また食べ物の話かよ・・・

さて２回目の日本語のブログを書いてみます！
本当に日本語が難しくなってきた。。。全然使っていないから頭が日本語でもう速く考えるのが難しくなってきた・・・・ガーン

この２週間、中国とバーレーンで仕事をして来ました。
中国には月曜日の朝早くついて普通あまりない休みの日が取れました。皆が中国のマーケットのことを話していて行って見ようと思って、タクシーに乗って探し出しました。面白かった！そんなマーケット見たことがない！！店員がうるさくて、ドアに入った同時にもう時計やペンを売り出して、疲れている時にそうやって色々しつこく売り出されると何も買わないで逃げたくなる！でも１時間ぐらいうろうろして色々面白い物を見てきました。なんでも売っていた！洋服から時計、IPHONEのアクセサリーとかバッグ。飛行機からの疲れが出ていて、もうあきれてあまり買わないまま外に出て行きました。
おなかがすいていたから５人でそばのレストランを探しに行ったら、だれも英語がしゃべれない・・・どうやって食べ物も頼むのか・・・結局なんとか頼めて美味しかった！皆は日本のカレーを頼んで私はお弁当見たいのを頼んだ。

その後回りの町を歩いて綺麗なYU　GARDENに行って写真を撮りました。そして中国人しか行かない見たいな道を歩き出したらお祭りみたいに小さいお店が並んでいた。そこに食べ物がいっぱいあったけど私には考えられない食べ物・・・　まだ生きているカエル、蛇、チキンの足など・・・

周りの人は私たちの顔を見て笑っていたかも！

火曜日から仕事を始めました。セパンのガレージが大きくてケーブルを入れるのが大変だった。でもいつも通り１日でネットワークケーブルを入れてほとんどの準備が終わりました。さてこれで後数日準備を終わらしてレースで１・２位になろう！

次の休みは土曜日の夜。前に疲れすぎてあまり見なかったから今度はいろいろ買おうと思って行きました。最初のお店に入ったらすぐバックほしいと聞かれました。ほしいと答えたらすぐ後ろのドアが開けられて後ろの小さいお部屋について行きました。ドアにかぎが閉められたら色々のメーカー品のバックが出てきました。違う色あると聞いたら、ちょっと待ってと言われ、右側の壁が動かされた。そこにせまいろうかがあってついていったらまたほかのバックが置いてある小さなお部屋に入りました。びっくりした！！　チームの男性たちが一緒に付いてきてくれたから安心だった。そうじゃなかったら怖かった！！結局バックを３つ買い、またほかの後ろのお部屋に入って時計も買い、マーケットがしまり始めたからまたレストランに行こうときめて美味しいすき焼きを食べてきました。私はすき焼きやしゃぶしゃぶが大好きなので嬉しかった！食べ過ぎたー！！

私は食べ物ばっかりの話をしていると今気がついた・・・・

今度は食べ物の話ではなくバーレーンのことを書きます！

今も時間を築いて００：４４だ・・・・明日また仕事だ・・・　時差で寝る時間がくるってしまって全然時間を気にしていなかった・・・　ガー　寝ないと！　またねー！

（フリッカーに中国とバーレーンの写真をアップしました。良かったら見てください！リンクはこのページの右にあります！）

Bah....RAIN?!!

We got out of Sepang circuit at about 1am and were at the airport again a few hours later, Bahrain bound. Was the race still going ahead? Were we going to face riots? Were we going to be ok?... Tired....  Having no sleep helped with the flight! First time I've ever slept for most of the journey! I can't sit still for long, I get fidgety and need to wander around! Writing this from my window seat on the plane back from Bahrain, I am distracting myself from asking the man next to me to move for the 3rd time! I'm like a child.... All the boys are sleeping, I wish I could!!!! This plane is full of a few F1 teams. Its funny seeing us all on a plane on the way home, everyone fast asleep and totally shattered! (except fidgety in the corner, wanting to do laps of the plane!)

Anyway back to Bahrain....We arrived on Monday night and made our way to the hotel. It was hot and the sights on the way, inappropriately, reminded me of scenes out of Call of Duty.  We stayed at an awesome hotel. We had a beach, massive pool and about 6 restaurants to choose from within the complex. What I noticed about the hotel straight away was that I immediately found lots of amazing photo opps! The lighting was pretty cool and made for good photos! I hope my little camera got the photos I think i took in my head!  I love being by the sea so was happy to find a beach. I could sit and listen to the sea for hours. Although saying that, if I go on holiday, I can't sit and sunbathe all day... An hour and I'm ready to go exploring! This job has changed me a little bit though, I'm learning to appreciate time to just sit and 'be'. Especially when you're shattered, it's becoming easier to want to just sit on a beach in a hammock all day and do nothing but dream that I'm chilling on my private island, amazing beach hut ( that I built myself), palm trees swaying and watching the sunset....my neighbour, calling me when the marshmallows are roasted ;) (he shares my dream so I've built him a hut too) . I live in this dream world quite a lot lately. And one day I'm gonna find this place and I'll be posting a blog from there!

Boom, back to reality and I'm cabling up a garage again the next morning. Was pretty hard to leave the mechanics on the beach playing football while we put on our team kit and went in to the  circuit' The weather in Bahrain was hot, but a nice hot. We're in the middle of a desert so it's a dry heat not humid like Malaysia and Singapore are.  Nice weather for chilling on a beach! ;) We didn't see any violence or protests whilst in Bahrain. What everyone else was watching on the news we were quite oblivious to in a sense.  If we didn't know what was going on from the worried texts from home and the Internet and news, you wouldn't have even known the country was in turmoil.  I've found that doing this job, we always go in and build a garage which have different layouts but look similar so once it's built and we are working as normal, you could be anywhere. There has been times of tiredness when I've had to think about where we are and what language or money we are meant to be using!

The race this week was disappointing. The atmosphere in the garage was tense and in my opinion no one can be blamed for anything. We're all one team and when these things happen we should stick together. After the race I read some comments on Twitter which I wanted to respond to but I'd probably get in trouble so thought it better not to. As much as people criticise what we do and say they could do it better, in reality, I'd like to see them try. You have no idea what this job is like until you've done it, and it's not as glamourous and easy as it may look. I cannot describe how we feel, physically and mentally, sometimes and the enormity of the pressure we can be under.  I speak for myself but im sure others will agree.
That's enough on that subject. Bring on Spain!

Now I'm looking forward to getting back to England. Even if it is for just a few days. I have a day off and a few days in the factory before I am on a plane again so it'll be nice to catch up with friends I haven't seen for months, and to have some normality. Even just being on one time zone so I don't have to wonder what time it is back in UK to have a conversation with someone!

The Paddock late at night, or should I say early morning...

Entrance to the circuit

Cheap Chinese watches and avocado doughnuts

Well, that was a long two weeks! Seems like weeks and weeks ago that we left for China!  I've never been to China before so didn't know what to expect. I know I like Chinese food though so was looking forward to that!!

We arrived in China on Monday at about 8am and had a rare day off! I've been hearing about the Chinese markets so went to check those out! Crazy place.  As soon as we walked in we hear; "Watch, Pen? Good price for you".  No thank you... When I walk into a shop and someone follows me around or tries to sell me things it makes me immediately walk out. Not a good start when I've only just walked in the door of a mall and haven't even made it to a shop and it's already started! I had no idea what was yet to come...

The rows and rows of individually lined up shops were full of clothes, handbags, shoes, watches, electronic accessories, anything and everything really!  Not being a massive girly shopaholic, I don't tend to rummage for hours and hours. I'll casually stroll past shops and if something catches my eye and I like it then I'll buy it.  Not quite realising what this place was all about yet, I looked at a bag for my friend and asked the price, to receive an answer of "you look first, then I give you price". Ok.... I'm looking at it.... Now tell me the price!!! She told me a price eventually, about 20 times more than it should have been and I'd already decided that actually I didn't like it so said, actually it's ok thanks I don't want it. "you tell me price then"... Ermm no, I don't like it. Then I got shouted at, "you ask price and don't buy, why you waste my time" Woah, didn't realise I had to buy everything I looked at... Moving swiftly on...

It was pretty hard to look at anything without someone trying to force you to buy it. Mix this with tiredness from a 12 hour flight and jetlag... My impatience shone through! After an hour or so of looking at random things, buying an iPad case, a jacket and a bag, trying to escape from back door cupboards (more about that later!) and generally arguing with every shop we walked into, my patience ran out! We left and found a local place for lunch.  I don't think they get many foreigners there as we were stared at like a bunch of ghosts had just walked in! Then trying to order was another matter! My food ended up being quite nice though!  The others may not agree about theirs, with their gristle curry, but I was quite happy!  We then went to Yu gardens and wondered around, finding random alleys with market stalls, yet again where foreigners probably don't wander into. I like doing this, beats finding a mcdonalds and wishing i was at home! The array of live frog, chicken feet, snake and god knows what for sale really did not look appealing. I'm sure our facial expressions highly amused the locals though! We ended up having coffee and doughnuts as our jetlag set in a small 'fashionable type' coffee shop. Ever heard of avocado flavour doughnuts? You have now! Oh and we did try some local shu mai and egg custard cakes from the street stalls :) not quite as yummy as doughnuts though :)

So day of fun over and it's time to remember why we were actually there. To go build a garage and run a car and win a race... I liked Sepang Circuit. Although the garages were huge and took ages to cable up, it was quite a nice place to work in.  Some chocolate eggs appeared by carrier pigeon to me during the week too which made me smile! :) yum yum

I'm gonna fast forward to Saturday night now, our next few hours off...  Back to the market again, after realising my impatience got the better of me and I didn't really buy much, I decided I'd get a few things this time. So straight to the handbags. "you want bag? You come".... I follow this lady through to the back of her little shop where she shuts the door and locks it. I'm surrounded by empty shelves with a few of the same handbags as outside. She shows me a few and I ask for another colour. This opens a whole new door, literally. Enter Narnia... The empty shelves slide away and I find myself in yet another little room looking at more bags. I paid about a tenth of the price she tried to get out of me for 3 bags and then escaped the secret passage to handbagville.  The first time this happened I was actually quite scared as I had no idea what I'd do if they got aggressive... I walked through Narnia into the Secret Garden and found watches, where a guy did get quite angry that I wouldn't pay 300 pounds for a cheap fake watch. Good thing I had some of the guys with me or I would have been quite intimidated!  A quick hour of shopping and arguing before we got kicked out at closing time and we went and found an awesome hot pot restaurant. I love hot pots, sukiyaki, shabu shabu (Japanese dishes) so I was very happy! We ate SO much! Awesome! Could have sat there eating all night! But we had a race to get to....

I've uploaded a few photos to my Flickr account. I didn't take too many... :( Tiredness got in the way of any creativity this week!

I'll stop babbling on about markets, cheap watches and food now and let you wake up :)

What is on the cards?

I've never been one to believe in tarot cards, palm readings and crystal balls. But I've always been intrigued. It's like my obsession/fear of snakes. If one is near me, I'm petrified but I can't help but stand and stare at them.

I went to Brighton today with a friend, with no intentions. Just decided on a road trip and got in the car and went to be by the sea. Both finding the sea a calming place and our favourite place to be. Having just come back from paradise, it wasn't quite the same, but it was still as close as we are going to get for the time being!
Walking along the pier, people watching and smelling the smells of hot doughnuts and seafood (!),  we came across a tarot reader and decided to go and see what he said, both not expecting much and being very light hearted about it all. Yet, a little wary in case he did actually pinpoint anything which may be true!

I picked 11 cards and they were laid out in front of me while concentrating on a small black rock and thinking of what I wanted to be spoken about. Why the black rock.. not the pretty purple or green ones?Whilst still thinking and pondering over what he might pick up on, the reading started. I was sat poker faced trying not to give anything away, thinking he is going to pick up on my body language, what my eyes are doing in reaction to his words, trying not to catch my friends eye in case I started giggling...

Immediately he went into how I over think... everything.. That recently I've been brought down by various things but I've got around that and picked everything up and am looking for a new beginning. In fact, started a new beginning. The wheel of fortune card states that things go around but it always goes from the bottom back up to the top and that is where I am at now. Yes, I'd agree with that. It also mentioned luck. I hope lots of that comes my way and he seemed to think it would!
I've put the past behind me and I'm starting to think about what I want for ME, instead of letting things around me bring me down. I can handle large problems without a care but when it comes to minor things, I can't let them go. Yes, that's one thing I find annoying! Why do I have to worry about small things which may not even be relevant!!
Things from my past may re-appear, but I can choose to put them behind me or bring them back into my life. Well, it depends what these are! There's certainly a few things I've thought quite a lot about recently that should I be able to find Doc and jump into the DeLorean and go back a while, I'd react to very differently. Here we go, back again to the "missed opportunities"!
I have new ventures and opportunities growing in my head that I am going to push forward with. Again, a new beginning. That these things will grow into a success. Well I hope so! I have ideas in my head which I have never acted upon, which I have recently, funnily enough, and they do seem to be proving successful in a way I couldn't have imagined. It's actually scaring me a little bit at how quickly these things are growing!

I can't really remember much more right now as the tarot card jargon confused me. But it was quite strange how this random guy could pinpoint my every move over the last few weeks and quite accurately give me answers to things I was thinking about and correctly analyse my personality. Were they answers? Or am I just relating a generalisation into my own certain situation. Who knows.

If anything it's reiterated what I was thinking anyway and only motivated me more to do what I need to do right now. So, at least some good came out of it! And my friend and I had a great evening chatting about it and having fun by the seaside :)

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.” 

― Roald Dahl

The old pier in Brighton

The new pier

Everything happens for a reason...

I've always thought that I want to live life to regret the things I have done rather than regret what I haven't.

Until now, I thought I had lived by this quite well! I have always been motivated to try to succeed in what I do and strived to get to where I want to be. I will try never to miss an opportunity, even if it just ends up turning into a memorable experience. 

There's times in life where the path you are walking on splits into two. Sometimes you make the right choice, sometimes you don't. And it may not be until later that you wonder what life would have been like walking down the other path. I still wonder a lot where I would be if I'd taken my job opportunity path of being a cameraman, amongst other things. Strange as I tend to lead myself that way with my creative side. 

It's also interesting how an amazing experience makes your mind work in different ways. I've found that since going away and spending time by myself with my thoughts, in a beautiful place, which I have always been too scared to do before, has changed me and the way I think more than I ever imagined. 

I am now even more motivated to create new opportunities and experiences and am also thinking about opportunities and experiences which I have missed and I never even realised... until now. 

But I believe that everything happens for a reason. One of my favourite sayings is: "Everything happens for a reason, a season or a lifetime". 

I wonder about the things that I made bad decisions about or opportunities in which I didn't open the door wide enough... The past is the past and we must look forward but I've realised that there has been one thing which keeps appearing and disappearing which makes me feel something I haven't really felt before and I can't work out what it is... and also know that I shouldn't work out what it is right now... 

Anyway, enough of my random thoughts and philosophies, a few more days and we are off to China. My hectic life begins again and I intend to photograph it and make the most of being at a place in life that I wanted to be in. 

I have a day off so I'm going to go make the most of it :) Life can pass by like a merry-go-round. Catch every opportunity while you can. 

Have a good Easter! (And eat lots of chocolate!)

 Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.    Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

Another relevant quote:

“Sometimes, people can go missing right before our very eyes. Sometimes, people can discover you, even though they've been looking at you the entire time. Sometimes, we lose sight of ourselves when we're not paying enough attention.”

I found an interesting article on the internetz which I can relate to right now and have pasted it below should it be of any interest to you!

Everything Happens For A Reason


Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, to serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson, or to help you figure out who you are or who you want to become.


You never know who these people may be, your neighbor, your coworker, a long lost friend, or a complete stranger. When you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment they will affect your life in some profound way. 


Sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible, painful, and unfair at first, but in reflection you find that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential, strength, willpower, or heart. 


Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of good luck. 


Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness, and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. Without these small tests, whatever they may be, life would be like a smoothly paved,straight, flat road to nowhere. It would be safe and comfortable, but dull and utterly pointless. 


The people you meet who affect your life, and the success and downfalls you experience, help to create who you are and who you become. 


Even the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are probably the most poignant and important ones.


If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them, for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious when you open your heart. If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but because in a way, they are teaching you to love and how to open your heart and eyes to things. 


Make every day count. Appreciate every moment and take from those moments everything that you possibly can for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people that you have never talked to before, and actually listen.


Let yourself fall in love, break free, and set your sights high. Hold your head up because you have every right to. Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself, for if you don't believe in yourself, it will be hard for others to believe in you.


You can make of your life anything you wish. Create your own life and then go out and live it with absolutely no regrets. 


Most importantly if you Love someone tell him or her, for you never know what tomorrow may have in store. 
Learn a lesson in life each day that you live. That's the story of Life. 

Powers of the Internet

It's surprising, how much we rely on the internet these days. I look back at when I was 15 and my dad bought me my first Sony digital camera. It was pretty small for those days, but still a brick compared to what they are now. Although my choice of cameras has got even larger since then!
Then came my first mobile phone. Some of my friends could "SMS" each other but that option didn't seem to work on mine... no great loss.... THEN!

Then came a day when my friend Kirsty and I strolled past a random shop, just full of computers and a cafe. Wondering what it was, we went in and were sat in front of a computer. "So what do we do now?" we asked. We were shown IRC and chatted to random people around the world about nothing. A/S/L?
That's what I thought the internet was. A way of talking to random people. It was enough for me when I discovered my Amiga 500+ could speak what I typed!

I persuaded my dad to get me a computer so I could use the "Internet" to talk to people. It was a fun way of passing time, being an only child and liking fiddling with computery things. Here, I discovered Worlds Away. A virtual world where you could create a virtual person, a flat and buy things using computer money! The "Internet" was fun! :)

So, let's fast forward 17 years to now...  (Has it really been 17 years!!!....)
Everywhere you look, someone is on their mobile phone. Their mobile phone which is no longer just a phone, but a tool to communicate by text, pictures, look at the internet, watch TV, play games and used as a camera.

I have cousins in Japan who I only ever used to be able to talk to when I went out there, as to write a letter in Japanese would take me forever. Now that they have recently found Facebook, I can talk to them, they can see what i'm upto and I can look at their photos... How things have changed...

I look at what I have been doing for the past few hours... editing photos on some software on my laptop to make them look better, photos that I took less than 24 hours ago. Uploading them to Facebook and Flickr and to my blog. Already over 450 people, who I don't even know have viewed them. I have found links to my blog on other websites and photos of myself.... How strange the internet is...

I wonder what will be written in another 17 years, when someone is ridiculing the fact that we can only text, watch TV and use the internet on our phones... The question may be "What was the internet?"

Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road (Stewart Brand)

日本語の勉強・・・

こんにちは
英語が読めない人は下を多分読んでいないからもう一度日本語で自己紹介をさせていただきます！
私の名前はステファニーです。イギリスに住んでいますが、母が日本人で父がイギリス人です。イギリスで中学３年まで日本の学校で土曜日にお勉強をしていました。そのときは難しくてつらかったけど今はあの時お勉強をして良かったと思っています。
最近、全然日本語が使うチャンスがなくてだんだんともっともっと下手になってきてしまった・・・
数年前、ロンドンでの日本の銀行で働いていて、そこでビジネス日本語や警護をならい、やっぱりいつも使ってないと忘れてしまいます。また日本に遊びにいかないとなぁー！
さっき日本にいる従兄弟と久しぶりに話して最近のインタネットメジアはすごいなぁと思いました。小さいころは従兄弟に連絡するには電話や手紙を書くしかなかった。その私の下手な日本語で手紙を書くのが難しくて、なかなか合うまで連絡とっていなかった。今は日本にでもフェースブックがはやっているみたいでこのおかげでみんなと連絡をとれることができて嬉しいです。次のはやりは何になるのかなぁ！
去年久しぶりに仕事関係で日本にいけることができました。仕事で忙しかったけれども、夜にたまにレストランにいけて日本のおいしい食べ物が食べれて美味しかった！外国人の日本のイメージは日本ではみんなお寿司しか食べてないとの感じです。なので私の同僚はみんなレストランに行くのが怖くて毎日マクドナルドに行っていました！残念！せっかく美味しいものがいっぱいあるのに！私はセブンイレブンだけで嬉しいのに！イチゴアポロ、ジャガリコ、雪見大福、イカチーズなど毎日買い捲っていました！！！笑

Massages and little fishies...

I must be the only person in the world who doesn't get excited about massages. Massages from a loved one are different.... Im talking about massages by a masseur...
I find that I go, spend an hour looking uncomfortable and trying not to show that it's hurting me! Even the softest massages hurt me! Hmmm think I'll stick to finding a nice man with good hands in future :)

Now, have you seen all those fish spa things in shopping centres lately? There's one here, but it's a small lake.... Called Dr Fish.
I've walked past those fish spas in England and stood and watched, intrigued, but never been able to actually use one. I have a thing about fish. They're pretty, they're tasty, but they don't need to be touching me. I had trouble cleaning my tiny fish tank when I was younger. My mum must have loved me having pet fish....
I thought I'd try to be brave and try Dr Fish seeing as its staring me in the face and I really should give everything a go. I stood staring at the mini lake for quite a lot of minutes... wondering if the little fishies would hurt me... I took a small step in... The fish left me alone. Phew! Another step and a few inquisitive fish came to swim around me. This is ok, I thought, until one giant fish decided to swim into me (this little 5cm fish seemed like a massive tuna in my head) and I was out of the lake in a flash... Seems I won't be trying that out again!
Just to let you know, I did go back and think about trying to go in again, but thinking is as far as I got!! :)

The greatest failure is the failure to try (William Ward)

Time to reflect

I have just been in Langkawi for 5 days after the Malaysian GP with 2 lovely girlies. We spent the week chilling, chatting, seeing and eating! Had an awesome time away from it all and much needed! Photos to come after I get back home and have time to edit them!I am now in the Banjaran Retreat in Ipoh, Malaysia. I have never seen anywhere so amazing.I've never been one for spa days and relaxation... Spending time on my own in solitude. This has proved that this is exactly why I needed to do this!

The place is in the mountains with 25 villas. Each with a private pool and jacuzzi! The living space is so relaxing and as it is half outside half inside, you are always in the open! Even the Geckos I found in my room didn't scare me surprisingly! Today I have had Reiki in which I was told I needed more Apple green around me. Funny as the word apple has cropped up in my life a lot recently! The reiki made me realise what I'm not doing and also how to start doing it. Being in this environment has helped me to work things out in my head and know what is important and what isn't. Working in a high pressure job can make your brain hurt.

A friend who I respect a lot who shall remain nameless..has recently told me how much I have changed in the past year. I can see that it is because I have let things get to me. I've become irrational and even more impatient and not grateful for what I have. So, thanks! You know I appreciate your words and your ability to make me smile :) Friends are also very important. I have some friends around me who probably know me better than I know myself sometimes. I appreciate each one of them and love them for who they are. Without them and this week to get my thoughts together I was falling apart! There's been a few who have had their ears constantly moaned at by me or their inboxes filled! You're all amazing :)

After Reiki, I had a personal yoga session so have learnt that as well as meditation and then an anti oxidant treatment basically shut in a hot room for 40 minutes. My inability to sit still and be quiet made this quite difficult so I started over thinking and stressing again but I've learnt how to cancel this out now! Just jump in the jacuzzi :) heheIf anyone ever wants to get away or just have some time to themselves or even a couples romantic holiday, I'd highly recommend this place! Theres natural hot spring water pools outside, meditation caves, swimming pool, wellness centre, and the scenery is amazing. Again, I'll post some pics when I'm home and can download them!Just chilling in my villa has totally chilled me out and I feel like a new person. I've never heard thunder like I have here though! I thought the mountains were crashing down!!!! Anyway I'm getting back to chilling...

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are (Anais Nin)

How did it get to 2012?

Hello I'm Stephanie. I'm writing this blog mainly for myself, to record my experiences in words and photos. Will tell you a bit about myself so you know who I am!

 Firstly I am half Japanese and half English, lived in UK all my life and speak, read and write both languages. When in England no one can really place where I'm from and in Japan it's the same. Hawaiian, American? No, just stuck in between 2 cultures... I grew up wanting to be a spaceman, or woman should I say. Then an inventor, a writer, a dancer, singer, actress and a photographer. None of which is where I am now! I change my mind easily, I am impatient.... I want too much from life but don't do enough to fulfil it!
I left college wanting to be a graphic designer but due to not having any art qualifications no one would accept me. I took a year out instead and worked in a clothes shop.
Before I became a full time bum, I went to Uni to study information systems and design. The biggest thing Uni taught me was that life experience is the best experience you can have. I don't remember anything I learnt at Uni. I got into debt, had fun and met a great friend. She found me on day one thinking I was different. Like me, she obviously didn't want to conform to the norm.
I graduated from Uni and had 2 job interviews. One with a an extreme sports filming company as a cameraman/editor. The second with a Japanese bank in the city. I chose the boring option. I wonder what my life would be like now if I'd gone the other way.... I was with a bilingual agency and told them I wanted an interesting job! A bank..... Really?! I travelled Europe for 2 years promoting and training the internet banking software and improving my Japanese until the agency rang me again with an "interesting" job, involving travel. Yay! It was with an F1 team. My dad used to take me to Goodwood, Brands Hatch and Silverstone to watch V8's and bikes so I was quite excited. I started there in 2006 and decided that my goal was to eventually be part of the race team. This proved to be difficult. There were no females on the race team unless you are in hospitality or marketing and I didn't want to do that. I wanted to play with gadgets, computers and other geeky stuff! It seemed to be a "mans world" which made me even more determined to get there somehow.... 2 years later I wasn't getting any further although my inexperience was now turning into knowledge. There was talk of us relocating 2 hours away as the team were pulling out of F1 and being taken over. At this time someone I worked with gave me a newspaper cutting of an IT job at another team. I got the job and started in 2009. I worked on the help desk supporting all the companies under the umbrella company, each appraisal mentioning that I wanted to go racing! Still getting nowhere...

I missed being creative so at this point took up photography. I bought a 2nd hand Nikon D50 off the intranet and started taking photos of everything and anything I could find. Annoying everyone around me with a camera in their face. Although I don't like taking posed photos. I like the animosity of taking a photo of unawareness and capturing an interesting image of a usually boring setting. I then dropped my camera... Luckily my friend was selling his D300 so I bought that and was off again. I started working in my spare time for a fashion photographer as her assistant. She taught me a lot and it was fun learning how a photographer worked. She tried to persuade me to quit my job and go full time but I didn't have the financial backing to take a step back right then... I then decided one day I would but I needed to start saving. Save money while you can so you can do what you want, when you want. My mum always told me that. I didn't listen. Mums are always right.

In Jan 2011 I was asked if I wanted to go testing. I thought I could do this for a few years, get experienced and then eventually make it on the race team! So I shadowed my patient colleague for a month and then we were back in the office. Testing wasn't as easy as it looked. Long hours, lack of sleep, lots of responsibility and having to get off a plane and going to work. I was knackered! Back at the office I was pulled into a meeting room and asked what I was doing for the next month. They needed someone to learn the race team job should the race team guy leave. I then found myself learning the garage setup in Spain and then flying to Monaco with 4 others to set up ready for the rest of the race team to do the GP in Spain and come over. Canada.... And the. I found myself taking over and alone in Silverstone. Due to it all being so quick, I was unaware of how much I didn't know. Therefore wasn't as scared as I was a few races in when I realised what I was doing and where I was!

Looking back, I don't know how I got through it!! I know it looks like IT just rock up, plug in a network cable, turn a few things on and off and everything magically works just like your USB wireless router at home. It's a little more complicated than that! I wish it was as simple! Would make my life easier! The amount of data, software, hardware and user issues is far more than I expected! So at 30 I managed to get to where I wanted to be. I paid off my debts and saw a lot of countries! Albeit with work. I am still learning every day, there's always new things to research or finding ways to make things better as well as the usual problems! But in this environment, if there's a problem it needs to solved... yesterday...
It can be quite hard because being in IT everyone relies on you without realising. You don't get any time to yourself and 5 people can have a problem at once and all be asking for your help, each and every problem as important to them as the other. Patience and multitasking is key in this game! With any IT no one really notices IT until something goes wrong so it looks like we are never doing anything. Believe me, in the background there's a lot going on which may not be obvious!

Now I'm 31 and it's 2012... This year has already proved to be a difficult one. Testing for 4 weeks and then straight to Oz and Malaysia took its toll on me. I had lots to think about and a lot of negativity. So now I'm taking a time out before China and getting my head together ready for China and the rest of 2012!
Let's see where this journey goes!

I may not have gone where I intended to go but I think I have ended up where I needed to be (Douglas Adams)

Me on a private beach in Langkawi