My dog ate my homework

The dark clouds that roll over London nowadays almost always bring light snow showers. The weather's been great, being someone who'd rather be too cold than too hot.

My earliest memories of childhood revolve around England, strangely enough. I was pretty much the only kid in my completely expatriate class that called Singapore home, but, as impressionable as I was, and still am, I apparently believed I was British simply because all my friends were. They'd go back to England for summer, and I believed that I would too. I suppose I was confused enough, my best friends were Scottish, Irish, and English, blue-eyed, brown-haired little girls with freckles, and I even sounded Scottish. Good thing I'm not though, I can't wait to go home for the holidays.

I should be drawing up a plan to use the last few weeks of term to manage my time as efficiently as possible; to meet all the deadlines with undue stress and make the most of the remaining tutorial classes...yea right.

Can someone please explain to me how to play Runescape? I'm completely lost and have died three times in the last fifteen minutes - one time I wandered out into the wilderness and got smacked by some psycho who wouldn't leave me alone, and then picked on a goblin or two a couple of times and lost. It's frustrating. I know I could get seriously addicted to this game if I could learn to play it, so some help would be fully appreciated. Muaxx.

A rosy glow

Gosh where do I start...

Okay, well on Wednesday, Weng was lured up a day early with the promise of live football. Have I ever told you how funny it is watching a bunch of guys watch football together? They soon develop the same reactions as each other:

Goal - hands go up, a big cheer
Offside - one hand comes up, points at the screen, and insults the ref/linesmen.
Bad tackles - swears at the offending player or the ref for being biased
Roy Carroll catching the ball - everybody holds their breath and winces, and then there's even more swearing at Carroll for spilling.

Zhen Hao's fully entertaining to watch football with, he has a varied repertoire of vulgarities at his fingertips. A guy supporting ACMilan standing behind us was doing all of the above in Italian - that was quite scary.

Then Thursday was spent worrying slightly about Reach.

Friday I dragged most of my household out with me to buy foundation - the girls were the only ones supposed to come but the guys tagged along anyway, and picked up a French Manicure kit on the way.

So that French Manicure set promised salon-perfect nails in 2 Easy Steps, right? But eight hours later and about 17 repaints, I was still struggling. Maybe I'm just malcoordinated, but people should really gives girls more credit for their nail-painting skills. Weng thinks that's why girls are generally perceived by public opinion (he was very careful with his words otherwise I'd open a can of feminist whoopass on him) to be dumber than guys, because the fumes kill their brain cells.

Anyhow, by Saturday afternoon, after poisoning Weng for 8 hours, I had finally got it, albeit not the perfect finish I wanted, but beautifully done nails really finish off the outfit. Then started panicking a little more. Started getting ready two hours before I was supposed to be there but still ended up about half and hour late.

Great night though. It's such an honour working with all the talented he's and she's there that evening, and of course, all for charity. I feel so pink inside. But really I had so much fun, and everybody did an amazing job. The performances were flawless, even if some were a touch loud, and the audience was wonderfully patient.

High of the night: Pulling the Kai Leng Minogue stunt, thanks Kai Leng, for being so game about it all.
Low of the night: The sheer embarrassment after screaming at everyone to shut up, I really do apologise.
My favorite performance: Marcus Lim's act - great laughs there.

I have to say though, I was going to burst into tears after Everything's Not Lost and so worried that Jon and I would have to pull off a long dialogue afterwards with me even more incoherent than normal. Good thing the set change went so smoothly, and well done to the heart-wrenching delivery of that item.

Weng, hunny, thanks so much for keeping me on an even keel through the night!

Busy like a bee

Rehearsals yesterday went pretty much as predicted, mostly behind schedule and a little messy, but from what I can see it's shaping up to be one helluva show this Saturday, everybody's act looks great, and the committee have done an amazing job pulling this off in such a short time. Very professional and very efficient - our Singaporean kinsmen would be proud! Kudos to them.

And oh boy, what a match! Liverpool's the only English side that has won their game this week. I can't wait for the reverse leg next next week. I still can't believe they lost. Are the European teams that much better? So when players say they want to be in the 'best league in the World: the EPL', they're really only talking about the money and media huh? But whoa, what a match!

Schools a'calling, and yes, Cheryl, the pineapple tarts are good. They won't go mouldy, it's like three degrees here.

Warning: Moodswing Imminent

+grr+ right now I just want to punch something.

In Liverpool's defence

(No pun intended, although they really need it seeing as they let that last last goal in - SO stupid.)

Why is Liverpool 2-0 up such a surprise? That's where they belong, 2-0 up even with a 'decimated' team. Liverpool kicked ass right up to that very last blip. I hadn't dared hope actually. Maybe Tish is right, I can't watch any Liverpool match or even think about it. Here I was rooting for Arsenal against Munich and look at where they're standing (of both teams). Haha. Go Liverpool!

Post #2

Haha, i finally found my username and password to blog...=p

How often im goin to blog and add to my grand total of blogs of...ONE... is another question altogether...

Although right now i would like to say that Liverpool up two to nothing is quite - whoa. lol.

So greetings from Southampton! It's cold. Then again when is Southampton never cold? *sigh* Another 2/3 days of snowfall should make my room feel relatively hot.

I can't believe I'm missing Champions League matches, makes me wish I was back in KL so I can get the choice of wanting to watch football or not =p

Oh yeah and thankyou to all the people out there who allow me to have more profile views than Ash even though up to now I've only posted one miserable post =p

High on chilli oil...excuse my smileys =D

February flakes

Snow is beautiful to watch and even more fun to play with after its fallen, but walking through it as it falls sucks. Especially here in London where it suddenly changes from lighter-than-air, romantically elegant ice-crystals into ungainly and gravitationally-inclined splodges of water two feet above street level.

How do Asians talk?

That's the first time anyone's told me to talk 'like an Asian', and even if it's coming from an anonymous coward, it's still something that intrigues me. Sure, I get a lot of questions like "Why do you talk like that?" or "How come you have an accent?", but no one's actually ever turned around and told me to stop talking the way I do.

Does sounding un-Asian make me any less of one? Maybe people are bothered because it seems like I'm such a wannabe, changing my accent to be more 'Westernised', maybe they feel I'm betraying my roots.

Do they want to hear the lilting traces of Mandarin or Malay in the way I speak English, despite the fact that I cannot claim to speak either language with any sort of competence? Besides, they don't really go. The stresses on the different syllables are all wrong and misplaced. Haven't you heard that? Oriental languages are so musical and dance ever so exotically upon your ear drum. English, as spoken by the British, is a near monotone, while Americanised English's distinct nasal twang is one you either love or loathe.

Besides, is there even such a thing as sounding Asian? The Japanese and Koreans sound completely different to one another, as do the Indonesians from the Malaysians or Mongolians. Asia's such a diverse continent of cultures that you can't sound truly Asian until you've absorbed a little of every dialect and let it seep into the way you speak English. Sounds like a right headache, if you ask me, I have enough trouble putting coherent sentences together to worry about what I sound like. English is such a complicated language, why make it worse?

Spring went back to bed

I never paid as much attention to weather forecasts until I got here. I guess in K.L. everyday's hot with rain on the side. Weng got swept up by the uncertainty and excitement of British weather, so the weather page bookmark is one of his most overused.

Anyhow, the turn in weather is predicted to last another week with wonderfully spring-like lows of about zero degreesC. Whatever it is, it'll bring me one week closer to going home. But I wish it would snow and snow heavily, none of this sleet crap. Then again, the whole of London would grind to a standstill, especially, haha, the Underground.

We tried making pan mee last night. Mg, it was pretty good actually. I've never been more impressed. It's so dry over here that the dough kept drying out and it got harder and harder to pull the noodles thinner.

That's it for now. Evan, wait for it, I'll send you a postcard soon. Haha.

Four more weeks

Basically I'm still ill, feeling really not good. I don't get sick much so when it hits me, it hits hard. Anyhow, with about a week's worth of work due and me paying dearly for not keeping up to date with my lab book, I got this:

Isn't it beautiful? I had almost forgotten how the most simple things like that can really lift my day.
That and my mum called. Our conversations are always post-worthy, so this was no exception:

Mum: Hello? How are you feeling, got fever or not?
Me: Hi mum, I'm in class...
Mum: You skipped class is it?
Me: Um, no mum, I'm in class.
Mum: Huh, really? Oh... oops. Oh dear.
Me: No, it's okay, the lesson just ended
Mum: Oh okay, so how? Since you're sick now you start taking vitamin C, is it? When you're not sick you don't have to take, is it? How many are you popping now? The whole bottle is it? Aiyo, if you take a panadol and the fever comes back after four hours make sure you see a doctor! Don't get sick now, please, ok? Where's my pineapple tarts? Still haven't collected? And we were so excited about sending you pineapple tarts!...

And the instructions and scolding carried on. It was quite funny, but it felt so good to hear her voice, although I must've spent my whole A levels wishing I could escape the nagging as soon as possible.

And yes, I'm guilty of bulking up on vitamin C tablets only when I'm ill and feeling completely sorry for myself, otherwise it slips my mind on any other day. There was lemon juice on Yu Sang, followed by lemon chicken, and then a lemon tart for desert by sheer coincidence. I tried to fight for my chocolate eclairs, but Weng won that one and they were returned to the shelf until my throat gets better.

Splurts

I sincerely apologise for the 'bite me' tone of the last couple of posts for everyone looking for literary material akin to prozac.

I also think that the only way to really get a blog off the ground in terms of hits and all that is to make it look like a picture book/magazine, however Rudy condemns it. People just don't come back when there's nothing to point at and think "Gawd, that's an awful (insert object)".

There are two types of people in this world: The ones who don't listen, and the ones who listen but ignore it anyway.

We were lulled into a sweetly deceiving sense of spring-time security with the first few blooms, and then got caught out by the bitter cold. Mother Nature has had the last laugh.

The shower fixing in my bathroom is like a medieval morning glory, the water goes everywhere but down. Sorry, I stand corrected, it goes everywhere and then down, along the wall outside. I need to find sealant.

There's a whole bunch of kids running and jumping around upstairs and I'm very sure that at least three of them are obese. Or it's a pogo-stick testing ground.

I really miss my dog.

Fly me to the moon

I feel so ill. Everything's catching up to me.

My groupmate and I spent most of the morning talking about a very detailed manufacturing plan based on nothing but guesswork and a little advice, struggling to confidently say, 'Yes, this is exactly how to make it". By our estimates, it could take anywhere between two hours and four months to make the bearing housing for our centrifugal pump, and we're not even sure half of the plan is physically possible.

Listening to us talk, one of my lecturers professed a fear of getting into an aeroplane knowing that people like us built it or designed it. Here are some fun facts for you to take along on your next long haul flight:

1. The temperature of the gas coming out of the combustion engine is, at 14oodegC, way above and beyond the melting temperature of every single metal and metal alloy known to man. Four of those babies sit right under the wing.
2. About 3mm of Aluminium is all that seperates you from the big blue.
3. Flying into the wake of another plane pretty much accounts for all of the crashes caused by "mysterious circumstances". Turbulence, my ass.
4. The next time you get away with overloaded baggage, think about how many other people managed that as well, and then add the Americans.

Reality bites

I’ve resolved to start writing all my posts in Word prior to publishing because of the disgraceful number of grammatical errors that Weng finds every time he reads it and the excessive number he doesn’t find. How embarrassing. It feels like my dyslexia is worsening under the onslaught of age I think, not sure about that, I’ll have to ask Tish, haha. I jest.

I’m so bored. I want to watch more Desperate Housewives, only that if I do, Weng will protest and I’m not really supposed to have the time anyway. More selfishly, I’ll run out of episodes to sneak off Darren’s laptop and be even more bored afterwards. Sex and the City runs like a dissertation in microeconomic management after Desperate Housewives. It’s going to be the next ‘Friends’ I tell you.

I talked to my sister today for the first time in a month or so. I know that’s a long time to not talk to my dear sister, but my family practice a kind of ‘tough love’ – not to say that we’re unsentimental, we’re just all sarcastic butts. Our affection is primarily reflected in the effort we put into the complexity and wittiness of our insults.

Cheryl was regaling me with stories of Chinese New Year at Grandma’s, how she’s tricked our 2 year old cousin Nick into doing whatever she says, mostly about how many times my brother, Bryan was humiliated. Moral of the story: Toddlers are lethal weapons and don’t leave your underwear lying around when your massively extended family is over, otherwise said toddler will grab aforementioned underwear and run around the house showing everybody.

Anyhow, that conversation ended quickly when mum got home late from a girls’ night out and busted her ass. I miss home.

Valentine's

Oh man, Monday has completely wiped me out. I'm so glad Weng stayed on so I had someone to come home to, especially on Valentine's. I know I was a little cranky, but after three hours of completely useless lab work (it could've been done in two, max) I was so ready to bite anyone's head off. Ended up apologizing to Weng over and over again. I'll apologize some more later +winkwink+ lol.

It's been a quiet evening of the best kind I think. Dinner, ice cream, and three episodes of Desperate Housewives back to back. Ideal.

Tish sent me a bit of an economics paper that was written in the most blah language ever. It takes so much effort remembering and understanding each word that whole sentences mean absolutely jack by the time you get to the fullstop. I'm glad us engineers deal in Greek symbols, I don't think I can handle such massive vocab. Numbers are a much more efficient way of saving valuable memory.

Also, if you've noticed, the Anti-Ash is back, and it's starting to get interesting again, but I really don't know who she's referring to. Absolutely clueless and totally curious too. Please, I beg of you, enlighten me.

Like children again

Wow, that was a helluva weekend. Better than most in recent weeks, probably the best.

People quite literally came from all over the country to be at this CNY party. The Londoners were heavily outnumbered by the Warwickians, and there was a rabble of voices as old friends and new faces were welcomed with equal warmth and affection.

I've really taken for granted all the years in KL where all these people used to be a car ride away, now it's a four hour train journey, or a in some cases, a seven hour, overnight bus ride just to catch a glimpse of them. Anyhow, it was so good seeing them, and nostalgia set in quite quickly, some of it in the form of an absolutely hilarious drinking game.

Getting the alcohol out of the way early (who drinks at 6pm? I swear time passes slower out there) was a good idea actually, because it meant that everyone else was game for karaoke about three hours later. Tish tried to halt proceedings by hiding a bottle of whisky but it was returned by his uncle soon after. With a mike in hand, Evan, as usual, was completely in his element,and he definitely caught more than a couple of girls' attentions.

The fireworks display was incredible. As one person put it, "They're such a waste of money, but God do I love them!". It was magical standing on the freezing porch with nothing but one slipper to stand on (I had given the other side to Nat), with your nearest and dearest friends all around you, enjoying the lights and the noise with all the innocence of childhood.

Poker featured quite heavily, but there were no monetary transactions, so people pretty much only played for their egos, intimidation, the white chips and trying to outbet each other in terms of audacity and sheer luck.

Of course no reunion goes without its undercurrents and shocks, and this was no exception, but at least there were people to offer and ear or a comforting hug to ease the troubles some what. I can't believe that I can actually say I've known these people for a decade. A decade, and for all the ups and downs we've had, I still love them all so much!

Muddy streets and ambulance sirens

Got home from Southampton today, and for all its wailing sirens and grubby sidewalks, I've really missed London. The few days out were good though, I got to catch up on a lot of work - don't know how much more I've got though, I'll probably find out tomorrow.

Had a wonderfully improvised steamboat dinner last night, stuffed ourselves until we were bursting at the seams, so today'll be a very simple meal as soon as we can be bothered to go to Sains. After two and a half hours of travelling, I'm too tired to move. I don't know how Weng does this every week.

Day one of the deception has started. Darren's carefully moved out - the house looks and feels kinda empty. Fong May's stressing out quite a bit, the last I heard, but I'm sure it should go fine. They're only here for two days or so.

Darkthrone's been absorbed into the daily routine now. It's called up an incredible amount of ingenuity in terms of managing 350 clicks a day without getting carpal tunnel, resource management, and profit maximisation.

Back to school tomorrow.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

To my dearest friends and family,

Have a wonderful and prosperous new year, filled with good food, good company, and good times. May the Year of the Rooster hold nothing but the best things for you and your loved ones, and stay safe. Know that I think of you always.

Love,
Ash

Fat girlfriends

Keyword search.

+roflmao+

I suppose it's a fair reflection...

Here's a story for you though, to liven up my otherwise dull afternoon:

Once upon a time, there was a boy of 20-going-on-30, and I told him, that's right, I told him that he'd be eligible one day. Who wouldda known that day is today? (More accurately though, the past week.) But yea...I told you!

Anyhow, the lucky lady hot on his heels is slowly but surely casting out her fishing line, her pontoon net, her longline net, and several fire-hardened bamboo spears in a bid to ensnare this highly desirable gentlemen. The very gentleman that caught her eye with his smooth ways, witty repartee, and, need I say, dashing good looks.

Will she succeed, or will she have nought but the shattered fragments of her virginal heart to cry over?

Can't wait to find out? Me neither.

Cravings

Char kway teow

Barbequed chicken wings

Pan mee

Lobak

Nasi lemak

Wan tan mee

Fried wan tan

Butter fried prawns

Chilli crab

Buttermilk crab

Fried fish

Japanese tofu

Red bean soup

Ikan bakar

Spring rolls

Lomaikai

Charsiewpao

Apom

Sarawak mee

Just in, from Southampton

I've decided to run, run from it all, but with my thermofluid notes in hand, because I also can't afford to slack. My groupmate makes four times as much is necessary work for himself and then blames everyone else for his apparent lack of effectual time management; and he's bossy and a great big whiny pot. +Grr+. So here I am, in Southampton, on the eve of the quietest Chinese New Year ever.

The first day of the new year, usually a day filled with noise, "oh my gawd, you're so big!" (I never know how to properly respond to that), and my grandmother's cooking, will pass without so much as a blip. Maybe a nice dinner for Weng and I, and some shopping, but that's about it. I really wish I could go home. I don't remember last year being this bad.

Ctrl, Alt, Delete

It's back to the grindstone as of today. I predict a grand total of two or three 'normal' days and then there'll be another deadline, another project, and another chunk of lost time.

I think some people need to feel like they're under a lot of pressure with a lot of things to do all the time. I suppose it makes the feeling of finishing the damn thing a lot more satisfying. But I really wish they wouldn't tell me the exaggerated version, I like things in neat blocks with checkboxes. Some people really make more work for themselves.

A pocket much lighter

I'm looking forward to next weekend, Chinese New Year at Tishen's, when the food and the company is twice as good as per usual, if that's even possible. It's been ages since I went to any kind of gathering this big, it's a little intimidating.

This is what's been happening so far:

Dralion was a beautiful tapestry of motion, music, and colour. Classic stuff. The Royal Albert is HUGE, we were on the top tier, the feeling of vertigo was almost overwhelming.

Richmond was fun, Monopoly over and over again. Nat and Tom should have their own show - The Not-Yet Weds, they're great entertainment. Tish always wins no matter what strategy he uses - he's a money-making machine! Weng's got a new name - Captain "Oh-Oh", which stands for Obvious/Oblivious. We were totally at our corniest this whole weekend.

I guess that seeing everybody again after what feels like so long makes you realise how much you've missed them.

Also got summoned to court by the Council Tax people, we've been too slow sending in our student letters. Gotta go in Monday to try and sort it out. Buggerit.

The Tower of London

The stone stairways wound upwards in a tight corkscrew, seeming endless, and definitely cramped. I was torn between needing more space to walk so that I wouldn't keep headbutting Weng's backpack and not wanting to lose sight of him around the corner, so I compromised by running into him over and over again when I did lose sight of him and panicked. It's hard sprinting up spiral staircases when there's someone in front of you, and I definitely didn't want to go first. You never know, there could be like, ghosts or something.

We saw 900 years of history in four hours and came face to face with the Tudor world of conspiracies, false charges, mystery, murder, and beheadings. So glam. We also took five 30 second movies which was basically Weng talking to himself and filming buildings and archways, and about a hundred pictures of buildings, archways, and armor. I'll put them up later.

It was a pretty cool place. Really...castle-y, and very interesting. The guides were awesome, if only they taught medieval-Stewart-Tudor history like that in school.

Me, having the asthetic appreciation of a magpie, was thrilled by the Crown Jewels (Darren, Evan, don't even think about it!) and as Weng put it "Wah, I didnt know there were so many!" . There was enough gold in one room to sink an armada, and enough diamonds to outshine Vegas. All that stuff must've weighed a frickin tonne. The Royal family are a lot stronger than we give them credit for, I think.

Walked under a huge portcullis that take thirty men to raise and lower, was told that Errol Flynn did it with one hand and got an Oscar for it, and basically revelled in every piece of history that seeped out of its cold stone walls. I have never enjoyed history so much.

Walkin on sunshine

OhmygoodnessIactuallydon'thavetostudytoday...that's the first thing I thought after I handed in my paper. You think these progress tests were stressful? Wait for the finals. It'll probably be a good solid month and a half of whining.

The really sick thing is that it feels wierd sitting here not doing anything. The compulsion to do a tutorial, something, anything has washed through me a couple of times this afternoon and I almost almost picked up a pen and my file, in between White Chicks (omg, they're SO ugly) and Darkthrone (such a GOOD game)

We're actually going to do something fun tomorrow. I get to go out for like the first time in 3 weeks. Actually, I'm looking really forward to being able to sleep properly for the first time in 3 weeks. But yes, tomorrow's plan: Tower of London and then Covent Garden.

Friday's plan: Dralion at the Royal Albert, and possibly Evan's if he decides to come in from York, Tish'll join us and hopefully so will Nat and Tom.

There's no better way to celebrate than with friends! I'm so happy they're over!

More seriously, I'll be twenty in six weeks...I'm completely shocked, when did the big "two-zero" creep up like that?

Equate my life

It's 3pm on a glorious Tuesday afternoon, and I'm done with exams. Now if only it weren't for that EIC paper tomorrow morning; I can hardly bear another evening of studying, I've had enough.

My spine is now permanently kinked at the right height to sit at an Argos Malibu desk, and my right hand been reduced to a useless claw. Fine, so I do write an excessive amount of notes, but I don't know how to learn any other way.

"So if there's a force, F, applied to a rotating machine of mass, M, causing the springs to fail at point A on a Goodman line, where it intersects with shark, s. Add x to mc/2, integrate over two regions, R and I, then mxdoubledot + cxdot + kx = 0, and equivalent stress is a pyjama party of monkeys." - That's the current state of my mind, full of equations that probably started out as something important, but are now a tangled mess of operators and variables.

Like wires. No matter how nicely you can arrange them, they dance back into a seething bundle of angry black wires and plugs that look like one of those 3D pictures that make your eyes cross and your head hurt.

The only thing I can make sense of is Darkthrone. I'm moving up the board slowly but surely, and so what if my profile reads "member of the See-lee-see-men and Monkeys", it should be "proud member of the See-lee-see-men and Monkeys". Who wants some cool name like The Wolf Clan, or Deathblades. See-lee-see-men has as much schiinnngg (think silvery, sharp samurai sword) as Deathblades.