“Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service fills the room with melodic electronica… “I am thinking it’s a sign that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images and when we kiss they’re perfectly aligned. And I have to speculate that God himself did make us into corresponding shapes like puzzle pieces from the clay. True, it may seem like a stretch, but it’s thoughts like this that catch my troubled head when you’re away when I am missing you to death…”

For the past week or so, the tennis is all that’s on during the day. I started watching Wimbledon for the first time last year and I can’t believe it’s already been a year since the last one. Coupled with Wimbledon around the same time is the Glastonbury Festival, which has also been good this year. I really have to try to go one year before I either get a) too old for it, or b) too cool for it. ^_^

I was able to punctuate the tennis and the music festivities with 2 days of shopping in a row. Went shopping with Kev on Sunday and then again with Chris on Monday. The last time with Kev had been such a long time ago, because he’s been busy with his music and exams. He’s opening up a lot more lately and seems more immune to my teasing, which is a great change because I wasn’t planning to stop. We get along better than ever, almost like in the old days when he was a young boy and I was one of the few people that made up his entire world. We spent around an hour and a half in HMV as he marched in and out of aisles, collecting CDs in his cradled arms. He had so many CDs stacked up in his arms that it prompted a lady to ask him if he worked there. I found this quite funny since and I pointed out to him that he was neither wearing the HMV staff uniform or HMV staff badge, and (jokingly) that he “Looks like a 12 year old” (Note: He turned 17 a week ago). I let him lead the way to the shops he wanted to explore because he doesn’t get the opportunity to go to central London often. I was meanwhile making mental notes of shops to return to the following day when I’d be out with Chris.

The weather had gone grey and wet by the next day and for some reason, out of defiance I decided to leave the house without a jacket or umbrella. It seemed to work because it didn’t rain heavily for the whole day (or at least the time we were outdoors). The worst we were caught up in was drizzle and that wasn’t enough to make my green shirt go a silly shade. There’s not much more ridiculous-looking than someone in light coloured clothing with dark wet patches.

I hadn’t bought shirts on the basis of their UK or European size in a really long time (i.e. size 1, size 2, size 3, etc.) because I’m used to buying shirts based on their collar size and chest-size or just plain “medium.” Trust Muji to go with something different! I tried on a buttonless pullover style shirt and it slipped on fairly comfortably but was pinching a little at the sides so decided to try the next size up. Upon trying to remove the shirt, I found it wouldn’t slip off as easily as it slipped on. Getting the shirt on was all gravity, but as I tugged at it to try to take it off, a last-resort situation unfolded in my head of me standing on my head to beat gravity at its own game. This was a total last resort though, because I wasn’t prepared at all to stand on my hands to remove any items of clothing. I would sooner have just bought it and worn it out of the store like I was some sort of spontaneous trend-setting junkie. As I tugged at the gripping cotton, I got worried because the fabric really was clinging onto me for dear life and I thought in my rambunctious efforts that it would rip. Luckily I was able to inch it off bit by bit whilst in a standing position. Maybe it’s a veiled sign that I need to cut down on the snacks. ^_^

Chris is one of the few friends I have who loves to bombard me with silly improbable hypothetical situational questions e.g. “If you fell in love with a woman and she turned out to be a man, would you still love him/her?” I have a habit of answering these silly questions of his in a serious manner and this ensures that he doesn’t run short of these types of questions. He says he’s just priming me for any possible situation and conditioning me to be ready for absolutely anything. In a way I think it’s helped me to become “shock proof” because nowadays nothing really shocks me anymore.

I’m also the science delegate when it comes to questions about how things work and he brought up the question of whether birds sleep or not. Chris heard an explanation from his mum about how they do sleep but he wasn’t completely satisfied so had to ask me. I guess it’s to do with the “mother knows everything” complex, where whilst growing up as a child, mother is the bearer of all knowledge. In my case it’s also true because whilst most mums would have scolded their child for eating food on their back or on their stomach, they’d simply inform them “You might choke.” My mum went further, adding that I might “Become like a snake.” I never did like snakes much. What she said scared me.

Anyway, birds do sleep. That’s why you don’t see them around at night. I’m not completely sure where they all go but I’m sure if you shook a few trees at night you’d see a whole bunch of them flying in the darkness. This isn’t recommended because it would peeve them off and they might go Hitchcock on you.

Further fascinating tidbits I found out today was that penguins can go without sleep for about 3 months at a time and some lucky maritime creatures such as the dolphin can have half their brain sleep whilst the other half remains awake, thus essentially always remaining conscious. Sleep is a strange phenomenon and although its purpose is obvious, scientists still do not know why we go about it the way we do, i.e. exhibit REM (rapid eye movement) during sleep. Furthermore, we don’t know what the function of dreams are. In my experience, I’ve found that certain things can be easier carried out with lack of sleep compared with a fully rested mind. In the waking hours, we approach problems and tasks in a rational manner but research implies that dreams may be the way for the brain to attempt to solve problems by approaching them from irrational angles. Take the classic example of trying to solve a complicated problem in the evening without success, but the problem is solved in the morning of the next day after “sleeping on it.” It would also explain why some people’s dreams are so vivid and weird. Dreams may just be a canvas for completely open and unconventional thought; a way our brain forms networks between logically unrelated things. It may be that dreams are linked to the potential of a person’s creativity and understanding.

Right now I’m snacking on bitesize Japanese rice crackers. Sometimes image is everything and the Japanese do have some pretty food. I’m particularly enjoying the peanuts coated in some sort of glazed corn syrup. They remind me of the pekora/battered peanuts I used to eat as a kid. Ah, the good old days come flooding back.

Fact of the day: All polar bears are left-handed.