blogger hates me...

Happy 22nd to Lester, Linus, and Swee San!!!

Seems like blogger and firefox dun get along anymore everytime I try to post a new entry in firefox, it crashes.... so I am FORCED to update my blog (hopefully only for now) using IE.....

Anyways, some quick updates before I get stuck in the exam runt.... Firstly, the friend that I have been blogging about ain't mad at me anymore ^^ *phew* Well, she says she hasn't quite forgiven me about my attitude during the project, and I understand that, I really am glad that she isn't pissed anymore ^^ Still have a couple of friends to patch up with, though I shldn't risk further aggravating them during the exam period... Really do hope that I can make up with them.

Next, dad gave the green light for the internship!! *bounces* So off to Hiroshima for me! Now, to wait and see if any of my Japanese 5 friends manage to get one of the 2 places after the interviews.... Feel so nervous for them... Know of at least 5 of them who applied but didn't get in, and there are only 2 places... Want ALL of them to get in, but guess that ain't possible... Shall have to wait til Thu morning then...

Finally done with ALL my assignments, and can concentrate on MUGGING Well, my exam schedule is up for all those who are interested.... This time round, I REALLY have something(s) on that would keep me going through the PILES of mugging....

(1) Openwater course finally becoming a reality in May before I go off for...
(2) 3-week internship in Hiroshima, after which I would be back to start on my Honours project before starting on...
(3) Special semester with LSM4263 Field Studies in Biodiversity, an intensive 3 weeks that includes a 1-week fieldtrip to Tioman (for the THIRD time~~)
(4) And of course, there's always my anime and dramas and books that are beckoning to me~~~

Busy busy busy....

Click for the rambling...

go figure....

Just after settling my enrollment for the field studies module during the hols, I am pleasantly surprised with the email informing that I somehow got selected for the Hiroshima internship ^^ *does a little jig* Tho' still waiting for my dad to give the green light that he wld be covering for my expenses, or else I would be more than hardpressed to go... Still recovering from the homestay, AND trying to fund my own openwater.... Only know one other friend who got in. Pity that most of my friends didn't get in, really wonder why... Thought I already submitted rather late... *keeps fingers crossed* Really do hope that Dad's gonna fund me.... Even if none of the jobs are directly related to my major but would still like to get some experience working in Japan....

On the downside, me getting selected seems to haf riffled more than a few feathers.... 2 other frens (that I dinnoe applied for this) seem to be somewat upset that I got in and they din.. Wonder how they even found out.. (maybe from my MSN nick but then I dinnoe abt it at that time) Was surprised when one of them SMSed me yesterday asking abt it, esp since she seems to be pissed at me the past few weeks (things HAVE felt awkward and I haf no idea how to go abt patching things up).... After cfming that I did apply and get thru, I get this SMS "If u're not interested in e hiroshima one, can pls withdraw? xxx (the other fren) is v upset abt not getting. If some1 withdraws @ least she has a chance." Before then, I cld only establish that she also applied but dinnoe if she got selected or not, so I just checked with her, and I get "Yes, only you and aaa (yet another fren) got in. Happy?" Really sounds like I did a bad thing by applying.... Tho' I dun see the prob w me applying, and I dun even noe how they selected lor... Plus I din say submit the application til the Friday before the dateline... Was gonna brush it off as carrying fwd of the awkwardness and un-friendliness btwn the 2 of us til I read her blog.... Feel grossly misunderstood.... Come on! I din apply just so that I cld "book" a place and deprive u guys of a space!! Just being one of the dunno-how-many-pple who have an interest in Japan.... Seems like I have developed this knack for riling up pple against me recently....

so yah, go figure, and any constructive advice/inputs are more than welcome....

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EDIT (18.30h)
And she responds.... Ah yesh, do admit that I was more than anal during the project (esp towards the ends of the entire thing), and really troubled you guys a lot more than I should have. I'm really sorry for all the trouble and added work that you had to put in, and I did apologise for it. Yesh, we were ALL busy and I had loads of cockups that resulted in tonnes of problems for the rest.... I was definitely in the wrong for that incident. Hontou ni warukatta. Not that I think that things would immediately go back to how it was before but would I even have a second chance at being friends?

Not gg to go into anymore detail... Dun wanna have this turn into some kinda blog squabble or wateva... Plus, wat has that gotta do w the internship thingie?

Click for the rambling...

last few days of sem....

Finally wrapped up my UROPS with my last oral examination ^^ Now have to make appointment to discuss possible honours project with Jani and Prof.... Just left with the last 3262 practical tmr afternoon and the 71 viva tomorrow nite... Speaking of which I FLUNKED my 3262 CA... 20% of my grades DOWN THE DRAIN.... the silver lining to the dark cloud is that our group assignment was a decent grade.... really need that 60% of the finals to get me a decent grade..... *outs on mugging cap and hope it's not too late*

Japanese 0ral later this evening... hope I dun pull Yilin dn along with me.... Still have behavioral and tumor assignments to finish by this weekend as well, and the NANA translation job (why does chp 54 haf so much dialogue?!) Must try and make sure my CAP remains above 3.5....

Anyways, seems like I probably would be able to take BOTH biz jap and jap 6 next AY, assuming that there are NO timetable clashes ^^ Signed up for the field studies module during special sem, so I no longer need to take developmental bio~~ *yay* there goes 3 weeks in July, but I get to go to Tioman again for a week ^^ Love doing field studies there! So good that Tioman has so many diff types of habitats within walking distance of Paya Beach Resort ^^

Click for the rambling...

hotaru no haka

5 min into watching the live action re-make of the Studio Ghibli anime, and I am already tearing... This movie was made to make the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII, and ever since watching the the anime the first time round a few years back, I can't help but recall this movie when I see a box/tin of those Meiji Fruitdrop sweets... *cries some more* War is heart wrenching, esp so when you think about the civilians who are trying so hard to survive... oh, the children.... This year would mark the 61st anniversary of the end of WWII and I really hope that there would NEVER ever be a WWIII, and that NOBODY would have to suffer from the effects of another nuclear bomb (or anything as horrifying) *shudder* Memories of the artifacts and vids we saw at the Hiroshima A-Bomb Museum start coming to mind... Think I shld pay a visit there again when I am back in Hiroshima (hopefully in May for the internship)

*goes back to the movie and a tear-fest*

2.5h later.....
Nice seeing a new perspective to the original anime, with the introduction of another family (that DOES survive the war) to tell the story as a kinda flashback from 2005, and set in Kobe during the war years (Showa period), and atempts to make it a little more realistic than 2 children trying to survive all on their own during the last year of WWII. But isn't Sawano Hisako too harsh on the 2 kids, all the same? War and hunger just seems to bring out the worst in humans, but isn't there some way to survive together cooperatively? Or am I just being over-idealistic?

Click for the rambling...

still alive... barely..

*sigh* exams are nearing... but still have like 3 assignments to go... the big UROPS report was in last week, and now I'm left with the oral examination-cum-grilling session by profs :( but at least the report is all done (except that there are just SO MANY grammar and lang prob with it... dun even dare ask Prof abt content errors... just wait to get roasted during the oral sessions lor...) Japanese individual report dued tmr (since my TB is tmr... why can't I be in the Thu TB?!), so I prob have a late night today, attempting to get 2000 words out in Japanese... Doesn't help that TA is til 8pm.... Then there's the reports for behavioral and tumor.... More worried for the tumour one... 900-word essay some more... at least for the behavioral one I have a choice between finishing up our 2nd observational journal or doing the short answer assignment.... and then there's the preparation for exams.... REALLY need to score for exams in all my bio mods since my UROPS is so mucked up (unless Prof decides to be uberly nice to me....), or else I *may* not be able to do honors..... *pulls out hair*

Kinda in dire straits now since my coherency level is like this... oh well.... back to mugging the near-to-2-page long vocab list for TA... dunno how many I can remember, but need to finish it up and then do the readings for tmr's behavioral discussions, as well as my Japanese 2000 word essay.....

Click for the rambling...

over-procrastination....

trust me to over-do things... think I procrastinated a LITTLE too much this sem... 6 days more til UROPS is dued, still no final data.... gonna try some last resort measures on Thu, and need to do a mountain load of readings and stuff (not to mention, prep a presentation)... gonna be such a sleepless week... and there's still the Jap indiv report to do, as well as journal #2 for behavioral and assignment 2 for tumour (900 word essay!!! SO need to re-read that paper!!) Yesh... I only have myself to blame for all the piles of stuff to do, as well as my lack of sleep etc.... been a student for like 15, 16 years and I STILL have issues with time management!!! Feel pretty useless at the moment... Hope you guys don't mind me having any sudden moods swings or bouts of moodiness/crabbiness/grouchiness... It's the lack of sleep, and the person I am most irritated with is ME!! Excuses aside, I really shld get back to mugging and writing my UROPS report.....

Chances are the next proper entry would be just before/during reading week....

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Okies, enough abt me.... Mum seems to be enjoying her weekly 40DoP discussion sessions @ Auntie Poh Khim's ^^ REALLY glad that she not only signed up for the campaign, but also joined a discussion group (all that talk abt her being worried abt pple gossiping behind her back... there may be some black sheeps ard who don't know ant confidentiality amg a church group, tho' I think it's basic courtesy to just keep wat is said amg acquaintances/friends amg the pple involved, esp for more sensitive issues) Mondays are her sharing days, where I come back from NUS and there she is, waiting to share abt the pple in her discussion group, and how the discussion went ^^ Of course, she can't share too much details with me, but still happy that she is feeling comfortable with the group. If she decides to stay on and come to church regularly after the campaign, it would be fabulous!! Been praying for my immediate family that they would either come to church on a regular basis or come to know and trust God and Jesus as their person Lord and Savior ^^ Shall keep on praying and believing!

Click for the rambling...

hmmm... this test is rather cool...

I am a Free-Wheeling Thinker!!!

Juan's personalDNA results...

Click for the rambling...

don't inconsiderate pple get on your nerves?!

Din really wanna blog about this but it has gotten to a state which I really cannot take it... WHAT IS IT WITH THE FOREIGN YEAR ONE LSM STUDENTS IN SPS?!? Some of them have absolutely NO consideration or courtesy for the people around them whatsoever.... Not that I dun haf my own bouts of noisiness that can disturb those hardcore muggers, but I try to not affect the other pple ard in SPS... we are supposed to be working AS a community, and be aware that the room is SHARED....

The first one is this guy that keeps his stuff near my area, well, he kinda took over Junliang's area since JL went for NOC, so fair enough... But the only thing that griped me was that if I come later to NUS, he would WITHOUT fail be sprawled on the table (right in front of my stuff and not his, mine you) sleeping, with his notes spread out... Which can be understandable since we do get tired and need a shut eye or two in between mugging, but this fellow just sleeps there for a few hours!! The even more irritating thing is that his bag would ALWAYS be on the table no matter what... even if he is awake and the room is crowded, and he DEFINITELY knows this since crowded SPS = noisy SPS....

And this morning as I come in, I see tonnes of ST2238 notes spread all over my area, so it seems like there were some nightowls mugging for mid-terms... peanut shells (and bits of peanuts on the floor and on the table as well) She got up when I turned on the lights but was OK with me moving her stuff a little so that I could have some space... What was NOT OK was that her fren sleeping in the chair just next to her is using MY nice furry huggable jacket!!! *whines* And I really LOVE to hug it, so now since some guy has used it (prob for the whole nite), it's gonna stink of someone else... a someone else that I dun even noe!!! So need to lug it home for washing... gonna go bitch to mum when I get home.... as if I din already have so many things to carry homw with my file, Jap text and lappie.... such a crummy way to start off the day :( they just woke up, and that stupid guy doesn't even have the sense to return my jacket!!! Aargh.... really need to talk to these pple.... simply no idea of what it means to be a community.... Lord, just give me the calmness and words to talk to them about my jacket, that I dun end up being unneighborly or unloving....

EDIT [07.30h]:
Just talked to that guy, and he's not even from SPS... just came to study with the girl... really cannot stand he attitude.... reacted with a "I didn't know it's your jacket" when I only mentioned about not any ol' how use pple's stuff (so, if he realises that it's mine, shldn't he just return it instead of just leave it in a messy little pile on the chair he was sleeping in?!), and an utterly insincere and un apologetic "I'm sorry"... Furthermore, if he already heard me complaining to Ifty earlier (which I tink he did since he was a little to ready with his reactions), shouldn't he like hurry up and return my jacket and apologise, instead of just leaving it, and walk around the room packing his stuff?! I know I would hurry up and return the stuff and apologise ON MY OWN ACCORD and MEAN my sorries.... Really can't stand it when pple just use my stuff w/o asking, and esp w/o letting me know later..... *collects jacket* Wonderful.... now my jacket smells Indian (not that I wanna be racist) but that's not exactly wat I wld want sth that I love to snuggle and hug to smell that way......... *cries*

Click for the rambling...

a twinkle of light..

Seems that all is not lost, at lesat not yet... received the results for JLPT 3, and I passed, and rather comfortably too ^^ Though the reading-grammar section ate up most of my points, the vocab section wasn't done too well either... Oh well, here's the JLPT 2 at the end of this year ^^ Maybe I shld study properly and aim for full marks! *bwahaha* Just thankful for the little blessings, to tide me over this busy month ahead....

On a side note, it seems that my latest posts dun seem to show up somehow, have to refresh a couple of times to read them... so weird...

Click for the rambling...

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...

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...

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...

Click here for more~~

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....

Clickie for the CNA story...

Click for the rambling...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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