Episode 46: Prioritise? What's That?

Wasted the entire day (and night) trying to figure out how to convert my Christian George and Dangerous Muse downloads from Napster into something that can be played on my iPod. Finally managed this with Tunebite, but really, this has been an utterly stupid use of my time. It's a good thing that my EN123 essay isn't due on Monday together with the EN124 portfolio, or I might as well declare myself royally screwed right now. Recently, I bought a couple of tracks off iTunes that didn't have DRM, all by KJ, who's one of those singers who seem to be perpetually on the verge of releasing a debut album, but really seem to be selling their pretty-boy faces more than the music. I listen to KJ's music, however, because it's pretty dancefloor-friendly, even before being remixed, which is the way I like my pop music these days. Think Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad album. Anyway, it's been almost an entire day of labour, and very little to show for it. Certainly nothing that's going to help me ace EN124! Guess I'll just go to sleep and worry about it all another day...

Episode 45: Liberty

Was originally going to the Learning Grid to study past midnight with Chloe and Michelle, but I ended up dragging Michelle to Liberty at the Arts Centre because I didn't realise until mid-afternoon that the free tickets for the STARs were for tonight's performance. When we got there, I decided on impulse to buy both the programme booklet and an autographed copy of the script. Glyn Maxwell's Liberty is an adaptation of Anatole France's Les Dieux Ont Soif, and it's set during the French Revolution, specifically during the time of the Terror and ending with the Thermidorean Reaction. As I was sitting there, it suddenly dawned on me that the French Revolution was possibly the only part of my 'A' Level History syllabus that I can say I actually enjoyed. Okay, I guess the Italian Revolution was interesting too, but hardly as poetic as the French one in its course. I mean, a revolution against tyranny that itself descended into tyranny? I thought the play was good, especially the choice to end the action just when the Thermidorean Reaction descended on the Jacobins. For what is left unsaid then becomes the rise of the revolution's next powerful figure, Napoleon Bonaparte. Like I said, you just have to love the French Revolution for its cyclical drama. The theatre was really empty though, which was quite saddening. Ah well, at least I didn't miss out on a good play...

Episode 44: Guy Fawkes Night

Just finished bingeing on food from Tesco, including some really bad sushi. Bad in the sense that the rice was hard and clumped together. Before that, I was at a couple's place along Kirby Corner Road, having Bible study. This is the one I was supposed to join Chernise for last week, but couldn't because I had to stay in my room and write the commentary on the Fitt 2 passage. We went over from The Sovereign, which is a pub owned by a couple that also attends Westwood Church. Just checked it out online, and it seems like a really family-friendly place. According to Chernise, it used to be called The Half-Sovereign, and was a really shady place. Andrea was saying how cabs used to refuse to stop at that place, sounded pretty hardcore. I like the double meaning of its new name though! I took videos of most of the fireworks, as photography just didn't cut it. Nothing as slick as the fireworks you get at National Day Parades back home, but it was quite intense, being so near to the fireworks as they went off. I'm glad I went down tonight! Remember, remember the fifth of November...

Episode 43: The Haunting

I think I've overspent! Sigh. Yet I still spent about £12 on snacks while in Coventry with Chermaine and Sarah. Just as well that I couldn't find nice rings in my size at Topman, otherwise I'd have spent even more. We had lunch at Noodle Bar, which was delicious. More authentic Chinese cuisine! Totally going back there again soon. In other news, my Internet connection has been restored, and appears to be stable. So far. Hopefully it stays that way, as I need to get caught up on getting TV episodes from Natalie. I just got back from The Haunting at Tempo. I was a bit boring, to quote Hui Lin, while walking through the haunted house, but it was pretty funny, seeing people that I recognised. It was a pretty cool way to usher people into the club though, that I must say. Didn't actually drink anything (unlike Shen Ting, who dropped by my room just now in a fairly drunken state), but I quite liked most of the music that was played by the DJ, although it seems like the same few songs are the genuine clubbing anthems. I must confess that some of the stuff that I normally wouldn't listen to, I quite like hearing and dancing to in a club. Like 50 Cent's 'Ayo Technology'. Would be cool to dance to one of Gareth Emery's podcast episodes though. Should play one of those if I ever throw a house party. A bunch of us thought of heading upstairs to The Graduate@Cholo to catch the US election results, and against the odds, someone actually opened the fire escape and let us in! We didn't stick around long though, simply too crowded. For what it's worth, I hope Obama wins. Walked back to Westwood with Whitney, and now I'm watching TV on my laptop again...

Episode 42: No Internet!

It's starting to dawn on me just how much reading I've got to get done this week. I'm not even bothering to get caught up on the readings that I've missed over the past weeks, just reading for Week 7. So you'd think that without the Internet, I'd actually get more reading done, but no, that's not happening at all. My Internet access has been cut off since Sunday! There was a half-hour this afternoon when it was back up, but just as suddenly, it was down once again. Quite annoying for a Facebook addict like me. So since I couldn't surf, I ended up catching up on Ghost Whisperer. I've realised that I haven't seen quite a lot of Season 3 actually, as for some reason or other, we stopped recording it. Audrey ended up watching it all online, but the videos she was streaming were really tiny, so I didn't bother watching them together with her. Am hoping that the Internet issue will be resolved by tomorrow morning. You know, sort of an overnight miracle. I even went so far as to buy a new Ethernet cable this afternoon, just to eliminate it as the source of the problem, but it seems that it's really Warwick's campus network that's gone crazy. Since 27 October, to be exact. Sigh. At least I had a nice dinner at Stephanie's surprise birthday party, so the day wasn't entirely crummy. Lots of local food, including Wayne's attempt at making laksa, which was pretty decent, if a little dry. When I get back to Singapore, I'm going to binge on local food for a week!

Episode 41: Brideshead Revisited

I just got back from a screening of Brideshead Revisited. Yeah, I know, I'm probably one of the last people to see the show. In fact, tonight was the final screening at the Arts Centre, so I went down with Chloe and Claire Lim. Not having read the book, I must pay the film the compliment of saying that it made me want to read Evelyn Waugh's novel. Part of the plot is set in Venice, and what glimpses of it were shown have only confirmed my resolve to visit that city at some point during my three years here. At the same time, I must also confess that the character of Charles Ryder reminded me of myself, perhaps more than I would have liked. That hunger to belong in the society of the moneyed and privileged can be very powerful, and undoubtedly, some of the decisions that I've made in my life have been deliberately calculated to bring me closer to that circle. By no means am I ungrateful for the upbringing that I've had, even if I don't display that gratitude as often as would be gratifying to my parents. It is simply that I have seen what there is to be had in this world, and I take it for granted that I deserve a share of it. At what price would I wrest this for myself, you might very well ask, and I would find it difficult to determine my answer. For I don't doubt that I have limits that I would not deign to cross; I have simply not had occasion to clearly define them yet.

Episode 40: Halloween Ball

Just got back from the Halloween Ball, which really wasn't that fun. I hated most of the music, to be frank. I still think the TES is just not really conducive for parties. We grabbed our coats and left half an hour before it ended, so as to avoid the crowd. Anyway, I went online and raided Amazon UK this afternoon! Almost everything I bought was course-related though, so I guess it doesn't really count. I wanted to buy loads of stuff by John Irving and Armistead Maupin, especially because they were Black Swan editions that looked really good. I cancelled my orders on those books at the last minute though. Figured I should probably read some of the stuff that's already on my shelves before doubling the size of my library here. I'm quite upset that I won't be able to buy Vintage International editions off Amazon UK. I suppose that's made up for by the fact that Faber poetry collections will be more readily available than they are back in Singapore. I'm starting to sound like I love owning books more than reading them, but I really do read. Really! Just not as much as I should be, that much I'll concede. I did treat myself to two DVD box sets, The Lord Of The Rings (Extended Edition) and The Ultimate Matrix Collection, both of which I've been wanting to buy. They should arrive by Tuesday, just in time to distract me from actually doing any work during Reading Week. Haha...

Episode 39: Quantum Of Solace

Just got back from Tesco, where I bought quite a lot of stuff. It's a good thing Westwood's so nearby! I think I've enough food to last me for at least the first half of Reading Week. Am so glad that I'm finally going to get a break because I really need to catch up on my reading. Borrowed a nice stack of poetry collections from the Library today after my EN121 seminar, which I basically dozed my way through. First time I've ever been so tired! Spent the entire night agonising over my EN122 essay, so I didn't actually get any sleep. Once I got past 3 am, I pretty much figured I wasn't going to be under the covers at all. This really must not be repeated for the EN123 essay or the EN124 portfolio! Will be a good boy and do my work in a timely fashion. Caught the new Bond movie in Coventry with Chloe, Jerrick, Michelle and Yee Hung. I thought it was okay, although it was quite tame, I felt, for a Bond movie. I mean, only one sex scene? No romantic entanglements? Without that, what's there to set a Bond flick apart from the rest of Hollywood's output?

Episode 38: I Hate You, Allen Ginsberg

Was supposed to go to a Bible study with Chernise, but I had to back out because otherwise I'd never finish my essay by tomorrow, 3 pm. Felt a bit silly today, as I discovered that I actually didn't need to finish writing that French essay I spent a few hours on yesterday. It was actually meant to be this week's homework. Oh well. C'est la vie. I'm currently a quarter of the way through my 'Howl' essay, judging by word count, and I keep encountering mental roadblocks. I think it's because I'm trying too hard to get everything right, when the first unassessed essay is really the perfect time to make mistakes. Quite a few of my coursemates are also agonising over either their commentary for EN121 or their essay for EN122, so that makes me feel less alone. Anyway, the experience of writing this essay has made me realise that I actually don't like 'Howl' very much. It's okay the first few times that you read it, and I've been picking out some stuff that is definitely good close reading, but I find it very tedious to make my impressions of the poem cohere! So yeah, I hate Allen Ginsberg now. I don't think I'll be getting any sleep tonight at this rate...

Episode 37: I'm Actually Doing Work!

Have managed to finish both the French essay and the EN121 commentary. I'm not entirely sure if the latter's actually what I'm supposed to be producing, but I figure I can't have screwed up too badly. When you take into consideration that I haven't even read Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, that's saying a lot. Completely forgot that I was supposed to go research literary magazines for today's session for The Warwick Review, so I ended up sitting in the room and keeping my mouth shut the entire time. Well, until the very end when we got to read some submissions and talk about them. I didn't really like most of the poems in my lot! Too much telling is what I would say about them. Had our last EN124 seminar for poetry, so now it's time to start thinking about producing that portfolio for after Reading Week. I'm a bit perplexed by what to do about the commentary portion though. Comment on the process of writing these poems? Not really something I consciously reflect on very often, I'll admit. I did get to read out one of my poems today, and decided to chop off the last two lines on the spur of the moment, which proved to be a wise decision. I don't think it's the best thing I've ever written, as that label still goes to 'Another Night On The Patio' for its ability to sound effortless when a lot of it is rather quite contrived, as well as having the most kickass opening lines I've ever penned. This poem I read out isn't too shabby though. I think I do sarcasm passably well, even in my poetry. Haha...