Meeting Of Minds

It’s been a bit quiet on here lately: I haven’t written anything since last Thursday when I found out about the recent infestation of Dutch caterpillars in London… I haven’t written much since then because I’m a bit busy getting ready for my visit to the Lowlands. There’s stuff that I need to buy or collect, there’s clothes to be washed, a suitcase waiting to be packed, DVDs to be burnt, lists to be made and thoughts to be considered…

Here’s where I left off:

Friday June 15: Received an email from Kris, I met him a few weeks ago, who invited me for a drink some day next week. Been on the phone with my aunt for about two hours and probably racked up the phone bill big time… Have been chatting with MvdM. for a while. Worked on my dress and sent out some emails that I forgot to reply to.

Saturday June 16: I’ve been to Lakeside and found myself some cool shoes for the wedding, exactly the right color and only for £6,- so I won’t feel guilty for chucking them out, after the wedding. I bought a gift for DvD. as well; an English football shirt, he will love it. In the evening I went over to MvdM., had dinner with him and W. and got totally pissed drinking a box of wine… *yes I’m bad!* I think me and MvdM. had just over a litre each [there’s 3 litres in a box]. I also got my first Dior item, a really beautiful top… It was a gift from W., he works for Dior, sweet isn’t it?!! I took a cab home at 03.30 in the morning; had a wonderful time.

Sunday June 17: Was a day of rest and hangovers, although it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be, it was fine actually… Does that mean I’m getting adjusted to English customs???? Would that be a good thing or a bad thing?

Monday June 18: Called KB. and agreed to meet up on Tuesday. I’ve finally finished the dress which is a bit of a relief to be honest, didn’t think I would ever finish it… It’s ironed and waiting to be packed. Started another one, I took an old dress apart since it was already slowly starting to deteriorate. Turned it into patterns using newspapers [I couldn’t find tissue paper anywhere], placed it on the fabric and went to bed because it was almost 02.00 in the morning.

Tuesday June 19: Went into town to meet up with Kris at lunchtime, had a coffee at the Lounge bar [High Holborn] and lunch around the corner at Pret a Manger. Picked each other’s brain for quite a while: about an hour and a half. Had fun talking shop! I lend him my Actionscripting book. Back home at 16.00, cut the fabric and started to sew things together. Updated my CV and looked for typos, there were a few still so it’s good to put it aside for a while and have another look at it later [as I did].

Wednesday June 20: CH. called me in the morning to make sure about my flight number. They’ll be picking me up from the airport which is cool, it saves me a journey on the train to the other end of town. I’ll have to go to the storage unit to collect my bicycle and see if it’s still fine, might have flat tyres… We’ve been on the phone for nearly an hour. Again send off some emails I forgot about, I seem to be a bit scatterbrained lately. Received a phone call from my best friend IvS. who was a bit bored and wanted to talk to a friend. She was in Edinburgh on her own, children and husband at home [which is about two hours further down the road], and she had a very bad day so needed to vent. We ended up as usual, wetting our pants with laughter.

Thursday June 21: Burnt some DVDs with a variety of content for a variety of people, some I met recently, others I’ve known for years. Just a tiny contribution to spreading the vibe and hype. I will meet up with Amit after my visit to the Lowlands and receive the last bit of content that I still need… So a little bit of give and take, although I end up offering A. lunch and a drink instead… because I have nothing of his liking I believe, well I asked him but he never responded… Finished my CV; I changed some sentences and sent it off to a few people for proof reading. Worked on the dress for a bit.

So today is Friday: and I still have a large to-do-list [eg sending off snail mail, collecting stuff at the pharmacy, reply to emails, leave some comments on some blogs, pack my case, sort out the laundry etc. etc.] so if you will excuse me, I would like to have it all finished by the end of the day, so I’ll have a relaxed day tomorrow!

Oh and I also need to think and decide about taking my Powerbook or not thanks to Stu who sent me an email [that I still have to reply to] asking me:

“How will you survive with out your Power Book? I thought you eat, drink and sleep CPU (in your own words). You’re not going to go cold turkey during your trip are you?”

Yes I told him, I eat, drink and sleep CPU, which made me realise that I actually AM going cold turkey… the instant effect of that was that I have doubts now whether I should take it along or not and whether I should thank Stu for making me have doubts again, or…

I’m off to the pharmacy…

Later alligator!

Running With The Devil

Well, I haven’t been faffing really. I finally unpacked my G5 because I couldn’t sync my new cellphone with my PowerBook and I was desperate to see if it would work on the G5 and OSX 10.4.7 First it didn’t, then after installing all the updates it finally worked. I’m so happy with all my new gadgets!!! I just need to reorganise today and prepare a new setup because I’m not happy with all the cords and cables running everywhere. I’m going to setup a USB island; a spot on my desk where I will set up all the USB stuff like my printer and scanner. Extra plugged in cords for downloading stuff from my camera or charging my iPod.
AS. gave me a USB hub for xMas and now is the perfect time to start using it. He will also be able to use the printer and scanner this way and he doesn’t have to bother me asking if I would have time to make a scan for him when I’m busy doing my own stuff. So today is a day of reorganising… Tonight we’ll be off to Ikea again to buy a proper desk for AS. and over the weekend we will be busy drilling holes. We still have to attach things, hang up things, arrange things etc. I would like to have pictures on the walls, tidy up the place and make it all a bit more ‘home-like’. Guess I’m just tired from looking at boxes… So I will arrange for a better living condition today.
I started running again this week, forgot to mention it on here. I got up at a quarter to six, yes: 05:45 in the morning, got dressed, had a banana took my little water bottle and ran off to the park. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the neat pedometer to see what the distance was. I was disappointed in myself for forgetting the most important thing. Anyway, there are about 4 football fields next to each other, I think 2×2 or something. They’re situated next to the woodland and people are walking their dogs in this area. I didn’t enjoy running there because you run in circles basically. I did two circles and a bit… So now I’m curious and wondering what the distance would be like… *cow that I am* I wish I would have a nice Vondelpark next door!!! It was smelly but at least it had proper paths and no dogs in the morning.
I wanted to run again this week but I guess I have been exaggerating a bit because the next day and the day after I had severe muscle aches all over my legs. It wasn’t just running that I did that day, I also continued exercising when I came back at home on my Abswing for half an hour without breaks. I learned my lesson well, trust me… I need to get fit again, but I will try to take it slow. When I went to see the GP [doctor] the nurse had to take my weight and length. I was shocked to find out that I had gained about 6,5 kilos. I’m still not fat according to the figures. She checked on my BMI [Body Mass Index] which was good and according to that I’m still healthy and having the perfect ideal average weight for my length.
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If you know your height and weight, you can work out which weight range you’re in, using our BMI calculator. You also need to say whether you are male or female.
These are the weight ranges, set by the World Health Organisation:
If your BMI is less than 18.4 you are underweight for your height.
If your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9 you’re an ideal weight for your height.
If your BMI is between 25 and 29.9 you’re over the ideal weight for your height.
If your BMI is between 30 and 39.9 you’re obese.
If your BMI is over 40 you’re very obese.
If your BMI is over 25 you do need to think about losing weight, otherwise you’re at risk of health problems. If it’s over 30 you need to make some big changes to your lifestyle to get your weight down.
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I just don’t feel like that, I feel bloated and fat. I’ve never been this heavy before and I know it’s due to the meds I have been taking. I stopped taking those so now I need to get back to my normal weight and size. It’s tough but I will get there. Again no more carbs for a while or at least the tiniest amount possible per day. Lots of veggies and fruit and yoghurt in the morning [goats]. I hope I never have to take meds like that again! I never want to be in a situation like that again. Anyway things are a bit complex at the moment but I’m sure after a while I will feel much better about myself. This is basically the first time in my life that I’m on a diet to decrease in weight. I now officially belong to ‘those women’, jeez… What does that mean? Am I in denial about getting older, do I need to change my views on life, accept change in body due to aging, or am I just unfortunate in this particular situation and nagging about the fact that I got a bit bigger? [voice in my head: a bit???? are you out of your mind or something…]
Well I’d better think positive things for now, ignore the little devil on my shoulder and focus on my G5, new D&G cellphone and a nice looking computer room with no clutter nor boxes. When AS. comes home I want it to be done so I’d better get on with it.
And tomorrow morning I will getup at 05.45 and see if I can beat that little bastard… *hehe*