Damn those lights...

So it was supposed to be a big-ish night. I actually thought it was maybe a boys night, so I wasn't going to go but then I was told that it was non gender discriminatory. It turns out it was a boys night but I was there - no biggie since it seems to happen often and for some reason a lot of my male friends seem to like to talk about girls bits and the sizes of those bits regardless of my presence, so I wasn't cramping anyone's style.

So off we went - we started at CQ bar where we managed 2 rounds of drinks before last call and lights got brighter. All before 11pm. Then we went to check out Charlie's Bar. Not a bad little place, and other than an omission of truth for the specials initially, we settled down into our booth quite comfortably. Pity the lights lit up again after 2 drinks. Then they got brighter. And brighter.

Next stop off was Golden Monkey, even though they had packed up their chairs outside. Still busy but by that time our designated drivers had decided to stop with the drinks, so after 1 round we left to find food at China Bar. For someone who ate 2 dinners, I sure managed to put the Hainanese Chicken Rice away.

Time to brush the layer of MSG off my tongue before beddybyes.

Guess it wasn't that big a night - too much to ask for a Tuesday before Xmas in Melbourne, but thanks to Stinky, P Dodge, and Binge Drinker for the good night out and the bad jokes that went along with it.

Look and feel

For those few people who visit my blog regularly (or at all even!) you may have noticed that I have once again changed the style of my page. Partly because I am trying out new things and partly because as a Gemini I am indecisive and slightly schitz, I have been adding and removing page elements depending on my mood and also playing around with very basic HTML in an effort to really ram home the fact that I work in IT. Or pretend to anyway.

So I have created a new header for the blog using a photo I took in Spain and Paint (yes you read correctly - Paint). It was slightly painful but I am happy I now have a custom header as opposed to the standard font title that used to be there. I've also played around with a few of the colours on the page and added links to some of my regularly visited websites.

Any thoughts/feedback/requests would be very welcome - still looking at bits and pieces to add to it - its very much a work in progress sort of thing seeing as I only do this when I can be bothered....

I see spots!

TA-DAH!

I made a bag :)

Bag on display

Quite proud of it actually - it is made with sturdy cotton and thread and didn't take too long to make (keep in mind this is subjective and I am still a beginner so anything less than a full day is pretty decent!)

Close up of the front pocket

I am quite pleased with the results and it has proved to be sturdy enough to be my sewing bag for now. The true test will be when I take it to the supermarket as an alternative to the green reusable bags sold by the supermarket. They are great bags but not very attractive so hopefully this ends up replacing our staple carriers.

Almaty

My sleeping cycles have pretty much sorted themselves out. I sleep 7-8 hours each night and generally wake up and sleep at the same time every day now. Great stuff you might be thinking. Or alternatively you might just not care. IMHO, I think consistent sleeping patterns aren't a bad thing and mine have been highly consistent. Great if I lived in Almaty. That's right. Almaty, Kazakhstan. Hey Borat.

Living in a place that uses GMT +10 (and add another for daylight savings or good measure, whichever you please) and sleeping from 4am to 12 noon means that in the good old Almaty time zone of GMT +6, I sleep at 11pm every night and arise at 7am fresh as a daisy.

Now if only everyone else around here adjusted their sleeping patterns to match Almaty's, all would be well for me. Shops would be open later, we would all eat at the same time, life would be just peachy.

Until I end up screwing myself over again and sleeping at 11pm Khartoum time.

Kanye - Glow In The Dark

My tickets came and the concert rocked!

The legit tickets

Some people have said that by not having backup dancers, he didn't put on much of a show, but his performance was at the very least, pretty damn amazing. Performing for over 2 hours on stage by yourself is not an easy thing, and he did it without losing any of his passion and energy for the music.

The man himself

Standout songs: Heartless, Stronger and Flashing Lights

Standout moment: The response from Kanye after some idiot threw a coin at him while he was extolling the virtues of Melbourne. Hilarious.

Standout fashion statement: Kick ass sunglasses with a pulsing ray of light similar to KIT's from Knight Rider. His footwear (chunky black boots and silver runners) comes a close second.

Working the crowd

My only complaint was that all the tour t-shirts were being sold for $50. Considering that a gold ticket would have cost most people $140, it seemed quite the rip-off to me to add another $50 on top of that.

The expensive merchadise - I love Dropout Bear but I couldn't bring myself to fork out for it

Kanye West is a massive talent. All in all, a great night out. I missed out on seeing him in London as I was away, so I am super happy that I managed to get great tickets just a few days before the concert at a cheaper price (thanks eBay!).

Waiting...

... for my tickets to the Kanye West concert this Friday!

They weren't cheap tickets but then it's Kanye, and since I forked out a lot more for Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour, I figured I'd just do it.

Plus I needed something to cheer me up. So Kanye, here I come! w00t!

Oh btw no Rihanna, N.E.R.D. or Lupe, but I think we get Nas and Scribe for the Aussie leg of the tour.

The inadvertent coin pouch result

I tend to have to make time to make lists. Making this time is a problem for me since I tend to just occupy my time with a whole lot of nothing. As a result, I went to Spotlight again with no list and a vague idea of wanting to make something small and quick since I have been busy procrastinating from starting up a bigger project (read: anything that takes longer than 2 hours as I am easily distracted by pretty much anything).

So I remembered that I saw a pouch tutorial online and thought it was kinda cute. Decided I would buy the 10cm zip but for some reason they only had 12cm and up in lengths. Attiirbuting this to poor stock *shrug* I bought the 12cm zip (2 since I was being ambitious as usual!) and tottered off home with some pretty new spotty material.

Of course, to my dismay, it wasn't 10cm but 10 inches required for this zip. BOOO.

I decided I didn't care and would make a baby pouch - I needed to practice anyway what with being a beginner and the result is a baby coin pouch (I can't work out what else anyone would use it for) in navy with a pale blue zip and a white lining with light blue polka dots.

All zipped up

You can see the lining here - and the coins should give you an idea of how small it is. It also looks like it has ears and a mouth at this angle.

The camera flash has blasted the colour out a bit but overall am pleased with it since it means when I get to the big version I'll be much speedier since I've done it once already :)

It actually took me awhile to figure out some of the instructions on the tutorial but I think a lot of it may be attributed to my unfamiliarity with sewing techniques and terms. I am going to get better though, I swear!

Unless I get distracted.

Indomie

Great in Australia and very VERY average in the UK. Actually almost addictive here (except for that slightly oily feeling you get after consuming the noodles but I am choosing not to count after-effects).

So they are the same noodles and packaging in both countries but have different proportions of sauces and powders. I find it very odd that even Indonesian 2 minute noodles are so much better in Australia. Still, it seems to be the way of the universe that food here is great (even if it is fried and manufactured in an Asian country) and food there is not.

Bully for me.

Now I need some water.

Brrrrr

It's too cold in Melbourne. It's nearly December and it hailed yesterday. Booooooo

Sew Cool!

More bad puns - but also part of a name of a book I saw today in Lincraft.

It is also what I think of my now finished practice dress!

3/4 view

The aim of the practice dress was to teach myself how to sew using bad material and an easy pattern, so I wouldn't be worrying about making mistakes and wasting money in true tightass fashion. This painfully slow exercise has taught me how to do the following:

1. Sew a zipper (badly)

2. Hem a skirt (I cheated)

3. Follow paper patterns

4. Sew pleats

5. Make darts - and randomly (stupid pattern didn't mark them down)

6. Change the foot of a sewing machine

7. Wind, fix and thread a bobbin

8. Make gathers

9. Understand the terms stay-stitch, baste and selvedge

I am sure there is some other random stuff that I battled with - and the end result is nothing near perfection - but then I must say I am pleased that it looks like a dress and I can totally see where I made mistakes and how to avoid them for the real thing.

Front view

Yes I cheated and made things up, but if you saw this 'easy' pattern I used, you would understand that sewing from these instructions with no prior experience is not an easy task. I would liken the confusion to chemistry class back in high school, where you get told to mix chemicals using a bunsen burner but then you have to figure out how to light the burner yourself without blowing up the classroom. You get to the end result usually after several unsuccessful attempts that involve personal pain (burning in chemistry, getting stabbed with pins in sewing), general mistakes (mixing wrong chemicals vs cutting/stitching wrong bits) and then making up for the mistakes (stealing more chemicals out of the lab/unpicking every stupid stitch you slaved over).

Sew yes, I think the result is sew sew cool - and I don't care if that sounds daggy :)

Missing a Shred

I missed day 3 of the Shred. I blame it on my *cough* *cough* busy schedule. I am now trying to work out if missing day 3 means I do 9 days of level 1 instead or I tack on another day to make it 10 (over the course of 11 days).

I am sure no one really cares. I wonder sometimes how much I care seeing as I sit there watching America's Next Top Model Cycle 11 (Lauren Brie was so good looking in pics I thought) while eating Milo from the tin.

Bad. But YUM :D

Sew Easy...?

Like the pun?

I have decided to learn how to sew and have now purchased a pattern and some cheap cotton to test out. I hope sewing doesn't go the same way as a lot of my other hobbies - exciting for a week and then dumped into a corner to gather dust. I figure I am unemployed, I have access to a machine, and sewing should be a good break from my internet addiction - plus clothes where I am living seem to be super expensive these days - what up with that?? - so if I am somewhat successful, I will have gained a skill and eventually saved some cash on clothes.

Wish me luck.

The Shred

Today after lying in bed feeling somewhat sorry for myself and incredibly bored, I decided it was time to do something and up my endorphin levels. So enter the "30 Day Shred" DVD by Jillian from the Biggest Loser. From what I gather, there are 3 levels that you can do, and the aim is to do Level 1 for the 1st 10 days, Level 2 for the 2nd 10 days, and then (surprise surprise) Level 3 for the final 10 days.

So. Today I had a go at Level 1. Now I knew I was unfit, but boy am I unfit! Still, its all about perseverance and I have heard that after about 7 days on Level 1, it gets really easy to do.

For those of you who know me, perseverance is not my strong point. I get easily distracted, especially by bright shiny objects. Or food. *YUM*

So I am hoping by posting this up online, it is proof to the 3 people who read my blog (if at all) that I am going to try my hardest to keep it up. After all, its not like I have anything else to do right now :P

The only issue is how I am going to use the tv in the lounge room for exercise without anyone sitting there and watching me (we have visitors for the next week or so). I'd hate to subject them to the sight of me woefully attempting crunches. Hmmmz....

ZZZZZzzzzz

Seeing as I am unemployed and still in limbo (see previous post) I am reverting back to my standard sleeping patterns of catching zzzs at about 3-4am and emerging from my bed at 11am the earliest. Seeing as none of my friends/family in the country I am in actually keep to these sleeping patterns, I wonder why it is that I seem to end up doing this. The result of this is tha most of the time I wake up too late to go and have lunch with my employed friends, and then am up bright and chipper when they want to leave me and jump into bed.

I wonder if there is someone/thing to blame for this. Nature or nurture.. what say you?

(btw my parents would kill me if I said it was nurture!)

Fathermuckers

That is exactly what the British High Commission are a bunch of.

I am an umbrella

Or so it appears to seem at www.suboo.com.au . I apparently am very good for sheltering pouty modelly types.

*cough*

So today I caught up with someone I hadn't seen for awhile. It was good to see her I think. My only issue is that I now stink of cigarette smoke and feel like my lungs are totally congested.

Now before there is any outcry of this being a whinge about smokers, I would like to point out that one of my best friends is a smoker, so I can't be accused of being anti-smokers (I am however anti-smoking, but that is a seperate, albeit related, matter) ;)

In all fairness, the congested lungs thing may be due to the fact that tropical weather and humidity probably makes the air, and therefore anything in the air (e.g. cigarette smoke) just that much thicker and clingier.

However.

I would like to think that there is such a thing as consideration for the non-smokers that one is sharing a meal with. In most cases, my smoking friends do not smoke while they or anyone else is eating, and are conscious of sitting down-wind so that their smoke doesn't drift into their friends' faces/food/drink/clothing/hair/etc. If for some reason the wind changes, no offence is taken if people ask to move or swap seats.

In this case though, I encountered blatant disregard for any of this etiquette. Open air or not, when the smoke drifts into your face, it kind of does spoil the flavour of the food (and air) one is trying to consume. Asking to swap seats was met with a look of 'wtf?' and then refusal in the form of a not-joke about how some people must be very sensitive to the Asian climate and have delicate lungs (?). I don't think I was asking for much, but I appear to have been.

As a result, I literally stink.

Honestly, it makes me wonder if it is worthwhile making the effort to catch up again. Sure, it seems a small price to pay - I can just shower the smell off - but the lack of understanding isn't something that can be sloughed away like yesterday's dirt.

Limbo

Not the kind that rocks, but the kind you are in.

I've been sitting here sweating on a daily basis for almost 2 weeks now. When is the stupid visa going to be ready? Stressed - I reckon I have a 50% chance of getting it approved. So in the meantime, due to the limbo-ness of it all, I haven't shopped (credit crunch, being unemployed, moving house to who knows what country, luggage space are all factors), and am becoming addicted to airconditioning and bad tv.

Sucks to be me.

I may be kinda boring right now, but others aren't!

So, still trying to decide if this blog thing is worthwhile, and I am going to take the advice of a friend to check out other tools for blogging other than what is available here on blogspot. I suspect this will probably happen when I am bored out of my brains in KL for 3 weeks waiting to sort out some visa stuff. In the meantime, I'm updating the 'blogs I watch' section of my blog - and highly recommend checking out Cheryl's adventures since she seems to be having a way more interesting time that I am right now. You may find a correlation to some of what Dylan is up to - call it quirkly coincidence perhaps...

When does New become Old?

So I did it. I got tickets to see NKOTB in concert. And boy am I excited! w00t! :)

Regardless of the ridicule directed at me from my gormless peers, I am really looking forward to the concert - it'll be my second live viewing of them - 16 years later and on the other side of the world.

Admittedly their latest album will not contain 10 No. 1 songs, but what album does? My only question is why they are back to being the New Kids On the Block on certain websites when I distinctly recall the official name change to NKOTB back in the day of the No More Games album. Perhaps it just is a question of marketablilty. No biggie, I know who they are either way.

I have been privy though to several snide comments though about the av

erage age of the group and how they are no longer 'New', but then really, when does New become Old? 'Old Kids On the Block' really isn't going to cut it, and 'New Men On the Block' makes them sound like they either cry a lot or have undergone a special kind of operation (cue the comments about Jordan's voice).

I could say NKOTB (long or short versions of the name) is not about being soft, it's about being smart, you suckers (in-joke for all the fans) but in the end, it is whatever works for them. And it's working for me - so bring on January 24!

Better late than never...?

I am still undecided. I registered this blogspace a year and a half ago with grand intentions about keeping people up to date on my travels and adventures, and in a manner very typical of me, I did jack all. Lazy could be my middle name, but I'm not really sure how it works with chinese names that have had surnames moved around for anglicised purposes. Maybe Su-Lazy-Boo might work but that really doesn't roll off the tongue.

SLaziBo perhaps?

I'm not feeling it.

Anyway I am off on a tangent. Again.

So. Back to this being a good thing - I guess we will have to wait and see. Don't worry though, there won't be any signing off like Gossip Girl. So annoying.