Friday, November 21, 2008
i would give anything to have watched this case:
Lim Beh v Opium Farmer (1842) 3 Ky 10.
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Saturday, November 01, 2008
what kind of parents would name their child "Brainerd"?
evidently, the kind who expected him to become a conflicts professor.
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Saturday, October 25, 2008
true, true.
watch it all the way to the end.and for good measure, here's the original.
wazzup 08 ftw.
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Thursday, August 28, 2008
a friend's role in life.
excerpts of a msn conversation between two friends (names withheld to protect them from their loving girlfriends!) during evidence lecture today:friend a: sometimes
when i feel like jacking (my girlfriend)
friend a: i will just like refrain from doing so
friend a: sometimes gf more impt than being witty
friend b: refrain?
friend b: gf is meant to just whack
friend b: some things are out of bounds la, of course
friend a: like that no diff between gf and boon kiat
now you know why we put up with him! everybody has a role in life.
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
here.
i suppose i have to start somewhere, and better here than anywhere else.where is here, you ask? well first of all, here is the beginning. the beginning's definitely the place to start. that's the best i can describe it, it all goes downhill from here.
here is the silence, here is the darkness. here too, is the light. here is the eye of the storm, and here is the calm flow, coasting right above the undercurrent that will drag you deep, deep down. what do i mean by that? i'm not too sure either. i'm afraid i'm not too sure about a lot of things, so just go with it, alright?
here is where we said hello, and here is where you told me goodbye. here is where everything suddenly fell into place, and here is where nothing made sense. here is a million cliches spinning into one, a million i love yous and a million goodbyes.
here is the place where nothing else matters. here is, of course, also the place where reality began, where nothing that had happened mattered anymore.
(write a word down too many times, and it starts to not look the same anymore. try it - here here here here here. should it even be pronounced like that? i don't know about where you come from, but that's how we say it here.)
here we were so close to what everything meant, to the centre of it all. and yet, (you know what i'm going to say here) here is where we were furthest from it all. we've been here before, and we'll be here again.
there...but there has no place here, not in this story, not this time. i'm here. where are you?
here is now.
and here is the end.
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
does anyone actually still read this anymore? apparently my girlfriend does and she has demanded that i blog because she is tired of reading my pre-departure post, so hello! have been back for just over a month, and since then i have done the usual meet-ups, poker sessions, random spurts of physical activity, amazingly managed to pass the year in leicester (and quite well too!) had my third bloody ict, been to jb for seafood, been to hong kong with the Odd Couple and the gf for weekend of shopping/dimsum mayhem/gf's birthday, and i dont know what else. guess which was the most exciting (hint ict!!! woot.) it's good to be back though, and in our quest to now start travelling around the region (hence, hk), september and vietnam await. slightly sad about the extremely short upcoming travel destinations list, but reality had to set in sometime!
ok i think the gf is appeased now. come back in two months for my next post.
p.s. dcfc in two weeks!
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Friday, June 06, 2008
so it's done, i'm off tonight to meet the parents for my last two weeks in europe, back in leicester on the 18th and i'm flying off on the 20th. much to be said i suppose, but no time now. see you all!
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Tuesday, June 03, 2008
lightbulb-above-head.
i am currently contemplating two things.1) the purpose and need for closed book exams. especially for law. without a caselist. or statute book. or anything. save for a dictionary (by the way, if you need an english dictionary during a law exam, you have issues. not the legal kind.) why should i have to memorise the contents of about 5 different statutes and accompanying caselaw for just one damn module? does good memory > understanding/research skills? why me?
2) death. i.e. kill me now.
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008
exam comic relief.
and an old classic, and shoo's favourite.
dun dun DUNNN!
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
so i'm back in leicester, exams are in a week AND I AM BLOGGING. shioks.
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1) london
cherry blossoms at portobello
he will rock us!
our lovely £15 standing view, that fellow in front there (red shirt, yes you) paid £30! haha suckers.
nobu is joy.
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2) athens
THE ERECHTHEION. this is my friend.
thirsty after seeing THE ERECHTEION. (subject of photo has expressed her hatred of me.)
acropolis. is old.
greek coffee. is shit.
waiting for the change of guards ceremony at the parliament building in athens.
waited 30mins to see this. rather glad i wasn't in the greek army.
lovely graffiti in athens. all their graffiti was quite amazing.
hurhur.
temple of zeus, which we accidentally wandered into. there used to be 104 of these pillars, now there are only 15 still standing, and 1 that collapsed in 1852 which is to the left of this photo. greek street cleaners not v efficient.
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3) santorini
on the ferry from piraeus to athinios on santorini, gorgeous sunrise. also, bloody cold.
our first sight of oia, we stayed at the 3rd house from the left on the top row. can see right.
church in the town square in oia. i loved the blue domes and the white walls of all their buildings. i think their painting bill v high.
reuse, reduce, recycle.
the view from the sunset watching spot of the whole of oia.
sunset! which we waited two bloody hours in the howling winds for. reminder to self: next time check sunset time before heading to wait at sunset watching point.
fishing boats at the small port in oia. brilliantly clear water.
grilling our dinner on our apartment balcony. loved that we could see the sunset from there!
afore-mentioned sunset.
okay, so we read in lonely planet that red beach was spectacular. it was. spectacularly hard to get to. do you see that little crescent-shaped thing in the middle? that's red beach. do you see a path leading to it? there isn't. never had to CLIMB A MOUNTAIN to get to a beach before.
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4) crete
the lovely sunset that greeted us when we got off the ferry at heraklion.
then, we decided to go to the samaria gorge. which is a 15km hike. which has to be completed in about 6 hours, cos if you miss your bus-ferry connection at the end of the gorge, so long!
mandatory act cool shot.
this was the path.
that we took for 15km.
the iron gates! narrowest point of the whole gorge, only 3m wide. creates the wind tunnel from hell.
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5) paris
on the plane to paris, with my best companion of the trip.
cool old man who was renting out wooden boats to sail in the ponds at the jardin des tuileries.
our usual visit to point zero.
and then to berthilllion omg best ice-cream ever. it was so good, we finished our first two scoops on the spot and went right back into the shop for the next two.
sparkly friend at night.
our usual at the place de la concorde. this time, not freezing asses off. pleasant change.
at the jardin again, i had tuna sandwich, which the sparrows noticed very quickly. new best friends.
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6) poitiers
then it was back to little old poitiers which i surprisingly missed quite a lot.
last photo before THE END. (ie i went for a haircut after this.)
random shots from the airport at crete. hurhur. i love this shop.
alright back to mugging!
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Monday, April 28, 2008
love on the answerphone.
I.
He picks up the phone hesitantly. It’s been barely an hour since he last called – or was that yesterday? He doesn’t know, can’t keep track anymore. Time flies by much too quickly, crawls by far too slowly to tell.
Fingers trembling slightly, he dials the number and waits for the ring, and then promptly hangs up, the sound of the phone hitting the cradle echoing hollowly in his head. His hands tingle and for a minute all he can do is sit down, head spinning ever so slightly.
Her face flashes through his mind. He closes his eyes and imagines her standing there, every detail etched clearly in his mind. Dark, almost black hair and a kind smile that goes all the way to her eyes, liquid pools in her face. He can almost see her light dimples, and his hands twitch involuntarily as he mentally brushes the hair from her forehead. The image in his mind is as clear as if she were really there, and he savours the mental picture as long as he can.
II.
Breathing in deeply, he picks up the phone again. This time, he tells himself, this time will be it. Slowly, each number appears on the tiny display on the phone. One ring, then another, and another. This is the furthest he’s gotten in a while. He’s a lot nervier these days, after she had picked up too quickly once and startled him.
There’s a click as the line connects and he freezes. Listening for a while, he opens his mouth as if to speak, but no sound ensues. He can’t. Not after this long, not after the silence that he has kept all this while. He keeps quiet a while more, just listening, then carefully puts the phone back down.
III.
Smiling to himself, as he always does when he’s heard her voice, he pushes the clutter from his table, ignoring the plates as they crash to the floor. Taking out a pencil, he smoothes out a sheet of paper and begins to draw. He sketches carefully, eyes squinted slightly and bent low over the paper. This time, he imagines her eyes blue, hair a deep brown. He had been wrong just now, she wasn’t nearly as young as he had imagined, her hair not as long, but she would do. She hadn’t said her name on the answering machine, so he has to check before he writes it down neatly in the corner.
IV.
He stands and pins the slightly crumpled drawing on the wall, in between the hundreds of others drawings that already cover it. Later, he will take out his well-thumbed phonebook and flip to another name, another number. He’s already covered all the Cs, and it’s time to move on.
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This started out a lot differently than what it is now. It was originally meant to be a slightly sweet, sad story of unrequited love and answering machines, but I left it alone for a bit too long and I think it took on a mind of its own.
He picks up the phone hesitantly. It’s been barely an hour since he last called – or was that yesterday? He doesn’t know, can’t keep track anymore. Time flies by much too quickly, crawls by far too slowly to tell.
Fingers trembling slightly, he dials the number and waits for the ring, and then promptly hangs up, the sound of the phone hitting the cradle echoing hollowly in his head. His hands tingle and for a minute all he can do is sit down, head spinning ever so slightly.
Her face flashes through his mind. He closes his eyes and imagines her standing there, every detail etched clearly in his mind. Dark, almost black hair and a kind smile that goes all the way to her eyes, liquid pools in her face. He can almost see her light dimples, and his hands twitch involuntarily as he mentally brushes the hair from her forehead. The image in his mind is as clear as if she were really there, and he savours the mental picture as long as he can.
II.
Breathing in deeply, he picks up the phone again. This time, he tells himself, this time will be it. Slowly, each number appears on the tiny display on the phone. One ring, then another, and another. This is the furthest he’s gotten in a while. He’s a lot nervier these days, after she had picked up too quickly once and startled him.
There’s a click as the line connects and he freezes. Listening for a while, he opens his mouth as if to speak, but no sound ensues. He can’t. Not after this long, not after the silence that he has kept all this while. He keeps quiet a while more, just listening, then carefully puts the phone back down.
III.
Smiling to himself, as he always does when he’s heard her voice, he pushes the clutter from his table, ignoring the plates as they crash to the floor. Taking out a pencil, he smoothes out a sheet of paper and begins to draw. He sketches carefully, eyes squinted slightly and bent low over the paper. This time, he imagines her eyes blue, hair a deep brown. He had been wrong just now, she wasn’t nearly as young as he had imagined, her hair not as long, but she would do. She hadn’t said her name on the answering machine, so he has to check before he writes it down neatly in the corner.
IV.
He stands and pins the slightly crumpled drawing on the wall, in between the hundreds of others drawings that already cover it. Later, he will take out his well-thumbed phonebook and flip to another name, another number. He’s already covered all the Cs, and it’s time to move on.
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This started out a lot differently than what it is now. It was originally meant to be a slightly sweet, sad story of unrequited love and answering machines, but I left it alone for a bit too long and I think it took on a mind of its own.
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Saturday, April 12, 2008
okay, so vienna and bratislava will come a bit later. off to ride camels and eat the saharan sand! back on the 22nd.
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Tuesday, April 08, 2008
eastern europe part i.
as you probably have heard now, our little bunch of travellers got robbed, TWICE in an eleven day period (nine for them cos i started out slightly earlier). first was in an overnight train from krakow to prague. we heard warnings about the night trains and thought we were safe when we managed to lock the door to our cabin.the bastards opened the window and took wei's camera and ipod, and isaac's phone and camera. so that was number one.
then in bratislavaaaa (requisite four a's at the end), we were in a fairly atas looking cafe. while twee, steph and i were ordering food at the counter, wei was sitting at the table, and a bunch of street punks tried to grab our stuff (ie, my camera!) from the table. they ran, wei chased, wei pushed, they dropped camera, wei screamed, they ran more, straight into the three of us at the entrance. scuffle ensued, waiter got rather overzealous and squashed one of them into the floor while twee and i held the other two and forced them back into the cafe. nothing lost, thankfully, except for four hours at the police station.
very drama.
backtracking a bit, so i spent the first day alone in warsaw, walked the royal road approximately seven times by the end of my third day in warsaw after wei arrived.
the royal palace and square, warsaw.
buskers at the barbican, warsaw.
changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier, warsaw.
sunset at warszawa centralna station while waiting for wei to arrive from the airport.
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after that it was off to krakow to meet the rest (twee, isaac and steph, and kx for a while.)
auschwitz, krakow.
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then came the fateful night train from krakow to prague, but our spirits were rather undampened still! except by the fugging cold weather in prague. and the er, lack of things to do.
town square, prague.
can'tremembernameofriver, prague.
can'tremembernameofbridge, prague.
and the bridge at night, prague.
off into the sunset! vienna and bratislava pictures soon.
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