Snap Back To Reality, Oh There Goes Gravity

Yesterday was Friday 13th.  It was also the day that I finished my first whole week of work since the end of February.  Since I work full time I thought that was pretty good going, over 2 months of not working a full week due to holidays, bank holidays and those days where I just thought mid afternoon; "you know what, I'm gonna go home now".


So now it's back to reality, I've had my hiatus (I'm just gonna look that up to make sure it's the right word...yes, yes it is), I've been to New York (that's another story...or blog posting I suppose) and I've also moved house and changed various circumstances.  


It's time to start afresh.
(I wonder how long that way of thinking lasts.)

She's A Dancing Machine

I think it was over 6 months ago now that my Michael Jackson mad friend called me up and mentioned a Michael Jackson dance workshop going on in London in December.  Being someone who cannot do any freestyle dancing but enjoys a structured dance, and of course not to forget that I too am a huge MJ fan, I agreed to go.  We were supposed to go in December when the dancing day would have been 4 2 hour workshops and a 30min showcase set over a 12.5 hour day.  Pretty hardcore!  However we had to defer because of the December snow.  

So it got to the next workshop which was last Saturday.  The format of the day changed and was now just 3 2 hour dance classes, that was tiring enough!  Costumes were encouraged so for the Thriller workshop, I dressed in the below attire.

 I think that would have been a brilliant Thriller costumer had it not been for the brilliant white colour of the shirt and the perfect crease lines from when I took it out of the packet.  So we learned Thriller, the dance from the video.  It was brilliant and definitely my favourite workshop of the day.

Next up was History In the Mix.  Or something like that.  This is where we learned a Jackson 5 inspired dance to a medley of songs,  That was hard.  We then learned a few bits from Billie Jean, that was even harder.  We finished off that workshop with Beat It.  Having already 'performed' this before on a top of a hill during what I hope was a drunken night out, I already knew bits of it.  It was really easy to pick up and it was great to finish the workshop with something that I could actually do.  My costume for this workshop was black sparkly shoes, white socks, black leggings, a white tshirt and a gold sparkly jacket.  Unfortunately it was way too hot for the jacket (and the subsequent suit for the Smooth Criminal class) so I just pranced about in this..

The last class was Smooth Criminal, it was brilliant fun but again very difficult.  The SC music we were dancing to was a live recording so it had extra musical parts to it and because of this we created a whole piece of musical theatre.  There was a storyline and everything.  

This was a ridiculously difficult day but it was great fun and highly recommend to anyone who is a MJ fan and likes to dance.  

To finish off we spent the evening in Ping Pong which was a lovely Dim Sum restaurant.  I've never had that before, it was a day of firsts for me.

So Annie are you ok?  Are you ok Annie? 

Where do we go now?

I'm really struggling at the moment.  I'm looking for a hotel in New York City, that shouldn't be hard to find right?  Trouble is, I'm not made of money and have already made the decision to fly Virgin - because, well to me it was a no brainer, I've flown with them before and it was an enjoyable experience.  Though saying that, I was in Economy and I'm not entirely sure any Economy flight experience is particularly 'enjoyable'.  Especially as I am 5ft 11.  I like aisle seats as I can then cause chaos to airhostesses by blocking the aisle with my extremely long legs - otherwise they just don't fit in the space!!  And as I've already said, I'm not made of money so even Premium Economy is out of the question.

With me previously writing that I've already decided to fly Virgin, that is a slight issue as I've never booked a holiday separately like that.  I've always booked the flights and hotel together.  In reflection on that comment, I have actually booked them separately once before: Amsterdam, 2007 (or 08), I went with 6 blokes...but that's another story.  This may be a truer statement: I have never booked a long haul holiday separately before.

So, back to hotels.  I put out an 'ad' on Twitter, well it was more of a request I suppose, to find out if anyone knew of any good deals for hotels in NYC.  I got 2 responses from 2 hotels which looked incredible.  At around £150-£200 a night per person though and with the flight on it's own costing nearly 500 big ones (Hurrah for the Virgin sale - flight under 400 quid), it's not really something I can afford.  Shame though, The St Giles Hotels and also Room Mate Grace really do look fantastic.  I'm still working on that one though.

Does anyone have any cheaper suggestions?  All suggestions will be greatly received.

Holiday! Celebrate!

We're 13 days into the New Year and this is my first blog post.  I'm pretty slow.

So, New Years Resolutions (which I currently haven't broken!) have been made and I am sticking to them, won't bore you with them but they are there on the back burner just quietly reminding me to stay on track. 

Exciting (depending on who you are) news has come up though, I might be going to New York City at Easter.  I didn't fancy going on my own and a friend is going then so thought I'd tag along and do 'research'.  Also on that note of wanting to move to NYC, my social networking put me in contact with someone who also wishes to move there, she is quite a few steps ahead of me though being of triple nationality and one of those nations is the USA.  Lucky sod.

Speaking of social networking, due to me spending a lot of time doing it, I have been asked to lead a social networking presentation.  Complement or punishment for spending too much time on Twitter? Ha!

Anyway holiday, yes, I haven't been on holiday for nearly 2 years so I think this will be a well deserved break and I thought also about heading to Montreal to 'see an old friend' - that phrase totally reminds me of X-Men where Professor X and Magneto refer to each other as that.

On a completely unrelated note but just something that has been bugging me, does anyone know why I can't get The Office season 5 on DVD from Lovefilm?

Blood On The Dance Floor

Blood on the dance floor?? There was no dance floor!

Today I am supposed to be in London at the Angel Islington (is that a real place or just the Monopoly name? I only ever see 'Angel' on a map) completing a day long Michael Jackson themed dance class.  Unfortunately due to the adverse weather conditions I am doing no such thing.  In fact I am sat at home with cold toes listening to Let It Rain by East 17.  Poor choice of song perhaps.

The dance class was going to be epic.  4 workshops positioned throughout the day and then featuring a showcase at the end to pull together what we had learned.  I had even sorted out some pretty damn wonderful costumes for today including sequinned jackets, a Smooth Criminal-esque suit and appropriate 'zombie' attire.

Also I have been in 'practice(se)' mode for the past few weeks - I bought Dance Central for Kinect and have been using it regularly.  Note; I have gotten rather good at Jungle Boogie (5 gold stars on Hard! Boo yaa!).  Also I have been watching This Is It quite a lot to familiarise myself with his and his dancer's dancing styles.  I have worked this hard as I am was such a terrible dancer.

But never fear, we have rescheduled for March so I have a few months now to perfect my costumes and also my dance moves.  I am also looking forward to the Michael Jackson dance game to come out on the Kinect which I think will be in February so I can do some cramming before the day.  I don't want to look like an unprepared arse y'know.

Hybrid Theory

So, I have this new theory. 

I live on the 2nd floor in a block of flats and people regularly pee in my doorway and it seeps through the bottom of the door and onto the doormat on the other side of the door.  It's vile, it's disgusting and above all; it's unhygenic and possible a health and safety hazard.  Unfortunately our letting agents don't give two hoots and no matter how much the residents complain, apparently there is 'nothing they can do'.  I've come up with several solutions so I am unaware how they can come to this conclusion.  It's almost as if as soon as us residents mention it, the letting agents stick their fingers in their eyes and sing "lalala, can't hear you!"

Also, on my way home from work, there is a tramp that lives in a doorway several doors down from me.  He is always begging for money and occasionally has a lass sat next to him.  I never give them money (if I do it once they'll pester me forever right?) and he sees me every day and every day I walk past him and tell him I have no spare change (which to be fair I genuinely don't - I'm trying to save up for a house here people!) and then he sees me saunter off into my building.  He sometimes sees me deliberately not crossing the road before him but after him just so I don't have to say that I can't spare any change.

So back to my theory.  Is it rude to think that he is peeing in my doorway because I don't give me any money and he sees me walk into my flat everyday?  Any thoughts?

Yesterday's Got Nothing For Me

It's been a while...

This isn't really an excuse but I've been mega busy at work recently and also my computer has been all over the place.  It now has a new home though in my new office at home, hurrah!  That last bit really isn't an excuse as I can post blogs from my phone...

So, what have I been doing for the past month?  Quite a bit.  In a nutshell, I have been settling into my new job and coming up with different strategies of how to get what I want.  The most common theme seems to be running alongside the idea of 'fake it til you make it'. 

I have also been trying to save money.  I failed miserably though so will be doing it from next month.  The idea behind me saving money is that Guns N Roses have announced that they are touring the US around March time.  I wanted to go back there anyway so thought I could kill 2 birds with 1 stone (or as Ali G might say - rather crudely - knobbing 2 birds with 1 jonny aiight), and do both at the same time.  I'm incredibly busy in March though so fingers crossed it will be spread out over a few months.

That's enough of this boring post.  More interesting posts will come soon.

In the meantime, this is me