He looks to the left, looks to the right ..

=(

feels rather lonely.. isolated for the first time today.. on a saturday which i woke up rather like the game i was playing the night before (great zombie fraggin session andrew and zeal *thumbs up*)... zombified.. then again the zombies in the game ran pretty fast.. faster than i could even run in real life.. hmm how realistic is that.. or im just running too slow now..

Today the official "bum" day that traditionally kicks off my holidays.. feels rather lonely in truth.. except for invitations in indulge in more alchol .. =/ mehh... got to take care of my liver okay.. but thanks for the invitations anyway lads.

stuck in my flat the whooole day... oven cooked fish and chips the meal of the day.. and somehow i managed to make something microwavable melt in the microwave... =/ (sorry fie.. there's a casualty in a form of a plastic bowl..) at this rate.. fie won't have a flat to come back to in 3 weeks time .. 0__0

thoughts.. things i could do..

1) take up the gym membership offer till end of jan.. hmm i do have to have to improve my fitness ie: managed 1 run down the flank without pulling any muscles or collaspe into a heap at the slightest contact lol.

2) shopping.. not such a good idea esp in the point of the finance ministry back home.. i've already broke my budget this month and in danger of breaking next without even being in the next month yet .. uh.. im managing to do things seemingly impossible isn't it ? (bar the the melted microwavable bowl.. was pretty baffling)

things is tho.. i got quite a number of things i could get myself preoccupied to do during the holidays.. even assignments, reading (not.. although it would be ideal.. what a achievement that would be .. to finish textbooks.. wow.. a distant dream.. )

i guess the thing is the fact that... im here...

all the merry folks around me are somewhere else ... far across the oceans ... (this is an attempt to make my "friends" feel guilty for leaving me all alone here... lol ! XD i kid kid... )

plus the creature "seasonal depression" ever waiting in the shadows smacking its lips waiting to pounce on its victim which looks ever more vulnerable now...

BUT NO!

i shall not give in to self-pity !! (is this where the dramatic, touching WW2-equed background music cues right?? RIGHT ??? )

I miss ya folks! (Everyone of course!)

i can't even play regular football esp when everyone is gone for the holidays.. maaan... and futsal does not exist here.. (well it barely is technically, but there is no public futsal venues that i know of) Five a side sucks!!

argh... good thing i have a ticket in my hands now... hmmm... it reads...

"Arsenal vs Liverpool"

Oh well...

=P


Come on ARSENAL!



*leaves the room to put out the fire in the kitchen (sorry fie =P )*

1000 words, 2 weeks, 1 really sore neck, 0 life

... I've never put that much effort into a thousand word essay before... ever...

now that is out of the way for the next day or two..

Some ads i really liked from what i've seen in the UK so far.. the most memorable one is this::



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDQYdU5p0KY


And another...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=besDBr0bCWA

Both Ads for Transport for London.

(Had some problems embedding the video on to the page. i gave up =P )

Don't you just wish public service annoucments are like that in Malaysia? Or is there a conspiracy to reduce the mat rempit population? =P ( since we have motorcyclist campaigns instead)

Carling Cup - Arsenal v Wigan 3-0

The Emirates Stadium at Ashburton Groove


Inside the Stadium at Half-time 1-0 up

* = Video


Walked across the bridge* along with the rest of the Red Army towards the Emirates Stadium*. The atmosphere was picking up with a sense of anticipation. The doom and gloom from last week were all but dispel during weekend. Thanks to Man Utd the stadium was buzzing all over again, a notable difference to last week's Champions League game to Fenerbache though the attendance today was more than a thousand less that last week's midweek game.


As we stepped into the stadium*, the game was about to start the crowd was buzzing. This was the carling cup, hence less pressure and an opportunity to see the young gunners play and boy they did not disappoint.


There were songs, there were cheers, there was brilliant football all around.


Wigan did trouble us with their threats down our left giving Gibbs a handful at times. De Ridder had pace and skill and at one point dribbled past 3 players to get on goal. However the young gunners got their first goal when Jack Wilshere played a pass Cesc would be proud of to Jay Simpson who outpace and outmuscle the Wigan defender on him to toe poke into the net. 1-0 to the Arsenal.


After the break, Wigan began to up the pressure but soon found themselves 2 goals down after a blistering counter attack from a ball cleared from defense played very well to Vela on the left wing who burned his marker with his pace on toward the goal before squaring the ball to Simpson who rocketed it into the net*. The Stadium erupted and choruses began.


The 3rd goal took the whole stadium by surprise when it went in. There was a resounding "ooohh" around the stadium when the replay was screened. What an audacious chip. A goal that made all the time, money and effort to get to the stadium worth it all. You would pay more than that to see a goal like that. What a gem we've got in our hands.


The Stadium was buzzing, the good times are back songs going round the stadium, the atmosphere was great, Mexican waves and stamps shook the stadium. It was immense.

Final Whistle, what a spectacle the young gunners have given us. Makes you proud to be a gooner the joy at the football played at times, just brilliant.

Went by the Armoury and picked up a new jersey too =D

Thought about Carlos Vela at the back but in the end it had to be.. Robin Van Persi =D mayb next time.. =P

The jersey was 25% off but came around the same after adding the name, number and patch. All done at the Emirates made it extra special plus i got an Arsenal hanger XD , you should have seen my eyes light up when the guy asked me if i wanted the hanger... (*gasp* you mean... i can have it ?? the hanger from Emirates!??*cough* oh yeah ok put it in...) Hah! no Arsenal shirt from any Nike store back in Malaysia will even give a hanger let alone have this hehe =P

The Match Day Programme which had the picture of Nasri and Cesc after his (Nasri) brilliant goal against Man Utd while 2-0 up hehehe. And my Arsenal membership card holder.

What a night...

Video album HERE:
http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h169/chronic_blade/Arsenal%20v%20Wigan%20CC%203-0%20Videos/

Picture album HERE

http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h169/chronic_blade/Arsenal%20v%20Wigan%20CC%203-0%20PICS/

Civet cat home back in Malaysia

It seems that we've finally confirmed the source of the rumblings in the attic of my house back in Malaysia...
Tada! A Civet Cat family ... cute eh ?


... and to think my sister wants to shoot all of them.

It's also a rare protected species. You'll be starring at a huge fine if you try to kill them.

I agree with my dad about keeping it... after all it's been here for so long ... like years... when we first started to hear noises in the attic then the occasional sighting of the baby civet cat... in the night even the cute little furry thing clutching at the window grill can send panic throughout the household esp my mum... i mean... it's like a cat... but a wilp d cat... still a species of cat... not like it's a tiger or lion, if it tries to bite then just smack it only =P

and it makes a rather good companion to bully mason and get him fit and running again. Or maybe mason doesn't care at all...

we must do our best to conserve the enviroment and the flora and fauna and it means not depriving the civet cats who have called our place home for many years now... =P

I wanna keep a civet cat... it's like some hybrid weasel/mouse/cat thing... still a cool pet to have and to have a family of them too... before you shoot them at least think about their family... in the attic... taking care of the rat problems for us... although they might be the culprits for the burst pipes... thats because they need water ma...

conclusion.. keep the civet cats so i can play with them when i get back =P

Fireworks, Fever-Cough-Sorethroat, and Fantastic Cooking

The past couple of days i've been wondering.. why there are fireworks just outside my window about 500m away..


.. Then it happened the next day..



and the next..




and the following day..




It wasn't till today till i saw the full show from the comforts of my room - or rather discomfort at being sick.



Videos to be found in the album link below.. 1st one being one of the practice run and the other the actual run of it.. nice although the camera can't really capture the fireworks display to full effect (like the onee that go in the air and spins out fireworks like a cosmic quasar, a sight to behold, and i only started recording like about 2 minutes into the show which also caused ALOT of smoke..)

Album link here for the videos
http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h169/chronic_blade/Uk%20-Random%20stuff%20and%20fireworks/

[Update] Sorry something went bonkers with the video edit (no not like the Beijing olympics where i put in the fake fireworks =P) and the quality isn't that good, i had to edit it as i could not upload too big a file size so i had to cut it down..
----------------------


I'm sick... and i hate it... being bed ridden most of the weekend if not all... not sure if this adds to my previous health worries earlier in the previous week. I'm fighting my way through! with an arsenal of cough mixture, listerine (to replace my throat gargle), panadol, strepsils, multi-vitamins, my inhaler... taking it all in one go might be overdose? I think i got sick from this plague-like-sickness thats going after most of the Hope Fellowship people and then... being in an enclosed room with 1/3 of the population in there coughing away while you're feeling rather weak that day is a recipe for disaster.




And, I'm in a race to:



1) Start on my assignments already =/




2) Get fit for this coming wednesday - The first league game for "Rough Diamonds" (cough cough.. not my idea.. but we had no name up till the point of submitting the forms and a name had to be thought up... ok i'll stop justifying it now. We'll be competing in the University Intra-Mural league ( which means a reject league for those who didn't make the uni team... *cough*
i mean people who want to play football but within the uni enviroment on a casual basis- wait i don't see where casual comes in here... it's going to be tackles flying in and all...) Gah, i feel like my sickness is undoing all the effort i've tried to finally break into the starting line-up albeit at left-back or even stand-in keeper as our keeper did his shoulder.



3) Race to start collecting all the money for the tickets for the Arsenal games-Loan Shark style..


----------


Meanwhile, i have to take cooking lessons from this Thai girl, my word... Tom Yam, Padprik, western food you name it... it looks like it came out from a menu of an expensive restaurant.. I think i'll have to pay her to do catering... Everytime she cooks while we're in the kitchen, Atifi and I cast an envious look across... drooling ... lol!

The Lovely cooking



My fantastic culinary skills are...*cough* i mean hers..

Atifi giving the certified thumbs up of approval-TM



Arsenal Stuff i got in the mail.. all together 10 tickets =D


The Membership Card

The Carling Cup Ticket

The Champions League Ticket

Fuuhh... I know it's a bad time to go watch Arsenal now... but it shows im a TRUE GOONER =P

(Actually i've already bought the tickets wanna coverline)

Of Songs and Cheers and Flying Beers

The atmosphere was electric... the place was packed to the brim... there were songs and chants...

... and i was not at the stadium...

there i was ... singing and screaming as the goals went in ... chorus of songs were threw at each other as our fierce rival fans verbally sparred through songs and chants...

It was a crazy game... and i almost lost my voice... it would have been a great game at 4-2 ... but no... Arsenal had to threw it away...

At injury time the pub erupted at the injury time equalizer... (be thankful fellow Malaysian gooners back home as there're tons of spuds fans here)

People jumped on tables... everyone went absolutely crazy... and there were flying beers (thankfully not along with the glasses) What a game for the neutrals, what a game for the spuds... as for me... Absolutely GUTTED =(
It was a crazy atmosphere tho... had it not been a student pub there will definitely be a riot.

... And i can only imagine when i get to the stadium a week from now... =D


UPDATE: Pictures of my place the day after the snow can be found in this album:

http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h169/chronic_blade/UK%20%20Cambridge/Snowfall%20at%20Hatfield/

Snow in Oct... 0__0

I wasn't feeling well... too much juice, football, a pint of beer and no water is VERY BAD for the system... there i was in my room all gloomy and unwell... and then... Atifi called my extension... "IT'S SNOWING!!" I looked out my window and suddenly saw a blanket of white ... it was only hours ago that i came back to the room.

Grabbed, the camera and turned on "jakun-mode" and headed outside the hall. There was already an inter-hall snow fight. Now back in the room... everyone's msn message had the word "snow" or rather "SNOW" in caps in it.

White Christmas i've heard before.... White Halloween ? hmmmm... =/

Wonder if i can build a snowman tomorrow...

UPDATE: Posted videos in the same album as the Cambridge pictures!

UPDATE 2 : What a way to end the night as i pull up the covers and turned off the light... the fire alarm blared away... ARGRHRH ...

I'm either going to die in the fire or freeze to death... so... im not going to rush down. Took my time to get dressed and then made my way down. Thankfully too as i see people in shorts and t-shirt... standing in the snow... I was glad i had my jeans and hoodie on...

Jon goes to Homerton...

Went up to Cambridge for the weekend at Lukas's place.. great fun sight seeing, meeting his friends and CG members, visiting Eden Chapel... and.... *GASP* It's SNOWING! *runs off to take pictures and be all jakun and what not...


Cambridge pictures HERE : http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h169/chronic_blade/UK%20%20Cambridge/

It's a hot day...

It's actually feeling rather warm today... even feeling pretty hot at times if you're wearing a jacket.. which is rather surprising when its supposed to be mid-autumn... But since it's a hot day... cue...
ICE CREAM!! =D A rather big tub of chocolate, vanilla, fudge brownies, choc chip cookie dough goodness (a rather long name ... i know...) for 2pounds =D Ben and Jerry's for the price half of Baskin's tubs back in Malaysia...
INDULGENCE... =D

Snacks here in UK are such a treat indeed... oh i have to mention i got thai chilli chips too.. last week was lemon lime infused chips... which was great too...

...and yes im writing this to spite my siblings who will get extra portions of snacks from grocceries now that im not around =P

Trip to London...Or Rather Just Oxford Street

Well I've arrived to see this... Marble Arch... pretty self explanatory isn't it ? Took about an hour's bus ride from Hatfield to... i-forgot-what-road-but-its-near-Hyde-Park-Road... yeah...
And thats the bu... wait i DID NOT take that bus here... why did i take a picture of it then!? .. oh ... open top double decker... ooooohhhh... soo... facinating... wheels on the bus go round and...

Ice Cream anyone at 10c ? I actually wanted one tho... then again i wanted to prance around in the park too, that didn't happen...

Hyde Park, a place for all your prancing, forlicking, dance-around-trees, roll-down-the-hills goodness. Along with some football seen here..

Another view of the arch made from marble... me thinks...

"Meh! Marbles, Smarbles... " - Least thats what I look like when this photo was taken of me...

The Magic Marble Arch didn't take too kindly to what I said and promptly summoned the dark clouds and rain to fall upon us... =(

Argh! Rain!! Crap !! *Pause*... Hey look at those buildings!! ... Argh... Rain!!!



Hehehe NIKETOWN... *Rubs hands in anticipation*

This is the BEST VIEW OF ALL OF NIKETOWN =D THE BEST BOOTS ON DISPLAY!! (I took the other side but couldn't get past the beeper...)
Ronaldo and his pink boots... underneath all those carbon fibre are ballet shoes...

Mannequins came alive!! Debenhams converted their shop display and put on a musical i think to "Dream Girls" clever marketing... but clearly annoyed many brits walking on the already crowded street plus a rainy day... BAD COMBINATION...

Encounted with a very stunned squirrel who just sat there at my feet lost at what to do in my presence... SQUIRREL: should i roll over and play dead or what ?

Well that was Saturday... The next day i tried to cook on my own while Atifi was on her way back from London after spending the weekend with her friend.

Stir fried chicken with vegetables....

Well actually Atifi said it was ok... i have a thing for eating my own food so... ugh... when in doubt tho.. use lots of pepper! Sure did the trick..
HAH! I can make rice after all... and in a pot too!

Comfort food after my failure =P Atifi still think's they were ok... i don't know... she may have stomach of steel... This large Biopot yogurt thingy is so tasty tho... *yum yum* Lots of nice snacks here in UK hehe... i mean... they're good for you right ?

Gah... time to read up my materials to prepare for tomorrow's class... Still have to decide on what to do for my dissertation...

Btw, the word DISSERTATION alone...


The fact that is similar to a THESIS does not help either...

I'm terrified.

Alas... all good things must come to an end..

The weather that is... after all the nice sunshine, i finally experienced my first UK rain... or rather drizzle... all is good until the 24-30km/h wind kicks in...

It's getting colder now.. well actually the colder weather is way overdue as I'm told we're supposed to have autumn since September but we're still getting sunshine and good weather.

Then i stumbled on to this:

UH even exists in Second Life! I've got to get use to all this hi-tech stuff.. Lectures can be downloaded as podcasts, tracking assignments and handing it up no longer needs staff as it all can be done online or via the barcode scanning-then-submitting-it-system.. I've still to get use to all the features of STUDYNET, which is essential to my course and the progress. With news, updates, assignments all dealt with online.. i guess i won't be seeing anyone from the admin face to face for sometime.. I'm sure a lot of you have experience this studying overseas like in Australia, NZ etc etc.. so pardon me for my "just came out of a cave" syndrome. The worrying thing is now that im not as adaptive to technology as i use to be.. *cough cough* (old already..=P ) This is very overwhelming, getting worried about if i missed anything by not checking the STUDYNET or missed anything.. i guess i'll spend the whole afternoon today checking it out..

..After a couple of rounds of Team Fortress 2 that is =D

Still finding my feet playing football here too, (hey i get the 6 months adaptive period for all foreign players coming to England to play too right?) Been playing like crap the past couple of sessions.. must... push... on...

Oh btw, i met a player that looks like adebayor, plays like adebayor.. misses open goals like ade.. (lol) but boy he is GOOD .. i got nutmeg-ed by him like couple of times -___- crap.. and really makes a good target man. At this rate, i don't stand a chance at all to make even the 3rd team lol! Oh well, there's always inter-mural and social leagues outside =P Will just give it a shot and embaress myself anyways =P

Pictures... again... because im just laz.. *COUGH* BUSY..

Pictures tell a thousand words, therefore a couple of pictures should be enough for this post. Besides, people only scan around and not read thoroughly anyway so picture would be more effective...

Plus...

I've ran out of excuses.. =P


Outside my room on the corridor. My room is at the end, facing outwards. which is great because every night there's like some mini-drinking party going on outside at the entrance of my hall. Poor Atifi had to contend with the noise, a complaint should be filed soon i think should it go on..


And then there is the kitchen, with pretty much everything you need except perhaps.. food..

Oh someone brought food.. good. Breakfast served by Atifi, gobbled up by me =P

If you notice, students are expected to multi-task on a regular basis which include ironing while doing your work on the desk while cooking and reading the notes on the notice board.

And then we head out for the garden BBQ party...

Another nice sunny day which is beginning to feel odd as it supposed to be 1/3 through autumn already. I'm not complaning though.

Looks nice isn't it? Thats because 80% of the students have not turn up yet, then it got rather crowded...

All fun and games then..

More fun and games ... and more importantly... FREE FOOD =P

Friends from the Hope International Fellowship - Hope Church Hatfield. Thanks to Malaysian style corruption, i had extra coupons to get more free food and drinks =D (each person entitled to 1 drink and a choice of hot dogs, vege burger and beef burger) How was i to try all of them!? Here we're basking in the sun.. should have brought me shades... oh well, autumn around the corner... oh wait.. it IS supposed to be autumn since sept...

It seems most of the trees and plants in the campus and around the area have berries and what not... more of the fairy tale land stuff...

Back at the halls the next day.. there was a mini-concert in the park, or rather just outside the halls.. it's really stuff you see in the brochure.. people sitting on the grass having a bite or a chat... and you always thought they were all fake and staged photoshoots for the nice brochures to sell the uni.. well here it's for real apparetly.. or i have to ask them how much the uni pays them to sit there.. i wouldn't mind coming up on some brochures as well... but then the uni would likely freefall down the Times ranking then.

Hope to be playing some proper football soon... trials are coming up and i want to sign up to see where i stand. More info after i check out the Sports Fair and atheletic clubs on the 1st of Oct. Meanwhile... classes are somewhat confusing as i never have had to choose the slots for me tutorials.. feeling a little lost.. need... Malaysian...style... spoon...feeding.... =P

There's also lots of football social leagues i think from what i gathered so far.. from 11-a-side football leagues to 5-a-side and even 3-a-side.. from casual, intermural to university and social leagues.. lots of choices.. can i play all? =D

The football here is more street soccer ish.. there is not futsal.. the goals are short and wide like street soccer.. but somehow the Africans have no problem heading the ball into the net.. oh and the indoor balls are still soccer balls instead of futsal balls .. so ball control is essential.. well its great for people like me whose shot power is an equivalant of... nil ... so having a soccer..*sorry* i mean a size5 FOOTBALL would be easier to strike. Nice weather to run in provided it's not 10c and below.. but running and pushing myself competitively would yeild difficulty in taking in air due to it being so cold and dry.. a little getting use to... i hope i don't become a Reyes =P maybe i should have studied in Spain.. BUT NO, i will soldier on despite the difficulties i face.. and will use ... Jeremy's hat-trick and man of the match performance in last week's competitive league game as an inspiration...

=P