Earlier this evening I tried out the belly-dance DVD I was given by one of my Secret Santas. Blimey - I was barely out of the warm up before my arms were aching! Still, it's looking like a top-notch DVD. I just need to re-arrange my living room a bit so I've got space to work out...
Have just finished updating my Books Read in 2008 log over at LJ. Generally a nice quiet evening!
My life continues to brush against drama in others' lives. Today's involved finding an unconscious man lying on the pavement bleeding copiously from his mouth and nose while mR and I were walking to the train station. We did not linger as there were already two people looking after him, one in the process of calling an ambulance. Being able to add nothing but stares, we left them to it.
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moroseI thought I'd start getting back into the swing of this posting entries lark. Bear with me...
Christmas went well. I was in my very own flat for the first time ever. mR and his mother spent the day with me, which was v. pleasing. Plus I had no food crises - huzzah!
Post Christmas, mR and I nipped down to Hastings to celebrate my step-mother's birthday. I think that went well. I enjoyed myself anyway. It's always nice for me to see members of my family. Mainly because we never seem to spend too long with each other. Hmm...
New Years Eve was spent with some friends of mR. I stayed up disgustingly late for me (4.30am! Playing Guitar Hero!!), and then woke up at a normal time of 8.30am. Ouch. I think I'm still suffering slightly.
Speaking of suffering, mR has now had a cold for about three weeks. I'm just hoping my immune system is healthy enough to fend it off. I don't want to be ill in time for the ski-ing holiday later on this month. Although given that I still don't know how to ski, and that I'm generally extremely unfit, perhaps I should aim to fall ill and then I have a handy excuse for not skiing..?
My belly-dance class finished early/mid December, and I miss it already. There's another class that starts up next week, but I just can't afford to sign up for it right now. There's another class in April, so hopefully I can make that one.
This weekend's been a bit of a nightmare really. You see, mR's bank card got eaten by a cash machine, just after he'd put petrol in his tank but before he'd paid for it. Typical! I've leant him some cash to keep him going until the replacement card shows up, but fingers crossed it arrives by about Wednesday, because he's really not used to going through a week on a very tight budget. That makes him sound as though he's loaded and a bit of a conspicuous consumer. He's not, I promise you! However, he does earn a good salary and is used to being able to go out and buy himself a nice lunch if he so wishes. Oh well, I'm sure it will be a positive learning experience for him!
On top of that, my very good friend TQ has been having horrific problems with damp in the lovely flat she purchased about a year and a half ago. Leaks, damp patches, soaked plaster - the works. All v. stressful for her. If only I'd won the lottery this weekend, I could have sent her off on a lovely holiday while her flat was pretty much rebuilt.
As for the positive side of things. Um. Hang on a minute, I'll come up with something in a moment. Just let me think a bit...
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calmThis very day in 2005, mR and I went on our first ever date. We already knew each other - we'd met some seven years previously and would occasionally bump into each other on the train and chat. But that was our very first proper date.
And how have we marked this momentous anniversary? We've sat in, watching TV, with mR eating popcorn and I've been knitting.
Rock on! :grin:
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happy... for the long silence. Needless to say, work has been kicking my butt. :sigh:
Am still around, if only just.
For those of you who find this entry and like music, take a few minutes to watch/listen to Rodrigo y Gabriela performing Orion live - it's well worth it! I've got their album (called Rodrigo y Gabriela) and I've been enjoying it since I bought it. A definite winner!
Must go to bed. Have been suffering from late nights for a while now - it will take work to move my sleep pattern back, but if I don't get started it'll hurt more.
Hectic couple of days, to put it mildly!
I was taken out for lunch on Friday, which was v. nice. Got back to the office and settled in to do some work, only to get a phone call from longest!A in desperate need of some cheering up. Her latest show starts next Tuesday, and at rehersal on Thursday evening, she had an accident. Having spent most of Friday morning at the local hospital, she was eventually sent home with a compression bandage and a pair of crutches, with the news that her 'sprained ligament' should be OK to walk on by Tuesday.... Talk about bad timing!
Anyway, my latest boss was v. cool and let me leave the office at about 3.45, on the understanding that I'd log on remotely over the weekend and make up the time. However, due to utterly crap trains I didn't make it to longest!A's place until about 6pm. At least I was able to make the poor thing a cup of coffee!
While I was waiting for the train platform to be announced at Paddington, I wandered around the shops there a little bit, and ended up buying my Christmas tree. All v. organised of me, and I've already decorated it. If I get a chance, I'll post a photograph...
Slept quite badly last night, and am all achy as a result today. Grr.
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tiredI've been feeling a little rough/unwell over the last day or so. I blame it on EVERYONE AROUND ME being ill over the last week or two. Grr. It's not even properly winter yet!
Belly dancing last night was a lot of hard work, but still much much fun! I've ached like the proverbial something-or-other for all of today, but I don't care! The teacher revealed last night that she'd like us to put on a little show. We bargained her down from a 2-hour session on a Saturday to throwing open one of our later classes for an hour, provided that our bit of it is all choreographed properly and that we are fully advertised as the beginners class - not unreasonable I think!
The teacher also asked us to let her know if we saw any samples of dances that we particularly liked, and I've come up with two. In case you're interested (and for my own future reference purposes) they are:
this one with candles and
this one that just looks like fun.
Work continues to suck most of the time. I'm currently having Issues with IT. There's an internet-delivered application that is just absolute shite - I had a training session on it yesterday and spent half my time correcting the trainer! And on top of that it's been doing dodgy things with the information we're uploading, making the whole thing unreliable. Bit worrying as it's supposed to be measuring the risk we have in our products... The other main Issue at the moment is that the IT department have sat on their collective arses for a month rather than getting on with delivering me the bit of software my team are already supposed to have... GRR!
So. All in all, it calls for an early night.
tiredManaged a brief meet-up with TQ and CA5 today. Am now feeling v. full of v. tasty california rolls - mm! Ten Ten Tei is such an excellent restaurant. The fact that Neil Gaiman has named it his favourite is just a bonus!
Also managed a quick trip to the Japan Centre on Piccadilly. Picked up a bamboo mat for sushi making - will probably attempt veggie sushi at the weekend. Reports may follow, depending on how well/badly it all goes...
Before I forget:
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FATFISH & R!
Work continues to be poo. There is a glimmer of light in the far far distance that may hark of more interesting tasks. No doubt by the time I reach it it'll've become a flamethrower. Meh.
Weekend gone was v. good. Despite being somewhat hungover on Friday, I managed to run several errands and thus felt virtuous.
Am starting to get all booked up for the seasonal "Thank you for your custom during the past year" corporate hospitality jags in the run up to Christmas. So far I've accepted an invite (for myself and mR!) to the Tate Modern exhibition on the Turner Prize, and a lunch this Friday at somewhere that keeps making me think of laundrettes. It isn't, but I can't remember the proper name...
Meh. I need to get some sleep. I hope they stop letting off the fireworks soon.
A depressingly long time ago, ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
elfwreck picked some of my interests for me to explain. Here they are:
Alcohol
I like my alcoholic drinks, possibly a wee bit too much. I particularly enjoy whiskey, and will take the time to savour a fine one.
Black Books
Black Books! What a fantastic TV show that was! If you've never seen it, I thoroughly recommend that you hunt it down immediately, especially if you have any interest in books, comedy, and insanity.
Blake's 7
Oh, quality TV sci-fi cheese! The costumes, the hair, the wobbly scenery, the fact that there's never 7 of them and for about two series there's no-one called Blake in the show - how can you not love this?! Again, if you've not seen it and you like your sci-fi cheese, go get it!
Calligraphy
I have almost no artistic abilities at all, so despite many years of trying to teach myself calligraphy I still can't produce anything decent. I admire those who can create these beautiful visions, and wish I was one of them!
DIY
Do It Yourself. I've just bought my first home, and as I'm on a budget for the next twenty years or so, my interest in being able to carry out minor carpentry, plumbing, decorating and other practical jobs has increase hugely. My intentions often outstrip my abilities though (see Calligraphy above).
Muppets
Who doesn't love the Muppets?! Jim Henson was a genius!
wave therapy
A term coined (I think) by Cynthia_Black over on LJ. It involves travelling to the seaside, sitting down and watching the motion of the sea. V. restful and possibly a wee bit zen.
So, there you are. An explanation of some of my interests. Of course, now I'm torn between using a Black Books icon and my wave therapy icon....
I'm scared of heights (or depths) anyway. But for some reason, this evening I have been particularly prone to sudden fits of fear of falling. Given that I'm sat on my sofa which is all of... 1.45 feet off the floor (max), I have no idea what's causing this.
Work is poo and stressful and taking up way too much of my brain. I am fighting back with alcohol, good food and belly dancing with mixed success.
So, to summarise, I have tomorrow off work and am pleased. :nods:
And at some point I'll answer elfwreck's meme. Possibly tomorrow as I have the day off work.
Belly dancing this week continued to be excellent fun, although the teacher is working us a bit harder now. I'm still lightly stiff and a little sore, two days later! (Or is that a sign of increasing age? Hmm...) Additionally, one of my colleagues has come up trumps and lent me a belly dancing scarf she purchased on a trip to Egypt. It's rectangular, black, and has four lines of jangly bits. Loud? I think I scared a few people in the office on Wednesday morning when I shook it out!
In one decent work-related item, my trained monkey temp worker is going to have his contract extended. w00t! Of course, if he was still available to actually learn how to do my job/support me as was originally intended, I'd be even more chuffed. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything....
I've just had an excellent evening with the ever-fabulous WMM. Down from Aber she's defying the laws of nature and looking better than ever, full of life and cheers me up just by being around. I've now introduced her to Ten Ten Tei, and we had a good old gossip. She's very kindly extended an invitation to mR and I for a visit sometime, although given the current bookings and the rapid approach of Christmas, it'll probably be sometime next year.
Speaking of mR, he's continuing to be delightful and sweet and caring and altogether sickening for anyone who's not me. :grin: Yesterday I dropped a comment about Bones series 1 into our conversation, and a v. interesting expression shot across his face. I didn't mention it at the time, but interestingly enough, a copy of Bones series 1 has materialised in my flat!
If that wasn't darling enough, last night mR also suggested that perhaps the two of us could have a mini-break somewhere. Like Venice. !!
Cross-posted to Insane Journal and Live Journal.
cheerfulHaving spent some time on Sunday carefully crafting a delicious and different packed lunch for today, I was disappointed to arrive in the office to a reminder that I was in an all-day training course that provided a sandwich lunch.
All. Day.
Course.
On time management.
Yeah. Time management. The ONE SKILL I definitely already have. I spent most of today sitting in a room mentally saying "Yep, I knew that. And I do that. And that." and trying very very hard to thing about all the work I wasn't doing.
Add to which at 5.50, as I was about to leave, I discovered that an email I was sent about a month ago was actually a request for me to carry out a comparison analysis which is going to be quite a big job and is needed for first thing on Wednesday morning. So I'll have to get that done before I leave tomorrow evening. On the day I need to leave early to make my evening class.
GAH!
Fortunately for my sunny nature, I came home to find a Thank You card from longest!A's parents which both thanked me for chipping in to their 40th wedding anniversary present, and bollocked me for doing so. Perfect!
chipperDay off - yay!
It's been quite productive too. Got up, made drop scones for mR and me for breakfast, then tarted up my CV (a job that's been in need of doing for some time!) and painted one wall of my bedroom. I'm toying with the idea of re-arranging my bedroom furniture, but that's going to have to wait until I've managed to do the second coat of the new colour.
It's extremely convenient that mR lives so close - I know I won't have to sleep in the smell of paint tonight! Yay!
I may need to replace my sofa. It's still shedding feathers. This is definitely Not A Good Sign.
Right. Better get sommat to drink - I feel parched.
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accomplishedJust got back from the belly-dancing class, and I can certainly say I'm feeling it this week! My lower back and my belly are definitely surprised at having to had to do some work! But it was another good, fun class - yay!
This week we started by watching a couple of clips showing different belly dancing styles, like this one featuring Didem (dancing in the modern Turkish style) and this modern Arabic style clip. There was even a clip of a couple (man and woman) belly dancing, but I can't find it. :woe:
So, just time for a relaxing whiskey, and then off to bed for a busy day at work tomorrow. I have a meeting scheduled with the latest person to be nominated as my line manager (this makes the fifth in five years at the company, but the fourth since this time in 2005...)
satisfiedWell, I've had my first belly-dancing lesson. The first shock was that it's a TWO HOUR class! I suspect I'm going to be quite a bit of discomfort due to muscular stiffness tomorrow, but wow that was fun! We covered walking, snake arms, hip drops, figures of eight, shimmies and some other stuff I've already forgotten. Whoops!
At one point the instructor pulled me out in front of the class to show some move I was apprently doing correctly. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it was I was doing and promptly failed to demonstrate properly! It would also appear that I am completely unable to shimmy my bosom. I definitely have to practise...
We're a class of four, although only three were present tonight, and I have been lent a scarf covered in little metal jangly bits by the instructor. It would appear that much of the secret to this dance form is to not strain to make large movements, but instead go with the smaller, subtler movements. The jangly scarf / bracelet / anklets do a good job of adding emphasis for you.
Second shock was that apparently a bloke had signed up! Sadly, it turned out that a bloke had signed his wife up for the class, and submitted his name instead of hers.
Right. I've drunk my tea, so I'm off to bed. Thankfully I've arranged to work from home tomorrow, so if even if I'm very stiff I need only to crawl to my sofa and log on remotely!
refreshedIt's International Talk Like A Pirate day today. My one attempt to liven up the conversation at work with this fact led to a stunned silence, followed by a colleague commenting that they were worried that I always knew weird shit like this.
Hmph.
Work continues to be insane. Today was another 10 hour day, tomorrow is bidding fair similar and I don't even want to think about Friday. :sigh:
Longest!A's caberet evening last weekend was FABULOUS! mR, the Bingo Biddy and TQ all came along with me. Longest!A was up first, and really performed a top-notch selection of songs from Broadway Divas. Her second song was Evergreen (Barbara Streisand), and apparently she had mR welling up! A huge compliment, given that he's not exactly hidden his distaste for musicals generally! As for the "professional performers" of the second half, well, the general opinion was that they should've been supporting Longest!A, not the other way around!
All in all, a damned good evening though.
Right. Bed time. I need maximum sleep before tomorrow...
tiredGosh, I've been busy!
Still trying to get over my cold from ... last week? Week before? Can't quite remember. Anyway, still having the occasional coughing fit. Still working like you would not believe. I "treated" myself today by trying to leave the office at 5.15. Didn't actually manage to leave until 5.30, but this evening at home has felt delightfully relaxed compared to the majority of recent evenings, I can tell you! Still, one of the senior bosses is taking me to lunch next week as a thank-you for ploughing through this task that is - to put it frankly - utter shit.
On a more positive note, this weekend sees longest!A's one-woman-show at a relatively local theatre. I'm all excited, and slightly nervous for her! I know she'll do well, but I want it to go perfectly for her.
Staying on the show-front, mR, TQ and I have tickets to go and see Rich Hall next month. I'm keenly anticipating this already - if only because we very nearly missed out on them completely!
Any other news? Not really. I'm still playing way too much Bejewelled 2, not getting enough sleep, working too hard and not relaxing enough. Same old same old!
tiredWell, I fell asleep on my sofa last night, amusingly enough slightly after posting a comment about how awake I was! I woke up at about 4.30 and relocated to my bed, and managed to get another three hours or so. Then I awoke for a final time, and realised that no I hadn't suffered a relapse into illness, I was just a bit hungover.
I didn't actually drink a whole bottle of wine last night, but I did have a good stab at it.
My penance so far is drinking camomile and spearmint tea while the washing machine runs through a cycle. I may attempt a bath soon, although that could be a bit advanced for the state of my brain this morning....
Rather nicely, my bird feeder has been visited by a clutch of sparrows and a dove this morning. The sparrows, arriving in numbers as they are wont to do, have been providing me with my dose of cute. My feeder has stations for four birds to feed at any one time, so those sparrows unable to get to the food have been perching along the arms that support the feeders. That's a terrible explanation for something that's pretty darned sweet to see, but alas I have no way of photographing the occasion.
Oo, the washing's finished. Excuse me.
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