Impulsive Demeanour

The weather yesterday was perfect. The papers wrote that UK is at its emptiest on the 2nd Saturday of August. But there were no plans for activities from my end. I thought it would be a waste if I just sat in my room and did nothing.

I left for London on impulse without thinking what I wanted to do there. It was afternoon and half the day was gone. But I didn't care even though I had to fork out 12 quid for the day ticket. I just wanted out of my room.

I reached London's King's Cross station and didn't know where to go. But it was exciting. That means I didn't have to rush for anything! So I took a bus to "no-where". Then I pressed the button to stop on instinct. I was in Camden Town! I walked around and up to Kentish Town. I continued walking and then I reached Parliament Hill near or at the Highgate Village, the upper class section of London. It was a great place to hang out. People were just enjoying the sun and there were lots of family activities. I read a book at the park bench. The sun was scorching and I had to apply suntan lotion. I never thought I would ever use such a thing in this country. But it's great to smell those stuff on the skin. It reminded lots when I used it at the beaches and triathlons in Malaysia.

I received a call from Winson on my walking tour to nowhere.

"Hey where are you?" he asked

"Erm, am in London!", I answered proudly as if I won a prize for that.

"London?! You must be kidding. I spoke to you a while ago and thought you wanted to join me in (Cambridge) town for coffee."

"Aw, too late. I'm already here. Do you want to come to London instead? What's your plan for the rest of the day?"

"No. I am not going to London. But I'd be going for a Shakespeare play in the evening with some friends. Are you interested? It's 10 quid."

"Sure! I'd love to! " I answered on impulse (again).

"Can you make it back by 6.45pm?"

"Sure. See you there!"

Suddenly I was locked in an itinerary. So I had to time my pace accordingly and check the timetable for the next train back to Cambridge. I wandered in Camden Town and bought some really cheap groceries at the 99p Store for the next hour or so before I decided to go home.

I reached Cambridge at 5.30pm, took a shower, grabbed a quick bite, checked the emails and left for the Shakespeare play at the Trinity Hall park. I went home after the play and watched another movie.

I have not taken in so much stuff in one day for a loooonnnnggggg time. It was certainly my shortest turnaround time in London and probably the ugliest side of me doing things on impulse for this one time. But it felt really nice.

Summer delight

I received a call last two weeks at 5am on my Malaysian mobile. Still in a daze, I answered the call. It was a lady who spoke to me in Malay.

*Translated*
"Hi Mr Yap, recently you submitted an essay for a National Essay Competition?"

I paused, trying to recall what on earth was this lady talking about at such an ungodly hour! O what the heck, I just answered, "Er, yea. Anything?" I thought it was the essay assignment for the Cornwall project. Maybe the department's online submission screwed up and some Malaysians got hold of the essay and liked my Disneyland Project idea. Now that I am awake, I realised how ridiculous my mind works when I am half awake. **Warning for all you prank callers**

"Okay Mr Yap, I would like you to attend for our prize presentation ceremony at this place and at this time..Would you come?", she continued.

"Erm, yea, yea..of course. By the way, what have I won? Erm, essay?", then I remembered I submitted an essay a month ago. I could hardly recall what I wrote in the 3000-word essay. I could only remember I did it in 8 hours! I wasn't serious about it but merely submitting it for the sake of submitting it. After all, Irene called all the way from Malaysia and coaxed me into it and dropped me email reminders at almost every hour a day before the submission deadline. Just write anything, "any $#!T" that you usually put in your blog and it would make up 3000 words. Oh right, that was really inspiring to get me started!

"So, what have I won? What placing?"
"Sorry sir, I am not allowed to divulge more information. You will know on that day. Would you come?"
"You see, I am currently not in Malaysia. I can send a proxy if you don't mind"
"Sure, just give me the person's name and email address"
I gave Irene's name since she was the one who told me about the competition. Obviously there's a fair share of success from her part.
"No chance of telling me what position I won?"
"Sorry sir, I can't. But I can only tell that I was given the instructions to invite the top three finishers. I can't tell more."

Lots of suspense for the past two weeks. But the goal to finish my dissertation was an effective antidote.

Today Irene called.

"Guess what. You are number one!"

Praise be to God!

Summer is here!

I couldn't confirm this until today. We had great weather on Friday and yesterday. I thought, well, let's wait for the third day to confirm this. Yes, summer is finally here. The temperature has soared to 28 deg C with the highest recorded at 30 so far. But 28 deg C here is different from Malaysia's because of the humidity.

Today is also the London Triathlon , and I think it's just perfect for that with this weather. Taking part in a triathlon here is more expensive than I thought. First of all, it is compulsory to wear a wetsuit to participate and this means extra cost. For prospective participants like me who doesn't have a wetsuit or left most of his stuff in his home country, there is a starter kit. The cheapest one would set me off £695 (RM4900). That's reasonable considering that the kit includes a road bike, a pair of Asics running shoes and a wetsuit. But as a student here, that's still too much for me. Like any other major races in London, this triathlon goes through a balloting system which means that you have to be chosen to be able to participate even if you could afford the entry fee of £74. I don't think I will complain anymore with RM60 (£8.50) entry fee in Malaysia, even if that's 1-to-1 comparison.

After having a "chocolate cake gathering" at a friend's place, I took off to Jesus Green Swimming Pool resenting the fact that I couldn't participate in the London Triathlon. The weather was also perfect for that! To my surprise, the pool was inundated with people and I had to wait for half an hour for the crowd to thin off. Before that, someone in the gathering was asking me, "Wouldn't it be crowded today?"

"Nope. Because the pool is big enough to cope with large crowds. Besides, it's more like a serious pool than for people to have fun", I answered confidently.

Looks like the weather has beaten me to that. Nevertheless I swam 1800m in a crowded condition and managed to avoid all swimmers in my direction. Triathletes will attest that one of the greatest challenges in the swimming event is to avoid the hundreds of swimmers around you and managing space to overtake others. Jesus Green seemed easy. First of all, the water was clear! Maybe swimming in a crowded condition is a good way to practice for a real triathlon race.

I just hope the weather stays like this for the entire month. Or at least a week if that's too much to ask for. I can now do more hard core training for my next triathlon race! People like Raymond who's reading this, be very afraid......I will beat your time soon!

UK Farewell Dedication

It has been the best one year I had in my life studying with the brightest and smartest peoples from all over the world. It is not only a wonderful experience but a great honour to get to know all of you. This video presentation is dedicated to you who appear in it! Hope you enjoy it.

Special thanks to Chris Roe for introducing me to a cool software to make all the funky stuff in the video.

Desert-ation

Working on a 15,000-word dissertation is like solitary confinement. There are two persons in me. The first person turns to hypotheses and anecdotal findings, while the other challenges all those assumptions and analyses and tries to make sense if they deserve a place in the dissertation. Insanity beyond the point of no return? Sometimes I think I am in that direction but how could I not if no one else is doing the same dissertation as I am and have no one to turn to.

I have also been trying innovative ways to make it less painful by switching locations to write; sometimes in the department's computer lab, sometimes in a train, in the plane or even in a restaurant! However, most of the time I'd end up in my room.
New places give new inspirations but moving around can be tiring and cumbersome if you have a laptop like mine that'd make you feel like you've done 15 sets of 20 on a dumbell, by the time you reach your destination to start writing again.

Cross-activities? Well, I do take a break to go running, swimming, a stroll at the park or a big cookout with friends.

I just can't wait for this to end. But the other person in me is also dreading the end of student life. Bidding farewell is always a difficult thing. The two persons in me are now lost at this crossroad. However, they agree that life has to move on.