potluck food

it's weird what happens when you don't do any kind of food management for potlucks. this time around, every dish ended up being rice-based. last time, there were 5 desserts. i wonder what will happen next.

the potluck

to celebrate the end of a year's lack of social life, i organised a potluck at home last night. i'd originally invited something like 30 people. we ended up a very nice 7 and had a great time on the balcony. it was a great evening.

the weather

...has been completely crazy of late. after a warm and dry month of March, i was quite happy to see the rain - we need it! - but didn't expect the cold temps that came with it. i've been wearing my winter coat all the way through the month. and then, things changed drastically. we went from a measly 3C on Wednesday at dawn - with a nice new cover of snow on the mountains to a warm 14C the very next day at the same time, to a balmy 24C this afternoon. while i'm happy it's warm again, the huge difference is making everyone (me included) sick and it's got me worried about the general weather patterns we've been having. 

Zurich

my exam was in Zurich. i'd never been there. it's really nice. individual houses in the city centre. very cute. i stayed with some friends overnight - it was nice and so relaxing to not think about the exam! i asked them what they thought I should do with my free time once i was done. go from one side of the river to the other, they said. and so i did. and it was perfect! considering i only spent an hour there (the weather was not great and i wasn't feeling that good myself), i saw lots. small streets, cute squares, the various church towers. it's a really nice place.

done!

it's finally over. the exam was today and it's the end of a year's worth of studying! this is such a weight off my shoulders - literally. the mock exam i gave myself over the weekend gave me the worst tendinitis in the shoulder. plus i've been coming down with a cold or something so i was sure this was going to be a nightmare. in the end, though, that was ok. the exam, on the other hand... well, i certainly didn't ace it but i'll probably (hopefully) pass. i hope so, cos otherwise that's a hell of a lot of money that's gone 'down the drain', cos i'll have to fork out more to take the exam again. so fingers crossed!

the surprise evening

i had dinner with F., whom i hadn't seen for nearly a year. it was nice to catch up. after dinner, we went to get a drink in a nearby bar where his girlfriend joined us. i don't know if it was because i was tired or something else but i was starting to feel a little dry on conversation topics - it would perhaps have been a bit better to meet her at a dinner with other people. but just as i was thinking i should go home anyway (the exam date is, after all, looming), J. showed up. turned out he and some of his friends were having a guys' night out. i knew most of them and funnily enough, it turned out that it was because they'd all come to my drinks at some point or another. R. was there too and i hadn't seen him since his birthday over a year and a half ago, so he plonked himself down next to me and started catching up. and i kind of didn't know how to mix both groups - i mean, it wasn't until later that i realised there were 6 guys altogether who had migrated to where we were and as we were sitting at the bar, it wasn't an ideal set up for conversation with everybody. i probably could have dealt with it better but on the other hand i assumed F. was quite happy to see me surrounded by guys - probably hoping i'd start dating one of them! in the end, F. and his girlfriend took off and i stayed until the music got too loud to continue talking. it was half past midnight. i had no idea it was that late! but it was a great night out.

the dog and the mouse

i was out walking when i saw a dog, seemingly alone in a field. it didn't seem to mind, though, as it was furiously digging a hole in the ground. i reminded me of my old dog, when he too, was chasing mice. i went over to see if there was a dogtag so that i could perhaps bring it back wherever it belonged but no such luck. it wasn't very interested in me, really interested in the hole. i did not for one second think that it would actually catch something, but it did. there was a little squeak and i saw a fieldmouse in its jaw. it was a bit sickening but let's face it, i wasn't going to pull the poor thing out of there, no matter how friendly the dog looked. plus, it might already be wounded beyond help. and then it was gone, swallowed whole. right. i really didn't need to see that. then the dog was off, apparently in a well-known direction, so i left it to it, feeling ever so slightly less inclined towards helping it - i know it's just life but i certainly didn't expect a well-fed dog to eat a mouse.

fainting

i went to give blood yesterday. i'm not sure what the hell happened but after it was all done, i fainted. bit of a shock - i mean, i've given blood at least a dozen times and nothing's ever happened. i started feeling all weak and faint but thought it would pass and next thing i know, i must have passed out cos i don't remember much until some seemingly very far away shouting which i couldn't make sense of - they were trying to get me back to a horizontal position - and finally understanding they wanted me to take my glasses off but i couldn't. they did it for me and sprayed water mist onto my face, which got me back to reality. but it took another half hour before i got out of my seat. the doctor came to see me and i was given more water, biscuits and fruit paste. then they had a man walk me to the food room - in France, you get an entire meal after giving blood. in the end, it was another 15 mns before i felt good enough to walk the 300m to my place...

the Hunger Games

i had not heard of the book until about a month ago, when they started advertising the movie. there was nothing else interesting going at the movies so that's what i watched last night. and it made an impression. i'm not sure whether it's the story or the actress, but she is certainly very good! the range of emotions she was able to display, very convincingly, was amazing. there was a point in the movie where i was so caught up with those feelings that i nearly felt like i was in the movie, which was really unexpected. and now, i can't stop thinking about it. i do hope i'll get it out of my mind cos it's a bit disruptive... i do have to revise for that exam after all!