Twenty-10

We're baaaaack.

Kris and I survived. Actually we did a little better and managed to have a brilliant time. Imagine the best orgasm you've ever had, combine this with the elation you felt post the HSC and you'll know exactly how we felt during the trip.

We were excited to begin with. There was also apprehension and a kind of will-we-kill-each-other fear in the initial plane ride over [yep, all 30 hours of flying and transit], but post the arrival in Dubai, it was smooth sailing.

The weather was cold. YES to everyone whose asked if my toes froze, they did indeed. Several times, because of course there was thawing once we went inside.. and re freezing when we returned outside. There was the building of several snowpeople. Visiting of castles, and palaces. Though the castles were preferred.

I managed to get Kris drunk. No small feat I promise you. But more on that later.. for now, hello twenty-10 and good riddance two-thousand and-nine. For a year littered with moving houses [Binks], discovering cradle snatching [Mon] and finding a full-time job before she graduated [Em] - I think we were all a little happy to see the year pass away.

Last year's resolutions were few in number and I think I achieved each.

1. Be happy.

2. Pass Honours.

3. Save some money atleast!

And the drumroll please..

1. Of Course! Am I anything but?

2. Yep, managed to do a little better then pass, which made my mummy happy =)

3. I saved.. a little. I spent Alot. Ah well.

Which brings me to Twenty-10.

I'll call them goals this year..

1. Be happy.

2. Do one thing everyday that scares me.

3. Buy a manual Barnaby: learn to drive it first.

4. Uni.. try to try a little harder.

5. Learn either fencing or kick boxing.

6. Delve into the wonderful and non-paid world of internships / work experience.

7. Buy the best birthday presents ever.

Granted I do the last one anyway.. the others shall all require some form of effort. Yay! Effort..

In other news, cannot remember if James aka Buffy shirt boy was mentioned previously.. but he was the last friend I made for 2009. This year, the target is to get to 20 new friends before June. All who think I can do this, say Aye! For all who care, last year I managed 11.

Oh yeah, *shakes booty*

As far as the Adventures of Krize go, I shall post and upload images sl-oo-ww-ll-y, because as you all know, Im technologically disadvantaged. And yes, Im still blaming mum for this. We termed them 'adventures' and there are 45 all up I believe.

Not bad for 3 weeks, 9 days of snow, 2 blizzards and one week of non bed sharing. We did good indeed!

Right bloggites, Im off to cook and entertain company.. hope your all non sweaty and relatively cool in this heat.

Today's muddle: Will Twenty-10 be the year that the robots attack?

Trip related goodness

In 13 hours I'll be flying alongside the lovely Ms Dotter on what is the maiden voyage of our trip. Not sure if that made sense entirely, but you know what I mean.

First flight we're catching together to begin 3 weeks of each other, the UK, winter and FUN! The last one is a non negotiable. Hehehe, poor Kris has no idea what she's in for.. it shall be fun indeed.

In silly news, the hogmenay tickets havent arrived yet. This doesnt bode well for our NYE, but Ive double and triple checked the details they sent me and its possible we're one of the ones to pick upour tix at the doors.. hmm shall be interesting no doubt. We'll work something out, not too stressed, there are still many tickets out there.

All our hotels were sorted, agent152 is very resourceful and solved all last minute dilemmas that arose with Vicarage, now there should be no problems bar the usual food ones we'll face. Soup, here we come!

Kris arrives later tonight, mum shall take us to the airport tomorrow morning - yep the dreaded 4am check-in session. And at 6am we fly. Off into the sunrise, quite literally.

I shall miss you all. Yes, even you in the back there. If you've given me your address, rest assurred the drunken postcards will begin arriving soon.. I have a reputation to protect after all =-)

If you haven't, well, arent you missing out then.

If there be internet access, and if time permits, I shall update that which agent152 and I get upto.. or down too. If not, you'll have to hold out like everyone else for the stories when we return.

Its snowing in London. Score!

Evenin' fellow bloggites, have yourselves a lovely holiday season and party well!

But you are not a Jedi, yet.

Clearly my binge on Pirates and Jedi's is spilling over into my other worlds. Superhumans have always held a special kind of sway over me.

Last week involved the last of the rituals, then Dorian Gray on Tuesday evening with Mon and Binks. Loved Dorian!! Ben Barnes is brilliant form of humanity. Physically speaking of course =) His acting wasn't too bad either.

This weeks laser tag session has been cancelled, far too many people were busy and doing other people to come. Sigh. In brighter news, there are still quite a few number of things on this week: Movies with Brad late in the afternoon tomorrow, Wednesday at 152's, Wednesday evening dinner with Rosie. Thursday a surprise activity - for him, not me- with Simon. I know!! How cool is it, I have a friend called Simon now.. yep, Em there shall be epic Si-Mon jokes to come. Friday work and then Green Day with Binks. Phew. If I survive all that, work again on Saturday.

The only real downer in all this is that Ive managed to pull a muscle again! I know, second time in two years. Not a record I wanted to set, believe me. Therapy everyday till Friday and then some. SIGH.

Next week, Saturday, agent152 and I fly to London! Yay! Its come up on so quickley.. we only booked the tickets like two days ago. Oh and we found a lovely hotel, Blooms near the West End to spend xmas in. Yep, all well and good on that score.

Before that, Ive made plans with my cousin Rosie on Wednesday - next week- and Thursday lunch with 152 and Janne. Yep, not stretching myself too thin at all =p

Alright, thats all from me now. Might try out the first part of my NaNoWriMo story later on here.. for the moment, I await Luke's hand being destroyed with the lines, "I am your father, Luke."

Noooooooooooooooo............

Back to the Future

I love going away, the further away, the better. Being a part of the Christmas cheer isn't my thing. I hate being at home during the long holiday period. Christmas' at my place are lucklustre, material and largely spent in front of the television.

Then I discovered going away! And it was all bright colours and ice cream from there on.

Last year I got to go away for seven weeks courtesy of mum and my step father - they paid for everything. Flights, awesome hotels and fantastic tours and treks. This year, when Im organising my own trip, oh boy, Totally appreciating the work and effort put into last years!

Agent152 aka Kritan is heading out with me: my very own travel buddy. I can't think of anyone I'd rather be doing this with. She is incredibly easy to get along with, one of my more humorous friends and above all someone I trust entirely with choosing anything.

We spent a solid few hours tonight on the phone and internet simultaneously attempting to organise our hotel for Xmas eve, Xmas day and Boxing day. All three of which, we decided a while back would be spent in a lavish hotel with a major splurge on our parts. Haha, note, this is so much easier voiced than it is demonstrated.

We've come to the conclusion - after weeks of searching and inquiring - that 5*s are out of our range. So settling for 4*s we've been on a hunt to find one that is classic, by which we mean, reminds us of Hogwarts. Decked out with fireplaces, christmas trees and a strong dose of traditional British Christmas cheer.

It isn't Christmas season in my opinion, till its been witnessed in London.

Seeing as we've left it late..*honours thesis rears its head again* what we are finding is the places we like and can afford, are booked out to a large extent GRRR. Then there are the places where we would like to go but the only rooms left are too expensive, in a turn of irony we found places we could afford and liked only to find they are available only from Boxing day onwards. Oh dear, indeed.

However, we can be glad that we have found lovely hotels in Cardiff and for the rest of our approximatley two week stay in London. The London Vicarage [who have rung me twice today] shall be subjected, I mean given the pleasure of our company, for the initial and last few weeks/ days of our stay.

Edinburgh was like a sore foot with multiple blisters combining themselves gradually across the base of one's sole. My inbox is brimming with twelve 'sorry we are booked out for the period you have requested' letters. One lovely Scottish accented boy rang to apologise verbally! Mum answered and raised a brow before saying, 'Scottish sounding man on the phone, can't decipher what he wants, presumably you?' I wish!

The epic phone conversation of tonight deduced, an agreement upon Aonach Mor Guest House and they have space for us!! Hogmenay, Concert in the Covent gardens and street party here we come! We have 6 days and 5 nights in Edinburgh which, between us have been filled to their capacity: Beauty and the Beast at the theatre, storyteller tours, pub crawls and copious amounts of activities I can't remember - though cycling through Edinburgh is a must!

Onto Cardiff we go, where Lincoln House shall host us. There are three beautiful, and different castles I wish to see here - and given Kris likes castles we shall be doing all three. There is a Dr Who exhibition in Glasgow which sounds interesting.. we've said if time permits we'll go across to Glasgow and see if we can catch this. Other than that there are quite a few Welsh landmarks to see along with bookstores, cafes, bars and clubs that sound like a good time to come =-)

That is all for now on the holiday.. no doubt, many more posts will follow on these events. And no, I haven't forgotten the pooja and its leadup, there shall perhaps be an update on that..aspect? some time soon. Till then, I highly recommend Jennifer Rardin's Once Bitten Twice Shy, for anyone wanting a female detective novel with a little bite and some magic.

Today's Muddle: where will we be staying across the Christmas holiday days?