Renewal

just a quick note after a pause of 3 years.

after having finally realised what a blog really means, i’ll update this site soon.

once the spirit is willing…

sick and drowning

day 1: not really sick as in the true sense of the word. but have been here for 3months plus and this being my final year, so its been a bit of a drag. currently drowning in a mountain of unfinished lecture notes, revision (exams eons away), gathering newspaper articles and other bits of housekeeping. navy and school both starting to clamour for my undivided attention so something’s gotta give. usually my sanity. luckily weather been uplifitng these past few days meaning no rain or overcast skies, but as winter is drawing near, might start to get moody. self revision starts this week so most probably will be camping in the library clearing the backlog of notes and whatnot. who knows how long this will end.

more chicken curry or mutton curry?

school lunches are atrocious during holidays. has to return early for some personal stuff and lunch was taken in the main canteen. for three whole weeks, except sat and sun, the DAILY dish was thai red/green chicken curry with rice. there were other options but i’m trying to control my weight. actually they should have named it red/green bamboo shoot curry with chicken. ingredients (listed in order of quantity): shredded bamboo shoots (60%), chicken breast (30%), thin coconut milk (5%), curry paste and eveything else (5%).

thankfully the cook was more hardworking this week and no more chicken curry. had sweet and sour pork on thursday and lamb curry on friday (today). strangely enough, both were made using same ingredients and tasted the same and even looked the same. reminding me of the scene in army daze where they were all discussing about cookhouse food, recalling that the sweet and sour pork and assam fish both tasted like mutton curry.

At the movies

first cinema experience since i came here and watched <julie and julia>. three innocent words which earned me the wtf? look when i bought my ticket in advance, like as if i was watching some *artistic* film. it was only during the screening did i realise why: two pairs of grandparents, one pair of grandmothers, one teenager accompanying her granny, one middle aged couple, two middle aged aunties and twenty-something me. thankfully the cinema wasnt too large either, 88 seater.

film review: good, thoughtful and well balanced movie. dabbles in romance, food (of course) and life issues. must watch for bloggers and food enthusiasts alike. or if you’re being greedy, both. not revealing too much… yet

Please return my dessert

Being a once-a-year frequent flyer, I have noticed gradual changes in airlines, especially the in-flight entertainment and food and beverage department. Gone are the days of watching pre-selected (read: non-choosable) movies on huge screens on the walls or drop down screens. This have been replaced by an entertainment system that can never be fully explored in a single flight unless you spend three solid months in that hollow metal sausage.

Thankfully, the quality of the food in people class have always remained top-notch. Appetisers were interesting, mains were wholesome and delicious, desserts ever scrumptious  and ice-cream used to be handed out like treats i.e. consume sparingly. However, with massive cost-cutting measures in place, airlines have resorted to various ways of saving which in turn lowers the experience of air travel. Out with metal cutlery, in with plastic (security). Recently, I noticed a very disturbing trend. The absence of the dessert. It used to be a piece of cake or pudding but has now been replaced by ice-cream. I’m not complaining but imagine ending a five star meal with a $2 ice-cream biscuit sandwich. It just doesn’t fit.

When I was a kid, I always anticipated the dessert course. That was the only time I could indulge in guilty pleasures with mum’s approval. Even now I’m of legal age, nothing has changed. (except for flying solo.) So please Mr Airline, bring back the dessert and the memories.

easter deployment

as described in the previous post, this 2 week event will be crammed into one post (hopefully). first, a little preamble bitching (my first b-word!). if you have read my super early posts, you would know that i am serving the royal navy “part-time” through the University Royal Naval Units. if not, you know now. anyway, the system operates on lectures on weekdays and sailing practice on weekends. each easter and summer holidays, there are a few extended sailing periods called deployments where we sail a “little bit” further than usual. now, i am theoretically bound not to reveal information which could lead to something nasty. if i abided the rules “to a T” (or letter if your english is half-past six), then you would not have the faintest idea what i’m talking cos then it should end here. thankfully, i have known greater secrets concerning national security, so to speak, and have worked previously in such environments. i know what to say, what not to say and whats really testing the system.

this deployment was a 13 day sailing trip covering the coasts of southern england and northwest france. this trip is the longest cruise for me, covering 8 ports. we left portsmouth on the first day. the familiar surroundings allowed me to “acclimatise” since i hadn’t been to sea in a while. first we re-fuelled then headed for nearby lymington. the whole vessel consisted of the CO, four permanentship crew, and us seven students; three males, four females. the females occupied two cabins while us males occupied the forward (front) accommodation. the forward accommodation is also divided into two.furthest  front consists of four bunks, two on each side, one upper, one lower. the nearer front had one upper and one lower bunk. the other side was the toilet and shower. throughout the whole deployment, i slept alone in the nearer front.

from lymington to caen was difficult. i knew it would be a very long and difficult journey since i wasnt used to being on the ship for long periods of time at sea. it was my first “virgin” crossing of the Channel. naturally, the hot sun and the monotonous droning of the ship moving forwards, combined with a little seasickness and exhaustion brought me to my knees. literally. i curled up in a corner clutching a sea sickness bag. i dozed off, awaking like every ten minutes or so. when i finally woke, i thought twenty minutes had pass. instead, i had been sleeping intermittently. it was the longest “twenty” minutes of my life. i did vomit but didnt produce much. i was then tasked to go above to keep lookout. and it was here that the bitching started.

i was sick, shivering, tired, eyelids feeling like bricks. apparently, my senior thought i was trying to skive and spoke a little too loudly. i was unimpressed. i thought someone was trying to show off since we had juniors on board. i just nodded to the questions and disregardedthem anyway. i admit i didn’t do a good job keeping watch but you cant expect must when a man is half incapacitated. i tried to cheer myself by looking for birds. it’s a known fact that sea birds stay close to the shore so seeing one in the Channel means land. therefore, my spirits rose tremendously when i spotted one about three quarters into the journey.

we reached caen around tea time but had to further sail in a canal to reach caen proper. we moored and rested for two days. during which i had an unforgettable lunch ashore. cherbourg was next, then st helier and st malo for two days. st malo is a real tourist town. the city is located in a fort and ALL the shops are meant for tourists. but there was one exceptional store. along the inside of the fort wall nearest the yacht berthing and carpark, stands a professional macaron shop. owner-chef sells macarons by weight not by pieces which is the real way of selling macarons.

i was better prepared for the return crossing of the Channel from st malo to dartmouth. more sea sickness bags and more food. being out at sea is a tremendously boring event. your entire 360 degree view is the sea and the sky. you have no landmarks to guide you, no hills, terraces and undulating features to break the monotomy of the landscape, no green grass, tall trees and beautiful flowers to admire. upon reaching dartmouth, everybody was ready to “go horizontal”, my term for hitting the sack. but everyone performed admirably helping to clean the ship. the CO, crew and students all went ashore afterwards for a well deserved get-together dinner. two days later, we gave the entire ship a good thorough clean before leaving for home.

everyone learnt a lot on this trip and so did i. in fact i think i learnt a lot more than everybody. during this trip, my view was reinforced that some people have poor leadership qualities to put it mildly. anyway, i’ve written enough.

format change

change is long overdue. all my previous posts were about day to day descriptions which i admit, can get very tedious reading and takes a disproportionatelylong time to write. i set up this blog cos i really wanted to talk about any interesting things daily. however, being boring myself will also mean nothing to blog anyway. and those minute by minute accounts of my holidays are just a dragggg. from here onwards, events large and small will be reflected only in one post. simply put, a summary. no more blah-ing about the nonsensical things like waking up, sleeping, taking a dump etc.

with regards to pictures, if you could leave a link in comment about a FREE picturehosting site AND does not pre-require me to have a yahoo or google or what-have-you account to sign up. then i would be able to upload more pics. by the way, dont forget to read “read this first”. previously i kept all my posts clean sans a few. clean meaning G-rated for kids. therefore, i’ve decided to spice things up and do away with those ridiculous pre-requisite warnings that make the post look like some porn flick. meaning, more “colourful” langauge, “infighting” and everybody’s favourite: gossip or in layman’s term; bitching.

readers, you have been warned…

blog not updated frequently?

to all my loyal readers. i have not been updating my blog regularly. its actually quite difficult to blog regularly when there’s nothing to blog about. day after day after day is the same. all repititions. not worth nothing. therefore, in future i will not update unless its a very big event that merits lots of writing space. otherwise you can follow me on twitter. its a lot more updated.

paris revisited – day 5 (19 dec)

day of departure. i was a eurostar virgin when i came and now leaving paris, i was well prepared for the return journey. bought a sandwich at some bakery. same like subway, you choose the bread then the toppings. i got the french pronunciation for baguette, chicken and mayo right. but that one word had me suffer a major embarrassment. (and wishing to dig a hole and bury myself). the word: crudités. thats french for vegetables. i pronounced it similarto “crudies”. immediately, monsieur francaisbehind me corrected me by saying similar to “crudits”. i turned around, apologised and explained i was practising my kindergarten french to whcih he looked nonplussed and accepted my explanation. i grabbed my baguette and coke and rushed back to my hotel, red-faced with embarrassment.

checking out, i decided to walk the 10 minutes or so to gare du nord for the eurostar. the rest of the way was travelling all to my ultimate destination: my room in reading, uk. eurostar, london underground, national rail, bus. i arrived in reading in the evening with some unfinished business in paris.

paris revisited – day 4 (18 dec)

as promised, i will not go to this place. the mecca of capitalism. its evil franchises are found all over the world. from new zealand in the south to canada in the north. from japan in the east to the US in the west. the place where adults all act like children, spending obscene amounts of money on themselves and yes, the kids. the place of the world’s most loved vermin and his gang of animal cronies. yes my readers. this is disneyland.

one lookat my guidebook and i erased all thoughts of entering eurodisney. but as luck would have it, that same day i was to visit the two famous and largest department stores in paris, there was a bomb scare in one of them. it seems i would end up in disneyland. its actually very easy and cheap to get there. take the “other metro line”, the RER line A4 to the very last station marne-la-vallée/chessy. the line splits halfway so make doubly sure you are on the right train. the RER takes about 1hour to get there cosits located on the outskirts of central paris.

upon reaching, i told myself. i’ll take a look and return. ok… i inched closer to the ticket counter. how much? €59. unknowingly, i blurted “any discounts for under 25s?” yes. €39. for both parks the entire day. i surrendered my debit card to the master of manipulation himself: mickey mouse.

eurodisney comprises of two seperate parks. the smaller walt disney studios and the much, much larger disneyland park. walt disney studios is where they show you how they make films, animation and the like. its also THE place in eurodisney where you can pose for pictures with mickey, minnie and all the other disney characters you and i have come to like (or hate). nothing much to see here besides taking pictures with m-i-c-k-e-y and gang. disneyland park is the larger and more interesting of the two. itself is divided into five areas: main street, usa; frontierland; adventureland; fantasyland; discoveryland. to fully enjoy disneyland park, you will need at least two days. i had only half a day so i could only barely squeeze in walt disney studios, main street and frontierland. a good way to see the entire park is to take a ride on an authentic (?) steam train that travels around the perimeter of the park, thus allowing you a tantalising glimpse of all five theme parks. also they have a parade on main street at 4pm. it’s the usual with all the floats and dancers and no prizes for guessing the theme. i think the best time to go eurodisney is in the winter before christmas. you get to see all the christmas decorations and lightings with half the crowd compared to the peak season. as long as you go during the off peak season, you need not wait long for the rides. and yes, 90% of the rides are free (mostly in disneyland park).

i didn’y buy any souvenirs except for a disney mug with “free coffee” for €5 something. i’m afraid i’ve been infected with mickey fever. after returning to central paris, dinner was in a nondescript parisian bistro. empty except for two customers. apparently, the server was also the bartender who was also the cook and is also the owner. i finally found what i was looking for in paris: steak-frites. except cos i dont eat beef, the ‘steak’ was pork. dessert was apple pie (the instant version, not homemade) and more crepes. i asked the owner if i could eat my crepes in the restaurant with cafe and he very graciously gave me permission. i was eating halfway and two more customers came in (no relation to the earlier two). they were all eating the same thing. lamb tagine. damn. instanly i knew that was the house special but i’d had my dinner already. the kind owner invited me for coffee the next day before i am to leave paris but i politely declined cos my train was leaving in the early afternoon. what a way to end a most unexpected day.

the place of dreams

walt disney studios (have your photo taken with mickey here)

paris revisited – day 3 (17 dec)

the great bakery hunt.

parisbeing the center of all things pastries and bread, and with nothing scheduled and nowhere to go, i decided to go on a bakery rush of the the top five bakeries as recommended by my lonely planet guidebook (6thedition, to be exact) after a bit of planning after breakfast, i visited the following bakeries in the most convenient order possible by the paris metro network. to best follow, pls get a map of the paris metro so you can trace my way around. (start from jacques bonsergent of line 5)

first: boulangerie de monge (M) censier daubenton, 5arr. supposedly the best croissant place in all of paris. bought one but wasnt overly impressed. it was room temperature, a touch soggy and in need of a little butter. one thing about the shop thats the same as anywhere is its preferred mode of advertising. pasting newspaper articles, food reviews and the such all on the front door. managed to stop and explore the market located in rue mouffetard. one would not expect of a market where everything clumps together in one building. instead the street is lined with shops selling fresh fruit and veg, fish, meat, cheese etc. (by the way, avoid all cheese shops or risk damage to your sense of smell. french cheese shops smell like a pair of mouldy, sweaty socks thatsbeen worn everyday for a month. thats how french cheese would smell like to a singaporean. similarly, thats how a durian would smell like to everyone else in the western world. they have theirs, i have mine.)

second: boulangerie kayser (M) maubert mutualite, 5arr. from this place on, i decided on the modus operandi. go to the bakery shop, take a few photos and then scoot off. if i were to buy one item from each bakery, i would go broke, throw up cause i had a ‘bit’ of a breakfast and just eat myself silly.

third: poilâne (M) sèvres babylone, 6arr; and (M) dupleix, 15 arr. same modus operandi. go to shop, take photo, and leave. note: there’s a great open air market stretching from (M) dupleix to (M) la motte-picquet grenelle selling all kinds of fresh produce, seafood, clothing, second hand goods and the like. also, if you’re looking for cheap foie gras  (you know the duck/goose liver thingy), this is the place to come. the entire market is situated directly under the elevated metro line.

fourth: boulangerie-pâtisserie secco (M) la tour maubourg, 7arr. the hardest of the lot to find. and the longest queue to match.

fifth: la fournée d’augustine (M) pernety, 14arr. the most out-of-the-way bakery. did manage to track it down anyway.

after all the train-taking, and sniffing, and phototaking, and walking, naturally i was hungry. according to my guidebook, there was a famous crêpe restaurant: crêpe bretonne nearby. one thing to note in paris. the shops outsidethe touristy areas do not have very prominent signboards. i actually walked past this crêpe shop twice (!) before finding it. sadly it was closed. i arrived after lunch service and too early for the dinner. so off a bistro nearby. more french food, more cafe au lait. paris, i believe, has more eating establishments per square mile/kilometre than london so you’re bound not to starve. unless you’re a very fussy or picky or a vegetarian.

ended the day with dinner in Leon’s. a chain of restaurants specialising in moules marinieres: mussels cooked belgian style. they have a few variations of this classic belgian dish but i ordered l’original: 800 grams of uncooked, unshelled mussels cooked in white wine, shallots and parsley. this served with “free flow” fries. but since i couldn’t figure out the free flow, i had only one serving like other customers. the time i visited they had a promotion. one serving of mussels, fries “free flow” and one serving of belgian waffles. the waffles were nondescript. nothing special compared to the parisian crepes i had after every dinner. it was just waffles with ice cream and chocolate sauce. the whole bill came to €17.90. ( i think. its been four months). but i do remember leaving €20 on the table.

tomorrow: i will not go to this place. i will not go to this place. i will not go to this place…

paris revisited – amendment

official explanation: due to some technical problems, this post is unable to continue

unofficial explanation: my only source of information is the lonely planet paris guide book which i borrowed  the library in town. however, somebody has borrowed it as well and his loan expires on 24th january. it’s not that i’m unable to post completely but will mean the names of places and roads will be missing. until then, there will be lots of gaps in between. meaning, not a very good read.

paris revisited – day 2 (16 dec)

one important point to remember when selecting accommodation: MUST choose places that provide breakfast. that’s one meal taken care off and helps to start your day. today’s plan: collect paris metro pass, visit market, lunch. plan some more during lunch. the paris metro isn’t that all complicated. first you have the metro and second, RER. the metro is exactly similar to the london underground. lotsa lines, lotsa stops. the RER is more of like a train that serves greater paris so it has few stops in central paris. i bought the 5 day pass for zones 1-3. but the frustratingly, had to collect from my specified tourist agency in the rivoli area. then it was a decision between taking the metro (faster and convenient) or walking to les halles (more sights). i decided to walk. i walked through the jardin des tuileries (tuileries gardens), the lourve museum and then reached les halles. les halles used to be THE wholesale food market in paris until 1970s when the whole operation was moved to rungis, a little further south next to orly airport. remnants of this once glorious market are found along the main street. i hid in a nearby cafe to plan where to go after lunch and decided on notre-dame cathedral and arc de triomphe in the evening.

for lunch, i wanted something authentically french. so i did a little search of the area. nothing. no brasserie or bistro. all seemed too touristy or were over my budget. the more i walked, the more i explored and the hungrier i became until i found myself lost, disorientated somewhere in paris (actually in front of the banque de france). i entered one crowded bistro and ordered one poulet roti (roast chicken). at first i thought poulet roti was chicken with bread cause i recognise poulet as poultry and roti as bread. no. it actually was roast chicken. the food wasn’t bad but because the tables were squeezed together, if you wanted to seat against the wall, you had to first move away the table, sit down, then move the table back in front of you. the meal was surprisingly cheap at €10 and the portions were large. not bad in a city like paris.

next to the notre-dame catherdral. for me, this is one of the ‘three gems of paris’ the other two bing the eiffel tower and the arc de triomphe. the notre dame is a working cathedral so mass is held on sundays. therefore, it is advisable to go on a weekday. by the way, there is no high or low tourist season. it is crowded all year long. unlike the eiffel tower or the arc de triomphe, words cannot describe the magnificence of the interior of the cathedral. you must go there to see for yourself. after finishing admiring the inside of the cathedral, do climb up the south tower. a small fee is charged €4.80 (exact change only), then you are allowed to ascend in groups of 20 every 10 minutes. before ascending, you are giving a leaflet (in your respective language) stating some facts and the views of paris from the top. be forewarned, you will climb 400 steps straight up, no lifts and no toilet facilities. the visit is also not recommended for pregnant women, people suffering from vertigo (me) or a cardiac complaint. as with all medievalstyle buildings, the steps are wound around one central pillar. to get an idea, take a long bamboo skewer (satay stick) and twirl a piceof string tightly around the stick. allow some space in between. the string therefore resembles the staircase and the stick (skewer) represents the central pillar.

in return, you get spectacular views of paris and on a clear summer’s day should be able to see the eiffel tower in the distance. the domed building which contains the sarcophagus of napoleon bonaparte lies in the same direction. halfway up, you stop to see the great bell known as ‘Emmanuel’, cast in the 17th century and weighing in excess of 13 tons and its clapper 500 kilos. This bell is rung on major Catholic feast days while four other bells in the north tower are rung several times a day.

The evening was spent at the arc de triomphe and walking up and down the champs elysee soaking in the pre-christmas atmosphere. there is a little ceremony at the arc which starts around 6pm. just a little ceremony to honour france’s tomb of the unknown soldier. the ceremony is conducted with a couple of policemen, some army personnel and few war veterans and their families. the tomb is cordoned off so you will have to get there early to secure a spot. also, the closest you can get is only watching from the left side of the tomb and the eternal flame (facing the champs elysee.) the ceremony lasts approx 30 mins (including prep time). after that, back to hotel for dinner in the area, then bed.

paris revisited – day 1 (15 dec)

first lets make this clear. this posts are all about a trip to paris. if by any chance you are a command and conquer red alert 2 fanactic looking for the map with the same name, be gone! shoo!

previously i wrote how this whole idea came about. so no repeating. i decided to go by eurostar as thats the easiest way to go to paris. and also to try out a train that travels at a speed ten times faster than singapore MRT. booked both my train tickets and hotel (3-star) online and the total cost was £380 and including the 5 day paris metro pass. was scheduled to leave on the 1330hr train to paris on monday. i did my packing on saturday and research a few days earlier. if you need help planning a last minute trip, i can gladly offer my services. the day of departure was nervous as usual since i had not travelled on the eurostar before. (on the contrary, air travel is like taking the bus. nothing special). having been informed that food is sold on board, i decided to buy my food on the train (bad choice, as explained later). basically it works the same like travelling by air, after checking in, then x-ray, then customs, i reached the so-called departure lounge which is just a small holding area. you remember those long walkways to the plane called aerobridges? here also have. they’re called travellators (long flat escalators).

i got a window seat in the last carriage (!)which is not bad. but had to squeeze together with 3 other people. so i would be stuck for the next 2hrs and 35 mins journey. here’s why you must bring your own food on board eurostar. one: the food, drinks and snacks on board is seriously overpriced. two: not that many choices. three: its not nice waking your neighbour every time you feel hungry. like all long distance journeys, a short nap is involved. reached paris gare du nord train station at 1700 hrs local time. (paris is one hour ahead of london) because i alighted from the rear (last) carriage, it was a long walk to the station entrance. at least you get to walk beside the entire train. with a standard tourist map, some asking and lotsa walking, i found my hotel. the easy part is that you just walk straight for about 8-10 mins approx. by tonight, i had found out what the travel industry does to single, independent youth travellers. rules to follow: give these fellas the worst seat on the train in the last carriage and a room on the top floor of the hotel. at least my hotel was fairly respectable. it was clean and cosy, albeit a little small. the only good thing was that the size of the bed is double that of my uni accomodation. had a shower, then planned for the next few days, and slept. i forgot to mention that dinner was confit de canard avec sauteed pommes. (english translation: leg of duck slow cooked in fat served with fried potatoes.) note: this is not to be eaten daily. regular consumption will make your arteries sad and your doctor very happy. dessert was a passable creme brulee.

paris revisited – preamble

somehow i got bitten by the paris bug. i decided on a whim to visit paris again. prior planning be damned. it all was basically a pack and go. i spent a total of 5 days and 4 nights. as a guide, i borrowed a lonely planet guidebook from the library and brought it along with me.

so, why so long to blog this post? well, i came back, tired, then celebrated christmas and new year. so i was all relaxing one corner and taking a beak from all the studying the previous term. in between, nothing much happened but i did have a special christmas dinner with champagne. as for new year, dinner was three straight days of tom yam ‘steamboat’. needless to say, dunno what compelled me to spend so much for these two festivities that i’m planning on cutting down my chinese new year budget. lunch has also been much of a problem. at least when school was open, you go to canteen and eat whatever slop they serve. holiday lunch requires planning and options are getting limited when you are fed up with western, pasta and chinese food so expensive. but enough of all this. back to the paris trip.

Bonne Année 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009 TO ALL ! new year resolutions? nah……..  (but paris posts coming sooon, reallly.)

< it’s not as if  i’m smitten with french. i change the title due to the ridiculous amount of spam received under the previous titles. >

Merry X’mas

Here’s a toast to all wishing everybody a very merry and happy christmas. not forgetting, i went to paris from 15 to 19 december so i will be posting these soon. (once i try to drag myself back to work after boxing day, my brain all sloshed with el cheapo champagne)

looking back (at the halfway mark)

after i finish poly, i always wondered if i’m able to make it to uni. not surprisingly, nus, ntu and smu all cannot go in. why fret, there’s always overseas. but australia is something like cheap thrill cos too near singapore so doesn’t really count as overseas. america too far away. to travel there takes approximately two days worth of flying. mana tahan? so how, like typical singaporean, here cannot, there cannot, then somewhere in the middle loh. so study in europe and where else in europe to people speak english? england. (duh) looking back, i have to admit the application period was a little screwed up. too embarrassed to explain.

i’ve a few days to “celebrate” one and a half years in england. however, its not really one and a half years cos theres only 20 weeks of school and a few more for exams. so out of 52 weeks a year, i spend only 25 weeks studying. to put it in perspective, i’m second year now. so one more year left.

so you ask how’s life here? well, it’s mostly how you make of it. but overall, it does feel like prison sometimes. morning you go school. then after school you hang around in school or town or some kaki’s place for a while. at night you go home eat dinner, then stuck in your room until the next day morning. sometimes you got after school activities to keep you occupied on weekdays and weekends and during holidays you go travelling. so dispel all the hippie fantasy notions that you might have about studying overseas. i’m not trying to scare you. but let’s face it, once reality sets in, sometimes you do realise that everyday is like a struggle to survive.

so what have i done the past one year and half? considering i’m sometimes quite squeezed for time, i’m amazed i’ve accomplised much on my wishlist. this includes: visiting paris and eating in a parisian cafe, drinking a bellini at harry’s bar in venice, earned some side pay (thanks to the navy here), enjoyed myself on weekends (also thanks to the navy here), survived first year with minimal homesickness, and managed to pass all my first year subjects. what i wish for in the coming one year half: better grades, better food, see more of europe, visiting paris and eating in a parisian cafe plus drinking a bellini at harry’s bar in venice (again!), more pay and more enjoyment on weekends (navy), and lastly graduation with a secured job.

i’m surprised that the study schedule is exactly like poly back home. tutorials and lectures, tests and exams. same with the social life. but what scares me, is the one thing i wished wouldn’t happen again. unfortunately, it’s happening as i speak.

downturn / recession

now the world economy is in a downturn/recession. somehow my productivity levels also in a downturn/recession. which is not very good. i can see my good grades fly away.

can i have some encouragement, please?

blogging vs facebook

not so long ago, blogs or then known as weblogs, were all the rage. every tom, dick and harry had a blog, some were just little snippets of somebody’s less than exciting life, others were maintained by those who decided to share their lives with everybody. blog hosting sites sprung up to cater to the ever increasing demand. it wasn’t long before blogging became as part of our lives like having lunch or going to work. then due to popularity and increasing bad press, blogs started its slow eventual decline.

but it was really the arrival of facebook that sounded the death knell of the blogosphere as we know it. no more memorising complicated blog websites to see your friend. now one site has it all. and you can see other people’s friends and more other people’s friends (think: voyeur-ism). facebook now is the in thing. people get addicted to facebook. we dont say “check out my blog”, we now say “facebook me”.

but is the decreasing popularity of blogs a bad thing? not really if you consider that only those who are more serious remain. yes there are other junk blogs out there but i think quality has improved somewhat. and blogging helps to practise your english and typing skills too. is facebook useful in anyway? not much, unless you’re finding the girl that you met at some party on friday night. (by the way, dont bother facebook-ing me, i dont have an account)