It was the rare occasion that I sat by the window on a plane; the control freak in me does not like anything but the aisle seat on flights that are more than two hours long. I do not like the feeling of being trapped in my seat, unable to get up, stretch my legs, go to the toilet, anytime I want; feeling trapped by the inconvenience and ( Read more... )

A quick note (because I am tired from tennis in the morning, 3 hours of editing a textbook chapter on international organisations written by a Swiss-German professor at Espresso Library, and some packing in the evening) on the past couple of days ( Read more... )

The tone of the previous entry was rather too magic and rainbows for me. In the interest of full disclosure, I wrote it when I was under the slight influence of alcohol...one measly gin and tonic. But maybe the gin was particularly potent, I don't know ( Read more... )

Of late, I am beginning to realise what a difference it makes to my life when I spend time with people who radiate positivity and whose default outlook on life tells them that the glass is half-empty. As a result, I am also beginning to realise that I simply do not win in any way whatsoever when I drag my existentialist despair around like an ( Read more... )

I will get around to writing about my post-tennis and over-dinner conversation with Elijah about positive thinking at some point. What I want to say for now is that I have been making a conscious (and arduous) effort to alter my default mindset, i.e. negativity, and find small glimpses of satisfaction and, dare I say it, happiness whenever and ( Read more... )

I had hoped to make some headway on one of the stories that I started writing a few months ago, but which I have stopped working on, after dinner with Elijah tonight--especially given the fact that I suddenly felt like writing it this afternoon when the task was my 377A paper. Alas, inspiration/the writing mood is a capricious thing, unreliable and ( Read more... )

1. Brighton did not happen. I woke up on time, ate and showered on time, but just as I was about to get a taxi for the train station, I discovered that my period had arrived. Great. I thought maybe I could go anyway since it was Day One and the flow is usually quite light on the first day, but I couldn't fathom how I would be in a bikini, going ( Read more... )

I have found a room in London! And it wasn't the room that I'd gone to the flat to see. I was initially interested in the en-suite room, but I gave up my private bathroom for a really big and bright double room with...well, with a private garden. To be honest, I don't care about the garden that much, but it's a nice perk, I suppose; it's nice to ( Read more... )

My updating of this blog has been absolutely dire.

Things have been going on. Well, not so much for the PhD; my progress is slow as usual, but at least there has been some progress.

Things have been going on in terms of my personal life. It has been...interesting.

OneI saw an old flame (kinda) in Madrid a day after I got back from Venice: N ( Read more... )

While at the train station in Cambridge, waiting for the 10.30am train to Stansted after the 10.11am one I had initially wanted to take was delayed by disruptive passengers (read: drunk chavs), I felt a distinct regret at choosing to visit Venice as a means of 1) getting out of Cambridge and taking a break of the bubble; and 2) mending my broken ( Read more... )