A surprise gig

Merry Christmas :)

It's a bit of a tradition that Ben and I catch up for dinner with the Reading crowd sometime between Christmas and New Year. (By Reading crowd I mean people Ben went to college - aka senior high school - with.) As it happened we had a very nice dinner on Boxing Day at a place called The Jazz Cafe in Reading. The place was empty so we had the small restaurant room to ourselves. Best of all, they had a jazz pianist playing, so in effect we had our own private pianist. He was excellent, and played lots of numbers we enjoyed bopping along to in our seats. I must have bopped pretty enthusiastically, because Ebru started demanding that I get up and sing a song. To be honest, I really wanted to - it was a brilliant opportunity to sing informally in front of people I knew, so I didn't need much persuading.

I got up and sang 'All I want for Christmas is you' - the Mariah Carey version, slightly adapted for people like me whose voices don't span four octaves.

It was great, I got a huge round of applause and lots of compliments and felt really good. So good I wanted to get up and do it again. So I did. This time I sang 'Nobody does it better' (Carly Simon). I sat down again, but it wasn't long till everyone had me up singing a bunch of songs. It had been so long since I'd done that that I couldn't think of any songs to sing! I ended up doing 'Cheek to Cheek', 'Let's stay together', 'Blue Moon', 'I only want to be with you', 'These arms of mine' and probably a couple more I can't remember. A veritable set list!

It was a really wonderful experience, everyone was really pleased I'd done it and kept giving me compliments. I guess I feel a little rusty and my confidence has suffered for it but this little surprise gig has really inspired me to learn more jazz tunes and revive and revamp my songlist. I even exchanged cards with the pianist... who knows, I might even gig professionally with him one day! My dream is to have a regular gig in a jazz bar, say one night a week, so this really was a taste of a dream come true... Thanks to the powers that be!!

Me and my legwarmers

My colleague Claire finds it hilarious that I wear legwarmers when I walk to work. It's friggin' cold, that's why!!

Anyway when she saw me she started singing the theme tune from 'Fame' and demanded I do a high kick for the camera. So here it is. Effortful expression and all. Plus a close-up of said legwarmers.

Ah, I love the work wind-down to Christmas :)

Feeling royally shitful

(Warning: moan alert)
I woke up this morning with a splitting headache, stomacheache, nausea and dehydration and thought I may have food poisoning. This is on top of taking all of last week off for a throat virus, which also sapped me of my strength for half a week a fortnight ago, and for an entire weekend a fortnight before that.

I am really over being ill! Can't I have a break from it, please? :(

A really lovely album

It's been a weird couple of weeks. Weird mainly because I've been ill and taken a week off work. When that happens it throws your sense of timing and reality off as your whole routine is put on hold. And being thrown like that when Christmas is approaching is really weird as you lose touch with the outside world's excitement building up. One day everything's normal, a week later you leave the flat and there are decorations everywhere, in people's windows, on buses etc. Not that I mind of course... it's lovely :)

But in the midst of all this strangeness, I have been listening to a gorgeous album over and over again. It's called "Neptune City" by Nicole Atkins, who Ben randomly found on MySpace a couple of years ago. We've been entranced ever since.

Neptune City is dreamy and lovely and magical. My fave song is "Maybe Tonight", the first track. It really sums up how I'm feeling at the moment... that mystical wonderful things can happen and are happening. Love and Fate and mystery. Love it. Thanks Nicole, you're a gem!

Re-thinking the whole food thing

Back in September I walked into a Chinese herbalist centre hoping to get some acupuncture for some back pain I'd been experiencing, and walked out with a series of acupuncture/massage sessions and a bunch of detox herbs and pills. Not quite what I'd been after. I knew my head wasn't where it should be (this was around the time of Ben's surgery) but I went along with it, let myself get caught up in the tide of seemingly random actions on my part.

The herbalist basically said my liver, digestion, circulation, immune system and "ladyworks" weren't working as they should be. So I started a detox - no alcohol, limited caffeine (1, not my usual 2 coffees a day), no sweets, crisps, chips, roast nuts (!), citrus fruit/juices, deep fried foods, and a limit of red meat/dairy 3-4 times a week. I also took loads of pills and bitter herbal teas that stunk the flat out. I started it ok, but then our trip to Portugal put a dent in my resolve. It was silly to expect to do a detox on holiday, so I put it on hold, and really focused when we got back. It was 4 weeks of serious detoxing in October!

It was kind of funny - both Ben and I were on pill regimes (very different ones, mind you!) but it made me feel like we were doing something in his treatment together, which was nice.

I lasted 4 weeks, not the full 5 I'd paid for (hey, I have a week in reserve, whenever I want it). And I really noticed the difference - in my skin, my period, and my liver (unfortunately the only way I know my liver has detoxed is when I drink loads without my body objecting to the alcohol - nice). And I was generally a lot calmer, less agitated, less prone to stress. It was great.

Once I was off the detox of course I had to sample everything I'd been denying myself (and I mean, EVERYTHING!) but after I got over the deprivation reaction, I went back to fairly normal, healthy eating.

I have since started reading a book called 'Everything you need to know to help you beat cancer' by Chris Woollams. Ben had bought it and started reading it, and we're now both somewhere in the middle of it. The author's daughter had a brain tumour, and he did loads of research into what causes cancer. In the book he has managed to pull a large number of information sources together in an easy-to-read format. It's an excellent book, and a must-read for anyone with cancer, but also anyone who wants to lower their chances of getting cancer.

I'm mentioning this book in relation to my detox, because basically, the book advocates eating in a manner that more or less matches what I did on my detox. I feel that it's no coincidence that I did a 'random' detox and then started reading this book.

I know, and most people know, that eating healthier means a healthier body, but when you're forced to *really* think about it, *really* think about the levels of toxins in your body, and how they can create conditions for cancer... and when you have a boyfriend who is battling the damn thing... well, it makes you stop in your tracks and wonder what the hell you're doing.

(Don't get me wrong: I'm by no means saying that Ben caused his own cancer through a poor diet - especially because in the last year or so his diet has been formidably healthy - but a less than healthy diet and over-indulgence in booze in earlier years *may* have contributed to his current situation, among a whole host of other factors.)

So, I've started to really think about what we're putting in our bodies. Mainly food and drink, but also toiletries. I am now paying more attention to ingredients on packaging. I am working my way up to a different approach to food. I'm even considering giving up coffee, which is going to be difficult... my morning latte has been such a constant in my life for so long!

And I really need to lose weight. The last two years or so has seen me put on a LOT of weight, and I am now the heaviest I've ever been in my life. This is very unhealthy, especially for a person with such a small frame. Being overweight massively increases my chances of getting cancer, and dying earlier. Not good.

So... healthy eating. Organic food. No prepared foods. Limited dairy. Less red meat, more oily fish. Several smaller meals a day. No caffeine or aspartame. Limited sugars, and natural ones wherever possible. Supplements (which ones? I haven't worked that out yet, there are so many to choose from!) Green tea. No added salt (arghh, but I'm Greek!). Filtered water. Limited or no (?!) alcohol. Multiple servings of vegetables and fruit every day. And so on and so forth.

It's not like we've been eating in an unhealthy manner, it's just that we can (and should) take it to the next level if we're to put up a decent fight against this disease that's intruded so rudely into our lives. And we will. We intend to beat the fucker.

I'm not the only grammar pedant!

Whoever crossed out 'less' on Transport for London's poorly written notice about escalators, and replaced it with 'fewer' - I love you! :)

(Though, to be fair, I appreciate what TfL are doing for the environment. At least they can spell that correctly ;))

(Noted today at Victoria Underground station)

Proof that 'Manchester' is an Australian word for bedlinen

On this, my week off work, I've been going through and sorting a bunch of photos from the last year and a half (finally!) Here is a photo of a Store Directory in Myer, a department store, taken in December last year, on our visit to Melbourne. Stop laughing, you silly Brits!

Everyone has a story

Almost everyone I speak to about Ben's condition has a similar story to tell about a friend or a relative. When I first started talking to people, this came as a shock. Now, after having spoken with loads of people, and hearing loads of stories, I am very saddened. Why so many? And why aren't we hearing about this - from the medical industry, from the media? There's always some article about what may or may not cause cancer, but I have heard nothing about the sheer volume of cases. I am really appalled that cancer is so rife. Why? Is it something about modern living? All the decisions we make about what to eat, drink, wear, breathe and surround ourselves with in our homes? Or does it go deeper than that? Is it more about relationships and expression of emotion, deep-seated feelings from the past not dealt with or let go? I really wonder...

There are just so so many stories, so many people in pain. It seems so wrong.

A holiday, a fresh perspective, and settling into life with chemo

So it's been a long while between posts. Obviously a lot has been going on. Let's go back a few months to the last update, when Ben had his bowel surgery...

Immediately following the surgery Ben made a really good recovery and was let out of hospital early, which was really heartening. Then came a really difficult couple of weeks for me where I was juggling looking after Ben, finishing off a work project from home (unfortunately it was the tail end of a project I couldn't really hand over as it was all in my head) and fielding the much appreciated but voluminous enquiries after Ben's health via email, text and phone. I have to admit I really struggled through this period and was in some despair. I felt I couldn't give Ben all my attention because of work, and so was dealing with guilt on top of everything else.

But then, finally, my project was over and it was only a few days until a holiday we'd had scheduled for Portugal. Talk about serendipitous timing! It really was an absolute blessing to have that time-out. Ben's surgeon had not only said it was ok for him to travel, but heartily recommended it, so off we went, to sunshine and fresh seafood and family and babies! James and Tracy were at the family villa with their babies as well as Ben's parents. It was simply wonderful to sit back and be looked after by someone else for a change. And Ben's parents, who'd been stuck in Portugal while Ben was in hospital, were more than happy to be looking after us. We basically did very little for 10 days, and it was completely wonderful. We played with the beautiful little girls every day, went for walks in the sunshine, swam (I did; Ben sensibly sat in the shade by the pool), ate lots of delicious meals and read loads of books. But most importantly, we didn't think about the cancer or the treatment, or anything. It was all very very therapeutic.

To be honest, Ben had gone pretty much straight from diagnosis to surgery... it all happened so quickly and was such a big shock that we hadn't really processed it. The holiday was our first chance for our brains and our emotions to catch up with everything and come to terms with it. So when we finally came back home we felt rejuvenated and relaxed and ready to deal with the next stage: chemotherapy.

We already knew it was a mild form of chemo that Ben would be receiving, so he wouldn't experience symptoms like hair loss, but it would be taking some toll on his energy and result in a few other symptoms. We had visited the oncologist and she had explained it all to us in a blur of medical jargon. We'd also learned that his liver was showing some signs of damage, but a scan and consultation later, we still couldn't be 100% sure (and neither could the experts) that it was bowel cancer that had spread, or something different entirely.

So Ben started his chemo treatment just about a month ago, with a view to doing it for 3 months, then having liver surgery, then doing another round of chemo treatment for 3 months. It hasn't been scheduled, but we imagine the liver surgery will happen in late January.

In terms of the treatment, the main drug works on a 3-week cycle, which means that every 3rd Monday Ben has to go into the oncology clinic and get an intravenous infusion. He's also started a second drug which works on a 2-week cycle. And on top of all that, he has to take a complex medley of pills a few times a day - steroids, anti-nausea pills, and others. It's not been much fun - the infusions leave his arm sore for a week, and he experiences a lot of nausea and fatigue in the first week. But in the second week this improves and by the third week he's feeling almost normal. Bizarrely, the second drug has cause his eyelashes to grow longer! Weird, but wonderful :)

After cautiously returning to work, Ben has come to a sensible working arrangement: he will be taking the main week of injections off, and then working a 4-day week in other weeks. And even better, my work has approved me taking off every 3rd Monday so I can accompany Ben to the clinic for his big injections, which has eased a lot of distress for me.

This is a difficult time for both of us, and we're still trying to work out how much we can handle, and what support structures we need in place to make our journey easier and more comfortable. I've certainly come to realise that I can't just soldier on and expect everything to be ok - we all need shoulders to cry on, and I can't keep crying on Ben's - he's got enough on his plate already! And I've realised I've really done both me and my friends a disservice by not letting them know sooner. (Most of them don't read this blog, and wouldn't have received Ben's 'you ought to know' email.) I didn't mean to go on for so long in silence... when it all went down I didn't know if I was coming or going, and then when we came back from Portugal it was all very busy with work and weddings and other things going on.

But now's the time to let them all know. I miss them and love them so much. And, let's face it, I need them right now.

My angel and his awful ordeal

It's been a very long, exhausting and emotionally draining week. And it bears some introduction.

About 2 months ago, Ben developed an ache in his lower belly. Initially we just thought it was poor digestion, and a bit of a bug. After a couple of weeks had gone by and the pain hadn't gone away, he booked himself in for an ultrasound. The results indicated his organs all looked ok and there 'might be some excess bowel gas'. All sounded fine, except the pain persisted.

We were then distracted by some reflux and chest pain, which was overcome by taking antacids. This lasted for a few weeks. In the meantime the bellyache was still there, and was getting worse.

Ben then made an appointment to see a gastroenterologist, and got some blood tests done which indicated there may be some inflammation in his bowel. He was told to get a colonoscopy (a camera up the back passage) just to be sure.

When he had the colonoscopy done, instead of seeing inflammation they found a big ugly lump in Ben's large intestine. They took tissue samples (biopsies) and told him to expect a follow-up consultation in the next 2-3 days.

In the consultation, Ben was told the lump was a tumour and that he had bowel cancer. Needless to say, this came as an enormous shock for both of us, as well as for family and friends. I'm still not sure we've come to terms with it yet. It seems so wrong that he should get bowel cancer at the age of 31 (or at all!!!).

The consultant (who is the top surgeon in his field, I might add) was about to go on holidays, so he offered to operate on Ben this week.

Ben had surgery on Wednesday. It went very well; the tumour was removed and all involved seemed happy with the procedure. Ben's been recovering in hospital this week, and I've tried to be there as much as I can with him. The poor thing has had so much pain and discomfort, but there has been a noticeable improvement every day, and he is now off all his drips and is walking around and looking a darn sight better than he was a couple of days ago. He even ate his first meal of solid food tonight.

He gets discharged in the next day or two, whereby I'll go into full-time nurse duties (I may have to work from home for a while). It should take about a month for him to recover from the operation, but it will be at least a few months before his abdominal muscles are fully healed and he's able to lift (heavy) things. And there are some follow-up exams and procedures he'll need to have done too.

But at least he's young and fit, and the tumour was caught in time, before it could do irreparable damage. We were lucky that he'd lost a lot of weight (3 stone) in the past year, otherwise the prognosis could have been a whole lot worse. We will overcome this, and we'll have a healthy happy Benjy back in no time. Thank God.

This whole thing has really reminded me about what's important in life, and health is definitely up there in the top 3. And so are family and friends. Thank you with all my heart to all our wonderful family members and friends who have texted, called, emailed, facebooked, sent cards or flowers, and visited Ben in hospital. We couldn't have got through the worst without you. We love you very much.

And for those of you who are hearing about this for the first time, we hope you understand why it was difficult to let everyone know right away. We love you very much too, and know we also have your love and support to help carry us through the next few months.

Far far far too long between posts

Wow. I can't believe my last blog post was in March. Jeez. Time for a big catch-up then, eh?

Let's start in March, in bullet points; anything more would be silly.

March:
- the baby girls finally got to go home with their Mum and Dad
- saw Jonathan Coulton perform and I got his autograph!
- threw our first dinner party at the flat, with Kat and Andy the lucky recipients of a 3-course meal and loads of booze!
- went to our first 2008 wedding - Chloe & Tim (Chloe went to school with Ben)
- worked on a console game which was different, and fun!
- it snowed in our garden! (And in other parts of London, apparently)
- Saw Avenue Q which, because it had been made out to me to be amazingly funny, ended up inevitably disappointing
- went to the usual spate of lunches, brunches, drinks and movies


April:
- was busy busy busy on a project for the Freemans website - a fashion retail site that I did an expert evaluation, competitor review, user testing, interaction design, client workshopping, prototype testing and wrote a UI Spec for. All in 8 weeks. And not without help, either - I was working with a great team from Flow, our client, and our partner design agency Splendid. You can see the outcome here.
- tried 'Bollywood' dance classes which were fun and energetic, but the sharp wrist-twisting hand movements proved to be painful for my (still recovering) wrist
- went to a climate change meeting which left me feeling hopeful about the future and forever cynical about politicians at the same time


May
- had a long weekend away in the Lake District, a beautifully picturesque part of North England. Ben and I managed a 7-hour mountain hike on the first day, with lots of stile-climbing and lambsie-spotting (it was lambing season). We decided to relax, shop, and wander only on flat land for the second day.
- had a cocktail party (where my lovely bf's talents as a cocktail maker were on show) for my birthday. How old? Don't ask!

- Connie (my cousin) and Antoni became proud parents of little Thomas over in Athens
- sat through my first Eurovision final. It's apparently a rite of passage over here. Well, I've done it, so I never have to do it again. Thank God.
- earned mega gf brownie points cheering on Ben doing a 10k run, in the pouring rain.


June
- sang two hymns at our friends' Maria and Robin's wedding - Amazing Grace and Be Still (for the Presence of the Lord). It was lovely to be asked, and lovely to be singing again.

- had a 10-day holiday with Ben in England, which was bookended by weekends with friends. The first weekend was down in Pagham on the South Coast, at Claire's grandparents' house. The second weekend was in Elveden Forest in a leisure park called CentreParcs. It was literally in the middle of a forest and had a big pool complex with rapids, slides and wave pools, as well as loads of outdoor activities and wildlife to gawk at. In between the two weekends Ben and I drove around South-East England, ticking things like Stonehenge and Windsor Castle off my tourist list. We also saw some beautiful countryside and cathedrals.


July
- hit 3 years with Ben and 3 years in London. Wow! It seems to have gone by so fast! But I know I have changed immeasurably for the better, and I know it was the right decision to move here :) Especially as Ben got me 3 bunches of flowers and took me out for a superb gastronomic meal to mark the occasion ;) He done good.
- Mum came to visit! I unfortunately couldn't get time off work as it was late notice, but we got to spend some nice time together and she got to traipse about London and see some touristy stuff. And of all things, she seemed most taken with Selfridges!
- Ben and I had a long weekend in Athens with my parents, and Gary & Barbara (who were in transit). I also got to meet gorgeous baby Thomas, who is a delight.
- saw West Side Story beautifully performed and relived the fantastic songs we learned when I was a schoolgirl at Fintona
- started reading books again! I'd had a long absence from reading which I was getting worried about but I've thankfully caught the bug again


August
- did my first international travelling for work! Ok, so it was only Hamburg, and only for a day, but still! I've decided I really like the German language and would like to learn it in some capacity. Ja! Fur sure! hehe

So that's the run-down. In ongoing news, the baby girls are growing and becoming more alert and more gorgeous by the day. In less happy news, Ben has had belly trouble for some weeks now which is being investigated. We have two weddings and a Portugal/Spain trip planned for September, but nothing else of a big nature on the horizon. Photos, as ever, to follow (or so the legend goes).

That's it from me. Love to y'all. Iakovidis out.

Blossoms

Ah, the blossoms have started coming out. This is my favourite season of the year! :)

Simon Pegg weekend

Ben's away, I'm ill with a persistent cold, and was feeling like a nice homey weekend indoors, so I had one. I indulged myself and watched all 14 episodes of 'Spaced' (2004 British comedy about twenty-something flatmates and their adventures) and 'Hot Fuzz'. Ahhh. :)

Did I mention I love Simon Pegg? Not just for his looks and sexy deep voice but he's a very funny bloke! And a very versatile actor too. Catch him in 'Shaun of the Dead' (which he co-wrote), 'Run, Fatboy, Run' and the soon to be released 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People' with Kirsten Dunst.

Oh, and in case anyone's worried I did more than just watch TV all weekend - I met a friend for lunch and girly shopping (thanks Lou!), did loads of washing and washing up and even made some jewellery displays - I'll take some photos once Ben comes back with his camera (he's riding phat powder in Tignes at the moment...)

Trying to kill hotmail

Some of you may already know my feelings about hotmail, and about Microsoft, its grotesque and calculating parent. If you don't, you clearly haven't been listening.

I spent the better part of last night trying to kill off my hotmail accounts (I have two; it's a long story), but being the sentimental so-and-so I am, I had to go through everything to make sure I can retain things like the emails Ben and I exchanged in the year we were apart (can't discard that melodrama!) and more practical admin things like login details for miscellaneous accounts. What a f***ing chore! Especially with the hotmail interface I loathe. It's so difficult to do the simplest of things. I hate it so much!!!

Anyway I'm thinking of throwing a party when I finally kill off my hotmail accounts. Long live gmail!! Those of you still on that antiquated shitty webmail service that is anything but 'hot' - you don't know what you're missing.

All my exes are getting married

Ok, well not all of them. Two of them. Two out of three people I had significant relationships with in the past. I was told about one in 2006, and I just found out today that another one is getting married later this year.

I am happy for them, really I am. But I can't also help feeling a little depressed. Blecchhh. What I need now is a few hours and some seriously cheesy movies to lose myself in for a little while...

Andy's dream

My friend Andy just emailed me with this:

----------------------------
Hey I had a dream the other night that you were on stage singing Band Aid style on the mic with Amy Winehouse, you grabbed the mic off her saying 'move over wino' and started belting out this tune! It was a classic.

You should enter xfactor this year seriously - it's a premonition!!
----------------------------

Hmmm... should I?

I scored a goal in footy!

Ok, so it's nowhere near as momentous news as the birth of the twins, but I am proud to say I scored my first goal (in 2 years of playing footy, but may I remind you I play back defender!) last night! I was very excited. It's given me new oomph to play better and harder. Watch out Camden Ladies' League! Check out the match results online if you don't believe me. And the fact we lost by 6 goals is not the point!!!

Ben is an uncle!

Yesterday, Tracy gave birth to two beautiful baby girls - Isabel Rose and Olivia Grace. They are identical twins and they are just gorgeous. They are also in critical care because they are a little premature, given they were mono-amniotic twins (sharing the same amniotic sac - very rare). James and Tracy are thrilled, as you can imagine. And Ben is very excited about being an uncle! And of course me at being an 'auntie'! :)

Dining in darkness

Last night I took Ben out for dinner for his birthday to 'Dans le Noir?' where meals are eaten in pitch darkness, and you are served by blind waiting staff. (I never made it to the equivalent Melbourne restaurant, so this was a new experience for me too).

Ben and I were both quite excited by the prospect, and made our way into the restaurant in a line of people, hand on shoulder. We were seated, and felt our place settings, and got our bearings, kind of. It was very strange... it made you feel like your eyes weren't working, and of course it meant that your sense of hearing was amplified. It was fun to start with, but we soon found that the other people in there were talking so loudly (and making stupid loud noises for the hell of it, like moronic children) that we could barely hear ourselves over the din.

It got to the point where two of the waiters had to yell over everyone to be quiet. This only worked for half a minute, unfortunately. And they were mocked for it, too. After five minutes of cacophony, I, being the quiet wallflower I am, also yelled out for people to 'please keep the volume down', and also got mocked, particularly by the guy making the stupid noises, who made another stupid noise for my benefit.
This enraged me, and I screamed out "you're a fucking twat!". Ok, so I lost it a bit. But you have to imagine the pitch darkness, the difficulty hearing each other speak, and the beginnings of panic and distress feeding the situation.

The couple next to us asked to leave, before their starters reached the table, and we quickly followed suit. I was so angry that some thoughtless assholes had to spoil it for so many other people, and that we missed out on what would have been a novel dining experience (we didn't know what we'd be eating). Anyway, we got out of there and ended up having a lovely meal at a nearby restaurant. After a few drinks and some food Ben's heart rate was back to normal and my face had lost its unhealthy flush.

I have to conclude that we prefer lit meals.

Giving ethical presents

While we don't always want to acknowledge it, we live in a hopelessly greedy and consumerist society. We buy and buy and waste so much, every day. Half the time we don't think about whether we really need that item, whether we couldn't perhaps re-use it or fashion it into something else, or find a more sustainable alternative to the new thing. No wonder we're depleting our planet's resources at a devastating rate!

A good friend of mine, Kate, started encouraging her friends to buy ethical gifts last year, particularly when it came to her own birthday presents. I think this is a great idea and I'm now ready to do it myself. (Yes, I'll confess, it took me a while - I've always been a girl who's loved her 'stuff', but even I can change.)

So, all I ask of you is this: When a friend's birthday is coming up, or an occasion like Christmas, consider getting them an ethical gift. It may not be as tangible or as fun to play with as a regular gift, but it will help slow mass consumption a tiny bit. And it will also help heal the planet a tiny bit.

Certainly when it comes to presents for me, I'll be more than happy to receive an ethical gift :)

Where to shop:
Oxfam Unwrapped (International)
Your Tomorrow (UK)
Ethical Gifts (UK)
Present Aid (UK)

Other ideas:
- make your own cards from bits and pieces at home - get creative!
- make your own presents!
- give someone a voucher for your time doing something nice, like cooking a meal or giving a massage

10 years in UX

This morning I realised, with a start, that I'll have been working in usability/user experience for 10 years come September. Ten years!! That's such a long time! I'm not sure how to feel about this. On one hand, there's a sense of pride - I've come a long way in that time. I'm light years away from the green post-grad who donned corporate wear for IBM GSA back in '98. On the other hand, part of me is thinking I should broaden my playing field, have a career change, do something else with my life. But as ever, I'm kind of stumped as to what my next move should be, as it could be in any number of directions! Plus work has started getting quite interesting over the last six months, and promises to continue being interesting. So, the 'big move' is probably going to go on the back burner for a while. Again. But ten years... that's enough to scare anyone out of their comfort zone...

Are you a considerate passenger?

Transport for London have just launched a new campaign to encourage people to be more considerate on trains and buses. This issue is close to my heart, as I, for one, cannot stand the littering and the music-on-mobile playing that are almost part of the fabric of catching public transport in London.

I wonder if this campaign stands any chance of working. I can only hope.

A profoundly important book

I have been reading "From Naked Ape to Superspecies" by David Suzuki and Holly Dressel. It is a major wake-up call to those of us who want the human species, not to mention the diversity of the life on this planet, to survive. It tells you of shocking, appalling things you won't hear in the media because, as we know, the media is controlled by a small number of hugely powerful and profit-hungry corporations. As are world trade agreements. As are patents on living things!!! The immorality and greed of these corporations is beyond belief. They are exploiting everyone, each and every one of us, but particularly the poorer Third World countries, who can't afford to fight them. And here we are, complacently living our lives, only vaguely aware that there is a climate and environmental crisis happening. Well it's happening now, and it's much bigger and scarier than we think, or are permitted to know about. According to the scientists, if we don't change our ways now, and fight these bastard corporations, we are absolutely on the path to our own destruction.

The more I read this book, the more galvanised I am to action. I haven't finished it yet, but already I'm asking - what can I do? How can I help? How can I make a difference? One thing's for sure - I will be investigating. And my first step to making a difference is telling you all about this book. Please, please read it. I'm buying my workplace a copy, my parents, my boyfriend and my brother. I think in this instance the greater environmental cause will forgive me purchasing multiple copies of the same book.

Weekend with Connie in Athens

I just came back from visiting my pregnant cousin Connie in Athens. She knows what sex her baby is, and she and Antoni have even named him! Wow, that's efficient! ;)

It was wonderful to spend some quality 1-on-1 time with Con. We grew up as close as sisters, until her family moved to Greece when we were nine. The time I've spent with her since I moved to London has been great, but not very private, with few opportunities to be alone. This time, we finally did it, and caught up on love, life and the Universe, and affirmed that we are indeed a different generation from our parents.

I look forward to my next weekend in Greece when I will be a 2nd cousin once removed (or something to that effect)!!

Oh, and a visit to Greece wouldn't be right without a mention of food - managed to have a very tasty galaktoboureko from the best cake shop in Kifisia - fresh out of the oven! Yum!

Heroes

On a less aggressive note, Ben and I have just started watching Heroes. A bit late, I know, but we had to get through the Firefly series (including the Serenity movie) before we allowed ourselves to start watching this new series which already has a cult following. It combines three of my favourite movie/TV show themes - special effects, genetic aberrations and serial killers. Oops, have I given something away? :) I didn't think this show was going to be as dark as it is... I thought it would be slightly more cheesy blockbuster action. Fortunately it's not. It's very well written and as SFX says, the first 3 episodes have the most brilliant cliffhanger endings. (We're up to the 4th episode). This series gets a major thumbs up in my book.

Angry!!

I have been searching high and low for a sculpture course in London that is reasonably priced, aimed at beginners, located conveniently and run outside of business hours. It's taken me weeks, but I finally found a great-sounding course this morning. It's run on Saturdays by CityLit at a reasonable price and it's fairly easy for me to get to. And being run on a Saturday, I don't have to worry about skipping out of work early or getting home late. But, get this, I have to pay double the price because I haven't been a permanent UK resident for 3 years!!! It's a Government-funded school, you see. It doesn't matter that I have been working for this country for the last 2 1/2 years, have an EU passport, pay council tax and make donations to UK-based organisations. Can you believe it?!

This sucks the big one! Up yours to the UK Government for their stupid unfair stipulations!

Anyone know any good teach yourself sculpture books?

Grrrrrrr....

Offsetting your carbon footprint

I just found a brilliant site which gives you the opportunity to offset the nasty carbon footprint your activities generate by funding different environmental causes.

The site let me calculate how many tonnes of CO2 my upcoming weekend trip to Greece would produce (0.686 tonnes), and how much money I would need to spend to offset it, which ranged between £5.15 and £11.75 depending on what cause I decide to fund. That's a pretty good feature in my book. And it doesn't add up to much, either!

I'm going to offset after every trip I take. It's obviously not as virtuous as not taking the trip in the first place, but at least this will help me assuage the guilt a little.

Note - the site lets you choose between British pounds, US dollars and Euros so all you Aussies are best to pay in USD.

Secret Santa is fantastic!

Upon my return to London, I received my Secret Santa gift. I have to say, they made an excellent choice!

Ok, if it's not clearly visible, it's a shower sponge in the shape of a microphone. Pretty cool, eh? I love it!!

More Melbourne highlights

From the cold, harsh climes of London, I can reminisce on the rest of my holiday in my home town:
- seeing Beowulf in 3D at the IMAX - woah!
- discovering I love the retro styles of Quick Brown Fox and spending lots of money there!
- Christmas with the extended family with loads of awesome presents and conversations
- Noticing how much everyone has grown or changed
- seeing some dear friends who I miss heaps
- playing with my cousins' cute spoodles (spaniel x poodle)
- meeting all the babies in my network (well, almost all of them)
- visiting fave haunts - Brunswick St., Acland St., and Smith St.
- being bought a ticket to a mystery event which turned out to be a Hari Krishna performance night. Needless to say we didn't stay long ;)
- being inspired by a new friend's art and cult collectibles
- pointing out places I'd been to for Ben everywhere we walked and describing the memories they evoked
- getting a shiatsu massage at the Japanese Bath House in Collingwood
- an intimate NYE with Gary and Barb and a few choice friends - with cocktails, boardgames and karaoke!
- drinking wine by the Yarra in Fairfield with my cousins
- eating sweet, ripe mangoes on a daily basis
- doing some bar-hopping on our last night in town and discovering some new funky bars: Horse Bazaar, The Toff, and The Workshop
- Yum Cha on our last day with my loud but lovable family :)

Needless to say it was a very special time with lots of great people and delicious food. Needless to say I don't miss the heat and I've started a health kick to recover from the excess consumption!

(photos forthcoming...)