ngthatsme

  • Home
    • 0
      18 Feb 2007

      Introducing the Chip-O-Meter...

      • Edit
      • Delete
      • Tags
      • Autopost
      now a permanent fixture on this blog (in the far right column). i'll be updating the Chip-O-Meter whenever I find a worthy or unworthy bar/pub to add to the list. Most of the places can be found in London, but the number one place is an exception - for 2 reasons - 1. it's not a pub/bar but their chips are so good they had to be included in this list 2. it's in amsterdam!

      The Wall of Fame is going to be restricted to the top 10, and just so you know, to make it on this list it has to be pretty damn good. i am a chip connoisseur afterall ;)

      Media_httpphotos1blog_ehquk
      • views
      • Tweet
    • 0
      13 Feb 2007
      • Edit
      • Delete
      • Tags
      • Autopost
      Music like you've never heard it before

      Saw this on late night TV and almost wet myself. check out the guy in the bottom right hand corner. he's signing the lyrics of the song, but getting well stuck into it! London has a thing where it tries hard to cater for the deaf, which is cool.. eg you often have signers on certain channels for the news and some TV soaps... But, surely this begs the question...wouldn't it be easier to use subtitles?
      • views
      • Tweet
    • 0
      11 Feb 2007

      Australia vs Denmark

      • Edit
      • Delete
      • Tags
      • Autopost
      Saw my first live soccer match the other night. Alex, Sian, Saul and i braved the ridiculously cold weather conditions to see Australia get their arses kicked by Denmark. it was a little weird at first not having commentary or action replays, and i probably didn't enjoy myself as much as i should have because i couldn't feel my toes for most of the night (it was that cold!)

      and at the end of the day i went away with two main thoughts:

      1. The Socceroos need to train a little harder
      2. Australians living in London can be really bad sports

      Media_httpphotos1blog_wgnjt
      • views
      • Tweet
    • 0
      7 Feb 2007

      Australia Day

      • Edit
      • Delete
      • Tags
      • Autopost
      A few pics from our night out on Australia Day. Ironically, we ended up in an English pub as the queues at the Walkabout were about 30 meters long and moving at 1 meter/hr...

      Media_httpphotos1blog_quihg

      Media_httpphotos1blog_earnr

      Media_httpphotos1blog_cludk
      • views
      • Tweet
    • 0
      5 Feb 2007

      Be prepared for a bit of a rant

      • Edit
      • Delete
      • Tags
      • Autopost
      Feeling a little crap at the moment. Been keeping fairly busy but just feeling restless. Work was really annoying today. Everyone was in a strange mood. Maybe because it’s the first week of Feb and people are realising the year is well underway? It just seemed extremely quiet this morning and there were quite a few people who called in sick.

      Half thinking of going back to oz. The quality of life is just so much better and I miss having a car and a dog and being able to go for walks in the park. Everything just seems less of a struggle eg it is a complete mission to go shopping here. You have to catch public transport everywhere which means braving the shit weather getting to the tube, fighting for an inch of space on the tube, shopping in crowded pushy streets, dealing with grumpy staff who have no idea what customer service is all about, and being conscious that anything you buy you have to lug home in your backpack. It’s just so much easier being able to get in your car, drive to the shopping centre and then dumping all your shopping in the backseat. Plus, in Australia, shopping is generally a pleasant experience – you actually get service and there’s plenty of space to browse through shops.

      I also want to start buying things which are permanent. Eg for almost the last 3 years I’ve been listening to music through computer speakers. Ok, they are pretty good speakers, which also include a sub woofer, but they are computer speakers nonetheless. I want to be able to buy a proper Hi-Fi system and a proper TV and some proper furniture and a house dammit. Arrgghh getting pretty frustrated now.

      On top of all this, I HATE the general public here. Londoners are the most gloomy, miserable people I have ever met.

      Ok let’s see – what are the benefits of London? The $$$ is good here, but now that I’ve got more experience I should be able to get a pretty good job back home. Being able to travel is also a bonus but maybe I should do a mass trip around Europe eg 1 to 2 months, and do it all in one go. I could then plan trips to South Africa and Greenland etc, and fly there from Australia instead. It probably wouldn’t cost that much more than flying from London.

      I know I had the same feelings about the same time last year. Maybe it’s the weather. Not sure what the solution is. Perhaps I need some extra curricular activities. Something to keep me entertained on weeknights. I guess this would have several benefits:

      1. It’d be a great way to meet new people
      2. I’d be in the pub less
      3. I’d have something to help structure my week – at the moment I fill in my diary ‘post-event’. My week is pretty much always blank to begin with.

      Anyway, I need to give this a bit more thought. So I guess more on this later…

      • views
      • Tweet
    • 0
      21 Jan 2007

      Stop this train

      • Edit
      • Delete
      • Tags
      • Autopost
      How come the older you get the faster time flies? It’s almost the end of January. 1/12th of 2007 has gone. I remember when I was little, each year felt like an eon. I’ve almost been in London for 3 yrs!

      This song describes how i feel about life at the moment.

      Stop this train by John Mayer

      No, I'm not colorblind
      I know the world is black and white
      I try to keep an open mind
      But I just can't sleep on this tonight

      Stop this train
      I want to get off
      And go home again
      I can't take the speed it's moving in
      I know I can't
      But honestly, won't someone stop this train?

      Don't know how else to say it
      I don't want to see my parents go
      One generation's length away
      From fighting life out on my own

      Stop this train
      I want to get off
      And go home again
      I can't take the speed it's moving in
      I know I can't
      But honestly, won't someone stop this train?

      So scared of getting older
      I'm only good at being young
      So I play the numbers game
      To find a way to say that life has just begun

      Had a talk with my old man
      Said "help me understand"
      He said "turn sixty-eight
      You renegotiate"

      "Don't stop this train
      Don't for a minute change the place you're in
      Don't think I couldn't ever understand
      I tried my hand
      John, honestly we'll never stop this train"

      Once in awhile, when it's good
      It'll feel like it should
      And they're all still around
      And you're still safe and sound
      And you don't miss a thing
      Till you cry when you're driving away in the dark
      Singing

      Stop this train
      I want to get off
      And go home again
      I can't take the speed it's moving in
      I know I can't
      Cause now I see I will never stop this train

      It’s been a pretty busy week. Saul got back from Oz/Vietnam on Monday night and I surprised him at the airport, waiting at arrivals and holding a sign with his name on it. Hehe.

      On Tuesday I flew to Dublin for work. We had a client presentation to give, but unfortunately we only stayed for the day. I’ll have to go back another time to explore…

      Wednesday – after work Nahla, Andy and I met up at a bar called The Fly. The thing which attracted me to this place was the large Astro Boy mural painted on their wall! Overall the bar was ok, but I think we’ll need to keep on searching…we’re currently trying to find a decent watering hole in the area.

      Having said this, on Thursday night I was back at The Fly for drinks with Kathryn. We had a really good chat aboutl work, life, priorities and finding a balance. Too much to really go into detail in here.. but maybe another time…

      Friday – stayed at work till about 8pm, which really ticked me off as I was meant to be meeting Saul and his mates for drinks. Got there in the end but being late put me in a bit of a flat mood.

      Oh for those of you wondering, I’ve been seeing a lot of Saul lately, and that’s because we’ve decided to give it another go ;) I think this is ‘go’ number 7 or 8 but this time we’re serious ;) Either way, this means I’ve lost a $100 bet with Bri, who bet we’d get back together. Oh well ;)

      • views
      • Tweet
    • 0
      2 Jan 2007

      The walls are closing in

      • Edit
      • Delete
      • Tags
      • Autopost
      had a really bad time sleeping last night. tossed and turned till about 5am before I finally got some rest. Feeling quite unsettled at the moment – like I’ve got 1000 thoughts going through my head all at once. I think it’s mainly because I’ve just moved into a new flat and haven’t had time to sort anything out. It’s just been too busy. my room is an absolute mess. There’s no space to move. Am going to try and sort it out today.

      Met our neighbour kate from downstairs. She lives there with her 17 year old daughter and is a writer. She’s currently putting together a book about music in advertising…

      • views
      • Tweet
    • 0
      1 Jan 2007

      hello 2007

      • Edit
      • Delete
      • Tags
      • Autopost
      Ahh it’s new years day and I’ve got to say so far it’s a pretty good start to the year. The sun is shining through our lounge room window and I’ve got a nice hot cup of tea in my hands. It’s amazing, like the world knows it’s the first day of the new year. Do I have any resolutions? Yep for sure! Besides the usual eg getting fit and drinking less, I’m going to try and make better use of my time. Less time day dreaming and thinking about what could happen, and more time getting out there, enjoying life and just ‘being’.

      Bri and I had a pretty quiet night last night (must be getting old). We both felt really tired from Amsterdam and the weather was dreadful so we stayed in. I cooked a huge stir fry and we drank Baileys on ice and watched DVDs and the countdown on TV. I’ve got to say that London’s fireworks display, which was rigged to fire from the London Eye, beats Sydney’s hands down. It was spectacular! not only were there loads of explosions, they were all colour coordinated too! I’m sure there’ll be a few vids on YouTube for those of you who are interested overseas.

      We still don’t have internet at home, which is one of the reasons my posts have been so few and far between. The other reason, is because we’ve been EXTREMELY busy. In the last few weeks, Bri’s been to Rome and back, and we’ve both been to Amsterdam and Wales. I’ve taken Bri to all my fave places in London, including Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Camden and bars Café Cairo and Gigalum.

      Xmas was spent in Wales with Sian’s family and served as a nice relaxing break. We were completely mothered by Sian’s mum and got fed every couple of hours. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much in my whole life – turkey, roast beef, ice cream cakes, cheese platters, Heinz tomato soup, chocolates, welsh cakes, pork pies, and quiches.
      Got lots of cool presents this year – a large coffee table book on the BBC series, Planet Earth (one of my fave documentaries ever), a mini world globe (which I’m going to put on my desk at work and use to plan holidays when I get bored), a cocktail shaker, make up kit, candles and bath soaps.

      Media_httpphotos1blog_zqnnx

      me, bri and alex in a bar in wales on xmas eve

      Media_httpphotos1blog_gfgrb

      And as we were in 1988! (dad sent me this old pic recently)

      Media_httpphotos1blog_fvfci

      Media_httpphotos1blog_ndxaj

      alex and sian in front of the castle they're going to get married in, in 2008

      Media_httpphotos1blog_ajwng

      that's one big turkey

      It was my 4th time to Amsterdam, but I still had a fantastic time. Bri, Alex, Sian and I stayed in a 4* hotel a little out of the city centre called The Bastian Deluxe. In the 3 days we were there we did loads of shopping, saw Anne Frank’s house, checked out the markets and did a boat cruise down the Amstel. We also ate lots of junk food. I had chips for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The chips in Amsterdam are amazing. There’s this chain called Vlaamse Frites and I swear they are the best chips I’ve ever had – and trust me, I’ve had a lot of chips! I think they double fry them or something. If you go to Amsterdam you HAVE to try them. Make sure you add lots of creamy mayonnaise and cheese sauce. Yummmm.

      Media_httpphotos1blog_cbvcd

      Media_httpphotos1blog_cgsqd

      the best chips in the WORLD!
      • views
      • Tweet
    • 0
      17 Dec 2006

      Bri's first week

      • Edit
      • Delete
      • Tags
      • Autopost
      Bri’s in Venice at the moment – he texted me the other day. Sounds like he’s having fun. He’ll be back here on Tues night and then hopefully we’ll be in Dublin the next day. I say hopefully because we haven’t booked anything yet – that’s on my list of things to do today…

      So bri’s first week: -

      Monday 11th
      Met up with Andy, Nahla, Louise and Steve at Ruby Lounge near Waterloo, then went on to the Fire Station pub. It was meant to be a quiet night but turned out to be quite a big one.

      Tuesday 12th
      Down to Brick Lane for (another) curry. Met Alex, Sian, Mel, Saul and Corey there. Brick Lane is a little like Lygon Street but for curry. As you walk past different restaurants they yell deals out at you and try to get you to come in. we ended up getting an entrée, main, side dish and rice/naan bread, and a pint of beer for £10. Not too bad!

      Wednesday 13th
      Bri off to Italy today, which was good timing. Lots of work things happening the second half of this week which he wouldn't have been able to come to. Had a work pub crawl to say farewell to the London Bridge area on Wed. There were 10 pubs on the list but I only made it to 6. Still, a fair effort I reckon.

      Media_httpphotos1blog_pktlw

      Kathryn and Anna

      Media_httpphotos1blog_zggda

      Jamie, Scott, and Sarah

      Media_httpphotos1blog_ihhin

      Dawn, Ross and Richard

      Media_httpphotos1blog_eaztn

      Louisa, Jamie, Scott and Sarah

      Media_httpphotos1blog_fmbei

      Neil and Melpo

      Thursday 14th
      Worked damn late tonight – finished at around 9:30pm and then stayed back to help Jamie tidy up the last few things around the office. Jamie is our office co-ordinator and has done a fantastic job organising everything for the move. Left work around 11:00…

      Friday 15th
      Had a client presentation this morning which turned out to be pretty heated. Basically we were testing some ads for them which were pretty bad. Our recommendation was not to air them, which the client totally agreed with, but the ad agency were there too and were getting very arsy.

      At night was our work xmas party! it was an awesome night! We had it at On Anon bar in Picadilly Circus and there were free drinks all night. It started at 3pm and we left there about 2am – ouch! Abot 100 people all up, and the theme was that you had to wear a mask that reflected your personality. Check it out (i'm the pooh bear):

      Media_httpphotos1blog_dcqdk

      Media_httpphotos1blog_asfaq

      Media_httpphotos1blog_idbqi

      Media_httpphotos1blog_kdfab

      Media_httpphotos1blog_pgaae

      Media_httpphotos1blog_kifij

      Media_httpphotos1blog_lfwcw

      Media_httpphotos1blog_mgfkz

      Media_httpphotos1blog_rkmmh

      Media_httpphotos1blog_sgixv

      Media_httpphotos1blog_elucu

      Media_httpphotos1blog_ggjiu

      Media_httpphotos1blog_uahni

      Media_httpphotos1blog_pdklb

      Media_httpphotos1blog_adhgc
      • views
      • Tweet
    • 0
      10 Dec 2006

      moving day

      • Edit
      • Delete
      • Tags
      • Autopost
      Moving day! OMG this was one of the longest days of my life. Got up early in the morning and rode my bike down to pick up the hire van from Wandsworth. Used the same company Alex and Sian did - £45 for the whole day which is pretty reasonable. Met Saul there and we chucked our bikes in the back of the van and drove it back to my flat. Saul was pretty hungover though so I had to drive, which was fun as there was no power steering.

      So we dumped the van outside my old flat and then I jumped on a tube to meet bri at the airport. Unfortunately due to baggage delays, although his flight landed at 1:20pm his didn’t get out till about 3pm. This put a little bit of a spanner in the works as we were so short on time already. Just got to say though, bri did pretty well – he was tired but managed to help out during the day and stayed up with the rest of us till about 1am that night!

      Media_httpphotos1blog_febmd

      although he did well, there were a couple of moments where it was all too much for bri ;)

      While I was out collecting Bri, Corey and Saul were busy at my old flat bringing down all my stuff from my room on the 3rd floor to get ready to load into the van. Bri had a quick shower while we were packing and then the 4 of us squeezed into the 3 seater van and made our way to my new flat. Thank god the guys helped out cos it would have taken my days to move everything on my own, not to mention there’s no way I would have been able to carry my mattress.

      Next stop was to get some chow, and what better place to do that than our favourite Indian joint, Indian Flavours. These guys do a mean curry and I was keen to expose Bri to the Wrath of Khan as an introduction to London (Annie, Kee, Alex and Sian know what I’m talking about - this dish will make you cry it’s so hot!). The food lived up to expectations, but the music was just dire. Try to imagine, out of tune cover songs from the likes of Celine Dion, Faith Hill, Mariah Carey, Boys to Men, mixed with random laser sounds and some rapper dude shouting ‘Go colors!’ every now and again. Our ears were bleeding.

      Media_httpphotos1blog_izpgq

      Media_httpphotos1blog_tomsr

      Next it was off to my work to pick up some plants. Since we’re moving office, we were told that all the plants were being thrown out so we decided to save them all. Corey decided he’d take a ride in the back of the van (cold, dark and no seatbelt!) which was probably a bit of a mistake cos the traffic was just appalling. The trip took about 1hr to get there because we ran into a little problem trying to get some fuel – we filled up the tank but then couldn’t get the fuel cap back in, despite getting help from the petrol station attendants and dousing it in WD40! In the end we just had to duck tape it to the van. By now it was about 9pm and we were all knackered.

      Media_httpphotos1blog_kvfzt

      duck taping the fuel cap to the van

      Media_httpphotos1blog_geehu

      corey in the back of the van

      It was weird being at work so late in the night and on a Sunday. I felt like I was pulling some sort of a dodgy as we loaded 7 or 8 large 6ft tall plants into the back of the van! It took forever and on top of that it was cold, wet and windy. Grrrr. But we were almost there. Next stop was Corey’s house to drop him off and a couple of the plants, then Saul’s house to do the same. Then finally we drove the van back to Wandsworth and caught a night bus, then tube, then taxi home. Phew what a day! Thanks to everyone who helped out.

      Media_httpphotos1blog_qeger

      bri babysitting the plants outside my work

      Media_httpphotos1blog_fjvgi

      trying to figure out how to move the plants
      • views
      • Tweet
    « Previous 1 2 … 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 Next »
    • Search

    • Obox Design
  • ngthatsme

    Sometimes geek, sometimes chic. I'm a third culture kid - born in Malaysia, grew up in Australia, worked in London and am now in NYC. I love traveling to places strange and unknown and having unforgettable random adventures.

    25909 Views
  • Get Updates

    Subscribe via RSS
    TwitterFacebookLinkedInBlogger