Tuesday, 28 February 2006

And so the month of doom comes...

Not that I actually feel like posting anything, esp not w all the mountainload of readings and assignments to do, not to mention the lab work that just HAS got to be rushed out... Just felt that I needed to put sth up here to mark the end of Feb....

40DoP was started w a semi-blast on Sunday with us watching a vid by Rick Warren ^^ Mum signed up with a discussion group, so thankful for that ^^ Julia, May and Yanni also signed up, so ard half of my PCG are in the same discussion group to be led by Walt and Les... Pity Grace is in China, tho it does seem that she is enjoying herself with her granny. Really pray that God would give me the strength and energy to do the 40DoP materials faithfully through the rest of he next 38 days, esp with all the school stuff that needs to be done, and knowing how much I procrastinate... I can only lean on God's strength and peace. Once I have survived my March, the battle would be more than half done!! April heralds in exams, then need to start planning for honors, and I really wonder if either profs would wanna keep me on to do more stuff on the biofilms... Shall worry about honors project after I get past this sem and UROPS....

Miss my days lazing ard in the sun or on a boat....
Click for the rambling...

Monday, 13 February 2006

Weight off my head ^^

Juan's long awaited hair cut has finally been done~~~ *bounces* Being unwilling to spend more than 10 bucks on merely cutting away dead cells, a visit to EC house was the only choice I had. Yep... that place where you REALLY haf gotta try ur best-est to tell them wat kinda hair u want, esp if u DON"T wanna end up with their one-style-fits-all hairdo... Guess it won't matter so much for guys since u can nv go very wrong.... Not unless the guy wants Jap idol styled tresses that is... Anyway, managed to get something pretty close to wat I wanted ^^ よかったね~ Kinda haf a pseudo-Major Kusanagi Motoko (tink GITS) hairdo now.... Just that since SHE's a cyborg, she doesn't need to go for regular trims to maintain her do... Now, all that's left is for Juan to dye her hair light pink, as well as attain a great figure and atheleticism, to cosplay... Not that that's gonna happen any time soon!! Think would haf better luck searching for that elusive 青学 sports jersey, and cosplaying as a diff chara from TeniPuri every week... とにかく、my hair ain't as short as I would REALLY like it to be, but since frens haf been saying that I look better with long hair.... Tho having a chunk of it snipped off does help in making my head feel less heavy, as well as give my neck better ventilation....

On a side note, Grace is flying off to China (til ard July) for SEP tonight.... *sobz*
Click for the rambling...

Wednesday, 8 February 2006

Science news...

Haven really been posting (or feeling bloggie) recently, tho these news articles did brighten up my day a little while waiting for the backups to my fiddler crab discussion presentation upload..... Speaking of which, check out this interesting site on fiddler crabs!! (http://www.fiddlercrab.info)

Good news for those who need prosthetic limbs! Tazawa-sensei is here to help ^^ Customised artificial limbs instead of the one-size-fits-all factory made ones...

Biodoversity scores yet another point! More funky species found in PNG ^^ *throws confetti* Tho' on the flip side, this also means more species that we KNOW we are gonna go gaga over and exploit over the next few years.... Need to resist temptation to buy tix and fly over to PNG now....
Click for the rambling...

Friday, 3 February 2006

Blood donation woes....

With all the recent news about how the bloodbank is low on supplies (plus the fact that I am now 21 and no longer need parental consent), I decided to venture forth to the Blood Centre @ NUH to give a little ang pow of my own ^^ Did the usual checks and stuff, blood count was adequate enough, so filled in the form to donate blood, but alas, it seems that since I was in UK for more than 3 months in the 1980s, I can't donate blood!!! *whines* This just means that Juan here is allowed to donate ANY blood, plasma or platelets for the entirety of her life :( *sobz* All because of Mad Cow preventive measures.... Wonder if I can still go for bone marrow donations~~ The nice nursie there wasn't too sure... *sigh* Ended up just keeping Des company as his blood oozed out into his contribution.... Wasn't anybody else donating blood, so I was able to just sit there on one of those funky inclined chairs ^^ Oh well, guess the only pple in my family who wld be able to donate blood wld be my sibs... Must find some way to persuade them to donate on my behalf ^^

Actually, really wanna encourage all those who are able, to go and be regular blood donors.... Singapore does need REGULAR donors, instead of those who just appear during blood donation drives and then forget abt it altogether.... Do go regularly every 3 months, can? Really wanna be able to but.... Anyway, here are some links that u guys might wanna check out...

(1) Siva's site abt blood donations
(2) DonorWeb
(3) Bloodstocks indicator
Click for the rambling...

Thursday, 2 February 2006

霍元甲

Just reached SPS after watching 霍元甲 at Cineleisure in the morning.... Feels great seeing Jet Li back in the genre he is best suited for.... Chinese kungfu ^^ Miss those gd ol' days of Fong Sai Yuk and Huang Feihong.... All those Hollywood flops and he's back!!! *fan girl starts to do some backflips since Juan can't do any* Rather nice action movie... Wonder if it's based on a true story... So sad that he had to die just as he found his direction in life and went to Shanghai to start his 精武 association... He didn't even get to go back to the village he recuperated at! *whines* OK, the spoilers shall just stop here ^^ Just glad that Jet Li went back to do one more movie in the genre that made him so popular... Wld be a real pity if he had just ended his career with those english flops.. Another thing to note, the Japanese fighter, 田中安野 (Tanaka Sano) really looked familiar, and he's the lead actor in 『いま、会いに行きます』!!! Just went to the website to double check, and it is him!! Oh wow~ If that was really him speaking in Chinese, I really have added respect for 中村獅童 (Nakamura Shidou)~ EDIT: Went to google him and it seems that he went to learn chinese for his lines!! 0_o He is just so cool~~ Shall take note of him for future references ^^ Found these websites (1, 2) abt the movie, and tho' the focus is on Jet Li, there's also quite a bit on Nakamura... Real talented guy, kabuki, TV series, movies, seiyuu roles.... *swoons*

Really great to be able to understand snatches of the little Japanese that was spoken during the show ^^ So cool~ Didn't expect to see him any time soon since I don't really watch (or notice) J-dramas... Haha... What a nice way to start the day off.... Pity there was some mix up and we din reach back in NUS in time to go donate blood (esp since Des had to go finish up his Bible study prep) ... Guess there's tmr, since EW01 won't be available for me and Wai to do our casting.... Okies... Shall stop bumming in SPS and start heading over to lab~
Click for the rambling...

Wednesday, 1 February 2006

a tale of onigiri and footprints in the mud....

Okies... this post is one day late (pretty close to 24hours anyhow)... Was pretty much drained at the end of yesterday, and had TB til 8pm today, so here's my yesterday in yet another semi-photoblog styled entry


Started the day off by spending more-or-less the entire morning making onigiri, onigiri and more onigiri prob can make onigiri with my eyes closed by now... all those endless bowls of rice that my mum kept dishing out... all for my relatives who were coming over ard lunchtime... tink I wld be staying away from rice for a while Mich and Chunzhen, sorry but dun expect any from me any time soon... tho' i still need to figure out wat's the best seasoning and fillings to have....Maybe shld just randomly try out the diff seasonings that are available in the diff supermarts since I got my ingredients from the Compasspoint Cold Storage the day before... And thus was my 2nd forage into making onigiri... One of my aunts was trying to teach me how to make chawan mushi the nite before but not a hot fan of it, plus her method results in rather salty ones.... Tink am too used to mum's less-salt-less sugar-less-seasoning style of cooking... Oh well.... Maybe I shld just stick to my mini-adventures with instant mee and how to make them more interesting w watever's available in the fridge.... Mum and I also had a fun time trying out the various ways to cook the soba properly, and since most of my relatives aren't really Jap food fans, it was also rather amusing to teach everybody how to eat soba Still haf 150mL or so of soba sauce in the fridge.... Dunno wat to do with it, tho' mum wld prob just use it as some kinda soup base.... Also pretty fun trying to figure out how much water to add to the S&B powdered wasabi to get a nice paste of the the correct "wasabi-ness".... Wonder what happened to that little can.... Tink one of my aunts brought it home since grandpa just loves wasabi


After the lunch madness, Juan went to hide in her messy little room to type out the 作文ドラフト for today's TB class (that ended up being peer marked anyway), before changing and heading over to Clifford Pier to join in the 1st public ReefWalk of the year @ Kusu Yay!! Evening walk, and here marks the start of my "career" as a guide, as well as the start of more photos!!! Bwahaha...

The back of the funky junk boat we were on...


Rays of light shining through the clouds during the leisurely boatride...


Landscape ver ^^


Just shining thru'


My group, with Freddy as the guide and Adeline as the OJT... Interestingly enough, my group had like 6 NIE trainees, 5 of which were on the walk to give them some ideas for a bio fieldtrip that they have to plan... Had an interesting time chatting with them after the walk in the darkness of Kusu while waiting for the junk to come pick us up...


Welcome to the main Kusu lagoon....


The group crowding ard a....


Seastar!!!


Poor thing is overturned....


Carpet anemone when the tide is out...


Marks of our passage....


2 types of sponges along with a massine carpet anemone....


And so we hit the coral region...


Check out the skyline~~


Funky marine spider!! Des just had to ask if it cld be caught...


And dusk falls...


Start of one of the nicest sunsets I have seen in Singapore....


Sailors' delight...


Gorgeous clouds....


Ya, bet u can tell that I am a sucker for clouds and skylines~~



The ride back was great, with me seeing Singapore from the sea at nite ^^ Simply amazing!! And the best part was that shortly after we berthed and disembarked, there were fireworks coming from the direction of Fullerton!!! So amazing!! Think this is prob one of the most amazing CNY days I have had in quite a while~~ Had fun preparing food, going on a nice intertidal walk, seeing Kusu in the darkness of nite, nice boat ride, meeting new pple and getting re-acquainted with others, and fireworks to top it all off!!! Pity I cldn't watch the entire fireworks since Dad was already there to fetch me, but still, it was a great way to end the long CNY weekend....
Click for the rambling...