Quote Sigmund Freud. Frankly it gives me the chills thinking about this. Surely I'm not going to go hysterical by being sentimental? Just a random thought, but it's frightening nonetheless. Don't worry, I don't think I'm going to have a mental breakdown any time soon.
Finally a calm has descended upon my life here in Warwick. It's been a hectic first term for me and judging by my timetable next term which I've just got a glimpse of, it's going from bad to worse. More lectures per week, not to mention tutorials, supervisions and support classes too. Glad to know that I'm getting my money's worth of education, but seriously they could have been a little forgiving in arranging my schedule; or maybe I'm just biting off more than I can chew as usual. Promised myself that I will drop a module or two if I can't cope with the workload, or am not even vaguely interested in the subject. The only good thing is that they have reworked the timetable nicely, so most of the days my lectures end at 3 or 4 most of the days. Hopefully there will be enough time for me to catch a breather before my night activities; and no, they do not include drinking or clubbing...
But I guess in the frenzy of trying to get everything done on time, you start to appreciate the little joys in simple daily routines. Cooking (despite setting the cooker on fire, but more on this later...) and ironing have been a source of calm and peace in recent times, perhaps because in the midst of it, it allows me to take my mind off stuff and concentrate my attentions on something which seems so trivial, but provides me with a short period of serenity. I don't cook much back home, or ever did ironing before I came to the UK, but now I can't possibly go a week without whipping up some home-cooked food or flattening out the creases in my clothes. Maybe at a deeper level of consciousness it has something to do with ironing out the imperfections in my life, I don't know, but people should try it sometimes, as it really helps calm me down. Just turn on some soft music and try to relax while going through the wrinkles on your shirts, and at the end of the exercise you're bound to feel a deep sense of satisfaction when everything is all straightened out. As for cooking, nothing beats home-cooked food, even though it doesn't usually turn out quite well. Just had bak kut teh for lunch this evening with a couple of friends, and it was a very fulfilling experience, what with cold weather and all. I cheated by using those bak kut teh sachets from home, but oh well... Haha. Sometimes people like to pamper themselves, and I'm not much different.
But life isn't without its surprises sometimes. I managed to set my grill on fire on Friday, two hours before my Foundations test. It pretty easy really, just put some chicken on a rack, chuck it in and leave it for about 20 minutes. Soon you'll have a nice fire stoking on the grill, which I found out to my own shock/horror/disbelieve when smoke started to pour out of the kitchen. The fire alarm went off, security came and so did a fire engine ten minutes later. The entire flat had to evacuate the building, and i daresay I've annoyed a lot of people during the weekend, but in some twisted, sadistic way I couldn't stand the dark humour and grinned away sheepishly while firemen dragged their water hose four storeys up to put out the flames. I got a three different lectures on not leaving cooking food unattended in the kitchen, but it was all unintended great fun in the end haha. I think I'll be held liable for any damages, which amounted to only some melted wires behind the grill I hope, but oh well, lesson learnt I guess; and you won't believe the punch line in all this. I was baking wedges in the oven under the grill, and after everything I checked it and voila! perfectly baked potato goodness, while my chicken resembled smoking charcoal. God how I enjoyed that joke afterwards :D
I'm going to hitch hike to Morocco during the Easter Holidays next year! Going with Jayne and Wendy, two Malaysian seniors in Warwick, so it promises to be great fun. The event is organised by Link Community Development (LCD), which works in Africa to provide Education to every child. I have always been a staunch supporter of education as a long term strategy in combating poverty, and being able to do something realistic about it now got me really excited. All proceeds from our hitch will go towards LCD, so we're hoping to raise as much as possible for the children in Africa. To show your support please join my Facebook group 'Itchy Hitchers' (if you haven't already done so, you deserve to be shot!) and maybe donate at our justgiving site too. For readers in Malaysia who also wish to donate, please follow the instructions on the Facebook group and I thank all of you in advance for your moral (and hopefully, monetary) support =)
Term I is ending and I can't wait to go down to London to see my KTJ friends again, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Hitchman. After that it will be all the way north to Edinburgh to brave the blizzards of Scotland. On another note it would probably be a good retreat for a few weeks before I start hitting the example sheets again, and I'd get to see Amira again, at least until before she goes back to Malaysia. AMIRA IF YOU'RE READING THIS I MISS YOU AND YOUR FAIRY DUST A LOT!!! Hahaha. Seriously, a little magic dust is useful sometimes, if only to go to a place where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Wishful thinking I guess, but I'm only human after all.~Zhongy~
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