lovely

2012-03-08T02:08:00.002Z

I know a lot of people are going on about KONY2012, stop KONY2012 etc,

Already there's cynicism-

I think the tactic seems shallow or oversimplistic but the campaign has picked up on something that would only work in our generation, the power of social media-

Overnight, this video has spread so far already. Millions of people know about Kony in one night. I don't think it solves everything, but it generates discussion- and that's better than it not being talked about at all. Wish people would put away their cynicism.

Another cause a little closer to home, had me in tears.

Always said one of my pet peeves are people who treat foreign workers as lesser human beings,

This is largely why:

2012-03-07T00:14:00.005Z

Finished so much of my matvis notebook today it's not even funny,

The things you can accomplish staying in the kitchen all day with your flatmeals feeding each other cups of tea and eating biscuits left by your lover (Nat).

Also,

from Nat

2012-03-06T23:34:00.001Z

Today Bronte told me she was going to vote for RON i.e. Re-Open Nominations for the SAS,

lol and she made up an entire description of who RON was when I asked.

Imagine if everyone voted for RON for the SAS because of Bronte.

Long day at class,

Lunch with Esmee (KFC!),

Posted out tons of letters,

Went for music practice with volsoc,

Tea in the kitchen with Laura & Sophia.

2012-03-05T23:18:00.009Z

Finished my essay,

Went for class,

Finished my readings for the week (for the first time this entire term),

Watched Bollywood vids for 2 hours in Soph's room with Shandana,

Made plans for a movie day in after term ends before we all leave,

Can't stop listening to this, via Gilbert. It is gold.

Photos from our last flat meal, Theendog and I making dumplings/jam rolly polly, and the guinness beef stew Laura/Sophia made,

Photos from our last day in Edinburgh, valentine's.
Nat is trying to make me into a "WINNING" meme so she hasn't posted up any of the REAL photos, only the ones of me doing a ridiculous pose:

Just made mother's day cards- one for my mum, one for Ahmai, one for Nat's mum.

2012-03-04T17:40:00.003Z

Last night, Nat & I watched Martha Marcy May Marlene, it was really good.

Kind of haunting, I still feel a little bit haunted.

Love watching movies with Nat.

We talked about growing up, something we always return to.

When you're young, things are simple- older, they become more complicated and you become less naive- and then older again, you learn not to overcomplicate and instead prize the basic and sincere principles. For example, in love.

Something I realized about people, I enjoy it when they consciously save things for you or say "we'll ___ next time" with a certainty of the next meeting.

You feel assured they will be around.

SUNDAY,

All Souls in the morning- sermon was about living by faith and not by sight, though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

Feel slightly apprehensive about the idea of a willpower religion, that if you will yourself to believe/trust something even though it doesn't seem true, that's what faith is?

I disagree, (and also don't think this was the speaker's point but only a point that struck me), faith isn't just some vague thing that makes you believe despite all the clouds of doubt surrounding something. It's not blind, it's grounded- but it's very personal.

I think in knowing God personally and learning His character, I know that even though times seem tough now- He's always had a plan for me. He's brought me through before, and He will again? So when I believe there's something better, or that He's in control- It's faith, yes, because I've yet to experience the future- but it's also assured because I know what He's done in my past.

Stu was cleaning the kitchen when I got back- how friggin sweet is that.

Came back, got groceries on the way back, dyed Nat's hair, said goodbye,

Seeing her in less than a week,

Family,

Back to work, crazy 2 weeks again.

Haven't felt like myself lately- sometimes you change because you are maturing, other times you are changing because you are not mature enough- as of now I am uncertain which applies.

Feel like I am struggling with work I normally wouldn't struggle with, am relaxing way too much, not working hard in uni. I've always worked consistently and pretty damn hard all my life, and now I'm taking it a little easier- not sure if it's complacency or laziness or just me trying to find myself in a new environment in a good way. Results will show I guess.

2012-03-03T17:08:00.004Z

Met Dmitra for lunch at Burger & Lobster around 12,

Had to wait 30minutes (which isn't bad, took Charmaine's advice and went for lunch instead) so we took a walk around Green Park and I told him about why I love squirrels (has anyone seen their tails up close?! they are magical).

Both of us ordered the full lobster- I love that they expect you to know the 3 options they have, they don't even have a menu for the food.

He got it grilled and I had mine steamed, I'm a purist when it comes to lobsters- I just want mine with butter, not necessary to mess with anything else.

Verdict: SO WORTH IT- 20 pounds and it was huge. Plus it came with fries and a salad.

The pictures don't do it justice, I can't wait to go back already.

Met Dmi a couple of times through my sisters but hadn't met up with him properly until now after we met at Evan's christmas party and realized we were both going to be in London in 2012. So glad I met him, feel like my perspectives on friendships are somewhat shifting but I am beginning to value people who are intellectually engaging.

I feel like you don't have to have interesting experiences to be someone interesting- what matters is the lens through which you view your life? I love when my friends tell me their thoughts and opinions about otherwise everyday occurrences and you can tell they've spent time on their own thinking about it - and are now sharing it with you. It's the stuff like that that I am beginning to treasure more than someone who has travelled the world and can only dictate to you what they've superficially seen or done, rather than experienced in the full sense of the word. Some of the best conversations I've had are the ones I struggle to put down into words after.

All in all, it was a really nice way to spend Saturday- we've got plans lined up to try tons of other food- Dmi mentioned Atariya has the best chirashidon so I'm going to try that asap.

My new plan for the term is to cook at home every day of the week, and get a nice meal out on a weekend.

Writing my bio anth essay now before Nat comes over in the evening to hang out. Cannot. Wait.

2012-03-01T16:51:00.000Z

THURSDAY,

Met Weiren, Abigail & James at Giraffe for brunch, arrived too late for the breakfast deal (before 11) and too early for the lunch deal (after 12),

Went through Jonah 2 and prayed together, I kind of miss having a church community like I did back in WOW so it was nice to feel that "fellowship" and "mentorship" again?

These're words I feel pretty foreign too now, but they are distinctively different from friendship or teaching to me, different dimension I suppose,

I always order the full brunch because I don't like breakfast but if I'm going to get it, I want sausage and bacon to make it better so-

Met Megs, Vicky, Esmee & Kaya at the Bloomsbury to work through our environment worksheet, trying to figure out the best place on a map to sample for remains and chalk sites etc etc, one of those days I wonder why I'm studying archaeology, but got the worksheet done.

MatVis tutorial was so much fun- we shared the playlists we made,

And Timothy Carroll made us scones, went around the table and tossed one to each of us to tide us through 2 hours of discussing digital technology. I still feel like material culture is made up, but I quite enjoyed today's lab session.

After more lectures and tutorials, I had dinner with Maggie & Claire at Gordon's Cafe,

then caught Guys & Dolls at night with Megan- the UCL Theatre Society is helluva impressive, I still can't believe these people are my age- or at most 2 years older than I am, directing and staging a musical at a West End theatre.

Always feel sort of inspired in UCL.

FRIDAY,

After class, I went down to O2 to try and get my phone with Hariz but tons of complications arose, basically I can't sign up for a plan until I move into a permanent residence because student halls are not valid residences for credit card checks, bummer.

Had the iPhone right there in front of me- and had to leave without it,

Megs & I went to East Street for lunch to celebrate surviving the week,

I got tomyam soup + gyozas, and she got corn cakes + udon,

They group their mains and entrees by countries, pretty cool place- food isn't particularly fantastic but for 7pounds it was pretty cheap. And it's such a cute place.

Been awhile since I've sat down and had a proper meal with Tarrant like we used to do at Beani Bar, so it was nice to end of the week like that.

Went home, napped, cooked salmon for dinner, and headed down to OCF.

The group turned out to be really small, so Weiren & I co-led.

Took the bus back with Jeremy and kind of talked about different ideas on leading.

He feels like he doesn't want to lead until he gets his own understanding deepened first, whereas I'm constantly surprised by how God equips you as you avail yourself to Him even when you don't think you're up to it? Still figuring it all out.

So glad I had Weiren with me, also James wore a suit to encourage me because I told him guys look suave in suits haha- that was pretty sweet.

Really starting to like my OCF group. Learnt tons this week on Jonah 2 alone, but one thing that stuck with me was how God doesn't belittle our prayers- whether or not they're eloquent or we only come to Him out of desperation, what's important is we come.

It all seems so clear when you read Jonah and you would like to shake him and ask him why He's running when God so clearly is calling Him somewhere, or why He doesn't realize how gracious God is being to Him- but sometimes I fail to realize I'm like Jonah too. I hope I don't wait until a moment of desperation before turning to Him.

Came home and skyped with Zihan for a good two hours,

Hadn't been able to talk to him much during the week cos we were both busy at different times.

Without a doubt, the only person I can talk to about anything.

I always feel like I see things clearer after talking to Zihan, like I always learn something, even after 3 years of being together and close to 4 years of being friends- so thankful for him.

2012-02-29T13:06:00.000Z

here you can be anything

anything that scares you-

I think that scares you.

leap year

2012-02-28T00:42:00.008Z

"Show me slowly what I only know the limits of
Dance me to the end of love "

Had lunch with Kaya, Esmee & Megan at Rasa today, 3pound curry box.

Spoke to Zihan and sat in the park with Megan, spring is definitely on it's way.

Also my hair is now ash-orange,

After class, had practice with the volsoc people for the talent show performance.

Skyping with Nat now- I love how I'm always reminded of how much we've grown together.

2012-02-27T00:00:00.002Z

happy birthday Sarah, with all my love

After class, I had OCF leader's cell.

Studied Jonah 2. Jonah reminds me of God's power and sovereignty.

God could've chosen someone else to preach to Nineveh, but He wanted Jonah- with all his reluctance and failures and inconsistencies, I see now Jonah is as much a story about saving Nineveh as it is about saving Jonah.

2012-02-26T16:26:00.004Z

YESTERDAY,

Met Ken in the morning for brunch at Bills, sat outside because the queue was insane but I would've chosen to sit outside anyway,

Both of ordered the full breakfast and the bubble&squeak was amazing.

Headed down to Hampstead Heath because Ken promised good crepes and good views,

both were delivered. Hung out for a couple hours on Parliament Hill,

Left around 5, sunset in the distance as we took the bus to Golders Green. Did not know such a tube station existed,

Met Tarrant at O2 Brixton for the NME Awards Tour 20212!

Azealia Banks, Tribes, Metronomy, Two Door Cinema Club,

5 hours of standing, crowd was really enthusiastic and Metronomy + TDCC were awesome live,

but I was dead tired by the end of the night,

Lay in bed whatsapping Zara & Sha, missed them.

TODAY

All Souls in the morning with Amadea,

sermon was on the identity and sacrifices that come with being a follower of Christ,

will write a proper post up on it soon,

Dimsum lunch at Chinatown after with John at Joy King Lau,

Checked out the M&M store, everything is colour coordinated, my OCD needs were well met,

Bussed back, did groceries at Morrison's (basically bought all the salmon fillets they had),

Flat dinner at night :)

Laura & Soph made beef stew with guinness (so yummy), and Athena & I made jam rolly-polly with custard. Success, everyone had second helpings.

Nice night with the flat again after we'd all been busy with exams and essays and away for reading week,

Wrote down all my upcoming deadlines- March is an insane month for me..

"Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord", claiming this truth.

Hair colour's fading, time to redye!

2012-02-24T01:00:00.004Z

Weekend's here!!

After class today, Megan & I headed for our jam session at the Roundhouse with the others and made plans to start a 2 piece band for easy coordination,

Back to halls for a fleeting moment before heading to 1984 at the Bloomsbury with Maggie.

Skyped with Kenneth, then Nat, then Zihan.

Also,

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/losing-a-best-friend/

via Ken (glad I am relating less to this today)

NME Awards Tour tomorrow!

TDCC, Metronomy, Tribes, Azealia Banks

5 hours of standing whoopee~

2012-02-23T00:17:00.004Z

After spending the morning playing with animal remains from a Medieval site in field methods tutorial, I went to Esmee's for to hang out and drink tea,

The weather today was so lovely- mostly hovered around 15 degrees and dropped to 10 at night.

People were out in Cartwright Gardens again having lunch, lying on the grass and playing frisbee,

Tons of people were out eating ice cream and wearing dresses,

I think it's safe to say everyone is desperate for Spring to arrive soon,

Met Megan for jacket potatoes at ULU, still a foreign concept to me but I won't argue with hot potatoes with melted cheese and butter,

Rest of the day was really long- 2 hour material culture lab session on Photography was really interesting but frustrating to debate abstract concepts out for such a long period of time,

Israel meeting after classes got me really excited. I think lately it's finally hit me that I'm going to go on actual excavations, not just training projects but actual digs that will yield results that will make an impact, the prospect is so exciting.

First Aid Kit at night with John at Scala, met Trang there,

They were amazing- my favourite song was Ghost Town when they did a completely unplugged version and we were stood in the 2nd row,

Samantha Cain opened for them (confirmed John's and my theory that bands choose someone who sound like them only worse for their opening acts),

Got the setlist at the end of the night!

"so much I know that things don't grow, if you don't bless them with your patience"

Hair colour's fading to a rusted orange, dyeing it again next week.

2012-02-22T17:50:00.001Z

"too little of you,

my goodness, and far too much

of everyone else."

- Tyler Knott's haikus

"I don't love you but I always will, I don't have a choice but I still choose you"

Spoke to Dalton today on the phone finally, was good catching up.

He asked me how my life has changed, and I replied "It's exactly the same- I spend my time trying to keep consistency in my life." so I guess I'm doing good.

Replied Bev & Nat's emails,

Spoke to Leo.

Material culture assignment for this week was pretty interesting, on photography- I gladly did the recommended readings after finishing the essential ones.

Next week we're making playlists to see how digital technology and music has changed its function in our lives.

2012-02-22T01:55:00.002Z

So thankful for so many people tonight.

if you know who you are, then that's good enough for me.

Got to skype with mum today, and speak with Sarah, Liz & Ethel. Family is love, that is all.

2012-02-21T22:40:00.002Z

Yesterday,

Class, then OCF Leaders Cell somewhere in Holborn, 4 hours of working through Jonah 1- was pretty intense but also very rewarding, I've always liked seeing how organizations like BPMC or OCF work, walked back with Jeremy and learnt about homestays.

One thing Huijin said that stuck with me - OCF is a training ground for leadership and we're all called to lead. I like that idea.

Today,

Class, pancake day today- one of the lovely traditions in England.

The day before lent, everyone makes pancakes from the household essentials before the fasting period. Made pancakes (little Dutch ones) with Asya, Athena & Rob in the kitchen,

Had them with nutella, hagan daazs, crushed dark chocolate digestives, caster sugar,

yay

2012-02-19T00:00:00.008Z

Blogged about Edinburgh below! Feb 14th post.

I thought I understood it, that I could grasp it, but I didn't, not really. Only the smudgeness of it; the pink-slippered, all-containered, semi-precious eagerness of it. I didn't realize it would sometimes be more than whole, that the wholeness was a rather luxurious idea. Because it's the halves that halve you in half. I didn't know, don't know, about the in-between bits; the gory bits of you, and the gory bits of me.

Like Crazy

Another thing about Valentine's day, Amadea sent me this link:

http://ms-rach.livejournal.com/119235.html

I feel like when I read about old couples and how they're old fashioned, it's something admirable and sweet- and yet when we're young now, so many things tempt us away from that ideal and make us think about complications and factors beyond the pure, simple love that endures through all- if I had to put it to a phrase it would be, "love regardless"

Happy belated valentine's day Zihan, thank you for keeping me grounded and old-fashioned, and making writing these words easy and true. We're many miles away now but love regardless.

Home all day, Xiang came by to pick up her stuff and drop off red velvet/black bottom cupcakes, bowling tonight for Elliot's birthday~ Excited to see all of Flat F again.

Working on my presentation now, first bit of work I've done all week. hurreh.

2012-02-18T20:25:00.002Z

John & Xiang stayed over at my place last night,

Got up at 11am and met the OCFers at Brunswick for our 1-for-1 burgers at Gourmet Burger Kitchen, was craving something spicy so I got the Habanero, the beef was amazing, and it was only 4pounds.

Got ice cream from Waitrose and headed to Abbie's hall to chill and talk,

Then met Kenneth at South Kent to check out the V&A and NHM (which had a queue?!),

I really liked the V&A: impressive collection that is presented beautifully. Plus, there's an entire section on stainglass- who can argue with that?

Embarrassed Kenneth suitably by doing all the kid's activities like pencil rubbing over brass markings and drawing out my views on religion,

At one point to withdraw from the severe information overload experienced in the V&A, we headed out to the garden out back just as we were talking about how we both need some quiet time in the weekends- heard the sound (and only the sound) of water lapping and leaves rustling, was pretty lovely~

I like seeing how ornately decorated all the religious objects are- the devotionals and chalices were so detailed, it's the kind of effect you get stepping into a grand cathedral with all the stain-glass. Part of me feels like this is the reverence we should approach God with, but at the same time I'm incredibly thankful He's stripped away all the excesses so we can have access to him just as we are.

Kenneth was talking about how it's hard to believe these were all from cities and communities just over 400 years ago- and that everything is so different and distinguishing- you don't get these things with mass production anymore. Was a nice day, it's funny both of us needed a day to get away from work- and ended up at a museum.

Saw the sun setting as we went back into South Kent station, and these are the roses Will got for the flat girls for Valentine's- proudly displayed in our kitchen,

2012-02-17T23:46:00.003Z

YESTERDAY,

Spent the better half of the day in the kitchen catching up with Sophia & Shandana, all of us refusing to do work~

Met Nat's friend Vivian at night for chinese buffet at Camden, stuffed ourselves silly, hadn't spoken chinese in approx 1 year so it was good training,

Went home happy, and watched We Need To Talk About Kevin in bed with Nat, Tilda Swinton is amazing and the movie was filmed superbly but it was really scary.

TODAY,

Sat in the kitchen with Nat for ages talking, both of us left the house at 4pm- she went back and I went down to King's Chapel in KCL for OCF Valentine's Day open mic.

Emceeing went alright, met tons of new people from the other OCF groups, twas a good night.

Waiting for Zihan to wake up so we can Skype, missing my other lover Nat.

Will most probably be traveling all of Easter- unsure of how I feel about this, and when I will study for my exams in May.

Dad's coming up to Prague for a meeting so I'm going to meet him there then go to Warsaw to visit GM at some point. Hope this works out!

2012-02-15T17:34:00.002Z

It is 10x harder to wake up at 8am when there is someone in your bed sleeping HAPPILY (i.e. Nat),

Spent all day at the London Archaeological Archives mostly fiddling with pottery with Tristan and Chris,

James Vincent McMorrow with John, Ken, Hwee & Megan at Royal Festival Hall,

twas amazing. He reminds me so much of Jeff Buckley, and a little of Ray Lamontagne,

hit octaves tonight and held them for moments I didn't know were possible,

Was sat pretty far back but the sound was amazing,

Bad news: I am missing Norah Jones in London because I'll be digging...

Good news: Scotland was amazing, write soon. Nat's still here.

For now: http://blog.herbonestructure.com/2012/02/edinburgh-february-trip-pt-1.html

2012-02-14T23:51:00.009Z

Trip up to Scotland with Nat- our first time traveling together but definitely not last, also I fell in love with Scotland.

Instagram photos for now til Nat uploads the album.

SATURDAY,

Didn't sleep all night and dragged our tired bodies down Camden road to catch the bus to King's Cross, first sign the weather was going to be amazing- a full moon above the clock tower at King's Cross,

Nat grabbed a coffee and I grabbed a sandwich packed with meat and we took the 4 hour train down to Edinburgh, the upside of taking early trains is the views you get to enjoy on the way up. Sunset is the simple way to put it but really I saw colours I'd never seen before sprawled over landscapes I'd never seen before that lasted ages,

When we arrived, we google mapped our way to our hotel: St Bernard's Guest House, a little B&B we found online a couple days before for a really good price.

Greeted by a quiet man who handed us our room keys and told us our room was on the 2nd floor, and to ring the bell if we needed him.

Room was so lovely- pastels everywhere, 2 tea cups, a dressing table by the window that overlooked the houses across, floral bedsheets and curtains.

Took a nap and got up a couple hours later refreshed and walked past Queen's Gardens, had lunch at a little bar and decided to sit outside while all the locals watched football inside because the weather was 8 degrees. Nat had soup and I ordered a steak sandwich and we both called our loved ones to let them know we were safe.

Walked down past through Princes Street and all the streets we'd googled the day before,

Edinburgh has layers of cobblestoned streets- when you're walking on one you can look across the road at a bridge or through a window of some sort and you'll see another street running perpendicular underneath you, but not in the way they do in cities where the roads are all constructed, it's very raw and untainted.

On the way to the Edinburgh Castle we walked through West Princes Street Gardens and past the National Gallery where we saw a bunch of Scottish people playing bagpipes in kilts and dancing and a whole bunch of other people across the pavillion enjoying the music.

Just one of the many scenes a camera will never be able to capture that I saw in Edinburgh.

Wittled time away walking through the Royal Mile and popping into some charity shops for Nat to hunt for books, then had dinner at the Mussel Inn which we'd googled too (well-researched). Was fully booked, which I always love about restaurants I google- so we sat in the bar section, high wooden seats for two people, surrounded by other couples.

Service was lovely- they kept filling us up with bread and we ordered 1kg of mussels in white wine sauce. One steaming pot of mussels, two empty pots for us to put the shells in- the kind of low key restaurant environment I love. Sat and talked for ages about the day and then walked back home. Weather 6 degrees.

Went out at night to Propaganda to celebrate something, so many randoms dancing with us and trying to talk to us, the music was awesome but the one thing I remember was Stacy's Mom coming on and Nat screaming every single word of the song enthusiastically with hand motions and fist pumps lol, stayed out til 2- got walked home by Nat's friends, crashed and vaguely made plans to wake up early the next day. Like that was ever going to happen..

Feel like we worked through all the levels of our friendship in a day- went out, had dinner alone, navigated our way from train to hotel, spent 4 hours on a train.

SUNDAY,

Got up at 9am, then 10am then 11am.

Walked out and saw the Kew Street market that only opens on Sundays, after a nice conversation with the man who makes his own jams we get 3 bottles- one for each of our parents, and one for Caroline & Jun who stayed up with us the night before Edinburgh.

The jams are amazing- I got one with mustard seeds in it that gives it a little kick and texture, but otherwise they're sweet and fruity.

Decided to check out another food place I googled (Nat googled the streets and places to visit and left the food to me, that is some kind of true love)- decided to go to this cafe called The Dogs. They have 3 different restaurant areas- underdogs is a bar, the dogs restaurant and waterdogs which is the cafe. Went for the restaurant to get traditional Scottish food, decided to try haggis. Googled it before to make sure I knew what I was eating, felt slightly apprehensive, but it turned out to be really amazing. The meat is marinated with spices and stock, and served with a butternut mash to absorb the oil so it was just a very fulfilling meal- tons of flavour.

Haggis looks disgusting but I'd say on many nights I'd be craving for it having tried it,

Didn't stay for long because it was filling up with people,

Took a walk down towards Calton Hill.

Decided to go into the Calton Cemetery where David Hume and other famous Scotts were buried, there were a lot of people in there taking photos and walking around but it was silent,

peaceful almost.

A couple minutes up the road was a small stairwell and when we climbed on top we were on Calton Hill, another instance where photos couldn't capture in entirety what we saw if at all. Could see all of Edinburgh around us and it was the peak of the afternoon so the sunlight was lovely,

Some of the more notable moments of the hours we spent on Calton Hill (one of the things I love about travelling with Nat, we don't need to "do" things all the time)- a man who was sitting on the monument helping people get on top of it, and singing songs to the applause of everyone on the hill, the applause of everyone on the hill to begin with, the stranger who ran across the field to pass me the jams I left in the middle, then offered to help us take photos and really committed to this offer (see photos below), the sun beams Nat and I tried to capture in her camera,

We were planning on climbing Arthur's Seat to see the sunset but decided it was too rushed so we walked halfway across the city literally (the bus ride back home took us 30minutes) to The Shore. Wasn't what we imagined it would be but still pretty, still waters, a couple of famous bars all around named various sea-related things like King's Wark, The Ship, The Shore, Fishers etc, picked one and decided to splurge a little and have a nice dinner together.

I got the fish and chips and Nat got an amazing eggplant salad and soup. It was candlelit but not overly romantic or ambience-focused, in that small area there were couples, young friends, families, older friends- and the two of us who I'd consider to be all of the above. Was a really lovely dinner.

Got back home and watched Like Crazy, both of us crying as the credits rolled and Stars began to play. Talked about the movie, why we loved it for different reasons and what we liked about it, in essence it was very authentic.

MONDAY,

Got up the next day for our tour at 7.45am- supposed to meet at Waverly at 8.15am (google maps says 30 minute walk), we get ready in 10 and run out and reach at 8.10am almost dying.

Nat proceeds to fall asleep on the bus ride for ages but wakes up at all the good parts.

Tour guide's name was Neil, there were 8 other people on the bus (France, Germany, China, Korea, Singapore- us).

Spent most of the time on the bus but the windows are huge and clean and the views up towards the Highlands are amazing. I have to hold my breath at so many points, it's all untouched and beautiful. Photos again unable to capture anything we see.

He tells us stories about Scotland and the history, clans, fun facts, the rebellions, and one story that stuck with me was the one behind the song Loch Lomond about the two Jacobite brothers who had to decide which one of them was to be executed. He plays some songs for us as he tells the stories. I really enjoyed the tour- I'd been on tours before and I always found them cheesy but this one wasn't at all. Nat and I were talking about it and I think it's because we're finally old enough to appreciate history and what it means for the place you see before you today.

Also, Scottish people are really patriotic and why not? They have so much to be proud of, their country is lovely.

Visited tons of Glens (mountains) and Lochs (lakes) and got off the bus to breathe in the fresh air and LISTEN to nature. I never thought it was possible but you can hear the sound of water running, wind blowing through the trees, and because we visited in February the mountains were all snow-capped. You saw evidence of cities and towns (and only tiny ones) every hour or so and everything in between is untouched landscape. And it's all around you, 360 degrees of sprawling mountains and valleys. Fell in love with the highlands.

Eventually reached Loch Ness up in Inverness at 1pm, had fish and chips and burgers on the pier for lunch. Weather 10 degrees. IT WAS AMAZING-

Stopped by a huge field with mountains overlooking it as the sun was about to go down to see the Highland Cows and then a nice little waterfall and more lakes, passed through St Andrew's and a little town (stars in the sky), over the Forth Bridge on the way back, reached back in London at 8pm.

Nat and I felt collectively lazy (synchronized vibes) so we dropped by the little chinese take away with the neon sign flashing "OPEN" and she got chips and I got this royal fried rice. Turned out to be AMAZING, was piping hot and had this thick sauce drizzled all over it, and it had duck, roast pork, chicken, beef and prawns and minimal vegges. Went back to the hotel, lay in bed and devoured it all. Watched Suits in bed, talked about the trip thus far on our last night together before falling asleep.

TUESDAY,

Finally got up early on time- packed our bags, handed our keys to the owner and left our bags with him, dropped by Sainsbury's to get food for our picnic and then took the bus down to the Scottish Parliament across from Holyrood Park, wind speed 15km/h.

Started climbing Arthur's Seat around 10.30am, it was like being in the middle of the Highlands, there're other hills around and 2 lochs surrounding Holyrood.

Saw Salisbury Craggs, Duddingston and Dunsapie Lochs on the way up, and accidentally climbed up to Arthur's Seat..

Nat was really cold so she hid in the bushes with all our stuff around her like a fort, and I said I was going to climb up a little to see what there was, and half an hour later I was at the highest point in Holyrood on the top of a dormant volcano overlooking all of Edinburgh, including Calton Hill. Was amazing, wind speed 30km/h I felt like if I jumped the wind would push me over with ease. As the only single person on the top of Arthur's Seat, I was designated as the photographer for all the couples on Valentine's, and I got a couple to take a photo of me alone in victory.

Climbed back down to Nat and we found a little corner where there was solace from the wind and had our picnic. Chicken, cheese and bacon in baguettes, cookies, yoghurt.

Loved how I spent my Valentines having a picnic on the top of a hill with Nat.

Sat around St Anthony's Chapel for awhile and then by St Margaret's Loch to watch swans before deciding to head back towards the city,

Walked through Victoria Street/Grassmarket and the National Library,

And popped into St Giles Cathedral for quite awhile just sitting in the pews taking everything in.. "How do churches make you feel" "Peaceful" "Me too", was a nice way to spend our last day in Edinburgh.

We decided to drop by the National Museum and it was AMAZING.

The walls were a nice light teal and the spiral stairwells and windows were all white- and the room with the animals. So glad we dropped by and had the luxury of time to just do what we wanted spontaneously,

Walked back to the hotel to pick up our stuff, took a bus down to the train station and caught the most amazing sunset I've seen in ages. Edinburgh's way of saying bye to us.

5 hour train ride back, passed through York, Durham, Nottingham, etc- watched Our Idiot Brother and more Suits, fell asleep,

Pulled into King's Cross around midnight, got home and thought to ourselves, then talked it out loud- about how it was one of the best trips we'd ever taken.

So much more happened on the trip I wish I could remember it all,

these are only the bare details and skeleton of it,

there were moments and conversations that made the trip as amazing as it was,

I think above all- I'm glad I went with Nat. At one point we were talking about how we both tend to need alone time after going on trips with people (either to be away from people or to retreat to our thoughts so we don't lose the experience to busyness), but it didn't feel that way on this trip. And we managed to break it down to how it takes very little effort to be with each other- it's kind of like being alone with company. We can talk through things if we like, or be comfortable in silence.

Best thing about all of this is we're back in London now and I still have tons of things to say to her and no doubt I'm going to miss her when she's gone. This is 7 years of friendship right here.

2012-02-10T18:54:00.001Z

Esmee made lemon cupcakes to help us survive a 2-hour past societies lecture,

Had jacket potatoes at ULU with Megan, Jenny, Sophia & Laura,

Printed off my excel sheets and handed them in,

Rushed home to Skype with Zihan,

Camden Market with Nat to get hairdyes,

Back home now to eat stirfry and plan our Scotland itinerary for tomorrow-Wed!!!!!!!

2012-02-09T18:54:00.000Z

Grace stayed with me the past 2 nights,

Found ourselves in the corridor on her last night talking to my flatmates about food lol, typical flat f behaviour,

Thursday non-stop lessons from 2-6,

Rushed down to HMV Hammersmith Apollo for James Morrison with Ken,

Rainy Boy Sleep opened for him and he's one of the loop pedal artists, love those.

He played almost every song I wanted to hear except If You Don't Wanna Love Me,

was amazing though- especially One Life

This line's stuck in my head "if I knew yesterday what I know today where would I be tomorrow?", he shared a story that his daughter calls this song Baby Girl so he introduced it that way,

As we left, it was snowing outside- as if the night wasn't magical enough as it was.

Came home to Nat, and she had a bottle of moscato to celebrate, so I made pesto pasta and salmon and we sat in the kitchen and caught up

2012-02-08T12:15:00.004Z

Bev sent me this,

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/fashion/its-not-me-its-you-how-to-end-a-friendship.html?pagewanted=2&ref=psychologyandpsychologists

Esmee just whatsapped me, "morning Eve! It's a glorious day.. for excel"

Gotta start working on my excel budgeting spreadsheet for archaeo now..

"When I was a teenager I felt like we were always being stereotyped as being really intense and dramatic and passionate and hopelessly romantic and excitable. Now in retrospect I think I need to let you know that I think all of those things are amazing,” she said. “I hope you never lose those things. ” - TSwift

2012-02-07T00:02:00.002Z

Forgot to flick my iPhone silent switch so I missed my alarm and field methods lecture in the morning, got a whatsapp from Esmee around 11am :')

Went down for Material Culture lecture with Chris Pinney = no comprehendo anythingo,

Walked home to meet Grace who's staying with me for the next 2 nights :)

Grabbed a bottle of red wine from Sainsburys,

then made my way down to Vicky's for Lasagna/Board Games/Cheesecake night! Been waiting ages for this,

Esmee, Kaya, Megs, Vicky, Stine and their flatmates,

Played Cluedo with Kaya and we won~ really fun night after stressing out over assignments and school and going out to clubs, I just like staying in with a hearty meal, some red wine and some good old boardgames for ages 8 and above.

Amadea sent me a link to say Tesco's is having Haagan Dasz half price offer ^^

Stocking up tomorrow!

Writing emails now, gotta finish up assignments tomorrow before Nat arrives on Thursday night~

2012-02-06T01:46:00.002Z

After class, did groceries with Soph & Laura,

HMV's Next Big Thing at night with John, Clarence & Kim at Borderline,

1. Charlene Soraia

2. Katzenjammer

3. Sweet Billy Pilgrim

Longest gig of my life, well worth the ten pound though :)

Met Esmee, Megs, Miles & Jenny at McDonald's after the SAS Heroes/Villains party in my batman jumper,

Truly though my real act of superhero-ism was the very fact that I walked from Charring Cross to Euston in just a jumper in -1degree weather and then wolfed down a burger in 5 minutes.

2012-02-05T23:39:00.007Z

SATURDAY,

Were gonna go out to grab lunch but decided to watch a movie first instead,

Caught Cinema Paradiso with Ken, loved the last scene (major spoiler alert)

one of the best films I've watched in ages. Also 2h47min so by the time we headed to Assa for Korean food it was close to 4pm,

When I left Ken's it was snowing :")

Ruthy's party at night! Got to Vicky's and the entire floor outside Langton was covered in snow, prepped with her, Megs and Kaya- then headed to the kitchen for pre-drinks.

Trudged through the snow in our dresses (no joke), freezing, singing, screaming, finally reached Madame Jojo's, 50s swing music all night long, left at 2.30am

SUNDAY,

All Souls in the morning with Ken, grabbed lunch at Koya after (good day for udon),

Checked out the Taylor Wessing Photography Prize because I'd been meaning to + needed it for my "photography" study for MatVis this week + my "museums" study for MatVis next week, killed 3 birds with one stone.

Got postcards :) Collecting them from all my London museum visits.

Grabbed hot chocolate at Notes, back home. One of those nights I'm glad our reception doesn't open on weekends- the snow hasn't been cleared, it's white all around Max Rayne. Pretty magical~

My favourite pieces:

Anna and Roberto at home, Italy #6153 from the series Eighty Five, 2010 by Claudia Burlotti

Married at 74, presently 85. Uninhibited, pure love.

Old Truman Brewery/Claudia, 2011 by Darren Hall

About how an individual can stand out in a crowd, definitely true.

No one else seems to care but the photographer managed to make her seem like the only woman in the entire area. To have a moment like that captured is pretty extraordinary to me.

Gianni, Hermit for Love from the series, Into The Silence 2010 by Carlo Bevilacqua

This guy lived on the Amalfi Coast with his girlfriend for 30years and after she passed away, chose to remain in the hostile environment because it reminds him of the memories they had together.

This evening,

Skyped with Nat and discuss Scotland plans and watch her and Salah dance then listen to her and Salah sing, then talk about someday visiting Egypt then Salah coming to visit us in Singapore, love skype dates with Nat.

Also received some CNY spirit in the mail, haha best present ever on so many levels. Ty <3

Writing emails to people now.

and if the amazing weekend wasn't enough,

I GOT INTO THE TEL BET YERAH EXCAVATION!

ISRAEL, JULY, 3 WEEKS, HERE I COME.

THANK YOU SO MUCH GOD!!!

2012-02-04T02:31:00.006Z

If it all works out

Feb reading week

- Scotland with Nat (x)

Easter break

- Greece with Amadea (x)

- study at some point

- Amsterdam with Nat/Shu (x)

Summer break

- Living up the summer weather with Flat F (x)

- Istanbul/Turkey trip with OCFers

- DIG in Israel and settle half of my fieldwork requirements for my degree (x)

- Yacht week in Croatia with Ethel, Shannon, GM

- Home with my family (x)

- Internship at the museum to settle more field work requirements

2nd year 1st term (2012)

- Move in with Esmee/Megan with Kaya the permanent tenant

- watch Ethel graduate in Cornell, travel NYC with the family (xmas/new years)

2nd year 2nd term (2013)

- travel with Zihan

- Venice Biennale/Cinque Terre with Nat

- visit Liz in Australia

- settle the rest of my fieldwork requirements somewhere~

Part of the reason I'm always mind-busy, thinking of things, I literally think into 2013..

Was kind of liberating not having my phone today- frustrating at first, but then mostly liberating.

2012-02-03T21:27:00.007Z

Lost my phone somewhere between the kitchen and Max Rayne when leaving for Proud...

really upset and annoyed but I guess if I take it all into consideration, it's a good thing it was the end of my month (there was only 1 pound credit left) and my phone was dying (frozen all week honestly). Just kind of upset I lost all my messages and contacts :(

Using a temporary phone for now but I'm considering getting a new blackberry soon.

FRIDAY!

Grabbed ICCO's for lunch at Astor then spent all day shopping with Kaya, Esmee & Megan for Ruthy's party tomorrow. So tired.

Hung out in the kitchen with Laura, Sophia, Rob, Stu and some of the guys from T corridor- and a chocolate banana marble cake with ice cream, SO GOOD.

Skyped with Zihan before sleeping, love- keeping me grounded ty.

THURSDAY!

Went to Morrison's with Athena in the afternoon to get tons of cheap salmon for the next month of my life,

Proud at night with the flatmates for Laura's birthday, ended off the night with crumpets/nutella in the kitchen :)

WEDNESDAY/TUESDAY!

Essays and handing in essays

---

Happy 55th birthday daddy and 22nd birthday Ethel - 31 Jan

Happy birthday Ahmai - 2 Feb

closest people to my heart, my family. love you guys and miss you tons.

2012-01-30T20:32:00.002Z

Eve: check it "Heaven will solve our problems, but by showing us subtle reconciliations between all our apparently contradictory notions" from CS Lewis daily
Ken: wrong
Ken: misquote
Eve: what no!! what is the actual q uote
Ken: Heaven will solve our problems, but not, I think, by showing us subtle reconciliations between all our apparently contradictory notions. The notions will all be knocked from under our feet.
Eve: sian
Ken: liked your one better though
Eve: yeah me too

turns out it was actually:
“Heaven will solve our problems, but not, I think, by showing us subtle reconciliations between all our apparently contradictory notions. The notions will all be knocked from under our feet. We shall see that there never really was any problem.”
― C.S. Lewis

Think I like that one most.

2012-01-29T11:45:00.000Z

Allsouls in the morning with Kim, John & Clarence (the usual Christchurch crew who all overslept and had to come to Allsouls with me instead lol),

Took a walk down to Trafalgar Square afterward for the CNY celebrations, it was packed with people,

Met up with Megan, Esmee, Kaya, Maggie, Claire & her son Dylan to get with what seemed like all of London to watch liondance, buy silly dragon toys and firecrackers, queue for Joy King Lau dimsum (so good), eat desserts, watch buskers singing chinese songs, hug all the 'Free Hugs' people (no one was hugging them!), and watch the fireworks at the end of the day,

Claire: "The only thing authentic about this is the crowds. It's like we're in China!"

truestory. They had opera at one point, and they were selling burgers, !?

But we did spend a majority of the day eating which means it was an authentic CNY!

It was really crowded and the fireworks weren't that amazing.

Still, any excuse to hang out with the Arch&Anth girls- was an awesome Sunday.

2012-01-28T12:49:00.004Z

WED,

didn't have class, stayed in all day to finish some work in the kitchen with the flatmates,

verdict on CNY goodies: everyone loves pineapple tarts and only Elliot likes bakwa.

THUR,

craziest day in uni since this term began, all the biweekly lessons happened to cluster this week, so I was in straight from 12-6. exhausted.

went home, had dinner, napped and then headed to Proud at night with Flat F because Soph's friend Abbie was here for the weekend,

it was the geog social night and the theme was Camden :)

FRI,

easy day of classes 11-1, grabbed lunch with Megan & Esmee after and we talked about moving in together and cooking (pretty excited), collected my soc anth essay (B+, good thing it doesn't count), bought a mirror from Argos on the way home, spoke to Dad for a bit,

napped more, then headed to OCF decentralised at Chinacity

undoubtedly the most chinese night I've had here ever, karaoke and platefuls of chinese food.

Fun night :)

walked to Euston with a whole bunch of them, took the bus back because it was freezing.

TODAY,

will. write. 2. essays.

and book my reading week/Easter trips.

edit: wrote 1 essay and booked my trip to Scotland with Nat, and Greece with Amadea!!

2012-01-26T00:58:00.002Z

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/the-last-time-you-ever/

trying to figure out where to travel to and when and how to make the most of things,

conflict: feeling like you want to quit school and "see the world" when you know you're only getting this wanderlust because you get to travel on the money your parents have made.

2012-01-24T00:35:00.002Z

The Fray tonight at Bush Hall with Cindy, Ken, Megan & John were amaaazing.

Isaac Slade walked through the crowd, played the piano at the back of the hall, sang unplugged with his guitar, everything everything everything,

I'm completely incoherent, one of those bands who sound ten times better in real life,

No class tomorrow, finished my presentation today, life can be good!!

2012-01-22T16:18:00.006Z

church today: sermon topic was "what is your biggest problem?"

Mark 2:1-11, Jesus heals a paralytic

sometimes even we do not know the depths of our own hearts and what we need to be happy

"how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed"

HAPPY CNY YA'LL

skyped with Zihan,

spoke to Nat,

called my entire family and spoke to all of them,

watched musical charades vids that Jo posted from our study days in church,

wrote my Israel dig application, (doubt I'd get it because I have no digging experience, catch 22 moment for me, fingers crossed)

Went to Lisa's place at International Hall for a random reunion dinner, but it just feels good to be around Singaporeans again at CNY :)

Fun night with Amadea, John, Tiq, Heather, Lisa, Leo, Debby and tons of food,

our chapalang family!!

2012-01-21T00:42:00.003Z

My day:

- CNY carnival at UCL

- Lunch with Amadea's old church friends at NOPI

- Finishing my ethnographic practice/room analysis in Shuwen and Huimin's kitchen

- Having NISSIN tomyam noodles for dinner (thanks mum and GM for bringing it over!)

- Amos Lee gig at Shepherd's bush

Punch Brothers opening for

Amos Lee

o2 Shepherd's Bush, London

21 Jan 2011

Setlist:

El Camino

Truth

Careless

Supply and Demand

Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight

Cup of Sorrow

Flower

Violin

Jesus (with Punch Brothers)

Soul Suckers

Hang Me (Andy Kimbel cover)

Listen

Windows Are Rolled Down

Won't Let Me Go

Shower of Love (hilarious)

Sweet Pea

Seen it All Before

Black River

Encore:

Night Train

Arms of a Woman

Fat Bottom Girls (with Punch Brothers)

have walked so much today that I deserve to sleep eternally,

love it when already awesome days end by skyping with Zihan.

via Ken

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/01/12/john-steinbeck-on-love-1958/

2012-01-20T01:54:00.003Z

After class today, I met Amadea, Heather & Tiq at Goodge Street to eat KFC ^^

We really just had a super foodie day, it's so funny Amadea's a healthy vegetarian but all her friends love meat and love to eat junkfood.

Walked all of Oxford Street, got myself a dress and top from Zara sale,

Grabbed hummingbird cupcakes then a giant snog cup then they had burgers at Byron,

and then we walked to Chinatown and met John for 2nd dinner at Four Seasons,

SO FULL, walked home.

Booked flights and accommodation to Amsterdam in April with Shu/Nat!

Can't believe this is our first trip :)

Skyped with Zihan, love.

2012-01-20T01:45:00.001Z

Sudden Wholeness by Rumi

A thousand half loves
must be forsaken to take
one whole heart home.

via Nat

2012-01-19T11:32:00.004Z

No class til 4pm today!!

Applying for the Tel Bet Yerah excavation in Israel in July!!

Just exclamation marks all around!!!

Where'd the days go? When all we did was play
And the stress that we were under wasn't stress at all

Met Tarrant for lunch at Reason To Eat,

Went for class then met GM and his two friends at Oxford Street to shop,

Headed to Edgware which is apparently the Arab Street of London (never knew), to a really cool Arab restaurant for dinner. Legit with carpets and shisha and everything.

It was outdoors but tented but really nice, photo with GM.

Met Amadea & John near King's Cross, headed to John's place to hang out and watch all the "Shit ____ say" vids in existence, missed her :)

Back home now, midnight, crashhhh

2012-01-18T02:29:00.006Z

cannot wait for my backpack to come in the mail

Also ordered this dress for Ruthy's 50s party, but mostly for me to use for ever.

Wednesday = errands day,

Got my mail, made lunch/dinner for the next 2 days, talked to Zihan, wrote emails to my parents, did my laundry,

At some point in the afternoon, Nick was at home and I had a day off so we decided to seize the rare moment and give each other a call.

I love realizing just how much you've invested in a friendship in moments like these,

ended up talking for an hour and catching up properly - "youth is wasted on the young" is my take-home quote from our conversation.

Finished most of my horrible computing/excel assignment in the kitchen with Jenny and Sophia, then met Shu/Nat online to discuss Amstam plans (10th-15th April woop)

Were supposed to go to Ronnie Scotts Jazz Bar at night but we didn't leave early enough to make the entry fee worth it, so we just decided to go to Union,

Were supposed to go to Moonies but it was packed so we just decided to go to PUNK,

Dancefloor was empty when we reached but we decided to get it started,

Spontaneous decisions all round, but really fun night.

Met 2 of Stu's friends and James by chance on the way so it was them, Sophia, Laura, Jenny, Will and me.

Amadea and Guoming're coming tomorrow!!!!

2012-01-17T19:39:00.005Z

In between our lectures today, Kaya, Megan & I headed over to Esmee's at Astor for tea and she cooked us lunch,

Parma ham tortellinis with pesto, parmesan cheese and crushed peppercorns,

And freshly made garlic bread,

Woop

Back home now, Will got a vacuum from home so I never need to get it from reception again!

Packed my entire room, so clean now. Which means my work productivity is going to rise, I can only work in clean spaces.

Golden Globes looks I loved

- Emma Stone

- Rooney Mara

- Charlize Theron

- Tilda Swinton

- Julianne Moore

- Ricky Gervais

2012-01-16T23:34:00.002Z

Who knew Mondays could be so great?

Went down to class early with Megan and did my library readings,

Grabbed hot chocolate at the Union with Esmee, Kaya and Megan doing crosswords,

Talked to Zihan for a good half hour in between my last 2 classes of the day,

Got back and finished my pdf readings in the kitchen with Athena, Sophia and Rob,

We all brought snacks to share (Rob's chocolate umbrellas from France won)

Rewarded myself by having Kardashian night with Athena, Sophia and Shandana,

Had a jelly-donut-caribbean-twist picnic on the floor of Megan's room,

the week ahead looks awesome, Amadea's coming down on Thursday,

and it's CNY in London next week!!

2012-01-15T17:58:00.005Z

Went to All Souls for church this morning,

Grabbed lunch with Ken at Imperial China (my first dimsum in London!), the siewmai was crap but everything else was amazing,

The thing about having dimsum for lunch is it lasts hours and also makes you extremely tired so I basically lost a day of studying to dimsum,

Was worth it though- always enjoy conversations with Ken, feel a lot better now.

Walked around Convent Garden to find a shop that turned out to be taken over by Crocs to Ken's horror, saw amazing buskers 3x while walking up and down Neal street to find this 1 shop,

Bussed back home,

The flat guys (namely Will, Stu and Rob) decided to cook dinner for the girls today,

They'd been discussing it for ages but never got round to it,

It was so cute- they were actually nervous about it.

But it turns out the girls have competition- the guys made an amazing lamb rack, crispy potatoes with butter, and vegges, and we had chocolate and cheese cake for dessert,

SO GOOD. Gotta love Flat F.

Ken told me about this today, via Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The world's only albino whale, named Migaloo the Magnificent,

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/photo.do?photo=2764&category=50&group=1

Would like to go to David Hockney's exhibition at the RAA, and pop by the Natural History Museum at some point

2012-01-14T15:20:00.003Z

woke up, made myself a smoked salmon sandwich for brunch,

painted my nails, skyped with Nat/Zihan, wrote emails out, talked to my parents/Ethel,

didn't do any work,

am over-rewarding myself for finishing a past societies essay..

Met Tarrant around 4ish to walk down to Euston to meet Esmee and Kaya to celebrate handing in our essays,

Went all the way down to Ravenscourt to try this Iranian restaurant Esmee knew called Mahdi, food was amazing and cheap, portions were huge as well,

We got iranian tea, bread, houmus and this egg salad to share,

and I got 2 huge lamb kebabs with saffron rice and grilled tomatoes for my main,

paid 11pounds in total including tip!

Obvs couldn't finish our food, on the way back to Max Rayne for movie night in, we popped by Esmee's dad's place to pick up her stuff and have some cherry brandy (seeing other parents makes me miss my own), and Sainsbury's to get ice cream, some drinks, other unecessary snacks and hot chocolate,

Caught both Sisterhood movies and chilled til 3am,

Apparently I am Lena from Sisterhood :/

Really awesome night :) can't wait for the next one

2012-01-13T15:49:00.002Z

love this scene, couple seconds extended

Handed in my essay today!!
Came back to Skype with Zihan, going to sleep now before OCF tonight,
Yesterday was cuhrazy

2012-01-12T23:26:00.004Z

went for class, wrote most of my essay, went to Proud Camden with the flatmates to celebrate Soph & Jenny's birthdays, came back at 1am to finish the rest of my essay, crash.

Pulled my first near all-nighter with a night out in between, can't believe I survived.

Will also never do it again, ever.

Got myself a 1.5l of cider so I don't have to drink nasty beer and shots haha,

Photos from the hour long pre-drinking sesh in the kitchen with DJ Stu (best tracks ever) and Shandana's Pakistani bubblegum, our flat is so PG,

first time we've had everyone out!! ever :)

Also, the flat girls have taken to calling this the "Eve" pose:

So this is the "Sophia":

From Proud,

2012-01-11T10:48:00.005Z

Up early at 7am today, slowly shaving off my sleeping hours until this jetlag is dealt with.

View from my window,

Spent the better part of the morning washing up, cleaning my room, writing emails, making breakfast and talking to Ethel online.
It's hitting the afternoon now, sun's out and the weather is gorgeous,

and my hair colour is finally showing! It's supposed to get lighter and more obvious in about a week, fingers crossed.

My dresses came in the mail! hurreh

Will now attempt my past societies essay in my room and go down to uni if I can't focus.

Wish I had more time to write about my holiday back home and the things I have learnt,

but for now let me just say I am grateful. And although circumstances may make me feel isolated externally at times, I know I am never alone. In many ways, I am always surrounded by a cocoon of friends and family.

2012-01-10T10:22:00.006Z

SATURDAY,

Spent the day with Zihan and we watched Tucker & Dale vs. Evil,

Zihan always downloads all these high rated rotten tomato movies that I've never heard of, but have cult followings, that turn out to be really good.

Had dinner after with Shannon & Ethel, then dinner #2 at Genki because I wanted to show them the awesome train system

Went home to pack, Zihan came to help me after his mum's birthday dinner,

And Ethel came back to make nutella tart for us, so we stayed up til 1am talking round the kitchen table with Shannon.

SUNDAY,

Met Kenneth & Amadea in the morning for breakfast,

Caught up with the DG for a bit after service and said my goodbyes,

then went to Ahma's house and finally saw Mildred,

Back home to hang out with Zihan for the last time in 5 months :'(

Family dinner at home where Sarah, porpor and Ahmai came over and stayed til midnight,

Then off to the airport with Shannon, Daddy and Ethel. Walking through the departure gates alone waving goodbye to your family really, really sucks.

MONDAY,

Spent the whole day in the air and touched down at 2pm London time, my Dubai stopover got delayed by 2 more hours so it was like a repeat of going home the last time.

No more Emirates for me.

Sat between 2 really cute guys in the plane from Dubai to London, watched My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and Footloose, slept tons, ate 2 breakfasts between both flights,

Came back and had to endure 1.5 hours of customs and 1.5 hours on train to Camden, lugging my luggage around the stairs at Leicester Square tube,

When I got back to halls, checked out my timetable for the week reluctantly, then crashed from 6pm til the next day 7am.

TUESDAY,

First day of class for me, was awesome seeing everyone again and walking down with Tarrant,

Managed to rearrange my Anthro tutorials so I've got Wednesdays off again though Tuesdays and Thursdays are ridiculously long. It is a necessary sacrifice.

Got an overview of this term, don't know if I am prepared for it but I will be eventually,

Did my harris matrix during the break with Tarrant because I lost it somewhere in transit :(

Now I've got to finish my past societies essay on metallurgy- to think I told myself I would finish these 2 assignments before the winter break. It was a nice idea.

Got groceries on the way home, and sat in the kitchen with the flatmates for 2 hours even though I had an essay to do (queen of procrastination). Kind of glad to be back in Flat F, got hugs from my flatmates as they came through the door and I feel like I could get used to being here again even though I'm far from home.

Ended up staying in the kitchen to finish the questionairre on my harris matrix,

(so much harder than it looks, trust me. supposedly the hardest assignment of first year)

Crashed at 10pm.

2012-01-06T18:53:00.000Z

THURSDAY,

bye Liz :'(

FRIDAY,

Breakfast with G/Tabs, lunch with Bev/Tabs, dessert with Seeyue/Hi Jo, tea with Ken, dinner with family, supper with AD1. SHAG but happy.

Finally seeing Zihan tomorrow :)
So much to do before going back to London :(

2012-01-05T07:14:00.001Z

http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2011/12/25/photos-of-an-empty-london-on-christmas-morning/

2012-01-04T03:26:00.002Z

also,

2012-01-02T19:02:00.002Z

TUESDAY,

Cut my hair with Ethel at Agnes in the morning,

Met Ahmai for lunch with Liz & Ethel for dimsum at Taste Paradise,

Went shopping with Liz & Ethel before meeting Shu earlier to get down to Dempsey,

Nat's birthday dinner at CMPB in the evening (met Shu + Nat earlier for predrinks, love you two)

Insanely exciting night, TBC. Happy early 20th Birthday Nat, two candles on the awfullychocolate cake, surrounded by people you love (the circle gets increasingly smaller every year but more accurately so), riding home in the car at 2am with you, talking about how the night was. Like always. Love you so much.

MONDAY,

Zihan day,

Kenneth's place for our Double Mcspicy + 20pc nuggets Drive Thru tradition, visiting his mum and Trevor + Flo, sitting out in the balcony chilling and catching up properly and finally,

Supper with the mission trippers at Newton before Nathan leaves for Sweden and John goes back to London,

SUNDAY,

New year service at BPMC, Ahma's house, hanging out with Zihan, dinner at home with the family :) Just like Sundays before uni.

SATURDAY,

Got new specs with the Hoon sisters and breakfast with mum in the morning,

My degree is wonky though so I've gotta change the specs :(

Chill day out with Zihan, talking through resolutions

NYE party at Matlock with just family, porpor's duck soup, red wine, playing scattegories, falling asleep before midnight since dinner starts at 6, waking up for fireworks, watching Inception with Ethel while everyone else sleeps away the first day of 2012

2011-12-30T12:48:00.003Z

AHHHHHHHHH JGL

also in response, I'll be drinking duck soup, getting drunk on red wine and playing scattegories with my family YAY

haha

Full family Friday, yumcha lunch at SICC, MI4, shopping, steamboat dinner at Beach Road, back home to drink wine and watch gossip girl with Liz +

Ethel trying to get her Chanel into every single photo (challenge of the day)

happy hoons!

2011-12-29T15:42:00.002Z

WEDNESDAY,

Spent the better part of the day with Zihan, meant to go to the Musee d'Orsay exhibition at National Museum but town was packed today for some reason so we retreated home instead,

Came home for dinner with Liz, ordered in a large pizza and wings since it was wing wednesday and opened up the ciders in the fridge.

THURSDAY,

Met Zihan for tauhuay and curry puffs at NB house like old times,

then caught Sherlock Holmes (SO GOOD) and grabbed soyabean ice cream at SMU,

Dalton at Fatcat for dinner, both of us got extra cut 300g steaks, turns out it was the last week before Flaming Grills moved to East Coast, so awesome we got to fulfill our tradition again,

2011-12-26T17:32:00.002Z

http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/literature-spoken-word/tickets/simon-armitage-carol-ann-duffy-helen-dunmore-seamus-heaney-michael-longley-62303

got my tix for the Literature and Spoken Word fest at Southbank in 2012!

MONDAY,

Got up a little late but rushed down to Kith cafe to meet the classmates for breakfast, missed them tons. Am learning increasingly that there're many ways to show you care about someone: sometimes by saying it, sometimes by showing it. But showing it is always better, and making time for people is the perfect testament to that.

Such a chill morning by the river, Kelly and I were talking about being back and how relationships change, and it's nice in the midst of that to be sitting with my classmates from JC catching up with each other.

Dad picked me up and we had lunch with the family at Long Beach Dempsey,

then us cousins went shopping with Shannon til late,

Had dinner at home finishing all the leftovers from xmas and lunch by the pool outside,

took antihistamine and fell asleep for 2 hours and woke up and everyone was in bed.

So I went downstairs to watch The Voice marathon til 4am, I don't even like that show..

TUESDAY,

Pepper lunch steak with Liz and getting new specs while waiting in line for hours for my new debit card, good thing I had her to talk to could feel myself slowly going insane in the line,

Met Zihan in the evening and got new earphones from Jaben (hippo whites now come in hippo blacks!!), and shopped for a bit since the post-christmas sales are pretty damn amazing,

Walked to Esplanade and then took the train, had a really nice dinner at mb golfcourse,

Love date nights.

Back home in bed with Liz watching Shit Girls Say and christmas eps of all her series :)

2011-12-24T19:09:00.002Z

THURSDAY

Had lunch with mummy, Ethel and Liz and got christmas groceries (plus Brothers cider!!) before hitting town again with Liz,

I've got "Blues for Red" on my toes and "Cuckoo for this Colour" on my fingers,

Met Zihan at night at Nex for dinner and caught We Bought a Zoo, really old-school date night. Had so much fun.

FRIDAY

Lunch at Irodori with Sarah, sisters and dad,

Back to the office to help dad do some end of year spring cleaning, anything's fun with the hoon sisters,

Met Zihan at Lewu early so we could hang out before Nick & Seeyue came for dinner,

MISSED THEM SO MUCH IT WAS SUCH A GOOD NIGHT,
The air was cool because it had just rained and we had tons to catch up on, love these guys

Took a bus down to Al Azhaar with Seeyue for the impromptu mission trippers dinner with John, Amadea, Liz, Char, Nathan and Sheryl,

feels like nothing has changed

SATURDAY

Woke up to the smell of Ethel cooking in the kitchen,

Took the longest train ride of my life down to Nick's place for DG Christmas lunch,

Met Shaun on the overhead bridge (gave him the geekiest smile cos I was so happy to see him again), loving the cool monsoon breeze, played FIFA and had fish head curry and no one wore red or green but it was good fun seeing everyone again,

Nick: Seeyue, press B

Seeyue: What?
Nick: Nevermind

Nick: Seeyue, quick pass!
Seeyue: HUH?

Nick: It's okay forget it

eventually progressed into

Zihan: Eh Seeyue go away don't block

Nick: Seeyue pa- aiyah nevermind.

Went home and prepped for everyone to come over,

awesome christmas dinner with friends and family lasted til 4am,

Mahjong, christmas cracker circle, watching sloth videos, eating dinner again at midnight,

Gotta love a Matlock christmas,

SUNDAY

Lunch at SICC with the family, met Uncle Paul by chance so we decided to take advantage of the coincidence and merge our family lunches,

And since Aunty Manju and Naomii were dropping by, they all came over for coffee,

Dropped by Zihan's place to hang for a bit,

finally got to see his parents after ages, got chocolates from their Adelaide trip and heard Zihan play Desperado on the piano,

Mae's home for her anual christmas dinner,

Then popped by Evan's place to check out his new home and hang out with the Tan family,

SO FRIGGIN TIRED,

Merry christmas everyone!

2011-12-21T17:48:00.004Z

It's interesting being taken out of a cycle you've gotten used to over 19 years,

a circle of friends you've built up over time and a pattern of meeting up that you've grown into,

being taken out of all of that (even if it's only for 3 months), having to adapt or create a new way of life for yourself, and then being thrown back into it all over again.

The insight you get rather than if you'd never left at all - realizing some people have "inevitably" moved on, and that some people have waited for you, or that some people have kept their stories and secrets for you to come back to,

Feeling like you know who the people you want to make time for are, being surprised at the people making time for you and those you can't be bothered- all of that's important.

It's not something you dismiss or hope will get better because your time isn't going to last beyond this month until you're thrown back into being away from everyone again having to figure out who you're going to keep in touch with.

I appreciate this insight. I'm realizing increasingly you hardly ever not have a choice, life has not forced you into your circumstances and wrung out all the time from your hands or cut you off from people you love and who love you, you have made a choice. And with what little time I have, I'm making mine as well.

Can't believe how much I'm learning in these 3 days being back home.

Something Zihan said that's remained on my mind for awhile though I'm still trying to grasp it, with some friends you just have to wait. That's what friends do.

I've always loved the way Zihan deals with his relationships and the amount of chances he gives to his friends who eventually prove him right. Hopefully I can draw on some of that patience.

2011-12-20T17:13:00.000Z

MONDAY,
Went down to Nex in the morning with Aunty Imm, Uncle Kenneth, Faith and; Liz to get my briyani and prata fix

Spent the rest of the day shopping the entire day with Liz. I have to constantly remind myself that I'm not a tourist here, I'm definitely shopping like one. Glad I got to spend the day with Liz, I've missed her too much since I left Melbourne back in July.
Bumped into Amadea and Pearly on the way to Ion to meet Ethel and Shannon, spent the night at a really nice apartment atop Ion because one of my dad's friends who distributes wines just wanted to have some friends over to try a new wine he's brought in. 1 red, 1 white, and loads of canapes, made Julien the sommelier tell me all about the wines and what he thought of them because who am I to act like I know what they're supposed to taste like anyway.

Dinner at cricket club with Ethel, Shannon and dad,

TUESDAY,
Spent most of the early part of the day with Ethel, Liz and mum.

Went over to Zihan's in the afternoon and sucked on honeysticks while watching Wild Recon which is pretty much our favourite show. Prawn mee for lunch, and soup for dinner.

Talked to him for ages about everything in London- I underestimated how much I value his opinion on things, because it's sometimes hard to have to rely on someone when they're miles away and keeping in contact is hard, but being reunited validates everything again.

Feel like I know who I am most when I'm with Zihan.

Guoming picked me up around 9 with Liz in the car, and we went for supper at Chompchomp with Amadea and John. First round there, it's so funny to look around and see that we've all gone through so many different things but yet nothing much has changed.

Had the second round of supper back home with Ethel and Kenneth, stayed up til 3am.

These moments when we're all together are getting rarer every time, can't believe we're all in the same country again it feels too precious to be true.

WEDNESDAY,

Met Naomii for ayam penyet in the afternoon, love knowing that we both made time for each other because we had both our boyfriends out of army on bbm while we were having lunch haha. Am always reminded of how intertwined our families are when we meet, hopefully mama Melwani and Naomii are coming over sometime next week to hang out.

Felt immediately comfortable hanging out with Naomii again, and I feel myself being as interested to listen to how her life is going or has been going as I am to tell her how I've been, that's a balance I love feeling with friends,

Walked down to Abercrombie to say hi to Harshby, helped them take obligatory couple shots by the christmas tree haha. Abercrombie makes me laugh, it's hilarious how blatantly they're selling the topless male models and the heavy manly Abercrombie scent all around the store.

I mean, the lighting in the shop is horrible which is completely apt because no one is really there to look at any of their clothes, obvious from the number of people walking out with polaroids rather than shopping bags and how empty the payment counter is. Also do not understand how the exchange rate from USD to SGD is like 1 to 10, the clothes are too expensive here.

Met Zihan in town just so we'd force ourselves out of the house, walked around for a couple of hours, he solved this impossible puzzle in Times,

Eventually we got lazy (ok I got lazy) and took a bus back to his place,

we were talking and somehow I ended up crashing for 2 hours because jetlag finally hit me, and woke up to see Zihan watching tv and waiting for me to have dinner :) Love.

I like that Zihan could guess my 5 closest friends. Been feeling really confused and stressed out lately, it's like reflecting on everything again being back here, it's nice to have Zihan help sort my thoughts out. He jokingly said that I wasn't as independent or stable as he thought but I think you grow into relying on someone in a relationship, and it's not at all a weakness like you would usually think it is.

Duck noodle (confirmed that Four Seasons in London is 10 times better than any duck I'll have in Singapore),

Watched Wild Recon again, we're way too geeky.

Tons of plans for the upcoming week- want to watch We Bought A Zoo, and visit the Musee d'Orsay Paris collection at the National Museum (http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/ExhibitionDetail.aspx?id=65&cat=2), get new earphones at Jaben, have a DG zichar night + sleepover since the guys are all out, go for a nice dinner (I like how we usually can't be bothered to go to nice restaurants all the time when the best food's usually in the hawker centre in your own heartland), etc etc.

Back home where I found Ling, Ethel and Liz at the dining table drinking red wine and eating chips and Ling's "ahma's dessert" before Ethel and her friends headed off to Mambo,

stayed in with Liz watching 2 Broke Girls :)

2011-12-17T17:41:00.002Z

Home :)

Finally made it through my 8am flight from Heathrow, 7 hour stopover in Dubai, 3am flight to Singapore with a luggage full of presents for the family, a Nespresso in hand and posters for my sisters.
Saw two sunrises though, which is perhaps the only perk of flying early.

Got chicken rice and tauhuay at Potong Pasir with mum, dad, Liz, Ethel, Shannon, Sarah and Zihan.
Then hor fun and kang kong for dinner with Porpor, Aunty Imm, Uncle Kenneth and Faith,
Mcspicy double, twister fries and 20piece nuggets with my sisters and parents at night for supper.

Hung out with Zihan most of the day and I guess I can say I know why we chose to do a long distance. This is too good to give up.

SO HAPPY TO BE HOME and reunited with everyone!!!!!
Same number as before, text me (hope I can meet everyone)

2011-12-15T17:48:00.001Z

Met Bev and Harold in the afternoon to get Ethel's Chanel, have roast duck at Four Seasons, drop by Covent Garden market to get hotdogs, and then Camden Town for more food.
Really nice afternoon with the Shaddicks, had a lot of fun, can't wait to meet Bev again back home.

Long Table at Abbott Street with Ken at night, took the overground down to Dalston which is somewhere in Hackney,
followed googlemaps directions down a dodgy alley into a little hidden corner with stalls set up selling food from the best restaurants in London in streetcarts for a fraction of the price,
Tables set up under tents, exclusive cider, jazzy live music, crowds of couples or friends or families,
a queue of people outside waiting to get in,
This happens once a year and I'm so happy I got to try it this year,

Back to my place to say bye to all the flatmates (conveniently there was a fire alarm so everyone was clustered downstairs), hugs all round, will not see these faces for 3 weeks having seen them daily for 3 months.
Stayed up with Ken until the cab came in the morning to send me off to Heathrow. Happy to leave the 0 degree weather.

2011-12-15T01:46:00.003Z

Dragged myself out of bed at 8am, handed in both my essays with Sophia and returned my pile of books,

Map-reading for past societies tutorial with Esmee & Miles again, more map-specific jokes I can't remember and will never be funny taken out of context,

Met Siyi, her brother, her boyfriend and her sister to show them around UCL,

Sat outside at the Print Room Cafe for a bit just talking to her,

seems strange I hadn't actually even taken a step back to think about uni until then,

Glad I'm at UCL though, was nice to see Siyi again as well, like a blast from the past,

takes me right back to CF days in St Margs,

Lunch with Megan at Bloomsbury before heading for the stratigraphy practical where I found out that Chris came to Singapore and finds it appalling that the police can come into people's homes to check for stagnant water (definitely the first time I've heard that referenced to Singapore),

Maggie, Megan and I walked the entire stretch of Oxford Street to shop for christmas presents.

I've got christmas crackers to bring home, and I got myself a silly hat I've been hunting for,

Dropped by Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland since we had reached Marble Arch,

Got hot fries, sang christmas songs, ran around like kids again,

The carnival was amazing, bustling with people, tons of couples and families, loads of food, happy music, glad I got to see parts of Christmas in London before going home,

Got back and headed out to The Abbey at Kentish Town with the flatmates for our last night out "of the year" "of the end of term" "til Christmas" "til New Year's",

Got ourselves drinks and sat outside on the benches,

Was a nice moment looking around the table at everyone, these are people I've met 3 months ago and have been thrust into the ultimate situation with i.e. living together, and it's been awesome.

Came back to the kitchen and Stu put on his prom playlist from when he DJed, old school tracks came on, singing at the top of our lungs as we finished all the food left in the fridge/cupboards before everyone jets off over the weekend back home,

Haven't laughed this much in ages, going to miss them: my family away from home.

2011-12-13T17:35:00.000Z

Walked Nat out this morning at 8am,

finished my readings for the week for Archaeo (namely past societies and field methods, realizing that Anthro is taking up all of my time since it's Anthro reading week and I've got tons of free time now).

Headed down to Regent's with Jenny and Soph for the RUMS Rugby match,

it was exactly as Soph had marketed it to us.

First years vs. second years, people selling minced pies (which aren't actually minced meat as I have just discovered today), everyone drinking port and mulled wine,

There're even port runners who run onto the pitch to give port to the players, and the referees drink port,

it was so much fun, an hour into the game we were laughing at tons of things that on hindsight probably weren't very funny,

Laura came to join us for the second half, and we all walked home in the cold after.

Awesome Wednesday afternoon, so glad I finished my essays early :)

Just sat around the kitchen table having dinner,

can't believe this month/term/year is almost up,

Some thoughts on my mind:

So glad that Nat came up to spend time with me the past couple of days,

I'm conscious and so grateful that her coming was a decision made. There are of course other places to go and other people to be with, but she chose to come to London.

We spent 2 days together mainly, but 3 days apart doing our own things,

Sometimes even sitting in the same room on different computers,

Then at some point late in the night, we'd both crawl into bed shivering, and talk about our days with each other. Nat's probably the 1 person apart from Zihan I can say anything on my mind without having to filter things out first, and I always learn from our conversations- from her, about myself, about life.

I like that we have grown together over the years of our friendship.

Also, I thank God for the past 3 months I've had in London.

The uncomfortable initial phase of settling in and the friends who stuck by me and wrote me emails, struggling to stay true to myself (if I even knew who I was and what that meant), to finally finding myself in this space and place.

Thankful for my flatmates, a rare combination of 10 people who somehow get along despite being vastly different. For my coursemates, for me being very satisfied with having a small group of 5 familiar faces I am genuinely happy to see instead of trying fruitlessly to be friends with everyone on the periphery. For UCL, which I initially didn't want to go to but am now proud to be part of. For familiar faces in London from back home, those here and those who've come to visit to help me take stock of changes with the situation or with me and talk it through with me so I know where I am in this. For OCF and for His hand guiding me throughout this time, telling me it is okay to feel like everything is shifting because He stays the same.

Looking forward to being home at the end of this weekend, to see more people I love.

I will perhaps attempt to finish my essay on Metallurgy (yes read that right) on my 7 hour Dubai stopover.

Movies I've watched:

2011-12-13T00:22:00.004Z

Monday,

Got up in the morning,

Went for Ask The Ethnographer session in class from 2-4pm, it was the best Social Anth lecture of my term basically.

Jerome Lewis and Rebecca Empson telling us how they discovered their communities turned friends by chance, the chances they had to take, the letting go of friends, the suspending of your own biases, the realization that no one is a blank slate.

It's quite.. refreshing, to hear about them and their interests in society.

Jerome Lewis was talking about how he was invited to speak at the Occupy talks to consider if egalitarian living is possible, equality among people, and he talked about taxation.
Feel like anthropology is increasingly relevant.

As opposed to archaeology, which for me seems like people are just interested to find out the "truth" for no other reason apart from it?

I don't know where the motivation to find out whether the true origins of civilization and complex societies came from Africa or Egypt comes from :/ maybe I will in time.

Grabbed hot chocolates at Caffe Nero with Soph, Megan and some of the anthropology girls.

Talking about pranks they played in their halls, I'm so glad no one bursts into my room in my flat when I leave the door unlocked or clingwraps me into my room,

Walked back and made dinner for my lover Nat, hung out in the kitchen solving crosswords and eating leftover crumble with ice cream with the flatmates,

Worked on my essays, procrastinated like crazy,

somewhere in between Nat skyped me to show me something. Literally right across the room from me. Singing songs to each other, watched 2 episodes of Gossip Girl when I finished my essays, then sat in bed in the dark talking through our thoughts to each other,

Tuesday,

Past Societies in the morning was so interesting, having the best lectures this entire week.

Really want to get on David Wengrow's excavation programme in summer,

Had lunch with Megan at Beani Bar and a double-shot moccha,

which was a huge mistake because I felt a buzz all day,

Called Zihan and talked to him all the way while I walked to the gallery to see Sylvia Plath's exhibition with Nat,

The street we were on was full of galleries so we just walked into them,

Saw Rodin's casts and Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen among other new artists,

Talked about art in a really conversational way, I like that I can talk to Nat about any thoughts without being too "aware" of what we are talking about and worrying about pretentious, it's all just opinions to us,

Walked down Oxford Street just to prolong time to talk to each other more,

Got really cheesy christmas cards I can't wait to send out,

Made dinner for us again :)

Went for Ben Howard at Barfly at night with Megan!!

He was amazing but they probably had double the amount of people as William Fitzsimmons night and I had so many strangers crushed up against me,

I'm really liking this last week of school,

Back home now with Nat, she just got packed to leave tomorrow :'(

Going to watch One Day in bed,

edit: One Day was depressing :(

2011-12-08T21:25:00.004Z

Past 2 days have been uneventful, and by that I mean I have finished 2 essay drafts!!

Finally whipped out the down jacket, every night I hide myself under my duvet and try to plug all the holes where the cold air can come in.

Nat's coming tomorrow :)

2011-12-08T12:17:00.001Z

Photo-heavy, thought-light for now

FRIDAY!

Class all day,

Finished my Harris Matrix during my lunchbreak, possible entirely wrong but it's a start,

Nat came over at night and we had dinner at Camden before she went out,

painted my nails and watched Bridesmaids in bed,

SATURDAY!

Nat came back in the morning, traded Uggs!

Don't know when we sort of merged into having somewhat the same shoe size as each other,

went down to Borough Market in the afternoon for lunch,

had an ostrich burger and fawned over all the food,

Took a tube down to South Bank,

Dropped by the Hayward Gallery for Pipilotti Rist's video exhibition,

Met Ken and went to see the Christmas Market,

Saw the sun set by the River, (never seen the sky like that before),

Got churros from the Chocolate Festival and warmed ourselves up inside the Royal Festival Hall,

Tubed back home with Nat, made dinner at home and sat in bed binge-watching 5 episodes of Gossip Girl while she wrote and edited photos, again comfortable silence.

SUNDAY!

Dragged ourselves out of bed in the morning for All Souls' carol service,

Met all the OCFers there :)

Had brunch with Ken at Riding House Cafe, my first full English breakfast and black pudding,

Got coffee at Kaffeine across the road,

Came home to cook flat dinner with the flatmates while Nat went shopping,

We started at 4pm and ate all the way 9pm, full christmas dinner with all the trimmings,

christmas crackers, secret santa, 2 dessert seatings, then hung out til 11pm with port wine, charades, corridor cricket, corridor bowling, corridor lying all over the place recovering from dinner, table tennis, singing christmas carols,

undoubtedly the best flat ever. It really felt like Christmas :')

Back to my room to chill with Nat :)

2011-12-06T21:01:00.004Z

Today was UCL's Christmas in the Quad :)

Went for my shift with Volsoc's Card-Making booth from 4-6pm to make cards to give to the old folk's at our visit next next week,

Tons of people came, really funny to see people in uni designing cards like little children,

I made these heheh, (yeah I can't believe I'm in uni either)

Megan & Tammy came to visit,

Out in the quad there were rows of stalls selling hot food like churros, paella, pancakes, mulled wine, minced pies, fajitas, hotdogs, cakes, freshly-baked bread, and winter clothes or little gifts,

In the evening, there were carols and jazzy christmas tunes out at the main quad,

My favourite bit was the bread lady who hung mistletoe over her stall and tricked unsuspecting couples into "sampling bread" then making them kiss each other,

CHRISTMAS HAS ARRIVED and I love it.

Also, someone in our flat (presumably Wedic) bought a Christmas tree and Athena decorated it,

2011-12-05T17:20:00.005Z

British Museum in the morning from our museum on lectures,

Vicky's advent calendar has Kinder surprise eggs in them...

So we made a dog with a christmas parachute this morning,

Checked out the Anthro library which has an amazing collection, one of those libraries you'd want to "visit in your free time" just to be surrounded by interesting things,

3 hours of breaks today because various things were cancelled,

Walked back with Sophia and had hot chocolate in the kitchen because today it was 3degrees and I felt I deserved it.

At night,

Bell x1, Bush Hall London. Best gig of my time in London thus far, can strike this one off my bucket list, have always wanted to see these guys.

JAPE opened,

Crowd was amazing, venue was intimate, they played a whole range of their rock to soft songs,

and of course Eve is the Apple of My Eye.

Took the tube back with John and missed King's Cross while talking somehow,

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two." - Captain Corelli's Mandolin, via Ken

2011-12-04T15:55:00.001Z

Had one of the best weekends I've had in awhile,

Met Ken at the British Museum to see Hokusai's Great Wave off Kanagawa before they took it down,

Was a lot smaller than I expected, and I found a Hokusai parallel to Van Gogh's Starry Night Over The Rhone vs Starry Starry Night, i.e. the lesser known piece that I like more.

100 Views of Mount Fuji,

Also found out that Debussy's La Mer was inspired by Great Wave,

Had beef cheek Pho for lunch at Cay Tre in Soho, and made Ken tell me all about his travels.

Talking to him is like finding out something from Wikipedia, there're just endless stories to go into and after awhile you kind of forgot the first question you had to begin with.

Got gelato (well Ken did) at Gelupo,

Then walked to Covent Garden for a bit, saw buskers, Christmas market, a contemporary art installation trying to reinvent the Nativity scene in a really strange way,

but above all things I got to pet reindeers!!!!

The Covent Garden Piazza, I think, is enough to make anyone fall in love with London.

Walked down to the Royal Academy for the Degas' exhibit, the last weekend it's showing in London. Got audio guides, walked through 5 rooms of his paintings, sketches, photos and sculptures.

They had parallell exhibits of Jules-Etienne Marey, Eadweard Muybridge and the Lumier Brothers. Spent a good two hours there, I kind of underestimated the effect going to a museum has on me. Quiet spaces, random people walking around but everyone feels like a collective, walking slowly, being aware of your steps, hadn't done any of that in awhile

Felt like my head was cleared when I left.

The exhibition kind of explored the shortcomings of different mediums in capturing movement, and I guess the magic in being able to do it. My favourite pieces apart from Degas' Two Dancers on Stage were Marey's Flight of a Pidgeon

And the Lumier brothers' Serpentine Dance which was handpainted,

Dropped by Waitrose to grab a bottle of Merlot (the wine descriptions are the best there) and some steaks, seasoned it at home, put some really good music on Ken's amazing speakers,

he cooked while I read Watchmen,

Made apple crumble, watched Drive while it baked in the oven, then Notting Hill,

Drive was really good- minimal dialogue, and they completely subvert your expectations of an action film. My favourite scene was when Carey Muligan and Ryan Gosling are in the car, you can feel so much tension and attraction between them, and there's silence for about a full minute which is rare in movies today, and she just places her hand on his. Scene closes.
The soundtrack was brilliant as well.

Really awesome day, I had 2 essays to do but I really didn't feel up to it so I'm glad I had an entire day of good company, conversation and comfort instead.

Today,

Went to All Souls in the morning for service, Holy Communion,

Back home to work on my essay (finished my Consumption draft finally),

Had dinner at Uncle Ajay and Aunty Vineta's because Aunty Siak and Sam were in London checking out universities. The conversations I have with Sam take me back to applications last year, can't believe an entire year has gone by, another batch has finished A levels.

We had traditional indian food- chicken curry, prawn masala, sambal cauliflower, bismati rice, ladies fingers, and a completely untraditional dessert- chocolate tart, berry crumble and cheese.

I learn a lot talking to adults, they were telling me about work ethic here and in Singapore.

I can see how the work ethic is already breeding in university,

Aunty Vineta walked me to the busstop with tupperwares of food to sustain me for the week,

Always glad to know I have people, families, to come to if I ever need in London.

Came home to this, :)

2 weeks til I'm home. Home is where my heart is.

2011-12-02T15:23:00.002Z

Day ended with OCF decentralized at James' place.

Guys outnumbered girls and so instead of cooking, we ordered in KFC, crammed 20 people into a twin bedroom and watched Narnia.

It's such an OCF/church film to watch. Remember watching it with Nat in the cinemas before.

It's strange how whenever Aslan appears, I get all emotional.

Funny how the lessons you learn from Narnia change as well.

Going for Ben Howard at Barfly, it's going to be amazing,

2011-12-01T00:26:00.005Z

Got back home, thought I'd ran out of chocolate,

then busted Santa out of the advent calendar

Happy December, 17 days til I'm home.

Got my 3rd essay back today- 1 mark short of a first :/ Still satisfied though,

Drew the stratigraphy and harris matrix of a Bakewell tart then got to eat it,

And had a discussion in Mat/Vis about "gay"dar and gender constructs,

Got to touch spearheads and figurines from the 1800s.

Just another day as an Arch & Anth student at UCL.

Caught Railway Children at Waterloo station with John today, hadn't seen him in ages since he jetsetted off to Sweden and had "the most exciting 3 days of" his life.

Was nice catching up with him during the intermission.

The whole thing was very.. PG. It even ended at 10pm on the dot,

but it was really touching and unexpectedly so. Almost teared at the end.

The layout of course was nothing like I've seen before, 2 banks of seats called "Platform 1" and "Platform 2" with a huge railway in the middle. The way they used the set and interacted with the audience was very clever, and it was just very sincere.

Really enjoyed it. Also felt like I needed a day to kind of step back and feel like things can be simple again and remember what's really important and that's family.

Sounds terribly cliched but I miss mine tons.

2011-11-30T01:42:00.008Z

want to do this to my hair over Christmas break,

Caroline's hair is purple dip-dyed so she taught me how to do it, seems relatively easy

I want dark teal ends

Home day, drafting up 2 essays,

Consults lined up tomorrow,

Edits over the weekend

Got tickets for James Vincent McMorrow, guess I am spending a little too much money on gigs but this is part of the draw of being in London.

Spent most of the night in the kitchen with the flatmates before they headed off to the Union,

Went to see Mark Watson's live recording at BBC Radio 4 with Megan & Isaac,

Fun night- needed the laughs.

Need to lock myself in the library and do my essay,

I've got 2 incomplete drafts out and a deep physiological disability that prevents me from completing them.

2011-11-29T00:39:00.001Z

ASOS arrived in the mail today!! Love it,

After class today,

Esmee, Kaya, Megan, Tammy, Miles & I grabbed pizza from ICCO,

Sat in the park eating fresh hot pizzas and chilling,

Dropped by paperchase, so tempted to buy up the entire store but I ended up controlling myself and leaving with what I went there for: a box for my secret santa gift.

Went to the main library, UCL has a huge beautiful library with gigantic stairwells and endless corridors, can't believe it's the first time I've been in the main library since I've arrived here.

Went to the history section because no one goes there, camped ourselves in a room for 3 hours and finished all our readings for the week. The earliest I've ever finished :)

Gotta get my essay drafts out tomorrow so I can enjoy my last week in December.

Headed back home then took the bus down to Heaven for the Jezabels gig with Megs!
The venue's amazing, stage is just high enough to see everything and the standing area isn't too wide, but the people were horrible so I doubt I'll go back to Heaven for another gig anytime soon.

Opening acts: Good Dangers, David's Lyre, both were awesome.

But Hayley Mary was divine, her voice is unreal and they played all the songs I wanted to hear!
Closed with Disco Biscuit Love and everyone went nuts, loved tonight~

At the end of the gig, everyone was taking the posters so I just ripped one off the wall, hurreh.

"limit to your care, so carelessly there"

James Blake's cover of Feist's Limit to Your Love

2011-11-28T20:54:00.005Z

Since I have to finish my 6 porkchops from Sainsbury's in the near future,

Today's dinner was black pepper porkchops with caramelised onions and yesterday's mash,

It looks kind of like the sandwich I made the other day but it tastes drastically different,

Lunch at Beani Bar with Tammy & Megan, had a sausage and eggplant sandwich and a mocha,

Stayed back in the library after class ended to get a head start on my readings,

Walked back eating the cake Meg's dad made when she went home over the weekend,

Got some groceries from Lidl's,

Back home to read more before watching the Kardashians with Athena, Soph & Laura.

We were all in Athena's room in our PJ pants eating jaffacakes watching Kim & Kourtney take new york (Khloe's my favourite though), new Monday night routine,

I always miss Glee nights with them cos I'm at gigs,

Elliot came back from the gym around 11 and we hung out googling recipes for the Christmas dinner and learning Burlington Bertie for the union night on Wed when all the UCL people scream it at the top of their drunken lungs at midnight.

Love my flat.

2011-11-27T11:47:00.005Z

Loved these readings, what convinced me to do the essays on consumption and social meaning. Daniel Miller's The Comfort of Things:

Empty: http://ls-tlss.ucl.ac.uk/course-materials/ANTH1001A_49760.pdf

Porous: http://ls-tlss.ucl.ac.uk/course-materials/ANTH1001_55328.pdf

Full: http://ls-tlss.ucl.ac.uk/course-materials/ANTH1001_53374.pdf

Made this for lunch,

Curry-spiced pork with English mustard, wild rocket and sauteed mushrooms on toast

Got Erica's feedback on my essay outline (she gave me the go-ahead with my points),

and tried to work out a substantially-worded draft before flat dinner but I was terribly unfocused, going to go to the library tomorrow with Megan to get it sorted.

Cooked flat dinner with Soph, Laura & Athena.

Peeled potatoes, cut vegetables, boiled them all (used all the pots in the flat), mashed potatoes, made Toad in the Hole (which is sausages in yorkshire pudding), and then mulled wine and blackberry charlotte with custard for dessert. Athena & I made dessert today,

Fun night- my favourite part of flat meals is the hour waiting for dessert to be ready in the oven while we just talk and hang out. Good Sunday night before the crazy week begins,

Also getting fewer photos of us as flatmates and more of the food we eat.

That's an extremely accurate testimony to who we are as a flat and what we care about.

Also, when Will & Will were moving my table into the kitchen to make room for everyone,

they found out how neat my room was.

So my flatmates have discovered I am slightly OCD- I guess this means they know me well now!

Will: omg Eve, your shoes are in twos..

Eve: WHAT ELSE CAN THEY BE THEY COME IN PAIRS

Will: Your kit kat come in twos, and so do your crunchie bars...

Eve: I ate one of each today I swear!!

Will: you count your chocolates...

Belated photo of Megan & I in the park frolicking in the leaves,

2011-11-26T02:02:00.004Z

Redditor bbilbay asked the Reddit community if they would be so kind as to cheer up his daughter and her best friend, who had recently been diagnosed with leukemia, by photoshopping “something pretty or fun” into the background of this photo of them together.
The outpouring, to say the least, has been incredible, amazing, breathtaking,phenomenal, and so much more.

http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/lqx59/photoshop_request_this_is_the_photo_of_my/?t=1319839522

Went down to the library today with Tammy and did my first draft for my Material Culture essay, must've taken out 15 books on Consumption in those 5 hours, the more I read the more convoluted my argument got, it took me ages to cut it down.

Sent it to Erica to approve before I start on my social anth essay next week.

Wanna see if I like Monday's lecture on Marriage enough to do the essay, if not I'll do gender.

Had dinner with Tammy at this cheap Italian diner,

11" pizzas for 4 pounds! So yummy, got a Diavola and she got a Hawaiian,

Headed down to the Garage Theatre to queue for tickets for the last night of Reservoir Dogs with Maggie, it was AMAZING!! So glad we got tickets, was sold out right after us again.

One of the few Tarantino films I actually enjoyed so I was excited to see how they'd make it into a play but it worked so well, and the venue is great as well.

The UCL Drama Society is amazingly talented, going to go for all their productions there now,

I also fell in love a little with Mr White,

Walked back with Tammy,

Tammy: you know there's a song called Suzanna about a hooker who gets killed in Camden?

Eve: you're kidding me right

Tammy: no google it!
Eve: -googles it- (lyrics are really creepy) I hate you please tell me a happy story in Camden to counteract this, I can't walk past Camden lock without freaking out now!

Tammy: mm ok, there was once this girl walking down Camden and it's a nice cool evening..

Eve: yeah ok

Tammy: And then a car pulls up behind her and.. A CLOWN POPS OUT AND-

Eve: OK HELL NO.

Haha I hate clowns they're so freaky.

Watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,

Really really liked it,

2011-11-25T14:16:00.010Z

Got this for dad via his email request, so cute

Also got this in the mail today!

Just skyped with Zihan, OCF tonight,

Nat told me about the "Screw You" effect over Skype haha, by Masling.

When a participant in a psychological experiment is aware of the objectives and act to mess up the experiment, hilarioussss.

Feeling unproductive so I think instead of trying to do my essay today, I'll download a movie instead and do the essay tomorrow

edit: Watched Post Grad (terrible) and Love Actually (amazing),

OCF was really good as well. Decision made to go on a Friday night.

+ http://www.youtube.com/user/SoulKitchenfr

2011-11-24T23:15:00.002Z

Got up in the morning, trolled ASOS,

And made the best meal I've had since I've been here,

Got pork chops from Sainsbury's late last night and decided to make a porkchop sandwich with wild rocket leaves, caramelised onions and mustard.

Stu called it a "posh sandwich" while he ate his weetabix lol.

Did a bit of readings before heading down for material culture lecture,

Then tutorial with Erica where we had 2 hours of Bordeaux wine tasting :)

Partly her phD research and also partly studying the notions of culture and locale,

Tried a rose, 2 whites and 2 reds. In the middle of the day. Then we spent the remaining time finishing up whatever wine was left and talking about material culture.

Grabbed sandwiches from Tesco and sat on the UCL quad with Megs, headed to the South Cloysters to finish up my readings and then we went down to the Garage Theatre to get tix for the Resevoir Dogs play with Maggie but it was sold out. So annoyed, but definitely going to catch it on Saturday.

Megs came over and we finished up more readings, brain food:

It's now 11pm and I've officially finished all my readings for the week before Friday! Unprecedented :)

In anticipation of TGIF!

2011-11-23T00:42:00.003Z

Got up in the morning at 9am: Sophia, Laura & I had our doors open shouting down the corridors to get our Florence tix! Site crashed but we managed to get ours so we're going to see her next year~~

Good thing I got up because I ended up doing my readings,

headed down to Mully's for the Volsoc Comm Meeting, met the rest of the people, brainstormed a little,

then camped out at the library to catch up on work I hadn't done the past couple of days,

From hunter-gatherer to food-processor, Farming in Prehistory ://

4 hours of that and other books,

Then met John at Strand macs for my QUARTERPOUNDER. Wish they had DQP here.

Caught Broken Glass at Vaudeville Theatre, Arthur Miller's play. Really enjoyed it.

Because we went with the theatre group, we got an informal talk with the cast after, moved from the dress circle down to the front row of the stalls, sat in front of the cast and listened to other theatre students ask them questions while pretending to be a theatre student.

This song is on my mind,

2011-11-22T01:47:00.003Z

Personal tutor review with Dave Wengrow after class,

Sat in the park and talked to Zihan (haven't spoken to him in like 4days, it's amazing how much you can rely on someone who isn't physically present)

Met Amadea & Tiq for Four Seasons, gotta have my fix.

Took a tube down, the shortest tube ride of my life, to Selfridges to get Sarah's aeroccino for her Nespresso. Thank God I didn't get the machine because as of tomorrow, it's 20% off Selfridges home appliances online!!

Sat at Pinkberry and studied for a bit, mostly researching on Sarah's Nespresso machine.

Took me back a little to studying for As and Os with Amadea :)

Walked to M&S to get my Advent Calendar, it's up in my room now so happy.

Had dinner with Sophia and Shandana at KFC on Tottenham, we were gonna grab jacket potatoes from the Union but it was closed for a private event,

Tiq's right: KFC is way better in the UK. The chicken was amaaaazing, 3 of us sat there just nodding in agreement after every bite.

Met Will, Megan and Tammy at the Bloomsbury for Now You Has Jazz to support Stu and Maggie.

Fun night, they played "Baby it's Cold Outside" and "Georgia On My Mind" and a whole host of other jazz tunes so I was really happy.

Went to the Union bar after just chilling for a bit with the housemates,

came home thirsty as heck and drank an entire carton of juice,

I need to start doing work.. :(

2011-11-21T18:00:00.004Z

Class today was awesome.

I've decided to do my essay on Consumption like I predicted I would, today's lecture was a confirmation of that. Really interesting- one of those "hellyes this is why I chose anthro and am in uni" for moments.

Went to George Farha cafe with Megs & Maggie during the lunchbreak to do our write-ups.

During mentoring, we exchanged the participant-observation pieces we did and talked through them. I usually hate these little assignments and discussions but today's turned out to be really interesting. Particularly liked Chris' write-up of people in the park and group solidarity, and Maggie's one one 3 couples in a cafe and how long they've been together. I did mine on the camp ground at OCF retreat the last day, seeing the groups people gravitate towards and how people negotiate space.

And during Social Anth, we watched 2 videos on Rituals and Initiations. I love anthro days.

Met Amadea & John after class at Hare & Tortoise and got charkwayteow, pretty authentic but not spicy enough. Still good though!! Love it when Amadea's here :)

Then we grabbed ciders and hunted around all the supermarkets in the Russell Square to Euston vicinity for Haagen Dasz, ended up getting Strawberry Cheesecake and headed to Tiq's hall.

Helped her and her groupmates stick stuff down on their boards,

reminisced about secondary school project days,

Hung out for a bit then took a bus back.

2011-11-20T00:44:00.006Z

Back from OCF retreat :)

It was awesome, made tons of new friends and really spent a good weekend with God and His people, really like the OCF bunch.

I don't have post-camp "high" which is great cos it means I can try and make little retreat moments in my life now rather than let the lessons I've learnt and experiences I've had be time and space-specific. God is everywhere, and I've gotta start taking advantage of it.

My group!

Got back around 5, dropped my stuff at home then met Shu & Mel at Camden for dinner.

We caught the Book Barge at Camden by chance, I've been to Camden tons of times and I've never seen it so Shu's really lucky.

The kind of boat Shu wants to live in apparently, 2 cats and books everywhere.

After Mel left, Shu & I headed back to my place and talked for a couple of hours.

Missed her so much. I've always known Shu & I are really different in personality and interests and stuff but every time we meet and really talk to each other, I'm reminded of why we were friends to begin with. Got to talk to her about loads of things that have kind of eluded me, it's nice to meet people from "before-London" just to remind yourself of what things were like before so you don't lose hold of who you were/are. Had a really good night.

Shu left around midnight, walked her out then got back to my room and called Dalton, fell asleep on the phone after an hour, I haven't done that since primary school :( sorry!!

2011-11-18T01:30:00.002Z

http://www.youtube.com/user/themahoganysessions

Off to retreat!!

2011-11-17T00:51:00.002Z

Tutorial Thursday 9am-4pm: survived

Lunch in the park with Megs, then a phonecall with Zihan, then hung out with Jonny for a bit,

John came over at 5pm, we finished a pint of Praline & Cream Haagen Dazs (2 pound from Sainsbury, Winter sale!!), then did some work while putting Portugal The Man on replay.

Studying for gigs.

First I fell asleep on my bed while doing my readings on domestication,

then John let me used the table, then he fell asleep on the bed. Bed is clearly source of all evil.

Headed to Camden around 8, grabbed bang bang chicken for dinner, Bulmers from the bar,

and caught Chakra!

Can't believe we were 1.5 hours late from the time the doors opened and we were in the 3rd row.

I really liked Chakra, surprisingly.

Portugal the Man were awesome (always fascinated by how people made their voices sound the way they do) but a little too rock for my liking today, one of the rare moments where I prefer the band on iTunes than in real life. And they didn't play Everyone is Golden either :(

The lead singer is SO cute though. And I'm glad I went cos I've always wanted to catch them live,

9 pounds for both bands what a steal.

Bed time~

2011-11-16T15:37:00.004Z

The sermon on Sunday was talking about what we "need" to do vs what we "want" to do, "want" being the desire to seek a better relationship with God,

And I'm thinking, perhaps the closer I get to God and the more I align myself with Him,

make the decisions He knows are best for me, the less "want" and "need" become a conflict,

My work, my job, the way I spend my time will not be stealing time away from my purpose,

but will be it. I'll be pleasing God with my life, and of course since He made me,

And I'll be happy as well?

Replying emails all day, sending love back to where it's all come~

Nat sent me this quote in an email 6 days ago, I've always known the last line in this but never the quote in entirety and I love it, thank you.

"I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today,
life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I've learned that you
can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three
things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents,
you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that
life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you
shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you
need to be able to throw some things back. I've learned that whenever
I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right
decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be
one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch
someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that
people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but
people will never forget how you made them feel."
-Maya Angelou

2011-11-15T23:35:00.002Z

Smoked salmon sandwich at the park with Megs,

Staying in the library to finish up all our Material Culture readings which were only available on Issue Desk (another skill to add to my "research ability" section on my skills profile),

Took a detour down past Odeon to check out the GreenNote in the nice part of Camden, made plans with Megs to go to 1 restaurant there per month since a full meal is around 6pounds,

Got the brochures for the London Jazz Fest this week,

Short nap,

Walked down the road to 229 The Venue for the UCL Music League competition to support Shout Timber,

tried a new cider today: Magners pear

Sat on the "surprisingly" comfy couches and watched 3 bands, danced a little, talked a little, screamed over the music a lot, met Alex & Sam via Megs,

I think Stu just got a ukelele cos I can hear the geography guys in the kitchen jamming ^^

2011-11-14T17:03:00.004Z

BZBZBZBZ DAY going to collapse of exhaustion:

During the breaks today, I got my readings for the week from the library,

Grabbed coffee and a panini with Claire, Vicky & Megs,

Got tickets for You Has Got Jazz with Maggie and made plans to go for UCL theatre stuff,

Sat on the IoA steps talking to Zihan which was a nice break from the day,

(sorry to everyone whose bbms and whatsapps I haven't replied)

Getting back into a routine is tough, though I do love Monday's lectures.

This is what Vicky & I did during Social Anth lecture today,

Walked back home with Soph & Megs,

took a quick bath then went for the Amnesty International talk/book launch with Juan Mendez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/events_details.asp?ID=1976

First proper event I've taken advantage of in London that isn't a gig/arts-related.

Was very star-struck being in the same room as him, a whole host of other people in NGOs and the director Kate Allen.

It was an interview style but they covered a range of topics like the importance of universal human rights, his own experience as a torture victim, even some controversial topics, what we can do, what governments can do.

It was less vague and flighty considering he was a UN rep and they usually can't talk about loads of issues but he came more as an individual, and my favourite parts was when another human rights activist asked him for advice on staying motivated to fight for justice when things seem bleak (he was also a torture victim) and Juan Mendez said being courageous enough to share your own experience even if it's painful and rehashes the memories to let people know that it's a real issue, and to be secure knowing he's still doing his small part which is better than nothing at all. After the talk, I saw them exchanging a handshake and talking as well.

Philipp Sands: you've also done some work as the advisor to the Secretary General on genocide.

Juan Mendez: no, prevention of. Very important those 2 words. Make a huge difference.

Really enjoyed it.

Groceries with Megs grabbing half-priced Sainsburys items on the walk back then

Oovoo with John, Kenneth & Amadea making plans for London 2012 with everyone,

love these guys :)

Replying emails now, giving myself a night off.

2011-11-13T17:41:00.004Z

Church today- wore my boots out and they're really easy to walk in so I was really happy.

Talked to Zihan on the busride :)

Holborn was closed (idk what that even means how can an entire area be closed) so my bus terminated at King's Cross suddenly and I got a free busride and on the back of the coupon there were 3 McDonald's vouchers- going to use them next week though,
Changed bus and got to church on time,

Sermon was about using our gifts,

I like how after sermon Kim, John & I all turn to each other and say "Juice?" lol,

Met quite a few people after service, people at Christchurch're very friendly.

Hunted down the random pub John & I stumbled upon a couple weeks' back and had Sunday Roast with Clarence, YUMMEH

Had an impromptu volunteering society meeting at UCL, so I walked down and met Itsa & Solene. Itsa took us through our new portfolios and jobs,

and then 3 of us just spent some time talking about our mission trips and what we wanna do in UCL, inspiring to be around people like that. Really happy I got the position in this society.

Sunday roast again with the flatmates- we're all reunited after reading week :)

The girls made Cottage Pie cos minced beef was on offer (apparently different from Shepherd's Pie which is lamb), and roasted vegetables and pear & dark chocolate dessert, and we had mulled wine as well! So good.

Will & Jenny came over as well, forgot to take a proper photo :(

Sat there sucking on ring pops and talking for hours,

then we doled out the secret santa names! So excited for the next flat meal,

Chatting with Ethel now, planning our trips when she comes up to Paris next year for Le Cordon Bleu! Can't wait to be reunited with my family in December~

It's been too long since we've all been together, Sarah included.

Bev sent me this link to http://musicphilosophy.co.uk/ that basically is text art of lyrics,

Love it :) Thanks Bevvo.

Back to school tomorrow, let's do this.

2011-11-12T17:48:00.005Z

Tuesday, 8 Nov

Dragged myself and my luggage down Camden Road on a rainy morning at 4am to catch my 5am train from St Pancras,

Slept all the way on the train and missed the sunrise,

Arrived in Paris at 8am Paris time, Ahmai & I excitedly jumping up and down in the middle of Gare du Nord having found each other successfully,

Checked into our hotel where Ahmai's been staying for over 10years, and had tea,

Met Elton my new friend the hotel's bulldog who sits at your table quietly and waits for you to feed or pet him,

Took a walk down the streets and had brunch at La Tartine which is a simple, low-maintenance concept that serves really well executed sandwiches,

Also the first time I met the French ham & cheese sandwich which made frequent reappearances throughout the trip lol, looks nothing like any hamcheese sandwich I've had on my student budget, but it's France.

Dropped by Poilane bakery, Jean-Charles Rochoux & Pierre Herme to get desserts,

I got to try the famed Miss Gla'Gla ice cream, salted caramel flavour,

Had tea again by a small cafe because we were tired of walking,

The white truffle macaron was amazing- you could smell it before you even tasted it and especially when you bit into it, this is white truffle used well.

At night, we had dinner at Le Chateau-Briand,

2 bottles of red wine and 7 courses, 2.5 hours, lots of conversation,

Back to the hotel room for bubble bath and singing to music on Ahmai's iPod,

heckyes I have the coolest aunt in the world.

Wednesday, 9 Nov

Got up and had breakfast in the hotel,

Then took a train down to hunt down Uncle Francois' tarts,

Had lunch at the Jewish quarters,

Then went vintage market shopping at the Spanish quarters!!

Got myself some flannels, got Ethel a lovely green dress, and some leather gloves,

back to the hotel to rest up before catching our train to Epernay,

Uncle picked us up from the station and we had dinner at Cook'in, French chef making food with Thai flavours but french style.

Opened up our desserts at home, sat in front of the television and ate it all,

Thursday, 10 Nov

Ahmai made me a ham cheese sandwich in the morning for breakfast,

Drove down to La Vallee Ville which is like an outlet store for all the designer brands,

Ahmai wanted her Moncler/Burberry jacket, and I wanted to get new shoes,

Got my Hunter-Jimmy Choos, got Liz some Jimmy Choo boots, and a new longchamp Le Pliage in the colour I wanted (greyish blue),

Drove back and picked Uncle Francois up from work then went to La Briqueterie for dinner, 1 michelin star! Apparently, it's very very traditional french food and not very inventive, but it was hearty and I liked it. Uncle Francois had the pidgeon, Ahmai had pheasant and I had veal. My veal was amazing, it was so tender and packed with flavour.

Went home and watched The Killers on tv with two of them, and tried on all of Ahmai's clothes that she wanted to give away so now I have tons of new sweaters and dresses and my favourite, Tod's shoes!

Friday, 11 Nov

Got up and had a nice long phonecall with mum & dad,

went to A. Lallement in Reims for lunch, 2 michelin stars.

Amazing- Uncle and Ahmai were explaining to me how the michelin star system works, it's beyond being inventive with food and goes into the little details like service and ambience.

Apparently in 3 michelin star restaurants, service flows seamlessly and tables are all far apart enough so you can't overhear people's conversations.

Really interesting talking to 2 of them- definitely the most "foodie" couple I know.

Bordier butter, the best butter in the world. I never thought I was someone who could tell the difference between supposedly "good" wine/food/cheese and "normal" but this was amazing, you could tell immediately. The butter didn't melt, even the unsalted one had so much flavour and it was so smooth.

Dessert in the lounge,

Drove down to visit Reims Cathedral which was so beautiful inside, stained-glass windows some designed by Chagall,

Went back home and tried to convince Ahmai to give me her Sandro dress,

Had maggie noodles for dinner, sat by the TV watching the 5th element and Glee :)

Stayed up late since it was my last night and Ahmai made me pasta with sausage and XO sauce for supper, watched almost all of Season 3 of Gossip Girl again.

Saturday, 12 Nov

Sad day. Realized there was no 2.30pm train, so I slept in and got up at 11 and realized I had to leave at 12.30pm :(

Couldn't go to the market to have fresh oysters, so Uncle walked down to buy the organic roast chicken and potatoes for lunch,

Was a really nice last lunch to have,

Slept on the train back to Paris Gare du Nord, the tunnel was closed so I had to lug my luggage bag up the huge flights of stairs,

Waited for 3 hours for my train back to London,

Huge delays because someone left an "unidentified luggage" on the train before ours and the police came down and the whole check-in was on lockdown, ridiculous queues, read all my notes in that time,

Reached back at 6.30pm, missed Lord Mayor's fireworks but

hung out with Sophia, Athena & Elliot in the kitchen, (love my flatmates),

then went up to find Megs to paint my nails red and catch up with her about the week,

Back to my room to skype with Zihan who I haven't spoken to the entire week, love.

Skyped with Nat too, buying christmas lights off Amazon together and planning December and seeing so clearly how we'd saved up a week's worth of stories to tell each other,

Then Liz & Adam- Adam has the exact same poster as I do!! And he has the sweater too.

Hokusai's Great Wave :)

Strange how different things can feel like home to you-

being with Ahmai and having long conversations with her in Paris, singing to oldies, laughing at Uncle's dancing in Champagne, sleeping in, feeling completely at ease with her,

and then back in London skyping with the people I love most and just chilling with my flatmates.

Had an amazing reading week, needless to say- so thankful I've got Ahmai just a couple of hours away. Love her so much and appreciate having such a special aunt like her in my life.

After our hours of conversation, I feel like like my head's been cleared and my heart's at ease with a lot of things. This week passed by without any effort at all, was completely and totally myself.

I love asking her questions because when you love someone and respect them, you want their opinion on things. Hearing them tell you literally "what they think" feels like a privileged moment.

Probably put on 10kilos but it was well worth it imo. What a week :)

2011-11-07T17:14:00.002Z

FRIDAY, 4 NOV

Social anth presentation went down well, no more presentations until next term~

After class, I dropped by the library to print out my readings and return books,

At night, I walked down to OCF with Terence,

Finally stayed til it ended and then had supper at Chinahouse,

Walked back home.

SATURDAY, 5 NOV

Did my essay all day and watched the sunset by the window,

Saw Jan & his friend out in the carpark with their chairs watching it as well,

something that pretty can't just be ignored like it's just another sky,

met Amadea, Paul & John at Camden Market for bang bang chicken by the river,

Then headed down to Primrose Hill for Bonfire Night :)

Sitting on the grass, knee to knee with strangers and friends, seeing fireworks go off all over the London skyline,

Walked back to Camden around 10, people setting off fireworks overhead and in front of our faces,

Got prosecco and cadbury dippers at Sainsbury with Amadea & John,

then back to my kitchen where we hung out til late talking about our months since we've last been together, just as they were about to leave someone set off fireworks and we saw them by the window,

Skyped with Zihan at night :)

SUNDAY, 6 NOV

Church in the morning, didn't get lost at Blackfriars this time,

Lunch at Sade,

Headed to John's place after church to finish up my essay draft,

Distracted (but gladly) by Amadea and a 2l bottle of Strongbow lol,

Cooked chicken curry in the ricecooker, sat cross-legged on the floor eating,

Took a long walk to Angel, waited while 2 of my buses broke down?!?, got home impossibly late.

Kenneth needs to come to London, but for now it's pretty close to perfection with these 2.

MONDAY, 7 NOV

Stayed home to finish up my essay!!

Then met Amadea & John for more bangbang chicken (it's officially an addiction.. only a matter of time til' the guy knows me by name),

And down to the Camden Barfly for William Fitzsimmons.

We sat on the floor with cider literally next to the stage,

Scott Matthew was really good as an opening act, and he played Community,

but William Fitzsimmons was amazing. I think, my best gig yet.

Everyone was absolutely silent while he was playing, he told us stories to lend the songs even more meaning than they already held, and then if it wasn't enough- he played in the middle of the crowd for the encore. Magical.

Got the setlists!! And a photo with Scott,

Met Vanessa, Christabel and Ken and they told us about Sufjan Stevens' gig next year, so I went home to buy tix lol.

Packed for my 5am train to Paris.

Love weekends when Amadea's here!

2011-11-03T01:31:00.002Z

After school today,

Walked home with Sophia,

Finished my readings,

Went down for the Poetry Slam/Easy Jams at Mully's basement with Megs,

Got ourselves Bulmers, so appreciate how we both love cider equally as much,

Cheers ourselves to surviving another tutorial Thursday,

Listened to some acoustic performances

and then the slammers from Birmingham and UCL recite poetry,

Going to quote them completely out of context now,

"when you watch fireworks, you should see them reflected in your lover's eyes"

"it's not the winning that counts but the taking of your opponent's losses, to see self destruction is to know self assurance, or so they say"

"not everything has to fit to make sense"

"you are mutton dressed as lamb, and I am spam dressed as prosciutto"

I love the hold that people have over words, it's a gift and I appreciate it.

Stopped by Sainsbury's to get warm supper then walked back in the drizzle with Megan's droopy umbrella. Thursdays are officially the new Fridays for Megs & I.

2011-11-02T12:55:00.002Z

Slept in and got up at 10am, made myself a smoked salmon sandwich for breakfast,

Home doing my readings, weather's cool at 13 degrees today,

At 12, I had a nice long conversation with Zihan and the last 1/2 of the bangbang chicken dinner I got last night at Camden,

Got my asos package as well and just put some rice into the cooker for tonight.

Liking today already.

Yesterday after class, I went to find David Wengrow (feels so strange to call my tutors by their first names here) to get my essay back. Really satisfied with my grade, thank God.

Took a bus down to Primark to get myself a coat, boots and flats.

I don't know how it happened but I reached home and realized I had got them all in roughly the same shade of brown. John is definitely going to be making some "earthy" comments soon..

Really happy with my buys! As I was queueing up I took stuff out of my bag as well, which was good cos I don't think I'd be wearing purple boots anytime in my life.

Met Megs at home and we walked down to the Roundhouse to jam with the Live Music Soc people- Andy, Ele & James.

Was really fun, we did some Foals, Edward Sharpe, Mumford & Sons, Noah & The Whale and Killers.

Made plans to meet up at the Easy jams on Thursday and perform sometime together at one of the open mic nights~

Grabbed groceries with Megs on the way back, had dinner with the flatmates in the kitchen,

and then Megs came to my room around 9pm til midnight so we could figure out archaeobotany and what-the-heck Dorian Fuller was going on about in lecture and why it's important.

Comfortable silence, I'm glad we've hit this point with each other so fast already.

2011-10-31T00:19:00.003Z

Monday's are usually long, crappy and exhausting but this one was really awesome- the best way to spend my last day of October. I can't believe it's November already, where has all this time gone?

Walked down in the morning with Megs and Tammy,

Feels good to see the same faces after a fun weekend out and be able to have a proper conversation that doesn't entail small talk and feel like I really know this people and would choose to take the 30 minute walk down to school with them day after day.

During lunch break, Megs & I went to the park before Tammy & Jonny joined us and figured the day was too lovely not to sprawl ourselves on the grass and have lunch even though no one else was doing it,

Endured a mentoring session where we had to figure out the uses of objects we already knew the uses for pretending we didn't know their uses,

Another great social anthropology lecture on globalisation and the dilution of culture (or not), and stayed back for Jerome Lewis to give us some information on the war in Congo..

Some of the UCL students have already started a page and petition, and are meeting to decide on the next plan of action. Reminds me of the sermon on Sunday, can't do everything but can't do nothing either.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/UCL-Students-Supporting-Freedom-in-The-Democratic-Republic-of-Congo/187835021296053

Walked back with Sophia,

Made dinner and then headed down to Shepherd's Bush again for Gotye at St Stephen's church.

Reached and realized it was an actual legit church,

Alex Winston opened for him and she reminded me a lot of First Aid Kit whom I love.

Every gig I've been to in London has topped the previous one in some way.

Gotye's voice seems layered even when he's singing alone, and the acoustics in the church of course were amazing. The screen behind him had these lovely animations from the music videos,

and my only criticism was that the set was wayy too short :(

So glad I saw him, John & I kept fawning over him in between songs, casting each other "I-cannot-believe-he-sounds-like-this"/"cannot-believe-I-am-here" glances.

My personal favourite song of the night,

Had supper afterward at a cheap chicken place (of course),

and we both decided that Joshua Radin's the best gig we've been to thus far.

Took the tube back and shared a bar of Crunchie which is the best chocolate in the world.

I kind of liked that I spent my halloween at Gotye with John,

and then got to see all the outfits of the people walking down Camden Road to go to their parties.

Instead of partying it up and waking up tired tomorrow.