Welcoming in the Year of the Dog ^^

According to the Lunar calendar and Chinese belief, today marks the start of a new year, the Year of the Dog... Does this mean that it's also the year of the underdogs? Anyway, 初一 is the usual ol' annual thing of visiting and stuff... Nothing much different happened, but when I got home, decided to give in to my narcisstic inner self and took a bunch of photos in my nicely unique blouse ^^ Well, it all started with someone wanting to see a photo of my little tote bag... haha... So here goes....

Me and sis....

Bro and me....

Oh look at him scowl!

See how we bond as sibs ^^

And it goes on...

But wait, that was actually all posing!!

And so the Juan photos take over *bwahaha*
Me and the tote bag which I am hardly even gonna use.... Therefore a photo as a memento ^^

Me attempting to pose and bro attempting to operate the digicam...

And yesh, wat wld narcissism be without an attempted self-portrait?

And so ends the barrage of Juan-centred photos... Do not expect this any time soon again.... Tink I shld just stick to taking photos of scenery and frens ^^

Click for the rambling...

Week 10 - last collection ^^ 良かったねえ～

Initially wanted to at least half post this in Japanese but 'tis getting late (or early), and I just finished typing out an email to Mu-chan and No-chan in Japanese, so the highly limited Japanese area of my brain is a little overheated at the moment ^^ So am keeping to Channel 5...

*Finally* had the last of my biofilm sample collections ^^ *throws confetti all ard* No more frantic swabbing of icky, gucky blocks ^^ Well, at least not for quite a while.... Not too sure if still gonna carry on w biofilms for Honours... More or less bummed the afternoon away since Mudskipper was out with Lucia doing her stuff, so Wai and I sunned for a while at the AVA jetty, resulting in Juan here getting the usu weird dotty tan on arms.... Why can't my arms just tan normally and in one nice patch? *sigh* At least I have a little more color on myself ^^ Hee... Should be going to help Mich w her barnacles on Sat, so hopefully can add on to the color and get nice and brown.... Signed up as a guide for ReefWalk, so joining the first ReefWalk of the year at Kusu on Tues, sorta as a trial session I guess, tho' I probably WOULD wanna do guiding ^^ Too bad the ReefWalk is in the evening.... Wonder if I should bring the digicam along...

Had fun observing fiddler crabs out on the intertidal flats at the SJI lagoon as well ^^ So cool~ Was just surrounded by so many of them all waving their enlarged claw.... That gives me another hour of journaling for behavioral ^^ Yay!! 1 h 20min down, another 4 h 40min to go~ Need to go memorise my 会話 for tomorrow's TC... Wonder if it's gonna be Takeda-sensei again...

Click for the rambling...

今年の初めての日本語チュトリア

今晩、TAが行ったばかりだった。このクラスの先生は武田先生だ。やさしいし、ユーモアもあるし、いい先生かもしれないと思う。このクラスの学生、全員は９人だけだ。少し小さいから、私達の教室は大き過ぎみたいね～ 午後６時から８時までの授業は一番悪い時間と思う。晩ご飯の時間もないし、皆も疲れっていし、元気じゃないし...　でも、今学期、あたしはその時間の授業が一週間に２回ある。火曜日も、水曜日も...　仕方がないよ～　他のチュトリアは行かないから...

今日、彼の授業は６時終わったのに、待っていて、一緒に晩ご飯を食べた。本当にありがとうございましたね～　いつもあたしのことを考えている。日本語でブログが書く難しいから、今日はそれだけだ。もっと勉強すれば、もっと書く長くなってと思っている。じゃ、ね～

Click for the rambling...

Happy Birthday Des!!!

Just got home from a full day out.... Was at Shiyu's place having a Japanese cookout... We were more or less just cooking and cooking (while eating) the whole afternoon away.... No surprise that all of us (and prob Shiyu's sis as well) are all so full.... Had green tea ice cream, soba, sushi, curry rice, salad, konnyaku jelly, okonomiyaki, onigiri... All hand made by us!! Heehee... Who were the "us"? Shiyu, Peiwen, PeiQi, Yilin, Diane, Huey Sian, Xiao Qian, Shirley, Des and me, tho technically Des din make anything... Just helped to finish the food, as well as take photos of the multiple chefs ^^ Des' gonna turn 25 on Thu, so we 顺便顺便 gave him a little celebration, with a fruitcake and card ^^ Had to lure him away from the kitchen area on the pretense of playing truth or dare, and it happened to be his turn when with the bottle when the cake was nice and ready ^^ Happy birthday, dude~~


Ingredients on display...

PeiQi chopping mushrooms...

And wah la!

Cooking our soba... Yum ^^

Making sushi....

More sushi making...

Shiyu our okonomiyaki chef...

Singapore styled (or at least Shiyu styled) okonomiyaki...

Cracking the egg...

All hail the onigiri-makers...

Shaping in progress...

Growing pile of onigiri...

Seaweeding...

I dub thee Mt Onigiri....

My backview w XQ posing in the BG... And here I thot I managed to dodge the camera successfully...

The birthday boy ^^

Clearing wax from his cake...

Cake time~~

Now, all I need to do is convince mum to let me make some onigiri for the family to eat.... shld try and buy some of the seasoning first tho.... Pretty fun trying to get the rice into little triangular shapes, tho I haf a feeling that I put too much salt on my hands.... A big sorry to those of you who were unfortunate enough to have eaten salty onigiri.... ごめんねえ～　悪かった...

Click for the rambling...

Ponderings...

Spent the morning making konnyaku jelly for tomorrow's gathering @ Shiyu's place... Forgot how much I liked cooking stuff ^^ Also forgot how much I hated the washing up after, especially since I am the kind of cook that needs tonnes of bowls and stuff... Wish that there would be an automatic washing sink somewhere... Tho' some how, cooking does some what remind me of lab.... Weighing out of the ingredients/chemicals, stirring, boiling water over the stove etc. ... Guess my mum is a scientist in her own little way, concocting up delectable delicacies for us to nourish our bodies (the right amount of nutrients w/o overdosing on fats or sugars), over the fire, simmering.... Really miss mum's cooking... All those late evenings in NUS, plus prob having dinner out tomorrow as well... Maybe I should ask her to keep some food then I'll settle for a somewhat cold (and lonely) late dinner at home while the rest of the family is watching TV.... Eating dinner in school is just a little better, since most of the time I DO have company (and even if I dun, there are always pple ard in the canteen), plus I can take the slightly less crowded bus home... But I still miss mum's cooking~~ *whines* Everybody's home for dinner today but mum's not cooking (she does need her little breaks too, ya know!), and dad's packing food back.... When, oh when do I get to have homecooked food again?

I just know that this sem is gonna be crummy.... Would prob hafta miss dinner on tues and wed due to TA and TB....

Click for the rambling...

Memoirs of a Geisha

Went to watch Memoirs of a Geisha last night @ GV Marina... Evening show that was supposed to start at 18.40 but thanks to all the adverts and stuff, as well as an announcement from the Biz organisers, the show only started at 19.00... din help that I wasn't able to grab a bite before the show... Pretty good movie adaptation of Arthur Golden's book ^^ Seems like the recent movies based on books are rather good, directors are starting to get the hang of maintaining plot and not sacrificing storyline for CG and stuff.... Tho, being a late nite movie din really help the bunch of us, after a tiring day in NUS, lab and/or lessons, a 2.5 h show din really help... Pity that the details and descriptions of a geisha's life, like the many layers of clothing, the makeup, the lessons etc., weren't delved into as much I would have liked... But something had to go to keep the flow of the movie... Real pity, but guess that the book would hafta makeup for wat was missing in the movie.... So, pple, pls go catch this movie if u can, and do try and read the book too!!

By the time Huey Sian, Diane, Des and I finished dinner at BK, it was already like 22.30-ish.... So no surprise that I got home near to midnight.... Somehow din feel so bad... Prob due to the company on the MRT ride back (along w the discussion of Geisha), as well as having someone concerned enough that I was to "report back" when I got home safe and sound ^^ Did feel pretty drained when I got home, but managed to get enough rest nevertheless.... This is prob gonna be my last movie in a pretty LONG time...

Click for the rambling...

Creepy hyponotists... Or is this another hoax?

Received this in an email from my fren... I seriously hope that this is a just another one of those email hoaxes that are always floating ard, if not, it's actually rather freaky, tho being ur 'typical' kiasu Singaporean, I fwded this to my frens to be on the safe side....

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Hi Ladies especially,
Beware, don't talk to strangers specially China men. Beware and alert your friends, wife and family members.

Be Alert At All Times !

This is scary.....
My female friend encountered this incident in Orchard.
That time she was waiting for me at Orchard Tower.
She was approached by an Chinese 30 to 40yrs old man.
I saw the man talking to her while I am walking toward her.
I was puzzled when she suddenly walked off with the man....... and even stunned when she walked pass me without looking at me... but I am standing in front of her!!

Thinking something amiss, I called her handphone instead.
She answered the phone and was shocked to realise she is no longer outside Orchard Tower. The man must have saw his charm being broken, immediately talked to her again..... This time I told my friend don't listen to what he said and not to look at his eyes.....juz RUN!
She quickly ran off ...... She called me again after 15mins..... and meet me at Takashimaya. She was shivering all over when I met her. She told me she really don't know what was going on..... I told her I heard of this kind of things before, ..... but nvr expected to see it myself too......
Well....... that day, she took almost half a day to calm herself
down.

My friend sent me the following email yesterday, am forwarding to all of u for info so that u would not be caught in that situation. Take care.

"While waiting for my husband at Tangs side entrance facing Lucky Plaza, a Chinese man suddenly approached me, disregarding my personal space, stood so close to me that I need to back off. Then he asked me where was a place, which I didn't comprehend. After repeating 2 times or so, he said the place was where they sell chicken rice, duck rice, making some innocent hand gestures like counting, so I thought he meant foodcourt, told him that he could go down the flight of stairs next to Mac to basement.

He appeared lost and asked me again if it was on left hand side or right handside. I was little irritated as we were facing the stairs,such a big stairway and u are asking me right or left! Luckily my husband arrived at that time. The taxi behind him sounded the horn, so I hurriedly pointed again to the stairway and asked him to go down. Later I was suddenly awaken with an uneasy feeling. Realized that he might be a hypnotiser. As I remembered that he was loitering near me for some time, but I just took it that he was another passerby at that moment. He spoke in a deliberate and slower manner, his hand gestures when mentioning chicken rice; duck rice, etc and his deliberate attempt in asking me if left or right. These people try to get us to conjure up images in our mind, that's how they hypnotise us.

The reason why I thought of a hypnotiser was because my KL friend shared with me 3 mths back that her friend had fallen victim when she woke up naked, not remembering what happened."

This also happened to an ex-colleague of mine. Her story was that she was at busy shopping center exit, saw flustered Chinese man speaking very loudly on HP, then the man approached herfor help, told her that his girlfriend from overseas came to look for him but was lost, so wanted to borrow money from my friend, amount was quite a lot which my friend didn't have. After talking for a while, he even managed to ask her to follow him. Fortunately her HP rang, she said she suddenly became more aware of what was happening, before that, she just wanted to follow him to help him. Immediately she told the man she didn't have money and left.

So beware of all foreign Chinese man! I can't descript his accent but he is definitely not S'porean. He is very decently dressed, normal guy on the street, maybe late 30s, carrying a rather big shoulder sling bag.

Please alert your galfriends, sisters, mothers etc.

Click for the rambling...

After 5, 6 years....

Went to ECP w Grace, Watson, Henry, May, Mich (Chng) & Des to blade.... Been way too long since I last bladed, or at least attempted to blade.... Tink the last time the only things I learnt were how to (1) get up after falling (2) not do a split on the blades.... Kinda like starting all over again ^^ Great that the sun finally showed up after nearly a week of perpetual rain, all bright and sunny... Just wanna say a BIG thank you to Des and Mich for being my personal coaches cum cheering squad ^^ hee... hope I din hold u guys up too much.... Great fun, hope to go blading again soon~~

Anybody care to join us?

Click for the rambling...

this one kinda makes sense...

oh woh~ this just reinforces the fact that I am a closet Lit major *lol* Bio comes out tied, and linguistics pretty high too.... does fit in I suppose...

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You scored as English. You should be an English major! Your passion lies in writing and expressing yourself creatively, and you hate it when you are inhibited from doing so. Pursue that interest of yours! Biology 92% English 92% Linguistics 83% Sociology 75% Psychology 75% Chemistry 67% Theater 67% Philosophy 58% Journalism 58% Engineering 58% Anthropology 58% Art 58% Dance 50% Mathematics 50% What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!) created with QuizFarm.com

Click for the rambling...

back to quizzes...

Which Naruto Character Are You?
Test by naruto - kun.com

Click for the rambling...

Week 08: day of wet collections

Did my 2nd last collection for the biofilm today with Wai and Kah Leng. With Mr Sun missing in action, the day was as gloomy as the week has been since Sat... With the rain still going on and on and on, walked over to lab from FMSS early in the morning to prep stuff for the swabbing... First thing I realised while in lab was that my MST (most stubbed toe, that has been stubbed numerous times since the first time last Thu) had the nail, erm... attached only by the very inner edge... meaning I could actually see under the ENTIRE nail... creepy... Next, realised that I was actually getting blisters from wearing my slippers (wet) almost everyday... These 2 observations alone haf resulted in the 3 plasters that are on my feet now Wanted to put them on earlier in the day, but the rain din want to let the plasters stick, so... And that was not the end of my "troubles"... Was running a little outta time, and in the rush, Juan here had to spill some of the extraction buffer (thank goodness there was still enough for today... tho I need to make more tmr ) So the floor around my area got to be real soapy.... Called a cab, got to ride in a nice spacious Mercedes cab, but the cabbie had to some how take the longer (and jammed up) route, so we missed the 8.15am ferry over to TMSI, thus effectively losing an hour of work time...

Got to St John's Island safe and sound, in spite of the rain rain rain, and the 3 of us trudged over to the breakwater to retrieve the blocks for this week... Yep, come rain or shine, a biologist's work must still go on, no matter how carppy the conditions may be.... Wai braved the bad vis and the evil sargassum fields to help retrieve my 2 trays of gurky blocks, and scampering up and down a wet breakwater is not really the way I wanted to spend my morning, but it's all in the name of research! Since the 3 of us, plus Danwei were aiming to get on the noon boat back, it was a bit of a rush to swab the blocks and all but we somehow managed to do so! *yay* Hopped back on the boat all nice and wet, and back to lab we went... Finished up the swabbing and then took turns to use the WARM water shower at S2 lvl 4, managed to borrow a nice warm long sleeve shirt as well, so all nice and comfy after that ^^ Also managed to crash Tropical Conservation again, so the day did end better than it started, tho the rain still persists...

Time to finish up the report for the homestay....

Click for the rambling...

何故雨がいつも降っている？

土曜日から、雨がいつも降っていて、気が重くなるよ～　太陽に会いたいなあ～　そ の上、昨日授業が始まった。今学期の最初の授業は日本語５よ。クラスの全員は４１人、大抵知っているクラスメート。よかったね～　でも、日本語でブログを 書くスピードは遅過ぎて、英語で書くほうがいいと思う...

My written Japanese feels so uberly rusty, and there is quite a bit I wanna blog abt before I head downstairs to print the tonnes of stuff that Dr Li just put up for 4253 As I have already mentioned in Japanese, the rain seems to be neverending.... It just keeps going on and on and on, just like the Lamb Chop's song.... This is the rain that doesn't end, yes, it goes on and on my friend... Depressing, and I need to go sample collecting on Thu too... *groan* Thanks to this rain, running yesterday was cancelled... If this keeps on, I'm REALLY gonna get stuck in my sluggish mode...

Jap lecture was different... Another change of 先生, this time to Walker-先生 and Takeda-先生... Now EVERYTHING is in Japanese, even good ol' IVLE Even more reason for me to brush up my Japanese reading speed.... Guess I should start visiting my Japanese webbies more often now... And w my trusty E-dict at hand too! (Speaking of which, managed to find an online blog abt the production of the latest Ghibli anime, "Tales from Earthsea" aka 「ゲド戦記」) Wonder what our project this semester would be on... So far we only noe that it involves conversing/interviewing 日本人. Wonder how I would survive doing intermediate Japanese....

Manged to crash Tropical Conservation in the afternoon. Seems like a fun and interesting module, but pity the clash w 3262 practicals, or else can haf fun w Wai and the other marine lab pple... At least there's still 4253 to see them in.... Just hope that prof doesn't notice me sitting in for the class as and when I can... hee...

Prolonged rain seems to just sap my energy away, and just feel even more un-motivated to do anything at all No nice bright Mr Sun to brighten up the skies... Definitely not the way I would like to start the new year, or even a new semester... Feel even sluggish-er than normal... 太陽はどこで隠してしまったんの？

In search of the sun...

Click for the rambling...

Click for the rambling...

Day of Happenings...

While waiting for CORS to open, shall do the update that I wanted to do last night, except that reached home around 11pm, and was chatting with the people from the Hiroshima homestay til ard 12.30 am..... So much for sleeping early...

-yesterday-
Started the day off by heading down to NUS so could go to the health centre @ YIH.... Have had been having diarrhea since wed afternoon, after having taken the oyako-don @ engine, and am STILL having diarrhea Good thing it wasn't very bad, or else I would have had to miss not one, but TWO gatherings.... Though it was a little annoying.... Anyway, back to YIH.... Went there and there were TONNES of people there, so much so that the queue reached outside.... So Juan heads off without knowing why she had diarrhea and no medication to ease the diarrhea....

Then, while heading across the expressway on the overhead bridge, I tripped on a step and nicely stubbed 2 of my right toes on a step... Din think it was anything serious til I noticed that my index toe (is that watcha call it?) was slowly oozing blood... Kinda managed to get the nail to flip up a little... Just enough for the blood to start... Luckily Des was around and plasters were at hand (tho' he was the only unfortunate one to see my bloodied toe... Not the a LS student should be grossed out by the sight of blood...), though even a plaster was not quite enough to stop the blood from oozing out, not with my weight on my foot... Right now it looks pretty normal except for some dried blood and pus around the edges... Wondering how long it would take for it to turn black...

Took 2 buses and ended up being 45 min late for our lunch meeting, thanks to Des' spider feeding and my (mis)adventure w my toe, then there was the nice long walk to Far East Square for lunch ar Pizza Hut.... Pretty fun meeting up with most of the Hiroshima homestay bunch Kinda like the atmosphere we had together while we were in Hiroshima ^^ Do hope that we would all stay friends! We DO kinda have our next "together-gether" slated as a movie outing to go watch Memoirs of a Geisha, though once semester starts, I wonder how oftne we can all meet up.... And after this semester, many would be graduating.... After the set meal thingie and the discount that we got using our student passes (one of the things I would miss most when I graduate, along with my bus pass...), headed down to Marina Square for karaoke ^^ Whee~~ Well, yea, except that by then it was raining, and quite badly too, so popped into a pharmacy and got some rubber finger cots (that REALLY really look like mini-condoms) to put over my injured toe, except that since they are meant for fingers, I needed yet another plaster to keep it from slipping off.... All got to Marina Square in one piece, and the only thing the karaoke session did for me was *sorta* updating me a little with regards to some of the newer chinese songs... Felt so old and outdated... Left around 17.30 to for my dinner gathering, leaving them to singing til 20.30h and their dinner at 21.30h, before I "rejoined" them on MSN

Haven't been to Holland V in ages, and it seems to have changed quite a bit... The main carpark now has a 2nd storey, and the slope that we usually walk down to has disappeared, with the carpack stairs nearby taking its place.... Further up, the road right in front of BK (which is thankfully still there, even tho' KFC is gone...) seems to have some kinda road widening going on... Was great meeting up w Zim, Sasi, Joshua Ong and Linus ^^ Dinner at Brekko's was nice, and avocados do taste pretty good in a sandwich too!! Updating each other and reminiscing about JC life, and just hanging out with each other was good, tho' it was a pity that a lot of the overseas bunch didn't come back during this winter break.... And Zim, being Zim, tried to get away with treating all of us by paying first... All came to an agreement by letting him treat us for dessert ^^ Nothing like a nice Swensen's dessert to end the day ^^ Tho' the choc fudge was a little too sweet for me...

Took 99 from Clementi, and was forced to miss my stop, since Singaporeans, unlike Japanese, do NOT know how to 自动 squeeze and make way when the bus stops.... The stops aren't THAT near in my part of Singapore, so I ended up ard 2.5 stops away from home, after the little bit of backtracking I needed to do... And since it wasn't raining, and the night was cool, plus I needed to walk off the dessert, took a nice walk home instead of waiting for the bus ^^ Was a pretty good walk, except that at the last traffice light, a car making a right turn didn't notice that the the pedestrians' green man was on, and nearly knocked me down... Good thing he wasn't speeding, and DID notice me in the middle of turning....

Click for the rambling...

What is happening on this earth?

Was just reading the news on CNA as well as MDN, and it just struck me that even in the midst of all the countdown festivities, there are so MANY diasters happening everywhere.... Ice rink collapse in Germany, trapped coalminers in West Virginia, flash floods in Indonesia, elderly chocking on mochi in Chiba, Japan.... Makes out for a rather depressing start to the year. Mentioned all these disasters to Des, and ya, the WORLD is in need of prayer and intercessors... Which brings me to my first new year resolution.... Prayer for the world today... Not really the kind of person to make resolutions since I know that I usually dun haf enough motivation to keep them, at least not beyond the first month or so.... But this is something that really struck me... So hard that I can't ignore it... Is it the Lord tapping on that door in my heart? Nevertheless, will pray for the nations at least once a week, based on the news and happenings..... Really too sheltered in Singapore, in the little bubble of life that I am in... Need to stick my head out of this bubble and take a GOOD look around, count my blessings and feel the pain of others....

The world NEEDS prayer... The world NEEDS the Lord... Anybody interested in joining me in weekly prayer for the world?

Click for the rambling...

Anime quizzes ^^

My Neighbor Totoro Personality Quiz


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Wolf Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

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What Forest Creature Are You?


Hosted by theOtaku.com: Anime. Done right.

Click for the rambling...

Personality test...

INFP - the Healer You scored 45% I to E, 31% N to S, 42% F to T, and 63% J to P!

You are more introverted than extroverted. You are more intuitive than observant, you are more feeling based than thinking based, and you prefer to go with the flow rather than having a plan. Your type can best be summarized by the word "Healer", which belongs to the larger group of idealists. You have a capacity for caring that is deeper than most. You strive for unity, are fascinated by the battles between good and evil, and can be something of an idealist. Only 1% of the population shares your type. As a romantic partner, you are usually supprtive and nuturing, however, you have a high need for individuality. Harmony is extremely important to you as you are very affected by conflict and tension, which also makes you resist confronting your partner directly about problems. When you get angry, you usually blame yourself, rather than your partner. You can also be stubborn and unyielding when you feel you are being criticized or mistreated. You feel the most appreciated when your partner listens to you carefully. You need to be understood. You need to hear your partner express their feelings, the more often, the better. Your group summary: idealists (NF) Your type summary: INFP

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 58% on I to E You scored higher than 32% on N to S You scored higher than 41% on F to T You scored higher than 69% on J to P

Link: The LONG Scientific Personality Test written by unpretentious2 on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sociobiologist You are 36% hard-core, and care 53% about the big picture! E.O. Wilson is your hero (pictured). Relatedness functions are your daddy. Haplodiploidy is your mommy. The great thing about your philosophy is that everything can be explained through nice hand-wavy evolutionary dynamics. I'd just like to see you ACTUALLY jump into that river to save those 2 brothers and 8 cousins. My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 25% on Hardcore You scored higher than 48% on Scale Link: The What kind of Scientist are you Test written by bivort on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Click for the rambling...