Desperately Craving...

This past week was a really horrendous week.I had a group assignment to complete and it was no fun experience. The assignment is now done (fingers crossed that some bright person does not decide to make more changes at this 11th hour...again) and I am about to get some sleep. I have not slept more than 4 hours a night in about 2 weeks and I do not see the trend changing during this upcoming week, so better get the worm while it's still wriggling.

The weather is also now, in my frame of reference, officially dismal and I may need to start visiting the school pyschologist. There is a heavy mist over the street and my window is all frosty and the heater went on earlier than usual today. I sat and wondered how people could live like this...and more specifically...how do SINGLE people live like this? This phenomenon is intriguing and now directly impacts me since this kinda cold breeze and not even Muffy to come home to is a daunting and terrifying thought. There must be a Rent-a-Man-for-Winter service somewhere and if not, someone needs to start one. Soon.

Coming from an island, the cold temps take some getting...well...used to, because what am I used to? Blue skies and flip flops, and where the coldest it can get is what....a beastly 23 degrees Celsisus? It is most likely 1 degree outside. Am I going to run out and confirm that for you? No.

After spending my entire Saturday sitting in a Starbucks that did not smell like coffee but like your grandma's dusty coat, I somehow managed to keep my dinner date with the girls, despite not feeling well and admitedly, looking worse. The plan was not to spend all my waking hours behind a laptop in a coffee house with this group, but that's what happened so instead of going home to change out of my university hoodie, fat jeans and sneakers into something a bit more appealling, I had to sit in the restaurant like something the cat dragged in from the rain. Needless to say, I did not care because hunger outweighed vanity and I look back now on just how much I ate and shudder. But always nice to be out, no matter what one's physical condition. We went to the new Wahaca - the one in Soho, where I finally...finally...after a week of wanting one so badly I could cry...had...my...burrito.

Just to say though, after a week of craving a carnitas burrito, it was more than salvation to sit and order and then eat this fantastically simple, yet delicious thing last night after a shitty week and an even shittier day. If only I could get some other things that I am craving, the frosty window would not be so depressing.

The point of this pointless entry is that I am tired, burnt out, a bit hungry (lol) and starting to feel myself going into that place - where dark coldness starts to obliterate happy thoughts and where I need a hug and other things of various rating levels, from PG to R. Plus I have not skyped with my mother in about a week and that is never a positive mood builder. My nephew's christening was yesterday and I cannot wait to see the photos. I am missing it all and it's so sad. I am hoping to talk to her soon so I can get on with the whole business of living. If you don't talk to your mother regularly, then you're a terrible person. Mothers are the best!!!

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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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To the Anonymous Reader

If you wish to direct your boredom or lack of a life on my comments page, then be a star and leave your name and a URL. And if you don't like what you read, let me show you something.

Use it!!! Use it because noone told you you had to read it. Noone is forcing you to come here. Use it or get a life. Soon. I did a print screen in case you have trouble comprehending the concept of a back button, and because besides being daft and cowardly, you also seem to have some problems with proper grammar.

That's all. You be good now.

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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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