Watched "I Survived A Japanese Gameshow" just now while having dinner and reading newspapers and it's just crazy how wacky the Japanese can be in their design of games! There was this "Whack the Gopher" (you know the game in arcade where you take a big hammer and whack the moles coming out?) variant where 1 team pretended to be the moles and they were supposed to shoot ping-pong balls into a container while 1 player in the other team whacked their heads and the others try to stop the balls going in by swinging some flimsy stick. Plenty of other nonsense games though - good for a good laugh over dinner!
Anyway had a good day today - started off with four of us filming a short video as a trigger for something that we're gonna do this term. It was a very fun process and we were supposed to film a scenario of me and a reporter after I crashed a car during winter time. Two of the team helped to make paper confetti to mimic the falling of snow and two brought winter clothing for me to wear so there I was in my chem bro's car wearing a jacket, scarf, gloves, ear muffs, and beanie, lol. Thankfully it was a very fast shoot (only a 15 sec clip) cos there were a lot of ants at the place where we were filming! We showed the video to the others in the team and some of the others and they were laughing at it and a friend said that I looked fat! OMG!!! =s
After that we were talking about infusing NE into our teaching and some of the ideas we shared were quite funny cos they seemed a bit contrived but it still made sense I guess hahaha. Anyway I think after all this discussion we'll probably all remember the 6 NE messages better. Do you know them?
During lunch, one of the chem teachers was making popcorn in the oven behind where I was sitting and when he took it out he purposely put it near my shirt to ji siao me and a friend asked him to be careful cos if the oil ended up on my shirt it would be very hard to wash off. Then I jokingly scolded him and said the shirt was expensive and cost about $200 (which was true) and then somebody said, "Wah, with $200 I can perm my hair and buy shampoo!" Then another said something like, "Wah, perming hair so expensive? With $200 I can have 20 haircuts!" Yet another said, "Hmmm, with $200 I can go to Batam twice!" Some other teacher not in our dept who was at our table was um-chio-ing at all the nonsense we were talking about. =P
Later on, while talking about our Chem Dept CIP, our CIP Rep asked me and another guy if we were ok to sing again like we did last year and we were like, "Of course!" Then we started to sing "San Yue Li De Xiao Yu" again and he joked, "Ooi! Our CIP is not in March! What "San Yue Li De Xiao Yu"!" So I suggested a different song called "Zou Zai Yang Guang Li", which was kinda like the opposite haha.
While waiting for my friends to be done cos I was hitching a ride to the MRT, one of my friends was commenting that I look very free (which I'm NOT, though it's much better than last year) and joked that the days are gonna end soon once the JC1s come in this Thursday, to which the others laughed and jokingly booed haha. Then he joked, "Can you not come here and pose and ask if we can leave already?" and he started to do a series of pose and after each pose he would ask "Can we leave already?". So funny! =P
After reaching home, I changed and went for a swim at Toa Payoh Swimming Complex, which I've not done for years! Felt good at the end though the start was a real torture and the first 2 laps seemed like they were gonna kill me! At that time I thought that was it for today cos of my exertions on Sun but surprisingly as time went on it got better and it wasn't as tiring. Very slow pace today though - 30 pool lengths in 80 minutes - hopefully cos it's due to the lack of conditioning, muscle fatigue and not wearing goggles (tiring to swim with your neck sticking out all the time and sometimes I end up breathing in water during the waves). Next target is 40 pool lengths in 80 minutes!
That's all for today's stuff. As for Sunday, it was a very fun karaoke session as expected and we sang much more English songs than with my other friends. PY really surprised us with his voice, which was quite high pitched and solid also. He could sing Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and other powerful songs without really stretching himself. Jon and LJ weren't thaaaat bad as they made themselves out to be haha. At least there were fleeting moments of being on key. =P Anyway, good to go with a different group of people cos at least there were a greater variety of songs being sung and I like this Korean song "Wedding Dress" by this guy called TaeYang cos it had a nice feel and the dance in the MTV is waaaay cool! =p
Oh, and Jon injured his finger during gym that morning so over lunch he was saying that he'll tell the rest it's because he got into a fight with someone at the gym who kept slamming the weights. Apparently he learnt that from a doctor who told his patient to tell his friends he broke his ankle while skiing down a mountain at full speed (when in actual fact he broke it while slipping on a block of ice just outside the hotel) so that he had a story to tell haha. Anyway so Jon told the story to PY and LJ and LJ was like, "What? No, come on. Tell us the real story" while PY was like, "More likely he dropped the weights on his finger" which got me laughing cos he was so accurate. Then PY suanned Jon, "You're not fit to do free weights!" Super sarcastic but PY's always like that and it's super funny.
Mon - Busy with meetings and more things to settle for Friendship Week. Looks kinda tight esp with the councillors all busy with a lot of other stuff, esp with orientation coming and other events to prepare for the next 2 months so hopefully they can handle the stress! But it's an enjoyable and meaningful event to do so hoping to make it a success! =)
Ok, time to sleep soon! Hope there'll be more interesting and funny stuff happening in school tmr haha...
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Stronger than yesterday...
Came back a while ago from run/gym and going for karaoke later so a sudden random thought popped up in my mind (Britney Spears - "now I'm stronger than yesterday"). Sometimes even though I know it's a weekly thing, everytime it comes to getting up to work out I will dread it and want to sleep but I still drag myself to do it. But then after finishing it I'll feel a great sense of achievement. Maybe I should try telling the kids that next time if they don't feel like studying. =) Anyway, looking forward to the karaoke session later. Think it's gonna be a very hilarious sessions with Jon and LJ there. =P
Oh anyway Mon morning I was pretty irritated (to put it mildly) cos I just missed my bus, just missed my train, then prob just missed my bus again cos my waiting time was so long for each of them so in the end I had to cab down to school - $13 even from Kovan - Ouch! But then I tried to be positive - I'm transferring my money to someone who needs it more than me haha (that doesn't mean that I'm gonna start donating all my possessions though in case anyone's thinking of that) =p
Tue - long 2.5 hour of IT training that I was struggling to keep awake. Seriously I could just read a good manual and do it myself I think but well it helps to clock training hours so that's not too bad is it? =P Had lunch at Aston's at Katong (really can't stand eating in school nowadays - so boring!!!) and surprisingly some of my friends have never been to Aston's, which is a really good place for cheap western food =)
Wed - had some Chrystal workshop in the morning then some of us went to the chem lab to try out some experiments for the new SPA course. Headed down to RI(JC) in the afternoon for the sharing and both the presentations I went to were by PJC teachers and were quite interesting - I liked the lab on transition elements though the computer games one (you know those based on "Jeopardy" and "Who Wants to be a Millionaire") are perhaps not as useful but it does provide some food for thought.
Met my good friend there who I've not seen for a very long time ever since her wedding cos she transferred to RJC to teach. Missed her! Anyway, she was jokingly doing a "recruitment talk" with me, saying that they needed teachers cos now they have 3 tracks - the super strong students, the average ones (like many of our MJC kids apparently) and the very weak ones and they lacked teachers cos they have 3 different sets of notes/tutorials, meaning they have to lecture very often. But for now I'm quite happy to stay though that will probably still be my first choice should I eventually decide to leave. =)
Thu - talked to another good friend whom I've not spoken to for some time over breakfast. Talking to her about relationships cos I was telling her about who I like and she pointed out that the girls so far that I like tend to be the quiet sort, which kinda surprised me cos I feel I need someone who is more chatty since actually I tend to be quiet (though it doesn't appear to be esp when I lecture and perform), especially with people whom I don't know well so I need someone to complement me otherwise it'll be quite awkward. But anyway it was a good chat and I'll find some other time to talk to her. Miss chatting with her cos she was away on maternity leave for some time and busy with her kids.
Fri - Had a long day in school of meetings and then handed over IGC to my colleagues, finally! Now I can just focus on Council matters liao, which I enjoy doing cos there's a variety of things to do. I like variety! =)
Went to Bugis to meet my army kakis for dinner at Creations at Shaw Tower, which was just so so to me actually though my friend brought us there cos he felt it was very good. Pool was fun - won 2 out of 4, which was good enough for me considering I tend to lose more than I win haha. This has indeed been a good year for sports so far! =D
Sat - Went to Seng Kang for a quick recce (really quick, like 15 min?) for the orientation MMM cos there were some changes to the places after advising the councillors in charge on certain issues. Then came home and ended up doing not much for the rest of the day. I need to start to move up a gear or two! Perhaps that will happen once the students start to come in on Thur. Need the adrenaline rush to push myself. I dunno why I feel so tired everytime I come home from school even though nowadays I leave much earlier than last year. Keep taking afternoon naps till the evening...
Anyway, time to leave to meet them for lunch - very late liao! =P
Oh anyway Mon morning I was pretty irritated (to put it mildly) cos I just missed my bus, just missed my train, then prob just missed my bus again cos my waiting time was so long for each of them so in the end I had to cab down to school - $13 even from Kovan - Ouch! But then I tried to be positive - I'm transferring my money to someone who needs it more than me haha (that doesn't mean that I'm gonna start donating all my possessions though in case anyone's thinking of that) =p
Tue - long 2.5 hour of IT training that I was struggling to keep awake. Seriously I could just read a good manual and do it myself I think but well it helps to clock training hours so that's not too bad is it? =P Had lunch at Aston's at Katong (really can't stand eating in school nowadays - so boring!!!) and surprisingly some of my friends have never been to Aston's, which is a really good place for cheap western food =)
Wed - had some Chrystal workshop in the morning then some of us went to the chem lab to try out some experiments for the new SPA course. Headed down to RI(JC) in the afternoon for the sharing and both the presentations I went to were by PJC teachers and were quite interesting - I liked the lab on transition elements though the computer games one (you know those based on "Jeopardy" and "Who Wants to be a Millionaire") are perhaps not as useful but it does provide some food for thought.
Met my good friend there who I've not seen for a very long time ever since her wedding cos she transferred to RJC to teach. Missed her! Anyway, she was jokingly doing a "recruitment talk" with me, saying that they needed teachers cos now they have 3 tracks - the super strong students, the average ones (like many of our MJC kids apparently) and the very weak ones and they lacked teachers cos they have 3 different sets of notes/tutorials, meaning they have to lecture very often. But for now I'm quite happy to stay though that will probably still be my first choice should I eventually decide to leave. =)
Thu - talked to another good friend whom I've not spoken to for some time over breakfast. Talking to her about relationships cos I was telling her about who I like and she pointed out that the girls so far that I like tend to be the quiet sort, which kinda surprised me cos I feel I need someone who is more chatty since actually I tend to be quiet (though it doesn't appear to be esp when I lecture and perform), especially with people whom I don't know well so I need someone to complement me otherwise it'll be quite awkward. But anyway it was a good chat and I'll find some other time to talk to her. Miss chatting with her cos she was away on maternity leave for some time and busy with her kids.
Fri - Had a long day in school of meetings and then handed over IGC to my colleagues, finally! Now I can just focus on Council matters liao, which I enjoy doing cos there's a variety of things to do. I like variety! =)
Went to Bugis to meet my army kakis for dinner at Creations at Shaw Tower, which was just so so to me actually though my friend brought us there cos he felt it was very good. Pool was fun - won 2 out of 4, which was good enough for me considering I tend to lose more than I win haha. This has indeed been a good year for sports so far! =D
Sat - Went to Seng Kang for a quick recce (really quick, like 15 min?) for the orientation MMM cos there were some changes to the places after advising the councillors in charge on certain issues. Then came home and ended up doing not much for the rest of the day. I need to start to move up a gear or two! Perhaps that will happen once the students start to come in on Thur. Need the adrenaline rush to push myself. I dunno why I feel so tired everytime I come home from school even though nowadays I leave much earlier than last year. Keep taking afternoon naps till the evening...
Anyway, time to leave to meet them for lunch - very late liao! =P
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
SMUCO Concert; Badminton; Funny incidents in school
Sat - SMUCO's 1st Concert - decent I think even for one like me who finds it hard to appreciate this kinda stuff. I like the version of Pu Gong Ying De Yue Ding (maybe cos I just like the song) and Matsuri was not bad also. A lot of the other songs were just ok for me and some just sounded weird but what do I know about Chinese music? =p
Met a lot of MJC ex-students, esp from my 1st CG (06S411) cos the SMUCO President is from 06S411. Good to see them again after such a long time. Bumped into Roy (not the Lau) also lol. Such a small world indeed!
Sun - Ended up sleeping till very late then before I know it, it was time to meet LJ to get the badminton racket and shuttlecocks at Eunos. Then I headed off to Tampines though it was very early cos I didn't want to go home again and come out. Went to do a bit of shopping then to the library where I wanted to read up on badminton but I just couldn't find any book on badminton skills! Disgusting...
Anyway, I ended up at some ulu place practising serving to pass time while getting some much needed practice since I've not played for about 15 years I think? Stopped ever since my doubles partner smashed my head with his racket accidentally haha. The badminton session was fun and it was a good workout also! Began quite leisurely until HX came then it became more intense cos she's more pro so it was more interesting. Lol there was a rally which got a bit too fast and furious (competitive streak showing again) until my racket flew out of my hand and my glasses flew off my face also haha. Thought about a few areas of the game which I shall look to improve on for now, such as footwork and judgment cos I found myself caught out on a few occasions esp after HX defended my smash. I'm aching all over now so I think it must've been a vigorous session, at least for me. Anybody keen to play??? Let me know =P
Had dinner at Cafe Cartel after that and I realised I really don't eat much nowadays. I only finished like 30% of my food I think. Hopefully I can lose weight though without being anorexic!
Today - Had a quick breakfast before quickly getting into the swing of things cos I didn't accomplish much over the weekend, at least not what I had planned for. There were 2 very funny incidents though. =p
(1) Was walking up the stairs to the staff room with A and B after we bought breakfast and our hands were full. B asked A if it was convenient to take out his access card and A said, "Oh, it's in my left breast pocket." B replied, "Ok, I help you take..." A and I stood still for awhile wondering before B reached out her hand to take...... the bottle of drink from A's hand so that he could take out his card. Super funny!!!
(2) C and D were chatting when I went up to D to ask about some chem stuff matters cos I needed to modify something so she was looking through some of the other examples. While D was doing so, C commented, "Luke, that's a nice shirt." D then said, "Yeah, I find that guys look better when they wear dark-coloured shirts". C (who was wearing a white shirt) gave a mock look of disdain and said, "Fine." D and I laughed then D was trying to massage his ego by saying things to make C feel better but it seemed to make things worse haha. D said something like, "You usually wear chirpy colours ya? Anyway, I think dark-coloured clothes don't really suit you." To which I laughed and joked, "Sounds like you don't look good wearing anything." C then gave another funny look and joked, "Ya lah, I should just not wear anything right?" D said, "Wah, you must have some substance in order to do that you know." Then the funny part came when immediately she said, "Like that." C and I were like thinking, "Like what?" Turns out that she was merely pointing to an example she found for me for reference. We all LOL after that. Super funny when people don't finish their sentences sometimes and you're left thinking of funny stuff... Anyway, that's why I enjoy working with them. Super gao xiao!
K, time to sleep! =)
Met a lot of MJC ex-students, esp from my 1st CG (06S411) cos the SMUCO President is from 06S411. Good to see them again after such a long time. Bumped into Roy (not the Lau) also lol. Such a small world indeed!
Sun - Ended up sleeping till very late then before I know it, it was time to meet LJ to get the badminton racket and shuttlecocks at Eunos. Then I headed off to Tampines though it was very early cos I didn't want to go home again and come out. Went to do a bit of shopping then to the library where I wanted to read up on badminton but I just couldn't find any book on badminton skills! Disgusting...
Anyway, I ended up at some ulu place practising serving to pass time while getting some much needed practice since I've not played for about 15 years I think? Stopped ever since my doubles partner smashed my head with his racket accidentally haha. The badminton session was fun and it was a good workout also! Began quite leisurely until HX came then it became more intense cos she's more pro so it was more interesting. Lol there was a rally which got a bit too fast and furious (competitive streak showing again) until my racket flew out of my hand and my glasses flew off my face also haha. Thought about a few areas of the game which I shall look to improve on for now, such as footwork and judgment cos I found myself caught out on a few occasions esp after HX defended my smash. I'm aching all over now so I think it must've been a vigorous session, at least for me. Anybody keen to play??? Let me know =P
Had dinner at Cafe Cartel after that and I realised I really don't eat much nowadays. I only finished like 30% of my food I think. Hopefully I can lose weight though without being anorexic!
Today - Had a quick breakfast before quickly getting into the swing of things cos I didn't accomplish much over the weekend, at least not what I had planned for. There were 2 very funny incidents though. =p
(1) Was walking up the stairs to the staff room with A and B after we bought breakfast and our hands were full. B asked A if it was convenient to take out his access card and A said, "Oh, it's in my left breast pocket." B replied, "Ok, I help you take..." A and I stood still for awhile wondering before B reached out her hand to take...... the bottle of drink from A's hand so that he could take out his card. Super funny!!!
(2) C and D were chatting when I went up to D to ask about some chem stuff matters cos I needed to modify something so she was looking through some of the other examples. While D was doing so, C commented, "Luke, that's a nice shirt." D then said, "Yeah, I find that guys look better when they wear dark-coloured shirts". C (who was wearing a white shirt) gave a mock look of disdain and said, "Fine." D and I laughed then D was trying to massage his ego by saying things to make C feel better but it seemed to make things worse haha. D said something like, "You usually wear chirpy colours ya? Anyway, I think dark-coloured clothes don't really suit you." To which I laughed and joked, "Sounds like you don't look good wearing anything." C then gave another funny look and joked, "Ya lah, I should just not wear anything right?" D said, "Wah, you must have some substance in order to do that you know." Then the funny part came when immediately she said, "Like that." C and I were like thinking, "Like what?" Turns out that she was merely pointing to an example she found for me for reference. We all LOL after that. Super funny when people don't finish their sentences sometimes and you're left thinking of funny stuff... Anyway, that's why I enjoy working with them. Super gao xiao!
K, time to sleep! =)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
MJC Open House and End of T1 W1
Woke up at 6.50am to go jog/gym with Jon again then came back to nap. Going out for dinner and then SMU CO's 1st concert at SMU Arts and Culture Centre. Not exactly a fan of such musical concerts but just going down to give my support to an ex-student who apparently started up the CO so this is kinda like a measure of their success for those evaluating them.
We had our MJC Open House on Wed and seems like it was quite successful as all our goodie bags were snapped up by 3pm. Went around to check the IGC booth since I was helping my friend to oversee as he was busy with Open House then support my chem bro for his Chemical Kinetics Demo Lecture then we had our first Council TA meeting of the year where we talked about finances (and I am going to be our internal auditor for Council funds cos I'll be doing the accounts haha), new Council event for the freshies (8th SC), as well as updates on other key events. Also met A LOT OF EXSTUDENTS (seriously a lot) and realised that 5 of their siblings will probably come to MJC this year haha. Would be funny if I ended up teaching them I think.
After the whole thing was over, we went for Council TA dinner at Tampines One Dian Xiao Er which was kinda like a reunion dinner plus surprise birthday party for one of our TAs which was quite funny. Somebody actually planned about a week before to pretend that we forgot about the TA's birthday and even bought fake gift and card as our present to him and that we weren't going to celebrate since most of them need to save money for their weddings (many of them just got married or are getting married soon) but actually they got his fiancee to date him for dinner. =p
So after the Open House, we pretended to go our separate ways and I went off first, followed by the others but we met outside school with the intention of cabbing down to Tampines One to set up the place. Lo and behold, just as we all gathered at the bus stop, one of our TAs arrived on the dot (unplanned!) and pick us up. =)
Anyway, we blew up balloons and somebody brought streamers and a banner kind of stuff. Even told the waitress to direct them to us when they asked for their seats and we hid under the table before bursting out to surprise and sing "Happy Birthday". We were all saying it's a bit like those primary school birthday parties at McDonald's haha. A little bit childish perhaps but it was a lot of good fun. =p
Btw, the family set at Dian Xiao Er is pretty good. Highly recommended! =)
Thur - met up with my PBL team members to share ideas as we started crafting our 2 problems but actually I more or less had things planned already cos I managed to find some stuff on the Internet after a long search. Nevertheless I wanted their opinions and also see if they managed to find something better. Am quite interested in developing the problems and actually it's quite fun when we have the time to sit down and think and research about real problems involving chemistry. =)
Also met up with a Council TA and councillor to discuss about Friendship Week and there are soooo many things to plan for! Never realised that but I'm excited about things and it's quite fascinating, as I thought it would be when I joined Council. The ICs just spoke to me ytd (Fri) about their theme and I liked the idea so I'm waiting for them to build on this theme while I do a little bit of research also. =)
Fri - after Chem meeting I went to do some research in the library for my H1 Mole Concept Notes cos I wanted to revamp some stuff after looking through the H2 notes, thinking through my past experiences and what I wanted to see in the future, which is explicit teaching of certain skills, use of appropriate analogies and providing more interesting applications to daily lives (rather than just a touch-and-go thing which we do in the opening lecture).
Anyway, some of us came up with a funny action which will be prob be our trademark move for the next few days cos we were talking about planning ahead and doing work ahead of time then somebody did this outstretched hand and looking far pose and I followed suit so we've created a new pose haha to describe having foresight. =p
Went out for lunch at Tampines One Imperial Treasures with some friends and surprisingly a friend revealed to me his thoughts after our chem meeting this morning. Apparently at our PBL meeting ytd he was puzzled at why I seemed so unaccepting of their ideas and was quite critical about certain points and also questioned them on what they proposed because he never encountered me doing that before. However, when I was presenting he realised that I needed to have the details in place for presentation and so that I can respond to the questions thrown at me by others so he understood after that. Haha, it was a good thing to know that he didn't misunderstand my intentions when I rebutted them but ya certain things you can't work with sketchy ideas and just thinking that it might work. Point to note: Don't take it too personally when people seem to be criticising you. Listen carefully and try to see their point of view. =)
All-in-all, this has been the most relaxing week for years as I start to move to a higher gear for the new year and it's good to see a clear sky when leaving school! Miss seeing the ex-students though, the familiar faces at the study benches when I enter school and go around school... Ok, better leave house already. Working hard tomorrow! =)
We had our MJC Open House on Wed and seems like it was quite successful as all our goodie bags were snapped up by 3pm. Went around to check the IGC booth since I was helping my friend to oversee as he was busy with Open House then support my chem bro for his Chemical Kinetics Demo Lecture then we had our first Council TA meeting of the year where we talked about finances (and I am going to be our internal auditor for Council funds cos I'll be doing the accounts haha), new Council event for the freshies (8th SC), as well as updates on other key events. Also met A LOT OF EXSTUDENTS (seriously a lot) and realised that 5 of their siblings will probably come to MJC this year haha. Would be funny if I ended up teaching them I think.
After the whole thing was over, we went for Council TA dinner at Tampines One Dian Xiao Er which was kinda like a reunion dinner plus surprise birthday party for one of our TAs which was quite funny. Somebody actually planned about a week before to pretend that we forgot about the TA's birthday and even bought fake gift and card as our present to him and that we weren't going to celebrate since most of them need to save money for their weddings (many of them just got married or are getting married soon) but actually they got his fiancee to date him for dinner. =p
So after the Open House, we pretended to go our separate ways and I went off first, followed by the others but we met outside school with the intention of cabbing down to Tampines One to set up the place. Lo and behold, just as we all gathered at the bus stop, one of our TAs arrived on the dot (unplanned!) and pick us up. =)
Anyway, we blew up balloons and somebody brought streamers and a banner kind of stuff. Even told the waitress to direct them to us when they asked for their seats and we hid under the table before bursting out to surprise and sing "Happy Birthday". We were all saying it's a bit like those primary school birthday parties at McDonald's haha. A little bit childish perhaps but it was a lot of good fun. =p
Btw, the family set at Dian Xiao Er is pretty good. Highly recommended! =)
Thur - met up with my PBL team members to share ideas as we started crafting our 2 problems but actually I more or less had things planned already cos I managed to find some stuff on the Internet after a long search. Nevertheless I wanted their opinions and also see if they managed to find something better. Am quite interested in developing the problems and actually it's quite fun when we have the time to sit down and think and research about real problems involving chemistry. =)
Also met up with a Council TA and councillor to discuss about Friendship Week and there are soooo many things to plan for! Never realised that but I'm excited about things and it's quite fascinating, as I thought it would be when I joined Council. The ICs just spoke to me ytd (Fri) about their theme and I liked the idea so I'm waiting for them to build on this theme while I do a little bit of research also. =)
Fri - after Chem meeting I went to do some research in the library for my H1 Mole Concept Notes cos I wanted to revamp some stuff after looking through the H2 notes, thinking through my past experiences and what I wanted to see in the future, which is explicit teaching of certain skills, use of appropriate analogies and providing more interesting applications to daily lives (rather than just a touch-and-go thing which we do in the opening lecture).
Anyway, some of us came up with a funny action which will be prob be our trademark move for the next few days cos we were talking about planning ahead and doing work ahead of time then somebody did this outstretched hand and looking far pose and I followed suit so we've created a new pose haha to describe having foresight. =p
Went out for lunch at Tampines One Imperial Treasures with some friends and surprisingly a friend revealed to me his thoughts after our chem meeting this morning. Apparently at our PBL meeting ytd he was puzzled at why I seemed so unaccepting of their ideas and was quite critical about certain points and also questioned them on what they proposed because he never encountered me doing that before. However, when I was presenting he realised that I needed to have the details in place for presentation and so that I can respond to the questions thrown at me by others so he understood after that. Haha, it was a good thing to know that he didn't misunderstand my intentions when I rebutted them but ya certain things you can't work with sketchy ideas and just thinking that it might work. Point to note: Don't take it too personally when people seem to be criticising you. Listen carefully and try to see their point of view. =)
All-in-all, this has been the most relaxing week for years as I start to move to a higher gear for the new year and it's good to see a clear sky when leaving school! Miss seeing the ex-students though, the familiar faces at the study benches when I enter school and go around school... Ok, better leave house already. Working hard tomorrow! =)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
New Year Resolutions for 2010
Today was a short day for me with the main activity being our REACH activity where we folded lilies for charity and it took me a long time to learn how to fold lilies and I still have problems. Think I'm not an origami person haha.
Anyway, I don't normally have a habit of setting resolutions, let alone typing it out on my blog but as I'm approaching 30 I think it's time I resolve to live my life with a clearer vision so that I enter the next phase of my life feeling good about myself. So here goes...
(1) Health is wealth - aim for a work-life balance which translates into (a) leaving school by 6.30pm latest so that I can reach home to have dinner at a decent time (b) serious exercising at least once a week, which I've been doing since late Dec when I've been cycling, jogging, and gymming and now it looks like I'm going to add badminton to the list so that's cool! =)
(2) Being more efficient - have wasted too much time searching for stuff at home and in school so it's time to finish up my spring cleaning! Then I shall be more on the ball and clear all stuff ASAP instead of procrastinating which I do sometimes when I'm tired...
(3) Building relationships - start small by contacting old friends/acquaintances and asking how they are. Spend more time and effort on the people around me cos it's time to take stock of the people in my life.
(4) Learning new skills - as part of developing myself to be a better person I shall go pick up the following skills - cooking and photography (gonna learn from Jon!). If I have time then wushu and dancing.
K, shall start small with these first! =)
Anyway, I don't normally have a habit of setting resolutions, let alone typing it out on my blog but as I'm approaching 30 I think it's time I resolve to live my life with a clearer vision so that I enter the next phase of my life feeling good about myself. So here goes...
(1) Health is wealth - aim for a work-life balance which translates into (a) leaving school by 6.30pm latest so that I can reach home to have dinner at a decent time (b) serious exercising at least once a week, which I've been doing since late Dec when I've been cycling, jogging, and gymming and now it looks like I'm going to add badminton to the list so that's cool! =)
(2) Being more efficient - have wasted too much time searching for stuff at home and in school so it's time to finish up my spring cleaning! Then I shall be more on the ball and clear all stuff ASAP instead of procrastinating which I do sometimes when I'm tired...
(3) Building relationships - start small by contacting old friends/acquaintances and asking how they are. Spend more time and effort on the people around me cos it's time to take stock of the people in my life.
(4) Learning new skills - as part of developing myself to be a better person I shall go pick up the following skills - cooking and photography (gonna learn from Jon!). If I have time then wushu and dancing.
K, shall start small with these first! =)
It'll be an awesome 2010! =)
Ok, I'm finally back to blogging since taking another long break. Just didn't feel like doing anything after I came back from reservist haha. But it's a new year so I have resolved to improve myself in some areas, not least of which is to stop procrastinating and be more disciplined and efficient in doing things. Shall list my resolutions in another post tmr. For now, this will be a recap from New Year's Eve till today =)
New Year's Eve/New Year's Day - Met up with Jonathan, DS and PY at Parkway Parade where I changed money for my HK trip and we had dinner at New York New York. I never realised PY was so frank in his comments on certain things and it was certainly v funny to hear some of the crappy stuff. Anyway, we headed for Timbre Mobile and somehow we never bothered to get the 2 ppl with Iphones to check the location. Instead we walked the wrong way for quite some distance before they finally checked and by the time we reached there it was already full. The funny thing was that we were joking about "Drag Queen Night" as the theme and when we got there, there was a band of guys singing "Nobody" (by Wondergirls) with some cheesy movements thrown in, which did kinda make it look like "Drag Queen Night" haha.
In the end we somehow managed to get ZT to host us so we went to this Fairprice outlet near Parkway where we saw 2 gays (pretty sure they were) shopping and it was quite gross cos we were walking past them and then 1 of them apparently was touching the other guy's hair and the other guy was saying something like it was very satisfying... Ew... =s
Cabbed down to ZT's place and I never realised that he's so rich lah! The house is like a castle? It was huge! Anyway we had some good clean fun together with LJ (with his shocking pink tee again) and Leon joining us and just crapped around and they had some Martini while I had my sparkling apple juice haha (I don't like to drink liquor), which was a lot cheaper and sweeter! =p
Hung out until about close to 4am where we proceeded to walk a long way to Upper Changi Road to have breakfast at some Muslim stall which apparently was pretty good but I couldn't eat anymore (I don't seem to eat much nowadays anyway - perhaps becoming a mutant as someone said haha).
Cabbed home and slept at 5.30am... then I woke up at 7.30am to go play futsal at ECP. Insane right? Anyway, amazingly I played probably my best football since a long time back when our IGC beat the choir boys 17-1 a few years ago in street soccer. Was the top scorer (or at least joint top) with 4 goals and even my army kakis were surprised. It felt good out there and most of my shots actually hit the target haha, which is not often the case I must say. My fav goal was one where with my back towards goal, I used my left foot to tap the ball to my right behind me then turned and executed a left foot shot to the far corner of the goal. Nice! Anyway too bad there was 1 particularly good goalkeeper or I'd have scored more. Nevertheless it felt great to start the year with a bang! =D
Reached home at about 1pm where I rested till evening before meeting Jon and LJ (again!) for dinner and then some shopping. Dinner at Ajiman was good! It's a new Japanese stall at Orchard Central, just beside Quiznos. Please do NOT confuse with Ajisen, which from what I heard is really sucky nowadays and I've not gone there for a while nor do I intend to go there in the near future. Anyway I tried their fried rice, salmon sashimi, enoki bacon, and squid and it's quite good! Think the price is very reasonable so I'd strongly recommend the place if you like Jap food =)
Nothing much to shop though for me that night, unlike our previous outing the week before where I spent >$500 on shopping! Still looking to get new clothes as I revamp my wardrobe. Need to up the style factor =)
Then went home to settle some admin stuff before I started to pack for my HK trip in a few hours time...
2nd to 5th Jan - HK Trip!
Slept for about 1 hour the night before and I was in a very tired state when I went to Changi Airport. Anyway I went to HK with some of my friends (8 of us) and it was a pretty good trip in general, just a bit disappointed I didn't get to shop much for clothes/shoes as I expected but still enjoyed the eating and sightseeing. In a nutshell...
2nd Jan - Flew off at 6.40am and reached HK at about 10+am where we had breakfast at the airport before taking their City Flyer (a bus) to Mongkok, where we walked to Stanford Hotel. After checking in we went to have dessert at a popular franchise called "Hui Lau Shan" (or Xu Liu Shan as it is pronounced). It seems like a really famous brand cos I saw many stores wherever we walked around in HK. Anyway their mango sago with pomelo (yang zhi gan lu) is really yummy! Must try!
Took a train (their system is almost like ours, very easy to travel) to this temple called Wong Tai Sin (Huang Da Xian) where I prayed a little and even went to get a divination lot, something which I did in Japan before also but this time it was a little bit more interesting and funny. You know those scenes you see sometimes in shows where ppl kneel and shake this wooden container filled with the bamboo sticks? I did the same too and then 3 sticks fell out so I just thought I'd pick one of them lol. I walked out and told my friends cos I was wondering where to get the lot for the stick I chose and they laughed at me. Apparently if more than 1 stick falls out, you should put back all the sticks and shake again until only 1 drops out. My friend also said I should ask if it is the correct stick by throwing 2 coins and see if they face the same way or different way - if different means that the stick that drops out is the correct one (though I thought this was v extra cos if only 1 drops out means correct liao mah right?).
Anyway, I went to get the lot from someone outside the temple and later on my friend helped me to interpret the poem using some online reference also though his Chinese standard was already v good and he could give a rough idea even without any help. Apparently it's what they call a "shang shang qian" (which is a very good divination lot) so hopefully it's true cos I was asking some matters about "yin yuan" (meaning affinity I think...) cos I had someone particular in mind and my friend said that I should proceed and I should pay careful attention to details so ya I'll see how things go... Don't wish to get my hopes up for nothing so it's best that I don't expect anything... =)
Went to shop at Nu Ren Jie (Ladies Street) which is quite near our hotel and bought 2 small board games for very good prices I felt. Would've bought more if the bigger games could've been made cheaper. Anyway, it was quite funny cos my friend speaks Cantonese so he does all the negotiation. He was looking at some supposed 100% cashmere shawls which the lady told him HK$150 but he wasn't too keen about it anyway so he just moved on and as we walked further the lady started quoting lower prices: $120... $100... $80... $60... price is inversely proportional to distance from seller. lol, which made us wonder what kind of quality the shawls really were.
Went for dinner at Itamae Sushi where I had foie gras, salmon belly and a 200ml can of 4% alcohol by vol peach-flavoured liquor cos I wanted to try a bit. The food was sooooo shiok! The liquor was ok lah since I'm not a liquor person though I liked the peach taste but even at 4% I developed some rashes that night so yup my body's tolerance level for alcohol is very low.
We walked to Temple Street after that and along the way we bought some umbrellas that were kept in containers that looked like wine bottles, which apparently are becoming fashionable but are still pretty ex in Singapore. Started to rain a bit so we took cover in a "Hui Lau Shan" shop and had dessert again, which brought an end to our first day as we headed back to the hotel after that.
3rd Jan - Went to eat congee at this place called Nathan Congee & Noodle which was somewhere along Nathan Road (a VERY long road) and it was a nice cosy place with a lot of local flavour. Had this abalone congee (bao yu san si zhou) with you tiao which was yummy!
We then headed to take the ferry as part of our journey to Lantau Island but we kept stopping along the way for some unplanned shopping for the ladies due to some weird reasons. Firstly my friend wanted to buy shoes cos his shoes were falling apart so the ladies went to shop at a nearby shop and in the end my friend didn't buy shoes cos there weren't any nice ones but the ladies continued to shop and bought stuff. Then along the way somebody said they needed to make a quick trip to the toilet before moving on but on the way to the toilet they saw some sale for ladies stuff and then got distracted again for about an hour or so haha. Nonsense sia! =p
Anyway the ferry trip was quite a nice one then we took a train and finally we took a cable car up the mountain! It was certainly the longest 25-min ride in my life (2 times some more!) cos I'm afraid of heights and in the cable car you can see the sea and valley hundreds of meters below you but it was also a very beautiful sight and overall I enjoyed it. Too bad I was probably too stoned to realise the opportunity to relate that cable car ride to the energy profile of a reaction or I would've filmed a nice video for teaching. If I get another chance to take a cable car I'll try to do that!
Oh ya, please don't be stupid like me and think that there's no winter in HK cos apparently there is though it doesn't snow and it was freezing on the way up the mountain. I chose not to bring any jacket there and all my clothes were short sleeve so I was freezing in the cable car and trembling so much (like I was possessed) that my friends had to lend me a jacket and gloves. Thankfully one of my friend bought a jacket during the shopping earlier so she lent me hers to wear and the rest were amazed that I could fit in it haha (though I still need to slim down).
We had a nice lunch at a Chinese restaurant there and shared this huge candy floss before we made our way up the long flight of stairs leading to the Big Buddha. Of course we took a photo of our customary funny pose, just like we did the last time in Kamakura in Japan. I said that we should go travel to all the places with giant statues of Buddha and take pictures - that would be quite cool! The view up there was pretty nice though I found it hard to capture with my camera so I just spent more time relaxing and enjoying the view.
After that we came back on another harrowing ride on the cable car before proceeding to go to "The Peak" where we went up to the Sky Terrace for a stunning view of the surrounding area. But it was extremely cold!!! Went for dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co Restaurant & Market, a theme restaurant based on Forrest Gump. Typical western food I guess so nothing really special about the food though the fish and chips and clam chowder soup were nice. But I like the design of the place cos I like the movie also and brings back fond memories.
Took an open-top bus ride on the way back and it was quite a nice ride then we headed back to our hotel for a little supper before calling it a night.
4th Jan - Had a simple breakfast before we went for our day trip at Macau. We did some research the night before but in the end we figured we'd just go there and see if we could book a vehicle to bring us around. Took the ferry to Macau and we were approached by this guy who offered to take us around. Of course we were skeptical at first, as most tourists would be, but in the end we felt his price was reasonable after some negotiation and I think it was the right choice. He was very knowledgable in the history of Macau also and could answer anything you asked him. He also deduced we were from Singapore so sometimes he would explain in relation to our experience in Singapore so that we could understand better. Not bad I must say!
Anyway we went to (1) Fisherman's Wharf - they had this Tang Cheng and this theme park related to Aladdin which apparently will be torn down to make way for more casinos (they already have 35 there and Macau only has an area of like 28.2 sq km!) (2) Lian Hua Guang Chang - the place where they had a statue that commemorated the return of Macua to China (3) Guan-Im Statue - which they called "Buddha Mary" cos the statue's face resembled Mother Mary. (4) Penha Hill - has one of the many churches in Macau but the main thing was that it offered a great view of Macau (5) Ma Zu Temple - the temple from which Macau supposedly got its name (6) Macau Tower - we went up to the 58th floor where we had an awesome view of Macau but it was pretty scary looking through the glass panes on the floor that allowed you to look all the way down to the ground. But I overcame my fear to take some nice photos! The place offered some extreme sports also such as bungee jumping, sky jumping and sky walking and we saw one guy doing a bungee jump which looked awfully scary. Even the lift trip was kinda interesting to me to say the least cos you could look outside... (7) Senado Square - a popular area which has cobblestone roads similar to that in many European countries (8) Ruins of St. Paul's - a world heritage site and near a bakery where I bought some stuff like lao po bing and almond cookies...
We didn't have time to go to the newest casino, "The Venetian", which was a pity but it was still a very good sightseeing trip and along the way we had quite a lot of good food like the Portugese egg tart from Margaret's Cafe e Nata (which was unbelievably good and I never ate any egg tart that even came close to this) and the shui xie zhou (crab porridge) at Cheng Chang restaurant.
We still managed to find time for supper after coming back from Macau as we had claypot rice at a shop near our hotel as we ended a very tiring day and we had some guy talk at night which was quite cool =)
5th Jan - Final day in HK and we went to have a hearty dim sum breakfast which was like so cheap and good and had a nice view of the sea. It was all about last-minute shopping and exploring the streets and it was nice as I spent the last few hours with my roommate trawling through some of the streets of Mongkok in search for their local food and we found the polo buns with butter at what seemed like a normal bakery but it tasted awesome! We also had roast goose leg and super duper cheap but good wanton mee (HK$10) so it was certainly a good eating experience!
Finally headed to the airport where I tried to get some souvenirs cos never really shopped much during the trip but only bought some sweets so while stocks last! =p
Oh yes, I remembered something funny. Advice - bring a luggage bag that is very distinctive cos both at the HK airport and Changi airport, it wasn't obvious to me which bag was mine cos apparently black bags with the word "polo" on it are very common and my friends were all laughing at me each time a black bag came out cos they all looked the same.
That more or less brings about an end to the stories in my HK trip. Looking forward to our next trip in March!
6th-8th Jan - long hours of meetings and the 1st day was the worst cos I slept at 4am after all the unpacking and stuff and woke up at about 7am. Anyway the most interesting things I found useful were some CPR exercise as well as my 2 main love languages (based on the 5 love languages by Gary Chapman) - which is firstly words of affirmation followed by physical touch, which was not a surprise to me given my past experiences and also that's probably why I tend to write stuff for others and I usually prefer to receive cards with heart-felt stuff written rather than gifts (not that I don't like but it's rare that I get gifts that really appeal to me). =)
9th Jan - went to watch Sherlock Holmes and it was a very nice movie! I liked the action stuff and I've always liked Sherlock Holmes since reading his story books as a kid. I just found it soooo me and I like the intellectual stimulation as he analyses situations and people and figures out how everything falls in place. His observation skills is also fantastic and he's also a very scientific person - basically someone I wish to be haha.
I remember doing something related to Sherlock Holmes for an electrochemistry puzzle for Science Fiesta in 2008 and I enjoyed it very much and I shall go and try and find out more about him so that I can try to relate my lectures to him - one needs to stay updated and relevant in his teaching to entertain the kids!
10th Jan - forced myself to wake up at 7.15am to go jogging with Jonathan then gymming with him and LJ. It was torturous initially but after finishing the 4km run + jog/walk and working out, I felt good about myself. Aching terribly now but I think it's worth the effort and pain. Must try to keep this up every week now that the term has started! Anyway LJ was complaining like forever about waking up on a Sunday morning to exercise which was quite funny haha but yeah I probably couldn't do it if I had to do it myself that's why it's important to get exercise partners!
11th Jan - first day of the term and nothing eventful today so I spent some time preparing for the term by clearing out my cupboards and arranging my stuff. Once I return the stuff for IGC my desk area should look really clean! Ok, time to sleep! 2.5 hours to blog! OMG!
Anyway, will blog tmr night as promised and it shall be on my new year resolutions! =)
New Year's Eve/New Year's Day - Met up with Jonathan, DS and PY at Parkway Parade where I changed money for my HK trip and we had dinner at New York New York. I never realised PY was so frank in his comments on certain things and it was certainly v funny to hear some of the crappy stuff. Anyway, we headed for Timbre Mobile and somehow we never bothered to get the 2 ppl with Iphones to check the location. Instead we walked the wrong way for quite some distance before they finally checked and by the time we reached there it was already full. The funny thing was that we were joking about "Drag Queen Night" as the theme and when we got there, there was a band of guys singing "Nobody" (by Wondergirls) with some cheesy movements thrown in, which did kinda make it look like "Drag Queen Night" haha.
In the end we somehow managed to get ZT to host us so we went to this Fairprice outlet near Parkway where we saw 2 gays (pretty sure they were) shopping and it was quite gross cos we were walking past them and then 1 of them apparently was touching the other guy's hair and the other guy was saying something like it was very satisfying... Ew... =s
Cabbed down to ZT's place and I never realised that he's so rich lah! The house is like a castle? It was huge! Anyway we had some good clean fun together with LJ (with his shocking pink tee again) and Leon joining us and just crapped around and they had some Martini while I had my sparkling apple juice haha (I don't like to drink liquor), which was a lot cheaper and sweeter! =p
Hung out until about close to 4am where we proceeded to walk a long way to Upper Changi Road to have breakfast at some Muslim stall which apparently was pretty good but I couldn't eat anymore (I don't seem to eat much nowadays anyway - perhaps becoming a mutant as someone said haha).
Cabbed home and slept at 5.30am... then I woke up at 7.30am to go play futsal at ECP. Insane right? Anyway, amazingly I played probably my best football since a long time back when our IGC beat the choir boys 17-1 a few years ago in street soccer. Was the top scorer (or at least joint top) with 4 goals and even my army kakis were surprised. It felt good out there and most of my shots actually hit the target haha, which is not often the case I must say. My fav goal was one where with my back towards goal, I used my left foot to tap the ball to my right behind me then turned and executed a left foot shot to the far corner of the goal. Nice! Anyway too bad there was 1 particularly good goalkeeper or I'd have scored more. Nevertheless it felt great to start the year with a bang! =D
Reached home at about 1pm where I rested till evening before meeting Jon and LJ (again!) for dinner and then some shopping. Dinner at Ajiman was good! It's a new Japanese stall at Orchard Central, just beside Quiznos. Please do NOT confuse with Ajisen, which from what I heard is really sucky nowadays and I've not gone there for a while nor do I intend to go there in the near future. Anyway I tried their fried rice, salmon sashimi, enoki bacon, and squid and it's quite good! Think the price is very reasonable so I'd strongly recommend the place if you like Jap food =)
Nothing much to shop though for me that night, unlike our previous outing the week before where I spent >$500 on shopping! Still looking to get new clothes as I revamp my wardrobe. Need to up the style factor =)
Then went home to settle some admin stuff before I started to pack for my HK trip in a few hours time...
2nd to 5th Jan - HK Trip!
Slept for about 1 hour the night before and I was in a very tired state when I went to Changi Airport. Anyway I went to HK with some of my friends (8 of us) and it was a pretty good trip in general, just a bit disappointed I didn't get to shop much for clothes/shoes as I expected but still enjoyed the eating and sightseeing. In a nutshell...
2nd Jan - Flew off at 6.40am and reached HK at about 10+am where we had breakfast at the airport before taking their City Flyer (a bus) to Mongkok, where we walked to Stanford Hotel. After checking in we went to have dessert at a popular franchise called "Hui Lau Shan" (or Xu Liu Shan as it is pronounced). It seems like a really famous brand cos I saw many stores wherever we walked around in HK. Anyway their mango sago with pomelo (yang zhi gan lu) is really yummy! Must try!
Took a train (their system is almost like ours, very easy to travel) to this temple called Wong Tai Sin (Huang Da Xian) where I prayed a little and even went to get a divination lot, something which I did in Japan before also but this time it was a little bit more interesting and funny. You know those scenes you see sometimes in shows where ppl kneel and shake this wooden container filled with the bamboo sticks? I did the same too and then 3 sticks fell out so I just thought I'd pick one of them lol. I walked out and told my friends cos I was wondering where to get the lot for the stick I chose and they laughed at me. Apparently if more than 1 stick falls out, you should put back all the sticks and shake again until only 1 drops out. My friend also said I should ask if it is the correct stick by throwing 2 coins and see if they face the same way or different way - if different means that the stick that drops out is the correct one (though I thought this was v extra cos if only 1 drops out means correct liao mah right?).
Anyway, I went to get the lot from someone outside the temple and later on my friend helped me to interpret the poem using some online reference also though his Chinese standard was already v good and he could give a rough idea even without any help. Apparently it's what they call a "shang shang qian" (which is a very good divination lot) so hopefully it's true cos I was asking some matters about "yin yuan" (meaning affinity I think...) cos I had someone particular in mind and my friend said that I should proceed and I should pay careful attention to details so ya I'll see how things go... Don't wish to get my hopes up for nothing so it's best that I don't expect anything... =)
Went to shop at Nu Ren Jie (Ladies Street) which is quite near our hotel and bought 2 small board games for very good prices I felt. Would've bought more if the bigger games could've been made cheaper. Anyway, it was quite funny cos my friend speaks Cantonese so he does all the negotiation. He was looking at some supposed 100% cashmere shawls which the lady told him HK$150 but he wasn't too keen about it anyway so he just moved on and as we walked further the lady started quoting lower prices: $120... $100... $80... $60... price is inversely proportional to distance from seller. lol, which made us wonder what kind of quality the shawls really were.
Went for dinner at Itamae Sushi where I had foie gras, salmon belly and a 200ml can of 4% alcohol by vol peach-flavoured liquor cos I wanted to try a bit. The food was sooooo shiok! The liquor was ok lah since I'm not a liquor person though I liked the peach taste but even at 4% I developed some rashes that night so yup my body's tolerance level for alcohol is very low.
We walked to Temple Street after that and along the way we bought some umbrellas that were kept in containers that looked like wine bottles, which apparently are becoming fashionable but are still pretty ex in Singapore. Started to rain a bit so we took cover in a "Hui Lau Shan" shop and had dessert again, which brought an end to our first day as we headed back to the hotel after that.
3rd Jan - Went to eat congee at this place called Nathan Congee & Noodle which was somewhere along Nathan Road (a VERY long road) and it was a nice cosy place with a lot of local flavour. Had this abalone congee (bao yu san si zhou) with you tiao which was yummy!
We then headed to take the ferry as part of our journey to Lantau Island but we kept stopping along the way for some unplanned shopping for the ladies due to some weird reasons. Firstly my friend wanted to buy shoes cos his shoes were falling apart so the ladies went to shop at a nearby shop and in the end my friend didn't buy shoes cos there weren't any nice ones but the ladies continued to shop and bought stuff. Then along the way somebody said they needed to make a quick trip to the toilet before moving on but on the way to the toilet they saw some sale for ladies stuff and then got distracted again for about an hour or so haha. Nonsense sia! =p
Anyway the ferry trip was quite a nice one then we took a train and finally we took a cable car up the mountain! It was certainly the longest 25-min ride in my life (2 times some more!) cos I'm afraid of heights and in the cable car you can see the sea and valley hundreds of meters below you but it was also a very beautiful sight and overall I enjoyed it. Too bad I was probably too stoned to realise the opportunity to relate that cable car ride to the energy profile of a reaction or I would've filmed a nice video for teaching. If I get another chance to take a cable car I'll try to do that!
Oh ya, please don't be stupid like me and think that there's no winter in HK cos apparently there is though it doesn't snow and it was freezing on the way up the mountain. I chose not to bring any jacket there and all my clothes were short sleeve so I was freezing in the cable car and trembling so much (like I was possessed) that my friends had to lend me a jacket and gloves. Thankfully one of my friend bought a jacket during the shopping earlier so she lent me hers to wear and the rest were amazed that I could fit in it haha (though I still need to slim down).
We had a nice lunch at a Chinese restaurant there and shared this huge candy floss before we made our way up the long flight of stairs leading to the Big Buddha. Of course we took a photo of our customary funny pose, just like we did the last time in Kamakura in Japan. I said that we should go travel to all the places with giant statues of Buddha and take pictures - that would be quite cool! The view up there was pretty nice though I found it hard to capture with my camera so I just spent more time relaxing and enjoying the view.
After that we came back on another harrowing ride on the cable car before proceeding to go to "The Peak" where we went up to the Sky Terrace for a stunning view of the surrounding area. But it was extremely cold!!! Went for dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co Restaurant & Market, a theme restaurant based on Forrest Gump. Typical western food I guess so nothing really special about the food though the fish and chips and clam chowder soup were nice. But I like the design of the place cos I like the movie also and brings back fond memories.
Took an open-top bus ride on the way back and it was quite a nice ride then we headed back to our hotel for a little supper before calling it a night.
4th Jan - Had a simple breakfast before we went for our day trip at Macau. We did some research the night before but in the end we figured we'd just go there and see if we could book a vehicle to bring us around. Took the ferry to Macau and we were approached by this guy who offered to take us around. Of course we were skeptical at first, as most tourists would be, but in the end we felt his price was reasonable after some negotiation and I think it was the right choice. He was very knowledgable in the history of Macau also and could answer anything you asked him. He also deduced we were from Singapore so sometimes he would explain in relation to our experience in Singapore so that we could understand better. Not bad I must say!
Anyway we went to (1) Fisherman's Wharf - they had this Tang Cheng and this theme park related to Aladdin which apparently will be torn down to make way for more casinos (they already have 35 there and Macau only has an area of like 28.2 sq km!) (2) Lian Hua Guang Chang - the place where they had a statue that commemorated the return of Macua to China (3) Guan-Im Statue - which they called "Buddha Mary" cos the statue's face resembled Mother Mary. (4) Penha Hill - has one of the many churches in Macau but the main thing was that it offered a great view of Macau (5) Ma Zu Temple - the temple from which Macau supposedly got its name (6) Macau Tower - we went up to the 58th floor where we had an awesome view of Macau but it was pretty scary looking through the glass panes on the floor that allowed you to look all the way down to the ground. But I overcame my fear to take some nice photos! The place offered some extreme sports also such as bungee jumping, sky jumping and sky walking and we saw one guy doing a bungee jump which looked awfully scary. Even the lift trip was kinda interesting to me to say the least cos you could look outside... (7) Senado Square - a popular area which has cobblestone roads similar to that in many European countries (8) Ruins of St. Paul's - a world heritage site and near a bakery where I bought some stuff like lao po bing and almond cookies...
We didn't have time to go to the newest casino, "The Venetian", which was a pity but it was still a very good sightseeing trip and along the way we had quite a lot of good food like the Portugese egg tart from Margaret's Cafe e Nata (which was unbelievably good and I never ate any egg tart that even came close to this) and the shui xie zhou (crab porridge) at Cheng Chang restaurant.
We still managed to find time for supper after coming back from Macau as we had claypot rice at a shop near our hotel as we ended a very tiring day and we had some guy talk at night which was quite cool =)
5th Jan - Final day in HK and we went to have a hearty dim sum breakfast which was like so cheap and good and had a nice view of the sea. It was all about last-minute shopping and exploring the streets and it was nice as I spent the last few hours with my roommate trawling through some of the streets of Mongkok in search for their local food and we found the polo buns with butter at what seemed like a normal bakery but it tasted awesome! We also had roast goose leg and super duper cheap but good wanton mee (HK$10) so it was certainly a good eating experience!
Finally headed to the airport where I tried to get some souvenirs cos never really shopped much during the trip but only bought some sweets so while stocks last! =p
Oh yes, I remembered something funny. Advice - bring a luggage bag that is very distinctive cos both at the HK airport and Changi airport, it wasn't obvious to me which bag was mine cos apparently black bags with the word "polo" on it are very common and my friends were all laughing at me each time a black bag came out cos they all looked the same.
That more or less brings about an end to the stories in my HK trip. Looking forward to our next trip in March!
6th-8th Jan - long hours of meetings and the 1st day was the worst cos I slept at 4am after all the unpacking and stuff and woke up at about 7am. Anyway the most interesting things I found useful were some CPR exercise as well as my 2 main love languages (based on the 5 love languages by Gary Chapman) - which is firstly words of affirmation followed by physical touch, which was not a surprise to me given my past experiences and also that's probably why I tend to write stuff for others and I usually prefer to receive cards with heart-felt stuff written rather than gifts (not that I don't like but it's rare that I get gifts that really appeal to me). =)
9th Jan - went to watch Sherlock Holmes and it was a very nice movie! I liked the action stuff and I've always liked Sherlock Holmes since reading his story books as a kid. I just found it soooo me and I like the intellectual stimulation as he analyses situations and people and figures out how everything falls in place. His observation skills is also fantastic and he's also a very scientific person - basically someone I wish to be haha.
I remember doing something related to Sherlock Holmes for an electrochemistry puzzle for Science Fiesta in 2008 and I enjoyed it very much and I shall go and try and find out more about him so that I can try to relate my lectures to him - one needs to stay updated and relevant in his teaching to entertain the kids!
10th Jan - forced myself to wake up at 7.15am to go jogging with Jonathan then gymming with him and LJ. It was torturous initially but after finishing the 4km run + jog/walk and working out, I felt good about myself. Aching terribly now but I think it's worth the effort and pain. Must try to keep this up every week now that the term has started! Anyway LJ was complaining like forever about waking up on a Sunday morning to exercise which was quite funny haha but yeah I probably couldn't do it if I had to do it myself that's why it's important to get exercise partners!
11th Jan - first day of the term and nothing eventful today so I spent some time preparing for the term by clearing out my cupboards and arranging my stuff. Once I return the stuff for IGC my desk area should look really clean! Ok, time to sleep! 2.5 hours to blog! OMG!
Anyway, will blog tmr night as promised and it shall be on my new year resolutions! =)
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