Me~

2011-12-17T06:50:00.002+08:00

wow! i have not blogged for a long 5 months. felt compelled to blog today after being through an amazing 3 months. the past 3 months have felt like being a dreamland apart from my lab work. being in cambridge is really different from living in a city. i love going to formal dinners here as i always feel like i'm starring in the movie - harry potter and i never get tired of it. College life and bonding is so strong here that it's almost possible to have seen everybody and recognise everyone's face. and also it's the college events that allowed me to make many new and good friends. kudos to corpus christi college and i really love this college a lot. and yes, i feel really lucky having the current flatmates that i'm living with. really love talking to them and being around them. so i just had like 4 christmas dinners - corpus christmas dinner, lab 354 christmas dinner, sg chemists (+1hk) dinner and just finished a 21b cranmer christmas dinner. i really enjoyed them a lot, esp corpus's and 21b cranmer. For corpus, it's my first time watching a pantomime after a christmas dinner. it's my first time singing christmas carols after dinner. it's my first time having such an english christmas night. really love that a lot! couldn't imagine myself being here for 3 years and all these events are actually my first times. for my flat dinner, i just love being comfortable around them and dinner just feels cosy. and actually i've been taking so many pictures in cambridge when i thought that it would be a boring small town initially. it actually is not and really it has its own charm. been a fantastic 3 months and yes i'll be going to have a scandinavian trip this winter. going for 10 days to denmark, norway and then sweden and i'm meeting my swedish buddy for lunch at stockholm. am really looking forward to that. Indeed, it's a short yet eventful 3 months. can't wait to see what next year would be like!

2011-06-15T08:40:00.003+08:00

wow! i guess i haven blogged for 2 months and it has really been a while. *wipe the dust away* I was super busy with work the last 2 months that i did not have much time for myself actually. After completing the last 1% of the course today, and at this hour of the dead quiet night, i actually had some time to reflect on this academic year.

It has been a terribly fast year, with no time to stop and ponder at all. first, we had to juggle our course lectures with labs, and then the 3 weeks hol to study 10 modules for the jan exams. after which, we had to juggle lectures with our research project whereby staying in labs till 9pm and going in during weekends is a commonplace. and i had a thorough 2 weeks break travelling to russia, yorkshire then cyprus. revision again before the after holiday exams. and then we had to do a lit review, followed by year 1 orals and then, the fyp poster presentation held today marked the end of this Chemistry BSc course. it was actually quite a sweet ending as i surprisingly managed to get the best poster prize for physical chem posters. it really came to me as a pleasant surprise and i did not expect myself to get it at all. i humbly thank the judges for believing in my work and also my mentor who has helped me greatly.

and then ks, kc and i had dinner with antonia n machi which was really fun. it was quite a farewell dinner for ks. i did not really feel sad becos i'll still be back in UK next year. so i can still get to see them. but as i looked at the fotos, i'm feeling quite nostalgic, esp when the night is so dead quiet and i'm listening to some slow and soothing songs. I miss these frens really, the cypriots as i think i may not have much of a chance to see them after this year and they are flying back tmr. i am really glad to have made these frens. though overseas studying has made me miss home, esp this year as this year is terribly busy and tiring and 1 can really feel homesick when u need to return home and cook, wash ur own dishes after a long tiring day. but now that i reflect and realised the frens i made, i may think that it's all worth it. thank you machi n antonia!

anyway, i'm going back sg on 15th july alone. and it's my first time flying such a long haul flight alone and i'm quite excited about it. and i always feel like i'm at home whenever i stepped onto the plane. can't wait to take sq!

2011-04-04T05:52:00.002+08:00

Yup. I just came back from Russia; touched down yesterday actually. it was a really amazing trip filled with intriguing architecture, plush lodgings and awesome company. russia is unexpectedly much safer than many other countries, ok, maybe the cities like moscow and st petersburg at least. st petersburg seems to be really safe at night, even when we went out at 1130pm and ppl there are actually quite orderly although the rush hour metro can be quite atrocious. To my surprise indeed that these cities are much more safer than cities in developed countries like spain.

think i would not describe the many different places of interest that i've been to. facebook has done the job, so will just upload some well-captured pictures of both cities. but i must say i'm really proud to have been to st petersburg which is one of the pit stops for amazing race 17. somehow when i was there, i felt that i was 1 of the teams. taking an overnight train from moscow to st petersburg. then going to the main attractions which are also the checkpoints. then moving around in a cab-like minivan.

St Petersburg!

Moscow!

One of the main things that i took home from this trip is to get to know xy better. i really respect him after this trip cos he's 1 of the rare few whom i feel is very insightful yet modest. never condescending but always so patient to teach. and he's some1 who strongly believes in what he does and kinda influenced me to want to know more about my own religion - buddhism. i will always remember what he said about buddhism allowing him to understand and respect other religion without losing faith in one's own. somehow, i feel that not everyone is able to not feel that his/her religion is more superior than others. thus, i really look up to him in this case. perhaps buddhism has taught him quite a lot of stuff which allows him to believe in the things he does, making me want to know more as well. i believe i will put in effort to know more and yes, xy shall be my role model.

2011-03-06T09:18:00.002+08:00

Haven blogged in a while cos I have been just too busy. like 9-8 everyday cos labs are really demanding and there's a lot of waiting time for my project. Well, over these few weeks I think i've been through some ups and downs. apparently, i think i have yet to find my interest. after 6 really busy weeks of fyp, i felt that i seem to have lost interest in research. have no idea what i really want and am a little frustrated about this right now. after talking to bq yesterday, i think i would like to read more books to gain more exposure. i should just try doing things without always having the notion that i must get something out of it. writing it down here to remind myself that i will have to do this. currently, i think my greatest interest is in going around looking for good food and taking good pictures and then now i really want learn how to write descriptive captions for these photos and not just it being "nice, delicious, yummy". made a small effort in my facebook photos. but i wonder if i should read more to know how to describe food better. hopefully, after reading some books, gaining exposure, i will know what to try out. fingers crossed.

Anyway today was dinner out at hendon central which is at zone 3/4. a little crazy to go so far but that's where u can get really good sushi! it was really delectable! and the pictures i took were pretty. can see how well each rice bit is soaked in vinegar. then we went down to golden green to get some bubble tea and asian green tea cake at this taiwanese shop which is good, esp love the yam bubble tea and unexpectedly, the pearls are really springy. wouldn't have expected such a quality in london. but apparently though goldens green is zone 3, it's actually a rich area where many jews live in. wow, din know of that. no wonder that place looks quite pretty. i think we can only get good food out of zone 1!

2011-02-06T09:17:00.002+08:00

wow~ been writing every week! seems like i'm quite free. actually yes as i've not started writing my report. but i shall try to revise some modules every now and then so that i can go for a 2 week break in easter.

yeah, happy cny to everyone! there wasn't much mood on cny as usual but i still had a nice reunion dinner at sw's place on wed! despite a really hectic week, i still had fun on wed! ate till like 12am and then slept at 2am and woke up at 8 for the usual 9am lecture. was super tired but worth it. Steamboat was really nice and the other ppl really whipped up a good meal. boy, these ppl can cook better than me! there were carrot cake, herbal chicken, lor duck, lor egg and everything tasted so authentic. love to have steamboat on cny, it's just a great culture symbolizing reunion. talked quite a lot to huijin and ky. somehow i do enjoy these company, and not to forget kyodai. haha! then chu yi and er were spent in the labs but it was fine.

yes, and then today was dinner at gold mine with pat, terrence and sam. the plan was just dinner initally but when i saw black swan trailer on facebook i thot of watching it and we all went to high street to watch there after. was a really nice movie, very intense throughout and a little psychotic. a movie i would not want to watch twice as i think i may go crazy but yeah i think no1 is perfect in this world and it's not healthy to be too much of a perfectionist. yup, anyway dinner was really nice with sam. enjoyed his company and it was like a reunion dinner with sam. cant wait to visit him in yorkshire in easter! woots! yeah so 2 more outings this coming week. reunion dinner with dsta ppl on fri and then with chem ppl on sat n i think with machi the following week. for now, my easter plans are 1st 8 days in russia, then 3 in yorkshire then 4 in cyprus then study for exams!

2011-01-30T09:20:00.003+08:00

Yeah yet passed another busy week filled with almost 7 hours of labs everyday. finding fyp quite hard now as my sup are both very busy and i have to plan most of my experiments myself. But luckily my sup has been agreeing to what i'm doing, my way of approaching the problem. need to be quite creative when it comes to research, set the parameters yourself and doing it in a trial and error way. but to me, it's really slow and i can only move inch by inch (or maybe less) as there are so many variables and sub variables i can vary. well, nvm... guess i just need to slowly do it, change the variables and set a tentative direction for now; have to be focussed as well cos i need to know what objective do i want to get out from each experiment, so that i do not do unnecessary measurements. I believe that's how research should be like. luckily, i'm more into the development part in future.

anyway, so this week ks, me laya and alice celebrated kc's bday on thurs by treating him to C&R - singaporean food. it's cheap and the servings are just huge! of cos incomparable to singapore standard but is good enuf i feel.

then fri was a cookout session at laya's place at parson's house. shane cooked his mediterranean fish, ks bak kut teh, alice and laya dumplings while i made lor ba. cheated a bit cos i used premix. it tasted weird initially as i added too much sugar but alice managed to save it by adding more soy sauce. and it actually tasted very good thereafter and shane found my dish the nicest. wee! sounds like i'm having loads of life now huh. yeah kinda as i need to relax after every week of never ending labs. yeah for this week, i'll look forward to the hotpot dinner at ant's place and then maybe dinner with sam n sam n terrence on sat.

2011-01-23T09:31:00.003+08:00

Shall regularly blog about the small little things that i do every week before this year comes to an end. Finished watching last friends and i really love the soundtrack. am listening to it while typing. maybe cos i'm too bored today and feel a little 懐かしい .

yeah had a cookout with the hk ppl yest, with hilary, vicky and jon. was really fun and jon can really cook! i used bak kut teh sachet - cheating! we played mahjong thereafter and monopoly deal. i got bored by mj after a while as they are too pro and i kept losing and i think cos i was a little tired! they are really really fast and yes i sorta got used to the momentum at the third round and almost won 2 rounds. the next outing shall be a kbox.

and this week has been a really busy 1! went down to cambridge on wed to visit the prof. everything went well and i got a positive reply but need to wait for the official confirmation of status then i'll be really happier as there's still a little uncertainty now. Everything's still unconfirmed. but well, seems like i may stay in the UK. and i believe i'll go down to london almost every other week or at least once a month to meet up these frens. alright, shall do some work tmr! things to look forward to this week - cookout with shane n gang, cny dinner with ant and gang then a meal with machi and ks. haha my life seems to revolve around food.

2011-01-17T08:00:00.004+08:00

Somehow I am in a very peaceful mood now and wanna blog. Exams have ended and it seems like the 1st phase of this last stretch is done and it's time to move on to the 2nd exciting phase b4 graduation. 懐かしいね。。。ちょっと。exams went well except for 1 qns but doesn't matter as i think my other questions will pull me up. had dinner out everyday after exams. thurs was with the chem ppl and we played till 3am, fri was spent on doing 9 layer cake and dinner with jk n kel. yest with ant for his bday and then today was with laya, alice and shane at nonya.

and school will start tmr. i've had enuf rest and am not feeling empty becos there's sch tmr but rather all these are happening v quickly and will actually leave london soon be4 i even realise it. will miss here badly. the frens made here. really hope that my masters will be in uk. think i'll give myself a few weeks or months to miss these frens after i graduate and then move on! come to think of it, i've made quite many frens, here and there and they're not those 'hi n bye' frens. and i think it's right and better for me to take it positively and be happy about having made these frens, knowing that we will def meet again somewhere (japan?) or like when touring! no not emo-ing but i think i'm really treasuring every outing with these frens now. will be having a cookout with the hk ppl this coming friday and then the following 1 will be with shane n gang again! and then it'll be chinese new year. well, really cant wait for these gatherings! and yes have so many travelling to do in easter, visiting machi and sam. really, will need to do everything in this final year in imperial. haha. it's kinda funny when i looked back and realised that i missed home and sg frens quite a lot in my 1st year and now i'm actually missing the ppl here (of course i haven forgotten my sg frens).

and yes i'm starting my research project tmr! excited about it~ and yes i'm crossing fingers about something. argh.

2010-12-21T09:39:00.002+08:00

yeah been a while since i last blog. Term has ended last week and it's a 3 week winter break be4 our 10 module exams! It's kinda crazy to study 10 modules in 3 weeks but i think i just need to pace myself. been studying day and night and will always watch 美食大三通 before sleeping, causing me to have supper almost daily. argh! and i craved so much for korean bbq after watching the korean episode. and finally i had my korean bbq yesterday night with 3 hkers!

The bbq wasn't really that fantastic and def couldnt compare that to the 1 i had in LA. argh! think u cant find such satisfying bbq besides korea and US. maybe i will try the fei cui korean bbq when i go back to sg but that will be quite a while. nevertheless the company was really good. got to know vicky better during physical labs; jon and hilary during organic labs as we were in the same grp. wa and they keep conversing in canto and i really enjoy the canto atmosphere! i can actually generally understand what they were saying. ah! can't wait for our after exam plans - k lunch, cookout and mahjong. sing canto songs but i think i will sing in chinese. and then cookout will be super exciting! cultural exchange indeed. and i think i will lose to them in mahjong cos hkers are too zai in mahjong and it's a little different from sg mahjong without the animal tiles. haha i cant wait really! hou hoi sum! well, think this year i know another new bunch of frens from hk and it seems that it was all fated. will definitely miss this bunch of ppl when i graduate. and i'm gonna visit them next july definitely!

2010-12-05T09:44:00.003+08:00

life these 2 weeks has been quite stressful at times, esp now actually. the 1st most stressful thing is my masters application to cambridge. i am applying to another course in cambridge and though the official deadline is 31st jan, the admin officer told me to send be4 christmas as usu the masters places will be all taken by christmas. i have gotten 1 referee's reference but i cant contact my other tutor who has agreed to be my referee. really frustrating, so i think i will just pop by his office on monday and get it from him. i really have no time but there's also nothing i can do. Hopefully i can send my application by wednesday. argh, i'm really chasing time now. and yeah i have already sent my application to eth. oh well, i just need to handle this well for now and i can concentrate better on other stuff.

but anyway, went out today all the way to greenwich to visit shane which is like 1h-ish away from central london. it's really quite far. yeah and super nice shane brought us to the observatory centre and yes singapore is on it! maybe cos we're on the equator. the journey up to the observatory centre was an arduous 1, we had to climb v slippery roads but it was worth it. and then went to the O2 dome to walk around while waiting for laya to come to have dinner at zin! and shane kinda surprised me as he said that laksa is his fav dish there. he should come to sg 1 day and i bring him around. haha!

at the observatory place!

dinner!

today was really fun and a meaningful day i thought. i was able to get involved in some deep conversations with shane and actually talking to him just makes me feel that i am so much luckier and i should treasure all these. somehow while talking i could sense that he got a little emotional (could see tears i think) which kinda affected me too. somehow he's quite diff from the general ang mor i know. very sensible, mature, real, sincere. a really great fren indeed and yes i do hope that he'll be successful in his career and whatever not. haha and i think i cant wait for the day when me alice laya and him meet up in japan from singapore, taiwan, china and london. cool stuff! yes, and shall bring them to nonya and also will go to matsuri!

2010-11-25T07:50:00.003+08:00

Yeah~ think i'm having quite a 'life' in london now. haha! last friday went up to london eye with wee hon, jk and kel. very thankful to weehon for the free tix! cos i know i will not pay 16 pounds to go up for 20min. Well, the view is really nice at night. not those kinda spectacular view but it feels very serene, tranquil and it uncannily reminds me of the nights in tokyo as i was also up a ferris wheel then. really liked that feeling. argh~ hopefully if i go to swiss for masters, i can secure an exchange program to tokyo uni for 1 sem! will be really good if i can go~

london eye!

and today went out with ks, ky and yl for dinner at chicago ribshack! it's not the best ribs i've ever had but think i've been craving ribs for quite some time so it still was nice. but the company and gossip was fun too! luckily we had a taste london card, and so was able to save 40 pounds! woosh! cant wait for the e outing next friday again~ and yeah! i'm going greenwich next saturday and shane will bring alice and i around! cant wait!

chicago ribshack!

maybe cos it's the final year in imperial, somehow, i think it's quite happening this year. going to 2 ang mor frens' places. haha! feels really good to go to a local's house and see their way of life. cultural exchange indeed! hopefully, we can still all remain in contact when we've graduated? like flying to and meeting in japan for a tour or what. alright, i shall be hardworking at the same time too! need to revise so hard after i finish writing my last lab report!

2010-11-15T07:36:00.003+08:00

And reading week has just passed and i have not done much. been reading organic notes and maybe a little inorganic and then been doing up my physical lab book for next wed viva. gosh, this kinetic experiment is deceivingly easy, with so many chim equations! but i think we got all the questions sorted out at least. I dont know why, but feel kinda uneasy and stressed cos i'm gonna start the horrible organic labs next week and it means 9-11 lectures 11-5 labs. quite crazy and it's really tiring. well, but at least now u can only do 1 expt a week unlike the past when they throw 5 expt to you and u can just rush to finish them. so yeah i will take my time when doing and shall do it really carefully! no worries. i think i will feel better after the 1st week, after i get a feel of it.

alright, so yesterday was my 1st time entering a club! haven clubbed be4 in sg and this is all for sam cos it's his bday! haha, couldnt turn him down after he asked me 3 times whether i'm going for his party. yeah and when we were there, we kept talking to the other sam and i think i feel quite contented knowing these 2 closer ang mor frens. like though i know we are culturally so diff, there is hardly any awkward silence between us. am lucky to have met such frens! and i think it'll be so cool if we are able to travel in future when we all start working. like meeting up in another foreign country, maybe japan? so cool! haha and he invited us (terrence, me and samantha) over to his place in yorkshire in easter and will drive us around. gosh, cant wait!

2010-11-12T09:57:00.002+08:00

I was watching the amazing race elimination station 07 today whereby kevin and michael were the newly eliminated pair. The volleyball girls are still sore at their own loss and hoping that all the girl-girl pair would be eliminated. but well, the 4 of them had a chance to talk to each other and michael told them that this is just a disappointment. Instead of taking it so hard, take it as an experience in dealing with disappointments and in future when there are bigger disappointments, you will know how to handle it. Simple his words are but full of wisdom. It's something really easy to understand yet ppl are usually blinded by emotions. the volleyball girls have thus stopped thinking about their loss and are starting to enjoy their vacation in mexico and they are convinced and appreciated what michael had sad to them. however, i still feel that his son does not accept this well cos his mind is all about winning and not taking a step back to learn sth from it. and coincidentally, he's the youngest. maybe wisdom comes with age.

Ah well, i really want the doctors nat and kat to win! and yeah some photos of what i've done this week. mon, went to have steak with some peeps and kyodai! haha been a while since i last talked to him. then yesterday went to hyde park to take some autumn pics be4 the trees go bare!

the nice dinner

Autumn!

2010-10-31T08:29:00.002+08:00

Yeah I think i'm starting to blog more after i'm back in london. so 5th week has passed and i haven done much actually. i'm just reading books for labs everyday cos physical labs is really hard. ks and i just had our 1st viva (interview) with a prof on thurs and we were stunned by his questions. it was a 40min viva with on-the-spot derivation and really difficult questions. i was stunned by some qns but luckily ks managed to make intelligent deductions while ks was stunned by derivation and luckily i was calm enuf to help him out in certain parts. like what the prof says, we complement each other! and yeah with his demanding standards, i think we scored well. really felt so relief that day. and now for the 2nd viva, though i heard that this prof is more lenient, will still do my best.

so last friday went out with the chem ppl to a pub called oneils. it's quite near my place and i think i like the pubs here. i think it feels perfect and totally relaxing when sitting in a pub eating and drinking with frens, while appreciating the old english interior decorations and victorian buildings outside on a cold night. feels really good. hai, will not get to have this kinda life when i'm back in sg for good. haha! oh well, so i think i should try to go around london more. feel like going to some market this weekend. campden? haha not too sure. anyway, saw these 3 packets of sweets at sains and found them quite interesting!

nice pub~

2010-10-16T06:15:00.004+08:00

haha i have been back in london for 2 weeks and yeah i have not updated for a really long time. went to china with my parents and it was really fun. family bonding and i think it's my first time in a long while that i felt enjoyable going on a holiday with my parents. guess i've really grown up, and know how to communicate with my parents better. Perhaps, it's the 2 years in london that made me more mature? more homely? i'm not too sure but certainly i know i'm already past the rebellious and perhaps in the transition stage? just like what my tutor says, u feel calmer, able to think more rationally and i could actually sit down with my parents in a cafe in china talking to each other. in the past i would usually be left alone fiddling with my phone while my parents talk to each other but now yeah it's just different and i'm happy for this positive change!

so tranquil

my parents and i!

alright, back in london and yeah year 3 is really a busy busy year! having sch from 9-5 everyday isnt really something to look forward too. moreover, our physical experiment isnt going too well but i believe we can still achieve what we are supposed to by the end of next week! and yup, will stop being the complacent pair and will be humbly working our way through. jia you to ks and i! and yeah, what beats a good gathering with funny frens after such a tiring week! dinner at ramen taro with kc, ks and laya and we were poking fun at kc and laya as the new chemistry couple. woooo~ really funny. yup, and this weekend i'll read up and prepare more for labs!

2010-08-12T19:25:00.003+08:00

Alright, back in sg a month ago and doing internship currently. Life's really mundane when u need to work cos every week's a cycle and i can only go out on fri, sat and sun(initially). so, yeah i have been meeting up quite a no. of frens every weekend and friday and have been pigging out quite a lot. Firstly, i think i have started to feel that i dont always need to be with friends whenever i'm free, unlike the past or even last year; maybe cos i've grown up and maybe need more time for myself, turning mellow indeed. However, I will still make it a point to meet some really close frens; and actually don't really see the need to meet not-too-close frens unlike last year's summer (maybe cos i don't really have much time this summer and just don't have the energy to meet them). haha!

and i'm into the 5th week of my internship and i think i've learnt more about myself. I realised i am good at critical thinking, analysing problems and pinpointing the reason behind it (gonna be truthful here) but i'm really bad at improvising materials! (就地取材 in chinese). Basically, if given an experiment, i'm good at analysing, pinpointing the errors which prevent certain phenomenum (the aim) to be observable but i'm bad at designing an experiment with simple tools! argh! think cos i'm always trained in this kinda report and not a design-your-own-expt report in imperial. Now i realise that SPA is so important in training our minds to design experiment. I will try my best to improve.

2010-06-30T09:47:00.005+08:00

ok! shall make a short entry. so after Phoenix, we went to grand canyon! yeah, it's the grand canyon, but somehow i didn't find it THAT spectacular. maybe cos i'm too used to seeing such majestic sceneries. Nevertheless, it was still pretty and got to see the pretty sunset and sunrise there. preferred the sunset view more though and took a couple of nice emo shots. oh and there were a few singaporeans working at the hotel there and we bought ice creams from them. they were from NTU, just like what ah yin did that time.

grand canyon!

and then, we made our way to monument valley and took a jeep-like vehicle to enter the valley. it didn't appeal much to me though.

monument valley

and today we went to antelope canyon early in the morning to see the very artistic canyons. those wavy and artistic patterns were due to the annual erosion by flash floods and they were really nice. my 1st time looking at such stuff, so i'm quite impressed!

Antelope canyon!

and then we had a nice lunch at movie set museum where we were also involved in filming a 5 minute 'movie'. was a cheap thrill but was fun! and i was a soldier. took some beautiful photos with our tour mates.

our lunch movie

and then we made our way to bryce canyon which i thot was much more spectacular than grand canyon. we went all the way down to the valley and it was horrible climbing up cos it was not only high, but steep at certain parts. think my thighs will ache terribly tmr! haha. but it was really majestic i felt.

yes, bryce canyon!

but lately felt a little down, think i'm missing my sg frens especially at this time of the year. am quite sorry to my travel mates actually but then i really cant help it. and thinking back, i realised that i haven had a trip as good as the japan 1 (the 1 with my bmt mates) when all of us really had fun TOGETHER. and time never passed slowly then unlike now or the other previous trips, when i would sometimes feel that time is crawling and would want to be back home/london. and during this trip, i actually looked forward most to meeting liyu cos though i haven met her for so long (1.5 years), i still have much to talk to her. u know, old frens are always the best. i'm really yearning to travel with close, old frens but then i know i should not complain cos these frens who always travel with me are great ppl as well. oh well, should enjoy the remaining 1 week here. =)

2010-06-27T12:08:00.004+08:00

ok i shall blog a little on my america trip now! shall be a short one with loads of pictures! ok, so after we reached LA, we had 1 free day to walk around and we went to the huge westfield mall beside our hotel to shop. and then visited the famous santa monica beach which was said to be frequently visited by stars. but we did not bump into any that day. and i spent a lot on that day, bought 2 hollister shirts and a pair of AX jeans at santa monica. AX jeans was cheap, for just US$86 and service was really good. 1 of the salesperson, called aaron or adrian (kinda forgot), came to ask my name and gave me a handshake. service was just really good.

at santa monica

then on the 3rd day, our tour guide brought us to san diego and the only thing i liked about that place was the old town. there was this very cute shop which sells really cute stuff and we sorta spent most of our time playing in that shop and lafing at grace at times. think the shopowner will think that we're crazy.

the old town

and that night, went to meet liyu for dinner at santa monica again. was very far away from my hotel but it was worth it! haven met this girl for like 1.5 years and i really looked forward to meeting her yesterday. felt really good catching up with her and yeah we really have not changed much. but she's more americanized now haha but still like the way she is. hopefully will meet her again on the 8th july when i'm back in LA.

with ryu!

then today, the 4th day, we made our way to palm spring where most stars will go to during winter cos its temperature is about 20 - 30 deg year round. nice place to chill at but think it's not too suitable for me. and then we made our way to Phoenix, arizona, and this is a desert area with lots of huge and cute cacti. really cute! and i like the photos taken there. the resort we stayed in was especially cool and had loads of facilities. it also has a casino and food there was cheap! ok, and tmr, we'll be going to grand canyon, the highlight of the trip!

lame shots at the desert

round and cute cacti!

2010-06-24T22:36:00.004+08:00

yeah! am in LA now and will just blog about post-exams life since i have like 2h before shops are opened! yeah life resumed after exams and i had been eating out everyday! think i spent really a lot on food for that past few days.

k, so friday morning was spent with ant, yl and kelvin cos ant is going off for summer school in harvard. had a huge breakfast and chatted much with ant. hope he's good over there now! haha and we're both in the states now but at very different parts. haven met this good fren for soo long in london, but will meet him when he's back in sg! then night was spent with chem ppl at goldmine for a really big dinner to celebrate the end of exams! we ordered loads of food and was quite a boisterous gathering.

and then saturday was spent at that kc mok house. haha we had delicious bak kut teh (by me) for dinner and the self-proclaimed (by kc) very good fried rice which was quite charred and tasteless and i helped him to finish. had a very filling dinner again and then chatted with each other throughout the whole night, was quite a crazy long chat but a nice 1. =)

that kc trying to act pro.

oh, then sunday was dinner with ryan, laya, dan, terrence san and that kc san again. haha we went to ASSA for korean hot pot cos ryan was dying to try it and he almost died at 1 dish. but it was a really nice dinner with them, and then went over to an arcade and played bumper car which was really fun though i was just a passenger beside laya and did not drive. took some fotos!

oh then monday, was dinner with laya san and mr kc san at goldmine! gosh, we bumped into LKY and i cant believe it! he was just at the table beside us! and i blurted his name loudly a few times and he turned around to look at us. luckily i was back facing him. and we took some sneaky photos of him. yeah and we had old dutch after that for dessert.

oh, then tues had dinner at ASK which was not too bad! oh and today, i'm here in LA. there's a lot of malls beside us and i think i will get some Hollister shirts. yup, shall post more photos and blog along the trip!

2010-05-22T08:38:00.004+08:00

yeah it has been a really really long hiatus. after easter hols, i was so busy till now and finally i can blog a little of what has happened the past 6 weeks! had my jap oral exams, then 3 physical expt and it's my first time doing 2 reports that i felt was really crazy. i only managed to catch like 5-6h of sleep everyday when there's still lectures at 9 or even 11. really loads to do for those reports...

yeah and finally i've finished those 2 reports and handed them in today. but then tmr will start revision... and it feels kinda scary that year 2 is coming to an end... somehow this feels conflicting.. as much as i dun wan year 2 to end, i wanna go home.. haha argh and exams will be in 3 weeks time! really scary. hopefully everything goes well. ok and yes these few days have been taking really funny pictures in the labs and also went out to have dinner today with ks and kc san then to chee han's bday celebration! helped him to blow out his bday candles! haha! kc is from our project group and yeah it felt kinda yi jian ru gu when talking to him. nice to have such a group mate. alright, photos!

my project group and labs!

more labs photos cos it feels fun! yeah the 1st pic is our set up for the 2nd expt.

yeah dinner with kc and that was chee han's bday! ahahah i helped him blow the candle.

2010-04-03T00:37:00.007+08:00

back from the 6 day turkey trip and yeah it was really a GREAT trip and i seriously mean a great trip. basically, it's a very very different trip compared to all the other typical european trips. Though there were some unhappy happenings, like the shoeshine person trying to con me into shining my shoe, the whole trip was pretty much enjoyable.

はい！皆さん、トルコから戻ったばかりで、すごく楽しかった旅行と思います。　この旅行は普通のヨーロッパ旅行と比べると、大変違います。いろいろな理由があって、ここにゆっくり説明する。悪いことがあったのに、例えば、靴を磨く人が無理に私の靴を磨きたかったのに、旅行は楽しかったんです。

we got to experience a cave life in Cappadocia, Turkey, which i din really like cos the air was quite bad for my throat! but in exchange for that, we got to see really magnificent landscapes that were sculptured by nature. We got to see things like the 'chimneys' which is basically a huge pointed rock with a huge stone capping it at the top. such chimneys were formed due to wind erosion and such strong winds could not erode the top part of the rock due to its incredible hardness and density. kinda weird yeah but interesting, thus giving such interesting landscape. A pity the weather did not allow us to take the hot air balloon to have a bird's eye view of the undulating canyons.

cappadocia のcave生活が初めて経験できたんですけど、caveに住んでいた経験がちょっと好きではないんで、空気が私ののどにちょっと悪かったので。　ところが、自然のおかげですばらしい地形がみられた。そんなchimneyという岩石は強風の力で作られたんで、面白い地形になった。　岩石の最高の部分はとても硬いので、強風にerodedされることができないので、そんなchimneyのような形になったんです。　残念なことは　悪い天気のせいで　hot air balloon で全部の景色が目に入れなかったんです。

In Cappadocia, we also got to see how the locals lead such a really different life from many of us city dwellers. Kids, instead of punching nintendo gamboys or laptops, were all very contented playing simple games in a drain, like the life of our parents when they were young. One of the interesting happenings that we met was when a lady was bringing out loads of fresh bread (nan) to her factory and our driver just stopped by to get 2 (free) from her to let us try. the bread tasted really really good, soft texture and what's more, it just came out of the oven!

Cappadociaの人の生活は私たちのにとても違って面白いと思う。　子供たちはコンピュータと電子ゲームをしないで　簡単なゲームをするんですが嬉しくなれたようです。面白いことのひとつはあるところに行く途中に、ドライバが下車して　パンを持って道路を渡っていた女の人に　無料で新鮮なパンをもらって　私たちに　食べさせてもらったんです。パンは柔らかくて、焼いたところなので、本当においしかったんです！

In Istanbul, there were cavernous mosques everywhere instead of the usual churches or cathedrals we see in european countries. 2 opulent palaces were also present and we went to 1 called the dolmabahce palace which was a new palace built during the ottoman empire, was really huge and much more grand and lavish than all the palaces i've seen so far in europe. it had a chandelier u could not imagine how huge it was.

Istanbul で　ヨーロッパ国の大きな教会の変わりにすごく大きなmosques　を見たんです。内側はすごい設計があって、私が気に入る。

Turkish ppl were friendly and treated us really nice. took photos with them. And of all things, the best experience was the food!!! we had loads of kebabs and really crazy desserts. had desserts after every dinner so i became a little fatter after this trip. we had desserts like rice pudding, turkish delights, fruits pudding and lots more. the 2 really special ones were rice pudding and the 1 bread-like thing with chicken meat inside! really cool! and we all got to try these desserts in a shop featured in 美食大三通. we were totally excited and satisfied when we saw the shop cos the name and address of the shop were not mentioned in that program and we actually managed to find it in Taksim which is like the orchard road in sg. wow, I really had lots of fun in turkey and also went to develop some photos! alright, and for my next trip to scotland tmr morning!

親切なトルコ人、それに、おいしい食べ物がいっぱいあって本当に深い思い出になったんです。　一番忘れられなかった思い出は　デザートです。　いろいろな種類があって、例えば、ライスで作られたpudding　とか　鶏肉で作られたパンのようなもの。そんなことは確かたくさんの人　が聞いたことがないと信じる。　一番満足したのは　この美食大三通というプログラムで紹介されたデザート店を　探したことなんです。　住所を知らないで、店の名前を知らないで、捜せたのは満足した。　この店は singapore orchard road のような　Taksim という所にあるんです。トルコで本当に楽しかったです、写真さえ現像した。はい、次の旅行scotlandです。

2010-03-20T10:07:00.002+08:00

はい、ブログの時間！　最近、別なことが起きないんですが、　普通の日のようです。　実験し終わってから、毎日毎日レポートばかりしてるので、生活は本当につまらなくなるんです！　レポートひとつずつ来るので、　レポートばかりの生活です！　昨日、ずっと書いて、やっと四時までに書き終わりました。　だから、今日は休めたんだ！　ずっとレポートするのに、楽しいときがないわけでわないんですが、水曜日に化学の友達と一緒bayswaterへ中華料理の夕食を食べに行った。　楽しい時間はいつも早く経って、来週の火曜日に日本語の期末試験だ、頑張るぞ。　じゃ、おいしい食べ物が食べたのは僕の気分にとっていいことだ。　はい、それは写真だ！　

タイースープの写真や先生と撮る写真や久しぶりのうまい晩御飯の写真！

2010-03-01T08:17:00.002+08:00

finally, had a little time to blog about the past few weeks. everything has been normal and labs have started so it's the hectic period again! but it'll be over quite soon hopefully. yeah, have gotten back my jan results, got decent results =).

went for hwa chong night yesterday at holborn grange hotel, a 5 star hotel. and it was a buffet concept but the food was quite bad, esp the chicken breast which was too dry. the fish was edible and i think i like the cakes best. though there were only 6 04 batches, i still had fun with them! ppl like yisheng, ee suan, zijian, kailong. yeah... and we sang the hc songs and did the mass dance. there wasnt much of a reminiscence this time but felt more like a social party, chatting with old frens and having fun together. yeah it was quite a success i felt and i won a 25 pounds H&M voucher during the lucky draw session while ys won a 20 pounds sains voucher. fan ben! haha, think i was quite lucky yest night!

amidst all the fun, i still dun noe what else should i do in london. more volunteer work which i've only been once? hai, sch feels so much busier now and i dun really feel like committing myself now. perhaps i'll be able to go for 1 or 2 when i'm free-er. and yeah, when there's company too.

2010-02-14T10:40:00.002+08:00

大年初一万事如意！恭喜发财！向大家拜个早年！ yup, had a really great chinese new year eve with some great frens!

anyway, shall start from yesterday when we had dinner at assa and had really delicious korean hotpot! the waitress was also very pretty, managed to take a foto with her! haha! yeah it was a chemistry dinner and turned out pretty fun actually.

spot the waitress!

and today, cny eve! terrence san and i went to chinatown to get loads of food. loads of jiaozi, dong fen, jinzhengu, bla bla bla.. hahah we spent 80 pounds worth of steamboat food! on top of what jk and chee han bought at northend market. then we prepared a really really sumptuous dinner! was really a feast! ごちそうね！ and i ate really a lot, i think 10 pounds worth of jingzhengu! hahaha, my favourite really.

and we went over to ant's place cos there were many ppl there! so fun to talk to huijin and zhijian! haha was a bit mad talking to them. gosh, somehow i still miss sg. like would want to be back soaking in the cny atmosphere. but it's alright, i need to really treasure the time here. and yes i have a jap mid term on tues! but it's alright, gambarimasu neh. will still be able to celebrate this coming week and sunday will be to the hc cny carnival! woots!　

2010-01-18T08:04:00.004+08:00

yup. shall break the hiatus and blog now! haven been blogging ever since i came back from austria and hungary trip as i firstly had a fever on christmas itself! and then i had to intensively study for my jan exams! alright lets do a brief update on the trip and everything till now. hungary was really cold when we were there on the 1st day. that night was -13 and there was literally like a snow storm. had really really heavy snow. scenery was pretty, unique culture that every other eastern european country would have i guess. as for salzburg and vienna, they both gave me a very classical feel. like the whole country is musically inclined and also very very intelligent as they were once called the vienna circle(if i din rem wrongly). haha am quite lazy to upload fotos so far back.

oh well and then the jan exams came and went away. 3 papers and it was quite hard i feel. the 2nd paper, inorg, had a hc vibe in it and i was a little put off when i saw the 1st qns. but i was lucky to gain my composure quickly and just do the qns briskly but accurately. need to do so fast n accurate for that paper if not it's quite impossible to finish. ok and hopefully i did decently well for all these 3 papers.

yeah and finally, my holidays felt like they just started (last thurs after my last paper). it was really really nice when those papers ended! ok so i went to have jap sushi with wl, jk and kel at earling common after my exams and i just had so much to talk to wl and jk! haven seen them for the past month though we stayed so close! and we kept catching up that night. was really enjoyable. haven felt so relaxed for so long.

moshi mosh!

and fri was bday celebration with ant. wanted to catch up with him but couldn't manage to as there were quite many ppl in his room. but still it was nice celebrating his bday with him. and we'll be having a nice dinner at the bar near my place this wed to catch up, with racheru too! we really need to sit down and talk. has been such a while.

ant's bday!

as for sat, i spent the day doing my japanese dec hw. it was a 1200 character essay and yeah i completed it that night! haha jk came over for dinner that night and we cooked zhu jiao chu and bak kut teh! was really nice though the meat was a little tough. haha but still, it's good sg food alright! and we baked a small brownie using the mix i bought. haha! was a nice chill out really.

and as for today, everything started off well as it was really really sunny! the sun really affects my mood cos we dun get much sun during winter. and yeah went to sains supermarket in the morning and bumped into so many singaporeans! was really fun bumping into so many of them. and then went to meet terrence and sam for sunday roast at prince regent pub. sunday roast's a traditional brit food. the meat was nice and tender. quite like it but still cant beat jap and chi food. haha! and sam was really really nice to treat us. kudos to u sam! haha, yeah and we will treat him to really good dim sum and chi food this coming friday! hopefully he'll like it. and the day ended with me and terrence at oxford circus walking relaxingly. was really a fun filled 4 days, very well spent and yes sch starts tmr but at least i felt i spent these few days really well. wee!

sam san!

2009-12-09T09:01:00.003+08:00

alright, time for another post. yes finally! i've finished labs last friday and have completed all my lab reports today! and i meant ALL! haha.. it felt really good last friday after i finished my labs and it still does now after finishing my last report. and still being able to read my jap newspapers lately. finally, i'm more able to revise those newer topics and read my japanese newspaper which is really time consuming (but i dont mind). yeah and soon i'll need to go into revision mode as i'm going to austria and hungary next sat! cant wait man(hopefully i can finish my 1st round of revision)!

yeah last fri was down at terrence's place celebrating his bday! and i gave him a huge nutella as sample 8. well, he's really quite a good buddy to have in labs and we'll help each other when any1 of us is busy with stuff. thanks terrence THONG! haha!

the chem ppl! with ks and terrence san!

sat was really quite fun when i met yisheng and gerald up for a dim sum meal. good meal with good company added on to the free-from-labs mood = great mood! we had a nice chat over dim sum and then walked around piccadilly circus aimlessly but soaked in the festive mood as ppl were giving out loads of freebies. zuan dao! hahaa.. and we have great US plans too~ woohoo~

a nice sat!

2009-11-24T09:15:00.004+08:00

hoho it's 1.15am now and i shall slp in 15min time but think i wanna blog a little! well, life's 'nv' been this hard. having school from 9-5 with effectively no breaks, except for a really rushed 10min lunch as i can't leave my reaction running while i'm away. argh! i'm left with a few more expt and hopefully can round up everything by next week. hopefully!

yeah labs aside, think i wanna blog about some happier stuff. it has been a few weeks with my new tutorial grp, with me as the only asian. kinda sian n intimidating at first as i thought i'll have the i'm-all-alone kinda feeling but that did not happen and i've actually made good frens with some of them. i've made like 4 better frens in my tutorial group(8 of us altogether), and i can feel that they also enjoy talking to me. and they'll usu approach to talk to me. good ren yuan huh. haha, such a feeling really feels good! finally, i've made some 'chattable' caucasian frens. last year was in a grp with 4 singaporeans and it doesnt feel that we had to mingle around and i can depend on them to get for me my hw or watsoever when i'm not around. now, i'll usu depend on this fren called sam if i need some help. am actually quite glad to have this tutorial group in exchange for all my tutors. wee~ indeed, stepping out of my comfort zone.

2009-11-12T09:16:00.002+08:00

it's my reading week this week be4 I start my 5 weeks of horrendous labs, back to back, everyday from 11-5 except for wed. gosh, this's the system in UK, super lab-based. and it's the 1st year that chemistry has reading week after hearing those seniors' feedback. but well, reading week doesn't seem like 1 cos there're quite a number of deadlines this week and time has been spent at these stuff though i think i managed to read some topics thoroughly. well, year 2 is really a quantum leap from year 1!

but well anyway, there's sth nice that i wanna blog about. i just met my personal tutor on tues for a 1-1 meeting session. this is something that all chem tutors have to do and yeah we chatted for 10min. it's quite a nice chat as he asked me about how am i lately and my ancillary sub and my new tutorial grps n tutors etc. and he's the most respected tutor in my life i feel, at least till now. he tutored me in organic chem last year and is a really marvelous teacher. always would give brain racking questions to make us think think think. bu kui shi professor. hai, and it's really a pity that he's not my organic tutor now but at least he's still my personal tutor. well, and he knows that i've changed to a 3 year course so i told him my reasons for doing so and i may change uni for the 4th year, hopefully to oxbridge. and he asked me to feel free to find him as my referee when i need in my 3rd year and wa, i was like yes! cos i know he can write good references. so yup, i think i'm really quite lucky and 3 cheers for myself for that.

alright, so for now, i'll just need to concentrate on labs n everything else. argh! hopefully i can do some shopping this sat.

2009-10-28T08:21:00.004+08:00

and yes it's another time for a new post. haha! i'm getting really lazy to sit down and blog lately. life's still been pretty much the same but i realised the huge gap btw year 2 and year 1, like the things we learn and the depth of knowledge; really a great leap. think i just have to slowly internalize, esp organic. physical and inorg are still pretty manageable but organic is horrendously heavy. need to give myself more time to cram everything. haha! yeah and i've made an ang mor fren today during the group problem solving class. was really a nice feeling as i'm in a tutorial grp with 7 ang mors. being the only asian, it's kinda intimidating really and i'm always afraid that they may think i'm proud if i were to correct their mistakes. but it proved to be the opposite after i talked to sam today and explained to him certain stuff. he's quite thankful towards me and shook my hands to get to know me. haha!

日本語で：　はい！　そろそろブログの時間だ。　このごろ、　すごく怠けて　blog　の感じがない。　以前の生活と　同じぐらいが、二年生と一年生　の　距離はすごく。　例えば、習ったこと　とか　知識の深いの　は　完全に　違います。　大変ね。　もう少しどんどん慣れるのに時間を上げる　と思う、　特に　organic. physical 　と　inorg は　たいてい　大丈夫だが、　org 　の習ったこと　は　たいへん重い！　自分が僕に時間をもう少し　くれて　全部を　覚えるかもしれない。　今日は　白人の友達　ができて　嬉しかった。　僕は　ほかの七人の白人のクラスに　いるのは　ちょっと怖い。　俺のほかに　アジア人　がいないからです。　彼ら　が　私が自慢すると思う　のは　気にするし、　なかなか自分の意見を表せなくて　よく気をつけます。　今日のこと　は　私がずっと間違った証拠ね。　サムさんに　なんかもの　を説明してるとき、　気をつけて。　でも、　サムさん　は　私に感謝して　いい感じね。　やっと　tutorial グルプ　に　白人　の友達　が一人いる！　　

alright, so a little update on my 2 other trips. the 1st 1 was to eastbourne with yipei, kel n bq to visit the 7 sisters which are 7 cliffs joined together to create a vast undulating land. yeah it wasn't really magnificent but getting to walk along the coast on a cliff was enjoyable and peaceful. it's really a place suitable for finding inner peace. the most enjoyable part of the trip was to be able bask in the sun, having our lunch facing the 7 sisters. with great weather, company and scenery, i couldn't ask for more. it's by far, the most scenic picnic i ever had. haha! and we had beer while gazing at the pretty scenery! and when heading back to eastbourne, we ran 3 times up 3 never-ending slopes and we were all soooo shag! i guess we've walked a total of 20+km that day! it was really that long but the stunning scenery made it look really short.

and we start our journey. my name and evelyn's was carved on 1 of the benches. really cute! all the benches have something carved onto them!

argh, i love such tranquility.

The next stop was to bath last sat and it was also enjoyable with my 3 seniors! but bath is quite a boring town actually i felt. it doesn't really have much to offer and is a very touristy place!

the bath!

2009-10-17T02:11:00.002+08:00

Alright, after such a long hiatus i think i should start blogging again! am waiting for kelvin to finish cooking bak kut teh while i'm doing this blog! yeah, these few weeks have been treating me well except for the 1st day of school. seemed to be besieged by deadlines and tests (esp jap) after the 1st day of sch and guess that's not very welcoming. but anyway, things got better as i know that all these can be settled when given enuf time. so yeah, have finally settled in my house and i quite like my apartment and it's surrounding is really tranquil but not dangerous and there're 2 gardens, 1 at the back of the apartment and another at the front. yes, and my room is gigantic!

alright, have been able to catch up with work and realised that i need to do a lot for japanese but well i think i prefer learning more stuff.

i've also met up with my beloved juniors! HCnians! met up royston, sherlene and dorea! yeah, sherlene and dorea are my dunman juniors thus i know them though they're 2 years younger! but well, we're all still united under HCDYB. we had a really nice korean hotpot at assa, in fact 2 hotpots, some kimchi pork and rice cake!

hotpot! anyeonghasaeyo

and yes been to cambridge last saturday with chee han, jk, kel and bq to visit grace! cambridge is really a nice quaint little town, and i love punting there as u can snap marvelous pictures along those rivers! yeah and we also had nice crepes after punting and also dinner at a pub. well, life's still quite free now and i'm going to 7 sisters tmr! have bought beer, apple, bread, tidbits for tmr! am well-prepared! woosh!

at 93/4 platform! king's cross!

punting! pretty photos!

at the pub having dinner! we were camwhoring after dinner!

and on wed, i went for volunteering at woodsworm scrubs! it's a huge park at zone 2 and we carried loads of logs to build a 'natural' bench for kids, for them to walk on top of it and to sit on it when their teachers are giving them 'outfield' lessons. well, this is an organisation that uses natural materials to build these kinda playground facilities for kids so that plastics n metals are not used. yeah, those logs are from dead trees i suppose. and it'll be a little amazing to know that the british gov actually set aside £400 000 for such facilities. yeah and we saw domes made from bamboo shoots i think. it's really interesting that kids here do such stuff and it's really v different from sg i think. yup yup.

our volunteering day!

2009-09-26T00:31:00.002+08:00

俺今　の感情　は懐かしいだけ。　本当に　懐かしい。　毎日　友人と一緒に　出かけて、時間が　すごく速く過ごした。　楽しいとき　はいつも速いわね。starry starry night という歌　を聞きながら、　このblog　を書く時、　いろいろな感じ　がある。　どんな感じか　はっきり説明できなくて、　ちょっと複雑　のだろう。　このごろ　の夜　よくさまざまなこと　を考えて、寝られないんだ。去年の時　ほど　ロンドン　のこと　には　あんまり楽しみにしてなんだ。　もうすぐ戻って、　戻るまで　あと四日。　じゃ、何も考えなければ、　懐かしいような　気がしないから、何も考えないと思う。

じゃ、友達のおかげで、　この三ヶ月の夏休み　は　本当に美しかった。　大人らしい　な　友達、例えば、ＹＸ　と　ＪＹ　さん、　きっと懐かしむ。　いつも　役に立つ　アドバイス　や　面白いおしゃべり　を　くれて、こんな　友達に　感謝します。　ほら、僕に　ロンドン　で懐かしいとき　skype で　おしゃべりできる　ように　言った。　それで、　悲しい必要　がない！　今の希望　はまた早く　ロンドンの生活　に　慣れることだ。　ほら、今　英語の　翻訳。　　

alright, time for the eng translation. i've been feeling quite down these days actually. good time flies, esp when i'm out with my frens everyday. while typing, i'm listening to starry starry night, which stirred the emotional side of me. such a feeling is inexplicable and i'm having insomnia lately as i keep thinking about stuff. i dun look forward to london as much as last year. 4 more days be4 i'm back. think i shouldn't think so much in order to feel better.

Thanks to my frens, these 3 months have been really enjoyable. i'll miss mature frens like yx and jy, who always gave me useful advice. thanks so much! luckily i can skype in london, so there's no need to feel sad! just hope that i can be used to london soon again. -end of post

haha it feels a bit funny to translate to english as my mind is in the japanese structure mode. but well that's generally how i feel these days, time is passing so quickly. somehow i'm looking forward to sunday to seeing my nephew and cousin.

2009-09-17T19:35:00.006+08:00

昨日レチェルの誕生日のパーテイへお祝いしに行って、本当に嬉しかった！パーテイはｘｙのおかげて、成功だ。彼女は全くびっくりして、喜んだ。imperial　の友人と彼女の中学校の友達は誘われたことやお祝いのビデオは作られることや家は飾られたこと、全部ＸＹの努力だ！彼女は家に着く前に、ｘｙはちょっと緊張して、どきどきした。僕達は階段と暗い部屋で隠れて、着いた時、HAPPY BIRTHDAY　と　大きい声で叫んだ！

僕はアントとギターのアクセサリーとしてプレゼントをあげた。あの。。。昨日は楽しかったのは彼女のおいわいだけでわなく、多くの友達に会えるのも楽しかった。ＪＫ、ＣＨと一緒子供みたいに遊んで、家を走り回った！彼女の両親がいたんですが、恥ずかしくないと思った！重要なのは楽しみました！wiiでテニスをしたstriderと、じゃ、僕もちろん勝った！一番刺激のゲームはオリンピックのだ。このゲームに勝つために、動作はすごく速くしなければならないん！だから、今日腕は少し痛いね。さすが努力した！みんな遊んで、汗をすごくかけて、一緒にげらげらして、家は笑いの音がいっぱい！嬉しかったね！はい、また！

遊んでいた時

三人だ！

みんな！

2009-09-15T11:21:00.002+08:00

お久しぶりね。このブログに書くこと。このごろは一所懸命に日本語ばかり復習して、日本のドラマをよく見るね！

じゃ、これから、このブログが日本語ではよく使って書くようにして、上手になるためなんだ。後２週間残って、ロンドンえ帰ってしまう。本当に懐かしいね。友人に離れて、ちょっと。。。それでは、残る時間を大切にするようにようにしている。昨日、ロンドンに僕といっしょに住んでいる四人の友達　といっしょ　shaw tower　へ行って、うまくて安かったdimsumを食べた。５０％割引があるからだ。そんな遠いところへ行くのはやりがいだ！

最近も、チャンスというドラマを見て、本当に面白い。このドラマは政治について政治家の生活を知らせてくれる。このドラマは私の意見と同じだ、政治のことについて。政治家がよく企んで、政治世界はずるいような感じがする。このドラマの中の一番すごい男優はさすが木村だ。はい！みんな暇なら、このドラマをみてね！はい、また。

2009-09-07T19:43:00.000+08:00

yeah time flies and it's almost time to return to london in 3 weeks time. gosh, i would feel helpless sometimes when such a thought hits me. don't wanna go back, don't wanna be buried in books, don't wanna return to the days when i would just sit by my laptop doing my lab report for a straight 9 hours. and i don't wanna leave my friends here. hai... and it'll be another 9 months before the next summer hols!

but somehow, the thot of having 2 of my juniors, dorea and royston, there comforts me and the thot of meeting them on 30th night somewhere at london excites me. both of them study at UCL. it's not that i do not have close friends at imperial, nor am i sian of imperial ppl. i guess the main reason is becos i know them much longer than any of my imperial frens who only have a short history with me of like 1 to 2 years? for dorea, i was her senior since sec sch and thus it would be my 7th year knowing her. and as for royston, i was his senior in hc and so i've known him for 5 years! and royston is dorea's senior in hc. finally, i can meet ppl whom i've known much longer, who shares the same culture that we had back in hc and dunman. this rocks!

and yeah, coming year 3, i think i would be excited if any of my friends come for exchange as i'll surely travel with them as our history would date back much later! haha, i'm thinking a tad way too ahead actually! haha~

2009-08-26T01:10:00.003+08:00

hai, i don't know why but i'm missing chang cai xin and had the childish impulse to go to hk to find her actually. i think she's the pecfect gf that any1 could have wished for. despite her harsh family background, she grew up with unwavering principles, which made me really attracted to her. she does have her shortcomings, like being too emotional and her inability to analyse properly if both emotional and work problems exist simultaneously. however, i like the way she treat her bf, from an emotional to a matured, sentimental way. Indeed, intangible it may seem to be, i just felt that she's the 1. but, like what minyan told me, such a perfect gf only exists in tang xin feng bao; i guess such a girl doesn't exist in this world either...

2009-08-25T01:26:00.003+08:00

finished 溏心风暴 within 2 days. took 2 days to finish 27 episodes. a really impressive show which has made many cried and laughed with them. i actually thought to myself after the last episode ended while lying on my bed.

sitting through this whole episode of a family assets tussle, it has taught me quite a commendable number of values which we may have usually heard of but was brilliantly conveyed by the strong acting cast. this show was realistic; but the most important value that i took away with me was ''there's time for crying, time for laughing, time for joy and time for grief.'' 哭有时，笑有时，悲有时，乐有时。'' is the chinese translation, which is really apt to life in my opinion. we can't possibly wallow forever when one's loved ones are separated from you. we can't possibly be exhilarated over our own success for long. and we can't have the luxury to spend everyday happily with our loved ones. and this is life, it is a value that i hold dear after this show and realise that we should not only treasure our present but also move on even if we're pummelled with obstacles.

on a sidenote, i was really sad when da ma died and i thought the farewell scene was devastating. and i dun like to see chang cai xin sad, esp the last 2 episodes when she couldn't bear to see xiaobao leave for south africa. i think i was behaving a little like alfred then as i want her to be happy too. well, lovely show... will watch the jia hao yue yuan when i get my hands on the dvd.

2009-07-29T23:49:00.001+08:00

today was really a memorable day. the first time i really felt like blogging after meeting so many frens. alright, morning was badminton session with anto, ch and kiwi yeah and anto was too good for us! then me and him went to fetch shermaine for lunch at ah yat seafood restaurant for the cheap and delicious dim sum. we also had drunken prawns and everything was at 50% off! really cheap and we ate as though it was a buffet and had to play zhong ji mi ma to clear all the food! gosh!

well, then went to meet swee keat for dinner which was really memorable! and i shall blog in chinese from here as i find chi more expressive.

好的。当我们在 sushi tei 吃晚餐时，聊了很多。聊起了这近两年来彼此所经历过的事情与以往在德明时的事。说着说着，我突然发现一切并没有改变，彼此的友情还是依旧不变。心里有一股暖意，好温馨。是我在伦敦时所无法体会到的感觉。当时的我感触良多。因为分隔了两年，这段友谊并没淡化，我深受感动。说话时，偶尔也含着泪。我发现这也许是我第一次这么珍惜跟朋友说话的每分每秒。也许不是第一次，但并不频繁。谢谢你的这份友谊，我真的非常珍惜，因为我知道不管是十年或十二十年，这段友谊依然如旧不变！

2009-07-25T01:09:00.004+08:00

So it has been another week of meet ups! met super many ppl! met michelle, mad, jinhui for suan thai dinner on tues. felix on wed for lunch. seletar gang: weidi, sam n nicholas on thurs for dinner! eve on thurs for lunch. aunt and cousins for jap buffet lunch at minori today and a nice fish n co dinner with anto, yl and racheru today! wow, been quite tiring to meet ppl everyday! and on top of that, would make a point to run every other day! so that i do not accumulate a lot of fats!

yup, so i shall talk a little about each outing. been a great meet up with the dso interns. and mad is as crap as ever and feels crazy while talking to her. shi mei is still as nice to talk to!

wanna wish felix all the best in aust! haven met him for the past 1.5 yrs and tues lunch was really nice. could still remember the times back in seletar camp when we would just listen to songs till like 1am? haha! and talk crap when he was the coxwain while i'm doing my lifeguard duty (slack). haha!

wed was a great meet up with the seletar gang at ashtons then rochor tao huay! and nic is still as crappy and would make me laf like mad! yeah, was a good catch up! this is wat i call long lasting frenship!

yup, janei! to eve as she returned to aust for her final year! gambatte! u'll be back quite soon!

been a nice catch up with the cousins and my aunt. and got to play with the fat baby! shall play mahjong with them next tues! and yes, it was a great dinner with rachel, ant and yl! haven seen racheru for soo long and feels good to see her again! crapped so much and she's a bit more da dan now. would gang up with ant to hit me! hmmm, i shall ask ant daopok her in future! yeah and thanks anto for asking the singer at fish n co to sing a bday song for me! quite nice though i'm quite embarrassed as well! hahah but i was sporty enuf! yeah!

2009-07-16T00:20:00.002+08:00

it's time to update a little about myself after my trips! well, it has been gatherings and more gatherings ever since i was back from london for 5 days, and now after my japan trip. have met eve, yx, jiayin, kee sheng, my bmt mates be4 i flew off for japan.

and after i'm back from japan, i've met meng ni yest and my bmt mates for steamboat today! and we're watching harry potter this friday morning. and tmr i'm meeting ceejay ('daddy') for dinner and st jie for dinner and stayover on fri! sat will be with filbert n gang and sun will be with long lost alvin and zhi. i'm really happy and satisfied with my life now. and while typing this, i'm listening to yan zi's yan shen which resonate with how i'm feeling now. i don't want all these to end... though it's just the start of my hols and i'll leave 2+ months later, i know these will go by really quickly. and all of them will start sch next month if not work and i think i'll start studying a little too. the thing that i think i'll dread most is returning back to london cos i noe i'll miss these dear ones in sg. i'm quite sick of this feeling last year and i hope not to have such a feeling again. hopefully staying with close frens would help to alleviate a little at least. i can still vividly remember how sad i felt when jy and gang visited me when they were in london cos i finally felt my closed ones beside me after so long. was really a long wait... but yeah, kiwi was right in telling me to live the moment, enjoy the moment now. don't think too much! but i could already imagine myself having another hard departure this year. haha~! alright and i shall live the moment!

2009-07-13T01:56:00.001+08:00

It's my 2nd last night in japan and am now at tokyo! these 2 days were basically spent on travelling from sapporo to hakodate, then from hakodate to tokyo! but we made a short trip to nice, quaint otaru yesterday before leaving sapporo for hakodate. i like the way how the houses are built and yeah we went to the famous musical box museum! everything's so nice inside and we spent 2 hours there getting souvenirs for friends as well! all the musical boxes are either too cute if not too exquisite! but they're quite expensive as well. spent a good $75 there!

cute bears

pretty!

we shall visit here again when we're 60 years old. haha!

and the rest of the day till today was spent on travelling. and we stayed in a hotel located near to shinjuku! went to have dinner at shinjuku and we had it at attas takashimaya! the restaurant we went to was located at 14F. service is really good again and we took photo with 1 of the waitress there cos she taught me how to eat their cha soba. it's quite different as u get to mix sweet sauce and spicy sauce according to ur own liking. it was a 2100 yen dinner per person. really おいしい! and then i went to walk along the bridge which i went to 2 years ago and everything still feels the same. crispy creme is still as crowded, and takashimaya is totally pretty.

dinner at taka!

and we decided to catch a movie at night so we bought transformers revenge tickets at 1500 yen per person for the 10.50pm show. it was 1800 for a normal tix and it's good to have a student card though it's still expensive. haha! but well, it's really quite an experience to watch an english show subbed with jap sub titles. yeah! and tmr, think we'll make our way to tsukuji market. argh, i dun wanna leave this place!

at the cinema~

2009-07-10T21:23:00.004+08:00

yeah so after 2 days, i'm back at sapporo again! well, we've been to sounkyo, biei and furano for the past 2 days and we got to those places via our obedient suzuki swift! sounkyo was just a scenic place (but not the best during summer), and we went up to 1 of the mountains to look at deitsuzan mountain range. but we really self entertained ourselves greatly, and those videos really have high entertainment value! made me laf till i cried. haha! yeah will watch when i feel bored. and so we went to the 温泉 in sounkyo choyo resort, followed by a great buffet spread for dinner! we had lots of crabs. breakfast was also a great spread and it was buffet again, i couldn't believe the amount i had the past 2 days! and yeah after breakfast, it was checkout and we went to visit 2 waterfalls, called ginga waterfall and ryusei waterfall,　銀河の体、流星の滝, but it was raining so heavily then and was so cold, 12 deg for summer!

so after which, we made our way to exciting biei where we saw panoramic undulating lands! they're really pretty seriously, the pictures are doing injustice to the actual view! seriously pretty! with neat rows of vegetation, and the air felt really crisp and the wind was strong as well.

and after biei, we went to furano where we saw lavendar fields at farm tomita. and we bought really ex souvenirs! Biei is really different from furano. while one can view nice greenery from the former, the latter would wow 1 with its pretty flowers, esp the lavendar! yeah and we had lavender ice cream which has a very fresh aftertaste. yeah! so now we're back in sapporo, took a couple of videos back, and will be going to otaru tmr, an impromptu decision!

2009-07-08T20:33:00.003+08:00

so today we wet out to noboribetsu, 登別, where we got to see the hell valley, 地獄谷. it was a sulphur onsen and the smell of sulphur smells good to me. haha! the view was totally pretty, it's a little like the sulphur valley i saw at hakone. well, i really loved the pictures taken today. noboribetsu is a quiet town, and the pace of life is slower which i really like. like wat i told anto, i could find inner peace here. yeah and we went to the oyunuma, お湯沼, where we could put our legs in the hot water. not too sure if it's suphurous. but well, it was comfortable, 気持ち!!! and took a couple of photos over there.

きれいな景色

so we spent about half a day at these areas that we had very little time for the ninja town! and we paid 2500 yen for just a 1h visit as it closes at 5pm! but it was still fun as we got to catch a show! and anto was the part of the performance! haha. and i threw a small tip after the show ended as this is what olden japan is like! ppl throw tips wrapped in a white paper after the show has ended. and the ppl there called us, 仲間, meaning very good friends! haha somehow i like this word!

at the ninja 村

yeah and after we're back in sapporo, we went to ramen yokocho, ラメン横丁, to have very nice chashuramen! gosh! it was really good and there were so many ppl! i think they sell like 10,000 bowls a day! wee! am really satisfied today~ and i learnt some new words like 半額, meaning half price!

and so, we'll start driving tmr to sounkyo! the highlight of the trip! and also, during this trip, anto let me realised the importance of general knowledge, i shall better myself when i'm back! be more abreast with current news!

2009-07-07T21:14:00.002+08:00

greetings from sapporo! yes, so after a 3h train ride, we left peaceful hakodate for busy sapporo. everything here is a little like tokyo just that there's a lot of restaurants selling crabs cos sapporo is famous for its hairy crabs!

yeah and so after checking in to our comfort hotel, we made our way to 白い恋人工場！ which is the factory that makes white lover biscuits. they sell really exorbitant biscuits but are very delicious! we got to catch a glimpse on how they make their biscuits and also had high tea at their cafe! bought quite a number of souvenirs which cost me $60! haha~ so after the famous shiroikoibito, we made our way back to our hotel and booked our car before making our way to sapporo central and had our hairy crab there!

shiroikoibito!

our dinner was sugoi! had crabs, squid and egg roll! took really nice pics and we chatted with an american businessman who was with a group of japanese as he offered to help us take a photo. and they all know where singapore is, well he was on a business trip in sg be4! hah and we helped him take a photo with his japanese 仲間 (nakama) as well! wee~ finally, a decent dinner! tmr will be going to noboribetsu where i'll get to see the hell valley! can't wait man!

新鮮なかに！

2009-07-06T21:56:00.003+08:00

yeah~ and so after a night at ueno, we made our way down to hakodate. it was another 6h of travelling, 3h by shinkansen and 3h by tokkyu (limited express), the scenery got much better along the way as mountain ranges started appearing! and it's my first time travelling so relaxingly, as if i'm a japanese. well and cos we reserved our shinkansen seats separately, we had different seats! and i sat beside a young obasan and her grand daughter. the obasan's really polite to me and i smiled at her when i sat down. then we started chatting a little and she asked me where i came from. and i told her her grand daughter is cute. she's really very obedient i think. and i like listening to her talking to her grand daughter. she will say things like it's cold, you should put on ur jacket. and when her grand daughter could not finish her bentou lunch she would say 頑張って食べてください！ so cute right! and she alighted at the stop be4 me! and she asked her grand daughter to bid me farewell, おにちゃんにさよならい。so cute right! and she was bringing her grand daughter to her sis house to play. so i told her, お楽しみください。 and she said 気をつけて。and i really like the way the grandmother slowed down when talking to me and allowing me to understand better. and so i shared with her my hokkaido plans and she said yeah it's a really good time now cos it's summer! and i told her it's really pretty when there are so many flowers blooming. we had a really nice convo!

our first 2 bento set of the day! and our comfy hakodate room! and interesting thing of the day! the train chairs can be rotated 360 deg!

ok, and so when we finally reached hakodate, we rushed to get up the hakodate mountain. this place is basically quite a dead town but i like the tranquility that u cant get elsewhere. tanoshii! ok, the view on mount hakodate was really amazing, pretty and we had nice japanese helping us take fotos again. the night view was pretty too when all the lights are lit up.

at mount hakodate! pretty isn't it!

and after this pretty view, we went to have dinner and bought sake from this wine shop. and we started chatting with the receptionist cos they asked where we were from again. and she said our jap is すばらしい (wonderful). they asked us how is hakodate as well. haha wa, i like talking to the locals i think but it's a bit stressful when they start making really long sentences and speed up. haha! yeah~ so it'll be to sapporo tmr! oh yeah and i shall have my 1st sake tonight!

the gorgeous night view!

2009-07-05T22:10:00.005+08:00

yeah! and after travelling for an arduous 10 hours! i'm here in tokyo! took me 7 hours by plane followed by 1 hour of narita express! this feeling is undescribable when i touched down. i just kept smiling to myself when i saw those familiar japanese words! really love this place i guess. changed my rail pass and i think i was too pro at asking them to start my rail pass tmr such that the guy kept babbling in jap, explaining to me how to use the card. and i told him wakarimasen, eigo de ii? haha! but i still tried to use jap whenever possible. and it feels good when i was able to guess the pronunciation of certain kanji correctly. like ９号車 is pronounced as kyuu gou sha! and i was right! wee~

ueno!

pachinko!

our dinner!

and finally after changing for the yamanote line. 山の手線に乗り換えて, i finally see anto! yeah and then we went for our dinner somewhere nearby, and had korean bbq! quite a nice dinner for a start. and yeah started using jap from then on! fun really, and it felt really good when they understand u. but one thing bad about here is that fruits are really expensive. i bought a small box for 295円. yeah and i used my jap to ask if they sell fruits, and i dun need a plastic bag. wee~ i feel my jap tongue returning. and i love walking slowly along tokyo streets, cos it's really wide and i felt really relaxed. yeah, and it's hakodate tmr! will be another 6 hour ride! 3h of shinkansen desu!

this shall be our breakfast tmr! called first kitchen!

2009-07-01T10:47:00.002+08:00

alright and then we moved on to greece athens! which was quite a disappointment. everything there seems so backwards! houses looked a little like slums and the cultural heritage isnt strong as most of the ruins are really ruined! but well, the highlight of greece was actually santorini and there'll be loads of photos on santorini! we took a morning ferry to santorini island which was called thira in short! and then rented this cute little vehicle called an ATV to drive around the island.

ant and i were the 2 drivers and it has really been a while since i last drove in sg. luckily, this's an easy vehicle and yes it's my first time driving up mountains! those winding roads are really daunting as i was unable to see any approaching vehicles! hahah but it was really cool driving up though many vehicles kept overtaking me as the slow ATV could only go up to a max of 50km/h on flat road and 20km/h up mountains. and we caught 2 sunsets in santorini which was really beautiful though i hate to wait for it to set cos i'm not a really patient person! there was this dinner we had on the rooftop, overseeing the sea, mountains and sunset, really really cool dinner! and it feels so relaxing, really. have nv had such nice dinner be4. and yes i had wine or beer almost every meal cos kyodai wants to drink~ haha and i think it's more fun to have ppl accompany u drink! ok so for more pictures!

at athens!

and we've reached santorini! look at the cute fat atv!

driving around on our first day there! really cool to take pictures with shades on! haha~ the sand at the beach is black due to volcano!

our first sunset! and camwhoring at that area~

yeah and travelling to the red beach. wonder why is the sand red~ cool photos we took agaiN!

the 2nd sunset we had at the northern tip of the island! and we almost holland on our way back! quite a long distance back to our hotel!

and finally! our last day in santorini at the wine museum! had a relaxing day and swam in the pool in our hotel. really nice i feel! v relaxing!

and yeah so the next trip will be to hokkaido and hopefully i can blog over there with good wifi!

2009-07-01T10:02:00.003+08:00

yes~ am back from prague and greece and now it's time to blog a little about it! haha many things happened during the trip, it was still fun nevertheless! yeah and alright so lets continue from prague day 1! anyway we only stayed in prague for 2 days and i can conclude that things are cheaper there! the most attas meal we had was a 3900 kroners meal! and that works out to $200 meal? and we really had a loooot of food. well, actually almost every meal in this trip was attas. none was below 10 euros! haha but i love it that way! that's what travelling should be about! splurging (but of course not too extravagantly) and having fun!

and this is what we had for the attas dinner in prague!

2009-06-22T05:23:00.005+08:00

yeah! and finally exams are over! been too busy to blog these days as was so busy with moving house! moved till my arms almost broke! and i've finally left my hall and will be staying with cool house mates next year! wee! gone are the boring days back in parsons house!

and yeah, i'm now in prague! day 2 over here. shall do some updates and photos now! prague's really a beautiful city, its medieval look is really quite different from the western european countries. Old town is really pretty!! haha and the company is superb! ok i'm lazy to blog, so shall just load lots of photos!

and i shall continue day 2 tmr!

2009-06-19T09:06:00.002+08:00

and finally! the last paper was over! it was the hardest paper but i felt satisfied after finishing it though there were some mistakes here and there. and straight after, i went for a haircut at chinatown, followed by massive packing at home and bringing my stuff to monstrose! gosh, was a little crazy packing cos there were soooo many things!!! and then, after moving my first luggage, went to ant's place to chill, watch videos and sing songs and print our tickets to prague n greece! followed by having dinner with long lost serene, kang yee and kelvin at creperie and the creperie was really good though i prefer old dutch!

and yeah i'm blogging this cos i'm not feeling really really happy now. but have a tinge of reminiscence actually. i kinda miss some frens here after talking to laya and chen chen just now. we talked for 2.5 hours. and yup, it was an awkward start initially when we sat down and talked but all went well and we started gossiping, talking about this and that and the most funny thing was them trying to learn singlish and chen2 thinks my chi sounds cute. haha! and though i know that if we were to meet frequently, we would not have so much to talk about cos ultimately, we have different social lives and do not have a common pool of frens. nevertheless, i'm still quite touched by the effort that they put in and i think they enjoy talking to me. hai, and be4 i left they gave me a box of choc which really took me by surprise and was really touched. thanks laya and chen chen! gave each of them a hug as i wun be seeing them until the next term. Take care ya both of u and hope we'll still keep in contact. will get some nice sg goodies when i'm back. i'm actually missing u 2 already...

3 of us!

2009-06-16T20:01:00.003+08:00

yeah! 2nd paper down! finally a paper with standard. had fun doing it actually but i think i've just blown off 5 marks. haha, but it's alright on the whole. and just 1 more paper left on thurs, and it'll be frantic packing and will also go for a haircut. and then it's off to prague, then greece, then hokkaido! haha i think i've been repeating these lately, to encourage myself! and the thought of blogging daily in prague and greece really thrills me. can imagine writing about romantic prague and sunbathing in sunny greece in our villa! haha!

the sun nv felt so good like today...

2009-06-15T20:01:00.000+08:00

1st exam overseas without my parents beside me feels a bit stressful i think. no1 to cook for me and no frens to call as and when i like unlike in sg. cos i live further than the rest, i was kinda isolated for 1 whole week which made me go crazy during the weekends. luckily there were nice frens who offered to skype me to relieve my depression.

haha, and i'm done with the 1st paper today. wasn't difficult but i still had insomnia the night be4. slept at 3am and only slept for 4h. gosh, hate this exam stress! at least mn and kelvin were there to help me out at 3am yest. well, just 2 more papers. need to persevere... at least there's a 1 day break after tmr's paper. *heave*

2009-06-12T08:33:00.002+08:00

Yes! 3 more days to the 1st paper! i really can't wait. i just wanna get over and done with these 3 papers seriously. It's my first time feeling so bored (not becos i'm done with revision) with studying, cos i dun have anyone to talk to or crap with during my breaks, unlike back in sg. and cos i'm staying a little further from every1 else, it makes seeing them difficult too! and this is hitting me quite hard these few days cos i cant have a proper break be4 going back to those notes.

but tonight was a little high when i was talking to ks. cos we were talking about how sian these papers are and i was telling him how bored i am. and he said if i'm bored, he'll grab yl and 3 of us go out on sat! hahah but i told him she's still revising i guess and he said wa she wanna read 50 times har! and that dumb sentence made me laf for sooooo long and hard! cos i can imagine her repeating each word 50 times, bu duo bu shao before she goes on to the next word.

and i called her immediately after talking to ks, cant help but kept lafing hyestericallY! think cos i'm really too bored and even such a lame sentence can cracked me up. haha, and wow the EEE ppl are finishing their exams tmr! as much as i'm happy for them (after 3 weeks of exams), i'm a little envious though my exams will only last 3 days. and yeah, ant and kelvin will finish their papers and they will wait for us and we'll get to prague next sat! oh gosh, i'm already in a partial holiday mood!!! and i also can't wait to get greeted by sg air stewardess on the A380 on 29th june 10pm!!!

2009-06-07T07:22:00.003+08:00

and amidst the crazy revisions, i shall still update my blog! haha. my brain's kinda fried after every night's revision and i've been staring at my com for more than 10h a day cos all my practice papers are in here! and i have like 10+ practice papers for each org, inorg and physical. so it's really a chore to finish them all! done with org and inorg and tmr shall complete physical.

and this week was a meet up with long-time-no-see yuan shao! he went to norway with smu to do some exchange kinda thing? not too sure actually and he went with kiwi but kiwi din come to london! he went to prague instead. but nvm la, i'll meet him back in sg! and he might treat me to another hanabi! sweet of him last year to treat me be4 i go off! so i met ys for dinner on wed at bayswater GBK as i wanted to get some chilli sauce from oriental city there. and yeah had a good time chatting and catching up with him! and he doesn't believe i know my way to GBK and when i was just a little lost, he took out his big map! and that scene was really funny! was 'lost' cos GBK wasnt really near the station.

ys's my bmt sec 4 mate!

and then we walked through hyde park and i walked in the wrong direction again cos i dun usu walk through there to high street! but amazingly he knows the way! and we went to old dutch in high street; met shawn there and the pancakes were fantabulous! very springy texture and the sugar icing was just nice, not too sweet. the bacon pancake was equally nice too. and 3 of us were really full after that! i really like the sweet pancake! and yes! shall go to old dutch on the 19th with ant, kelvin n yl be4 we fly to our greece! gosh. 1 more week to exams and 2 more weeks to end of exams. just 3 papers! hang in there eriku!

and shawn is the section 3 mate who always join us for activities cos we're fun ppl!

2009-05-31T07:36:00.003+08:00

so this week was a monotonous one except for the meet up with emmeline and lisa. haven seen emmeline for so long and the last time i met her up was at imperial treasure i remembered! yeah, shiwei, ks and i met the both of them at chinatown and it was a HC outing! 3 from 04S72 and 2 from 04S75!

yeah, was quite chatty when i saw emmeline cos she's really a fun and bubbly girl. love her style of humour and the way she goes mad really makes me laugh. haha, and i took quite many fotos with her as i wun get to see her again until back in sg though she's still coming back to london, but at some weird days when it's either too near to my exams if not when i'm in greece. yeah, dun noe why but i kept "hitting" her when i saw her~ yeah lets meet in sg again when i'm back!

at chinatown!

and the week became a boring 1 thereafter. have submitted all my lab reports and i'm now committed to full time mugging now. wanna grasp everything within this coming 1 week and leave the last week to slack a little. think this's my style of work now. it's so unlike back in hc when i'm still cramming everything the night be4. i guess jc life is really more stressful, more different stuff to remember. and i went for a run at hyde park yesterday after school with ant, yl, kelvin, bq and ben! but ant, yl and i ran another route but soon we separated from yl and met her at some designated area as she's too slow for us! haha, wa and it was a total workout after not running for so long! ran for 45min and my legs are aching today! woosh! but it's really quite nice running in hyde park though it's kinda crowded and ppl are sun bathing everywhere! and i feel my muscles degerating! haha think i need to go back and train my pull ups to get them back~ haha!

a really nice foto taken using ant's com! wa... very arty!

well, i just can't wait for the exams to be over and poof! off i'll go to prague and then greece followed by hokkaido~ i seriously can't wait. and i can't wait to take the A380 back to singapore!

2009-05-24T02:06:00.004+08:00

alright, some nice pics over the week. went out 3 days in a row with the girls and had dinner at 4 seasons on tues and GBK on wednesday! and i brought ah yin to meet her long lost pri sch classmate ant. haha, and both got quite awkward which was quite a funny scene i felt.

the 2 frens

and then wed was at GBK and it was my first time there! we had the 2 for 1 voucher and both ks and i each had 2 burgers! gosh, i was really full at the end and i think i took in like 2000 calories that night! but it was really nice chatting with them and having fun and reminiscing the past! well, i'm feeling much better these days! and i'm finally done with labs though i guess i may not do well or may even fail for 1 of the reports. but it's really not worth the effort to redo the whole expt.

burger looks a bit squashed cos i squashed it! spicy 1! seriously nice!

04S72!

hope to go back to gbk again and hope can eat with racheru and anto 1 day. cos these 2 foodies always whet my appetite! and yeah, i'm feeling more confident for quantum chem.

2009-05-20T06:07:00.002+08:00

these days i've been feeling very down. every night after i meet the girls. i had a bad start today as well as i know it may be my last time meeting these frens.

these 2 days have been really impactful on me. i guess that's cos i havent met such really close frens for 8 months. they seriously cant be compared to the girls i met here. i guess perhaps age is 1 of the factors that make me not as close to the girls here, but also, cos they are those kinda frens who will really encourage u and spur u on.

like what i told ks, though i may be close to some of the girls in chemistry, they just stop at close, unlike yx they all. like when i'm feeling down and when i tell yx that bunch of frens, they will really encourage me by telling me jiayou eric! ni xing de! and will provide solutions to my problems as opposed to dun be sad la... tmr will be better kinda thing. it's really different and u will know that that bunch of really close frens are putting in an effort to help u, to make the day better for u. and today before i went off, i gave each of them a hug and they hugged me tightly, esp zhi... and it actually wet my eyes... cos i have not felt such warmth for so long... really... i've been feeling so lousy these days!

even by looking at them, i also feel comforted and loved. hai, how i wish my really close frens are with me in london really...

2009-05-19T05:48:00.003+08:00

had a hearty and hilarious dinner tonight with yuexin, minyan, ah yin and hui zhi! haha could tell that they're very excited to meet me! we had dinner at earls court zizzi and i used my cool vouchers to get a cheap and nice dinner for all of us.

they were really shock when the bill came and only cost 50 pounds~ all thanks to my voucher! chatted really a lot and even video called ant to let him see his long lost primary school classmate, ah yin (the girl whom he's scared of)! huizhi my and yx laughed like mad. and we talked everything under the sun. about back in sec sch days how yx chased after me! and how she's called tyra foo. and we kept laughing at her buying loads of primark stuff and lugging it along oxford street on wed! damn funny! gosh i think yuexin really makes ppl laf!

thereafter, brought them to big sains to get their choc and they almost bought over the whole sains. 1st time seeing ppl so excited over sains stuff, esp the eye shadow, liner and dun noe wateva makeup stuff cos they said that those products are expensive in sg! and i may need to help them bring back to sg~

well, gonna meet them tmr again but this time with ks, wenxiang and edwin. all 3 only know yx and ah yin. i think it was a good idea to meet them alone today and i would like to have more private time with these frens. well, i really felt very happy from the bottom of my heart seriously. cos it's been so long since i've last seen these frens really. i guess you hold your frens more dear when u're abroad. i haven heard their voices for like a nice whole 8 months. this dinner has been really great really! thanks girls! you guys are irreplaceable!

the cool dunmanians!

2009-05-18T06:34:00.002+08:00

yeah saturday was really fun though i felt a little guilty after that. went to ant's place to disrupt them first and then for senior's farewell yesterday at beit union hall and yeah i went to send yao hao off actually and also for the nice free food that our batch cooked~ haha! was really quite nice and yeah caught up with some of them...

haha terrence is too short so he has to put his arms around my flabby waist!

yeah and when ant and i returned back to beit, we bumped into yang le who went to get 4 seasons duck for dinner! and she looked so aunty with huge plastic bags! gosh! ahah so we took lots of her unglam shots and there was 1 that was especially hilarious! can use it to laugh when i'm bored of studying.

yeah then we tried studying at ant's room and ended up singing and ant playing the guitar. we sang this really nice song, forgot its title le and ant's accompaniment is 'impeccable' haha~ and then rachel and xunyu joined us for dinner~ woohoo~ so we cooked and talked and ate and laughed! and they kept lafing at me, dun noe why too. we had a great time be4, during and after dinner. kept playing around, like using pans to hit each other, and xunyu even used the xiao bai cai to knock my head, and i quickly transferred the force to anto's head! haha. damn funny! boisterous to sum it up! i really like the times when we behave like kids! gone are those days man.

dinner dinner!

yeah and then we had table tennis match! was really a fun match and i played better at individual with rachel! was really happy! and we played 'soft ball' which was really fun! haha when crazy anto was the guy who hit the ball, he almost won but i touched him first and won! and he kept running in circles! and we kept hitting the ball to yang le cos we noe she will surely lian2 lei4 her teammates cos she's slow! and when i was the thrower, i almost lost cos ant almost ran 1 round back to his place and i pulled his shirt while he's still in his running action! super hilarious! but i got quite guilty when i was on my way home. caused i felt i've caused them to not study for the night. though they kept saying it's really ok... but yes i've promised not to play anymore! hahah and shall be a guai kia at home! i think i'm too fidgetive!

i chop! i smash!

all the pairs!

2009-05-13T08:52:00.005+08:00

And yes! i'm going to hokkaido from 5th to 13th july! it'll be an extravagant getaway actually. haha! i've estimated $3000+ for this trip, hopefully it wun go beyond 3.5! but well, guess it's really worth it as it's a place that i have always wanted to go. been to japan twice but were all to tokyo!

and i nv realised hokkaido was THIS big till now after planning for this trip. yeah, will be flying to tokyo on 5th to meet ant first and we will head up to hokodate on the 6th via shinkansen and the limited express train! and then we're make our way to sapporo. some greater highlights of the trip will be furano and biei, where we can walk through vast lands of lavender fields; noboribetsu, where we will visit the hell valley and the greatest highlight would definitely be the 1 night in sounkyo which is really a romantic and mountaineous place!

we book this ryokan there for $195 per person per night, shall be a day to pamper ourselves! we'll have this room for 5 just to the 2 of us with 2 huge beds, and there's an open onsen there to view the mountains while pao-ing, and we have buffet breakfast and dinner included too! dinner looks seriously good, with loads of seafood! argh! i couldn't ask for more really! am so looking forward to it. i shall be like the japan hour host, introducing every part of hokkaido!

and yes, we'll be driving to furano, sounkyo and biei which anto really gian a lot! and i think i feel safe with him driving haha! we shall use gps and perhaps get a sports car, driving on the sunny highway~ woohoo~ and it's also easier to travel by car when going into rural japan! haha~ yeah so hokkaido here i come! and what's more, it's with kyodai anto! gonna be exciting man!

2009-05-04T08:20:00.002+08:00

yeah today was really fun and fulfilling. i was woken up by the really strong sun at 710am and couldn't sleep thereafter though i slept at 2am the day be4. so i went to school early to borrow the inorg spectra book for report. i'm so glad i went school cos the book is really useful! it's my first time having to refer to a book to do a report as the IR spectrum could not be deduced without references! I felt really invincible when i got my hands on that book! wee! yeah, so after that, i went to ant's place to do my report! haha, he was at yl's place studying while i 'lock' myself in his room do my report. took me 1 whole afternoon to finish! gosh~

and then, they went to sains to get groceries for dinner and we had a really great 1! prawns with fried egg and curry powder, roast duck and also stir fry vegetables! was really full and nice mummy yang le cooked for us! haha, so me and ant lao da washed the dishes.

thereafter, we played table tennis in the common room and yipei joined us! it was my first time playing table tennis!!! i played once eons ago and it was just anyhow hitting the ball kinda game. but today i managed to smash a few times! and i realised i cant rush in a game of tt! cos the more u wanna rush, the faster the ball goes out of control! ant's the zai 1 today as he can do spins! i wanna learn that. tried focusing and slice the ball, but couldn't do it! i shouldn't be so impatient! should learn the basic techniques first. but, i'm still an amateur. maybe i'll play more table tennis in future when i have the time! it was really fun and yl and i are beginners and i love how we played the game! really funny and comical! and we ended the 2h game with a doubles match, with me and ant vs yl and yipei! was uber fun! and we won marginally, 3-2! woosh! hi 5 anto! ahhaa... gosh, cant wait for exams to finish! am now full of energy to chiong tmr! yeah and next fri will be lunch with anto and racheru at scr!

2009-04-26T07:29:00.002+08:00

yes yes yes! It's the big Singapore Day! It started off with a gloomy sky; roads were wet and it was drizzling. Luckily, by the time i was out, everything stopped and it became really sunny soon after! yeah, singapore day 09 was held in london at zone 4 at hampton court palace. We were all greeted with this super huge ERP gantry which beeps and has a digital sign that welcomed us! went with yl and kelvin and we CHIONG for the food once we stepped into the area. we had chwee kueh, carrot cake, hokkien mee, char keow teow, katong laksa, indian rojak, nasi lemak, youtiao butterfly, old chang kee curry puff and grilled seafood. gosh! the food was really heavenly, really authentic and it beats any of the singapore restaurants here! i bet they must have flown all the true ingredients over.

hampton court garden is really quite nice!

food! gosh! can't resist them! 1 day of sinful food!

the cute hawkers cooking in front of us! thanks!

camwhore!

And yeah, we had great performances from the cute dim sum dollies. hopefully, i'll be able to catch their musicals back in sg. took a group photo with them which i think i wun get such a chance in singapore! yeah and i saw a couple of frens over there and camwhored. and i pounced on bing qiang when he was busy camou-ing some1's face, haha gave him a big shock! he was a volunteer at the NS booth. guess i'm too heavy! yeah and he also gave me 2 stripes of camou cream! wee really like this housemate of mine. and i only camoued when yisheng also camoued! oh well, today was really a great day with great company and food! I couldn't ask for more.

took photos with dim sum dolly, old chang kee aunty and katong laksa aunty!

garang yisheng and i camoued on!

and yes, the committee is definitely successful. could imagine all the effort they've put in to make this a success. Thanks Singapore! and the message from today's event: nothing can be better than home.

2009-04-16T08:41:00.003+08:00

yes! and yesterday was another rendezvous with yl, ant and kelvin. we went there early to study together be4 dinner at this thai restaurant called addies at earls court. went there once before and i so wanted to go back there again cos the food is just too superb! yeah and we ordered loads of meat for the side dishes and i ordered pad thai. really really nice. we had green curry, black pepper chicken and grilled sirloin. yums! and we crapped lots over there, lafed till i pengz and ant and i kept bullying yl! so fun! she'll be our mama in greece, take care of our luggage and what not. kelvin will just join us too! haha, yeah this greece group is really fantabulous!

and then there was an impromptu idea of staying over at their place. and so we played bridge, drank wine and beer. also watched chi bi 2 together with ant's super cool speaker! the sound effects are really amazing! and i still like the show though i think chi bi 1 was better with more exciting strategies. yeah then we had an intermission at 4am cos it was the time yang le usu go mad! hahah so we danced around and fooled around, cam whored before settling down to watch the last hour of chi bi 2. ahha! it was really tremendous fun yesterday night which let to my depression this morning when i woke up realising that i have to study and am back to reality! but well, i was energised! i just can't wait for greece!

going mad!

2009-04-11T08:52:00.003+08:00

yuP~ seems like i've been meeting the same group of ppl every now and then! but i like it this way cos they're my dearest i feel. walked to school today from hall and i will nv do that again, my legs are aching now after the 40min march to sch! gosh! i couldn't believe that i actually walked for so long!

and yeah today was like what they usu say a htht session. yl first pulled me to the kitchen to interrogate me but i was quite candid about the things she asked about me since there's nothing to hide. and then we went for dinner at this italian restaurant at high st ken! really love the company cos there were no awkward silences though there were moments of silence. i guess that's the best frenship 1 can have. not feeling bored, or awkward when there were silences but can actually enjoy them! and be contented that ur dearest are beside u.

and then yl had to rush for her blood brothers musical which she claimed is really good while ant and i went to walk around then back to beit. and we chatted a lot along the way and also back in beit. i love this feeling when ur close ones trust u and able to share their secrets without any qualms. cos it makes u feel trustable and secondly, that close fren of u also treat u like a close fren. woosh~ alright, time to catch some slp. and yeah i cant wait for tues dinner at addies! gonna be a great dinner with these loved ones as well. and the food is so good there too!

2009-04-09T07:16:00.002+08:00

alright, and yesterday was dinner with ant, racheru and yang le. it's a meet up after all of our trips and yeah we had dinner at this korean restaurant which we love a lot! we ordered bibimbap, pancake, pork, beef, and sliced beef on stone. really nice!

that's the san nin bracelet i made for them in madrid.

and we also camwhored of course! woosh~ was really fun yesterday night and sat there chatting about how yl turned into xena and how she will treat us in greece. i cant wait for our greece and prague trip! will be going on the 20th june and have already booked out air tix! woots! this trip gonna be super duper fun. with that ant san, yl and kelvin!

2009-04-08T06:30:00.003+08:00

yeah and i'm finally back from the 10 days spain and portugal trip! it was a trip with harrowing experiences and relaxing moments. lets start on spain first. it's a country with loads of sight-seeing to do. from madrid to valencia and finally to barcelona. we had the chance to watch a bull fighting competition in madrid and also the first attas paella meal which is really satisfying! bull fighting is too cruel i feel cos they stab the bull like nobody's business and u could see the bull panting heavily and blood spurting from the back. i couldn't bring myself to take those photos.

paella!

the bullfight!

and when we were in valencia, we visited this arts and science place and visited the world's largest aquarium. and it's feels very electrifying to look at the aquatic ecosystem cos there are just so so many species and definitely these are not the only ones present on earth. makes 1 feel the wonders of mother nature. seriously cool!

saw xunyu, ivy, racheru, junkai and weiliang.

the underwater world.

then as we moved on to barcelona, gives us this feeling that the ppl there are more complex. cos we have so many pickpockets in crowded trains clad in business suits and carry laptops. wee hon was targetted twice but luckily he saw them eyeing his wallet and he din give them any chance. and we visitted the corn-like church structure there which is still under construction after like 100 years. and the best tour was down to montserrat where nature blew us off. cos the view up there is really magnificent and majestic. and so we moved on to portugal, and got mugged by this stupid robber. luckily no1 was injured and nothing was lost. he tried to snatch our wallets but to no avail. i manged to push him away, haha we're strong man~ but well that was a harrowing experience.

met ant and shermaine at barcelona.

and this is montserrat!

so on to portugal and yeah porto was the first city we went to. very old, very slow and very relaxing. it's quite small but the roads are uphill and downhill and some are really steep. we kept making fun of the old ppl there that they used shun po to move around. very fast! and kept taking shun po videos of the ah ma and ah pek to entertain ourselves. u can have a whole bus of ah ma and ah pek. yeah but the best part of porto was sitting by the huge river or sea, having lunch while basking in the sun! and our lunch there was super good! each had 1 bottle of wine, salad, main course which is huge, dessert pudding and coffee for just 15 euros. gosh! and apart from eating, we found a pull and bear outlet which is super duper cheap! half the price of everything compared to sg.

at porto!

lunching by the sea~

yeah, so finally we went to lisbon and it's another slow city though the capital. and we toured slowly and relaxingly. portugal isn't a really amazing country, BUT it's very different from many other cities cos pace of life is much slower and yeah u get to really relax. and eating in the sun by the river was the best part. the beach in lisbon was sunny, clean and pretty. the part i really enjoyed. and of course, the portuguese egg tarts which we bought from this super famous shop in lisbon.

beef on stone!

and the beautiful beach in lisbon!

2009-03-27T10:09:00.002+08:00

Yeah! the last day of term! and here comes the easter break. i had a really enjoyable end to this last week of term. firstly, i'm proud to have the best tutors in imperial. cos my inorg tutor treated us to hot choc yesterday while we had our tutorial at the scr cafe. quite an innovative idea huh. and today, our org tutor treated to paul pastries! think they're super nice really! yeah and i like my tutorial mates too cos i find it enjoyable to talk to them though we dun crap a lot. but i still cant get used to some of their accent when they just horribly drop all their t!! argh~ haha.

yeah my tutorial grp!

and i almost did not want to go for dinner at zizzi today cos i realised i had some problems with the data analysis i did yesterday and i got so frustrated with myself cos this hw is really time consuming. luckily everything turned out fine and was not as bad i thot it to be. and so i've finished this dumb tedious tutorial! haha, ok, back to zizzi dinner! and it's with yl, ant and shermaine at earls! seriously love zizzi! i dun have such a strong craving for the main courses but the desserts are the things that make me keep wanting to go back! i love the banana and ice cream 1! and ant san, who usu doesn't eat sweet stuff actually ate a lot of that too. i think it's super duper nice!

love that banana dessert up there! even the supervisor ask us not to eat the bread pudding in future. haha!

and we had a really fun and nice dinner though shermaine was dead beat. we crapped loads and talked about senseless stuff again, with ant. hahah and yang le was so entertained by us. and we also camwhored~ that's what singaporeans or asians are good at doing. and yeah i can imagine a crazy time with ant, yl and kelvin at greece after our exams! would be really fun!

haha my hair looks toot!

2009-03-22T09:12:00.003+08:00

today was ben birthday~ i personally felt that dinner wasn't really fun, and there was a lot of complicated issues behind this 'party'. well, cos A felt that i was asking my clique and it was essentially my party afterall. but seriously, these are the ppl whom ben is closed to and they're just coincidentally my close frens too. and i don't understand then why can u ask ur 2 other frens whom i dont know at all to this dinner but i cant ask ppl whom i think are close to ben? alright, like wat ant said, dinner was cui. cos there weren't much common topics to talk about. and i think A has changed a lot, he's not wat i used to know him as. really, and like after what i heard from close fren B, i start to think about how A thinks about me. like am i such an ass at times? or do i not deserve such nice treatment from my close frens? i'm baffled.

I once thot we had become closer, but u felt like a stranger to me today at the dinner. I guess it's really tiring to try to know why, and I'm actually not interested in wanting to understand what's going on in ur mind cos it'll waste my time. I shall leave things as they are now cos it aint gonna affect me.

well, I'm happy for ben today! these complicated issues aside, i really had fun celebrating for ben. we knew each other in dsta during our OBS cos we were from the same grp, nehru. and we chatted a lot then! woosh~ just wanna say it's fortunate having u as a fren, cos i just feel comfortable with u around! and u know what, despite what has happened today, the last sms that u sent me really made my day! and u made me feel that we should express our gratitude to our frens whenever we feel thankful towards them and yes, we shouldn't take our frens for granted.

the happy four frens =)

2009-03-17T08:18:00.002+08:00

sometimes i find it really funny and weird that i'm missing my singapore frens at this time of the year, when the 1st academic year is about to end and i'm returning back to sg soon in 3+ months time! well, and lately i tossed and turned in bed for quite some time be4 finally getting asleep. i'm missing so many of u guys! ming jit, chang fang, that lame poh, ah sai, ah meng, hui zhi, xin mei, alvin, bmt peeps. argh! it's always so convenient to give any1 of them a call when i need some1 to talk to. maybe i should try skyping them next time! haven had much chance to skype cos most dun have a mike or webcam.

well, and been feeling that uni is quite boring for me. maybe cause i haven been actively involved in many things but i have no passion for those uni stuff. hmmm and i'm really thinking of joining volunteer club. commitment is the only thing that's holding me back. hai, uni is so not like jc and sec sch when u have cliques and can always spend them with them during free time. over here, it's more like going to lectures together and then go back to ur own hall. not much interaction at all! and my really really close frens over here are all in different course like EEE, biomed, aero. haha! all away from the chem building! hai~

alright, and i planned to finish my revision for MPC this week before going to spain n portugal next week.

2009-03-15T08:20:00.003+08:00

This week ended really well! it started really bad and shag initially when i had to do labs almost all by myself. but luckily for me, those 2 torturous lab periods were over after 2 days since i've prepared and read it over n over for like 6h the week be4. ok, so wednesday was mamamia with jk, kelvin and albert and it was really really good! plot is simple but i love the ending when all of us just stood up and danced with them. it's like mess dance, and i felt really happy after that!

and today it was ah! yum, a musical by imperial sing soc! went to support all of them, and i've been looking forward to it since the start of the week. it was really good and i think the electrifying dance brought up the whole musical standard! i'm proud of racheru and ant san cos they are my best jap kakees and my favourites! i'm proud of guiyi when i saw her dance her solo part, dun noe why too but i sincerely feel proud for her. and after the whole show we camwhored!! haha, should upload some photos now!

and at today's event, i met 2 ppl whom i haven seen for YEARS. when jun kai called my name, i seriously looked at him for more than 2 sec. 1stly i couldn't recognise him cos he's kept long hair and 2ndly i was thinking where have i met him be4. and it took me sometime to realise we went to eti together. gosh! i'm surprised. and he's studying at LSE now. and also when yee jie stood beside me suddenly and i took a look at him, i was shocked again! and i just shouted out yee jie! gosh, i haven seen him for so loooong le! we were from 3f and 4f and we haven seen each other after that. been a while, 5 years~ and now i'm seeing all of them in london! wee~!

2009-03-08T08:58:00.003+08:00

Had a really nice and peaceful day out today. this week was horrible albeit slack. i had school for an average of 2-3 hours per day and my day started at 2pm everyday except for wed. BUT, each lecture is really heavy in my opinion. the lecturers just suddenly threw loads of new mechanisms at us and it's kinda depressing when there's a sudden surge of new and difficult stuff! furthermore, the notes are quite cui and i have to depend on the net or textbook for a better understanding. and all these made me felt quite defeated towards the end of the week cos these concepts are not really easy, neither are they easy to remember. and my organic tutor is so into stereochem which's something that i'm not good at. haha i think this comes with practice. given more time, i might feel less stressed. but what can i ask more when i'm like the slackest course.

SO, today, yang le and i decided to walk around hyde park to get some fresh air. been really sick of textbooks these days, so yeah we took loads of flower pics and they're really pretty. not many flowers have bloomed though, only a few species have started blooming but the pictures i took are really fantastic. luscious colours that're so pleasing to the eyes. and they allowed me to find my inner peace. i have nv felt such tranquility for so long. and i was energised by the flower scent. it was really a great walk.

aren't the flowers awesome. am looking forward to spring! i think that's what a 4-season country can offer. u get to see diff scenery at different times of the year. 2 months ago, it was heavy snow!

and after walking, we went to meet albert for lunch at edgware road, at this restaurant called malur which serves malaysian cuisine! and i had this nasi campuh which is really nice though portion isn't really big. the curry tastes good and the chilli egg is indescribable. reminds me of my cookhouse nasi lemak when they always fry the egg and then dip in the oily but delicious chilli. gosh, i'm salivating now while typing. haha! and i love the dessert, it's novel of them to put ice cream with banana fritters. argh and the kueh is so nice. i need these food to relieve stress. well, next week will be a hard one but i think i'm all energised.

after eye therapy, it was mouth and nose therapy~ look at that oily egg, love it!

yeah the ppl i went out with. yl and albert~

2009-03-05T07:38:00.003+08:00

haven been blogging for some days cos there's nothing interesting lately. well, but today i just at a very inspiring talk at millenia hotel by minister balakrishnan. honestly, i'm super impressed by the way he gave his speech. he has presence, charisma and the words he used are like wat yl said polished and refined.

I'm blown off by his speech and it's the first time i listen so intently to some1 speaking. persuasively, convincingly, sincerely he spoke. there were 2 main points that left a deep impression in me. firstly, some1 asked a question on stayers and quitters. and he brought the question back to opporunities and choices. that if 1 is able to grasp every precious opportunity, he/she will be successful no matter where his/her opportunity came from. but ultimately, when one's successful, it's up to his choice to do something for his homeland. i.e. it doesn't mean that u're a quitter if u stay overseas and pursue ur dreams cos it all boils down to ur choice if u wanna contribute back to ur country. u need not physically be there but through other means and avenues, u'll still be able to contribute if u choose to.

the second qns that some1 from the floor directed to him was 'impeccably' answered. the question goes, can there be a more liberal approach towards media which tends to criticize our government. and minister answered that firstly we have to know that the media is a business, and the government knows how to play this game very well with them. secondly, the sg government practises the law on defamation created here(UK) whereby we look for accountability, truth and accuracy. these 3 words are simple yet powerful. and i think every1 was really impressed with him. i couldn't have thought of such impactful words in a dialogue session given such a short amount of time. i think what's so impressive about ministers is that they have to think on their feet and be able to answer tactfully yet convincingly. gosh, he's my new idol! i wanna be like him cos i think such a skill is really important for my future work. u need to noe how to speak well when u climb up the corporate or technical level. oh well, and this qns had a deep impression in me as i wrote a little about speech freedom during my a lvl gp exam. should have written his point and i think my grade would have improved.

hopefully 1 day i'll learn to speak better. and the thing is he's not a humanities person, he actually took medicine! and so he shattered the stereotype that sci ppl are unable to argue. on a lighter note, huijin ate 10 rounds worth of food while i just ate 2 and she had the whole pot of coconut milk with a little red bean soup! gosh! hahahaa~ dinner was marvellous though still uncomparable to hawker standard and i kinda like the non-oily hao jian~

2009-02-24T08:23:00.003+08:00

yeah i just came back from my dsta dinner not long ago. yup, our scholarship officers came down to visit us! 3 of them actually and we had a fun dinner at four seasons then desserts at this waffle and ice cream place! yeah there were awkward silences initially but with bubbly seniors like xuanyou, yh and yeah myself (bu yao lian) around, the dinner became quite lively. yup, they shared with us the latest updates with our organisation structure and also to clarify some of our doubts. yeah and i think i have gotten some ans to my qns. well, work apart, it was an enjoyable get together with kim and clara with us. we had 1.5 duck, steamed fish (requested by me), beef, vege, tofu, bla bla and shark fin. yes! shark fin with crab meat. shall have loads of food pics! i'm really glad that this dinner isn't at all serious, unlike if it's with some other org. haha, i was able to be myself and just crap during dinner! shared with kim and clara how i swept all the ben and jerry and haagen daz. haha and also the nice places to eat... and they got "angry" cos i din tell them where to visit when they just reached here. oops, and kim kept complaining to me how cold she is and she doesnt have enuf knitwear. hahah and i told her nvm la.

FOOD!

yeah and after dinner was dessert at the waffle place and i ordered this choc milk waffle with a choc and coffee ice cream. gosh it was so sweet! woosh! satisfied my craving! haha, but i'm so gonna skip tmr. i think i've developed a sweet tooth over here! i dun eat so much sweet stuff back in sg but i find them esp nice over here. woosh! i can't wait to continue my food trail~

dessert! yeah and that's kim san!

well, this would be out of pt. but i think things are getting harder in uni now, cos we're really learning much newer stuff now and more time is needed to grasp certain concepts. sometimes it makes me feel a little breathless cos there're quite many to noe. well, hopefully i can understand them well. jiayou to myself! and i've gotten my foundation exam back. yup, met my expectations and yes i'm gonna work much harder! this exam grades din make me feel complacent but has fired me up to be more hardworking. yeah~ notes here i come! haha!

2009-02-22T09:14:00.004+08:00

and yeah~ it was HCN - Hwa Chong Night today. though the turnout wasn't really good, i still had tremendous fun today. met old frens and made 'new' frens. 'new' cos the only 'new' fren i made was yisheng. and yeah we know each other existence in hc but dun really noe each other personally. well, there was some misunderstandings then which i thought would nv be solved. but we chatted quite a lot tonight. oh well, i'm just glad that everything's fine again. cheers!

camwhore with so many ppl! and top middle is my long lost junior dorea!

Food was just so-so but i still applaud the committee for organising this day and planning so much activities for us! really appreciate it. and i won a bottle of wine from the lucky draw, kinda lucky huh. shall share it with my cool frens over here. haha! ah yah but i would have preferred that hwa chong bear which brings back much more memories.

I'm kinda touched when i watched the video with the teachers and principals wishing us good wishes. special person to mention was mrs foo who really wished us well, and she's always the best bio teacher i've ever had. i'm her bio rep la! haha, there was a thunderous applause when the video showed her. haha goes to show her popularity amongst s7s!

yeah dance and singing! the climax~

HC ai4!

the dinner ended with a high note with mass dance and songs... haha and i pulled ant in to sing along with us though he's from rj! kinda cute. argh, how i miss those songs. mass dance was with qiao yan and we were super comical cos i forgot almost everything, lucky there were dance ICs to lead us. wee~ well, it has been a night of fun and reminiscence. hopefully, there'll be more ppl for the next HCN!

2009-02-20T09:40:00.004+08:00

haha wa i'll be having a couple of dinner out this week~ and yeah today was out at millenia hotel at gloucester. don't know if i typed the hotel's name correctly. but be4 that went to yang le's place first studied together with her and ky. then we chatted and ant joined us while yl cooked for him dinner! hahah, and there were again corny incidents. damn funny.

ok, so this dinner was held by psc and it was orignally meant for the psc scholars but they decided to include the stat board this year, so astar and dsta were invited too. ahha and cos i was late together with kang yee and yang le for 5min, we were left to sit at the 'latecomers' table. haha but there were quite a no. of ppl i know and it was like a dsta and astar table with just 1 pub. so coincidental!

some pics~

yup, besides the spread of dishes we had like chicken rice, or lua, vege, laksa and red bean soup, this psc lady came to chat with us. and i found myself quite ignorant about current affairs. i know and have read about them but cant discuss in depth. and i was quite inspired by this lady to read up more. yeah i dun noe her name cos she came and sit with us suddenly and did not introduce herself. haha! well, so i think at least this dinner has inspired me to be more aware of current affairs! and yes i will read up more! came back and i immediately went to read about the US credit crunch and i finally understood it better. yeah~

2009-02-15T10:03:00.002+08:00

yeah valentine day was soooo fun though there were certain upsets in the day.

kelvin, me, yl and edwin met up to go to liverpool street together and walked around brick lane. that place is full of arab stuff and i realised i had been to there be4 with ks, carrine they all! haha, yeah it was quite a nice street though not worth a second visit i think. haha, and then while we were making our way back to the station to pick up kok chong, rachel and ant, this really desperate guy came up to us to ask for money; showing his ic that he's from south africa and is stranded in central london and wanna get to greenwich where his accoms is at and he couldn't have any access to his bank account. and he was at the brink of tears which convinced me that he was really at his ends and i gave him 5 pounds while the rest gave 7. and this thing kinda bothered me after that cos edwin said i'm too trusting and he most prob was a conman. argh, i would be really angry with myself if he is. that's really my weakness, cos i trust ppl too easily, i must learn to be less trusting! but like what wl, rachel and ant told me (yeah it took quite a no. of ppl to convince me) to just think that for all we know his case was genuine. seriously, if i know it's a genuine case, i would not mind giving him 10 pounds. but still, i must learn from this exp.

at brick lane!

well, ok on to the happier stuff. so we met the other 3 up and ant was terribly late but it's cos of the tube station la. yeah and we made our way to this restaurant called lao di fang which serves sichuan food! we ordered 7 dishes and 6 of them are meat! ahaha and kelvin ate till he sweat! gosh, i think it's too hot for him cos he doesn't know how to eat spicy stuff but he said it was shiok though. am glad he liked it! haha, yeah and we really crapped so much at the table. esp when ben ben ant san was around, rachel, him and i were babbling loads of jap! haha and yeah ant and i wore the same tshirt today that we bought from les mis. really xin you ling xi! cos i was telling yang le not to tell him i wore it and wa we were all surprised when we realized we wore the same shirt. haha! argh i so want to go to japan with these 2 siao frens! had tremendous fun tonight.

7 of us together!

2009-02-12T08:06:00.003+08:00

yeah, it was quite a nice day out with yl, yp and ant to les mis! we had quite a nice dinner at prezzo before heading to les mis theatre. somehow i still prefer zizzi to all the other italian restaurants.

les mis was really nice i felt. but honestly i was lost at the scenes be4 intermission. i managed to piece certain parts up but cos the cast was singing throughout the whole musical, it's a bit hard to catch what they're 'saying'. haha i should have read up a little be4 going. but luckily there was ant to explain to me cos yang le told him a synopsis of the story be4. and i really enjoyed the 2nd part after intermission. and this is my first time i teared in a musical. i teared at the very end when the symphony orchestra played a really tear inducing song and the scene just complemented it so much. i wasn't feeling sad actually. actually, the symphony gave me lots of goosebumps! cos there were loads of bass and it's sth i love! i'm from bass section anyway~ hahaa.. well well. was a nice night out!

2009-02-08T08:04:00.002+08:00

today was another enjoyable saturday~ firstly, met yl, kelvin and bq at nottinghill to go to portobello market. somehow i find markets less interesting whenever i revisit them. but still i had really nice food there also! haha, bought chinese pears for 4 for a pound. and that is seriously cheap! maybe i can get bing qiang to get for me more pears in future. yeah and we bought pastries for lunch. As i cant be satisfied with sweet stuff for lunch, i also bought another spicy chicken burger!

yeah roasted pork! i find market fotos always very nice!

then we went over to bq pembridge hall to play bridge! wa i seriously love that game. kelvin and i taught yl and bq on how to play that intelligent game and along the way there were some really funny jokes during the games! cos both of them have to think a long time before they put the 1st card at the 1st set. really funny! yeah so we played and then we decided to chat, and it was nice catching up with bq. haven seen him for eons and there are just so much to catch up with him. and i like providing him a listening ear cos i dun miss home as much as him. and (being thick skin here) i think with me around, he would feel less homesick cos i'm always ki siao-ing. and he would laf like mad too which is really good.

yeah so dinner was at pizza express, and cheapo students like us used the 2-for-1 voucher to get 4 main course for just 5 pounds per person! was really really cheap! couldn't ask for more! dinner was good just that i find the pizza crust too thin. yeah and we went to bq place again for ben and jerry dessert thereafter and i ate like 3/4 tub again. gonna skip tmr! yeah it has been a really nice day spending together with close frens. and i know kelvin is really comfortable with bq which makes me feel quite good actually. and we can have weekend meals out in future loh!

at pizza express!

well, next week would be another tough week of lab and i'm doing particle in a box expt when i'm studying chem! can u believe it! hahaa, but i find the physics part quite fun. should not dwell much in that cos i'll go mad understanding everything. yeah and i hope i can successfully go through mon and tues, so i can have a really good time at les mis on wed! and we'll be having a really nice dinner at prezzo definitely! and yeah, it'll be a 2 for 1 voucher again! and i'm so gonna eat their calzone.

2009-02-03T07:54:00.003+08:00

eric is a happy boy today cause he got to spend really great time with his close frens frolicking in the snow! The snow is especially white today! really really pretty. and yes, there's no school today cos of the heavy snow.

woke up at 8am cos there were ppl playing down at my place and that woke me up. couldn't sleep again cos the view was just too beautiful, too mesmerizing. and so i went down with laya to take a couple of photos, in the cemetery and around our place be4 coming back to change into my handy boots and off to school to meet all my loved ones! met yang le, ant, kelvin, edwin, serene, huiqi, kangwen and ant's exchange fren, shermaine to go hyde park. it was snowing so heavily this afternoon.

look at the angel. feels dark but really nice.

and so we went to frolic in the pristine snow! and took loads of fotos~ but i couldn't throw at anyone as i dun have gloves and the snow is too cold for my hands! so we did a couple of crazy stuff.

firstly, ant and i did some crazy stuff today by taking out our jacket and posing with only our shirts on! but this attracted attention and ppl start to throwing snow at us! haha it was nevertheless fun. the 2nd siao thing we did were to daopok me on the thick comfortable snow. the 3rd siao thing we did were to have our jump shot on the snow! and finally the last was when ant and i decided to eat ice cream after our delectable lunch at this italian restaurant. lunch was super satisfying as the food was really good and reasonably priced too! and it was quite funny when i wanna order my ice cream, cos it says banana chocolate, but it actually meant 2 diff flavours in 2 diff tubs. but the nice lady gave me half a scoop for each flavour. wee! it was nice! and i actually felt quite cold eating while walking in the snow but enjoyable! eating with such a siao fren! what can i say but pure fun! haha, and then we went to beit to play bridge and daidee and shermaine was really funny at bridge! laughed real hard! was super fun spending such a beautiful day with these frens. and i am so satisfied today. wee~

2009-02-02T08:01:00.002+08:00

While I'm typing this entry now, it's snowing really heavily outside.

Today started with a little snow while i went to do groceries. then met ben, ks, yw and kok to watch the fireworks cum crackers display at chinatown. the fire crackers were really really good! i have nv heard fire crackers in my life. and this is my VERY first time hearing it at such close proximity. the heavy smell of gunpowder was stimulating. and even though there were sooo many ppl watching, the cold weather made it so bearable. i love fire crackers! brings up the mood really!

well, so after which we went home and after i cooked my dinner, i realised that the whole road WAS WHITE! it was just mins ago when the road was still black with just indiscernible snow. and so i left my food on my table and rushed down with my hall mates to play with the snow. gosh the snow was so heavy and my hands went numb almost immediately. it was fun doing jump shots, and taking loads of photos.

it has been snowing continuously for hours and i actually din expect this cos it's hard to snow for so long in london. initially thought it was some sleet, and just a short snow shower, din expect it to last for so long. and i think it may last throughout the night. well, i cant wait to get up in the morning with a really white barons court and i think i'll get to the cemetery to take loads of photos. the cemetery will be so beautiful. well, though i am happy to experience this heavy snow in london together with my hallmates, i actually felt a tinge of sadness.

well, guess cos i couldn't spend this day with my special frens, my really close frens both in london and sg. ppl like kel, rachel, ant and some others. i want them to be with me today! and also it made me miss my frens even more... i kept pulling the curtain back to gaze at the snow for some time. i like the way the snow settles down, and everything feels so calm, so pristine. this snow would take some time to stop and i hope it still continues tmr. it's just too pretty. ah... and tonight is really pretty cos the sky looks really bright with all the snow reflecting the soft orange light. i cant stop looking out of the window.

such a pretty photo, a really nice skyline.

2009-02-01T10:23:00.002+08:00

tuan yuan

yeah! it's the eve of ren ri, which is on the 7th day of cny! yeah so we had a celebration at beit! had a really heartwarming steamboat with rachel, ant, yipei and yang le. the day started when i went to borough market with yang le cos we intended to get fresh prawns and meat from there initially, at the same time savour the food over there. but the prices put us off and so we just had a really nice lunch there. i think i love borough quite a lot! and the humongous burger we bought drew lots of attention, ppl keep looking at what we eat! and even commented that i could resell half of that. oh well, so after borough, we went to bayswater to get jing zhen gu and tang yuan! and i alighted to get the ingredients while yl stayed at the station as i have travel pass.

with yang le san at borough! look at the 3 big layers of cheese!

and then we went to sains to shop for meat and prawns! wee~ they have fresh prawns~ so after which we headed to beit to prepare the food for dinner! and ant came back, so the 3 of us started cooking. it was really fun cooking, eating and playing today! we cooked and ate for 3h in total! gosh all of us were soooo full that we felt so bloated and unable to move. played cny and other chi and eng songs too which added to the mood! we just had so much other food like cake, ba kwa, pineapple tarts, biscuits. and bee hooN! wee all so nice~ haha, and we kept crapping dumb jokes! and dancing to the music. i even danced and said hi to 1 of the ang mor outside. haha went mad then! and yeah we took a mobile phone advertisement cos ant and i are using the old N95. yeah i think they should just use our poster to boost their sales. and then we played bridge and 21 points and i drank a lot cos i kept losing argh! i even bet on bak kwa! heheh cos i wanted them to help me finish. haha~ i think it's my first time feeling a little light headed, but really tonight's company was lovely. and also the 3 from jap soc, me, ant and rachel are quite tight now i feel. haha! though we just met for barely a few months without prior contact in sg, we're really quite close now. wee it shall stay this way always.

hoho~

hello hello~ nokia poster anyone?

2009-01-29T08:57:00.002+08:00

yup~ I had a really great day today though it was busy again in the afternoon! did my lab book and physics hw! and then it's off to CNY dinner at dragon castle at elephant and castle station~

today's dinner was really really good! and i'm so happy. though i only talked to like 6 ppl sitting at my table. but i had a good time walking around be4 dinner started to chat with diff frens! had a good time also chatting with shawn tan sitting beside me who's from my bmt section 3. haven seen him for so long and today finally had the time to catch up. luckily i swopped seats with yang le, if not would not have been able to chat so much with shawn! haha. yeah and so the 8 course dinner was really really good. we had yusheng, fish, prawn balls and some other fishes. but the most significant ones are yusheng and fish cos u hardly get those here. haven eaten steamed fish for sooo long and today's 1 totally melts in my mouth. gosh, was really good.

camwhoring with ant and rachel be4 dinner!

the marvelous food! haha~ we can also get decent chi food in london!

solo photos with frens!

every1 is happy!

so it was basically a whole night of eating and chatting and listening to familiar chinese new year songs. every1 was totally immersed in the mood and guess i felt much relief cos i have finished my lab~ woots! can't wait for this sat dinner too!

2009-01-27T21:25:00.003+08:00

had a REALLY busy monday! took the tube 5 times and 1 bus! haha was really a crazy day. had labs in the morning at 9am which was quite screwed up initially as the KI chemical keeps oxidising by itself when H202 wasn't added to it yet. was so worried that i prepared the solutions 3 times to find that it's an inherent problem to the experiment. next the lousy microburette that the lab provided me caused my experiments to go really really slowly! i changed 4 burettes! gosh! but it was faulty in a good way for the first part of the expt as it requires a really slow rate to titrate i guess.

so after lab, rushed home to cook lunch and dinner and feeling demoralised at the same time due to lousy lab! but was comforted when i plot my graph and got a R2 value of 0.999 which means that my graph is almost a perfect fit. cooL~ so my expt turned out fine afterall.

then it was wicked at night! haha, held really high hopes for this musical as it really looks cool from the outside and indeed it did not disappoint me. i felt the plot quite heavy towards the end cos the 'witch' kept sacrificing herself to help her fren, like saving her reputation etc. really love this play! songs were also beautifully sung by powerful vocals! costumes were so colourful and pretty too. basically it's a pleasure to the eyes and ears. argh~ there was a point when i felt like tearing cos the music and scene was quite touching. haha! well well, and the crew had a standing ovation yesterday night which ave q didn't have. enjoyed this 10000 times more than ave q, or rather infinity cos i dun even noe if i enjoyed ave q. woots~ made me feel like watching mama mia and les mis~

yeah and i'm glad to say that my experiments went well today~ got good readings too. wee~

2009-01-26T07:17:00.004+08:00

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

started my new year mood when i skyped with yang le and ant san when they're just at beit. haha! ant is really retarded. so i took a retarded shot of him on webcam!

he really cracked me up! hahaha~

wee~ yesh, i'm all charged up for next week's lab after tonight's reunion dinner with kok chong, kelvin, edwin and ben! was totally fun and kok chong was so cool to bring in speakers to play wu yue tian and other chi pop songs! really nice~ like a kbox session. well, there was also lots of catching up done with ben. he always says that he hasn't seen me for eons. so today i told him must catch up loads! yeah and we did. cooked so much for steamboat that i had to bring home some untouched food! but it's alright since i can use for next week's steamboat!

preparing the food! edwin keeps supervising me!

yeah~ and then more ppl came in and we tricked them into trying our food so they had to pay! HAHA, but we were just jesting la. and i was like wow-ing at our food! cos it's my first time eating dou fu after i've come here for soo long! my first time having jing zhen gu! my first time having fish and meat balls! basically! there's a lot of first time today! argh! yi nian yi ci! hahah, it was really chatting on the whole! weee!

cooked food~ weeee~ and many ppl came in after that~

all of us~ so homey~

alright, shall wish everyone a happy Chinese new year! and a smooth year ahead! 1 more dinner on wed and a steamboat on sat to go!

2009-01-25T08:41:00.003+08:00

Today was totally a happy day but now i'm kinda really tired! well, went to CNY carnival at UCL today with ky, edwin and jk. was organized by HC alumni and vj.. woo~ hc rox! haha, well i always find hc alumni very zai as they're able to find sponsorship and it's a really strong network in uk! well, the carnival wasn't really big and luckily we went late if not it would have gotten quite boring after a while. but the real fun came when the lions came in to do the lion dance!

and then we had LOU HEI! lao yu sheng. lao-ing yusheng in london! credit must be given to the alumni for making the yusheng themselves! they're really cool. i think it's more of a singapore thing rather than chi thing. and these days i just realised that the chi eat diff cny goodies from us singaporeans! yeah so lou hei was seriously fun and we cam whored a lot. made 2 new frens at this carnival, with this senior called qiao yan(ky a star senior), she's from hc too. and our hc alumni pres! woosh! so cool to know the pres i feel and the pres is really friendly. haha i kept saying he has an aura. gao xiao. so after the carnival, we went to leicester square and nice senior brought us there by foot! went to get food there for tmr's steamboat and the queue in the shop was ridiculously lonG! but we still queued. wa fishballs are ex i realised but i still bought it. haha~

lou hei! so nice! qiao yan, ky and i ate a lot!

see the hc alumni pres? so cooL! in the foto on the right, centre row! wa got his aura~

then, had dinner at edwin's place after which we went to imperial for the back to sch party organised by sing soc! clad in our hc uniform that we once wore 4 years ago, we braved the cold and went to imperial. but i think i'm getting really acclimatized to the cold cos i can just walk with just 1 jacket. woosh! the party was quite fun too, talking old school fotos! argh and i wanna be a jc kid again! guiyi says i look very j1! wee! hahah and i told her i'm a p6 prodigy actuallY! ahha, i don't know when's the next time i can wear my uniform, somehow i find it very gorgeous today. haha! well, i love hc~ i'm just so happy that hc has such a strong network here. fancy meeting a hc senior working in switzerland, hcnians are everywhere! hahaa... so proud of my school. =)

back to school! haha took quite a lot with rj too! hahah rj and hc can fight!

the best hc foto~ couldn't get every1 ahhah cos all were scattered around!

2009-01-18T07:26:00.003+08:00

today was another long but fun day! hosted joanna and went around part of london together with her friend and kelvin. we went to borough market first and was terribly late, like for half an hour. firstly, it was because i woke up late. secondly, that stupid tube lines keep closing here and there. every update is so crucial, cos some lines may just suddenly close and choose to terminate at premature stops. haha~ anyway, borough was fantastic but it's really far from our place, nearer to east london. think i would prefer to revisit portobello cos it's only 2 stops away from me! borough has really LOADS of food and i couldn't resist buying this very beef bread. actually wanted to have wild boar sausage but i'm not a fan of sausage so got beef instead. wa really delectable! woots! and joanna kept grabbing stuff as if they're free, i guess cos they look seemingly cheaper.(that is when compared to swiss la)

At Borough market!

well, then we made our way to westminster, gosh this is my 100th time visiting there. haha actually 3rd i think. but yeah, it's just like that lor. but it's always a new experience for those ppl who come and visit us~ and i think big ben still looks as nice. after which, we went on to our school, south ken and visited the natural history museum! thot it was the history of london museum but it turned out to be 1 about geography which was actually quite interesting i felt, cos there were at least some science stuff in it instead of pure mundane history. so we made our way to imperial lib to print the 2 for 1 zizzi vouchers for dinner!

at westminster and buckingham palace~

wa and we went to earls court for zizzi! it's my 3rd time there this week cos earls court really has SO many good restaurants and i think i've tried most, if not all. zizzi was as good and calzone remains as my 1st choice! love it man! too bad i forgot to take pictures of it! was too excited in eating it when it was served. and then we had dessert which was seriously SERIOUSLY good. we ordered this banana thing, and this other choc waffle with ice cream on it. i've nv tasted such nice waffle. no, not even in sg. i think cos it's really hard to find a good italian restaurant in sg. but that 1 was super good. can bring yx and gang there in may! and we all chatted for hours at the restaurant. now i understand why the french or italian or whoever can have their meals so long cos they serve slowly! but well it was really good cos we get to chat a lot. chatted really a lot with serene, and esp kok chong. well, kok, me and joanna are from hcco dyb cello! and it was well catching up with kok, updating each other about the ppl in chem and physics. well, it was quite interesting after knowing so much from him. well anyways, dinner was really satisfying too!

at zizzi! i love calzone and the desserts. and the supervisor thought i went to zizzi yesterday! we broke a glass be4 leaving and he bluffed me to pay up~ haha!

finally i will have a day of rest be4 school opens tmr! shall pack my notes and tutorials, do groceries and a little shopping at hammersmith. then maybe read a bit about the things to do soon. wa it's gonna be a slack week followed by a hectic cny week!

2009-01-17T07:56:00.005+08:00

Indeed, today was a really boisterous day! well, yl pang seh me in the morning cos she had insomnia yesterday night, so i went to westfield alonE! haha but it was quite nice shopping alone at a cavernous mall so near me with so few ppl on a fri afternoon. and yes i bought a trench coat from zara for 70 pounds, was originally 129! and another scarf from h&m to go with this trench! well, i shall not spend anymore! after which, went back to put down my stuff and went to meet rachel at south ken.

and we bought this super round choc cake, called a choc bomme. haha! and it so looked like anthony's face! so we decided to get it! and we kept losing our way, but rachel found it quite fun! hahah there're so many small roads at south ken station. and finally, we landed ourselves at tesco express and got some fruits to decorate the cake. so we were left with a candle! and we went to get that candle from hummingbird bakery. it's kinda funny buying a small candle from this bakery shop!

we were so enthusiastically decorating ant's face! look at yang le using a chopper to open the box!

the result!

well, then to yang le house to decorate the cake be4 ant comes! had lots of fun decorating and eating the fruits at the same time. and soon ant arrived and we quickly lit the candles be4 opening the door. and i bet he got a big big surprise! cos he has nv expected this. well and so after cake cutting, we only had a portion of it cos we still had to go for dinner. the cake was seriously good! oishii!

and ant san came so we took loads of fotos with his twin! haha bet he's surprised! prize giving ceremony.

cam whoring! each with the bday boy!

finally we made our way to earls' court kisso for dinner and we were lucky to reach 5 min be4 the lunch menu ends cos the dinner menu is totally too attas! and alright, the jap food was totally awesome! the best 1 i had so far in london! misato can go and slp already i feel. we chatted so much with the lady boss. and i got all too excited talking to her cos it's so rare to be able to use my jap tongue. haha! but it's not really easy to form long sentences now i feel, just able to speak with a little speed for not-too-hard sentences. haha and when she replied in a really really long sentence, i will be lost and it's tiring to keep concentrating! luckily there's ant and rachel around to help! and i tried ordering the dessert in jap by translating the eng words! hahaa... and i told the waitress that it's for the kid(ant) bday today.. and she came back putting the dessert in front of ant and called him kodomo! haha and we all burst into laughter. dessert was seriously good. green tea mousse, so smooth and i totally loved the green tea taste. haven't tasted it for a really long time! nihon ga daisuki!!! i want to go back to japan! maybe this coming summer with ant san! we're all on a jap craze! haha~

look at the food! and the big wasabi the lady gave me. she spoke so quickly to me in jap that i couldn't catch it! haha!

at the jap restaurant! woohoO~ was totally good! we were so happy eating. really, the chef put lots of effort in preparing the food. can taste it!

and a really well taken pic by me! we were so amazed by my skill! haha

and i was really glad ant is happy! =) woots!

2009-01-16T09:28:00.004+08:00

yeah! exams over! actually it was just 1 paper yesterday. and today went out with ky to the science museum beside our sch to take a look. though it's so near school, it's actually my first time there! hahah cos i'm not a museum person and i usu yawn when i step into 1. but this was quite interesting cos i got to see many ancient cars that london used in the past. can imagine how it looks like, exactly like those from movies in olden london setting.

yeah the museum

haha like this car

then went to meet ks and bing quan at harrods! and we saw the zara beside it having FURTHER reductions! it's hard to find the right size, but 1 will be sooo lucky if he can find 1. imagine getting a trench for 69 pounds which was originally 129! argh!!!

harrods~ ahaha 2nd time there but nothing to buy as usual. it's just too ex!

isn't their lift cool?

as we were dissatisfied, ky and i went on to high street ken's zara and i saw 1 coat i like sooo much! but one of the buttons came off. sad! well i'm going to try my luck tmr at westfield with yl! strangely, i'm hoping they wun have my size so i wun spend money again! haha. anyway, there was a demonstration at high street ken outside the israel embassy cos of the gaza fiasco~

the demonstration!

yeah so after that we wanted to walk to big sains and got a little lost while walking a short cut. so we went to a mama shop and asked the cashier for directions. the customer behind came to ask where i wanna go. and in his perfect queen english, he directed us. i was really quite shocked! cos it's really hard to find a brit who speaks the queen eng, most of them usu drop their T which becomes very intolerable to the ears! haha yeah and it's really rare to bump into such a helpful brit. thought u can only find that in switzerland!

well, tmr will surely be an exciting day! westfield, then get cake and then have dinner with ant at kisso! yeah~ managed to bluff him and so he doesnt suspect anything!

2009-01-13T08:48:00.004+08:00

alrighty, i met weijun for dinner after all! after all the hype about masala being an authentic indian restaurant, we decided to have dinner there. actually i was interested to see how good the food is and the moe ppl are also having dinner there with their superiors. thought it would be fun to jump tables and talk!

yeah and all masala was to me was just a 'unsatisfying' meal. quality is good but portions are toooo meagre. not worth a second visit i thought. lots of sauces in a plate, but i was a little confused on how to eat them! haha~ but well, the company counts and i'm just glad to have had this dinner with weijun and wl. wasn't a fabulous dinner as wj isn't really a close fren of mine and i guess i prefer meeting long-time-no-see frens 1 to 1 cos u'll have more to talk about and u wun have to feel a little out of place when the other pair reminisce about their past. HAHa~ well, it was still a good meal nonetheless~

me in the toot specs ah mun bought~

mun and i!

and i actually felt more at ease when i went over to albert's table and talk to pin quan and the other moe ppl. though i'm not from moe, i'm kinda surrounded by lots of them and thankfully, they're nice ppl to chat and have fun with. and feels more at home when i was with them. haha!

3 of us at the tube be4 parting our ways!

well anyway, after our dinner we went home and shall wish wj yi lu shun feng back to the states! he actually, for some reason which i can't understand, reminds me of baba. maybe cos he's also studying the states and is some1 whom i'll want to visit. well, i'll visit him next year march with kel, it's a promise made to myself unless something crops up then. he may be coming to LSE for exchange this june! woots and i hope to meet him up when i'm back from my trip and be4 flying back to sunny sg!

well, and i'm so looking forward to this fri dinner with rachel and ant! somehow, i think it'll be a boisterous 1, with ant cracky voice and rachel's easy-to-laf mode! haha! and we're the 3 jap food connoisseur~

2009-01-12T02:25:00.002+08:00

It feels really good when a long-time-no-see fren suddenly call you when u're overseas. haha, yeah ah mun called me just now and he's in london now! we're just frens, not really close frens but suddenly i just have so many things to say to him! and could actually have a good proper conversation. he's studying in the states now and will be flying back on wed, the day when i finished my exams. it's kinda pity that i may not(most prob actually) be able to meet him now. and we really chatted like almost 20min? or more than. wa, it was the longest conversation in our life. haha but he's a pleasant and nice-to-chat to guy so yeah~ anyway, i knew him in bmt cos we were from the same platoon but dont really have a good first impression of him then cos i tend to be biased against some schools. and then we were in the same bridging course and it's only then, through real interaction, that i find him a nice chap.

we booked out on the same day for scholarship stuff from sungei gedong and his dad gave me a lift to to the scdf academy. he went to sign his mpa deed while i went for my dsta events. haha~ i took 1 night to think of how i got to know his scholarshiP! so bo liao right. yeah man, but anyway, i may visit him when i go to the states next year easter. woots~

2009-01-10T23:01:00.005+08:00

it was a 2 good slack and happy days! yeah and i have so much motivation to study now! well, i had a really nice(at least to me) haircut yest. had it at chinatown with edwin, then we met up with kelvin to pay accom fees in sch, and bought a cheesecake and tiramisu cake from gloucester sains. then, when i reached home i realised my cny goodies parcel was here! there's hae bi hiam, crispy pork floss, pineapple tarts and ba kwa!

my CNY goodies! cant wait for cny though this year will feel a little different~

and today, went for lunch with yang le at high street ken. it was quite sian when london suddenly became shrouded in mist when forecast stated it would be sunny yest! such a letdown. we ate the exotic lebanese food which i found nice! the taste is really quite diff and very middle eastern. we got free bread and free desserts which is really really sweet but really really nice. no wonder it comes in really small portion too~ was really nice la! hehee.. and i get to wear my jappy trench with my knitwear bought from next! really nice! woots~ haha, am happy to wear such nice clothings haha!

look at the 2 police horses at my place! so rare to see them in somewhere like barons court~

find my cemetery especially tranquil today, esp when it's enshrouded in mist.

curry pok-look alike!

our main course! lamb shank i guess~

yums~ actually it looks like nun~

2 of us~

esp love my coat and knitwear! woots~ i miss japan!

oh yeah, and when i was taking the tube back, stood at the platform a while to deside if i should change to the other district or piccadilly line. and suddenly i heard MUSHI MUSHI in my ears! argh! and this pretty cool jap lady was telling her fren where she's at... i so miss japan! alright, back to studying after blogging~ there's so much motivation now~ hopefully, it'll last!

2009-01-08T09:35:00.002+08:00

I was listening to vivaldi cello concerto and it kinda reminded me of the symphony rehearsal i saw in a cathedral in lucerne switzerland. it was totally marvellous, imagine the notes resonating in the cathedral. the song they played sounded a little melancholy with a little hope at the end. haha couldn't really describe that feeling.. but it feels so different listening it at a grand cathedral with all the sophisticated paintings.

yup, here's the video of it~

2009-01-05T09:38:00.003+08:00

today was really a slack day! went to have dim sum at chinatown for lunch with albert, edwin and serene. and i've changed my francs back to pounds and i earned! woosh cos pounds's too weak now. hopefully it dun plummet any further.

and then albert went to choose the sauces for me to make my nice ba chor mee! wa bought so many big bottles like some big chef. and i made it for dinner. really really really nice! i like the noodles here.. bought mee pok and mee kia!

and i also made tang yuan with walnut paste(instant 1 of course) but it was really good i felt! had a really nice dinner and dessert! yeah, shall put mushroom in my mee pok in future~

well anyway and i watched naruto shippuuden movie just now. it was really really good, and it's the first time i felt like tearing while watching an anime. gosh, so was really quite an impactful and gripping movie!

2008-12-31T00:15:00.002+08:00

yeah! i had a really satisfying lunch just now at nottinghill nonya restaurant with wl and jk~ gosh! had beef rendang with rice, vege and nonya kueh!!! i couldn't have imagined myself eating nonya kueh here! there's no babi pong teh though (from xiao niang re). am contented. and went over to bayswater to get 2 jar of kaya for 4 pounds! kinda ex actually but i miss kaya toast and 3 packets of tangyuan, with 10 in each packet. and each packet costs a mere 1.2 pounds! really cheap! woot! haha... i feel like revisiting nonya sometime soon... can go portobello also...

my beef rendang!

nonya kueh! made by yueniang~ haha!

2008-12-27T22:05:00.002+08:00

BOXING DAY SALES IS MAD! even i went mad!!! argh! spent a total of 118 pounds over these 2 days. bought a jacket and green polo shirt from burton yesterday. jacket was 45 pounds, but bought it for 25 pounds after discount. and today, woke up at 7am just to get to westfield to shop 'next'. it's a shop with incredible discount and pretty decent clothes. everything was at least 50% off! it's my first time waking up so early and shopping at 8am! the shop was opened at 5am this morning. saw a couple of ppl with lots of bags walking out the mall when i reached there at 8am. luckily it wasn't very crowded and the crowd started to pour in at 10am which i luckily have finished getting all my stuff! wee. bought 1 cardigan, 1 tshirt, 1 maroon polo, 2 knitwear and a bag! all for just 76 pounds~ wee! so satisfied. i think i'm addicted to these kinda shopping. i'm gonna control myself and stop! haha. pretty satisfied with my purchase~

2 big bags

everything strewn on my bed~

my bag for just 15 pounds!

knitwear 1!

knitwear 2!

2008-12-26T01:58:00.002+08:00

24th Dec

And finally, we went to the world renown Geneve! we've read so much about it in textbooks and finally i'm in this really famous place. not many attractions to go to actually, but i'm contented with visiting these big institutions. and along the way, we got a little lost and this kind singaporean gave us directions, and she happened to be from hwa chong too and is working at switzerland now! what a small world! like what she said, the hwa chong community in UK is really strong! i totally agree!

sitting in the high class train restaurant pretending to order food

yeah geneve!

the really famous fountain!

unfortunately the fountain was switched off when we got near it due to the freezing temperature!

what a huge chair

hoho outside the UN

outside Red Cross Museum

That's Gandhi

And so after all these tremendous fun, it's time to get back to london and back to reality!--- study for jan exams! but be4 that there's still boxing day sales!!! haha lets see how i should spend for boxing day~

2008-12-26T01:38:00.002+08:00

23rd Dec

Up Jungfraujoch! Europe's top point! yeah, i was there last year but didn't get to see the breathtaking view at the peak as it was having blizzard then, very bad weather. finally, i was able to catch this in my camera this year! and yes! it's worth the 100 pounds just to get up and look at the undulating mountains! woosh! love it really~

taking the train from interlaken ost!

up up and away

nice valley

pretty cottage

halfway up the mountain~

yeah at the highest part! breathtaking view!

comfortable snow

zzz

so nice to slp on! haha my ankle was a little numb actuallY~

piak!

dinner at bebbi's! had cheese and choc fondue!

2008-12-26T01:16:00.003+08:00

22nd Dec

So after Lucerne, we went on to Bern, the capital of Switzerland and stayed a good 6 hours there. had my nice pork knuckle there for lunch and went to look at the bear that gave this capital its name. though it's the capital, it's less bustling compared to geneve and lucerne. but really a peaceful town~ alright, photos again!

edwin filling wy bottle with water~

kelvin and i~

nice pork knuckle! i think i miss it and it's quite cheap for just 7 franc!

the famous cookoo clock

nice old town

the bear that gave bern its name

So after Bern, we caught the 3pm train to Interlaken! a totally snowy and beautiful place. tranquil and peaceful, i couldn't ask for more. Lets take a look at this mountainous region.

In the train to Interlaken, we had a room to ourselves~

really gorgeous!

our room! cute designs~

And we had to rest early be4 a long day up Jungfraujoch the next day~

2008-12-26T01:04:00.003+08:00

21st dec

so after Zurich, we bade farewell to joanna and went on to Lucerne! yeah~ to a really pretty city. I think i fell in love with Lucerne when i was 16 years old. really really beautiful place! was glad that kel, wy and edwin thought so too! so we went to do some sight seeing. well, let the pictures do the talking~

At lucerne station

ppl feeding the birds~

on the bridge taking the historical bridge

with the mountain as the backdrop. unfortunately it's a bit cloudy and cant see the summit.

yummy macaroons, actually it's very very sweet for my liking

such a cute cake

4 of us having high tea~ nice cake

such a big cathedral. still, it's not bigger than italy's~

a symphony orchestra practising in the cathedral. really nice music and i took a video of it.

the lion which has a history behind it but i dun really remember

night view of lucerne

our dinner... chi food is really ex and taste nothing much!

but still it has a good ambience~ yeah~

2008-12-26T00:29:00.003+08:00

yeah! I'm back from switzerland after a 5 days trip! was really a fun-filled and thorough trip. gosh, i think it will take me some years be4 i feel like going back to switzerland again. it's my third time this time. alright. so i shall blog from the 1st day!

20th dec

We took the budget line, easyjet and reached basel at 11am. board a bus and train to Dietikon to meet joanna and carrine! haha, they are doing their exchange over there and will return to sg in jan. yeah it was really quite interesting to see ur hc frens in swiss, seems like everyone is all around the world.

on the bus to basel station!

the suakurus at basel! some stranger approached us to help us. swiss ppl are really nice!

up the train to dietikon

joanna making lunch for us! so nice of her~

at the lake

macaroons time~

night view of zurich

at the christmas market in zurich statioN!

greedy joanna eating!

the so many singaporeans!

alright, then we went to zurich and toured this city. quite a bustling city. it's just like a city tour for us with joanna. and that night, we stayed over at joanna's room and the NUS ppl had singapore treat for dinner! all of them cooked sg food like curry, chicken rice, ginseng soup and many others. argh~ i esp love the curry. save me! that day was really tiring for us cos we camped over at gatwick airport as we're taking the earliest flight and there's no bus to catch that flight early in the morning. but well, we really had a good day. and we even watched xiao niang re on jo's com that night! 3 episodes in all~

2008-12-19T18:24:00.002+08:00

yeah! i cant wait to get to switzerland! argh~ i'm going to the airport tonight to camp over cos checking in at 6am and there's no bus to the airport at those hours. haha! gonna be quite tired on the first day but nothing will beat the place i fell in love with 5 years ago. it's my 3rd time there and i'm still so looking forward to it.

i can imagine the pretty mountain backdrop in lucerne and the significant bridge across the lake. i can imagine the small little and pretty old town in berne, with quite a lot of intertwining transport lines and i still remember the delicious sweet pastry i had there then. i can imagine the majestic jungfraujoch and getting really exciting frost bites up there at a temp of -18 degrees! argh! and i can imagine having a really nice cheese and choc fondue at bebbi's after a day up the mountain. gosh! i really can't wait to get there!

the only 2 new cities i'll be visiting will be zurich, where joanna will collect me and i'll also get to meet carrine and all the other nus singaporean exchange students~ and the other city would be the famous geneva before flying back to london~ hehe i can't wait! though this will be a short trip due to exam in jan, i'll totally enjoy it!