Games Women Play

No, not those games! I mean computer games, video games, cash games, skill games.. Entertainment online basically. I have started a new little life task as well as a new little blog about my work and my interest in gaming, Games Women Play .

The aim is to provide an insight into my life and work in the world of gambling, while at the same time provide a platform for me to discuss trends and developments in the industry and especially when it comes to women and their gaming habits.

I am hoping this will provide me with a channel to air my thoughts but also to bring more attention to women in gaming and women who play games. I hope you enjoy it! :)

I fly like paper get high like planes

I should really make this into a travel blog instead of an ambitious blog about my goals in life since I dont seem to be making much progress with them, but I do keep clocking up airmile and hotel points. I am already on my mmpteenth trip with work this month, currently lying on the bed eating macaroons in my hotelroom in Amsterdam.

During this month I have already been to Brussels, Stockholm, Helsinki, Brussels, Antwerp, Tilburg and Amsterdam, where I will be for the next 5 days still.. Next month I am doing Brussels and Antwerp again, followed by Malta for three days and then Paris for two days after a short weekend break back in London. After careful consideration I am leaving out Algarve because I just dont have the energy. I never though I would say this, but too much travelling is too much travelling.

Thankfully on the 20th May I am off to Cuba on a holiday. Yes, its another trip but at least this time its my trip where I will decide everything; what I do, where I go, who I see! And I get to do it with my lovely friend C! Bringing back the fun in travelling!

During my travels this year I have realised that you just have to focus on the small pleasures that also business travel can bring you. For example those fabulous macaroons I mentioned earlier, but also the practicalisites, such as a fabulous travel agency. Personally, I am now oficially in love with mine; Mr and Mrs Smith..

They sort out my hotels, flights and any other arrangement immediately and throw in all kinds of fantastic extras to make my travelling just that tiny bit nicer. And it sure is working!

Another small joy that I have found for my travels are the Moleskine city guidebooks that you can write yourself! I love dotting down all the things I find on around the various cities during my adventures, only to be able to later on have the memories collected between the black covers..

I guess I should add something travel related to my goals this year, but I actually think I will just see them as a nice added bonus. Although they are keeping me from completing my oficially set goals. But at least I get air miles..

The conversion from on1 to on2

I didnt really realise this but apparently there really is such a thing as too much salsa.. I feel completely whiped out after the weekend of the Stars of Salsa Congress here in London, but its been great fun and I got to meet Ania Chagowska, one of my favourite teachers of ladies styling. I really like her style, energy and flow of the movements.

So, I am working on my first promise to myself, Im getting into the salsa community here, Im getting to know other dancers (and Im avoiding dating them...) and I am learning new stuff!! I did a conversion course yesterday from on1 to on2 and it was sooo much fun! Unfortunately I did a stupid mistake and chose to go to a partnerwork on1 class instead of the partnerwork on2 class after that, and it was NOT at all as much fun. Damn.. But at least I got the basics of on2 more or less sorted now. All I need to do now is practice, practice, practice..

Today is the last evening of the congress, I didnt manage to go out yesterday, so heading out tonight instead! Wohoo! It will be great, even if I am a bit exhausted still, but I can always "rest at work" since there I will just be sitting down in front of the computer all day long.

Next weekend will be a resting weekend and then after that its the Amsterdam Salsa Festival! And fortunately I will be in Amsterdam during that weekend and will be able to attend at least the parties! How fabulously fabulous!

While over there I am also considering extending my dance related tattoo on my left hip a bit since the fantastic artist who did the cherry flowers on my right breast lives there. I want him to enlarge it with a few other decorative ornaments that will further express my love for dance and add some colour to that part of my body..

But now its time for a Sunday coffee in town at the Nordic Bakery, and then more salsa in the evening at SOS! I gotta practive my dancing on2 and the ladies styling.. And then look into how I can work on my other two goals..

Living in Londres

Vulgar Fractions - A vulgar fraction is one based on ordinary or everyday arithmetic as opposed to decimal fractions. It refers specifically to one in which two whole numbers (the numerator and denominator) are placed above and below a horizontal line, where neither part can be zero. Americans also know vulgar fractions as common fractions.

Vulgar comes from the Latin adjective vulgaris that derives from vulgus, the common people. This is also the origin of Vulgate, the Latin version of the Bible, which comes from the closely related vulgata, meaning “for the public” (it was so, when it was written, in the fourth century AD).

Vulgar turned up first in English in the fourteenth century and then referred to something that was in common or general use or something customary or done as a matter of everyday practice.

And this is exactly what this blog is.. Common.. With the numerator larger than the denominator, never equal to zero and with a preference of using a horizontal line to using a diagonal line.

I wish I would have started this blog earlier, just like I wish I would have kept writing my diary during my years in Barcelona, or how I wish I would have taken more photographs from my years in Scotland and in Spain. Now all I have to remember those times by are my essays that I wrote and that survived the move, photos taken by other people, and hazy memories of people, places and a few scars that insist on hanging around.

To make the aim of my blog a bit clearer for myself, I have decided to make myself a promise.. But before that I better give some background to this..

I have lived in London since Halloween 2006.. An incredible two years already. The first year was interesting from a work point of view, but tragic from a social point of view. I barely survived the first winter, using up most of my sunshine storage from my years in Barcelona in order to survive, but was hence left with no energy or lust of life at all for the second winter. Never before had I realised how prone to depression I was, and how much my creative side was suffering from living on the "Island of teadrinkers" and "South of the River"..

My life companion at the moment is my hot water bottle. My creative outlet is Facebook. Hmmm..

But this Autumn things changed. I decided to channel my hyperactivity into salsa again (and not store it all in my tummy,bum and hips) and my love for all things Spanish, Latinamerican and above all my love for dancing. It started with a a normal cross body, continued with a double spin, moved on to triple spins, encouraged styling and plantadas... And suddenly a whole new world was starting to open up to me. I was back on the pista, and was starting to find "my people" in London.

Today I am really happy about living in London. Ironically enough, my London is a salsa dancing, Spanish speaking oasis with Latinos, Spaniards, Salseros.. I guess I dont really live in London anymore, but Londres.

Anyways, with my newfound passion for Salsa, I have been spending at least three four nights a week on the pista. Improving my kick-ass moves, learning new things and of course, just Strutting My Stuff in general!

Salsa is my watershed. With every dance I do, or move I learn, I get even more excited about my other interests as well. And about balancing life and work. I am starting to rebalance things, taking time from my excessive work hours and putting it into the dancing.. Into my photography.. Into designing my skateboards.. And in general into looking at my life and what I want to do with it.

Hence my promise to myself and to this blog.. This blog will be a testament to the final part of my stay in Londres, but especially a dedication to my dancing, my photography and my skateboard painting/designing.

Before I leave London I want to:

- Get to know the salsa community properly over here, I want to have found a great teacher and improved my dancing while getting to know lots of new dancers.

- I want to create a portfolio of my photographs, focussing on the following areas: BMX/Skate, Dancing, Urban Landscape, Photoshopping images and with the goal of publishing a photograph in a magazine, a digital magazine or somewhere public.

- I want to do an exhibition of my skateboards in a random small gallery/bar accompanied by my photographs.

So there.. These are my three pillars, or should I say three fractions for this blog and for the next months/year(s?) in Londres.. I will document my struggles and victories here to encourage myself and share the experiences with friends who sadly cannot always be close to me and share the everyday tears and laughs, however common they are. I will aim to every week move closer to one of the abovementioned goals until I can tick them off as accomplished. And just like my favourite mathematical concept, I will try to keep the fraction as vulgar as possible, always common and heavy on the top!