The stuff i wanted to cover (briefly)
im doing my third progression, an academic essay on a writer and his essays. i chose Orwell. I had exercises overdue. Did that last night, slept at 8am, woke at 830am, dreamt of rubbish. Went back to sleep, woke at 9am also dreaming of rubbish. Went to class, fought to stay awake, said yes to every imaginary question being fired at me, and had no dreams. I slept better in the LT than on my bed =
-Spanish
I had a take home test last week, cos of the strike. So we received the spanish papers, and the course coordinator mistakenly sent the answer key with the paper. I was happy of course, but i did try my best to study for that. I've got another test on this thursday, and another next week. It's amazing how much new Spanish i learn in a week. And with every chapter that passes, i forget the previous one. So there's alot of revision to be done. Hopefully my Spanish will be good enuf by the peru trip.
-Helen and Bayle go to New Malaysia with me
So UVA had the whole Thanksgiving week free i think. So Helen and Bayle came down to NYC, stopping at Philly and god knows where. Check her blog for more info and fotos, i linked her on my sidebar. I chose new malaysia cos i had sting ray a few nights before (couldnt tahan) and realised the prices there were cheaper than at Penang or Nyonya i think. They've got kickass curry and Roti Canai. The Bak Kut Teh had a strong Dang Gui taste, and the Chicken Rice leaves much to be desired in terms of Singapore Standards. The KL style Hokkien Mee was good though.
Dont want to paste a people shot. Go Helen's site and find.
-Peru troubles
So the liaise point for our tour was this shady Mr Fidel who swiched companies during Morris' arrangements with him and when we called his "New Company" they said he didn't work there. Problem was he was like the only person on the continent from a tour agency that could speak english. And my spanish wasnt good enough to argue or to even ask some questions (due to poor knowledge of vocab and sentence tenses). Thankfully Sunny (from Ntu exchange here) had a Spanish friend (Christine i think) on exchange too and she helped me make the necessary arrangements. She told me she couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but managed to do it. Imagine me trying then (which i did. The call lasted 1 min, consisting of "i dont speak spanish, do u speak english? No, no speak english. No hablo ingles. No comprende. Anyone? Alguno habla ingles? and lots of pauses in between, you get the idea).
-Eye for sight troubles
Another community service thing i signed up with, aims to provide the poor with free eye screenings and old glasses. Troubled me abit, the administration but now everything is ok. Only thing is that they're doing a screening at 530 on Fri Morning, but i have to hand my other Spanish take home test by Fri 9am. We'll see how that goes.
-Keith's arrival
So keith came down to the city by bus, and we meet up. His ears are so red it'd make Rudolph blush.
Went to K-Town for a sushi / Korean buffet for about $12 late lunch. Was not bad. Felt really good catching up and talking to someone familiar. After that we walked to Macys to look around and walked to times square too.
At Macys we were looking at coats, i reached to adjust Keith's collar and zapped his ear with a loud crack. He thought i flicked it. Tsk static...
-Keith Em and Kai go to New Malaysia
So after times square we meet up with Em (whom we've not met for damn long) and her boyfriend, Kai. We eat Kang Kong Belacan, Assam Sting Ray, and Beef curry or something like that, can't remember. Didn't take pictures of food like i usually do, but got a foto later at my place. Was great catching up again.
-Thanksgiving thanks
Went to Gabby's for thansgiving the next day. Felt bad cos couldn't go see sights with Keith, but figure that we've still got time for that next time. Had a wonderful dinner, complete with 21 .lb turkey and all. Pies, wine, mmm... Pity my stomach has shrivelled to a measly size since learning that i gained 14 pounds (approx 6.5 kg) since i've been here. Fotos are jamming, check the previous post for turkey picture. We waited at the wrong bus stop for my bus back to NYC, so we tailed the bus in Gabby's car to the next stop. In my haste jumping out of the car my thumb got zapped by static so hard it split my skin. Oh also my first sight of snow.
barghz the damn foto thing is screwy. maybe load the fotos next time.
-Woodbury and Macy's madness
Spent money at Macy's buying my comforter at long last and a fleece throw for cold mornings. Great discounts, and was great seeing Auntie Cheng again. Its always great to see her. After that, went down to Woodburys. The discounts were well worth the $37 bus ticket to and fro. Polo Ralph Jeans for $30, Tommy Hilfiger sweater for $28, DKNY Jeans for $40, various long sleeved shirts (at less than $20 each, good price for branded stuff). Buy of the year: Dual Layer North Face Jacket $225, so warm and wind and waterproof. The kinda stuff that would cost 600 SGD at camper's corner. Will also last me years of mountain climbing.
New comforter!
-Traffic
Watched the movie at night with Keith, didn't like the way it doesn't really build up. Felt Scarface was a better movie. "Say Hello to my Little Friend!"
-More potter talk?
Herm-own-ninny. Mmm... Anyway yeah as i have said, i think the movie was probably one of the better ones, however it doesn't explain alot in the book (can't be helped i guess) but lots of acting could be improved. I thought Wormtail was bad (Hand hurts only the first 3 seconds of cutting it off). Voldemort was fabulous, but abit too jumpy for someone of his stature. They didn't explain priori incantatum. No quidditch. Didn't like the death eaters routing the World Cup scene. The dark mark was cool though. The yule ball scene looks like alot was chopped. The story wasnt smooth in showing Hermione's ruined evening. Thought Cho should have been sweeter. Thought Crum would have slightly longer hair. Thought Dumbledore was unnecessarily jumpy and aggressive too. Moody was great. But they didn't quite give a hint about his capture at all. Wish there was more character development for the Triwizard champs, rather than Hagrid and Maxime (eew). And of course, Harry's acting leaves much to be desired.
-Resolutions
Need to just finish homework before sunday for once in my life. It would be nice to try, and no worries on late monday nights. No dota, less games. Can't give up blogging though.
-Late nights and water to drink
Bought tankards of water to drink, am happy at being hydrated. My skin's really dry though.
Hmm not so brief it seems.