alice

Been a bit MIA recently, the reason being Bob was staying here for a week and a bit Here’s a nice brief catch up of all the stuff that’s been happening in the meanwhile.

• Thursday 20th March - I had my last day of work (Friday being bank holiday and all), which was very sad. I got a card, some presents, and two proposals from people haha. We went out for drinks afterwards which was very fun, everyone is so lovely. At one point S went round the table filming everyone on his phone as they said what they liked (and didn’t like) about me. Nobody had anything bad to say (apart from ‘I don’t like Alice cos she is leaving’ teehee) so yay. K and I left for the train station about 10, he was off in the Mancs direction and I was off in the total opposite way to Leeds to meet Bob, so we went our separate ways shortly. I was only a leetle bit drunk, honest.
• Easter - had a lovely Easter sans work, involving the traditional easter egg hunt (I am grown up, honest) and a roast turkey mmm.
• DUCK!!! - yeahh this had been planned for months, well originally was meant for January to celebrate Bob graduating, but it kept getting pushed back. Eventually we found a date good for everyone, and had an immense meal at Red Chilli with Inn, Kev, Gem, Paul, Lindsay (and me and Bob of course). Fun times.
• More Red Chilli action - yeah me and Bob decided to take my parents out to Red Chilli later that week as well (more duck action!). They really liked it there, we ordered A LOT of food, but with Bob and my brothers there we still got through it all. As well as the delicious duck we also got some yummy soft shell crab, some seafood soup, seafood stirfry, and some pork and chicken dishes. And the inside-out fish we had a lot when we were back in China. My family liked that one! Hehe it was funny watching them try and remember how to use chopsticks.
• Hello Kitty facebook - yes this is epic enough to warrant it’s own bullet point! Bob customised my facebook so it’s pink and hello kitty-ish. Hehe. It’s also now in German! Yay.
• Travels - in one week today. Brussels in twelve days. I’m owed a secret when I get there.
• Brief meet with Amy - last Wednesday I went to meet Amy briefly so we could see other other before I leave. We just went for a coffee in town but as always is lovely to see her.

Hmm what else. I need a big catch up on my Flickr photos.

1. I hate bananas but I wish I liked them.
2. I always put on clothes left foot/hand first: socks, trousers, shoes, tops, gloves etc. Even my earrings I always put the left ones in first.
3. I have never had a nosebleed.
4. I used to think ‘Disney’ was spelled with a P instead of a Y. In my defence, it really does look like a P!:



5. I got mauled by a cat when I was young, hence my dislike for them now.
6. I used to be afraid of the shower.
7. One of the best presents I’ve ever got is a hand-knitted multicoloured scarf. I went to China for 2 weeks at Easter 2004 and when I came back Lucy said she missed me so much she spent everyday knitting it for me.
8. When I was little and my mum made cakes, I would eat both layers of icing (from the top and the middle) and leave the actual cake sponge layers cos it wasn’t as nice. I told my mum I was too full.
9. I used to be the second fastest 100m sprinter in school, 13.1 seconds baby.
10. I’ve never read LOTR all the way through.
11. The first CD I ever bought was U2 - All That You Can’t Leave Behind. I still love it.
12. I have never fainted and I’m scared of ever doing so.
13. When I was about 8 I touched one of those pea things off a tree my mum told me was poisonous and I licked my finger. I spent about a year thinking I was going to drop dead any day.

I changed around my 43 things a little bit, some stuff needed updating.

I crossed off ‘kiss in the rain’ and in a couple of weeks will be able to cross off ‘have a valentine’. What else? I left ‘wear more skirts’ on there as a reminder that not only do I need to wear more skirts I also need to buy more. I took off the silly ones about publishing photography, cos in all honesty I don’t really care about getting published anymore. And I do have 3 photos up on the wall at Clare College, Cambridge, so mebbe that counts anyway? Haha.

I left on ‘learn Dutch’ cos I can’t take it down til I am confident enough I can get by. In a few months ‘live in France’ will be ticked, and that’s probably all there is for that.

I added one to watch all the DVDs I buy and never watch. The list is as follows:

• A Very Long Engagement
• Pride & Prejudice
• Tailor of Panama
• Princess Mononoke
• Only Yesterday
• Martha, Martha
• The Squid & The Whale
• Memoirs Of A Geisha
• Schindler’s List
• Battle Royale
• Spaced
• Brick

Hmm not as long as I thought it would be

That I have not played my oboe properly in about two and a half years. To be fair, for two of those years it was impossible for me to do so, thanks to my brace, but I got that off last May and since then I’ve only played a couple of times, and my heart has not been in it.

I was thinking last night what a shame it was. A £1000 instrument I actually have a skill at playing and I’m letting it go to waste? Screw that, I’m playing it again.

My iPod quiz tells me it’s the hardest wind instrument to play. I can believe that.

As part of my 43 things I am creating a list of 100 things which make me happy. I doubt I can do 100 all in one go, so I will keep adding and updating it in the future til I reach 100.

Update 8th October: I have now completed my full list

Happiness is…

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