Survival 101 in London

So the wedding was wonderful. We finally made our move to London with 5 bags and 3 boxes. Till we sort out our accommodation, we are staying in a service apartment in central central London.

Now, the wonderful thing about the location of this place is the W1 postcode. Bond Street (read : shopping mecca) is moments away. If you still have no clue what's in the area, Selfridge's is just around the corner. The shopping is GREAT but gets depressing after a while. I can't be splurging £800 on a handbag everytime I head out!

On to more important updates. I made progress and started cooking. I've not blown up any ovens or microwaved an egg. The consultant has given his stamp of approval.

While preparing dinner yesterday I realized that there was no can opener in this service apartment! It was too tiring to run out in the cold to buy a can opener. Rummaging through my bag, I found my trusty Swiss Army Knife. It definitely came in very useful in this situation.

The basic necessities so far:

• Swiss Army Knife
• credit card (with very high credit limit of course)
• common sense
• basic command of the English language
  

Big fish waiting for 1.12.2007

Eat, shop and party sans credit card?!?

Thanks to my negligence, I temporarily misplaced my credit card and asked for a replacement. I have canceled the other card while I will be receiving my new replacement supplementary credit card from The Consultant. It is 5 days to my big shopping trip to Singapore and I am without a credit card! I hate carrying cash =_="

Temporary employment

It was tempting. Post-Siem Reap, I was called back to the ad agency to freelance. I semi-regretted the decision coming out of optional retirement, but who can blame a poor girl when she's just out there to make fast-and-easy money to acquire brand new MacBook? Between fasting, planning a wedding, working and teaching, I haven't had much time to breathe.

Bear in mind it has been quite a while since I worked with potentially nasty people. I found it necessary to call out some of my latent skills:

• Dialing up the beeyatch mode and being a diva. Trust me, it's a necessary survival skill.
• Using the more advance features of a photocopying machine.
  

I am pleased to report that Friday will be my last day of employment at the ad agency. I resume my days of leisure starting Saturday.

A brilliant discovery

This is one of the best discoveries I've made! A very convenient AND effective jewelry cleaner. Please read precaution on label before using on your jewelry.

The seventh moon

The Hungry Ghost Festival is in full swing. To entertain the restless spirits, a stage has been set up for the Chinese opera. If my eyes did not deceive me, there was stage smoke and... disco lights! The old timers have been on a karaoke roll since 10 pm. I wonder when are they planning to dismantle the stage? I need my ME time in the evenings.

Post-independence

Aside from having long decadent lunches with the first wives club and friends over the past few weeks, I have been preoccupied with errands of all sorts.

Today, the consultant and I were in the Pudu area to check on our invitation cards. Pudu Plaza was a few minutes by foot from the printer so we decided to pop in to take a look at DSLR cameras.



Now, if you've never heard of or been to Plaza Pudu, in America, it would be known as the mall where the white people used to shop. If you've never been there, you're not missing much in the retail scene. The anchor tenant there is The Store. You get the picture. The directory in the mall was not much of help so we approached a security guard (who looked like he was short of half a chromosome) for directions. He mumbled something inaudible and pointed out directions.

Not convinced with his directions, we walked around a while more and came to a "hair and beauty equipment center" (quoting from the name card). I stepped into the shop with the intention of enquiring about directions. Not only did I get directions to the camera shop, I ended up with a hair styling product (hey, my hair really needs help with volume!) and audio literature on Liao-Fan's four lessons. Ok, so the security guard's directions were quite accurate.

The visit to the camera shop did not help much in convincing us which camera to buy. It's still a toss between the Nikon and the Canon. I think it's coming close to personal preference. Ultimately, it's not about the bike.