C for Crazy

So I have also decided to try the A to Z Blogging Challenge and I am not sure I will be able to blog every day, but we will see. Though I have missed A-B, today is C and this was easy. I made this before I realised today was Day C.

Tired. I am so frazzled I completely forgot to turn in my assignment electronically this morning. The deadline was 9am and at 8.30 I was still living in ignorance, under the blanket. Not sure what sparked the memory but at 8.32,  as I put the pillow over my head to shut out the reality of another day filled with reading about evaluation models, source oriented perspectives and ROI, it hit me and I flew off the bed in a panic, hoping my broadband was working, cause it tends to do weird things at the most inconvenient of times. God. I cannot wait for it to be over!

Sigh. C for Crazy. Check.

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Cooking, while Coding

On Sunday morning, at 2 o'clock, I was in the kitchen. Cooking. I was working on an assignment - coding in qualitative data analysis - but knew I needed to get cooking out of the way so that when I resurfaced later that afternoon, I would not have to face an hour or so at the stove, but a mere 3 minutes with the microwave. Student life.

I was really in the mood for pelau but while I love cooking it, as it is an easy one pot meal, I hate cleaning and cutting raw chicken. I guess I could have gone to a market and let the butchers do all that but I am pretty anal when it comes to chicken. I like to clean the fat off myself - for peace of mind. I also hate markets. The smell of raw meat hanging around me is not very appealling. I never liked going to market with my mother, as everything smelled and it was loud and seemed yucky to me. I prefer to spend extra money in a sterile supermarket, where, both here in London and in Trinidad, I buy everything I need - from veggies to chicken to cuts of meat. In any event, the thought of cleaning chicken legs was not an attractive one, so I bought easy to cut pork and decided to do a stew.

I had bought some beautiful pork last week and had cut and seasoned it on Friday morning.

The onions and garlic were welcome smells, along with the peppers and herbs.

I was going to use it to make a stew with some potatoes, and add it to a seasoned veggie rice. I used fresh carrots, onions, ginger, garlic, parsley, and broccoli for the rice.

I also like boiling my rice with a bit of saffron to make it a pretty yellow.

Peeled and cut my potatoes for my stew.

Stir fried my veggies in EVOO, starting with the onions and carrots and herbs, and adding the broccoli near the end, before adding the rice.

Watched Law and Order while the entire thing was cooking, washed up, finished my assignment, put everything in the fridge and went to bed at 11am. Woke up at 5pm and uncovered my plated lunch, heated it - nu fuss, no muss. And in the end, I added some garlic bread to the finished product. And a glass of white wine. It was really lovely.

One thing I have not done since being here was baking. I get the urge sometimes but usually satisfy my craving at the supermarket's in-store bakery. But they don't have cheese puffs and as you know, I am a cheese puff lover - so who knows? Heading to the bakery now actually..ta ta.

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Nothing to Do

Nothing to do? Not really. But sounds good.

I have nothing to do.

This is not true. I have loads to do. Craploads to do. But when you don't have the crush of a deadline around your neck, it is easier to deal with life. I have to really really really start focusing on my dissertation. I have my supervisor and a general idea of the topic(s) but time to get specific. Yesterday's lecture was the first time since being here that I had a bit of a worrisome feeling about an assignment. This dissertation is going to be killer.

But I can watch tv this morning...in my socks, without feeling guilty about the assignment on my bed. I can blog without feeling guilty about doing so. I can laze in the bath, maybe listen to some music. I will still read academic journals and go crazy with stickies on Adobe Reader (best feature ever, Adobe!!!) but there is no pressure (yet). I just have to ensure that I don't become too complacent to the point where time passes and there is in fact pressure.

I may take the train to Oxford Street this week and just walk aimlessly through London - cause that is what we do. Students. With a wee bit of time. And have a coffee or lunch date on Saturday - cause that is what we do. But going to read today.

I'm starving. Going to get some breakfast but I don't have any coffee in the house. Dilemma. No...major crisis. But...not going to change out of my silk pyjamas either to run to the store. Dilemma.

THIS is when not having some poor sod on speed dial to get you stuff is a real headache. Stuff like warm pastries and coffee for lazy Tuesday breakfast while I watch Giuliana & Bill!!!

But at least I got these yesterday. :-)

Purty purty flowers...

I was one of those silly people on the train yesterday afternoon. And that was very amusing to me, but very sweet and smile-inducing.

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Love is Bigger than a Box of Chocolates

It's been another tedious weekend. I finished my assignment at 9.30am or so. I was cooking this morning at 2am. Showering and then cleaning my room at 5am. It's crazy. I am now settled in bed with True Grit as part of my Sunday decompression and a glass of wine.

I guess everyone is excited for Valentine's Day tomorrow but it's just another day for retailers to dig out people eye (Trini spk). I am sure I will be bombarded by roses and chocolates on the trains tomorrow afternoon, which is fine. It's just the PDAs I can do without out.

But I am a really solid believer that if you're going to spend money to prove you love someone, which in itself is really ridiculous, do it so it helps someone else. Join (RED) has some really fantastic brand partners, and awesome red products which will be perfect for your honey, and help in the fight against HIV/AIDS as well.




Visit http://www.joinred.com/ and support love, AND the fight against HIV/AIDS
These were my top picks for Valentine's Day


I love that these are products people may actually want to be seen in - by established brands. It's often hard for causes to gain traction when the novelty items are cheap and irrelevant to daily life. That may sound awful but I prefer to donate my time or just the funds to a cause, rather than have an entire drawer filled with cheap knick knacks I will never use.  My dad falls for it every time - he has loads of seashell ornaments and homemade cards at home. Cute and sentimental but clutter. Take the money, keep the gift.

But what is hotter than a red Amex card (well, besides a black Amex card), or a red Netbook or that hot ruby faced Emporio Armani watch? Knowing that your money is going towards something worthwhile.

As usual, noone pays me to plug these things - they should - but in this case, it's a freebie. I am loving those Emporio Armani sunglasses like woah.

Love to everyone. Not at full capacity today.

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127 Hours

James Franco (left) and Aron Ralston (right)

Two things stood out in my mind as I readied myself to watch 127 Hours this evening. First, if Aron Ralston could have survived cutting his own arm off, with a dull knife, then I could survive watching James Franco playing Aron Ralston cutting his own arm off. Second, the video where James' grandma said anyone who could not sit through the gritty scene was a p...y. lol. If granny could stand it, then so would I.

That is what I told myself after 24 minutes of 127 Hours, after the rock pinned James Franco's Aron inside the canyon. It was a wow. I enjoyed the movie. Unlike Castaway which was wrong on so many levels to me, the main one being the mere fact that I was forced to watch Tom Hanks and Tom Hanks alone for more than 100 minutes, 127 Hours was gripping. Gritty, gripping. I always love these survival movies - where the human being most go to extreme lengths to survive. Alive was one of those movies that I can watch over and over as well. You see a man drinking his own urine to survive and you wonder if you could do that if that were you. Chances are, you would. Aron Ralston is a brave man and it was a great story. Here  is one part of the segment the real Aron did with Tom Brokaw. This was how I first learnt about him - before the movie was made.





The movie was just right. It was not some campy, sappy ode to the American super hero, probably because it was directed by a Brit. It was a true to life tale, told in a very realistic way, by a great actor. Oscar nom - deserved.

Thank God I don't have to drink my pee today. I have a pinot gris in the fridge and I just celebrated the end of another assignment (which I finished at 8 this morning, without sleeping a wink til it was done - it felt like 127 hours, lemme tell ya) with the rest of the chocolate ice cream. Liverpool beat Chelsea, so there were many happy men in the house, and life is pretty alright on the whole. Not an American football fan, and not interested in the Super Bowl, but enjoy the party anyway, people.

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Fabulous Friday...Not

Warning: This blog entry is very lame. I am waiting for my show to download.

London is extra grey today and add some crazy winds, bad stomach pains and exhaustion and the chicks' night out became a chick night in. I am so tired and after a Tesco ready meal of chicken chow mein, some orange juice and some meds, I am tucked in under the covers - at 5.23pm. Oh sure I have set the "assignment wake up call" alarm but this is as good as it gets this Friday evening, especially based on how I feel physically at the moment. It's not a great feeling. So red light district this is not. But it does not get better than this for me. The party is here. In this bed. With a heated sweater and fluffy socks. And mini doughnuts. I feel better already!

And even better - cheese!

Thanks to smashing Shala for the cheese delivery, straight from New Zealand via Trinidad. I saw the Sainsbury's British cheddar cheese shed a tear as I placed this magnificent block of "down under" goodness in the top drawer of the fridge. It takes very little to make me happy. It was also nice to hang out with the Shals today and catch up.

Streaming last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy, and then I will take a much needed nap and hopefully wake up feeling inspired to work on this assignment. That's a big "hopefully".

Sorry this was not more exciting than this but life happens.

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Red Circles and Blue Skies

I'm up with the cows, if London has cows. It's going to be a tough few weeks. My cute calendar shows the damage. The days circled in red are DUE DAYS. Due days - when I give birth to an assignment after a very short gestation period as you can see. It's pretty much like the month of November when basically all the Mondays were circled. Happy times I tell you. The little blue face is obviously me. lol.

But I looked at it positively this morning. It's probably much easier to sit indoors with books, when it's cold and gnarly and grey outside, than if I were at home in the sunshine, during Carnival season no less. Can you imagine reading about reputation management when the skies are blue and the parties are everywhere? Impossible. Think about it with me...

This is the view from my porch where on a Sunday morning like this, I would sit and just do nothing, besides maybe watch a bird or two, share some crumbs with them, have my Cheerios and milk in my favourite mug, or wave to the neighbours.

Ahhh...La Vega - where many an afternoon has been spent just lying in the sun, with a beer, listening to loud Indian music from someone's speakerbox and cursing the owner of said speakerbox in my mind.

And of course, the North-East coast

...and Tobago. Beautiful beautiful Tobago, where a sunrise is like a kiss from heaven.

Yeah, it looks much more possible to get work done from this angle. lol.

Photo courtesy Travel Pod
No matter what city it is, that sky would keep me indoors for sure.

My friend LSJ had given me a beautiful oversized mug one Christmas. I loooooove that mug. I miss that mug. But it pretty much sums up life.

No lie...I really love that mug. See? It's blue and got white spots like a sky and everything. I need a sunny sky mug!!!

Dream - I had dreams of getting this Masters done and getting it done here and I am right where I wanna be, albeit not as warm as I wanna be. lol.
Inspire - I know I have inspired others, in one way or another, during the course of my short life and have been inspired by others as well - by the great men and women I call my friends.
Cherish - I cherish every blessing and moment, no matter how heinous, because it means I am alive. And I cherish the people in my life.

Happy Sunday folks. It's back to the pasta and pizza drawer for me this week. No Sunday kitchen sexiness today. Except for the sexy omelette I am going to whip up for breakfast. I tried another type of cheese at Sainsbury's. God help me and my omelette. lol.

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If You Like It Then You Shoulda Put A Ring On It

The thing is I don't like it.

Well, friends another assignment is behind me. When the file was uploaded electronically on Sunday evening, there was relief. When the hard copy hit the bottom of the assignments box 10 minutes ago, there was frickin' euphoria. I almost did a cartwheel. Two down, a million to go. I am unwillingly married to the books, the library, school - I shoulda put a ring on it!!!

The weather is shit today. I had read the forecast on Saturday to determine how early I needed to roll off my warm bed this morning to make sure thisn assignment was in on time. Gale force winds it said, and heavy rain. They weren't kidding. They need to give the Trini weathermen some coaching because the weather report was spot on. My umbrella - the one I tote when I suspect the rain will be more than a light drizzle, and not the cheap £4 shit from Primark - could barely take the pressure from the hurricane-esque winds. Weather for the mattress, NOT the library.

So though I still had 3 projects to work on this weekend, I managed to leave the house on Saturday evening to go on a pub crawl with a friend. Nice drinks, nice convo, nice time, not so nice weather. The mist hanging over the main street after 2am when I exited the final pub was enough to almost send me back to the bar. But I was too tired. So tired that I fell asleep on the bus, something I swore never to do, and sure enough...lol...when I next opened my eyes, I was in some odd part of the world, having missed my stop. It took me another couple stops to realise that yes, I was not going to magically be transported back to my stop if I did not get off this bus immediately. It was no fun standing in the same mist I was dreading a million stops before to get the bus back. Funnily enough, it was the same bus and the driver looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. Don't drink and commute, peeps.

I also felt very peckish yesterday. Not for the normal crap like cake or ice cream, though some Haagie would have been nice, but for tomatoes.

I just woke up craving a nice tomato. So after I uploaded said assignment, I chucked on some clothes and walked to the corner store. A note about my friendly neighbourhood veggie stop. It's called the Afro-Caribbean store, but it's managed by Pakistanis. I find that amusing every single time I see the sign. Every time. So I get there and my heart was lifted because there were the sexiest, reddest, most beautiful and orgasm-inducing tomatoes I had ever seen. I quickly selected 3 of the hottest, and some mushrooms and some other stuff, and I was set. My Sunday dinner was complete. Sorry I did not take photos but my camera is shit. But in the end it was a lovely veggie rice, with baked chicken in a red onion and mushroom sauce, and a marvellous fresh mushroom and tomato side, stir fried ever so lightly in some olive oil to keep my tomatoes nice and fresh. The magic. I felt human once more.

Until I opened up assignment #2 for the weekend. What a nuisance.

Anyway, it's been real. Hoping this week is less stressful with less time spent in the library than last week. Listening to some Movado, among others on the MP3 player. So he's not Trini, he does not have a "first thing I wanna see on Monday morning" kinda face, and it's not soca but it's great and it's one love. Take me home to the islands, Movado. Love you all. Coffee time!!!

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Life of a Library Superstar

With another inane assignment deadline looming, I have found myself yet again in the library doing 12-hour stretches. I tried staying at home, in my jammies to work, but found it impossible, with so many distractions. The recliner is too comfortable and induces sleep; the kitchen with the goodies encourages foodie experimentation and consumption, the jumbo flatscreen encourages flipping to the movie channel. I had to stop myself from watching "The Hangover" for a sixth time, but when I weighed the options in a most self serving way, the books just seemed so incredibly boring.
And I always wondered why some people walked around with a suitcase in London. Now I know. My bag is laden with books and the shoulder I just mended is now taking a beating with the books I tote to and fro every day. And again I say to myself, I am paying huge chunks of money for this inconvenience. lol. Just reminding Mr/Ms Anonymous of the fact that I am not here free.

Man, I remember when mid-term breaks used to be BREAKS. I have fond memories of one lovely mid-term break spent on the beautiful beaches of Port Antonio in Jamaica, eating Boston Bay jerk chicken, sipping Blue Lagoons on the infamous Blue Lagoon and just unwinding from school work. Now I can barely make it to the corner store, and I am on the cusp of Europe. Ah, how life has changed. But seriously...

I am also concerned that my birthday celebrations will be severely compromised with not only an exam on the week after the birthday weekend, but an assignment due on the Monday. Tragedy!!!

I am also trying to see how best I can shuffle time and assignments to go see John Legend at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo. I mean, sure I have seen him twice in concert, but I love John Legend. And  it is JL and The Roots. Oh, Santa...you have failed me so many times before. Can't you do one thing for me???

I promised a friend I would meet him for drinks tomorrow and I promised myself I would have a weekend  and try to salvage what is left of this mid-term break, so the aim is to finish today and by finish I mean not just physically have a document in my hand but also do the usual anal, paranoid-driven things I do even when the essay is done, that prolong the completion by at least 12 hours.

So here I am again, in my usual corner of the library, with the sniffles and having a coffee, and pizza I baked last night, re-heated in the oven this morning and is now cold and soggy like the weather today. And as I eat my cold, soggy pizza, I think of the dhalpuri, the channa, the kuchela, the geera chicken, the kurma, the gulab jamun and the parsad I am missing back at home on this Divali day. I was invited a while back to spend Divali with a friend of my cousin's and his family, but not sure if that is on and besides, I am booked for the 12-hour library shift. I may attempt to chunkay a curry tomorrow.

Shubh Divali to my Hindu readers, a great Guy Fawkes night to the Brits, and Happy Friday to everyone else!!!

And you can get literally get that fun t-shirt here.

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Ode to the amazing and so important...Shoulder

The shoulder pain is worse. This is not even funny. Taking a shower, putting on a t-shirt, holding a snazzy handbag, holding on to the rail in the train so you don't fall over on some smelly Brit, sleeping -  all very painful now. How, oh how, we take a healthy shoulder for granted. I miss my masseuse desperately. These are little perks that noone should dare try to live without. I have tried stretching it out but it is not working and the pain is mind-numbing. I got to the drug store too late this evening and so it will be yet another night of this agony.

So I went to the Halloween party. Not really my kinda thing. There were some live bands but they were horrible in my opinion and the deejay was a hot mess. But the company was great - had a nice time with the girls, and my "costume" turned out pretty okay in the end. I ended up going as an overdressed Playboy bunny. In this weather and with these hips, I was not going to be in anything looking like a leotard or nightie. I was aiming more for Easter bunny but the black and white bunny ear set called to me. Hop hop.

I am also a bit miffed that I have to go on campus 3 out of my 5 days off this week - one being today. Well I did not make it to campus exactly, but it was just a 1 minute bus ride away. Today was the scholars' tea which actually was quite nice. A bit posh, but really great people from around the world. I was surprised there were no cucumber sandwiches but there was lots of tea. Lots of it. I managed to be the rebel in the group and drink juice.

I have never been a tea drinker. I never really liked hot beverages growing up. I would have the occasional hot Milo but never tea. Only as I started studying in earnest around age 15 (O'Levels), did my fascination with coffee begin. I used to have it black with a couple sugars and strong. Then when in my first semester of my undergrad programme, I realised my hands were shaking after a 48 hour coffee binge during study season (aka beat season, alluding to the expression, "beating the books"), I cut back on coffee. Then I started working and getting up in the dead of morning to get to work and I fell in love with what some may call "girlie" coffees - mochaccino and cappuccino. And during my gym-crazed moments, I would drink copious amounts of green tea with one sugar. This is where I am at still.  I have some reading to do and just downed a cappuccino with heaps of cocoa drizzling my foamy top. I think I am ready to go.

How did I go from ode to the shoulder to ode to coffee? I am not sure. But I will end this now.

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