Speechless

Listening to: BBC News

The King of Pop is dead. His music will live on.

Rest in peace, Michael Jackson.

Bring out the strawberries and cream

Listening to: nothing

SW19 is bustling, so it must be that time of year again. I usually get very excited at the start of Wimbledon, but this year it's a bit different...for a few reasons.

1. Rafa, Rafa, wherefore art thou Rafa?!
   So sad that the defending champion is not fit to play. But I would rather he sat this one out and prolonged his career, than play just for pride and mess things up more. The thing about Rafa is, no one doubts his commitment. When he says he's not fit to play, everyone knows that things must be really bad. He'll probably go back to #2 after the final, but I know he can bounce back. Maybe he can get some rest and then win the elusive US Open crown? Vamos Rafa!!!


2. Place your bets!
   Now that my favourite is out, who will get my support? I think it would be fitting for Federer to win (although I ♥ Pete Sampras and this would mean his Grand Slam record would be broken). That said, Andy Murray has probably shown the greatest improvement over the past year of any major tennis player in recent history. I'm usually quite sceptical about British sports 'stars', but in this case I am truly impressed. Granted, today's match was more difficult than it should've been, but I think he'll get more comfortable as he progresses. So yes, I think a Federer v. Murray final would be good. I'm saying Federer will win in 4 sets. I've never made predictions before so we'll see how this goes! :D


3. Rain, rain, go away!
   Wimbledon has always been associated with rain delays. Especially the final. I mean in last year's epic final there were 3 rain delays...yes, three! But not this year. The fancy retractable roof over Centre Court should mean that rain delays are a thing of the past. While I'm thrilled that we can have an uninterrupted final, I'm thinking that a part of the Wimbledon experience has been lost. Oh well. You know what...it'd be funny if it's sunny as hell for this year's finals. D'oh! :D


4. Someone put the women's game on the 'endangered species' list
   I mean seriously. One thing I used to love about tennis was that the women's game was not just a wannabe-men's game. While the men's game tended to focus on strength and stamina, the women's game was a showcase of agility and grace. The men's game was a power game; the women's game was far more fluid. But now? I'm sorry, but I blame the Williams sisters. Their power game is far better suited to the traditional men's circuit. I'd like to see Serena play Rafa...now that would be an interesting match.
   
   But back to the women. Their game has become a watered-down, more audible version of the men's game. Yeah you know where this is headed. Martina Navratilova wasn't known for her shrieking or grunting, and yet she's one of the best players ever to grace the court. Same with Steffi Graf. Agility, grace, and none of the 'little miss piggy' sound effects we hear far too often today. For some of them, it comes naturally...if you try and force a shot (which you would do, if you were playing a power game), it's natural to exhale audibly. Some of them seem to overdo it...yes Maria Sharapova, I'm talking to you. You may be pretty and all but you are seriously pissing people off. You're a good enough tennis player to not need to resort to possibly underhand tactics. It's just unnecessary! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say Justine Henin is proof that you don't need to grunt and shriek in order to win Grand Slams (she won seven). Why the hell did she have to retire?!?!?! Sigh.

So yeah. My favourite's not playing, Pete Sampras' record might be broken, Wimbledon's becoming too efficient to be British, and the women's game is becoming unwatchable. Should be a good few weeks!

Just your average Saturday

Listening to: Radio 1

The Scene: Somewhere on the London Underground

I'm bounding up the stairs, thinking "Shit shit shit, why didn't I leave sooner? Me and my time management, or lack thereof. Why are these buffoons walking so slowly?! Get out of my way, fool! It's ok I'll blame the Sri Lankan genes, she'll understand...I hope." As I reach street level, my phone buzzes with a voicemail. The message is along the lines of...

"I'm so sorry, I'm running a bit late...typical Sri Lankan timing! See you soon!"

Dammit, she stole my excuse.

So yes, some of you will know that I met Scrumpy over the weekend. We met up in the capital and she took me to a quaint little café with the most amazing cakes. We sat in the corner of the tiny underground room (yes, very clandestine blogger rendezvous-esque, I know) and ordered, um, milky coffees...right Scrumpy ;-) ? We chatted for about an hour about loads of things...blogging, bloggers, work, men...heck we even solved all the problems back home!

Lunchtime arrived, and we made a pact for her to visit the 'bridge soon, said our goodbyes and went our separate ways...she carried on with the rest of her day, and I met up with Shorty and went and checked out the Ferrari Store and Hamleys. I ♥ Regent Street.

After that, I made my long overdue pilgrimage to the Abercrombie & Fitch store...sigh, such hawtness *drool*. Was told (well, yelled at, rather)

"I like you. RED! Gorgeous!"

by a man dressed in a pirate suit outside Hamleys (yes I was the only one wearing red nearby, it was definitely for me :P ). Saw a man having a heart attack outside another shop (I saw him again later, he had regained consciousness, and the paramedics were looking after him). Then I met up with Bang Bang and spent lots of money at TopShop, and then sat with some post-rally pro-LTTErs on the tube (more on that later).

All in a day's work, really!

'Stressed' is 'desserts' spelt backwards

Listening to: Radio 1

Conjunctivitis. Sinusitis. And now a fungal infection and disobedient skin. My immune system seems to have gone on holiday. The all-knowing parents are blaming the stress...or it could be diabetes, apparently :-|.

So a change in lifestyle is in order. Bring on the fruits, veg and water...and bye-bye to the sweets (eek!). OK maybe not 'bye-bye', but some time apart, at least. Eating 'healthy' is soooo not me. I'm used to eating however much I want, of whatever I want, whenever I want. Oh well.

I hope this works. I've got enough on my plate as it is.

Good news!

Listening to: 'Amber' by 311 [From Chaos]

I am forcing myself to sit down and blog. Otherwise it'll never get done. Kinda like Facebook. And txt messages on my phone. And emails from friends. I reply some and not others...no rhyme or reason to it. Bizarre. Yeah I'm weird.

Swiftly moving on...

I FOUND A PLACE TO LIVE!!! It's a small studio flat...the living area is a bit more than twice the size of my current room, and there's a tiny kitchenette and a nice bathroom. The fridge is bigger than the fridge I currently share with all my housemates! And it's only a few lanes away from where I am right now, so distance to the lab won't be a problem.

Ah I'm so excited! I've wanted out of this place for a while now. No more dirty kitchen worktops, dirty bathrooms...boys who forget to put the seat up before they relieve themselves, lazy buggers who won't put the rubbish out...I can't wait. I'm moving in exactly a month's time so I need to start sifting through this mess of a room and throw out stuff I don't need. And then I need to enter the world of energy providers (i.e. gas and electricity), broadband providers (any recommendations? I've heard they're all mostly crap) and possibly insurance.

Oh yeah and all that in the midst of organising departmental events, getting my visa extended and getting some research done. Lovely.

But hey, at least I won't be homeless, right? :-)

F*** the world

Listening to: Radio 1

Just came out of a meeting with my supervisor, so forgive me for not being at my chirpiest self.

I am screwed. I'm coming to the end of my 3rd year and there's TONS to be done. I have weddings and stuff back home in August and December, and the plan was to finish my experimental work by August, come back after the first batch of weddings and write up, and then go home again in December. The way things are looking now...forget August, I don't think I'll be able to go home even in December. I'm probably gonna be doing experimental work till goodness knows when...which means my father's gonna have to start paying my fees. And even then, I probably won't get my PhD.

And if work wasn't too much to handle already, my mother was kind enough to remind me that I'll be homeless in 3 months' time, so I need to get back to looking for a place to live. Yes I need to go back hunting around all the dingy excuses for living space they have in Cambridge and spend hours on the internet looking at listings instead of doing my research.

And in the midst of it all...I've been ignoring all my friends, except for the ones doing (or straight after) PhDs. Why? Because no matter how hard my friends try, they don't understand what I'm going through. They might think they do, but they don't. And they never will.

So fuck off world, and leave me alone. I know you hate me, and I hate you too.

I just want it all to end.