The third installment of my favorite hotness topic and long over due.
Camilla Luddington
I had already made the third-selection awhile ago, after checking Camilla out from one of my favorite doctor/hospital romance based TV shows 'Grey's Anatomy'. Camilla playing character Jo Wilson. However to find out she was also the voice for Lara Croft in the new Tomb Raider game blew my mind, clearly being a big fan of the Tomb Raider franchise as mention in my blog; My Gaming Vault - Tomb Raider 2013 Review.
Born 14th December 1983, birthplace Ascot, Berkshire, England
Although Camilla was born and studied in England she has spent most of her life in America. Her career started to take off in 2011 where she was cased to play Catherine Middleton in the Kate & William lifetime TV movie. Currently acting in on going TV series; True Blood, Californication and Grey's Anatomy (as mention before in the introduction).
Camilla Luddington on Conan
SMOKING HOT HOT AND ENGLISH YUM
Camilla is only one year older then me and to see how her career is taking off is amazing and inspires me to work harder towards my goal. Your never to old to make your dreams come true so never doubt yourself.
A rising Star I am looking forward to watching shining bright and brightener.
So for a long time now I have been dealing with a lot of stress and normally I would say a small amount of stress is always good for you. It keeps you on your toes but like most things to much of anything is bad for you.
So why have I been over stressed? I decided to do some research into what can create stress but also how to combat it. During my search I came across a lot of helpful tips on how to combat stress, which also highlighted the main causes for stress.
The first part to solving anything is accepting their is something wrong. In my case what has been stressing me out the most is;
What I do for a living (work) isn't meaningful enough to me and it's not what I want to do
Fear for leaving my current job and not getting another one
I create many 'To Do Lists' and never complete them properly or at all
Procrastination when I know I should be using the time for something more important
Erratic Sleeping patterns
Poor eaten pattern
Over indulging on alcohol
Now that I have outlined what has been stressing me out, I just have to find a solution that will fix each one.
Create career plan, decide what you want to do based on what you like and what your good at.
Anything worth doing comes with risk but if its important enough make that change and embrace the fear. Do the research, make plans and fulfill them.
Never overlord yourself with to much in one go and make time to get tasks done. Its all about prioritizing whats important and whats not. So create prioritizing color indicator for each task with time and date and appropriate reminders.
use sundays to schedule your week ahead and make time for relaxation and entertainment
Creating a strict sleeping routine and stick to it and everything else will follow
Manage my meal times and make sure they health.
Stop drinking
These are things that I will have to incorporate into my weekly scheduling not that I haven't already. However I haven't structured to my work schedule and days off and that's where it all goes wrong. This is why I shall use Sunday as the day where I alternate my week ahead schedule, plan and prioritize my to list that week.
It's all about taking control and finding the best way to relief stress. There are many ways of releasing stress so the best way is finding what works well for you and adapting it into your lifestyle. Others ways of dealing with stress are;
Physical exercise
Mediation or me time
Stress Diary - To help you keep track, reflect and make the appropriate changes to keep stress to a minimum
Learn to say 'NO',you come first.
Accepting the things you can't change
Volunteer work can be fulfilling and rewarding, helping those less fortunate then you are can help put things into perspective
Avoid unhealthy habits and people/individuals that stress you out
Connect with people
Be positive
express yourself more rather then bottling it all up
An one of the most important things to remember is to remember what helps you. Keep it fresh in your mind with reminders. The last thing you want to do is to fall back into the same bad habits and behaviors that resulted in your high stress levels to begin off with.
Below are some links i got a lot of helpful advise from;
So I have been spending a lot of time watching videos off Netflix and I want to share my views and comments on what I watch.
I also plan on making a separate topic for tv shows.
I think I shall start these blogs from next week once I have decided which day will be my movie day and which day will be my tv show catch up day.
At the moment I have been spending to much time watching programs and now of it has been scheduled so its been messing up what I should be doing. Lets say I have been procrastinating but by setting a dedicated time for this entertaining stress release time I shouldn't help create a better balance.
As for now I am off to bed but be expecting a lot more blogs from me and I do apologies for the lack and randomness of posts.
Part 3 will discuss, explain and show examples of what I consider to be good project planning based on many different techniques, trails and errors that I have learned over the years.
Like anything in life you can plan and prepare as much as you want but if you have no follow-though it's all pointless.
Before I even start planning I need to decide what I want? Know why I want it and how I will achieve it? This is your GOAL but it should also be considered your reason for even existing. This is how powerful it needs to be and mean to you.
What is my purpose for doing this?
This is what we call a VISION,. This will help develop a reason to follow-though. Something I learnt during a management development course was how to create a business plan. One of the first steps of business planing is to define your VISION, which in this case is FITNESS.
The second is creating a WHY-STATEMENT. This is your reason, which supports your VISION. A motto if you will.Your motivational support.
Third is your AIM or AIMS. This is what will help you achieve your VISION and make sure you stay true to your WHY-STATEMENT. Usually three aims is best although you could do four if you wished but the idea is not to have to many aims.
Ambition is great but too much will lead to being overwhelmed, which results in failure.
Whatever your aims are, make sure its inspirational, positive and beneficial. Once you have decided on the aims that will best help or support your VISION and WHY-STATEMENT. How will you achieve these AIMS? This is where SMART (and objective planning) comes in. However that will be discussed in Part 9 becuase before you start your SMART (and objective planning) you need to have a better understanding of who you are, where you are and what factors will effect your progress. Everything that will be discussed during Parts 4 to 8.
Want to create a masterful plan that will ensure success then what has been stated above is what it will take.
Example of VISION, WHY-STATEMENTS and AIMS
VISION
MOTIVATIONAL FITNESS GURU
WHY-STATEMENT
BY INSPIRING, GUIDING AND MOTIVATING ONESELF TO GREATNESS. SHARING THIS WITH THE WORLD SO EVERYONE CAN SEE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR OWN TRUE POTENTIAL, SELF WORTH AND THE KEY TO PERSONAL HEALTH AND FITNESS.
AIMS
1. NUMBER ONE MEDIA RATED FITNESS STAR
2. CREATE AND FOLLOW A STRONG SELF-WORTH PHILOSOPHY
3. DEGREE/SELF-EDUCATED IN PERSONAL FITNESS AND NUTRITION
4. FUN AND ORIGINAL
What I hope you all notice as you read this is how it can be related to anything you want to achieve in life. Love, Career, Dreams, Life Planning and etc. Nothing is impossible until you give up and tell yourself its impossible.
One of my long term passions has been computer gaming and graphics. I have a degree in Games and Multimedia Technologies.
I have been meaning to make this blog since I got aliens and colonial marines. However as I was waiting for my mate to get hold of the game, which proved very hard at release date. Although the game didn't have the best review and ratings it was still selling out fast.
This blog topic 'My Gaming Vault' is going to feature reviews written by me detailing my experience of playing the game, what I liked about it, what I didn't like about it and overall rating.
Tuesday morning, 5th of March 2013, the official launch day of Tomb Raider 2013. I had per-ordered months ago from Games.co.uk and wake to a large sealed box I could bare contain my excitement.
LARA CROFT OVER THE AGES
I have been a big fan and follower of the Tomb Raider franchise. I personally own every tomb raider game since the very first game released on the PlayStation 1 console.
When I purchase games I always get the collectors/special editions. I like to collect all the extras and memorabilia. The collectors edition was refereed to the survival kit and the fact it came with a two-sided poster with one of the sides featuring a map definitely reinforces the title.
It only took me a few days to complete the game but I have been super procrastinating and this is my first post this week. Not good I know.
Game Genre: Action-Platform Adventure
Background Story
"Tomb Raider explores the intense and gritty origin story of Lara Croft
and her ascent from a frightened young woman to a hardened survivor.
Armed only with raw instincts and the ability to push beyond the limits
of human endurance, Lara must fight to unravel the dark history of a
forgotten island to escape its relentless hold".Quoted from http://www.tombraider.com/
Gameplay
- Single Player
Single player mode is where all the action and fun is at. The cut-scenes are amazing and engaging. Controlling Lara Croft felt very fluid and barely any restrictions. However controlling the camera rotation around Lara isn't as accurate from the previous games where you could swing the camera around and close up to Lara's face.
The gun battles during the game only get better as you progress throughout the game. The next comment I am going to make is a SPOILER so if you haven't played the game don't read whats next; The last boss battle Lara is fighting with one gun and it cuts into a interactive cut-scene where you pick up the enemy gun and then you feel the true might of Lara Croft dual wielding (which you get to control tapping the left and right trigger keys) and it feels so awesome as if you feeling Lara awaken to her future greatness.
I loved how the customization and unlocking upgrade progressions for your weapons work in the game. Instead of just getting faster and higher round guns as you progress you upgrade your existing weapons focusing on the weapons you enjoy using most. Also I loved the Bow its so multipurpose after using it for up close stealth kills you feel as if you want to book lessons to go learn how to use a bow.
- MultiPlayer
The fact that they introduce a new concept to the game was great however its limited and everything feels to squeezed towards Lara. (feels like your free running world is limited). That being said their are some interesting multiplayer game style options options. However in the end it all just involves you running around shooting everything.
Graphics
The graphics are truly amazing so special thanks to the graphics designers and development team that worked so hard on the game creating such lush and immersive environment.
I did come across two glitches which I had taken a photo of one
When this happened I carried on walking and near the end I actually fell though the floor and died,
The other glitch happened when I looked up at the sky trying to killing birds one of the birds got stock in the air, which actually happens a lot but only in one map area of the game so I think the geometry is off slightly but depending where your looking as it seems everything reacts to Lara's perspective.
Dialog
All the elements of this game really keeps you engaged and entertained. Any time you approach a set of enemies they would be having a conversation, which really added to the realism of the game.
When you collect items like documents, which is narrated I found myself listening intently. I found myself wanting to know more and more about the back story of the game rather then just speeding around, jumping up and down shooting everything.
What I liked
Besides the multiplayer part of the game which I talk about below I loved everything else in the game.
Although the game is very linear the direction was clear and it keeps you fully entertained and engaged and even after you have finished it anything you left undone you find yourself replaying to get everything collected and clear.
What I didn't like
No Croft Manor? What craziness is this? I know any die hard fan of tomb raider always loved trolling around Lara Croft's manor and solving puzzles, finding hidden rooms, making her workout, dive into her swimming pool and getting Lara all wet, pun intended. Entering the manor used to be the very first thing would do when starting the game.
Now I know this game is a prequel but adding in a bonus feature where you could enter the manor would have been very cool. Who knows maybe they will bring out a DLC? Here's hoping.
The tombs you raid aren't challenging enough. The previous games puzzles left you dazed for long periods of time, days even. However everything in this game is to easy.
Multiplayer is only fun for a couple of games as its different experience not really done before for tomb raider games. However after a few games your bored. It would have been better if they did a multilayer mode for single player.
My Rating
I give the game a 8 out of 10, multiplayer and the easy tomb raids brought it down for me but everything else was awesome. Scoring a 10 in my book is extremely hard so the fact I rate it an 8 is extremely impressive.
I went down to New Malden A.K.A Korean Town to treat two of my good and close friends, Crazy Jane and Sylvester (the same Sylvester mentioned in the Chinese New Year post ) to a meal, Wednesday just gone (06/03/13). Another friend called Jessica also joined us. Its kinda suppose to be are monthly thing that we do although we have only been twice now and the first time we went was like couple years ago. Terrible I know but now that I am more organize I think i will plan are gatherings so we do see each other at less once a month if not more.
ENEMIES ARE EASY TO COME BY BUT GOOD FRIENDS AREN'T SO CHERISH THE MOMENTS YOU CAN SHARE TOGETHER, TERRY MASTERS.
When you go down the high street of 'New Malden' you will see many Korean stores and restaurants, one of my friends Jessica was astonished didn't know that New Malden was considered the Korean Town of London.
The restaurant we went to was Yami, considered a very popular place to go too. The food was tasty although the Korean style BBQ pork and squid wasn't that great. The staff their cooked the food for us at are tables. We asked if it's ready to eat and the waitress replied with a 'maybe'. Waitress also forgot my bottle of wine I ordered from the beginning and my friend Jane who is a Pesco-Vegetarian, which she made clear before ordering got a miso soup with pork slices in it. I would say below average customer service. The decor isn't very traditional but its a nice moonlight kinda lighting small cafe style restaurant.
As always I have listed some review sites blow the image and address of the restaurant. Not really a place I would recommend based on customer service but the main dishes were made well and tasty.
I met up with my friend Chantelle last Tuesday gone (05/03/13). We have been speaking on and off but haven't seen each other for almost a year so this meeting was long over due.
We decided to meet up at Westfields. The one located in White City/Shepherds Bush, where we could do a bit of shopping, bit of eating and a bit of drinking although I did start the party early at home before i ventured out with a bit of drink as you do.
We met outside wood lane station (one of the closet stations to this Westfields), Miss ChanChan as I like to call her and myself had agreed on sushi but hadn't decided on which place inside Westfields. At this point I realized that the Westfields here was nicer for shopping as it offered a bigger selection of places to shop however lacking in places to eat department. Funny considering since they have massive food court area. However we decided on Yo! Sushi, not the greatest of sushi places but it will do the trick in a pitch and I've always loved their conveyor belt system for food distribution.
Eating at Yo! Sushi with Miss ChanChan was so funny. When we was ordering she was like 'I'll have everything on this page (of the menu)' and the waiter was like 'whoa that's a lot' , Chan replies back with 'wait I am not finished' and I said 'Yea, whatever she orders times it by two so I can have some too'. When all the food came we could barely stack it around are seating area.
After Yo! Sushi we went to do a bit of shopping and the Beautiful Zoe joined us. Seriously I don't know what it is about her but God definitely out did his self (in my opinion) and shes so funny. Zoe thinks dark pinks and red lips stick colours don't suit her but she would make males legs go weak, tremble and fall over if worn with the right ensemble, crazy.
After bit of shopping Zoe had to go as she was hitting the gym although we did try are best to keep her out. Terrible I know. I didn't buy anything although not to lack of trying but anything I like they didn't have in my size. Thats why i love my smartphone. I just ordered off the phone. Ha no commissions for them now, assuming they get that.
We wanted to get are drink on at TGI's Fridays but unfortunately there isn't one in this westfields either only at the Stratford one, which was very disappointing but when you have a goal and focus minded nothing will stop you so we headed to Leicester Square TGI's branch.
As my bromance and BFF love TGI's I hollad at them, which they agreed to come down. We've sometime to waste we headed over to MM World.
Where ChanChan brought this big bag of MM's. It's crazy they have massive selection of tubes where you can pick which colours and tastes you want.
After getting the sicken amount of MM's we headed over to the bar at the TGI's and ordered a few drinks. Not long after my BFF joined us and then my Bromance and we got ourselves a table to seat down and get our munch on. Yep its dinner time.
It was jokes as you can see from the photo's. I have no idea why the waitress gave me this ballon hat. It's meant for the birthday celebrating people but I loved it all the same and clearly ChanChan loved it too.
We shared a good meal with jokes and even a game of 'I have never ever', which if you have never played is a game where you say 'I have never ever' and say something that you most likely have done or maybe something you want to know someone else has done and if they drink. That's a sign they have done it.
It was so jokes we ended up changing the game to 'I have' and just got it all out there however as this is my blog I won't be exposing other people's secrets no matter how juicy and funny they are.
Finally it came to the end of the day but however my hubby and me didn't want to call it a night and went over to 1997 in Chinatown and got another munch on. Seriously I don't know where we put it.
We had a taste for salt and pepper tofu. Yummy yummy in are belly's and it seems like every Chinese's restaurant makes it differently. Never have trying it here before, it was pretty damn tasty but the best we have ever had.
The last day of the crazy eating marathon started off at place i like to call Sanctuary. This location I am not going to disclose. Its place me and my mate go at less once a month to eat. The food is amazing, the atmosphere is amazing, the staff are amazing and sexy.
Its a place where we love to go, just be ourselves, release stress and just have good time. The amount of hours spent in one seating is crazy. Once we stayed there for over several hours eating and drinking and even had a few shots with staff and their boss. Epic times.
The Sanctuary is a place where we only invite people within our inner circle or that we consider a person we could spend some quality time with. A invite is a privileged and if refused or last minute cancellation is not acceptable and will be treated with zero invites to any future events or gatherings.
The Breakfast Club
My bromance had planned a evening event a month ago where we were going to enjoy pancakes. Yes we know its not pancaking day as its already passed. However this event was suppose to be a special occasion. Gathering of great friends to enjoy pancakes together, met new people and have a blast. Although I am making it sound as if it failed, which it almost did because they don't make pancakes in the evening even though we pre-booked the reservation and the management staff already stated an exception would be made for us. The chef wasn't aware of this and they weren't prepared for us.
My bromance turned his BOSS mode on and after having some private words with the staff. they're delivery driver staff went to the next closest branch and picked up pre-made pancakes and we weren't charge for the meals. We only had to pay for the drinks due to the misunderstanding and to add on top of that, we all got £10 vouchers that can be redeemed at any branch on our next visit to the 'The Breakfast Club'. WHOOP WHOOP.
The pancakes were amazing and their mike-shakes were tasty. I would definitely recommend a visit if you have never been before.
For the last two days of eating although it seems like I have been over indulging for the last few days so here's a little recap.
So two of my friends turn up at my workplace out of the blue and not even ask but told me i am coming out tonight with them. Barely surviving the day after a mad Friday night just pasted, all I wanted to do was go home to bed. However I couldn't refuse, my friend was in need of consoling, which happen to be a talent of mine.
EAT TOKYO
So
after various stops at my house and his to change we then headed to
central London, specifically to Eat Tokyo a small Japanese restaurant
near Trafalgar Square.
The food was very tasty, well presented and prepared. It's the
closest I've had that matches the quality of Japanese cuisine, I have experienced during my time spent in japan on holiday a few years ago.
VIET PHO
After the meal we headed over to 'VIET Pho' again. A resturange I talked about in my blog post 'Drinks, Food and Magic' where we sat down after hours listening to music, playing Daai Di, (Big 2) Chinese card game over a bottle of red wine.
