it's been 3 weeks?!

Oh dear, just realised that I have gone blog-less for 3 weeks!! Hmm... What has happened since the last entry is that I have gone to Tioman (for my nav course), done tonnes of work dives in SG (though I somehow managed to escape doing any at all this week in spite of it being mid-term break), lost and found a dive slate at Kusu, and promptly lost my handphone (on the same day as finding the slate!!!).....

On top of all this, this week has been spent travelling to Sentosa EVERYDAY, to go Underwater World to count my Pocillopora damicornis larvae~~~ Been counting near to a thousand of them daily for the past 2 days... Now all the people working on corals have unofficial titles thanks to Angie.... Coral taxonomist (DW), Coral ecologist (HX), Coral conservationists (Angie, Wai), Coral master (Karenne), silt guy (Eugene 1)... And me? I'm the coral nanny... Feel like asking for a testimonial if I every decide to work in an aquarium (looking after me little ones, the fragments at the level3 aquarium, Angie's little soles, and occasionally, PY's crabbies....) In a way, it's a good thing that I don't have any pets of my own. Definitely won't have any time (or energy) to look after them...


Would be undergoing OJT on the upcoming ReefWalk on 8 Oct (Sun). Do sign up and join me!! For more details and to sign up, go to http://www.bluewatervolunteers.org/ ^_^

Also, the Sunday after that, 15 Oct, the Hantu bloggers are having another dive trip. It's SGD80. Go to the Hantu Blog at http://www.pulauhantu.org/ for more details and to signup!!

Yep, yep... Oh, one last thing. The latest issue of FiNS is out!! =^-^=

Click for the rambling...

beware of stingray!!

This may be a little late, but I still don't know if I should feel amused, bemused, or saddened about this entire incident. Steve Irwin has had his fair share of close encounters with all sorts of dangerous animals, especially crocodiles, and he met his (untimely?) end at the sting of a ray... He HAS been accused of going too close to animals while filming his documentaries, but I guess all those other animals didn't have any toxin on them to inject him with, plus I really wonder how they managed to get him on to the boat since divers are NOT supposed to ascent too fast or risk DCS... Though honestly, it's a bit of a joke to die of stingray toxin since they are rather shy creatures, and generally not known to be superbly poisonous. However, since he was filming for "Ocean's Deadliest" the ray he encountered was probably one of the few that had toxic stings? Plus the fact that he was unfortunate enough to be stabbed right in the heart (another indication of him being WAY too close)... Oh well, guess it's a mix of largely bad luck and a bit of too much foolhardiness... Wonder if he ever felt that he was invincible with all his experience in handling dangerous wildlife...

So the world mourns the loss of one charismatic wildlife documentary presenter. May not always agree with how he conducts/stages he exploits and stuff but he HAS brought nature to millions of couch potatoes and has contributed to the spreading of wildlife awareness... And so the world learns that stingrays CAN kill.... What a thought to remember as we go diving in the Singapore murk tomorrow...

Steve Irwin killed by stingray
'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin killed by stingray on Great Barrier Reef
Australian 'crocodile hunter' Steve Irwin killed by stingray

Click for the rambling...

Shower of blessings~~~

Since Sat, things have been great!!! Did our LIT training dives at Hantu on Sat, and hitting the sea after one month sure was great for all 5 of us from lab. SUre, the water is not the usual clear, blue that most divers would be used to, but it was rather interesting exploring a part of Singapore's reefs! Many happenings (yesh, me dive buddy would have LOADS to tell you!), rather trying trying to ID fish in the half-murk, though there were a couple of cool stuff spotted. Like this CUTE bumpy nudibranch with a main turqoise coloring, and a guppy at the guppy hole with it's partner shrimp digging away (probably didn't see me due to the muck!) Can just go on and on but since the more technical points are in my divelog, and the longwinded-non-technical points are in my diary (yes, it's still exists), shall not ramble on any more here...

Then there's Mon, Delphine is revived and back, safely in my arms too!! Though I probably should re-format her real soon (not this week since I have just too many things to do...). Just so happy to have her back, then can hide in room and do work and play and all the things I do with her~~~ Oh, and HY got her call that she got into SPF on Mon as well!!! *jumps for joy*

And to top this all off, THE DIVING SUSPENSION HAS BEEN LIFTED!!!!! Meaning the cloud of gloom can be finally lifted off of lab~~ *bounces* And since Wai and I don't need to meet Martin on Thu anymore, I can go join the rest of the labbies for diving on Thu~~~ And I would be going off with HX to Tioman on Fri for our navigation course. Pls, there's pizza for dinner tonight!! Life just can't get any better, can it?

Click for the rambling...

so gonna miss you....

In the midst of all the paperwork and medical checkups and trying hard to get the lab un-landlocked, Delphine decided to AWOL on me today... And since she needs to go for a checkup at the service centre, I would be laptop-less for a week~~~ *cries* Rather trying for me since it's like term-time AND my laptop is for work AND play, I wonder if how I am gonna survive this... The service centre better get it all done within the week, man!! Thankfully UROPS taught me to backup stuff, so the super important stuff like my Honors readings are on me thumb ^^ Main problem I would be facing (other than a lack of entertainment) would be not being able to charge my shuffle..... Guess this would be a good time to do my textbook muggings and pack my room....

The medical checkup today was OK, since it was basically checking the normal vitals and like reflexes etc., plus the filling up of a questionaire. Now all that's left is the HUMOGOUS sorting out of safety porotocols etc to make OSHE happy... The basic guidelines are up but seems to be insufficient... Oh well. My part in this mess is to sort out the basic First Aid Kit for both the lab and for the field...

Click for the rambling...

To ward away those back to school blues....

Here's something boliao for everybody to try ^^

[Do NOT push the red button].

Click for the rambling...

And so the semester begins....

Have had a total of one lecture this week, since the GE2018 lecturer is on MC, and I had to miss Marine Bio due to the compulsory medical examination we had, and I still need to go down to UHWC again tomorrow morning for urine test No. 2 since some protein was found this morning... Week was normal, except for the fact that we probably cannot dive for quite a while... even if we get the green light by next week, it now depends on how many of the *ancient* regulators and BCDs have been serviced/replaced... And just when I thought there was at least the LIT training dive to look forward to (and the sea to return to), just heard news that we *might* hafta postpone it!!! *sigh*

That's when I turn to blogs like Tony Wu's to cheer me up ^^ So fun!!! Wanna be at Tonga and see humpback mother and calf pairs too~~~ Not exactly at the pinacle of chirpiness but at least there's something to smile about for now.... Just wanna be able to hurry up and do trial dives in Singapore and recce possible nursery sites~~~

Click for the rambling...

Finally a morale booster!!

After goodness-knows how many semesters of seeing my CAP continuously go down the slippery slope of oblivion, it finally rises!!! *bwahaha* Yet another wonderful advantage of taking 4263, it's a CAP booster!! What more can you ask for in a module? You get to hang out/chill out for a week at Tioman, have tonnes of fun "exploring" habitats, NO exam, and get nice grades!! Wish there were more of these modules to take since I still need to YANK up my CAP if I wanna do my Master's in NUS without needing to work for a few years... But looking at this module's result, it doesn't seem THAT hopeless after all ^^ Just hope that my choice of modules this semester are good, and that I hit a few more As....

More photos have been uploaded to my Yahoo! albums, and here's a LONG overdue photo of my openwater group with Martin, our instructor and Pris and Mark our assistant instructors ^^ Just click for the full view!!

Click for the rambling...

Week of Ups and Downs...

What a week it has been... Was gearing up (literally and figuratively) for diving in Singapore tomorrow, but it is not to be~~ The whole lab is landlocked with a temporary suspension of all diving activities organised by lab, thanks to a case of DCS (decompression sickness aka bends for the un-initialised) so nobody gets to dive for a while... Prof is trying his best to get this removed since just about nearly EVERYBODY in lab needs to dive (in varying degrees that is) Poor Wai was kinda walking around looking rather depressed and worried (and a little stressed) today since she was banking on tomorrow's session at Raffles' to finish what she could not do on Tues... Do hope that all this gets sorted out soon. Not fun having everybody (including Prof) stressed and low morale...

And on to the "ups"... Got my basic gear (minus the wetsuit, since I am borrowing Jani's in the meantime...) on National Day eve~~~ *bounces* Spent just about all the leftovers of my 'ang pow' money on it, so poor Martin had to count the rather many notes.... *toothy grins* Also had quite a bit of fun copying some of the Chek Jawa cartoons that Ria did onto my mesh bag ^^ Now just need to sit back and hope to hear good news soon~~~ With the gear shopping, it feels like Absolute is turning into my third "home" (after my actual home and lab), at least for this month... Went last week to check out gear, this tues to collect gear, earlier today with HX, and next tues to try out a wetsuit that Martin managed to scout out. Funny how he called me on my handphone just as HX and I realised that he was not back at the shop... And I definitely would be in the shop at least once next month since HX and I are planning to do Underwater Navigation whilst saving up for Advance in Dec....

Click for the rambling...

LIT training course 01

Why am I blogging when I have like less than 3h to finish up my fish survey report, print it out and get to NUS to hand it in?! Just goes to show how much of report writing I can suffer from before I need a break.... The fish report is like a third done (thankfully the nightmarish freshwater one is all wrapped up!!), no time to recheck my graphs... Just gonna put them in like that and hope I don't die too badly.... And why am I in such dire states? All due to LIT training that we had last night, resulting in me reaching home at 10.40pm and two reports to finish....

Karenne's doing the first few sessions, and learnt of quite a few more survey methods briefly last night at the NParks Biodiversity Centre @ Peirce Rd. Not the most accessible place but still not too ulu... There's another session tonight, same place, same time, to continue on the LIT codes and stuff. Thank goodness I still remember a little of what Zee went through with us last year since I would be near to dead tired by then... So basically for this course, it's NIE, NParks and MBL people all being trained together to do reef surveys, and our first training dive is on the 19th... So there's like 4 days of diving for me this month!! Don't know if I should jump for joy or not.... Should stop my rant here... Need to finish my report....

Click for the rambling...

As the break fades away....

I really should be working on my report(s) for 4263 but just had to have an entry on this rather good book I came across in the library last week ^^

Was hunting around for some books on swimming when I came across the section with dive books. There was the usual array of books on dive sites all around the world, as well as books for beginners. And it was here that I found Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World by Tim Ecott. (No, it's not a book on tips on improving buoyancy!!) Initially, I thought it was just gonna be a series of dive anecdotes by the author, but it turns out to be this and more! It makes real good light reading material, and starts off with a little history about diving, and how the equipment started off prior to Jacques Cousteau's aqualung; a bit on how sponges were harvested and processed into their usable products; how the cause of bends was found out with more understanding of human physiology; divers pushing depth limits, resulting in the dicovery of nitrogen narcosis.... Have only read half of it, and am enjoying every bit of it. As far as I can tell, even the details on holothurians (the humble sea cucumbers) and sharks and physiology stuff is rather accurate. This is one author who HAS done his background reading. Definitely a good, informative book on mankind's fascination with the deep blue ^^ Do hunt it down in the library when you can!! The Dewey decimal code is 797.23 ECO-[REC].

And for those who are interested, here's the Amazon link to it:

p/s. On a sidenote, am getting my basic dive gear!! Too bad the Atomic Split Fins cost near to 200 after discount, so would be getting Tusa Imprex fins instead..... Now, back to my reports...

Click for the rambling...

Done with travelling... for now that is!

Just got back from Tioman last night. The week we spend there for 4263 was rather fruitful. Learnt quite a bit of stuff about data sampling in various habitats, and managed to get 2 dives on Saturday as well!! ^^ Just a quick run down of my week while waiting for me to sort out EVEN more photos (have yet to settle the ones from Japan and Dayang... *groans* No idea when this would be done since there's still our presentation and 2 reports for 4263 and honors stuff to do while doing our usual CORS bidding...)

Monday (17 July)
Reached Tioman in the afternoon, settled into our rooms (roomed with Jaime, Peiya, and Huiwen), everybody did a cursory "swim/snorkel test" to see if anyone was hydrophobic. The visibility could have been better but it's great to be back in the water!!!

Tuesday (18 July)
We started our set of fieldwork at the mangroves with Jeremy W at 0730h. Started off by trying to take mud/sand core samples, but that only yielded like half a crab which we probably killed during the hammering process, so the experiment was changed to Uca counting in quadrats along both sides of the stream. Basically this first day of data collection was very trial-and-error for all the 8 groups.... Still, we managed to finish mid-afternoon, giving us time to snorkel!! heehee... Our group was probably the only group that had the chance to snorkel (and actually did so) everyday! Did help that my roomies and NUS groupmates are mostly waterbabies ^^ Had our nightwalk in the mangroves that had Gwynne catching Cerberus sp. for us to see, spooky (apparently) abandoned boats in the mangrove area, as well as octopus porn in the intertidal area....

Wednesday (19 July)
Did our next sampling at Sungei Paya under JC's watchful care for our freshwater habitat. This consisted of catching fish and crustaceans after agitating them into our nets via the rain dance/rock-and-rolling. All the crazy names and stuff, it WAS rather fun to splash about in the cool stream and wondering what we would get as the nets came up. Though Gen and I weren't very amused after one net produced 175 Caridina brachydactyla, a handful of crabs and some other random stuff.... JC didn't let us off with "TNTC" either.... At least we are semi-experts at ID-ing freshwater shrimps.... Ended our sampling at a same COLD pool near some rockfalls. Had the ENTIRE group from Lat, Ngan Kee, Tohru, JC, Bryan, Genevra, Jeremy, Huiwen and me dunking ourselves into the cold cold cold water. Some of us even tried the natural cold shower slightly further up. And this was ALL before lunch.... It was onto calculations of the bidiversity indices in the comfort of an air-conditioned room ^^ Helped Kathy drown (and preserve) a red-eyed reef crab in the middle of it all, and with the analysis done, it was off to snorkelling we went!!! Started off with Bryan, Jeremy, Huiwen and I, but some how our bunch got mixed in with some of the snorkelling TAs (Jeremy W., Eunice, and JC). The good thing about snorkelling with TAs is that they not only point out stuff to you, they also ID some of it ^^ Also found out that JC took his OW with Absolute a couple of weeks before mine... haha, such a small world.... The nightwalk yielded one caught dogfaced watersnake (my pet for the day ^^), as well as a couple of Giant Malayan Frogs, sighting of a few fireflies, and not forgetting the catfish that decided to get a taste of Dr Yeo's finger ^^

Thursday (20 July)
Went up the hill in search of reptiles and amphibians with Ming, Heok and Lat, didn't see many, though we sure got our share of a workout. Nothing much can be said of the day, except for the climb up and the interesting "shrine" under Mother Willow that had mineral water and cigarettes as offerings. Gecko eggs were also rather abundant near Mother Willow. Had the afternoon free for snorkelling again, and I managed to spot a black tip reef shark!!! Too bad none of the others did. The nightwalk we had has GOT to be the craziest we have had through the week! Went boulder climbing/scampering around the small isle just off Paya beach. AT NIGHT. WITH SLIPPERY ROCK OYSTER encrusted rocks at the base. All in search of seasnake(s) that were laying eggs at the higher areas... Was freaking out at quite a few of the more challenging areas. Managed to get through them thanks to help from Gen and Ming, as well as only thinking of moving ahead one boulder at a time.... SCARY!!! Couldn't avoid the rock oysters at the end, and JUST had to go slip on a rock and ram my left leg into some.... nice long cuts all over as my battle wounds (soon to be battle scars) And after this, we all agree that Ming is one heck of a crazy, half-mountain goat TA!!

Friday (21 July)
Last day of actual data collection and work, and our group had fish surveying with Jeff, meaning SNORKELLING!!! One FULL day!!! Which also meant sticking wounded left leg into salt water.... Stung a bit but it was still good to be in the water, half drifting and counting and ID-ing fishies (sorta) all day long. At least I got to practise recognising fishies ^^ So bad at ID-ing fishies... Forgot sunblock for the entire day, so now my back is a full shade darker that my arms, as well as slightly burnt... [Bring on the aloe!!] Best part, NO nightwalk!!!

Saturday (22 July)
Finally a day all to ourselves and our gimmicks!!! Spent the morning snorkelling at the Marine Park near Tekek and at Renggis. Spotted another black tip at Renggis and this time Huiwen and Peiya saw it too!!! So I was NOT hallucinating! Somehow the 3 of us were part of the crazy group that decided to fight the current a whole bunch at Renggis, resulting in tired little us that set out to dive after lunch.... "Jie Lo Mi" and Jeremy joined us for 2 dives at (no) Lobster Bay and 1-3 Bay... Loads of gorgonians, whip corals, gobies, nudibranchs... Saw a large angelfish and moral eel too. And my buoyancy doesn't seem to suck as much as I thought it did. Then again, we were diving at nearly double the depth that I did for most of my OW dives.... Had to add another 2 lbs to get down some how, but at least I was able to control how close I was to the corals ^^ *jumps for joy* Though I did feel like screaming at half of the other divers who had stuff dragging THROUGH the soft corals, or were happily LANDING ON corals!!! Peiya also took a real funny photo of the 2 of us... haha... Reached back real late, just in time for the group performances, and Ling Han's group had a real interesting "Tioman the Musical" for us ^^ Had a bonfire on the beach, and stayed up late teaching (and playing) bridge to (with) Jie Lo Mi (along with Jaime and Peiya)

Sunday (23 July)
Had a slow lazy morning. Breakfast, stamping of divelog, last minute souvenir shopping... The ferry came early at 1100h instead of 1200h but somehow it went to Tekek, then Berjaya, Tekek again, and then to Paya again. While it was going to-and-fro, caught most of "Shinobi" on the overhead TVs, and was giving the gist of the story to JC since the subtitles were in Malay.... Reached NUS near to 2100h (slight jam at Woodlands checkpoint, Malaysian side that is), and lugged some stuff back to lab.

Thus ends the one week of fun and excitement in Tioman. Hopefully would include some photos soon....Need to get back to reports and presentation....

Click for the rambling...

pirates 2...

Caught Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest this morning with Kat. Rather fun thrill ride of a show, though the plot IS simple (but then again, since when does Disney ever make movies with cheem plotlines?) Great seeing Kat back after a year of absence, and it was fun chatting and kinda catching up, despite me having to rush back to NUS for 4263.... Love the show, though the end REALLY left a whole buncha untied ends, thus ensuring attendance for Pirates 3 which is coming out next year (boy do I hate cliffhangers in movies, as well as the sudden popping up/reviving of previous characters...) Orlando Bloom still can't act for nuts (I mean, show SOME expression when your fiancee is kissing someone else for goodness sake!!) though he sure packs a punch in swordfights... Keira Knightley kicks ass!!! 'Nuff said ^^ Definitely NOT your stereotypical damsel-in-distress!! And Johny Depp, the serendipitious, fast-talking, witty Captain Jack Sparrow is THE man making it a more-than-average entertaining show, savvy?

Click for the rambling...

yesh... i haven't been updating~~~

okies.... this marks the return of my life as a blogger... *gosh!! haven't blogged for a MONTH* main reason why I haven't been updating is that I have no idea where to start organising my 1gig+++ worth of photos that I took in Japan... Most of them being scenery or flowers, then there's Dayang (and I only managed to get photos off Mark.....) So, updates on wat has been happening since my last post..... Going backwards from today...

1) 1st BWV AGM as a registered organisation!!! Have no idea why I went for the AGM (other than the email that MS sent to tell the ReefWalkers abt it...) Everybody seemed to know everybody else lor... But it was a gd way to meet the other pple (not from lab) that are involved... Plus got a lift all the way home!! Thanks DW!!! So now we haf Zee and Abby as our chair and vice respectively, and they are both busy with finishing up their theses ^^

2) started on the field studies mod last wed, heading out to Tioman on Monday (17 July) ^^ We actually have a free day on Sat, and I do hope the weather holds up and I can go dive (and get more prac on my buoyancy~~) This just means that I haf gotta go change more money to dive... Can't wait to save up and get my own equip, man~~ The lectures have been quite rushed, and I just hope that I can rush out our 2 indiv reports by 04 Aug... Need to start reading up on stats as well... Need to do some basic stats for our reports, and I DEFINITELY need to quite a bit for my hons that I wld start work on when I get back from Tioman....

3) finally went for basic openwater!! *jumps for joy* did our 5 dives at Dayang 30Jun-02Jul.. photos would be up once I bug the rest from Belle and HX... the trip was a whole bunch of fun thanks to HX, Belle, Yanmei, K-yang, Isaac, Dan, ZF, as well as the instructors and DMs from Absolute (Martin, Mark, Pris, Yao...) Great pple, and all the pple staying at the resort gathering to watch World Cup on Sat too~~ Funny how everybody seems to be at Dayang at the same time. Weidi was there w another diveshop, Andrew was doing advance, even Gill's Jacki was ard.... To my OW group, "Peeps! Thanks for the great fun, and it's time to start saving for advance~~~"

Not many underwater photos since Mark only brought his digicam dn for the last leisure dive...

PHOTOS~~

Juan is finally diving!!! (With Pris just below, a demo of our multi-layered diving ^^)


Quick demo on mask clearing ^^


Bumphead parrotfish (aka reef luohan) with 2 other smaller fishies...


One of the turtles that we saw on just abt EVERY dive (except for the first one that is)

4) The internship w JTB was a blast!! 3 weeks of doing all sort of paperwork, booking of tour groups, plane flights, train tix, packing of goodie bags.... it has been a real great experience.... just too much for me to say everything here, so I guess it would hafta wait til I put the photos up on my yahoo albums, and add my comments in the captions ^^ and there was also the drastic change in hairstyle btwn Japan and Dayang.... hee~~

And coming up, there's Youth Sunday on this Sunday!! In the choir again, but Min's solo is absolutely gorgeous~~~

p/s. reminder to self. must try and blog in PROPER english. The rate I am going, my english is just gonna go down the drain and I can just forget about JET altogether~~~ *whines* And just for the fun of it, this is how much my blog seems to be worth at the moment, in spite of me NOT having any ads or anything... Maybe I should just put some up and get my blog to earn soe money for me *ponders* Should go bug Watson and Walt on how to go about doing something about it...

My blog is worth $3,387.24.
How much is your blog worth?

Click for the rambling...

大坂でデーワン

Back in Japan after 6 months, visiting more or less the same areas such as Osaka (back in Raizan Minami), Hiroshima (for internship), and then exploring Kyoto in more detail (hopefully get to see 芸者~~) Had a morning flight over to KIX, and on the way to the airport, we actually came across a police road check ard Clementi!! Didn't realise that Singapore actually implements those.... Rather interesting... then there was sth wrong with the family car, and we had to roll down the front windows as we drove along ECP... interesting how the different wind sounds indicate different surroundings that we were driving by.... just had thots of bats and sonar detection/visualisation aka daredevil style ^^

Took SIA this time round, and there was quite a bit of turbulence... esp when we were having lunch... oh well、at least I got to watch the live action movie of TOUCH (あだち充のタッチ) ^^ took Nankai over from KIX to Shin-Imamiya, to get to Raizan South where we met up with Peiyen's fren, Mine. Really interesting guy who's super 優しい (SOO hard to find these kinda guys in SG... haha...). REALLY helped us with settling how to get to Hiroshima from Osaka, and when we tried to treat him to dinner (we had sushi 0_o), he was like doing little favors and stuff back, and even walked us all the way back to the hotel (somehow he didn't seem too convinced that we wld be OK since there were 3 of us and I know my way ard Raizan) even tho' it WAS getting late and he still needed to travel quite some distance home..... Clarinda would be joining us tmr morning and prob be mtg up w Mine again in the afternoon, and another of Peiyen's friends in the evening...

It's midnight here, and hardly got any sleep last night, so would head up to catch some shut eye... would try and post some photos up tmr morning (later today I mean) お休みなさい～

Click for the rambling...

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....

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

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....

--------------------------------------

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...