In a Galaxy Far Far Away...

On Saturday Alex and I went to the Star Wars Exhibition in County Hall near the London Eye. The exhibition was very exciting, they displayed many costumes from all 6 movies and settings, ships, monsters and scene sequence drawings.

Han Solo in Carbon Freeze, Episode V

Darth Vador, Episode IV, V, VI

On the surface of the Death Star

The life size air speeder of Anakin Skywalker, Episode I

They did not have Chewbaca, but they had two wookies from Episode III.

Bobba Fett and his 'dad' Jango Fett

The Snow Speeder from the Hoth Battle in Episode IV

After touring the exhibition, we joined in a show 'the Jedi Training School'; where a Jedi master and his Padawan tell us that the Empire, the Emperor and his young apprentice Darth Vador have killed all the good jedis and that they need to recruit new Padawans, people with the Force to fight back the Empire and restore the order, etc (you know the story), six kids volunteered and received a quick training with their toy light sabers (swing, left, swing right, duck, swing left). Then the room fell in the dark and Darth Vador and Emperor Palpatine walked in from two opposite directions. The kids got to practice their training against the mighty Darth Vador... and this is where the story gets cute... A four year old boy fought last, and the jedi master told him to use the force to finish off Darth Vador, so the kid, with a straight and serious face extended his arm, until it looked as if he might dislodge his shoulder, and of course Darth Vador played along falling as he did in Episode VI. The little boy then proudly exclaimed on top of his little voice: "Mom, Dad, did you see: I used the force". Later, as we walked out, I praised him on how brave and strong he had been, and he proudly told me that he killed Darth Vador. That's one kid who is not going to lack confidence growing up.

Barcelona

There I am rested, invigorated and slightly tanned from our three days get-away to Barcelona.

On the roof top of the Casa Batllo

I loved it. It was possibly the best place I've ever been to, and come on that says a lot cos I've lived three years in the city of lights Paris and two years in London. I just loved everything about Barcelona, the narrow streets, the building facades decorated tastefully, the little balconies overflowing with green plants and flower bushes, the cathedrals, the parks, the beach front, the restaurants, the tapas bar, the Gaudi architecture, the people, the language (I practiced my Spanish), the sunshine, the high streets and the shops. I think that covers it all.

On the Roof Top of the Casa Mila, one of Gaudi's buildings

On a tower on top of the Sagrada Familia (about 170 meters)

In front of the famous facade of the Sagrada Familia

When we arrived, we walked around the high street and had our first tapas dinner with sangria. Then on our first day, we stuck to the guide book and visited the Gaudi Houses and the Sagrada Familia, I knew the cathedrale was unfinished, but I did not expect it to be roofless and only the facades being ready!!! We went up the towers and walked up and down stairs on all four towers until I realised that I had vertigo and started feeling sick and scared. In the afternoon we went up the hill North of Barcelona to the park Guell, which we truly enjoyed with its funny Gaudi style terraces. We had a very posh dinner at the 4Gats with wine and fine food and exclusive service. We loved it

A typical facade of the loveliest streets in the world

On the second day, we visited the old cathedrale were our hotel was located, we walked along all the narrow streets to the harbour and accross the town to the beach front where we had an ice cream looking at the sea. We did a bit of shopping in the evening before getting ready to meet Cristina for dinner. Being a local, she chose the trendiest place where people, personalities, locals and expats go, we had a very fun-tastic feast of tapas and gossiped about work and made plans for our next holiday in that amazing place.

In the cloister of the Barcelona Cathedrale next to our hotel.

Dublin

Last week I was in Dublin for work. We were meeting up with our region, and I was reunited again with my friends from South Africa and Denmark. The trip was nowhere as much fun as the previous three. I think it's because Ron made me in charge of the whole trip, making sure that everything was perfect, and everything ran smoothly, to distribute tips and make sure my team mates had their drinks topped up, stomach full, plenty of rest and would be fresh for our meetings. That took the fun right out of the trip. At the end of it all, I had an argument with Ron, which is not really justified, cos he was quite nice to me and very proud to show me a new aspect of running business, etc. But I felt like I was becoming more and more a PA and less and less a respected, effecient, very capable marketeer, and that got me all upset.

Truly, it's great to mock about instead of working hard, and learn new things like how to give tips, when and how and why, but that's not going to justify career progression nor any raise. And that would greatly suck.

The next morning after I sobered up, I realised I must have made well a fool of myself, but Ron was actually lovely and all understanding, he explained it all to me, and this week I was well busy getting back to doing my job full time and doing some great marketing things, like developing business and promoting new products, and promoting the company. I'm such a nerd, it's almost sad... (shaking my head in disbelief).

Oh here are some pictures from the trip...

On the first night, dinner at Roly's. Brilliant food, great company. Here Peter and Kenneth playing Highway bandits and victim.

At Johnnie Fox, on the second night, with the absolutely gorgeous Dani and Manny. I like this picture because it looks a bit like the Earth seen from space with the sun rising to the East. Actually, my finger was in front of the flash.

The dancers at the Johnnie Fox.

Ron and his angels, Julie, Ann, Me and Hannah.

I'm a Grilled Cheese Sandwich!

You Are a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

You are a traditional person with very simple tastes. In your opinion, the best things in life are free, easy, and fun. You totally go with the flow. And you enjoy every minute of it! Your best friend: The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Your mortal enemy: The Ham Sandwich

What Kind of Sandwich Are You?

Hammer's 500 Meme

Credit to our good friend Hammer who asked the questions, and Jeannie for wanting to hear my answers...
His www.whenyouronlytoolisahammer.blogspot.com Hers http://mytwocents2.blogspot.com/

1. What is the stupidest mistake you have ever made with money? None actually, I am a very cautious saver and spending all my money on flight/train/bus tickets to date Alex or see my family was an investment on my happiness - far from stupid. So I guess the stupidest thing was to lend money to a friend that never returned it, but it was not a lot so don't care.

2. Do you think taxes are unfair or do you think it's your civic duty? I don't mind when I can see how it is used for the benefit of the community and country. What I do not understand and not tolerate is why I pay tax on my bonus? bonus is an extra reward for a job well done, I already pay tax on my salary, a bonus is discretionary because I work hard, tax has got nothing to do with that money, because I'm pretty sure the government administration does not work quite as hard.

3. Do you take risks and possibly turn your life upside down for new opportunity? That's the story of my life. I've done it more times than I can count. My boss is a gambler and I once told him I didn't gamble (talking about money) and he said Oh yes, you gamble with your life. He was full of admiration when he said that. Cool.

4. Are you the alpha in your household? Neither, Alex isn't a pushover nor a bully and neither am I. We both wear the trousers. see next question.

5. Do you compromise with your significant other or does someone always get their way? Always compromise. We are not about to do/say/agree with something we don't want to do/agree with, etc. We don't argue either, we just talk nice until we agree.

6. What curse word do you use most often? Fuck. It sounds so relieving. It's short and simple and explicit and I can use for all sorts of purpose, even as an adjective to emphasize the point I want to make, e.g. this is fucking awesome!

7. Do you easily change your mind or are you dead set on most issues? Jeannie said "I'm a freakin weather vane..." ditto. I never know the whole story, so if the person I'm talking to seems to know more, then I'll go along with their opinion or theory.

8. What famous person would you like to trade places with for one week? Hmmm. I'm not a huge fan of anyone in particular, but I guess I would enjoy experiencing the life of Cameron Diaz because she looks like she's great fun and she can surf, and I'd surf my day away and party the night away.

9. If you could go back in time and tell one person off, who would it be and what would you say? I can remember being pissed off at a lot of people and holding my tongue, not because I'm smarter, but because I could never think of what I want to tell them when I have the opportunity to tell them. And then I forget. I guess the one person I am still mad at but would not care to talk to, is my ex-best friend in Malaysia, Samantha, we were very good friends, the kind I did not have many of in my life. But she said some very mean things to me when I decided to move to Europe, blaming me for mistreating Alex when it was his dream to start with etc. I don't think there is anything I want to tell her, she's too stupid to understand.

10. Were you a good student or did you do just enough to get by? I was a good student, but with average marks. Not to quickest tool in the shed, but the hard working one. A bit of a nerd - still am.

11. If you could give one piece of advice to someone just starting out on their own, what would you tell them? Hang in there, always, the ride will be rough but it will be worth it sooner than you think.

12. Are people basically good and honest or are most people opportunistic and predatory? I know an equal amount of both kind, but when I meet anyone the first time, my first instinct tells me they are good and honest, then I realise how naive I am and laugh at myself.

13. Is there somebody you wish you could go back and apologize to? No. Because I am not afraid to admit my mistakes and I do aplogise if I mean it. So I have given all the apologies I owed. Along this line however, I do have a strong regret, not telling some people I loved them when I had the opportunity.

That tag has probably been around the block already, but I'll tag Unknow pleasures, Kitem, Vancouver Mermaid and SME

James Fresh as a daisy

Last Friday after a long tiring few days in Dublin, I made my way to see James in Brixton Carling Academy. JAMES!!!! Can you imagine? You might cos apparently they're as popular in the US than in the UK. There is about 6 songs of James that have been "my favorite!!!!!" at some point of time:

Sit down was my favorite in Penang in 1993/4

Sometimes was also my favorite still in Penang in 1993/4

Born of Frustration was my favorite in Penang/Singapore in 1995

She's a Star was my alarm clock every morning in Paris in 1997

Tomorrow was my also favorite in Paris in 1997

Runaground was my favorite earlier this year when Alex bought the gig ticket and that I took out the albums for a refresher course in 2007

When I have a favorite, which is very frequent, it stays so forever, now... thank God for iPod which allows me to keep track of all my favorites - that tallies to about 320 songs and another 100 songs that I just don't get bored of.

At the concert, in two hours I loved every single songs, they came back twice! that's a very rare occasion. They're brilliant, I want to see them again! Next entry is all the gigs I've been to and in order of my best/favorite experience.

Unknown Pleasures & Football

I have this compulsion to talk during football. I must apologise to my hubby cos I can spend hours going about my chores but the second football is on I've got loads to chat about. I can't help it. I mean I don't even mind him watching the footie. It's just that because he is watching the footie, I need to keep myself busy and I do that by tidying up and cleaning up, which is boring so I need to talk at the same time and comment; alternatively I am surfing some cool or unusual websites and I also need to share whatever caught my attention and got me all excited! So there, I talk all the time during the football, except right now cos I'm telling you instead. hihihi. :D

Anyway, my other better half, also referred to as Shrek in an earlier post, or Alex on some pictures caption, has started his own blog.

Ladies, beware! He'll talk about football occasionally! (by the way, for American friends, in England it's football, in US you call it soccer)

Here is a preview of his blog (he's so cool!)
Rejoice, pilgrims! For I have, on this glorious Sabbath afternoon close to the banks of the mighty Thames, decided to deliver a mighty blog worthy of wreaking havoc to this dystopian world. Who am I kidding?... Read Unknown Pleasures

Prague

Here are the photos of my weekend getaway with Alex to Prague two weeks ago. It was lovely, unfortunately the weather was much colder than the weathermen predicted (how surprising), so we did feel a bit cold walking around from 9 am till 9 pm everyday. Alex was all 'churched-out' after the fifth church, they are baroque style, which is very bling-bling and flashy, it does not seem very pious. I could not take photos of one church in the town hall, but it had a weird genre with cherubins cutting off children's fingers and dead people, eww it was just weird. St Vitus cathedral was gorgeous and well worth the trip

Enjoy the photos...

In front of the palace gate. The Cathedral St Vitus is eracted inside the palace compound (now converted to their 'white house', where their president office is.) View from the palace gardens over the city and more churches.

A detail of the gate outside the cathedral.

A gorgeous stained glass inside the cathedral.

We strolled by some nice gardens with an open air theater.

This clock attached to the town hall on the market place is one of the favorite attraction of Prague, It is beautifully built and has the twelve apostles waving at the window above the clock with it strikes the hour, the animation all includes Death (seen from profile here) pulling a cord to ring the bell. The inventor of this marvellous piece of work was rewarded by his King by being blinded so that he could never produce a more magnificiant work, sucks beyond words.

We ended the two-day exhaustive discovery with a Ghost Tour, it was funny more than scary, the guide would tell us some hard to believe ghost story and ten meters down the road a guy dressed up would run up at us in a lame attempt to scare us. What was funny though is that I freaked myself out and all the other people, when I was expecting so much that guy to jump at us that I shrieked turning a corner, but it turns out there was no one there!! lol, Alex still teases me about this. hihihi.

The gorgeous buildings of the market place basking in the late afternoon sun.

Ranting away

To balance the universe from the fact that i was happy lately and was making the best of small things. Obviously some jealous twisted evil balance decided to make me feel crap and miserable and make sure I have the worst day ever, because no one likes a happy camper.

To start with I could not wake up. I just struggled out of bed after a series of bad dreams (nothing new there), then I forgot my laptop, so I had to drive all the way back to get my computer, I later realised that I also forgot my mobile phone but can live without this one. Then I had a row with an unreasonable customer, followed by a row with a colleague who was upset to hear the cold hard truth about what people expect from him. I tried to make the best of my lunch time, which went okay, but just 5 minutes ago, I sprained my freaking right shoulder lifting some boxes which is now throbbing painfully, and of course tomorrow I'm off to Dublin.

AAAAAAARRRRGRHHHHHH!!!!!

There I feel slightly better. Maybe tonight I'll have a whicky and coke, it will inspire me to pack my suitcase and hopefully numb the pain.

My favorite romantic films

Philadelphia Story
Katherine Hepburn is the most awesome lady, she knows what she wants and is not afraid of consequences or to follow her heart - An absolutely brilliant comedy.

True Romance
That's one hell of a romance on edge. The passion between Patricia Arquette and Christian Slater is just so intense and care-free and just... blows me away every time.

When Harry met Sally
Because of that movie, every New Year I believe that I must tell the one I love that I love him. "When you know you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want that day to start now."

Love Actually
I love all the different love stories happening in that movie, but I love most the unsaid, the crushes that seem so unreasonnable or the fear of being a one-sided feeling, all these things that stop people from admitting their feelings and taking a chance.

That's really the ones that come rushing to mind, other romantic films I enjoyed a lot include:

Shrek
It's the funniest romantic film ever - a very unlikely romance that ends better than anyone could imagine. It reminds me of my romance with Alex. hihi!

A Life Less Ordinary
An obscure film by English director Danny Boyle, about a young lad (Ewan Mc Gregor) who kidnaps very high society and cool Cameron Diaz; again an unlikely relation sets in and ends well in the strangest twists.

err... I'm stalling, I 'm more into adventure/action films, that might explain it. Anyway, if you haven't seen one of these, go rent it out.