Exam One - Over. Time to Cook.

Well, the exams I have are not mid-terms but this was a funny image that I just had to steal.

I still have another exam this week. I am not one to gripe about exams, discuss exams, and I have ever only cried over an exam once in my life. A'Level English, Paper One. I will never forget it. My teachers all expected greatness from me in this subject. I was the Literature master. lol. I could dance rings around Jane Austen and T.S. Eliot. I love books. I love prose. I love poetry. This was a joy in my life - studying Literature at A'Level was a joy. This is how studying should be - not boring scales and validity and crap!

Paper One. Shakespeare, Bronte and Chaucer. The three books I was most prepared for. Hamlet. Jane Eyre. Wife of Bath, And then the unthinkable happened. My watch stopped. Then it re-started 30 minutes later. I was writing merrily, glancing at my watch, timing myself. There I was, this brown Caribbean princess, telling the little white man somewhere in Cambridge all about Hamlet and his issues, having already delved into the world of Chaucer and leaving the piece de resistance - Ms Bronte and her Ms Eyre for last. When the examiner announced that we had 15 minutes left, I could not believe it. I had not even started with Bronte. How could it be? My watch said I had at least 45 mins left. I scrappily ended the Hamlet essay and raced on over to Jane Eyre, holding back the panic and the tears as I scribbled my life away for the next 15 minutes but I would always need more than 15 minutes.

I remember my English teacher waiting for her girls outside the class and when she spotted me, she asked "how was it?" to which I could only reply "I did not finish". The disappointment on her face was too much for me to bear and I cried my little eyes out, and threw the watch in the dustbin, my Grade A going down the toilet. The Grade A I wanted more than anything. It was the only time I had ever cried over an exam.

So don't expect tears today. I finished the exam this afternoon at 12.30pm, and my next thought was - I am in the mood for a pelau, dread. A pelau being a wonderful and one of my most fave Trini meals - comprising of rice, chicken, or beef or whatever works for you, green peas, veggies, all cooked and simmered in coconut milk. Yummo.

And so I went to good ole Sainsbury's, got some chicken, some vegetables, a ready made cole slaw pack, minus the mayo, some mayo (cause the pelau gotta have the cole slaw), some juice. Got to the Caribbean shop and got some coconut milk powder, Maggi no less (pig in mud dance!) and come tomorrow, in between reading about segmentation and brand equity, I will have something looking like this on my table - the excitement!

Trini pelau - Photo courtesy the wonderful Trinigourmet

You can check out the recipe from Trinigourmet here.

But in case you were wondering about the Literature outcome way back in the day when I still wore a uniform to school, and my school had no boys, I was comfortable with Paper 2 - which included Hardy, Austen and somebody else I cannot recall at the moment, but Paper 3 was going to be an issue - Woolf, Eliot and Beckett and all this existentialism nonsense. I never got Woolf - thought To The Lighthouse was tats (rubbish) the first time I read it but in the week I had to scrape up some pride, I fell in love with ole Woolfie and destroyed that paper.

And despite crying non-stop over not finishing the first paper and seeing my academic life flash before my eyes, I still got my A from Mr Cambridge. This is why I don't fuss over exams. You're either gonna do well, or not. You either put it in the work or you didn't. Be real with yourself. You're either a star, or not. Don't beat yourself over it. Move on. Life is too short, man. Cook a pelau! Or go watch a movie. I cannot wait to see Black Swan. Looks like my kinda ting! The weekend cometh...the countdown to freedom is on!

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Week One of 2011

Not the way I would have liked to spend the opening week of the year but such is my reality. But I am not stressed. I am not crying over textbooks or pulling my hair out. Au contraire. I have been fiddling around with cute hairstyles, I managed to do my nails over the weekend - after months of neglect. I have been cooking - today's winning meal was basmati rice, dhal and curried chicken. I think I am just, at this point, fed up and these exams can do with me as they will. I just want them to be over already! I would love to have a life again. To wake up and open the door and go walking just for the hell of it. If I can make any resolution for 2011, it would be have more fun this year. I have made a commitment to get this Masters degree and with distinction, but really?? Does this mean I am not allowed a life? REALLY??? Not only has this Masters plan made me a pariah in the dating world - because men don't want to date a student because they are so concerned about our studies (bollocks!) but I am starting to look like the wallpaper in my bedroom, which is not attractive. So Karen, that would be one of my 52 - maybe the entire 52. Have more fun. I am in one of the best cities in the world for crying out loud. I did not mean for this to go from idle chatter to a full blown rant, by the way.

Anyway...

Not only is studying bad for my emotional health, but it is also terrible for my physical health. You get hungry every 11 seconds and today's comfort snack was a nice teaplate with 3 mini pancakes, a dab of butter and honey. Yummo.

Bad Trininista....bad girl.

However, the plan is to make weekend #2 - technically it will be weekend #2 really - make up for the awful first week of 2011. I already know I will be having drinks (if my busy week has not already chased off my drinks date as per my statement above), maybe take in a movie (The King's Speech vs Black Swan, or both...live a little!) and maybe some culinary therapy. Not in the mood for drunken London club life this weekend or weird girls named Miranda (see previous entry). Maybe a day at National Gallery.  Maybe the British Museum. Maybe Greenwich. I mean, the possibilities are endless. I am 85% flu free, and will be 100% exam free. Go me!

But tonight, I don't want to write too much for fear that the info I just read for the millionth time seeps out of my brain with every non-research related word I type here. But wish me luck! First exam at 9.30am tomorrow. God help me!

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New Year Celebrations in London

When I opened my eyes at minutes to 2 this afternoon, I pulled the curtain to see what 2011 looked like in the day. It looked just like 2010 did 24 hours before - grey and bleak. My stomach was also bleak...rather empty and I just inhaled carbs and copious amounts of orange juice.

And I did say I woke up at minutes to 2 this afternoon, after ringing in the new year with friends at a bar/club in London. We almost ended up ringing the new year in the queue, until one dude started complaining to the owner - a rather unfortunate looking character who thought he was God's gift with his hair plugs and his shiny suit - with support from yours truly, and when the countdown began, I was indoors, in the queue at the bar. lol. But it was a great evening with friends, and lots of memorable highlights such as:

- Friend #1 (shall remain nameless) pissing in the sink at McDonald's because...well...he just had to go. I may never use a public bathroom again, and I scarcely do it now as it is
- Friend #1's friends (none of whom were quite sober) picking up a stray at McDonald's and by stray, I don't mean Sparkie. Just some random girl, named Miranda, who suddenly was part of our group
- Getting lost, asking Londoners for directions and them too drunk to be of any use - dude told me the street we were looking for was in Soho when the map clearly showed the street was right there somewhere.
- Miranda trying to pick fights with random black girls in the queue. I said silently to myself, Who on earth is this girl, and why is she being a nuisance? I will not be getting my hair pulled in a fight for some stranger
- Some crackhead looking person, clearly high on something, trying to pick a fight with me but as I told her, when she can be as stunning and lucid as I was, then try again. I think I might have been the only sober person in London last night!
- Miranda finally leaving, but via ambulance, because she was so wasted they had to call the NHS for her, after she apparently almost brought up her entire digestive system on the pavement

I hope wherever Miranda is - she is okay but cannot say I was sorry to see her leave. What a nutter.

New Year's Eve in London was quite an experience. I mean, I know the Brits on a good day love their tipple but Jesus...I was at Euston station at 9.30 and people were already wasted, falling over, screaming, and just being plain annoying. By the time I was walking to my bus stop this morning, there were bodies all over the pavement, friends propping up friends on benches...crazy. My New Year's Eve parties back home were always on the "bourgie" end of the spectrum so this...lol...was different.

But as we mention bus, it's been a while since I put up one of these but this was seriously called for...

Mayor Johnson, I sat at Bus Stop D at St George's Circus for maybe 110 minutes waiting for a bus that was supposed to come every 30 mins. I can now tell you every bus that services SE London - the N1, the 63, 453 etc, because I saw them at least 4 times each - thought I saw the N155 maybe about 6 times. But nowhere to be seen was my bus. Your TFL people on the street were very helpful, and after 100 minutes called in to see where oh where was my bus because I sat at the bus stop, not drunk, not falling over, not being a menace - but very quietly, albeit angrily, nursing what was a cold in remission, hoping it would not come back a second time.

Mr Bus Driver, forgive me for giving you a look laced with acid and not returning your "Happy New Year" when you finally got there - but you surely could understand my vexation at having to start my new year with an almost 2 hour wait in the dropping temperatures for a bus and then having to sit and listen to some drunk female cuss her mother on the phone in a most vile and alarming fashion. Oh London...

Other than that, and the fact that I must now open a textbook on the first day of the year, 2011 promises to be awesome.

Oh, I also got my delivery yesterday. I love sparkly stuff!

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2010 Recap; 2011 - Bring it On!

It's pretty damn sad when you get excited over an email announcing the sale at Sainsbury's. lol. Sainsbury's? Really?

But then, what else am I supposed to get excited about? I ordered some new bling, was promised it would be delivered in one day. One day later, I am blingless. Bear with me then as I jump up and down over the prospect of ordering pasta and orange juice at half price.

So another day has come and gone and today I did zero studying. My mind was just not in it. I woke up late, feeling groggy after taking stronger medication last night, and I just never really got into the swing of things. My email to the course director is still to be penned because it is alarming that in essence I have not even been afforded a hiatus from school work between semesters. I have been given 2 weeks off from the commute, but not from work. Not a robot, people. I cannot tend to my health as I would like because I am doomed to study every waking hour? Really?

High heel porn - I miss these shoes.

And another year has come and is almost gone. I cannot remember all the highs and lows of 2010 but there were some points that are kinda hard to miss. Let's see, I planned and executed my awesome vacation to Italy, and no Italians were harmed in the making of said vacation. I was an ardent fitness maven once more. I really love the gym. Really miss the gym. What else? Oh, happy year - it was a World Cup year. No explanation needed! Helped with the planning and hosting of the long overdue high school reunion - reuniting the best and brightest and most beautiful girls on the planet after eons. I gained a new cute nephew and became a first time aunt. I loved my job, hated my job, did well at my job, quit my job, and moved to the other side of the world, away from my world, my life, my people!!!! Moved miles away, with no job, barely any disposable income for the lifestyle I am used to, and paid people to be inconvenienced daily via assignments, studying and odd people. In case you could not ascertain the last part - I became a Masters student. lol. And after only blogging about my career, I started this blog in May to blog about life outside of the office. It's a good thing seeing that I have no job at the moment. lol

The other bits, which I do not blog about, went through some upheaval but all things happen for a reason I say. Leaving trash in the past and moving forward with only shiny, bright optimism.

I don't make resolutions - to be a better person, to diet or any of that crap. I do just try to learn from my mistakes and move past them, and try to make the new year more memorable than the last. And to be happy. And to ensure that the people I love most are happy and healthy. That's it really. Hopefully I will fall in love with London all over again in 2011 because as it is now, between school and illness and winter, London and I are headed for divorce. A bitter bitter divorce. More free time in semester two and good health, should be the therapy we need to keep the love alive.

Health. Hmm...there's a concept. I am on cup #100 of lemon flu tea and now I also have some weird stomach bug that is really keeping me on the NHS watchlist, so it's fun times at Casa de Estudiante. Really hoping to be at least 85% to ring in 2011 but if not, I know that the next 365 days have a lot of promise because I will it to be so.

Happy New Year guys.

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Early Morning Questionnaire

I would kill for one of these babies.
Amazon.com, here I come!

The Market Research gods may find all sorts of issues with my meme but it is MY meme, and I will do what I wanna do with it.

Time: 3.05 am
Health Check: Dismal - yellow London ambulance on speed dial; bag of drugs within easy reach
Reason up so late: Reliability and Validity of Measurement Scales - the joy of my life!
Mood: Annoyed - But rest assured, it is reliable annoyance and quite valid!
Greatest Desire: That a humidifier will magically appear in my room, loaded with Menthol
Stark Realisation: I really loathe studying and exams and I am not prepared. While I may get better with age, my relationship with coffee-filled nights and textbooks continues to deteriorate
Craving: Caribbean sun and heat, and a roti, and some TLC
Most exciting chore of the day: Ordering something sparkly and more importantly, ON SALE, online. I caved!
Most excited for: Receiving said sparkly sale item in the post tomorrow. Gotta love one day delivery
What am I going to do now: Pack up the books and go to bed
But what about just before that...?: Oh, make a lovely cup of hot Lemsip
Greatest wish for the day: That I wake up feeling 100 times better.
Parting words: Would it be wrong if I steal some slices of ham to fill the gaping hole in my stomach before bed? Studying really builds up an appetite!

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