So, when I said 'occasional' I meant...

First off, I should probably clarify that my 'occasional updates on life' weren't actually intended to be this 'occasional' (ie - once in 2 months or so). I was intending to post once a week at least, but due to various and sundry complications, the most major one being my lack of a laptop - STILL - I have relegated my internet time to more important activities, like email and Facebook. Anyway, I doubt anybody's stumbled across this yet, so I needn't bother apologising :D

First, on the laptop issue. I have made a discovery, viz. that Apple hates me. To cut a long story short, I was trying to buy a Macbook Pro with a credit card I didn't have with me (though I did have the number), which meant I could only order it on the phone or on the internet rather than simply going to the store and picking it up. After many failed attempts and the unceremonious slaughter of much false hope, I discovered that unless your billing address is a UK one, they will not process your order. This, after many salespeople had promised me their superior bypassing skills, and after Apple had actually deducted more than a lakh from my mum's bank account (I hope they put it back). I have finally decided that patience is a virtue and that my best bet is to wait for my educational loan to (finally) be 100% processed and the money to be transferred, so I can take myself down to the store and purchase my laptop with a fat bundle of cash. I know that this day will come...eventually...and that I WILL possess the laptop...eventually...so for now, I am being patient. (Pffft, because I have no choice.) Until then, I have a very generous friend whose laptop I am using all the time, not to mention hundreds of university Mac Pros at my disposal. Not that this means that I had sufficient time to make blog posts or anything.

In other news, I have now been in the Yoo-kay for almost 2 months and it has been a vairy interesting and instructive experience. Much fun being had, much food being eaten, good friends on all sides, superior public transport, cheap dessert and drinks, nice cold weather and shoes on sale all the freaking time, ahahahaa :D Not to mention that I love my university and my course, which is probably the most interesting one I have ever taken. Some really good professors as well. And for homeworking, assignmentdoing and general thinkifying, we have something called a Reflective Visual Journal (oooh, fancy) also known as an RVJ, which is basically sort of a big, A3-sized, glorified scrapbook, which is going to look so awesome once we're through with the module...although that is not the essential point of it, it's so the profs can look at it after we submit our final project and follow our thought process, our journey, our whatever. Awesome, I do think. I'm quite looking forward to following my thought processes as well, they generally manage to escape me entirely and I only come across them in random scraps of poetry or writing much much later...if I have any. This'll be my first visual journal. I haven't been very diligent at keeping journals in the past - though I started them with much enthusiasm - but since this one is pretty much one big piece of homework, its future looks bright. I am reminded that I was never very diligent at doing homework either, but these things can be overcome. I hope.

Speaking of overcoming things, I wonder if I will ever be able to stop the shopaholicking. Fortunately for me, over here I actually had to do a great deal of shopping since there were many essential items of clothing I required...come on, this is the coldest place I have ever lived in, it's 10 degrees outside right now. The number one item on my 'urgent' list right now is a proper overcoat. I went out in search of one yesterday, and found many similar items like fluffy, furry jackets, suede jackets with fur lining, smart short coats et al, ALL of which I wanted to buy, none of which I did. So to console myself, I bought gloves + matching scarf (which I needed) and a pair of shoes (which I did not need, but which I had coveted for ages) and rescheduled coat shopping to Monday. I will be in the company of a good friend who is older and wiser than I and who can be counted on to have my best interests at heart, so I'm reasonably sure I will come back with something functional and elegant *fingers crossed*

My friends over here seriously deserve mention. I love my friends. They're like my family, and thanks to them, I have never had a chance to feel lonely or homesick since the second I landed here...literally. I've never had so little 'alone time' in my life, and I've never missed it less. It's been fun, fun, fun, and I've learned to do many things, like cook, and use a washing machine, and grocery shop, and dance (okay, have to admit, not yet learnt that properly) and yes, many other things. The only times I've felt homesick are when I miss my church, for which I have not yet found an acceptable substitute, and then everyone has had to look on helplessly while I wail 'Oh my Gooood, I miss my chuuuurch' and shed buckets of tears. This has only happened twice though...okay, maybe thrice.

In other news, my Dad has just added me on Facebook, and I have no idea how to handle this situation -_- I had warned my parents that if they ever show up there, I'm not going to be adding them, but now that the time has come, I feel a bit bad about it, in an 'awww, poor Daddy' way. But on the other hand, Facebook is a page for your friends, not your parents, and although I don't really have anything to hide from my parents (now there's a shocker), I don't necessarily want them having access to me from the same angle as my friends do. Hmm. I think Daddy can stick to talking to me on the phone. I guess I can expect a friend request from Mum tomorrow as well. Sheesh. Whatever happened to FB being a college networking place?

Oh well, this calls for a good lunch. And some cheesecake, mmm. 'Til the next 'occasion' then.