Onslaught of Events

Random mish-mash summary of what I've been up to/what has happened since coming to London on the night of 30th Sept 2014.

The "more of us" finally arrived and it was great catching up again. We may all have been from different cliques in SG but this group seems to have "upgraded" a notch in closeness (or at least that's what I feel at the moment). Now that sch has started, we have been separated into our different fields, but in the first 1.5 weeks we were this herd of lost sheep roaming around the place, going for events together and choosing not to go for others, also together.

And for the first time, I have known utter irresponsibility. I guess it wouldn't have been the first time, but when I give my trust, it takes multiple disappointments before I cannot forgive again. So yes, there is an unpleasant person in question, and this person has failed to do many things, including giving basic respect to others. One should treat others like one wants to be treated, so basically, and sadly, this person deserves no respect from anyone at all.

I've started climbing again!!! Properly!!! So I've joined Imperial College Mountaineering Club (ICMC) and the plan is to climb 2-3 times a week for as long as I can. Made friends with some SG people, and this will be my climbing family until I go back to UMC. [I think we tend to gravitate towards ppl from our own country. 90% of my new friends are like from SG.] After 4 months of nearly-no climbing in Derby, I've regressed a lot. In my first two sessions I spent a lot of time on the mat coz I couldn't do much with my unconditioned fingers and unseasoned feet. And it was really quite painful. But coming back is still faster than learning from scratch i.e. noticeable improvement which is always nice. I should get a training plan from somewhere if I still want to compete next year, although the fingerboards are placed damn high up (~2m). And there's always cake on Wed sessions, baked by the club seniors :P

Went for my hall boat party on the night of 12th Sept. Was quite a cool event, with everyone dressed in formal. Winter coat activated for the first time as well, as it rained the whole night (from when we left hall till we were walking back) and it was quite cold. There was a short respite during the boat journey that allowed us to go to the upper deck and watch the riverside lights of London go past. Most of the SG group (Singaporeans really tend to clump together hahaha) are not party/drinking people, so we spent the night having our own brand of fun i.e. guessing-games. I think anyone else would've thought we were the most boring bunch ever, but whatever, I was quite happy doing whatever I was doing ^^.

I recently finished reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, one of my favourite authors. It is a children's book, but I recommend it to anyone of any age, because it's really not v difficult to enjoy a story about adventures in the course of growing up (in a graveyard). The episodic nature of the book also makes it great for those who don't read regularly, like I read it on my phone whenever I'm bored or alone.

Still meaning to write a post on the post-internship road trip. But that's still quite a few days in the making.

Other random news includes multiple shopping trips for groceries/necessities, mingling with freshers (some of them 3 years younger than me), and going for free food, and more free food. J and I crashed a mass BBQ meant for another hall (they didn't check and there was so much food anyway). Students are attracted to free food like bees to honey. Droves and droves of bees which know how to queue. I've always associated queuing with SG, but like many things, the queues seem so much bigger here. Lastly, I seem to have become semi-used to the British keyboard and sometimes find myself trying to key in a double quotation mark on my laptop using the @ key.