Saturday 3 September 2005

A much needed break

I really need this and please don’t even start telling me that I shouldn’t be blogging at these crucial moments. I left the house at 0730 this morning and now it is already 1803 to be exact. And Kak Teh these days is not like the normal Mak Cik Kak Teh, dragging her feet. Now, she struts around with a heavy rucksack on her back, with all manner of literature books and journals weighing almost a ton. Yet, there’s a certain spring in her steps as she jumps on the number Seven and enjoys a quiet bus ride to the uni before the crazy crowd gets in.

Yes, I was here at the uni at eight am and I had to shout out and tell someone. So I sms’ed Jane Sunshine to boast about it. She, the poor dear, was still tucked comfortably under her duvet for she replied a few hours later, after I had booked my computer in the lab and walked around Russel Square looking for a decent breakfast. I had tuna sandwich and coffee at an Italian, while listening to Radio Two in the background.

The computer lab was dark and deserted when I got here. There was evidence that someone must have slept the night there and left early. I felt like the morning shift cleaner. Anyway, I couldn’t take any chances as the adrenalin was fast flowing and so were the words, ten thousand of them all waiting to rush out through my two fingers on to the screen - in which order I don’t know yet, but they are all there, believe me!

(I simply cant work at home. Jasper likes to jump on to the computer table and totally block the screen. Tabby sits on the books and Snowbell pulls my hand away to stroke her.)

The concourse of the university is looking nice with trees in full bloom and there were two Bhuddist monks – a tad early for the conference that they are attending here. It’s a shame I couldn’t enjoy the sunshine outside but there’s a more pressing task I need to attend to. So, I switched on the computer and ignoring the stern warning from my buddy in Aberdeen, I came straight here. My blog. Its just bad habit and I am a creature of bad habit. Too old to change.

Yeah, today I managed something ( a lot really) in spite of numerous frantic sms’es from Blabs who wanted to postpone her flight back to Malaysia and phonecalls from children. Then there’s a surprise call from hubby, who was somewhere in Jalan Mesjid India in search of a barber. He called because he thought I might want to listen to a song by a group of blind singers performing there. And I obliged and listened for a while, imagining him holding up his handphone in the air for me to get a good reception. Thanks AG, that really inspired me. He duly reported on the state of his hair and badly needed a haircut. I told him I badly needed to get on with my work.

I made several trips to the library – which is only a floor away and carried more books and suitably impressed the people around me with the number of reference books on my table. They, needless to say, are no longer at that stage of referring to books. They have drafted their dissertation and are mostly on to revising and editing. Oh well! These young eager students…what do they know, eh?

Oh, what would we do without programmes that offer footnotes, grammar and spell check and word counts? I love it. After every other paragraph I’d do a word count. Very encouraging! But the damn spell check – every time I typed out a sample of my syair that contained sayang or datang, the smart aleck changed it to saying or dating. And then had the audacity to tell me that the computer is not equipped to cope with that much Finnish vocab!

Then, when I hit a certain number of words, I sms’ed hubby : “Hooray eight thousand to go!” (By the way, the phone dictionary does not do Hooray – u’ll have to type it manually)

I visited several blogs – Lydia posted a new one, about her winning tickets to a concert. And at one point I caught her testing photobucket and there was this gigantic picture of Lydia Teh staring at me from the screen. In fact she later told me there were two big ones!

Okay, everyone is leaving and the guard has come to tell us we have only 15 minutes left. I am feeling quite, quite drained. And this only means one thing. I need my supplements. The number Seven goes past Tawana and I badly need an overdose of Thai Laksa.

ps
Several *&^%$£!! hours later.....
Have you ever felt like kicking yourself? The euphoric feeling of having accomplished something yesterday was replaced by exactly that kind of feeling. Apparently, what I had been saving, was not saved on to the computer. So, when I attached the file to send to myself ( to continue the work at home) I noticed that it had only several paragraphs. Uwueeeeeek!
Luckily, luckily, I had the presense of mind to print. If not my prof will never believe that I had done something. I know, cos I have had that kind of excuses from my students before..."Sorry Miss, I did it but something wrong with the computer!"

My Thai Sing Laksa Posted by Picasa
So, came back last night and drowned my sorrows in four bowls (yes!) of Thai Sing Laksa!






20 comments:

Unknown said...

Even Kak Teh needs much needed break :)). Selamat mentelaah.

Mutiara said...

Kak Teh:
You brought back those memories. My housemate Ami and I used to be the first to stand infront of the Computing centre door at Sheffield U, tak kira hujan or sleeting. The Computing Centre did not open until 8 am...so we stood there until some kind souls (staff) let us in. Those were the days. We were desperate to complete our dissertation, in order to graduate within one year.
There you go girl, you are not the first hehehe

Uja said...

Case of the hopeless Thai Sing addict!

Now chant with me: Thai Sing..Thai Sing..Thai Sing..

Sunfloraa said...

Oh dear kakteh!!! Luckily you printed it out!! Naya!

8K words more to go and then you will really enjoy yuour break! :) Good luck.

I Feel Good said...

OH kak teh! The one about your hubby's phone call down at Jl Masjid is simply hilarious! that was really cute, though:)

Hope you have a good rest out from all this...I know I need it badly...

Anonymous said...

kan dah kata, save, save, save ;) tapi kita ni kan manusia biasa, cepat lupa! memang perit, tapi mujur kakteh ada hardcopy...kalau tak, kena makan thaising sehari semalam laahhh..

Atok said...

Ahhh... camping at computer lab. We did it during our uni days and luckily, our uni labs were accesible 24/7/365 (incl Christmas).

But most of the time were spent on chatting via IRC, hahaha...

All the very beh! [see u thursday; going eh?]

About Blogreader said...

Thank God you PRINTED!

By the way, it's so nice to catch glimpses of you like this :) Take more breakslah...

AuntyN said...

Kak Teh : if you are reading this, GET OUT OF HERE!!!!. Go finish another 2000 words OK!!!

*you have to be cruel to be kind right?*

bibliobibuli said...

Enjoyed this peep into your life. Glad the words are getting written.

SimplyMas said...

Go bAck! Bo Back! You're not suppose to be here!!!!

ANother 2000 words you say?????

Take Care Kak Teh!!! That Laksa looks delicious!!! Bila kita boleh makan bersama?

Anonymous said...

when you're stressed up..bury your stress with 4 bowls of Thai Sing laksa..sib baik laksa..I took chocolates and now regretting it.

Ely said...

aaah, i like the last part abt the thai sing laksa hhehehee.

take care kak teh.

Lydia Teh said...

Kak Teh

When you got to the part where the doc wasn't saved to the computer, I said, Oh No! Phew, relieved to read that you did print it out after all. Otherwise you would've needed to down TEN bowls of laksa for comfort food.

Go on, conquer the 8K words.

Rgds

p/s : Blog readers, pls don't expect to see the big pix in my blog ah, taken out already. Cannot put, look like giant only.

anedra said...

blur sungguh..nasib baik print!! the SAME thing happened to me when I was in uni. 10 pages of work gone..nasib baik I had notes..and have photographic memory! Nasib keluarga Makcik Blur.

Atok said...

passed rusell sq on saturday nite, saw monks walking about... no wonderlah, ada conference rupanya.

- atok -

Ni said...

kak teh! sehari suntuk ke kat comp lab tu? sabau je lah ye. take care.

Kak Teh said...

This is Kak Teh's PA. she is too busy to reply, in fact, she said, she didnt even have time to look at her blog! sumpah, she said! and she wants to thank everyone who has left comments here. If you dont believe that this is not kak teh writing her own comment - look at the typos - where got typeos?
also - its already 1915. must go home..yes, i saved already!

Ewok said...

my heart stop kejap at the part you can't retrive the doc. had that cadbury moment before and i cried buckets.

thank God for the printed copy!

Blabarella said...

Poor poor Kak Teh!!! Apa jadi? So where was the document saved to in the end? The library PC ke? Yes, thank goodness for the printed copy as proof to the prof!!

Oh nooo!!! Did I sound THAT frantic on SMS?? Aiyo, so so so sorry!!! I fell really bad now, knowing that I kacau'd you during that time. Perhaps had I not bombarded your phone with SMS's, you may have remembered to save the document correctly! ;P

Back home dah!! It's BLEEDING hot!!