The weather has been typical England weather, grey, gloomy, freezing, windy, blustery and wet. Good thing I took my mum’s pink woolly gloves, they come in so handy! The one day that I left them in the room, my fingers felt like they had frostbite and would snap off (like the pirate’s toes in POTC 3 where they are at the edge of the world and its freeeeezing).

Normally, in the daytime this is what I wear :

Top + jacket + scarf + gloves sometimes

But if its a late afternoon class, its a :

Top + thinner jacket + bigger, longer winter coat + scarf + gloves or I will freeze because at around 5-6pm its really dark and cold, like maybe 1 or 0 degrees Celcius.

I don’t step out of the hall without checking the weather online. But its really weird, I search for it on Google and they say its a max of 9 degrees while BBC and MSN say its a max of 3 degrees. Gosh, its such a big difference, 6 whole degrees mean a lot okay! To play safe, wear an extra layer cause I’ve never heard of people wearing an extra layer and dying but I’ve definitely heard of people wearing a layer too little and suffering for it!

This is the funny part, there was one morning I was rushing and I did a swift check online and I thought, “Hmm, max of 7 degrees, one jacket should be alright.” And as I rushed out of the room downstairs, I saw through the big windows that there was a whole white layer on the ground, the rooftops, the grass, the cars, everything. My first thought was, “Huh, is it snow? It shouldn’t snow this early and if its snow how come they didn’t say online!” Taking a closer look, I realised it wasn’t snow but it was a thin layer of something called frost. I didn’t even know it was frost until I overheard someone talking about it. Yup, I’m a jacoon from a tropical country. Being late, I didn’t wanna run back in to change my jacket so I decided to be foolhardy and brave it out. 2 minutes after I left my hall, it was so damn cold that I nearly gave up and turned back, but I knew that I’d be really really late and I practically ran all the way to class.

And I realised, I checked 3 websites online for the weather but I didn’t even draw my curtains to look and see what the weather really is like outside!!! *smacks forehead*

Overdependency on technology and the internet. Tsk tsk.

I have gotten more nosebleeds and cuts (papercuts, knifecuts) in my less than 2 months here than I have in the entire 9 months back home. Damn suay right. And my skin has turned to super dry with rough patches, the wind and temperature here have inflicted more damage than all those months of non-moisturising back home. Oh and the skin on my right knuckles are rough and peeling and if you take a really close look you can see the reddish layer beneath. Urrggh!!! My tender hands all gone due to that washing up in either scalding hot water or freezing cold water. Lucky thing my palms haven’t got calluses and patches yet so the situation isn’t totally unsaveable. Hehe. Note, must really use that bottle of Nivea every single day! And speaking of washing up, I’ve a bone to pick with the people who made 2 separate taps (1 for cold, 1 for hot) for the sinks instead of a single one that can be gently adjusted to which temperature you like! Its like there’s 2 mins of lukewarm to warm water that can be used before the hot water scalds your fingers! And the cold water, its so cold that after a few minutes into the washing up, you can’t feel your fingers properly and when you stop washing, your fingers ache like crazy! I don’t like washing up in general, but I don’t mind doing it but having to submerge my hands in freezing/scalding water is more than my hands can take! Anyway, I bought a pair of gloves for washing up and I thought to myself, “Great, now I can wash up in comfort and protect my hands!”

Guess what?

With this thin rubber gloves on, I can’t properly feel the surface of what I’m washing so I can’t tell if its really clean or not. I made tomyum soup last night and after 3 rounds of scrubbing and rinsing off the soap to discover there were still spots, I gave up and took one glove off. And after a few more rounds and it still wasn't completely clean, I ripped off the other glove and scrubbed with my bare hands. I can’t stand it if the pots or plates that I’m washing isn’t as sparkly clean as it can be which is why I will scrub and scrub till it all comes off. So much for those gloves. Bleaarggh. Maybe those gloves are the reason why some of the washed pots and pans in the kitchen aren’t really that clean...

Okay, I should stop complaining. Think of all the starving children in Africa who don’t have tomyum soup to drink and have to wash up after that. I bet they wouldn’t be complaining about this. Okay, take a deep breath...

I am grateful, I am grateful, I am grateful that I have clean running water to wash with and food to cook and a roof over my head and a family and boyfriend who loves me to bits and pieces and nice friends who think that I have dropped off the face of the earth and no longer drop by this blog, but still take time to say "Hey, how're you doing?" to me. I am grateful.

I have to go cook dinner. I will update more often and less sporadically so do drop by and see for yourself that this blog and the writer isn’t dead yet okay. Hehe.

p/s : The opening song 'Seasons of Love' from the movie 'Rent' (the musical) that starts with "525 600 minutes, 525 000 moments so dear, 525 600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?" has been running through my head this past few days. And for certain reasons, I can't download it. So if anyone who reads this and has that song, please be nice and send it to me. Thank you. =)

My new best friend is the microwave and my new worst enemy is the weighing scale!

The microwave is really so convenient, it can practically cook loads of things and the best part is its fast, not really oily and if you heat it straight from the container and eat from there it saves on the washing up. Anyway I tried to be smart today and cook eggs in the microwave (I heard one of the girls say that it could be done okay) I cracked 2 eggs into a tupperware, didn’t beat them and chucked them into the microwave. I set the timer for one minute and waited and soon I heard a sound that I definitely didn’t want to hear – popping and splattering sounds. Cursing, I checked the microwave and true enough there were egg whites on the walls of the microwave! My floormates suggested that I beat ‘em eggs and true enough after whacking them with a fork and adding cheese, salt and pepper and putting them back into the micro they came out sort of scrambled and cooked! Didn’t look that smooth but hey, who’s complaining that scrambled eggs have smooth surfaces and what’s more important is that they’re cooked and tasty right? Right.

I don’t have a microwave back home, and no I don’t live in some place that’s miles away from civilisation nor do I exist in the Stone Ages. But mummy said no need microwave because we have a nice big oven that we only use to make the occasional (more like rare over the past few years) cookies or cake or a practically non-existent spare ribs dish. And recently we acquired an oven toaster which makes toasted bread and my cheese toasties and what not.

Conclusion, no need for microwave.

The amount of microwavable things I’ve missed out over the years. Sigh. Oh and I’m learning how to use the grill too! =p

The weighing scale and I are back to our daily battles again. I have put on weight due to that non-stop chocolate chip cookie and potato chips consumption and I think all that high carb food whenever I eat out and those frozen things played a part in contributing to my weight too! I mean I knew I put on weight but I didn’t know it was that much, when I stepped on the scale I thought either my eyes had vision problems or the scale was broken. I weighed myself 3 times and sadly, there was no change. *collapses from shock* I will not disclose how much weight I put on so if you’re hoping that I will, dream on! The parents have already started ribbing me about my new method of keeping warm. But its okay cause my boyfriend still sayangs me eventhough I put on weight and he did not tease me about it! =D

Note to self : Throw away all the cookies.

Yeah right, I mean hello, chocolate chip cookies and me throwing them away? Get real. I will cut down on them though. I’ll have to or I will go up a clothes size and have to buy a whole new wardrobe. Not that I really mind the latter but I will die from shock and humiliation before I allow myself to go up a clothes size. First thing tomorrow, start dieting!

I hate HSBC!!! Absolutely hate hate hate them. Different bank officers tell me different things each time I go there and the queues are so long and their customer service kinda sucks and they don’t go the extra mile for you. I mean I’m already an international student and unfamiliar with your banking procedures and I’m giving you custom and you’re already charging me a cutthroat fee for it, it wouldn’t hurt you to be more helpful okay! Sigh.

I’m cooking a proper dinner with rice and chicken and vege and all as Nicole and Crystal are coming over for dinner and I shall not embarass myself by giving them food poisoning. I’m off to play masak-masak. Bye.