My Blue Heaven

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

I hate cigarette smoke

Seriously. I am really really REALLY starting to really really REALLY HATE cigarette smoke. In Sydney, I didn’t have much against cigarette smoke. It was something I put up with in clubs on occasion, but I wasn’t too bothered by it. I never really encountered it much.

Since arriving here, I seem to have developed a passionate hatred for cigarette smoke. I don’t think I have so passionately hated something in a long time. The reason is because it’s everywhere. Everytime I go to a restuarant or cafe to eat, there will inevitably be someone smoking nearby. And because London buildings aren’t exactly built for ventilation (keep the heat in and the cold out) the smoke just gets trapped in those tiny rooms. Its not so bad outside.. you can avoid it, stand up-wind, walk in front of them. But in a restaurant or building, there is no escaping those evil tendrils of smoke that ever so slowly begin to choke you. On Saturday night, I had to step outside (into the freezing cold) to wait for the birthday dinner to end because I just couldn’t stand breathing in any more smoke.

And to put the cherry on top of it all, people smoke at my workplace. I don’t know who or where, but I can ALWAYS tell when someone starts smoking. Because I start to choke. My eyes sting, breathing is more difficult, I start to cough and it gives me a headache.

I’m sitting here now, already with a cold and some seriously blocked up sinuses.. my body trying to fight the infection. I’m finding it hard enough to breathe as it is. And some selfish person is smoking. I’m sitting here typing this and I can feel my body’s health deteriorating. My cough worsening and my chest starting to hurt.

This is why I hate cigarette smoke (indoors). Its a bl**dy selfish activity. Harmful not only to themselves, but also those around them.

Current listening :: “Dreams be dream” – Jack Johnson

Gong Hei Fatt Choy

I can’t believe I’m sick. Again. I only just got better, for all of one week.. and now I’m sick again. Grrr. Sucks. 🙁

I didn’t even have a particularly big weekend. No partying hard or clubbing. It was just busy with normal activities – dim sum with relatives, a friends birthday dinner, Chinese New Year lunch and church. Ok, I did sleep a bit late getting 6 – 7 hours sleep, but no staying out late. It’s just that there was no chance to sleep in – which is quite important for me. I need to allow at least 1 weekend morning to catch up on sleep and recover from the tiredness that builds up over the week at work. Kinda sad really.. that work takes such a toll. A job that slowly kills you? I’m beginning to understand.

Photos from the weekend:

Lets play tag

Thanks to a l. 😛

Four jobs you’ve had in your life:
1) Waitress
2) Graduate programmer
3) Web developer
4) Contractor

Four movies you could watch over and over again (not to be confused with favourite movies):
1) Bridget Jones Diary
2) Star Wars Trilogy
3) Love Actually
4) Ever After

Four TV shows you love(d) to watch:
1) Stargate Atlantis!!!
2) Stargate SG1
3) Seaquest DSV
4) Star Trek Next Gen

Four places you’ve lived:
1) Hatfield, UK
2) Ermington, Sydney, Australia
3) London, UK
4) Frankfurt, Germany

Four places you’ve been on vacation to:
1) Paris, France
2) Verona, Italy
3) Phuket, Thailand
4) New Zealand

Four places you would rather be (or where you’ll like to visit? – ok changing my answers to where I’d like to visit):
1) Italy (I looove Italy! Rome, Milan, Venice, Sorrento.. wanna see em all!)
2) Southern france
3) Japan
4) New York

Four of your favourite foods:
1) udon noodle soup with teriyaki chicken
2) rich chocolate ice-cream/gelati
3) fresh salmon sashimi
4) authentic italian pasta

Four websites you visit daily:
1) gmail.com
2) kazzart.com
3) homestarrunner.com/sbemail.html
4) metoffice.gov.uk

Four tagged:
1) Vron
2) Nayfon
3) Gavin
4) Sam

Anyway. Home time! Yay! Me and my blocked nose have been looking forward to this moment from the moment I arrived at work.

Current listening :: “Don’t Panic” – Coldplay

I just saw..

A body floating down the Thames River! One of my work colleagues saw it first and pointed it out to the rest of us. We’re pretty sure it looks like a body.. face downward.. looks like he’s wearing workmans clothes. We called the police and reported. No idea where it is now.. floated onwards. Rather disturbing – not something you see everyday!! I didn’t even get a picture of it to send to the papers. I wonder if there’s gonna be a story about it in the papers. I wonder what happened..

Anyways. TGI Friday! This week has gone by really quickly for some reason. And that’s a good thing – I love it when the week passes by and before you know, it’s the weekend again. Yay! 🙂 I’ve got quite a jammed packed weekend coming up. Dim sum lunch tomorrow with almost all my relatives.. 2 aunts and various cousins – just so they can check out my bf (and probably report back to my parents). I think my parents are setting up a spy network rivalling the British Secret Service. Ok maybe not, but its a bit unsettling what I hear from cousins at times! Asian parents man. Youngest daughter moving out for the first time.. to the other side of world = parents freaking out at regular intervals!

Err where was I again? Oh yeh, the weekend. So after dim sum lunch, we’re rushing off to a birthday party for one of Kwai’s close friends. That’ll last till late. Sunday’s schedule involves a looong Chinese New Year lunch with Kwai’s parents in china town (gee it’s a full on Meet The Parents/Relatives weekend this weekend!) and then watching a movie (probably Zathura) in the late afternoon before going to evening service at St Helens at night. Phew. Hope I won’t be too exhausted come Monday. No time for a visit to the gym unfortunately.. which sucks coz I like going to the gym on the weekend. 🙁

I’ve started reading “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” again.. continued reading I mean. I’m now up to chapter 3.. and its only taken me 9 months!! I am absorbing it though, slowly but surely. I still think its a great book – very practical.

Anyways, lunch time now. Need. Food.

Current listening :: “Stay” – Lisa Loeb

Happy Australia Day!

Feeling a lil nostalgic on Australia Day today. Plus the fact that I don’t get the day off kinda sucks. 😛

It’s funny, these days usually one of the first things friends from home ask me when I talk to them on MSN/email is “So when are you coming home?” Like I’m gonna be returning any day now…. and I haven’t even been here a year yet. It’s nice to know people miss me.. hehe. I do quite miss home. You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to going home for that 2 week visit in March. Just to see the familiar streets of Sydney again… my home… my cat… family.. friends. To eat at my old regular haunts. Go to the beach. Lots. *sigh* I miss Sydney.

Am having fun here too. Went to dance class last nite! First time in…. weeks!! It’s been over a month I think! I was *really* itching for it. Serious dance drought here. But finally went to a fusion funk class, and it was much easier than I expected. Either the routine was easy, or I haven’t lost my skills/fitness as much as I thought. And I’m not really that sore today, suprisingly. Maybe the yoga has paid off eh. Anyway, there are a few new hiphop classes I really wanna try. (Still searching for a real hiphop class.)

Well. Better get back to work! But before I go….

Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

😛

Current listening :: “Better Be Home Soon” – Crowded House

Jarhead

My notification list just got spammed. 34 dud yahoo.co.uk email addresses. Well that’s a new one! They just keep thinking up new ways to spam you don’t they? Grr.

I watched Jarhead on the weekend (Hoo Rah!) I was a bit hesitant to watch it at first.. but then gave in coz Kwai really wanted to see it, and there was nothing else to watch that I hadn’t already seen. (Unlimited movies with Cineworld/UGC Cinemas is a really Cool thing!!) Anyway, back to my point. Jarhead. It was much better than I expected. I quite liked it in fact. It was different from your usual war movies. An interesting insight into war.

Hrm I wonder how accurate a portrayal it was. Could ask a friend in Frankfurt.. american guy who fought in the Gulf War. He did special ops stuff too. This guy is one crazy individual. He was telling us how he once, on a dare, snuck into a nearby russian base, stole a tank, took it for a joyride into the forest and then abandoned it, AND didn’t get caught! Proud owner of a Nissan Skyliner (about which he brags for hours). A few times a year he races a few other fast car owners (eg ferari’s etc) in Germany on the autobahn from Frankfurt to Koln. Apparently police cars can never keep up with them if they try to catch them. I believe he’s even outrun a helicopter before. Nuts. I guess he likes his thrills! Funnily enough, he’s also a huuuge fan of Stargate. 🙂

Anyways, gonna head off now. It’s finally end of the day, and I’m absolutely knackered. My back hurts too. 🙁 Despite the 15-20 mins yoga I’ve started doing every morning when I get up. Maybe tis just the cold weather… temps have dropped back down to around 0 – 2 degs! Friggin freezing, but alas, no snow.

Current listening :: “Weather with you” – Crowded House”