Yay!

I got a job today! Working from Thursday to Sunday at Suntec yay :) And my ex-student's sister called me to ask me to tutor her in Chemistry for the holidays. Got hope.

Hongkong 香港 ホンコン

I am going to Hongkong! I am so excited but very broke indeed. Still cracking my head over the money issue :(

From Singapore to Hong Kong JetSaver
Monday, 02 Jan 06
Flight 691 - Depart Singapore at 6:50 am and arrive in Hong Kong at 10:30 am

From Hong Kong to Singapore JetSaver
Friday, 06 Jan 06
Flight 696
Depart Hong Kong at 8:10 pm and arrive in Singapore at 11:45 pm

:)

Post Exam High

The quality of life improves vastly after exams. Nuah-ing feels even better than usual. Sleep when I want, wake up when I want, watch tv when I want, meet my friends when I want. Yippee. Had a great day out again today, had great fun and talks with Shin. At the end of the night some weird guy tried to pick her up! We were sitting at one of the stone benches along Orchard Road when he came to squeeze beside her and mutter some words to her. I think it was some African guy called Andrew or something. I couldn't even hear what he was saying. Did we (she?) look so desperately in need of company? Haha. Shin don't kill me for writing this. I must let everyone know that your mei4 li4 wu2 fa3 dang3. More going out plans tomorrow! Whoopee. Busy busy.

People who still have exams on: Add oil add oil!
-----
Currently reading: The Life of Pi
Currently watching: House!!!
Currently listening to: Liang Jing Ru - Si Lu
-----
The reason death sticks so close to life isn't biological necessity-it's envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud.

-Yann Martel in The Life of Pi
----
Places I would like to go in my lifetime:

The Maldives
Mauritius
Sweden
Switzerland
Norway
Alaska (going! :D)
New Zealand
Costa Rica
Greece
Wales
And many many more nice places. Deep sigh. Who wants to go? Let us start hatching money-making plans together.

Travel-itis vs. Vitamin M Deficiency

I am sick! Travel-itis and Vitamin M Deficiency. The travel bug has bitten me even since I left Singapore a year ago and started going to proper holiday destinations instead of JB :p However, money is and always has been a real problem. Sigh. How? I need job lobangs!

Liberation~~~

I'm free! Exams are o-v-e-r. Tra la la. After today's jap paper, which went quite well, (unlike my other badly screwed up papers), I went home to share my newfound joy with some people on MSN, catch a few winks of sleep before going to meet Carine. Happy outing it was, with us talking lots of rubbish, and ending up with her discovering that I am very lao3 tu3. Oh well. I bought a top for $16 and a bikini for $28 (now I own one, but doesn't mean I will wear it out :p)! Cheap! I'm happy! And on the way home I sat beside a guy who was sleeping. Halfway through sms-ing I saw out of the corner of my eye, something falling from around the height of my head. Looking over I saw that he had let a big dollop of drool fall out of his mouth and stain his blue shirt a darker shade of blue. Haha! Very irrelevant I know but I'm happy.



I secretly took a picture of him with my phone. I'm evil.

Last Paper at 1300 SGT

It'll all be over soon :)

Then it'll be time to go out, time to meet professors (sigh), time to get some sleep and much needed exercise. Tra la la!

Pharmacology Tomorrow

The last of my bio papers. And the worst to study for because its all memorisation and my memory has been failing with age and the passing of time. I hate all the million types of different receptors and agonists and antagonists. Don't like pharmacology! At least molecular biotechnology and immunology have unifying principles with which to connect ideas and thoughts. For pharmaco its just remember this, now remember something else, and something else... Boo hoo. I think its a mistake to take this module. Shall not take any more pharmacology classes! I would much rather lose marks due to my own stupidity instead of because I couldn't remember a stupid drug name like yohimbine, atenolol, edrophonium, neostigmine and countless others. The names don't even begin to suggest what the drugs are used for, which makes it so difficult to remember :( Yohimbine - for being a himbo and saying yo? No no, it is an alpha2 adrenoceptor antagonist used to increase noradrenaline release. I rest my case.

ZZZ

Exams haven't started and I'm already pooped!

Can't wait for Shin to get back :D

Bottle Tree Village is worth visiting. But you definitely need a car to get there.

Random thoughts united by the fact that they came from my head, which is currently a tangle of molecular biotechnology, immunology and pharmacology. Whoopee!

-xxx

Exam Period

Its always very lonely late at night when everyone in the house is already sleeping and I am up alone burning the midnight oil. And yet that also means there are less distractions. No voices heard from the room next door, no slamming doors and no sounds from the tv.

At times like these I need to resist the urge to sleep (not very hard since I have completely screwed up my body clock), find something fattening to eat like chocolate, or turn on the tv to watch reruns of CSI or such like. I really am very bored leh!

Immunology is interesting but very gross to study. In fact a lot of things are gross to study but fun to learn haha. I think I still have a false sense of security since my papers only start on Wednesday. But my rational side is telling me that once the exams start there's no stopping them so I am constantly trying to make myself feel more antsy without much success :(

Instead I spend my time thinking about Alaska, what my apartment is going to be like, what outdoor activities I can do there, thinking about going out with my friends after exams. Other things on my mind include my research options. Argh. And the latest bug that has bitten me is to dig out some fun (ok, maybe I should say more uncommon) things to do in Singapore. Everytime a tourist or exchange student asks questions like where should they go in Singapore? I hear the standard answers of Sentosa and Orchard Road and Zouk. So I must try some other things la. Sentosa and Orchard Road and Zouk are too commonplace. Got new things or not?

Things I have potentially found so far:
(1) Pulau Ubin for cycling and Chek Jawa. Ok not a very new idea I know but I haven't been there in ages.
(2) The Southern islands like Pulau Hantu or Sisters island. (supposed to have wildlife... a bit sceptical about this so maybe should go and find out)
(3) Bottle village at Sembawang, near the park. Dunno what this is but maybe worth a try.
(4) Farms at Yio Chu Kang/Lim Chu Kang. Carine said can feed ponies!
(5) Tree top walk at MacRitchie reservoir.
(6) Bring my korean friends to the Korean Cafe at Marina Square
(7) Check out SnowCity and see how bad it is haha. The snow is supposed to be 4cm deep :p
(8) Visit Little Bali. http://www.littlebali.com/index.htm
(9) Jurong East Swimming Complex
(10) The new national library.
(11) Arab Street.
(12) Batam with exchange students?
(13) Changi Western Boardwalk
(14) Sungei Buloh.
(15) Go for buffet at the Fullerton Hotel if/when I have $$$.
(16) Tra la la! No more ideas but I typed in 16 already.

Can't believe I came up with so many weird ideas. Maybe none of them will materialise. But if anyone's interested must let me know! Good friends, new friends, old friends or whoever. And now I should go back and study.

Think You're Pessimistic? Read These.

You know how they're lots of those motivational posters out there that say things like "What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve"? Haha found a hilarious alternative to those sometimes cheesy lines. All pictures taken from http://www.despair.com


















My favourite :p

Cute Graphics :)

I Want This Dog

BIG HUG!!!

www.weird-food.com

Bored old val decides to write another post to distract herself from the tormenting, insurmountable task of studying for her 4 consecutive exam papers. 3 bio papers followed by one japanese paper. Peachy!

Anyway, I came across this website showcasing the world's weird foods. Its got everything from innards to bugs to live squid that suck on your mouth as you try to eat it. The interesting thing is that durian is listed! Some of the descriptions are really funny. I quote:

"A fruit as big as a football, covered with tough spiky skin. The pulp is pale yellow, with shape and consistency of raw brains. Smell has been compared to rotting flesh, old gym socks, or sewage. "

"Durian is the King of Fruit. You should all be so lucky to have access to Durian. If there are gods, the gods eat Durian. I would rather eat Durian than pizza. However, to keep all in perspective, I would rather have sex than eat Durian. But Durian is definitely second on my list."

"Durians cannot be plucked. You have to wait for them to fall of the tree. When they fall, don't be under them."

Hahaha. I love durians! If only I had some with me. Yum.

Your Summer Ride is a Jeep

For you, summer is all about having no responsibilities.You prefer to hang with old friends - and make some new ones.

What's Your Summer Ride?

But summer is such a long way away. I really do want a jeep though, or a SUV/4WD.

Gummy Bears

You may be smooshie and taste unnatural, but you're so darn cute.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

Gummy bears I like!

Mulling Over Things

Why do we need to study so hard?
What should I do for my final year project and with who? (Recommendations please!)
Should I do UROPS?
What should I do with my life?
...
Why is the sky bluer in SD than it is here?
...
I miss cooking :(
...
I want to go Alaska quick!


-written early on Friday morning while I'm sneezing and wishing I was in bed instead of taking a break from studying

Fun Time Wasters!

Your Hidden Talent

Your natural talent is interpersonal relations and dealing with people.You communicate well and are able to bring disparate groups together.Your calming presence helps everything go more smoothly.People crave your praise and complements.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Your Career Type: Artistic

You are expressive, original, and independent.Your talents lie in your artistic abilities: creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art. You would make an excellent: Actor - Art Teacher - Book Editor Clothes Designer - Comedian - Composer Dancer - DJ - Graphic DesignerIllustrator - Musician - Sculptor The worst career options for your are conventional careers, like bank teller or secretary.

What's Your Ideal Career?

Your Power Color Is Gold

At Your Highest: You are engrossed in passions that mentally stimulate you. At Your Lowest: You seek thrills and neglect what's important in your life. In Love: You see dating as adventure and approach it with an open attitude. How You're Attractive: You passion for life makes others passionate about you. Your Eternal Question: "Am I Having Fun?"

What's Your Power Color?

The Horror of Instant Noodles

Dear all, I shall write an informative and shocking (to me anyway) post today. Today during lab I was having a discussion with a Canadian exchange student who was in my group and we started talking about instant noodles. She started saying something about how instant noodles are pre-cooked and deep fried. I was like, whaaaa? How can that be. These past few days, since I was lazy to think of what to eat, I'd actually been eating instant noodles and wondering whether its possible to lose weight on them :p After all, its just carbohydrates in soup right? Well, she countered that by asking me whether I could explain the high fat content in instant noodles? ... I was left speechless and so decided to do some research. And the results show that instant noodles are indeed deep fried prior to us dumping them in hot water and thinking ah soup noodles, they may not be healthy but cmon they're definitely not as fattening as deep fried food. Haha.

From http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/cook/feature/ramen_te.html:

Instant ramen noodles are made with wheat flour, water, salt, and kansui, an alkaline water that adds elasticity to the noodles. First, the ingredients are kneaded together to make a dough. Next, this dough is rolled out and cut into thin noodles. The noodles are then steamed and are finally packaged after dehydration. Advanced technologies are used in every step of the manufacturing process. Dehydration is especially important for the preservability of instant ramen, so noodle makers have experimented with many methods.

Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin, succeeded in making the first instant ramen after much trial and error. Tempura, a traditional Japanese deep-fried food, gave him the idea of removing moisture from the noodles by frying them in oil at a high temperature. This method makes it possible to dehydrate the noodles almost completely. Moreover, it has the added advantage of leaving countless minuscule holes on the surface, making it easier for the noodles to rehydrate when steeped in hot water.

-------

How many of you have wondered how instant noodles are made? I never did :p