meri channi channa channo channa channa haii ....oooooooh
meri channi meri channi channa channa bollywood
Damn its still stuck in my head. And i'm STILL in that mood where i feel like flaying alive anyone who pisses me off with a blunt, rusty razorblade while drowning that person in vat of snake venom AND feeding him Dr. Bombay's crap-ass songs on headphones full blast( on a blue ipod mini, perhaps?). Grrr. Roaarrr. Hisss....ANybody in the hall needs somebody 'taken care of'?
Seriously dunno what's really getting to me....
Monday, May 31, 2004
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Leeeet's start today's post with a little gem i found while faffing around :
Two men have been sitting out on a lake all day long, ice fishing. One has been having no luck at all and the other has been pulling fish after fish out of his hole in the ice. The man having no luck finally leans over and asks the other what his secret is.
"mmmmm mmm mm mmm mmmm mmm mmm."
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"mmmmm mmm mm mmm mmmm mmm mmm."
"I'm sorry, I still didn't understand you." The successful man spits something into his hand.
"You've got to keep your worms warm."
Booyahh - i wish i can be there to see that smirk/wince or even hear the 'ewwww' comin from ya!
Anyways, I've been in a rather evil-ish mood for the last coupla days. Probably its a smidge of stress from having to do really well on the next lab exam or finishing the coursework on time - oRrr it could just be from having to put up with a heap of random crap from random people. Personally i think its either the full moon or just something hormonal ( which is strange, as finally returning to regular gym sessions should result in a more chilled, mellow me). Spent the better part of the day tongue-lashing people and ploughing through anyone who got in my way on a grocery run to chinatown. You'd think i learnt before not to go on a saturday - sheesh. Had i been either an agoraphobic or claustraphobic i would have died like, a thousand times over today. Screw it if it sounds gay - i feel like a class A primo bitch todaaaayy!!
Later Sunday night i made Pho again ( vietnamese kueyteow soup, pronounced 'fur'). Jadi jugak laa....as Lionel suddenly got 'reminded' that he had bar duty we just brought our food down and ate at the bar. As luck would have it the other local girl doing bar duty lived in Thailand for a coupla of years and sOMeBody let it slip that i'm half thai so i got stuck making small talk with her while the other guys slooowwly drifted away - damn you all!! Haha don't get me wrong its not like she's a nauseatingly hideous wench or anything but i was just noooot in a very layan-ing mood today ( refer to previous paragraph).
Saw Troy Friday night. Well shot, amazing action sequences and all but the story was kinda mangled. Adding the odd love interest or two is fine ( it IS Hollywood) but killing people who aren't supposed to die and vice versa while getting all the other nonimportant fine details correct is just...well...Hollywood. I wouldn't presume to bore anyone with the list of inconsistencies though. But still - coooool fighting.
Two men have been sitting out on a lake all day long, ice fishing. One has been having no luck at all and the other has been pulling fish after fish out of his hole in the ice. The man having no luck finally leans over and asks the other what his secret is.
"mmmmm mmm mm mmm mmmm mmm mmm."
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"mmmmm mmm mm mmm mmmm mmm mmm."
"I'm sorry, I still didn't understand you." The successful man spits something into his hand.
"You've got to keep your worms warm."
Booyahh - i wish i can be there to see that smirk/wince or even hear the 'ewwww' comin from ya!
Anyways, I've been in a rather evil-ish mood for the last coupla days. Probably its a smidge of stress from having to do really well on the next lab exam or finishing the coursework on time - oRrr it could just be from having to put up with a heap of random crap from random people. Personally i think its either the full moon or just something hormonal ( which is strange, as finally returning to regular gym sessions should result in a more chilled, mellow me). Spent the better part of the day tongue-lashing people and ploughing through anyone who got in my way on a grocery run to chinatown. You'd think i learnt before not to go on a saturday - sheesh. Had i been either an agoraphobic or claustraphobic i would have died like, a thousand times over today. Screw it if it sounds gay - i feel like a class A primo bitch todaaaayy!!
Later Sunday night i made Pho again ( vietnamese kueyteow soup, pronounced 'fur'). Jadi jugak laa....as Lionel suddenly got 'reminded' that he had bar duty we just brought our food down and ate at the bar. As luck would have it the other local girl doing bar duty lived in Thailand for a coupla of years and sOMeBody let it slip that i'm half thai so i got stuck making small talk with her while the other guys slooowwly drifted away - damn you all!! Haha don't get me wrong its not like she's a nauseatingly hideous wench or anything but i was just noooot in a very layan-ing mood today ( refer to previous paragraph).
Saw Troy Friday night. Well shot, amazing action sequences and all but the story was kinda mangled. Adding the odd love interest or two is fine ( it IS Hollywood) but killing people who aren't supposed to die and vice versa while getting all the other nonimportant fine details correct is just...well...Hollywood. I wouldn't presume to bore anyone with the list of inconsistencies though. But still - coooool fighting.
Friday, May 28, 2004
Sorry about slagging off (the posts) for the last coupla days. Again, i wasn't exactly busy, but god knows my time just keeps on dissapearing despite having done sooo little work.Only things i got left are two labs, a Prolog lab exam and that Bioinformatics group coursework. Graargh...
Saw Bombay Dreams on Tuesday night - schweeet. Very flashy, loud and impressive. Although the lyrics were a bit on the lame side, the music was really catchy and the dancing was...urm..powerful? You could see quiite a few people dancing in their seats (ehEM eHEM). Their portrayal of the many Bollywood stereotypes were amusingly spot on - although they missed a few bits like running around trees and the excessive fighting sound effects. Until this very moment i've been playing the soundtrack cd to the point of having the tunes stuck in my head. Oh well..chai chaiyya chiayya hei!
The rest of the week? NOthin much - no more lectures, so i've just been milling away doing 'research' for the coursework and trying to start on the labs. Managed to catch up on looads of sleep, and started going to the gym again - so bitter the pain, so sweet the endorphines! Really gotta try to swing back into full momentum for work - Topics coursework deadline's on the 4th, and the final lab exam's on the 8th then god knows what i'm gonna do until the 25th...if i manage to settle everything early i'll see if i can go back like...a week early or something...
Till then, i'll try and think up of some funny/random things to put up to spare you guys from reading more of my oh-so-intTUHresting day to day goings on....
cali chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya ,
cali chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya !
Damn that shit is stuck good in my head....
Saw Bombay Dreams on Tuesday night - schweeet. Very flashy, loud and impressive. Although the lyrics were a bit on the lame side, the music was really catchy and the dancing was...urm..powerful? You could see quiite a few people dancing in their seats (ehEM eHEM). Their portrayal of the many Bollywood stereotypes were amusingly spot on - although they missed a few bits like running around trees and the excessive fighting sound effects. Until this very moment i've been playing the soundtrack cd to the point of having the tunes stuck in my head. Oh well..chai chaiyya chiayya hei!
The rest of the week? NOthin much - no more lectures, so i've just been milling away doing 'research' for the coursework and trying to start on the labs. Managed to catch up on looads of sleep, and started going to the gym again - so bitter the pain, so sweet the endorphines! Really gotta try to swing back into full momentum for work - Topics coursework deadline's on the 4th, and the final lab exam's on the 8th then god knows what i'm gonna do until the 25th...if i manage to settle everything early i'll see if i can go back like...a week early or something...
Till then, i'll try and think up of some funny/random things to put up to spare you guys from reading more of my oh-so-intTUHresting day to day goings on....
cali chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya ,
cali chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya chaiyya !
Damn that shit is stuck good in my head....
Monday, May 24, 2004
Still struggling to get back in the mood to work. A tiring but 'adventure' packed weekend didn't help either. Had loadsa fun though. Had a quick weekend trip to Brownsea Island( a really small - 1.5 miles across - island which is a nature reserve and the birthplace of the Scouts) , Bath and Stonehenge. We rented a 7-seater and somehow crammed 8 people in all the way. Jed was the driver, and the others were Lu, Lionel, Alex, Jac, Vivian, Jingye and of course me.
Day 1 - Started on the drive outta town around 7.30 am-ish. After about almost 3 hours, we got to Poole which was another typical touristy English harbour town. Wandered around for a while then got on the ferry to Brownsea Island. On arrival you can already tell that the brits spend quite a bit of money looking after their heritage/history sites. Lots of information about the island's history and wildlife all over the island itself - it had a few private owners, hosted a pottery works which went bust soon after( hence all the pottery crap all over the beaches) and was the birthplace of the Scouts movement, by the handiwork of Lord Baden Powell himself. Everything is very well placed and mapped on the island. Had no problems finding any of the sites. Luckily we had nice weather too. Lotsa mildly exotic birds, peacocks etc but didn't see any of the red squirrels which were supposedly the mainstay of the island. Oh well.
After about 5 hours plus communing with nature( or at least doing our darndest). We took the ferry back and drove on to Bath. Just as our luck would have it, there was a music festival in town, and we had a freakin problem finding accomodation. In the end, we managed to get one double room - we managed to cram 5 people in there, and the rest of us ( yours truly included) slept in the car.
Day 2 - Amazingly the three of us in the car got slightly more sleep than the others. Everyone got up around 9-ish and after b'fast we checked out the Roman baths in town. A few of us felt a con-job coming and decided against coughing up 8 pounds for the tour around the old baths so we checked out the rest of the town while they were at the baths. Met up later and went to chill in the city gardens for a while.
Next, we drove over to Stonehenge. Very touristy place. Mildly interesting but somewhat unimpressive. If it werent for the audioguides i personally wouldn't have stayed for very long. At least i can say i've actually been there though...Stayed for around an hour, then drove back to London- made it back around 7 sharp.
Now its just me - After a much needed shower, rushed over to make the 7pm dinner at the opening of the new Malaysia Hall. Due to various things , among them the Circle line being closed and the District line being screwed over too due to track changes i only got there at almost 9. Food was completely gone, but at least managed to see some people. Hung out there for a while, then had a takeaway from Nahar and took a bus home...tiiiiired.
Oh yeah - put some photos up from the trip. Don't think i'll put anything up from Bath though. The baths weren't exactly pretty. Maybe once we pool our digicam photos i'll see if the other guys got any good ones..
Day 1 - Started on the drive outta town around 7.30 am-ish. After about almost 3 hours, we got to Poole which was another typical touristy English harbour town. Wandered around for a while then got on the ferry to Brownsea Island. On arrival you can already tell that the brits spend quite a bit of money looking after their heritage/history sites. Lots of information about the island's history and wildlife all over the island itself - it had a few private owners, hosted a pottery works which went bust soon after( hence all the pottery crap all over the beaches) and was the birthplace of the Scouts movement, by the handiwork of Lord Baden Powell himself. Everything is very well placed and mapped on the island. Had no problems finding any of the sites. Luckily we had nice weather too. Lotsa mildly exotic birds, peacocks etc but didn't see any of the red squirrels which were supposedly the mainstay of the island. Oh well.
After about 5 hours plus communing with nature( or at least doing our darndest). We took the ferry back and drove on to Bath. Just as our luck would have it, there was a music festival in town, and we had a freakin problem finding accomodation. In the end, we managed to get one double room - we managed to cram 5 people in there, and the rest of us ( yours truly included) slept in the car.
Day 2 - Amazingly the three of us in the car got slightly more sleep than the others. Everyone got up around 9-ish and after b'fast we checked out the Roman baths in town. A few of us felt a con-job coming and decided against coughing up 8 pounds for the tour around the old baths so we checked out the rest of the town while they were at the baths. Met up later and went to chill in the city gardens for a while.
Next, we drove over to Stonehenge. Very touristy place. Mildly interesting but somewhat unimpressive. If it werent for the audioguides i personally wouldn't have stayed for very long. At least i can say i've actually been there though...Stayed for around an hour, then drove back to London- made it back around 7 sharp.
Now its just me - After a much needed shower, rushed over to make the 7pm dinner at the opening of the new Malaysia Hall. Due to various things , among them the Circle line being closed and the District line being screwed over too due to track changes i only got there at almost 9. Food was completely gone, but at least managed to see some people. Hung out there for a while, then had a takeaway from Nahar and took a bus home...tiiiiired.
Oh yeah - put some photos up from the trip. Don't think i'll put anything up from Bath though. The baths weren't exactly pretty. Maybe once we pool our digicam photos i'll see if the other guys got any good ones..
Thursday, May 20, 2004
GOd i almost forgot how boring Computing lectures were. We are on our last week of lectures on Prolog, and the lecturer is like....the second most boring one on the course ever. Even people in the freakin front row cannot help falling asleep. What is it about Computing lecturers - they're generally as boring as hell and aren't very good at explaining something despite knowing it inside out.
The fencing demo/showcase on monday went alright. They also broadcast the debate whether or not to host the Olympics in London to the rest of the hall. It was a strange sordid debate - one of the Brit speakers just rambled on and on about role models in sports, and the French speaker spent a good deal of his airtime insulting both the french and the english.
Been wasting a lot of time these last coupla days just lazing about with da crew talking cock, playing foosball/frisbee and talking more cock. Still feeling very sleepy despite managing to catch up on loads of sleep. Probably milling about wasting time is more tiring than i thought. Oh yeah - remembered how freakin hilarious The Emperor's New Groove was at another movie session in my room yesterday.
Sleepy. Need to get more catnaps before i start rambling like a hippie on an acid trip. DuuuuuUUUdeee....
The fencing demo/showcase on monday went alright. They also broadcast the debate whether or not to host the Olympics in London to the rest of the hall. It was a strange sordid debate - one of the Brit speakers just rambled on and on about role models in sports, and the French speaker spent a good deal of his airtime insulting both the french and the english.
Been wasting a lot of time these last coupla days just lazing about with da crew talking cock, playing foosball/frisbee and talking more cock. Still feeling very sleepy despite managing to catch up on loads of sleep. Probably milling about wasting time is more tiring than i thought. Oh yeah - remembered how freakin hilarious The Emperor's New Groove was at another movie session in my room yesterday.
Sleepy. Need to get more catnaps before i start rambling like a hippie on an acid trip. DuuuuuUUUdeee....
Monday, May 17, 2004
Sweet, sweet freedom!! Finals are over.Yay.woo-hoo...yeahhhfghlabaschmoobyblptffff...
Now that the ball's no longer in my court...still cannot help but worry - constantly making contingency plans in my head assuming i screwed up in my finals. Resits are probably a forgone conclusion - I just hope i can do them at the British Council back home instead of cutting my summer short...Now i'm just waddling about in the shallow pit left behind after going cold turkey from weeks of workin like a dawg ( well...like Amar if he was a dawg anyway)...
So...exams are over - you'd assume i'd be hangin' loose, partyin down, shakin that thang etc.?
Problem # 1 : Term doesn't end till the 25th of June. We've still got a massive group coursework goin - research a given topic and put up a thorough, comprehensive website about it. AAND we're gonna learn another screwed up programming language - Prolog and we'll have an exam on that too. At least workload's gonna be sliightly lighter.
Problem # 2 : For almost everybody else ( bar other computing students) their exams are barely just starting . Sometimes i wonder which is worse - being the only one freakin out about exams or being the only one ambling around goyang telok(shaking balls - doing pretty much nothing )
Well i guess i kinda earned a weekend of extra sleep seeing how many hours of sleep i missed over the last couple of weeks. By friday i was really really running on adrenaline and coffee. Daamn...instead of sleeping the rest of the day and rising later to paaartayyy....i had to go for a fencing training session for monday's demo, then i had to rush back for a quick lunch and then make a 3.45 haircut appointment( Vidal Sassoon - got GQ discount lorrr) . Later on in the evening caught the SingSoc comittee at their leavers' BBQ and their dance rendition of "Superstar" ( no comments). Capped off the night with a supper at Al-Dar( ohhh-kay thats enough lamb for a while) with the guys. Went to sleep thoroughly drained.
To make up for not cooking for the last coupla weeks i cooked on both saturday and sunday. Made chicken tandoori bhuna on sat and tagliatelli carbonara Sunday. Nobody died, but i lost quiite a bit of blood from my left index finger on my cursed Zwilling Professional S ( i should really give that knife a name - something like BloodBlade or SkinCutter )while deboning the chicken. Safe to say that my typing ( and foosball, maybe?) is pretty much impaired.
Finally got around to watching Girl Next Door( found a really bad cinema bootleg on the college network) on saturday night with the regular crew. Typical american teen flick, albeit with a few interesting plot twists and the deliciously delectable Elisha Cuthbert providing the eye candy. Who ever woulda thought that gawky but cute-ish host of PMK( Popular Mechanics for Kids or some shit like that on Discovery) a coupla years back would be an all American, smoulderingly sexy hottie. She kinda got noticed when she reappeared in the last 2 seasons of 24. Anyway, can't wait for the barrage of the leave-your-brains-at-home summer movies coming our way...
Oh yeah - the best of luck to you guys with exams still coming. Enjoyy!
Now that the ball's no longer in my court...still cannot help but worry - constantly making contingency plans in my head assuming i screwed up in my finals. Resits are probably a forgone conclusion - I just hope i can do them at the British Council back home instead of cutting my summer short...Now i'm just waddling about in the shallow pit left behind after going cold turkey from weeks of workin like a dawg ( well...like Amar if he was a dawg anyway)...
So...exams are over - you'd assume i'd be hangin' loose, partyin down, shakin that thang etc.?
Problem # 1 : Term doesn't end till the 25th of June. We've still got a massive group coursework goin - research a given topic and put up a thorough, comprehensive website about it. AAND we're gonna learn another screwed up programming language - Prolog and we'll have an exam on that too. At least workload's gonna be sliightly lighter.
Problem # 2 : For almost everybody else ( bar other computing students) their exams are barely just starting . Sometimes i wonder which is worse - being the only one freakin out about exams or being the only one ambling around goyang telok(shaking balls - doing pretty much nothing )
Well i guess i kinda earned a weekend of extra sleep seeing how many hours of sleep i missed over the last couple of weeks. By friday i was really really running on adrenaline and coffee. Daamn...instead of sleeping the rest of the day and rising later to paaartayyy....i had to go for a fencing training session for monday's demo, then i had to rush back for a quick lunch and then make a 3.45 haircut appointment( Vidal Sassoon - got GQ discount lorrr) . Later on in the evening caught the SingSoc comittee at their leavers' BBQ and their dance rendition of "Superstar" ( no comments). Capped off the night with a supper at Al-Dar( ohhh-kay thats enough lamb for a while) with the guys. Went to sleep thoroughly drained.
To make up for not cooking for the last coupla weeks i cooked on both saturday and sunday. Made chicken tandoori bhuna on sat and tagliatelli carbonara Sunday. Nobody died, but i lost quiite a bit of blood from my left index finger on my cursed Zwilling Professional S ( i should really give that knife a name - something like BloodBlade or SkinCutter )while deboning the chicken. Safe to say that my typing ( and foosball, maybe?) is pretty much impaired.
Finally got around to watching Girl Next Door( found a really bad cinema bootleg on the college network) on saturday night with the regular crew. Typical american teen flick, albeit with a few interesting plot twists and the deliciously delectable Elisha Cuthbert providing the eye candy. Who ever woulda thought that gawky but cute-ish host of PMK( Popular Mechanics for Kids or some shit like that on Discovery) a coupla years back would be an all American, smoulderingly sexy hottie. She kinda got noticed when she reappeared in the last 2 seasons of 24. Anyway, can't wait for the barrage of the leave-your-brains-at-home summer movies coming our way...
Oh yeah - the best of luck to you guys with exams still coming. Enjoyy!
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Alriighty i'm almost back to normal - no more mental mood swings. No more random ramblings( apologies for the baaad poetry ) - just 100% Amar goodness. Could be that my last paper is tomorrow. Oh-kayy its fuckin Reasoning ( nastiest bits of logic, math and programming) but still..its like you're at the phase where you just can't panic or worry anymore - hence me blogging right now!!
Summer's almost here in earnest - its like 9.30 pm and the sun still has yet to properly set - and it'll be back up around 4.30 am to boot...people are having little picnics all over Princes Gardens - I can bloody well smell it- and i'm on the 7th floor facing the OTHER side!! Cue summer clothes too....them twins be goin out for walks and shit - foshiiiziee! ( don't get it? too baaad) Too bad i'll probably end up celebrating my end of exams and the glorious weather alone...or with the odd random computing student. I might be done but everyone else is just mostly starting.
Had a really weird ass dream yesterday - something about a bus arriving at a tube station instead of a train, a whole buncha cempakans were there ( get this - mr. Kuah was the driver!) and everyone was eating cekodok pisang. I kinda forgot the rest. I really gotta get my Dreamcatcher fixed - if only i can find a shaman or medicine man somewhere in london.
Gonna have a crazy ass Friday - Firstly i'd probably be running on very little sleep once the true last minute panic kicks in for Reasoning. Then i gotta dash over for my first fencing training session since the end of last term to rehearse some flashy moves for a demo we're having at the opening of the Tanaka Business Centre - theyre gonna have some debate about the Olympics there and have demos of random sports. THEN i got more errands to run that afternoon,probably before dropping by at the Singaporean's Leavers' picnic and gettin some free nibbles..ho ho ho... god knows what else is gonna go down tonight, but i doubt theres gonna be much with more exams for other people coming up next week...
Crap better get back to hopelessly sifting through reasoning notes. Really really REALLY can't wait to get back - still like... a month and a half to go. Gotta settle housing for next term, storage for all my crap...
great. now i have a wicked craving for cekodok pisang.Dammit
Summer's almost here in earnest - its like 9.30 pm and the sun still has yet to properly set - and it'll be back up around 4.30 am to boot...people are having little picnics all over Princes Gardens - I can bloody well smell it- and i'm on the 7th floor facing the OTHER side!! Cue summer clothes too....them twins be goin out for walks and shit - foshiiiziee! ( don't get it? too baaad) Too bad i'll probably end up celebrating my end of exams and the glorious weather alone...or with the odd random computing student. I might be done but everyone else is just mostly starting.
Had a really weird ass dream yesterday - something about a bus arriving at a tube station instead of a train, a whole buncha cempakans were there ( get this - mr. Kuah was the driver!) and everyone was eating cekodok pisang. I kinda forgot the rest. I really gotta get my Dreamcatcher fixed - if only i can find a shaman or medicine man somewhere in london.
Gonna have a crazy ass Friday - Firstly i'd probably be running on very little sleep once the true last minute panic kicks in for Reasoning. Then i gotta dash over for my first fencing training session since the end of last term to rehearse some flashy moves for a demo we're having at the opening of the Tanaka Business Centre - theyre gonna have some debate about the Olympics there and have demos of random sports. THEN i got more errands to run that afternoon,probably before dropping by at the Singaporean's Leavers' picnic and gettin some free nibbles..ho ho ho... god knows what else is gonna go down tonight, but i doubt theres gonna be much with more exams for other people coming up next week...
Crap better get back to hopelessly sifting through reasoning notes. Really really REALLY can't wait to get back - still like... a month and a half to go. Gotta settle housing for next term, storage for all my crap...
great. now i have a wicked craving for cekodok pisang.Dammit
Monday, May 10, 2004
I apologize in advance - today's entry is gonna be mostly melodramatic ramblings from a very, very frazzled noggin. The accumulation of exam stress coupled with various other annoyances and irritations is reALLY getting to me. Since i've been missing my normal physical de-stressing methods( get your mind out of the gutter, fools) i've fallen back on something i haven't done for a while - drawing and writing. Yeah...so..wham here's something i just churned out on the spot:
In Darkness Therin
in darkness therin i dwell and toil
seemingly burning the midnight oil,
though in reality my mind lies asunder
spent, broken, trampled under
i delve into my work
hoping to recognize, recall
but nary a snippet familiar
nay nothing, nothing at all
saturated, unable to absorb
studying becomes mere folly
inward gloom,sadness, malice and spite
further my thoughts doth sully
charlatans and hypocrites abound
tongues dripping venom and ichor
slander, plotting and deceit
in all its spiteful splendor
alone i stand, lost and drifting
amongst a crowded, tangled web confused
ceaselessly, carefully sifting
what passes for truth between lies obtuse
in darkness therin i dwell and toil
seemingly burning the midnight oil,
though in reality my mind lies asunder
spent, broken, trampled under
Interpret it what-fucking-ever way you wish. Its not a particular critique of anyone of anything. Just random outpourings from my fucked-up subconscious- maybe a touch of Byron there, a bit of Blake here. Whatever. So what if it doesn't sound very "amar". rrRRgh i'm seriously going mental - don't really know how long i can keep up my cheery, random facade....hopefully i'll be able to pull it through the next 3 papers without having to put on a strait jacket.
In Darkness Therin
in darkness therin i dwell and toil
seemingly burning the midnight oil,
though in reality my mind lies asunder
spent, broken, trampled under
i delve into my work
hoping to recognize, recall
but nary a snippet familiar
nay nothing, nothing at all
saturated, unable to absorb
studying becomes mere folly
inward gloom,sadness, malice and spite
further my thoughts doth sully
charlatans and hypocrites abound
tongues dripping venom and ichor
slander, plotting and deceit
in all its spiteful splendor
alone i stand, lost and drifting
amongst a crowded, tangled web confused
ceaselessly, carefully sifting
what passes for truth between lies obtuse
in darkness therin i dwell and toil
seemingly burning the midnight oil,
though in reality my mind lies asunder
spent, broken, trampled under
Interpret it what-fucking-ever way you wish. Its not a particular critique of anyone of anything. Just random outpourings from my fucked-up subconscious- maybe a touch of Byron there, a bit of Blake here. Whatever. So what if it doesn't sound very "amar". rrRRgh i'm seriously going mental - don't really know how long i can keep up my cheery, random facade....hopefully i'll be able to pull it through the next 3 papers without having to put on a strait jacket.
Sunday, May 09, 2004
Haha it seems kinda quiet around here lately.... oOOhh now i know why - there's something wrong with the messagebox...muahhahahaha
Database on friday was mercifully rather do-able...all that cramming and going to the library ( if for nothing more than to just borrow a book) probably paid off after all....Tried to catch up on sleep for the rest of the day, but random shit kept on coming up....in the end by midnight i was still very much behind on sleep. The regular room invasions don't help either !! Finally managed to give my pillow some head ( sorry that came outta nowhere - ehyuk ehyuk!) around 4am
Adding to the excitement, charlotte's nubian queen bimbo of an ex-roomate set off the fire alarm for the second time by doing her hair ( only god knows what these african girls do to their hair) at around 11-ish. Needless to say that fucked up my sleep pattern even further. Managed to crawl outta bed around 3, made a ser-weeet lunch and tried to work for a while ( nope, didn't work) Later 6 of us had dinner as planned at Meshwar, and saw Van Helsing at High St. Kent Odeon. Very stylish, pretty visuals, excellent action but a story that made absolutely no sense. Fun to watch though....
Since friday afternoon, everything was kinda blurly passing by. I think all the last minute cramming and sleep depravation finally got to me. I'm either completely concussed and in my own world of 'who gives a damn'-ness or having those weird ass mood swings again. Probably my psychological anti-stress measures are over-compensating or have completely fried....ORr probably i just need to get out and have some proper fun eeeyyy?
Database on friday was mercifully rather do-able...all that cramming and going to the library ( if for nothing more than to just borrow a book) probably paid off after all....Tried to catch up on sleep for the rest of the day, but random shit kept on coming up....in the end by midnight i was still very much behind on sleep. The regular room invasions don't help either !! Finally managed to give my pillow some head ( sorry that came outta nowhere - ehyuk ehyuk!) around 4am
Adding to the excitement, charlotte's nubian queen bimbo of an ex-roomate set off the fire alarm for the second time by doing her hair ( only god knows what these african girls do to their hair) at around 11-ish. Needless to say that fucked up my sleep pattern even further. Managed to crawl outta bed around 3, made a ser-weeet lunch and tried to work for a while ( nope, didn't work) Later 6 of us had dinner as planned at Meshwar, and saw Van Helsing at High St. Kent Odeon. Very stylish, pretty visuals, excellent action but a story that made absolutely no sense. Fun to watch though....
Since friday afternoon, everything was kinda blurly passing by. I think all the last minute cramming and sleep depravation finally got to me. I'm either completely concussed and in my own world of 'who gives a damn'-ness or having those weird ass mood swings again. Probably my psychological anti-stress measures are over-compensating or have completely fried....ORr probably i just need to get out and have some proper fun eeeyyy?
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Halfway through my exams....schweEEEt.... just Databases ( tomorrow ) ,plus hardware, discrete math and reasoning( absolute horror) next week. Actually moseyed down to the library and picked up a purty little database book to augment the tinny notes our dBase lecturer gave us. In fact i should be nose deep in it right now. Its really becoming a nasty habit - blogging when i should be goddamned studying.
Had a little fun break after i was done failing my math paper - i was just messing about and catching up on some extra sleep weds nite when Lu and Alex randomly burst in, and before i knew it lionel, fong may and darren were here too and we were watching Ju-On( a lame subtitle-less tv-movie version of it anyway) Typical asian horror - boring ass beginning with the odd bit of stretched suspense and blood curdling images that stick in your head( doesn't work if you cover you eyes though, right Lu? Fong May?). Personally thought it wasn't particularly well written or scary- to this date nothing surpasses watching Ring ( jap version) alone at 3 am in the morning on a howling, windy night in a mostly empty boarding house AND by some freaky coincidence having your phone ring RIGHT after it....The movie was followed by more random faffing about and a singalong to about 3-am ish.
Paid accom. bills and went to the library today. Joined everyone else for frisbee for a while after dinner too. Spent the rest of the day trying to work.....Oh yeah had a japanese tea ceremony ( by tea ceremony i mean making powdered macha green tea and getting scalded by the damn coffee machine when it spluttered hot water on my hand instead of the damned cup). Well back to databases....need some points there to raise my average above passing..:)
Maaan can't wait for holidays to start ....dying to be back home in some nice sun, lepaking at hartamas and eating fuckloads of tasty tasty food.....
Had a little fun break after i was done failing my math paper - i was just messing about and catching up on some extra sleep weds nite when Lu and Alex randomly burst in, and before i knew it lionel, fong may and darren were here too and we were watching Ju-On( a lame subtitle-less tv-movie version of it anyway) Typical asian horror - boring ass beginning with the odd bit of stretched suspense and blood curdling images that stick in your head( doesn't work if you cover you eyes though, right Lu? Fong May?). Personally thought it wasn't particularly well written or scary- to this date nothing surpasses watching Ring ( jap version) alone at 3 am in the morning on a howling, windy night in a mostly empty boarding house AND by some freaky coincidence having your phone ring RIGHT after it....The movie was followed by more random faffing about and a singalong to about 3-am ish.
Paid accom. bills and went to the library today. Joined everyone else for frisbee for a while after dinner too. Spent the rest of the day trying to work.....Oh yeah had a japanese tea ceremony ( by tea ceremony i mean making powdered macha green tea and getting scalded by the damn coffee machine when it spluttered hot water on my hand instead of the damned cup). Well back to databases....need some points there to raise my average above passing..:)
Maaan can't wait for holidays to start ....dying to be back home in some nice sun, lepaking at hartamas and eating fuckloads of tasty tasty food.....
Monday, May 03, 2004
"The powers of a man's mind are directly proportional to the quantity of coffee he drinks" : 19th century Brit philospher, Sir James McKintosh
You'd think that with all those study-time espressos, i'd be a freakin Mensa twice over by now......probably shouldn't be complaining though...All that coffee's probably the only thing keeping my mind from goin to absolute mush. Maybe a randomly produced haiku would placate the gods of the Arabica bean:
Fragrant bean blossom
to creamy bitter sweet scent
Drink and study now!
( yes its in 5-7-5 and i didn't forget the season & cutting word)
Y'know what would be really, really useful right now? A conveniently placed life "rewind" button. Wouldn't mind a "Save/Load" menu as well. I'm sure at some point in life - a decision that you regret, something that could have been said better, an irreplaceable loss - whatever the reason might be, you just wish you can backtrack on life. Well right about now, i'm seriously wishing that i was doing another course elsewhere....like Art/Design/anything creative at a nice art college... ( or at the very least Mech Eng, Chem Eng or something more along my line). After 2/8 papers out of my finals.....well....YiKES. Can't even remember why i chose this course in the first place. Kinda regret not following through on the suggestion given ages past by my father to do medicine. Well who knows....maybe some other Amar in some other alternate universe who is doing say....Art at the Royal Academy or Medicine at Edinburgh U is blogging the same thing right now....
You'd think that with all those study-time espressos, i'd be a freakin Mensa twice over by now......probably shouldn't be complaining though...All that coffee's probably the only thing keeping my mind from goin to absolute mush. Maybe a randomly produced haiku would placate the gods of the Arabica bean:
Fragrant bean blossom
to creamy bitter sweet scent
Drink and study now!
( yes its in 5-7-5 and i didn't forget the season & cutting word)
Y'know what would be really, really useful right now? A conveniently placed life "rewind" button. Wouldn't mind a "Save/Load" menu as well. I'm sure at some point in life - a decision that you regret, something that could have been said better, an irreplaceable loss - whatever the reason might be, you just wish you can backtrack on life. Well right about now, i'm seriously wishing that i was doing another course elsewhere....like Art/Design/anything creative at a nice art college... ( or at the very least Mech Eng, Chem Eng or something more along my line). After 2/8 papers out of my finals.....well....YiKES. Can't even remember why i chose this course in the first place. Kinda regret not following through on the suggestion given ages past by my father to do medicine. Well who knows....maybe some other Amar in some other alternate universe who is doing say....Art at the Royal Academy or Medicine at Edinburgh U is blogging the same thing right now....
Sunday, May 02, 2004
*---ADDENDUM---*
Aaaaallrighty....The sun is fuckin' rising, the birds are fuckin' chirping and NOW i genuinely feel like blogging whats really on my mind...
I have been pretty fucking much on fucking edge recently. Exams are one thing...... British red tape and bureaucracy ( don't ask) ? A fucking pain in the ass..... but what's been really pissing me off recently is having to put up with annoying crap from annoying people, one in particular. Those of you who've known me for, like, a third my life would know that i have a high tolerance for crap and it'll take quite a lot to fucking piss me off.....Well...without going into names and details, lets just say that i'm pretty fucking pissed. Its just those little things that pile up over time and you just hold back from snapping at their fucking faces like a fucking piranha on a heroin bender until they curl up in the foetal position and cry like a baby. Haven't had a de-stressing session for a while either - had nobody to fence with, haven't the time or energy for a gym session and just don't feel like drawing anymore. I'm just fuckin waiting for a fuckin chance to open a deluxe can of whoopass on the next person who really pushes my buttons. eerrrrggGGGHHHHH
PHEW....now i feel sliiightly better.....
Forgot to mention that i just saw Kill Bill 2 the other day. Not as much action as the first, but the storyline was kinda better. Really felt the fury in the Elle/Bride trailer fight ( cool eye pluck) , laughed like a damned fool at the chinese chop-socky genre parody that is Gordon Liu's Pai Mei ( HAH ha ha haaa....[brushes beard] ) and went WTF quite a lot of times at those really random what-the-fuck-was-tarantino-thinking scenes( like the pregnancy test assasin and the classroom part) . SchwEEEt movie overall. Wonder what happened tho to the black guy in the movie-trailer( the first one for both parts ) that was supposed to get an ass-kicking from Bill.
Oh yeah....when Waris finally gives up and admits he's gay and we have no more randomness filling up the chatboard here's something that might interest y'all - got the idea from a friend's blog ( cheers pinky!) Its one of those long winded zodiac descriptions of your character and shit. This site goes quite a bit further and adds a lot of other rubbish too - read what is says for an arian male and let the Amar-bashing comments flow in. Be sure to read what it says about you too - enjoyyy!
Aaaaallrighty....The sun is fuckin' rising, the birds are fuckin' chirping and NOW i genuinely feel like blogging whats really on my mind...
I have been pretty fucking much on fucking edge recently. Exams are one thing...... British red tape and bureaucracy ( don't ask) ? A fucking pain in the ass..... but what's been really pissing me off recently is having to put up with annoying crap from annoying people, one in particular. Those of you who've known me for, like, a third my life would know that i have a high tolerance for crap and it'll take quite a lot to fucking piss me off.....Well...without going into names and details, lets just say that i'm pretty fucking pissed. Its just those little things that pile up over time and you just hold back from snapping at their fucking faces like a fucking piranha on a heroin bender until they curl up in the foetal position and cry like a baby. Haven't had a de-stressing session for a while either - had nobody to fence with, haven't the time or energy for a gym session and just don't feel like drawing anymore. I'm just fuckin waiting for a fuckin chance to open a deluxe can of whoopass on the next person who really pushes my buttons. eerrrrggGGGHHHHH
PHEW....now i feel sliiightly better.....
Forgot to mention that i just saw Kill Bill 2 the other day. Not as much action as the first, but the storyline was kinda better. Really felt the fury in the Elle/Bride trailer fight ( cool eye pluck) , laughed like a damned fool at the chinese chop-socky genre parody that is Gordon Liu's Pai Mei ( HAH ha ha haaa....[brushes beard] ) and went WTF quite a lot of times at those really random what-the-fuck-was-tarantino-thinking scenes( like the pregnancy test assasin and the classroom part) . SchwEEEt movie overall. Wonder what happened tho to the black guy in the movie-trailer( the first one for both parts ) that was supposed to get an ass-kicking from Bill.
Oh yeah....when Waris finally gives up and admits he's gay and we have no more randomness filling up the chatboard here's something that might interest y'all - got the idea from a friend's blog ( cheers pinky!) Its one of those long winded zodiac descriptions of your character and shit. This site goes quite a bit further and adds a lot of other rubbish too - read what is says for an arian male and let the Amar-bashing comments flow in. Be sure to read what it says about you too - enjoyyy!
Maan this is really getting to be a habit...i definitely meant to post more than one pathetic post a week, but you know...exams and shit ( yesss good excuse examsss). Haven't been in a particularly bore-my-friends-with-what-i-did-today mood either.
We-ell first week of exams are over, only two more to go. Even though it was only like two ( brutal ) papers it still kinda felt like a hectic week. Managed to crap in some proper hardcore last minute studying ( didn't seem to matter much for Programming II though...mamposss) aside the odd coffee session and similar distractions. Feared the absolute worst for Logic but in the end i guess it was... passable la....3 more to go next week : Computer Systems ( architecture, assembly and operating systems) , Maths & Graphics and Databases....need all the luck i'm gonna get.
Broke my damn glasses the other day....after wearing 'em with a nut missing for a week one lens just fell off and cracked. Crap-ass lenses - bah! Had to miss touring one of the houses we considered for accomodations next year to get down to Specsavers at Edgware to get another pair done. Still pricey despite offers and student discount - they had better be freakin invincible.
Oh yeah....the Krups espresso maker i won on eBay came in too...schweeeet - it was in perfect factory condition and worked beautifully. Starbucks can kiss my ass - oh wait...i still get the ground beans from them...crap. Anyway, considering the bargain i got on the coffeemaker it'll probably pay for itself ( in terms of starbucks espressos) in the next two weeks or so....Haha good practice if i ever apply to work as a barista back home at S'bucks 1U...
Finally, i just skimmed through the 1000-ish Easter Trip pictures we kinda cut down from the beginning 1600ish and chose a random ( and presentable - there are some that will NEVER see the web) selection to put up on my photos site. If you want to see more you can either wait for summer, or get your ass over here and post them up yourself...( dahlah malass....sibuk lagi lah braderrrr) Enjoyy!!
We-ell first week of exams are over, only two more to go. Even though it was only like two ( brutal ) papers it still kinda felt like a hectic week. Managed to crap in some proper hardcore last minute studying ( didn't seem to matter much for Programming II though...mamposss) aside the odd coffee session and similar distractions. Feared the absolute worst for Logic but in the end i guess it was... passable la....3 more to go next week : Computer Systems ( architecture, assembly and operating systems) , Maths & Graphics and Databases....need all the luck i'm gonna get.
Broke my damn glasses the other day....after wearing 'em with a nut missing for a week one lens just fell off and cracked. Crap-ass lenses - bah! Had to miss touring one of the houses we considered for accomodations next year to get down to Specsavers at Edgware to get another pair done. Still pricey despite offers and student discount - they had better be freakin invincible.
Oh yeah....the Krups espresso maker i won on eBay came in too...schweeeet - it was in perfect factory condition and worked beautifully. Starbucks can kiss my ass - oh wait...i still get the ground beans from them...crap. Anyway, considering the bargain i got on the coffeemaker it'll probably pay for itself ( in terms of starbucks espressos) in the next two weeks or so....Haha good practice if i ever apply to work as a barista back home at S'bucks 1U...
Finally, i just skimmed through the 1000-ish Easter Trip pictures we kinda cut down from the beginning 1600ish and chose a random ( and presentable - there are some that will NEVER see the web) selection to put up on my photos site. If you want to see more you can either wait for summer, or get your ass over here and post them up yourself...( dahlah malass....sibuk lagi lah braderrrr) Enjoyy!!
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Apologies for the entry-less week. Not that it was THAT uneventful - it was just that between the group dinners, TrYiNG to study and the zillion other distractions popping up outta nowhere - well, you know.
FInally startin to get down to some serious work( probably cos my first freakin paper is on Tuesday hmnn?). All these group dinners and the ensuing coffee/donuts/bitching/foosball sessions are murder on my energy and focus levels....dieeee!!! Next three weeks are gonna be horrendous. All 8 papers ( seriously - tengok past year papers macam nak nangis weiiii) starting with logic and Java theory next week. On top of that i'm still trying to wiggle in a coupla hours to check out kill bill 2. Also got snagged on eBay last week...finally stopped buying stuff - now i'm starting to SELL off some shit....Gotta wicked clubbing itch to scratch too - went cold turkey since...like...can't remember. Need to shake some assSSS!!
Had some days with particularly nice weather this week. Meant to give the IC mSOc's leaver's picnic on friday a miss but ended up going there to help bring the food down - and needless to say got glued down. If only SoMEoNE didn't call me to help..( I shALL destroy yOUU!!!!)Had loadsa fun though. Ended up more like a 1st year and 2nd year event....burned more potential study time on saturday when had dinner with the usual dinner group at Four Seasons, followed by half an hour-ish of DDR and Time Crisis 3 at Queensway bowl..dayyymn AND haagen dasz too....
Hahaha by the way get off my case on the holiday photos...they will be on soon enough!! aaAArrggh!!
FInally startin to get down to some serious work( probably cos my first freakin paper is on Tuesday hmnn?). All these group dinners and the ensuing coffee/donuts/bitching/foosball sessions are murder on my energy and focus levels....dieeee!!! Next three weeks are gonna be horrendous. All 8 papers ( seriously - tengok past year papers macam nak nangis weiiii) starting with logic and Java theory next week. On top of that i'm still trying to wiggle in a coupla hours to check out kill bill 2. Also got snagged on eBay last week...finally stopped buying stuff - now i'm starting to SELL off some shit....Gotta wicked clubbing itch to scratch too - went cold turkey since...like...can't remember. Need to shake some assSSS!!
Had some days with particularly nice weather this week. Meant to give the IC mSOc's leaver's picnic on friday a miss but ended up going there to help bring the food down - and needless to say got glued down. If only SoMEoNE didn't call me to help..( I shALL destroy yOUU!!!!)Had loadsa fun though. Ended up more like a 1st year and 2nd year event....burned more potential study time on saturday when had dinner with the usual dinner group at Four Seasons, followed by half an hour-ish of DDR and Time Crisis 3 at Queensway bowl..dayyymn AND haagen dasz too....
Hahaha by the way get off my case on the holiday photos...they will be on soon enough!! aaAArrggh!!
Monday, April 19, 2004
Meme (pron. meem): A contagious information pattern that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the pattern. Individual slogans, catch-phrases, melodies, icons, inventions, and fashions are typical memes. An idea or information pattern is not a meme until it causes someone to replicate it, to repeat it to someone else. All transmitted knowledge is memetic.
DAmN memes...first it was that stupid 'all your base' shit ....then it was 'BadgerBadgerBadger'... then now its 'Annoying Asians'..well skipping a few hundred in between anyway. This particularly irritatingly funny yet annoying one has got a coupla of us miming the moves and actually learning the damn korean lyrics over the last coupla nites - especially not good for studying....damn all internet memes.
Basically rained the whole freakin day sunday - cold and windy too. Just on friday it was a nice, sunny 20deg celsius - actually had a picnic at hyde park. Played football, ultimate frisbee aaand captainball. Gyaarh damn you, you catchphrase-stealing hallmates - gotta keep coming up with new ones ( "Bah!"). ALso kinda got ever so sliightly hooked on eBay a coupla days ago - luckily that didn't last for long. Progressively getting back in the groove of doing some serious work - gotta make a vow to do at least ONE all nighter at the library....
Oh yeah...while randomly faffing about online while 'trying to study' i chanced upon a site full of random funny videos, flashes and the like - eBaumsWorld. One particularly funny one is here and this will either leave you laughing in fits or sitting blankly going "wtf" again and again. Anyways, enjoy.
p.s. sorry about the delay in putting up the europe trip photos.... we still haven't finished sorting them out( hee hee hee). No promises, but they'll probably be up in a week-ish. In the meantime, cHiLLL.....
DAmN memes...first it was that stupid 'all your base' shit ....then it was 'BadgerBadgerBadger'... then now its 'Annoying Asians'..well skipping a few hundred in between anyway. This particularly irritatingly funny yet annoying one has got a coupla of us miming the moves and actually learning the damn korean lyrics over the last coupla nites - especially not good for studying....damn all internet memes.
Basically rained the whole freakin day sunday - cold and windy too. Just on friday it was a nice, sunny 20deg celsius - actually had a picnic at hyde park. Played football, ultimate frisbee aaand captainball. Gyaarh damn you, you catchphrase-stealing hallmates - gotta keep coming up with new ones ( "Bah!"). ALso kinda got ever so sliightly hooked on eBay a coupla days ago - luckily that didn't last for long. Progressively getting back in the groove of doing some serious work - gotta make a vow to do at least ONE all nighter at the library....
Oh yeah...while randomly faffing about online while 'trying to study' i chanced upon a site full of random funny videos, flashes and the like - eBaumsWorld. One particularly funny one is here and this will either leave you laughing in fits or sitting blankly going "wtf" again and again. Anyways, enjoy.
p.s. sorry about the delay in putting up the europe trip photos.... we still haven't finished sorting them out( hee hee hee). No promises, but they'll probably be up in a week-ish. In the meantime, cHiLLL.....
Thursday, April 15, 2004
13 days to go till finals....and i'm still not going full steam...
Maaan these group dinners and after dinner coffee/foosball/cocktalking sessions are lethal to my already futile efforts to seriously get down to work. Even the odd excursion out of the hall takes a chunk of the time that i would otherwise spend trying to study. Seriously fearing for my ....err...umm..somEThing...
Went out today with alex, darren, lionel, charlotte and yi shan for lunch and groceries in chinatown. Nice, warm sunny weather - definitely would have been tempted to go out anyway. Finally got my new phone after much stress and delay - damned english bank holidays. Just when i thought i had endured the innate inefficiency of Carphone Warehouse once and for all i would have to suffer more to return a damned data cable that doesn't work. EERrrghh...
Maaan these group dinners and after dinner coffee/foosball/cocktalking sessions are lethal to my already futile efforts to seriously get down to work. Even the odd excursion out of the hall takes a chunk of the time that i would otherwise spend trying to study. Seriously fearing for my ....err...umm..somEThing...
Went out today with alex, darren, lionel, charlotte and yi shan for lunch and groceries in chinatown. Nice, warm sunny weather - definitely would have been tempted to go out anyway. Finally got my new phone after much stress and delay - damned english bank holidays. Just when i thought i had endured the innate inefficiency of Carphone Warehouse once and for all i would have to suffer more to return a damned data cable that doesn't work. EERrrghh...
Monday, April 12, 2004
ohkayy here's my epic day-to day account of our adventures in Europe...enjoyy. Pictures to come soon once we finish sorting out all the blurred shots, duplicates and such.... ( yess i reallly tried to keep the daily entries short )
DAY 1 - 26th March : Departure
Daaaaymn that was close - almost missed our evening flight out to Vienna from Heathrow due to Malaysian timing and tube delays. Ended up running with our check in luggage to our boarding gate and having to deal with irate check in and immigration staff. Not a very good start.
Not very pleasant weather in Vienna upon arrival and through the next day - nasty nasty sleet. Very impressed with the airport/city centre train - a double decker with futuristic decor that makes the Heathrow express look like a tattered "Bas Mini". Very nice underground ( in europe its the U- Bahn) - runs on the honour system though - muwahaha. Our accomodations in Vienna were at the Wombat Hostel , west-ish of the town centre - the area looked kinda seedy at night though. Decent ensuite room with 3 double decker beds. Slept rather late on our first night after supper at a nearby quintisentially Austrian old-fashioned eatery.
DAY 2 - 27th March : Hellooo Vienna
Everyone rolled outta bed and got kinda ready around 11-ish. First thing on our list today was the Vienna town centre - Stephansplatz(*giggle*). Impressive, old, gothic cathedral in the centre of town. We then started exploring in a random pattern outwards from the town centre. The main shopping streets were quite nice with the odd touch of imperial architecture - quite a few chain stores that were irritatingly abundant back in London too like H&M, MNG etc. Slightly further out we had the museums and other historic buildings - very nice, very grand but we didn't actually have the time to check 'em out from the inside. Had afternoon tea at a pastry cafe and tried some of the local specialities - sachertorte(moist chocolate cake with apricot jam ), strudels and fruit teas - veeery nice. Also wandered into something like a farmer's market in the center of town. Loads of authentic austrian fare and crafts - nice. Had delicious deer goulash. Later on the others started on their sausage rampage - first off : kasekreiners - cheese filled sausages - didn't join them as i was still a bit wary of sausages ( "are you suuure its *beef*?") - the smell alone was driving me mental - arrrgh!!
After the evening snack of sausages we went back to the hostel to catch a nap before dinner. Slept like logs till the middle of the night. Something funny happened a bit later though. Our happy - couple-to-be got up first, and assuming we were all asleep they had a little private chat and then quietly sneaked out to *buy postcards*. As soon as they left 3 of us guys on the top bunks simultenously got up and realised that we all have been listening to them while pretending to be asleep for a whole half hour - had a good laugh about that. Soha was still nicely snoring though. Had another late supper at the same place later on when they got back.
DAY 3 - 28th March : Castle Schonberg
Barely woke up in time to wash up before we had to check out. The couple had woken up earlier to catch the Vienna Boys Choir at Sunday Mass and we had arranged to meet them again at the town centre at noon. Left our stuff at the hostel and had breakfast at a local coffee shop where we picked up a little more German out of necessity. Met up with Charlotte and Lionel later to do a spot of souvenir shopping and a little more sightseeing in town ( yaay another cathedral- woooooo). Returned mid-afternoon to chill out at the hostel and set out again on foot to the castle of Emperor Franz Josef in the south-west corner of town.
15- minute walk my ass - we took the better part of 45 mins getting to the castle. It was freaking huge. Not pretty or gilded like most european castles - just huuge. The central plaza alone could fit a domestic airport. The gardens were even bigger - had a natural pool, fountains, a maze garden, a lot of arches and a slope with more arches- again, the gardens were freaking huuuge!! Must've been good to be emperor. There was a small marketplace in the central plaze as well - probably an easter thing as they were selling loads of painted eggs and shit. Went crazy on the local food again - massive pretzels and *noodles* in cheese and onions..mmm. Bought a coupla more souvenirs and almost everybody bough some fruit teas (probably had something to do with the really cute tea-girl ). Went back to town to pick up our stuff and catch our 9.00 pm overnight train to zurich.
DAY 4 - 29th March : All things Swiss.....
Rolled into Zurich at 6am. Didn't really sleep too well - wasn't expecting much comfort from sleeping in 3 tiered bunks in a room barely bigger than a toilet that rocks and sways. Got some Swiss Francs at the station( pretty pretty notes) and everyone took turns freshening up at the very nice ( albeit expensive) washrooms at the station. Had some time before our afternoon train to Interlaken so we left our stuff in lockers and spent the better part of the day wandering around Zurich. The whole was very nice and very clean - clear sapphire river and bright, beautiful buildings. Explored the old shopping streets on the slopes and checked out another cathedral ( *snoore*) .The marina area was especially scenic.Shame everything's ridiculously expensive in Switzerland.
The train ride to Interlaken was quite scenic. Lots of lakes and snow capped vistas. The town itself was quite nice and small, but kinda touristy. Loads of asian restaurants and japanese signs for a small swiss village. We stayed at Backpackers Villa, probably the nicest hostel on our whole trip. Cheap, big and clean rooms with a huge decked out common kitchen and a tv/foosball room. Nice. Went around town in the evening - old-school scenic rural town. Most of the others decided to look for a place to have authentic swiss fondue but got turned off by the prices. Ended up having dinner at McD's instead. Bummer.
DAY 5 - 30th March : Off to the slopes!!
Group decision made last night to go skiing today. Our timing was kinda on today. After breakfast, getting our ski gear ( yeeks - about 130 francs for rentals and a half day ski pass) and getting to the train station where the trams to the skiing areas were, we got to Lauterbrunnen just to make the most of our half day passes. The slow scenic ride up the beautiful pristine slopes was slightly marred by the fact that i fucking forgot to take along the fucking batteries for my fucking camera - fuck!
After a coupla trams and lots of plodding around in ski boots we got to the start of the main skiiing area. Nice slopes and mountaincaps all around. Lionel and Darren taught us first-timers some of the basics to skiing (while little kids in their little skis whizzed circles around us). Luckily i picked it up kinda fast. After a coupla hours of whizzing up and down the kiddie slopes ( mental note : do not dress OVERLY warmly - it can get pretty hot up there with no clouds and you sweating under all those layers) we decided to give one of the beginner slopes a shot despite the other 3 not being very confident about it - big mistake. I got about 3 rounds up and down the slope ( fun!!! ski lifts were fun too!!) and lionel and darren got about 2 rounds down - on the third they decided to stick with the others who were kinda stuck early on while i decided to finish one more round and meet up with them on another run. By the time i got back up i was told that the ski lifts were closing and that the rangers would normally bring down any stragglers to the next lower station - grindenwald - so i caught the next train there to wait for them.
Waited till 6 but they still werent there. So i decided to hop on the train back to town to pick up everyone's shoes and stuff the left at the ski shop. Barely made it there at 6.30 when they were closing. Met up with them around 7-ish at the Interlaken East station. Apparently missed quite a bit. Darren screwed up his right ankle pretty badly( it was his first time snowboarding) and Soha skiid right into a shallow ravine and need rescuing by lionel and darren. Later they were picked up on snowmobiles by the rangers and brought back up to the peak station. Pushed darren back to the hostel on a train station trolley. Before everyone K-Oed we managed to have dinner at Hooters ( obviously not the ladies' first choice and yes, we know its NOT very Swiss ). Skiing is fun but murder on the body but even falling gets fun after a while - when you're going downhill really really fast and fall you tumble like a ragdoll and your skis and poles , like, scatter.
DAY 6 - 31th March : Germany
Woke up aching everywhere - literally - pushing darren( he picked up a nice walking stick of fallen pine - henceforth known as the stick of Darren ) back on the trolley to the train station first thing in the morning didn't really help. The pain made travelling for the next 14 hours all the more fun. Barely made it on the early train back to Zurich, bought some lunch there and boarded another 6 hour train to Munich, Germany ( plain clothes immigration officers - scaryy). Our plan to try and get accomodation in Munich at the last minute fizzled because of some random carnival in town, so instead of going on a day trip to Fuussen tomorrow we decided to gamble and take the train there and stay the night. Luckily we found a B&B there. Pulled into Fuussen around 1000 pm and made our way to "Suzzanne's B&B". Very nice and cozy. We got the attic room- Everyone, especially alex was soo happy to get cozy, comfy single beds. Group decision to make the couple sleep on the remaining two beds in the landing outside the attic - hee hee hee. Hoping to see something *interesting* happen at Castle Neuchschwanstein tomorrow.....
DAY 7 - 1st April : Return to Castle Wolfe...err...Neuschwanstein
After a nice homely breakfast we made our way to the hill where King Ludwig's castles stood. The plan was to take a tour of the most famous one - Neuschwanstein. Turned out to be a veeery touristy place. It was swarming with damn asian tourists - noisy, pug faced old people with cameras that weigh a ton. Coughed up 5 Euros each for a (dissapointingly boring - and smelly ) horse carriage ride up the slope to the castle - we could have walked faster though.
The castle was disappointingly small - well it was alright since it was only really meant for Ludwig himself and a coupla servants. Took the rather brief "english" spoken tour. The interiors of the castle were kinda plain and vanilla except for a LOT of religious imagery and the odd swan motif here and there. Despite photography being forbidden in the castle alex and soha managed to steal a few shots. Huge souvenir store in the castle. Later had a nice quintesentially bavarian lunch back down at the foot of the hill.
Later on we took a train back to Munich- we had much earlier secured accomodations for the next coupla days. It was a looong 45 minute walk from the train station to the "International House" - especially carrying all our gear. The place turned out to be very much like a international student hall/hostel with a lot of weird rules ( in bad english) . The rooms were kinda dingy and full of graffiti. Kinda noisy too. Darren was really falling sick and i was still bloody aching.
DAY 8 - 2nd April : Around Munich
As usual we started in the town centre and worked our way around from there to nearby landmarks. Saw a couple Catholic churches( schema - get in, picture of altar, picture of organ, fall asleep in pews) , the town hall and some other nice landmarks. Found a nice big market area not too far from the town center - lots of smells and colours...niiiice. At Darrens behest we trundled along to look for the "English Gardens" while it was still sunny ( Germans sunbathing - hint hint hint ) The garden was kinda reminiscent of Hyde Park, but *certain* aspects of the view were dissappointing - sorry Darren. Had another typically Bavarian meal at the huuge beergarden in the park while enjoying the very very sunny weather - there was also live traditional Bavarian music. Supplemented our skiing tan with a ..err..um....sitting-down-and-eating-in-the-sun tan. Later on a couple of us laid back and enjoyed the sun as well. Did a little more sightseeing and shopping into the night and had a takeaway supper of McD's and strawberries.
DAY 9 - 3rd April : Berlin
Got on a long afternoon train to Berlin. Not as seedy as Munich but still kinda drab. Didn't see much signs of the city being the much touted "clubbing capital of Europe". Stayed at a nice huuuge room at the Club House Hostel ( so named because of the multiple clubs below it) Had a Thai dinner( too bad Darren was still ill and resting back at the room ) of all things at a cheap place back at the train station. Went back to see a very big ( and strangely old ) crowd back at the hostel - no wonder - the club was having an ABBA thing that night. Spent the remainder of the night playing cards and planning tomorrow's route.
DAY 10 - 4th April : Wandering around..
Didn't make a very good call going to Treptower Park - didn't find the Soviet War memorial ( well it probably wasnt within walking distance anyway) and my second idea of going to a nearby flea market wasnt too good either - very dogdy and dingy place that sold utter rubbish - old tv remotes and mostly other random rubbish that you'd normally throw away. So much for old antiques and actually useful stuff. Later on did the normal town center stuff, saw a few more cathedrals( znngkk..*snore*). Stopped by at a mall near the TV tower to get some chocolates( they went mental on the discounted after-eights)and drinks after having lunch at another small market/fair thingy nearby and walked all the way back to our hostel. Actually came across quite a few very historic places on the way back - Humbolt University, the book burning square and a conveniently enough a huge souvenir shop. Later on had a nice dinner at a Vietnamese place nearby( we were probably really tired of german food) and surprise surprise, played more cards when we got back. So much for work. Nodded off early while the other kept playing cards. Apparently they had a little noodle party later with a local later in the wee hours.
DAY 11 - 5th April : A walking history lesson...
We originally meant to take a walking tour around the historical sites, but kinda ditched the plan when it started raining after breakfast. We decided to wait it out playing cards ( what else) and planned our own walking route to cover some of the places. The happy couple ditched us to get a head start on the sightseeing - who cares about rain when you got your own private bubble, eyy? ( *boiyoing*). The remaining four of us set out a little later - our first stop was the Reichstag - the parliament building. Very huge and imposing. We meant to take the tour inside and check out the view from the huge glass dome at the center but the queue was just too freakin long so we jsut took some pictures and walked down the street to the famous Brandenburg Gate. Lots of history behind it - very nice structure too. Made our way further down to see the Topography of Terror - a 200m section of the original Berlin Wall and a very long exhibition about the dark side of the German AND the Soviet regime there - too bad it was all in German except for the odd bit. Lastly we managed to stop by another important cold-war landmark -Checkpoint Charlie where wall-era east-west traffic had to go through Soviet and American control.
Everybody met up later at the town center again to look for a supposedly good local restaurant recommended to us by the hostel. Bad luck - it was full. Ended up eating back at the town centre at a cheapo franchise restaurant. Went back late to see the Brandenburg Gate lit up at night - niice.
DAY 12 - 6th April : Hamburg
We were really early for our afternoon train to Hamburg, which was strangely out of fashion of us. Anyway, that gave some time for Charlotte and Lionel to check out another bit of the wall nearby the train station. A quick train ride later we were in Hamburg - another typically German city. Our hotel may have been in a slightly seedy, immigrant-overrun part of town, but it was a schweet 4 star hotel - a far cry at the other places we've been staying at for the whole trip. Quite reticent to leave our very comfy room, but decided to check out a seasonal fair which happened to be on now. It was huuge, but pretty typical - rides, food, win-a-huge-fluffy-toy booths and the like. A coupla of us tried one of the shooting games, but nobody won anything...hahaha. In the end we just tanked up on candy, and a little more German food after a round of bumper cars. Back at the hotel- more surrealness - drinking tea and eating candy and talking about the weather over nasty german porn( which crafty, horny darren managed to get for free with a little trick with the remote). Nuff said. Soha can't be having that much fun being dumped in the other room( it was 3 to a room) so we had problems getting her to go back. In the end we slept at around 5-ish after talking more rubbish, and more porn ( ein, zwei, drei, OLE!)
DAY 13 - 7rd April : das Enden
Had some time to burn before our 7.50pm flight, so after breakfast we went off early to the train station, stashed our stuff in lockers and explored the town center - same ol, same ol. Only difference was we spent a disturbing amount of time in a Lego store and almost everybody walked out with something. There was an entire shop devoted to maggi stuff as well - well not the maggi stuff that we know, anyway.
Caught the airport express bus from the train station to the airport - not taking any chances this time and went really early. Well in the end we didn't have THAT much time to spare - security at the airport was , like, really tight - Darren had problems with The Stick ( had to be checked in as oversize baggage) and a quill pen i bought as a souvenir caused a little bit of alarm at the boarding scan. Felt soo good to be on the plane back. Felt even better to actually be back. Now if only i can get started with tht studying.....
DAY 1 - 26th March : Departure
Daaaaymn that was close - almost missed our evening flight out to Vienna from Heathrow due to Malaysian timing and tube delays. Ended up running with our check in luggage to our boarding gate and having to deal with irate check in and immigration staff. Not a very good start.
Not very pleasant weather in Vienna upon arrival and through the next day - nasty nasty sleet. Very impressed with the airport/city centre train - a double decker with futuristic decor that makes the Heathrow express look like a tattered "Bas Mini". Very nice underground ( in europe its the U- Bahn) - runs on the honour system though - muwahaha. Our accomodations in Vienna were at the Wombat Hostel , west-ish of the town centre - the area looked kinda seedy at night though. Decent ensuite room with 3 double decker beds. Slept rather late on our first night after supper at a nearby quintisentially Austrian old-fashioned eatery.
DAY 2 - 27th March : Hellooo Vienna
Everyone rolled outta bed and got kinda ready around 11-ish. First thing on our list today was the Vienna town centre - Stephansplatz(*giggle*). Impressive, old, gothic cathedral in the centre of town. We then started exploring in a random pattern outwards from the town centre. The main shopping streets were quite nice with the odd touch of imperial architecture - quite a few chain stores that were irritatingly abundant back in London too like H&M, MNG etc. Slightly further out we had the museums and other historic buildings - very nice, very grand but we didn't actually have the time to check 'em out from the inside. Had afternoon tea at a pastry cafe and tried some of the local specialities - sachertorte(moist chocolate cake with apricot jam ), strudels and fruit teas - veeery nice. Also wandered into something like a farmer's market in the center of town. Loads of authentic austrian fare and crafts - nice. Had delicious deer goulash. Later on the others started on their sausage rampage - first off : kasekreiners - cheese filled sausages - didn't join them as i was still a bit wary of sausages ( "are you suuure its *beef*?") - the smell alone was driving me mental - arrrgh!!
After the evening snack of sausages we went back to the hostel to catch a nap before dinner. Slept like logs till the middle of the night. Something funny happened a bit later though. Our happy - couple-to-be got up first, and assuming we were all asleep they had a little private chat and then quietly sneaked out to *buy postcards*. As soon as they left 3 of us guys on the top bunks simultenously got up and realised that we all have been listening to them while pretending to be asleep for a whole half hour - had a good laugh about that. Soha was still nicely snoring though. Had another late supper at the same place later on when they got back.
DAY 3 - 28th March : Castle Schonberg
Barely woke up in time to wash up before we had to check out. The couple had woken up earlier to catch the Vienna Boys Choir at Sunday Mass and we had arranged to meet them again at the town centre at noon. Left our stuff at the hostel and had breakfast at a local coffee shop where we picked up a little more German out of necessity. Met up with Charlotte and Lionel later to do a spot of souvenir shopping and a little more sightseeing in town ( yaay another cathedral- woooooo). Returned mid-afternoon to chill out at the hostel and set out again on foot to the castle of Emperor Franz Josef in the south-west corner of town.
15- minute walk my ass - we took the better part of 45 mins getting to the castle. It was freaking huge. Not pretty or gilded like most european castles - just huuge. The central plaza alone could fit a domestic airport. The gardens were even bigger - had a natural pool, fountains, a maze garden, a lot of arches and a slope with more arches- again, the gardens were freaking huuuge!! Must've been good to be emperor. There was a small marketplace in the central plaze as well - probably an easter thing as they were selling loads of painted eggs and shit. Went crazy on the local food again - massive pretzels and *noodles* in cheese and onions..mmm. Bought a coupla more souvenirs and almost everybody bough some fruit teas (probably had something to do with the really cute tea-girl ). Went back to town to pick up our stuff and catch our 9.00 pm overnight train to zurich.
DAY 4 - 29th March : All things Swiss.....
Rolled into Zurich at 6am. Didn't really sleep too well - wasn't expecting much comfort from sleeping in 3 tiered bunks in a room barely bigger than a toilet that rocks and sways. Got some Swiss Francs at the station( pretty pretty notes) and everyone took turns freshening up at the very nice ( albeit expensive) washrooms at the station. Had some time before our afternoon train to Interlaken so we left our stuff in lockers and spent the better part of the day wandering around Zurich. The whole was very nice and very clean - clear sapphire river and bright, beautiful buildings. Explored the old shopping streets on the slopes and checked out another cathedral ( *snoore*) .The marina area was especially scenic.Shame everything's ridiculously expensive in Switzerland.
The train ride to Interlaken was quite scenic. Lots of lakes and snow capped vistas. The town itself was quite nice and small, but kinda touristy. Loads of asian restaurants and japanese signs for a small swiss village. We stayed at Backpackers Villa, probably the nicest hostel on our whole trip. Cheap, big and clean rooms with a huge decked out common kitchen and a tv/foosball room. Nice. Went around town in the evening - old-school scenic rural town. Most of the others decided to look for a place to have authentic swiss fondue but got turned off by the prices. Ended up having dinner at McD's instead. Bummer.
DAY 5 - 30th March : Off to the slopes!!
Group decision made last night to go skiing today. Our timing was kinda on today. After breakfast, getting our ski gear ( yeeks - about 130 francs for rentals and a half day ski pass) and getting to the train station where the trams to the skiing areas were, we got to Lauterbrunnen just to make the most of our half day passes. The slow scenic ride up the beautiful pristine slopes was slightly marred by the fact that i fucking forgot to take along the fucking batteries for my fucking camera - fuck!
After a coupla trams and lots of plodding around in ski boots we got to the start of the main skiiing area. Nice slopes and mountaincaps all around. Lionel and Darren taught us first-timers some of the basics to skiing (while little kids in their little skis whizzed circles around us). Luckily i picked it up kinda fast. After a coupla hours of whizzing up and down the kiddie slopes ( mental note : do not dress OVERLY warmly - it can get pretty hot up there with no clouds and you sweating under all those layers) we decided to give one of the beginner slopes a shot despite the other 3 not being very confident about it - big mistake. I got about 3 rounds up and down the slope ( fun!!! ski lifts were fun too!!) and lionel and darren got about 2 rounds down - on the third they decided to stick with the others who were kinda stuck early on while i decided to finish one more round and meet up with them on another run. By the time i got back up i was told that the ski lifts were closing and that the rangers would normally bring down any stragglers to the next lower station - grindenwald - so i caught the next train there to wait for them.
Waited till 6 but they still werent there. So i decided to hop on the train back to town to pick up everyone's shoes and stuff the left at the ski shop. Barely made it there at 6.30 when they were closing. Met up with them around 7-ish at the Interlaken East station. Apparently missed quite a bit. Darren screwed up his right ankle pretty badly( it was his first time snowboarding) and Soha skiid right into a shallow ravine and need rescuing by lionel and darren. Later they were picked up on snowmobiles by the rangers and brought back up to the peak station. Pushed darren back to the hostel on a train station trolley. Before everyone K-Oed we managed to have dinner at Hooters ( obviously not the ladies' first choice and yes, we know its NOT very Swiss ). Skiing is fun but murder on the body but even falling gets fun after a while - when you're going downhill really really fast and fall you tumble like a ragdoll and your skis and poles , like, scatter.
DAY 6 - 31th March : Germany
Woke up aching everywhere - literally - pushing darren( he picked up a nice walking stick of fallen pine - henceforth known as the stick of Darren ) back on the trolley to the train station first thing in the morning didn't really help. The pain made travelling for the next 14 hours all the more fun. Barely made it on the early train back to Zurich, bought some lunch there and boarded another 6 hour train to Munich, Germany ( plain clothes immigration officers - scaryy). Our plan to try and get accomodation in Munich at the last minute fizzled because of some random carnival in town, so instead of going on a day trip to Fuussen tomorrow we decided to gamble and take the train there and stay the night. Luckily we found a B&B there. Pulled into Fuussen around 1000 pm and made our way to "Suzzanne's B&B". Very nice and cozy. We got the attic room- Everyone, especially alex was soo happy to get cozy, comfy single beds. Group decision to make the couple sleep on the remaining two beds in the landing outside the attic - hee hee hee. Hoping to see something *interesting* happen at Castle Neuchschwanstein tomorrow.....
DAY 7 - 1st April : Return to Castle Wolfe...err...Neuschwanstein
After a nice homely breakfast we made our way to the hill where King Ludwig's castles stood. The plan was to take a tour of the most famous one - Neuschwanstein. Turned out to be a veeery touristy place. It was swarming with damn asian tourists - noisy, pug faced old people with cameras that weigh a ton. Coughed up 5 Euros each for a (dissapointingly boring - and smelly ) horse carriage ride up the slope to the castle - we could have walked faster though.
The castle was disappointingly small - well it was alright since it was only really meant for Ludwig himself and a coupla servants. Took the rather brief "english" spoken tour. The interiors of the castle were kinda plain and vanilla except for a LOT of religious imagery and the odd swan motif here and there. Despite photography being forbidden in the castle alex and soha managed to steal a few shots. Huge souvenir store in the castle. Later had a nice quintesentially bavarian lunch back down at the foot of the hill.
Later on we took a train back to Munich- we had much earlier secured accomodations for the next coupla days. It was a looong 45 minute walk from the train station to the "International House" - especially carrying all our gear. The place turned out to be very much like a international student hall/hostel with a lot of weird rules ( in bad english) . The rooms were kinda dingy and full of graffiti. Kinda noisy too. Darren was really falling sick and i was still bloody aching.
DAY 8 - 2nd April : Around Munich
As usual we started in the town centre and worked our way around from there to nearby landmarks. Saw a couple Catholic churches( schema - get in, picture of altar, picture of organ, fall asleep in pews) , the town hall and some other nice landmarks. Found a nice big market area not too far from the town center - lots of smells and colours...niiiice. At Darrens behest we trundled along to look for the "English Gardens" while it was still sunny ( Germans sunbathing - hint hint hint ) The garden was kinda reminiscent of Hyde Park, but *certain* aspects of the view were dissappointing - sorry Darren. Had another typically Bavarian meal at the huuge beergarden in the park while enjoying the very very sunny weather - there was also live traditional Bavarian music. Supplemented our skiing tan with a ..err..um....sitting-down-and-eating-in-the-sun tan. Later on a couple of us laid back and enjoyed the sun as well. Did a little more sightseeing and shopping into the night and had a takeaway supper of McD's and strawberries.
DAY 9 - 3rd April : Berlin
Got on a long afternoon train to Berlin. Not as seedy as Munich but still kinda drab. Didn't see much signs of the city being the much touted "clubbing capital of Europe". Stayed at a nice huuuge room at the Club House Hostel ( so named because of the multiple clubs below it) Had a Thai dinner( too bad Darren was still ill and resting back at the room ) of all things at a cheap place back at the train station. Went back to see a very big ( and strangely old ) crowd back at the hostel - no wonder - the club was having an ABBA thing that night. Spent the remainder of the night playing cards and planning tomorrow's route.
DAY 10 - 4th April : Wandering around..
Didn't make a very good call going to Treptower Park - didn't find the Soviet War memorial ( well it probably wasnt within walking distance anyway) and my second idea of going to a nearby flea market wasnt too good either - very dogdy and dingy place that sold utter rubbish - old tv remotes and mostly other random rubbish that you'd normally throw away. So much for old antiques and actually useful stuff. Later on did the normal town center stuff, saw a few more cathedrals( znngkk..*snore*). Stopped by at a mall near the TV tower to get some chocolates( they went mental on the discounted after-eights)and drinks after having lunch at another small market/fair thingy nearby and walked all the way back to our hostel. Actually came across quite a few very historic places on the way back - Humbolt University, the book burning square and a conveniently enough a huge souvenir shop. Later on had a nice dinner at a Vietnamese place nearby( we were probably really tired of german food) and surprise surprise, played more cards when we got back. So much for work. Nodded off early while the other kept playing cards. Apparently they had a little noodle party later with a local later in the wee hours.
DAY 11 - 5th April : A walking history lesson...
We originally meant to take a walking tour around the historical sites, but kinda ditched the plan when it started raining after breakfast. We decided to wait it out playing cards ( what else) and planned our own walking route to cover some of the places. The happy couple ditched us to get a head start on the sightseeing - who cares about rain when you got your own private bubble, eyy? ( *boiyoing*). The remaining four of us set out a little later - our first stop was the Reichstag - the parliament building. Very huge and imposing. We meant to take the tour inside and check out the view from the huge glass dome at the center but the queue was just too freakin long so we jsut took some pictures and walked down the street to the famous Brandenburg Gate. Lots of history behind it - very nice structure too. Made our way further down to see the Topography of Terror - a 200m section of the original Berlin Wall and a very long exhibition about the dark side of the German AND the Soviet regime there - too bad it was all in German except for the odd bit. Lastly we managed to stop by another important cold-war landmark -Checkpoint Charlie where wall-era east-west traffic had to go through Soviet and American control.
Everybody met up later at the town center again to look for a supposedly good local restaurant recommended to us by the hostel. Bad luck - it was full. Ended up eating back at the town centre at a cheapo franchise restaurant. Went back late to see the Brandenburg Gate lit up at night - niice.
DAY 12 - 6th April : Hamburg
We were really early for our afternoon train to Hamburg, which was strangely out of fashion of us. Anyway, that gave some time for Charlotte and Lionel to check out another bit of the wall nearby the train station. A quick train ride later we were in Hamburg - another typically German city. Our hotel may have been in a slightly seedy, immigrant-overrun part of town, but it was a schweet 4 star hotel - a far cry at the other places we've been staying at for the whole trip. Quite reticent to leave our very comfy room, but decided to check out a seasonal fair which happened to be on now. It was huuge, but pretty typical - rides, food, win-a-huge-fluffy-toy booths and the like. A coupla of us tried one of the shooting games, but nobody won anything...hahaha. In the end we just tanked up on candy, and a little more German food after a round of bumper cars. Back at the hotel- more surrealness - drinking tea and eating candy and talking about the weather over nasty german porn( which crafty, horny darren managed to get for free with a little trick with the remote). Nuff said. Soha can't be having that much fun being dumped in the other room( it was 3 to a room) so we had problems getting her to go back. In the end we slept at around 5-ish after talking more rubbish, and more porn ( ein, zwei, drei, OLE!)
DAY 13 - 7rd April : das Enden
Had some time to burn before our 7.50pm flight, so after breakfast we went off early to the train station, stashed our stuff in lockers and explored the town center - same ol, same ol. Only difference was we spent a disturbing amount of time in a Lego store and almost everybody walked out with something. There was an entire shop devoted to maggi stuff as well - well not the maggi stuff that we know, anyway.
Caught the airport express bus from the train station to the airport - not taking any chances this time and went really early. Well in the end we didn't have THAT much time to spare - security at the airport was , like, really tight - Darren had problems with The Stick ( had to be checked in as oversize baggage) and a quill pen i bought as a souvenir caused a little bit of alarm at the boarding scan. Felt soo good to be on the plane back. Felt even better to actually be back. Now if only i can get started with tht studying.....
Saturday, April 10, 2004
ooohhkay - i'm finally back from our amazing race across Austria, Switzerland and Germany...well actually i got back on Wednesday but have been too lazy to post anything - but i've got loads of stuff coming up though. I kinda kept a day-to-day written log of all the stuff that we did and as soon as i get all that typed up i'll post it( its gonna be one LOOOOng post though...and a bit sketchy towards the end) Once we finish sorting through the 1500-ish photos from all our cameras i will post a few select ones on my photos site as well - watch this space!
I really really have to start panicking - i have 8 exam modules starting on the 27th this month and i have just around 2 weeks to prepare...scarynesss - last two days since coming back haven't been very productive. hehe i'd be kidding myself if i said i was gonna start full steam this saturday...whatever it is i'm gonna have to set aside a some time for kill bill 2 - opening on most probably the 23rd. From the looks of the trailer its gonna be cooler than the first episode. Daaamn there are a lot of interesting movies coming this easter...if only i had the time to watch a couple more.
Anyways i'd better get some momentum going and start hitting the books - just hope they don't hit back!
I really really have to start panicking - i have 8 exam modules starting on the 27th this month and i have just around 2 weeks to prepare...scarynesss - last two days since coming back haven't been very productive. hehe i'd be kidding myself if i said i was gonna start full steam this saturday...whatever it is i'm gonna have to set aside a some time for kill bill 2 - opening on most probably the 23rd. From the looks of the trailer its gonna be cooler than the first episode. Daaamn there are a lot of interesting movies coming this easter...if only i had the time to watch a couple more.
Anyways i'd better get some momentum going and start hitting the books - just hope they don't hit back!
Friday, March 26, 2004
DuuuuuUUde the last coupla days have been crayyyzaaayyy.....and oh yeah i'm finally twentaayyyyyy!!!!
Well Monday and Tuesday was the 'work' kinda crazy.....still had a Java lab to hand in Monday....and the Java final lab exam on tuesday -errrghhh i'll be happy with a clean pass - i'm ,like, totally screwed if i don't make the cut on the Programming course.....Strangely wasnt in a very celebratory mood after that......mostly just moped around that night.
Wednesday was just plaaain crazy - had my birthday 'celebration' that night ( urrm....yeah....ohhh-kayy thanks for the present guyssss.......ermm.....) after the end-of term bar party and foosball competition. The afternoon was agony tho....1-7 at the freakin mSoc AGm - voting for the pres and the v.pres alone took ages. The warbling chattybitches who argued about the technicalities of the -5-3-2 point system didn't help it finish any sooner. Hehe by the end of the AGM we had a very violent committee - an Oestrogen dominated ( and Linstead dominated too) one.
Thursday? Woke up with a ringer of a headache and a tingling nausea that continued for most of the day ( guess why ) Managed to go on a quick shopping run before dinner though. Finalized the plans for our trip through germany and switzerland - leaving on a 6-ish pm flight friday......needless to say i most probably won't be blogging or replying email ( ooOOOh the HoRroRsss!) for almost 2 weeks......damn had better make sure i bring enough work - no - GET enough work done on the trip ( anyone who said "huat ar" - screw youuuu ) to stand a chance at doing well at my finals....RIGHT after Easter vacation.....diee.....Haha had a little supper party at my room around midnight which ended up with alex, lu and lim ( okay mee too) makin a whole buncha weird videos with my camera ( fear the pinching pliers of doOOOMM!!) - hahahaha some good shit there.....
soo....till next time - auf viederschen! gotta finish packing!!!
Well Monday and Tuesday was the 'work' kinda crazy.....still had a Java lab to hand in Monday....and the Java final lab exam on tuesday -errrghhh i'll be happy with a clean pass - i'm ,like, totally screwed if i don't make the cut on the Programming course.....Strangely wasnt in a very celebratory mood after that......mostly just moped around that night.
Wednesday was just plaaain crazy - had my birthday 'celebration' that night ( urrm....yeah....ohhh-kayy thanks for the present guyssss.......ermm.....) after the end-of term bar party and foosball competition. The afternoon was agony tho....1-7 at the freakin mSoc AGm - voting for the pres and the v.pres alone took ages. The warbling chattybitches who argued about the technicalities of the -5-3-2 point system didn't help it finish any sooner. Hehe by the end of the AGM we had a very violent committee - an Oestrogen dominated ( and Linstead dominated too) one.
Thursday? Woke up with a ringer of a headache and a tingling nausea that continued for most of the day ( guess why ) Managed to go on a quick shopping run before dinner though. Finalized the plans for our trip through germany and switzerland - leaving on a 6-ish pm flight friday......needless to say i most probably won't be blogging or replying email ( ooOOOh the HoRroRsss!) for almost 2 weeks......damn had better make sure i bring enough work - no - GET enough work done on the trip ( anyone who said "huat ar" - screw youuuu ) to stand a chance at doing well at my finals....RIGHT after Easter vacation.....diee.....Haha had a little supper party at my room around midnight which ended up with alex, lu and lim ( okay mee too) makin a whole buncha weird videos with my camera ( fear the pinching pliers of doOOOMM!!) - hahahaha some good shit there.....
soo....till next time - auf viederschen! gotta finish packing!!!
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Less than a week to go to the end of term....
Had a blast on friday - and early saturday morn'. Went to see LSE's joint Msoc/Singsoc event with some hallmates - the Kuah and the King Slu...i mean PLaYaaaA ( who was here for spring break) also came along. Haha the show was kinda disappointing - and thats even before comparing it to IC's mnite. The skit capitalising on singaporean/m'sian stereotypes was kinda funny though - until they started getting wayyyy to0 political ( apparently the m'sian high comm vip representative wasnt amused and left before the skit finished) .
Ditched the show soon after the skit with the other two Cempakans to meet the rest in Leicester Square - had a late dinner there and then lepaked at ( where else ) haagen dasz. Then we crashed for a while at J.Y's place and then moved on to burn away the rest of the night/morning at my crib. Needless to say , the whole night was spent talking random rubbish and reminiscing on the odd funny school story. Freakin barrels of laughter....waris...izran..if only you guys were here - suuuure gelak sampai pecah perut siaLLL
Saturday was kinda unproductive and boring.......after sleepin at like 7am and waking up at 3 just milled around and did juuust a little bit of work. Shared dinner with Lu, Alex, Lionel, Darren and charlotte at the ( strangely deserted) bar and did the usual stuff.Yup. B-O-R-I-N-G. At least got a little bit of work done. THink i'll give the London Games a miss tomorrow and try and get more work done (*riight*). Hahaha apologies if this entry wasn't particularly entertaining or witty......tired and burnt out - really can't wait for the term to end....*slump*
Had a blast on friday - and early saturday morn'. Went to see LSE's joint Msoc/Singsoc event with some hallmates - the Kuah and the King Slu...i mean PLaYaaaA ( who was here for spring break) also came along. Haha the show was kinda disappointing - and thats even before comparing it to IC's mnite. The skit capitalising on singaporean/m'sian stereotypes was kinda funny though - until they started getting wayyyy to0 political ( apparently the m'sian high comm vip representative wasnt amused and left before the skit finished) .
Ditched the show soon after the skit with the other two Cempakans to meet the rest in Leicester Square - had a late dinner there and then lepaked at ( where else ) haagen dasz. Then we crashed for a while at J.Y's place and then moved on to burn away the rest of the night/morning at my crib. Needless to say , the whole night was spent talking random rubbish and reminiscing on the odd funny school story. Freakin barrels of laughter....waris...izran..if only you guys were here - suuuure gelak sampai pecah perut siaLLL
Saturday was kinda unproductive and boring.......after sleepin at like 7am and waking up at 3 just milled around and did juuust a little bit of work. Shared dinner with Lu, Alex, Lionel, Darren and charlotte at the ( strangely deserted) bar and did the usual stuff.Yup. B-O-R-I-N-G. At least got a little bit of work done. THink i'll give the London Games a miss tomorrow and try and get more work done (*riight*). Hahaha apologies if this entry wasn't particularly entertaining or witty......tired and burnt out - really can't wait for the term to end....*slump*
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