`1 more month and winter's over!

view from my bedroom window
the fog and Dunedin.

This week sums up WINTER the best.

Rainy, windy, gloomy, sun-hiding-behind-stubborn-big-clouds, foggy, temperature below 10 degrees etc. The list goes on and on. Oh, and a season to buy new umbrellas (again). I somehow lost my previous Kathmandu one and had to buy another sturdy one (automatically opens with one push of a button, so high-tech rite?) for half price. It's a good thing the flaps don't face the other direction when the super strong winds blow too.

I have a lab report due tomorrow. (progress: 50%?)
A 2000-word essay due in 2 weeks. (progress: 5% eeeks)
2 business plans to come up with, 1 with presentation.

Envy, envy those first year students with only terms tests and 3-hour labs to worry about.

Finding accommodation in Dunedin is hard enough. People rushing to get the flat list once it's out (August 11th I think), signing contracts with greedy landlords eager to make money out of us poor students. I'm still yet to view the flat on Frederick St, somehow the tenant "forgotten" to text me back on Saturday to confirm time for viewing. Someone needs to ban 027 numbers.

But it's not as hard as finding accommodation in another COUNTRY. I've been staying up late these few days searching in real estate websites/property finding websites about rentals in Singapore. Gah stupidly high rental rates. Very frustrating especially when real estate agents want to grab half a month's rental for their "fees".

On the other hand, quite excited that Shine '08, Lighthouse Fellowship's first ever camp is coming up! It's going to be held from 28th to 31st August (hopefully when the weather is nicer and sunnier) at Wairoa Scout Camp, about 30 mins drive from town. So much planning and thought have been put into it, I'm sure it'll be a camp to remember.

I've been spending precious time googling about travel tips to Philippines. hehe. It'll be something to look toward to once my parents give me the OK sign. If all goes well, will travel to the country with over 7000 islands right after my work placement- mid Feb- with Jaq and Ron. Airplane tickets are surprisingly affordable, return from MAS costs RM500++ including taxes!!! So I guess I'll have to scrap my Goldcoast/Brissy plans for a Philippino trip (sorry Jess...). I'd rather spend money sight-seeing another place I've never been before- plus Ron has offered to plan our itenerary and be our tour guide, haha!

Another thing to "look forward" to. Resigning from my job at ACC. Should be sometime in early Sept as that's when all my assignments are due. It's been an insightful experience, now I know how working in an office environment is like. Which makes me even more thankful that I'm studying towards a degree to work in a place where ROUTINE doesn't exist. Where it's all about discovering about something new then win the Nobel prize , not about doing data entry & staring at the computer screen for 8 hours a day.

For all who are still working there, I salute you. Such discipline needed to NOT go crazy and complain every 5 seconds.

I've got it!!! =)

I've been dreaming hoping for that ONE reply for weeks now, and when it finally arrived in my inbox last night, I didn't know how to react.

So I reacted by:
` calling Sam right away. I had to tell somebody.
` searching for churches websites. Especially Joseph Prince's church-New Creation Church.
` searching/asking for friends' help with finding accommodation at Sg.
` keep reading the email again and again to convince myself.
` was so happy dreaming about being there I almost missed my 9am BIOC lab today.

This is almost like a dream come true. Being able to work (though only 4 months, from 17th Nov till 15th Feb '09) at the Genome Institute of Singapore. WOOO, and get paid for that too- not as much as what I would earn if I work full time at ACC but oh well, at least better than nothing. Let's just say I think it might just cover rent in Sg.

So now I'm busy bugging ANYBODY who knows anything/anyone about renting places in Sg to please help me. Even a little hint of info would be much appreciated. =)

I'd have to apply for a certain Work Holiday Pass- requires me to fill out a local address, so now wondering if I need to find accomm fast, or can just fill it with a friend's address... Thank goodness only need to pay $40 for the visa thingy, if worked in Aus would cost me at least hundreds. Will need to start applying for that during Oct, I was told.

So yeah, thank God for making this possible. =D And thanks to whoever helped/encouraged/prayed for me in getting this work placement. Yes I know need to chiah you guys hot chocolate soon- just let me know when/where is convenient. ;P

janice, u're 22!

Janice Lee (aka Lenik the menace) is 22!

Once a neighbour, always a neighbour! ;P
Once a friend, forever a friend.

From Jane Malthus (Studholme Hall) to 4/777 Great King Street last year, and this year (well, still sort of neighbours) at 157 Queen Street. Oh, should I say from the high school days since we were on the same car to school (provided by Mr P'ng, haha!)

So we planned a surprise dinner for Janice at the Cargills Hotel's Chocolate, Jazz, and Shiraz night (in conjunction with Cadbury's chocolate carnival this month) on wednesday, 16th July. $45 per person, not too bad. It was a 4-course dinner with lots of chocolate involved. Well, actually 3-course, the fourth being chocolate(s). Everyone took home a BIG bar of chocolate, and even the whole table was randomly scattered with roses choc. The jazz quartet was good, all of them being more than 2.5 times my age.

We had the jazz band dedicate a birthday song and announcement for Janice ;P
She's looking very pretty here, agree?

Very distracted by the lady in red behind Janice. Ahhh, my eyes!
The BIG card we gave her (plus a brand new cybershot camera)

Black and white shots- Greg with his slr.
I like this pic.

Jaq being shy.

My choice of entrée- "red wine poached pears on chocolate ripple
tea bread with Baileys and a milk chocolate ganache". couldn't resist typing in full =)

dessert- choc marble cheesecake. very yummy.
I got quite fascinated with the shape of the mint leaves- looked like the shape of a butterfly

Jaq and I

The guys

Sam- where's my food?!

So full, happy, and satisfied at the end. Birthdays are fun (and expensive).

***

We did something quite random yesterday.

The weather was as usual, a typical Dunedin mid-winter day. Gloomy, cloudy, no sunshine, a bit drizzly, temperature below 8 degrees. So nice to wrap up in my duvet and sleep.

But we chose to go swimming instead at Moana Pool.

Sharon, my flatmate, was like O___O!!! when we told her that.

Anyway, it was WARM at the pool! Even went to the sauna section, so hot la. The angmohs were all red in their faces from the heat. But very nice and relaxing. The waterslide was the fun part- we kept bumping into each other. The aqua jogging is a new concept to me, mostly old people use that exercise as a form of therapy for arthritis?

My neck and abdomen muscles are hurting a bit now. But so fun! 9 dollars for swim and waterslide. I think we might make it into a weekly event now, haha! Exercise for the lazy people.

Thinking as positive as possible

It's not a YES (yet), but still, it's a positive response.

THINK POSITIVE ;P

I'm not superstitious or anything like that, so I don't care if blogging about this is going to jinx my chances of getting the work placement.

Ok. So about a week ago, after being frustrated not having heard back from potential employers, I decided (well, Michelle helped in making sure I did that hehe) to call one particular investigator (researcher) which I was interested to work for in one of his research labs.

Problem was: he was in Singapore, I was here. Also, I'm terrified to speak (over the phone especially) to people of higher importance, especially if it concerns my future. I started to think about the what ifs. What if I say something stupid, eg mispronounce his name, or mention the wrong institute, or worse, stutter and not manage to get any info through? Or what if I sound TOO keen, aka desperate, or not interested enough to want the job?

So many factors on the line, ok.

And it's not like I'd never handled (important) phone calls before. I've had experience dealing with grumpy, racist, drunk customers calling to Domino's Pizza, and more recently, having to call dentists to settle claims/payments at the office.

Anyway. After 1 week of no reply, Mr (Prof/Dr?) Seielstad of the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) (part of A*Star) finally replied my email/cv/letter of endorsement. It wasn't a yes, like I said, but just another email to ask about the dates of my attachment (Singaporean term for internship -__- ), and who/how the report would be assessed etc info.

So yea. I have been stressing over the past few weeks (still am) over this. Only 3 or so months to go before it starts, so scary! I don't even know whether we would get paid for this, and trying not to think about the loooooong report we have to complete to pass the APPS499 paper. And also other details to consider: booking air tickets to/fro, accommodation (super expensive walao), whether or not I have enough lab skills to prevent from looking dumb to the researcher/other students.

Hopefully can get an answer soon, then start consulting people on accommodation (near uni preferably), book air tickets, plan a possible traveling trip (Taiwan/Philippines/Brissy- yes I am being a bit ambitious) before uni starts again early March.

***

Chyi: you owe me coffee sessions for making me answer this. In BM some more! *faints*

7 fakta tentang saya:
01. name saya kalau ditranslasi kepada bahasa Cina jadi "sayur dengan udang"
02. kawan-kawan saya panggil saya KAKAK
03. saya suka menyanyi semasa mandi- syoknya
04. saya selalu pergi ke "restaurant asian" sampai orang yang kerja di situ sudah tahu muka saya
05. rumah saya sama sejuk dengan peti ais
06. saya patut tulis repot sekarang
07. saya "tengok depan" pada malam esok- ada makan malan fancy! woohoo

7 perkara menakutkan saya:
01. lelaki kacak tertengok saya mempersiasoikan diri.. tak ada muka
02. orang yang ikut saya pergi sini sana (stalker)
03. komputer saya hangus
04. balik malaysia- tak pandai cakap BM lagi lah
05. orang "buat letak sama" (matchmake) saya dengan orang lain
06. kawan-kawan saya hilang dari dunedin
07. terpelanting apabila jalan di uni

7 lagu buat sekarang:
01. langgar (collide)- Howie Day
02. peeeeter-pet (pitter pat)- Erin McCarley
03. anak kuda (pony)- Erin McCarley
04. bodoh untuk kamu (stupid for you)- Marie Digby
05. cinta kamu sampai habis (love u til the end)-the Pogues
06. itu hanya hayat (it's only life)- Kate Voegele
07. lagu desert (desert song)- Hillsong

7 perkara yang selalu disebutkan:
01. kamu tahu tak...
02. OHH. saya tengok
03. lapar lah. ada makanan?
04. pergi mana makan?
05. sangat sejuk
06. saya mahu tidur
07. saya mahu beli barang

7 perkara yang amat bernilai:
01. tangan saya
02. mata saya
03. kawan-kawan
04. lagu
05. memori
06. air
07.minyak

7 "pertama kali" dalam hidup saya:
-__- pertama kali buat quiz yang bodoh macam ini

7 orang bertuah (JAWAB TAG INI BALIK)
saya sangat baik hati. tak payah jawab balik.

***

Finally. GOSH. No more BM for at least 4 months.. phew.

Anyway, a special Happy Graduation wish to bunny aka Chok! Wah everyone's graduating soon already, feeling a bit nostalgic knowing I'll have to leave uni after next year.

P.S. weekend's over

"P.S. I love you" was surprisingly a good movie to watch. I didn't expect it to be a tearjerker, but my table ended up with a few wet tissues. ;P

Still no reply yet. Oh well, it is the weekend anyway.

Patience. I'll keep reminding myself that.
"It's not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting."

I went a little camera crazy this morning while walking back from church to Unicol and snapped a few photos of scenery around uni. So few people walking about on Sunday mornings, a lot of them must have hangovers (grieving from All Blacks' lost last night maybe?).

River behind commerce building.
Always loved walking through this area, so calming and pretty

The arch thingy- on last year's student ID card

Love the shadow effect

a view of Richardson building- law, commerce, geography, etc.
also known as Chyi Chyi's 2nd home ;P

another random pic.
i must have walked through this path over 100 times already for the past 3 years

How photogenic is Uni of Otago compared to other boring-looking universities?

Hopeful

I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high just yet, but I can hardly contain my happiness =) 80% sure now, I just need the YES reply and certainty before announcing the good news. hehe.

If it's a yes, I might have to chiah some lucky few for lunch as promised at Bennu? aiks.

If it's a no, well I'll just have to keep trying and hope for the best.

***

The cold snap hasn't been pleasant at all. I think it went down to minus 5 degrees last night. BRRRRrrrr... Someone mentioned about the last few days being the coldest yet this year.

The roads were so icy this morning; I almost slipped on a patch where it hasn't melted yet. I love the feeling of walking on the frosty grass though.

I just had real, authentic (maybe) kebabs tonight at a Turkish kebab place at South Dunedin today after music practice. Not bad at all, considering the fact that I generally stay away from Mexican food (eg nachos, brueks!). It's just a bit messy though, which means a bad choice of food to have on a first date, or any dates for that matter. Oh, and spaghetti too. I seem to have never mastered the skill needed to eat spaghetti gracefully, i.e. having to wipe my face every 5 seconds or so.

***

I just remembered I haven't posted any photos from Raymond and Michelle's wedding here yet. Heaps uploaded on facebook already, but here are just a few of my favourites.

All photos taken by a professional photographer, Chris from seenindunedin.co.nz.

Location shoot was at St Clair beach.

All of us. Too bad not symmetrical, the guys seem to take up more space than us ;P

So confused when the photographer asked us to stand around the little fountain, haha!
It was FREEZING but thank God for the jackets from the guys

Sigh, too cute!
Daniel, the ring bearer =)

All for one, one for all?
Loved how the turquoise ties showed up really nicely in the photos

Beautiful, home made cake! (by Aunty Evelyn)

So many things happening around Dunedin at the moment, eg International Film Festival, Cadbury Chocolate festival, Science festival, Intl month etc etc. So tempted to watch a few of those really good foreign films at Regent theatre =)

Finding a musical neverland

OH. MY.

I think I just saw my favourite movie EVER. No kidding.

Well, at least I think it made it to my top 5 list of favourite movies, and that's a big thing considering I do watch quite a lot of movies.

Anyway, the title of this amazing movie is August Rush.

Remember him from Charlie and the chocolate factory?

Like father, like son.

look at those those dreamy eyes...

I have no idea why I had never seen it before. Released in 2007, it tells the touching story of how a young boy went on a search for his parents. When asked how he would find them, he always answers "by following the music". You don't have to like music to love the movie. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays the hunky dad, and Lyla (Keri Russell) is the mum who after a night of passion, shall we say, never saw Louis (Meyers) again, and thought she had lost the baby as her father had put the baby up for adoption.

I love how the whole movie was magical, from beginning to the end. I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet, but the young boy (Evan aka August Rush) is depicted as a modern day Mozart. Being the musical genius that he is, for me the whole point of him composing and playing music was to find his parents again, not knowing whether they were even alive to begin with. Robin Williams plays the role of the "Wizard", "taking care" of the homeless yet musically talented children, and keeping much of the tips from the street performances they do.

If you're still not convinced, wait till you see Jonathan Rhys Meyers serenading singing while playing the guitar and you'll drool. Or if you're a guy, Keri Russell playing the cello was pretty amazing, and that's coming from someone who's not too crazy about classical music. And the music throughout the movie- mesmerizing.

I rate: 10.5 out of 10. =D

Making the most of it

Random: taken in a restaurant in Auckland.

3 days of holiday left and I still haven't had my haircut yet!!!

I wish there were more Korean hair salons in Dunedin. Apparently they're not keen on starting up businesses here as with more than half of the population gone during summer, business would be bad for 4 months. Which means for a good, reasonably priced haircut, I'll still head up Christchurch for one.

I'm so tempted to just trim off the ends myself, buy DIY dye kit and dye my hair black.

***

I've finally had CounterStrike installed on my computer, but somehow lost the "kick" to play. I'm still too engrossed in reading the Left Behind series =) Up to my 3rd book now since last Saturday- "Nicolae- rise of the antichrist". Walao super intense, definitely unputdownable. Highly recommended to all!

No work today, but went around town running errands and lunched with Jaq, Miss Claus for the day. She went around town "distributing" presents she bought in Auckland, how thoughtful! I'd be broke if I do that every time I travel somewhere.

Speaking of which, I still have the terrible urge to travel. Which is bad, since lectures are starting again this Monday and the next break is not till end of August. No chance to travel then too, as Shine '08 camp is on that week. End of year- time to do work placement, so limited time to travel! =(

I still don't believe in working, earning money THEN travel. When you start work, don't you get less holiday and even less chances of getting leave? Then there are other priorities too.. and the list goes on and on until people just give up the idea of traveling around the world.

I'm rambling.


Better stop now.

Back to the books.

A longer holiday, pretty please?

I'm quite surprised 1000Minds is only NOW used for the "Otago Choice"- it's a program/software whatever you want to call it designed to help students decide what to major/minor in uni. Try it here.

I tried, just out of curiosity (not expecting to find biotech as the 1st choice). Lo and behold, my first choice was MEDICINE. (!!!) Genetics was in the top 10 choices, but medicine?! Then again, if I don't tend to have a panic attack when showed blood, I would definitely consider it. FYI dentistry was the 2nd "choice". Funny how the top 2 most expensive courses in Otago showed up as the top 2 choices of study. Ahem.

Anyway, the first time I heard about this software was during a MANT201 lecture; my lecturer had been talking about his colleague designing this apparently million-dollar software designed to help us fussy decision-makers decide based on the factors we feel are important. Such a simple idea, but took quite a long time before someone actually came up with one such as this one. I remembered my lecturer telling us its popularity- being used by Boeing, and even the NZ ministry of health eg. to decide who gets the heart transplant first etc. important decisions.

Our class, was one of the first who ever got to use the software itself early last year; that time was to see what factors we value most in a lecturer, e.g. how smart, easy to approach, teaching style, etc he/she is. The software was certainly really simple to use, and straight to the point with its results- little analysis was needed.

I also remembered him saying one of the creators of the software, though most probably now a millionaire, still rides a yellow bike and parks it ride under a big tree just behind the commerce building. If you happen to pass by the bridge just before the psychology department, go have a look- you can't miss the yellow bike.

***

Only less than a week of holiday left. So sad.

My "real" holiday only lasted for less than a week- during the Auckland trip. Before and after that was all work and work. I'm supposed to work 20 hours this week, but got home earlier yesterday as was feeling hayfeverish again. Teary/tired eyes not good for data entry. Plus, it was so freaking cold at the office- especially when people went to the toilet and the cold wind rushes in whenever the door opens/closes. I have a feeling I might to change workstations once again. Oh well, another few months to go before I can stop working and focus fully on studies again, not that I'm looking forward to that.

Results are out- not perfect but not too bad either. I'm grateful the dreadful C wasn't there- but still means I have to do extra hard to get a B+ average by the end of this year to guarantee a good research project next year.

***

Last night during cell group, Ramon made us his famous laksa again. Can't even remember the last time I had it. Spicy but so yummy. Great for winter. Speaking of which, the highest the temperature will get today is 7 degrees. Winter's always a time when I feel (just a little) homesick- almost everyone from youth is back in Kuching, and I'm reminded of the hot & humid weather back home. But then again, I'm comforted by the fact that winter will be gone in 2 months' time. Spring, I shall count the days till you're here again.

Finally. Just a few of the many photos I grabbed from Davina last night. All are of events/activities of the bestest cell group in Dunedin- Lighthouse Fellowship! ;P

Encounter 1- at Warrington, a 30-min drive from Dunedin. So pretty the landscape!

May, jOSs, Sam, & Davina- Encounter 1.

Greg's bday (late May). Ron, careful when playing with sharp objects!
Rachel baked the lighthouse cake =)

Ice skating event- May looks like she's in the Olympics skating competition or something.

That's the whole of Lighthouse! (and growing)

Girls only event- slumber party at Rebekah's house.
Us pointing at Michelle- can't remember why, haha!

Ramon's bday surprise. Jaq, what were u pointing at?

All you people still in Auckland, quick quick come back! Missing you guys heaps already ;P