Monday, August 30, 2004      You can happily skip this post

I'm sick. I have what feels like an inflamed throat (and I looked at it in the mirror and its as red as Superman's cape), stuffed sinuses causing me to have a headache and I'm basically exhausted. And its bringing me down. I've been in bed most of today, other than to get lozenges and to watch Die Hard With a Vengeance on the couch, and I've just sat here thinking about how things actually sit right now, and how I'm feeling a little uncomfortable.

I haven't been paid yet. This week will be my sixth week in my job and I'm getting a little worried at how my Aussie money is depleting. I really want to spend [earned] pounds very very soon. I'm hoping I'll see payday sometime this week because I have £455 of rent to pay, and regardless of how much I still have in my home account, withdraws are large each time at the ATM. I guess I'm having difficulty seeing it disappear and would just wear it, knowing I can build it back up as pounds keep coming through.

I'm getting pretty lonely. I have friends here and there, but no one I can really rely on for some fun or things I like to do consistently. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one around the place like this. Most people I am friends with have partners and I've never been one to be the third wheel, even though I must apologise to these friends and say I'm never treated like that either. I don't know, I just guess I'd love to have that group of mates who I could hang out with each weekend and just do stuff; but I guess I haven't been trying to break down walls to get to these people either. I had a group back home, and I think I crave that at the moment.

So I guess, in a way, I can roll this all back to cash flow. I desperately want to travel and do some small weekend trips around the UK and would happily jump on a tour on my own, knowing that I'll meet new people there and then. But I can't plan anything without a confident cashflow. Shit my impatience will one day be the death of me I'm sure.

I'm going to just nut out this period in my travels. I have special people coming around Christmas and in the first half of next year so I don't want to be receiving postcards from them back in Adelaide. Regardless, today, I could happily be on a plane back home and back to my friends and family; but then other days I wouldn't give up this experience for the world. I heard all the "these are the days you'll have here and there", so I guess today you and I will just have to roll with it. I'm still aiming for two years minimum here -- I'm not going to get this experience ever again.

I know this post isn't what you all want to hear at all, but I didn't name it Emotional Rollercoaster for a catchy phrase and really wanted to just get this all off my chest. Its just been one of those days I expected to occur, and you can read my muddled side then my clearer picture side in each sentence, hence how well the rollercoaster analogy works.

As I mentioned on my first post ever, I hate public holidays and I think they hate me back.

I did go to the Notting Hill Carnival yesterday which was pretty unbelievable, 100,000s of people, mobile sound systems pumping out grooves, extremely spicy chicken (potentially bad throat causer addition), lots of dancing and drinking, and I did go with my housemates and their friends who were all really cool. Unfortunately missing out on the carnival's second day today being in bed unwell.

Posted by Nick @ 8:03 pm      1 comments

Monday, August 23, 2004      Status Check

OK kids. I know I've been bad with this. But its a big city, I've been relying on laptop arriving and I've talked to a lot of you via email, messenger and phone - but I aim to improve my communication lines a little with this little web site. So I sit in my bed, laptop on my knees typing for the masses. Welcome back I say - the roller coaster is still going, it may have slowed a little, got to the flats, but its been a bumpy and exciting ride getting to where I am.

So I've been working for a month now, and I'm enjoying myself. I'm a Web Producer, which means Project Manager to most of you (me included), but I tend to try and play around with a few things and keep my hands dirty in the developer's playground. I'm pushing around all of my CSS and XHTML ideas and have gathered a few friends who are interested in what I can teach them. I've redesigned our site's frontpage in XHTML strict and a fluid, 100% wide, 3-column CSS masterpiece. I still have some skills left!

So the job's good, great people, decent and broad client base, and good options to stick around. Oh and the fact that standard work attire is shorts, t-shirt and thongs helps immensely -- but the suit and shirt (and cuff links) get a work out when seeing pre-mentioned clients...still need to impress. And with desktops named after Simpson characters, you have to love it when mine is called ComicBookGuy. Add in pizza and beer each Friday at about 5pm, and a few very late nights/early mornings on the booze with work mates, I've made the transition pretty easily -- ask my mother -- she thinks I've just moved towns and kept the same life....

I'm happy with my choice of abode. I moved in three weeks ago, a Saturday, with a shocking hangover, and just stayed in my room, unshowered, for two hours setting it up to be MY ROOM. Not that any of you would expect anything less from Mr Perfectionist. I showered and then went shopping, still hungover, for linen for my new bed. Ended up trampsing around my area (still in the same area I was hostelling in) looking for 100% cotton sheets and a decent duvea (or duna for us Aussies), as I can't cope with crap sleep covers. A decent travel around I find a nice shop with the stuff -- coughed up a lot for it but I loved it the first night and am definitely styling! I get excited with these sort of things - you can deal with it. And God its better to get clothes out of drawers that a bloody backpack, showering without having to press buttons to keep the water running, sharing the bedroom with 3 snorers -- but I guess its all part of the experience of the whole thing.

We've just gained a full household this week past, as Steve and Kathryn have returned from the south of France (I'll be visiting there soon I hope based on the beautiful photos they took), so I'm living the full house-sharing deal. Its good fun, no real issue with space or quiet times -- we each have our own room and kitchen coordination is all possible. I'm often late home anyhow, so I get it pretty free most of the time.

Talking kitchen - made a home cooked meal pretty quickly once I moved in - but why oh why is it so hard to find soy sauce here. Couldn't believe it. Strange place - easy to find very average packaged food here, but staple ingredients -- no where to be found. Took a long walk last weekend and purchased a bottle - beef with oyster sauce and mushrooms saved.

So the dramas of the whole thing. Yes, I lost my wallet and phone two weeks ago. I got off a bus in Oxford St, and they weren't in my pocket. Forgetful, not thinking or a clever pick pocket, I was in central London on my own with not a cent (pence?), no UK Bank account to get money from the next day or anyway to contact anyone (not that I can remember anyones phone number). So I walked (and swore). 3 hours later I'm still walking, but sneak onto a bus to cover the rest of the journey. I get home (still had my keys thank God), and call home for some support and a level head (thank you x), and then ring VISA. Card cancelled, emergency money and card ordered. Back to sleep. Call my boss, he fowards me £200 so I have some money for a bit. Following morning at 12:30am, my bank in Australia calls me to warn me emergencies from VISA will cost me $300 Australian each. Now VISA did not warn me of this at all - here I was in a bad way and they are so apologetic that my stuff had disappeared, but they still will happily take $600 from me. Bastards -- take it as a warning peoples -- but thanks goes to my bank for warning me, and sending through a replacement card reasonabley quickly. Got my card Friday morning so I splurged a little that day as I was slowly going mental being unable to plan anything in a city where there's a million things you can do.

And just to add onto this great story. Mum rang Thursday - Nicholas, I have your wallet in my hand. Some guy had found it (devoid of ca£h, but VISA and everything else) and looked at my license and sent it home (via my old unit). So its now extremely welled travelled, and on its way back to London... Got the guy's number who sent it, left him a message, but no response yet. He proabably lives around the corner.

My iPOD has also died. Nothing on the screen and just fuzzy, scratchy sounds coming from it. So no music. But I got my laptop, and found an unreal program that can retrieve music from the POD as there is no way to take it off the iPOD using anything Apple. So after some playing around and dramas with a flat battery, corrupt USB, Firewire comes home and sucks all my music down for me. Thank you! I blare out The Music as soon as its all down, ready for the concert in 6 weeks I'm going to. So my laptop is a music machine, and my iPOD is a glamorous brick. And the UK Apple Support page can't seem to recognise my iPOD's serial number - unreal.

But among all these dramas, I have seen David Hasselhoff. I've always wanted to go to a Red Carpet Premiere, and I'd just missed Spider-Man (and Kirsten D), so I thought I'd try Will Smith instead. Bonus was Will Smith did a bit of a concert in Lesceister Square for the crowd, so that added to the touristness of it all. And the fact out of a limo came Knight Rider, my night was complete. I plan to see him in Chicago (theatre show) at some time, and will try for the back door signature on a Knight Rider poster of sorts. No red light on the limo either unfortunately...

So Will Smith in concert was cool, but better was The Resin Dogs. My first concert in London was an Aussie band on tour, and it seems a good deal of the Aussie in London were there. It was fantastic, they played for nearly two hours and the crowd was pretty good as well. As mentioned before, off to see The Music early October, which I can't wait for. And a quick thankyou to Muse for leaving the UK, touring US, doing a few festivals here in the UK with average lineups then deciding Australia would be good to go to.

The movies have been keeping me escaped since I have no comics here (all at home, but still being bought!). Fahreheit 911 was eye-opening - but Michael Moore still creeps me out, and Columbine was better, King Arthur was pretty average I must say -- pick up your game Clive Owen if you want to be Bond, and tonight I saw I, Robot which i thought was good, but not fabulous, but I love sci-fi, Bridgette Monaghan and big budget action, so it kept me watching. No purchases there (my gauge of how good a movie is), but I did buy Pitch Black SE (had to buy a DVD for my laptop once I got my VISA back) and Die Hard with a Vengeance - the UK version is a 2-disc whichwe never will get because of licensing issues (so if anyone wants a R4 Die Hard 3 - contact me). But bring on The Village - M. Night's movie always make me wonder and smile and think.

One thing that was exciting about King Arthur, was that as the credits started, theatre staff appear and say "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a situation, and would like you to depart using the emergency exit at the front of the cinema." Terrorists? Nope, a major gas leak in the shopping centre just wanting to go boom. The whole area was roped off outside, traffic was screwed and punters down the road waiting for buses were getting antsy. But low and behold, the one place that is packed and right next to the shopping centre - Belushis pub - is not warned or evacuated and continues partying. Nothing actually happened, but it wouldn't have made good news if something did happen.

So I think you might be up to date now. I'm hoping I can organise my web site area so I can put up my photos, which have only just been removed from my camera this afternoon. So hopefully expect them soon. And I do plan to keep you up to date with all my movements over here -- it makes for a good pre-bed ritual since I'm not reading comics before I sleep. So email me or look on Messenger for me (distortme@hotmail.com), or even leave silly comments to my posts; I read them all. Have fun, I am.

Posted by Nick @ 1:15 am      1 comments

Monday, August 09, 2004      Soon I Promise

Ok peoples. I've got all your complaints, and I do apologise. Currently going a little crazy at the moment.

This is a temporary post, one I will update later with a whole pile of news. Its all sort of waiting on my laptop [Dell Inspiron 5150] to arrive (expected in the next few days) so I can sit in the comfort of my own bedroom g33king out. And from then on you'll get a plethora of updates, and photos, detailing everything I do and my views on this crazy town.

Expect updates on: lost wallet and phone [*sob*], VISA conspiracy, my dead iPOD [*sob #2*], how the job is, ComicBookGuy, how the house is, where's the soy sauce, a gas leak that wasn't a terrorist attack, King Arthur, Will Smith, David Hasselhoff and probably more I've forgotten.

Soon I promise.

Oh and sweet Christmas - Milo Bars in the post! One way to put a smile on my face! MWA xx

Posted by Nick @ 6:07 pm      0 comments