I think John Lennon was right. Don't make plans, cause fate will always prove you wrong. When things seem to be coming together for you, it's got to be too good to be true. It's only so long until something falls apart....
Sorry folks, move along nothing to see here.....
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Ever seen a trailer for a really crap movie and wondered where the hell did they get that idea?
Apparently those are the good ideas.
Query Letters I Love... has the rejected ones.
My favourite is the crazed vampire terrorizing helpless airplane passengers. If they're not careful Anne Rice might steal that and give us the hapless vampire's perpective for her next novel.
For those of you not up with the screenplay lingo, query letters are effectively one to 2 paragraph summaries of the script designed to capture the essence of the movie. Or in this case the twisted psyche of wannabe scriptwriters.
Apparently those are the good ideas.
Query Letters I Love... has the rejected ones.
My favourite is the crazed vampire terrorizing helpless airplane passengers. If they're not careful Anne Rice might steal that and give us the hapless vampire's perpective for her next novel.
For those of you not up with the screenplay lingo, query letters are effectively one to 2 paragraph summaries of the script designed to capture the essence of the movie. Or in this case the twisted psyche of wannabe scriptwriters.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
I never realised how much time I waste emailing people at work, until there were no emails in my inbox this morning. What's a girl supposed to do?
These past couple of weeks since I moved in have been crazy busy. There's been so much on. Friday night I watched some of my old workmates (see below) doing dragonboating on the Thames. Saturday it was Tammy's birthday so I went for dinner with the girls then we watched Ella Enchanted on DVD. Sunday I met up with Soth again and tried Yum Cha. A new experience for me. Was really enjoyable, yummy chinese food. The chicken feet werent too bad either. Then after that I raced off to the pub to catch up with the Phlat crew to observe Irish culture in the form of hurling and of course have a few drinks. As you can see, action packed.
The most exciting news of late, is that my little sis is coming to stay with me! Yay! I'll get to show her around London, n'all. And introduce her to the fun of sitting in pubs all day. Excellent......
These past couple of weeks since I moved in have been crazy busy. There's been so much on. Friday night I watched some of my old workmates (see below) doing dragonboating on the Thames. Saturday it was Tammy's birthday so I went for dinner with the girls then we watched Ella Enchanted on DVD. Sunday I met up with Soth again and tried Yum Cha. A new experience for me. Was really enjoyable, yummy chinese food. The chicken feet werent too bad either. Then after that I raced off to the pub to catch up with the Phlat crew to observe Irish culture in the form of hurling and of course have a few drinks. As you can see, action packed.
The most exciting news of late, is that my little sis is coming to stay with me! Yay! I'll get to show her around London, n'all. And introduce her to the fun of sitting in pubs all day. Excellent......
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
New and improved with pictures
This is me and my old workmates from Reuters - Soth on the left and Kate on the right. As you may guess we were part way through a drunken night out when this was taken.
She speeds....through another blog update
So where were we? Ah that's right, Seville. In Seville we managed to absorb some of those traditional aspects of Spanish culture - flamenco, bullfighting and stinking hot temperatures. We visited a bull ring (but didn't actually watch a bullfight), went to a Flamenco show which was very cool and had a look around some of Seville's historic sights, like the Alcazar, an amazing Moorish palace. Also, apparently, where they filmed Mission Impossible 2.
After Seville, we headed to Lagos in Portugal which is a nice little beach town where we spent our time, where else, but at the beach. I think I may have even got what looked to be a bit of a tan, although it's long gone now. In Lagos we familiarised ourselves with traditional Portuguese food from a place called Burger Ranch. The closest thing to Wendys I've had since NZ. Yummm.....
After Lagos it was onto the capitol Lisbon, where we did a one day whirlwind tour of the sights which included Castelo de Sano Jorge (the old castle that overlooks the city), the impressive monastery dos Jeranimos and the Belem Tower. The next day we took a day trip to Sintra, a gorgeous town just outside of Lisbon with gorgeous palaces, stately homes, ruins etc.
After Portugal it was back to Spain to Sebastiantien, via a short stopover in Madrid. San Seb (as the Aussies like to call it) is a very nice beachside town, which reminded us a little of Nice, although we didnt get to see too much as we were only there for one day.
Then it was back to France! First stop was in Bordeaux, where we studied up on wine tasting by going on a wine tour around the area. I actually appreciated drinking a good red wine so I did learn something. Pity it's only €30 a bottle stuff I can drink.
And of course after Bordeaux it was our final stop Paris! Paris was hectic, but very cool. We only had 2 days to cram in all the sights, so we were pretty much on the go the whole day. We saw the Moulin Rouge, Sacre Ceau, Arch D'Triomphe, the Effiel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre (and the Mona Lisa, of course), the palace of Versailles and the cemetary where Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde are buried. I think that was probably one of my most enjoyable parts of Paris. Fcemeteryetary there was really a community sort of atmosphere with people coming to pay tribute. Tammy and I even kissed Oscar Wilde's memorial with lip gloss as per tradition. Jess & Catherine came across a man with wild hair and a Jim Morrison t-shirt who had devoted all his time to directing visitors where to go.
So it was a very weary group of girls who arrived back in London, almost two months ago now. We really did have a fantastic trip, despite the heat, the sightseeing fatigue and bumpier bits. Hmm...writing this is making me a little nostalgic. Except possibly for communal showers and wearing the same manky clothes over and over again.
After Seville, we headed to Lagos in Portugal which is a nice little beach town where we spent our time, where else, but at the beach. I think I may have even got what looked to be a bit of a tan, although it's long gone now. In Lagos we familiarised ourselves with traditional Portuguese food from a place called Burger Ranch. The closest thing to Wendys I've had since NZ. Yummm.....
After Lagos it was onto the capitol Lisbon, where we did a one day whirlwind tour of the sights which included Castelo de Sano Jorge (the old castle that overlooks the city), the impressive monastery dos Jeranimos and the Belem Tower. The next day we took a day trip to Sintra, a gorgeous town just outside of Lisbon with gorgeous palaces, stately homes, ruins etc.
After Portugal it was back to Spain to Sebastiantien, via a short stopover in Madrid. San Seb (as the Aussies like to call it) is a very nice beachside town, which reminded us a little of Nice, although we didnt get to see too much as we were only there for one day.
Then it was back to France! First stop was in Bordeaux, where we studied up on wine tasting by going on a wine tour around the area. I actually appreciated drinking a good red wine so I did learn something. Pity it's only €30 a bottle stuff I can drink.
And of course after Bordeaux it was our final stop Paris! Paris was hectic, but very cool. We only had 2 days to cram in all the sights, so we were pretty much on the go the whole day. We saw the Moulin Rouge, Sacre Ceau, Arch D'Triomphe, the Effiel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre (and the Mona Lisa, of course), the palace of Versailles and the cemetary where Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde are buried. I think that was probably one of my most enjoyable parts of Paris. Fcemeteryetary there was really a community sort of atmosphere with people coming to pay tribute. Tammy and I even kissed Oscar Wilde's memorial with lip gloss as per tradition. Jess & Catherine came across a man with wild hair and a Jim Morrison t-shirt who had devoted all his time to directing visitors where to go.
So it was a very weary group of girls who arrived back in London, almost two months ago now. We really did have a fantastic trip, despite the heat, the sightseeing fatigue and bumpier bits. Hmm...writing this is making me a little nostalgic. Except possibly for communal showers and wearing the same manky clothes over and over again.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Who you callin' lazy?
So remember there was that time I went backpacking? Feels like ages ago...oh wait it was.
Hmm....where were we? Well we had a pretty chilled week and a bit in Greece. The islands there are gorgeous. The first island, Paros, was pretty much a beach island so that's what we spent most of our time doing. Apart from the odd drinking sesh as well, of course. The hotel we stayed at was this weird old fashioned style hotel, run by a man and his elderly mother. The place was a bit creepy and reminded me of Pyscho meets Agatha Christie in Greece....
I think my highlight of Paros would have to be waking up the entire village at 2am with my excellent rendition of Gwen Steffani cheerleader style at the top of my lungs, followed by a joint group singalong to the Sound of Music.
After that we caught the ferry to Santorini. Santorini is amazing. The huge cliffs and white houses are exactly how you imagine them. Maybe even better. I even managed a cruise and volcano tour with Tammy, Lesley and Jo. Was def a great way to see the island. Our hotel was lovely, complete with swimming pool which we managed to hog.
So after several days in the sun in Santorini it was time to head back to Athens to begin the marathon journey back to Italy. We literally spent about 3 days at sea (with one day's rest in Athens) before we arrived back in Ancona in Italy. Ancona is the port town nearest Rome and my first stop on Busabout and really not much else. Our hotel room did have MTV so we holed up in the rooms watching music tv and dying each others hair. Who said backpacking meant you had let grooming go...?
From Ancona it was onto Roma! Va bene! Rome was amazing. There is literally so much to see and do in Rome, there was no way we could see it all even with 3 full days there. We got to see all the main sites - the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palpatine Hill, the Vatican, St Peters, the Sistine Chapel.... I think our highlight of Rome was the ancient roman ruins Russell Crowe's Aussie Rules field which we discovered at Palpatine Hill and best mushroom pasta ever from the campsite we stayed at. Unfortunately we didnt get to see the new pope but we did go and visit John Paul II's tomb. Oh and I managed to blaspheme inside St Pauls while I was climbing to the top. Go me!
After Rome we went on Busabout's 3 Day Southern Italian Explorer. We stayed in the gorgeous town of Sorrento and got to visit Pompeii and the Isle of Capri and well as drive through the Amalfi coast, one of the most beautiful views in the world we were told. And it was pretty amazing.
After those 3 days it was back to Rome for a quick stop, then we headed off to Florence. Florence of course is Art City. We spent most of our time there visiting (or queuing for) the two main galleries - the Academia, which had Michelangelo's David and the Uffuzi, with Botticelli, Raphael, Rembrandt...etc, etc. We managed to see work by all four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by the end of it.
Our next stop after Florence was Cinque Terre, on the North Eastern coast of Italy, it is made up of 5 small villages, all clinging to the coastal rock. We stayed in the first village Riomaggiore in a lovely little apartment, which was like heaven after a few weeks of hosteling and camping. It is a gorgeous area, another of the most beautiful areas in the world. We spent most of our time hanging at the beach or wandering around the tiny village.
After Cinque Terre, it was finally time for us to say goodbye to Italy. I really enjoyed our time there but I think we must have had enough pasta and pizza to last us for a good ten years. We headed to Nice, France next.
Nice is really cool. The beach resembles Brighton or somewhere in England, but much cleaner and really nice weather. We got to tour around Nice on our favourite method of transport Le Petite Train (which we discovered in New Caledonia so many years ago). Also made sure to hang out at the beach and we had the best ice creams ever from a shop in Nice. They have really bizarre flavours like rose, lavender etc... It was sooo good, better than all the gelati we ate in Italy. .
From Nice it was on to Barcelona in Spain. We spent 2 days in Barcelona and got to see heaps and heaps of Gaudi buildings (Barcelona's most famous architect/designer), stroll down Las Ramblas and even managed to fit in a visit to the Picasso gallery.
After Barcelona it was onto Madrid and the weather just keeps getting hotter the further in Spain we go. We spent 2 sweltering days in Madrid where we visited the two most famous art galleries in Spain and the Real Palace, then it was onto Seville.
Phew, so there you go. More later. Hopefully....
Hmm....where were we? Well we had a pretty chilled week and a bit in Greece. The islands there are gorgeous. The first island, Paros, was pretty much a beach island so that's what we spent most of our time doing. Apart from the odd drinking sesh as well, of course. The hotel we stayed at was this weird old fashioned style hotel, run by a man and his elderly mother. The place was a bit creepy and reminded me of Pyscho meets Agatha Christie in Greece....
I think my highlight of Paros would have to be waking up the entire village at 2am with my excellent rendition of Gwen Steffani cheerleader style at the top of my lungs, followed by a joint group singalong to the Sound of Music.
After that we caught the ferry to Santorini. Santorini is amazing. The huge cliffs and white houses are exactly how you imagine them. Maybe even better. I even managed a cruise and volcano tour with Tammy, Lesley and Jo. Was def a great way to see the island. Our hotel was lovely, complete with swimming pool which we managed to hog.
So after several days in the sun in Santorini it was time to head back to Athens to begin the marathon journey back to Italy. We literally spent about 3 days at sea (with one day's rest in Athens) before we arrived back in Ancona in Italy. Ancona is the port town nearest Rome and my first stop on Busabout and really not much else. Our hotel room did have MTV so we holed up in the rooms watching music tv and dying each others hair. Who said backpacking meant you had let grooming go...?
From Ancona it was onto Roma! Va bene! Rome was amazing. There is literally so much to see and do in Rome, there was no way we could see it all even with 3 full days there. We got to see all the main sites - the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palpatine Hill, the Vatican, St Peters, the Sistine Chapel.... I think our highlight of Rome was the ancient roman ruins Russell Crowe's Aussie Rules field which we discovered at Palpatine Hill and best mushroom pasta ever from the campsite we stayed at. Unfortunately we didnt get to see the new pope but we did go and visit John Paul II's tomb. Oh and I managed to blaspheme inside St Pauls while I was climbing to the top. Go me!
After Rome we went on Busabout's 3 Day Southern Italian Explorer. We stayed in the gorgeous town of Sorrento and got to visit Pompeii and the Isle of Capri and well as drive through the Amalfi coast, one of the most beautiful views in the world we were told. And it was pretty amazing.
After those 3 days it was back to Rome for a quick stop, then we headed off to Florence. Florence of course is Art City. We spent most of our time there visiting (or queuing for) the two main galleries - the Academia, which had Michelangelo's David and the Uffuzi, with Botticelli, Raphael, Rembrandt...etc, etc. We managed to see work by all four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by the end of it.
Our next stop after Florence was Cinque Terre, on the North Eastern coast of Italy, it is made up of 5 small villages, all clinging to the coastal rock. We stayed in the first village Riomaggiore in a lovely little apartment, which was like heaven after a few weeks of hosteling and camping. It is a gorgeous area, another of the most beautiful areas in the world. We spent most of our time hanging at the beach or wandering around the tiny village.
After Cinque Terre, it was finally time for us to say goodbye to Italy. I really enjoyed our time there but I think we must have had enough pasta and pizza to last us for a good ten years. We headed to Nice, France next.
Nice is really cool. The beach resembles Brighton or somewhere in England, but much cleaner and really nice weather. We got to tour around Nice on our favourite method of transport Le Petite Train (which we discovered in New Caledonia so many years ago). Also made sure to hang out at the beach and we had the best ice creams ever from a shop in Nice. They have really bizarre flavours like rose, lavender etc... It was sooo good, better than all the gelati we ate in Italy. .
From Nice it was on to Barcelona in Spain. We spent 2 days in Barcelona and got to see heaps and heaps of Gaudi buildings (Barcelona's most famous architect/designer), stroll down Las Ramblas and even managed to fit in a visit to the Picasso gallery.
After Barcelona it was onto Madrid and the weather just keeps getting hotter the further in Spain we go. We spent 2 sweltering days in Madrid where we visited the two most famous art galleries in Spain and the Real Palace, then it was onto Seville.
Phew, so there you go. More later. Hopefully....
Friday, September 02, 2005
I have a home!
After weeks of staying out at teh phlat(tm Carly) in Acton, I finally moved into my new flat last Saturday. It's a lovely Victorian terrace house in Archway (that's North London)and I have a nice big room with my own huge double bed and wardrobes and drawers and everything. I dont have to live out of a backpack any longer. Excitement!
My flatmates are two very nice, very friendly English girls and we get on pretty well so far. We even managed a night out on Wed for Liz's birthday.
So I'm a Norf London girl now and I'm allowed to moan continously about how useless the Northern Line is.
Sorry still no updates on my trip.....if you're lucky I might challenge myself to backpacking around Europe in 50 words or less.
My flatmates are two very nice, very friendly English girls and we get on pretty well so far. We even managed a night out on Wed for Liz's birthday.
So I'm a Norf London girl now and I'm allowed to moan continously about how useless the Northern Line is.
Sorry still no updates on my trip.....if you're lucky I might challenge myself to backpacking around Europe in 50 words or less.
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