Room for Rent in London!

ROOM FOR RENT IN CENTRAL LONDON
(Real near UCL and some other UoL schools, and within walking distance to LSE!)

I have a room for rent at:
MIC Student Accommodation
81-103 Euston Street, London, NW1 2EZ

NOTE: For females only!
Starting from now!

Its a double room in a catered hall (which is part of a hotel), near UCL and Euston Station. Location rocks, and the hall's qte awesome with nice hallmates.
There's a gym downstairs, and relatively large kitchen on my floor. You can also make use of the conference rooms downstairs when you want to have dinners/ parties. And the tv/ entertainment room has a pool table, wii and loads of DVDs lying around. There is also a study room if you prefer studying elsewhere. Of course, there is a laundrette!

More details about the hall available at: http://www.micentre.com/student/mic.html

Room-mate is very nice, from HK, quiet and considerate. Staff here are helpful and nice as well.

Rent's going at 130pounds per week (meals included!). Please feel free to contact me for viewing or more details! You can move in anytime starting from now. (Everything's negotiable!)


(Please help me spread the message to anyone who might be interested!)

Food, oh glorious food!

I'm supposed to be doing work but I have no idea why I am googling stuff like this.
But sometimes I wish that there were people in london who would go to places like this with me:

1. TGIF- http://www.tgifridays.co.uk/Take-2
- Ever since i had it in norway (i know we are not supposed to have having american in norway but still, i love it!). Its sucha good deal isnt it? Esp when I think that 1 meal deal would prbly serve 2 girls (even one with my appetite).

2. Madison's- http://www.lastminute.com/site/entertainment/restaurants/product.html?restaurantId=665-1&restaurants=1&CATID=101840&productId=395333617-1
Looks very goooood. Reviews for this are qte positive as well.

3. And of course all those 2for1s going on in GBK and Prezzo and Strada and Zizzi's abd ASK and Pizza Express! Arghhhhs.
(For those who dont know, you can print vouchers off studentbeans and moneysavingexperts. Applicable to places outside london as well for some of them!)

Now im wishing im skinny like Rae and rich like .... Paris Hilton? Hahah. I want food!
And im wishing my family is here with me :(

Cha Cha Cha!

I just got back from Beauty World- the Singaporean London students version. I have to say I was so impressed by the standard of the musical, it was so much better than what i had expected. It was definitely better than a lot of the student productions i have seen. Kudos to all the leads cos they really did blow me away with their singing and acting and dancing. Im amazed that these people have managed to put in all the time and effort for such a great production on top of the hectic school work.
And i have to say i love Beauty World's plot and tunes. (dick lee rocks as usual! though im not sure if they have re-adapted it from the original one cos i never had the chance to watch the original one.) It really does make me wish that i would be in a bittersweet love story like Ivy and Ah Hock. And what's worse than being single in singapore is being single in london, so rosemary shouldnt complain so much :o haha.

All in all, im so glad that Yush asked me along cos i would otherwise have not gone for it, and that would mean that i have missed sucha great production.

Now, im feeling all homesick all over again.



Dick Lee looks so different here. But still, Singaporean raps like this never fail to make me smile :)

Of Norway and Joe Hisaishi.

I havent been updating cos i've been away for a short trip with Dj and Erns in Norway for about 4days, 3 nights. Although we didnt manage to get much sights done but still it was an awesome trip, which explains why im thinking of going back there in late spring, early summer to see the fjords in a different light.

Norway's truly beautiful in everyway, the sights and smells and the people. Oh yes, the norwegians are so awesomely good looking i cant stop gushing about it. I hereby take back whatever i said about the angmohs not being able to look cute cos now i know that all the good looking ones have gone into hiding up North. On top of that, all the people that we have met (in Oslo especially) are so friendly and nice and i guess it helps that most of them know English (((: The only downside was the Oslo, or Norway in general, proved themselves to be one of the most expensive cities in the world. I reached a stage whereby I converted from kroners back to pounds to make things sound reasonably priced. If I were to convert it back to Sing dollars, i think I would just end up eating air and not taking any transport at all :x

The trip was really relaxing, one which we spent alot of time eating and sleeping (there was one day whereby we woke up at 12pm) and even had time to watch a movie in hostel (Stuck on You!, which was really an awesome show.).
I shall post up the photos and talk more about the trip when Dj and Erns put them up cos i didnt have my camera with me.

Anyway, this is currently my favourite tune after Prisc rekindled my love for Joe Hisaishi:



(Prisc do you have this song, please send it to me!)

-

And i find this really quite hilarious (and ridiculous):
Ryanair May Charge Passengers to Use On-Board Toilet-
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=aSRnCg8YMWAQ&refer=home

Save Peish!

I have been feeling funny the whole of today- jittery, anxious and restless. And oh yes, i have been swinging from ends of extreme hunger to extreme bloatness. (1h ago i was so full i wanted to explode. Now my stomach is making sounds.) And Im tired mentally (hence, blogging.) and yet unable to sleep physically. Heart palpitations have been even more seriously today than ever and lack of sleep is not making me very tired. Diagnosis anyone? It's getting quite perplexing :(

Anyway, because Im bored with working on the past yr papers and also VERY bored with anat (of which i have done like a grand total of 10%, and i dont even know if its my head), i have been surfing BBC and Straitstimes interactive again. But.. Nothing very interesting these few days really :(

But speaking of which, Im glad that Singapore's finally tightening the control on the influx of foreign workers (Budget 09). Ive nothing against them really (although i dont sound it), but somehow, i feel that in the service industry, these people (esp from a certain country) tend to be ruder than our good ol' local aunties or uncles. It makes a huge deal of difference to a meal/ shopping experience okay (at least to me it does).

http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/sp/budget09/dont_shoot_the_cook_from_china.html
"Sure, Singaporeans complain routinely about being served by China workers who cannot speak English, or about how their laksa is now made by a cook from Shandong province and no longer tastes the same.

But will low-income Singaporeans take - and stick with - jobs that involve waiting on tables or slaving over a hot fire for hours? I am not sure how such jobs acquired a stigma here, but the years of plenty could have led people to associate serving with foreigners from developing countries."

Actually i think the best food in Singapore are made by locals, and i dont think they are ashamed to be hawkers. Why make us sound so atas? I dont think everyone looks down on servers and cleaners (the problem lies with those that do).
But seriously, even then, cant we be slightly more strict about hiring staffs with some decent attitude?
And note, once again, i have nothing against the people from the abv-mentioned country (just those with bad attitudes), afterall, where i am now, they are possibly considered by the angmohs to be cooler than me.

Okay, maybe its time to get back to work. And i realise that my state of mind when blogging is completely random (just like this line). I just ramble on whenever a new topic comes to mind. Much less the completely irrelevant title.

(PS. Peish is very sad coldplay would be in Singapore on March 23, but she is still stuck here. 2nd concert she is missing out!)

xxx

Mika's New Music!

Green and Black's Chocolate Ice Cream.
I normally dont like chocolate but somehow something got into me and I got this ytd, and although it was good (chocolate lovers are so gonna love it), i finished 1 small tub alone and then felt so sick after that.

GBK
I went out randomly after class ytd (despite the looming exams) for some burgers at this burger joint, which serves awesome stuff. (http://www.gbkinfo.com/)
Been there a couple of times, heard that their beef's awesome, but i cant have it. So i have tried their vege stuff (Mushroom and Camembert is kickass), and chicken (cranberry's good).
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/cheap-restaurant-deals
--> And this is the real reason why you should head down there today (or tmr). Offer ends on thursday :(

Bad choice though, felt wayy to stuffed and sick after BOTH of the abv and went to bed with a headache.
As expected, was bad sleep.

But....

MIKA!
For people who appreciate good music, awesome voice and cute face all in one:

Mika is coming up with new works! Im excited. Hoping that he would have a tour up real soon as well!

The things people say.

Referring to the previous post, i meat 399 Kroners :( And thats for 1 ticket only okayy. (I was supposed to book for everyone.) Either way, I should get over it already.

Anw, i have no idea what I am doing at 3.30am reading stuff like this, but these are funny:

1. The World's Shortest Man
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_337950.html

'My dream is to continue to hold the world title of smallest man,' Mr He said.
He said one chicken nugget was enough to fill him for the day, although he said he can eat up to a bowl of hot noodle soup when he's feeling particularly hungry.

2. 13 Year Old Becomes a Father
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_337952.html

'When my mum found out, I thought I was going to get in trouble,' Alfie said. 'We wanted to have the baby but were worried how people would react,”
'I didn't know what it would be like to be a dad. I will be good, though, and care for it.

Seriously, the things people say.
Well, but still, its entertaining (: We need stuff like this in the world to spice it up a little.

DAMNNNNN.

I just sworeeee. (Prisc was shocked to hear me say it.)

All cos of this stupid mistake i made while booking trains from Oslo to Bergen online.
Dumbass me just booked 26th March instead of FEB, and cos its a "student" ticket its not refundable nor exchangeable. Meaning that I just wasted 288Kroners :(

And good news, Prisc is visiting in June ((:
Now this is exciting!

Peish's 25.

1. I love green.
2. I dyed my hair olive green, but no one can tell. It looks brown. Im waiting for it to fade so I can put in another colour.
3. I like green food. Like Pandan cake, Green Tea Pocky and Green Tea Mochi!
4. I love coffee. If it wasn’t bad, I would have 5 cups a day.
5. I like taking showers, and if it didn’t make my skin so dry, I wont limit myself to 3 a day.
6. I tend to like things starting with H- Heroes, House, Harry Potter.
7. I love Pachelbel’s Cannon in D. Its been my favourite tune since … forever.
8. I hate chocolate, the milk ones especially.
9. I hate the cold. Bring on the hot sun anytime.
10. I would rather be tanned than fair.
11. I always wished I could fly or teleport so that I don’t have to wake up so early for school. And that’s also cos im don’t like plane rides.
12. I hate IT stuff. Im a technophobe (if there’s such a word).
13. I got a Mac cos stef told me that its for computer idiots who don’t know how to deal w viruses.
14. I haven’t updated my ipod for more than 1 yr.
15. I like oldies. Hence, no need for ipod updates.
16. I cant survive on less than 6hrs of sleep.
17. I have slept for more than 24h without waking up once before. I would have gone on if my friend hadn’t called me.
18. My nickname Peish came about when I forgot to write in the other part of my name in sec1. As to why JC friends and uni friends call me that too without me telling them, I have no idea.
19. Peish sounds like Peach in French (Peche). The angmohs find it easier to pronounce it than my name.
20. My dream was to visit all the Disneylands in the world before I turn 21. Seeing that it is not possible, now I hope to do it within my lifetime.
21. I have never gone clubbing before.
22. I believe in horoscopes and zodiac signs and lucky colours and charms.
23. I wish Australia has the same school holidays as UK ☹
24. I like people who make me laugh and I laugh the most when im with the losers. I also laugh at grape and may and hing and my yrmates and the councilors and many others whose feelings im too kind to hurt.
25. I want to go to the beach and watch the sunset and cycle. I want lily to then drive us to Maxwell to pig out after that. (hint)

-

I dont want feb intermodule tests to come up, someone tell me how is it possible to finish mugging in time!
And winter makes me sooo sleepy. I sleep for more than 8h and i still have to take naps.

Anyway, randomly today my cute little kids in Mandarin class started sticking to me. Omg, This is def what makes the long travel down worthwhile ((:

Ok back to books!

Snow Snow come again! Dont wait for another day!

The weekend is here finally :)
After a week of screwed up sleeping cycles, i finally have days whereby i can sleep at odd- ball hours legitimately. I have no idea why i can concentrate on stuffs at night, and no matter how early i sleep, i get so sleepy in the noon anyway. Which is why i kinda stopped trying Rae's healthy lifestyle plan of sleeping early and waking up early.

Anyway, according to some of my PDS group mates, it seems like it might just snow again on monday, hopefully it would be bad enough to have all our lessons cancelled hehe. I'm such a terrible (but normal) student. And im wishing this even though we will face the consequences in time to come when the make up lectures start piling up. But Carpe Diem, let us live the moment for now!

Im still torn as to whether I would go for HC night. I really would like to go, but there is that silly feb intermodule test coming up which is making me feel so miserable. And my 3k (or is it 3.5k) word dissection essay due the same week, cos i would be in norway when the project's due. And i think me and miche have officially abandoned our head. I dont even think i completely removed all the fascia over my parotid gland.

Randomly, I still have yet to solve the mystery of the delicious London Pandan cake. I got it from the shop that Jason said it was from, but it still doesnt taste as good as that night's. How come ah, unless he is not sharing his secret!

And the pound is now rising :(

Overdued Pictures.

Internet in MIC is finally up, after 2 very long and frustrating weeks!

And so here are some random pictures, others cant be bluetoothed from my phone for some strange reason :x

Lanterns in Chinatown. As with most Chinese, they have this mentality that more is better.


I particularly love that Yeo's sign. Yay to singaporean brands (:

Curry puff (the one on the left) and Part of our Nasi Lemak at Rasa Sayang. Im thinking they call it special curry puff cos the cant recreate the ones they have in Singapore.
The owner apparently owns Inn Noodle at Tot Court too (or so someone i met at SUKA's CNY dinner told me).
Food here is not bad, not fantastic though, but has quite a few Msian and Singaporean dishes. With real spice, not the brit level of spiceness.

I absolutely love this picture of Grape.
nAnd here she is looking quite happy with Nasi Lemak and "Curry Puff". But to be fair, the curry puff was qte good and relatively reasonably priced (by London standards at least). 3 for 3pounds.

At the CNY fair with Rae

Finally I see Mark and Pauline.

With Guotong.



More pictures would be up soon hopefully, now that my internet is working.
And now its time to fix dinner ((: I shall make tangyuan tonight too!

Love it that school's out (again) cos of the snow. Hoping that there would be a snow storm today again!

School's out!

Its official thats schools out 'cos of "adverse weather condition".
Yeahhh, its my first time have classes cancelled cos its snowing too heavily for lecturers to come to class and cos people having the keys to LTs are not around. Awesomeness! Im crossing my fingers that tuts would be cancelled too.
I actually hope tmr would be the same, and hopefully feb intermodule (would be perfect).

Its actually really beautiful outside now, cos everywhere is white and clean and the nights have become brighter cos the snow reflects light (right?), and its too cold for punksters to create a mess and the snow are just floating about gently in the skies.
My phones buzzing nonstop about lectures being cancelled, constantly reminding me of the good news, and im in a (relatively) warm room (wish it was warmer though, but heater's already up at max).

-

I know Stef's anti-blogishment, and hates it when people publish stuff about her, but I hope she wont mind it cos its meant to be a fundraising event.
They were involved in Jailbreak, which was a fundraising event in cambridge whereby participants travel as much as possible without any money, by getting donations or hitchhiking. They then get people to pledge donations depending on how far they travelled.

And here's Stef & Limin's Jailbreak story. (Copied from an email from Stef.)

Dear Friends,

It's been a long two days. Thanks to several kind souls, we have managed to escape from Cambridge:

Distance: 821 miles

Borders crossed: 5

Modes of transport: Car, Boat

Number of hitches: 6

Final Destination: Lodz (pronounced whooge), Poland

If you might be interested, here is our story.

Hitch 0 - we left Parkers Piece at 9am and camped out at Madingley road just after Northhampton with 2 signs - 'a lift please?' and 'for charity'. We attracted strange stares, smiles and pointing fingers. The best was a snazzy 2 seater silver BMW which stopped! The guy wound down his window, got our hopes up, and said 'are you going to Morocco?'. Alas, all that came next was 'good luck' and off he went.

Hitch 1 - a nice guy who heard about jailbreak on cambridge radio picked us up on madingley road and dropped us at the bus stop by the M11 junction.

Hitch 2 - kind cambridge resident saw jailbreakers on her way to M11 and thought us two girls looked 'harmless'. She dropped us at a roundabout about 10 miles away before exiting for her unique 'carpaint' manicure.

Hitch 3 - under the advice of manicure lady who used to hitchhike, we crossed the roundabout to a slip road where some trucks were parked. Trucks are really tall, and that's where signs come in handy. The driver invited us on board when we said we were heading south. Little did we know that he was actually heading to dover, which was our intended destination all along!

Our truckie worked for a delivery company and our truck was en route to Germany, carrying frozen air parts for Airbus. Truckies are friendly. We even found out the exact birth time and date of his nephew and his father. He must have told us more, but his accent was so thick that we got lost in it half the time. He was pretty decent, and even offered to bring us across the channel but trucks were not allowed to take passengers, lest they were illegal immigrants (which apparently flood the B&Bs in Dover). The only dodgy bit was the pictures of nude girls on his window. Hmmm...

Hitch 4 - Martin, our amazing benefactor. He drove us across 5 borders over 17 hours on 6 cans of red bull and about 1 hour of sleep [all this after a night shift at work!]. We met him at the port of Dover ticketing office, which was an uncanny coincidence as the place was nearly empty that Friday noon. We thought he was a frenchman going to France and he thought we were 2 'gorgeous china girls' just wanting to cross the border. Only after we got onto his car did we find out that he was a polish man working in england heading home to bring his family back here. He planned to drive there nonstop through the night, and welcomed us to tag along!

The 2 hour ferry from dover was amazing - it reminded us of the titanic. Casinos, food, an outer deck etc.

Then began our epic journey across continental europe. Martin took us across to Belgium within an hour, and to Holland in another 3 hours. We crossed into Germany shortly after, and got into Poland at about 4am. We treated Martin to supper at a 'gold medal polish food' place called port 2000 Las Vegas. He tried to get us on a truck towards Lithuania by stopping at many truck stops but there were very few trucks on weekends and the drivers were mostly sleeping. We eventually got him to drop us at Poznan as we didn't want to trouble him any further.

Martin was quite a character. His accolades included:

- 3 time EU karate champion (just when we thought we would be safe because we outnumbered him)

- being an ex-convict jailed for 4 years for fighting

- a proud father married for 3 years, with 2 children aged 6 months and 2 years

Some of Martin's quotes:

- His favourite: 'for fuck's sake!' used to express any sort of emotion (his command of english was limited)

- 'I cant believe it! I have two beautiful china girls sitting in my car! I like china girls!'

- 'Do you like sex?'

- followed by 'you a virgin?!'

- 'you do harsh heroin, no?'

- 'how much do prostitutes cost in singapore?'

We tried to stay awake as much as possible, in fear that he would fall asleep on the wheel. We fed him clementines, red bull, changed cd after cd of polish disco music. Martin was very thoughtful, incredibly sweet, completely harmless, and the one driver who went all out to help us with our quest.

Hitch 4.5 - we approached more than 10 drivers with lithuania plates amongst several truck stops, but they were either sleeping, grumpy, unhelpful, didn't understand us, or thought we were illegal immigrants.

Hitch 5 - after Martin left us, we wandered around a rest stop unsuccessfully, trying to avoid the many dodgy looking truck drivers (we think it might be the eastern european look). We finally found a decent-looking guy pumping petrol who could drop us at the next service station near a big town, lodz. Due to the language barrier, it was a quiet journey as he sped down the highway at 160kph.

Hitch 6 - although we would have liked to keep going on the highway, the quiet saturday traffic and language barrier made us decide to take what was offered - a ride to Lodz city centre. We reached at about noon on Saturday.

In Lodz, we visited the largest mall in poland - Manufaktura. It had amazing architecture, as the reconstructed old town of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. With lightly falling snow amidst a beautiful backdrop of red brick buildings, it was decided to be our landmark of choice for our destination city. We didn't go further because:

- Hitching from the city was even more challenging than the highway! Most people were city residents.

- Lodz was about the same latitude as cambridge, so travelling north or south would not make as significant difference. Eastwards would bring us to Ukraine, which we were warned against...

- We didn't want to be stuck on the road or at a small town when dark well, not knowing how the place worked nor the language. Bear in mind dodgy-looking polish men.

So we spent the next 2 hours building Martin the jailbreak snowman in the middle of a park, as a tribute to our dear friend martin. [Picture attached]

During our time at Lodz, we received a telephone interview from Cambridge Radio! Exciting stuff.

Homeward bound: we took a bus to the tiny Lodz airport, only to find that we were the only ones there. Since it was a low traffic airport, the ticket counter only opened 2 hours before departure. We waited and waited.... only to find that the ticket price was about 4 times what we expected - at £215 per person. We checked all different flight paths from other places in Poland, but they were equally if not more expensive. Germany was cheaper, but it was near impossible to get there through the night, unless we hitchiked again [which we already established was highly improbable and unsafe]. We tried walking around the airport with a cup and our jailbreak documents - all the polish people [even non-scary ones like mothers and grandmothers] thought we were delinquents/beggars and shooed us away or called security. We had no choice but to grit our teeth and pay the money - this would be our gift to charity for a long long time to come. We did manage to get a free ride on the National Express from Stansted, and we reached home at about 1am, Sunday.

Jailbreak was an incredible experience. But it's great to be home. And no, we don't want to quit medicine anymore. :)

At your convenience, please pass to us the following amounts [or your maximum] and we will forward it to Cambridge RAG.

At 821 miles,

1p per mile: ￡8.21[= S$18]

√2p per mile: ￡11.61 [specially for Matt Falder]

2p per mile: ￡16.42

3p per mile: ￡24.63

Also, the results are out, and apparently, we've travelled furthest by land!

The team who travelled the furthest [by flight] travelled 3745 miles to Detroit, USA. Impressive!

Pictures at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74919&id=728616862&saved#/album.php?aid=74919&id=728616862

So if you guys are interested in contributing to their cause as well, you could contact them directly, or tell me and I will add it on to the amt Im already pledging to them. (((:

A lot of randoms.

Technically, i should be using my awake and non- tired hours trying to complete all my readings, but once in a while maybe i should cut myself some slack. Something that I had been doing for quite some time actually.

I have been bad by stuffing my face full of good food and snacks and snuggling up in bed with a good book and chilling out with friends. Well, its only fair cos Im missing out on all the celebrations in Singapore :P
(PS. Jeffrey Deaver's Lincolm Ryhme series is not bad really! If you are into thrillers that is. And John Grisham has a new book- The Associate.)

Anyway, Im glad i brought some almond cookies and pineapple tarts back during xmas, and it really is comfort food during times like this. Coupled with Cai Shen Dao MVs ... perfect! Not good for diets, but that word is taboo during CNY no?

Secondly, Im glad I went for the SUKA CNY dinner last night with Rae and Cheryl, even though i was feeling rather reluctant to initially (my mind on the piling work load). I definitely enjoyed myself more yesterday than at the steamboat dinner I hosted at MIC. (I have decided that never would i willingly host sucha big dinner with so many randomers, makes it so hard to talk to anyone in depth, and its so exhausting to be cooking and trying to get everyone started. Sometimes, the host appreciates it when you dont actually wait for her to start? Go on eating first, im pretty sure she'll not only not mind it but will be grateful for that.)
There was Lo Hei (yayy! so much fun, though im not a fan of the dish itself.) and LOBSTER! Awesomeness (((: Although I was on a random UCL and LSE table, I quite enjoyed myself cos most people on the table were friendly and easy to talk to, and i suppose, me and the Grape do have this ability to self- entertain anywhere anytime.
There were my favourite CNY songs blasting througout the night, which i couldnt help but sing and jiggle to. Which was why Grape was saying that if there was ever a CNY club, i might just possibly go clubbing. Im starting to sound cooler by the minute eh?

Thirdly, I wonder if it is was a reward for me staying up late to complete my essay that I was blessed with a good dream last night. Though i cant quite remember it now (we forget 90% of what we have dreamt within 5mins), i remember it to be possibly one of the sweeetest dreams I have had in like say maybe the last 2 years at least? :) It was soo good that when I momentarily woke up, i wanted to write it down. But oh well, having relished in it once is sufficient. I shant be too greedy about it.

I might possibly be going down to Trafalgar Square tmr for the CNY carnival with Grape and Cheryl tmr, hoping that it would be good :) Im hoping that there would be loads of goodies, and happy CNY music to bob to and many a lion dance & fireworks to get hyper about.

HC Night (in about 3weeks) is going to be 2 days before Feb Test :x And im still contemplating very hard whether to go down for it. I really want to, but i dont know if it is a wise choice. Maybe, i should get off the net and work now.

And finally to top it all off,
it's my dad's bday today ((((:
Im wishing that i was home to eat the cake with him hehe. Maybe i should eat one now to symbolise that eh?

It just occurred to me that my entries are getting increasingly random and disorganised. I guess it pretty much resemble my state of mind ... and the state of my work and whatnots.
Oh welllll. Things will work out eventually, wont they? ;)
I hope so.

Alas, Internet!

Finally after 5 days I have access to some internet in my hall, though it is incredibly slow. And i have to resort to hiding in the cold TV room without any heater to get the minimal wireless meant for the hotel guests. Its scary (and quite sad) how our lives, esp when studying overseas, revolves around so much around the net. It can pretty much determine our moods and all (esp so for my roomie who gets really depressed with the lack of connection, I just complain about not being able to use wiki 'cos its hard to keep flipping to the appendix and back when you are doing pharmco).

Anyway, I shall post my pictures of my dismal CNY when the internet connection is better. I didnt get to do much, but did go down to North Cloisters where HC Alumni UK and Vines (Victorians In Europe) organised a really mini CNY street. It was a good chance for me to see Paul and Mark, both of whom (Im very ashamed to say) I havent met at all since the start of the academic year :x Esp so for Paul, who stays probably less than 10mins walk away. Either way, its always good to see old friends.

I hosted a dinner with Rae on Sat evening, and to be quite honest, I wasnt enjoying myself too much cos I was too shagged from trying to:
1. Shop for indgredients, lug them back from Chinatown and Sain's/ Tesco's
2. Check every single Tesco's/ Sain's (from Leicester to Euston) for bowls and spoons and forks and plates- Best thing was that none of them carry plastic bowls? Or plastic utensils that did not come in sets with knives. (All while lugging the stuff from Chinatown)
3. Cook for 25 people (who rsvp-ed) and possibly more. Although, to be fair, it was mainly 1 pot of chicken soup, vegetarian soup and seafood soup. And desserts (tangyuan).
4. Prepare the stuffs for the steamboat.
5. Clean up.
And that pretty much serve me right for being too ambitious for having such a large dinner.
Plus, me, being the social retard i am, find it very hard to integrate and interact with mutually exclusive groups of friends. Someone who is good at this, I would very much appreciate advice on dealing with situations like this? (:

Nothing special happened on CNY Eve, cos i was aching all over from the dinner the night before. So i was sleeping in late and intermittently taking naps.
Calling home in the evening got me all homesick and teary- eyed. But such is life, and Im glad that my mum would be able to come over next year when my brother enters army. What would be perfect would be him coming over to London, or even better, nab that SAF scholarship and come immediately (quite as likely as me flying home now for CNY). At midnight, my roomie and I were just playing random CNY songs from youtube, and I was showing her some of the MVs which the Mediacorp artistes did and i never realised it was so cringe-y. Some of it even had Singlish raps in it.

CNY day itself marked the start of a new module for me (endocrinology). And it was quite a pleasant start 'cos this module's coordinator is quite enthusiastic, organised and a relatively good lecturer. The notes are decent, and there's only 1 recommended text (saves cost!). I think i got abit too excited and kiasu, and bought the book on first day of CNY. Im crossing my fingers for good luck the whole year round still.

There's going to be a CNY market and celebrations and fireworks in Trafalgar Square and Chinatown this Sunday. And maybe, if im feeling it, I might just pop down to enjoy the festivities that Im missing so much now!

Happy "Niu" Year everyone! Spring does look like its coming, and thats really something to rejoice about ((:

Wiiiii. Not.

Something i owe the losers, proof that i didnt throw the box away. And im hanging the keychain up there only cos i dont want to scratch it:

Miss you guys!

-

Here's anita showing off that she just got a new wii.

And she's actually not that fortunate afterall. Hehehe.

You can get it from Fractalspin: http://www.fractalspin.com/x/product.php?productid=256
(They have other cool stuff as well. Like mushroom candies hehe.)

Or if you are in London, Anita was telling me you can get if off Forbidden Planet in Covent Garden.
It would really make a cool gift. (From a geek's POV :x)

-

Its CNY in 3 days and i dont feel it at all :( I have no new clothes, not going on a diet to look good that once a year (as i would normally), not getting all excited about angpows and goodies and visiting people (well, there is no one to visit really).

Speaking of clothes, I think i got indirectly told off by my course tutor today (she was technically addressing everyone) cos i was inappropriately dressed for PDS session. I clean forgot (once again) that I had to look vaguely formal and doctor- like cos there are going to be actors for patient simulation sessions. There i was clad in jeans and hoodie and bright red levi's sneakers, and everyone else was in suits and ties and what-nots :x It made me feel so awkward for the entire 1.5h session. But i guess, its smthing that i possibly wont forget to do anymore in the near future.

School's busy, works piling up, essays going to be due, BSC applications are closing soon (though im possibly not doing it nxt year), Feb intermodule in 30 days and life in London goes on and on ... not aware that the other half of the world is celebrating their biggest festival of the calendar.
Sigh.

School and Such.

Im supposed to be in an embryology lecture now, but after being distracted for 2 hours in a pharm lecture, i have decided to break my beautiful clean record of full attendance for lectures. And half the time i dont know what goes on in embryology anyway, my current knowledge stands at the coin purse model. Im actually surprised that Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital's so widely acclaimed cos about 3/4 of the lecture hall is gone during embryo lectures. Well, unless the docs there didnt graduate here, or that we dont need to know embryology for paeds (this i would not know now).

Anyway, I just spent the alt 1.5h in pharmco lect convincing my HK coursemate how awesome Singapore is, and how he has to come visit during summer.
And so this was how it first went:
Him: No offence really, but what is there to see or do in Singapore.
Me: Well, you could come and ... we could go Malaysia.

-

Anyway, Im quite excited about the upcoming Norway trip during Intermodule week, though Im freaking out abit about skiiing. Im hoping that Erns and Dj wont force me up the slopes, and take my lack of finances as a valid excuse hehe. But really, I think the world is fair, cos i dont think i would be able to do trips such as this if I was back in Singapore. And i think im quite fortunate that my parents are very fine with me flying back every holiday. (Yes, im going back in Easter! But i would have to be mugging for my finals.)

-

Yesterday, I met up with Yush for dinner at Baozi Inn in Chinatown, and it was really awesome. Not only the food (the noodles was real spicy, not london spicy, but sichuan spicy hehe.), but also the company. On hindsight, I realised that Yush had conned me into insulting half my social circle. Very sneaky really :P
We did some shopping for ths steamboat dinner afterwards, which totally unleashed my inner aunty-ness. Now i really do understand why my mum goes about comparing prices and buying groceries from various shops, because Im mirroring her now :x But come on, you cant expect me not to bat an eyelid when fishballs are going for 2.20pounds per pack right!

And good news for Singaporeans (esp those stuck here for CNY):

1.00 GBP

=

2.06404 SGD

I shall make my skipping of lecture worthwhile, its time to read the previous lecture hehe.
Its time for some self- discipline.

From a very busy Peish.

Tony and Guy Tame-it Hair Serum
For poor souls like me who have had years of annoying unmanageable hair, I have found the solution.
And it is very very affordable now at boots at 2 for 7pounds! (Normal price 7.60pounds or so.)

Aside from whining about not getting to spend CNY in singapore (with good food, awesome CNY songs, and loads of family (angpows) and friends),
I have been trying to plan a CNY gathering here, clean up my room (to welcome the Ox), cook, keep up with school work (adidas is quite wrong in saying impossible is nothing), attend all my lectures from sun up to sun down, catch up on all the pharmco stuff which i have been ignoring, not freak out for Feb Intermodule Test (in 30days time, giving us only 1 weekend to study after the module ends and i completely forgot my first 2 module's work), occassionally plan my upcoming Norway trip with Dj and Erns, work on my essays, keep in touch with friends ...
All these while sleeping by 12.

Not easy really, but at least the non-lack of sleep is keeping me relatively upbeat about it.
And the thing about living on your own is that, after some time you get so awesomely good at multi-tasking.

Ok, lunch break's up, its Multiple Sclerosis next.

Xin Nian Kuai Le, Wan Shi Ru Yi.
Till then my friends, you know i miss you! ((((:

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday ((((:

Now Im wishing I was back home :(

Pre- CNY Festive Mood!

First week of school passed by in a flash. Maybe cos i was so consumed with trying to pseudo- revise for my Neuro formative assessment, and trying to get out of a farmer's sleeping cycle (9pm-5am) at the same time.

Chinese New Year's coming up, and because I have decided to stop wallowing in self- pity and be positive, you are cordially welcomed to THE CNY Dinner on Sat, 24th Jan (CNY Eve's Eve).

Singaporeans please feel free to fly to London, free entrance upon showing air ticket. (Flights are going for good prices now on both Emirates and SIA.)

And for the rest of the Londoners, please do come down for a night of great company, nice festive music (if i can get my hands on some), awesome food and loads of fun.

Its going to be a potluck dinner, so feel free to impress us or if you just too lazy (or busy, as we would all prefer to say it), come with 3.50quid and its all settled. RSVP by Wed!

Details available at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=45372958319&ref=ts

PS. Please tell me if i forgot you (totally unintentional), and i would def promptly send you an invite!

Cow and Chicken.

"Cow looks up to her big brother and she thinks Chicken is cool."

But Chicken, i know you think Cow is cooler right heh. Why am I even posting this up, when i said i was going to study after 2omins? Whooopppps.

If you listen to the rhythm of the pouring rain <3

O M G.

First Post of 2009.

Finally, with 2 days to my formative assessment, Im resurrecting my blog again. Its just impossible to blog in singapore, not because there isnt anything to talk about but because the time can be better spent everywhere else. I even rather just lump in front of the tv watching old shows. (I only wish I had a tv here with starhub cable!)

Christmas break was awesome. ((((((((((((:

I started Christmas break with a trip to China, to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuxi area. And sadly, i didnt quite like the trip mainly cos it was with a tour group, and we had to wake up early everyday plus it was too cold in China, meaning that i was seeking refuge in the coach most of the time. (Yes, im sad. I dont ever get accustomed to the cold.)
Shopping in Shanghai is overrated, cos all the overseas brands were seriously overpriced (like 3x that of singapore). Brands like Bossini and Giodarno were considered "branded products" too. And i doubt anyone of us would be willing to don smthing that reads "clio coddle" under a crocodile/ alligator sign. (Pictures will be up when my brother finds the memory card reader to transfer the pictures from the cam.)
But food there was good and cheap (not dirt cheap but cheaper than restaurants in singapore), if you can find the correct restaurants, which I only managed to go to after the tour ended when my dad's business friends brought us around during our extension. In fact, I thought they served better food of higher quality than Tunglok or Lei Garden. And i managed to try Snake and Turtle and Bat meat. I didnt do it willingly, but got cheated into it. But to be fair, they tasted quite good. And China has the best Da Zha Xie (Freshwater Crabs) I have ever tasted.

Pulled out my wisdom teeth after the holiday, and was stuck with a dull aching pain and then a cold that caused me to completely lose my voice :x Took me more than 1wk to recover and morph from Gollum to Anita Sarawak.

And of course, Singapore's only best cos this is where friends and family are.
I managed to spend alot of time at home, just bumming around with my brother and trying to revise abit after the much too long china holiday (which was about 16 days i think? I completely lost count to be honest.).

Managed to meet up with Tripod people on New Year's Day, and was barely able to talk to them much cos i was still croaking cos of my cold.

I managed to meet up with the Losers and May on of the last few days just before i flew. The losers, true to our name, just get more and more horrendous as the years go by.
We managed to:
1. Laugh for 4h without stopping
2. Create a card with a cardboard box
3. Prepare a surprise for a friend (me) in front of her
4. Do things that even a P6 kid would be embarrassed of- like taking ten thousand pictures with retarded poses outside the cinema entrance.
We would think that time would make us less more mellow and less embarrassing, but no, with them, i think our innermost dark side gets unleashed. I havent laughed for so much since .... I cant even remember.
I love people who can make me laugh, and because of the culture difference, i guess its really hard for the brits to make me laugh as much as people back home.
The gift which they made for me: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photo.php?pid=1258838&id=633122838&op=1&view=album&subj=628210235&aid=54412&auser=633122838
(For some strange reason, my mac doesnt allow me to copy the picture. Can some computer guru/ non- idiot teach me please.)
Symbolic of all of us:
Pig Peish
Monkey Yuhning
Mushroom Prisc
Cool Face Liane (since when! im the cool one okay.)
Ball of lump Huien (more like bacteria to me)
Cat Dj

Last people which i met, literally on the day i flew, was Hing and jR. And omg jR is still full of crap. If you do know him, please go ask him what he has been up to if you dont know yet. Our kopi session of 4h was not enough for him to tell us about what he has been doing for the past months, nor was it enough for him to explain:
1. How to close a deal with a customer and convince people to buy air for 10k
2. How horoscopes and fengshui work
3. How high class KTVs are like
4. How it is more important to track Little Nonya's ending than the progress in the Gaza Strip
Plus i think this would be one of the rare few times in years to come which i would see Hing (and Huien too!). Considering we are on different hemispheres : (((((

Hing was randomly telling me that as we grow older, we become more lavish with gifts and all, which i totally agree.
I was just thinking of my New Year wishlist and i realised that none of them is actually affordable. But because i still want to announce it anyway, here goes:
1. SLR
2. Wii
3. Teeth Whitening package
I shall stop here before it gets anymore atrocious. But you get the idea. We do get greedier over the years. But then again, as you grow older, a kopi with a good old friend and a nice sweet card from someone you havent heard from for a long long time is just as precious.

Random Shopping Trips and such.

Shoot shoot bang bang. The assassin strikes. 

I love random spontaneous trips (my backlog doesnt)!

On monday, Rae, my roomie and I went down to oxford street after deciding that we were sick of work and that it is essential to get some xmas shopping done there and then. 

And so here we are along Oxford street, London's famous shopping street. Lightings are up but nothing as fantastic as that of Singapore I bet. 

Dj reckons that those lights on the (leaf-less) trees looks like cobwebs.

BLOOMingdales! With out primark and M&S food bags hehe.

(And cobweb lightings in the background!)

With my roomie outside M&S. 

The 3 of us were basically taking loads of random shots of this (in diff permutations) in the middle of no where and attracting odd stares :x

Check out the specks of xmas lighting in the background. 

I have a HALO! Hehehe. 

And so i concluded the shopping trip with some random food stuff for friends and family and clothes for my brother (Yes, half my luggage is clothes for him.) I only wish I have more luggage space. 

Sad thing was that i caught a cold after that (either or, dj passed the bug to me). Which really is annoying cos I find it quite impossible to go to bed with a blocked nose and breathing to my mouth when the air is so dry already :x 

Ok I cant wait to be back. I need some sun! But at least, Im going to end my last few days in London nicely since Im meeting Yush tonight and also HUIEN HUNNYBUNS IS GOING TO BE IN LONDON TMR ((: 

5 days to Singapore!

Yes! Beedle the Bard is here (: 

I love it loads. I like the way the way JK Rowling's so poignant and the way the tales are fairy-tale like and yet not snow-white-goosebumps-inducing. She creates fun protagonists (unlike disney's snow white or sleeping beauty) who have a personality and are more real than typical fairy tales! 

But all in all, arent we all glad that she is back? (: 

I know its absolutely ridiculous, but i do get terribly homesick just prior to going back (yes i know it is less than 1 week and time will pass quickly) :x This has been going one for about 2 weeks, and I am lagging behind for about 1month of work, and I have no idea how Im going to fit in holidays and meet-ups and mugging for the test when term reopens.  Either way, I just hope I would be more productive at home.  

Sometimes, i wonder if western medicine is really all that amazing and if Chinese meds are really not trustworthy. Firstly, (at least here in lovely UK) GPs are closed on Sundays. (Dj: "星期天没人生病啊?) Secondly, Im ashamed to say that now I believe chinese cough mixtures and teas and pills work so much better than anti-tussives and cough mixtures and whatever-nots which the angmohs have come up. After going on like she is about to die and coughing so hard she threw up, dj miraculously stopped coughing after downing some cheena dubious thing which my mum packed into my 药箱. I can so see my mum gloating and going 西医治标不治本. 

Either way, Im going lug a whole load of these chinese meds and panadol cold and flu mixture (my roomie swears by it and she is now currently a big fan of "Singaporean Medicine"- basically random chinese stuff and over the counter meds which we have all the time back home). Maybe boxes of these cough teas and whatnots would make good bday presents hur? ((: 

And sometimes, I do wish I have more friends in London who would be able to randomly have sunday dimsum like brunches with me. 

Anndddddd, Huien is coming to London this thursday, sad thing is, Im flying first thing friday morning and I have lects till late on thursday evening. Meaning that I wont have more than a couple of hours with hunnybuns :(

But still, 

I cant wait to be back. ((: 

Dream Interpretations

Murder: 

"If you killed a stranger, you may well have been trying to assault a facet of your own personality that is particularly troubling, self-destructive, or shameful to you. By killing the stranger, you are showing your desire to excommunicate this bad aspect from your life. This can be valuable."

Gun: 
"The gun in your dream could represent several different things, so please pay attention to the details and to the mood of the dream. The gun could symbolize the male sex organ, aggression, harshness, and fear. This dream may have sexual connotations, or your unconscious mind may be telling you not to harbor your negative feelings but express them more freely before they become explosive. On the more positive side of things, the gun could simply represent your need to protect yourself either emotionally or physically or both. If the gun in the dream is used to hurt or kill you or someone else, please consider your current difficulties, hostile feelings or serious arguments, which you may have within yourself or with others." 

I hate fear :(((((( I hate its lingering feeling. 

And maybe 'cos Im a medic, I hate death too. Or is that why i became one? 

-

And randomly, JK Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard is out! (: 

A too-early festive mood.

Christmas Stollen!

My current latest craze, though I have only tried the one at M&S. 

I have been terribly distracted these few days, coming back feeling restless and trying to get work done, but not quite knowing where to start because there is just too much to do. And i think i have been trying to complete a little here and there, but ending up wasting all my time when i dont get anything done through and through. 

Either that, or Im just totally in a holiday mood and just waiting to go home, and watching House/ Heroes all the time. Either way, its not good. But im glad its only 2 more weeks before its back home. And its getting too ridiculously cold in London, and I'm missing my tan. 

That aside, dj came down to London on Wed, and we watched The Woman in Black, which was really really good. Its a horror play based on a novel of the same title by Susan Hill about a ghost that haunts this small english town. Its so amazing it that there were so little props and only 2 main actors, and yet it keeps you on your toes all the time. It was full of surprises and suspense, it gives you the creeps (and its not merely cheap thrill) right up till days after the show. Its awesome really! Plus, it was said that the theatre is haunted too :x But if you are into horror, or just into theatre and good drama, then you so have to catch it. (And this is only if you are in London of course.) hehe. 

And somehow, dj has this effect on me that makes me spend alot when she is in town. So we basically chilled, and had chinese/msian and did random xmas shopping for people. Loads of fun but bad for pockets. 

Randomly, I like the soyabean milk with youtiao at Chinatown, it actually reminds me of home. Its totally my fave type of breakfast. I have recently been eating out alot, ever since I cant remember what (though possibly terrible hall food) got me craving for chinese food. 

- 

"Noble."- Foreman. 

"Moronic, thats a synonym."- House. 

<3

Iceland for Sale!

I thought it was meant to be a joke, but apparently not completely. 

Here's a random piece of news from http://chinayouren.com/eng/2008/10/chinese-bid-for-iceland/

The Chinese internet community is enthusiastically building up resources  to buy crisis stricken Iceland at a bargain. The webste Douban has taken seriously the ebay auction for the Island, and offers the first 10,000 chinese to join the investment group privileged access to houses on the seaside and to government positions. As a +, the possibility to run the island as a communist regime.

The auction, which apparently originated in the UK ebay site, has been followed by a few countries in the world, and now China sees its opportunity to invest the excess of foreign currency. Perhaps it is telling of the state of household savings in China that the autor at Douban considers 100,000 yuan to be at the reach of any chinese.

At an estimated 4o Billion euros, the author of the announcement calculates that 1,000,000 users joining the goup should be enough to buy out the country if each of them contributes 100,000 yuan (yes, somehow the calculation has also got some chinese characteristics in it).

In any case, the Icelanders can breathe for the time being. The group has only obtained the support of 4,300 users at the time of writing, and new additions seem to be stagnating these last days.

It is good to see in any case that chinese take this with sense of humour, and one can only hope that the WoAiZhongguo internet community’s response will be as civilized the day someone publishes these kind of jokes about China.

- 

Seriously? I wonder what some of these people are thinking sometimes. I dont know to laugh or cry at their patriotism (?!?).

I doubt it would actually happen, considering there is already a big hoohah when the European countries found out that Iceland is turning to (communist) Russia for help. 

If i had the chance, I really would love to go there some day. Its so gorgeous and apparently one of the safest country around (not sure if so with the current economic turmoil). 

According to a travel site: "If you ever find yourself in a moment of awkward silence just talk about the weather, Icelanders love to talk about the weather (much like the British and Scandinavians). " 

How true, i talk to my coursemates and hallmates about the weather everyday. I never knew so much conversational topics could sprout from it. 

-

Ok back to anat, which Im so sick of. We have literally finished head and neck in 10days. Is that insanity or madness? :x 

SOMEONE SAVE ME PLEASE!

My Harry Potter knowledge is put to shame.