beta blogger is the devil

Yesterday afternoon i was tinkering around with my blogger template and reading about beta blogger and its supposed benefits. I was just reading i swear, but i inadvertently clicked on something, perhaps it was the ‘switch to beta blogger’ button and suddenly my blog went ballistic.

Its complexion suddenly looked sickly spotty, kind of like measles and i knew, i knew, i had done something stupid. Beta blogger had wiped out all of my customisations and replaced them with ye-standard-olde-template. The dots template, no less. FUCK FUCK FUCK.

I know it may not look like much, but i tinker with the HTML on this blog now and then, and am actually quite proud of what i’ve done! But beta blogger, all high and mighty with its Layout Page, where you can lazily drag and drop page layouts, came and Wiped. Me. Out. It boasts that the new layout ability would save bloggers time... and you know I’m not opposed to saving time, but the depth of what you can do with the layout page is so ridiculously limited.

I gave it a go, since I thought my blog was all but ruined *RUINED! GAH!!!* anyway, i may as well try out beta blogger. but I couldn’t do anything that i wanted. The xhtml was crippling, coding everything to the widget. So painfully stifling, even for a basic html’er like myself.

I was so frustrated. I knew it was salvageable – if i was prepared to start a template from scratch again. But i wasn't. and I wanted to cry. And yell (scratch), i mean email nasty obscenities to blogger, but not surprisingly it’s one of those services where the powers that be are hidden behind a cloak of cyber jumble, letters and numbers continuously dripping like the matrix, to protect these mother f*ckers who only provide FAQs, but no real avenue to vent our frustrations.

anyway, i seethed. And after a few deep breaths and a moment of clarity, turned to my very most trusted advisor, Google. It seemed I wasn’t the first to be conned by beta blogger. One click of a search button provided me with instructions on reverting to classic blogger, and with my fingers and toes crossed... i executed the command.

i closed my eyes...

... and refreshed my blog.

and opened my eyes.

Thank the almighty God of Google. My blog is back, just as it always was.

morning routine

this might cause some of you to puke, so beware.

every morning, panu gets up before me, and he heads into the kitchen to make himself breakfast (i eat mine at work, squeezing as much sleeping minutes into my morning as humanly possible). then a few, or ten or 30 minutes later, i wiggle myself out of bed, and with my eyes mostly closed, i trudge my way into the kitchen.

"hey stompy," he always says, because apparently I stomp in. He eats his breakfast sitting on a bar stool, and i waddle over and he gives me the best hug ever. It's the best because it's first thing in the morning, and we're both soft and warm. I nuzzle in his neck and I can smell fresh tea and toast and nuts and all the good stuff he's eating. and I damn near always fall asleep again.

at some stage, i pry myself away and trudge back to the shower... and the day begins.

how can i live without this for five weeks??

incidentally, i told him yesterday that i'd figured out why i'm so sad about going back to Sydney, when all rational reasoning points to the fact that i should be ecstatic. you wanna hear my theory?

it's because i like him more than i like Sydney. And we all know how much i loooooove Sydney. and i dont want to be there, if i can't have him there with me. soppy, right?

you puke yet?

homeward bound

so. i am homeward bound in a few days, homeward bound the to warm open arms of Australia, for five whole weeks. shouldn't i be completed elated? i should. i know i should. but somehow, i'm not. And if you think it's because i've sprouted a sudden connection with London, please go take your daily meds, i'm not quite that insane yet.

i'm feeling a certain breathless emptiness because... i'm embarrassed to even say this, but because i can't bear to be away from Panu for 5 entire weeks. Do you remember when we were in Sydney and he went away for one week? i died. well, almost. I counted days, hours and minutes and my heart skipped a beat whenever my phone rang... and now, i have to endure this for five times over.

but i do get to see my old friends again. and meet quite a number of new babies (they all seemed to pop into this world in the past 12 months). and two of my close friends from Melbourne are making special trips up just to see me... so I feel blessed... i do. I just have to get over my soppiness. and I will, I promise.

and a certain someone I am dying to see is my little mel, who turned the big three-oh today. Happy birthday, my lovely and I'm sorry I missed it by a mere handful of days. I will see you very soon.

our new home

two weeks ago, panu and i moved into our new place, our second flat in ye olde Londontown. the days leading up to the move were possibly the most infuriating of the days in my little life, and i did vaguely make reference to this. However, like all kinds of pains, time healed the wounds.

Having said that, 'twas lucky we are alive to enjoy the healing process. The morning of the move, we were greeted by our removalist, a cranky South African fella who was rather non-chalant about his drinking the previous night. Actually, slash. Make that his drinking until 6am on the day he drove us, with all of our precious belongings, from our old place to the new place. To say he reeked of alcohol so much that I was a little tipsy from the fumes would be like casually mentioning that "oh that Brad Pitt guy? yeh, he's just ok looking." Lucky the new place is literally a 5 minute drive down the street.

So we arrived, cleaned, unpacked and settled. The place is great, but not without the usual hiccups. The oven wasn't working, nor was the garbage disposal, and the tv antenna points still aren't. I've missed weeks of 90210 and Janice Dickson's Modelling Agency, god knows how ill-informed I must be now.

But all in all it's been a god-send. The recession has resulted in rental prices dropping significantly and we are renting this place for effectively £10 less a week. What a steal, considering the old place was a shoebox of a mold-infested hole, including Freddie Kruger living in the garage basement, free of charge. It was creepy.

Anyway, having been nagged for photos by the usual suspects, here are a few to squiz at. Don't be alarmed, you folk who live in gloriously big houses with expanse space and gardens. This is still a shoebox yes, but it's all we can afford living in the middle of Londontown.

all tech'd up!

Wow it's been 5 days since my last post? This week has passed in tedium, but at least it has flown. I can't believe it's Friday, but surely not unappreciating the fact. It's been one of those weeks where one day blurs into the next effortlessly, which again, is appreciated.

I know though that I've spent way more than my allocated weekly allowance this week. My week's shopping list looked a little like...

1. Bose iPod Dock ~ the music quality of our little apartment just improved by about two billion times (i exaggerate you not!). Assisted by the natural acoustics of being in the basement, with wood flooring throughout, i cannot even begin to express how awesome this system is.

2. Samsung NC10 netbook ~ oh yes people, netbook, not notebook. for those who aren't in the know, netbooks are the product of what would happen if two small notebooks got together and fornicated. these are baby tiny little laptops, mine's 10.2" and weighing in at only 1.3kgs. My new toy!

3. Sennheiser earphones ~ because my toxic ear sweat continuously destroys any ear phone that I have, I thought i'd invest in a good sturdy sports pair. Enter, Sennheiser. This purchase was a bummer though because my ears are so miniscule, they don't fit properly and fall off when I run. Back to the drawing board.

4. Pressies ~ pressies for friends and babies back home in Oz. This I can't elaborate on, because they read this exact blog... so... i can say that i am proud of the pressies though, gee I did a good job!

In other news, I am still morbidly in love with Edward Cullen (I know, even I'm getting sick of this obsession), and am reading New Moon. I dont want to ruin it for anyone else about to read it, but ok, there is just too much Jacob and not enough Edward! Come on!

Incidentally, I watched a few youtube clips of interviews with Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen in the movie. He does nothing for me at all. I really mean at all. In fact I found him somewhat irritating. He giggles! Edward broods. Give me the brooding vampire any day.

Guess that confirms that I should just head back to my early adolecense then and continue having a schoolgirl crush on a completely fictional character.

happy love day

Valentine’s day, a Hallmark day to rival any other. Rather, to stampede on all others. I was once told that florists make more money on Valentine’s day, just this one day, than on every other day of the year combined. I mean, is that just insane? For a completely made up day?

While I’m not a frothing-at-the-mouth anti-Vday lunatic, I do believe that the day was created to take advantage of those blindly in love, laying duty in men’s hearts and desire in women’s, so that gifts are given that day, plus flowers, plus chocolates, plus a prerequisite card. The blindness of love is a Godsend on this day, because without it, you would see that Hallmark had just yanked the biggest leg of all, pocketing billions upon billions, on this one day.

Having said all that, Valentine’s day does bring happiness to a significant number of people in this world, and no one will question that. Couples are loved up, and singles party on, on what is probably the easiest day of the year to spot fellow singles. So I don’t hate, not at all.

In fact I had a good ol’ time on the big V-day. Starting the day with a run at the gym (the nutter that I am), we spent the afternoon wandering around Borough Markets, nibbling on various exotic and organic goodies. Dinner was prime Argentinian steak, courtesy of Gaucho, and we spent the evening, romantically with 20,000 other Londoners at the O2, watching my absolute hands-down favourite, Russell Peters. I laughed til i was in pain... loving, loving not being at an overpriced candle-lit dinner, but instead being with my baby, both streaming tears of laughter.

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day, whatever you did. To each his own, and to each, much love.

mmmm... edward cullen

I know he's a freaky vampire and all that. but i love him. edward, you can immortalise me any day....

incidentally, Quidam was quite disappointing... Varekai blows it out of the universe.

today...

Today is one of those days where I have a billion thoughts running through my head. Arbitrary, disconnected feelings, but all with enough intensity to propel me from of elated highs to muddled lows. Randomly...

• I finished a brief at work, completed exactly to the tee by the stakeholder’s requirements... and of course once presented, turns out it isn’t what they wanted at all.
  
• On the flip side, completed another brief, which was absolutely perfect.
  
• We managed to get discounted last minute tickets to Quidam, which I am ecstatic about.
  
• I’m battling my own formidable feelings of double-standardness.
  
• I’m not as trusting as I always thought I was. Jealousy rears its ugly head.
  
• I’m madly in love with Edward Cullen (as is every other female I’d imagine).
  
• .... and starting to feel sad about being away for a month (I know, I’m a softie).

it’s one of those days where I could open the floodgates and deep-and-meaningful anyone’s ear off. Philosophical, intense and lofty thoughts, all whisked up like fairy floss in my mind.

hundreds attend global warming protest

too cute. I couldn't help myself.

it may be war...

we've just moved apartments today... and because it takes up to 10 working days to shift our broadband over, Panu and I are using a wireless dongle in the mean time. One wireless dongle. We have to share the internet.

Brace yourselves...

winter wonderland

On Sunday night, it started snowing here in London, tiny little snowflakes which, based on my experience of ‘snow’ in London, would melt into muddy puddles on the sidewalk. I wasn’t particularly excited, just a little bit cold.

But on Monday morning, we woke up to a rather pleasant surprise. Overnight, the snowfall had been so heavy that by morning, London was covered in snow, 6 inches at least and up to 12 inches in some parts. The ground was white and fluffy, and a continuous stream of fluff kept falling from the sky. It was absolutely surreal, and incredible and beautiful. But there was one downside, if you could even call it that. Due to the “adverse weather conditions”, buses were cancelled, tubes were partially if not completely suspended, and as such, no one could get anywhere. Schools were cancelled, work was cancelled to some degree, and it was a free-for-all day, gratuitous time for us to play in the snow!

And play I did. London was an absolutely ball of fun that day, and this is the first time I have uttered such words about London without sarcasm oozing from my pores. I put on my snow uggs and my hideous but oh-so-warm goose down puffy jacket and off I went. I trudged through the 8-inch deep snow, played with some of the local kids and took a few happy snaps.


Panu, who unfortunately still had to work that day, got home around 5pm and I forced him to pleeease let’s go back outside so we can build a snowman! Dusk was upon us and we had about 3 minutes to build a snowman, so he turned out rather munted, but hey, we still did it.











Best day I’ve had in London yet!

More snow pics here.

current favourite girl

Rosario Dawson. Amazing. Panu doesn't like her... but really, what's not to like???

25 things about me

last week a couple of people tagged me in this facebook app. it's one of those where you write something about yourself and pass it on. normally i dont participate in these things, usually because i can't be bothered thinking about my favourite food, or colour, or the length of floss i use nightly.

but this one's a little different. this one simply asks you to list 25 random things about yourself. which is a hell of a lot more interesting to read than the usual. and much more to write.

here's mine, for those who aren't on my facebook:

1. I've lived in every capital city in Australia (yes this includes Hobart) except Darwin and Adelaide... but I don’t think I want to live there anyway!

2. Catherine Lee is not the name on my birth certificate.

3. I have 110 first (yes, FIRST) cousins. For real.

4. In reference to the above, this is because my dad is one of 14 kids and my mum is one of 11. And one of my aunties on my dad’s side has 18 kids of her own. I know, we are one big creepy family!

5. I have not read one Harry Potter book and will never. However, I DO love to read and always have a book on the go. Last night, just finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Awesome.

6. I am an ice cream freak. I LOVE it, i eat it every day (the rare days I don’t, I have to consciously NOT eat it for health reasons!). No particular favourite flavour (they are like my children – i love them all!) but prefer ice creams and gelatos to sorbets. I’m impartial to chocolate.

7. I have no qualms about doing my business in a hole out in the bush. My dad brought me up to be tough like that :)

8. I named my car (which i sold to move to London) Ribena Berry cos he was small and round and purple. Nickname Bezza.

9. I cannot dance. Nothing which includes proper steps, nothing which includes a partner, nothing choreographed. I’m great with doof doof music though :)

10. I think good pizza should have mountains of topping.. unlike the pizza they have in Italy.

11. I have a blog and I write in it almost every day.. since 2004. It’s like therapy for me.

12. Speaking of therapy, i need a massage frequently and i like them hard. I was once told by a masseuse that he had never used so much pressure on anybody (including men) and here I am, a 5 foot tall little girl.

13. I have a motorbike licence. Haven’t had a bike in years though.

14. I’m a huge dog lover, missing my baby Gizmo in Oz and planning to get one as soon as we’re back home. To me, not loving dogs is totally a breakup-able offence. Totally.

15. I’m addicted to trashy reality tv shows – Survivor (still love Rob & Amber), Amazing Race, Top Model, Project Runway/Catwalk, and yes... even Girlicious. DEAR GOD. I hate Big Brother though. When i feel like being more sensible, I watch 90210 or Californication :) Oh ok ok, when I feel like being really sensible, I watch documentaries, especially ones about history and nature and aliens and all that sort of stuff.

16. I have a boyfriend who I adore to bits, but I constantly have celeb crushes. Most notably, Fernando Torres, Chris Evans, Paul Walker, Josh Hartnett and the unparalleled Mr Johnny Depp.

17. EVERY time i go to the hair dressers i say I want to do something different with my hair. Every time, i swear. And i always look the same. I’ve looked like this since i was 12.

18. Most people think I’m a really nice person. But i think i can be the most super of all bitches. If you want to see that, just piss me off.

19. I am CONVINCED there are creatures deep in the ocean that we haven’t discovered. Big ones. I also believe in alien life.

20. Against what may be popular belief (and what is stereotypically my gender), i don’t like shopping. I can’t just ‘browse’. If i want to get something, i go get it and that’s that.

21. My best friend in uni was Leon, a boy, and we used to hang out all the time, we’d eat each others food and sleep over each others places. Everyone thought we were going out, except we weren’t. We did agree that if we were single at 40, we’d get hitched.. but I told him I’d have to have all my babies before that so I didn’t have to sleep with him. Yep, its that type of relationship :)

22. I never used to cry.. i don’t know why but i went through a great number of years without shedding one tear. And then one day, I cried.. and the flood gates broke. Now i am a frickin’ crier, I cry about everything – happy or sad – and I cant stop it! I cried the whole way through the Sex and the City movie. I mean, seriously?!

23. I’m pretty uncoordinated at computer games.. my brother used to kick my ass and even now I semi suck at Wii. I'm the King of Tetris and Minesweeper tho! :)

24. I’m allergic to Vodka, which bites because most cocktails involve some form of Vodka. But that’s ok, I still looove Chambord, and recently rediscovered Frangelico. Oh and not to forget my friend, Tequila! Speaking of alcohol, I can down quite a number of spirits and be ok, but one glass of wine and I am completely drunk. What’s up with that?

25. Coriander and parsley taste exactly the same to me. And I hate them both.