A Rare Sight indeed

Stopped at a traffic junction.... Looked to my right....And guess wat i saw??? An angmo!!!!!
Yes....an angmo....no ordinary one.... cos he's driving a blue comfort cab..... Tats the first time i saw an angmo taxi driver.... Rare sight indeed.... Thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.....

The Simpsons Movie: A MUST SEE Movie

Watched The Simpsons Movie today at Orchard Cine.... Definitely a Must Watch show of the year.... Worth every single dollar of yr movie ticket... Super hilarious, funny.... Laughed like mad throughout the entire show....

The best scene of the movie was when Homer sank in a quicksand while pointing both his middle fingers at the residents of Springfield... But bcos he was too fat.... he got stuck instead of sinking in... so got beaten up instead.... Highly recommended!!

23/7 Mon: Time to boycott KBox @ Marina Sq

Went Kbox again today... this time Khappy. Supposed to go to Marina Sq branch. But bcos the staff at this branch tried to cheat us we decided to go to Suntec one instead... told the 5 of us tat we can only sing till 530pm bcos they are fully booked in the evening... i mean wat kind of crap excuse was that? Firstly, I dun believe it is full on a Mon... and besides why must we leave at 530pm instead of 7pm when we are paying the full rate? In the end i just said "lets go somewhere else" which took the receptionist by surprise... think she was expecting us to just take up the package.... Will boycott Marina Sq branch from now on... cos it isnt the first time this outlet tried to cheat us.... Other excuses from this branch are "Klunch without lunch cos we run out of lunch boxes... and the rate is the same" and "Yr singing session is cut short till 6pm instead of 7pm because u were late for yr booking"... Pathetic excuses.

Anyway went to Suntec outlet... was quite empty... I still prefer the Orchard Cine outlet... their sound system is the best there... service is good too.

Tried singing some new songs which i concluded were not meant for me
1) 小情歌 - 蘇打綠 (too high... sounds weird when i tried to sing at a lower key)
2) 五月天 - SHE (Too many high notes... cant reached)
3) 记得爱 (need more practice... )
4) 非你莫属 - Tank version (cant hit the high notes towards the end of the song)

Songs that i think are suitable for me
1) 非你莫属 - Ariel Lin version (easier version to sing)
2) 逆光 - Stephanie Sun (Great to sing...love the groove)
3) 眷恋 - F.I.R (Still manageable)

Sun 22/7

Tried a new running route today... Ran from my place to Buangkok Station to Hougang Station and finally ended up at Kovan Station...

Probably about 10km? Just know that i passed like more than 20 traffic lights and zebra crossings...

Noticed there was a shop selling Selegie Soya milk and beancurd near Kovan Station but it was kind of empty... wonder why... maybe its a fake

Anyway was safe and sound at Kovan station and i decided to take the train back... yes the train... haha... tats the good thing abt running along the NEL route... not tat i was tired but bcos i didnt want to go through the process of crossing the traffic lights again...

Maybe the next time will run to Serangoon Station, then Potong Pasir? And maybe Boon Keng Hyflux??? heheh.. will see how then...

21/7/07 Wet Sat

A wet wet Sat... Went out with my family today...decided to head down to the newly renovated hawker centre at Old Airport Rd... Hasnt been there ever since it closed for renovations... As usual all of us ate the famous Loh Mee... Think its the best in Spore... And as usual the rojak from the stall owned by 2 old folks took forever to arrive.... Food is good, though i must say prices have gone up by at least 50%... GST increase == Everything goes up == I am feeling the pinch....

Anyway, we were driving back along Guillemard Rd.. was behind this 6 Military Police on their bikes... As it was drizzling they were wearing this green reflector vest... and bcos there were 6 of them many motorists were curious and slowed down when approaching them... think they were practising their riding skills or maybe for the NDP at that time cos they werent escorting anyone... But by driving directly behind them it feels like we were some VIPs haha... I even suggested my dad to turn on the hazard lights which he did for a short while just to make it "look" like we are being escorted (haha..ya i know its lame.... but just find it funny to be driving behind these outriders, it really feels like we were some VIPs... serious..heheh)

Fri 20/7/07: Klunch

Went to Klunch at Orchard Cine today... Was with jun pin, supposed to have zi jia too but unfortunately she decided to give it a miss, haiz.... anyway it was fun!! The lunch wasnt that nice though... they changed the menu to either BBQ chicken or Fish Fillet. Sang ni guang by stephanie... think its still ok.. heh. Tried singing fei ni mo shu by lin yi chen... need more practice.

Anyway, after hearing jun pin sang "xiao qing ge", "ji de ai" and "ai hen jian dan", decided to check out these songs on youtube to see if i can sing them... Looking forward to my next Kbox session. For now, it's back to my literature research...arrrrgghhhh

Shoot3

Was watching this new series call Shoot3 showing on channel U today... The topic was whether Singaporeans are willing to give crime offenders a second chance.

My personal opinion is that yes we should give them a second chance if they are serious in turning over a new leaf. But in reality and sad to say this, I feel that the society today doesn't give these offenders a second chance at all. I mean we can go on to argue that we Singaporeans should be more forgiving and that these ex-offenders have paid a price for their crimes so on and so forth.... but seriously how many people are willing to do that? It is easier said than done.

Even though this show did give examples of how some ex-offenders are doing well because people gave them a second chance, I believe that they are the exception. Cos I dun see why an employer would hire an ex convict over someone else who has a clean sheet even if both can do the job just as well... unless this employer is a true kind hearted soul that wants to specifically hire these ex-convicts or the employer himself is an ex-convict so he understands the plight of these ex-offenders, how difficult it is to find a job and so on. From the employer's point of view, he might be worried of hiring an ex-convict because of the lack of trust and he might fear that by hiring him his fellow workers that have clean sheets might not get along with him.

The fact is that it is a cruel world out there. Once u make a mistake, the society does not forgive u and the road ahead gets tough.

Perhaps what is more important is for these ex-convicts to believe in themselves, to regain their confidence and not to give up. Though i would think that getting a good job (ie high pay and high status) is difficult, but as long as they are willing to turn over a new leaf, willing to take up any jobs first (be it a low paying or a long working hour job) and from there move on with their life, I think they will not go hungry in Singapore.

19/7/07 Thurs

Met up with my uni classmates jun pin, weng hong and kay yang yesterday to catch harry potter at The Cathay. As usual jun pin was late again.... and the place wasnt crowded at all as expected. I think The Cathay is the best cinema in spore, they got the best seats, huge screens... only thing got to walk quite a bit. Movie was good, at least much better than the previous shows i watched like Fantastic 4 and Hot Fuzz...

Headed down to Starbucks at City Hall... chat abt almost every thing, travel, holidays, sch, fyp.... think all of us are dreading that sch's starting soon and that it is "THE" fyp sem... which means huge time to be spent in the lab.

But anyway, we decided to meet up again for kbox and rollerblade soon... finally there's kakis to rollerblade with...heheh

I will usually go for a jog around this open field next to my house... usually go for 3 rounds with each round about 1.5km long... I must say even though my place has a gym i hardly use it... cos i dun really like to run on a threadmill in an aircon environment... prefer to sweat it out in the open...

Anyway, decided to try out a new route today, think it was almost 7 to 10km long cos it took me almost an hour to complete... For the first time, i started running from Sengkang station, passed by Buangkok Station, Buangkok Green (yl claimed it is where zijia lived but i didnt see her there today..heheh) and finally reached Hougang Mall....

17/7/07 - My Next Kbox Song

Ok... think i will learn to sing this song ni guang by stephanie sun b4 i go for my nxt kboxing session... Will be my first stephanie's song... not really a fan of hers but i think this song is good, got groove, not too many high notes... Inspired by zhengning from RGS who sang it on Campus Superstar...

One thing abt me is i sing more girl songs than guy songs... dun ask me why cos i seriously have no idea....

Mon 16/7/07

Went to sch today.... Met up with So Man Tat, a guy from my cohort who did exactly the same FYP as mine last sem... Kinda of surprise that everything is the same from the project title to project description.... not sure if its a good or bad thing though... anyway he was kind enough to show me around the lab and pass me some literatures and report for me to read.

Saw sim chuan and sheena today... small world after all

Ate my fav roti prata for lunch... its still as crispy and tasty as b4...

Spent some time in the library to search for materials... was quite quiet except for a few PRCs...

Many orientation camps were going on at NUS... Come to think of it...time really flies... it was just 2004 when i had mine... sigh.... getting old...

Went for an evening jog... been exercising 2 days in a row... trying to lose weight actually... but seems like the more i exercise the more muscles i am gaining...so my weight doesnt go down...hmmm... dun think i want to go on a diet... i love food!

Sun 15/7/07

Time really flies... Sch is starting soon in a month's time. 1 more yr of hell b4 i graduate... YES chem eng is definitely very very competitive... Studying hard is not enough, u need to study smart...sigh

Ok....lets see wat i have been doing the past few days... was kinda of lazy to blog... been reading up on my FYP, was told to come up with a presentation by nxt month... think progress is still ok... did a bit of shopping, got a new set of bed sheet and a few clothes, went kboxing, queue for donuts at donut factory (for almost 3 hrs... come to think of it i think i am mad to queue for tat long...zzz...shld have gone to the suntec branch instead), exercise quite a lot these days, jogging, sprinting, pullups, situps... havent rollerblade for a long long time though.... kinda of diff to jio my friends to rollerblade with me..somehow they dun like the sport.

Was driving while listening to gold 90.5 (yesss... tats one of my fav station, the other is 933, probably got influenced by my dad, well.. some pple say its for the older generation but i beg to differ, they do have splendid songs that they play on air) and decided to check out these 2 songs on youtube after hearing them on air... 1st one is "If we hold on together" by Diana Ross, brings back memories of my childhood, and the 2nd one is "Beautiful Girl" by Jose Mari Chan...I am just fascinated with his soothing voice, didnt realize he was a flipino chinese until i watch youtube... pls bear with the old mvs though...heheh

If We Hold on Together by Diana Ross



Beautiful Girl by Jose Mari Chan

And this last song i thought of sharing is a classic hit by Cliff Richard... His live version is really good...

Ocean Deep

FYP headache

Ok... Prof Li Zhi is on conference leave so I am supposed to contact post grad student Dai Shiyao to discuss on my FYP.... Contact Dai Shiyao and guess wat.... Hes also on conference leave till end of the month...WELL DONE!!! So now, while typing this entry i am emailing Prof Li Zhi to find me another replacement for the acting supervisor so that I will know wat to do for my FYP.... Currently at a loss....sheeesh..... so much for pushing FYP to start a month earlier when no one is ard at NUS.....

FYP: Ready for challenges ahead..Come what may!!!

Finally, Prof Li Zhi HAS responded.... After waiting for 4 days for his reply.... Ok hes on conference leave wont be back till Aug...so wont get to meet him...instead i am supposed to contact this post grad student.... get some literatures from him and to start the experiment....
Well well well... I guessed the time has come for me to camp in the lab 24/7.... So that will be my second home.... sobsob.... anyway my FYP topic is "Biodiesel preparation via enzymatic transesterification of vegetable oil"... Sounds interesting rite? Hope the nxt 6 months will be "fun" and rewarding.... wish me luck! jiayou!!!!!

Stories by our Tour Guide William Chua

Thought of sharing some stories told by Mr William during the Japan Trip which I think is quite funny. According to him, he dun take tour groups from China. As we know, Chinese nationals have a bad reputation abroad.

• One bad habit is they like to spit everywhere they go.... probably just in case they get lost... it is a way of tracing their way back...heheh
• They need only 15min to have their meals cos they like to stand next to the buffet table and eat there...thus the tour guide always get complained from the restaurants....
• When it is raining and they dun have umbrellas with them, they will use the hotel shower caps as an alternative... Imagine a tour gp wearing shower caps walking in a busy Tokyo Street... so paiseh lor...
• Talk loudly... A conversation can sound like a quarrel...
• Hotel rooms tend to be ruined after their stay... heard that there was once a chinese national was cooking instant noodles in an electric kettle provided in the hotel room resulting in a short circuit
• Some japanese hotel rooms have fridge filled with can drinks... Once a can drink is removed from their slot, there will be a sensor to charge that drink to their account... 2 stories here, some pple dun know abt these sensors and start taking all the cans out to "have a look" only to realise they cant put them back... The other is they try to drink by using a straw without pulling the can out of the slot... thus they dun get charged for the drink...

Then there are complaints of tour guides for the following reasons which are quite funny too..

• As u know, most tour gps tend to urge their tour guide to sing a song in the bus during a long trip... there was once a tour guide got complained for singing too many songs
• Failure to carry luggage for the tour members when there are no porters ard..
• Failure to ensure that flowers bloom in time for the tour gp to see...
• Failure to ensure that the pet dog is well taken care of while the tour members go shopping...
• Failure to prevent tour gp members from getting constipation... yeeeessss constipation...

Then there are stories of tour members "jump aeroplane" or "tiao peh kee" in Hokkien... He said that there are many cases of tour members from China jumping aeroplane in Japan to seek a better life... There was once the entire tour gp "went missing", leaving behind the tour guide and bus driver at the hotel.

My First Video: Landing at TokyoNarita From Singapore

Took this video on board ANA flight during the landing at TokyoNarita from Spore

Things abt Japan

Some things i noticed abt japan and its pple....

1. Japanese pple are well dressed.
2. Japanese pple are very polite.
3. Most japanese dun speak english....so communication is a problem there...so i dun think its a good idea to go free and easy....
4. Japanese guys like to smoke and drink.
5. Lots of vending machines in Japan.
6. Japan is a seafood paradise.
7. Toyota is no.1 in japan....lots of cars for use only in japan that i have nvr seen b4...some are pretty nice
8. Lexus is not a popular luxury brand there.
9. Parking is a problem in big cities.
10. Customers are considered king in japan.... the same cannot be said in spore

Photo Set 6: Last one

Our tour guide, William
The tour gp members

Night View of Tokyo

Tokyo bridge

6 storey ice cream

At Otaru

At the musical box shop...bought 1 for myself

Bee!!

Hot japanese guy in tight pants!! A rickshaw rider...asking tourists to hop on... nice pants though..hahaha

Photo Set 5

Musk melons.... Very sweet and juicy... Quite expensive even in japan... abt 30 to 50 bucks per melon..each slice is abt 3 to 4 bucks.... In Spore it cost like 100 bucks in supermarkets...

From my hotel room, Sapporo city...noticed the ads, apparently they have these kind of sleazy ads and some pple on the streets will be asking pple to enter such "clubs"... they also have gigolos on the streets handing namecards to females

Night city view

Ferris Wheel...Lots of them in Japan...heard from the tour guide that these are popular with youngsters.... where they have their first kiss...haha.... Wonder where will mine be? haha



Me!!!

BBQ dinner at a local restaurant

Abalone!!! But it doesnt taste that fantastic though...a bit rubbery

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  At the chocolate factory with pinnochio
  
  
  

  Beers, Asahi, Super Blue, Sapporo Beer.... Decided to try them out at the hotel
  
  
  

  ME!!! Think it was at Asahikawa.... 2nd largest city after Sapporo in Hokkaido.
  
  

  

  
  

Photo Set 4

Me and sis at the ramen shop

BBQ lunch

Scenic view

Bright sun but its still cold...abt 17 deg

At the hotel room...japanese style

Enjoying my dinner..Jap buffet... sashimi, tempura....

Playing with water....

Playing with snow at the mountain top

Family photo

On a cable car up the mountain, victory sign!! YAY!!!!

Photo Set 3

Another yummy hot pot, basically had lots of great food there, hotpots, sashimi, sushi, ramen, BBQ, Kobe beef, crabs, ice-cream......

Staff from Toya Kanko Hotel Bidding us farewell while waving the Spore flag. Then all of a sudden the tour guide started to sing the national athem.... Our tour guide is Singaporean but based in Japan... Hes married to a japanese.

A bigger Spore Flag being waved in the drizzle... A way of thanking us for staying at the hotel

Me!!! In a "u-ka-ta"

At dinner... My family

Hotpot rice....This is delicious man...got scallops inside lor!! Japan is a seafood paradise!!

Tour gp members having dinner together at the hotel... 41 of us from SA Tours. Can u spot me?

ME!!! In a swan boat...hahah.

Outside the hotel, soaking my hands in the hotspring water... Had 2 consecutive hotspring baths, had to strip naked....ha.. i wasnt paiseh of course...all guys ma.... females and guys are separated..

Street view beside Lake Toya

Photo Set 2: Sapporo

Hokkaido Crab Steamboat.... in japanese call Ka-ni-na-be.... Sounds vulgar in hokkien..haha.

Kani is crab....nabe is steamboat or hot pot.

Yummy hairy crabs!!!

Live prawns.... Japanese pronounce as "bo-tang-ebe"... To be eaten alive...kinda babaric..but taste really great... firm texture...diff part is killing it.

Our crab we chose...poor crab

Crabby

At the wet mkt where we chose our crabs and prawns to add to our lunch

Fresh fish.... Currency is 1 Sing dollar to 80 japanese yen

Flowers!!!! Love them!!! Actually its the time for lavenders to bloom, but these are not lavenders though...

Japanese sch girls... I noticed their skirts are really short and the guys hair are really long, maybe their sch discipline is quite slack.

Me!!!!

Steaming Volcano