New companion

Went shopping yesterday for something that I've been wanting to get for a long time. I only realised how much I really needed them when I stepped into the new Reeboks. Yum, now hitting the asphalt will feel a lot less like hitting the asphalt.


That said, my trusty Nikes have served me well. They've been around since I really picked up running regularly. They've taken me through two Singapore Bay Runs and I've taken them all the way to London so that I could jog around the Thames. Now it's time for them to retire from the running scene. But since our government is all for re-employment of retired workers, Nikes will probably find a new vocation as my regulation "close-toed shoes" in lab. I'm sure we will continue to have a really good working relationship.

Happy 42nd, Singapore!

Taken during the last NDP rehearsal last Saturday. The parade segment was real, as in the marching stuff, but the performance part wasn't. It wasn't even full-dress or full-attendance. Probably because the performers need time to launder their costumes for the actual parade tonight. I liked the parade, especially since there were extra items to celebrate NS 40 this year. The organisers got people to stand in for the MPs, the MM and PM and the President. The way the master of ceremony went, "Please rise to welcome the arrival of the President... simulated" was rather hilarious. You can practically hear the parenthesis in his tone. Sadly, there were no fireworks, the highlights we were expecting. As were the scores of people camped on the steps in front of Marina Square. They had it worse as we were at least informed during the show.

Anyway, catch the real thing online or on TV later. Maybe I'll finally understand what the performance segment was about this time. Yes, the MC gave up the commentary after the parade part. Presumably there will be celebrity hosts, who weren't there that day.

In other news, I'm having a break! Heh, for about a week. Happy.

INTP

Followed a link from plhu.



This result is different from this one I took some time ago. First thing that sprang to mind is: "Oops, that's quite a change." Especially since I've always felt that I'm more Feeling than anything. Haha, yep, look inside and it's all cotton-fluff and candy floss. But. Upon closer inspection, the percentages for all 4 traits are in the 50+ range. Hmm, seems like I'm pretty much split both ways and not too much or either eh.

Taken with a pinch of salt, grin.

Stir-fry

Q: What's the difference between serving a steak and presenting a stir-fried meat dish?
A: You let everyone do his/her own cutting when you serve a steak whereas you do the cutting for everyone if you prepare a stir-fried dish.

Maybe in some way it represents feminine empowerment because the woman doing the cooking will only do so much. The rest is up to the diner. If you want to spear the whole slab of cow and chew, go ahead. But I guess that would appear too barbaric and not reflect very well on the diner and the community on the whole.

Not cutting up the meat beforehand lengthens the time needed to consume the meal considerably. There are several advantages to this effect:
(1) It is definitely more gratifying to the chef; the time taken partake the dish is more proportionate to the time taken to prepare it.
(2) It encourages family bonding because everyone stays at the table for a longer duration.
With regards to point (1), haven't you noticed that it takes just 10 to 15 minutes for a family to finish a home-cooked Chinese meal consisting of several dishes (meat, fish, veg, soup) when it had actually taken the matriach 2 hours of preparation+cooking? All everyone needs to do is wield his/her own pair of chopsticks and take what he/she wants. Then it's back to TV/studying/computer games while the poor Mum does the cleaning up.

So I say the Western Mother (ok, I'm generalising here) must have found the secret to letting everyone do their fair share of work in filling their tummies.

While I don't think you can persuade your mother to start grilling steaks and burgers anytime soon, I suggest that you:
(1) help out in preparing your meal;
(2) eat slower and enjoy the dishes;
(3) help clearing up... or at least clear your own plate and
(4) finish up the dishes and tell her that you do enjoy her cooking.

我毕业了

Event: Commencement 2007
Date: Wednesday 4 July 2007
Location: University Cultural Centre, National University of Singapore
Significance:
(1) Got to wear the graduation gown and mortarboard, shake Pro-Chancellor Andrew Chew's hand and collect my degree scroll;
(2) Marks the end of my undergraduate career;
(3) Was a day that made my parents very very proud and very very happy;
(4) Got to share the joy with friends who made whole journey all the more memorable and fun.


And now to let pictures do the talking :)



Some things to show for my four years in NUS.



My family, sans elder brother.



Wonderful girlfriends with whom I sat in lectures, moaned nearing exams and deadlines, worked for assignments and gossiped during lunch. Clockwise from top left: me, boon, kathleen, pw and voz.



My very treasured friend, Wenwei.



Labmate, lunchmate, stay-overnight-in-lab companion and brilliant multitasker Huifun.



Kay Wee, who shares the same surname as me... which is how we became friends in the first place, heh.



Jian Hong, a capable, sensible and reliable guy with whom I have the pleasure to be acquainted.



Jiamin who has a really nice smile! Really :)

没那么简单

有些东西，有些事，不是说喜欢就拿起，不喜欢就放下。
尤其当其中还牵连到另一个人。
人是有想法， 有感受的。

你以为这是酒店吗？要来就来， 说走就走。
这张帐单不是签个名就可以还清的。
留下的痕迹也不是刷一刷就不见了。

在你还不了解这个道理之前， 我想你还是呆在家里， 自己陪陪自己吧。
Don't inflict yourself on someone else just yet.


Taken from Wikipedia:
Tact is a careful consideration of the feelings and values of another so as to create harmonious relationships with a reduced potential for conflict or offense.
Tact is a form of interpersonal diplomacy. Tact is the ability to induce change or communicate hurtful information without offending through the use of consideration, compassion, kindness, and reason.

Quiz quiz quiz

You Are Strawberry Pocky

Your attitude: fresh and sweet Comforting, yet quirky ... quietly hyper You always see both sides to everything

What Flavor Pocky Are You?

My favourite flavour, muahaha.

Your Learning Style: Unconventional and Insightful

You are very intuitive and ingenious. You're attracted to any field of study that lets you break the rules. You Should Study: Art Art history Architecture Comparative religions Eastern religion Education Music Philosophy

What Should You Study?

Hmm, where's science?!

You Are Midnight

You are more than a little eccentric, and you're apt to keep very unusual habits. Whether you're a nightowl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence - you like to experiment with your lifestyle. Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it. You enjoy staying home, but that doesn't mean you're a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends.

What Time Of Day Are You?

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits. A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Sounds good! *grin*

Haiya

Don't think so much. Why spend time so non-constructively? Just make the decision and then take the time to live the EXPERIENCE.

Yes, spend time experiencing the event and not thinking about which event to experience. You just run out of time to experience this way.

Dilemma

Why is it that while the world is seldom, if ever, presented to us in black and white, we are always having to frame our decisions in terms of "yes" and "no"?

Maybe, because if not we'll always be standing around trying to make up our minds as the world passes us by.

Is free will over-rated? Wasn't it fun when Mummy and Daddy made the decisions so that all we have to decide is whether to eat that plate of broccoli or throw it on the ground? Or whether have that plate of noodles for recess or to spend the 40 cents on a new pencil? Those were easy decisions because they were really quite inconsequential.

I would like to think that free will is a privilege that we should treasure. But when faced with the great unknown, I suddenly feel frightened of the choices I have. Because ultimately, I have to live with my decision. My yes/no decision.

Penang

Day 1 - 5 May

Breakfast at some coffeeshop near KOMTAR in Georgetown


Mak cik and pak cik: waiting for the bus back to Georgetown after dropping our barang off at Lone Pines at Batu Ferringhi


Lunch was the famous Penang Chendol... even Phua Chu Kang says so!


St George's Church, Georgetown


Dinner at Gurney Drive



Day 2 - 6 May

International Buffet for breakfast


Off to Bukit Bendera, also known as Penang Hill. In our rented Proton Kancil, no less.


Lunch was at a coffeeshop near Kek Lok Si


Kek Lok Si


Seafood dinner (YUM!) at the fishing village back over Batu Ferringhi



Last day - 7 May

Dim sum breakfast at random coffeeshop near KOMTAR. This has got to be my favourite meal of the trip.

Amused...ouch!

I just can't help but want to laugh when I see this sign. Who's going to stand under the barrier anyway? It's in the middle of the road and a car would have just passed out of the gentry. But the sign itself is just too funny!

Musing

An interesting thing happened today.

I met this mother accompanying her daughter who was going for the interview for admission into medicine. She stopped by the bench where I was studying with her two daughters, the younger one being all of six years of age.

They had some time to spare. While the interviewee-to-be was engrossed in reading and preparing, the mother started talking to me a little. The conversation picked up some more when the girl went off for the big event. It turned out that the mother was quite anxious about her girl's studying as she (the girl) tends to have high expectations and stresses herself. Which in turn stresses her mother. So her (the mother's) greatest wish is for the child to graduate as soon as possible and start working. She's all for the girl to lighten up. And preferably not choose something too stressful. To which I told her she had better be prepared if the child does get into medicine. Now, isn't that the greatest understatement! Well well. If the girl really does want it, she should just go for it. And hopefully she learns to manage herself better. Anyway, she'll have all her classmates to support her.

That was actually not the most interesting part. What left me thinking was what the girl said when she came back from the interview. As the family was leaving, she told her mother that she was asked what was the proudest moment of her life.

Now, that is a question worth thinking about. What was the proudest moment of your life? I've been asked what was the greatest failure in my life (too bad, I'm not telling you what I said in reply) but I've never thought about the proudest event. Ever.

And so I started thinking about that (while staring at my Drug Discovery notes, haha). I think to be proud of something necessarily involves working really hard for it. That's why it means so much when you get it (or don't get it, but feel really good about the effort).

I think I've worked hard at quite a few things in my life, but honestly, I don't think I can pinpoint that one single proudest moment of my life. The crowning glory. The wow-yes-i-did-it thing. Somehow when I think about it this way, what I worked at seemed ok-worthwhile but not exploding-fireworks-spectacular. There are things which I am very glad to have done and made me really happy. But these are just not that one proudest thing.

And so I think I should try hard to find that one thing, that one moment. And I'll let you know when I do.

lol. I'm glad no one asked me that question before I thought about it.

Today, last year

Inside the dome at the Reichstag, Berlin.

It's quite incredible how much difference a year can make.
But then again, it is also incredible how much remains the same.

I wish I could

but I can never say what is closest to my heart.

Bad luck. Either someone discovers that mind-reading is for real, or I'll just keep my secrets forever.

For (poster)ity's sake

Heh.

C'est moi... (thanks to pw, the photographer who knows me best)

et ce sont pw et moi. (This may be bad grammar, but then I haven't done conjugations in a while.)


Don't whine, zephyr! You lousy lousy. Tsk tsk. No one likes whine-babies.
It's just a while more. Yes. Really.

慌

What I need now is a lot of reassurance and hand-holding.
Better still if it's by someone who can judge my work.
But then I can do with sth that's just filled with love and sincerity too (not that I haven't been getting any, actually I get quite a lot, but I just can't be reassured enough).

Help help. Panic panic. Can someone hit my calm button please. Bah. Curse April 11th.

Demoralising, overachieving, over-efficient people please just stay away until the 12th. Then, I'll bite you with all the power of my wit and sarcarsm. For now these are running a little low. Let's fight on fair ground ya.

Go figure.

I just discovered that short of a few words, the title of my (UNDERGRAD HONOURS) project was actually a PhD project. O.o That somewhat calmed me a bit over my lack of exciting results. But the fact remains that I have to write damn a lot in the next few days.


Mini lab outing last week, before Susanne left to head back to Germany. (Was it only last week?!) L-H: Haitao, Hui Fun, me, Susanne, Eugene, Daniel. We were at DXO drinking a tower of whisky green tea.

《最重要的小事》

五月天
曲:玛莎 词:阿信

我 走过动汤日子 追过梦的放肆 穿过多少生死
却 假装若无其事 穿过半个城市 只想看你样子

这一刻 最重要的事
是属於你 最小的事

世界纷纷扰扰喧喧闹闹 什麼是真实
为你跌跌撞撞傻傻笑笑 买一杯果汁
就算庸庸碌碌匆匆忙忙 活过一辈子
也要分分秒秒年年日日 全心守护你
最小的事

我 就算壮烈前世 征服滚滚乱世 万人为我写诗
而 幸福却是此时 静静帮你提著 哈罗凯蒂袋子

这一刻 最重要的事
是属於你 最小的事

世界纷纷扰扰喧喧闹闹 什麼是真实
为你跌跌撞撞傻傻笑笑 买一杯果汁
就算庸庸碌碌匆匆忙忙 活过一辈子
也要分分秒秒年年日日 全心守护你
最小的事（最重要的事）

你 笑得像个孩子 每个平凡小事 变成永恒故事

Degree

It is one thing to be enthusiastic.
But quite another to be a kan cheong spider. (Thanks Faisal, for teaching me this very apt term.)

*pull hair*
I don't quite know how else to express my exasperation.

Never mind; and all this shall pass.

山穷水尽疑无路
柳暗花明又一村

Good morning, Singapore

The time now is 3.39am.
It is Saturday, 3rd March.

I am in lab!
And I am hungry.

Sweet Sweet Love

1% Agarose Roman Columns

This is what happens when agarose solidifies between the teeth of the 15-well comb. Cute right, haha. Sorry for the lousy pic though; my phone doesn't have a macro funtion.

Hogfather (2)

This story is actually an exploration of the theme of human beliefs. But because (1) I read it a really long time ago, (2) I am not doing a PhD on Pratchett's work (yes! there are people doing it!) and (3) I cannot put my thoughts (more like feelings) into a coherent tangible paragraph, I will not try and discuss the story in any intelligent manner here.

The advances of technology, namely YouTube, are to be applauded at this point. I found most of the 4-hour show in 20 10-minute parts online and spent much of yesterday afternoon stuck in front of my computer. (Hey, I read immuno while the parts were loading ok.) Only 17 parts worked properly, so I had 170 minutes of the film in all.

It was great! Every minute of it. The computer graphics were excellent and the characters were really close to what I had imagined them to be like. I thought Susan was very well portrayed: dignified and no-nonsense. I didn't like Teatime very much though. Death was well done, but I had always thought his voice was deeper and more ominous. He SPEAKS LIKE THIS IN PRINT, see. I always feel a little bit sad for Death; he tries so hard to understand humans but he just doesn't get things. And so he is almost always very lonely.

It was mentioned that if this TV release were a success, there will be other adaptations of Pratchett's work. I am really looking forward to those! There would definitely be comparisons to Harry Potter and LOTR then, but I feel that Pratchett is in a totally different genre. The only similarity is that it's all fantasy. Pratchett's got humour and there is (most of the time) an underlying message in his stories.

Ok, rather than wasting time convincing you with my very bland writing, why don't you just pop by there nearest library or bookstore. I love all the Death stories and I like the Watch very much too. The wizards are definitely entertaining but I don't enjoy the witches at all. Take your pick!

Hogfather (1)

By a grand stroke of serendipity, I found out that Sky One, a TV channel in the UK made a film based on Terry Pratchett's "Hogfather".



AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! TERRY! PRATCHETT! HOGFATHER!



Ok, that was an understatement of how excited I was. I was first clued in that there was a film adaptation when I followed a link to the website of Paul Kidby, official illustrator for Pratchett. First I saw the 2007 calendar featuring the (human) cast and then I found the illustrated screenplay.

So I googled around and discovered that Sky One made the 2-part film for Christmas release last year. (Sidetrack: how come our TV stations don't make quality things like this? I think I've seen as many CNY variety shows as I am old.)

Briefly, the Father Christmas figure of Discworld, Hogfather, goes missing on the eve of Hogswatch. If he isn't found by daybreak, it would result in the end of the world. In order that things may be set right, Death (my favourite character in the series) takes his place to distribute presents to children around the world while his granddaughter, Susan tries to find out what happened.

New Year Festivities

At Cafe Iguana at Clarke Quay last night.

We sat through a brief drizzle at our al fresco table holding up our own umbrellas with the vain hope that we might see the fireworks performance over at the Esplanade area at midnight. And the promise of free tequila shots helped a little. Heh. Turned out that our view was blocked by some buildings ahead and we only managed to see the light, some smoke and some sparks from the highest of the pyrotechnics.

Still it was fun: Dinner was decent with the grilled prawns very nicely done and we got our drinks at half price cos it was happy hour; the music was good (not too loud cos we sat outside) and there weren't anyone smoking near us. It got a bit messy at midnight from the confetti and snow sprays but hey, it's New Year!