running ahead

So here's the looking-back-at-2008 and what's-ahead-at-2009 post =)

Here's the list of 2008, in no particular order:

1. 2008 was the year of work experience.

I started off 2008 still working at a job I had since late 2006, as a motel cleaner at a motel along George Street. The boss and wife were such good employers, I felt bad leaving the job, and them. It was minimum pay ($12/hour), and I can assure you that it's never a nice feeling waking up early on a Saturday morning washing toilets and occassionaly smelling some pretty nasty things. I finally quit my first job in NZ around Feb 08.

My 2nd job was at Domino's Pizza. Ah, the memories there. I remember how you guys used to make fun about how that particular colleague of mine there who had a crush on me and always offered to drive me home. Hey, nothing wrong with getting free pizzas and garlic cheese bread once in a while! =P It was a fun job, though I got to see the ugly side of drunk students working there. I'm glad it was a short-lived job. Great manager(s), though.

I quit Domino's to join Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in their temporary workforce sometime in March. My first "real" job, I would say. An office job. One which I had my own swipecard, own workstation with dual-screen lcd monitors, getting to work whenever I want and how many hours I want to every week, getting paid above the minimum pay, and working alongside Michelle =) It was great; freedom in my work hours, no worries, rushing to and fro from lectures and labs to work, wearing formal wear etc. It got pretty stressful towards the end of the year, trying to juggle work (yes I was greedy) and studies at the same time. I'm grateful for those 6 months I got to working in that environment, not a perfect one but definitely a real eye-opener in so many ways. And yes, it contributed a lot towards my Europe travel fund =) Too bad work there is only during office hours; if not I'd continue working there this year.

Now, in SG, I'm thankful for this job/attachment at Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS). My first "job" that's actually related to my future degree. Though I complain quite a bit about how it's not entirely microbiology-based but more towards genetics, it's still a valuable experience. A chance for me to live in another country, albeit a short 3 months, to consider the possibility of working here after graduation. Getting to explore SG is a definite bonus, considering the last time I actually stepped out of Changi airport was more than 5 years ago.

2. 2008- the year we organised our very own SHINE '08 camp!

stolen from Greg's facebook photos. eh why some of you guys' faces hidden?

I'm sure every single one of you who went to SHINE '08 have sooo many stories to retell. From secretly giving gifts to "mortals" and trying to guess who our "guardian angels" were, to the hunt to see glow worms at night, and the shoe stealing competition... and also the hundreds of photos to capture those memories and friendships that were strengthened. SHINE '08 was easily, my favourite camp ever.

3. Ray and Mich's wedding 15.06.08


The 1st ever wedding of close friends that I'd been to. Truly an honour being one of the bridesmaids, and boy did we have fun during the pre-make up session, the hectic-ness trying to decorate Blue Sky restaurant, praying for good weather during the photoshoot... Now I have a rough idea of what it takes to organise a wedding- nothing but easy. So remember, couples, *wink wink you know who you are* give us extra notice ok! =P

4. All our birthdays. =)

It's tradition: to plan for a fake surprise at midnight only to say that we're too busy for lunch/dinner then have another surprise again. And the presents which are getting more and more expensive. Who knows, we might actually break the tradition this year. OR maybe even create a new tradition?

5. of unicol, unicol, and unicol

Nothing's better than having so many friends being Residential Assistants (RA) at a residential hall. I'll always remember the sleepovers at Sam's room, free lunches/dinners & trying to avoid getting caught, the night it snowed there, watching football matches, watching the live Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, playing Halo3 on xbox360 at the RA room, Lighthouse bbq at Greg's, etc. It feels sad not being able to just walk into Unicol this year =(

6. travels

2008 wasn't a big year of traveling for me. During early Feb when my parents came over to NZ, we toured around south island- went to Te Anau, Milford Sound, Queenstown. During June, I spent the mid year break at Auckland with the Pancakes, fun times. And now, it's safe to say I'm a visitor here at Singapore- taking time to explore this city.

7. New friendships & strengthening of old ones ;)


The addition of the new (not necessarily young =P) ones to the family: Hsiu Ping, Valerie, Bernard, Sharon T., Glenn, Amy, Mae Ann, etc. Oh and of course, the new couples hehehe Bernard & Val, Mae Ann & Ben. Getting to flat with new flatties: Sharon and Yan. Can't wait for another year of flatting with a group of awesome girls =) Letting go of the "oldies" who have to leave after their graduation/postings with a heavy heart.

2009 would (hopefully) be the year I:

1. Graduate with good results
2. Secure a job before graduation
3. Know where I'm heading to after goal #1
4. Organise a fabulous graduation trip (US/Aus/North Asia?)
5. Aim to organise my finances aka actually record down my income/expenditure

and of course, all those be-a-better-person-or-friend blahs. Don't be surprised that I'm not wishing for a relationship- 2009 will not be the year. There's still so much to accomplish, so little time. Agree, Chyi? =P The right person and the right time will come some day, so I can't be bothered chasing after that right now. Questions answered, I hope?

It's all about class

December. The season of graduation.

Throwing of the graduation cap.

The graduation march to the town hall with mayor Peter Chin leading the way, the sound bagpipes reminding me of that memorable day in Studholme (2006) when we were woken up at 4am-ish for interhall sports training/orientation.

Wearing the regalia. With white grosgrain lining (I had to google image "grosgrain" GOSH)- I always thought that honours degree graduants would also wear hoods with fur linings, but sadly, there will be no fur. The colour of my hood will be "salvia blue" btw =) it sounds pretty.

stolen from Greg's facebook heheh just to illustrate to you non-Otago people
see how nice those hood linings are? compared to this next photo...

how grosgrain looks like. To me, it's just like any ordinary RIBBON.
of course, I have yet to see an honours hood upclose before, must remember to ask for photos from Jaq. photo by greenolive*

Taking photos (of course) in front of the clocktower.

More photos around university. Where we had lectures, spent the whole day in labs, had lunch at St David cafe & the link, Studholme hall, archway, burns, central library, computer labs, the bridge leading from the halls to St Davids, the river which even had couches thrown in before,... etc the scarfie life.

Showing off the degree certificate.

Smiling and posing for photos until your facial muscles no longer know the meaning of relax.

... guess I'll have to wait 1 more year to experience all that.

It's a strange thing, studying at varsity. 3, 4, or even 5 years for a bachelor's degree (6 or more for those professional health science courses), which may or may not guarantee a job- many who graduate with say, biochemistry, might never even work in a laboratory environment after graduation. But just having that nicely printed piece of paper with YOUR name written on it makes all the late night crammings worthwhile, doesn't it?

I wonder just how much I'll miss Uni of Otago: rushing to lectures, the beautiful architecture, the student life, etc. I wonder how much I'd miss being a student. Well, it's true that we never stop learning bla bla BUT.. you get what I mean. I wonder if I'd stay in Dunedin OR go to another city in NZ for work OR continue on with postgrad OR decide to *gasp* leave NZ (which is highly unlikely but GAH pleeeeease save me the "So-are-you-staying-in-nz-after-graduation?" questions- those are for me to find out next year and for you to find out when I know the answers myself, thank you very much.

Oh, and it does mean a lot having the chance to celebrate the Pancakes' graduation this coming May =) having missed out on the major grad ceremony 2 weeks ago.

Sometimes I wonder if I CAN push myself to get that "1st class honours" title in front. It does seem flash, you get called out first when receiving the certificate, the chancellor probably smiles a little more wider at you (who knows?), and I wonder does it really matter or how would it affect my job offers BUT like Ron said (which makes sense too I guess): we're already doing honours, might as well walk that extra mile to get that 1st class (well, I paraphrased a bit).

This is what happens when I look through too many graduation photos on facebook =P

Kiasuland adventure

I'm in Singapore!!!

The night before I came back, it was snowing.

The morning I came back at Christchurch, it was 4 degrees.

Today, it is just over 30 degrees. I'm sweating like a pig. Have to change clothes more often now. Bleh.

So, what went on so far?

It's been crazy. I'm being more blur than usual. I lost a pink umbrella I borrowed from the HR lady (oooops) and had to go back to the Sony store and another electrical store to take my folder and map respectively.

This morning, I reported to work at 9.30am. Took me 1 hour to get from where I live to work. That's a short bus ride, 17 stops of MRT rides and a free shuttle bus. I hate MRTs btw, it's soooooo crowded in the morning (peak hours). It was crammed to the point that I could count the number of spots/oh-kis on the neck of the ah ma standing in front of me. The worse thing that could happen was if someone farted.

Oh wait, it did happen.

So I got to GIS, had a 3 hour health and safety seminar (so boring the Bangladeshi uncle kept going on and on about how many people die each year from work related injury GOSH), then the HR lady told me I cannot start work unless I get my work visa! Which I couldn't get earlier as I arrived in Sg at 1-something pm on Saturday but offices close at 1pm. I intended to get it done by Saturday actually.

But as I couldn't start work at all until the visa thing is done, I went (in the rain) to meet Janice and Greg at town, where we had dim sum for lunch, then waited LONG to get a number THEN to get called to be asked to come back tomorrow to collect my visa and passport. The Grapes say I am an illegal immigrant now without a passport. 

So I have to go back to the Ministry of Manpower tomorrow morning at 8am, then rush off to work before 9.30am. Craziness. So after I did the visa thing this afternoon, we spent the rest of the day shopping around, eating good food, taking pics of the Christmas deco on Orchard road etc. It was FUN. =) Minus the heat which of course wasn't as bad at night.

So why did I suddenly decide to stay at my relatives' instead of the original hostel? I took the keys and opened the door to my room, only to find my Indian roommate sick, the room smelling of cigarette smoke, very tiny room, liquor store just downstairs, dodgy dodgy all the way. My parents insisted that I check out immediately (despite not getting back the $500 downpatment fee), stay at my aunty's house at least until I find a better place (or permanently for 3 months). 

So here I am. My phone number is (65) 82768445 should you miss me too much and had to call/text me. Plan today was to meet Chyi but AHEM girl, where are you???? Called/texted your ahem friend so many times we're convinced you'd eloped with the guy and disappeared from the face of the earth already. Ron's arriving today as well, but no chance to meet up yet as no idea what time he's arriving.

I notice that church services are mainly on Saturday afternoons. So weird! Still have to go to my dad's friend's church this Saturday, then maybe go to another one on Sunday. 

Ok then. It's late, I'm still a little jet-lagged. Waking up at 6.30am for another long and interesting day. I hope the HR lady doesn't get angry with me for losing her pink umbrella. I'll give her my black body glove umbrella, it's not pink la, but that will do for now.

Till then people. Missing you guys heaps (you know who you are) ;P

Capturing 16.09.08

Warning*** Many happy pictures ahead.


My 21st was what I wanted it to be- memorable. Even when I'm 50-ish and celebrating my bronze wedding anniversary, I'll still remember how you guys drove me (blindfolded) around the Countdown carpark (all the bumps included) and made me guess where it was. :)

So I should start from the beginning. It was Monday night: which means Lighthouse Fellowship as usual. I knew something was going on as many of you stayed back talking/*attempting to* dance (remember that?) until late. A few minutes past midnight, everyone sat in a circle (and gave their emotional speeches. HMM who (almost) cried? Haha, must look back at those videos to remember. Thanks again to all those who stayed despite it being a full-on assignment-handing-in week, especially to dear Hsiu Ping when it was clearly past her bedtime already *hugs*

By 1am-ish, I managed to control tears from flowing down, said goodbye to those leaving, and headed back to my room. Lo and behold, when I turned on the light switch, nothing happened. The curious side of me told me to turn on the light function on my handphone (despite Sam and Janice asking me not to, haha!) and peered into my room. A big blob of shadow right above my desk/computer caught my eye, so I went closer to have a look. I stopped poking at it (looked to me like my bedsheet covering something) after being told not to ;)

There was a powerpoint slide show on my computer- the title was "Yo Dudedess"- I smell something fishy. The slide show began, but halfway through it (before the last slide with the birthday cake), I couldn't help but notice the light coming through from the curtain drapes to my left- which I opened to find the shocked faces of those holding the birthday cake :P

I couldn't stop laughing. I PLAN birthday surprises. Call me the queen of birthday surprises. Which is why trying to surprise me will end up with you saying things like:

"Aiyaaaaa you're NOT supposed to do that!"
"You spoiled the surprise!"

Then I was asked to pull on a string which released the balloons hidden behind the bedsheet. Not the normal oval-shaped balloons, these came in weird shapes and sizes haha! So we ate the cake, laughed about how I ruined the surprise, then they truly went home.

Tne next day, I was supposed to meet Michelle for lunch at the Rainforest. Yet there were 6 more of you little birthday surpisers sitting there already :P Great times, great food! (Lunch photos from Jaq)

a very happy me.

The 3 J's (Janice, jOSs, & Jaq)

I wished for...?

At around 5pm, met Chyi, Janice, and Greg for a vain photoshoot around uni- the pretty blossoms are out! Photos- credit to Greg.

flowers stuck on the cobweb

The Gn couple. Greg, watch your hand :P

Chyi so cute!

Why wouldn't anyone want to study here?

We love our uni

I love this little alley way between the staff club and the river

Then I went home, getting ready for a quiet night. I took out the leftover food from lunch and leftover soup from the previous night, and happily had my dinner- UNTIL Janice texted me "Get ready, the Kura-kura gang is going to kidnap you. Dress up as pretty as Chyi". I texted back "are you guys bringing me out for dinner? I'm already eating..."

Then I heard a knock on the door- it was Michelle- dressed up! I can't remember why, but first thing I asked her was "Are you here to kidnap me?" She asked me to stop eating and quickly go change, hehe. Where else can you find such a friendly kidnapper which allows you to change and get ready before being taken away to some mysterious place? ;)

A few minutes later, a blindfolded me was led to the car. They even drove around the Countdown carpark to confuse me where we were heading to (as I had managed to guess where we were earlier on haha). We finally stopped somewhere- I heard the chime of a clocktower and instantly thought of the uni registry building. Then again, why would they bring me there?

Still blindfolded, I was told to sit down on a chair. I heard many voices around- trying to listen for a familar one. Felt a little self-conscious knowing everyone's staring at me- looking silly with the blindfold on as well (thanks Michelle for choosing the most stylish blindfold, hehe!).

When the blindfold was finally removed, I was greeted with this (watch video below):

Unfamiliar faces! A baby in a stroller to my right some more!

My friends had somehow mutated into having very angmoh faces, and I had a severe memory loss and couldn't even remember about my cute little baby I had a year ago...

Which is NOT the case, of course. The sneaky/cheeky group of people I call friends swapped tables with a group of baseball players and their family from Aussie on a tour around NZ to surprise me. YEAH I was surprised and speechless (as you can tell from the video).

The restaurant was called The Terrace, where we had stone grill food- YUMMY though the price was tad high for the small servings. The chime I heard came from the other clocktower at the Octagon which I didn't even think of earlier.

The highlight of the night was undoubtedly when one of the baseball players came over to our table and KISSED Michelle on the cheek just before he left and said "Happy birthday!" hahaha! Imagine Raymond sitting there, clenching his fists, and thinking "That's my WIFE you're kissing!!!" I wonder how he could have mistook Michelle for me, when I was the one being blindfolded and sitting at the end of the table. Some hidden agenda, maybe? haha. So maybe he just innocently couldn't tell us apart... you decide.

Just look at those smirks...

Oh about the presents! Thanks again for the pretty (and expensive) bag from Witchery, which I mentioned I wanted a few days ago. :) Other prezzies include the George Foreman's grilling machine (love it heaps! -from the Pancakes!), yummy mooncakes (there's even one mooncake in the set with 3 egg yolks!) all the way from China/HongKong- I was told it would cost around $100 or more to get those (from Victor), and not forgetting the scrapbook (still in production, but word leaked out to me hehe).

one of the mooncakes

pretty flower from Jaq
Michelle so disapppointed when she found out it wasn't from a guy! ;)

For ALL you've done- the birthday wishes, surprises, would-be surprises, food, presents, hugs, smiles, laughter (and tears?), prayers, photos taken, facebook wishes, and most importantly the memories that were made to last- I treasure them deeply in my heart. =)

17 days to Singapore- GOSH.

with aging comes amnesia

Picture taken from my flattie Sharon's blog. Won't link her blog just yet in case she stops making me peach agar-agar. I'm flattered! =P

I also noticed how "artistic" my handwriting has grown over the years- very pity my lecturers who have to make sense of my furious scribblings.

I'm so angry at myself for missing the last micro lecture this morning. =(

I didn't oversleep. I just FORGOTTEN that there was a lecture. *bangs head on the table*
This aging thing is really getting to me.

It wasn't a formal lecture, just giving back assignments and business plans PLUS lecturers giving feedback on how good/bad we did, and prospects for postgrad study next year. So all other groups had gotten their reports back and know how they did (congrats Ron on his FABULOUS results, as always), except mine. And my other team mates. Why am I not surprised to find out that NONE of them went to collect the report too? SIGH. They don't even CARE about how they did!

Anyway. So my poor reports are still at microbiology building this second. I'll get them tomorrow and find out how bad/well I did. I'm trying to be optimistic but finding it hard, especially that stab I felt after finding out my management business plan result.

Plus I'm being anxious again about my BIOC354 presentation tomorrow. Been practising and editing slides, have managed to cut it down from 15 to just under 10 minutes. So hard to make tissue microarray (ERRR....WHAT?) sound interesting and engage the audience...

I keep reminding myself that it'll be over in 15 hours.

Then it's back to good 'ole studying.