I tried to make chocolate muffins just now. I did not exactly have a recipe for it, just one that is plain but I decided to improvise, hopefully without disastrous results. =P Chocolate flavoured because I have an insane amount of cocoa powder, actually no, there was less than half a tin left. And just as I was putting the muffin paper onto the tray, I realised that I did not have enough paper. (!!!!) Why does something always happen to exasperate me when I try to bake??? The first time it was the oven, then there was the incident with overflowed chocolate brownies, then curdled milk and now this -__-”. I think this is a very big hint for me to STOP baking eh? I haven’t tried the muffins yet, I feel really full now. Probably tomorrow.

Ok, Pilobolus. I’m pretty sure some are wondering what does that word signify. Well, if you’ve googled it before, you come up with
a) Some sort of fungus that survives on cattle dung
b) a famous US dance company that has been in existence for 38 years =)

Obviously, the second one is what I am referring to. Attending the Adelaide Fringe has got me excited about attending another one. Pilobolus has amazing dancers and this is the company’s debut in Australia (and exclusive to Adelaide. Haha..). Student tickets were relatively cheap at $25 considering the fact that I bought my booties for the same price. Oh wait lemme show you my fuzzy foot friends =)

Yay!, ok I digress. Anyway, The show was held at Her Majesty’s Theater on Grote St. It is quite an old theater but still very nice. I got quite excited about the chandelier -_-”. We were seated at the balcony overlooking the stalls so we got a pretty good view of the stage. The program of the evening was split into 5 short pieces: Aquatica, Pseudopodia, Gnomen, Symbiosis, and Day Two. I was a little worried that I might not understand all these artsy dance stuff but once they started on their first piece, I was completely blown away. They were awesome. All the grace and fluidity in their motions. I know everything is choreographed but they were able to make it seem a spontaneous, spur of the moment action. Those with a subtle storyline were intriguing. They make you wonder, smile, they leave you awed. I especially love Gnomen which had this sense of regal-ness as the dancers interacted with each other. They had an air about them which sometimes serve to puzzle and at other times just make you laugh. Ok, I’m not making much sense here but I find it hard to describe the feelings that went through me when I was watching for my perch at the top. One thing that struck me (and really amazes me) is not only their ability to control themselves but also the amount of control they had over their movements. I sometimes get this fleeting feeling that the dancers were emotionally outside their bodies and that they, were watching, like us the audience, themselves moving from a distance instead of being in the whole whirling thick of things. I guess it is just the precision and grace of their movements. It just seems surreal. Everything is so precise as if someone is tweaking it as we’re watching. I feel like they were somehow controlling their bodies with invisible strings from above. Aquatica was also nice as it gave me a fairytale sort of feeling. I was a kid again playing by the seashore, while the waves sent up seaweeds to tickle my feet and every piece of flotsam was a treasure the sea gave up.

I think my $25 well spent. Its a pity they’re not touring to other cities in Australia. There are quite a few videos of their performances on Youtube. Just type in Pilobolus. They also performed at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony and that was really good. I wish I could have sneaked some pictures of the performance we were prohibited and I don’t want to take any chances with it.

Oh no… I’m now looking forward to going on another theater excursion again. The Australian Ballet is giving a performance later this year, and there is Cinderella on Ice (omg!) as well. I saw a leaflet advertising Les Miserables and I was quite interested in that until I realised that 1) it is a musical 2) I suspect that everything is going to be in French and THEN I will be worse than a duck lost in the desert. I really want to watch Cinderella on Ice but the tickets are a whooping $40 - 50 for students. =(

On another note, has anyone picked up the recent TIME magazine 100 Most influential people to read? I bought myself a copy and was flipping through it this morning. The usual big (la di da) names until one stop me dead on my tracks (literally). Anwar Ibrahim, the ex-deputy prime minister for Malaysia. Wow, he got quite a positive and glowing piece written about him in there. I am not going to dwell on what was written. I don’t fancy our ex-PM would ever make it in there. One thing I noticed about TIME is how it hates Malaysia. -_-” It has yet to say something nice about my country (there must be something!!!).

Oh anyways, my mind is starting to wonder. I have hardly spent so long a time writing a blog post nowadays. As I am writing this, most of the med students are probably drunk and falling down the rabbit hole to meet Alice in Wonderland. Weather has been positively vicious this 2 days and blowing me off course quite effortlessly. I should start panicking about exams. I have 5 papers to sit this year. FIVE!!! while my housemate has a measly 2.

[edit] I finally managed to borrow BBC’s version of Pride and Prejudice from the local library. I am so happy. I don’t think I can ever get enough of Jane Austen. Come on, someone must share my unhealthy fascination of her and her works.[/edit]

Theme for MedBall this year is ALICE in WONDERLAND. So we follow the white rabbit, late for his audience, down the rabbit hole, into the world of constant wonder. Meet the Queen of Hearts, make sense of the Mad Hatter and out grin the Cheshire Cat. =)
Tickets are $85.00 which include 3 course meal, 4 hours drinks package and entrance to HQ nightclub where the after party is.

And I am not going =( Eh, after all that vigorous promotion, people just slowly folded and bought tickets to go. Even though it is $85!!! (I can get myself some nice boots for that).

Exams timetable is out and to my utter dismay, I have papers on the 25, 27, 28 of June and also on the 1, 3 of July. How can they put two papers in two consecutive days???!?!?! Immunology somemore…. Right after some Major RLE paper… That is too high a price to pay for 6 credits.

My housemate’s mom is leaving this Saturday… No more homecooked meals after that. After 3 weeks of having dinner prepared, I am surely going to be at loss on what to cook. And it will be back to stir frys for me. =P

Why this feeling of melancholy?

Exams are LOOMING over me and my conscience right now…. -_-”

Pilobolus was so nice to watch. Such amazing grace, seamless execution. *sigh*

An 8 year old blogger??? What is this world turning into??? I am turning old too maybe… I mean, being surprised at seeing an 8 year old blogger??? Her mother is really cool and supportive. I supposed it gives her a chance to practice her writing skills, which is really good for a child who has only seen 7 - 8 christmases.

I am hopping for a time when indie books will become popular if there ever was such a thing. Just like vintage clothes and indie music eh? =)

Will talk about Pilobolus next time, and my rural week, and my Rundle + Gilles Street Market experience… Oh and the Tin Cat Cafe!!!

Chocolate intoxication. Is it possible to get chocolate overdose??? I just read about this chocolate place at Handorf. Can’t wait to try it le…

Went to the hospital situated 40 minutes away from the city to do my Early Childhood Development program. Went pretty well I suppose… The ladies weren’t that repulsed from us students walking up to them saying a bunch of things that roughly translates to ‘Hi I’m a 2nd year med student, you wouldn’t mind me stalking you for the next few months till you give birth right??’ Ok, to their credit, most of them were quite happy with it. It was only the over protective (jealous) partners who needed more wheedling and coaxing. I got one nice lady =) only 2 years older than me and currently having her 3rd child. (Somehow I just feel nauseous thinking about it. I would have made a terrible mom >.< I can’t even cope with myself let alone raising 3 on my own). Anyway, confidentiality agreement prevents me from disclosing more. So, I’ll just comment on the fact that Aus has so much more better hospitals than Malaysia. -_-” Nevermind the fact that I was in the poorest neighbourhood in the whole of Australia, the hospital was way much better than the Queen Elizabeth in KK.

Happy Mothers’ Day to my mommy =) =) I can’t wait!!!! Love you much… <3

Ps* and to all mothers who are not as fortunate to have their loved ones around with them.

The weather has been incessantly cold these past few days and I am so glad I finally bought a pair of comfy bedroom boots to wear around the house. My feet were FREEZING cold before that. =.= I have peripheral cyanosis quite often now… But now my feet are warm and fuzzy. It’s just my hands now, they still freeze. I need to get a pair of ‘poor man’s glove’ (the one with the finger part cut off…) so that I can hold on to my pen as well….

Iron Man was surprisingly good. He was so funny!!! The whole movie from start to finish was entertaining. =) Lame jokes and all. Worth a watch.

Random collection of stuff here since quite recently I seem to be finding out lots of stuff which I would dearly want but cannot have -_-”.

1. Rootote - Any decent sized bag from them or even better, their signature RooShopper!!!

Medium sized tote bag

Rooshopper

2. A paperback book holder - so that Iwon’t ever have to wish having 3 hands while trying to hold my book down and eating at the same time.

3. Tickets to go watch the Imperial Ice Stars perform ‘Cinderella’ on ice at the Adelaide Festival Centre

4. Anything from Etsy

5. Children of Hurin by Christopher Tolkien

6. DVD’s of Jane Austen’s adaptations

7. Pair of nice boots -_-”

8. can’t think of anything else.

My last post was 915 words long.

So why do I find it so hard to write a 1000 word essay for rural week?

The answer won’t help.

I profess that I love Jane Austen’s books. I’ve read them many times especially Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Persuasion. These 3 are my favourite. I’ve watched the adaptations of the books whenever I could and I have the 1998 version of Emma featuring Gywneth Partlow as the heroine. =) I’ve watched Kiera Knightley and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth in perhaps the most popular of love stories and admired the way Ann Hataway played Miss Austen herself in the movie Becoming Jane. Being an ardent fan of Miss Austen, I was of course quite sad that none of her film adaptation ever made it to local tv networks. I guess it’s because these types of shows do not appeal to the general audiences and thus will not be profitable to be aired. Therefore, I spent several years pining for the 1994 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice (starring of course Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, yes, for those who loved Bridget Jones’ Diaries….).

However, I discovered that youtube (of all places) contains full clips of all Jane Austen’s adaptations, all uploaded by die hard Regency addicts!!! (bless them) I could hardly contain my excitement when I found this out. Lets just say I was ecstatic. I was able to feast myself upon the wonderful productions, both old and new, that brought the characters of the wonderful authoress to life.

Recently, I got to know that a new 2008 version of Sense and Sensibility has been aired. Now, among all 6 of the books, I must confess that I have actually never properly finished this particular story. I am perplexed as to how I had allowed this to happen but there it is. I did not even know the plot for the story (shameful!). Anyway, I heard good review of the movie therefore I went to trusty youtube and found the videos being put up by some kind soul for us all to enjoy.

In so many words, I loved the adaptation. Making a mini series out of this book does it justice. This story has many characters which is surprisingly uncommon in any of her other stories therefore it was actually easier to watch than to read the story (I suspect I lost track of who was who and going out with who). The actors and actresses who played each character in the movie was delightful to watch and the setting of the movie was beautiful. Houses, cottages, wild english landscape, wet. =P And the storyline was just lovely!! I have always thought that nothing, could beat P&P in terms of storyline and have always wondered why S&S is as popular as P&P (as opposed to Emma). I judged this by the fact that I did not even finish the book, so it didn’t even manage to get me hooked on it long enough (maybe because I did not like the fact that the two heroines were cut of penniless in the beginning of the story with the passing of their father). But as a movie, the story was just so touching and just right. One would think that Jane Austen had it in her mind that this will be an adaptation when she wrote it!!

Anyway, lots of people were comparing it to the 1995 version featuring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman and (gasp!) Hugh Laurie (Dr. House!!!!! lol!). It was so disconcerting to watch House play a sarcastic husband in this movie (and to think that he is British!!!) but oh well, he was actually quite okay. This version had an all star cast compared to the newer one which had people that are not that internationally well known (to me anyway). AND, the director for the film is Taiwanese filmmaker and Oscar Winner Ang Lee. That is such an unlikely combination!

However, I believe I liked the new one better. Somehow, the actors in the second production were able to capture and portray the emotions of their characters better. When I watched it, I could somehow feel that this is what Jane Austen had wrote in her book. There were some similarities between some of the scenes were played out in both movies (which always happens with all her adaptations) but I still felt that the second one was better. Most people prefer the first one though. But I liked how Mrs Dashwood was portrayed in the second movie. More sedate and elegant, as opposed to the first one which showed her to be a little shallow. =P Elinor Dashwood also is better in the second movie. And Hugh Grant, I don’t know why but he just didn’t seem to carry his role as Edward!!! It was kinda disappointing really because you would expect so much from him, being always in romantic films and all that, but somehow his manners just seem so out of place in a Regency setting. Perfectly fine for modern, everyday life but not for a gentleman in Regency England!!! Alan Rickman was hard to see as Colonel Brandon as well since all I knew of him was just as Prof Snape. =) But he had it better than Hugh Grant.

Anyway, I would encourage anyone who likes period dramas to watch Sense and Sensibility 2008. Very nice and with such a happy ending, what is not to love about it???

*cough* is that ME??? Or MINE???

Haha

Looks like I might get a chance to bush walk this April. MIGHT

Not going to convention (again) this year. Registration was a muck up with servers collapsing under heavy traffic. *cough* Melbourne people so efficient eh?? =)

Anyone want to move to wordpress???

Sense and Sensibility so nice to watch…

“Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great.
You can be that generation.”

- Nelson Mandela (2005)

I am now dreaming of brains, nuclei, limbic systems, thalamus, hypothalamus, reticular formation, pons, medulla oblongata, corpus striatum, internal capsule, cingulate gyrus, fornix, amygdaloid, stria terminalis, dentate gyrus……….. all because of a depression case we have in PBL. This case is making all of us feel depressed as well. -_-”