play until midnight

I see by reading Dessa's blog that I am Miss Pink! :D  I guess it's because I'm a girly girl.  We went to a restaurant on Edgware Road last week, to a place called Abu Zaad, where she ordered in Arabic, which I thought was pretty cool.  I'm not confident enough in my Chinese speaking ability to be able to order in a restaurant.  The food was yummy, and very well priced.  It was good to have a chat and see peolle I hadn't seen for a little while.  With the use of N's iphone, we were able to look at facebook and hot friends.  Sadly, I could not think of any :(


It was graduation last week; went along as I was in the library and SAF.  Saw many people in their gowns, saw a few friends and familiar faces... I can't wait to graduate!


I have done much work this week... lectures and the like, reading and writing... I feel a bit overwhelmed by  the first module.  Although, when I started my placements last year at NP and CX, I had lots of information thrown at me at one time, so it seemed stressful but going through it, it wasn't too bad.  I am hoping that that is what this year will be like.


Went to see the new Heath Ledger film.  Yes I have referred to it as this, because
a) if I say "The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassuss" most people won't know what I mean
b) everyone knows who Heath Ledger is
c) it's easier to say


It was good because it was very different.  All the characters were played very well.  Tom Waits was an excellent Devil, and Lily Cole was great as Valentina.  She has an alien like look about her, which is probably why she got scouted.  I love her though.  She's very pretty.  But the story kinda.... I didn't understand what happened in one bit, where the Devil and Valentina are dancing, and then she goes through the wrong door.


Had a general knowledge quiz from P the other night, as he asked me how did I rate my general knowledge.  He then proceeded to ask me what I thought were specialist knowledge questions.  It made me feel a little dumb, but I think I'm happier with someone who knows much more than I do.  My one general knowledge question for him.. he got wrong though.  I at least got a few right.


It has become insanely cold and I realise that I am totally not prepared.  What have i done for the past three years then?  I must have worn something!  But now I look at my wardrobe and all I can see is summery stuff.


Went to buy a travelcard from the station except the student part of my student oyster got cancelled...  Because I have a young persons railcard, I am entitled to an extra 33% off from daily price capping, so I had it loaded a few weeks ago.  Today, the lady charged me almost £65 for a travelcard (was almost painful!) and told me to ring the oyster helpline.


So the man was not useful at all; told me to go back to the station and transfer the travelcard to another oyster (which I had to pay for) and then wait for a new oyster in the post.  Anyway.  The long and short of it was that the man who loaded the YP railcard CANCELLED my student discount on my STUDENT OYSTER (I was not even aware such a thing is POSSIBLE before the expiry date!!) but I was helped by a very nice ticket agent who
a) gave me a full refund, even though he said I'd lose £3.40
b) reloaded my student discount
c) fixed the railcard problem!


Say what you like about TfL and the buses that are delayed and tube strikes and tube maintenance at weekends, and rude staff, and crazy prices (er, actually, that's a lot to complain about) but my opinion has totally changed.  I didn't lose any money, it only took an hour to sort out (half of that was on the phone and half of that phone time was waiting in a queue!) so I went home and wrote a thankyou comment on the TfL website, and requested that it be sent to the man who helped me.


I am sooo glad I have 3 years (including this one!) of studentship to go :)  Discounts, no council tax, cheap stuff, free stuff, cheap transport.... YAY! =)


What else..... I think I am ill.  But in that halfway house phase where I know I have symptoms but nothing that's outwardly obvious so no one believes me.  I would just like to be ill already and get it over with.  Ooh, that reminds me.  I have not done those note things for a while... maybe soon.


Been looking for more girly films to download, and also want to expand my nail polish collection.  It's currently 2. :(  So I shall publish my Christmas wishlist very soon.

i've been a bit of a mystery...

Sorry I haven't updated in a while... I feel like I haven't written for ages.  Usually, I queue up posts, and publish them at a scheduled later date.  I mean, for more frequent updates, check my twitter or talk to me!!  I had my first Belly Dancing session today; it was free because it was to garner interest.  I went with Isma; I loved it!!!  It was really fun :D  I wouldn't say easy as the instructor would do one thing with her hips to one rhythm and do something else with her hands to another rhythm and that confused me a bit as it made me want to do it in synchrony.  I guess it comes down to practice.  So then after the session, I and I went to buy membership and a block of classes.  So I can get fit.. and learn... how to dance?  Except I'd never show anybody.


Been working away, lectures and essays and critical appraisals.  My course organiser gave us the bare minimum of guidance for the critical appraisal.. in that he told us what it was and what people do in them.  It was difficult.  Essay... er... yeah.  Work... going okay.


No crazy dreams that I remember.  Been feeling REALLY cold lately.  Had to sleep with both my duvets over me (I better add here that I have two duvets on my bed.  Well technically three.  There's one that goes on the mattress and under the fitted sheet, because it's better for my back and traps heat in it.  Then I have a single one for my own personal use because I (apparently) get territorial when I sleep.  And the third is the normal one that matches the pillowcases, it's a double) and a thick blanket.  And I got really grumpy last night when P tried to move as he let cold air in!  And the radiator was on full blast as well.


Despite not having finished a book I am reading at the moment: The Girl Next Door by Elizabeth Noble, I am looking for more books to read :)  Is Dan Brown's new one any good?  I guess I'll wikipedia it...


A, I and I had a really fun conversation today at lunch... we reminisced about firms and OSCE's and about O&G and sections and deliveries... and then I randomly came out with "when do you think is the best time to get married?"  Because in our intended career, it is difficult to take long lengths of time out for your own personal use... everything is career oriented.  You have a duty to your staff and to your patients.  For anyone, there is never a right time to get married... not an alarm that goes off that tells you when it's time to get married.  But for female doctors it is harder.  Because we have to balance a work and family lifestyle, involving children.


So we discussed when was the most suitable time to get married, and when to have children... and other career like things.  After all, these decisions will become pertinent to us in a few years.  Anju and I were quite good friends in first year and then we kind of drifted away a bit.  But because now we are both doing the same BSc, I feel like I have gotten to know her again :-D


Having never been to a wedding ever, I have taken it upon myself to ask many people I know to get married, in the hope that I get to go to their wedding.  And NO, it does not count if I go to my own wedding.  It's different.  I wouldn't get to check out everyone's outfits and gossip, because I'd be expected to smile and cry at the right times, and look radiant.  So if you know me and are reading this, please would you get married?  I'm not saying go out and marry the first person you see... just... get a girl/boyfriend, date for awhile and then marry.  P is of the age where many of his friends are getting married.  But I am not yet, but I want to go to weddings!  I want to be a bridesmaid or wear pretty dresses.


Gave the new BLG album a listen a couple of weekends ago.  I really love it.  My new favourite song is "Chemicals Collide" because it has a lovely meaning.


Er.... what else is there to say?  No real gossip of noteworthy news, meeting up with friends tomorrow, need a coat...


I made a Christmas wishlist a few days ago too!!!! It is not long or extensive, 75% of it being books (there are 4 things on it so far)....  I never know if it's okay to give Christmas presents to my friends... I suspect they'd never go for it, and I know it sounds selfish, but I don't want to be the only one to give presents and not to receive any... and then I'd look strange as all my friends would be like "why is she giving me a present?"

i've got a couple of addictions,

but i swear that i'm coming clean;

i've got a new way of thinking,

yeah you're bringing out the best in me

i wish that i could turn this car around

Not had a weird dream in a while.


Was on a cruise ship in Barbados with N, C, M, Jenny and this random guy.  We found our suite, which was a three bedroom one.  C and I took one, and N and M took the other.  This must have meant J + randomer took the last one but I don't remember them doing so.  The rooms were very big, with a huge double bed each, they were light in color and were ensuite.  The rooms were all connected, and there were no doors between them, so people could easily walk between them.  There was obviously a main door.


So we put a load of clothes in the washing machine in our suite on in the evening, and then went to sleep. C slept one way in the bed, and I slept the other way.  During the night C grabbed my foot, and I had a hard time getting it off her without waking her.  Even though I was asleep, I could hear M coming over to try to tickle me during the night :S and then J asked that because S had asked us to bring some clothes over so we could wash them for her, could she use them to pad out a load of clothes to do another wash?  She was holding the pile of S's clothes, some of which were red.  Then I folded my white top with bows on and added it.  Then I asked, why are we all awake at this time anyway?  As it was dark, but I checked my phone and it was 10am.


We all went to breakfast, in this very ornate part of the boat.  There were tables with white cloths, and basically we could have anything we wanted for breakfast.  So I was sat on a table on one side, with M and the random guy on the other.  He had blonde/ginger hair, was quite pale and had blue eyes.  We made small talk, then I asked how he knew N.  By my asking this, I somehow figured out that N had paid for us all to come on this cruise ship around the Carribean.  Anyway, he said "from last year", meaning that last year N and C had come to Barbados and he met them then.  I was confused, asking him if that meant that he lived in Barbados, but he said he was from Marseilles, making him a Marseillian (don't even know if that is the right word, but that's what I thought of hiim as in my dream).  So he kept talking, and I was like, "I KNOW!  You have an Irish sounding accent!"  Then he asked me about where my parents were from.  I explained they were from Vietnam, and were refugees and came to England - I've told everyone this story, so I'll skip how they got to England.  And I said, now I live in London but was born in Manchester.  When he looked quizzical, I added, "that's in the north of England".


It was soon lunch, and M and I were sat down at the side of the huge ship, and I reached up for some reason and knocked this huge blue decorated pole off the ship.  I had a huge panic, and went to find the owner of the ship.  I went past this group of people who were practising a dance for the evening's entertainment, and asked someone just standing around who was the owner of the ship.  He then took me to a man dressed in a navy blue suit, and introduced me to Stephen Wang, president of some association (I don't remember what it was). I then introduced myself, in a very medical student way.  "Hi, I'm Carol, I'm from England but my parents are from Vietnam.  Thankyou for inviting me on this ship.  I'm really really really really really really really really really really sorry, but I've kind of damaged your ship."  Then I brought him to show him where I had knocked the pole off and on the way promised that if any costs were incurred, I would pay for it.  But he was like, oh it doesn't matter.  So I showed him the blue pole in the water, except it had gone... :(  And he said, it doesn't matter, no one will notice.  I then went, "but it matches the red one!" (on the other side of the ship) but then said, well no one noticed me knock it off, hope that's okay.


After, I went to rejoin M for my lunch and he was talking to T and told me that N and C had gone for a nap because they were "special" (his word).

stars and satellites

After the mania of Freshers Fair yesterday, R and I went for afternoon tea at the V&A, across the road from I.  The light looking thing (chandelier?) in the main entrance is beautiful.... it's been there ages, hasn't it?  Never having really explored the V&A before, I wasn't really familiar with anything in it.  But anyway.  I brought about the sale of R's spare Michael McIntyre tickets (it was a real headache) so he bought me two pieces of cake and we shared some tea.  It was lovely, because the room is so ornate and grand, just for a cafe.  Here are some pictures: (the last one if the thing in the main entrance)

Anyway.  It was lovely to have a nice chat.  Even though I see R quite often, we don't really get to stop and talk about things.  So maybe we should make this a regular thing.  After all, if we don't keep meeting up, we're just going to lose touch with everybody. :(




Images: google images

there is a.....

hot library guy working at the Central Library; he has really pretty eyes.  Speaking of hot people, I forgot to mention how in Obs &Gynae there seem to be lots of hot doctors :D  When I was on my elective over the summer, there were three or four hot obs/gyn doctors.  And to complete the list of hotness, I think emo haircuts can look quite good too :) y'know, a la Rhys Ashworth from Hollyoaks or Martin from BLG.

 

I had a very odd dream where I was Kristen Stewart as Bella in Twilight (do not ask me how this even came about) and somehow we had all died (my family) and then Edward/Robert Pattinson needed to go and check something at this school.  After rifling through lots of papers, he suddenly found one which stated that he was paying his best friend's daughter's school fees, and signing the payslip, which somehow meant that now she wasn't able to stay at the school.

This morning I had a very odd dream, where I was going to R's house, and I was an au pair for these three children.  So we were going up the stairs, and I remarked how it didn't look like the way to his front door, and he replied that it was a back way, and lead into an office which belonged to his dad.  But it was in his flat. (?)  Anyway.  On the way up the stairs, he found a sweater and gave it to me, and I promptly put it on but the cuffs were too small for my hands to get through.  It looked like this.

And then one of the children I was au pairing for said that she had a maid and I was shocked that families still had maids.

My friends and I want to go to a restaurant called Dans le Noir? which is where you choose from a set of four menu colours, and you are served and eat in the dark, and blind people help and serve you as they orientate themselves better in the dark, not having that sense already.  It is interesting and is certainly a novel concept.  I've been wanting to go for aaaages :(  And then I think you find out what you have eaten afterwards.  It seems fun because a lot of our eating is done with our eyes, in that we decide if something tastes good based on the flavours and what it looks like and how the food is presented.  Perhaps we would lose our prejudices about certain foods, were we to eat in the dark.

And also, commuting from my flat to HH several times a week gives me an interesting insight into the concept of personal space.  When you're walking down the street, you do not walk very close to someone, unless you're with them.  On the bus, it is often necessary to stand close to people, yet people are very hesitant to do so, even though it would create more room for other people to stand.  The bus is still a more... formal way of transport, even though that is not the right phrase for what I want to say.  I mean, people often like to have their own two seats, and sit next to the window... and then when others get on, they tend to prefer to take seats that have no one on them already.  But on the tube, there is often no sense of personal space.. people stand very close to each other, and you hear things you don't want to, see things you're not supposed to.  I dislike the tube, even though it is so convenient.  I just don't like the idea of not knowing where I am going, in the sense of seeing things around me as I am travelling.

Went to see The Four Seasons at the Royal Albert Hall last night.  Was very fun. The orchestra were dressed in 18th century (?) style clothes, and the music was very vivacious.  Then we went to Oddono's.. best ice cream place ever ever, and sat outside there talking for an hour, then A, R and I tried to do the Telegraph crossword.

Images: all from google images

Linux vs Windows

Having a computer programming computational physics numerical analysis person for a boyfriend, you might expect that I too would be biased towards using Linux as an operating system.  Linux is commonly known as an operating system for people who want to do computer programming and samesuch topics.


But in fact, I actually hated using Linux on his computer when I was at his house.  It was just different to mine, and it didn't have Microsoft Office on it, instead having Open Office, which is an operating system transferable program but it doesn't have the same functions and took me ages to get used to it.  We used to talk about why I still had Windows, when clearly it was a lot slower.  But I stayed with Windows, because that's what I grew up with.  It was what I was used to.  It looked pretty and I could customise it.


But P never tried to make me use Linux.  He'd never try and sway my opinion because I can be quite stubborn.  But the more I thought about it, the more advantages I could see to it.


I mean, why do people use Windows?  Because it's what they're used to.  Why did P use Windows?  So he could play computer games because the graphics are better.  But I do not play them.  All my computer usage relies on the Internet or saved stuff.


And you know how Blackberry got really big?  Even though it used to be associated purely with business people?  Well, there is potential for Linux.  But it seems to be only popular with people well versed in computers and computer language.  But it is such a small sector of the OS market because people do not realise that option is there.


Windows is good because lots of programs are designed for Windows use.  It does seem to be getting better with each new OS.  It's easy to use and you can play computer games.  Many schools use it, so kids take it to it so easily.  It is exceptionally user friendly.  But you need antivirus software and you need to buy a lot of the programs as they don't come for free.  And you have to go and buy it, or get a disc and install it.


Linux is better because it's free.. you can download it off the website for free, burn it on a CD and that's it.  You just install something from a disc maybe once or twice a year.  Everything is free to download, and even better, I have something (all Linux users have this) called Package Manager, which is a list of 1000000 (or a big number) of programs that you can install.  So all I need to do is look at that list and see what I want.  I don't need to get any discs or anything.  AND it categorises it on my program list for me automatically.


There are NO viruses because the way Linux is written makes it very very difficult to write a virus.  Windows was designed originally with holes, and even though they are being fixed, viruses can still get in.  So I don't need to download anything to protect me from viruses.  But in the offchance that something awry may happen, I have a security patch but have never needed to quarantine something.


Firefox, which apparently was designed for Linux users at the beginning, is the same.  Everything works the same.  A version of MSN, Firefox, all the google apps... everything looks the same.  The biggest visual difference is that the "start" bar with all the things on it is at the top, like on a Mac.


There is huge scope for customisation.  A laptop with Linux on it is substantially cheaper than one with Windows on it, because of the licence you "buy" along with the laptop.  And it is hard to revoke that.


It looks a lot cleaner, you can have more than one desktop... i.e. you have your normal desktop but if you have too many things you can move it to another.  Think of it like a cube. Your desktop is a cube, but you only use one face.  But you can move things as you wish to the side or bottom or top with ease.


The philosophy is different.  Microsoft's intent is to make money.  Linux just shares free software.  Like wikipedia sharing knowledge.


The version of Linux I use irons out bugs every six or seven months and comes out with a new update.  How often does a new Windows OS come out and not fail?  AND if I decide I do not like the new version, when I boot up my computer, all I do is select the old one from a menu that shows up everytime I switch it on.  It's not easy to change back to the older version of Windows once you've installed the new one.  And of course, programming and such things are way easier to do on Linux.  YOU can make changes to Linux and tell them and they include it in their next update.  Windows does not take much feedback from their users.


Linux is compatible with many Windows destined machines, like mine (except now I would like to remove the latter).  But for those who are unsure, you can SPLIT your hard drive.  Mine is something like 50:50.  AND I can access and edit my Windows files on Linux.  Simple.


Not being an Apple user (I don't own or use anything by Apple and I don't believe in anything they stand for... in fact you can google it yourself.  I'm not linking their page), I am not sure about using Linux on Apple.  But because Mac has their own OS and it's not very Windows compatible, I don't imagine it would be easy.  They have their own machines with their own OS.


The main reasons why I use Linux is because it is so much quicker....don't need to load stupid programs upon start up... no viruses... everything's free....  But mostly the speed thing.  I used to hate it when my Windows was slow.  But now I can start up my computer from it being switched off in 30 seconds or less.


It's so sad that Linux is such a small share of the OS market, although figures may be underestimated, as Windows users must register their copy, but you don't need to do that for Linux.  I wish more people knew about it, or gave it a chance.  I hated it at first because it was different but it is so easy to pick up.




xo


P.S.  No one made me write this, I don't know much about computers either.  This is just how I feel.

credit: googleimages