How did it get to this...

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today has been absolutely devastating... It feels as if the fires of hell itself erupted from a scorching cravace and engulfed us all in what seemed to be an eternal conflagration. I managed to seek refuge from this blazing inferno in the wonderfully sanctuary of the law library with it's central air conditioning! It was absolute bliss! While it was a searing 41 degrees outside, I was nice and cosy in the meticulously regulated 24 degrees study area. I was working on the past paper from 2005. It was meant to be 3 hrs long but I took a long time to actually get it done. I worked till Question 6 and went for lunch with Klement who came to study with me. He lived on campus anyways, so it was pretty convenient for him.

We left for lunch at about 12 30 hrs. It was so freaking hot. We dropped off our stuff at his dorm and walked down Kingsford in the blistering heat, deliberating on what to eat. We ended up having Vietnamese for lunch. Both of us ordered the Pho Tai Nam (I think that's what it's called. The raw beef rice noodle soup). The proprietor was kind enough to explain how to "eat" the noodles, at least, she would be kind if she didn't appear so patronizing... Well, she had a problem with the air conditioner because it wasn't cold at all. We finally figured out that she had the silly thing on "heater" mode. We rectified it for her and got on with lunch. We made a quick stop to get bubble tea from Easy Way and made our way back to Uni.

We stopped by his dorm to pick up our stuff before heading back to the library. As I was coming back, I thought I saw someone familiar. I wasn't sure if I knew him or not but I checked my phone to see if he had tried calling me but I didn't receive any calls or texts so I just continued walking up the stairs to the library. I tried to study but I had quite a number of toilet breaks. I felt like I was pregnant, having to shuttle to and fro. I kept working on the paper till about 1650 when the library was closing. I was so depressed from the crap-shack of an attempt at the chemistry paper and I dreaded having to leave the comfort of the air condioner. They wouldn't be open till Tuesday. Sigh... My bag was really heavy with my laptop and chemistry folder. I had to wait for about 40 minutes in the heat wave till the bus came. By the time I had alighted near my house, the sweltering heat had started to dissipate. I was starting to feel a bit better but still depressed from the past paper... I don't know if I'll be prepared by Thursday for both Biology and Chemistry... Sigh... I'm so screwed... Oh and Happy Chinese New Year to everyone in advance!

Once again, Happy CNY!

Lurbs yew long time,
Jo(n)

Tired Again

Hello again,

It has been a relatively tiring day. I spent a ridculously long time going through a peer-reviewed review article for my essay. "HMGB1 Mediates Endogenous TLR2 Activation and Brain Tumour Regression" from the Public Library of Science. 3 letters pretty much sums up the whole article. W.T.F.
Here's a happy little picture of green chimeric mice for you
My little mice are happy to see you. They've been injected with Brain Tumours, yay! Ever article I read bored me to tears. But I managed to somewhat complete the essay with just 1 referral to a cited article regarding "Combined Immunostimulation and Conditional Cytotoxic Gene Therapy Provide Long-term Survival in a Large Glioma Model" Yes, these were also injected into the happy little green mice. There was another chart on happy little red chimeric mice too!

The lectures today weren't that bad. It was really about genetic variations and stuff like that. The second lecture was pretty simple as it was more about hereditary traits and a revision of Meiosis I and II. I got my first essay back, I got 6/6! yay! Some of the other people didn't do as well though but it was a good thing no one failed. I confirmed my schedule regarding the Biology exam. I'll have to sit for it after the 3 hr biology lab next Thursday. There is also a revision test before the lab. I'm having a heart attack from the overwhelming joy... So in summary, 1 biology test, 1 biology exam on Thursday, and my Chemistry exam on Friday (most probably). Pardon me dearies if i start becoming incomprehensive and emo in the next week or so.

(Foreword: The following paragraph might be fairly incomprehensible as it'll just be mindless bitching about the trouble trying to get a form signed between two different faculties)

After lectures today, I had to run around lower campus to get the clash of timetable form signed by the respective course authorities. Thankfully, the lecturer in-charge of Biochemistry was one of my lecturers for the Biology course I'm taking now. She's such a nice lady. I'm glad that she'll be teaching me again next semester. The other course is Calculus for Life Science. That one was the one that caused me the most trouble. Had to get to the 3rd floor of the crappy maths building, find the old lady to look at my form, fill in another form (which I didn't have to do for Biochem), only to find out that I'm supposed to have enrolled in Biochem first, so I had to rush down to the Math Computer Labs to get myself enrolled since her lunch break is in 15 mins. I thought that'd be the end of my worries once I got down to the math labs, to my dismay, my user id and password wasn't accepted... I had to rush to the next nearest available computer, I quickly made my way to the law library when I realised that I could have used the computer at the Science Student office just opposite the maths building. I backtracked and got myself officially enrolled online into Biochem at the SSO and got back to the maths building with 5 mins to spare. When I got to the old lady's office, I found myself staring at a locked office. I was like "WTH, she said lunch was at 1 pm, why did she leave at 12:55?!?" Disappointed, I headed out to the reception and I found her hiding behind the computer monitor, trying to figure out a problem for her colleagues. I thought, "Phew! She's still here." After waiting for another 5 minutes, she gave up and we went back to her office to get my enrolment done. I was sadly mistaken, thinking that it was the end. She needed me to print out my timetable to find out the tutorial and lab timings... I was thinking to myself "omg... why didn't you tell me earlier!?!?!" There wasn't enough time for me to get it done as she was going for lunch so I just gave up and told her I'd be back tomorrow during the short breaks I've got in between Chemistry lectures. I felt so fatigued having to shuttle back and forth between buildings and offices in blistering 31 degree Australian heat... I went to Law Library to chill for a bit while I was waiting for papi to reach Kingsford. We were going to the club to have steak for lunch again. There were a few hot guys walking around today. I'm quite satisfied that I managed to turn their heads as I sauntered past with my usual genteel smile and demure facade. Under all that, I was actually swearing in my head from the insufferable heat.
Lunch was good as always, Papi and I discussed where I was going to stay in Singapore as Grandpa has become somewhat of an unhappy grouch. I was thinking of staying with my uncle at Bukit Timah which is as inaccessible as it is posh. His mansion is pretty nice! Papi started talking about "the best thing to do" vs "the right thing to do". Basically, he wants me to stay with grumpy grandpa even though there's a chance things could turn very ugly... I will really be needing all my skills in maintaining a porcelain smile while masking my emotions as I get verbally abused... It hurts alot more that he's my grandfather but it'll be a test of the extent of my ability.

Alright, enough of bitching about things which are still some ways off... It's hot, I'm tired, I'm getting naked, I'm taking a nap.

Lurbs yew long time,
Jo(n)

OMG, what happened to my hair?!?!

I basically narrowed my preferred hairstyle to these 2.

For the cute Asian guy’s hairstyle, sadly, my hair wasn’t long enough yet so I though, alright, it’s Summer now and hot as hell, I’ll save that hairstyle for Winter. It would go well with my Winter wardrobe. So hottie Chase Crawford’s hairstyle it is! I told the hairstylist that I’d like to keep my fringe and sideburns longer because it’s more versatile (for the occasional emo look with the black skinny jeans). The hairstylist just took a glance at the picture and I thought to myself, wow, he must either be very good or I’m in for a hell of a month of horrendous hair… On with the snipping, my lovely locks floated onto the tiled floor like autumn leaves. At the start, things were looking optimistic but alas, the massacre that ensued was utterly … disappointing… Not only had he given me the same hairstyle as the last 3 times I’ve been there, he had chopped off my lustrous fringe. To summarise everything, no Chase Crawford hairstyle, no fringe… When I asked which picture of the 2 pictures I had shown him earlier did this hairstyle he gave me resemble, he seemed relatively lost for words and pulled off a “it’s a bit of an in between. Guy’s hairstyle are almost the same, it’s just the method of styling.” I think that was the conversation that was going on. I was too disillusioned to remember the exact words. I will have to make do with what I’ve got for now. Hopefully by the time it grows longer, I’ll be able to mimic the Chase Crawford style. For the time being, it’s distasteful hair for me… I’ll have to use all my skills to try to create something presentable out of this mess… I don’t hate the haircut per se, it’s just not what I wanted though… :(

The date with A was cancelled. He did apologise for it and I completely understand his position. It will be highly unlikely for me to meet him again until I return from Singapore. Oh well, c’est la vie… I had a chat with Marvin last night. Avoid him at all cost! He’s so mean to me! ahahaha, just joking Marvz. He’s a pretty interesting fella. He labelled me an East Side Snob. I’m rather hurt from his defamatory dictum! Well, at least I'm not a … I think he put it was West Side Idiots… Can’t remember : )

The one in black is the first style I tried when I got home last night. The one where I’m in blue is a more toned down style I was trying today. Probably would look better if I had a longer fringe… I was using my Audio Technical Asadazakura wood ear-fit head phones in the picture. I don’t have the heart to bring that out of the house. I’d cry it someone scratched it :(

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I have to get my crappy essay for Biology done :( This should be the last essay assignment for Summer Term. But I’m going to go take a nap now… Feeling rather sleepy… Colour of contact lenses for the next 2 weeks : Green

That’s all for now.

Lurbs yew long time,

Jo(n)

Which to pick?

With too many choices, things get complicated. It’s such a bitch to pick really… University time table for Semester 1 2009 is really screwed up, I will really need to get that sorted out soon… As for my haircut, I’ve found a few pictures of what I think I might like to try. Will get the hair stylist to give me his best opinion.

 

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They’re all medium – long in hair length. So yea, will have to see if my current hair length will be suffice and all those other nitty-gritty factors.

Tonight’s date with A might be cancelled. He has some problems with a $500,000 deal caused by one of the staff members so he has to go do some damage control. I might see him, I might not. As long as I’m still in the city and he’s available. Today is sorta my “last night of freedom” before a massive cramming session for this Summer term’s exams. I will be sitting for my exams prior to the scheduled date so yea… it’s a real bitch.

Anyways, I’m feeling really tired now. Might go get some rest before I go for my haircut.

Lurbs yew long time,

Jo(n)

Overdue Post

Hi all,

Dilemma! To get a haircut or not! This was back when my hair was still somewhat shorter and possible to style. Now it’s … longer…

Oh and I’ve decided to do this “more about myself” post thing that most of the other bloggers have already done. Yes, I like to be fashionably late :p First, some interesting updates. I’ve got hot guys for lecturers for Biology and Chemistry! Woohoo! Looks like it’s going to be a somewhat interesting series of lectures! The guy doing the organic chemistry lectures is so vocally flamboyant! I luuurve him to bits! He used “analy retentive” and “bitch” and was complaining about the air conditioner not working in the lecture theatre and he actually took actions on that! We were near asphyxiation in the furnace of a lecture theatre this morning but he swapped the venues of the second lecture to the theatre in the Law building. That building rocks my socks! Everything is so… new! Next on the agenda, I will be going out on another date with A this Saturday. I don’t know whether it will work out or not but at the moment, my heart is still locked away. We’ll see how things go. Ok, so on to the main feature!

Name: Teo H.B. Jonathan David
Birthplace: Singapore
Current Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Eye Colour: Brown
Hair Colour: Brown with a bit of lighter brown highlights and dark brown roots (hair regrowth)
Height: Taller than Sukebe
Right Handed or Left Handed: Right handed
Your Heritage: Chinese, Partially Thai, Partially Peranakan, Partially European from Guan Yin Ma knows where (All these partially bits are rather diluted blood I think. I’m still discovering about more “bits”. Apparently, I’m the product of a massive gene amalgamation.)
The Shoes You Wore Today: Converse high tops “Explicit Content”
Your Weakness: Indifference
Your Fears: Insects :p
Your Perfect Pizza: BBQ Meat Lovers~ I looooove my meat ; )
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: Some rich sugar daddy to buy me my penthouse apartment suite at Darling Harbour.
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger: Lol/Lurbs yew long time
Thoughts First Waking Up:  “I should have slept earlier… WTH was I doing up so late last night…”
Your Best Physical Feature: I’m a humble little Nonya girl, no best physical features but Willy Mummy says it’s my lips? A says it’s my smile and eyes but then again, he says I’m cute all the time. He’s supposed to be using flattery in these sort of situations isn’t he?
Your Bedtime: 0100 – 0200 hrs
Your Most Missed Memory: Every memory is precious.
Pepsi or Coke: Coke
McDonald's or Burger King: Burger King~ I love Mushroom Swiss!
Single or Group Dates: Single
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Lipton Iced Peach Tea
Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate
Cappuccino or Coffee: Cappuccino
Do you Smoke: I smoke sausages ; ) I’ll leave you to interpret that.
Do you Swear: I don’t swear that much.
Do you Sing: When no one is listening
Do you Shower Daily: Definitely! Probably more than a normal person should. Ever wonder why Australia is having a water shortage? Well, now you know :p
Have you Been in Love: Crushes, yes. True-pure-selfless-noble-gallant type love? I don’t believe I’ve tried that yet.
Do you want to go to College: I’m currently studying at the University of New South Wales.
Do you want to get Married: Perhaps.
Do you believe in yourself: Depends on the situation. I’m pretty realistic most of the time.
Do you get Motion Sickness: Never experienced it.
Do you think you are Attractive: I’m a humble little Nonya girl, I blush at such questions. *blush behind a fabric fan*
Are you a Health Freak: Pretty much although I do indulge in sinful decadence once in a while.
Do you get along with your Parents: I somehow feel distant from them after I got back from NS.
Do you like Thunderstorms: Yes! I love thunderstorms!!
Do you play an Instrument: Alto Saxophone, Clarinet. I was thinking of learning the Cello. Such a sexy instrument, fits snugly in between my legs ; )
Ever been Drunk: Nearly, but never lost myself to the point where I couldn’t remember what I was did.
Ever been called a Tease: No. I’m brutally honest, well, when the time calls for it =p
Ever been Beaten up: No one has ever beaten me up.
Ever Shoplifted: No, a humble little Nonya girl like me comes from a good family. Theft would bring shame upon the family name. *blush behind the fabric fan again*
How do you want to Die: When I’m 30 years old, painlessly in my sleep.
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:  “When I grow up I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies!
When I grow up I wanna see the world, drive nice cars, I wanna have groupies!
When I grow up, be on TV, people know me, be on magazines!
When I grow up, Fresh and clean, number one chick when I step out on the scene !”
What country would you most like to Visit: Japan, Milan, Paris, London, Dubai, and a lot more.

No more Mahjullah Singapura, Here comes Advance Australia Fair

I have been thinking about this matter for quite some time. My Dad and younger sister have decided to give up their Singapore citizenship for an Australian one. Dad would have to sell the family property in Singapore and would be able to take out his CPF which is a reasonably large sum. The next course of action is to purchase a property here. At the moment, not too much pressure has been exerted for me to follow suit but Mum did suggest that I consider that alternative as University fees would be cheaper (I’ll get 20% discount if I pay upfront or I could opt for H.E.C.S which means I don’t pay for my Uni fees until I get an income over a certain amount.)  As she said, I don’t have anything tying me to Singapore. The pay in Australia is much higher than it would be in Singapore, and even if I was posted back to Singapore to work, it’d be as an expat which means I’d be earning more than a local anyways.

Mum’s right, I don’t have any assets tying me to Singapore but I do have sentiments and memories. I grew up in Singapore. Played in the bacteria infested sandy playground. Cried when I was late for Primary school Had the occasional mishaps here and there. Met wonderful people. Met not-so-wonderful people. Went through the hell that is the Singaporean Education System. My first crush was in Singapore. My first breath of air was in Singapore. Just thinking back to my childhood embarrassingly brings tears to my eyes. A flood of snippets from that time period just hit me like a brick wall. I can’t remember too much of the details because I’ve got other things on my mind at the moment but they are all fragments of my past. I am who I am, partially, because of that.

I found some of my baby pictures. They’re quite embarrassing but it’s funny and nostalgic at the same time.

We caught the scent of McDonalds! I’m the one in the middle by the way… Trained assassins since we were old enough to walk :p My giraffe outfit. I had the most mischievous grin ever! My little sister and me! She was still cute back then.

I came to Sydney before I collected my IC. That was ages ago. Since then I’ve made new friends, almost gotten used to the life here, still swear every now and then that the shops close way too early, I have become accustomed to Australia. It was only after I had completed Year 12 of high school that I had to return to Singapore for conscription. I remembered back then I was terrified. I had never been away from my family before. The loneliness was something I was unfamiliar with and not willing to try. My worst fear was about my sexuality. This may sound silly but there are no doors in the army showers. I feared the homophobia that might develop if I was “blacklisted” as “one of them”. (Thankfully I got posted to SCDF! Hurray for showers with doors!) To this day, no one has seen me completely nude since puberty. Not even the doctors during the medical checkups for enlistment. I have been spared the humiliation of having to “cough”

I wouldn’t mind being the doctor in this situation.

Life in C.D. has been quite an eye opener. No offence to the army guys, C.D. doesn’t train us to kill imaginary enemies, they train us to save real lives. Our basic training involved the same regimentation, the same shitty barber that shaves off your hair against your wishes and you still have to end up paying for it yourself, same hours spent leaning over boots with Kiwi, furiously polishing away for the next days’ foot drill, same stupid route marches, same hours of sweat in the sun (except mine was pretty much either in camp or in the furnace or the Mandai training village). I never got to shoot a rifle during NS though but I’ve got to see amputated limbs, twisted piles of flesh stuck between the wheels of the train and the railway tracks, road traffic accident cases, suicide cases with both good and bad endings.  I’ve made very close friends during the biggest waste of 2 years of my life. It was only when I was posted out together to the Public Affairs Branch to the the pioneer batch of Public Education Instructors with 4 other guys that I realised, I wasn’t alone. Out of the 5 of us, 3 of us were here on our own. One was from Hong Kong/UK and the other was from Japan/KL/Germany and there was me. The other 2 had their families in Singapore with them but we still went through the shit together without too much unpleasantness. We progressed from nearly-bald recruits through the ranks to private, lance corporal and finally corporal. I was meant to get to Sergeant but due to some medical conditions and the changes in directive, unable to despite my head of department’s expression of displeasure to HQ. Oh well, I didn’t really mind all that much. It was almost over anyways. I would have had to go for another course to become Sergeant anyways. =) During that time I got up to a lot of shenanigans. I had my first alcoholic drink in Singapore (I do not like beer!)

With a ciggie in hand (it’s not mine! Honest!) I couldn’t stop laughing when he tried to get me to take a picture.

Apart from drinking, I went to my first gay club in Singapore, did a strip dance, pole dance and a lot of sliding down poles (thanks to C.D. for that). It was a lot of fun. Treasured memories.

Oh time for dinner now, I hope this little trip down memory lane has been as entertaining for you as it has been nostalgic for me.

Lurbs yew long time,

Jo(n)

Despondency

Hi ya’ll,

Sorry for not blogging in a while. It’s been pretty hectic for the first week back at Uni’s Summer Term. The holidays are way too short! Absolutely outrageous! Biology has been as fun as always (labs are fun, lectures are fun for sleeping although sleeping during a lecture was never my intention). Chemistry on the other hand has been quite a  depressing wreck. Within 2 days, we covered thermodynamics. Usually this would take about 1 week I’m estimating during the normal semester. What a fool I was to think I could tackle this colossal undertaking which under normal circumstances would already prove to be a challenge, furthermore, with a Biology as another one of my core subjects on top of it! On a more positive note, Summer Term ends on the 30th January. Alluding to the melancholy that comes so lovingly attached to this brief flicker of happiness are the final exams. Chemistry and Biology to be scheduled on the 2nd and 4th of February respectively, I’ve had no choice but to request to sit for the exams on an earlier date due to my flight plans to Singapore on the 1st February. This is entirely THEIR FAULT! It was clearly stated on the University Calendar that Summer Term was to end on the 30th January 2009. With this, it means I’ll need to be packed for Singapore as well as fully prepared for my exams before the 30th.

I’ve spent the whole of this weekend attempting to complete Chemistry tutorial 7. I spent 4 hours mulling over 8e which dealt with equivalence points. That was the most depressing 4 hours in quite a while. Each failed attempt to obtain results that corresponded with the provided answer just brought me ever so much closer to the dark side… After getting distracted from a Skype conversation with David, I decided to concede to failure and move onto the 8f which was so much more easier. I decided to revisit my old friend, 8e. The next 10 minutes were … magical! I felt like screaming “Eureka”! I finally cracked the devious bastard! Victory is mine! I adjourned to the kitchen for some victory ice-cream as the weather was unfathomably sweltering! To think it was only 21 degrees yesterday! Bliss is indeed short-lived… My celebrated triumph over the Machiavellian 8e was reminiscent of the weather when up from the ashes of vanquished 8e arose question 9! Oh My Guan Yin Ma! Somebody save me! Along with my victory ice-cream, my happiness melted away… After attempting the confounded question about 10 times in 2 hours, I’ve decided to acquiesce to defeat. Failure seems to have taken a liking to me and we’re becoming more than just acquaintances. I feel a love-love-Daren-Kevin type relationship with Failure coming along…

Tomorrow/today/Monday, I’ll have to prepare for my Biology test on enzymes on Tuesday. God, I have no idea what to study for. This freaking sucks… And on top of that, I still have tutorial 8 to get done, and get a proper education in Thermodynamics. What the heck is E°red?!?!  This week will be organic chemistry. I am royally screwed…

Digressing from my epic tale of the love-hate relationship I have with Chemistry, I did managed to chat with A today. We webcammed for a bit while I was raptured into Chemistry heaven! He makes me smile with his entertaining attempts at flirtation. Well, I’m not going to say too much about what “stuff” went on in our conversation but I might most probably see him again this Friday after lectures or on Saturday. Confirmations have yet to be made but the prospects seems in favour of this decision. Oh, and I bought a new Logitech keyboard online. It’s sleek and has illuminated laser etched keys! Now I can type in the dark! Typing in the middle of the night has never been more fun!

I found some camwhoring pictures I took a while back when I was bored and it was hot. And a gay skanky pose I pulled while camming with David.

Depressed

I don’t usually dress this slutty, it was just really hot Come closer and I shall whisper sweet nothings in your ear, beware, for it may be the last thing you’d ever hear. The façade that hides the turmoil within

That’s all for today. I’ll try to take more interesting pictures.

Lurbs yew long time,

Jo(n)