Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in SolitaryFish's LiveJournal:

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Monday, September 18th, 2006
11:56 am	TEN BOOK MEME So Michelle tagged me on this one, which I think was motivated by a desire for me to post something more than anything else  1. One book you have read more than once I have a tendency to re-read most books, particularly my version of trash – namely things written for a younger audience. As I result, I can quote lines from David Eddings, JK Rowling and Jasper FForde. I guess, though, that it would be most relevant to own up to the book I’m (re-)reading at the moment – No Logo. 2. One book you would want on a desert island I’d want a series, for sure, and think I would actually go for Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series (if that’s what it’s called). There are enough literary nods to keep evoking many memories of books already devoured for a lifetime. 3. One book that made you laugh At this rate, people are going to believe I only read the above referenced three writers. They make me laugh. I also laughed at the Mordecai Trilogy, Yes Man and a recent interview with Tana Ramsey. I suppose the book that’s made me laugh the most this year was The Princess Bride (thoroughly recommended, and thank you FOPP for your deals). 4. One book that made you cry I’ve never really cried over a book, although I came close when reading Hall’s Options, Futures and other Derivatives. Like Michelle, Dan Rhodes' Timoleon Vieta Come Home was relatively heartbreaking. I think the terrible dissatisfaction I feel towards books like Middlesex and others with terrible endings bring me close as well (vague recollection of Philip Pullman and The Crimson Petal and the Rose or whatever doing this too) 5. One book you wish you had written The finance-y part of me wants to claim Dan Brown, Potter, etc… one of those money makers. In reality, I always love books like Memoirs of a Geisha, The Historian or anything else really well researched. If I had to pick one, it’d have to be Memoirs, just because it was the first book I read where I was disappointed that it was fiction. Harper Lee may beat that if I were in a different mood though. 6. One book you wish had never been written Wheel of Time very fair, but also anything by John Grisham following Runaway Jury of whichever, in fact, a lot .. I don’t think I can discriminate. Most of the “chick lit” genre. I really, really, didn’t like Bridget Jones. 7. One book you are currently reading Since I’ve mentioned No Logo, I’ll run with Liar’s Poker. After I’ve been good, Allende’s Zorro is on my coffee table just waiting... 8. One book you have been meaning to read Crime and Punishment. I just can’t bring myself to even start though. 9. One book that changed your life I'm sorry but in all honesty I can't come up with one. I mean, it's like asking me to name one food that changed my life. No one food changes my life but obviously I can't imagine life without food. (Man, I'm deep this evening.) 10. Now tag five people: (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 16th, 2006
12:45 pm	Your Seduction Style: Ideal Lover You seduce people by tapping into their dreams and desires. And because of this sensitivity, you can be the ideal lover for anyone you seek. You are a shapeshifter - bringing romance, adventure, spirituality to relationships. It all depends on who your with, and what their vision of a perfect relationship is. What Is Your Seduction Style? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
12:27 pm	|Quarter Life Crisis A few minutes ago I felt like I was trapped in a time warp. I was sat with my mum painting my nails an acid green, talking about clubbing and associated vices, with Bright Eyes wishing for a Lover He Didn't Have To Love in the background. Sometimes it feels like life has gone full circle and that everthing en route never happened. And man, does it suck that I missed Radio Soulwax... (Comment on this)
Friday, April 7th, 2006
3:48 pm	One of my latest morbid hobbies is to randomly start up a chat with people I haven't had any contact with in years via MSN. It is fantastic. I tend to start by introducing a random comment like "so how did it go", and people start talking for absolutely ages before they own up to no longer having the slightest clue who I am. There is a strange, twisted pleasure in this, I assure you. (Comment on this)
Monday, March 6th, 2006
2:56 pm	What a weekend I had. I started at BP on Monday and must admit to being intimidated by the prospect of starting in a bigger, leaner and meaner organisation. Having to make all my friends from scratch again became a little daunting, and I must admit that that hasn’t really changed. Working here has been great to date. Things are generally more organised, fresh juice is subsidised, lunch is paid for – what more can an overweight girl ask for. Apart from all this, Work doesn’t seem complicated (well, no more than would be expected with a new job) and the people seem friendly. The work hours are great – I’m out the door at half five most days, and if I’m not it’s because the teams been taken for lunch and drinks (Gawd bless corporate cards). On Thursday last week, the team was taken to the Arkansas café in Spitalfield’s market, where the 25 of us ploughed our way through an entire hog. I must admit, it was great, although it was strange to be confronted with plastic cups and cutlery otherwise! This was supplemented by more drinking before I popped over to meet James. James and I went for dinner at Jamon Jamon, the tapas place in Camden (I’m sure there must be more than one, but I’ve never found it). The days activities had left me a little worse for wear and I found myself falling asleep at the table. I was obviously half-dreaming by this stage, since every once in awhile I would awake and ask James things like “why did you have to kill that child?!”. From Jamon Jamon we headed over to the World’s End where I was confronted with my first ever goth mullet. This was entirely life-changing, since the Goth in question was bald on top, but saw fit to have a fist-length mullet everywhere else. All in wispy, mousey brown. It was then over to Jazz Café where we caught the tail end of Martha Redbone, who was good… but not great. Ursula Rucker, on the other hand, was great. Engaging and cheerier than I’d imagined after the older stuff, she worked the crowd with gusto. Unfortunately, we had to leave early since the alarm clock is set for 5 am these days. I consoled myself with the album instead. On Friday, I was gladdened when my team leader left at 2 and the manager at 4, leaving me beating a hasty departure in his wake. Clare and Lee were due to visit that weekend and I was desperate to get home to tidy the flat, which had never needed it so badly. We had planned to go to Claridge’s for dinner at Gordon Ramsey’s that night, in honour of Clare’s birthday. We’d squeezed ourselves into our clothing and guzzled some champagne before-hand, so by the time we arrived at the Claridge’s bar things were well on their way towards being raucous. The table next to us in the bar held three no-more-than-pretty-but-certainly-skinny American Sloane-ranger types (if you can imagine it). The ladies were genteel in their sipping of red wine, and looked perfectly at home. Until Clare and I ordered cocktails and dug into the bar snacks. The girls looked shocked that we were willing to eat without vomiting, given that they didn’t seem capable of eating anything larger than a cashew at a time (bring on the breadsticks!). Their disgust was so evident that it quite made our night. Ramsey’s itself was alright. That’s right… just alright. We had the prestige menu, which offered 6 courses for a bargain £70 (£78 with cheese). The usual appetiser arrived, which I must admit was half impressive. A creamed cheese with black truffle to top slivers of pastry worked exceptionally, although the curried vegetable salsa didn’t. We had some champagne as an aperitif on the advice of the sommelier and my new best friend. At £22 a glass, the Bollinger Grand Dame Anne 1997 was actually, by hotel standards, really reasonable. [As an aside, Cristal is sold by the £46 glass in the Claridge’s bar] The first course was a cauliflower and saffron soup. For some reason, this started off well and tasted of cauliflower, which I love in a soup. After the third teaspoon (microdining still the norm in taster menus) everything suddenly went all bisque on me. Clare’s veggie start was a creamed broccoli… thing… that she assured me was the bees knees. Then there was foie gras. Now, I adore foie gras. I love it seared, quivering on the plate and melting on the tongue. I was GUTTED that this was more mousseline and there was far too much of it for a spreadable foie gras. It was served with brioche and beetroot and just seemed lazy. The scallop that followed was cooked perfectly, but didn’t offer enough with the pumpkin puree and Barolo reduction it was served with. The reduction was ingenious in concept, but only slightly different from an aged balsamic reduction, which would probably have added more zing to the course. As it was, the scallop was somewhat bland. The main course was a very generous portion of duck fillet served with turnip (!), leek and more beetroot. This was good. The duck was rare in my case and the flavours were fantastic. If anything, there was slightly too much of it, but the course was lovely so why complain? At this point, Thursday night had caught up on me and I shamelessly fell asleep at the table. In doing so I accidentally declined the cheese course, which would have been too much. I didn’t manage the peanut butter parfait with cherry in a dark chocolate cup either, but James had mine and assured me that it was outstanding. The entire meal was had with a lovely Pinot Gris, my current favourite grape. James and the others all had cheese courses with Port while I was trying valiantly not to snore. The thing that disappointed me in the end was that food of an equal standard can be had for about two thirds the price at La Trompette or Chez Bruce, with a great wine. There was nothing in that meal that I wouldn’t forget, and that really, really let me down. (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 23rd, 2006
8:02 am	Update I really am terrible at keeping this thing updated. Well, I have news. As of 5 am, Monday, when I checked my results - I am now an accountant! Not a qualified accountant, mind you, just an accountant. As far as I can tell, the qualification bit is (a) just a formality anyway, and (b) boring. It also happens automatically in 6 months. I haven't felt this smug or relieved since I got married! Especially since the paper-from-hell yielding a spot on 50%. It may as well have had "remarked on appeal" all over it. Also, I have finally booked the following (a) Ursula Rucker, on Thursday (it's only taken me 7 years) (b) Rasul Steam Mud Treatment (basically some nakid time with the hub in a steam room, with mud - his Valentine's treat) (c) Dinner at Gordon Ramsey's (d) A Trip to France, driving (e) A Circus Skills Course - me, on a tight-rope/trapeze, sure!), and (f) Dancing In The Streets at Kew Gardens in the summer. So much to do, so little time and money. Monday is my first day of work at BP, and I'm coming over all a-flutter. New place, new commute (although I have a stack of books taller than I to get through), new people, new sphere of expertise... so much change, I wonder if I'll get through it. Ah, who am I kidding? If the stress gets too much, there's plenty of retail therapy available at the Wharf. Hmm... so what else can there possibly be to post on this site that hardly anyone reads... well, not that much, really. Other than a new side to myself I'd never known to exist, well, not really. The tale goes like this - I finally went to Vinopolis! On Saturday, James and I had planned to meet Laurence and Debby for tapas and then vinopolis. Unfortunately, the ten minutes I spent in the tanning booth left me unable to tell time, and we ended up an entire hour late. I don't think I've ever felt so guilty. Although this was nicely balanced off by the dissapointment I felt at missing tapas at Brindisa, officially the only place in London I recommend (for tapas). We rushed through Borough Market to meet the Davidsons ("Don't you love how they've refurbed the market, isn't it fantastic?!"... actually, no. I couldn't care any less. A market isn't meant to be set up in orderly aisles with aisle numbers, that's what Tesco's is for. Not to mention the fact that I like markets that present value for money, not an opportunity for people who know little about food and lucury to eat bacon rolls and pretend its equivalent to scallop in shell just because they're sold in the same place. I save my pretentiousness for people other than the bourgeois. Quick someone, define paradox), and ended up having lunch in Cantina, Vinopolis. I'd normally go into deep discussion re. the food, but I won't. Instead I offer 2 words - Don't Bother. Who can stomach the food in light of the obscenely terrible service from the particularly constipated maitre d'? I was honestly flummoxed. Me! She who went back to Royal China! She who tips at dim sum restaurants! Apart from the outrageous destruction of comfort and ambiance the silly bitch presented, the order was wrong, the wine I picked (at Vinopolis!) wasn't available, and (have I made this clear already) the Maitre D' was horrifically rude. When we finally went to collect our tickets for Vinopolis, there'd been a mix up and I was given tickets for £100 and not the £50 I'd paid. Guess what I did? No, I didn't take 'em and run. I pointed out the mistake and gave them back. The ethical compadres representing the legal and banking sectors both forgot to admire my honesty but seemed on the verge of lynching me. So much so the representative at the till gave us an in-between package worth £90. Vinopolis was pretty fun, although it could've done with more people to teach about wine, and more water coolers. It helped that we grabbed dropped or discarded tokens off the floor and ended up with a third more booze than that to which we were officially entitled. The main thing I learned though was that Thai wine (red) that is purportedly grown near a delta tastes a hell of a lot like mud. Of the sewerage-dump variety. Honestly. The bouquet was "poo". Right, to work, to work! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 24th, 2006
9:46 am	From the economist... [1] George Soros, a well-known financier and philanthropist, is respected in Singapore for his commercial savvy and charitable works. But the man himself does not think much of the city-state’s tightly run political system. During a visit on January 11th, he was asked whether Singapore was an “open society”, a concept emphasising democracy and transparency long-championed by the Hungarian-born billionaire. “Obviously Singapore does not qualify,” he replied. Mr Soros added that the frequent use by senior politicians of libel suits against the opposition could be “a tremendous hindrance to freedom of expression.” The government's response was curt. “If we are not an open society, George Soros would hardly be able to make the comments at an open forum in Singapore, and be reported in the Singapore media,” a spokesman told the press. [2] Changi Airport will open a new terminal dedicated to budget airlines on March 26th. Work on the S$45m ($28m) facility began in 2004, when no-frills flying first became very popular. The city-state now boasts three home-grown discount carriers: Tiger Airways, JetStar Asia and Valuair. It also receives flights from low-cost carriers around the region. The sector accounts for one in ten passenger flights at Changi. The new building sits alongside Changi’s Terminal 2 and will be connected to the rest of the airport by shuttle bus. It will contain shops and free internet access, but only limited seating and no carpets. There will also be no aerobridges, so passengers will have to climb steps to board aircraft. Somewhat prosaically, the latest addition will be known as “Budget Terminal”, a name chosen in a contest that attracted 12,000 entries. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, December 19th, 2005
11:34 am	Sitting at work listening to the Verve [History] can be strangely emotional. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 7th, 2005
10:37 am	I feel twelve again Last night I went to watch the Brother's Grimm, rated 12. It scared me senseless! I was on the edge of my seat for most of it, constantly freaking out at crow scares [fairytale equivalent of cat scares]. Heath Ledger's squinty eyes continued to mar him too much for me to find him attractive. No matter though, the women in it were beautiful. No idea who the Keira Knightley wannabe was, but you can't go far wrong with Monica Belluci. And Jonathan Pryce hamming it up as a frenchman almost stole the show. ... to get over feeling like a child, and in the fairlytale spirit, I had frogs legs for dinner. (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 27th, 2005
2:38 pm	This shit is bananas James bought me the Gwen Stefani album for a surprise, probably not realising I didn't really want it, I only wanted to download the bits I liked since I wholly expected the rest of it to be dire. So when he picked me up from Turnham Green station after I'd been for dinner with Simon [yessir, ladies and gentlemen, I may be married but goddamnit, I can still have dinner with men unchaperoned] with something sounding an awful lot like disco throwing up ska blaring out of the speakers, I was more than slightly taken aback. So much so I was forced to go home and force myself upon him when drunk - uncharacteristic since being drunk is normally the same as being sleepy for me. The next day, I was too hung over to change the CD in the car, and anything less energetic was likely to sound like James Blunt and make me want to kill myself. So on and on she warbled. Ditto for the way home. By last night, I'd heard the entire album at least once, and thought it wasn't great. Then I hit traffic, and in that back-to-back tailgating nightmare I heard the album again. And OHFUCKMEJESUS, it is [this is me, doing Paris] HOT. I listened to it again this morning, because by then I knew all the words. I'll listen to it again, then tonight I'll retire it for a bit to preserve its beauty. [there is a slightly nostalgic bit for me - Harajuku Girls made me remember hanging out in HArajuku with Tsukasa and spending a fortune on elaborate "costumes" for the day. I will never have that kind of dedication to fitting in by not fitting in again. The relisation of that is equivalent to putting away the teenage things...] (Comment on this)