When we start working...

Make-up seems to be the one thing thats vital when we enter the working world. They say first impression makes a lasting one.

At Harrods in UK, the first thing they insist upon is make-up everyday at work if not you will not be hired.

Being a student, it isnt a must to have make up unless you want to be vain. I never saw the purpose on
Splurging on cosmetics. It is expensive. My money was always used on books, electronics and food. I'd really rather spend on food;) But opportunity came to spend some of my 'highest' income earned when i worked for boots.. Furthermore, i get a discount shopping at boots, so it was an even better opportunity to buy expensive stuff like cosmetics.... Shopped i did...

Few days back i took out my 'toys' and played with it. The pic shows one eye bigger than the other, if u look closely. Its because one eye had full eye liner while the other was half oO ... After all, i was just experimenting:) definitely looked different n better whatmore with iphone apps picture effects..

Make up were from estee lauder, clarins and bare mineral.. Some were given to me for free back when i was in USA...

Twitter Jail

This is the fourth in a series of utterly unimportant ramblings and observations about the way that Twitter works.  The others are (click on links):

• How to Use Twitter (a guide for beginners and non-beginners alike)
• The Language of Twitter (some fluffy reflections on the English used on it)
• Conceptualising Twitter (trying to explain what on earth it is to non-users)

What is Twitter Jail?

So this post is about being in Twitter Jail - it's also known as Twitter Prison, Twitter Gaol (classy spelling!), Twitter Slammer.  Well, what is it?  I've had a surprising number of people ask me that question, seemingly unaware of its existence.

It's essentially a special circle of hell reserved for those who tweet "too much".  Here's what the Urban Dictionary says:

Twitter makes no mention of the specific 100 tweets per hour limit on its support page, though it does confirm the 1000 tweets per day limit that is "broken down into smaller limits for semi-hour intervals".  Tweets includes retweets.  The support page also mentions a separate daily limit of 250 direct messages.  You'd have to be going some to hit 250 DMs in a day, unless those rumours are true that this is where it all actually happens on Twitter and all the rude stuff goes on? Ahem.

100 tweets in a hour sounds like an awful lot.  If you're posting 100 general tweets in an hour this is indeed a huge amount.  The chances you'd have no followers after a very short time, because you'd be flooding their timelines so much.  (The exception is during something like X-Factor, where 100 tweets and RTs are quite possible and often amusing from the very quick-witted).  But 100 messages to people that are in fact multiple conversations, not general tweets?  That's actually quite easily hit.  I know. For I am a Twitter Jail Bird :o))

What happens when you get chucked behind the metaphorical bars, is that you receive an error message as you try to post a tweet.  You receive no warning: you are just cut off.  There is no trial.  There is no judge or jury.  This is summary "justice".  Appeals to the ECtHR in Strassbourg are not possible.  You have no way of telling people you've been carted off.

What can you do in Twitter Jail?

When you're in Twitter Jail, you can read your feed and look at your @ mentions.  If you haven't gone over the DM limit you can also still direct message.  What you cannot do is tweet yourself.  It's very, very frustrating, as you're frequently cut off mid conversation and unable to respond to anything.  I always like to respond to people, promptly - I just find it good Twitterquette.  For example a couple of my blogs have led to loads of people responding: I had over 1000 lovely supportive messages in the space of an afternoon on one - and I was locked in Twitter Jail in no time, unable to thank people.  That sucks.

How long is your sentence?

This varies.  The support page mentions something about variable times.  It can be 30 minutes, or at busy times it can be longer.  You're advised to try again "in a few hours".  I've found that if you're put in prison twice in a day, you have to sit out longer the second time and it really can be three hours you're shut out.  THREE HOURS WITHOUT TWITTER? What is there to do to amuse yourself without Twitter?  Nothing.

These poor Twinky Tweeps are at a complete lost end :(

Jail Breaking

You're eventually released without warning.  I've not found tricks round this: you just keep trying and trying and suddenly you're a free Tweep.  People have sent me e-nail files (I always leave with well manicured hands, but they're useless on the bars) and even my fearless collie dog, Oscar, has not been able to break me.  He's more interested in raiding the biskwit tin or playing with his squeaky toys whilst I'm languishing in a windowless jail.  Sob.

@LassieOscar to the Rescue? Erm, no.

Defying Twitter

However... there are ways to make your jail sentence less disruptive, as I and other people have found.  What you do is this:

• Create a second profile for emergency use (mine is @PMEinJail)
• Make it clear on the bio and from the name that it's you, in jail
• Log out of your main account (e.g. @PME2013)
• Open multiple windows on your computer (it's more tricky on an iPhone)
• Do a search for your main account name - all mentions of you will come up, so you can see who has replied to you.  You can then respond to those messages from your jail account, and the conversation will automatically move over as they reply to you in jail
• You do not need to try to follow everyone again from your jail account.  What I do is simply open another window with a list I've already created with the people I speak to most anyway.  
• If you don't use lists, they are a superb way of refining your Twitter experience and ideal for this scenario.  I can see what my top 250 tweeps are saying through my period in jail and then just pop back over to my main feed when I'm released

I've been in jail 3 times already this week.  The above might sound like a right faff, and if you're a less fanatical user of Twitter, of course not necessary.  But for hard core Tweeps like me (aka, people who don't *actually* have a life) it really works very slickly indeed.

Even if you don't need to create a jail account yourself, at least having read this you'll be aware what's happening if you get a response from a random account like for example, @PMEinJail or @KiraInJail...

Have fun and don't tweet too much guys - it's not big and it's not clever!  Yeah right :-)

Reflection

Some things that make us happy: good coffee and good books.

So I did a search on Iceland in G+ and of course got all sorts of lovely HDR mega-manipulated picture hits from über-superstar photogs (really, how can you snap a bad shot out in our amazing nature!) and also a tiny shout-out for a music festival I'd never heard of before. At first glance it looked to be all about death metal, but names can fool: the DMD, or Dark Music Days, event "can easily be summed up in one word: Diversity. Here, composers and performers from many different sectors of Icelandic music have been able to meet and cooperate while presenting their latest works."* It's happening next weekend, so if you are in the neighborhood, you might want to give it a whirl.

It's being held at our new Harpa which not everyone loves, but which I think is actually a stunning play of space and glass and light, reflecting nicely an aspect of our Icelandic people: seemingly cold, complex and overwhelming from the outside, but truly golden, strong-hearted, warmly intricate and multi-faceted on the inside ~.~

*Quote from www.darkmusicdays.is
Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )

Yee sang, cny

I had my first plate of yee sang while getting my nails done. I am craving for more:)

Synchronicity

Yeah, I didn't get it either. They were just there, in front of Hallgrímskirkja, these big black letters, begging me to snap a shot. So I did. And I had intended to write I have no clue what this is all about, but then I saw an article in Fréttablaðið (the daily free newspaper that I've requested not be shoved into my mailbox because life is kinder without being constantly slammed with hype and adverts every day, but which I'm subjected to anyway whenever a new delivery person takes our route, causing that phenomenon known as Middle Class Guilt because now I'm responsible for recycling inky garbage I never wanted in the first place! *sigh*) about the guy behind the word, one Santiago Sierra. He will be installing his stafir at Austurvellir in support of citizens' rights to democracy throughout the world, on this, the third anniversary of the loud and messy protests here in Iceland in the same town square.

On a lighter note, my father Thor and I have been invited to celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations between the US and Iceland tonight by the US Ambassador to Iceland, Luis E. Arreaga (he has a blog!) at Nasa, a venue located at Austurvellir that some of you are familiar with from it's long lines during Iceland Airwaves (book your tix for 2012 now! They sell out mighty quick!)

Tonight we'll actually be entertained by local musicians who have done the Airwaves festival, LayLow and Of Monsters and Men (that link takes you to an NPR / KEXP shout out : ) who in this video are playing a song from their Airwaves Off Venue Reykjavík Downtown Hostel gig, produced by a very sweet and super talented DJ-Producer American friend of mine, Manny, whose last name is Santiago, like the NO artist's first name, and who interestingly enough was contacted by a long lost friend out in the States after he had seen Manny's Guest Photographer post here on Iceland Eyes. Incidentally, this photo of Manny's was taken at the Reykjavik Art Museum which is hosting the exhibition of which Sierra's NO is a part.

Nice synchronicity, eh?

Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )

Fukuya, Japanese restaurant

Fukuya is one of the higher end jpanese restaurant. Stepping into the restaurant's compound feels different than other places. It has a resort-like feeling to it. I did not take any pictures of the surroundings as I went there for dinner.

We sat in a private room.

Fukuya was the place where I had my first taste of fish sperm. It was definitely an experience I do not think I will crave for again.

We also had hamachi, yellowtail. The one I had in USA wad better.

Of course, what makes this restaurant stand out is the generous portion of sashimi and it tastes really fresh. We had an assorted basket of sashimi which was tastefully decorated. Tuna, salmon, toro, white fish and uni were the sashimi served.

Another must try was their roll, which was unagi with cili padi inside. Thankfully, I have the habit of reading food reviews before going to a restaurant. Hence, I was prepared for this cili padi roll. The cili padi was too much till it made one of the male diner walk out of the room, tearing. So, becarefully with this roll. It did taste good.

We had some other dishes like fried ebi and shrimp tempura, which I think Octopus restaurant does better.

For dessert, I had this japanese
Melon. Tasted like honey dew. A few other diners ordered sesame ice cream, green tea and raspberry ice cream. I had a taste of the raspberry ice cream, and it tasted like heaven. It was simply irrisistable that I had to place one order for myself. So, two desserts for the night.

All in all, the dining experience was fantastic. It is priced above average, but definitely should go there at least once.

An Ode to Onesies

In November I was on Twitter and I saw two particularly great guys I follow @SteMcCormick and @Light_XIII talking about Onesies.  I was confoosed. What were these things?  I actually had to ask them and do a Google search.

My initial reaction was to take the piss: these are giant sleeping suits worn by adults, often in the shape of animals.  Normally they are worn to lounge round in the house; some people sleep in them.

(Technically a Dragon Kigu: it doesn't have feet)

WHO would wear them though?  Well clearly cute intelligent young guys like those two - and then to my horror I realised a complete generational gap appearing on Twitter.  Everyone under 25 either had one, or at least knew what they were.  Everyone over 30 didn't seem to.  I started asking younger people I speak to: yes, they had a Pacman one; or a Skeleton one; or a Dinosaur one.

My friend @NathanMarsh who is at university told me students sometimes go out clubbing in them - a whole group of young people dressed as animals running along, dancing and having a "Onesie Night Out".

Slippery Slope

Within the next 12 hours I travelled the slippery slope from a position of mild disbelief / mocking disapproval to actually *wanting* one.  I decided to ignore this (for him) mild warning from @HyperbolicGoat:

The following lunch time I popped up to Primarni in Norwich to look at their range.  Bargain: for £12, I could be a giant polyester clothed 6'1" monkey.  How <could> I refuse?  As long as I didn't stand too close to a naked flame, all would be fine.

Looking at myself as a giant monkey I of course realise that EVERYTHING the Daily Mail says about Twitter is true.  I have gone from being a respectable City lawyer to dressing as a big brown monkey.  Twitter corrupts innocent minds.  It's dangerous.  There I've said it ;-)

Entering the Main Stream

Now, there's no denying Onesies have caught on.  They are really becoming popular.  Christmas 2011 seems to have become the "Onesie Christmas" - I've heard so many stories of people on Twitter of all ages giving and receiving them.  There are giant pink bunnies, dalmatians, hamsters, and regular hooded onesies being worn across the kingdom.

Guardian Fashion recently asked is it ever okay to wear a Onesie?  Their conclusion was sneering and a bit pants: they even argued that it can never be a sexy look.  Hmpf, look at Joey Essex below having just gone through US Customs.  I'd unzip his Onesie for him any day :o))

Joey Essex.... *swoon*

Why Onesies are Great

So now the point of this blog is to let everyone know *why* Onesies are fabulous.  They're undeniably warm and comfy.  I love putting mine on at the end of the day.  It's snug, I can turn the heating down and I lose roughly half my body weight as it's like being in a personal sauna.

I remember vividly from German literature at University a story by the cutting social observer and 19th century Swiss writer Gottfried Keller.  It is called "Kleider machen Leute" ("Clothes make the Man" to put it in Mark Twain terms).  A penniless tailor, who happens to have one nice coat, is taken in by a town, fed, feted, falls in love with a local girl: all because they are silly and bourgeois enough to assume he must be important and wealthy if dressed like that.  I agree with Keller: we do make judgements based on people's appearances.

FAR MORE IMPORTANTLY than their snugness therefore, for me, is the fact that Onesies are fun.  They look bonkers.  They are playful, they are silly, and we just know that we will be laughing over and destroying photos of ourselves in them within 24 months - just as we look back now at 70s shirts and 80s hair cuts.  They're blatantly ridiculous, and who gives two hoots?  Grown adults dressing in this way? Bring it.  The simple judgement I would make if someone is prepared to wear a Onesie is that they are a laugh.  It's precisely because people can take themselves in such a non-serious way, that I love the item of clothing, and I love people who will wear them.

Thus, I shall conclude with a massive YAY to Onesies. Long may this trend last*  \o/

Yup, I also have a Chicken one. Guilty as charged.

* I seriously doubt it will, but hey :)