Alooone

Sigh...here I am currently bored out of my wits, sitting in Dubai International Airport on my lonesome.

Its a beautiful airport, but I'm resenting being forced to stay here for the next 2 hours or so...then having to hop on a plane AGAIN for another long haul flight back home, by the by stopping Sri Lanka for an hour or so. What I wouldn't do to get home...

I've been putting on a rather blase front about it, but I realise I'm actually pretty worried about my exams. Despite my many brush-offs, its really been a roller coaster of 10 weeks, and I do want to distinguish myself academically. Doesn't everyone?

Can't wait to reach home! 12 hours time! So many things I want to do: eat, get a haircut, and most of all SHOWER. And also, my maiden voyage on the roads. Hurhurhur.

Tis the Season to be jolly, Falalalala, lalalala!

I need better one-liners.

Post Exam Stress

After a tumultous first day of exams where I mistook a spleen for a kidney (I swear it was kidney-shaped!), and decided against (to my detriment) putting my unwashed fingers into a stranger's mouth to remove his tongue from his airway, I really need a break.

So I took a little traipse down to Central London (clocked it at one and a half hours tube ride), and booked myself some time with 'Dr' Yang Lee from the Imperial University Science department.

There...a picture of the good 'doctor', who didn't deign to share his brolly with me despite the rain.

A little picture to jog some of your memories. A familiar sight no? Ah...twas a more uncomplicated time.

Lastly, a bad photo of us together. Blurry, because the damn yang refused to stay still.

I want to go home.

The best time ever

My first exam paper starts tomorrow and yet here I am, slave to the age of Information Technology.

Its been a quick, albeit not painless eight weeks. I've felt every day, though now when I look back they blur into a mass of ambivalence. I've grown miserable for lack of choir, and all the benefits that come with it (I refer to the PEOPLE). Of course, not ALL the eight weeks have been completely without their moments of brevity...the trip to Barcelona, numerous trips up to Cambridge, mucking around the Dissection Room...but the crowning glory...

This weekend, a mere five days before my exam, I left by my lonesome on a 2hour train journey from London King's Cross to YORK, for what can only be described as the sole shining light in the past...twilight of 8 weeks.

That's Jo and me in York Minster Cathedral. Why else would I be so happy right? Not like there's a lot to see in York...I mean the scenery and ducks are ok, and eons better than Tooting, but face it, Cambridge rocks when it comes to scenery, as shown earlier. It is of course taken for granted, that anything is better than Tooting.

Jo has to be the luckiest girl in the entire world...brilliant flatmates, ensuite room, Poundland a bus ride away...oh the grass is SO greener on her side.

Ok! That's it from me! Back to considering the implications of end-life decision making. Ta!

For those of you who didn't know what Ronaldinho goal I was talking about...

Take 6 LIVE - A Quiet Place ('90's)

I know I said I wouldn't, but I'm sick of studying. C'mon guys! Tag! Its all that keeps me going! Also, do my quiz (scroll down a bit la)!

This bit is dedicated to the batch of 2003...for old time's sake.

There is a Quiet Place, far from the rapid pace
Where God can sooth my troubled mind
Sheltered by tree and flower
There in my quiet hour with him
My cares are left behind
Whether a garden small or on a mountain tall
New strength and courage there I find
Then from this Quiet Place
I go prepared to face a New Day
With love for all mankind.

Updating

So...what does one do when one is lonely is gloomy ol' London, with exams but 2 weeks away?

Clue #1

Any ideas yet? No? How about this.

The beautiful and iconic La Sagrada Familia. Don't know where the hell this is from? This'll give you the answer...but you really need to turn off Star World and start watching Discovery Channel.


(Thumbnails. Click to enlarge!)

If you STILL don't know where I went over the weekend...

The picture above is of the NOU CAMP baby! The dirt spot smack in the middle of the picture proves that it was taken by MY camera! You know you read in the papers about Ronaldinho doing that spectacular bicycle kick, sinking Villareal 4-0? I WAS THERE! The crowd was chanting Ronaldinho's name, and he really responded. The feeling was incredible! 100,000 people chanting 'Barca! Barca! Baaaaaaaaarca!' What a rush!

Just some random thumbnail shots of Barcelona. Feel free to enlarge them and take a look! Barcelona is such an enigma in terms of scenery...I've never seen anything quite like it before. A mixture of Gothic Architecture mingled with the modernist touch of an utter GENIUS called Gaudi. I'll talk more about him in a bit. Its so strange to see classical European architecture set against a background of palm trees and the odd cacti. The Spanish brand of the European charm is indeed potent.

A few shots of the people I went with. We stayed in this dinky little 3-person hostel room, which actually turned out to be rather comfortable in my opinion. And its location was pretty superb, planting us almost directly in the historical centre of Barcelona.

A little collage of the window display in the Louis Vuitton shop. Titled 'Eyes'. Pretty freaky, yet cool.

Speaking of art and culture, Barcelona also had this Dali Gallery. And this particular picture had me transfixed for quite a bit. Its titled 'Swans reflecting Elephants'. Can you see how clever it is? How he's used the reflections of swans in water cleverly coupled with gnarled trees to give the forms of elephants.


I really wanted to get the poster, but it seemed too much of a hassle to lug it back to London. Quite a pity too...I think I'll try and print it when I get home. As in, HOME-home.






Now allow me to wax lyrical about the sheer genius that is Gaudi. The next few collages coming up are dedicated to the breathtaking beauty that is the La Sagrada Familia. Translated, it means 'The Sacred Family', and it is a work still in progress! In fact, you will be able to see in my photo's a rather clear demarcation between the older and the newer parts, not just in terms of stone colour, but also the way it is designed. This Cathedral is scheduled for completion by, God willing, 2050 or something of that sort. The bit on the left is the side I entered from. Incredible, unique architecture and relief detail.

This is the interior of the Cathedral. Again, a very unique style of stain-glass panels in that they seem purely decorative: they don't depict any biblical figures or stories as many of the old Cathedrals in Europe are wont to do. Soaring ceilings, kept up by the laws of Physics (I couldn't really understand the explanation, but suffice to say its pretty much a work of genius). Scaffolding everywhere doesn't obscure the grandeur of what it is, and what it will be in time to come.

Gaudi actually died midway thru the construction of this Cathedral, but his sheer genius is apparent in every block. This bit is the back part, and hence the older part. The stone reliefs here are much more elaborate, as compared to the somewhat minimalist front. Also, this part depicts the Nativity and the surrounding events, whereas the front mostly deals with the Crucifixion of Christ. The sheer attention to detail, and the countless bits of religious symbolism are overwhelming to consider, and thus I found it much simpler to just admire the beauty in its entirety.

See what I mean about detail? Words are carved onto the walls, a good 20 stories high. I couldn't actually see what the words said without my Camera zoom.

Now this is a park constructed by Gaudi. See what I mean about atypical architecture? Its almost like some sort of Disneyland in the whimsicality of the architecture, except of course he preceded Disney by a good century or so.

Park Euell, named after the guy who commissioned it, is a perfect example to me of the quasi-European identity that Spain holds. Its definitely a must-see in Barcelona, even though the walk up to it was somewhat ardous. Going to the top gave us a pretty panaromic view of the whole of Barcelona.

I promise this is the last place of Interest I'm going to gush about. This is basically THE Gothic Cathedral in Barcelona. In terms of architecture and interior design, this is more like the traditional European Cathedral I've seen. In fact, its style is very similar to St Stephen's in Vienna.

So what other interesting things happened in Barcelona? We got offered Hashish along the streets, and I had my first flirtations with a Casino. Its actually pretty interesting how the Casino works, and I could see myself frittering my time and money away if it weren't for my principles and my damn upbringing. Oh well.

Right! This post was almost 3 hours in the making, so its the last you're going to hear from me this week! 1.5 more weeks to exams, 2 weeks to home. I can almost taste the Chicken Rice...

competition!

Dear friends and admirers, in order the escape the embarassment of being unable to afford Christmas gifts for the entire lot of you, I've come up with a novel solution:

Do you know your backside from your elbows?

Identify the pictures accurately (eg. 1 - backside or elbow, 2 - backside or elbow etc), , and you stand to win your Christmas present from UK! (rather than a toilet roll from say, NTUC). Label them wrongly, and face scathing disdain. Heh. An ingenious way to sift out the chaff, no? =) But seriously, just try. I need the laughs!

To qualify, you must BE IN SINGAPORE right now, and actually know me in some sort of way. So mail your entries to geoffree@gmail.com with 'Gimme a present!' as the subject title before Friday, 1 December 2006! Only the first FIVE correct entries qualify! (sorry...no money)

Oh yes. Please don't try to google this. I don't want you guys exposed to all sorts of unsavoury sites =P No cheating, no groups, and good luck!

A day along the River Cam

I know this is an extremely bitchy note with which to start off a post, but when I saw that poster on the left...I just couldn't hold back this comment.

"Oh! So THAT'S the University that Cambridge is famous for!"

Hurhur.

Oh well, all in all at least its a little prelude to what this post is going to about. I just spent a marvelous Saturday with my 2 sisters in Cambridge. Its really the happiest I've felt for a while, since its been almost 2 weeks since I last saw either of them.

So the day started with me waking up at 5 in the morning, quite a feat considering I was playing Final Fantasy VII till 2am (thank you, bittorrent!). Lugging myself out of bed, to get to the tube down to the train station. One thing about living in Tooting, is that its like going to Orchard Road when you live in JB.

Thats the view outside my dorm, circa 6.30am this morning. The trees are nekkid! The weather today took a sudden dip as well, ranging from 3-10 degrees. It's really beautiful though...the autumn leaves of red and gold. If I could figure only a way to take the beauty without the mind-numbing chill in the air.

If you haven't figured out by now, this post IS going to be just a bit rambly, and ever so long-winded. So anyway, Cambridge! It has the BEST beef hor fun ever!

See what I mean?

Basically the main event of the day was spending 1.5 hours punting along the River Cam. Now for those of you who are new to punting, what it entails is basically you standing on a somewhat flat-ish boat, prodding a long stick into the river bed and propelling yourself along the river that way. It sounds easy, but its really really kinda hard. ESPECIALLY in the mind numbing cold.

Just a little collage of the incredibly beautiful punt down the River Cam.

And if that barrage of absolutely mindblowingly beautiful images hasn't completely blown you away, here are some pictures of the PEOPLE inside the punt!

Just takes your breath away doesn't it? It's like...FWAH!

Now I may have made the mistake of making punting seem like it was the easiest thing to do in the world, just a little idyllic stroll and such, but it really really isn't easy to do in the slightest. For starters, we tried punting from the front, which was damn near impossible. And we really did spend a good deal of time with our single paddle, trying to fight against a really awful downstream current. Furthermore, as demonstrated by my dearest sister, the pole can get stuck in the river bed =P Which sounds funny, until you realise the current carries you AWAY from the pole, and you have to paddle like hell to get back to it. Also, its easy to lose your balance and fall in.

I hope it should be fairly obvious that this last bit isn't taken from the punt. This is the interior of the King's College Chapel. And its absolutely incredible. Its a bit hard to see from the picture, but the pipe organ is actually in the middle of the church, not against the wall. Its a four-sided pipe organ, and the sound from it is unbelievable. The stained glass is perfectly maintained, and the only lighting in the place is from candles (other than the gift shop, of course). The little museum in the alcove also had a section on stained glass that I know Jo would love!

Time to move on to the round-down. A few congrats are in order! Firstly to Shaun and Leanne for finally tying the knot! Next, to the few lucky people who are already done with their A level papers. Don't waste your life away!

Oh well...I guess I'll finish off by saying this:

"I don't have chicken rice or ski mountains, but I have nice scenery."

Pretty stupid thing to say huh?

I had thought to wait for something of import to happen before I posted again, but seeing how David has been so nice to update his blog on my behalf, I shall update mine.

The days are going somewhat slower and slower. Every morning, my little gang and I chant this little mantra to ourselves: '4 weeks more....just 4 weeks more'. The weather's getting colder and colder, and the leaves are beginning to fall. Night comes at about 5pm, and again even earlier with each day.

Its things like this that keep me going nowadays. A few weeks back, the other Singaporean came over to my place and we cooked my packet of Prima Laksa. The sensation was...incredible. When I bit into the taupok and tasted the Laksa soup spilling out into my mouth, I think I might actually have teared a little. I'm actually spend a lot of time thinking about all the food I'm going to gorge on once I get back home...the endless plates of char kway teow and fried hokkien mee and chicken rice, and then the endless bowls of kway chap and laksa and mee hoon kuay. You really don't appreciate how incredible the food is at home till you don't get it anymore.

Now the bit on the left is actually a pretty funny story: What happened is that the administration of my accomodation was being damn nehneh. This guy brought a sofa set from his house to put in the common corridor so that they would have like a little place where people could gather and have dinner together, or just generally chat endlessly as ang mohs are apt to do.

The management then sent out this whole spate of 'please remove them or we will remove them for you as they are a fire hazard yada yada' notices to EVERYONE in the block. Seeing that this little communal space was outside my room and I got the brunt of noise whenver they decided to throw their little dinner parties, I really don't see that the admin had any right to complain as long as the people along the corridor were fine with it (myself included).

So in retaliation for the last letter, which was pretty much a direct 'we will remove it and tell your parents yada yada' kind of letter, the guys took the furniture into side rooms and then proceeded to flood the corridor with 200 balloons, in all colours, shapes and sizes!

It was actually pretty funny, even though it was hell of a walk just to get to the toilet or the shower, and I think it really really pissed the admin off because they summarily removed all personal belongings from the common corridors of the building, which included posters, pictures and even DRYING CLOTHING. How nehneh is that right?

If I haven't mentioned before anyhow, I'm on the first floor (or in home terms, the second floor since ang mohs call the first the 'ground floor'). As a consequence of being so low down, everyone on my floor is a guy, on the premise that if robbers were to break into the building, the girls on the higher floors would be left untouched (oh please). Therefore, every night a swarm of girls descend to my floor to eat, drink and be merry. -_-

Anyhow, its so strange that I used to think University would be a breeze compared to A levels seeing how you only had one subject instead of the regular legion. Well, whoever said A levels was the toughest academic step was a LIAR. Its CRAZY! The Medical course here is like a packaged all-sciences-in-one subject. The sheer depth and area covered is almost nuts. For this term alone, I have like 6 examinable modules. I'd have completed at least three quarters of human anatomy by the end of this term (meaning the LATIN NAMES of each muscle and bone and nerve and artery and vein)

Sigh.

next post

So well...two big mistakes I've made this week.

No 1. Went to Ministry of Sound on a whim. Found out it was smaller and noisier, and even made me nostalgic for the 'clubs back home'. Thats how terok it was. Charissa! David! Bring me out again! I promise this time I'll behave and imbibe much much so everyone can have a good titter. Some random pictures...

On the left is a picture of myself (obviously on the right) with one of my newfound friends, posing geekishly in front of what is ostensibly the facade of the 'Ministry'. Still no cheekbones, sob sob. Took us a darn near hour to find the place. Now honestly, the place was TINY. The 'main' dance floor was comparable to perhaps...enough to park 6 SBS buses, 3 by 2 (bad allegory, but I need something everyone will understand). So it really was pretty much a body-rubbing session. On the right some random pictures of the club, as well as the British answer to condom-dispensing machines. Sex toys! With names like 'the tickler', and 'pussy willow' to name a few. Suffice to say, I didn't enjoy myself. I didn't even have the promise of prata and teh tarik to sustain me this time round.

Mistake no 2: I found out that DotA works in my Hall. Die.

And to all my horizontally-enriched friends, I found a little picture along the road for us.

Eloquent, no? They say a picture tells a thousand words; this one is a veritable Shakespeare sonnet. I haven't touched a single bag of potato chips since I've seen this.

And oh yes! Many thanks to the peeps who read my blog and tagged, as well as those of you who went the extra bit and emailed me your encouragements. Very very much appreciated really...keep it up guys (beg)! Its gone a long way toward making my week all the more bearable.

And now, the mardi gras outside my room begins.

hmm

Under the certainty of heaven, all we have is today.

When yesterday is already ours, what more can we ask?

post without pics

This will be one of the posts without pictures. Guys...just bear with me, and withhold judgement for a bit. I've just been doing some thinking, and I need to sound stuff out.

Right. Its been slightly more than a month since I've come here, and depression just hit me like a sack of wet flour. I need familiar company quite badly...people I can confide in. It's bizarre because I'm beinning to sense the whole feeling of aimlessness that I had in army...that I'm permanently running out of things to do. Perpetual boredom. This aching feeling that there's something I want to be doing, but I'm not sure what. Though I suppose thats nothing new since I get that at home sometimes.

And then the whole problem of isolation...I really need company before I shrivel, but I think I've come across rather antisocial so far. I just don't quite know how to relate...to just let go and have a bit of 'fun'. Sigh.

post nada

My life seems unreal

My crime an illusion
A scene badly written
In which I must play

How strange the past four weeks have been...wandering around literally in a daze, absorbing endless amounts of information and experiencing the bizarre. I know some of my dear friends (ie DCT) will be more or less eager to point out how fatalistically melodramatic this all is, yet at the same time, I cannot help but feel it reflects the depth of my thoughts. I've remarked to a few friends that it feels so weird that the lives of the people you hold dear should move on even when you're not there. Weird, and slightly saddening.

Even now as I type, sounds of intermittent fireworks (Guy Fawkes Day!) mingle with the ubiquitous police sirens in the night. My point? Not a safe area. Only today, in the Supermarket, there was this quite exciting police chase going on. Not to mention, there are FOXES in this area. I don't mean cheap hookers and pretty babes...I actually mean the four-legged bushy tailed as-cunning-as-a-fox fox. Its just been all so overwhelming.

It does indeed sound like my mind is a bit scattered, as indeed it is. So I'll move on to the pictures, in the hope they'll give this post some sort of direction.

First up, a picture of my really crap room, made really small on purpose so that the mess is hopefully obscured. Skillful use of mood lighting, as well as lots and lots of pillows have made it somewhat inhabitable at best...but the ongoing mardi gras outside my room every night, coupled with the water pipes running through my room make a rather difficult environment for sleeping and for studying alike. I must, again, mention the awfulness of the linoleum floor. After spending more than 24 hours in the dissection room, I can safely say: congealed blood. At least I got my bedding in my favourite colours though...little saving grace. Size wise, the room's about half the size of my old one, and the windows open out into a rubbish area. Not rubbish as in crappy view, but rubbish as in trash. I suppose the persistent fire alarms are also worth mentioning. In fact, this collage on the right was taken at on a very drizzly, chilly midnight two nights back. As usual, cause of alarm was someone forgetting to switch off the toaster. One thing I'll say for the UK is that no matter how absolute crap the service is, the emergency services are brilliantly quick in response. This particular incident's response time was somewhat less than 7 minutes.

So above are a few pretty pictures of my school...the nicer side of course. The slightly whitewashed scenes are the bits I see when I walk to school every morning (20 minutes ley!)...the hospital portion of the school. The school will be the yellower bits...nicer than I'd expected to be honest...pleasant surprise. And to be completely honest, I am enjoying the academic portion of my studies so far...its just the social part which is a bit lacking.

Before you guys ask, I have been blessed enough to gather my own little niche of close friends; mostly other International Students much in the same straits as me. A bit of trivia: I'm 1 out of the 8 International Students matriculated this year (out of a cohort of 400!).

Also, it really helps having close friends in London, as well as family. The bunch of pictures on the right were all taken at Cambridge, where I've spent 2 out of my 4 weekends so far. Its like a 10-quid bus ticket to get up, and I basically spend my entire weekend there recharging before coming back to dreary Tooting on Sunday nights. Featured in the middle are Ryan and Ivan, two really old friends who've stuck with me for...a really long time. Its just such a blessing to have them around to call on, and to be able to support each other. Of course, my beautiful younger sister is also in Cambridge, so going up to see how her is always great; like she said, at certain points at weekends, it almost feels as though we were at home. Don't actually know if thats a positive comment or not!

These are just remaining random pictures taken in London. St Paul's Cathedral, the corridor leading to my Eldest Sister's Law Firm, and then a random chio car (Mark Tan! Identify!). The two weekends that I haven't been in Cambridge have basically been spent in my Eldest Sister's place in the Borough, which is somewhat near Central London (half an hour away from Covent Garden). This is opposed to staying in Tooting, which is about an hour away from Central. All in all, St Georges would be perfect...if it wasn't in Tooting. But thats just a pipe dream, no?

Taking a page out of Bert's book, I'll hold back on the rest I have to say so that I have enough left over for the next few entries or so. But to those who care: I'm doing fine. I really am. Thanks heaps for your prayers and well-wishes. I honestly do know that this post could be a lot more informative and a lot less whiny, but I've got a whole stack of stuff to mug about the nervous system before my Dissection Room Session in less than 12 hours.

So I leave you with this perplexing question, courtesy of the Museum of Natural History.


Don't look at it too long. It drove me slightly nuts. Take care!