Dinner

Dinner at Mandy's with Yu-Hsuen.

Yay!!!

Shoot! My glasses...

榴蓮... Smells really bad!!! XD

Tmr HP7 Part 1!!!!

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點解副眼鏡配左兩個月就0吾arm？係咪對得電腦太多？

Frankly, it's quote worrying. I've only got one week in HK to fix everything.

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Harrods -> Yum Cha -> Oxford St!!!

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I know I haven't written for a long time. Just dont feel like doing so.

Tried toffee nut latte at Starbucks today and caramel latte ytd at Costa.

Today sucks in some ways. I couldn't stop laughing during that Prag back-up. I know that wasn't appropriate but most ppl were smirking too. And I couldn't control myself. Damn!!!

Just now Jerome told me it's in the book of Chao Yuen Ren!

5 weeks

上了五個星期的課，又到reading week.

一直都說來倫敦要work hard, play harder，因為我覺得生活體驗比學術知識重要，但不代表我沒有好好學習。三年的undergrad都沒這般努力，至少我看完所有required reading。

UCL的感覺是：They expect you to be brilliant and they don’t mind how you do it. 重點在於前面的一句‘They expect you to be brilliant’.

這個MA Ling是conversion degree，假設大家從來都沒有讀過Ling. Syntax, Phonetics, Phonology, Pragmatics, Semantics, core Ling, 我undergrad全都讀過。但來到這裡，幾星期便教畢我一年所學的東西。要是我從來沒讀過Ling，我真的不可能在這裡生存。我們有很多課都跟undergrad上，可以想像在這裡的同學一畢業便要比別人走得遠。一年後我拿著一個MA也可能比不上一個BA的學生。

正如同學所說， 課程難，卻令你更有動力去學習。First week 便讓人喘不過氣，但卻令我意會到要好好珍惜這一年學習的時間。過了幾星期，習慣了這裡的學習模式，hea了。如果我不再只顧上facebook，玩Sims，去土豆看Colin Firth，反而把握時間多讀些書，我相信我會做得更好。

學問，學問（draw trees for these 2 phrases?）。一直都覺得自己不懂問(Thanks to HK gov!)。再多看書也好，知道facts，不活用，也就無所用。這陣子覺得到了樽頸位，很想有人拉我一把，很懷念那種‘比人點醒’的感覺。很想做自己喜歡的lang，寫喜歡的topic，不很想寫lit review或者三百字的短答。

1. 秉承‘work hard, play harder’的motto，在reading week去了York三天。很美，但真心的說句‘好在UCL收我’。

2. 事實證明再好的大學也有‘自修好過上lecture’的course. Anyway, so far so good.

星期一又開始新一個5 weeks。不過3rd week我會在香港自修，haha！

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看回上年reading week的文章便知今年過得很充實。

1st Day of Reading Week

Going to YORK tmr!!! Yay!!!

Special trip to Oxford st to buy gloves! hah! But no shopping mood today lor...

AND MY ARSENAL MEMBERSHIP PACK CAME!!!!

Morning Walk

I went for a morning walk today. I've never been further away from the tube station.

I saw Autumn.

Trees on both sides of the path. Yellow leaves fallen, weathered. Flocks of seagulls hovering the grounds. Children playing in the field. This is how Autumn should look like. So peaceful and yet vibrant.

Spent these 2 days working on assignments and listening to Love Never Dies. Hee~

Off to York in 2 days!!!

Fireworks

Went to Primrose Hill with Angel, Vincent, Ya-fang, Yin-yen and Christina to see fireworks.

I was surprised to see that it's legal to fire your own fire crackers in London. Nice panoramic view of the city! No wonder why it's recommended in guide books.

But the fireworks were not a patch on those in HK!! Or Taiwan as they said.

But it was nice. My first time to go out see fireworks.

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That Japanese restaurant was blacklisted! Appalling service!!!!!!!!

Love Never Dies

OMG! We saw it in West End!!! The original London cast!!!! Yay!!! Our 37 pounds ticket included dinner in Covent Garden. We walked to the theatre after the rather mediocre dinner with intense excitement.

I still rmb watching Phantom of the Opera in HK 4 years ago. Totally blew me away. This time, we were in the upper circle. Quite high indeed but still ok. And the ticket only cost 25 pounds. I paid $790 to see the show in HK.

The show was still great despite the fact that I hate some parts of the plot. The singing was superb!! Especially Ramin Karimloo, who played the Phantom. Amazing voice! Totally hypnotising. His live was better than this recording I assure you! Oh btw, he's quite hot too, no?

And i wrote down some thoughts about the show:

One of the reasons why I wanted to come to London is because of the musicals. There are always great shows for you every night. Tonight, I saw the my first musical in London-Love Never Dies. Given my terribly limited understanding of drama and music, I’m not gonna write a critical review. These are just some thoughts that came across my mind quite naturally during or after the show.

I watched The Phantom of The Opera (TPTO) when it came to HK a few years ago and I loved it. I heard that Love Never Dies (LND) isn’t as good. I probably went to see the show biased. So, be warned. And yes, it isn’t as good as the original.

Spoilers Alert! Skip to the last part if you don’t wanna know the details.

There are 2 things I hate about LND’s plot.

1. They made Raoul a problem gambler. I liked him so much and hate Phantom in TPTO.
2. Phantom is the father of Christine’s son.

The 1st spoiled LND for me and the 2nd TPTO. Urgh. C’mon! Raoul a gambler? You’ve gotta be kidding me. And Phantom being the father is... Yes, it was very significant in the story and gave an emotional ending, but it killed TPTO for me. Totally killed it.

The plot was rather loose in LND. I have no idea what that circus show was about in the first scene. There were scenes which were absolutely fantastic but putting them all together just seem awkward. Some scenes didn’t fall into places, like the one on the beach. Great signing, great music, great choreography, it just didn’t work for me.

So much for the ‘dislike’. There are things that I find spectacular.

The cast was fantastic! Amazing performance from the leads. But the one who stood out for me was Ramin Karimloo (The Phantom). He was phenomenal! He has one of the most amazing voices I’ve heard! His magnetic voice kept me enthralled all the way through the show and it was irresistible. 把聲真係rich到漏! I mean, it’s worth the $ just listening to him sing. Absolutely amazing! I was so moved! MOVED! You can feel the passion rushing out of his voice filling the auditorium, melting into the air.

The songs. It was very surprising that there was ‘rock music’. ‘Love Never Dies’ the theme song sung by Christine was very moving and you could feel the momentum of it. The duets sung by Christine and The Phantom were good.

Back to the scenes. If you look at them individually, there were some scenes that moved me very much. The first one was when Christine was about to go on stage. The Phantom and Raoul were trying to persuade her to go and not go on stage. I could feel the battle in her heart. It was either The Phantom or Raoul. Then she sang ‘Love Never Dies’. Breathtaking!

The second one is the final scene. It ended quite abruptly but was indeed well staged. The surprise factor was very successful. I gasped when Meg shot Christine. Then The Phantom held her in his arms and sang their final duet. Before she died, she told Gustav The Phantom was his real father. When she died, The Phantom took off his ring and put it in her hand. Gustav tried to take off his mask. Instead, he knelt down and took it off, finally facing his son with his true face. That was a very emotional scene and I was so agitated. (And it ended before I knew...)

People say it’s more difficult to make a sequel than a new story. Indeed. I’d still recommend this to anyone who’s seen TPTO. It’s not a brilliant sequel but there are moments you don’t wanna miss. And, see it in London with Ramin as The Phantom!

Last Day Before Reading Week

Thursday!!! Last day of school b4 reading week!

OMG I can't believe I've had 1/4 classes this yr!!!! Time passed incredibly fast!!!

It was so funny in the lecture that Andrew actually asked, 'So far so good?'

Hahaha! I looked around and saw many ppl smirk. Haha!

請用普通話讀出：老李買好酒。

I can never get the tones right.

Talked to some classmates about Prof. John Harris's advanced phono class. They seemed quite impressed. But as Stephanie said, Phonology is a weird thing. Either you love it or you hate it. Ppl are kinda extreme.

Haha! Now I know why so many ppl like Syntax. It's because they like Hans!

The Logic class with Celine... Sigh! Truth conditions.

'This is true, and this is true, so this is true!'

Advanced Phono with John (We call teachers by their first names here. I find it pretty normal with other teachers but always find it weird to call John 'John'.).

Great class! As always.

To celebrate, we went to see LOVE NEVER DIES at the Adelphi Theatre!!!!

Um...

Mon

Stephanie聽到我optional module係Advanced Phonological Thoeries ge時候，keoi3真係當我神0甘拜。XD She's very nice!

Discuss phonology assignment. sigh！

Moster tree!!!! So diff to draw that tree!!!

It was very exhausting to draw trees non-stop for 2 hours.

話說我地0個枱ge combination係Chinese + 2 Greek students. 結過個tutor又係Greek, keoi3地三個就係0甘講Greek，我地講PTH。我同Mandy有試過講Eng，但係無人理我地......

Today

話說同Mandy, Vincent and Angel discuss Phonology assignment，我同Angel解緊phonemes同allophones ge分別，有某同學主動幫手話最好用‘r’去解釋，話好似retroflex係其中一個allophone of 'r'.

究竟係咪cultural difference? 我相信keoi3係好心，但係1. keoi3 0吾識聽Cantonese, 2. Phonemes同allophones係lang-specific.

很雷。

Damn! Tmr tubr strike again!!!