New discovery

Discovered something new about my eyesight at last night's Christmas Party.

When I'm drunk everything GREEN looks BLUE to me.

Is this normal? Am I wierd? Perhaps there is a scientific reason for this?

Real Fakes

In one of my previous posts, I promised to post some pictures of a real fake pebble and a real fake bonsai... Confused? Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be enlightened by the images below.

Presenting the real fake pebble:

The green pebble in the pot is actually a Lithop plant from R. Well, it can survive for up to two years without watering so if you are looking for a low maintainence plant, this is the one for you. I do water my plants you know, just that I forget occassionally... hahaha...

And presenting the real fake bonsai:

I hope you can make out the little bonsai that is buried under tonnes of chirstmas deco. It's owner managed to kill two cactuses earlier this year and to prove to us that not all plants perish under his care, he brought in a plastic bonsai one day. As you can see, the poor plant (named Leila by her owner) now doubles as a Christmas tree complete with a star at the top. You can imagine how relieved we are knowing that this bonsai cannot be killed. (Unless someone accidentally drops some heavy books on it.... hmmm... nice idea... heh heh heh)

Merry Christmas everyone!!

An unacceptable greeting

I know that cheek kiss is a common form of western greeting and I've grown quite accustomed to that. Sometimes I do get deviations from the norm, like a direct kiss on the cheek as a greeting, which is a stretch of my comfort zone but still generally acceptable.

However, the greeting I've received today totally threw me off. I abhor, detest and am absolutely repulsed by people who leave a wet residue of you know what on my cheek.
YUCK.

And the people around me who still practice this lip-to-cheek greeting are often grandfather figures.
YUCK YUCK YUCK! (If it's my grandpa, it's ok, but not other old men)

I know I shouldn't blame them for their drooling problem but still, the practice disgusts me and I feel this strong impulse to tell them to please keep to normal cheek-touching-cheek greeting for hygiene sake.

Gosh, everyone knows that I look, dress and talk CONSERVATIVE. So can't they keep to a handshake or a wave?

Right now I just want to throw up and purge that horrible feeling out of my system.

专属天使

Sounds a bit possessive but I really like this song.... :)




我不会怪你对我的伪装
天使在人间是该藏好翅膀
人们愚蠢鲁莽而你纤细善良
怎能让你为了我被碰伤

小小的手掌厚厚的温暖
你总能平复我不安的夜晚
不敢想的梦想透过你的眼光
我才看见它原来在前方

没有谁能把你抢离我身旁
你是我的专属天使唯我能独占
没有谁能取代你在我心上
拥有一个专属天使我哪里还需要别的愿望

小小的手掌大大的力量
我一定也会像你一样飞翔
你想去的地方就是我的方向
有我保护笑容尽管灿烂

要不是你出现我一定还在沉睡
绝望的以为生命只有黑夜

Mandarin lessons

I've learnt a new chinese term today.

Literature review = 文献综述

Cheem right?

10 years of mandarin lessons is obviously insufficient. I can't understand half the mandarin my PRC colleague says because the terms he use are too foreign to me.

 

Cookies and Biscuits

The topic during tea-break today was on the difference between biscuits and cookies.

Here is what we found to be the most satisfactory engineering answer:

 

Biscuits are baked from cast dough and cookies are baked from compression moulded dough.

寂寞

人最害怕的莫非是寂寞。

人失恋时如果有好友相伴，分担心痛，有人借个肩膀哭诉或陪伴饮酒消愁，就能得到安慰， 从而新建立起自己的自信，找回单身但充实的生活频率。人失败时如果有亲友的支持，鼓励， 安慰既包容，也能在心理上克服难关，从新振作， 勇敢的再度向前迈进。可是，如果人是寂寞的，开心时没人一同分享，难过时没人陪伴分担，也许渐渐的会对人生失去期望，失去目标，一切的事务遭遇体验也都没有了意义。这时候，那个寂寞的人会选择放弃生命吗？

今天因为听到两个突如其来的悲剧所以有感而发。

我今天才知晓一位认识多年的朋友已故。听说是上个月自杀的。虽然和他不常联络， 可是聚会上都会碰到他， 也有在网络上留言。他为人和蔼可亲，很有上进心，还记得他是半工半读， 不怕辛苦的完成大学学业的。他待人诚恳，不拘小节，爱帮助人。和他谈话没有压力，会让他的真诚的关心感动。认识他十年了，身边的朋友也不少，知道他一直渴望找个伴，但好像没成功。是因为许缘分未到， 或因为少了朋友的关怀，所以才会做出傻事吗？没人能理解为什么一个健康，开朗的青年会突然的想结束生命。现在想多了解也太迟了。也许到了我们这个年龄会因为找到了对相或成立了新家庭而忽略了和我们走过青春岁月的朋友。此时此刻，我们的身旁是否有需要我们特别关怀的朋友或亲友呢？

另有一位我母亲朋友的太太上星期跳楼自杀。这位太太生活舒适，是位家庭主妇，或许孩子都长大了，丈夫白天在外工作， 太寂寞了所以开始胡思乱想， 最后跑去自杀。所以我一直反对妈妈太早退休。虽然工作辛苦，我宁愿她换个简单点的来打发时间也不想她在家中无所事事。寂寞，无聊，是最容易让人对生命绝望的困境。但愿我的朋友都不会有过渡寂寞的遭遇，也希望大家不要把生命看得太轻， 不要轻易放弃。

The story of Dammit (Sequel)

Rammit just came over and suggested that MX be given a nickname as well and he his so called 'BIG and BRIILANT' idea was to call MX 'AH' , cos of the common expression

 

 ''Ah Dammit !! ''

 

Lame.

The 4 people you meet in love...

Cousin sent me this which I thought was quite nice...

http://www.wonoing.com/222/11111.htm

Sorry it's in chinese but enjoy....

 

The story of Dammit

X came into the office today to chat with his beer buddies Y and Z. For reasons unknown, they decided to give themselves nicknames and so Gammit, Rammit and Jammit were created. They didn't discriminate against girls are were very kind (or perhaps not) to let me join their group but what I dont understand is....

 

Why am I called Dammit?!?

 

My appeal didn't work and Rammit isn't going to let me forget this name so soon. He keeps saying 'dammit' nonchalantly every so often.

 

^.^  DUH.

An irregular day

Got a really bad headache today. Didn’t get any work done. But that’s not because of the headache. It’s a day filled with many faces.

The first is my potential future boss, who called me at 8 in the morning with the request to shift our meeting to the morning. He is a very friendly guy and I find him familiar coz he is on so many committees I’ve probably seen his face in the newspaper a dozen times. I think I will enjoy working for him, but I have apprehensions about the research group he’ll put me in.

Wednesday seminar series started today. We had a guy from the Open University to start the ball rolling and his work is kind of interesting. But his lecture stretched to 50 mins and I think I switched off for 5-10mins in between.

Our dear friend and colleague OJ finally drop by to visit after going phantom for 6 months. It was great to see him again and we spent the entire afternoon in SCR chatting over drinks. Modelled for him as well for some of his photography work. He said he’ll do mine and VP’s wedding photos if we fly him over. That’ll be so cool. Some of his works can be found here.

Well, and there is the story of a real fake bonsai and a real fake pebble in our office. I’ll post some shots later and let the pictures do the talking.

A couple of things

1. Just received an email from a friend today wishing me well and all but somehow from reading my blog he thought that I'll be home soon. Well, it'll be soon but not so soon. Just like to clarify here that I'll still be in London for at least another 6 months (hopefully no longer). :) (ps: Will reply your email later today)

2. The usefulness of friendster has finally been proven. An old schoolmate found me through friendster last week. Apparently she just came to work in London about 3 months ago. Well, I guess I'ld never have gotten back in touch with her if not revealing my location on friendster. Haven't seen her since 1997 and in the last 10 years she has graduated from university, started working in a bank and got married.

3. MX new colleague is my BEng and MSc classmate. How small can the world get?

4. GBK is opening a branch in Earl's Court, just 2 minutes from my place! :) Saw the boards up on my way to uni this morning and I think renovation should be done in less than a month. I have a fondness for that restaurant because it's one of those places I have only been with Vic, Phil and Ys. And of course the legendary speed Vic gobbled down a lamb burger and ordered another one will stay deeply etched in my mind. *chuckle*

B&B (back and busy)

I’m back from holidays, well a week ago actually, but couldn’t find time to blog untill now cos had to prepare for my two meetings held earlier today. Feeling kind of down because I have been assigned more experiments to do – again – which almost drove me to tears but I think I’m going to convince my co-supervisor to allow me to ‘borrow’ his MSc student. Yes yes, after all these years I’ve finally decided to put aside my pride and receive help so that I can achieve my objectives in good time. I have been so busy with the assignments from the previous meeting that I have not written a single word for my thesis in a month.

Received news today that my examiners had been appointed. The external is ‘tough but fair’, so I’ve been warned. Challenging times ahead indeed. The internal is a Reader I know from Aeronautical Engineering. Nice guy, but I am also aware that he is an expert on all things composite. Sigh. They are pretty 大牌 examiners, which I should be honoured but I did panic silently when I heard their names? Guess my supervisor either have high regards for me or he doesn’t want me to have an easy way out. So now have to tell myself…. 不要怕…不要怕…不要怕…不要怕…不要怕…

A piece of time, a piece of memory

For several years I’ve carried around with me a birthday present from someone once important to me in the past.
To me, it stood for what a relationship should not become and a constant reminder of how I should treat and treasure the people around me.
I believe every relationship teaches something about ourselves and I’ve learnt the most from this person.

A month ago I lost that last significant piece of memorabilia from that once important person.
A part of me hoped that it will turn up some time, some place, as it stood for so many things I’ve gained and lost.
There were so many occasions where I’ve stood by the bin wondering what to do with it.
But I never did manage to convince myself to dispose of it, as the past it reminds me of, whether pleasant or ugly, remains important to me.

But since the memorabilia has disappeared, a part of me felt unprecedented relief.
The item that I cannot bring myself to discard has as a matter of fate, chosen to make an exit from my life most discretely and without fuss.
Other than relief, my heart was just numb. There was no sense of guilt for losing it and no pity for the loss.

I knew before that I had to let go at some point, but I never knew when.
I think, however, this is the time.
It feels like the right time anyway.
By destiny, it was lost and has no desire to be found.
So now I can finally let go of everything associated with it and from today onwards, I shall never look for it again.

Hits and misses

Please pardon this incoherent entry as I’m just trying to do a quick update for my dear friends and will probably disappear for another calendar month before my next entry. I’ve not found the time, mood and words to blog because there had been a couple of visitors to London (I’m happy to see them of course!!), my weekdays and weekends became mysteriously packed with social engagements and I am quite repulsed by the whole idea of writing because I have begun on my thesis and I am struggling to harvest as many drops of lyrical sense from my over-taxed brain as it is.

The whole concept of women using more words than man on a daily average is just biased and pure nonsense. If it is true, I must have a man’s brain wired in a female body or maybe there is a vernacular leakage somewhere that needs to be addressed. Thank goodness I didn’t take literature at O levels or I would never have survived back then.

Okay, here are the updates before I digress and stop making any sense.
1. Proms
Prom season is finally over. Kind of glad that I have had a fill of proms this year, thanks to YS for researching and picking the best of the lot. Now I can leave London without regret. Did book a couple more performances for the coming months but have to give up 2 shows because of some last minute holiday plans coming up.

2. Friends/ Ex-colleagues Visit
DN visited 2 weeks ago and although I had to work, it was fun catching up with her and having her here in London again for the third time. I also managed to see HP who came all the way down from Cambridge it seems like I only get to see him whenever DN is in town. An ex-colleague was here on business last week and we met up for two days. We weren’t very close when I was working there thus I was surprised that we managed to find lots of things to chat about during his visit. I think my friendship sector must have been highlight this month in my astrology chart as I managed to get in touch with many people whom I’ve not heard from for some time. The only person I’ve neglected is LP.*sorry* Her mom invited all her friends over for dinner but I couldn’t go because I’ve already booked a show with DN. From all the raving reviews I gathered her cooking was heavenly and it’s my great loss.

3. Auntie-ism
I’ve got friends commenting that I’m becoming very auntie because I tend to treat my friends like children, tending to their every need. *roll eyes* I must clarify that I only do that to the people I care about immensely. For instance, dear old friends from secondary school… hahaha…. Okay, maybe I was a bit overboard with DN. *grins* I guess it’s not a bad thing to pamper my friends, and I believe some of them quite enjoy the pampering, but I do agree with DN and AQ that there should be a limit. So I’ve started making a conscious effort to limit my pampering, hoping that it does not evolve unconsciously into mothering, or worse, smothering my poor friends.

4. MX visit and cancelled plans
I still can’t believe that this is going to be true but MX can finally make it to London in 2 weeks time!! We’ll be taking a short trip to Cornwall and we’ll be staying in a cottage near St Ives which I heard has a beautiful beach nearby and within driving distance to Lands End and Eden Project. Our intention is to make this a slow and easy trip so that our batteries can be fully recharged and I hope MX will get a chance to relax before his next job appointment. It’s nice that his visit will coincide with the mid autumn festival and we can also take this opportunity to celebrate our 1000 days as a couple. Sometimes I think it’s quite a miracle for someone like me who doesn’t have faith in LDR to have survived these 2+ years. It wouldn’t have been possible without MX’s commitment, assurances and support and his presence in my life has been one of the best things that had ever happened to me. When I think of him now, the feelings I have for him is not only of love but also of gratitude. I guess when a relationship matures, there will always be a part of us that wants to say thank you to the person who has been putting up with our good and bad ways and loving us for who we are.

Okay, I’m not getting any mushier than this.

Will be away in 2 weeks time, not sure when I'm going to write again, but please be assured that this blog has not been abandoned. =) Thanks for reading. Ciao.

Difference between SO and PO

In answer to my question yesterday to YS:

A full size orchestra (about 104 players) may sometimes be called a "symphony orchestra" or "philharmonic orchestra"; these prefixes do not necessarily indicate any strict difference in either the instrumental constitution or role of the orchestra, but can be useful to distinguish different ensembles based in the same city.

Miss YS - you were right!!! :)

My Weakest Link

At the interval of BBC Prom47 yesterday, YS and I were busy studying the brochures featuring up coming concerts at RAH. We have been attending quite a few concerts this year as we wanted to make the most of our final year in London. There were three concerts that caught our eyes, one is particularly expansive as it features John Barry and the 10 Tenors. We were under the impression that we had been splurging quite uncontrollably on concerts and since we had some time at the interval, I took out my organizer and started listing out the concerts I’ve attended for this year and did some quick accounting for my expenditures.

Here goes:

Classic FM Live 24.00 pounds
Mama Mia! 32.50
Cyrano de Bergerac 8.00 (standing for Placido Domingo)
Marriage of Figaro (ROH) Free (Live screening at Trafalgar Sq)
Filmharmonic 15.00
Showboat 32.50
Sleeping Beauty (ROH) Free (BD gift from YS)
LSO+Sarah Chang Free (BD gift from LP)
BBC Proms 47,61,64,69 62.00

= 174.00 GBP [201 pounds if I include the gifts]

We always got the most value for money seats, and very often the cheapest ones for these shows with blocked view. It’s incredible how much it all adds up to in just 8 months. Scary. Brrrrr. But after the initial shock I am still pretty tempted to go for the following shows (getting cheapest seats of course) so lets see how much damage it MIGHT do to my pocket. (Disclaimer: These are show that survived the painful elimination, and I only looked at one venue)

15th Sept RPO 60th Anniv.Gala 10.00
21st Sept Classic FM Live 12.00
23rd Sept Peter and the Wolf 10.00
28th Sept John Barry & 10 Tenors 28.50
7th Oct Four Seasons by candlelight 11.50
12th Nov Best of Broadway 8.50
17th Nov Martha Argerich & Dutoit play Ravel 5.00
27th Nov Nutcracker (St.Petersburg Ballet) 22.50

That’s an additional 108GBP, bringing my potential concert expenses for 2006 to

282GBP = 846 SGD

Wow. Okay. The damage is going to be quite substantial I guess. I’d better do some further elimination.

***************

On a lighter note, YS and I finally got our long-standing query answered yesterday.

IS LSO or RPO better??

Previously we’ve always heard RPO at Royal Albert Hall and the LSO at Barbican. We were more impressed by the LSO but thought that their performance might be assisted by the superior acoustic engineering of the venue.

Last night’s Prom was meant to give the two orchestras a fair evaluation. Since we are very familiar with the acoustics of RAH and always sat in the rear circle, in the same area (cheapest, obviously), the comparison should be pretty fair by all accounts.

Not surprisingly, we came to the same conclusion independently. Before the first piece by Shostakovich was finished, YS turned around and we exchanged knowing smiles. It was very obvious to us that LSO was indeed the better orchestra. Their strings were beautiful and technically exquisite. Maybe because it’s a symphony orchestra, their wind section is smaller but and every musician played like a soloists in his/her own right. They have one of the best group of percussionists I’ve seen (not that I’ve seen many) but I’ve always found their performance mesmerizing, whether it was at barbican or at RAH.

It must not be an easy task playing for Valery Gergiev, the Russian conductor for the all Russian Prom last night. From the way he conducted, I could tell that he was very demanding of the sounds he could draw from each instrument and was extremely sensitive to the atmosphere that the music creates. Whenever he pauses between the movements, the whole hall would pause with him. Whenever he punches the air and pushes the orchestra to pour in more emotions, more intensity into the music, the orchestra pushes its boundaries of mastery and delivered for him.

Towards the end of the performance, the atmosphere was simply electric. Valery Gergiev conducted the entire Tchikowsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor scoreless, and when he finished, none of the musicians on stage moved a hair, bows in mid-air, lips on mouthpieces, the stage froze with him and so did the audience. I cannot remember another moment where some 6000 people in the audience would hold their breaths collectively, staring at the tensed profile of the conductor, and have every sensory node soaking in the residual musical atoms floating through the air. The power that he held over the audience in that final 30 seconds had to be experienced to be believed. And because of him, I finally believed that some music could be breathed in.

Dedication 2

Your Heart My Heart - 张栋梁

你会不会也想我
我苦苦在思索
找不到　一丝一毫线索

我记忆碰出花火
开成了你的轮廓
照亮我　一分一秒寂寞

只怕人海太辽阔　
转眼就错过
有些话不能再拖　
趁现在要对你说

Chorus:
Your Heart　My Heart　
闪烁幸福围绕着你　
围绕我银河里我们不寂寞

Your Heart　And My Heart
你爱我　就不要再退缩
My Heart　我的世界让你掌握

Your Heart　My Heart
别迷惑
爱情再清楚不过我只等　
这一天你会说　
说爱我


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LedJ9nk7CY

Song Dedication

只因为你 - by 张栋梁





从清晨露出微笑的金黄
我知道我不会再孤单
看你为我绽放的脸庞　放在心上
有了你我的世界不一样

童话里幸福终结了忧伤
你是我最靠近的坚强
有你陪我自在地遨翔 抬头仰望
天空变成一座游乐场　世界更明亮

Chorus:
只因为你我情不自禁　闭上眼睛
心里想了想还是你
不让你离开我的手心 呵护着你　
幻想着　紧抱在我怀里 (抱在我怀里)

只因为你我情不自禁　这样为你
证明我不再　孩子气
如果有一天我们老去　寸步不离
回忆里如镜子都是你


Okay, despite a depressing day, I must say that it does help having someone listening to my grumbles at the end of the day (*cough cough* not that i grumble everyday) and just being there/ around/ everywhere for me. :P

Dunno why, but every time this song plays on my PC I'll think of you darling. It's like telling me that all the hardship will be worth it at the end of the day. Maybe I should brand it my motivation anthem. *chuckle*

My dedication to you dear. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mg2qeMbDpY

I need a mood lifter!!

Gosh, one weekend with no social activities and I’m feeling down already. It was with such high spirits that I started the weekend, cooking for 3 days on Friday night, planning to hit some 10-15 pages of my thesis over the next two days but somehow everything fell short of my expectations.

For unknown reasons, I woke up really early on Saturday (8.30am instead of my usual 1pm and I think I slept at 3am the night before??). After calling my Mom, MX, and Eggie, I just couldn’t concentrate on what I was doing. Was still feeling the ache in my bones (mom says I might be fighting off some mild flu virus) and worrying about the weather tuning cold (JH brought his electric heater down for me but even that didn’t help much).

Words just didn’t flow.

I thought I could remedy the situation on Sunday but I woke up (I must stress - naturally) at 3pm on Sunday. Got a rude shock because when I first glanced at my clock without my glasses, I got the impression that it was only 15mins past noon. Well, after the usual routine of feeding myself, getting a shower and settling into writing mode, the hours just flew by without my knowledge. Before long, the weekend is over, a back log of unwritten pages hanging over my consciousness and a tired frame feeling extremely unprepared for the week ahead packed to the brim with experiments. New experiments. Not the ones that I'm so accustomed to that I can even do them in my sleep.

And despite my best efforts, the experiments failed today.

Guess that’s why I’m so apathetic.

Crabs. Bagels and Steps

Chili crab

Went for the Tiger Beer chili crab festival at Old Truman Brewery last Sunday and went away rather disappointed. The crabs were not fresh and the sauce was too watery. Nothing like the rich, hot and thick chili crab sauce that we are used to. The Laksa was a greater disappointment because they made the soup so diluted that I could hardly taste anything. Ever tasted bland Laksa??

Brick Lane Bagel Shop

Well, apart from the food bummer, I quite enjoy walking through the brick lane street market and also the bagel shop that ‘hao nan ren’ Clement brought us to. There are two bagel shops there and the white one is supposedly better than the yellow fronted one. I had the smoked salmon with sour cream bagel and it was cheap and good. Highly recommended!! =P

Transverse time

The library gate was locked before 11pm yesterday and lots of students had to make a detour like myself. When we finally got to the other end of college one of the girls met her boyfriend and he commented that it took her 4 mins to walk there. I was curious about the length of time it actually takes to transverse the college hence I counted the number of steps to walk from one end of the NHM to the other. It took me 464 steps, which works out to be about 4 minutes if I had taken 2 steps every second. No wonder I’m always late when meeting YS. Haha.

Then this morning I went insane and counted the number of steps I take to walk to college, door-to-door. It was around 2400 steps. Ha! Kind of regretted counting because psychologically it got more draining as I got closer to my destination. That should teach me a lesson to only remind myself of the ‘remaining time’ instead of ‘elapsed time’ if I ever run a marathon!

I love fat cows!!

My colleague Ruth knew that I was homesick and invited me to stay at her place last weekend. Because of my ‘jar-par-lang’ English (Sg-US-UK pidgin with no logic whatsoever) there were so many funny moments, like the time when I exclaimed ‘These pants are great!’ in M&S and got horrified looks from Ruth and Andy (her hubby) because “pants = underwear” and the pair that I was pointing to should have been called TROUSERS. *roll eyes*

She is so English in the way she speaks that whether it was in college or at her place that I sometimes have to do a double take to catch her meanings. A typical conversation (E.g. preparing dinner at her place last sat) will be like this:

R: Do you want full cow or half cow?
Me: Full what?!? (thinking of the beef that she has just popped in the oven)
R: Full cow of half cow? What will you like with your tea? (bemused grin forming) You’ve never heard full-cream milk or semi-skimmed milk called this way?
Me: Never heard milk called that way before…. (laughs and shakes head) but half cow will be fine thank you. I love having tea with Carnation milk, that’s the way my mom has hers at home.
R: We call that fat cow.
Me: (Burst into laughter)…. Carnation’s not fat. It’s just concentrated, like cheese. You can put less of it in your tea if you like.
R: Yeah, but it’s still fat!! My sister is lactose intolerant and she takes fake cow – that’s soy milk.
Me: (nodds and getting the hang of things) So what do you call UHT milk?
R: Well, my Andy calls it -- Never seen a bloody cow!!

And so, I’ve learnt that I love fat cows with milk and heated half cows with cereals and my hall provides chilled never seen a bloody cow for breakfast. *LOL*

Ruth sometimes thinks that I’m funny in the head and as a compliment, I think she is too. =P

My trip home...

It has been a long time, but I’m back online again. The trip back home has been so short and crammed with activities that I felt like I hadn’t taken any break at all! Currently suffering from the "need a holiday to recover from a holiday" syndrome. *chuckle*

The first few days was spent preparing for my presentation and catching up with my family and MX. I really do missed them. A lot. Mmmm. A lot. Just tired of LDR with all my family, friends and relatives. It’s good to be home, to be in the crowd, to be part of the family. But of course the objective of this trip was to help me make up my mind on my career path and so I went around to visit labs, talk to people and now I hope I have made the right choice that will offer me a balance work-family lifestyle for the next six years. I’ve kept the news of my holiday from some friends as I know that I wouldn’t have time to meet them but I did bump into some unexpected faces during my 9-day stint in Sg (like FT, JL, YW, WH) and it was really great catching up with them.

My brother’s knee surgery was scheduled for the end of the month, hence I was able to get out of the country for 4 days, first to Macau, then to Hong Kong. MX did a very good job planning and coordinating the trip and I got to see all the sights that I wanted, although the summer heat there really kills the mood for walking. I wore sandals as I thought it’ll be cooler and more comfortable to walk around in but I soon learnt that the combination of perspiration (which softens the skin) and the usual amount of friction encourage the growth of blisters. We had nice company from his colleagues and friends and also managed to meet up with two of his old Imperial friends (Ah-Fa and Dennis) in Macau.

There were not many photo-friendly or panoramic sights in Macau other than the ruins and the bridge linking Taipa. The casinos were interspersed between really run-down housing estates, giving the impression that the whole area is falling apart during the day but their state of disrepair was less obvious during the night behind the veil of casino lights. One might be disappointed if they compare this Asia gambling haven to Las Vegas but Macau is still the place where serious gamblers congregate. I witnessed a 30-something lady blew $1000 in just 15 minutes on a jackpot. Minimum betting denomination was 100 Macau dollars (which was too much for anti-gamblers like me obviously) at the tables. The one thing I was really impressed with was the stringent security check at the SANDS (金沙) casino entrance which I felt was more thorough than most airports. After passing through the metal detector gates, the security guard spotted a half full bottle of mineral water sticking out of my backpack and he politely enquired what kind of liquid it contained and if I could take a sip from the bottle. I was quite puzzled at his request but complied and he thanked me for my cooperation. Excellent service I must say! I still do not know what he suspected I had in that bottle (cos anyone bringing in vinegar or acid will surely use a glass bottle??) but my usually defensive nature didn’t felt threatened by the experience. The highlight of our stay in Macau was the Portuguese dinner that Ah-Fa brought us to. Their ‘pizza’ was really unique and half the time I don’t know what I was eating but they are really finger-licking good.

MX brought us to the ever popular Victoria Peak the very first evening we arrived in Hong Kong. The tram ride up to the peak was so exciting and incredibly steep. I don’t think even the streets of San Francisco were that sloped. We arrived at the top just in time for sunset and the view was amazing. It was one of those sights that are better seen with the eye then on film as we had some difficulty getting a good picture in the fading light. We headed straight to Temple street for the night market after that and also had dinner in one of the street side stalls (大排挡) which was ingeniously air-conditioned by the hawkers who draped huge sheets of plastic over the tin roofs overhanging their stalls to form an enclosure for about 10 tables, and stationed no less than 3 air-conditioning units hooked up to oil-powered generators. The dishes were cheap and tasted better than those I had in London’s Cantonese restaurants.

On the way back to our hotel we witnessed a police raid on a small hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. Initially we saw a group of about 20 police officers in those dark blue police vests strolling down the street and thought that they were being given an orientation of the area as they all looked so young. A minute later, another 20 police officers or so strolled by in their blue uniform with reporters in toll, heading in the same direction as the previous group. We got curious and trailed them to a small hotel a couple of streets away from Temple street and there were so many officers gathered there that most of them couldn’t get in and had to stand outside the building. I was surprised at the lack of urgency and secrecy in their raid but MX said that the actual raid would have been over by then and these are just backup forces and HK police raids are usually highly publicized. True to his words, the success of this region wide raid was widely reported in the newspapers the following day.

We decided to give Lantau Island a miss as it would require a day trip. Instead on the following day we visited the Wang Da Xian Temple, Times Square, Lan Gui Fang. Convention Centre, Harbour Walk etc… Didn’t do much shopping as there wasn’t enough time. However, on the last day, darling MX did accompanied me to visit my grand-aunt, who is now having walking problems but nevertheless still mentally alert as ever. She reminds me of my own grandmother who passed away 12 years ago and I very much wanted to see her ever since my grand uncle passed away. With some translation help from my HK aunt, we managed to converse quite effortlessly and I promised to visit her again next year.

I feel like I’ve not done much in Singapore on this trip. Other than giving my parents and brother their birthday treat, accompanying my brother to the doctor, a visit to MX’s parents, my extended family gathering, attending to KX wedding, meeting up with several friends, HL having a sleepover at my place and singing myself sore at KBox, it was soon time to return to London again and I found myself grocery shopping and packing my bags 12 hours before my return flight.

So sorry to JF, SM, VL and PS who I wanted to meet but couldn’t find time to meet during the trip. Well, I’ll be back for good in 9 months time so hope to see them next year. It was really difficult leaving home again this time even though I stuck to my rule of not saying in Sg more than 2 weeks for the fear of deeper emotions taking root. Luckily I have friends in London who will keep me occupied for the next 3 weekends and get me back in shape (emotionally) to handle the most important part of my studies – writing up. =)

I’m off to Ruth’s place for a packed weekend of dinner, dirty-dancing (the movie), picking out clothes for her and her hubby for their 10th year anniversary, a little bit of gardening, maybe raspberry picking (and hopefully jam making!!). Next weekend will be Mahjong and BBQ at Grace’s house and the weekend after is reserved for the Tiger Beer Singapore Chili Crab Festival at brick lane with CR and Qi-jie. Well, that'll be our way of celebrating national day... hahah.... It’s just 2 days back and my organizer is filling up again. *brimming with joy* This summer is looking good babe!! =)

But of course, I will bear in mind MX’s advice to ‘play in moderation’ and put in lots of hard work in my thesis. I promise. Cos I wanna be home soon. Can't wait. =)

Holiday pictures will be uploaded later folks!!

Little sis

Ok, guess I shouldn’t wait too long for my 101 entry. Don’t expect any dotted dogs running about here. (yeah, another humorous joke from me. But I know some people still manage to get tickled by the humourless side of it… *wry grin*)

Met DN’s little sister for dinner last night. Haven’t seen her since she was Sec 2 or 3 and for a while I was so worried that I wouldn’t recognize her at the station. Fortunately for me, she remembers how I look like (phew) and we managed to find each other (or more accurately: she managed to find me) without a hitch. It was fun chatting with her. She is really quite bold, inquisitive and her laughter is just like her sister :) the kind that comes from the heart and therapeutic to the ears. :) Our original plan was to catch a sing-a-long screening of The Sound of Music in a cinema but we took a couple of hours to finish our rather complicated dinner so we missed it in the end. Nevertheless, we’ll be catching the BP live screening of The Marriage of Figaro (Staged at Royal Opera House, but screened live at Trafalgar Square) tomorrow evening. Planning to go early to chope a good seat then enjoy a hearty picnic after that. I hope the weather holds up. It has been quite grey today.

I overslept this morning. It was 10am when I woke up and I just thought how lucky I am that I’m a research student who can come into college anytime. Can’t imagine the days of not being able to sleep late when I start working…. Bleh…

Yipes, I’m almost late for my Warden’s leaving party. Got to run. Adios.

minibits

Found myself back in college again on a Sunday. Even though working on Sundays only became more frequent in the past year, sometimes I'll just wake up and head for office so automatically that I wonder if it has become a habit for me. Well, the perfect SUN is out there shooting glorious rays in London so what do one expect? Anyway, I have work to deliver at tomorrow's meeting so better start working!! (after blogging that is... hahaha)


Friday's dinner obstacles:

I was so happy that I finished 2 days of testing without too many cockups and thought I might as well put in the night so that I'll have less analysis to do on Sunday. Went out at 7pm to get some dinner from Union but it was packed to the brim with end-of-term party goers that there is no way I could wriggle in and out without some form of damage (to me & my food). So in the end, I decided to detour to my other regular hunt (OC - near South Kensington station) for some char siew rice but when I got there, I saw the lady boss and the waitresses sweeping soot from the restaurant!! Apparently their kitchen caught fire some 3 hours ago and the smell of a recent fire was still lingering in the air. Well, it's the first time I had so much difficulty getting dinner and in the end I settled for a simple sandwich and chilled mocha latte. I was a little upset that I couldn't get OC food that day cos it's always a place I eat at whenever I need (a) motivation and (b) reward. Seems like I've unknowingly developed a deep affection for that place. :P


Saturday's BBQ:

The world is such a small place. Or maybe it's just a matter of people with similar backgrounds hanging out with similar group of friends. I attended TY's bbq yesterday and started chatting with this really sweet girl who was once my friend's uni classmate. Since two of my second year housemates were reading EE in her year as well, I asked if she knew them and we started chatting about our common friends. When I found out where she worked, we managed to find more common friends between us and then one thing led to another and we found out that we both attended the same secondary school!! I was one year her senior and she only attend sec 3 & 4 there so that probably explains why I've no impression of her from before. I thought I would be expanding my circle of friends at this party because other than my friend who sent the invitation and his girlfriend, I didn't know anyone else and they are all malaysian working professionals in London. Well, I suppose this is another classic example of the 5 persons chain rule.


Sleepover/wine Date:

Finally rang HL today to tell her that I'll be back in a week's time to arrange for a sleepover at my place. Little did I know that another classmate of ours was holding her wedding dinner tonight so some of my JC classmates were there beside her. :) Realised how much I've missed for being overseas these past 8 years and how few good friends I actually have in Singapore. I guess it's also a reason why I will miss my life in London, doing familar things with familiar faces and feeling at home amoung friends. Nevertheless, I still believe that some friends are made for life and just like with HL, even though my mom had me on the "Cinderella rule" of getting home by midnight and no nights out, somehow or another she always manage to sneek over to chat with me into the night. :) We discovered that sleepovers are so much more fun because we can talk as late as we want in our pajamas, over a bottle of wine (for her) and tea (for me), catching up till the both of us can no longer keep our eyes open and carry on over breakfast in the morning. :) Best of all - our moms will not keep knocking at my door or ringing HL on her mobile to hurry her home.... hee hee hee.... ok, now I'm contented and can start working!!

Metal or plastic is stronger?

Okay, sometimes when I tell my friends that structural adhesives (basically glues that are more ultra-mighty and superior than super-glue) can be stronger than metal and they don’t quite believe me. Today, I’ve got hard-core proof!! Hahaha…

See this? (Top: tested: Bottom: untested)


These beams are manufactured from two slabs of 4mm thick high strength aluminum beams bonded together with an automotive-grade structural adhesive. The glue thickness is only about 0.4mm and has a crack starter at the loading end (i.e. a flaw introduced to promote crack propagation).

The top beam in the picture is bent simply because when the top and bottom arms on either side of the glue-line was pulled apart in the testing machine, it takes more energy to make the pre-existing crack grow in the glue than to plastically deform the metallic arms!!

Check out the aluminum clad cars on the road. You’ll rarely find an aluminum part more than 4mm thick (unless it’s structurally critical) because it’ll make the car too heavy to be fuel efficient. Which means that, the metallic parts of the cars you ride in are more likely to bend than those two beams shown above!!

Well, the adhesive showcased above is actually used to bond some sports car first marketed about 2 years ago. I heard that they use about 5 kilos of these stuffs in each car and yes, many people actually pay loads of money for a car that is glued together. Not difficult to see why now huh?

Still, there some drawbacks of using adhesives in structural applications. For one, we can predict but wouldn't know for sure how long they will last in the service environment. Take your household superglue for example. They are indeed very-strong moments after cure but they lose their strength within 2 years. That is because acrylics degrade quickly when they come in contact with water/humidity. Jump around in a puddle and the newly glued sole of your shoe will come off again. Also, it is difficult to make a defect-free bond. Dust, oily surfaces, inappropriate surface preparation to raise the surface energy, trapped air-bubbles, these contaminants and defects can all cause the joint to fail early. Some glues are very strong if you try to pull them apart but subject them to compression or impact and they’ll crack easily. Many do not perform well in fatigue (cyclic) loading tests at all.

I guess this is why I’m still skeptical of traveling in a composite plane (which presumably uses quite a bit of adhesive for joining parts to avoid drilling holes through the reinforcing fibres of the composite materials). It will need a great leap of faith for me to get on one.


By the way, i realised that this is my 100th entry. Hopefully, I will see one more zero added in my lifetime. *grins*

More magic!!

This one is even more incredible... !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCZJVCNGl-k&mode=related&search=Magic%20Japan

Is this all really magic?!?

switching chocolates (live)

Another unbelievable japanese magic!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8K42C1jFro&search=Magic%20Japan

A Selfish Request?

I find myself in a state of limbo these days as there are so many things needing confirmation… the three lab visits, my brother’s doctor appointment, his surgery date, my short holiday with MX and his friends, etc. all needs to be fitted into the 2 weeks I’m spending back home. As much as I’d love to meet up with friends, the need to spend the time with my family and MX is stronger, especially since I’ve been so thoroughly stressed and bogged down with work since Feb. Exhaustion certainly doesn’t help in holding interesting and engaging conversations, and thus on many occasions I found myself just happy listening to them.

I (think) I’m usually quite understanding but today I was pretty devastated when MX told me that he might want to extend his trip (without me) as the other party that are going is thinking of doing so.

Logically, he should travel with them. The holiday planning started months ago, air tickets had been booked and I’m not 100% sure that I’ll be making the trip if my brother’s surgery happens to coincide with the travel dates. I should be relieved and happy that his holiday will not be affected and he won’t find himself without a traveling companion if I have to pull out at the very last minute.

However, what I really wished was that he will stay too if I had to pull out. To me the whole point of going on the trip is to spend more time with him in a relaxed and fun setting. Of course I still want to travel with him very much, but now that I am needed at home, I do hope to see him as often as I can, as much as I can, to run errands together, and spend time together, in perhaps less romantic ways.

I wanted to tell him how I felt when we got on the phone again this afternoon, but I could not bring myself to as I suddenly realized that I was indirectly making a very self-centeredness demand. It was what I wanted to do, but is it what he wanted as well? It would be so unfair to him as he has been doing all the research and planning single-handedly, inviting friends to come along too. It was me who pitched the idea after all and did nothing to help after that. Also, it involves other people and he has been dealing with enough indecisiveness, different opinions and demands already – all without complaint.

I know that once I’ve calmed down and thought things through, my logic side always wins. I’ll be telling him to carry on without me and have a good time. The trip is barely three weeks away and it’ll be so much easier for me to pull out now so that he can finalize the travel arrangements.


Should I ask him to stay in Singapore for me?

I still can't decide.



Ps: He doesn’t follow my blog so it’s ok to write.

Cola Fountain

Here's a short video taken by SR at Elgin's birthday BBQ.

The erhmm...BOYS... basically wanted to create lots of fizzzzzzzion by dropping mentos into a bottle of cola. Well, the first cola fountain was quite successful, except that it toppled :P. For the curious, the mentos did drop into the bottle on their 2nd attempt, most unfortunately, the cola was flat.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU4CWFfDx6I

 

A caring friend and my first vain-pot entry

I received an email from AP yesterday, who noticed my unusual behaviour of not replying to his email so he checked on me through this blog and followed up with another email to my college account. I was surprised and also very touched when I found out that this dear friend whom I’ve not seen since October 2003 actually went the extra mile to check that I am truly alright.

Another surprise came when I read his first email delivered my hotmail account and found out that he actually sent me a postcard from Tunisia while he was on conference!! I couldn’t even recall if I had mentioned to him about my little hobby of collecting stamped (/em) postcards from around the world and even if I did, it was so long ago, so I’m really happy that he remembered. Unfortunately, when I last checked, the postcard has not arrived in my pigeon hole … yet… I hope my postcard is just late because of slow african mail service and not because it has been eaten by camels. *sob sob*

*****************
To AP:

I’m so sorry, I’ve not been checking my hotmail account, hence missed the first email you’ve sent. Hope you didn’t think I was ignoring you! (unless you sent me something truly horrible?!? Just kidding, I know you won’t! :)) For the record, I like funny postcards too and I think I’ll be very happy with your first choice of a camel decorated with Tunisian symbols. Anything that puts a smile on my face can’t be bad yah? Thanks for checking on me and before this blur queen forgets, Happy Birthday!! (I’m referring to the one coming up in June)

***************

Since I’ve been neglecting my blog, I thought it will appropriate that I write one now but my life has been an endless routine of WES ‘work-eat-sleep’, almost harboring on the fringe of extreme boredom, hence I found myself out of ideas of what to write. Well, there has been one nagging issue on my mind all day, and it is the BIG RED PIMPLE under my nose.

So…. perhaps I should write about that?

Why? Because I couldn’t stop thinking about it, because it hurts whenever I blow my nose (suffering from hay fever right now), because every time I look into the mirror I am taken aback by its rate of growth and because it has been urging me to give it a little scratch every few minutes, as if I need a reminder of its irritating pus-filled existence.

So there, of all the topics that I could have chosen, here’s my first vainpot entry talking about pimples *roll eyes*, or rather, The Pimple *ouch* and I hope you’ll never have to read another silly pimple entry from me again.

Street magic

http://myweb.hinet.net/home16/skying456/9-9/034.wmv

My cousin forwarded this clip.... astounding!!!

My 5 day weekend!

Sometimes I wonder if I'm 27 or 72. It's so easy for me to burn out nowadays that I need a proper break every 3 months. Whenever I read the blogs of friends with kids, I wonder if I'll find the energy to juggle my family life and career as well as them when the time comes.

Well, one of the best things about being a research student is the flexible work (/play) schedule. No one will raise an eyebrow even if you walk in at noon, go for a 3 hour lunch, or even 3 hour tea-break. There will be no questions asked if you decide to work from home on a certain day. But likewise, no one pities you if you have to work every weekend.

So, as a reward to myself for finally having worked through that 12.4GB worth of data, I've decided that my weekend starts on Thursday evening where I caught 2 movies in succesion, first, Prime then followed by X-men 3. Prime has a surprisingly realistic ending for a romantic comedy, hence not quite the cup of tea for those who are addicted to happily-ever-after endings. I wonder if the producers name it Prime cos 23 and 37 are prime numbers. I thought the mother/therapist handled the role quite well. :) Well, X-men 3 (contented sigh), I must say I really enjoyed it immensely. No idea why the reviews in Metro are so bad. Maybe the reviewer is suffering from movie fatigue having to watch a string of summer hit movies recently. Seeing SF and the Golden gate bridge brought back really happy memories... I remembered the very first time I drove on that bridge myself after a stop at Saulsalito, I was so torn between wanting to look up and admire the symmetry of the suspension cables and keeping an eye on the road!! Although the traffic can sometimes be quite bad on that bridge, I've never regretted taking that route into SF and back to Albany via Bay Bridge.

As I mentioned before, my weekend started on Thursday so naturally I didn't come to college on Friday. Spent the morning/early afternoon doing 2 rounds of stress-free laundry with no one else in queue, then headed to the cinema again to catch DaVinci Code. Still don't think Tom Hanks quite fit my image of Robert Langdon and I noticed that the start and end of the movie was different from the book but otherwise the directors pretty much captured the essence of Dan Brown's fiction. Was really looking forward to Sir Ian Mckellen acting as Teabing. His acting was fantastic. I was so mesmerised by his ability to create a range of unique expressions and movements for each of his characters that it is so difficult for me to convince myself that he was the very same person acting as Magneto in X-men 3 I've watched the day before. Oh by the way, if you are catching X-men 3, there is a carrot snipplet right after the credits which is worth waiting for so if you are not in a hurry to leave the theatre do try to catch it.

Ok, I realise I seem like an extremist when I comes to watching movies, but I guess I'm just as focused on play as I was on work and I've always enjoyed doing movie marathons. Anyway, that was the end my weekend movie marathon. Didn't catch one on Saturday. Instead, YS and I headed for the Royal Opera House to catch Placido Domingo in a French opera, Cyrano de Bergerac, and stood for 4 hours in the lower slips just to hear him sing. (cos all the seats were sold out) Haven't stood this long since the assemblies at SNGS, but hearing him live in his naturally projected voice was worth every cramp and ache. It was a pity that the director favoured the right side for most of the important scenes and our view was blocked for the entire ACT 4 where Cyrano sang the touching final love letter to Roxane. However, even with the blocked view and having to read the english translation as they sang in french, I still managed to shed a few tears hence you can just imagine how moving his voice was. One thing we observed about ROH performances is that their sets are usually very professionally done and breathtaking.

Today was the most 'normal' of all days I guess. Came to college today just for the sake of seeing MX online. I really missed seeing him in real time even though we talk almost daily. Wouldn't it be great if the people in photograghs can move like in Harry Potter world? :) Ok, I guess that still wouldn't be enough for me when having him by my side is what I really want. :) So yah, we video conferenced till his dinner time and thereafter I went to the gym, trying to lead a more healthy life but unfortunately, I developed toe cramp after running a few hundred meters. Yes, really wierd toe cramp in my big left toe which I've never experienced before. I'm familiar with cramps from my years of dance/martial arts and usually they can be traced to a source of strained muscles which I can massage away but never before have they been isolated in just the TOE. Might it be a sprain? But I didn't do anything out of the ordinary today so I'm totally baffled. Anyway, I figured a sprained or cramped toe wouldn't get in the way of cycling so I switched my workout to the exercise bike instead. It's my 1st time trying out the semi-reclined bikes in the gym and I must say having back supports are quite enjoyable.

Ok, I realised I've typed quite alot while waiting for YS to finish her lab work. CR is cooking today as Qi-jie is in town (she is the V.V.VIP mah...) and we'll be gathering at her place later. CR usually cooks fabulous dinners but she is so humble and keeps apologising for making us her guinea pigs (we are always very happy voluntary guinea pigs... heehee). I hope she is making her fabulous roast lamb today. Thanks to the great timing, it's Bank Holiday tomorrow and I will be spending the last day of my no-work weekend at Nasim's place, playing with her kids and catching up with the girls. Well, I'm really happy with the activities of the past few days and I think I'll be ready to 'chong' again on Tuesday. :)

Back to basics

When I left home at 19, all that I brought were clothes and some essential items squeezed into one backpack and one suitcase weighing a total of 37kg. That year I realized that one doesn’t need much to survive. Our basic needs are actually simple and few. Everything else I had at home can be pretty much classified as comfort items.

With years gone by, I have actually forgotten what it is like to live simply. My possessions in London has exploded to 18 boxes/packages (when I last moved 2 years ago) and I thought I’ll feel out of place if I don’t see my books, photos, cuddly sheep or DVDs when I come home.

However, for the past 2 weeks I have been living in a temporary accommodation on just some clothes, shower items, hair dryer, kettle and beddings. I realized that that’s all I really need on a daily basis, throw in a laptop for comfort, and I’m contented. I don’t even use some of the 37kg stuffs that I brought over with me in my first year. My other possessions are still in my room which is currently being de-bugged and I believe many of them are actually dispensable. How on earth did I accumulate enough things to fill up the entire room, many of which I don’t ever touch in a year?

Seems like it is time for me to do some serious spring cleaning when I get the green-light to move back.

Moto??? Grrrr....

Ok, earlier entry is just some mushy mushy song I have been listening to to lift my sprits.

The new phone is not hassle-free after all. Having sacrificed 2 hours of sleep last night to configure it and to fill it with mp3s, wallpapers, etc, I guess it went to bed too after me but but didn't manage to wake up this morning. No matter what I tried - connecting it to charger, pressing on all the buttons, pressing and holding the start button for 2, 5, 10, 30 seconds, removing and replacing the USIM and battery, pluging-unpluging all the available cables, I couldn't wake it up from its sombre sleep. If only there is such a thing as CPR for mobile phones....

Soooo, I have to send it back sometime later this week and they are going to replace my handset. But I find all that sending and resending quite troublesome. And I'm not used to Motorolla phones yet, still need some time to familiarise myself with the functions and keys. Seriously thinking whether all this is worth it.

甜蜜约定

轻轻关上我的眼睛
整个心里都是你
希望真爱能被你感应

你是月亮我是星星
陪你一起数心情
见证我俩爱情的降临

在我心里　最爱的人就是你
装上翅膀我要飞向你
爱的印记　如此坚定
这是我们的甜蜜约定

轻轻呼吸你的呼吸
心里满满都是你
你是阳光水还有空气

茫茫人海确定是你
幸福闪烁的眼睛
月亮代表我的-颗心

Lucky Day

This is my lucky day or what?

I have been a 3G customer for 2 years and I'm aware that it is probably the time to get a new handset (screen scratched, battery getting flat too quickly - actually it's my brother's phone, mine of the same model was defective more than a year ago) but because I'll be here for less than 12 months, hence I didn't want to sign a new contract.

And guess what? I just got a call from 3G customer service and they offered to replace my old handset with the new Motorolla V3x - absolutely free!!!

That's not all.... they are letting me keep my plan (which is now no longer available cos it was a promotional plan when 3G was first introduced in London... tell me where you can find 25pounds deal for 500 anytime anynetwork minutes?) and they are giving me 50% discount on my price plan for the next 3 months from June-August.

Well, this is one satisfied customer.... although my 'loyalty' with them for the past 2 years was simply because this is the only plan in the market that offers the most peak hour free minutes to any network per doller sense.

And I just did a check on the web to see what Motorola V3x has in store. I thought they're replacing mine with one of the to-be-obsolete models but this one is quite up-to-date I must say.... check out the specs...

Dimensions 99 x 53 x 19.6 mm
Weight 125 g
Memory 5 MB internal memorymicroSD (TransFlash)
Main Display TFT256k colours320 x 240 pixels
Battery up to 5 hr talktimeup to 250 hr standby
Digital Cam 2.0 Mega-pixel1600 x 1200 pixels Secondary VGA camera
Features Screensavers, MP3/MPEG4 player, Polyphonic sounds, Build-in handsfree, Build-in VGA camera, Java MIDP 2.0, USB port, Voice command, Voice memo, BluetoothCalendar, SyncML, WAP 2.0, Calculator, Calendar, Tri band, EMail, MMS, GPRS, T9

Tri-band + MPeg4 player + 2 Mega pixel camera? okay, this baby meets all my basic criteria (if i have to fork out money to get a new phone) and has more functions than I probably need. Cool. I suspect it'll be a refurbished handset (which crazy businessman will hand out new handsets for free?) but as long as it doesn't give me any problems until I graduate, I'm happy. Okay, since this is like my lucky week or something, maybe a DVD burner or a nano iPod will fall from the sky next week? ... hahaha... yeah, maybe, but everyone's entited to dream.... =)

Scenes from Nepal

MX went to Nepal for trekking a couple of weeks ago, and although it was a torturous time for me as I couldn't stop worrying about his safety (the political unrest was at its peak at that time), I am glad that he is back safe and sound and had a wonderful time on the trip.

Here are some pictures he as taken on his trip... Nepal is really a beautiful country and if there is a chance, I'll like to go trekking with him to see the sights too...

The valley... Nepal is famous for the majestic Himalayas but who would have guessed that even their river banks can be so pretty....



The trek took about 2 weeks, so a good part of it was spent on climbing the mountain and these breathtaking views are their reward when they got to the top...

Well, it started snowing quite heavily when they were in mid-ascent and although that hindered their progress, I guess the snow covered scenery more than made up for that... (the middle one is my favourite and is now my desktop wallpaper!!)



Okay, these two special guests have nothing to do with mountains but they are my favourites.... baby goats!! cute yeh? I'm born in the year of the goat but I always secretly thought that sheeps are cuter.... =P (yah yah, me big traitor to my species) but after seeing these little ones I had a change of hearts... :) I wonder if living high up in the mountains give them a more endearing fluffy look... hee hee...

Idols at this age?!?

I thought I was beyond the age of idolizing (entertainment artists).... what the hell, my current fav is 183 club... just can't get enough of their shows/songs/interviews.... =P

Here's one of their new songs that I enjoy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3A0QIJzYSg

Seen this scale of advertising before?

Check out the new look of HongKong's 尖沙咀地鐵站
It is now fondly referred to as 'Nissin Station'...

http://www.mandom5354.com/photo/2005/f330nissin/nissin.htm

I like the painted train station entrance though.... especially the one portraying the street-side noodle shop with 2 customers.... ka-wa-ii des! (cute!!)

0505

The most important thing I have done on the first day I turn 27 is to cast my vote - for the very first time. Feels like the most responsible and grown up thing I've done in a long time. There were at least 8 staffs at HighCom running the show today, and I had a great reminder of the signature singaporean efficiency in running things... everything down to the smallest detail was thought of, from asking if I am a first time voter, from giving a personalised explanation of how to vote, name tags for bags, cell phone, etc... Like the changi airport experience, I was whisked through the rooms and completed my patriotic duty in less than 5 minutes. There was a journalist sitting at the lobby waiting to catch some 'working' person for an interview, and luckily she didn't consider me eligible because I'm still a student, although Mr.WG was trying to convince her that I am like a partially-working adult as I'm paid to study.... DUH.... anyway, it's a great start to a busy day... I'm starting my 2nd day of Latex course in 30mins and I've got free tickets to see the Michelangelo drawings at the British Muesem tonight, courtesy of Lara, a very sweet housemate of LP whom I've only met once (and yes, we met only once and she got me tickets!!) How terrific is that?? (Of course I'll be thanking her properly later) I'm just so excited thinking about the exhibition tonight.... have been dying to see it for months but the tickets need to be booked so far in advance that I could not confirm a date. Anyway, I'll like to take the oppurtunity to say thank you to YS too for (you know what) and thanks to MX for being so sweet this morning despite his busy schedule.... =) And of course CPJJ, SK, TY, VL, PS, AP, TL for your emails and ecards... =) thank you!! =)

comedians... if only there are more of them....

No time to blog. But here's a good comedian....
http://www.ascendtechnologies.net/comedy%20now!%20-%20russell%20peters.wmv
suffering from stitches now cos was trying not to laugh out loud in the office.... well, most of his jokes are racist but at least he made it a point to make fun of all races, and mostly his own... Enjoy... =)

An article for my female friends...

Saw the following article on zaobao which I think ladies should try to remember.

NEVER take ginseng before going into labour because it causes blood vessels to dilate and may lead to complications like excessive loss of blood after delivery. So please take note.

*****
（综合电）一名年轻孕妇在进产房前为补充体力口含人参，导致血管扩张，子宫无法收缩，并出现血崩，差点要切除子宫，丧失生育能力。
　　一名从中国大陆到香港产子的年轻孕妇，在医院准备分娩时，家人因担心她生头胎力气不够，在她进入产房前把人参条放进她口中，果然不出两下功夫，婴儿顺利产下，但同时也因人参令孕妇血管扩张，子宫无法收缩，造成血崩。
　　产科医师靳嘉仁表示，人参使子宫血管扩张，不收血，加上该名孕妇血压高、血小板低，所以出现血崩。

Worried about situation in Nepal

Nepal
Have been monitoring the volatile situation in Nepal and hoping that the king will lift the curfew and shoot-on-sight order soon. It isn’t looking any better this morning as the King has given no indication of stepping down nor giving up the right to future palace intervention in the government and I don’t think the alliance will be accepting that feeble offer he made last week to relieve some international pressure (which anyone could tell that it isn’t a real solution at all – just think of all the possible future problems that could breed if Maoists are allowed places in the government!!) Having to rise against 1 person to bring down their so-called ‘autocratic monarchy’ is difficult enough… will peace ever descend upon them if after putting an end to the King’s reign, they have to remove the Maoist from the government? I think that will be an appreciably more difficult task and will certainly lead to more bloodshed. It is such a pity that the home to the most stunning mountain ranges on Earth would see so much unrest. Such a tricky and delicate situation will surely take many more months to be resolved (well, they have been at it for more than a year now) and I can only hope that it’ll still be peaceful next weekend when MX and his friend completes their trek needs to enter Katmandu again to catch their flight home.


May 06 Election
I wanna vote!! I wanna vote!! I’m registered as an overseas voter this year and I hope there will be a contest for my GRC… =) Kind of excited coz I missed the 2001 election when I was in California when they decided not to go ahead with overseas the electronic voting due to various reasons, inadequate security, post 9/11 etc. I heard that this time round the usual paper ballot will be carried at the High Commissions, and the ballot boxes will be sealed and flown back to S’pore for counting. Well, I still haven’t received any notification letter yet but I hope it’ll be soon.

Personal War!!!

It is one of those days again where I can’t throw off the feeling that I’m the most thickheaded moronic imbecile on earth. The more I read, the more I realize my ignorance and my weak analytical skills. I’ve been working on trying to understand this freakingly complicated and derivationally intense paper for 2 days. Maybe it’s not complicated, maybe it’s because I haven’t understood how they arrive at certain equations, why they made certain simplifying assumptions and why those assumptions are valid. Arrrggghhh… why don’t people bother explaining their analytical methods these days and just throw massive amounts of equations in their papers?!? How do I know they are correct? How do I know if the substitutions have been inserted correctly and under which conditions will they be valid?!?

Humph. No. This lady here won’t take that rubbish and just assume that every line published is correct. I’ll follow the derivations from the very beginning, proving equation by equation, figuring out the little tricks used, tracing the places where assumptions have been made, simplifications introduced, making sure that they remain valid and agreeable at the later stages. Oh, yes I will. I have all the patience in the world, and all the stubbornness in the universe. Just watch me. May perseverance win!!

interesting junkies

Aloha!

I'm back in college again after disappearing for exactly 1 week! Needed to get away from this place after spending almost 18 hours a day in it for the past month. Have been really productive at home, though I kind of miss my big square monitor screen in college.
** me talking to monitor: " Hi babe, I'm back!!" sayang sayang **

Before I start work I thought I'll share 2 interesting pieces of junk mails I've received over the weekend...

1. Think we had a tough time? Check out these 1953 Hong kong PSLE questions...
http://www.cs.hku.hk/~jmma/a.jpg

2. Variation of Da Chang Jin theme song... not that I support disfiguring a song like that but had to admit it's funnie....
http://flash.cyol.com/product/05121802324416.swf

Rest day No.1

The last three weeks have been one of the busiest times in my life, and as I finished up my second last static fracture test specimen yesterday, a wave of fatigue washed over me and suddenly I felt that I just could not continue. It was one of those odd moments where when the finishing line comes within sight, you start thinking back to try to remember where you have started and realized that you have come a long way. The mere thought of the journey was enough to invoked the fatigue. So in the end, I decided to enjoy a cup of coffee before returning to the lab to load my last specimen and spent 45 minutes testing it diligently, giving it my full attention, just like every specimen before it.

I think the will power of a human being is one of the most amazing and underestimated ability of all times. When we have a choice, we often take the easy root out and convince ourselves that we can’t do or achieve something. But when there are no alternates, then we find ourselves rolling up our sleeves, puffing up our courage and just get on with it. It is not like we gained an invincible power or magically inherited the skill sets to accomplish the task overnight. More often then not, we alter our thinking, our perceptions of things and then see our tasks in a different light. In dire cases, our body helps too by dimming our senses to discomfort, fatigue, depression, anything that could interfere with our progress. So I guess the phenomena I’ve experienced can be accredited to my body blocking out the weariness and my mind forbidding me to look back and count the exhausting days I have lived. And when the blocks were suddenly lifted, the sensory flood hit like a stunner but ebbed away in a couple of minutes and moments later, calm reclaims the mind again. If you think about it, it is actually quite cool, what our body does to help us, collecting our sufferings for weeks and then releasing it in a super-condensed style which takes just but a few minutes. I wouldn’t like to have that if the emotion that I ought to be experiencing is happiness, but if it is the bad stuffs, then yah, I think it’s an excellent idea.

Well, enough about work. Today is my self declared rest day and indeed, although I’m still in college (buring DVDs to back up my files at the moment, not seriously working) I’ve met my objective for today - resting. Well, it’s Thursday, first day of college easter closure, I woke up at 11am, paid a visit to my Warden to get an application form for next year and to complain about some nasty bugs, strolled into office at half past 12, had lunch, talked to a friend, MX and finally my mom from about 1pm till 6pm. Caught up with news, friends blogs, had dinner and now borrowing my colleague’s DVD burner to back up my insanely huge files. So yeah, it’s a pretty relaxing day talking to the people I care about and now happily blogging about my unproductive day. Heehee.

Actually, while talking to my mom, I realized how easy it is to talk to her and how much I enjoy conversing with her. We clocked 02:40:55 today on skype until my ears were all red and painful. But it’s really nice. We haven’t had the chance to chat properly in ages and I missed it. She has a way of passing on useful information in a light hearted manner and can making a trip to IKEA sounds utterly hilarious. I can talk to her about anything and she reads my mood like a book, knowing instinctively if I’ve called to talk, or I’ll be happy just listening to her. I didn’t think my mom could be my best friend when I was young as she was always so strict and was more like an formidable principal who also happens to be my loving mom. Then, when I was 19 and spending vast amount of time overseas, she made the transition to become my friend. With the strict principal veil abandoned, I began to see the other sides of her and begin to understand her concerns, her motivations, her vulnerabilities and the things going on in her life. She became my most trusted friend, my anchor in life and her character is a great mix of liberal practicality and sensitivity. I’m glad my mom doesn’t mind when I started feeding her advices and I am thankful to her for putting her family in first place all these years. Sometimes she tells me that there are things she regretted not doing for us when we were young, but then I guess every parents will have moments that they regret, and actually to us children, it’s not an issue at all since my brother and I turned out fine and we think that she has done more than enough.

The other phonecall of the day, well, it’s a bit sad for me cos MX is going hiking in Nepal for a couple of weeks and it will be the longest period since we have been going out that I won’t be able to hear his voice. I know it’s silly of me to miss him going away when we are already living apart on two different continents but it is not the same without him being conveniently accessible with the press of a few buttons. I can’t imagine what life must have been like when couples had to write to each other, and have those love letters delivered by ships. If it took 2 months to sail the letters across the ocean, then MX and I will be having six correspondences a year. If that is the case then every one of my letters will be a hundred pages long! *LOL* Yes, yes, so it’s only for a few weeks. I should be counting my blessings and thank the new age technological gods.*roll eyes*

A really touching story...

Couldn't stop my tears from falling while reading this one (apologies for those who can't read chinese)

http://www.keyweb.com.tw/11/01/

1-2-4

Finally, oh finally, I've finished my high rate tests!! And 2 days early too!!
:)

I knew I had alot of data, as the video files are usually on the magnitude of MB, and every night I could 'hear' my pc sagging under the strain of suddenly having to store so much data. However, I never bothered to check the file sizes until an hour ago, when I've just came back from lab and decided to back up all my precious raw data onto CDs before I go home today.

Guess what? I had one common folder which I had all my data stored in sub-folders and sorted according to test dates. I added the entire common folder to the CD burning wizard but the file size was too big. So I started removing the sub-folders day by day until only one day was left but even then, it was still too big for my CD. Baffled, I started to worry if I have enough CDs and decided to take stock of the total file size.

Then up came the amazing number which left me dumbfounded.

size: 12.4GB

*blink blink*

12.4GB?

*jaws touching the floor*
Oh my gosh!!

12.4GB!!!

Ah... NOW i get the message.
CDs not enough liao... and I'll be crazy if I spend the next few days burning 177 CDs

need a DVD burner
need a DVD burner
need a DVD burner
need a DVD burner
need a DVD burner
need a DVD burner
need a DVD burner
need a DVD burner

(Mind still numb from shock)
Err... how many DVDs will I need?

So complicated?!?

As I was getting ready to jump into bed with a girly fiction last night (I finished Templar), a quick glance under my wash basin reminded me that I should be bringing my garbage down to the basement. Then I just sat on my bed for a few good minutes (minutes!!), trying to decide I should bring it down immediately or do it on my way to out the following morning. And I just sat there thinking and thinking and thinking…

Sigh.

And thinking.

Finally, I have still yet made up my mind but got really fed up with my indecisiveness instead. Arrrghhh! *for goodness sake, it’s only 3 floors down!* And it was just a matter of dumping rubbish. How complicated can the task be??

Hence, I got out of bed, tied the garbage, grabbed my keys and started down the stairs. As I was descending, I started wondering if I was really thinking back there in my room or my brain just ‘hung’, like what the bane of my life I’m typing on right now does occasionally. Anyway, it didn’t matter coz the deed was done, one thing less on my to-do-list and I met Ruben who kindly offered me a bowl of red bean soup which he had just made himself. Hmmm... exam stress does make guys do out of the ordinary things...

Well, does everyone else have to deal with such complicated garbage issues or was it only me? I guess that's why I chose to be with a decision maker or else I can foresee myself going round and round in circles and getting nothing done.

我(想)要罢工！

No lah, I’m just kidding. The earth will be rotating in the other direction if I ever go on strike!! *roll eyes*

After two weeks of intense work I’m just starting to feel some mental and physical fatigue, yet the sprit and will power is strong as I am still highly motivated to finish my experiments. Hence, my body feels like I’m the rope in a game of tug of war, one moment I’ll recall the famous quote: 休息是为了走更长远的路 , feel the muscle-ache and dullness of my thoughts and accept that I should indulge in a quick break, however the very next moment I would see the benefits of pressing on and be convinced to continue working. Heh, I think I can just about visualize a mini-angel and a mini-demon arguing on top of my head…. *LOL*

Well, sometimes I think it’s the planner personality in me that tires me out. Too much energy was simply wasted in the anticipation and preparation phase, such that when the real activity kicks in, my fuel tank is already half empty. However, on the other hand, it brings me great pleasure to see the activities acting out as planned, and the accurateness of my meticulous estimations just thrills me and keeps me going. Perhaps I should consider some kind of project management job as my second career or return to the OR field.

Anyway, the end (of my suffering) is near. I’ve cleared most of my tests and have just 2 more batches to go, which should take about a day each and is currently scheduled for the coming Saturday and Wednesday. Hopefully, I can start analyzing the test data after Easter. I meant to jump into the analysis right after testing, but I am now toying with the idea of rewarding myself with a short Easter break, although I have not decided if I want to be a hermit or go out and get wild. In any case, catching up with friends is a must and I guess by next weekend I would know whether my body needs a rest or go out and have some fun. I won’t be slogging away in college on Good Friday – that’s for sure!!

Welcome to the world Shawn!!

1st April is a really good date. Not only was it my 3rd yr student anniversary, one of my uni friends gave birth to a baby boy on that day!! Have been following her livejournal updates and I'm really happy for her that her wait is finally over and she can now cradle her little bundle of joy in her arms. :) However, I found her experience abit scary though. She was already in the hospital preparing for induction when her doctor noticed that her baby's heart rate had been dropping. Worried that the baby might be in distress, C-section was recommended (her doc gave her the choice of induction too) and thank goodness she chose C-section cos the baby's umbilical cord was wrapped around his shoulder, her amniotic fluid was low, etc... *shudders* I don't dare imagine what kinds of complications could have happened if she wasn't already in the hospital that day... I almost freaked out when I read her journal, but thank goodness her baby's condition had stabilized and hopefully both mother and child can return home in a couple of days. Anyway, baby Shawn looks really big and healthy from the pictures his mummy posted online :) And my friend looks radiant in the OT :) But then, almost every mother does, until they bring their baby home and starts feeding 24/7 of course... hahaha... even so, I'm sure every mother feels that it's worth it!!

Spring...Morning...

I love it when I’m lulled to sleep by rain falling on a spring night and waking up to the smell of freshness and dew.

I love it when the sun rises with me and tease me out of bed with its gentle rays.

I love it when birds sing for me on my journey school, rejoicing in the clean Monday morning air.

I love it when a cold breeze blows in my face while I wrap my fingers around a cup of steaming coffee.

I took my time to stroll to college today and I don't know why, but I just loved it.

Happy April Fool's day to me...

Dear friends, I'm okay.
No longer in needy mood cos I did managed to talk to MX and my mom last Sunday.
Just too busy to update.
How busy?
Since Monday, I've been waking up at 6.30.
Start work at 7-7.30am. Stop work at 10-11pm.
Lunch sometime between 11-4pm,
Dinner is sandwich or biscuit around 8pm.
I'm on my feet 13-15 hours everyday.
Must have unbonded, rebonded and filed >120 endblocks this week.
Painted and broken >60 beams.
I haven't had proper dinner for a week.
My brain is so active at night that I can't sleep.
But that's ok. Cos it's just 10 more days.

I'm motivited because I consider this my final round of testing.
And the loaned camera is GOOD. Very good indeed.
It's not temperamental like our departmental one.
So far I've only lost 2 images (<5% of total tests) and it was because of triggering problems with the lazer.
I can still capture 30-40 images for a fracture event of less than 2 milliseconds.
And I've gotten my test rate up to 45km/hr, and hopefully by tomorrow, 60km/hr.
This week alone, including tomorrow, I'll have finished 50% of my tests.
Quite happy with my progress.

I did pamper myself a little by taking tube to and fro college though, even when it is only 2 stops.
Of course I felt guilty at my indulgence but by the 2nd day my swollen feet easily convinced me otherwise.
After standing all day and running in and out of labs on levels 1, 3 and 5, and, my feet will probably take 40 minutes to ferry me back to hall instead of the usual 25mins.
And taking tube saves me from waiting for the bus at the shift changing hour too because if I miss the bus at 11pm, the next one usually comes around 11.20-11.30pm.

My lab partner and I are planning to have sunday off for recharging so that's something to look forward to. (coz college regulations requires 2 persons to be present at all times if working outside college hours)
So I just have to put up with 1 more day and I can sleep all I want on Sunday.

As for not being able to fall asleep at night, I've found the solution.
I read myself to sleep.
Shear exhausion will take over once my mind is off work.
The book cannot be too interesting of course, so I'm reading The Last Templar.

And tonight, I'm all fed up with working.
I'm going to get myself my 1st proper dinner for the week - NOW.
Must be something with rice. I miss fragrant white rice.
So I'm signing off.

I can gain an extra hour of sleep tonight cos we're starting at 8-8.30 tomorrow.
At least it's something small but nice for my 3rd year anniversary.
It's no April fool's joke.
I did reinstate my student status again on April's Fool's Day 2003. Honestly!!
Well, should have paid more attention to my starting date then.
Heh.

The need for pampering (a wish)

Every girl has a moment in time when she needs pampering and to be taken care of in every aspect of her life, and I mean every aspect.
This is my moment.
Either I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, or I'm just so exhausted that I felt the intense need for someone strong and capable to lean on.
I need someone to volunteer to take total care of my well being.
I need someone to say
"Come dear, take a break and let me handle this."
Even when I refuse, owing to my pride and inherited stubborn streak, or maybe just a habit of saying no, I wish for someone to be more stubborn than me and more insistent to come along make me do whatever’s best for me and never give in even when I put up a good fight.
And because I’ll be feeling too guilty take that break alone, I wish for that someone who is responsible for my guilty trip to keep me company and keep my mind off work.

Sigh. That basically sums up what I felt the moment I opened my eyes this morning. Sometimes, having sufficient sleep during a rough time is not good. The freshly rested brain will only alert me to the emotions and needs that I’ve neglected over the busy days. The ones that are usually swimming in my subconscious as more important issues jam up my limited neuron pathways.

Living away from home for so many years, the status quo of independence that I once enjoyed has become a rather tiring situation. The downside of being a grown up is that we can't run home to daddy or mummy to ask for help in something trivial. We can't撒娇 to just anybody or anytime we like, and expect to be taken care of without question. And our parents no longer preach the ‘absolute family laws’ which we have to obey or be punished, but laws that were made to ensure that we grow up to be good, healthy, all-rounded individuals. I guess here is when people start looking for partners, somebody who can fill the role as a friend/ lover/ companion/ parent/ child, all at once and vice versa.

The harsh reality of a LDR is that there is nobody there even when you need a shoulder to lean on, no one to give you a comfort hug or to do a special ‘dinner delivery’. No one to detect what you need by just taking one look at you, who can easily do something, just for you, because I care, because you deserve it, and you don’t even have to ask for it. After spending 12 hours at work with people that gets of your nerve, there is no one at the end of the day whom you can spend time with that you don’t have to pretend to be nice to, that will let you rant or sulk at all you want, then forgive you and still make the effort to lift your sprits. Someone who’ll make you smile and make everything worthwhile. The worst reality of LDR is that when you are busy, the appropriate timing for you to receive some of these special care will always inappropriate at the other end of the globe. The person who will make a difference either cannot reach you or cannot be reached and both suffers neglect.

Well, there are always weekends where calls can be made at comfortable timings for both but as luck would have it, I was swindled by the phonecard shop which I have been most loyal to for the past millennium. The two £20 phonecards that I diligently stocked up before my busy test period had actually expired and cannot be used. Bloody hell. I’m stuck in college between 8.30am-11pm everyday and I don’t even have the time to run out at the appropriate time to get that some of those bloody adhesive labels for my test specimens. How to get phonecard?!? Why is it so inconvenient to hear someone's comforting voice, even for a few minutes? If I’m too busy to make calls, why can’t they call me? And there are other matters of course but the most dispiriting thing that happened to me today is I can’t reach the persons I needed to seek comfort from.

Designer Coffee

You know how obsessed I am about coffee...
Or rather, how obsessed with how not to have too much coffee....

Anyway, here's a new meaning to designer coffee

http://mplay.donga.com/dkbnews/2005/11/latteart.wmv

MUST SEE!!

It's a visual art, so enjoy!! :)

Borough Market Foodies...

correction

Sorry, it's 50 and counting.

Rosy Thoughts

Shows how busy I have been. Dear countingpigs have been home for a week and I just saw the packets of Twinnings Rose she left me!! Thanks gal, really loved the rose tea. Kept me going strong till this morning. The tea is light and soothing, body tastes like Earl's grey but instead of the lemony fragrance, it has a tint of rose in it. And as I sipped the tea, a familiar and homely feeling came over me but I couldn't quite pin down where that deja vu feeling was coming from. So my mind wondered over my associations with roses over the past few years and here are some memories that have stayed with me.

- Receiving my first rose patterned jewellry box from my uncle.
- 1st champaine bouquet for my 15th birthday
- Ceramic Ballerina figurine with tiny roses on tutu. It was given to me as a thank you gift from a school friend whom I've unknowingly helped to run away from home for 1 night. I naively thought that it was a simple stayover but my mom sensed otherwise. Her parents were going through a divorce and she didn't want to go home. She was coping well when I last saw her in school but sadly we never kept in touch.
- single red rose from WF. Actually I was more attracted to the natural country style wrapping with strings and all and i even dried it but didn't bring back in the end. Maybe I didn't want to.
- Barbara Rose KJH. Intellectual class joker. Famous in S7. Came up with funny names for our bio teacher on several occasions and didn't stop even when she started calling him the names he had suggested. There is supposed to be another prefix that was added during our 2nd year plant reproduction lecture but I can't remember what it was. Anyway Barbara Rose stuck cos that's the name our teacher used to call him.
- NYP Biotech competition. Used rose extract to facilitate visual identification of soured LHT milk. Won 2nd prize, lost to an egg membrane filter system. Luckly we didn't pursue the idea of breaking down hair proteins. Most enjoyable part was actually joining the competition with my secondary school girlfriends.
- Favourite rose window in Notre Dame. Went back to see it twice.
- colour coded roses from MX, 45 and counting :)

Anyway, memories aside, I finally figured out where the wave of familiarity came from.
The rose flavour tastes like the pink bandung drink I used to have at home! Basically it's just concentrated rose syrup mixed with suger, water and carnation milk (click on link for more complicated recipe) and it tastes great when served chilled. So I was having tea with bandong. I quite fancy hybrid drinks hah? Let's see, coke-sprite-lemon, tea-coffee, soya-chocolate-coffee, honey-camomile-lemon-chestnut, milo-hollicks, hollicks-white chocolate mocha. I wonder if I can simply add rose syrup to my tea from now on to UP the flavour. Hmmm.... got to find the syrup first. And it wouldn't taste the same if I add it to earl's grey coz the citrus will ruin it. So got to find a proper light tea that tastes just like tea.