Have got into the habit of forcing myself to go either jogging or briskly walking every day. I know New Year resolutions are only supposed to last for three weeks, but (and I apologize about this) I’ve decided to go for it just a little longer.

Anyway, yesterday’s brisk stroll around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens was especially eventful. I might even go as far as calling it exciting. I met a goose.



But it wasn’t the meeting in itself that was so thrilling. I mean, I’ve met up with geese before. Loads of times. But this time I made a discovery! I don’t really know what this could eventually lead to, or what sort of implications this could have for future research, but here goes:

Have you ever noticed how incredibly similar a goose is to a T-rex? No? Look at this:




They move almost exactly the same (possibly apart from the flying)! And they look really similar when they eat. Or at least when they swallow. And when they scream (in their own geesy kind of way) they are always standing in almost exactly the same position as T-Rex does!
But they sound different. They do sound different…I am prepared to admit to that. (But that’s more or less about it.)

Think about it for a while. Maybe a couple of days. Then go visit your local park! See what happens.

For some extra T-Rex-trial action - bring bread!

Yeah, I know. I promised to write more often. And I haven’t. I know. But it’s a good sign, because it means I’m focusing on writing my book instead. And there has been so many things going on. Just this week there has been a birthday and a wedding. And in the next month there are more birthdays than I can count! (Going to one tonight for a start!)



So, my little Marta is married! :-) They are so emotional, weddings, aren’t they? It’s hard not to cry. I didn’t (I was strong) but they were just so cute together and Marta looked so beautiful so it was hard not to! It was a fabulous day! Everyone was in such a great mood and every moment was just a sheer pleasure.

I wish you both an amazing and fantastic life together full of joy and happiness! I love you! Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

There's a program on bbc2 at the moment called "Extreme Dreams", where a group of contestants has to go on an extreme journey to face and overcome their fears. In one series they were crossing a jungle and in the next/last one, they crossed the island of Svalbard, sleeping in tents among (assumably) hungry polar bears!

Seeing that was when I decided that I really wanted to try to get on the show and have tried to apply ever since, but unfortunately it hasn't been open for applications for the next series yet. But when it is...when it is...



The guy presenting the show, Ben Fogle, has done an incredible amount of very, very challenging (and weird!) things in the past, like spend a whole year on a deserted island. He means that everything he's done has changed both him as a person and his whole perspective of life. I want to do something like that! I really, really do! It literally hurts me watching these people when I'm not able to join myself. For now.

At the moment, I'm stuck with fighting a T-Rex on my computer. Exciting. (Well, actually he's a bit scary, but I mean...)

Oh, by the way, there's another thing I saw/heard that I just have to mention:

"Have you thought about the fact that each and everyone of us has all won a race against millions and millions of others?"

Think about it! Isn't is pretty mindblowing? We are all incredible winners! :)

MONDAY:

Ok, I’ve started one good habit and one less good habit. I’ve written posts for my blog every day (that’s the good part), but I haven’t posted a single one of them. (Yeah, that’s the bad part…) So, ehh…I’ll just post them all now and then sort of promise to shape up and be a bit more disciplined in the future. Good thinking, I reckon…

SUNDAY:

Went to a New Year party yesterday! :-D Another one. I mean, why only celebrate something as important as that once! That’s lunacy. That would be crazy. Good night actually. A bit weird having people constantly hugging you and wishing you a happy new year perhaps, but fun! :-D

Supposed to be going to Trafalgar square today. It’s Russian New Year. I was there last year with Esther, Joanna and Carlos and some others and had quite a good time actually. (Yeah, I know we’re not Russians, but so what. Didn’t stop us.) Carlos made us all swallow 12 grapes in 60 seconds. Yeah that was an interesting day.

Don’t have time today I think. Have to pop up to Cricklewood to collect a painting! Was considering walking there in order to get some exercise. Haven’t decided yet. It’s not that far away actually.

Then, and this is gonna be fun, I’d planned to pop into the supermarket on the way back, carrying my picture among endless queues (it’s Sunday, what do you expect?)

Yeah, I dunno…hmm…


Maybe another cup of tea first.

Or two.

SATURDAY:


Ended up going to a rock club with Anabelen and her friend last night. Was great fun! I love doing different things that I normally wouldn’t do. I guess that’s why I’m doing my “weird thing to do-project” in the first place.

She’s really great when it comes to things like that and keeps coming up with new ideas of new and different places to go to. I love people like that! Far too many are narrow minded and keep doing the same things and going to the same sort of places over and over again. Boring! A couple of weeks ago she gathered a bunch of us going to a place playing stuff like Depeche Mode and The Cure etc all night. Great! Different! Fantastic! :-D

Am strutting around in my highest heals here at home today. My feet hurt so badly on New Years Eve I decided I’d practice a bit at home. I used to wear heals quite a lot without any pain, but recently I’ve been cheating a lot with wedges and soft Party Feet soles. So I decided that if I’m hopping around the flat in my highest ones a bit now and then, well, soon I’d be so comfortable with them I’d happily wear them even in bed. We’ll see…



Having Harry Potter on in the background and just saw Harry throw himself into a stone pillar in a train station in order to get through to some sort of parallel universe. Hello! I wanna try! Which train station is this? It must be in London, surely. (My intuition says Kings X?)
That would be a bloody weird thing to do! Walk into a train station and throw myself into a wall! Come on! That would give me enough “weird points” for several weeks, no? I mean, reflect!!

FRIDAY:


I’m doing good! I’m feeling quite focused and motivated to work and I’ve managed to keep my resolutions so far (but that’s because I’ve still got 10 days to go before the third Monday of the month where everything is going to go collectively pear shaped all over the nation).

Either way, it’s eas(ier) to beat depression when people around you keep coming up with fun ideas for stuff to do and invitations to parties left, right and centre. It’s weird, it almost doesn’t feel like January at all! I think the best way to get around the winter blues is to keep busy. Ridiculously busy if necessary. But still, there’s one thing that simply can’t be ignored…the weather!

Let’s see, hmm…how to express myself…


Ah, I know:

IT %&/#”¤”# ING SUCKS!!!

Yesterday was absolutely pathetic! I mean, you should get extra brownie points if you’re keeping your resolution about jogging/walking when it’s raining like crazy! But I thought “hey, all the happy endorphins you get from exercising should balance out the aggression you feel from getting wet, right?”

Turns out they don’t.

First of all, it’s virtually impossible jogging with an umbrella. Or well, it’s possible, but you end up looking like a retard. So (again) I aimed for a brisk walk instead. But I might as well have jogged because about 8 minutes into the trauma my umbrella broke down. And it was as if destiny had decided that, no, that wasn’t enough, so some sort of sudden storm made it get caught up in my hair! It looked completely CRAZY! It looked as if I was being attacked by an invisible man with a giant and very weird hat! (Don’t worry, I kicked his ass!) And after that the only sensible option was to bin the umbrella.

That suddenly reminded me of a conversation I’d had with a police officer a while back. Again it was raining and my (the same) umbrella just wasn’t doing the job very well. (I’ve got several other umbrellas…GOOD umbrellas, but the reason I’ve kept using this one is that it’s absolutely TINY and so easy to carry around in your handbag.) One thing led to another and I ended up enquiring whether he reckoned it would be reasonable for me to through it in the Thames. It seemed as if it was something that had occur relatively frequently, because he started explaining that they don’t tend to sink properly and instead float around all over the place. Therefore he meant that according to his personal opinion “the solution wasn’t ideal.”

Hmm… Ideal, huh? Float?

-”So, if I was to throw my mobile phone into river after I’ve bought my new one, that would be ok? It definitely won’t float, I’ll vouch for that. It would be such a relief! Sort of a spiritually cleansing ritual.”
-“Yeah, um..nah, it would be better, yes. But there are other ways to reduce stress. I’ve heard of something called aroma therapy that apparently is…”
-“…a really great idea! Yes. But I feel that we’ve reached something of an understanding here now?”
-“Yes, I guess that we ha..err…hang on!”


Well, I interpreted it as if he promised to defend me to other potential officers that might have woken up on the wrong side of the bed and try to fine me (!) if (when) they catch me in the act! I felt nice and safe.

And yesterday, walking around with my, by that time, ridiculously broken umbrella, I have to admit I cursed the fact that wasn’t anywhere near the Thames.


(Oh, I KNOW it’s naughty to litter! But come on, it ended up in the bin after all, so all happy bunnies…)

Wrote the last post on Friday afternoon, but didn’t have time to post it until today. So there’s need for a bit of an update, really…

Am doing a great job so far staying away from depression. Had a really great weekend. A bit crazy in quite a few ways, and maybe a bit too busy, but really good! And for reasons unknown I woke up feeling really energetic this morning! In fact, I’m on my way out jogging this very minute! Not bad for being January! Not bad at all…

Anyway, my plans for the most depressing day of the year – the third Monday of January, has been overthrown! Marta was clearly on the same track as I was and thought that something fun was needed to spice up that day so…she decided to get married!!! That’s more than I was prepared to do!!! :-)




It was a very quick decision, but she’s been thinking about it for a while so I’m not all that chocked after all. But still! Wow!!!

I’m so happy for them and wish them all the best in the world! Love you loads my little darling! Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Ok, jogging…great...

Ok, New Year, New Resolutions (or actually, most of them are pretty much the same! Every bloody year!) Back in London and have been busy (celebrating, catching up with friends…) so haven’t had time to blog much. (Or, what exactly do I mean by “much”?? Not a word, more like it!)



Anyway, it’s time for everyone to be on your guards now! Pay attention. I know you probably haven’t been expecting it, but it’s January again. It happens once a year, still it hits us like a train each time. You start feeling suspicious by the 3rd or so, when everything, and I mean everything, suddenly is just that little bit more grey than it used to be. December was full of sparkling lights, candles and firework and then totally unexpectedly everything is just…gone!

There’s no time of the year that’s even close in comparison. If you’re a fairly optimistic person you’d agree to that summer sort of starts in April and goes on until late September.
Ok, and then obviously we’ve got Christmas starting in October (see earlier posts!). And even if you belong to the minority that isn’t celebrating Christmas until December, autumn is still pretty short and most of it consist of the festive season.
But then January until April, with the brief exception of Easter (and of course my birthday!), is just one long march in a gigantic mud like pond of chewing gum. It sucks!

It’s grey beyond belief! And it’s cold! Not cold in a cosy, snowy winter kind of way, but in a simply freezing your ass off the second you wake up sort of way!

And however much you’re agreeing with me and nodding to yourself now saying, “yes it’s chilly”, trust me when I say my ass has been suffering more than yours today!

I woke up at 6am shivering like a plucked duck. Obviously I had been sleeping with the window open, and for reasons unknown the heating had gone during the night. In fact, if I make an effort I’m sure I’d find myself to still be shaking (it’s just that I’ve stopped noticing.) That’s not all. I tried to solve the problem by having a hot shower…only to find that the hot water had gone! While being in it! It was arctic! I was genuinely beginning to wonder if the X-files had been involved. Had I been transferred north while asleep? Mulder? What the hell was going on?

I feel like I’m having a temperature, but apparently not. I’ve checked. Five times.

But anyway, I’m sidetracking. Famous and serious researchers from universities and institutes all over the world have come to the conclusion that January is the most depressing month of the year. (I would really like to know how much that has cost the taxpayers, cos honestly, I could have come up with that in less than it takes me to finish breakfast. No charge.)

And by using high tech scientific methods, they have presented us with results that prove the third Monday of January to be the most depressing DAY! Not just the most depressing day of January, but of the whole year! Thank you. That’s a piece of information I think we all felt we needed.

So, after a bit of contemplation, I came to the conclusion that the most efficient way to beat potential depression must be to beat the scientists! If we can only beat them, and by that prove them wrong, well, then we’ve beaten the whole foundation that their data of depression is built on – and thereby depression in itself!

Come on, it makes sense! It’s the definition of sense making!

I thought I might organise a night out on that specific Monday, just to screw the statistics up a bit. Not a wild party or anything, it’s a Monday after all, but maybe make some people get together to have a drink to celebrate our newfound power. Maybe meet in the most depressing pub in London. Maybe make everyone wear grey? It could work. It’d be hilarious! We could start “National Depression Day”! It might catch on.