It's funny how during exams or during term I really felt like blogging but now that the school year is over I can't find anything to say. Ya. I think most of the time I'm keeping this blog just for the sake of keeping it.

Looking forward to going back to Singapore though, but I really hope I can get my piano standard back up before that or maybe one week after... really want to continue lessons with my teacher.

Choosing modules now also. There are so many modules I'm interested in that it's really hard to choose one over another. I wish I had five years here to do them all or something. Dunno, I shall see. Next year's going to be something of a fresh start again I guess, new people to meet in new classes, new place to stay, new courses... and of course, getting extremely busy. Hope everything will work out in the end.

临时抱佛脚。 [literally: hugging Buddha's leg at the last minute]

It's a bit too late to lament that I never went home after each Text lesson and re-read, re-wrote, and revised the notes I took during lesson. So now when I find I need the notes, they are disorganised scribblings in pencil all over a few pieces of paper. And my scribbling during class is... as 'bit-ty' as it can get. Some bits I have to take ages to realise what I meant when I wrote something down. Sigh.

Sort of done going through the notes. Was going to rewrite everything but I think there might not be time and in any case Poot and I discussed quite a number of the set works over the phone yesterday and this morning, so I'm going to count that as ample revision of the notes. Think I'll go sleep now, then wake up early tomorrow and write essays on each movement of the works. Maybe not every single movement of every single work la. See how... cos I dunno which movements to question-spot also!

[Apologies to anyone offended by this crude depiction of Buddha's foot. Absolutely no offense or blasphemy was intended.]

My first solo trip! Was quite excited.

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Got a shock when I woke up in the morning to see that it was 5.45am. Somehow I managed to turn the alarm off and go on sleeping without waking up. Luckily my body seemed to know that I needed to wake up or else! Haha all those rushing-to-school sessions helped and I wasn't too flustered. But I was still quite worried that I might be late for the megabus cos I left at around 6.10am and the bus was scheduled to leave at 6.30am. At least the cab came very quickly, I guess cos it was in the morning and they didn't have many customers. And the pick-up location for the bus wasn't too far also.

The bus went past... er... lots of highways, green fields, yellow fields (I like the yellow ones, don't know what plant it was), and stopped at Coventry to pick up more passengers. After that I dozed on and off, until we neared London. It felt quite weird to see everything in bright sunshine this early in the morning.

At first when the bus reached the Greenline coach station I was quite blur and I didn't know where to go. So I just walked around and after finding the Victoria tube station, I was quite -__- cos actually I could have walked through this shopping centre-like building to get there instead of walking around the building. But it was ok, get to see how the place is like right? The place was milling with people and luggages and suitcases, cos people take the Gatwick Express from the Gatwick airport or vice versa. There were quite a lot of pick-up/drop-off points for those open-top sightseeing buses and little newstand-like 'shops' along the street sold tickets for these buses. So far I've seen two companies, one called The Original Tour and the other Big Bus (something like that la, can't remember.)

I took the tube to Oxford Circus... being the sotong that I am, I forgot that to get to Boosey & Hawkes, Bond Street would be nearer. So when I got to Oxford Circus and realised that, I set out to try to walk to Bond Street station, which was only one station away. Took detours along the way cos I kept thinking I was walking in the wrong direction even when I wasn't haha. So I took long ways round before I happened to chance upon Bond Street station heehee. From there it was quite easy to get to Boosey & Hawkes thanks to Ruth's clear instructions and cos I went to check the map online too.

After helping to collect a score from Boosey & Hawkes, I also browsed for the Bach Italian Concerto + French Overture + Duets + Goldberg Variation score but they didn't have it on the shelves. The shop assistant said they had the Goldberg Variation that came by itself. So I decided to go to Schott. This time I didn't get lost walking back to Oxford Circus station. But from the station I started to get a bit confused, cos there were four exits from the station, each on all four sides of the junction. So I didn't know which was the exit on the map that I was supposed to 'start my journey from' haha. Stood there looking at the signs for some time and luckily the first guess I made was right. Yet I was blur again. I walked past the Great Marlborough Street sign and continued walking until I came across the toy shop, Hamleys. Again thanks to Ruth I knew I've walked too far. Once I found the street it was ok.

Schott only had one copy of the score, so after buying it I decided to go to Chappell to see if they had a copy too. Ok, this was dumb. I walked to Bond Street station before realising that I was supposed to turn into New Bond Street, which was also on Oxford Street and which came before the station when I walk from Oxford Circus station to Bond Street station. But it was quite easy to find. Managed to find a copy of the score there. Yay. I succumbed to the irresistable temptation of Starbucks... the shade and frappucino. It was too hot! I was roasting after walking to and fro on Oxford Street and taking detours on Regent Street and others. Haha but ok la, they are known for the shopping right. At least I got to see them.

After getting all the scores, I had lots of spare time before meeting Clarice and Yiting for dinner. First I went to Westminster:

The British Airways London Eye












Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster












Westminster Abbey












Then I went to Covent Garden:

Exterior and interior












There was a man entertaining people:




St. Paul's (I escaped here from the buzz of Covent Garden, for shade, benches and tranquility)












Then I walked around this area and Leicester Square:

Royal Opera House












Trafalgar Square (too bad Nelson's Column was undergoing some work)












National Gallery












St Martin-in-the-fields















I sat around Trafalgar Square for quite a long while, enjoying the breeze (when there was one), and getting roasted by the sun, just people-(and pigeon)-watching:












The pigeons are too used to humans, so if you feed them they will even perch on you if you have food in your palm. A man was doing that and also helping some visitors do that so that they could take photos. Bird flu how??

After I got sufficiently burnt I took to exploring the area and also chinatown. I chanced upon this:












Hopefully I'll be able to watch Les Miserables in my three years here before going back to Singapore! Then I took refuge in Burger King cos my legs and my skin couldn't take the heat anymore. Had to order a cup of coke. Haha so I sat there till around 4.30pm and then I went to the Leicester Square tube station where I was supposed to meet Clarice and Yiting at 5. It was much cooler there!

We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant, Misato, in chinatown. Luckily Clarice suggested that we go early, cos the queue really started to get long while we were eating. The food was good! Er, but too much. It's really really toooooo much. Haha but worth it for 4.90. Just that we couldn't linger around cos they were quick to clear our plates and give us the bill once they saw that we weren't eating any more. More customers waiting!

Yiting bought each of us a postcard and chocolate (in very high class packaging):


















Thank you yt! Clarice and I felt bad cos we didn't get something for her.

It started raining and we couldn't find seats in fast food restaurants to 'sit around', so we went to Clarice's room. Cos it was too early... I booked the 10pm bus back to Birmingham. We took a photo together:


















Taking the tube back from Clarice's place to Victoria was quite weird, cos it was only 9-9.30pm, and yet it was already quite empty. The stations were also quite deserted, especially the one near Clarice's place. But once I got to nearer the busier stations there were a little more people. I slept most of the way back to Birmingham. Oh ya, I was quite evil, I called a cab when I reached Birmingham, but cos there was a taxi stand where I was waiting... and another company's cab came up, so I took that cab instead. The original cab I called, called me 4 times when it arrived.

Finished the TMP take-away paper. It's ok I guess. Not particularly difficult in the normal sense of the word, but it was difficult cos all the melodies sounded disgusting! Actually no, my main grouse is the 'Schubert lied'... it sounded very communist. I'm not even sure if it was taken from a real Schubert lied cos they might not do that to prevent people from looking up the original harmonisation. However it might be real, cos there were translations of the lyrics too... don't tell me they went to make up some lyrics and melody haha. Or they might have used a Schumann lied, or some other less well-known composer? But I think the string quartets were not Haydn's. They were a bit too melodious, especially the second one. The first might still be quite Haydnish... I chose to harmonise it instead of the too-ornamented second quartet. There were two of each - Bach chorale, Haydn string quartet and Schubert lied - and we pick one of each to do. We certainly have advantage over some people cos we've done this before, for A level portfolio. There's a wide variety of different syllabuses that people take here, so I dunno what they did during A levels.

The aural exam today was fine I think. It started out rather easy. Intervals should be ok, although I can't really tell for sure if I was 100% right cos each interval was only played once. According to the psychology textbook, 'auditory sensory memory is a form of sensory memory for sounds that have just been perceived.' The sound then enters short-term memory, which is the 'immediate memory for stimuli that have just been perceived.' So my brain would remember the interval as what entered my short-term memory, and subsequently what my brain thought the interval might be. Since each interval was only played once, I had no second shot at another sound entering my short-term memory to check if the answer I've arrived at was correct. Hehehe actually I don't know if all that reasoning was sound, I'm just trying to make use of what I remember of what I've read so far.

Melodic dictation should be ok, unless I made any careless mistakes, especially missing out naturals after writing accidentals. Then I will really bang my head against the wall. It started out really simple, but soon had some jazzy chromatic notes. The second half is quite nice actually haha... jazz-like. But I almost lost one-third of the marks. After the chromatic notes set in, I got distracted and wrote down the last third of the melody a tone higher than it should have been. Fortunately I discovered my mistake when I sang through it again when we had some time to look through our melodies after the last playing. Heng ah!!! Otherwise...

Types of chords were ok, quite easy. Just hope I got the inversions right. Rhythmic dictation fooled me at first. It was hilariously easy for the first two bars, and in slow 6/8 time also. But then in the third bar there were more small note values and I started to panic a bit. In the end I still managed to complete the whole thing, but I'm not sure whether the rhythm is right. Next was a chorale, and we had to name the types of cadences and keys. Confused big time! Other than the first and last, I was unsure about the rest. (Actually only the first if my 'academic guess' that the chorale will end in the tonic is wrong!) Er... once it started modulating in the second phrase I just lost my marbles and my hearing and my thinking processes. Anyhow tried to count/guess for the other three cadences.

The last part was another chorale, but played with deliberate mistakes and we had to spot the mistakes, with extra credit given for explaining what the mistakes were. It was fun and quite easy, cos in this sort of harmonic context of course any mistakes will stand out. But it was also worrying cos I think it was 20 marks (?), and I think both poot and I didn't have 10 mistakes in total. And that was only assuming that another 10 marks are for the extra explaining. *fingers crossed* lor, what else?

So much for the sunny weather in the past few days, it rained almost throughout the day today. Was quite depressing to walk to an exam in the rain, especially when I was nervous about the exam. But the sheets of rain made the vale look really pretty. It looked like the whole area was misty. Actually it could well have been... it was probably part mist and part rain. Current psychology-book-reading progress: 6 more chapters which I will scan through tomorrow morning before attempting the exam. Was intending to stay up but aiya whatever la, I sort of can't concentrate on reading already. What I've been doing since 11pm has been to scan the pages, which explains why after days of snail-paced progress I suddenly managed to speed up today.

I don't know why I'm feeling very nervous about tomorrow's aural exam!!! It should be fine, but I just keep getting the jitters. There's not much I can do also... practise a bit using Auralia, but other than that, I can't really do anything. Anyway sometimes it's a bit pointless to practise cos it's supposed to be quite natural by now lor. If it's not then I don't think I'm fit to be doing music at a tertiary level. Ahhh but I'm still scared. What if something happens, like my hearing suddenly becomes screwed and I just can't tell what's the answer?!

There was once during TMP when our teacher was quizzing us and the answer to my turn was major 3rd, but I kept saying diminished 4th. Although it's technically right (M3=dim4), well C - E is a major third and C - F flat is a diminished 4th. So if you had to dictate the top note, you would write E instead of F flat wouldn't you? It doesn't make any sense to write F flat in this context. Haha unless it's dictation of a line and the key is C flat major or some key with even more flats heehee imagine that! It'll really be evil of the people who set the paper to give such a key for dictation. Hmm but C flat is ok, cos just think of everything in C major and flatten every note lor. =) Seriously, I know I don't have to treat this paper so seriously until I get nervous about it the night before. It's just an aural paper, for goodness' sake! And judging from the standard of the questions in the diagnostic test we had during the start of term I, there shouldn't really be anything I have to worry about. *fingers crossed*

Couldn't really concentrate on doing anything more after dinner... and I actually went to play the pig-stacking game at orisinal! Haha, cos all the blogs I usually read have been checked and re-checked several times in hope of any updates already... which is stupid cos it would obviously be sleeping time in Singapore so once I've read the newest entries there wouldn't be anything left to read. Unless someone stays up all night blogging haha. So there was nothing to distract me from my thoughts. Orisinal helped a little bit la. Hmm I got a bit nostalgic also, cos it reminded me of the period of time when we liked to play orisinal on the computers in the mep room! We are so fortunate to have been there before IP started, with the IP students now I don't think they can really have the mep rooms distributed among the different levels (I think?). Dunno what's going on there now, poot and I will go back to tj to visit when we're back in Singapore! So exciting. I hope the mep trip to London in December would be on too, then hopefully we can go there to meet up with them!

Ok la, think I shall sleep early. Can't do anything, sleep lor... at least it might guarantee a clear mind tomorrow right. 早睡早起身体好！=D

So it's still 82/84 for PAP, Chiam in Potong Pasir and Low in Hougang. Poot, Ruth, and I were very 紧张 this afternoon, at about 2-3pm (Singapore time 9-10pm)... waiting and waiting for the result. At first we were trying to listen to radio stations online, but it was very bad. The most I could catch was an average of 3-5 words before my connection would be cut off. We got quite pissed with trying to do that, so we ended up with Proko playing the listen live on his computer in Singapore, and the four of us having a conference call in Skype. That way we could hear nice and clear without disruptions. Other than the fact that we had to turn up our volumes to hear, such that if any of us spoke it would be super loud. Waited and waited until Ruth had to leave for work. And waited somemore. Then finally did the results start to stream in. Lol so exciting. My first time actually listening for the results of an election lor.

Anyway, didn't do much work since 2... we were on Skype for so long. After all the results were in, poot suddenly asked for clues for The Wicked, and that started all of us playing. (See la, tell you to play only after exams, don't listen la. Haha but nevermind la, poot will be guai and study right?) For me it was after a 2 week long hiatus... I previously got stuck at a level and decided it was time to study liao. That's how I came to be playing for the whole evening and night. But that's the limit, I shall start studying again tomorrow. Good night.

Found this page of sesame street videos (from lancerlord), and I was just telling poot that I was sad they didn't have my favourite song, I Don't Want to Live on the Moon. THANK YOU POOT!!! She found my song for me! And lots of other songs too! :D

Heh sorry... so childish right. Actually I didn't watch Sesame Street as a kid, or in fact watch cartoons... only watched cantonese dramas with my grandma before I went off to nursery/kindergarten/school+daycare. And The Sound of Music, of course... my mum says I loved that a lot, I still love it! Only when I got bored/procrastinated during sec school years or holidays then did I watch Sesame Street! :S Super slow. Yup anyway, I absolutely love this song... actually it's like the only song that I like la. The rest are... 'okay lor' kind.

Hmm, actually the song... now when I really listen to it, it's sort of like an analogy for me being overseas. Like, I want very much to travel and see other countries, but I guess if I'm honest with myself... I don't really want to immigrate. Part of me sort of wants to, but then there are other things that make me hesitate: family, friends, and memories of the place(?). Especially family. With friends, we can easily communicate and keep in touch over the internet, and maybe once in a while when we have enough money, meet up somewhere? But the family is a different thing altogether.

My grandma, for one, would be devastated. When she comes around to my house once in a while and gets to webcam with me, she will be nagging, talking, etc nonstop. And of course every parent will feel sad if their child wanted to immigrate. Asians are very different. Our ties to the family are stronger than, for example, people in the UK... once they grow up they buy/rent their own house/apartment and live alone and support themselves. But it's different for us, usually we only leave home if we get married. Ok la, there are increasingly more people who do move out. But in any case it's not easy also, like I think emz and I always complain that we want to move out but then can only buy flat after 35 if we're single. Unless we strike it rich and manage to buy a condo or private property. Pathetic.

K, I'm drifting a bit. Ya... so my parents will also be sad. I think they are already a bit sad that I don't want to go home next summer holiday and that I choose to stay here instead. Haiz. *Heart bleeding from the guilt* But I really want to travel around leh. And experience how it's like here in summer... otherwise, three years here will be so wasted if I don't make use of the time. Anyway, back to the immigration thing... like poot and I have occasionally discussed, it's also not really feasible to pursuade one's parents to immigrate with them. They already spent like half their life in Singapore, slogging it out and everything, and then suddenly they have to adapt to a new environment. And for more elderly parents whose English aren't that great, it's going to be even harder to adapt. So it's really heartless to make them go through such a big change after they've spent their whole lifetime so far in Singapore... and they'll obviously have close ties to Singapore too.

Haha I dunno why I'm ranting on and on la. Cannot-make-it. I think I'm definitely going back to Singapore after I graduate. Originally I really wanted to work here for some period first, but now I'm really quite undecided. I don't think my parents and grandma would be very enthusiastic about that. Aiya, anyway, if I can't find a job here fast enough after I grad, it's going to make it even harder to pay off the debts. Ok, shall like abandon this until nearer the time to think about all these things.

Went to school today to help my piano teacher flip page while she was accompanying Ruth for her recital. It was not as exciting as it sounds, but this was the first time I saw a fortepiano. But it's not that much different from a pianoforte (modern piano) anyway... hmm or at least I couldn't detect much timbre or sound differences from where I was sitting. After the rectial we (me, poot, ruth, roger) went to have ice-cream haha! Cos it was sweltering hot. Unbelievable... after the winter cold, I never expected to have this sort of sunshine! Great weather... lots of people have taken to sitting around on the grass around campus and even on the vale. After ice-cream, poot and I went to the Central Library to return and borrow more CDs. Haha last lap until context exam liao... must mug until our ears rot from listening to too much music! =D

Oh ya, last night I couldn't get to sleep (maybe cos of that long nap)... and then just when I was about to fall asleep... Jessica! JESSICA??!!! JESSICA!!!!! I jerked awake. -___-''' Guess what, it wasn't me they were screaming for! I can only suppose some other Jessica stays in this same block. I looked out of the window to see a guy and girl dragging an inflatable pool around on the grass outside. Mad. Play with inflatable pool in the middle of the night. And some curious peeps from poot's flat shouted to the guy and they kept up their shouting conversation for quite some time. Sighs.

Haha my longest post in a long time. Sorry for such a rambling post. I was less than pathetic at studying today... current count: 414 pages left to read. ARGHHH. Night. Going to wake up early tomorrow. I MUST make it! (Otherwise waste money come here... ya... ultimate motivation to study man.)

I was feeling very wonderful this morning cos I woke up early and thus felt very invigorated. Actually it's not really considered very early by any standards, but 7-8am is quite early for me since I've been lazing in bed for too long. I might try to return to my sec sch/jc pro-ness of being able to wake up around 4-5am to go to school and still being able to take it. (Ok la, except for the dozing off in class.) But it might help for these few weeks, if I reduce sleeping time it could greatly increase the amount of time I have to study. In any case, I love the feeling of waking up early. In the beginning it's quite sian and I always feel groggy but after I get used to it, it's actually quite refreshing. Nowadays the sun rises quite early too, so I feel more motivated to wake up... compared to in winter, when you wake up at 7 or 8 and it's still dark outside. How depressing.

Anyway, I was feeling very fresh and happy... managed to concentrate on reading for the longest period so far. Current count: 424 pages, or 9 chapters, left. That seems like I've done very little only because I've been slacking for the whole evening and night, and I took a really long nap in the late afternoon. I really achieved quite a lot this morning, just have to delude myself a little and think that tomorrow's going to be a better day.

On the other hand, I have been feeling rather disgusted at my increasing pigginess. I ate two sticks of ice-cream today... and tons of other snacks. People always say, 'Aiya, don't worry la, when you study and become stressed, you'll lose weight liao.' They are so wrong! Because when I concentrate on studying, or become stressed, I become more and more tempted to eat things. Of course the best way to solve this is not to buy those snacks. But without any snacks around at all makes me very restless, and I will feel quite sad when I want to eat something but there's nothing for me to eat.

I'm really good at procrastinating. I always 'waste' my time reading stuff online. It's weird that when I was in Singapore I was so super bochup about politics, even when I had to study Social Studies and General Paper, but when I'm here now I become an avid reader about the big election this year. Maybe it's only because the election this year is exciting. Or it's like 'absence makes the heart fonder', so only after you leave Singapore then only do you start to want to be aware of what's happening back home? Not that I'm no longer bochup, but at least I'm a bit less apathetic I guess. Everyday when I'm bored I surf blogs and news websites to check for any update on what's happening. It's so happening! Not that it matters to me, cos where I stay will probably remain uncontested forever. But it's just quite interesting to watch, like watching people fight in the street. Haha ok not so exaggerated la. Anyway, can not anyhow say stupid things also. I should *zip* already. Just realised this abnormal phenomenon that I actually bother to go read things about politics. -___-

446 pages left to read. Actually, I'm feeling rather awake now, which is unusual also. Plus this morning I woke up feeling sick and groggy. I'm weird. Think I shall continue reading until my eyes close, which should be quite soon cos I'm still reading the most boring chapter!

Cannot take it anymore... must go and sleep. This so shows that I can't do bio afterall, was reading psychology and my eyelids started becoming so so heavy. Cos this chapter is definitely the most uninteresting one, it's about synapses and neurons etc. Heh but I guess the sciences have to co-exist huh.

I counted, I have to read 10 chapters, or 467 pages, of the psychology book. I'm going to leave out the rest cos I don't think they are really relevant to what was taught, even though some of the left out chapters include the introductory chapters. Whatever. And I have until next Tuesday to do this. Hope I can manage it. Only read 10 pages so far. T_T

Heehee 'argh' is the right word. Need to study!!!!! Poot just convinced me that I should read (ok, study) psychology before attempting the online exams. Sigh. I've never really read the psychology book before all the online tests during the terms, cos I would think what's the point? During the test, just use the index of the book to search for the keywords in the question and voila, there's the important page where the answer can be found, just scan through its contents! Maybe that's the reason why I got quite a number of Bs, and guai girl poot has all As. So I wasn't very concerned about psychology, cos it's just a MOMD (module out of main discipline)... I thought I already had too many Bs to be able to pull the final mark up to an A anyway, so I wasn't going to read the book. Yet just now poot went to check all the marks of the tests and proved me wrong, cos out of 4 tests in a term, the 3 best ones are used. This constitutes 60% of each term's marks, and the 2 final exams will count as 40% each. Thanks to them only counting the 3 best tests, my average so far is still going to be around an A, or at the very least a high B. So, I still have a chance to get the final grade up to an A, if I don't screw up for the exams. Ya lor, that's the long grandmother story... so now I have to read the psychology book. Sian. Not that I don't find some chapters interesting, but it's a bit like history and literature, I can find it interesting but I can never memorise anything.

When I came back just now, a note was stuck on the back of the front door. It said something like, 'Stop leaving stinky bin bags outside, take them to the bin you lazy ass!!' Another flatmate scribbled a reply: 'We'll get rats. I don't like rats!' A third flatmate wrote, 'Deal - only if the kitchen stays tidy cos it's a shithole!' LOL they'd die if they were in Poot's flat. Call this kitchen a shithole?? They probably haven't seen Poot's kitchen, and her flat's corridor too.

Ok la, going to read some psychology before I sleep. Really feel like sleeping now and waking up early tomorrow to study, but I don't trust myself to be disciplined enough.