I have to take up my knitting again! It's lagged behind due to all my late nights in college. But since work is now (kind of) ok, I hope to knit lots of my top this weekend. I am a very slow knitter - I cannot emphasize that any more.

I wrote a poem. It pretty much proves that I can never be a poet.

Ode to Chocolate Crunch

Oh, you are chocolaty and crunchy,
exceptionally munchy.
What would I do without you,
I'd die and turn blue.

Biscuit and coconut,
All sitting in my gut.
Seventy-five pence per hit,
Run and get one - don't sit!

It bloody well rhymes - that should count for something.

Friday Five...and on one of my favourite topics...reading!

1. What is your favorite type of literature to read (magazine, newspaper, novels, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)?
Novels, newspapers, and the colour magazines that come in the newspapers every weekend. Non-fiction I read for particular topics...ie. cooking, gardening, knitting, certain biographies... Poetry is a no go for me.

2. What is your favourite novel?
I think my favourite novel is Charlotte Bronte's Villette. Loads better than Jane Eyre.

3. Do you have a favorite poem? (Share it!)
Like I said, I don't read poetry. Perhaps it's because I'm not deep enough for it or perhaps it's due to the trauma incurred during high school English classes - we read some atrocious stuff - but I just do not like reading it. Sometimes I'm appalled to be like this but hey, I just don't get a kick out of it.

4. What is one thing you've always wanted to read, or wish you had more time to read?
Uh...I'm still getting through Don Quixote... I started it about a year ago (only £1.50 in paperback form!) and I'm still only 1/4 of the way through. I'm finding some of the chapters repetitive (Quixote gets into trouble but gets out of it in the end) but I hope to finish it in the end...

5. What are you currently reading?
I'm not currently reading anything. I just finished The Teardrop Story Woman by Catherine Lim two days ago. Forget what one of the reviewers said...it's held in Malaysia, not China! I'm surprised that they got through the entire book without realising it! I mean, they referred to China as the "home country"! I'm heading to the library tomorrow so I'll probably start something new then.

Oh my goodness! Mr Roger's has passed away. This is a very sad day in the neighbourhood.

So, did you watch it last night? Operatunity, I mean. Wasn't it just absolutely lovely to see both Jane and Denise honoured? So my prediction that Denise (she was blind since birth) would get to the final came true but I hadn't ventured to make a prediction as to who would win. I don't remember what aria it was that Jane had to sing but Denise sang The Jewel Song from Gounod's Faust.

But it was too short! I wish I could have heard more from the other singers...it was kind of obvious who some of the final six would be since the show followed their lives the most.

Oh! Operatunity starts in 1 hour! Hope I make it back in time. Tonight we find out who won!

This is maybe the most disturbing thing I've ever come across. Thanks to the SoapBoxGirls for the link. Or maybe, no thanks. My mind was quite rattled by it.

Oh my goodness I can't believe that I'm in college on a Saturday I have so much work and I can't seem to get anything to work damn vtk oh my goodness how am I ever going to get all this done I can barely think I am eating so much I feel like an imbecile and a fat cow good imperial discount at subway though but back to the problem I can't figure out how to do this I am an idiot

It's Friday, folks!

1. What is your most prized material possession?
Don't know if I have one. Lemme see, if I had to grab one thing...just one thing...I guess...my blanket? No, I'm thinking of warmth there. My graduation photos? That's lame. Dunno. I'd probably grab my laptop (when I get it back).

2. What item, that you currently own, have you had the longest?
That would probably be my plastic comb. I remember having my hair combed with it when I was 3.

3. Are you a packrat?
Heck, yeah! All my friends can attest to that.

4. Do you prefer a spic-and-span clean house? Or is some clutter necessary to avoid the appearance of a museum?
Uh....I can't stand houses like hospitals. That's just not normal. Some clutter is ok. (Everyone'll laugh when I say that because my room is full of clutter)

5. Do the rooms in your house have a theme? Or is it a mixture of knick-knacks here and there?
Theme? Rooms have themes? Nope. My room is cluttered with food, magazines, plants, knitting supplies, clothes, etc.

Well, I'll be! I study in Albertopolis! This area in South Kensington was created after the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the profits from that were used to build the museums and colleges here. And to add to the whole Albert feel, we've got the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal Albert Hall (I graduated in there!) and the Albert Memorial (which was black when I first came to London but restored to its former pre-war gold glory).

Ooh la la!




Take the What Should Your New Year's Resolution Be? Quiz



Late...as usual. Got the link from madside.

I am furious at a certain multinational company for the delay in the repairing of my laptop. In the 5 months I have owned the laptop, they have had it for 4 months. The laptop died within a month and they're taking forever. I have lost all my faith in them. And their customer service representatives treat you like an imbecile. They ignore whatever you say and wait there quietly letting everything you say pass them by before they reiterate their robotic, straight-out-of-the-book answers. They offer no compensation for my time wasted (I desperately need my laptop now..the work is piling up) and keep asking me to be patient. I have been patient for 3 months...I'm a very patient person...but even patient people have their limits. Bastards. I have actually cried out of anger and frustration.

Friday was the first Valentine's Day I've had that wasn't crappy. The day passed by normally and too quickly as it is apt to do when one has a lot of work and not enough time. The night was lovely - we went to a local Italian place called Strada. They're well known for their wood-fired oven baked pizzas. We were actually very lucky to get a spot since we did not book!

I had baked heart shaped cookies for my friends, another gave out roses to the girls and another secretly ordered red heart shaped balloons for the girls. Actually, we couldn't figure out who it was - we only learned when he confessed.

Spent Sunday at Kew Gardens. You'll find the description in my plant journal soon.

Oh, what the hey. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Should I make a Valentine's day post? Whatever. I'll do the Friday Five instead.

1. Explain why you started to journal/blog.
Dunno. Was a good idea at the time. Now it's habit. I like to type my thoughts down somewhere, however frivolous they are. And I type faster than I write which makes it the ideal way to record my thoughts.

2. Do people you interact with day to day or family members know about your journal/blog? Why or why not?
Friends yes, family no. Well, not yet at least. Don't see what's the harm in letting my friends read my journal...it's mostly harmless.

3. Do you have a theme for your journal/blog?
Nope. I write what I want to write.

4. What direction would you like to have your journal/blog go in over the next year?
A direction? What do you mean, a direction?

5. Pimp five of your favorite journals/blogs.
ljc, fluffa, devileye, absolutely-vile and curious girl are the ones I always read.

Thanks for nothing, Valentine's Day. You suck.

Did you watch the first episode of Operatunity last night? Wasn't it just absolutely amazing???!!! When I was little, I wanted to be an opera singer; I still love singing and will go about learning an aria by heart when I fall in love with it. Oh, did you hear the last singer...the blind woman...her voice was gorgeous. I think she'll be shortlisted in the next episode but you never know.

If you don't get Operatunity where you are, it's the latest in talent-finding tv, similar to Pop Idol but for opera instead. In yesterday's episode, they narrowed down the 100 contestants they selected from audition videos to 20 contestants for the next episode, where they'll be in London for a weekend workshop. Oh, to have been at that workshop!

My previous entry was a pathetic excuse for an entry.

Squirrel fishing? And at Harvard too! Do those guys do any work? Link found through Dave Barry's blog, another worthy link. If you don't know who Dave Barry is, he's an American satirist.

In the news today, the hacker has been hacked! Kevin Mitnick, that hacker extraordinaire, had his website (for his security company) hacked into today.

Nothing to update here. Been busy busy busy at work. Entertain yourself with VTK, trilinear interpolation and splines.

I find wishlists rather vulgar. There, I've said it.

An update on the knitting: I've completed 4 inches of the front. Or maybe it's the back. Whatever. Yes, I know that I'm a slow knitter...and it doesn't help that I try to do it while reading!

Just heard on the radio:
Like sausages, radio is on a roll...

This entry shall be dedicated to that staple of all college students around the world...Ramen!

The Official Ramen Home Page has a whole lot of recipes to fancy up your packet of instant noodles. Bianca's Ramen RomperRoom is a messageboard to share your ideas and thoughts about ramen. Instant Ramen gives us a history of ramen, how it's made, ingredients, recipes and more. Milk ramen doesn't sound particularly appetising though. You can even join a Ramen web ring which I will do as soon as I get some place to host images.

Should you not know how to make instant ramen, here are some instructions. Actually, I find that most ramen noodle blocks can be cooked by covering it with boiling water and covering the bowl. In 3-5 minutes, it's ready to eat. I eat too much of it.

Diverging from the main topic of instant ramen, we shall take a look at what's available in fresh ramen. World Ramen insists that instant ramen is fake and the real deal are the big bowls of fresh ramen you can get (for a higher price, of course) at restaurants. In London, the most well known ramen chain is Wagamama. They even share some recipes with you.
Greggman spent some time (perhaps lives?) in Japan and has visited the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum and also has a lovely description of the ramen shop near his flat.

There are many articles linking college students with ramen:
Ramen Noodles: Fine Gourmet Dining?
A Top Ramen Tasting Party
Thanksgiving College Style
The Joys of Ramen

I think the windowsill in front of me in the office needs a plant badly. I have a couple ideas already. One big plant would look nice or failing that, three little ones. Group effect! However, I'm just wondering how I'd carry three little plants to the bathroom for their waterings...I don't want to spill water all over my papers which is likely to happen if I try to water them here. Time to do some research.

Flapjacks are disgusting. I ate my first one yesterday (4.5 years in the UK and I had my first flapjack yesterday?!) and it was vile - dry oatmeal bound together with butter. I could taste the butter and oatmeal individually; they didn't blend at all. Oatmeal cookies are much much nicer...and sometimes I can't even stand oatmeal cookies.

However, Chocolate Crunch (which can be bought at any sandwich shop and is crunchy biscuits bound by a fudgy chocolate), or a varient called Tiffin (not the Indian lunchbox but choc crunch with dried fruit and nuts), are lovely. Munch munch munch.

I was in the communal kitchen a while ago when the following scene occurred:

Me:
She: Do you know what the ingredients are for pasta sauce? I know that there's ketchup but that's it...
Me: Uh....I'm *very* sure there's no ketchup in pasta sauce...

But it was too late. Her friend had emptied out an entire bottle of ketchup (one of those large Heinz squeeze bottles) into a saucepan and was stirring it over the stove. If I'm not mistaken, there were a couple of quarters of tomato floating around too.

Ugh. I dropped a stitch on the front/back on my top. And not just any stitch too...it's a stitch at the seam... the yarn is all wonky there. The problem is, do I rip it out and start again? Or do I try to hide it on the inside when I sew up the seams when I finish the top? I think I'm going for the latter since I'm awfully tired of ripping out so much. Any ideas??

Had a lovely Chinese New Year dinner at Mr Kong on Saturday. Two people chose lamb dishes - a crispy lamb lettuce wrap and a lamb hotpot. I have discovered that I don't really like lamb. It's that...lamby flavour that gets to me, not the idea that I'm eating a wee little fluffy lamb. Lamb isn't a very common meat in Chinese cuisine but can be found in some Northern Chinese dishes. Ah, but there were many many many other dishes that were lovely. A nice place.

And yesterday, Blai and I went to Chinatown to see all the festivities. He was absolutely mesmerised by the lion dances. Good fun for a day! I was very very very surprised to see dragon dances as well...the last time I saw those were in Singapore...or at least, I cannot remember if I have seen it in Vancouver.