time, where did you go?

This is so disheartening: to find out that -

Kuching High School was on fire today. Read more here.

photo from michaelkon.com

Though my secondary school days weren't the best/most memorable years of my life (yes, it is true that university years are the best!), I still treasure the memories: ah Bong (now previous school principal) lecturing all of us on getting straight As, telling us we must get the "sekolah harapan" award again, the weekly "perhimpunan(s)" while singing the school anthem, hiding our correction pens during spot checks, etc etc.

According to a few blogs I'd read so far, not the whole school was burnt down. Too bad the admin block was gone with the fire. Imagine all the important documents turning to ashes. Oh well, we can only hope for the rebuilding of a better block in the future. I'm sure they'll come up with various fundraisings to help with the reconstruction soon.

I wonder how badly was the library affected. I'll miss that the most.

And now, I regret not going back for a visit during those times when I went back to Kuching.

***

Janice is back in SG! Though for 2 days only, before leaving for graduation on Thursday.

We met up for dinner despite the rain, had yummy food at Newton. That's when I discovered I do REALLY have a huge appetite. When everyone had declared themselves full (and started to rub their bellies and say how fat they're becoming), I'm still salvaging what's left of dinner and asking if we should order more. It's the hot and humid weather =P

***

I bought my tickets back home for Christmas!!! =D

Which means I'll leave SG on Christmas eve right after work, arrive Kuching a few hours before midnight. Driving up to Sibu for my cousin's wedding (27th), coming back to Kuching before the 1st ever service at the new church location, then going back to SG on night of the 28th.

AirAsia, please don't delay the flights, especially during Christmas. (somehow I'm reminded of how the pancakes spent New Year 08 in the taxi with the taxi driver at Kuching... hehehe)

Congrats to Julianna for finally finishing her exams. Shopping is not too far away =)

The days seem to pass by really sloooooowly. Or is it just me? But then again, next week will mark 1 month of me being in Singapore. 2 more months till this work placement is finally over. Then a few more months before graduation. I'm getting way ahead of myself...

2 more months left to travel around and sightsee. Still on my list of places to visit are cities in West Msia, Sentosa Island (though I've been there before and meh not much to do/see, but I want to take photos through the cable car hehe). A trip to Indonesia this weekend maybe? We'll see, we'll see.

when anticipation turns to accomplishment =)

Today must be the first day I worked from 8.30am till 6pm at GIS. By the time I got home, it was already 7.30pm.

The postdoc my supervisor "pushed" me to has ahem kindly placed me under the care of another person. GOSH the way GIS people handle things. But thankfully this guy knows what to do with me- which includes giving me more journal articles to read and coaching me on new platforms. As all of these are so new to me (I never did any 300-level genetics paper before), I struggled a little with the terms and jargons; hence the HUGE homework I have tonight. MORE READING.

Can't complain. At least I'm doing something besides rereading journals all day.

Thankfully, there's been a few more updates on my accomodation. My colleague told me of a room that's going to be vacant soon, which I went with her during lunch break to view (not too bad at all), more highly priced than I would expect- but after a discussion with the landlady and considering the situation, I might actually take her up on the offer of SGD850 a month (inclusive of all bills plus wireless internet) at a flat really near to work (within walking distance!) So if no better deals come along before this Wednesday, I'll move in by this weekend =)

One more good news. hehe.

I (well, actually my parents) bought a new laptop from the SITEX pc fair on Sunday.

It's a HP Pavilion dv6773tx. Originally 2Gb of ram but I got it upgraded to 4Gb, for 99 bucks, memory is only 250Gb though, has blu ray, 15.4" screen, Nvidia 8400, etc specifications. Not the one I originally wanted (dv5 series), this one has lower specs but went there on Sunday instead of Saturday and it went out of stock, so settled for this instead. So much cheaper too.

but I'm very happy with it =) Will take pics of it and post when not so tired (soon).

***
Happy birthday dearest Samantha!

aka mantha
aka future mrs pancake
aka sammie/sam
aka mashimaro/ah chan's co-owner
aka super smart & beautiful pharmacist-in-training
aka someone I dearly miss now
aka my heart-to-heart session on the phone partner
aka my "on the phone but who cares if we have nothing to talk about?" partner
aka Lighthouse's faithful powerpoint lady
aka the one who helped me pack my stuff before I left until 7.30am and had McD after that
aka the one who saw me cry when I left the airport on the way back
aka my bestest friend despite me being the lightbulb (most of the time) hehehe
aka one of God's given friends I can't imagine living without =)

...the list goes on and on for YOU *winks*

I know Alex has exciting plans for you on your special day, but I can't help but feel sad for not being there in Auckland to celebrate this special day with you (sad, nostalgic smile)

At such a young age of 20, you've already achieved so much. In so many ways, you're my secret role model =) hehe. I'm so glad I managed to (ahem) encourage you to start blogging- keep track of you in Hawkes Bay next year :P And though next year will be really different, I do trust that our friendship won't diminish even a tiny little bit =D

I thank God every single day for giving me friends like you that I thought I'd never have.
Call me soon, I have so much to tell you *winks* or I might get a calling card soon so can call all of you in NZ.

much LOVE,

FLG =P

viva vivocity

Whoops. Has it been THAT long already without an update?

Work, as usual, has been mundane. My principle investigator (PI) admitted to me that he hasn't thought through much of what I should do during my remaining 2 and a half months here. In the mean time, he's put me under the care of a postdoc doing population genetics- the whole purpose of the study was to find out man's earliest ancestor. -___- This is why I never liked genetics- I just don't see the whole purpose in finding who/how Adam's DNA looked like. And just like that, my PI assumed that we are all not Christians, and thus don't need to take leave for Christmas holidays. Gah, now I'll have to tell him that I'm considering taking a day off to go home for the holidays and to attend cousin's wedding.

Believe it or not, I'm still searching for an accommodation here. Let's just say things are not going as smooth as possible, and I'm hoping to find a place to live closeby to work which is reasonably cheap as soon as possible. Thankfully there are friends helping out in that, so fingers crossed, next time I'll be able to announce the good news!

So we went to the SITEX pc fair at expo last Thursday night to check out prices for my laptop. Finally decided to buy a HP pavillion, not the dv-5 that I originally wanted, but dv-6 something something can't remember the last few digits of the model. The specs are lower, but come to think about it, I don't even need a high-end laptop for uni purposes for now, at least. So that will do for now- and the price is good- SGD1788, excluding the 7% GST rebate I can claim. Going back to the expo tomorrow afternoon to buy it, FINALLY! =)

We went to VivoCity (huge mall, biggest in SG) Friday afternoon/night after work. First time there ever. I'm impressed! We were feeling a little lacklustre earlier on, kept complaining about not having enough money to buy all the nice things on sale haha, but thankfully felt much better after watching the beautiful sunset- pictures are as below. 

Big Christmas tree at the rooftop of Vivocity @ Sky Park

shallow pool- children running around, splashing water everywhere

pretty designs everywhere

notice that guy swinging around on the bar towards the right?

I thought it was real- it sure looked real.

did I mention that I loooove sunsets? =)

sigh the colours so nice... notice the tiny dots in the background which are actually the cable cars leading to Sentosa Island

the harbour.

the palm trees.

the boats.

i love the colours

bridge/monorail going into Sentosa Island

finally... sunset!!!

that big ship is the starvirgo, btw. 

imagine if Dunedin harbour is as pretty as this...

I'd go there every weekend :P

...and this

PDA sighting on the viewing decks

love the circular designs 

the Christmas tree illuminated

I can go on and on about how pretty this place is, really

Scenery wise, VivoCity/the harbourfront is probably the best place to go for beautiful sunset views and for taking awesome photos. Can't wait to take the cable car across to Sentosa Island someday, soon. 

Finally met up with my CouchSurfing friend, Jaslin this afternoon! The crowd at expo was HUMONGOUS! Had a little trouble recognising each other, haha. Probably more than 10,000 people going to the pc fair and another half of those going to church. So now I can say that I've been to City Harvest Church! =) Service started at 5.30pm, ended just past 7pm. 

I love the music, would love the opportunity to be part of the music team, even if it's just going to their weekly practices, but would have to check for prerequisites to join. Auditions, eeks. We'll see. Jaslin introduced us to her friends from cell group, which we went out to dinner with, and maybe will join them for cell this Thursday if no other plans crop up. 

Ah, the anticipation for my new laptop.... =)

Week 3, SG

My original plan was to meet up with Jaslin who would take Ron and I to the City Harvest Church yesterday afternoon. Then I got a text from her saying that though the service starts at 6pm, there was already a looooooong queue outside the expo centre by 1pm. It’ll be CHAOTIC. So we decided to go to the normal service next Saturday instead when there will be less (but still heaps) of people.

So I googled to find out about other potential churches to visit and decided to go to the famous Joseph Prince’s church- New Creation Church. So we went there this morning, the queue was humongous! Even longer than the queues to withdraw money from ATM machines in Tabuan Jaya (Kuching). How shocked we were when we were led into a big room with projector screens everywhere- then realised that we just went into the overflow rooms, not the actual auditorium where the “live” service took place. haha! So blur. It was a little weird having praise and worship in front of a screen, feels as if we were watching a taped recording/movie. Might actually go earlier to the auditorium (find the actual place) next week to get a feeling of the “real thing”. Overall, really enjoyed the service- took a little getting used to listening to a pastor in full blown Singaporean accent, took lots of notes, and laughed at his funny comments. Quite surprised at the short worship session- 3 songs only, all slow. No new Hillsong songs =P but they did sing 2 of their own composed songs. Listening to the music made me really miss playing the keyboard for church and cell group... Ah the nostalgia. 

Went around shopping with the guys today- didn’t buy anything except for marker pens to write on mirrors/glass surfaces at the book expo. Can’t wait for Janice to come back to SG this Thursday. 

I’m STILL undecided on which laptop to buy: a macbook or my currently more preferred HP pavillion dv-5. Price and specifications wise, I’d go for the HP. But looks and stability, mac wins hands-on. Then again, the HP has really good built-in Altec-Lansing speakers as well. Ah the comparison goes on and on. I’ll wait till the IT expo end of this week, then it’s time to make a decision.

It rained late afternoon today, so we walked around the Esplanade a little. Had dessert at this really nice chocolate cafe called Max Brenner- similar to the chocolate boutique at Parnell.

Been walking around so much around shopping malls lately. Ron's trying to get me to buy a CROCS sandles- I never liked their designs, to me it's hideous to be honest, but I admit that after trying it on, it is very comfy despite the price of $54 a pair. Yesterday from 4ish till 9pm. Today, left home at 10-ish am and got home before 9pm. Early start tomorrow and time to meet the boss. aiks.

I have no idea what they're selling here

walked around in circles trying to find the fountain of wealth

we stayed on to watch the "fountain show" at 7.30pm

Well worth it. (sometimes) nice music, somewhat romantic atmosphere haha though the whole proposing at the fountain idea is too common nowadays

The colours kept changing- blue, red, purple, white, yellow etc.

Suntec convention centre- the queue just to get into the overflow rooms for New Creation Church. The entrance is to my southwest btw, so imagine how long the queue was.

Besides the Anime expo (bumped into Ian who attended the expo!), the book fest was also held at the convention centre. 

So interesting looking at many people dressing up as their favourite anime characters- to the extreme. Books, stationeries, IT stuff, etc were sold at the book fest.

Celebrity sighting at the book fest- JJ Lin?

I didn't even recognise/know this guy here until Ron told me who he was =P

He has the EXACT same pose (thumbs up sign) for every single photo during the photoshoot session

At the Millenia walk- we saw 3 Lamborghinis surrounding the double helix structure. 

Had lunch around here- super expensive and flashy Japanese restaurant

The durians Esplanade upclose

Too bad it was cloudy

view from the upper deck, wanted to go down but it poured soon after

oh wells, another day then.

i never knew the durians were so.... green

i ordered- strawberry white chocolate float for $8.90 YUMMY!

the straw is metallic- was wondering how hygienic can it be (reusable)...? =P

Greg holding his (can't remember which) chocolate drink in a hugmug

so cute the design

Ron ordered- suckao! $6.90 (melted choc chips w/ milk)

the spoon has dual purposes- to stir and as a straw

little candle to melt the choc chips

Really nice place to chill out and enjoy chocolate- for all you chocolate lovers. I'm not a big choc fan, but the menu sure made me want to go back for a 2nd visit. Too bad they only have 1 single franchise in SG, and at a few other cities - excluding NZ and Msia of course.. =(

So many shows lined up at the Esplanade! We're wanting to watch Snow White (early January) and maybe some other Christmas events as well. 

Christmas- will I be back in Kuching then? No idea

CNY- also no idea. 

I want to, but chances are really fat at the moment. Expensive fares and probably not possible to take leave from work. We'll see.

lit up

Looking at the Lighthouse videos Jacq posted on facebook brings back fond memories =)

I'm not even calling the past 2 weeks work. More like training and meeting the colleagues, getting familiar with the place, and get ready to finally meet Mr Big Shot aka my supervisor who's finally coming back from the US next Monday. There's so many people ready to report to him about results, new and ongoing projects, postdocs and postgrads alike... that I wonder if he would even have the time to actually "supervise" me through these 3 months. Must prepare on saying the right things and remember to bring all the important documents!

Spent tonight ahem window shopping along Orchard Road again. We went into the super expensive brand shops while trying to look less like poor students =P It's amazing how much an effect of the simple word SALE can affect one's spending habits.

Pearl milk tea is so cheap here! I tried one yesterday at the Jurong mrt for $1.20 ONLY, and it was one of the best. Just tried a recommendation by Chyi - at the Koi cafe @ Chinatown, quite yummy but a little more expensive at $1.60. The ones that come with smaller bubbles actually cost more! Too bad they ran out of the smaller bubbles tonight; it's something I'd definitely want to try next time. So this is how and why I've been drinking pearl milk tea almost everyday I've been in Sg- and the main contributor to my gradually increasing, unflattering waistline. 

I wonder how much is the Sg government budgeting for LIGHTS alone for Christmas...

again- pretty lights

at the orchard underground pass

little girl waiting for her Christmas present

yup- the Christmas tree is made up of green, white, and red teddy bears!

Was browsing through the City Harvest Church website a while ago and saw some statistics. The highest attendance ever recorded was more than 40,000 people!!! CO2 overload...?

I'm still undecided- whether to book that flight back to Kuching and Sibu (to attend my cousin's wedding) during Christmas OR to stay here in SG. I'll find out soon enough if I can actually take leave from work.