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.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Sunday, June 25, 2006
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!!
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!!
Friday, June 23, 2006
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*
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*
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
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?!?
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
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.
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.
Monday, June 19, 2006
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.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
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