A glimmer of hope

When Weng has to jump in and write something, you know that the frequency and quality of my posts are fading fast. Desperate times call for desperate measures, one of which seems to be called 'Weng's corner'. I made him guest blogger almost two years ago and I think it's high time he started contributing. I'm quite relieved actually, he's pretty entertaining if you give him half a chance.

I've always thought of Weng as a suppressed spirit for the following reasons:

1. He used to study Econs and Management
2. Now he's studying Econs and Finance
3. He reads FT in his spare time
   
4. He jumps at every opportunity to make something with colorful bits of card and glue
5. He air drums
6. He actually likes to goofy-dance a lot for someone who claims he doesn't dance

This should get much more interesting

Watch this space...

That's right, watch this space. I have decided right now at 9:17pm, a new 'Weng's corner' shall be established. At the moment, I have but all of three posts (including this one...hmm, I think it's three).

This (my resolution to blog) is partly driven by the fact that my other half has recently been 'busy'. Busy = noticeably less postings. QED by Rudy. Reconfirmed by Ash.

What i'm going to talk about, I have absolutely no clue...Southampton isn't exactly happening EXCEPT that a "world class research laboratory" on campus just blew up early Sunday morning. Cause of fire yet unknown. Search on BBC:England for more info. Approximate rebuild cost, 25million quid. *choke*

AND because it so happens to be opposite my Economics department/building, my department has been closed until further notice. All lectures and tutorials scheduled to be held inside are therefore cancelled. Unfortunately, I have no lectures or tutorials in my building =( *argh*

FT headlines: Healthier cereals help Kellogg's bottom line

lol.

It's been a while

I think it's really sad when good friends have to resort to small talk.
How've you been, how's work, how's uni?
And when asked, you struggle for an answer that they could possibly relate to.
Oh y'know, it's been tough, long hours, so many deadlines. How about you?
And you wish you could've told them every high
Yea, remember that project I was telling you about? We're ahead of schedule, can you believe it?!
or low since you last saw them.
There's this person who's been on my back about everything, it's really bugging me.
But instead you talk about other small things.
The weather's been freezing lately eh?
And other small things.
So how're the applications going?
And you only call each other when you really really need to, like when you're angry
Omg, I heard that...did you really say those things?!
Or when you need something
Gosh, you know I actually need a favour.
And I guess we don't have the time to call and say
Hey I was just thinking about you, I've missed you
I wish it weren't so.
Right, ttyl.

A wasted weekend

This is by far the worst week of FF, officially. I have 22 points! Omg!

Yesterday was pretty depressing all round. Crap weather (I think) or it just could've been my mood. Most probably my mood.

I realise again that humour is such a rare commodity that it's missing in many people and their egos are just there to get them upset. I mean it's a joke told two years ago, and definitely not directed at you, now see if you can fit your head through the door on the way out.

The Nottingham netball format is knockout this year. What a retarded system. Yes, let's travel four hours to play 16 minutes of netball. Now I know how the basketball guys feel.

Argh. (Insert profanity).

We win

When I thought I would never be playing this much netball, it turns out that the training and the matches never seem to end. In explanation of "the pain starts Tuesday", my tagline of the week on MSN, Tuesday is training night and match day is usually right after, which means it hurts to hell and back come Thursday.

We won our match yesterday against RVC who have to be the most sporting team I've ever played against in any sport. They gave us oranges at half time and sent us to and from the train, and they were just so nice about us beating them. If we'd lost, they'd've probably only got a sullen handshake out of me.

But winning didn't put me on such a high. It was satisfying but not mindblowing. We played hard but there were a lot of mistakes as well, mistakes I hope we'll manage to put away come the next game on Monday night. RVC were as new as us in a way so the next matches'll probably only get harder.

And the refs were kinda fair. The toss-ups were going the Vets' way as were the replayed fouls but they weren't blatantly unfair, it could've been worse.

My sister's backup course is Mech Eng (good choice, top course in the country). Imperial College has been rated 5th in the world according to the Times publication of technological institutions, awesome stuff. Talk about collegiate pride.

At the end of the walkway

Huxley is like a warren. One of those nightmarish places where every narrow, door-lined corridor you turn down looks exactly like the one before. The windows are dingy and high up and the classrooms are small and claustrophobic filled with these oversized tables that are impossible to get around. The doors have a pane of frosted glass with a tiny unfrosted circle in the centre for you to peer through, a little like those high-risk wings for the terminally insane.

Huxley is the place where they teach math and computer science and it is apparently the place where they keep the girls. And so many of them too.

Fiesty buggers

I have just spent an hour and a half working on ONE MSD question, even though I had my housemates in the struggle along with me, it wasn't a particularly enjoyable 90minutes, so if you have a machine that looks like a box on four springs, do NOT call us. Or at least me, because the ever resilient Godwin is still at it.

The ant infestation worsens. They got into my beautiful loaf of crusty white UNOPENED bread. These ants are amazing. You never catch them in transit but they're always there, crawling on your plate, on the wall in front of you, in your food, or drowned in your cup of water. Argh. Bloody ants. Die you fiends.

"Where's our washing machine?" We ask.
"Be patient and hope." He says.

mg.

Gripe

I'm lazy to write because I'm just too lazy to think. Don't worry, it's like that for various reports as well.

Every two weeks or so I go through a homesick phase. I really miss my dog. Not because I love my dog more than the rest of my family, but because wherever she is, the rest of them are too. I look forward to Christmas.

There's this redemption offer on Enrich points that got us really excited, but apparently it's not applicable to our flight back this Christmas. That's really crap. We could've been in Business but we're down in row 40something near the toilets instead. Should the back of the plane fall off, we're there. I guess I should be thankful that we even have a flight home in December. I guess. 12 hours next to the toilet.

I have a lot of work to do as usual, but I'm not working fast enough I think. I waste far too much time telling myself what I should be doing, so everything'll creep up and bite me in the ass in about two weeks, at which point I'll be really annoyed.

Hobbies: ant squashing

We're two days shy of a month into our tenancy and we still don't have a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner, Godwin has had to improvise with the coffee table because his desk still hasn't come, and the kitchen door has not been fixed.

The lady in the office plays solitaire all day, the porter is always watching t.v. or making a move to go and sleep, and the cleaning lady that mans the desk when the porter is resting doesn't have a clue either.

And we're being attacked by pharoah ants. The pest people set up poison in the kitchen, so the ants have moved into my room, and although we don't actually see them attacking Weng's candy or marmite biscuits, I've nevertheless stopped bringing food into my room, and hope that some people will leave their candy and biscuits in the kitchen maybe...ahem.

I'm still here

A two hour nap yesterday afternoon left me a couple of hours in bed last night with time to think in that half asleep phase when your best ideas come to you. Because I was half asleep however, I've forgotten all of them.

A round up of yesterday's happenings:

Goldsmiths 2nds forfeited the match. Although it was just in time to save us making the journey there, we were really disappointed, but a win is a win. Next week we're playing at Potters Barn which is in the north and outside Zone 6.

I was flicking through the ULU netball leagues and the Medics' teams are a lot stronger than the IC ones. Also given that IC 1sts were beaten 33-9 in the Premier Div, I am slightly worried. IC 3rds have finished in the bottom half of the div 4 table for the last couple of years.

Another win to Liverpool, great stuff. Too bad we're struggling to figure out the Premiership.

Much to do

Fresher's flu has hit Weng for the third year in a row. The poor guy spent most of the weekend complaining about how crappy he was feeling. Thankfully a few more days of rest should see it out okay though.

Back to another Monday with another list of errands to run. Planning for the future and getting my butt in gear about job applications is proving harder than anticipated. My lit. research paper is a bit start-stop, my sustainable engineering paper hasn't started at all, and the assignment list grows longer and longer. Woot.

With a twinge of regret

Wow, another church Sunday as Godwin likes to call them. It sure has come around really quickly. Weekends exist in other dimensions, so all that shows up in this one is a hint of a break, something completely insubstantial and made up by people to stop Friday running full tilt into Monday.

It's all in your head and you start to realise the conspiracy when Saturday becomes a wisp of a memory, a mere suggestion of day, and all you spend Sunday doing is worrying about Monday.

But I do remember last night, and I think all the effort put into arranging it really paid off, so well done you guys! I'd also like to thank our seniors for letting everyone eat KFC, drop crisps, and drink beer all over their lounge.

I think football nights are gonna be awesome. Champions League this week!

Surprise surprise

I remember glancing through the first tutorial of the year with a mildly interested 'is it even possible?' before shutting the handout away in my file.

Now I'm staring at that tutorial and the additional ones we received this week in blank misery. Ohshitohshitohshitohshit, was the best I could come up with last night, and the filtered grey of a new morning hasn't improved matters much.

It's also supposed to be Skirt Day. Yes, the female Mech Engineers have to make it a point to remind ourselves and our colleagues that we are, indeed, female. I've already seen pockets of resistance, as they throw off the yoke of two years of hoodies, jeans, and sneakers, coming to college a bundle of defiance wrapped in taffeta scarves and dainty slippers.

So excuse me while I rummage in my cupboard for a wearable skirt and then work up a headache accessorizing it. It also happens to be the coldest day of the week.

Run again?! Run again!!

Netball training was fun. I realised how unfit I was when, after the 12th dash down the length of the court, my heart was making this peculiar humming noise as it worked to push oxygen to my flagging muscles.

I made 3rds if that's what you're wondering, and yes, even though there are only three teams, I'm damn happy just to have a chance to run my legs off. And we get a cute kit. The fight to get into 2nds begins I suppose. We almost beat them today actually. Great stuff. First match is next Friday.

The Notebook

I just finished it, finally, and omg is it a movie to watch.

I started crying twenty minutes in and didn't stop until the very end. It renews your belief in true love and devotion in such an impatient, cynical world. What a story. I definitely shouldn't've watched it alone. +sigh+

Weng, baby, I love you so much.

Note worthiness

The literature project's taking off nicely, and I think I'm really starting to settle back into the swing of college, even if all the classes are still overflowing with students. I'm waiting for people to hurry up and decide so I don't have to stand through another lecture. It's hard to concentrate on what the guy's saying when your feet are throbbing at you. At least if you sit, you only get a numb butt half way through reminding you to switch cheeks. (Too much was said there, perhaps.)

Italian was good fun today. The excitement of learning a new language probably isn't going to let me think negatively of the class until I start to really struggle with coursework. I wonder how much they can really make you write because apparently we get our first piece two weeks in, which is about five contact hours away. That's really intimidating actually.

Anyhow, we're still riding on the good mood of our porter and the absent mind and sometimes absent body of our flat manager for the furniture, a copy of the contract, and the washing machine. At least the microwave came today. Yay.

I have no book to read. No, that's not true. I actually have several.

I have a book entitled 'High performance materials in aerospace' and another dusty tome bearing the words 'Engineering composite materials'. And then there's Weng's copy (which he left) of 'Daily Bread' and lastly my Italian textbook, 'Contatti 1'.

The first two are so old looking I'm afraid to check that they're even written in English, and Contatti's in Italian (no shit), so this is like God's way of telling me I should spend more time in spiritual contemplation I think. It's not too bad, I'm already way ahead of Weng on our attempts at Bible study, even without a Bible. Aha.

And I watched two episodes of CSI today. I find the series so morbidly fascinating I can't help but put myself through the agony of another wide-eyed, stare at the shadows all-nighter.

Exhaustion is a constant

Weng's timetable changed, giving him Fridays off. Given that he'll be in London more, we've set up my extra desk to give him his own study area.

We're still chasing the porter for the other pieces of furniture. This country has a "I'll see what I can do later" culture, "later" indicating a time frame of the next week to within the next two months, and "I'll see" being a vague promise of "later", which really isn't very promising at all.

I want to watch the Blackadder DVD that Ti lent me but my computer's so backdated it can't play DVDs, and Weng's computer is simply refusing to cooperate.

It's a beautiful Sunday though.

3.5cm too short

Cheryl, if you want to be a pilot that's great. You're also right on the grounds that you should finish your degree first and then see if you're still game for it because I tell you, when I graduate I probably won't feel like doing much - I'm so tired!

But about you, not me, maybe the four years will give you some time to grow and maybe you will, although 3.5cm is quite a bit to expect. You can talk about becoming a pilot again after you graduate, okay?

Love Ash

P.S. Did Chay put you up to this?!

A birthday wish

I'm posting this now on the assumption that it will eventually be read on the right day at the right time in the right time zone.

A very special happy birthday to Sean and Rudy who are always so accommodating in my moments of despair, boredom, frustration, and happiness; who never tell people their right age and make themselves seem one year older such that I don't even know how old they really are; and who grow more dear to me with every passing day.

I love you guys! Have a great day!

Attack of the squirrels: Part II

The first week's been easy but long. I've been mildly stressing about my 3rd year projects but now that they're settled I feel relieved. Thankfully I managed to get the titles I wanted and I look really forward to working with my hover-board team.

Now I need to think about my option courses. Fluid mechanics is at the bottom of the list above C++ and microprocessers only because it's taught in English, even if just barely. I'm hoping the rest of the courses work out so I won't have to do it.

I really cannot wait for my language classes to start, and whether or not I get a place in project management is still uncertain, but it's that or politics.

Okay, I'm done boring you with 3rd year Mech Eng. I do have a good story though, about Weng and squirrels (again).

Weng's still harboring a slight phobia from when a squirrel assaulted him in the first year, so I have to admit I was feeling a little uneasy when we sat down with our lunch in Kensington Gardens only to be greeted by seven or eight inquisitive squirrels and pigeons that converged on our bench. The pigeons lost interest pretty quickly but several squirrels felt it necessary to climb onto the back of the bench to get a better look at what we were eating.

When they saw no food was being volunteered, they quickly shifted their attention to a huddle of tourists that were sharing their bag of Cheetos. Squirrels love Cheetos and gladly obliged when they were encouraged to climb up the tourists' legs to get the proffered kernel.

Weng was not so happy when the tourists left and one enterprising squirrel tried to pull the same trick on him in hopes of something yummy. So there we were being intimidated by a squirrel who had launched itself onto Weng's knee and was chittering a demand for some of his bento.

Thankfully the squirrel left before Weng had to take action i.e. swat the poor animal, which I'm glad he didn't because it might've got messy had the squirrel decided to call in other squirrelly reinforcements.

Kensington Gardens is a beautiful park in the classy Kensington area with award-winning greenery and serene paths, an oasis of peace in the middle of a bustling city. It boasts a lake frequented by swans, rolling lawns, and a petting zoo of vermin.

I could use a little fuel myself

There are quite a few courses to choose from this year but since I'm crap at programming, half of them have been effectively eliminated.

Guillotine has finally come (yay Royal Post) but none of the furniture or appliances we were promised by the flat manager (boo flat manager). Our neighbours across the hall have kindly let us borrow their washing machine.

Year 3 is pretty much clicking into place as classes get pinned down and timetables and projects get sorted out.

I'm so tired from all the running around and there are still so many more things to do. With what little energy there is spent dashing to and fro there's even less for my brain to run on so I've spent the last few days stoning heavily.

Weng and I have been trying to play DotA against the computer but the two of us can't even take out a single A.I. hero on normal.

I gotta head out again. Mg, so tired.

The best I can come up with

Freshers' Fair was just a crush of shouting people.
Third year is bloody intimidating but sounds really exciting nevertheless.
I've never been so blogstuck as the last few days. I think I need that creative writing course.

Play with me

I can't stop thinking about DoTA which is completely wrong because there's so much to do. Then again, given it's a Saturday in England, nothing's open so I guess I could spare some time obsessing about the game.

Otherwise the move's gone smoothly and I'm quite happily settled into Queens Gate. It's like a Singaporean house here, you can't leave or enter the building without seeing a familiar smile. I need to find gaming buddies.

My cough's been seesawing between gut wrenching tears and almost nothing, but now I've got my hands on the right kind of medicine, I should be okay. So don't worry Cher. I hope you get better too.

The anticipation of a new year, a new beginning is killing me. I have a feeling the enthusiasm's going to last all of the first introductory lecture on Tuesday morning. I've already got news of my very first Italian lesson. I don't know where the Huxley building is and where am I supposed to buy Contatti 1?