2007 in a day

Time for the yearly reflections. I can’t believe all these happened this year! It seems like so long ago. I’m so thankful for what has happened, for the year started off awful, and i’m the happy girl I am right now. ^_^

January

· Things were settled, I was moving on. But it all takes time.

· School was mean to me, and I had problems graduating. Evil school! I hate rigid admin people who don’t care anything about their students.

· Return of the Chestnutties. I can’t believe it’s been a year since their return! Almost our 2^nd yr anniversary now.. wonder if we’ll gather that day?

· Attended a New Year’s lunch organized for grandparents! Experienced being a grandparent before I become a parent. Haha.

· Lost voice once again, and attended my first GIS Dinner n Dance without a voice!

· Picked up French in school. (oh man.. school feels so ancient to me. Was it this year that I was still an undergrad?)

· COOKED lunch at work

· First time getting paid to eat chocolate. haha

· Stood up with the help of many friends around me.. ^_^ I’ll always remember.. look at the people who are on your side, not those who had left you!! dun be wei3 da4, be yong2 gan3!! ^_^ (wonder if the person who said this still remembers?)

· Met jq in engine for lunch. Lunch in school never tasted so good before. And a shelter from the rain never felt so sweet. =P

February

· Bumped into steph n Jamie during a chestnutties gathering. And that was the only time I met her this year! How I miss those days in US when we’d hang out together

· My first few interviews for scholarship

· Experienced doing some volunteer work at YMCA with patients with cerebral palsy

· Still cannot get away from insomnia and disturbed sleep, albeit for different reasons from last year

· Dad decides to retire back to Singapore. ^_^

March

· Time with the FSC (and all other friends) helped me a lot. I finally found myself returning to my shutter happy self, and I even started to appreciate nice, happy things around me. True signs of the optimistic me returning

· Was suddenly like a teenage girl again, crazy over certain pop idols. I seriously don’t know what got over us that period.

· Thesis writing.

· I decided to extend my stay from March til april, to allow myself more time to think about where I want to be after I graduate.

· Skipped quite a lot of classes in school, as I was getting very tired.

· Rejected a scholarship to go to Alberta for 3 months. Summer in Alberta is not what I want. Christmas is the time to be there, walking along Candy Cane lane in Edmonton!

April

· My final lecture in NUS with weilin, and we sang a song (alongside a few others..9 gals and a guy) for the lecture class. First time I ever did such a thing! It was nice. (a lot of people took videos and pictures, but I never got any! >.<)

· Thesis presentation. OVER! Lalalala~

· Decided to stay yet another month til end of may to help my boss finish up some work before I leave for grad trip.

· First visit to Timbre. The beginning of many pubbing trips. Haha.

· Spent Good Friday differently this year. Attended a Chinese service with Bong instead. At her church Orchard Pres! ^_^

· Took my French exam with Pacey. I don’t know how I did it, but I think I passed. =P

· Attended what may be my brother’s last concert in RJC. It was my first time seeing him perform in RJC too. (missed the previous yr’ one as I was in US)

· Phantom of the Opera in Singapore!! My 2^nd time watching, this time with my sis ^_^

· More community service by painting murals for IMH! ^_^ Thanks bong for jio-ing us those times.

· Had lots of help from my boss to decide my future career path. Very helpful, she was

· Got freaked out by a fight that happened while I was at a bar.. but managed (unintentionally) to still look cool and glam, as bong described. Haha.

· First time pubbing with my MUM

· Free game at settler’s café with Singapore’s Mensa members. They’re pretty normal pple. LOL

· Graduation BBQ in hall. I miss hall. (even its gray walls)

May

· First time celebrating Mardi Gras in Singapore! ^_^

· Job offer by big boss. Happiness~

· Final interview and Scholarship offer. It all matches and my future is finally fixed! Able to do what I love. JOY~

· Took a day off work just to sit at borders and read. Learn to enjoy life ^_^

· Graduation dinner for all Life science honors students

· Graduation dinner @ haixiang with colleagues (my umpteenth graduation celebration with them.. just excuse to go out lah! Haha)

· Back to listening to online sermons by my pastor in Philly. I miss philly, I miss GCC, I miss pastor young, I miss listening to his sermons in school.

· Bora left Singapore, back to Korea. Will we ever meet again?

· I left the company. As boss said, it’s a farewell party but also a welcome party for me. That was the first time I was happy at a farewell. ^_^

June

· Timbre with weilin! First time seeing her high. It’s like my new hangout place to meet my friends..

· First Church camp. Can’t believe it? Yeah.. been in this church for 23 years and this is my first church camp (other camps were youth camps) Had a rocking time ^_^

· Grad trip to Shanghai, Tibet. Met new friends. How amazing it was to see mount everest in its true form.. feels good to be back to nature. Rocking on rough terrains for 12 days was meditative

· An encounter in Tibet that I would never forget.

July

· Passed my GRE!

· Grad trip to Taiwan. Met more new friends. I seem used to be going on holidays with people I don’t know. I’m lucky they are almost always wonderful travel buddies. ^_^

· Freaky encounter in Taiwan, with a person I met in Tibet.

· Even freakier encounter of the same person in Singapore

· Scholarship award ceremony. It’s official ^_^

· Finally no more sleep debt. 2 months of wonderful break and rest.

August

· Started grad school.

· Back to GIS! My second home~~

· Signed the deeds. Thanks roy.

· Started to feel to effects of lack of exercise. Atrophied muscles and clogged up arteries and failing heart. Bleah

· My final trip to timbre this year. Coz start of grad school means end of ‘life’. >.<

· Party with cell group DURING my 12 hour exam. Haha. My first exam for grad school

September

· Watched the musical ‘If there’re seasons’, and got all impressed by George Chan

· Lunch with what’s left of the chestnutties.. the chesnutties foursome! ^_^

· More lessons start, and I end up with no time to have lunch with my colleagues. (have to eat with my classmates coz of the difference in timing) I miss yong tau foo!!

October

· Decided to challenge myself to writing a paper on Brain Science and Religion.

· Selected to have lunch with the International Advisory Panel. My honor.

· I wrote a story, which got published. ^_^ My first publication, and it’s NOT scientific!

· School starts getting real busy, and I am glad I am not the only one in the lab doing a phD. So glad to have someone who understands. ^_^

· First time eating escargot.. what a ‘memorable’ birthday. Haha.

November

· My first conference! And a pre-conference workshop to come with that! Total entrance fees cost over a thousand dollars k.. so I went for 99% of the talks.. haha.. totally tired out after the 1 week’s worth of intellectual stuff. Utterly intensive.

· New table in the office! My hideout for the next 4 yrs~

· Finally, after 3 months of grad school, my phD project finally starts. Excitement! =P

· Krispy Kreme after 1.5 yrs of missing it! ^_^

· My first time having home-made tiramisu after I left US and there was no more Arzhou to make for me.

· Daddy decides that retirement is too boring and is back overseas to work. >.<

· Decided to serve in Sunday School. Thanks Stan for asking.

December

· Gone through a course and finally certified to do animal research in Singapore

· Jean n Kelvin got married! My first time as a ‘sister’ and a personal assistant for a bride. Fun!

· I finally succumbed to tong’s many efforts to drag me out. Another ktv session! This time his friends came along..

· String of meeting friends and catching up! It’s festive season, and everyone’s back home~ ^_^

All in all, it’s been a great year. It started off as a ‘hangover’ from last yr, and slowly I found myself again. Ends off on a very high note, just like what the festive season should be about. Happiness, time with family and friends. Life can only get better~ ^_^

Happy Birthday to my Bro~

Ooh it's been such a long day.. at least i managed to sms him in the middle of the day. He came home so late, even later than me! (and i thought i was home late, coz i had a really long chat with Arzhou whom i haven't met since i was an undergrad!) Since my sis beat me to putting up our favourite collage of him on her blog, i decided to make a new one.. of my bro more grown up! haha.. grown up and still a lil' bro always~ ^_^

self service marriage

I saw this at the busstop where i take my bus home from biopolis everyday. Just like any other notice advertising for room rentals and such, the end of the notice was cut into strips with a phone number written on it. Only difference is that the title of the notice read: Marriage.

'Looking for a sigle (sic) white aged between 42 to 60 as a mankind (sic) partner, please contact ms zhang.' is what i saw. I wanted to take photos of the notice, but i didn't have my camera with me that day. Didn't expect to see this on the news! haha..

"One woman from China knows exactly who she wants as a husband - a Caucasian - never mind that she doesn't speak a word of English.

And she's going about it in her own way. No more match-making agencies for her, thank you very much.

After she failed to get results through a match-making agency, Ms Zhang Xue Hong, 42, opted for a do-it-yourself (DIY) 'manhunt'.

For the past two weeks, she has been sticking up notices on lamp-posts along Taman Warna and other streets in Holland Village.

Bemused residents have been seeing - alongside the usual notices for garage sales and lost pets - her handwritten personal ad, titled 'Marriage'.

It reads, in broken English: 'Looking for a sigle (sic) white aged between 42 to 60 as a mankind (sic) partner, please contact ms zhang.'

It lists a Singapore handphone number, a China telephone number and address, and her e-mail address.

When contacted, Ms Zhang, who lives in Tianjin, said that she has been to Singapore twice in search of her elusive 'white knight'.

She revisited Singapore last month after her first attempt five months ago through a local match-making agency was unsuccessful.

She returned to China on Monday as her social visit pass was about to expire.

Ms Zhang, who does not speak English, painstakingly used an electronic dictionary to translate the words..."

full article from here

New Footprints’ hideout!

It was jean n kelvin’s housewarming today! It’s not the first time I went to their new house though. Haha. Benefits of being the bride’s PA on her wedding day. =P So all footprints members and all wedding helpers were gathered today at their place for a Christmas party cum housewarming cum post-wedding party. There was so much food I felt like I was turning into a stuffed turkey like the one we devoured! It was a really good time of fellowship, something that has been missing for quite some time due to university exams, yf camp, mission trip.. glad for this opportunity to catch up! And only today did I find out that TK (kelvin’s buddy whom I met only on the day of the wedding) is working on the new buildings of Fusionopolis (beside Biopolis). The world is so small and so interconnected nowadays! Tmr’s gonna be xiong.. work, Christmas concert, stayover. This yr’s Christmas will end up a sleeping day again! >.<>

Gathering of the mighty mountain climbers!!

After 6 months, we finally meet again, this time in clean little city called Singapore. No need for diamox, no loss of appetite, no inability to run and jump. All of the Tibet warriors (except sam) turned up, and we FINALLY exchanged photos! Haha.. yeah, we have been that busy. It’s so fun checking out photos that we never saw ever since we took them.. suddenly everything rushes back.. those memories.. and I realize I had more fun than I remembered. When I was in US for 146 days, I took a total of 11GB of photos. When we went to Tibet for 12 days, we took a total of 7GB. Holly molly!! But I guess the place is really pretty. Cannot help it. Plus a thousand shots of everest in the morning, everest in the afternoon, everest at sunset, everest at night, everest behind the clouds. And we had a million tries at jump shots even though we were advised not to be involved in vigorous activities 5200m above sea level. But hey, we did survive it, didn’t we? I just read an article from NewScientist yesterday, about why Tibetans can take in oxygen so much more efficiently. Coz they have 10 times more nitric oxide than us! But then again, these Tibetans who were studied were from 4000+m.. we went to 5200! So maybe we had much much more nitric oxide in our blood then? Heez.. who cares.. we can take a blood test the next time we head to Tibet again. And bong is the most well-equipped for it. Diamox still lying at home! Whoahaha

Anyway, I had a good time of catching up yesterday. During teatime with fangers n bong.. hadn’t had a good chat with them since.. err.. can’t remember. Especially bong. The last time we had a long chat was probably in Tibet? Been too busy.. can’t even remember when was the last time I went for lunch at the market with them all. Then in the evening was the Tibet pple. Talked til I lost my voice towards the end of the night, and I thought I was falling sick! (family and bong are all sick and without a proper voice..) came home to rest, and luckily when I woke up my voice was back! I really cannot afford to fall sick.. no time! Still got work the next few days.. and of course there’s all that catching up that’s still in store for me this festive season.. Bah.. prolly another Christmas where I never make anything for my friends. I don’t like buying things.. don’t see a point in that.. but no time to stop and get some inspiration.. so I only made partial gifts (bought partially) for 3 people.. one of whom I have no idea who it is.. it’s for gift exchange tmr. =P

chocolate fountain

Apologies for the 90 degree flip. I always forget.. >.<

catching up weekend

I can’t even remember when was the last time I actually went out with my friends. Probably the temasek gals’ bdae outing almost 3 months back! Yesterday I finally succumbed to tong kor’s persuasion and agreed to meet him for dinner. He wanted me to stay on after dinner for ktv with his Marist friends, but I was kinda tired. Very unexpectedly, all of them decided to change the outing venue from Orchard to Jurong, so that the tired me wouldn’t have to travel much to meet them! (in fact, I only had to walk there!) And mind you, these are people that I have never met before. I really appreciated it. So of course, I decided to stay for ktv with them. At first I was a little skeptical about what kind of friends tong would bring, and how it’d be like singing with them. (furthermore, tong had initially told me there’d be 3 gals 3 guys.. dunno why end up there were only 3 guys and me! >.<) Well, all worries were unfounded. Those friends were truly ‘guai’ and ‘un-beng’ as tong described them to be. (sorry kor, for doubting you. Haha) They were very nice too.. I didn’t feel like singing so I just randomly chose songs that I liked, and they were very accommodating to sing them! Haha.. not all my friends do tt lor.. some will, while some wun noe the songs, or some just refuse to sing songs that were not chosen by them. And yeah, those people seem to noe how to sing every song lah.. haha.. and it was really enjoyable listening to them scream their lungs out! Somehow I feel that going ktv with people who can sing too well is not fun at all, coz they sing like the CDs.. but this bunch of people can have lots of fun while still holding their pitch most of the time. So it was really pleasant hanging out with them. Only thing is tt ktv is kinda loud.. so there’s a limit to the length and depth of conversations one can hold.. (and I’m so sorry to say I only remember one person’s name.. I’m so terrible with names.. but I remember one who looked a lot like a rugged form of Tim! Haha..) All in all I had a good time.. sang til we were tired.. really tired.. 5 hrs leh.. so robin sent me home.. whoa so paiseh that I din even noe my way from jec back home.. coz I usually walk, not drive mah! >.<>

Such an amazing thing that I happen to have no work this weekend. And JJ managed to gather some other temasek hall peeps for lunch today. (ooh.. it’s a temasek weekend!) It’s been a year since I last met most of them, so there was a good bit of catching up to do. One year, but most have not changed much. It really didn’t seem like a year has flown past. Zoom Zoom when we’re all so busy! It’s really nice meeting up with them, though we’re not in the same grayish rooms anymore. Somehow, I keep forgetting that 2 of them were in TH for only 1 year. It seemed like they were with us all the way! =P Hopefully the subsequent gatherings would be half-yearly like JJ promised! And no more jap food for Johnny.. XD (and yes, maybe the next outing we can have 2 more people to share some exciting news! Hehe)

J and K's wedding

Last sat was the wedding... ultra tiring, but very fun! I reached jean's place at 630am, to prepare for the broom+brothers' break in.. then all those tea ceremonies, visiting new house, church wedding, reception, rushed to hotel, prepare for banquet. Didn't even have time to breathe. By the time i stopped to rest, it was already approaching midnight! haha..

Every point of the day had some highlight.. like how we tekaned the guys etc.. but well.. too much to write down.. too busy.. haha.. just some photos from lynette.. the rest will have to wait for the couple to return from their honeymoon!

(oh the groom's boss was sooooo nice.. he offered to be the photographer for the entire day too! so we had 2 pro photographers and a video cam gal~)

This is the entire group of sisters, brothers, bride n groom and camera woman. (notice how red the groom was)


the 3 personal assistants for the bride that day


me with the pretty pretty bride! ^_^ (entertaining her while she waited for the banquet to start. Meritus Mandarin has a very nice and HUGE honeymoon suite! the massage chair very shiok!)


A gathering of the footprints CG! ^_^

Certified

After 2 days of lecture and 1 full day of practical, I am now officially certified to do animal research in Singapore. Today’s practical was totally happening.. ooh..

The regulations to animal research are getting very strict, and researchers are strictly required to complete this course old and young alike, before we can even step into the animal facilities. As a result, the class had a whole range of participants, from students (like me) to post-docs to professors. It’s a good thing though, that regulations are getting so strict, coz that means we’re putting more considerations into the animals, and always reminded that the opportunity to use them as models is a privilege, not something that we can take as granted for.

Comparing the biopolis animal facility to that of NUS, I must say I am thoroughly impressed at the care and effort they put in. Firstly, it doesn’t smell. Secondly, everyone stepping into the facility is prepped just like a surgeon walking into an operating theatre! Indeed, we’re taught to treat the animals just like human patients. Just the footwear.. we have to step on this sticky mat to remove dust from our shoes, then put on a shoe cover, walk in to remove our shoes and put on a foot cover, put on in-house shoes, and put on a cover on those shoes. Then we have to change out of our clothes into green scruffs, totally like surgeons! But we have one more step than surgeons. We have another disposable gown put over those scruffs! Of course, shower cap, face mask and gloves are put on too. (and I am really impressed with surgeons.. coz after putting on the face mask I have difficulty breathing! I was so worried I’d faint before the mice do >.<)

First animal we worked on was the mouse. This was easy, as I have handled mice before. Nonetheless, that was 5 years ago, and I am abit rusty. Also, at that time, I worked under non-sterile conditions, and only learnt liver ligation (some open surgery experiment lah). Today, we learnt a lot of things, from anesthesia to various types of injections to various ways of collecting blood from the mouse. And, the most feared event came. Time to euthanize the mouse. I always hated this step, and used to choose chemical methods of euthanasia as I don’t want to be able to feel the death of the mouse. However, this time round, I was forced to learn cervical dislocation (breaking of the spine). It was terrible. My hands were shaking as I held onto the mouse. I didn’t dare to pull the tail. When I did, I was unable to use any strength and couldn’t do anything. I tried so many times, before I finally felt a few cracks. Still, it wasn’t done properly and the spine was not completely dislocated. All these while, I had to keep blinking away my tears. I was so scared. The vet had to help me in the end. And she made me feel the head afterwards, to feel the complete separation of the head from the body. And this was not all. My partner (sitting opposite me) was still working on his mouse after I had disposed of mine. It had an eye that wouldn’t stop bleeding, and a heart that could not be found. Time and again, he was poking his needle trying to puncture the heart to extract blood, but to no avail. Suddenly, I saw his mouse doing ‘sit-ups’ and gasping for air. And it’s supposed to be anesthetized! I was so traumatized by that scene—mouse with dilated, bleeding eye gasping for breath while its heart was being poked around. A vet ran over, and commented that it was a common reflex, not to worry. But I just couldn’t take it, and had to turn away. I guess he also felt the same way, and decided to just stop trying. Totally traumatic.

Without much of a break, we had to start working with rats. This time, it’s pair-work. My partner didn’t really dare to pick up the rat though, so I did it. After the totally traumatic mouse experience, I seemed to have gotten exhausted. Just do and finish up with it. No killing involved though, coz we were allowed to ask the vet to do it for us.. (coz the rat’s spine is tougher, may be difficult to break)

After lunch was guinea pig. LUCKY no need to do any work on that! We just had to learn how to carry the guinea pig. 4 people to one guinea pig (that was born on Independence day 4^th july this yr), and noone dared to touch again! Bleah. My partner still said “I’m always waiting for the brave one”. Refering to me lah! I’m not brave.. but I like animals. And I think they like me too! Heez.. coz I could easily carry the guinea pig, but when the other 3 were trying, he kept running around! Actually, people around me may not see me much of an animal lover, coz I seldom pet animals and seldom carry them. That’s not because I don’t like animals, but coz I scared dirty. However, today I was not wearing my own clothes, and I was totally covered up from head to toe with only my eyes exposed. So no fear of fur/bugs flying everywhere! Furthermore, these animals are bred in the cleanest place ever lah! So I had a happy time handling them.. ^_^

Last animal of the day, was the rabbit. YAR. Rabbit. Big, fat, heavy. Without asking, I was the one to carry the rabbit. So heavy I could barely hold him up! After I rested him on the table, he was in the wrong position and I tried to push him.. and he refused to budge! Grr. Since there were 4 of us, I let the other 3 do the dirty work. I took the position of patting the rabbit, holding him in place, saying-ing him. I was quite happy until the end, when the vet said “ok, time to euthanize” and he immediately handed me the needle with the chemical. I was not even given a choice! Simple reason being the ear (the place for administering chemical euthanasia) was right in front of me. At other times I would have whined and asked for someone else to do it. However, the entire room was done with their work and waiting for me. All eyes were on me. No matter how much my hands were shaking, I was given no choice to whine and make a fuss. I just injected it. My mind was blank and I just didn’t feel like talking anymore.

The vets asked throughout the day “so, anyone would like to work with guinea pigs?” and “so do you want to work with rabbits?”. And my reaction was always instantaneous and rigorous shaking of my head. They were abit shocked. Well, I love animals, and would definitely choose not to work with them. But, if given no choice because of scientific experiments, I would not find any excuses but would still take up the job and do it. Just like wyee dajie said, when you sit there, just stop thinking and do it. I think I have been able to do that most of the time today, so I’m quite happy. ^_^

I never thought I could learn so much in 1 day. I’m totally impressed. Effective teaching and learning, this is.

That’s not all. I just checked my mail, and guess what I saw? A thank you email from my partner today. Haha. The world is small lah. I found out he’s the student of the prof who graded my final year project. Shall not divulge the contents of the email, but just a surprise that I got. (and a huge surprise to fangers lah! Haha.. I can’t believe you were thinking of that from day1.. geez)

where I belong

It’s not the first time I felt down. And it’s also not the first time that I stepped into the building wanting to cry, but just by seeing the security guards or looking at the water features outside the building, I feel so much better. That’s why I love my job. But, maybe things were really terrible today, coz I didn’t feel that much better even after going in. Maybe I have no more strength to remain cheerful in all circumstances coz I’m so physically and mentally drained. It has been a tiring period, never stopping every since 2^nd November when the pre-conference workshop started. From then, it was workshop, conference, exams, assignments, school, more exams and assignments, experiments.. I didn’t get to rest, nor did my neck. My neck-ache has been ongoing for a month now and I don’t know what to do to relieve it. Recently, I haven’t been able to get restful sleep, just because I’d find myself planning my work in the middle of the night. I even went to work on Saturday just to clear loads of work, so that I might be able to sleep better on Sunday. Today was no different, and I woke up even earlier to get to work. Unfortunately, a turn of events made me end up in a traffic jam, and I was forced to experience some terribly unpleasant events. I don’t think I was being oversensitive. I think it’s all a pretence, a pretence that it didn’t matter. I’m sure it does. I’d rather have seen a quarrel, coz that means everyone’s being true to themselves. But he chose to give in. So long, so many times. Even when he knew he’d end up in trouble elsewhere for it, he didn’t show it at all. All my life, I only know 2 people who’d be so nice to the people they love. They have so much love and put in so much commitment that they choose to bear with anything that comes their way, just to keep the relationship going. They take so much upon their shoulders, but make it seem like it’s nothing. And I, as an onlooker, hate to see this happening. I don’t know how long this will last, but I will just have to try my best to remain an onlooker and not let my feelings draw me into the war.

conquerors

On Sunday, someone mentioned how things were happening in Tibet. So very coincidentally, I was sitting beside Sam who went Tibet with me. Suddenly, he made a comment “…for all you know, the next time we go back there and meet DJ, he’s a Christian already!” It may have been a random comment, and we may not know God’s plans, but it’s a really nice thought, a nice hope that it MAY really become true one day. ^_^

Yeah, many of us always say we want to go back there again. But I wonder how many of us really mean it, and how many who mean it will really turn it into action. Even I am not sure about it myself. I really loved the place, but I don’t have the habit of wanting to visit a place a second time. Not because I didn’t like the place, but coz I know the 2^nd visit would be different. Maybe memories are better, coz they’ll always remain perfect. Furthermore, I have so many more places to explore, I don’t want to waste time and money visiting a place again.

But, if I ever end up returning to Tibet, I really hope to climb higher up Everest. It’s gonna be expensive, but it’d be memorable. Of course, that also means a longer trip coz more adaptation to high altitudes would be required. If possible, of course, I hope to meet the same friend again. Together with the same troupe, of course. ^_^ (I wonder how he’s doing? It’s off season now.. so he should be trying to sell his drawings instead of climbing everest? Hopefully surviving on less cigarettes and less red bull too.. XD)

do you know me?

Was just chatting about what I’m doing now, when he mentioned a friend that seemed to know me. It was weird, coz i keep thinking he’s way older, when he’s actually the age of all my uni peers. Haha. Back to my point, he said there’s someone called SL in life sciences in my year.. who thinks he knows who I am? I don’t believe lor. And I don’t like the idea of someone who knows me but I don’t know that person. If you know me (and I don’t), come up front and say hi! I was so careful to keep a low profile in school, especially in Science. I had most of my meals outside of science, and if I had to eat there, I packed to eat away from the crowd. I wear ugly t-shirts and jeans to class so I definitely don’t stand out (oh no or did I stand out coz I was too ugly?). And I don’t speak up in class nor volunteer to do presentations unless forced to. So it’s not possible to have many people to know me from my course. Only those who have surnames near me have a chance of seeing me and knowing me. Haha. Don’t ask me why I kept myself so low.. I just felt like it. Maybe it was the countless times I got harassed that drew me further and further away from people. Eventually, I even left school completely coz I couldn’t take it anymore. (and weird thing is, I’m not even a recognized head turner! It troubles me when I don’t know what I am known for. Oh that reminds me of the time I left, and I met someone from NUS in Philadelphia, who knew who ‘weijia’ was coz of the lecturers! Argh.) Ok, so maybe if someone knows me from school, it must have been in the first 2 years. Before things got unbearable. I think I was a phantom student in 4^th year. Hehe. And even now.. i try so hard to not let pple noe me. And it’s not easy in grad school coz classes are seminar style and we are expected to chat a lot! Ok fine.. maybe this thing is getting a wee bit unhealthy.. I shall seriously consider living a normal life instead of avoiding people ler. People (especially guys) may not have changed for the better in the past few years, but I guess I look different so it may be safe for me to live a normal life after all. Or at least, where I work, I think the people are pretty geeky and thus safe to be friendly to. Maybe I can start being friendly like I was in the states again! Smile at everyone around, old young male female worker beggar.. SMILE! ^_^

travel

I really can't wait for the next time i get to go holidaying.. any visit to any country.. maybe a pure holiday, maybe an extension to some hectic conference.. anything will do, as long as it's a holiday! i want to see the world, and i am far far away from exploring every nook and crevice of this earth! but it's no use planning so far ahead, when i don't know what will happen in the next few months, thus i don't know where i'd end up. Noone guessed that my grad trip would be taiwan/shanghai/tibet! never did i expect to end up seeing the wondrous peak of mount everest. but it came true all the same. BUT, one thing that can be done months before traveling, is bookmarking a good travel website on your computer so that it's available the very moment a trip is decided upon! and so, bookmarking Hotel Reservations is a must. it has everything in it. doesn't matter where you end up going.. they probably have it! ^_^


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a friend loves at all times..

was digging through my drawer for some paper to use, when i discovered a laminated drawing. So long ago.. the last time i saw it was probably after i moved out of my first room in hall. I read thru the note written behind, and remembered that the drawing was given to me halfway through year 1 uni. Memories rushed back. At that time, it was a tough decision-making time. And while the decision was being made, i was so afraid i'd lose a friend. That was when kor was there for me once again. And of course, i remember that crazy night the 3 of us shared, to comfort one another. Yeah.. the short short note, spelled out our relationship so well.. how we understand each other, how much we have in common, how the other's presence made uni life much better. I'm really glad you chose to stay, dear. It was a fantastic 4 years i had with you. ^_^

eat eat eat it all up

I vaguely remember when i was young that my mum said that ants were eating away my house. How can teeny weeny ants eat away my house? and.. does a house taste good? (i seriously doubt a house can taste better than chocolates or icecream) But i saw it with my own eyes.. those masses of ants scrambling all around certain parts of my house.. walls getting chipped off here and there, powdery red stuff that kept pouring out endlessly from the walls. MY HOUSE WAS DISAPPEARING! i hated those ants, eating away my beloved home. But, they were not removable! there were so many of them, that no matter how we killed them, more seemed to appear. I can't really remember what happened later on.. but termites are hateful things. If i buy my own house in future, i'm sure i'd build some termite barriers to protect my house from them! Houses are expensive okay. i am not so generous as to pay so much money for a termite's meal.


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我的一颗心交给谁?
交出去会不会后悔?
爱情的边缘一次又一次徘徊
我的一颗心交给谁?
交出去能不能收回?
付出了感情只怕换来是伤悲.
过去我为爱流过泪,
现在已锁上我心扉...

黄品冠

less than a month away

if not for pb who mentioned tt it's their 11th month, i wouldn't have realized that we're already past thanksgiving and nearing christmas! Less than a month away! Time flies. too fast. been too busy.. so busy that i don't even have time to fall sick. Cannot afford to fall sick! Want to shop also cannot. boohoohoo. Oh well. at least i have time to come online occasionally. ^_^ And i found CouponChief.com that has useful stuff! My favourite Body Shop.. heez.. pple who 'smell' me everyday would know.. and i couldn't help but notice Dell.. something that mr Dell should like!! XD And that reminds me of our happy meal together at Crystal Jade last christmas.. mr Dell's best-meal-of-the-year.. wonder how christmas would be like this year? hmm..

Helping hands

Just a couple of weeks ago, my brother was frantically studying for his A levels. As one family, we all studied with him, trying to help him with sums he had problems with, making sure he got enough brain food, ensuring that he was in his top form for his exams.

Today, less than a week after he fought that month-long war, it’s my turn to need his help. A sudden reversal of roles, it was his turn to make use of his finely polished differentiation-integration skills to help me with my school work. So who said only the older and more experienced can teach the younger students? We help one another, and my brother who had just completed his high school managed to solve my graduate school assignment! =P

Remember the sweet moments

I seldom see my sis watching the news so attentively, especially when it's early on a saturday morning. It was only then that i learnt of the incident, the cambodia dragonboating incident. The next couple of days, i saw my sister buy every single newspaper featuring the incident, following the updates so very closely. Because one of the five who went through a brave struggle last friday, was her very good friend. To hear of such freak accidents is one matter. To know someone involved in it is another. It is so heart piercing to read the blogs and comments by family and friends of the victims. And it is even worse to read the forum comments by naïve, thoughtless people who mock the victims and their families.

I used to think that those people suddenly dying in their sleep without any known health ailments was scary, simply coz you really won’t know when you’ll die. But now, I think to die in a freak accident like this is even worse. In both cases, you don’t expect to die, but there is definitely less suffering if you die in your sleep.

To those who are families or friends of these five who have left unexpectedly, I really hope they’ll cope well and remember them at their very best.

And she’s off and away. Maybe it’s a good opportunity to lessen the grieves too, returning to only remember the good times they once shared.

So it really happened..

After so long of not touching any experiments, I was totally lost. Like a newbie in the lab. And I made a mistake. BAH. And it wasn’t even myself who discovered the mistake. I was so so soooo fortunate that it wasn’t a big mistake. This better not happen again. Mass production cannot afford to have mistakes. Too costly, too costly.

-------

On a happier note, sister made tiramisu yesterday (and so today can eat!). I haven’t had tiramisu since.. since Arzhou last made one for me as my farewell. Oh that was so long ago! I liked my sister’s tiramisu actually. The liquor was good.. haha. But unfortunately, there was way too much cocoa powder! I mean.. not that I dislike cocoa.. I LOVE it.. but.. it’s in the wrong place! Tiramisus shouldn’t taste like that.. cocoa overpowering the cheese and coffee.. lost the essence of tiramisu. Maybe she should just rename the dessert as something else.. then... it’d be wonderful. =P

New ministry

It’s been a long break. Had tried out various ministries last time.. choir (dun luff!), chijmes, youth, thai ministry… then I took a break when I went overseas to study.. a break that extended for 2 yrs. I’m now getting back. From 2008, I’d finally be serving in the Sunday School! Yeah.. after so many rejections when pple tried to pull me over.. there’s really no excuse lah.. fear of unpreparedness and inadequateness is no excuse.. coz we wouldn’t need God if we’re fully equipped and ready for the job, would we? It’s precisely the fearful and unequipped pple that require God’s providence. ^_^ I agreed to sit in Stan/Roy’s class today.. and before I made it to their class my name got taken down already! Haha.. I was just walking past.. and my name/email/phone number all got recorded. Like being caught by a prefect for being late for school lah!! Haha.. In addition to that, I’d prolly be stepping up at Assistant CG leader next yr too.. it’s gonna be a busy but exciting year ahead! ^_^

pretty flooring

I always imagined garage to be the most unkempt places in a house. A storage place, dirty, messy and untiled floors. Worse still, a garage full of rats running around! >.< tiled and be pretty.. and shining like diamonds! Not a dark and gloomy place, but pretty, clean and pleasing to the eye! It can even be protected with professional grade epoxy to make it easy to clean and to keep it nice and new.. whoahaha... i am day dreaming.. but when i finally get my own landed property with a big garage, i'd definitely pay attention to the garage flooring. The car.. will come later. =P

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It's gonna start..

After so many months of waiting, they finally arrived yesterday. Spent a couple of hours doing preparation work today.. it's been so long since i last did any benchwork, the pipette's exciting to the touch! XD I can't wait til next monday, when experiments start. It's a funny feeling, how excited i am to finally start on this project, but at the same time a little fearful coz i have never done this experiment before, yet the first time i am gonna do it, it's gonna be mass production already! Oh well.. i can't always waste time and resources to just practice alone.. i have to learn to be more confident, as well as of course be more careful and diligent with everything so that things can succeed at first try. No more allocating weeks just for practise. FEEL the experiment! woot~

Want..

It'd be nice to have this.. Nike+iPod Sports kit.

"Transform your iPod nano into a personal workout coach with the Nike + iPod Sport Kit. This wireless sensor and receiver combination works exclusively with your Nike+ shoes and iPod nano to give you real-time feedback during workouts and let you track your performance on your Mac or PC"

I don't really gian the ipod, but the tracking function is cool.. and is compatible with alot of events by Nike! Can even do charity k.. =P

Unfortunately, tho the sports kit is only $29, i still don't have an ipod to match with it. Bah.

Morning Surprise

Been sleeping a lot lately, for some unknown reasons. I went to bed at 10+pm yesterday, and only woke up at 9+am! I got out of bed, and saw a big bag sitting on the dining table. ‘Donut Factory? Not again..’ I thought. Donut factory isn’t that bad lah, but after a few times, it gets boring. Nonetheless, I peeked into the bag to grab my breakfast.. and then I saw… “Krispy Kreme”!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was stunned for a moment.. Groggy after sleeping for 11 hrs? Nonono.. Indeed, that’s what I saw. Muahahah… Krispy Kreme after almost 1.5yrs of no KK!! This has got to be the best morning surprise ever lah!! ^_^ Thanks to my sis who just returned from Manila. I guess I have given up eating KK ler, such tt it didn’t even occur to me that Manila has KK outlets. ^_^ I had 4 different donuts today, of which only 1 I’ve eaten before. Manila sure has different flavors (or has it been so long that KK has come out with new flavors that I don’t know of?) Oh that boundless filling oozing out of the donut from all directions.. the sweetness of the icing.. the softness of the donut.. is heaven~ Pity there was no chocolate filled.. But still.. KK is all that matters!!!! =P (But I feel so full after just 2 whole donuts.. I cannot imagine how I used to be able to eat 4-6 at one sitting.. bah.. no wonder I gained so much weight in so short a time.. maybe it’s good KK is not coming to Singapore. Maintain weight while the craving for KK will remain. ^_^)

Special insurance for Women?

A recent debate about whether oocyte extraction from women is harmful raised a question: would such a dangerous or emotional harmful procedure require insurance companies to create new policies for such events? Would it be better to have such insurances that could possibly insure women in case they emerge emotionally harmed by the oocyte extraction procedure? This is definitely not a rubbish question, as oocyte donation is becoming more and more popular, with human oocytes being higher and higher on demand for infertile couples, as well as for research. (of course, not nulling the fact that woman are very much highly paid for their eggs, ranging from a few thousand to 5-digit numbers depending on their educational level, ethnic group and age!) It's value compared to other insurance policies such as car insurance, home insurance and even pet insurance cannot be neglected. Of course, i personally do not think that any insurance would be able to account for the damage done on a woman if she suffers side effects from the donation. However, this is only my opinion, and i believe that many people have and will continue to 'donate' their eggs because of the huge monetary incentive.

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where’s the responsibility?

Yesterday, I took an exam. Graduate students, as you would expect, should be people who take learning seriously and study terribly hard for exams. I was shocked when 2 guys sitting beside me seemed shocked that there was an exam. After the lady left the room (she only came to give out the exam questions and left us to write our answers, assuming that graduate students are old enough to know to keep quiet and hardworking enough to have studied), the guys took out their handphone to make a call to confirm the date of the exam. Ok, since they weren’t using it to ask people for answers, so be it. There isn’t anything wrong with using a cellphone if you are not cheating with it, right? But then.. what about discussing exam questions? Is there an issue then? Those 2 guys started off whispering to each other, but eventually ended up having pretty loud exchanges that disturbed a lot of people. I was really pissed, and wanted so badly to shout at them to shut up and write their own answers, but held myself back as I didn’t want to disturb the rest of the students even more. I was sooo glad when a guys sitting right in front of them turned to say “can you please do your own answers?”. I was cheering for him deep down. Unfortunately, these guys don’t listen. They continued to discuss. Obviously their discussions were futile, coz both of them did not study for the exam, and I suspect they’ve never attended the class either. The guy beside me obviously saw me scribbling furiously, and decided that it was more wise to check out my answers. He was at questions 2 then, and I was at questions 7. He made it so blatant as to flip quickly to question 7 and turned to discuss my answer with his friend. I was so PISSED!! I started covering up my answers, sitting in weird positions.. and he happily changed his seating to continue checking out my answers! I’m so glad he never saw the though, coz some time later, he gave up and went back to his question 2. Then, the most unexpected thing happened. The guy in front (the one who barked at them earlier to shut up) turned and started discussing answers with them! By then, I was so angry at them that I was writing my answers as fast as I could, so I could leave the exam hall. I left an hour early in the end. Any longer and I would not be able to contain my anger.

I am totally dumbfounded by what happened. In undergraduate courses, cheating and copying is quite common in class tests, but even so, exams are treated more seriously. At those times, I just close an eye coz I know some people really resent what they’re doing, mostly coz they’ve been tricked or force into taking a course they didn’t like. However, graduate students obviously chose to further study because they have the interest, and they know this is the career they want to seek. Noone in the right mind would choose such a tough road for the fun of it. So if these people are serious about what they’re doing, why aren’t they putting in any effort at all? If there is interest, why is there still such behavior? To add on to that, we’re graduate students, old enough to take responsibility in what we do, matured enough to know what’s right and what’s not. What’s more, this exam consisted of questions that are easily answerable by JC students as these topics are simple stuff covered in JC! If they have never studied all these before, never attended the lectures, never even heard of such simple things before, I really question what they are doing with their lives. These 3 guys totally changed my impression of that particular nationality. Terribly ugly behavior.

(I just wrote to the authorities regarding this. I didn’t name any names, but simply suggested that maybe there should be invigilators for future exams. Sad to say, I have to ask them to treat us like young, immature undergraduates again. I chose not to name names simply because I do not want to make such a big hassle out of it, knowing that I am already known to be a complain queen by the school authorities within 3 months of candidature. Furthermore, I doubt that those students managed to get very far by trying to cheat, thus they should have already received their deserving punishment)

Bliss~

I pretty much enjoy what I do right now. Being a student. Sitting at the back row in class, listening to the lecturer feed me with knowledge, taking part in heated discussions.. I am beginning to like school more and more. If only I realized this earlier. I used to be so caught up with finishing my lessons and scoring my As that I never really sat back to enjoy the process. I no longer view exams as so important. It’s the learning process that matters more. I have to enjoy it while I can.. coz I may have only 1 year more of school.. (don’t know to if I should be happy or sad.. on one hand I am hoping they cut down the syllabus and I clear my courses faster, while on the other hand I enjoy schooling.. life’s a contradiction, ain’t it?)

it's GIS day tmr!

I happened to check my Earth Calender today, and i found that tmr is GIS day!! What a cool day!! haha.. And i managed to trick alot of pple abt it.. hehe.. what fun~

Demonic Visitation explained

I used to hear about such things called gui3 ya1 chuang2 or demonic visitations, especially on Taiwanese variety shows. They make it sound so scary, but i never knew what they meant, until i experienced it for myself--not so coincidentally in Taiwan. It was scary.. really.. but i am not one who believes in such things, but prefers to take things from a scientific point of view. Indeed, there is a scientific explanation behind what many cultures have long thought to be a demonic/spiritual attack.

For those who dunno what i am describing, "Sleep paralysis is a condition characterized by temporary paralysis of the body shortly after waking up or, less often, shortly before falling asleep. Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the bodily paralysis persists. This leaves the person fully aware, but unable to move. In addition, the state may be accompanied by hallucinations.

More often than not, sleep paralysis is believed by the person affected by it to be no more than a dream. This explains many dream recountings which describe the person lying frozen and unable to move. The hallucinatory element to sleep paralysis makes it even more likely that someone will interpret the experience as a dream, since completely fanciful, or dream-like, objects may appear in the room alongside one's normal vision. Some scientists have proposed this condition as a theory for alien abductions and ghostly encounters.

Sleep paralysis occurs during REM sleep, thus preventing the body from manifesting movements made in the subject's dreams. Very little is known about the physiology of sleep paralysis. However, some have suggested that it may be linked to post-synaptic inhibition of motor neurons in the pons region of the brain. In particular, low levels of melatonin may stop the depolarization current in the nerves, which prevents the stimulation of the muscles, to prevent the body from enacting the dreamt activity (e.g. preventing a sleeper from flailing his legs when dreaming about running).

Several studies have concluded that many or most people will experience sleep paralysis at least once or twice in their lives.

During paralysis episodes, patients may be advised to try moving the facial muscles and moving eyes from one side to the other. This may hasten the termination of the attack."

For more information, visit wikipedia

Closing Banquet at Swisshotel the Stanford

The ballroom where we had the conference..


On the final night.. we had a banquet at the former Westin! ^_^

That's some of us at the cocktail reception..


I'm a pro.. can pose while looking for my favourite nuts to eat.. hehe


We wanted to give a cool look.. but tt extra 'mike man' popped into the photo and made us luff. grr..


I had a really good time at AACR. i can't wait for the next big conference!! (prolly a yr later bah.. boohoohoo)