| 100 in 1000 |
- Spend a week up a mountain learning to ski
- Visit Karoline's place in Moravia
Hold a conversation in Czech (only)- Drink 500ml of each of the following beers:
PilsnerStaroprammen- Budvar
- Velke Popovice
- U Fleku
GambrinusKrusovice
Respond to at least one GOARN request (WHO and MSF are
also acceptable)Travel across the AtlanticReturn to South America- Read a book to, or with, an impressionably aged child
- Participate in one NanoWriMo Challenge and come within at least 10,000 words of the goal length
Have my nose pierced- Have my next tattoo drawn
Purchase the perfect jeans (x 2 pairs)- Attend a spin class 3 times a week for 8 consecutive weeks
- Bake Viv's cheesecake
Make David's casserole Make David's Chicken Cashew-nut StirfryInvite 4 people who don't know one another too well to dinner- Ride from Vienna to Venice on a motorbike (pillion acceptable, those less desirable)
- Attend a book group for at least two books
- Go on a choir weekend (learn and perform difficult piece in two/three days)
- Visit Madame Tussaud's (in London)
- Take an architecture appreciation course
Join an all-girl group and sing a soloPublish in a scientific journal (top two authors)Cook a duck or other 'waterfowl'. Locate the Al-Timimi's from Doha Veterinary PractiseHave a pedicureMaintain a Brazilian (ouch) for three months.Find a trustworthy Czech hairdresser- Treat my inner-6-year-old twice a week (at least)
- Do the liver-cleansing diet properly (12 weeks)
- Don't eat out for one month
Find a flat and flatmate- Purchase one Joseph sweater
- Purchase one of the following pairs of
designer shoes (they MUST also be COMFORTABLE, and be able to be worn with 4
different outfits and 2 types of occasion): Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahniks,
Christian Louboutin (Ebay or 2nd hand are acceptable)
- Send 5 books to the booksphere and track them.
- Go hanggliding
- Read 10 'classic' books (from 1001 Books to Read before you Die)
Moll FlandersEverything is illuminatedMadam BovaryZen & the Art of Motorcycle MaintainanceCatch-22OdysseusOn the Road
- Run (non-stop!) for 5kms outside (preferably in a street race thingy)
- Send Christmas Cards on time
Make a collage/mural out of street lights on my wallBuy a bed, build it, and sleep soundly in itGo to AfricaHost an 'event' (classified as and when)Organise a 30th Birthday PartyWear a costume- Sing on stage
- Buy a painting that evokes memories of Prague (cannot involve queues!)
Learn a god-damned card game that stays in my memory (other than fish/snap)See sunrise. Be sober. Have woken for it. Excludes months Nov-Mar- Take a walk and flip coins at each intersection
Win something- Draft a will
- Take a roadtrip
Go to Italy already- Sea Kayak around Abel Tasman Park (NZ)
Get plantsTake a train to another Eastern European Destination (accession countries are acceptable) alone preferably.- Get UK to give me a provisional motorcyclists license and simultaneously get a 'card' license.
- Go SCUBA diving again - at least two dives lasting 30mins each.
Go to a dentist. *sigh*- Do a Czech Wine Trail. And live to tell the tale
- Make an 'outbreak emergency kit'.
- Go to bed prior to 11pm every night (inc weekends) for four consecutive weeks.
- Marvel over lack of tiredness
- Dine at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant (or Nobu)- preferably for free.
Bet on the nags- Do something for charity (applying and getting a 'red card' will count)
- Walk along the Champs Elysee
- Do 100 sit ups in a row
- Do 50 pressups (arms in tight)
- Make branston pickle (or nearest substitute)
- Cook something 'new' and 'adventurous' at least once a month
Find a mentorBe a mentorLearn what mentoring is all aboutMeet an online person in real lifeResist the flirt. Once. Just one night. It's okay if people don't immediately succumb to my natural charm. Really it is.Spend time at a spa (spa towns in the CR don't count)- Send a care package to someone
Get a Tata Bojs CD- Take a French/German/Dutch course and SPEAK THE DAMNED LANGUAGE WHEN I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES ME SOUND
LIKE AN IDIOT!
- Order new contact lenses.
Make a list of things I take with me when I pack for different occasions- Eat lobster. Prepared by someone else.
Back up the blogPut everything onto an external hard drive- Find a DDR mat and console and 'dance, I say dance!'�
- Go to the beach and lie on the warm sand. For an hour. (with sunscreen on, natch)
- Take and complete a course in either: Tango, Salsa or Flamenco
- Join the Municipal Library of Prague
- Move to another country
Go to a live concert of a band I actually like- Pay off debts (student loan excl.)
Send thank you cards for every gift I receive (other than the gift of happiness, blah blah blah).- Get an agent (literary or theatre)
- Go to a sports bar without cringing, by personal choice
- Ride a rollercoaster
- Hold a snake
Spend a day wandering around a museum (not art gallery!) |
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| Futureme! |
| Monday, 1 December 2008 |
Got the following e-mail last week. TRES WEIRD.
The following is an e-mail from the past, composed on Thursday, November 23, 2006, and sent via FutureMe.org
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Dear FutureMe,
Okay babe, we'd best not still be in Prague, we'd best not still be 90kgs (please tell me you finally got us down to 80 - at least!) and we'd best be fit, healthy and smiling at life.
Who are we again?
I'm writing because at present you are none of those things. You are miserable, whilst living in one of the supposedly most beautiful cities in the world. You woke up this morning, departed the flat, and wondered how to say (in Czech) "what kind of animal leaves such a mess at their door?". You got as far as Jak druhy...
You're still blogging. I'd love it if we'd written a book by now.
You've finally been recognised as being "university educated". Maybe now you've gotten over the hideousness that was the PhD.
EPIET still own you. I wonder where in the world we are, and whether we've done anything to make us feel worthwhile lately. Are we recycling now? Are we still looking after our inner-6-year old? Have we decided to go ahead and get pregnant and raise kids alone?
Whatever we've decided to do in the last few years, I hope they've been good, and that we've had fun. I bet we have...we always do.
Still smiling, and loving you babe!
Nomes
XXX
And guess what? I'm 75kgs!Labels: All about Me |
posted by Nomes @ Monday, December 01, 2008   |
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| Memento |
| Tuesday, 30 September 2008 |
I just need to die knowing that something is different because I was here.
Doesn't that just sum up everyone's feeling of life? Doesn't everyone feel this way? Whether we express ourselves through striving for excellence - to be the first person who does something and has something named after them - or having children who wouldn't be there had you not existed?
Is that why so many of us are miserable? it's not truly because we're moaning that we're single - never going to be married or have a family etc. - but more because when we finally shuck off these mortal chains, that'll be it (folks)? that'll be all she wrote? There'll be no change in the world?
Or are these merely the fantasies of the relatively rich, well-educated middle classes? The toffs couldn't give a damn and the poor are merely attempting to survive? Perhaps it's only a small group of us who have these pointless existential crises?
I'm fairly certain that when I go, a) hardly anyone will notice (well, not for weeks, at any rate, because my friends are so scattered to the four winds that it takes carrier pigeons weeks to get messages through), b) hardly anyone will care - because I mean too little in anyone's day to day life that there's not going to be any impact to not have me there, and c) nothing will have changed because I was here - I'll leave nothing behind other than a legible imprint of my histrionics, some photographs and if I'm VERY lucky, then a headstone with a pithy epitaph (note to self: start looking around for witticisms that scribe well on stone).
THAT might be the single force behind the biological clock for me and my friends - who might want children, but can't find a man decent enough to warrant sharing vital genetic details. It's the biological equivalent of handing over your phone number but changing the last digit: this permanent teasing, IUDs, the pill, depo provera - whatever we use. That we keep doing this to ourselves for years and years.
Or maybe it's just that some of us are far too aware of our own inadequacies - the fact that we might make shit parents, we might have post-natal depression and raise a child who's so insecure she forever tries to rely on people she knows will let her down in the end - that scares us from making a 'change' to the world by bringing another person into it.
Or maybe it's just that no one wants us. Well, wants us, but not enough.
Kylie, Ana, Liorah, Anne, Suze, Kat, Emma: 8 beautiful, headstrong, independent and capable women. What's wrong with us? Should we have tricked people back in our 20's into being a father to our offspring? Should we not have aborted when we did? Should we keep trying to look, or accept our lot as it?
I don't know. I'm tired of being second fiddle, of being the one not-quite-good-enough for someone. I want someone who wants me in their future, who thinks of a future for US and plants ME in the middle of that future, who wants to build something with me, something solid.
To leave behind.Labels: All about Me |
| posted by Nomes @ Tuesday, September 30, 2008 |
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| AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! |
| Wednesday, 23 July 2008 |
As was screamed by the man I adore, and myself, simultaneously.
Not as part of any sexual ritual, I can assure you. Oh no. (er, welcome aboard, Mamma). Nope, this was sheer exuberance mixed with excitement mixed with terror. I'm due there in 24hrs. My man has been giving me a 56hr countdown (I kid you not) since yesterday when I finished work. It's absolutely THE most adorable thing. I thought I was bad, counting sleeps. Turns out, he's even more OCDy than me.
Yes, he has a list. A list divided into 'morning', 'evening' and 'night' sections for our entertainment.
So here I go. I'd just like to demonstrate pictorially how excited I was. Here are a series of three pictures, which I'd like to come out side by side (but appreciate that they possibly won't look like that). The first two, are my bed and bathroom shelf as I left the house this morning. The last, is my bed (and shelf in the background) about 15mins after I returned from work.
I'm not accustomed to this for nothing, y'know.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!Labels: All about Me |
| posted by Nomes @ Wednesday, July 23, 2008 |
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| Things I love about London...pt 2 |
| Thursday, 10 July 2008 |
 In order to leave the city last weekend, I'd booked a rental car from a very large agency. I'd paid for it with my debit card over the internet. Sorted.
We turned up at the Russell Square outlet by midday. We wait behind approximately three other groups of people desiring their cars. None are happy. One group has booked a large family car (as they are a large family, with three children and two large suitcases). This car is not at the Russell Square outlet. They are advised to go to Heathrow to collect it. Wherefrom they had just come. I was pleased that the woman revolted (red hair, kiwi lass - go grrrl) and demanded that they receive the car they'd booked and paid for, at the outlet that they'd arranged to collect it from, poste - bloody - haste.
Finally, we made it to the counter. I was asked for the card that I'd paid for the car rental with. I handed my Debit card.
"We can't accept this."
"Why not?"
"We need a credit card for security."
"But you asked for the card that its been paid with"
"Yes, but that cannot be a debit card."
"Well, nowhere on the website does it say that you can't use a debit card, that you must use a credit card, and in fact, your website ACCEPTED payment by this debit card, so I suspect you CAN accept a debit card, and simply won't." (I was not amused)
"Do you have another card."
"No. That's why I used the card I have. A debit card. As was accepted by your website."
I looked at Andreas. He stepped back a bit from the flames now emanating from my pupils. He offered his MasterCard.
"So you will now be the primary driver."
"Er."
"Why does the primary driver have to be the cardholder."
"It's security, Madam."
"Doctor. But I was going to be the driver, so you'd best note that down."
"You'll have to pay to have an 'additional driver' on teh rental agreement."
"No. We wont'. We simply won't take the car, and will demand a refund, if you don't address this lunacy right now."
*pause*
"Okay Ma--Doctor. I can accept your debit card now."
"So, you could accept it the entire time, you just wouldn't?"
"Your car is brand new, so won't have any petrol in it, you'll need to go immediately to the petrol station."
We walked (well, Andreas walked, I MAY have stomped a little lot) to the car. It then took us 1hr to get to the petrol station, pour £30 into the tank and then get back to where we'd started. It took a further three hours (!!!) to get to Lewisham. That's STILL IN LONDON.
Anyway...the weekend was actually divine, in and of itself. We had a great time in Hastings and Bournemouth, and it was a holiday away from the big city, that's for sure. Ice cream on the waterfront on the Friday evening was delicious - very VERY carefree - and the room we'd booked was delightful with a seaview.
Upon return, I was pleased to see I'd spent as I'd expected. This month is tight due to a ticket to Dubai, and finishing off some of the payments of energy bills leftover from winter (!!!) which were HUGE (>£600).
So imagine my alarm when I learnt that I was £45 below my overdraft limit. Where had I spent?
The bank, of course, couldn't tell me, as the funds were merely "earmarked" and not "cleared". Eventually, after listening to enough hold music to bring bile protectively to my ears, they informed me that it was a debit from my card, made on Friday.
Friday. Friday. I racked my brains. Finally...Hertz!!!! Huh?
"Hi. I seem to have been charged £135 for something by Hertz on Friday when I rented a car from you."
"Yes, that would be the security deposit."
"I see. So have you returned that to my card yet?"
"Yes. The code was given back to the bank."
"Then perhaps you could tell me why I'm under my overdraft limit due to a £135 debit from my account still"
"Yes. It takes 10 days to go back into your account."
"But this takes me over my limit."
"That's your problem Madam."
"Doctor. I see, and what are you going to do about the charges that I've incurred."
"You'll have to take that up with your bank Ma-doctor."
"Yes, I appreciate that, however, your incompetant operators at the outlets neglected to inform me of either the amount of the security, the fact that it was a deposit that would be debited from my account immediately, OR that it would take 10 days to be returned to it's rightful owner for reasons undisclosed. NOW what do you suggest you do to rectify the poor customer service I've recieved at the hands of your people at the branch?"
"I can give you a reference number, but there's nothing we can do about it."
Essentially, between them, Lloyds and Hertz have transpired to leave me with £11 until the 24th July. This is particularly galling, as I'm due in Taunton for a two day Project Management course on Tues/Wed next week. I have to pay my own transport/meals and will be reimbursed in my next paycheck. Of course, with only £11, I cannot do this. So I asked HR whether they could 'advance' me some pay, OR my 'expenses'.
They cannot. Not even with senior management approval. There is no policy for such emergencies.
The irony of their statement didn't even register on their lips. Of course.
There is ABSOLUTELY nothing here for me. No social life. No love life. Work is good - but it's not worth staying for.
I need to leave this country. It is worse than the Czech Republic. Far, far worse.Labels: All about Me |
| posted by Nomes @ Thursday, July 10, 2008 |
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| I know it... |
| Tuesday, 1 July 2008 |
 ...because I'm a scientist, like, and so I, y'know, observe. Which is why I'm slightly bemused (read: astonished and more than a touch horrified) that despite eating things along the lines of pictured EVERY night - since October (coincides with moving in with someone who cooks as well as - possibly better than - I) - and sometimes in the morning (photo of bacon sandwich to follow), I have lost shed loads of weight.
Well, about a 15kg shed.
It's gotten to the point where the trousers I bought in NZ in February, are now quite loose, to the point where I'm regretting not having bought size 12's. SIZE TWELVES!!!
And I can tell, not just because I'm down to one pair of trousers and one pair of shorts that fit without looking ridiculous, because when I'm walking the street to the tube station, with the sun on my back in the morning, I can see that my shadow has two legs, and not just a forked mermaid tail. Weird.Labels: All about Me |
| posted by Nomes @ Tuesday, July 01, 2008 |
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