Growing up gracefully

Growing old is quite daunting for a number of us. It has come to a point where many of us third year students have to start making decisions about what the fo' we're going to do with our lives-Masters? London? Travelling? Dole? Of course you naturally lose track of time and we forget that we've actually evolved from freshers to third years. Last night like old farts, some friends and I sat around pre drinking and reminiscing about the past 2 and a bit years. Curiously I thought what best to talk about whilst we're on the subject of uni memories: first impressions.

My first impressions on everybody I met in my first year have obviously changed. If a person hasn't matured in the slightest since being at uni, then there is someting fundementally wrong with them if they haven't learnt a single thing about adulthood. But my friends and I have definitely all changed in some way. For me, I'm better with money (call it an improvement)and I simply don't like going out as much. Last night I sat still with a full glass of vodka and cherryade after 20mins. Firstly, why the hell haven't I got through my drink already, secondly, come 11pm I just want to crawl into bed and watch TV. I'm a far cry from who I was in first year.

First year was mental...absolutely mental. I lived up to James Dean's quote 'dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today'. I didn't really care if I went into uni or not, granted I would feel guilty, nothing a game of pool wouldn't lift the gloom away. I lived in a house in first year with only 3 lads, as you can imagine the bathroom was horrendous and the kitchen was a never ending cesspit of takeaways from the night before. First impressions of us: complete indie kids. The way we dressed, the only genre of music we listened to seemed to be a broken record of indie rock, and our obsession with jamming in our living room. Roll on summer of first year and we come back and things had completely changed. Friendship groups were slowly parting right under our noses and things became really chilled. We started believing that going out was just a fad, 'fuck going out' was our new thing.

Come a year later and we're in that same position of deciding whether or not to get absolutely sloshed. It was Valentines last night so I guess it was appropriate for my single friends to find a nice girl and settle for a romantic dance and whatever comes after. So we're dancing away, I'm becoming increasingly aware that I'm among loads of freshers and I begin to feel quite...old. Between my friends we have established that once you get to third year that 'freshness' and enthusiasm is kind of diminished like a 90 year old granny's libido. I'm not saying we don't have fun, but we don't have as many 'effortless' fun nights that seemed to have occurred every night in first year.

Suddenly one song came on and teleported me back in time to my first year in that same club singing along to the foals. And there we were, my one and only house mate (that managed to go onto second year) howling 'cassius its over, you're second best, cassius its over, you're second best, second best second best'.


Everything was rather cheery after touching familiar grounds. The Foals, The Killers 'Mr Brightside', Black eyed peas 'I gotta a feeling' and Dizzee Rascal 'bonkers' summed up the music in first year. M83 a new band apparently got everyone in high spirits, and I caught a sudden realisation that I haven't kept up with indie music since first year. I fell in love with this from the first time it came on. I can't really expplain why this song makes me feel all sentimental, but some songs just replace the words with music to extract certain emotions.



I guess that in my last year I've learnt that growing old and leaving uni is scary, daunting, but exciting. I should enjoy the time that I've got left and relish the good memories. I don't need to chase after the past nor live up to my 18 yr old antics, just chill and accept that I can't stomach £1.21 Sainsburys cider any more nor not wearing a coat to save a quid on cloakroom. Now that's growing up gracefully.

Snowy Leicester

The snow started to fall on Saturday whilst I was still mooching about in Morrisons, It wasn't until today that I saw how deep it was.

I absolutely despise snow for many reasons: 1)its just a nuisance. 2)its too cold. 3)by the next day its all just slush that turns into ice. Thats probably the worst thing about it all. Everything then becomes a slippery mess with ice patches aiming to make you surrender and fall to the ground like a bag of shit in front of everyone. Bitter? Only slightly.

However, snow makes brilliant landscape photos, so I took my slr on a snowy day trip around the park.










Welcome to the slush...

A fortnight in a nutshell vol.2

Please pardon my laziness again. Yet again I've not made time to update my blog, but I'm going to make this one reasonably long to make up for it. (Although I think it would be best if I do weekly summaries and midweek shorter posts?-would that be better?)

To start things off, my body is in actual pain. I joined the gym last friday and I've been going to a different workout classes nearly every evening. Ive been finding aerobics and BTL (bums, tums, legs) bearable, however, I may have over did it on a thursday body blitz session. I was told I won't break sweat, just intense toning; so I was like okay, I could do with toning...bad f**cking idea. As a beginner into the world of exercising, this workout was way too intense. I'm recovering though, with the help of Neal's Yard Ginger and Juniper warming oil. Its a really nice oil rub to soothe all those stiff and tired parts. The smell is quite strong: juniper smells for me in between rosemary and lavender. I got this for my mum a few years back for when she gets achey after a summer's day gardening, but she's neglected my £11 a bottle rub so I've taken it to uni where it won't go to waste.



Secondly, my knees are a mess, not so much in pain anymore but damn it's horrible to look at. I travelled to hilly hilly Sheffield last weekend to visit my best friend who's at uni there for a night out. Of course this ended badly as we decided to treck home in the early hours of the morning, in our heels, holding doner meat and chips that followed a sequence of me falling over about a dozen of times in the club and then the streets. Hence this is why my knees looks like this...


I've said before that I "live to eat". I love eating anything and everything (I'm chinese-theres not much I don't like). I'm going to post daily nom noms and meal deals here; here's a showcase of what I've discovered this week:

Macaroons! They are quite expensive in London and even in Starbucks, ranging from £2.50 to £4 a single macaroon! It was considered a 'food holiday' for me, you sort of need to save up for one when you could get a whole cake for less. But I've solved this predicament now as M&S do 12 macaroons for only £5! It's brilliant. I can't taste much difference from M&S and Ladurée. Except for the loss of Ladurée's pretty packaging you're left with yummy macaroons that won't hurt the bank.



This probably isn't news but Tescos sell Red Velvet cupcakes: 2 for £1.60 I think. However, regardless of the price, they never seem to have any everytime I go in. But this time I managed to snag the last box. Verdict: delicious sickly goodness.



When I'm not lurking about in the reduced section of M&S you'll find me roaming about in Morrisons. I popped into Morrisons over the weekend for a lookabout that ended up lasting 1 and a half hours and £40 down. But alas, I came home with a new hand held blender and a 2 course meal with a bottle of wine for 2, for only £10.





This meal deal is the same offer in you can get at M&S: you get a main, a side, dessert, and a bottle of wine. As much as I love the M&S meal for 2, Morrisons taste slightly better. Maybe becuase we got something different from what we normally get; we got pork belly with cider jus rather than the repetitive chicken and steak mains. For dessert we got tiramisu and sherry trifle with a bottle of red.

If you're near a Morrisons this deal is definitely worth a try, as M&S don't always have £10 meal deals for 2 on everyday.

My Chinese New Year Explained

It's this time of year again, the wonderful year of the Dragon has arrived. I'm born in the year of the Goat but needless to say the Dragon is always the favourite zodiac. So, if you're born in 1952/1964/1976/1988/2000/2012 then lucky you, you belong in the year of the Dragon. If you're superstitious then you will find that in this year you will shine and benefit from it the most. Meh, I'm not sure about that.

When it comes to superstitions I would say I'm only very partial to the idea. I always avoid 3 drains and step on 2 for luck and that's about it. I guess when I woke up this morning I wanted to be more 'aware', as in I wanted to make more of an effort to understand my culture and 'supersitiions'. And I'm glad I did, I learnt a few things about the dishes we eat during this festive period.

Every household is different according to your own family's tradition. But before I start, I just want to mention that my dad is very superstitious, superstition is his religion (ha! excuse the pun). So here's my Chinese dinner explained (chinese translation is in Cantonese)...



There are 6 dishes. It can be 5,6 or 9 dishes never 7.



Salt and chilli prawns. Prawns are called 'ha' in cantonese which mean 'haha' as in laughter. Aka start the year with 'haha' and laughter, bringing smiles and happiness into the new year.



Fried fish (which will be left overnight in the rice sack). Fish translates to 'yu' and in this case yu means fortune. We don't eat this tonight as its left in the rice sack to roll over into tomorrow. 'Yu' represents 'left over' (usually in the sense of having extra money left over) aka prosperity, wealth and fortune.



Standard chicken with ginger and spring onion dip. A very common traditional Chinese meat dish. We tend to have this on any possible occasion so I guess it's on the menu for tradtion's sake.



Another traditional dish called 'hoi mei'. It consists of dried seafood such as oysters and scallops etc. There's also a rare delicacy called 'fat choi' which is a plant that grows in a specific area of China and a ban has recently been issued on picking these delicacies. The saying 'fat choi' is commomly said in greetings wishing for wealth as 'choi' translates to fortune. There is a bed of lettuce on the bottom of the dish which is called 'sang choi' as 'sang' means grow, so the lettuce represents growing wealth. Phew, that dish was a mouthful.



Flowers are a big thing to have around new years. The flower budding and opening represents growth and prosperity.

We'll also enjoy homemade and festive snacks like these fried seasame with red bean paste balls.


Finally to end the night with, the lights downstairs in our hall landing will be left on all night. The lights represent a bright new year. Hope this has been as interesting as it has been for me.

Kung Hei Fat Choi. May the year of the Dragon bring you happiness, health and fortune.

A fortnight in a nutshell

What a mad mad 2 weeks since going back to uni. After making a promise to myself in September that I won't succumb to any more all nighters, well, it happened again. Hence why I've been so slack and not updated in a while.



With another set of double deadlines due in next month, I thought I'll commit chocolate/cake suicide in one night.



In celebrating my all nighter the next day I swiftly went shopping and picked up a pair of boots. I've wanted a pair of boots that I could wear out on a night out and casually, so I settled for these Topshop beauties.






It was £76 and I was really adamant about getting them, I just couldn't justify spending that much on pair of shoes, but, I persuaded myself that a girl needs 5 kinds of footwear:

Sandals
Flats
Sneakers
Heels
Boots

The list are essentials and I suppose I need a pair of overpriced boots to feed my list. Regardless of the price, people who know me knows I follow one mantra: I wear/use something for 'X' amount of times at the price I got it for, e.g. I buy a top for £28 I'll wear it 28 times. I don't have to adhere to a strict 'x' amount of times, I could always buy something expensive and wear it 50 times or sometimes wear it 10 times which would work out to £2.80 a time hahaha you get my drift. This formula always works and makes me feel better when I over spend, and to be honest, it's a good coping machanism when I see my bank balance. Try it sometime and see if it works for you.

Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol

This epic flick landed in our cinemas on Boxing day and currently to date holds the number spot at the box office, overtaking Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. I can't remember the last time I'd watched Mission Impossible and couldn't remember much of the storyline so I was going in 'fresh' and open minded about the film. I had only read the rave reviews from critics that had made me to want to see it.

The film begins with agent Ethan Hunt escaping from prison only to discover that the reason for his escape is not that simple. There is an explosion in the Kremlin in Moscow and Hunt is believed to be the main suspect for causing the damage. The plot then takes off with the information that Hunt is given by his boss, the IMF secretary: he is to complete this mission without any back up as he is now a fugitive, contact, plan and choice. His team is not only under the pressure of time but also the eye of the Russian police and the decieving mask of the enemy.

As far as thriller-action films go, we never expect an emotional impact from the actors, which is the forfeit that action films accept-its either action or romance-both are usually absolute fails. M.I.4 is filled with mindblowing action around a cliché action formula-one intelligent nutter intends to blow up the world and a secret agent and his hottie et al are going to save the day. But what you see is far from just the ordinary bang-bangs and explosives, even the gadgets are refreshing and different it adds another layer of 'coolness' into the secret service mix.

Expect epic explosions, sand storms and a hell of a lot more kick ass stunts that are actually done by the man himself, Tom Cruise. He really did his own nail biting stunts on the tallest building of the world, Burj Khalifa. The stunts pulled are all so over the top and unimaginable, which makes it work, they don't call it mission impossible if its just any ordinary task.

Director Brad Bird did a great job at keeping us in suspense. He takes the plot to different exotic locations, racking up a grand sum of air miles to Russia, Dubai and Mumbai. The plot constantly moves forward keeping the stunts coming and thats what I love about it, there isn't a moment to spare and it kept me interested. Ok the storyline is nothing groundbreaking but the chief thrill of stopping the evil genius is gripping. There is the constant gamble of 'will he won't he' make it scenarios that keeps us entertained and in the moment we hold our breathe, surely that gives the film some credit. He may not be as suave as Daniel Craig, but personally I think he's far more entertaining than him. it definitely serves to thrill us. This is a must see and a great action blockbuster to start the New Year with.

So-Called Resolutions.

Since rolling over to 2012 I've managed to stack up 2 sessions of Amazon shopping. Main purchases were for my demanding English course and the rest, well, were pure bargains I just couldn't help myself. Since starting uni nearly 3 years ago I've barely dedicated any time to reading for my own pleasure, aka something not on my course. The last book I'd slugged through out of choice was Atonement by Ian McEwan, a big mistake and regrettably did NOT make a enjoyable summer holiday read.

This year I'm going to try and committ myself to read a book I like. I may call this my new years 'resolution', but at the same time I shouldn't think of this as a chore becuase chores are meant to be unpleasant and done unwillingly, it will help calm my nerves by drifting into the thrilling fantasies of Larsson's triliogy.

I've accumulated a haul of books to get through in the next couple of months. I've managed to snag Stieg Larsson's Millenium triology for the price of one shelf price, two of which only costed me 1p...1 penny for a book, I couldn't believe it! Even with the £2.80 p&p its still pretty awesome. I've heard so many positive reviews and praise about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, so it's about time I jump on the band wagon. Altough I do have a tendancy of leaving the last edition of a series, i.e. I still haven't got round to reading Breaking Dawn and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I've already refused to watch the film until I've read them.

Another descent pick-me-up at the moment are magazine deals. I've realised that more regularly Cosmo offer twin packs usually with Company magazine. It's nice to see different publications merging together to form 'super' packs, I picked up this mammoth pack from WhSmiths in London Victoria which contained Elle, Cosmopolitan and company for £6.99 saving £1.30.