Hermitage

I've decided to be a little more anti-social this year. I really need to focus on my work much more as I have more to work on this year. So, I've been skipping all the freshers' squashes this year except for one or two. I'll be attending the Lion Dance squash tomorrow as I'm the only drummer that they have left. However, I've already told them that I will not be active much this year. Two evenings ago, I attended our little Magdalene freshers' makan. But that's possibly it. The freshers are the 3 people on the right of the photo. From left, they are: JinYang, Ashok, YianNee, Ryan, YiJin, Arun, MeiSheng, Wendy, YauChong, Amanda. (I may be mistaken with the last 3 names).

Some old friends noticed that I did not turn up for the CUMAS freshers' squash yesterday. They told me that there were a surprising number of Malaysian postgrads this year. It always happens this way doesn't it. The one time that I decide to not attend the squash, because it's usually filled with blur-faced naive kids, is the one time that there are many postgrads. Regardless, I met two new ones today. They just walked up to me and introduced themselves to me randomly.

I also met another housemate of mine today. Her name is Francesca, and she's from Italy. She seems to be a nice person. However, she seemed to be a little shy, failing to make eye-contact most of the time. She's doing a PhD in Polymer Physics at the Cavendish, which may explain everything. Physicists are only a step away from Mathematicians, when it comes to social skills. We had a little chat and I decided that she was a nice person. She seemed quite happy with her room.

I met a PRC house mate yesterday. He said hi and quickly asked me: "ni shi zhong guo ren ma?" and I promptly replied: "wo bu shi zhong guo ren.". He was stunned for a few seconds. Then, he recovered and asked me: "dan ni hui shuo zhong wen?" and I replied: "dui, wo hui shuo zhong wen.". Double stun. I think I'll continue doing that from now on. The reaction from the stunned faces of the Chinese is absolutely funny. This wasn't the first time I had such a conversation.

This means that I've pretty much met all of my new house mates.

PS: I still don't know if Michelle exists or not. The room remains uninhabited. This is getting a little creepy.