Climbing back into the connected universe
after falling off . . .again. Not that life in our own personal universe hasn't been interesting mind you. Somebody needs to poke me when it's been more than a few days (let alone two weeks!) since I last posted. Last week's four day weekend was exactly what the doctor ordered (mostly lots of diablo, punctuated by tango, friends and art), but sadly all things come to an end. Anyway, here's a smattering of what's been going on lately (in short - hopefully) and a few other random thoughts bouncing around inside my head
Day out with beelady was fantastic as always. She introduced me to her local chocolatier, who not only makes amazing chocolates, but had the cutest and most sweet boy behind the counter. Were I not wed, I would have certainly taken him home along with the box he very prettily wrapped up for me. So cute boys, good chocolate, new teas to try and a good girly friend = great day out. Yes, could do with a few more of these.
Dinner with jorgitoelcubano - we tried out a new Indian place, Chowki, behind Picadilly Circus a colleague reccomended and it was really fabulous. Servings were a bit on the small side, but there were enough of them that getting enough to eat wasn't really a problem. Very tasty, and of course the company was hard to beat. =)
Russian lessons! Got off to a bit of a rough start, but now that she's got a better feel for what I know and, perhaps more importantly, what I don't know, it's getting much better. Wednesday's lesson was particularly rough - not only was it over two hours long, but she was also asking me to use constructions I had no clue about. Yesterday's was much more structured though and I have a long list of vocab to learn as well as homework to fit in around our events this weekend. The good thing about these lessons starting now is it is giving me a very real reality check of what it's like to study and work full time simultaneously. Oh yes, major rebalancing is required. I knew that it would be, but bringing theory and practice together is often a bit interesting. Much better to do it all now than later when I have 3 classes to contend with.
Renoir Landscapes exhibit at the National Gallery - very refreshing and HUGE!! Fortunately, it's laid out very well and you really get a good sense for how not only his technique developed, but also his use of color and way of looking at the world did too. I think my favourite was the section from when he was in Algiers. You really get a sense of "WOW" from him - new colours, new types of plants and the textures they give to a landscape. And then watching that bleed over into his later works as he returned to his native France and super imposing those new conceptual images on well known (to him) places. Fascinating stuff. Definitely go see if you like Impressionism or landscapes (double plus for me!)
Tango has been going much better - the instructor is still pushing me rather hard, but now that I know it's coming, it's much better. We did Giros last week (these really funky turning steps with the follower revolving around the leading partner) and I really just had to not think much about it other than putting one foot after the other. Need more practice, but it was quite fun - though really hard for those leading! Today is a wild card class, so we'll see what happens!
Easter Sunday roast with the fantastic schiehallion and Luke - was very tasty and so good to be out with people - especially with the weather being as cooperative as it has lately.
Then I think perhaps the gem of the past two weeks was a multilingual production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the newly refurbished Roundhouse (reminds me a lot of a contemporary Globe) - it was breath-takingly wonderful. One of the most joyous productions I'd seen for a long time - in fact, I may have difficulty with other productions going forward since I loved this one so much. Words simply can't do it justice - but a few good pictures and a video montage can be found here. For those of you in London - it's only on for one more week - GO SEE IT. It's also doing a UK tour, including a set of performances at the "Complete Works Festival" in Stratford. So enchating and am very tempted to go see it again.
Tonight we have tickets to the Bajofondo Tango Club concert (whee!!), tomorrow we're off to see the Citizens and Kings exhibit at the Royal Academy of Art, then book club on Tuesday (Eyre Affair - loads of fun this book). I won't go into the week after, because it's going to be manic.
Other random thoughts:
An interesting article in the Guardian on Anti-Americanism, appropriately titled Hamburgers or Fois Gras. There was one line in the intro that I found particularly interesting: America has no racial profile to be hated. I'm not really sure where to go with that, to be honest - rather, I can't pick which direction of my thoughts go with that is the most appropriate, because they certainly scatter down a variety of interesting paths.
girly things - I have tired of not being able to buy my make-up on this side of the pond, so I am looking for a new provider. I've been trialing Barefaced Beauty and am reasonably happy with it (great colour match for my skin, but it is a bit cakey), but I've also heard good things about Lily Lolo as well, so I may be getting some of their samples soon (their colours don't look to be nearly as good of a match). I've been more than half-tempted to give tinted moisturiser a try again, but the thought of what my skin was like before I settled in my now routine (which makes my skin very happy), is more than enough to give me pause. Do I really want to risk that kind of complexion disruption? On the other hand, if I find one that works, it could be fabulous for summer. . .the debate rages.
I'm also still on the look out for a fantastic mascara. I've found several that are good contenders (clinique high impact and MAC X), but none that are waterproof and smudge-proof doesn't seem to cut it. Volumizing is much more important to me than lengthening as well. Have heard good things about Max Factor Masterpiece, so another one to possibly hunt down.
Geeky things - I love my mac, but the combination of mac plus creative mp3 player has proved a bit difficult in audio book land. Audible and I will indeed be parting ways over the issue it seems (for some bizarre reason they've decided that if you use a mac you *must* be using iTunes and an iTunes compatible player or that if you run windows it must be XP - work computer runs 2000, which their manager works fine on, but they can't get their manager to recognise my player - bastards). Unfortunately, it seems that almost every other audio book download service thinks along the same lines. I have one good prospect lined up, but some fiddling is required. As usual.
Otherwise - work goes; we're in the calm before the storm when everyone gets back from their spring holidays next week and lots of deals which will want to close before the major Structured Finance conference will be getting started ASAP, so floods of work for me in the next few weeks.
Day out with beelady was fantastic as always. She introduced me to her local chocolatier, who not only makes amazing chocolates, but had the cutest and most sweet boy behind the counter. Were I not wed, I would have certainly taken him home along with the box he very prettily wrapped up for me. So cute boys, good chocolate, new teas to try and a good girly friend = great day out. Yes, could do with a few more of these.
Dinner with jorgitoelcubano - we tried out a new Indian place, Chowki, behind Picadilly Circus a colleague reccomended and it was really fabulous. Servings were a bit on the small side, but there were enough of them that getting enough to eat wasn't really a problem. Very tasty, and of course the company was hard to beat. =)
Russian lessons! Got off to a bit of a rough start, but now that she's got a better feel for what I know and, perhaps more importantly, what I don't know, it's getting much better. Wednesday's lesson was particularly rough - not only was it over two hours long, but she was also asking me to use constructions I had no clue about. Yesterday's was much more structured though and I have a long list of vocab to learn as well as homework to fit in around our events this weekend. The good thing about these lessons starting now is it is giving me a very real reality check of what it's like to study and work full time simultaneously. Oh yes, major rebalancing is required. I knew that it would be, but bringing theory and practice together is often a bit interesting. Much better to do it all now than later when I have 3 classes to contend with.
Renoir Landscapes exhibit at the National Gallery - very refreshing and HUGE!! Fortunately, it's laid out very well and you really get a good sense for how not only his technique developed, but also his use of color and way of looking at the world did too. I think my favourite was the section from when he was in Algiers. You really get a sense of "WOW" from him - new colours, new types of plants and the textures they give to a landscape. And then watching that bleed over into his later works as he returned to his native France and super imposing those new conceptual images on well known (to him) places. Fascinating stuff. Definitely go see if you like Impressionism or landscapes (double plus for me!)
Tango has been going much better - the instructor is still pushing me rather hard, but now that I know it's coming, it's much better. We did Giros last week (these really funky turning steps with the follower revolving around the leading partner) and I really just had to not think much about it other than putting one foot after the other. Need more practice, but it was quite fun - though really hard for those leading! Today is a wild card class, so we'll see what happens!
Easter Sunday roast with the fantastic schiehallion and Luke - was very tasty and so good to be out with people - especially with the weather being as cooperative as it has lately.
Then I think perhaps the gem of the past two weeks was a multilingual production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the newly refurbished Roundhouse (reminds me a lot of a contemporary Globe) - it was breath-takingly wonderful. One of the most joyous productions I'd seen for a long time - in fact, I may have difficulty with other productions going forward since I loved this one so much. Words simply can't do it justice - but a few good pictures and a video montage can be found here. For those of you in London - it's only on for one more week - GO SEE IT. It's also doing a UK tour, including a set of performances at the "Complete Works Festival" in Stratford. So enchating and am very tempted to go see it again.
Tonight we have tickets to the Bajofondo Tango Club concert (whee!!), tomorrow we're off to see the Citizens and Kings exhibit at the Royal Academy of Art, then book club on Tuesday (Eyre Affair - loads of fun this book). I won't go into the week after, because it's going to be manic.
Other random thoughts:
An interesting article in the Guardian on Anti-Americanism, appropriately titled Hamburgers or Fois Gras. There was one line in the intro that I found particularly interesting: America has no racial profile to be hated. I'm not really sure where to go with that, to be honest - rather, I can't pick which direction of my thoughts go with that is the most appropriate, because they certainly scatter down a variety of interesting paths.
girly things - I have tired of not being able to buy my make-up on this side of the pond, so I am looking for a new provider. I've been trialing Barefaced Beauty and am reasonably happy with it (great colour match for my skin, but it is a bit cakey), but I've also heard good things about Lily Lolo as well, so I may be getting some of their samples soon (their colours don't look to be nearly as good of a match). I've been more than half-tempted to give tinted moisturiser a try again, but the thought of what my skin was like before I settled in my now routine (which makes my skin very happy), is more than enough to give me pause. Do I really want to risk that kind of complexion disruption? On the other hand, if I find one that works, it could be fabulous for summer. . .the debate rages.
I'm also still on the look out for a fantastic mascara. I've found several that are good contenders (clinique high impact and MAC X), but none that are waterproof and smudge-proof doesn't seem to cut it. Volumizing is much more important to me than lengthening as well. Have heard good things about Max Factor Masterpiece, so another one to possibly hunt down.
Geeky things - I love my mac, but the combination of mac plus creative mp3 player has proved a bit difficult in audio book land. Audible and I will indeed be parting ways over the issue it seems (for some bizarre reason they've decided that if you use a mac you *must* be using iTunes and an iTunes compatible player or that if you run windows it must be XP - work computer runs 2000, which their manager works fine on, but they can't get their manager to recognise my player - bastards). Unfortunately, it seems that almost every other audio book download service thinks along the same lines. I have one good prospect lined up, but some fiddling is required. As usual.
Otherwise - work goes; we're in the calm before the storm when everyone gets back from their spring holidays next week and lots of deals which will want to close before the major Structured Finance conference will be getting started ASAP, so floods of work for me in the next few weeks.