Ball, anyone?

UGH. I had a bad feeling of doing my presentation on Wednesday. So it is. It's now or never. My group member had so little faith we'll do well (knock his head!) that he even promised to buy me a $20 vodafone pre-pay if we manage to do better than a C!!! (as I spent a lot texting him @ 027) Whatever happened to aiming for an A or at least B+?!

Skipped 2 lectures today, and decided to stay home to work on presentation and report due this Friday. Possible pharmacy/phyiotherapy ball this Saturday, woohoo! No, I'm not studying either but it will be the last chance we can all join a ball together.. *sniffs* Please don't let Mr. Stalker be there. If not I'll have to spend the whole night avoiding him.

Which brings me to this.

May May, this blog post is dedicated specially to you.

So sad that you're leaving to Wellington next year, but I do believe that the Man up there has great plans for you: to prosper you and not to harm you. ;P Even if it means having to see the 2 very "soi" faces every day and having to avoid them: O-ba-yee and han-zi-peng (excuse the spelling).

We'll come visit you whenever possible, and I'll think of you fondly whenever I see good food. =)


Ooh, and I also found this link to a the 12 types of Med students. How true is it?

So long, winter

I love spring because it also means:

1. So close to year end holidays! 4 months- sadly I'll be working for 3 months. But STILL- no lectures and assignments to hand in every Friday lor.
2. 9 weeks to Singapore!!! Can't wait for my first REAL work that's course related! Sort of comforts me to know I won't be (hopefully) one of those people who end up working in a field that's totally unrelated to their degrees. Also, my first biotech-related pay!
   
3. 9 weeks to goooooooood oily, cheap-as food in Malaysia/Singapore. Well, maybe not so cheap in Sg but definitely cheaper than $10 per noodle soup in NZ.
4. Pretty flowers! No time just yet, but hopefully will take loads of photos of flowers at the botanical gardens, then use them as wallpaper.. huahua
5. My birthday ;P Yes I would like a mini cooper convertible- red with white/black stripes thank you very much. Oh and a drivers license too.
6. I can finally wear dresses/skirts WITHOUT having to wear them with cardigans/jackets/boots/leggings, or having to bring my trustee umbrella everywhere.

Well, actually I spoke too soon.
The weather forecast reports that it will be rainy for the next few days =(

Get well soon, Fiona.

Happy Fathers' Day to all dads out there.
Last group meeting tonight before presentation tomorrow/Wed. Praying that my group would be selected to go first tomorrow so can work on report due on Friday! Gosh how I wish I had better public speaking skills.

It's a beautiful day!

Yes, I know I should be sleeping by now.

BUT

Today's weather was sooo pretty so I had to blog.
Ok, maybe it was more than the nice weather.

I went to Dil's 21st lunch today at Ombrello's. Very classy yet laid back bar/restaurant by Clarendon Road near uni. Love the cake from yours truly, the Dessert Room. Her sisters even got a 2 piece band courtesy of Dil's genetics lab partner, and sang to her great (improvised) songs. Hehe.

I wore my summery peachy dress! =)

Again, the weather was so pretty that we went to the beach for a picture-taking session. The wind made it quite chilly towards late afternoon, and I think Fiona caught a cold from being out in the cold too long. At 7pm, we had our 2nd final group meeting before the BIG micro presentation on Monday/Wednesday (randomly selected). Finally, I see progress and coorperation. Still, it's a long way to go, and I'm not relaxing once the report gets handed in on Friday PLUS I get a head start on the management business plan and other major assignments. Next Friday would be the first time which I have to hand in 2 major assignments in a day: 25% and 30%. After which there'll only be one more presentation left to end this hectic 3rd year.

We can pull through this, people.
We will ACE this!!! (hopeful)

Last but not least, pictures to tell the story.

Pretty Dil (with golden ribbon) cutting her cake.

Serenading love songs...

Jandals enjoying the sandy beach.

Fiona holding her socks (don't ask me why), Sammie, and jOSs.

Looking at the cute surfer dudes doing their tricks ;P

Ice-cream fight!

It was cold- good thing was the ice-creams didn't melt.

Censor censor! (blog is rated PG ma...)

3rd try- canai jumping.
More censoring. I feel like the Malaysian censorship board.

Rawr! watch me be the lightbulb.

These I treasure

I'm SOOOO thankful for having friends to calm down my nerves when I'm freaking out. wink wink.

I got the biggest shock today when I woke up to find the numbers 12.39 staring back at me from my alarm clock. I thought it would have been 12.39AM, but that was impossible as I slept at close to 5am that morning. The alarm clock was set to wake me up at 8am to attend my lab at 9.30am, and yet I somehow missed the alarm OR had forgotten to turn on the alarm.

So I managed not to curse, tried finding my phone, to no avail. I feel so useless without my phone. First thing I could think of was, "OH NO!!! My lab partner is going to kill me for not showing up at lab!" It was supposed to be a 2 hour wet lab work from 9.30 to 11.30am, then analysis of results. The lab work requires 2 people to complete, so my head was going round in circles trying to think a way through the mess.

No time for breakfast, not even coffee. I don't function well without coffee. Thank goodness the lecture this morning was cancelled. So I rushed all the way to bioc lab and not surprised to see no one there. I saw plates on other groups' table, but none on the space my lab partner and I work at. I tried not to panic, then ran off to Unicol to try to find my phone (it wasn't there), ran to commerce building (as my lab partner mentioned he always have pizzas every friday there~ random I know; too bad he wasn't there either), then I ran back to the lab and wrote a note of apology to him in case he went back to lab.

I'm amazed I even have the energy to run to so many places and get to the office for my last day at work and not faint of exhaustion. I started work at 2pm, then went shopping a while at 6pm with Mich and bought a dress to wear to Dil's birthday lunch tomorrow (yay!!) Thank you Michelle for buying me a cup of mocha and egg/mayo sandwich; and thanks Sammie for the Cornetto ice cream to cheer me up =) And thanks for helping me find my phone (huge sigh of relief- more than 5 missed calls, 4 messages)- it was left in the car since last night. Thanks to my awesome lab partner for not getting angry with me (I would if I were you, haha!), and for completing the experiment with help from one the demonstrators, I'll buy you chocolate/pizza someday ;P

Thanks to my (now ex) colleagues for the past 6 months; Rachel, Patrice, Shi Leng, Sulyn, Mark, Nick, Yuko, Tania, Sarah, Jess, Steve, Sue, Oliver, Cath etc. It has been enlightening, a eye opener (in a good way) to the corporate world. It's been a wonderful working experience. Thanks for the lovely farewell card =)

A lesson learnt today: not to stretch myself to the limit. Well, actually PAST my limit: physically & emotionally. I guess I wanted to prove to myself, or convince myself, that I can survive with less sleep and try to get EVERYTHING done by myself. Which completely backfired when I overslept for 4 hours, that has never happened before. Which is why I promise myself that I'm going to sleep at midnight today, wake up all refreshed at 9am tomorrow for a fun-filled day to enjoy (hopefully) a sunny Saturday. =)

Thanks again guys for being there even when I'm going crazy and almost ready to scream at people walking past me. Thanks for making sure I don't skip breakfast/lunch, and making sure I get my weekly dose of ice-cream.

So, here are some more SHINE '08 and random birthday celebration photos. Enjoy!

Pretty Jaq and I at Agnes' pre-birthday.

Flattie honey Sharon T. with her lovely egg tarts in the making.

Princess Fiona reading her birthday card(s), 2 nights ago at Greg's.

FOOD!!! at Greg's place for Fiona's bday dinner.

Another Lighthouse Fellowship group photo to treasure.

The envelopes where guardian angels/mortals stash notes/gifts @ Shine '08.

Making of the "blessing board" at SHINE '08!

After the "trust walk". I was blindfolded and kidnapped back to the main hall!

The gals: L-R Shaza, Becky, Rach, & Jaq. Michelle's bday dinner Sunday night.

Mich's bday dessert- can't remember what it was called.

P.S. I love spring!

Shine o8, the epilogue

These past few days has been just... WOW.

Shine '08 was from Thursday to late Sunday afternoon. Fun, fun, fun time away from all the assignments and cold Dunedin weather. Though the camp site was only 20 min drive away, it was a refreshing experience: I finally got more than 5 hours of sleep a day, being around with people I love whole day, eat good food, play instruments, listen to good music, being close to nature (heh.), picnic-ing by a stream (which turned out to be where the sewage flows through), campfire, treasure hunts, seeing how people really look like when they had just woken up etc.

I'll blog in more detail in the next few days if there's time. Right now, there's just sadly NOT.
Right now, 10 pics only. Lazy to upload more. Took close to 500 photos- not including those from Greg, Jaq, Glenn, etc other cameras.

last day at camp site: Janice the camp master, Sammie the logistics gal,
May May the food mistress, and myself.

it was EARLY. but the scenery was perfect.

waking up early for rise 'n shine devotions at the chapel.

making and eating pizza together; Jaq being cute. Isn't she always? *winks*

face painting just before the big telematch!

the main hall with the instruments.

i love signs. Give me more signs.

Miss Janice Lee (who got sick 2nd day of camp, poor thing)
showing off her red jacket.

the MTC (main hall) from a different view.

jazzy jam session:
Mich on keys, Christine on sax, Alex on bass.
not forgetting a few of us randomly dancing at the background.

Ahhhhhh.... the MEMORIES.

Celebrated a lot of birthdays lately.
Saturday/Sunday - Michelle's burpday! Organised a surprise treasure hunt for her at the campfire then Sunday night had dinner at Zucchini Bros.
Monday - Bernard aka the muscle man's surprise during cell group. He doesn't eat cake, so the guys carved out melon and coconut, cooked oil-free steak, and gave him the yellow-cap trim milk. Then we all pretended to be working out when he walked into the room then sang the birthday song. Hilarious.
Tuesday - Went over to Greg's for Fiona's birthday potluck dinner. She no longer pinches my cheek every time she sees me. *phew*
this Saturday - Dil's birthday lunch at Ombrellos.
16th Sept - I turn 21. STOP figuring out what you guys wanna buy me, ok. You're just gonna get serious headache only... coz I'm wishing for things which can't be bought! *wink wink*

These next few weeks are intense-as.
this Friday - BIOC353 research assignment due.
next Monday/Wed - MICR336 presentation worth 15%.
next Friday - MICR336 case study/business plan 15% due.
next next week - MANT303 business plan 30% due.
- MICR336 lab report/assignment/lab book 20% due.
- another BIOC353 lab report due.

Where got time to study liddat?!