it was a lost weekend...

so i emerged from the depths of an alternating state of hangover vs drunkeness spliced with a bit of sleep deprivation, which has been ongoing since Friday evening...so it was with not a little reluctance that i found myself heading in for my second week in my new job.

the job side of things has been fab so far tho - I 've done more work in the past week than I did in the entirety of the past 6 months (which believe me is a wonderful thing), the people i work with all seem really nice, there's a great atmosphere, and i haven't even mentioned the in-house masseuse or monthly 'beer talks' yet!

the week was interspersed with a farewell to the sharkstress on Tuesday evening (who's now safely home, entertaining CNL, avoiding accidental holidays to Hawaii and bathing in a sea of hula hoops (of the snack variety, rather than the Hawaiian variation!) and a lovely gig at Darbucka which enabled me to try and reclaim my Steve's Groupy status, as well as allowing me to catch up with my old uni tutor and enjoy the fabulously wonderful guitar skills of Thomas Leeb, which Steve quite accurately predicted I'd love. The evening was only slightly marred by a random and slightly scary encounter with a random old businessman when getting off the train in Herne Hill....suffice to say I ran home to hide very quickly...

Friday was my 'welcome drinks' night with new work people, and I had a great time, and predictably was one of the last of our group still in the pub come closing time, resulting in a mad taxi trip across town with a colleague's flat mate (colleague was on crutches so had gone home a few hours earlier), swiftly followed by further drinking jollity around Herne Hill. Bravely battling through my hangover on Saturday, it was off to my friend's 40th birthday party, where I was supplied with champagne to drink and small children to play with....ah they know me so well!

Sunday FMB and I reated ourselves to a decadent Sunday morning breakfast and paper reading session, after which I headed off for my (doesn't have to be) secret (anymore) other job, where my French skills were put to the test as the entire audience were Francais. we then discovered lots of opened undrunk champagne left over from the pre-show party, which we felt ibliged to drink (well it would have been rude not to!)

so therefore i'm having a safe, quiet night in tonight, am cooking something involving pasta and salmon and finally getting round to updating le blog.

Just call us Nigella...

take 2 restless flatmates, a lazy sunday afternoon, a cupboard of random ingredients and some culinary improvisational genius and this is what happens...



And bloody nice it is too (even if we do say so ourselves)...!

New Zealand photos (episode 1)

so, i've finally made a start on selecting from the hundreds (those who have already seen them will vouch for this) of pics from my New Zealand trip. And so here's the first set for your perusal, featuring Auckland city, plus some random scenery from the train down to Wellington. enjoy!

Question of the day [edit]

due to comments so far, I feel I need to (reticently) add a third rule in, so as to keep things concurrent with the aforementioned cigarette break discussion...

3. by animal, we predominantly mean land living mammals/marsupials/ungulates, but not really insects...

altough wasps are rather pointy, clearly...!

not sure about stick insects tho, as if you look at the actual definition of pointy, I'm not sure they are really. more sticky... tho lovely description mr knuckles, whoever you may be - why's your profile blocked, most enigmatic!

so further pointy animal answers please!

Question of the day:

Today's cigarette break discussion at work (one of the few things I'll miss about current job!) was 'what is the pointiest animal'? Sadly we were unable to agree on a conclusive answer...top votes were for foxes and meerkats.

There are some simple guidelines for this;
1. do not confuse spiky with pointy - these are two different characteristics in this instance.
2. the animal of choice must be a land dwelling animal, birds or aquatic creatures not allowed, sorry!

So I'm throwing it open to the group, in your opinion what is the pointiest animal?

happy coincidences, sharks and gainful employment

I always find it slightly freaky (in a good way!)when I find that people from different parts of my life turn out to randomly know each other, previously unbeknownst (is that actually a word or am I making it up?) to me.

I've been encountering this more than usual recently, as it would appear that Flatmate Becca (FMB from this point forwards...) has a spooky habit of already knowing a large proportion of the friends that I bring round to the flat, in a zero degree of seperation stylee. This first became apparent with the gradual realization that she and CNL had camped together at Glastonbury. It did take over a week to work this out, but then it was Glastonbury...! This encounter was then surpassed last night with the arrival of Amey, chief tenant of purplemafling's London empire. It transpires (after a mere 7.5 minute recall time this time) that FMB & Amey not only knew each other but briefly shared a flat together a couple of years ago.

I am now making it my personal challenge to try and find my most obscure friends to bring round to test the FMB networking powers! Admittedly she didn't already know the shark, but did report 'feeling as if she'd met her before and known her for years' which I think counts in this situation!

Talking of the shark her visit has come and gone all too quickly (although there is a short sequel to be caught next week), during which much fun, curry and gigs were to be had, not to mention an unplanned tour of North London courtesy of steve, who performed not one, but two fine gigs in the NT foyer.

Meanwhile, the job situation has been a flurry of activity, with my learning about, being interviewed for, offered and accepting a new job all within the space of 72 hours! I start next Monday...

Grey Matters (2)

Thank you all for your words of support and encouragement during my time of grey discovery!

The most cheering was the shark's point that I may be cultivating a sontag stripe, which would indeed be most splendid...and ofcourse if I got bored of it I could combine with Steve's reccommendation and dye the stripe a range of funky colours as the mood took me!

So I am now embracing the grey, and it least for the time being it shall remain unplucked - tho I shall still heed jimbob's advice and not attempt to grow a beard....not yet anyway...

It's a fine day!

Pancake Party happened last night, which turned into a fun girly gathering (2 words whcich normally fill me with dread!)...

CNL supplied the quote of the week with her proclamation that our ice was 'really good quality, not like the watery stuff you usually get in places...'?!

Was filled with slight fear during morning at work as have now agreed final leaving date with boss, but all was lifted this afternoon as it looks like I (almost) definitely have a new cool job doing rock n'pop stuff...more details to follow when all is confirmed!

And all this combined with the imminent arrival of the shark! And the day off work tomorrow to go to Brighton!

Hurrah!