Getting Steamy With The Wallpaper

I did some DIY last week. Indeed!!! And it was pretty enjoyable, especially as people kept feeding me things to make the work go faster :)

But really, I liked getting my hands dirty & helping friends out. After all, once everything is done & the place looks nice & cosy I'll be crashing on their sofa at parties. It's only fair that I do my share. I've offered to help again this week, not sure when yet.

Other than scraping paper off walls & pointing hot steam at the parts that wouldn't come off otherwise, I went to see the Unexpected Opera guys perform again. This time they did "Orpheus Down Under", which was great, outside at the Scoop & absolutely free. I kinda enjoyed "The Barber of Saville Row" a tiny bit more, simply coz I liked the music better. It's so cool that you can do stuff like that in London!

I also attended another one of Paul's birthday bbq's. The bbq last year made me decide to go vegan (nothing to do with the bbq itself, overdosing on meat just sealed the deal) & I really wasn't there coz I liked Paul so much but to keep John company. He's got some really lovely friends, unfortunately Paul isn't one of them. But yeah, the boys smoked some sausages & turned perfectly good steaks into charcoal, while I leisurely barbequed my veggie burger. There were some good conversations & some where you just had to ignore the person it was coming from. All in all, a nice sunny day out in the garden. Worse things have happened.

Oh, and before I forget: Germany beat England in the World Cup. Cue German smugness. We didn't follow the game on TV as that was upstairs in John's flat & we were in the garden, instead we listened to the radio. The reporters were making it really had to make out whether they were shouting coz England had scored or because they hadn't. Anyway, 4 to 1, suckers!

There also was a spell of lettings agent visitng on Friday and some flat hunting on Saturday. Not very successful, as we didn't see anything we really liked. The two properties we say weren't exactly bad, but seeing that we still have 2 months we can be picky. I've sent off the notice to our landlords today, so it's final, I'm leaving this flat & the flatmates behind. It's a bit scary, but I'm also very much looking forward to new people & a new place.

It think that about sums up my activities of the last few days. This week probably got some more DIY lined up & I've also been chatting to a bloke on that dating site who might want to meet me. After the last banter I had kinda got lost in the sands of time & the interwebs I'm sceptical, but who knows, maybe this time. He sounds nice enough.

That Pretty Much Sums It Up

Tuning The Raspberry

Last night I saw Beardyman play in a giant, purple, upside down cow. As you do, obviously.

I took the train to Waterloo after work, which actually was pretty relaxing & totally trouble-free. We had dinner at the Wasabi's in the station. I got some sushi & a seaweed salad, which was not quite as tasty as it looked but still alright. We then ambled towards the river, following the "To the cow" signs. Not that the cow was hard to spot, really. I mean, yes, London comes up with crazy things, but it's not every day that you happen across a rather large cow which is not only bright purple but, in fact, a music venue.

We installed ourselves in the very pleasant beer garden in front of the cow, had a drink, had another wonder, joined the queue for the entrance, bumped into Tom & Emma & finally made it inside. We got really good seats, not that the venue had really bad seats in the first place, it's tiny.

Beardyman's set was awesome, even more awesome than the last gig I went to as this time, it being a much smaller venue, he actually joked around for a while before getting down to business. If I could I'd go see him again straight away! Seriously, that man is a god on the beatbox & this is from someone who doesn't really like beatboxing all that much. He's funny, a total entertainer, although he seemed to be somewhat upset about the fact that FRANK had turned down his idea for promoting the service... one wonders why.

We headed home pretty much straight afterwards as it was already late & I still had to check my brother's presentation (which I did once home & then finally fell into bed around 1am).

I'm going to the dentist tomorrow morning, which had saved me from attending the volunteer day but probably won't save me from being in even more pain tomorrow. Also, I'll have the pleasure to go to work afterwards & spend the day in the office, while my colleagues have the afternoon off to watch the England game. Methinks I won't do any overtime tomorrow...

One Week Holiday

I have spent the last 5 days with my family in Germany. It was really enjoyable, I just relaxed, ate Mum's homecooked food & actually managed to get a sunburn. As usual, I went over with a half empty suitcase & came back with a suitcase full of stuff I just can't get in the UK (like Tempo tissues & antibacterial washing liquid). In some ways, I miss living in Germany. The houses are bigger, it's way more organised than the UK could ever be, it's clean. Oh, and the doctors are better.

I made the mistake to go to the dentist on Monday, before leaving for Germany. I should've just waited & get my teeth done at the huge clinic in Aachen. Anyway, apparently there was a filling that needed to be replaced, which they did. Since then I've been in pain. The cavity was larger than the dentist thought, so she had to take off more tooth & make a deeper filling. I used to have a simple silver filling which didn't cause any problems at all. Now I have a white filling & it hurts. Most of all, it seems to be gradually getting worse. I popped over to the dentist back in Germany, who told me to wait until tomorrow & go back to get the filling re-done if the pain was still there. I'm really pissed off, I haven't had any tooth aches for, errr, at least 10 years & now I'm in pain for something that's not even my fault.

Anyway, the next filling that needs replacement will have to wait until I'm back in Germany.

In flat-related news, I've decided to abandon current flatmates & flatshare with Lynn & Kate for a change. We're looking for a 3 bed (or more) flat or house around Acton or Hammersmith. I'm pretty excited, it would be awesome if we'd find a house with garden! I've got next Friday off & probably head over to Acton/Chiswick to see what the local estate agents have on offer. The only problem is that we have to be out of this flat by 15 August, so time's running & I'm slightly scared that we won't find anything in time. Everybody else seems to be fairly relaxed, though, & if push comes to shove I just look for a short-term let in a random flatshare, I guess.

I can't believe that my week off is already over, I so need more holidays! While I'm fairly happy in my current job I just don't think that permanent employment is the way forward. There are definite advantages of contracting, although the uncertainty of the next job would probably drive me mental.

Tomorrow evening I'm dragging John along to Beardyman @ the Udderbelly, then there's some work social work thing event on Wednesday that I'm still trying to get out of, if the weather's nice (i.e. dry) we're going to watch an opera @ the Scoop on Thursday. Oh, yeah, & NO WORK on Friday, did I mention that already.

I've got a few more weekends that aren't fully booked until the 2 festies in July & really want to use them to find a new accomodation. It's strange, I can't see any further into my future than August, which seems to have been the most pivotal month of recent years (BM last year, moving this year). There will be travel in autumn & I so hope that there will be positive developments in my love life for once, but that's all quite vague & uncertain.

Well, yeah.

Changes Ahead

It has been two weeks, I know. Don't look at me like that, I still love you.

In those 2 weeks, there has been the last Planet Angel until autumn, a birthday-afterparty, a trip to the IMAX & a meeting with my favourite lead guitarist.

In order of appearance, let's start with the trip to the IMAX. Stu had suggested to go watch "Prince Of Persia" on the big screen, yes, the movie adaption of that console game. It could only be ridiculously bad, I thought, but actually it was rather nice. Like watching a 90 minute computer game, & I rather enjoy watching someone playing a computer game, so it all worked out. It did help that Jake Gyllenhal is proper eyecandy.

Next up, Planet Angel. I was really tired & had been for the whole week, mainly due to not being able to sleep very deep (somehow). Therefore I had been really, really tempted to just not go, despite having a ticket & all, but managed to convince myself that all would be fine once I got there & for once there were loads of people I knew attending. I got there still not convinced that I really wanted to be there, but in the end it turned out to be a pretty good night. I didn't do too much dancing, but talked to lots of people, made a new friend & got many hugs. And yes, I went to the afterparty as this was also a combined birthday party & again, all turned out absolutely enjoyable. Andy was there & very cuddly towards me, Emma was there & very cuddly towards me - all I needed, really. Throw in more lovely friends & munted entertainment & you get a rather happy me. I finally trundled back home early on Saturday evening, still in the afterglow which is probably the best way to cope with London transport.

The following week was, unsurprisingly, a bit rough. My brain only returned to almost normal functionality on Thursday, maybe I'm actually getting too old for this (erm, no, I don't think so).

Last weekend was quiet, I didn't go out Friday or Saturday, but went to Westfield on Sunday with John. We got there relatively early (noon), which unbeknownst to us was just when they opened. It was almost empty for the first hour or so, which made browsing the shops so much more pleasant. I bought a lovely strawberry nighty, which is way too cute to just wear it in bed so I might combine it with jeans & use as a top. We had lunch at the food court (lebanese nibbles, yummy), browsed some more & had a vegan milkshake. John had to head off around 3pm to meet up with his brother & have dinner with the family, so I got on the bus to Acton to return some dresses I'd foolishly bought on the interwebs (Pearl Lowe for Peacocks). To my defence I must say they looked so much better & more high quality online, in real life they were pretty disappointing & didn't even fit me. Got a refund for two (hooray) & only kept one of them.

On Tuesday I met up with Robin, who I hadn't seen for almost a year (I think). He's recently split up with his girlfriend, is couch surfing at a friend's & is broke. Not that much has changed since I last saw him, really. Spend the evening having dinner at Wetherspoons & catching up.

Now it's Saturday, I've been lounging on the roof terrace for a while taking advantage of the bit of sun that occasionally manages to wriggle itself out of the clouds. I'm heading over to the Monkey House later for a bit of socialising & to get my hair cut. Wish me luck.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Lynn to look at a flat she found & which I might move into with her & Kate. Carmen came home last night with the news that she has been offered a great job in Bristol & probably will leave London, which prompted me to bring up that I'm thinking of changing flats & flatmates. I have been feeling for a long time that I need a change of scenery, my room is too noisy & I just want something else. The decision is not final yet, but it all points towards a new flat.

Changes are in the air.

I've also started to feel the need to change me. Not quite sure how to do that, though. I definitely have to loose some weight to fit into all my clothes again, but I can't help but feeling that I might need change on a deeper level as well. Lots of things have been just ambling along in my life, it is as if I'm just getting dragged along instead of actively taking charge. I want closer relationships with my friends (which would involve me trying to see them more often), I need a holiday somewhere that's not Europe, I want to change my style a bit, I want to be happier.

I'll keep you posted how I get on.

Park Life

Has it really been a full week since I last posted? Time flies like mad at the moment, which is quite disconcerting. Not surprisingly, I haven't managed to do a lot of the things on my to do list. It actually was too hot in my room to exercise on the weekend as we had a sudden & very short lived bout of summer. I have gone out & socialised quite a bit, though, which was very enjoyable.

On Friday evening a friend from the old days in Cologne who visits London about once a year came over to mine. We got a take away (Phad Thai), had a massive catch-up & trecked down to Brixton (of all places) to see Infected Mushroom. The gig was scheduled to be at Matter down in lovely Greenwich, but had to be relocated last minute because Matter had spontaneously closed down a few days ago. The organisers had managed to secure an alternative venue, which unfortunately was The Fridge in Brixton. Now, there are definitely nicer parts of London to take a visitor than grubby Brixton & nicer venues than The Fridge. Anyway, we couldn't change it & were rather happy that they hadn't just cancelled the whole thing. Well, we were until we actually got to The Fridge, which is very likely the hottest fridge I've ever been in. Not that I've been in a lot of fridges... if you don't count loitering around the freezer section in the supermarket during summer heatwaves. It was hot, smelly & crowded. We had a walk around, dropped our stuff off at the cloakroom, I bumped into various people I didn't know would be there, we had a quick & sweaty boogie & then decided to install ourselves in the corner near the exit as this seemed to be the only place that was a bearable temperature. The attending monkey selection turned up & after an exploration of the place had to admit that the place we were was probably the best place to be, although we did loose two of them to the dancefloor. Some people just never learn.

The DJs they had lined up as support were awesome, I danced until I couldn't move anymore & then some. Mushroom delivered a solid gig, they seem to be hit & miss with me & this was more of a hit than a miss, although their songs all seem to sound the same. We even stayed for a bit afterwards as someone I know was Djing in the other room, but it was even hotter in there & also smelled really funny & he was not even on yet, so after an hour or so of aimlessly wandering about we decided to call it a night & ventured to the station to find a bus to take us into town.

I finally made it into bed around 6am, after downing a bottle of water & having a shower to de-sweat myself. I actually managed to catch a decent amount of sleep, although not quite enough, to be coherent at about 1pm (I'd stayed sober all through the night, so no real reason to be feeling shite). I knew that a few people were having a picnic in Regent's Park, so I got myself organised & bussed to Camden. Found the people I was looking for & enjoyed a day outside in the sun. Very, very nice.

After quite an early night on Saturday I met up again with Ellen on Sunday for an early lunch at that vegan restaurant in West Brompton. It was earthy, good food, not amazing but tasty. Afterwards she went off to have a walk around Hampstead Heath & I went to Finsbury Park for yet another picnic. The directions had been quite vague ("we're under a tree near a group of tree on the other side of the rugby fiel"... I didn't even know there was a rugby field) & it took quite some time wandering about to find everyone. Another truly enjoyable day in the sun was had, with spinny things & foodstuffs.

Monday was all hot & muggy & spent in the air-conditioned office working like mad.

It's all cold & grey again now, I basically went from flip flops & summer dresses to tights & coats. It's also very windy again & my hayfever has hit full force after I was starting to feel quite smug that I wasn't as miserable this year.

I'm going to the IMAX tomorrow to watch "Prince of Persia" which no doubt is going to be rubbish but means perving over Jake Gyllenhall on the massive screen for 2 hours. Then it's Angel for the last time before autumn & a combined birthday & afterparty @ the Zoo. Another birthday, this time in picnic form on bank holiday Monday & then back to work.

I'm feeling slightly less fat (but haven't checked my weight to keep the fantasy alive) & my breasts are almost back to normal size coz I've got my period. I'm still feeling stressed, overworked & in need of some time off, which will be happening in June with a visit to Germany. We seem to have an undercurrent of restructuring going on at work, which apparently doesn't affect us, but we'll see.

At the moment all I want is a decent night's sleep & more of that picnic/hanging out with friends thing.

Resurfacing

 
Things that what happened in the days since the last update:

I've got a new phone! Hooary! In the end, and with an awful lot of procrastination & to-ing & fro-ing I went for the HTC Legend on a Vodafone contract. The number (my old one) went live today & I'm slowly getting to grips with high tech shiny phone. I've basically moved from stoneage (4 year old Motorola Razr) to spaceage. I now has interwebs on tha phone!

My hayfever is back. This coincides with the weather getting sunnier & warmer, which is extremely annoying as I like the weather, but not sneezing myself to death. At the moment my options are a) take antihistamines, stop sneezing but feel tired & turn into a zombie or b) not take antihistamines, have massive sneezing fits and feel tired & turn into a zombie. I'd go for option c) if there was one, but I haven't found it yet.

I really have to do something about my weight. I don't want to get fat again & I definitely want to fit into my cute summer dresses (yeah, if I had some). So far I've identified nuts as the main culprits for my weight gain. Yes, they're healthy, but I was eating way too many. I'd want to go on a sugar detox, but I'm not sure anyone would still talk to me afterwards. It's a thought I'm entertaining, anyway. Things would be awesome if I'd manage to get through the first week without killing/offending anyone & not go crazy.

Another thing (boys might want to skip this paragraph) is that my breast are incredibly tender at the moment. They're massive, tight, heavy & swollen. It doesn't feel nice. I used to get this quite often when I was younger & not on the pill, but now I'm on the pill, PMS shouldn't happen & still my breasts turn against me. A healthier diet (less salt, caffeine & stress) might fix this, I'm also suspecting that I'm eating too much soy at the moment, which can act as estrogen source. I'm really fond of my soymilk in the morning & in my tea & I love tofu, but I've just bought some rice milk to see if I can use that as a replacement at least occasionally. I don't want to have to buy new bras...

Oh, and I'm still working like mad. It's staring to interfere with my life, which is not good. I'm too tired & braindead in the evening to actually still want to do stuff & meet people, & I don't want that. I love my social life & my friends, I need that to be happy & functioning. I haven't quite figured out what I could do to fix this, as work obviously won't just calm down (althought it might, well, no, not really).

So, what's the plan, Stan? Things I want to get done in the weeks to come:

• find something that makes my breast behave normal again
• loose weight/eat healthier
• get back into rebounding at least 4 times a week with a yoga session afterwards, I've been neglecting this due to feeling ill/shit/stressed
• really make a bit more effort to find a boy, OKCupid's just not cutting it
• be more sociable again, even if I have to force myself a little
• get doctor's appointments sorted out for next month
• make sure I relax & not just mope around