Of An Extra Hour and Sunderland Shirts

Something funny happened during church today. Our elder came up to give her sermon looking sterner than usual, and she said, "I need to tell you to stick to the times given to you. The worship shouldn't take such a long time, because normally we give the mike to the speakers at half past two, but it's already twenty past three now." We were all looking at her with huge eyes and I nudged Daniel beside me and said, "Weren't the clocks turned back yesterday?" And he looked at me with those huge eyes and didn't say anything, but eventually some people piped up and said, "Elder, it is quarter past two now... the clocks were turned back!" I felt really embarrassed for everyone and everything! It's a good thing I remembered to turn my clock back, even though I wouldn't have except for the fact that I received four separate texts from four different people and two calls reminding me to do so.

I will never understand the reason for turning the clocks back, even though people have explained it to me a thousand times and I just had it explained to me over breakfast this morning. The way I see it, this just makes the sun set earlier and wastes an hour of my day, because I don't mind getting up while it's still dark anyway. Who said the sun has to be out when I wake up?

Anyway, enough of griping about turning the clocks back, I figure it's still not too bad because I got an extra hour of sleep last night. Hehe...

Halloween on Friday was funny because of various reasons. One of my hallmates wore my dress out and dressed up as a werewolf with blood coming out of his nose. Truly gruesome. And I wore his Sunderland shirt and shorts - eliciting comments from hallmates such as "You're going as a Sunderland supporter? That's pretty scary..." of course, just taking the mick out of my poor hallmate who's from Newcastle and a fervent supporter of Sunderland AFC and who lent me his beautiful shirt which I got glue on, trying to paste my beard in a proper position.

But due to reasons which are rather too complicated to explain, I didn't go out in the end...

I will definitely go out with them sometime soon though, and with some of them to the film society on Tuesday.

Why You Only Sleep at Three in Halls

Only planned to spend an hour in the Bragg Cluster and ended up spending a few hours there. When I got back it was about midnight and I stayed up, ostensibly to do work, but really to wait for Megan to get back so that I could pass her "Jelly Belly" jelly beans I'd bought from Confetti in "The Light". They're absolutely mmmdelicious and they have all sorts of quirky flavours like toasted marshmallow, buttered popcorn and strawberry cheesecake. It amazes me how much a jellybean can manage to taste like something else!

Anyway I was going to pass her the jellybeans and then go downstairs to get my nightly fix of junk food (McCoys!) but I ended up going into her room, looking at pictures and staying there for two hours, munching on jellybeans and chatting until 2 in the morning. So I gave up the idea of Cheese and Onion McCoys and went into my room instead, writing in my diary with Christmas carols and my fairy lights on ( - I know I'm a strange person. You don't have to tell me that...) when Chris came back from his friend's place and popped in for what I thought was a quick chat, so I didn't ask him to sit or anything, but he stood there for an hour and we had a really nice chat about movies. We both prefer films to telly, and he was telling me about Cinema Paradiso (which I'd borrowed from the library a week ago!) and I learnt so much about films from him... felt bad that he had had to stand for an hour though, because I thought he'd leave any minute and wasn't sure whether I should ask him to sit down! I didn't expect to find someone with (almost) the same taste in films - we both didn't think Pirates of the Carribean was that good except for Johnny Depp (everyone else thought it was brilliant) and we both loved Adrian Brody and... (can't think of any other similarities so you see I have a tendency to exaggerate) I felt really glad after that little chat, though I left my diary entry unfinished and crawled out of bed in my PJs at 9 for breakfast this morning, sending Sunny into gales of laughter with my funny pokey fringe and rumpled clothing.

I love halls.

Of Friendship, Cute Coursemates and Not So Cute coursemates

Walking back to halls yesterday along a beautiful road running through green fields where I used to sit in the summer chatting alongside nodding daffodils I saw two people with cerebral palsy walking slowly together in front of me. They were holding hands and each step was tedious, but neither of them seemed to mind. I couldn't walk anymore but stood still and tears came to my eyes. I knew one of them from halls - he's doing law; and the other one I'd seen around (and noticed because I thought he was quite cute) . The leaves were falling all around me and the trees were rustling merrily and as they helped one another along I just felt in my heart how beautiful friendship is, and how tremblingly fragile life is; so much so that each relationship you have, each person you really care about, is overwhelmingly precious.

And that's why I feel really bad about one of my coursemates and the way I treat her. The thing is, she only asks me for my notes and not for my friendship. When she sits beside me in lectures, she invariably starts her conversation with "I'm so tired" and ends with "What a lousy lecture that was, I'm so tired". As a result, I've come to the point where I refuse to answer anything negative she says or even acknowledge or sympathise with it. I feel bad about it; or maybe I know I should feel bad about it because she is, after all, a fellow human being. And yet almost everything about her annoys me.

Anyway, moving on to brighter things, I was studying in the library today when Cute Coursemate came along and said "How's it going?" Anyway we chatted for a bit; told him about how I'd tried to find Mint (the club he was deejaying at on Saturday) and got lost, and complained about our module (see, I complain too so just what is my problem with Complaining Coursemate? Ruth you are so unpleasant) and he got his stuff together and seemed undecided about where to sit; finally after some diddling about he sat beside me and took off his shoes (which I found extremely cute) and fiddled about with his notes and a bottle of milk. After a while his table seemed to become a little nest of sweet wrappers, and I said, "I hope that's not your lunch?" He grinned, shook his head and offered me a chewy fruit sweet.

And at some point he said, "What are you doing tonight?" but I was going out for dinner :o( It probably didn't mean anything significant anyway!

Anyway looked at the same page for two hours, sneaking little peeks at his arm, and finding excuses to give him cute stares! Guess the library has become a place I should avoid if I want to get any studying done this year.

I'm happy because

I love the way the autumn leaves are falling all around me, bright spots of red and gold and brown, making me feel like a bride showered with nature's confetti. I'm happy because I like coming to lectures and writing notes to my coursemates poking gentle fun at the little goatie guy. I like bumping into people unexpectedly on the Red Route, and I like making a game out of boring lectures by trying to write down verbatim what the lecturer says and adding in my own little sarcastic comments in the margin; I love the little squirrels clambering up trees in comic haste and the crisp cool air, and most of all I enjoy just being alive and being myself at this time of the year.

And I enjoy the power words give me, to move people, or to sting; to work for me, to make things beautiful where before they were plain; or to express little quirks people never see and yet identify with strongly as they read.

I like waking up to the sun shining brightly into my room and to music on my laptop; showering in the early morning and running to lectures with my hair all wet and smelling clean and fresh; trying to detangle the resultant frizz in the toilets in the middle of the day, going to lunch and chatting with my hallmates, sitting in the library half-studying and half people (ok guy) watching. And I like shovelling nasty hall food into myself: potatoes baked and boiled and fried; playing pool with Jolie Fille Florence and laughing at all the wonky shots, and sitting on my bed with the bedside lamp on and watching the little red bubbles of the lava lamp and hearing Chris say it's "quality".

Walking back from the Bragg Cluster with the full moon half-hidden behind clouds looking like something out of an Escher sketch

And knowing that everything fits together perfectly in the bigger and greater plan.

Do not Read if Easily Disgusted by Dumb Analogies

Today during Biology I learnt about the fig wasps and these mites inside the figs which stick onto the female wasps (for whatever strange reason). Usually, they don't harm the female wasps directly, but in the event that there are very few female wasps and millions and millions of mites, the female wasp becomes very heavily laden with mites and the male wasps then refuse to mate with her.

Typical...

So now the poor female wasp can still lay eggs, but they can only lay eggs which give rise to male offspring.

Hurumph. :oP

So this little female wasp here has to learn how to get rid of her mites, or to find a strong male wasp that won't mind the many many mites about her person.

This entry is making me cringe, so I have to stop now.

Numerical Solutions to Partial Differential Equations

Have been reading for an hour and still don't understand notes and am getting distracted. If anyone is interested, the module I'm taking is here. Numerical Solutions to Partial Differential Equations. Ughh... why didn't I do Quantum Mechanics instead?

Perhaps it would help if I stopped wasting time asking myself silly questions and got back to studying :o)

Big Pokey Thing

*Start complainy bit*

Was in a rather bad mood this morning due to a number of small niggly things which added up to make a big pokey thing and to top it all off, was sat next to this guy in a very crowded lecture who kept leaning as far to his right as possible (I was on his left) and putting his pen down with a very loud slap after each line of proof (and believe me it was alot of times) and catching his pen when it rolled off the table (which happened a gadzillion million times). On a normal day I wouldn't have minded, but since I was in a bad mood already I really wanted to tell him off, it's just that I didn't have a valid reason to do so!

*End complainy bit*

Anyway spent much of yesterday studying in the library and am happy to report that I (only just) understand 3 out of 4 modules now, which beats my previous record of 2 out of 4 modules, so the only 2 things I have to worry about today are (i) that last module, and (ii) whether I should go to my cute (recap: have been oogling him for two years) coursemate's deejaying stint tomorrow for which I have been given 4 £1 tickets. The only thing that is preventing me from going is ... laziness, I guess, and the fact that he wore a black (is a depressing colour) jumper today, and his spiky hair was sticking weirdly out in all directions.

This is one of those anonymous blogs NOT by the person whose profile is on the left.

Mr Charles Morris

Went to church today even though I didn't really feel like going, and I didn't expect to be so "uplifted" (Katie's word) by the service. I really liked this new song we learnt, which reminded me that God's in control of everything, and that He is awesome. It's a really beautiful song about the colours of fall and the fragrance of spring, and how He placed the stars in the sky and He knows them by name. There's a little patch of sky shining through the window in our little church and, as I sang, the cheery blue I could see outside seemed so reassuring.

As I walked back after meeting Katie I bumped into someone I shall call Mr Charles Morris, because he lives in my hall and I've talked to him a few times. Before I tell you of this incident I shall tell you one before, where I stopped by to talk to him during dinner and he introduced me to his friend, saying, "This is Ruth, the girl I've been telling you of." I was a little taken aback but stayed and chatted for a little while.

Anyway today I bump into him and he says, "Oh, by the way, are you free this Thursday?" and I say "What's happening Thursday?" "Well, my friend's coming down and we're going for a movie. Would you like to come along? I'd like to introduce you." I found that really strange because I've talked to him a few times but I barely know him! So I said, "Well, I'll see if I'm free then, and I'll keep you informed" and remembered my manners, "ohh but it was so nice of you to ask!" And indeed it was. But I wonder why he wants to introduce me to everyone! Well I don't wonder. I know. But I'm just posting everything here for the sake of my ego.

Mr Charles Morris is doing philosophy, and when I found that out I gave him all my textbooks and course notes from last year. I don't know whether that's an inappropriate thing to do for someone you barely know, but I don't need the notes anyway and he does, and there wasn't any point selling them to him because I'm not exactly dying of poverty, am I?

Anyway, horrible and egoistic entry shall end

here

Drizzle outside but it's ... Sunshine In My Heart! Lala

Was very very happy in the morning to get a call from my mum and then a friend with some very wonderful news that I so needed to hear to start my day off on a wonderful note. So went into town and got a coffee and bought tickets to the opera and had a really nice time : ) Thanks Katie.

I know I should be going out tonight, it's Saturday night, but I feel so lax and so tired and I just want to stay at home and laze about and sleep and I know I should stay home and study as well. Went with a coursemate (whom I have been finding cute for two years!) to the library yesterday and we studied for a bit, and that was good. I felt so much better knowing that there was someone else struggling with the same (maths) problems as me. And getting an invitation to study together again sometime.

It was raining crazily today, too much rain for England. It was more like the kind of convectional (?) rain we get in Singapore, than the little drizzles which are typically English. So I got my fringe all wet and my jeans soaked through and sang "Raindrops keep falling on my head" on the way to the cluster with the "Cluster Team" - Me, Juan Lu from Spain, Florence from France, and Sarah. Sighh... this English weather!

Will update sometime when it's warm.

The Nerd

sits in the cluster checking her emails and blogging and surfing the internet, in what has become an almost daily routine. Sitting beside Juan Lu and Florence, and laughing because I pronounce his name correctly but spell it wrongly (as Guan Loo! Can't help it I am Chinese after all) The full story is here.

I love the way Europeans personify things. Is there an "it" in French or Spanish? Because I love it when someone says "The flower, he was trampled on the ground" or "The sky, he is so blue!" Can't think of any other examples except these insane ones.

I'm going now to have my dinner, I hope he will be a delicious one.

Twelve-Inch Pianist

Am holed up in the library today, supposedly doing work but really slacking off and checking my emails and chatting on MSN. Two of my modules are driving me nuts. Coding Theory and Numerical Solutions to Partial Differential Equations. I have, and I am absolutely not exaggerating, no idea what the lecturers are on about, and I take an hour to swot through one line of proofs on my notes, and by that time I get really really fed up and come downstairs to surf on the internet for a few hours. Very very very unhealthy.

I borrowed "The Pianist" yesterday, and tried watching it at night, but stopped after a bit where a mentally unsound old man was dancing in front of the German soldiers, who were laughing and who gave him a bit of money. I knew they were going to shoot him, I just knew it, and I really really didn't want to see it, so I turned it off and burrowed down under my duvet and thought about things.

I can imagine how people get addicted to killing. Even though the Holocaust seems so absurd and unbelievable a thing to have happened, and some people don't even believe that it did, I can understand, not in my mind but in my heart, the reasons behind it. I can imagine the feeling of power you get when the life of another human being rests entirely in your hands, and the rush, the exhilaration of demonstrating that control. I think deep within each of us lies the mind of a killer, which is pretty scary, because I'm a perfectly normal human being (and many would think I'm more of a goody-two-shoes than most), and yet I can put myself into the shoes of a killer. I guess this applies to everyone of us, because I can remember my brother becoming really really freaked out by "Crime and Punishment", as he could totally understand the mind of the killer and the rationale behind his killing somebody old, useless and disliked.

Anyway, on a lighter note, "The Pianist" reminds me of this joke I read somewhere. A man walks into a bar and produces a tiny man from his pocket. He sits him at the piano and the tiny man begins to play a Rachmaninov concerto. Puzzled and amazed, the people around him ask him how he'd met this little man.

"Well, one day I was just sitting in my room bored and alone, and then this fairy appears out of nowhere and tells me I can have anything I want."

"And so you asked for him?"

"Well, I certainly didn't ask for a twelve-inch pianist..."

:o)

Snowy Rain and Other Matters

Came out this morning into what I thought was snow, but realised that it was, in fact, what my friend used to call "snowy rain" - or "rainy snow" - pretty much the same thing - and that it was falling in light sheets all around me. Brrrrr. The autumn is advancing with a vengeance. Soon it'll be Halloween, and soon after that it'll be Christmas, and we'll all have snowfights and make merry and sing "God bless ye Merry Gentlemen". And when the time comes, I will be prepared and armed with my Christmas Carols and Kenny G tapes. And a boyfriend. Definitely a boyfriend.

In case The Parents are reading this, you've got to take everything I say with a huge pinch of salt. Most of it is firmly tongue-in-cheek, you know.

Went out last night in freezing cold weather to a foam party (!) Creation was holding. People stood in the centre of the dance floor and screamed as foam was ejected (?) - what word do I use? onto them with huge foam machines operated by bored-looking men and Megan and I managed to squeeze our way onto a bit of the dance floor and get ourselves soaking wet with soap and water which had a funny smell, after which we decided we'd had enough. It was much too crowded though, and I think the best part of the night was when I had Flames chicken at 2 in the morning and the rest had Romee's burgers and we made our way, numb and freezing and with Megan getting leaves stuck to her ankles, back "home".

I didn't expect to enjoy hall life so much, but to my surprise I am. It's nice to see hallmates around and to say hi, and to meet so many people. The proportion of nice people you get to meet is actually very high. I'm happy, and yet I never expected that it would be so difficult, too, not to go out when everyone else does. Work is progressing nicely, but not as well as I would have liked it to - i.e. study 10 hours a day, snapping out to eat and sleep and perform my daily ablutions.

Better get down to some serious studying.

Little Goatie Guy in Ecology Lecture

Came home really really tired last night after practising "For the Beauty Of the Earth" with a couple of the others. We're going to sing it during the formal dinner for Charles Morris Hall... it was really nice when we ran through it, even though it wasn't perfect, so I'm sure that the actual one will be much better.

I know entries these days are a little boring because I haven't gotten back into the rhythm of blogging yet, so am just writing down what I do everyday until I find my creativity again.

Slept last night at 10 instead of doing work like I'd intended to, because I was just so tired. Think I got a text from Julee last night but I wasn't sure, so I checked my phone again and sure enough she'd asked me to lead worship for cell group this Friday. Of course, I replied yes, but worship leading seems to me to be more than just singing. For it to have any impact whatsoever, your life has to be right with God, and I'm still in the midst of sorting that out.

This morning I read a little bit in Proverbs about the severity of disobeying your parents, which influenced my decision to apply for a Masters' next year. Come to think of it, I don't really mind studying here for another year. In fact, I think the little roots I've put out here are going to be pretty difficult to pull out, so I'm glad that I can delay that for another year at least. I'm always so averse to change; and/but part of that means that you can give me a week in a place and I'll like it so much that I won't want to move or uproot myself again. I never want to come back to England when I'm in Singapore, but when I'm here I never want to fly back, either. It's difficult both ways.

Something funny happened today during my Ecology lecture; well, not exactly something funny, but I had a funny realisation. On Friday when I went to Fruity, this guy started chatting me up, asking me where I was from and things, and then after that tried to dance with me but I turned my back on him and I think he gave up after a while. He's got a little goatie and a hungry look, and I saw him in my Ecology lecture today. Well, it's not really a big deal, but still it is a little embarrassing. For him, haha.

Anyway better get down to doing some work!!

Little Update

Spent a really short time in London but enjoyed it all the same. Didn't do the usual touristy things (wax museum, British museum) but spent most of my time talking to Justin, Guanming and their housemates. Student accomodation in London seems much better, too, with Justin's kitchen being so much cleaner than my old kitchen, which we used to clean once every semester :oP

I think most of my day on Saturday was taken up listening to music on Justin's computer ("Time to say goodbye" by Josh Groban - so nice!) and walking around Covent Gardens shopping and looking at buskers. There were lovely people painted in silver and blue and grey with heads slightly poised holding themselves still wherever I looked. Justin bought Ben's cookies and they were really really nice (comparable to Mrs Fields!) Crunchy cookies with a chewy soft doughy centre and lots of melted chocolate.

Am walking with a slight limp now due to having played badminton continuously for two hours on Saturday, just shows how unfit I am and how much more I need to exercise! :o)

Short Update

Am in London now, having gone down for the weekend primarily to visit some of my friends and find out how they're doing and, of course, have them bring me around. Took a five-hour long coach down to London and was highly amused by this man snoring really loudly in front of me, tried not to giggle to myself but with little success.

Met up with Justin and Guanming, will update you more on our adventures in due time. Am really tired now due to having been up since seven today and sleeping at 4 last night (the consequences of staying in hall!) So... laters. :o)

Little Happenings

Walked down to the Leeds City Market and tried their fish and chips for the first time ever in my three years here. It was sublime. The fish was greasy and the chips were greasy and piping hot and you put generous lashings of vinegar on the fish and shook salt over the whole thing and picked at it with a little plastic fork to get the most divine feeling ever. And all for only £3.

I am a big advocate of saving money now. Went down to town today just to walk around with Karen and ended up trying so many lovely clothes which I didn't buy, but the high I got felt just as though they'd all belonged to me. *Note to self: remember to take pictures of self in changing room with mobile phone*.

Spent £5 yesterday on a netting of fairy lights which I hung up in my room and which Chris (my hallmate at the end of my corridor) said were well cool! I was so complimented, and he likes my sunshine buddy and the Mr Strawberry in my room as well. He is too nice for words. He is unbelievably nice and I like the way he calls me "Ruthie", and I like the way he says "Take it easy, Ruth" and I like the way he uses my name in every single sentence he says!

After playing the role of a bimbo in the church play, I think I'm slowly becoming even more bimbotic (for real) and what happened yesterday when I bought my fairy lights just proves it. I asked the Man how much they cost, and he said £5. I was suspicious because they were so cheap, and said, "Do these come with batteries?" and he gave me a really funny look. Thinking he didn't understand my accent, I said, "Do-these-come-with-batt-e-rees?" And he shook his head and said, "No, luvvie, if you used batteries for these you'd need 35 of them a day!" and after staring at him for a little while I got it and went "Oh!" and was immensely embarrassed!

Have to go now, but rest assured loyal readers that the updates will continue over the next few days :o) Keep in touch.