Episode 401: Budget Shopping (By My Standards)

Went shopping today at Topman with Dan. It was quite random, to me anyway, when he sent me an SMS in the morning, as I hadn't figured him for a Topman guy. Then again, neither am I. It's just that I suddenly felt the need to add a few tees to my wardrobe that didn't come off the Threadless website. So I bought four of those V-neck tees that have ribbing around the holes for your neck and arms that's a different colour from the tee, which just screams Topman to me. At two for £10, I didn't feel too guilty. There were also tees that had different colours for neck and arms, and even different colour for neck and each arm. Those were too bizarre for my taste. Also bought a hoodie because it was green and white, and on sale at a price that's considered a steal for Topman. I caved and bought a new bag from there as well, since I've been looking for something made from a material that won't cause my tees to pill. In any case, I've been feeling the need to splurge a bit, though I've kept to my promise of not buying any books until I've read more of the ones that I already own. I did want to go to Costcutter after the AGM to get a few tubs of Ben & Jerry's, but I guess I'll have to hold out till Friday and hope that they're still on offer then. In case you thought I spent my entire day being frivolous, I also wrote two poems, a pantoum and a ghazal, which leaves me with only three or four 100-word flash fictions to write before I've completed this week's work. My plan to work (fairly) consistently seems to be working out so far, pun not intended.

Episode 400: Bejeweled Blitz Obsession!

I finally managed to finish the villanelle, which wasn't as ambitiously experimental as I'd been thinking of initially (which means it went from mildly experimental to barely), but at least it's done. Having trouble with the ghazal though. I'm also slightly obsessed with Bejeweled Blitz again on Facebook, which is entirely Alex's fault for tempting me to smash his high score. I've done it, by the way, much to his dismay. Was a quarter of an hour late for LL209 today because I missed the bus I usually take, and then the next one took forever to arrive. It's partly my fault for taking forever to get around to showering and leaving the house, but goodness, why can't the buses be more reliable? On the other hand, it's not like I really missed a lot. It sounds terribly arrogant, but I don't think I'm learning that much in my French lessons, beyond improving my listening comprehension since the tutor speaks in French most of the time. There's this girl in my class who is so earnest, I don't know whether to be annoyed or impressed with her. She actually raises her hand to voluntarily answer questions! What kind of person does that?

Episode 399: Dry Spell?

I've realised that for the past couple of days, I just can't seem to follow through with the poems that I start. I had to abandon a villanelle on Saturday, and tonight, I've tried to write and abandoned both a ghazal and a villanelle. It's mildly annoying to not be able to flesh out the idea fully, especially this villanelle, as it seemed rather promising initially. It may well be salvageable, but I think I'll need to sleep on it. This is all probably to do with the fact that I've been particularly under the weather these past few days, and my brain is calling it quits. I hope it gets its act together by Wednesday though. Attended the Robert Gray reading this afternoon with Dan, and it was kind of a weird experience. Gray read out a commissioned piece that was still a work-in-progress, and then invited us to critique it. Excuse me? Pass judgement on an established poet's work in a public forum when I'm practically a nobody in comparison? I don't think I'm up to doing that. That said, I did enjoy select moments in the poem while disliking it on the whole. I would be more specific, except I somehow managed to lose the photocopy Michael Hulse handed out. The perils of sticking things in your back pocket and having too skinny a butt to keep them there.

Episode 398: Third Time's A Charm?

Haven't been in the mood to read or write because of my head, which still feels like a blocked sink, but I did manage to bang out about 150 words for my French homework. Will have to work on the poems and flash fictions over the next couple of days, even though I'd hoped to complete at least the ghazal by tonight and finish the Coleridge reading for Thursday's lecture. Argh. Being sick is awful. You know, that physical state when you're not ill enough to be incapacitated and collapsed in bed, but neither are you fighting fit (or fit as a fiddle, if you prefer a musical simile instead). I think I might be on the road to recovery though, especially if I have a really good night's sleep tonight. Anyway, I took a leap of faith today. Or two. Or three. Have already got one positive outcome, so that was a good start. Three out of three is a bit much to hope for, but hey, a guy can always dream. Right? Was feeling a bit upset earlier in the evening because of some stuff that hadn't gone as I'd expected, but there's nothing I can do about it except try again, through some other avenue.

Episode 397: My Head Feels Like Cotton Wool

Oh dear. I'd forgotten how annoying it is once the nose gets involved. Spent most of the lesson today on the verge of feeling sorry for myself, except for the last couple of minutes when I got an idea for my villanelle and tried to work it out, except that didn't get very far. A hearty dinner involving all the five major food groups helped to stave off misery for a little while, but now I'm sitting in front of my laptop, officially feeling sorry for myself. Dinner was very heavy because I'd hardly eaten anything all day, which is crazy, but it's just one of those bad habits that I've picked up from living without parental supervision. (Well, to be fair, even when I'm in Singapore, I'm prone to skipping breakfast if my mum's not at home to make sure I eat something.) I suppose all I really need is a good night's sleep, I think, and I won't be so cranky tomorrow. I was going to do some work tonight, but my head's going fuzzy and I think it would be quite pointless. The villanelle had reached a dead end anyway, and I'm considering abandoning the current one and starting over with something new. The impasse is mostly because I think I'm not going far enough with bending the rules of a villanelle, although I've already sort of tried. I am no Elizabeth Bishop, unfortunately.

Episode 396: Happy Birthday, Sophie!

The throat infection has finally progressed to affect my nose as well, like I'd been expecting it to for the past few days. It's going to get worse before it gets better, so it's just as well this is happening over the weekend. I took a nap before going to Sophie's party because I just felt so sleepy on the way back home. Ended up waiting about half an hour in the cold for the 12 to Leamington, followed by a significant trudge to Montrose Avenue. (I love you, Sophie, but you live in a ridiculously inaccessible part of Leamington!) There are days, nonetheless, when I wish I lived in Leamington, just because it'd make it that much easier to hang out with people and stay out late. It is a bit annoying having to always bear in mind when the last 12 is headed to Coventry! Tonight was full of really random things though. Like being huggable and people on the floor. Like bumping into John on the bus back. Like being grabbed from the seat behind by Adeline, whom I proceeded to follow around Earlsdon until she made it to Tony's place, which is where I've left her because I have to wake up for my Open Studies lesson tomorrow and I need the sleep. Hope she gets back fine...

Episode 395: Sleepy, Sleepy, Sleepy...

We were writing ghazals today in EN238, which was good fun. David Morley said mine had intensity, the kind that makes you want to know who the poem is addressed to. Of course, I was completely making it up, but it sounded honest. The EN227 lecture and seminar helped to clarify my thoughts on 'Beachy Head', and I feel like I'm in a better position to appreciate the poem now. Hung around on campus for a while more with Alex, Kathy, Laura and Sophie, before heading back home to finish the story for tomorrow's seminar. Managed to do that, but I'm not quite satisfied with it, although Samantha likes it. It'll have to do. Baked myself some chicken for dinner before heading to the Ugly Cousins social. Didn't head over to Leamington with them because I had six hours of sleep yesterday, I'm probably going to have six tomorrow before my arduous fieldwalking session on Saturday, so I figured I should try to get in at least seven tonight. Having finally got Internet this morning though, I'm finding it hard to get myself off my laptop!

Episode 394: Happy Birthday, Dan!

Managed to finish reading 'Beachy Head' for tomorrow's lecture and seminar, but I have no idea what Charlotte Smith's point is. I thought the ending was interesting, but have absolutely no idea how it relates back to what she was dealing with at the beginning. I mean, the Blake reading from last week made more sense and I thought that was somewhat perplexing already. All the botanical and ornithological glosses are kind of irritating as well. Bought four cartons of Innocent smoothie today, which made me happy. I'm convinced that drinking those has no discernable impact on my health, but they're delicious anyway. Had no idea what buses stopped near the Dragon Phoenix Restaurant, so I ended up walking to Dan's birthday dinner from my house. It's a nice place, kind of like a homelier version of Wing Wah, in the sense that the variety of food is more restricted, but the place feels less impersonal somehow. It's actually fairly straightforward, literally, to get from my place to the restaurant, although the streets are really quiet. Got accosted by a rather well-dressed and young beggar, who wouldn't go away despite my giving him a pound. Thankfully, some of my friends were around the corner in front of the restaurant, so I just walked off and joined them. Dinner and cake after was good fun, more for the company than anything else. I've missed being around these people more than I can say.

Episode 393: Curry Night At The Old Clarence

Finally got my OMR form signed by Michael Gardiner, and I'm not surprised that he doesn't have any idea who I am. (He thought I was a fresher!) LL209 was okay, and I've found two people in my class who have better French accents than me. Humbling, but true. Still think the level of work is lower than what I need to be challenged, but hey, that means I'll have an easy time of it this year. Again. Then I went over to the Warwick Business School to do an interview with a postgraduate student, something about online shopping experiences. I got paid £5, just to talk. How awesome was that? Bummed in the Library until dinner at The Old Clarence, where a tipsy man kept talking to us and was just generally a bit weird. I spent most of the time after dinner writing a poem, which turned out to be a ballad. I didn't mean for it to be one though, or at least I didn't consciously know that's what the form I was writing in was called. It just felt right though, when I was writing it. Now that's an interesting thought. Can't be bothered to right a new poem that dances, but I'll get around to the Philemon and Baucis one tomorrow.

Episode 392: Elusive Poems

As I didn't come to campus to check my e-mail yesterday, I didn't know that auditions have been shifted to Friday. Won't be able to attend them in that case! Already have a prior engagement. Ended up whiling away a couple of hours in the Library until it was time for Claire Lim/Jason/Sarah/Wayne's housewarming party. I arrived about an hour after it started, to see a crazy number of people squeezed into the living room. Pretty impressive! I b(r)ought a bottle of cider, a fair amount of which was consumed by Keegan over the course of the evening. To little perceivable detrimental effect, I might add. Someone's turning into a hardened alcoholic, yes? I can't believe Keegan has been having a more happening social life than me. What have I become? Haven't written anything this week, although I did finish the translation last night after watching Crank: High Voltage, and I have an idea in my head already for one on Philemon and Baucis. Still trying to write a poem that sings. I wasn't very good at writing the one that was supposed to dance either, I'm afraid. Maybe I'll write about a dancer and a singer, and the poems will mysteriously dance and sing respectively, form subconsciously mirroring content? Emphasis on subconsciously because if I try to make it happen, it just never does...