Boxing Day

Spent most of Christmas Eve and Day in my room *not that I had any business elsewhere anyway*, hoping to recuperate enough for battling the supposedly infamous Boxing Day sales today...



Ok, planned to go early in the morning as shop hours are very different and wanted to be prepared, judging from what I hear *filled with queues and crowds* of the supposingly very good sales on this day. But because I had been sleeping in a lot for what can be laughingly-or-pathetically-whichever-you-prefer-to-call-it said to be my 'holidays', only managed to get down to Oxford Street around noon -_-


Which actually, I hadn't apparently missed much. Popped in the 3 shops which was on my target list and really, there was nothing special. Both the goods and the discounts on offer. It was like any other sale shopping day before Christmas, except that they actually did bring out whatever old stock they had been keeping hidden for the sole purpose of clearing it off the shelves on the day after Christmas. Oh, and yes, a much more pressing and elbowing crowd than usual *this, at least, made it feel more like Boxing Day sales*.


In the end, only bought a Jane Norman dress at half price. When the 50% off sale had already started almost a fortnight earlier. Wasn't a new arrival or even 2 seasons back. It was actually from the late summer line. Which they didn't had my size during aforementioned big half price sales before, but now *again, for some strange retailing rationale* surprisingly turns up on this day with a variety of sizes on offer.


Maybe I've been building up my expectations too much for my first boxing sales outing. But even HL, M, and L said the sales last year were definitely much better and more worth it. Chalk it up to the credit crunch... *grumble-grumble*


Originally planned to hit Selfridges last since their sales seemed promising, but couldn't really be bothered after all the disappointing offers. So M and I followed HL they all back to her place *we had met up for lunch at Sakura, which had a very boxing-day-like long queue*, for some catching up chatting, a dinner on leftover Christmas turkey, and some chor dai di ^_^



... and now I still have a unsatisfied leftover urge to shop o.O

... first christmas in london ...

So far, not looking so good...


Think my immune system is skewing up even worse. Wasn't too good since SPM. But now, I am only falling sick when it's the holidays o.O


Sigh.


Sick throughout my KL trip. Now sick again, just when I waited all this while for the first holiday since coming back.



Anyway,


... Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year! ^_^

... first day of winter ...

Having just recently started on Moonlight Resonance, it has been surprisingly so far so good.


Or maybe my standards are just dropping o.O


Perhaps because the storyline is better scripted, the cast had better chemistry this time round *at least the 'happy family' scenes don't look ridiculously fake*, Raymond Lam had much more deserved screen time in this indirect sequel *a big fan like me can't even survive 6 episodes of the supposedly immensely popular Heart of Greed -_- gave up before his character even appeared later*, or Linda Chung is less irritating here *definitely an improvement*.


Anyway, my point is that I am randomly reminded of how much bigger a fan I was of Julian Cheung :p Oh, I finally managed to find a full no-MV-voice-over version of Raymond Lam's subtheme for The Drive of Life! *I swear, I am moved everytime the opening sequence plays, which has nothing to do with the drama* Now, if only I can get my hands on some good sheet music...



More to the point, today is the first day of this year's winter *usually on Dec 22nd of each year, but this year's is apparently earlier 1 day because it's a leap year*. What we called tung chit.


And of course, bought myself some tong yuen ^_^

...glutinous rice balls with black sesame filling...

*prefer plain pink 'n' white ones with brown sugar, but one makes do with what one can*

Wouldn't mind making some from scratch, just that I don't know where to buy the flour and have no one to make it for...



By the way, Cha Cha Moon has raised its prices =( oh well, at least my favourite dish there is still the same price.

...pan-fried taro cake...

... CBN stamps ...

No idea what's wrong with me today. Keep doing careless mistakes. Even forgot that today is the 16th, and thought it was 17th instead...



Which, today, is the day that CBN stamps go on sale and premier schools first day cover is issued!

...first day cover...



...premier schools folder...



...stamps set...

Never mind the fact that the pics are all primary school though it's supposed to be SMK, I was a CBN-er all the way anyway ^_^ *except F6*


Thanks to MSN nicks and facebook status updates, this momentous occasion was hardly missed by yours truly.





... hope my sis managed to get some for me.

British Museum & Korean Kitchen

CE suddenly said she's going to Portobello market today, but we changed plans as not sure if it's open on Sundays.


So instead, we hopped round to the nearby British Museum for a quick glance through.
*actually, I kinda dragged her there :p since I've always wanted to go*



Well, didn't really see much as most of the Asia rooms were closed and we weren't in the interested mood overall. So took the chance to try out a few pics on the new c702 phone...

... one of the few I took and the only one which turned out good...

After getting a mini calendar and a gold coin which says "happiness" in cuneiform as souvenirs, we headed off to find a cafe or some other nice spot for tea *as usual, she doesn't eat any breakfast or lunch and I just had brunch, so we ended up having tea-cum-early dinner*.



Walked a bit to Covent Garden, visited a few shops, but no likely places that looks nice and is still open on a Sun afternoon. So I took her to Korean Kitchen instead. Had no idea that it was only 5pm then when we walked in, and I was even surprised that the place wasn't crowded. It wasn't officially opened but the nice people let us sit down anyway. So we were the first customers ^_^


We ordered 2 appetisers of stir fried rice cake and kim chi pancakes, plus a bibimbap. Like before, the appetisers are big portions *they're normal sized dishes really, just seems a bit large for something listed under 'appetisers' in the menu* and we were quite stuffed after the meal. Service was good, even though I was being super jakun by talking loudly and taking pictures of the food :p

... kim chi 'n' stir-fried rice cakes...


...kim chi jeon 'n' dolsat bibimbap...


*yes, there were carved radish figurines as decorations*

Hm, the camera isn't that bad. But for a Cybershot, it might be a bit lacking. Mostly because I'm not familiar with how to use it yet.



Still prefer my old w300.





p/s: And now I'm hungry again.

Malaysian Kopitiam 2.0 & Red Cliff

Man, this has got to be the place I blogged most about here...
*how sad am I?*


Met up with DX for yum cha yesterday after work. Initially planned to go Cafe de Hong Kong, but since the Malaysian Kopitiam has resurfaced *the saga continues...*, I sort of end up dragging her there...
*been bugging her too much lately =( well, it won't be for long anymore*


Anyway, the new one is bigger and combined with some Thai cuisine *the new location must used to be a Thai restaurant*. The whole place had a bit of the karaoke lounge feel to it, but in an ok way *unlike C&R*. Wider selections were available on the menu, which included things like chicken feet kerabu and Hokkien mee.

Although it was supposed to be only tea time, we ended up ordering a roti canai *came with a curry laksa type of sauce and too pancake-ish for me, but at least it was crispy*, fried chicken wings, and a small chinese mushrooms and chicken feet dish *which I must say, has a sufficiently strong taste and the chicken feet was cooked well enough ^_^*.


It was a much better experience this time round :) foodwise, of course.
*still can't forgive them for displaying a huge Malaysian flag on their banner*



Woke up late today *around 11, but only got out of bed at 1.30* and mulled around doing nothing. Only thing I did was watched Red Cliff.


Which was probably the best ancient China war movie made so far.
*Hero's still better for me, but that doesn't count as a 'war' movie*


Based on The Three Kingdoms, there was nothing much which can be original about the storyline and Tony Leung was just not suitable for this type of role *not to say he was bad, but he doesn't have that look to go with it*. The war sequences were cool, not too much action and not gory, with some slightly emotional not-at-all-draggy scenes incorporated. Especially liked the way they portrayed the fighting of the warriors Zhao Yun *so bergaya!* and Guan Yu *ok, his was a bit draggy*. Well, as expected of John Woo ^_^

Screenplay was actually good. My favourite scenes included the part where the battalion knelt uncommanded and the way Cao Cao was introduced during the opening scenes at the Han royal court. Of course, there were some usual cliche scenes of communicating through music, hunting tigers as metaphors, and stubborn misbehaving princesses but then again, they need to cater to Western audiences who haven't seen enough good ones to get bored yet.

The casting was a bit wanting for me. I supposed I still can't get over the fact that the out-of-place looking guy leading the army is actually Tony Leung o.O *apparently he was originally chosen for Zhuge Liang, which would be much more apt - but Takeshi Kaneshiro isn't bad (albeit trying to smile knowingly all too often)* And that was supposed to be one of the most beautiful women?

Still, a rather impressive movie overall, and I haven't seen one in a long time.
*makes me wish once again that I can read the originals in Chinese*


Can't wait for Part 2 :)


Makes me wonder how are they gonna condense the whole thing into just 1 movie for release outside Asia. Hope the final thing will still end up as good though.



Re-watched certain parts of it, and before I knew it, I drifted off to sleep around 7pm. Forced myself awake after 8, lest a nap like that ruin the rest of the night's sleep.





Then again, that's the best bit of sleep I've gotten in a long time...

Hairspray

Last Mon, I sat for the paper again.


And I know I failed it.
*you don't have to wait more than a month for results to confirm what one knows best about oneself*


You know, I never learn.


It's always too late.


Nothing one can do now but accept the fact and enjoy my last days here *estimate I'll still be hanging around London 'til Feb before I had to pack my bags and kick my sorry ass back to KL*, with the axe hovering above for most of it until the results are out.



Which brings my attention to the fact that I haven't done anything at all, after being here 1 year and a half. Man, this is gonna be a long long list of things I need to do before end of Feb. And no more holidays to boot apart from Christmas.



Sigh.



Anyway, went to see Hairspray last week when CE got a couple of tickets from work. I've only heard about the movie so far *the one with John Travolta cross-dressing* and decided not to check out the synopsis to avoid spoiling it.

Which was kinda a mistake, since it's hard to make out every word they're singing when you don't already know the rough storyline beforehand. Overall, it wasn't that bad. Think the best thing going for it is the funny parts, mainly provided by the mother and played by a guy. Other than that, the set and props were minimal and the dance moves were a tad disappointing. It's a bit hard to believe the heroine's supposed to be on a dance tv show when the choreography *if any effort was involved* was lacking and the dancing sequences mediocre at best. Maybe it's to fit the early '60s setting and not stress the singers much?

At the end of it, it's smart that they end with a song which they can encourage the audience to stand up, for it inadvertantly provided an impromptu standing ovation. But not catchy enough, as I was already struggling to remember any of the songs from the musical on my walk home alone.



Fame was definitely better.

... denial ...

Hope

is such a dangerous thing.



Even when you know that the worst is about to happen. That it is already too late. That nothing else you or anyone can do now.


And wishing to change the past is yet another basketful of regrets.



One never learns.



Despite the facts, the impossibility of it...




... still, one hopes.