Day 5 London. not long now.

Met up with friends, watched Astro Boy, and came away disappointed. That's day 6. I watched Up in the air yesterday, and I'm going to do a write up on that. That will come soon.

As of right now, I'm 23 hours away from my plane taking off, bringing me back to Malaysia. Effective closing the book on the Europe chapter of my life. As the hour inches closer I find myself missing this life more and more. Not necessary because of the job situation, because lord knows getting an advertising job in London is tougher than nails, but because of all the reasons I've spoken out before. I don't have new reasons to miss this, just that the feeling is intensifying. I'm going to pick up lyn at the airport tomorrow, and then maybe have a late lunch(again) and by 9 o clock I'll probably be at the airport, reading. Whiling away the 2 hours have before boarding commences. From there it's a 12 hour non-stop flight to KLIA. Then, depending on how lucky I am, I either take the flight that night back to kuantan, or spend a night at KLIA and hop on the first flight in the morning.

I am not particularly looking forward to this. I still have to pack, sort out the luggage situation, and get some sleep. These past few days I've been sleeping 6 hours a day at most, sometimes 5. I can feel it taking its' toll. But nevertheless, this will probably be my last blog post from a connection faster than snail speed for quite some time. I'm determined to make something out of it, even if I'm basically working from nothing.

The chill-out room is basically empty now, at twenty past midnight. I'm closing up shop as soon as my clothes are done drying. I don't think I'll be able to a post on Final Day, so I take this opportunity to say goodbye, to whoever, and wherever that deserved it. It's a list too long to be filled out, but if you think that you are probably on that list, you are.

With that, I bid thee farewell.

Until Malaysia.

London day 3, busker band.

Today, walking from Leicester to Charing Cross, we saw a jam band on the street. A 3 piece band, guitar bass and drums. Jamming away with a bag filled with coins in front of them. They played bluesy rock and roll, like a mix between the doors and the rolling stones. They were good. We stayed for three songs, which is incidentally when they decided to close up shop.

It's these things that I will miss most of London and Europe in general I think. The freedom to busk on the street, people donating change based on how much they think the performance is worth. The museums, the history, the culture, the art, and the atmosphere.

I don't know to be sad or happy. It is home, but still. It's four days away! Definitely excited, but I don't know why exactly. It definitely feels heavy. I feel like 4 days is not enough to say goodbye, but then again, how much time would I need?

London. day 2.

Tonight was a weird night. It was cloudy but I could still clearly see Orion. In the distance is a celestial object that I suspect to be Mars, because it was shining bright orangey red. But I don't suppose I really want to know.

Spent the entire day at a dimsum place that had rather good dimsum and talked for hours with a friend. Politics, corruption, tv, movies, everything was a topic of coversation. It was rather fun. I haven't spent that much time with one person talking in one place in a long time.

Moving to greenwich tomorrow, rather looking forward to it actually. 4 days to the flight. How will London make me remember her?

Today, Calories

Met up with James and Henry. Gave me the biggest surprise anyone could ever give me. I shan't disclose what it is just yet, but I think they will, one way or the other. Bless'em for that. Had a few pints, in a good place. About to sleep, but just thought of this.

A few months ago I started counting calories. It's driving me nuts and I can't seem to stop, but for some reason, I don't ever believe the coke zero/pepsi max numbers. 1 kcal per 100ml? really? Not buying it.

Wonder if it's just me though.

Back to London. Iceland: Aurora Borealis.

First thing back from Reykjavik and how does London greet me? By having the Bakerloo line break down. well done London.

In any case, night one of four in Reykjavik Iceland starts here. :)

The 830pm bus took us to this desolate field with a make shift parking lot. Far away from the city, no artificial lights to clog up the brilliantly clear night sky. We waited in the freezing cold for ages, stargazing, trying to spot constellations or something. We were told to look east, some physics related reason that I don't remember, but east it was. Questioning that would be pointless. For the better part of 2 hours we couldn't see squat. Or at least, we thought we couldn't. With a 30 sec exposure on a camera, you could see that yes, indeed, there was a small green band above our heads. Hiding behind clouds, right above the atmosphere. We were just hoping that it'd come out of the closet. 1130pm, we all got on the bus, ready to leave disappointed. 10 minutes after the engines started, a large green band appeared right above the horizon, stretching all the way across our heads. A large band that increased in diameter as it pass above us. Elated, we got out. What was one band became two, then became a blanket. Intensifying really really quickly. It twirled and spun, danced around like a wave. Imagine a flame, but going round and about instead of up. Even with a bright full moon, the lights were clear as day. For a brief moment, we saw white and quick flashes of pink as it went on. It almost seemed like the colours within the blanket were teleporting around. Just about the most amazing things I've seen in my life. And then, like a dream, it was over, and it reverted to plain old green bands. We hung about for about maybe 30 minutes more, admiring one of mother nature's most stunning display of beauty. It flared up here and there across the night sky, but it never reached that level of ferocity that lasted mere minutes. For those few minutes though, we gasped and cheered and screamed. I speak for all of us there when I say that we won't be forgetting that. Ever.

Photos really don't do it justice. Nor do words, I'm aware. But still. I can't possibly live without at least writing this up. SO here it is, future self. For mostly your eyes only.