em strangerous

04:35 pm:

Tonight Layla, Kis and I are off to see The waifs at She Bu Empire - bring it on!

Spent today writing up a report for how/why/when/what/who caused the brain of alcohol dependant adults to have lower levels of dopamine receptors.... argh! I do wonder how they convinced the participants to actually give up alcohol ofter they had been drinking "... an average for 20 alcoholic drinks per day for 15 years..." Sorry.... HOW MANY????

Time to go outside and get some fresh air.

x

Tags: gigs

09:19 pm: Hello darkness my old friend...
Wow, it's been, like, four months since my last post. That is terrible, unforgivable and totally uncool. Must find more hours in the day. Surely by wome tricky manouver I can squeeze out an extra one or two?

OK, so.... Things That Have Happened Since My Last Post:
- I'm engaged!! Ahh!! Squee!! :oD
- I spent Xmas with my fiancee's family, in a remote cottage on the west coast of Ireland. Intense, but fantastic.
- I'm about to have my first ever joint birthday celebrations. I can't believe it's taken me 23 years to become friends with someone who has their birthday less than a week from mine.
- I'm studying {again} - schoooooool's baaaack for-ever! Good job psychology is so darn interesting.
- I've acquired several lovely new things that I'm very proud to own. A lamp (nothing special, just a bright one), highlighters with liquid inside that you can see flowing about, a pair of huge geeky specs frames which are very Point Dexter-esque and a cyclone power vacuum cleaner. Boring to you - joy to me. Oh, and of course a beautiful engagement ring-thing with 7 lovely diamonds. Such a show-off. ;o)


My favorite line out of my favorite song of the moment is:
"... I can't do everything, but I'd do anything for you; I can't do anything 'cept be in love with you." 

That is fucking poetry (in motion, to music).

xx

08:34 pm: Chris Bliss


This guy is freakin' AMAZING!

02:21 pm: Revision, revision, revision, revision....

Yeah, revision is probably what I should be doing. But I'm not. Have put in a decent effort so far.... I think. Only 2 weeks and 1 day until the exam, and then it will be all over for this year - HURRAH!!! 


Today I'm studying the philosophical take on consciousness which is fairly mind-boggling to say the least. Does consciousness exist? (Searle) If so, how so? Is it so complex that it transcends human understanding? (McGinn) Perhaps consciousness doesn't exist... (Dennett) It is part of the physical mind or a separate entity like, mass, time and space? (Chalmers) Is it exclusive to humans or is it in everything, even the neurons which supposedly support it? (also Chalmers). Fascinating stuff, but so very confusing..............


Life is generally pretty great - have been really busy at work the last few weeks but al still really enjoying it. I've been at Deloitte almost 5 months now which is hard to believe - the time has really flown past. I've been terrible at writing to people and staying in touch recently - sorry everyone! I promise after the exam I'll be better - and write proper letters and send pictures... but in the meantime here is what I have been doing.   :o)

18 Aug - Wine tasting at Vinopolous on the South Bank - discovered an amazing Israeli rose... must remember to buy some for post-exam celebrations.

19 Aug - Soho Pride - an afternoon of sitting in Soho Square drinking Strongbow and chatting about how we hoped it didn't rain. Talking each other out of impulse purchases and sharing seats with strangers. 

24/25/26 Aug - to Devon for the long weekend. Drinking real Devonshire cider in a real Devonshire cider bar - letter-boxing on Dartmoor and climbing the Tors, laying on the beach and making fun of Joe.

28 Aug - Wicked at the Apollo Theatre, Victoria. It was really just that.... WICKED! Long conversation with Liz, Lexie, Lisa and Layla about how the girl with the green face and hands must spend her whole life washing the paint out of her hair and clothes.

31 Aug - Dinner with Annie & Chris. We had our favorite - smoked salmon and cream cheese on toasted bagels - yummmm....

1 Sept - a BBQ at Rebecca's place in Maida Hill (nr Maida Vale) - lovely afternoon involving a little bit too much fruit cider, an air rifle, and lead pellets. Luckily nobody was badly hurt....

6 Sept - Mammoth trip to IKEA in Croydon with Layla, Kis, and Matt. Upon arrival in Croydon we discovered the disturbing truth. Greeted at the station by a drug addict screaming at her boyfriend about money and drink. Waiting for Matt - subjected to a baby giggling though a loud-hailer, filling the streets with ear-splitting manic laughter. Never going back there again.

8 Sept - Forgot Julia's birthday - sent long apologetic email and promised that we must catch up very soon.

9 Sept - Mobile Act Unsigned at Scala in King's X - good acts but far too much standing around in between while the set was changed and the sound check was run. Still, 'The Gingerbread Men' were pretty cool.

10 Sept - Ricky Gervais at the Hammersmith Apollo - brilliant, although very riske.

12 Sept - BrouHaha at the RVT - regular favourite comedy night - particularly good this week as all the acts were a scream. Good to see Zoe Lyons (host) back after her tour of the UK. Very funny lady.

15 Sept - Small jewellers market in Barnes - very posh people in the park with their sprogs, jewellers all snobby cows except one, Alexandra. Got her card and had a squiz at the website - lovely work with leaves, cones and barnacles in solver. 

Sound of Music at the London Palladium - spectacular show of monumental proportions - gob was completely smacked. Vowed to go back and see it again as soon as wallet will allow it.

On Friday (21 Sept)  we went to see an Indian version of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' - which would have been fine except it was most in Punjabi... on top of it being Shakespeare it was slightly difficult to follow... but the staging was brilliant - very flamboyant and interpretative. Red dust wiped over the actors eye to sybolise love charms, a web of thick elastic bands woven around the actors showing the complex love triangle the were ensconced in... brilliant stuff. We left at half-time.

Yesterday (22 Sept) was studying followed by a Jazz Festival at Imperial Wharf (new residential development by the Thames in Fulham - it was basically marketing ploy) - the jazz was good and cider slid down a treat so can't complain.......


Time to hit the books again and get myself an edumacation.



Me xx

08:00 pm: places, picks and parties

Hello! Long time no update - sorry about that.

Have been having a busy old time as usual. Kis and I have now moved into Imperial Court - it's fabulous and I think it's safe to say we feel like princesses every time we walk through the gates... :o)

On Saturday night we had the housewarming - good times had by all - showed everyone the roof terrace with views overlooking Big Ben, the London Eye and Westminster - drank far too much and managed to have an entire kitchen (not just an entire fridge) full of alcohol and food the next morning.... it was impressive.

On Friday a group of us went to see Silverchair at Brixton Academy - they were amazing - really brilliant. Layla and I were up the front so got some top pictures (and got to do some cool headbanging).

Only 7 weeks until my exam - the course has really flown by and I can't wait for my 3 months off - hurrah for holidays!! 80 days until I jet off to NZ/Aus...... I'm trying my best not to leak excitment onto people but am not succeeding. :o)

Here's some photos of the last three weeks.....


View from the roof terrace of the new place


Layla and I at Silverchair


Daniel Johns.... master of music....


.... and master of moves....


Me, Kis and Iris - afternoon drinkies before the house warming


Some time about 11:30 - still fairly respectable....

xxx

07:42 pm:
Rant over, sorry. 

I really wish I was going to get more time at home because I'm not going to get to spend as much time with everyone as I want... boo! Still, it's brilliant to be able to see them at all really.

I'm sitting on my bedd eating blackcurrant jelly..... yum. Did you know that over here the jelly comes in a luttle flubbery block like a bar of chocolate, and you have to melt it down? Weird.

Off to study now.

Bye!

08:29 pm: Flippity flap
Urgh, I've been very bad and haven't updated my journal properly for AGES! My latest obsession is Facebook.... can't help it. It's about the most addictive thing out there. Terrible when one is trying to concentrate on work / study / conversation / etc.

Anyhow. Last weekend London and Glasgow were terror alert central. It was kind of scary - town was very quiet compared to what it normally is, but people were getting out there and getting on with it which was good to see. Go London!

Saturday was Pride London.... awesome day and night with a glitter-tastic parade, some great music, comedy and cider. The rain didn't seem to bother anyone too much - everyone just got on with having a good time. Pictures may be found (here). 

Also, more pictures of the Deloitte RS away day can be found (here). Be warned, if you don't like the sight of Borat's favorite outfit, don't look!

Kis and I are moving in just over 3 weeks.... the time has crept around rather too quickly for my liking..... Before the 28th July I have to get through 4 weeks of uni work, write a 2,000 word essay, attend a one-week residential school and pack up my life - argh! Still, nice to be occupied I suppose.... :o/ 

Oooo, we're going to see the new Harry Potter movie (The Order of the Phoenix) on it's second day in the cinemas - hurrah!!  Tickets are booked, seats have been selected and reserved and now all that's left to do is turn up. Friday 13th July... anything can go wrong that day, but not the HP film.

In other news, I'll be running a 5.6km charity race next Wednesday evening - haha! What was I thinking when I signed up for that?? Mind you, I've been walking to work and back each day recently (7km round trip) and have cut down on smoking (kind of) so hopefully it won't be too painful. At least I know there'll be a cold cider waiting for me at the end, that's motivation if ever there was! Deloitte are putting on a hospitality tent at the end of the race, so hopefully they will be able to douse us all with water as we walk in the door.

In two and a half weeks, I will have been in the UK for two years.

09:02 pm:

What color is your soul painted? Blue Your soul is painted the color blue, which embodies the characteristics of peace, patience, understanding, health, tranquility, protection, spiritual awareness, unity, harmony, calmness, coolness, confidence, dependability, loyalty, idealism, tackiness, and wisdom. Blue is the color of the element Water, and is symbolic of the ocean, sleep, twilight, and the sky. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

08:45 pm:

My team-mates and I, at the Deloitte RS Awayday, claiming our prizes (champagne and Oscars) for the Best Film. Spaghetti Western rocks. 

The Awayday was really good. Sessions in the morning - helped me get a broader overview of what the whole department does in relation to what the section I work in does. Afternoon = team building activity. We were put into groups of about 8 - 10 and given video cameras, props, costumes, make-up and paperwork and had to create a 90-second version of the movie allocated to us, incorporating Deloitte values, catch phrases and terminology. The evening descended into what was perhaps one of two drinks too many... but thankfully I had a king size bed in a huuuuuuge hotel room to sleep in - thanks Deloitte! Bring on the Green Dot Life!

Yesterday started out rather sore and sorry - but feeling bright as a button again now. Lost my specs at the hotel so had to take a tour up to Mayfair this evening to retrieve them. Could have had them posted to me but frankly, I really can't see without them and one day of blindness had already gotten me down enough.

Other exciting news: I'm off home soon! 3 weeks of family, friends, sunshine, and antipodean twang.... ah, cannot wait. :o)

On Wednesday Layla, Kis, Lisa, Olga, Steve & co and I are off to GLASTONBURY 2007!!! It's all terribly exciting - 4 days of tunes, sunshine (hopefully!) and relaxing. The sleeping in a tent, no showers and no proper toilets thing will have to be overcome. 

So the Smoke Free ban comes in on 1 July.... I've decided I have to give up smoking before then. So far I've been 2 days (except I slipped up and had half of one this afternoon) - but walking to work has helped me realise that my lungs aren't as pink as they should be.

Hmmmm....

10:43 pm: Gidday

Sorry for the lack of updates recently - I've been meaning to write something in here for ages.

In a nutshell:

- Amsterdam was great - see Picasa Web Albums for a few photos.
- Glastonbury is only two and a half weeks away (squee!) - bought sleeping bag on the weekend and wellies online tonight.
- the new BB is full of the most irritating, superficial, flimsy, mellodramatic, attention seeking girls on this earth.... and I'm surprised by this?
- Kis and I are moving in just under two months... went to see a place in Imperial Court (see below) - gorgeous but have to sleep on it.
- 



Planning my trip home for November - there's a family wedding and reunion at the beginning of November in Napier, NZ - so might be a good oppurtunity to tie it all in together.

New job is going great guns. I'm really enjoying it, but am not quite busy enough yet to fill my day... still, the culture is great and I'm sure that it will pick up quickly with time. Am helping out at the RS awayday on the 15th June, and have got a mentor to help me with career development (occupational psych) within Deloitte.

08:21 pm: my lj friends meme
( Pictures of my LiveJournal Friends )


Try out this Meme

Brought to you by NardVille

10:22 pm: oooo, spooky

02:52 pm: stuff

Just finished reading the Epilogue of the first prescribed course text for DSE212 - yay! In other study news, my tutorial this morning was great as tehre were only 5 of us there and it really made the difference between a classroom lesson and a study session. So yaht-zee to that! Am off to a Methods Workshop tomorrow - 6 hours of finding out the difference between qualitative and quantitative data, and the best way to structure experiement reports... hooray!

New job is still going really well - I'm getting into the swing of things, getting the hang of things and making friends. All the good stuff you're supposed to do in a new job. 

Seasick Steve was awesome - exactly how we expected he would be... such a hillbilly. In a wifebeater and dungarees he was a real sight to behold. 




The Electric Ballroom on the other hand was a total dive. The ideal venue for Steve to perform.




tallest policemen in London..... the long leg of the law..... see what i did there?

06:56 pm: friday evening... ah...
Ah, that's the first week of my new job done. 

All things considered (new office / role / collegues / systems), it was a great week. Everyone at the office is exceptionally friendly - but not in a sickly sweet kind of way. We have a 'buddy system' (in order that everyones work is covered when they're away - my buddy is Thora - she's just lovely. Got taken out for welcome drinkies at lunchtime today by a couple of the girls in the office - can't complain. I look after 2 partners and 8 managers - there's a team of 11 secretaries to look after 120 staff. Am pleased to report I'm quite happy to go back next week.

At home now, and study awaits me. As does pepperoni pizza. And wine. 

I have a Uni workshop tomorrow, followed by a train trip to Devon - back to London on Sunday evening. Next week work, study and a Seasick Steve gig at the Electric Ballroom in Camden. Next weekend is a Uni tutorial on Saturday and another workshop on Sunday (at the University of Westminster - yay!). The following weekend is a weekender in Europe.... secret destination.  ;o)

xx

12:18 pm:

It's raining; it's pouring,
And being stuck inside is boring!

I'm writing a report on a psychological test,
Think it's time for a cuppa tea and a rest.

xx

11:19 am:

Guess who I'm going to be a Senior Secretary for as of the 8th May............. doo dah, doo dah?






Just got my final (final) ((final)) confirmation through, it's all systems go!
:oD

12:31 pm: May Day, May Day
Happy May Day Y'all!!

Study week is going well thus far. Friday was my work leaving drinks.  As expected, I drank way more than necessary, ended up completely hammered, and was praying to the porcelian gods before 6:30pm.... oh, the shame.

Saturday involved as little movement and thinking as possible; the morning was spent putting all known hangover sures into action. Pleasingly, it paid off and I was rights as rain (almost) by 1pm. Kis and I spent most of the arvo on Clapham Common taking in sunshine, music, books, food and beer. Bloody lovely.

Saturday night was Candy Bar with Claudia - lots of people watching, alcohol intake carefully monitored and a realtively early night.

Sunday took me to Oxford St, namely TopShop and H&M. It was well past time to buy some new jeans, the old ones had a rip in them from the groin seam, around the back of the leg, to the side pocket. A good look if you're 15 or homeless, but not really acceptable for very long otherwise. So yeah, got some lovely new jeans, plus a couple of vest tops and a lovely slinky pair of black trousers for new job. Planning to go suit & shirt shopping this week.

Yesterday was a good day - got through almost a week's worth of work - the final piece of which I must do as soon as I've finished this entry... and went over to Clapham in the evening for sushi and Vicar of Dibley re-runs.

Tonight it's off to Kilburn to see EJ Barnes & friends play at The Black Tie Event

;o)

xx

08:00 pm: stolen from not_waving
So yeah, be curious. Ask me about any 3 of the Interests on my profile page, and I'll explain them to you.

Then repost this so people can ask you about YOUR interests. Woot!

06:50 pm: wilfing
I'm trying to find something to do that seems more important than writing my essay. So far no luck. The essay is looming in the back of my mind, calling out for me to write it. Well, technically just finish it - it's half written but I'm seriously lacking in motivation today. That's what going on holidays does for you - makes normal life seem like such a massive effort. Lying on the beach drinking cocktails is life the way it was meant to be. Has anyone got a desert island I could go and live on?

There have been some very stinky people around on the bus of late. It's so easy to forget that with the heat and sunshine comes a small army of people, disguised as normal average everyday folk, who have sweat glands that could kill a man at 20 paces. Get back, foul stinkers!!

On Saturday we're going to see The Curse of the Golden Flower at The Electric - it's by the director of Hero and House of Flying Daggers - so high hopes for that one. 

I recently discovered Psycho Wiki in whilst wilfing - also this little website right here is very cool.

Ahhhh, and the essay is calling me again. To ignore it's calls would be to invite bad grades into my life... not quite ready of that just yet.

Bye! x

05:23 pm: summer
Ah, summer is here. Little better, and little more needs to be said. 

Yesterday arvo a big group of us had a picnic in Hyde Park - lovely stuff it was. The party continued (possibly for a little too long) at Nicola's place - today I'm feeling very fragile and trying to write an essay on the biological perspective of psychology..... blerk erg.

Photos to follow soon.

Oh, and Tunisia and Lahinch.

Ta-ta for now!