asia night

asia night - fun!!! i din regret going to sing for the finale sing.. the singers were cool and yeah.. we did great! =)



pretty much the entire asian population represented on stage. =)

props to johnny, mark and the rest for organizing and coordinating this thing. yay!

the best thing? WINNING THE 32 INCH TV FOR OUR HOUSE!!! WOOT!!! BWAHAHAHA!

oh.. haha.. and spring means flowers!!








and the animals are out again! =)

the resurgence of sunglasses

hehe.. shummertime is finally coming after that last spell of winter..

aniwez, sg day came and went with the weekend and yeah, i PAID DEARLY FOR IT.

both in terms of money cos i kena summon for parking at wrong place, in terms fo mental trauma after *that* car ride and that i had to go through my FIRST all nighter finishing up a horrid 230 lab. geez. i'm still feeling the repercussions.

but that all being said, singapore day was SHIOK! besides the obvious draw of the food, the singaporean-ish weather (ok.. not so fun), the performances were SUPRISINGLY good! besides the slightly [i]off[/i] getai show. err.

hossan leong was a complete standout stand-up comedian from his wild antics to his claims that singaporeans were truly international cos we watch korean drama, watch HK serials, our childran speak tagalog, we breathe in smoke from neighboring country, buy water from other country and import ping pong players from.. lol

then haha.. first time hear kit chan sing live.. haha imagine, i had to go to singapore to hear a singaporean artiste sing.. and wow she was good. =) *plus she made the joke abt singaporeans being bilingual except ACS boys.. lol

hmmz.. someone said also that sg day was good cos it gave the singaporeans time to do two of their favourite activities - queuing and complaining. ha! but seriously, the queues for food were really at time intolerable but wah.. once u get to the head of the line, your mouth starts to water, eyes start to glisten.. haha.. katong laksa was SUPER GOOD. lol.. i'm so going back to singapore to grab it.

so now back to the books..*bleah and prelims.. *super bleah.
oh.. and yeah.. what's the NUMBER ONE way to FAIL YOUR DRIVING TEST IN US?

- think your test date is one week later than it actually is. - courtesy of jm

super man. no one can trump that la.

my jokes are falling flat

geez.. is it me or is it just that my jokes are getting too obtuse and incomprehensible?

try this:

what do you call an ernie with more than one brain cell?

ans. pregnant ernie.

...

and yeah..there were luke-esque levels of silence, but not because it was godawful lame but bcos no one understood. wy had to badger me to explain the joke to her twice before she got it. -_-

try this:

overheard in campus-
clueless girl A - arrrgh! i can'ts find STAFF on ratemyprofessor!
clueless girl B - yah! and he's teaching sooo many classes!

and yeah, again sheryl said it wasnt funny, same with josh. -_-

i'm losing my touch man. haha..or maybe i had none. lol

snowstorm ithaca

yeah.. april snow it is..

well well, ian get's his wish and yet another snowstorm blankets ithaca. ploughing down to central campus ain't really fun with snow whipping at your face and the ground icing up such that you slip one step after every two steps. -_-

can we just get to spring!? -_-

edited to add (after 4 hours) IT IS STILL SNOWING. i don't feel like ever leaving my room. when i left my room my lunch, I was pelted by falling snow from trees. -_- now imagine it is falling snow from buildings... sure cuiz.

this is WAAAAAY too much snow

mii and the wii

*punch punch punch block, pant pant

haha.. wii sports can substitute gym liao la at this rate... haha.. the games are real real cool... tennis is super real and so is bowling.. (just the little bug about being able to drop the ball and still strike. -_-)

haha.. ok so my prelim weeks are generally done with. its time to gear up for FUN! hahaha.. stupid weather outside damn cold again..

tired out by wii boxing.. bleah. lol

beautiful cornell

hmm.. weather has been great this week (besides today), and yeah.. which means I've gone traipsing and running around the trails and lakes of cornell!

and yeah.. i've found the 2nd reason besides snowboarding that justifies my coming to Cornell.. the scenery. honestly, how superb is it that you can sit on a lonely quiet bench facing the lake and just breathe in the fresh air and watch geese waddle around? then run 10 minutes down the lake and waterfall and see the magnificent gorges and rushing rapids?

haha. ithaca is gorges. =)

the sushi diaries

ok.. after the fiasco with the brownie-cookies, this time round i made SUSHI! haha... yeah and it turned out pretty shapely and nice to eat on all accounts!! yippee!

thou i must say i'm simply shocked and err.. a bit humbled by the amazing culinary talents we have amongst everyone here! there's the absolute perfectionist "dun touch my brownies!" guanqing, there's the ba-ku-teh cooker joshie, the cookie maker sheryl, sesame oil champion ernest, pancake maker desmond and so on so forth. (notice my name is missing)

haha.. oh well. it was fun. joshie and sheryl even embakred on baking a chocolate cake which turned out pretty smashing! lol..


sushi making!

steamboat!

sinful chocolate cake!

-frank

present for my sis

eh constance,

i bought 'shopaholic and baby' for you! hardcover! lemme read finish then i send to you kk? haha.. and DUN BUY harry potter. i reserved liao. and oh.. the book counts as your bday present. lol

baking misadventures

ok so of course staying back in school for spring break means food must DIY le.. so we decided to do some baking today after getting a great haul of baking products..

lemme juz say im an absolute noob at cooking and general kitchen stuff cos obviously i was not very bothered to enter the kitchen at home and help *oopz.. and aniwez we had no oven in sg, so no thought of baking and stuff

but aniwez thanks to sheryl and gq, err.. most of the stuff was bought so i just leeched off and tried to bake brownies using instant-mix, which gq called "brownie gameshark" -_- and which sheryl said was "cheapskate"

geez. such friends i have.

well who cares. common knowledge dictates that one should start from easy and work your way up. plus im not as perfectionist as mr gq and as meticulous as him so yeah.. just try try first time.

ok. so obviously u would have gathered that.. er.. i screwed up. i did everything according to instruction EXCEPT that err.. i poured the mix into a much bigger pan than expected and baked it for too long a time.

cry man... when take out it was still looking fine, just charred a bit at the sides. then came the horror as i started cutting it and the brownie started hardening and started to resemble blocks of cookies. *faintz

yah.. so i was very very sad. instant-mix i thought = idiot-proof. so i must be.. sigh.. worse than an idiot. lol. jialat man.. then jo and others tried to console me by saying it was pretty nice and so on.. lol.. haiz.. nothing to say la.. i think err.. i needa AAR and try my hand and cooking/baking at a later time le.. lol

i was gonna go bahamas

i was gonna go bahamas but all i got was


courtesy of coldstone creamery, NYC.


sigh.. as u might have guessed the horrid snowstorm on friday delayed stuff and yeah.. by the time we reached LGA to try and change our tickets etc, we were too tired and err.. i guess too dazed to consider stuff like waiting list and so on and so..

we bummed our way round NYC for half a day to justify to bus cost, then bummed all the way back to Ithaca. -_- well the other group was smart enough to go on waiting list etc and yeah.. hope you're having fun! =) (have fun for us)

oh well.. actually im not too bummed. whatever time is fun time as long as you're happy, and breaks can be taken regardless of where you are.. had quite fun few days cooking, play mahjong, poker, watching tv etc.. lol.. haha.. basically staying indoors till the snow goes away.

yup.. so that pretty much summarizes my spring break. lol. oh and yeah.. the ice cream WAS good. go try it next time! =)


YET another eating picture from NYC.. i realised..

escape to bahamas!

ok.. just when everyone thought it was time to keep their winter clothing with temperatures soaring to 19 degrees, then comes a mini snow storm which has blanketed everything white again and has sent temperatures back to -4 etc.. brrr

well aniwez, who cares.. cos it's SPRING BREAK!! =) yeah.. going to bahamas to 'nua' and soak up the sun.. hee.. (oh and study social psych. -_-)

aniwez juz a few things.. today was dragon day.. where the architects designed a dragon to parade around the school and then burn it at arts quad. the dragon... is pretty sad this time round. looks like it was borne out of discarded twigs and sticks and yeah.. considering that dragon day was supposed to be heralding the start of spring... yeah.. it was quite paltry that the arts quad was whitewashed and snow was persistently falling around everyone..

well that's not the point. the point is.. hehe.. i skipped a whole day's worth of school! haha... and then went to plum tree and devoured delicious sushi aptly called OUT OF CONTROL! hehe..

ok.. needa pack le.. cya in a week!

spring's coming

took a short walk around cornell (in shorts and tee no less - 19 degrees le!) and yup.. snapped a few interesting shots..


mixture of elements of spring, fall and winter - the brown trees, green grass and icy lake..


mist on lake.. darn it.. it was much nicer two hours earlier..


this picture is so sad.. reeks of destruction and desolation


more mist swirls


the setting sun amidst the trees


observatory. looks very end of world-ish somehow. and yeah.. bye bye snow!

-frank

super funny

yet another of sheryl-isms at breakfast today.

"I played Final Fantasy X for 15 hours but on the game only progressed for like 15 minutes!! Dunno why how come I walk around keep hitting and shattering glass then end up fighting people. Why so much glass?"

0_0. shattering glass?!!? ROFL!!

(for those who dun understand.. haha.. go play some form of FF)

its gettin' cold in here

brrr.. SERIOUSLY. how bummerish it is when you are abt to keep your winter clothes and embrace the coming spring when the temperature dips miserably to -22 degrees for 3 days in a row with frigid wind chills and just.. uneathly, unpalatable weather. sianz.

i have a prelim tmr.. but.. hmmz.. a bit sianz.. seems a little short on content this time round so dunno what to do le. lol. life's really really passing like a blur and soon it's gonna be SPRING BREAK.

yeah.. going to nua in Bahamas i think, study for social psych and possible think of what to do for Summer break. hehe.

btw, just a quick gut feel of who i would support this season of american idol: stephanie and blake. the rest of the guys are gruesome and the girls.. hmmz.. all either j-hudson wannabes or carrie underwood wannabes. haha

snowboarding!!

wah.. seriously now badminton + snowboarding makes up life le. SO SO SO FUN!!!

haha.. still remembered first few lessons we were like struggling down alpha slope thinking that turning was shit difficult and crap. now.. lol.. besides err.. some carefree pple, everyone zips down pretty much in 5 seconds flat.

fun. now trying all different slopes, love Karyatis.. thou getting sick of it really soon.. and also trying the blue slopes. thou honestly i think the difficulty is not only in skill, it's also in courage to go faster. else you will just wanna heel everything, which doesn't make sense when going down the blue/black slopes.

so yeah.. one more week left. sianz! today was extra cool cos the weather was a cherry warm of 4 - 0 degrees celsius and the snow at the top was still pretty decent. furthermore, it started snowing yet again whilst we were finishing our snowboarding.. pretty! somehow snow on the ski resorts just look much much nicer. hee

alrite. back to my circuit design.. sianz

updates of sorts

i got $5 and an extra credit today in Psych 280! haha.. shows that studying social psych really benefits! (though Sheryl bet on it and got $10.. -_- some people have all the luck... lol)

i really like Psych. but sometimes in life, one can't choose. i'm past all the doubts and suspicions of my life, haha.. and its not as though i'm not liking my engineering stuff. thing about asians, as put by psych books (which pisses me off), as that asians tend to review their mistakes and practice MORE on their faults whilst europeans/ americans give up and persist more on their merits. which then, the book says, makes americans specialists and asians jack and jills of all trades. -_-

i beg to differ. jack and jill sounds like potato chips. and it seems to carry a distinct negative slant. you should call us the renaissance people. the vitruvian people. ok, aniwez enough of grumbling.

aniwez my first bout of 3-prelims-in-one-day ended on Tuesday nite with me pretty happy, though i made an unfogivably careless mistake on euler's equation. man! oh well.. haha.. but i think it was a blessed day by God. really hope i can carry on the momentum garnered and do well this sem! =) (btw i didn't carry on of course. i slacked off tues nite and weds.. lol)

and thanks to my constant watching of yakitate/amazing race all stars/heroes, i have completely gone over the computer 5GB download limit with so many days of Feb to spare. arrrrgh! woe is me. lol.. looks like i gotta postpone my yakitate watching again. lol!

kk.. more updates another time. btw, CNY nite was a blast! haha.. maybe i'll talk about it sometimes. (yeah, i DO have a life beyong euler and social psych and whatsitnot. despite what jaya and ck say. lol)

heroes

Claire Bennet

You scored 45 Idealism, 37 Nonconformity, 37 Nerdiness
I walked through fire and I didn't get burned.
Congratulations, you're Claire Bennet! You are a sweet person who wants to be accepted and fit in. However, you're learning to embrace the side of yourself that's special and unique and are becoming a much stronger person for it. Keep it up, and you might be indestructible. ;)

Your best quality: Sweetness
Your worst quality: A fear of being different

snowstorm aftermath

gorge frozen


dickson snowed in


look at the height of the snow


fire hydrant smothered over


more snow paths.. terrible to walk in

snow closes cornell!

wahahah.. this is so surreal.. in sg schools get closed due to SARS, fog..

in Cornell, school gets shut out by SNOWSTORM!! wah.. the amount of snow is seriously.. amazing.. it's becoming really treacherous to even walk cos you can't differentiate between mounds of snow everywhere... its like someone poured bleach down on everything.

one word.. COOL. haha.. school got cancelled. though the shitty thing was it closed whilst we were having lab. -_- and might as well just do lab cos dun wanna do makeup. so end up only enjoyed missing one lesson. *sianz.

oh well.. just such a surreal, fun amazing experience!!

bruised

just came back from an extended snowboarding session. *winces

yeah.. my butt is bruised and so is my ego.. lol.. now i understand why in ice skating people can say they fall until their butt feels numb (lol.. jo)

tried tons of new slopes tonight but the initial relish and fun faded slightly as the cold wind blew and our shirts and gloves started to freeze.. yeah. MY GLOVES SUCK. they became pretty much useless ice-moulds that froze my fingers to numbness for the latter part of the journey..

and yeah.. after the 2nd trip down karyatis lane, wah.. my ego also tremendously bruised.. fall until almost literally see stars, fall until really create snow clouds etc.

all that whining aside. snowboardings still the coolest thing ever done in Cornell so far. nothing beats the whoop you get after executing a perfect turn and just going down confidently and with the seh-ness. nothing beats the absolutely breathtaking scenery viewed at the mountain top. =)

which reminds me, haha.. i distinctly remember last year in Korea where I was so excited to see frost in the morning at the Korean ski resort and was excited taking pictures. -_-. kinda ironic now considering the mountains of snow that's facing me daily and freezing the arse of out me.. lol. getting numb to the snow already.

aniwez, snowboarding also has its distinct dangers.. already 'claimed' one member in our batch liao.. poor thing.. get well soon!.. yeah.. so i dunno.. sometimes u needa draw a line between fun and having so much fun that you inadvertently injure yourself.. and today at the end I was slightly teetering over the edge with a seriously cramped up left leg.. lol.. but alls well ends well.

ciao!

thank you!

winter can go away in a few ways:-

1. go grab a ground hog (rite jo?) and then pull it outta its hole.. apparently it's supposed to signify that spring is come

2. get AMAZING parcels from your concerned and absolutely smashing parents and siblings! WAH..

THANKS DAD, MUM AND DA JIE! It was a pleasant surprise to see two nice bundles of family love to warm up the bleary winter!! I've tried the bed socks.. haha very cute! tmr gonna wear the jacket =)

btw, the norms now is like.. as long is it is above - 10 degrees celsius, it's warm.

and THAT'S sad. -_- but ok lah. and snow is starting to get boring. and blinding. but yeah.. guess i would never have the chance to say -6 was warm if i din come here. hehe. bragging rights

emo post

nah not really.. just went through yet another emo period. -_-

aniwez.. i realised.. the reason why life is filled with suffering -

cos we focus too much on ourselves.. we fail to realise we don't live just for ourselves, not for the gratification of our desires and pleasures..

if we shift focus from ourselves, the world becomes a much better place immediately. =)

oh yeah.. another thing i realised..

the arrogant will fall... it's the truth.. dun ever brag about being good at this or what.. because God has a sense of humour and will attack you exactly where you feel the strongest.. haha

ok.. another disclaimed.. dun worry. if i can type this post obviously i have resolved my own issues.

winter @ cornell

winter provides great opportunities for photos.. cos the color palette is pretty outta this world.. beautiful!


Beebe lake frozen




Buildings across the lake


sledding!!! something like fantasy island but tons faster!!! and dun need to queue! just.. -_- climb up the slope. lol

winter activities

this week has provided much freezing temperature and heavy snow.. that brings about TONS fo fun activities!!! hehe (yeah.. besides the main dreary purpose of going to school -_-)

went snowfighting in the evening one night and learnt the fine art of sculpting snowballs and whacking them at people's shocked faces... lol.. even in snowfighting you learn alot of people.. some people wait damn long and scuplt a beautifully hard and painful snowball before smacking them at others whilst there are those who can't for life sculpt a snowball and hence resort to shoving fistfuls of snow at people's faces point blank. hehe..


guys.. get ready..

err.. i dunno how to describe this "art-piece"..

then on sat we went to Greek Peak for snowboarding!!! omg, lik sin, if you think cable ski is fun ah.. wah.. snowboarding trumps it 100 times in terms of speed, the fun-ness, the ease, the seh-ness and everything lah! and the best is you don't generally fall face smack onto the snow unlike cable ski, and yeah, you don't need to swim back to shore everytime after you have collapsed into the water..

SO FUN!!! and it's like.. so beautiful.. you sorrta understand why winter sonata was so particularly beautiful with the scenic views upon the chair lifts and just the general landscape.. hehe.. i want more!!!!

of course methinks another great snow time activity would be simply to walk back to campus from church clutching a deliciously warm hot chocolate from ctb and yeah.. just admiring the most beautiful winterscapes one can possibly see in a lifetime..

nice.

ice, ice all around

so its back to the freezing winter of ithaca.. seems like ithaca took a break in the cold department and store power until we all come back, with temperatures dipping to -9 degrees now during mid-morning.

which kinda is bummerish. cos you don't wanna do anything outdoor-ish at all. lol.. like when we were are NYC and were trying to rush for Wicked tickets, the cold was so unbearable joshie went to hiding within the revolving doors.. -_-

oh yeah speaking about NYC.. my dream of skating in Rockefeller/Bryant Park STILL has not been fulfilled.. sigh... (well i guess so is gq's bluenote trip) Bryant Park's pond was being dismantled by the time we reached and Rockefeller skating fetched a shocking 17.50, prompting me to reconsider only brining my gf(when i get one) to there only.. lol

well aniwez speaking of Cornell, everything is white again, the lake is frozen solid and the waterfall looks damn nice with stalacites hanging precariously from above.. =) nice photo-op but haha.. my hands cannot take it.

i'm back @ NYC!

mom/dad, dun worry i'm at NYC le.. but the flight was absolutely dreadful cos i din sleep much and the movies were pretty bad.. lol

ok tired like mad... gonna sleep soon. dun worry =)

hey big spender

was slightly chagrined after meeting with GY and sunny this sun and finding out their err.. impression of my spending. ouch. the euphemistic way GY put it was.. "err.. you have a decent spending power"..

geez. do i really spend >that much? (dun answer that)

well, it's like pple got different shopping philosophy mah.. mine is as long as it fits comfortable and looks good then err.. if sale/no sale then buy lor if really need.. yah IF. lol.. and aniwez i think i've been very very restrained liao this time in singapore.. not spending anything until the penultimate days.. lol.. err.. sigh. nothing to say liao. a bit sad.

well, ok then it's time for a revamp. must really monitor my expenditure and not go crazy over abercrombie sales and stuff since.. yeah as lk puts it, everyone and the toilet sink has a abercrombie tee that probably was bought off cheap from some pasar malam in bugis. geez. talk about product differentiation. haha

well, i will be leaving tommorow to get back to US. had loads of fun here in sg, met up with most people that matter to me =) and yeah.. spent loads of time with my parents! haha.. hopefully they din get too upset with me and my food craze and stuff.

which brings me to my top few food places this visit.

1. chomp chomp!!
claims top spot yet again with delcious stringray-squid-kangkong combo, plus satay beehoon, hokkien mee and chicken wing. not to forget the refreshing sugar cane and nice desserts!

2. food republic @ vivo
wah.. the youtiao and dou hua damn nice.. haha.. kept reminding me of lin jun jie's dou jiang you tiao song when i was crunching the delicious youtiao and eat dou hua.. haha.. the laksa ain't bad too! but ex lah..

3. MOF @ marina sq
haha.. beats me why they picked such a play of name.. (ministry of food), but the japanese food they serve here, especially the desserts are sublime. try the imo + matcha soft serve dessert. swoonsome man..

4. crystal jade korean food
hidden at the top floors of centerpoint lies this damn ex but damn nice crystal jade korean place that serves top notch pancakes and delicious dumpling soup!!

5. crystal jade
omg.. the barbeque pork with horseradish sauce..

6. soup kitchen
haha.. one dish - samsui chicken. nuff' said.

well.. these are the memorable ones.. but well, they are memorable mainly due to the people I went with and the fun times we relished there.. haha..

japan beckons

had a mini-revelation after watching Death Note 2 with KW and Jack tonite..

I SO WANNA GO WORK IN JAPAN IN THE END!!

haha.. misa amane (erika toda) is wah.. so adorable in the movie and wah.. seriously seriously cute. hmm.. plus japan has good food, interesting dramas and anime!!!

haha.. ok.. better stop the gushing.

aniwez, Death Note 2 made me realise a few things. (yeah besides how cute Misa was) For one, you can see how deep the author thought regarding the idea of serving out justice by yourself, and how grey the whole issue is, whereby each turn of the sotry makes you empathize or react in disgust to the antagonist/protagonist's role. there isn't a truly bad person, but people conflicted by issues of morality and justice (well maybe besides some of the people killed by the book)

seems really like the japanese ARE struggling for answers regarding morality and justice. it's telling of something, and i think someone (my sis) knows what I am talking about.

haha.. the deep stuff aside, err.. sis, can u get me stuff from Erika Toda to hand in my room? or like some drama with her.. haha.. she's really cute.

yeah.. more reasons to brush up my jap and head to the land of beauties and rising sun. lol

the one thing for summer...

can it just STOP raining!!?! man.. it dampens the mood, and seriously throws wrenches into whatever stuff that has been planned.. it BETTER not rain tommorow when we go chomp chomp.. -_-

plus it killed my running schedule that i was trying to diligently follow for at least one week. -_- geez...

well, aniwez i realized it might just been time to start planning for stuff like... PLACES TO GO FOR SUMMER BREAK.. (well, at least the remnants of it before summer school)

really, really would like to bunk (eh-hm) in sometime's dorm in UK (EH-HM) and then go to places like Spain, Egypt etc.. wah.. Eurotrip lor.. haha

haiz.. realised this kind of things can plan like mad and get very indulgent within but then without the commitment of others and a core planning group very hard (as experienced in the past).. so yeah.. i'm keeping my fingers crossed and hopefully I'll get a wunnerful summer break man!

lol..

*glances irritatedly at window and at the weak rain.. sigh

things that made 2006

all this is quite overdue.. but since I sorrta still have the time.. might as well reminisce..

1. preparation for sis wedding
im dun call myself the setimentalist for no good reason, cos it feels really good to return to singapore and meet back with my second sis to celebrate such a joyous event such as my sister's wedding. =) it was nice to see the house so riotous and noisy again =)

2. dsta obs
one of the fun-nest periods of my life, including the time after obs where we went cable-skiing, overnight cycling, more sailing, k box and the works.. enjoy sg to the fullest the months leading to my departure to US.. thanks guys!

3. the sending off
i was really touched. that was one of the kindest, nicest gestures for all of you to traipse down to Changi in the early morning of national day to send me off. and the gifts! haha.. will always treasure them (even the finished Godiva chocs.. lol)

4. living the dream - the various NYC trips
NYC's the stuff dreams are made of, and just visiting all the oft-heard places from movies and so on.. brings a tinge of reality into the shows and books that I've read..

5. the NYJC stint
invaluable teaching experience, had real fun tasting what life was as a teacher, marking papers, trying to be strict to students, err.. well.. i felt reasonably accomplished i hope.. lol

6. snowing!!!
years of lost childhood was substituted with the magical, bewitching, beautiful snow-storm that transformed Cornell into the magnificent white winter magick-land. =) and the snow fights.. haha!

well. that's abt it for now.. haha.. aniwez i've given up on resolutions as it is.. cos it's always the same ole things.. hmmz.. sigh.. sometimes i think the core of me is so damned insecure.. but well.. i'm improving (hopefully) =)

missing singapore (soon)

time really flies man.. well.. think i'll miss singapore even more now that i've come back and down a cleansweep of food here and just gone to memorable places.. haiz =)

shopping's tons better, food's tons better.. girls.. err.. haha (i'm not gonna risk getting killed).. but really going to nus today made me very wistful.. lol

haha.. oh well.. i can wonder all i like bah =)

the problem with the name

i finally deduced how my com science score was intially posted an F on JTF, sending me into a panicked frenzy to correct the socre and right my GPA before my scholarship board comes and murders me.. well look at my name.. it's written in US as

> Liheng Chen F

-_-.. which pretty much means anyone who couldn't be more bothered would easily mis-see an F and assume that's my grade. man.. the upside is that hopefully F is so far-fetched from reality that I would be able to detect it immediately.

hmm.. which prompted my dad to want to change my name to Adam. -_-

Well, aniwez, time really flies now that my sis has finally gotten married and has flown off for her honeymoon (hey.. SIA provides free cake for honeymooners..) soon my family will pretty much vanish off Singapore with my other sis flying back to Japan, me flying to US and my parents flying to China.. geez.. another inevitable stage in life i guess...

which brings me to the wedding. really mixed feelings about it, first because I was the banquet IC and was wah.. bustling around worrying about video, worrying about bridal march ins, coordinating emcees, having to put extra chairs for uninvited guests (-_-).. when i finally realised that the hotel people have MUCH better experience and skills in this and handled everything really well.. lol

but the main thing is the idea of losing a sis to another family, to have a familiar face that has shared a home for so many years finally start her own family and separate.. hard to describe the feeling, but i guess acceptance of this fact is yet again another inevitable step as life progresses...

oh well.. pictures hopefully should come soon... me and my sis both agree heartily - that we look much more charming when we actually shut our mouths.. -_-.. hehe

super tired

wah..

*plops on chair*

a wedding can be seriously tiring. hehe.. but i think my sis looks really pretty in her wedding dress =)...

what a wierd feeling to see your sis radiant and happy and getting married to someone relatively foreign.. hmmz

oh well.. i needa rest.. being banquet IC wasn't exactly the piece of cake i was expecting.. haha.. but good experience..

into the maddening crowd

sometimes i'm really glad to be back in Singapore, but tonight is a classic example of what's not so cool about singapore. -_-

went to esplanade area for countdown to 2007, an obvious mistake considering more than half of the singaporeans had a similar intention. hmmz.. so cue the crowds and crowd control people, as well as the sweltering heat and asphyxiating stuffiness associated with throngs of people and switched-off aircons. -_-

and i stupidly wore long sleeves, thinking we were gonna chill at some pub or smth. gee. that's mistake two, because cover charges and generally anything to do with drinks or food were prohibitively high and just irritating considering how you specifically know that you are being swindled since there ain't anything really special about today. man

well aniwez, what pissed me off the most was that we spent an hour plus waiting around the esplanade area, getting squeezed and packed like sardines and getting elbowed and nudged by countless of horrific banglas and fat women to see.. a display of fireworks at 11.00pm that could be mistaken as someone's sparkler party on the rooftop of a building. it was that bad, like some emasculated, pathetic excuse for a firework. not impressed.

so maybe we didn't wait till 12.00 for the true bonaza, but i guess most of us were pretty much irritated and pissed. lol.. maybe only me but heck. but i seriously couldn't stand the banglas elbowing around and just meshing themselves with the human crowd, ESPECIALLY THE DIRTY SWEATY ONES. then fat obnoxious women who similarly throw their assets around and force their way to the crowds should not complain of being molested or groped err.. because you were the one using your assets as battering rams to get past the crowd!?

seriously not too impressed. lol.

but well, the main intention was jack jack birthday.. and bay did the errm.. "interesting" idea of buying everything jack related for him.. cue the jackfruit, jacket, jack daniels, jack and jill chips, jacknife, jack and the beansprouts(for defence against possible bangla attacks).. u get the idea.(i thought it was beyond lame man.. lol) so err.. happy bday jack! everyone have a smashing 2007 as well!

p.s. this is traditionally the post where i reflect on 2006 and stuff.. but a little tired and cranky, plus for the first time i wasnt back at home when it struck twelve (yeah.. i was stuck on the mrt -_-).. so yeah.. coming soon bah. =)

gone sailing

a combination of the dreary rain and the retardedly slow internet speeds caused a few days of abject misery where there was pretty much nothing to do. except eat. -_-

well, glad weather finally turned better on thurs and especially TODAY! bright sunny skies! =) so happy! now i noe why ang-mohs come to Singapore and are so eager to soak up the sun whilst we Singaporeans rush into shopping centers and think the ang-mohs are siao. lol

aniwez, went sailing yesterday where I lernt several things abt life(wah.. so philosophical life)..

1. sometimes its good to be patient and wait for wind instead of pointlessly tugging the rudder left and right... haha.. it was nice to just sit in the lil' sail boat and wind for wind to pick up.. look at the surroundings (besides the water) and admire the scenery singapore has to offer.

2. sometimes in life storms are the most memorable and fun part of your life. trust me, the most fun part of the expedition was when we kena caught in the storm and the torrential rain just obfuscated stuff and made sailing really tough, but the accompanying wind was.. SUPERB for sailing.. haha (shit.. gonna get scolded by my mom le)

3. to discover new lands you need to have courage to lose sight of the shore. OBS motto(?).. but haha.. i'm a scaredy cat who doesn't dare to venture too far lest I capsize or what shit, and I'm equally scared of the debris floating around the sea, ranging from corpse-looking plastic bags, to snake-like branches and twigs.. gives me a serious shudder.. lol. i'm a chicken man. now you noe eh liksin.. haha

4. sometimes, when you suck at something, just relac and give yourself an escape clause by saying you wanted to have a leisurely time doing the thing.. HAHAHA...i fully utilised this today.. cos i realised i couldnt pull my sail to the required close-haul position, so I let it hang at around beam requirements and them steered my boat in the beam directions.. haha.. oh man.. whatever lah.. I couldn't blame the weather, the cold-ness, my sailboat or what.. but it's pretty much cos I sucked that I never could catch up with the rest of the sail boats.. lol.. man

haha.. i've been too frank man.. but well.. sailing's fun =) liksin says if i think i suck i should go for more. -_-.. hehe.. let's see lor.. somehow i think i have developed a phobia for dirt and stuff.. becoming too obsessed with cleanliness.. is the army effect wearing thin? haha.. i dunno

the censored truth

some random thoughts

- on sending e-cards for Christmas.
I was chuckling when I embarked on my tradition-breaking activity of writing cards yesterday night when I was highly amused by certain features on Bluemountain cards. first, what's with the mass-christmas card sending function? i mean, what's the point if you don't personalize the card?! u might as well be sending spam sia.

then came the clincher - bluemountain has this function saying - "can't figure what to write? click here to generate random greeting messages." WTH!?!? wah. now besides mass sending, people need help!? to even come out with some sensible warm greetings or care/concern? then seriously what's the point!? oh well.

- on others breaking bond.
well.. on hindsight.. freedom of speech comes at a price. i ain't willing to pay that. =) just say i'm quite saddened by the breaking of bond of fellow scholars.. cannot comprehend why, especially at such a premature stage. has something gone wrong with our selection process and the whole scheme in its entirety?

amazing food race singapore

i think im getting obsessed with the quest for good food. good singapore food. lol.. oh well it's fun.. im like ticking off my list of stuff with chicken rice, hokkien mee, tang yuan, S11 ban lian, roti prata, nasi lemak etc.. lol

now its time to hit the malls and nice jap restaurants etc!! haha..

oh well.. i love saturdays in singapore - a super combo of k box, lan session and then walking around the curiously unappealing vivocity and finding out that i'm dead cos the toilet sensors do not register my hands. -_-

honestly i've realised that sadly, Singaporeans favourite pasttime is to throng new malls and find new ways to enjoy sipping coffee after walking around vast shopping megaplexes. which kinda explains the crowd at vivocity. oh well. -_- and i realised i'm now a REFORMED shopaholic!! no more does the mention of GAP or levi's or stuff send a tingle down my spine nor does the prior magnetism of topman and zara have any effect. i was pretty bored (gasp!) strolling down the main aisles of vivo! hahaha!

though well.. saw a lot of potential good food places to try.. hehe.. lik sin whenever you're free again k? lol.. any other good food recommendations also can! =) heheh.. i'm swapping shopaholism for foodaholism.. kinda not too good also.. but well.. im only in sg for that long..

kk.. im dead tired. dunno why also.. can't possibly still be jet-lagged.. but oh well.. gonna zzzz

NYC on a shoestring budget

back in Singapore!!! yippeee!! but actually for consolation to all those still in US, the food that we swooned about so much in US is.. hmmz.. not THAT amazing lah. but still.. yummy =)

recap abit abt the nyc trip with WY and WJ.. i went around with the mentality of spending nada on shopping and absolute minimum on eating.. and well.. i think i made it lor.. i spend a whopping $40+ dollars in my 3 days disregarding accomodation.. and that's taking into account the $21 spend on transportation for the subway. seriously.. u can die of poverty by taking the US metro.

went to Bryant Park to the Pond, intending to skate but the queue stretched round the park twice.. so nada.. -_- then i realised Bryant Park was so familiar cos it was where the Project Runway Finale was held and then went on a photo spree..


sigh.. so much ice.. no way to skate..



found some unbelievable food bargains along the way.. including 5 dumplings for a fricking 1 dollar and sesame bun for 50cents.. 50 CENTS!!! i hardly knew such prices existed.


Saks 5th avenue


me being silly at the M&M's shop at times square


wall of M&Ms


the beautiful christmas tree and skating rink @ Rockefeller


Rockefeller again.

kk.. gonna go traipsing around Singapore to complete my Amazing Singapore Food Race le =)

i'm tired...

whoopee!! finally have cleared all exams and hopefully (presumably) need not write back to my scholarship place to explain dismal grades or what.. lol

which means it's time to focus on winter break. my break's simple.. HOME BOUND! =) drooling over alot of sgp food liao.. torture lor.. lol.

oh well.. i need recuperate first.. had a helluva day playing (losing) too much mahjong and doing too many irrelevant things. it's wierd ain't it? the things you crave for and waste time on doing during exams period turn out to be much less fun when you have finished all your exams.. hmmz

kk.. nitez

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

ok.. i noe my psych finals is tmr.. but honestly, when the first real snow blankets ithaca, who can help but go out, soak in some lost childhood, have some snowball fights, and envision some winter sonata scenes!?! lol.. well.. i couldn't resist. =)


outside my dorm


cars snowed in


the beauty is just.. haiz.. indescribable


battlegrounds - appel field


WY and her futile attempt to make a snowman


snow calligraphy! lol!

kk.. back to work

so sick

I'M SICK OF STUDYING. sighz.. who isnt.



first few days of snow finally coming. what a long wait. and yeah.. i took the photo from inside my dorm with the wire mesh there. there's no way im gonna brave the cold for one silly picture. lol

kinda sucks when you are (most prob) gonna study on your bday. haiz. oh well.. waiting for delicious delicious stuff at singapore and then going back NY for more skating, red lobster, wicked and cheesecake!!!

haiz.. back to work and dreary takeouts for now bah.

the present also kind sucks when you look into the future.

btw, for those interested to know:
15 - 18th dec - NYC
18 - 20th dec - NYC enroute Singapore (2.. days -_-)
16 - 16th jan - back to NYC.. to the frigid cold.

haha.. aniwez temperatures have been at consistent negatives, but my power abercrombie jacket pretty much keeps me warm. for now. lol. =)

and i din spend a bomb on it. =) yippee!

kk.. really going back to work

going horse crazy

today started off pretty chilly as compared to the past week of warm nice weather.. oh well.. haha, the yesterday i was still gleeful that I was wearing short sleeves in the winter. -_-


there's supposed to be snow flurries in the picture.. but it's too small to be seen

well aniwez went for my last horse riding lesson for the semester.. and haha.. went around taking pictures of the cute horsies, esp my favourite, CAL. the wild horse I rode for like the first 6 lessons, who refused to turn in the direction you wanted and insisted on going way to fast. lol.. Cal is a really good complaint boy besides the occasional nibble when he tries to get food from ya.


Cal looking pensive and then looking shocked as I leant back to take a shot

as compared to Ioway. -_-.. rode Ioway for the following few lessons who honestly gave me so many problems my interest in horseriding waned.. lol.. he refused to wear his bit, refused to lift his hooves, started trotting out of his stall when i momentarily unclipped him and so on.. -_-.. and it's really no use fighting a horse. you simply cannot. and when riding him, he can completely fall asleep and refuse to move despite kicking, whipping, jostling and whistling at him.


naughty horse!

haha.. so u can sorta guess which horse i rode for my final lesson. CAL! so fun.. well.. that's it for my horseriding stint i guess.. it's been fun. =)

update

it's 3.23AM here at i still haven slept. omg. and it's not due to studying.

i think some of us went slightly crazy and we basically played gq's heroscape till 3.00.. -_- and btw, heroscape IS the boardgame that was within the toys 'r' us bag. -_-

which pretty much means i screwed up my studying schedule. and with finals looming a week ahead.. haiz.. oh well.. err i'll not do anything else except mug for the next few days.. lol

which also means that.. I'M GOING HOME SOON! haha.. quite estatic cos I pretty much miss the food in Singapore.. hmmz.. not that the food here sucks lah.. but eating at Appel Commons for dinner and Oakenshields for lunch every single fricking day does not sound appealing in anyway. -_- speaking of which, went to try out Risley food today during Hogwart's Nite... basically a nite where the Risley pple dress up as characters like Malfoy, Myrtle, Hagrid and so on and the hall is supposedly decked up just like the Banquet Hall..

err.. not too impressed though. lol. but the costumes were nice. =) SSA should hold some feste like that also lor.. haha

oh rite.. that's it.. really needa sleepz.. ciao!