I'm sitting right now at the most eye catching and popular eating spots in Preston although one, I admit, I do not frequent enough. and that would be Noodle Kingdom in Preston after a long afternoon of sitting in the library and trying to write (and I admit failing dismally and resorting to reading a 2 year old, torn copy of girlfriend magazine that was mildly entertain with side servings of offensive) as the library shut I realised that I should probably eat something, as I was really really hungry. So Noodle Kingdom popped into my head, and now greatufully into my belly.
Noodle kingdom, as the title suggests is an Asian restaurant specialising in noodles and dumplings. That has become popular for just that. and a few other things, the reason why it seemed most attractive to me and my rumbling belly was the meal size, for 8.50 I got a massive bowl of pork dumplings, noodles and chinse broccoli in a delicious broth. Om nom nom, that is great for my tummy, tastebuds and wallet. For students out there who can only afford to eat every couple of days but eating migorang instant noodles are starting to adversely affect your health, the I would highly recommend it.
The drinks are not bad either, but they seem to be on the more expensive side and they don’t offer coconut juice. I thought that was a bit odd.
But this place is not just for the desperately hungry who are desperately poor. Noodle Kingdom has gotten some really good write ups from some harsh critics, although I do not remember any names as this place opened a fair while ago now, and was reviewed a while back too. So, if you love your noodles... and especially dumplings or know someone who does, I would highly recommend noodle kingdom.
I must say, as many others have said before me, the customer service is a bit of a mess. They seat you as fast as possible, take your order as fast as possible and ignore you as much as possible. They do all of the things that i was taught not to do when I was a waitress. But they haven’t tried to shoo me out as of yet, and they seem quite laid back, Although this is mid-afternoon on a Saturday and during peak times such as Friday night they have a queue that goes out onto high street, noticeably so.
Overall
Food: 5 stars, the food can't get much better!
Value: 5 stars, So much food... for so little money!
Service: 2 stars, don't even bother asking what they recommend, just pick something before they lose interest.
Presentation
Menu, disorganized and poor English translations, 3 stars
Restaurant, over the top, trying for sophisticated, nothing special, 3 stars
Food, nice and simple plating, tried and tested, 4 stars
FINAL SCORE: 4 stars, lost one star for service and average presentation.
Insider tips:
Don’t be shy, stare down the wait staff, shout out for help. Or you might not even get served
When it is busy, it is busy. Try going there on more offpeak times. (ie. not Friday nights)
On your first few visits, minimum, go with a friend and share one dish, this is honestly how big the servings are.
After a few visits you might find that special dish that you can eat all by yourself, as with many foods, some can be too rich or spicy for your tastes. To use this over use cliché, think of all the starving children, don’t waste food or money by ordering what you can’t eat.
I haven’t seen a single person eat with a fork, I don't even know if they have any,
¬
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
How I write
So, I have started whiting again, and I am very happy that I am doing so. I said to @londonjustin that I would try his method of planning, what compares planning a novel to the process of producing a computer program. L So I try his method, to be fair I was trying to write a plan as quickly as possible (or maybe that is the true test) so I started planning. One of the things I realised latter is that his plan from what sticks in my memory, Maybe Justin would disagree, but it can be summed up to me as, write the ending and or purpose for your novel, (to inform, tell a particular story, push a moral)to explain the characters, then to form a plot with a focus on the later stages of re-writing and editing.
My normal method of planning is slightly different (though I have only planned one fictional piece) and this plan consists of allowing the thought, it might be a character or a theme to bounce around my head for a day or so. and then to open up my laptop and write 3 pages, a figure though in my last plan turned out to equate to a figure closer to 100 000 words (although I still have not finished the first draft) when I was aiming for something closer 50k (before editing, expanding of detail etc.) But a true plan for me, I can only imagine being 3 pages, typed or handwritten, I do prefer typing thou. Once I have allowed the main ideas to bounce around in my head and I have a plan written out I then start to write. As I made my NaNoWriMo attempt last year I started to discover tactics to write efficiently, the most important being:
Setting goals/word counts: When I am using my preferred (non-write-or-die) program, Q10 (a free download) I set a daily goal (1667 words minimum for Nano) a mini-goal usually something that would result in a self-indulgence, such as a break, chocolate, coffee, tea, lollies, a new lip balm. Pretty much everything I bought for myself last November would be a prize for reaching a certain word count. This towards the beginning of Nano was 500 words, and this tends to be my usual goal (though in retrospect I would have made the goal closer to 1000 for the first week of Nano) this then dropped to 250 as the month wore on, eventually wearing down to 100 words as I tired, became sick and so on, as many Nano writers will ditto. These goals, even when not rewarded reminded me of how much I had done, and served as markers that I had written a decent amount. As someone who gains great pleasure in watching numbers increase this was a very effective technique, also having a word count for how much I had written that day, that session and overall that month. Especially how Q10 translates your overall goal into a percentage is very comforting, did you know that 500words is 1% of 50K! Tiny as it sounds, especially earlier in the month (and I would probably write more now in a Nano like situation) I would write 3000 words, 6% of my Nano goal. And to me this very much felt like an accomplishment!
Prizes: I mentioned prizes before, and incentives for writing can be very effective, prizes don't necessarily have to be especially bought, though that can help. a visit to the supermarket with the aim of buying excessive amounts of confectionary (something I believe you can claim on tax if you are a published writer who gains a profit from writing!) just for you can be an inspiring exercise, that also can help control your sugar intake and make it seem precious rather than a given. But also crude things such as "I won’t have a shower this morning if I don’t write 2000 words" or "I won’t have necessities break until I write another 500 words" just little things like that can keep me writing.
Environment: Environment is very important to my writing; I can’t have anyone I know around me. Even if they are in another room i find it hard to settle down with the sounds of movement, or TV in another room. So getting up early and staying up late was a necessity for a lot of my writing. Also going to the library or a cafe when no one I knew was there was an important factor; also I had to have dedicated writing spaces to get a lot of work done. When I went I go to the library to write I have a process. There are 2 libraries that I frequent, at one I can easily crash in a bean bag and write, at the other I sit at a desk in a certain spot, because at the library where I avoid the bean bag, I have gone there many times with friends and chatted and mucked around, some of the time sharing a bean bag, So i find that memory a distraction. I also managed to clear enough space for a card table at the bungalow at the back of my house, and there is a powerpoint there too so I could sit for hours singing angst punk rock songs and eating chocolate as I wrote without fear of being embarrassingly interrupted, and the humidicots, and other sciency equipment there from when My dad did orchid flasks is a really cool place to write... although slightly terrifying! I know that if I went there with a friend and just sat around, that it would be harder to work there.
Word wars: Many lunch times I sat with one of My Nano buddies and we wrote for about 45min of our lunch break, sitting side by side and peeking at the other's word count. Also we battled it out once via txt message one evening. Now with my recent purchase of "write or die" and the wonderful writers I have met though twitter. Word wars seem to be even more accessible and as I get more into writing again, most likely a very helpful community of peers to bounce Ideas off.
Word processor: I wrote the beginning of my Nano using word, big mistake, the red and green squiggly lines (I know they can be turned off) slowed down my writing immensely. Also the desire to format, I would recommend notepad, q10, write or die, anything that *does not* have spell check or formatting options. Editing I have found should be put as far away from writing as possible.
Make sure you have meds: If you suffer a chronic condition, stress gives you headaches, makes you more prone to get sick, have allergies make sure you have plenty of your drugs of choice. Aspirin is a necessity in my writing kit as I suffer from migraines especially when I’m stressed or tired. And I keep lemsip close for another signs on illness. I try my best to identify when I am feeling crook, so I can take necessary action, a break, sleep if I have the time, or meds. A migraine can knock me out for a day if am not careful but awareness plus knowledge of things I can do to help, kept me writing with minimal disruption from my body.
So those are a few of my writing tactics, overall, and I think this next thing applies to everyone, I think the most important tactic is Identifying your own personal strengths and weaknesses and using them to formulate tactics to help you write is a must, plan, even if you disregard it, the worst that could happen is you lose a few hours of your life, and back to Justin’s planning method, I think its great overall, and I am definitely going to use it for my essay planning. For fiction though, I don't think its right for me. I highly recommend you try it though, especially if you are a writer who also has knowledge of programing, as many I know surprisingly do!
My normal method of planning is slightly different (though I have only planned one fictional piece) and this plan consists of allowing the thought, it might be a character or a theme to bounce around my head for a day or so. and then to open up my laptop and write 3 pages, a figure though in my last plan turned out to equate to a figure closer to 100 000 words (although I still have not finished the first draft) when I was aiming for something closer 50k (before editing, expanding of detail etc.) But a true plan for me, I can only imagine being 3 pages, typed or handwritten, I do prefer typing thou. Once I have allowed the main ideas to bounce around in my head and I have a plan written out I then start to write. As I made my NaNoWriMo attempt last year I started to discover tactics to write efficiently, the most important being:
Setting goals/word counts: When I am using my preferred (non-write-or-die) program, Q10 (a free download) I set a daily goal (1667 words minimum for Nano) a mini-goal usually something that would result in a self-indulgence, such as a break, chocolate, coffee, tea, lollies, a new lip balm. Pretty much everything I bought for myself last November would be a prize for reaching a certain word count. This towards the beginning of Nano was 500 words, and this tends to be my usual goal (though in retrospect I would have made the goal closer to 1000 for the first week of Nano) this then dropped to 250 as the month wore on, eventually wearing down to 100 words as I tired, became sick and so on, as many Nano writers will ditto. These goals, even when not rewarded reminded me of how much I had done, and served as markers that I had written a decent amount. As someone who gains great pleasure in watching numbers increase this was a very effective technique, also having a word count for how much I had written that day, that session and overall that month. Especially how Q10 translates your overall goal into a percentage is very comforting, did you know that 500words is 1% of 50K! Tiny as it sounds, especially earlier in the month (and I would probably write more now in a Nano like situation) I would write 3000 words, 6% of my Nano goal. And to me this very much felt like an accomplishment!
Prizes: I mentioned prizes before, and incentives for writing can be very effective, prizes don't necessarily have to be especially bought, though that can help. a visit to the supermarket with the aim of buying excessive amounts of confectionary (something I believe you can claim on tax if you are a published writer who gains a profit from writing!) just for you can be an inspiring exercise, that also can help control your sugar intake and make it seem precious rather than a given. But also crude things such as "I won’t have a shower this morning if I don’t write 2000 words" or "I won’t have necessities break until I write another 500 words" just little things like that can keep me writing.
Environment: Environment is very important to my writing; I can’t have anyone I know around me. Even if they are in another room i find it hard to settle down with the sounds of movement, or TV in another room. So getting up early and staying up late was a necessity for a lot of my writing. Also going to the library or a cafe when no one I knew was there was an important factor; also I had to have dedicated writing spaces to get a lot of work done. When I went I go to the library to write I have a process. There are 2 libraries that I frequent, at one I can easily crash in a bean bag and write, at the other I sit at a desk in a certain spot, because at the library where I avoid the bean bag, I have gone there many times with friends and chatted and mucked around, some of the time sharing a bean bag, So i find that memory a distraction. I also managed to clear enough space for a card table at the bungalow at the back of my house, and there is a powerpoint there too so I could sit for hours singing angst punk rock songs and eating chocolate as I wrote without fear of being embarrassingly interrupted, and the humidicots, and other sciency equipment there from when My dad did orchid flasks is a really cool place to write... although slightly terrifying! I know that if I went there with a friend and just sat around, that it would be harder to work there.
Word wars: Many lunch times I sat with one of My Nano buddies and we wrote for about 45min of our lunch break, sitting side by side and peeking at the other's word count. Also we battled it out once via txt message one evening. Now with my recent purchase of "write or die" and the wonderful writers I have met though twitter. Word wars seem to be even more accessible and as I get more into writing again, most likely a very helpful community of peers to bounce Ideas off.
Word processor: I wrote the beginning of my Nano using word, big mistake, the red and green squiggly lines (I know they can be turned off) slowed down my writing immensely. Also the desire to format, I would recommend notepad, q10, write or die, anything that *does not* have spell check or formatting options. Editing I have found should be put as far away from writing as possible.
Make sure you have meds: If you suffer a chronic condition, stress gives you headaches, makes you more prone to get sick, have allergies make sure you have plenty of your drugs of choice. Aspirin is a necessity in my writing kit as I suffer from migraines especially when I’m stressed or tired. And I keep lemsip close for another signs on illness. I try my best to identify when I am feeling crook, so I can take necessary action, a break, sleep if I have the time, or meds. A migraine can knock me out for a day if am not careful but awareness plus knowledge of things I can do to help, kept me writing with minimal disruption from my body.
So those are a few of my writing tactics, overall, and I think this next thing applies to everyone, I think the most important tactic is Identifying your own personal strengths and weaknesses and using them to formulate tactics to help you write is a must, plan, even if you disregard it, the worst that could happen is you lose a few hours of your life, and back to Justin’s planning method, I think its great overall, and I am definitely going to use it for my essay planning. For fiction though, I don't think its right for me. I highly recommend you try it though, especially if you are a writer who also has knowledge of programing, as many I know surprisingly do!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Moving schools
As people who frequent my blog know, I don't like my school, it is inflexible, backward and unsupportive of individuals, who have individual needs for their individual plans after they leave school.
The schools hardware although now upto date due to a number of grants from the government, are so slow, mostly because of the immense amount of restrictions and internet filtering, making the machines harder to use than my four year old laptop.
Though the one perk is that when I am supporting my peers and teachers in navigating the vast world of ict, it makes things simple "how do I zip a file?" You can't "how do I view the size of this file?" You can't "how can I hack the system" soo many ways my friends.
Though even in all my anger I, have only used common sense and work arounds. Limited as they may be, to attempt to get some work done.
I am also stuck for 3 periods a week with a bunch of dudes. Who, to overly simplify, would rather be on a construction site than sit and do nothing (vet, tafe courses as a part of vce, I do creative industries cert. II.) Yet on Wednesday my classes go til 5pm and I'm lucky to eat as I spend my lunch hour getting to my course. I get no spare study periods.
Also I have to sit for 25 minutes most Tuesdays and try to fill out a booklet about how I should study/feel about my existence or listen to a co-ord tell me that using highlighters is not a study technique (as moat visual learners will concur... WRONG) and spending my time napping through classes that I really don't want to take; my school doesnt offer the ones that I do want to take.
So after cracking it last friday, after getting 3 migraines in 2 weeks. I am now moving schools, as Twitter knows.
I was accepted into swinburne senior secondary. I have my timetable and next year I will take software development and possibly cert. II in infotech. Wednesday has no timetabled classes except for vet that I do closer to home and I get spares, I don't know where there ict is at and I do have to commute for 3 hours a day, leave my friends behind and they're are no promises that it will be brilliant. It has to be better than where I'm at now.
20th of june, will start a new chapter.
The schools hardware although now upto date due to a number of grants from the government, are so slow, mostly because of the immense amount of restrictions and internet filtering, making the machines harder to use than my four year old laptop.
Though the one perk is that when I am supporting my peers and teachers in navigating the vast world of ict, it makes things simple "how do I zip a file?" You can't "how do I view the size of this file?" You can't "how can I hack the system" soo many ways my friends.
Though even in all my anger I, have only used common sense and work arounds. Limited as they may be, to attempt to get some work done.
I am also stuck for 3 periods a week with a bunch of dudes. Who, to overly simplify, would rather be on a construction site than sit and do nothing (vet, tafe courses as a part of vce, I do creative industries cert. II.) Yet on Wednesday my classes go til 5pm and I'm lucky to eat as I spend my lunch hour getting to my course. I get no spare study periods.
Also I have to sit for 25 minutes most Tuesdays and try to fill out a booklet about how I should study/feel about my existence or listen to a co-ord tell me that using highlighters is not a study technique (as moat visual learners will concur... WRONG) and spending my time napping through classes that I really don't want to take; my school doesnt offer the ones that I do want to take.
So after cracking it last friday, after getting 3 migraines in 2 weeks. I am now moving schools, as Twitter knows.
I was accepted into swinburne senior secondary. I have my timetable and next year I will take software development and possibly cert. II in infotech. Wednesday has no timetabled classes except for vet that I do closer to home and I get spares, I don't know where there ict is at and I do have to commute for 3 hours a day, leave my friends behind and they're are no promises that it will be brilliant. It has to be better than where I'm at now.
20th of june, will start a new chapter.
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