birthdays~

Happy birthdays to Eunice and Tracy =)

生日快乐。祝你永远开心、幸福。当然也希望凡事会顺利。

汇涵：你的生活这么丰富多彩，我也不必祝你太多。继续努力就行啦！总有一天我会和你一样，再次高攀学业的高峰！
凱欣：你这次一定玩得非常开心；这我也不用多说。但考试也即将来临，好好读书吧！希望你能考几个first classes回来！到时我请你吃饭。（嘿嘿）

contemplation

just a few of my thoughts...

I am sorry if I did cause some concern among certain quarters. To those in the know, I'd like to say that what happened was a highly personal issue and no one else influenced me in my decision. I do not intend to drag anyone else into this non-starter of an issue, and also am not going to be bothered whether anyone should defend me at all. So do not assume that I have anyone else's support. I don't. But it's not my concern either.

I believe that, despite all the considerations I took pains to bring on board, I still ended up sounding rather insensitive. Sorry.*

Sometimes it’s just too easy to assume that someone hasn’t taken everything into account before making a decision. If only further thought had been given… It is also not in my nature to start berating others in the heat of the moment. But what might be construed as a “bargain” only goes as far as the interpretation of the agreement, and this definitely doesn’t always tally on both sides. Well it takes two hands to clap. Although I am a man of my word, I do not appreciate my words being taken out of context. There is a line between interpreted meanings and actual words. In terms of actual words, I am mindful of them and carefully choose my words. These meanings can be taken to end there, without extended connotations. So naturally I am surprised to be questioned over an issue which was supposed to have been clarified. To expand on it, there is also an issue of being reasonable or demanding. Various issues do border on demand rather than reasonability, and those might be some that clash with that notion.

I have mentioned this before. You can't please everyone. But on a similar front, I think there were wise words I received from a friend, and I appreciate the wide breadth of that opinion. It was not a narrow-minded view that restricted itself to a single cause. A pity there wasn't any time to discuss further.

Well, in any case, the issue is cleared up already. This chapter is now closed.

I do think I have been grossly misunderstood. It is too easy to offend others; too easy to consider your own opinions, so I always try hard to consider everything. But it’s a tough job. People are human too, and humans have their own quirks and characters. Sometimes in the end when it comes back to me I’ll just have to take it on the cheek. And it's not their fault that they don't understand, so I won't blame them. I'll just have to wallow in my own melancholy.

我可能还不够成熟、理智。若是这样， 真的很抱歉。

*This apology is also directed to some people whom I probably offended but who don't exactly know about this situation too

Why can't everyone be mature?

为什么有些人会对某些事情特别敏感? 为什么他们不可以成熟一点、体会一下别人的感受? 私人的空间不是每天都可以让你打扰的。尤其是一些关于私人思想的某些方面，它根本不是由你管的。虽然这次我不会理会，但我希望你会明白。

for all who are stressed up...

Here's some lyrics for those stressed up studying...



Coldplay - Don't Panic

Bones sinking like stones,
All that we fought for,
Homes, places we've grown,
All of us are done for

And we live in a beautiful world,
Yeah we do, yeah we do,
We live in a beautiful world

Bones sinking like stones,
All that we fought for,
Homes, places we've gone,
All of us are done for

We live in a beautiful world,
Yeah we do, yeah we do,
We live in a beautiful world

Oh, all that I know
There's nothing here to run from,
'Cos yeah, everybody here's got somebody to lean on

>>>

My Christmas was spent lazing around and then having a steamboat at Jackie's with Terence, Ho Fung, Geraldine, Benson and Hilson. That night, on our way home we chanced upon a Homebase trolley along Welford Road. We decided to push our things in it. On reaching the last set of traffic lights to our place, inspiration struck me. I hurried to the red light and stopped in front of it with my trolley. When it changed to green, I started pushing it again. Hahaha... Benson decided to get his videocamera and we made a short clip of this. What sillly things could 3 guys be up to at 2am in the morning? Those curious drivers who passed by certainly slowed down to have a look. There was even once when a police car happened to pass by and I had to hurriedly lift the trolley back onto the pavement to avoid suspicion!

I also had a pre-Christmas dinner on the 24th at Kenneth's where we had a nice roast turkey and good baked/fried rice. Shopped for a little while yesterday (27th; day after Boxing Day) and bought 3 cds a calendar for Siew Lee. Now I am the owner of Weezer "The Green Album", Coldplay "Parachutes" and Travis "The Man Who". Too bad Slob is not on that Weezer album. If not it'd have made my day.

After the seven hours of going online in my room yesterday I am gonna limit today's time on the net. Unless of course I go to school and surf for free there.

Barcelona V (part b)--exciting ending!!

That’s not the end of the illustrious story yet… At the airport, Siew Lee took a fancy to a bottle of Clinique moisturising lotion and decided to buy it (I quote her: “the most expensive skin-care product that I’ve ever bought”). We nearly missed the plane as we suddenly realised it was final boarding. Gosh, was that close!
The night was spent in contemplation sitting at the departure lounge in Stansted airport. The rest got quite decent sleep, but Joanne was complaining of the cold (what’s new? =p). We finally arrived back in Leicester on Saturday morning, where I had a bath and then went to sleep at 10am.

Epilogue

In retrospect, the trip was the “complete package”. Everything happened. It was such an experience! And I did learn something along the way. Quite a lot actually. I had great fun looking at their sometimes cute mannerisms. And of course Joanne’s blur moments were the unmistakable highlights too.
But this also reinforced my view of people, and also mechanics of interaction among people.
I’m glad I am not irritating.
Finally, I would like to say two things:
1) NEVER allow any stranger to touch your wallet; and
2) ALWAYS split your money while travelling.

Barcelona V (part a)

Day 5 (Friday)

Day out to Montserrat. These are holy mountains where some people a long long time ago were supposed to have seen the Virgin Mary (or something like that). These mountains rise over a thousand metres above sea level. The train ride there was uneventful, but magnificent views started to take shape when we transferred to the rack railway up the mountain. This brought us up to around 700metres. Two funiculars, one running downwards (Santa Cova) and the other running upwards (San Joan) to the peak, ran from here. We first went down and followed the sculptures which depicted the story in the bible, on a path that led to a chapel of the Virgin Mary. It seems that people the world over come here to request a favour from the Virgin, and when that has been granted, they return with a gift or token of thanks. There was also a book (I think for thanks) on which I wrote a simple wish with my numb fingers and which I took a picture of with my phone camera.
We returned upwards to arrive in time for the 1pm boy’s choir performance at the basilica (monastery). I recorded 4 audio clips of the singing. We took a short walk around the place and a few sights of the mountainsides. This whole mountain excursion had a very good feel to it. It was something that I was interested in doing… to trek along mountainous walks and take in the views. Nature… untouched scenery…Elation. A pity that Siew Lee wasn’t that athletic and we had to skip a short distance of exploration the other way. Felt like the time I was in Edinburgh and they didn’t want to go up to Arthur’s Seat (an extinct volcano). Well I’ll go back to climb that, but maybe not this.
The peak was warmer than I had expected. I removed my jacket and walked around. We didn’t have much time to waste though as we had to catch the train back and get ready for our flight. Lots of pictures once again, but it was also here that Nazimah’s new camera (Canon IXUS I!!!) started to malfunction. What a waste… But anyway two of us still had digital cameras with enough memory.
Our final destination was near Plaza Tetuan for the airport bus. Since we had 2 more metro tickets left (something like the Carnet system in London) we decided that two of us would walk (I didn’t want to give up the chance to see the town) while the other two would take the metro. So Nazimah would walk with me. I circled the location of the bus stop on my map, and passed Joanne my copy of the printed map of the bus stop for her to refer to. I couldn’t go wrong, so I wasn’t going to take a chance on them getting lost. Off we went, and when we got on the bus the two of them were not even there yet! Suddenly the bus started moving! It was supposed to start at half six, and it was only 6.20pm. I went to the front and spoke to the driver who couldn’t understand much English (and certainly didn’t peak english) requesting to get off, but he was having none of it. Finally a passenger informed us that the bus was actually the 6 o’clock one, and it had been late. They should have told us from the start, but in all fairness we had not checked beforehand. I merely confirmed that the bus was going to Girona Airport. I remembered that Joanne’s phone had run out of battery, so I was more anxious to get down, but anyway I was sure they could check their phone one way or another, or end up at the airport anyhow. So we each sent a message to her to make sure (Nazimah’s phone battery was flat too, so I put her SIM card into my phone).
I had a good discussion with Nazimah while on the way to the airport about everything under the sun. We waited up for them near the entrance to the airport, and they did arrive and did actually get my message. They had got lost coming out from the Metro and so were late. They were worried (naturally) about us but in the end Joanne borrowed a British traveller’s phone to call us, and that’s when she finally read my text.

Barcelona IV

Day 4 (Thursday)

This day was arguably the most melancholic day, for some reasons which I am compelled not to say.

this part edited once again

The whole morning was quite wasted and I was feeling a bit down (none of my fault really!) so I decided to stay clear of them. Haha rather stupid of me because that stretched almost the whole day. But I’m used to keeping quiet, and feeling sorry for myself (maybe). Never mind, I guess we have that cleared up now. Sorry again. (“,)
Someday I will have to discuss the way girls see things, like how the female psyche works. I guess we hold different ideals and look at issues on different levels.
We had originally wanted to go to Montserrat (holy mountains less than two hours’ train ride away) but there wasn’t any time left so we decided to swap the plans for Friday with those today. We went off to the galleries at MNAC but found that it was not open to the public till the next day. Later on I found that the King and Queen of Spain were there that day as the entire museum complexes had been fully renovated and reopened after 19 years.

We stopped at Pla de Palau to tour the Gothic district and the Picasso Museum. And for some of you, Picasso isn’t Italian, he’s Spanish! We also entered the Church of Sant Maria del Mar. It is a splendid church, absolute grandeur. Built in the 14th Century. I was totally in awe at its beauty. We did enter the larger and more iconic Catedral in Barri Gotic later in the evening, but I found the architecture to be less impressive. I reckon Joanne became very religious on this trip, as she was buying candles and lighting them up and praying at every major church (we went to 3 on this trip. Plus a chapel). But we missed the Gran Teatre del Liceau, the opera house. We also toured the fresh market, which offered fruits and vegetables, dried goods, sweet preserved fruits (yumyum), and of course fresh fish, still alive.
Dinner was a sumptuous seafood “spread”. I had seafood rice, Nazimah seafood noodles (same for Joanne but hers came later as they didn’t tell us the dish she ordered earlier was unavailable), and Siew Lee had the most exotic one: seafood black rice. The rice has actually been fried in squid ink. Cheem. After dinner I went into the supermarket (it has 2 levels despite an inconspicuous entrance) where I did the last of my shopping for gifts for friends. Turrón, some Spanish almond confectionery (normally solid creamy/chocolatey) was one of the must-buys. I also ended up with a bottle of Felipe II whiskey, cheap. Even Bombay Sapphire was cheaper here! I bought mine at Morrisons for over £14, while it costs the same here, but in Euros!
We had a bit of time and I went over to play cards with them after I bathed, then trudged back to my hostel after twelve. I didn’t care enough for others when I went on at length with Siew Lee regarding the state of politics in USA, Malaysia and Singapore. I should have taken my leave and let them sleep…
Did I mention? My hostelmate was a Taiwanese girl, and she always slept earlier and rose later than I did. On this final night there were other souls in the hostel, but not much activity. I didn’t even get to see their faces!

Barcelona III

Day 3 (Wednesday)

Another early day, and we stopped at the Estacio de Sants, spending some time at the park there. A sculpture there actually composed of a slide and we even took videos of us going down the slide. It was a nice experience, and I didn’t sit down on it, which was good. The slide is sooo dirty! Both Siew Lee and Joanna didn’t manage to squat while coming down the slide so their pants got a little dirty. My Adidas sneakers were specially designed for such a thing. Haha.
Onwards was the immense entrance at Plaza Espanyol, towards the MNAC, the national art gallery. It is an extensive complex of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and baroque art especially in Catalonia. Many a picture were taken outside the building, which was not open yet, undergoing the finishing touches of renovation. We walked up the park towards the Olympic Park (Barcelona hosted the Olympic Games in 1992), stopping by an interesting statue to snap a few pictures.

this part has been edited on request. I normally do not entertain any such interference but I'll make an exception since I did make a promise which can be argued to cover this part of my personal life too. I do welcome any inquisitive queries though.

The Olympic Park was massive and stepping on the ground that played host to such a world-famous event was an experience in itself.
Our next destination, Fundacio Joan Miro. Joan Miro was a celebrated modern artist who painted fantastic drawings like “Lady in the night”, “Stars and lady at night I” and Stars and Lady at night II”. He even had a painting with a white background and a line across. That wasn’t too bad. But there were two other similar productions in the same exhibition! Protected somemore… We had a field day predicting the creative painting titles that would accompany the masterpieces, and in the end concluded that he had a fetish for birds, ladies and stars, especially at night.

again, editing done here

We next ventured on to Port Olimpic. I just realised that there is a lift in the Nelson Column which would take us up for a view of the entire city!! (Thanks to Joanne’s Guide again) Damn I should have read her guide earlier, too.. Port Olimpic was nice. It was where the sailing events were held in ’92. On the spur of the moment, Joanne and Nazimah took off their shoes and socks and wanted a picture in the waters. Even I joined in the crazy fun. The sun was setting and the scenery was so surreal (Salvador Dali reference not intended). Who would imagine that I would be in Barcelona in 2004, at the beach, barefoot fooling around? Haha it doesn’t seem to add up, does it?…Interesting life I’m leading!
We also entered a casino to look-see-look-see and I collected a gaming manual. More fun games up my sleeve now! We changed to the green line here and took a ride to sample the route towards Forum 2004. We didn’t get off. When we returned to change back to the blue line, we had to wait ten minutes for the bus. Those were the coldest ten minutes I spent in Barcelona! We were literally shivering our butts off… in the end I decided not to tangle with them for my jacket and just rough it out for a while in the cold.
Dinner was late, and I was well hungry tucking into the bowl of –you guessed it– cup noodles. Another stroll along La Rambla followed, and Siew Lee picked up a red velvet jacket from Zara. She was really gleeful over that capture. Now for the gothic jewellery and she’d be all set.

Barcelona II

Day 2 (Tuesday)

Barcelona is a majestic town, lined with wide arterial roads and criss-crossed with many sidestreets. The main financial/shopping districts are a smattering of shops and certainly looks affluent. The buildings are mostly arranged in a grid pattern, squares that end up in streets every so often. The Gran Via De Les Corts Catalanes is the most important passageway over here, the Unter den Linden of Barcelona (refer to my Berlin post for the relevance). A few notable roads are the Avinguda Diagonal and the Avingudal Meridiana, two diagonal roads that cross and link the Gran VDL Corts Catalanes at the heart of the city. There are lots of roundabouts catering to the major junctions and passageways. If you were to walk along the Gran VDL Corts Catalanes you would encounter lots of these elaborately-designed ones, some with fountains in the middle, or at least a statue. Other than that, Barcelona resembles our good old Kuala Lumpur with rather haphazard parking and anxious drivers with a propensity for speed. The temperature also feels like home (14, 16ºC as opposed to Leicester’s 4ºC when we left).
We started the day with breakfast at an early 7.45am where I took out the Morrisons “Fresh for a week” bread and those cans of tuna in mayo. We arrived by 9am to catch the first run of the Bus Turistic, a hop-on-hop-off tourist bus which would bring us to the attractions of Barcelona city. Ticket was €20 for two days (one day was €16 which would not be enough to look around Barca anyway). This bus was a double-decker, with an open top that delighted us (until the wind got the better of us in the night). There were 3 routes, red, blue and green which was basically the Forum 2004 route with nothing to see. (Barca recently hosted a series of discussions for UN delegates/affiliates, called the Forum 2004, which ended in September this year.)
We passed by the Casa Batlló, Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece, but didn’t go in. Gaudi was an impressive architect and designer in the early twentieth century. His buildings are in trademark modernista styles, and you will come across many of his works as you go around Barcelona. The 2nd stop also showcases a building designed by him. on the 3rd stop, we got off. This was the Sagrada Familia, a magnificent cathedral still under construction. Designed by (who else?) Gaudi, its scale is unimaginable. Towering and imposing, it is a sight not to be missed (unable to be missed anyway). We didn’t enter it, preferring to leave our memories to the pictures we took on the outside.
Next stop was Park Guell, a World Heritage site. Guell was Gaudi’s great patron, and this park is one of the best works of Gaudi as well. It was designed as an English park but in the end wasn’t really. Gaudi also successfully integrated nature with construction. The entrance looked rather smallish but still impressive. On ascending the building, we found that it led further and further up, till we reached the sprawling park grounds. Right at the top we found a small peak where there were 3 crosses planted into the ground there, with a good all-round view of Barcelona city.
The highest point in Barcelona is at the top of Mount Tibidabo, which is accessible by cable car (now decommissioned for upgrading works) from the World Trade Centre at the coast, or a tram, then transferring to a funicular. We walked up to the funicular station as the tram was not scheduled to run. However, it all became clear when we realized the funicular station was closed! All the way up for nothing? Well we took the park way down, which was much faster. The girls were actually on for venturing into some foliated jungle without knowing exactly where they were going. Game!
A few stops were not noteworthy until we reached FC Barcelona. Nou Camp is a 5-star, 100 000-seater stadium built in 1957. The club is a hundred years old and has had an illustrious record both domestically and on the European scene. They are doing well this year in the La Liga too (yay!). And this was the occasion when Manchester United won the European Champions Cup in 1999, beating Bayern Munich in a tense final with two late goals in injury time.
We switched to the blue line at Diagonal, a financial and shopping centre, and got off at Poble Espanyol, the Spanish Village. It was built as part of the International Exhibition held in 1929 in Barca. It wasn’t too fantastic, very touristy, with lots of shops selling unique stuff, but not really giving me any insight into a Spanish “village”. We had to pay for admission too!
After coming out, it was already five-plus or six and getting dark. We decided we were done for the day and took the bus back to Plaza Catalunya. On the bus we sat on top to enjoy the view. Breathtaking it was! The wind gave me lots of breaths though. Joanne was cold so I passed her the t-shirt that I had bought at Park Guell to wear over her sweater. She was like, why didn’t you pass me my own t-shirt (she also bought one), but obviously that isn’t going to fit over her clothes.
Once again it was noodles for dinner and then hitting the town for more Zara and MNG. And a walk along La Rambla. I am laughing as I type this post as I am referring to Joanne’s Barcelona Pocket Guide. She had been looking for the fountain/public tap in 流星花园 where it was said that one who drank from the tap would return to Barcelona. The drinking fountain is actually at the top of La Rambla!! Hahaha! And they had that on their mind every time they saw a tap! Well so much for purchasing a book that you don’t read. =) At a café, we tried some chicken and cheese empanada (was it how Siew Lee pronounced it?) which cost a hefty 7 Euros each! I am wondering whether there is such a delicacy, but according to theirs friends, we have to try the fish pie/pastry…

Barcelona I (part b)

After a dinner of cup noodles, we went off to jalan-jalan near Plaza Catalunya.
There was a minor disagreement over here, but it's a perspective thing so I won't elaborate.
On this trip I have probably seen the most ladies’ clothes in 2 hours of my life. Zara, MNG, blah blah blah. But well I am not complaining, since I would not normally walk into such shops and look at girls’ clothing. In Zara, Siew Lee apologised to me for her earlier outburst. I explained it was a situation that I wouldn’t take to heart. You can pick up a few pointers too observing things and listening to them tell you stuff! The high street shops here close at around nine, and that’s when we had ice cream. Each of us bought a different flavour so that we could sample more. We wandered aimlessly and I actually managed to take them to the port with minimal aid from the map (which was a lousy one, too). A plus point for my sense of direction.
The seaside was fantastic, with buildings flanking the road, and the Nelson Column towering in front of the waters. A sight to behold. We then strolled over the waters to Port Vell on a bridgeway which led to a restaurant and some shops. Barca (probably) has fantastic seafood as it is so close to the sea, and the prices are certainly going to be lower than that in Leicester!**
We made our way back to civilisation along the famous La Rambla, a stone pedestrian pasage lined with pubs and restaurants and some souvenir shops. What I found most interesting were the souvenir shops which were on the path, belonging to a chain. Every 5 minutes you arrive at the “same” shop selling memorabilia and “lecture equipment” (actually the sign says “Lectures”-don’t-know-what. In Spanish!). The walk took us back to Plaza Catalunya, one of the most important town squares, from where we could access Ronda Universitat, the road their hostel was on.

** We only have the River Soar here

Barcelona I (part a)

Day 1 (Monday)

We set off in the early morning (one of the earliest times I’ve been up this academic year. Some days I’d not even slept yet from staying up the previous night either playing mahjong (I seldom play, ok!!) or doing something else.
Upon arrival at the train station, we realised that we had to pay extra for the train to Stansted Airport as we were only purchasing the tickets on the spot and we had to travel to London in the morning rush-hour times. It cost £41.20 without Railcard. I brought mine so it cost £27.20, which was rather exorbitant still. I thought they had sorted this out earlier as we could have spent anything from fifteen quid onwards if they had booked earlier or used another route etc. Never mind, it was just something they hadn’t considered (though I did remind them regarding these arrangements). Transport is a killer in UK (and Europe) so that’s why I am normally prepared to sacrifice time and/or comfort for a better price. Save the money and spend it in your vacation place…
On the train something comical happened. Joanne couldn’t find the coffee bar (there probably wasn’t one) and then Nazimah wasn’t going to let her out of her seat. She texted me to ask me where the coffee bar was. Turned out Joanne was cold and wanted a hot drink so I passed her my jacket.
I didn’t sleep at all on the flight as Joanne and I were chatting about things. The other two slept quite soundly at the back. Something even more comical happened here. When we were taxiing on the runway at Girona Airport, Joanne suddenly stood up. The “fasten your seatbelts” sign was still on! She’s always that blur and cute... hahaha… I still have a good impression of Ryanair. Cheap and good. We arrived a little late, and I was a bit surprised that we had to pay €19.90 for the return bus ticket from the airport to the city. This airport is quite far from Barcelona city centre (budget airlines!) and we even got stuck in some traffic jam along the way. I fell asleep despite the unique scenery outside the window. The land was quite dry and devoid of healthy-looking vegetation, and the day looked scorchingly sunny. A trifle arid.
Upon arrival at the city, I took them to their hostel (not that hard to follow the map). I had originally planned to leave them to decipher the map (as they were supposed to have done the homework) but decided that since it was getting dark we had better lug our stuff in the right direction, and took over the leading. When we arrived at their hostel, I was discussing with Joanne and Nazimah about when I’d meet them when Siew Lee interjected, wanting to know what we were talking about. Anyway I made an agreement to meet them again at six (half an hour’s time, more than enough for a place that’s like, 5 minutes away) and left them to explain to Siew Lee what we had spoken about.
Well their hostel was easy to locate, but mine was the exact opposite. I walked up and down Tallers Street searching for no. 7, and did you know that 1) Barca’s building numbering isn’t all that great? There may be more than one door with no. 7; 2) the doors downstairs are locked and can be released by the occupants, so you have to ring the bell downstairs for the exact unit you are looking for and then they will let you in. Tallers Street was a mostly pedestrian walkway with a stone road. Pretty exotic. Being a little blur since it’s quite different from what I’d expected, I actually went up to some other hostel at no.7 and spoke to some unhelpful lady who only knew Spanish and kept saying my hostel was “illegal”. I was like, “great, so I had better get some English help and maybe the police hahaha”. Even checking with the shopkeepers along that street didn’t help much, and I actually went up the dark and dodgy no. 6 to check, to no avail. So I had no choice but to lug all my stuff (2 bags only) back to Hostal Central to meet them and decide on my next course of action.
I checked with their reception (she spoke good English!) regarding my hostel and she was so kind to help me call and check on it. She got me the handphone number of the person who was waiting for me as well. With that, I went off again in search of the elusive hostel. It was nice of Joanne to tag along, even though I still had to carry everything (except her map!) When I returned to that area, another search still didn’t reveal the hostel. I decided to call the person waiting for me to go downstairs to get me. It turned out the sign (hostel name!) was on the small little switchboard where the unit numbers were written and where we had to press the bell for someone upstairs to release the main door lock. And written in ink, on paper, stuck there! Who the heck is going to see it?? They should, for their own good, invest in a decent sign at least readable a metre out on the road.
My hostel had nice (new, too) toilet and shower facilities, a kitchen complete with washing machine, stoves, microwave oven and refrigerator. Fittings from Ikea. Free internet was in the sister hostel, not that near here. And there was a locker for me to store valuable stuff. Not bad, even if there was to be no reception (entry by a set of keys) and the dusty-looking floor (which was actually quite clean. It just looked old). As it turned out, I had only one hostelmate, who was to be staying in my dorm too. There was no one else staying there. After settling in, we left for dinner at their hostel. Throughout the trip I would have my meals with them at their place. This meant I had to get up earlier and sleep later than them.

Barcelona 13th - 17th December

The Background:

I had assignments to hand in for the final week of school, which ended on 10th December. Two assignments were due on the last day, at 2.30pm and 4.30pm. The earlier one was Programming Embedded Systems final assignment, worth 25% of the module. The later one was the Formal Lab Report, which was the fiendishly difficult Communications experiment (Transmission Lines). Earlier on I also had the irritating C++ assignment which was due on Wednesday. The program did not run properly in the end, which put paid to my hopes of clinching a first class in Process-Oriented Programming.
Much earlier, I had had to arrange my trip to Germany to either catch my brother in Berlin or when he travelled to Prague. The latter wasn’t a good choice as I would have to rush and meet him in unchartered Czech territory. I decided on Berlin which was his base for the month. This delay in decision-making led to my asking my friends to book their accommodation and flight for Barcelona first, and gave me a few problems in the planning of my trip. First of all, they booked a 3-man private room at Hostal Central (one of my choices in the ultimately unsuccessful bid on going to Barca and Italy last Easter), and that hostel only catered for private quarters. If I were to book a single room, I’d have to pay through my nose, which I didn’t want to since I had already paid more for the flight ticket (see posting, early December). So I had to look for the best accommodation (price, location and maybe facilities) close to them, which limited my choices somewhat. My situation was compounded by the fact that I had misplaced my credit card earlier and had to wait to collect my replacement card, which meant that I’d not be able to book my accommodation anyway.
In the end, a week before departure, I found a decent place, Ramblas Home 3, five minutes’ walk from theirs, but which cost the same as theirs even though I’d be in a 4-man mixed dorm.
In view of my extremely busy schedule in the final week of school, I left all the planning for the trip to them (including how we were going to get to the airport, etc). I mean, how much wrong can 3 girls go?

The truth:

Throughout the trip it would transpire that things could go very wrong, but nothing quite surprises me nowadays, so I guess I’m okay. Well on this trip I learnt that
1) things could still be a little further than the allocations you have given for what to expect, even if you feel you had been quite sure of things…
2) you can’t always go on faith alone when leaving planning to others
3) there’s only so much you can put faith in others. Beyond that you must be prepared to take action.
4) cool heads are always good. And be as reasonable as you can.
5) I can be very tolerant despite various pressures… especially when not everyone can be very patient…
6) I know how to read a map. Exactly.
7) I don’t over-react to things.
8) Sorry if it sounds narcissistic, but I feel I am in good control of my life. If you’re good, you’re good. Same thing like what I said when I had that in-depth discussion with good ol’ Jonathan last time. Not that I am arrogant, but you should know where you stand. If you think (know) that you are good, you don’t have to be afraid to say it, or show it. In certain situations you even need to show that you are in full control just so that others don’t take you lightly.
9) the “Second Lesson” *
10) it pays to be careful always. Taking care of yourself is so very easy. But I still have some way to go in terms of taking care of others. Remember to put others before self!
* sorry, internal joke

just realised that I am darned stupid...

Oh, I am damn bloody stupid. Really. Wanna whack myself in the head with my elbow. I signed up for xanga, tabulas, blogdrive, tblog and pitas. I tried to play around with all the templates and settings to look for the best results with the least effort and most usefulness. I spent hours (and money too since I was online in my room) testing and testing, and then I chanced upon the one thing that I actually needed in the first place that would save me all the trouble. I found that I could easily reassign a new blog address for my blog! I didn’t need to go through the hassle of setting up a new blog and then trying to transfer my archive (which many said was impossible but was in fact possible, just a little more tedious). Damn! Damn!!

I had wanted to switch blogs as I didn’t want some people to have access to my daily life and thoughts. In the end I managed to do it with minimal fuss and without losing my archives, so I guess I should be happy.

I also decided to tinker with my html in the template, without referring to any help. Well it is starting to pay off, and I have actually managed to stuff to the sidebar!! What an achievement for an intentionally ignorant man… I think I should go read up on webpage creation. Doesn’t look half as difficult after all! But now I am running into problems activating the links.

Anyway I have done enough for the day and should be studying right now. Barcelona details coming up…

BREAKING NEWS

An earthquake measuring 9.0 has occured in Sumatra. More than 22 000 people are reported to have died in the aftermath, where huge tidal waves engulfed coasts in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka India, etc, even affecting places as far away as Somalia. In Malaysia alone tremors lasting more than 30 seconds were felt. However, there has not been such a case of natural disaster in the region, and it was unfortunate that there was no way to forewarn the public to stay clear of beaches. Penang has been the worst hit by the tsunamis.

Frohliche Weihnachten!

Merry Christmas, in German. Credit to Beiz. She's received my birthday gift (cum Christmas present lah) for her.. all thanks to Shihui who's really on the ball! Thanks a lot, SH...
In the meantime I have to get started on my travelogue and also finish up on those applications for work experience. If I don't submit them by this month/year I might as well stop here. And also have to study and clear up my blog and kao tim so many things.

All my friends have started studying already. I think I am getting old. But they are more stressed than me! Arrgh is there something wrong with me?? I am a damn good procrastinator and of course a very busy man*. Damn bloody good procrastinator... And my library has closed for the holidays, reopening on 4th Jan. That's why I had to rush to borrow books yesterday evening. Hmm sometimes it's good to study in the library or somewhere out where you are not too comfortable yet it's conducive enough to study. Only problem is we have to get out of our house and also lug everything there. But oh well, the medics have it good; their library is open throughout this period. As for me, i think i better be productive at home, in the comfort of my room. And trust me, it's really comfortable in my room. In fact, too comfortable... ... haiz...

*60%!!

Back in Leics...

Heyhey I've been back for like 6 days and haven't even had enough time to update my blog!! Ok due to "pressure from some people" I have decided to at least write something here first. Well then I shall be off to have some 饺子 now... later =)

Berlin III

Day 3:

I woke up feeling the cold from the outside. It was snowing! Unflinchingly, I set about my original plan for the day, which would include lots of street-walking alone since Koko had to attend his first day at ICU early. He chased me out of his room at 7.15am into the rain and snow. It was a good thing I decided to bring my umbrella to Berlin. I went about looking for breakfast up this street where he said served quite good kebabs. Unfortunately they didn’t have any left, and I wasn’t going to settle for something else. In the end I took a train to Zoologischer where I bought a cinnamon with crystalllised white sugar roll at a small bakery between the U2 and U9 lines. While munching away at the platform, I leafed through Koko’s Lonely Planet guide to Berlin to ascertain my direction to the Schloss Charlottenburg (a palace, but closed on Mondays. Just my luck.). It turned out I had been sitting at the correct platform!

“This waiting area is brimming with people! There’s not even enough seats for everyone. And they should be calling for us to assemble to walk down to the tarmac by now!” Anyway, I managed to snap a picture of the Schloss Charlottenburg glistening in the snow. And I had a picture taken with it too! Its being closed on Mondays paved the way for me to explore another important exhibition: The Story of Berlin. I had overshot the location by quite a bit, walking in the rain (no more snow now) and only arrived at 10am. It turned out that I had remembered the opening time wrongly, so even if I arrived early I’d still have had to wait till now. On the way I passed by the Erotik Museum. But I guess the mother of sex museums is in Amsterdam (right, Ho Fung), so there probably wasn’t much point. No time, anyway.

The “Story of Berlin” includes a tour of an underground bunker (still functional though not of a very good design) which can take 3500 refugees in the event of a nuclear attack. This gloomy outlook was set in the days of the protracted Cold War, and the lighting in there was precisely spot-on. The exhibition traces the founding of Berlin till the present day, and I took longer than I would expect once again. I nearly left my umbrella in the toilet. But when I returned to claim it, it was still there. Tourists in Berlin must be honest. Or they don’t use the toilet. I proceeded at 2+ to meet Koko, but he turned out to be rather late. We arranged to meet at the entrance of the “bombed out church”, which was actually the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, with the original sarcophagus intact. It is a “modern day ruins”, since most of its battering came from WWII British bombings. Its spire was never reconstructed, leaving a run-down exterior as a poignant reminder of the war. Sadly, I did not walk in. I had forgotten about going in while walking the main shopping avenue of Kurfurstendamm (much like Orchard Road in Singapore, but much much longer). Lunch was after meeting my dear Koko, the German attraction: doner im broct. A hefty 2.50 Euro! (We could get that at 2 Euro normally.) But it was nice. And I was hungry.

Following that, we walked the Ku’Damm where all kinds of shops existed en masse. This is the epitome of West Germany, cultured, sophisticated and affluent. We looked around the commercial district, and I found the C&A store where Beilin wanted the Berlin sweater. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the red with white wordings she asked for. Instead, it was an obiang blue with grey. I wouldn’t give a second glance at this myself! How could anyone be selling this awful colour combination – at 19 Euros?
The final “attraction” was the 3-storey McDonald’s, where we sat ourselves on the highest floor, with Finding Nemo playing behind us; the Ku’Damm ahead. And then we concluded with the final stroll, down to Zoologischer Garten, where we took a picture on the platform.

When will I see him again? Another year? More? The joys of life…

Berlin II

Day 2:

What were originally plans to get up at 7 or 8 finally materialised after 9. And it was almost 12 before we finally set foot on our destination: Potsdam. Walking the town first, we had a quick meal of McDonald’s chicken sandwich, buy-one-get-one-free (different from that at home or in UK). The surrealistic and majestic palaces at Potsdam were to occupy us the entire afternoon. They were really a collection of complexes, vast and full of grandeur, steeped in architectural awe. They were built around the 1700s and the entire site has now been gazetted as an UNESCO world cultural heritage site and only a limited number of visitors can enter on any given day. We entered the Schloss Sanssouci and had a tour around, with me stealing a few seconds of video footage on my new LG8120 videophone too. Most of its interior was decked in French/Rococo style architecture, with lots of sculptures adorning the walls, ceilings and cornices. The beautifully crafted ceilings and superb interior décor are still unsurpassed in my memory. But then I am not really culturally-rich. Never had the chance to travel much. A long walk in the cold led us to some food, in the form of currywurst mit pommes frites (sausage in curry sauce with [british] fries). At a stand-up kiosk. In Koko’s words, “You can’t get any more German than this…” How very German indeed.

Next was Nous Palace (new Palace), which isn’t as new as its name suggests. A thoroughly imposing building, especially when viewed with its neighbours. The exterior walls are adorned with figurines. It looked so much larger than life. Even the rooftops had such intricate craftings. I hope the “black forest” rain doesn’t wash away these 300-year-old structures any further! We only had visited 3 main sites but the sun was already setting. Almost done for the day (with all the walking), we commenced the long walk back to civilisation, which was HauptBahnHof Potsdam.

We went to a bar/restaurant in the vicinity of Savignyplatz for dinner (in the richer West, a stark contrast compared with the bleak outlook of the former East) where I had some excellent risotto. The salmon pasta was also of a very good standard. This cafe apparently has joint British, Australian and German roots. We finished the meal off with Lichner beer. Aah, German beer in Germany. But I’d have my JD anytime too… “I have now been sitting in the lobby of the waiting area, after passing through immigration. People are reading, among other books, “The Life of Pi”, and ”Foreign Affairs”. The current song is by Norah Jones.”

The skies had been surprisingly kind to us that day. We even saw some sun in Potsdam. The best, though, as always, was saved for last.

Ultra belated:Berlin I

The Berlin weekend getaway. Since I am leaving for Barcelona tmr I’’ll have to get this done.

Even though I don’t exactly feel like writing much right now…

Day 1:
Arrival was 15 minutes early and the staff at Flughafen Schonefeld was very polite and helpful. I purchased a day ticket for travel on the trains and messaged 哥哥. Hopped onto the RE5 from Schonefeld to Zoologischer Gartens. It was snowing slightly and generally cold. I nearly lost a glove at the station. Imagine just arriving to snow and 2 degrees Celsius. After getting onto the train, I realised that my left glove wasn’t with me so I slinked off to retrieve it.

The train ride was simply fantastic!! So quiet, clean and comfortable. No wonder LonelyPlanet mentioned that Germany’s trains are of a very high standard. You gotta experience it firsthand! I transferred at Zoo to the U-Bahn (basically the Underground) which was typical of the capital intra city rail system. Run-down looking, a little more dirty, graffiti around, but generally good service. And you just walk in, without having to go through barricades. Some plainclothes rail employee may approach you and if u don’t have a valid ticket, it’s a 40 Euro fine. The train doors have to be manually opened (ok, not like the lift doors when it’s broken down and you need to huff and puff and pull, but you gotta press the button or pull the lever for it to open. Interesting.

I was exactly on time coming into Amruner Strasse station. 哥 was right there too, bang on time.
Virchow Klinikum is such a huge hospital, so unlike those we see back at home, or even those in UK (ok, I have only seen one.. the Leicester Royal Infirmary). The architecture is impressive and steeped in traditional European design, not like the modern hospitals. And the only indication that it’s a hospital is that ubiquitous red cross (I don’t read German, you see!)

Passing through the sprawling compound (it has 3 emergency Departments dealing with different situations), 哥 led me to his room where I dumped my stuff. His room said “Visiting Anaesthetic Doctor” on the front. But he’d almost done with anaesthesia now… would be starting in ICU on Monday.

Germans do not normally speak English. And they don’t come across to me as having a strong grasp of the language either. With one exception. These graffiti artists are top-class, man! Most of the graffiti I saw in Berlin were in english. And quite good standard too! I don’t quite recall seeing any with broken english or wrong spelling.

Travelling alone has its charms. Sad it may seem, or lonely, you get a lot of time to observe things and perhaps ponder about life. Reminds me of Wei Song and how she says she likes solo walks too. Maybe I am destined to be melancholic. Heh. So much for my positive outlook…perhaps it won’t be so in the end? I actually wrote all my trip happenings and details at the airport while waiting for my flight back, on the reverse side of my Ryanair and National Express e-tickets. Transposing from the pages now.

“I am sitting on the last of 3 metal chairs linked in a row, and facing some pther passengers who have checked in as well. Listening to DAI (from 31 hits, thanks to Megumi) and penning down my travel process. My flight has yet to be announced. Most people are sitting around doing nothing. Maybe working on their laptops. Or reading a book. Fiddling with their mobile phones. I had a look at the range of duty-free goods there (ok ok, I was mostly looking at the alcohol) and concluded that I should be buying my booze from one of my trips to Belgium where I would have the luxury of walking around the ferry and choosing my drinks. Looks to be cheaper in Euros. Well maybe not, if you count in the loss when converting your pounds.”

Most of Berlin’s attractions are on the former East. The one which still bears strong semblance of the communism/socialism shell that it was contained in, until 1989. Couldn’t believe that a city so steeped in history and culture could be hemmed in by a force so distant for so long. I noticed that there weren’t many young people on the trains and tourist attractions (naturally). Next stop was the Reichstag. For many years Germany had its political capital in Bonn due the the Cold War impasse on Berlin, but it had always been the capital-waiting. Now back to its former glory, it has taken its turn in stride. Founded in 1237, its roots lie in Friedrich I’s time. Almost 800 years later, its face has bee irreversibly altered from its former days. It has seen more than its fair share of trials and tribulations in time, and has come through bearing the relics of many a colourful past.

We were off to the famed Brandenbureg Gate first, along the most famous artery Unter den Linden. Magnificent stuff. A quick (in terms of pace!) walk in the cold took us to the Sony Centre at Potsdamer Platz for some food. Lunch was schnitzel (chicken patty) with baked potatoes and some vegetables. I was thoroughly craving for the vege as the chicken and the potato were so damn salty. I also had some of哥’s sauerkraut. We bought some rather poor ice mango tea at a supermarkt* later while continuing on our tour of Berlin. Back to the most illustrious thoroughfare in Berlin, the Unter den Linden, lined with the signature Soviet wedding-cake style buildings on each side. How very Moscow. The rest of the afternoon was spent at FriedrichStrasse and after tea at a fashionable café catered for tourists (they speak English!) we entered the exhibition site at Checkpoint Charlie, where I was to spend the better of 3 hours. This told of the East-West divide and dealt with lots of issue in-depth. Dinner was in the far vicinity (we did some walking in search of a good eatery) in a Vietnamese restaurant. My pork chops in soup with noodles was interesting fare. More flavourful was Koko’s aubergine in viet chilli and gravy which was salty but yummy. But such food comes at a price. Which came from my pocket. I only brought 100 Euros with me which would later prove to be just about adequate. I’d been completely zonked out by the time we arrived back at the Charite (that hospital) so we postponed plans for a beer that night. I had slept very little at Stansted airport the day before, and in fact the few days before, too! I was out by 11+pm, one of my earliest in years. I didn’t even last 2 songs on his Panasonic discman, and of course missed my customary supper too!

*correct spelling!

My Immortal

Suddenly was impressed with the mood of this song when I heard it over the radio a few days ago.
But I still don't like her dragging her voice in the bridge. Rather jarring.

What sweet melancholy....

I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

[Chorus]
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me

You used to captivate me
By your resonating light
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts
My once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away
All the sanity in me

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

[Chorus]

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me
I've been alone all along

[Chorus]

What should I do?

programming~

Wah lau eh. Bloody program failed to work even though I ws at it till after 4 am... I came in the morning to get it done but submitted the error-free (but un-runnable) code anyway cos I'm past the deadline... I even missed the morning briefing (too tired haha)!

Now must work on the formal report AND also start on Embedded. Damn damn damn...

Baka!

Finally booked my accommodation for Barcelona. But as for the other details hopefully they'd have worked it out. Or else... well after I finish the rush of assignments this week I'll be zipping off... still thinking of my Siemens application--whether it is still there for me to fill in (left it alone for like 2 weeks already).

I am working in the MSc Students' study room (small one but with powerful new computers) as the main lab here at R-block was used for some teaching earlier on.

Baka! Here I come. (Fools... me still a bit buey song)

little italy / Edward's Bday

The Christmas Dinner with the ambassadors at Little Italy was absolutely superb, despite me being the only chinese in the restaurant. It didn't and wasn't gonna turn out so well at first, what with Hari's obnoxious laughing and Radica's radical* talking pattern and slightly annoying mannerisms (oh, so you're so pretty issit?? ^pout^), but as the night progressed I eased into the main course of fresh rainbow trout with lemon butter pasta. No one else had ordered the same as mine and well, even my plate was larger than theirs (harhar). And it was in the form of a fish, too! The pasta was dry and devoid of sauce, but my, the fish was delectable! And especially when I added the loads of cheese (that I always do). Grilled/baked to fresh perfection, with the original flavour of the fish still emanating from the well-salted and spiced skin. Starter was spicy chicken wings but nothing fantastic. This changed everything. Imagine having a whole fish (longer than 20cm) with pasta! I've never had this before (bet u haven't either!) and it's the first complete fish I've eaten in UK. Ever**. Head to toe (if only it had toes) I devoured it. Ok, maybe not devoured. But consumed sounds too mild. Anyway. Dessert was included too, which was a chocolate dunno-what. The nut base turned out to be a sweet paste wth peanut, but it was sinful all the same. All this for £13.50. I'm sure the rest missed out as they had the usual fare like house pasta or some chicken stuff... Hari deserves a pat on the back for the deal she obtained.

And they had brought christmas confetti stuff so while the cylinder didn't pop, I took home a tape measure (the type for making clothes). Any girls want me to check their "ahem" measurements for them??

Then I took my leave and rushed down to Zanzibar for Edward's birthday. Nothing too fantastic, but I bet he had fun. I almost didn't dance at all, which was quite a waste. Think I should utilise my VIP card more often...heh...

* alliteration!
**not counting those ikan bilis, ngan yu zai, or any fish smaller than 10cm in length.

down

Have been feeling pretty down these few days. Probably the lot of things to do and the way things have evolved can only point to melancholy. But I'll rise yet from all this. Heh..
Thanks Joanne for listening. =)

the usual unusuals

It's been a terribly long time since I've updated. Wonder when I'll be free to type the Berlin trip details too... I might even switch blogs, just for fun...

Things have been flying in thick and fast the past week. The fabric of the current situation can be erased and rewritten almost every second. Notions change; facts dim. In the blink of an eye. Right blurs into wrong. Or vice versa.

Sanity vs insanity.

I've had a very sleepy week. Not that nothing's happening.. just too many things happening that I don't have enough time to rest! Happy Birthdays to Hilson (seems we didn't manage to get him down with the alcohol, but I couldn't stay to make sure cos I had a prior appointment) and Jackie (heck the Coke! Off with the car, out with the JD*!!)... And once again, you can't sleep on the easy chair! It only serves up ugly eye-bags after a terrible 3 hour period of shut-eye. The floor, the floor!!
Also, in one night they polished off half my alcohol stash. Cointreau dropped to below 40%, Bailey's finished, that blue vodka/curacao/whatever mix 75%, Malibu slightly less, and Sangria completely gone.

I hope everybody keeps a hold of him/herself as he/she works towards that final deadline... Mine's Friday the next with a Formal Report and 2 Assignments!

Finally, hope all is well with you and your little dilemma. You know who you are!

*Jack Daniel's, you fool!