My Blue Heaven

Hello from Shepherds Bush!

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

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

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

Here’s a view from my window..

Other updates and more Europe

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

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

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

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

Current listening :: “The Title” – Ciara

In brief

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

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

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

Current listening :: “Full Moon” – Brandy

Maudlin musings

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

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

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

I think I’m in love…

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

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

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

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

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

Shoot the moon

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

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

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

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

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

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

Die spammers die!

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

Reinstated health kick

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway its Friday today! Woohoo! 🙂

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

Frankfurt pics

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

Weekend Update

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

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

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

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