My Blue Heaven

Afternoon snoozies

My brain has turned to mush. Have pretty much given up on the prospect of completing any more work today. Can’t even be bothered resizing and uploading the rest of the Forster photos. I think I’ll just complete this meme instead. (Thanks to a l).

01. What time do you get up? Weekdays, usually about 8:30/8:45am. 😛 Weekends, I try not to anytime before 11am.
02. If you could eat lunch with one person, who would it be? Who else? Paul.
03. Gold or silver? Hrm. That is a difficult and complex question. It really depends what you wear.. some colours match gold, others silver. I tend to wear silver more often though.
04. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Shrek 2
05. Favorite TV show(s)? Don’t really watch TV anymore. I used watch quite a bit in high school – I liked Star Trek (Next Gen and DS9), Seaquest DSV (who remembers that!), Beverly Hills 90210 (high school series), Party Of Five (only for a bit), and more recently Dark Angel.
06. What did you have for breakfast? Sanitarium’s “Good Start” (weetbix with muesli bits in it!), with a dribbling of honey and light white milk, and a fresh squeezed OJ.
07. Who would you hate to be stuck in a room with? Hrm. Anyone with bad body and/or foot odour. Or, just anyone I find really annoying.
08. What is your middle name? Hahah. Not telling.
09. Beach, City or Country? Beach of course! 🙂
10. Favorite Ice cream? Hmmm.. where does one start? Almost any variations of GOOD QUALITY chocolate or creamy vanilla – which must contain chunks of dark chocolate bits through it, and maybe a swirl of dark chocolate sauce. Hehe. Cookies and cream is pretty nice too.
11. Butter, plain or salted popcorn? Butter, with a sprinkling of salt
12. What kind of car do you drive? The parents-owned variety. Currently, Holden Acclaim or Ford Falcon wagon
14. What characteristic do you despise? Arrogance, pride, elitism, people who think that everyone should live by _their_ standards.
15. Favorite flower? I’m a sucker for the classic Rose
16. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Hrm. I am soo dying to go skiing overseas – like say in Canada, or Colorado, or the French Alps. Otherwise, for a warmer holiday I’ve always wanted to go to a tropical island.. eg Fregate Island (in the Seychelles), or the Maldives, Fiji, New Caledonia, Anguilla.. the list goes on!!
17. What color is your bathroom? Sand beige with warm peachy toned tiles
18. Favorite brand of clothing? I’m actually starting to realise that I tend to go for certain brands – so far, stuff like Earth Angel, Junk, Deja Vu.. or the more elegant (and expensive) Very Very and Lili. Mmmm. Cha-Ching!
19. Where would you retire to? Hrm. I reckon somewhere outside Sydney. Like, I’ve been thinking Forster might be a nice place to retire..
20. Favorite day of the week? Saturday and Sunday
21. What did you do for last birthday? Not much. Went out to dinner with family
22. Where were you born? London, UK.. and proud! 🙂
23. Favorite sport to watch? Erm. Something girly, like Figure Skating, or gymnastics. 🙂
26. What fabric detergent do you use? Um. The one my parents use. I think its Cold Power
27. Coke or Pepsi? NEITHER! Yeuch! I hate fizzy drinks!
28. Are you a morning person or a night owl? If you consider morning to be around… 11am – 2pm mark? Hahah. Otherwise, I’m an evening owl I think.
29. What is your shoe size? Australian size 8
30. Do you have any pets? YES YES!! I have an adorably gorgeous (but decidedly anti-social) cat, Coltrane! He doesn’t really like me picking him up anymore, but I love him anyway! 🙂

Walking on air

*sigh* I feel… soo.. sooo.. relaxed. I just went and had myself half a pedicure – that is – a soak in the foot spa, exfoliation scrub of the feet and lower legs, followed by a long relaxing massage of pepperminty cream into the feet and lower legs. Ahhhhhh… 😀 Then about 45 mins later and $20 lighter, I’m walking out, my feet feeling incredibly light, the skin all soft and supple. Pretty cool. 🙂 Oh, and 20 bucks is REALLY cheap for what I got.. considering a spa pedicure usually costs $50 to $70. I just didn’t get the actually “pedicure” toe nail part of it. Which suits me fine for the moment.. coz I should give my toenails a break from the nail polish.

Anyways, enough girl talk. 🙂 I’m feeling pretty good atm – sitting here sipping my “Dongwon Brown Rice Green Tea” (a korean brand of Green Tea), listening to some Jack Johnson and Coldplay and other similarly laidback music. I like listening to Jack Johnson… its been permanently ingrained in me to remind me of the beach, and everything about it. Probably coz I listened to it whilst coming back from the beach all throughout summer, and also during my surf camp trip. Not to mention that Jack is a surfie himself. 🙂 Its like, as soon as I turn in on, it conjures up that feeling of laidback-ness.. relaxation.. and just.. the feeling of the ocean. I really miss going to the beach. And I really wanna try surfing again!! *sigh* Can’t wait till summer…. or even spring! Hrm.. I do believe I’ve fallen in love with the beach… As tacky as that sounds.. 😛

Forster photos – coming soon!

I finally brought in my digital camera today, so expect photos from my Forster long weekend trip in my gallery soon. Some of the pics turned out rather nice – I’m currently using a particularly beautiful shot of the lake as my background image. Here’s a sneak preview of four images I consider desktop worthy. (Hover mouse pointer over for a description of each image, and you can click for a 1024 sized image – but please let me know first if you wish to use/save this image.) 🙂

Current listening :: “Sea Song” – Doves (How appropriate.. :))

Digi-Portrait

In the spirit of procrastination, I decided to make myself an Abi-Station portrait. Heheh. (Thanks to Joyce.)

These 2 are the closest I could come up with (sorry Joyce, I stole ur jumper :P).

Weekend in review

So aaanyways. I had a pretty nice weekend – I dragged Paul to Lane Cove Aquatic centre, where we enjoyed a fairly relaxing swim, spa, steam and sauna. 🙂 The spa was finally working again, which I was happy about.. but not so happy afterwards when we discovered the spa had closed early because it was over chlorinating. My skin is still a little itchy today from our 15/20 mins in that spa. 🙁 The steam room and sauna was very nice though.

We watched Shrek 2 that night. What a classic movie! Its absolutely hilarious! They take off so many movies, and just hollywood and popular culture in general. Oh, and Puss in Boots! Arghh!! Those kitty cat eyes! He’s soo cute.. and soo funny. Heheh. Lots of very amusing moments in that movie.. I highly recommend it to everyone!

On Sunday I finally made it to one of Paul’s hockey matches. Heheh. It was kinda cool. I didn’t really understand the game that much, but I had fun just watching Paul. Haha. 😛 And they won, 4-3! I took a few pics with my mobile. You can find em on my Moblog.

Hrm.. I think I’m getting sick of staring at this design. I feel like freshening it up a tad. Perhaps I’ll have a tinker and see what I can come up with….

Current listening :: “Free” – Hillsong (Hillsong conference in 2 weeks.. hehe so who else is going to the rally nights?)

Miscellaney

Hrm. Looks like I didn’t manage to get those photos up this week afterall. I kept forgetting to bring the digital camera in… in the words of Cher… “Oops my bad!” 🙂 Next week.

Anyways, tis finally Friday! W00t! Man is it cold today! But thats a good thing coz its currently absolutely dumping down at the snowies! And more to come tomorrow! Yayyyyy!! I’m always filled with this childish glee at this time of year, when the first big snowfalls come. 😀 Can’t wait to hit the slopes!

Finally made it to a jazz class last night, after 2 weeks of missing out (due to watching Warren Millers “Journey”, and then a rehearsal for RICE music). Anyway, class was fun! I really enjoy Alan’s style – teaching us the laidback feel of true jazz swing. Its very different from Fusion.. not anywhere near as intense.. but still challenging, in a different way. Its more about listening, and making each note count, adding to the melody you’re creating, rather than just going gung-ho at it. I do find it easier than Nick’s fusion class. But I miss the technical challenge of Nick’s – coz it really does push me to improve. And I’m starting to get a little rusty coz I don’t really practice that sorta stuff at home. I really should do my scales, modes and 5 finger exercises in all 12 keys. (We did that sorta stuff every week in Nick’s class).

Anyways, I think its home time for me! Have a good weekend everyone! 🙂

Current listening :: “Slolove” – Janet Jackson

Long weekend bliss

Wow. Long time no post = blank blog front page! I haven’t been on the net since Friday *gasp* and didn’t have time to blog much last week coz work was soooo busy. But have no fear, I am still alive and well. 🙂

I had a wonderfully relaxing weekend up in sunny Forster, about 3ish hours north of Sydney. Went up with Paul to stay at his parents place/home town. (Ala “Meet The Parents” style, but without the psycho dad and accidents). 😛 We left Saturday afternoon (after the RICE Leaders bbq), and got back Monday night. Anyway, all went well, his parents are very nice. They took me around, showing me the local sights. Their house itself is about 1 min stroll from Wallis Lake, which is one of the most beautiful lakes I’ve ever seen. Seriously, I think I’ve fallen in love with that lake. The sunset views over it are absolutely gorgeous. Postcard perfect. I, of course, took lotsa photos. 🙂

They also took me to a lookout at Cape Hawke, where we actually spotted humpback whales in the distance! About 1 – 2 kms from shore, the whales were slowly travelling north. T’was cool, even though we could only see splashes and maybe a fin every now and then. I also saw some baby dolphins from another lookout in Forster, playing in their “nursery” area in the shallow water near the rocks. Very cool.

We also took their canoe out for a paddle in the lake on late Sunday afternoon, which was very nice. It was a beautiful pristine day for it.. not a cloud in the clear blue sky, calm reflective waters. We paddled to an island in the middle of the lake, and then back, as we watched the sun set behind the hills, reflecting off the glassy surface of the lake. *sigh* Absolutely beautiful. The only other signs of life nearby, other than the plethora of pelicans on a more distant island, and a few black swans swimming around, was a lone fisherman and his dog in a small boat.

I took heaps of photos with my parent’s digital camera (which I forgot to bring with me today). I’ll have to upload em tomorow. Anyways, gotta run, late for a lunch meeting!! More about my weekend later…

Current listening :: “Traffic in the Sky” – Jack Johnson

Annoying

Annoyance #53: Eating thick crusty toast whilst wearing a Napolean Lip Lacquer (a very glossy, but very sticky lip gloss). In your attempts to wipe away the large chunks of crumbs glued to your lips, you also end up wiping off that nice gloss job you did on the train. Ahh.. the trials of being a girl. 😛

More miscellaney

In other news. I’m going skiing I’m going skiing I’m going skiing I’m going skiing!! Booked, and paid for. W00t! 😀

And in other other news. I decided to pull out my old hillsong “God Is In The House” cd (from like 96) this morning to listen to whilst on the train. Heh. Its such a cool cd… I remember listening to it and being amazed at how good the music was, how amazingly cool the pianist sounded. It was actually one of the major influences in my musical life, back when I was a younger and inexperienced high school girl. Listening to it inspired me to learn how to play contemporary stuff, to learn to improvise and play like the guy on that cd, and ultimately it was one of the stepping stones that lead me to begin learning jazz.

Current listening :: “God Is In The House” – Hillsongs Australia

Jazz class

I don’t blog that often anymore. I seem to be lacking the “passion” for it these days. I suppose we all go through up and down phases in everything, even blogging. 🙂

So anyway, I realised I forgot to blog about my jazz class last Thursday night. Well, it was awesome! I really really enjoy Alan’s jazz performance group. He’s an excellent teacher and an awesome musician (saxphonist). Its very different from Nick’s class, which is good, coz its good to have a change every now and then, and be challenged in different areas.


Our first class, he didn’t give us any music charts. He just taught us a 12 bar blues piece called “Now Is The Time”, to play by ear. He taught the melody line first, which had a really cool syncapated punchy jazz rhythm. Since we have a few horns (2 saxophonists and a trombone), he arranged different ppl to play the melody in different keys… a semitone or a tone higher than the original.. all at the same time, which clashed really badly, but in the end, it sounded really cool! The final arrangement was to play through the chorus twice, first time everyone playing the melody in concert, then for the second time, the first half of the chorus we split into our different clashing parts, then we came back together for the last half, but on the last note we all just chose a note (any note!) and held it for the whole bar. Then we went into solos, each person taking a few chorus’, going round, until the end, where we repeat what we did in the beginning. It sounded so cool! 🙂

And like in his previous classes, he really emphasised playing just behind the beat, because thats the essence of true swing jazz. The tension created when the rhythm section is holding it together tightly, whilst the soloist pulls it back, playing just behind the beat. Its pretty tough to get it right, and u feel like ur playing too slow.

Miscellaney

So anyways, my weekend was very nice. Just hung out with Paul, having lotsa quality time. We went to see “Day After Tomorrow” on Sat night – hehe did anyone else feel really *cold* after watching that movie? 🙂 I enjoyed it, but then I’m a sucker for those high tension, exciting sorta movies. Unbelievable, yes, but the action and special effects is way cool! Then on Sunday, hung out with Paul some more.. had a really nice day actually.. we had lunch at Westfield, then went and bought a new pillow for him at Myer. Sounds boring, but it wasn’t. 🙂

Oh, and I’m booking myself a spot on the SIC04 ski trip! Staying on snow at Smiggins, Lodge 21! Woohooooo!! 🙂 Perisher Blue.. here I come!! 🙂 I’m gonna be going by myself too… yet again. I seem to keep doing that. But ah well, I only go for the skiing. Though its fun to meet new people too. Should be good skiing with these people, coz they’re all mad keen skiers. It’ll be nice to ski with some really experienced skiers/boarders. Kamikaze better be open this time! And I’ll try not to kill myself. 🙂

Current listening :: “Walk Me Home” – Mandy Moore

Bangs

Lookee here. Finally got myself some bangs (ie. a fringe). #! (<-- haha I'm such a geek. Any geeks out there.. shouldn't be too hard to work that one out.)

Current listening :: “I’m good” – Blaque

Pink and feelin good :)

Feeling much better today, due to a fantastic dance class last night (as always), and a rather sweet obliging visit from a certain somebawdy at 11:30pm last night. It was very much appreciated. I *heart* you. 😀

Dance class in review

Dance class… ahh how I’ve missed it. Once again I was suprised to discover I hadn’t lost it. I was still able to complete the warm up section (without dying), still able to do the lyrical and main routines. My technical skills were a bit rusty, but that was to be expected – they were never up to scratch anyway. (Having not had a background in ballet, I never really learnt these skills properly.)

The lyrical routine had lots of floor work, which I always enjoy. But it was kinda bad timing this time, coz I injured my left hamstring a few months ago (man it takes aaaages to heal… still not getting any better.. might see somebody about it), and lots of the moves involved doing majorly flexible things with the left leg did not help. :\

The main routine was fun! To Janet Jackon’s “Slolove” (off the new album “Damita Jo”). T’was a very fast routine, but we managed to get it in the end, esp after cutting a double turn down to a single. So anyways, I’m a little sore today, but not that much.

More jazzy fun

And to add to my current high, tonight I’m starting a new term at the Conservatorium, with another stint at the jazz impro classes. This time I’m doing a Jazz Performance Group class instead of Nick’s Jazz Fusion class. I figured I need a bit of a change from fusion, and personally I enjoy listening to traditional jazz swing more than jazz fusion. It’s also a little easier to play. I’ll miss the intensity and challenge of Nick’s class – coz it was really good for my playing and improving my technical skills. But, this class should still be good – I’ve had Alan Webb before – he’s an awesome teacher and musician. And a christian too! 🙂 Will report on this class more as the term progresses!

In other news. A girl in the business depts that I’ve been doing a lot of work for recently has the last name “Hoare”. Yep, thats pronounced whore. What an unfortunate name. I wonder if she got teased in school.

Current listening :: “Slolove” – Janet Jackson

Anticipating

I’m going to dance class tonight!! Finally!!! First time in.. man… I can’t remember how long. Must be over 2 months now! 🙁 And at last I can squeeze one in my busy schedule.

I’m gonna be sooo rusty though. I wonder if my poor legs are going to be able to handle it. I think my quads have gone soft… they’re not as strong as they used to be (back when I went every week). It’s gonna be a painful one… *cringe* But I think, well worth the pain. 🙂


Anyways, must go and get ready. I even remembered my contacts this time! 🙂

Current listening :: “Anticipating” – Britney Spears