spicy.and.funny

As the Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival 2011 draws to an end, I was disappointed that I only managed to catch one show out of the hundreds that was available.

And I was meant to blog about this a few weeks back but just have not come to do it.

Anyways, my gf Karen and I caught the Curry Comedy a few weeks back at Slumdog Bar & Kitchen. Reflecting on our night out, we got more than we bargained for!

The tickets were slightly more expensive on a Thursday evening compared to a Sunday lunch show. But just ever so slightly. The food was yummy, and it was good that it was buffet, so I had the chance to stuff my face further (with slight guilt). The varied spread gave us a chance to try what Slumdog could offer and they did not disappoint. Slumdog's comprehensive drinks menu easily catered for anyone, especially their list of cocktails and non-alcoholic cocktails.

Although it was a buffet meal, the food was fresh, the staff were friendly and the service was excellent.

After we had been fed and watered, the comedy commenced promptly.

This brings me to my second 'more than we bargained for'. When we booked the tickets we thought it was going to be a comedy about curry and Glasgow history. But looking back, there wasn't a joke about curry. Instead we were entertained by a compere who tried his very hardest to get the crowd, in his words "lubricated". We were a tough crowd, a "slow burner".

Unfortunately, it has been weeks and I cannot remember his name but I remembered his jokes. The same goes for our first comedian. Some of his "jokes" were a bit too much information. I have only vague memory of the second comedian. *Sorry!*

Karen and I both love our third and main act, Des Clarke with an "e". We were gob smacked, Des Clarke!

Both of us love Des - I used to listen to him when he was part of Des and Vanessa on Galaxy FM (Scotland) (which I had stopped listening to because of the lengthy advertisements); and Karen still listens to Des on Capital FM (Scotland) whom he is working with now.

We loved Des' gig and the pace of it, and thought it was a pleasant surprise.

Overall, it was a fantastic girls' night out as it was good to hang out with Karen and catch up. The pre-comedy joke of my embarrassing moment earlier in the afternoon provided a good start to the night.

Anyways, head over to the Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival website to soak up the last of the programmes. The festival ends on Sunday 10 April. I've been on the comedy pub crawl "Stand Up Drink Up" three years ago (that long ago!) and it was a great night out.

Also, we'll be definitely going back to Slumdog Bar & Kitchen for the delicious food, lovely atmosphere and fantastic service.

Now, I better get back to catching up on my APC Diary.

the.journey.jump.started

It has been on my mind for many weeks now.

Come October this year, I will begin my fifth year in my APC journey. Yep, year five.

One may ask what happened? I would say it is a combination of procrastination, deviation, and life getting into the way. In the past fours years I have changed roles at least four times and continue to count my blessings that I am still employed in the current economic climate.

After many "I will sit for my final assessment at the next session"s, I have decided to take the bull by the horns and make a decision to sit for the final assessment once and for all.

The target now is Autumn 2011.

Hence, almost the whole of last weekend was spent sitting down looking through what needs to be done to achieve this.

First, I created a programme using the final assessment week as my target. Then I identified how many competencies I need to sign off within this period. The amount of meetings and frequencies, and the targets for each of these meetings. Between meetings, a spread of to-dos for myself was included.

Although I would have had covered most of the experiences required in each competencies, I never had any of them signed off yet. I guess mainly it was due to my lack of confidence and the lack of revision.

So now (to be exact last weekend), I have thirty weeks to sign off ten mandatory competencies, six technical competencies, two optional competencies, a critical analysis to complete as well as several mock interviews to prepare.

Thirty weeks?!

I even have three and a half weeks off in that period and about two years of diary to catch up. Man, how am I going to get it all done (?!).


Twenty-nine weeks:
Too many to count topics to revise
Too many days of diary recording to catch up
Nine Supervisor Meetings
Three Counsellor Meetings
Eighteen competencies
One critical analysis
Mock interviews, etc
All to be completed and get myself ready for the Final Assessments

AAAAAAaaaaaahhhhhhh...

Wish me luck!

in.words.and.pictures

I have been thinking for a while now about changing the blog design.

Too bad before this I haven't had thought about documenting it. It would have been nice to be able to look back and see what design I had used and how it had changed.

I believe before a recent change it had looked like this:


Then I had wanted to include photos that I had captured, ideally something that is related to the season. So I thought I start with a spring related picture (yes, I know it wasn't spring when I uploaded the picture, nothing wrong for hoping...).


For now, I will include a new header picture while I work out how to include the other changes I would like to make.


Hope you like it, whoever you are out there... if there is anyone? (I hope)

j.&.j

Just watched Julie & Julia on DVD last night while TheOtherHalf was out with his workmates.


No surprises that I absolutely adore the movie! Love the storyline, Meryl Streep's portrayal of Julia Child, the determination of Julie Powell, lovely French-y music (my soft spot), the lurve, and the supportive loving husbands of both women.

Yes, it is total chick-flick.

Towdaaallly love it!

Plus, how can you not love a movie with food? I'm Asian after all. Food is our life and you can spot us from far because we will be the one taking photos of food at a food establishment or anywhere that food is available.

*****

Kinda inspired by the movie, I would like to one day go through all the recipes in my collection of cookbooks.

One thing I would utterly love to do, and have been thinking like forever about it, is to prepare an English Afternoon Tea, with scones, cakes, biscuits, and sandwiches.

Actually I could do it this afternoon since it is such a horrible day out there: wintery showers, rain, sleet and snow. And TheOtherHalf is in bed nursing his hangover.

But then, he would not have an appetite to eat all those food. And it is one reason I don't cook/bake as much as I would love to because there is only so much one or two of us can eat.

So I will be contented to make my first batch of scones later this afternoon: plain and cheese scones.

Watch this space!

the.light.shines

Now that we got all the unhappy part out of the way, I have some exciting news.

Twelve New Bakes

The last time I baked in 2010 felt like forever ago. And with the lack of guinea pigs willing volunteers, I was apprehensive producing home bakes. No point baking for wasting.

Then one weekend I made soda bread and then I thought "why not bake 12 things I have not make before"?


And so one of my new project to the To Do List 2011 will be "twelve new bakes".

One new thing a month, should be easy peasy right? Cupcakes, cakes and muffins of all variants should not be counted (because I have made them in the past), but I suspect I might bend the rules. So watch this space!

Scout Adult Training

I have started my Scout Adult Training last week, Module 1: Essential Training and another tonight, Module 3: Tools for the Job.

I will need to have a look at the whole programme and see how am I going to complete the 37 modules in three years to get my wood badge.

I’m really looking forward to this!

RICS APC

And on the note of training, I will have to touch on the dreaded APC Training.

Well, it is unfair to call it "dreaded", even though it is "dreaded" because it feels like it is taking forever. But I have only myself to blame.

Anyways, after going for my Adult Training Module 1 and see how easy it can be to complete a module, I was thinking, to make the APC work for me (and hopefully something I can devise and be useful for future candidates), I will need to break down the APC competencies into smaller modules and goals for me to achieve.

To do that, I will have to put aside time and sort myself out. Wish me luck and I hope to continue to blog about my APC again soon.


I will keep it short for now. Hopefully in the next few posts I will talk about my Scout involvement, my other projects or things that I have been doing. Do leave a comment so that I know that there is someone out there reading my rambles.

Btw, a wee update on my One Hundred Mails Project...
2-98 Birthday Card
3-97 Birthday Card
4-96 Birthday Card
5-95 30th Birthday Card

dealing.with.life

Many times I wished that the mind can do the blogging replacing the need to type things out. But until such ability exists I will just have to make time to write a post.

January 2011 has been a very challenging month for me. It was not the finances or the mood dip after the Christmas and New Year holidays, or void that my family left since their visit.

I would so love to indulge you with my woes but I will spare you the details.

All I know was that many times my secondary school Chemistry teacher's famous words of "don't ask and just accept" reminded me that is how life can be.

It was hard to accept the things that you are not convinced were necessary; or that you know was wrong; or that when you speak up it seems no one is listening. Those were the times when you wished you did not say anything. But then you (or in this case I) struggled.

I struggled because my mind was fighting with itself.

Do this, but it is not acceptable.

Don't do this, and you can't accept that decision or that is not how you work.

Is it better to be that person who just sit quietly there and show no emotions of agree or disagree? Which then makes that either this person does not care or the go with the flow person? And when he/she disappears from the scene everyone is shocked because he/she has been an OK-(wo)man? Or maybe no one even noticed?

Anyways, the constant fighting and (close to literally) head banging onto the wall drove my stress levels up and perhaps at some point I was depressed.

I don't know who to trust or who to say anything to. I even become sceptical about the support that is available. The ones that I lean on when I need them, they all seem so far away.

I was emotional, and I was mind and emotionally tired.

I was here but I wasn't here.

I was lost and would rather be away than facing reality.

Now, I am not sure how I manage to escape those thoughts at the moment. So far I am ok when I don't have to deal with certain situations or maybe even certain people. But you can only run so far and fight so much, eventually you will have to face it and deal with it.

As cliché as it sounds that it is all about "attitude", I would like a big spoonful of that to keep me going.

Until then, let me enjoy the low fighting days and thank you for your patience in this undoubtedly negative post.

one.hundred.mails.project

In my previous post I listed some things I would like to do in the new year. And first on my list is the One Hundred Mails Project.

In a time where people don't send enough mails in the post and forwarding emails as a sign of they are still alive and thinking of you, I thought why not support the mailing service and spend a little time writing to people. Of course, wouldn't it be nice to receive a mail in the post that is not a bill asking for you to stump up your money, or worst, junk mail to 'The Occupier'.

It does seem like a mean feat one mail in every 3.65 days 3.56 days, less than 2 mails a week!

TheOtherHalf's initial reaction is "imagine the postage!"

Perhaps I can keep a record of the postage too to see how much it would cost my little project.

Ideally it would be good to send 365 mails but lets start with a more manageable target.

In this One Hundred Mails Project, mails are sent to individuals and not organisations.

To start this project, I will be posting a Wedding Congratulations Card to a colleague down south who what-are-the-chances is the wife of a very old college friend. Such a small world!

Hopefully I am more organised to be sending out birthday cards and other seasonal and celebration cards.

Here goes...
1-99 Wedding Congratulations Card