to the light

My new favourite singer/guitarist in a while: Newton Faulkner.

I personally think he has the voice of Chris Rice and guitar skills of Kaki King. Brilliant combination :) I love this song of his "to the light". It was featured in one of the dances in the dance competition show "So you think you can dance (Australia)"- which I am totally addicted to now =P Go have a listen, it's such a feel good song, perfect after a hectic, manic Monday.

I'm taking a break because I'm losing it again
And I wanna relate without you thinking I'm insane
Oh, it's the same another train
Just sitting around with-a-record in my brain
You could have everything you wanted
But you would be still be wanting more
Cause the sun is always in your eyes
You search for stillness on a rock
That's spinning round and round and you're surprised

Take a break from all I know,
Just sit back and let it flow,
Then I find I've broken through,
To the light again.

Every time I find I'm thinking about the things I want to
That is the time I have nothing to sing
And every time I find I'm thinking about things that don't matter
That is the time I see everything
I want to know lord
Why it's got to be so hard
Wanna know lord
Why it's got to be so hard
I feel like a muppet with a drunkard puppeteer but I'll survive
I will survive.

Take a break from all I know,
Just sit back and let it flow,
Then I find I've broken through,
To the light again.
Then I find I've broken through,
To the light again

Speaking of which- sorry for the lack of updates. I barely had time to breathe, let alone blog. But I'm keeping on my eyes on the goal- graduation and getting that awesome job next year haha! 6 months to go- yeap that does seem very soon YET it's still so far away.

I've been talking to the postgrads in my lab, which have been very helpful. I've found my potential employer- Institute of Environmental Science of Research. Eyeing the forensics department ;P It's quite a sought after place to work at, especially for fresh grads, and a previous PhD student at my lab had went on to do her postdoc there, and she's coming back for a visit soon, so I'll get prepared for questions to ask her then.

To be honest, I don't have the slightest idea of where I'd be in 5 years' time. I can definitely see my friends getting married *wink wink you know who you are* and having babies, comparing diaper prices. I'll be the aunt taking photos of them. Fingers crossed, I'd have permanent residency by then, so my parents can retire here/travel around, maybe broaden my horizons and go overseas (again)- but really- who knows? But for the next 2 years, staying put (somewhere in the north island) would be my immediate plan. As for doing a PhD.... HMMmmmm not going to happen anytime soon though it does sound tempting to have the "doctor" title and scrap the "miss".

New things since I last blogged: I bought a new mouse and mousepad! Great gaming mouse and super smooth m/pad which I had always wanted to get. Bought a few tee shirts from threadless.com, sharing postage with Chyi my fellow KW buddy. Looking forward to the Pancakes coming down to Dunedin in 3 weeks time for their graduation ceremony :)

Ok more pics and stories to tell during the last day at Napier/Hastings during Easter. Gosh how I miss that place!

Day 4: touring around Napier yay

the "duck" bus/boat which nearly ran me over as I was taking a photo of it

on the way to the chocolate company, we found this beautiful park
I love this photo of Sam!

wallpaper, anyone?

Mich *wistful thinking* ;P
I like the windy footpath

group photo- joss, may, & sam
a fun park for kids at the background

nothing but blue skies!

hehe how cute!
*cough* Mich, Sam, and Janice in the future *cough*

finally, we reached the Silky Oak chocolate company and ordered the amazing "Hot choc extreme"- extremely rich melted chocolate with thick cream and optional chilli flakes sprinkled on top

ordered bacon & mushroom soup as well. YUMS

then we joined a tour around the former Napier Prison
the hanging yard- people did get executed here decades ago

fooling around...

...and again

there was even an actual graveyard where a few executed prisoners were buried at
*creepy* we saw the rooms and solitary confinement units etc: a real eye-opener indeed
It's now been made into a backpackers :P

we walked around the beach: rocky, not sandy!

then went up to Bluff Hill lookout just in time to catch the last of sunset
Had a great dinner (again, paid by mr pancake) at a restaurant called "the Thirsty Whale"- interesting name indeed. Had one of the best carbonaras I'd tasted ever + awesome customer service + great company

I'm thinking of doing skydiving. The prices are insane though. $249 for 9000 feet, $299 for 12000 feet, and $399 for 15000 feet. I'm wondering if a few thousand feet will make that much of a different once you're so high up on the plane waiting to jump. A few more seconds maybe? Do I have the guts to actually do it, though? =P I want to though; hoping that there's another person who'll want to skydive as well.

Till then, another song by Newton Faulkner- People should smile more.

The great getaway- days 2 & 3

I'm surprised my Wellington trip post ended up here. haha!

The bee sting site is less swollen now, but gosh is it itchy! Google tells me it'll stay itchy for about a week. Hmph.

July ski trip to Queenstown- to go or not to go? Yes of course I want to- considering I've been in NZ for 4 years now but have never skied before yeah it's just not normal. Well the first time when I went there as part of a hall trip; and considering we only spent 2 days 1 night there, there was no time to ski. 2nd time I went there with my parents and of course they opted not to ski. And now, final and busiest year of uni, I FEEL that I must go =P Thanks guys for planning, especially renting that awesome house with jacuzzi and all that flashy stuff. So yeap I've decided to go, just need to plan experiments well and probably start with writing up dissertation soon.

Sky-diving, here I come! =P

***

More photos on my Easter trip:

Days 2 and 3: Napier/Hastings

Arrived at Napier, the amazing art deco city, at around 3pm after a long bus ride from Wellington. My 1st impression of Napier/Hastings was of the beautiful public art, beach just a minute away from the Pancakes' flashy apartment, and incredibly sunny/cloudless skies =) And of course, having a reunion with Alex&Sam (after GOSH HOW LONG??? more than 5 months!!!) made me so happy =D

Sigh I'm so jealous of them: working professionals, earning big bucks (even more next year!), staying at such a great place with great views, no need to study and rush for assignments: that's what I call life.

Enough words, enjoy the photos.

gosh so pretty the view from their apartment!
imagine waking up to THAT view every day...

catching up/bonding time :)

May looking at a random korean drama series, while Sam was busy cooking noodles for hungry us

Dinner at Hog's Breath, all paid by Canai the big taukeh ;P

Day 3 @ Hastings: having cold drinks on a hot day

Sileni Estate: doesn't look like a winery at all
Hawkes Bay is internationally well-known for the quality of wine being produced here; there's literally hundreds of wineries here

display area inside

We paid $14.50/person in total for wine tasting (6 types of wine) and a tour around the winery
we also bought a bottle of dessert wine for a little indulgence :P

oops blurry. Not sure why May was covering her nose haha
probably the sour smell of fermenting wine

HUGE tanks used to make wine- one big tank holds 50,000 litres!

then we made our way to Te Mata Peak, a lookout point
The faithful Lancer (to the right)

zooming in on a beautiful estate/house

the brave Michelle, our driver hehe

brought Canai's tripod- very handy

hehe MayMay so cute

blue, blue skies!

the emo pic

I like this one

...and then we saw this -__-

what more can I say? beauty, beauty, and beauty all around us
probably the highlight of the trip for me: heh I'm content just looking over the valleys and mountains, enjoying the light breeze, and spending time with great friends :)

After that day, I was reminded again how blessed/lucky I am to be able to study here; to be able to travel, explore; and most importantly enjoying all those with best friends.

busybee?

Today a random thing happened to me. I got stung by a bee!

Like how the Singaporeans would say, damn suay.

I was just walking back from the lab, turning round the corner to reach my flat, when suddenly I felt this bad sting on the inner side of my left elbow. I thought that it must have been an insect or thorn, and found something like this sticking out from my elbow. My initial response was to throw that spiky thing (about 1cm long) as far away as I possibly can.

It was probably the adrenaline rush or something, but the first few seconds was pretty ok. Only when I started recovering from the shock that I realised the PAIN- I'm fine with injections but this is like 20 times the pain- and the throbbing pain didn't stop even after I ran cold water over the sting site for more than 5 minutes. Thank God Amy, my future doctor flatmate, gave me some sting relief gel/antiseptic and the swell has reduced to about half the size now.

Anyway thought it was just a random, painful incident. I can't actually remember the last time I had a bee sting before today. I'm fine- it won't affect me running my experiments heh.

Aside from that unfortunate event, today was great! Had another group presentation earlier this morning, and the weather was great so had a bit of shopping time with Michelle. She bought heaps of maternity clothing (pretty dresses yay!), while I bought a pair of Keds sneakers, a belt, and a bright blue cardi :P Something different as I'm trying to stay away from neutral colours which I tend to wear a lot.

Chyi, somehow I keep bumping into you this week eh. 2 times in 3 days! Oh well, Dunedin is small. and again, unlucky as I'd been wanting to get a specific jacket from Country Road but apparently the Dunedin store is not intending to get stock in for that design. -__- Too bad then, it's their loss ;P I'm still thinking on whether I should spend that much on a scarf- a very warm one! Well part of the reason is due to the 1/3 price discount voucher which is expiring this Sunday... so anyone who wants to buy anything from CR let me know.

It's a public holiday tomorrow due to Anzac Day, but going to the lab as usual. I'm still wanting to dye my hair a different colour though, something lighter: coppery brown or more to the red side, maybe? hmm.

More photos on the Napier/Hastings trip soon, when I'm less lazy :)

the great getaway- day 1

Just got back from my Easter trip to Wellington and Napier/Hastings yesterday. I didn't want my holiday to end!

I took over 600 photos in total, so I'll only pick a few to post here. More on facebook though.


Day 1- 12.04.09 @ Wellington

Arrived at Welly (the capital of NZ for those that don't know) at around noon on Easter Sunday with Michelle. The sun was shining- perfect weather! So good to see May again- she was our tourist guide for the day hehe.

big scary art created by the weta company- they're known for creating the creatures for Lord of the Rings, eg Smeagol

Mich & May

pointing at a Malaysian restaurant
speaking of which, there are HEAPS of Msian restaurants at Welly! (compared to only 1 at Dunedin haha)

I love the random art deco and sculptures around the city- you never know what to expect around the next corner. That's an umbrella at Cuba St, one of the main shopping districts

fern-like structures near the city council/town hall

looks like blown inside-out shuttlecocks to me hehe

orb thingy suspended in the air

more art around the harbour

cool artsy bridge- i think it looks like one of the ancient ships used by the aborigines

kayaking around the harbour
people just hanging around, having ice cream, and enjoying the scenery- that's life!

"solace by the wind" sculpture by the harbour. I call it the bronze dude who always get harrassed by tourists

*happy sigh* I can imagine myself sitting there on the bench reading my favourite book during the weekends, or just simply listening to my ipod while watching people walk by :)

family & kids enjoying the good weather

we wanted to ride the "famous crocodile", but due to time constraint couldn't wait till the next free time slot, hence the sad face...

lovely! :)

we were just sitting at the steps by the harbour and saw these guys collecting mussels

happy us!

having kaffee eis* ice cream at the harbour YUM!

more art I adore. These are found all over the harbour area, didn't have time to find all of them

It was love at first sight.

*BIG SIGH*

I'm now even more keen on finding a job there at Welly- it's just such a vibrant city, more restaurants, good food, more sunshine (though more windy), beautiful harbour, cool deco and sculptures everywhere.

At 5pm, May brought us to the church she's attending- ARISE church (founded by Planetshakers). Total congregation is around 7000 ppl, great energy and I loved it! The music team is so incredibly talented! Met some people from church after the service and joined them for dinner :) Didn't have much for dinner as we'd been eating whole day haha! HK bbq roast duck and tofu for lunch, ice cream, then Japanese cuisine at night.

Next day- took the bus to Napier to meet the Pancakes (Alex & Sam).

***

Came back and was greeted with good old Dunedin weather yesterday :P Had a group meeting today, and realised again the amount of workload this year GAH. Back to those late nights again, I guess.