Episode 96: “fortune cookies… they are more American than anything else” 

I love listening to TED talks; they’re always interesting, yet fun to listen to. This one features Jennifer 8. Lee talking about the origins of familiar Chinese-American dishes and how not that Chinese they actually are. It’s 16 minutes long, but definitely worth watching:

[Watch the video on TED.com]

As I said in my previous post, for 2009 I’ll be participating in 52 Themes, a photo every week each with a different theme. This week was the first one with as theme “New Beginnings”.

Cristiano and I got this little statuette from Cristiano’s parents as a sort of anniversary present (we’ve been together for over 5 years now). It seemed like a nice way to portray “New Beginnings”, cause I do feel as if 2009 will be a new and fresh year for both of us. This will (hopefully and finally) be the year where we both start working and get our own apartment.

After reviewing last year’s resolutions, I’ve (just like Cristiano) decided to skip the more “usual suspects” of resolutions. Of course, I have to sport more, eat healthier, be more organized, etcetera, but those aren’t the most interesting resolutions I can make. So here are my 2009 resolutions:

1. Finish my degree and get a job

This should be my number 1 priority this year; I’ve been taking way too long in finishing my degree and it’s about time I complete this. While I might be a bit demanding, I want to find a job that I love doing, day in, day out. I don’t want to settle with something that will pay the bills, I want to find a job I am actually passionate about.

2. Get a new apartment

I’ve had it with my housemates and I really want to move some time this year (the sooner, the better). I’d like to get a place on our own, so no sharing anymore, but with the prices here in London I’m not so sure if that would be possible yet.

3. Try out and create more recipes

The past year I’ve been slowly learning how to cook from scratch, not using any sauce bags etc. Instead I’m trying out recipes and learning how to use the different ingredients together. I’ve created a couple of dishes I’m already proud of, but I haven’t even scratches the surface yet here. Main Goal: making a perfect Risotto Milanese with Ossobucco.

4. Start my own startup

This might be aiming a bit too high, but I do want to get my idea of a startup going. I at least want to think it out a bit more better, and figure out if it’s possible or not.

Besides these four resolutions, I’ve also got a couple blog related ones:

1. 52 Movies

Cristiano and I discovered we’ve only watched a measly 25% of the Top 250 IMDB Movies, missing a lot of great movies (confession: I still haven’t watched The Shawshank Redemption). So we’ll be watching one movie from that list a week, and I want to write a blog post ever single time. We’re already not having such a good start though; tonight is the last day of the first week, so we have to watch a movie tonight (and I have to blog about it tonight).

2. 52 Themes

Similar to the 52 Movies, I will take 52 photos, every week with a different theme (according to an already predetermined list of themes). I was interested in a Project 365 (taking a photo every single day), but I’m not that much of a photo addict yet to do that. What I do want to make sure of though is that I take every one of these photos with that theme in mind; I don’t want to make “random” photos and then look back thinking “oh, I could use that for the theme this week”. 

3. What I Wore

I’ve been inspired by blogs like Karla’s Closet, the What I Wore tumblr, and Sunny-Side Uptown, who post photos of some of the outfits they wear. While it won’t be every day (I don’t have enough different clothes and I don’t go outside every single day, for that), I want to start doing something similar to that. It will have to wait though until I figure out what the best way to take those type of photos is. I don’t have enough space here in my room, and I don’t trust London enough to leave my DSLR outside on the street alone (even if it’s just for a few seconds).

4. Write more reviews

I’m already writing reviews for movies and books, but not as much as I’d like. I want to try to actually write reviews for every single book I read and every movie I see this year (although repeats on TV won’t count).

What do you think of my resolutions? Anything I’m forgetting?

I always wonder what the stories are from the people I pass on the street. Where are they coming from? Where are they going?

Interesting links for December 30th through January 6th:

• Cast Puzzles – I want to try to collect all of these puzzles. Birthday present, hint, hint?
• TV Guide – A nice overview of all the series coming back in January in the US (when and what channel).
• 15 inspiring ambigram logos – I love ambigrams. For those who don't know what they are: they're logos who read the same when turned upside down. Here are a couple of cool examples.
• Abandoned London – Cool photos taken early (between 8 and 10) of London's West End on Christmas Day morning. You'll never find those places as deserted as this.

Episode 95: “Met…”

I’m loving this Dutch commercial from Heineken (even though it’s playing a bit on stereotypes). There’s a little bit in Dutch, but you don’t have to understand that to follow the commercial:

[Watch the video on YouTube]

I’m leaving the Netherlands today; our bus back to London goes at 11 and then we’ll be stuck in there for 10 hours. Ugh. Glad to be going back, but not looking forward to the trip at all. So for these last few hours that I’m here, here’s the only “Dutch”; photo I’ve made during this holiday: Chocomel!

I’ve been lucky this Christmas; I’ve gotten lots of lovely presents:

Monet Earrings

Loving these earrings, although I did pick them myself. The pair that I got (also pretty) were broken, so I had to take them back to the store. They didn’t have those ones in stock anymore, so I got to choose from their remaining collection.

Hanayama NEWS Puzzle

Besides this little puzzle “box”, my brother created a cool treasure hunt to figure out how to open the box. I’ll blog about that some time later this week, cause it’s worth more than just a quick mention.

Chanel Nailpolish

I got this nail polish from my Mum. It looks pretty red on the photo, but in real life it’s actually a colour much more similar to the red on this blog.

Lancome Eye Shadow

I’m not used to wearing make-up, but I do want to start slowly into it this year. I got this set from my sister and it’s exactly the type of colours I was looking for. Not too flashy, nice and light, and natural. Now if I only knew how to actually apply it properly…

GPS Keyring

I still have to see if I can get it working with my mobile, but if it does I’ll be able to get my GPS location on my mobile. Great for geocaching!

Books

I got these two fantasy books from Cristiano’s parents and sister. Phantom from Terry Goodkind is the tenth book in his Sword of Truth series. Melusine is the debut from new writer Sarah Monette; I’ve heard a lot of good things about it and the plot sounds pretty interesting.

I’ve had the idea of a startup (I’ve mentioned it before here) for some time now, so Cristiano gave me this book to take my first step to making it a reality.

DVDs

One of my plans this year is to do A Movie A Week from the top 250 movies on IMDB, mainly because there were so many films I still hadn’t seen yet. I told my brother this a couple of days before Christmas, so he made sure I at least got two of them.

Comics

Two comics! The first one is the second episode of The Ultimates (can’t wait to see the movie next year, and who they will cast for it). The second is an Angel comic, based during the second season of Angel.

Pink Clogs

Cute pink fuzzy clogs! This will definitely keep my feet warm this winter!

Jewelry Bag

This leather jewelry bag will really come in handy. It’s got separate compartments for earrings, rings, necklaces and bracelets.

Bags

I got two bags this year (one from my parents and one from Cristiano’s parents), and they actually complement each other great. The first one fits my wallet, camera and notepad (and most probably a netbook too).

The other is much smaller, but perfect for when I only need my wallet and some small items.

Table Hook

This is a cool and handy item: it’s a take-along-with-you table hook, so that you can hang your bag on it at restaurants etc.

Last but not least, I’ve gotten money to get a new laptop! I haven’t decided between a MacBook or a MacBook Pro yet, but I guess I’ll wait until MacWorld first. I am thinking of getting a netbook for travel besides it though; whichever MB I choose I won’t be taking it a lot with me (even the 13″ MacBook I find too heavy).

So care to share with me what your presents were?

I love how this photo of a candle turned out. Looking at it reminded me again of Carols by Candlelight (although this photo is taken inside). I’m not sure if it’s only an Australian tradition (I don’t think it is), but the idea is a city-wide gathering, usually outdoors in a park, to sing carols on Christmas Eve by candlelight. Quite fun, but then again Australia’s December weather is much more enjoyable than that here.

Before I do my New Year’s resolutions post, I thought I’d take a moment to step back and take a look at how I did with my resolutions from last year. 

1. Work out more, be healthier.

Kind of “check”? I did start running this year, but I can’t really say I kept to a weekly schedule. Food wise though, I do feel as if I started eating better. Let’s put it this way: I worked out more and was healthier in 2008 than I was in 2007. Overall, I still think I could improve a whole lot, but it’s a nice little start.

2. Work more organized and more regularly.

Again kind of “check”. I am much more organized than last year, but there is still room for major improvements on the “more regularly” part.

3. Stress less.

Check! If there’s is one thing I’ve improved in this year, is the amount of stressing I do. I used to get really worked up about all kinds of things, stressing out about stuff in my life that wasn’t going completely to plan (the plan in my neurotic-slightly-overachiever mind that wants to do everything perfect). This year I realized and accepted not everything goes the way you want it to, so there’s no reason to stress out about those things. 

4. Start organizing events.

Check! Since February I’ve been involved with organizing the London Geek Dinners and have created some spin-offs like the London Geek Meet and the London Girl Geek Coffees. I still don’t put as much time into each of those events as I wish I could (haven’t organized a Girl Geek Coffee since June), but I hope I can do more of these events next year.

5. Finish my degree and get a job.

Ehm. Pretty much “Fail”? I’ve made some progress with my research thesis this year, but I still haven’t finished it yet. There have been some serious issues which caused the delay (like my wisdom tooth removal), but it’s no excuse: my main priority of 2009 should be finally getting my degree.

6. Get a “real” camera and learn more about photography.

Check! Since Cristiano got a second DSLR, I’ve been playing more and more with his old one (although I like the lens on the new camera too). One of my resolutions of this year though is to actually process the photos I take and not keep them lying around untouched for ages.

I’ll be writing about this year’s resolutions some time later this week. So how did you guys fair with your resolutions from last year?