A Million Love Songs Later

Yeap, still keeping with my trend titling with song titles or lyrics.

This song has been stuck in my head for 2 days. I haven't actually sung it out loud (why haven't I?), but it's been there alright. Not sure what triggered it. Perhaps something I read on FB.

So, this morning - no wait, it's afternoon cos by the time I woke up it was already noon.

So, from the moment I woke up to now, which has been all of 1.5hrs, I have had a few realisations:

1. 1990, was 21 years ago. More than 2 decades! Oh man, oh man, oh man.

2. There is too much negativity online. Not just the things people say, but the way they say it. There is so much cynicism, bragging, sarcasm, envy...and the list COULD go on. I've been asking myself if I really want to read stuff like that. Do I? No, I don't. So what can I do about it? I could be selective in what I read/comment/like. I could try to post stuff that do not emit a negative vibe. Or, maybe, I could get off social networking sites altogether. The last one is, for now, just a thought. I could do the first two though, and I WILL!

3. I am perfectly contented. Not envious of anyone, of their lifestyle, of their career, or what they've got. I know, so surely, that I am EXACTLY where I am supposed to be in life. It doesn't mean it's all bubbles and strawberries all the time, everyday, but once again, I can't deny that I am truly, unabashingly, undoubtedly and knowingly HAPPY about my life, and where I am in life. And I wished everyone, especially the people that I love, would get that same perfect contentment in life and get to know how this feels. Because baby, it feels good! It feels victorious.

Right, so it's a rainy day in London-town. Great day to stay in. I'm gonna make me some lunch and let the words come right through my fingers (thesis!) until I am all hungry again.

Missing all my peeps! :)

Raindrops keep falling on my head~

The sky looks pretty gloomy now, befitting the typical London impression. It hasn't always been like that since I've been here, which is about 10 months now. WOAH!

So, anyway, I welcome the rain. I guess y'all heard about the London riots this past week, right? It was crazy. I mean, there were spots of mayhem and violence in various parts of London, with looting and burglary and fires and all. The fires are what really scared me. If you can't be safe in your own home... you know what I mean? And the riots spread to the other English cities too. (I have to say English, in case the Welsh and Scots get mad for using 'UK' since they were all fine and dandy there.) Manchester and Birmingham were quite badly hit. I feel sad for Manchester, cos I really liked it when I was there, and I was gonna bring my parents there in September. We've got to monitor the situation though, and hope that normality will be back. Soon.

So back to the rain. I think raining at night is excellent. Besides the obvious comfort factor or sipping a nice warm cuppa tea or hot chocolate and snuggling in the warmth of my heavy-duty quilt, there are actual positives that come out of raining at night too. For one, as it has been proven from the previous night, it actually keep the thugs at bay. No one, not even hooligans and yobs, like to be drenched in the cold, wet rain at night. Plus, all the loot that they are stealing may get dirtied or spoilt. So, when there is rain, there is no stupidity on the streets. Also, any attempt to light up stuff is made more difficult when everything is drenched and wet. That means they will have to take a longer time, and that means that the police can CATCH THEM!

About the police, I really appreciate what they have done to try and keep the streets safe. It's not an easy job, especially those in UK. They have to beware of accusations of police brutality and all that (what a friend of mine calls) liberal human rights crap. Now, I am all for human rights, but I think when somebody needs a whipping, they REALLY ought to be given one. I watched this documentary on TV yesterday "Coppers", about the police trying to control two crowds of protesters. I think my respect for the police in UK went up one notch. It's really not easy, and I doubt I can do it. Wait, I KNOW for a fact I can't do it. I'd probably be squashed, if not by the mobs or crowds, then by actually trying to hold the police line. I'm more a liability than help.

Oh yes, TV. I finally can watch clear TV. Got the fibre-optics people come in, sort the wiring and nonsense (that I cannot quite understand) out. And now I have lots of channels that are SO clear. It's great cos it's not as quiet at night, but at the same time, it's now twice as hard to not be distracted so I can do my dissertation thesis. And the good/bad news is, I am gonna get my Sky TV installed this coming Sunday. Dear Lordy Lord! I need help, God! Save me from the box!

So, I just paused for a while and starting wondering if the sky is getting dark because it is about to rain or if it's cos we are nearing the end of summer. Cos you know, the sky gets dark earlier these days, when in the last 2-3 months, it'll stay bright until about 9, even 10pm. It's only 7pm, and...it looks like 7pm.

Puh. Send in the rain!

Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

I like putting lyrics as the title of my posts. I don't think I have done much of it, or any at all, but perhaps today is a good day to start.

Seems kinda appropriate since it's been a while since I last blog. I blame it on my iPad2. Although, it's too lovely and wonderful to be attributed blame, so I take it back. But the point to make is that I can't seem to type a blog post on my iPad, like some other blogsites can or have apps for. So it ain't my fault!

It's a beautiful morning in London. Errr...it's morning for another 6 minutes. Then, it'll be noon. I decided to sleep in a little today since I'd been up bright and early at 8.30am the last couple of days. Took crazy early morning trips to the Mail Delivery Office to get my parcels TWO DAYS IN A ROW because for SOME OBSCURE AND IRRITATING REASONS, they failed to reach me at home. I don't get it. I'm at home almost ALL of the time.

Bygones. Did I mention, I still use "bygones" like how Richard Fish does in Ally McBeal? I like it. It facilitates an abrupt change of topic quite seamlessly.

It's been an interesting 2 weeks. I moved to a new nook. I went to the Glee Live concert at the O2. I saw Take That, the entire five-piece, at Wembley (and Pet Shop Boys too, since they were the opening act). Had a blast. Someone told me that the places I've been and things I have seen/watched/attended this one year has made it worth the trip. Did someone also mention that I came here to get a Masters degree? Prob' not. HA!

I love my new nook. It's so much more self-sufficient, beautiful and cute than that hole of a dorm room I was in. Even the view is better! At least, I don't get drunkards from across the street shouting and cussing at each other or pretending they are rock stars. Now, I get cute doggies of all shapes and sizes run around and doing their business, kids and families walking down the footpath going about their business, or a squirrel jumping up and down the branches of this huge tree in front of my window picking up some business (nuts). It's a nice view. Can't complain.

You know, I could live here forever. :)

Early in the morning!

I've been trying, for the last 3 weeks or so, to wake up early.

The problem was, I had been sleeping late. And it just gets worse. From 1am to 2am, then 3am, 4am and next thing you know, I was sleeping only when the sun was starting to rise up. It was bad. Very baaaaaad.

So one day, I slept early, thanks to some booze.

I woke up at 12noon. The same. No difference. Argh!

Until yesterday! I decided I got too sleepy while preparing for my exams and reading my notes. So I head to bed and TADA, I got up at 8.30am today.

I am so proud of myself.

Managed about 45mins of work.

And now, I shall go reward myself with a morning Starbucks latte!

I'm a happy girl. *skip to my lou*

My few cents worth - 7 May 2011

I just needed to let off some steam, seeing as to how I have been mostly keeping my thoughts to myself in the last two weeks or so. I've refrained from starting or joining the online debates, for personal reasons, but now that everything is (hopefully, more or less) done, I just need to get some things off my chest about this whole GE.

This post however, is not about who or what party I support. I mean, it's all cool and good and fine that there was debates about issues, and that almost all constituencies were contested. It's just my personal discomfort with certain aspects of this GE.

1. I don't get the name-calling. Surely, things don't need to get personal? Come on, aren't we supposed to be civilised adults (21-year-olds and above) who know better, which is why we get to vote and not every other little Tom, Dick or Harry. Do we really need to resort to calling people (whom we don't know) silly, rude or insulting names?

2. What's with the conspiracy theories? About the secrecy of the vote. About the media being controlled by the government and hence you cannot believe a single word. (yes, I get it that it is government-controlled, but come on, surely there has been improvement? So you can believe what is on FB and Twitter instead?) About how civil servants are tracked and how it affects your promotion. About relations and linkages (Singapore is SO small loh! I think we have three-degrees of separation, at the most! Just pick ANYBODY on FB who is living in Singapore.)

3. The Kate Spade thing. I GEDDIT that people don't like TPL and think she is unworthy or not a good candidate. What I don't get is, SO WHAT IF SHE HAS A FREAKING KATE SPADE? Even my younger sis owns a Kate Spade! Does that mean that since I own some Miu Mius and LVs and Guccis, I can never, ever think of becoming a parliamentarian??? Just walk down Orchard. Tell me how many people you see carrying a branded bag. I rest my case.

4. The silly proposals. As much as I get the concern and the respect that people have for GY, calling him to be the next president of Singapore is a complete insult to both the current President, and to GY. His strength is in policy-making and working for the people, and that is where he should be.

5. The idea that people only vote for the PAP or did not vote for the opposition out of fear. Another super idiotic conspiracy theory. Can't I vote because I prefer status quo. Can't I vote with either my heart or my head, without you thinking that there is something wrong with either my heart or my head?

6. And the call for people to do the right thing (and referring this to vote for a particular party). You think what? Russell Peters ah? Be a man, do the right thing! What's the right thing? The right thing is to cast the vote! Whether this or that party. Or even if it is an intentional void vote because you cannot decide, have no qualms about either or you'd rather choose neither. At least you have done your civic duty and cast that vote. THAT'S the right thing.

7. Taking issues or quotes out of context. If you wanna inform people about issues, you should do so properly. Don't take an issue, or a photo, or a quote and leave it for interpretation, especially when you are trying to insinuate something. Just because social networking sites have given you the power to spread information, doesn't mean you don't have any responsibility. Have some morality. Be objective. If not, at least be fair to all parties.

8. The snide remarks. I HATE THE SNIDE REMARKS. So so so juvenile. Again, you are supposed to be rational adults which is why you get the privilege of voting. Please, act like one.

That's more or less what I needed to gripe about. I must say, this GE thing made me consider quitting all forms of social networking. If not for the fact that I need to keep in contact with my family and friends, I would have done a FB/Twitter account suicide.

I'm a terrible blogger.

Yes, I am.

I didn't even bother checking the date of my last post cos I know it's been WAAAAY too long. I mean, it's a new year already! Although, technically speaking, the year is already 2 months old, and just into it's 3rd month.

My excuse is that I've been busy. Who isn't? The last few months have been a lot of travelling and schooling. Essays upon essays, presentations upon presentations, and places after places.

And now that I'm done with the official school work, I can breathe a little easier. There are the exams and the dissertation, but I'll just imagine they don't exist for the moment. One needs to have moments of delusions to get by.

Have also been thinking about what's next, after I'm done with school. I'm not too sure. I don't wanna bum around, but I'm not so keen about working. If only I could find a way to not hold down a proper job and just do little things here and there, help friends here and there...and lead a fulfilling and multi-purpose life! Hmm...it may not be difficult after all?

Being Too Green

Everybody who knows me KNOWS how much I like green.

Okay, I'm gonna put it out there, once again for the gazillionth time: my favourite colour is green.

There! I said it.

That said, I'm now feeling a little worried that I may have overdid the colour a bit. In my room. The room that I will stay and hibernate for, at least, the next 39 weeks.

Just looking around and I see quite a bit of green. For one, the things I brought tend to sway towards the green-ish side of things already. Then, there are the things I bought. Green sheets from Ikea, but that's just cause they were the cheapest. And then, I had to go to Primark and get a green throw for the chair. Ok, to be fair, it was the nicest colour around and the chair was really not suitable for human seating. It's a fresh olive green. :D

And did I mention the pinboard against the table? It was HIDEOUS! So I got Christmas wrapping to kinda "wallpaper" the board. It's nearly Christmas season. Go figure. I didn't get the tacky ones though. I got the not-so-obvious kinda of wrapper. The only giveaways were that the colours were white, red and green (with blue too!) and that there were stars and polka dots (I suppose that's for snow?). Yeah, I 'wallpapered' the entire board with that. About 1m (l) x 3.5m (w) of wall/board space.

The drapes are really awful. I don't know if I can do anything about that. I doubt it. Spoils my room though. Argh.

So yeah, back to the topic. My room, is turning out to be a little too green.

Great for the eyes.

This is why I don't do interior decorating. Or design. Or art.

The First Week, Or So.

It's a chilly night in most part of London, and especially where I am, which is on the other side of the river. Mostly cause it's been raining the whole day. I'm pretty glad I took the time and effort to get my room in proper living conditions so I can just laze in here while I watch the rain trickle outside. See, it wasn't that heavy.

I did take a walk at about noon to Tesco. It's about a 10min walk from where I stay, and there is another supermarket, Costcutters, just below me. The price, however, is not as great as Tesco or even Sainsbury so I refuse to pay for more. Plus, I had all the time in the world, so why not take a little walk down the nice neighbourhood and get some cheap items, right?

'Cept that it was drizzling. Hmm...didn't think that through huh? Yeah...but it was alright in the end. Came home with all the things I need to live comfortably - toilet paper, bread, ham, detergent, coffee, sugar, coke...amongst other things.

I have eaten out a few times since I arrived in London. Besides the Gold Mine duck rice and maybe the Wanton Mee soup at London Chinatown, the (Chinese) food isn't that great and exorbitantly priced. I cook much better. And cheaper. Do you know, the price of one meal at any of these 'restaurants' can buy me supplies for 1 week of food? Yeah...THAT bad.

Which is great for me, cos I love love love supermarket shopping. And the produce here can be super duper cheap. Like a packet of cheese for 67p; that's about $1.30. And a lot of other stuff are cheap too...but I forgot the prices already. Anyway, it's great doing supermarket shopping here.

I've also caught Jersey Boys and Les Mis. Jersey Boys was beautiful. Loved the songs and the way it was presented. Les Mis was also excellent. Eponine, Jean Valjean and Javert were wonderfully played. The role of Marius was played by Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brother. Okay, not a big fan, and I thought he paled in comparison to the rest of the cast, but to be fair, I think he did a decent job.

Oh, in preparation of my room, I also headed down to Ikea and Argos. Ikea never lets me down, but the hot-dog area was a little filthy. I got all typical-Singaporeanish and started using wet-wipes (which I brought from SG) to wipe the table. I mean, there was ketchup and mustard stains all over. How to eat on it? Urgh! Argos was an eye-opener. Catalogue shopping is my new favourite type of shopping. Okay, maybe 2nd favourite.

Oh, as for selecting course (or what we call modules), my Singaporean roots came out again. I went into the system on the day and time it was open for registration and tried to register all the courses I want, plus select my timetable choices (some courses have more than 1 timeslot to choose from). Before I came to London, I was already looking at the courses I like and surveying the timeslots and options that would give me a good timetable. I had 2 main options, with alternative timetables for each option. Kiasu right? Yeah, you can take the girl out of SG, but you can't take the SG out of the girl.

Anyway, back to registering courses, I think I was far too efficient and quick for the system. End up, the system had some issues and didn't start exactly at 10am like they said they would. So after a whole day of dilly-dallying, I finally got in and got all the courses and timeslots I want. WAHAHAHAAAA....

BUT, it is not the end, because they have to approve everything, which is likely the case cause I didn't stray very much from the regulations. So if all goes the way I want, I could possibly have a two-day study week. Tuesdays and Wednesdays. NICE, right? WAHAHAHAHAAAA.....

So, it's been a rather fruitful week. It's the weekends, and I plan to go to town and get some stuff to continue with the sprucing up of my room. I have a list. Yes, I do. I always have lists. :)

Till then, tata~!

My First London Post: Observations

Hello from chilly, not quite gloomy (yet), sometime-windy London!

I got to do this quick, cos although I've been here for *counts* about 5 days, today being the 6th, I've still got quite a lot of things to do before I am REEEALLY settled into things. And also, I got to be in school in about an hour for an orientation talk.

School is LSE. Yes...no need to say more. *grin*

The weather is now in the tens, i.e. 10, 11, 12, 13...17. Today, apparently, would be between 11 and 18. That is not cold. At all. I generally just wear a tank-top, a sweater-ish top, and a coat with jeans or pants. It's toasty like that.

I'm loving a lot of things about London, as I always have. BUT...there is one thing I have observed that I'm not too keen about.

The air, my friends, is very dirty. Like smoke, soot, dirty particles...eeks. It makes my booger really, really...black. Yuck, right?

Okay, I will do another post about the food soon. I have tons to talk about with regard to food.

Signing off!

Goodbye Sunny-and-nowadays-flashflooded SG!

So the day is almost here. And by almost, I mean, just tomorrow. Yup, I'll be flying off from a hot, humid, tropical island, to a cold, gloomy, dry and bustling city!

Feeling excited, happy, and have been waiting for this day to come since, oh, can't even tell when. The countdown seemed to take forever, until the last couple of days, where it all seemed to flash by so quickly. Maybe it's the multiple farewell lunches/dinners/karaokes and the works.

Yet, also feeling slightly anxious. I don't know if my brain will activate when called upon. Not sure if I'd fit in. Not sure about a lot of things.

So God is my strength. And in times like these, I shall rest in Him and enjoy everything that He brings forth. I thank my Abba Father for everything and everything more.

Till a year later, SG!