black stars and sausage

my dad and i were watching the football match between ghana and the czech republic this afternoon; i was cheering for ghana while my dad was cheering for the czechs. it was around lunchtime and i had one italian sausage left to eat; we bet on the sausage that whichever team we cheered for won, that person would get to eat the sausage.

i know i know, quite a lot was at stake - or should i say sausage? hardy har har...

anyhoo, ghana won 2 - 0 (just as i predicted), WOOHOO!!! i did my little victory dance, piercing the sausage with my fork and dancing around like an idiot, just to rub it into my dad's face. he lunged for the sausage and i sprinted away, eating it quickly, he he he...

YEAH GHANA!!!

CET :o)

randomness

okay, even though i am currently chili's bitch, i will try not to blog about him too much, i mean, even i'm starting to get sick of blogging about him all the time!

you know you live in a rough neighbourhood when:

you're walking a dog that shall remain nameless, and on the pavement someone has etched the words "be good" along with a smiley face, into the cement while it was still wet. that is GHETTO i say...

am off to meet business woman for a thai dinner somewhere at yonge and eglinton, followed by some jazz at the reservoir lounge. i've never been; should be interesting.

can mac users tell me why there are no buttons for 'insert hyperlink' or other functions on blogger, even though these buttons show up if you log on from a pc? ridiculous!

and can mac users please tell me how i can fix my airport so that it gives a new IP address to my laptop (pc); my laptop detects and is logged onto the airport signal but has no connectivity because the mac can't seem to renew the IP address. does this make any sense? i'm typing it out but i don't understand it!

have a good weekend party people!

CET

i'm rick james' bitch

no, make that chili's.

yup, i wake up, take him for a walk, check email, look for jobs, make chili's lunch, have my own lunch, play with chili, take him to the backyard to play with his neighbour, kilo, take him for another walk, then he's my mom's responsibility as soon as she gets home.

i need a job, stat! if anyone's got any leads, give me a shout out! i'll pretty much do anything at this point...

here's something i've been meaning to blog about ever since i heard it, but haven't had time until now. a bunch of classmates and i were reminiscing about cartoons we used to watch as kids; over in the uk they had a show called captain pugwash - apparently the cast of characters included 'master bates' and 'seaman staines!' the classmate who told me about this swore that it was true, but upon investigation i now believe it to be an urban cartoon myth. check this out!

those brits are so funny. :o)

CET

good and bad, doggy-style

i went to a doggy fair on sunday with my family and chili. it was on the streets surrounding st lawrence market - i think it was called 'woofstock'. dogs of all shapes and sizes, along with owners of all shapes and sizes, it was mayhem. i think chili sniffed enough bums to last him a good long while. my dad brought up a good point, "he sniffs all those asses, getting right in there with his nose, and then you let him lick you." nice.

a cameraman from a local news station filmed chili for a while but when i checked the news that night, chili didn't make the cut. too bad! don't worry chili, you'll be the next 'lassie' one day.

i suppose that was the good, and now for the bad: chili's not feeling well! i think it's a combination of things: a) he's got a sensitive stomach, b) he's allergic to wheat and corn, c) he walked for 2.5 hours in the heat yesterday, plus almost an hour of walking with me around the neighbourhood today, and d) my mom mixing his kibble with things like sweet potato, wet dog food, etc. when he should just be eating the dry stuff. we took him to the vet and he thinks it may be pancreatitis though it may just be a slight infection. i think it's just a slight infection but of course my parents worry like mofos and fear the worst. i think that's why canuckian and i are so laidback, and only worry when absolutely necessary - having to put up with two parents who worry enough for a small village will pretty much drive you in the opposite direction. of course i love them more than anything but seriously, they have got to CHILL.

i hope i find a job soon because i'm pretty much a dog-sitter to chili (for free) until then. of course i love chili to bits but taking care of dogs is like taking care of children - you ALWAYS need to keep an eye on them. i will say that dogs are a DEFINITE pick-up tool - the number of conversations i struck (some with cute men) while parading chili down the street on saturday would be enough to convince any singleton to get a dog. it's either that or a child, and i am not about to procreate any time soon (if i can help it!), so chili will have to be my pick-up tool for now.

i hate job hunting!

CET

surprise!!!

i'm home!!!

arrived at midnight last night at pearson international. all this for mr. bing's bridal shower (yeah it was all for you baby!); i told her i was coming home on the 19th (the original date of my ticket) but instead switched it so i could surprise her today. it was GOOD. i'm glad she was shocked.

the bridal shower wasn't too bad - the best part was after most of the girls had left - we were in the backyard and mr. bing pulled all the different lingerie outfits over her head and danced around doing poses. i put some on too. stupid/silly fun is the best fun.

i've been to three bridal showers in my lifetime so far, and i always feel so 'un-lady like'. i speak my mind, swear (a little) and eat (a lot); i always seem to feel like everyone's judging me because i'm not demure and well-mannered. for instance, we had to go around the circle and each person had to introduce themselves and talk about the first time they met the bride, as well as their fondest memories of her. i've known this girl since grade 5 and from the get-go our friendship has been three things: racial, ghetto and food. there's nothing lady-like or demure about any of those things. WHATEVA! oh well, mr. bing understands me.

holy cow, when i came home last night chili went berserk! he's so big now and is really good at standing on his hind legs, jumping up and down to try to kiss your face. if you're not careful he'll jump up as you're leaning down and BAM, you get smacked in the face by his open jaw. nice. i took him for a walk today; he's the happiest, most excited puppy i know.

i am well tired now - drunk on wednesday, hungover on thursday, flying on friday, up early on saturday. will rest a little before making plans to see everyone!

i am happy to be home.

CET :o)

champagne and seaweed

holy crap.

i am so hungover.

being. sicky. tastes. so. nasty.

so, i've been drunk many a time but have NEVER puked - until last night. after my last exam (WOOHOO!!! YEAH!!!) i went to work at the pharmacy for a few hours, then headed to my aunt's house for dinner.

my aunt is a FABULOUS cook. wow. what a spread. we had a chinese mushroom and seaweed dish, a chicken dish, steamed fish and a plate of choy (side note: they call this particular choy 'morning glory' but i've never heard it called that before - is it a british term?), with lots of fresh fruits for dessert. being the food beast that i am, i ate and ate and ate until my belly was full. good times.

i met up with some classmates after leaving my aunt's house - we were to go clubbing to celebrate the end of the school year. they were well into the red wine by the time i got there. we busted out some champagne for a celebratory toast as well.

two glasses of champagne later, i was fine - i'm not a lightweight! - but then three/four (?) brimmingly full glasses of red wine followed (damn model boy for topping up my glass all the time!) and i was toast. sloshed. drunk off my ass. at one point i was half-sitting, half-lying down on the sofa, with my head behind model boy's butt. don't ask.

next thing i remember i was being dragged to the toilet - it wasn't like i didn't want to go to the toilet, it was the force of gravity holding me back (right...). then the nasty part: i revisited the chinese mushroom and seaweed dish. yum.

i'm astounded at how much your stomach can hold because believe me, ALL of it came out. all of it. lots. and lots. it was so gross.

i ended up on the bed puking into a bucket. more and more. it seemed endless. then i promptly passed out. woke up this morning with the pillow over my head (apparently i don't need one when i go to sleep) and feeling like the biggest pile of poo this world has ever seen. i barely managed to take the train home and passed out for a couple more hours, and now here i am blogging.

red wine is evil.

CET

one down, one to go

so today's exam didn't go so well.

i passed, sure, but it was difficult. my brain did that thing where as hard as you try, you can't seem to dig up that one fact you need to write down from the recesses of your memory, plus i got a few concepts jumbled up, and/or didn't sort them out in my head (and hence on paper) until five minutes before time was up. oy vey.

i honestly don't think the human brain (or at least my brain) can remember 10,000 facts without a few of them getting lost or falling out of my head. it's impossible! and it just figures that the facts that fell out were the ones i needed to remember for the exam. whateva...

OH WELL, at least it's over and done with! of the two exams i have to write this was by far the more difficult one; the one on wednesday will be easy-peasy compared to this one because it's on a subject near and dear to my heart - chemistry! ah chemistry - it's like a familiar friend...

my brain was fried after writing that piece of poo; had lunch with some classmates and then headed down to covent garden for a few hours of meandering. spent some time at ray's jazz cafe upstairs from foyles bookstore - it's another one of my favourite cafes in london - nursed a cappuccino and just people watched from a window for a while.

i discovered a new saying today: "save your drama for yo' mama" - love it.

neuron salvaging and re-utilisation about to commence...

CET :o)

student's lament

student = a) being dirt poor + b) studying for exams and hating it

oh woe is me :o)

gorgeous summer weather today and i didn't experience a lick of it. poo. dusted off the yoga mat and did a bit of it, so i guess that was my exercise for the day.

i CANNOT wait until this madness is over - i'm daydreaming about how to pack my stuff - sad.

crappy post over!

CET :o)

blast from the past

wipe the dust off your dancing shoes, it's time to get your groove on:

http://www.inthe80s.com/80sdance.shtml

i especially like the 'new kids dance' as well as 'push it'.

BRING IT ON.

CET :o)

that dreaded phrase...

...that comes only once in your lifetime..."you're invited to your ten-year, high school reunion"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

oh. my. god.

has it been that long? am i really THAT old? do i look better or worse? have i aged well? what have i done with myself in ten years? have i made something of my life in that time? am i a 'somebody'???

fuck it. i don't care.

besides the usual dose of dread, i am actually quite excited at the prospect of seeing everyone. the 'skinnes' and i are going to have a WHALE of a time, i just know it. we'll be sounding off the 'hunk alarm,' counting varicose veins and starting fights with six-fingered girls...

brown goddess ran into a girl from high school recently, one that is still friends with my high-school ex, SWOOSH. she said to brown goddess, "yeah, swoosh is still swoosh," meaning he's still a miserable twat, hee hee hee...

i don't think i've done all that bad since high school. looks-wise i'm now rid of my thick, nasty bangs so that's a DEFINITE improvement...as for how i've aged c'mon, i'm asian, i could be 50 and still look 25...

time to put on my 'grosse pointe blank' cd...

CET :o)

slow dancing, grade 6 style

worked at the pharmacy today for the morning/early afternoon; will do so again tomorrow. it's not really taking time away from studying considering i never study in the morning - the wooden cogs in my brain don't start turning until the pm. i might as well go to work to a) get my ass out of bed and b) make a bit of money. anyhoo...

before my whole melancholy bent yesterday, i was going to post about how i miss slow dancing - yup, everything from arms-out-like-zombies slow dancing circa grade 6, to full-on body contact, feel-his-breath-on-your-skin sexy dancing (let's hope you didn't do THAT in grade 6!). you NEVER hear a slow dance song in a club nowadays - slow dances are relegated to weddings, poo. well, i have four, maybe five, weddings to attend this summer, so there's some slow-dancing potential i guess!

i remember my very first slow dance - grade 6, with the younger twin of a set of boy twins in the class, ha ha ha, how appropriate! even better was that the older twin danced with canuckian, who's the older twin as well. classic...

this is the crap you think about when you want to do ANYTHING but study...

CET

sporadic vomiting

the rain god and the sun god must be having a cage match over england today - one minute it pours rain like a bloody mofo, the next minute it's bright, bright sunshine overhead...i swear, i don't think i'll ever get used to this english weather!

i have not stepped outside since saturday morning, when i came back from dc. saturday and sunday were complete wastes, as my body and mind could not function at all due to the jetlag kicking in. today has been a bit better, though i really didn't start studying until around 3pm, but anyhoo...

perhaps i'm getting off my holiday high, or perhaps it's the sound of the rain, but i'm in a bit of a melancholy mood today. i've been listening to my fav kt tunstall a lot this weekend - note for note and word for word, her songs seem to capture my relationship with ex-T perfectly - in particular, the words from her song 'throw me a rope' have resonated with me:

and whenever you go it's like holding my breath underwater
i have to admit that i kind of like it when i do
oh i've got to be unconditionally unafraid of my days without you

so throw me a rope, to hold me in place
show me a clock, for counting my days down
'cause everything's easier when you're beside me
come back and find me
whenever i'm falling you're always behind me
come back and find me
'cause i feel alone

CET

a bit of gossip

so here i am back in england. the flight was fine albeit a bit turbulent at times (i hate turbulence); i watched the end of the latest harry potter, queen latifah's predictable film, 'last holiday', and 'the constant gardener' - sooo good. if i ever get pregnant i want to look as hot as rachel weisz does in the film. my butt doesn't seem to be headed that way though, as i've been sat on it for seven hours. it flattened out, packed up and left its home for my thighs - now it looks like i have no butt, just huge, gargantuan tree trunks for legs, but anyhoo...

the gossip: so i texted frenchie to let him know that i'm back in town, coyly asking him what he was up to this weekend (it's a bank holiday)...lo and behold he tells me he has a date tomorrow! now, before you start calling him a bastard, hear me out; i told him right off the bat that this wasn't going to be serious as i am not looking for that, and we had agreed that it would be fine if we dated other people, plus he had mentioned this girl before, as his friends were trying to set them up for a while now, but things didn't fall into place for them to meet until just recently.

we went from texting to chatting on msn, and basically we both agreed it would be weird/wrong for us to do anything now that he is interested in the other girl - he's looking for a girlfriend and she's looking for a boyfriend, while i'm looking for neither, so it was all cool. it was really refreshing to have a frank and open conversation with him about stuff like this - honesty was all i ever asked of him and it was nice that he wasn't deceitful, and told me right off the bat. our conversation then led to a dissection of our first and second dates, which i found really eye-opening. men and women are just SOOO different, if we didn't know that already - he thought he talked too much while i thought he talked too little; he misread all my signals while i misread all of his, though admittedly in the end we both ended up where we wanted to be! we even talked openly about the sex, and what both of us could do to improve upon it - well, upon our individual skills i guess, since it doesn't look like we'll be doing it with each other anymore! - it was such a mature and honest end to my first 'casual encounter' experience. and another bonus: i can FINALLY concentrate on studying for my finals, which up until this point was pushed to the backburner in favour of boy-crazy, lustful thoughts.

pharmacy degree, i am all yours.

CET

off to blighty

*sigh* - today is my last day here in dc.

canuckian and i had so much fun last night - canuckian's friend jobylicious invited us to karaoke night at her regular thursday night spot - there were a few people there, mostly lawyers. canuckian and i knocked back a few G&Ts and sang a bon jovi classic, 'blaze of glory' - as if you don't know that song, people! it was hilarious, two asian twins belting out a pop song about cowboys. i think it's fair to say this was the first time ANYONE'S experienced this scenario...anyhoo, i think we did pretty good considering we wouldn't normally touch karaoke with a ten-foot pole, even though our dad has a karaoke machine at home.

could only happen in dc: after singing a song, the singer introduced himself as a local politician running for some shadow cabinet or whatever; he said a little speech and then passed around a petition and handed out stickers. the stickers said '51', in reference to the local movement of trying to make dc the 51st state. the issue is 'taxation without representation' - i've copied this from wikipedia:

"No taxation without representation" was a rallying cry of the American Revolutionary War. During the years prior to and during the Revolution, advocates of American independence decried the fact that the American colonies were required to pay taxes to London, yet they had no representatives in Parliament. Therefore, the Americans felt that they were being forced to fund a government into which they had no input.

In modern times, the phrase "Taxation Without Representation" appears on the automobile license plates of Washington, D.C., to protest that city's lack of representation in the United States House of Representatives and Senate (although the district does have a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives who can sit on committees and participate in debates). The slogan is intended to use irony to claim that a core value of the American Revolution is not being applied to the nation's capital. An effort to put the phrase on a redesigned D.C. flag has yet come to fruition.

that was my new fact learned for the day.

i'd also just like to give a hand to the weather gods this week, as dc has been blessed with some kick-ass summer weather. i've even got a bit of a tan! betcha london's going to be grey, poo...yup, just checked the weather online, i'm going back to light rain and clouds, ARGH!!!

will blog again from the dark side,

CET

p.s. thanks be to my sister for a) letting me sleep on her bed while she slept on the couch, b) buying groceries for us and for paying for most things, including my flight and c) for being my sister. MWAH!!! :o)

fatty olympics

uh-oh, with jason's help (i.e. antagonizing comments) i've managed to start a two-team eating competition, combining three very potent ingredients to create the fatty olympics:

- i am in america;
- i am a food beast;
- i am very competitive

looks like i am well on my way to 300 pounds by tomorrow evening, when i fly back to jolly old blighty.

i don't want to go back to england! even though this is american soil, overall this is north america...i quite like being on this side of the pond and am loathe to head back to studying and exams, poo. there space in north america to breathe - to stretch your arms out without fear of knocking into 7 million people. i can see the stars at night. i can breathe in air that won't leave me with black snot. life is easy-going and laidback here.

i can't wait until i'm home.

CET

you know what i mean...

i've set up an email address so if people want to contact me about stuff that they don't want the rest of the world to know about they can do so! and i hope NO ONE censors their comments on my blog! opinions, whatever they are, are always welcome. well, unless you're being blatantly rude or sexist or racist, etc., then i'll just tell you to fuck off. :o)

today is/was an attempt-to-do-homework-day - i hate it when you're working on a lab report and get stuck on something, whether it be using the right units, is it suppose to be a negative or positive value, or the simple rules for manipulating natural logarithms. argh. this lab report blows goats.

am meeting kiwigirl and some people later for wing night at the 'big hunt', a bar just off dupont circle. tuesday night wing nights are tradition. can't wait to get greasy and sloppy eating wings, mmm...speaking of eating, i swear my appetite (as if it wasn't big enough already) seems to have increased ten-fold since i got to the states; i have been pigging out on chips and dip, cookies and chocolate all day, it's pretty ridiculous. it's because food is so AVAILABLE - it's EVERYWHERE!!! at my sister's house they have a huge basket entirely devoted to storing all the different kinds of potato chips they have, i mean seriously! around the basket are chewy chocolate chip cookies, almond roca chocolates, cadbury cream eggs, godiva chocolates, two bags of m&m's and two bags of chinese sweets. if i don't weigh 300 pounds by the time i leave i'll be very surprised.

CET

email me!

check out my email address to the right - send me messages that others can't see :o)

CET

america-land

hello from dc!

well, a lot has happened since i landed on these american shores friday afternoon. being the lazy butt that i am, here are some thoughts/comments in point form:

- US customs sucks ass SOOO large...spent an hour an a half waiting to see a customs agent, only to have the one i did see not know ANYTHING about his own job - he kept tapping the glass wall to get his co-worker's attention, asking him questions like "what stamp do i put on her passport? what code is she? oops, i made a mistake," blah blah blah...INCOMPETENT! that's US security for you.

- i (inadvertently) managed to pick up an american guy on the shuttle bus from the airport to the subway station! we started chatting because i sat in the seat he wanted to sit in because it had more leg room (and he's pretty tall); all-american straight out of kansas, literally! gave me his email address when we were on the subway, told me to email him if i got bored of studying once back in london...see, when it rains, it pours!

- the number of morbidly obese people i've seen in this city since friday is astounding. seriously, at both of canuckian's graduation ceremonies there were families upon families of morbidly obese people, it was actually quite shocking.

- supa-sized everything! went grocery-shopping with canuckian today and i had forgotten how with everything here, FRIGGIN' HUGE is the standard size. her shampoo bottle is about the size of my head!

- i am lovin' the food here...we had tapas, thai, asian fusion, japanese, uhhh...all yummy, all excellent, and enough leftovers for a complete meal the next day!

- george bush sr. and barbara bush spoke at my sister's graduation...it was pretty cool but i missed most of it because i was at the mcdonald's inside the air and space museum getting food for canuckian...i don't EVER have mcdonald's, but there are times where it is necessary because either a) it's the only thing there or b) you have very little money.

- surprising our parents was the BEST! canuckian prepared them right before they knocked on the door, saying there was something special waiting on the other side...i opened the door and my mom screamed her head off while my dad hugged me and kept himself from crying, what sweeties. it was so nice spending time with them and just being a family together again. all we did while they were here (they left today for home) was eat and nap and eat and nap, so like my family...

- i love how green it is here, grass and trees and flowers and bushes EVERYWHERE...even though london has huge and beautiful parks, there's hardly any green elsewhere and i miss that.

- teaism, my oh-so-favourite cafe in dc (www.teaism.com) - mugs of tea so big you can swim in it, candied-ginger scones to die for, and an asian-fusion breakfast/lunch/dinner menu that is out of this world...

sillyhead: sorry i didn't tell you about my visit to dc! i will be home this summer don't you worry, so we will meet up then...

okay, must get off the computer so canuckian can do her homework. an hour to go before our afternoon trip for ginger scones...

CET :o)
p.s. i am so happy i am here.

leaving on a jet plane

i don't know if i've mentioned this before, but i'm off to washington dc tomorrow! yup, it's canuckian's graduation on sunday, so i'll be studying/living it up in dc for a week. my parents are heading down for the ceremony as well - they have no idea that i'll be there! canuckian and i have been planning this surprise for a while now - i can't wait to see the looks on their faces when i come waltzing through the door! i hope they don't suspect anything...

so i had classes in the morning today, then the rest of the day off. classmate T came by to my flat and we hung out for most of the afternoon, eating lunch, watching 'scrubs', listening to music. our music tastes are like night and day - i think her music is whiny and drones on and on, while she thinks my music is nothing special - funny how two sets of ears can listen to the same piece of music so differently!

frenchie texted to say he's swamped with work and so tonight's get-together might be cancelled. i'm not too bummed though - sure it would've been nice to get some more action, but i'm not too fussed - that's a real 'blase' attitude, isn't it? i think i kind of feel this way because while he has stimulated me physically (no need for me to elaborate!), he has yet to stimulate me mentally. we have a connection for sure, but i think it's purely physical, and i am okay with that.

time for a nappy nap!

CET

golden age

put your hands on the wheel
let the golden age begin
let the window down
feel the moonlight on your skin
let the desert wind
cool your aching head
let the weight of the world
drift away instead

listening to kt tunstall's cover of beck's 'golden age', off her new album, 'acoustic extravaganza'...the whole album's brilliant, but this is my favourite song at the moment.

i was a good girl today and went to the library to study for a few hours, BEFORE heading to the coffee shop to see if hottie was there. alas he was not, but there were two other cute guys minding the shop. hiring good-looking men to work must be the owner's tactic for luring customers in...

i had my lovely cream tea (scones, CLOTTED CREAM (= heaven), strawberry jam, washed down with a steaming pot of earl grey tea, mmm), read a magazine, did some sudoku, and just watched the world go by outside. the rain, my thoughts, and the hum of the city...i love days like these.

okay! back to studying...

CET

back to reality...almost

i must admit, i'm still on a post-shag high, mmm...

okay, enough of that, back to the reality that is being a pharmacy student just a few weeks away from exams! i finally started studying today for a theory test we have on wednesday. just by cracking the books open and looking at them with feigned interest is what i consider half the battle won. i'm done class by one tomorrow, so it will be hardcore studying until wednesday morning, promise! well, maybe a trip to see my coffee shop hottie first, then i'll hit the books...

...seriously, i have to stop being so boy-crazy in the middle of my revision period - not good!

distractions, there are many...

might see frenchie on thursday night...roll on week, roll on!

see what i mean? distractions...

CET :o)

rack em' up...

i know i have!

well, i debated kissing and telling, but i'm a little boozed at the moment so i think i might kiss and tell...yup, the dirty deed was done with frenchie and my oh my, what a lovely way to spend a saturday afternoon! that will be all i'll say about it on this blog - girlfriends can get the juicy details if they email me, HA!

went out tonight with kiwigirl and friends...G-A-Y night at the astoria...haven't been dancing in a while and absolutely LOVED it...a gay guy danced with me to a song from the musical 'grease'...while i absolutely hate that movie, dancing with that guy was fun...he said i was 'absolutely gorgeous' and i wasn't about to argue...what a sweetie!

i must say i'm chuffed at the fact that marvin the martian and i played the 'numbers' game when we had dinner at kiwigirl's, and i am now one up on him, ha ha ha...take that mr. martian! i see your bet and raise you one...

i've already written too much, time for bed and hopefully no hangover tomorrow...

CET :o)

cellarscape - copilot

cellarscape is the name of the band i went to see tonight - well, the band consisted of one person, paul terry (check it out! sky baby records), a friend of my lovely evil hypnotist. EH and i had a cuppa coffee before heading to dinner and then the gig; it was great having a much-needed chat with him about everything...he listens to me, never judges, makes me laugh, is slightly witty, very nerdy and i love him for it! sounds like my type of boyfriend but alas he is not! ah well...

paul terry's set was great but the acts that followed made me want to run out of the club screaming, ugh...tonight was his CD release party, it's called 'copilot'.

another plug: check out threadless t-shirts, they are the best t-shirt site i've found so far - you can submit your own t-shirt designs and if enough people vote for your design they print it and you can order it! i've already gotten three t-shirts so far, and if you check out the site and order a T, refer me so i can get points towards a free T! please please, pretty please, with a cherry on top??? the submissions are great, the humour subversive...LOVE IT!

CET

uni talk

okay people, let's move away from my love/lust/whatever life at the moment and focus on another topic...

this week has been crazy/hectic; my family friend's daughter, moe, is over here at the moment with her friend chewy - they have been staying at my place this week before embarking on their contiki tour of continental europe. so it's been early mornings and late, late nights for me all this week.

tonight we met up with moe and chewy's friends from their uni in canada, who are studying here in london. i don't know if i've mentioned this in my blog before, but i went to UW while they went to UWO. our two universities are like night and day, SERIOUSLY. people who know these universities KNOW what i'm talking about. right now you're reading this and you're feelin' me, right?

UWO sounds like those super-crazy party schools in the USA. i was regaled with uni stories all night long; i didn't mind as they were quite outrageous and funny but man, it was like a show reel straight out of 'animal house' or some movie like that. interestingly enough, my flatmate S went to UWO for her masters and she HATED it. she said it was VERY cliquey, and if you were 'in' you were 'in', but if you weren't you were COMPLETELY ostracized. well, i was definitely sitting with a bunch of people who were 'in'. miss ruckus, your thoughts?

anyhoo, am meeting the evil hypnotist tomorrow for a much-needed dinner and catch-up together, followed by watching his friend's gig at a pub somewhere. can't wait! as for frenchie, we're to meet on saturday...don't know what the plans are yet but you can bet it will be interesting...will i kiss and tell? you will have to wait and see...

CET :o)

drowned rat day

buckets of rain falling from the sky today...i don't mind it too much, as it feels like it's cleansing the city...

had a good chat with (funny enough) my ex from university. he's had far more dating experience than i have, so i thought it would be interesting to get his viewpoint on the whole 'casual dating' matter.

i feel kind of 'unpredictable' at the moment, in that i honestly don't know what i am going to do if the opportunity for some action presents itself. nine times out of ten i'm the type of person to say no - this is in NO WAY a comment or reflection on people who say yes the majority of the time, this is just me being me - but for once i feel like i might take that chance, take the plunge and do something out of 'my' ordinary...

anyhoo, i'll end this post by putting up a link to one of the most hilarious videos i've seen in a long time...seriously, you have to watch this!

CET

steady on there fella!

at home now after my first date with the frenchie. all i have to say is this guy is HHHOOORRRNY!!! holy crap. now, before your mind really hits the gutter full force i will make the following points:

a) we just kissed, that's all, but
b) it's pretty damn obvious that he wants more, and
c) i don't know what to do with all this attention!

we hit it off and the conversation flowed nicely; we had a yummy english breakfast at a patisserie, followed by quite a few drinks at a pub down the street. it was pretty obvious that he was attracted to me - he said i look a lot cuter in person than in my pictures, though he qualified that of course by saying my pictures were great to begin with, HAHAHA - he was obvious in his advances, like asking me to sit closer, if not could he sit closer, blah blah blah...three gin and tonics and a pint of beer later (that was just what i drunk!), i still could not move close to him i was that nervous! guys who are that forward excite me but make me really nervous as well. i don't know what to do with such an obvious show of attraction!

it reminds me of when i went to a boy/girl party in grade 6; the boy that i fancied asked his friend to ask me if i would kiss him, as you do when you're in grade 6. sure i had a crush on the guy, but as soon as this crush was reciprocated it freaked the hell out of me! i ran upstairs to the kitchen and called my dad to come pick me up. how sad!

the kiss itself, at the end of the date by the subway station, was a little awkward. i think i'm a shy kisser because i sure as hell don't open my mouth up that wide when i first kiss someone! holy mick jagger batman! or am i out of the loop? is kissing like that standard in this day and age? whatever happened to starting out with small, delicate kisses and then working your way up to open mouth and tongue? anyhoo...

will i see him again? probably. for all my fears, it is quite exciting. can it come at a worse time? no - i SERIOUSLY have to start studying for exams, and am so busy anyway all the way up until exams are over, after which i come home for the summer. i think i'll have to tell him to cool his jets and slow down just a bit!

CET

sunny days ahead?

tomorrow's suppose to be a beautiful and sunny day here in londontown...i sure hope the weather gods hovering over england deliver the goods - i am in dire need of some vitamin D!

yesterday's dinner at kiwigirl's (with marvin the martian in attendance) was so much fun! it was just so relaxed - the wine was flowing freely, which led to our conversation being pretty open and honest, with the primary topic of the evening being sex! wow, let's just say i enjoyed our conversation, and we laughed, A LOT. oh, and kiwigirl's cooking skills were phenomenal if i do say so myself :o)

can i just also add that marvin the martian was looking way hot? he hardly (if ever) reads my blog, but if he reads this then oh well! mmm...

in other news, i found out that my blog has been linked on another person's blog, one that i hardly ever read...i don't even really know this person, so i guess i'm kind of flattered that he's linked me, because i guess that means he likes what i write? i also find comments from strangers really cool; it makes me really curious as to who they are and how they found me, and how my writing comes across to people who don't know what i'm like in person...(ugh, i just re-read that and it sounds so narcissistic, sorry!)

i think it's a date in the park on saturday with frenchie! i was suppose to be online yesterday to arrange the details, but of course was too busy being verbally explicit at kiwigirl's...i sent him an email tonight so hopefully he'll reply soon. he seems like he could be a fun guy...

time to sleep!

CET

bank holiday beach vendetta

this weekend was a long weekend here, something they call a "bank holiday". spent the whole weekend with classmate T and her boyfriend A (remember from previous posts, T&A?). had some of T's homecooked comfort food on saturday, mmm (thanks T!), followed by watching "the last of the mohicans" on tv. remember that film, with madeleine stowe and daniel day lewis? i love that film. it's so romantic and action-packed; the music is sweeping and the cinematography majestic - one of the first CDs i bought (when CDs were a new thing - how old am i???) was the soundtrack to the film. ANYHOO...

we drove to canterbury on sunday, less than two hours' drive southeast of london, near the north kent coast. it's a lovely little town, very quaint and english; visited the famous canterbury cathedral, where we got in for free (by accident, hehehe) - twice! had a yummy sunday roast at a local pub, followed by a short drive to the seaside town of margate. i think that was the best part of the day; we kicked off our shoes, rolled up our trousers and ran around in the surf for a while. i collected seashells (as i always do); lovely conch shells of all shapes and colours. we saw a couple of dead fish on the beach, and little crabs here and there; T&A tried skipping stones along the water but the surf was a bit too rough for that. we climbed the rocks along the sea wall (rocks we weren't suppose to climb, but oh well!); 'A' jumped off the rocks onto the beach, doing a front roll to break the otherwise hard landing; 'T' was suppose to take a picture of the action but she didn't quite get all of it! we had ice cream and sugared donuts by the boardwalk (can we say "diabetes in a ring"?), then walked back to the car, soaking in the fresh sea air and the setting sun. just what T and i needed i think, as exams are fast approaching...

woke up to yummy soft-boiled eggs today, courtesy of 'A'; we dipped pieces of toast in the runny egg yolk - it's called 'solders', like soldering two metal joints together. i think it's an english thing, as i've had solders at ex-T's house too.

came home from T&A's, then headed out again to catch a movie with "date guy" from a couple of fridays ago. i now know for a FACT that he is OH SO NOT MY TYPE - he votes conservative! eek! ugh! blech! we watched "V for Vendetta" and were discussing the film afterwards (as you do); as the film is all about the government and politics, i soon learn that he is conservative-leaning, and thinks stephen harper is a "relatively honest guy". ummm, WHAT??? i then ask him what he likes about the current conservative government and he says something about the changes to income tax and the softwood lumber dispute. no thanks. i didn't stick around with him after the film, as i have a lab report to do (and have yet to start!); he said he'd call me sometime this week but i would not be the least bit disappointed if he didn't. people might think me harsh for not liking a guy because of his politics, but (in addition to that) the kicker for me was that he did not know hugo weaving (who played 'V' in the movie) was also elrond in "the lord of the rings" - anyone that knows me knows how much i love the books and the films...if that's not a deal breaker then i don't know what is. moving right along...

i was msning with 'french-canadian' guy tonight, and it looks like we're to meet up saturday for an activity of some sort! before your mind dips into the gutter, i meant rock climbing, or horseback riding in hyde park...we were trying to decide on a cool and fun date activity, other than your usual drinks at a bar. we might just end up wandering around a park, as the two previously mentioned activities are a little on the expensive side. as always, i will keep you in da loop!

CET

update

there's a guy next to me in the computer lab playing sound clips from south park. hilarious.

observations:

- three ladies dressed in pastel colours: pink, baby blue and light yellow. the way they were walking together reminded me of the three fairies from 'sleeping beauty'. i know the third fairy in the movie was dressed in green but still...

- a tall, distinguished-looking gentleman wearing a bowler hat, riding a bicycle

another disclaimer about running marathons:

okay, thanks for all your support! however, i will start with baby steps in the form of 5km runs, and then work my way up from there. my training package still hasn't arrived yet...

i was hanging out with some classmates on tuesday...one of them made dinner - shepherd's pie but with lamb mince instead of beef, topped with mashed potatoes and butternut squash; dessert consisted of homemade pear and wine upside down cake, MMM...talk about ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! the five of us cleared every morsel and crumb. when i think about the shepherd's pie i can still imagine what it tastes like, ughhhh...

date update:

i still haven't called the guy for a second date yet (long story), but he did email me asking if we could meet up this weekend...we will see...as for the french-canadian, still haven't heard from him since our initial online chat. i don't know if he's still on vacation or what?

i'm off for a curry!

CET

on second thought...

i think i'll add a disclaimer to my last post - perhaps if i extended my goal of running the london marathon to anytime in the next three years, while i'm here for school? yeah, that's better!

CET :o)

marathon anyone?

i woke up late today (taking advantage of my easter break, down to the very last minute), and have spent the last couple of hours sprawled out on my couch watching the London Marathon. It has inspired me to perhaps give it a go next year! well, it has inspired me to purchase the training guide from the marathon website; i'll have a looky through and then we'll see if i'm still motivated to run 26 miles! i have been feeling really lethargic since january, when i got back from christmas holidays to no more flamenco classes. i know it's a HUGE step (no pun intended) from flamenco to running a marathon, but i figured i'm still young, and if i discipline myself enough i think i can do it! besides, i've never been one to work out in a gym; i like joining classes that teach you a new skill, along with giving you a physical workout. the marathon will give me a goal to strive for, instead of working out because you have to to stay fit. anyhoo, it's a whole lotta talk right now and absolutely NO action, so we will just have to wait and see...

CET

the gory details

okay okay! i'm home now. i've just finished watching 'dead poets society' - always a favourite - and the film where i fell in love with ethan hawke, mmm...well, not anymore but you know, i was young then...

ahhh yes, where was i? spilling the gossip!

so i showed up at the tube station, 6:30pm on the dot. i'm waiting, and waiting, and waiting...and waiting. fifteen minutes later i texted my friend to see how much longer she thinks i should wait before calling it a day! just as i finished texting her, i saw a man come out of the turnstiles and make eye contact with me. i think he recognized me right away, though i didn't recognize him immediately. he had glasses on, and none of the pictures i saw of him on his profile had him with glasses (NOTE TO SELF: people never look like their pictures). anyhoo, so he apologized profusely and proceeded to tell me that he forgot his cell phone at home today, and was running late but had no way to contact me. he seemed sincere enough so i said it was okay, and we proceeded to find a bar for a drink.

now, i was fully prepared to have a drink or two, and if things weren't going well, then to make my excuses and leave. a few sips into my heineken however, he suddenly asks me if i have any plans for the night and if i would like to grab a bite with him!

it caught me a little off-guard, and before i knew it i was telling him the truth, that i didn't have any plans for the evening! DOH! why did i do that? i don't know what it is about me, but i have this innate ability to ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH, even when lying suits the situation better. anyhoo...

we had dinner at a sushi place - a chain-type place where they have the conveyor belt around the bar, with little plates of sushi making their rounds - the sapporo and the sushi flowed nicely (NOTE TO SELF: drinking is definitely a must on a first date). the conversation was pretty good, we just talked about our families, canada and stuff like that. he had a running joke throughout the evening that he's actually married and has a wife and kids back home in canada! hardy har har...

a few conversation topics of note: he knows and has been to my favourite place for chinese bbq pork in the whole wide world! it's in my neighbourhood back home in t.o., and i couldn't believe he's been there. secondly, i was telling him about my recent trip to amsterdam and he (who loves to travel) suddenly exclaims that WE should go to amsterdam during the long weekend two weeks from now! i'm like "huh? you've gotta be kidding me" but he's like "what if i told you to meet me at the airport next friday with a suitcase, and everything would be taken care of, would you come?" ummm, WHAT??? he was half-teasing, half-serious, but he does have the means (and the gumption) to pull something like that off, so i wouldn't put it past him. anyhoo, i told him i'll see what my mood is like next friday and we left it at that...

(yes, i am saying "anyhoo" a lot in this post but i feel it's warranted jason l.)

he suggested another bar for a drink after dinner, but i really didn't feel like doing the noisy bar scene tonight. i suggested we walk to trafalgar square, and that is what we did, sitting on a bench by the fountains and chatting for a bit. he made some comment about being cold and wanting me to give him my coat; i think it was his weak attempt at getting me to snuggle up close to him, which i wasn't about to do. this is a first date and so i don't even know you, plus i'm not liquored up enough to get cozy with someone i've just met! the date was going well but i decided to call it a night; i wanted to end it while it was still good, before it started to drag on. he was a bit disappointed but i wasn't about to be swayed. so we walked to the station, took the tube a couple of stops (where he got off the carriage and switched lines) while i continued my journey home. he made me promise to call him as soon as i got home, so that he knew i got home okay. and that was that.

conclusion? verdict? he is a nice guy. i didn't feel any immediate chemistry, but it was nice to spend the evening getting to know someone new. i'm more chuffed at the fact that i made it through my first casual date in one piece! i was a little nervous, giddy and jittery at the beginning, but by the end of it i was as cool as a cucumber. way to go CET! i actually kept what jason l. said about a date being "just getting food and drink" in my head, and i think it calmed me.

will i see him again you ask? yeah, perhaps on our way to amsterdam, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...no seriously, he left me a message on my cell phone while i was chatting to my sis; he basically put the ball in my court, telling me to call him if i am interested in meeting up again. i think i will probably call him; if there's ultimately no spark between us i don't mind, as i'm sure we can always hang out as friends. plus he is cute and personable, so i can always introduce him to my friends! see, i'm always looking out for you guys...

time for bed!

CET

i'm a wimp...

the internet guy that i'm suppose to meet up with just called and i didn't answer my phone! he left a message earlier asking me out for drinks this friday...i texted him (yes, i copped out) and said how about coffee instead, as

a) if the bar is loud and noisy (which it tends to be on a friday night) we won't really get to know each other, other than knowing what our voices sound like screaming at the top of our lungs;

b) drinks on a friday night might lead to dinner and a looonnnggg evening...not that that's a bad thing, but what if drinks aren't going well, you're not very well going to say "okay, thanks for the drink, i'm going to go home now" on a friday night!

c) drinks = more drinks = intoxication = perhaps liking the person because you are drunk and he is drunk = leading to things which normally would not happen = you get where i'm going with this??? i want to get to know someone while sober, then i'll know for sure whether or not i am attracted to them based on our interaction, not based on the amount of alcohol consumed.

can i just say how absolutely INEXPERIENCED i am??? i've had relationships before, but it was always the "friends first, then lovers" thing. this whole 'casual dating' business is completely foreign and new to me. i need advice people! and quickly! friday is approachin'...

CET

p.s. chatted tonight with another potential suitor...french-canadian, living in london, habs fan. i felt much more of a rapport with him than with the first guy. frenchie's on holiday abroad til next week, after which we're suppose to meet for a pint. i feel much more comfortable with the thought of having alcohol with him than with the first guy for some reason...


UPDATE: okay, i'm not a wimp! i plucked up the courage to call him back (lying of course, saying i was on the tube on the way home from dinner with friends when he called) and we arranged a time and place to meet. ADVICE URGENTLY NEEDED!!!

useless facts you need to know about vomiting

i'm working on my tutorial assignment on anticholinesterases at the moment, specifically organophosphates; they're used in household and agricultural pesticides and insecticides, not to mention as a biological weapon (e.g. sarin). anyhoo, this post is not to throw around big scientific words (OR IS IT???), but to share some interesting facts about emesis (or vomiting, one of many symptoms of organophosphate poisoning) i found out through the lovely wikipedia:

- Whales vomit regularly (every 7 to 10 days) as a means of the ordinary digestive process, to expel inedible things they have swallowed.

- The domestic cat is well known for its tendency to vomit, particularly when attempting to dislodge hairballs from its throat or upper gastrointestinal tract. Dogs also vomit often (frequently after eating grass) and are also known for eating their own vomit, a fact even cited in the Bible: KJV Proverbs 26:11 "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly." (THAT IS SO NASTY! MMM, VOMIT...)

- Owls will expel the undigestible bones and fur of their meals after partial digestion of the nutritious parts rather than passing them through the digestive tract. (THAT SEEMS LIKE A VERY SMART THING TO DO; I GUESS THAT'S WHY OWLS ARE WISE.)

- Some adult birds regurgitate food to feed their young, triggered by a feather or a beak of their young. The food can be either incompletely digested or partially predigested, depending on the species. Some bird species may also use regurgitation as a form of defense, vomiting when wounded or molested. When an intruder or a predator comes near a fulmar on its nest, the bird vomits oil up to 3 feet at the enemy. Larger animals, such as wolves, may also regurgitate partially or undigested food to feed their young. (DON'T COME NEAR ME OR I'LL PROJECTILE VOMIT ON YOU!!!)

- When in danger, the sea cucumber may eject its entire digestive tract. The animal is able to re-grow another one. (THAT IS SO DAMN COOL.)

- Some large mammals, including horses, cannot or rarely vomit. Many rodents are readily killed by commercial poisons because they lack the ability to vomit, which can be problematic for some pet owners. (LESSON LEARNED: DO NOT RAISE DISGUSTING RODENTS AS PETS.)

so this is something new i've learned for the day! whoever said schoolwork isn't exciting was LYING.

CET

silly monkey

here's the latest pic of chili, on his very own doggy-sofa! hilarious!

CET

cadbury cream egg cake

check this out, it's hilarious!

i wish i thought of that.

CET

lots to tell!

did i tell you before how i signed up to a dating website? well, another canadian living in london got in touch with me via email and we spoke on the phone tonight! eek!

it felt so awkward and new and exciting and...like high school! the butterflies, the giddiness, the expectations...i don't know though, i think i sounded like a geek/little girl. i was a little nervous and kept laughing at the end of my sentences, and after a while the conversation lagged a bit...i don't know what to make of it all. it was one of those "getting to know you" conversations, i.e. ask a question, give an answer, other party repeat, you repeat, repeat again, etc...i mean, my mind perhaps couldn't think of the questions fast enough?

he's a stockbroker for some big company here in london, got transferred from toronto. doesn't seem like my type (i.e. very corporate, very "bay st") but he seems nice and i'm willing to meet up with him at least. i was msning with mutton face when all this transpired, and we were saying that with every date you go on you're one date closer to someone worthwhile. i don't want to say "the one" because i don't believe in it, so i'm saying "someone worthwhile". let's hope so!

i'm suppose to text him my number (as he gave me his number first) and then we'll set up a drinks date from there. i'll keep you posted! i don't know why i feel like such a kid at the moment, like everyone's a grown-up and i'm just "playing" grown-up...he's four years my senior but from his pics he looks just so manly and grown-up, while my pics are of me looking very young...anyhoo...

i've been holed up in my flat the last couple of nights - everyone i know in this town is out of it this easter weekend, on holidays or with family. even my flatmates were out of town on a romantic weekend getaway. so it was me, my tv and my laptop. at first i didn't quite know what to do with myself, but after a while it was okay. i actually stayed up until 6am this morning reading belle de jour, the diary of a (now ex) london call girl. needless to say it was interesting stuff! she's got a book deal now and her posts are few and far between, but her insights into the sexual psyche of her clients, and just the crazy things they've asked her to do, are more than worth the lack of sleep i've had. she's also an excellent writer, and very well-versed in english lit.

i finally ventured outside the flat today, just to dump some recycling and buy a few veggies before scurvy hits. i noticed a weird-looking duck in the creek where the skull was, in a very nice little nest with very fluffy little ducklings! so cute. i watched them for a bit before moving on.

eyes are tired, must sleep!

hope everyone had a happy easter weekend!

CET

recovered and alone

okay, i think i'm sufficiently recovered from amsterdam and sue's visit to blog now. slept for 9.5 hours last night and while that may not seem like much, it was just what i needed. woke up at 11:30am today, bliss...

amsterdam ROCKED. it was so much fun showing sue around (as this was her first time, my second) and discovering new places myself! we went to the anne frank museum, the van gogh museum, took a boat cruise along the canals (where sue promptly fell asleep), and in general just did a lot of wandering. amsterdam is a beautiful city and so compact; everything is easily accessible by foot.

the BEST part of the trip was the heineken brewery! for only 10 euros you get three, half-pint glasses of heineken, a self-guided tour, and a gift of a heineken tin with a half-pint glass inside. SWEET! before the tour sue and i only had a bagel and coffee each, so the half pints went to our heads pretty quickly. all the staff there were funny and jolly, and sue and i had a silly exchange of words with the cute guy working the cloakroom. all i'll say is it consisted of him juggling, and the words "he", "she", "me" and "we". you had to be there.

so yes, we smoked pot and yes, we smoked a lot of it. the spliffs were HUGE! we were at one of the more touristy "coffeeshops" and i have this theory that the dutch love their 80's and 90's music, because wherever we went that was what we heard. smoking da weed, listening to colour me badd, ahhh, good times...

i took sue to the red light district and she commented on how "un-raunchy" it is. sure the girls were at their windows with nothing but bra and panties on, but it is a job after all; some were standing, some were sitting, chatting with other girls - a lady in one window had a little kitchenette right behind her, complete with kettle, teabags and mugs...sexy i know!

we had some pretty good food while in amsterdam too. the first night we had indonesian at the same restaurant i went to the first time i was in the dam. sooo yummy! the second night was mexican at a pretty authentic mexican place - as authentic as you can get, being in amsterdam - in between we had our share of waffles, waffles and more waffles. waffles with ice cream and whipped cream, stroopwafels, mini-stroopwafels, mmm...

sue left yesterday and BG probably won't be here until sunday at the earliest; the flatmates also left today for a weekend in belgium, so i'm here in this flat all by my lonesome :o( i miss my sue! having her here was just so much fun if i haven't said it already.

oh, and BG's drama: she was detained at pearson because her cousin and her cousin's husband were also travelling on the same flight (after already being detained from the day before), and her cousin's husband happens to have the same name as a known al qaeda terrorist...it's a long story that i won't go into here, but honestly, what happened to BG was ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS and SOOOOOOOOO WRONG!!! i am so angry for her. we've always joked about it but when it actually happened it was so shocking. i just want her here in london NOW!

CET

drama and da herb

holy man, finally home after three days of livin' in a purple haze...well, not that purple, more like a lavender or mauve.

sue and i traveled to the land of windmills and tulips, of herbal relaxation and red neon lights…for those whose who were born yesterday, that place is amsterdam. there is much to tell, the most important news being the absence of the brown goddess. MAJOR drama in that department, resulting in our fave BG not being with us on our nights of mindless revelry...BG, we were thinking of you often, and missed your presence at the "coffeeshop"...

more details to come, must recover first...

CET

taking a breather...

before the brown goddess arrives at heathrow this evening. sue, BG and i are off to amsterdam tomorrow for three days.

sue and i saw tan off at paddington station this afternoon, and right now i feel kinda sad. well, i'm a little anxious about flying (i get that from my dad) and also a bit down now that tan's left. the three of us had so much fun - windsor castle on friday, greenwich on saturday, dinners, drinks and nights out - there's something to be said for being with people that know you inside and out, and love you for who you are. they've seen me happy, high, drunk, sober, heartbroken and completely in love. i miss that.

no worries though, as by the time BG arrives i will be insanely excited! we spoke on the phone last night and it's ridiculous how this day could not go by any faster. BG's also bringing a whole bunch of stuff from my family at home, so i can't wait for that too.

anyhoo, i am glad for the brief respite at home today before things gear up again.

OH, and i forgot one bit of news: sue accidently let slip over dinner at ex-T's house that i have a blog! eek! i quickly changed the topic of conversation and he didn't bring it up for the rest of the evening; i hope it stays that way!

CET

for nunuk and jason l.

okay okay, so i've been away from the blogsphere for a while!

sorry but this will have to be short, as i need to pick up my friend tan, who's just arrived from dublin.

holy tourist batman, sue and i have been hitting the pavement all around london doing every touristy thing imaginable! we did the big bus tour, sitting on the open top deck of the double decker bus...we've been to hyde park, kensington gardens, green park, st james' park, millenium bridge, tower bridge, london bridge, tower of london, leeds castle, london eye, british museum, houses of parliament, big ben, platform 9 3/4, etc. etc. etc....we have not stopped! being a tourist is hard work - i have yet to sleep in on MY holiday.

it has been so great having sue here, i am so happy that she's staying with me. it's like having family here, which feels especially nice given that i don't have the best flatmates. yay sue!

okay, sorry i haven't posted in a while, and i probably won't have time to post a lot over the next few days/weeks, but BEAR WITH ME! i'm flattered you check everyday, and will try my best to keep you all up to date.

love CET

coffee shop hottie

i haven't blogged all this week because i wanted to let people respond and comment on monday's topic. thank you for all your responses! race/racism/ignorance/white privilege can be touchy subjects but that makes it all the more vital that we discuss them openly and honestly.

a lot has happened this week! first of all, thanks to mutton face, i am now a member of a dating website! i'm still not sure how it happened, but i am. it's all so new and actually quite hilarious - even if you're not looking for anyone i say join it for the entertainment value!

it was g's birthday yesterday and we ended up at a salsa club. i was looking quite hot if i do say so myself (g will back me up on this one!) but NO ONE asked me to dance because quite frankly, i don't know how to salsa! everyone there is so good, and they all want to dance with only those who dance well, so i stood there sipping my mohito for most of the evening. i didn't mind though, it was quite entertaining just watching others dance and show off their skills.

i had coffee today at my favourite coffee shop near spitalfield. the shop is all wood, small and cozy, and today there were two HIGHLY attractive guys running the shop. oh yes, HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE. the one guy in particular i have seen before - dark, slightly shaggy hair and BEAUTIFUL large brown eyes, like deep pools of yummy mocha gorgeousness. and when he takes your order he has a way of looking at you so directly, and holding your gaze so firm, that i just blatantly stare back and hope he feels my electric-signals-through-my-eyes zapping him. yeah, i am DEFINITELY going to that coffee shop more often.

SUE ARRIVES TOMORROW, WWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

have a great weekend everyone!

CET

response/brain food

thanks for all your comments guys, much appreciated! i think more explanation (and then debate) is needed. okay, these are my thoughts/theories:

"assumptions make an ass out of you" - i think this is SO true. when people look at me, why do they automatically assume i am of a particular culture? what if i am not? basically (for those that don't know me that read this blog) i am asian; when people see me they assume i fall into one of the three major groups: chinese, japanese or korean. i know of course there's vietnamese, philipino, malaysian, etc. etc. etc., but for the most part people think i am one of the "top three". once they assume that they blurt out the first chinese/japanese/korean phrase they know; most of the time it's either "ni how ma?" (mandarin) or "konnichiwa" (japanese):

a) chinese is not just "chinese" - there's mandarin, cantonese, taiwanese, hakka, etc. etc. etc., and yet people just assume chinese is chinese - they are either not educated enough or too ignorant to know the difference (i'll let you decide which one, though they might go hand in hand);

b) the young cashier said what he said i think because he wanted to be friendly and "connect" with me. he also told me that he spent six hours in hong kong while waiting for his visa into china. i think it's great that he has travelled to different countries which has (hopefully) expanded his horizons and world view; in this instance i did not feel all that offended, so i made small talk with him and informed him on the different languages/regional dialects that exist in the region, that he was getting confused with.

c) what really bugs me are not people like the cashier boy, but random strangers that walk by that blurt out chinese/japanese/korean phrases just to see my reaction. what the fuck? what is the point of that? i just don't get it. i don't go up to a white person and say "jolly good mate", "put a shrimp on the barbee" or "so you screw sheep?", just to see what reaction i get out of them; i don't look at a white person and automatically assume they are irish or scottish or british or german, so why is it okay for people to do the same to me?

d) as for the "multicultural-ness" of toronto compared to london, both cities are multicultural, yes, but (and if i'm biased because i was raised in t.o. then so be it) i've always found t.o. to be a more tolerant and accepting society towards people of colour as compared to london. with toronto there's a feeling that all people of colour are in this together; we are torontonians and this is our city and we're all trying to get along and make this city work, whereas with london i feel very much that everyone is only out for themselves, that it's more a matter of personal survival in this urban jungle than it is about establishing any sense of community. i'm sure i can have a lengthy debate about this with a born-and-bred londoner, but from my experience living in this city (almost three years in total and counting), i feel this to be the case.

an interesting article brought to my attention by mutton face emphasizes my point; published in the globe and mail (one of canada's national newspapers), it's about a journalist from calgary that swaps cities with a journalist from toronto; they write about their views on the respective city they visit. i like the article on toronto published by the calgarian journalist; his words capture the feeling and essence of toronto and torontonians that i am trying to explain; i'll let his words do the talking.

i think i'll ask my friend missruckus to contribute to this debate; she is very socially and politically aware and has had many debates on issues of colour and race, and i'd very much appreciate her opinion. in addition, she has also lived in london and toronto, so she's experienced for herself the "vibe" of both cities. who knows, maybe she'll disagree on my take of t.o. and london! missruckus if you're reading, send me a shout out!

CET

staring...

...at the computer all day...my eyes are starting to hurt...

i've been looking at the recent entries of my favourite blogs, msning with mutton face and e-mail (i miss you guys!), and just surfing in general. postsecret is my blog of choice at the moment; people send handmade postcards detailing their most personal secret, and a selection of these postcards are posted on the blog every sunday. this article in usa today will tell you more about it. needless to say it's a really creative concept and a compelling one at that, but i'll let you check it out and decide for yourselves.

check out this link too, and play the film entitled "yellow fever", by wong fu productions. it is HILARIOUS! this came to my attention courtesy of my ex-bf from university. also check out the bloopers reel they have as well, it was almost as funny as the film!

i saw "syriana" on friday and holy smokes, if even a tenth of that fictional film was true in real life, i can completely understand why the world hates the US.

i was in the grocery store on saturday, waiting in the check-out line, and when my turn came up the young, kinda cute, white british cashier looks at me for a while before blurting out the only phrase he knows in my mother tongue. this happens, A LOT. i don't know why people do this - is it to show they're cultured? that they "understand" me? depending on the situation i find this behaviour offensive at times, while at others i find it just mildly annoying. sometimes i tell them to "fuck off" as i know they do it just to be an ignorant dick, but other times i think it stems from something more genuine, like they're trying to "connect" with me, so i try to educate them in the few seconds where we interact. i also find this situation happens a lot over here in the uk and europe in general, whereas at home in T.O. it NEVER happens. why is this the case? i don't want to go so far as to say people on this side of the pond are more ignorant - perhaps this way of interaction is more accepted here? maybe they're less politically correct? - or perhaps it's just not as much of an issue at home as it is here. but why? comments are appreciated!

CET

buddha reads my blog

buddha/god/allah/yaweh, whoever/whatever you want to call the omnipotent being upstairs, READS MY BLOG because today, finally, is a BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY!!!

bright sunshine, no bone-chilling wind - it was so nice that classmate T and i walked down to the embankment along the thames and had lunch in the park under the glorious sun. i didn't even have to wear my coat!

i'm done school for the day but am not letting this warm weather go to waste by heading straight home; i might sprawl out on the grass in the park and work on my sudoku puzzle book.

IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME!

CET :o)

twiddle twiddle

these past couple of weeks have been pretty ho-hum; go to school, come home, eat, watch tv, don't do homework, go to sleep, repeat. i think my brain has mentally shut down; it's already in "easter holiday" mode but the holiday hasn't started yet.

check out evil hypnotist's website, he's put up a showreel of scenes from all the projects he's done and you'll find me in there, though i won't tell you where in the reel i'm in and what i'm doing - you'll just have to watch it for yourself!

the weather here is still friggin'-ass cold, grey and dreary. BLAH! I HATE IT! my journal says "british summer time begins" this sunday, meaning i have to move my clock ahead one hour, but WHERE THE HELL IS THE SUMMER??? i feel like i'm still in the middle of a shitty english winter. BIG POO.

i'm going to bed now. i feel wind-blown.

CET
p.s. thanks to everyone for your support! to show that i'm a genuine geek and that i'm proud of myself (i.e. my moment to brag), i placed 6th out of 180 students in chemistry. it's so archaic (sp?) that they still rank you here! and damn skippy i'm a chemistry nerd, i didn't get no bsc in chem for nuthin'. i guess waterpoo was of some use, right mr. sillyhead? :o)

pass/fail

we finally got our marks from last term today. i knew the transcripts would be available in the registry, and made a mental note not to dash down there before class at 9am, but instead just saunter in sometime after tutorial.

no such luck.

as soon as i swung open the school doors, i was hit with a crowd of people around a tiny desk, the registry staff furiously handing out transcripts as names were called/shouted at them from all sides. the anticipation in the air was as thick as molasses; a surge of anxiety hit me as i made my way to the front of the desk.

i greeted the registry staff and said "uh-oh, judgement day. eeekkk!" they handed me my transcript (which was in an envelope) and i made my way through the crowd to find a patch of linoleum where i could stand and read my marks in peace.

my mind and eyes were a blur; i couldn't see anything on the paper except the word "PASS". whew. four marks, one of them passed. i quickly scanned the rest of the paper, looking for three more passes.

scan, scan, scan - PASS
scan, scan, scan - PASS
scan, scan, scan - PASS

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!! a bubble of joy and sheer relief welled up inside me and i hugged the first person i saw in the crowd that i recognised. HALLELUJAH!!!

we of course then compared the nitty gritty marks, and (not to toot my own horn) i didn't do too shabbily. well, my pharmacology mark wasn't so hot (BUT I PASSED) and i thought i had done better in biochemistry (BUT I PASSED) so i didn't care, i was just happy.

classmate T and i celebrated by spending the next couple of hours at the british museum, where i checked out the lewis chessmen (i've always wanted to see them since seeing some of the pieces in edinburgh many years ago) and we had tea and cake in the fancy-schmancy cafe. there's nothing like rewarding one's hard work by taking in a little culture, he he he...

i also flirted with my professor during my afternoon lab. he's about thirty-something, kinda cute (nice arms), and is an excellent lecturer. again, if only he wasn't my teacher...i wonder if i was really obvious though? probably.

time for bed!

CET

st paddy's day pseudo-date!

party people,

so st paddy's day was interesting...classmate T invited me to have drinks with her and A, and A's friend, 'tall guy'. it was no big deal, but as girls do, T and i made it a big deal! i mean, T brings a friend, A brings a friend, one's a girl, one's a boy, wouldn't it be obvious? and T kept smirking the ENTIRE night - you know you did T! - i couldn't look at her otherwise i would've started laughing, making it all the more obvious (as if it wasn't already). anyhoo...

we had drinks at a pish-poshy/poser bar in the business district called abacus. it wasn't too bad, though it was full of the after-work crowd. i was wearing T's shirt and funky cardigan, and A's belt, as my paul frank t-shirt with the mariachi band on the front wouldn't have fit in with the power suits and ties at the bar. then we headed for a sushi dinner, followed by another drink at a novelty bar decked out in spooky decor. the cool thing about the bar was that the bathrooms were hidden behind bookcases, like a secret passage! i couldn't for the life of me figure out where the bathrooms were, and had to ask the passing waitress. she pointed at the bookcase and said "push it", and lo and behold there was a bathroom on the other side. very cool.

i ended the evening back at T and A's flat and spent the night. today we lounged around until late in the afternoon; now i'm back home. i haven't been feeling well these past two days, my throat feels funny and i'm a bit achy. i'm waiting for the big bad flu to hit me but so far it's taking its time.

i am so UNBELIVEABLY excited about sue's trip here at the beginning of april! i feel like i might cry when i see her at the airport, as she represents a little bit of home. we are going to have a BLAST!

CET

p.s. so what did i think of 'tall guy'? he's nice, really tall (obviously) with a quirky sense of humour, the kind where he can say the most outrageous things but you believe him for a second because he says it with such a straight face and because you are that gullible. he was kind of quiet and reserved, and i don't know if i left such a good impression with my stories of chili shitting all over the floor and looking like a gay dog, but you know, SOMEONE has to make the conversation!



poor chili!

up the bum...

...a suppository that is!

we learned about rectal drug delivery today in class. INTERESTING STUFF! to think there is so much science 'behind' shoving a torpedo-shaped, waxy pill up one's butt. and that's only one type of dosage form! there's creams, foams, suspensions, solutions - speaking of solutions, i then asked the prof "won't solutions leak out?" the class snickered and laughed. hell, i laughed too. all in all one of the more interesting lectures this term.

okay, okay, i'll switch topics!

well, that was basically the highlight of my day. went to work after class, came home, had dinner, and now i'm watching 'sleepless in seattle' while having tea and biscuits. they're like chocolate digestives only with a thin layer of caramel in the middle, mmm...

CET

i want spring!

i wasn't going to post an entry today, as today was just one of those forgettable days; you wake up, go to school, come home from school, pig out on snacks and watch tv until it's pretty much time for bed, end of story. not exactly front-page news material - or blog material either! tomorrow's a pretty full work/school day though, so i thought i'd better punch out some thoughts on the keyboard before i get swept up in it all.

i'm listening to kt tunstall right now - by god, i must've listened to her album a million times over since buying it in december 2004, and yet neither my love nor interest for this album has waned. she is so damn cool. she's playing the isle of skye festival this summer, two days before i head back to t.o. - i'm seriously considering going. anyone wanna join me?

in other news, i don't know if i mentioned this at the beginning of the school year, but i volunteered to be one of the class reps for the first half of the course. geeky, yeah, i know. anyhoo, we had our course board meeting last friday with the course co-ordinator. i thought it would only take about an hour to talk about the course, the good and the bad, but in the end it was over two hours long! in those two hours i made sure i ranted and raved (in a diplomatic way of course) about the attitude of some of the lecturers. i'm pretty sure my tirade fell on deaf ears, as the co-ordinator is chummy-chummy with the prof i have the most problem with, but at least i got to speak my mind.

okay, bedtime.

CET

p.s. both t.o. and d.c. have gotten kick-ass spring weather this weekend, while we here in blighty are still wrapped up in hats and scarves. dammit!

inspiring action and other thoughts

i went to see anita roddick (founder of the body shop) speak tonight at the british library, as part of their 'beautiful minds' series of lectures. wow. she is one inspirational lady! she makes you want to go out and join a protest. i went with kiwigirl and she asked me if i had ever protested anything before, and to my embarrassment and slight shame i realised i have never been part of a protest. i have signed petitions and have gone on walks/runs for good causes; on a personal note i have always protested injustice to myself and/or my immediate friends/co-workers/classmates, but i have never been a part of a political protest. i feel bad.

i remember the protests here in london a few years ago against the iraq war. mutton face and miss ruckus were visiting from t.o. and even DURING their vacation, jet-lagged and all, they joined the march. me? i was too lazy to leave my flat. well not anymore!

on another note, thanks be to styxxx for pointing out my obvious obsession with food! it's funny because i wrote that blog entry without even making the connection that i was talking about food for a good half of it. i guess that shows how much food is a part of my life and psyche, when it creeps into my sub-conscious and comes out in my blog!

speaking of food, i 'accidentally' had a full english breakfast today and boy was it good! in my opinion it's pretty easy to whip up an english breakfast, but it's difficult to make it GOOD. today's breakfast was just right; the eggs were runny but well-formed, the back bacon was tasty and cooked just so, with the right amount of crispiness, and the toast was perfectly buttered. the most important aspect of the meal was that everything was piping hot! mmm, perfection.

oh, and check out a couple of new links i've added on the side; my favourite blog at the moment is 'daily dose of imagery' by sam javanrouh - he's a photographer based in toronto. everyday he posts an image that he has shot himself; most of the pictures are of people and places in toronto, though he has done a photo series of oxford and london. i absolutely LOVE his pictures of toronto - he captures our city so beautifully, both the good and the bad; i get my daily t.o. 'fix' when i check out what he's posted for the day. he makes me love and miss home so much, in addition to my family, friends and chili dog of course!

CET

kiss me i'm irish

so this weekend was supposed to be a weekend of nothing but puttering about the flat and perhaps doing some homework, but instead i've been busy schmoozing with 65-year-olds, and the irish!

i had COMPLETELY and UTTERLY forgot that i had a birthday party to go to on saturday; a former co-worker's husband turned 65 and was throwing a big bash. sounds like a killer evening, eh? well, it wasn't too bad! sure they weren't swinging from the chandeliers, but it was still a nice time. the party started at 7:30 and i didn't remember until 7:07. oops! anyhoo, all in all a good evening.

even though st. patrick's day isn't until this friday, they had a parade and festivities today in central london. i went down to watch the parade with classmate T and her boyfriend, A. in addition to the parade there were three stages set up in different parts of london, so after checking them out for a bit, we found an irish pub (in the middle of chinatown) to sit and have a pint of guinness. we watched the six nations rugby match (england vs. france) - i'm not a huge fan but i'm learning the rules - then headed to covent garden for the irish market. i bought a few chunks of fudge (because that's very irish), then A and i tried fresh oysters on sale for a pound. they shucked them right in front of you, and with a drop of tabasco sauce they went down a treat. whetted my appetite for japanese food afterwards, but perhaps another day. i took the bus home and made a pot full of chili with the lamb mince that had been defrosting. like you really needed to know that!

the most beautiful part of the day was when the mayor officially opened the festivities, and thousands of green, white and orange balloons were released into the air over trafalgar square. just that moment the sun broke through the clouds, and the hundreds of pigeons that were milling about the square flew into the sky. it was a gorgeous sight; words (nor my camera, which ran out of film) could do it justice. it's funny how moments like these fill you with such happiness. the best part was that they played U2's 'beautiful day' when the balloons were released; i felt like moshing!

CET

thursday ho-hum

the rain's gone today but it's still BLAH. blah weather = blah mood.

my lovely shoes were STILL wet this morning! they hadn't dried at all overnight. i put them near the radiator before i left the flat today, so hopefully that'll work.

thanks be to canuckian and styXXX for your thoughts and kind words about my shoe. yes, this does indeed mean an excursion for a new shoe, but right now i can't bring myself to spend the money, or come out of my denial that my lovely shoe really is dead. wet sock it is!

lately i've had two songs in constant rotation in my head. i don't know why, but here they are:

you are special you're the only one,
you're the only one like you!
there isn't another in the whole wide world
that can do the things you do...

because you're special! special!
everyone is special,
everyone in his or her own way!

because you're special! special!
everyone is special,
everyone in his or her own way!

cheesy, yes, but oh-so-cute; canuckian learned that song when working as a day camp counsellor at a centre for children with disabilities, many moons ago. it is such a sweet and happy song.

the other song is 'a nightingale sang in berkeley square', sung by harry connick jr on one of his early albums, but melody and lyrics by manning sherwin and eric maschwitz in 1915. there are many verses to this song, but the one that always plays in my mind is this:

The moon that lingered over London town,
Poor puzzled moon, he wore a frown,
How could he know we two were so in love,
The whole darn world seemed upside down...

The streets of town were paved with stars,
It was such a romantic affair,
And as we kissed and said "good-night"
A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square...

it's a lovely song and i think for obvious reasons, it reminds me of this city i'm living in. i'll need to look up berkeley square on the map and make a trip there one day.

CET

the death of a shoe

over the past couple of days it has been raining non-stop in londontown; spitting, drizzle, downpour, steady stream...you name it, it's been falling from the sky. it is because of this rain that i realised today that my favourite pair of shoes in the whole wide world is dead.

you must know what i'm talking about, the pair of shoes that you are so in love with, that you would sleep with it in bed if it didn't dirty your sheets; the type of shoes that fill you with a serene, happy feeling whenever you look at them, bordering on sublime joy...sigh...

my left shoe has a tiny crack in the bottom of the sole, and the constant flow of rainwater has infiltrated my lovely shoe and has left me with a wet, stinky left sock for two days now. oh the pain! the sadness! the despair!

i know for a fact that i can't get my unique pair of shoes anywhere anymore - the company that makes them has hit hard times, and no longer sells my style of shoe. what is a shoeless girl to do?

RIP my lovely shoe.

CET

rainy day in londontown

this is where england gets a bad name: its weather!

woke up today to rain, rain and more rain. i went out, came back, took a nap, woke up, had dinner and am now blogging, and i don't think the rain has stopped even ONCE. i'm surprised i'm not swimming right now.

attempted to cook paneer tonight, and disappointingly it didn't turn out so well. eating it was like eating warm erasers. not the paneer's fault, my fault. must keep practising.

as for yesterday's blog drama, kiwigirl and i have patched things up and that is that, i am saying no more about it!

the flatmates are out tonight so i have the place to myself. sweet, sweet peace.

CET

just a few points...

- sillyhead, you are HIlarious with a capital HI. you make me laugh. thank goodness you are the way that you are, because you are AWESOME! don't ever let your creativity diminish.

- a little drama goes a long way, eh? i got more hits on my blog today than i think i've ever gotten before!

- blogs are essentially an oxymoron - a blog is a diary, and a diary, innately in my mind, is private. yet where is this diary? on the WORLD WIDE WEB.

- when does someone become liable for what they write on their blog? and i mean liable in a strictly legal sense. for example, i thought of this scenario today: say you're an employee at ACME Co. you are the best employee they've ever had - you get along great with everyone, and you're generally an honest, hard-working employee. however, on the world wide web you have a blog in which you write extremely offensive and racist things - they are your own personal thoughts, and you don't share them with anyone at work or outside of work - if someone at said workplace found your blog and found out it was you, would you be liable for it? would your blog be considered sufficient grounds for termination from ACME Co.? are there currently any laws when it comes to liability and blogging?

- was suppose to meet a friend for coffee tonight, but ended up having coffee and then dinner with another friend. it sucks when friends disappoint you.

time to start my lab report that's due tomorrow!

CET

explanation (yet again)

so it looks like i have to explain myself, after reading some of the comments received today. i will do them in point form as i'm in the library and we're not suppose to be using the computers for anything other than "study" purposes (yeah, whatever!):

- i was NOT offended! i found it amusing more than anything. i mean, let's face it - everyone's got favourite blogs they read, and each person's fav blog list is different from another's - that's the WHOLE point, all blogs are not going to appeal to all people, and i totally understand and respect that. so pt, no worries man, no need to apologise at all!

- why i think people read blogs: in terms of family and friends, obviously they read it to keep in touch with you (i think we can all agree with that), but for complete strangers that read someone's blog (mine, for example), it must be something interesting or compelling that makes them stay on my page to read what i write. these compelling reasons can be anything, for example, sex. i read grace chen's blog (gracechenvancouver.blogspot.com) because she's really blunt and cut-throat and has a lot of witty and dry quips about life; i read karen cheng's blog (karencheng.com.au) because she has funny and sweet stories about raising her two sons. i'm sure people (like my ex-bf, md) read kiwigirl's blog because he likes what she writes about and it grabs him, makes him want to stay (and keep coming back to) her page. so while sex is not the only reason, it is one of MANY reasons...

- i do not insinuate anything on my blog. what you read is what you get, just like if you ever met me, what you see is what you get. enough said.

CET

lazy day and a diss (sort of)...

saturday was a chill out day...bought groceries, fiddled about in my room, just "chillaxed" as the brown goddess would say...

today i had my first math tutoring session with my new tutee; ex T recommended me to her family. more money earned so that's good, plus i get to help a young person out! she is very sweet and just needs a bit of a confidence boost in her own abilities.

so, the 'diss': i met up with kiwigirl and her friends (some of which read my blog!). the subject of blogs came up and it was discovered that i am canuckian's evil twin (they didn't know that, even though they read it). one of them (i won't name any names) said how that while he reads kiwigirl's everyday, he only checked out my blog once or twice but doesn't read it because it's not as funny or interesting as kiwigirl's. ooo, diss! and this was the first time i met this person!

no offence to kiwigirl - i quite like her blog - but it's very sex/i-want-to-have-sex oriented. my blog is not. that's kiwigirl, and this is me. i know my blog is not everyone's cup of tea, but then again this blog isn't for everyone (which is funny given it's on the world wide web). it's for my family and friends to keep in the loop on the comings, goings, and general observations of CET. anyhoo, i thought that was slightly amusing so i thought i'd share.

moral of the story? sex sells.

i'm sat in front of the tv at the moment, watching the oscars pre-awards show. will i stay up late to watch the awards? wake up tired for my nine o'clock stats tutorial? exciting stuff, stay tuned...

CET :o)

lotions and potions

i had a really fun lab this afternoon, where we made three different ointments/emulsions/lotion; emulsifying ointment for dry skin, liquid paraffin oral emulsion to soften stool (i think), and calamine lotion. it was very enjoyable, like an afternoon cooking class only with chemicals and not food. i tried the ointment on my hands after i made it and it worked really well!

i was done in two and a half hours (the lab was four hours long); i must admit my time working at the pharmacy back home really helped, not to mention my chemistry degree - i've clocked enough hours working in a lab to be able to do things quickly, accurately and efficiently. i kind of wish pharmacists still made a lot of the medications today, as opposed to having everything pre-packaged. well, we still have to mix certain ointments, creams and suspensions, but it would be really fun if making medicines was my full-time job, not just dealing them.

today was the last day at work for my friend who works in the registry; she's travelling around europe for a month before heading back to virginia. we had wine and snacks and it was nice just hanging out with the registry crew again. adults, REAL adults - not a person under 20 in sight! ahhh...

am meeting kiwigirl and luce for dinner tonight. don't quite know what to do with myself this weekend - catch up on some homework perhaps? hehehe - but it will start with a long and deep sleep.

have a good one!

CET

angela chase

i caught a glimpse of myself in the train window the other day, and realised that with my haircut, now grown out a little, i look like angela chase from 'my so-called life'. remember that show? canuckian and i watched it religiously. the funny thing is that for the longest time (even now) i've wanted to dye my hair red. well, if i'm angela chase, then where's my jordan catilano? i hope he shows up soon, i'm looking forward to our make-out sessions in the boiler room of the school. :o)

i think it might be my hormones, but these last 48 hours have been depressing. i have been in the weirdest funk, even my classmate T noticed and commented that she had never seen me like this before. i don't know what it is, but i've been going through the day in a fog.

i feel like i'm back in high school. seriously. i go to class with a bunch of idiots who do nothing but talk during lecture. they're nothing but walking attitudes and they're not even all that smart as the admissions criteria would lead you to believe - i wouldn't trust them with tylenol, let alone any other drug. i know it sounds a bit harsh, but having to sit in class with them everyday makes me feel like i'm regressing instead of progressing in my degree. it got me thinking about whether i should even be here.

i know i shouldn't let stupid kids stop me from pursuing my dream, but i think about how long this degree will take and how much money i'm going to have to spend (and then spend the rest of my life paying back) and i don't know if i can do it. well, i know i can, but sometimes i just don't feel the will to. it's days like these that make me wish i could be happy at some regular 9-to-5 job, one where you don't really need to use your brain, and just be content to get off of work and relax. i think about being a hermit somewhere out in the country, perhaps raise llamas or something. i'm not saying raising llamas isn't hard work, it just that that kind of life seems simpler.

i ride the tube every morning to school, and i'm always looking around at people. i realise that i'm the only one that does so - everyone else is busy reading their paper/book, listening to their ipod, and generally not making eye contact with anyone. it's so sad to see a train full of human beings try their best not to connect with each other. sometimes london can be such a vibrant place, but other times it's just cold.

CET