idiosyncratic.rhapsody.blog

Rainbow

2009-07-04T10:55:00.000+08:00

God is amazing.

The morning before I proposed, He treated Cailing and I to this wonderful spectacle......

And a few moments later.... He amazes us with another rainbow just vaguely seen behind the first!!

And the sky clears very quickly.. All good for us to go enjoy the sun, sea, and sand....

The Jewel of Kedah

2009-06-18T23:47:00.000+08:00

So spent a weekend at Langkawi with my family minus Zoe and plus Cailing.

Proposed to her on the beach after the fantastic meal at Casa del Mar where we stayed. She said yes! =]

Casa del Mar is pretty fantastic; it's a nice and cosy 30 room hotel just by the beach (Pantai Cenang). Not too crowded, not too many kids. Fantastic service: they'll serve you drinks at the poolside with freshly cut watermelon for example. Small things like printing out a small paper which has the next day's weather forecast.

Just a few photos before I process them when I'm back in Singapore. Click to see descriptions:

Samsung is so generous

2009-05-10T00:07:00.003+08:00

Surprise surprise

2009-04-23T00:35:00.001+08:00

So I went ahead and got myself taking MRCS part 1 and 2 (junior surgical exams for the purpose of basic surgical training- altogether 3 parts) which i completed on 21st April.. Decided to go up to KL to take it cos can just take the oppurtunity to see my mom and dad; also cos if do in Singapore..there's additional SGD200 per paper that we have to pay to NUS.. apparently cos it also goes to an MMed... shrug.

Papers were pretty tough.. Doing many many MCQ maybe not enough to accumulate knowledge la.. all the hardcore facts a bit hard to remember.. from anatomy/physiology/biochem/microbiology days.... So one of my classmates came up to KL to take the exam too..at least a familiar face around =] Anyways result only out on 20 May...

Flying back up to KL... in Changi Airport Terminal 1...

So means I've decided to go down the surgical route? I guess so......

Chong Boon and I in OT.. prev fellow MO in anaesthesia..

Oh oh.. of course when I go back I always go to this coffeeshop which IMHO has the best char kuay teow, best prawn mee and most of all.. best slurpyly delicious chee cheong fun that I know.. and I always go for the lime and sour plum juice drink.. Guess what.. the coffeeshop has been upgraded to have the drinks ordered via PDA!!!! each of the drinks seller carry one and they will tap tap on their palm for your orders rather than the traditional shouting across the shop style.. cool eh? haha

Recently also had our Good Friday event.. Jason tried new things.. new worship music.. chillout time before that.. which I felt was pretty good.. quite a good turnout too...

High and Dry from Pauleon Tan on Vimeo.
Here's them doing "High and Dry" by Radiohead.

Oh oh.. recently the phenomenon that has caught quite a lot of people's attention was Susan Boyle on Britian's Got Talent. Well watch the performance by her first if you haven't... then read on...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Sorry wasn't allowed to embed the Youtube video...

So I was quite pleasantly surprised too.. firstly cos at first u're thinking it's gonna be another William Hung type of thing.. and then when she sings.. it's really pretty good.. and furthermore we did Les Mis in secondary sch choir.. goodness a friend even cried when she saw the clip

Cameron Mackintosh, the producer of the Les Misérables musical, also praised the performance, stating:

"Just like the judges and audience, I was gob-smacked by the emotional powerhouse performance of Susan Boyle's show-stopping rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream". Vocally, it is one of the best versions of the song I've ever heard—touching, thrilling and uplifting. I do hope she gets to sing it for the Queen."

Ok copied the above from wikipedia. So I guess there's some moral/sociological things to learn from this.. about judging people based on appearances so on.. but I felt there was a lot to do with context too. Imagine game shows like these and American Idol so on, usually you're only seeing the ones with good looks perform well.. so when someone like her who isn't physically attractive (ok by most standards) sings that well.. it just flabbergasts you. But if you change the context - imagine her singing in a church choir as a soprano, or as an opera singer, or in a play... You'd wouldn't be that surprised anymore would you? Ok usually plays have good looking lead singers too.. hehe

Ok end off with my favorite person, *grins*

Happy birthday grandma

2009-02-10T20:58:00.019+08:00

My maternal grandma turned 93 this year.. I make it a point to go visit her everytime I get back to KL (my parents will always make sure I do too).

Despite the complaints she will have about this and that in her life (of things long ago...), which my mom will tear and get upset about.. She'll still always tells me to "bei sum kei" in all I do.. which is to concentrate and work hard in Cantonese.

I used to have very limited interaction with her. I guess cos I felt there was kinda like a barrier especially with my limited Cantonese. But since med sch and all.. I guess I've been gaining confidence with the language esp. when I speak it better than most of my counterparts here. Few years ago when I went back I realise the barrier is not there and it's easier to talk to grandma, of course still with some limitation.

I guess I don't have too many memories of her cos don't really see her often and she didn't stay with us compared to my paternal grandmother. But I guess there's still this fondness present.

Blessed birthday grandma..

Faking the Miniatures

2008-10-20T01:36:00.001+08:00

View them large!
The Lights
Quebec City at Sunset

Faking Tilt-Shift lenses... http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/07/how-to-use-photoshops-lens-blur-tool-for-tilt-shift-fakery-par/

Reminisce

2008-10-10T18:51:00.000+08:00

+

Still remember how I used to love getting two half-boiled eggs before rushing up to the school bus during my primary school days. And getting a bit of runny nose after that. Hurhur.

Yeeyian's dog: Lightning.

Asher Foo! Really joyful young chap here. =]

80 minutes

2008-08-31T21:03:00.002+08:00

Ran our first 10km together.. =]

Really a lot a lot of people.. like zhi baboom runners.. It was a sea of red.

Hanging out with Joel

2008-08-20T15:36:00.000+08:00

My long lost brother (ok not long lost. haha just never see him for a year) came down to Singapore to visit me. And with the ulterior motive of getting headphones. Haha ok.

I brought him to eat the good food...

Watched football with him at a bar. (At home no football channel on teevee.. hehe. Arsenal won 1-0)

And also had dinner with Cailing's family. Crab dinner no less!

Also walked around town a bit, listened to many many earphones in search for the perfect one for him.. haha. Went church on Sunday, also hung out at Madeleine's house to watch our two countries obtain their silvers respectively (or lost their golds depending on your perspective.)

All in all, good time spent with my not-so-little-brother. =] Ok dude take care, pass your exams and be good. Hehe. Remember must start prayer point in Imperial. Wahaha.

Ice-cream day

2008-08-12T11:09:00.000+08:00

At Ice-Cream Chef's.. East Coast Road near Siglap. =]

The Simple Things

2008-08-08T22:33:00.001+08:00

The Simple Dinner: Just some salad prawns.. Amazingly nicely done.. Only $8. Together with some broccoli and our favorite seafood + seaweed + tofu soup. =] All in about $19.. not too shabby eh?

So have been running now and then with Cailing, training up for our 10km run at the Nike human race on 31.08.08..Click here to check out the recorded run by GPS =] cool eh? Our run
Ya not very fast. Very long never run le lah.. =P

Just ran about 6-7km today. Argh, I also signed up for Standard chartered half-marathon man. A bit hesitant. 6-7km also cannot make it liao.. how to run 21km?!

Lastly,the oh-so-cute Asher together with Cailing. Taken at Expo before service. =]

The simple things in life are sometimes the things that give you the most joy eh?

Oh, I've also uploaded a few more photos from USA trip and also Europe trip. Hehe. I've added a link on the right but here it is too:

USA & Canada photos
Europe photos

Singfest 2008

2008-08-05T21:35:00.002+08:00

Was down at Singfest on Sunday.. Initially thought the admission ticket price was quite exorbitant.. at $200 for a day? And furthermore we only were interested in watching Jason Mraz perform.. Alicia Keys was a big name but didn't really listen to her music much. Never heard -of- OneRepublic but did find some of their songs familiar from the radio though I dont intentionally listen to radio (just blasting in the background of many an OT haha)

Mid-July was walking/window-shopping/shopping and saw that Levi's + Citibank had a promotion.. $179.90 for a pair of jeans + tickets to singfest or $149.90 for a levi's tee + tickets so jumped at it lah. bought a pair of jeans and got the sunday ticket lor.

Reeeallly hot day. Guys were going topless and girls were in bikini tops. Rare sight for a non-beach area in Singapore I would say.

Did have a good time with Cailing though she's not one for the crowds. We got a good spot that was shaded by about 4pm and plenty of leg and lying-down room. =]

Some other shots we got:

Pretty decent shots considering I was so far away. Zoom all the way liao. =]

The Custard Delight

2008-07-26T14:46:00.002+08:00

The Custard Delight
Originally uploaded by Noeluap

Recently the shop downstairs has been selling durians. Can't help it but bought myself a durian now and then (actually like every 2 days..hahaha), well it's just a small one at 5 bucks so what the heck eh?

This one 'ere is D24, soft, succulent meat - juicy in fact; and the sweetness is almost intense. Hurhur. Yum.

The Usual Sunday Dinner Gang

2008-07-16T22:32:00.003+08:00

Tried this place that Cailing recommended.

"Two Chefs' Restaurant" - basically a "cook fry" restaurant lah. The usual corner coffeeshop chinese food. Was quite busy looking that day, thankfully got there slightly earlier than the crowd so we managed to get a table...

A few thousand words:

Photos from Joo-lai, twenty oh-eight

2008-07-13T00:59:00.004+08:00

Other photos from:
Sushi tei dinner
Privé bakerycafe & Keppel Island (was at Vivocity before that)
Krabi Dec 2007 trip

And this is from last year:

Let me know what you think of the photos! =]

Word clouds

2008-07-12T09:56:00.005+08:00

Pretty cool, it's like a collection of words used on this blog. With the size of the word indicating the frequency of use.. Check it out at http://wordle.net/

The Yummy Post

2008-06-30T18:48:00.003+08:00

Haha, so last year when I had my convocation, we went to Tung Lok Signatures to have dinner.. then they said why not get the tung lok membership, can get 10%.. in the end is actually you get tung lok$ to redeem later on.. plus 75 free TL$... hahaha, got "bluffed". Anyways going to expire liao the membership so must quickly use.

Cailing and I went to Club Chinois at Orchard Parade Hotel. Stan and Mad's wedding dinner was catered from them.. it was actually one of the only wedding dinner I had that I felt was nice to eat.

Anyways, the ambience is nice. There were some tables that had chairs with really high backs, creates this really "atas" atmosphere hurhur. Maybe it was early-ish when we arrived at 6:45pm, cos there were like 3-4 waiters that came to pull our chairs out and all that when we came. Anyhoo, good service overall; tea was replenish fast, waiters were very attentive, know the menu well, can give good recommendations and all.

The food! The portions per dish are actually quite small. See for yourself in the photos. But they were really done quite well. There were complimentary appetisers to start - small piece of salmon sashimi and two other things which i can't remember what. Then had ginseng chicken soup; followed by lobster (i think we got it baked with some slightly spicy sauce.. can't remember exactly), then cod with egg white; lamb; wild mushrooms with spinach tofu; rice (kinda fried) with foie gras, and ended off with dessert - Cailing had chocolate mousse thingie which was absolutely fabulous, once u cut into it, the chocolate just oozes out of the thing. hehe; i had apple pie with vanilla icecream. yummy.

Oh ya we had a glass of white wine to share also. I think it was a sauvignon blanc. The cod was really good, and so was the lamb.. done really nicely (want to say done well..but actually from the looks of it.. it's more of like done quite medium rarely? haha); even Cailing who dont usually eat lamb also say it's quite nice. hehe. Of course the rest of the dishes were good too.

So how much was the damage? the bill came up to $200!! haha. but offset by the TL$ then no need pay so much.

ok photos.

Photologging

2008-06-29T23:36:00.003+08:00

Trigger happy nowadays =]

I Have Been to the Mothership!

2008-06-23T21:52:00.004+08:00

haha. the apple store at 5th Avenue, New York!

Ok, i'm beginning to upload the photos. So stay tuned! Just uploaded the June 1st ones. Will slowly upload the rest. (yayaya.. slow until never upload finish......yes i vow to finish uploading the photos this time round... =P)

The Flickr photoset is here

In other news, Maxis has released a "preview" of Spore (the game) in the form of the Creature Creator from the game.. It's quite a hoot really... Creating stuff and making them move about on 3 limbs and/or no limbs and/or with 5 upper limbs, 3 eyes or 8 legs. super cool. Haha.

Of retreat, hot dates and finger lacerations

2008-05-20T22:36:00.005+08:00

Was at Sofitel Resort near Senai, Johor for the weekend. Our re-encounter retreat held there. Was a good time spent with God, with brothers and sisters in Christ, and just resting. =]

Here's a picture of our group! Prolly the picture which includes most of us lah. Sorry Luke's face got cut into half. Cameraman's fault. *Snicker*

This was during the passover feast, which Jews celebrate; of course we do it the way the Messianic Jews do it. =]

Asher!

So Monday, met Cailing and went for our favorite sushi.. "Shiok! sushi".
this fella here is potent ok; got cheese, salmon, avocado, mayo, lotsa roe on top.
It's $15 at this small Japanese restaurant in the midst of the food court at Suntec City.
More pictures from the hot date here

Last of all, sadly injured in the line of duty this morning. As usual drawing up the drugs in preparation to give anaesthesia, popped open a vial of atracurium (paralyzing drug) and the vial happily cut me. (yaya, it's i got cut by it, not it cut me... semantics)

Quite a deep laceration over the distal phalanx. Was like pressing onto it for a while.. the surgeon was nearby so I went up to him.. released the pressure and the blood continued to flow quite freely.. thank God not pulsatile.. said "this one need stitches ah". So stitches it was. Right in the OT after the nurses got a suture set ready.

Must tell you.. a digital block (nerve block of a digit- a finger) is SUPER PAINFUL when the LA goes in.. it's like... have u ever knocked your "funny bone" so bad there's a burning pain that doesn't let up? It's like that but intense at the finger only. Even when he was using the tiny 24G needle that I've been using to give patients LA before their mother big IV cannulas. But the block was good, didn't even feel him stitching.

Ok picture speaks a thousand words:

iPhone coming to Singapore

2008-05-12T18:28:00.002+08:00

iphone to infinity for lefty's
Originally uploaded by K!T

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (STEL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) and its mobile associates will bring Apple Inc's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) popular iPhone to Singapore, India, Australia and the Philippines later this year, Southeast Asia's largest phone company said on Monday.

from Reuters news

w00t! it's coming to Singapore! maybe my wait was not futile after all. But then, now that it's officially coming.. will the shiokness of having it be watered down (now that there'll be tonnes of people having it)? Even now, I already do see quite a handful of people fiddling with their iPhones around.

Well, hopefully it'll still be not so commonplace, and also cos it's prolly gonna be iPhone 2 that'll be landing in Singapore instead.

In other news, I've just bought a N82! hurhur.

Yay! New toy! haha. Ya it's not a looker but everything's under the hood man. 5MP autofocus Carl Zeiss (colloquially "KARH TZE") camera with xenon flash; big big hi-res screen; wi-fi; 3G; GPS. What else can you ask for. Yea yea, multitouch iPhone. Haha.

Oh you should check out the HTC touch diamond! It's pretty cool really. Except that it's still windows mobile. Haha.

Ok lotsa gadget talk.

I'm still at SGH, now at the anaesthesia department putting patients to sleep. Hurhur. It's pretty cool stuff, a whole new ball game. Feel like starting all over again. Since we're the newest people around, the seniors treat us like we don't know anything whatsoever. Haha. "You know how to do blood culture?" mentally roll eyes - helllooooooo a thousand blood c/s later....????

Ok the blood c/s thing is all made up. Haha.

So anyways, was walking to work this morning and realise the orange color fruit thing (probably oranges... haha) is still on the tree at the junction that I walk up to SGH. Click below to see it bigger lah.

and then yesterday whilst we were at a certain dessert cafe at bugis, James decided to order the recommended dish, some potato cheese thingie which doesn't taste real good. Each thingie cost $2. Haha.

ok. Will be blogging more methinks. Hurhur

Walking efficient

2008-04-01T23:34:00.004+08:00

Hahaha posted by my brother. How true... i always try to walk the most efficient way to save walking time/energy. hahahaha

By the way Joel, u haven't post any pictures from Edinburgh or wherever. hahahaha

Krabi 2007

2008-03-11T21:22:00.002+08:00

went to Krabi again Dec 2007.. with an interesting combi of people! haha.

Cailing and I, my parents; Ezra and Twinkle, and Ezra's mom =]

I think all in all it's just another relaxing time at Krabi. Mostly hanging around at the beaches, bumming around; eating, relaxing, sleeping, getting massages every night (only at 200-250baht! bloody cheap i say! haha) even did some climbing - half a day of it in fact. hehe.

here are a few of my fave photos from the trip. =] trying to get the supersampler ones digitalised but taking a photo of a photo is pretty difficult. gotta get a scanner or get the shop to digitalise it hehe.

Switchfoot in Singapore

2008-02-14T23:35:00.003+08:00

Switchfoot_SG_06
Originally uploaded by aloysius / aloysiuslim.com /

So I caught Switchfoot on 31/1/08

Never went concert before ok! I mean like a rock concert! haha.
Was awesome. Of course, lotsa younger people there but anyhoos, getting to see switchfoot live was really worth it. =]

That's Jon shouting onto the sensors on his guitar.

Cailing & I

2007-12-22T11:44:00.000+08:00

At Raynard and Evie's wedding recently!

Was quite fun actually. And heartwarming to see him get hitched. Hehh. Awaiting his return from aussieland!

Neglect

2007-10-05T17:33:00.000+08:00

Hehe, haven't made an entry in ages. Mwahahaha.

Uploaded a few more photos into flickr. Can go take a look

So 5 months of housemanship now. Different department, same hospital. 8am-5pm instead of the previous 7am-7pm (or later). Calls are better... ok i think some of my colleagues still get the 15min sleep type; but so far thankful i've always gotten at least 2 hours. hehe. and that day i had a 7 hour sleep only interrupted 3 times; once for a post-op review that took all of 5min, another for some minor thing which also took 5min, and lastly for something which i told them we'll handle it in the morning. Wahahaha. Sweetness.

In other news; I'm spending 40+ dollars per month for the next coming year! Haha:

Yup I've bought it to replace my dying iPod mini. cannot make it liao; play 30min then batt will "die", sometimes can revive (after restarting like 10 times), but most of the time cannot. Okok, excuses excuses? I just want to get the newest and latest? Haha. Hey check out the interface man. No player can beat that. iPhone is better? True. But not hitting our shores yet, at least not without warranty. Hehe. I think iPhone 2nd Gen will be the way to go.

Ok. I guess maybe I'll start updating a bit more often nowadays. Hehe. No promises though =P

36 hours

2007-05-05T18:27:00.000+08:00

... about half an hour's sleep in between. and still okay. haha.

wanted to stay back to finish up all the work and do some of 2morrow's work so didn't leave the hospital till like 5pm. but there's still quite a lot to be done 2morrow. oh well.

we didn't admit a lot of patients but one or two were quite ill. i guess it's still starting up, so still pretty slow but once i get the hang of things and oriented myself i should speed up.

thank God for good colleagues. =]

hand foot mouth disease strikes again?

2007-04-24T21:05:00.000+08:00

688 cases of Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease recorded last week

SINGAPORE: There were 688 cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) recorded between 15 and 21 April, the highest number recorded so far this year.

The figure was also 70% higher compared to the 398 cases recorded in the same period last year.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/272220/1/.html

Hope there're no fatalities from the outbreak. Take care of your kids!

Flying into Europe & First Day in Barcelona

2007-04-18T21:19:00.000+08:00

warning! long post ahead.. hehe. more like a photolog actually.... =]

left Singapore 27th March 2007. Flight was actually at 0030hours on the 28th. Dubai was pretty ok but getting stuck there for 5-6 hours is no joke. Hehe was sleeping on the floor instead...

I thought Emirates was suppose to be quite a good airline. Hmm seems that I thought wrong! Not only do the MAS, SIA and Thai airways air stewardess look better, the food and entertainment is better too. Sigh. At least the food for the flight from Dubai -> Heathrow was much better. Though there still wasn't on-demand movies/shows. Thank God for the extra seat in between me and Yeeyian (haha can put some space between us).

Touched down about 2pm in London on the 28th (GMT lah, but with daylight savings. so -7hours from KL, Singapore) And went on ahead to Gloucester where we met up with YY's friend, dumped her stuff there, met zhentang, wendy at Gloucester station again and dumped our stuff at our hostel for the short stay in London. Sadly we couldn't get a connecting flight to Barcelona on that day itself. Was pretty risky cos the time in between was short and didn't know the traffic conditions too.

Went over to Harrods.. hehe seriously don't get what's the deal about the place. And seeing the bags back home.. thot this was quite a interesting place to shop and all.. but actually just some souped up departmental store.

Ok, then go downstairs for Krispy Kreme... which got everyone more than full and hence not wanting dinner. Poor me. Ate KFC for dinner instead. 3 pound for a 2 piece chicken + drink + fries meal. woohoo.

The only shot (I think) of the tube I got. After a while got a bit jaded so didn't take any photos of it anymore. Haha. You know, it'll be like people taking picture of our LRT or MRT.

But i guess the underground's different. It's the first subway ler. Like zhentang said, if your MRT last for a hundred years, you can then start printing t-shirts with the logo on it and it will sell too. hahaha.

29th March 2007

Left for Barcelona at really really early. Oh ya, it was really pretty cold. Forgot the last time I experienced it, but it was cold enough for visible vapour to be forming from our breaths. (yup cheap thrill for us equatorial belt people lah.) Most prob below 10deg celcius. With the wind chill it feels quite. Thanks to Jeremy for the wind proof jacket. Hehh.

This is La Rambla, the promenade like walking arcade. Littered with eateries and small shops all around.. with the street entertainers, kinda like Santa Monica's 3rd St Promenade but much wider, and without the brand name clothing shops. Hehh.

And Wendy got us a nice little apartment just off La Rambla. Very nice place! Not too pricey too. Was about SGD60 per pax per night?

Settling the moolah.

Peeked out from the apartment and spotted this cat next door.. quite a distance away. I love my 12x zoom.

After settling all the stuff, we headed on to this buffet place Yeeyian heard about from her bro. Okay lah, 8 Euros.. pretty decent. But not great of course. First time tried paella though. Liked it! but of course later on tried nicer one. hehe.

Like this photo! I think it's the shadows of the people with the columns behind that gives it this nice feeling.

Yeeyian and Wendy fell in love with chorizos, introduced by Yeeyian's friend in London. Hehe

And you just gotta love that meat.

haha surprisingly I didn't buy any of the candy/sweets.

Ok this might not be for the faint-hearted. Goat parts! See whether you can identify all the organs. Cool man.

And this is a particularly cool (gross) shot.

We bought some hamburger patties, salmon and eggs to cook for dinner since everyone wasn't particularly hungry at the moment (which became quite the norm for the whole trip.. sigh, woe is me).

We had a flamenco show to watch at 8pm! Was pretty good! The sad thing was that it was purely in Spanish so don't know what they singing about. I shall try to figure out the whole youtube thing so maybe I can post it there for you guys to have a glimpse.

after a long tiring day:

especially after climbing these stairs.... hahaha

more photos can be found at: Europe 2007
i need time to upload them.. with tagging and adding titles... hehe

just being a shutterbug

2007-04-13T00:43:00.000+08:00

some photos i took.. uploading them before the avalanche of Europe photos. (oops.. still got the USA photos haven't finish uploading. hurhur)

Anyone recognise this building? =] (without looking at the caption. haha)

Pearls before the swines?

2007-04-11T12:31:00.000+08:00

Whoa must check this article out man. Link to full article below.

Pearls Before Breakfast
By Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007; Page W10

HE EMERGED FROM THE METRO AT THE L'ENFANT PLAZA STATION AND POSITIONED HIMSELF AGAINST A WALL BESIDE A TRASH BASKET. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play.

It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour. In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by. Almost all of them were on the way to work, which meant, for almost all of them, a government job. L'Enfant Plaza is at the nucleus of federal Washington, and these were mostly mid-level bureaucrats with those indeterminate, oddly fungible titles: policy analyst, project manager, budget officer, specialist, facilitator, consultant.
Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape: Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed by the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he's really bad? What if he's really good? Do you have time for beauty? Shouldn't you? What's the moral mathematics of the moment?
On that Friday in January, those private questions would be answered in an unusually public way. No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?

full article

the graduate

2007-04-10T02:38:00.000+08:00

I passed!!! Thank God!!!!! Work starts on 2nd May 2007. Got orientation and extra training a week before that on 23rd April.

So I'm back back back. Really lovely Europe is! More architecture and history though. I think I slant towards seeing more nature and experiencing its glory. Basking in sunrises and sunsets is more my kind of thing. Of course Europe has its share of food, though with my budget couldn't really go and try the good restaurants like what zhentang wanted and did so. (20-40pounds for a good meal.. any takers??)

I'll blog with more detail when I re-establish my flickr account and upload the photos. Here's one to whet your appetite:

Taken near the Olympic stadium at Barcelona, Catalonia (or some say it belongs to Spain. haha) was on the bus so don't know what's the monument though. Can't see clearly, but it's a horse. Amazing sunset huh. =]

greetings from London!

2007-04-04T17:57:00.000+08:00

hey all! just a small hello from me in London! It's freezing here.. (ok not as much as Toronto.. Zoe) but it feels like below 10 deg celcius. at night it drops even lower.

barcelona and rome was great. Love the food in both places! the sights are pretty awesome too!! =]

Shiok*!

2007-03-27T10:22:00.000+08:00

so no viva for me!

Noun

viva - an examination conducted by word of mouth

oral, oral exam, oral examination, viva voce

exam, examination, test - a set of questions or exercises evaluating skill or knowledge; "when the test was stolen the professor had to make a new set of questions"

Off to Barcelona (29-31 March), Rome (1-3 April), London (4-8)! Await the photos!! =]

Gone

2007-03-26T01:04:00.000+08:00

She said he said live like no tomorrow
Every moment that we borrow
Brings us closer to the God who’s not short of cash
Hey Bono I’m glad you asked
Life is still worth living, life is still worth living

- "Gone" by Switchfoot.

Yup, the Final MBBS is over!! WOO HOOOOO. seriously. this past year has been a rapid blur. after touching down at the airport from USA (june 2006), things just escalated, with the past month the culmination of 5 years of (spartan) training. literally eat books, drink books, sleep books.

I think this should put it more in perspective. From around October or November last year, the rising panic within my classmates and I; the need for studying every single free moment you have just overwhelms you. And I have been hitting the books almost every night, every weekend since November. And time in the hospital has been used frantically to talk to every patient with "a good history" or "fantastic signs" (basically patients good to talk to or good to examine to look for certain things). January and February marked the mounting fear.. and after the clinical postings were officially over.. good buddies Jeremy, Yeeyian and I continued to see patients, 2-3hours in the morning, then hitting the books thereafter.

Whatever extra tutorial, summary sessions, revision lectures were faithfully attended. Notes scribbled (I dislike taking notes), stuff unsure discussed till sure. Yet, there was still the uneasy feeling of unpreparedness. There was just too much to study!

Come March the 1st: the first theory paper. We were barred from the wards and clinics from then on. But no matter, the books were important. Imagine the stress of A levels. Now take that amount of stress and imagine that level of stress for every single paper I had.. about 7 days of theory papers in all. For the clinicals (practical assessments), it was much worse.. the need to perform in that short short short timespan just automatically causes our sympathetic system to kick in, adrenaline pumping. heart rates were minimally 100bpm. sweating was profuse and shirt drenching. peeing was frequent and urgent. (not to mention some of my friends who had diarrhea and vomiting too.) I think the worse part of it was that the finals are soooo draggy. By last week, I was really quite burnt out. Thank God for the good schedule that at least let me breathe a little in between exams.

Hey I'm not whining/complaining. Think just to share the reality at least from my perspective. Though I have to also add in that there was this weird calmness throughout the whole exam. I think it's the "peace that transcends understanding" that I have to thank God for...

Medicine viva list will be out tomorrow. Praying hard that I pass with clear margins. flying out to Europe on Wednesday 0030hours!!

half day holiday

2007-03-23T17:35:00.000+08:00

took half a day off after my surgery exam~ haha. slacked the afternoon and met my beau for dinner at sushi tei.. =]

then went on to watch 300 and rochor tao huay after that.

how nice to just slack man. and not study. hehehe. ok studying now already.. 20 min more of exams left!!

medicine long case - adult was tougher cos i wasn't expecting a diagnostic case. so the way i questioned the patient was like super haphazard and missing out stuff. but i could get diagnosis and discussed with the examiners lah. so hopefully pass that. pediatrics was good cos it was a straightforward case and i'm good at taking that condition's history.

medicine short cases were good! first time i examine patients one after another (like 3 patients in half hour) and could rely on what i find very strongly and give diagnosis. the tummy case a bit haphazard but otherwise okay lah..hehe

surgery exam was a bit scary. got a case which i didn't concentrate on studying for cos unlikely. but think can scrape a pass from that. the short cases were fast and furious (4 cases, 4 min each) and i think i did well. the examiners seemed pleased with me. so i think good lah, over and done. so far, nobody was borderline case needing to go for further oral examination everyday. but then rumor has it there're 7 direct failures =( was hoping we could everyone pass and start work in May. praying I pass too! we'll never know till April 9th so I'm leaving it as that.

20min of exams more! pediatric short cases on Sunday! 2 cases only. i have plenty of stickers to give the kids thanks to Cailing! =]

All things are possible!

2007-03-16T09:17:00.000+08:00

Trying out some photos with bokeh. Hopefully can do some nice portraits if the camera proves good for these kinda photos. =]

*bokeh: n
a Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of a photographic image

Ok i realise i should give an update too.. =] well, the theory papers are over.. medicine was tough man. crazy crazy MCQs.. hopefully still can get an overall pass for the medicine side la. must buck up for the clinicals liao. *sweat

surgery was much more doable. still got some mistakes here and there lah but i think passing isn't a problem for the papers lah.

so that leaves me with about 10 days more to the end of the exams... 5 days of exam in total. all clinical, all with major anxiety involved. i wonder whether anyone will take some propanolol, just to get rid of the sympathetic overactivity, calm the nerves and "enhance performance" haha. off-label use.

It's a beautiful day!

2007-03-15T10:37:00.000+08:00

It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away

so Raynard advised to wake up earlier and open the shutter longer. this is the result!

250ml rhythm

2007-03-10T21:08:00.000+08:00

ok, came across this totally lame but cool video:

totally a tribute to the 250ml cans i've been guzzling. ok mine is not the blue and silver one but the golden ones

New Every Morning

2007-03-09T09:05:00.000+08:00

"The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness."
Lamentations 3:22-23

Been having early awakenings now and then.. thankfully rest of the day still quite ok.. not v sleepy. maybe it's the answer for my want of not needing to slp so much.. hehehe.. so got up this morning and took my newly purchased camera for a small spin. haha. just charged and ready to go and so took some test shots. the colors look really nice on the viewscreen but after putting it into the comp.. so-so only. but it's a more accurate color of the real sky lah..i like the birds though.

Pretty good lah, got quite a number of free stuff which adds up to quite a bit. 2Gb SD card, extra original batt, lowepro bag(EX120 shoulder bag) , sd card reader, a rather large dry container (those type u plug into the wall and it dehumidifies the container). Was a bit hesitant whether I should get it then and there cos haven't spent a lot of time researching about cameras though I read the review for it and sounded pretty good. Extensibility and good feel in the hands. Raynard recommend one. It's like one-step below the DSLR.. has quite a number of the bells and whistles of an SLR but without the interchangeable lenses. I like the way u use your hands to turn the lens to zoom rather than pushing "W" and "T"...hehh.

cough cough

2007-03-04T23:59:00.000+08:00

thankfully the sore throat and cough is getting better. prayerfully by 2morrow will have little traces of it or even better none at all. =]

siki's going mad with the studying:

..."eh these panties don't fit", the other 2 people will jump on you and ask you "eh so what are the causes of childhood fits again ah?"

and in the anti-spirit of "let's all pass MBBS", here's a list of answers to that question that you should try during your clinical long case on fits:

"i would divide the causes of fits into those that i remember and those that i have forgot"

"in summary, i have concluded that this patient is sick, underpaid and overused"

"i would divide my investigations into those that you would like me to say and those that i would rather not do at 3am in the morning"

"my management aims are: to keep the patient alive, to keep myself busy, and to keep my consultant rich"

"i dunch know"

"nochyet study"

"eh, prof you look very sessy today"

and then he goes on to post my head transplanted on (i think) his body. or maybe mingyuan's.

saw this pic on youmin's msn and was thinking it's a very nice pic!

then she told me i took it. hahaha. cham, study until cannot remember. but ya it is a very nice pic. more than composition i think it's just so candid and so joyous yupyup. miss that man.

so the first two papers were ok la. could've done better especially for paper 3 cos of the vague questions i got some of it wrong. but still ok. most of us were thinking that hopefully can do well for these two so that can cover up for the essays and the MCQs (with 160 questions you're bound to screw up a lot. hurhur ok not funny.) but I just thank God especially cos we went through some stuff that came out like Hep B and stuff. thanks to yeeyian and jerm too. =]

in other news, i'm thinking of getting a camera. maybe this one:

but expensive lar... so, see how la.

ok. study.

the beginning of the end of the beginning

2007-02-28T16:41:00.000+08:00

Just got confirmation of my exam dates!

Theory papers:
1 March Medicine Paper 2B (modified essay questions)
2 March Medicine Paper 3 (clinical vignettes)
6 March Medicine Paper 2A (essays)
8 March Medicine Paper 1 (MCQ - 160 questions!!!)

12 March Surgery 1 - Essay
13 March Surgery 3 - structured essays
14 March Surgery 2 - MCQs

Clinical exams:
17 March Medicine and pediatrics long case - NUH
18 March OSCE
20 March Medicine short cases - Alexandra Hosp
22 March Surgery long and short cases - SGH
25 March Pediatric short case - NUH

Thanks for keeping me in prayers! It's the last lap. Thank God for His continued presence and affirmation and peace (sometimes feel how come not anxious!! something is wrong!!)

Today stepped into SGH for a last chance to see the patients cos we're banned from the wards and clinics from 1st March. My friend was saying, wa today last day we go into wards as medical students. haha amen to that man. One last time into wards for exams. Then after that is Dr. Tan striding into the wards! (haha yes along with the other multitudes of Dr. Tans.. sien)

edit: just read xiaohui's blog saying how free she'll be from 1st to 27th of March. hahaha. goodness, *wonders whether Cailing will complain or not, or already been complaining. =P

a father's heart

2007-02-20T23:14:00.000+08:00

i got thinking on the bus today, i can't remember how exactly my train of thought ran but anyways: we as kids (especially teenagers and beyond) think we know better than our parents, than our dads, and so we try and make all the decisions ourselves. in particular i was just thinking about buying gadgets. i mean, it's like taken for granted our generation is the one who would be better at these things compared to our parents right? well i think there are exceptions, like example when my bro bought his thingamabob camera, olympus mju i can't remember the model number, i was like, huh why u get that, it's expensive and so-so quality only. and i think my dad thought so too; but he bought it for him anyways. (maybe in part also cos my dad already owned a olympus camera, so together-gether can use the xD card la.) but the point is that, my dad just went and bought it.

oh yes i think i was just pondering about the choices we have in life, bigger things like, should i study this, should i study that. should i stay here in malaysia/singapore to do my uni, should i go overseas. is this girl really for me or not. blahblahblah. i think our parents do have some idea what is "better" and more "ideal", but many a times even if they say it, we kids just ignore em. and our parents let us go ahead with our own ideas. i dont know, maybe it's to let us go ahead with our trial and error and learn on our own; maybe they just want us to choose what we think will make us happy.

then these thoughts extended to God our Father. don't you think we're like that too with Him? i'm sure in this case, His wisdom is way above ours. yet, we don't listen to Him when he tells us this way is better, that path is the right one, though it may be tougher. well, we may end up doing ok, enjoying ourselves, even being quite successful. but it might not be the best that could've been. (hehe.. "could've been".. sparks off thoughts on another subject matter: regrets)

i think this post doesn't really fully encompass what was just running through my head on the bus ride just now. but gives u a few brush strokes worth lah. food for thought? or just rambling? up to you to decide. =]

for me, i have a mcq test to go to 2morrow. some more last minute studying to do. ok bye.

oodles of noodles

2007-02-19T23:46:00.000+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year everibardy! I is wishing you all 10,000 things like fine; one sail wind smooth.

As i skipped going home this year (sob sob), and I was lazy to venture out to look for food. Though i knew the mamak (indian muslim) stall was open. I cooked! Mwahaha, yes the typical INSTANT NOODLES. i bought some stuff to make pasta also. so been having spaghetti bolognese for lunch and instant noodles for dinner yesterday and today. how cool is that. my instant noodle also very cool, is bak kut teh flavor, and i added taiwan sausage, with beef balls and veggie. Yum*slurp! But i think my spaghetti standard has gone down. First time i did a bit too watery and just lack some oomph. I realise is no cheese. Cheese is important. Either mozzarella or parmesan also can. Come, come, picture is thousand words, this was my dinner:

I have still big big gap in knowledge for exams. Need IV bolus of knowledge stat stat stat, make sure can cross blood brain barrier.

in other news, i realise going by the "prime lending rate" of the 3 local banks, when they start charging interest on my loan, in the first year alone, i have to pay SGD3.8k in interest. GG.

a new hope.

2007-02-13T21:49:00.000+08:00

so i've submitted the application forms for houseofficership. (the intern year which we have to go through after we graduate) complete with all the employment pass applications and all that. had to decide which departments and hospitals to be posted to which was the main topic of discussion amongst my classmates- "eh where your first choice ah? SGH medicine ah.. wa xiong ler... but i heard a lot of people chose there also ler." "die la, like that how. i'm like last in class how to get posted there" "goodness why the people from the northeast also choose CGH! leave it to us east side people to choose ler..."

aiya for me, i know i'm not near the top of the class so i don't really have the ability to just choose and get whatever posting i want. (ya, it's based on ranking, the top in class gets his/her choices and so on so forth) i just chose where i'd like to be at, and leave the rest to God. hehh.

it's the last stretch before the exams. the general surgery revision posting is coming to an end. CNY is coming and i'm staying in singapore to nerd. a first for me. 28th of feb is the last day we're permitted in the hospital wards. the first paper commences on the 1st of march, last clinical exam is on the 25th if i remember correctly. i still don't know a lot of things, still unsure, still can't focus completely and study for long stretches at a time like yesteryears. but it's gotta start and it's better late than never.

Bustling calm

2007-02-12T22:35:00.000+08:00

Just thought I'd interrupt the usual program and post up this photo that I took (with cailing's phone. hehh) in July last year.

I need some spare time to post up more of my US photos. but guess that'll have to wait until April.

Q: what do you call a PR bleed?

2007-02-03T21:29:00.000+08:00

A: hematochezia

okay. sorry for starting off with medical mumbo-jumbo. anyways i think this blog is read by more non-medical people hor. (if there is anyone reading this at all.. haha.. hmm when was the last time i posted.... oops.)

anyways, i was erm kinda reprimanded on that. PR bleed is "per rectal bleeding" - bleeding from the rectum la. okay, even more layman - blood coming out of your backside (yes, from the anus). and the proper medical term is "hematochezia" if it's fresh blood. admittedly, i should be using these terms when talking to a doctor when it's an exam. but how many times have we seen it ever being used? sigh, oh well. just do it i guess.

ok i think i sound a bit melancholic. well a bit demoralised la. (no la, not just becos i got chided for the hematochezia thing.. it's cumulative with other stuff i guess) but i'm bucking up in the mugging which is a good thing.

i shall not go into a lamentation mode. suffice to say i have 230 (approx) other people suffering together with me. yes, they may be better off, with more knowledge, skills and flair; but i shall lift my head up, and stride on, and try my best to graduate together with the rest of em.

teh internets lolroflmaokthxbai

2006-12-07T19:36:00.000+08:00

haha funny stuff.pwns

We hope you will remember that promise.

2006-12-07T19:31:00.000+08:00

An open letter to the PM http://sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=14290

excerpt:

Dear Prime Minister Abdullah, When you first came into power after the 2004 general election, you promised us that you would be prime minister for all Malaysians.

In fact, I still have the letter you sent out to voters before the elections that promised you would fulfill your duties with sincerity, integrity, efficiency and fairness.

It was a letter that moved people, including staunch Opposition supporters.

There was hope that a new leadership which was more conciliatory, more willing to listen to differing views and more just was in store for the country.

And people invested in that hope by voting the Barisan Nasional back into power with a clear majority.

But recent events, including your administration's reactions to these events, have been deeply troubling.

browser wars

2006-11-19T10:26:00.000+08:00

Was gonna download Internet Explorer 7 and hence just typed in "www.ie7.com" in the address bar and got this instead:

haha hilarious. some smart punk must have bought the domain name and did that.

so anyways, if you haven't upgraded to firefox. please do, it'll make your life more comfortable. hehh. opening things up in tabs, the safer web browsing and lotsa other little perks is definitely worth it. get it at http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

but if you'd rather stick with IE, get IE7, the upgrade from IE6. Microsoft's just playing catch up with Opera and Firefox, putting in elements the other browsers have had for a long time. Get IE7 here

What is real beauty?

2006-11-10T23:08:00.000+08:00

hehe, anyone can look beautiful. things are just not what they seem eh?

Dove Evolution

singaporean kids play too much sparkles: results in worsening haze

2006-10-07T00:52:00.000+08:00

I can't even see the CBD from my place! the usual lights from the tall buildings are unseen! they're usually seen in between the block of flats in the photo. and when there are fireworks I see them above the buildings. sorry don't have compare and contrast.

Newspaper say today PSI 80, i think took a turn for the worse after 10pm. HOORRRR see la, play some more sparklers!!

Stay at home also no use.. all the particles will come into your house anyways. Especially when your house NO AIR CON. sienn.

from CNA:

Singapore's Pollutants Standards Index (PSI) level on Friday hit 80, the highest for the year.

However, the National Environment Agency (NEA) says it is still in the moderate range and not a cause for concern.

Latest satellite pictures on Thursday showed 228 hotspots in Sumatra.

Southwesterly winds have carried the smoke northeast to neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and even parts of southern Thailand.

Mind your toilet manners!

2006-10-05T20:04:00.000+08:00

haha. amazing how they did it. watch watch watch.

Drool-worthy?

2006-09-18T23:34:00.001+08:00

hehe.. don't worry. i'm just admiring it from afar.. i don't need a new iPod. =]

Geotagging

2006-09-09T16:23:00.000+08:00

so i realised Flickr has implemented Geotagging! ok i admit i didn't know what the heck was that. so basically it's just tagging your photos to the geographical location you took it. (hence: Geotagging! smart eh. i like these type of words. hoho)

it's pretty fun actually. take my wonderful photo below:

yup, go ahead, click on it! haha. or prolly, right-click and open in new tab or new window.

ya it'll take u to the flickr page which hosts the picture. scroll right down to the bottom. on the right hand side you see a bunch of words. details of the picture and the like. right at the top of that bunch of words it says: "Taken near Monterey, California (map)". *fuiyoh! you say.. you mean flickr can look at your picture and decipher where the heck you took the photo??!?? that's brilliant!!

erm. not that magnificent la. of course you must have a GPS enabled camera which automatically inputs the co-ords of the place where u are at into the picture u're taking!

erm. also don't think v realistic la hor. lol. i don't have GPS camera. hehe. ok sorry for the sarcasm. well i hafta just drag and drop it onto the map. but oh ya.. ok go ahead and click on the word "map".

pretty cool huh? =]

i like. and erm. there goes my time.

go here for a list of photos i geotagged on the world map:
http://flickr.com/photos/noeluap/map/

Oh, rugged coast!

2006-09-07T22:43:00.000+08:00

i think it's really refreshing to see a different type of coastline as we made our way northwards. from the beaches of Malibu, the coastline transformed to the rocky, jagged, rugged seaside; complete with waves crashing majestically against the rocks and cliffs. and this is most apparent and breathtaking at Big Sur.

waking up on the 8th of June 2006, a wonderful Thursday, when the rest were all still sleeping like pigs, (yup including our guests on the floor.. hehh) i decided to just take a walk to behind the cabin, where a river ran. (hence the name riverside cabins!)

shot some photos and you know just exploring around on my own.

here's the cabin, with our car in front of it:

we didn't really have breakfast after that.. just a quick coffee and maybe some yogurt then we were travelling back down south to see the coastline in the sunlight. =]

look at that! just look at that!!! fuiyoh!

and our newfound friends together with us:

wow as i was just looking at the photos.. it's really kinda surreal. like, whoa. that's such an awesome sight. i wanna live there. wake up every morning to a sight like that. sweeeeettt. haha

and one of my favorite photos!

sigh....

hehe so then we proceeded on for brunch! and a whopping nice one at that! haha
check out that USD10 burger + soup!!

and then on it was to one of the best places on the west coast we went to: Point Lobos! Deriving its name from the offshore rocks at Punta de los Lobos Marinos, Point of the Sea Wolves, where the sound of the sea lions carries inland, the reserve has often been called "the crown jewel of the State Park System."

if you squint and imagine a bit, you can see the seals, sea lions and birds yonder in the picture below.. haha =] (actually the sea lions are out of the picture...haha)

and yup, the sea lions are really really noisy! haha u can hear them for miles around.. hehh. Pt Lobos was really scenic.. the photos really don't do justice to the place. I guess it's cos it was a gloomy day.. so the shadows are kinda diffuse and don't really look 3-dimensional. Hehh.

then we bumped into these few deers.. they were erm, dunno whether u call it grazing or what, but ya, they were like, eating grass. haha. was following them to squeeze of some good shots of them..

oh ya this is the bird island.. hehe.. check out the beaks of the birds.. look closely and u can see the color.. pretty interesting. at first we were like.. erm, v nice meh?? black black birds.. at least not noisy like crows.. hehe. oh but definitely smelly like crazy.. haha you smell em before u see em

there were a few beaches also.. had to like climb far far down to get to the beach one.. hehe.. like a bit secluded and all.. and nice emerald sea.. yup it was pretty clear too.. but freeeeezzzinggg water.. hehe

this was the one ruimin and ernest climbed down to:

hmm ok i think this is a lot for 1 post. i shall continue talking about the rest of the day in a further post. hohoho.

we arrived in Monterey pretty early actually.. before the sunset! haha.

on the way, up the PCH first!

2006-09-06T11:12:00.000+08:00

7th June 2006, Wednesday

so we set off for our great road trip!

i was plenty excited. I mean, we've been planning this since ages ago and it has at last really come to a realisation. Of course, also looking forward to the many hours of revving that V6 engine.. haha. but it was more of going out to see the unknown, enjoying God's creation in nature...

we started by going up the PCH and stopping by Point Dume in Malibu, Pepperdine University and then Santa Barbara next. (yes i realised many know "Santa Barbara" as a line of clothing. haha) filled our tummies with the yummy fish and chips and we were on our way.

we were headed to Big Sur for the night but guess our estimates were a bit off. Ended up at Pedros Blancas for sunset. This here was a point that supposedly had lotsa sea lions there (or was it seals? hmm) but we didn't really see any. The coastline was changing as we went north: the nice flat beaches at Malibu, gentle, sloping, yet with cliffs hugging the coastline already. The PCH sat between them: the ocean and the cliffs. So you can just imagine us as we travelled up north, the Pacific on the left, and the hills on the right. Sometimes the highway took us inland, where we saw fields of hay, fields of whatever else they were planting. haha. And of course, COWS. haha. or as I put it, walking steaks and hamburgers!! we also caught sight of some of those high-tech windmills, the first time i saw them in real life.

hehh just something i realised when i was taking the backseat in the car, as i was fiddling with the iBook:

Piedras Blancas was magnificent. we were yearning to see a sunset with the sun dipping directly into the ocean and we were rewarded with one, and with a clear sky at that. Really nice. It was freezing with the coastal wind though, and now quite a 1 or 2 hundred miles north from where we were previously too.

look at that yellow ball of fire:

after that was a super windy road hugging the coast, which had a magnificent view of the Pacific, well what we could make out from the little light we had from the already-set sun. it had a high elevation, so we could really see a big chunk of the ocean. it was as awe-inspiring when the moon rose and lit the earth with its reflected rays. amazing, just amazing. sigh.

we arrived at our little wooden cabin at about 10pm, nice and cosy it was. was asking directions at first for the place and we asked this couple who were sleeping in their car. they were low on gas (erm, petrol.) so also asked us whether there were any gas stations further south where we came from. but there were none open at that hour for at least 50-70 miles, so they decided to continue to just sleep in their car. haha. in the end we invited them to use the floor of our cabin with their sleeping bags. hehh they were a danish couple, a few years younger than us and waiting to go to university. they had like 3 months in the US and were just bumming around. how shiok!

ok think i'll continue in the next post! till then.

edit:
i found the picture of the windmills!

oops, i did it again

2006-09-06T10:52:00.000+08:00

*brushes the cobwebs off the blog yet again*

i apologise. hehe. the student internship has taken its toll: halting normal life to a standstill. i don't know bout you working class people, but doing 8-5 and coming home after that just leaves me w/ the feeling that i just wanna relax and enjoy myself. who cares about emails, who cares about other people's blogs, who cares about everything else man. i'd rather just sit by myself, watching some tv programme, a movie or just playing some game; or even sleep sounds better than going onto MSN and getting hounded by people. haha. sorry, mucking around all that blood, saliva, urine and sometimes feces has gotten to me. (yes, i hate the smell of those latex gloves.)

another reason why i haven't blogged is cos i'm suppose to continue about my US trip. and each entry requires more effort than just coming here and hammering out more text y'know. what will all the copying and pasting from flickr for the photos.

so anyways, here it is (i hope i remember most of it accurately.hahaha):

5th June Monday
went down to the hospital to take some photos, pose in our white coats and all. haha.
ok, this wasn't the most proper photo, but just to give u an idea. hahaha

and this is how i looked most days, of course with the stethoscope (whether or not it was in use, sometimes it's just to signify that you're a doctor/healthcare personnel.. hehh)

and then up to the rest of UCLA:

we headed over to Universal studios nearing noon... at first i was a bit reluctant to go cos i felt that there wasn't much to see, but oh well, think it was quite refreshing to go once again. the images in my mind from 10+ years ago have kinda become more mucky and blurred. hehe. wanted to see K.I.T.T. (from knight rider) again but seems they took him away.

but here's the DeLorean instead:

and if you guys caught Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift, you'd recognise this car:

yea well, so it was pretty fun in the end, to just go through the backstage tour again. seeing beloved Jaws come out again. hehe it was the same tour, (so many years still the same!!) but with some stuff different, especially the newer films that were done. ya, stuff like the desperate housewives set.. they really built the whole neighbourhood for the show. hehh.

left the studios and had wanted to dabao subway go Hollywood bowl (this open air amphitheatre) and sit somewhere and eat. but in the end ruimin and ernest got infatuated by a saxophonist at the universal city walk. i kinda like the atmosphere at the universal city walk (don't know whether i mentioned b4 regarding the first time we went there). it's open air, like a mall, but more concentrated and dedicated compared to santa monica promenade. quite a lot of youth hanging out in the area, not just the tourist crowd that goes to the universal studios.

ended the day by just dropping by Hollywood and then the Walt Disney Concert Hall. hehh, just had to show ernest and cailing this architectural wonder. =] Hollywood was so-so. Though it's just someplace we needta just go. but in the end there's nothing much at Hollwood actually. hehh.

6th June Tuesday

Disneyland! the must-go. though some might say we a bit old liao. hehh, but still must go la hor. well, it's a good thing they have this advance ticketing system thingie. you get a ticket for a time later in the day to visit that particular ride, so in the meantime you don't have to stand in the queue for like 45min-1hour, and can try something else that might have a shorter queue (or as the Americans say: a shorter line. hehh)

but still, it was a bit of rushing ride to ride and after 1 or 2 rides we broke off from ruimin and ernest so that it was easier to just do what we want. we must have walk through the center area umpteen times. my favorite is still toontown. hehh. still remember the prison with the rubber bars! love it.

the day ended with magnificent fireworks that photos will never do justice, so i shan't try. took lotsa videos though. hehh if i could i would show u. (hmm maybe can hor, youtube?) disneyland really burning money, they have these fireworks every single night! and it's not short either. i would think at least 10-15min worth of fireworks. really nice.

finished off the day at like 10+. wanted to go back early so that we could prepare to push off from LA. but there was some miscomm and while Cailing & I were sitting in the car park waiting, we saw Ernest walking towards us alone. Haha no Ruimin didn't get abducted/kidnapped.. they just got separated and Ernest decided to come back to the car to see whether Ruimin did the same. But apparently she was waiting back at the disney store and looking for him there. Oh well.

got back to our apartment and then packed and all and by the time we were mostly done it was prolly 1-2am? then Cailing and I went over to Ralph's (the supermarket. i almost forgot the name liao. haha) to shop for water.... haha. but we had a good time just browsing and looking at junk food too. Cailing still mentions to me now and then that she misses grocery shopping at 3am with me. Hehh. I told her next time i bring her to Cold Storage Holland V. -_-'" but different la. Ralphs is huge. And it's really pleasurable to shop there. nice big aisles and high ceiling. hmm i think ruimin has a picture of ralphs somewhere... (yes.. she purposely brought the camera in there to take photo... )

by the way, here's the car we rented, sigh, i miss him so; the huge handsome face, the electric controlled driver's seat, the V6 engine especially...

at last!

2006-07-02T09:46:00.000+08:00

so at last they join us! ruimin's boyfriend, ernest; and Cailing! arrived about 3pm on that Saturday (june 3rd), picked them up from the airport with our spanking new rental. haha.

sped off to griffith park to let them have a view of Los Angeles, especially when it was such a clear day, could get an excellent view of the city.

then dragged our two jetlagged friends down back to Santa Monica. walked around the crowded pier, with the crowded beach; and a stroll on the promenade. sigh, the atmosphere is really something. missing it!

4th June, Sunday

brought Cailing to Westwood Hills Church in the morning. thereafter, we made our way down to San Diego! haha. at first we just wanted to hang out at the Orange County beaches or something but in the end decided, since it'll take about 1 hour to get to the OC, might as well take another 45min-1hr to get to San Diego... hehh

met up with Fong Ming again, took him to lunch at a chinese restaurant. not bad la.. i think i really miss chinese food liao. conditioned taste buds or something. haha.

then it was over to Coronado beach which ruimin is absolutely infatuated with. hehh. kick back, relax. =] oh oh, it was really nice, we approached this stall selling Dippy Dots, which is ice-cream made into little little spheres. (i think we have something similar but it's just those frozen syrup type.. Dippy Dots is ice-cream) wanted to buy but the lady was like," i'm closing up anyways, i'm not gonna take your money". w00t! shiok.. two large Dippy Dots for free!! (think cost like about $8 per cup) blessings! =]

we then made our way to La Jolla, around sunset time; the seals were there, the birds were there, but the wind was really chilly! haha.. i think i've been there long enough for my body to slowly accept the cold but cailing really couldn't take it.. hehe.. i guess i was like that too when i first arrived..

dinner was in-n-out! if i remember correctly..! haha. drove through and bought our favorite burgers and fries.

hmm, the post seems to be more photographic rather than wordy. haha but it's ok i guess. there are more photos for after Cailing and Ernest joined us here. and all my USA photos are here.

San Diego.. Again!

2006-07-02T09:24:00.000+08:00

May 27th, Saturday

realise i didn't blog about this yet! so that saturday i was bugging xiuling regarding whether there was anything happening.. haha. and they were going down to San Diego! so they kindly agreed to accomodate me and ruimin to go down with them. (though i've been there and ruimin's been there like, countless times. hahaha. she went down on her own, hung out with her friends.)

so set off pretty late cos andrew and xiuling was eating dimsum with his parents. hehe. well a bit enjoy taking the backseat and just go along with whatever plans they had.. was also nice to just go sightseeing with xiuling around..

went down to Old Town San Diego, which i haven't been before. pretty nice rustic feel.

while waiting for places in the mexican restaurant, we walked past this place with beer served in yard long glasses. pretty cool.. hehh.

we got like two half-yard glasses (and there was 1 free cos someone else ordered wrongly) which is like 2 pints in each glass. hehh.

snacks along the way:

and then finally at the mexican restaurant for dinner. was pretty good. had a tonne of tortilla chips (nachos) as usual.. haha..

after that we went for beer again!! hahaha.. at yardhouse, over in downtown, the gaslamp district.. it was also served in those half-yard glasses. hehh. oh we had this shot of "chocolate dessert" which was a clear drink, but tasted delightfully sweet too. was a nice time, just chilling.

this people are crazy. later on they wanted beer again! and said how nice it would be to drink on the beach or something. so we went off to 7-11 and got a KEG, A KEG of heineken. (you know, the 5L kegs you see) haha but waddya know, when we got to La Jolla Beach, it was too freaking cold to even stand outside the car, let alone wanting to sit around drinking COLD beer. hahahaha.

oh ya, the initial plan was just a day trip down to San Diego. but by the time we were at dinner, we switched it to "Brad, can we stay over..?" hahahaha

so the next day, May 28th, Sunday, we popped over to La Jolla Cove, also for breakfast.

was suprised to know that seals beach there! fong ming (the guy who showed us around the last time we were in san diego) didn't know that they were still around.. he thot they weren't around for the season.. hehh..

and then it was onto the highlight of the day!!! BREAKFAST!!! hahaha. why, what about breakfast you ask.. well i think it was the best (and most expensive) breakfast i ever had.. it's this english style place, which we had to wait an hour for seats. the breakfast generally cost like about USD10 for an entree. yes, that expensive. hehe.

i took salmon omelettes. delicious i tell you! 3 eggs, nicely done, with sweet succulent salmon chunks, with onions, tomatoes. beautiful, just beautiful. i wanna try making on my own liao. hehehe.

they also have this "coast toast", which is actually just french toast. but you know, it being a USD10 french toast, it definitely was good. the texture was like a souffle. just totally melts in your mouth. and it didn't have that strong eggy, oily taste like our normal french toast either. just the right amount of taste.

phew. so that kinda concluded our day(s) in San Diego. hehe. ruimin joined her cousin after that so she didn't join us for breakfast and her cousin drove her up a day later.

Birds and the bees

2006-06-14T22:55:00.000+08:00

haha yes, nature at all its glory has been with me these few days. in Yosemite that is. and also before that in the Big Sur area and right before Monterey. sigh. really really really lovely and just magnificent.

i love San Francisco too! in fact i think i love it more than LA. Will update more details once i get all the photos and all properly in and up in flickr. Also when i have time!!! haha. too busy going to see stuff and going around. don't wanna waste time mucking around with the laptop too much either. it's enough time spent uploading the pictures from the camera onto the laptop already...hehh

so yesterday cut short our hike!! really really -really- wanted to hike up to the top of half-dome (16mile round trip, 10-16 hours) but we got there late and everyone was tired including me so we just hiked up to the top of Nevada Falls (amazing amazing, magnificent views and experience! soaking wet!!! haha) which was still pretty strenous, 8mile round trip, 600m ascent, took us altogether 6 hours, including stop-to-take-photo and also sitting at the river just to slack. haha.

well well okok i'll update in detail when i get back!! wait wait wait. hahaha.. =P

on to the eastern side of yosemite after white water rafting today! and then on to death valley, vegas and the grand canyons!!

the bummer thing about yosemite is that both west and eastern gates are closed. so we have to drive v far to get to the south entrance and into the main yosemite areas.. sigh

Central Coast!

2006-06-09T23:43:00.000+08:00

haha nope i'm not gonna talk about it yet. just blogging cos i've not been on internet since like, tuesday? So now i'm in Monterey! Beautiful nice little town with nice seafood and wonderous clam chowder. (thanks Jerrine! haha)

just a little note to all that i'm safe and sound and enjoying myself! haha. Big Sur was beautiful, so is the handsome car we're driving around. A tad dirty though.. Hehh. Take care all!

the rental

2006-06-04T03:14:00.000+08:00

3.5-liter high-output V6 engine
250 horsepower, 250 lb-ft of torque
Five-speed AutoStick® transmission
Power windows, locks, and mirrors
4-wheel Antilock disc brakes with All-Speed Traction Control

how shiok! free upgrade!

puny puny juggernaut.

2006-06-03T13:15:00.000+08:00

caught xmen 3. hmm what to say.. was anticipating disappointment but wasn't v disappointed. was ok-ish i guess. no nice climax to the show though.. and juggernaut is so PUNY!! goodness. tmy is bigger than him lor.juggernaut!!! jing gong jing gong jing gong...!!!!

sigh. the theatre didn't even check for tickets.. shudn't have bought.. hahaha. oh well. but i was thinking, aiya integrity la. shud pay ma. but still like... URGH. they didn't check ler.. cud've saved USD9.

but i wanted to watch in cinema la.. by the time reach singapore, not showing in theatres liao...

12 hours in an apple store.

2006-06-02T02:53:00.000+08:00

so this guy from the Laptop magazine decides to spend 12 hours in the new apple store near Central Park, New York which is open 24/7/365. pretty hilarious.

click here to read it.

1:00 a.m.: Someone is walking to all of the iPod speaker docks, turning on the same Gwen Stefani song really loud. I am following closely behind, turning the music off. It's only 1:00 a.m., and I have officially done my good deed for the day. Suck it, Orange County.

hahahaha

up the PCH

2006-05-31T05:34:00.000+08:00

the Pacific Coast Highway that is... on Saturday, 20th May 2006

so ya, was on the road again.. final destination was Santa Barbara, about 100+ miles northwest of LA. enroute wanted to take a look at Malibu and its famed beaches.

haha of course, being able to do a left-hand drive warranted an Initial-D pose:

stopped by Pepperdine University which we read is really nice. caught them on their graduation day though we couldn't get close enough to take any pictures. it's like built atop the hills next to the ocean which gives a really spectacular view..

(yup, the bluish part of the "sky" is actually the ocean.. there's a really huge chunk of it you can see cos of the elevation..)
the campus' really nice. i mean, with the ocean down there, and the hills and canyons behind you; nice buildings, nice cool air, how more shiok can it get?? we even saw deers like just walking around on campus. -_-'"

then on we went, towards the west where the surfer's roam. haha. this here is Zuma Beach:

nice wide stretch of beach with great waves. getting a bit jaded after seeing the same kind of beach again and again. haha. i prefer the clear type that is the tropical beach. =] i miss Krabi! haha

people getting married! ruimin's dream.. though only doable in places like this which has much much more cooler weather. otherwise hafta wear like hawaiian shirt + berms & the bride wear like a sarong or a wraparound. haha. hmm actually not too shabby the idea... who cares about the traditional tux + white gown huh. hehh

and then drove over and attempted to park at this place which only has like 8 parking lots. in the end took turns waiting in the car and scrambling up the hill to check out the magnificent 360deg view atop Point Dume:

eventually got to Santa Barbara like about 1? suprised to see a volleyball championship going on and crowds crowds crowds. they were all out in the sun, in their beachwear, the guys topless and the girls in their bikinis. haha. summer is here! thankful that the weather was nice that day. nice wispy clouds and all..

and then they also have a nice wharf out there. with people fishing and doing stuff people do on wharfs. wanted to just dabao fish&chips from this "atas" looking restaurant called moby dick cos it only costs like $4.95 if you do a take away. but they were like u wanna come in? and said it was only 6.95 and was a bigger portion. so in the end we got tempted by the clam chowder which we heard might b good. (wasn't so sure.. think it might b Monterey that has the famous one instead. but anyways, prolly good all the way up till SF.. haha.. ooh.. Jerrine was telling me about cheap lobsters.... anticipation!!) so there we sat, and ruimin says this is her best meal in the 32 days we've been in the US. haha.

hungry & lazy dude (ok so same goes for the picture above):

ended up at this beach the visitor info said was a nice one, it was the only one that lets people bring their dogs there. so saw a bunch of doggies. i was tempted by the waves and decided to jump in, just to let the waves crash over me. like i did in the indian ocean in Sri Lanka. So now i can say i've been in the Pacific Ocean, proper. haha.

returned to Point Dume after leaving Santa Barbara to try and catch sunset. Sadly it set behind some clouds so it wasn't tt great. thankfully didn't get caught by police cos we left the car near the parking lot but not exactly in a lot. saw the police writing a summon for a car parked like 100m away from ours. ran back just in time before the police came by. there were others just parked there too but i guess better to be safe than sorry...

really don't understand why don't they make a nice carpark here or make it more accessible. it's such a nice vantage point. there were like surfers going down from this place all the way down to the beach and surfing there. i have a video clip.. maybe i'll try to upload it to youtube or something. hehh.

blogged on Tuesday, 30th May 2006, 1500hours Pacific Time.

Griffith Park

2006-05-30T10:20:00.000+08:00

Friday, 19th May 2006

Grabbed the car, was hoping to get it earlier but in the end was still hung back until almost 3 till we got the car. Oh well, busy weekends it seemed for them. No idea why either... So this time we got a nicer car, a Chevy Cobalt. seemed bigger and more spacious. the interior felt nicer too.. suspensions better. haha. the sad thing was that the windows still had to be manually wound down though. sad. hahaha. (remember cailing was fascinated by the vintage beetle's manual windows.. hehh)

yup here's the black stallion:

and me with my new shades. really had to get shades la. it's like, super bright and glaring. dangerous to drive like that you know... that was in the parking lot near the trailhead where we started. sadly, the observatory was still closed, otherwise it's really nice to just loiter around and also to stargaze in the night...

the trails pretty nice.. with lotsa wild flowers and a wonderful view. too bad it was foggy/smoggy/cloudy.. otherwise would've seen a fantastic view of LA. think suppose to be able to see the ocean also. sad. could see the hollywood sign slightly more close-up. was really beginning to fog up though at that time. so this is kinda all i got:

yup i personally saw that the sign spoke the truth! i saw a rattlesnake!! didn't whip out the camera fast enough to catch it though.. i saw its head first.. then it started to slither away till i saw its tail and i was like "whoaaa!" rattlesnake! (nope didn't see any lions.)

so nice right.. can just stroll around such a nice place. never really have a place with such high elevation tt's so easily accessible back home.. singapore or KL.

here's a little of what we could see near the top:

had some car trouble after that..! locked the keys in the car. goodness gracious. thankfully had these two ladies that we initially borrowed a hanger from them (i have no idea why they have a hanger in the car, but anyways..) and later on she was nice and called AAA for us, so we didn't had to pay a charge for them to unlock the car. the AAA guy did it in like 2 sec flat with a slim jim.

so we tagged along with them to this sushi place. and treated them to dinner lah, just to thank them for waiting with us and calling AAA. the sushi was gr8! one of the best ones i had. like both in terms of taste and presentation. think i took a while to realise that, hey! this is california! and there's sushi named "california roll"! haha. wasn't extremely pricey also. a prawn tempura udon was $6.50 and the soft shell crab roll was about $10 (like 5 pieces of roll and 2 halves of a crab sitting there too).

that concludes the day! i'm blogging this at 7:45pm, 29th May 2006...

San Diego Part 2

2006-05-25T05:19:00.000+08:00

so after Children's Beach, we left for Balboa Park near downtown. it kinda has a collection of museums and stuff but we didn't go into any. just walked around looking at the buildings and the trees and lawns and stuff you know. relax relax. hehe.

seems lotsa people use that place for wedding photos..

cute huh. hehe actually their parents are getting married. ya, like to each other. so after this they're brother and sister. feels weird, this type of thing happening. hehh.

here's ruimin and fongming just chillin' hehh. (more like posing. hahaha)

so then the evening was coming up real fast already so we went over to this island called Coronado Island which has a pretty nice beach o'er there. Real nice fine sand. Has this really old hotel o'er there that's really nice too. Apparently some parts of "wizard of oz" was written right in that hotel. cool huh.

and of course, you guys knowing me, how to resist shooting off sunset photos? hehe.

Click to view large!

Shiok right, how nice it would be to live here, and do this like every other day:

we ended off the day at SD with a nice italian dinner with fongming's friends. Even had Ivan Ho our classmate who was doing elective at UCSD join us. haha. Hilarious fella. sadly he's bored to death down there at SD....

Oh not all the photos i upload onto Flickr is up here on this blog too. So if you'd like to see them, click here for the San Diego photoset; and this here is the USA photoset.

this was blogged on Wednesday 24th May 2006 at 2:20pm Pacific time!

San Diego Part 1

2006-05-24T14:55:00.000+08:00

road trip down to San Diego! almost 200miles away from where we stay at Westwood?

this happened on Saturday, May 13th 2006! haha. yes i'm behind the blogging.

so at first the reason why we wanted to go down was that UCSD had this "sun-god festival" thing happening on Friday. but in the end we gave it a miss. anyways the traffic was bad, couldn't make it in time anyways. so saturday only drive down. arrived like at about 1pm? promptly got the car keys locked in the car. goodness. first time carjacked. took a clothes hanger and pulled the car lock up succesfully. was like whooping for joy when the thing popped up lor! amazing.

we met with ruimin's friend fongming who studies at UCSD. in the end he drove us around since he knows the place. we dropped by La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya!) Cove which is quite a classy place with nice restaurants and stuff. and beaches. and caves. and people scuba-ing and snorkelling and kayaking. or just hanging around. pretty nice atmosphere. thank God for the wonderful sunny weather that day. the sky was amazingly blue. nice.

went for lunch then went south of La Jolla coves. Children's something. can't remember. later check. haha. got nice cliffs and stuff there.

hmm ok i think i shall continue again another time. 12:15am now. 23rd May 2006 Pacific time. here's the San Diego photoset.

edit: the beach/cliffside area is called "Children's Beach", still in La Jolla. =]

LA beaches

2006-05-24T14:36:00.000+08:00

woah i'm like so behind in the blogging.

ok so this was like on Friday 12th May 2006!
Rented a car mainly to go down San Diego but decided not to go down on Friday. Good thing too, cos by the time we got the car (they had overwhelming rentals that weekend.. mother's day weekend) it was like 4+ and when we tried to go onto the highway to go down to the Orange County (the OC! haha) beaches, it was all jammed up. Anyways i heard no matter what, Friday's a crazy day for driving on the highways no matter what time.

so we decided to take a look at the beaches nearer to our place but further down the coast. they were so-so.. think weather was cold so pretty gloomy and un-sunny so wasn't that great a day for beaches or piers. but enjoyed ourselves nevertheless. like there were views to see and all. and first time driving left-hand side. keeping to the right side of the road. haha. the problem at first was i kept veering to the right. you know the centre of the car is like on the other side now so your sense of the car being within your lane is like totally off.. haha. and next i realise i totally ignored the main rear view mirror. instead, i kept using the side view mirror. haha. and kept looking back instead. l8r on only kept reminding myself the mirror is on the right. but otherwise it was a nice way to start off that weekend, just more leisurely and less stress. haha. like practice for the next day.

yup we dabao subway and found a spot to eat. wasn't tt gr8, at first thot can see sunset and eat, but was like foggy and cloudy. sad. but the view was good la. hehh.

dropped by a few piers and all then made our way back. then like cos we had the car, can go supper a distance away. read about this place called "The Apple Pan" which serves burgers mainly. they have pies too. wasn't as fantastic as we thought. just you know, decent. but expensive. think selling point is ambience. hehe.

blogged on Tuesday 23rd May 2006, 11:50pm Pacific Time. =]

Solitude

2006-05-17T07:13:00.000+08:00

Wednesday afternoon, 10th May 2006

So, as usual, got off early (after the short talk after rounds.. which went well, hopefully not too comprehensive review of neuroblastomas. haha), and took off to Santa Monica beach to just chill out. The sun was nice and good when i left Westwood but i guess the coast is always kinda cloudy this period. So had alternating sun and cloudy type of weather going on but still..

Lazed at the beach when the sun was out and got a nice tan. I had to like lie nicely flat on the sand otherwise if i sat up, the wind would b too cold for me to tahan.. haha. Some crazy people nearby were running into the ocean and doing silly stuff.

Later on walked back to Santa Monica promenade just to walk around, window shop a bit. (was thinking of getting a quicksilver t-shirt that had like "Santa Monica" or "California" or "Los Angeles" written on it.. but i kinda only fit into the small size. which was rare to have nice designs. sien. price is ok at about USD20)

Walked around and saw the birds on the beach and tried to get some photos:

i dunno.. i just enjoy being alone sometimes. yet, i recharge with being talkative and boisterous, being the centre of attention in a group. in fact, sometimes i crave alone time if i spend too much time with people around. like, the fact i prefer to have my own room to do my own things at night. kinda also a "recharging time" back home... yet, i also crave to just hang and chill with people, talk talk talk. hehh was thinking who else is like this and quanwei came to mind.

Beverly Hills, Downtown & Concert Hall

2006-05-17T06:08:00.000+08:00

This was like on Saturday 6th May 2006

dropped by Beverly Hills before La Brea Tar Pits. Nothing much, though Ruimin liked the atmosphere. I thot it was norrrmaaall la. Hehe, just some boutiques and "atas" places.

So after the short stay at the tar pits on Saturday we went over to downtown to take a look. The subway's pretty interesting. It doesn't have like a gate of some sort where you insert tickets and all. Supposedly sometimes they check whether you bought a ticket. So i really don't know whether the locals do buy them. I did see like a few of them get tickets but not like everyone. But i'm not sure whether they just don't buy tickets or they're like us, who bought day passes from buses or something (USD3 for a day.)

And then we walked up to Walt Disney Concert Hall and on the way popped into the Central Market. It's similar, yet foreign to the markets we have back home. Probably cos different faces, different signages and all. I liked the sawdust they sprinkle all over the floor. Not exactly sure of the function but guess it sticks up all the dirt and moisture, so it's like dry rather than wet like the "wet markets" we have back home? Then they just sweep up the sawdust when it closes.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Pretty impressive! The lighting wasn't as fantastic as I would've liked at sunset though. Thought it would look better. The photos came out still pretty white-washed. Oh well. Wonderful architecture and loved the little garden or park they had on the empty space on the 2nd or 3rd floor. Do click the picture above for all my photos of the concert hall. (ya..really snapped off a lot)

Popped over to Universal Citywalk which is next to Universal Studios in the late evening. Nice open air shopping mall. A LOT of people. There was like a huge queue to go into the carpark. And lotsa ppl just chilling. Movies, games, bars, pubs, eateries; all kinds of stuff.

And ya, on the way back, dropped by Hollywood to change to a bus (which sadly didn't take us all the way home.. had to call our housemate to pick us up cos we were like stranded somewhere). Saw this guy with a python, offering photos for tips. So took the oppurtunity to touch & hold a python. Where else could you get to do that for so cheap? (we gave USD1 each) Entrance to a zoo would cost dunno how much liao..

So ya, this is like late entry for last last weekend cos was like working on the short talk i had to give and all. And what more with 2 persons sharing a laptop. Hehh.

Posted on 1530 Tuesday 16th May 2006, Pacific Time. =]

seeing stars everywhere

2006-05-11T10:39:00.000+08:00

saw this dude in the hospital today..whoaa

Wednesday 10th May 2006

Reliving my childhood fascination

2006-05-09T08:44:00.000+08:00

La Brea Tar Pits - Saturday (6th & 7th May 2006)

went on Saturday to take a look first.. then didn't have much time cos went over to downtown and also up to university citywalk which i'll talk about in my next post. returned on Sunday cos there was a dog walk & adoption thing going on so why not, just take a look! hehh. i took the oppurtunity to go into the museum at the tar pits cos just knew i'd like to see all the fossils of the ice age animals and stuff.

turned out i not only liked it but it was like a rekindling of the boyhood fascination of all things extinct. especially of dinosaurs. (but nah, there're no dinosaurs dug up at the tar pits. it trapped and suffocated animals that were around 35 millions years ago and more recent, so only ice age animals mostly)

ya the picture up there looks like the whole thing is icky, gooey tar right? but nah, just like you, i was fooled. hehe was kinda disappointed cos i thot the whole lake was tar but nah, it's just a lake of water with tar on the surface. but yup it's pretty extensive already; the whole park kinda have tar popping up all over the place. even the pavement outside. hehe

so yea, basically photodocumented the whole museum and the exhibits. haha but shall just show the more aesthetically pleasing ones here and on flickr. the standard mammoth was there; of course the ferocious looking California Sabre-Tooth (not a tiger, but a cat!!), American Lions, Deers, Bison, birds and all kinds of cool fossils. Really fascinating. =]

it's interesting to go see this type of thing now cos i think especially after the added medical knowledge, i ask different questions than before, and learn things that a 8 or 10 yr old kid wouldn't. like bone age determination for the age of the animal that was fossilised; we use this for humans! like how the sabre-tooth cat has pre-adolescent teeth and then the adult ones come out later. oops i didn't upload that picture. nah lazy, nevermind.

hehh. just fascinated.

blogged on Monday 6pm Pacific Time.

needta read up and organise stuff for a short talk i'd b giving on neural crest tumors. prolly won't blog until after that. o well.

Misc.

2006-05-09T07:45:00.000+08:00

just some stuff that don't really fit into the weekend trips. haha.

Food:
think it's been lotsa burgers that i feature on the blog haha but nah i've been surviving more on pasta than burgers. in fact getting tired of burgers since normally would only have them like once in 1 or 2 weeks if not a month. the burgers in singapore not tt great la, neither in fastfood joints in KL. prolly the best burgers were self made at home when i was in secondary sch. hehh.

been whacking salads after not being able to have consistent veggies in my diet so bought a bunch of lettuce, spinach, beans, corn, carrots and olives. here's the result:

eat them with most meals at home. =] i like the beans mostly. think joel & zoe would know. hehe.

and here's the bolognese:

this one didn't turn out that gr8 cos not salty/tasty enuff. or maybe we just had too much spag noodles.. sien. i still find it hard to judge how much to cook. haha. scared too little, scared too much.

okok, here's the burger whacking picture, hahahaha:

and, my really consistent diet, coca-cola:

yup, those are 2L bottles of them. i drink them cos during the road trip later i want to bring like water around you know. it's not cos i like coke. RIGGGHHHHHTTTTT. hahaha

ok these two were not in my camera so didn't upload them before.

click on the flower to see some other stuff i zoomed in on:

healthcare differences?

2006-05-05T11:29:00.000+08:00

"Soon after, Sylvia Lim, the Chairperson of the Workers Party, took the stage and spoke in English. For the next 10 minutes, she dealt with just one topic, hammering the point home. She spoke about rising healthcare costs, and how, instead of thinking of ways to help people, the government was thinking of ways to limit the use of subsidies.

Even if you're prepared to put up with C class wards (the lowest of three categories of comfort), she said, you might not get C class. The government has already indicated that they would implement means-testing. Only the truly needy would get C class, she told the crowd."

from http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2006/yax-581.htm

please lor, have been hearing from the american doctors here regarding their insurance coverage issues and all. singaporeans have much better coverage of healthcare and access to healthcare compared to the americans overall.. it is always almost granted a singaporean can at least get oneself to a tertiary hospital for treatment whereas americans w/o proper insurance coverage have a hard time finding access to healthcare, hence ending up presenting very late in the disease. of course leading to poorer prognosis.

"A Day Without Immigrants": May 1, 2006

2006-05-02T12:52:00.000+08:00

"A Day Without Immigrants": May 1, 2006,
originally uploaded by seamusfurr.

whoa. pretty much most US cities with immigrants have this type of scene today.

don't know whether i should've gone to look or prolly better to have stayed at home. hehe. but they didn't turn violent or what. just peaceful protesting.

weird weather

2006-05-02T08:10:00.000+08:00

so the weekend has been showing me weird weird weather. i wake up to gloomy, cloudy skies and by 2pm the sun shines like crazy but then it hides behind clouds again during late afternoon like 4 or 5 and then it becomes like really really cold especially at the beach where there's a chilly wind blowing.

apparently (i saw this on the news) there's a air current blowing in from the pacific and it's like carrying lotsa clouds and all so there're coastal clouds and ya, i personally saw the fog and clouds that could oh-so-sadly remove that wonderful, glorious sunshine that i miss. sorry i cannot tahan cold that well..hehehe.

Friday 28th April 2006
friday saw us at SaMo (Santa Monica) Promenade + Pier again cos I felt like we just needed to hang out at the promenade, soak in the atmosphere. Of course Ruimin was hoping to see her hamsome cello player. haha. ended up at Johnny Rockets whacking some of the old 80s style burgers and ambience. a bit pricey but just go once, see how's it like.

ya they have the similar jukebox as billy bombers back in singapore. hehh.

along 3rd Street Promenade. love the reflection.

and then we head to the pier to just check out the lights at night. see whether nicer or anything. hehh

these dudes are like fishing all, the, time!

Saturday 29th April 2006
ya, so like Saturday we were all ready to go down to Venice Beach to take in the sights and hopefully the sun was out and all so it'll b nice to just hang out but nooooo, even by noon it was like cloudy and all so in the end decided to go down to hollywood and waddya know, when we got there the sun came out. sien.

but anyways had a nice time just chilling out at hollywood. it's so-so for me cos i've been there before (all i remember was the chinese theatre and a bunch of stars on the walkway and some signatures, handprints and footprints in cement...haha prolly didn't interest 10-yr-old me.) but Ruimin hasn't seen Hollywood so. but she commented that ya it's like kinda small and so-so only too.

and then lunch was at California Pizza Kitchen: in California! how shiok. haha. never tried it in Singapore but well it is pretty good. decent pricing too. like me and ruimin shared a pizza tt was about USD11 and then i got a cuppa coffee (free refills!!) for 2 bucks. of course this type of places got additional burden of having to tip but in the end tax is 8%, tips is about 15%. decent la, for pizza.

and then it was o'er to Venice Beach cos the sun was like so nice?! but we had trouble with the buses cos we weren't sure and it took like real long to get there. in time for sunset though. the buses travel quite slowly and bus intervals are erratic too.

lotsa couples just hanging out at the pier.

Sunday 30th April 2006
The sun was out at noon! So plans were made for Venice Beach which we heard is an eclectic mix of all kinds of people. It was! haha. Pretty crazy and very very lively crowd and people there. Was getting cold by the time we got there and downright freezing after a while.

Ok before that, in Westwood Village (v closeby where I live) they had a movie premiere! Managed to read about it online that's why we knew bout it. some dreamworks cartoon "over the hedge" which i've never heard of before but oh well, there was Bruce Willis and Avril Lavigne doing the voices (and a bunch of people i don't know) so we hung around a bit waiting to see em. and see em we did! hehh. pretty cool.

a bunch of other close ups if u click on the pic. there's larry king too. bunch of other celebrities' photos i didn't post up on flickr cos i didn't know who they were. lol. haha i felt like a paparazzi after a while cos i switched on the multiexposure mode on the camera and it was going like *click* *click* *click*. got like 100 shots off just at the event itself. prolly like 10+ of each star. haha.

ok ya so after seeing Mr. Willis we left contented at being able to spot another celebrity (ruimin is crazy over the fact she can see her Jennifer Aniston in a few week's time.. erm i don't mind too la. hehe pretty lady ma) we made our way down to Venice Beach. was increasingly chilly so didn't stay too long though.

met a wonderful, friendly couple who just stayed like 1/2 mile from the beach? they were like marching straight down from their place in their wetsuits and surfboards barefoot! haha. bumped into them again at the beach and typically touristly asked them for a photo.

they were real nice! cos i was asking Andrea about where you can get surf lessons and all but she didn't really know but Rob knew. She invited us down to dinner and all if we did drop by Venice again. Rob even volunteered to teach us surfin' if we wanted. cool. don't know whether to take up their offer though.. would love to but a bit paiseh. hehh.

oh ya, beautiful beautiful eyes of this girl (think she was Latino) I saw in the crowd. Mum said ok that i took a pic of her. hehh. guess she can't say no after i kept complimenting her. haha.

really really long post. haha. all the weekend activities. but oh well. guess i'm doing real fine here. a -tiny- bit tired of hospital and all cos it's kinda like going from place to place real fast and esp with all the rounds which sometimes goes over the top of my head. maybe it's just the lack of sleep. but i'm learning a whole lot about heme-onc. and nice exposure to the system here. but yes, they do lament the fact that not everyone has access to good healthcare unlike back home and especially in singapore where there's a good system to make sure even the poor is somewhat covered and has access to tertiary healthcare. o'er here, sometimes cos they can't afford to see a doctor, they just like ignore symptoms and present v late in disease course. really sad.

i've been seeing like almost every every heme-onc disease. from all the sarcomas, blastomas, leukemias and lymphomas to all the blood disorders (they even had a beta thal), and the bone marrow disorders like SCWACHMAN-DIAMOND SYNDROME and stuff, oh ya, there was even this dude with CARDIAC OSTEOSARCOMA. like, what?!???

yup tt's about it. sometimes get like ideas of what to b blogging about but forget after i get to the computer. maybe i shud write some of the stuff down. hehh.

oh ya should timestamp my post since the time is different. wrote this on Monday 1st May 2006 about 5-6pm. Pacific time. =]

coffee, pasta and lodging.

2006-04-27T08:39:00.000+08:00

Wednesday, 26th April 2006

so, got off -pretty- early from hospital today, got back about 3pm so decided to look for a cafe where i can sit down and read. well well, starbucks it was.

later, someone outside left, so i went out to sit since the sun was shining, the temperature was cool, thot it would b nice y'know.

got too chilly after a while so finished up the coffee and went home instead.. =]

this was a few days back:

haha am quite proud of my bolognese. thanks to my dad. but it's quite simple to cook really. i cheat with stuff like butter, olive oil, lotsa herbs and mozzarella cheese.

and my temporary home for 6 weeks!

oh ya lastly, spotted Robin Williams the other day. He was doing the premiere of RV. I've never heard of it before this. apparently the theatres in westwood village near UCLA are where a lot of premieres are held. cool. saw him leaving the area after they had their post-premiere-hang-out-thingie.

nah, didn't manage to whip out our cameras in time to take a photo of him. battery flat anyways.

Doctor doctor..

2006-04-26T10:14:00.000+08:00

so the people with the heme-onc department are real nice. i don't know whether it's a prevalent thing amongst the US doctors or is it just cos i'm a visiting student or this dept is just composed of nice people but whatever it is, whatever anxiety i had about not being able to perform well in front of them have dissipated.. =]

Dr. Moore was my first contact, an Assoc Prof who takes special interest in bone marrow transplants. He basically went through everything with me in regards to the schedule and all. And took me around showing me how to get from where to where then left me with the inpatient team with their morning round (which was conducted in a sit-down setting in the room). Joined the attending (which is like the chief consultant in charge at the moment) for the inpatient service after that. Real nice lady too, Dr Kempert. Bothered explaining to me all the differences and all. She goes around seeing the patients individually and explaining to the parents the plan and all, at the same time seeing the kid and just physically assessing them briefly. i like this. back home it's like the docs just go around in this big team and some consultants are like pompous people just standing there crossing their arms while the HO just "fondles" the patient a bit and then woosh, next patient here we are.

Haha highlights, free lunch every single day! cos they have noon conference and lunch is catered, and today the heme-onc has a exam board review thing and a pharm rep comes in and gives free lunch also. hola! mexican food. gr8. free pen also. as usual. hehehehe.

and today, as expected, was at the outpatient service and acted like the primary consult for a new referral. doubt i can say much about the patient but it was just quite cool to have my clerking sheet and all slotted into the patient's file. saw some other kids, some shy, some quite cool. got a picture of armani here who is totally cute and cool. =] never spoke to a black kid before ma. hehh

edit: i can't get it from my phone into the computer as of now. maybe later.. =]

so, anyways, the time at the hospital is turning out quite fine. except got a lot to read up cos it's a subspecialty and when they go talking about the benefits of this management vs. another type i just stare at them. haha. it's ok i borrowed a book. shall read it. hehh.

oh ya, sunday i saw robin williams. apparently westwood village the cinemas are where a lot of premieres are done. ooh.

Coffee from the coolest places

2006-04-25T08:19:00.000+08:00

In Santa Monica you get your
Coffee from
The coolest places on the
Promenade
Where people dress just so
Beauty so unavoidable everywhere

Sunday 23rd April 2006

haha nah i didn't drink coffee at Santa Monica. Too expensive and rushing for time. But there were plenty of people just hanging. Cafe culture sia. Will go back there and take more photos. I think ruimin tired of my photo taking already. Haha oops.

Santa Monica promenade area is nice! It's like an open air mall with retail outlets on both sides. Jerrine loves it. I love it too. It's more compact compared to Westwood Village and there're much more people. Ya crowds put me off but guess this time it's better cos it's not crowded until very squeezy nor do you perspire at all. (in fact, i was wearing a tshirt, a long sleeve and a jacket over. what a wimp.)

Santa Monica pier is not bad too. Hehh the typical palms and all just make the very nice picture. The beach is so-so. Never seen a beach that extended so much into the land though. like 400-500 metres in-land. It was cloudy until late afternoon though so it was chilly. But guess what, still got people in bikinis!! crazzzyyy. k la 1 or 2 i spotted only. but still, crazyy....

haha it was mainly a phototaking session for me. lotsa nice sights! even hang around long enough to catch the sunset though it wasn't much. then rushed back to meet some singaporeans for some korean food.

oh ya, lunch was in-and-out burger in Westwood Village. beautiful beautiful burgers. and relatively cheap too. =] that was after church at Westwood Hills Christian Church. was a traditional styled service though they did sang one song familiar to me - "Lord I Lift Your Name On High". although just with the guitars. sermon was "Rolling Away The Stones", how cool. our pastor spoke similarly too. really felt God's presence during the service. How great is our God indeed.

Pillows, blanket and UCLA

2006-04-25T07:57:00.000+08:00

So what's the connection? just some stuff that i had to get and also to visit on Saturday (22nd April)

Walked down to this kinda like reject shop type of place. They don't have the proper type of pillows but managed to dig and find one not too shabby, albeit a bit small. cheap cheap USD3. -_-'"

Blankets! amazingly didn't come across it until went into this drugstore (apparently drugstores have this main pharmacy behind and the rest of the shop is like a supermarket. except w/o a lot of the groceries. kinda like a supersized 7-11? the few that i can remember are longs drugs, sav-on drugs and rite-aid. might b familiar to some of u who've been to the states. there was this huge two person beach blanket. think suppose to be those type you lay on the sand. there're even pins to pin in place so it won't fly away. but they're gayly pink and red or red and green. (you of course know which one i bought) $16+ after tax but bo bian, hafta buy otherwise freezing my butt off not a very good idea.

got back our place, made a quick ham + pasta lunch (which cost like $1.50 per person.. haha) then went over to UCLA to look see. wow was i amazed! ok at first when i was at the hospital, it was ok-ish only. cos there're lotsa corridors and no big open spaces within the building which contrasted with singapore hospitals where we have bigger lobbies and all. but anyways there're courtyards (which i didn't really venture, preferring to stay in the warmth of the building.haha) which provide the open space.

the rest of the campus (the parts where we walked around) was really impressive! the entire campus' buildings have red bricks. rui min said it's called red brick school/university or something. very nice feeling just walking around the sprawling campus. the architecture is just nice and detailed. made me really feel that NUS is ugly. whole day renovate still look like dunno what. sigh. k la guess i'm just attracted to the more old, gradeur type of buildings rather than modern, concrete and steel ones that NUS rather builds.

being saturday and all, nobody was in school. seriously NOBODY. ok very very few. they're having midterms coming week and nobody is in school? very different from NUS. but then again a friend from UCLA was telling me they really hardworking also. so maybe they hide somewhere and study. haha.

oh ya met this lady who was doing an event at UCLA. it was a fundraising event, garnering millions of dollars. (evident from the fact almost every building is named after somebody, even the student's health centre. well at least the names are nice sounding. compared to Yong Loo Lin. -_-'") well this lady was just standing there directing traffic and i stopped and asked for the iconic building in UCLA, which she pointed Royce Hall out to me. Got her asking about who we were and all and then she shared about her own story. People here are quite ready to share about themselves and their lives. Interesting. She was a lawyer but got suspended, and to cut the long story short she owes money to the judicial system if she wants to come back to practice and hence she's stuck doing this. quite sad.

Royce Hall (Click to see the rest of the architecture and stuff):

wrote this after coming back from the hosp on Monday, 5pm Pacific time.

MR. BROWN SPOTTED IN LOS ANGELES

2006-04-23T13:54:00.000+08:00

it's cold in here.

2006-04-22T20:03:00.000+08:00

it's 5am here. i woke up and cudn't sleep anymore so decided to just do something like this instead. haha. might b the cold. my hands are cold..they just refuse to stay warm. maybe the whole combination of a weird makeshift pillow and diff timezone and coldness causes the insomnia. hopefully when i get the pillow + blankets later today it'll b better the next time i try to slp. hehh

anyways, some interesting things to mention.. there's a carpark just opp the apartment. it's for the supermarket and all. i saw a ROLLS ROYCE parked there. GOODNESS. the wheels were so huge!! the whole car was huge la. but, i don't know about you, i usually don't see rolls royces parked together with other cars in parking lots for supermarkets. maybe the closeness to beverly hills explains the car but anyways. it's still weird for me.

i've visited a lot a lot of toilets (restrooms!!) during our short 1-2 hour walkaround the area. haha.. somehow just had to keep peeing. yes, polyuria, frequency and urgency. think it's the cold (and also the fact i gulped down a king sized drink from BK??). walked around trying to look for pillow but they didn't have. only after came back check what Joan (the person renting the place to us) said about pillows and bedsheets realise the store that sells it is somewhere else. will try to get it today.

really love the atmosphere here. maybe it's just foreign land, foreign sights so feels nice but i think the city maintenance is really good. the roads and all are clean. trees nicely planted and all. love the bigness of all the shops here. so much space.

didn't realise the area around UCLA had many many retail outlets. thot it was mainly residential. it's really quite nice. had quite a no. of people walking around the pavements in the evening just now, just when the sun was setting at 8pm. nice safe area. 1 interesting thing though: seen quite a few down and out people hanging around. easily identified la, their clothes are a bit tattered and all. they're usually carrying 5-10 plastic bags or pushing a supermarket cart around. might smell. they contrast with the surroundings. saw at least 3-4 of them in separate areas. much more than what i see in singapore.

hmm what else what else. ok can't think of anything. keep checking back! hopefully sch not too xiong, then can update more. hehe.

check out the photos if u haven't. just a token few. =]

Here in LA!

2006-04-22T16:28:00.000+08:00

Untitled.,
originally uploaded by Noeluap.

yup i'm here liao!! at long last. like Ruimin put it. so many months talking and planning about it. all the fears of whether or not can end up going. we're here at last!

enjoy the small set of photos. i'll update again soon. it's 1:24am here and i've been surviving on 4 hours slp per day for the past few days. hehe will slp soon..

the weather's good here. 14 deg now outside! but inside thank God it's heated. haha. in fact, remember uncle boon hating the heated malls and all down in Sydney in winter. he prefers the cold. hehe.

it's nice and cooling, but when the wind blows the cold bites. the face is vulnerable. hehe.

went to walk around to look for a pillow but didn't succeed. gonna slp on some clothes instead. and the EVA air pillow i stunned. hahaha

amazing grace.

2006-04-19T16:19:00.000+08:00

how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me.

i passed! thank God. it's really by His grace.

post exams

2006-04-19T02:05:00.000+08:00

yes well i came out of the viva feeling unsettled. it didn't go really well for the first part of it. the question they posed were reasonable but i said some wrong stuff and teh meng really pounced on the mistakes. the last few questions were more easily tackled and it kinda felt like they were trying to give me chance. so hopefully it really is so. anyways i'll know in a few hours actually whether or not i passed.

it was like quite rushed and all, mugging for the viva. the viva day itself, right after i went down to LTA over at bishan area to get the lost textbook. and then met jerm for lunch and back home, packed and jumped on the bus home by evening. was nursing a terrible headache that came together with the cold i had from monday till viva day which was thursday. was still plagued with it all the way on the bus home. couldn't sleep at all but was just pondering over the viva and stuff i guess. can't really remember. was trying to fall asleep but really couldn't. oh ya now i remember. i was reading a robin cook novel. courtesy of lim tsyr jong who bought like 10+ of them when he was in the states. apparently got them cheap. ya! amazing how i could read on the bus. maybe cos it was quite steady unlike the normal buses. or maybe cos i already had a headache. think i was quite irritating to the other people on the bus, sneezing, coughing and blowing my nose every now and then.

anyways had a good time at home just resting. recuperating from the cold. slept a lot! like 10-11 hours everyday. then waking hours were mostly watching tv. haha. and just spending time with the family. really enjoyed the time spent. i guess it's also getting away from singapore and the feelings associated with the exam and viva stress that helped.

will post up photos of the day i went to KL town on my own soon!

awaiting with bated breath whether or not you guys can get to see amazing photos of the californian country-side or just LA...

viva la victoria?

2006-04-03T21:19:00.000+08:00

gives new meaning to our sch cheer. heard from minghui quite a few vj classmates of mine have to go for the patho viva. yup, inclusive of me.

what was a relaxing day of watching "v for vendetta" alone became a gradual state of stress as the news was spread regarding the viva list. (somehow this "V" thing. hmm.. confusion of cause and effect and coincidences.)

emotions churned. from calm, to questioning, to anger, to asking the inevitable "why me and not ______", to suppressing these negative thoughts, to sitting down and seeing how shall i approach this. i guess above all these there's still this peace that knows God's in charge. so when i emerge from all these, there's a testimony to be shared. now's the process.

problem now is with the nose. it's running and won't stop. headache followed. i'll sleep and then get on with it 2morrow. thanks all for praying! my interview/viva/oral exam is on thurs, 9am.

and now, we wait.

2006-03-29T18:20:00.000+08:00

yups, the patho paper is over. Thanks all for praying!

In the end a shock question really did come out. but still couldn't answer too well cos they're asking for 14 marks worth of morphology. URGH. i don't like morphology. eh hypoxic-ischemic injury ah? "the organ looks PALE." i said that for each organ that they wanted us to talk about. lol. But anyways thank God the essay questions were relatively ok to tackle since i covered them in my revision.

The MCQs (or rather, true false with negative marking.. grrrr$#%@@@#$!) were tough. Hmm but oh well it's over. Now is just let go and let God. heard from friend every year about 30 people get viva (the oral examination u have to go for if you're borderline pass-fail; or if u're good enough for the dean's list) for pathology!! whoa. but only about 3 persons have to sit for sup paper la. Praying i don't have to go for any and just pass comfortably. And now, we wait.. 19th April will know results. By Monday should know whether need go viva (which is on wednesday)!

For now, can play!

Which I already did! haha.. went billy bombers with the girlfriend. =] =] =]

In other news, here's a hilarious post by mrbrown regarding CCTVs.

excerpt:Singaporeans simply love security cameras and CCTVs. Of course! It is for our safety and protection! Privacy is overrated anyway. We gladly sacrifice it in the name of security.

Besides, as the newspaper report said, London has already done it. Of course! The favourite "some other country has already done it" reason! Surely, our decision to do it is right too.

The question uppermost in my mind though, and I am sure it is the same in yours, is: So who is going to pay for this multi-million-dollar installation?

Don't forget, installing the cameras is not the only cost. You have to pay people to watch them too.

Running on empty

2006-03-28T22:40:00.000+08:00

means, relying on God instead.

"top me up, Father."

Tomorrow looks good.

2006-03-27T22:38:00.000+08:00

Just an email that I sent out to the family (both physical and spiritual!):

Just a request to keep me in prayer, in regards to my year 4 final exams coming right up on tuesday and wednesday morning! It's on 1 subject only which is Pathology (the study of the mechanisms and reasons for diseases and its signs and symptoms), but it's quite a killer one.

Basically, humbly ask for you guys to pray for me for:
1) Good memory (currently facing memory retrieval errors...!!)
2) Spotted questions to come out. (and of course, non-spotted ones not to come out..haha)

So far, my continual assessment grades is under 50% la, so gotta do well for this finals so as to pull up the final grade to a pass. Things at stake are my U.S. trip (have to resit for a supplementary paper if fail), and of course if ultimately fail gotta re-do 1 whole year which is erm, to put it mildly: waste money.

So if you read this, do keep me in your prayers too! =]

Not that I'm fearful. Actually have this peace to know that He's in charge, He'll see me through. I guess it's an impartation from the G12 conference; especially after we bind the spirit of fear and doubt. Just believe. Of course, do my best with the studying!

So, here's to tomorrow, where we'll be sitting down for 5 minutes till the bell goes "ding" and then we stand up, move approx 1m to left/right; sit down, stare at pictures or formalin filled plastic boxes w/ funny looking organs inside for a few seconds and start furiously writing down stuff we know. repeat. see here for a weird sense of dejavu.

Some dudes came along when we were cramming in the library and decided to peek into the ceilings:

seek ye first His kingdom...

2006-03-18T23:58:00.000+08:00

gotta blog this down!

These few days have been at expo, just receiving the great impartation that was the G12 Conference. God's really doing a great work in FCBC and the many churches that are in the G12 vision. (I think even in the many churches in this region, God's working; things are shaking up!) I think beyond the many principles that are imparted in the conference, the most important was the spirit, the passion I saw in the many speakers. The testimonies and actions related to all these really touched my heart. God's presence was mightily felt and I received a new measure of compassion for the lost. The many who are still seeking God and have yet been brought to the knowledge of His Kingdom.

"There are people waiting for ME to bring the gospel to them."

well, I was reluctant to go for the conference. even 1st day 2nd day still felt that way but as usual I'll just go. I guess it's just in me: there are things must go means must go. struggle la, but still just obey. oh, why reluctant ah. think the previous post explains quite well. lots more to cover for exam. fearful!

but I thank God, I guess it's an exercise in faith. to just let go and let God.

on fire... pray that my spiritual sons catch the fire too.

God Is Moving
by Hillsong United
album: United Live (2000)

Holy Spirit, Touch Your people
Teach us the ways of God
And as we live, As Jesus did
You are honored and lifted up

There's a stirring in the Spirit
There's an urgency in this hour
We as children must obey
Can you hear
The footsteps of God

God is moving, God is moving

Can you hear the sound
Of revival

As we praise You, as we sing
Draw near to us O God

As we cry out for the nations
Pour out revival in the land

There's a stirring in the Spirit
There's an urgency in this hour
We as children must obey
Can you hear
The footsteps of God

... and all these things shall be added unto you

drowning...

2006-03-16T00:42:00.000+08:00

...in the amount of stuff i needta cram in. i get bouts of feelings of stress. like "AAAAHHHHHH". and then i feel like screaming/destroying stuff. i think the word is frustration. like WHY SO SLOW.

and then the inevitable feeling of my-brain-is-like-a-sieve. the stuff u studied earlier disappears. or even something u studied earlier, u realise u don't really know it.

i really needta ramp it up.

sorry, needed to rant.
at the moment i'm feeling better after chilling at yeeyian's house and a few doses of "sings-a-longs and lullabies for the film curious george".

i think part of the stress comes from the continuous need to plan for US trip. and then the irony is i needta study to pass my patho so i can GO to the states. 1 small comment can get my brain going regarding the planning of the trip so i really needta block out stuff and just FOCUS on studying. oh well.

I need You, LORD.

help needed.

2006-02-27T17:16:00.000+08:00

trying to source for a laptop to borrow for the US trip. anyone has a laptop lying around in disuse? can lend me for 2 months? ;) mid-April -> mid-June.

edit: my wonderful friend Andrew has consented to let me shower tender loving care upon his Apple iBook for that period. Thanks man!!!

City of Angels, here I come.

2006-02-25T17:06:00.000+08:00

so UCLA replied a few weeks back (after much persistent bugging - phone calls at 1:30am here) and confirmed my elective! so i'm going. the elective period is 24th April till 2nd June. A good six weeks with UCLA David Geffen Sch of Med (man, they also sell out. David Geffen pledged $200mil endowment for their sch. sounds like a particular med sch in singapore hor. -_-'") and thereafter hopefully about 2 weeks of holiday. a BIG thank you to mummy for sponsoring my trip.

here's UCLA:

ok "Los Angeles" is not strictly "City of Angels". it's just "the Angels" in Spanish. the town back in 1700s was called El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles sobre El Río Porciuncula, ("The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the River Porciuncula"). Guess it's too much of a mouthful for the Yanks so they shortened it. lol.

SO, anyhooo, i'm done with my clinicals for yr 4 and now it's just Pathology finals. i needta work hard to push the grade up. wish me God speed fellas. send me cookies or something. then can get fat while i study.

CSI Season 6 has the only episodes that are pretty moving. In fact, they made tears well up for me. Catch it if you can. It's showing on AXN wednesdays. Err, the episodes i'm talking about haven't show on tv down here. ok. you get the idea. *wink*

and so it ends, and begins.

2006-02-25T01:00:00.000+08:00

and so my peds posting ends. with not much aplomb. just a hope that i'll pass. (everyone just keeps saying everyone does. so ok i believe them. i mean if u call a zebra a horse long enough, people start believing rite? ok out of point)

well haven't been blogging so there's a lot to cover. think i'll go slow. hehehe. CHINESE NEW YEAR! hahahahaha. okay. so i went home as usual and up to kuantan and then back home and later on down to seremban as usual. the usual stuff except this yr dad preached at this hainanese church on CNY day1.

and also got to see the cousin's kids as usual; here's Xi En:

and must mention that Dad lovingly made Bird's nest soup:

i was having a horrible sore throat that hurt whenever i swallowed. thank God it recovered by CNY day 1. was worried i had a retropharyngeal abscess, tonsillitis or something like when i was younger and needed it to be drained. well now i know since i was well hydrated and all it wasn't that urgent eh? thankew ped's posting for teaching me medicine. lol. ok sorry rambling. hope i'm making sense here.

ah so. ok i will continue another time. hohoho.

oh ya, reason why i say it ends and begins is cos peds posting ended. and now i'm in my study break. yes. study break. not holiday. pathology finals is in a month's time.

Won’t You draw me in, won’t You pull me close

2006-02-12T22:12:00.000+08:00

this song echoes what pastor has been talking to us about. and i find it appropriate this season as we yearn to draw near to God. =]

As I Lift You Up
Jeff Deyo

I’m reaching up
I’m reaching out
To be with You, Lord
I wanna be with You now
There’s nothing quite like
Your voice in my ear
It’s gentle and soft
You know it’s honest and real

I open my hands
And I open my heart

As I lift You up from the earth
Won’t You draw me in
Won’t You pull me close
As I lift Your name to the Heavens
Won’t You call me home
Won’t You call everyone to Your throne
Won’t You draw everyone to Your throne

If it is true
Then how can it be
The thing You want most
From me is intimacy
I try in my power
To give you enough
But first what You ask
Is that I give You my love

Bridge
Come make me all that You want me to be
My praises working that all would believe
Change us for all of eternity

As I lift You up from the earth
Won’t You draw me in
Won’t You pull me close
As I lift Your name to the Heavens
Won’t You call me home
Won’t You call everyone to Your throne
Won’t You draw everyone to Your throne

Krabi

2006-01-02T14:31:00.000+08:00

well it all started when Ezra jio-ed us to go. his ulterior motive was to climb. but nevermind, we still go. haha. at first was like thinking got other thing to do other than climbing not. but i didn't mind, can go try try.. before the trip had the mentality must go and try try rock climbing first otherwise go there cannot even climb like wasted. so did go climb a few times. actually just bouldering but ok la. same same.

so Christmas came, and we took our budget airline, tiger airways, up to krabi. flight was short thankfully cos leg space was like, erm, zero? haha.

changed only SGD200 to Thai baht, was wondering, is it too much? but Ezra reassured no la shud b ok, will eat a lot. haha.

touched down Krabi around 12+ afternoon and proceeded onto Krabi town for lunch and transfer to boat to get to Railay. lunch was CHEAP at Krabi town. like, 25-30 baht a person. which is about SGD1.20 or about RM2.5 - RM3?? by the time we got to our resort? hotel? accomodation, was about 4 so proceeded to beach for some bumming.

FOOD: dinner was generally good everyday. we tried the restaurants at the various resorts and i had flower crab virtually every night. haha. wasn't v cheap at Railay but well just splurge a bit la. singapore food court price. like about SGD6 for a phad thai (fried noodles). tried various fish: shark, barracuda, marlin. barracuda's quite nice. though siki was telling me not suppose to be. shrug.

crab! pastor told me wasn't cheap after all. just SGD2. nooorrmal la. lol.

DAY 2: proceeded to Ao Nang where we got some shopping done. the must-buy Chang beer/ Red bull t-shirts or singlets. etc. etc. then met Charles and Mish at Krabi Town and then back to Railay after that. climbed a bit. 2nd wall was tough for me. dunno why. prolly still lousy skills and no strength. haha. there was a tree so i used it to help me get up. night was just chillin'. oh ya. got thai massage.. shiokk....

DAY 3: island hopping & snorkelling. another beach bumming day. haha. ended up at phi phi island for lunch. saw the beach that "The Beach" was filmed (the one with Leonardo Dicaprio in it). got nicer beaches la. but guess it's the way they film. and when they film got no one also..haha. the beaches are crowded, but still nice. =] here's charles after a long day of hopping:

DAY 4: nard and eve flew back first. i joined ezra with the deep-water soloing. me and him couldn't get up the cliff much to his disappointment. only andy managed to. (must be his big muscles. haha) pretty cool to watch him at least. the jump must have been scary... will post the photos when ezra gives them to me. well at least i touched the wall.. hahaha...

DAY 5: proceeded to Ao Nang again where charles, mish and huimei shopped while Ezra, Cailing and I just talk crap at the cafe.. haha. got ourselves a van to phuket town. arrived at phuket town about 3 or 4 then looked for a hotel. thailand is a world of bargains. even hotel price also can bargain. haha. managed to drop the price from 1200baht to 800baht, exclusive of breakfast for a room of 3. pretty good! comfortable too. =] did some shopping. haha had our funny moment of not enough money! was trying to get some ice-cream at swensons (it's real cheap!) but still not enough money was taking out all our coins and compiling them.. managed to get the 59baht sundae..haha

oh ya the hotel had free water, and guess what it was "Chang water" brand (same company as Chang beer?) haha. Charles is very amused by Chang beer. (the fella surname Chang ma.... -_-'") hehe it's quite nice la. got myself a singlet of it..hehh. a pic of Chang water, with the red bull bottles i brought back in the background..

haha know what in the end spend more than what i changed.. had to change more. oh well. cos bought like a dry bag and also half-life2 (only SGD20 for original!! and it's just the installation and box in thai.. game still in english.hehh) okokok i admit i eat a lot (no la i eat very little one....hahahahaha)

all in all was a good trip. chilled out a lot, got a nice tan, eat a lot (yala yala the most important rite?? hahaha) i wanna be a beach bum. love the lifestyle man... most of the people there (angmohs) they're like on long holidays. "man i dunno, prolly stay here for 2 weeks then go on down to penang, then singapore, maybe australia after that, who knows?". i waannnnnnnnntttttttttttt. *envy*

ok got a few more photos in my flickr set not shown here: Krabi trip

Anamorphic illusion

2005-12-30T17:26:00.000+08:00

by Julian Beever. pretty cool stuff!!
http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm

to keep u entertain while i compose my krabi entry. must wait for photos also. =]

Who's got the need for speed?

2005-12-04T10:31:00.000+08:00

I've been burning virtual rubber lately...

the graphics are so droolicious.

my comp crashed and burned and so i went out to set up a new rig... many thanks to dad for providing the finances.. don't worry, i won't spend so much time on it! but well, school now is more relaxed so i think it's pretty ok. haha. well been trying to study for patho finals now and then as prolly won't have the time during paeds posting to do so.

haha the new comp has lights on the rig! haha. i was quite amused cos the parts were just recommended by a friend. the mobo has orange LEDs, the graphics card has green LEDs, the power supply unit glows blue from the fan outlets... the mobo and cables have plenty of stuff which will glow if there's a UV lamp around.. might want to get one!! but on my own budget i guess. hehh.. crap, the inner ah beng coming out. lol. okok so it's not so inner. =P what with the "honda integra with big spoiler, nice bodykit and glowing neon lights below" obsession, fast cars, fast music; the so called "ah beng slippers" which is just the orangey-brown Bata slippers. oh well.

church's moving over to expo! sunday 1.30pm now. w00t.