Yummy!

Went to SheeChien's place to make sago kuih this afternoon.
It was sooooooo yumm! Although the texture of the kuih wasn't right when it first came out from the steamer, it turned good after we put it into the fridge.
I just had one piece of it just now and it was even better! hahahaha!!! So happy! ;)

Moomba festival 2005 

Easter break

After an 'exhausting' day at Smith St and Camberwell yesterday, I feel so bored today!

Woke up at almost 1pm today.... thanks to daylight savings, I got to sleep for an extra hour. then, study till dinner time, watch DVD till 9pm....
play games for 'a while'... then online... then... dunno wat to do liao....
sien....

How come some ppl can have enjoyable, happening easter break. But i hvn't had any plans yet. is that a good thing? so that I can do watever i like anytime?

well, let the time prove everything...

I can hear the footsteps of winter ... it was only 5.30pm today and the sky was already dark. and the weather is getting colder... yesterday nite, the heater in my room already '重出江湖'. haha!

Lost and Found

Yesterday nite, just before I went to sleep, I realised that my mp3 player was left in the lec th after my 9am lec yesterday!
Panic!

This morning, woke up at usual time, but without lagging here and there, i left home 30 mins after I woke up to uni to find my lost property.
Straight away into the lecture th... (wow! it was totally dark in there until I opened the lecture theatre door, and the lights were all on automatically!)
Disappointed.... nothing in the lec th...
went to union house information desk....
Disappointed.... no new found properties reported...
went to Biomed Library info desk....
Disappointed....

felt so down during throughout lecs and tute.... till 2pm... went to Microbiology building general office and asked....
Bingo! A lecturer found it and handed in to them.
The person there told me that I'm so lucky coz they haven't been recieving any lost properties for years!
haha... is that becoz i'm lucky or noone has been as careless as me for years?

Then, after thanking the lecturer by sending her an email... went home happily with my found property. haha!
Stopped by the mobile phone shop and asked if they got the dvd player in stock (that's free when I signed my hp plan but they din hv the stock that time)
So, lucky me! they've got it now! :)

Came home.... wanted to have some yoghurt and muesli as my lunch (at 3pm)...
found out that my yoghurt had expired 2 days ago... hmm... should i eat it?!

Moomba!!

Went to the Moomba Festival last nite for the fireworks with a few friends. It was fantastic!!!!! Those fireworks are very very beautiful!!! Much better than those last year. I think it's because this year is the 50th Moomba Festival.
The fireworks started at 9.30pm sharp but by the time we reached there at around 8.30, the grass lawn along the both sides of Yarra River was already packed with ppl, sitting on the grass, waiting for the firework to start. Lucky that we got a nice seat.
the firework lasted for 15 mins. I can't stress this enough that it was sooooo bloody good!! the firework was fired from 5 (I think) different platforms on the Yarra River. Everyone cheered when the first blast was fired. And we all clapped and cheered when it ended 15 mins later.
this is the best firework i've ever seen so far.. haha!
I'll definitely go for the next Moomba firework again next year, every year as long as I'm still in Melb.
Yup... I'm a 'firework person' since long ago. Always feel excited when watching firework during CNY. And always wish that I could watch those huge firework during New Year countdown at Sydney Harbour Bridge or the London Bridge with my own eyes (not through tv of course). haha!

After that, few friends came to my place, watched concert vcd and baked cake! haha!
It was 3 o'clock in the morning when we finally sit down, blow the candle (for some reason) and cut the cake together. haha! Crazy ppl!
Then chat... eat... chat... till 5 something am!
I slept at almost 6am this morning.

Woke up at 12 to go to the library to complete my prac prelabs for monday's prac.

I can 'conclude' that I had a good weekend. How bout u all? haha!

Today, after watching a small part of a tv programme, I 'learned' a 'fact' which is very true: Life is too short to wait.
I remembered that i heard from somewhere something like this...
a person has 24 hours a day to spend, after 8 hours or mayb less of sleep plus shower, toilet breaks, hanging around doin nothing, eat.... a person actually only have abt 2/3 of a day to spend on those 'useful & productive' stuff.
let's assume that a person can live till 90 years of age, but actually, he only lived for 60 years. If you cut off those days or years when you learned to crawl, walk, talk.... How many years in your entire life did you actually utilise properly? as in... you actually know wat u're doin, know how to spend ur life. and are you sure you can live till 90 years old?

Hm.... well, that makes me thing that life is really too short.
Wat do u think?

Busy weekend

Today... Friday.... went for lunch with an extremely empty stomach with my other high school friends.
at night, went to the MCS 'dinner'. at 7pm.
the dinner was better than wat i expected.
come back .... reach home at 12 plus? i think....
dunno why... feel miserable now... sien...

ya.. by the way, heard that SPM result was out. wat abt STPM?
hope to hear from you guys who took STPM really soon.

Studie... again...

Uni starts dee... but i'm still in my holiday mood.
first week of uni had passed. well, not too bad 0verall. but still not used to it. Have to wake up so morning everyday.... 9am lec every day except thursday.... 8am!
and all those are IBS lecture! stupid ibs! haha... that's our biomed core subject by the way. so, no choice. have to do well too. :(
19 contact hours a week is a good thing for me. but, most of the slots are in between classes. so can't go anywhere or come back earlier except staying in the library in uni. so... hmm....

went to Ez's house-warming gathering today. a good location to stay. but... the lift wasn't working when i went there! haah... bad luck! luckily it was repaired before we left.

Hot summer day

Once again.. i'm 'back' in melb now... walao! the first thing i want to say is... it's so hot over here!

pity that I still can't get back my own voice... coz talked too much in the airport... aih... actually it sounded much better that morning.. but.... ruined again...
the flight was full of ppl, especially students! it took me more than 3 hours to get home since the flight landed this morning.
just wish that i don't have to talk much tomorrow... can keep my voice for few days before class starts on monday!
Although I can't talk much, but I can still type here..haha

yesterday nite... left KL .... felt very sad when mum and dad each gave me a hug.... :'( althuogh this is the 3rd year coming over, the feeling is still about the same. aih....
as soon as I reach this 'home' in Melb, after putting down the stuff, take a good look around the apartment, then start vacumming my room, then switch on the com, online....
took a good shower.... it's a big hot day!!
After having my lunch (porridge cook by JY!!), started to unpack my stuff while chatting online.

now, finish all the unpacking, but left with stacks of clothes to be ironed!

it's 22nd today!

Ooh.. it's 22nd today! which means... i'm leaving for Melb tomorrow! wow... that's fast man!
started packing yesterday... found that I couldn't manage to bring all the things that i want to. so, will leave some behind and ask bro to bring them over for me in July. yup... he's goin to melb during my winter break. yay! hehe....
well, everything's been fine with me here.. except having bad throat infection.. that's wat the doctor said to me this morning. aiyo... it's good that this happen at the end of CNY so that I won't miss all the CNY yummies... but it's bad to have it now coz i'm flying off tomorrow!
anyway... hope it turn better tomorrow.
k, since can't check my complete timetble yet, gonna offline and continue to watch the HK series loh... the last 2 episode of the total of 42.. hehe... that's part of my entertainment at home in this holiday... this is my 3rd HK series that i've watched, dled from someone.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

It's Chinese New Year!!
Happy CNY to all of u!!
yup, went to Penang, my hometown for 5 days, collected angpaos, ate lots of junk food, play mahjong, met cousins and other relatives... this is how i spent my time in Penang.
It's quite suprise that there aren't many cars and ppl in Penang until the 3rd day of CNY. which is quite unusual. coz usually duing CNY, Penang will be crowded... cars and ppl everywhere... traffic jam... but this year, not that bad until 2nd or 3rd day of CNY.

Came back from Penang on friday, after giving JY a visit.
today, went to visit some of my dad's friends and relative. and at nite, went to meet up with SinYee, and said bye to her before she go to S'pore. 'Take care ya! see you again at the end of this year!'

less than 2 weeks, goin to melb dee...

Back at home...

Have been back in KL for few days....
Wat hv I done at home so far? hmm.. .nothing much... did some shopping, bought stuff to buy over to Melb. u know lar... most of the stuff are more ex there.
and ya... gathering!! tomorow having gathering with old Albert House friends. yay! haven't seen them for more than one month. time for everyone to update ourselves. haha

and.. happy b'day to EZ and WanYen!!

Take care!!

Today is my last day in the lab....
Surprisingly (to me)... i felt sad to leave NIE, and all the ppl there...
before that, i always looked forward to weekends coz don't need to work... but now... haha..

And today, there is another poly-student who came to attach in the lab, had her last day in NIE too. so Irene gave 2 of us a 'speech' on behalf of prof who is too busy..haha... she talked abt her experience she went through in the life science pathway... made me think quite a lot abt my own future. I even questioned myself whether Biomed is the right thing for me! anyway, I still don't have the answer.

Oh ya... we observed the results from the experiment that we did on Wed. It was...well, not too successful but we still manage to get one positive result, out of the 5 that we did. can feel the happiness and (some) satisfaction when we saw the +ve result. well, the 'some' for me is coz... mayb coz the experiemnt.. although is interesting, fun, but not that 'big' to me. so.... hmm...am i sounding too.... having too high expectation?! yaya... i know... i'm only a first year kid... can't expect something too big right?!

at abt 1145pm, 7 of my frens in NTU brought supper to my place. this might be the last time i see them before i go back to Melb in Feb. dunno when will i see them again.... end of the year? next year? few years later? ten years later?! who knows?

after one month i've been staying in S'pore....
I think that...well, S'pore is quite a nice place to stay... despite the fast pace of this city-like country. and so far, ppl that i've met here are nice (well, not that i've met many new ppl), not as bad as wat i expected.
other than that... if compared to those studying in other overseas countries, S'pore uni students (who are fighting to stay in the campus) are packed with activities everyday! that's why when i saw them, i think they all became much thinner than they used to be in high school... (not like me...aih)

as for my high school frens in S'pore.... some of you had changed ... some are still the same old you ....
although we din manage to get together too often when I'm here, i know that you all had tried the best to make time out to get together. thank you all!
Thanks for all the time we spent together, even like having lunch in can A for that short while, or sometimes when you all are chatting in those short forms that i don't really understand (well, another thing i found out abt the ppl here is that they like to use short forms).

well, take care you guys! eat more arr! Study hard and play hard! till the day we meet again...

I've learned my lessonssss

Wow... wat a day I had today!
firstly, learned that Malaysians can only stay in S'pore for not more than 14 days with the normal visitor pass. secondly, learned that read the protocol carefully! Every single word counts!

Well, went to the Immigration and checkpoint authority office today to settle my problem, paid fine, wrote a 'I regretted that....' letter. Then... phew.... feel much better now.

before that, in the morning, I was doing plasmid extraction from E.coli . and because of my carelessness, i ruined the whole thing! after someone's hard work of inserting the gene, transforming, and growing the bacteria, all gone.. because of ME!! felt so sorry about that! the thing is... can't repeat the whole thing again coz no more genome to be used! :(
Anyway, the person incharge in the lab is so nice that she din scold me at all! she explained to me and let me do another batch of plasmid extraction.
so sorry to the proff that brought the genome back from some other country.

well... last Sunday, me and 4 other NTU friends went down to Chinatown (they call it niu2 che1 shui3 in chinese) to meet other friends from NUS.
It was so crowded and packed with CNY stuff! U can really feel that CNY is just around the corner! all the stalls are so red!
then we had lunch there at a food court. I had loh bak (hope you guys know wat's that... well, cherry actually said that she actually din know wat that is) and ais kacang. yum.... never been eating those for almost a year already!
later, went to this cake and dessert shop recommended by SiaoBoon. we all bought ourselves egg tart there. another yummy thing that i wanted to eat so much! haha... in melb, it's AUD1.20 per egg tart, and it's S$0.60 for one here! such a big difference! and the egg tarts in that shop have the special pastry... the thicker ones that looks as if have many layers (hope it's well described. haha).

after that, walked pass this stall that sells 'bing1 tang2 hu2 lu2'... the one we always see ppl eat in those HK movies arr... 4 reddish fishball-like thing on a satay stick that kind leh.... haha...
anyway, it doesn't taste as good as we expected. but, that's experience.. haha!

then went back after looking into some of the shops. oh ya... we who came back to NTU ate the egg tart at MRT station. haha! Yummy!! I want more!!

Durian heads

Today.... good hot sunny weather in S'pore!
So, this morning, went to visit my friends' halls and their rooms in NTU
then after lunch, went to the Esplanade.... that's where the 'durian heads' are.. haha!
It's actually an architecture...like Sydney has its Opera House; S'pore has this Esplanade 'durian heads' haha! there are 2 of them! the 2 durian looking things on a not too tall (4 storeys high) theatre building. so, u can imagine... 1 durian... super huge ones... cut into half.... one half placed on the left, the other on the right... haha!
and it's silver colour. it looks even nicer in the night, when u can see lights coming out from the inside... .coz under the thorns of the durian are transparent glass (or fibre material?).... cool right? haha!
and around the esplanade, there are 5 huge black statues by Botero...who is a Colombian sculptor and painter... each of them are abt 1.2ton, made of bronze.
So, it's 21st of Jan now! abt one more week i'll be back in KL. and abt one more month from now i'll be back in Melb! How fast!!!

It's my B'day!

Happy b'day to me,
Happy b'day to me,
Happy b'day to Sze Chern,
Happy b'day to me....

haha! yup, today's my b'day! (same day as JayChow by the way) and oh no... i'm ?? years old now! aih... time flies... (that phrase again)

last nite at 10 plus, when I was watching tv, my big bro called and said happyb'day to me... :) 'WHERE'S MY PRESENT?!' (anyway, anyone who have any suggestion of wat i should ask from him for my b'day... pls tell me.. haha..thanks!)

at around 11, one of my sec school frens in NTU called me out for supper... but it's too late dee, so with certain reason, can't make it ... although i wish that i could go with them
then later at 11 plus, someone pressed the doorbell... and there they are! 13 of them outside my door, with a b'day cake, a b'day card, a b'day gift, and 13 smiley faces! haha! How nice of them!
Well, ya... this is the first time that i cut my b'day cake at tepat-tepat 12 midnite! Wow.. is that a new history?! haha! and since last year i din have any b'day cake for my b'day... i felt even happy for this b'day!!
Thank you very much!! You guys are so nice!
and the thing is... most of them are having 8.30am class the next day... and KH haven't even prepare for his presentation tomorrow.
a fren who went to study in Taiwan (but she's now in KL) even manage to get my hp no in S'pore and sent me b'day greetings....
then, they left at one something... after chatting, eating (my b'day cake), taking photos...

then when I was on my bed.... thinking back those moment.... and having thought that... I've been on this world for ?? years!! aih.... really.... 'old' liao lar... haha! well, i don't mean to offend those who are older than me... hehe!

and so sorry that i can't have dinner with u guys today coz promise my aunt to have dinner with her dee... anyway, sure have to go for dinner together with u all before i go back to KL!
ok....till here....

A trip to Orchard

It's Saturday!
Well, before that, my best sec school fren came over to my aunt's place to overnite. she came at 12 something... and we chatted till 3 plus ... Long long time din chat with her (face to face) dee...
Then on sat morning, there's this 3 on 3 basketball match goin on in NTU SRC (Sports and Recreation Centre). My frens are playing. So I went to watch despite the 'looks like goin to rain but turn out very sunny' weather. But I left before they got into semi-final.... and they got second! Congrats! it was really a good game.
Then at 2pm, met SinYee and she went out together with me and my aunt... sat this long long bus and mrt and got down at Bishan (which took us 1.15hours) and went to this shopping mall called Juncti8n (they call it junction 8). then at nite, went to Orchard road to see the CNY decoration. aih... wanted to see the christmas decor but it's too late... they've changed into CNY's... :( many many many ppl in Orchard! actually it feels like u're in KL city centre but only that KL has more malays while in Orchard, most of them are chinese.
then, went back to NTU campus at 9 something after another long mrt journey.
and... that's my day!

I'm in S'pore

Hi all! long time no updates from me right?
now, here i am ... in s'pore since 31st Dec 2004... and it's 2005 now! so fast man!

Ok, so.. for now, i'll be working here till end of the month. Will be goin back to KL on the 30th Jan.
I work from 9am to 5pm, Mon to Fri. but not really ends at 5pm everyday, coz have to clean up and stuff... and we have unfixed lunch time everyday as well... coz it depends on the things we're doin.
At first, I was working in this lab... doing soil analysing... like... find out is there certain different bacteria in certain soil that affect the growth of the vegetation or wat.... There are also 4 other polytechnic students who are on their attachment in that lab. Polytechnic in S'pore is like... college in M'sia i think... at the end of the course, u'll not get degree but only a diploma. My first day of work (3rd Jan) is super sien!! just help them to fill empty bikar (dunno how to spell in english) with disposable pipet tips so that can be brought to the autoclave machine to be sterilised. Anyway, i went there first day after my lunch... so first day of work wasn't that long.

My second day was not too bad... got to know them better....there are..... few ppl in that lab... one PhDstudent (who is basically the 'head' in the lab, besides her supervisor who is the proff that i got my job from), and the 4 attachment students, and another master student. They are all friendly, especially the 4 attachment students. well, the PhD person is a bit... well, not that fun lar..haha! But later one... I found out that... she's not that bad to get along with...anyway, learned quite many things there... see how they prepare the gel for electrophoresis (err.. means... the gel to run the DNA on... know what i mean? saw those strips on a film on tv? that's a 'photo' taken on the gel after running the DNA on the gel).... and found out that they can actually search the posibilities of organisms (bacteria or watever) by entering the DNA sequence into the net (a specific one lar) and click 'Blast'... then there wil be a list of those possiblities. haha! Hope it doesn't sound too confusing.

But 3rd day onwards... I moved to another lab... a molecular genetic lab.
There're only 3 ppl (including me) working in this lab. one is the PhD student, and another guy who is like me... on holiday, so come to do 'volunteer work' in the lab.
Well, wat we doin here is ... orchids, and lettuce.. haha! for the passed 2 days, I did tissue culture, which is went into a tissue culture room, and transfer the small little tiny orchids from their flask into another flask. Ohya... before that, have to prepare the medium for the to grow on in the conical flask. It's called the banana media.. haah! obviously, ya.. u're right... the medium contains banana. interesting right?! haha! and today, din do much things before lunch time, just helped to put back the cleaned, dried conical flasks... cut the foils (for wrapping purposes in the future use). then after lunch, grined the lettuce and add methanol (an alcohol).. blah blah .... as a part of some extraction (or abstract?) to be done tomorrow. So, basically, that's it in the lab for the time being. Although there're only 3 of us in this lab, i'm quite happy with it.. coz the PhD lady here is more friendly..haha!
And since 3 of us are or used to study in Australia, we had some common topic during lunch time.
And yesterday.... there's another new (well... he's new to me) guy came (came back) to work in the lab. Plus today, 2 ppl from the first lab i worked in came over to use the stuff here... so today, our lab is quite crowded...haha
and the 'new guy' is trying to find males whose sir name is Tan to do some research. so, anyone (male) willing to 'donate' some of their cells? pls inform me...haha!

And..ya... abt my fren (SinYee).... she actually thought that she met the wrong person that day when I saw her (and she saw me) in NIE. haha...
aih... should have went to her room on Monday (her b'day) and give her a big surprise. well, I din do that... i just sms her at 12 plus on sunday midnite and said that i'm here in s'pore...aih.... ruined all my 'hard work' haha!
anyway, went to her hall and met her on Monday after my dinner... chat a bit... then came back to my aunt's place with the last internal bus in NTU.

k, till here... my eyes are half closed now...
nite...

Is this life?

Wat a sad day... 26th of Dec 2004...
These few days, there're pics... sad pics all over the paper.
On the other hand, when seeing helpful hands giving water and medical needs to those affected area, I feel relieved... touched... If every country can always help each other without hoping for return, how good!

Back at home...

Came back 2 days ago...
Finished watching a 22 part HK series.
Din really go shopping yet, well, bought a shirt yesterday from 1U.
So far, haven't met any friends. Wan Yen's the first person who called me since i'm back. Thanks fren!!
Few things at home had changed... Well, just some minor ones.
But dad looks thinner than before.
This few days, at home, watching movie, eat... nothing much goin on yet. But will ask some old friends out for a chat or so. Long time no see...

Not my 'type'

Trip to Sydney

Day 1 (11th Dec)
Arrive in Sydney airport on 8.20 am, after a 1hr 20mins flight from Melb.
Checked into a hotel (which is the crappiest hotel I've ever stayed).
Well, it's a 2 star hotel, a small un-vacuumed room with 2 single beds, small fridge, old crappy cupboard, 2 chairs, 2 bedside tables. Had to share toilet (without any hooks to hang clothes or what) with other rooms.
anyway, we survived! haha.
Took a walk to Paddy market (short for Paddington Markets). It's .... a market loh..haha... with vegie, fruits, meats, fish, and other dry-non-food stuff. Much smaller than Victoria market. Chinatown is just nearby the market. The market only opens from Thurs to Sun.
Then, walked to Darling Harbour, saw children performing christmas show. being asked for a 15 mins-survey abt darling harbour.. tourism things....
Visited the Maritime Museum, where all the navy stuff in there... including their clothes they wore since.... dunno when..haha... and the ships, a huge anchor.... Free admission!
Then, had lunch in Queen Victoria Building. QVB is a famous place on Syd, for it's an old shopping place, with very nice christmas decoration, a very huge, 3 (or 4) level-high christmas tree in there... Walked around QVB, parks and other places in the town.
Went to Darling Harbour again at night, to see the lights, very beautiful view! And to listen the carols by the christmas tree. The christmas feel is so nice... since it's a saturday night, many ppl there, in the pubs, restaurants, parties, fuctions. While we're sitting on the floor, around the stage where 3 ppl singing christmas songs.

Day 2
To Paddy market. Took a bus to Bondi Beach. Good weather for a swim, but I didn't.haha! Lots and lots of ppl at the beach! So hot!!! There's a arts and crafts market at Bondi.
Back to the city after lunch. Went to the Rocks, where many restaurants and pubs are. And as arts and crafts market (only open on sat and sun).
Walked around the Circular Quay. Took pics of the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge... Saw many street performances. Which is really enjoyable! haha! Well, that's one thing i like to do in Syd in this trip.
Had dinner in a Japanese restaurant. Really small, but good food.
Then, me and my aunt walked to Darling Harbour (again)... for the Christmas Carol by the Christmas tree. different ppl singing tonight. 4 ladies... even better than the 2 guys and 1 woman last night. Enjoy... nice songs with nice view, and a Starbucks peppermint mocha with cream. Yumm!!! It's a limited edition.. only around christmas time.

Day 3
After breakky, bought a Daytripper ticket, which enables me to travel unlimited time of bus, ferry and train within a day.
Me and my aunt went on a ferry, took a round from the Circular Quay, to Milsons Point, McMahons Point, Darling Harbour , Pyrmont Bay and then the reverse route back to Circular Quay. Took nice pics of Opera House and Harbour Bridge from the ferry. Nice ferry trip...
Then, went on another ferry to Manly. nice wind on the ferry... It's a small town, with bay, beach (Manly Beach), houses....
On our ferry back to Circular Quay, it started raining. almost every ppl on the deck with camera busy taking photos..haha. The view of the dark clouds on the Sydney highrise.
Went to the Olympic Park by train. rain kept falling then stop, then fall again....
Nothing much in the Olympic Park. That's where 2000 Olympic was held. outside the Telstra stadium, there're many poles, with all the atheletes' name on.
After taking pics, back to the city... dinner time at 8.30pm
No more carols at Darling Harbour. So we actually dicided to go to the Opera House to see the night view. But after dinner, it's almost 930 already. So, headed back to the hotel after dinner at Chinatown.

Day 4
Last day in Syd! Can't wait to go 'back' to Melb! Well, Syd is not that bad, it's just... I prefer Melb.
Walked to Opera House. On the way, passed by Parliment House. Went in... took photos... That's where the NSW parliment hold their meetings and stuff....
I went into the Legislative Assmply Chamber (where the lower house hold their meetings). I sat on the chair for the Serjeant-at-Arms (the one who control the meeting) and took a photo.hehe... Visitors are not allowed to sit on the speaker's chair though.
Then, actually, we planned to walk across the Harbour Bridge. But too hot and too lazy to do so.haha!
So we went for lunch, then me and 3 of them split to our ways... they wanted to go to have a look at Kingcross. That's the 'red-light centre' in Syd. While I wonder around in Syd city.
Saw a few street performances, like the 2 guys playing guitar and drum, singing. Like those Hawaiian feel punya songs.... haha
After dinner, to the airport... back to Melb at abt 21.45

Well, Sydney is much busier than Melb. I think that the roads, public transport are not as in good order than in Melb. Or mayb that's coz i'm used to Melb? But the ppl there are not as friendly as in Tas and Melb. Hmm....