Decided to pamper myself today. Bought some mixed seafood (squid, mussels, prawn - from sainsbury's) and beansprouts, cooked myself laksa! Had resisted the urge to utilise the laksa mix Mum had sent me until now.
Niiiiiiiiiiceeeeeeeeeee!
:D

It snowed today!!! YAY!!!!!!!
Pity I couldn't capture any good photos today though, had quite some work to rush through (studying) before I left for dissection lesson.
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh I've decided to run for VP.

Was cooking noodles just now when I realised something - you don't need chicken (meat) to actually cook chicken soup noodles. You just need chicken stock.¹
Which made me think.
You don't need love, you just need a semblance of it.
Indeed, why do we seek that elusive thing called 'love' when it is all around us?

And of course, you don't need actual CDs. You just need mp3s.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
¹And something that tastes or has the texture of chicken - well, vaguely, at least - like mushrooms (chewy) or ham. Though adding ham would be kinda cheating.

Its amazing how small the world we know is.
Just met a few secondary school classmates today in nottingham - alex, malcolm and tszehan, if u know them.
Met Daphne too.
And a few other people from cambridge.

Oh got kicked out in the semi-finals of bridge. Some would argue it technically isn't a sport, but hey, it requires just as much concentration, effort and energy as any other sport. Wasn't unhappy with the result, put it down to luck, seriously, but yeah was glad the other team from Manchester got 2nd place. We deserved it.

And I'm still pondering which post I should take up this year.

You fit in with: Humanism Your ideals mostly resemble that of a Humanist. Although you do not have a lot of faith, you are devoted to making this world better, in the short time that you have to live. Humanists do not generally believe in an afterlife, and therefore, are committed to making the world a better place for themselves and future generations. 0% scientific. 40% reason-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Interesting.

Its never good to shut yourself out from the world when you're not feeling happy.
And yet that is what I tend to do.

Its not just the cold. Neither is it just the realisation that I'm that far behind others in terms of work and I really need to catch up, that to realise my ambitions I have to be working much harder than I am now. That I'm not doing work, basically, compared with the rest. That I can't laze around and do last-minute work like in the past.
Or the fact that all I promised myself - I'll be a whole new me - when it comes to work, when I've turned out the same.
Or that I'm starting to miss home. The freedom of driving around in a familiar land, with no worries about anything in the world (besides being caught by the police for speeding). The returning home to my CD collection - there, just waiting to be re-discovered, again and again.
Nor is it the fact that I'm once again faced with the dilemma of whether to take up a position of responsibility, and why, indeed, I wanted to do so in the very first place.
Its also not just the amount of calories I've ingested - chocolates, cookies and all, and no output (have stopped going to the gym).

Its all of the above, obviously.

I need :
1) An exercise partner
2) A person to go travelling with
3) A chum to go to concerts with (classical, rock and all)
4) Someone who understands me, and whom I can understand.

I just said two thousand words. And I'll add three more. Its freezing here.

It was 0.5 degrees celsius today when I walked to uni at 850. Was 2.0 degrees when I walked back at 1055.
And the sun is still shining brightly in the sky.
Wow.

Your Birthdate: March 28

You have a Type A personality so big it makes other Type A's shrink away in shame. You never shy away from adversity - and you love to tackle impossible problems. Failure is not an option for you, and more than a few people are put off by your ego. You tend to be controlling, and you hate leaving anything up to chance. Your strength: Your bold approach to life Your weakness: You don't accept help Your power color: Bronze Your power symbol: Pyramid Your power month: October

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Is this true?!!!

I mentioned 4 objects. Here's the 4th.

Two of only four things that adorn the bare walls of my room. (One's in an earlier picture.)
I've just realised these four really reflect important parts of my personality.

Oh bought these at the portabello street market in london. They were just there, right there, begging to be noticed. And noticed them I did. ;)

Sigh.
http://www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk/whatson/detail.asp?event_id=930
Can just imagine this - a good dinner in a fancy restaurant - then this concert...
Only problem is I can't find anyone to partake in this marvellous pseudo-illusion with.
Yeah it'd feel surreal, yet... be so very real.

1. I realise I haven't been making much notes in the past few weeks. The notes I've made can't even complete 1/4 an A4 pad, whereas some of my groupmates have made an entire ring file's worth of them.
2. I realise I need to study a whole LOT more if I'm to catch up with them.
3. I realise I don't really care. Oddly.
No its not the "Leave it to the last minute" syndrome that we're all so used to. (Or perhaps it is, to a certain extent.) Its more the "you study so much, you don't really bother making notes anymore" syndrome, I think. I'm tired of making notes.
Dangerous. I probably won't be able to recall everything come exam time.
I've gotta start making more notes.
Am starting to panic.

http://nobelprize.org/medicine/educational/immunity/immune-overview.html

Learning about immunology now. Above is an introduction to how our immune system works - a kid/adolescent-friendly version I wish I'd encountered earlier.
Wouldn't be suffering so much now, bogged down by details and all :(

Its 4.6 degrees celsius now.
Temperature will drop to 0 on sunday, according to the met service.
And its just the beginning of autumn.

Went to this free lunch-time concert. Some Cypriot pianist playing russian classical songs.
I actually fell asleep you know. Near the end of the concert.
And its not like he wasn't good or anything. Perhaps it was the heavy lunch I took - stir-fry lamb with rice, and a chocolate eclair (which totally sucked), was tired 'cause I slept for 5 hours last night, or the fact dat he played the Montagues and the Capulets (its a song), which was like damn nice, powerful and all - but I actually feel asleep!!!
Oh no. First time I've ever done this in any concert.
Oh no.

Went to the Michael Nyman concert today. Wasn't particularly fantastic, but wasn't too bad either. Yeah went alone, couldn't find anyone who was interested and could make it for a piano concert by a balding old man.
Didn't really concentrate on the music this time (it was so... soothing¹). Mind just wondered on its own. Interesting thoughts that I'd rather not reveal here, but no, none of the sexual nature.
There was this part where he let a film take centre-stage², and he sorta played accompaniment. Think he meant to show how music could affect our viewing of the moving images. Very interesting.
Spent 13.50 quid on the ticket. Quite happy spending the money on this, rather than spending the same amount firing 5 shots at my precious liver.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
¹No I didn't fall asleep :P
²Literally. The film was projected via overhead to this screen. Well, in the middle of the stage. Right smack in the middle.

Do you realise how your body works? There are always highs and lows, particularly in your emotions. So many variables affect your mood - environmental, social, even physical. Your emotions are but the results of these complex factors interacting, battling for control, and eventually settling in some sort of compromise.
If I were a chemist, I would say all these interactions are but the results of chemicals mixing inside our head. Humours, as this philosopher put it.
If I were a psychologist, I would say these emotions are part and parcel of life, and are what makes us human. And perhaps try to hypnotise you.
But I'm not. I'm just a first-year medical student who loves chocolate, coffee and good music.
So I'll just say, whenever you feel down, go exercise - run the treadmill for 10 mins, lift some weights in your room, look at the mirror and flex your muscles - and then have a warm cup of coffee and half a dark chocolate bar. Whilst listening to happy songs like "The Sesame Street Rubber Duckie Song".
I need all of the above now.

I can imagine my dissertion for neuroscience, if I were to take the intercalcated masters in my fourth year, right now.
Music & the Mind - How Music Affects the Function of The Human Brain.

The Logical Song - Supertramp
When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,
joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible,
logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,
clinical, intellectual, cynical.
There are times when all the world's asleep,
the questions run too deep
for such a simple man.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
but please tell me who I am.
Now watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical,
liberal, fanatical, criminal.
Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're
acceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetable!
At night, when all the world's asleep,
the questions run so deep
for such a simple man.
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
but please tell me who I am.