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Month: December 2008

  • December 31, 2008

    Eat of the week: Satya

    I’ve just returned from New Year’s dinner and it was amazing.

    Satya is at 515 Sandringham Road (and I love that it has the easiest phone number to remember, hands down. 8458451!). It’s a tiny little restaurant tucked away in the last block of Sandringham shops, specialising in South Indian food at really reasonable prices. The decor, as others have noted, is a tad weird – orange, pink and purple fabric draped around the place (from Geoff’s Emporium maybe?) and rough hewn wooden surfaces. Even the water glasses are battered metal cups – I commented that it was just like camping. The service is patchy; I love how their drinks menu offered lots of info about South Indian cuisine, and the paragraph that said “we’re not professional chefs, we focus on homestyle Indian cooking techniques”!

    The food is fabulous. We had the recommended Dahi Puri to start: “a well balanced mix of yoghurt ,boiled potato and chick peas with tamarind chutney and fresh ground roasted spices topping”. It’s unique. That’s all I can say, you really have to try it to experience it.

    I had chicken paralakan (?). It was rich and thick and not too spicy. The boy had butter chicken, which was great – I don’t like butter chicken, but this revived my hope in the dish. I didn’t like the fact that the menu descriptions were pretty patchy. Some were completely unhelpful (ie chicken with spinach, no mention of flavours or spices used).

    They don’t advertise so rely on word of mouth (hence my plug!) but have got a fair bit of publicity already. Satya consistently scores on best eatery lists. I think it’s got best Indian restaurant in Metro recently, as well as others. The thing I love most about ethnic restaurants is even the good ones serve top class food at fair prices. And frankly I feel at home in the surroundings. I don’t really in posh, European places (not that I’ve ever actually been to one…apart from high tea atthe Langham which was totally an experience to remember).

    We left Satya full and satisfied, rubbing our tummies. The servings were perfect, we finished everything (except the bread which was overly cheesy and garlicky) and walked out able to stand up straight without any trouble. Don’t you hate when you sutff yourself silly then have to hobble around bent over almost double? Our bill: Two mains, a garlic cheese paratha and and entree came to just over $45 – can’t ask for better than that!

  • December 31, 2008

    My Laid-Off Life

    Seven NYers share their stories of redundancy.
    Check this one out: http://nymag.com/news/business/53153/index1.html

    He’s 24, still on his parents’ phone plan, had a car lease which his parents are paying for, expects they’ll also cover his rent, is worried what his GF will say about him staying at his parents’ if he gets a job out that way, “tries” to go job hunting but often decides to get out his Les Paul and pretend he’s John Mayer.

    Boy, when times are hard, the hard get going! Cars and guitars are luxuries you can’t afford. Sell the LP for whatever you can get. Maybe he can’t break the car lease but hopefully he’ll think twice before leasing in the future. While his GF has two jobs, he’s all: I’m applying for blue collar manufacturing jobs.

    Well I’ll tell you, it’s not something you can just step into. It takes time to get good at. There are apprenticeships in welding. You actually get qualified in welding; whether it’s specifically welding or general engineering. You can’t expect to walk in and start working. I know this because this is what my partner does. And it’s not as easy as some white collar professionals might think.

    It always bugs me that people automatically assume “manual” work is poorly paid and guys should get educated and get desk jobs and wear suits. I admit I still have vestiges of that stereotype in my head. But I’m learning. It takes years to gain the skills needed for many trade jobs. And they’re not always easy to come by. To get qualified takes years, and you have to find a place to get trained in, which is much, much harder than simply enrolling at uni. Good tradespeople make more than I will probably ever make in journalism, although they’ll probably have a shorter working life (and a harder life along the way). But I say, if you’re making a good honest living and you enjoy it, well everyone else can STFU.

    I cannot imagine the boy working a desk job or wearing shirts and ties, or even worse, SUITS to work! Frankly, some people were made to work inside an office (me) and some weren’t. He likes to be out and about, doesn’t like to be cooped up. He likes variety. And he’s good with his hands. He’s strong, coordinated, good at making things. He overheats far too easily and would not feel at home in a job where it’s really important to maintain an image. He’s too honest, too earthy, and would probably spend his days sweating it out under a collared shirt and loafers.

    Me on the other hand, I have a hankering to wear pencil skirts and tailored suit jackets to work.

  • December 31, 2008

    Blast from the past

    Something stirred my memory the other night. Thinking back, I can’t actually remember what it was now, but it spurred me to to get online and look up The Chalet School and Malory Towers (two book series I devoured from the ages of like 6-8. Yeah, I know that’s really young, but I would definitely have been under 8, because we moved to NZ just after my 8th birthday, and I never read any of them once we got here. Too many other awesome books to choose from in Aucks).

    I got totally lost in the world of the books I used to read. There are fan sites for seriously EVERYTHING! One was really quaint, Friends of the Chalet School, which was a paper fanzine produced a few times a year and mailed to members (none of it was posted online). I didn’t realise there were actually around 60 books in the series…I definitely never read them all.

    Reading through Enid Blyton sites got me remembering various books of hers I’d read (the Secret and Adventure series, one of which featured a character called Fatty!) but forgotten until now. Along of course with the Famous Give and Secret Seven, and Cherry Tree Farm and the one about the magical world on top of the Far Away Tree!

    Although I actually remember very little of the books, I know that I used to know and love them well. I considered trying to track down copies and rereading them (mainly the Chalet School books) but the few quotes and excerpts I found online deterred me. Some things are better left in the past. These are definitely books from a different generation (mid 20th century) and I think I have grown too much to go back to them. Maybe when I’m older and have too much time on my hands, and then can pass them down to my nieces/grandkids, whatever.

    I did however dig out my one Enid Blyton books (a double one) and tore through the Children of Green Meadows and More Advenutes on Willow Farm. Yeah, she really has the dullest, most unimaginative, least descriptive titles (think Famous Five Have a Lot of Fun, or similar), and although her books don’t really follow the typical story plot, they’re still a rip roaring good read IMO. I hope they don’t die out over the next generation.

    chalet

    killi

    None of these book covers actually look like the ones I remember….but I guess the international eds had different slips!

  • December 30, 2008

    The un-joys of flatting

    angry-faceI’m sure I’ve bitched and moaned enough about our flat for a lifetime, but here’s one more rant. I really would love to live alone/with the boy, but it’s always more expensive than sharing a house with others. Why is that? It’s the same world over I’m pretty sure. From what I can tell, living on your own in an apartment is the done thing in the States. Like, once you graduate from the dorms, you rent a place of your own..I guess it’s a sign of independence, not having roommates, and maybe cause apartments are more dominant in cities? Of course, it’s much cheaper to share accommodation, as many an MSN Money poster has pointed out. Anyway. If you own a company and are thinking of epoxy flooring, it’ll interest you to know that these don’t take that much time to install according to an Ottawa, ON epoxy garage flooring center.

    Epoxy floorings are floorings applied with layers of tough, long lasting coating called epoxy.  Epoxies are used to produce sparkling, clean and durable flooring.  Also, it is applied to protect paint on the flooring from grease, oil and other substances.  However, not all floorings can hold epoxy coating.  So, before you apply epoxy on your flooring, you should assess first the condition of your concrete if it produces moisture or not.  Flooring that produces moisture usually destroy the ability of the epoxy to bond.  Hence, it is not suited for epoxy coating.   Also, you must not apply epoxy coating if your flooring was applied with concrete sealer.  On the other hand, if you have a new slab, wait for at least a month for the flooring to be thoroughly dry prior to epoxy application.  And, if you have painted floors, the best option for you is to remove the old paint before applying any kind of epoxy.  In addition, you should also consider the air temperature in your garage. You can go on bestfinishepoxy.com/mississauga/ site for the details about epoxy flooring solutions.

    Concrete polishing is a new trend that has been discovered and widely used among home and business owners all across the country. There are several reasons why concrete polishing is a fantastic choice for new construction, existing property, and renovation projects. So why is concrete polishing do desirable all of a sudden? The answer can be found below. Continue reading to learn the various benefits and some information surrounding concrete polishing and concrete maintenance for residential or commercial properties. You can navigate to this site for more detail about the Southside Concrete Polishing.

    For optimal epoxy drying, air temperature should be between 60 and 90 degrees with the minimum concrete temperature of 55 degrees F.  The outcome of your epoxy flooring also depends on your planning and pre work.  Pre work involves oil spot removal, floor cleaning and degreasing, floor etching with mild acid, and floor scrubbing, vacuuming and rinsing.  If your floor has no cracks, you can immediately apply the first layer of epoxy.  However, if your floor has cracks, it is recommended that you fill the cracks first before applying the first layer of epoxy.  The second layer of epoxy is applied the day after.

    I seriously have the flatmate from hell. Were he not a friend of the boy’s he would have long been kicked to the curb. Right now he’s over $100 behind in various bills. Some of it is from last month – I should have been more vigilant, but last month I had exams and the boy had no work, so I had other things on my mind. He doesn’t clean. Ever. Not after himself, not anything around the house. The boy says it’s not his fault, he was never taught to pick up after himself. So? We’re all grown ups, this is basic, BASIC stuff. The first month or two, we all tried to clean on Sundays. We’d divvy it up; bathroom, floors, kitchen, lounge. Our fourth flatty is rarely home though, so that made it hard. And the system soon disintegrated. I tried having a chore wheel on the fridge. That lasted all of one day.

    So now, I’ve just given up totally. I’ve stopped asking him to do anything. The last straw came months ago. I had to literally ask him about 8 times in an evening to please mop the floors. The LL was coming to inspect the next morning. Eventually I went to bed, but went to the bathroom before (around 10pm). The mop and bucket were standing by the door, full of soapy water, but the floors were still filthy. Oh, I was enraged. I had to clean the floors myself at 10 at night while he snored just behind his door. I made as much angry noise as I could, but he sleeps and snores like nothing human.

    It totally fucks me off. I’ll come home, scrub the floors, vacuum, out he comes and asks “what are you doing?” “Cleaning”

    “Oh Okay” and off to the kitchen to make a mess. Not even an offer to help with anything. Approximately once every three months he’ll say “Leave those dishes, I’ll do them”. Then he’ll go shut himself in his room to watch wrestling while I slave over the bathroom.

    wipe down benches? do dishes? empty the bins? take out cans and bottles for recycling? put the bins out for the collectors? NEVER. He’ll drink boxes of beer, and never take out the bottles or the box. He’ll go nuts at a party at home, then do NOTHING to help clean the next day. And it’s not like he doesn’t make any mess. He doesn’t wipe up stuff he spills, pick up stuff he leaves in the lounge, do dishes, wipe down the stove, clean the microwave after a drunken feed…

    Plus, his ex. the one good thing was she’d help him clean, or clean herself  – empty the bathroom bin, sweep, scrub the boys’ toilet, do the kitchen, take out rubbish. But they were a toxic couple. I…won’t go into details, but seriously, I know much worse goes on, but I like to think I lead a relatively normal life, and their dramas were just fucking out of it.

    So this is ridiculous, I’m at breaking point. At times, it’s not so bad. Everything aside, we otherwise gel as a flat. But the cons so far outweigh the pros. I mean come on, I’m not a bank. In fact, banks charge late fees, etc. I don’t, but I bloody well should. It’s just so disrespectful, and I don’t like being lied to. He’ll tell me he’ll get the the rest of it tomorrow, then the day after, then the day after….then never. I even get the boy to nag him, but he just fobs him off and tells him he’ll get it ‘the next day’. Then avoid us.

    Last time we moved I decided I didn’t want to live with strangers again, as it hadn’t worked out well for me before. I still don’t, really. Ideally I’d join a flat with some of our mates, but I wouldn’t be the head tenant. Unfortunately that’s not an option. Very few of our friends live away from home, in fact, a fair few of them have moved home recently. I don’t really want to take on a tenancy again, I’m sick of having all my money tied up in bonds and I hate worrying about little things like damages or having to call the LL myself when things go wrong.

    So I guess  if we could find a nice place, in a nice area, with flatmates we might get along well with, that takes couples, I wouldn’t mind taking a punt. I’m certainly not going to say I’ll never live with guys again; girls can be just as bad. Not just the bitchiness and cliques, but they can be just as grotty. Like when I lived with two chicks who were rarely home and never cleaned up after their cats. The kitchen floor was always a mess. The bathroom wasn’t too bad, except for the pawprints tracked all over the tub/basin/counters. Trust me, it wasn’t TERRIBLE, but got really old really fast.

    I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t get caught up with his bills this month. I guess we’d ask him to leave, and speak to his mother about getting money out of him (as well for the wallpaper he ripped when he taped his TV aerial to the wall). Yes, it would hurt our budget. But it would be worth it. God knows he uses so much electricity, never cleans up after himself, let alone do household chores, it would save me a ton of time in cleaning and stress.

  • December 30, 2008

    Am I doing the right thing?

    I’ve been thinking, A LOT, about the future and what it holds. Escaping to Europe after graduation is sounding really tempting. Not straight away of course, after working and saving for a few months. I don’t know what kind of job I’d be able to get overseas, but I think I definitely have the itch…

    To a lesser degree I’ve been thinking about my degree, and whether I made the right choice. Would I be where I am today if I was doing a plain old BA? Who knows? Probably not. But maybe in the long run it would serve me better; I’d have a wider, more rounded base of knowledge. And I know people with BAs who’ve gone straight into media type work and then stepped into PR right after that, which makes me wonder why bother with a BCS?

    But I think stories like that are the exception rather than the norm, and you need, often, to be in the right place at the right time. You need to be a certain kind of person, social, networking, well connected usually, and it helps if you’re attractive and, if you’re working in mags, well off enough that you can dress and act the image.

    I’ve found it hard to keep the blog at work going; I’m not really out and about doing awesome things or being seen at society events, or going to fab restaurants or buying new accessories/makeup/beauty stuff that could be written up. I’m certainly not in the loop to hear about upcoming events, I rely on the other staff to keep me up to date and let me know if there’s anything important coming up that should go online. It takes a lot of my time digging around trying to find tidbits for the blog!

    I’ve also started to really question my writing ability. I swear I’m slowly dumbing down; my vocab is shrinking and I can rarely ever get the right adjective that I want…instead I dance around it in my head and have to consult a thesaurus to pin it down. It’s really frustrating! A dear friend said I was the best writer ever, which was very sweet of her but I really don’t think I can live up to that anymore. Writing on cue is hard. Writing to deadline is near impossible. I fear I’ll never be able to churn out the best writing I can on tight news deadlines. It’s hard enough trying to hammer out a good piece of fluff for the site or newsletter in a day…

    So I’m doubting my future in writing, it’s not looking all that bright at the moment. I’m also sick of mag language; the liberal use of exclamation points and the overuse of ‘fabulous’ (it seriously appears in every other paragraph).

  • December 27, 2008

    Post Christmas wind down

    I’m pretty stoked!

    Boxing Day was a success.

    My lovely mum gave me $100 for a DVD player (in an envelope on which she taped numerous ads for DVD players), so we went forth and conquered. I’ve always been taught that Sony is the shiz for electronics and we got a shiny new black Sony player from Hill and Stewart (oh it’s beautiful, sleek and streamlined and sexy). It was one of those deals – sign said $84 but please negotiate at counter. The boy said $70. They said $78. Okay, whatever. Still almost 20% off the original price (97).

    We bought the boy some fishing hooks for his trip today, and two beach towels for $8 at Bed Bath and Beyond. I didn’t make it to the Warehouse until today. So I didn’t get the bras I wanted (no special today) or pillows. But I did head over to Valleygirl where I got two pairs of dress pants (black and grey) for 10 and 15 each. And I spoke up! One of them was coming through at $20 but I said it had come from the $15 rack, and I got it for $15. Big, big milestone for me. I’m a chicken. I wouldn’t have negotiated the DVD player price.

    Pants never fit me perfectly, and neither do these. They look great around the butt. They’re a bit too straight (not even sure if they are straight or bootcut? I wanted slight flare) but look good otherwise and are almost the right length. A bit too low rise and am not far off the dreaded camel toe, but they’re comfy, feel nice and will do for the price. In fact they are the closest I’ve gotten even compared to pricier pants.

    I did however get three bras from Real Me (random I know) for $10…they’re cute and comfy and will tide me over till I find the perfect bra! Now I just need new knickers..desperately. And a plain dress. and a long line cardi…

    And I’m loving my bronze jandals! I’m living in them, in fact. Yay shopping!

  • December 24, 2008

    Bleeding heart

    I cried my eyes out last night at Forrest Gump. I absolutely love that movie. I have a pretty terrible memory, so everytime I watch it it seems fresh and I see new things that I didn’t notice or simply forgot over time. I have to admit I got annoyed a couple of times at the sheer improbability of all the things Forrest was responsible for (busting Watergate, making the famous smiley face logo), but I got over that, because really, isn’t that what it’s all about? Overcoming the odds and doing extraordinary things, despite being an ordinary, somewhat hindered person? I WANT to see Forrest doing well, I WANT to see him succeed, because he’s such a sweet, innocent, kind hearted person, and he deserves everything in the world.

    Some of my fave moments of the movie:

    “My favourite book!” – Pulling out a book from his son’s bag
    “Is he…smart? Or he is like….(me)” – Asking about his son
    “He’s just so…smart! He wrote you a letter….I can’t read it, so I’ll just leave it here for you” – Oh, how I cried at this one. Talking to his wife’s grave
    “Why don’t you love me? I’m not a smart man…but I know what love is”
    “It was the happiest moment of my life” Jenny wading through that gigantic pond thing in Washington to get to him….Incidentally, I am dying to know what the “one thing he had to say” about the war was. Would it be about Bubba? Shrimping? Lieutenant Daim? Ping Pong?
    “New legs!” To Lieutenant Daim, at his wedding, followed by “This is my Jenny” – finally, she is!
    Naming his boat Jenny, “The most beautiful name in the whole wide world”
    “Momma said it was just a little white lie, and wouldn’t hurt nobody” About being sponsored by that ping pong bat company
    “Life’s like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get” says his mum, to which he tells her she’s so good at explaining things so he understands

    Okay…that’s probably enough!

    I think I’m just feeling hormonal. I was teary eyed on the bus home, reading the paper and came across this column. Not normally a Colin James fan, but his short yet poignant description of the boy in questions left me damp eyed. Then a few pages on was a feature on the Congo atrocities, where 2 out of 3 women have been raped and the situation is still deteriorating, impossibly enough. Plus a full Africa map with arrows and boxes detailing the humanitarian crises in places like Zimbabwe. It’s all too much. I think about how much needless bloodshed and suffering us humans are inflicting on each other for NO good reason and it’s way too overwhelming. It makes me think how can we celebrate Christmas when this is going on? How can we keep grinding away in our capitalist economies, complaining about traffic and the weather – how can fat cat corporations in all good conscience keep turning massive profits while ignoring the plight of Africa?

    What can I do? I’m never going to be one of those souls who devotes their lives to bettering the children of Africa and go over there to live and teach and offer aid, but surely there is something I can do.

  • December 23, 2008

    Eating Healthy

    I’ve come to realise that it’s really hard to eat well on a budget. I mentioned this a while ago, that I’ve stopped going to Revive because as healthful and tasty as it is, it just doesn’t do the job in terms of filling me up. I’m small, I hover at around 50kgs. But I eat A LOT. I really need food to function; when I’m hungry I feel faint and sick and take it out on everyone around me. So it’s in my best interests to stay fed and full. I don’t know why I get so hungry…it’s not like I even work out or do much physical labour (apart from all that bloody house cleaning), nor is my job super stressful or mentally taxing. I guess I just have a high metabolism. Kratom quality and variety being offered –the vendor should stock quality kratom and a decent variety of strains. That’s because buyers may have different needs, which can change over time, and hence having a decent selection makes it possible for the buyers to find everything they need from one vendor. You can click here for the 3 best kratom vendors in the USA.

    We don’t tend to eat much in the way of fruit / veg. I don’t actually like many fruits, something I need to work on. I like berries and melons, bananas, mandarins and sometimes apples. I don’t like tropical fruits, which I’m hoping to change! I’ll eat fruit salad occasionally. And we don’t eat many vegetables, because like I said, they are expensive and don’t fill you up. Sure a cucumber can be a dollar in summer, and goes nicely in salads but how far does it go? Capsicums are one of our favourites but they can hit $3 a piece. I used to buy bagged salad greens for sandwiches but found they got soggy within a couple of days. (With our new fridge, maybe it’s safe to start getting them again.)

    We need to learn how to cook vegetables again. Now it’s summer we can probably let that slide and just collect a ton of salad recipes, but with vegetables it’s really important to plan meals. I know jack about cooking vegetables, apart from dumping them in a stirfry, or roasting them or making potato salad. Oh and my fave, fried cabbage and onions. But that’s pretty limited, and often we just don’t know what to do with greens so we leave them be. And all too often we buy them meaning well, but find them wilted and rotten in the fridge at the end of the week. Its not just about eating healthy either its about your mental state of mind and actually being healthy. You need to be healthy, smoking weed, doing kratom whatever is best for you go out and do it, i get my supplies from linacre.org.

    This week we did a pretty comprehensive plan which, amazingly, contained some vegetable components! Last night we had a yoghurt, tomato, cucumber and red onion salad. We’ve been getting sick of eating the same old food every week, so we tried to mix it up this week. Our plan looked pretty gourmet compared to what we’ve been eating. Unfortunately, although our taste buds benefited, our wallets didn’t. Each meal contained more than two or three ingredients, so it cost a lot more when we went to the supermarket. Our first meal included meat and a salad – so once we included all the different veges, there were six or seven separate things to buy! All those little things added up (even natural yoghurt!). But I’m happy with that, in moderation…dinners are much more fun, and if we can add a few greens in there a few times a week, all the better.

    If no one still believes that it’s PRICEY to eat healthy, check out http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/health/nutrition/04well.html and http://onedollardietproject.wordpress.com; I followed it for awhile and it’s really eyeopening.

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