Nature is for laughs

Doubt

Just watched Doubt, which I'd always meant to watch but somehow never did. Wonderful film & extremely talented actors, though a bit too sombre for my mood today.

Also, I never thought I'd say this, but isn't football such a lovely sport?

It's slightly perverse. I hadn't touched my violin for months until the day I put it in storage. While waiting for the guys (actually, a lady. gal power!) to pick up my stuff, I played it in the kitchen (most of my housemates had already moved out anyway, and I also muted my violin), and it felt so good. And now that it's safely in storage and I can't get at it, I'm longing to play my violin. I know I'm crap at the violin, but there's something about the intimacy and closeness of the violin that the piano (or guitar!!!!!) can't replicate. It's almost like having a 2nd voice. Argh I need to just fall asleep and stop torturing myself.

slacking

It's absolutely lovely living by the sea (I mean, within walking distance of the sea). The weather has been wonderful and I have acquired an SG-worthy tan. It's so hard to stay in my room when the sun's shining outside, so I've developed a habit of going out to the sea in the afternoon and pretending to work there. And now that I've bought sunglasses, cap, and flip flops that I can actually wear outside, I'm less likely to totter home suffering from heat stroke, but much much more likely to skip my way home with sandy toes. I love Aber in the summer! The sea quite literally shimmers, and there're plenty of people walking their dogs at the beach, and it's nothing like those dreary winter months at all!



The beach is a lot busier than it seems in this picture. That's partly because I don't want anyone to think I'm taking pics of any of the bikini babes/topless hunks lying around, so I take pictures at the more deserted parts of the beach.

I used to 'work' in Spoon's when the weather was colder:



Now I 'work' by the sea:



Oh, and ice-cream by the sea? Heaven.

Yay girly mags!

Mags here are great! I bought a mag at 3.60GBP, and I got a 50ml shower gel (which smells great, by the way), a perfume sample (albeit the headache-inducing Alien), and a cappucino sample! My (new!) roommates got another mag for 2GBP, & got a Benefit eye-brightener (some makeup thingy), full size! So exciting!

Paralysis by analysis - Being your own Hamlet (why leave Hamlet to the actors?)

I hate marking essays.

I love House.

I have an assignment deadline on the 8th.

I need to finish marking by the 9th.

I'm not going to finish marking anytime soon.

What's Your Secret?

Fifty People One Question :: PostSecret: Confessions On Life, Death & God

In embarrassing music phase

David Ford: I Don't Care What You Call Me

I wanted to say something about the lyrics, but couldn't think of anything other than 'brilliant' and 'very genuine' and 'very real' and 'we've all been there before', which makes me sound like a talent show judge. I think I've no choice but to go with 'ouch'.

Incidentally, I have a presentation tomorrow which I haven't prepared for (oh damn, it's past midnight here, so that makes it today), which is why I'm surfing the net and blogging about songs.

New Favourite Song - David Ford: Cheer Up (You Miserable Fuck)

Still alive and kicking

Just finished my first year presentation yesterday, which didn't go too badly.

It's getting much warmer now, which is good, except there are now many many huge insects flying about and getting into the house. Not so good.

I can't believe I'm approaching the end of my first year... I feel as if I haven't done anything!

Country Roads

I was feeling a little troubled, so I randomly wandered down a lane behind my house today.



It was a (relatively) warm and sunny day, so the view was pretty good.







P.S. I actually have clearer pictures, but I'm developing a fondness for the blurry ones...

Sunset, Aberystwyth

So I was brisk walking down to library in order to return overdue books before the library closed, and walked into yet another glorious Aberystwyth sunset. Sunsets in Aberystwyth are generally rather glorious.

Yesterday, my friend was telling me about his trip to a waterfall somewhere in Latin America (I forget where). He was telling me how magical it was, because he was standing in the spray, totally soaked, and the sunlight was refracting off the water droplets, and it was like standing in the middle of a rainbow. His friend had tried to take pictures of everything, but they never came out. This was a memory he would carry with him to the end of his life, he said.

My campus is on top of a hill facing the sea. In front of the library, there is a large square with a beautiful view of the sea. It was Sunday evening, so the square was pretty deserted, except for a handful of people, quietly standing and looking at the sunset. This is the sun setting over the Irish Sea, and it's just one of those views that remind me how freaking beautiful our world can be. The entire sky is painted in shades of orange and purple and pink and remnants of blue. It's been a clear day, so there're only a few wispy clouds. Away from the blazing sun, in one corner of the sky, there's a crescent moon. The trees are mostly still bare, and the branches look as if they're glowing with some inner fire. The sea is shimmering, and you can see the now-familiar silhouettes of Aberystwyth town, the Old College, and castle ruins bathed in light. A flock of birds flies past, and you can hear the seagulls calling. Two planes pass by, probably heading to Ireland, with their trails catching the light and turning orange-red, and they look like two fiery comets streaking across the sky. It is a view to break your heart. I reach for my handphone to take a picture, and realise that I've left it at home.

Sometimes Aberystwyth can be a dreary town. It's cold and windy, the hill is an ass to climb, and there's really nothing much to do. But there is space here. I constantly look up at the sky because I'm always surprised by how vast the sky is. Under this sky, I could be anyone I want. I could fail and drop out and disappear if I wanted to. I could travel to any corner of the earth I liked. And there are glorious sunsets.

Except... except sometimes you can't have both love and freedom, and the most magical moments are those you fail to capture and keep.

Lalala

More flowers from LSB sitting on my desk.

More flowers from LSB!

This time instead of soft white and pink roses and lilies and carnations, they're a bouquet of many cheerful candy colours. They're on my study table now!

You know you're a post-grad with a deadline when...

You're faced with a choice between moldy bread, cooking, and starving.

Faced with a choice of moldy bread, cooking, or starving, you choose moldy bread.

(You can afford to die, but you can't afford to buy more food or the time taken to buy more food. Or cook.)

(You try to tear away the little blue spots first though. You are a highly intelligent post-grad after all.)

You're faced with a choice between expired milk and vodka.

(Red Bull ran out.)

Faced with a choice between expired milk and vodka, you choose expired milk.

(Because vodka's not a good idea when you're trying to write. Post-grad smarts again!)

Guess who's visiting the doctor tomorrow?

Les Fleurs

I got flowers from LSB! Lalalalala...

I need civilization!

2 of my housemates decided to grab me and carry me out of the kitchen in a misguided attempt to get me to go work at the computer room. I haven't been manhandled like that in years! Barbarians! Argh!

Pre- (that's an assumption) work entry

Oh god, when will they kick me out for not doing any work? I think instant noodles are in order.

[PAUSE]

I've been running around like a headless chicken high on a concoction of party drugs and a floral bouquet of many bottles of wines. And restless chicken toes.

Definitely restless chicken toes.

My mum has tried to convince me to bring a (bulb? blob? bazooka?) of garlic back to Aber/Abby.

I'm sitting back and absorbing that fact for a minute or so.

Abby has the ruins of a castle, but I don't think they're big on vampires. Can't imagine vampire with Welsh accent.

My dad bought me a humongous box of love letters, being unhappily deluded that my minuscule luggage has space for anything other than the dead cat and its resident maggots that I'm already carrying.

I dearly wanted to buy a dried lizard for my housemate. What would I say when they check my baggage though? That's the question.

"That's Robert. Kicked the bucket when a big bottle of ketchup fell on him. I dried him out and take him wherever I go. Can't do without him, the darling. Smells of tomatoes though. Good thing I like ketchup."

I like to fill my luggage with dead animals.

I was sitting in Coffee Bean trying to study, when this 3 year old girl next to me suddenly clutched at her heart, stared sorrowfully into the middle distance, and started singing. It was fairly tuneless singing, but it might have been My Way. Emo kids start young.

I traipsed all over Singapore today carrying my laptop. I got home without so much as tenderly caressing the keyboard.

I don't have time to do any work. My hair keeps falling out. I think they're abandoning ship.

[PLAY]

Lesson of 2009

Guess what happens when you apply heavy duty sunblock everywhere except the area around your eyes?