phantom Thursday, Feb 28 2008

I am officially an idiot.

I left my wallet back in Bankside today — which happened to contain the credit card I’d used to pay for The Phantom of the Opera tickets — in my haste to get to Tort class and hand in my essay on time. I had to walk (okay, I cheated — I bussed!) back to Bankside just to get it, and make my way back to school in time for dance rehearsal. As a result of today’s brisk walking, dancing, good food for dinner (C&R’s wat tan ho and Haagen-Daz) and the musical, I am flat-out exhausted, but had such a good day!

Phantom was remarkably disappointing though. The set was beautiful, and the music and vocals amazing, but I think I arrived at the theatre with high expectations that the musical wasn’t able to fulfill in the end. The chorus, in my opinion, was slightly shoddy and Christine’s voice, whingey at the higher end of her range — but overall, it was okay! I still much prefer Les Miserables out of these so-called two greats, but that I had a chance to catch Phantom in the West End from such great seats was still something. Oh, and adding Phantom to my collection of programmes from the musicals I’ve caught felt like quite an accomplishment!

It’s 2.13 am and I ought to be in bed — but no, my weekend officially begun today at 1.00 pm post-Public Law lecture, so I don’t feel like I need to go to bed anytime soon! My sleeping pattern is messed up from the all-nighters (or part thereof) I’ve been pulling lately in order to get my work done on time. I made an unspoken resolution to always be on top of my work at the beginning of the year; unfortunately… that doesn’t seem to be the case at the moment. I’ve been handing in my work on time, but I manage to constantly be roped in by the allure of procrastination — and somehow seem to favour working under pressure, which is not necessarily a good thing!

In that sense, I’m glad that I’m going home during Easter, where my sleeping habits are semi-regulated by my mum dragging me out of bed on the weekend to visit my grandparents, where there’re instructions for me to be woken up before ten on weekday mornings so I don’t sleep my life away… AND there’s the fact that I’ll be learning to drive during the holidays too! Six weeks will, fingers crossed, be enough time to score my license.

Eight more school days till I fly back for a six-week-long holiday.

EEE. (:

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rewind Monday, Feb 25 2008

It’s been so long! Where do I begin?

Rasa Sayang aka Oxford’s Malaysia-Singapore Society Night was definitely a night to remember. Amal, Jei and I took the Oxford Tube up, and Syaz – ever the gracious host – brought us to her college so we could get ready for the ensuing festivities! I’d like to think of the night as one where the Bruneians took over the city: all of us there have been classmates/yearmates at the same school since Secondary 1, AND we filled up two tables, providing en masse support for Jances and Hanif, who were in two dances that night! Acapella Ini were also guest-performers on the night, and brought an added sense of London-familiarity to Oxford. The food was amazing! Satay, nasi lemak, chicken rendang, beehoon… A tad pricey (23 pounds!) but so worth it. After the event, we all gathered at Hanif’s massive double-room room at college, and played Taboo till the wee hours of the morning. The boys went to bed, and us girls stayed up to chat, the conversation revolving around Maktab Sains memories and our new lives di pusat pengajian tinggi, haha! We’re all in different universities now (Oxford, LSE, Imperial, UCL) and while we may not be as close as before, it remains really easy to find common ground with one another. It’s funny — we know more about one another than we ever realised, and that was something I took back from that night. (: Pictures are on Facebook, and here is the direct link to the photos.

The Imperial Brunei Night is coming up (The Curse of the Pulut Panggang, mmm!), and so is the Bruneian dance performance at LSE’s Indonesian Night, in which yours truly will be performing along with 6 of my nearest and dearest at LSE. It’s going to be a great end to term!

I have also recently:

• played a round of tennis with Ashley and Serena lately
• went for a photoshoot with Gracicles, where we were made to feel like a million dollars!
• explored and ate heaps at Borough Market with Ashley and Lydia, just yesterday

and…

After mass today, we celebrated Kevin’s birthday at a place rather renowned for their sushi buffets. Though I went against the plan and had a bento box, the portions were massive and I think I’ve resolved to eat only middling portions for dinner tonight. Ian and I walked back to school after and along the way, had a really long conversation about musicals and music in general. I never thought it was possible for someone to have watched more musicals than me, but I was disproved today. Speaking  of, I have a date to see Phantom of the Opera next week (: and to see The Other Boleyn Sister when it opens next month. And THEN it’s Easter and I’ll be on a plane back to the Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures. I may have to contend with the poklens that are flooding Gadong at present time, but there’s nothing like home: my family, bedroom, DVDs, home-cooked food, AmalJeiSyazHungMing (: and errr… not forgetting, my Law textbooks.

Three weeks till the end of term. That’s 11 schooldays for me. Oh em gee!

And soon, I’ll be planning my summer and December on a Nando’s paper napkin. YES.

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maps Monday, Feb 4 2008

I think I am starting to lose my reputation as being the very personification of Maps dot Google dot com. Today, I managed to lose myself in the Warren Street / Euston Square area. I knew I had to find Gower Street, which is directly opposite Euston Square station, which is very near Warren Street station — so I got off at Warren Street, turned in the wrong direction attempting to find Euston Square, and after 10 minutes and harassing countless numbers of passersby, I finally found it. I then took a while to find a crossing, and eventually landed in Gower Place… which is at right angles to the street I was looking for. After realising that I was tracing a big fat circle and ending up along the same road I’d crossed, I realised my folly, and headed in the right direction… only to arrive at church 15 minutes late, and with the one remaining seat conspicuously at the front of the hall.

Coffee after and lunch was quite a fun affair! Amanda, David, Kevin, Terri and I ended up at the Hare & Tortoise at Brunswick. I ordered the curry laksa against everyone’s ardent submissions that I was going to get a stomachache after (and speaking of which, 9 hours later and I’m still fine!) — and er, they were right. The portion was HUGE-as, and there was so much santan and other rich stuff which was a tad cloying after a while. Good in small portions, impossible as a lunch dish. We then went Waitrose-shopping, and spent too much time pushing a cart around and looking at food but not exactly thinking of purchasing any. I walked away with a pack of rice thins though, the same kind which comprised much-needed brain food in Melbourne, and which cost a bomb here but are still fantastic!

I then had a second lunch later on with Jiang Yue at Pizza Express on Bankside… lunch consisting of mainly dessert dishes, of course. ;] This was to make up for our weekly Friday meet-up which did not eventuate this week… and though shorter, nothing makes us two more happy than food!

And now I’m waiting for my laundry to dry, and then off to take a shower and then studyyyyy. Mmm…

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el fin de semana Saturday, Feb 2 2008

The weekend is finally here! It’s been an incredibly tough week — it seems like it’s been ages since last Sunday, when in actual fact only five days have passed. And I’ve done everything but sit down and do proper work, which is one of my aims this weekend! Today, I trooped all the way to Paddington to inquire after certain scholarship matters. A normal excursion, you might think, except that to me, Paddington is all the way on the other side of London that I rarely venture to. It’s foreign to me, and I can lose my bearings easily when I exit the tube station! So there I was, on Praed Street, attempting to find a landmark which I could use to find my way to Brunei Hall… and after crossing the road and having to recross it, I did! HA. Accomplishment. Okay! However, I didn’t really need to go to Brunei Hall after all — turns out, the administration had resolved my problem in the er, one month it took for me to get back to them. But I did end up having a chat with one of the officials there about how I was doing and suchlike, so it was a visit unwasted!

In the past five days, I have eaten out four times (Four Seasons, Misato, Haagen Daz, that Indian restaurant on Russell Square, Maccas, the Lyceum), attended a jitsu lesson and learned (unsuccessfully) how to break fall and choke people (and won’t be returning anytime soon!), attempted to go Chinese New Year shopping for new clothes but ended up at Russell Square, at a restaurant, instead! I’ve also managed to reach Suan, all the way up in York, and it was so good to hear her voice after so long! It’s now time for my life to obtain some sort of order. I have essays due before and after Reading Week… not that that should come as a surprise, but, gah!

So Chinese New Year is next week, and I’ve decided to give my room a thorough spring-cleaning sometime this weekend. I cleaned my ice box out today, and it was actually quite enthralling! It was meant to snow today, and apparently it did… in East Anglia anyway, as far as Facebook statuses show. BUT, I made it snow in my ice box and that was quite a pretty sight. I just have… the other 16 square metres of my room to clean. And a bed to make. And laundry to do. I intensely dislike chores.

Today, I was at the Pret A Manger at Bankside, and the smell inside was absolutely nostalgic. It kind of reminded me of Ross Street, Kew, Victoria, Australia, and strangely enough, I grew quite homesick for Melbourne in that one instant. Chinese New Year has been spent the last couple of years in foreign lands — two years in a row in Melbourne (once with yee sang on the plane there), though 2007’s CNY was spent back in Brunei… though with most of my cousins overseas, there wasn’t the same family camaraderie as celebrations from my childhood had. This year, it will be spent in London! An entirely new experience, seeing as Tiddeman made an effort to throw CNY celebrations every year… but it should be fun nonetheless.

And because another holiday is coming up, I invite you to…

Get your own valentinr

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