wow I thought I had abandoned this place ( Read more... )

So today I decided to pop by Kinokuniya for some retail therapy, and to take advantage of their 20% discount for the holiday season. Amongst my acquisitions was Oliver Sack's latest, The Mind's Eye. (as well as their pretty christmas shopping bag!) I'm looking forward to reading it after the exams, as I've loved everything he's written so far. One ( Read more... )

"when we write fully and honestly, when we speak from who we are, mortal human being to mortal human being, it comes down to this - that we sustain each other with musics and dreams of motion, that we say who we are, that we reach out to the friend that is beyond us, out of sight - and this is perhaps defiant in the deepest possible way and is ( Read more... )

Entering Leeds along the highway, you are confronted almost instantly by the sight of two hideous apartment blocks, squat and grey and concrete, with incongruous streaks of blue and pink running down their middle. Beside you the scene is that of urban squalor and urban renewal: construction sites and decrepit buildings, bare flyovers and struggling ( Read more... )

 This morning, I boarded a completely empty bus from a cold and lonely street and waved goodbye to Oxford.

Oxford, Oxford, called the "sweet city of dreaming Spires" by the poet (and Oxford student) Matthew Arnold, and at first glance it is not difficult to see why: spires and towers dot the landscape, and the buildings are pleasant and dignified. ( Read more... )

I don't know if I'll be able to keep this up, once the pressures and distractions of travelling get to me +i no longer have easy access to a computer but we'll see, we'll see ( Read more... )

 So I was spring cleaning, and finally got around to tidying up and arranging my books... was surprisingly pleased to see the outcome! :))
( Happy is the bibliophile with a well-arranged bookshelf )

A song for the year, for my superiors, for my men, for myself.

(karma police, I've given all I can, it's not enough
I've given all I can, but we're still on the payroll)

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(12 days)

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will be leaving for brunei this friday till 13th october, as part of Exercise Lancer.

46 days left

-  I Knew a simple soldier boy
who grinned at life in empty joy
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark
And whistled early with the lark

...
                                                          Siegfried Sassoon, "Suicide in the Trenches"

When I first enlisted I refused to refer to my army-issued items as "mine"-- not "my" bunk, not "my" field pack ( Read more... )