Pain

Ugh. Can't. Walk.

That inner thigh muscle that I almost pulled is now complaining rather loudly to me. I must look like I have a peg leg, lurching along as I walk (because I don't want to use that particular muscle).


Jazz Fusion revisited

I now remember why I nearly dropped Jazz Fusion last year. Last night was painful... really painful. Why does this stuff have to be so darned hard!?!? The class started off fairly well with the standard warm-up technical exercises - scales in all keys at an absurdly fast pace, various five finger exercises in all keys (at medium, fast, and ultra-fast pace), and also mixolydian, whole-tone and altered scales in various keys. And finally improvising round II-V-I progressions in every key, using first triplets, then quadruplets.

We played two jazz fusion pieces by the YellowJackets - "Wisdom" and "Les Is Mo". I only had to impro in "Wisdom" (which was a piece with a 2/2 loose swing feel) - and I totally choked. I just couldn't get into the rhythm of the piece.. it was too fast! And the teacher wanted me to emphasize the off-beat too? I couldn't even find the on beat! :(

This is something thats always been really challenging for me. Rhythm. Like, I'm alright at it (for an asian)... but that really funky, off-beat, syncapated rhythm just doesn't come naturally to me! I can keep in rhythm with a band, and feel a swing or bossa beat fairly well, but when it comes to pushing the boundaries of "being in time" by emphasising off-beats, and pushing and pulling at the time... well, I've got a loooong way to go. And thats not the end of my troubles either... "Les Is Mo" had some incredibly difficult and complex jazz chords, with a "Funky Gospel 1/4 Note Sidestick" rhythm to boot. Ugh!! You try playing this chord progression (to that fast, syncapated timing):

Em7   Db7(#9)   Ebm9/Bb   Ab13(b9)/A   Ab13   G13(#11)   Gbmaj7   Cm11/F

The depressing thing is, the other people in my class are really quite good (except the bass player, thank goodness for him!) We have a drummer, bass player, two guitarists, trumpet player, me on keyboard and my teacher on the baby grand. The guitarists and the trumpet player are really good. I'm playing with some very talented musicians - people who can probably almost make a living from playing music. Our drummer for example, has never played jazz before, and this is his first class at the Con (he moved up from Melbourne recently). But he played in a rock cover band for a few years, doing gigs around the place, and really, he's pretty good... good enough to make half a living out of playing the drums anyway! One thing that was kinda cool - he mentioned that he's looking to perhaps set up a jazz band here in Sydney, and asked if I was interested. Sounds cool huh! But I'm also thinking, I dunno if I'd be good enough.... I wouldn't wanna hold the band up because I can't play stuff. Hm. Still... see how things go. Thats one thing I wanted to start getting out of these classes at the Con - meeting other muso's who would wanna jam and stuff! How cool would that be! :D Looks like I've got a lot of practicing to do - and lots of motivation to do it! :P

Oh, if you wanna hear what sort of music we're playing in our class, you can listen to snippets of the YellowJackets live album "Mint Jam" on their website. Or, you can download an mp3 snippet of "Les Is Mo" in my downloads section.

Current listening :: Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis

Ouchie

Dance class last night was awesome! I'm glad I went. The main routine was soo cool... though very ouchie! It had lots of floor work (which equals lots of bruises on my knees :\). It was also really fast - I almost did my left knee in, and almost pulled/cramped my right inner thigh muscle trying to get my body to do those moves up to speed! Turning, kicking, sliding on the floor... constantly getting up and down on the floor at high speeds is kinda painful! But I didn't hurt myself (permanently anyway) so its all good. :) After two months of not dancing, I was expecting my ability/condition to be worse, but I was actually ok! I managed to master the lyrical and main routine. Yay! :)

Now I just have to let my poor body recover... am sore all over.. my arms, thighs, calves, back, butt... ugh.

Anyway, tonight I start term 2 at the Con - doing a Jazz Fusion class. Should be good.. am looking forward to it! :)


Kitty news

Coltrane is doing very well, settling in quite nicely at home. He very quickly won over my parents and brother. Hehe. My dad spoils him shamelessly now! And he's been allowed to roam around the house when someone is home (though not allowed upstairs, or in certain rooms). He's been a bit naughty at times - whenever we put food on the table (eg for dinner), he'll be straight to the kitchen miaowing piteously. But the worst thing is, he actually jumps onto the kitchen table when nobody is looking, and has eaten out of my brother's unguarded bowl before! Naughty Coltrane! How do I train him to not do that.. just keep using the water spray? Now we lock him in his room whenever we're eating, coz otherwise he won't leave us alone.. always jumping on our laps!

But still, he's adorable. I always pick him up and cuddle him when I get home, and just walk around the house cradling him. :) Last night I took a few more pics of him (he's getting bigger). He looks especially cute lying on my lap, purring away! :D


Current listening :: "If you believe" - Rachel Lampa

Indecisive

Hm. In typical Kazzart-indecisiveness, I can't decide whether to go to dance class tonight, or just gym and go home to watch my newly purchased DVD's. Speaking of which, I bought 2 new dvd's from HMV yesterday! Two for $50 sales rock! I bought X-Men 1.5 and Spiderman collectors edition. Not a bad bargain considering they were originally $39.95 and $45.95!! :D

So back to my dilemma. To dance or not to dance. Hm. I haven't been for soooo long. Nearly 2 months I think! I've always been either busy with something, or just way too tired. Finally I'm not busy tonight... but whether I'm too tired... hmm... I am tired.. but thats not really the question. Its more "Can I drag my lazy arse to two hours of intense jazz dance class when I just feel like veging in front of the telly and/or sleeping?" Hm.

I think I will go to dance class. Yes. Stop being lazy and go dance! ... Indeed.

This post has been brought to you by Kazzart's Inner Monologue ®.

eBay-ed

I just purchased (on ebay) a brand new, still sealed copy of "Sweet Home Alabama" on DVD. Yay! :) I've not eBay-ed for anything since I bought my logitech webcam/digicam. I'd been looking for this DVD in Australia for ages, and couldn't find it anywhere! I don't think its even released here yet (though you can hire it at Video Ezy?) Anyway, I finally resorted to eBay, and bought it from the US for only $15.50 (AU). Not bad eh. :) Now I can eagerly await the arrival of my purchase.

I've been doing a fair amount of online shopping lately. A week or so ago, I bought 2 books from Barnes & Noble online (much cheaper than amazon!!) And I will soon be making another purchase on ChaosDVD.com (Xmen 1.5 on sale!!) Hmm... no more online shopping after this, I promise!

On another note.. I think I'm in need of another clubbing fix. And soon. But where to go...? Anyone know which R&B clubs are good now? Or better yet, anyone know of any R&B events on over the June long weekend?

Current listening :: "Leaving (Always on time pt 2)" - Ashanti

Photos

Recognise these boys? (Hint: A Current Affair last Friday night. Hee.)



How about this handsome young man here. ;)



Those pics were taken at the Matrix Reloaded midnight session. (Which totally rawked by the way! We were on tv! :D If you haven't seen Matrix Reloaded yet... what are you waiting for?? :P)

Also, here are 2 pics I took at the Annandale Hotel, where my friend, Leo's, gig was about a week ago - he's in a band called Ultra Suite. They were pretty good! Look out for their debut album "Confess It All" later this year! Oh, and I saw Jamie, lead singer from Bluebottle Kiss at the gig.. (coz he's friends with the John, lead guy in Ultra Suite who used to play with Bluebottle Kiss).. that was kinda cool.

More piano!

I've just signed myself up for another term at the Conservatorium of Music's Jazz Outreach Program. Last term I did jazz performance groups (playing typical jazz standards in a small band), which was good and quite helpful, but I felt it wasn't pushing me enough. It was good for ear training, coz our teacher did heaps of that (playing us a wierd jazz chord and making us tell him exactly what sort of chord it was (eg minor 7 #9 b5), but not so much on the practical side of playing scales and modes, pushing at our technical fluency. I mean it was still practical and helped me solidify my improvisation and comping, but I guess I wanted something a bit more challenging (esp since our bass player wasn't very.. erm.. good.. and we had to stop and hold his hand through a lot of fairly basic things).

So this term I'll be doing jazz fusion again (I did this class about a year ago). And though I found the class *really* challenging, and at times incredibly frustrating (coz I just couldn't do it!) - it really pushed me and improved my playing ability. Nick (our teacher) made us do really fast scales, modes, and technical finger exercises in all 12 keys every week! I just hope I have improved since a year ago... even if just a little bit. The problem is I don't really practice much coz I don't have time... so I don't improve much. *sigh* Too much to do, not enough time.

Sometimes I wonder about my piano playing. Is it worth me doing all these classes, spending all this money, time, effort on trying to improve.. I mean, sometimes I wonder if I just don't have it.... If I just don't have talent, like, maybe I'm kidding myself, and really, my piano playing is pretty crap. Oh, I know I'm fairly competent in a church enviroment, playing really easy worship songs, but when it comes to harder stuff, when it comes to being able to really feel rhythm and syncopation, being able to improvise whilst comping with my left hand, being able to make music, to play with flair, or even just play by ear... I dunno... it seems to come so much easier for other people. Esp that rhythm/syncopation thing. *sigh* I'm still trying to shake off the asian thing of playing on "1" and "3"... but maybe I can't. Maybe its just me and the limit of my ability.

/rant

Hm.. sorry for the rant. It's something that comes into my mind every so often. You know, in some ways, I think that sometimes its my insecurity that gets in the way of my playing... not just my ability (or lack thereof :P)... but its because I'm afraid to play, and let go.. afraid to make a mistake, I hold back and play really tentatively sometimes, which is not what playing is about. Maybe thats why guys tend to make better musicians a lot of the time. They're better at "putting out" (as Andrew puts it).

But then again, I think its not just that... I'm not always conciously holding back... sometimes I'm trying really hard, but it feels like something is blocking my way. (Musicians-block? :P) I can't let go... and I usually need to warm up for a while before I can do so and really play. Same goes with dancing/clubbing - takes me a while to loosen up. :) Or anything to do with performance. Hm. Interesting. What an uptight scaredy-cat I am! :P

Current listening :: Mint Jam - Yellowjackets

The Scientist

Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you, tell you I need you
And tell you I set you apart
Tell me your secrets, and nurse me your questions
Oh lets go back to the start
Running in circles, coming in tails
Heads on a science apart

Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start

(Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with my current relationship!)

Current listening :: "The Scientist" - Coldplay

Miaow!

Yep. I've picked up my kitten (I decided on the name Coltrane). He is absolutely adorable!!! He's quite settled in his new home (the downstairs bathroom that nobody uses). He had no trouble using the kitty litter, and has endless amounts of fun playing with scrunched up bits of paper (cheap toys!), chasing his own tail, or trying to bat at the bell on his collar! So funny to watch, he's the cutest kitten! And he is so affectionate too.. he loves being with people, and having people pay attention to him. Whenever I enter his room, he always comes over to me, miaows at me and rubs against my leg and my foot, purring all the while. :D Oh, and he loves to climb up and sit on my lap. :)

Of course its not fun and games for me all the time. He has at times pounced on, and tried to climb up my leg(!) when I wasn't paying attention to him. And at times he starts to bite or claw at my clothing. Its not too bad yet, but I don't want him to make a habit out of it. Anyone got any tips on how to train a cat to behave and not use you as a scratching post or toy to bite on?

Anyway, I'm home alone tonight. Just a been having a relaxing night, cooking myself dinner, playing with Coltrane. This is the first Sat night I've been home in... aaages! It feels wierd.. like I'm thinking, is something wrong? Hehe. Well I don't mind being home now, coz it gives me time to play with Coltrane. Speaking of which..... :)

[Added: 11:15pm]
Here are some photos I just took of Coltrane! Isn't he adorable! (Click on photos for larger version.)

"I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it.."

Man. I can't stop thinking about tomorrow! I'm picking up my kitty tomorrow! Yay! Last night, not only did I dream about kitty again, I had trouble getting to sleep and kept waking up during the night. I'm even in a hurry to get tonight out of the way so that it can be tomorrow! Though, I'm pretty excited about tonight too. I'm going to see The Matrix Reloaded midnight session at Fox Studios tonight! Woohoo!

Ah.. its too much excitement for me. I wanna go home now so I can start getting ready for kitty's arrival!

Soon-to-be proud owner of....

My very own kitten!!! I went to the pet shop last night and put a deposit on kitty. There was a minor disappointment - the kitten was a different one to the one I thought it was going to be. The female, medium-haired one I saw on Saturday was actually sold on Sunday. This one is a male domestic shorthair cross russian blue. Its got a thick, soft coat of grey with a smattering of silver/white tips. Its really quite handsome, cute, and slightly more active and playful than the female.

I was really indecisive at the pet store, calling numerous friends and asking their opinion. I was afraid that as a male cat, it was going to be more aggressive/scratchy and less affectionate. But the pet store owner said that males tend to be more loving and affectionate, and also that it really depends on the cat and how it's raised. Also they said the male aggressiveness should pretty much be neutralized once its been desexed.

I'm picking him up on Friday! I soo can't wait! I feel like a kid again, waiting for christmas day! I can't stop thinking about kitty! I haven't been this excited about anything in a long time. I even dreamt about him last night! :D

So to important matters. What should I name him? Since I thought I was gonna get a female cat, the names I had in mind were either Ella (as in Ella Fitzgerald), or Ellie, or Misty. But now that its a male, I've had to rethink. The names I've come up with so far are:

• Coltrane (as in after John Coltrane :))
• Davis (as in Miles Davis)
• Misty (its a unisex name right?)

What do people think? Any other ideas? I wanted something with a musical reference.


Legendary Creature


You are an angel.
What legend are you?. Take the Legendary Being Quiz by Paradox

Hmm. An angel eh... 0:-)

I've got heaps of work to do at work at the moment. Ugh. Yeh, yeh, I know what you're all thinking.. bet you're looking outside for the blue moon. :P Anyway, so what am I doing blogging? Erm... *cough*

Current listening :: "People Everyday" - Arrested Development

Musical moments

Ahh.. its so good to be able to listen to musicals. Where would we be without them? :) I've been listening to my Jekyll and Hyde soundtrack all morning. Its so easy to lose yourself in these songs, and their anguished lyrics. (I don't understand how anyone can not love them!) *sigh*

I've even put up (in the Downloads secion) the lyrics from some of songs I'm listening to currently.

• Once Upon A Dream (Jekyll & Hyde)
• A New Life (Jekyll & Hyde)
• No One Knows Who I Am (Jekyll & Hyde)
• In His Eyes (Jekyll & Hyde)
• Someone Like You (Jekyll & Hyde)
• I Know Him So Well (Chess)

The hunt for kitty

I went to the pet store yesterday, leaving work early so I could make it there before 6pm - I had arranged to meet the store manager before 6 to put a deposit on kitty and she promised me she'd wait till I arrived before leaving. So, I got there at about 5:50pm and she wasn't there! The store was closed, lights off and everything. I was quite disappointed and not happy Jan!

Anyway I just called them today (a different person is working), but I arranged again to go in to put a deposit on kitty. I also found out that she's the only grey kitten left! Man, I'm glad that I told them yesterday to put a hold on her - I didn't really think they'd sell so quickly!

Current Listening :: "I Know Him So Well" - Chess

Kitty kitty!

I'm gonna get a kitten!!!!! :D

Well, I've gotten the dreaded asian parents' permission anyway! I'm going to be visiting the pet store to look at (and possibly put on hold) this really cute grey kitten I played with on Sat. Its domestic medium hair, with a bit of russian blue in it.

This is so cool! I've wanted a kitten my whole life... ever since I was a little girl. And I still go crazy over any cat (or dog) I see. Finally I get to have one of my very own. :)

Randomness

I went to a singing lesson today, first time.... this year!! I've been meaning to go (since it started up again after Xmas/NY break), but something always seemed to get in the way. Anyway, it was fun! I've missed singing those beautiful and anguished musical songs.. like "Movie In My Mind" from Miss Saigon (the song I always warm up my voice to.. for some reason it always helps me find my "ladder"), "When I Look At You" from The Scarlet Pimpernel, or "In His Eyes" - a beautiful female duet from Jekyll and Hyde. *sigh* Singing musicals is so much fun. :)

Tonight we had our first SaltLight dinner/information night. We had two sneak preview performances of songs from the upcoming CD, which went very well I must say. (You guys sounded great!) If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go visit the newly completed SaltLight website! :)

Tomorrow for Mother's Day, I'm gonna be cooking my mum lunch. :) I'll be cooking (Vron's special recipe of) chicken/tomatoey pasta. Its yummm! I kinda want to show my new-found culinary skills to my mum. Having had a decent amount of experience now, cooking pasta and other dishes (either for myself, Andrew, or friends), I think I'm ready to unleash my cooking on my parents. :P Hope they'll like it!

Giant catfish?

Oh. My. Gosh.

Take a look at this catfish... its.. scary! Gives me the creeps!!! *shudder*


Clicky to get the full glorious view


What a girl wants

On Tuesday evening, I met up with a girlfriend and we watched "What a girl wants". Heh. Despite some initial misgivings, I ended up really liking the movie. Its very girly, very american and just a tad clichéd, but, I liked it more than "How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days".. it was just very sweet and nice, with a lovely touch of romance. And its got Colin Firth in it! *sigh* :) Its quite soppy too (the father-daughter kind of soppiness), and I found myself a bit teary in parts. *ahem*

While I'm reviewing this movie, I might as well review others I've seen in the past week or so. Its been quite a movie-filled week. I saw "How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days" last week on Tuesday, which was good.. pretty funny. :) I don't like Matthew McConaughey, but I like Kate Hudson. She still had that presence on screen in this movie.. like in Almost Famous.

I also saw X Men 2 (again) on Saturday night. It was good having a better seat, a great view of the huge cinemaxx screen. Slight spoiler ahead: Interestingly, I didn't cry at the end the first time I watched it (though I felt like it), but I did this time. *sigh* Anyway, now I CAN'T WAIT TILL MATRIX RELOADED COMES OUT!! I'm gonna be seeing the midnight session on Thurs 15th. Woohooooo!!! :D

Current listening :: "In The Club" - 50 Cent

And the girliness continues..

I went to a Napoleon make-up master class today (which Napoleon himself took)! Held from 12-2pm at Grace Bros, it was part of this special promotion thing they're doing this week. It costed $40, BUT we got a $40 gift voucher for Napoleon products, which is cool, coz I wanted to get some anyway! It was such a fluke that I went to this class, coz I just happened to be walking thru GBs on the way to work, and I stopped at the Napoleon counter briefly to look at some stuff and they told me about it, and so it was on impulse I decided to sign up for it!

The class was really good! I learnt heaps, and took copious notes whilst Napoleon step by step demonstrated how to make up a face on a model. (She was quite pretty.. blonde.. and only 17!?!) I looooooved how he did her eyes. It looked awesome. Smokey, yet subtle. He used some pretty interesting colours too. I typed up my notes in Word when I got back.. do ppl want me to post the file for viewing?

Anyway, after the class, I got the chance to talk to Napolean and have him make up my face. (How cool is that!) He used some rather interesting colours.. like lime green (not fluro.. but a medium toned shade.. like wasabi :))!! I've never used any green makeup before.. I don't even wear green clothing! But it turned out really nice. Its a very japanese look he says.. great on asians. Then he used a salmon coloured shadow to highlight, and a touch of midnight blue eyeliner (he also used a bit inside the eyelid in the corners.. which I would never normally do, but the effect was very nice and not nearly as irritating/itchy as I thought it would be!), and of course some mascara too. Then he finally added gloss on my lips, and bronzer on the "3rd dimension" of my face. And voila... the end effect was really nice! Happy was I. :)

So I ended up buying the green and salmon eye shadow, and midnight blue eyeliner (coz it looks so cool!) Also a lip gloss, this special limited primer & foam cleanser/makeup remover (comes out as foam and smells like marshmallows!) pack on sale, and the "Camera finish" powder foundation.



Oh and I also bought that Delta Goodrem cd afterall. It was a limited edition pack with bonus dvd is my excuse! :P

Current listening :: Innocent Eyes - Delta Goodrem

Friday Five - Music Edition

1. Name one song you hate to admit you like.

Erm. I'm kinda into the Delta Goodrem song, "Lost Without You", at the moment. (Oh the shame!) Its kinda pathetic but I'm so easily suckered in by a pretty face, and the whole well-marketed, feminine/girly persona. I like my girly girl singers (like Britney Spears, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson.. see a pattern here?)

2. Name two songs that always make you cry.

1. "I'll Forget You" by Frank Wildhorn & Nan Knighton (from the musical "The Scarlet Pimpernel". When I first sang this at singing lessons, I.. well.. couldn't... because of the big lump in my throat that developed as I read the lyrics. Other songs from this musical are equally as heart-breaking.. eg "Now When The Rain Falls" and "When I Look At You").
2. "Someday We'll Know" by Mandy Moore and Jonathan Foreman or "If You Believe" by Rachel Lampa (both from "A Walk To Remember") - actually this doesn't make me cry anymore, but it does stir emotions/memories from that movie. *sigh*

There are quite a few other depressing songs I could name... like the whole "Revenge Is Slow" album by Bluebottle Kiss, "For Martha" - Smashing Pumpkins, Something For Kate's stuff, "No Aphrodisiac" - The Whitlams. Though, I've only ever cried to that last one - "No Aphrodisiac" - and thats probably coz I was depressed at the time.

3. Name three songs that turn you on.

Errr.. I dunno about "turning me on", but these songs are quite sexy and good to dance to!

1. "Pony" by Ginuwine
2. "Too Close" by Next
3. "My neck, my back" by Khia OR "Freak Me" by Silk (depending on if I want a party song or slow jam)

4. Name four songs that always make you feel good.

Hmm. This is hard... there's too many of them! (Hee.. can anyone guess where that line is from? :P)

1. "Underground" by Ben Folds Five (actually, any Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five song!)
2. "Close To You" by The Carpenters (or other classics by Burt Bacharach, such as "Do you know the way to San hose" *sigh*)
3. "Back and Forth" by Aaliyah, or "Time To Party" by Craig David or "Only You" by 112 ft Notorious BIG (any R&B party anthems really... anything that makes me feel like clubbing/dancing)
4. "Dream A Little Dream", the Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong version (or other jazz/swing stuff by Ella Fitzgerald, Miles David, Bill Evans etc)

5. Name five songs you couldn't ever do without.

Um. I dunno if I can be bothered answering this one. I've already answered more than enough for the previous 4 questions. (Me and my verbal diarhhoea.)


Yay for girliness! :)

I've been feeling so girly lately! Have been submerging myself in girly things... listening to all my girly girl songs, watching "chick flicks" with girlfriends.. I even picked up an old "Sweet Dreams" teen romance book last night to read (ok, I admit I used to read "Sweet Dreams" stuff when I was in high school.. *embarrassed look* - its probably one of the reasons I'm so into romantic comedies now).

*sigh* Its so... good... to get back into girly girl schtuff. Ooh, and speaking of girl schtuff, I'm gonna see "What A Girl Wants" tonight with a girlfriend. Its got Colin Firth in it! Yay! :)

Current listening :: "Lost Without You" - Delta Goodrem

"I awake to find no peace of mind.."

Been feeling a bit... alone... or lonely... (is there a difference?) of late. Trying to put this feeling into words.. I guess I just don't feel like I'm really connecting with anyone at the moment.. and that makes me feel alone. Perhaps its the busyness of life, perhaps my life has started to become one big responsibility after another.. without much time to relax and.. fellowship, I guess the word is. Maybe its all starting to weigh down on me.

I never wanted to be one of those people that I looked at when I was younger.. you know, the excessively busy leader types, where if you ever wanted to meet up with them, they'd have to book you into their diary weeks in advanced. Where their life was filled with one meeting after another.. one church activity after another. If its not bible study prep, its cellgroup, or leaders meeting, or a music practice, or a different meeting, or meeting a friend.. or.... I wonder if it is a bad thing or not to live like this. Bah. Stupid whingy rant. And its not even that time of the month.


Other randomness

I've said this before, and I'll say it again, for some reason I love being at work after hours. From about 6ish onwards, most or all people have left the office, and its nice here.. peaceful and quiet. I have my (pentium 4) computer, almost full net access, good food, my discman... what more could one ask for. :P Bah, I'm a geek, I know.

Another thing I love at the moment (besides Andrew :P) is.... gourmet cream cheese (with garlic & herb.. though I'm making do with onion & chives atm) and warm crusty turkish bread. Mmmmmm..... :P~ Also, I'm still hooked on Campbell's Country Ladle "Homestyle Chicken & Pasta" soup (thanks to Vron for introducing us last winter :P). Seriously.. its sooooo yummy. The best canned soup I've ever had. Also, I've recently discovered Cadbury's Velvet Chocolate hot chocolate. Whats so special about this hot chocolate? Well, for starters, its not powdered stuff - its actually real dark chocolate flake curls, which you melt into your milk. Mmm.... soo rich and chocolatey. Even just eating the chocolate bits is yum. I have yet to try them on ice-cream though. :)

Why all this talk about food. Hmm.. I dunno. I think I must be experiencing withdrawal symptoms from not being able to eat properly this past week (coz of my mouth ulcer). But, it's finally on the mend.. I can even eat most foods without it hurting anymore! Yayyyy! :) I never realised how important it was to me to be able to eat yummy food!!

Current listening :: "Don't panic" - Coldplay

B-Z

Life is very busy at the moment, so appologies for the lack of updates. Over the past few days, work has decided to dump a whole heap of stuff on me - I'm currently developing a brand spankin' new AAP CS website, plus the AAP website is about to undergo an overhaul... so they tell me. I still have yet to do my bible study for this Friday (though I've started on the preparation) - I'm gonna take the girls through Colossians this term, basing the studies on the Matthias Media book "The Complete Christian" (I hope its not gonna be too hard for them to understand.. what do you ppl reckon?).


My very own cyber-home

Guess what, I bought myself some hosting (to be shared with Fjord and Nate)! Woohoo!! :D I'm gonna have a real web site now, instead of this piecemeal one with pages all over the place. I already have a domain name and everything, and over the last few days, I've been trying to set stuff up. I've also been slowly copying files across, setting up my cgi scripts etc etc. It's gonna take a while, especially since I'm busy at work now, and my computer at home decided to cark it (had to reinstall win2000, and all the drivers and probably most of the programs... grrrr... lucky my OS is on a separate drive so all my data is still intact).

Anyway, so thats what I've been up the past few days. I'll let you know the new web site address when its all ready. Who knows, I might even try a new design with the move. (Depending on how much time I have.. so no promises ok!)

Oh, and my "hot air" is slowly getting better. About &@$* time!!! Its taken almost a week.... a week of pain.. *dramatic sigh* :\

Current listening :: Parachutes - Coldplay