Things to do in Stockholm

Eat one of these (the meat's a bit on the pungent side for me, but B's a fan):

Hunt for the narrowest street in Gamla Stan:

Visit the world's largest spherical building (*guffaw*):

Enjoy a bewdiful romantic sunset with your non-romantic platonic flatmate (no Swedish Svens tried to pick us up :( ):

Just quickly

Paris for a day and night (which has more metal, Eiffel Tower, or Harbour Bridge?)

With Shuai and Stan :)

YUMMY snacks at Pierre Herme (that chocolate cake right infront costs EU$70!)

Pho for dinner before the Eurostar home :D

"We ALL have boyfriends!"

I won't point the finger at the gal who came up with that line on Saturday night, but it definitely did the trick of chasing away those Frenchmen who had innocently asked us, "Can we join your table?"

*lol*

Some of us even managed to get marriage proposals that night. Others managed to drunkenly drench themselves in wine (if you look closely at the pic, you'd be able to to tell who, oops). And only one of us managed not to throw up the next day *grin*

15 quid will get you in at the Roof Gardens Club in Kensington. For 500 quid (minimum spend), you can book yourself a table (which we just slyly stole anyway). The venue itself is great! You'd never believe that such a large garden area could be setup on the top floor of a building in Rondon. The only thing is, the club doesn't stay open for very long. At 3am, the music stopped (we drank enough to dance to RnB), the lights went on, and we all trundled home. Massive hangovers all around.

Thanks for the great night gals :)

Big. Mistake.

I downloaded an Uwe Boll movie. I'm a fan of horror movies, and "Alone in the Dark" sounded like a scary enough title. Oh, it's scary alright, but for completely all the wrong reasons. It's scary that someone can make a bad movie, that's not at the same time hilarious to watch (like Jean-Claude Van Damme movies. I love JCVD (the muscles from Brussels!). His movies are terribly terrible yet soo entertaining, but I'll review JCVD movies another day).

Uwe Boll. The producer who recently challenged all his critics to a boxing match. Yes, he has that many enemy critics. For good reason. UB is infamous for making movies out of video games. Only, the movie is never like the video game. You can almost hear the breaking hearts of Nerds around the world everytime UB announces he's making a movie :) The Nerds have even united to put forward an online petition to stop UB.

You can watch UB pounding a critic here. Funny how he never mentioned that he's an amateur boxer when he made the invite.

I'm not going to waste my time reviewing "Alone in the Dark". Others have done the job for me, read this.

*Swoooooon*

I'm sorry, but:

Mr Darcy! So swoon worthy...

It's all a lie though, I haven't met any rich English gentlemen like Mr Darcy here :P (It's kinda like how I didn't meet any hottie Ricky Martin lookalikes in Sth America)

I wanty!

Behold! Aluminium beauty!

I know I don't need it... I know it's going to annoy me without a screen and only having 1GB capacity... But... It's beautiful... I -must- have... However, be warned, Apple's great at aesthetics, but few people realise the hell Apple can put you through. If you're ever in Rondon, check out the long queue of disgruntled customers with broken Apple goods at the "Genius" bar, who get even more disgruntled when they're told appointments for technical support are all full up and they have to make an online appointment. My own experience, I had to try for two weeks solid to get an online appointment with the "Geniuses", just to get a key replaced.

HECS free...

My Mum did my tax today, and I've finally worked off my HECS debt. It's only taken me... 5 years to pay off my education! Holy fck. I should've worked as a prostitute instead of an IT consultant.

Tabooboo

... the sex toy vending machine! Found it outside the toilets at Turnmills. Now, who in their right mind is going try out a sex toy in a skanky little club toilet while dozens of girls are lining up right outside the door?

Pee-in-a-tube kit

My very own:

You didn't really believe me when I said things here worked differently, did you? :) So what's this for? Is it because I've applied for a highly classified secret agent job at a sooper dooper government agency and they're doing a drug test on me?

Nope.

It's because I'm trying to register at a GP clinic. You can't just walk into any old clinic to see a doctor here. You have to scout out the closest clinic to your place of residence, take proof of address documents and passport, fill in forms, make another appointment to see a nurse and collect your pee-in-a-tube kit. All this, just to register at a clinic O_o I'm not even sick and trying to see a doctor!

You're lucky I didn't pee in the tube before I blogged ;)

Tiger soup

Well, I showed my Dad the picture of Snake Vodka. Disturbingly he replied, "believe it or not, Mum has given all of you TIGER soup to drink". What the?!? My Mum's comment on the topic is, "Don't you remember you had Tiger soup, best for Asthma. Your Uncle went hunting and made Tiger soup." I guess Tiger soup is better than the "hairless baby rat soaked in brandy and gulped down with raw chicken egg" remedy my Dad was telling me about.

"Eat endangered animal" is now unintentionally on my list of achievements.

Snake vodka anyone?

I came across this at Selfridges the other day:

Yup, Snake Vodka for the upperclass English folk :) None of the dodgy looking stuff you can get from Asia. This Snake Vodka is prettily packaged and sells for around 25 quid! Also available from the same brand (Edible) is Civet Coffee. You know, the coffee bean that comes from the arse end of a Sumatran cat. I'm sure there's a reason why there's a market for it, and it might even be the tastiest coffee in the world, but... I don't even eat chicken butt, let alone cat droppings.

I earn my dinner in the Beenix household by making cocktails for the cook. Lately it's been raspberry caprioskas made from B's yummy Belvedere Vodka stash. I wonder if I should prank the cook with some Snake Vodka. Here's my mix for raspberry caprioska:
- Ice
- 1 shot Belvedere Vodka
- 2 shots sugar syrup
- 1/2 juicy lime squeezed
- Handful raspberries (at least the Brits grow tasty raspberries)
- Shake shake shake!

Google Goody Bag!

4 x 45 min technical interviews with 4 x Google engineers gets you this:

- Google pen
- Google headfones for GTalk
- Google notebook
- Google tshirt with "I'm feeling lucky" on the back (also 10 times too big for me)
- Google thank you letter written in hex :)

I signed an NDA, so can't really say much apart from, "My brain melted" and "Wow, they have natural light in the building!"

What now? Wait for the feedback...

Nee-ce is Noi-ce

It's called the Cote d'Azur for a good reason. Nice was warm, sunny and oooh soooo beautiful to look at.

If you're wondering about the rocks, so am I *grin* From what everyone's been telling me, finding a sandy beach in Europe is a rarity. There's just rocks. Lots of them. Who ever heard of bringing cushions to a beach? o_O I was too cheap to fork out for cushions, deck chairs or umbrellas. So I bought a straw mat for EU$2 instead. It wasn't very comfortable, but who cares? I was sunny, warm and working on a tan! :D

What I loved most about Nice, was getting lost in its many alleyways. I spent the evenings discovering a multitude of stalls selling everything from spices, olive oils and french biscuits to fresh oysters, brandies and liquors. Link to the rest of my pix from Marseille and Nice here.

I have a tan! :D

Bidet and Bouillabaisse

It's been 6 years since I was last in France, and I'd forgotten how quirky the French are. So when I saw this in my hotel bathroom:

My immediate thoughts were:
- Okay, it's a bit wide, but I can still pee in it.
- Hrm, there's a plug. How does one _poo_ in it?
- OH! It's a BIDET! Okay, so where's the toilet?

So, Marseille. To be fair, I probably didn't give it much of a chance. It's a port town, and the city itself is on the seedy side. It's not a pretty town. I at least tried the bouillabaisse at Le Miramar:

It cost me a bomb! Usually, I don't mind splurging on food, but it has to be good. This was... well, I'm sure it's authentic enough with its six different varieties of fish, but it's just not my thing. There's only soo much fishy soupiness I can take, and the fish doesn't come out till you've finished a whole bowl of just soup first. All I can say is, don't take your restaurant tips from easyJet's inflight magazine :P

Dining Solo 101

La Pierre Bise
5 Rue Barillerie, Nice

It's too nice to sit inside, so I opted for the outdoor table. Be prepared to feel totally ostracized. I'm sure nobody cares, but on your own you feel like the entire world is watching you. When your food comes out, expect an audience from the sidewalk. I think the hardest decision is entering a restaurant on your own. The place looks trendy, very hip. It's a place I would frequent in Sydney. However, the place is empty. Eat here, and you're truly on your own. It's not that the food is bad. In fact, the food was *fantastic* - freshest seafood I've eaten since I arrived in Europe. It's just a slow Wednesday night, and all the other tourists are hanging out at the main square. My solution - get drunk enough not to care anymore *grin* 2 strawberry Mojitos and a peach Kir later, I didn't have a care in the world.

Cook your own seafood on a salted hot tile. It was sooo good. B & T, I missed you both.

Airport Security 1 : Reenie 0

The bounce has definitely gone out of my bungee...

3 D's - Defeated, Disgusted, Disastrous. That sums up how I feel about the time spent dealing with airport security at Gatwick and Marseille. It all seems so pointless. I'm actually starting to think, "if I was a terrorist, what could I do to get myself past security?"

On Tuesday morning, I left the apartment bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for my French ad-ven-tooor (pretend I have a really sexy French accent). I had read up on airport security and knew what to expect. I hate checking in. I never check in on European breaks. I had stuffed 4 days worth of clothing and undies, a mini towel, no toiletries, my swimwear, a sarong, chargers, and jandals into a laptop bag fitting the required dimensions of 35cm x 45cm x 16cm. At the counter, the lines for easyJet were insanely long, and everyone was required to prove the size of their carry-on by shoving it inside a wooden box. If it didn't fit, it had to be checked in. No problems there.

What I didn't count on, was my handbag counting as an extra bag. Only one carry-on per passenger, and that includes handbags *sigh* So, with lots of shoving, I managed to add my three-inch thick France Lonely Planet, Nintendo DS, camera, mobile, travel documents, two wallets and sunnies into the laptop bag as well. You can't carry anything in your pockets. Everything has to be in the ONE BAG. Even though everything gets scanned the same way. I don't really see what the one bag rule is trying to accomplish here. If anything, lines are longer, security chews up more time, and the end result is the same.

I don't get it. There was a security man shouting, "No lipsticks! No cosmetics!" What exactly are women terrorists going to do? Threaten the captain with a makeover? Or a la James Bond style, apply lethal lipstick and give the captain a seductive kiss of death? Once through security, you can purchase anything you want. Cosmetics, toothpaste, water, anything, and take it onto the plane with you (except if you're flying to the US - sucks to be American).

Coming home today, was even more insane. At Marseille, I thought it would be breezy. WRONG. It's even worse than Gatwick. At security, I was pulled over for having shampoo, toothpaste, bottle of water, sunscreen and moisturising cream. Things I would have gladly tossed to get through. BUT, I had also bought an EU$8 100ml bottle of cassis, blackcurrant liquor, from Nice. I couldn't bear to see it go to waste, so had to go back out and check in my luggage. To cheer myself up, I was going to get some more alkyhol from duty free. BUT, because I was flying to Rondon, I wasn't allowed to! That's right, I couldn't buy any duty free alcohol even though I was past security! What on earth? And just to make sure, my bag was checked AGAIN before I was allowed to board the plane! Talk about French overkill. The flight was of course delayed.

And let's not even delve into how I had to wait aboard the plane for 40 minutes before someone bothered to bring the steps and let us out when we arrived... Did I mention I barely made the last train out from Gatwick at 135am?

Pavlova - Without the passionfruit or custard

I've discovered a new breakfast place! Le Pain Quotidien on Marylebone High St. I love finding breakfast places, my only issue with this one is that it doesn't serve eggs of any kind :( Great range of bread, no eggs. So I settled for a tartine of salami, rocket and ricotta on organic bread, complimented with a GREAT coffee (it's soo hard to find good coffee in Rondon), and then this:

Yum yum!

When pigging out unnecessarily, always bring a boy along. Ed kindly finished off the remains of the pavlova for me :)

Democracy

I once had a debate with a foreign cabbie driver in Sydney (don't we all?) about democracy.

Cabbie: "Who did you vote for in the last election?"
Me: "I didn't vote. I didn't want to vote for either of the parties."
Cabbie: "Where I'm from, anyone who wanted to stand for election could. We had 100 people in the last election. In this country, you can only vote for 2 people. Tell me, which country has democracy?"

More recently, I've been watching presentations from last year's TED conference. This conference charges US$4,400 for a ticket! Every year, TED presents a prize of $100,000 to three people to make their wish come true. One of last year's winners, is the film director Jehane Noujaim. She made a documentary called "Control Room" on how the war on Iraq was reported by the Arabs on the Al Jazeera channel, and by the usual Western news channels. I never heard Dubbya's address to the Americans until I watched this documentary. Here it is:

"My fellow citizens, the United Nations Security Council has not lived up to its responsibilities so we will rise to ours. Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict commenced at a time of our choosing. For their own safety, all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors, should leave Iraq immediately. Many Iraqis can hear me tonight in a translated broadcast, and I have a message for them: If we must begin a military campaign, it will be directed against the lawless men who rule your country, and not against you. Your fate will depend on your actions, and it will be no defense to say, "I was just following orders". It is too late for Saddam Hussein to remain in power. We will tear down the apparatus of terror, and we will help you to build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free."

That was the American President's vision of bringing democracy to Iraq. Iraqis watched the broadcast in disbelief and anger, "The problem is not Saddam, the problem is what the people will go through". Democracy through bombs. Terrorize a population into subjugation, and it suddenly becomes democracy. It's disheartening to see a supernation being ruled by such a dumbass.

It's interesting. When captured American soldiers were questioned, "Why did you come to Iraq?", the soldiers answered, "I was just following orders".

1KG of Pork

Makes a LOT of wontons for dinner. Gaze upon the beauty of our homemade wontons!

Guess which one B made?
(I'll give you a hint, it's the FAT EVIL LOOKING one)

The cute happy looking wonton is, of course, an example of my effort :) Hrm, interesting, I didn't realise the literal translation for a wonton is, "Swallowing Cloud". Here's what went into our's:
- 1kg pork mince
- Chives
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 can chopped water chestnuts
- Sesame oil
- Soya sauce
- Fish sauce
- Salt and pepper

What's in my inbox?

It started with this:


And then this:

And this is a chronology of how I reacted:
Aug 5: "Man! That's soo cool! I'm going to keep this email forever!" (Proceed to forward the email to the nerdy friends I have)
Aug 8: "Errr, why is an Engineering Manager interviewing me? Logic problems? Algorithms? CODING EXERCISES? But I'm a BA! What is this role?"
Aug 10: I get forwarded this link from a friend. "OMG, I can't answer questions like those!!!"
Aug 11-13: Busy setting up Ruby on Rails on my Mac.
Aug 14
10.00hrs: "Hrm, I can't remember anything about Java. Better refresh my memory."
18.00hrs: "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG"
(rock back and forth on chair)
18.30hrs: Flatmate closes doors to living room to give me privacy.
"FCKFCKFCKFCKFCKFCK"
19.01hrs: "WHY HAVEN'T THEY CALLED?!?"
"MAYBE MY DODGY GENERIC BLUETOOTH HEADSET ISN'T WORKING?!?"
19.02hrs: Google calls :)

The guy who interviewed me was really nice. He made the phone interview really easy for me. To be honest, I was a wreck. I stumbled through my questions and I'm not really sure now what I said :P So, another week till I hear back... It's funny how there are some companies out there that I will just worship. I don't remember being this freaked out about an interview before. It doesn't matter if I don't get the job, it's just cool that Google was a part of my life for 31 minutes and 40 seconds :) For those in Rondon, you can check out Google jobs here.