Long time no blog

Firstly a quick catch up:

Summer was fun!! Went backpacking around Eurpose - Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and Switzeland (via Bosnia and France as well). See Xiyus blog for more detail, Sophie/Xiyus zoto galleries for pics! (will add the links later)

Nothing else happened during summer worth mentioning... oh perphaps this - i now have 6 lovely cordoryas! My tanks is looking a lot better. Oh oh oh i also brought new plants and re-aquascaped my tank, it was full of algae due to negligence during exam period and FYP.... tut tut me. Its looking slightly better but still a bit sparse.... i gave up and resorted to using an anti-algae chemical.... oh well all my fish seemed fine. :) Still needs alotta work.

Started masters at Imperial - environmental technology.... pretty intensive. First week 5 full days (9-5:30/6). Second week was slightly better, 2 arvos off. Now on third week. The lectures are ok.... its very broad though.... economics suck! Law is only slightly better... ecology is obviosuly fine! lol, well just! i still feel like i should be doing extra reading for it seeing as thats the area i am most likely to score highly....

Tonight had policy seminar on oil pollution.... it was one of the only lectures i truely enjoyed!! In the previous two weeks i was wondering whether i chose the right course (esp with the wide topics of lectures), what i wanted to do afterwards, etc etc.... well that was until today. I was also asked by my personal tutor what area am i interested in and any ideas on what i would like to do for project... my reply was not sure, i couldnt even describe my area of interest! I am hoping this course will help.... but so far project ideas - oil pollution or something on fisheries and pollution. Oh well still plenty of time to think....

After all policy seminars there is a social session - to ask questions and have free wine! Decided to stay for 5-10 mins... ended up staying for 40! Needed to get home to work.... oh well need to be off, that presentation isnt gonna do itself! lol.

Elk

Xi the alcoholic's "Happy place". Her favourite bar.

I left the house late, around 10-15 mins. I was STILL playing FFTA 5 mins after i was planning on leaving the house. I blame that on Princess! She kept telling me Esuna doesnt cure Charm! It does! Thats what i used.... in the end i couldnt test it, it took far too long to try and charm the enemy... boo them! Thinking i would be late again, i need not have worried, i was first there!!! Then Xi arrived next, also on time..... seeing no one we decided to head off to Elk... actually Xi seemed rearing to start drinking!!

Bonnie, Anna, Karen, Xiao and Bernard arrived later. Cocktails and nibbles.... the mountain of nachos, really is a mountain and well worth the price! The cumberland sausages with honey were delicious! Next time i go will def have those again! I had vanilla tulep (or something)... it was rather bitter. Then had a jug of vodka mango something or another.... that was more to my tastes.

Arunon, Xi and i watched Pirates of the Carribean. Great fun film... just wished i saw the first one!

Alexandra Palace

Talking to Anna on MSN a few nights ago it appeared that no one was interested in going and would likely have to cancel!! Then yesterday Sophie asks am i still going, my answer "yes if more people are interested". She and Bonnie might be. But only if Xi was going. Xi was only going if Bonnie was going, who was only going if Xi was going. Huh? yes exactly what i thought! After mucho organising, it was settled, everyone was going!

Victoria trains werent running becuase of an accident. So had to take a replacement bus service. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, and getting impatient after the third bus came, filled up and left. By that time i was at the front of the queue, but got kinda crushed getting on! Impatient ppl!! After txting Anna to say i would be late, being stuck in traffic and being half asleep i kinda drfited off.... so it was lucky that Anna phoned me at just the right moment. We arrived at Finsbury park just after she phoned me.... she asked me where i was, it was then that i noticed a lot of ppl were alighting, and asked the person sitting next to mewhere we were.... otherwise i would have stayed on the bus!! Hahaha, what is with Anna and phoning me at just the right time? It brings me back to the dreaded exam period where she managed to wake me up with a phone call the morning of ISB exam!

Anna was the only one of us on time.... Xi soph and Bonnie were even more late than i was!!! After getting an ice cream and sitting chatting on the hill, we couldnt be bothered to explore the area. I have to say, it wasnt very easy to find places to go, no sign posts or anything!! Accoring to an online London guide:

"Alexandra Palace Park! Set in nearly 200 acres of parkland, the views across London are stunning.

Discover the peace and tranquillity of the conservation area - a diverse habitat of wooded parkland, wild scrubland, a pond and meadow. For the energetic amongst you, there’s a wide selection of activities including a pitch and putt course, ice-rink, boating lake, children’s fun park, animal park, skate park and walking trails throughout the parkland."

But saying that we couldnt see how to get to the conservation area, or even the walking trails! Soph et al came up from one side of the hill and Anna and i from the other.... so we ended up sitting and chatting. Xi did her usual "spying" aka "street photography". yes a strange and rather distrubing hobby.......

"Pride", Cinema, Cinema

Yesterday while at Marvs place, Yung said she wanted to go to the gay pride parade which was on tomorrow..... with nothing planned we decided to go. Anna pulled out - she had a haircut and so did Xiyu, was too hungover! We agreed to meet at topshop. We all ended up arriving at different times, Marv was late, i was even later! Being a busy crowded place, it was almost impossible to find each other so we all ended up watching it separately. I think i would have enjoyed it more being in the company of ppl i knew. I suppose my fault for being late! I wish i took photos... it was an intersting parade nevertheless.

Phone call from Marv saying he was hungry... so we went to Burger King. Yung meet us there later. Their cookies and cream ice cream are muy bien!! By the time we finisehd eating the parade had finished. Marv needed to head into uni and to gym..... and would meet us later for dinner etc. Yung and I decided to see a movie - went to Fulham Broadway and saw X-men 3. Great film, even if their scientific factcs werent quite right - kindly pointed out by Yung during the movie! It didnt matter about being too quiet... afterall there was only 3 people watching the film, yes including Yung and i!! After phoning around Marv was on his way, Anna was also coming, Xi - still hung over! How much did she drink the night before?!?!? Went to Sainsburys to buy dinner. Sandwiches was easy to pick out.... then snacks/dessert.... Anna seemed to want EVERYTHING!!! We ended up with pringles, some rolls covered with choc and filled with cream (cant remeber name, but oh so nice!!!). We ended up seeing the lake house. Great storyline. Dispite it being a last minute choice, it was well worth seeing.

Results Day

Today started off with waking up late, and meeting Xi for lunch at uni. I got there slightly early.... Xi says she will be there shortly... so i decide to wait on the wire benches.... should have gone into comp rooms! There was delays on tube..... i ended up with a numb bum i waited so long! Missed NHM lunctime so Xi got sandwiches from M&S, chicken and bacon! Yummy! Had lunch on Queens lawn with Bonnie and Yung yung who also got there early/had viva.

Then it was off to comp rooms..... being the keen people we are, well we DID get to uni really early.... we were the first people at SCR. Spent time looking at possible IC branded gifts from union shop.

They made us wait until around 6pm before handing out pieces of paper with who got what degree class. Got a 2:1.... i thought i would be happy if i got at least a 2:1.... but i am not. Its probably becasue of the sheer amount of people who managed to get 2:1.... a hell of a lot... more than i expected. More people got first than 2:2!!! Yeah so considering all that i was dissapointed.... 2:1 is good, but it doesnt feel like much of an achievement when so many people also managed to get it. I could throw excuses around - i was ill around exam time, blah blah blah.... why didnt i do more further reading? Why didnt i get better questions so i could have at least got a borderline and got a viva? Why? Why? WHY? Past few days all i have been doing is thinking about the exams.... what could have been.... not healthy.... i blame it partly on the heat, not being able to sleep, so have more time to think.... *sigh* Its done and dusted! So stop thinking! STOP!!

Spent time chatting with Marv, yung yung, Dan..... Marv, yung and i were the last people to leave!!!! Went to visit Chin. Then headed to Marvs place..... pretty close to uni, no idea why he needs a bike! Saw photos of us in first year! Gosh was i fat then!!! My cheeks were bulging with flab!! When asked by Marv whether i was suprised by the pic... i wasnt. I remember back in first year i saw photos of myself from a year ago.... i was A LOT bigger then.... that pic DID scare me...... Pictures of results day are on my zoto gallery. They are pretty bad quality, i couldnt work out why? The camera they looked ok, on lappie.... rubbish!! After complaining about indoor pics always looking bad, Xi suggested changing white balance... i took some photos indoors and they were much clearer!! Doh! To be honest, i think someone has mentioned WB to me before.... it might even have been Xi!! I need to take photos more frequently so i dont forget these small things... also had a lot of red eye!! Didnt use the red eye function... it shoulfnt be too complicated to correct on photoshop... my only problem is blurry photos so hard to zoom into the eye and "mask" only the pupil.....

Tomorrow......

....... need i say more??


What have i been up to since last blogged? Nothing, absoluelty nothing. I am suppose to be sorting out my summer and beyond... yes the scary future... but cant. Dont know what i want to do. No idea where to start! I thought i wanted to do ET.... but i think PPEP let me down, probs my worst grade. So is it such a good idea to do a course related to something you arent good at? Although saying that there will be people from all sorts of degrees doing ET. *sigh* Do i want to go into environmental or genetics/molecular stuff? Too many decisions!! Someone decide for me! :D

What i have done is get sucked into getting a zoto account. http://wink.zoto.com/ It took me quite a few hours to edit my kew gardens photos.... perphaps i will edit/add my s'pore ones as well, although most of them arent good.

Catch up

Just a quick time line of what i have been up to since last blogged:

Thursday 15th - FYP hand in, didnt sleep a wink the night before.....

Friday 16th - Had a mock viva. It went reasonably well, i learnt alot esp about the error bars and it got me thinking. Also went to high st ken to try and hire out a suit with Rochelle who needed some last minute things for a party in the evening. Moss Bros had suits in stock and wasnt as busy as the one on oxford st. so managed to get a suit that fit.... unfort. i had two in the changing room and ended up somehow no idea how, to take the wrong one with me!! Hahaha that one was too big! The suit and the trousers..... sigh. oh well. Will be more prepared next time! I did try the previous sat. BUT moss bros was too busy, Debenhams dont stock their hire suits and they want atleast 2 weeks, Burtons had no one in suit hire for 2 hours..... seeing as it was the last weekend before handing in FYP report i gave up fairly quickly! Shirt and tie were pretty easy to find.... shoes on the other hand! Hahaha impossible. I went alone to oxford street later and found out no where had shoes smaller than size 6!!! Poo!

Sat 17
After getting up early and phoning around i realised that central was not the place to find shoes that will fit me.... in the end local shop had one!!! Bah! If only i looked there in the first place, would have saved close to 5 hours!!! Shopping is such a waste of time!!

Evening was the ball... and while trying on my trousers it dawned on me i took the bigger pair... the jacket didnt fit properly either!! Too late by then, so had to wear it!! Had dinner at [url=www.wodka.co.uk/]Wodka[/url] - a fancy polish resturant. Muy caro!! The typical small portions at ridiculous prices.... my cod really wasnt filling at all!!

THe ball was fun, loved the chocolate fountain! Mixing marshmellows, strawberries in white choc .... yum!! Shoalin monks also performed... wish i could do that! Missed the fire breathing horse!! Fine a robotic horse, but it would have been cool nevertheless.... too bad i left to get my last tube at 12 ish (left at 11:45). Wish i stayed until 4/5 am when the ball officially finished! Then caught the first tube home at 6am instead! Hahahaha! Also regret not taking many pics!!

Sun 18th. Dumpling Day
Felt really ill in the morning, like i had a cold coming on.... so txted anna to say i wasnt going to her house anymore. After much sleeping and waking up, i felt strangely better.... and it was then that Anna decides to phone me and see how i was... i didnt sound ill at all! After much guilt tripping blah blah blah i had no choice but to go!!! On my way went to Sains to buy chicken drumsticks. I thought i would be one of the last to arrive... in fact i was 4th there! Great timing i have to say... Marv and suzi came 10 mins later... then the eating began! Felt lazy and bad that we were eating while Anna, Xiao and Karen were cooking! hahha oh well the food was really nice... i think i sat at the table eating for most of the evening. Then moved inside to help... well maybe not help, but distrub marv, suzi and anna making no idea what its called (dough mixed with spring onions). Actually Marv wasnt helping... he was making a mess and playing with the dough! I even have pics to prove it!! Hahaha. Koren V France match was on... so we had half the group watching that and the other half in the kitchen.... poo football! Boring! Much eating, talking and fun had.... again not many pics taken by me!!!

Monday - Weds Spent trying to prepare for viva. I ended up reading the first part of gene cloning, didnt end up having time to re-read journals i citied. Too much to read too little time! Luckily the viva went ok, i thought the q's i could have prepared for i did. Luckily the one question they asked about the journals i cities i could rember fairly well!!! Phew! It was Steve cooks wood burial trial one. They asked questions about methods (things i expected and prepared well). They asked about how IPTG would work - grr i forgot how the Lac operon worked... i got it half right!! I couldnt remeber annas project for when they asked me about extensions! Poo! I felt like i was promoted here, there and everywhere... i dont know whether that is good or bad... but i suppose at least i was thinking and able to answer their questions at the end. No more thinking and worrying..... all will be revealed on friday 30th..... My viva was at 9:30 in a way i was glad i got it over and done with....

After we went to Prince Regeant.... ANOTHER expensive fancy place - wine bar!! We did want to go to Gloucester arms but no space!!! Had their lunch offer - 2 course meal for set price... had cheese salad (mozeralla with tomotao and something else) then rosot - too much cheese!!! hahaha. Small portions and muy caro (why does this sound oh so familiar???). After alot of book signing, talking and picture taking - i didnt take many pics, AGAIN! Bah!

After headed off to find Lamb, but he wasnt there! Must have gone home already!! Had pics taken with Dr Williams. Then dropped pressie off at reception to put in Lambs pigeon hole. After Anna and I went to comp room to wait for Xi to finish at NHM to go to union.... she ended up ditching us for drinks with other friend(s)... poo her! Should have gone to union first, would have caught soph et al for 10-30 mins before they left.... oh well.

Friday 23rd ~5:30am

Woke up to some noise, beeping of some sort.... looked at my alarm clock still groggy... i hit the buzzer for snooze... then realised the time!?! It COULDNT possible to that? So i ignored it and went back to asleep (or tried to). It was then that i thought about my mobile.... yes it was a txt. It was from Jac telling me that she couldnt come to Kew anymore because of pebbles in her shoes?!?! and having trouble walking 0_o. This is not like Jac. Thanks to the distrubance i wasnt able to go back to sleep.... i never am able to!! *Sigh* THe hours dragged on until i decided to get up around 8am. Then off to Kew gardens. Meet Xi at S. Ken we waited ages for the tube to Richmond... then two were due to come one after the other 1 minute apart! Luckily it did.... Anna ended up phoning when we were just past West Kensington... she was on her way to Hammersmith.... she ended up getting on the Richmone tube behind us!! Hahaha! Strange!

We were expecting the price of tickets to be around £6... they were £8 (concession)... under 17s were free.... i wished i tried to pass for 16 yrs old, esp with the rip off prices of food......After much walking, phototaking and plant browsing we stopped for a break for lunch (Delicate Pooey Pink Princess had been complaining and asking about food for quite a long time......) Went to Orangey Restaurant... boy was it expensive! £3.50 for a baguette and it wasnt even a giant one! Measly filled... luckily i brought my own sandwiches!! Forogt water though.... so paid £1.40 for a bottle 0_o. What we wanted was ice cream to cool us down..... Xi paid the ridiculous 1.5 for tiny pot.... she got ripped off, plain and simple! No matter how they sugar coat it with "5* award winning blah blah". Well the next place we went to was a smaller eating outlet.... they had baguettes for 3.25 and sandwiches for half the price!!! 0_0.

Delicate Pooey Pink Princess also complained about sitting in the sun for too long.... headaches... then complained when the sun went away - too cold! Just no pleasing some people!

Time flew quickly... after taking over 100 photos and walking what felt like miles it was time to go home... with someone rushing us becuase they had another engagment.