I'd Been Dating Dorian Gray

t had been more than a week since my computer crashed and still, it's busted.  I'd managed to borrow an extra laptop for work in the meantime, but using someone else' computer for blogging feels so wrong to me.  Unfortunately, I ain't got no choice.  Hrrr..

Which is why I'm extremely pleased that just before I left for the UK, I bought an iPod on a whim.  I've wanted one for the longest time, and one morning, suddenly decided that I should get one.  I bought in on installment through my credit card, of course (lest you think I've got so much cash in my person at all times).  It had been so useful to me during these computer-less days.  I would've been so out of touch without it, that I love it to bits now.

I especially love the iBooks application I'd installed into it -- as you get free eBooks with it!  I'd just finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray  in it and I've now become an Oscar Wilde fan.  His prose is so beautiful and he sets the background so well that I can almost see the scene in my head.  Awesome stuff!

For the benefit of everyone, this is the book cover as can be seen on Amazon --



Obviously, that's Oscar Wilde and not Dorian Gray -- as the hero/anti-hero is supposed to be this extremely gorgeous, blonde and blue-eyed charmer that never grows old.  Which makes me wonder why films portray him as this handsomely dark character --




Dorian Gray of LXG or League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen




Dorian Gray of, well, Dorian Gray

I guess the standard of beauty now is very different from those who come from the Victorian era.


Anyway, here are some of my favourite quotes from the book:

Conscience and cowardice are really the same things … Conscience is the trade-name of the firm. That is all.

People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves.

There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.

The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young.

The worst of having a romance of any kind is that it leaves one so unromantic.

Crash Victim

Woe on us who rely too much on computer technology!

The last couple of days was a nightmare, as I tried to salvage the un-backed up files (all the photos! the memories! the agony of the prospect of not being able to see them again!) from a corrupt hard disk.  I can't work, I can't eat, I can't think of anything but trying to get my computer to boot up so I can weasel my files outta that darn hard drive.

We've all been there -- full flash and external hard drives just suddenly going kaput and whole computers just refusing to boot up or worse -- they just suddenly don't switch on.

That's one of the drawbacks of the digital age, obviously.  Because computers have made our lives so easy and convenient, we have become very dependent on them.  Unfortunately, we sometimes have to deal with having all our hard work go out in a puff of electrical smoke.

Drinks & quizzes at the local

Ooh la la!  Before I pack my bags once again for a quick weekend trip to France (don't assume I'm rich, because I'm just tagging along with my Aunt and Uncle), there's another little slice of British life I want to share.

That is going to the local pub.

Unfortunately, in a village as small as the one I'm living in at the moment, it's not the most exciting thing in the world.  But it does give you a chance to meet your neighbours and to drink a glass or two of alcohol with them.



In this case, our local is called The Chequers.  It's been around for God knows how long, but still well-visited by the villagers (did I make it sound medieval?).  The fact that it's the only one in the village helps considerably.




To spice things up, the pub holds Quiz Nights where punters (customers) can form groups, answer questions together and possible win cash prizes.




In this pub, the team with the lowest score gets lollipops (I would rather get a lollipop than nothing at all!).




As our team won that night, I can safely claim that my brain has got tons of useless information in it.  I'm gloating and self-deprecating at the same time -- ang plastik!

B & B: Birmingham and Ballet Flats

The last time I've been to Birmingham was nearly four years ago.  I think it's the capital city of the Midlands (the middle bit of England).  Unfortunately, I don't know enough about it, except that it has one of the biggest shopping centres I know -- The Bullring.  One goes to Birmingham from my neck of the woods (the West midlands)  to shop and eat --  I, therefore, did both!



One (meaning myself) has to take the train to get there, so my day trip starts off at Rugby train station.




I'll be getting myself on a Virgin (the train, you naughty little thing! hahahaha)


When I arrived at Birmingham, I totally got lost on the way out!  I didn't have a clue where I was, but I saw the Bullring as we pulled into the station and just followed the streets towards that direction.  I went all around the area and called my friend to say I'll be waiting for her at the Starbucks in front of Selfridges.  My friend then tells me I must have a built-in homing device that would take me to any Starbucks wherever I am in the world.  That was hilarious, because it's probably true!!


Was supposed to meet my friend for lunch, so we decided to go for a Pizza Express meal.  Seeing this again is making my mouth water.. 




Just to prove that I was actually there... *snigger*




 
Our day will not be complete without a trip to Starbucks -- the strangely-designed Selfridges department store in the background is a Birmingham landmark.

 My friend's train arrives an hour earlier than mine.  So left to my own devices, I'm very susceptible to impulse shopping.  I hate shopping, but when I'm alone and bored in the shops, I tend to spend all my money!!!

I seem to have a penchant for metallics on that day --



  This is my favourite perfume.  I can't stop smelling myself when I wear this.



I told you I'm addicted to ballet flats! Hahahaha

Website from scratch?

Blogging has been a part of my life for eight years, and it does not seem like I’ll be giving it up any time soon.  Yeah, I become lazy or get busy or change my username (or even blogging platforms) all the time, I still end up going back to writing eventually.

The funny thing is, despite nearly a decade of doing this, I still can’t get a grip on website building.  I know there are loads of tools and services out there that help you to build your own website, but I just could not be bothered.  Either that or I am just being lazy again.

I guess I’ve always been a person more concerned with content and I knew that there are sites available in which I could download and install templates for free.  The free blogging platforms are also still working for me, so I thought that there is no need to fix anything if they aren’t broken.

But who knows, maybe I will get around to thinking that I would be happier to manage my own website or indeed want to create dozens of new ones.  I will certainly have more control over everything, but at the moment, I’m perfectly happy that it’s mostly someone else’s problem.

Royally hitched: It should've been me!

Being in England at the moment, I can't escape the excitement about the Royal Wedding.  It's apparently an event watched by approximately 1 BILLION people worldwide -- that's 1 in 3 people around the planet!  I've heard from friends and family from Manila that even the Filipino press is covering the British shenanigans.

If you're like most people yesterday, you celebrated the most talked about wedding of the year with a renewed sense of romance (albeit extremely posh -- the "for richer, for poorer" bit is just not applicable).

As soon as I got up at 7:30am, I turned the television on and watched the proceedings -- very exciting!  My auntie, in fact, got so excited that she prepared a special breakfast --



I didn't want to be stuck in a crowd and not see everything, so turning the TV on gave us ringside seats!



Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toast.



I thought auntie was kidding when she said a few days ago that we'll be popping open some champagne... guess I was dead wrong about that.  The one on the right was mixed with orange juice, making it a Buck's Fizz.



Cheers to the newlyweds!!  (Wills, it should've been me! But I think he didn't want a foreigner. hehehe.)


Will you remember what you did yesterday in a few years' time?