My Blue Heaven

More gizmo!

Youtube fans may have noticed the latest video featured on the home page is a copy of that gizmo flushes video I linked to last month. Anyway, I only just noticed they have another gizmo video too. Check it out.. soooo hilarous. Heehee.. poor naughty kitty. I want a kitty like gizmo!

Dizzy

Had the day off sick on Monday. I woke up in the morning after a pretty restful weekend (only went out on saturday to watch 2 movies – Cars and Miami Vice) and a decent nights sleep. But then I sat up in bed, and I just suddenly felt dizzy, room spinning, vertigo sorta dizzy. Had to lie back down again. I tried getting up and having a shower, thinking I’d feel better afterwards, but I still felt dizzy. When I walked, I had this definite lean to the right.. kept walking into the wall! :/ Going to work was looking unlikely, so I booked an appointment to see the doctor. Turns out she reckons I have some sort of inner ear virus. I can’t remember the name.. either Labyrinthitis or Vestibular Neuronitis? Anyway, she said it was a virus and so no meds would help. She just prescribed some Procholorperazine to help with the dizzyness and nausea, if I needed it.

So I’m back at work today, was feeling ok this morning, but I’m starting to feel slightly dizzy again. I do wonder why this occurs. I’ve had it on occasion over the last 3 – 5 years I think. Whenever I get very tired to the point of exhaustion, I’ll get this onset of vertigo.. though I’ve never thrown up from it. I wonder what the cause really is. The doctors diagnosis seemed a bit.. not very well researched. She only took my blood pressure and asked a few questions. No other tests or much interest in background history etc. Anyways. I guess thats what you get with the NHS – a free health system giving quantity over quality. England’s healthcare kinda sucks.

Snip snip

In other news, got myself a £10 hair cut (trim is probably more accurate) on the weekend! Cheap cheap! It was at the Rush hair academy, where they train junior or even senior hair stylists, and they need models to practice on. Rush is now what Toni & Guy was a few years ago. Anyway, the hair cut was free, and the £10 was just for the blowdry. Bargain! And an awesome blowdry she did – she wanted to show off the soft layers so she gave my hair a bit more volume and movement with piecey, flicky ends. I loved it so much I did a mini photo shoot when I got home, with kwai’s SLR. Hehe. Check it.

Heheh. I hardly ever get a blowdry these days coz it’s too expensive. In fact its been 5 months since my last hair cut! I know, there’s hardly any difference – I only trimmed my fringe a bit and maybe an inch or two off the dry ends. I’m trying to grow the layers out a bit coz they were cut too short last time.

And finally.. here are some pics of me and kwai’s cooking endeavours recently. Been really getting into cooking at my place coz am trying to save money blah blah. Anyway, I reckon it’s fun to cook, and the food is usually nicer, not to mention half the price. 🙂

Current listening :: “First Love” – Utada Hikaru

“Plot to blow up planes foiled”

“A terrorist plot to blow up planes in mid-flight from the UK to the US has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.” – Full article here

Crap. Not again. *sigh* I really hope these security measures aren’t still necessary in 4 weeks time. Then again.. perhaps I should rethink my holiday plans! Not that I can, as everything is booked, and I’ve already paid for some accomodations.

At the moment, no hand luggage permitted. Only plane tickets and necessary things like wallets are allowed in a clear plastic bag!!! Not even spectacle cases are allowed. Man. Talk about chaos. 🙁

Puts a whole new thrill into flying overseas eh. :/

Cat Empire live

I went to see The Cat Empire last friday night. The last time I saw them in London was about a year ago, with a l. 🙂 It was such an awesome gig I had to go again, this time dragging Kwai with me. I bought these tickets as soon as they came out months ago. And this time I remembered to bring my digital camera. And again have uploaded some vids to good ol YouTube. 🙂

Pics to come too.

1. “The Car Song” – a very energetic opening song off their 2nd album, awesome keyboard solo starting around 4:00 and bass solo around 7:30

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Italy Itinerary

Ok, after many hours of research, surfing page after page of internet travel guides on italy (btw I highly recommend SlowTrav for any travel planning – excellent user contributed resource with lots of reviews and hints!!), scouring the net for the cheapest hotels and B&Bs… I have FINALLY put together an itinerary so organised it rivals that of a tour company! Hehe. It’s all coming together, car hired, accomodation booked… and there’s still over 4 weeks to go! Hrm.. me, anal? Pffft. 😛

So the plan is to drive ourselves around northern italy – flying into Milan, then onto Venice, Rome, through some Tuscan countryside, Florence, the Cinque Terre and finally back to Milan. All this in a very cool, very chic, Nissan Micra C+C convertible!! Fully designed & manufactured in the UK, and I think only available in UK/Europe. Check it out below (I want one!!)

So the itinerary break-down:

Day 1: Fly into Milan around 9pm, pick up our lovely nissan micra and maybe quick drive around to see Milan by night

Day 2: Drive to Venice early early morning to explore/sightsee for 1 day. Stay overnight in Venice East (on the mainland)

Day 3: Drive to Bologna for early lunch and a quick look around, then onto Palestrina (just outside Rome) for local dinner and some evening sightseeing. Stay overnight at a lovely B&B in Palestrina

Day 4: Explore Rome for the whole day. Morning visit the Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon. After lunch visit Vatician, St Peters Square/Basilica, Sistine Chapel. Evening see Trevi Fountain and wander about eating loads of gelati and caffe lattes (gonna have to roll me back on the plane!) 😛

Day 5: Depart Rome early and drive up Tyhrennian coastline into Tuscany for quick stop at Orbetello/Monte Argentario & its beaches, then head inland to Saturnia for a scrumptious tradional tuscan lunch, then to the natural outdoor hot springs/waterfalls for a relaxing & healthy dip. Drive off to our accomodations at Castello Di Grotti (in a farmhouse apartment on some beautiful castle grounds!) which is in the Tuscan countryside, have dinner at the local village

Day 6: Depart for Florence (via Siena) arriving mid-morning, exploring & sightseeing for a day. Sleep overnight in the San Frediano Mansion (B&B) in central florence, near the river Arno.

Day 7: Visit the Uffizi gallery in the morning before departing for the Cinque Terre. Park up and lunch at Riomaggiore village and walk the coastal path Via dell’Amore (Lovers Way) to the next village Manarola. Train or ferry to Vernazza and hike the coastline path to Monterosso for a swim at this picturesque beach village. Depart Cinque Terre and drive to Milan
Day 8: Shopping, shopping, sightseeing and more shopping.. plane leaves at 9:15pm. Back to London and dismal reality.

*Phew* So there you have it. All organised and booked, with estimated driving times included thanks to Via Michelin. Of course there is some flexiblity in the plan, depending on how things go during the day. Only thing we can’t change is accomodation! We found some REALLY cheap rooms on RoomsNet. Sometimes at half the price of those “cheap internet rates”. Pretty cool eh.

Anyway, give me some feedback.. any flaws in my itinerary etc. 🙂

Current listening :: “Say After Me” – Bic Runga

Bella Italia

After much budgeting, scrimping and saving.. bringing lunch from home every day for work, never eating out or spending so much as a penny on shopping.. myself and Kwai have managed to save enough money to go on a much needed holiday! Yay! We are off to Italy for 1 week in september (6th – 13th). It’ll be just after peak season, so everything is much cheaper – but the weather will be (hopefully) still warm!

We’ve bought plane tix to Milan – cheap cheap on EasyJet at only £104 for two ppl, return! Not bad eh! We’re also hiring a car (hopefully the Nissan Micra C+C convertible if it is available *crosses fingers* – cheap on avis atm) and will be driving around north Italy, visiting all the major cities such as Milan, Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples, Bologna, Pisa, Verona, Cinque Terre.. oh yeh and the Vatican too. Hm. Suddenly a week seems very short! Dunno if we’re gonna be able to fit all those destinations in.. plus I want to see the Tuscan countryside and the Amalfi coastline too. *sigh* Gonna have to make some tough choices methinks. Anyone who has been to Italy before, feel free to comment and give any advice about recommended destinations. So far for me, must see cities are Milan (oh the shopping!!!), Rome, Florence and Venice.. as well as some nice driving through the gorgeous Tuscan countryside, Cinque Terre and the Mediterranean coastline. 🙂

Lots to research and plan in advanced.. coz we want cheap accomodation, we’re gonna have to book in advanced, which takes out some flexibility. Not to mention, I should probably learn some italian before we go!! I’m starting to get all these european languages confused.. german, french, italian.. not as bad as Kwai though, who’s developed a tendancy to answer in the wrong language – usually german. Heehee. Anyway, anyone know of any good online italian tutorials?

Only 5 & 1/2 weeks to go! Can’t wait!! 😀

Current listening :: “Automatic High” – S Club Juniors (Pure cheesy pop packed full of cheesy goodness :P)

Just call me Thorpedo

I made a goal to swim 1km (that’s 11 laps) sometime within the next few weeks, or at most by the end of summer. Well… I have not only reached, but surpassed that goal in under a week. Last week I swam 3 times after work – the first two I only managed 8 laps, but on Thursday I swam 11 laps… 1 km!! Yay! My goal is to push myself just a bit more each time so yesterday I did even better and swam 12 laps. This was done in the same amount of time it took me to swim 8 laps just 1 week ago (approx 1/2 hour). Woohoo!! And it felt gooood too! 😀

I love swimming. I used to swim heaps when I was growing up, with a pool at home, I swam every day in summer. My parents and their friends even nicknamed me “fish”. Anyway, I got a bit bored of it as I grew older.. but in the last few years I started doing laps at the nearby aquatic centre (I think it was the prospect of relaxing in the spa/sauna/steam room that drew me there first) – but I gradually started getting more serious about swimming laps to increase fitness. I could barely do 500m in the 25m pool at first. But I improved.. and then in summer I was able to use the outdoor 50m pool, which gave me an additional challenge coz the pool length was longer. Anyway, I didn’t do much swimming in my first year in London (other than for a short period when I was living at my cousins). Recently finding out about a 90m pool in London challenged me to conquer that length! So that’s what I’m doing now. 🙂

So I wonder how many laps I’ll be able to swim by the end of summer. Perhaps my next goal will be to swim 1 mile. This is definitely doing great things for my fitness. I’m on a fitness role.. w00t! And I’m even ready to hit the gym tonight for something different. Gonna give the shoulders a rest and focus on legs/bum, stomach, lower back and lots of stretching. Go me. 🙂

Bring on summer revisted

Hold that thought. Ok, backtrack a little. Stop there. Thats better.

Excuse my craziness. I blame the heat. When I said bring on summer, I didn’t quite mean sitting in an office with no air conditioning while it blasts 36 degrees heat.

I. Am. So. Hot. I can’t concentrate here. I’m falling asleep. Drinking water non-stop until I feel bloated. Even my chair feels like a heater. I love the hot weather… but, when there is no air con it kinda sucks.

Looks like I’ll be heading to the pool again tonight. For the 3rd time this week, I get to quench myself in the blissfully refreshing cold water at the Tooting Lido. I swam 8 laps the last two times.. and am hoping to make it 9 laps tonight! 🙂

Current listening :: John Coltrane – “Impressions”

Bring on summer

Wow its on the warm side today. 35 degrees.. London is rivalling even a Sydney summers day. I am definitely hitting the pool again after work today.

Anyway, thanks to Vron’s latest post, I’m gonna convert it to a mini me-me. 🙂

1. I’m currently loving: youtube, old school r&b (*sigh* jodeci.. tevin campbell.. hehe), crispy aromatic duck pancakes, the hot sydney-like weather & swimming in outdoor pools
2. I’m currently missing: home, family, friends, Sydney, the beach, coltrane
3. I’m currently hating: my hair (sooo dry and damaged), getting up in the mornings for work, being tired, having no money
4. I’m currrently looking forward to: a holiday (if I can afford it), the weekend, dance class

Current listening :: “Lately” – Jodeci (ahhh… old school.. soooo gooood)

Shocked and outraged

Ok so I finally visited this site (that Kwai had told me about a few times already) and I am absolutely utterly shocked and disgusted. I cannot believe this web site exists.. and that there are over 87000 members. This site makes me so so angry. It is so wrong on so many levels, that it is almost incomprehensible that such a large organised body of people can think like that, and be so… proud and proactive.. about such a thing. These people are actually proud of what they believe. And they are all over the world. There are separate little forums for different locations.. a group in Britain, and a group in Australia and so on..

I read through a few of the threads. Ugh. Words fail to describe what I think of this.

YouTube Anti-Racism Collaboration

Everyone check this out. It’s a special video collaboration speaking out against racism. It was made by Kwai, involving many YouTubers, even some of the big guns. 🙂 Please pass it on to as many people as possible. Oh yeh I say 2 lines in it too.

The responses have been pretty positive so far. We’re trying to get this video featured, so if you have a YouTube login, feel free to comment and rate to push this video up so that it can get more exposure. Unfortunately, this video has also brought out the idiots and racists across YouTube. Kwai has already recieved a fair few hateful comments for making this video. I seriously don’t understand how ignorant and stupid some people are out there. *sigh* Very sad.

The background music to the video is quite good and fitting – it’s an original piece, written and performed by an unsigned musician called terranaomi. She also contributes to the video.

So, anyway, check it out!!

Hot hot hot!

Man we have quite a hot week coming up. Today was 32. Tomm 34, wednesday 36!!! 😮 Not bad for “chilly” london eh! Anyway, I’m gonna take FULL advantage of this hot weather to go swimming at the Lido. And what is a lido I hear you ask? It’s basically what they call outdoor pools here. There are very few in London, but one happens to be kinda close to where I live. Well, not close, but fairly convenient to get to. And this is the largest lido in London – its 90m long and 30m wide!!! Really great for doing laps – quite a challenge. The first time I swam the length, I had to pause twice. 90m is quite long, and it was kinda a bit of “are we there yet?”.. hehe. Not I’m getting used to the length, I’ve managed to do 6 laps, with minimal pauses at each end. Hopefully tonight I’ll bump that up to 7 or 8! My aim is to be able to swim 1 km. By the end of summer here hopefully. I love swimming. Dunno what I’m gonna do once winter hits again.

Anyway, I’m quite happy with my.. achievement so far with my fitness. I’m slowly but surely dragging my body back in shape. Have lost a couple of those london winter kilos, and am getting fitter and stronger. I’m dancing once a week, and going to the gym (or swim) once or twice a week on top. Feelin good. Gotta love summer! 🙂 Just a shame there are no beaches. *sigh*

Well, sorry about my last, rather morbid, post. I still am sorting through stuff. And I’m not always feeling so depressive. Dunno when I’ll find the answers, but I’m sure I’ll figure things out eventually. Need some regeneration time alone perhaps. London being London, its always so hectic. I barely have time to breathe during my week at work. Anyway, I’m off to swim now. Ciao ciao. 🙂

Current listening :: “Miracle Drug” – U2

Over a week

Wow. I haven’t really been blogging very much lately. I guess I’ve just been a bit busy with other things. Life.. work.. yt.. boring things like that. 😉 Not that many people actually really read this anymore. Anyway. Hm.. work has been going through some changes. I am now starting at 9am instead of 9:30. Which means I can leave earlier at 6 instead of 6:30, which is nice.. means I can actually get to things on time in the evening.. like dance class. I’m kinda getting used to getting up earlier. Bleh. We’ve also had a few changes in staff here.. my coworker (programmer) has left, and a new graphics designer has joined the team. There’s also some loud hot shot sales consultant guy who’s with us, dunno how long for. (Hopefully not too long coz he’s a bit irritating *cough*). What else.. its fun working with a graphics designer again. He seems to be a cool guy.. maybe someone to talk to now that my coworker friend has gone. I can see things getting a bit lonely here. But hey… thats London. *sigh*

I miss home. The other day I caught a train back home and a bunch of HK chinese people (2 couples) around my parents age sat in my carriage. They were chatting away in typical conversational cantonese… and they just soooo reminded me of my parents. Like, just what they said, the canto phrases they used.. it was something I hadn’t heard in quite a while (not many asians here, unlike sydney.. and I’m actually surrounded by white ppl almost all the time.. unlike sydney again). Anyway, it actually made me really miss my parents and my home.. to the point that I even felt some reluctance in getting off at my stop. *sigh*

I wonder when I’ll get around to returning home. And when I do… I wonder how different things will be. How many changes will have occured. How many people will have moved on.. or even moved away! Who will have gotten married. How many will still actually be my friend. Hrm. *sigh* Sometimes I feel so empty. I wonder where life will lead. Why age & experience just seems to make you sadder..

Current listening :: “The sound of white” – Missy Higgins

Bic Runga live in concert

I went to see Bic Runga for the second time this year. This time it was at Shepherds Bush Empire, London. And I remembered to bring my digital camera too! I took quite a few videos of lotsa songs. Click on the “more” link at the end of this post to view.

It only just occurred to me, that both times after a Bic Runga gig, something bad has happened to my Sony Erricsson w900i. The first time, it WSOD (white screen of death) and I lost all my vids and photos. Now this time, my phone got nicked. Wow. Maybe I should avoid her gigs in future. (Kidding.. sorta).

Anyway.. enjoy. 🙂

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Kitty goes potty

Oh man.. I *gotta* teach Coltrane how to do this one day!!! Hahaha.. Love the ending bit too.. poor kitty. Heehee.

Here’s a brief insight in how it’s done. Now if only the cat could flush like this one too!! Hahahah.. Hahahaha..

Current listening :: “Three Dimensions” – Something For Kate

Filthy little thievesses

Ok I’m annoyed. Someone stole my mobile late last night on my way home from a Bic Runga gig in Shepherds Bush. I tried calling my phone this morning, and it rung once, then went to voicemail (hm very suss), then I called again, and this time it went straight to voicemail (very suss indeed). The thief must have pressed hangup when I called it first, then turned it off. Grrrrr. I hate thieves.

*sigh* Anyway, sim has been disabled now and am going down to the police station to get a stolen phone claim number so the handset will be disabled too. Hah. Take that!

Hello stranger

Why was forming friendships so much easier when we were younger? What is it about people, that as we grow older, we are less willing (or able?) to form new meaningful relationships with other people. I’m not talking about shallow acquaintances that you meet once or twice at a bar.. but a meaningful (platonic) friendship where you connect on a deeper level, with that level of trust and openness to share what is in your heart.

Is it lazyness? The fact that by this age, most everyone already has an established circle of close friends/partner and feels no need to form new ones. Is it lack of trust, that past experiences have taught them cynicism or bitterness, to be less open, to avoid getting hurt. Or is it just some shy individual’s fault, that they just don’t try hard enough to connect with people.
And whilst we’re on that.. why is it that people often seem to love the outgoing loud person, and ignore the quieter, shy one. It’s like an automatic labelling: loud = friendly, shy = unfriendly. Is that necessarily true? I’m sure that the shy person is just as keen on forming friendships.. equally in need of meaningful companionship. Maybe they just don’t get the chance to get a word in edgewise, in the cacophony of noise everyone else is making. Maybe it’s how life is now.. where everyone and everything is shouting louder and louder to be heard, and the ones that don’t, sink into oblivion.

Hrmm.. I should probably stop listening to Bluebottle Kiss.. makes my posts kinda angsty. Not that I can understand half the lyrics… I mean, does ANYONE out there know the lyrics to “Hello Stranger”? I’ve searched all of google and can’t find it anywhere. I can’t understand a word he’s saying except “Hello Stranger”!

Blah. The cryptic musings have resurfaced!

So I look in your direction
But you pay me no attention
And you know how much I need you
But you never even see me

Current listening :: “Hello Stranger” – Bluebottle Kiss

NOoooooooo!!

We’re out. :((((( End of the socceroos in the World Cup. *cries* That last penalty was so unfair. Grrrrr.

Talking cats!!!

Oh man.. this video is sooooo funny. Nearly fell off my chair laughing so hard.

Advice needed about weblog software

Hey guys! Just wanted to gather some information from you bloggers out there. My current web hosting expires soon, and as it is quite an expensive package, I’m thinking of changing to Kwai’s server which has unlimited space, and is cheaper! However I’m stuck on what weblog software to install? I think I have this old version of movable type somewhere still, but maybe I should upgrade. Does anyone know what blogging software is good these days – I’m looking for something free and something you can install and run on your own server (linux based) and have full control over. I’ve heard about TypePad, but that costs money. Is the latest free version of MovableType any good – it seems be restricted to only support 1 user now. Anybody know about any other weblog publishing software?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!