Goodnight, Raggedy Man

I had the urge to write so here I am.

So many thoughts. But first, Doctor Who. 

This Christmas we said goodbye to the Eleventh Doctor, the amazing Matt Smith and his delicate eyebrows. When I was on a Doctor Who marathon to catch up with the latest episodes back in season 7, I was sad that we saw so little of Christopher Eccleston as Nine. Then I fell in love with David Tennant as the Tenth. Watching him leave was a sob fest in my room. He was beautiful and perfect and I didn't want someone new to take over his name. I was thoroughly against it!

But Davina told me to continue and I did. And before the end of the first episode of Matt Smith as the Doctor, I was hooked. Matt delivered a brilliant performance and till this day, my favourite line from him is, "I'm the Doctor. Basically, run." His first episode; The Eleventh Hour.

He was the boy, the playful one, the cheeky little imp. The quirky dancing, the bow tie, the desperate attempt for a simpler life by forgetting all the pain, the big sad eyes framed with almost no eyebrows and the flappy hands when he speaks. These are the things I'll miss most with Matt Smith gone. He was a fantastic doctor in his own right and no one can convince me otherwise.

Now, throughout the year, I've read tonnes of reviews of the show written by fans. Mostly praising Matt for his continuously brilliant acting and berating Moffat (the head writer) for all the plot holes and shoddy characters. I agree with some of the criticism of Moffat. His writing is obviously misogynistic at times and some of the plot holes are just way to big to ignore. However, I think the Christmas special addressed a few of those plot holes (while creating a few more which I'm sure the fans will pick up on once they're done mourning Matt's goodbye). 

One plot hole I've noticed was the whole regeneration thing. Eleven explained that Ten used one regeneration but kept the same face and the War Doctor used one regeneration as well even though he didn't call himself The Doctor. So that makes Eleven technically the thirteenth doctor. No more regenerations. So he resigned himself to growing old. 

However, there was a point in series 7 when he gave River some regeneration powers to heal her broken hand and he also tried to regenerate when River (as the impossible astronaut) shot him. Where did he get those regenerations from? Major. Plot. Hole!

I'm not too sure but I think those regenerative stuff came from River herself who gave it to him in Let's Kill Hitler (or the episode after that?) when he was dying or something and there was a robot Amy Pond? So perhaps that's the explanation for Eleven being left with no more regenerations in this Christmas episode?

Anyways, the Time Lords supplied him with a whole new regeneration cycle (so another 12 regenerations?) which left him able to change into the Twelfth Doctor (PETER CAPALDI). Cool. But what about the Time Lords? What about Gallifrey? Are they ever coming back to this Universe? Will the Doctor ever see them again? Why was Clara in the same flat as Rose was? Does that mean something?

ALL THE QUESTIONS!

Either way, Matt is gone and I'll miss him a lot. And I think for Whovians, especially those who got into it with the reboot, these Whovians will always equate bow ties with Doctor Who. Matt made bow ties cool. And stetsons. And though no one ever said it, skinny jeans and suspenders. He was our hipster doctor.

On the other hand, I can't wait to see what Peter Capaldi will turn into a trend.

We've only seen him for a few seconds at the end of the Christmas episode. Some people swear that he kept his Sottish accent. I hope so! That's both sad and exciting. Sad because character-wise, he probably developed a Scottish accent in memory of Amelia Pond. Exciting because SCOTTISH ACCENT!

I'm not sure though. He didn't say much so we'll have to wait till August to find out. I'm really excited about Peter Capaldi being the Doctor. I have no idea who he is and I've only watched one movie with him in it (I only watched it because I found out that he's going to be Twelve and I wanted to know him on screen). I'm pretty sure I'm going to like him as the Doctor. He seems promising, really. And I can't wait to see Clara and him interact! Plus, he's got huge eyebrows (which is something I hope Clara points out in the upcoming series).

8 months. 8 months till the next series. In that time, Supernatural season 9 would have ended, so would Sherlock season 3, Game of Thrones season 4 and Hannibal season 2. Also, I'd be done with my second year of university. So many things will end before the beginning of a new era on Doctor Who. 

PETER CAPALDI!

Band Girl

Well look at that. It's been more than a month.

This semester is finally over, thank God. It's been quite a long semester, relatively speaking. I was quite ready to flop on the floor by the end of week 8. But of course, I couldn't. I had 14 weeks altogether to get through. 201 was fun. I learnt a lot and Ms. Winnee was a great lecturer. 209 was ok. I didn't participate in class as much as I should have but I did enjoy the class. I can't say the same for Malaysian Studies, though. That was horrible, as expected. I'm just glad to be done with it (I won't know for sure til I get the results but I think I passed. SO, NO MORE!). 205 was interesting. Engaging, to say the least. Dr. Chua tried very hard to help us change the way we think; going from always finding the correct answer to opening our mind to the possibility of multiple answers that are neither right nor wrong. She had me wishing that all teachers would adopt her method of educating.

School aside, things have been ok. I've not been thinking very much but I think I'm heading there. I've started reading again too. Yes, it's been a little bit of a struggle. Dan Brown's Inferno was no issue but the sixth installment to the Hitchhikers Guide is a little harder. I'm reminding myself to read it whenever I have nothing else to do (which is a lot of the time now that I'm on break). Mama bought me quite a few books from the sale recently so I have a bunch more books to read. I still have the ones from last year too. That's one of the the goals I've set for myself this semester break. Read more.

The others are; make perfect caramel sauce, snail mail christmas cards, make macaroons and paint more (specifically: make typography posters but I think I'll widen that to just any kind of painting).

I've made caramel sauce. It came out a little thicker than I wanted so I'm going to have to do that one again. The thick caramel is pretty good so I'm going to save it for the center of my macaroons if I ever manage to make them. Or I might just eat it plain.

I'm not going through the rest of the list because that would be immensely boring. Instead, I'm going to state something I've learnt about myself. I like bands. Yes, this may seem a little obvious to others but I've only just realised this. the kind of music I like is usually band stuff (not boy band). I like Simple Plan, Yellowcard, Coldplay, Linkin Park. I like the collaboration of many instruments and styles and just music by bands. The only solo artist I can confidently say I like is Ed Sheeran. His music is beautiful and I'd listen to his entire album on repeat, no issue. His voice is just amazing and the songs he write are incredibly poetic. But then there are bands who rock out and sing about everything under the sun, both silly and emotionally draining. So yeah, I'm definitely a band girl. :)

OH also! We're going to Singapore this weekend! I'm really excited! I've never been there so I'm looking forward to it! On the down side, there'll be a disruption to the water supply tomorrow and possibly the following few days as well. I am prepared for stinky.

Quote I found in the book I'm currently reading (though I think the author took it from somewhere else):
For every action, there will be an equal and opposite reaction.