Free Time!

It's been a while, but I am back. Still busy, but found a quiet time at work, with not much to do being Friday and all, I thought I'd update my blog.

First off I'll talk about my exam. I took a week off work and I went to a local library every day to study. This was much needed, because I can get distracted very easily if I stayed at home to study. Luckily for me a new library just opened up quite recently in my area. It've witness the building take shape in the months that it had taken to be built. So it was the first time to enter the building and experience a new library. To say the least it's a not a conventional looking building as you can see in the picture above. It's definitely style over substance.

The interior is overly extravagant, with a lot of empty space. There is a looping staircase that goes to the first floor, that takes up a large amount of space. I think it looks cool, but in doing so, there becomes a less space for potentially more important things. Because of this it means that there is a lower capacity for room to study.  Luckilly again I'm an early bird and I can find a seat easily around 9am/10am, but within the hour there will be no more seats left. Granted this is probably the peak time for people as there are exams for everyone coming up not just me. The library gets worse when school kids come in as well around 2pm. I had got up for one moment and my seat was stolen! I believe the staff told a lot of the kids off in doing so. Another chair was found for me anyway, but it was annoying.

Regardless it allowed me to study better and when it came to the exam, I believe it overall went well. I will find out the results in September, until then I am free!

In terms of the house situation. I'm now waiting on a set date to complete! As I've handied over signed contracts and pass over 10% of the deposit! I can not wait to move now! The process has been soo long, I'm thankful that the wait is nearly over. It's still touch and go, because my flatmate will be moving out too at the end of this month and I really need to move out before her, otherwise it could get a bit complicated. We are both using the same solicitor so he is aware of the siutation and is confident for me, which provides me some relief.

In my freetime, I've been playing tons of Diablo 3, watching the Euros and have actually done a bit of running for once. I swear I need to go for a run more often. I rarely do any exercise. Granted I'm not exactly fat, in fact most people will tell me to put on weight. I still want to be fitter. Being single and all again I feel need to shape up to be more attractive, and feel more confident about myself. I'll do more once I've moved, probably setup a mini gym in the garage for myself.

Bank Holiday!

After that heartfelt, melancholy entry, I thought I'd go back to usual brainfart type updates. Now that I have put my ex in a positive light, I'd feel less guilty in criticising the more difficult moments in the relationship if and when they come up. We just had a nice long bank holiday weekend in the UK, unfortunately it was rain soaked, so it was a nice excuse to stay indoors. :)

Potential Tenants...

So I'm still waiting to complete my house, but interestingly I had an old uni mate contact me asking whether  I knew anyone had a room to rent for her younger sister. I obviously go back telling her that I'll be looking to rent out the 2nd bedroom as soon as I've established my new house. Alas she came back saying the house is too far away for her sister. It's no problem, but it would have been nice to have a house mate already to move in.

No matter, I feel that maybe searching for a house mate might be quite an interesting task. As I will have to advertise and interview potential people. Since a few of my friends have tenants of their own in their flats/houses. It'll be quite good to gather intel and advice from finding a house mate. One of my friends suggest using this as an opportunity to meet new people i.e. a potential new girlfriend. It sounds kinda sleazy and indecent. lol. However you never know who you meet so I'd be going in with an open mind.

The thing though is that I would not want to date my house mate, especially if she was to pay me rent every month. As it could potentially cause relationship issues like. What if she were to ask me to help her out in reducing rent, established living arrangements seems too fast in a relationship. So I'd prefer not to pursue a relationship with a house mate if I can help it. But as always I'd never count anything out, as my emotions can take the better of me.

I would ask, would the criterias be the same regarding a house mate vs a potential girlfriend? Let's say when I do conduct interviews for a tenant, what should the criterias I look for as a landlord? Well....I'd want them to be in a steady permanent job, nice, introverted, tidy and quiet. Now my exes have all been loud and extroverted and they've not worked out. Is that where it's gone wrong? Maybe I should consider the more quiet and introverted type? As the loud and extrovert have all failed. There seems to be an underlying cycle where I find it difficult to talk to the quiet and introverts. For one the introverts rarely go out and meet new people, so how do you meet these types even if they potentially could be 'the one'?

So it seems interviews are a forced siutation where you could meet these types is an opportunity. The moral problem would then lie in deciding whether I should reject the ones I potentially like, not knowing whether it could even work, yet they could be the best candidate for being a tenant/house mate. Sigh... I'll hit that problem when the time comes. It seems ethically and morally wrong in deciding the tenants, as I'd favour female tenants over males... lol. Females are just more reknowned to be more tidier. I know this from experience. I'm quite messy as a male, yet I know I'd tidy my own house like no tomorrow, just cause it's mine!

Little high... little low

Went for drinks and karaoke on Friday, and it felt like the longest time since I've been to karaoke. Actually since the place we normally go to has closed and changed management. The restaurant called Gallery Rendevouz, situated in Soho London was actually a very decent place to go to. Although the songs were not up to date, the system to load the songs was far too simple, (it was basically winamp with a search feature). The main drawing point was that it was cheap. The chicken wings there were also very good, helped too. Strange as it may seem that we would normally just sing the same old songs everytime, but we loved it. It's like an end of an era. That restaurant provided many memories, birthdays, and created many fun, spontaneous late night singing sessions. We have now opted for China City karaoke restaurant.

It was a much more expensive, granted China city has a much larger menu choice and the food is definitely better. In comparison we'd normally have a £10-15 meal before Gallery, and Karaoke would normally be only £5 per person. China City was £30 each for meal and karaoke. So £10-15 difference, which potentially another night out. I've not included drinks obviously but it gives you a picture of why we miss Gallery. Also China City, didn't have Mamas & Papas ' California Dreaming', Aha's 'Take on Me' or The Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing'! Yes the last song is from Glee.. shoot me. It's a great song to sing and have a laugh to.

Nothing quite beats singing your heart out amongst friends. Karaoke may seem daunting for some people, it can open up some people who are closet shower/alone in the car singers. It helps if you're drunk and can sing in tune, but then if you're drunk you don't particularly care. I mean if and when it gets to the high notes for us, we try and fail but with many laughs to be had in the process. So drinking and karaoke work very well in tandem, I love it, and would recommend it to a group of your friends. It's always a great night.

I nerded out over the rest of the weekend. Basically comic books, and the Walking Dead season 2. I finished reading the Infinity Gauntlet, Planet Hulk, and the prequel issues for the Annihilation arch, but also started the Civil War arch in the Marvel universe, it's going to be an epic read. I won't go into that just now as I will probably write a seperate entry for comic book entries as well as the Walking Dead, which I finished last night. Amazing series, even with flaws that I noticed.

That'll do for now. I tend to go on and on about nothing in these posts.

Decision Making- Puke story

Well Starcraft 2 is still keeping me busy, and annoyingly I'm still wondering what could have been with my ex. I think I'm at a lull period in my life and I'm just expecting myself to get through the process of moving into my new place, and wanting a new start from there.

I've decided I'll start and concentrate on my studies then, but it can't come soon enough. I just want to be there now so I can concentrate on all of this and keep myself busy. I'm  relishing the responsibility of having a mortgage, bills to pay, furnishing, just owning a house, that I can call my own home. All these years I've been renting and paying into someone elses pocket. It's time to invest and pay something back to myself. I'm thankful that my parents are helping me out in the process. I suppose being the son of the family there is still that chinese tradition in having a strong male foundation.

The first place I saw, was great. It was my first experience in getting an offer accepted. To put things into perspective, I had failed my exams, and on the verge of a breakup with my now ex. I put all my hopes and dreams into this one property, as I negotiate well and got a great deal. I mean I felt so happy that I got all the furniture included. I thought maybe this is the point in where I can start again, but then suddenly it fell through and it really got to me. I had a sinking feeling, and was on the verge of tears. It was like nothing is going right in my life. I was left feeling empty and hopeless. Obviously I was really just dissappointemnt, but I got myself in gear again straight away, of which I'm very glad I did, otherwise I would not have found the current place now.

It's extremely silly to think that my world is turning to shit, when really it's still ok, when compared to many other people's lives. I'm actually being the unrealistic one here. I should be very grateful of my current situation. First world problem I guess... :).

Anyway from this ordeal in finding a property, I've realise I am capable in making a good decision. I know at times I can be indecisive, but I know there have been times in my life where I can make important split decision quite well. My crisis management is very good for some reason I don't know why. Story time:

One specific moment when, a bunch of my friends, were on a ways to a friends BBQ. Kev was driving, Andy in the front seat with Jess and I at the back. We had a night out before drinking cocktails as such but this being the next day most of us are feeling hungover, yet seemed ok. As we made our way not 15 minutes into the journey. Andy blurted out 'pull over I need to throw up'. Kev was like seriously? and couldn't pull over straight away, as it was a busy road and you cant just stop there but there was a turning coming up.

Now you know that feeling of when you're on the verge of gagging and the puke is on the edge of your throat, and at times you can control it and even save it by swallowing it back down. Horrible, but doable. Now there are times you think you can hold it back, but no matter what your body doesn't want it and it's coming out. Andy was obviously on the verge and unable to hold it back, so he did what most people do as a natural reaction, but also the worse thing possible thing and that's to cover your mouth as you throw up.

If you're a physics teacher this would be a prime example at it's finest of how build up in pressure works. I'm sure you've used a hose and placed your thumb over the nozzle but leave a small gap to create that spray of water to increase the distance. Well now imagine a mouth full of puke wanting to get out, with only your mouth and hand to stop it from going out. The mouth fails to keep it in, so now so it's your hands. I've never been able to pick up a perfect ball of water in my hands as the small gaps between your fingers always lets the water through, so you can guess what happens next.

All I can say to describe it, that it was like an explosion of utrid puke water, that smelled of horrid rotten banana soup. Luckily most of it went on himself, as I think at least he tried to contain it on his T-shirt, but it's the spray of back wash puke is what hits everything in it's path.

The car manages to come to a stop, and silence ensures. Andy breaks the silence by apologising continuously, whilst Jess is now in shock suddenly says. 'I can't stay here or I'm going to throw up too'. I took charge of the situation and I told her to get out of the car! We all got out, and I went to look at our current surroundings to see whether there were any shops close by.

Luckily there was a petrol station and I helped Andy walk over there and he went into the toilet to clean himself up and I believe destroy the toilet with more puke as he decribes later on. I purchased some kitchen towels and some air freshner. Made my way back and Kev did the process of cleaning up. I suppose it's not much of a story of crisis management but when no-one is on the verge of doing anything to sort it out, I just stepped up.

To finish the story off, we drove back home whilst he got himself cleaned up and got a change of clothes before we started the journey again. We even got there earlier than some other people.

Well change can help put things into perspective, create a new beginning. I've started and restarted this blog a number of times already, and it always mentions a new start. So it feels like I'm repeating myself given the limited amount of entries I have in this blog, but it's a much necessity on my part to keep my self in check.