1 Year LANDING Anniversary

It's been 1 year since I left Australia & set up base camp in the UK.

Mixed feelings are surfacing with this announcement...
I'm pleased I've made it this far, happy to have all the life experience, missing friends & family back in Australia, excited to see what the next year brings, nervous to think that I'm on the downhill for the trip, overwhelmed with options for the future...

And then there is the shock, hurt & anger... nothing really to do with the UK trip. In fact it's due to the REASON I left Australia. I learnt some news through a mutual friend today & it completely knocked me over.

It had been 1 year since I'd heard the name uttered and I almost bit the messenger's head off. I don't want to hear about how the world is still spinning and things are changing while I'm over here. I most definitely don't want to hear about the years I have lost due to my self-imposed amnesia.


Back to the warm, fuzzy feelings.............
I have been to Paris, Iceland, Copenhagen and seen a bit of the UK. There's still plenty I want to see & do and time is ticking down now.
It's now time for me to start looking towards the future & seriously think about what my next move is going to be come this time next year.

That One Time in Paris

My second trip to Paris (November 2012) was as eventful as the first (many, many years ago). I did not get lost in Paris at midnight while trying to get back from the Eiffel Tower... however I did ALMOST start a war in the online game EVE ONLINE.

I am pretty sure Helen of Troy has nothing on me. Face that launched a thousand ships??? Try (at least) one hundred thousand... and mine are in space, so you know it's costly.

I don't know whether to be proud of the fact that there was almost a war over me, or more embarrassed.
*shakes head* Nerds...

There's nothing wrong with being a gamer/nerd/spaceship enthusiast. HOWEVER, when I am being your wing-man, don't come at me with your fishy lips. I don't want to kiss you. I DO NOT find you attractive. You are the quintessential American tourist in Europe and I will have none of it.

You will find yourself slapped in the face, and heavily reprimanded both in & out of game from people who hear the story.

Also don't try to play dumb & ask what happened weeks later. I will not fluff your ego. That is not my job. You know exactly what happened, and you want confirmation to tell your friends. Well make sure you tell them about the slap outside the toilets in that dingy bar that the group had to walk miles to get to & we all ended up sober before we reached it.

MEMORIES!!!

Back to the Land of the Living

I survived Iceland...

I wasn't certain I'd make it back to London, to be perfectly honest. After listening to EVE gaming conversations/ship fittings/space politics conversations (practically 24/7) for the past week and a half, I am definitely glad to be back at home where I can just leave the room or start up a SC2 stream.

Let's give the highlights of the trip...


Sightseeing wise I saw the following:
- Geysers
- CCP offices
- Harpa Building
- Waterfall
- Rift Valley
- Glacier
- Troll Cave
- old Lighthouse
- Cathedral
- Viking Museum

I ate at Nonni's (though many people debate this fact as I got a burger rather than a sub), I tried puffin & whale - didn't like either of them - as well as a bunch of seafood (still not a fan). I partied at the top of the world & am technically the first lady of space politics. Met loads of nice people and didn't end up with any hangovers. I also got to spend about 40mins in a geothermal spa facility... was relaxing.


I was even interviewed at one point... though I'm unsure why they would want my opinion of EVE (haha).

What would I do differently if I go again??? Well, for one thing, I would not go on the pre-organized tours. Don't get me wrong, I had a good time, but it wasn't what I was told & thus I was a little disappointed. I would either create my own tour or just miss it all together as I've seen the majority of the highlights of Iceland. I would DEFINITELY go snow-boarding though... I was quite jealous of the people who got to go (even if most of them came back injured).

I was a little disappointed I didn't get to see the Aurora Borealis. Means I'll have to either visit again or head to another Scandinavian country later this year. To be fair, the sun wasn't setting until about 11pm and was rising at about 4am.. so there's wasn't a lot of time to see it, as during the dark hours I was either catching up on sleep or inside a bar, listening to people talk spaceships.

It was good to meet up with old friends and put faces to the people who's names I hear on a daily basis.

10 days until Iceland

WOW!

Time seems to get away from me... every time I promise to begin updating on a regular basis, something happens and it takes me a while to get back into the swing of things.

My new car.

First major change - I've moved from London to Norwich (about 2.5hrs north of London). I've got a nice house, and I now have a car as well... new job, and in a few weeks I'll be bringing some little bunnies into my little family. There will be many pictures uploaded of all these new things soon, I promise.

Secondly, I will be jetting off to Iceland in about 10 days. I'll be there for about a week and a half, seeing the sights and meeting loads of gamers who normally spend their days in an alternative universe traversing the galaxy and generally creating mayhem in space. (Exciting I know) It'll be my first overseas trip since Christmas.

Which brings me to my next point. Space Politics is ridiculous... and seems to be run entirely by men. Now there's nothing wrong with being a gamer. There's nothing wrong with leading other enthusiasts to battle or being in a seat of power in a game about spaceships. The issue comes about when people can't separate a game from reality. This past week has been spent doing damage control so that no one gets their face punched in while we are holidaying in Iceland. I tell you, if women were in charge of these space politics, there wouldn't be any issues of face punchings. It'd be a simple matter of, "we aren't speaking to her" and everyone would move on. Women excel at manipulation and mind games. I don't know why these gamers don't utilize it.

I think I've picked a dress for the charity dinner in Iceland. It arrived today, so I'll be checking it tonight (making sure it fits correctly & looks nice - otherwise it gets sent back to the store).

My YouTube videos have momentarily stopped also. Disappointing I know. With all the moving, the camera is packed & I haven't found it while unpacking yet. Soon, I promise. There will definitely be footage from Iceland... as there are some very cool activities & events I will be attending. I'm also crossing my fingers that I will be lucky enough to see the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights).

It's coming up to 7 months since I left Australia & it's all going well. I would love to promise to be more regular with posts but I don't want to let anyone down. I will keep posting when I can.. I swear.

VALENTINE'S DAY: Food fights & other romantic endeavours

The original plan for Valentine's Day was to head to some celeb rehab looking place and have a relaxing spa weekend.

<------- LOOK AT THAT!!!

Tell me that doesn't look like some rehab retreat for a celebrity!

Needless to say I didn't get to go there... we have postponed that trip for the time being.

I was quite happy to spend Valentine's Day watching the new DIE HARD movie & having a nice meal. Though I was not as pleased with the film as I'd hoped, it was still ok - not up to it's normal DIE HARD-Y standards. Plus there were a lot of old couples there to see the movie - obviously they remember the good Die Hard days & the times when Bruce Willis was smoking hot.

Here's the issue... I got covered in popcorn!

                      And it wasn't as awesome as                              that picture --------->


It was knocked off the arm rest, into my lap just as the movie was starting & about 1/2 the bucket ended up covering my lap & the seat around me. I felt bad for the cleaners but it wasn't MY fault. Everyone around me seemed to have a good ol' laugh & it's lucky I have such a wonderful sense of humor otherwise people would have been scalped.



Not even a DAY later, I ended up coated in DR. PEPPER (the best doctor & the finest pepper there is worldwide). So it could have been worse... but nevertheless, cola is sticky & cold. Also, I dislike being covered in food OR beverages. I'm sensing a trend. Thankfully, no more edible products have been dumped on me (thus far).

I'm counting down to the Iceland trip for FanFest in April... so many cool things going on & I can't wait to explore the (hopefully) snow covered countryside & meet some more fun people.

I'll *try* to remember to post more often. I'm busy moving, packing, unpacking and the like - but more on that another time.