Lend me your ears!

I literally would like to borrow somebody's ears right now - mine are deaf! Okay, not exactly deaf, but hard of hearing. It actually happened back about one and a half year ago, when suddenly my right ear started to "lose hearing". The sound became quite muffled and faint. Being a regular university student (and according to my friends, "a typical male"), I refused to get it treated and thought it would "go away in a few days". Well it ended up lasting this whole time. I have trained myself to rely on my left ear for most of the hearing, and although it took a few days, I eventually adapted to it and felt there was no need to have it checked.

Then the inevitable happened - my hearing in the left ear started to become muffled and faint yesterday. All I can hear is ringing and "silence", which is sort of like standing in an empty cave with the wind blowing. I often had to ask people to repeat themselves, and couldn't hear anything around me quite as well.

I have decided that it is quite dangerous to my health (the fact that a car can be coming towards me and I can't hear it), so I went to visit the GP today. He told me to get some ear drops and see him again next week.

Now I know how it feels not to be able to hear.. talk about perspectives!

Weekday outings

So right after I complained about not having a life here in London, I went out both nights for the past two days. On Wednesday night I attended a friend's band show. It was held at a club near King's Cross Station, and was held by various Chinese student associations around London. My friend played in two bands, both appeared at the beginning at the show. He basically played nine songs, non-stop.. and his drumming skills were excellent! Although he mentioned to me later that he felt that he made many major mistakes, it wasn't noticeable to the untrained eyes and I thought it was amazing nevertheless.

Thursday night was a dinner gathering followed by some kareoke action - yes, I found kareoke in London of all places. It wasn't ANYTHING I was used to, of course. It was pretty much what I used to do at home, playing videos on my TV and singing to it. It was really fun singing with a bunch of friends, especially when we've all longed for a bit of singing relief.

As a result of those outings, I have been getting sub-minimal sleep for the past few nights. On the other hand, I think being away from work and enjoying company of friends gave me the energy to move forward. Perhaps this is the balance I need to strike in order to stay sane..

Lack of update = Lack of life

It's been a week since I last wrote! To start off, I'm sick (once again) and hence, I'm still home in my jammies trying to fight the flu. This is also the reason how I found time to post this up. The week basically consisted of work, and more work, and a bit of time off during the weekend because the office building was closed for maintenance. Work had been absolutely draining - the learning curve is steeper than I could ever imagine! The amount of reading and learning I do is equivalent to being in school the whole day.

Other than that, I really have not done much outside of work. I leave for work in the darkness of the earning morn, I return home in the darkness of the late night. I fix something quick to eat, and then I sleep. The routine repeats itself.

On Saturday I went to visit a friend after shopping in Chinatown. Together we went to meet up with her friends near the waterfront for a drink, and found out that this city does not have a nightlife, even on Saturday, if you are away from where the mainstream "party" district is. We were literally forced out the door at 11:30pm. The night was still young! Unfortunately a few of them lived quite far, so we called it an early night.

Last but not least, I *really* need to get some sleep. One reason why I think I'm sick is the lack of sleep and the irregular eating patterns..

Miracles

Miracles do happen to regular people.. I hope this luck doesn't run out anytime soon!

Will I ever get through?

Now that training is over, it is time for the real work to begin. Although I still have an exam next month, and another training programme in the following year, the fact is that work starts now. It is definitely much more challenging than I thought.. as much as I would have thought that I have prepared myself for the worst, nothing prepares me quite enough for what I have experienced in the past few days.

Hectic schedules combined with unfamiliarity with the work make the worst combination. I haven't been home before 9pm this whole week, and it looks as if it will continue until much further down in the future. Getting yelled at is a norm during the day. I just feel so tired.. so drained out..

Lifeless

It's 8:30pm on a Friday night, do you know where your children are? I know I'm still at the office! I can officially brand myself as lifeless. I am not asking for much, just one night where I can go home before I am starving.. this diet is not good for me either. A banana and a coffee for breakfast, a sandwich with paper-thin steamed chicken slices (and no mayo, because it's fattening) for lunch. Oh and literally no dinner until I get home, which of course sometimes would mean after 10pm, in which case I will not eat. I am trying to abide by the "no eating after 9pm" rule.

Which means, I better get home soon (or get something from a supermarket next door) if I want to have dinner. *sigh*

On the lucky side, I got the results of the first two exams I wrote internally at the company.. and I did pass! (although not up to my standards, but hey, what is ever up to my standards?) If only I pass the one I wrote yesterday, then I would only have one more to sit and pass..

Miracle only happens once..

Ugh, don't even want to talk about the test today. It went just like the other two last week, but I believe that miracles are called "miracles" for a reason. It's an extraordinary event. I don't believe it can happen twice, but we shall see..

Met up with a friend after the test, and went grocery shopping so we had something to cook tonight! Made some fried rice noodles and soup.. mmm.. haven't had proper soup for a while. I didn't know there was a difference between Cantonese rice noodle and Taiwanese rice noodle until today! It was a good stress relieving exercise to cook and eat the final products..

Tomorrow is another day.. *sigh*

Another exam today!

I just got back from the office (yes, the timestamp is correct, it is 1:14am) after a long night of studying. I had once again forgotten to have dinner, but it occurs so frequently that I'm no longer surprised. Earlier in the day, I spent hours sitting at Starbucks revising and doing mock exams. This certainly feels like school again.. except nobody is reminding me to eat.

Wish me luck later today!

Is this all there is to life?

I spent yet another day in the office today revising for my exam next week. Sometimes I think I should know when to give up trying, because I know that history will just repeat itself. It will be as if I went out and partied all day, because the end result will probably be the same.

Bumped into some interns at work today, and we laughed at the fact that we're all at work on a Saturday. One of them jokingly asked, "So is this all there is to life?" Now that I sit down to think about it, that is rather depressing. I spend the whole week at work, and then on weekends I go in on both days (with a bit more flexible hours, but I still go). I sure hope there is more to life than just work..

Manipulation of Statistics

I would have to say that the usage of statistics in our society can almost be described as abusive.

Gambling is bad for your health

Although I found that really funny (I'm posting it SPECIFICALLY for one friend.. and you know who you are), I cannot help but question what methodologies they used to conclude that "Gambling is bad for your health". Too often the media portrays "scientific studies" in such a way that it creates almost an instant fear of that subject. The fear is either used to (a) make a political statement or (b) boost sales. Sometimes I really wonder..

(As a side note, it was published in the British Medical Journal so I am sure it cannot be totally unsound)

Fashion Night

I decided that tonight was not a good night to start revising for the next exam (yes, there is more to come). The defeated mood definitely doesn't motivate me to study. Instead I went to meet up with a friend in Covent Garden for dinner and some shopping. He had some VIP tickets to a private function for some fashion company, and so we went after eating a light meal while chatting about our workload for the next few days.

Upon entrance we were pampered with ice cream, alcoholic beverages, and lots of smiles. What a contrast between the basement (which sells men's clothing) and the first floor (which sells women's clothing). There were only two or three people wandering around in the basement, while the first floor is packed with ladies perusing through the new line of clothing they just introduced. They also had some hairdresser and make-up artists to help the ladies with a make-over. Mmm.. maybe I need a make-over.. haha.

I didn't end up buying anything, but my friend bought a few items symbolically. (come on, it was 20% off everything in the store!) It was a fun night out nevertheless, because at least I wasn't reading my study guides. Ugh.. speaking of which..

History Bounds to Repeat Itself

History likes to repeat itself, especially when they are full of failure and disappointment. Just came home after sitting two back-to-back exams, and I feel as though I wasted two weeks of studying. Am I approaching this whole studying incorrectly? Why am I having such difficulty in concentrating on what I am doing?

Ugh, this feeling is worse than after sitting my engineering exams. I really need to re-evaluate myself and my study methods. Oh well, I'll just let myself feel down for today.. tomorrow is another day (and another exam to study for).

Cramming Days

This morning I was woken up by a thump near the door, and on the floor was a small little silvery-wrapped package. Thank you so much Lisa! The gift is wonderful and I'll make good use of it.

I spent the whole day yesterday cramming for my exams, and will continue to do so today. The past few days (uh, weeks) have been really stressful, and I've been a real pain to everybody around me. Ugh, something to work on. (adding more things to my resolution list)