10 weeks and counting

In 10 weeks time I will be home for 12 days. It seems ages away and at the same time, it's like it's tomorrow. The thing I remember most about the last time I returned home after being away for a while was the quality of the light. The light in NZ is so clear and the sunlight feels crisp in a way nothing does here in London. I'm looking forward to St Clair beach early in the morning as the sun is coming up and everything is beautiful shades of purple and blue. Hell, I'm looking forward to the beach and ocean full stop.

Two and a half months is also enough time for me to indulge in a Bridget Jones styled panic to become slim, glamorous and unrecognisable. I do blame movies for my constant loss of motivation. As I'm sweating my ass off on the cross trainer and listening to my iPod, I can't help but think that in the movies, I would only have to do this for 15 mins to achieve what I want. In the movies, I'd be bright red in the face and sweating copiously for the first 5 mins, I'd do funny things like fall off the back of my treadmill because of exhaustion or knock myself in the head with weights. But soon, to the accompaniment of some catchy theme song, I'd be decked out in sports bra and bike pants, jogging along with ease and noted lack of sweat. Sadly this is not reality.

moral dilemmas of a comic sans hater

I am gradually coming to believe that my hatred of comic sans may in fact be something of a disorder. There's a lovely vegetarian organic cafe around the corner from work which does super-healthy and yummy falafel pitas which I love having for lunch but I nearly had to force myself to go inside because their sign is in comic sans. When I realised that I was actually tossing up the idea of boycotting shops whose signs use That Font, I decided I might have a problem.

Hello my name is Aynia and I hate comic sans to an almost obsessive degree. I have hated comic sans for 6 years now. I admit that I may need help.

Not because I think I'm wrong to hate it. HELL NO. It is Satan's font. I just think I need to chill about the whole thing a bit.

I was perusing movie trailers on Apple.com and came across this preview. This looks to be an amazing and heart-rending story and you know what my first thought was? "Yerck, comic sans!" Thought two was, "Fuck what an awesome person." I never had the patience to do animation even though I absolutely love it. "Ami Ankilewitz was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) -yet at 34 years of age - he continues to outlive a doctorÂ’s prediction of life expectancy by 28 years. And counting." And me? My overwhelming thought is, could I sit through a movie with subtitles in comic sans? I am seriously going to Hell. And we know what's gonna be waiting for me.....

sweet, sweet relief

I am currently basking in a rush of relief-induced adrenaline as I have just found out that I don't have to file a tax return.

A small thing you might think but I've been freelancing for the past 4 months and there are suddenly posters up everywhere saying you need to file self assessment tax returns by Jan 31 or there's a £100 fine. Eeek. Since I've just been getting cheques for freelancing I've basically been getting cash in hand, tax-free and if I didn't think I was going to be in the UK much longer, I wouldn't bother with the tax thing but as I might be here for a while, I don't feel like getting on the wrong side of IRD. (Dude, that's a long sentence.) Anyway, turns out this tax return is for the year April 2004-2005 and I've only been in the country since June 2005 so I don't have to worry about it. Thank bloody God. If there's one thing these Brits are good at it's paper work and queuing. (So that's two things, so sue me.)

So yay no £1000 of tax to pay by Tues and no paperwork!!!! I think should go shopping at lunchtime to celebrate... ;-)

A friend has brought to light how remiss I've been on blogging so here I am. For those not in the know, you should check out wickeywoo.com. I'll be posting pics on it as my Mac doesn't seem to like putting pics on this blog (although it may prove me wrong when I try it again in 5 mins) plus it's also tres cool. It can take a while for pics to load although that could be our fucked up internet connection at work and nothing to do with wickeywoo-ness. (I'm not dissing you Rob, promise. xox) And for those who aren't privy to wickeywoo picture glory, get thee to the website and sign up. Pronto.