Sapping Away

It's been a long time since I've felt so world-wearily (note the irony given my current x amount of years of life) tired from just everything.

I've been cutting back from retail, from tutoring; and yet uni is incessantly sapping away at me with a never-ending stream of readings, the burdening slog of CP, moot prep, assignments, presentations...

Never before have I frequented my necessity for V so continually, and yet felt so emotionally and physically drained. Thank god mid-sem break is around the corner, but in all honesty the second half of the semester is the goddamn worst so the break will just be me studying (hopefully).

Should quit complaining, I know.

Dropping By

It's been a while since I blogged, but thought I would drop by to touch base.

I've been trying to get into Wordpress recently just because to some degree it's easier to play around with post types and that type of thing, but at the same time I've been using Blogger for a good 7 years or so, so the familiarity of this platform is hard to leave. 

Anyway, the lack of posting is probably because I've had some things happen to me that have forced me to reconsider some aspirations and values that I've held for a very long time. It was difficult at first, but for now I'm taking it all in my stride and anxious excited for the new year at a new uni.

I'm not sure where I'll be this year with blogging; whether I'll just have a mish-mash of commentaries, thought processes, foodie love; or if I'll take a break from it all completely. I'm not going to lie, the need to blog has decreased somewhat now that I'm on a more private and intimate roll of journalling again.

But hey, I'm an extremely temperamental person, so we'll see.

xx

Asian Studies

My cold isn't getting better at all, which has featured at the brunt of my concerns given that I'll be travelling into -10 degree weather within a week's time. 

With just one exam to go, and my flight date fast approaching, I thought I would give a quick update with the near-future blogging situation.

I may indeed start migrating over to a WordPress platform (still unsure, I might keep this one around for opinion essays, rants, updates for myself on my rather dull day-to-day life etc.) just because 1. Wordpress isn't blocked in China and I anticipate a hefty portion of my near future might be in that country; and 2. The customisability is a bit more accessible over there.

Anyway, I will most definitely be blogging away in China hopefully on a daily basis (as well as my brief stint in Hong Kong) so thought I'd just let you know.

xx

The Fat Duck

It is with some significant misfortune that I find myself sans-valid passport, no visa, with the flu, speed listening to lectures that I failed to attend/pay attention in, whilst insisting on scrolling through pages of designer shoes in anticipation for the fact that I've decided to self reward myself.

Why the self reward?

1. Why not?

2. I gave away my seat at Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck. I gave it away. I gave away a chef's table seat. 

Now given that a seat at The Fat Duck could only be 'won' per se through a ballot draw, and that there is only one chefs table in the entire establishment that only seats 40 people in total; regardless of the $700+ meal itself, I gave away a pretty damn good opportunity.

But my bank account begs to differ and I will most certainly return home in two or so months sans any monies whatsoever. (Plus I'm not one of those 'fools' who buys designer and never wears it out - there is good reason why you pay so much money for shoes, and it's not just so that you can let it sit in its box at home).

Anyway I have more lectures to listen to at 2x speed, an ailing body to nurse; all the while having an exam tomorrow.

Excellent.

xx

The Big Issue

Hi everyone. I don't usually do this type of thing, but hear me out briefly (although that in itself is sometimes a signpost for people to do exactly the opposite).

On any given night, one in two hundred people will be homeless.

As a kid (and this is quite sappy but it's true), I always tended to pity homeless people, and I would make this wild self-promises that if I became rich one day, I would go around and give every homeless person on the street a $50 bill. As I grew older, I became more skeptical of the situation of homeless people: what incredibly poor decisions did they make to get to the point that they no longer had a home to live and no friends to help them out?

Truth is, by the time I was in late high school, I was still skeptical of giving money to homeless people given that I had heard (stress on heard) of statistics that homeless people earn the same amount in day compared with those in menial jobs.

But ultimately, who am I to judge? Sucked away by material ambition we sometimes forget about the inequalities and inequitable distributions in the world. Life is perhaps, some would argue, just about luck and timing. Some people are worse off and have to suffer worse consequences than those who may have been better supported financially.

The point is, helping out a homeless person seems to be something everyone more or less agrees is a social justice problem; but because people don't know how to go about giving money to people who they suppose might use the money to fuel a drug problem, or any other distress causing condition; they are put off by the prospect all together.

This might be way I've recently started to purchase the Big Issue. The smile and genuine thankfulness and people's faces when I give them a $10 or $20 note for a $6 magazine and tell them to keep the change is a feeling like no other.

I may complain about being poor, and not having enough money to buy the umpteenth leather item that I've caught my eye on, but at the end of the day, I have a job, I live at home, I never have fear of not having enough money for food or basic requirements.

So next time you're tromping through the city and you inevitably pass someone trying to sell you a copy of The Big Issue, give them a $10 or $20, take your magazine, and tell them to keep the change; you'll have a literal warm and fuzzy powered spring to your step for the most part of the better day.

xx

Two Essays, One Allnighter

12:03am and my tummy is feeling that funny feeling when you're downing mass amounts of caffeine from Red Bull and V cans in a bid to pursue an allnighter.

I may have severely overestimated my ability to start and finish two essays by, well, 4PM today. Not even, given 4PM is the physical submission meaning I have to trek into uni just to submit one thing.

I kid you not, I will surely, surely crash and burn upon my return home. 

Dear future self: please don't do this again

Good luck to me! #selfpity

xx

Finals Madness

Finals season is upon us and as I type, my brain drifts slowly to sleep from exhaustion. The little effects of a 375mL can of 可口可乐 are wearing off (I know, there wasn't very much caffeine in there to begin with, but with context caffeinated beverages hit me really well so one can of Coke and one can of V will power me through an allnighter usually), and I've resorted to 1AM star jumps and squats à la Elementary style (fun fact, it was precisely that gifset that prompted me to start watching Elementary).

Anyway, boys and girls I'm going to pass out soon.

Just let me go to China already.

xx