Hello everyone! This is the second post courtesy for KL International airport. I've ben stuck here for more than 3 hours. I'm so shag tired. 12 hour flight plus 3.5 hour wait is not funny at all. The damned flight to Singaproe got delayed by half an hour. I wish someone like LL or Jun was here to play the tudong game with me!

I tried to find some food because I'm so hungry but everything is overpriced and unappetising, just like airport food should be. The food on the plane from Manchester was so bad. The cod fish was like a block of wood pulp moulded together with water and potato starch. Oh help, I'm dying of starvation. I am so going to stuff myself when I get to Singapore.

There is this TV screen here at the airport sitting place (not classy enough to deserve the title of "lounge") that is playing an amatuerish video of Malay dancers over and over and OVER again. These dancers supposedly perform here on thursdays. The rest of the time, this horribly annoying video is repeated again and again and AGAIN. ARGHHHH!!!! I think I know all the dance steps already.

My flatmate emailed me this bizzare webpage with pictures that show evidence of the intelligence of the Human race.
http://www.cnyas.com/tork.htm
It seems that I am not the only bored person around.

I woke up in the middle of the night. I was cold, my bones were aching and my throat was swollen. And I knew. Damned fever. I struggled 3 feet to my medicine shelf and grabbed 2 Panadol tablets. Felt like hell.

I hope I get better very quickly. If not, it will be a nighmarish hell pain in the ass travelling back to Singapore on Sunday.

Right now, I am trying to study for the exam on thursday. I feel so cold. I am a dead thing that has to sit on the floor beside the radiator, compulsively drinking hot tea to keep from freezing. Panadol eases the aching bones a little but it is very hard to concentrate on the theory of how civilisations develop from the availability of agricultural surplus when pretty little stars are bouncing and skipping across my eyes.

My diagnosis is throat infection. My resting pulse rate is 73/min. Usually it is 60/min so I'm definitely sick. It is not my imagination. I prescribe saltwater gargle for the sore throat, Panadol for the fever and body ache, vitamins for the immune system and willpower to aid recovery. God help me.

Song Change! Back to the Christmas playlist. This one is nice. An alternative to the usual.

Over the weekend, I went to a place called Castleton for the caving club christmas meal. The meal was nice and I ate a lot. We stayed over at this old chapel that had mould on the walls.

We slept in sleeping mats on bunk beds. The beds weren't separated, just a big mattress and sleeping bags next to each other. So, at about 3am, I was too tired to stay downstairs with the crazy people doing silly things like body traversing (climbing over and under a person without touching the floor. needs a good strong person who is trustworthy enough to hold you), broom game (twisting yourself around a broom while keeping both hands on it) etc. I crawled into my sleeping bag fully clothed. There was a guy already in bed and I said good night. At about 4, another guy climbed up to the bunk. I was half asleep when he started stripping. Shit! and I shut my eyes. Audrey don't look! No, no. Don't be a pervert. Erm, I saw some bare skin... In the morning, we were sleepy eyed. I offered the naked guy some water (don't worry, the bottom half of him was in the sleeping bag). I realised that the other guy was naked too (bottom half also in sleeping bag). Wow! I spent the night with two guys who slept naked. How interesting. Oh the missed photo opportunities!

In less than a week I will be getting my ass on a train and a plane back to Singapore. Excited! I want food Food FOOD! Not that I haven't been eating a lot here. I just miss the sheer variety. I especially miss sushi and sashimi. I think I won't be able to resist popping into the Sakae Sushi at the airport the moment I get kicked off the plane.

I had a nice and most wonderful 19th birthday today. Thank you to all me friends and Family who made it so. Early in the morning, my brother emailed me a Flash game he had written as a present. It involved controlling a mouse, making it eat cheese and avoid the cat. So I started the day totally amused. Then, my mummy sent me £, which I like.

I went to King's Manor and from there, set out on a walk around the city cum seminar presentation with my seminar group. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the view was fantastic. After the seminar was over, I went with two of the guys in my group to grab food before the afternoon lecture. I don't really know them very well but when I mentioned that it was my birthday, the two of them burst out into a birthday song, right outside the City Art Gallery. I ran to a bus stop to hide. Then, one of them walked into Starbucks and bought me a slice of chocolate cake! So nice right? (sounds soppy, but it really wasn't) Then, two of us got sandwiches and one guy got a coffee and we wandered around the city, waiting for the lecture to start. We walked into a bookshop where one guy bought a book on Vikings, the other got one on Anglo-Saxons and I got one on Vlad the Impaler. And we hung around some more, talking cock and learning swear words. I taught them Pi Gu (backside) and Qu si (go and die) and the Singaporean meaning of Cuckoo Bird.

Then we walked back to King's Manor. It was still to early for lecture so we sat around in the common room. Out of the blue, Ah Boy called from Australia! Such a nice ah boy. We had a conversation full of swear words which was fun. At the end, the two guys overheard me saying "Qu Si" and they just started yelling "Pi Gu! Pi Gu!". Good fun!

As I sat down in the lecture room and got out my foolscap paper, LL called. Unfortunately, the lecturer was starting so I had to cancel. LL said she would call tomorrow. (To LL: I lecture from 8.30pm - 10.30pm your time. half an hour before that, I will be cycling. If you call between (5-7.30 pm or anytime after the lecture, I should be able to answer, unless I'm showering or in the toilet) I'm looking forward to talking to LL the Lame.

When I got back to my college, I found in the letterbox a birthday card from Grace the Doggy! A CAT card! And Grace can draw cats! Impressed and very happy.

And hanging from my room door was a plastic bag with a card and cupcake with a candle on it from my beautiful blondie flatmate! Oh, talk about warm, fuzzy feelings...

At 7.30pm, I went to the Sports Centre for caving training. I decided to do a fast birthday challenge and bugger off because it had been such a long day. I got through the 100+m rope in 18mins. Not as easy as it sounds because it is vertical and involves some rope burn but it was a good workout.

I walked back to my room in some of the most fantastically thick fog I had yet experienced here. I had to be careful not to get lost although it was only a short distance. I found my Iranian flatmate in the kitchen and we cooked dinner together. (well, mine was some horrible looking scrambled eggs which tasted alright and his was proper rice and fish). We had dinner and talked rubbish and I learnt to say "my name is" in Persian. Sounds something like "Esm-e-Mann Audrey". Then, I got out the cupcake from the blondie and we pretended that there was a flame on the candle (no smokers and thus no lighters. stoves are electric). I made a good birthday wish, blew out the candle in my imagination and ate the cake.

And on the blogs of Jun and Wen are poems dedicated to me!!! I feel so important :) Thank you Boon for your "whacking intent" and Jun(e) for your eccentric rhymes! I like them both even though they are very different.

On XY's blog, in BIG RED WORDS, she wishes me "Happy Birthday". Thank You!

So nice to know that the important people in my life have my birthday marked out on their calendars and that there is unexpected nice-ness to be found in people everywhere.

Wonderful day. I have lived to be 19. Thank you friends and family and Family and God who provided them. A nice warm and fuzzy feeling as I become sleepy. Good night.

And now, I unleash upon you the Christmas songs! This one is by Kenny Rogers. Yes, the guy who opened the chain of chicken restaurants. Enjoy! I will be changing the songs quite often to stop you going crazy. Christmas songs are just everywhere.

The blondie just said I look older than my age. She said that I look about 21. I can't help liking her.

Hidden Life.
for Grace (dog) who likes to do interesting things and not tell people.

Delighted to meet you
Ever happy,
Never sad.
A cheerful surface,
Never scratched.

Delightful farce
Of a dull life.
Intriguing truth
Of the exciting night.

When eyes glance away,
And attentions stray,
It is time for
The dog to display
Canine nature
Descendent of Wolf
The Wild heart
None can prove.

I had my first real accident on the bike on Thursday. It was going to happen sooner or later, the way I cycle. Reckless. Luckily, injuries were minor, if they can be called injuries at all. Anyway, this is how it happened:

I was turning into a cycling lane, cutting across a road. Suddenly, a car appeared from the left. So I turned left to look at it. Oh look, a car! Then I looked in front of me. Oh fuck, a fence! It was too late to turn by then so, CRASH! And the left side of my face was whacked against the fence and I fell off the bike. A random guy walked by and pretended he hadn't seen a thing. Surprisingly, I was still in one piece. Of course, I felt like I had been boxed in the ear. A few dots of blood from broken skin and a dazed feeling. And I also have a humongous bruise on my right thigh.

I got up, checked the bike for damage and continued on my way to King's Manor to give a seminar presentation. And nobody here need ever find out about my stupid accident.

Yesterday, I went for a full day first aid course. I am now a qualified first aider (British Red Cross). So if any is bleeding or dying, I'll practise the 3 Ps. Panic, Piss Off and Pretend nothing happened. Just kidding! I'll be happy to give you CPR anytime. You just have to ask.

Christmas is constantly on my mind now. Soon, I'll be changing the song to one of those christmas songs that irritate the hell out of everyone in shopping centres.

Before Fog
for Boon, who is sometimes lost.

Out here in the wilderness
A thousand paths
Dirt
Brick
Stone
That disappear where the Sun sets.

There is no one
Behind.
or
Before.
or
Beside.

You were never taught,
Never told
That it would be so
Frightening.

It is not right
That you feel so alone
When you are surrounded by
So many.

Where will you find your
Conviction?
Who will be your
Rock?
When every stone you find
Crumbles to dust in your hands.

When the fog descends
You will be utterly lost.

Quick! Now!
Before dampness touches your cheek
Light your flickering torch

Let every step be forward
And never look back.

(Boon requested this poem. The inspiration for the setting is from the thick fog in York. Going out alone at night really gives you a sense of alone-ness cos not only is vision blurred but sound too is muffled. And of course, since she requested it, a large part of the inspiration comes from Boon.)