finde_siecle

Some Loving

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:53:36 GMT

Uber funky cool

Life on the Moon

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:49:31 GMT

Everynight I have the same nightmare, that the next morning when I wake up, its time to return to London.

I'm leaving for Beijing this afternoon. I've always used the flight to Beijing as a point marking the halfway mark of my holiday here. For the last week, I've been pretty much living it up, gluttoning away, playing all day long, and now its time to return to the reality of an undone essay and a growing list of things I need to pack to tide over the grey London days.

Its finally Christmas eve. No doubt I'll be spending it on the plane but its a Christmas eve anyway. Doesn't really matter where I spend it, its a time to be happy and crazy.

I went karaoke twice, once with my mum and aunts, another time with my sister. So now my throat is gone, and I have increased in knowledge of popular chinese songs.

The Announcements

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:06:12 GMT

The fact that I'm already dreading the day I return to London is telling. Thus far, I have adopted the strategy of eating everything in insanely small amounts so my stomach may be filled with more oily, fatty goodness. I haven't felt this happy in a long while. My house is filled to the brim, my aunt and cousin are both here and my uncle is flying in tomorrow, meaning the house will be even bumblier than usual. I sleep with my sister now, occasionally with my cousin and brother since I resolutely refuse to sleep on my own. Why the hell would I want my own space when I have been absolutely detesting and avoiding it for 3 months in London? The bad side is, I have (and don't look like I will) get down to getting any work done soon. Thus far, the only thing I've actually smelt is my contract textbook - for which there is no homework. Just reading the criminal law problem question gives me headaches. And whenever my computer is on, my sister has some new group to show me. Tomorrow is the family's christmas party (a little in advance) ie the day that all the presents get opened and my dad realizes with much horror exactly how much I spent in London on christmas shopping alone. Anyway today he already questioned me about a certain 119 pounds spent in Ralph Polo Factory Outlet. It sucks big time that my dad gets the bills and receipts and not me. That has got to change. Watched Avatar with the rest of the family today (plus a bit of extended family). I swear, after such a long hiatus of watching a movie on a large screen with popcorn, I felt like I reached paradise. Center, middle row, guns blasting till the floor shook, popcorn all over my hand and seat, ice lemon tea so iced that I couldn't feel my fingers but kept chugging anyway...a proper movie. Avatar was fantastic. After not having movies for so long, it was the best I could wish for. And damn, I thought the aliens were prettier than humans. Their eyes. Oh my gosh their eyes. And down to the crux of this post. A13B: Is the class outing going to materialize in 2009 or shall we meet up in 2010? ALISON ANNE JOSEPH: I still need to pass you your ingrid shirt because blur me forgot to get it to Rachel Chia before I left :P LICKIE PEH + BRENDA: I say YES to that outing. I return on the 31st of december, fly on the 24th, WHEN SHALL IT BE? (we must take lots and lotsa photos so I can spite those monkey few having a helluva time in London)

Murphy's Law

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:55:52 GMT

or rather...some odd permutation of it.

When you're annoyed, everything looks like its really out to annoy you. I just knew that after a high of ingrid michaelson songs, nothing would ever compare. Facebook really needs to stop hanging so my 144 photos of my oxford trip can be uploaded.

Ingrid Michaelson was love. Her vocals are maddening and...to quote her, 'my head fucking exploded'. I don't believe there's any better way to describe how awed I was by the time I reached the end.

1. She invited someone on stage to sing with her. A member of the audience. Fantastic.
2. I dig her glasses.
3. She actually does a pretty good job of the English accent.
4. She sang all her songs acoustic with either piano or guitar and one back-up singer...but she sounded more amazing than when recorded. That's how good she is.
5. Her rendition of 'Can't Help Falling in Love' just killed me. That is, after I heard Greg Lasky's (goodness I don't even know his name, this is probably an inaccurate spelling of it) version of 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'.
6. Her banter with the audience was lovely.
7. Every one of her songs had sing-a-long parts for the audience which I absolutely adore.
8. She did a double encore. DOUBLE.
9. I can't count the number of times she told us how much she loved this audience.
10. Her duet with the Greg person was so cute, I couldn't help staring at the hand that was around his waist. And the fact that they shared the same mike was just...romantic.
11. She sang Maybe the Mexican Food Version. Which actually managed to sound really good despite being funny. The wonders of Ingrid Michaelson.

I intended to follow-up the report on Ingrid Michaelson with a report on Oxford but I'm darned lazy so please check out the photos to get a blow-by-blow account of what we did in Oxford at least on the first day when my camera still had battery. Anyway the second day was shopping at Bicester, where there was no need to take pictures, just focus on buying the stuff there hehe.

I'm calling it a night...or rather (since its 2am) a morning.

My First Indie Concert

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:36:55 GMT

I honestly expected nothing from the Bell X1 concert. In fact there were moments before I attended the concert when I was asking myself if paying £15 when I only truly loved one song from them is really worth it. But I came out from Shepherd's Bush O2 feeling thoroughly happy and satisfied. Because songs like Blow-Ins, Bad Skin Day, Eve, The Great Defector, How Your Heart is Wired, Alphabet Soup, Flame just make my day. And the band sounds so amazing live because they are Bell X1. Being kiasu Singaporeans, we were waiting 2 hours for Bell X1 to appear and we had already booked our positions all the way at the front it felt like I could reach out and grab his ankles.

And when they sang Rocky Took a Lover, my heart melted. People who haven't heard the song, please do. The more I listen to it, the more I realize what an amazing wonder it is.

In other news, I have changed my layout because I am itchy-fingered and the ILS lecture was just WAY too boring. Sometimes I actually feel like she's trying to dig up stuff to teach us about, showing us random videos etc etc. Zhiwei was right in saying she was more like noise pollution.

Oxford this Saturday!! It won't be the same without Lyds but it's going to be fun anyway.

I am suffering from Bell X1 withdrawal symptoms like 2 hours after the concert.

He said 'I wanna shine in the eye of Orion
But I drove my soul through the Black Hole!'
She said 'What a wonderful way to wake me
You weren't so nice last night
You're such an asshole when you're drunk'
He said 'At least I'm OK in the mornings'

He said 'The three wise men came a long way
Following that pin hole in the sky
Yeah that one right there'
She said 'I don't believe in any old Jesus
If there was a God, then why is my arse
The perfect height of kicking?'

He said 'I'll shine for you, I'll burn for you
Yea I'll shine for you, that's what I'll do'

He said 'They're like headlights
In the rear view mirror
They're closer that they seem
And from this gutter we're still staring at the stars'
She said 'Would ya go away and shite
Last night all you did was curse those stars
You said they sang to you of hope'

He said 'The sun gives life, and it takes it away
But like all the greats, it'll burn out someday'
She said 'I don't mind, I don't want to get bored
I don't want to end up beached on this shore
I want to be that star'

And then I'll shine for you. Then I'll burn for you.
Then I can shine for you. That's what I'll do.

Run.

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:35:39 GMT

Running in Regent's Park alone with Ingrid Michaelson blasting into my ears is amazingly therapeutic. For 1.5 hours I really forgot everything, forgot that I have 3 incomplete tutorials waiting for me to finish before Friday, forgot that I am missing my family quite terribly, forgot that I am spending too much money on food alone. And I was quite pleased that I didn't get lost on my way to the park.

I am going back.

Men of Snow (Ingrid Michaelson)

Once I made a man all out of snow
He had the darkest eyes and a button nose
I told him all my sadness and my fear
And he just listened with a snowy ear

But when I came around the next day
My friend had gone and melted all away
I saw his eyes lying on the ground
I made a sound that was something like crying

Oh, one day you will go away from this
Oh, one day you will know, we're men of snow, we melt one day

And winters come, and my love, winters go
And time stacks up in piles like winter snow
And everything you love and hold so dear
Won't really matter when we disappear

Oh, one day you will go away from this
Oh, one day you will know, we're men of snow, we melt one day

Because we are men of snow.

Emo Phail

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:31:25 GMT

I feel like emo-ing.

But there's nothing for me to emo about.

So I have returned to sunshine and happiness :)

The First London Essay

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:25:12 GMT

I actually forgot for a while, what it feels like to have a writer's block in the middle of essay and search around desperately for some sort of distraction before you claw your eyes out in frustration.

Yesterday, was my first clubbing event ever and it was on a boat. Which is way cool. And I suppose clubbing can be pretty fun if you're clubbing with people you know and guys who stand around you so no hobo comes near. The boat was amazing.

Okay, that was really intended to be a longer and more detailed experience about attempted dancing and dropping my coat on the floor and trying to find the elusive phantom but it suddenly occurred to me that 200 words of essay is not actually good enough to warrant a rest.

And so, I return, to the heart of darkness.

Missing You.

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:10:57 GMT

I watched Wicked and cried when they sang 'For Good'.

I miss the reightards.

Let's talk weather.

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:17:10 GMT

London weather needs to make up its mind.

I'm in an insufferably schizo room. The heater is on...bringing temperatures up to an all-time high...like hotter than my room in Singapore. Yet when I throw open the window, a gale blows (and I use 'gale' as opposed to 'breeze' because its really a fucking gale, excuse my language, London has made me vulgar amongst others) and all exposed parts of my body (particularly my ears, for some strange inexplicable reason) freezes up. Yesterday, I was positive icicles were forming on my teeth.

But if I close the window, it'll be hot and stuffy, I'm sick, and its just rather Unhealthy.

Chinese music brings me home.

Chinese music also brings weird glances from my toilet-mate everytime she knocks on my door. The same weird glances I give her everytime I open my door and see a party of mostly males hanging around outside my room and hers and the toilet door...which is vastly inconvenient.

london day 1&2: un-settling in

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:55:47 GMT

The fact that I can title a post like that has got to be worrying.

1. I haven't gotten a mobile phone line because of various bank indiscrepancies.
2. I haven't finished buying all my various daily neccessities.
3. I move in in about three hours' time.
4. My LSE IT account is not set up.
5. I haven't even packed to move yet.

This is possibly the worst couple of days I have ever had. Its that in-between time where you're not exactly enjoying university life, neither are you home with the family couple of days. I just have that feeling that since nothing is confirmed yet, everything can go wrong.

In other news, shopping yesterday with dad for towels and bedsheets and winter stockings and sunglasses and pillows and vitamins. My bedsheet and duvet cover set is 20 pounds and its completely red. The best deal from BHS and the only thing my dad is willing to pay for. Towels were from John Lewis, WHERE I WANTED TO BUY MY BEDLINEN FROM but it was too expensive. But John Lewis's bedlinen is PRETTY TO THE MAX.

Okay, I shall go start preparing for the big move-in, and maybe start to take a few photos.

Embarrassing Conversations

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:10:06 GMT

Two days to London. And I had the most embarrassing opening conversation with a school-mate.

He came on Facebook CHAT and we started chatting. I thought it kinda nice that I got to talk to someone before I actually reached London. He starts with complaining about the Canterbury Hall receptionist.

Him: by the way, the canterbury guy at the reception is really unhelpful. I called him to ask about whether I could book in earlier and he said it doesn't really matter which day you come as long as you pay for every extra night you stay there. Then I asked him what time was book-in and he asked me dude, exactly how many more questions do u want to ask?

Me: Omg he is so bloody rude you should just tell him off HELLO you're PAYING him to be THERE.

I suddenly realize that this is my second line after 'hello' to a stranger I barely know across the seas who has never seen me before. Not. Good. Start. So I try to make up for it and talk about London life. What I meant to ask was whether he had gotten his UK mobile number yet. It came out as...

Me: Hey do you have a number?

Him: Erh, yes. I have both a home number and a mobile number.

Silence as I take in how wrongly that came out. Seriously, Christabel, you're fantastic. Walk up to some random guy on the street HEY YOU GOTTA NUMBER? WANNA DO A LITTLE EXCHANGE? And, he's a Londoner, meaning my question was stupid right from the start. Time for a change of topic. And what do I ask?

Me: Hey, FB me your room number when you check in so I can pay you a visit!

Pauses. Disaster. DISASTER. PAY YOU A VISIT. WHUT? I change it to 'I mean, that way I can know if we're neighbours or not'. But really, HOW CAN WE BE NEIGHBOURS IF THE FLOORS ARE GENDER CLASSIFIED EH? MAYBE THIS GUY IS SECRETLY A GIRL, OR MAYBE I'LL GET DUMPED ON THE BOYS' FLOOR, HARH? What a great way to start the term. Now he thinks you're a crazy desperate, supremely fierce Asian girl. FEAR ME.

Phew, now that its out of my system...it's time to say goodnight.

Sorry, Sad, Me.

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:08:37 GMT

I hate packing.
I hate writing farewell notes.
I hate going to the airport.
I hate crying.
I hate technology.
I hate LSE's IT Helpdesk.
I hate Facebook.

It's me against the world, darling.

And listening to the songs I put on Lichen's Farewell CD is just making me emo all over again. Well, Lichen, anytime you get online to see this, this song reminds me of you :)

I'd like to make myself believe, that planet earth turns...slowly...

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:49:56 GMT

Today has been a day of good stuff.

I have just returned from a strangely satisfying jog around the neighbourhood which concluded with a visit to pok's house on the next street. I ran 1.6km (this I know because the GPS tells me that it is 400m from my house to the main road so if I run that route 4 times up and down, I would have covered 1.6km). Okay, so some of you might view 1.6km as absolutely peanuts but for someone who has been immobile for a whole weekend and only attempted to start a jogging routine a week ago, it is a great achievement and bear with me while I engage in some self-congratulation.

And since this week has been US Open week, the TV has been switched on and my house has turned into a mini Flushing Meadows.

K.Clijsters		Arthur Ashe Stadium		6		0		6
V.Williams		Arthur Ashe Stadium		0		6		4

YES. THIS. IS. LOVE.

And somebody should give Djokovic a warning letter. Throwing rackets and pulling a long face at court is Not Cool. At least all Gilles Simon did was curse in French and I could languish in ignorance.

I have officially ended Gossip Girl Season 2 after marathon-watching it and finishing it in 3 days. And here, I'd like to re-declare my love for dirty, sexy, bitchy Blair Waldorf. I planned to make a list of Blair Bites, but in the end the only one that I remembered was this.

If you cut 'revenge' out of the bible, you won't even get enough pages to make a pamphlet.

I think this quote is by far, my favourite.

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
Cuz they fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You think me rude, but I would just stand and stare

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
Cuz everything is never as it seems

Cuz I get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they try to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head
A sockhop beneath my bed
The disco ball is just hanging by a thread

To ten million fireflies
I'm weird cuz I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell (said farewell)
But I know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
Cuz I saved a few and I keep 'em in a jar

p-p-p-poker face p-p-poker face

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:38:31 GMT

Timbre yesterday was gorgeous and it just helped me reaffirm my hatred of alcohol and cocktails in general. The live band was so good I thought I was listening to a music CD. And the pizza was yummy. The company, as per usual, was fabulous.

I am going to miss the reightards so much I could cry.

In other news, today I sat down, suddenly beset by a huge sense of responsibility and did a lecture timetable for my first term at LSE.

Michaelmas Term
Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9:00 - 10:00
10:00 - 11:00	LL108 Criminal Law (Lec), Rm OT	LL104 Law of Obligations (Lec), Rm NABLG08
11:00 - 12:00	LL108 Criminal Law (Lec), Rm OT			LL109 Intro to Legal Systems (Lec), Rm E171
12:00 - 13:00			LL106 Public Law (Lec), Rm NABLG08	LL109 Intro to Legal Systems (Lec), Rm E171
13:00 - 14:00	*LUNCH*
14:00 - 15:00
15:00 - 16:00		LL104 Law of Obligations (Lec), Rm NABLG08
16:00 - 17:00	LL106 Public Law (Lec), Rm NABLG08
17:00 - 18:00
18:00 - 19:00

* First Crim Law Lec starts at 1100 - 1200
* Law of Obligations Lec only starts in Wk 2

Actually it would have been prettier if I had more classes in the week but I'm not complaining. This is minus the tutorials though, so once that comes out, my university education will at least look more worth the money.

Tonight is SIBLINGS NIGHT OUT which will generally consist of pigging out on ice cream and picking up tickets for a trashy kiddy movie, then quarrelling all the way home on a taxi.

I love my family.

The Bitch-Post

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:06:21 GMT

Today, I finally got off my lazy bum and did a medical check-up. For which I wasted a whole morning from 9am till 12 at raffles hospital. I say this only because I'm going to spend the rest of the post complaining about the doctor.

HE IS SO DARNED OLD.

It wouldn't matter, really, if he was efficient. The point is, he wasn't. He was SO BLOODY SLOW. There was a form that I brought there to have the doctor fill up, some medical form and he peered at it through glasses so thick, they magnify his eyes till he looks like a goldfish. Then using quavering hands, he asks me if I am mentally abnormal. After he takes two minutes to tick the box no, he asks me if I'm pregnant. I said yes and it takes him 2 minutes to look up and give me the shocked expression. You can't crack JOKES with this doctor because he takes 2 minutes to REACT to it, then another 2 minutes after you've told him the truth for him to LAUGH.

Then I go for my vaccinations, which was actually the part I feared the most about the medical check-up but by the time I actually exited the doctor's consultation room, I was so tired I just wanted to get it over and done with. Good news is, the vaccination nurse was very nice and very efficient. Bad news, it hurt like hell. The pain doesn't really come in when the needle goes in, it hurts when the liquid runs through. And even now as I'm typing, my both arms feel a little weak and numb. I feel a bit incapacitated.

I got an email from LSE about a students particulars form they want me to fill up with another TWO passport photographs. I think I have approximately 10 passport photographs of myself floating around LSE at this point. A month ago, the hall asked me to send in passport photographs, THREE of them, now they want TWO MORE. I don't understand this fetish of desperately wanting to know how I look like, DOES IT MATTER THAT MUCH? I mean, I can understand if you want to make sure you don't register the wrong person under Christabel Saw but why in bloody hell do you need so many? I spent FIFTEEN DOLLARS making myself passport photographs and now they're all gone. ALL GONE. I have NONE left, which means I have to go down and take MORE passport photographs and spend another FIFTEEN DOLLARS and goodness WHAT FOR?

I am obviously feeling quite bitchy today. Watching Gossip Girl Season 2 on end is not helping.

camp-shack

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:03:09 GMT

I was watching a video on youtube, more specifically it was a Singapore Idol video where they said the girl auditioning was an Ah Lian. Then in the comments below, I found this.

orgminyak

What is ah lian?
xXiRedDevilzXx

You malay right? It's Minah...

Plus the fact that I was feeling particularly tickled from reading a friend's blog (it's really damn hilarious), I couldn't stop laughing.

I will not blog about camp because I'm way too tired to. Only know this, I slept a total of 4 hours. FOUR HOURS. I woke up at 7am, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

T Swizzle, T Pizzle

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:11:12 GMT

I have a very strange tendency. When people post and put stuff under cuts with disclaimers on the top, I always click the cut open to read what's inside. Always. The disclaimers encourage me.

That's a very scary thought.

LSE Camp this Sunday. After a very Failed Attempt At Socializing on Wednesday night, I'm suddenly not looking forward to it. Weird, isn't it? Usually you'll not be looking forward to a particular event, then suddenly feel all excited about it the night before. I'm doing it the other way round. I was pretty hyped up about it a month ago, and now all the enthusiasm is kind of fading.

Which is why, I'm willing myself not to be over-jumpy about Timbre night next Saturday so when I do come around to Friday night, I can enjoy having the butterflies in my stomach.

take it all away

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:07:04 GMT

I cannot access facebook. And suddenly I feel as if I have lost my only connection with the world outside. Which explains why I come back to good, old, sturdy LJ where I can comment about my life in more than one line.

Today, I finally picked up the phone and called the clinic about the meningitis injection. The minute the words escaped my lips, the nurse asked wryly if I was also going to London. Emphasis on the word 'also'. Turns out, I was in luck. Somebody else called in for a meningitis injection and the clinic ordered a batch and had one left over, one dear injection just waiting for me to go get it. So happily, I made an appointment for next wednesday and happily scuttled off to tell my mother that I was finally taking charge of my own life...in her words. Then she gives me a briefly satisfied look and asks me whether I asked for a flu injection as well.

You see, I have a phobia of needles.

And, my mother knows that.

Which is exactly why come next Wednesday, I will be having the Worst Day Of My Life when I get two needles stuck into my arm one after the other. Well, side effects of both injections is that I might have swelling, slight numbness and possibly a fever. So on Thursday, do not call me for I'll be swollen, completely numb, and running a high fever.

On another note, I think I need more practice in the Art of Socializing. Yesterday night, the LSE Alumni organized a kind of get-together mixer where the freshers would mix once more with freshers who might not have joined the facebook group. And I just stood rooted to one spot talking to the same people. Conversations mostly went like, "Hey, my name is Christabel, you are...? Oh nice to meet you. Yes, isn't Harry's Bar a lovely place. So what are you studying? Where are you staying? When are you flying? Mm..." Then the conversation teeters off into oblivion. At which time, I humbly excuse myself for a chicken wing or two and take a surreptitious glance at my watch to figure out how long more I should stay trying to make small talk.

White Teeth is a very good book. Somehow, it always eluded me till now, when my brilliant sister borrowed it from the library, then promptly told me I only had three days to read it before she has to return it. Don't you love siblings. I think she does that so she, for once, gets the authority to pass me the hand-me-downs.

But dying's no easy trick. And suicide can't be put on a list of Things to Do in between cleaning the grill pan and leveling the sofa leg with a brick. It is not the decision not to do, to un-do; a kiss blown at oblivion. No matter what anyone says, suicide takes guts. It's for heroes and martyrs, truly vainglorious men. Archie was none of these. He was a man whose significance in the Greater Scheme of Things could be figured along familiar ratios:

Pebble: Beach.
Raindrop: Ocean.
Needle: Haystack.

In other news, I have been browsing the provisional LSE timetable they put up on the website and found something that shocked me...two-hour lectures. I cannot sit still and pay attention for two hours. Ergo, I am dead.

Today, I tried my hand at cooking during lunch because in the morning, when all there is on the TV are housewifey talk shows, I watched Rachel Rae make this delicious looking Cobb Pasta. So I popped down to the supermarket and tried and its really yummy. And since I'm the one who cooked it and it still tasted yummy, it means it is idiot-proof and still turns out gorgeous in the end.

Okay, here was when I attempt to go on google and find the recipe, but it eludes me because internet is slow and facebook has failed so the world has crashed down so all this shall come from memory.

1. Preheat oven
2. Get bacon strips and put them in a grill pan and drizzle very little olive oil. Well, actually, Rachel Rae didn't even drizzle the olive oil just that if you don't do that it'll just burn on to your pan and you'll take eternity trying to get it clean. Bacon goes into the oven. Bacon should be turned over at appropriate intervals. Rachel Rae turned it over a few times. I, the lazy chef, turned it over once. It tasted as good.
3. Get cherry tomatoes, everything I measured agar-agar so as much as you think you'll need. Lay it out on the pan then drizzle with olive oil and chopped thyme and roll it around in a pan so its all coated. I didn't have enough grill pans, so I kind of just dunked the bacon onto the top rack (without any pan or base beneath it) and put the pan of tomatoes below in the oven. What probably happened was that the bacon juice dripped slowly into the cherry tomato pan, which might have contributed to the flavour...it was a eureka moment.
4. On the side, chop up flatleaf parsley, spring onions and sweet basil. THE BASIL, is tricky. Overseas, they probably only have more of the sweet basil. In Singapore you get two kinds of basil. One kind is SPICY. The last time I made a western dish I used the wrong basil and it tasted HORRID. Must get SWEET basil. The basil doesn't need to be chopped really fine. I was lazy so it ended up sliced more than anything else.
5. Boil the pasta. I used penne because I like penne but I suppose anything goes.
6. This part is optional. I was considering just leaving this one out because I could have pasta without chicken but in the end since the chicken was already bought I did it anyway. Put a pan on heat, a little oil, minimal really, then throw in the cut chicken cubes in and brown. Near the end, flavour with chilli sauce to your liking.
6. You'll know when the tomatoes are roasted when they open near the top and the skin of the tomatoes wrinkles a little. Then take them out and throw them in a huge mixing bowl and mash them. I adore this part because when you mash them your whole kitchen smells gorgeous. Then put the pasta on top and throw in the herbs, the chicken and top it all with shredded cheese. Rachel Rae used blue cheese but blue cheese stinks so I just used cold storage shredded mozzarella. Throw it all together while it's all hot so when you mix it around the cheese melts and its lip-smackingly tasty.
7. Chop up avocado and sprinkle on top and serve.

It's really simple. And I put it up here more for my own benefit really. Because come London, I want to at least be confident of making one thing.

Okay. It's 6pm. The sun is no longer shining too bright. This post is already getting too long. It is time for this fat little girl to go running.

I resolve to finally fulfill a resolution

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 03:01:12 GMT

Here's the plan:

I will Exercise to lose off a lot of Ungainly Fat by doing Daily Runs and Crunches.

I will Diet and abstain from Unhealthy Fattening Oily Foods.

I will Eat Fruits.

Gmail has an undo send button! Which is great that I only find out now after having sent off dozens of embarrassing addressed to the wrong person emails.

And I'm having headaches over settling my whole Three Years in London. I haven't taken a meningitis jab nor have I done a chest X-ray nor have I paid my school fees or finished my packing list. It's all a bit daunting isn't it, once you've had it all written out.

To Val: I want to put the packing list on a Google Doc like what Wenny said, once I'm done I'll send it to you and whoever else wants to be part of the fun!

reightardicons ONE.

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:25:54 GMT

This is what happens when you give Christabel a few free hours, a computer and old photographs.

Speaking of which, I really REALLY want photoshop. CHEAP photoshop. This was painstakingly simply done with no text because all I had was Microsoft Picture Manager and I ABHOR PAINT.

But ah...the memories.





TOMORROW someone needs to bring a camera and store MORE PHOTOS. Maybe I'll do the class photos as well...if I'm not lazy.

director of fun

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:03:40 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/8215805.stm

THIS is DAMN funny. The new British Railway Museum Director of 'Fun' is a 6-year-old boy called Sam Pointon.

HE IS VERY CUTE.

so long farewell...

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:52:20 GMT

Facebook is depressing. Especially a facebook chock full of farewell photos of people I've never known in my life but I miss anyway.

Friends, please tell me when everyone is fluttering off to different corners of the earth so I may update my organizer and see you off at the airports. I would prefer if people didn't leave too close to each other, I really need time to dry off my tears, settle my emotions.

I have started formulating the semblance of a packing list. It's terrible. Very terrible. It just reminds me of how many things I have to buy, how many things I don't have, how many things I have to carry.

I recently learnt how to play 'leaving on a jetplane' on my guitar. Which was a very bad idea. Because now everyday I play that song to myself and feel sad and emo and all that shit.

Lich, on the day you leave I'll play you that song and cry like a cow.

LIFESTYLE...OF THE RICH AND THE FAMOUS....

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:34:41 GMT

I AM DONE WITH WORK.

Today, I lay on my bed thinking...congratulations christabel, you're officially unemployed.

i'm leaving on a jetplane

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:18:45 GMT

I think my posts from this point on are just going to get gradually more depressing.

I end work on Monday. Well, actually I ended work on Friday officially but Monday I'm going in to wrap up some stuff. Or maybe I'm going to office because I don't want to admit that I'm stopping work. It's not that I love work or that my life is incomplete without work, its just that I've always told myself that after work, the next change in my life will be going to the UK.

Oh yeah sure I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, London will be cool. Living on my own will be great. Independence should be pretty fun. So am I excited about going overseas? No. I'm kind of brimming with trepidation so don't ask me stupid questions like that. I wake up in the middle of the night suddenly wondering, damn, do I even know how to work the laundry machine? shit, will I get mugged in some ulu alley in London? oh god, what if I get lost on the way to school? what if I don't understand what the lecturer is teaching? what if I'm quite dumb and I can't really catch up on all the reading? what if I become seriously fat because I don't exercise? what if I get really lonely going home to no one? WHAT IF THE TOILETS ARE FREAKING DIRTY? when I get food poisoning and puke in the drain every ten steps, who's going to cook porridge for me? who's going to come and ask if i'm alright? what if I do real badly in school? I'll be wasting all that money my parents spent on me? what happens if I fail?

And I'm getting nightmares about things that could go seriously wrong in London, starting from being turned back and denied entry into London at the airport because I look like a terrorist or I'm carrying a biohazard in my luggage or I'm carrying a fake prada bag.

I feel so damn spoilt, I hate myself.

And then driving. I wanted to pass my driving test. But now I don't want to drive. I don't want to go fetch my sister from school and send her to school in the morning. I don't want to fetch my brother from tuition. I don't want to be behind the steering wheel or listening to the stupid asshole of a GPS. I still want to sit in the backseat, squashed with cheryl and didi, arguing over what radio channel we should listen to, watching the cars outside the backseat window.

I think I'm suffering from the Forever Young syndrome.

Because that's what I want to be....forever young.