Episode 120: Looking For A House (To Call A Home)

Bella's down with chickenpox, so now I'm the one directing rehearsals. This got off to a horrendous start because I was more than an hour late for tonight's rehearsal, as I was hunting for houses in Earlsdon. I wish Chloe would just take either of the ones we saw tonight, I really do. The rent is to die for, and all the objections she raised are things that can be lived with. On ne peut pas demander quelque chose qui n'existe pas! I just want a roof over my head, and today's landlord seemed decent. As much as I believe in comparison and looking for the 'best deal', I think there comes a point in time when the cost of searching outweighs the benefit of taking what you can get, which in this case is by no means a raw deal anyway. As for the title of today's entry, that's a bit of Adam's seminar infiltrating here. We were talking about Freud and the uncanny today, and I was thinking again about House Of Leaves, still one of the most unusual novels I've ever read. The idea of unheimlich, of the unhomely, is pretty fascinating. I could write a poem about that, I think, houses that are not homes. It sounds too glib and hackneyed, but I could spin something out of it, I'm sure. If we can't get either of tonight's houses, then I hope the person I've messaged on Facebook has a nice place to show us, even if it does cost nearly £20 more, and we're paying for things like TV that we initially said we didn't even need. Sigh. Si on est disposé à transiger, tout sera bien. Il faut qu'on soit réaliste!

Episode 119: Reality Bites

So we're all back in Warwick, safe and sound. I fell asleep before the aeroplane even took off, as I remember closing my eyes right after the live safety demonstration, and then opening them again less than half an hour before we were due to land. Evidently, trying to fall asleep in the airport proved impossible for me, but I did manage to read nearly half of Mamet's The Village. Have been slightly disappointed so far, although I can see bits and pieces of the puzzle that I know will make sense eventually, when they've finally fallen into place. Should really be reading Freud or getting some sleep, but instead, I'm watching Torchwood, which is one of the more addictive TV shows that I'm currently watching. I'm dying for Fringe and House to come back though, not to mention the new series of Skins is starting this Thursday! Can't wait for that. I also can't wait to get down to some serious reading. It feels like forever since I actually sat down and read something properly from cover to cover. Think I'll tackle a bit of poetry once I'm done with the novel. Need to catch up on my Spanish too...

Episode 118: Scenic Tour

Had to get up extremely early for our tour, but it was so worth it! The breathtaking views began at Dun Laoghaire, where waves crashed onto the craggy shore. Then we encountered the variegated vegetation at the Avoca handweavers. It snowed when we were going up the mountains, which made for some pretty awesome scenery shots, especially once we got to the peak overlooking the Guiness estate. That was freaking amazing, even if the driving wind meant if we ventured close enough to the cliff, we might have been swept off by a sudden gust catching us unawares. I decided to adopt emo poses in some of my photographs today, just for fun. It worked rather well, especially with the tinted glasses, even if the constantly blowing wind meant my hair was in a mess. Today's lunch was in an Irish pub in Laragh, which I really liked. I had roast pork with stuffing, and now I'm really curious as to what goes into the stuffing and how it's prepared. Took a lot of pictures today, mostly of landscapes and scenery. The tour guide was really good, in the sense that he knew how to spin the stories to make them interesting. Glendalough, our final stop, afforded us stunning scenes of two lakes, as well as the graveyard and assorted ecclesiastical buildings from another age. The tour was just really worth it!

Due to a mutual misunderstanding, we nearly ended up eating in a really posh restaurant when we got back to Dublin. Being poor, penniless, but also starving, students, we ended up sharing pizzas at Hungry Harry's, while watching live coverage of Obama's inauguration. We set about looking for a bar or a pub to chill in after dinner, and we eventually found The Palace, where the bartender was really friendly, and quite possibly, amused by this group of Singaporeans. I had whisky and cranberry juice, which was pretty nice. Add one more to the list of alcoholic beverages that I don't mind imbibing. There was a live band too, which reminded me of how beautiful Irish music can be. I guess there's always something bittersweet lurking in the music, which is greatly appealing because it's so true to what life is really like most of the time, neither perfectly happy nor perfectly sad, but a sort of imperfect hybrid, whose composite proportions shift as time passes. Time to listen to a bit of The Corrs, I think, as I settle in for a night in the airport with David Mamet's The Village and my iPod for company whilst everyone else goes to sleep. Thank God for the McDonald's that's open 24 hours today!

Episode 117: Dublin!

For a budget airline, the Ryanair flight to Dublin was surprisingly comfortable. No frills, of course, and it was pretty funny to watch a person demonstrating banalities like how to buckle the seatbelt. I'm quite sure the flight steward nearest to our row thought it was ridiculous too, and I'm pretty sure I caught a smile on his face as he fastened and unfastened the mock seatbelt. I managed to fall asleep for a good part of the flight, so that was okay. The hostel we're staying in, Abraham House, is actually pretty decent. It must be really popular too, since although Louisa had to pull out of our trip, someone still booked the now-free last bed in our room. Paul's a really friendly New Yorker though, and we've just spent the better part of the night listening to him telling us about all sorts of stuff. He knew P. Diddy before, well, he was P. Diddy, and although I'm not into that kind of music, it still sounds awesome to actually personally know someone famous. We spent some time walking around the city after we checked in, until we finally reached the Guiness Storehouse, which is a huge monument to the drink. I don't really like it, a little too bitter for me. Seeing how it's made was interesting though, and I didn't know Guiness is brewed in Singapore! We had a late lunch there, where I had a huge slab of bacon. Incredible stuff! As for dinner, we ate at this restaurant called Abrakebabra, which was totally not worth the money we paid for it, but the name of the chain totally reminded us of Amisha. Haha!

Episode 116: Electric City

I made it to my seminar! I did not have a hangover. I even did a little bit of the reading! There were only seven of us at the seminar though, but I still managed to get by without speaking more than a few words. Haha! Headed back to Westwood to pick up my final Gormenghast book from Amazon UK, and then went back to my room to try and get my laundry done. Spent most of the afternoon trying, but only succeeded after Shen Ting managed to get his in. I spent most of the time getting hooked on Torchwood, which has been fairly entertaining so far, although I think I still prefer Doctor Who, and I do wish British television shows ran for the same length as their American counterparts. Went to Whitefields to meet the rest of the people going to our The Culture Project social. We were really early for Electric City because Tempo was really empty. I kept my drinking to a minimum though, just one shot and one VK Apple, which I've decided I like better than VK Blue or VK Ice. Probably will stick to semi-heavy drinking at Varsity on Thursdays though, as the drinks are cheaper! I didn't really care for the music at Electric City, except for the occasional track that had a more thumping beat. Bella and Rahul were the ones who really got into the dancing, although we got a bit worried when we lost Rahul for a really long time. Turns out he was just at the bar getting a drink, where the queues, as expected, were phenomenal. Keegan, on the other hand, must have enjoyed himself thoroughly, being such a great hit with the ladies, thanks to his cool and funky hat. It would have been nice if a cast member or two had showed up though...

Episode 115: Varsity With The Creative Writing Crew

Spent a couple of hours at rehearsal before heading to Varsity, where I had a pint of Purple, one VK Blue, one VK Ice, and four shots. That's close to the maximum I've ever drunk in one sitting, which was either at Gotham Penthouse with Derrick, Vaish and Thong or at Café del Mar with my cell group. Tonight though, I've been hanging out with some of my coursemates, just as we planned on Facebook, and it's been a blast, even if the queue at the bar in Varsity grew ever more nightmarish as the night wore on. I know because I queued up twice to buy drinks. Anyway, we could very well end up doing this every week. We were coming up with all sorts of ways to work it into our Thursday seminars with Jim Byatt, but that just might have been our collective alcohol-fuelled imagination running wild. So now I've made it back to my room in one piece. I've realised that I process alcohol really quickly. Like within an hour, the world stops threatening to blur and what sets in is instead a throbbing head that varies in intensity. I've never had a hangover either, for which I should be grateful. I do think that after tonight though, I should drink less at Electric City tomorrow. Already told Tiffanie to stop me. I'll have to get up really early for our flight to Dublin anyway, so better not to run the risk of oversleeping.

Episode 114: En Français, S'il Vous Plaît...

This morning's seminar with Maureen Freely was good fun! Only about two-thirds of the class turned up, so it was pretty cosy. I'm quite glad with how my experiments with style worked out, especially the one where style doesn't match content. I'm quite excited about the new pieces that we're supposed to write for next week. Same goes for the Weird Fiction one, which is based on a little game of exquisite corpse we did at the very end of the workshop. My monster is pretty freaky. It's got a long-beaked head, a pair of tentacular arms, and three pairs of feet, which look like they should belong to a spider. I'm already rubbing my hands in glee. After this morning's seminar, a bunch of us headed to Kami Lounge for a drink and a bite. It wasn't really planned, at least not on everyone's part, but it was a pretty fun way to spend the rest of a foggy morning. I think we've now more or less decided that we're going to Varsity tomorrow, after talking about it on Facebook and again while we were in Kami Lounge, which should be fun, and for once, I'll actually be the first to get home from a night out! Am now trying to do my French homework, which isn't really that challenging. Haha! Have I mentioned that I love the song 'Mirror Error' that was featured on the latest episode of Gossip Girl? It's by The Faint, and I've started listening to their latest album. Fasciinatiion, which is quite different from the stuff I normally listen to. Go check the band out and you'll understand, if you know me well enough.

Episode 113: Start Your Day Right

The first thing I did of note today was watch the latest episode of Gossip Girl. Within two minutes, I was already telling two of my fellow fans, Eugene Chan and Samantha, to start streaming it. I'm sure they didn't regret my suggestion. I like how Jack Bass is turning out to be such an evil bastard because frankly, I'm a bit tired of the whole Rufus-Lily-Dan-Serena mess, and Blair and Chuck were getting boring, now that they're not sniping at each other constantly. Let's not even mention how Nate and Vanessa getting back together is such a total non-issue, and it really seems like Chace Crawford is just there to be a pretty boy and Jessica Szohr to screw things up for everyone else. So yeah, Jack brings back bite! I don't care if people think less of me for loving this show; it's just too frivolously riveting. I mean, it's like pure escapism, watching Gossip Girl. Can you imagine how entertaining it would be if we lived in a world where someone like Gossip Girl actually existed and all the latest rumours and scandals were just one SMS/MMS away? Haha! Bitchy thoughts. Anyway, I love how my Tuesdays start at noon now, with no translation class to attend. Finished most of my homework for tomorrow's EN124 seminar while waiting for the EN122 seminar to start, completing the last one towards the end of today's rehearsal. Now I'm trying to find a paragraph to write in Lovecraftian style, and I haven't the foggiest idea what to pick or how to do it!

Episode 112: Rewriting Script

I finished the essay with about an hour or so to spare, which was cutting it pretty close, and I'm not sure that this essay is going to be a First, although I still hope it will be, if only because I thought my argument was pretty sophisticated. More sophisticated than I had thought it would be anyway. I think I'm one of those people who are very good at coming up with catchy phrases, but not very good at actually having original thoughts, at least in an essay context. I always feel like the writers I'm quoting make my point so much more eloquently, so I just keep quoting more and more people, and my essay ends up looking like a patchwork that features everyone except myself. Ah well. Hope for the best! Have not done any of my creative writing, and I'm starting to think that perhaps I'm not much of a fiction person. Haha! I'm totally just making excuses for myself now. Need to finish three pieces for Maureen's seminar on Wednesday morning and one for China's workshop in the evening. For now though, I'm occupied with rewriting the script for The Culture Project. We're now at the third version, and it's a really substantial rewrite. Really want to finish tweaking all five monologues by tonight, but I might have to throw in the towel after just two. Oh well. Considering that I slept a total of three hours last night, I suppose I can be excused...

Episode 111: Essay!

Have just wasted an hour doing nothing but sorting my iTunes collection. Again. I made the big mistake of deciding to look for Christian music, and well, the rest is history. Am now seriously getting down to the business of writing the essay, and I've managed to get the introduction the way I want it. I've hit a wall though, as I can't seem to think of how to word the next paragraph so that it limits my field of argument without making me sound unwittingly ignorant. I have a bunch of quotes that I want to use, and they've basically helped me string together the rough outline of my essay. I'm worried that I'm using too much secondary material, but at this point, I suppose it's more a case of just getting it done and having something to hand in. I keep telling myself first year doesn't count, not really, but I'm too proud to allow myself to slack off just because of that. I'll finish this essay to my satisfaction, even if it means not sleeping tonight and missing Thomas Docherty's lecture tomorrow! I really, really, really will not procrastinate anymore for the next essay, which is due in Week 7. I will sit down next Saturday, decide what question I want to do, and start agonising over the introduction, even if it makes me sound really square, boring and typically Singaporean.