Exploration? This sounds like fun!

Why didn't I have a book like this when I was a kid?

Hi ya'll. Sorry for not blogging for so long. I don't really have much to blog about but I've got ltos of pictures, well, kinda. Anyways, objective of this blog is to let you know I'm still alive and kicking, maybe not as furiously as I should but it'd be pretty inelegant for me to be caught kicking at all. Anywho...

This was a picture I took down the microscope from my last lab in Biology. I think it's the red blood cells undergoing mitosis. Around the 50 mark you can see the cell getting stretched. That's cytokinesis occuring.


Basket of pandas from the Zoo's gift shop. I thought of Tony when I saw this one. Toneeeeeeh!!

I bought one of the rabbits! They're so adorable! And they fit in my palm!

Polar Bear. Didn't buy him. Yes, it's a him. Because I said so.
Dugong. I didn't buy her. Yes, it's a her. Also because I said so.
Seal. I didn't buy him as well. I didn't want to spend that much money that day.
Another polar bear (i think) with a happier face.

The zoo was pretty fun. There was a fund-raising marathon at the Zoo that particular day. Quite a number of hot guys running the marathon. When they started running, we were at the Orang-Utan area. Some runners stopped to take pictures of the Orang-Utans. I was busy checking out the hot guys to bother too much about the monkeys. Only thing that worried me as if they were going to bombard me with crap from the trees.

Specialised Singapore Edition cups from Starbucks. (This pictures is dedicated to David.)

This is Miga. David sent it to me from Canada. Thanks David for the wonderful gift. I made Miga a male chimera. (Supposed to be a female according to David.)

Miga and Le Lapin. They're on my bed. I've never owned plushies before so these 2 are my first. And at the age of 21 (I know I'll be 22 this year but it's not for another 10 months so bugger off thanks!). Hurray for 2nd childhood!

Hmmm, that's about all. Oh, I almost forgot. This sunday I'll be going to the Victoria Bushfire Benefit Concert at the Sir John Clansey Auditorium at the University of New South Wales featuring performances by the Australia Ensemble @UNSW, The Song Company with William Barton, Sydney Brass, TaikOz, Taryn Fiebig, Diana Doherty, Kathryn Selby and more. I'll be going with Marvin. Should be fun if he mellows out a bit. Marvin is a wonderful guy but he's a bit too boisterous. I feel intimidated by him some times. But generally, he's nice. Marvin, behave yourself! =p

That's all.

Lurbs yew long time,
Jo(n)

Le Escapades de Singapura

Outside Queensway Shopping centre, opposite Alexandra Fire Station

Hello,



Sorry for the long absence. I've been out alot. I'll try to summarise things since there'd be alot of bitch about if i didn't. Continuing with the second day of the Kuching trip, it was raining alot. We went to visit the last one remaining from my grandparent's generation, my grand aunt. She's quite hilarious and in rather excellent condition given her age. We spent quite a while there. Spent a long time searching all over Kuching for this traditional delicacy called Kueh Jalah (I think that's how it spelt. That's how it sounds like anyways). Went to a relatively new shopping complex called Spring for dinner. The size wasn't too bad. Went back to my cousin's house and played with their 7 dogs while my niece had to get ready to go to bed for school tomorrow. My aunt brought us back home to rest.
The following day we were scheduled to leave back to Singapore at 16 25 hours. We had lunch with my grandaunt at this restaurant called Heritage. It was pretty good. Alot of food. I bought myself diamonds at DFS. Got back to Singapore around 17 30 hrs. The flight was pretty fast. Took a taxi to my uncle's place at Bukit Timah. Their house is reaaalllly big! Had dinner at their place and caught up with my younger cousins. Went to bed early, had to go to church the next day.
The church hall was renovated and was larger since the last time I was there. My dad had informed the pastor that we'd be in Singapore and going to church so there was no way my sister and I could have skipped church. We left after the service and went to Orchard. Met up with my cousin who's the same age as me. Had tea at Royal Copenhagen. It's my favourite tea place in Singapore. Had Earl Grey Tea with blueberry cheesecake and scones. It was really good. Caught "Bride Wars" before meeting up with my older sister for dinner at Great World City. We went to Crystal Jade for dinner. Picked up some stuff from her place and went back home.
On Monday, we went to town, withdrew our daily allowance of S$200 and went shopping around. In the afternoon, went back to my NS camp with 2 of my camp mates to visit some of our officers. The new guys cold slack off so much, we were rather envious! In the evening, my sister went to meet her friend, and I had dinner with Sukebe, Yang, and Sukebe's friend Gerald. (Sukebe said he was hot. I trusted him. I was disappointed.) We had dinner at Din Tai Fung. Sukebe paid for me because he made me wait for him. :p After dinner, Gerald left and we had dessert at Swensens with James. I left early because my little sister was waiting for me outside to catch a taxi back home.
The next few days have been pretty much the same, out to the city, withdraw our allowance from our bank accounts, shop till our feet hurt, have dinner, come back home, sleep. Today (11th Feb) was slightly different. I went to Vivo City, this massive shopping mall. I spent about... $140 on clothes today. It was fun. Had dinner with one of my friends, Alvin who works as a marketing executive for Vivo City. On the way to Orchard road in the evening, I saw the hottest guy EVER! I kid you not, I have not seen anyone else who could "dethrone" him, no one in our blogosphere could be a potential rival. It's as if he's in a totally different league. He was... WOW!! Tall (tallest guy in the train), flawless skin, VERY HOT BODY, well dressed, well groomed, everything just made him so much hotter. My eyes were fixated on him. I was a distance away so it wasn't that obvious. Which my heart was racing and body starting to quiver, there was an obnoxious lady that blocked my view with her head. I had a sudden urge to cut off her head for blocking my view of the Adonis. I was depressed to leave but it was my stop. Went to Zara and put some stuff on reservation. Reserved a long sleeved V neck t-shirt, a scarf and a hoodie with fur lining. Nothing like wearing a fake dead animal for winter. Had dinner with some friends and went walking around till it was around 2200 before going back home.
So nothing much too interesting has happened except for Adonis. He was ... WOW!! That's all I can say. A true Adonis.

Take care everyone!

Lurbs yew long time,
Jo(n)

(Oh and have a happy valentine's day. If you're alone and miserable, you can join my club and we can boycott V-Day together)

Sleepy :(

 

It has been a pretty long day. I got to Singapore on Sunday evening. Warm and humid, not my favourite combination! We had to transit in Darwin. That place is a serious crap hole! The only thing separating the international from domestic is a pathetic glass wall. The didn't have anything good in there at all. Well, their DFS did have Moet & Chandon and Dom Perrignon so I'll give them some credit for carrying it. But other than that, it was pretty sad. Once we landed in Singapore, we headed to the hotel. It was a really small room. But it was acceptable for the price we were paying for it. I would say it's relatively cheap.

The first "official" day we went there began with going to the Australian High Commission to get Bee Bee's expired visa sorted out. Had to pay $246 just for a stupid sticker in the passport. After that it was off to the bank! UOB bank was some ways off so we took the bus. We had our "fun savers" account still in tact there but that was eons ago! We couldn't close the account without our mum's signature but we managed to get a new pass book for the account. Our verification method was still recorded as our thumb print. We attempted to change that into our signature and withdrew $200 while we were at it. It was quite a long wait. I went to deposit some money into my other bank account and then we went shopping! I bought my Yves Saint Laurent L'Homme perfume. It is my signature scent.

Well, I've already got the limited edition barometer-dildo looking one so I got the other one with the metal cap instead. Bought Mushroom Swiss burgers from Burger King and went back to our room for lunch. It was heavenly! Haven't had mushroom swiss for ages! We rest for a bit and went to the Heeren for dinner with Kenji and Terren my army mates. The restaurant we wanted to go to, Lemongrass had closed that branch. We were so disappointed. I really missed that place! We went to Paragon to eat Din Tai Fung instead. After dinner we hung around Orchard. Terren sent us back to the hotel.

The next day we went to Bugis to meet up with James and Rachel. He blogged about it with pictures so I wouldn't go into too much details. He's a really nice guy :D I'm glad we got to meet without Sukebe. After that I had to go back to the hotel to freshen up and drop off our stuff. I went back to town to get the cake for Grandpa with some stuff we'd leave with my sister who was also staying there as we'd be leaving for Kuching in Malaysia on the 4th. I went to see a few salespeople I've made friends with while I was staying near Great World City while waiting to meet up with Lydia as she was coming back from work. I went to Kokoro and bought a box of Yubari Melon Chocolates for one of my relatives. Those chocolates are absolutely exquisite. They're not too sweet and have to soft aftertaste of melon. I've loved those chocolates since the first day I've tasted them. I also went to "That CD Shop". They were having a limited edition release of house music from their own house label called "High Society". It's music that's exclusively to the franchise. Their music director/compiler is Herri Something. I forgot his last name but I really like all the High Society cds he's released. I reserved one of the limited edition sets. It came in the most elegant box which a gold lock and key. That cost about $100 but I had a membership discount card which got me 5% off. I didn't buy it there and then because my sister would have a fit from me spending $100 on cds. We visited the grandparents. It didn't turn out as nasty as I thought it'd would. We had dinner together and Bee Bee and I headed back for the hotel after that.

We got up early to go to the bank again as we'd heading off to Kuching today. I've been withdrawing $200 per day from the UOB bank. So sad, I'm getting poor. We went to lucky plaza to look at cameras. Bee Bee bought a pretty good camera. I didn't buy anything today. We went to Daisou and I bought 2 japanese folding fans. I can do a proper geisha dance now :p We went back to our hotel to repack our stuff before heading to the airport. Oh, during breakfast at McDonalds, there was this pretty hot chinese guy in a long sleeve shirt and a bow tie with a LV bag (I could tell). We caught the plane to Kuching. It was a pretty short flight 1 Hr 20 mins. Wasn't too bad. We were stuck at the airport for a bit because we had calling difficulties contacting our relatives to pick us up. I called Alex but he still didn't come rescue me. What a mole! Anyways, I made it in piece and we went out for dinner and I just got back.

Feeling really sleepy now, nite all,

Lurbs yews long time!!

Jo(n)

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)