When one is confronted with mind-blowing sets, dazzling costumes and superb performances by the whole cast. What more can one ask for? I came as close as I could to my first experience of a proper broadway production in Phantom of the Opera a few weeks back. We were lucky and got seat near the front and centre (the seating arrangements at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre is appalling). I never knew of set props being positioned beyond the vicinity of the stage but omg, when they lifted the chandelier and it came gliding out to hang above us, I almost swooned from over excitement. =P And when it came crashing down again later in one scene. Speechless.

I wish I can go to West End!!!! I mean with tickets for 15 - 20 pounds per show, how good is that???

Is medicine making me cynical and unsympathetic? Because sometimes that’s what I feel is happening.

We discussed about balancing and managing life as a medical student (and a practitioner in the future) with our tutor over a cup of hot chocolate last week. He put certain things into perspective which I have never thought of before. It was a good session. Also because I never knew Cocolat served such an amazing concoction of hot chocolate before. Top Deck - white and milk chocolate. So much more better than Gloria Jeans and the one at Chocolate Bean. *crave*

All you need is a parachute, and one big determined leap.

Yeah, that was one of the stuff I did over the weekend. Mel wanted to celebrate her 21st birthday jumping off a plane so we said we will not only come along to give her moral support, but jump with her as well. How exciting can things get??? Plus, among the 10 of us, only Mel has done bungee jumping before and that was at some dodgy bridge in the middle of Ecuador. We love her, =) I would never have thought of her as an adventurous person at all. She is such a serious, soft spoken girl at uni but to hear of the things that she has tried!!! Your eyes would go as wide as saucers. But I supposed that is sort of the case where people who talk and boast the loudest are the ones who would be the first to shrink back from any challenge. Like needles for example -_-”

The place we were jumping off from is a fair distance away in Goolwa which is about an hour and a half drive from Adelaide. Had leave my place at 6am in the morning. I was so tired as I was at Andrew’s birthday the night before but after we got there, I could feel the adrenaline rush and everyone was just super excited. We had no idea what to expect and most of us were pretty much still surprised that we even agreed to do the jump. I know I am. It was as if part of my brain was clamping down on the super excited part of me, trying to prevent me from just grabbing the people around me to give them hugs. -_-” Lol.

We were given a brief introduction by the instructors and had to sign all sorts of forms. One of it was an indemnity form I think?? And almost every paragraph it was written down that parachuting is a VERY Dangerous sport and by agreeing to it you will not hold them liable to etc etc…. That wasn’t really comforting at all wasn’t it? We also automatically get a student membership from the Australian Parachute Federation which is cool. Not very useful but still fun to have. =D After that, it was on to the crash course. And I seriously mean crash course O_O, I’ve seen stuff like this on TV where the instructors spent an hour or two giving you a whole bunch of safety information and showing you how to jump, what not to do etc. Ours on the other hand took barely 10 minutes. It was just ‘when you’re up on the plane, you’ll be strapped to the instructor and when you jump, remember to keep your arms crossed until you feel a tap on your shoulder, then raise your hands and try to form an arch with your body. 8000ft means 15 secs of free fall and after that, the parachute will be opened and you’ll get to admire the view for a few minutes. While you’re up there, your instructor will tell you the landing technique. That’s it thank you lets got jump now.’ O_O Speechless much??? Haha… I guess all those pre-jump courses were just for show in the TV, to make it seem more interesting and probably safer as well. Because for a first time jumper, all that information would definitely make no difference. I’ll be too concerned about the whole free fall experience to pay much attention to others. =P

Surprise surprise, I got picked to jump first. They could only fit 5 person in the plane so we were jumping in pairs. Two instructors and two of us. I was definitely not anticipating being the first to jump. Like, omg, I know I want to do this, but I’m not so eager as to volunteer to be the first. =P Me and vish had our names down second but turns out the first pair quietly told their instructor that they didn’t want to be the first ones. -_-” So I was kinda surprised with the ‘change of plans’ as the instructor put it and before I knew it, I was in their diving pants and buckled up ready to go. Everyone else was just standing around us with huge smiles on their faces (very funny people) wishing us good luck and to see us soon. =P I was glad I managed to make it over to the plane without tripping over the straps all over me. At the plane, we were given a few more last minute instruction about how to get out before the jump and then all five of use and the pilot squeezed ourselves into the tiny compartment in the plane. Then it was take off…..

All strapped out before the jump. They had this huge poster of all the base jumping sites in Malaysia hanging on the wall behind us. The first one was of course the KL Tower, I was actually quite surprised that Yayasan Sabah (or as it was called Menara Tun Mustapha) was among the sites as well. =)

The view was amazing from the plane. We could see the sea on one side and the rest were just flat green expanse stretching out bellow us. I tried to feel my heart rate and I remember wondering why it wasn’t acting all excited, beating out of control or anything like that. In fact, the only indication was my hands sometimes shaking although I wasn’t really sure whether that was due to my nervousness or the cold. I do remember though at one point high up I was looking down and thinking, ‘hmm… we seem quite far up but it doesn’t look scary at all. I could jump from this height.’ and then looking at the meter thing which they used to measure the altitude. The needle was only pointing at 3000 ft, we still had 5000ft more to go. -_-” Ah, this doesn’t look good, we’re not even halfway up yet. =P

When we got to 8000ft, I was strapped on to my instructor (we’re doing a tandem jump since its my first time), I slipped my goggles on, and they opened the door. Immediately we were buffeted by the cold crisp wind. You know how in movies and shows, when someone opens the emergency exit in the plane and suddenly everything get blown about and sucked out etc?? =) Haha, this is just like that but much milder I believe since planes usually fly at what? 20 000ft??? I don’t know. Anyway, we moved to the door and I peeked out to look at Vish who had just jumped off with his instructor. OMG, I didn’t even have time to register it. First they were both standing on the little platform under the wing, next thing went they jumped, they just fell away SOOOooo quickly. Like blink your eyes and they’re already way bellow you. O_O My turn now and I had to get both my feet out on to the platform under the wing, all this time the wind is just howling mercilessly away and I feel like if I wasn’t strapped to something heavier, I might have just been blown clean off. -_-” One of the rare occasions when an extra few kilos is much appreciated. I had my arms crossed and my eyes were just glued to the ground bellow me that seems so far away. Just a split second before I jumped, I was debating to myself whether I should squeeze my eyes shut but before I could decide, I was falling and tumbling down the sky. Didn’t even get to scream. -_-” It was just sky -land-sky-wait is that sea??-land and then I felt the tap on my shoulders and quickly held my arms up. We immediately stopped tumbling and I could just look down and see the ground rushing towards me but omg, the free fall feeling was awesome!!!! I mean, this is so much better that the amusement park rides, you know the big drop things that give you a sick sensation in your tummy?? There is none of this here. We were just dropping like a stone through the air and keeping in the arch position meant that we don’t get knocked about much. At 5000ft, the instructor opened my parachute and we immediately slowed down. Amazingly, it was as if someone pressed the mute button. Everything went still and you couldn’t hear anything around you at all. No sound, no wind, nothing. We were still descending but after the fall just now, I felt like I was suspended in mid air. Everything was so calm and with such a great weather, we could see all the way to the horizon. The time up there with the parachute open was so amazing (yeah, I have limited adjectives) but it was just the best thing ever. I just felt so exhilarated and glad that I did it. I definitely wouldn’t mind doing it again. I got to steer the parachute as well, tugging at the attachments to make it turn and swivel etc. It was so much much. The landing bit was easy as well, I managed to land on my feet haha… We got quite a few funny lands that day with michael taking the prize by overshooting the landing field and almost crashing into the sheds at the edge of the field.

So I was done for the day!!! I get to spent the rest of my time watching people get all nervous and doing their jumps. =) The first time I saw the whole thing from the ground, I was glad that I went first. It looked so epic-ally high up from the ground!!! I could barely make out the tiny speck of the plane and the even smaller dot that just means someone has jumped!!! It looked way scarier from the ground.

We did it!! =P lol

After that me and Vish stopped by at Mel’s place which is just nearby and we got to try out another new thing that day!!! Two things actually which is cool. She showed us how to ride these four-wheeled thing which I have no idea what its called. I was just going at a very tame pace on her grounds and I think she probably thought that wasn’t enough because she then proceeded to give each of us a feel of how she rides it. Omg, I guess I should be expecting that when she got on. We were speeding around and weaving in and out of the trees and bushes (more like squeezing between the tight spots). O_O But it was good. Another adrenaline pumping adventure on the same day. I can get addicted to this. =P

Then we checked out her backyard and found that her family keeps a few chickens for eggs!!! Okay, so we all had a go trying to catch the hens. =P I know, I had all the opportunity to do that back home at my grandmother’s place and I come all the way here to chase after hyper-excited chickens. -_-” I did managed to catch one though so I didn’t let my mom down there eh. Haha… My camera went out of battery so I wasn’t able to take a photo with my prize. =P

Going in for the kill. Look at the hens, they look so clean and so much like the ones you see in picture books for kids!!! I don’t recall my grandmother’s chicken looking so good. (Oops)

I mentioned before that I went to Andrew’s 21st on Friday night before. Well, here are pictures. We were treated to a very nice sit down dinner with his family and friends. His family entertained us with all his most embarrassing stories, most of which involved him pooping, peeing, vomiting all over the place, or them. =P I guess it is one of their many traditions. Lol, we each went up to share our own stories of Andrew as well in between changing of courses.

Andrew’s grandmother having fun with his younger brother Stewart.

The birthday boy.

I will end this post with a couple of pictures taken during a massive bake-out day I had at Romain’s place during the break. We made carrot cake, and caramel slices (heaven), and also a sponge cake for Mike’s birthday which we cut into the shape of a saxophone and decorated with smarties and cream. =)

some of the stuff we made.

Ok, see here on the left if Romain whisking the egg white for the sponge cake mixture. He was imitating the pose Dish made a couple of weeks back at Shaad’s place when they were trying to make Tiramisu. I just put both pictures together for comparison. Lol.

I’ve been waiting forever to blog about this. =) First week back to uni after easter break and it has been an awesome weekend. Admittedly, I am now swamped with work to do but seriously, I would not have passed the opportunity up for the world.

I’m being a total recluse these past few days, turning down invitations to go out because the weather has been absolutely howling wet raining recently.

Even the weather agrees with me about the end of holidays, it’s mourning too.

I stumbled upon this website this morning by pure accident. Stuff White People Like is a really funny blog about everything caucasian and interestingly enough, the entries do seem to ring true. At least to me. It really does seem like a correct outsider’s observation about the ‘white people’ population. Here’s an excerpt from their site:

They love nothing better than sipping free-trade gourmet coffee, leafing through the Sunday New York Times, and listening to David Sedaris on NPR (ideally all at the same time). Apple products, indie music, food co-ops, and vintage T-shirts make them weak in the knees.

They pretend to be unique, yet somehow they’re all exactly the same, talking abut how they “get” Sarah Silverman’s “subversive” comedy and Wes Anderson’s “droll” films. They are also down with diversity and up on all the best microbrews, breakfast spots, foreign cinema, and authentic sushi. They’re organic, ironic, and do not own TVs.

I just did a quick scan through some of the entries, take a look at #111, #120, #122. I think this is gonna be a site to visit when I have nothing else better to do. Just for laughs.

I just realised that I completely forgot to install msn messeger onto my newly reformatted computer.

current obsession with puff pastry =)

Harry Potter New trailer looks awesome.

Looking forward to my next botanical gardens excursion (this time with camera).

I reformatted my computer and I almost lost this blog. Lol, lets just say I usually have my password saved in my browser and so I’ve gradually forgot what my username and password is. =P No worries, I’m writing this which means I got it alright.

I’m trying to tell myself that I haven’t just wasted away a third of my holiday.

Going to be having a massive bakeout day at a friends place this Sunday (YAY) and I made shepherd’s pie =P Having a break from the usual stir fry’s.

Has anyone seen the recent Coach bags inspired by Bonnie Cashin??? I love how they are so bright and colourful!!!

Back to assignments =(

Easter Holidays. What a lovely term. To me it means no endless draining lectures on Friday and Monday, a total of 4 days of freedom.

I was eagerly anticipating this weekend because I was dying to do something that I’ve always wanted to do all along. I left my house early on Friday morning with 2 books in my bag (Bleak House and Scarecrow), bought myself a cup of hot chocolate and a croissant from a cafe on Rundle Street, and made my way to the Botanical Gardens. =) < -- this is me smiling my excited smile. I selected a quite spot under the shade of some trees, not to near the pathway or the ducks and sat down on the bench to enjoy my perfect morning. The weather was just nice and the sky was clear, it was the first day of holidays. I couldn't ask for a more perfect day.

I sat for a few minutes just munching on my croissant and thinking of nothings, absently looking around me. Having not a care in the world, that was the most liberating feeling. I have been plague with the need to always plan ahead, to figure out when (and what) should I eat, when to print the notes, when to do my assignments, when to get my groceries, do the laundry, when to reply this message etc etc... Everything, I need to know them beforehand. An unannounced visit / invite would throw all my beautifully planned timetable into complete disarray and I would agonise about the lost time and immediately (subconsciously) start to reschedule everything in my head, trying to fit the blocks back together. But surely that doesn't mean I am obsessed about organisation. Because I am quite happy to let everything go, like right now, when I don't have to deal with deadlines.

Anyway, after I finished my croissant, I selected 'Bleak House' from my bag (because somehow, the setting seems quite apt for the atmosphere of the book). I was soon lost in the story and the sun and breeze alternately came to warm and cool me. I was quite contend to just sit there for the rest of the morning. I only had to meet up with some friends in the afternoon so I was free till then. I made good headway into my book. Occasionally, I would stop and watch the ducks waddle about their businesses, oblivious to the wider world outside the park. There were others like me at the other benches as well, here to spend some quite time in contemplation or reading. There was a guy walking around, small notebook and pencil in hand, ready to sketch any interesting bits of nature that caught his eye. Joggers, couples and families taking a stroll. Even a patient on a wheelchair, taking a break from the stark cold environment of the hospital, no doubt hoping this brief respite would provide some pleasant memories into which she can bring out again later at night, when she is left alone, to indulge in. It was all peaceful and quite in the park, until we were jarred out of our reverie by a loud cracking and splintering noise. I looked up only to see a whole tree come crashing down across from where I was sitting. O_O Lets just say that I was shocked. =P How often does one get to watch a tree falling down right in front of them? It was a rude awakening. My immediately question was 'why'? At the same time, I was thinking, how fortunate I did not chose to sit on that bench before. Since I arrived early at the park, I had the choice of seats and was contemplating which ones were the best. Had I sat on the other bench, I would probably... needed some quick reflexes. =P The old couple who were nearby probably got a shock of their lives as well. Some people immediately walked over to check the damage and basically start a conversation with each other. Human nature, curiosity. The park rangers soon arrived and courdoned of the area. After a while, the people grew tired and went back to their own spots, leaving the fallen tree alone. For a full 20 minutes, that tree had is moment of glory. While it stood, it was ignored by most, no one stopped to wonder at its height, at the number of its leaves or even the wonderful texture of its bark. It wasn't until it lay broken on the ground, fallen from glory, that people looked down at it and said to each other, 'what a big tree', 'so many leaves and branches', 'it must have provided some very good shade'. But nobody could remember how it looked when it was standing. Nobody remembered resting or playing under the shade that it provided when it was standing. After this, the tree would be carted away, piece by piece, and soon in its place another tree would be growing.

I seem to have rambled a fair bit about my time in the park. I never thought that it would turn out this long. =P My apologies if I put some of you to sleep. Basically, the rest of my day was spent at a friend's place where we all congregated to just hang around and do nothings. It was just a chill out time where we got to draw out our goodbyes to each other as people left to go back to their families for the holidays.

Today was spend trawling up and down Rundle street and mall. Met up with Ruxing (who had to fly back in the evening) for breakfast at ETC. Then we basically just went shopping while I tried to show her Adelaide at the same time. I found a couple of very lovely winter coats as well which I absolutely love (an amazingly nice peacoat that fitted me (wonders!!) ) but did not buy because...... I don't know. It was 119 and relatively speaking, not THAT expensive. Plus it fits nicely which is not something I can say often with coats and me but I guess I could do without one anyway so I regretfully did not buy it (look at me trying to convince myself, even now!!! -_-"). Ruxing however bought herself one with faux fur lining, super warm, and nice. =( <-- that sad face is for me, not her and technically, it's supposed to be a wistful look. Also saw an amazing array of Onitsuka Tiger shoes (they collaborated with the artist Tokidoki!!!!!) which I cannot justify buying right now. I'm so wanting a pair though, any pair of Tiger. *sigh* We walked around for some more, visited the uni and the Torrens river, had Russian Caravan tea at the Tbar and finally said goodbye to her at 2pm. There were promises for a second trip. =p And on my way back home, I stopped to sigh at my coat again. Oh dear, I am turning into a pitiful fashion victim. I need to snap out of this SOON. I blame it on my getting proper boots because now I had the shoes to match the clothes, I'm just itching to have them. Before it was just sneakers and nice coats do not go well with jeans and sneakers so there was no point of me having one then.

Great. I just spent almost an hour writing all these. It's almost 12 and I'm thinking of sneaking in a few more pages of my book before I turn in. I have vouchers for Borders and I'm so itching to get myself some new books. I like the picture they had on their catalogue, I imagine I could do that with my book collection at home. Although it does make retrieving books difficult, and one would have to worry about knocking the whole carefully constructed 'table' over. I shall keep that in mind though.

I’ve allocated the greater part of tomorrow to re-organise my whole cupboard (see, that’s me planning away again).

Happy Easter to everyone. Hope the easter bunny paid each of you a visit.

Looking forward to hopping bunnies, hidden chocolate eggs and a pair of chocolate-y pink striped fingerless mittens –> EASTER!!!!!!

For now, I am contend with gazing at my little ‘cute’ zone under my study lamp.

A Kimmidoll that I got for Christmas, mini chair that I made out of the cover of a champagne bottle (what are they called???), crystal paperweight with engraved name (b’day present), and a christmas tree ornament that I picked up last year (because they were on sale and because I never had a proper one when I was younger. I know, there was a 4 year old girl beside me choosing hers as well that time -_-”). Did you also noticed that their colours all matched?

Nick moved into his new home last week after his old lease expired. I got a chance to check it out last sunday after I visited the Gilles Street Market. Side note: I scored an amazing buttefly clasp belt for free!!! I was so happy. =) Admittedly the belt only cost a dollar but since neither me nor the store owner had any small change, he decided to let me have as a goodwill gift. (Haha, coincidentally, my anthropology tute last week was about garage sales and gift giving) So yeah, after such a bad week, that small gesture made my day. =)

So back to the topic. I went to check out Nick’s place later in the afternoon and omg, his town house is awesome. It was relatively large with lots of space to spare. They even had a roof top courtyard!!!!! I immediately thought of all the possibilities one could do with such a great space. Having dessert while gazing out into the night sky, barbecue party, reading a good book while sipping lemonade etc…. Anything!!! I would even camp out there just for the sake of it. =P Actually, I was at his place because we were going to move his old cupboard to my place. Yep, I am inheriting his old wardrobe which he got from his housemate last year. O_O The top drawer broke when he stepped on it the last time and there are all the usual wear and tear from use but it still stands and it has doors and a top ‘roof’, something which I do not have. All I have is a metal rack to hang my clothes. -_-” So, Nick doesn’t need it anymore because his new room has a built-in wardrobe along one entire wall. And it is a lot of space because his room is huge. He has an en suite bathroom, a HUGE worktable (seriously, I have never seen such a work table before, 2 people can use it comfortably), and even with the bed, bookshelf and vanity bodoir, there is still enough floor space for multiple bean bags and what nots. O_O Plus he has a cool balcony as well. Now, not complaining or anything, but why is everyone moving into such nice places this year?!?!?! Everyone’s moving closer to uni. Its either North Terrace or Rundle st (cept Nick but he has the courtyard) and they all have such cool town houses and apartments. =P

I managed to have the whole cupboard set up before dinner and apart from being a little wobbly (there was much betting between ourselves as too how long before it will fall on me when I’m asleep), it looks good. Poor, impoverished student like me cannot complain. I’m thinking of ideas to decorate it during the coming hols to make it look better and less dull. But yay, at least now I don’t have to worry about dusts and I’m not sure what else.

[edit] I opened the cupboard again just to admire it after I got back from dinner and the screws from the middle hinged just shot out of their holes and pinged the wall behind me. O_O Talk about hazards. I’m beginning to wonder how safe this cupboard is. Oh it collapsing on me while I’m asleep is the least of my problems (what’s the probability of that?), now getting punctured by little screws going at bullet-speed???[/edit]

Yes yes…. This time, I would like to release all my pent up frustration on Bank SA. The one bank that I truly support while I am here in Adelaide. Simply because I naively put all my savings into this one bank and staunchly back them up whenever any of my interstate friends drop some disparaging remarks about them.

Alas, it will all stop now. I am extremely disgruntled and dissatisfied with my recent wrangle with them and as of now, I will no longer make any effort whatsoever for them. Hmph, take that.

See the situation was something like this. Bank SA has this freedom account service where it does not charge an account service fee to students, the condition being that you present your student ID to them every year. I was never told that I had to do this when I first opened my account. No letters, no email whatsoever. Whereas my friend even had a letter mailed to him with a reminder from the bank. I concede that it is partly my mistake for not reading through all their policy etc when they changed it last year. No worries.

This year, in January, the moment I enrolled myself and got a new student ID, I immediately went to the nearest branch and presented them with my student ID. I don’t want to be charged again every month. With that done, I put the matter out of my mind. However, when I next got my statement, I noticed that $7 has been debited from my account, with the description saying ‘Account Service Fee’ attached to it. So I thought, hm… funny, maybe I should check it out. I told my local friends about it and they were like, oh yeah, just tell them and they’ll refund everything for you, cos that was what happened to one of them. No worries, I thought I’d wait to see if they will charge me again or probably this first one was a remnant from last year. Come February, I was again charged for the same thing. So off I went to Bank SA to clarify things with them. -_-” Guess what, the teller that attended to me was very rude and belittling. Hmph, before I could finish my explanation about how I’ve already updated my status, she immediately cut across me saying that I did not show them my student ID (and I have a vague feeling that she was the one who attended to me last time)!!!! *speechless* To be directly accused like that!!! When I said that I did, and I could remember the date because I enrolled that day (I said 19th January when it was actually 12 but because I was thrown off by her), she immediately said ‘Yes, which is after the 28th’ (which is when they charged me). O_O She obviously wasn’t even bothering to listen to me. How is it possible that 19th comes after the 28th??? The number doesn’t even come close to 28. -_-” I was just so discouraged then. When I repeated myself, it was obvious that she made a mistake and she just looked at me for a moment. She then proceeded to say that she will refund the $7 to me. When I asked to be refunded for the January fee as well, she said she could not do it. That it was my responsibility and by not coming to them, I am accepting to be charged. (!!!!) What if I didn’t have time to come chasing after them in January??? So that’s it??? Not even an apology for the mistake made but to actually make me feel responsible for all these and not listening to me properly as well, dismissing me as some idiot Asian international who doesn’t know better??? (argh)

The next day, I went back again to talk to the manager, trying to sort things out. I was again met with the same thing. No refund, I should see them earlier about it, she won’t do anything for me but they have updated my status and so I won’t be charged again. I left but I felt really down and stupid after that.

Wait, the story isn’t over. Yesterday, I had to transfer some funds and so I just happened to glance at my online statement. Imagine my shock (and disbelieve) when I saw the same thing happening to me again. Again, the service fee was being charged. What is happening here? Is this some sort of April Fool’s joke??? After going personally to the bank THREE times over the past few months to try and settle the same problem. Nothing has been done about it!!! Just this morning, I had to rush between classes back to the bank (how would I have coped if the branch wasn’t near uni??) to tell them again that I have been charged. Again, I was asked the same useless question ‘did I come and update my status??’ Hello??? I was talking to the manager, who I just spoke to the last time and here she is parroting the same question back at me. When such a disgruntled customer comes and see you, you would probably guess something is wrong already right. Anyway, she just looked surprised when I told here that this is my FOURTH trip to the bank about this and after looking at my student card, she updated my status, refunded the money and that’s it. Again, no apology, no reassurance that it won’t happen again etc etc… Not even after I told them how dissatisfied I was and how I don’t have all the time in the world to coming running round every month like I have nothing better to do. It was just like ‘okie, its done now, so run along, go back and play.’ Ugh!!!! I have half a mind to just shut my account down and move everything to Commonwealth bank. The staff at that university branch should really be reprimanded. The way they treat the students, especially internationals are really shameful. Talking to the customer on the other line while you’re attending to me??? As if I am so insignificant. Manners!!! How rude would it be if you’re in the middle of a conversation and the person you’re talking to suddenly breaks off to speak with someone in another group???

I really really hope I don’t have to deal with them again. I’ve seen them so many times, I even noted their names. Usually I never bothered with this kind of things. I guess it is useful to note down names and dates so that you can support your case.

Still…. ugh. I feel just like the title of the book I’m currently reading ‘Bleak House’ by Charles Dickens. Bleak. Although the characters living in the house aren’t bleak at all, I keep waiting for some tragedy to befall all of them (pretty cruel of me) but as of yet, their prospects seem pretty promising. One of the characters has just started his surgeon’s apprenticeship. Granted, surgeons weren’t that respectable a profession during that times, but it was already acknowledge (at least by the author) that it is a noble profession to commit oneself to.