Skysong

步步惊心

2012-01-28T16:33:00.000+08:00

Recently, I’ve been hooked on to a new drama serial tittled ‘步步惊心’. I like how it weaves fiction into facts, creating an interesting storyline. Also, there’s the element of time travel which makes it more exciting.

I got so intrigued by it that I actually went to read up more about the reign of Kangxi during the Qing dynasty to try separating fact from fiction. The most interesting titbit of knowledge I managed to garner from my short ‘research’ was that Kangxi had a harem of 64 women. My goodness! My brain did a quick calculation and that worked out to him spending an average of 6 days with each of the 64 woman in a year.

Chinese new year resolutions

2012-01-16T18:58:00.001+08:00

I rewrote my resolutions for 2012 and newly catergorized them under 'CNY resolutions' because the last one was hastily thought out and keyed into my phone on a mrt ride. I've decided that will not do.

In general, my goal for 2012 is to be happy. Isn't that the ultimate aim that we wish to achieve in whatever we do?

However, I do agree that this goal is too abstract and I shall list down the things I can do to work towards being a happier person.

1) With regards to work, I resolve to complete my teaching diploma and emerge from practicum physically and mentally unscathed. I also resolve to be a good teacher (whatever that means) which hopefully leads to self-fulfilment which experts say is neccessary for us to feel happy.

2) With regards to health, I resolve to exercise regularly. Health is wealth.

3) With regards to love, to remember always not to take him for granted. I like who I am in front of him and love our nightly telephone calls where we can talk about everything under the sun.

4) To do one thing, big or small, that makes me happy everyday.

5) Lastly, I wish to simplify my life and not fret about things past and worry about things that have yet to happen. Stay in the present, Huimin. You never did for the last 10 years of your life and you wish you did. So, please start doing so from now on.

resolutions

2012-01-02T17:52:00.000+08:00

Many people are making resolutions. I suppose I should resolve to achieve some things in 2012. Yet, as I seat down and think, I seem to be making more wishes than resolutions.

I resolve to do one thing everyday that makes me happy. It might be a happy big thing like going on a trip or it might be just a simple small thing like getting a scoop of ice-cream. And to start off, today's happy thing is meeting up with my favourite people in the world, my nusso friends for a gathering.

One thing I really wish for is to be sent to a school where I can cope for my final posting. If I do end up having monkeys for students, may I be able to deal with it and still enjoy teaching. Wish me luck on this thing as posting is done rather randomly.

Learning and teaching chemistry

2011-10-23T15:13:00.000+08:00

In the past, when I was learning chemistry as a student,
I constantly bugged my mother, who is a chemistry teacher, about the many misconceptions that I was blur about chemistry.

In the present, when I am teaching chemistry as a teacher,

I still constantly bug my mother about the many misconceptions that I am still blur about chemistry.

And I bug her about one more thing now,

how to convey chemistry concepts to students.

I think she wonders what I have learnt in 4 years of studying chemistry in university.

Sometimes, I wonder too.

Funny pointless flyers

2011-09-18T13:41:00.001+08:00

http://www.happyplace.com/3080/the-7-most-brilliantly-pointless-street-fliers

These posters are so random and pointless yet so funny (at least to me). I feel like thinking up a similar flyer and putting it up around Singapore just for laughs.

H&M

2011-09-11T17:00:00.001+08:00

The last time I brought 22 pieces of clothing in one short period of time,

was in a store called H&M while I was in Switzerland.

And now, H&M has come to Singapore.

Whee!

Set aside my allowance as an election officer as H&M money.

Just for fun, I asked him whether he wanted to go take a look at H&M,

very surprisingly, he agreed,

so off we went on Saturday!

But I must have been too excited about the opening of H&M.

I arrived at orchard mrt at 9.45am,

cos i forgot we agreed to meet at 10.45am.

So off I went to find hunt down the location of H&M first.

and surprisingly they were open so early!

Spent 3 hrs in that store,

and bought two shirts, a dress and a skirt.

Was a happy girl yesterday. =)

Taxi drivers and purple nail polish

2011-08-25T16:15:00.001+08:00

Yesterday,

I had no classes.

But i had to go to NTU just to hand in an essay.

Being the lazy me,

I decided on a compromise.

I shall take taxi there and come back by the MRT.

Surprisingly, the taxi fare wasn't as expensive I thought,

it was $21.40 from Bedok to NTU.

I expected it to be above $30.

and so I met a very chatty taxi driver,

who told me his life story and lots of random stuff.

I told him I didn't know what I want to do with my life.

Or maybe, secretly, I do.

Just that I don't have the means to the particular end that I want.

Then, on an impulse,

I decided to go for a manicure

Just suddenly thought that I wanted to do that at least once in my life

and so I have purple nail polish on my fingers now. =)

Orientation at NIE

2011-07-31T19:26:00.000+08:00

I never thought I had to go through orientation again after graduating from nus.

But I did it once again, as they actually took attendance and I was paid to do so.

Pretty much enjoyed the games, they were rather fun.

But throughout the whole thing, I felt rather old to be going through orientation again!

A question and an answer

2011-05-03T22:12:00.000+08:00

There was a question in my students' assignments as follows:

How would you separate plastic from garbage?

The correct textbook answer would be:

Add water to the garbage. Plastic will be separated from garbage as it floats.

My student answered:

DROWN all the garbage.

He is technically correct.

In 12 minutes time...

2011-04-09T23:57:00.000+08:00

it is going to be my birth-day.

It is this few minutes before the clock strikes twelve,

that i grow strangely reflective.

Of what I have done or what I have not done,

in the one year past.

I dislike birthdays as time goes by,

as it reminds me that I am growing older,

but still as clueless and and as lost as ever.

Ah... this post is starting to sound moody.

Happy birthday to me!

May all my wishes come true.

A quote that I like

2011-03-19T01:24:00.010+08:00

“You know, how you hear a song? And you fall in love with it instantly? And then a month later, you are so sick of it that you hate yourself for ever liking it?” The artist asks as he puts ink to skin. “And then, there’s the song that doesn’t seem like much when you first hear it. Almost ordinary, maybe a little annoying. Those are the ones that last forever."

-An extract taken from a book

Sometimes,

2011-02-04T22:38:00.001+08:00

That vacuum of an emptiness hits me out of the blue,

of all the things that i did not do.

And it makes me feel wistful.

I will not be so stupid anymore.

Drawing circles

2011-01-27T15:35:00.001+08:00

During practical,

I told the class to draw the outline of an onion cell.

I emphasized that it needed to be a perfect circle,

drawn with a single clear line,

not sketched over with multiple lines.

I kept telling one boy to re-draw his circle,

for his own good,

as his circles won't be accepted as passable in the next practical test.

He tried and tried,

and there were some holes on his paper,

as he kept erasing his circles to re-draw them.

He looked really stumped by a mere circle.

In the end,

I felt sorry for him,

and erased part of it and helped him 'perfect' his circle.

He reminds me of someone who can't draw a circle too.

I love this photo!

2011-01-22T19:36:00.001+08:00

*credits: taken by someone else*

Somehow, this scene looks full of hope, doesn't it?

The last few minutes of 2010 and first few minutes of 2011

2011-01-02T20:41:00.003+08:00

*Credits: From Siti Fatimah's facebook*

Spent new year's eve with a bunch of friends from orchestra picnicking at bedok resevoir.

I like best the few moments where we arranged tealight candles into the shape of 'NUSSO',

and when it was time to blow out the candles,

we didn't blow them all out with one gust of breath,

but made one wish per person for each lit candle,

and blew it out,

until they they were all blown out.

and may our last wish we wished together upon a single tealight candle stay true,

may we be friends forever. =)

At least two people commented that I don’t seem to feel anything if someone close to me goes away for a long time,

2010-12-17T01:06:00.000+08:00

It’s because physical distance does not mean anything to me.

Emotional distance does.

Its frightening when you can stand next to a person, but there is an insurmountable wall between both of us,

which I have no idea how to knock down anymore.

And I miss the person so much,

even if he is still standing next to me.

If I feel anything if someone goes away for a long time,

it would be more the fear of growing apart and losing someone,

but then it means our connection cannot withstand the test of time and space.

I can’t miss someone,

When he is still with me,

Maybe not physically,

But being emotionally close is enough for me.

I bought 22 pieces of clothing,

2010-11-22T20:56:00.000+08:00

when I went on my trip to Switzerland in June.

That is a very surprising number of clothing, or even a shocking number for me,

as I barely buy clothes.

I bought them all from this store called H&M,

a marvel of a clothing store that was sadly only found in Europe, Korea or China.

I was even contemplating making a trip overseas next year,

not for sight-seeing,

but just to stock up on clothing from my favourite store once again.

But WOOHOO!!!

H&M is finally making its way into Singapore next year.

Looks like I can save on the plane ticket,

and spend all the money on more H&M clothes.

=D

What I have learnt so far from school

2010-11-01T18:31:00.002+08:00

In kindergarten, I learned how to make friends.

In primary school, I learned how to read.

In secondary school, I learned that I should follow my heart.

In junior college, I learned that I should not care about what other people say.

In university, I learned that I cannot predict the future.

While working is a neccessary thing that all adults must do, I can't help but feel that there is more to it than this. I've worked too brief a time to realise what I've learned at this stage of my life.

Ask me 10 years down the road and perhaps I will know.

While verifying my CV online,

2010-10-11T20:51:00.000+08:00

I came across this line...

"Date of retirement: 10TH APRIL 2049"

I find it highly amusing that the ministry knows when I am going to retire,

when I have not even thought about it yet.

Stupid answers that students give which made me laugh

2010-09-23T23:31:00.000+08:00

To a diagram of a sperm, they say it's a tadpole.

To the question of how Singapore disposes of its garbage,

they say just open the rubbish chute and throw the rubbish down the chute.

It's like voila! down the chute the rubbish goes, and it dissappears into nothing-ness.

By the way, the answer is through incineration and landfills.

Of cos, its fine for a student to be wrong as long as they try. Not so fine for a teacher to be wrong. The best thing I heard was from my mom was that a teacher in my sec school told the students something along the lines of,

Solids expand when heated because their ATOMS EXPAND.

Off to work

2010-09-13T01:18:00.001+08:00

As a kid, the concept of work was always at the back of my mind.

I knew it was something I would have to do when i have finished growing up,

But it seemed like a long time to come, as though as it would never come,

and glad for it, for studying is always better than working,

or so, everyone tells me.

The years just slipped by so quickly,

as though as it never happened and it was just a dream.

And suddenly, I finished growing up and have to go to work.

I always wondered how i felt when it was time to go to work,

but one thing I never thought I would feel,

which surprises even me,

is that I am ready to go to work.

and so, tommorrow starts a sneak peep into my chosen occupation.

I can still choose to escape and not sign on the dotted line after 2 months if I feel its not really for me.

But i've been thinking and there is really nothing else I want to do,

except for being a jedi or a gardener.

I hope that even if i can't skip happily to work everyday,

where only a lucky few can claim to love their job,

I will be okay with it and not dread it.

For work is such a major part of life,

that to dread my job is to dread most of life.

Graduation and the start of work

2010-09-07T23:57:00.000+08:00

I always assumed when I graduated from university, I won't feel so confused and lost anymore. University to me meant the end of learning all I need to know to face this world.

Well, I was wrong.

I realised I sometimes still feel so confused and lost, because its impossible to learn the next moment before it happens, and when you have learned what to do, the moment is over and there is a new moment with new uncertainties and new variables. Each phase of life is new, each phase of life happens only once.

What the heck.

Shall just go with the flow.

Taking minnie the dog out for a walk

2010-08-19T23:47:00.000+08:00

or rather, minnie the dog taking me for a walk as i followed it wherever it wanted to go. Its kit lu's dog and it was really fun, for both dog and me. =D

On my way home...

2010-08-12T20:21:00.000+08:00

I passed by my neighbour's house,

and saw their dog dreaming in its sleep.

It was on its back, all four paws in mid-air,

paddling round and round in cycles,

as though as it was chasing after a rabit or being chased other by another dog.

After a while, it rolled onto its side,

panting very heavily, seemingly out of breath.

Then, the whole cycle started again.

It was totally amazing.

I stood there a whole 10 minutes, peering through the gates to see better.

I hope my neighbour didn't happen to look out and think that I am a thief.

School is gonna start in NUS...

2010-08-09T23:47:00.002+08:00

it feels a little strange not to be going back there anymore.

The days are slipping by...

2010-07-27T10:01:00.000+08:00

to the day i will start work.

Sigh...

How I wish life will pause at this stage forever,

a transition phase,

not quite child, not quite adult.

Nor student, nor working adult

A phase where time is yours to call your own.

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."

2010-07-23T23:12:00.000+08:00

The above quote came from the 'quote of the day' bit from the right side of my blog.

How true it rings, especially for me.

Though the truth always surfaces in the end, no matter how long it takes. And when that happens, it hits me hard. and i wonder why i fail to see such a pure, simple truth.

I don't wish to see things through rose-coloured glasses nor imagine things worse then they are, I just want to see them as they are.

The mind sees things as we are, the heart sees things as they are. And so even if my mind doesn't understand the stuff i do presently, i follow the heart. As everything will fall into place and make sense in the end.

Pitter-patter, the sound of raindrops

2010-07-23T23:01:00.000+08:00

Despite the kitchen getting flooded ankle-deep everytime there is heavy rainfall,

I simply love this weather.

And my father said the weatherman predicted there will be rain again this weekend!

Great!

Oh my...

2010-07-18T20:39:00.002+08:00

my stand was too close to me, so i prodded it with my toe while playing my violin, to shift it to a better position.

To my horror, it fell down with a resounding plonk that seemed to resonate throughout the entire building. I quickly tried to set it upright. To my horror once again, it fell down a second time, bringing down my scores, pens and all.

By then, alot of curious onlookers had gathered, not cos of our angelic music, but by the noise I've made. At this point of time, the whole thing seemed so funny to me that I couldn't help giggling helplessly to myself. And all this while, the three other people in the quartet went on with a solemn face, to finish the music we had started playing.

What I've been doing this days...

2010-07-17T22:33:00.002+08:00

I've been playing in a quartet at marina bay sands. The first week was utterly horrible. There were complaints from the management, about how bad the quartet sounded at times. When they say that, it's mainly my fault as the other three have been playing together for a long long time. Sigh...

The second week has been better and hopefully, next week will be even better. To play in a quartet like this, it is the fulfilment of another dream. Its still a bit stressful, especially when they sight-read stuff i have not heard before, but it's getting more and more fun as the days go by. =)

I thought it deserves a mention here,

2010-06-26T00:51:00.002+08:00

happy anniversary!

Thanks for the lily. =)

Going to Switzerland

2010-06-21T00:18:00.001+08:00

I went on this overseas programme by the chemistry department in nus. We spent roughly 17 days in Switzerland and 3 days in France.

Switzerland's borders are confusing. Europe's borders are confusing as there are no clearly defined borders in general. Singapore is separated from Malaysia by the sea. Some other nations are separated from each other by a mountain or a river. It seems to me that part of germany's border's spilled over to switzerland creating german-speaking parts like Basel, part of France's border go across to form french-speaking regions of Switzerland like Lausanne and part of Italy's border go across to form Italian-speaking parts like Locarno. It feels like a country where the official borders of Germany, France and Italy spills over and merged to form Switzerland. I nv really felt I was in Switzerland, I felt I was in Germany or France, depending on which region I was in. On some borders, there lies a house. Half of it is situated in France, the other half is in Switzerland. In such instances, I wonder whether the house belongs to France or Switzerland. I must go ask next time.

Whee! Me doing a jump shot with the swiss alps in the background.

At a castle in France.

In Syngenta, where I put on the oh-so-familiar labcoat once again. It dealt with increasing crop productivity to meet the needs of the growing population.

Celebrating a friend's birthday in Bern

Visiting the university of Basel. It was interesting but it got a tad boring after visiting at least 5 more universities. There is only so many NMR, HPLC and mass-spec machines that you want to see as they are all the same.

Nice architecture in Bern.

Cycling around the city of Zurich.

And to my group members, it was nice knowing you!

Results

2010-06-11T05:28:00.000+08:00

I got my results a few weeks back and I've gotton my first and last D+ in my life. OMG... thankfully, my fyp did well enough to pull up my cap enough for me to graduate. Phew...

Rainbow connection song and a karaoke session

2010-05-29T02:59:00.000+08:00

Someone wanted to find the 'rainbow connection' song during a karaoke session today. The conversation went roughly as follows:

C: *Starting humming a tune* What's the tittle of this song?
Me: *Thought for some time* Its the rainbow connection!
C: *Started pressing buttons on remote control to find that song*
C: Who sung this?
Me: *Thought for a while again* It's Kermit, the frog.
Me: I think cannot find lar.
C: *Tried finding it for a while more*
C: *Came to page on screen which had three choices: 1)Male 2)Female 3)Band* which Kermit, the cute little green frog doubtfully falls into any category though he is male.

The idea of finding Kermit's picture and name among Jay Chou's, Lady Gaga's or Britney Spear's pictures and names was rather and is still really funny now. I am still smiling when i think about it even now. Hahahahaha...

Orchestra practice =D

2010-05-27T00:16:00.003+08:00

After one year of absence,

cos I was always stuck in lab,

I finally manage to go for orchestra practice.

Though no one probably miss me,

I missed all of them and my violin,

so it felt really great to pick up my violin and play in orchestra again.

I shall just hang around there for one more semester,

my little haven in nus,

and play for my last orchestra concert.

I am starting to like Tchaikovsky more and more,

he composed a very cool piece called '1812'.

I am gonna practice and practice it,

till I master all those G flat major notes and fast-running chromatic scales.

3 more days to go...

2010-04-30T18:31:00.002+08:00

... to the end of my formal education.

I feel ambivalent.

On one hand,

I feel sad.

The carefree days of a student's life is gonna be over soon.

On the other hand,

I feel relieved.

I am weary, from fyp, and more from the 16 years of endless and mindless studying.

But one thing for sure,

everything is gonna change from now on.

I am graduating and heading out to the big bad world.

To look at it from a more optimistic point of view if you want,

I am freed and am at a new beginning with endless possibilities in sight.

I wonder, how I'll be one year from now.

Happy? Jadded? Okaaay? Cynical?

But for now,

I shall concentrate on studying for my last paper,

and have fun while studying cos its for the very last time. =)

I love exam periods

2010-04-30T00:31:00.000+08:00

Because no matter how much I eat,

I lose weight.

And I still feel hungry.

In contrast to the happy post-exam holiday period,

the reverse occurs.

No matter how I try to eat less,

I STILL gain weight.

We really can't have our cake and eat it too.

The big red button game

2010-04-27T23:06:00.002+08:00

It manages to be amusing yet rather annoying at the same time.
Try it and you will see what I mean.
Haha...

Put The Big Red Button on your site

Seeing connections as a beam of pure light

2010-04-16T22:03:00.005+08:00

Intangible things appear as visual images in my mind.

A connection between two people appears as a beam of pure light.

The stronger the connection, the brighter this beam of pure light glows.

We honours students pooled our money together to buy pizza for our lab people to thank them for everything they have done for us last friday.

I always thought I will be happy when lab comes to an end. But to my surprise, it's not the case.

真得有一点不舍的，
不舍的离开，
让我发现那，
代表曾经在那里快乐过。

Its the final lap

2010-04-07T21:30:00.002+08:00

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But this final lap is oh-so-tiring.

I don't need to sleep tonight liao.

And for the next few nights for that matter.

I want to go there

2010-04-05T15:56:00.004+08:00

I saw this trip advertised by the NUS mountaineering club.It is a 14days soft trek to the Himalayas. Its not that expensive, for such a trip. It costs $1900 and off you go.

Climbing to the peak of Mount Everest is not on my to-do-list. But I want to get just a little closer to it.

Too bad I am already going somewhere else for my grad trip which is equally nice. =)

Shall save up and go there next year!

Feeling a little bit under the weather

2010-03-28T18:48:00.002+08:00

You know when you are getting old,

when a little cold bug is enough to scramble your wits

making you feeling like doing nothing except to sleep it away.

Whereas when you were once young,

the same cold bug was just a mere annoyance,

which you could shift to the back of your mind

and carry on playing like there is no tommorrow.

Symphonie fantastique

2010-03-19T23:17:00.002+08:00

Watching orchestra perform today,

I feel like picking up my violin and playing once again.

I feel depressed...

2010-03-07T21:41:00.002+08:00

as much as i love being with the people in lab,

I don't want to go back to lab anymore to do any more experiments.

I am near my wit's end,

having no more idea of how to carry on.

I have just one more method to try to get my compounds in suitable purity.

And i'm doubtful it will work.

I need to buy time.

I want my life back.

At a group meeting,

2010-03-05T22:46:00.000+08:00

the professor informed us that he would be on an overseas conference for a week.

While all of us were silently rejoicing inside us,

as there was no-one to bug us about work for one whole glorious week.

My dear lab partner, whose every emotion shows on his face,

was smiling inwardly and outwardly.

Till the professor asked him mildly,

“G, why you look so happy?”

Whereby the entire lab erupted into laughter.

Fighting

2010-02-21T23:10:00.001+08:00

Something came to mind when I read a random someone’s else blog. A father told his daughter as quoted:

"The two of you must fight ok. Fights are healthy."

His friend told him something similar which he told me.

Him: My friend told me it’s not healthy that we have never quarrelled with each other.
Me: Lets quarrel then.
Him: Ok, let me think of a topic to quarrel upon.

A long time ago, I ‘fought’ with someone over the silliest things imaginable, which doesn’t matter to me now. I think I fought and quarrelled enough for a lifetime, so much so that all the fight went out of me.

If we ever need to quarrel, quarrel I will instead of keeping quiet, but I will make sure it will be something that is needed to be quarrelled over, something that actually matters. Till then, I’ll enjoy the peace. =)

Inspired by Kitlu

2010-02-18T20:09:00.003+08:00

I dyed my hair too!

It was kinda fun.

Too bad the shade of hair dye i chose was too dark.

It looks rather un-dyed.

unless i stand in the sunlight.

To why I suddenly dyed my hair,

which is not something it seems i would ever do.

Its cos it is something i just felt i had to do before i go into teaching.

where i won't ever get the chance to do so

until i retire

which is really long.

Heralding in the new year

2010-01-02T12:36:00.002+08:00

And so, the last day of the year was spent at Orchard Road

admiring the christmas/new-year light-up since i didn't get to go on Christmas day.

There were not much crowds as most of the people have gravitated towards Marina bay which is the new centre for the new year celebrations.

Suits me just fine as i don't like massive crowds which blocks my path which ever way I turn.

Watched Avatar on new year day.

The 3D effects were a little dissapointing. It was so subtle that I forgot it was there after a while.

I didn't really make any new year resolutions.

Instead, i reflected on things passed this year.

I am unable to change the past. But I have reached this age where I have enough experiences which I can fall back on to tell me what to do and not to do. And all these cumulative experiences, helps me to navigate my way through the year and many more years to come.

It's uncertain how the rest of the year will turn out to be,

but I am glad that I spent my last day and first day of the year this way.

Christmas

2009-12-27T10:01:00.004+08:00

Christmas just passed.

My mentor's birthday is on Christmas day.

My birthday was on Good Friday this year.

He was born on the day where Jesus Christ was born.

I was born on the day Jesus Christ died.

What a great contrast of the significance of the birth-dates between the mentor and student.

Christmas was spent with NUSSO =)

Playing the guitar hero-like game on playstation was fun

but i think i still prefer the cute little motor car games on Wii.

The gathering was at a friend's house in Geylang, right smack in a red light district.

I had fun observing both men and women walking the streets outside.

My friend said that what gives prostitutes a bad name is the standard (very low standard) of the men looking for the services of prostitutes.

Said that she wouldn't mind being shagged by many men if they were rich, young and handsome.

She sounded pretty serious till i was a little startled.

十字路口

2009-11-08T00:22:00.000+08:00

我迷路了，

不知该往哪一个方向走。

我不需要找新的路走，从新开始。

只想走回原点，走回属于我的地方。　

Offscript

2009-10-18T12:34:00.002+08:00

Went to UCC to watch Raffles Hall annual productions. The story was interesting enough, one of a recursive loop. After the rehearsal comes the actual play, or sometimes, the play is spontaneously acted out in the rehearsal, and it keeps changing and going on, in a never-ending cycle, if I've intepreted it correctly. The director acted really well! It was a little choppy towards the end but who cares. It was a really enjoyable night.

Went back to the hall to get supper a few days ago. They renovated the hall. However, the old juxtaposed with the new, mades the hall look a little weird. The feeling of homeliness of the hall is half-gone. The nice old red brick walls looks nice. The new modern door looks nice. But mix them both together and either the walls or door look a little out-of-place. The toilets were great though! I miss the look of the old hall.

I miss the dinners I had there too. They were simple and restful, a sort of quiet happiness. What a far contrast from dinners i have now in nus. Its getting a little boring to eat alone and then madly dash up to the lab to attend to my experiment once again.

I miss the people, its old look, the dinners and the hall alot.

Life is a chemistry experiment

2009-10-11T14:45:00.000+08:00

Chemistry between two people is like chemistry between two molecules. This thing called love, requires an appropriate environment and an appropriate time for it to bloom. Love does not conquer all if these two factors do not exist. The same thing applies to my molecules, my BODIPY scaffold and alkyne are supposed to love each other and click instantly as implied by the process that it undergoes called ‘click chemistry’. Love between this two is supposed to happen at first sight. However, it doesn’t! Leaving me, its creator to find the suitable environments, temperature and length of time for the experiment to happen through trial and error. Love requires a catalyst at times, to speed up things which might never happen for a certain activation energy barrier prevents it from so. It might be a matchmaker, a turn of events that leads to that realization or something else. And it’s the same for my experiment, how important is copper catalyst for my reaction or else it will never happen even if you leave the solution mixture reacting for days or even years by which time the reaction mixture would have degraded into nothing-ness as how love will if you do nothing about it.

Life is not a straight road, there are various forks in the road of life, you never know what you get. The future is completely unpredictable. We might plan to go one way but circumstances take us another way. And it’s the same for my experiment. For two whole months, I’ve been working towards synthesizing a certain library of molecules. Yesterday, I synthesized my very first molecules. But alas, one pyrimidine group has displaced the chloro side chain making it slightly different from my intended molecule which makes a whole lot of difference as they are two different entities no matter how similar they are. Yet, this unexpected shock of a surprise might all be for the better as it makes the molecule more polar such that it makes entry into cells easier as it’s more soluble in water. And then, maybe life is like that too, life very often does not go the way we want it to be or expect it to be, but it might all be for the better in the end.

Studying is comparatively easier now that I have started doing lab work. For studying, its just a matter of understanding the material given and apply it onto exam papers when the time comes. There is a definite answer. Its not exactly the same in lab. There are many questions, but few with answers. Perhaps, that’s the same in life, where there are few answers and even fewer satisfactory answers to the questions we ask ourselves everyday.

On this day of your life, Huimin, we believe God wants you to know

2009-10-03T22:13:00.001+08:00

... that it's OK.

This message is from a facebook application. And the message continues...

Just rest for a moment. It's OK. Yes, things are crazy, yes, the world is going nuts. Yet, deep underneath the stormy waves, there, in the core of your being, there is pure silence, pure love. And ... it's ... just ... OK.

I hope so and believe so too even if I cannot see it at the moment.

Lab

2009-09-29T21:51:00.000+08:00

I feel like some walking hazard in lab. The other day, I broke a flask containing my compound. I took 6 days to synthesize that compound!

In some attempt to console me, a senior told me that he once dropped his compound into 5 litres of water in the rotary evaporator bath. However, he had to retrieve it as it took days for him to synthesize it! That is akin to looking for a needle in a haystack. In fact, its worse than that for needles and hay are both solid immiscible with each other while his compound was soluble in water which turned into one big homogeneous solution. I have no idea how he did that in the end. The best most commonsensical way of retrieving a few hundred milligrams of solute from 5 litres of water that I can think of is to let the water evaporate off slowly and happily out in the open, in the sun.

I feel incredibly tired these few months, both mentally and physically. I have this increasing tendency to just be able to fall asleep till dawn when I only meant to lie down for a while to rest. It happened again yesterday, and I slept from 7pm to 7am. I feel lonely, with the work I do. Thankfully, I don’t feel lonely even though I am all alone in school.

Changi airport

2009-08-14T09:42:00.003+08:00

CW went SEP-ing to america. Have fun and come back soon.

I will miss you.

The fleetingness of life

2009-08-08T20:37:00.002+08:00

I still feel very lost. Admist this sadness, I gained so much. Maybe happiness is really relative. To feel happy, you need to know what sadness is.

I am still young. I am so lucky. I love my parents. I am free to love others.

And I hope to find my way again.

Yasmin ahmad's cute little video

2009-07-26T11:27:00.004+08:00

When Michael Jackson died, I felt nothing. I know he is a pop legend and all but I also think he is an extremely warped person, I think I can learn more from his numerous flaws as a person rather than his sucess as a singer.

When I read the news of Yasmin Ahmad's death today, I felt that it was a great pity and a great loss. I like all the advertisements she has created and I love this one best.

I think he really likes that girl! Either that, or he is a really really good actor.

Finding myself

2009-07-11T09:35:00.000+08:00

These few weeks, I felt a whole spectrum of emotions, where they were skewed more towards the side of negative and dark emotions. I feel like it’s the end of the world, but I am young and there is a whole world of possibilities. It’s whether I choose to see them or not. As there are two sides to every coin, there is always a silver lining to every cloud. If only I can convinced myself of that.

I’ve been sleeping on the sofa for the past few weeks. I love my room but I feel lonely surrounded by only my thoughts sleeping there. Sometimes, my thoughts follow me into the dream world and haunt me causing me to wake up with a start. It’s easier to fall asleep again in the living room somehow. I wonder when I would stop feeling this way and go back to my room to sleep.

I did a crazy thing, according to my own standards. Sometimes, we just have to take a leap of faith into the unknown. It might or might not turn out alright, but its ok, at least we tried. There are no what-ifs to be asked. And I am happy this way.

To yet sound like a child again

2009-06-19T05:23:00.000+08:00

I miss my parents so much.

Back to being a child once more

2009-06-17T00:58:00.004+08:00

Sometimes when things get too much for me to bear, even though it might be a small thing which seems very large at the moment, all I feel like doing is to run back into the embrace of my parents, where I feel safe for that moment.

I get their point though I guess they still don't really understand why I am feeling this way.

I will never make a mistake knowingly again, subconsciously or consciously. If I do, it will be an accidental mistake the next time for which I won't blame myself. And at the very least, this mistake didn't result in dire consequences except for me feeling that I was not true to myself when I made that choice.

Thank you very much, I feel better now.

Being a local tourist in Singapore

2009-06-07T20:33:00.004+08:00

Went to the Henderson Waves some time back. WARNING to anyone who wants to walk the Southern Ridges trail, start from the West Coast Park side of the trail, not from the Mount Faber side of the trail. This time round, I started up from the Mount Faber side of the trail where there were so many flights of stairs which made me feel so tired. I promptly fell asleep for 2 hours on the Henderson Waves and woke up only to climb back down the hill when the sun was gonna set. LOL…

Surprisingly, Har Par Villa is very near NUS! There’s free admission and so off we went to visit the place. It was really weird. Besides the usual life-size figurines of Chinese mythology, there were figures of koala bears and gorillas too. It was just really weird.

Results came out and my cap managed to go up that little bit required for me to do honours. But after three years, one thing I realized is that I don’t love chemistry the way I am supposed to. After next year this time, I am ready to say goodbye to chemistry. So very sad but true. Whatever debts I have to pay, I would have paid it by then. But still, I am very thankful for this opportunity to do honours. It opens up a lot more doors for me to places where I want to go. Thanks to the people who encouraged me along the way when I was really doubtful whether I could pull up my cap this sem. =)

Remembering moments

2009-05-21T23:02:00.000+08:00

There are some memories that happen not too long ago, but yet it seems like it happened a long time ago. Does that mean I’ve forgotton it?

I used to be sad when I forget nice memories and it gradually fades away. And so I try to capture the moment and freeze it in time through the form of photos and such. After some time, I realised I should not be scared about forgetting memories. Just cherish the moment when it happens, let it go and create new ones. I am more scared that I will never forget some memories no matter how hard I try to.

Still, I miss that moment that I’ve forgotton in a nice way.

Stupid bets

2009-05-17T23:21:00.002+08:00

I like making bets with someone which I usually win until recently. Haha...

One bet involved the question of 'Do birds have teeth?' which I said 'yes' while that person said 'no'. Modern-day birds of course do not have teeth so I won the bet. Prehistoric birds apparently had teeth though. That was nice, I earned some money and learnt something too.

I lost a bet today because of this saying.

Red sky at night, sailor's delight.
Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.

I always thought it went along the lines of

Red sky at dusk, sailor's delight.
Red sky in morning, sailor's warning.

There goes my one dollar.

Raffles hall

2009-05-12T23:58:00.012+08:00

These few days, I don’t know what to write here anymore somehow. But it seems like an entry is long overdue and so I shall write about Raffles hall.

When I decided to move from Temasek hall to Raffles hall this time last year, everyone told me it was a bad decision cos it was like moving from a five-star resort to a three-star hotel. But a resort is a temporary place of shelter, its nice but never my home. Raffles hall was where I belonged. But both temasek hall and raffles hall are equally nice, they were where I needed to be at that point of time.

I am scared that I will forget raffles hall after I leave, scared that I will forget the person I am when I am in Raffles hall. I liked myself in Raffles hall, which is not true for some other places, and so I decided to take a video of myself before I leave hall in case I forget. The first take was terrible though, I forgot what I wanted to say to my future self. Lol... and I think I look and sound like an idiot here. Haha...

I think I've mentioned carolling and CME before and so I shall not repeat myself. Haha…

To my roomie, JS, I am glad that I have you as my room-mate. I miss her presence in my room. =( It was nice having someone to talk to at the end of a day at school.

Hey CW, it was fun to have you stay in hall this semester. Thanks for the conversations. Have great fun SEP-ing next semester. =)

Goodbye Raffles hall.

On learning, studying, examinations

2009-04-23T15:17:00.002+08:00

The more I learn, the more I realise there’s so much more I don’t know.

And thus, the stupider I feel.

So many modules I’ve taken, and yet each touches only on the tip of the iceberg.

Below the surface beyond what we can see, there’s still so much more I don’t know.

That’s what frustrates me sometimes, is learning supposed to be like that?

I still feel blind, even after all this knowledge.

Learning is supposed to be like a beam of brightness

That lights up a vast expanse of darkness in our minds

Allowing us to see what we never knew

And even when the light fades off gradually and we forget

We know where to find it again when we need it

But sigh, with regards to studying chemistry,

I currently feel ignorance might be bliss afterall.

Squirrel outside my window =)

2009-04-16T12:45:00.003+08:00

Easter sunday

2009-04-12T19:30:00.005+08:00

When I went home this week, I saw two real easter eggs in the nest the parents birds built in a hanging pot of money plant in our garden.

Look forward to seeing the baby birds when they hatch out!

twenty-two

2009-04-10T23:01:00.006+08:00

I read a passage from a book yesterday which perfectly describes why we should be glad about growing up and growing old.

Mrs Foster: “Do you think, you could just think about the truth and not say it quite so often?”

Correy’s grandma: “I don’t think so.”

Mrs Foster: “why not?”

Correy’s grandma: “I’m seventy-one years old. I don’t think I should waste any more of my time on words that don’t mean anything. Besides, at my age, I’m allowed to be eccentric.”

I’m far from the age of 71 but the words strike a chord inside me. What’s so nice bout growing old everyday is that small things just get smaller and smaller. You are free to heck-care bout people’s thoughts and what people say or what you think they are saying and am free to do things the way you deem best.

I received a birthday present today. When I first opened it, I really thought it was a series of ‘ten ways on how to shoot a blade of grass’ which I still want to know. Lol… Thanks for the present, I like it very much. =)

Wednesday

2009-04-08T16:55:00.005+08:00

When I think of wednesdays, I think of orchestral rehearsals.

But so sad, there is no orchestral rehearsal today cos exams are coming.

I think orchestra should play this! It much easier to play and nicer to listen to than Vivaldi or Dvorak though they are equally nice too.

The blue-footed bird

2009-04-04T16:47:00.004+08:00

www.msu.edu

I was reading ‘National geographic’ when a picture of this bird caught my eye. Its feet are such a peculiar shade of blue that I couldn’t believe that they are natural! It looks like someone took them and dunked their feet into a pail of blue paint. Or if its natural, it looks like they have gotton frostbite on their feet and their webbed feet have frozen feet up from standing on the cold winter ground for too long.

On this day, three weeks later, I will be sitting for my first paper. On this day, three weeks before that very first paper, I do not know enough to sit for that paper. *gulps* There is time, not much time left, but still a little time left.

Ang moh sun-tanning on a patch of grass near the basketball court in RH

2009-04-02T14:17:00.006+08:00

I saw this SEP student lying down on a mat, wearing sunglasses and reading a book on a patch of grass at noon time.

Its total madness!

but oh well, there is the freedom to do what you want in this world even if you end up harming your own skin and as long as it does not harm others.

My roomie saw this same SEP student lying down on the same mat, wearing sunglass and reading his LECTURE NOTES on the same patch of grass at 2pm previously.

*utterly speechless*

I feel like I have just woken up from a very long deep sleep. Its strange to feel awake and sometimes, I am tempted to be lulled back to that familiar sleep. And I realised during this period of time, the rest of the world has moved on while I am still stuck at the starting point. I will catch up!

Physical chem lab session

2009-03-23T02:10:00.003+08:00

There was this experiment where we had to do a couple of things at the same time.

1. Continually stir and check the liquid mixture consisting of two compounds for the first sign of solidification.
2. Ensure that the temperature of the water bath the mixture was in is 10 degrees below the temperature of the mixture at all times by adding ice.
3. Record the temperature of the mixture every 30 seconds.

WAH PIANG!!!

I only got two hands.

It resulted in a rather frenzied flurry of activity as I tried to do everything at the same time.

That experiment took half a year off my life.

I read through the next experiment that I am assigned to do. It’s something like the above experiment except that it involves titration.

The remaining 3 experiments plus 1 practical test will probably take many more years off my life.

The internet of long ago

2009-03-21T04:14:00.003+08:00

There was an article in the newspapers today on the launch of Singapore's next speed upgrade of its broadband network next year. It made me think random thoughts bout the internet of the past.

I think the popularisation of the internet started when I was in primary school. At that time, the web browser I used was 'netscape'. In retrospect, it was so slow that everytime I loaded a page, I would go practise the piano before I went back to the computer to surf the internet. Sometimes, even after playing one whole song, the page had not finish loading! Of course, it seemed fast at that time as there was no other internet speed of the future to compare to.

At that time, broadband has not been invented and all of us used dial-up internet access which was internet access through telephone lines. At 10 years old, I thought that 30minutes online was super long already and super expensive too.

At 10 years old, we didn't have handphones unlike the kids of the present age. So i had to use the fixed telephone line to call my friends through the real telephone. If my friend's home didn't have a separate telephone line for the internet, all I could heard was internet static over the line which indicated that the line was engaged as someone was using the internet. Then, I would put down the phone and wait for a while before calling again, hoping that person has finished using the internet so that my call can get through and I can happily talk to my friend about all the worries a 10 year old can have.

I kinda miss those times, those technologically less advanced ages. Calling a friend beats talking to a friend on msn anytime. Unfortunately, the norm now is virtual conversations via msn which has its benefits but just well, not the same anymore.

Amplitude

2009-03-18T23:59:00.008+08:00

Went for ‘amplitude’, an acapella/choir concert by the nus choir and all the halls in nus. It was quite fun to drop by UCC for a concert after a day of lessons. There are so many such free concerts on campus. I should do this more often!

One particular hall sung so badly to the point it became funny. They did not know how to sing but thought they knew how to sing and sing dramatically badly they did. The overall effect was rather comical in the end. Many people in the audience were either stunned into shock or laughing silently helplessly like I did. But I sincerely thank them for making me laugh so much tonight. They were rather cute despite their horrible singing.

RH choir sung 'the rainbow connection'. I like that song.

Why are there so many songs about rainbows

And what's on the other side?

Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,

And rainbows have nothing to hide.

So we've been told and some choose to believe it

I know they're wrong, wait and see.

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,

The lovers,

the dreamers,

and me.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered

when wished on the morning star?

Somebody thought of that and someone believed it,

and look what it's done so far.

What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing?

And what do we think we might see?

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,

the lovers,

the dreamers and me.

All of us under its spell,we know that it's probably magic.

Have you been half asleep and have you heard voices?

I've heard them calling my name.

Is this the sweet sound that calls the young sailors?

The voice might be one and the same.

I've heard it too many times to ignore it.

It's something that I'm supposed to be.

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,

the lovers,

the dreamers,

and me.

A new season

2009-03-15T14:59:00.001+08:00

of music, laughter and joy =)

Silly song on how to wring a duck's neck

2009-03-09T17:41:00.004+08:00

Went for cme’s practice yesterday. The fun part was not the two hour long practice but the one hour of gossip, crapping and lame-ness that follow after that. I learnt a new song! It’s rather sadistic cos it’s about how to kill a duck but its super funny with all the actions.

I think it went something like that…

(first verse)
Api de zhai zhai, tuki tuki api tuki

Api de zhai zhai, woo-oooooo

*If the poor duck is still not dead*

(second verse)
Api de zhai zhai, BANG-ee, tuki tuki,

Api de zhai, woo-oooo

*If the long-suffering duck is still not dead*

(3rd verse)
Api de zhai zhai,

BANG, BONG, BISH, tuki tuki

Api de zhai zhai, woo-ooo

Mid-term tests are over, life is good once again. =)

Aim for the moon, if you miss, you will land amongst the stars

2009-03-05T16:33:00.007+08:00

There's this 'saying' that goes something along the lines of 'aim for the moon, if you miss, you will land amongst the stars'.

I always thought it was 'aim for the stars, if you fall, you will land amongst the clouds' until my friend enlightened me yesterday when I talked to her online. Lol... and I got bored studying for my econometrics test and my mind went wondering about this 'saying'.

Min says:
but just a thought
Min says:
ya know bout the 'saying'
kit says:
lol..what happened to studying?
Min says:
aim for the moon, if you fall, you will still land among the stars.
kit says:
uh huh
Min says:
the moon is so much nearer to us
kit says:
lol
kit says:
oi oi
kit says:
study eh
Min says:
the stars are millions of light years away from us
kit says:
yessss
Min says:
so this ‘saying’ is a bit wrong as there are
no stars to fall on if we miss the moon
Min says:
ok, thats all
Min says:
i gonna go back to studying
Min says:
lol...
kit says:
lol!!

I still think that ‘aim for the stars, if you miss, you will still land on the clouds’ makes more sense.

And as my friend says, clouds are nice and fluffy to land on, so much nicer than landing on a star which is bound to be a hard landing.

An accident of a photo

2009-03-01T00:42:00.006+08:00

I asked this friend to take a photo with me. But that bugger refused as he said he was not very photogenic and thus did not like to take photos. I couldn’t be much bothered and went ahead and tried to snap a picture. But he siam-ed a little and this is the end result, where there’s only me half-laughing, half screaming at him to come back into the picture frame. Noone likes to take photos with me. =(

I don't know how to smile for the camera. Thats why I like this photo as my smile is genuine which is only the case when the camera catches me offguard. Its a nice accident of a photo.

Phoenix fest

2009-02-26T17:45:00.001+08:00

I played the violin with chamber music ensemble in hall. I think we are considered the most cannot-make-it cultural group in hall. It is neither as cool as band nor dance. Our performances more often than not, are a little out-of-tune. Something usually goes wrong during the performance. But despite all its flaws, I really enjoy making music/noise with this group of people.

The two tech runs before the performance for phoenix fest were quite terrible. The entire audience was stunned into shock at the noise yanlei and I were making rather than stunned into amazement by our virtuosic playing. Very thankfully, it turned out pretty decent (though there’s still room for improvement) on the day of performance itself. Badinerie and Hungarian dance were okay too. The Chinese instrumental group of CME played perfectly and with so many people on stage, it looked like a mini Chinese orchestra which was rather cool too.

Thanks Jinghong, Alex, Xianling and Yanlei. It was great fun jamming with you guys!

Thanks also to Andrew, Gail and Jonathan for all your constructive comments.

I love cme. =)

10 random things about me

2009-02-24T01:39:00.002+08:00

There was this note '25 random things about me' circulating around on Facebook recently. I thought it interesting and decided to do it. Unfortunately, I could only think up 10 things which is why I decided to change it to '10 random things about me' and post it up on my blog instead. Haha...

1. I am more vegetarian than an omnivore. The only reason why I have not turned fully vegetarian is because it’s sometimes hard to find meat-free food.

2. I told my parents I wanted to be a vegetarian when I was 10. They told me that if so, my brain can’t grow and I will become stupider for the lack of proteins.

3. Talking about this word stupider, I was enlightened by a friend that it doesn’t exist in the dictionary. I still think it should as it sounds so right somehow. I figured if I keep using it, other people may catch on to this word, and if enough people use it, a new word would be created and it would one day appear as an official word in the dictionary.

4.My favourite food in the world is tofu. Even if all the dishes on the menu suck, as long as there is tofu, it’s a good meal.

5. I hated Macdonalds ever since I was primary 4. I went to new Zealand for 3 weeks in the December holidays and ate Macdonalds practically everyday for breakfast until I felt like puking. It must be some reverse psychology thing in progress.

6.I love computer games when I was really young. My father was using the computer for work and I was mad with fury somehow as I couldn’t use it to play my favourite computer game. I took my toy water gun and shot the computer keyboard with a stream of water. I think I got caned by my father for that. But if so, I supposed I fully deserved it.

7. I play the piano and violin. I play the piano better than I can play the violin. I wish that it’s the other way round as I love the sound of the violin more than that of the piano. I have a hope, that I will be able to staccato and spiccato properly on the violin one day.

8. I can’t pronounce the name of my favourite instrument in the world, the violin. Someone pointed out to me that I pronounced it as the why-lin instead of violin. I still can’t pronounce it properly unless I concentrate real hard when I speak that word.

9.I used to really love classical music. That all changed when I took mep in secondary school. My music tastes took a 180 degree turn and I am more inclined to new age music and Chinese pop music now.

10. I like maths even if I am not majoring in it. I like it as the answer is either right or wrong which is unfortunately not so in the real world with lots of grey areas in between. Finally being able to understand a particular tough math problem feels to me like everything is falling neatly into place which also unfortunately does not happen in the real world.

My room-mate and a insect

2009-02-19T18:14:00.001+08:00

Me:*Found room-mate cowering in a corner of our room in fear of something*
Room-mate: there is an insect thats flying around!!! How?!!!
Insect: *proceeds to fly to her*
Room-mate: *proceeds frantically to stand on her chair in an attempt to get away from the insect.
Me: Errr… u realise that insect can fly?
Room-mate: I just realised that I can fly too.

Chemistry modules

2009-02-09T14:24:00.001+08:00

Bimolecules is excruciatingly boring. I should have chosen to do battle with solid state chemistry instead. Choosing between both of them however, is like asking me to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea. On a random note, I would choose the deep blue sea over the devil any day.

What a klutz

2009-02-04T12:09:00.002+08:00

I saw the metal chain that was at knee height before me.

I knew that there a metal chain at knee height before me.

Thus, I lifted up my right foot extra high to pass over the obstruction before me.

But I made a mistake and lifted up my left foot too while my right foot was still in mid-air.

So, there was no feet on the ground at all.

And the next moment, I suddenly found myself lying flat on the ground.

Whoosh… all the air was literally knocked out of me.

My specs flew off onto the ground.

My bag and my plastic bag with all its contents was strewn on the ground.

For a moment, I was rather dazed and wondering why I was lying on the ground.

Then, I remembered and cautiously wriggled a few limbs and they thankfully work.

Quickly went back to my room to test out my labtop which flew some distance which thankfully works too.

Physically, I am ok . I escaped this fall with only a few minor grazes on my elbows and a gash on my leg.

Mentally, I was mortified when it happen as some people witnessed my spectacular fall in plain view.

I am amused now as I have not fallen like that for a long time.

NUS e-mail

2009-02-02T21:00:00.005+08:00

www.nus.edu.sg

This is NUS's new webpage and I can't find the nus e-mail link on it which was previously rather visible on the old website.

As a result, I couldn't check my nus mail for a long time until my roomie told me to type 'exchange.nus.edu.sg' which led me to the page I wanted.

I still can't find that darn nus-email link.

If someone happen to spot it somewhere anywhere, please tell me. Haha...

Chinese new year in malaysia

2009-01-27T20:57:00.009+08:00

Happy chinese new year everyone!

Twilight

2009-01-09T23:37:00.003+08:00

My friend seems besotted with Edward Cullens, the male lead vampire in twilight. I was interested to find out what kind of guy she gets besotted with so I went to watch twilight with buddy a few days ago. Haha... my conclusion is that he is mesmerising in a rather creepy way.

The storyline of the movie 'twilight' was adapted straight from a book tittled 'twilight' which is actually the first of a series of a four books. I went online to reserve the second book of the series called 'new moon' from library. Apparently, I am the 232nd person in the queue for 117 copies of the book. I forsee a very very long wait. Maybe I should just go buy that book.

The universe and us

2009-01-06T13:50:00.002+08:00

Something feels unresolved but I have no idea where to start resolving it. I feel like I need to say something, but I don’t know what I should say. And so it continues, a memory that casts a grey hue over all that I experience in the present.

Beyond our Earth lies the universe. So many galaxies in that huge vacuum called space. Contained within a galaxy are millions of stars. Around some stars, planets orbits and on some planets, there might be life. And in the solar system, on this particular planet called Earth, there are millions of living organisms. Each individual is but a mere speck of dust in this vast universe. If our physical tangible self is so insignificant when measured on such a scale, our formless intangible troubles and worries are even more miniscule. I need to remember that.

Sungei buloh wetland reserve

2009-01-03T12:40:00.004+08:00

"Estuarine crocodiles are known to inhabit the waters of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. On occasion, the crocodiles have been spotted basking on the visitor routes. Should visitors encounter a crocodile on the path, they should stay calm and back away slowly."

Sounds rather exciting rite!

But too bad I didn't get to see a crocodile that day.

New year

2008-12-30T16:08:00.000+08:00

Year 2009 is arriving soon. What’s interesting about a year is how it seemed to have flown past so fast while a day can drag on so long.

New years mark the end of a time period and a start of a cycle of another time period. Yet, the new year does not mark the boundaries of time for me especially since I stepped into NUS where my ‘new year’ follows the academic calendar. Everyone seems to be making new year resolutions as always. I shall not make any resolutions for I can’t keep to promises made to myself. Resolutions I don’t have, hopes I do have.

And I wish everyone a happy new year.

Carolling

2008-12-24T18:09:00.004+08:00

If any of you wondered why i have virtually 'dissappeared from the face of the earth' these past few weeks, its cos I have been busy with carolling. It was exhaustingly fun! I carolled 16 times in all. People who went for all the carolling sessions carolled 21 times in all.

There was this toddler who watched our conductor conducting with interest and started waving his hands wildly around in an attempt to imitate the conductor. It make those of us who saw him want to laugh which would have been terribly unprofessional.

There was this little baby girl who saw people clapping whenever we finished a song and clapped too, an action which seemed to delight her parents to no end so much so that they stayed throughout the entire carolling session just to see her clap at the end of every song rather than to hear us sing.

Same songs sung during each carolling session yet a different experience each time which never made it boring even if we had to sing over and over again so many times.

I don't think I can join choir anymore next semester as practices clashes with orchestra rehearsals. But thanks choir for the memories. Its nice to celebrate christmas this way with all of you.

Outing to farms in choa chua kang area

2008-12-19T21:06:00.011+08:00

Kitlu flew back to Singapore for the holidays and so I decided to go and try out the fish spa with her.

Qianhu fish farm and its koi feeding pond where you can buy a pack of feed to feed the kois.

We paid $10 for a 30 mins fish spa session. The idea sounds nuts come to think of it. We paid $10 to be offered as food to the fishes in the pool.

We decided to upgrade ourselves and try the pool with larger fish and very much larger mouths. Oh man... one bite from the larger fish equals to 10 bites from a small little fish. It was weird feeling the fish taking a large chomp of your skin that I screamed at first when I dipped my feet into the pool.

'Bollywood veggies' which sell pots of herbs and organic vegetables.

Organic vegetables from the vegetable farm, not-so-organic curry chicken and rice.

Yummy desert. The picture says it all. It was rather cheap too which added to the delicious-ness of it.

Went to the frog farm too. There, I saw a rather horrific sight which I doubt I will ever forget. I saw a few men steadily chopping legs off frogs for consumption. The men were rather expressionless when they went about their jobs and it was done in too efficient and cold-blooded a manner. I can't ever do their job. I will go mad one day to have to kill so many frogs even if they are lives of frogs and not lives of humans.

Puppies along the road side! Come to think of it, I have not seen stray dogs for a long time. Singaporeans probably call SPCA to catch the dogs wherever they are sighted which is quite saddening. We were so delighted to see them that we stop the car along the road for a while and just watch them go about their business.

I bought two little goldfishes from one of the fish farms there to add to the two goldfishes in the pond at home. When I got home, my maid told me that all our goldfishes have died and my parents have since replaced them with two kois. My heart really sank as I thought that koi fishes will bully the helpless goldfishes and nip off their fan-like tails.

To make sure, I googled the question 'Do koi and goldfishes fight?'

Google says that 'koi and goldfishes live together in happy harmony'.

I hope so too.

The thinker and the guy who likes to think

2008-11-30T20:02:00.005+08:00

One of my professors was one of the interviewers for the NUS discrete admission exercise. It’s where people are given another chance to get a place in NUS if they are unable to make it based on their A level grades. My professor asked an interviewee casually what he likes to do in his free time. This guy replied that he likes to think, that he thinks everywhere he goes. I don’t know bout you, but I found his reply rather funny so much so that I nearly burst out laughing in lecture. I wonder whether he got into NUS in the end.

One day, I want to go and see this sculpture ‘the thinker’. Art rarely evokes any feelings in me as it is supposed to. But this particular piece of art does that and makes me want to just stand there looking at it and thinking my own thoughts too.

What I am thinking now is that I do not know enough palladium chemistry to save my life. Oh dear...

Dogs vs cats

2008-11-29T02:03:00.003+08:00

I have always preferred cats to dogs while many others prefer dogs to cats.

Today, I found a quote from the book 'Anne of the Island' which perfectly sums up why I prefer cats to dogs.

'I love cats', said Dorothy. They are so nice and selfish. Dogs are too good and unselfish. They make me feel uncomfortable. But cats are gloriously human.'

To be human is to be flawed. And perhaps thats why I can relate to and love cats better as my character is inherently flawed by nature.

Studying holiday

2008-11-26T22:58:00.000+08:00

This exam period feels like a studying holiday. I know its strange to link these two words into a phase when their meanings are poles apart but it just feels like it.

Maybe I am home more often nowadays and so I realised there is lots of activity going outside my window in the night. There are civet cats who merrily climb up and down the tree to pluck mangoes for supper. Two nights ago, I sensed something staring at me and so I casually turned back and got the shock of my life. There was this civet cat sitting on the roof outside my window staring at me from the darkness. Yesterday night, I heard some creature squeaking and making a hell lot of noise and so I peered out of my window to investigate the source of noise. I think it was from a civet cat just out of sight telling a mother civet cat and its baby to get lost from its territory. Oh man, they actually do reproduce and multiply in numbers. The baby civet cat was cute though, it saw me looking at it in wonder-ment and it came over to take a look at me too.

2 down, 1 more to go.

Studying in progress

2008-11-19T15:29:00.003+08:00

My favourite studying corner at the moment, where I will climb onto the window ledge and sit there cross-legged studying while watching life go on in the street below me.

Time

2008-11-15T13:24:00.003+08:00

They say time erases the tracks of what hurts. But time in itself is not a panacea for all that hurts. It’s the experience that time brings that helps. As time ticks on, we see more, we know more. We take a step back and are able to see more of the bigger picture. Take another step back and we are able to see even more of the picture. With the passage of time, you have put more steps in between you and what troubles you and the problem shrinks in size due to the distance put between you and that matter. Perhaps, that’s the basis of the saying, time soothes all hurts.

I need to learn something else too. I fully understand that the world owes me nothing. But I need to understand too that I do not owe the world anything. And then, a burden falls from my shoulders and it is easier to breathe.

As I walk on, I become surer and surer of myself regardless of voices of other people which threaten to drown my own voice out. And amidst all the stress of the exam period, that is a certain gladness that radiates out from my heart and infuses my soul with warmth.

Blackout

2008-11-11T15:15:00.005+08:00

There was a power failure and my entire block was plunged into total darkness. You see the large black patch on the left-hand side of the photo? Thats actually a whole block of rooms and not just empty space there.

Alot of people gathered at the sepak takraw court and starting chatting since there is nothing else we could do with the power failure.

Someone took out a guitar and started singing while strumming some chords with other people joining in.

Another carried around a lantern, more for fun I guess then for the need of light.

A girl upstairs laid out a row of tea light candles and lit them.

Others gathered around the power box trying to solve the root of the problem of the power trip. I heard someone jokingly chastise another saying, ay, you electrical engineering student le, how come u dunno what's wrong?

I turned around to my room-mate and said, this is so rather exciting!

14 days

2008-11-10T23:08:00.003+08:00

Oh dear... there's only 14 days left to exams. How I am supposed to squeezed that much amount of information into my brain in such a short time that I do not know yet.

Its weird. As the days draw closer to the exams, I should be more stressed right? But with each passing day, I feel less stressed as all those CAs are coming to an end. What an irony, those CAs which are supposed to help me study consistently for the final exams are actually hindering me from starting on my final exam preparation.

For a moment last week, I felt that dark feeling that comes by to visit me sometimes. I had forgotton something I should have remembered. Thankfully, I now remember what I should never have forgotton.

Madagascar

2008-11-08T22:28:00.002+08:00

I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT

HE LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT

SHE LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT

YOU LIKE TO, MOVE IT!

I wanna watch this show! Hopefully maybe, it will still be showing on 3rd december.

Purpose

2008-11-04T21:15:00.001+08:00

I guess we all need a goal, an end point which we can keep our eyes on as we walk across, walk under, walk above, walk through all the obstacles before our goal to reach it. And when we finally reach that goal, we find another end-point to walk towards to.