Ipoh horfan~!!

was away in ipoh over the weekend... u muz be thinking "siao boh" over the weekend go away muz be very rush... actually ok la... if mind rushing then where can we ever find time to go traveling then? quit our jobs mehz...???

we arrived at 5++am in ipoh and were trying hard to orientate ourselves... were expecting to be dropped at where all the long-distance buses were but we forgetten that we took bus with Grassland!! anyway we spend the morning till 7++am walking in circles (literally) to get our bearings right... good thing that yan doesn't seem to mind it a bit and was gladly enjoying the morning breezy walk with me! =) oh we had prata too! light breakfast with indian teh tarik.. nice and sweet!! sweet like nmalaysian style... in case u dunno, so far all the teh and coffee we had in malaysia were all potentially diabetic-causing....















the trees by the roadside were all trimmed into cubes!!

finally located our hotel of choice and tried to check in... but it's fully occuppied!! luckily we asked further... there'll be vacancies after 10am... hmm... u'll wonder how come ppl check out at 9am in the morning... anyway so meanwhile we go find breakfast part 2.... curry mee!! we sniffed out this stall (im serious!!) while getting our bearings right and wad better way to kill time other than eating?















curry n mee and lor meat!!


while we were at our breakfast pl we caught the attention of a family with 2 kids... apparently dad and mum realised we're from singapore coz we were speaking eng on and off... they wondered why did we chose to come ipoh coz there actually isn't much things to play ard here... not much tourist attractions, it's doesn't haf any worthy shopping arcades...

"we come here walk walk and eat eat lor!"

"then how u know that curry mee frem this stall is nice?"

"coz we got this book!! *points to Lonely Planet* actualli we followed our nose and the crowd that we saw lah..."

"that book actually got say where are the nice eating places huh?? then it got say the bean sprout chicken over there nice? *uncle points to an alley across the road*"

and the uncle/auntie goes on to telling us abt where to find good dimsum, chinese pastry, where to take bus if we wanna visit the cave temples of ipoh, which direction to go for shopping arcade etc etc... a couple of nice husband and wife huh...? oh and all the while they're talking to us, their kids were still finishing their breakfast at their own table...

after a short nap to catch up on lost slp on the nite bus, we went ahead and be tourists!! visiting the "holes"... they call the 3 temple caves shan dong.. the 3 holes... sounds obscene in english huh.. anyway i was expecting sth more majestic and grand from the 3 holes... perhaps my expectations were kinda high.. so they din live up to it...

Ling Sen Tong, at the entrance to Sam Poh Tong





















hey matching attires with the deities!! oops and some disrespects..
















li yu yue long men!! (koi leaping over dragon gate)

















so steep!! no wonder our legs got wobbly on our way back...





















told u we were getting wobbly.....!!

















some of the tortoises were huge!! the biggest was near a metre in length i think!!


getting tired.. and bored.... we decided to skip 2 holes!! haha... perak tong and kek lok tong.. but they did say that perak tong supposedly to be most popular of the 3... next time mayb... the tong won't run away right..

back for lunch!! bus conductor uncle pointed out a coffeeshop to us that looked quite secluded and i think usually we won't pay much attention to it coz it din attract too much crowd.. it's those coffeeshop that looks like it caters more to the local rather than the rich chinese population.. there's only like 3-4 stalls inside and ppl are very friendly.. mums bring their kids to pack lunch for families.. grandchild eating rice with curry sauce prepared by grandma at the stall... i mentioned to yan that i can spend a few hours juz enjoying a slow lunch sitting there looking at ppl..

ah boy awaiting for his lunch while ah ma (not in pic) prepares it...

our 1st ipoh white coffee!! boy she looks tired here...

more town exploration after lunch and gradually we made our way to Ipoh Parade.. the only aircon shopping area ard.. haa... spent money shopping... RM120... *pukes blood*

hehe... wanna know wad we had for dinner?? see!!!

look at the crowd!! (try to spot yan?)

short fat bean sprouts!!

yan's colleague says we HAF to try this in ipoh.. ppl call this ya chai ji, actually it's juz chicken rice with a serving of bean sprouts.. and instead of the chicken rice rice, it's either plain rice or horfan soup.. the latter is nicer of course!! anyway chicken rice is still better in malacca... chicken rice balls rulez!!

after that pasar malam shopping and buying of local produce.....

end of day 1........ *tired*

10km New Balance RealRun!!

when was the last time i ran 10 klic man??!

cant remember le!! not even at Nike Realrun 2 yours ago leh....that one end up nv run lor... due to friends songyong and everyone bangseh...
(oh we did run some distance at ATC 2 yrs ago....that was LOooooNG... got abt 20km?)

slow and steady is the way to go man....

Stand chart anyone?

"u got go there anot?"

had buffet at Coca a couple of nights ago with a bunch colleagues in "celebration" of one of them leaving the company for a job which he thinks is more suitable for him... thus "celebration"... the food wasn't that good thou... not worth the money paid...

after dinner the guys from my team went ahead for durian in Bugis Street... Christian brought along a friend to dinner whom he'd known in his studying days... so he planned on bringing Simone around a bit b4 gg home... while walking over from Concourse, we passed by this rack with those free postcards u usually see outside some cafes... one of the cards is meant to promote "speaking good english" de...

"you got go there or not?"

"did you go there?"

(the former sounds like wad we'll say usually...? haha.. )

"be understood, not only in Singapore, Malaysia and Batam"

"they make it sound so serious...!"

then i explained to Simone abt our multinational / multicultural community and wad the gahmen says abt Singaporean English as well as the recent hoohaa of the IMF thing coming up in Sept....

"But we still understand the language... and this is something UNIQUE in Singapore!"

well she does make sense huh.... that's how the Nonya started in Melaka last time too yah? instead of mixing the taste/food/culture/dressing, we're juz mixing the languages now! and i bet there's mixing of Malay and Chinese languages back then as well....

anyway Simone is in Tioman the next morning and gg to be juz there relaxing along the beaches and reading her book she says.... shiok huh.....

* ... where? up in ma head... deep in ma... *

juz something to share this with anyone who is able to relate to wad's written.... the entry was taken from a friend's blog... im the legendary "brudder zhang" btw.... muahaha....

* ... where? up in ma head... deep in ma... *

i finally, finally understood wot brudder zhang was going through.

experiencing it maself now... was at Pumpfest few days back and thoroughly enjoyed every climbing moment. simultaneously, it felt strange just standing there, being part of da audience, not doing anything to keep things moving.

that was da fifth Pumpfest i've seen in ma short twenty three years of existence. da first was at NYC park opposite cineleisure... da second was there as well. then we moved to plaza singapura... afterwhich 'twas esplanade... and this year, NLB.

in ma first year in odac, i was basically a know-nothing greenhorn. knew nothing about trekking except walk and fall. knew nothing about leading trips but i was a good follower... always trying to keep close to da guy in front (hence often falling). knew nothing about climbing, kayaking, cycling... but somehow i had da guts to slowly pick 'em up. i said guts 'cos i went on a desaru trip not knowing how to ride a two-wheel bike.

and now looking back, i guess that was da single trip why i was stuck in odac. 'cos i overcome my fear of riding... (but up to now, haff yet to eradicate others' fear of me riding... hahaha) and haff come to know a bunch of peops who are so funny, so patient and so supportive. they being spidey, zz, mindy, smallsharon, ah long and horny... when i was crawling like a turtle up da mother of all slopes, they never once abandoned me and always cycled back to check i was hokay and encouraged me to keep going.

so i realised that this odac wasn't about da survival of da fittest... it wasn't like school or life in singapore in general at all. in odac, peops did wot they wanted to, with very little have-tos... for da have-tos are part of da want-tos. everyone was at ease being themselves... being crazy... being stupid even if it's once in a while... cos it's not gonna go on da report cards and up there in da mountains, da peops are all you've got.

and this is wot's best about life. this is wot is so missing in everyday life. true genuine conversation... contemplation, silence, space to be free, space to be ourselves... to be able to curse, swear, make up songs and sing off-key... be humbled and rejuvenated by da sight of mother nature.

i said i finally understood wot brudder zhang felt... that da sense of belonging is slowly fading away. i guess it all boils down to time and proximity... there always comes a time when we have to let things go. things always change, they never stay da same. and maybe thats why peops hold back, not wanting to give it their all. cos they know one day you gotta let it go, and da more you give, da more it hurts.

anyhows... odac has always been more than a CCA to me. it's almost like my social life in university. da suppers, da bbqs, da walks, da runs, da sit-around-and-do-nothing, or sit-around-and-smoke-newbies... though things will never be da same again, i'll always be thankful for da peops i've met... even those whom i only brushed shoulders with on a trip or two. cos these peops haff taught me that life can be fulfilling even with just three packets of curry instant noodles... and singing a song altogether up da mountains is one of life's simplest joy. it makes you forget da trickles and beads of perspiration, da scorching sun or heavy rain, da leeches, da many more series of "five more minutes, we're almost there..."... it makes you go on and on and on... until you're finally there, looking at wot you're looking for.

and da ones whom you get to know over da years... they always teach you more than you'll ever know. there's spidey, whom can be reduced to a rolling fit on da floor just by a poke at his waist (sorry i made it public, dude). spidey taught me that if you want peops to enjoy da activities, you gotta first enjoy 'em yourselves... and always treat peops with kindness... no matter how weird you think they are. and of course, those songs.... made famous by spidey. da Traffic Light... and da Mosquitoe, created in honour of him. mwahahahahahahaha...

there's gorilla- da thinker, da clown, da man, da boy... all rolled into one. some may think it's got to do with his physique that he's da pillar of support in odac... da father/ brother figure we all go running to when we're tired, angry, confused or hungry (hahaha). i'd say it's da size of his heart.

and keatmama... man... da best comm. ever i've been in was led by da keatmama. he had a very clear vision... which he believed with all his heart and it shows. and being in da comm. and experiencing all that that happened was just magic...

and ah gu, creator of da Movers (Moo-vers?!) song... mwahahahahaha... one thing i respect about this fellow cow is how he'd always be so positive and work so hard. he does da shit that nobody does and still keeps so calm and gila. respect.

there's so many more peops... whose idiosyncrasies and characters haff made an impact on me and kept me laughing : ) ... peops who haff long gone, peops who are a phonecall away.

and da events that happened, da trips, da falling-outs, misunderstandings, wotcha-might-call-politics, petty fights, overwhelming stress, strained relationships with our own family/ other friends... we only went through them to become stronger... to know ourselves and others better.

so yeah, some things feel different but i will always remember odac this way; a family whom i'll always look forward to serve though i may not always belong.

Convocation

Gears UP!!















and President Nathan waits.....

there he is!!!

proud parents!

do we haf the same smile?

"Finally convocated!!"

some other bloopers.... hehehz...

"The Class of 2006!!"

retro

it's been a very very long weekend.....apart from the fact that i took monday off lah.... had ktv on fri nite, retro nite on sat, dimsum with mum on sunday and convocation on monday!! fully packed!!

met up with a some mates from ntu odac primarily to get some clothes and accessories for a retro nite the next day... to end the evening of gathering, we went for...1...2..3..4...5 hours for ktv session!!! only managed to slp at 5 am.... shagged.... wad a way to start my weekend.....

sat was short... considering that we woke up juz in time for lunch... hehe.... managed to borrow car from dad for the nite.... it waaaaay more convenient to drive in retro clothes!! dun wanna embarass myself in public.... hehee...















alwyn commented that this is the kind of photo his parents would take last time... hehe..














RETRO!!

haha.... it was good to meet up with friends in sch.. thou the retro nite event wasn't that well executed for the camp, oh did i mention that it was for a freshmen camp? we had fun thou... the old birds gathering... we even had one of us who is a teacher now dressed up in her primary sch uniform!! how original is tat!! and she was pouring alcohol and volka for everyone ard the table.......

sunken hearted

a fellow colleague is leaving the company for a career in a related, but separated field... in London... today is his last day... he was my primary day-to-day sup for my final year project and has been very very accomodating and encouraging... i truely owes him a lot...

news abt him leaving the co. got to my ears a couple of months back.... i din feel anything sad as i know for sure that it's wad he always wanted: to work in clinical studies in drug development... i was feeling indifferent.. till today... after we presented him with all the gifts we've prepared... i only got to know him early december last yr.. and he was the one who showed me most of the ropes... he brought me to the animal facilities, attempted to teach me how to do sectioning, gave me readups for immunostaining and answered my "undergraduand questions"....

thanks mike~

taxi fare hikes...

been reading abt such hikes and increase in the cost of living etc on forums these 2 days....

i like this especially....


quote:
Originally posted by verydisappointed: yahyah, then these people will come out with the same old reasons again, saying the same old things, compared to London, New York, Tokyo, Munich blablabla.....

Aiya....When increase fees, they also compare us with England, USA, Japan, France......then when comparing with standard of living, they will compare us with Malaysia, Indoneasia, India....

killer heels

it's been a rather tiring week... how come? i wonder why too.... perhaps juz not enough "passive rest"... i termed non-activity time outside slping as "passive rest"....

was on my way to work earlier this morning when i alighted from the mrt at buona vista station.. as i was making my way to to descending escalator, this girl was standing facing the track suddenly reversed and walked into me... she stepped onto my toe with her killer heel and tore my shoe!! i was walking so the fabric that covered the breathable part juz tear under some tensile stress... fortunate enough the tear din go all the way thru... but it hurts though... i noticed the tear immediately but cant possibly ask her to buy me a new pair rite? ask her to fix it for me? how??

ok knock off le.... going home to check on my toes.... din haf the chance to check earlier.... see ya....

unfriendly ppl

yb is away this weekend cousin's attending wedding and i failed to make plans to keep myself occupied!!

nthin much in plan so juz rotted the saturday away after the morning ride with chel...

i went for another ride on sunday evening after i came back from walk walk session with cousin... i was really enjoying my ride le.... the spin feels so much smoother after cleaning up the wheels and brakes a bit...though i dun really understand how it'll affect the spinning.... all was fine as i was making my way back home from hunger pangs... was riding along yck road when i went under a flyover, above me was CTE.. (usually as i merge with a slip road coming from the extressway, i'll keep a lookout eventhough im on the main road and vehicles from the side road shld give way to me....) i saw this white car coming out from the expressway and was anticipating it's slowing down to give way to the main road traffic... but it din slow down!! dunno if the indian driver expected me to slow down for him or he nv see me... i had to jam my brakes else i'll be thrown over the car le... but i did realised the car slowed down a bit as my rear wheel skidded on the dry road... but he took off again when he saw me slowed down.... so he did saw me!! but refused to stop!!

showed him the finger (but i think it's too dark le...he nv see from rear mirror)

then was riding along a path beside lentor coz the traffic was heavy in the evening... then oncoming i saw an uncle in from the opp direction.... that stretch of the path was quite narrow from the grass overgrowing onto the path so i dismounted and moved aside to give way.... as he passed i attempted to smile... but he din even looked at me!! wtf..... taken for granted!! i shld haf juz sqeezed that path with him and squeezed him into the bushes!!

mum asked me to buy dinner back since i was out cycling... kaoz... i told her next time dun ask me to buy dinner if i out cycling... so damn diff to get bike into the crowd lor... once i accidentally GENTLY knocked into a chair used to put an auntie's bag with my rear wheel... and the auntie gave a loud "AIYO!!", along with a disgusted face...( i meant i was disgusted by her face) wtf... not as if i knocked into her leg or wad wor!! KNN.....

heng i nv take all these to heart ahz... gladly enjoyed my ride.....

Day 5 @ work!

met up with yb the other day to haf dinner tog and returning some books to the NLB... the moment she met up with me, she was like checking me out from top to bottom and back to the top again...

"cant tell that u've started work leh.."

haha... aiyah my work doesn't require me to dress up at all de... my working attire? tee and jeans... mayb sometimes polo...or shirt if i wan.... it's realli up to me.... i dun haf to meet any client anyway.... and whenever i need to meet ANIone, i'll need to change to lab gowns anyway.... and hey, these are impt folks i've gotta meet in my work k.....

this morning i was up at 6am... darn early for my liking... and i took bus with yb to her workpl.. i commented, "it's day 5 at work le.."

"so fast...??? hmm...so wad haf u done?"

haha.... she hit the nail on my head.... i've hardly been doing anything at all!!
this is juz my 1st week ma.... and there was a 2-day conference leh... and 1-day orientation/induction... considering that this is my 1st week, i think i did quite a lot of things at lab le leh.... cleaning tanks and stuffs... haha... the rest juz sits ard k....

so wassup today?
morning got team meeting and helping out with some cabinets shifting.... (hmm.. how come im always shifting and washing things....?)
afternoon will be taking photo for my employee pass....

Senai Airport @ 7am

the flight is scheduled to take off at 710am on 11th may to kota bharu... and it's already almost 5am, and me and john are still waiting for the rest!! apparently the taxi driver screwed up... end up we need to come up with extra cash for cabs in malaysia... our carrot heads got chopped....

kota bharu wasn't too bad... though i expected sth more laid back... it was juz like any other town in malaysia, probably even more touristy than the smaller towns like Kluang which i incidentally like beri much....

next we went to the perhentian islands... the more "kecil" one in fact... smaller that is... coz it appears to be less touristy and cheaper... hehz.. "perhentian" comes from the malay word "berhenti", which means to stop... so the 2 islands (besar and kecil) were in fact quite a popular stop-overs for travellers. the corals there wasn't that very excellent... as compared to the ones i've seen at phuket yrs back... probably they looked juz as nice in perhentian islands then though... but one thing i definitely like is the relaxing atmosphere by the beach... very laid-back.. nice chill-out place... very nuuuuuuahhh........

too bad we missed out the turtles season.... when i say missed, i realli do mean missed.... missed it totally.... apparently these yrs no more turtles come up on shore to lay their eggs at Rau Abang.. which used to see many leatherback turtles making their way up to the eastern shore of p.malaysia... now according to the book, there's barely 2-3 sightings per season.... anyway we din go there....

we went to cherating instead! it's a nice chill-out place as well... i looovved the beach... it's nice and..shallow.... (haha.... i cant swim for nuts!!) we walked to abt 200-300 m from the shore into the water, and the water level is bare at my chest! the way i like it..... wahaha....















the right way to eat a watermelon!!
















jetting towards the morning sun! (towards perhentian islands...)








lazing ard b4 picnic lunch....
























in the face of wind....










moonlight by D' lagoon...
























seafood lunch... (actually we had seafood every meal...almost every meal...)















backpackers looking some shelter over their heads for the nite...
















sop's prince on white horse!! quick chase (run)!!
















footprints....


coming up next: Gua Cheras, KL and Melaka...

@ work

yup im back from malaysia and now in office le... hehe.... today 1st day at work!!

will be updating with photos and stuffs soon.... when i got the time and willingness to put in some effort.... hehe....

alice in wonderland

are HR ppl usually nasty? do they usually say things very offensively, in a non-subtle manner? talking abt youngsters these day being rude to the MM ah... sometimes it's the topic in question isn't it? nothing very related actually... was juz trying to draw a similarity here.... that we say that things can be discussed in a non-offensive, subtle, neutral manner.... however ppl do inject their own prejustice into discussions, no?

perhaps it'll do good if alice can see herself from outside the wonderland...

of medical checkup, viagra and old doctor

juz went for my medical check up for the job at gsk yesterday... it was after a mini induction by the company's HR... i gotta travel allllllllll the way into pioneer sector 1 to meet her.... damn ulu that place... but now i can emphatise with ppl working in tuas siahz....

she seems like a friendly person... but i guess it cant be help to be shrewd and "masked" when u're working outside... only did i realised today that she called up Biopolis gsk to ask abt something which apparently i mentioned (to which i totally haf no recollection of).... and after which ros mentioned to me to be careful with wad i say to ppl there... coz they can be quite kpo de... :\ sigh... troublesome....

oh and when i asked further into the benefits and compensation policy of the company, she din actually give me very very satisfactory answers... but instead i got a feeling that those were not the "real reasons" behind some differences from the previous batch of employees... but then wad can i do more? ask further and be a pest mehz..?

hehe.... but i did manage to get a free cab ride la... supposed to take cab to this medical clinic for stage 1 of my checkup de... but i dun haf enough cash, and there isn't any ATM ard....so she wrote me a cab voucher!! wahahahaa.... *shhh...* (not supposed to tell)

this clinic that i went to... has lots of posters on viagra and ED (erectile dysfunction)!! not loads and loads of them la... but a bit more than usual.... funny hor...? haha... and i saw one of the slogan for viagra.."Hard, Quality Erections"...haha!! so funny.....

anyway.......... the doc is an old man... the way he took my blood sample...wahkaoz... i think he wanna inject the needle into my vein in one quick motion so the pain is minimal.... but after it went in, i realised that the needle is not parallel with my vein!! and it's at the boundary of my thick thick vein.... but ok nonetheless he got my blood flowing into the syringe... but i think coz it's not placed properly.... he had some difficulty drawing out enough blood... and he readjusted the needle!! OMG... pain lehz... dun haf anesthetic de k.....
then when he's done, he plastered a small plaster onto my wound... my wound is hardly covered by the plaster lor....aiyoh...heng i can take it ahz.... and arm nv blue-black from all the needle-geowing....

then he gave me direction to stage 2 of my checkup.. to jurong east for chest xray... he gave wrong direction!! heng i alert enough to realised it b4 i reach toa payoh... i had lunch at clementi in the end... actually i was quite amused by this old doc... apparently he's very educated....so many degrees on his appointment card...

part 3 was at lucky plaza for hearing test.. nth much to report there...
but initially i wanted to take a short walk in orchard de...only to see sms from boss asking abt presentation slides... aiyah..sianz... i haben do.. no time to do yet.. so i went str home lor... do slides....

thou i've handed in fyp le.... it seems like everyday is very tiring still.... o_0

last week of my undergraduate life

it's thurs today and coming monday i'll be submitting my fyp thesis le! hahaa... yup after tat no more sch....that is..unless i decided to take phD la....

another of my colleague in gsk going to leave the company for further studies le... one juz left a couple of weeks ago...this will be leaving in a couple of months' time... hmm.. it's an influencial trend i guess... since both of them were roommates when they're in SG... and rumours has that the 3rd gg to leave as well....juz wondering when..., but it's a change of job nature... not for studies..

oh that was a random thought! juz realised im steering away from topic le....

yup im completing the report writing le (oh u know that phD thesis is a BOOK?? it's not even a booklet, it's a damn book!!).... currently doing the last staining of tissue sections, and if this staining doesn't give good result, then the report will be finalised without anymore change!! so far so good la.... been hearing good comments (eh but ang mo seldom critisise also) and my sup said to another colleague (i've got a spy somewhere) that i'm "naturally scientific"...haha... it know it sounds funny....it's like some jargons ppl use....

and yup, officially im employed into the company le! the HR finally called.... (actually b4 this was a whole big episode of worry coz another fren got called up and i wasn't... i asked the big big boss then realised that there was actually some communication break from this lab to the HR) and i'll be starting work in the last week of May together with 4 other girls...apparently i've not seen any guys turning for interview....did the HR screen out all the guys? i guess i got thru coz i bypassed the initial screening procedure....

a colleague asked me that day...if i'll feel that 4 yr passed very fast in uni, now that im graduating...? actually, at least at this moment, i dun feel sad... mayb i've accepted that ppl gotta move on somehow... and it's not as if ppl r going to part forever.. as long as we do realli try to keep in contact, distance is not a major problem... the maintenance issue bah i guess... ppl drifted apart, bz with life/work, losing contact.....it's abt putting in effort man!! effort!!

some buddies are still struggling in sch with exam now, i going to pay them a visit later on.... macam visit prisoners like tat huh.... and of course not to mock at them lah!!! hehehz....

been a tiring week....

though i've excused myself from lab for 1 week last week... (i went back for one of the days i think).. i found myself to be extremely tired.... i think it's the lack of slp these days... plus lots of thoughts going on....

i found myself caught in the same dilemma which i did every semester juz b4 exam time... having to juggle assignments and presentations and exam preparations.... same this time round... with fyp date due coming up in 2-3 weeks' time and papers to take....

for the past few days it was worse... another fren of mine came also for interview at gsk, and was called up last week, to sign contract yesterday... but i've not rcv any news yet!! this is worrying...so much that i din slp well at all that night.... sigh... but i think all will be ok lah.... though i know nothin's confirmed unless i signed on the paper, but i got a feeling i won't be very disappointed....

tired... time to leave office le....

gah-brah......

was so happy and glad that day when i came up with a schedule to to complete my proj early... at least on time, leaving enough for proper report writing.... but i din realised that the "Autostainer" (Dako) requires so much time to prepare... not juz the machine, but the selecting of slides, labelling, dewaxing, antigen retrieving.... argh.... took me 2-3 hours juz to prepare the machine to stain my sildes....!!

that's juz the pre-staining prep.... still got the finishing up work... this is where i kokked up!! i think i left the slides in some solvent for too long...all the colour dropped off.... sigh... how i cant even find my tisue section on the slides.... die die.... waste time, wast effort, waste resources and money.....

and little did it occur to me that when i'm dionging autostaining, there's be a shortage of 1 worker for sectioning.... so it becomes slow too.....

how i wish i know "Kage Bunshi no Jutsu".... i can be everywhere....

i wish i haf more time....

another item on my plate..

in response to rockie's comment..

why in such hurry to find job? coz job vacancy waits for no one...haha... i means, if there' an opportunity that's avaiable now... why wait for it to slip by? it may no come back again.... furthermore, if i wait till i grad, hundreds and thousands of ppl will be vying with me!! and vacancies will be taken up le.... and regarding grad trip... no money where got grad trip?? thinking of postponing my grad trip till end of the yr... after i got come savings...

yes there's another dish in my plate to think abt now... juz got called up this afternoon that i got accepted into IBN....argh...this sucks.... i mean, being offered a job is great!! but being caught in a dilemma suck! i guess ppl now more or less now knows that im dying to join gsk (sounds too desperate huh? haha... ok mayb not "dying"... but prefered to...) juz had an interview at gsk yesterday and it seems like my hopes r high... but like i say.. nothin is confirmed till i see my name on the contract... like wad i see now, lying on my table...

going to ask my sups tml when will the results of the interview be out.... sigh....

help!!

questions questions.....

been thinking abt it for more than a week already... finally it's over... i even lost slp over it one of the nights last week... woke up 3 times because i dreamt of working in GSK.... haha... anayway, i juz had an interview at GSK.. with all the department heads...

not that im afraid of working there... but it's constantly on my mind last week of the possibility of working there.... so much that im so afraid that i'll be damn disappointed if i dun get the job... although everyone says that there is very high chance that i'll get the job, i've got no compeition, my bosses r happy with my performance etc etc... it's still not certain until i actually gets informed that i got the job, and signed the contract... haha... so now how ahz...? shld i carry on flipping Recruit every saturday? try to apply for each and every job vacancy which i meet up with the requirements? and even if i do get the job, when do i start? mayb i'll need to wait for abt 3-4 months b4 i start? then meanwhile how to look for job? where got ppl wanna employ when they know u r leavng in such short time...?

or shld i juz put everything on hold, concentrate on my proj and upcoming exams (argh exams.....why did i land myself into an exam again???)...?

time of the yr again...

to feel that i dun haf enough time....

3 weeks to exam...
5 weeks to handling in of proj report...

i think i need at least 2 weeks more to get all the tissues sectioned.... another 2 weeks or more to stain.... argh!! shit....

end of a series of interviews.... awaiting for call backs now.....

mended shoes

now im wearing the 4th pair of shoes i mended in the past 2 weeks... (actually 3 were mended by uncle at People's Park la... last one i did it myself....) and i love the feeling of wearing a nice pair comfortable shoes... no more "opened mouth", no more worrying abt trippings... somehow it beats buying new pair of shoes... 1stly, it might not fit that well, even if they fit when u tried them on... but after some time, who knows.... 2ndly, money, time, effort...to get a new pair....

i had this pair of track shoes for a couple of yrs already and they 1st "opened up" on me after i used them for an adventure race last june, ever since then i haben got down to fixing them.. the tear got bigger day by day, after more walking, running, climbing, cycling... and one session of mud-playing... soon the rubber sole is starting to come off... oh shit i better do sth abt this fast...

we allow small problems to slip thru our fingers while we deal with "more important" matters we haf on our hands.. little do we realised that when problem r small, they r usually very much solvable and it won't take up too much time, and perhaps juz a little bit of effort... however most fo the time we'll juz let the problem go, thinking that small things like these don't matter, forgetting that the point of weakness is made, and things will start to accumulate...

my teacher in college used to say tat i procrastinate a lot, that's the 1st time i heard of this word btw... she said i've great plans, good ideas... but slow in putting them into practice.... which boils down to not having any thoughts at all...ya? it sunk into me i guess... has become part of me... thou im still procrastinating once in a while, im conscious of it...

if things get really lousy, so much that u find that u cannot fix it anymore, perhaps it's time to get a new pair of shoes... u'll need to take some time to browse the shelves, try on some which u think may fit, and perhaps get disappointed a few times... get pekchek with cheaper prices elsewhere if u haf already bought them.... of course, unless u decided to walk everywhere with ya slippers.... play tennis with sandals... go marketing (market buy fish) in heels.... we haf to move on eh...

was on the phone with an ex-gf (while i was at yb's place!!).. she was juz rambling abt things at work and her life in general... wasn't having an excellent working relationship with her colleagues.. internal conflicts, misunderstandings... etc etc... perhaps bits of politics.... seems to me like things are getting kinda out of hand... and it's not going to be easy to "undo" wad has been done... so now it's either she juz sits in and wait for things to get better... or juz to move one... elsewhere... (wad can i do? afterall im juz a listening ear...)

oh lucky i nv buy new mp3 player from IT show ah!! my creative muvo tx fm gave me some problem in the past 3 days.. "file system error" showed up when i tried to power it up... managed to fixed it with numerous formatting and downloaded updates and firmware... finally got to the right solution... hehe... now it felt like i've got a brand new player in hand... of course...with a new playlist... well i did say formatted... lucky i nv jump into easy solution ah...

green stars in the sky....

waited for months!! for manganate to arrive in the lab.... christian (1 of my 2 sup) says he ordered it 6 months ago.... sheesh, wad took them so long... apparently they got some orders mixed up... think they haf some silicon components(..blah blah etc...) in the order that came some time ago.... *shrugz*

anyway....i went ahead and try to get some from my contacts... friends who were also doing their fyp this semester... hehe...lucky got one doing in a chemistry lab nearby... managed to got 0.5g of it from him.... (miser?? no lah...0.5g i can make 1 litre of the solution le!!)

anyway... managed to tried out the staining that i meant to do in the prj proper, so tat i know it works properly and with the correct amount.... i.e. optimisation...

and i got....

this!!










wild type expression...




and this!!











transgenic expression

not bad huh....? haha.... dunno if readers here can appreciate anot.... hehh....

bernard (fellow colleague here) was commenting that one if the images looks very beautiful... like lying down on the ground and watching stars in the sky like tat... then i juz laugh to myself... i wonder wad ppl who deals with engineering or computing stuffs will think abt the conversation we had at the microscope room... but i guess in their own field of work, there're also certain "beauty" that they can appreciate and we on the other hand will juz find them weird...(like how smooth the pulleys are turning... how nice and crisp were the cutting done... yaya???) haha....

anyway i'll show u the pic...

here!!














how?? can appreciate? beautiful isn't it? hahahaaa.......
oh it'll be better if u click on the pic to see the larger image...

dejected...

nope, there's nothn wrong between me and yb...we're fine...
was only dejected with an interviewee comnig for interview at GSk... argh... i wanna graduate soon and come back here for interview!! argh..........!!

drunkened pranksters, and policemen

was walking yb home the other day after joining her and ade (pronounced ah-de, thou she is actually quite skinny, but there're always skinny "de's" ard) for dinner...

we were walking towards her block when we heard a loud glass-crash coming from a playground ahead, and immediately we saw 3 figures running in different directions... the 1st thing that went thru my mind was that they broke a street lamp coz of playing ball or wad... but later on a man came to the scene and asked us "haf u seen some guys here juz now?"

apparently a guy of the 3 threw a glass bottle up to the 2nd floor and smashed 1 of their bedroom's window... the man asked if we can help look after the bike and an empty bottle that were left there as they can serve as an evidences....

a little moment later, a ard-20y/o guy, red in the face (red face) walked towards the bike and i thought he shld be here to retrieve the bike.... we walked towards the bike too and he detoured... later one he was brought back to the scene by the man (victim)... "i only passerby u wanna catch me....?!" blah blah blah.... groaning and making noise... like he's innocent (as if....)..

later on the lady of the house came down and the man asked her to guard Redface while he go make a report.... and Redface continued to make lots of noise.... and he started to walk off... "hey u got nothing to hide u can juz stay ah!" i shouted.... and he started to walk faster and faster... and the lady gave chase.....

she losed him....

(quite) some time later, the police came... they din take our statements lehz.... weird.... i also doubt they persue the matter with much effort... they took away the bike (bare hands handling the handle bar and frame??) and the bottle (with finger into the bottle.) after asking the couples and us some questions....

abt fingerprints and evidences.... will they actually go to the extend to trace down the 3 pranksters? i think they will be biased, depending on the seriousness of the crime, i think....

i'll haf employed myself...

for my sincerity....
for goodness sake i walked for 30-40 min under ther afternoon hot sun in jeans! who knows there's 2 DSO there....??

on street directory i saw DSO opposite MP Biomedicals... i intended to take a public bus straight to that place to hand in job applications de... end up took a shuttle bus from biopolis to NUH, coz "DSO" is juz next to sci canteen....

argh!! they're not the same DSO.... based on my instinct....i walked to near AYE, then bouna vista flyover... alongside PGP.... and overshot Sci Park Dr.... and into the correct road.... and then it's another 3 bus stops to the end of the road where the company's at......

if im the employer... i'll employ me..... f**k the interview....

IBN

Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology

had a 45 min chit chat with them....ok lah hor?

at 1st not so bad de.... like quite enjoy talking to them....
one of them quite friendly... she's the head of the team... she told me abt wad they do... general working sys they employ... the other is a senior HR....the snr HR is more critical....

the FAQs really came out....haha....
"tell me ya strength and weaknesses"
"so....why shld we hire u?"

i dun like "why shld we hire u..." like i gotta sell myself so much like tat... i dun like....

they say got 2nd round of interview, and will be informed if im shortlisted... and in that interview i need to be more energetic and enthusiastic.... eh.... haha... if i so enthu i'll haf gone apply for phD loh.....

i wish GSK's job vacancy quickly open!!

interview and proj initiation

1stly... wassup with having a discussion in my comment section....?
haa... but i dun mind... keep them coming! i'll love to listen to your b*tchings....

sop: yup like i told u... juz go with the flow... try to help the situation in that particular direction that the tribe has chosen... im sure u r mature enough to handle it? unless u wanna quit?? oh and if u wanna make a change.... try be the SPO again!! FOOT Comm 2007!! wahaha.... lao bu si de...

oh i got called up yesterday evening for an interview! it's this fri, with the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology.... but im kinda in a dilemma... my 1st choice will be staying here in GSK of course... since i've already gotten so used to the working style and environment here... and i like it here.... the team system that they employ... the ppl here are fun-loving and funny... the environment is stimulating.... but for now i cant be guaranteed a position here. i've heard that there'll be an opening soon, but dunno when...even if i applied i might not even get it ya? but like wad Sung told me, my chances r high.... im now opening my eyes big big for a TAP programme with GSK.... hehehh....

juz got the schedule for the starting of my proj yesterday... phew~... it's full 2 weeks of surgury and tissue collection/processing... 30 animals.... time's gonna be real tight... i wonder if i can find some time out for some freelance job anot.... there're vacancies for camp instructors for a 2 day camp in Senai!! i wan lehz.... *thinking of a plot*

had supper last nite at bedok centre hawker centre.... not nice!! not nice at all!! had hokkien mee....the healthiest one i even had....white white one... and rubbery thick beehoon.... yucks... had fried oyster too.... the "kuay" tasteless de..... XP
boycott!

SACPS, T15 and K750i

been a bz... or rather, a fulfilling week... spent mon to wed on this course in animal handling where we learnt how to handle small lab animals, and perform some common procedures on them... things like injections.. blood sampling... and of course... euthanasia... and no worries.. all done fast and humanely... might think it's cruel... but that's precisely why we need to learn and practise ya...? Refinement....

and now im certified!! woohoo~~ *updates resume*

from thurs till sat i went for a p5 camp as camp instructor again... with whiz.. a last min job coz someone pulled out at the 11th hour.... hehe... i think this is my best of the 3 camps i went so far... at least i feel that im progressing.... but of course i also know that partly it's coz the (campers) girls were responding well.... they cheered, sang, responds to our calls... they din show much attitude like those from sec sch... oh and they were so cute! hah!! bed time they were all slping in the main hall so we haf a cluster of 300 p5 girls all had they slping bags covering the whole of the hall.... they were in their home PJs too... and with their hug toys!! haa....got heart-shaped pillows... cow cushions... some were in over-sized one-piece pj that goes all the way down to their ankles.... haha.... anyway, come back to it.... i think im progressing la.... hahaa....

nothin went on much on sat... im juz staying indoors to take some rest... tired.... and taking some rest preparing for next day's trail ride!! yea~

met up with chel early in the morning juz after daybreak for a slow ride to meet dw... it's been quite some time since i went for trail rides le.... the trail (t15) was wet... from previous days rain so it was quite slippery... actually i dun fancy a challenging trail tat much.... come to think of it...i'll prefer a laid-back ride in malaysia... juz crusing along some grassland... with the sun setting in the horizon and breeze on my face.....waahh.....
actualli that was the scene when i was cycling in desaru last yr....one of my most enjoyed ride....
anyway sunday's ride ended with my bike wash as usual after some offroad riding.... haben been cucling offroad for some time so it kinda slipped my mind for bike maintenence.... and i found rust on my chain!! and no wonder there's been some grinding noise coming from the drivetrain... it's bone-dry.... damn.

considering to get a phone soon, nope, i'll get a phone soon... moto L7 has been on my mind for quite some time now... shld i juz go for it? the features it has r rather basic...not really basic actually... vga cam (pic and vid)... mp3 player...erm.. wad else...no radio...
how ah how ah.... urgh....
yb juz bought K750i yesterday... mp3 player, 1.3M pix cam, with light/flash, radio...









this??
















or this???

a journey of a thousand miles

did a 3D2N camp with manjusri sec 3 students over the last 3 days... it was great... did a lot of self discovery for myself....

1 of my weaknesses, especially in such camps, is to handle groups on my own.. coz im not complete..hehe... cheem eh.... no lah wad i meant was i usually need someone to complement me. i know my strength in facilitating activities like climbing, belaying, kayak so on and so forth... however i suck at hyping up groups... im not one of those who can hype up the spirit of a group of trainees kind... however, i think i can do better next time... althou i feel bad that im unable to make the camp a better one for this group of mine (hope that they'll be able to contact me), i'll do so with the next one i'll be handling next time round...

but lucky for me i've got quite a great group of students with me, most of them are very mentally prepared for such camps so there isn't much complains abt anything. they're very self-initiative too... thou it's a camp of only 3 days (actually strictly only 2), i got this gift of able to see ppl.... (haa!! nah.. juz some small observations only)... there're ppl with ideas, creativity, knowledge, enthusiasm, leadership (only a couple of them).... but one thing that's lacking in most is the ability to stand out to lead, to share, to dictate... it's nothin difficult actually... juz need that very 1st step... and the rest will follow thru... with all the good qualities i see in them...

it's like wad we always hear... a journey of a thousand miles begins with the very 1st step... if u r unable to make that 1st step, u'll always be where u r... the same goes for myself...

i not stupid 2

when u point a finger at a person, u r pointing 4 at yourself.... hear this b4...?

not a very closely related analogy but close enough... as an after-viewing thought to Jack Neo's new movie...

"I not Stupid too" talks abt a couple of teenage boys from a Normal Technical class in secondary school. Generally students from Normal Stream were labelled... and when u say "labelled" of coz they're bad labels.... and how working parents handle family matters...

"Look more on their good points, less on the bad points"....
i think this is my take home message from the movie... to highlight and try to bring out a person's good points/talents... and "bad point" is subjective....

I've come to realised this actually abt a yr ago, when my parents asked me to attend a parent-teacher meeting on their behalf while both of them were at work. I've come to see how teacher can bad-mouth students (my brother, he's from normal stream too), not realli bad-mouth, but the words and comments that come out from her mouth, wahlau-eh...

perhaps that was juz an isolated case bah.... i've seen some of my brother's teachers when he was younger...they're much more patient and they realli spot a student's strength...

but then again if u put this same teacher into a rowdy classroom for 5 yrs, would she be the same still??

she has to be...she's a teacher...

"when was the last time u praised someone?"