hot pot

well it's been three days since i got home...it's funny how my life is so different here than in london, primarily because i live with the parental unit while in toronto. there is always this "lull" when i first get home, settling in and whatnot, before my life picks up again. i have a feeling my time here will be busy.

i LOVE it when the plane isn't full and i get two seats to myself, ahhh...it's time like these that i curse not choosing the middle aisle, thereby getting a whole FOUR seats to myself!

i finally finished reading "the amber spyglass" by philip pullman, the last book in "his dark materials" trilogy, while on the plane home. i'm always kind of sad when i finish such a great book - i want to stay immersed in their world a little while longer - and you never have another chance to read the book for the first time. i would LOVE a daemon, though perhaps i already have one but just can't see him?

here are a few more pics of london (while walking along the southbank) the sunday before i left:



browsing for books



some guy on the edge of the thames at low tide creating a sand sculpture of a sea turtle



i liked the line of trees

CET :o)

junior doctor

i've discovered a new blog; it's the diary of a junior doctor working in a hospital somewhere in england for the NHS:

www.thejuniordoctor.blogspot.com

he sounds like the kind of doctor you'd want to treat you: intelligent, knows his stuff, does his job well, but most of all he's compassionate and kind to his patients.

i think i'm a little smitten!

CET :o)

p.s. i've just finished reading the book "bloodletting and miraculous cures" by dr. vincent lam - a collection of short stories connected by the lives of a group of doctors - the book started off a bit slow, but picked up pace, interest and intensity and by the end of it i couldn't put it down until i was done reading. i won't give it away, but there was one story where it was so intense that my heart was racing as i read it; at the end of the story i had to put the book down and compose myself, letting my heart rate return to normal, before picking it up again.

p.p.s. being a student in the field of pharmacy and learning about medicines get me all excited about one day being able to helping people in such an immediate and tangible way.

book, phone and beauty

book: so i ended up choosing option number 1 - girlwithaonetrackmind's book signing in angel. i got to the bookstore a bit early and so bought the book and read for a bit. in all honesty i must say i like her blog much better than the book so far, but i will hold off on judgement until i'm done. she read a few passages from her book and then answered some questions before signing; i thought it hilarious that they put her right beside the children's section of the bookstore - it is a sex memoir, after all - but she handled the evening with humour, grace and charm. and i must say, she is quite beautiful - not in the boring, skinny, archetype-of-beauty-thrust-in-your-face-by-the-media-way - but in a wonderfully curvaceous, real-woman way. she has really nice breasts!

i did speak to her when she signed my book; i have a tendency to clam up and come across like a total idiot in front of famous/semi-famous people, but i did manage to squeak out my name (which she thought was pretty) and congratulate her on her success and how she's managed being "outed" by the media very well. i hope i didn't sound too stupid!

went to kiwigirl's for a debrief afterwards, then headed home for dinner...

phone: after my dinner of a turkey ham and pickle sandwich along with some weetabix (dinner of champions), i thought i'd surpise a friend in t.o. by calling her out of the blue. she was at work (poor girl, spending every night this week at work until 10pm or later!) - she told me to hold on for a second and then suddenly, a deep, male voice came on the phone and said "hello?" it was office boy! my first reaction was to laugh and laugh and laugh - he was a tad bit confused, as he didn't recognize my laugh - so i said "it's me you idiot." we then had a pretty good chat, of which i'm very happy about.

beauty: i don't know what it is, but london seems very beautiful today. i woke up to clouds and rain, but it cleared by the time i left the house. the mottled clouds, in various shades of grey, against a background of emerging blue sky and sunshine, really struck me as i walked to my bus stop.

my bus route to school takes me through the heart of the financial district; a huge flock of pigeons flew by as i passed by the royal exchange. the arc of the birds' flight, to the top of the exchange with its victorian architecture, made for a dazzling sight.



CET :o)

lots

i'm in a weird kind of mood today; this weekend is the first weekend since the summer started in which i do not have anything planned, AT ALL. not a single thing scheduled. a part of me is happy because i finally get to relax; another part of me feels restless, like i should be doing something, keeping busy, distracting myself from my thoughts. i don't like the fact that i feel like this.

i've been reading william leith's 'the hungry years; the confessions of a food addict'; it was published last summer and i had bought it then for the plane ride to london; needless to say i didn't read much of it on the plane or even off, so here i am a summer later finally getting my nose into it. it's a great book so far; it details his life of binge eating and yo-yo dieting, not to mention the drugs, alcohol and sex. written in a stream-of-consciousness style that's actually not annoying to read, i find the way he thinks about food absolutely fascinating. click here to read an interview he did with the observer.

developments in the 'crush' saga:

a) i slapped his bum this week (very 'cheeky' of me, i know); damn, he has got a NICE ass.
b) i found out the girl he's 'sort of' seeing actually does exist and - get this - she's asian, like me. fuck.
c) he flirts like a friggin' mofo...girlfriend or not, he'll flirt with anything that moves.
d) i hate the fact that i'm one of the people he flirts with, and the fact that i enjoy it.

last week my family and i were at a neighbourhood chinese restaurant having peking duck (yes, it was orgasmic); we were reminiscing about when we first moved to canada and were living in my aunt's house in downtown toronto. canuckian and i were young then, only 3 or 4; my mom was recounting how we were bawling, kicking and screaming at the top of our lungs when they brought us to daycare for the very first time. the daycare was located at the end of our street, only a few steps from our house but man, did we cause a ruckus or what, so much so that before our second day of daycare, they got us all dressed and ready to go the night before so when we woke up the next day they could just pick us up and run to the daycare before we had a chance to put up a fight!

other memories:

- the room we shared with our two cousins, complete with star wars curtains, sheets and comforters;
- the creak of the stairs and the long wooden bannister;
- the best porch in the world, with it's many layers of grey paint;
- skipping rope on the street in front of our house;
- going to the one chinese restaurant we always went to, all the time, with its little garden and fountain in front;
- buying the fake plastic gold rings with the fake gems made especially for little girls like me, in the convenience store next door to the restaurant;
- feeling like a million bucks wearing a fake gold ring, complete with adjustable band;
- eating my favourite donut, hawaiian, in my aunt's kitchen;
- chewing away all the sprinkles and leaving the donut part for my aunt to eat.

CET :o)