BST

We moved our clocks back by 1 hour today, back to the Greenwich Mean Time, and thus, so ends the British Summer time.

Meaning, we have 25 hours today, another whole extra 60 minutes.
It also means another hour of sleep for me.
A day where the sun rises and sets about 1 hour earlier.
And the time difference between UK and Malaysia changes to 8 hours.

OK, I know this is a yearly thing which has been going on for ages but it's just the second time for me. By now, I can fully establish that I am a person controlled by sunlight. (No, it doesn't mean that I photosynthesize or anything like that... Or do I??!!? HAHA...)

Anyway, I used to think that it's just an issue of me messing up my sleeping patterns. But after a year of observation, I can conclude my hypothesis: My waking hours are strictly affected by the rising and setting of the sun.

Which explains why when I was back home, I could hardly get up too late (relatively) in the morning most of the time. Even when I got back just before dawn after a night of clubbing or making up for the lack of sleep right after exams. Nope...I get up when the sun shines at a certain intensity. It's just like my body's acting as if it's a photometer which measures the illuminance of light when it shines through the window into my room. (Which is why I like rooms brightly lid by natural light throughout the day.) I get up at a certain time every day, at least early enough to let me enjoy mornings every day.

Ever since I came over to the UK, I can't help but to notice that I always wake up only after a period of time after the sun rises. Which means, I get up later with each progressive each day from autumn till winter. (But it's exact opposite when it comes to spring and summer.) And after 6 months of longer days than nights, I can't get used to the increasing darkness now. Which is messing up my sleeping patterns immensely, not to mention, my daily life as well.

I would wake up too late to have breakfast. Instead, I have brunch. And I can predict this now. Very soon, my first official meal of the day might be lunch (not breakfast or brunch) in a few weeks time.

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Anyway...I'm supposed to be studying right now. If not, I should also be revising on what I did for my degree, and especially what I have done during my FYP. Only at times like this, I wished that I had not given away my notes and books. (But even if I didn't, I would not be able to bring it over anyway, cos it's just too much. I'd rather bring more essential stuff. Stuff that I can't easily get here. I'm not going to pay for those overweight baggage consisting of books, and lug them half way around the world.)

OK, back to books...need to get some reading done at least by tonight.

I swear I think my brain is working slower than it used to. If only I could just increase my memory space in my brain as easily as one can in a normal computer.

Pumpkin soup

"Do you take pumpkin soup?"

"How is it like? Is it in chunks or is it the mashy type?"

This conversation totally shows that I have never even seen pumpkin soup before, not even to say, whether I take it or not.



Anyway, I tried Uncle Victor's pumpkin soup (cos it's almost Halloween) and surprisingly, it turned out to be quite unlike what I had in mind, and more like cheese-flavoured creamy soup.

Read: I want some more ler...make it again soon ok, uncle?

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On another note, I can't believe my eyes when I got my pay slip yesterday. Bloody hell, I got taxed like what...a whole 22% off my pay!!! I'm not earning much already, and the government is taxing me 22%???!? (And that's still considered the basic rate...*&^%$#)

I can do a lot of things with that 22% pay, you know...

*heart pain*

So I marched right into the Jobshop today demanding to know what happened...when I found out that I'd have to CONVINCE the Tax Office by giving them loads of proof and explanation that I earn less than the tax allowance (I'm prepared to do that to get my 22% back...so what?). BUT...I would still have to sign for a particular declaration to confirm that and to say that I will not work again during this tax year (and that's until the 6th of April next year).

OK...so this means I can't claim my tax back right now, unless I don't plan to work or just plan to earn less than £5225 until then.

*sigh*

And to make things worse...I still went for retail therapy.

Hey, I'm just earning 22% less...it doesn't mean that I'm not getting anything at all. I just need a bit of motivation at this point. :)

It's all coming back

WooHoo~~

My baking fetish is slowly coming back now. FINALLY!!! OK, Butter cake is nothing impressive though but it's definitely a start.

Since my last round of baking right after my finals (which was around June), I haven't been near an oven since. (Nope...not even for my meals) In fact, I didn't even put my mediocre culinary skills to use much in the past 4 months or so. If I would have to go through that much trouble just to make a meal for ONE, I'd rather have something simple i.e. porridge.

Don't you think so? I mean, it is so boring to cook for yourself all the time. You are your own cook, judge and critic. Not only that, it's so difficult to prepare a portion of food just to serve 1. In the end, I always prepare enough food that could actually feed a family of 4. (And which, I would have to finish it by myself, in time of days. Unless, of course, this is an attempt to satisfy my cravings, and I wouldn't be craving for that particular dish for a period of time after that.)

I suspect, that it's something to do with the dropping temperature, that I've started to venture near the hob/oven again.

Number 1, because when the hob/oven is on, it would feel much warmer than anywhere else in the house.

Number 2, with the dropping temperature, I'm finding myself with more tendency to curl up and hibernate in the comfort of my own home, rather than going out and brave the cold wind.

Number 3, everyone knows that when it's colder, you tend to get hungry faster, and if that's the case, I can't afford and am not very willing to spend my money on food outside which is absolutely rubbish (with some obvious exceptions) when I can do much better than that at home.

Hmm...let's see. So what have I made so far? Tomyam, Bak Kut Teh, Japanese curry, soup noodles, steamed eggs, fried spinach and the usual fast 'n' easy dishes that one could whip up at home. (Surprisingly, Emily cooks more than I do, and I have eaten at her house for a few times already. And I absolutely LOVE her shortbread.) And my baking list? Just Butter cake.

I'd better get that lasagna recipe from Emily soon, haven't tried making that before...

Talking about food, I'm now craving for sushi...I'm craving for the big, fat lumps of salmon sushi that they serve in Sagawa. *Hungry again*

OK, gotta go watch my cake at the oven. Almost done! :)

Killer shoes

I'm sure every girl would definitely have at least a pair of those kinda shoes. In fact, I have loads of them. Just that, they're slightly different in their "killer" purposes.

Most of my killer heels would definitely add height to my frame. (I definitely love heels for this reason.)

But many of them just serve to kill me after a day in them.

I was wearing my new pair of white heels from Faith for the whole of yesterday. And I walked for a whole day in them. This is saying something cos since I came over to UK I haven't been wearing heels much. (Of course not, definitely not with the crazy rate of walking that I have to do around here.)

But yesterday was a requirement. A must. A definite justifiable valid reason.

More about that next time.

And I have angry red blisterssSSssSs now. On my:

• toes
• heels
• sides of my feet

*ouch*

But I still love my pair of heels.

*This post is totally mindless. I'm just writing this for the sake of filling up my almost dormant blog until I get something else I feel like talking about.*

I've got it, at last!

Actually it didn't take that long...I got my visa exactly 3 weeks after they received it and it's just like what the Home Office (kind of) promised.

It's the WAIT...the long arduous wait that you have to endure, and the fear that the application might be rejected for even the most far-fetched reason you can think of. (I'm not joking, ANYTHING can happen.) Well, you never know.

Besides screaming at the top of my lungs (as usual) when I saw the little piece of paper stuck onto my passport, I pestered a few other people as well. Just to give their eardrums some exercise. HAHA!

And a lot is happening, but I haven't got the time to update...yet...

And also because I'm too busy watching dramas in my free time... :P

*yawn* Sleepy again. Wanna go to bed. Later~!

WWWHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so damn pissed off right now!!!

Just finished watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End...

And I am JUMPING OFF MY SEAT!!!

Forget the fact that I am VERY slow (in fact, this is too slow to be even mentioned but I still want to anyway...), I finally watched the last part and I am so f*cKing pissed off...*grinds teeth and growl*

Is it absolutely necessary that super sexy guys like Orlando Bloom would have to die in the movie? Although he kinda like un-died in the end...BUT THEN?!???!?!?!?

The ending is so mindless.

So what if he comes back every 10 years? Or that he had a son with Keira Knightly?

SO WHAT?!?!

He still spends 10 years at sea for 1 day on shore.

I so do not like this ending. It makes me very, VERY unhappy.

And I was planning to have this movie conclude my night.

Fat chance of having any sweet dreams tonight...

It's GONE!!!

I just heard some very astonishing news.

Finally, my parents managed to sell off *gasp* our 25-year-old Mazda 929.

I mean...we all know that it's a piece of old junk anyway. An old metal scrap that is still running on wheels and requires a lot of effort and maintenance to keep it going...not to mention, expensive as well.

Mostly because of that, my dad's finally given up and sold it dirt cheap, to the contractor renovating our new house (supposedly to ferry his workers to and from work). And since I'm not home and there'd be no one to use the extra car, my mum would have to alternate between cars (cos Dad says we can't leave the cars unused for a few days or else it'll get cranky...and the Mazda is already cranky).

It seems like pretty good news to us, but I can't help feeling sorry for the car. (OK, I know it's just a car, but still...)

This is was the car:

• we first had with central locking and power windows. (THAT was very long ago.)
• my mum tried to teach me how to drive in.
• that I drove when I first got my P (Probationary/Pariah) license.
• I drove straight into my parent's bedroom wall. (Luckily both the wall and car is still intact.)
• my friends and I went cruising in.
• that came to my rescue in emergency situations. (When my new was car nicely parked in or in the workshop)

The Mazda was a relatively big car for me (but not for my parents NOR my brother), and I was really pissed off when people called me "Sleepy Hollow" when I drove around in it. (The person who said that, drove a car that people often use as a hearse...albeit it's a Mercedes)

Not only because I don't appreciate that, but it's really not easy trying to maneuver it on the road. Not to mention how to park OR reverse park it properly. I can proudly say that my more-decent-than-average driving skills came from dealing with this car. And when I was behind the wheel as a new driver, I just felt that I'm safe in the car.

I know I always complain about that car being a piece of junk and all, but it's still a piece of junk that I like, that I had so many adventures with. But if we just keep it, it's still going to be a piece of junk at the end of the day. So, maybe this is just the right time for us to say goodbye to it, and hope that it can still last for a decade or so.

Goodbye, my car, goodbye!