Just been smurfing a little

Just been smurfing a little as I have a bit of slack over lunch and a desk now too. So wandered on over to rateyourself.com and took their groups personality quiz. I always like to see how these things pan out – every test you take seems to make you something else. Although my previous employer had a test during the interview process and I have a copy of the results and it was scarily accurate down to exactly my management style, how I like to be managed, how I perceive myself and my team. Anyways I digress but then you are reading it and no one is forcing you to…
It turns out from this particular test that I am a diplomat – which most of my work colleagues could have told me without me having to fill out the form for the test!
“Sometimes leading, sometimes following, you choose your positions wisely according to the situation at hand.” I know this is why it takes me an hour to get around tesco’s anyway.

I am feeling kind of home sick today – well not really but I would like to be at home and relaxing rather than have to go back to the hotel again. I am getting so used to being in the hotel that the other night I took my shoes off whilst sitting in the conservatory bar and had a drink or too. Wandered off to the elevators later carrying my shoes and only when I was in the elevator and some woman glared at me I realised I was actually in a hotel not my lounge and other people may not take too kindly to my walking around in socks.
Another sign that I have been staying in a hotel too long is I have all but forgotten what cash looks like – I keep charging things to my room. I looked for a card to open the car too [i’m kiddiing with that last one] seriously though it would be kind of nice to not have to worry about keys :o)
It seems like I am the only constant out here at the moment, since dave, dave, dave and hugh left and then danielle and mags arrived and left and sheena and rachel and shaun have arrived and then rachel and shaun are leaving and graham is arriving – I am feeling kind of spaced out – but am getting to know a lot [an awful lot] about my work colleagues.
I have suggested to my boss that we move into DC for friday and saturday and stay at the park hyatt again as it was such a nice hotel – she thinks this would be a nice idea but I am thinking I may just change my flights and come home on friday or saturday night rather than stay in DC and then have to fly sunday and go into work first thing monday after a flight.
Also going to be flying to Dublin next wednesday night too so may need a day [or two] before work on monday to try and get used to new time zone, my flat, the flatmate etc….
That actually is the only thing I am not missing – the flatmate that is 😉 missing jack though – bought him a little bandana and some chew toys from Old Navy the other day – resisted the twee doggy tee shirts with ON branding though.

I have had to buy a new bag to put all my purchases in – spent a lot at abercrombie natch and also bought some DVD’s and books and picked up a few items for friends and colleagues who asked me and of course some GAP scents for andrew since they stopped selling it in the UK ages ago. Oh and some AOL branded goodies too for people back home who think it is cool since they do not work for the company. In fact so much so I had to check today on the Virgin Atlantic website what my baggage allowance was – I think I may have used my 70 kilos [32 kilos per bag x 2 plus 6 kilos for hand baggage] – which is kind of scary when you consider it. but since I am only 59.8 kilos myself I reckon I should be allowed more baggage allowance than everyone else :o) Either that or I will just beg to be upgraded to Upper Class who do not seem to have to worry about baggage limits…

okay well we ended up

okay well we ended up out on saturday night and took dave to his first gay restaurant, pub and club all in one night :o)
We had a really nice dinner and then went to JR‘s and finally to Badlands which was alright actually. Had a very fun night but another one with way too much alcohol. Finally got back to the hotel at 4am and carried on drinking. So check out on Sunday was bad :o(
We went into Georgetown for brunch Dave, Scally, Max and myself it was a really nice relaxed coffee and food in the Starbucks Cafe within Barnes & Noble.
Scally and Max then went off to the airport to catch their flight home. Unfortunately the flight was delayed [as somehow scally always manages to be on a delayed flight with a medical emergency] but hopefully they made it back home safely.

In other news the register picked up the story about our office in the UK having no clocks today

jack is feeling a little

jack is feeling a little better he wanted to go for a walk – which I took as a good sign. He had his second set of tablets for today and some more fluids and then a little boiled fish. something bland the vet said “a little boiled fish or chicken”. I couldn’t bring myself to boil chicken
So I missed Meg‘s birthday soiree because he was not well. Shame cos I wanted to grill Dave-o about his chicken :o)
It’s cold and wet in the UK and I do not like it :o( bring back the need for air conditioning I say!

okay well I am back

okay well I am back in London now after the two 8 hour flights yesterday. Melatonin is a fantastic invention. Woke up sleepy [thanks scally for that call] and took Jack out for a walk – he was very happy to see me. I was very happy to see him. Pets they are fab no expectations and they are always happy to see you!
Well I arrived back to the flat like a sauna Elric had managed to leave the heating on manually full for the past 3 weeks so all my plants are a little dead or brown around the edges. The food that I left him in the Fridge before I left was unfortunately still in the fridge [and growing some new life forms] and anything that had been used up was lying around empty. So no coffee or washing powder then :o(
Luckily Andrew had brought me home with Jack and got an indian takeaway so at least we had something to eat!

I am not sure if I am missing Singapore [the company especially] or Sydney [the place and the atmosphere] more. All I know is it has strengthened my resolve to leave the UK for a while. I am going to be asking for that job in Oz with AOL and see what happens. It would only be an eight hour flight to my brother in Singapore then too. Unfortunately Naz will have moved to NY by then – not to worry I’ll be likely visiting Ny more frequently now that hotel expenses have vanished I do like wandering around manhattan. Not sure if I could live there though it’sa ll a bit too hectic like London. Sydney had a much more relaxed pace. Yes I know I was on holiday but you know what I mean.
Met up with Naz a couple more times before I left Singapore and he met the in laws he joined us for dinner on Thursday night. So all in all it was a very relaxing extra couple of days and I’m so glad I did not try and do all the trip in one day. Yesterday was bad enough. We sat and discussed last night how it was like flying to the states and sitting in the airport for a couple of hours and then flying home again . And it felt like it too. The first trip Singapore to Bahrain was made bearable by meeting a lovely boy Mahmoud from Beirut. He had the most piercing blue eyes and was generally a really nice – but a bit str8.
The trip from Bahrain to London had the little screens and games and films so that was alright. Shame I had managed to buy more in Bahrain Duty Free!

So I had better go and do some washing and buy some food and act generally depressed :o(

still in sunny hot singapore

still in sunny hot singapore
hey well this having fun thing is turning out to be quite tiring lol.
okay so sunday I managed to fit in Changi Point – a lovely stretch of beach which wasn’t that busy actually – after of course another coffee bean breakfast – too much of a good thing [never]. also managed to go and do some shopping with Alec and Linda and erm ended up at Ikea. Yeah I know. Ikea in Singapore well it wasn’t actually that bad but hey makes you realise just how global marketing works. The main difference here is that Ikea is not on an industrial estate miles from anywhere and it also has a burger king and other stores in the same building. A concept hard to grasp when you have seen Ikea in action in the UK.
Today [monday] Alec phoned in sick [well actually he was kind of ill] and he and linda went to the doctors whilst i caught up on my plans for the week and watched a travel programme about sydney. They came back with enough pills and potions that I thought they may be seriously ill. They like their pills out here – which is strange for a country that kills drug traffickers.
Discovered also today that had I brought in the gum I had in my bag and the book on my bedside table I would have broken two laws here. One is no gum – possessing it is fine chewing or importing are a big no no. And the book on my bedside cabinet – philosophy of the boudoir [marquis de sade] is banned here so importing it is illegal too. Good job I opted for memoirs of a geisha instead! which is excellent by the way – highly recommend it – haven’t been able to put it down much.
this morning we went to a food court and had some more lovely food. I could seriously move out here – food and heat lovely.
Also went to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to walk in the rainforest. Singapore is one of two cities in the world enclosing a rainforest – Rio de Janiero being the other. So I thought I better take advantage of it whilst I was here.
Also went and bought some tourist tat – not too much but I promised to bring sprogg something home. Ooh and had more lovely food too and a luck cup drink thing with wierd little black balls of goo at the bottom – not v. impressed but hey possibly that is because I nearly choked when they hit the back of my throat whilst i was sucking hard on my straw.
So gonna go try calling Naz now and see if we can arrange to meet and sort out the night safari – go look at the site [linked last post] it looks fantastic.

Last night I attended the

Last night I attended the launch of the RNIB‘s See it Right campaign. One of the reasons I attended was because web designers should take responsibility to ensure everyone, regardless of ability or disability, can read their designs. RNIB recommends use of WAI’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. When you realise that 1.7 million people in the UK have difficulties seeing it makes sense to ensure your audience is able to view your work.

Well having Elric staying is

Well having Elric staying is turning my life into a soap opera at the moment. Okay so it may not be as bad as meg and luke‘s flat yet but tensions are mounting.
Okay so it is cold as f**k outside and the heating has only just switched on [erm because someone has managed to move the timer dial] and the flat is a little chilly when Elric pipes up “Why am I always so cold in the morning?” – erm possibly because it is minus 5 and you are wearing a f**king tee shirt. I mean come on I know you can wear tee shirts in South Africa all year round but in the UK we tend to go for something a little warmer when it’s winter.
Coupled with the fact that he seems incapable of leaving the office unless I physically go and invite him home. Last night he trundled in at around 11 asking why I had left without him. Erm could that be because we finish at 6pm every night and go for the 6:15 train every night and I just assumed he would join the rest of us on our merry way without prompting? erm….

I love it when you

I love it when you click on a link and just can’t help reading the entire contents of the page. The BBC seem to have a knack of that. Their article on buzzwords is a really good read when you get a minute. I especially like “Virtual teamworking. Does that mean people are not really there, or are they not really working? ” Sam Parker, England I may start a virtual blog… erm to stop me from working… erm… oh right yeah scally already thinks I do little enough as it is.
Time for a massage and a bite to eat me thinks.