Tuesday, August 18, 2009

And the list goes on...

Ok one more..

13) Some dimsum + xiao long bao!

Did a time-check and realized I have exactly 6 weeks left before flying off to US for a good 9 months before returning again!

So I came up with a list of places to visit & food to eat blah blah blah (ok, basically just things i wanna do) before I fly... (: 排名不分先后

1) Eat QiJi Popiah
2) Have fishhead steamboat at Beach Road (with family)
3) Get a new laptop during Comex 2009
4) Visit Ion Orchard
5) Try out Ellenborough Market Buffet
6) Go cycling!
7) Eat Bak Chor Mee ( Bedok 85 soupy type and normal chilli + vinegar mee pok type)
8) Learn how to cook home favourite dishes
9) Have a meal at Chat Masala with Alex
10) Decide whether to renew contract and get a new phone
11) Do the grad photo shoot
12) Sing K
13) ...
14) ....
15) .....

6 weeks, the list might grow longer. I hope it isnt too hard to achieve? So friends, jio me for the abovementioned (:
Too many groups of friends to meet and I'm qt sure I won't get to meet all before I fly but its ok cos I'm coming back!

Alright, nuff said.
My calendar is opened for booking!
( I hope at least someone sees this post and tries to help me in checking at least one item off from the list above..)

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Life's getting...

Complicated. Too fast.

Loans, insurance, domestic allowances to juggle.
Financial planning to do...
Getting ready for my life in US...
Office dealings..

Bleah.. maybe the only thing that is getting simple is my social life.. Sleeping at 10 plus everyday.. GREAT.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

BOF?


(Click to enlarge)

Grabbed this from another blog..hahaha.. don't know what to say.
I hope this doesn't inspire Mediacorp anything.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Korea"logue" - O' Seoul

Woke up to great sunshine (: Made our way to the first stop of the day, Namsangol Hanok Village, ourselves and let Dr Kim sleep in a while more..



Was an interesting tourism spot where you can see traditional houses (Hanok). Got to know that people in the past must have been quite short. Eliza had trouble protecting her head from knocking onto the the door frames etc.. Obviously, I had none of those troubles :P. Had fun snapping pictures and trying out the "turn your back" poses.. HAHA.. (no successful attempt recorded till the end of the trip. sigh.)

We tried on HanBoks! Each of us had a different style. The conclusion was that Amanda's a little bride, I'm a farmer, and Eliza's an English lady trying to fake Korean. Hee.. Played a fool awhile more and met Dr Kim and Yeppie to continue our tour through Seoul for the day!



We went cafe-tripping! Eliza was full of praise of Korea's coffee culture. We visited Samcheon-dong, a street littered by cafes and quaint cafes and "oh so pweety" cafes (you get the drift :D ) Was arguably Amanda's favourite place in Seoul, I was quite doubtful of her answer actually. Wasn't it Myeongdong - the shopping heaven? Anw, really enjoyed my cup of strawberry ice-blend by the street, people-watching, admiring the each little cafe shop-house, and occasional cam-whoring. Life's good.

Casually mentioned Coffee Prince and Dr. Kim brought us there! (After checking directions with friends and strangers on the road...thats v nice of him..) And after quite a bit of driving and walking.. we finally reached Coffee Prince. Didnt really followed the drama but could nevertheless feel a sense of familiarity with the decoration. Managed to get a nice shot with the wall mural.. [A casual note for all who wants to visit the cafe. Its near Hongik University...]



Next, we "brought" Dr Kim to GyeongBokgung.. the palace he hasn't visited since 30years ago! Had some fun taking pictures with the palace guards.. and was disappointed Eliza didnt pick a cute one to take pictures with! In the end the one who took pictures with us closed his eyes in that pic. -_- Owells. Wondered if the guards really took pride in their job of guarding the gates of the palace? Or were they just doing the job for $? Or were they just serving the army? Spotted a guard who looked like Jay Chou btw.

By now, you guys should have realised what a packed itinerary we had. And that's still not all! We went to Insa-dong after the palace visiting. Traffic was bad, even more so when Amanda and I were urgent in answering nature's call. The drive was probably the slowest drive I had in my whole life (not even the one from Incheon airport can beat it). Tried to find a toilet at Lotte Department didnt help. Getting trapped at the back of a lift at Lotte Department full of Koreans who didnt understand "Excuse Me" didnt help much either. Then driving all the way to the World Cup Stadium only to find an uber long queue of cars waiting to enter the carpark.. Ugh!

So can you imagine the kind of relief when I saw a toilet sign when we finally parked our car at one of the carparks at Insa-dong? Who knew it was a Gents? :(( Getting trapped in a cubicle in the gents full of ahjushi outside was such a traumatising experience. The last I heard from Amanda was: "Yuenling you dont come out ah!" and then I heard laughter from the 2 of them from... AFAR.. Bleah. Perhaps the only consolation was that I was already relieved of the high tide when I heard the girls laughing at me. >.<

Quite an interesting start to Insa-dong huh? Supposedly an tourist street selling mostly souvenirs and antique, I'll now remember it in a different way :S Anyway, I enjoyed myself an Insa-dong where Amanda got her Hanguel name carved on a stone (i supposed its a stamp?). And its also the stamp that she carried with her in her bag everyday for the next 10days so that she can admire it whenever she feels like it..
Girl, I am still looking forward to your room's wallpaper. Make sure u fill your whole wallpaper with that stamp.

Then we had our 2nd night without proper beds..but the question was.. did we even sleep??? WHY?

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Korea"logue" -The Night We Arrived

Even at the Incheon International Airport, I still couldn't believe our grad trip came true (: (All the h1n1 and the NK scares..)

Saw Dr Kim and Mr Park II (and Yeppie) for the first time at the arrival hall. Very nice of them to drive all the way from Suwon to Incheon (that's a drive of couple of hours). That's the first of the many encounters of hospitable and kind Koreans.

Blame it on our heavy luggage or the limited space of the boot or not, I had a rather interesting start to the trip. Admiring the scenery of Incheon/Seoul from behind the luggage wasn't fun. Having the whole weight on the luggage on my lap wasnt fun either :( Dr Kim couldn't even see me from the rearview mirror at the driver's seat and was checking from time to time whether I was still surviving.
"If you guys don't hear from me for a while, check to see if I have fainted" - me, from behind the luggage. Haha, brushing up on my self-entertainment skills.

Traffic jam is part of Korean culture, the locals say..
So it took us longer than usual to reach our 1st accomodation, BeeWon Guesthouse, near Insa-dong. Dumped our bags and off we go to our first dinner! Samgyeopsal, galbi (yums), naengmyeon, deungjan-jigae (yums)... Never thought that we would be able to try so many Korean dishes in one meal.



The samgyeopsal (3layer fatty pork) that Amanda was so looking forward to but realises that it was too full of fats. The galbi (marinated ribs) that was so yummilicious. We learnt the Korean way of eating the bbq meat - wrap it up in lettuce or sesame leaves, together with some chilli bean paste and garlic. Feeling so full after the bbq meat galore and there's still Naengmyeon (cold noodles) to end the meal! Really couldnt finish and when we were leaving, we saw the Sajangnim (shop owner) eating the remainders of Eliza's Naengmyeon. Pretty shocked :S Just not our culture..

We went to the area of Sinchon to find some drinks to end the night! Found a nice place to chill with nice decor and good view of the streets. Walked abit to Yonsei University but seemed like it was too late to see anything. The campus seemed nice though (: Heard from my Lak1201 classmates that Yonsei is supposed to be full of cute guys.. Haha, cant verify that point still..



Retired for the night at around 3plus? Poor Dr.Kim who had to drive back to his house at Suwon and meet us next morning back at Seoul.. And for us? Day 1 of backache begins w/o proper beds..

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

30th May 2009

I present ....
The Adidas Sundown Marathon 2009!



I've been looking forward to this day! I've even spent 120bucks on a pair of Adidas Snova Glide..I've yet to test out this purchase yet (blame it on the injury and flu). But it's really a 100%improvement from my previous pair in terms of cushioning and stability. Woots! I hope it doesnt disappoint me!



A couple of my friends.. (ok, actually only 2.. Peter & Dips) are running the Sundown Marathon this coming Saturday. Good luck and have fun!

Meanwhile, I'll also be having my own share of fun in Seoul,Korea. Yes! I am flying to South Korea on 30th May 2009 and will be back only on 10th June 2009! Such coincidence, I'll be taking the same plane back to SG from HKG as Peter! Haha 我的香港蛋挞有着落了!

Last but not least, its also my dear friend, Yuxin's birthday!!! Girl, hold your shopping reins! When I'm back, we'll go shop for working clothes together! All hail GSS!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Signed!

Went down to get my Letter of Employment signed this morning.
Saw the other 2 trainees(?) colleagues(?) who will be flying with me over to Irvine in October. 2 Chem engineers, 1 from NTU and NUS. Hope that we will be able to get along well and have some good time over at US!

Got very excited after seeing the accomodation that I will be having over at Irvine.
I present... CandleWood Suite!


Looks like a dollhouse from this picture!
One-bedroom suite! I have my own living room, workspace, and kitchenette!
Exciting! Sofa-bed in the living room.. which means I can host visitors! :)))) Pls come visit me and bring me some goodies from Singapore! I will miss 2 x CNYs in Singapore! I'll miss the pineapple tarts so badly lor!
There's even a DVD player! Even though it wont be so handy I guess.. I will be streaming from my laptop more often I guess..
And Beeshin, I dont need to save my quarters for laundry! The laundry is free!
There's gym facilities too! I definitely need to watch my diet when I'm over there!

Ok..I think i sound excited enough.
I hope this excitement can last and mask some worries that have surfaced every now and then ever since I agreed to the offer.

Will be expecting some stressful times once work kicks in on 1st Jul..
Meanwhile.. I shall continue to enjoy some slacking time and collect some to-pack-lists from those who have been on SEP before..

Thursday, May 14, 2009

The day the bioengineers unanimously shouted 'YAY'!

13th May 2008. FYP Poster Day.
This date felt so far when I first began my FYP during the first weeks of August 2008.

What a journey!

Countless frustrations and futile attempts and aimless experimentation during the 1st semester. Somehow after the mid-term presentation, everything just took a turn. I suddenly found some love in research (and even considered it as a career, seriously). I shan't digress into job search, I ll share about it in another post.

I landed myself in a good lab with good lab mentors and fellow bioengineering mates and good prof, hence nothing to complain. I am glad FYP didn't left me hating my project, my lab, my supervisor! However, it did left me very sick of irregular meal hours, chiong-ing data, dilly's corner, self-lunches at some random bench in engineering.
FYP was such a test of endurance, skills, management, innovation and sleep debt accumulation! I'm glad we survived it! 我们毕业了!有点感动! Haha.

So...

All the posters unite! Not pinned up yet!

Poster Day began as early as 8.30am! Just to assemble and collect our name tags. Nothing much really happened until 10plus when the professors started strolling in at different timings to examine our poster. I was amazed by my lack of preparation for the script. And was even more amazed that my last minute script din come in handy at all. All's in my brain, all the research interviews must have helped. The examiner stopped me after my introduction and said we should proceed in a casual manner (: Just a casual conversation with questions and answers. Had positive vibes after the session (:



A shot with my FYP Prof. (rightmost) He probably gave me an easy time throughout, except during the 2days before thesis submission.



My very nice lab-mates! (I know at least one of u is reading this. haha )



So busy snapping photos after the presentation was done. Check out facebook for more!
Another round of phototaking shall be during July's Commencement (:

Monday, May 11, 2009

My next (1st) Spring



Where will I be?

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Hmm...

Almost 5 years ago, I had my 1st (and most likely the last) SYF competition...
I've almost forgotten the "butterflies in stomach" feeling, the adrenaline pumps, the excitement after knowing we had gotten into the Finals...

Was just looking at the Facebook Albums people posted abt TJC Gold With Honours this year..They went to Vivo City for some great fun at the open-space area to celebrate their victory after the competition.
OMG. I can totally feel their youthfulness. Huang Sheng went with them!

I totally cant remember what did we do after our competition? Did we go out and have fun? Most likely we had to bring all the instruments back to school right? And dinner was just buns or packed boxes. Am I right? And after packing everything back to CO Room...What did we do? Don't remember us having the time of our life though.. I think we only went Bedok KFC to celebrate and took some real silly photos there...

Aye... I have always thought.. I should have been more fun-loving.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

I am going to complain about lunch...

And so I thought I could get a very nice meal of fried wontan horfun with nice black sauce gravy topped up with the green preserved chillies..
So I ordered and waited.. I stood and waited.. then I sat down and waited... and I observed as I waited...
and waited and waited...

Y is the vendor boiling the kway teow for so long!?! Doesnt he know that kway teow gets cooked so much faster than the usual meepok or meekia??? And he chatted with his fellow stall helper, laughing and giggling... while I looked at my kway teow almost dying in the boiling water liao... (Gone case I thought, the kway teow is gg to be all soft and mushy and not "Q" anymore)

And then he went to deepfry the wontan in the usual oil frying machine.. Why cant he do it simultaneously while boiling the kway teow? By the time the wontan is done, the kway teow had already absorbed all the moisture in the take-away container :(
( I was feeling very sad by this time alr...)

Then.. he did someting stupid which I almost rolled my eyes at him... He placed the nicely fried cripsy wanton on the kway teow and poured some boiling water into the container (cos the gravy had alr been absorbed u see..). Faints. What's the point of deep-frying the wanton if you are going to pour boiling water over it????
Would really appreciate if he would just place the wontan into a separate plastic bag..

Sobs. All the big bosses out there, I really think you shldnt open a chain of franchise.. and let pple who doesnt know how to cook to run them... :(

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Of Counting Down..

Last Friday marked the submission of the unbound thesis. Hurray!
I've new found respect for all of us Bioengineers who survived the hellweek before the submission. Was really scary now that I recall. *Traumatised* and functioning on adrenaline, I found myself being able to survive nights and nights without the aid of caffeine. (Now.. what is it in Ginseng that keeps me awake?)
Strangely enough, I didnt feel immensely relieved after the submission, neither did I feel extremely proud of it. A pity though, but it was the best i could do in 2 days/nights.
And how could Friday end without a celebration?? Was really glad I dint head home directly to sleep after submission (: Had a very relaxed night... Thanks all BIE buddies!



8days
..to my last paper in NUS.
The post-thesis-submission-inertia really kicked in quite well. Preparing for exams is totally not in my daily plans at all. Interview preparations are.

12days
..to submission of my FYP poster.
I am so definitely not going to do it last minute. Really want to do a nice and pretty poster to really do justification to my hard work for the past 8 months.

21days to my poster session.
I know that is the day (almost) all Bioengineers will feel immensely high and relieved. I'll bring my camera that day and snap the last moments of us being students, before we step into the working world (: / ): ?

~1month to flying off for my grad trip.
5월30일 -- 6월10일 한국에 가요! 저는 행복해요!
아주 재미있어요!
경치하고 연세대하교를 보고 싶어요! 한국음식을 많이 먹고 싶어요. (Beautiful scenary, all the shuai ge from Yonsei University, korean Food here i come!) ㅋㅋ (Keke)
하 하! (Haha)

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

有种人。。。

他叫双头蛇。 他比恶人更恐怖

Sunday, March 15, 2009

김치(Kimchi) Making Session

I think taking a Korean Language module during my last semester was a right choice. Albeit the busy coursework.. I get to learn how to make kimchi! It was like a mini excursion, getting me of my FYP lab work..

It was held at Korean Plaza @ Raffles Place. Basically it was just the Korean Tourism Association. Not exactly a plaza, more like a hub.
Some pictures to share! 선생님 took them! Yes, I know I look ultra tired.

Kimchi making was really tedious and you really need to be good with the knife to cut nice thin slices of carrot, radish and garlic etc.


Cutting the spring onions! Luckily we got this, imagine those who got garlic! The garlic smell will stay with them at least for few hours!


Hehehe... Adding the fish sauce to season..


Our product! Haha..

We still have one more project to complete... a 10min Korean Drama!
We have so many ideas to contribute to the film that Yixin had to keep reminding us we r not filming a movie!

Another highlight of the week, my 1st skype session with the IMPORTANT PERSON went well! (:

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Mid-term Break

I am not sure if this would be my last mid-term break in NUS but this is definitely my last mid-term break as an undergraduate. Promised to myself that I'll enjoy this break (albeit all the BioBiz stress and FYP stress + assignment stress haunting me..)

Monday: Got the blueberry muffins recipe from Amanda and baked these for my lab mates! To thank them for being so nice to me, always letting me jump queue in using the equipment and teaching me stuff and always helping me get the samples... Really paiseh being so *spoilt* by them so decided to bake something for them! Its not bad but not perfect either, but I'd say the muffins are very photogenic! First time trying my hands out at muffins, I hope my bakes will be better the next time! I've got myself some very nice muffin cups :)



Wednesday: Got myself a shorter and neater haircut. Played tennis with the lab peeps and saw rainbows! Pretty happy.

Friday: Went to Sakae Sushi (after a very long time.. since 2007) with the girls! Haha we all agreed that our stamina isnt as strong as when we were in JC. And arcade basketball is a very good activity after the buffet stuffing (:

The BIE slacking outing at Bing's place. *Though it might not be as happening as "the other BIE outing" but Hee..Jenga was fun..



Saturday: Bee's byebye-house bbq party. A v 另类 bbq i would say haha!

Sunday, February 08, 2009

22.04.2009

Watch this.
Catching the 2nd last day of CNY!

Ok my post has nothing to do with CNY..
Lately all my free time (which is not alot) has been spent on learning Hanguel.
Have yet to talk to my parents about the propsosed grad trip to Korea and looking at Yixin's latest facebook status regarding grad trips, I am holding back even more...Argh.

Was finding nice photos to put on the BioBiz website and I found this (on a totally unrelated note, except for the test tubes)



Nice ma??? I like the flowers , the color, the woody feel from the test tube rack. And yes I missed the Sentosa flowershow with my family.. all the nice photos of the flowers... ahh. And that was the day my camera got scratched. Hai... Not a v big scratch, not a v big deal. But it is always less forgivable when such things are not done by u.
(on a side note, i still relish the memories from Cameron Highlands..)

Ok I have to run for tuition! Before that, I am going to cook myself some instant noodles with abalone.. YEH! ( I found it in the fridge, must be some leftovers during new year dinners..)

Have a nice week ahead everyone (:

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Miss Invisible

Theres a girl
Who sits under the bleachers
Just another day eating alone
And though she smiles
There is something just hiding
And she cant find a way to relate
She just goes unnoticed
As the crowd passes by
And she'll pretend to be busy
When inside she just wants to cry
She'll say...

Chorus

Take a little look at the life of Miss Always Invisible
Look a little closer, I really really want you to put yourself in her shoes
Take another look at the face of Miss Always Invisible
Look a little harder and maybe then you will see why she waits for the day
When you'll ask her her name

The begining, in the first weeks of class
She did everything to try and fit in
But the others they couldnt seem to get past all the things that mismatched on the surface
And she would close her eyes when they left and she fell down the stairs
And the more that they joked
And the more that they screamed
She retreated to where she is now
And she'll sing...

Chorus

Take a little look at the life of Miss Always Invisible
Look a little harder I really really want you to put yourself in her shoes
Take a little look at the face of Miss Always Invisible
Look a little closer and maybe then you will see why she waits for the day that you will ask her...her name

And one day just the same as the last
Just the days been in counting the time
Came a boy that sat under the bleachers just a little bit further behind...


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm so glad when I read the last verse of the lyrics. Happy for "Miss Invisible" (:
Because.. Loneliness is a scary thing.
Sometimes you'd just wander around in school looking busy because you cant find someone to talk to, cant find a place to sit down looking invisible.

Friday, January 09, 2009

Note: This is a whining post

I think ... Exams Period is the least stressful period of the Uni Life.
Why?
Because normal school days are flooded with so many deadlines, projects, assignments.. It has become more stressful than exam times.
And... my holidays have been booked by UROP VIP and now FYP since year 2.. and this current "holiday" that I am experiencing now is definitely not stress-free.
I only have to read and study and memorise during exam periods..so its definitely the least stressful period liao.

>.< Whine No. 1

Last night.. I dreamt of going into the classroom for my FYP Oral Presentation to see a v young and cocky professor as my examiner who doesnt believe anything that I presented. Dead flat.

>.< Whine No. 2
I spent many many many hours in lab looking into the microscope, playing with the motion tracking software to obtain only results comparable to only 1/10 of the effort I put in. I srsly need a mentor and tell me whats wrong whats right with what I am doing... Or maybe I should feel proud with the immense leap in the video quality I am able to produce now compared to Day 1. This is called 摸索。 摸索是个孤独又漫长的过程。。。

>.< Whine No. 3
Today is Friday. Tomorrow is Saturday. I was in lab today. I will be in lab tomorrow.

>.< Whine No. 4
The malaria parasites arent behaving normally :( Hence my results are abnormal too. 救命啊
Today... I was staring into space looking very sad after my failed experiment. A phd student came over and said: 不做了 我们去开餐馆吧。。。Hahaha...

>.< Whine No. 5
There have been countless time my dinner = a Double CheeseBurger from Mac finished on my way from Mac to the busstop or from the busstop to my Tutee's hse.. I havent had a proper dinner at home FOR.. I dunno since when.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a lab's day of hard work.. I came home to 8 tasks on hand. Emails yet to send. Emails yet to reply..

>.< Stressed. And school hasnt even started.