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February 22nd, 2010
07:06 pm - Quintessentially British
Snapshots from a run the other day.
I went for a run round Clissold Park on Sunday morning and was pleased to see everyone and his dog out... literally. It was not particularly early but was the first nice sunny day in a while though still very cold. The park was full of fellow runners, some old, some very fit like a footballer, some out-of-breath. There were people walking their dogs and couples taking their kids to the park. There were lots of under 12s at a soccer training camp, a young martial arts enthusiast with his sensei being trained to walk along a narrow kerb with a blindfold and a young man training his bulldog to be agressive and growl at his command. Its nice to see all these things along the way, things that would have been happening anyway but I was there to witness and to take in.
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January 23rd, 2010
02:06 pm - Recap of travels over the last 6 weeks
Since December 2009 I've flown to Zurich, Dublin and Tokyo so it has been an interesting 6 weeks. It makes it that much harder to go back to a 5-day week but I'm sure before long things will have settled down again. As Olly is still in Tokyo working hard, I've got the place to myself so it seems like a good time to sit down and gather my thoughts. Japan was an amazing place to visit, far better than I thought it would be as I was worried about language and food problems. I guess that was a little short-sighted of me, as I found the Japanese people to be incredibly friendly, genuine and helpful, and their culture to be fascinating and welcoming. The country, or at least what I saw of Tokyo and the area just outside Tokyo is beautiful, full of mountains, running water, trees and plants of all different types - I would love to go back in the summer to see more of the countryside. It reminded me a bit of Switzerland in how law-abiding everyone is, and how safe you feel everywhere you go. Its nice in comparison to the UK, but can also feel a bit sterile sometimes. That may just be an excuse to make me feel better about living in a country where I'm likely to be mugged if I wander round by myself late at night, but sometimes it just makes you feel more touched to witness an act of friendliness or honesty by an English person who doesn't have to do it, than by someone in a country where it is shockingly out of character to disobey the national law-abiding society. And I am often touched by people's generosity and kindness here in the UK so it can't be all that bad! I spent the short time I was there going to all the famous places that you hear of, and seeing as many temples as I could find... its interesting to see such a mix of different religions in one place and for them all to be so well tolerated - something Ireland could do well to learn to imitate! Thought its a step somewhere above my own on the religious ladder, I think my foothold would be on the same wall at least - leaning towards generally being peaceful, thoughtful and considerate of myself and others and reflecting on your place in the world. Can't see anything wrong with that...
Once I'd tired myself out of seeing temples I went and saw a giant stone Buddha which was mind-blowing... to imagine that people had built this 800 years ago without any of the tools that we have today, what a resourceful bunch of people we were!
My trips to Zurich and Dublin were also good though not as much of a culture shock to me. While in Zurich we took a trip down to a small town by a lake where we watched literally 1000s of men dressed in white carrying large cowbells, cracking whips or wearing paper hats decorated like stained glass windows with candles inside to illuminate them. This was all to celebrate Christmas and to fetch Santa Claus in to the town. It was quite the spectacle!! Somehow, even with all those flights, I managed to be delayed for a total of 2.5 hours which is incredible considering most people who flew in the last few weeks have had cancelled flights, overnight stays in the airport or train stations and numerous other delays. Just lucky I guess.
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March 20th, 2008
May 12th, 2007
05:33 pm - Changing Lanes
I've been meaning to write here for a while, but things have been fairly hectic.
Things at work have not improved. Since the start of the year 10 people have resigned which makes for lots of fun leaving dos but a sad atmosphere in the office. We may not be moving to Staines after all, but once everyone's started looking for other work anyway its hard to turn back. The risks of having distributed development and focusing too much on one site I guess - all the classic "them" and "us" problems plus some more. I did quite a few interviews and was beginning to get depressed by the lack of success and the inevitability of working in finance but as it turns out there are lots of really interesting and unusual jobs out there ... its just a matter of being patient and looking everywhere. I've got a couple of options now, both quite different from each other so I'll have to think hard about what I want. In a way I think the second job you take is a harder decision to make than the first one, because I feel like now I have to know exactly what I want and what I need - and it will shape my career and the direction its going to take. Its all very serious! :)
I went to visit my mom in France a few weeks ago, and managed to squeeze in a day in Jersey either side as well. Its a pretty little island, helped by the fact that the weather was hot and sunny while I was there, so I managed to get sunburnt while on the beach. Its a bit over-crowded with tiny houses all crammed next to each other for miles and miles around the coastline, but I guess its nice enough if you're old and want to retire in the sun - though I hear its nigh impossible to get a visa to live there unless you're very rich.
I also flew back to Ireland for a weekend to go out with my two best friends from school. It was Una's birthday so we went back west to her house on the Dingle Peninsula. It was quite nostalgic, being back where we used to get up to lots of things when we were younger, and as always happens when you revisit somewhere after a long time, everything felt smaller. Coming back in the car with Maria and her dad, we drove all the way around Clochar and Slea Head to get back to where I live - it was the most beautiful day, the sun was shining, the sea was sparkling like crystal and even through my hangover it made me want to smile!
The other main reason why I've been so busy, aside from job-hunting, is that I've started playing World of Warcraft. Even though Olly suggested I try it over a year ago, I always thought it wasn't really my kind of game... too complicated, too long, too RPG. Fortunately, the Times were giving away a free trial one week so I installed just to see what it was like.... and within days found myself completely addicted! I bought the full game before the trial ran out and subscribed to the monthly fee (which is so worth it imho), and haven't looked back - which is probably for the best as I've already clocked up quite a few hours! Its a strangely satisfying game, strange for the reason thats it not actually as difficult as you might think to work your way up (though that may change once you're above level 30) and satisfying for many reasons: it looks beautiful, the soundtrack is moving, there's a decent social network if you choose to participate and its based on an efficient experience/reward/leveling system, so you've constantly got something to work towards and to feel good about. Already, at level 24, I'm probably more successful than I am in real life, I definitely have more money! :) It remains to be seen whether I will stick it out past level 30 (a turning point for the more hard-core?)
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Annie
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March 28th, 2007
04:47 pm - Money money money
Of recent, I can't seem to stop buying things (actually make that wanting to buy things!). If its not a console, its clothes, or makeup or shoes or games or a night out. It all sounds so ridiculously materialistic, but so easy to get carried away with. I think especially because at the moment, I don't have much motivation to work I end up spending my time surfing the web and going out to the shops - the more you see the more you want to buy. Of course, the obvious solution is to rebel and throw it all away... I don't NEED another pair of boots or a ps3 (nor can I afford either) .... but to be honest I don't see in the point in going to that extreme either, I just need to learn where to draw the line.
It just seems to me that wherever I look, whatever I look at, it is an advertisement and it's hard to say no. In London, you're generally surrounded by people who look great, who spend lots of money and time on themselves, who have beautiful clothes, hair and skin. There's always concerts and gigs, club nights and movies to go and see.... birthday parties, leaving drinks, visitors to entertain - the list goes on. Don't get me wrong, one of the things I love about London is the constant activity, different events to keep you busy, lots of things happening - but sometimes it feels like its all just a bit too money-oriented! Imagine a different life where you don't have to have money to have a good time? At the moment, I can't go a day without spending money - travel and food alone count the most often, and once I've spent £5, its easy for that to grow into much more! The point is, I guess, that's what money's for... once you've got a nice balance between buying stuff that is good (enough for you anyway) and satisfies you in some way, and covering all the necessities that you have to buy and rent that you have to pay, it doesn't matter what you do with the rest of your money - give it to charity, give it to your friends, drink it away, spend it on tax and insurance for your car, there's plenty of places for it to g
Speaking of earning, my office has moved to Holborn, for only two months which is a shame because everyone seems to be really enjoying it here. Its small, about 2/3 the size of our old office, which just goes to show how much we over-estimated the size we would be by now.... but its a good atmosphere and very well located. Three people have handed their notices in already, and I expect there will be more before our impending move to Staines. I've started looking for jobs, but its hard to weed out the good ones from all the finance and investment banking ones. Its getting somewhat more urgent now, as the next two months are going to pass quickly, and I'm not looking forward to a long commute to Staines every day, but I'm sure I'll get used to it; In fact Staines and the commute might be bearable if I had an interesting project to work on, or some sort of direction towards my career, but at the moment it just seems to be going nowhere :(
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March 9th, 2007
04:13 pm - The world turns
Its funny how you can not think about things without even realising it, assuming that you know how you feel about them. So you concentrate on how others feel and think because that’s the important thing, the interesting thing even, but then it’s a shock when you sit down and think about it, and realise that you've never asked yourself the same questions you ask everyone else. Like finding there's a whole chapter that you missed out...
I've started watching BattleStar Gallactica from the beginning... Having watched some of the latest series with Olly and his flatmates and really enjoyed it, I thought I might as well go back and see if watching the earlier episodes would make everything fit together a bit more... Its an awesome show, I can't believe it took me so long to realise what I've been missing out on! Between that and Heroes, I'm quite impressed with the quality of tv these days... I mean, sure there's about 90% shit, but as long as there's a few gems out there then it doesn't really matter - although to be fair, they're not actually widely available to people here which is a bit crap.
I've been reading Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, which I can highly recommend. It’s a bit off-the-wall at times but not so much that you can't accept it, and its also beautifully written and engaging... It seems to make the world seem that little bit more mysterious.
I've also splashed out on a full sparring kit for kick-boxing, so that I can start sparring and progress to the next belt. Its amazing how much it can add to the classes, you get a lot more adrenalin because you're trying to dodge (or hit) someone for real, and there's a lot more stuff to think about then normal pad and air work. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to go that much recently, for various reasons, but hopefully once we settle in to a new rhythym in Holborn I'll be able to get a routine going.
I really really want to go see Infected Mushroom at Psychedelic Academy 004 in May, but its on a Sunday :( I've just realised its a bank holiday weekend that weekend, but still, why the Sunday??
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March 6th, 2007
10:24 pm - The great blue month
It seems I'm always either looking for somewhere to live or trying to find someone who will live with me! Next month, my brother moves out in to a flat in Islington, so Cara and I are trying to find someone to move in... its difficult beause even though the flat is lovely, the room is a little small and doesn't have any windows... but some people aren't put off by that.
Liezl left last week on a sad Sunday... however we saw her off well with a surprise Pirate Party :) It was awesome fun, all organised by Louise and I think Nik won the prize for most imagination, though Olly was sexiext (and the meanest looking!) :) Unfortunately I came down with the flu soon after that as has nearly everyone else I know.. seems to be quite a virulent strain. I postponed an appointment I had at the Sanctuary and took a day off work till I was feeling ok again, though I'm not sure why I bothered rushing back in...
Work has been a strange beast... we've been told that we're moving to Staines which wasn't a huge surprise but still was a bit of a shock to hear nonetheless as the commute there would really not be worth it :( A lot of my colleagues seem to be quite disappointed as well, so I'm not sure what will happen to our engineering department... its quite a change for everyone involved to suddenly be working in a suburban town like that :( Anyway, the move won't be for another 4-5 months as we have to move to Holborn first, so I'll take things as they come... but am definitely considering looking for something else now that is in the city centre. We also got to a point where though we'd finished our release it was still in test and not available publicly, but we didn't really have any work to do, nor seem to know what work we will be doing afterwards... quite odd after we'd been asked to work late evenings and weekends to get it done in time. I guess I should enjoy and make the most of the free time while I have it.
I finally went to the Sanctuary today, a gift from my mom from a year ago and I've just found the money/time to go now... had an amazing day. The place is in the middle of Covent Garden but you completely forget that as soon as you step in the door to the huge relaxing space they've set up. I spent a few nice hours swimming and wandering between sauna, sanarium and hamman, as well as getting a manicure and a pedicure... the first time I've ever had it professionally done and it was quite nice. They have lots of little areas where you can lie down comfortably with blankets and cushions and either read a book or watch the giant koi-carp go by or fall asleep. Have to say it was a very relaxing experience and I'd love to be able to go back occasionally when I'm stressed out. While there and swimming, it seemed like such a strange thing to be able to do... that humans have learnt this ability to propel themselves through water in such a way, and that they bother just for kicks. I heard somewhere recently that human babies can swim instinctively, but it sounded crazy. Apparently they can't really swim but can instinctively know not to breathe while under water and make little swimming motions for the first few months presumably because they've just come from the womb... after a few months it disappears and you have to teach them for real. Anyway... I thought it was cool... and its nice to know that if you fall into water you won't drown. :P
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January 28th, 2007
04:26 pm - On with it
And so a new year has begun... rather slowly and painfully in some ways, but a whole lot of fun in others. Mainly its been stressful as we have a project release deadline on the last day of this month and we were very far from hitting it. We're now a bit closer... maybe 7 days behind schedule, and hopefully they are all very low priority bugs anyway. We're not exactly sure what will happen on the 31st however, the criteria for release are a little vague, other than we have no outstanding bugs left so it will be interesting to see what happens.
We've had a few rather worrying announcements at work, my work environment is likely to change considerably in the next month... between moving offices to somewhere we haven't found yet and possibly out-sourcing the maintenance and feature enhancements of our project - I'm not sure how this will all fit in with my life and that of my colleagues but we shall see.
Apart from that, its nice to have a full quota of holiday entitlement again so I'm looking forward to planning some holidays for this year. Malaga was enjoyable but its a bit of a tourist trap, and though we drove inwards and upwards to a picturesque town in the mountains, it was very cold up there and not as mild as we'd expected. We drove over towards Granada for a few days and tried to see the Alahambra, but apparently you need to book weeks in advance. It was a cool city though, very grungy and full of students and workers, but plenty of good bars and restaurants.
I'm glad to say that February is approaching, as money has been ridiculously tight recently due to the evils of credit. Unfortunately, February is also the month where one of my closest friends and ex-flatmate moves back to South Africa, for good, so it will be tinged with sadness. The last few weeks will be packed full of fun however :)
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December 22nd, 2006
02:46 pm - End of the Year Already?
Its been a long time since I've written here so I should have lots to update, but I'll more than likely forget most of it as I type. To be honest probably not that much has happened. The biggest change was moving out of Trafalgar Avenue. Because we hadn't found anywhere else to move to, and my original plans of moving in to a council flat with Gush temporarily fell through, I moved all my stuff into storage... and ended up leaving it there for nearly 2 months! Olly and his housemates at Kitson road were kind enough to take me in, and we had lots of fun. Cara and I looked at a lot of places in that time, but its really hard to find 3 bedroom apartments that have all three rooms as good doubles, and it also proved very difficult to compromise on areas we both wanted to live in. As such, I compromised, and we've moved to East London. We were originally going to move into a lovely flat in a bengali council estate in banglatown (or brick lane), but I'm quite glad we didn't as the smell of curry was overwhelming and the muslim call to prayer is quite a scary noise! (this is coming from someone who has never heard it before!)
The flat we did move to is a brand new warehouse conversion in between Aldgate East and St. Katherine's docks. Its very nicely done up, but suffers from two of the rooms being windowless, and opening on to the sitting room, so my room is stuffy and noisy which takes some getting used to especially when I am now spending significantly more than I used to on my spacious ensuite bedroom in Trafalgar Avenue. Our neighbours also make us feel like we're living in a student res... riding mini motorbikes up and down the corridors and their flat in the middle of the night, having parties, play-fighting with fire extinguishers and vandalising the emergency exits. Joy. I'm not a big fan of East London so far... maybe it will just take a while to get used to it, but I miss Elephant & Castle :( People look either more down-and-out or rolling in it on this side of the city, I guess you're either a rich city worker or a market trader, and I don't really feel like I fit (or that I want to). I've also noticed when standing around outside tube stations, how many dodgy people there are around, that look like they're trying to find someone to beg from or mug.
Aside from moving, I started training for my kick-boxing blue belt which I achieved two weeks ago. It was a lot of hard work, but fun at the same time, and I'm very proud to have done it. It doesn't mean a lot really, apart from being a sign that you can do a few basic kicks and punches, but onwards and upwards eh? If I was to pick the best thing I've done this year... it would probably be starting kickboxing classes as its really improved my flexibility and fitness, and my confidence has been boosted from losing about a stone!
I'm going to Malaga for Christmas with my mum and my brother tomorrow (if the fog lets me) so it should be a warm one with any luck. Happy Christmas to All!
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October 13th, 2006
12:01 pm - Viva Las Vegas
Its been only two weeks since we've been back from Vegas, but it feels like a lot longer. The holiday was amazing, it cost an arm and a leg but was worth it so that we could enjoy ourselves fully. The city is pretty much exactly as you see in the films, though the bit we were in was a lot less seedy than I would have imagined - seemed quite DisneyLandesque. We went downtown one night to the old part of Vegas where the original casinos such as the Golden Nugget were, with the infamous Marlboro man sign, and that was much more the way I would have expected it to be.
Mostly, we spent lots of money on Roulette and BlackJack, though Olly did learn how to play (and win) at Craps properly.... We were generally losing more than we were winning, but winning enough to keep us coming back. In order to increase our chances of winning at BlackJack, we tried memorising the tables for what decision you should make depending on what cards you and the dealer have. The system worked pretty well I felt, not guaranteed to win, but it definitely improved my chances a lot. It was the first time I'd ever played BlackJack in a casino, hell, even for real money, so I really got a buzz out of it. I was able to leave the table up $50 or so a couple of times, and enjoyed the fleeting but friendly onversations with whatever American happened to be sitting by your side. As everyone told us, alcohol is free while in the casinos, though I ended up spending more money in slot machines and on tables while waiting for drinks than I would've if I'd just gone to a bar! As all paths in the hotel we were staying in led to the casino, it was ridiculously easy to have a quick gamble while on the way to get something to eat, or going out, or coming in!
Aside from gambling, it was interesting to visit all the different hotel casinos, as each had its own theme and had shows, rollercoasters or shopping malls to entertain you. We went to most of the big ones, and each had their good points and bad points. We probably used the Excalibur more than our own hotel for gambling, as the Luxor and most of the other ones had high minimum bets. We had organised a day of quad-biking with Nik and his friends in the desert, so one day got picked up by coach and driven through the Valley of Fire in to the desert. It was pretty unusual scenery, huge red rock formations and barren land as far as you could see, though after 2 and a half hours I have to say it all started to look the same! We tried to find any signs of life while we were out there, and went on a cactus hunt but didn't see anything other than some vultures and huge (I mean HUGE) horse-fly type insects. The quad-biking was brilliant fun, we just followed these trails up and down hills in the desert but it was really exciting.
Another day we saw an ad for machine guns in one of the tourist brochures, so grabbed a cab to the range so we could give it a shot ;) I tried out a MP5, Olly tried a sniper rifle, shotgun and another machine gun, and J and Will tried a machine gun too. It was lots of fun, but being there right next to people shooting was weird, its really really loud every time a shot goes off, and it's quite hard to keep the gun steady while aiming... it was pretty cool though and it would be fun to do again! Olly was a natural and managed to impress the ex-NY cop that was assisting him! :)
One of the other days, we took a helicopter tour over the grand canyon. Having never been in a helicopter before it was a strange sensation... to take off you just lift right off the ground! It was a fun tour, the grand canyon was pretty amazing, but it would have been nice to have walked around in it... actually it would have been cool to have gone horse-riding through it.... maybe next time.
For Nik's birthday we went to Hooters Bar and Casino for lunch, where Nik got surrounded by all the Hooter Girls :) In the evening, we went to Coyote Ugly, which was a lot of fun, but mainly one big piss-up. All the girls get free shots while in there, to go with the buy one get one free on all drinks, and the Coyote Ugly girls do indeed dance on the 'bar'. We left just in time, and went to Jet, which was the club where all the locals went out on a Monday night. Having scored ourselves 14 free tickets or something we didn't have to pay to get in, so we were able to enjoy a pretty good night without spending too much. The club was very different to clubs in the UK and not in a good way. It was fun to be there for the night, the music in the trance room was surprisingly rocking, but the atmosphere wasn't particularly friendly, and with the paid dancers and bling bling posers it seemed a bit pretentious.
So all in all, we had a great time in Vegas, but if I go back, I will probably go back for a shorter period with more money!
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