EEK

what up, crazy kids.

Job interview in the big smoke tomorrow. I have a smokin' hot powerpoint presentation. However, if i don't get it at least it'll be a good excuse to meet some of the people I've been putting off for ages.

Free trip down to London my chaps and chapesses.

WOO HOO

I have a job interview on Friday. Was a bit jittery about getting a job but now I have ONE interview. OK, I may not get it but it's quite a nice affirmation.

Viva exam in 2 weeks, I'm still not ready for it. EEEKKKK, will be ok, need to brush up on a few things.

Been plagued by weird and unusual dreams lately. Think the stress of lack of employment and viva is getting to me. Strangely, the stress has made me lazier rather than motivated to do things that I've put off for a while.

3 weeks to viva

CRAP

how did that happen? :(

All I want to do right now is crawl under a rock and cry. There are no job prospects available and it feels like no one has read anything that I've spent time preparing. This is sort of something similar to the chat I had with Annie yesterday, which I would normally transcribe and have some insightful comment but really all I want to do right now is talk about Drosophila innate immunity, the Toll pathway, cytokine signalling and haematopoiesis. And maybe a bit of phagocytosis or evolutionary adaptation to boot.

There isn't enough time in the day for what I need to do in the next 3 weeks, made even worse by the fact that I still have that stupid ear thing. I can't balance myself properly and the lack of sleep is making it harder for me to adapt to the loss of balance sensing. And a big public thank-you to Mary for her kind and generous offer. :-)

Also, I'll be going home soon, should be nice.

Going into hiding

I've been pretty busy lately doing a whole bunch of stuff that most of you know about, revising the work for my paper, preparing my paper, checking out my thesis (and feeling the horror of the viva coming up) and leaving my room of 2 years. I am crap at moving. I should be really really good at moving by now because I used to move every year. I should really be able to live out of a suitcase with nothing but my laptop and a credit card. But I think I overcompensate for the lack of a home by purchasing things.

Freecycle has had a good week out of me, I've got more things to recycle but it still feels like I own too many things. One day, I shall learn not to buy anything. (This is on the list with being on time, not having a rant every 5 minutes, being sweetness and light before coffee in the morning and others).

Anyways, I am getting a bit stressed about the fact that I don't have a job yet (and for anyone who asks yet again, how hard is it for a PhD to get a job, it's pretty freaking hard! OK?) and I have about a million journal articles (slight over estimation, maybe about 100-150 in reality) to read before I get grilled by 2 of my supposed peers. (HA HA HA). How bad can it be? I have to rewrite my thesis? *gulp*

Hence also explaining why I'm still awake at 2:33am and have to be in the lab at 9am tomorrow. Joy.

Facebook addiction

I am currently addicted to facebook. It's quite spooky. I've found a large number of people that I haven't kept in touch with or I haven't even spoken to in years. It's nice to see how other people are doing.

Facebook rocks.

Merdeka

Merdeka is Malay meaning to be free, independent.

The nation celebrates freedom from colonising forces every year 31 August. But it celebrates the wrong day and the wrong year. The Malay peninsula was freed 31 August 1957 but the whole nation (including Sabah and Sarawak) was only formed 16 Sept 1963. It's a shame that the leaders of the nation doesn't think to rectify their errors.

I've lived abroad now for a lot of years and in the beginning, it was easy to be swayed by the idea that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. It is very easy for minorities to be disillusioned by the farcical notion that is Bangsa Malaysia. There is no such thing, everything in Malaysia is delineated by your race and your religion. Your right to own land, your right to own a business, your right to be educated, your right to choose your religion and even your right to serve your own country.

How can you afford patriotism for a nation that seems not to care about you and chooses to ignore what you can do? But then again, when you are abroad, you don't really truly belong to that country. You are still a foreigner in their land. Each country has their own unique set of problems and they are different. You just have to realise that it's a different way of life.

There are many things wrong with being Malaysian, but there are as many things that are right.
Malaysians are friendly, you'll never be wanting an easy chat or even a smile or a helping hand. The national obsessions keep the country glued together, you'll never find another place in the world when you return home and you realise how lovely all the food smells and tastes. You'll never find a country so industrious in learning about loopholes, there will always be someone on a road side stall selling the latest DVD version of the newest film deemed by the censors too delicate for us to watch. There are never enough prodigious people who will come up with another way to take your money, someone has an idea that will be exploited. And the best of all, it is always acceptable to leave your work for breakfast/tea break/lunch when you need to.

Here are some reasons why I miss Malaysia so much sometimes...










































To be truly free for what we enjoy, we have to accept that we are going to be restricted for other things in our live.

Selamat menyambut Hari Merdeka!

I'm off-balance

I know that is nothing new to those that know me quite well but you'll be glad to know that it's now official. I have an inner ear infection which means that I am not quite fully balanced. Or fully able to balance. It would be a rather pleasing non-drug induced sensation of feeling slightly high or giddy if it wasn't for the fact that I have quite a large number of things that need organising over the next few days.

But I had a great weekend, I spent time with x and it's all going swimmingly. The poor boy had to face a rather large group of people and worrying about me swaying all over the place yesterday when we had a barbeque at the flats. It was good, we had loads of food, lots of drink (of which I had none, due to being off-balanced) and just general chat.

There are some pictures and things that I keep threatening to include but they never somehow make it on this blog. One day, I'll remember.

When I'm more balanced.

Yes yes

Yes, I am still alive, it's been weeks since I blogged but I've been in a lovely state of inertia from finishing thesis. But I am getting my butt into gear and organising things. more pictures up soon.

Been really busy, we went out last night and i may have gotten accidentally drunk.

So will be on the lookout for bacon type things today.

I am done

Thesis ready, just the binding left after one last read to make sure there aren't any obvious fuck-ups.

My supervisor soothed me with the words, "It's fine, they'll ask for minor corrections." and "I am not sure what you are trying to discuss but it's ok"

You know what, I'm not sure what the hell I'm doing as well, but it's over. For now.

And for those that know me, yes, it's ready one day early.

No, I can't believe it either, it's a miracle from God. And if you don't believe in the existance of a higher being, go and buy a lottery ticket.

deleted

When the going gets tough

the tough prepare baked goods.

I baked over the weekend, possibly because it was the most relaxing activity when the weather is crap. Which, unsurprisingly, since I live in Britain, wasn't the greatest.

I made carrot muffins (which in all honesty, were a bit cake like in texture) and the kick-ass peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. For good measure, I made some parmesan biscuits as well.


Taste testers required for above products, to apply, please drop by to collect! I don't actually eat very many of them.

Also had a great girly night in with two gorgeous chicks where we chatted about anything and everything (especially men!!) over a substantial quantity of the loveliest vodka ever invented on this Earth.

Now, the problem is I have a meeting with my supervisor tomorrow about my thesis, the phrase 'lots of changes' were invoked.

Thank God I'll be bribing with cookies and cake.....

Deadline for submission 13 July.

Exhaustion

Hello, this is alice's brain, I'm called Brian

I'm tired tired. Very very tired. I feels like i've been bitch slapped to hell and back.

But it will soon all be over.

13 July is when the thesis goes in, should be fun.

Wish me luck and any prayers are always welcome.





I should also wish to add, there's a whole chapter that's currently unwritten but you know me, work best under fire.

A minor vent

Now, some people will have remembered the exceptional customer service of the Thistle City Barbican where I stayed previously, about 2 months ago.

After a month of emails and complaints, first receiving some silly compensatory plans such as an executive suite and complimentary breakfast, I was finally assured that I would be receiving a refund within 4 weeks.

4 weeks whistle by.

No cheque.

Sent another email only to find out they had accidentally missed out my payment.
Completely unacceptable behaviour by a company that purports itself to be a 4-star hotel.

At some point, I will receive a refund. At some point, I may even hate them less for their ineptness.

A weekend in Holland

Went to visit John where he's back for another course and it was great fun. Very nice to have a break of some description. Airport security is now worse than ever before, I didn't want to check in so I had to pack my toiletries in a clear plastic bag and they had to be less than 100ml.

Got to Schippol and then took a train to Rijswijk, a suburb off the Hague. Friday I went to Delft, and spent a nice day wandering around there.

Started off at the Vermeer Center, learning all about the great Dutch painter, whom I was introduced to by Sarah!


Then walked along to the Old Church, beautiful inside




Then walked around the Pisenhof where it was very very weird. They had old Masters in great grand frames in the same room with a lot of contemporary art. Took me a while to realise there was a theme to each room. There was a room where there was war pictures and there were other modern art installations with a war theme. It amused me for a while, took about 5 or 6 galleries before I stopped laughing at it. Well curated though.



An unusual bench outside the museum

Then walked along to Royal Delft, went along their little tour and learn all about how they make quality high class ceramics. They had "The Night Watch" on tiles, which is remarkably impressive seeing how hard it is to make it!



Then fell in love with what I call my Fish plate, it's gorgeous. Bought it so I am now owner of Royal Delftware. YAY!


Saturday morning, went to Amsterdam with John and visited the Rjiksmuseum, saw the work of the great Dutch masters, it was great!


Then instead of another museum, we decided to go and do the Heineken experience, which was fun and involved drinking beer. I can cope with drinking of beer.





It wasn't me that was being silly!!!

Then we walked around for a bit before dinner

Then went back to the Hague

Sunday was a random chilled out day, which I enjoyed immensely.


We decided we wanted to look for the International War Crimes tribunal, it's just located in a small quiet building and found out there are public galleries for the trials, very exciting.

World Peace Flame next to the European Court of Justice (or something similar to it, if anyone does know, can they please tell me?)



How can anyone not love this place?



Now back to reality of thesis!

Something different

I am ecstatically happy.

It's not my thesis.

Summer has arrived, of a description, the weather has turned from miserable from the past few weeks and it's a beautiful day.

And of course, there's one other reason.
But I can't say anything yet.

This is why Youtube exists!

This song


and


this song


You know you want to own them!

Thanks to Tim for one of them, he heard them on the Chris Evans show.

What's the point of having a routine?

I've been discovering what having a routine is all about. It's not something that I tend to do, what is quite amusing and rather disturbing at the same time is that I'm quite enjoying having some sort of set rules in my life. I blame the old age (what else could it be, all young people are mad and impressionable really)

One thing that I've recently started doing is play a strategic war board game called Axis and Allies with the boys once a week, every Tuesday evening. Quite useful when I've spent a week alone in my room with just virtual company. Who knew that the company of other humans would be so useful?

Back to the board game, we each get to play a country and use strategy to work out who wins the war. I started with utmost scepticism but I'm gradually getting more involved and actually getting quite good at it. The only problem is that I keep telling everyone what my next moves are and the boys just counter-attack me to the death. It takes a lot longer to play as one round of the game takes about an hour and it's rather amusing to watch the boys discuss possible tactics, strategies and what could happen. I normally go for the gung-ho approach with an all out mother of all battles in the hopes that a good dice roll will annilihate the other army.

I may be getting carried away with this. The problem with me is that once I get going on something I get quite involved for a while and then after a while I move on, the intensity of which I do something doesn't last very long. Maybe that's why I don't like my thesis anymore.

Thus the coffee kicks in early this morning, and I shall be attempting to analyse another 500 images of GFP larvae. Don't ask. Just accept.

New Shoes

I want another pair of shoes. I've no need for them. They are completely frivolous and probably quite pointless.

However, they are exceptionally gorgeous.

Decision making help please!

It's been a while!

Wow, 2 whole weeks and I haven't posted on my blog. I was doing such a good job since the new year as well.

Nevertheless, let's not dwell on past things, well, actually, we will because it's just all about stuff that I've been doing while I've not been posting on my blog. Ah-HAH!

Went to see Barenaked Ladies a few weeks ago now. Went with Mary to London and the hotel was absolutely awful. I'm now trying to get a refund but it's not looking likely. It's such a pain at how crappy customer service is possible in this country. We were staying in a 4-star hotel or a supposed 4-star hotel but when we got in, I had an attractive picture to greet me on my pillow and on both days we stayed there, we didn't have any hot water to have any showers at all. Not that I mind not having showers for 2 days in a row. But I would quite like not to smell when walking around smoky smoggy London. It's not called The Big Smoke for nuffink.

Yum......4-star hotel with class service. I DON'T want any suggestions or ideas on what it could be.

Barenaked Ladies ROCK. Still the best live gigs ever.

Then spent the next day with Jean Marie at the Tate, then we went to his place to cook, to be joined by Chad. Basically, 4 crazy people in 1 room, 1 camera and lots of good food and wine.
(I blame Chadster for the pictures)

If this is how the night is going to start, we're gonna be in for a long one...

It just gets worse before dinner, who needs enemies when I post pictures of myself like this?

What the boys do in the privacy of the kitchen...AHEM

Chad loves fresh fish fillets...

Dinner! Yum yum....Giant haddock fillets, new potatoes with curly kale. Trust the Frenchman to throw up the masterpiece

Thanks for the hospitality JM!! Can't wait till Ale is back again.

Then the next day, as Mary left back to Reading early, I went to meet Katey and Sarah for brunch while Chad decided he was going to join the girly group for the day.
The winners at the breakfast club!! They polished off their brunches in good time, unlike...
The utter look of defeat from the losers with food still on their plates. (Even more ashamedly, Chad had eaten some of my breakfast as well, I had given up long before my plate looked that clean)

The beautiful weather over the weekend reminded me of when John was here and I lazily didn't post any photos!

So here's one, he'll be back to Europe some time in May so it's time for me to head over Holland.

This long post and following random pictures brought to you by my new best friend, insomnia. I think I can't sleep as I've upset someone. If you're reading and you are upset, I'm sorry. If you're not, then there's not much else I can do about it.

Everyone else can leave comments on facebook or somewhere more appropriate that I can delete!

A moment's silence

Can we all observe a moment's silence? My computer at work died. It's having a brain transplant as I type this, I can't bear to watch it.

It's scary how much of my life is stored electronically, like my whole PhD, and all my music.

Anyways, this weekend, me and Mary are going away to London. We've splashed out on a hotel, and tonight we're going to see only what I consider the best band in the world, Barenaked Ladies with Sebby.

Tomorrow, we're going to catch up with Jean Marie and Chad at the Tate, chill out and then probably gonna cook up a storm at JM's place.

Sunday will be a nice easy lazy day, having brunch with Katey and Sarah, then back to Oxford!

If only real life was as appealing as going away for the weekend.

I am also absolutely in love with Mika at the moment, I've had his album on back to back playback on my iPod for a few days now.

I bought his album with The Fray and Fall Out Boy's new ones but I think everyone needs a bit of camp, kitsch, cheesy music in their lives!

And before I shoot off for the weekend, thanks to Tim who linked me to this that kept me amused for a few hours. (I am a simple child really, it's the small things that keep me happy!)

Have a good weekend y'all!

xXx <---ooo, that reminded me of Vin Diesel, yum