oh i'm singing in the rain... what a glorious day...

was rushing out to the bus stop this morning and it was raining. figuring it was normal british rain i was like, "urgh... rain that isnt rain..." (like rain that is thinner than a drizzle in Singapore) so i figured that by the time i get to the bus stop the bus would have reached and i didnt need to stand in the rain.

BUT OH NO... it was taking its revenge on me - because it poured.

standing at the bus stop i was pretty drenched already so it didnt bother me. but there was this REALLY NICE korean (or japanese? i think it was korean) girl that came to stand next to me and offered to share her umbrella with me.

AWWW...

but then she didnt realise she was tilting her umbrella (which wasnt big) so i got even more rain on me (on my right side) than if i was just standing in the rain.

:(

though it was the thought that counts.

my 19.5 ++ hrs-of-class-a-week degree

yes it is true - FILM AND LIT HAD BETTER BE A REAL DEGREE!

the strange thing is that this year, i have screenings for ALL my modules, even the literature ones because we are doing 2 entire sections on TV drama and Film for Naturalism, while we have to watch filmed productions of the plays we are discussing in Euro Theatre.

and sadly, my mondays are indeed 10am to 5pm.

have had the first lessons of all my modules and it looks like it will be a very interesting year (other than the fact that i am not too wild about my hollywood cinema seminar tutor and the people in the class). i AM geared up for an intellectually challenging year! WHOOHOO!

have i mentioned that some friends of mine have only 4 hrs of class a week? and nah i wouldnt trade my timetable for theirs. something tells me i am really going to enjoy this year's classes. :)

sorry to all who left me msges on MSN and i didnt reply

hey guys, for the next month or so i dont have internet so if you see me online it's cos i'm using josh's computer on campus.

lots of apologies to people who msged me yesterday/this morning because i thought i signed out but apparently i didnt.

my lovely neighbours who have been so kind as to let me tap in (yes i DID ask for their permission and YES they did say yes) have disconnected the wireless because it wasnt very stable - i.e. kept disconnecting (yes this is true about wireless) so they now have LOADS of wires running around the house. half the staircase has been invaded by long white wiring...

should be getting internet soon... i hope.

INSANITY

this is madness: i went to my department common room to see if th new secretary put up my timetable because online, the timetable i have gives me a whole load of repetitions in classes (because some classes like european theatre are taught by the english department so they list all the possible lectures and seminars on the timetable).

and this is what my monday timetable looks like -

10am to 1pm > Naturalism screening
1pm to 2pm > National Cinema Lecture
2pm to 4pm > National Cinema Screening
4pm to 5pm > European Theatre Lecture

notice there are NO BREAKS? that's 7 hrs straight!

i'm hoping there are not going to be too many Naturalism screenings because i think we are only having them in term 2. *cross fingers*

Belgo at Covent Garden

so i went to dinner with my dad and brother and we decided to go to this place called Belgo near Covent Garden. it serves belgian food (read: mussels and chips and LOADS OF BEER) and has this really cool interior that sort of makes it look like a wine cellar (because the restaurnat bit is underground), everyone sits at these long rows of tables (which to me is very austrian/german actually) and most of the facade of things are in copper and stone.

i was SO HAPPY to get to drink belgian FRUIT BEER again because that is my favourite-est beer in the world. for a person that loves cocktails, fruit beer is like super nice because it is beer with a twist. had a Floris Passion Fruit while my brother had some mango flavoured one and my dad had this really nice mild Lindeman one which i cant remember the name of.

so the food: my dad had a nice 10oz steak, well-done (because he likes his meat cooked through) and it came with some mustard sauce and some cabbage that tasted a bit like saurkraut but definitely wasnt. i had a spit-roasted half duck with chilli and ginger which ended up tasting a bit like thai sweet chilli. my brother had 1kg of mussels cooked with white wine and some tomatoes. as always, belgian food always comes with chips so we had 3 bowls of chips (it is sort of like their carb - what rice is to asians). for dessert we had crepes which had vanilla ice cream and fruit compote in it and the sauce was fantastic - think there was some alcohol in it.

the meal came up to GBP60 but for 3 persons it was not bad, considering we had beer. the beers were like GBP3.50 each (my dad's was GBP2.85), the duck was GBP11+ , steak was GBP14 (?) and mussels about GBP10.

have i mentioned that the waiters there all wear some black apron cut broadly at the shoulders and tied at the waist? most of the waiters there are males and it makes them look like male models! and of course they do look rather gay. :) adds to the character of the place!

they have this COOL thing that they do: if you come between 5 and 6.30pm (i think - need to check the hours), you pay, per person, the figure corresponding to the time your order was taken. so if you came in at 5.45pm and they took your order at 5.55pm, you pay GBP5.55 per person! HOW COOL IS THAT? though it is for a selected menu and only a few choices of beer. but i checked it out on the signboard outside when i was leaving the restaurant that mussels is one of the choices for main course so yea i'd definitely go for it! the mussels were YUM...

no pictures for this i am afraid... havent been in the habit to bring my camera to restaurants in the UK.

click HERE the link to the restaurant.

by the way, i realised i havent blogged about my salzburg trip that i took in june with my family. need to consolidate all the pictures because we had 4 people using 4 cameras to take pictures. what a nightmare...

in London for 10 hours

yes yes... such a waste to pay GBP 21 for a trip to London for the day but hey, when your dad has things for you from singapore and you have to pass him stuff for your poor lonely mother who is sitting at home alone with a dog and 2 goldfish for company, then YES IT IS WORTH IT.

anyway, food for thought:

Shakespeare's comedies all seem to revolve around cross-dressers/mistaken identity, with heroes and heroines and their sidekicks (who provide the laughs). think Love's Labours' Lost, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing...

Conclusion: Shakespeare had a template for his plays. like factory-cut plays.

sounds familiar? templates... formulae...

my conclusion? Shakespeare was SINGAPOREAN. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

tapping into number 72's

yyyaaaayyyy...

number 72, aka my ex-whitefields housemates, is a university-managed accomodation and they have wireless! and it is UNCRYPTED!

the drama of the day: iain came back and he couldnt get into his house because the lock was pretty screwed up. even as it was yesterday when will came back to dump his belongings before going back to leicester, he had so much problem opening and closing the door. in the process, the dead lock was caught and thus the house was locked from the inside and the university had to get the locksmith in. he used a hammer and whacked the entire lock out. HOW SAFE IS THAT?!?

it's so much fun having all the whitefields people back. jamie, iain and lauren are back, while paul and will will be coming in on wed, with andy and owen finally back over the coming weekend. we had a huge lunch together today and it felt so nice to be back with these jokers.

awwwwwwwww... :)

back in glorious Coventry

who am i kidding? haha...

it feels good to be back. BUT I AM UNCONTACTABLE ONLINE! so HA to you!

will be getting my internet soon... the will have LOADS of pretty pictures of my room and house.

have i mentioned it is GREAT having the house to myself? well only for a few days but i really helps in getting all the things i needed to be done sorted at my own pace.

will probably try and hack into my neighbour's wireless soon. hehe...

a night at THE YOUNG's

went to dax young's bachelor pad tonight for cards and drinks and it was SUPER fun! we ta pao-ed duck rice to his house and helped him finish some of his drinks as well as played german bridge (because we have 5 people). it was so funny! i think we made a bit too much noise because the neighbours complained and the security guards came to tell us to keep it down. and zhen hao was like, "wah you have a long umbrella" and started knocking on the ceiling in retaliation to the neighbours complaining.

ivy, wenfang, and me! doesnt it look like i am not wearing spectacles? hehehe... MY NEW SPECS!

wenfang, ivy, dax young, zhen hao and ME!

zhen hao and wenfang! rather high already...

the 2 doing silly things outside the house

ivy lost 2 rounds or german bridge and as a forfeit she had to go borrow a cup of sugar at 11.30pm from one of the neighbours. they said they didnt have sugar cos they dont cook, so they gave her sweets instead! SO HILARIOUS!

wenfang and me after a failed self-picture (zhen hao took it for us)

me and ivy taking silly self-portraits! :)

was a little high when i left but could walk in a perfectly straight line. am still wondering what it takes to get me drunk... i had 3 small glasses of red wine, one glass of vodka orange (didnt have that much vodka), one glass of vodka ribena, a magharita and some kahlua with my tiramisu because there really wasnt any alcohol taste AT ALL... but when i was home i felt a bit tipsy though i am perfectly fine now (20mins later). HA!

a day at the hairdresser's

have you seen an elderly man get his hair curled?

i have.

and i've got my shaggy "old english sheepdog" haircut again.

High life and High Tea

yesterday my dad took leave so that all of us can go enjoy a nice day out and have Afternoon Tea at Rose Veranda in Shangri-La Hotel... as always, i took it as a day of work: like tai tai training.

but first of all, my dad came into my room when i was still in bed and went, "nah! *puts a cheque in front of my face* happy birthday" and walks off. and as you can imagine, i was like HUH?!?

anyway, we headed off to our afternoon tea. the BEST parts about Rose Veranda's Afternoon Tea is that it lasts from 12 to 6pm AND you get to choose from their selection of 101 teas which you can order AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. the selection of food is pretty good, especially because they put the food out in small portions so they constantly refill them platters on the buffet table.

(too bad i didnt take pictures because i left my camera in my other bag and it would be TOTALLY not tai tai like to do so...)

have i mentioned i love the teas there? i had a pot (like a real big pot) of Bourbon Vanilla (which is vanilla flavoured black tea - nice and fragrant, and not overwhelming), a glass of Peach In Advent (an iced Bourbon Vanilla tea with peach), and a pot of Peach Blossom (a green tea flavoured with peach). My dad had a Sports Cup (loads of vitamins and whatever added, very fruity - a bit too robust for me), a cup of Viennese coffee, a pot of Rose Tea (rose buds in black tea), and a pot of Jasmine Gold (high quality Jasmine tea). My mom had a pot of Vanille (black tea with vanilla and orange petals), a cup of Cuppaccino, a cup of Freshly Brewed Coffee, and a pot of Jasmine with petals (Jasmine tea with the flower petals). My brother had 4 pots of teas and an iced tea (cant remember them all but i think he had Golden Pearl, Caramello, Carribean tea infusion and a Tarry Lapsang Souchong). The last one was a LAUGH because we ccouldnt decide how to pronounce it since it was supposed to be from China so we kept trying to say it as close to how it should be said phonetically in chinese. somehow to me it kept sounding Thai but managed to say it in a Cantonese way which turned out to be somewhat close to what the waitress said when she repeated our order.

they had this yummy mango glass which had chunks of mango, with mango syrup, topped with bits of coconut flesh. loved the salads, wholegrain mustard vinegarette salad dressing and the loads of salmon and jellyfish they had. the roasted vegetables was excellent as well. they had laksa, which had HUGE translucent prawns and very thick gravy. i actually went through the buffet systematically, from the right of the table to the left and only skipped the quiche, dimsum, white rice and roasted vegetable salad. and some of the cakes. i think we were there for almost 3 hours? :)

OVERALL RATING : 5 / 5 - very satisfying (and you are seated in HUGE COMFY ARMCHAIRS!)

overseas vs local

i've come to a conclusion abt the fundamental differences in the outlook of education in local and overseas universities.

a) local universities give so much work, often for the sake of giving it
b) overseas universities treasure personal opinions and response to an issue
c) university education in Singapore is viewed as equipping you for a career; overseas, it is seen as moulding you as a better and more thinking person and giving you the skills to go into almost any career
d) local universities nudge you to be 'all-rounded' by enforcing you to take things (like modules or activities), which leads to passivity or negativity in the group
e) it is more forgivable if you decide to drastically change course/direction in your degree in universities overseas
f) if you really know what you want to do in university, you can really specialise overseas

perhaps one thing i forfeited when i chose Warwick over SMU was the industrial attachment they have in 3rd year. it kind of helps you to break into an industry. sigh.

i've been reading some of my Naturalism texts in prep for 2nd year and i'm getting pretty excited abt school... haha... yes as always, i maintain i am weird...

updates updates UPDATES!

phew! it has been a hectic few days as i am rushing through my last week in SINGAPORE before i go back to the UK! i've got 5 more days till i fly off so it's been crazy since i stopped work on friday...

saturday was an ALL-GIRL'S DAY! went for sushi buffet with moon (a very belated one since we were supposed to have done that in december!) at suki sushi where we ate like $70+ worth of sushi for a mere $42 (for 2 persons!). had like 3 plates of salmon sashimi, a plate of scallop sashimi, jellyfish, octopus, salmon sushi, soft-shell crab... and even 3 plates of fruits! :) how healthy...

and to add to a day of decadence, we were actually at Tannlines in Paragon for an hour before the buffet shopping for bikinis cos it was too hard to resist the clearance sale there! ended up with a bandeau top and a white halter set for only $64! sooooo happy... hehehe...

the girls came over for an afternoon/evening/night of cluedo (in case you didnt know, my close friends and i were cluedo fanatics in RGS) and it was FANTASTIC having them over and just going crazy. it was especially funny having michelle play with us old-timers (she came to my place to learn) and she had no idea what was going on when everyone started scribbling stuff on their sheets after every guess made. too bad cat missed the wonderful spread we had for dinner, thanks to my enthusiastic mother...

yunde isnt in the picture COS SHE CAME LATE! Grrrr... ah well... from left to right, cat, rach (a.k.a beng, alias 'she who ignores us'), ME, michelle and moon!

we actually played cluedo until 11pm and then started on Rummykub (this game that is somewhat like mahjong but you use the number tiles to create sets of similar numbers of different colours or running numbers of the same colour) until 3.30am! and poor moon didnt sleep at all cos she was doing homework after that... *BIG HUG* moon! i help you study?

sunday was me recouperating from the crazy night before but monday i was raring to go! baked my chocolate and nutmeg torte for the people at work as a thank you for everything and rushed to the office in a taxi to deliver it...

apparently the nutmeg could hardly be tasted, which can be a good (because it doesnt overwhelm) and a bad (it just tastes NORMAL) thing. other than the fact that i have one collegue that is very fussy about his cake, i have received rather good feedback about it so here is a keeper. afterall, no flour was needed and it was rather nice and light though very rich...

Chocolate and Nutmeg Torte (adapted from Olive magazine, Dec 2004)

300g dark chocolate (70% cocoa but i used a 56% one)

150g unsalted butter

- melt both together over steam on a stove or on low heat in a microwave.

6 egg yolks

20g sugar

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

- mix well until thick and creamy. add to chocolate.

6 egg whites

20g sugar

- whisk using an electric whisk till stiff. gently fold in to mixture

- bake for 20 - 25mins at 180 degrees celsius

met with emmanuel and sheena on monday and had a such a good time bullying emmanuel and then later ganging up with him to bully sheena... sigh... good ol' times... and today i met chris yeo for dinner and had a blast! it strangely feels like my holidays are finally starting and now it is time to go back. been feeling rather sad to leave all my funky friends but am kind of looking forward to going back and starting school again. somehow life seems so surreal these days...

and something random to end off - MY GRANDMA AND UNCLE SAID I GREW TALLER!

11 years of wearing glasses

went to the optician to get the lens of my spare spectacles changed as they were scratched and decided to test my eyes to see if my myopia/astigmatism went up. well only the astigmatism on my right eye has gone up so that's not too bad.

after talking to the sales guy (who always serves me when i go), i decided to change to a new pair of frameless glasses because it will only be $40 more than if i only changed the lens on my present spectacles. and anyway the pair i have now feels like it can easily drop because the sides are metal and the spring isnt very tight (people who wear glasses will understand).

my spare pair is coming back on monday and my new frameless ones will be in on friday!

speaking of which, do you know i have been wearing glasses since primary 3? sometime in the middle of the year (?) so i have actually been wearing glasses for 11 years! and in the past 11 years i have gone through so many different types and styles...

this is my FIRST EVER pair! can you believe i thought these were cute? well they were... and still are... but they are SO ROUND! and SOOOO LOUD! hahaha... i was the second person in class to have specs and i was excited about it... so funny huh? see the bridge? it's one continuous plastic bit! good for kids...

then after these came some metal ones... i remember a Snoopy one (gold and pink), some cocoa-coloured one and an Esprit one (dark blue - REALLY NICE)... then came my funky pink and blue one (two-toned to give the impression of purple from the front) and afterwhich was my frameless one. the next one is frameless too! i like frameless cos for a person who is too chicken to get contacts (and also has easily irritated, ultra sensitive eyes), it's the closest to not looking like you wear specs.

was checking out my degree and i realised that my degree is actually very low! i think when i got the plastic pair my degree actually went down slightly! quite a feat that in 11 years, my degree now is close to my degree in primary 4 or 5? somewhere there... it is 150 on the left (astigmatism is 150 as well) and 225 on the right (astigmatism is 100). i only had astigmatism in secondary school i think.

so excited about my new specs! i am one weird, weird kid...

last day at work

today was my last day at work... but it didnt feel like it was my last day... because a) half my collegues were out of the office and b) everyone was so busy with work.

and as a present on my last day, i was given this HUGE task to finish in a day (some last minute data-entry/management thing... URGH).

anyway i've decided to go back on monday with a cake to thank everyone since nobody was really around to be thanked when i left... :) going to try out this chocolate cake recipe i saw online. hope it turns out gooooood... *cross fingers*

this fuzzy furry thing that makes lots of noise in the morning

i was looking through my computer to find some nice pictures to print and chanced upon an old folder with the family dog's photos. note that he is called the family dog because he has become the family dog, as opposed to when he used to be my brother's dog...

over the years, this dog has turned multi-lingual, being able to understand english, chinese and cantonese. and like everyone else in the house, he is in love with food, much to the extent that he will sell his soul (if he had one) for his dinner.

one has to admit that the family dog is rather photogenic, which is more than what i can say for myself. and yes he is called the "$2 dog" because that's how much it costs to feed him a day (dont ask how many snacks he gets a day... tsk). his favourite activity is summed up in the photo below...

he sprawls on the floor at home. like 'taaat' there (think of 'taaat' in cantonese).

ah a dog's life...