My Blue Heaven

Happy Easter

Thank goodness for long weekends. And this ones an extra long weekend – 4 whole days off work! Wheee. 🙂 Anyways, its nearly 6pm here, so I’m about to head off. Gonna watch She’s The Man tonight – looks really funny. And its a romantic comedy.. there hasn’t been a decent one out for a while. Yay for girly flicks. 🙂 Hope its good.

Plans for the long weekend. Not much really – need to save £££. Will be doing cheap (read: already paid for) things like going to the gym, watching movies, and cooking at home. Might head up to Stevenage for a day to visit some friends.

Ooh last night I made friends with the next door neighbour cat. He is sooooo cute! Like.. the friendliest cat ever! He followed me inside my flat and just followed me around, rubbing, purring, being really cute and attentive (but totally non scratchy or bitey). Soooo cute and sweet! I think he’s still quite young. Anyway he didn’t really wanna leave, so I let him stay the night. Hehe. Ok maybe a bit naughty of me (I wasn’t catnapping… honest.. ok I might have been just *slightly* tempted coz he was sooo cute) but I let him out the next morning coz he seemed hungry. I’ve seen him out and about the street before.. so I’m sure he comes and goes as he pleases through a cat flap. He sure made himself comfortable sleeping on my bed covers.. I didn’t get much sleep as he moved around on my legs.. and woke me up at 5:30 this morning purring and walking around my head and jumping on and off the bed! Still.. it was worth it. I miss having a cat.

Anyways (in the immortal words of Cher) – I’m outtie! 🙂

Current listening :: “Check on it” – Beyonce (this music video clip is so.. pink)

Updates and pics

Yet another monday morning. Bleugh. I have a deadline for wednesday.. gotta finish as many pages as possible for our latest client’s website – H00ver Sp@res, because 6 of them are coming in for a meeting on wed and I’m gonna be attending that meeting. My first client facing meeting! *scary*

My weekend was ok. Watched two movies – Inside Man and Ice Age 2. Enjoyed both. Went to Fusion Funk dance class on sat for the first time in yonks. Man I’m outta shape. Felt sore in places I haven’t been sore for a while. Dance class is such a great workout. 🙂 Also went to the gym on sunday for a “light” workout and finished with a relaxing steam and sauna.

Anyway, finally found some time to upload a couple of pics taken in Sydney. These were taken on Sun 19th March out by the harbour/rocks area at night. *sigh* Sydney is just beautiful.

The Sydney Opera House by night. 🙂 This pic was taken after Gav, Wongo, Nate’s bday bash at the Belgian Beer Cafe. Me and Kwai decided to go get some dessert at Pancakes on the Rocks, and happened to find parking by the harbour, under the Harbour Bridge next to the Park Hyatt. It was a beautiful night – so out came the cameras and we got snap happy for the next 45 mins. 🙂 These are the best of the lot, taken with my old sony cybershot – no match for Kwai’s digital SLR of course – but I’m quite happy with these shots. I found a wooden post to rest my camera on to take the long exposure night shots. The pics below are looking back towards the Sydney CBD and The Rocks. You can view full 1024 sized photos in my sydney gallery. More pics to come!

Current listening :: “Listening for the weather” – Bic Runga

Happy snap #1

First of many photos. Lookee here – we got our pic snapped with my friend Christian and his buddy DJ Ace at Bamboo (Martin Place Bar) on the final Sat of our holiday in Oz. *sigh* Good times. 🙂 (Btw don’t mind Kwai’s wierd facial expression.. he seems to have a thing for doing these.. you get used to it.)

Anyway, I was talking to a work colleague today, another aussie. He’s been in London for about 10 months too.. like me. And he was saying how he was planning on returning to Australia sometime round the end of this year – explaining that London wasn’t really for him. There are too many people here.. too crowded.. Australia is so much more spacious and comfortable. Plus he didn’t really want to stick around for another london winter, as he doesn’t like the darkness and cold. He’s a sunshine, warmth and beach sorta person. And I was standing there nodding furiously, thinking “YES! That is so me! There is another out there thinking like me. So not everyone who comes here from Oz absolutely loves it!” It made me feel… vindicated.. for some reason.

But alas I will not be going back to Australia so soon. I will stick it out for a bit more… I have extra factors to consider.. like my bf. I also want to travel europe a bit more first, and take advantage of the different opportunities here. Also save up some precious pounds. But eventually.. I’ll go home. Sydney is where I belong. (Preferably near a beach ;))

Current listening :: “So sick” – Ne-Yo

Homesick

First day back at work. Been pretty slow today.. or rather, my brain has been pretty slow today. 3 weeks holiday makes for one rusty web developer. (Er.. how do I use visual studio again? Hehe.) Anyway, had a fairly warm welcome from my work colleagues which was nice. I suppose bringing back a family pack of TimTams and a tin of true blue aussie Milo helps. Esp considering the IT directors (my managers) are both aussie. 🙂

It’s not all been warm and happy on my end. Though the weather is considerably warmer than when I left.. with spring in the air and flowers a-blooming (quite pretty really.. gonna have to take some pics).. I’ve been feeling the homesickness quite keenly. Esther had commented on how leaving home the 2nd time is more difficult. And I think she is right. I really miss Sydney. But what I miss the most – more than the scrumptious jap restaurants, yummy Boost smoothies, beautiful sandy beaches, the nightlife and karaoke-craziness, my wonderful friends… is my family. My parents. Even though I still get irritated with them at times, I really miss their presence in my life. I guess I feel kinda lost without them. I miss my home… the completeness of having your family around you. Coltrane included of course. 😛 I’ve been feeling pretty sad and depressed since arriving back in London. It suprises me how strongly I feel about my family. And that they feel similarly. I didn’t realise we were such a close knit family. Guess you don’t realise these things till they’re gone. *sigh*

Anyways, before I make myself cry at work, I better finish up and get back to work! Nearly 6pm now. Yay! I’m tired. Jetlag sucks.

Current listening :: “If I Had You” – Bic Runga (new album “Birds” – kinda depressing album.. by the last track, it feels a bit slit-your-wrists)

Hello from Heathrow

So I’m sitting here on my laptop in Heathrow airport in a cafe, making use of some rather expensive wireless internet. Its kinda cool though… wireless is cool. 🙂 Anyway, am waiting for kwai to arrive (we caught sep flights from HK because our tickets were booked separately – tho we managed to travel together for 3/4 of the way) – his flight was 2 hours later than mine.

Man I’m tired. 13 hour flights are not fun. I did get a fair amount of sleep – but considering I didn’t sleep at all the night before as we had to leave my uncles flat at 4am to get to the airport by 5am to make my 7:40am flight…. it is understandable that I kinda totally passed out once I got on the plane! I woke up about 6 hrs later, only to realise I had at least another 6 hours to go before I could get off cattle class on my Qantas 747.

But I digress. I’m tired. I think kwai’s flight has probably landed now. And my wireless connection ends in abt 10 mins time. So better wrap this post up. Its kinda wierd and mildly depressing to be back in London. Back to cold reality. Although the temp is only a mild 15 degrees today.. which is definitely much warmer than the 5 degrees in which we left London.

Oh yeh.. HK was fun. Shopping in HK is ultra fun. I shopped wisely though – stuff I had planned to buy beforehand, and stuff that is a fraction of the price I would have paid here in London. My purchases include a new pair of specs (Gucci, plastic and blue!), new G7 logitech wireless mouse for work (coz my work mouse sucks), a gorgeous shiny Michael Kors designer watch (very elegant), a pair of pale blue sketchers (coz the heel has worn away on my current diesels and it hurts my ankle), plus a few cheap computer bits.. like memory sticks, multi card reader etc. Can’t believe how cheap electronic stuff is in HK. Thank you Mongkok Computer Centre! 🙂 Ok gotta go now! More updates and photos to come.

Hello from HK!

Just a quick post to say hello from Hong Kong! I had a fairly smooth flight, arriving late last night, and am currently staying with my Uncle Philip (uncle number 4) in his flat in Ma On Shan. Today he is taking us to visit Kwai’s very old grandparents, then its on to Mongkok for some shopping and touristy things. Then I’m getting my hair cut in Tsim Tsa Tsui before going to dinner with Uncle Ken (uncle number 2) at a japanese restaurant in the area.

HK is so tall. There are so many sky scraper apartments I think I’m gonna get a sore neck from looking up so much.

Well, better head off now! More updates later. And of course pics to come from my time in Sydney. Gonna have to do some massive culling… we took soooooo many pics. :/

Quick update

Man time flies. I can’t believe I have only 4 1/2 more days left in Sydney. I’ve been going out heaps this week with Kwai. We had a really good couple of days just exploring more of Sydney. Haven’t really met up with many ppl this week as most seem to be too busy. But we’ve enjoyed our time out together, and have had lots of quality time with my parents too.

Our activities included watching a movie in a gold class cinema (def a nice experience – and ultra cheap b4 5pm on a weekday!), relaxing at the Ryde Aquatic Centre, Kwai playing golf with my dad, Kwai and myself cooking up a storm for my family and 2 friends, doing the Bondi to Coogee walk (absolutely gorgeous views, plus a refreshing dip in the sea to finish), eating at 2 (out of 3) of my fave jap restaurants in Sydney CBD, eating yummy 1.9kg lobster at a chinese restaurant with family, meeting up with a girlfriend for a scrumptious Max Brenners suckao, multiple harbour cruises and walks round Sydney Harbour, scrummy steak dinner at Kingsleys Steakhouse on King Street Wharf (highly recommend this restaurant – great views of sunset over King St Wharf, and awesome steak!!) plus an impromptu salsa at La Cita nearby who has Thursday Latin Summer night with a live latin band playing (free entry too!). Ahh.. here’s to making the most of Sydney (and the entertainment book! :P)

Home sweet home

So here I am, back in beautiful Sydney, Australia. And loving it. There really is no place like home. I gotta admit.. I love Sydney! We’ve been so busy, I haven’t had time to blog. Have spent lots of time with family, which is really nice. Went on an impromptu family day trip down the coast to Kiama and Wollongong last wed! Have also met up with numerous friends for lunches, dinners, catch ups etc. And it only took about 3 days to recover from jet lag. Unfortuntely, I haven’t recovered from my cold.. I’m even on antibiotics now. 🙁 But I guess I’ve not exactly been resting up.

It’s kinda surreal being back here. Not as much now.. coz it just feels like I’ve never left! But at first… it was sorta weird being back. Like everything was familiar.. yet somehow not. Things like buses being blue and white, instead of red. Or driving for the first time in 10 months.. a bit scary! I’m back to my old self now. 😛 I’ve driven round quite a bit now… into the city, out to the beach etc. I can’t believe I still remember all these roads so well. It’s like I never left. Like I’ve just picked up where I left off, 10 months ago.

We went clubbing for the first time in 10 months on Fri night. That was fun. Got home at nearly 5am. Like the old days. 😉 And today after church and lunch with church ppl, Kwai and myself went for our first trip to the beach. It was an absolutely beeeeautiful day. Hot, sunny, clear blue skies. So after going home to get our gear, we headed out to Freshwater beach. It was gorgeous. Warm and sunny.. and the water was perfectly cool and refreshing. I even caught a few waves body surfing. 🙂 Oh how I’ve missed the beach!!!!

Anyway its late and I’d better get to bed. Had quite a busy weekend, with late nights and not much sleep. It’ll be so nice to sleep in tomm. Got a fairly busy week coming up! Our schedule is very rapidly getting filled up!

Btw, I apparently still have an aussie accent. Which seems to be a relief to my friends here. 😛 Though they do seem to love Kwai’s cute british accent. Hehe. As do I. 😉

Friday funny

Hahahaehaheha..

Am feeling slightly better.. probably due to the lemsip max “dissolve on tongue” powder.. 1000mg of paracetamol straight into the blood stream! You really feel it immediately take effect too. Also been drinking loads of hot honey/lemon.

Good news! Kwai is now flying out with me to Sydney tomorrow! Yay! The advert was cancelled in the end, even though he did get the job. Bit of a relief as trying to book another flight was proving difficult – happy am I! 🙂 Also had a meeting with my line managers today.. the two IT directors. A final catch up before I leave and semi-review of my progress – they said they were very happy with my work. Definitely off the probation period. So doubly happy am I! 🙂

Can’t believe I’ll be on my way in about 24 hrs time.. excited am I! Whee! Man.. gotta start packing!!! This’ll prob be my last post until Sydney… though I might be a geek and post from the airport. Hehe. Ok I’m outie.

Current listening :: “Sly” – The Cat Empire

Of all the worst possible times…

I’m sick. 🙁 Just a little.. only the beginnings of a cold.. but I can feel that tingly feeling at the back of my throat.. the phlegm beginning to generate… the slight wooziness and tiredness… those tell-tale signs. Arghhhhhhhh…

BUT.. if I blast this cold with every kind of immunity booster.. Vit C, Echinacea, hot honey/lemon drinks, lots and lots of water and fresh fruit, and sleep well tonight….. hopefully I’ll be able to nip it in the bud. But arghhhhhhh… whyyyyy!!!!?!? 🙁

I’m seriously thinking its coz I’m getting old. I got an average of 6-7 hours sleep a night during this week. For some ppl that’s a normal amount – but I just can’t cope with that anymore. I get sick. Plus I went to the gym on wed night. You’d think that would help boost the immune system. But I find when I exert myself lots, and not get enough rest (ie 8 hrs or more).. it’s a recipe for sickness. I eat really heathily too. Fresh fruit (at least 2 pieces) and veges every day. Balanced meals with meat and carbs. No junk. No coffee, not much choc. *sigh* Maybe its stress related. Its been a very stressful 2 weeks for me – everything with KC Actors Studio (lots of things going pear shaped), plus working this full-time job.. Kwai’s problems with lots of things… financial problems.. plus trying to organise things for the trip…

*sigh* I’m so tired.

Pimp your ride?

Check out this car, pimped to the max. Hahah.

Anyways. 3 days until take-off! W00t! Man.. I am so in the School Of I-Don’t-Give-A-Crap right now. I just wanna start my holiday! Getting bored of work.. bug fixing, bug fixing and.. yep.. more bug fixing. *yawn*

I’ve finally gotten around to resurrecting my moblog. Added some pics from the last few months. More to come when I get around to downloading them off my phone. 🙂 Oh yeh, and got some nice Jack Johnson pics to come too.

It was interesting to trawl through my old moblog pics. Gave me flashbacks of the past.. reminding me of life in Sydney. Also.. is it just me, or do I actually look a little, but visibly, older now? It seems like I looked so much younger a mere 2 years back. Aiyah.. how depressing! Or perhaps London has just aged me. 😛

Anyways, I’m off soon to hit the gym.. for my regular wed night pilates class. Plus cardio beforehand on the x-trainer and rowing machine. And then afterwards a good stretch session and methinks I will relax in the sauna.. maybe even take a dip in the pool and jacuzzi. Gonna do the full works tonight! 🙂

Current listening :: “Philosophy” – Ben Folds (live)

4 days until take-off!

Yep! Only 4 days (and counting) till I depart chilly London town and fly half way around the world to sunny Sydney! Whee! 🙂 I’m really looking forward to coming back and seeing everyone again. And soooo looking forward to getting some Aussie sunshine and warmth into me! Not to mention lots of beach action! I don’t care if its not “warm” by aussie standards.. its still probably about 20 degrees warmer than London atm.. and thats good enough for me!! (When is this winter gonna be over already!)

Things are just so busy now. The weekend was … insanely hectic. Holding a stall at an exhibition is A LOT of work!!! Poor Kwai only got an average of 3 hours sleep for the 3 nights. But I think it went well and was very good for KC Actors Studio. We even have more helpers on board to help with the workload.

I met up with Esther on Saturday! It was really nice to catch up with a familiar face from Sydney. We had lunch and then did some shopping. I have pics and a video to show you guys in Sydney. 🙂 I also went for an audition for the Latin Piano course at CityLit. Which was successful. 🙂 So if I choose to enrol, I’ll be starting end of April. My only problem now is I don’t have a piano to practice on. 🙁 And on Sat night we went to the Jack Johnson gig.. which was absolutely awesome! Great performance in typical laidback JJ style. I can’t believe how popular he is now… everyone loves Jack. And I almost touched his hand! He came down to the audience at the front (I was 1 away from the barrier) and hi-fived across our section of the audience before leaving. He was quite interactive with us, occasionally replying to some of the shoutouts from the audience. Afterwards I bought myself another JJ hoodie (so I don’t wear out my white one).. choc brown this time. I love the hoodies. Good quality material and design. 🙂

Kwai is in Budapest now. He’s there from Mon to Thurs getting his teeth fixed. I can’t believe what the dentist in London did to his tooth. He was getting it bleached (coz its a dead tooth – from a martial arts accident when he was a kid) and the dentist fractured it – shattered it all the way down to the bone!!! Now he has to get a metal rod implant and a temporary crown (plus the real crown in 4 months time). Man, the lawyer is gonna have a field day with this one – he’s taking legal action to get compensated for the dentists obvious carelessness. So anyway, the implant is quite expensive (he originally thought he only needed a crown), but its still less than half the price of getting this done in London!!! Even with airfare and accom! Budapest is cheap cheap cheap!!

Also he went for an audition on Friday for an advert. And he got it! (Well.. pencilled in… tbc today.) He’ll be flown to Prague for the filming. Lucky guy. He gets to go to all the cool places. But the bad news is he won’t be departing for Sydney with me, as filming will be 13/14th. He’ll be flying over a bit later in the week. Which means I don’t see him for 2 weeks. 🙁 I was also kinda looking forward to flying out to Sydney with him… u know… planes.. holiday.. exciting.. sharing it with someone you love. Ah well. This acting job is more important.

Anyways, better get cracking with my work! Got a full body exfoliation and detox aromatherapy massage treatment tonight! Yay! 🙂 Sooo in need of some relaxation.

Current listening :: “Top of the world” – Mandy Moore

New schtuff

I recently acquired a number of new things. Had a fairly successful shopping expedition last weekend. On Sunday, I spent about 3 hours in Mango – a dangerous place for me! But I made fairly sensible purchases. Bought 2 nice fitting tees (one in black, one in white), this really cool choc tank top – with a loose hanging neckline at the front, but all gauzy material at the back!! Also bought a new pair of dark blue denim jeans (one size smaller than my current pairs.. yay!) – not bootcut this time.. though not skinny leg either.. just in between, quite a nice fit!

On Saturday I only had time to shop in Morgan De Toi – where I bought 2 very nice party tops. One black, with a low v-neckline, and one midnight blue (looks like a tshirt from the front.. but its open at the back.. just ties at the bottom.. very cool!) I’ll have to take pics coz its just too hard to describe in writing.. the designs are too complex. But I just looooove european clothes. The designs are just soo much more interesting and sophisticated. They’re not afraid to dress creatively! I think my faves are french, spanish and italian clothes. Shopping in Europe kicks shopping in Australia.. any day!!!!

Counting down to Sydney!

Anyway.. am doing the count down.. only 1 week and 2 days till we leave for Sydney! I can’t believe its sooo soon! I remember it being months away. Man.. I really need to start thinking about what to pack and what to bring back home. (I have way too much stuff here – need to get rid of some stuff!) Things are gonna be REALLY hectic for the next week.. so much to do… so much to organise. Not to mention work is gonna be mega busy until I leave. 3 weeks is a long time. And Kwai is even busier than me.. KCA Studio is holding a stall at this One Life Live exhibition this weekend for 3 days. (Hopefully we’ll get some much needed signups from this exhibtion). Plus a 3rd KCA Studio course is starting up this Sunday. And then on Monday he’s off to Budapest for 4 days to get his teeth fixed (his dentist fractured his tooth – and he needs a crown not to fix it – yes he’s taking legal action against the surgery!). Apparently Budapest is THE place to go for cheap, top quality dentists.

We’re also going to the Jack Johnson gig this saturday! Yay! Will be good to see him live again. Am really loving his new stuff. The “Curious George” OST is pretty good. Very happy music. 🙂

Just so I can keep myself organised, here’s my calender for the next week and a bit…

Fri 3/3 – Hiphop class
Sat 4/3 – Latin piano audition, meet Esther for lunch, shopping, JJ gig
Sun 5/3 – Start packing, KCA Studio new course starts
Mon 6/3 – Kwai leaves for Budapest
Tues 7/3 – Massage and exfoliation treatment 🙂
Wed 8/3 – Gym & pilates class
Thurs 9/3 – Pack, Kwai returns from Budapest
Fri 10/3 – Hairdresser appointment, pack and tidy flat
Sat 11/3 – Final packing, catch flight to Sydney!

Man, I think I’m gonna be exhausted by the time I get to Sydney.

Current listening :: “So Sick” – Ne-Yo (finally found the song we danced to in hiphop class!)

I miss music

I’ve been going through some archive recordings of gigs I’ve performed in the past. Such as the Saltlight “This Way Up” album launch, my performance at Ernie’s wedding, jazz concerts at the Conservatorium. Listening to these performances (cringing occasionally :P) really brings back strong memories. And it makes me realise something. I really, REALLY miss playing the piano. I miss being involved in creating and performing music. I miss having music as a part of my life. It’s been in my life since I was 6 years old. And for the last 8/9 months, I haven’t been able to play at all because I don’t have access to a piano. I also miss singing. I just miss music – making music.

It’s hard to describe what I feel as I listen to those old performances. The things I remember… like the few minutes before the Saltlight Launch.. I vividly remember standing at the window, trying to breathe in the cool night air.. because I was so nervous that I was shaking. Then walking up the stairs onto the stage with the band to massive cheering. That was a pretty cool moment – the audience was so supportive.. the atmosphere of that night was awesome. 🙂

I want to experience things like that again. I want to perform again. To play again. To jam again. To get in that “zone” with my band mates. To almost be able to read each others minds because we knew each others playing styles so well. *sigh* Ok I’m starting to get all soppy and emotional now.

Anyway. I think I’ll sign up to the next piano course at CityLit. I missed the last one, Jazz Piano 1 coz it filled up. There is a Latin Piano course however starting late april. That does sound very appealing. I’ve never done much latin/afro-cuban style piano playing before – it sounds really cool because the rhythm is so syncapated and complex. I’d love to be able to play like that.. esp since syncpated rhythm is one of my weaker points. So… maybe I’ll be able to keep up some form of playing… even if I don’t have a piano at home to practice. At least I’ll be playing once a week.

For those who would like to share my trip down memory lane. Audio downloads here, here and here (don’t worry the exe files aren’t viruses – they’re just some wierd format of music playback – from one of those small portable recorders). Visuals are here and here.

And now to the weather. Hehe. It was snowing this morning!! Hee! Rather mesmerising to watch snowflakes gently drift down around you whilst walking to the station. But now its turned into a fairly miserable drizzle/rain. Hopefully it’ll be cold enough for snow again tonight. 🙂 Pilates last night was great… the class was just what I needed. Challenging, but I felt energised and refreshed afterwards. Its also at an LA Fitness closer to work, conveniently on my route home. Methinks wed night is gonna become pilates night!

Current listening :: “In Gods Eyes (live)” – Veronica Abednego (With me on piano.. 😛 man that song pushed my playing abilities!! Talk about sore hands.. Hehehe..)

Frrrreezing today

Weather has turned horrible again. Last week, we saw a glimmer of hope… a glimpse of spring. But alas.. it turned bitterly cold again over the weekend. Cold, windy. rainy, grey. Top temp today was 4 degrees. Gotta love London.

So anyways. My saturday shopping expedition turned into one looong hair cut and colour. My hairdresser was running 45 mins late to start, and then the colour and cut took about 3 hours! Mostly the colour. I ended up getting bold red highlights, but underneath the hair so it shows through the ends and in patches around the side. The rest of the hair was dyed black to bring out the contrast and cover up old highlights. Here’s a piccy of the finished result at the hair salon (check out the stylish white decor).

After that we had to rush off to meet some friends for dinner and movie. We watched Aeon Flux, which I thought was pretty cool. Very sci-fi/futuristic.. but without the spaceships.

Well, just a quick update coz I gotta rush off to the gym now. Am booked in for a pilates class! 🙂 I’ll leave you with a piccy of this gorgeous cat at a friends place.

Current listening :: “Girl fight” – Brooke Valentine

TGI Friday!

Another week gone by.. and it’s Friday again. Yay! It’s kinda sad but I am starting to develop a deeper understanding of the “live for the weekend” philosophy of today’s workers. It’s not like I have weekends of boozing and partying. Not at all! It’s just that the working week kinda sucks. It really is a cycle of “Get Up – Work – Go Home – Sleep”. With little time for anything else, other than food. Maybe I might be able to squeeze in a session at the gym.. at the price of a late dinner at 11pm and even later bedtime. Which makes me reluctant to go more than once during a week night. Meh. It’s all because I live so far from work. Travelling for 3 hours a day to work REALLY sucks.

Ok enough whinging!! I’m happy it’s the weekend (in 5 hours!) I already have a few enjoyable things planned. Am going to hiphop class tonight at DanceWorks again. Woohoo! Been looking forward to this the whole week! Then tomorrow I’m booked in for a haircut and colour at my favourite salon – Sanrizz in Covent Garden. Kwai and myself are doing a dual-haircut session again. Hee. Both with our favourite hair stylist, Harumi. I’m gonna go for something a little more interesting with colour this time. I’m sick of always getting the same old half head highlights/streaks. Wanna do something a little bolder and more interesting. And methinks it’ll include some brilliant shade of red. 😀

After the hair salon, we’re meeting up with 2 friends (married couple living up in Hartfordshire) who are coming down to hang out with us in central london. And guess what – we’re gonna go shopping on Oxford Street. 🙂 Yay! I get to shop at my favourite stores – Mango, Zara and Morgan De Toi. 😀 Ok its gonna be a slightly expensive weekend, but I’ve been really good for a while now. Not eaten out at all etc. Will have to budget carefully with the shopping. I have the potential to go wild in those stores!! But I’m not gonna do another Brussels!

Hopefully that night we’ll be going to watch Aeon Flux, which just came out today. I like Charlize Theron. 🙂 Sunday will be KC Actors Studio as usual, and St Helens at night.

Anyway, it’s definitely time for lunch. My tummy is rumbling!

Current listening :: “We belong together” – Mariah Carey (love this song!)

Steppin’ it up

Now that I’m no longer sick (yay!), I’ve started getting my fitness and dancing regime back on track. Finally!! I worked out that I’ve been sick for about 3 & 1/2 weeks over the past month… thats most of January! Two separate colds, but equally annoying. It was driving me nuts.. and I was going into some serious dance class withdrawal. I wanted to dance so bad I would start busting mini-moves whilst walking home listening to my ipod. R&B/hiphop seems to have a dangerous effect on me these days – my mind just keeps thinking up dance moves/routines whenever I listen to it.. nothing concrete enough for actual choreography though. The moves are too vague. I’m no choreographer.. not creative enough.

Big news! I have FINALLY found a good hiphop class!!! Yay!!!! I discovered Danceworks on the net a while back, but only just got around to trying it out. I went to the intermediate Xpress Yo’self class on Friday night. It was very cool. Much less funk and closer to the real hiphop style I learnt back in Sydney. Woohoo! Danceworks seems to have a few fairly advanced hiphop classes. Gonna definitely try em out. Though the label “Pro” is a bit intimidating… might do a few more intermediate classes and work on my strength and fitness a bit more first. I nearly did my ankle in at the class on Friday coz my muscles were giving out. Compensation in the wrong place is a dangerous thing.

Anyways, I’m also back at it at the gym. Kicked off last Thurs with a really good workout session with Kwai. Man my arms were soooo sore over the weekend… not to mention my back and abs and legs. It feels good though. Being active again. Makes such a difference to my mood, energy and overall well-being. I don’t feel the need to eat as much either. Am going to the gym again tonight. I think I’ve sufficiently recovered enough to go at it again. 🙂

French women don’t get fat (its true!)

Speaking of food, I’ve been reading this book called “French Women Don’t Get Fat” by Mireille Guiliano. I guess some people might call it a diet book, but its not really. Quite an interesting read… more about the french way of life.. in particular their attitude towards food.. and their differences from our unhealthy Western (particularly american) attitudes and practices. More importantly it contains many secret french tips and tricks for cooking and enjoying mouth-wateringly delicious food (yes even chocolate and bread) in a way that is guilt-free and doesn’t make you fat. It answers that elusive question – why don’t french women get fat? (During my trips to France and Belgium, I did often wonder about that!) It contains heaps of really scrumptious and creative french recipes. I won’t spoil the whole book, but part of the secret is quality over quantity. Quality (and seasonal) ingrediants, more taste and variety… eating less yet enjoying more. Smaller portions but much greater variety. Actually sitting down and eating slowly, paying attention to the food.. savouring each bite, not scoffing food “on the run”. And more of the important things like fresh fruit. I’ve already tried the Grandma Louise Oatmeal with grated apple breakfast. Perfect for winter mornings. Yummy.. and healthy! 🙂

Current listening :: “We belong together” – Mariah Carey (I rather like the latest Mariah album!)

Lappie gone sickie

My laptop decided to get all huffy with me and not boot up. It all started when Kwai was trying to hook my lappie to the tv to play movies. Well he accidently set the nvidia display settings for my laptop screen to pal secam (instead of the tv), and contrast went all funny. So I was trying to fix it back, when nvidia display properties decided to crash, and I couldn’t access it thereafter (nvcpl.dll would crash upon load). So we uninstalled nvidia drivers, and then reinstalled, and Lo and Behold, my laptop wouldn’t boot up windows xp. Not even in Safe mode. Grrr. (It would always crash on the same line – the one with agp440.sys). So I can’t even get into windows to rollback the drivers. Grrr. Well, not all is lost. That night we met up with Kwai’s friend for dinner, who happens to be a systems engineer, who deals with laptops a lot, particularly Toshiba ones. We gave it to him to take into work, where he can back up all data safely and reinstall win xp (can you believe the Toshiba backup CD that came with my laptop has Windows 98 on it and not win xp!!!!) He’s also gonna install a few extra useful programs I didn’t have before (like office 2003, adobe cs2, nero 6 premium, McAfee that doesn’t expire)… Sweeeet! So now I have only to await my precious lappie’s return.

Updates

So, what else is new. Well last weekend I watched Walk The Line. Not bad, I quite enjoyed it. I always liked Reese Witherspoon. And I was impressed that they both actually sang the songs. Its quite similar to Ray, but more country/rock’n’roll.

And on Sunday, KC Actors Studio officially opened for its first class. The turnout wasn’t too bad. Beginners had a few no-shows, with only 7 people in the class. But intermediate had a good number of people. I think about 12/13? Everyone seemed to really enjoy the class. I actually did the beginner class – on Voice Technique with a rather eccentric, but very good, teacher. Reminded me a bit of singing lessons actually, the whole breathing part, but was more in depth. The general feedback seemed quite positive – people liked the laidback, non-stuffy atmosphere of the school. A few of the intermediate students and the school staff (Kwai, his friend Matt, another girl and myself) went out for a drink afterwards at the nearby pub. Was interesting hanging out with actors. One of them was quite experienced and had done quite a bit of work already. He’d even gone to Patrick Stewart’s birthday do. Hehe.

Well. Other than that, been recovering ever so slowly from my cold. Its taken me a full week and a half, but I think I’m finally getting better. I even went to the gym last night! Had a great workout, and even though I was tired, I pushed myself to do 25 mins on the x-trainer (1.85 kms, 265cal) plus loads of weight training, concentrating on my arms (thanks to a personal training session from Kwai – who is actually a personal trainer too). He’s gonna be helping me get back into shape. I think I need someone to push me in weights training. I’m not really used to doing much, I’ve never even used all those machines before!

Tonight we’re going to his friend’s place for dinner. They own two young cats!!! Argh! I can’t wait. I get to play with kittys again. Yay! 🙂 And only 1 month till I come back! Wow. Its so soon! Counting the weeks..

Current listening :: “Crazy” – Britney Spears

Cliff hangers

Don’t you just hate em? I watched the final episode of Stargate Atlantis Season 2 last night. And they ended on the BIGGEST cliff-hanger. Arghhhhhhh! So cruel!!! 🙁 I have to wait until US summer (June) for season 3!! That’s a whole 4 months away. Nooooooo….. *sob*

Maybe I’ll just have to catch up on Seasons 6, 7, 8, and 9 of SG-1 while I wait. I can’t believe they’re up to season 10 now!!

In other news… its absolutely friggin freezing today! Top temp for today is -2 degrees C!! Brrrr!

Current listening :: “Taylor” – Jack Johnson

Flight tix booked!!

My flights to Sydney are booked! Myself and Kwai depart London on Sat 11th March and arrive in Sydney early morning on Monday 13th March. I’ll be there for just over 2 weeks, leaving on Tues 28th March to spend 4 nights in HK and going back to London on Sat 1st April.

So, get out your diaries and book us in! I’d love to catch up with as many people as possible. 🙂 As well as get in as much beach time as humanly possible. 😛

Hm. My to-do in Australia list currently includes:

• spend time with family
• catch up with friends
• visit WS
• go to the beach
• go clubbing
• go karaokeing
• go to dance classes
• stay over at friends place in Newcastle
• day trip to Great Lakes/Seal Rocks beach (maybe.. its only 1 hour from Newcastle)
• visit friends and Kwai’s relos in Melbourne
• eat as much Japanese food as possible
• play some piano
• hug my kitty cat Coltrane 🙂
• tidy/organise my stuff

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

Current listening :: “All I Want Is You” – U2