krisalis

At some point during the past month, Krisalis turned 4 years old.

The nature of this weblog thingmajig has morphed and changed over those 4 years. What started out as a little side project that kept me entertained in my soon to be dead-ended job and taught me new things about basic html and web-design, gradually became a way to keep my then far-away family and friends up to date on life in Singapore. It’s been my diary, photo album and my own personal soap box for things big and small, sad and funny.

The nature of weblogs in general has changed hugely over these four years. Every man, woman, child, dog, politician, beautician, bike shop lackey and their grannies all seem to have weblogs. There are articles about the so called weblog ‘revolution’ in mainstream media newspapers and magazines. There are books not just inspired by weblogs, but about how to blog. In someways it all seems like a natural progression, but in other ways it’s totally bizarre. Blogging as a job? This blows my mind!

Krisalis may not be big, it may not be clever and it’s certainly not famous, but I love it all the same.

Happy Birthday, little weblog.

Memorial Day in Austin means it’s time for the Capital of Texas Triathlon!

This year, I completed the course about 4 mins faster than last time.

My swim was slightly slower than last year. I didn’t get such a great start and then I veered off course during the course. My transition times and bike leg were slightly faster, and I picked up almost 3 full minutes in the run this time around. It wasn’t anywhere near as hot this year as it was last year, which made the run much more doable.

I finished in 1hr 28min 8sec, which is a personal best, and means I have met one of my fitness/athletic goals for 2005, which was to complete a sprint tri in under an hour and a half. Yay! Next goal 1hr 25min? Perhaps…

But even better than my PB was my Mum’s performance. Yes, my Mum and Billie both did FirstTri, which was a 400m swim, 10km bike and a 5km run. Billie hasn’t been training much (read not at all) for the swim or bike), but is a good swimmer, so she was fine. Mum isn’t that, um, fond of the water, but she did AWESOME. She made it out the water, kicked some ass on the bike and ran a speedy 5km. I don’t know quite whether to be impressed or depressed that she beat my 5km run split by a couple of minutes!

If there was an Olympic event in sleeping, I could be a serious contender for a medal.

I keep trying to write about my holiday, but whenever I sit down at a computer, work gets in the way.

So here’s the (somewhat) condensed version.

Stage 1: Edinburgh - We flew into Glasgow, and arrived late Saturday morning. Fortunately, Nancie and Rory were waiting to pick us up and whisk us through to Edinburgh. Nancie and Rory are the bestest.

• We went to a wedding in Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon. There were many friends there, some of whom I haven’t seen in years. The weather was beautiful. It was a fabulous day. Despite arriving in the morning, we soldier on through to 2am. Perhaps champagne is the ultimate jet lag cure?

• When we got back to the flat after the wedding, there were Pringles and Irn Bru and Anadin Extra waiting for us on the kitchen table. This is another reason why Nancie and Rory are the bestest.

• We went to a barbecue in Edinburgh, hosted by the bride and groom the day after the wedding. Hungover guests gathered in the garden and huddled over Sunday papers in the sunshine, discussing events from the previous day, life, the universe and everything. People became progressively more animated as food and more alcohol were consumed.

• We watched ‘Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade’ and enjoyed a full Sunday dinner at Rory and Nancie’s flat after the barbecue. Lee came to visit too. Brilliant.

Stage 2: Geneva - We flew to Geneva. We managed to do this without flying over France, because French air traffic control was on strike. Naturally. Rory and Nancie’s plane was late, because they had to wait for permission to fly over France. So Mark and I drove into Geneva and wandered around near the lake. We took a lot of photos of the Jet D’Eau.

Stage 3: Chamonix - We drove to Chamonix. We found Jeff. We ate lots of food. We saw the Mer de Glace and we did some walking. We are more food.

• We watched ‘Napoleon Dynamite’. It was sweet.

• Then the weather turned not-so-nice. So we decided to go to Italy.

Stage 4: Turin - Turin is trendy. We checked into a hotel and found a trendy bar to drink in. Then we found an excellent restaurant to dine in. We had a 7 course meal. There were 5 of us at the restaurant, so this made it a 35 course meal by our reckoning. We were very full. The food was amazing. Some of us decided that trying to find a nightclub after this dinner would be a good idea. We did not find a nightclub. I was sad. I think I was the only one who was sad.

• Turin. Sightseeing. Sunshine. Shopping. Food.

• Some museums were shut though – so no armoury for Mark. Other museums had free entry for Culture Week. Score! Some people went to the Egyptian Museum. Some people (me) sloped off and went shopping at Mango instead. We all went to tour an old palace with very fancy interiors. It was a guided tour. In Italian. I understood almost nothing and my the third room, I wanted nothing more than to escape this torturous experience.

• Once we finally escaped the museum, we celebrated with cold beers and hot pizzas in a palazzo opposite the trendy bar from the night before. Deeeelicious.

• Then we drove back to Chamonix.

Stage 5: Chamonix Revisited - The weather was better. We slept in. We did grocery shopping. After a week of eating endless amounts of cheese and chocolate, we opted for greener, healthier, fresher fare. Then we put fried egg, bacon and cheese on the salad. Mmm.

• Em and Tim came up to Chamonix. We all talked about weddings and speeches and the conundrum of taking the husband’s surname. Then we talked about turning 30. We are all getting old. But it’s ok.

• Mark and I went to the market. Jeff cooked frittatas. We all puttered about the chalet. Boys watched the FA cup final, except Jeff who adventured to top of Aguille du Midi. Girls went for hike up to La Floria, but got back in time for FA Cup extra time and subsequent shoot out. We all shouted at the tv, because Man U were robbed. Well, except Tim, who is a Liverpool fan, and seemed quite content for Arsenal to get the win.

• There was a magnificent finale dinner at Le Bistrot. The chef and sommelier are from the Albert Premier. The food was exquisite and the wine was divine. Best of all, the price was very reasonable. We were content.

• We all got up and packed our bags and shut up the chalet and headed our separate ways home. I was sad to see everyone go, but full of happiness for the time we’ve had together. I spent much of the flight home reliving the holiday events in my head.

Obi Wan Cannoli and Cuke Skywalker take on Darth Tater: may the farm be with you!

We saw ‘Revenge of The Sith’ last night.

I want to watch it again. Yoda is awesome.

Check out The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster – Journal of Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith and Servant to His Supreme Excellency the Emperor Palpatine.

I haven’t seen ‘Revenge’ yet, but I have been reading this. Heh.

[Link via Husbandman, who has been mentally tortured since the European release on May 18th with the knowledge that whilst he could indeed go and see the film, it would unfortunately have been in French or Italian, without subtitles. I reckon jedi fights looks the same in any language. He disagreed. We're going to see the film in American tonight.]

When we left Texas a week ago, it was overcast and chilly. We returned today to temperatures of 93F/37C. We left the airconditioning at home off. I’m melting.

The holiday was excellent – saw lots of friends, drank lots of wine, ate lots of deeeeelicious food and took lots of pictures.

Now it’s time for bed. More later. You know the drill.

• I went blonde again. Sort of. This time the hairdresser put blonde and red highlights through my hair, turning it a nice summery light strawberry blond colour. I like it. In the end I enjoyed being a redhead, and I may do it again next winter, but I’m happy to be back to blond.

• I have been training for Memorial Day triathlon and Danskin. Not as much as I should, but I’ve at least been getting some running in, and slotting in a bike ride and swim here and there. I need more time on the bike and in the pool. I’m just not as worried this year about the whole thing – I know I can complete a sprint distance tri – the question is whether I can do it in a ‘good’ time. My goal for the season is to break 1hr30min.

• I’m going on holiday for a week. We’re going to a friend’s wedding in Edinburgh and then going to Chamonix with some other friends for the rest of the week. We may drive into Italy for a few days (through the Mt Blanc tunnel), or we may stay in Chamonix and hike and bike. Or eat and drink. Whatever we end up doing, it’s good to be getting away for a bit.

Which reminds me – I should finish packing.

Have a great week.

Husbandman thinks this website about cilantro is funny.

He says “Heh, check this out. It brings the funny, makes me have the laugh.”

FYI – cilantro is coriander for you non Americanians.

I think the website is funny too, but mostly I think husbandman is funny for thinking the website is funny. You know what’s not funny though? Eating cilantro. Definitely not funny. So there you go.

Hen Night pictures are up on Flickr.