concentrate, concentrate!!!

cannot focus on readings for tomorrow's lecture. ultimate GIRL phenomenon has occurred. dwelling on repurcussions of agreeing to go watch theatre with hugh grant look-alike. gaaaaaaaaaah!!!

okay. so it's not necessarily a bad thing. and besides, it may not really be a date. but then, who goes to the theatre in a crowd? or as non-couples, at the least? not very many people. double gaaaah.

so it most likely IS a date. yes. now what???

this is what i get for being such an impulsive, eager-for-theatre-action lady. but like i said, it's not really a bad thing. i could be going out with, well, someone who does NOT look like hugh grant. harhar.

thinking about it is seriously impeding my reading. it is keeping me from my books!!! goodness gracious, stop the presses. we have an emergency here.

i have no idea what to wear.

whatagirl.

i can go on and on about what could happen, or what shouldn't happen, or what i DON'T WANT to happen. but nothing's happened yet, so why go that far?

BECAUSE I AM A GIRL.

gaaah.

i am going around in circles here, i know.

so you got asked out by an arguably cute and undeniably smart guy. who MAY be shorter than you are, but has other redeeming qualities. take it in, relish the moment, smile, and move on. get your reading done. the world stops for no one.

right. ten pages to go.

IQ test

tell me what's wrong with this picture.



okay, it may not be clear enough. zooming in...



human genius strikes again!!! dingdingding!!!

good job!

just finished the second of my group presentations today. the title says it all. i feel really happy. bouncey-bouncey happy.

i don't know what it is. maybe because our tutors didn't really press for more information about what we presented. maybe it's because they liked the idea of showing photographs of different spaces using the same camera settings for an objective comparison. which was my suggestion, taken from undergraduate coursework on daylighting. i like this project because i know pretty much know what i'm supposed to be doing, and how i should do it. like i said, i've done something similar at my local university. kudos to my professor in manila. he made our lives a living hell while taking his course, but it's making grad school easier for me in some respects. for this course, anyway.

i'm also happy because i have FOUR WHOLE DAYS of free time. what a luxury. but of course, i shouldn't treat it as just free time, but as extra reading time. i am starting to fall behind on my course readings. then again, the lecture series are going slower than i expected, so i'm still on track. sort of.

i worked 'til 3am this morning, finishing up the slideshow presentation for my group. then again, that was partly due to the time lost inside a cinema. haha. well worth it, though. got tickets for half-off. £4.50 for a ticket, instead of £9. man, entertainment doesn't come cheap in this side of the world. speaking of which, i have yet to watch a west end show. have to see ewan mcgregor in guys and dolls before someone else takes the lead role in december. i must!!! ooh, i have tomorrow off! *ting!*

another good thing about having a lot of time on your hands is that you actually have time for household chores. not that i'm really looking forward to domestic activities, but i have a pile of clothes waiting to be ironed. and i like having enough time to cook real food. not just throw everything into the microwave and be out of the kitchen in fifteen minutes. but then, that's just me.

okay, time to work on those books.

gender issues

you know you're in grad school when...

a girl walks by with a pile of textbooks, and guys holding beers simultaneously get off their seats to get a glimpse of the titles. how funny is THAT?!?! nice to know that these guys are really into what we're studying.

two weeks ago, last year's students gave a presentation on their theses / dissertations. four girls and two guys. from their powerpoint slideshow, you can really tell how differently each gender thinks. the girls gave pretty detailed accounts of what they did, and how they did it. maybe 20 slides per gal. the guys had less than ten slides each. so funny. and i think i was the only one who noticed it. makes me wonder if i'm in the right profession. maybe i should be a psychologist or a sociologist. heh.

and talking about guys and dolls (it's the title of the play starring ewan mcgregor, btw.) - not many good-looking guys around. i just have to put that in, thank you. furthermore... the above-average looking males are generally shorter than i am. STILL. even on THIS SIDE OF THE PLANET. a belgian schoolmate said i'm even taller than the average belgian female. and that's saying a lot, if you consider that he is 6'6" tall. (although he IS taller than the average belgian male, as well.) the average belgian male is around 6' or so. i guess i know WHERE i have to go... harhar.

today i noticed something kinda funny going on between two of my classmates. maybe i'm over-analyzing, buuuuuuuut... i see sparks. ooh la la. fortunately, both of them are pretty attractive in their own ways, so i have no objections. (not like THAT would make a difference, anyway.) and speaking of attractive...

the girls in my class are beautiful. inferiority complex creeping in yet again. gaah. and i don't know if it's true or they're just funning around, but two of the prettiest girls are gay. or bi. whatever. but i just find it very queer that someone as physically alluring as they are would reject men, when in fact men would fall all over them. or maybe that's the reason. i dunno. if that IS the case, then i'm VERY straight. hahaha.

as for demographic data... my class is 33% female. 57% of whom are greek. eep! 76% of the class is taking the 12-month m sc, 19% is doing the 16-month m arch, and one person is doing a ph d. of the 16 people taking m sc, 31% are women. of the 4 people taking m arch, 25% (i.e. one person) is female. the ph d student is a guy. do you see a standing pattern here? my sister is right - not many women take graduate studies. oh well. i've never been part of the status-quo, anyway.

the single girls of the class made a deal - the first one who finds a boyfriend should buy the rest a round of drinks. not that i'm expecting to be treated out, but i think my wallet is pretty safe for now.

hard work

just finished dinner, after a long day at school. been building a model, making drawings, and serving as in-flight entertainment for the past 12hours. my head is throbbing, but it doesn't really hurt. i just feel spent. haven't worked this hard for... hm. three months? hahaha. but it's a different kind of work... right now, i'm doing something for myself. not for some grumpy old boss. and i'm more tired now than i was last july. probably because i can easily brush off the pressure exerted on my by other people, but i can't really escape the pressure i put on myself. the funny thing is, i don't feel tired until i stop working. an hour ago, i was still good - except that i was hungry. harhar. i'm not really making sense now, am i? chalk it up to fatigue. mental faculties not completely intact.

it feels kinda good to be doing something creative, though. and to be working with other people as a team. plus, building physical models are always fun.

okay, time to get some rest. long day (again) tomorrow.

have internet...

will live! wahahahaha. of course, FFH had nothing to do with it. durr. guy TDK was responsible for the wi-fi presence in the flat. hurrah for him. he inadvertently applied for telephone service as well. (i think it was bundled with the broadband package, and he didn't quite understand the conditions.) but i'm not complaining. that means one less utility bill for me. which, incidentally, has already gone beyond the £30 limit in the two weeks it was in operation. three guesses as to who is responsible. (there are four of us in the flat, just in case you forgot...) and the answer is... tan-ta-ra-raaaaaaaaaan!!! FFH!!! *applause applause* she has spent every other night staying up late talking to her boyfriend/husband in princeton. (really, i don't know if she's married or not, her stories change every time.) so i am doubly glad that i do not have to be held liable for her exorbitant phone calls. now all i have to do is wait for the telephone bill from the previous operator...

in other recent developments, i have finally met all of my classmates. we're a really diverse bunch, i should say. a lot of displaced nationalities. (i.e. german afghani, american croat, canadian nigerian...) how cool is that?!?! i'm sure i'll be learning a lot from my classmates, on top of my tutors. (that's what they call professors here.) and speaking of tutors... they're also a good mix. our program director is turkish greek, one tutor is half-portuguese, the other is british german. (i think...) and i just have to say, the portuguese tutor is UBER CUTE!!! wahahaha. i'm being a total airheaded girl by saying that, but who cares. he IS. oh, and i also have an irish british (durr) classmate who looks like hugh grant. and i'm not the only one who thinks so! my hongkong classmate said so, too. unfortunately... i'm taller than he is!!! not by much, but still... *sigh* i have to say, i am quite surprised (not to mention DISAPPOINTED) that 25% men in this side of the planet are STILL shorter than i am. huh. oh well, at least the odds are better than back home, where i am above 50% of the male population. (you can interpret that whichever way you want.)

since we are talking about that darn irish... he said he was baffled at how well i could speak english. in verbatim - your english is perfect. haha, look who's flattered. plus, a number of people have commented on how i don't have any perceptible accent. i guess being a grammar nazi has its benefits. the downside being inordinately buggered when speaking with people who have horrendous english, i.e. TDK flatmates. gaaah. i swear, my english has been deteriorating since i got here. how ironic is that???

i've been here a month, to the day. and for someone who's never lived on her own before, i think i'm doing great. as the british say... fantastic.

gaah!!!

see what i have to live with...