GARGANTUAN steps
Monday, October 22, 2007
knackered up
Just the start of my fourth week back in London and I am crushed by the weight of work and just about everything else in my life. I think I haven't really disciplined myself to finish my work before doing other things and so I find myself reading late into the night, sacrificing my sleep. Time to change this bad habit of mine and get focused on work. At least I have improved on this from last week. I think I could barely take my mind off floorball last week.
Anyhow, the annual Nottingham Games is up in about 3 weeks time (10th November) and floorball training is stepping up! I've been made the coach of the two teams and have also been given the unenviable task of making the team selection. Quite a headache, who to include and exclude, and whether to split the teams evenly. I've also been going for double floorball sessions a week, one is the usual Singaporean wednesday sessions at Hyde Park and on thursday, I head down to play and train with the London Crusaders (which is a floorball team!) Trying very hard to improve my play and most importantly, making the right decisions on the court. Trying out some new shooting techniques too that I hope will be mastered in good time.
Have a feeling that things have changed drastically somehow. I wonder whether it's me. Why have things become the way they are now? It just feels so wrong. Being there is sometimes worse than being alone.
Anyhow, the annual Nottingham Games is up in about 3 weeks time (10th November) and floorball training is stepping up! I've been made the coach of the two teams and have also been given the unenviable task of making the team selection. Quite a headache, who to include and exclude, and whether to split the teams evenly. I've also been going for double floorball sessions a week, one is the usual Singaporean wednesday sessions at Hyde Park and on thursday, I head down to play and train with the London Crusaders (which is a floorball team!) Trying very hard to improve my play and most importantly, making the right decisions on the court. Trying out some new shooting techniques too that I hope will be mastered in good time.
Have a feeling that things have changed drastically somehow. I wonder whether it's me. Why have things become the way they are now? It just feels so wrong. Being there is sometimes worse than being alone.
Friday, October 05, 2007
he ain't heavy
Been back in London for nearly a week and it seems like I was just sitting for my Year 1 finals last week. Doesn't seem like I was even away from London for nearly three months! We have been thrown right into the thick of lectures and work straightaway on Monday and I suppose this can be considered a slack week! Meanwhile, my plan is just to do steady revision and work instead of working way ahead and getting burnt out too early.
Meanwhile, I'm living at my uncle's place in Ealing Broadway (if any of you do really want to pop by!). I'm staying in the attic in a small cosy room with a slanted ceiling! It's quite comfortable and I am not complaining, having a roof over my head and regular good chinese meals cooked by my aunt! And she cooks extra for dinner so that I can bring it to school for lunch. Saves me a lot of money. Furthermore, I have a living room all to myself just outside my room, plus a toilet too. Here's a picture of my room!
Meanwhile, I'm living at my uncle's place in Ealing Broadway (if any of you do really want to pop by!). I'm staying in the attic in a small cosy room with a slanted ceiling! It's quite comfortable and I am not complaining, having a roof over my head and regular good chinese meals cooked by my aunt! And she cooks extra for dinner so that I can bring it to school for lunch. Saves me a lot of money. Furthermore, I have a living room all to myself just outside my room, plus a toilet too. Here's a picture of my room!
My Room on the third floor attic
Meanwhile, I bought a Vatican Euro dollar coin whilst I was back in Singapore. Been collecting Euro dollar coins of the countries I have been to (Italy, Spain and France) and I was unable to get a Vatican one because it is rather rare! So I paid a few extra dollars to have one delivered to me. This was the coin that was made after the death of Pope John Paul II. Normally, the back of the coin will show the head of the Pope. I'm on the look out for those with Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI!
Vatican issued special coins during the period of Sede vacante depicting the emblem of the Apostolic Chamber and the coat of arms of the Cardinal Chamberlain
My brother was up in Birmingham for a Science Cancer conference since Saturday and he came down yesterday to London to visit me. Not surprisingly, he went to the British Museum to spend his time. After that, he went to visit my Uncle Joe, go to a book shop, see some dinosaur bones in another museum, visit my school and ended the day having dinner with me, Fontane and Ee Hong, his colleague in the laboratory.
He was exceptionally intrigued by the Rosetta Stone which he saw in the British museum. To give a little background knowledge, this stone contains three translations of a single passage, two written in Egyptian language scripts (hieroglyphic and demotic), and in classical Greek. It was due to this stone that Egyptian hieroglyphic language was able to be translated once again in modern times and ancient Egypt was not loss in a mass of undecipherable language. This stone is so powerful, it has become an idiom (which I never knew about until yesterday)! It means that the object or knowledge that you have termed as the Rosetta Stone is the critical key to a process of decryption or translation of a difficult problem. I guess I will be making my way back to the museum soon!
My brother and the Rosetta Stone
