aquariusblues

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

missing home

Friday, March 30, 2007

It's strange how I don't feel excited about the coming trip. Or about spring break in general.

Spring break is finally here!!! yeah!

I am trying, but it's just not working.

As I walked to my classes today, some folks were already waiting for parents or friends to pick them up. I thought back to how different such breaks meant back in Singapore. I really looked forward to holidays then. There was always this buzz in the air when a holiday drew near, and the holiday mood that I would be in. I did not know the reason back then. But now I see why. It meant short trips with my family. It meant lazing around the house with them. Just spending time together. There is probably a buzz over spring break, but i don't feel it. How I wish, and wish and wish that I can be back home in Singapore.

I suddenly realize why I did not feel the anticipation for any of the trips we have had, or the coming trip to New York. I am looking forward to the trip back to Singapore though. I feel as though I have lost my interest for travelling.

Some have plans to go places or enjoy the sun and the beach. But the lucky ones are those who get to go home...

Holidays are meant for things you really want to do, for you to touch base with where your heart lies...

Anyway, it's just 2 more months! Let the countdown begin:)

a breather

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

it has been a long while since i blogged!
half a semester has just whizzed past in a blink of an eye! wow! it's only 8 more weeks till i will be back home again:)
been really busy this semester. Monday just comes and before you know it, its already friday, then Saturday then Sunday, then Monday again.

some of the more significant things so far...

MY FIRST ATTEMPT with baking EGG TARTS
which was undoubtedly a failure. The crust was so disgusting! ahh! i should have taken a picture to show you guys how badly the egg tarts turned out... The crust was tasteless and the custard was not sweet enough. But they were so nice about it... saying that the egg tarts were nice. haha:D will try baking egg tarts again when i have more time back in singapore.

I am starting to learn driving, again. Haha! And i realize i am super bad with reversing!

And some of you might know, I have never been a fan of chocolate milk. BUt UW Dairy plant produces very very god chocolate milk!

And bagels bagels and more bagels! bagels are so yummy! I remember when we first tried it in LA, i swore never to touch it ever again. It tasted really bad back then. I guess it is an acquired taste, and perhaps it was because I thought it was a donut! yes! that's why i did not like it when i first tasted it.

the past 3 weeks were really HECTIC! i am so glad that it is finally over, and spring break is coming:)

Madison - at long last

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Never thought i would be so glad to return to Madison. Just last month, I was looking forward to FLorida, and now, I can't wait to zoom back home. I am probably exhausted from 3 weeks of travelling. It could be because we had spent too long in Miami, FL. 2 weeks in FLorida would have been just nice. And I would suggest spending a little less than 1 week in Miami. Trust me. Miami isn't a place you would want to stick around much. Go to beaches in other parts of Florida like St. Petersburg.

We were checking the weather in Madison every other day, just one and a half weeks before our return. And we realized the temperature was constantly dropping. From around 40F, it dropped to 32F, then to 20F and finally to 8F. Congratulations to us! We escaped the mild, and were just in time for deep winter. And we weren't armed with our down jackets and what nots. But whatever. I don't care if I freeze...

We arrived in Madison at long last. The feeling of being back 'home' was really good. I can't imagine how I will feel 5 months later when I finally get back to singapore:)

Winter Break 2007 - Florida - Part 4 - Tampa & St. Petersburg

Tampa

This leg of the journey started off badly. We did not know there were 2 La Quinta Inns in Tampa. We got down at the wrong stop, and still ignorant of our mistake, we started to trudge along the highway to the inn, each complete with 12 kg plus of luggage which we had to bear the weight of because we did not get trolley bags (that's another story). The Inn was probably 800m from the bus stop.

then as if sent by an angel, a good samaritan stopped by to ask if we needed any help in getting to wherever we were heading to. Elcias offered us a ride to the La QUinta down the highway. There, we realized that it was the wrong La Quinta! The right one was like 4-5 km away. Oh Man! We were really really thankful that Elcias stopped by to help us. He even invited us to a cuban dinner with his family! Wow! But we did not want to impose on him anymore, so we declined the offer. Looking back, I wonder what I had done to deserve such kindness from a complete stranger...

Florida Aquarium @ Tampa Bay

This is a really good aquarium. It would beat Miami Seaquarium handsdown. ANd I found it much better than the Underwater World at Sentosa. Haha, maybe it is because I haven't been to many aquariums. But I found it to be an eye opener.

St. Petersburg

A really peaceful, pristine place to tour around, and possibly stay in. The inn we stayed in was run by a couple, and it was a really homely place.

Bayside

Salvador Dali Museum

It was a real eye-opener. I don't profess to be a fan of Dali, but through the tour of the museum, I have gained a deeper insight into Dali and his works, and I must say they are really really impressive.

15 Jan - Commemoration of Martin Luther King

the procession