the fact that ill be nearing 24 just headlines a sudden need to stay healthy, pretty and happy. i attempted my first shoulder stand 2 nights ago and i ended up waking up with a stiff neck. i ate this roasted oily goodness last week and i ended up having my face so close to the toilet bowl puking my brains out. and oh, did i mention i just recuperated from a 6 week long coughing frenzy? oh i think i forgot to mention i am still recuperating from a post traumatic heart distress. i do not at all feel any younger and thus, i have come to embrace a whole new lifestyle that involves health care, gym and facials... which are all sponsored thanks to free health card and gym membership for all :) yippee!

ive noted 8 things i would like to accomplish before i hit 24:

1. clean out my closet. maybe a wardrobe change has long been overdue. must abuse sale season.
2. regular gym and yoga sessions. cos the gym is just below the office and its free :) and because it makes me stress-free :)
3. visit the doctor. gastro, derma, nutritionist... meet me.
4. look pretty every time i go out.
5. eat right. goodbye ice cream, iced tea, chips and sweets :( ill see you once a month. :(
6. travel. at least 2 places in a year because we only live once. 
7. take my family out
8. learn how to drive a car and actually drive.

most are pretty do-able. hmmm, yeah... pat pat.

its been ages since i blogged here. its just that i woke up feeling sappy for so many reasons and i felt the need to blog. hahaha.

nothing has been up and coming save for work and more work. my friday nights have been consumed with officemates which is still work. i psyched myself up for a ton of work the past few months and i ended up with a month long cough and brought on a kind of stress ive been trying to let go but still unable to. the only days i look forward to are those spent with family and friends... real friends... friends you can take your mask off and just let loose and have fun. ive put on hold social awareness and existence which i ought to take back starting now... now that the load is a whole lot lighter thankfully. i miss watching movies, i miss watching tv, i miss going home anticipating an episode of how i met or glee, i miss coffee nights with paek, i miss dinner outs or hang outs with the gang, and i miss weekends... sleep-full weekends.

im slowly recovering from corporate enslavery with the help of a caffeine induced diet and truckloads of exercise. i shall make a note to self on this post that i shall not repeat this EVER again. i will say goodbye to ungodly OTs, sidelines that coincide with the already hectic work week and just plain bullshits.

hello world!

the whole hostel experience was one we did not want to experience again EVER, the morning shower decided that fact and sent us to a hotel hunting frenzy that same morning.

mom and i woke up at about 6am to brave the cold and the communal only to find ourselves showering in sheer darkness whilst showering and hunting for mom's thermal, which someone probably mistook. the only thing good about this communal was its heater.

the hostels breakfast was the 2nd and last saving grace. for the crappiness of their rooms and ungodly showers, this breakfast HAD to be good, good... not the best.

after making the most of its buffet toast and jam, we decided to get out of this hell hole and step into the wonderful world of london.
and wonderful it truly was. :)

first stop, st. john's wood. the drop off site to visit perhaps one the most infamous roads in the entirety of this planet: abbey road.

back in 1969, the beatles released their 11th studio album named after this very road. where john in his white suit and paul on his bare feet, ringo and george in tow; walked this same pedestrian crossing. rolling stones hailed it 14th greatest album of all time, spent a total of 192 weeks in the billboard and sold 7.6 million copies of this very album world friggin wide.

.... and ahia, and mama and i walked this road.

after we decided we had enough shots, we visited the abbey road studios where the beatles recorded mostly and soon after had dozens of artists like U2, sheryl crow, pink floyd and red hot chili peppers to name a few. and before we bidded adieu to this memorable site, we wrote on the wall outside of the studio.

we set off to the tower of london, this time we bought tickets to the tower museum and to go around this historical site. we had to grab a quick and hearty lunch at the nearby kfc 5 mins away from the tower before we headed our way in.

back in the days of yore, the tower of london served as a palace, dungeon and fortress. true enough we got to see the different parts of the tower depicting these very purposes. for one, this tower housed many famous and notable royalties and the tower museum showcases priceless crown jewels, gifts and scepters of these rulers, the most famous: queen victoria's crown. cannons about, we were also lucky enough to see the traitor's gate, a place where prisoners were held in boats and sailed on the small river bank as they made their way into the gate for questioning. anne boleyn sailed into these very gates when she was charged with supposed treason. the bloody tower was mainly a torture site thus its name, where ancient and very painful methods were used to send guilty and not guilty prisoners on their bleeding knees surrendering. we were lucky enough to see the exhibit in the white tower which housed a collection of henry viii's armors, jousting equipment and weaponry. this king was the very king that sent anne boleyn to execution, the king known for his unwavering lust for women and forced the church to separate itself from the state during his reign.

history did not end there, after a very very educational tour in the tower; we walked a pretty long way to the british museum.

this is the very museum that houses the rosetta stone, that broke the code of the ancient hieroglyphics that uncovered a host of egyptian tombs and treasures continuing until today. the museum hosts collections from greece, rome, etc but it boasts its egyptian collection dating back to the reign of napoleon, a fraction of treasures and stones he brought back after his egyptian conquest.

after a hearty historical back track, we capped the night with a dinner at motijheel, a humble indian restaurant along tavistock.

and so the journey to london begins with, of course a 2 hour flight to hongkong and 3 hour flight delay. the last time we've been to hk was in God knows when. so when the airport receptionist told us we get a complimentary room and meal for the 3 of us, we wanted to make the most out of it by scouring the airport stalls for a good bowl of hot noodles. we failed to take into consideration that it was already about 1 or 2 am and the only stall that had to be open was burger king. so we had our dinner and then snoozed some more and when we woke up at about 5 am and when the gate lady announced our aisle number, hell yeah... were gonna be in london... in 13 hours.

my on-air countdown began with a snooze, a delightful treat by watching inglorious basterds and julie and julia and sex and the city reruns. and at about 11 am, im in bloody london!!!

we took the tube from heathrow to russell square to check in our awaiting hotel room. we sort of programmed our minds that it wouldnt be as nice as the room in hongkong, but nobody expected this crap of a hostel, which i booked. it looked more like a prison cell versus that of a hostel. restrooms are shared adding more insult to the injury and distress of the site of this hell hole. no better way to do so than to indulge in the city and all the historical glory it has to offer.

we set out to the tower of london which was closed but we wanted to see its night view anyway. we walked further across and standing from afar you can already see the infamous tower bridges and the river thames flowing about and beyond it.

from here we headed to the trafalgar square. a chant of voices welcomed us and true enough, a group of carolers serenaded the spectators the entire night. the national gallery was just straight ahead and free, so we abused it and i found myself transfixed in its collections. it housed a holfengraht museum which depicted amsterdam's red light district, it had an array of premium and prized paintings by cezanne, van gogh, monet, renoir, to name just a few.

the night fell, our stomachs were ailing for food and the cold was beginning to numb us. we headed back home and before we decided to cap the night in our crappy hostel room, we detoured to north sea fish; an old fish and chips shack; and its greasy and salty goodness did london quite proud.

clap for one good day spent in too lovely a city, cry for one night in prison.