Unbalanced Vision

For the past week I have been a somewhat regular visitor of West End Vue, the reason being that an adventure film festival was taking place there. The Renaissance public may be sceptical towards their swashbuckling explorers, but today it's action heroes who receive the acclaim. To stay put is to put your feet in shame: the adventurers use their feet, bare hands, skis, motorbikes, imaginary wings, or a hydrospeed just to live life to its fullest. Suddenly my camping and hiking trips seem like a walk in the park.

But having the spirit may not be enough, top sports gear and some bucks always come in handy. Mountaineering shops make sure our hero looks good on the outside, a pricey SUV takes the posh lady to distant lands, and a sweet book deal at the end of the journey enhances the macho image. We speak of travelling around the world and broadening one's experiences, but that comes with a beautiful price tag. Oftentimes, what I see is a testerone packed joyride, with understanding wives and children supporting the absent father. But what the hell, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman are hot, and woohoo, I got to see them in flesh.

I give the festival a 6.5 out of 10 stars: some skiing feats were awfully repetitive, the Aussie female base jumper gave an annoyingly hammy performance and don't get me started on the weirdo who walks on ropes. I know you've got the moves, but I'd appreciate a good story too, and some loud music and repetitive words like 'neat', 'great' and 'awesome' just don't do the trick. Plus, I didn't win any prizes from the draw, grrr!

By the way, I am also going to take on an adventure next year, possibly the most challenging one. I quote from Mariella Frostrup:

A serious relationship would take your emotional life into uncharted and potentially uncontrollable seas. Your achievements have been in a world where with energy, strategy, and a clear head you can generally achieve results. Such assets don't guarantee anything when it comes to the turbulent reaches of the human heart.

On 17 August, in the sweetest fashion, HY got down on his knees.

People should never be that skinny. When I was a tiny peanut I had a good deal of adults telling me that I'm too thin and ill (the Chinese see chubby children as a sign of 'good fortune'), but now that has totally changed. During university dorm life I've discovered the joy of eating good food, and since then there's nothing (within reason) I cannot put into my mouth. Grill me lamb chops and I'll purr with pleasure. When HY tells me I'm gaining weight, I take it as a compliment. After reading this report about sad giraffe types, ones who I can snap like a twig, I'm curious to find out about my BMI (body mass index): 19.87, which is within the healthy weight range.

Not hitting the glass ceiling yet

Four people look this happy when they are using a MacBook (photo taken by Photo Booth)

A trip to NY is incomplete without a pilgrimage to the Apple store. The sparkling bitten apple was well protected in a glass box from the rain. Thanks to their student discount scheme, I now have a beautiful MacBook and a free iPod nano on my desk. My brother gets the free scanner and printer. Even gadgets need to accessorise: the pair are wearing matching outfits from Fabrixcase. I share my Mac tips (note: press and hold ctrl + apple + d = Apple's built in dictionary) with my flatmate J, who is an experienced, proud owner of a silver MacBook Pro. She says the purpose of the laptop's remote control is there to mock PCs. Of course, I must not forget the doyen of them all: HY himself. Ever since I've known the man, his name is linked to the serpent. However, throughout the years he has sold his iPod and notebook, and now can only sadly drool over my ice block.

In two week's time I will be spending some days each week at Golden Square in Soho, London. Only two days after I returned to London, I had a meeting there at ten. Punctuality is a vice, and I its worshipper. Still recovering from jet lag, I woke up at 9.25, leaped out of bed and got ready in the fastest possible way. Did I brush my teeth, I don't remember? Ten minutes later I was in a cab urging the driver to race to the finish line. There's nothing special in offers, but sometimes it's amazing how each e-mail, each cab ride and each hand shake takes you to a destination. Locations and window views mean everything to me. I had no time to take a good look at the square that day, but I noticed a sculpture in the photo posted on Wikipedia that reminded me I had walked pass there before: I thought it was a real person lying on the platform!

A wedding gift

I just returned today from a fabulous holiday across the pond: to attend my cousin J's wedding, to see my brother's bachelor pad, my old friend and her fiance, and to conquer NY, NJ, Pittsburgh and Chicago! (Boy, am I tired.) I'm too sleepy to go into details at the moment, so I'll just show off the homemade wedding pressies I gave to my cousin and A: photo albums. This is the result of a bookbinding course I took at City Lit, and after a few classes I am quite convinced that making a book is generally more fun than reading it.