CRISTINE FARINAS

A trip that I almost missed. And I am so glad I made it in the end. One thing that I realized was that time spent with people you love is worth than any money you can find. I learned this the hard way as I sacrificed a few things in the last year trying to save money. But life is too short not to spend quality time with important people. My journey to Brighton that weekend was not all straightforward. Having left it to the last minute, I could not easily book train tickets online. And when I am stressed out, I lose all my brain cells and therefore do the most impractical things. I knew that I didn't have enough time to make it to Brighton earlier, so I opted for the coach.  I only had about 30 minutes to get to the coach station from my flat, not to mention that it was rush hour on a Friday. Luckily, the tube came straight away.  When I got out of the the tube in Victoria, I had literally 8 minutes left to make it to my coach. And of course when you are in a rush, th

Well at least to me, I am. Ah, I cannot believe that it has now been a year since the accidental discovery of that inappropriate skype conversation that led to a forced admission of a three-month affair. As I look back on that day (22 November 2013), I still don't know how I made it through without causing a scandal or destroying his or my life.  Perhaps because at that time I was  s urrounded by the right people and as I have always said, I was prepared for that battle.  I can compare a break -up with the death of someone you love. You mourn over it for sometime, eventually you learn how to let go, until you finally move on. Then again, when that "anniversary" comes, you somehow get reminded of that painful experience. This is happening to me right now. Don't get me wrong, I am completely over my previous relationship and I am very happy now. But because it was exactly this time last year that this happened, I can't help but feel a bit emotional. Emotio

This time last year, I was in California for the first time. It was a trip that took forever to plan. And when it finally happened, of course it turned out to be one of the best travels that I have ever had. I actually wanted to go to California mainly to spend time with my family and friends whom I haven't seen for what it seemed like forever, to eat delicious food and to visit Jollibee. Honestly. I really didn't care about "seeing" California at all. All I wanted was to relax and stay indoors. My jet lag allowed me to do this but my friends didn't. For almost a week, I felt really tired and was so lazy to do anything. I just wanted to sleep and eat. And speaking of eating.... As soon as I got to one of my friends' beautiful home at almost midnight, I had my all time favourite  "ulam": And since that night, I did not stop eating until I came back to London. Everyone literally fed me and everything they fed me was just so delici

This is one dream that I didn't tell anyone until a few months ago when  I made a  l ist of 40 things I wanted to do before I am 40 . Since then, people have been curious as to why I wanted to learn how to fence. I only have two reasons: first, because I think the sport is graceful and second because of the kit. Yes, I am shallow that way. Honestly, I really didn't know anything about the sport until I saw Richard Gomez fencing on national television in the '90s. Since then, I held onto the dream that one day I'll be able to fence. Photo from www.whatisfencing.com And so when I came across a fencing lesson on Groupon , I didn't think twice.  £25  for 4 weeks was a bargain I thought. And although I waited for at least two months to start the course, it was well worth the wait.  The course took place at Fighting Fit Fencing in Caledonian Road. The venue is not that hard to find as it is only about 2 minutes walk from the Caledonian Road tube station. O