exam season Sunday, May 25 2008

I happen to really enjoy the exam season – not because I am a super AZN nerd who relishes the feeling of being mired in revision – but because the countdown to the exams seems to always be spent studying with friends, looking forward to the dinner reprieves, taking whatever form of entertainment as and when they come. Study sessions with Leonard and Istee, Brunch Bowl-ing with Amanda and Jiang Yue… And of course, overdosing on junk food, ick. I went to Sainsbury’s just now after accompanying Shazzles to see the doctor (and Guy’s Hospital really doesn’t look much better than RIPAS! – sorry KCL medics) and I came back with yoghurt (good), fruit (good), muffins (not so good) and Haagen-Dazs (BAD). I sense one last-ditch attempt at summoning motivation through food, and then… the exam season will be over!

On Sunday, as I was settling down to my late-morning breakfast of UCTA, Kevin and then Amanda called and asked why I wasn’t at Russell Square to celebrate Ian’s birthday – which led me to pull on a pair of jeans and run out of the house within the space of ten minutes. I got to the Brunswick in record time too, in time to enjoy the general merriment which involved a flaming napkin which nearly set the restaurant on fire, a lovely Patisserie Valerie cake with – oh dear – a hole gouged into its side (but it still was beyond amazing!), Nando’s chicken and an impending study session at the LSE Library (although everyone was being super kiasu on the day, so I had to relocate to the British Museum Library).

And last night, Daniel, Matt, Jiang Yue and I had dinner at the Hare & Tortoise – after making me walk to  Tottenham Court Road from school, only to end up back at Russell Square, effectively doubling my journey! The portions do not disappoint, although I swear the yaki udon that Amanda had a few weeks ago tasted better than the fare they served me last night. Oh well. The Carr-Saunders guys are generally such great fun to be around – they work their butts off, but are not adverse to playing hard too. There are a lot of lawyers in that hall, and everyone seems to crash Matt’s and Daniel’s room on an almost-hourly basis. Good food, great company, much-needed stress relief after the four papers in a row we had this week!

It’s Saturday now, and there’re so many things to be done before I leave for Italy and Spain on Thursday! First I have to get my Criminal Exam out of the way, and then to change pounds into Euros and figure out what to pack for three weeks on the road… and then there’s Sally birthday lunch to look forward to, and Jiang Yue has plans for Tuesday night involving dinner and something called the Ministry of Sound, after many failed attempts at taking Brendan and Arlie there during the December holidays… and then there’s my Spanish I may possible want to brush up on before I go! Creo que puedo hablar un poco Espanol solamente ahora… Que pena!

Well, dinner and Criminal revision awaits! See you soon!

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tragedy of the commons Thursday, May 22 2008

The thrill of studying something other than Bagehot, Locke, Montesquieu, Occupiers’ Liability Act ‘57 and ‘84, Tomlinson v Congleton, L’Estrange v Graucob, alternative dispute resolution, conditional fee arrangements and access to justice has made me realise how much I’ve missed learning about non-legal thought. The merits and demerits of intellectual property and copyright? The notions of cultural identity in terms of cultural appropriation? Bring it on!

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sleep Wednesday, May 21 2008

The exam season is upon us now. I haven’t had more than seven hours of sleep in three days, and possibly won’t be getting much tonight either, seeing as my pet topics in Property Law happen to be those with the most extensive reading…

I have a Legitimate Expectation that the Public Law exam later on today will follow the same trends as the past year papers. (Stupid Law joke – did anyone understand that? ;P) I will actually suffer from nervous shock if something unexpected comes out later on, seeing as I’ve only prepared 4 2/3 topics (yes, you read right – I kid you not about the exact fraction of the topic I didn’t cover!) and I have to write 4 essay questions… Wish me luck!

Back to Procedural Impropriety and the Duty to Act Fairly… And only Devolution left to re-revise after that, thank goodness! This is significant progress from the past couple of days, where one of my Introduction to Legal Systems exam questions I answered I’d actually only studied at 5 yesterday morning…

OMG I’m so tired and I can’t wait till after Property tomorrow so I can crash and catch up on lost sleep.

See you soon!

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my endless love Sunday, May 18 2008

[12:17:04 AM] c.s.koh says: woohooo
[12:17:17 AM] c.s.koh says: i was duetting with myself during a recent karaoke excursion
[12:17:25 AM] Natasha Chan says: with YOURSELF?
[12:17:28 AM] c.s.koh says: cos no one knows the song endless love
[12:17:29 AM] c.s.koh says: sad
[12:17:34 AM] Natasha Chan says: hahaha
[12:17:39 AM] Natasha Chan says: my endless love?
[12:17:41 AM] c.s.koh says: so i was both lionel
[12:17:43 AM] Natasha Chan says: MY ENDLESS LOVEEEEEE
[12:17:44 AM] c.s.koh says: and diana
[12:17:45 AM] Natasha Chan says: and diana?
[12:17:47 AM] Natasha Chan says: HAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

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wednesbury Saturday, May 17 2008

I actually understand the (slightly odd) bar chart that I scribbled down in my Public Law notes in a haze one afternoon.

Wow.

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so… Sunday, May 11 2008

I’m discovering new people in Halls all the time… which isn’t good when the exams are nigh! Last night, I joined Imah and Far in Far’s first-floor room at Bankside for a chat after dinner, and then they trooped up to my room for ice cream, prawn cocktail crisps and ginger snaps at midnight, courtesy of my fully-stocked fridge. Being around those two really puts me at peace with myself — they’re both strong, beautiful women, and I would die to have one ounce of their sensibility and their strength and their zest for life. (:

And the other night, Jiang Yue and I were at Carr-Saunders, hanging out with the guys there after dinner. What was initially meant to be a quick dinner between us girls, turned into a Korean food extravaganza at Tottenham Court Road, followed by pool/ping-pong and random get-together in Daniel and Max’s room with music, much laughter and jokes. If there’s one thing awesome at being at university, it’s the wide array of people you get to meet – although there’ll be an inevitable distinction between those you can rely on at any given time, and others who are course buddies or acquaintances.

I had such a good conversation with Candice just now. Skype connects people in so many different ways, but it’s amazing that after being away for over a year now, we still speak as if it was just yesterday that we parted ways. I don’t know what I would do without you, my dear Candypoo! (:

Back to work…

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recollections Monday, May 5 2008

I surprise myself sometimes!

And on an unrelated note, do you know those times when you meet someone, a person from your yesteryear, and though you recognise his or her face and prepare yourself for a quick catch-up session…

“Hi Natasha!”
“Heyy-”

Crap what’s their name CRAP WHAT’S THEIR NAME?

And usually, the other party makes it worse by actually remembering your name (with surname, for bonus points!), and knowing what you’ve been up to these past few months.

Few situations make me want to stick my head in the ground, or wish that I hadn’t arrived on the scene till much later. It’s a mortifying experience, knowing faces and where you’d probably last seen these individuals… yet not being able to greet them by name in return.

The most recent time this happened to me was at Changi Terminal 3, while I was en route to London just a week or so ago. I was roaming around the duty free shops, trying to kill time before I had to proceed to my gate, when suddenly a familiar figure loomed ahead…

I knew where I’d last seen him — Maktab Sains’ graduation bash, 2007 — but I couldn’t dig his name out from the deep recesses of my mind. I thought he might not recognise me, on account of my having changed quite a bit since my secondary school days, but he noticed me and knew who I was. It was too late. I couldn’t make a quick getaway.

“Hi Natasha!”
“Heyy-”

I don’t think he noticed my hesitance, and I saved myself by working out that he was on his way to Miami for his helicopter pilot course, and then he mentioned he was with someone called Zul…

“Zul? Uh, I don’t know Zul, do I?”

… and out of the Sony store comes a guy I did go to secondary school with too, who recognised me as well, giving me a huge wave.

Foot in mouth, completely.

And now, a week later, I remember his name. Ash!

Oh well!

Also, I really don’t appreciate receiving phone calls at unearthly hours, when I’ve fallen asleep and want complete, restful, uninterrupted shuteye for the next eight hours. For the most part, this means the hours between 1 am and 10 am (unless someone’s calling at 8.15 to wake me up for school!) on non-designated uni days. If I’m not online at MSN at night, as a general rule of thumb it means I’m in bed… Sometimes, I have brilliant conversations in the wee hours of the morning, but I’ve never woken up someone from sleep to have them before! Ceecee’s always up until about 5 to entertain me though, haha. 

The other night, I’d gone to bed at about 1 am after feeling the comings-on of a headache, and I’d just settled into deep sleep when suddenly, my hall phone started ringing incessantly. The sound was peculiar in my sleep-addled state of mind, to the point that I thought it was some form of alarm (maybe my alarm clock or phone) that was ringing on my desk. By the time I hopped out of bed to investigate the source of the noise, it had stopped ringing, so it couldn’t have been an alarm. Needless to say, I was extremely annoyed, not pleased, and have a good mind to unplug my hall phone the next time I need some decent rest. The person who called also didn’t bother leaving me an explanatory text message out of courtesy, and everyone I’ve asked denies calling me at two freaking am. I don’t think I’ve been pranked, and have since formed my suspicions as to who the mysterious caller is. Two am. Seriously?

I’m such an idiot, by the way. I nearly hurt someone the other night by accidentally dropping a 2 pound coin from the first floor onto the head of a person on the ground floor. I went downstairs and apologised profusely, but I was beyond mortified, and it didn’t help that other things happened that night that made me feel like an utter bimbo. :\

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london Thursday, May 1 2008

There are two Londons which exist in my life, each with their own sets of colour, of sights and sounds and smells that shape the city that I currently call home.

The first London is the London from my early teenagehood, the year my mum decided that I should attend a proper British boarding school and we came to scout for schools. I almost ended up at St. Swithun’s with Suan, or may have been a Benenden girl, but I’m glad I went to Australia instead. It may not have been the quintessential boarding school experience, but I couldn’t ask for anything more. Anyway, I digress! London, December 2003. The London of Bayswater, of Four Seasons duck rice, Brunei House, Marble Arch and Oxford Street, of Tonbridge and Winchester. That London I associate with the smell of freshly-whitewashed walls, being buffeted by Christmas crowds, pool, crisp winter weather, and an initial sense of feeling really small, of being swallowed up by a huge, anonymous city. Of Waterloo and Paris. And of first senses. London 2006, with my Cambridge interview, of Covent Garden and of Wicked, Amanda, my first glimpse of my current university, and of Marks & Spencer’s and my cousin’s apartment.

My London now poses a different set of sensory facts. Same city, but with a touch of added familiarity in spite of all the new situations and circumstances. I grow a tad nostalgic whenever I walk into Bankside now and smell the freshly-painted walls and the lift areas, because it reminds me of Brunei House and communal living. My London now is of the Thames River, of staring at stark white walls several hours a day, of learning to fend for myself and learning to live independently. Vistas containing steel and granite reminders. The sense of already being jaded by this city, of all the places that I see on such a regular basis because London is too small. London 2008 is really all about the people — old friends and new friends alike, of doing different things with them, of visiting new places where old people are, and of exploring familiar territory with new people. Kingsway, the LSE Library, Embankment… My daily sights and sounds, a tad depressing, but I remind myself that I’m ultimately here to study. Get used to it, Tash. This will be your life for at least the next two years and a bit.

I think the fact that the exams are so near is getting to me.

Today is the 1st of May. Today, well… you know. Or you may not. (: But I’m over the moon with joy!

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drenched Thursday, May 1 2008

I’m back in London, and it was possibly the worst decision ever to fly back only a day before the new term began. I’m sitting in front of my laptop now, feeling so exhausted when my clock kindly tells me it’s only 10.10 pm, what are you doing Tash, you’re meant to be studying for your exams now, making every second count. But nooo, my brain’s fuzzy and my eyelids are heavy – but surprisingly, not from the lack of sleep, because I’ve been getting eight good hours every night since I got back. It could be the fact that Alex and I ran to school in the rain today, with only one umbrella to shield us from the unrelenting drizzle, but were consequently ten minutes late for class and looked like we’d been caught in a typhoon… Not fun.

The first few days of term have passed by in a whirlwind, and already I’m facing a five-day-long weekend. Work hasn’t been progressing particularly well yet… There are always random (but much-needed, obviously!) distractions that pull me away from my textbooks. Yesterday, as I was attempting to finish reading a chapter on Tort in the Library, I received a text message from Leonard. On a whim, we both decided to ditch our books temporarily and head to Leicester Square for Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day. We sang the obligatory Happy Birthday to the Cow – who turned 30 this year! – which allowed us to happily make our ice cream rounds (there are three outlets alone at Leicester Square!), and enjoyed the really great weather and reprieve from work in the mean time. One hour of revision time, gone. I have to say, Free Cone Day is a fantastic way to establish brand loyalty. If I don’t already have one pint of B&J’s permanently stationed in my freezer, to help with those late night cravings, I’d've been bought over by the free ice cream. (: And then we went back to the Brunch Bowl and attempted to work with full, satiated tummies. Just as I was settling into some kind of reading-note-taking pattern, Shaun decided to call while waiting for some food to heat up in his microwave, to see what I’ve been up to. Ten minutes, gone. And then I ran over to John Dodgson to visit Grace after Criminal to bring Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day to her, because the poor girl’s been cooped up in her room studying for her Psychology exams since the weekend and needed a happy pill. (: I ended up having dinner there and watching her attack the ice cream with a Chinese spoon… One and a half hours, gone.

And just like that, one day was over.

And another day will be over soon, when I head off to bed, because my eyes and brain are hurting and I have a feeling this pain won’t subside anytime soon. Till next time, chao!

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