What kind of food are you?

Yesh.... yet another one of THOSE quizzes, tho' this is like the shortest one I have ever taken so far ^^

You Are Japanese Food

Strange yet delicious. Contrary to popular belief, you're not always eaten raw.

What Kind of Food Are You?

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FREEDOM!!!!!

Alritey, all my NUS exams are over!!! Have this bad feeling that I won't be able to score for evo, but well.... at least it's over ^^ Only JLPT left on Sunday, as well as settling of some of my UROPS stuff, as well as finalising stuff for my trip... Back to lab tmr, then St John's on Wed (*yay* boat ride!!! *bunces ard*), can collect my flight tix from Wed onwards... oh yea, also need to meet up with the other Hiroshima applicants for our skit *groan* plus it seems that our group of 7 pple have yet to settle the nightbus to Osaka.... still gonna be pretty busy til just after the trip I guess... prob gonna be busy for the rest of this yr *lol*

Ya, this is yet ANOTHER one of Juan's rants.... just to celebrate the end of exams, and to do a semi-listing of wat I gotta do for the rest of the week, month, yr? Must really remember to get more money from Dad for the air tix and travel insurance and all the sccomodation stuff.... shopping expenses wld come from me, as for the rest.... Anyways, back to making rack/shelf for the fixation of the blocks that I am collecting back on Wed....

Click for the rambling...

More online quizzes ^^

Ya... din really feel like mugging, so....
(din feel like re-sizing every

[1] 3 Variable Funny Test

the Prankster (28% dark, 26% spontaneous, 31% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN | COMPLEX | LIGHT Your humor has an intellectual, even conceptual slant to it. You're not pretentious, but you're not into what some would call 'low humor' either. You'll laugh at a good dirty joke, but you definitely prefer something clever to something moist. You probably like well-thought-out pranks and/or spoofs and it's highly likely you've tried one of these things yourself. In a lot of ways, yours is the most entertaining type of humor because it's smart without being mean-spirited. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Conan O'Brian - Ashton Kutcher The 3-Variable Funny Test! - it rules - If you're interested, try my latest: The Terrorism Test

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 5% on darkness You scored higher than 7% on spontaneity You scored higher than 35% on vulgarity

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

[2] 2 Variable Intuition Test

More Emotional You have: 70% SCIENTIFIC INTUITION and 77% EMOTIONAL INTUITION

The graph on the right represents your place in Intuition 2-Space. As you can see, you scored well above average on emotional intuition and above average on scientific intuition.Your emotional intuition is stronger than your scientific intuition. Your Emotional Intuition score is a measure of how well you understand people, especially their unspoken needs and sympathies. A high score score usually indicates social grace and persuasiveness. A low score usually means you're good at Quake. Your Scientific Intuition score tells you how in tune you are with the world around you; how well you understand your physical and intellectual environment. People with high scores here are apt to succeed in business and, of course, the sciences. Try my other test! The 3 Variable Funny Test It rules.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 57% on Scientific You scored higher than 84% on Interpersonal

Link: The 2-Variable Intuition Test written by jason_bateman on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Click for the rambling...

And so the countdown finally begins....

Don't know if I shld be happy or sad.... Finally started my exams. While pple like Weisong and Ying Kai wld haf ended theirs by now..... Grrrr.... The Japanese paper was not as difficult as it could haf been, but that doesn't mean that it was easy either!! Made a couple of silly mistakes for the section on onomatopeia (did I even spell that right?) Tho' I was telling Meitoon that if I actually get at least an A-, I might not be SU-ing Japanese 05 next sem ^^ Oh well, at least that's one paper under my belt now ^^ Next up are the 9am papers @ PGP, meaning I have to go to bed by 10pm for the next 2 nights.... Haven't really studied for either, and prob can't remember most of my stuff.... Especially NOT for tomorrow's general physio!!!

Was running out of elastic bands for my hair, so dropped by JP to get some more.... Boy, has CHAMELON changed since the last time I needed to get hair accessories..... And NOT in the good way I must say. Most of the stuff is gaudy and weird now, especially the scrunchies and hair clips.... Wanted to get a hairband since the only functional one I have now is the one I bought at Metro in Sec 3 but they were all just weird or catering for the school uniformed crowd, so ya.... Took me quite a while to find the elastic bands amidst the absurd crowd and weird accessories there, and I managed to get one of those long-ish, wristband-like things that the girls ALWAYS wear in TW idol series, and it IS very useful in tying up my hair and compacting it ^^ Guess the only saving grace abt the place is that the earrings are still quite decent *yay* So Juan here blows 9 bucks on a pair of blue dangly ones ^^ My first set of dangly earrings!!! Hmmm... and in spite of the fact that I pierced my ears likea year and a third ago, I only have like 4 pairs of earrings (as of now), and the ones I use most often are the ones used for piercing... hehz.... Dawn would probably drag me to go earring shopping if she sees this ^^ Tho' I am probably long over-dued for a trip to Far East or Annex to (at least window) shop for accessories... One more thing to do after the exams I guess... Do let me know if you wanna join in!!

Better hit the books now if I don't wanna muck up on tomorow's supposed-CAP-puller-upper module...

Click for the rambling...

less than 48h to go...

Okies, so I FINALLY start my exams on Thu.... and pple like Weisong END on thu... can't help it, yet feel so un-motivated to actually mug properly... just hope I dun mess up my CAP such that I don't getta do honors... Actually managed to spend at least half of the day studying kanji and some of gen physio, then tried to make some sort of wire mesh thingie while reading gen physio notes.... hands hurt a little since the wire cutters in the dive store weren't too effective on the 3mm thick wire (or it cld just be that I dun haf enough strength....) Din really manage to finish it since (1) hands were starting to ache and I dun wanna risk a sprained hand during the exams (esp since just abt all my papers are essays..) and (2) was meeting Sirong for dinner and walking ard JP....

Ya, so my evening was pretty enjoyable, did break the tedium of mugging ^^ din really do much for de-stressing since FOR ONCE in my undergrad life, I am NOT freaking out near/during exam period... (must be all the boatrides and trips ard St John's and stuff) heehee.... semi-holiday mood liaoz... Ended up buying like a DVD set (Hallmark's 10th Kingdom) and some Discovery Chn VCD... That sets be back like 40 bucks for my Japan shopping fund :( [See la, Sirong, u shldn't haf gotten me into MJ...] And ya, din haf that much fun walking ard JP for a while ^^ heehee... Guess it's mainly cos hardly any of my frens wanna come all the way to walk ard.... ah well... Shld go mug a little more b4 heading to bed (hmmm... tho I kinda do EVERYTHING on my bed, well, except watch TV, tho I hardly do that nowadays, and eat)

Click for the rambling...

pro-cra-sti-na-ting....

Okies... yet another unproductive morning :( oh well... was supposed to start on PCR purification for the trial sample of the biofilm but the env sci lab ran out of columns, so... And from this entry's title u can see that I am not gonna be too productive any time soon either...

Pretty interesting how the random things that I do ACTUALLY end up having some sort of direction... Started off doing research proj on Brassica spp., a terrestrial plant, then went on to do stuff on Avicennia alba, a mangrove plant, for SP2171 and SP2172, and at the same time help start off the Labrador Park blog, mainly for the intertidal rocky shore, and now for UROPS (and prob honours) am working on coral recruitment.... From land to marine environment ^^ Pretty interesting, eh? And all the time I was having visions of me doing some sort of forensics work, except I am NOT in chem nor pahtology... *phew* Wat a close call I had from escaping the tedium of 24/7 in the lab... Being a biologist means lab work, yea, but there's also the CHOICE of fieldwork too, as well as a bit of D & T when u need to make ur own apparatus for field experiments since nothing comes nicely packaged in a kit... Which reminds me, need to make some kinda stands to help save space when I am fixing my cement blocks.... tho' I kinda need

LUNCH!!!! *sigh* queues in the canteen are disgustingly long considering it's like exam period... Gaurav and Gerard went dn to try their luck, and if it is gd, I'll get lunch delivered ^^ heehee... The way things are gg, next sem I wld be 1/3 life sci, 1/3 Jap, 1/3 env engine student.... the biofilm element of coral recruitment is making my project more and more cross-disciplinary... Wonder wat happened to the 'specialisation' that was supposed to occur? Oh well.... I was only a purely Sci student in my very 1st sem here... then have been 1/2 sci, 1/2 arts since I started taking Jap... Still can't believe that I wld be graduating in 1.5 yrs... dunno wat I am gonna do after that... Go for JET? Apply to work at Underwater World/Dolphin Lagoon? Go NIE and end up teaching? Go do Masters? *sigh* I do know that I wld like to continue to learn more abt Marine Biology and corals, and am glad that Wai shares the same interest ^^ She wld be joining the lab from next semester, tho after that the lab wld be quite empty if no more new blood comes in.....

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Yet another bright and sunny day ^^

heehee... yet another outing for Juan ^^ this time round to Underwater World (darn... din get to go to Dolphin Lagoon) Got to meet some of the staff there who haf been looking after the coral nubiles and Pocillopora sp. for us. Thanks pple! Really won't mind working there during the hols or even after I graduate.... The crab exhibit is so funky too!! Esp the Japanese giant spider crabs(タカアシガニ)..... so cute against the nice blue BG.... even the spanner crab and arrowline yellow crabs were SO cute, holding on to that little piece of half eaten (cooked) prawn... AWWWWWW..... *glomps* Maybe I shld do a proj on marine crabs.... hmmm... oh wells, wld be travelling there quite a bit (after the exams that is... tho not sure how many times I can go dn before I am off to Japan..) to check on the coral nubiles and Pocillopora sp. and see if I can do any hol work or wateva ^^ Can get in free to see the big fat groupers too! heehee....

okies, need to go home to mug mug mug, plus wai is waiting for me too, so....

P/S. did a bit of re-org for the "friends" section, so the link outs are a little better.... will add some more marine links at a later date... prob after i do ver 2 of my blog...

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Raffles Lighthouse

Went to Raffles Lighthouse area yesterday after collecting my trial batch of cement cuboids fr St John's, Jani, Marco, Michelle and Wai were supposed to go screw Jani's tiles dn.... being the only non-diver, the best that I cld do was like snorkel and try my best to see stuff... First off, there was the 'leisure' dive/snorkel near the jetty area. Marco was like a kid who just got his Christmas presents when he saw the number of fishies ^^ Since I cld barely make out their shapes, can really tell wat they were, except for like angelfishies.... The boatmen were having a heyday catching loads of nicely sized fishies for cooking.... Visibility was actually pretty decent, ard 3-4m (hazarding a guess since I can't really estimate distances underwater..) Pretty exciting being able to see corals in home waters, and near islands that I have nv been to too! First thing is to get dive license, then join BWVs... Was nearer the reef crest, so mainly boulder formed ones and encrusting ones.... All the guck we haf in our waters *sigh* Was stung a couple of times on my right arm but nothing serious, tho one of those stings left a slight cut... Got some weird cuts on my left leg, and the prob w getting cuts in the sea is that (1) they dun scab over properly (2) u dun notice the cut til u are out of water and realise u are dripping blood (thank goodness that there are no shark sightings in SG) One thing that startled me was the sudden appearance of salps (Planktonic tunicates; small, transparent, barred-shaped free-swimming planktonic animals belonging to the Subphylum Urochordata [tunicates], Class Thaliaca.) that were basically sprouting out from the dark greenish SG waters below..... Little jelly like stuff nicely lined up in pairs just EVERYWHERE.... Thot they were some jellyfish spawning event or sth at first but since they din sting.... Pretty amazing seeing all those little blobby salps just floating everywhere.... They ARE actually kinda cute, once u get over the initial surprise of seeing them floating ard ^^ Salp boom!! Undergg sexual phase, so kinda colonial ^^

[Salp linkies]
(1) Salps and Ctenophores
(2) The Salps (class Thalicea)
(3) Australian Antarctic Divisions - Salps
(4) Salps

My poor knees are slightly burnt... from the boatride, as well as dangling my legs into the water when we were on the other side of Raffles Lighthouse, and waiting for the currents to die dn.... Next outing wld be to Underwater World on Friday, to go see the Pocillopora.... Wonder if I shld just go for a joyride on Sat when Jani goes dn again.... Looking at me, u prob wldn't figure out that it's actually reading week ^^ heehee.... Guess I shld head home and start on mugging Jap... Still need to continue w DNA extraction at the environmental engineering lab tmr (dun ask y I am not doing it in sci... long story... but the gd thing is that (1) the prof is SUPER nice (2) he has worked on biofilm and their relation to recruitment of marine inverts, so...)

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reading week?

*sigh* the semester has officially ended.... and I think I just died-ed for my Japanese oral.... we had to face Okada-sensei due to the sitting arrangements *grumbles* that just makes me like dunno how many times more nervous than usu..... so pressurising... oh wells, good thing that my papers start pretty late, allowing me some time to go to TMSI and stuff (like go back to reading my non-textbook books ^^reading wk IS for reading!!).... gg dn again tmr, might even get a chance to snorkel a little ard Raffles Lighthouse while the rest dive ^^ Pretty cool that NUS has it's own dive boat, Mudskipper, and I get to ride on it!!! heehee.... wanna go get my license soon.... then can go diving w the rest of the lab pple.... feel pretty lousy being confined to snorkelling and land stuff...

been really lousy at updating stuff.. both here and in my actual diary, but then again, I nv was really gd at any kind of follow ups, be it keeping in touch w frens or constantly studying or even constant blogging/diary writing... oh wellz.... sometimes I do feel like becoming some social recluse... *darn* this is turning into one of those semi-coherent entries again.... seems like my bio clock *still* hasn't recovered from friday-saturday... Wat happened on friday? Pdus had a BBQ cum birthday celeb. Went earlier in the afternoon to help w the prep (along w another one of his frens, meaning I got to make a new fren...) Stayed over at NSRCC since it is like at the OTHER side of Singapore, and there was just no point going home, and as usu, this kinda sleepovers end up w staying up late to watch movies and random ads on Pdus' G5 (yesh, he brought that over, along w like nearly a quarter of his hse...), meaning I only had 2 hours plus of sleep that day, concussed when I got home on Saturday, slept the entire afternoon, meaning I cldn't sleep til like past midnight last night, thus my semi-coherent state of mind at the moment... and I need to be in lab like at 8.3oam tmr too.... my bio clock gets messed up pretty easily (yet another reason why I prob can't take part in any win-a-car challenges), tho because it nv can get settled in properly, I can basically condition myself to work at any hour... the BBQ was pretty gd, doubled up as a semi-gathering of ACJC pple, so we cld catch up a little w one another, tho' since it was Pdus' party at the same time, it was like a cluster of ACJC pple, a bunch of his sec school pals, and his church frens who were there w family and stuff... and today I find out that the juniors are gonna try and org another MRC gathering in early Dec to coincide w the week that Mr Loke wld be back in sunny ol' SG....

Juan must remember to start studying on Tues... mug mug mug mug mug....

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All I Ask (of books)

Okies... more stuff for relievig exam stress..... also a classic example of wat wld happen to ur email acc if and when u forget to logout of the Linux cluster in SPS... heehee.... at least it makes for interesting (tho still unwanted) spam...

==================================

> TEXTBOOK
> No more talk of darkness,
> Forget these wide-eyed fears.
> I'm here, nothing can harm you -
> my words will warm and calm you.
>
> Let me be your learning,
> let my light dry your tears.
> I'm here,
> with you, beside you,
> to guard you
> and to guide you
>
> STUDENT
> Say you'll teach me
> for exams, tomorrow,
> turn my head
> with talk of programming,
>
> Say you'll show me
> the tricks, now and always,
> promise me that all
> you say is true -
> that's all I ask of you
>
> TEXTBOOK
> Let me be your shelter,
> let me be your light.
> You're safe:
> No-one will find you
> though profs aren't
> far behind you ...
>
> STUDENT
> All I want is freedom,
> a world with no more labs ...
> and you always beside me
> to hold me and to hide me ...
>
> TEXTBOOKS
> Then say you'll share with me one
> price, one fortune ...
> Iet me lead you
> from your solitude ...
>
> Say you need me
> with you
> here, beside you ...
> anywhere you go,
> let me go too -
> Oh student,
> that's all I ask
> of you . . .
>
> STUDENT
> No way, jose, your price
> is too high
> I don't have so much to give
> I'll just have to,
> xerox your pages,
> or borrow you for a night
> or maybe too
>
> BOTH
> Spend your time with
> me, each
> night, each morning ...
>
> TEXTBOOK
> Say you'll buy me ...
>
> STUDENT
> I'll download you, true ...
>
> BOTH
> Read me -
> that's all I ask> of you ...
>
> (They kiss)
>
> Anywhere you go
> let me go too ...
> Read me -
> that's all I ask
> of you ...
>
> You'd better do well these exams, or no Phantoming!
> love,
> The SPS Phantom
> -----------<---{@ Click for the rambling...