things i learnt about disneyland

1. the Osborne family define the words extravagance and decadence. but hey, the christmas light up sponsored by them was fan-freakking-tastic.


2. the only rides worth mentioning are everest and fast-track. the rest serve to tickle you slightly.

this is everest. whoppee.



3. be AS kiddie as possible, go try everything, go pose with everything you can see, ignoring the glances whatsoever of other disenfrachised parents saddled with their kids and whatsnot. lol. ok, but draw the line at pink power ranger. -_-

we waited 1 1/2 hours for this. geez.


4. wolfgang puck is overrated.


5. despite knowing from psych class that the castle is only 3 levels high, it still is pretty awesome.


6. epcot yields gorgeous scenic shots.


see what i mean


my favourite shot


i think this was 'little' italy


7. epcot scores again for emo shots.


i like this shot cos it feels very 'in the moment' and 'high fashion' lol. taken in epcot's 'france'


i dunno what to say.. lol


notice how it's always guy-girl shots? hehe.. wonder why? think along the lines of the prev disneyland post. lol


8. bring a good camera to the safari. else just forget about the shots and enjoy the ride.


9. on that note, animal kingdom is a pretty good place for shots as well. otherwise it's outstandingly.. underwhelming.


ducks caught kissing


10. stay for all the fireworks display. they're the reason for the exorbitant cost of things in disney.

the shopaholic laments

it's kinda quite sad to hear people dismissively talking about how engineering students dress shabbily to school and the likes... and then realize you're pretty much an offender of it as well.. geez..

thing is, it's easily to wear things in singapore. a decent tee and jeans kinda rules the day. and i don't means fake abercrombie or wad. if things get too boring, slap on a jacket, a choker or something of that variant and you'd fit in pretty well and fell pretty good. (for accessories, just ask guang yi or sunnypal.. lol)

problem is, coming to US, you kinda have to contend with more stuff, which i obviously didn't realize till recently. you can't just import your singaporean wardrobe over, then slather on various disparate but nice pieces and expect to 'make it work'. furthermore, you have to contend with the fact that style comes at a price, whereas warm clothing comes at another. meaning the combination of both fetches a pretty scary price... and it also means this stupid, vapid dumb guy here pretty much only has stylish/nice-looking but impractical clothing, or warm clothing that look like it came from the eighties.. ok i'm exaggerating that.

and then some clothes are just meant for summer and not for winter and vice versa.. so it's been pretty agonizing. well, not actually, but since i've had the time to pretty much reflect about everything in life, i was also contemplating this fact and had an epiphany, albeit a very stupif and overused one - go for looks instead of pieces! voila. duh.

haha.. it kinda means i needa go stock up on essential basics and then apply the healthy lessons of layering and what's it not.. or honestly, (which im more inclined to do since i'm that lazy and honestly by now am lamenting the amount of money i've spent on ..impractical clothing), i'm just not gonna care. lol..

aniwez, this babble was all generated whilst i was talking to my sis whilst we were walking back from UBC after crashing two of her courses, one being an intro to the course of christian thought and culture and the other being the chapel service, which was really pretty good! though in my unc kum-heng influenced deviant mindset i was chuckling at my own joke that the chapel was pretty much so holy that angels were expected to burst out in chorus any minute.. lol.. ok lame.

aniwez yeah, kinda will miss the place when i head back to ithaca tmr. living here has been fun, meeting her friends, chatting silly things.. =). oh yeah.. and getting dissed by her when i said i wanted to try to pull off the the looks mentioned below.. one which is too exorbitantly expensive and that other she just said was.. gay.. which on hindsight, pretty much is.. oh wellz.. lol.

i kinda like the sunglasses. but i doubt i would be caught dead in them. and i can't be bothered to paste the other picture.. cheewei recommended it from the rugby, ralph lauren website..

american chinese food

you know, after eating vancouver chinese food (well, practically weeping in joy over its authenticity and flavour), i've come to the conclusion that american chinese food belong to one special category of its own. haha.. right between tv dinners and badly cooked food.

ok i'm being mean, but honestly i think chinese american food has deviated so far from its original inspirations, then it honestly forms another whole food genre of its own..

the food you encounter in american chinese cuisine:

1. pork roll - translates to measly pork balls stuffed into bandages of unpalatable flour and fied in stale oil. avoid at all costs. honestly.

2. soup before the meal - only 3 choices, either wonton, hot and sour soup or the puzzlingly named egg drop. when i mentioned egg dropped to my sis, she said it reminded her of bird droppings.. so.. hmmz.

3. some form of poultry or farm animal. usually either chicken with general tso's sauce, sweet and sour sauce, sesame sauce, or some other tangy, sticky paste that's a variant of the above. honestly, sometimes i can't taste the difference and probably there isn't any. the sauce attempts to be so thick and overpowering that you taste nothing else besides it. and honestly, who is general tso?? honestly, at the rate his chicken is being served at chinese restaurants, i think he would be the most famous chinese personality in the US

4. JUMBO shrimp - which means a normal prawn. which i then would wonder what they would call a tiger prawn. the shrimp that ate manhattan? ...

5. dessert - what do you expect? fortune cookies. well actually fortune cookies are quite delicious unless of course you get those that have been stashed in some box for millions of years and taste like stale plastic. eww..

6. moo goo gai pan. don't ask me. i never figured out whether this was a mispelling typical of such places or i dunno. maybe moo goo was the wife of mr. tso?

7. the chopsticks!! honestly this issue was discussed in my freshmen writing class once and we had a great laugh about it. its found everywhere where chinese food is served and is unmissable with its gawdy red and yellow coloring. one side teaches the individual how to use the chopsticks whilst the other slaps of some chinese ideograms and has words going like - welcome to the Chinese culture. enjoy the hertiage and glorious culutre as you enjoy the foo.

yeah.. some variant of it or what...

but well.. what can i say? beggars ain't choosers and so when i head back to paltry ithaca and crave for my chinese food, guess where i'd be heading? lol...

reflections of the past semester

-emo post alert-

time in vancouver has been invaluable and incredibly refreshing, time spent with my parents and sis (thou i sorely miss my eldest sis as well) and without my own computer and dota, i have had more time to reflect and just appreciate stuff

honestly, i wasn't really happy with the previous semester because to me i accomplished zilch besides my academics stuff.. i kinda preload my semester with expectations and resolutions then lack the courage and determination to carry it through. plus for the semester, i spent most my spent worrying about my tutorials, doing my tutorials then reeling from the disaster that was my tutorials.. and also being lazy at home.. this kinda is not what i signed up for, not what i sold 6 years of my life for and certainly not the reason why i came to america for.

plus, what disappoints me was how i threw all concern of spiritual stuff and physical health stuff outta the window this semester and just blitzed past everything..

so yeah, it is with such thoughts that i brace myself for the upcoming semester. it's not hard to guess what things i'm gonna be resolu-ting for.. so i wouldn't bother. what i would be bothered, would be to really give thanks to God for my family and really appreciate them...

during one QT session, i wrote this down on my iphone-

if there is anything i really thank God for, it is for the amazingly great family he has put me into - each building me up in different ways- my mum being the pivotal support in my formative years and for inculcating good discipline as well as being steadfast in God and being such a diligent, smart and yet humble and thoughtful mother. for Dad, with his self sacrificial ways and his great love for his children, and his undivided love for God. my elder sis, for showing me how human love between husband and wife is such a beautiful and amazing thing that it shapes both individuals to be more christlike. and finally for my emotive lovable secod sis, who has struggled through so much in her life yet through her life and her chatter, has taught me many valauble lessons about God.

of course, at this point i kinda realize how i've been super lazy about appreciating others who have done so much for me and yet i've been quite the jerk in procrastinating and not replying to emails, gifts and stuff

to alvin and co (you know who u all are), thanks for the great support through the JC and post-JC years and being there for me even when i was being difficult and stuff, and especially alvin, for showing me how a great devoted friend ought to be with his cards and stuff. really, sometimes i complain and get so hurt about investing much in friendships and stuff and then i realise i'm also a great perpertrator in such acts as well.. so forgive me as well.. =)

to my cousin chrystal, who always bought me stuff and listened to me yak about silly pop-culture stuff, i really thank you for being such a great couz and friend and yeah, i will pray for you for your growth in God.

to friends that I've gone hi-bye with through msn, army, sch and stuff and just haven't had the time to re-connect and rejuvenate the friendship, i truly apologize and really hope that yeah.. there's the emotional space and time to maintain such great friendships and memories

---
i've was complaining in orlando florida that i have had issues, that i was being emo and that i had childhood scars, but honestly, reflecting so much on my life, i realize how blessed i am and how unfair am i to say such stuff about my 'childhood'. indeed, i felt like i never lived up to any thing in RI/RJ and was distraught with my physical inabilites, and just overall pasty, unfavourable demeanor. but then i remember the good friends i made, and just the experiences and lessons i have learnt and am i still learning and yeah.. maybe there is a point to it. indeed, i was extremely distraught with my not being able to join odac in rj, and then the being sent to obese company in army but then as i was recounting my time in gryphon coy, i really enjoyed my time there, made GREAT friends and never once felt insecure about my weight/image or stuff. indeed, there was a regrettable sense of superiority that times which i am disgusted as ii reflect, because you guys there built me up as well and we supported each other towards common goals, so yeah, forgive me as well if u felt slighted by me..

... wow.. feels like pandora box is opened.. lol.. but well.. i'm glad i can share such stuff. these ARE my many 'childhood scars' and issues as i so have proclaimed but well.. i think these are more like obstacles and stepping stones that i had to navigate in order to grow up and really learn to be more like Christ. i am proud to say that going to gryphon was probably one of the best gifts God gave me even though i was so chagrined when i initially heard of it. but i do realize that there are many hurts that are still hurting, that i cannot yet resolve. ri chronicles still hurt honestly sometimes.. because i felt like i did nothing except get fat and study. the whole friendship falling out thing hurts like HELL and i'm still learning.

i'm still work in progress, but well, who isn't? may the next sem be more illumianting and may 2008 be a year where i follow closely to God's words and lead a disciplined lifestyle.

-end of emo post- lol.

relishing vancouver's food

had dinner at a fabulous restaurant near my sis' house today that consisted of butternut squash soup, fondue of cheese with white wine and beef bourl- smth.. yummy! loved the ambience too - some smoky, authentic dim-lit taverna-ish place that proved too dim for any photo-shots.. geez

still, if u get me and my mom in agreement that the food is good.. you've struck gold.. lol. oh and lunch was fantastic as well with the most authentic dim sum i've have had in 6 months.. swoonsome man, especially the crunchy uber-delicious bbq pork!! haha.. sometimes i think vancouver is even more asian and chinese than singapore man.. honestly i've spoken more cantonese here than i have in singapore.. and it's like the people here assume you speak canto.. lol

alrite.. cue the amazing race music..



from the snowy suburban terrain of ithaca, new york

to the gawdy overdone but nevertheless spectacular light-ups @ orlando, disneyland

heading west toward dreary, sleepy vancouver

to the snow-tipped regions in japan.. (yah rite!! this was in vancouver as well)

back to the cosmopolitan-ish cityscape of sing.. vancouver!

lol.. what a journey it has been.. more fotos when i finally reunite with my com... honestly.. using my dad's inept LG computer and the equally baffling and useless iMac courtesy of my sis is like entering computer-purgatory.. geez. lol

a rundown of things

these few days have been more of a frenzied hustle than a rest period for me.. geez.. with my parents arriving and fussing over the cold, my sis currently acting like a complete retard (that she is - further confirmed today.. hehehe)　

now she's threatening to throw me out of the her room. geez.

vancouver has been absolutely bleary and miserable (despite what cody insists) with the weather varying from miserable drizzle to lin-ken type of moping downpour (not that i am least bit laughing at him. hehe). honestly, and with the sun setting at 5pm there hasn't been much fun in the sun and i haven't been able to take much shots of places like granville island and the likes.

oh wellz.. i realise the most fun part of things is meeting people, interacting with them and man.. preventing my dad from overinteracting with them. had a fabulous christmas dinner @ my sister's friend's place with much christmas caroling, silly games and comparing canada, america and singapore.. then it was meeting up with my dad's old friend who honestly has a personality that pendulum-swings between utmoust piousness and schoolboy mischeviousness.. and yeah.. he's an absolute riot and fun to be with.

so yeah whilst the location is disappointing, the company is a blast. =).. plus i get to have my 'me' time occasionally and start planning world domination next semester.. hehehe.. as i have always said before a semester, you're gonna see a new frank next semester.

lol.. let's see whether even an iota of that statement above would ring true

the fun of it all

really have had so much fun these few days, first with the rekindling of the youthful side of everyone @ disneyworld, getting overwhelmed by the fantastic fireworks and light-ups everynight, me + cheewei laughing at sheryl's photo-shots, taking silly emo shots around epcot's world showcase. then heading to NYC, chillin' at an uber-cool trendy gershwin hotel, hitting the streets around soho, east village, greenwich village, chinatown, eating delicious jap food + fusion jap food, having a blast of a shopping time with new found great shopping pals, then arguing like crazy over movies to watch and concluding that we ain't movie pals. then finally it's a complete 360 degrees change in vancouver, staying at my sis' place and enjoying the much better weather, relaxing and chillin' at her place, going for fantastic christmas eve parties and the likes..

ahh.. life.

reflections

well.. this sem is officially over, from the moment i put down my pencil in disgust over the 303 paper and laughed my way whilst handing it in. oh well. hahahaha

aniwez, things really went by way too fast this sem. was completely steeped in work and wow.. can't say i really enjoyed the sem much. geez. hopefully the next will be better.. kinda wanna do more stuff and have WAY more fun.

but yeah.. now for the hols first!

cold and miserable

it's a frigid -9 degrees out there and the snow has blanketed everything, transforming the scenery into yet another white winter wonderland. i'm honestly still in awe at the way the snow just magically makes everything so.. beautiful, so pure, so rustic and so untouched. you feel as if life itself has deserted the area somewhat.

oh wellz. though the cold is a dratted thing.

aniwez i'm in the midst of studying in the final week, and i'm currently ONE DAY BEHIND schedule. arggh. doesn't bode well for me. i'm torn behind hastening my psych studies or just plunging into them and clearing the first hurdle first. hmmz. ok, you don't need to hear me yak about this. hehe.

i'm more frustrated with just how things have turned out this sem. i'm honestly not the sentimentalist. i'm like the pathetic mimic. the guy that wants to be something yet honestly cannot fathom why he wants to be that. the guy that pulls so much psychological ploys and plays yet wonders what the heck he does that for. the guy who orchestrates schemes and plans to do this and that, yet wonders if ultimately, we are shackled by our inherent choices, behavior and nature.

i can't make things reconcile. and i'm paying for it. i just feel.. sigh. confused.

back to the slopes! (and the books)

woot! final week of this sem just ended! besides several glimpses of fun this sem has been DREARY with the capital D. but well, now it's time to regroup study hard and do well for finals! =)

played like 4 hours of settler's yesterday and hit the slopes today @ greek peak to fill my fun quota before a week of mugging.. heehee.. settlers, to me, is one of the fun-nest games ever cos there's so much psychology involved in the game and it's so much of talk. and snowboarding was pretty painful and disheartening initially, as we only attempted alpha slope (noob man!) and fell like crazy initially on the icy slopes. ouch! but well.. then the muscle memory kicked in and things became much better.

so well.. 3 finals to go! countdown starts!

photos ed

random stuff done through the semester...


our 303 class prelim 2 scores curve... amazingly low and the prof is very proud of it


dinner at banfi's.. courtesy of desmond and josh.. hehe


our school changing color


making apple pies

then today's thanksgiving dinner.. courtesy of all our master chefs.. le chomp le chomp le yum! our menu included:


my dish! - smoke salmon bruschetta with pesto sauce and tomatoes


asparagus wrapped in smoked bacon with hollandaise sauce


tur-duck-ken.. chicken stuffed in duck stuffed in turkey.. omg.. this is good


there's just too much food to name.. but there was also ribs, haddock, salmon with lemon pepper sauce, brownies, pasta and much much more..

haha.. we still have tons of food left behind.. and my two days of gym has been officially wasted.. lol.. oh wellz.. yum!

the pre-thanksgiving edition

thanksgiving dinner is the only glimmer amidst one of the bleakest thanksgiving celebrations for me yet again.. as much as i dislike travelling and get all tired out, staying at ithaca isnt exactly fun...

oh well, up to me to carve something fun for myself i guess... =) i'm gonna be doing some salmon bruschetta for thanksgiving tmr.. hopefully things pan out, then it's black friday shopping!!! woot!

last black friday was kinda a letdown because we went to jersey gardens and gq got all pukey and sick and we wasted tons of time, plus all the winter wear i wanted wasnt in the stores.. so it was kinda bummer...

this time i think im sticking to the simple pmall and seeing what i can get SLOWLY. i kinda browsed through the online store catalogues and found one ensemble that i wanna create for this winter.. lol.. and yeah, i needa find the salvation army dump place to recycle my old clothes... lol

oh.. and today was yet another ian/cherie/yk/sam etc outing to madeleine's! food was pretty good, but according to me, a bit little considering what i had at zaza's the day before (pan seared duck + creme brulee).. josh/me/yk shared a duck two-fit dish and diver scallops then splurged on the most scrumptious desserts ever - chocolate mousse cake, some fantastic three-tiered cake filled with grand mariner, baileys and whiskey and oh.. chocolate creme brulee.. which pretty much filled me with ecstasy cos it was so good.. lol.. yum!

300th post!

apple pie-mania!

snow started falling this weekend in cheery (yah rite) welcome of ian and cindy from stanford).. geez. aniwez we went applie-pie making at mike and marsha's house today and well.. it was fun + a great reunion!.. though the poking wasnt exactly fun.

rehashed in the army-favourite foosball, played some wierd trading game in which cindy kept winning, ate tons of delicious squash soup with garlic bread! yum! yeah, then was the apple pie making in which i managed to mangle several apples, roll a pretty decent dough crust and then trim the sides of the pie etc.. yeah but i couldn't do the ribbon design somehow.. -_-

the pies turned out delicious. joshie disagrees with me saying that it was too sweet but.. haha.. to me anything with cinammon = good. oh yeah.. and we also played with the absolutely friendly dog, toby. darn.. really wish i had a dog.

at nite was a hotpot celebration with hksa and ctas pple for the asia dragon's thing held last sat. i have to admit that whilst the organization wasnt exactly very good, the interaction was good la.. real fun mixing around with the hk pple and taiwan pple.. haha.. though it makes me really wanna go to hong kong!

hmm.. ok nothing much left to say.. so so glad that all my prelims are done with this sem.. can relac a bit, take a breather till the finals.. bleah..

the completely wrong time edition

this is so completely the wrong time to be blogging, considering i'm sandwiched between two horrific prelims, one that i have pretty much already tanked to the bottom of the ocean and the other still looms one day ahead.

geez. this is so sad.

aniwez, some very irrelevant trivia that I always wanted to know but never bothered to ask. (linken don't bother replying)

1. how to guys actually pull off wearing a scarf? as in.. how to fold until the seh way and not the way that marks you neck look enlarged?

2. how in the world do u pose for photos and ensure you don't look like a complete idiot/loser/fug. haha.. honestly, i think i shall shy away from photos from now on.. hehe.. it's just.. horrid. lol

arrgggh.. i'm going to sleep.


as per the pumpkin carving stint again.. this time i went for a more narcissistic and declarative pumpkin. lol

the materialistic and completely irreverant edition

hmm.. asia dragons just ended.. honestly i don't really ever want to do a food/organizing/entertainment thing for awhile.. it's.. tiring. i dunno whether its fulfilling but it's just kinda sad to be filled with stuff to do and see people eating... oh wellz.. i kinda just wanna enjoy the event once. haha

aniwez it was fun to see and chat with friends from hksa/ctas.. i kinda wanted to do this event just for this.. haha.. so oh wellz.. i'm not gonna complain anymore. =)

next week's hell week beckons. lab + ece 303 + ece 315 prelims. wheee. but well.. good news is that i'm 2 prelims and 3 finals away from orlando then vancouver! yippee

oh.. and my snowboard arrived few days ago.. i like! haha.. spent kinda quite alot this month with the phone and board.. but err.. hope it pays off and well.. i really have fun with it. =)

ok.. REALLY tired. gonna kunz.

oh. and on a side note, i'm kinda worried cos i slang way too much nowadays.. even with sgporeans.. wah.. go back sg sure kena suan.. haha

sick like a duck

typical.

the only week i'm free I go and fall sick.

maybe it's cos despite my proclamations that i was gonna sleep early every night, I inevitably wind up sleeping at 1++... stupid iphone is destroying my life with my incessant watching of youtube past sleeping hours.. lol

but i must say the iphone is an amazing distraction during class espcially if your TA insists on droning on and on about ridiculous stuff and tries to emulate the prof by saying stuff like "use intuition"... geez.

the materialistic life.. not.

haha... i've FINALLY struggled through the semester to reach a rest-stop... one week free of prelims. FINALLY. man.. i really thought i would pass out on friday after enduring YET another 3am - 4am night.

bleah. this IS really the worst semester for ECEs i think. really really hope things would get better next time. =)

aniwez, i haven't really updated but wow.. things HAVE happened. =)

makanmania came and flew by, consuming YET another few tens of hours of sleep with preparation and then slogging it out for the event itself. being the emcee was.. hmmz.. fun in a way, but it kinda sucks when your audience kinda doesn't pay attention. it kinda feels like you're whoring yourself out for attention. lol

then i lost my phone for the fall break. -_-.. and under pretty biased circumstances, i got the i-phone. which honestly i think, kinda fulfills what lik sin said about me owning gadgets that are pretty much smarter than me. haha.. it's really really cool, though the cost still hurts my pocket but.. wowz.. all the functions, the sleekness, the all-in-one entertainment and just the seh-ness in flicking buttons on the screen and so on.. wheee.. haha

what else? hmmz.. i'm gonna go get my snowboard soon.. can't wait for snow but kinda hating that it's getting cold. haha.. it's back to the preppy look of sweaters, collars and stuff. =)

oh yeah, then there was this whole turmoil with wanting to take a dual-degree in psych and ECE and me actually really nearing taking that step. but then after 3 whole hours on schedulizer trying to find a plausible schedule i gave up. thing is, psych courses are fun. and i think i like psych and am good at psych. but to ask me to take 48 upper level credits and 100 bloody arts credit just to get the psych major just ain't worth it. so i've decided that i'm just going to enroll for a surplus of psych classes and just enjoy myself. =) i kinda find that psych courses really suits people like me who tend not to be too technical, yet still wants to find out about of what like anti-aliasing and stuff mean. so yeah. =)

talking about double degree also makes me talk about how i really wanna spend my remaining years in cornell - not just studying away. it kinda really pisses me off and makes me sad the way this sem is completely going down the drain due to the appalling load from TWO courses. -_-. but well.. i dunno.. what do i want? i really do wanna mix around, know more people, hang out at starbucks (lol) and just.. really enjoy an enriching education here at cornell. watching caroline's concert today really really made me wanna do something in cornell. have an impact, and not just accelerate through 3 years and get outta here. i don't wanna do that. hmmz.. i dunno.. i'll just do my apply-for-tons of thing strategy again i think and see what God provides.. hmmz..

fall break?

pictures galore!


appelfest @ ithaca commons


caramelized apple, fry bread with apples and loads more! yum!

so then we set off for our road trip/fall break.


idyllic clayton, situated right next to the thousand islands..


dock to the thousand islands. we clarified a few things there: 1. an island is defined as any patch of rock with vegetation on it. 2. there are 18000 islands in the region of thousand islands actually 3. thousand island dressing DID come from here


fresh bread anyone?


up north, fall was indeed coming


we reached montreal @ 9+ and then headed straightaway for dinner!! here's the famous crepe suzette


our meal in full glory - crepes + fondue!


visiting montreal - notre dame cathedral


cobbled stone streets again!


inside notre dame basilica. it's kind of sad how commercialized the whole thing has become.


along the streets of montreal


pumpkins at atwater market


our days in montreal were short-lived, and somehow we all needed that dose of crappy capitalism. -_-. so we headed for vermont's famous ben and jerry's ice cream factory


peace, love and ice cream this way


ice cream graveyard - where rejected ice cream flavours lay. this ice cream met its demise because kahlua got too expensive. damn.


next up, lake placid @ adirondacks!


the required artsy shot


ruffles came along


driving round the adirondacks


these are flowers to sheryl. hehehe


nice contrast


lake placid


mirror lake.. no prized guessing how the name came about


great retirement spot here i guess..


so its back to the drudgery of deadlines and homeworks. geez

catch

is chasing my dreams that hard?

does being different entail earning less?