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.