Cadence

(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

Thursday, January 24, 2008

zomg.

what is going on?? the world is too small.

when i came bursting into the office today, alvin turned to me and said, 'guess what? do you remember this guy called marc?'

'uh, no...'

'from morris piers?? ok, anyway, i was talking to him and he was telling me he was having lunch with some people yesterday and asking them if they still keep in touch with their JC friends...'

'OH OH THAT GUY, from smu right? yar why?'

' yes, so he was talking about jc friends that they still keep in touch with...'

'mmhmm'

'and weiyi mentioned your name.'

'??!?!?! huh?'

at this point i'm like, 'eh what the heck? why is weiyi's name in this conversation? marc? weiyi? jc friends?? they know each other? and marc doesn't even know who i am, so why'd he mention my name to alvin? what??'


ok apparently, hao lun was there too, who mentioned alvin, and hence allowed marc and weiyi to make the connection that weiyi's jc friend, ME, is also his morris pier's friend, ALVIN'S, girlfriend.

all thanks to haolun who made the connection. haha.

and apparently marc (who was introduced to WoW by alvin - yes, i remember alvin telling me this a long time back, coz he mentioned marc was really, really, into WoW at that point) and weiyi play WoW together. LOL.

as much as i try to stay away from WoW, it just comes after me... i don't know why. -_-

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

i'm (not) dating.

i spend lots of time with alvin. i mean, that's a given, right? since we work together?

we spend pretty much the entire day together, working through bits before experiments, culturing malaria together, working on the experiments we set up, writing research papers (not so much reading research papers - which is a nasty habit i have to change), coming up with a poster design, preparing for upcoming conferences, preparing to move our experiments over to NTU, making media... THIS WORK IS NEVER-ENDING.

and then of course, we go out and catch movies or concerts or go cycling or shopping and I LOVE ALL MY FRIENDS... but it seriously perturbs me that, we never seem to be alone anymore.

i try thinking back to the most recent 'just-the-two-of-us' date we've had.

'hmm... went for cloverfield with the guys, went for parties with my cell, played guitar hero with HIS cell... etc etc'

well ok, i can think of one recent 'just-the-two-of-us' date actually. we'd gone to parkway for sashimi and then walked around for what, 1 hour? then we went back to his place to work on our IC50 paper.

this is all rather depressing. rather.

-great big sigh-

see, classic example. it's almost 8pm and i'm waiting to go home with alvin to... have dinner then work on the IC50 paper and on our poster for next week's conference.

i don't need 'me' time, i need some 'us' time. :(

cloverfield

i really, really liked cloverfield.

i've heard that the general reviewers hated it, but i guess i went in knowing that:

1. it's all done from a handycam's POV (but it's an awesome handycam that really captures details man...) - prepare yourself for motion sickness!

2. it's a show about NYC being terrorized by something (??)

3. it's probably got no proper ending? but the effects and anticipation would be cool anyways?

watching the movie with these premises definitely helped. or just catch the trailer on apple trailers first, before you watch it.

i loved how the entire theatre was silent for a long moment after the movie ended. and my adrenaline was pumping like nuts... not sure how you'd feel about it though.

poking my eyes out with the fourth finger

i'm just done freaking out.

i'd inserted my brand new monthly contact lenses into my eye when i started feeling a little uncomfortable, so i decided to remove them.

being an ex-contact lense wearer, taking the lenses out is no big deal. i mean, u just open your eyes wide and kinda pinch the lenses out, no?

NO.

NOT WITH THIS BLOODY PAIR.

i started freaking out coz no matter how many times i tried, it just refused to leave my iris.

eventually, of course, i managed to take the lenses off...

by sticking my fourth finger into my eye, and lifting the lenses off my iris/eyeball using my nail.

*shudder*

should i be getting used to this?? -frown-

Monday, January 21, 2008

Odd morning.

i was desperately catching up with Coffee Prince on mysoju.com last night, and only slept at 230am but before i slept, i resisted the urge to set my alarm for 730am instead of 630am (more sleep, but go to work later :P)

i resisted the urge, woke up in the sun-less morn, and was out of the door by 715am.

that's when everything went downhill.

i waited and waited for an empty bus, wondering to myself WHY are all the buses full? odd morning. then a never-seen-before 'mrt shuttle' bus zoomed past.

???

eventually i managed to squeeze myself up a bus 9, and made my way to the mrt station. checked my watch, 'hmm good, i can still take the train from simei to pasir ris, then to school and make it to work on time. heehee, can sit down too heehee.'

well, that was what i thought la. -_-

upon reaching the designated bus stop, there were tons of people trying to get up the bus. again, 'odd morning' flashed across my mind.

oh well. i got off the bus and looked over towards the mrt station...

DANGGIT. IT'S CLOSED!!! due to some 'technical difficulties'.

i woke up early... FOR THIS??!?! noooooooooooooooo...

yar so anyway i sat at the bus stop, stumped as to which bus to take to school, since the shuttle service provided from simei to tanah merah were all packed even without picking anyone up at simei.

in the end i took a 10 minute walk to another bus stop, hopped on to bus 5 which took 20 minutes to arrive, got caught in TWO jams outside simei mrt and at eunos, then hopped on to 14 at orchard, and walked over from dover to school.

i'd never been so happy to arrive at work.

it's insane - the whole mrt debacle made me take 3 hours to commute to work this very morning. sigh, maybe if i'd read psalms before breakfast like i was supposed to...

---

edit: yar, u can read about the report here.

Friday, January 18, 2008

konapun - donuts!!!

alvin came over for some konapun fun!

KO-NA-PUN PART-O NI, DESU~!! (i'm sure this sentence is severely incorrect)

donuts are much more tedious to make. hmph.

(i am extremely lazy to type, after the massive uploading of photos, hehe)

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it comes in a cute carry case... this makes me feel like a kid BUT I LOVE IT.

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open shop loh~!!

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sticker-ing up my 'shop'

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check out the cute little menu!

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this is how your donuts are supposed to look like, ahahahaha!

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wah, recipe wor~

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it's complete!

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alvin's making the first batch:

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templates:

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'alvin ah... it looks weird - lemme help you.'

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'eh! why is it so jiaow-jiaow??'

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eeyur!!

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MASHED BRAINS!!! RARRRRRR!!!

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'HEY THIS PACKET'S ALMOST EXPIRED! NO WONDER LA!!' it took 40 minutes to dry halfway. -_-

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cannot make it la. throw away time!

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new batch! and this time, chocolate donuts!!

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dough is risinggg

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and so now, we prepare the 'oil' for deep fry. at this point, we are incredibly excited. XD

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this is a video on the deep fry portion; it's pretty amazing. i kept squealing and alvin was pretty wow-ed by the effect too. heehee.




check out the texture :)

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there was extra oil, so we made one more batch of plain donuts:

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*sizzle*

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*float!*

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left over oil:

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donut sugar glazing:

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it's such a waste, but we have to throw everything away...

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i love konapuuuun. *huggle*

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-speechless-

i could be called nerdy at times, but even this is too much for me.




The PCR Song

There was a time when to amplify DNA,
You had to grow tons and tons of tiny cells.
Then along came a guy named Dr. Kary Mullis,
Said you can amplify in vitro just as well.
Just mix your template with a buffer and some primers,
Nucleotides and polymerases, too.

Denaturing, annealing, and extending.
Well it’s amazing what heating and cooling and heating will do.

PCR, when you need to detect mutations.
PCR, when you need to recombine.
PCR, when you need to find out who the daddy is.
PCR, when you need to solve a crime.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

gosh...

i just went back to sunset way yesterday evening, so when i saw willie come online i msged him to tell him i went back to our old place to check out how much it's changed.

and then on the other window, i was telling weiyi about Switchfoot; and i realized i haven't checked with willie if he was going yet, so...

Ms. Moo (@): XS earbuds are the way to go says:
OH HEYYYYYYYYY
do u wanna go for switchfoot?
can't believe i forgot to ask u

Willie says:
on the 31st?

Ms. Moo (@): XS earbuds are the way to go says:
yeah
haha i see u know already

Willie says:
well i have to admit something

Ms. Moo (@): XS earbuds are the way to go says:
?
u can;t stand them?

Willie says:
i have backstage passes
hahahaha

Ms. Moo (@): XS earbuds are the way to go says:
NO
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Willie says:
HAHAHAHHAA

Ms. Moo (@): XS earbuds are the way to go says:
BO JIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
T_T

Willie says:
under my studio lah!

Ms. Moo (@): XS earbuds are the way to go says:
bring me bring me bring me please please please
*beg*

Willie says:
must ask my boss
cos he surprised me
the studio is sponsering their gig

Ms. Moo (@): XS earbuds are the way to go says:
OMG
wah

Willie says:
so all engineers get the passes

Ms. Moo (@): XS earbuds are the way to go says:
i'm losing it already

Willie says:
why?

Ms. Moo (@): XS earbuds are the way to go says:
gah!
GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Willie says:
be an engineer!
hahaha

Ms. Moo (@): XS earbuds are the way to go says:
-_-
can't believe i paid 92 bucks
BAH!
come on ... gimme passes so i can bless someone else with my fantastic front row tickets

Willie says:
HAHAHA

and also! he knows the people from the Fire Fight! i just knew i've seen the specky guy before; he's willie's pal!

wow, singapore is small, man.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

guilt trip

(let me attempt to blog in 10 minutes.)

i'd bargained for a top at the Science bazaar yesterday. it was going for $18, so i tried to lower the price.

'the lowest i can give you is $17...' the young girl said, with an apologetic look on her face.

'how about $15? please laaa...'

'er...' she turns away to ask someone else, then turns back and asks, 'are you a student?'

there was a niggling little voice in my head that started squealing, 'don't do it! don't -'

and yet i said, 'yes i am.'

so she gave me the top at $16. and not just that, we had a conversation about how we're both year 4s and what a terrible year it was, omg.

I LIED!!!! FOR A MEASLY $1!!!!!!!!!!!

oh my, oh my.

of course i felt a little guilty while we were having the 'year 4' conversation. but i just brushed everything away... until...

...

this morning as i did QT on the train as usual, God had a little lesson in store for me.

as i read Psalms 15:

1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?

2 He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart


in my mind, i froze.

'CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!' and i felt a flush of guilt wash over me.

it was so terrible!!! 'i lied for $1, i lied for a measly dollar...' just kept running through my head.

i had to right this wrong.

---

and so when i reached school, i walked up to the stall, grabbed the girl and pressed a one-dollar coin into her hand.

only then did the guilt ebb away.

bleh.

i really suck sometimes. :(

(there, 9 minutes.)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

konapun - taiyaki!!!

what did i get for christmas from alvin?

he gave me a japanese miniature food modeling set!!! XD


i go absolutely mad over: (i) miniature models (ii) food (iii) adult toys.

ok that sounds strange...


'toys that 24 year olds can have fun with.'

hmm, better.

so this is KO-NA-PUN, part-o ichi, desu~! (yes i know this is very bad japanese, haha)


---


first u take out the packages wrapped in plastic, and be full of anticipation and joy:


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then, you tear away the packaging with excitement, and sticker your Taikayi 'stall':


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take a picture of all the accessories and your completed stall:


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this is the packet of powder for making
non-edible taiyaki:

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pour out the entire packet, and add 8cc of water, then mixitttt:


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pour into the template (ooh, ooh):


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wait for the 'dough' to start rising, hehehe:


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maybe have some belgian chocolates during the 15 min wait:


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IT'S READYYYYYY!!! check out how fat and dry they've become!! boing-boingggg~:


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take 'em out with the stick thingie, and place them nicely in the serving tray:

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lastly, arrange them nicely to take a picture!!


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---

this is making me hungry.


up next, KONAPUN DONUTS!!!!!!!