Wednesday, June 21, 2006

An update and 20*mumble* things [EDITED]

Quick little update before I get to the 20*mumble* things about me, after Jia Li's tag:

Got the call from my St James's consultant yesterday, informing me I did not get a second interview at the historic architecture firm. I wanted to cry after I hung up and called my Mummy.

Oddly enough, an hour later, my consultant at Artemis asked if she could put me forward for a job at an architect's firm in Hammersmith. It's a bit far, but I said, go ahead...

This morning, bright and early, a call from St James's: "Luvvie, I had an idea last night! Let me do a bit of juggling and get back to you!" Instead of the secretarial temp I would do on Friday, she is putting me back in the National Gallery :)

Also, news of another perm job coming up from her, will hear more later.

And then a call from an agency about an admin job at a diamond mining co. Registration interview tomorrow.

This is like the soothing balm of mercy, so soon after my disappointment.

**********

OK...TWENTY-NINE things about me. I am NOT doing this next year :o

1) I have a huge weakness for wonderfully-scented soaps, room and linen sprays, and lotions. I even have a collection of handsoaps that I use according to my mood. At the moment, a choice between rose, aloe vera, and royal jelly.

2) I love gadgets but rarely own them because they're expensive, obsolete after a few months, and often redundant. One can wait indefinitely for the newer, better, cheaper models.

3) As I get older, it is harder to dress. There are a thousand different combinations and in a new phenomenon, I end up with a pile of tried and discarded clothing on my bed, like so many other girls. I am looking at one now.

4) I prefer to do laundry, folding and ironing in company because chatting makes the time fly.

5) Gosh only at number 5? I love eating unique, new, and different things. This week: Yogurt with crunchy aloe vera bits in it. Highly recommended from Selfridges...

6) I have a new tic this year: Answer the phone with right ear, and after saying hello, swap round to the left, thereby missing the first line of what the person on the other side is saying, because I only have to swap back to the right so I can write notes with my left hand. Happens, to my annoyance, every time.

7) I am between a UK dress size 6 and UK 8. Why don't they make a 7? Between US 2 and 4, some manufacturers make a 3. Help! If I take up yoga again, I will return to a perfect 6, so I stick to buying that and putting up with my - hehe - subtle curves, for now.

8) I can't handle a dancefloor. Even when learning, I miss and forget. Which sucks because I am told I have a dancer's body. Mum taught me the foxtrot and Dad the Charleston, all forgotten.

9) If I have a son, I would like him to serve a stint as a choirboy at a cathedral school.

10) If I have a daughter, maybe she can stay in ballet. I'll tell her how crap quitting made me feel.

11) I've got lazy this year and stopped cooking, with the aim of spending less than half an hour in the kitchen. However, I am inspired daily when I want to please someone special with my culinary tendencies.

12) Crikey, still 17 to go! How'd I get so old?

I'm putting this on hold so I can go to Orange round the corner and get myself a new mobile with free broadband...the thought is now haunting me...

Probably won't make it back until tomorrow coz I have another 20six meetup tonight, and that interview tomorrow.

Laters people!
**********
[EDIT]
I'm back!

12) I am verily angered to the core by dirty smelly old kitchen towels, cloths and sponges. They don't clean a thing!

13) I have dissected a piglet and a few cats. No big deal.

14) Eh, you already know I was born at 27 weeks (2 months early) weighing 2 lbs (about 1 kilo) and am an only child.

15) I can draw (not people), I just forget that I can and so I don't. I draw in too much detail anyway.

16) I have never been to the lands of my ancestry: Guyana (India by extraction), Iceland, Cyprus, Greece. Oh, but I have been to France and while I was there, completely forgot about my ancestors...

17) I took a French spelling test today. I got 22 out of 30. It's been a while...It would have been 24 if I had gone with my first instincts on a couple of them.
Telling someone to choose the correct spelling of a French word is no way of testing if they can make a business call to Marseille.

18) I have not been treated in a hospital since I was a baby.

19) Dad says I look like a Botticelli when I cry.

20) My computer is beginning to hang and I have run out of ideas.

I will maybe come back after a cup of tea and watching Francesco's Italy.
He is asking Maggie Smith (A Room with a View) about Florence:
"Why the English they love so much here?"

As she stands in the Brancacci Chapel with her nose buried in Baedeker and he stops her with his hand on her arm, pointing at the fresco. "Sometimes you English, you read a little too much."

16 comments:

Leilouta said...

You will be fine Insha Allah :)

Olivia said...

Generally Speaking - thank you on both counts.

Leilouta - shukran ;)

Steli - oh I say, we already know I have great taste, no need to rub it in :P

Heyyyyy! I couldn't throw away my clothes, not like you do your dishes! I like my clothes :o
Today I am wearing a combination that I may never think of again.

p.s. If I am not mistaken, Fete et la Musique was introduced to London last summer, with great success.

Olivia said...

Mao, as in Mao Tse Tung? Steli, I thought *you* had good taste too!

Anonymous said...

Whoa. There is a communist commenting on your blog, Olivia. I mean, I have a plethora of liberal-head-bangers comminting on mine, and I don't think any of them even own a Mao Tse Tung shirt.

Anonymous said...

By the way, how do you pick who to support in the world cup?

Um Naief said...

my goodness... i LOVE this list! i've dissected a piglet too... didn't enjoy it. never had to do a cat, thank gaawwwd.

yogurt i love, but w/ aloe vera chips! that doesn't sound good. i can't imagine it.

haven't been to a hospital since you were a baby! wow!! and you only weighed 1 kilo when you were born! another wow. girl, you are healthy.

i can't stand dirty handtowels and sponges either!

i might do a list like this on my blog later... i really enjoyed it.

Um Naief said...

oh yeah.... the job opportunities sound great!! good luck and i wish you all the best.

michelle said...

thx for trying the tag liv

Anonymous said...

Sigh I dont have enough clothes to make weird combos. I do really actually but I tend to wear the same things over and over. Its just easier and quicker that way. But sometimes I wish I were more girly that way.
Cool list btw. My cousin also was born early but she was born at the end of the 5th month. Lucky cause she too is healthy.
As for spelling in French, I can talk it alright but my spelling sux quite frankly. So good for you!

Olivia said...

Rebecca - Yes! I know Steli can be a bit different at times, but I never saw this one coming.

And...I support no one.

Tooners - LOL I said crunchy aloe vera and you thought chips. No, I mean fresh crunchy cubes of it...feels like lychee, if you've had that.

Feel free to do the tag, but as you see I ran out with 9 to go - you don't have to reach your own age if you don't want to ;)

Jia Li - I really thought it would be easier!

Rox - I have to admit, I have my faithful pieces too, but every now and then I will create a one-off outfit that I I'll never see again....I was tempted to keep a list once...

Thirty years ago, babies at less than 25 weeks generally didn't survive...nowadays, it's even earlier.

As for the French, they say my accent is fine, talking and listening are a bit hit and miss because I don't practise enough. Really useful words come to me at random, when I don't need them.

I'm guessing you didn't go to a francophone school in Switzerland...

Anonymous said...

No we did have French from age 13 on. But somehow being already fluent from talking French with my family made me pay less attention in spelling. Possibly it is also a remnant of my dyslexia which I have thankfully overcome in my other languages. (I hope)

Um Naief said...

girl, the aloe vera ... i don't know about it. is it slimmy? i thought you meant pieces.. but i was hoping they were crispy or something. hmmmm... sounds healthy tho. i guess it's no worse than wheat grass shots.. and i love those! especially w/ a slice of orange. ummmmm!

Olivia said...

Oh yes, in the States I had French from 12 on, I would never count the 3 years prior I had over here because it still meant I had to start from scratch over there.

Vanessa (who sometimes comments here) had the same problem with her spelling and grammar, having lived in Paris from an early age until she was 12, so she used to refer to me because I'd actually studied it!

Tooners - no, it is not slimy. It really is very fresh. If you're brave enough to down wheat grass shots, this yogurt would be nothing! They sound good, though, and it's always a relief to enjoy something that's good for you.

Olivia said...

Ohhhhh I seeeeeee!
I think there are others who call it a Nehru collar...

panda_eyed said...

I loved your list. I just realised I haven't checked this blog for ages! I gotta add it to my faves. Let me go through this methodically:
3. Tell me about it! I make a pile every morning.
7. How tiny are you..?! Lol, where do you store your organs??
13. Um … where and why..? I've dissected a pigs heart and sheep kidneys. Bleurgh.
14. Wow, you must’ve been tiny! I was only 5 and a half weeks premature but my daddy says he could hold me in one hand.
15. Me too. I’m perhaps the opposite, I prefer to draw people. I love bringing their facial features to life. I haven’t drawn in years though.

Olivia said...

Panda - wow, thanks for taking the time to find this!
7. LOL Where do I store my organs indeed! I do sometimes wonder! (I do have small lungs).
13. Pig in 7th grade biology. Cats in college anatomy & physiology. Both in the US.
14. 2 lbs 6oz, just over one kilo.
15. I literally cannot draw people, can't convey what I see onto the paper. I did once draw an English village street that my art teacher wanted so much she nearly cried, so I let her photocopy it.