Day is night, night is day

Ok, so, looking back, I have a habit of writing a lot of my posts at like 2-3am in the morning, the time when NORMAL people would be fast asleep. I don't know why, I kinda like the night, when it's all quiet and you know the rest of the world has shut down. It means you can do what you want without anyone knowing and I dunno, it's kinda peaceful. *sigh* Who am I kidding?! I HATE not being able to sleep! It's all due to the fact that I have some sort of freakin' sleeping disorder which turns my nights into everlasting days . . .

Since I'm in a ranting kind of mood, I'm going to list things that currently annoy me:

• people who use the word "meh" when chatting online - don't do it! It annoys me . . .
• people who stare - what's your problem? Don't you know it's rude?!
• pouring cereal into a bowl, only to find out that there is no more milk in the fridge - even more annoying if it's oats, cos you can't even eat them without milk
• little kids who shout "mum!" at 30-sec intervals - I'm so not a little-people person . . .
• my toiletries falling into the bloody toilet!! ARGH! Whose idea was it to build the cupboard right above the toilet?!?!
• all my favourite TV shows have stopped airing for the year so I have nothing to watch!
• I've bought all these new clothes but haven't had a chance to wear any of it
• same goes with the shoes
• I've only bought one pair of Ugg boots with me which means I can't wear them out as I need them indoors as well.
• "winter" and "Christmas" is just not compatible

We tend to idealise tolerance, then wonder why we find ourselves infested with losers and nut cases.
- Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Stuck between a rock and a hard place

So most of you already know that I'm a person who needs very little sleep. It is now 3am in the morning, I'm sitting in the kitchen and I hear birds chirping. I have cooled off sufficiently since my last blog (haha, that got me really fired up) and I have spent the last few hours just randomly browsing online. I've become obsessed with William Sledd's YouTube posts. He is absolutely hilarious, love him (oh btw, he's super gay). Then that got me thinking . . . would it be better if I occasionally did some video blogs and posted them up? It's just a thought, might make my rantings a bit more amusing . . . or confusing actually hehe. I was watching through all of the videos that Ange, Joyce, Yvonne and I took on our Europe trip at the beginning of this year and they still crack me up so much.

Oh yeah, the title of this post - so I figured, I'm kinda stuck here in London and no amount of complaining can change that I guess. I think it's starting to dawn on me that I can't really do anything to change the situation, so I might have to suck it up and make the most of it. It's just that I haven't been myself lately. I guess it's kinda hard to have a good time when you don't have anyone to share them with . . .

So what's everyone doing for Christmas? Hope everyone's been good girls and boys and that Santa brings you lots of goodies. I think my list to Santa got lost in the post somewhere . . . This year is going to be a bit strange for me though, spending Christmas glued to the heater cos I'm too cold to move. Man, you know what the temperature was today? 1 degree!! That's one above water-freezing temperature! Plus the fog is really starting to set in over the last few days, it's kinda hard to see where you are going when you're driving.

Arriving at one point is the starting point to another.
- John Dewey

Carpark wars

It seems like at every Christmas, I always manage to get into a carpark fight, you know the ones, where you and another car have been waiting for that one car spot and then you play chicken to see who will back down as you both try to drive into that spot. Well, that happened to me today. I followed this woman to her car, which was the last one on the aisle. I waited a few cars behind and when she was nearly out, I crept nearer. It was then that I saw that there was another car waiting in the lane perpendicular to the one I was in and by this time, that car had come forward too. I was in a "don't-mess-with-me" mood so I wasn't going to let that woman have it and I tell by the way that the car, which was leaving, was backing out, that I was going to get in first. As I drove in, that mole in the other car got out and banged on my passenger seat window. As if I was gonna roll down my window to talk to that biatch, so she started screaming through the window, saying how she had been waiting in the carpark for half an hour, and that I had only come in blah blah blah. Firstly, it's not my fault she has no skill to bag a spot and that I am a far more superior driver than her. In a carpark, there's no first come, first serve rule - it's survival of the fittest. Secondly, there was another car a couple spots over which was leaving too and I was actually waiting for that one, but to avoid further gridlock I went into the one that left first. If that troll had opened the eyes on her fugly face, she would have seen that there was another car going and that she can take that spot. Thirdly, I had followed the woman to her car, thus justifying my right to take her spot.

ARGH!!! I think I ended up screaming something back at her (bear in mind that my grandma was sandwiched between this, not knowing what was really going on). By that time, I had already parked my car and stopped the engine so I wasn't going anyway. The woman knew this and had to go back into her car. As she drove past, she gave me a death stare which I promptly ignored. I have learnt the best way to piss someone off is just to ignore them, to treat them like they aren't there. People like her are not worth my time, my acknowledging their existence. Man, I need this t-shirt:


It's times like this when I think Christmas is overrated. It brings out the worst in people and the mad, frantic rush to buy and hoard is ridiculous. In the supermarket, people were stocking up like the world was about to end. The only good thing about Christmas is that its end brings about the beginning of the post-Christmas sales, which is another whole new level of madness.

I found my inner bitch and I ran with her.
- Courtney Love

Seasons Greetings

I don't know what I'll get up to over the next few days (which is probably not a lot, but I do foresee consummation of an insane amount of food) so I better say a very MERRY X'MAS to everyone before I forget. To tell you the truth, I can't even remember what I did last Christmas. Really bizarre but all I can recall was my work Christmas party (hahaha any guesses as to who stayed sober that night?). Hmmm, it's highly likely that I was working all throughout that period so wasn't worth remembering.

For me, today was the official start of winter, which is another way of saying I froze my butt off when I stepped out the door (just then, I had actually typed "freezed" hahaha). The temperature was in the low single digits and I am one of the most cold-phobic people on this planet. Ok, fyi, just did a Google search and the scientific name for the fear of cold, ice and frost is cryophobia or pagophobia.

I went grocery shopping with my grandma and a family friend (who drove us) at Brixton, which is a kinda shady suburb. But stuff there is cheaper so I went to take on my usual role as the grocery-bags-holder. In no way am I intending to sound racist, but it was a very Black suburb - I just kept thinking to myself, "Don't stare at people, don't look at them in the eye, don't bump into anyone!" Ok, this might sound like an over-reaction, but I actually saw this one hobo guy squatting in a corner and rubbing something which looked like aloe vera (he was holding this huge leaf and scooping the stuff from it - don't ask!) all over his dreadlocked hair. It was soooooooo gross!!!

And another thing, I forgot how stomach-turning butcher shops can be. Now I like my meat to come all nicely cut, wrapped and stocked on shelves at supermarkets, not half plucked and hanging from meat hooks above my head. We went into one and I just stood there in the middle of the shop, too scared to move in case I bumped into something. In one corner was a pile of cow legs (still with the hooves) and in another, a pile of pig legs. Being Asian, I'm used to eating weird parts of animals (incidentally, we were in there because my grandma was buying cow tripe and by that time, I was already carrying a bag full of fish heads) but come one, hooves?!?!? wtf do you do with those?!?!?!

Anyway, I'm making myself sick, so I'll move on - a person that I have come to admire recently is actually a character from a TV show. I <3 Betty from "Ugly Betty" and I think she's such an inspiration in a world where too much importance is placed on appearance:


Betty is not movie-star pretty, but she's intelligent, capable and has a good heart. I don't think it's showing yet in Sydney but once it's on, it's a must-watch. Oh and another thing - it also shows that, with a bit of help, people like Betty can be transformed (hahaha gives me hope). Because the actress who plays Betty, America Ferrera, actually looks like this:


It's beauty that captures your attention; personality which captures your heart.
- Anon.

That's not mine!

I was in H&M yesterday and I went into the fitting rooms to try two things on. The sales dude went to give me one of those number tag thingies but there weren't any "2" ones left. He was like "We don't have any 2 tags so I'll give you a 3 one" and he then handed me a random shirt that someone had tried on to take in as well. I gave him a weird look and was like" Ah, can't you give me two "1" tags instead?" And his reply was "We can't give out more than one tag." Ok, is it just men, or does that logic totally not make sense?!?!? What's the difference in giving me one "2" tag and two "1" tags?!?! I ended up with having to take in some shirt that I did not want to try on (and incidentally, the two that I did try on looked really crap so the whole thing was a waste of my time).

Victor and Rolf recently designed a range for H&M and most of the items were sold out on the first day at their flagship store. But I guess after all the hype, they're starting to send out the excess stock to the other regional stores. So anyway, I usually go to the Wimbledon one and I happened to stumble on these Victor and Rolf for H&M black jeans. Not that I am in need of black jeans (my Tsubi ones are doing just fine) but I'm a sucker for designer denim so I decided to try them on (oh, this was the frustrating part cos I had just finished with that whole incident above and now had to go back to the fitting rooms again). When I picked them up from the rack, the jeans already looked like they were a bit high waisted but I thought they could still work. OMG, was I wrong or what?! Two words - granny pants!! I don't care how much and how hard the fashion industry promotes high waisted jeans, unless you have legs like Elle or Naomi, they look really really bad on. When I had managed to zip it up (man, I hate trying on new jeans, they're a bitch to put on), the pants came up to my belly button!! I was scared to look in the mirror and trust me, the sight wasn't pretty.

Shopping is a woman thing. It's a contact sport like football. Women enjoy the scrimmage, the noisy crowds, the danger of being trampled to death, and the ecstasy of the purchase.
- Erma Bombeck

Artificial Summer

Sometimes when all the radiators are turned on inside the house and they've been on for a couple of days, it can actually get quite hot, which sounds funny cos you don't usually associate London winter with hotness. But sometimes I've been running around the house in a t-shirt. Just don't step outside hahaha . . .

My last day of uni is tomorrow for the year, but I have all these essays I have to do over the Christmas break, which really SUCKS. It kinda means that the break isn't really a break and this is one more reason why I really hate how the academic year is structured in the Northern Hemisphere. It's bad from all angles.

I've been getting heaps of bruises all over my legs and I couldn't figure out why for a while but now I know. It's from my laptop bag hitting my leg every time I take a step, or from shopping bags while I'm walking home.

I got this random call yesterday from some employment agency who has my resume. This was from the time when I was actually interested in finding a job so I sent it out like months ago. They were like "Are you still looking for a permanent job?" And I was "Ah permanent? One, I'm a uni student and two, I'm one exchange and will leave when I finish next year." Hahaha, she was like "Oh, I think our client wants someone who can work for the next few years and it's a full time job." Man, don't waste my time!! I always put my availability and current situation in my covering letter so they should've known I'm not interested in working full time.

I'm getting into the habit of sleeping really late again, like 3-4 in the morning. It's really bad cos when I used to do this at home, I usually had a reason for it, i.e. I was usually out and didn't get home till that time hehehe. But now, I delay sleeping cos I actually have trouble falling asleep and I need to be so exhausted that I'm about to collapse before I can get to sleep. But it also means I sleep till like 12-1 in the arvo (on days that I'm not at uni) and it seems like I sleep a lot. But I don't!! Even if I sleep to that time, I'm still not getting enough hours.

Sleep is the interest we have to pay on the capital which is called in at death; and the higher the rate of interest and the more regularly it is paid, the further the date of redemption is postponed.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

A lil' late

Today I had to have a one on one meeting with my ADR professor to discuss my dissertation. Considering I had given it not much thought at all (translation: not any thought at all) to it since I had to hand in it's title a couple of weeks ago, yesterday night was spent cutting and pasting various things together to make a remotely coherent summary of what I wanted to cover. It didn't have much of a structure, hahaha, and it showed. To make things worse, the meeting was at 9:30. I had left the house at 8:20 but as we all know how reliable public transport can be, the bloody train kept on stopping at places where there was no station!! The driver would come over the PA system and give some lame ass excuse about some speed restriction at some station further up. Speed restriction?!?! None of the trains I've been on ever go at a fast speed . . . So anyway, I was totally late and since the appointments are in half an hour blocks, by the time I got to her office, someone else was in there. Cos I had a lecture at 10-11, I had to go back and see her at 11:30. Man, all that rushing in the morning for nothing!! And I had made the effort of climbing up those stupid escalators (the mega long ones) at the tube station.

So I went back to see her and I am surprised at how I was able to fudge my way through the meeting. The trick was to nod and agree a lot with the Prof and then just repeat what she said. Hahaha - now I have to go back and give my outline a structure - hahaha told you it showed.

Mondays are beginning to turn into my shopping days cos I usually finish around 11 and so I have the whole afternoon. Since I'm out already, I usually spend some time at the shopping centre that's right next to Wimbledon station. Man, there's nothing more annoying when you're trying to try on clothes than having to lug around a big-ass coat, scarf and laptop. I feel like a bag lady and sometimes I can't be bothered to go to the fitting rooms to try stuff on. Note: this doesn't mean I just strip in public - obviously the stuff I wanna try on are usually outerwear garments and don't require me to remove more than my jacket! So I would find the nearest mirror and just dump everything around me. Hahahaha I've gotten a few weird looks but that's better than the feeling you get when you're in the fitting rooms and you try something one and realise you need to get another item, for whatever reason, be it that it's the wrong size/it's faulty/wrong colour, and you then have to go through the whole process of putting all your clothes back on, get all your stuff, go out and grab what you need and go through it all over again. And isn't it ironic how when you really need them, there are never sales assistants to help you!!! So never feel annoyed when sales assistants ask if you need help while you are in the fitting rooms, Hahaha, I just to feel bad when I asked people when I was at Polo, but it sometimes really does help when someone can help you get something.

Just found out that my cousin whose in Hong Kong and who is about to get married, is coming over here to Europe for her honeymoon. She'll be here in London on Dec 26 so she'll get to share all the festivities. There are all these dinners and stuff happening with the people from my aunt's church around that time so yeah, lots of food and Jesus praising . . . I'll just concentrate on the food.

Watched the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show the other day. It really is just an excuse to put models in skimpy underwear but I gotta say, they do look hot and what I would give to have legs like Gisele. By the way, who on earth would spend $6mil on a bra decked out in diamonds?!

$6mil could buy you a whole lot more than just a bra . . .

Justin Timberlake gave a kick-ass performance on the show as well. It still puzzles me why he's still hooked up with Cameron Diaz. But I guess it's still better than Brit with Fed-Ex.

If you can't return a favour, pass it on.
- Louise Brown

It's workout time

My shoulders are in constant pain lately. I've been carrying my laptop in a shoulder bag this week and today, I had to go with my grandma to the supermarket. I had to carry this backpack home full of meat, fish, milk, bananas and honey. Seriously, by the time I got home, my whole back was on fire. And I think my skipping rope is not very wind resistant, or should I say wind resistant? All I know is that my arms get tired much quicker than my legs. I have to use so much energy to swing the bloody rope.

If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.
- Margaret Thatcher

Sunsets at 3:30

Seriously, since I wake up around 11am every morning, that gives me like 4-5 hours of sunlight only! Sometimes I'll be walking to the station to catch the train to uni and the sun is starting to set.

So, it's been a while since I've updated you guys on what's been happening . . .

• I'm still trying to exercise properly everyday and I can now say I can skip for a reasonable time now without feeling that I will suffer a heart attack. I skip at weird times though, like at midnight when I can't sleep.
• Been catching up on my TV shows lately - am up to date with the OC and House now. I've watched like 8 House episodes over the last two days.
• My aunt's gone over to Spain for two days and will be back tonight (I'm in my ADR class again - we have a Lord in today to take the seminar - Lord Woolf - google him . . .
• My favourite shop now is H&M . . . they're doing this "Gift of the Day" thing where they sell one item a day in December at a really low price. I've bought a gold puffer jacket for 10 pounds on the weekend
• Speaking of shopping, I think I've found the best bargain so far on my trip. I bought a Ralph Lauren suit jacket which was £330 for . . . wait for it . . . £18. My heart was like pounding while I was clutching at it, waiting to pay. *Sigh* I still can't get away from that brand . . .
• I want to see "Happy Feet". Penguins are soooooooo cute and they look so squishable hehehehe
• I think the skipping has helped - my pants are not sitting as snug on my thighs as they did before. That or I need to put my jeans in the wash because they have stretched with wear . . . hmmmm
• One of my watched that I brought over with me has stopped. So annoying cos I've had the watch for so many years and it hasn't run out of battery till now!
• woah, just realised Christmas is like in 20 days . . . not that I have anything really to look forward to
• I got asked by two separate people on two separte days where I had got my shoes from (two different pairs of shoes). hahaha wtf?! They were both flats - one covered in gold sparkles and the other was a turquoise one made of a felt-like material with metallic blue trimming. I had brought them over form Sydney and the best part is - one pair is from Payless Shoes and the other from Queenspark. Hehehe, totally cheap-arse shoes but I guess they look alright. They comfy enough for me to wear to uni as some of you know, I don't do sneakers . . .
• I nearly fully tripped over a stupid lady's wheelie suitcase the other day at a Tube station because she totally cut my path and walked across straight in front of me. I was holding my laptop case looped through my arm resting on my elbow and holding a newspaper in my other hand so I couldn't see anything below my waist. I saw her walk past so I kept on walking but lo and behold, she had a freaking trolley behind her. I didn't stack it but I had a "I'm not impressed" look on my face.
• I know there is a whole load of stuff I haven't done yet in London but I'm going to hold off till summer when the weather's better. There have been countless days when I wanted to go out and do stuff but when I wake up and look out the winter, I immediately change my mind. It just doesn't STOP raining - it really isn't an exaggeration when they say that London has crappy weather.
  
• I can't believe I still have over half a year to go but yeah, I'm hoping to catch the beginning of summer here before I leave and enter another winter in Sydney. That is gonna SUCK. I'm so sick of having to leave the house with like 5 layers on, a scarf and sometimes a beanie. I feel so podgy and sometimes I can't even get my bag on my shoulder properly cos all my clothes are in the way. Oh, I long for the day when I can around in just a singlet and shorts.

Kids. They're not easy. But there has to be some penalty for sex.
- Bill Maher

Law Fair

No, I didn't go to the Law Fair today (been to countless ones at UNSW and they're all the same) but now sitting in my ADR class and some guy's just come back from it with all the things he's managed to scab - free pens, travel mug, a glowing cube. Seriously, half the stuff is junk and it's just not worth degrading yourself to beg for objects which will likely end up in the bin anyway.

As usual, nothing much has happened in the last few days. I think insomnia is going to be a regular part of my life now - every second night, I'll have trouble sleeping. The last time, I was so bored at 3am that I ended up reading some of my cousin's books and I realised that some of the books were actually mine. It's crazy, those books are like 15 years old and they've been past through countless relatives and now they have ended up in London. Ended up reading the adventures of Sinbad and the Tin Soldier.

A real friend is someone who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.
- Anonymous

Annother qiuck update

It's the break in my Equality Law class and I thought I would post something to make up for my lack of blogging activity in the past few weeks.

Nothing much has happened - I'm starting this fitness frenzy - went out and bought a skipping rope the other day. Am hoping that this piece of rope is going to drastically transform my life. Hahaha wishful thinking . . .

Hmmm the discussion has begun so will continue this post later.

Casino Royale

Watched the new James Bond movie today - the cinema was packed, I guess it being a Saturday didn't help. They had allocated seating which meant by the time my two friends and I got our tickets, we had to sit in the fourth row. But it wasn't that bad and I actually thought the movie was really good. I didn't really have high expectations to begin with and I had never been too fussed about James Bond movies but this one exceeded all expectations. I must admit that when it first was reported that Daniel Craig was to play James Bond, I was a bit sceptical. Howeverrrrrr, man, he is hot in the movie!!! There were a lot of topless shots *grins* and even a scene where he was butt naked *grin gets bigger* hahaha I think it was the whole James Bond charm that did it for me . . . or maybe it's the fact that he's super buff . . . and has blonde hair . . . and blue eyes . . .



My ancestors wandered lost in the wilderness for 40 years because even in biblical times, men would not stop to ask for directions.
- Elayne Boosler

Sitting in Equality law lecture

Feeling bored . . . some discussion going on in which I have completely no interest. It's raining which sucks cos the class is about to end in 5 minutes and I have to get home in the cold and rain . . . argh!

Yeah, I haven't posted much lately but all last week was basically spent at home doing essays.

For me there are only two type of women: goddesses and doormats.
- Pablo Picasso

Some eye candy

The remedy for all ills

Shopping!!! Went on a mini shopping spree today - was so happy by the end. I haven't browsed through a shopping centre by myself like that in a while now - picked up some cute pieces and when I have the time later, I might upload some pics.

Got some Berrocca as well - been missing that stuff. Gosh it's expensive here. It cost £4 for 15 tablets - I can get double that amount for less at Roy Young. Taken one today - have to remind myself not to freak out next time I pee - hahaha for those of you going "wft!?" give it go, you'll know what I mean - especially if you take the bright yellow"Tropical" flavour ones . . .

Money can't buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.
- Spike Milligan

Just wanna say

All'ultimo Lavoro

Ok, so I was browsing through a friend's blog and I came across this blog ring for PLC girls. Hmmm I didn't recognise any of them 'cept for one and she wasn't even in my year. I wonder how the school is doing now - oh, when's the reunion guys? Has it come and gone? Did anyone actually end up going? Heard anything bout it? My golly gosh, 5 years now. It doesn't feel like five years, but at the same time, school seemed like it was a lifetime ago.


Update: I just finished looking at one of the PLC girl's blogs and I saw pics of her at the UNSW Law Ball (yeah, so coincidental, she does law as well). I just wanted to cry when I saw them - I only went to one and I had such a good time . . . I now regret not going to more.

There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.
- Frank Zappa

Sweetie darling . . .

Man, been stuck at home now for like a week now trying to get my act together to do these friggin' essays. I don't know why I should put so much effort into them anyway, they're not assessable but you just have to do it and hand them in.

Been watching Absolutely Fabulous and that show cracks me up so much. It's so scary that even though it was made over a decade ago, some of the fashion pieces worn aren't that bad and what's even worse, they were probably used in the show sartorially. It shows how fashion does come back and bite you in the arse.


I went on a cleaning frenzy yesterday and totally cleaned out the bathroom on my floor. It was squeaking clean by the end - I used all the cleaning products I could find - bleach, Jiff and this all in one grease, dirt, grime remover spray (it was in a pretty purple and green bottle) and I had to pull out the vacuum cleaner to suck up all the hair I have been losing.

So, it's been two months exactly since I arrived here in London and ah, about 8 more to go - yippee . . . hmmm, sarcasm doesn't work really well in this context . . .

Ooo, she's so cold, sweetie! I'll just bet she has her period in cubes.
- Eddie from Absolutely Fabulous

Facelift

I decided to jazz up my blog a bit - being the computer savvy person I am, I couldn't really do much about it 'cept change the colours around hehehe.

Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading sex manuals without the software.
- Arthur c. Clarke

Happy reading

Went out and bought the December issue of Vogue - why this is worthy of mention I hear you say? Cos it's one of the biggest mothereffing magazine I've seen! It's their 90 year birthday celebration edition and boy is it fat:

Front cover

Looking forward to reading it . . .

Hmmm not much to report really . . . as you guys know, it's reading week so basically, it's staying-at-home-and-bludging week. And I have to get started on my essays, one on domestic violence and the other on direct and indirect discrimination. Thrilling I know . . .

Anita: good to hear from you babe! I'll be sure to keep visiting your blog!
Shirley: looks like you're having an awesome time in SF! Love the Halloween pics

And thanks for all the encouragement guys. Yeah I know I've been complaining heaps and it's probably largely my fault cos I'm not "trying" hard enough but once I get my act together, maybe . . .

Failures are like skinned knees, painful but superficial.
- Ross Perot

Do I have issues?!

Haha on second thoughts, don't answer that cos it'd open way too many floodgates . . .

A few more random musings:

• I don't know whether it's in Australia, but don't ever get the Special K Bliss, unless you wanna be like me and have to stand over the bin and pick out all the dried cranberry bits. They are so sour they make lemons seem like lollies. And they look like red Christmas beetles too so yeah, disgusting . . .
  
• I realise that putting the words "to see whether or not" does really sound to good when answering a law problem question but I've run out of words to use! My answer is already splattered with "to determine", "to analyse", "to calculate", "to prove", "to argue". Man, am running out of ideas . . .
• Found out that a hair dryer makes a good substitute for a heater. Might be on the louder side of things, but it still does the job
• Watched the first episode of The OC, season 4. I don't know how good this season is going to be cos it seems like everyone has fallen out with everyone and with Marissa gone, it's no longer the fantastic four.
• Am becoming quite efficient at putting things into plastic bags now at the supermarket. The check out people don't do it for you here so it can become very stressful when they whiz items through the barcode scanner and you're frantically trying to open up the plastic bags which feel like they have been glued together. On a few occasions, I have resorted to doing the whole teacher thing and licking my fingers and I must admit, it does actually work. Gross, but it gets the job done.
• On food packaging, they like to advertise things as having "only 5% fat" instead of "95% fat free". Weird but doesn't saying how much fat is in things put people off?
• I have now learnt that thundering down the stairs while holding my laptop with the screen up is not a good idea. My laptop screen as now become really loose.
• Have I mentioned that I have so far stacked it twice down those stairs? Not holding my laptop of course.
• I am in serious need of sunlight. My legs practically reflect light, they are that pale. It doesn't help when my oh-so-insightful cousin went "your legs look yucky" when I pulled up my pants as I was trying on my new clogs yesterday. Don't you just love kids?

A friend in need's a friend indeed, a friend with weed is better.
- Pure Morning, a song by Placebo

Distorted Beauty

It's a pink world . . .

Came across this and I so want one - Sony C Series:


I think computer and phone companies are catching onto the idea that girlie girls like me go gah gah over pink accessories - LG have released a pink version of their chocolate phone:


And since they don't have the mini's anymore, Apple have redone their nano's in pink as well:

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.
- Edward Kennedy

Hi, ny name is . . .

For those fashionistas out there you guys have to check out Kokopuff's StyleDiary - this chick can assemble the most amazing outfits and she has the nicest pieces in her wardrobe. I'm so envious of people who can pull off style and make it look effortless. Every night I would lie await and think of outfits I could wear the next day, but the next morning, I usually end up wearing something really boring/normal/conservative/mainstream because:

• 99% if my clothes, accessories and bags are back in Sydney
• I'm just going straight to uni and home again so there really is no point in getting all dressed up
• I have no car and travelling on public transport doesn't exactly thrill me into looking my best
• I usually end up having only 10 minutes to whack something on
• The weather - need I say more?
• I have to walk and I can't wear high/uncomfortable shoes - ooohhhh, speaking of which, I bought these Michael Kors shearling clogs today - yeah, I know, don't ask me why I got them, but I couldn't resist. They look like these but mine are beige and not suede:

They're so cute but yeah, am probably gonna bring them home cos there's no way in hell I can wear something like that here . . . I'm trying to be a bit more adventurous with what I buy.

So anyway, I'll stop talking about fashion and move onto another topic - cars! (hahaha I know I'm weird, I can go from one extreme to the other . . .). A friend told me about this one the other day and I'm adding it to my current list of cars I would sell my soul for:

The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren - can you believe that Paris Hilton has one of these? *sigh* at least she's got one thing right. At the moment, I don't think I could even afford the windscreen wipers on that car so I guess I'll keep dreaming - ooh, there's a £88 mil lottery jackpot coming up here in England, maybe I should enter it . . .

This leads onto my next topic - I've been watching this show on MTV, "My Super Sweet 16" which basically follows around teenagers from very wealthy families as they plan and have their 16th birthday parties. Man, I was shocked at the lengths the parents would go to to throw their kid a birthday party. There was this one kid who had his in a shopping mall (cos apparently he was a "divo" as he described himself - the opp of diva), got his friends to put on a fashion show and at the end of the night, he was given a white Merc convertible as a present from his parents. And the best part is, he can't even drive yet! Man, and there was this other guy who got Rihanna to go as his date, and had Juelz Santana perform and yeah, also got a car at the end - apparently his party cost the 'rents round $300,000.00. Damn there are some spoilt kids out there - check it out if you're bored one day.

I don't know whether it's me or just Aussie accents in general, but my cousin sometimes doesn't understand the words that come out of my mouth. Hahaha like when I help her with her dictation homework - when I say the word "all" she's like "What? Did you say "or"?" And I'm like "No! All! All" And then she's like "Ohhh, you mean all" and she like accentuates the "l's". I just gave her a deadpan look, the cheeky bugger . . .

Yay, the OC has started again - I've just downloaded the first episode of the 4th season and will watch it as soon as I finish this post. Not that excited though cos of the whole Marissa dying and everything but who knows . . .

Ok, for all my fellow law students, you know how law reading week basically translates into a one week holiday in which we do anything except our readings? Well over here, we still get reading week but I now wish that we didn't cos it basically means that we have to do an essay for each subject during that week. Man I'm going to die . . .

It's starting to get quite cold here now - we've turn on the radiators in the house and so it's not that bad if you're indoors. I've already taken out the puffer jacket and uggs and scarvesthough - both my grandma and cousin are sick and so there are germs floating around everywhere.

Oh the reason for the title of this post - the other day at uni, I was waiting for a class so I was just standing in the corridor. This chick who was in a class next door came along and waited near me. Then she suddenly goes to me, "Hi!" and I was like "Ah, hi." She then goes "Yeah we met the other day but I can't remember your name." I'm pretty sure that I have never seen this girl before in my entire life and I'm pretty sure I would remember if I did or not cos she was Asian and I haven't spoken to an Asian girl at uni yet. But I did tell her my name and pretended that we had met before. Found out that she was in first year (*sigh* feeling old again) but before we had a chance to talk, I had to go into my class. Was so random . . . I don't even remember her name now or what she looks like.

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
- Douglas Adams

Stubborn cow

Hahaha, that's how I would describe myself sometimes - I don't like being told what to do, even if I am doing something wrong. So even though I might be having a not-so-cheery time over here, I would never back down, give in and come home early.

I got into this heated discussion with my mum about this. She suggested that I just come home in February and do my whole last year again in UNSW. I was like "No way! I'm not coming back and doing uni again." She was like "Well, there's no point in complaining about what a bad time you're having over there. If you don't like it, then come back." I was like "No!!! I'm not coming back early but I will complain and I will continue to complain till I come back. You just have to put up with it." Blame it on my slightly disturbing personality, but I love it when I can scream and shout at my mum - it releases all the tension, even though I keep getting weird looks from my grandma as I sit there in the kitchen yelling at the top of my voice. After such conversations, I'm so glad I'm over here and she's back in Sydney. Hahaha it's a paradox - I get so frustrated talking to her but in a way that I can't describe, getting angry at her makes me feel slightly less depressed. I love blaming her for things - hahaha most of our conservations usually with me going "I got to go, bye" and hanging up instantaneously. I feel like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders and my anger has transferred from me to her.

Some of you might wonder why I harp on so much about her. But as most of you have found out by now, you can't know me without knowing my mum. This has been demonstrated to very disastrous ends when it comes to boyfriends and dating, hahaha but my mum has a way of infiltrating into almost all parts of my life.

A few people have asked me now I am going with job hunting - well basically, it's fizzled into nothing. I'm not working at the moment and I haven't been bothered to look again. Maybe I can see this as a well-deserved break after all these years of retail hell.

Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it.
- Agatha Christie

The Hot Chick

Was watching this movie yesterday and they had one of those hand
clapping scenes in it and this was the rhyme:

"Boys are cheats and liars.
They're such a big disgrace.
They will tell you anything to get to second...
Baseball, baseball, he thinks he's gonna score.
If you let him go all the way, then you are a...
Hor... ticulture studies flowers.
Geologist studies rocks.
The only thing a guy wants from you
is place to put his...
Cock... roaches, beetles,
butterflies, and bugs.
Nothing makes him happier than a giant pair of...
Jug... glers and acrobats, a dancing bear named Chuck.
All guys really want to do is... forget it, no such luck."

Luv it.

Graduation

I was browsing through a uni friend's blog today and suddenly I got very sad. She had posted up her graudation photos and I realised that I have probably missed a whole lot of graduation ceremonies this year, especially since most of my law students will be finished with their degrees this year. Also sad cos a lot of these people I probably will never see again as they all go hopping overseas and it makes me wonder who will be around for my graduation *sobs*. Man, I'll be graduating with a bunch of people I wouldn't know. . . So congratulations to all of you who have graduated and all the best for the future.

A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success.
- Robert Orben

Needed: New Haircut

So I've been thinking - I desperately need to do something with my hair. In case some of you don't know, most of my blonde hair has like broken off now near the roots - it's so damaged that if I brush my hair after a shower, I get clumps of it on my brush. I need to start afresh so am contemplating chopping it all off.

Have been getting some inspiration - wadda you guys think?

I quite like this one - a nice, conservative bob

This is Sara from cycle 6 of America's Next Top Model - the hair is stunning - kinda like a half Mohawk, the sides are shaved real short. I don't think I can pull this look of though and it seems quite high maintenance.


This one is also hard to pull off too but I like how it's still long at the front and with my hair, if I wanted to get rid of all the blonde part, the back will have to be real short. I don't think I could cut my whole head that short though . . .

To repeat what others have said, requires education, to challenge it, requires brains.
- Mary Pettibone Poole

This guy is weird . . . but cool dancer

Let's Bust Some Moves

My Quest

Can someone please enlighten me how Nicole Ritchie can go from this:


To this?!


Let's see that again shall we?


And again:


And one last time:


I don't care what people say, but I think Nicole Ritchie is amazing and she is my idol. At the moment, I resemble those "before" shots and my goal is to, at the end of the exchange, slightly and remotely resemble those "after" photos.

Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.
- Albert Einstein

Burst of blogging energy

Ok, so I'm feeling slightly better today after a mess of a week last week (bleh, don't even go there . . .). I even went out and bought cupcake mix yesterday - I might make them with my cousin today and do the whole bonding thing with her - that depends on whether I start bossing her around or not hehe. I only realised when I got home that I didn't have a cupcake tray so I had to go and buy cupcake papery thingies (omg, I can't even think of what they're called).

So yeah, as you might have guessed from my previous post, I'm totally in love with the Ford GT and the Ford GTXi concept car:

Hotness

OK, so I got bored and I constructed my dream life: I'll be rolling in one of those, living in one of these:


Sporting a new haircut (I'll get to this later):


Carrying one of these:


Talking on one of these:


To my new boo:


Hahahaha!! Anyway, I could go on but you get the idea. Man, I am so B-O-R-E-D at the moment I didn't know it was physically possible to spend that much time at home before.

I would rather trust a woman's instinct than a man's reason.
- Stanley Baldwin

I'll keep chugging along

So yeah, I basically spent the last week at home . . . the rest of the house went over to Paris but I had to stay cos of my lectures on Friday *rolls eyes*. Now having a house all to myself would be a dream come true if I was back in Sydney, but here, it just meant eerily quiet nights and creaking floor boards - note to self: never never put floor boards in my future house.

I've been basically watching a whole lot of TV and movies on my laptop. The shows I'm currently addicted to are:

• America's Next Top Model - it's actually quite good to see that those girls actually do look like normal people without all the makeup and their hair done up.
• Iron Chef America - no words can describe this show - absolute gem
• Pimp my Ride - this ties in with my sudden urge to watch all three of the Fast and the Furious movies (which I have done now) and my last post on the Ford GT *eyes glisten* I would sell my soul for that car . . .
• Laguna Beach - really trashy, it's like "The OC" but a semi-reality, semi-drama show about a bunch of spoilt, tanned, blonde, high school bimbos and their equally as attractive guy friends. They're so bitchy it's unbelievable and I can't stop watching it.

OK, I'm kicking myself at the moment . . . as some of you may know, I really really wanted the Chloe paddington bag and I was browsing online on Net-a-Porter website and I saw that two colours of this bag was on sale for like £350 when they're usually around £700-£800 online. I was like "woah, I could sorta afford that". Well I went back to the site today and THEY'RE ALL GONE! The bags aren't even on display anymore *wails*

This could have been mine *whimpers*

What's worse is that I went onto the Vogue Forum and there was this thread on the Chloe sale on Net-a-Porter and I was like "Biatches, I so saw them first!" hahaha, oh well, I'm sure in like half a year's time there will be a Spring sale and I can grab me one then *fingers crossed*

I am seriously contemplating coming home for Christmas (unless I can convince my mum to come over next year, that's another story). But as someone reminded me, I probably would be so tempted to stay and not come back to England. Well, I have about 1.5 months for something to happen that would convince me otherwise.

It's human nature to start taking things for granted again when danger isn't banging loudly on the door.
- David Hackworth

My dream car

Who reads this anyway?

As the days roll by, I'm beginning to wonder who actually reads my blog these days. Should I even be trying anymore? It seems that the numbers are dwindling away . . .

Live every day as if it were your last, because one of these days, it will be.
- Jeremy Schwartz

Just a poem I found on the net

Loneliness

Loneliness is darkness
A never-ending night.
Even though the black won’t go away,
You’ll never fall asleep.

Because loneliness sparks a fear
And unlike other nightmares
Awakening will not vanish it;
For the darkness is too strong
To allow any rest.

It makes memories into ghosts
And dreams into spirits.
Too vague to remember
Too important to forget.

~K.L. 

Raining cats and dogs

Met up with Jen today at Notting Hill. As the title says, it was raining all day . . . which is never a good thing when you're walking on tiny pathways and going in and out of shops. We browsed through the Portobello Road stores cos it was Sunday and so the markets weren't opened.

We had lunch at S&M cafe at round 2pm- lol it's not what you are thinking. It actually stands for Sausages and Mash hehe. I had actually seen it on one of those travel shows in TV back in Sydney so I guess it's quite well-known. I was starving as I hadn't really eaten that day (I took a handful of Special K with me and was munching on them on the train. By the end, my jaw hurt and I got a headache from chewing . . .) so I got the English breakfast. Wasn't brave enough to try the black pudding though, left it untouched.

Only did a tiny bit of shopping today. Bought a scarf for my aunt as it's her birthday tomorrow. Just managed to make it into the store when they were about to close up. It's a pretty mohair/wool scarf from Scotland and it's baby pink.

So after Notting Hill, we hopped on a bus heading towards Knightsbridge as Jen wanted to check out Harvey Nichols. Man, the bus trip was a bit of a disaster. The one we were on originally decided mid-journey just to terminate with no reason given so all the passengers had to get off. It was nearly 20 mins before another one came and then we were stuck in a major traffic jam. In the end we decided to get off and walk the rest of the way.

I managed to found out how much two of the bags (the Chloe paddington and the Balenciaga Le Dix) that I really want to get will cost me - £700ish . . . . . . each. Sooooooo yeah, was figuring, if I managed to make like around £100 per week and miraculously not spend any of it, it'll take me around 2 months to save up. And that's not including all the other stuff I wanna buy. Maybe I should just buy them online . . .

Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.
- John Lennon

Super tired . . . but happy!

Ok, here comes one of those long posts (cos I haven't really written anything lately):

Thursday 19.10.06
So today was the day of the Selfridges interview. Looking back, I don't know why I was so freaked out but I was. It's not like I don't have retail experience *sigh* and it wasn't really a very important job either. But I guess it was my pressing need to find a job so I won't be as bored and also cos it means that I can start spending that put me in this weirdly freaked out mood. God, I even made notes of what they might ask me . . . sad I know. So I got to the place and I had to wait in this reception room. There were two guys in there already and I walked in with another guy. Then another guy came in . . . and another guy . . . and another guy. I was like WTF?! Am I the only chick?! Luckily, another girl came in finally and it ended up being six guys and the two of us. They were late in starting so cos I got there a bit early, I had to wait nearly 45 mins. No-one in the room was talking to one another so we just sat there in silence.

Then when it started, it was split into two parts - a role play exercise where we had to pretend to sell an item to a customer and then an individual interview. We got to pick an item from a selection and so I took a pair of pants. Geez, I wonder how many pairs of pants I have sold?! *sighs again* too many to count . . . so anyway, I think I did alright in the selling exercise, I said so much crap, everything I could think of. Then it was the interview. The interviewers were actually the floor managers in the store and I got this really nice lady. She asked the typical customer service and retail related questions and obviously I could answer them half-asleep. At the end of the interview, she was very serious and said, "It seems like you have a lot of knowledge and experience. Are you sure that you want to be just a sales associate? Have you thought about applying for a more senior position?" I was shocked - it was like she was saying I was over-qualified. Hahaha, imagine that. I think this is will be the only instance in my entire life when this will ever occur. I guess I absorbed more from PJC than I thought I did. I was like "Ah, I don't think I will have any trouble taking on more responsibility as I have been an assistant manager before, but I'm only allowed to work 20 hours a week." I was thinking "Geez, I just want a brainless job. I've been in charge before and I nearly broke down sometimes because of the stress and it turned me into a nervous wreck!"

I don't know if I have the job yet or not. They said they will get back to us within 5 working days (they haven't called today yet, today being Friday).

Friday 20.10.06
Today was another uni day but was looking forward to it as I was meeting up with Jenny afterwards. Yay, was so excited as it would be the first time I was actually meeting up with someone I could have a decent conversation with.

The weird thing that happened today was in two exchange students, one French (I have Family law with her and she only started to talk to me today) and one Belgium (I have Equality law with her and I met her on the orientation day), they both asked me if I could send them my notes that I type out in class. I felt sorry for them cos I know even for me, who is fluent in English, I would have trouble writing by hand everything that the lecturer says. That's why I bring my laptop. So I can imagine the trouble that these poor European girls might have. Hahaha, I feel like one of those geeky people that others scab notes off. I think I'll take it as a compliment.

I had a massive 3 hour break today. I was gonna meet up with Wei but he had a sudden lecture he had to attend so couldn't make it. I decided to do a trial run and see how long it would take for me to walk to the law firm I'm going to work at on Monday. It didn't look too far on the map and it is basically down the main road of the uni. So I walked there and it wasn't that bad. Took me a while to actually find the stupid entrance to the building though. It was next to a restaurant and it was only a door, with those button-buzzer thingies so it wasn't obvious.

Then after uni it was time to meet up with Jenny. We decided to head down to China town and grab some Jap food (I haven't had any Jap since I got here so was craving it). We walked down Oxford St a bit cos we met up pretty early, and then headed towards China town. The restaurant actually did look authentically Jap and it was quite packed. I ended up getting the chicken katsu don. When the meals came. the waiter put down this set box in front of me and I was like "Ah, this wasn't what I ordered!" So after a quick correction, I got the right thing and I tasted alright, like what you would get in Sydney. But the thing was it cost me £8.30, which is like $20. Man, I used to pay $8.30 in Sydney for it. It was good talking to Jenny and hearing what's she's been doing at the hospital. We're planning to go to the Portobello markets on Sunday and walk around Notting Hill and yeah, Yvonne, I mentioned to her how we have to visit that travel book shop!

Stupid thing of the day: I was sick of walking so when I got off at Wimbledon station, there is actually I bus I could take which would take me down the road and will be much closer for me to walk home. But the bus timetables don't really tell you which road the different bus routes take and at that particular station, the bus could go two ways - one down the road I want to be on and another road. So anyway, I knew the 200 would take me down the right road but I wasn't sure if any of the others would. I took a chance and hopped on the next one that came and wadda you know, it went down the wrong road. I was like "Shit shit shit!" I had to get off at the next stop and walk all the way back up the road. Was so bad - but found out that there is this pub called "The Australian Bar" in Wimbledon which I found quite amusing. Maybe I'll check it out one day.

So by the time I got home, I was exhausted. I am now in my bed typing this and feeling quite drowsy so I might end it here. Outies!

The future has a way of arriving unannounced.
- George Will

Temp work here I come!

Yay - I got a work trial at a law firm next Monday! It's just temp work, I think involving a lot of typing but it's a start! The firm is Mckenzie Brackman Solicitors.

Let's hope all goes well and I get the job! (Oh, and I still have that Selfridges interview tomorrow so I'll let you guys know how that goes). It's gonna get busy soon but that's the way I like it!

Always be smarter than the people who hire you.
- Lena Horne

6am wake up call - not happy Jan!

So I get woken up this morning by my phone at 6am this morning, but by the "wrong" phone. It was the phone with my Australian sim in it - so in my confused and semi-conscious state, I answered it. And it wasn't even for me!! What's worse that a wrong number is a wrong number when you're on international roaming! Argh don't waste my money and precious sleep time!! After the first call, they rung again like a few minutes later! I rejected the call faster than you can say "Oi, I'm not in Sydney now, I'm in freaking London and it's 6am in the morning!!"

On a better note, I spoke to a guy in my Tax class. He was pretty nice and guess what, he's not English. Hahaha it says something about English people - he's from Argentina. Name was Marcello.

And my cold is not any better. Been loading up on the Panadol and Codral but my throat feels like crap and I realised that I didn't have any tissues in my bag today when I went ot uni. BIG mistake . . .

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.
- Albert Einstein

I don't deserve this

So, I've been good with the whole rugging up when stepping outside thing but guess what? The germs attack from within in the house and yes, I now have a cold, thanks to my lil cousin for spreading it to both me and my grandma. Because of this cold, I couldn't meet up with Jenny, Justin or Cynthia who is a fellow UNSW law student on exchange in Copenhagen but popped down to London for the week. ARGH! Just when I had a chance to meet up with people I know . . .

I was reading this takeaway menu which was in our letter box today. Nothing special about it (was for an Italian restaurant) until I got to the part titled "Essentials". First thing on it was "one pint semi-skimmed milk: 0.70p". Ok, I thought, maybe some people like milk with their pizza *puzzled look* but underneath that was "20 Marlboro Lights: £6.00" wtf"!?! What kind of pizza joint sells cigarettes! Maybe it's an English thing.

You always admire what you really don't understand.
- Blaise Pascal

Everyone should see this

Watch this

Funny Ad

Yay!! Might have a job soon!!

OMG! Just had a telephone interview with a recruitment lady from Selfridges: http://www.selfridges.com/

It was so out of the blue - I only applied this morning and she kinda caught me off guard but I guess having worked in retail for like the past 6 years worked to my advantage. It was the usual "customer service" type questions. The one part that got me really freaked out was when she asked me to name a brand that I like from Selfridges. I haven't even been to the store before!!! Thanks god I was sitting in front of my comp and I frantically logged onto their website. It was so bad, I had to make some excuse of getting my charger for my mobile to buy me some time (hahaha that might be a trick I'll use again in the future . . .) but to my relief Tsubi is a brand they stock. I named them and thank the heavens I named Tsubi cos then she asked me what I would say to her to sell that brand. Hahaha selling someone Tsubi's would be a breeze for me as there's so much I can say about them.

So, yeah, I passed that stage and now I have to attend this assessment day. OMG OMG, deja vu of all these assessment day thingies I've done in the past - hahaha remember David Jones and Polo Ange?!

Will keep you guys updated!!

Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.
- Benjamin Disraeli

Uni continues

Sorry, I’m getting so behind on my blog – I’ll continue where I left off last time with Friday:

So yeah bad start to the day. First off, family – the lecturer (and it seems that all the “lecturers” here seem to be “professors” so I dun even know what to call them) talks to damn fast, I get down like every 2^nd word of every 3^rd sentence – I think I have to do the ultimate dreaded thing and bring my laptop to uni. Also, the lecturers here (I think I’m gonna stick to using the word “lecturer”) have a habit of not setting a textbook, so basically, you have to find cases yourself. Which reminds me – I spend a freakin’ half a day trying to find the cases that I needed to read the other day and after finding them all, I couldn’t even be bothered to read them. I had no idea what half the citations meant – EWCA Civ anyone?! – it was a disaster. Who knew that I actually should have paid attention during Advanced Legal Research?

Anyway, after Family, I had this mega 3 hour break – I managed to talked to these two girls during the lecturer and I sat with them for a while in the café in the law building (which is a really crap café, by the way – coffee from a machine, yuck). But as with most people I’ve spoken to, I didn’t really have much in common with them and I made some excuse about having to pick up some form from some office and left.

I actually had to leave though, as I was meeting a dude who’s a friend of a friend. Long story short, he met my friend via a trip to the US and so, he sent a quick email to this guy and we met up. He’s a local so hopefully, maybe, he can take me out sometime – I don’t think I have spent so many weekends in a row at home in ages, like years . . .

Then back to class – the last class I haven’t had a lecture in yet – Equality Law. One of the girls I spoke to before described the lecture as someone who probably spent the 80s on a continuous acid trip so I was intrigued. Soooooo funny cos it turned out that she was Aussie! I think she’s spent a lot of time in the "on">UK tho, like decades, cos she had a pretty strong English accent but when we were doing the whole intro thing about ourselves and I said that I was on exchange from Australia, she was like “Oh, so you’re from UNSW?” I was so stunned – I wouldn’t have thought anyone over here would have heard of UNSW, let alone a lecturer. But actually, she was pretty cool – yeah a bit “off with the fairies” but I think anyone who teaches equality law would be like that though.

Saturday and Sunday

Ummm I actually can’t remember what I did on Saturday! Oh yeah – we had this massive dinner with people from my aunt’s church at home. It was for the chinese mooncake festival thingy.

Sunday was the usual – Church followed by me raiding TK Maxx again. I think it’s gonna turn into this weekly ritual for me. Felt slightly better as I had bough some scarves – same one in 3 colours – and some hand cream.

Monday

Bad idea to carry my laptop in m Country Road bag – my shoulder killed afterwards and it’s a really awkward and big bag. I don’t think I’m gonna use it again. On the brighter side, typing is so much easier than writing.span>

Tuesday

Today was such a long day - I had a lecture from 1-2 and then I had to bum around till 6pm when I had to attend this talk held at the Royal Courts of Justice. One of my lecturers was speaking about mediation in civil cases in London. Our whole class when, haha it felt like an excursion and all around were all these stif-upper-lip looking old school English lawyers - aka fat, old, podgy men in black suits with really bad comb overs. I swear, if I ever become a lawyer, I'm so going to do the whole Legally Blonde thing and wear pink suits . . . or metallic gold with purple satin shirt . . . black is soooo boring.

By the time I got home, it was like 9pm and I was so exhausted. Mind you, I was still lugging around my laptop. On a good note, I managed to talk to this Asian guy in my class after the mediation talk. So maybe I'll make a new friend . . .

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
- English Proverb

Coyote hotness

Saturday 7.09.06
Ok, who never told me that Adam Garcia was so hot?! Was watching Coyote Ugly yesterday night and was like "OMG he's so hot!" Hahaha, it might also be due to the fact that he's Aussie and that I'm so deprived of anything that reminds me of home that my judgement may be a bit skewed. But the more I think about it, nah, he's still pretty damn cute.

He was originally from Wahroonga - geez, I didn't see guys like him round the north shore when I was in Sydney! Hotness . . .

OMG OMG OMG!! I was just doing some "researching" and I found out that he's in a play "Wicked" that's currently showing in the West End here in London!! I 've seen that this bloody poster in the tube stations countless times:


Now I just have to find someone to see it with.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!! I was just writing this and guess who called me?!?!?! Hahaha, if any of you are thinking Adam Garcia, get real, I probably would have passed out by now . . . nah, it was Jenny!!! Yay, at last, I'm no longer here by myself, well, for the next month at least. Hehehe, I forgot to ask here whether she would like to see a play while she's here *winks*

Ahem, yeah, well as you can see, I'm in a better mood today - a large part of it due to the fact that I can officially work (part-time) here now in England (ah, there was this whole hooha with my visa I had to sort out) but yeah, can start looking for a job now. Job = money = shopping = endorphins pumping = happier me! I don't really care bout the whole getting stressed with uni work, blah, am so over it - yes, it's gonna be mega hard with like closed book exams and all *raises eyebrow* but I've fudged it up to now and I think I'll probably be able to fudge one more year . . .

Oh a quite aside: only found out the other day that the emergency no here is 999 - you never realise how useless those fridge magnet thingies are until times like these.

So, an update of these last few days (yeah I know, sorry, been lazy again):

Friday 6.09.06
So today I had uni - the first lectures of the two classes I haven't had yet - Family law and Alternative Dispute Resolution. I've been feeling quite crappy/moody/down and outright depressed over these last few days (haha as you probably guessed anyway) so wasn't really looking forward to it all. It didn't help that it was raining (again) - one thing I hate more than taking public transport is taking public transport when it's raining - just plain nasty. It's the whole trying to balance your bags and books while trying to get the umbrella up and fumbling to get out your train ticket scenario - HATE IT. So finally made it onto the train - was in a shitty mood and it didn't help that I was listening to "So Sick" by Ne-yo on my Ipod, which reminded me of a certain person so did nothing to improve my mood.

ah i'm getting tired - will continue this post t'row . . .

Worry gives a small thing a big shadow.
- Swedish Proverb

Elvis phone home . . .

I feel like ET at the mo - trapped on some distant planet, surrounded by "aliens" and trying to figure out a way to get home. Thing is, I know that I'm gonna be "trapped" here for another nine months - which is a looooooooong way away considering I'm counting down day by day.

I know that I seem to complaining a lot and whining when in fact I have this "amazing opportunity to experience so many new things and chance to meet some wonderful new people" or so everyone keeps telling me. Well here's the reality of it all - my life SUCKS. It also doesn't help when I realised, after talking to a guy in my ADR class, that exams are pretty much closed-book exams - I was close to tears when I heard that. I've never done a closed-book law exam in my life and I have to start now, in my final year?! If I could turn back time, hands up who thinks I would have applied to go on exchange here? And one thing that I HATE, absolutely LOATHE, is when people complain about doing readings and how boring they were and then, when it comes to class, they are the very people who can have lengthy debates with the lecturer, cos obviously, they've done the readings, when right before class, they tell me that they haven't. ARGH!! You know why this pisses me off so much?! It's cos when I say I don't do my readings, I really don't do my readings . . . like, at all. People don't seem to understand my lack of enthusiasm for what I am doing. So note to everyone - please don't tell me that you haven't done any work, unless you REALLY haven't done any.

I've always not liked what I'm doing, in terms of my degree, but the difference before coming here was that I had everything else to keep me going back in Sydney- my friends, going out on the weekend, my favourite shopping joints - now, I still don't like what I'm doing, but worse still, I have nothing else to distract me.

Wise men talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
- Plato

Blogging

Sometimes I read other people's blogs and they make me smile. They genuinely sound so happy and content with their lives. They always have interesting insights. I don't know if this happens to other people, but during the day I always think of stuff I wanna put in my blog but when it actually comes to writing my blog, I completely forget what I wanted to write. So I probably had much more interesting things to say but I just can't remember . . .

No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong.
- Albert Einstein

Life evaluation Part 1

Wrote this really long rant, but decided against publishing it here. . . they were sentiments that I have imparted already and after reading it over myself, it really was just a product of my boredom and frustation at being here. Tomorrow is gonna be boring again as I don't have uni, but I might make the effort to drag my ass outside and go somewhere. I don't know yet, am so not bothered anymore . . .

I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
- Winston Churchill

The weekend's here again

I realised I didn't really post anything yesterday. Yeah but there wasn't really anything to say . . . spent the whole day at home again . . . did some more readings in between watching E! news and Fashion TV hehehe.

I think today I might head out to do some well-deserved shopping.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
- Anon

Misery oh misery

Down in the dumps today - I really wanna see the movie "The Devil Wears Prada" but just realised I have no-one to see it with. Now that's a depressing thought.


It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
- Edward de Bono

Tuesday = day in hell

We'll get to why later, but I'll start from the beginning:

Tuesday 26.09.06
Cos they don't do "course materials", I had to make a trip to the library to see if my luck was better today in locating those books I needed:

Impressive, but is a statue really necessary in a library?!

Entrance into the Economics section - there are double doors and I was wondering why when I was walking through them. Once I got inside, I knew why. It was DEADLY quiet. There were people in there but no-one made a sound. Was really bad cos I was wearing shoes that made those "click-click" sounds and as I was walking, people would look up.

So after photocopying what I needed (the stupid books were on those 3-hour loans so I couldn't take them out of the library) I had to haul-ass to my tax class. I really don't like that class as the people aren't really friendly and everyone basically gets to class right before it begins and leaves immediately after.

Then the horror begins - I had to trek the Waterstone's (a bookstore) to buy my textbooks which I was dreading cos there was a pack of legislation that I needed for tax and that consisted of four books which equals MEGA-heavy. I had to buy another book and I was already carrying one I needed for later on (alternative dispute resolution), so I ended up having to carry all this with me:

I got a coffee in the bookstore and sitting there, I wanted to cry. I, being a strictly no-backpack-wearing person, would have to carry all that in bags, through peak hour on the tube and also walk home as well. Oh, and I forgot to take a pic of the coffee. I only got a medium latte but that was the biggest glass I had ever seen!! Looked like it had nearly a litre of milk in it (and speaking of milk, they sell it in pints over here, which I thought was quite amusing, as I had always associated pints with beer).

So in the arvo, at 4, I had my ADR class. The people in this class were more friendly than the tax losers and when I got to the classroom (early), there was another dude there already and he started talking to me. Then another chick came in and she started talking as well (she was a French exchange student so it was hard to understand what she was saying. Nevertheless, I was like "Woah, I actually have a chance to have a normal conversation!" For those of you who don't realise, besides speaking to my family here, friends from home (over the net), I basically don't have a reason to speak so actually saying words out of my mouth and having someone at the other end listening felt so good.

When everyone was here, we had to do the whole introducing the person next to you to the class thing which I was actually looking forward to as it would be easier to talk to everyone from now on (oh, by the way, the class, like tax, is also very small. I think they don't admit very many people into law every year, probably just over 100). We had to say one interesting fact about ourselves and this one dude had said that he had been kicked by an emu. Everyone laughed and a lot of them looked at me (this was after I had been introduced and so they all know I'm Aussie). I'm thinking, "Why are you guys looking at me?! The last time I've seen an emu was when I was like in primary school!" But overall, I really enjoyed this class, which is encouraging as I am a type of person who either really likes a class or really hates it. And I was so proud of myself, I actually asked a question!!! Hahaha Deb will know what I mean when I say I don't usually say anything in law lectures . . . ever . . . most of the time cos I never do my readings and all my energy is being used to keep me awake. There is no space in my brain left to think of an intelligent question to ask.

Then the time which I was dreading arrived - home time. Lugging those books home is up there on my "10 worst lifetime experiences" list. By the time I set foot inside the front door, my fingers were all red and swollen from the plastic bags and I was sweating all over.


Wednesday 27.09.06
Today I tried to start doing some readings:

Books and folders scattered everywhere . . .

Oh I forgot to post something about Sunday (24.09.06) - I made my first two shopping purchases since getting here! I'm so excited:

Classic brown-leather heels: very scholarly-looking (looks great with my Tsubis)

A Sally Smith purse - was getting sick of my Fendi one and this one matches my handbag that I have back in Sydney!!

The thrilling excitement of shopping was just enough to get me through the two hours of church I had to endure afterwards. I try to make it seem like I'm thinking deeply but in reality, when I close my eyes during church, I'm nodding off.

A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.
- Don Corleone, in The Godfather