giving thanks

Monday, December 17, 2007

I know I really shouldn't be writing a blog entry right now in the middle of my studying for finals.. but yes, I will consider this as a break...

The insanity of the past semester has finally ended with the last day of classes. yay! I am so done with o chem lab...(haha kelvin, i'm blogging abt it:) strange though... i wasn't over the moon after the last o chem lab. More of being thankful and relieved that it had ended. Looking back, how I survived the semester was indeed amzaing! (anyway, studying for the finals is another story in itself)

Ever had times when you felt tired of being tired? Well, I finally knew what it meant. there were so many times when I wanted to throw in the towel. When I just did not want to go for lectures anymore, especially bacteriology lecture, partly because it was at 8am. Especially towards the end of the semester when the mornings get so cold that its so nice to sleep in. but you wake up only to find that it is already 745am... there's only so much you can do in trying to make it on time for that lecture... unless you can glide (something I should really learn from roys... haha). anyhow, I digress! where was I? Yes, tired of being tired. And you don't even want to "chiong" for exams anymore, which is BAD... I recall the last day in Minnesotta when jo, roys kh and I were so reluctant to go back to Madison to finish the last leg of the semester. When we actually contemplated quitting school... which is actually a really nice thought(i'm serious!), something which I still wish could happen without any consequences.

reality reality reality... never pleasant when it hits, but you can never run away from it...

anyway, to put it simply, the semester was a crappy one... I screwed up so many bacteriology midterms that I don't even dare to think about what my grade would be in the end... Nonetheless it was the most fun-filled and meaningful one. I am really be thankful for the wonderful company that has seen me through the best and the worst times of the semester. All the lunches together and cookouts, all the late nights at union south and wendt libary, the sleepover at kh's place, all the road trips... and most of all, the support and encouragement! and for just being there!:) the friendship that has developed is truly amazing:)

Most importantly, I also want to thank You for everything!

hahaha sorry i'm becoming mushy and everything... haha... anyway, it's just 5 more days!! it's probably time to end this entry and hit the books... i promise to update more over winter break!

some long overdue pictures from the minnesotta trip, courtesy of kh:)

thanks guys, for all the times we spent together!

only 1/3 of the semester to go??

Monday, November 12, 2007

i am 2/3 through with this semester! on the one hand, this is good because I want to be over and done with this insanity. On the other, I'm really unsettled... Am i really 2/3 through with the semester? Why do i feel as though what transcended over the past 10 weeks was merely the tip of the iceberg? but it's like - what more can there be in just 5 more weeks?? hah. just 5 weeks? more like 840 hours, and I wonder how much will actually be spent sleeping.

the past 2 weeks were hellish, and I really don't know how i managed to pull through. caffeine? hah... i hate caffeine... i really doubt it helps to keep me awake. and i feel extremely lethargic after that... and i suspect the terrible headache I got on saturday was all thanks to caffeine as well. but the college runs on caffeine... almost everyone I see carries a thermos mug of coffee. I seriously doubt anyone can get through college without cultivating this reliance on caffeine. of course there are exceptions to the rule. but still...

hahaha anyway enough about caffeine... I am really looking forward to thanksgiving in Minnesota! in 1.5 weeks! Seriously, it's the only holiday we have. Other schools get fall breaks,Veteran's day off etc, but we get only the bare minimal. The timetable here is so well-thought of, that the semester starts exactly after the labor day holiday... whatever...
back to Minnesota - yes! Mall of America! woo! and guess what? people start queuing at 430am when the mall opens only at 8am! haha! that's madness... other than that, there isn't really a lot to see and do in MN. it'll be a nice getaway, and really, it's the company that counts! looking forward to chilling out n slacking the whole day:)

i wouldn't be taking organic chemistry lab...

Friday, October 19, 2007

if i didn't have to.

i will be ranting about o chem lab in this post, so beware... if organic chemistry is the love of your life, and you just want to spend every single waking hour in the organic chemistry lab, steer clear...

I don't like o chem lab at all. EVery single thing about the lab is so intimidating. From the solvents in the fume hoods to the glassware. In retrospect, analytical chem lab wasn't that bad. The only good point about organic chemistry lab is that you don't have to spend a whole lot of effort washing your glassware. Just use Acetone. and everything (i think) in you flask will dissolve and can be poured out. spick and span glassware in less than 5 mins. I remember the days of having to wash analytical chemistry glassware with microcleaning solution.. but oh well, those were the days...

Besides the above, everything isn't good. Firstly, the chemicals are volatile. Using the fume hood doesn't help a lot because once you take the compound out, the vapor gets to you. What's more? Sometimes, we have to heat organic solvents. Congratulations! Imagine the amount of hexanes you will be breathing in... And these tend to give you a bad headache, and god knows what else they do to you...

Plus the machines we have to use - people are generally not familiar with how to use them. So for the simplest task of determining the refractive index, which sounds hard but really isn't, people can take a whole 10 mins! My gosh. I don't know how they can spend 10 mins looking through the eye piece to determine the RI! it's not like as if its a kaleidoscope -_-"
Plus those gas chromatography machines that we have to use are really 'lao pok'. They have 3 machines to be shared among 64 students. 2 of the machines are not working. So you can imagine the queue that starts to build up, and it's really frustrating.

Oh man.. i really dread O chem lab... Every monday and wednesday, I will just get super nervous, anxious and frustrated. i know because I feel my heart racing each time I step into the lab... i hope this will get better ove rthe next 8 weeks...

my stats professor is super cool

ok... my stats professor is really funny. oh my goodness! he tries to be funny in lecture ALL the time. plus it's always so subtle and when you least expect it. it takes awhile to realize the joke, then it's just uncontrollable laughter... I guess these are the things that make the 1hr 15min lecture bearable...

so he told us to calculate the standard deviation to a problem. someone shouted "0.22". For some reason, he kept hearing it as 0.23, 0.32. anything but 0.22. So the person kept repeating "two two. two two." he finally heard it as 0.22. He went "oh! two two..." wrote the answer on the board, and then after a pause, guess what he said, "you know ballet tutu?".. then he did the classic ballerina pose. My goodness!

and then he was explaining this problem where a researcher counted dendrites in 35 neurons obtained from 7 guinea pigs. He was trying to illustarate why the 35 neurons were not totally random and independent variables. Well, basically it just takes a little bit of common sense to figure that out - the 35 neurons should have been obtained from 35 guinea pigs. But he went on about how a guinea pig can be an Einstein guinea pig or an idiot guinea pig and that the Einstein guinea pig would have more dendrites in a neuron.
seriously! einstein guinea pigs having more dendrites in their neurons?! that's the most absurd thing i've heard!

Plus, what does it take for someone to wake up in the morning, and decide he had to shoot the first squirrel he saw outside his window? Hah! and proudly flaunt his kill to the class... and he claims that his GPA was 0.65 in his freshman year. HAHA! how do you ever do get that?

6 weeks down, 9 more to go!

Monday, October 15, 2007

this semester is going way too fast!

it is starting to get cold in madison now and the sun is rising later and setting earlier. I guess it was gradual process, but I was probably too busy to notice. It was only on saturday that i realized it was already dark outside when it was only 630pm!

Yup, I should probably stop complaining about the weather. Before the temperature dropped, i was complaining about the heat. now, i am dreading the cold. Oh man! I want it to be 18 degrees celsius all year round! but that's not being realistic... anyways... i am not looing forward to experiencing winter in wisconsin all over again. I heard from a senior that winters in madison have been getting milder (yes, -28 degrees celsius is mild by mid-west standards). i hope that winter this year will be even milder! Should we be thanking global warming?! HAHA...
i watched Ratatouille. A really good movie, filled with humor and wit! my goodness! i was laughing throughout... It was for nearly 2 hours? But time flew by...

Anton Ego to Linguini " you're slow for someone in the fast lane."
Linguini's retort " you're thin for someone who loves food."

Gusteau "You know what I say. Anyone can cook."
Remy "Yeah, anyone can cook. That doesn't mean that anyone should."

Gusteau "What can I do? I am a figment of your imagination..."

i need an excuse to get a new school bag

Thursday, October 11, 2007

My school bag is almost 3 years old! I want it to spoil, but it just refuses to!! AHH!


Once in a while, i stuff in so much barang that it will weigh more than 7kg. But it refuses to give way... What more can I do? Plus, it doesn't receive the best treatment - I throw it around on the floor, and i expose it to rain and shine... But it refuses to spoil. Oh man... how how how? I want that north face borealis... hmph... help me think of a good reason to justify getting a new bag... lol

cooking

I have always wondered why chefs are inevitably men... it's only when you try cooking for yourself then you know the reason why.
The wok, by itself, is heavy. Imagine it with meat and whatever you are supposed to cook. it becomes REALLY heavy. ok, at least to me. if you cannot even lift the wok up, how are you supposed to be tossing food in it as you cook?
what about cooking stuff in 'cauldrons'?? firstly, you need to make the broth, which means you have to move buckets of water. then you need to stir. Wahh. don't play play and think that stirring is simple. you need to overcome the viscosity of the broth ok...
cooking is not as simple as it seems.
i have a newfound respect for chefs

a good saturday to make up for the week

Sunday, October 07, 2007

yup! saturday was a blast! i wish that every single weekend in Madison could be like that...

on saturday morning, we drove to Cave of the Mounds, in Blue Mounds, WI. It was a short drive away, but it felt really good to be away from it all. The cave is a growing limestone cave, so water was dripping from the stalagtites and all... I really liked the cave bacon, a limestone formation just like the stalagmites. They really look like breakfast bacons, trust me... and there's something truly amazing in this cave - a formation that really looks like a parrot. and guess what? Polly the parrot is a stalagmite growing on a stalagtite. Figure that out! apparently, when water was still flwing through the cave, the force of its flow actually knocked off the stalagtite from the ceiling...

then it was Mt Horeb, the troll capital of the America... there weren't that many trolls after all.... we saw llamas though. haha.. just an aside.. i was horrified at myself for mispelling "llama" as i captioned my photos... i guess it was pretty late at night then... so when I was typing this entry this morning, I remembered that llama is spelled with a double "L". oh man!

plus hotpot dinner at xuejiao's placE!:)

one week passed, just like that

Saturday, October 06, 2007

i am in utter disbelief that one week has flown by, just like that... papers, work, lab, exams, quizzes and lectures... and the cycle repeats itself every week...
this week was a really really bad week. many things happened.
for one, lab. well, my experiments have been working well so far, as compared to last semester where i spent the entire semester trying to transform bacteria, to no avail. But still, i cannot spend as much time in the lab as I would like to. And somehow, I feel that my mentor isn't very pleased... sigh. oh well... i'm really worried. but there's nothing much i can do about it, except wish that i had 36 hours (yes, again!) in a day...
then exams - i was surprised that i even managed to get through 90% of the material i needed to cover... i overslept and i had to skip my bacteriology lecture to make up for lost time...
then the horrible english paper i submitted on monday, which i did not even have time to proof read. I don't think my arguments were very coherent. and i am seriously worried... crying over spilt milk, i know...
but whatever... whatever is done is done. the weekend is finally here!:)

haha.. one week has passed, just like that
i'm getting better at moving on as time passes me by...
pretending that i don't care when it matters the world to me

stupidity

Monday, October 01, 2007

sometimes, i wonder why I don't learn from my mistakes.
I wonder why I make decisions that I end up regretting.
Then hopelessly wish I could turn back time.

I only have myself to blame...

busy busy busy

Sunday, September 30, 2007

yes, the past week was just busy busy busy. The pile of work NEVER gets lesser. It only grows. Ahh. And when there is conflict of interests, you really don't know which one you should prioritize. There are so many things I want to do. But I only have 24 hours a day. I guess I should learn to live with the fact that I cannot always get the best of both worlds. Something's got to give.

I want more hours in a day! ike 36 hours! So that I can go to Devil's Lake today. So that I can go shopping at East Towne mall. So that I can go to more football games! Football games are really fun... I really really like the atmosphere, although I don't really contribute to it. and cheering for UW, and jeering at the random supporters of the offensive team... ... haha. I know this is mean. But it is really fun... Today, we beat Michigan state! Woo! Imagine the adrenaline that was pumping in the stadium. Oh man! When the game ended, I looked at the people filing out of the stadium from my apartment. I think this is absurd, and it could be just me. but it's nice to just watch the sea of red after a football game. It just feels good. Especially after we beat the other team. It's probably Badger pride. haha... I promise to get myself season passes for my senior year.


























































at the citadel game

welcome to junior year

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Woah... it has been 3 weeks since I came back to Madison. And it has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs...







It's funny how leaving Singapore this time felt much harder. I don't know why. It's really ironic. I was really looking forward to starting a new semester at Madison. But at the departure gate, i was overwhelmed. It suddenly struck me how much I am leaving behind... But oh well... Everything went well enough, until the transit at JFK. The flight to ORD was repeatedly delayed - from 315 pm to 540pm. And then, it was cancelled!! My goodness! Apparently, there was a tornado at Chicago, forcing hundreds of flights across the continent to be cancelled. The next available flight to ORD was from Washington Dulles airport at 6am. Haha. Stranded at airports for almost 15 hours. Not a nice feeling at all... But yup, finally reached Madison. I am settling well into the new apartment, but my room still looks bare. I'll get posters and put up pictures when i find the time...











































my room!





It has been 2 weeks into the semester, and I feel overwhelmed by work. I don't know if I am overloading my semester, or if it is like that for everyone in their junior year, or if it is just me. But yes, there are so many commitment - academic, lab, friends and family - and sometimes, I feel as though these are tearing me apart. The past 2 weeks have been really bad. So on Thursday, I decided i needed a break. I tried cooking, and yes, that was like the first time in my life that I actually cooked a decent meal. It turned out well enough. But I severly underestimated the amount to cook for 5 people. I thought 2 cups of rice was enough. Haha. And for the fish, it just shrank by some kind of magic after I stir-fried it. Lol. So... Had to thaw more fish. Thank god for microwaves. They make life so much easier.














And guess what, I baked carrot and raisin muffins from scratch on Friday! haha! it seems like I am going into some sort of compulsive disorder. haha! the things people do when they are stressed.





and yes! I am going to my first football game in Madison in half an hour's time! so excited!

unsent thoughts

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

i realise i should not buy cards in future.

I have successfully accumulated a stack of unsent cards.

Some of them are cards I buy on the spur of the moment, WAY in advance. But things happen along the way and often, you don't feel the same way as you did at the time you bought the card. Or there were unexpected change in plans. So the card remains tucked in one corner. But this is OK. Because somehow you will find a way to put the card into good use...

Worst are the cards I have already written in. They are all ready to be sent. But somehow, I just don't get down to the sending part.
I guess writing and actually sending the cards are different things.

random

Sunday, June 24, 2007

My goodness! I am so lazy now. I have so much time and I don't feel like blogging... this post will be just a random compilation of things from the last post till now. Nothing much changed, except that I am now back in Singapore. It felt surreal upon landing at Changi Airport. I guess it is because everything was happening so quickly. After finals, it was packing and moving out of the dorms. Then it was the New York trip. I felt as though I was being pushed forward by the tide of time.

It feels good to be home after 9 months. Meeting family and old friends once again. Getting to eat Hokkien Mee and Chicken Rice once again. The only thing about Singapore is the heat and humidity. I miss the weather in Madison! ahh! but I should not be so greedy...

haha! whilst shopping at Ho CHi Minh city, my sister and I mistook wooden chopsticks for hairsticks!

HAIRSTICKS!

oh my goodness! So we wanted to buy ONE hairstick. And the lady took another identical stick and told us the cost of a pair. So we thought we had to buy a minimum of 2 hairsticks. So put the one that she gave us back and chose a different pattern. But she told us that the 2 had to be of the same pattern. Haha... we did not know the reason why then... But after walking around Ben Thanh market for awhile, we realise that those were chopsticks! Argh!!

And during the trip, I saw the most adorable baby girl ever! Her name is Tashi!

Aww!

My sister is so good with carrying her! I try to carry her... but see what happens.. Haha! she's trying to leap away from me!! oops!

And I have started my 8 week attachment at IMCB. It's really fun and interesting, and the people in my lab are really nice people. Especially my mentor who is so patient with me... (I can be quite a disaster in lab) The only thing I don't like about lab is the cold room. I find it really cold inside... but it's only 4 degrees celcius in there! Oh man! Imagine the amount of adapting installed when I get back to Madison! And there is also the dark room, which is really dark... It's pitch dark, except for the red light. I couldn't see anything despite the red light, but my mentor could navigate her way around the room without any difficulty! It's pretty scary because you keep hearing noises but you cannot make out the source of the noise... And imagine if you are the only one in there... if someone ever tries to pull a prank on me in the dark room, I think i will be scared out of my wits. I should eat more carrots to improve my dark vision!:)

spring in Madison

Monday, May 28, 2007

Bascom Hill

Spot the squirrel

moving out

Friday, May 25, 2007

Moving out of the dorm was an experience of a lifetime. I promise you would not want to experience it ever again. It was really funny how I felt busier and more stressed out after my finals, which ended on Thursday afternoon. I started packing on Thursday evening, through Friday and Saturday evening. I was really amazed at the nonsense that had accumulated over the year. My goodness!

First, I packed things like my comforter that I wanted to store over the summer. And I managed to fill a 24" x 24" 24 " box to the brim. When the box was picked up for storage, the guy commented that it must have weighed a 200 pounds.. he could barely lift it up into his van...

Then came delofting, which was the worst part of them all. Katy moved out earlier in the afternoon, and after seeing how she and her other friend managed to deloft without any major problems, I thought it should be an easy task. But I was so wrong. I forgot that they were rowers...

Esther, my housefellow, together with Trina, helped me deloft. It was the hardest thing ever! The bed frame was so heavy, and it was not easy to slot the metal frames back... No wonder they say you need a mallet to deloft... And came mopping! Gosh! the amount of dust that had accumulated, despite the fact that we vacuum the room *occasionally*... I really don't know how the dust came to be. They just appeared! and accumulated happily...

Miraculously, I managed to return the room to its original state. Don't ask me how... I don't even know how I did it...

It's goodbye to lakeshore for now... It's really ironic. At the beginning, I thought I would be looking forward to moving out of the dorms. But now, I feel that I will really miss everything about dorm life and about lakeshore...

Clockwise from top left:

Outside Cole

Katy's desk

Holt commons

Mei busy with Trina's birthday surprise

ooo... i can smell singapore

Sunday, May 06, 2007

I am so excited about going back to Singapore!! woo hoo! Singapore in 3 more weeks!! My goodness! The wait could have been 2 weeks... but all well... its just 1 week more... not much of a difference... i hope...
ANyways, there's so much to do over the summer, and the wait is simply killing me...

And I have made a "To Eat" list when I get back to Singapore:):):)

The top 4:

1) Pork floss bread from BreadTalk (ooh.. my ultimate ultimate favourite)
2) Chicken Rice (mainly because I miss the chilli)
3) Yong Tau Foo
4) Walnut cookies
The list is exhaustive...

How about a "Not to Eat" list (lol)
which isn't too long for obvious reasons...
1) Dim sum (overkill during spring break...)
2) Ice cream (too much in Madison)
3) Pizza

spring break part 3: pike place, pioneer square, univeristy of washington, boeing factory, space needle

Saturday, April 14, 2007

SEATTLE!

Stop 4: Pike Place!

a huge market! selling all kinds of produce from raw fish to homemade jam to t-shirts and souvenirs. the highlight was food and more food!

and i did not realize why it was "sleepless in seattle" till i came to pike place. and lo and behold! i was introduced to life, the seattle way. you get a coffee joint at almost every other corner you turn. Oh my goodness! if it wasn't a Starbucks, it was Seattle's Best Coffee. Else, it was Tully's! And did you know that Seattle was the birthplace of Starbucks? I wonder why its not surprising...

at the very first Starbucks joint:)

I am not a fan of crocs. and what i saw waS simply bizarre...

oh my goodness! oh my goodness! that was the only thing i could say... it's as if crocs are not outlandish enough. they have these things which you can insert into the holes! OH MY GOODNESS!

to all crocs lovers out there: Good for you!

as we were walking around downtown seattle, we stumbled upon this waterfall park in the midst of the CBD... hmm

Stop 5: Pioneer Square

the underground tour was quite an interesting experience, an eye opener. so we were introduced to the history of sanitation in seattle. how it was a challenge to the hilly terrain of seattle. and so fortunately for a fire that razed to the city to the ground, the city could be rebuilt with a better sanitation system. Ok, point taken. but it was the longest 1 1/2 hours ever. enough said.

sarah, me and kayi. with the brave firemen:)

what did i say about totems?!

Stop 6: University of Washington

It is such a beautiful campus! And to think they say that UWMadison is a nice campus. It really pales in comparison to UWashington. At least UWashington has buildings which are of the same architectural style - very European style. Whilst in Madison, you get random buildings everywhere. In Madison, you get a modern looking glass panelled building, which sticks like a sore thumb amongst the rest of the humble brick ones. haha... but its still a nicer campus than you know what... oops:x

a picture we took at the entrance of the university, at the expense of being laughed at by passing drivers

Stop 7: Boeing factory

and what visit to seattle would be complete if you did not visit the boeing factory?! woo.. it was absolutely cool. you see 777s being put together. and 787s in the making. not that I really knew what the specifics of 777s were. but at least i learnt that the wings of 787s could bend so that turbulence is reduced. and something that dawned upon me only then: airplanes are HUGE!

one of the propeller engines. just look at the complexity! respect for aeronautical engineers!

Stop 8: Space needle

ooo the space needle towers over

the skyline of downtown seattle

sunset by the bay

sunset... again

all in all seattle is one of the nicest US cities i have been to so far. it is somewhere i wouldn't mind going again and again and again:)

group pictures courtesy of Khian Hong

spring break part 2: skagit

SEATTLE!

1st stop: Factory outlet!:):):):):)

Yeah! we decided to stop by Prime outlets on our way back to Seattle:) Shopping! yeah! but this Prime Outlets was so small! but it was better than nothing! what trip would be complete without some shopping, right?:) hee. anyway, GAP had a really good sale! and I spent so much...

2nd stop: skagit - tulips tulips and more tulips

it was a pity that the tulips weren't in full bloom yet... but we still managed to find a small farm where there were some:)

the pink tulips

more tulips!

yellow tulips

i like this picture:)

group picture:)

WCP at the tulip farm

3rd stop: La Quinta

and guess what we saw in the car park? a WCP car!!:) ooo

group pictures courtesy of Khian Hong

spring break part 1: vancouver

spring break was invigorating!:):):)

vancouver and seattle were really wonderful places.
the scenary was beautiful - mountain ranges and the pacific ocean

the weather was awesome! it did not rain on us! which was really really rare because it rains almost everyday in seattle!:)

VANCOUVER

1ST Stop: stanley park

we were all SOO excited when we saw trees with pink flowers! i am tempted to say they are sakura trees, but i better not, knowing how bad i am with plants and animals. but i am starting to learn more about animals.. and i promise i will get better:)

you'd be surprised at how much i have to learn about animals. and yes, i recently learnt that ducks could fly! oh my goodness! and swans too!

kayi, sarah and me with the tree with pink flowers!

doesn't this look like something you would take in Japan? Sakura flowers with Mt. Fuji in the background.... ok.. i should stop misleading people into thinking that there are Sakura flowers in Canada...

and Lion's gate bridge! haha! guess what? it is green! My goodness! what a gaudy color to choose for a bridge. it successfully spoilt the whole scenary

Lion's gate bridge at Prospect Point

another view from prospect point

and so, we were so captured by the scenary that we decided to make a stop at Prospect Point in Stanley Park. In our zest to take in the scenary, we did not realize that we had to pay to park at Prospect Point. When we got back, we GOT A TICKET!! and the fine was $31 plus. We did not know what to say for awhile... but when we went to pay our fine the next day, they waived the charges because we were tourists! can you believe that? :)

totem poles! and i thought you only see these in New zealand. ok, maybe its just me... haha.. but you see a lot of totem poles in seattle and vancouver

2nd stop: Capilano Bridge

capilano bridge, which is suspended 70m above the ravine

the ravine!

but we made it through:)

the bridge hangs behind

3rd "stop": Grouse mountain

we decided to give this a miss because we did not have time to enjoy the activities that it had to offer... like skiing and ice skating...

grouse mountain

the chairlift up to grouse mountain!

Stop 4: Granville Island Market

It was a really small market. Nothing much to see or do, thus quite a disappointment...

Capilano bridge and group pictures courtesy of Khian Hong