My Blue Heaven

Hello from HK!

Just a quick post to say hello from Hong Kong! I had a fairly smooth flight, arriving late last night, and am currently staying with my Uncle Philip (uncle number 4) in his flat in Ma On Shan. Today he is taking us to visit Kwai’s very old grandparents, then its on to Mongkok for some shopping and touristy things. Then I’m getting my hair cut in Tsim Tsa Tsui before going to dinner with Uncle Ken (uncle number 2) at a japanese restaurant in the area.

HK is so tall. There are so many sky scraper apartments I think I’m gonna get a sore neck from looking up so much.

Well, better head off now! More updates later. And of course pics to come from my time in Sydney. Gonna have to do some massive culling… we took soooooo many pics. :/

Quick update

Man time flies. I can’t believe I have only 4 1/2 more days left in Sydney. I’ve been going out heaps this week with Kwai. We had a really good couple of days just exploring more of Sydney. Haven’t really met up with many ppl this week as most seem to be too busy. But we’ve enjoyed our time out together, and have had lots of quality time with my parents too.

Our activities included watching a movie in a gold class cinema (def a nice experience – and ultra cheap b4 5pm on a weekday!), relaxing at the Ryde Aquatic Centre, Kwai playing golf with my dad, Kwai and myself cooking up a storm for my family and 2 friends, doing the Bondi to Coogee walk (absolutely gorgeous views, plus a refreshing dip in the sea to finish), eating at 2 (out of 3) of my fave jap restaurants in Sydney CBD, eating yummy 1.9kg lobster at a chinese restaurant with family, meeting up with a girlfriend for a scrumptious Max Brenners suckao, multiple harbour cruises and walks round Sydney Harbour, scrummy steak dinner at Kingsleys Steakhouse on King Street Wharf (highly recommend this restaurant – great views of sunset over King St Wharf, and awesome steak!!) plus an impromptu salsa at La Cita nearby who has Thursday Latin Summer night with a live latin band playing (free entry too!). Ahh.. here’s to making the most of Sydney (and the entertainment book! :P)

Home sweet home

So here I am, back in beautiful Sydney, Australia. And loving it. There really is no place like home. I gotta admit.. I love Sydney! We’ve been so busy, I haven’t had time to blog. Have spent lots of time with family, which is really nice. Went on an impromptu family day trip down the coast to Kiama and Wollongong last wed! Have also met up with numerous friends for lunches, dinners, catch ups etc. And it only took about 3 days to recover from jet lag. Unfortuntely, I haven’t recovered from my cold.. I’m even on antibiotics now. 🙁 But I guess I’ve not exactly been resting up.

It’s kinda surreal being back here. Not as much now.. coz it just feels like I’ve never left! But at first… it was sorta weird being back. Like everything was familiar.. yet somehow not. Things like buses being blue and white, instead of red. Or driving for the first time in 10 months.. a bit scary! I’m back to my old self now. 😛 I’ve driven round quite a bit now… into the city, out to the beach etc. I can’t believe I still remember all these roads so well. It’s like I never left. Like I’ve just picked up where I left off, 10 months ago.

We went clubbing for the first time in 10 months on Fri night. That was fun. Got home at nearly 5am. Like the old days. 😉 And today after church and lunch with church ppl, Kwai and myself went for our first trip to the beach. It was an absolutely beeeeautiful day. Hot, sunny, clear blue skies. So after going home to get our gear, we headed out to Freshwater beach. It was gorgeous. Warm and sunny.. and the water was perfectly cool and refreshing. I even caught a few waves body surfing. 🙂 Oh how I’ve missed the beach!!!!

Anyway its late and I’d better get to bed. Had quite a busy weekend, with late nights and not much sleep. It’ll be so nice to sleep in tomm. Got a fairly busy week coming up! Our schedule is very rapidly getting filled up!

Btw, I apparently still have an aussie accent. Which seems to be a relief to my friends here. 😛 Though they do seem to love Kwai’s cute british accent. Hehe. As do I. 😉

Friday funny

Hahahaehaheha..

Am feeling slightly better.. probably due to the lemsip max “dissolve on tongue” powder.. 1000mg of paracetamol straight into the blood stream! You really feel it immediately take effect too. Also been drinking loads of hot honey/lemon.

Good news! Kwai is now flying out with me to Sydney tomorrow! Yay! The advert was cancelled in the end, even though he did get the job. Bit of a relief as trying to book another flight was proving difficult – happy am I! 🙂 Also had a meeting with my line managers today.. the two IT directors. A final catch up before I leave and semi-review of my progress – they said they were very happy with my work. Definitely off the probation period. So doubly happy am I! 🙂

Can’t believe I’ll be on my way in about 24 hrs time.. excited am I! Whee! Man.. gotta start packing!!! This’ll prob be my last post until Sydney… though I might be a geek and post from the airport. Hehe. Ok I’m outie.

Current listening :: “Sly” – The Cat Empire

Of all the worst possible times…

I’m sick. 🙁 Just a little.. only the beginnings of a cold.. but I can feel that tingly feeling at the back of my throat.. the phlegm beginning to generate… the slight wooziness and tiredness… those tell-tale signs. Arghhhhhhhh…

BUT.. if I blast this cold with every kind of immunity booster.. Vit C, Echinacea, hot honey/lemon drinks, lots and lots of water and fresh fruit, and sleep well tonight….. hopefully I’ll be able to nip it in the bud. But arghhhhhhh… whyyyyy!!!!?!? 🙁

I’m seriously thinking its coz I’m getting old. I got an average of 6-7 hours sleep a night during this week. For some ppl that’s a normal amount – but I just can’t cope with that anymore. I get sick. Plus I went to the gym on wed night. You’d think that would help boost the immune system. But I find when I exert myself lots, and not get enough rest (ie 8 hrs or more).. it’s a recipe for sickness. I eat really heathily too. Fresh fruit (at least 2 pieces) and veges every day. Balanced meals with meat and carbs. No junk. No coffee, not much choc. *sigh* Maybe its stress related. Its been a very stressful 2 weeks for me – everything with KC Actors Studio (lots of things going pear shaped), plus working this full-time job.. Kwai’s problems with lots of things… financial problems.. plus trying to organise things for the trip…

*sigh* I’m so tired.

Pimp your ride?

Check out this car, pimped to the max. Hahah.

Anyways. 3 days until take-off! W00t! Man.. I am so in the School Of I-Don’t-Give-A-Crap right now. I just wanna start my holiday! Getting bored of work.. bug fixing, bug fixing and.. yep.. more bug fixing. *yawn*

I’ve finally gotten around to resurrecting my moblog. Added some pics from the last few months. More to come when I get around to downloading them off my phone. 🙂 Oh yeh, and got some nice Jack Johnson pics to come too.

It was interesting to trawl through my old moblog pics. Gave me flashbacks of the past.. reminding me of life in Sydney. Also.. is it just me, or do I actually look a little, but visibly, older now? It seems like I looked so much younger a mere 2 years back. Aiyah.. how depressing! Or perhaps London has just aged me. 😛

Anyways, I’m off soon to hit the gym.. for my regular wed night pilates class. Plus cardio beforehand on the x-trainer and rowing machine. And then afterwards a good stretch session and methinks I will relax in the sauna.. maybe even take a dip in the pool and jacuzzi. Gonna do the full works tonight! 🙂

Current listening :: “Philosophy” – Ben Folds (live)

4 days until take-off!

Yep! Only 4 days (and counting) till I depart chilly London town and fly half way around the world to sunny Sydney! Whee! 🙂 I’m really looking forward to coming back and seeing everyone again. And soooo looking forward to getting some Aussie sunshine and warmth into me! Not to mention lots of beach action! I don’t care if its not “warm” by aussie standards.. its still probably about 20 degrees warmer than London atm.. and thats good enough for me!! (When is this winter gonna be over already!)

Things are just so busy now. The weekend was … insanely hectic. Holding a stall at an exhibition is A LOT of work!!! Poor Kwai only got an average of 3 hours sleep for the 3 nights. But I think it went well and was very good for KC Actors Studio. We even have more helpers on board to help with the workload.

I met up with Esther on Saturday! It was really nice to catch up with a familiar face from Sydney. We had lunch and then did some shopping. I have pics and a video to show you guys in Sydney. 🙂 I also went for an audition for the Latin Piano course at CityLit. Which was successful. 🙂 So if I choose to enrol, I’ll be starting end of April. My only problem now is I don’t have a piano to practice on. 🙁 And on Sat night we went to the Jack Johnson gig.. which was absolutely awesome! Great performance in typical laidback JJ style. I can’t believe how popular he is now… everyone loves Jack. And I almost touched his hand! He came down to the audience at the front (I was 1 away from the barrier) and hi-fived across our section of the audience before leaving. He was quite interactive with us, occasionally replying to some of the shoutouts from the audience. Afterwards I bought myself another JJ hoodie (so I don’t wear out my white one).. choc brown this time. I love the hoodies. Good quality material and design. 🙂

Kwai is in Budapest now. He’s there from Mon to Thurs getting his teeth fixed. I can’t believe what the dentist in London did to his tooth. He was getting it bleached (coz its a dead tooth – from a martial arts accident when he was a kid) and the dentist fractured it – shattered it all the way down to the bone!!! Now he has to get a metal rod implant and a temporary crown (plus the real crown in 4 months time). Man, the lawyer is gonna have a field day with this one – he’s taking legal action to get compensated for the dentists obvious carelessness. So anyway, the implant is quite expensive (he originally thought he only needed a crown), but its still less than half the price of getting this done in London!!! Even with airfare and accom! Budapest is cheap cheap cheap!!

Also he went for an audition on Friday for an advert. And he got it! (Well.. pencilled in… tbc today.) He’ll be flown to Prague for the filming. Lucky guy. He gets to go to all the cool places. But the bad news is he won’t be departing for Sydney with me, as filming will be 13/14th. He’ll be flying over a bit later in the week. Which means I don’t see him for 2 weeks. 🙁 I was also kinda looking forward to flying out to Sydney with him… u know… planes.. holiday.. exciting.. sharing it with someone you love. Ah well. This acting job is more important.

Anyways, better get cracking with my work! Got a full body exfoliation and detox aromatherapy massage treatment tonight! Yay! 🙂 Sooo in need of some relaxation.

Current listening :: “Top of the world” – Mandy Moore

New schtuff

I recently acquired a number of new things. Had a fairly successful shopping expedition last weekend. On Sunday, I spent about 3 hours in Mango – a dangerous place for me! But I made fairly sensible purchases. Bought 2 nice fitting tees (one in black, one in white), this really cool choc tank top – with a loose hanging neckline at the front, but all gauzy material at the back!! Also bought a new pair of dark blue denim jeans (one size smaller than my current pairs.. yay!) – not bootcut this time.. though not skinny leg either.. just in between, quite a nice fit!

On Saturday I only had time to shop in Morgan De Toi – where I bought 2 very nice party tops. One black, with a low v-neckline, and one midnight blue (looks like a tshirt from the front.. but its open at the back.. just ties at the bottom.. very cool!) I’ll have to take pics coz its just too hard to describe in writing.. the designs are too complex. But I just looooove european clothes. The designs are just soo much more interesting and sophisticated. They’re not afraid to dress creatively! I think my faves are french, spanish and italian clothes. Shopping in Europe kicks shopping in Australia.. any day!!!!

Counting down to Sydney!

Anyway.. am doing the count down.. only 1 week and 2 days till we leave for Sydney! I can’t believe its sooo soon! I remember it being months away. Man.. I really need to start thinking about what to pack and what to bring back home. (I have way too much stuff here – need to get rid of some stuff!) Things are gonna be REALLY hectic for the next week.. so much to do… so much to organise. Not to mention work is gonna be mega busy until I leave. 3 weeks is a long time. And Kwai is even busier than me.. KCA Studio is holding a stall at this One Life Live exhibition this weekend for 3 days. (Hopefully we’ll get some much needed signups from this exhibtion). Plus a 3rd KCA Studio course is starting up this Sunday. And then on Monday he’s off to Budapest for 4 days to get his teeth fixed (his dentist fractured his tooth – and he needs a crown not to fix it – yes he’s taking legal action against the surgery!). Apparently Budapest is THE place to go for cheap, top quality dentists.

We’re also going to the Jack Johnson gig this saturday! Yay! Will be good to see him live again. Am really loving his new stuff. The “Curious George” OST is pretty good. Very happy music. 🙂

Just so I can keep myself organised, here’s my calender for the next week and a bit…

Fri 3/3 – Hiphop class
Sat 4/3 – Latin piano audition, meet Esther for lunch, shopping, JJ gig
Sun 5/3 – Start packing, KCA Studio new course starts
Mon 6/3 – Kwai leaves for Budapest
Tues 7/3 – Massage and exfoliation treatment 🙂
Wed 8/3 – Gym & pilates class
Thurs 9/3 – Pack, Kwai returns from Budapest
Fri 10/3 – Hairdresser appointment, pack and tidy flat
Sat 11/3 – Final packing, catch flight to Sydney!

Man, I think I’m gonna be exhausted by the time I get to Sydney.

Current listening :: “So Sick” – Ne-Yo (finally found the song we danced to in hiphop class!)

I miss music

I’ve been going through some archive recordings of gigs I’ve performed in the past. Such as the Saltlight “This Way Up” album launch, my performance at Ernie’s wedding, jazz concerts at the Conservatorium. Listening to these performances (cringing occasionally :P) really brings back strong memories. And it makes me realise something. I really, REALLY miss playing the piano. I miss being involved in creating and performing music. I miss having music as a part of my life. It’s been in my life since I was 6 years old. And for the last 8/9 months, I haven’t been able to play at all because I don’t have access to a piano. I also miss singing. I just miss music – making music.

It’s hard to describe what I feel as I listen to those old performances. The things I remember… like the few minutes before the Saltlight Launch.. I vividly remember standing at the window, trying to breathe in the cool night air.. because I was so nervous that I was shaking. Then walking up the stairs onto the stage with the band to massive cheering. That was a pretty cool moment – the audience was so supportive.. the atmosphere of that night was awesome. 🙂

I want to experience things like that again. I want to perform again. To play again. To jam again. To get in that “zone” with my band mates. To almost be able to read each others minds because we knew each others playing styles so well. *sigh* Ok I’m starting to get all soppy and emotional now.

Anyway. I think I’ll sign up to the next piano course at CityLit. I missed the last one, Jazz Piano 1 coz it filled up. There is a Latin Piano course however starting late april. That does sound very appealing. I’ve never done much latin/afro-cuban style piano playing before – it sounds really cool because the rhythm is so syncapated and complex. I’d love to be able to play like that.. esp since syncpated rhythm is one of my weaker points. So… maybe I’ll be able to keep up some form of playing… even if I don’t have a piano at home to practice. At least I’ll be playing once a week.

For those who would like to share my trip down memory lane. Audio downloads here, here and here (don’t worry the exe files aren’t viruses – they’re just some wierd format of music playback – from one of those small portable recorders). Visuals are here and here.

And now to the weather. Hehe. It was snowing this morning!! Hee! Rather mesmerising to watch snowflakes gently drift down around you whilst walking to the station. But now its turned into a fairly miserable drizzle/rain. Hopefully it’ll be cold enough for snow again tonight. 🙂 Pilates last night was great… the class was just what I needed. Challenging, but I felt energised and refreshed afterwards. Its also at an LA Fitness closer to work, conveniently on my route home. Methinks wed night is gonna become pilates night!

Current listening :: “In Gods Eyes (live)” – Veronica Abednego (With me on piano.. 😛 man that song pushed my playing abilities!! Talk about sore hands.. Hehehe..)

Frrrreezing today

Weather has turned horrible again. Last week, we saw a glimmer of hope… a glimpse of spring. But alas.. it turned bitterly cold again over the weekend. Cold, windy. rainy, grey. Top temp today was 4 degrees. Gotta love London.

So anyways. My saturday shopping expedition turned into one looong hair cut and colour. My hairdresser was running 45 mins late to start, and then the colour and cut took about 3 hours! Mostly the colour. I ended up getting bold red highlights, but underneath the hair so it shows through the ends and in patches around the side. The rest of the hair was dyed black to bring out the contrast and cover up old highlights. Here’s a piccy of the finished result at the hair salon (check out the stylish white decor).

After that we had to rush off to meet some friends for dinner and movie. We watched Aeon Flux, which I thought was pretty cool. Very sci-fi/futuristic.. but without the spaceships.

Well, just a quick update coz I gotta rush off to the gym now. Am booked in for a pilates class! 🙂 I’ll leave you with a piccy of this gorgeous cat at a friends place.

Current listening :: “Girl fight” – Brooke Valentine