1^st Jan, 2004 (Thur)    Cloudy and Rainy

A brand new day of the year…

I was surprised to know that Anita Mui had passed away.  I think I was so lazy now and it was no wonder I kept gaining weight as I was even lazy to do cooking in the evenings and only had some biscuits for dinner. 

Life was so dull without the Internet access and so I could only listen to the local radio…

2^nd Jan, 2004 (Fri)      Cloudy

The second day of the new year…

There were lots of people in the afternoon and it was like a weekend rather than a weekday.  In fact I am wondering why there are always many people in the city centre on any day.  Don’t they need to go to work? 

I spent a lot of time looking around in the shops but couldn’t find any that was of interest to me or that could be so appealing to me that I wanted to buy it.  It is difficult to get a present for a person, especially if you don’t know the person well.  Another thing that makes it difficult to get a present for a person is the fact that the person has everything and there is nothing that she doesn’t have.  Of course my mom needs money and she likes jewellery but I don’t think I can satisfy her needs as I don’t have or I can’t afford to have any of them.  Most of the shops had 50% discount at maximum only and there weren’t many choices.  I looked around at Marks and Spencer but I was disappointed.  Maybe in the end I will buy her nothing?! 

3^rd Jan, 2004 (Sat)      Cloudy and rainy

Nothing special indeed.  Life without Internet access means I better spend my time on reading for my study and I did try to do so.  But I felt a bit stuck with my reading and I turned my attention to the books for leisure in the evening after a shower. 

I got a nightmare again (in the middle of the night of 4^th Jan). This time the dream was bizarre.  At first it seemed to be a good one coz I dreamt that David Beckham came to say to Hello to me on an occasion and gave me a gift and I invited him to a photo with me but as I tried to get a better pic with him, I left my personal belongings including my leg unattended and when I got back to collect my bag after losing Beckham’s trace in a shopping centre, I found the credit cards and ATM cards that were in my purse had gone!! It was an hour after I lost my cards when I called the police and I contacted the bank so that I could stop the thieves from withdrawing my money with my cards but it was too late as the bank staff told me a lot of money had been withdrawn from my bank account then… that was the time when I got up from the dream!! Does it mean I was under so much pressure which I wasn’t aware of that I had nightmares over the past week?!

I don’t know why I kept having strange dreams these days?!  Does it reflect a sense of insecurity or high pressure in me?  A week ago, I got a very horrible nightmare in which I had my laptop stolen when I got back to my room one day!! I felt very sad in the dream… and the nightmare was so horrible that I got up to see if my laptop was still in my room!! I couldn’t fall asleep after waking up until later…  

4^th Jan, 2004 (Sun)      Cloudy

Though my weight keeps increasing, I kept trying new recipes.  I used the seasoning cubes that I had bought at Asda to make pilau rice.  A flatmate of mine called me in the afternoon to have a short chat about our respective trips and plans for the rest of the holiday.  She bought some souvenirs including a lovely luggage tag that she gave me after our chat. 

Tomorrow the university will be reopen and hopefully I can get access to the Internet.  The level of my tolerance has reached the highest point!

5^th Jan, 2004 (Mon)    Cloudy

It was the first Monday after the Christmas and New Year holiday for many people and the university was re-open.  It was a great news for me coz I could check my email at Manchester Computing (in fact I am not sure if it had been open before today) and I had to do so since the Internet connection has not yet been restored.  I do feel frustrated and find it inconvenient, e.g. I need to go to the MC to check email.  I only checked my email account and renewed the books on the Internet.  That’s it.  I didn’t dare to do anything else or I’m afraid I might spend much time there and in fact I don’t feel like surfing the Internet at the public computer clusters.

A friend of mine from HK called me for a short chat at noon to see if I was still alive (!), as she hadn’t heard from me since our last chat on the Boxing Day.  I sent her an email in the afternoon and I think she may be surprised to see a long email from me!

I was not aware that I had a book overdue before X’mas and I had to pay 40p for that! L 

 Everything seemed to get back to normal as the people got back to work and many cars were found on the streets when I was on my way to the library.  Of course, compared with the term time, there were less people on the campus.  The weather was also getting much warmer than before.  I guess there should be at least around 10 degree Celsius outside?!

7^th Jan, 2004 (Wed)    Cloudy

 Finally the connection was restored!!  At around 4 p.m., something happened – our connection to the Internet was restored! Wow!

 All my attention was drawn to the Internet, obviously.  I was busy cleaning up my email account. It was like I haven’t been in touch with people for ages.

8^th Jan, 2004 (Thur)    Raining

I had a discussion with a friend of mine about the relationship between the way people lead their life and happiness (e.g. simple-minded people tend to be satisfied with the basic needs and so can easily get happy); we also discussed Christianity and what happens after death… of course I don’t think I’m a deep thinking person and what I want is very simple and I’d rather focus on my present life instead of getting worried about where I’ll go after death…

9^th Jan, 2004 (Fri)       Cloudy

I got an email from a guy whom I got to know some time ago.  I don’t know if he was angry or whatever, he said ‘no more email or your http://www.geocities.com/sandylohk’!! It may not be a big deal but I did feel a bit hurt, wondering if I have done anything wrong to make our relationship so bad! L

12^th Jan, 2004 (Mon)  Cloudy

Non-productive day…

I didn’t feel like working this morning and in the afternoon I turned my attention to the TVB drama by Ng Chun Yue.  I stayed up very late tonight.  I’m afraid my skin will turn bad again…

13^th Jan, 2004 (Tue)   Cloudy

I continued watching Ng Chun Yue’s TVB drama today, having slept so little last night.  The last ten episodes were the most touching and I couldn’t help bursting into tears.  Ng Chun Yue is so cool!!  I don’t know if I have been affected by the drama.  Suddenly I miss my family and my friends.  And HK as well.  It inspires me to think what is the most important in our life.  Does it necessarily have to be in the overseas where I can get what I want?  I don’t know…

15^th Jan, 2004 (Thur)  Rainy               My Birthday!!!

What a quiet, quiet, quiet birthday!!

Nothing special.  No birthday celebration, no birthday cake, no birthday present, no birthday call from mom… I led my life as usual.  The only thing related to my birthday was a phone call from a friend of mine who is studying in HK.  Actually she was not sure if today was my birthday; she said I hadn’t confirmed it with her before. 

16^th Jan, 2004 (Fri)     Cloudy

I had that ‘lost money’ dream again!! This time I dreamt of going to Shenzhen and had dinner with my family and relatives. I had all the stuff in my purse stolen, including my ATM cards.  The money I had in the bank was all withdrawn… maybe the dream has something to do with my concern about the exchange rate for pounds recently?!

I got some surprises today.  A good friend of mine sent me a keyring that she had bought in Australia, the ‘lei see’ given by her mom and a card.  What a nice girl she is!! Thanks Jane!! I also got a card from another friend.  It was a card for Chinese New Year but she also gave me birthday blessing.  Then there was a letter from the Inland Revenue, confirming that I had my provisional tax held over.  J

19^th Jan, 2004 (Mon)  Raining

It had been raining all day long but the temperature seemed to have risen a bit.  I went out in the afternoon to return the books for my flatmate but I made a silly mistake.  Before I went out, I thought the books were to be returned to the library of my university as I thought that was the reason why my flatmate asked me, not our other flatmates, to return the books. But I found out, on my way to the library, that the books should be returned to the library of another university.  I did get to the latter but the circulation staff said the books should be returned to another library! So, that means I wasted time walking around.  I was wet through when I got back home because I didn’t use the umbrella while there were drizzles.

20^th Jan, 2004 (Tue)   Cloudy

I told myself to work hard these days and my life seems to have become a routine – working in the morning, taking a shower as a break before lunch, starting doing reading in the afternoon and checking email from time to time.  Time passes…

I don’t feel like talking to people these days, having locked myself at home for days.

I got an awkward dream last night.  I dreamt of several monster-like creatures, which appeared outside a student hall where I lived and then I moved to a friend’s student hall, trying to avoid those monsters but it seems everyone can’t predict whether and when they would come back.  It was like the end of the world. Why did I have such dream?  Because of my worries??

21^st Jan, 2004 (Wed)   Cloudy

This is the Chinese New Year’s Eve!!

I was kind of relaxed today.  When I checked the mailbox, I found a postcard sent by a friend who was traveling Perth of Australia now.  I think she must be enjoying much of her life there.

In the evening I had dinner with my close flatmate and her husband to celebrate the arrival of the Chinese New Year in ‘Yang Sing’, a Chinese restaurant in the China Town.  I was asked to choose and order the dishes because they said I should be more familiar with the menu and it was more convenient for me to communicate with the Cantonese-speaking waitress.  We ordered 3 main dishes and were given a big bowl of soup free of charge.  My flatmate didn’t ask me to pay for the dinner; she said it can be considered as ‘lei see’ for the Chinese New Year!!

We had a nice evening and it was funny with our communication.  I spoke Putonghua occasionally but most of the time I communicated with my flatmate in English; she needed to translate our conversation from English into Putonghua for her husband.   They also taught me some Qing Dao Hua (a Chinese dialect).  There was really a need for me to learn Putonghua!!  The couple were really nice people and I wish one day I could travel to Qing Dao.

22^nd Jan, 2004 (Thur) Cloudy

Happy Chinese New Year!! Kung Hey Fat Choy!!

My family called me very early this morning.  In fact I stayed up late last night and I was planning to give them a call at around 5 a.m., the time when they should be having lunch at home.  But it was their call who woke me up!! First it was mom’s voice and then after a while, I talked to the other members of my family.  Most of them asked me about my study and I explained to them why it would take 3 years for me to finish the programme.  I talked for almost half an hour with them in total.  I was so excited and touched that I couldn’t fall asleep immediately when going to bed again.  I was very very grateful for their constant support to me… I shouldn’t let them down and I have to work and study hard!!

23^rd Jan, 2004 (Fri)     Rainy

I think I better change my habit of reading on the bed, which always results in me falling asleep!  L 

25^th Jan, 2004 (Sun)    Sunny

The 4^th day of the Chinese New Year!

It was really a sunny day but I didn’t think of going out as I tried to focus my attention on my reading for the whole day (but felt bored?!).  Sometimes I do feel pity that I lock myself in such a small room and I feel sort of ‘narrow’, ‘limited’ by staying at home all day long for my study – I’d rather go to oz and work like a friend of mine.

It was said that a freezing weather and some snow were expected for the coming week.  Oh, no…

26^th Jan, 2004 (Mon)  Cloudy

The temperature had dropped to around 1 to 2 degree Celsius.  Can’t imagine how cold it was!  I didn’t dare to go out, and I was too lazy to go out. I did some exercises in the evening to relax myself while trying to start having a good habit of doing exercises.

27^th Jan, 2004 (Tue)   Sunny and snow!!

Finally it snowed!!  The snow came when I just finished doing some exercises in my room.  Maybe I should call it ‘snow showers’?  In fact I don’t like the snow because after snowing, the ground is usually dirty and slippery.  I hate walking on a snowy ground but tomorrow I have to go to the university.:L  My flatmates seemed to be excited about the snow (in fact I was excited too and I tried to capture it with my digital camera). 

28^th Jan, 2004 (Wed)  Snowy but with sunny spells!!

It snowed again in the morning and early afternoon.  I was worried about how to get to the university in the afternoon as the snow started melting into a layer of ice on the ground.  Of course I couldn’t find an excuse for being absent from a weekly seminar meeting.  In the space of 20 minutes, the weather changed from worse to good by first snowing and then having a sunny spell with a blue sky.  I didn’t know how cold it was outside until I went out on my way to the university.  I didn’t put on any extra clothes, just as usual.  But I was almost frozen when I arrived at the classroom.  When I got back home, I put on a hat and got myself a cup of hot chocolate Horlick once I arrived home.  The temperature was only -2 degree Celsius when I checked the BBC weather website later.  It was cold but I didn’t feel there could be only -2 degree Celsius then. 

Since the ground had become a bit slippery, I walked very carefully and that caused me to be late for the seminar meeting.