being mean

ok time to blog again after a pretty interesting thanksgiving and a horrid follow up week trying desperately to clear multiple projects.

PH 329 = nerd central. hmm, on second thoughts, it should be called the united nations of geeks. omg.. the people there are so irritating at times that i had to blast my pandora whilst working on my stupid stupid final report. that being said, me staying at nerd central till 3.00am yesterday makes me pretty darn sad as well. =(

black friday stampede = really retarded. honestly discounts don't exactly mean free, so poor guy. aniwez, i think i suck at getting bargains so black friday traditionally irritates me as i lament quite abit over the state of events of my wardrobe. ahhh.. whatever

amazing race 12 clearly casts for idiots when u have retard dan and bumbledrew getting into final 3. ok honestly, the marching fiasco could be considered as one of the most inept displays of psycho-motor capabilities. he even made epileptic people look more athletic than him. (ok thats being mean to epileptic people)

the days go by

i am so addicted to katy perry's hot and cold.

tried out mahogany grill today.. had some superb sweet potato fries with a delish basil pesto beef burger.. yum!

hmm.. honestly this week feels wierd.. cos it's midweek and i was surprisingly stripped off most of my work.. kinda aimless surfing the net, not knowing what to do.. lol! but yeah.. i'm SUPER PISSED that i missed boxing as well as quite an important computer vision class cos i apparently overslept.

i don't get it actually. i woke at 7.00am with a start remembering that i had forgotten to set the alarm, so i set it for 8.00am and went back to snooze. next thing i knew.. it was 10.30 -_-. my boxing partner isn't gonna be very pleased considering i berated him for not appearing last lesson.. lol.

cw's stylista and antm is honestly a pile of dog doodoo. seriously, stop eliminating talented contestants for absolute duds (Samantha) and utter super mega evil bitches(Megan), borderline neurotic alternates (Ashlie) and yeah, the borderline retarded (Kate).

in other reality tv news, terrance and sarah have officially become my favorite team in an otherwise pretty dull-ish vershion of TAR. i remember last season where i was pretty miffed when christina and ron lost. -_- why do i like T&S? let's see... cos they are unintentionally funny, borderline neurotic and utterly stupid at times.. be it searching through bird shit/seeds for clues, commenting about the evil chilli peppers man who refused to relent despite seeing the 'obvious suffering' they were enduring, running half the town trying to search for marked cars... ahh.. comic relief.

i want to go out this weekend. lol. i missed the decemberists last weekend cos (a) i had a psych prelim the next day (b) everyone pang-sehed me at the last minute. -_- so yeah i ended up drowning my boredom-induced sorrows with amazing race and brenda's housewarming party.. OK it was fun.. i take that back.

haha.. aniwez i tried some quiz on facebook once regarding sounds on my playlists.. hmm.. let's see.. songs that elicit some form of emotion in me:

top spun songs on my ruckus playlist
viva la vida, coldplay: i dunno. i like it.
you and me, lifehouse: i want to ice-dance to this song, do a triple waltz jump or something
cold shoulder, adele: sounds pretty bitter eh
damaged, danity kane: there must be a reason why girl bands never work out.
feels like tonight, daughtry: i so wanna perform this song, complete with rotating cameras and some emotional montage running on the background
stop and stare, one republic: love love love it
open your eyes, snow patrol: i dunno.. perhaps because of youtube videos i've watched, this song is just.. emotional

grace a-visiting

so my eldest sis came to visit me in nice, warm ithaca (i'm not kidding) for the weekend.. and i must say, it was such a blessing and such fun.. =). i mean i've kinda reached a sad realization that the past few weekends consisted of rushing for projects, getting stressed over 4 prelims or something along the same vein.

but yeah, despite the fact that two prelims LOOM ahead early next week, i took time off this weekend to bring my sis for a tour around beautiful ithaca, and the weather gladly complied to bring about the most smashing outdoorsy weather one could hope for.. i mean, if ithaca was like this everyday, you wouldn't see me studying at all!

aniwez, it was fun to revisit favourite places like farmer's market, andrew d.white library, taste of thai lol.. i kinda see how matching my sis and her husband are.. with their fascination for technological gadgets (they tried to buy the i-robot, some floor-cleaning robot that set me off from an AI-perspective -_-), and also their liking for photography etc..

ok so aniwez, some comments. the heights has gone down the proverbial drain in my epicurean notions, after the nightmarish serving of disgustingly fatty beef. i mean, there's like chicken wings glistening in fat and there is just.. disgusting fat, the type that conjures up images of fat bastard in austin powers.. EWWWW.

farmer's market is so quaint, and is like the accidental tourist attraction. uber-cool. carriage house is delish but i quickly realized that eating brunch at 10.00am just means eating breakfast at 10.00am. -_- oh, and i love taste of thai's kai-kua.

gastronomy aside, buttermilk falls is on my list of places to explore once the weather goes warm again.. hiking anyone?

so yeah.. that was about it. stupid prelims and my conscience prevented me from continuing the journey with them to new york city, but i hope they have fun traipsing down 5th ave and watching altarboyz.. lol..

artificial intelligence tedium

makanmania has come and gone.. i floved the designs that the design team did and i think the atmosphere we generated was amazing.. kinda really did hit it out of the park this time holding it in Duffield... yay!

i HATE Sudoku, AI, and anything that remotely connects to it.. my Halloween weekend was spent at the mercies of an AI homework, relentlessly coding and debugging and running tests on our Sudoku puzzle, whilst the general populace gallivanted and dressed up as a smorgasbord of characters like Greek gods, boxers, Fred Flintstone, native dancers and the likes.. how fun..

crossword puzzles are fast becoming my new addiction. my limit is still at wednesday puzzles.. thursday puzzles kill me with the impossible connections that they make.. re, holdup man? = atlas.. wow

geez.. i sound so boring.. hopefully i can finish my shitload of work this week and get to go to NYC with my sis this weekend.. =)

when it rains, it pours

ithaca is bitterly cold after a sequence of non-stop rain showers these two days. which means that our efforts in chalking have gone down the proverbial drain.. zzz oh wellz

makanmania is gonna happen soon. oct 25th. come if you are around the region. lol

i am now a confirmed psychology and electrical engineering major. woot! i just kinda cannot surpress this burst of happiness when i look at my next semester's schedule and see things like:

psych 3470 - psychology of visual communication
psych 3250 - adult psychopathology
cis 3000 - computer game design
dance 2240 - dance technique workshop

honestly, God is great. it really feels super good to take courses i actually like. =) well, i hope i can get into all the courses.. and err.. that isn't my complete schedule, i still have ece courses of course.. duh!

speaking of which, i've also settled my apartment for next year.. gonna stay in eddygate with some hong kong dudes.. quite a change i guess, but i think it'll be genuinely fun and different. =)

i danced a choreographed piece for evelyn this tuesday for her dance composition class and felt super wierdish at first.. haha but i realise i got this 'concentration-mode' where i block out everything and just.. dance. haha.. was a cool experience. this coupled with me agonizing over leaps on monday's dance class, agonizing over my failed block and upper-cuts during tuesday's boxing class and agonizing over painful blisters in my feet due to wednesday's dance class amounts to a very tired frank.

i wonder how next semester will be. =)

oh.. and now that project runway has ended on such a nice note.. I HAVE LOST MY WEDNESDAY ENTERTAINMENT!!! argggh!

because fall pictures are never enough

fall in ithaca.. swoonsome

pre-fall nyc trip

so it's time to catch up on updating, and i'll start with my pre-fall nyc trip with my sis which was loads of fun! (besides the fact that my sis didn't seem entirely too impressed with the places i brought her to.. ahh wellz..)

i'll let the photos speak for themselves

nyc skyscape
bryant park in the summer
more bryant park.. how tranquil
times square
my sis looking ponderously out of MoMa
MoMa exhibit.. cool shit
guggenheim
met.. i think this was the grecian piece that inspired Rami in PR4
me and my sis.. cool people.. hahahahah
outdoor gallery in met

wowza... back from sabbathical

woo hoo.. that was a long gap.. i think no one's here anymore, but yeah.. here's tons of updates.

i'm officially a dual degree student!!! yup.. psych and electrical engineering. i'm a electrifying psychologist. haha... i mean, i really thank God that he gave me a chance to do this, because honestly, it was one of my dreams to really have a varied education in both the arts and sciences. i love alot of my classes this semester even though i've been really stretched to the limit these few weeks with relentless homeworks, essays, projects and prelims flying at me...

the only reason i could take a breather was cos it's FALL BREAK! so glad there's a break even though the idea of break here in US seems to be just a paltry, miserable TWO DAYS along with two days of weekend. how stingy man. aniwez, i've spent the first day of fall break dutifully trying to cure myself of jetlag, and of course, prepping up MY NEW COMPUTER!! eat your heart out linken as i now have the latest sony vaio in my hand.. woohoo.. =) (btw, linken, i think mariah's new song sucks big time, i kept hearing "i like to be a chicken neck" in here song or something.. wierd)

hmm.. what else to say? i've been dabbling in so many interesting ventures this semester, going regularly for fellowship with campus crusades, designing tons of publicity material for makanmania, and thoroughly enjoying my PE courses! i'm taking dance technique and boxing this semester and haha.. i feel kinda like billy elliot.

but it's SO FUN. somehow i feel my own self-censure, lack of courage and the general singaporean close-minded and opportunity-limited scene would have rejected my attempts to just enjoy myself and do things i like. i love trying to do choreography, just enjoying dance, and then the next day switching gears and work out the stress by punching people.. lol.. it's been really really fun. something i really have to say about the singaporean education is that everything has to have a purpose, you join a CCA to compete in nationals, to gain points, to have a good resume, and if you suck, well too bad at that. everything is measured by accolades, SYFs, gold medals and the likes, and somehow, enjoying a sport or enjoying yourself just went out of the window. i don't like that..

hmm.. alritez.. i'm leaving you guys with my publicity materials for makanmania!!


this was my first, lichtenstein-inspired poster.. but some people said it was self-indulgent and too esoteric.. geez.. engineers...


this was my third, warhol-inspired poster.. it's warhol because of the iterations and the funky colors.. i think this will be our main poster.. notice i fail to mention the second, "tailored-to-everyone", the boring, simple poster that just slaps pictures of food and advertises the event. HONESTLY, you couldn't spell trite and boring better than that.. but oh well, there was some point in the fact that makanmania should be more about the food... FINE. so i'm now the misunderstood artist. lol


this is the quartercard design, which just did a variation of the third poster, and made it more 'underground' and dirty.. i absolutely adore this design somehow, but everyone else seems to think the quartercard misses the point cos it looks like it is advertising some underground dance performance or some zouk event.. sigh..

long time no blog

oops.. bad frank.. so caught up with work that he has no time to blog.

...

yeah right. lol.. somehow being at home turf doesn't inspire much blogging it seems. my dad seems to be begging me to blog.. lol.. wonder why.

oh, in case i have not regaled the issue ad nauseum to you, MY DAD IS ON FACEBOOK. and is very, very intent on getting more friends. my initial reaction to this piece of nice was abject horror commingled with a bewildering sense of panic. but after much thought, it's actually pretty cool to have techno-savvy parents whom are articulate about skype, facebook, youtube and the likes! haha..

aniwez, singapore has this certain allure that attracts me after just a few weeks and now that i'm one week away from leaving this beautiful island, its just a bottle of mixed feelings. the great american experience beckons once again, but singapore is still unique, with all my friends, family and memories. how cool. =)

internship has been generally boring, but it alludes to the general working life eventually, to which i'm glad i have a great bunch of friends that will eventually share this experience with me, along with tennis-buddies, gym-buddies and the likes.

haven't done much this time round, just.. settling back in, buying stuff once again (yeah, breaking my resolve to NOT shop. -_-), having exorbitant haircuts that look quite similar to those you get in QB (haha.. but i think the experience is cool), going for atas lunches, dinners and get frightened of soy products and carbs in general.

time just moves too fast. oh well. i'll wait for eternity. lol

the months in summary

people have been commenting that i've not been updating.. so here goes.. photo-blog style yet again.


new attitude @ lousiville


southern ridges treetop walk


hort park


singapore skies


my dad gawping @ the treetop walk


near home


somehow the focus was a bit off


lakeview skyscape

american boy

so it's been 3 weeks.

work has been particular frustrating, not because it's especially difficult or frenetic, but that it's characterized by a nauseating, "armyesque" tediousness and mundaneness. honestly, i do feel like complaining, but on realising that (a) it's neither the fault of my nice colleagues, mentors or buddies but rather, the system (b) i kinda really have to suck it up since i obviously can't quit, and being a soppy miserable twat ain't gonna improve anything, i think i better just adopt a new attitude. =)

but wow. no wonder people don't like working once they've started. thankfully i still have 2 more years to considerable bliss. yippee! thing is, even if u do nothing much @ work, monday blues are still excruciating and you just feel apeshit tired after every day of work that one can't function properly except to head home eagerly and collaspe on the sofa or something. geez, dun get me started (weeping) on my fitness. =(

aniwez, i think the last waves of reverse culture shock has all but ebbed away as I prepare to be completely assimilated into the singapore culture. already, i'm starting to 'talk' right. lol.

this weekend was my church's 35th mission convention and lemme just say, for a small church like mine, contributing 13 million in 35 years and being so faithful in missions is no small boast. but well, glory to God. =)

i feel like i've learnt so much and have grown so much closer to God this year.wow. thank God! i'm starting to see how beautiful heaven is, how urgent the 'mission' is and how everything is beautiful in God's time. more updates to follow if things actually come to pass. the thing is, i think its really a paradigm shift, where i realise the importance of God's work as compared to everything else. =)

alright.. that's enough of updates now. i really need to bring my camera round to take pictures of singapore scenescape. it's.. so architecturally invigorating.

oh. and i love my music, thanks to ruckus. and i cannot live without surfthechannel. =) lol.

before i forget..

so it's been two weeks since i've come back, and i think i've finally gotten used to the life here in singapore again. the constant showers amidst the feel of slick perspiration, the slaughtered mangled english, the sudden population explosion and labyrinthine developments @ orchard road and the likes.

things have changed. they really have. and i'm kinda a bit dejected by the fact that i spent so little effort in maintaining the frienships here. it feels like a reverse culture shock, something familiar yet so disconnected. but well, i'm not going to complain, there's much much more in my mind now to contend with, lots of prayers and communications required with God as I iron out issues. =)

NewAttitude
was a blast. how can it not be when you have a motley crew of John Piper, Joshua Harris and CJ Mahaney all coming to one convention and speaking. but what made me all the more overjoyed was the amount of christian support and fellowship i experienced with the group i travelled with. everyone was so passionate, mature and loving and it made the trip all the more fun. I honestly started the trip with slight trepidation but fully believing God's ways are wonderful. and it was indeed. we went as a group of strangers and we came back have sharing much of ourselves and having prayed much for each other. it was indeed a period of fellowship and growth for me. =)

the conference also made me confront many issues that I had been struggling with for quite awhile i would say.. and well.. i got answers and help. but the uncomfortable truth is, somehow i still struggle with the idea of doing what I believe in and saying. it seems like a lifelong lesson...

well.. back to work for now. =)

new attitude

i think pictures say it all. what a blessed and fun trip it was!


the road trip of a lifetime.. lol..ithaca --> louisville, kentucky and back

the way overdue grad nite post

ok jianmin has been pestering me to do since everyday since grad nite ended, and since I'm grasping between acclimatizing to singapore's slick humidity, torrid crowds and my own jet-lagged induced ill-ease, I shall do everyone a favour and just write it.

here goes:

the theme was supposed to be 'Search for the Lost/New World' with visions of Indiana Jones inspired equitation/outdoors solid-sy kinda fashion scheme. which obviously everyone promptly ignored and turned up in the oh-so-normal black suits, ties and party dresses. I don't blame anyone. Considering pyramid mall is like our orchard road and that even abecrombie has forsaken that place, we're kinda sunk in a fashion-less quagmire. oh well, let's not digress.

so yeah, the theme was that, and it was held @ the deceptively looking Olivia restaurant. i say deceptive because the restaurant facade brings up suspicions of entering an abandoned warehouse. but no, in it was a cozy lounging area for cocktails, and a backyard decorated inconspicuosly (sigh) with flowers as well as non-working heater-lamps. alrite, let's not mention that as well.

people started arriving around five-ish onwards and the lounge was soon packed with eager seniors taking many photos and well as a few precious freshmen who were conned into coming (lol). jac/cheewei/christina hogged the prime photo spot and ian went all-in at the bar counter whilst the rest gulped their cocktails, wines and the occasional root beer (yes, yankai, you). though i must say i found the riesling destestable. geez.

Dinner was served cold outside (again another roll eyes) but the food was deemed good by our resident michelin-starred chef junch (yay!). Amidst the merry drinking and eating we threw in a few nostalgic games of taboo (recall cny dinner) as well as the question game (recall last yr). taboo was a riotous table-vs-table battle of wits and laughs (well, especially with zee's well-intentioned hints) that was closely fought. we had the noisiest guy and the most talented actress of the batch, HY and Christina act out a short sequence which became intepreted as Posh Spice and David Beckham arguing over buying a house on the moon (!?). Nice try guys, we were actually opting for the more conservative 'British couple aruging about houses in the British countryside?' But yeah, that was creative and good job to the actor/actress duo.

the question game was pretty obvious in parts and surprising in others. cheewei won most likely to have a nose-job and nearly swept most likely to be picked up in the gay bar, which landed in the arms of our resident young-boy joel. (cheewei is still miffed that joel had a larger entourage than he did) joel's roomie, junch won 'most likely to be the first millionaire', our dear old prez, GJ won 'most likely to retire to malaysia' and the list goes on.

we moved back indoors when the cold threatened to really spoil the mood, and had dessert bites whilst watching the requisite grad nite video thanks to the hardwork of jm and jessie. the video made several points - HY is the noisiest guy, zee is the funniest guy, and Yonglin only seeks beauty, not brains. After that it was more chillin' and checking out the grad nite gift courtesy of josh/gq which consisted of informative cards of the personalities of the senior batch before the night finally wore down and we bade farewells.. and headed for afterparty!

-- frank

newattitude

was SO fun! and so rewarding...

i kinda realized it was only the prompting of the holy spirit that made me so willing to go for the conference, and wow.. i'm thankful of having made the trip. to be amongst so many peers who had such heart and passion for God, to worship with such meaningful songs, and to listen to sermons by Joshua Harris, John Piper etc but most importantly, to hear God speak to me, and just re-express my love and longing for a deep relationship with God.

and the company was so great that it made everything much more fun as well! roadtrippin' 14++ hrs was pretty 'unique' (ha!) as well, but all in all.. so glad to have been there. =)

blog revamp

you know, i've been wondering what my blog is accomplishing these few days. with my tag board defunct and me honestly not caring to get another, and with absolutely no comments for any posts whatsoever.. i'm starting to wonder whether i'm talking to myself to a wall or something. well, i do know this is a portal for people in singapore to get a glimpse of my life, and yeah, it gives me a chance to reflect on life, and respond to what God wants me to do in my life.

more and more, I become conflicted of whether to write my deepest thoughts and my quiet time reflections about God and about issues, considering how exposed they will make me. but honestly, i think I'll be more of a blessing sharing stuff important to me, than to hide everything. so yeah.. this is the tone i'll adopt.

if you wonder why the previous post was brief and not in depth in anyway, well it's cos i was conflicted in what to include and what to not.

thing is, I felt absolutely blessed and in fact a little ashamed that God acceded to my insecurities and pleas to 'fit in' and to experience the 'American life' -- something that seems to me so fake, shallow and just, insecure. honestly, i thank God again and again for just giving me this opportunity that though the activities mean nothing much, and the stuff i did seem commonplace, but somewhat whole a huge significance in my life.

you see, I came to America with silly motives. one was (literally) to join survivor and amazing race and win. another was bcos I want to take other courses besides my own major. the finally, I think one I refused to admit was that I was enamoured with the american lifestyle. it's something you want to feel 'entitled' and to be connected with. so yeah, 3 meaningless, senseless reasons brought me to the states.

but then, things became pretty clear that no. 2 was not gonna be possible. and as I sank deeper and deeper into my psychological quagmire of the singaporean community in Cornell, i realised how my life was so out of America despite physically being there. I had practically no non-Asian friends/acquaintances and yeah, didn't even need to talk to anyone within my own secure bubble. so there goes no. 1 and 3.

but then this semester made me realise why God brought me to US -- it was to reconcile with my own thoughts of Christianity and for me to mature spiritually. left to my own devices, i owe it to everyone's prayers and God's grace that I actually never left God despite so many distractions.

God showed me so many amazing things in US. He exposed my insecurities in fellowship, with the sad conclusion of FCS and my lack of attendance until this semester. He told me how America might seem decadent and no longer God-fearing on the media, but that it was a nation of opportunity, of God-fearing people, of worship, spiritual growth and such great Christian network. Finally I realised why I had come - the opportunities were so great - the Ivy Congress, next week's New Attitude, the great people I met and will be meeting. And honestly, I thank God constantly whenever I worship in the different churches across America and the world that I have experience because I truly feel and understand what it means to be part of God's great family.

which leads me to the trip to Franklin, something completely random and honestly, pretty wierd. I came from Cornell, attending the Ivy Congress, Andrew pretty much crashed the Congress after his global health seminar, coming from UNC Chapel Hill. So yeah, we met at Yale, talked for one night and then in a few months I flew over to visit him. If you ask me, that's pretty random.

The thing is, I thank God for his friendly spontaneous offer and just the few days I spent with his large family and his friends, doing things that was truly 'American' and things I realised I just ignored despite spending two years here. I mentioned not having touched a football, I mentioned not understanding what the deal was with children in children books complarining about yard work and mowing the lawn. But it was more than the American experience, God bringing me to such a large family, showed me what a blessing it was to have siblings that were of the close age and to be able to fool around/play around. And it's just all these random reflections that made the trip so memorable.

and I really thank Andrew for extending such a warm welcome, as well as all the people I met in Franklin. Andrew is seriously a great guy with a disarming smile and has the similar tendencies like my second sis to want to please every single person around him. haha. but yeah, thanks for all the 'talking about God' sessions and just having someone (finally!) to just chat about life, about God despite us being from two different worlds.

So yeah.. that's about it I share now.. my life is still a work a progress, hopefully that I will give it up for God to shape and chisel. =)

next stop: Louisville, Kentucky

destination: franklin

wow.. what a frenetic few weeks.

exams are done and hopefully i've done well. i aimed too high this semester which kinda is causing heartache but oh well..

went to franklin, NC for the past few days to see andrew and kinda meet his friends/family etc and honestly it was a blast. honestly, i'm kinda astounded how i've been in the US for 2 years and counting and yet have never (i) touched a football (ii) done yard work (iii) crashed an american house for meals.. etc etc..

so honestly, i was intrigued by the simplest things and yeah.. it was great cultural exchange. we went rock climbing, cliff jumping, went behind a waterfall (that was so cool), chilling at local cafes, doing yardwork (haha!) and just.. well, to me it was kinda the quintessential american experience.. which kinda was the best thing for me since coming to US. haha!

and it's just so random when i look back at it. kinda really is God's hand and God's grace involved.. yeah.. Thank God!

grad nite + after party

grad nite was fun! after party was wild! and yeah.. it's time to study so everything's gonna be on hold.



joseph, me, jessie (yup, my new cousin.. hehe), crazy ian, marvin

just in time for spring

i've kinda forgotten how bitterly cold and miserable ithaca is 90% of the time, considering how smashing the weather is these few days. finally!


flowers galore!


i love the macro function. haha


sitting at the creek. we should seriously have a barbeque there one day.. swimming + barbeque.. ahh


we built the stonehenge. and destroyed it in a shotput challenge


ahhh.. some rants though, i think american weather + haistylists do not agree with asian hair at all. there are only two kinds of hair days here. the bad, and the plain freaky. geez.

of barbeques, tennis and sunglasses

just finished a whole slew of coding/work/homework/studying.

i could finish up my blogging about the conference @ yale, my london trip, but honestly, now all i want to do is GET OUT THERE AND ENJOY THE SUN!

Woot!

oh yeah.. go listen to circleslide.. somehow i'm looping their music in my computer (thanks to the ivy congress).. how interesting it is that the first rockish type of band performance i had was in a high class hotel amidst a chirstian conference.. haha

Living For Your Glory

What good is it to gain the whole world, but lose your soul?
What good is it to make a sweet sound, but remain proud?
In view of God’s mercy, I offer my all


And take my life, let it be everything, all of me
Here I am, use me for Your glory
In everything I say and do, let my life honor You
Here I am living for Your glory


The road I’m on that leads nowhere without You
And the life I live that finds meaning and surrender
In view of God’s mercy, I offer my all


Seeking first the Kingdom
Seeking first the Kingdom of my Lord

-- this song really moved me to tears at the Ivy League Conference today, with a culmination of inspiring speeches and heart wrenching pleas from the persecuted. I'm SO glad i came to the states. I'm so humbled and thankful for the fact that I have been so blessed. Take my life, God.

not a-mused

sometimes nothing serves better as a wake up call than a badly done prelim. hmmz

london journeys, part two

Day 2
so the riverside sojourn continues and honestly, i kinda fell in love with london at that point. everything was so.. romantic and just artsy and bohemian. lol



architecture heaven


prerequisite artsy dock-shot


i wouldn't mind a stroll down here everyday


tamesa oxo for our dinner! kinda pricey but omg... they serve THE BEST CREME BRULEE EVER. forget about madeleine's chocolate creme brulee, here they serve apricot creme brulee which honestly, was heavenly.


us rushing across to head toward covent garden for a night of ballet! haha.. honestly i was impressed. the ballet WAS good. and yeah 'sleeping beauty' got ian pretty sleepy as well.. lol


intermission time


the theatre is pretty grand.. something that looked like it was plucked out the phantom of the opera.


so after some great ballet, we headed back to the hostel where i had a most interesting conversation with my roommates, niall and marcellus. basically, a singaporean, an irish and a argentine talking about stuff from art to photography so the best city in the world and the worst. niall was just completely dismayed to be in london due to the horrid weather especially after vacationing in nice whereas I was just coming out one of the most beautiful walks in london. so yeah.. fun times. =)

haha.. this is going so slowly, but im gonna go sleep. nitez!

blogging about london, part one

london was a blast! here's a shout out to weihan, ziyang, ben, xiuf, lipen, william and so on so forth who were so welcoming and 'educational' in telling me where to go.

the trip honestly turned out more fun than expected and london just makes me wish I had chosen imperial to study in. lol.. i'm such a city kid.

day1 - south kensington - v&a, natural history museum, covent garden, riverside

day1 was pretty much a bummer because i was shagged out by no only the time diff and also because airindia has pretty much killed 80% of my brain cells by switching off the bloody ventilation for half of the flight. meaning it was as hot and stuff as India for half of the flight. wasn't too pleased.

well aniwez, we didn't want to waste the afternoon away, so we traipsed down to v&a for some modern art infusion.



entering via the subway entrance


when you have that as your centerpiece, you scream modern.


view from above


spot me? this was the balcony that allowed us to see the casting courts, which contained amazing reproductions of stuff like trajan's column, to david, to the school of athens. it's quite amazing seeing all of them in one same room.


this is really pretty amazing


view from outside. if you notice a difference in picture quality, YESS.. it's because i'm ripping off from brenda's photo collection, which is so uber good. haha

next up was natural history museum, where honestly i was so wiped out i was searching more for benches to rest and sleep rather than at exhibits


after night at the museum, nat history museums will never be the same again


this was the jewel gallery. pretty amazing shit here, but i was too comatose to enjoy.


i was in this slanted-shot and back-of-scuplture mood whilst taking photos.

we then traipsed to harrods before i left the motley crew to go find weihan. who hasn't really changed. haha. aniwez, he brought me to my favourite place in london - covent garden, where the bohemian spirit commingled with this sense of extravagance, where you had glitzy shopping boutiques right next to west end theatres with pret a mangers and street performances thrown in as well. uber cool.

day 2- sensing my enthusiam for covent garden, it's not surprising the next day i dragged everyone down to covent garden for more. =) well, not before a brief detour to bayswater for the legendary duck rice. well, it was good. haha... i think my tongue has been too exposed to good food that legendary is rarely part of my food vocabulary.



glancing at the royal ballet theatre brochure to decide what to watch. we actually headed to book tickets for sleeping beauty that night. the dancing was so amazing. both the male and female leads were just amazing.


then upon my suggestion we headed down to tate modern. when i say headed, it means we spent 3 - 4 hours detouring round trafalgar square, bankside, crossing the bridges, taking tons of pictures and yeah, reaching tate modern when it was about to close.



i thought u only saw such things in france


EMO SHOT! haha.. i couldn't resist. stupid henry spoilt the first shot though


the riverside is seriously awesome


EMO SHOT NO. 2! This place just screamed bohemian with the run-down brick wall facade and scribblings of the various muses of arts and culture.


true to form, we decided to head to this tamesa oxo place for dinner, which not only offered delish food, but a smashing view of the river thames. more of it later.


tamesa oxo in daylight


FINALLY, tate modern. this was the turbine room, which somehow reminded me of a concentration camp with the dark imposing steel columns and general starkness.


me foooling around with the crack on the floor in the turbine room


tate modern is my favourite museum in london. =)


more soon.. i guess, when more photos are up.