A Few Things

1.
I've finished Unaccustomed Earth. Over a week ago, in fact, making it one of my quickest reads. I didn't want to blog about it until now because I was mourning my lost camera and thus losing appetite for everything.

Now i've come to appreciate the fact that i have to commute to school by bus as it gives me time to read a few pages when the route already grows old and i'm no longer worried about getting off at a wrong stop. Unaccustomed Earth is beyond words. Very different from the Intrepreter of Maladies in that the plotting is more experimental. The ending of almost every story is fresh and unpredictable. My favorite stories are Hell-Heaven - i read the last few pages again right after i'd finished them - and Once in a Lifetime and the least favorite one is probably the last one, Going Ashore, the ending of which, I think, is too convenient and underinvested, especially compared to the well crafted stories leading up to it.

2.
Flying off to Italy in a few hours! Finally i'll get to see, feel, and photograph the architectural sculptures of ancient Rome that i spent hours on end last semester cramming for the exams.

3.
It was a beautiful morning, glorious even. Here are a few shots i took. Who would have thought a sunny day can foreshadow a forelorn evening.

London is hella expensive man...

IT IS! i thought it's just only me but when i asked london natives they say the same thing. seriously i can't see how you can get ahead here financially here...

Tonight for example. i went out of course, because our weekend starts on wednesday (whee)! We ate korean and that amounted to 10.15 pounds each. and thats not that bad yet. went to a pub where i got a double shot rum&coke for 4.59 pounds. and then a beer for 1.59 (thats pretty cheap actually). and when they kicked us out they proceeded to another pub. at first i thought we were all going home but then what the heck. got a gin&tonic. 4 pounds. hello? i think maybe im just a cheap ass and the pound is in fact depreciating lah. ok whatever.

i think this post is really incoherent...because of the buzzz?! gahhhh.. i paid this much so i deserve to be a little buzzed out ok. you know what's *really* expensive, like surprisingly expensive? apples!!! 3 pounds for maybe 6 apples?! uhh welcome to london i guess.

. . . . .

on another note, the Genius feature thing in itunes is pretty... interesting. Below is the list of songs from my own library that Genius has thematically singled out for me:

somewhere only we know - keane
i knew i loved you - savage garden
stand inside your love - smashing pumkin
yellow - coldplay
stop and stare - one republic
closer - travis
happiness - goldfrapp
sweetest goodbye - maroon 5
come undone - robbie williams
love song - sara bareilles

im pretty emo arent i. never knew...

Insomnia!

It's official. i think i've finally found one pattern to my patternless life: out of 30 days in a given month, there have to be at least 3-4 consecutive days that i can't fall asleep. this is frustrating when you have to toss about in bed fully knowing that each minute is ticking by. and when you look at the clock, TADAHHH two hours have gone by. effing blows. on a night like this i think i should pose something happy to pacify my grumpy self.

Picture from earlier this week, an fattilicious reward i totally deserved. there's nothing better than ending two days of stressful presentations - which i totally rocked - with McDo's goodness. the cashier gave me a weird look when taking my order of "6 nuggets, 3 chicken selects, and a medium fries, please" And no i didn't want a meal, i heard myself insist. And that night i was totally passed out from 10:30PM to 9:30AM the next day. WHICH IS THE CULPRIT OF THE INSOMNIA. grrr...

And then Gmail bust out a pleasant surprise! but then this makes for more frustration because there are now too many templates/themes to choose from and lots of them are really cool. i think i'll stick with the classic for a while until i've found one that i really like.

OK. i should be able to sleep now. otherwise i'll seriously consider cooking at 3AM and piss off my flatmates.