Smile, it's summer

These past few weeks have been... hard to describe, really. That (and my laziness in updating) has left this blog quite miserable-looking :P oopsy.

Random: I love love love the movie "500 days of summer"- the perfect "not-so-love" story with a quirky/nostalgic feel throughout the movie with awesome music by Regina Spektor and The Smiths (mmmm brit pop is awesome).

I love this one in particular. It screams "SUMMER!!!"

Anyway.

This week marks the 2nd week of summer studentship at the lab. Same lab as honours, with same supervisor, so it's all familiar faces. One thing that's different though, is it feels more like a JOB now than just a project I have to score at. Well mainly because instead of having to pay tuition fees before, now I get paid. :) No more studying at night, though to familiarise myself with the new project I do need to constantly read a lot of literature and get the techniques right. Thank God for commercial biotech companies who come up with genius kits to make our lives much easier. The project is basically based on using genetically modified bugs in to generate biofuel woohoo!

Feeling pretty bummed today and yesterday as Amy, my flatmate this year, has left for Christchurch yesterday morning :( She's been such an AMAZING flatmate- from the late study nights during winter at the lounge with the heatpump on, the yummilicious seafood chowder and ciabatta that she makes, daily routine of putting away the dishes at night, to paying the bills on time hehe. I'm the oldest of the gang, but I do feel like she's the big sister of the flat, and keeps Sharon and I from killing each other :P Amy, I know you don't read my blog, but hey miss future doctor, you're just an amazing person to be with and I miss you already!

 Group photo taken at Amy's farewell/end of exams dessert night last Friday

Oh, and you all (especially May May) would be proud to know that I baked cream puffs with custard fillings for that night! First time ever attempting to bake that, and it was YUM :D I also just made kacangma (a green herby chicken soup) last night, mainly for Michelle. It's crazy how west Malaysians have never heard of it before.

Val's post-it notes & crumpets for Amy, sitting on the front porch one beautiful morning.

awwww... isn't she the sweetest?

The baking talent runs in the flat, what can I say? :P :P :P

The latest below are Sharon's creations: cute little sheep/roses made for Jackie's baby shower about 2 weeks ago

Aren't they just TOOOOOO cute?

Pink roses oh-so-pretty

October/November- the months of crazy amount of birthday celebrations.

The latest was last Saturday: Hsiu Ping turns a year older! We all hid in her room while she showered and surprised her when she walks in (with a towel in her glorious self teehee), had lots of junk/good food :)

Late October: Glenn our Filipino/American-BK manager-silver lining leader's birthday.

Surprised him by filling up his room with 200 balloons (one of them filled with Influenza as claimed by Ron) and had dinner at JRS restaurant.

Last but not least, Alexander Ethan Yeo was born on the 17th of October, 2009 :) Fondly known to us as Xander. He's a heavy boy (almost 4kgs!). Gave us a scare last week as he was admitted to ICU for serious jaundice, but all good now. He's been keeping Mich awake at night, naughty boy. See that cheeky little smile? I can just imagine him growing up to be a charming, beautiful boy.

This photo was taken just before he dozed off. It was luck, really, so hard to catch him smiling to the camera!

The "I know I'm cute" look :)

So there is definitely a lot of things happening (even if it's summer in Dunedin), yea shocking right? Chyi, have a blast in Singapore/Brunei (as you most definitely will) I AM JEAAAALOUS! It's nervewrecking waiting for results, knowing that it will also determine my scholarship result, which will only be out just before Christmas GAH! 

Tonight's going to be a good night *cue music*- we're celebrating Ron's 21st at the posh & fancy Luna Bar. Also, I can't wait till Sunday when I leave on a plane to Welly (again)- I can't say I will get sick of that place. Yeah it's windy but gosh, have those people that complained ever been to Dunedin before? :P

happy bday Louise!

Happy bday to Louise in advance! (it's tomorrow)

She hosted a tea party at her place this afternoon, even made yummy food all by herself! Oh yea I have a big weakness for cream puffs :P gobbled down at least 3 just now.

the pony bday cake!

collages since I'm too lazy to upload them 1 by 1...

the food was AMAZING. so full but couldn't stop eating
not only they tasted good, they looked really good too

And then, as usual, we went a little snap-happy. The weather was wonderful (though pretty windy) + beautiful balcony = fantasticrazy photos haha. The Raybans are not mine- Chyi kindly loaned it to me since she has 3 *gasp*. Oh la, one for her sister.

They do look nice :P Especially the one in violet. Hint hint I do need a new pair of sunnies for Welly trip! ;)

this is IT

I'm handing in my MICR490 dissertation tomorrow!!!

13,588 words (68 pages) per copy, 4 copies = over $50 in printing of the coloured pages to show my pretty graphs haha. It better be worth it. Thanks to Agnes for the b&w printing and the many drafts (and to all the trees that were chopped down to make this possible).

that's how thick the unbound copies are!

weeeeeeeeeeee :) *high 5 Ron*

oh, and just in case you're wondering what the heck my dissertation is about: the title is
"use of inhibitory agents to facilitate entry of antisense molecules into Gram-positive bacteria" :P not that you'd even know what Gram-positive bacteria is without prior science bg but nyeh the title deserves a mention here ok

for intellectual property reasons I can't show you guys how the pretty graphs look like

99.9% done now! 0.1% is to bind the 4 copies and hand them in before 5pm tomorrow.

All in all, I'm surprised at how organised I've been about this. This year in general. The exams and assignment due dates can't be helped, so considering all the super crammed schedule, I'm still happily sane!

For now (till end of October), just need to keep studying + doing assignment (1 more stupid biochem left) + keep applying for jobs/scholarships + drinking coffee + more studying. No rest until I see that "1st class honours" printed on my certificate.

Ok, back to my daily routine of studying until 6am and waking up at noon.

1st of spring!

(copyright from Sharon): No, I haven't lost my mojo! (in blogging, of course).

Ok fine I admit it. I'll definitely miss flatting with the girls this year: Sharon who can make millions with her pweeeety cupcakes (see photos below) and other bakery products + her random hyperness of jumping up and down singing "I'm a little butterfly/teacup/squid...etc animal friends"; Amy and her super organised routines/being the mum of the house (besides me, heh) and her awesome ciabatta & seafood chowder YUM-ness; and Mae Ann, who although is not home often, brings laughter whenever she's home.

The 4 of us did something we never had a chance to do: had a flat dinner! It was GREAT; plus the food was SOOOOO good at Eureka's tonight (so maybe we were just famished heheh). Oh, and cute waiter too ;0)

OOOOOOOH and I had a haircut today!!! :D Goodbye semi-long hair, hello short hair! I like it: what better way to enjoy the 1st day of spring with a new haircut? I still need purple/red heels to go with my dress for birthday party. I can't believe it's so hard finding a decent pair here in Dunedin gah :(

Oh, and baby shower for Michy/Ray/baby Xander was held last Saturday. Headache and stress that went into the planning for the baby shower was finally rewarded: awesome cupcakes as made/decorated by Sharon+Mae Ann, and people willing enough to play the baby pictionary game, as embarrassing as it was. Though I do agree that some were too easy, especially the ones we picked for the guys.

Planning was hardcore: I found it even more tiring than planning for the Yeos' wedding last year. Weddings are straightforward; while I had no idea what makes or breaks a baby shower. Choosing the colours for balloons alone for centerpiece even took both Becky and I more than 15 minutes. Tip: go for bright colours! And now I know so many baby terms and facts: do you know that a baby cot mobile costs up to 300 dollars (it plays soothing Beethoven/Mozart/Hayden music when a sensor detects movement made by baby -_-), and baby spoons change colour if food reaches a certain temperature? Gosh. And I'm not even a baby person: I don't coo and do baby-talk. Love the cake and the saying on it too: "happy minus 6 weeks Xander" :)

WOW he really is coming soon. Very very soon.

Anyway some photos from the baby shower if you haven't seen it on facebook already.

the cutest of them all: mini blue elephant
next on the cute scale: mini octopus

how can anyone eat them?!

baby pictionary; hehe the puzzled looks

"labour pain" ;P
guess who drew this?

Michelle opening the presents

We did it! *high 5*

Hmm apart from that, District 9 was ahem... weird. Less action/more drama than what I had anticipated, slight dizziness after the movie as it was shot in documentary style. Saw the trailer for the movie "2012", another one of those end-of-the-world movies I'm a sucker for, considering "the day after tomorrow" is one of my favourites. Awesomeness.

I have finished all my drafts!! *surprise surprise* This happens when your supervisor is super organised and give deadlines for each section every other week. Now I have 1 whole month to do slight corrections and polish it up. Oh, and study for other papers meh.

I'm still not too worried about how next year will be like: when I'll move, where I'll work. Not yet, anyway. Mum on the other hand, is more worried than I am. It is a weird feeling: knowing that uni life will end in 2 months' time, and I will (highly probably) leave this town/people that I love/treasure after 4 whole years.

Oh, and I bought new batteries for my camera (been idle for quite a while); just in time to capture those pretty spring blossoms! :D anyone keen for photosession?

Sarah's engaged!

Congrats SARAH S on your engagement!!!

Received a text from her earlier today about her marriage proposal from her bf after a romantic hot air balloon ride at Christchurch *AWWW*

Sarah- a super smart (future doctor!), beautiful, ever smiley flatmate @ Jane Malthus, Studholme Hall in 2006. She even knows how to say a few Malay words hehe, we even taught her how to play mahjong and how to say "lah" the Malaysian way.

I'll always remember those times when we wake up so early to attend those 8am health science lectures, watching 24 (the tv series) every week, her teaching me how to play "more than words" on her classical guitar, flying kite at St Clair beach, etc. Ahhhh memories :)

It's not funny how many friends are getting engaged recently; GAH I'm getting old.

Celebrating Xander :)

Yesterday was a day worth remembering.

Michelle had her 2nd baby scan and found out that she'll be having a baby boy!!!

-grabbed from Shaza's facebook profile

Baby Alexander ;P No, not Alex aka Canai. We've already started calling him Xander (my nephew's name too!)

Baby Xander was probably feeling shy yesterday as he didn't turn around to face the ultrasound scan thingy. So we couldn't get a good look of his handsome face hehe. But everything else is normal, i.e. measurements of organs looked ok. I never knew the ultrasound technology and all were so high tech! 3D views were even possible when they took pictures from different angles and formed an image.

It was quite funny coz towards the end when Mich asked about finding out the sex of the baby, the lady looked for any "clues" hehe and pointed at a blurry thing on the screen, saying "oh there it is, the baby's penis!" Ah, priceless moment ;)

Again, congrats to you both, Ray and Mich, baby Xander's going to be so loved (he already is hehe). I can't wait for early October to arrive!

***

Had my last group presentation over and done with for this semester earlier on this morning. yay! In a way, I'm glad that our lecturer decided to mix our groups up so we don't just stick to the same groups for all presentations. Getting to know other classmates and reading their interesting comments being scribbled on the journal article is...refreshing. I.e. my groupmate wrote down "leech with a shotgun" on my copy of the article amongst other notes while we were getting ready to present this morning. Oh, if you do any microbiology at all, the leech was referring to CRISPR arrays. haha!

Ok, I really should start revising now. Country road sale coming up hmmmm should I or should I not go?

The Pancakes' graduation

The Pancakes (Alex & Sam) came back to Dunedin for the weekend for their graduation ceremony. They just left hours ago, missing them already!

My 2nd time attending graduation ceremonies at the town hall. Official march from dentistry building to town hall was cancelled due to the awful weather (guess they didn't want the regalia and hood being wet), but I heard that many went ahead anyway

The organist of the ceremony

The Maori orator; funny guy

a reverand being awarded with the honorary degree of doctor of divinity
he even gave a speech at the end- very philosophical

the chancellor giving his speech
a few familiar faces behind him among the staff; some of the lecturers that had taught me throughout the past 3 years

the official photographers (McRobbie's) with the best view, of course

Sam being capped by the chancellor

I noticed that this lady has a pretty purple regalia!
I wonder which uni she had graduated from...

little get-together we had last night
Sam & Lisa, fellow intern pharmacist

Canai & Ray
short lunch at Jitsu

I'm blaming the weather for the lack of photos- didn't even manage to take photos (using my cam) for them in front of the clocktower due to the bad weather. Time was very limited too, barely had time to just sit down and chat. In a way I'm glad that I'll be graduating at the end of the year- exams will be over and it'll be summer (better weather hopefully?) WOW less than half a year to go for my turn to be capped and receive that certificate. SIGH not too far away and I can almost see it- but big hurdles to pass through first.

Had a good laugh about a misunderstanding I had earlier on the week. Alex had asked me to buy a bouquet of roses for Sam, and I just instantly thought of a marriage proposal! Haha. So I even went to the florists telling them I want to order roses meant for it XD Then few nights ago on the phone, when congratulating Alex, he was like, "for what?" I said "for your engagement la, duh what else?!" .... then after a few minutes of clearing up the misunderstanding I realised that the flowers were just for graduation, not because he was going to propose (yet) hahaha! OOOOOPS :P Oh well, not sure why I assumed that in the first place, maybe I just can't wait for more excitement in my life.

Speaking of which, I'm so looking forward to this Thursday: Michelle's going for her scan to find out the gender of baby!!!!! =D I'm rooting for a boy of course, many others as well. But not sure why, something's telling me that it's gonna be a girl :P Ron made a bet with the Yeos and will have to cook for them for a whole week if baby turns out to be a girl hehe. Boy oh boy (pun intended), it's going to be an exciting afternoon no matter what since it'll be the 1st time I'm going to see an actual ultrasound scan ever!

My experiments, as usual, are not working again! Trying to not get frustrated, think positive, and do my best to keep the cells happy gah.

Better weather ahead too according to metservice? Actual sunshine... could this be real? *fingers crossed*

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!

festive fever

Happy CNY!

I know, I know. I've been lazying in the festive mood: eating, visiting, traveling, doing nothing, eating my favourite char bee hoon (YUM), meeting up with friends, taking photos- that I have not blogged for > 1 week.

I went back to Kuching 2 weeks ago, came back to S'pore last Friday. Some say I'm wasting money by traveling too often. Bleh =P

Anyway. Some of the happenings when I was back in Kuching:

It rained every single day. But it didn't stop the meet ups hehehe.

Debs & Agfa (aka princess lollipop & princess pei pei) =P
my besties (including Stef at UK now) from church: stef cutie, we missed you!

We went from cafe to cafe. haha! From Life Cafe at main bazaar to the new Bing outlet at Premier 101 where we met up with Eric the oddball. =P Poor Eric had a knee surgery done recently due to torn ligament/tendon can't remember which after playing a game of basketball. -__- Skipped the annual youth visiting on 3rd day of CNY as I had another reunion with ex schoolmates from Kuching High. Instead, we went to Stef's house on Tues night (Guinevere's bday) then headed over to John's house where we stayed till midnight.

Hanging out with the youth again reminded me of why I miss Kuching (at times). Deb's driving skills and blur sense of direction hehehe, Agfa arguing with John about the littlest things, Eric's lame pick up lines nobody should ever use unless they want to get slapped, Joanna's big hugs, Agfa's contagious laughter, etc. Reminds me of the good times we had in 2004/2005- the Point 1 outings, cell group till very late at night, and church camp sabo-ing. We are all getting old(er) for sure, looking at the younger youths getting taller each year sure brings back the nostalgic memories. I only wonder why we took so few photos back then.

random: a praying mantis @ my house.

Met up with the 38 gang (as we used to call ourselves) on the 3rd day at Ching's house. I was the earliest (as usual). Ying was the last to arrive, together with Hui Yi, Agnes, Yii Ching, and Robin. I only found out on the spot that the latter 2 were dating, haha!

Anyways. We stayed at Ching's for quite a while before going over to Connie's place. It felt a little weird as I'd never spoken to her at all during my high school years. =P Though the others probably have. Different cliques, you could say. Congrats again to Ching on her 2 equally enticing job offers: I wonder which one she chose at the end.

I'm forever traumatised by Ying's driving skills (or lack of). Those sitting at the back seat that day would remember and agree with me. =P Speaking of which, I might take up driving lessons in NZ this year after graduation if all goes according to plan. =)

from left: jOSs, Kelly, Julianna, Ching, Ying, Hui Yi, Agnes, Yii Ching, & Robin.
at Ching's place. Jess, we missed you too...

Met up with Grace on Sunday: Ron and I went to her church (Bedok Methodist Church) in the morning (I only had 4 hours of sleep that night gah) then headed over to town for lunch with a random friend of hers who just came over from Dunedin to SG to work at the hospital. Walked/window shopped around a little after that then headed home for my much needed rest.

our discovery: somewhere near Marina Square. I think the area is called Sky Garden.

While we were enjoying the view, Ron pointed out to me that there was a couple with serious PDA going on to our left. Fair enough, the place where they were sitting at was quite secluded. Later, I don't know what led Grace to ask them to take a group photo of the 4 of us. Shock took over me when I saw the person walking towards us (with Grace) was in fact, a GIRL dressed in a guy's clothing- and another girl remained at the spot where we first saw them. yikes.

Later, we stopped by at a Danish ice cream cafe for dessert. =D Definitely 100 times better than the ones we had at Batam weeks ago. Thanks to Grace who paid for our orders! It was such a blessing hanging out with her since we barely spoke to each other back in Dunedin.

my order: puffs & ice cream!
very nutty, just how I like it.

with Grace

If you're not already asking: yes I had (another) haircut! I'm not particularly happy with it: the lady was a little scissors-happy and chopped off a huge amount of hair. Now, it looks super layered... and the colouring was terrible: a huge patch in the middle was significantly lighter. There goes my hope of having long, curled hair during my graduation. =( I'll try getting another haircut to fix the damage when I go home again next week.

***

Work/attachment started today. *grumpy face* This week will be my last in SG (at least for this year). WOW.

Things to do before I leave:
~ SHOP! haha. (aka leave behind my mark at Orchard Road) High 5 Ron
~ take a group photo with cell group in SG (Friday night), add them on facebook heheh
~ meet up with Julianna & John again
~ have my favourite SG chicken rice 1 last time =P
~ go to Ministry of Manpower to cancel/return my work permit
~ get my salary for Jan and Feb woohoo!
~ close bank account. transfer $$$ over to NZ bank account
~ pack & leave (again!!!)

Now everywhere I go (except on the way to/from work), I imagine that it'll be the last time I ever set foot there. And today while having lunch with a cell group friend, Xue 'Er, she asked me if I'd miss the people at cell group. I wanted to say "3 months isn't long enough to miss someone" but then I realized that time is never an issue: I will miss their hospitality, their friendliness, their fellowship.

Time is sprinting like never before. And before I know it, another phase in my life is coming to an end (in a good way, of course). =)

2OO9!

This year, ushering in the new year was different from the previous years.

2008/2009- I spent it in another country, this time in Singapore. There's no excuse in spending a boring new year countdown here- there's heaps of countdown events going on simultaneously everywhere around this small island I've been calling home for almost 2 months now.

Being (slightly too) ambitious, I'd wanted to try out my camera capturing beautiful fireworks displays. Sadly for me, I began my hunt for a tripod (I left mine among one of the many packed boxes somewhere in Dunedin) too late in the afternoon yesterday. Only managed to look around at Orchard Road and resigned to NOT having a tripod after being told they were sold out. *sniff* Which means there's no way of getting good photos of the fireworks without blurring issues.

So Ron and I went to the countdown show at Marina Bay quite early; I wanted to scope for the best spots there. Gosh there were already so many people crowded around the Esplanade Drive and along the bay by 7pm-ish. Many people even brought picnic mats and secured a nice spot for fireworks-watching by then.

Not wanting to be squished among the hundreds upon thousands of people later during the night, we opted to buy the tickets to watch the (quoted from the website): "star-studded countdown show at The Float @ Marina Bay, where they will be able to enjoy 'live' performances by popular MediaCorp Channel 5 celebrities, such as Fiona Xie, Michelle Chia, Gurmit Singh, Adrian Pang, Taufik Batisah, Hady Mirza and many more. Tickets for the show are available at $18 and $25 through authorised SISTIC agents. Performances start from 9pm onwards, all the way till 12.15am".

The countdown show was BLEH. Poor emcees trying to hype up the atmosphere, which I thought was lacklustre enough except for the times after each tv commercial break (the countdown was aired live) when I could hear the occassional shouts and cheers. I have to give them props for making us do the "Marina Bay wave" (copyrighted from the Kallang/Mexican wave) many times, from the left to right, from front to back...). No outside food/drink was allowed inside, and the queue to buy food and to go to the toilets were soooooo long. According to the emcees, there were more than 10,000 people who bought tickets to see the full show, and more than 250000 in total @ Marina Bay.

The one thing I'd remember the most is probably the loud quarrel between an angry wife with her poor husband sitting one row behind us. It started off with the husband handing the camera over to another guy to take a photo of them. Then "PLUNK" went the camera, onto the ground the lens looking irreparable.

A few seconds later, we were greeted with the angry screams of the wife: "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!!! It's MY camera you know!!! It's a good camera, you know! I spent so much money buying it you know! I want you to buy it right now! How am I supposed to take photo of the fireworks!!!" I pity the husband (who didn't raise his voice at all), looking so downcast and has probably muttered more than 100 sorries the whole night, who knows how many more when they got home.

He very patiently took in more screams and demands for the next hour or so, until an exasperated couple behind them spoke up. I know it's Asian culture to mind our own business, but obviously it's been going on for far TOO long and no one else dared to interfere.

The young lady who spoke up (TYLWSU), with tattoos and all, said "EH everyone is here to celebrate, so can you take your quarreling outside?"
Angry very pissed wife (AVPW): Who are YOOOOOOU to tell me what to do?! You don't even know what happened!!!!!
TYLWSU: I don't CARE what happened. WHAT you think that your voice very loud so more big shot is it?
AVPW: (clenching her fists) (can't remember what she said except the B**** word)

By then, everyone around was looking at them. TYLWSU's boyfriend/husband was already rolling up his sleeves and looking menacingly at AVPW and her husband. TYLWSU took a few steps forward after hearing the B word, looking ready to punch AVPW. I've got to salute AVPW's super patient husband for apologizing to TYLWSU and bf so many times, while his wife just stared them down.

After countless apologies, TYLWSU and bf went back to their seats. AVPW was finally quiet, while her poor husband kept saying he'd buy her a better camera the next day.

"Don't want! It's a good camera, YOU KNOW!"
"OKOK I'll buy you the EXACT same camera tomorrow"
"DON'T WANT I want a new one TONIGHT!"
"How to go tonight...?"
"I don't care HOW!!!! I want to take photos of the fireworks tonight!!!"

P.S. It was dark, I didn't get a good look at the camera, but it's no dslr, just a compact cam. And during one point, AVPW even demanded the husband to take out his mobile phone, and she deliberately threw it away! Poor husband went to pick it up (not sure if it was damaged) with so many people watching the drama.

Somehow AVPW didn't force the poor husband to buy one that very night during new year's eve. Emotional abuse! So funny right after that Ron suddenly said he didn't want to buy a camera anymore =P And we were guessing how long it took for people who sat right in front of AVPW to move to other seats. Some of them didn't even last for 20 seconds.

What a sad way for them to spend New Year's day. While PDA was going on in front of us, they sat in silence after the fight, not sure if they even wished each other happy new year.

ANYWAY besides that, the fireworks display was AWESOME!

just before sunset, the skyscrapers overlooking the clear blue skies.
those floating balloon-like things are part of the "wishing sphere project"

The Wishing Sphere Project is a significant component of the Marina Bay SINGAPORE Countdown. Members of the community are all invited to join in the project by penning their wish for the New Year on a wishing sphere. Each wishing sphere represents a hope, a belief that the New Year will bring new possibilities and the promise of a brighter tomorrow.

dusk. such a gorgeous view

the view from the "floating platforms" where we sat
different coloured lights illuminated the wishing spheres: blue, orange, etc.

one of the noisy rock bands performing. local, I think.
the lead singer even climbed one of the poles once- crazy stunt

can you spot the celebrity? =P

unidentified singer & dancers

Phua Chu Kang (PCK) and guy in blue suit (can't remember his stage name) with Barbarella Posh Beckham (girl with PRC accent/infatuated with VJ Utt)

another singer

Gurmit Singh, Adrian Pang (if I'm not mistaken), and VJ Utt (left - right)
PCK: I never changed so fast in my life! haha!

the whole cast of performers towards the end of the show just before midnight. managed to get home by 1am, thanks to the trains extending operation till 2am

last but not least, a short video showing the last part of the fireworks display
be prepared to say WOW

I'd wanted to blog on NY eve but didn't have the chance to. Anyway, to all my friends & family- no matter where you are =D I treasure and miss you all SO MUCH, really wished we could all celebrate new year's day together. Much love to all you SHINERS

Have a HAPPY and fruitful 2009 =)