Excited over mathtype

Believe it or not, I managed to finish my first essay in many months today. It came up to almost 1000 words. That wasn't so bad. The most interesting thing was that I am driven to finish the essay because of a new software which allows me to write cool equations on word! Anyway, too tired to write more now...

In darkness...

First the internet. Then, the earthquake. Now, the electricity. What's happening?

At about 2.30pm today, almost the entire campus was affected by power failure. I was in the middle of a seminar when the room lights went off. As we could still get natural light into the room, our lessons continued. Half an hour later, I discovered that I can't go back to my residence because there weren't electricity there too. The only place we could go to was the learning grid and so we headed there. Although the power was restored about an hour later, some system remained down. I am just pleased the internet is working.

These experiences hadn't been interesting at all to me. Now I have started keeping a small torchlight nearby in case there's another power failure in the middle of the night. This is really getting tiresome.

BBC: Reports of tremors felt in west midlands. More soon

Initially it was small. I thought I was dreaming. Then my table shook!!! Not having a second thought, I ran out of my room to ask if anyone else felt it. Such a horrible feeling.

From BBC (1.26am)
"People from across large parts of England have reported an earth tremor.
The BBC has received calls from people in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Manchester, Berkshire and the West Midlands about a "quake".
The tremor could be felt in central Birmingham at about 0100 GMT but it is unclear if it has caused any damage.
The West Midlands was hit by an earthquake in 2002 in the Dudley area that reached 5.0 on the Richter scale and caused damage to homes."

I did something illegal and so I got disconnected

Not really...I just frightened myself. It all began when my visiting friends told me they can't access internet after watching movie online. Although I appeared calm and composed, I was very very worried that my internet connection had been terminated without notification. Having spent the whole morning worrying, I finally discovered that the whole campus was offline. Phew!

And thus began a long day of isolation. It was supposed to be a good time for studying. Yet without internet, anxiety set in. It was like being cut off from civilisation. When I discovered that I am still connected via Skype, I was ecstatic. Life returned to normal.

However, this episode made me realised something. I can't live without internet and I believe this is an unhealthy condition.

Yuan xiao jie kwai le

Last day of Chinese New Year...

Wonder what did my family do today...

I had such a wonderful dinner tonight. This has got to be the most luxurious meal I have ever had in UK. I made bak kut teh for the second time and turned out much better. Will continue to improve on it though my friends seemed horified by the 3 huge garlic in the soup. Meanwhile, my very creative flatmate tried a new dish - fried oyster in tempura batter. The dish was fine except that the oyster had a really strong smell. Probably not fresh enough. Another friend made two dishes - baked duck (yes, duck!!!) and pork slice with bean sprout in sichuan sauce. The meal was completed by tang yuan (glutinous rice ball) in rice wine. It was my first time eating tang yuan this way and tasted mighty strange. Nevertheless, I managed to finish a whole bowl. Too full now. Need to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ingenious!

Of all the birthday gifts I have ever received, this has got to be the most creative and well-suited for my current situation...something which rightly expresses my desire...This is truly from friends who understands you and who cares enough to notice this simple, basic necessity. So, thank you to my dear, dear friends. Words cannot express my gratitude at this moment.

Older and wiser?

I was hating my birthday a few minutes ago but now...I am not sure anymore.

First, it's nice to have people staying up late just to wish you whether by phone or by knocking on your door. So now I am committed to a dinner tomorrow. Hmm...big dilemma.

Second, getting an unexpected wish from an unlikely person can be a strange surprise. Am I happy? I think I should be but it's just strange...I fear growing older may not make me wiser but rather more cynical. It's not a healthy thought which I have to work very hard to discard. How does one control one's perception? I don't know how, neither do I know if I will even try.

Should I or should I not?

The big question is whether I should spend GBP7.99 on a book to get it autographed by the author and perhaps another GBP9 for another book by another author. I think I shall be thinking bout this the whole night. I have till 10am tomorrow...

The day I had hainanese chicken rice

Who would have thought that I can get the chance to savour hainanese chicken rice in UK? Not only that, the chicken rice is thai-style and made by a group of students, right from the rice to the sauce. It was pretty amazing. Hats off to these people. I shall never forget this day.

Guilty of gluttony

What happens when you tell a bunch of students to pack home the leftovers from a talk?

No prize for guessing right. Yeap, they start grabbing everything and anything in sight. Not just the food BUT also the plastic trays and bowls. OK, I admit I was one of them, picking up a bowl of crisp (I just want the big bowl), some mandarins, muffins and buns. At least, that was all I took. Another coursemate went as far as taking two bottles of wine! The lady in-charge stopped her in time as those aren't meant for taking. LOL.

The truth

It has been revealed the causes of the 3 alarms.

1. Someone used a kettle to boil water in the room.
2. Someone used too much hair spray.
3. Someone left some wax boiling on the stove in the kitchen.

Thanks to these guys, I have developed a phobia towards fire alarm. Every minute, I fear the alarm will go off. The violent sound filled my head continuously till I cannot think. I am not sure how I will be able to sleep tonight. It's a horrible feeling.

The most nonsensical day in my life

Utterly nonsensical! Three fire alarms in less than 24 hours. I am seriously getting good at running out. Keep breaking my previous record. But I fear I am beginning to get a phobia, fearing that the alarm will go out any moment.

The best thing bout this latest episode is that I know the culprit! It's my flatmate, who left her cooking pot in the kitchen. Great. Just great.

What did I do???

It was a rude awakening. Took me a few seconds to decide that it's not a dream. I thought I did something to trigger the fire alarm as the noise seemed to be coming from my room. I looked around my room and didn't see signs of fire nor smoke. Then I went to my window to let some cool air in thinking that this will help stopped the alarm. Finally, I decided to grab my key, handphone and coat and ran out to find my new flatmate also out in the corridor. So, it wasn't just me. Probably not my fault too. Phew. But seriously, having a fire alarm at 3.15am in the morning can be a quite shocker to those with weak heart. I became acquainted with my new flatmate on our way to the gathering point. Interesting way to welcome someone.

But that's not the end of the story...

8.55am, I finally woke up. Started washing myself, preparing to get breakfast when it happened again! I thought I was dreaming but the noise was too deafening to be a mere nightmare. I looked out my window, the courtyard was devoid of any signs of human. I went out of my room, undecided. Should I go down? Should I wake up my flatmates again? Some came out, the rest had enough. Regardless, I still went down, hoping for some explanations. There were none. I am sure news will fly soon on the identity of the culprit. There better be a good explanation for this. Hmph!

4th bulbs in two months

How many broken bulbs does a person experience in a year? How bout in two months? I am not sure bout the average person but I have been through 4 broken light bulbs in different places in 2 months time.

The first time was during my examination period (somewhere between end-Dec to early Jan) in my room. I was lucky that it happened in the morning on a working day. Therefore, the person in-charge came promptly to replace the bulb.

The second time was on my final day of exam in the kitchen. We had planned a party to celebrate our freedom and one light went off. There wasn't enough time to report the faulty light and we had to dine in semi-darkness.

The third time was my first vegetarian potluck dinner with some coursemates in a friend's kitchen. We were in the middle of our dinner, chatting happily when the light began to flicker. It happened just a few weeks ago, probably 3 weeks.

Finally, the latest incidence is in my bathroom on the 2nd day of CNY. The worst part is that it happened on a Friday which mean no one will be replacing my light till monday. Just great. I need brightness in my life now!!

Thai-Chinese Night

More lime, more chillies, more more more...That seemed to be the only thing the Thais tell each other as they busied themselves preparing the dishes for our dinner tonight. To be truthful, I was quite horrified by the amount of onions, green chillies, garlic, sugar and lime involved in their cooking. 3 dishes were being prepared simultaneously - pork and onion salad in loba sauce, tom kha and a very famous fish (which I dunno the name) in garlic, lime and green chilli sauce. As for myself, I just prepared a chicken in cream coconut sauce, with the help of Brahim. Paiser...

First day of CNY

This has to be my most hectic CNY by far. Cooking for 10 is not an easy task. Not to mention the shopping. In just one day, I spent like my entire month worth of grocery. All these would not have been possible without a friend who kindly offered to drive us back to our residence.

Cooking began after 6pm. On my part, I just made vegetarian tomyam fried rice, chilled tofu and red bean and sago soup with glutinous rice ball. Meanwhile, my co-host made steamboat, lamb curry and baked fish. Our food were ready by about 7.30pm. Quite an achievement considering that we had to rush from class.

Our guests for tonight were mainly malaysians with the exception of two dear coursemates. Everyone was sporting enough to come in red to match the dress code of the dinner. After hours o f laughter, the dinner finally ended a little past 12. No one realised time had flown by. It was already the second day of the new year.

Kong Hei Fatt Choy!

Such a busy, busy day today (I mean yesterday). Tomorrow will be another hectic day. Busy with study? No, no...actually it's for CNY :)

Upon finishing my classes at 3pm, I ran some errand and arrived in the flat to find my flatmate and friends in the process of cooking. I promptly began cooking my beef rendang. Our dinner was suppose to start at 6pm but we only managed to complete everything about an hour later. Luckily, everyone was late too. The host came over to help us carry the dishes over. We arrived on time to find everyone else had arrived.

There were 9 of us tonight, cooking a total of 10 main dishes - beef rendang, ma po tofu, spinach & chicken in beancurd, stir-fry celery with pork, braised potatoes, braised fish, egg in cheese, pork liver, mixed vegetables salad, chicken in onions. These are complimented by sichuan steamboat, kimchi, brownie and banana and apple smoothie. By the end of the meal, we could hardly walk. The most interesting part was my flatmate's insistence on keeping the fish for 3 days in line with some traditional belief (so, the leftover fish stayed in my kitchen for the next 3 days).

After dinner, we had some games. One of the games was guess the song. I didn't do too badly in the english song category and even managed to answer one for mandarin song! That's the one by the late Theresa Teng - Tian mi mi (don't ask how I know that song). It was a really good reunion dinner.

And now to plan for the dinner on the 15th day of CNY...