i need positive results!

GAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

My experiments are not working, one way or another. The next run will be experiment number 8, with slight modifications. Frustration. making. me. wanna. pull. my. hair. out.

May, I'm glad you're blogging more often than me now. haha. 4th year isn't fun at all; I don't even have time to have lunch most days. Weekends aren't weekends anymore when every day is a day to go to the lab. Had a chat with a friend doing honours as well and she's much worse: going to the lab 6am and leaving at 9pm every day! O.o And it's only been 1 month doing this- yet I've already lost weight (including those I'd gained in Singapore/Malaysia). =(

Speaking of which, May's latest post reminded me again of the good times we had =) And will STILL have, of course! =D In exactly 12 days I'll be seeing you guys again!!!

Sien-ness. I spend $18 on the influenza vaccination last week; and found out THIS WEEK that the micro department is giving FREE vaccinations for postgrad students and staff. GAH. again. Could this be the disadvantage of always being too fast to grab hold of something?


I went to the Earth Hour mini-celebration with my flatties at the Octagon last Saturday night. Bumped into A&D there as well. Nothing grand- some Green MP lady gave a speech on the whole climate change issue, and there were some performances: dance + drums by the Pacific community & cool fire performance. I recognised one of the crazy fire performers as a fellow classmate doing biotech as well. Not all the lights went off though- the art gallery and railway station was still so brightly lit. The news even showed a guy who turned on ALL the lights in his house and even his car headlights -__-

Oh and do remember that daylight saving ends THIS Sunday. Turn your clock 1 hour backwards. ie we would have 1 extra hour of sleep! woohoo!

tickets, check!

Haha yes Chyi we do spend (quite) a lot.

Speaking of which, I just spent HEAPS on air tickets alone: my parents' fares when they come here during my graduation end of this year and my tickets to Wellington/Hawkes Bay trip during Easter. Feeling very broke aside, I'm excited!!! =D *waves to May & the Pancakes yesh I shall bug you guys very soon get ready* hehehhee yay for free accomodation!

Searching here and there for the cheapest air fares can be quite frustrating as well. No wonder ticketing agents charge so much at times. Thank God for budget airlines though, without them we'd be paying at least twice as much.

I've been stuck in the lab pretty much every day for the past few weeks. Running experiments, waiting for results, analysing them, researching blah blah very boring stuff. People are still trying to convince me to consider taking PHD next year -__- I usually just reply "not interested. more keen on working and earning money!" =P

I had my flu vaccination taken this afternoon. Costed me $18 at the student health. Highly recommended since I tend to get the flu at least twice a year especially during winter. Staying in bed and feeling sick is not what I want to be doing this year.

Oh for you guys who are not in Dunedin this year, the new mall (Wall Street) just opened earlier this week. Nothing much, seriously. I find it quite amusing that the stairs and walkway at the 2nd and 3rd floor is semi-transparent. Wouldn't be a good idea to be wearing skirts/dresses eeks.

Janice the lenik, if you're reading this, I was so touched when you sent me that text =) You reminded me of the crazy good times we had- from the 1st time we met at Cikgu Png's car to being neighbours for 3 years (technically).

My ipod was on shuffle and it started playing this song- Follow Love. It was the song I chose to go with the video I compiled for Lighthouse last year. GAHHHH it just brought back a lot of memories... I probably would have teared if I wasn't at the lab hehe. We all remember how much everyone cried that night, eh? ;)

I'm gonna miss the simple town full of memories
I'm gonna miss just hanging out with all my friends
The rainy days and summer nights
Skipping stones by the river side
But i know.. it's time to go

So here's goodbye here's so long
I must go and follow love
I feel my heart moving on
I must go and follow love
Carry on while I'm gone
This is what I've been dreaming of
I miss you so
But I must go, go and follow love

I've got a heart that's full of dreams
and a little bit of crazy
I can feel it pulling me to somewhere I have never been
I'm packing up and leaving home
To travel into the great unknown
Its time, I have to go

So here's goodbye here's so long
I must go and follow love
I feel my heart moving on
I must go and follow love
Carry on while I'm gone
This is what I've been dreaming of
I miss you so
But I must go, go and follow love

Were not guaranteed tomorrow
So we must just keep on living for the day
and make the most of every moment
every step along the way...oh

So here's goodbye here's so long
I must go and follow love
I feel my heart moving on
I must go and follow love
Carry on while I'm gone
This is what I've been dreaming of
I miss you so
But I must go, go and follow love

I must go, go and follow love

~Follow love by FFH


and it's probably a few more months to go, but I've already been thinking of what it'll be like actually leaving Dunedin after graduating end of this year. *gasp* It's a scary thought, leaving this place I've called home for 4 years, and settling down in another town again, God only knows where.

Anyway.
18 days to go WOOOOOOOOO~!

lost in wonder

Back to Kota Kinabalu trip posting: day at the Tanjung Aru beach, white water rafting, and the famous Sunday morning Gaya Street market.

I was SOOOO glad we had time to go to Tanjung Aru beach. Sunset there was amazingbeathtakingsuperawesomely WOW. I was so happy and content with my camera the whole time- approx 30 minutes, just clicking away every minute or so and gasping at how beautiful creation can be at times when we really just pause, look, and admire.

I prefer sunrises over sunsets. But I never wake up early enough to take photos of sunrises =P

6.06pm. still blocked by clouds
still lovely

6.19pm. move away, clouds!

6.20pm. zoomed in on the rays
gah i need antiglare lens. but I'll need a new dslr first ;)

6.23pm. I love how the sea glistens in the sunlight

6.24pm. and then, this dude just blocked my view! I think he was taking a photo too
but I decided to take a photo anyway

6.25pm. SO. PRETTY!!!

6.26pm. sunset over the horizon!
*happy sigh* now I can tick off 1 more item from my "to-do-before-i-turn-25" list

6.27pm. happy, contented me

Kiulu river white water rafting: the day before we went back to Kuching- Valentine's day!
RM150 per person if I remember correctly. We probably got cheaper prices as my cousin's friend works as a freelance tourguide and was able to get *ahem* special deals for us.

The guides were so funny and sporting! We set off in 2 rafts, 8 in each raft. The main instructor in our raft, a funny-as Filipino dude who can speak so many Chinese dialects even dragged me into the river while I wasn't noticing. Then I got pushed into the river once again when he "saved" me by pulling me over the other side of the raft. Good fun, though. He tried to overthrow our raft on purpose many times but we were just too pro in rafting haha. Crazy dude even jumped off a suspended bridge over the river, and I spotted him smoking while swimming after that. I secretly envy his job.

the beautiful Kiulu river. It's graded level 1&2, the more challenging rafting course is at Padas River. The weather was beautiful that day, so we took 2 short breaks, went swimming, and took photos. To me, it was the highlight of the KK trip. Highly recommended for anyone travelling to KK.

spotted: girl fanning the cute baby @ Gaya street Sunday market

I found this quite... amusing.

It means "hit also cannot die" when directly translated from Mandarin. Apparently it's a traditional herbal medicine thing (they even sell the tree there at the market) mixed with wine- the uncle who was selling it said it can cure pain aches. Sounds magical and totally illogical to me anyway. But mum bought it anyway to test it out -_-

The yummy Hainanese Mee, recommended by my cousin

BIG as billboard at a traffic junction.
Super rich couple or just an ad for a bridal studio? I doubt the latter since there was no visible sign of any company logo/number on it.

This week has been a LOOOOOONG one. I'm glad that tomorrow's Friday. No wait, I do have to go back to the lab even on weekends now =( Looking forward to the "got talent" night at Southside tomorrow! I was supposed to play the keys for Jo who was performing a song, but change of plans. I'm now turning the pages for Michelle (keys) and Emily (viola) for their duet! Yup, that's an important role.

need vs want

Things are just coming all at once and they're stealing my beauty sleep away- I feel like booking the next flight to Italy and stay here and meet a hot Italian dude...- well you get what I mean. I need distraction, desperately.

All that's keeping me moving forward now are:

1. the possibility (I say 60% confirmed now, but eeeks looking at airtickets) of my easter trip to Wellington/Napier to visit May and the Pancakes =D I don't know how I'm going to survive this winter without you guys' warmth! *awwhhh* hehe
2. the Yeo's baby, be it boy or girl, though of course I'm rooting for a baby boy. The name has been set already for both genders, and I can't wait to throw a baby shower, buy baby stuffs, and erm compare diaper prices, look at cute baby face and take cute baby photos :)
3. graduating. 9 more months to go, and it's scaring me out. I'm happy being at my lab, (though experiments might fail) which is good considering I was miserable, well, not-so-happy during my attachment at GIS Sg.
4. a graduation trip the end of the year. I'm still very keen on doing a volunteer program for 3 weeks, but still doing research on that and listing down my other options.
5. friends that stay true to themselves.

My supervisor talked to me about intense IP (intellectual property) stuff: about how if I do discover something significant and has IP value (including patents), it all belongs to the uni. It's sad in a way, but I guess the uni has to make us sign contracts like these to prevent going bankrupt if we do get smart and claim royalties etc compensation. Which also means I will be legally restricted in the things I say to people outside the lab- and he did specifically mention about not discussing about the project in blogs YIKES.

A trip to the Santorini Islands would be so nice now.

...and I want this bag.
Who cares if it's a NZ brand and no one outside the country would know how much it actually costs.

I want my nose back

GAH I've caught the nasty bug that's been going on around campus lately. I feel like yanking my nose out and sticking it in an oven. Trying to focus on journal articles have never been THIS hard especially when all I feel like doing is crawling under the sheets and stay in bed whole day.

Thanks though to Mich who gave me the manuka honey and 'be well' tea. =) and the random walk-around-town with Chyi yesterday though I'm sure I brought that grumpy/tired face of mine into all the stores we window-shopped at.

I'm TRYING not to use the "I'm tired" excuse all the time. I feel annoyed when people use that all the time, so I'm trying not to let this bug affect how I feel/how much things I get done.

So March is apparently the month where heaps of birthdays occur. Sharon, my flattie honey, celebrated her 20th on the 9th of March- Monday. We bought a choc muffin for her during lunch after church, then surprised her with dinner at Etrusco for some pasta and delicious port wine. The next day during her actual birthday, the crazy trio (Val, Ping, and Bernard) decided to come up with a semi-striptease for Sharon. Poor her must be so traumatised. I was, for that night at least. The whole thing was recorded on video, and GOSH how R18 that was. haha!

Things are getting busier by the moment at uni. I'm just trying to keep my head up and endure this- hopefully with grace.

Some of the photos I took recently:

dog at St Clair beach
it was sunny. and I dragged Sharon along for a random bus trip to the beach heh

blue, cloudless skies- oh how I miss you!

strawberry fondue we made as a flat last week

our port wines @ Etrusco for Sharon's bday

you're 20!
wow I feel old

with Marie, her friend

group pic
thankfully no censoring is needed in this photo
he even had Happy 20th Bday Sharon and little hearts drawn on his chest -_-

happy bday again, Sharon!!!
welcome to the big TWO-OH club

I'm NOT OK with being sick. =(

Think positive! =P

I admit that I was so disappointed after finding out I didn't get my 1st choice of project/supervisor. The bad dream just before I woke up confirmed that.

OH WELL. It's not the end of the world. I'll just have to suck it up, be content with my allocated project/supervisor, and get through this year.

Had an introductory tutorial today for about 1 hour and that was the only official class I had the whole of this week. No more slacking around after this. The first presentation is next Friday, and for each paper, there's a presentation due every 2 weeks. No more nice, comfy lectures where skipping class is an option. Now the lecturers know every single one of us by name. I'm trying not to freak out yet about the 25% oral exams at the end of each semester where we'd get asked questions by 4 lecturers.

The sun decided not to shine today. Hence the cloudy, slightly warm weather. Had lunch with Chyi, then met up with Michelle and Rebekah for some shopping. We went to the new "mall". I bought a pair of Country Road black jeans- retail therapy to comfort myself and as I'd ruined my last pair of black jeans by dumping it in the drier and it shrunk 1 dress size.

Ah the last (relatively free) weekend. How I wish I can grab you tightly and never let go.

why we NEED friends

I cooked bak kut teh today as part of the flat cooking! Thanks to those busybodies who helped with cooking, stir-frying, and cleaning: you weren't supposed to! 4 years ago, I wouldn't even THINK about cooking edible food and inviting friends over to have a taste of my culinary (or lack thereof) skills. It's really a huge blessing having friends that LOVE cooking awesome yummy food (and eating) and having to learn skills from them.

I'm reminded of how Janice tried to trick Sam into telling us why she likes Canai when she was half-asleep... and Sam replied: he cooks. he eats. he cleans XD

So hint hint guys: if you want to get a girl, learn how to cook! It's true that the way to a man's heart is through his tummy (as confirmed by a random conversation with the immigration officer at Christchurch airport), but nobody stresses that the way to a girl's heart (long term anyway) is through her tummy as well! (though you're NOT supposed to suggest that she should eat less; instead say "NO LA NO LA" when she says "GOSH I LOOK FAT!") =P

We'll find out about our designated projects by tomorrow! *sigh nervous wreck* But good thing is, I'll have the whole day free tomorrow! Lunches/meet ups anyone? I'm still searching for a journal/diary for this year and wool bedroom slippers for my easily cold feet. And yes I am using a certain doggy slippers *given* by CKK (inside joke hehe) for the time being until I get better slippers.

OH YES. I want to especially thank all of you guys who helped with making my 21st birthday scrapbook!!! Yes I just got it today from Michelle! hehe =D WOW I'm really amazed and touched at the amount of time and effort all of you spent in the design, content, and just everything you wrote/drew/pasted :) I was grinning the whole night (still am). I'm keep it till I turn 80 and I'm using fake teeth and show to my grandchildren: the awesome friends I have <3 Especially dear May :) thank YOU so much for all that photoshopping hehe I knew it must be hard work and trying to get everyone to write on time hehe. Thanks Janice also for that creative story/introduction. Ron for the virus thingy haha you know what I mean. Michelle for the printouts of emails we sent each other etc when we were still working at ACC =P I miss those times! All the Studholme photos, my BABY till present pics GOSH :) ahhhhhh the memories. I miss you all :( do come back and we shall have countless reunions until the day we have babies and grandchildren and erm erm play mahjong and watch reruns of Heroes/House/Grey's Anatomy OK OK OK??? =D

***

Day 3 @ KK

photos from the trip to the islands: Pulau Manukan and Pulau Sapi (pulau = island)

once again, we were blessed with (almost) clear blue skies
took a ferry ride from Jesselton Point

1st stop: Pulau Manukan
so BLUUUUUE, right?

sandy beach. it was really hot that day, that's probably why the beach was quite desserted

i don't think those little bumps were necessary =P

i took this shot, went a little closer and found out that it was a DUDE, not a girl

i feel short

Pulau Sapi- once again, awesome view

photo: the 2 Aussie dudes before our turn
mum and I decided to try out parasailing
well, she had done it before at Phuket but it was my 1st time
RM90/pax for about 10 minutes- definitely worth the experience

that's us!
one of the guides were nice enough to take photos for me
I was so afraid that he was going to drop my camera into the sea =P

now that's why birds like flying so much =P

The sense of freedom... ahhh :) having a bird's eye view of the islands and beyond :) No doubt, the highlight of my island hopping trip. Some may think that it's pricey for just a short 10 minutes- but I'd want to do it again if given the chance to do so. I wonder if this is why people love flying planes/helicopters...

oh anticipation!

Looking at a friend's message on msn reminded me of the origin of the popular saying "raining cats and dogs", which I read somewhere a few days ago. MANY years ago (can't remember which) people actually throw their dead pets into their rubbish bins. When it rained really heavily, the cats and dogs would get flushed out from the bags into the streets; hence the saying. I'm trying to picture it, and it's just gross and unhygienic.

Anyway.

So some of you would know that I'm truly an indecisive person. UNLESS I get some kind of a sign- it comforts me but maybe I'm just making a big deal out of "signs" every time =P Anyway the signs were there as usual this afternoon when I went to have a brief *ahem* talk with my potential supervisor for the honours project this year. It went well; though he told me frankly that many others have shown interest in the same project as well. Which translates to MORE competition for me! I peeked at the appointment list he had on his table: at least 6 other students met with him today as well. My confidence level dropped a lot then.

But I'm glad for the 30-minute talk we had. Though most of the time was him explaining the 2 projects he's offering this year to students, and me nodding and asking questions that make me sound smart heh (hopefully sounding fairly enthusiastic too). He did mention about giving the priority to enthusiastic students. =P SIGH I just don't want to put so much hope into getting his project and end up getting disappointed if another student got it instead.

We are to email the lecturer our top 3 project choices by 3pm tomorrow, all the supervisors will have a meeting on Thursday, and we'll find out on the same day (I think). GOSH the pressure and anticipation!!!!

*cold hands*

***

Some pictures taken during the trip to Kota Kinabalu with my parents from 11th to 16th of Feb 09. Beauuuutiful city and nice sandy beaches off the coast of KK, few things I'll remember the most about KK are the ever so beautiful sky, sunsets, cloud formations, and yummy bak kut teh. =)

NOT taken @ KK
my favourite fried bee hoon!!! =D RM5
at Fu You coffee shop (Sekama), Kuching

Kuching: outside my house
the year's 1st lunar penumbral eclipse on the 10th of Feb 09
this photo was taken at approx 10.27pm Msia time
penumbral eclipses aren't as interesting as the other lunar or solar eclipses; it's just basically a slight darkening of the moon due to earth's shadow when the earth passes in between the sun and the moon

Day 2 @ KK:

with mum, in front of the majestic Mount Kinabalu
we were really lucky (according to our guide) as it wasn't cloudy or foggy

breathtaking!
if I ever go back to KK, my main goal would be to conquer mount KK =D
didn't do it that time as we were short on time and my parents weren't that keen on mountain climbing =P

odd food (?) somewhere near the mount Kinabalu viewing point
looks like white donuts on a string to me

it says: STOP. open only on XXX date
found at the gallery at Kinabalu national park
i can't remember what they stored inside though

flowers @ Kinabalu national park's botanical garden

roadside stalls (or used to be) selling fruits and local tidbits to tourists
i love the mountains and hills behind

doing the canopy walk WOOHOO~
... and NO I'm not afraid of heights =P
we saw a yellow/black snake a few metres under one of the skybridges, though the guide assured us that it's not poisonous

kampung-style toilet i went to
off a stall selling burnt coconut/coconut pudding by the roadside
the coconut pudding (RM4) was sooooo heavenly, the best dessert ever!

I'm so happy =D to be reunited with my beloved keyboard once again- Waszowski. It collected dust over the summer =( I lost the batik cover I bought for it at Thailand, it could be packed up in one of the many ocipala-labeled boxes. My flatmate Mae Ann the awesome pianist played some romantic period Debussy pieces just now and we were all so AWED.

Though slightly different from the past years, I just have a feeling that this year's going to be a great one. So many things to lookout and anticipate for: honours project, graduation, finding a REAL job, Mich & Ray's baby due late this year, baby shower to organise heheh, and who knows what the future holds. I can't wait! =D

boo! autumn's here

a photo to cheer YOU up
a crab plushie I bought at KK for the Yeos

For a few hours yesterday, we were greeted with sunshine. Oh how fleeting and treasured it has come to be (at Dunedin, at least).

Unpacking is 80% done. It's amazing how much stuff we can accumulate over the years. For me, it has been a good 4 years' of stuff. I'm not even thinking of shifting again end of the year if I'm moving to another city. Torture!

This week has been about catching up, unpacking, sorting out flat stuff, and just recuperating from jetlag. It's been great bonding with my new flatties =) buying groceries, playing the keyboards at church again this morning (though I had to learn 3 out of the 4 songs in 2 days), transforming my messy box-filled room to a decent bedroom/studyroom, and just er staying out of the not-so-nice weather lately.

Had brunch with soon-to-be mum Michelle yesterday at Vino Vena- still one the best places to get good food & great customer service. I highly recommend the bagels. =D Then went to the Warehouse with my flatties to get some necessities for the flat. Was so tired yesterday evening that I ended up sleeping for 5 hours!

The project list is out! Supervisors will be giving their talks/presentations on Monday, then we'll get to pick which projects we prefer, and results will be out by Friday. It's nervewrecking, really. I'm really hoping to get a good supervisor & project & lab buddies. I do want to make the most of this final year of studies :P The next 10 months would be crazily exhausting for sure.

Samantha W: meet up sometime this week! yay hot chocolate session
Chyi: welcome back. it sucks but hey we're graduating end of the year =P
every one NOT in Dunedin: we miss you guys!

Back to unpacking!