gosh i cant believe myself

as i looked at my tutor who was waffling on about the UN, part of my brain was processing what she said, and the other part was thinking, gosh i'm so going to miss this when i start working.

and this is how oxford has changed me. i like what i am doing, i like using my brain. i enjoy politics and economics, the former because it expands my knowledge and cuz i like to argue, and the latter because it's actually becoming increasingly applicable! i am doing an essay on us vs microsoft corp now, and it's simply amazing how relevant econs is. no abstract marginal theories, no grandiose welfare edgeworth box theories, just theories that explain how monopolies think and operate in almost all scenarios.

it fascinates me how economists can actually formalize something as exclusive dealing into its good and bad (and the in-between). it's amazing how economists can formulate models to provide a solution to the prisoner's dilemma. it makes me think, what about arrow's impossibility theorem, and gosh how much knowledge i will miss in future when i'm no longer around.

the human brain is a wonderful limitless thing. i never thought i'd be gushing about knowledge and not just perfumes.

i could go on about how fun politics and econs is, and how much better i am at bullshitting now (it's actually 2 weeks in a row that my tutor said solid effort, not sure what that means) and discussing things i have absolutely no idea about, like law and drug taking. but i will stop. my econs essay beckons, it's due 7pm (it's 740pm now) and i'm not even 1/3 way through.

oh delightful delightful oxford

started the new academic year off with a big bang - when i received my reading list for international relations. a 3 page reading list for my first essay, 3 pages chock full of font-size 12 book titles, without reference to any specific chapters or pages in the book. 8 essays, 1 for each week, odd weeks i have a 3 page reading list, even weeks i have a one-and-a-half page reading list. how sweet of my tutor to take into account the fact that we have to sleep sometime. i know i have complained enough, but gosh, i will be happiest (so far) when i submit this essay, regardless of whether she thinks it's absolute crap.

i couldn't stand readingandreadingandreading in the library and in my room, so i went to my college library to - no prizes for guessing what i did - borrow more books! this time for economics. my college library has a really quaint index card system to find books, and i thought i've finally mastered the system. well i did, but not the system of shelving, as it turns out. i found 2 of the 4 books i needed, and was looking all around for the other 2 books. one of the books was M35 something, but the shelf went up to M28, and the next shelf i could find started with M36. convinced there was something wrong with squinting (M36 was the top of a wall-to-ceiling bookshelf). also couldn't find this book which was M0.5 ish (could only see M10)so i checked the index cards again. well i did get the right details, so, back to the economics section i went. after a few minutes of futile searching i decided that people must have taken the books out.

and then a stroke of brilliance strikes. seriously i kid you not, the idea that there could be other shelves of economics books struck me. i am happy to report, i was right, the other shelf was behind me (yes stop laughing already) and other shelves were joining the shelves i was looking at in an L-shape. i saw many many books, and 4 enormous tomes, the largest of the hundred odd books i've seen so far, so large that it was sticking out of the shelf. i prayed that that wasn't the book i needed, and as luck would have it, it was.

the sight of a girl clad in an oversized polo tee shirt, track pants and slippers, hugging 4 big books that nearly slipped out of her hands, must have been quite pathetic. at least i definitely felt pathetic, looking at the beautiful roof detail characteristic of my college, looking at the building i am living in and seeing only 1 lighted window - my own.

i got in by mistake, can i go home now?

be careful around bbdc

since i'm leaving in a few hours time, you guys can relax a bit when walking around the bbdc area. i should list the times i'm driving, really, because it's then that it's best for anyone to keep off the roads, kerbs included.

yes, i've started my driving lessons, and yes, no one has been injured - yet. i will always have a story to tell at the end of each lesson, because i'm really quite terrible. no only do i stall the car (yes i am learning how to drive a manual car! horrors!), i also mount the kerb. but yesterday's lesson takes the cake.

i was learning how to drive and stop on the slope. i was rather nervous, because during the previous lesson, i couldn't pull the hand brake up, even with both hands. the car kept sliding down the slope, but finally i got the hang of driving on slopes - so i thought. my instructor requested that i do a right turn while stopping on a slope. i was to turn into a two-way street with two lanes for each side of the traffic, and a traffic divider in between. i turned into the rightmost lane for oncoming traffic. the turn was perfect, i was in the centre of the lane for once, and couldn't understand why my instructor jammed the brakes so incredibly hard. then i realised, to my horror but greater amusement, that i have turned into the wrong lane!! luckily there wasn't any traffic at that time. this all sounds all right in the circuit (right abiel?) but i was driving on the roads when this happened. absolutely dangerous because i will have langa-ed any car that was driving along, blissfully unaware of the menace on the road. but i find it really funny also. maybe it's just me.

two million and one things to pack, and for once i can finally say this - i am officially overweight! or, to be more accurate, my luggage is. hopefully the lady lets me through!