Things That Make You Bounce

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It's actually been a full week since I last posted. I blame this on being busy at work & having somewhat of a life.

This week has been a mix of excitement & just staying in at night, which was good. Work is still keeping me on my toes, my boss is now handing over lots of reports I will have to do in future & he really is the King of the Spreadsheet. I'm sure it'll all be easy peasy in a few weeks, but right now I'm struggling through massive tables to update without a clue. It's cool to have full responsibility for a set of channels, to be their point of contact & handle the everyday stuff. My boss has announced that he expects me to take over once I'm up & running with everything. This both scares me to death & really excites me. 

To take my mind off work stuff & because it was planned months ago & I really wanted to go, I went to Camden on Tuesday after work to see Dan Le Sac v. Scroobius Pip rock the Koko. And rock they did! Awesome! Unfortunately they also made me & my friends suffer through two abysmally bad support acts. A girl rapper/shouter that not only had a very annoying voice, but wasn't easy on the eye neither. Thank god Catherine was there to have a little bitching session with me :)

The second support was a fat American guy who also rapped or something & sometime through the gig decided to take half his clothes off. I mean, come on, who wants to see this?

Dan Le Sac & Mr. Scroobius Pip were worth the wait (& it was a very long wait, doors opened at 7pm & they got on stage around 9.30pm), though. Funny, bouncy, great lyrics & awesome show. 

I had plans to meet up with Lynn on Thursday to have a catch up & dinner at Westfield, but she'd only had 2 hours of sleep the night before & wasn't really up for being sociable, so had to cancel. Boo. This freed up my evening somewhat, so I had a brief exercise session (I so loves my trampoline!) & vegged out on the sofa.

Yesterday was Play Time! I ran off at 5.30pm (i.e. on time) from work to the V&A where Playgrounds was about to happen as part of the V&A Late Nights. Having been to the Sandpit last months I sort of knew what to expect & that you had to be there early to get on the lists for games. They did it a bit differently at the V&A, there was no central sign up desk but you had to go to each game individually, which was a bit of a drag as you might show up at one game only to discover it was full already. Managed to meet Benjy & group most people together by simply texting them the room we were in. In the end formed a little group with Benjy, Taynor & later Ellie, which was really cool. We played a Silent Relay, where we were secret agents getting instructions via iPod & had to run around the museum to hand over code words, letters & cameras. It was tons of fun but also a bit stressful as the guys who had planned it had totally underestimated the amount of people crowding the rooms. After that we signed up for Mr Mirrors & had to find our lost identity by solving puzzles & finding people with top hats in rooms that would give us lost emotions. We also played a rather naff version of twister with questions. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening & I think most people (my flatmate being an exception by the looks of it) had fun.

We stayed & played until the ushered us out. Benjy & Ellie went home, me & Taynor went up to Camden to meet up with Minh. It had started raining & Minh had moved from a really quite cosy pub to the World's End (of all venues). Got to meet some of his friends, but due to an incident with a really drunk girl that they had to take care of the evening was cut short & I was on the bus home at midnight.

My legs really hurt today from all the running around, I miraculously have put on almost a kg (I blame that on bingeing on chocolate the last 2 days & my period starting on Monday, I really hope it's not there to last) and I'm somewhat undecided what to do tonight. Emma's celebrating her birthday by having a pub meet & going to a barn dance thing. There's also the option to go to Whirl-Y Gig, but I kinda ruled that out as the next weekend's going to be a mahoosive party. There's also the rather tempting option to just stay in, be boring & watch a DVD. I'm favoring the latter, really, but know that I'll probably get bored halfway through. I think I'll venture over to Manor House for the pub meet & then play it by ear.

The Sultans Of Frizz

I'm having serious issues with my hair. It must be a mixture of horribly hard London water, winter air (cold outside, warm & too dry inside), not getting it cut that often anymore (i.e. more split ends) and my hair generally being pissed off. I think it didn't take kindly to having been braided into dreads last summer & then exposed to a week of alcaline dust & sun as well.

It's frizzy as fuq and when I finally manage to get it to be flat & shiny, it goes into full static mode. I only wash my hair every 2 or 3 days because it's so dry & I dread blow-drying it because it will go "poof" straight afterwards. The only way to make the situation bearable is to tie it into a ponytail, but I obviously can't do that all the time & I doubt it makes things better in the long term.

One solution would be to get my hair cut again, but I don't know what kind of style I want at the moment & sort of like the idea of growing it for a while & anyway, my hairdresser has disappeared to Australia & his replacement is shite. I hate finding a new hairstylist because you have to find someone who understands what you want & who speaks your "language" (best case scenario is to be able to just say "do what you want" & it comes out awesome). I've got fine, very straight hair & lots of it. It's notoriously difficult to cut & most hairstyles just don't work for me. My hair rejects any kind of styling effort & even manages to escape out of elaborate braids (unless I don't wash it for a week, which is what I did before getting it braided into dreads).

Cue total panic when hairstylist told me he's off to Australia. For good.

I know I'll have to face a hairdresser again soon, but until then it would be nice if my hair would just behave & not turn into a giant ball of fuzz everytime I wash it.

So I thought it would probably be a good idea to treat it with a deep conditioner & maybe coax it into being more manageable. This involved washing my hair in the evening because in the mornings when I usually wash it I don't have time to spend half an hour waiting for the conditioner to work. I'd found a leave-in hair moisturizer in one of my drawers which I'd most likely bought last winter & decided to go for it.

Bad idea. Really bad idea.

Maybe it was because I've used the cheapest stuff available at Superdrug (very likely), but it was thoroughly unenjoyable. The stuff looked like clear, slighly yellow snot & left my hair feeling strange & sticky. The frizz was still there, but now there's also stickyness. According to my colleagues it looked alright & shiny, but I can't stand the way my hair feels now & anyway, the "poof" effect is still present.

I've now bought Aussie Miracle Frizz Remedy & intend to give that a try either tonight or tomorrow (i.e. next time I wash my hair). It can only be better than what is happening on my head right now.

I want summer back. I'd even settle for spring. Any season when my usual shampoo & conditioner combo (Tigi's Catwalk Honey & Oatmeal) works.

On another, hair-unrelated note, I'm not going to the Natural History Museum today because Pinky is busy fighting O2 for some reason or other. It's grey & quite possibly wet outside, so a stroll around Camden is not very appealing. I think I'll bus it down to Oxford Street & explore one of the big department stores this afternoon, which is something I've been meaning to do for, errr, years. Who knows, I migth find something nice.

Oh, and I'm still loving my rebounder. I did a 20 minute session last night, in the not so long term I want to get up to a full 30 minutes bouncing. I'm getting the feeling that the springs get noisier the more I use the trampoline, which is not good but nothing I can change. So far I haven't got any results in regards to weight loss, but I've only been exercising for a week now & I'm not exactly watching what I eat. I haven't put on weight despite stuffing my face with nuts & sweets, so that's a good thing.

Next week will be busy with a gig (Dan Le Sac), playing silly games at the V&A and quite possibly my first ever barn dance. Bring it on, I'm ready!

My Home Is My Castle

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I really enjoy having the flat all to myself. It feels a bit weird as I'm so used to always having people around me, but all in all it's very, very nice to have space for a change. 

On Saturday I met up with Cherelle at Waterloo & together we took the scenic route (thanks to various tube lines not running) to South Kensington. I had wanted to go back to the V&A for further exploration since having been there for Decode and Cherelle was up for a bit of culture. The V&A is pretty amazing, lots of fashion, theatre & things from lands far far away. We visited a few galleries, the shop, had a little rest outside at the cafe, then went back for more. I very much enjoy letting my brain out to play in this way.

Afterwards I went up to Piccadilly Circus to see whether Lillywhite's would have the rebounder I want. Apparently they're London biggest sports store, but quite frankly, they're just shite. No selection at all, staff that didn't have a clue & they're not very big by my standards. They did have trampolines which I found without any help from anyone in there, but not the one I wanted & it turned out that they're pretty heavy as well, so I decided to opt to buy a bit more locally or get it delivered.

I checked out to new Japan Centre so the trip into town wasn't a complete waste of time. Found some rather tasty (& fairly cheap, all things considered) sushi & spent the tube ride home munching little rolls of rice & fish. I was craving fish like mad, which was a bit disconcerting. I usually assume that any reasonably healthy craving has a reason, I'm not entirely sure why I crave fish (raw salmon, to be precise) occasionally but suspect it's because I don't get enough omega 3 fatty acids. According to my web research there really is no way of getting them in an easy way in a vegan diet (the jury's still out on flaxseed) and I don't mind eating fish, really, so I guess I'll have a chunk of raw salmon every now and again. I've been having tuna & chickpea salad the last 3 evenings & whatever it was I was lacking, I seem to have stocked up supplies now.

On Sunday I woke up rather early for a weekend, around 10am. Argos didn't open until 11am, so I lounged about for a bit, had a lazy breakfast & then walked down the road to claim my mini trampoline. The Reebok rebounder was selling for £30 & was exactly what I wanted. Carrying up the road proved to be somewhat traumatic, the box was heavy & bulky and for some unexplained reason people develop the urge to walk right into you. With arms hurting I made it home & extracted the trampoline. I didn't try it out right away because I still had some grocery shopping to do, but I did have a little bounce later in the afternoon. It's huge fun! It's also harder than one would think, but I have been bouncing every evening now for about 15 minutes & am hoping that I can keep that up once the flatmates are back.

Work has continued to be hectic. My colleagues are still more or less avoiding me, although it seems to be getting better now. The girl that's come back from maternity leave is majorly getting on my nerves now. She's always complaining, about anything & everything. She now feels she's not getting any important work & obviously that can only be because she's got a baby now, not at all because she's been out of the loop for 9 months, is slow & more interested in chatting with everybody around her than doing her job. I don't have to work with her lots as she's got a different manager, but due to a reorganisation of the channels we're covering I will have to help her with one of them. I'm not looking forward to cooperating with her, but I do like the channel and anyway, I'm better than her in the work we do & I'm totally planning on making this job count.

I'm not doing anything exciting this week, but this weekend will hopefully feature another trip to the museum as I want to go to the Darwin Centre with Pinky. Other than that I'm staying in to take full advantage of being able to enjoy some time on my own.

Catching Up, Catching Down

My last update was when?! I think we agree that I've been somewhat busy/preoccupied/stressed out.

But now I'm back, and I'm bringing good news indeed! First of all, I GOT THE JOB! Hooray! It came with lots of kudos from my now-boss & stony silence from my colleague who obviously didn't get it. I'm now working full time on the movies channels & premiere/free cinema tickets were mentioned somewhere along the meeting. Since then I've been working my ass off, apparently they're in the budgeting process & not very organised in their research requirements. But work is still fun, which is surprising as I've been there for what, 4 months now, and the honeymoon period is definitely over by now. Some rough patches were to be expected, but all in all I weirdly enough do kinda enjoy going to work in the morning. Although the commute is a proper drag...

Then there was Planet Angel last weekend. It was a very quiet party, the dancefloors didn't fill up until late & then emptied out pretty quickly again. The music was absolutely banging, though, I danced through the full set of Jurrane & had another boogie to Celladore. None of my friends who aren't working for Angel were there, so I was on my own most of the time. This was a tad strange for a while, but then I made new friends & had a good time. Seeing that there wasn't an afterparty planned I stayed sober the whole night, turns out I do natural highs pretty well, but I did get tired eventually. So I made my way home around 4.30am & collapsed into my cosy bed. Subsequently there was still a lot of weekend left over when I woke up. I took it easy on Saturday, only went down the shops & otherwise lounged about.

On Sunday I went into town as I hadn't been to Oxford Street for ages. I'm not that much in the mood for shopping as I feel too fat, but I thought I have a look around what's up & coming for spring/summer. Turned out, nothing much. Bought a long blue sweater but nothing else.

Wednesday saw me heading to Waterloo after work to meet up with Babs & Stu for dinner at Wagamamas (tasty) & then hook up with a few more people at the IMAX to watch Alice In Wonderland. It was one of the more successful Facebook events I've organised & great to see everyone outside afterparty boundaries. The movie itself was alright, some good ideas, some nice visuals, but overall it felt a bit flat & uninspired. Still, watching 3D stuff in the IMAX is rather awesome.

3 out of 5 disappearingly grinning movie stars, by the way

This weekend will be quiet, I'm staying in tonight & I'm meeting up with Cherelle tomorrow for a bit of culture at the V&A. The flatmates are out for the coming 10 days, which is nice for a change. I'm also trying a one-compliment-a-day approach, in which I make someone (friend/random stranger) an honest compliment. It feels really nice, the world would be such a better place if everybody did it.

It seems I have amazing job, money & bus fu and I'm totally intending on expanding this to being lucky in love. Just watch me!

Stressed Out

 

Things are a bit difficult at the moment.

Woke up yesterday feeling decidedly NOT GREAT. My eyes were swollen & burned, my nose was still blocked and I was tired despite having slept all night. I contemplated calling in sick but then thought that all my ailments are probably down to the party weekend & it's all my fault & I should just get over it. So I got myself out of the house, the train was delayed & the damn shuttle bus was nowhere to be seen, so I took the normal bus that subsequently got overtaken by the shuttle bus.

I was looking forward to a relatively quiet day at work & hiding behind my computer screen, having finished lots of stuff on Friday. Had a brief fight with my new computer at my new desk (which is a bit chilly) and once I had everthing up and running I got hijacked by our boss boss who wanted some analysis. I then spent most of the day running analyses for her while doing the other things I had to do. My colleague spent the day happily chatting away to the colleague that had returned from maternity leave & actually had the nerve to ask me if I could take care of some of her request because she was "busy". I'm still proud of myself that I didn't kill her.

Left work late & stressed, the bus managed to hit a car on the way to the station & it was a surprise that I made it home at all. By the time I got in I really just wanted to go to bed.

Today was slightly better, nothing imploded on me & I think I did reasonably well in the interview. I know my colleague is going for the job as well but I'm far better qualified (maybe even over-qualified) & would hit the ground running. I still feel rough, it definitely is a cold & not the after effects of the party. I blame Stu.

Cooked some batches of creamy spinach spaghetti for the next few lunches & am now snuggled up in front of the TV waiting for The Vampire Diaries to start. I'm aware that I might be feeling slightly more gloomy than necessary & it all will pass. 

My horoscope for this month looks pretty much awesome, by the way. I hope it's right.