halloween 2007

You know its Halloween when…

Saw this HUUUUGGGGE pumpkin on our outing last weekend. So big!

I wonder how many dishes we can make with the insides of it?

Pumpkin soup.Pumpkin pie.
Pumpkin muffin.Pumpkin cake.Pumpkin pudding.
Pumpkin tart.Pumpkin pickle.Pumpkin risotto.
Pumpkin cheesecake.Pumpkin salad.
Pumpkin pasta.Pumpkin lasagne.
Pumpkin ravioli.Pumpkin enchiladas.
Pumpkin mash.Pumpkin scones.Pumpkin curry.

What a list! You'll be so pumpkin-fied after all those dishes. Of course in my most crudest way of saying 'eat pumpkin until you puke!'

And even pumpkin halwa! As well as Pumpkin, Rum and Raisin Ice Cream!!!

I wonder how it would be. I love Love LOVE my Rum and Raisin Ice Cream. But with pumpkin??! Hmmm… I wonder. Must make it one day then.

Last year I sort of got dressed as a witch. Sort of, because it was just black top, black skirt, black ballet pumps and a witches hat (which I have two and not sure what am I going to do with two!).
And I said if I have to get dressed this year, I may just dressed as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz because I have a pair of really nice red shinny shoes.

But I doubt I will be dressing up or doing anything tonight.

One. I’m not prepared.

Two. I couldn’t be ars*d.

Oh well…

Since I’m going into town tonight to buy Tommy Emmanuel’s ticket, I may just drop in one of the shops or supermarkets to pick up some sweeties just in case someone come knocking at my door.

Yup. I have a door with public access. Hmmm… -_-

Should I be a scrooge and pretend I’m not home. Hmmm…

And then end up eating the sweets myself, say if I pretend I’m not home or nobody actually comes a-knocking. Hmmm…

Not that I don’t have a supply either. Hmmm…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOLKS!

concert!!!

After seeing TOH off at Buchanan bus station I headed off to Borders for my continued book shopping, even though we were there the day before.

Just after I crossed the road to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, I thought 'why not have look at that poster there (highlighting events in Glasgow)?'

As I looked at the various upcoming performance, guess what I saw?!!!

Tommy Emmanuel in Concert!!! Wednesday, 14th November 2007, 7:30pm at City Hall!

OMG.omg.OMG.omg.OMG. O.M.G.!!!!!

The last time I saw him in concert was in 1998, when he was performing in KL at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (Petronas Philharmonic Hall).

I have MarcusKhoo to thank for though. I think without him I probably wouldn't have known about Tommy Emmanuel. Wait.a.minute. It could be MelvynKhoo. Hmmm... *deep thoughts*

On the safe side, let's just say one (or maybe both) of the Khoo brothers that told us (the rest of the lot) about Tommy performing in KL.

But just before that I have been listening to some of Tommy's music, again, stirred by the one of them (goodness!!! I have a strong feeling it was Melvyn). Whichever one of you, please do not come and strangle me for not remembering exactly who... I'm trying very hard to remember...

Anyways, I remembered there was quite a small group of us that went. If my memory serves me right, we went for a guitar workshop and then the concert later that evening.

Right after the guitar workshop, I remembered going into the then Salem Power Station to buy his The Journey album for his autograph session.

I still have the signed copy of the album back home aaaaannnnddd the group of us even have a group picture taken with him!

As much as I am a fan of his works, the only other album of his that I have is (hey, his albums don't come cheap!) The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World, his works with Chet Atkins. I think it must be the album cover that got me buying it in the first place.

Anyways, after not following his works for a long time, it was somewhat interesting to see his pic on the poster with his greying hair, after all he is this cool and talented dude even at the age of 55! And the last time I saw him was almost 10 years ago!!!


So I went to look for his tickets online. When I was searching for the tickets I can't remember where was it going to be held, so I did a general search 'Tommy Emmanuel Glasgow'.

And then I clicked on the website, World Ticket Shop and guess how much the tickets were? It was £100 (€145) a pop!!! I was like wtf O_o?!!

Unsatisfied, I tried googling 'Glasgow Concert Halls'. And then I found the tickets here, only at £14.50.

What a difference!

I want to go and buy my ticket in person so that I can choose the seats and it doesn't really say online if it is £14.50 for any seats or starting from.

Oh well, wish me luck!

*Updated Wedensday 31st October*
So I finally managed to go into the boxoffice at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to buy the tickets. It was £14.50 for any seat. So that's me sorted for Tommy Emmanuel's concert on the 14th. Now I need to update my Outlook Calendar!!! Wooohoooo..........!!!!!

shopping weekend

As usual TOH and I had another wonderful weekend.

Weekends are the only time we get to spend with each other. As much as the both of us wished it could be longer, other life commitments such as work, as well as distance, keeps us apart during the week.

Two weekends ago, we had a cultural weekend, which I will probably blog about it by end of this week, hopefully.

This weekend was a shopping weekend.

How can we not indulge in the activity that puts Weegieland 'The' place for shopping in the whole of Scotland?! Even if we haven't get paid.

Auld - Great Western Road
Our first stop after getting off the bus was to this bakery. I was in the mood for treats. I got a fudge donut and TOH got a rice crispies.

Ever since SR introduced Fisher & Donaldson's Fudge Donut, I have been going around trying various fudge donuts to find the ones that are better that it. So far, nothing can compare to Fisher & Donaldson's. Too bad Fisher & Donaldson is only available in Dundee and St Andrews. Need to get SR to bring a supply when TOH and him are down in a few weeks time.

Caledonia Books - Great Western Road
Our main reason to get off on Great Western Road was to go and have a look at this book shop. This is a second hand book shop that specialise in antiquarian books and quality second hand books.

I think this must be one of my first proper second hand book browsing experience, I think. I bought Autobiography of a Geisha all too typical with my love for autobiography. TOH bought four books from there.

Costa - Great Western Road
We then had a quick take away drinks: Mocha for me and Tea for TOH.

Felix & Oscar - Great Western Road
Walking past this shop to the bus stop how can we or at least I resist not to go in there?! Nice shop with interesting things for gift, interesting homeware by Alessi too!

Alessi have like the coolest stuff around. This caught my attention. So christmassy. Nice.


After a little browsing in Felix and Oscar, we then jumped on the bus and head into town. Our next stop...

Marks and Spencer - Sauchiehall Street
Our favourite store. Which actually is now our second favourite store because we found Peckhams during our Cultural Weekend. TOH needed to get some clothes for his alternate weekend home and I needed some additional work clothes. Nonetheless we still spend quite a bit of time browsing here.

As we continued our shopping trip, we stepped into Schuh (Sauchiehall Street) to have a wee browse since TOH is on the prowl for new trainers. When I mean on the prowl, it was more like 'it's been a few weeks since he first wanted a new pair and still have not get it'. hehehehe...

Apple Retail Store - Buchanan Street
We then have a short stopover here. Very impressive store.

Really nice acutally. You get to try everything. They have a big quantity of their products for you to try, play with and decide if this is what you want. You name it, they have it: iPods (all models) and Macs.

The new Mac desktop is very impressive with the superslim keyboard. It is a really nice and spacious store with a mezzanine level and a beautiful glass stairs leading upstairs. Cool store!

Now, I just have to wait for the iPhone to come out and test it. Yaaay!!!

Borders - Buchanan Street
The experience to this shop probably require a blog post on it's own.

In short, let's just say it was a 'visual overload' experience.

Nonetheless, TOH bought two books and I bought a magazine.

We then had McDonalds (Sauchiehall Street) for dinner, not realising we haven't had anything since scramble eggs and toast, treats from Auld and drinks from Costa. We were famished. Our blood sugar level were low. Low enough that we didn't realised it was too low for normal people like us.

Lesson: Always allocate food time.

Last stop was Cineworld for Ratatouille which probably also need a blog post about our experience there.

Sunday was another whirlwind of shopping.

Drop by Morrisons for a bit of grocery and later to In Store to pick up the much needed step ladder.

After that we just have a nice and relaxing time before the imminent goodbyes in the evening.

how to talk to a widower

I just finished the most beautiful book, in a long time since I started reading again, by Jonathan Tropper.

How to Talk to a Widower.



Taken from the back cover of the book:
When Doug Parker married Hailey – beautiful, smart and ten years older – he left his carefree Manhattan life behind to live with her and her teenaged son Russ in a quiet Westchester community. Three years later, Hailey has been dead for a year, and Doug, a widower at 29, wants nothing more than to drown himself in self-pity and Jack Daniels. But his family has other ideas…

Russ, furious with Doug for not adopting him after Hailey died, is getting into increasingly serious trouble on a daily basis. Claire, Doug’s irrepressible and pregnant twin sister, has just left her husband and moved in with Doug, determined to rouse him from his grieving stupor. Then there’s younger sister Debbie, engaged to Doug’s ex-best friend and maniacally determined to pull off the perfect wedding at any cost.

Soon, Doug finds himself forging a new relationship with Russ, reconnecting with his own eccentric nuclear family, and reluctantly dipping his toes into the shark-infested waters of the second-time-around dating scene. It isn’t long before his new life is spinning hopelessly out of control, cutting a harrowing and hilarious swath of sexual missteps and escalating chaos across the suburban landscape.

Though it is not a deep thought provoking kind of book (it is humour-fiction after all), I haven’t read anything like this since, since I can ever remember.

It was by chance I picked up this book from the library. It was spanking new although I am the third person borrowing it.

The book was beautifully written.

Jonathan writes above love so deep and moving. He wrote of how much Doug loved his wife Hailey. It really makes every girl wanting a man who loves her as much as Doug.

Though, some may argue that maybe it is written from the perspective of loss. That when you lose someone you tend to project love more than you ever had. Possibly, but there are many references of how he loved her, even when she was alive.

Each time the author write about Doug’s feelings - love, hate, anger, loss or mind displacement, it is so real and vivid. You feel so much in character.

Yes, I know that is possibly what reading a book is about.

The various characters in the story each are interesting, even the smallest role.

I love all the characters. I love how the story develops. Though there are parts that you can somewhat predict the next scene or ending, most of it end up not what you expect it would be.

Every now and then a twist is add in here and slot in there.

There are many well written sentences.

There are many parts that make you laugh.

There are parts that make you feel sorry for the loss. The parts that make you feel the loss and the pain as well.

There are parts that just make you go ‘awww…’

What makes it a very interesting read is that all this is written by a man!

Some may think that this is just gayness showing but I don’t think it has anything to do with that. Why can’t men write or express love so detailed and beautiful if they can?

It is a very gripping book. You don’t want to put it down. For the first time I stayed awake throughout my three hour journey returning from Aberdeen.

I know this book shouldn’t fall into the hands of someone sappy like me. But it is not a sappy sappy kind of book. It has machoness and character. And as sappy as the whole book seems to be, I only cried one part.

And I can’t remember the last book if any ever made me cried.

I can read this book again and again. And if you love love story and sappiness, I suggest you read this book.

It is so good that I’m going to get my own copy.

countdown

Cannae believe it is 60 days to Christmas!!!

Just saw it on Facebook.

I should really start writing out my cards list, think of what present to get as well.

For now, I'll just be contented that it's the weekend soon. Just a skip and a hop away...

enough

After two days of keeping my head down concentrating on the work at hand, I really had enough.

Will be going off slightly early to get my Freeview sorted out. Then see how I’m feeling to sort out the rest of the things I need to do at home. There are tons to do! If only I will put in as much concentration on it…

I may just have a nice relaxing bath. Lamb burgers (not just any burger, it’s M&S burgers) for dinner. Jamie and The Wild Gourmet are on tonight too.

Can’t wait…

great annoyance

I am so annoyed damnblardie annoyed!

After weeks of not having the convenience of Freeview, I was looking forward to moving down my Freeview box and enjoy many many channels and hours of tv indulgence.

However, the first thing I found out is that the existing aerial lead socket does not fit into the Freeview box. Annoyance number one.

Right. I will just find an adaptor. In the meantime, thankfully the socket fits into the telly and I can still watch terrestrial channels, albeit fuzzy and not all crisp, sharp and clear. Bear with it.

Then, I went to Currys and bought an extension aerial cable with an adaptor. All I only wanted was the adaptor actually. Nevermind, that was what they had only. Fine. Went home tried the adaptor. But it didn’t fit!!!

It. Didn’t. Fit. Great! Annoyance number two.

Spoke to SR about it and he was really nice to provide me with a couple of adaptors to see if any one of them worked. Happily went home 150 miles (not immediately) and tried it. Nope. It didn’t work. More like, neither of them fit. Wonderful! Annoyance number three.

At that point, I just felt, right, instead of trying to hunt down this adaptor, I will just change the aerial lead socket. After all it does look a little old and it won’t be that expensive or difficult to get it.

Right. It is only not difficult to get it if you know where to get it.

Sadly, I only know where to get it in Aberdeen but not in Glasgow. So had to wait patiently until I’m back in Aberdeen.

Finally(!!!!!) last weekend, TOH and I went down to Nickle and Dime at Aberdeen Market to get the lead socket. This shop sells everything I tell you!!! Honestly. Well, more like anything that you can’t find elsewhere.

Anyways, happily bought two aerial lead sockets - one male, one female. Just in case. After all it is not expensive.

Happily I took my journey back home, all 150 miles. It was as if I’ve found the Holy Grail!! So chuffed!

After unpacking my bag on Sunday, I sat down on the carpet and get going changing the socket. I did see someone doing it before. It is not that difficult I guess.

But alas! I stopped short. Felt I better check out how to change it.

Went online. Googled it. And after fruitless searching (I can’t believe it was so difficult to find it) I finally found what I was looking for. So continued with what I had set out. Annoyance building up…

Once it was done, I excitedly switched on the Freeview box.

Nothing came up. Right.

Re-scanned the channels.

I waited with baited breath as the progress line on the screen kept moving but the channel found counter did not move. Great!

It says that there is no signal. Greeat!

Very annoyed at this point. Annoyance number four.

Called TOH and spoke to him. Had to share my annoyance.

TOH asked me to check the Digital UK website. Got the website, type in my postcode and this is what I got:

POOR RECEPTION
It is unlikely that you will receive any Freeview coverage at this time. Selecting an alternative transmitter above could affect the channels available to you.

Remember to check back later for the most accurate updates.

Can you believe it!!!

There is no signal here. Here in Glasgow!!!

The largest city in Scotland!

The second largest city after London!!!

Even though it is pointing at my area, but still. You can imagine my annoyance! This really took the icing of the cake.

Just to make sure, I typed in my Aberdeen postcode.

Lo and behold! There is digital reception there. All 56 channels!!!

This is unbelievable!

I can just feel my blood boiling!

It is unacceptable that my new area has no reception. If it is anything it should have better reception!

*Blood continue to boil…*

I have arranged for DetJA to come and have a look at the issue at hand.

Until then, keep breathing, breath in, breath out…