Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Kansas City - Vail


Kansas City - Vail
Originally uploaded by alice's dark place.
Apparently, Colorado = mountains. Who knew?

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Chicago - Kansas City


Chicago - Kansas City
Originally uploaded by alice's dark place.
Oddly, this car attracted more attention than our white Dodge Grand Caravan. Weird, eh?

Toronto - Chicago


Toronto - Chicago
Originally uploaded by alice's dark place.
Dude. I'm getting all arty like.

New York - Toronto


New York - Toronto
Originally uploaded by alice's dark place.
The weather, she was not pretty for the drive. Oh, that's a lot of rain.

New York


New York
Originally uploaded by alice's dark place.
The view from my hotel room.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Too busy for a real post? That means it's meme o'clock!

I'm going to the States (and Toronto) on Thursday to film again, and I'm too stressed to write a real post. But I didn't want to neglect y'all. So it's meme time!

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says.

' "Have you tried calling him?" I asked Connie. ' (Boring! It's Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich.)

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can...what do you touch first?

My awesome giant stamp that I use for invoices. It's so great. It makes this wicked "ca-CHUNK" sound when you use it.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

My morning episode of Quincy. Sam, who works with Quincy, was trying to prove that someone wasn't responsible for killing themselves because they were given radioactive LSD (seriously!) by the military in an interrogation. Sam's my favourite character. He wears a lab kimono instead of a lab coat. Awesome.

4. WITHOUT LOOKING, what time is it?

Um, 3:30?

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?

3:18. Close.

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

The air conditioner, someone walking in the hallway and the radio playing BBC Radio 1.

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?

I walked to the bank to order a massive amount of US dollars. Seriously, I could live in Mexico for a long time on this cash. It's lucky I'm so honest.

8. What are you wearing?

A white camisole-y top over a pink tank top with a pink flowered skirt. I'm ever so summery.

9. When did you last laugh?

When Ellie, my boss's daughter, was just in the office a few hours ago and doing pretend office work. She's hilarious.

10. Seen anything weird lately?

Weird? I don't think so.

11. What did you dream last night?

I can't remember. It's a pretty good bet that it was about work though.

12. When did you last laugh?

Dude. We already did this question. And no, I have not laughed since I answered question 9.

13. What's on the walls of the room you're in?

It's my office, so it's pretty boring. Some whiteboards, a plasma TV, my lists of phone numbers.

14. What do you think of this survey?

It's taking a lot longer than I thought it would. Memes are supposed to be speedy!!

15. What's the last film you saw?

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 with Julia. And it was so great. I loved it so much. Can I be a pirate when I grow up? Arrrrrrrrr.

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?

A new flat. Or a car. Probably a car, actually. Or some jewellery. Or some new clothes. I'm going to be honest, I have no idea. I'd probably be in a state of shock that would take me weeks to get over.

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know.

When I worked at a summer camp, all the counsellors had nicknames. Mine was Konobe, because I didn't know that Obi Wan was spelled Kenobi. My friend Jackie was Anniken. Again not knowing about the whole Anakin thing.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, what would you change?

Hmm, I guess I should be all altruistic and whatnot. But I think we all know that would be a lie. What I'd probably change is make it so that people were more honest with each other. Lying and game playing makes me tired.

19. Do you like to dance?

I love it! I especially like going dancing with the girls at The Garage. Good times!

20. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?

I like Maggie, short for Margaret. Or Madeline. Or Alice Jr. We could call her AJ!

21. Boy?

AJ works for a boy or a girl! But my old school boy names are Simon and Elliot and I still like those.

22. Would you ever consider living abroad?

Well, I do. So yes.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

The Routine

Every evening when I go to bed, I have a fairly clear idea of what the plan is for the following morning, timing wise.

It should look something like this:

  • 7am - Alarm goes off. Press snooze button.
  • 7:15am - Get out of bed. Open bedroom door and dodge kitten attack as they race into the bedroom.
  • 7:20am - Have relaxing shower.
  • 7:40am - Follow skincare regime - toner, moisturizer, eye cream. Admire fabulous looking skin.
  • 7:45am - Return to bedroom and turn on TV to ITV3 to watch Quincy. Comb hair, apply styling product and begin drying.
  • 7:55am - Finish drying hair, put on makeup, get dressed.
  • 8:10am - Feed kittens, feed fish and water plants. Try to close bedroom door, remove kittens who have raced into bedroom, close bedroom door
  • 8:20am - Locate iPod, mobile and anything else I'll need for the day. Brush teeth.
  • 8:30am - Leave for work.
  • 9:30am - Arrive at work, on time.

It seems so idyllic, doesn't it? And like a crazy person, every single night, I convince myself that this will be what happens in the morning.

I am twenty eight years old. I have been working full time for eight years. That's approximately 1,960 work days.

You would think that, by now, I would be more aware that this is going to be more likely the situation:

  • 7am - Alarm goes off. Press snooze button.
  • 7:15am - 8am - Continue pressing snooze button, deluding myself each time that I will get up after the alarm goes off the next time.
  • 8:15am - Sit bolt upright in blind panic, realizing that I have to leave in 15 minutes.
  • 8:16am - Race to bathroom, tripping over kittens in haste. Kick kittens out of bathroom after they attempt to jump in bathtub. Have world's fastest shower.
  • 8:20am - Slap on toner and eye cream. There's no time to moisturize! Cannot admire face, as mirror is still steamed up from shower. Assume I look fine. Race back to bedroom.
  • 8:22am - Turn on TV. Curse the fact that Quincy has been moved to 8:45 and I now have to watch stupid Heartbeat as I get ready. No time to find something better.
  • 8:23am - Dry hair and get dressed at the same time. While choosing outfit, choices are limited, as a large portion of my wardrobe is disqualified. There is no time for ironing. Curse the pile of clothes on my chair, wrinkling clothes as they sit there.
  • 8:26am - Put on makeup and jewellery at lightening speed.
  • 8:28am - Kick kittens out of bedroom, and shut door.
  • 8:29am - Realize I've forgotten my rings, phone and iPod. Get them. Kick kittens out of bedroom again, and shut the door.
  • 8:32am - Feed kittens and fish. Debate whether or not there is time to water plants. Feel guilty for being a plant killer. Water plants.
  • 8:36am - Brush teeth.
  • 8:38am - Leave for work.
  • 8:39am - Realize I've forgotten my phone, and whatever I needed to bring to work. Return to the flat.
  • 8:42am - Leave for work again.
  • 8:42am - Realize that although I have still forgotten something, I can't return to the flat again. There's no time!
  • 9:45am - Arrive work. Late. Again.

Clearly, my morning plan has flaws. But unless I start setting my alarm for 5am, I don't think that this problem can be solved. Curse my love of the snooze button! Curse it!

I think the start is a new alarm clock - this one may be the ticket.