Yesterday I opened my purse hoping to find 20 pounds in it. Wishful thinking! I swear I had a damn lot of coins recently but they all seem to have melted away. I should have stopped complaining about how heavy they were. Maybe that's why they decided to elope with my pound notes and leave me.

So I proceeded to the NatWest ATM outside South Kent station to withdraw another 20 pounds. There are no ATMs in the brightly lit South Kent station (or else I haven't found it yet) but there is an ATM in the most shady and dimly lit corner of the NatWest South Kent branch where a homeless person sits begging for a few coppers or dimes. Maybe a pound if she's lucky. I'm don't think I agree with the concept of begging at ATMs. Firstly I don't agree with the concept of begging when you are obviously able bodied enough to move yourself in front of an ATM in the evening and out of the way in the morning and secondly, the general public who need to access an ATM machine obviously have no money with them... and when they've withdrawn some cash it's usually in denominations of tens, twenties and fifties and not pennies and dimes and so they won't have any loose change.

And who's fault really is it when it comes to the homeless? The homeless themselves and their own ineptness to secure a proper job, stop looking out from the bottom of a bottle and gain a decent residence? Or the Blair government for not fulfilling their promises (hah! Labour party, they call themselves).

In other news, Saddam has been captured. Read the talkingcock version of his capture, especially if you speak Hokkien. Lionel thinks he looks like a jewish rabbi with that beard. He should have worn a skull cap to avoid being noticed.

In other other news, I met Teresa, Arief and Zeus last night for dinner in Chinatown. We spent an obscene 47 pounds at Royal Dragon (2 damn pounds for rice... per person!!!!) but if it was money spent on a happy, chatty gathering of Odacians, senior and junior, then it was money well spent. Teresa asked Zeus and Arief why they didn't bring their other halves... to which they replied, "Well we thought we wanted this to be a proper ODAC thing only". And it was nice to have a proper ODAC thing... we even did 'ODAC jiak' before digging into our extravagent meal. In between catching up and gossiping we planned for future ODAC gatherings during Chinese New Year and to visit each other's residences, (with their other halves as Teresa insists that they are all part of the ODAC family now) and talked hopefully about more Odacians joining us in the UK next year. It's always great being with Odacians, you always feel at home.

Did I tell everyone the good news? My brother did not get into NS. I am now waiting to find out if he got the ASEAN scholarship. I know he really wants to get it. He's always been a good boy... chasing after my footsteps... always trying to outrun me. I hope he gets into RJ. He'd be a perfect Rafflesian if I ever saw one... although I do have my doubts about his AC poser tendencies. Or maybe he's only poser-ish around his big sister who's not so big anymore standing next to him. In fact, am approximately half a head shorter already. My little sister is swiftly catching up and I'd be the family midget soon if it wasn't for mum.

Must stop vague rambling now. Things to get done:
1. Write lab log book
2. Ask Rich to help with binary files (wtf are they?)
3. Figure out where I have saved the armulator on my laptop
4. Go to M&S to buy cookies and presents
5. Pack bags
6. Board plane
7. Go home

La obsesión rosado is signing out. (courtesy of Spanish crash course by Lionel the night before his Spanish exam. Refuse to speak to anyone sitting for a language exam the next day anymore. Tired of having to use online translators just to have a normal conversation)