction continues

I bought the latest Harry Potter last week (£7.96 at Asdas!) and caved in to start reading it on Thurs.. now I’m almost finished – and I’ve even been trying to not read it too often. Booo. I read books too quickly. But they sucker me in like a pensieve and I can’t help myself.

But I’d just like to say… [spoilers]I predicted Harry and Ginny getting together a mile off. Ever since they first met in book 2, I knew it would happen. A gir’s sense perhaps. Most of my friends (GAVIN!) were all “No way.. As if”. But HAH!! I was right!!! *smug satisfied look*[/spoilers] Only one more book after this one apparently…. *sniff*

In other news. Tis a miserable day today. Been 15 degrees, rainy and grey. At the height of summer too! Grr. I pulled out my cream wintery zip-up coat for today.. and am very glad I did. So tomorrow night I’m going to see The Cat Empire.. for the 2nd time ever. Yay for aussie music! And for aussie bands travelling all the way out to London! 🙂

Current listening :: “White Dove” – Starsailor

Apple’s latest creation

The I-Flea! Hahaha… check out this spoof ad – its hilarious!!

Gai Paree

Paris was really nice. Très bien. Très splendide! I remember going there once before as a kid.. finding it really boring as all we did was look at old stuff in museums and old buildings. But this time I really quite liked it. The old buildings and everything. Was even contemplating the possibility of living there for a bit.. hmm… interesting thought there..

I like the whole old buildings with white window shutters, and small balconies with ornate black railings and red flowers in the flower pot look. There is this charm about it. Photos are coming.

But for the moment, highlights in brief:

• Dinner on Sat night at The. Best. French. Restaurant. I’ve ever been to. A homey little place called Le Pre Cadet, in Montmarte. The food was superb and the service even better! The owner was so attentive and helpful that it felt more like he was our host and we were guests at his dinner party. He even walked us out and shook our hands as we left! I had fillet steak and the yummiest dark chocolate mouse/fudge cake. It was smooth and creamy and chocolatey.. not frothy like mousse, but rich.. and much smoother than normal cake texture. *drools*
• The french pattisseries. Soooooo scrumptious. The french really know how to make their pastries and cakes huh. Mmmmmm. To borrow an expression from a friend.. Kazzart = Piggy. 😉
• The beautiful buildings and architecture.. just the feel of the place. It is afterall, “gay paree”.
• I quite liked Notre Dame. Even though it was absolutely packed with tourists. Dunno what it is with me and old cathedrals. I find them majestic and beautiful.
• Seeing a snippet of the Tour De France coz they were in Paris on the sunday that I was there! How cool is that! 🙂

I took a plethora of photos. Which will be uploaded when I have time to sort through them. Damn I have quite a backlog of digi photos piling up now. No time. 🙁

Anyway, work has been quite busy. At least I get to go to jazz dance class tonight. Yay! The highlight of every week for me is being able to go to dance class.. be it hiphop, jazz or salsa. 🙂 Gonna be doing Sheila Sangster’s intermediate jazz tonight. She’s a small blonde american lady. Good teacher. Its nice to do some jazz again, after so long. My jazz technique is a little rusty though.

Current listening :: “Only Hope” – Switchfoot (Hm I’m finding I currently like this original version more than the Mandy Moore version.. as pretty as Mandy Moore’s version is..)

Miscellaney

I randomly discovered this website, Australian-Food.com, whose slogan is “Delivering Australian Food to the World”. Hahaha. So I guess if I really feel nostalgic for some good ol Aussie tucker (ie Tim Tams!) one of these days, I’ll know where to look!! 😉

A friend called me from Sydney yesterday. T’was really nice to be able to chat to someone from home again. I’d just like to note that he sounded really occa! Hahah. I’ve been surrounded by pommy accents so much that I’ve grown accustomed to it.. and a real australian accent sounds so much more prominent than before.

Hm. I’ve only been here 2 & 1/2 months, but it seems like longer. A lot of the time I don’t even think about it as being in another city, another country.. I consider it home. But at times I do miss home.. my real home… sometimes I close my eyes and I can conjure up fairly vivid images of home, as if I’m there.. like of the last time I went to Wattamolla beach with friends.. what it felt like to be standing there, taking in the amazing vastness of the ocean.. and the national park forest behind the beach.. watching the sunset reflect off the calm inlet waters, and our shadows lengthening as the sky grew that darker orange colour, until the trees were silhouetted black against that vibrant dark orange/pink/blue sky.

*sigh* Ok now I feel homesick. Ack. Shouldn’t think too much about it like that.

Still.. I am happy here too, for the time being. Experiencing all these new and exciting things.. discovering new and exciting places. Like salsa dancing (which is alot bigger over here). Or Europe. Incidentally.. I’m going to Paris this weekend. Squeeee! On my very first Eurostar trip!! 😀

Ooh and I’m going to be seeing Starsailor on 2nd August at the Somerset House summer set festival. I bought tix for myself and Ai. Yay.

Well best get back to work. Morning tea break is over. 😉

Current listening :: “They Weren’t There” – Missy Higgins

Please explain?

There are some things I just don’t understand. Not sure if I ever will.

• Smoking (and why oh why does someone need to smoke in a restaurant.. please London, catch up with Australia and BAN smoking in restaurants. How can one possibly smoke WHILST they are eating?!)
• Social binge drinking (I mean why do that to yourself? What sort of pleasure can anyone get from drinking until they throw up? Why do people need alcohol anyway? Can’t they just be happy with who they are? Can’t they relate to other people without the need for external substances to help “relax” them.)
• Bitching and backstabbing. Just human nature in general really. Nuff said.

Hrmmm…

I will stop
I will stop at nothing
Say the right things
When electioneering
I trust I can rely on your vote

When I go forwards you go backwards and somewhere we will meet

Gone

Thinking about these things makes me wonder… about life… people… society.. the culture of western society in particular. London on the one side can seem like such a vibrant place… full of life and diversity. But on the darker side of the coin, it is a place filled with materialism, greed, and the insatiable and never-ending search for happiness and pleasure. Hrmm.

She told him she’d rather fix her makeup
Than try to fix what’s going on
But the problem keeps on calling
Even with the cellphone gone
She told him that she believes in living
Bigger than she’s living now
But her world keeps spinning backwards
And upside down
Don’t say so long, and throw yourself wrong
Don’t spend today away
Cuz today will soon be

She said he said live like no tomorrow
Every moment that we borrow
Brings us closer to the God who’s not short of cash
Hey Bono I’m glad you asked
Life is still worth living, life is still worth living…

Have I, too, become caught in that cage…?

Current listening :: “Gone” – Switchfoot

Chalk it up to experience

Just a quick update before I go to sleep (coz its Sunday midnight here and I have work tomm :(). I had myself a great weekend. The weather was hot hot hot – just like aussie summers! Started out with a rather fun Friday night out with work mates celebrating a 30th birthday. We went to a Salsa club called Fiesta Havana in the west end. Really nice place! I love the cocktails (esp as it was happy hour till 7:30pm with cocktails being only 2.50 quid) there and the latin/salsa/hiphop fusion of music!

I’ve discovered I quite like latin/cuban cocktails – like the Strawberry Caipirinha (fresh limes & sugar crushed together with fresh strawberries, Cachaça (sugar cane spirit) and crushed ice) or the traditional Mojita (fresh limes, fresh mint & white sugar crushed together with Santiago De Cuba Carta blanca rum topped with crushed ice and a splash of soda). So yummy! But.. I also discovered that drinking cocktails and dancing do NOT mix. The night ended in tears (literally) with me throwing up on the street outside the club. Ok before you jump to conclusions, I wasn’t drunk. I’d only had 2 drinks at around 7pm and then some nacho’s a bit after and only water from then on. But then I salsa danced a lot in that very hot club, was thrown around the dance floor (and dipped upside down many times), sweated and prob got very dehydrated… after a time of dancing I just gradually felt sicker and sicker… until eventually around 11pm it got too much – I was so nauseous I had to leave.. and threw up outside on the street. It was an EXTREMELY unpleasant experience. Puke going up your nose. Ack. 🙁 I haven’t thrown up for a loooooong time.

Anyway, I made it home without throwing up again, with the company of a very nice work mate, Emma, who walked me to my door! Then had a bit of a chat with my cousin and her husband – who happens to be a doctor (in psychiatry, but he’s still a certified GP) – and he reckons I had a heat stroke. The heat and sweating, plus the dancing and the alcohol… I think it was a combination of those things. But I’ve drunk and danced before no problems though… so… maybe its the salsa…. being dipped upside down and shaken around – prob isn’t the best thing for a stomach containing 2 cocktails and some nachos sloshing around together.

Aside from that…. I had the best time dancing. The salsa really came together for me that night… I could totally follow the guy’s lead as we danced. I used to always balk and not be able to follow what the guy wanted me to do at previous salsa clubs… but I guess the classes have paid off and I finally got it! It just flowed.. and it felt awesome. I love salsa dancing! 🙂

Sat’dee n Sun’dee

So the rest of my weekend was a very relaxed one. I spent Saturday taking it easy and recovering. Just spent the day at home, cleaning up my very messy room, washing a few loads of clothing and drinking lots of water to rehydrate my body. Then at night I met up with Ai for the very first time! I took her to dinner at my regular haunt in china town before heading out to see Aimee Mann gig at Shepherds Bush Empire. We had a comfortable spot in the seating area up on level 2. And predictably I suppose, were surrounded by oldies. But what was scary was the mullets on some of those old guys. *shudder* Otherwise the gig was good.. I quite enjoyed myself – and I quite liked the support act…. a guy/band called Robert Post from Norway! They were a three piece band, with Robert singing and playing guitar. Nice upbeat stuff – might check out their album sometime. They’re quite new I think. It was good to chat with Aileen in real life too! We’ll prob be meeting up a few times whilst she’s here for 4 weeks. And methinks there shall be some Hagen Daz icecream involved somewhere in there. 😉

Sunday saw me sleeping in till 1ish and then meeting up with a friend for a very very late brunch (2pm) at a local cafe just down the road (called Giraffe). Very cool place with really good food and drinks! And they serve breakfast till 4pm!!! Gonna go back and try some of their other main dishes. They looked really yummy. I also had a really yummy frozen fruit smoothie with mango, strawberry, banana and apple and orange juice. The perfect thing for a hot summers day. Yummo. My friend had the frozen mocha frappe.. which I will try next time! The desserts also looked scrumptious. They have this white chocolate and toblerone cheesecake with milk chocolate sauce. Mmmmmmm……. :p~ Ok enough about food!

Time for me to sleeeeep. Its now well after midnight.. darn it. Was meant to sleep earlier tonight. Nite all!

Current listening :: “She Really Wants You” – Aimme Mann