Twisted Barbie: Karaoke Queen

I love singing.  It was my ambition to be fully professional when I was younger.  Unfortunately it didn't quite work out how my young brain had planned so the best I managed was a few support gigs and some local pubs - I still love to sing though. 

The only opportunity I get now is at Karaoke.  It's a marmite pastime, some love it some hate it, but thankfully I have a few local friends and a world full of fellow ninjas who also love it!  I occasionally drag along poor Mr B, who seems to enjoy the atmosphere but wouldn't get up to sing if I held him at gunpoint!  He claims to not be able to sing...I know differently, but to get any better he actually needs to do it more often!

Everywhere I go there seems to be karaoke arranged...

Ninjas in Berlin

Dentists in Hong Kong

Proof the Mr B does come along!

The home of Karaoke...

Proof that I do get up too!

One of the things that I enjoy about it most is the look of surprise on the face of people who don't know I sing.   I must have a terrible speaking voice as people do seem awfully shocked! The group in Hong Kong are even demanding my return simply so they can get me on the mic again...maybe I shouldn't give up on that dream after all...

2018. What happened?

Wow.  It's July in 2018 already.  Holy Cow! Where has the time gone? 

In short, I've been working. Mostly, and that doesn't really give me much to say (that I can say on the open web without getting my ass fired anyway!). 

Part of my work is a great deal of fun, I get to travel to cool and exciting places - we will get to that later - but it is also dreadfully boring on the day to day for anyone not involved so it spawns less posts (and takes up my time). 

So, since my trip to Japan, where have I been?  New Delhi, Chennai, Fuertaventura, Berlin(twice), London, Dublin, a second trip to Chennai, and Hong Kong...Phew! now I'm out of breath, that's some miles!

My family have given up on trying to work out where I am at any one time and a friend recently called and his first question was to ask if I was in Scotland...I have lived in Scotland for 13 years but he thought he should check first before driving the 500 or so miles to come see me.  

As you could guess I have tonnes of photos from all of these locations - except Berlin - Here's a whistle-stop tour...

The only two photos(publishable!) I have from two trips to Berlin...

Danish training buddies in Berlin

The Berlin Wall - it is there, honestly!

Chennai

Henna hand

Love my sari...how does it go on again?

Delhi

Big palace (it has a Name, I just can't remember!)

Fuertaventura

Dolphins from below

My new little friend

Hong Kong 

Glass bottomed cable car

Dancing lions

Hong Kong at night

See? that's a lot of travel...

I know I promise to start posting again at some point soon, maybe 2018 is the year for it huh?

The Obligatory Festive Posting...

Can you actually believe its January again already?  2012 went extremely quickly, I guess my lack of posts kinda proves that....*whistles*

I've actually had an excellent time this festive season though, a nice quiet time mostly spent relaxing around the house with Mr B...we both had a cold (I've still got mine unfortunately!) so didn't really get around to getting out very far but we are both a little reclusive so that suits us just fine!

We had a fair bit of excitement when it came to our gifts though....I got the best present I could ask for of a new computer. There was much jumping around and clapping when I opened it!  I've always had hand me down machines from other people and never actually a nice new one of my own (not since I was 10 and I got an Amstrad for Christmas! - you know the ones with the tape deck in the keyboard)   Everything is all nice looking and shiny on the interwebs now and I've been loving turning up the graphics on all my games at last! Anyway..enough of my gloating, I should just say I was very spoiled. 

After a huge amount of food and a couple of family visits, suddenly new year was upon us.  Again the reclusive side of me would be quite happy to sit at home in the warm, but we had been invited round out for some drinks and movie watching instead...Apparently we all got bought slogan t shirts for Christmas too... 
  

As an odd choice of "festive" movies we watch Nude Nuns with Big Guns (I know it sounds like an adult movie but it wasn't completely (Gurn argued this vehemently as it was his choice!)...I wouldn't however recommend anyone adding to to their must watch list!) and after the bells had gone and we had hung out the window watching fireworks we watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  B and Lorne had never seen it so have obviously been begging for the education :s...They both seemed quite amused and weren't too put off by the rest of us singing along and joining in with the audience participation so that's something!

Another new year is here now though...lets hope that 2013 is a year of peace, love and happiness...but doesn't fly by quite as fast as 2012 did!

Happy 2012

We made it!! Another year successfully completed! (Yes, I know, my mind IS convinced I live in a sims style computer game)

B-Man had a celebratory tub of haribo at Chez Gurn ....

and a game of Vampirology... (I was so excited to see that they provided a purple playing piece specifically for me!)

Happy New Year!

Solstice 2010

Its that time of year again. I normally visit a roman hill fort on solstice as its deserted and has great views, this year however I couldn't get a car to drive up and taking the bus would have meant having a fairly long uphill hike. Thankfully B-Man had a brainwave and suggested we try a local piece of coastline...I've never been there before but after a short bus journey (at 03:15!) we settled ourselves on a bench looking out across the sea (ok, its actually an estuary - I'm sure someone will point that out!). Sunrise, as usual, was beautiful and we shared our offerings of strawberries and apple juice with the local seagulls...

Pre-dawn...

Peaking over the horizon...

Radiating...

Solstice 09

We had a fab solstice this year. I hired a car so we could get to my favoured spot in the hills and pitched the tent - with some thanks to the wind helping us get the top sheet on after the undertent was already 6 feet up - and settled in for the night.

We had taken a pack of cards, some magic cards, and a dice game with us for entertainment, but didn't even break them out. Instead we laid listening to the land around us, the sheep bleating, the wind and rain bouncing off the tent. It was calming and blissful. In the morning we got up and wandered down the hill a little to watch the sunrise.

Unlike the thousands of people at Stonehenge we were granted a beautiful sunrise through the trees. The sun rose as a red ball over the horizon, slowly drifting up into a large cloud bank, looking similar to an eye rolling back into its socket.

I did try to get some photos but it my phone's camera just didn't capture the view well so you'll just have to use your imagination!

Excitable?....Me?

Its a bit silly I know, but I'm all bubbly and excited...tomorrow is the summer equinox and as usual I'm off overnight to be in a good spot to watch the sunrise at 04:26 tomorrow morning. I don't go far, but my chosen spot in the hills is an awkward place to get to. I checked out all the options of buses, and even getting a lift, but due to the times we would be travelling theres no other way to make the trip other than by car. Taxis are too expensive, so I've hired a car for the day! Its only cost me £20 and it means I get to drive! I've not driven for over a year, so I'm very over excited about it. A little worried too, in case I have forgotten how....but its just like riding a bike isn't it?

And I still don't act my age...

I'm one of these awful people unfortunately born in January...worse than that, the first week in January (I blame my parents!) anyway this usually means that people have little cash so nights out tend to be a fairly small affair. I arrived at work to find my office decorated with banners and balloons, and my desk littered with 30 shaped sparkles...
As it was my big 30 I managed to convince the 30club that karaoke was a good idea. It took a short look on the net to find a pub in Edinburgh that had a night, so we headed out. Among the gifts I got from workmates were "props" to help my night...

An inflatable guitar and sparkly microphone....

and Dave the balloon (this was tied to my wrist and seemed to have a mind of its own so needed a name as reasoning for it battering anyone standing near me)

As we were leaving straight from work we decided that food would be a good idea, so we stopped at a Wetherspoons for a curry (except Louise who had the very delicate chips and gravy) Two bottle of wine later we thought we should head to the right pub for the karaoke only to spot a large sign in the window advertising it not to start for another 2 hours. Most the group had already said they were only staying until about 8:30 so we diverted to a different pub to wait it out. By the time the Karaoke started only 3 of us were hardy enough to last but we carried on regardless. Surprisingly there was quite a crowd for the night including a group of builders from Birmingham who sneakily bought us a round of cocktails at the end of the night even though we said no! (they asked the barman to just repeat our last order)

It was a great night, lots of chatting to random folk who came over to wish me happy birthday and even a few compliments on my singing voice :)

I'm out with BMan and Gurn tonight so this may be a post continued....

Witchfest and back again...

Last weekend was the infamous Witchfest. I love it but its held in Croydon which is a pretty long way away from here. After the Barcelona holiday got doomed I figured that I should still use the bus tickets down to London that I had booked so I changed the dates and used them for the Witchfest trip. This was not the best idea I have ever had. For the first leg of the journey I was the only person on the bus to have someone sitting next to them - obviously I didn't look scary enough - the lady who sat down fell asleep about 30 seconds after the bus started to move and stayed that way until Newcastle. Great I hear you thinking....no. She ended up dropping her head on my shoulder for half the way. At least it was quiet I suppose. The journey really was pretty uneventful, which just added to the boredom of 9 hours on a bus. Anyway I finally got to Croydon and found my hotel with ease. I struggled a little to find the reception desk, as it was on the first floor and there was no sign to tell you that but I got there.

After dumping my stuff in my room and headed out to find my friends . I knew that there were two places to track people down and Jurys was closest (being the next hotel along the same road) I headed into the bar and after grabbing a highly priced pint found myself a seat on a sofa, I spotted lots of people I knew but they were all engrossed in conversations so I waited a while. This obviously got boring after about 3 minutes and I spotted Drew, one of the very first people I ever met at Witchfest in 2003, whose whole group took me in when I didn't know anyone. I tapped him in the shoulder and was nearly deafened by the high pitched scream he gave before he hugged me like I was an old family member. After some frantic chat someone else did something similar and he ran off to the bar so I went back to my seat and started chatting to someone else. Halfway through that conversation however drew arrived back by launching himself across the room at me and throwing me backwards over the sofa, much to the surprise and amusement of the table opposite. (At this point I should state that Drew is both in a relationship and gay so this isn't an unusual thing for him to do to a woman) lots of chatting and a couple of pints later I decided that my bed was calling me and retired.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early (a bit too early really) I got myself dressed and ready for the day in my big purple dress which is a staple outfit for Witchfest and went to get breakfast and supplies for the day. Sorry for the lack of smile but taking photos in a mirror isn't my forte.
I have a running joke with another friend that I have to carry cakes in my basket so I popped into the newsagent to buy some, this really shouldn't have been anything of note but when I went to the till to pay the man running the shop asked me if I was going to Fairfield and what it was all about. Someone from one of the hotels had commented to him that he might get some odd people in over the next few days because the witches were in town! We had a really good chat, he told me some of his background of being brought up in a Hindu mystic family and converting to Catholicism, and how he believes in miracles and magic powers and was genuinely interested in the subject. About 30 mins before the doors were due to open I walked through the drizzle to get in the cue for the day. Through the day I went to several talks and workshops and was quite literally buzzing by the end of it. I met lots of new people and learned a lot of interesting stuff but by the time dinnertime came at 7:30 it was a much needed break before heading back to party for the rest of the night.

Somehow when I got back to Fairfield I could see no one that I knew very well so I sat with a couple that I had met on Friday night chatting and drinking mead.

Theres no photos allowed in Witchfest which is always a shame as there would be some fantastic ones to show of everyone otherwise.

Thankfully the journey home on Sunday was much better, I had lots of legroom and there was only 4 people on the bus! I still got bored though so next time I'll stick to the train.

Another night out

Well, its been over a month since our last night out. Mainly due to money and time restrictions, so DaBMan, Gurn and Myself headed out this weekend for some clubby fun. It a bit odd for me as the club scene in Norwich, where I have the unfortunate experience of coming from, is undeniably different to the scene here in Edinburgh and I haven't experienced much of it here. Different is not bad however...In this case it simply means that I stand out from the general masses far more than I do back home with far far less effort (Which as I am now getting both old and lazy is great!) As a general guide, Here is a link to some photos from one of the nights on in Norwich, Chains on Velvet so that's more what I am used to wearing on a night out - of course, as all Barbies love to dress up its really no bad thing that I get accosted in the toilets of Opium and told how great I look, and that I am on the receiving end of various girls evil stares (which I always take as a compliment)

I was a little disturbed by the DJs music choice however when they started playing Bon Jovi and Guns n' Roses - and not at the end of the night to make everyone clear out either! It was a generally fun night, I was highly amused by Gurn and DaBMan being totally dismayed at the club having changed since their last visit and just how offended Gurn was at the addition of a sofa...