(A melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution.)
"But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever." - Psalms 52:8
Monday, April 30, 2007
shabushabu part II
finally, here are the pictures:
Cutlery! 2 bowls of different sauces each, one bowl for appetizers and a dish for different garnishes. until now, i have no idea what that orange stuff is. minced garlic?? but it tasted real subtle... *shrug*
oh goodie, the POT is here. oh wait, it's just water... no stock, nothing. just a few slices of garlic resting at the bottom of the pot.
ho ho ho, veggieeee. i see straw mushrooms!! *glee*
the agedashi tofu. see my clenched fists? i was ready to pounce once alvin stopped taking pictures.
meat!! don't be deceived, it's not a lot. each slice is SO THIN. and this was to be shared between alvin and i. :(
whaaa...? oh hey, the agedashi's gone. *very unguilty face*
my eyes hurt and i don't know why. and plus, i'm having those cramps. ugh. *curls up*
my hair's all weird (it's becoming a norm) and i've got tons of stuff to do like check out my mom's plan for auto-roaming, planning for kids cell and reading up my chemistry notes for tuition.
sigh.
gotta get my lazy ass a-movin'.
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on the other hand, i just can't wait for tomorrow when spiderman 3 opens. oh man the streets will be SO CROWDED since it's labor day... i've got tickets for 11 plus in the morning, and in the HUGE lido theatre too! was planning to catch it in GV max at vivo, but oh well, too late. at least we managed to get great seats, heehee.
and heroes will be out by tmr!
hey i just realized my entire week is packed to the brim.
today is meeting with keegan day, then tmr's spiderman 3, then wed is jamming with the boys (yeah, me, right. hahaha), thurs is settlers and fri... i guess that's when i plan kids cell :P
AND THEN I START PACKING FOR THAILAND WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*dances around*
the only down-point is that as i am on the flight to phuket, the amazing race will be simulcast. dammit. last leg too. i hope the beauty queens win. i like their style (yes, pun intended)!
whee! meeting the girls later at 3pm for tea, and for the rest of the day to celebrate angel's birthday... which is NOT today.
heh, i remember ok; later get a pummeling again. :(
wow my calendar is almost packed with meetings and tuition and such. moreover, spiderman's opening next week and apparently, i'll be watching it TWICE.
i think it's pretty convenient that nothing interesting opens in the week where the bunch of fanboys and labpals plus me will be gone off to thailand - yay yay yay, i can finally take a plane!!! do you know how long it's been since i've taken an aeroplane to somewhere?? i calculated; i haven't taken a plane since sec 3. that's almost 10 years ago!!
sad, isn't it?
well, beggars cannot be choosers.
i'm just so glad i'm finally going off somewhere this time. i will shop till my arms fall off. oh yes, i will.
i have a pair of gauchos that i have not worn, coz they either have no shoes to match, or my tops look funny with them.
but anyway, i took them out to try and prance around a bit.
it was fun, coz they were so flowy i just had to do a little pirouette, and jumped around in a little mock-ballet jig...
i feel retarded for telling you guys this.
ANYWAY! i didn't wear them in the end, and changed into a pair of capris.
but on the bus, my player shuffled to play 'say it right' and the beats really got my imagination going. i love the song for all its hard beats and i love the mood of the song. though the lyrics aren't the most profound, when i listen to it i think of contemporary dances portraying anguish and lots of expression.
i love contemporary!!
ok so in the end, this post is just to show how i derived that i should start dance classes again.
haha... contemporary, or back to hiphop? maybe some salsa-salsa-salsaaaa would be fun too. :D
i've really wanted to cut myself a doll-fringe for the LONGEST time, even before it became fashionable (yes, it was that long ago) but it just never came to pass.
so yesterday, i finally did it! and merged it together with a nice bob.
end results?
i can't decide which image is more fitting to describe me...
a martian?
a spaceman?
or annabelle chong?
ARGH!!! IT WAS A DISASTER!!! my head looks so round now it's almost a perfect circle!!!! dang it, my hairstyles when seen apart look great; it's a fantastic looking fringe, and my bob is really pretty (from the side-view it's gorgeous). but, but, but... OH I SOOOOOO DO NOT HAVE ANY HINDSIGHT AT ALL GAHHHHHHHHH.
ok ok lemme give u an uncanny example of how i look like right now.
i'm going to go home, and stare at the ceiling. once in a while i will pick up one of my stuffed toys and :D at it. then i will continue staring at the ceiling with a vacant smile.
at this stage, we're all maxed out already. but then again, there's no need for our power supply anymore!
ahh... AN IMBECILE.
it's time for hibernation mode.
*vacant smile*"
- fellow classmate, when challenged on how he's going to spend his holidays
it was really my day today; everything i asked for was given!!!
i prayed for my medical microbiology paper, that it'd be easy. it was such a good paper T_T. it was really easy to study, then the questions that came out were so straight forward somemore!!! it's really a case of minimum input giving maximum output (gain). whee!!!
then after med micro my head was lolling about from the mere 3 hours of sleep from the previous night... so i prayed for a not-too-taxing chemical biology paper 2 hours after med micro.
the questions set were really a Godsend.
---
the lecturer told us the exam questions would be taken from lecture notes - he had questions every lecture that were unanswered.
thing is, he used the same set of lecture notes from the previous term... and gave the model answers to all the questions.
and guess who in my lab has taken chem bio in the previous term?
the 'not so useless anymore' masters student: BINBIN!!!
XD
i finished the paper in less than an hour.
---
i also prayed for my favorite silver arrow skoda cab, and got it (by fluke coz i was waiting in line but the cab was not supposed to be mine at first... you get what i mean right? coz you're in line and you already KNOW which cabs you will be taking by checking out the cab queue).
and the cab was so comfy too. ahhhhh...
everything just went RIGHT, which made me glad coz i was pretty much zombie-fied from the lack of sleep, winded from the fact that this was my unofficial graduation (woah woah WOAHHH) and lack of energy after making one too many jigs when my papers were over.
after i had a nap, everything was different.
it finally hit me:
i've ended 1 week earlier than my classmates.
i no longer have to keep looking at the time to plan what time i should sleep in order to do work tmr and what time should i get up to study this, that, etc etc - PURE ELATION I TELL YOU!!
no more exams for at least A YEAR.
i'm getting a full one month break.
i'm freaking going to thailand YAYYYYYYY
and now, i finally have all the time i want to catch up with my old pals. i really hated pang-seh-ing them last minute just because of an experiment. trust me, i really really hated calling you guys to tell you i can't make it.
but no more! XD
---
i had a hot date today...
with a black pig. more specifically, i only dated its shoulders and loins, but woah, it's OUT OF MY MIND CRAZILY THE BEST DATE EVER.
i ate my date, of course. ;)
i had shabu-shabu (with pantsu!! -_-"' shut up binbin.) at ohsumi shabu-shabu! it's at level 3 of cuppage plaza. it's not cheap, though apparently the price at ohsumi is comparable to prices of shabu-shabu in hokkaido.
so i had the black pig - kurobuta shabu-shabu. have the loin, you must try the loin, MY GOODNESS YOU HAVE TO TRY IT; IT IS DAMN NICE AND I WANT TO SPEND ALL MY MONEY THERE
*breaks down and cries*
it's really good. pork will never be the same anymore.
and hor, it came up to $54 per pax. eep. AND THE MEAT IS NOT ENOUGH FOR ME I WANT KUROBUTA BUFFET, MAKE ME PAY $70 I ALSO DON'T MIND OMGOMGOMGOMG
well, people, school has ended for me. i don't know if i will be embracing lectures once more (for my masters)... i know i need a break. it's been a long journey. and i'm glad it ended with a bang - i just had the best two papers, on the same day back-to-back, in all my 4 years here. ... wow, it's been 4 years. and i still have that sms from long ago: 'good morning, nus science fac girl. :)' --- am feeling abit lost right now... so weird to have nothing in my immediate future to aim for. odd, odd, odd.
me to the ben & jerry's girl: "what??!?! the queue is outside???"
but i waited anyway. it's free ben & jerry's, come on - you can't blame me.
oh checcccck it out! i am mole-y!
this was my first cone: strawberry cheesecake. mind you, the single scoop was huge, but i ates most of it already by the time i found somewhere to sit.
just look at our greedy faces:
the rest came after awhile to get their free cone... so i unabashedly went along for my 2nd cone! no pictures, but i got choc fudge brownie. thick and not too sweet. yum-alicious.
i've taken to reading the blog written by stephen christian, who's the lead singer of anberlin.
just read a post, which taught me something and... well, here it is:
"there once was a hindu holy man who saw a scorpion floundering around in the water. he decided to save it by stretching out his finger. but the scorpion stung him. the man still tried to get the scorpion out of the water, but the scorpion stung him again. a man nearby told him to stop saving the scorpion that kept stinging him. but the holy man said, "it is the nature of the scorpion to sting. it is my nature my love. why should i give up my nature to love just because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting?"
it should be our nature to love regardless of who we are, regardless of what has been done to us. its hard. i know. trust me. people are always going to sting you. they are going to rip into your character. they are going to be the ones in the platform telling you that your views are wrong. they are going to be in the pulpits pointing fingers in judgement. they are going to be the ones who hold your whole race responsible for the actions of one person's actions.
but that doesn't give you the right to despise; for hate for those who hate is still hate. in spite of those who may sting you remain in what you know to be your nature. love."
if you've been to phuket and/or bangkok, i'd like you to tell me what you've done/eaten there that you absolutely love coz it's cheap/so friggin nice u crave about it all the time (like how aileen craves for her mango sticky rice).
give me as much detail as possible, like where to get it and how much.
oh and if i buy stuff, how much should i bargain for: shoes, tops, shorts, capris, slippers, bags, belts, earrings, bras, skirts, etc etc...
100 baht? 200 baht?
ok my intention is to start at 50 baht. and stop at 100 baht.
HAHAHAHAHA I CAN BE AS CHEAPO AS I WANT AND NO ONE CAN STOP ME WHEEEEE
it's damn funny coz a few days ago he was telling me how people used to call him 'da fan shu' (big potato). being utterly honest, i laughed and agreed with them, while he sulked.
ahahahahahaha... his responses are hilarious!!
---
edit: apparently the ones who trampled on his self-esteem by calling him da fan shu was nel and i, and apparently we were the only ones. it very conveniently slipped my mind, hahaha!
i had planned how i was going to hand in my thesis yesterday:
1. wake up after 1 hour of rest (it's not considered sleeping... no, not even napping - IT'S TOO SHORT) 2. go to alvin's place by 8am to complete my discussion 3. we will export our files to pdf, burn it into a cd 4. leave his place by 12pm 5. go somewhere to laser-print our measly 50+ pages, 3 copies each, and bind them 6. reach school by 3pm (thesis submission closing time) to hand them in.
ok, so steps 1-3 went fine. but step 4 really screwed us up because we left at 2pm instead of 12, giving us 1 hour to complete steps 5-6!!!!!
i freaked. and seriously panicked.
and when i was so stressed out waiting for alvin to convert our files to pdf, i was also watching him convert his friend's file to pdf.
i tell you, i am evil. immediately i thought: 'WHY? WHY IS HE STILL HELPING SOMEONE WHEN WE CAN'T EVEN FINISH OUR STUFF??'
and got a little mad. but i just didn't say anything because i could tell he was panicking and rushing already (he couldn't find blank cds for him to burn his copy into, and his computer hung) so i didn't want to piss him off.
so anyway, we set off for a cab at 2pm, it took us 10 minutes to get one, and when i got in i told the cabby 'uncle plsplspls we're in a rush, can you go faster, please?'
he said 'ok', but guess what, HE DIDN'T.
and i nearly blew my top when the cabby got off at the bukit merah exit instead of the telok blangah one. like what the heck man, it was an extra 10 minutes just trying to wind through all the other cars and all the traffic lights!
i was so disgusted by him because just for an extra $1 (it's so measly!!!) he would compromise his customer's very explicit request. which part of 'WE'RE SERIOUSLY IN A RUSH' did he not get?
i hate it when cabbies do shit like that. thinking about it still makes me mad.
so we got to queensway and he dared say 'oh, just $10 will do.' when the fare was $10.20. hello, i don't even feel like paying you anymore ok... it's just that you're such an old uncle and i know if i am mean to you i'll just feel really horrible about it later on.
sigh.
alvin made a run for the printing shop and lost his slipper in the process. that really made me laugh, hehe.
by this time it was already 2:30pm. i was still hopeful, thinking that printing might take maybe 15 minutes and then we can zao right away.
so i stood outside maybank at queensway. the plan was, once i see alvin bursting out of the doors, i flag a cab and we can speed to school.
and so i waited.
and waited.
by 2:50pm i called KC to help us ask what time submission closes. he called me back and told me 'eh, 3pm is really the latest. after 3pm your submission will be penalized. really, don't have extension; i asked already.'
at the point i deflated. i was just tired from being high-strung the ENTIRE day (without sleep too) and mad at people who waste my time. and after one whole year of work, after slaving at my thesis like that, i just didn't want it to end like that! getting penalized coz i was late. noooooooo...
so i started praying, because, all circumstances seemed dire.
then i realized, actually alvin was really being very selfless when he helped his friend. and really, thinking back, it hardly took anytime at all. oh my, i'm such a selfish b*tch sometimes. :(
sigh.
i continued waiting outside queensway till 3:30pm. until it started raining.
in the end, the printing took one full hour, and by then, honestly, i had given up all hope of not getting penalized.
alvin and i braved the rain, and got into a cab, and sped down to school. that was when we realized his foot was bleeding when he lost his slipper and his skin grazed the tar. ouch.
we were still going to try anyway.
we got to the conference room.
it was empty.
we walked in anyway... and there was a girl holed up at a corner with piles of paper and cd-roms.
we gave her our thesis, and i asked her in a small voice if we will be penalized.
you must know, by then i couldn't give two hoots about being penalized already... i was so very exhausted.
'oh, no la won't be. coz you hand up by today ma, so it's not too late la.'
WAH LIAO I LOOKED AT ALVIN AND WE BOTH WANTED TO JUMP FOR JOY. i could tell coz our grins were just splitting our faces wide.
i have no idea how many 'thank God's and 'thank you's we uttered before we stumbled out. i wanted to hug her, but if i did it she might mark me down. well, just in case la.
so as we strode out of the admin doors, i turned to alvin (with very teary eyes) and said, 'i feel like singing!!'
and we BOTH broke into song. it was so weird because we sang the same thing.
'God is good! all the time! lalalalalala (we both forgot the lyrics) in this heart of mine!'
and then we couldn't stop laughing, i couldn't stop weeping, and we skipped all the way back to our lab.
i'm so sick of looking at my thesis - it's neverending!!
well, it does seem that way, but i'm handing it in tomorrow. finally, one year's worth of work. i totally understand why the honours year is the year where most people get weeded out from Life Sciences.
honours = horrible.
i'm really looking forward to a more normal lifestyle.
ok, enough rest. all my thoughts on how everything is finished tomorrow is seriously perking me up.
i've never done any christian outreach program before, so i think yesterday was my first.
i was teaming up with this girl, weilin, for a medical microbiology project, so one night while we were having an msn conversation about our project, we somehow talked till the late hours and started to talk about God, our churches, churches in general, christians in our nus community etc.
the next day, she msges me and says 'HEY I HAVE A CRAZY IDEA'
her 'crazy idea' was seemingly crazy to me at first: it was to sing a song to bless our fellow classmates on our last lecture of the year, which may also be like, the last lecture in our lives (i.e. mine).
the next day i pretty much told her she's gone nuts.
hahahahahahaha, as u can tell, i am the subject in 'ye of little faith'.
so fast forwarded to yesterday, we did it. our profs allowed it to happen, as long as there was no evangelizing involved, alvin did the introductions, and 9 girls sang it.
we sang corrinne may's 'Everything In Its Time'.
i'm sure the youtube video will come up eventually; i kept staring at my lyrics coz there were so many people rushing to the front and taking pictures/videos.
OMG.
but i'm glad a lot of people stayed even though it was after lecture. *happy sigh*
i had my first ever poster presentation in the MPSH yesterday.
my goodness, my nerves were so frayed that when my picture was being taken, the photographer commented, 'wow your smile is so... radiant.'
i think they meant glaring.
my first examiner came around 10+am, smiled, and said, 'ok, why don't you bring me through your poster?'
i smiled.
'well, my project is about the investigation of plasmodium cell death...'
*pause*
*pregnant pause*
(#!%%#2 I CANNOT REMEMBER A THING I WANT TO SAY ARGH OMGOMGOMG ARGH HALP HALP HALP)
then i started to hyperventilate.
all this while, I WAS STILL SILENT AND SCRAMBLING THROUGH MY MIND FOR ANY PHRASE TO START ME OFF but
no there was nothing.
it felt like a reached a state of zen, where my mind was unpenetratable
BUT, EH, WRONG TIME CAN ARGH ARGH ARGH!!!
...
...
still nothing.
(in the time it took you to get to this sentence since the start-off line for my presentation, that's how long i was mute for.)
finally i let out a, 'DR WONG I FORGOT WHAT I WANTED TO SAY!' and gave him an extremely mortified expression.
he was so nice, my gosh i-am-so-bloody-blessed; he smiled kindly and 'oh take your time, i won't interrupt. just start when you are ready. :)'
and, i did! and because of how i let out a half-scream, his examining took on a very informal turn...
i ended up at one point saying 'oh oh oh i know!!' and he looked delighted in how i was catching on to his idea. very animated.
after his one hour grilling/working through our different perspectives, i was totally deflated.
i think it took all my brain power to catch his drift and latch on to his concepts. GAH.
and i had one more examiner to go...
---
ok, i knew my presentation skills SUCKED from round one, so i went back to my lab to try to hone my skill. or whatever crappy monologue i had prepared.
after an exasperating hour with alvin and hanbin (er, hint: i wasn't the one exasperated; hanbin fell sick after hearing my 'speech'), i went to look for prof #2.
you see, this is the prof i am scared of. like, really worried man, coz i'd rubbed him the wrong way just before my presentation. :(
so i contacted him, and went to set up my poster in the seminar room - i had some problem putting up my poster, which was not something blu-tack couldn't solve...
but it didn't stop me from running around the general office, panicking like a headless chicken anyway.
SO. the time came.
he strode into the room.
AND SMILED.
i was so stunned. i think my mouth parted a little (almost giving way to a full gape), and duh i smiled back. i was about to offer to bring him through my presentation but guess what?
(still smiling) 'i hope you don't mind, but just give me 5 minutes to read through your poster... u can take a seat first. *smiiiiiiiiiilllle*'
i was damn unnerved. like, i was in twilight zone or something, my goodness.
ok to cut the long story short, i didn't present, he asked me questions on how i set up my experiment and then complimented my poster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
'i like your poster. it's simple, and not too cluttered. and i like how u didn't try to look as if you've done a lot of work when you really haven't completed yet. yes. simple and nice. i like it.'
i flipped out. majorly.
i thanked him profusely and when it was done i walked back into my lab in a daze.
i've never had such a stressed out and nerve-wracking day as this. it was insane, and life-draining.
it was dead funny to see how everyone was curling up after their presentation. hahaha.
i love my poster. :)
ok this is but a mini-sample of it. the real thing is 36 x 40 inches which is HUGE.
and i had a serious bad hair day. gah, it's all stress-induced.
it's amazing how much i've learnt despite feeling (or being made to feel) like an idiot while working on my honors project.
i love it how i'm working on my presentation now, and as i draft up my script, everything comes back to me and gives me smashing good ideas.
i love how everything is tying up, how excited i am about my project, really, and how i've just been typing for 30 minutes non-stop and i've got 2 pages full without checking any papers for information... because it's already in my head!
wow!
well, 2 pages full, but with loopholes that i can't wait to research on and tie up. gosh, this is exciting.
now, if only i was offered to be an Research Assistant, and not a Lab Officer (the admin, noooo!!)
choices, choices, choices.
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and i love working in the morning. i should start sleeping earlier and getting up before the sun rises. the morning air clears my thoughts.
