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Just a very quick update to say that I am really enjoying Sims 3 lately. It’s taken me a couple of months to get used to the new features, and of course at the beginning I couldn’t help but comparing it to Sims 2 all the time. But now I am really enjoying it. It’s almost as addictive as its predecessor! The only thing I am missing is making movies. I still don’t know how to control the characters well enough and can’t come up with any easy storylines. But, come on, I’ve only had it for a two or three months! I had been playing Sims 2 for almost four years before I made my first film!(*)
Me in Sims 3 (before my latest harcut!)
(*) I’ve just realised that my first Sims film is not on my youtube account anymore. Moreover, I’ve looked and look on my computer and can’t find it there either! Problem being: I can’t remember which song it was!!
I have recently been introduced to Spotify. It is an online music streaming service, almost like a “tailor-made radio station”. It’s got a huge music database and you can search by artist, song, albums, etc.
They have three different options of membership: free, daily payment and monthly payment. I obviously only use the free version because the only downside is the occasional ad, which are not that annoying, so I can live with them.
The thing is that I am VERY impressed about the number of Spanish music in there. I firstly found Mecano and Héroes del Silencio, but wasn’t too surprised as they probably are two of the biggest bands in Spanish pop/rock music history. However, today I was randomly searching and found that they are promoting the new Amaral album. Interesting, I thought. I kept searching and they have Spanish artists I haven’t even heard about! (but probably are super popular in Spain)
I find it shocking that you can’t find a single original song by Feeder for example (Buck Rogers, for god’s sake!!) and still you can hear the full discography by El Arrebato (!!!!)
I don’t really know how Spotify works. I don’t know if people actually upload the music or what. But after seeing what I’ve seen, I must deduce that “popularity” and “regional” tastes are highly valued on this website.
I wonder if I should take advantage of all this music available to me now, music that I never took the time to listen to whilst I was in Spain. Music that I almost despised. No, I still can’t see myself listening to Estopa or El Arrebato. Mmmm. No, better not.
I had to go into Old Woking after work today to collect something (this something was: two bottles of horchata and a whole manchego cheese!). You would have thought that after three years living in this area, I wouldn’t need a sat-nav to go into Old Woking. But, as I’ve only been “passing by”, I thought I’d use it just in case. Well, this is the second time in a week that the wonderful gadget has taken us through the most ridiculous route ever!
This should have been the normal route:
And this is the route it actually took us (aka The Crazy Route):
The good thing is that we thoroughly enjoyed the journey through the Surrey countryside… but the bloody sat-nav is now taking the piss!!!
This may come as another surprise for those of you who know me (really know me). I hope you have recovered from hearing the news of me liking the N-Dubz album. But the news is, as it happens, that my biological clock has started ticking… Tick Tock, Tick Tock…
I was told this would happen, but I never wanted to believe it (in the same way as I never wanted to believe that my body shape would change after the age of 30, like my mum always warned me… Because I used to eat anything and never put on an ounce of weight… but it eventually happened that my body said “NO, this is it. Time for a change. From now on, you’ll get fat when you eat like this” And I’m not a fat cow or anything of the kind –I’ve just gone from a size 10 to a 14- but it really hurts not being able to fit on anything that I used to own)
So, yeah, I was told I would eventually want children and I always discarded the idea as something really crazy. Me? A mother? Never…! The deepest instincts inside me said “no way”. I never looked at babies and got all sentimental, I never felt the urge to touch them, cherish them, make them laugh, talk the crazy baby-talk to them or anything of the kind. To be perfectly honest, I was always more inclined to feel sorry for a poor stray dog than for a child who has fallen on the ground and is crying their lungs out. Indeed, this last fact tends to annoy me more than anything.
But I’ve noticed a change. Quite a noticeable change in me. Suddenly I wake up one day and realise that I am 31 years old, I am married to the most wonderful man on earth and I am very, VERY, happy. Yet, there’s something missing. I see myself looking at expectant mothers’ websites, smiling at babies anywhere, wondering what my child would look in these or those clothes… I can hardly believe it myself, but yes, I think I’m ready. I AM ready.
However becoming pregnant and having a child is quite a commitment and first we have to sort out a few things. We want to move to a bigger house, with all the economic effort that this brings. Then I would have to take maternity leave, and although it is much better in this country than in Spain, still it would mean taking quite a big cut in my earnings.
So, all kind of questions start arising in my head:
Is this the right time?
Are we actually ready to bring a child to this world?
What if we keep trying and fail miserably?
I don’t have any of these answers, and I wonder if they’ll just come naturally to me. I coolly think about it and I reach the conclusion that now is not the right time, we don’t have the space/time/money required to bring up a child. But then… when is it really the right time? We can’t really wait forever. I don’t want to be 60 years old when my child hasn’t even gone to University. However, if we wait 2 or 3 more years, I will be more than 50 when my child goes to Uni (or college, or starts work, or whatever) Sounds scarily old. In addition to this, I read on the NCT website that “On average, women’s fertility falls after the age of 30 and even more sharply after 35” Not fantastic news.
So, where can I find the answers? Are there really any answers?
I wish I had a friend of my same age in the same situation to talk about these things… But I suppose Jon and I will figure it all out at some point.
This is very serious. If you know me you must promise you won’t ever tell anyone else who may know me. I have to keep face. A reputation to maintain.
Well, the thing is that in the last few weeks I’ve been very much enjoying the new N-Dubz album…
(*Waiting for everybody to recover from this*)
It all started with the song “Number 1” by Tinchy Stryder, which is extremely catchy. Then Jon got hold of “Uncle B”, the new album by N-Dubz and started listening to it. Again. And again. And I must say that 80% of the songs are brilliant.
It’s taken me a while to get to like it this much because this is nowhere near the style of music I’ve ever listened to. What would my beloved Billy Corgan say? He would never forgive this betrayal….
But this is quality:
