Here's a taster of a few good times we had when we were not too busy with work...

Social outing in Chinatown with my Christian Cell Group. Had 8 bowls of rice after playing hardcore badminton with Alvin (the guy third from the right)...and was still hungry!

This was taken in a farewell rave in a gay club (!). Don't ask me why, it just happened there!

Group photo at a potluck dinner. The girl on the far left was the one for whom we organised the gay club rave cos she had to go back to HK with reluctance =(

Continuing from my Cell group social outing, we just managed to gorge on almost 40 quid worth of ice-cream. Was definitely NOT hungry after that =P

A 'just linsteadian medics' photo. This was taken during a River Thames Cruise...a smart occasion.

Me and Sonia, a quasi-medic (actually a biochem). I live above her room and a true HK-er!

Photo with some of the singaporeans before going to a posh 'coming up' dinner. Tough guys, considering they did NS in Singapore before coming here!

A pseudo-medics photo, mixed in with some a mech, a biomed, an aero, a maths whizz, and a gate-crasher!

First photo of the year (dunno why it's placed last here) with singaporean, Joanne. Shopaholic, chocoholic and cuddly-toy-o-holic =P...Nice!

Rollercoaster of emotions

This week has been quite a rollercoaster...don't know where to start. I have certainly expanded my cooking repertoire, from omelettes for one, to stir-fried rice, stir-fried lamb with ginger and spring onion, and garlic mushrooms for six, as well as tempura! Recently made italian meatballs from scratch with home-made tomato sauce...it is so nice to release one's creativity not only through cooking, but also through music and art. So what's next? I guess i can give desserts a try...

This week, my behaviour became more tempestuous...wasn't angry all the time, but had some of the most unusual mood swings without any particular reasons. Just came up spontaneously, ranging from happiness and joy to anger and depression. Yesterday was the worst day...had a fever in the morning and had to commute back to my old school up north in the afternoon. Was in a pretty depressed mood and these things just fuelled me up with anger and had to say felt really, really shit! (excuse my language, only way to describe it). After watching a comedy play produced by the college, i felt better and went into deep personal reflection. I realised that when i was in my depressed phase, i really had nothing to be depressed about...God has so blessed my life with so many things, particularly with friends and family. I'm so thankful to have people who can tolerate my enigmatic, unpredictable character, and really do love me for who I am. I just feel I don't deserve any of it cos I don't want to hurt anybody and so cannot have that many close connections. (Man now i'm really crying!) I really thank you all...

Recently, i've been listening to a lot of emotional ballads. 2 of them i found most touching and profound: 'Your Song' by Elton John, and 'With or Without You' by U2. Just wanna share the lyrics. Enjoy...

Your song

It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

With or Without You

See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I wait for you

Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you

With or without you
With or without you

Through the storm we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And Im waiting for you

With or without you
With or without you
I cant live
With or without you

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

My hands are tied
My body bruised, shes got me with
Nothing to win and
Nothing left to lose

Week gone by and...

Time really flies in unis, whether ur having fun or not. The end of one week is just a breath away, patterns and routines have changed so rapidly, and there are people you want to be with that u know u can't because of different paths at different times. It's frustrating, and many times i allow myself to go into bouts of anger and hate. It's so hard to cling on to one's faith when u feel u have no control over things u want to have and things u want to happen. Regrets have become more abundant and many times i wish i could turn back the hands of time. This is how i feel now...People i have made friends in the beginning have slowly become ones that just pass by, with polite greetings being the only conversation u'll ever have with them...the feelings of being drifted away from old friends until they become figures of ur imagination are ever increasing. Once again im in a phase of loneliness, insecurity emotionally and spiritually, and isolation from others to keep myself from hurting them. It is a major flaw of my enigmatic character that i can do nothing about, facing personal demons that I cannot get rid of...something that has troubled me for years...yet i have to face this alone...it is a depressing state of mind...

As much as i love to learn...things are getting tad boring!

Whenever bored, write a blog! Thats whats happening now...reading my lecture slides and getting sick of doing them now...would like some written work or something. Maybe some organic chemistry or biology...my hands need to do some writing. With everyone so busy, it's so difficult to get everyone together. Despite having pot luck dinners, something always has to happen...sigh.

However, managed to make some tempura! (happy dance!). Doing something from scratch is really nice, though it did cost me a whole bottle of vegetable oil, as well as some misfortunate slices of vegetables that got into some REALLY hot oil in the beginning and flash fried to a crisp. (my plastic chopsticks got melted in the oil after 10 seconds...). Thank the Lord that the fire alarm didn't go off! Now got the batter mixture and oil temperature right, made some very nice tempura...saving it for next potluck :P

In a major dilemma regarding priorities...havetomissfirstfruitsfellowshipfortabletennistrainingandthusneedanotherfellowshipintheformoflinsteadcellgroupinmyhallsbuttheproblemisthatihavetomissmysymphonyorchestrarehersalthatimkeenondoingandhavetomissit... thats the problem. Even though i am involved in two orchestras, the one i have to miss really stretches me and is more professional, while the other i can just afford to miss. Want to get a balance of things, which is why i want to miss fristfruits for table tennis. Please pray for me here cos its driving me nuts!

Maybe a few months away from the festive season, but early planning has started. It's back!...The Carol Service! Man it's gonna be hectic, now that im music director and one of the overseers again for this year's service. Carols is not much of a problem, but getting the right performance item for the English congregation choir...hmm. Gonna be hard to repeat the success of 'Sir Christemas' (memories!). If anyone reading this blog would like to suggest something, that would be nice! Can't believe that Marcus, Wien and Dan are not gonna be present on the day of the carol service, leaving me by myself! Meh, that won't faze me...