this was my ARTOFLIFE

... it's the last day today... I don't want to leave. This place is just too lovely. I'm already so used to the way of life here, wake up at 7, wash up, eat a feast of breakfast and slowly saunter to classes...
Can't imagine going back to Singapore and restarting the old routine... it's just not normal anymore after getting used to this easier and nicer lifestyle.
It's really troublesome squishing all the things into my luggage. It's too darn small! x.x

Last Othello module with Gary. We kind of stopped refering to them by their nicknames. Well... I don't know why. And yeah, truthfully, I have kind of a soft spot of Gary. Because he looks sad and solemn and grave. And he has floppy hair. Haha. I'm this sort of person, ne?
Anyway, yeah, we'll all be experts in Othello after these modules. Not. There wasn't much that we can really use yet. And Gary has all these weird awkward expressions, like fundamental ambiguity of man or dramatic economics. Which makes you go, what?!?!

Went punting this afternoon. I'm a terrible punter. D: And ended up injuring my hand in the process, because some other punt rammed into us and my hand was involved in the crossfire. Boo.
Lol, the module was actually on practical criticism. And we had to punt and at the same time examine a poem by Ted Hughes. And do this writing exercise. Which of course ended up in nothing because no one from any group did anything.
but still, we had great fun ramming into other punts (not on purpose of course) and doing actual punting.
I was so freaking scared that I'll fall. Or that I'll just capsize the entire punt and bring everyone down along with me. Of course, that's the better option because I'm not wet alone.

Went over to New Hall for dinner... and I wore my GLP shirt paired with black jeans... so it's sort of formalish? Haha. Anyway, I don't really like New Hall. The atmosphere is just wrong... since I'm like too used to the homey air about Girton.
New Hall is too modern and really drab due to the grey stone walls. Blah. I still prefer our red bricked Girton. I will so miss this place when I'm gone... because there won't be any reason for me to return...
The tuition fees and living costs are just too much for me to apply here. Besides, my grades won't ever make the cut...

I don't want to go. But they're making me leave.

Had poetry and performance workshops today. It was a pretty fun day overall. John did the poetry one while this director guy Tim Crouch did the theatre performance one. The exercises in the performance workshop was sort of weird.

He made us play some really random games, like walk and stop together as a group without any signals, let others guide you as you walk with your eyes closed, teambuilding kind of games. While I know that these are important to a group that is going to act out a play eventually, how is this going to relate to us in the field of literature per say? I mean, to us armchair literature students...

I'm not really much of a team player, I prefer to do things alone because I feel that I'm more relaxed, I won't feel like I'm dragging people down or getting dragged down by others as well. 

Went to watch King Lear today in London. The weather was cool, not too chilling, but with enough wind to be cold.
At 8:15, we boarded the bus. Because lateness means we have lesser time at the exhibitions.

Reached London, Globe Theatre at about 10 plus and we went for an exhibtion of the Globe. The guide was sort of amusing and really nice. But some of the things that she mentioned was already said when we went for the Stratford trip... so it didn't really hold my attention too much, but the new things that she brought up was cool, like how the Globe Theatre came about and the manner in which it was destroyed and rebuilt again by an American.

Had lunch at about 12 plus, but it was kind of sucky. I didn't like it very much... and ended up donating my sandwich to Ernest. Who traded it with another sandwich from Carolyn... what is this, some sort of a sandwich trading market? ... If you seriously don't want it then donate the food to the pigeons lah.

The play began at 2 pm. At first it was still alright, as the weather was windy enough and there was sunlight. However, halfway through the play it began to rain... bloody shit lah. And when it stopped, one of the actors, the Duke, had a line about an oncoming storm. Which was so goddamn ironic. In fact, he was sort of chuckling when he said it. =_=

Edgar is damn hot. Seriously, I like his hair!!! And his face is pretty good looking. >.> And Sneha, of all things to notice, she must have stared at his torso because for a few scenes, Edgar was half naked due to him being a fugitive and a beggar. And she was like, hey, look at the 'V' of his stomach... =_= I'm like, why the hell do you notice these things?! But anyway, he's hot. And Ms Lim agrees with me too. Hah.

The scene in which the Earl of Gloucester had his eyes forcibly removed was so fake. I mean, how can the eyeball be that big and in such a weird shape??! And what's up with the thick roots connected to the eye? The nerves of the eyes are thin, aren't they? Not as wide as worms. Which is just plain gross. And when they threw the eyeball backstage, it bounced. -_- Really.

However, I must say that I don't really understand the play, having never studied it and only knowing the bare gist of the plot outline. So there were some parts in which I was confused. And it didn't help that the rain distracted me because my glasses were wet from rain and I couldn't see too clearly over the heads of other taller people that conveniently stood in front of me.

Again, I bought more badges at the Globe shop because I just can't resist the snarky quotes imprinted on them. Carolyn and Ernest spent a bomb on buying posters. >.> And was just so darn protective of their purchases that they made sure no one touched them, let alone crush the posters.

We also went to Tate museum, just the six of us, during our lunch period. Damn, there were so many interesting things there but... so expensive as well. But still, it's a cool place to visit and if we could have the leisure to visit all the floors and look at the art works...

... modernist works are not in my area of interest. cannot freaking understand Joyce's Finnegan's Wake which I tried to read so many years ago. Hence have an innate prejudice against the genre already. But I still think Viriginia Woolf is sort of cool.
Had a lecture on how to apply for oxbridge... aka have decently good grades and a shit load of money. Definitely not for me then. Damn.
It'll be so freaking cool to study overseas, especially here, I wouldn't mind coming back here even if it means living in this run down room with dusty furniture and malfuctioning things.
Yeah, and that's likely to happen indeed. Maybe if I robbed a bank or something.
Gary's lessons were boring... though I tried to answer the questions because he looked like a puppy with that floppy hairstyle. It'll be like kicking a puppy if I'm mean to him...

So we now have proper nicknames for most of the people, mainly the guys because I'm not really in the habit of teasing girls.
So John (the one that Sneha finds cute) is Iago because he's evil. (he complained to the cafeteria guys about us!! in general, not really us us)
Then we have Phil who is Mike (thanks to Sherilyn who thinks he's like Mike from Twilight... and really made me think that his name was Mike so when he introduced himself to me as Phil, I thought I got the wrong person!)
And Phil the apple! Lol, go read sofia's blog, she has pictures of Phil the apple. And we are currently at Phil the 11th.
Another John who taught me P&P in the first week who is named Fitzwiliam after Mr Darcy. Not that he is hot, but he has seriously a cool scottish accent.
Then Gary who is Cassio. Idk why, at first he was Desdemona, then became the white ewe due to Othello reference and was shortened to wewe... like white ewe...

visited the library as well. bought some books at their old books sale. pretty damn cool, since the books were all cheap and also so pretty with their bindings. There were so many books in the library as well. So wanted to read Oscar Wilde's The Young King... but too bad the library closed at 5... =_=

Huge scandal going on. Apparently some girls were like screaming harassment or something. There was this wedding reception (with way cooler partying than the national day thing going on) and some guys were like drunk or something and were chatting up the girls from our school, asking them where they were staying or whatever. Yeah, because of this, there was this whole ruckus and we were made to stay in our rooms and the teachers like assigned the guys to guard our doors and what not. =_= I mean, come on. You think drunks can climb up three flights of stairs to like... knock on people's doors and rape them?! >.> Well, I'm pretty sure they have more sense than that.

Anyway, the lesson was pretty boring... it's Saturday and they make us study?! Didn't really contribute much to classes today anyway. Fell asleep during the stupid reading of Pride and Prejudice. Like, yeah, I can read on my own, you know. You don't really have to assign people to read the chapters aloud because their freaking voices lull me to sleep instead. Like that RJ guy and Carolyn's voices. I just closed my eyes and really fell asleep. Luckily, only Sneha saw it or else I'll be killed because Ms Lim was just sitting a few feets away from me. =_= Yeah, and Sneha only saw me because she was trying to keep herself awake too.

National Day celebration was boring. =_= I am not at all patriotic. And I liked... escaped to UK only to find that I still need to go through this kind of torture. Wow, thanks man. And instead of the usual sumptuous meal, we had like... burnt unhealthy food... What a trade up indeed.

Yeah, then the scandal occur. I think it's just the girls making a mountain out of a molehill... those people are here for a freaking wedding reception for one... and they're in a school. Like duh, we are students and obviously underaged... why the hell would they be trying to accost us?! And come on, they are so much more better looking. >.>

Sherilyn and I had an encounter too... there were two guys randomly passing by as we walked down the corridors and the guy went like, 'yo man, what's up?' And I was like o_O because I didn't know if he were really talking to us or what. But personally, I feel that the people here are generally much more friendly, they'll greet you in the morning, hold doors open and stuff like that. Some of the others said that they had racist encounters, but for our group, there was nothing of that sort... so... guess it all depends on your perspective.

Anyway, we're going off to Stratford tomorrow! Yay!