the winding road

hello hello!

yes, it's been a while. crazy busy and busy crazy pretty much sums up the summer so far:

completion of degree: yes, i have now officially completed (and passed) my pharmacy degree! WOOT WOOT! four years. FOUR YEARS!!! i must say it feels good. four years of blood, sweat, tears and a pile of money the size of a small town and now i get to put some letters after my name. Six letters to be exact - MPharm. nice! :oD

the crazy thing is that this is JUST THE BEGINNING. now comes licensure in ontario, canada and with that is a whole new pile of blood, sweat, tears and money. yikes. speaking of which, i have moved back to toronto, canada for good. time to get licensed and start paying off some billz. it was hard leaving london - not the city itself (which don't get me wrong, i love) - but the people i've met and have become friends with these past four years; i am missing them tons. it's always that way wherever you go: while in city A you miss the people in city B and while in city B you miss the people in city A. i'm just going to have to live with it i suppose. i will be seeing them at the graduation ceremony this fall, so that'll be good. a riot, actually, it'll be a riot! i already can't wait.

so as soon as i landed on canadian soil i had to write the first of many exams towards licensure; this one was a two-day exam covering everything i've learned in the last four years (and then some), as it was an equivalency exam that all foreign-taught/trained students/pharmacists have to take. three hundred multiple choice questions over two days. yikes. i swear my blood pressure must've been markedly higher in the month leading up to this exam; shitting bricks doesn't even begin to describe it. when all was said and done though it was tough for sure, but not as tough as i thought it would be. i thought it would be impossibly difficult but it was possibly difficult and do-able. i had to draw on every brain cell for the answers but i managed, and more importantly, i passed! can i hear another WOOT WOOT!!!

my joy at passing was short-lived however as now i have to start preparing for the licensure exams in november: another two-day, multiple choice exam followed by a one-day practical exam known as the OSCEs. double yikes. i am loathe to pick up the textbooks again but pick them up i must; if i'm MIA from this blog for another couple of months you now know why.

returning home and settling back in has been pretty smooth; in all honesty it feels like another summer at home after a school year away - a part of me expects to be flying back to london come late september! reconnecting with family and friends has been good, and the best part is that i'm not trying to squish as many visits in with friends as i normally am before returning to london, because i don't have to go back this time! sweet! i can plan meetings, parties and hangouts at my leisure.

i do miss the complete independence i had when i was in london; no one to answer to, no one's schedule to follow but my own. living with the family again has been an adjustment for sure, and one of the biggest adjustments has been having to tell my parents where i'm going and when i'll be home. sigh. it's not like i'm an adult or anything. :oS

what i don't miss about london is the loneliness i felt. you can be alone and not be lonely, but while in london there were times where i felt alone AND lonely. london's that kind of a place (though i'm sure most big cities are like that to some extent).

anyhoo, so that's pretty much the last two months in a nutshell. plugging away, plugging away, until i can legally deal drugs in the province of ontario. i'm excited.

CET :o)

solstice and all that

hey party people!

less than a month since my last post and so much (yet so little) has happened:

degree done: i finished my last set of exams for my pharmacy degree!!! WOOHOO!!! words cannot describe the utter joy that i felt when i walked out of the exam hall. all of us fourth years gathered on the steps outside the school and whooped it up; well okay it was only me jumping up and down and doing the jig - c'mon you brits, show a little emotion! - but regardless, a HUGE sense of relief washed over us and it was a good feeling.

the hook up that didn't happen: i'm apparently quite the seductress when i put my mind to it! don't really want to go into the details but i basically seduced my way into a classmate's bed, only to stop before things REALLY got started. i fully admit to being the temptress but when it came down to it i actually used my head instead of my loins, which does happen very often! i'm good friends with this guy and i just didn't want it to get weird or awkward (which i knew it would because it inevitably does), plus i wasn't all that attracted to him in the first place! it was more a "he was there, we were alone, why not?" type of deal. not worth the momentary pleasure, i thought. i can see us being good friends for a long while and so put the brakes on it before it went too far. yay me for abstaining for once! :oD

and then today i read this article in the guardian. food for thought...

the studying continues: instead of whooping it up, travelling a bit and having an all round good time in london before heading home, i'm stuck at my desk studying for a big exam back in canada at the beginning of july. it's an evaluating exam that all foreign-trained pharmacists/pharmacy students have to take (and pass) before writing the actual licensing exam. so no relaxation for me just yet. :o(

well, that's not true, i am heading to barcelona for a total of 48 hours this week, to meet up with my classmates who have been travelling through portugal and spain while i've been at home revising. they're ending their trip in barcelona and although i couldn't do the full trip with them, i can sure as hell do the last two days!

i'm leaving london for good on july 3rd. no more flying back and forth anymore - this is it! well, i'll be back for convocation in november but you know what i mean; it's the end of quite a significant chapter in my life. i think i've posted about this already but yes, i am ready to move on. i'm ready to be in one place for longer than six months; i'm (very) ready to move on with establishing my career. onward and upward for this pharmacist-in-training!

i'm sure i could speak more on my feelings about leaving but there's no time for introspection now; let me just get through this evaluating exam in one piece and then i'll be as introspective as you want.

happy summer solstice!

back to studying,
CET :o)

wick's end

and so another month flies by.

i don't know if you're aware, but i'm nearing the end of my degree and therefore the end of my time in london; i'll be returning to canada at the beginning of july.

so many thoughts and yet i don't know what to say.

to be honest i am glad that this chapter in my life is ending. don't get me wrong; i love london and have had a wonderful time here these past four years and have met and made such amazing friends. coming here for pharmacy school was the last thing i ever expected to do but now that i've done it (and almost finished) i can say that i've made the most of my time here and have many cherished memories to always remember london by. i have no regrets (save for a few boys perhaps).

i'm almost finished a four year degree and yet it feels like the path to becoming a pharmacist is only just beginning.

i want the cog wheels of my life and career to move forward, and yet i'm afraid of moving forward at the same time.

i sometimes wonder if i have enough brain power and capacity to become a pharmacist! i have enough heart i know that, but my brain seems a little less reliable. these licensing exams are SCARY SHIT!

i wish i wasn't so melancholy today but a shit week will do that to a person.

i've been sick this whole week with a flu of some description (if i had a penny for the number of times i've heard "swine flu"...); my landlord's renovating the bathroom so i've been staying at a friend's place this week. i've also had three assignment deadlines this week, which has meant late night after late night of work, culminating in a marathon session that had me up until 4:30am friday morning finishing an assignment due that afternoon, followed by working at the bar all friday night. i am tired. i am burnt out. and i haven't even reached exams yet.

a couple of people this week have also hurt and disappointed me deeply. why do people have no regard for how i feel? why does selfishness pervade? why is it so hard for people to do what they say and say what they do? why is it so hard to tell the truth? it is all i ask of anyone and yet the truth is something that seems to evade me. it's like a sick joke.

in some small measure i am glad to be leaving london for the simple fact that it takes me far away from these people who have hurt me.

but this isn't meant to be a whingy post. this is just me trying to sort out my heart and my mind so i can take a deep breath for this last push to the end of finals.

goodnight and good luck,

CET

cosmos speaks

i spent over two hours today learning a new bhangra routine! i'll be performing it with my school's bhangra society at our annual charity show in april. my mother was a dancer when she was young and my dad sings and plays the guitar...i like to think i inherited their rhythm and ear for music, but choreographed dance moves are bloody hard to remember! today was only the first practice but i sure as hell hope i remember the moves and don't screw up on performance day.

rather than do homework i was trawling through facebook tonight, just seeing what people from my past were up to. i emailed an american friend who i met while working at the science museum a lifetime ago; she ended up marrying the canadian guy she shared a flat with while living here. they now live in wisconsin and are expecting their first baby.

i also came across this quote "six billion people in this world but sometimes all you need is one". you know, we can talk about how hard it is to find someone you want to share your life with, and whether we're too picky, not picky enough, too closed off, not open enough, making eye contact, improving body language, trying speed dating, not trying speed dating, trawling online dating sites, joining clubs in the hopes of meeting someone, being open to love and blah, blah, blah, but in the end i think finding someone (or not) is purely the whim of the cosmos.

is this me saying it all comes down to fate, when i chastise the very people who use that as an excuse for everything? perhaps. i think it's me saying to myself (and anyone else in my boat) to stop worrying the fuck over this and just ENJOY LIFE.

goodnight,

CET :o)

exam? what exam? there's a snowman to be built!

my exam got cancelled today because of all the snow! i had a lovely and much-needed day doing absolutely nothing but enjoying the snow: i built a snowman, had a snowball fight and went tobogganing. i haven't played all day like that since i was a kid. it was absolutely fabulous. :o)





my snowman, "the gardener". notice the lizard at his feet?



he has chestnut eyes, a walnut nose and a little stone mouth.



that's the "flower" he's holding in his hand.

hope your snow day was fun and relaxing!

CET :o)

self-realization (not the good kind)

yep, i am that girl. that crazy girl.

youngin' is not dating ex-flattie. it was all in my head. me and my jumping-to-conclusions. me and my own issues.

eek. i'm that girl.

as one of my lecturers pointed out a little while ago (and not in reference to me might i add - it had something to do with something or other that i don't remember now), "(i am) locked in the tragedy of my own story."

gotta get out of that, pronto!

in other news, today marks the start of my study/revision period until exams in the first week of february. wish me luck!

unconscious fear rearing its ugly head

you can't control other people's actions, only your own.

only you can control your reaction to other people.

this is what i keep telling myself.

i had a dream on thursday night in which i woke up drenched in sweat, my heart palpitating so hard and so fast that it scared me. oh no, it wasn't a good dream at all.

for those that have been reading this tiny blog since its inception (2005), you may remember that i had a flatmate in first year whose boyfriend was seriously weird and who seriously pissed me off. anyhoo, this is not about him; this is about her. more specifically, it's about the fact that she is friends with youngin' in a way that makes me uncomfortable. very uncomfortable.

i won't get into the details here (it's long and tedious and i would rather not write about this at all, but for the fact that it's bugging the fuck out of me); i will say that both youngin' and ex-flattie, each separately at some point, have told me that they were not interested in nor would date the other person. youngin's reasoning was that he did not want to do anything to hurt me; ex-flattie's reasoning being that she puts friendship above boys. so why don't i trust either of them?

i realized after my dream that my mistrust stems from an incident that happened way back in first year of university in canada, many years ago. i broke up with my high school boyfriend then (he was a miserable jerk, the relationship was long distance, yadda yadda yadda); months later he starts dating a friend of mine. i didn't have a problem with it at first but that was before i saw them together; he treated her with so much care and kindness, more than he ever treated me, that it upset me greatly - i remember leaving the house party in a state of emotional upheaval, and broke off ties with that whole group of friends shortly thereafter.

i feel like youngin' and ex-flattie are repeating history. i'm afraid of getting hurt again.

it would be one thing if i didn't see or hear from either of them; this is the part where DON'T EVER DATE SOMEONE YOU HAVE TO BE PHYSICALLY IN THE SAME BUILDING WITH, EVEN AFTER EVERYTHING GOES TO SHIT comes in. he works at the university where i'm a student; she's a phd student at my university. we all work at the student union bar. great.

how do i deal with this? i certainly know that i may possibly be making a mountain out of a mole hill and absolutely nothing exists between them but then again, i might not. i try not to care and i try to put it out of my mind but the feeling is always there; the bated breath my heart holds, waiting for the proof to jump out at me that leaves me hurting again.

geraldine and me

and it's now mid-november.

house: i'm enjoying living in my new place; the landlord and i are getting along and it's been fun having his little boy around the house and two cats that like to be cuddled. i might not be the only tenant though...

a little while ago i had a very scary dream. i don't have nightmares often but when i do they're pretty vivid and pretty frightening. i won't go into the details but suffice it to say it involved ghosts. i woke up so scared that i turned on all the lights and slept with them on until morning. when i went downstairs to the kitchen the next day my landlord asked why i had the lights on so late at night, as he saw light coming through the cracks around the door when he woke up to use the loo. i felt kind of silly telling him it was because i had a dream about ghosts, but my embarrassment grew into fear when he said he believes ghosts do "live" on the premises. WHAT??? he said him and his ex-wife always had a strange feeling about the house and that previous tenants have mentioned the same feeling. uh-oh, this didn't sound good. thank goodness it's only been strange feelings so far and nothing visual - feelings i can handle but visuals? oh HELL no.

anyhoo, i was pretty scared for the rest of that week but things have somewhat settled and i'm fine with it all now, whether or not they do exist. half the time i think it's just my imagination as my mind can get carried away pretty quickly; case in point: while reading a blog i came across a picture of a zombie for literally a millisecond, but it was enough for me to have ANOTHER bad dream, this time involving zombies, knives, blood and murder. talk about taking something and running with it!

job: i started my new part-time pharmacy job last week. even less time for coursework but the money is much needed. it's pretty good as i'm learning a lot and it's a busy pharmacy so the day just flies by. between my pharmacy job and bar job i'm on my feet for almost twenty hours a week...they are pretty sore by the time my shift's done.

barack obama: WOOHOO!!! GO BARACK! i was overjoyed when he won the election. i hate the election coverage and couldn't stand to watch it, plus we're five hours ahead here of washington and it would've been 4am by the time the results came in; i ended up going to bed and then checking the news online the moment i woke up. sheer happiness. i, along with many people - dare i say most of the world - were beaming and giddy with hope for the rest of that day. a black (bi-racial) president in my lifetime. sweetness.

westfield: a new mall opened up in west london recently; malls are largely a north american phenomemon but it's been catching on in these parts in the last few years. on wednesday i went with a couple of friends to check it out/window shop/procrastinate. i must say it's a pretty nice mall, all shiny and new. the support beams have been made to look like trees, all wrapped in fairy lights; we were hoping they'd turn them on while we were shopping there but they didn't. highlights included trying on hideous-looking dresses at topshop, inhaling a limited edition, cookies and cream cupcake from the buttercup cupcake stand, and snatching up a pretty cool hoodie for ten quid from republic. lowlights included a toilet seat that wasn't even screwed on and no hooks in the stall to hang your coat or purchases. boo.

body mass index: so during a quiet period at the pharmacy one day i decided to check my bmi. i got a bit of a shock as it's on the borderline between "okay" and "overweight", for someone of my height. i'm a little weary of bmi's being a true marker of one's weight/general health but even so, it threw me a little. i mean to look at me you wouldn't see an obviously overweight person - at all - but knowing me and even through reading this blog you would know that i do love my food and can never really say no to another helping of dinner or another biscuit or chocolate bar. heck, i ate a limited edition, cookies and cream cupcake without even blinking. hmmm. it's going to be hard but i'm going to try to lay off the sweets a bit and eat more fruits and vegetables. on the fruit and veggie front i'm actually doing pretty good - i add fresh fruit to my cereal in the mornings and at times i'll eat a bowl full of berries, yoghurt and honey - i think the challenge for me will be limiting my sugar intake. CET LOOOOOVES SUGAR. LOOOOOOOOOOVES IT. it's going to be hard.

ball committee: i joined the midsessional ball committee at school. back in high school i was on the ball committee as well. i think i joined it so i can make sure the ball won't suck. i think that's a good reason to join, don't you? we're hoping to hold it somewhere cool like a museum or something, instead of your run-of-the-mill hotel, but these places are pretty pricey so we'll see what we end up with (probably a run-of-the-mill hotel).

have a great week people!

CET :o)

fuckin' eh!

i am finally done my literature review. THANK FUCKING GOD. seriously.

woohoo!!!

i have been virtually house-bound for the last three weeks. primarily by myself. little to no human interaction except for a daily hello to my two temporary flatmates when they leave for work and come home from work. maybe a few more words with them while in the kitchen, but otherwise nothing. i didn't realize how deprived i was of human contact until yesterday, my first day of school. i saw so many people and talked so much that i started to get fuzzy-brained and incoherent as the day wore on, like i had used up all my speech quota. by the end of the night i was mentally toast. even my throat was sore and dry from all the talking! few words to a million words spilling out of my mouth in one day. whew.

in other news, the "birthday" has already passed but it's been 3 years + 2 days since i started this blog! three years older and 358 posts richer (i hope); i can't believe it's been going for this long. to this day i still have pangs of "is keeping a blog too narcissistic of me?" but i've come to realize that whatever the blog, whatever the topic, whatever the post, it's the viewpoint of the blogger and hence in varying measures but all the same, it's about them.

i think the biggest bonus to come out of writing this blog is (virtually) meeting the people i have met and making the connections i have made, however weak or strong. whether it's been a passing comment, readers that lurk or friendships forged, this blog has allowed me to reach out to people i otherwise would never have met, and for them to reach back. for this reason alone i am glad to have started this thing.

anyhoo, i think i'm going to reward myself for finishing my paper by going to bed early. party animal i know.

love ya,
CET :o)

let's fly away

i should be sleeping right now as my flight back to london is in less than eight hours.

i've been away from london for so long that it feels like i'm starting over again.

feeling a wee anxious, a bit sad - a post about how friends disappoint will be forthcoming - but at the same time excited and ready to move on to the next chapter of my life. it's my fourth year! my last year of school! so much to say about that.

okay, okay, must get some shut-eye. next time i blog i'll be back in blighty.

kisses,
CET :o)

no more

no more "benefits" with youngin. that's it. i'm done.

we had a talk last night and we decided (due to our respective reasons) that our friendship is more important than the benefits, and that continuing the benefits will only hurt (me mostly, of course). i told him how much he has hurt me and he feels like shit and i'm glad, because he deserves it. At least for a little while.

he asked for my forgiveness but i said that will have to come with time.

i've also noticed a pattern in the men that i've dated and/or slept with in the last two years and i don't like it; while i don't ever want the fear of getting hurt to stop me from meeting people/starting a relationship with them, i seriously need a break from all this bullshit, and will perhaps be more discerning with who i will allow in my heart next.

in other news, i have an endocrinology test on my first day back at school next monday, as well as a pharmacy practice assessment graded by the royal pharmaceutical society of great britain on friday. i have to pass in order to enter my fourth year. oh joy!

wish me luck people,
CET :o)

me? man-eater?

hahaha, that's funny.

i have my first exam tomorrow, eek! just wanted to say hello and to let you know that blogging will be light until thursday when my exams are over.

wish me luck! i'll definitely need it.

CET :o)

the impending storm

we're nearing the end of second year! just over five weeks left! can you believe it? i can't.

to those readers who have been following this blog from the beginning: has it felt like time is moving at warp speed? two years! i'm almost halfway done!

i'm quite tired at the moment, stayed up late last night/early this morning working on a lab report that was due this afternoon. finished it this morning before handing it in and meeting up with evil hypnotist for a coffee and a chat.

ooo, how cool is this: i'm going to dublin in may for ONE day to see the dave matthews band! it all happened so quickly; i was about to commence work on my report last night when my american classmate called with this wacky idea. this is the kind of crazy stuff you do when you're young and impulsive so i thought "why the hell not?" and agreed to go. we're doing this on a budget of course, finding cheap flights and staying with my friend tan. it'll be on the last day of term for us - can't wait!

my brain's disintegrating a little from the lack of sleep; can't form coherent words in my head and type them onto the computer. off for a quick nappy nap!

CET :o)

well that was embarrassing...

i started off the term with a bang.

9am, first class of the day; the prof? why the lovely prof b of course. he was waxing lyrical about the importance of communication skills in our area, and looking damn fine in a well-cut grey suit, pale green tie and newly-shorn hair. he likes to tease students when they answer questions, not in a condescending or mean way but more in a fun, flirty kind of way.

prof b (to the class): "name some of the physiological manifestations of emotion."

the first example given by a classmate of mine was crying, whether it be due to stress, sadness, happiness or anger; the technical term for crying is lacrimation.

prof b: "okay, what's another example?"

CET, raising her hand: "blushing."

prof b: "what's the physiological term for blushing?"

now, i am extremely jet-lagged and tired beyond belief; it is barely past 9am on a monday morning. CET is not functioning at 100% mental capacity. while the answer is vasodilation of the blood vessels underneath the surface of the skin, CET cannot physically form a coherent sentence to convey this answer; instead, she gesticulates with her hands on her cheeks, pointing and moving her fingers in a way that denotes an expanding of the vessels beneath her skin. this display is obviously not working.

the class erupts with laughter for a number of reasons:

a) some of them know of my attraction to prof b, and are howling loudly as a result;
b) a lot of them are on facebook and know of a certain (silly) group that i joined that attests to his attractiveness;
c) like my answer, CET by this time is a bright cherry red.

prof b then proceeds to point out my blushing and asks, "why are you blushing? are you in LOVE?" at which point the class is in hysterics and i am laughing at my own reaction and the ridiculousness of it all.

my answer to his question? "perhaps..."

what cheek (literally).

CET :o)

a fair summer's day

it's been absolutely gorgeous this weekend in londontown - gloriously bright sunshine with the freshness of a summer breeze. perfect.

give londoners an inch of good weather and they run a mile, as exhibited by the sudden cropping of clothing, both in number of pieces worn and length of said item(s)! lily-white skin was on full display in greenwich park this past saturday, with pale arms, legs, chests and backs revealed for the first time this year in all their pasty glory. spots of moving white dotted the green landscape, requiring the wearing of sunglasses.

there is something to be said for the beginning of summer; everything feels fresh and alive. colours are more vibrant, smells are more pungent (both good and bad, eew), and everyone (including myself) seems to be in heat. boys checking out girls in short skirts and tops, girls checking out boys with their bare chests and knowing grins; the whole city's a veritable meat market! grrr...

friday was my market day - i swear i've lost count the number of times i blog about going to spitalfields and kinetica museum - but as always they failed to disappoint. i bought a silver and abalone brooch for five pounds, and some photographs of london as a parting gift for kiwigirl's sister, who returns to new zealand today. she will be missed in londontown very much!

dinner on friday was at marvin the martian's flat (aka "martina" on kiwigirl's blog). he was the quintessential host, plying us with a delectable dinner of choice filipino dishes, cloudy vodka shots and copious amounts of wine. oh, and one must not forget the viewing of a questionable girl-on-girl porn scene midway through the evening, hmmm...

spontaneous dancing erupted after dinner on his living floor, helped along by the continous flow of alcohol. marvin even moved his bottom to the beat a few times (which i've never seen before and which apparently is something he does quite rarely); surprisingly, he was not half bad! i took some videos of the shenanigans; a future screening must be arranged.

needless to say, saturday was "recuperating-from-hangover" day for both vij and i, not to mention kiwigirl and everyone else who was present at that dinner party. i'm surprised i was functional enough to go to greenwich park with e-mail, who was in london on a stopover on her way to south africa. as always it was lovely to see and spend some quality time with her, which is pretty hard to come by as she lives so far away.

tomorrow is the start of term again for me; i think i'm past this melancholy funk/laziness/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, and am ready to tackle the endless nights of study that lie ahead with gusto! at least i hope so...

CET :o)

winding up

so i have a week of school left before a three-week easter holiday. i'll be going home to visit my family and friends, yay! i will be glad for the break.

ever since this new term started i have been in the most apathetic of moods. i honestly don't know what affliction/malaise has descended on me, but i honestly can't be bothered to do anything. i don't know what's wrong with me. days pass and i am content to leave things undone, tasks unfinished, errands left to run; i think i'm purposely ignoring things and slowing my life down for some reason, though i don't know what that reason is. anytime when i'm not in class you can find me at the coffee shop, the markets, or lazing about in some park somewhere. what has come over me? i don't even know why i need a break so badly when i haven't done anything anyway.

i think i'm missing physical affection too. hugs, kisses, a pat on the back or the squeeze of a hand - not just from romantic potentials, but from family and friends too - i interact with humans everyday (i say humans like as if i'm not one myself) and yet it is only with my voice and my facial expressions; it's not enough for me.

and can i just say how annoying it is to upload pictures onto blogger and to not have it work? argh!

in happier news, i attended a dance exhibition with a classmate of mine on saturday; she had a spare ticket so it was quite spur of the moment/last-minute. it's called the move it dance london exhibition, taking place in olympia this weekend.

i never fancied myself a dance aficionado; i love dancing and getting my groove on, but it has never been something i actively sought out/participated in. it was so much fun! they had a main stage with various performances throughout the day; stalls upon stalls selling dancewear, promoting dance schools, colleges, etc., but the best part were the taster classes on the second floor. they offered every type of dance available, in 45 minute sessions with a master teacher. my friend and i learned a bit of hip hop, funk, locking and krumping, finishing off the day with some good old bhangra moves! it was great to learn some new steps, get a workout, and shake my tail feather in the process. i'm paying for it today though, as my entire body aches. this is what i get for not exercising regularly.

anyhoo, when i manage to upload pictures i will definitely post some from the exhibition.

CET :o)

a pint for you and a pint for me...

i'm done exams, woohoo! all in all i think they went well.

busy busy though right after; had lunch at my coffee shop (hottie still wasn't there, i'm getting worried...), a quick wander around spitalfields again and then home to meet evil hypnotist. had a good chat in my room while i was packing for dublin. JUST managed to get to the airport before the check-in desk closed (tip: when travelling to airports around london, ALWAYS give yourself more time than you think you need because trust me, you'll need every second) and then boom, on the plane and an hour later in dublin to meet tan.

slept in today until 1:30pm, it was so sweet. haven't done that in goodness knows how long. didn't do much today, in the car mostly with tan and her man driving around the city. had a yummy portobello mushroom burger at the porterhouse, a brewery as well as a chain of bars. checking e-mail now before heading out drinking with tan and some friends later on tonight. went for a drink last night from the airport too; the irish are serious about their drinking!

scottish guy update: not much to update other than we didn't end up meeting up on tuesday as he was busy and i really needed to study. he wants to see me when i'm back from my travels so i guess we'll see what happens then!

CET :o)

not too bad i think...

wrote the first exam this morning...went pretty well i think! save for a few muck-ups here and there i answered pretty much everything in full. hand was cramping up a few times, there's that much writing to be done, but i feel good about it!

headed to my coffee shop afterwards for a long, relaxing lunch. a cause for alarm (somewhat): coffee shop hottie wasn't working today, and i noticed they had put up a "help wanted" sign - i hope this doesn't mean he's left??? will have to go back a few more times to see if this is indeed the case...

wandered around spitalfields for a bit before walking home. i wish i could describe to you what living in east london feels like; books like "brick lane" by monica ali, "salaam brick lane" by tarquin hall, or "the east end" by alan palmer try to invoke the sights, sounds and smells of the community but i say you just have to come here and experience it for yourself! it's chaotic, gritty, lively and real and i love it.

CET :o)

the light at the end of the tunnel

my first exam is tomorrow, woohoo!

i'm excited because this means the end of studying, THANK GOD.

i know i shouldn't whinge so much about it as i've willingly gone back to school and thereby put myself in this situation but man, revision is torture. instead of whipping them or pulling their limbs apart, people back in the day should have just forced prisoners to read facts on emulsions, formulation of liquid dosage forms and colloids, yeah.

haven't heard from scottish guy yet so don't know if i'll be meeting him tomorrow evening after my exam. will keep you posted...

right, need to cram!
CET :o)

relax and be nervous...

today's not going to be a study day.

no running water in the flat from 1:30am until this morning. i wonder why? it got me all worried before i went to bed and then kept me up thinking about the consequences - buying bottled water at the store, going to a friend's house to shower, going to the library to study instead...my thoughts quickly turned apocalyptic in nature and so i had a troubled sleep! my imagination is much too crazy sometimes.

it snowed yesterday and a little bit today, though it's all melted by now. as long as i live i'll never tire of getting up in the morning, looking out the window and seeing everything covered in a lovely blanket of white. i think it's one of the most beautiful things in the world.

countdown to date time today and yes, vij and i discussed wardrobe and settled on an outfit last night. i wonder if boys think about dates as much as girls?

wish me luck!
CET :o)