Ouchies

Unbelievably, I’m still jet-lagged.

It’s 9.45pm and I’m falling asleep on my laptop.

Today was interesting. I had lunch with my parents at Suntec where we went to get Long’s watch guarantee stamped. Lunch was an assortment of foods we carefully chose after perusing the stalls for the ones with the longest queues. But the wait was definitely worth it. The hokkien mee, the chicken rice, even the teh peng. All amazing. =D

Dear, I’m bringing you there soon. -pats head-

My week has been good and packed so far. On Monday, I met up with the animators for Kushinbo lunch and Star Trek! Animators and one film maker anyway. YY, Sara, Grace, Denise and I idled away our post-university lives at Kushinbo, sweeping away row after row of hapless sashimi, waiting to watch Star Trek.

Now, I haven’t followed Star Trek before, but the movie was AWESOME. For anyone who has done that strange star trek sign to the people who have heard the phrase “beam me up Scotty”, lovely. The guy who played Scotty was awesome! One of my favorite actors. =D

I miss hanging out with the animators…

Went out with Wendy on Tuesday! We had lunch at Ajisen Ramen at Bugis before taking a walk over to the new mall opposite Bugis – Illuma.

Managed to take this quick shot of the trippy interior before being stopped by security.

We then made a trip over to this ulu little place in Chinatown. The Casual Poet is a small cosy cafe tucked away on the 3rd floor of an old shophouse along New Bridge Road. It serves light snacks, all day breakfast, and an entire array of nice drinks. The setup itself is really nice, informal, and you actually feel at home, even if it’s your first time there.

Wendy’s latte and my AMAZING ice lemon tea. Well… I liked it anyway.

The welcome sign!

This is the entrance to the stairs leading up to the cafe. We were worried we got the wrong place, since on the second floor was some strange reflexology place or something…

Highly recommended. I love the place.

And yes dear, I’m bringing you here too. =D

Today was the start of clean skin too! I had an agonizing 2 hours of extraction, laser and chemical peel, leaving my face feel like a raw tomato. It hurt like hell too, despite the copious amounts of numbing cream lathered overly generously on my face. Still felt like fire sparklers pressed against my face. Still felt like a hundred ants chewing at my skin.

Urgh.

Well, now it’s over. I don’t think I’ll be going on roaccutane. The nurses advised me to see how the laser and chemical peel worked out before deciding again. Now I have a series of 6 bottles I have to religiously smother my face with every morning and evening.

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Hope it helps. Really.

And Home Again

So.. I’m back. =D From where you say? Lots and lots of pictures. Click below to see more.

But first, some updates.

GAMSAT results were released on Friday. I got a 64/59/55 which places me at the 72 percentile, and perhaps enough to get me an interview. Last night, I applied to Monash and University of Sydney, though I think they rather automatically tossed me to U of Syd’s Dentistry and Pharmacy department. The 2010 admissions guide seems odd this year (odder than usual anywho) with the GPA requirements seemingly lower than 2009. I’m not sure if this is because of the lower number of students applying or if it’s a SIGN FROM BUDDHA!!!

My early morning nonsense aside, now I just have to wait for my results to be out next Friday. I am expecting a….

C, C, B, C, S

Gah…

With those scores, I think I can only apply to dentistry… GAH!!!

Anywho… Pictures.

Aftermath Morning

So… It’s 11am now. Having eaten 3 mouthfuls of mee goreng and a cup of tea, I felt like this was the start of a lovely, albeit rather foggy, day. This feeling was further proven apposite as I discovered my computer decided to grant me access to the world wide web again today.

=D

So, anyway, MCAT scores are out. And aside from my utter lack of mental preparation, the final scores (whether I opened them on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning) wouldn’t have a hairy gumball’s chance of being any different. My final score came up to…

10/7/R/8

And I’m totally unsure if I should be celebrating or crying, so I just sit there with a strangely placid expression on my face while my facial muscles twitch in anticipation of nothing in particular. 10 for humanities was expected, 7 in physics was… Kind of expected. R for writing was very unexpected. And 8 for biochem was spot on. So, failing physics, but acing humanities… IS BUDDHA TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING???

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GAMSAT will be out next week. I hope. The official date isn’t out yet and “mid-May” sounds all nebulous.

Yesterday was fantastic. =) Thanks for dragging me all around the place. I know you’ve got lots to do aside from entertain me. So… =) It was really nice. Last night was fun too, covering 3 horrid horrid sins of morality, namely gambling, drinking and womanizing, and/or sloth. Oh, and greed. That’s a bit more than 3 now.

Dinner was awesome. Amazing seafood at that really amazing restaurant. Scampi was awesome, but a bit itchy in the aftermath. Gambling was pretty fun. I love the slots and their glorious randomness. Put in a dollar, punch something random and get 10 dollars. Sounds like a good deal. The game MatchMaker (not Love Match, dear) was pretty fun too… And whenever I started to lose and get depressed, flinging more than 2 chips on the table, I would start winning. I promptly took this as a sign that I should continue playing, and just as promptly lost my entire 10 dollars. I’m not too good at interpreting signs.

Dessert was a bunch of cakes we took back home. Lovely, but enormous cakes. Photos will come when the internet allows me to post photos (which will probably be next week…) but rest assured, there are plenty of photos. Cakes were accompanied by BBQ chips we had bought earlier in the day, and some lovely sprite with Lychee Soho that my talented personal bartender whipped up. It was actually really nice. We had to hunt everywhere for the Soho though, and only found it in 1 of the 5 liquor stores we popped into. But it was well worth the hunt. Lovely drink. Makes everything else taste and smell like lychee.

Booze, chips, cake and TV. Makes you want to bang the mug on the table shouting “MORE MEAD WENCH!!” though that wench would probably be referring to me as I wash the stack of dirty dishes in the sink.

Pink Dot is happening on the 16th of May. Not sure if I want to go. As much as I have these awesomely opinionated views on things, in particular those pertaining to issues that affect yours truly, I don’t see myself as anything more than an armchair activist, belting out my woes at whoever can be bothered to turn their ears in my general direction. I do, however, totally support the movement. One small step at a time, right? And if marching about Hong Lim Park with a bunch of picket signs is a small, though rather dismal, start, then so be it!

Parking there is nuts though.

I’m glad the entire AWARE saga/fiasco is over. I have plenty to say about it, accumulated in a long and very very wordy text file on my computer. But with the lack of internet over the past few days, they’re now a tad redundant. Shall keep them where they are then. On my desktop. Next to the photo of the angry cat swimming.

Today is pretty cloudy. The roads are already slick with rain from the night and a the air is thick with so much mist you feel you can take a bath just my running up and down the street. I’m going to miss these mornings. I don’t mind so much being a personal alarm clock. Feels like the kind of life I can do for the rest of my life.

Being with you feels like the kind of thing I can do for the rest of my life.

4th month anniversary was a couple of days ago, celebrated rather simply with takeaway sushi, roti prata and teh tarik. Not exactly what I had in mind, but it was strangely satisfying nevertheless. This month, I decided to do something that didn’t involve me actually making it, and something, hopefully, more tangible than a bunch of pixels on a screen. So I bought…

Chocolates.

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Cliche, I know. But yummy.

Shall blog more about everything on my mind when I get to higher ground (and better connection). I’m on the verge of jailbreaking my iPhone. But I can’t download the files required! Frustrating!!

Righto. Time to do the dishes!

pinkdot.sg

Wee. The Gathering.

I love the times when my extended family gather. Lol. A whole bunch of Wees can only result in one thing. A conglomeration of short people punctuated with a healthy smattering of jokes that are beyond human comprehension.

Like “je meh”  which literally means to “borrow sideways”. Huh. Lol. and for some reason this makes sense to them.

So we went on our annual qing ming trip this morning at the ungodly hour of 4am. So ungodly that nothing could rouse Lu and Yuan from their beds. So I ended up going with Pa alone. By the time we were done with everything (including an awesome breakfast at Mr Prata), it was 9 when we got home and I promptly fell unconscious on my bed (having showered, read the papers, and fiddled with Call of Duty 4 for a bit). Sleep came for only 2 hours and by 1130 I was up again. =\

Hence my current near catatonic exhaustion.

Shall go to bed after finishing this blend shape rig for my character… I can feel my liver shrivelling.

Did you participate in Earth Hour today? I did by turning off my airconditioning and working at my pc in the dark. And now…

My air con won’t turn back on.

Sigh…

And now for an update (like the rest of this wasn’t already).

I’m with someone now.

Someone sweet, caring, patient, and sometimes pleasantly annoying.

Isn’t that right Bear Bear?

Bear: zzzzzzz

Now we end with an ugly picture of a nice tree.

Now for some photos from my dad’s camera! Lol… He’s becoming a really awesome photographer in my opinion…

Tossing the notes, trying to get the “huat arh!” effect the other family down the road had (which involved a whole bunch of papers whirling in the air like a hell note tornado). =\ Didn’t really work out.

The Wees at Mr Prata! =D 11 Teh Tarik, 1 Horlicks, 1 Milo without milk (and one Milo without Milo).

Photo Update!

With the sudden surge of photos on my flickr, I felt it was high time for some good photo blogging action!!!

I headed down to NUS over the weekend with Lu to check out their Open House. Wasn’t too shabby, considering everything was nucleated in one area. It felt alot more lively than the LIFE@NTU I went to 4 years ago (but that was 4 years ago). I got to speak to Duke NUS folks and understand their entry requirements a little better. The interview process is nuts. You have to go through two interviews – one with a physician and one with a researcher. I understand the logic, but… Woot. And candidates are required to sit through a day of classes (topic will be given a week before for us to read up on) to get a feel of how classes will be conducted. I like the idea… But it freaks me out a bit. And PBL groups will be in 4s. Awesomely small, but the interview day itself might be a bit daunting with so many applicants and each trying to show they’ve got one up on the next person.

I still feel a tad uneasy about how there’s only one clinical year when other programs overseas insist on having as much patient contact as possible… But then again, the focus is different. The bond needed to be served after housemanship (eh? that makes it even longer…) can be served in any MOH hospital as a physician or as a researcher.

I got a pen. =D might be the closest I ever get to Duke NUS. So it’s now residing in my pencil case.

Yes, Simmie. My marimo mug is cute. LOL.

It wasn’t meant to be a marimo mug (if the person who gave me this mug is reading this, I really didn’t mean for it to become a marimo mug) and prior to this, it held my entire assortment of pens and markers (I didn’t mean for it to become my pen-and-marker-holding-cup-thing either). But… It was green… Marimo was green… And they needed a new home…

It’s even got a window for the sunlight to come through and for marimo to look out of! Lol… They look so happy! And the cup looks greedy. Lol

So yesterday was Survey of Modern Art… And we (collective term for Denise, Vanessa and I) left after lecture to Central to have some good ole Japanese Curry. We had to endure:

1. Traumatising decision whether to go JP or Central (“just turn!”)
2. A horrific jam from JT Hall to BKE, then Race Course Road to Bugis
3. The gut-twisting spiral up to the carpark

But the curry was worth it. They even gave us some sudoku to do while waiting for our food.

This is a shot of their menu! Cute isn’t it. The menu was a bit dubious. “Mr Curry is a curry chef from curry land…..” doesn’t help when I’m trying to figure out what is safe to eat. Curries come in 4 flavors (Original, Fresh – tomato based, Creamy -with milk or something, and Rich – it’s.. erm… black.) and in 3 levels of spicy – non-spicy, spicy, very spicy.

So I had my… non-spicy original beef and potato omelette curry.. it’s not bad at all!  It was awesome, in fact. I should have gotten the spicy one. It was actually manageable. (There’s rice under the curry. Don’t worry.)

Came with this adorable spoon to scoop curry with…

Vanessa’s iPhone has more photos of us eating and later gobbling up the dessert. We ordered this pudding parfait thing which was AWESOME. It was

• Pudding (top)
• Softee ice cream (middle)
• Fruit loops (bottom)
• and some pocky antennae

=D Glorious. And not too expensive either!

Right then! With that short outing, I have reclaimed my social life (I tend to do things like watch a movie or go out for dinner when it’s very very very very near my exams……..) and can now go back to my hermit hole and continue studying like a freak in a satellite dish stealing your cable.

A LOLCAT!

hahahahahahha looks like you…

Fall Out Boy

It’s not that I forgot! Really!

But… Fall Out Boy pictures here. =D

This concert was so much cooler than the last, and I knew nearly all the songs (with the dismal exception of the last one which was probably from their first album). The stage was so much grander this time as well. =)

Patrick’s voice is still to die for… URGH.

And a short unrelated image of what we resorted to when the power kept tripping in the house, leaving us with this as a last resort to get some internet… Hahahahahaha! Genius, man…

Happy day-after-Valentines-Day, dear readers.

Why do you even read this crap anyway… =\

The Bruises of the Awesome.

So yesterday went a whole lot smoother than I thought it would. And the results were far better than I hoped they would be.

I’m happy.

Though the word itself can barely contain this gurgling, squealing warmth bubbling in my belly like a large, hungry… T Rex.

Lol… T Rex.

We’re down to counting down on all my digits, making me wish I had more fingers and toes. But I guess I knew that you knew that I knew that you knew that I knew it was inevitable.

I got stomped on yesterday. While in heels.

=.= Bruised. Are my feet.

And my omamori is breaking! =( SOMEONE SAVE IT!!! Sigh…

I’m happy I made it through the entire day in heels. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! Though half the time I felt like I was clopping around in a rather ungainly fashion, praying to whatever higher power there was that I wouldn’t trip over my pants and face-stairs.

Hahahahahahahhaha

Okay. Back to work.

Day 16…

This is day 16 of my coke-free days (with the exception of the one can I was allowed while having dinner at Shangri La).

Ugh.

Actually it isn’t as bad as I try to make it out to be. The only kick to it is the inordinate number of cans of coke that pass before my eyes during the Chinese New Year holiday that I have to tear my eyes away from and look at….

This.

Oh glorious.

Chinese New Year this year was significantly busier than the last. I dont recall needing to visit so many places on the last day of the new year holiday.

I dont have many photos, but here are some for future me to look back on and go “what the hell…”

So first day was the traditional lunch at my grandma’s place. I love going to that place. Pity she’ll be moving soon. The entire building has been put on en bloc.  =\ It’ll be weird not going to this house every new year.

Avin kor kor’s first red packet as a married man! Lol… Gone are the days of stuffing his pockets with ang bao. Come to think of it, it’s kinda weird he posed there in front of his graduation picture….

The kids table! And the Chinese New Year spread. I’m consistently amazed at how my grandma can churn up so much food. The adults’ table is another similiar feast. Lol… THIS!!! is hainan power.

What was actually a small meeting between Ian kor kor and I had suddenly turned into a massive adult kaypoh session with everyone coming around the table to offer suggestions and eventually come up with a plan that would inevitably work me to the bone after the completion of my FYP. T.T I need to start doing some sketches already, toss some ideas around. I hope he’s okay with a black and white animation…

Dinner that evening was at Shangri La! We havent been there in a while and with good reason. Priced at $120 net per head, it’s not exactly somewhere you’d like to go on a weekly basis. The service was awesome though. The guy saw me attacking the crabs with both hands and quietly slipped me a packet of wet tissue, that he even opened for me. =D

This is the best bread and butter pudding I’ve ever had. Really.

More temptations. =\ I resorted to drinking nothing at several houses cause of the presence of… Just coke. FEEL MY DETERMINATION!!!

This year was a year full of babies! This is Joshua playing with his dad’s camera.

And Justin picking up a drink that he never drank.

All in all, this new year flew by really quick, and so did the holidays that came with it. I leave the new year glad I’ve got so many people I can call family, and in agony from the blisters of high heeled shoes.

Bloody shoes…. =.=

The Fat Face

Lol… I have honestly never been called “fat”, “greedy”, “flabby” so many times in my entire life accumulatively. I didn’t even know how to react except with a scowl while my brain tried to link those words with myself.

So the weekend came and left. And I’ll be meeting Sara in about an hour to visit our teachers at KC. The sudden realization that I should bring some snacks for them just hit me. Maybe I have some shiroi koibito somewhere…

Satay Club was on Saturday night. I haven’t been there in a couple of months and had thoroughly forgotten which stall was any good. The one we picked had strange stringy and dry chicken, but awesome beef (and some other meat that refused to listen to me). I can’t believe you have never been to Satay Club! And you call yourself Singaporean, Sara!

Lol… Anyway, Sunday was art day. I got to visit SAM again, and was unwittingly sucked into the longest Social Studies lesson of my entire life at the National museum. SAM has gotten cooler… And I got to see what I helped film so many years ago. Lol… I cant help but remember that poor chicken.

Bubbles were cool.

And so was the Oily Man.

I got to see part of the M1 Fringe Festival as well! Though it was the rather depressing (but thoroughly attention arresting) Museum of Broken Relationships.  It was quite well done really… And so was the Days With my Father photo exhibit in the tunnel. Though I was really upset some person spat at one of the photos. I wanted to wipe it off with a tissue but half terrified the print would smudge if I did. OH THE AGONY!!!! =\

I still feel bad…

I should have wiped it off…

And then destroy the bastard who spat on it…

Japan 2008 (LOTS OF PICTURES. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)

Finally I decided to upload the sparse smattering of pictures from Japan that I have on my iphone. This is a mere fraction of the photos I took… And it already brings us to a grand total of nearly 100 photos. So please click for more. The post has been conveniently shuttled off to its own little location, lest your browser chokes and dies from the awesomeness.