waratte, naite

2011-10-16T20:16:00.003+08:00

Hmm. Due to some things here and there that I might have written, I'll continue sharing and laughing and composing some other pieces at this log.

So.. yeah. End of announcement =D

Toasts and cheers!

Tired.

2011-10-01T01:28:00.006+08:00

I don't think I had a recess week. Usually, during recess week, I would go around Singapore for fun or to do some grocery shopping, alone or with friends. Now? NONE OF THOSE THINGS HAPPENED.

It was either working in my lab, finishing the project, spending my day writing some reports, attending training in regard to a lab module that I'm currently teaching, revamping the fellowship's blog (haha, they really taking advantage of having a blogger inside the team ;p) or doing things for the fellowship camp committee. I seemed to be busier than usual, even though I have much less modules than usual. (Yaaaa. I don't recommend doing serious research together with taking modules!!)

Seriously, that's a LOT of things to do. I even didn't have time to study or to do my own stuffs. I even slept so late everyday. But the good thing is my bio clock has been going to normal :D Finally! I also crossed out everything in my to do list. So happy! (:

There are 2 days left before this break is over. Time to catch up on my studies.. Yosh. Last sem with mods!!

The quiet place

2011-09-19T23:01:00.003+08:00

Just want to share this link:
http://amitaytweeto.com/thequietplace/

"From time to time, stop whatever you're doing and go to your quiet place..."

Semi-hiatus

2011-09-18T23:21:00.005+08:00

Uhm. Yeah. So. Sorry for not really posting lately. I am reaaally busy. Quizzes, labwork, lessons, CCAs, teaching.. etc. Now I really do hope that I can finish my labwork fast, so I'll have more time to do everything, to rethink everything, to plan for everything, to study everything I can study (yeeaaa, Asian, I am! =D), ~~to check my photographs~~..

And how everytime I've planned something, other things will ruin it for me. Good. God, be on my side won't You? ;p

So yep, it's my final year as an undergraduate student now, so I must do my best with the labwork and modules left. Won't post a lot at this moment, but I'll return. I've had some posts in mind, and some posts in the draft waiting to be finalized, and I'll take care of them once I have free time and free mind =)

And my tumblr is ofc still quite active and besides I post a bunch of semi-emoticons there, so if you need to know what I'm currently doing or if I'm still alive.. Just check on it. Or just check if something changes on the right-bar here.

See you, then!

sleep

2011-09-08T22:08:00.003+08:00

LOL, yeah, I think it's true for me, especially in the afternoon, in class or lab, waiting for stage #3 to happen soon but apparently it doesn't until the break or until the end of the class! =D

But anyway.. For me, I need enough sleep (6-7 hours) every night for my body to function well. And yep, I am still working on repairing my biological clock so that I go to sleep, wake up and do everything in normal timing. Well, this is just my nature to be a planner, maybe.

I don't really understand how some people here can manage to go to sleep for only 3-4 hours or so? Or to wake up late at 10 or 11 in the morning everyday, even near lunch time, and to go to sleep at 3 or 4 or 5 am? Or maybe I just overrate this. But are they still functioning well and healthy?

See what I've found in google...

2011-09-08T21:13:00.001+08:00

The most famous Marcella is probably "the most beautiful creature ever sent into the world", in Don Quixote by Cervantes.

*holding breath*

HAHAHAHAHAH!!! <3

Career planning in 60 secs

2011-08-21T15:52:00.004+08:00

and many, many more to think about.

Life's hard. Choosing is hard.

Being picky is hard, specially when people's opinions must be taken into consideration. Even though my intention is not being picky nor arrogant. It's jut not me. It doesn't make me happy nor I love. And furthermore, it doesn't pay well, too.

The latter isn't really about career, though, but I am fed up with people's judgements and whispers behind my back, even though, it's true, they don't harm me, we're still in good terms but it's like having thousands of pair of eyes prying on me because I don't do what they expect me to do. Now I feel like my life, my opinions, my choices must really be influenced by those of others', otherwise I'm wrong. Like, I don't have some says about my own choices. Facing them is wrong, running away is wrong as well. And it's like having no one to trust and no one to talk to.

~lalala~

The reward of patience and perseverance!

2011-08-07T01:18:00.009+08:00

It's been a long time for me not to post anything here. I was busy the whole summer with my labworks and report (I slept at dawn for a few days at the last weeks). But then, good things happen to those who wait. And my reward (beside 12 hours hibernation after poster presentation of my summer research work) was...

Yep, I've got a lomo. Supersampler, to be exact.

But why do I suddenly have it? Am I going back to the stone age of taking photos with film (in this case is the 35mm one)?

One friend was giving away a few stuffs because he was going to moving to another country.. The supersampler is really old, he had this when he was still in school in Indonesia. He doesn't use it anymore now, so he decided to give it to this girl, a junior of his, who was quite into taking photos, for FREE =D It's a multi-lens camera, so the result may be really unpredictable ~~because I haven't found any information on how it exactly works~~. I'll only see how they turn out to be after the 36th exposure and taking them to a developer, which may happen sometime between 3 to 6 months later (I won't take photos so often with it, only on special occasions or if I find nice objects) so we'll see =)

IMHO, even though digital photography is of course much less costly and easier (e.g. people can erase the bad shoots and enhance the acceptable shoots), film photography is irreplaceable with its certain effects (to be exact: its unknown, sometimes-unexpected turnout) and the mindset of to shoot correctly, every-shoot-counts feature. The latter is what I am trying to do with my digital camera as well: to take photos correctly everytime so all my shots are acceptable and free from significant enhancements afterwards.

I'm still on training to do film (35mm) photography, though, because the last time I took photos with PnS, 35mm film cameras was about 10 years ago before finally my family moved on to digital cameras because of the cost.. So I still need to re-train my hand and my head to prevent those shaky, blurry, useless images as well as to load/unload/rewind/advance films and shoot correctly, get a nice object with good exposures etc.

"Think before you speak, act, and shoot." - Me.

Anyway, these are the complete squad of this thing:

I have two films. Below is the one that the past owner gave me:

Expired film!
Yeah, welcome to the world of weird colors. Don't know what I'll get =D
The other one was a new film I bought recently due to some accident and youtube advices.. Good thing is that the advice was true and do-able, otherwise my S$5.50 would have been gone useless. I wanted to buy the provia film instead but the seller didn't have it.

Next target? SLR camera. I hope the ones at my home in Indo still work =) And maybe some darkroom skills, at least to see if the synthetic lab training (and soon-to-be-teaching) has any use for this.

Anyway, once I found out that the old supersampler could work and after reported it to the past owner, I called my dad, who is into photography as well (is interest inherited by genetics?). I told him that his little girl had just gotten herself a 35mm film camera.

His initial response? "HUH?" in a surprised, worried-about-the-cost way.

childhood memories

2011-07-25T23:43:00.003+08:00

I spent this evening procrastinating with old Indonesian-dubbed anime soundtracks. They really bring back old memories when I and my friends patiently sat in front of TV after school or before Sunday School, at my or my friends' houses to catch up on the new episodes.. Sorry if some of the titles seem lousy today, but they are definitely better than Indonesian soap operas (anyway, a few 90's Indo soap operas were good as well! haha) and Disney's lousy series/musicals aired nowadays. Anyway, here they are~

and a few songs whose "official" Indo version couldn't be found:

It all ends

2011-07-25T19:48:00.000+08:00

cr: nathan the nerd

Thanks, for the fantasy. Thanks, for the great series. Thanks, for the hype. Thanks, for the laughters and tears. Thanks, for the childhood. ~~For saving me from only knowing Twilight, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry~~ =D Thanks, for Hogwarts that will always be there to welcome us home.

I typed 'fox' in google search, and then...

2011-07-24T17:27:00.006+08:00

That keyword is really ambigous. It is a name of an animal, a broadcasting company that airs some of my favorite series and a clothing shop. It is also the last word in one of a renowned manga reader site's name.

And which one appeared first in google in this attempt of searching?

The clothing shop. ~~Surprisingly, not wikipedia. And thankfully, not a FACEBOOK link.~~

Alright. Thanks for reminding that I've already shopped a lot (after a few extra cash coming and foresee-ably coming lately).

Uh anyway.. Thank God for several opportunities for extra cash and a bunch of extra new experiences!~

bubbleteaology.

2011-07-20T14:07:00.010+08:00

While browsing through tumblr and flickr, I found these two photos in this post. Apart from the nice photo people able to create (everytime I took photographs from my room, I don't think they are very nice. It's unknown whether it's my lousy skill or my desk's unattractive appearance). Anyway, this is about that thing there. Bubble teas receive a huge craze in Singapore. It is quite easy to find places who sell bubble teas, starting from small shops in MRT stations or neighborhoods or school until a well-known (and mostly expensive) brands such as sweet talk, each a cup, happy lemon, KOI and gong cha. And people do queue to buy them. Just like what they do when they want to top-up their bus passes during the peak hour at MRT stations and bus interchanges. Just like when there are freebies giveaways.

I have one post on my opinion on bubble tea in my tumblr blog, but since I like to write better in blogger (for me tumblr is only for short comments and photographs and "scrapblog") I will rewrite it in my lengthy, thoughtful style here.

I actually don't really into the bubble tea craze. Of course it's nice to drink them once in a while, because they are light and refreshing. A lot of my friends seem to like them too. But I don't really know what is so special about them, I think I posted this here after I drank KOI for the first time. Some of my friends, be them Indonesians, locals or other international students agree with me that it is the bubbles/chewy black thing at the bottom of the glass that make the drink delicious.

In general, I don't really like the hand-made teas commonly available in Singapore. Most of them are served in milk and I don't really like milk tea be it cold or hot. I strongly prefer the teas served in Indonesia back then, they are tea only, without milk, and the taste of the tea is just.. like that. They are different than those blank tea (teh kosong) served in Singapore.

As I said previously.. I am on the side which think that the bubbles is what make the drink delicious. I found some other drinks also put bubbles inside, like some brands of soymilk.. And yeah, I'd prefer those than the sweet, diabetes-inducer, not-so-satisfying drink that I've been talking about. Besides soymilks are indeed healthier.

But if I had to choose to buy some drinks in a hot, hot day, I'd definitely go for Starbucks. The places are nice for hangouts or sit-and-talk-and-wifi ~~or study~~, too! A cheaper option would be McCafe. But yep, McCafe is still expensive for me, so I'd go with bottled green tea instead. Or, being the mostly-occuring case, a chilled mineral water. Anyway, this post won't pose any offenses for those bubble tea lovers.. But yeah. Not everyone must agree with the majority, isn't it? =D Afterall, I do drink them once in a while.. And hey, they're nice photo objects too!

cr: flickr
.
PS. Anyway, one day after I posted in my tumblr about the bubble tea craze.. My lab decided to buy KOI. And... Yeah. I participated. What a mouth --a

Lonely

2011-07-15T23:12:00.005+08:00

Seeing my graduating friends leaving hall one by one to their new places, cardboxes moved out of the rooms and out of the hall gate forever, lorries and taxis coming to and leaving the carpark, and doors and trunks full with cardboxes and bags being closed, I can't help but to feel sad. Yes, I am joyful that they are going to graduate now and some of them are currently pursuing their career. But then, the fact that we won't live so close like we used to be brings mellow-ness to me.. It's not only that I lose friends to eat together sometimes (because most of the time I have my dinner at my room while watching TV series.. LOL) or to hold a spontaneus gathering or late-night chatting or to watch TV series together in one room. It's not the physical absence that bothers me, since we are only a gtalk/MSN chat/google buzz away to keep each other updated on what is going on, and some of us still can meet at church every Sunday and head to town or nearest hawker center afterwards.. It's the knowledge that they are not near anymore, that we can't just call or text each other to eat or to gather in someone's room ASAP or to borrow something or even to get some people to help in doing something.. Those little things, even the most annoying things that you're going to miss when they're not there.

This is if your close friends are one year your senior.

MILO?

2011-07-12T23:39:00.003+08:00

The Italian girl who is residing in Germany and is undergoing exchange programme to my lab did not know what MILO is.

I thought the brand was known worldwide? Especially it's from Nestle, which originated from the Switzerland, which is a member of European Union as Germany is?

Oh. If MILO isn't sold there, then you've missed a really nice drink which makes you fat if you regularly drink it everyday.

Yep, coffee's good for your heart, but not too much..

2011-07-11T01:28:00.007+08:00

Coffee Heartrate Peaks Graph
from coffeebean.com

Lab rules violation

2011-07-11T01:14:00.006+08:00

Hey, anyway, hello Mr. Jack Hodgins. Looks like you’ve violating a rule in the lab: sleeping in the wet lab. Even though your lab is mostly bio.. But I think it’s still against the rules since you might inhale quite a lot of unhealthy substances since your solvents, they’re chemical. And, in addition, it’s your PREGNANT wife whom you set the sleeping bag/portable bed/matress for, dear. As someone who has 3 PhDs in sciences (which I can't really remember..), you ought to know..

Anyway, it’s quite pathetic to literally sleep at night in the lab, you know. Or just, living out your life in lab, whether it is for work or leisure purpose (e.g. internet connection and pantry and air-con and computer and toilet of your lab). This doesn’t apply to Hodgins though, but I hear some people do this practice and all I can say is.. "I wish you'd gone home". Well, unless the lab is your home.. But how if there's nobody there, only you? Can you still call it "home" and your set of machines, apparatus, solvents and materials as family members?

Eh, anyway, letting the romantic-sappy side of me out, I did hope that Hodgins' answer after Angela told her that she'd wish he'd gone home is "Well, I'm there. My home.. It's YOU". Kyaaaaaaaaa >.< If only the situation wasn't this.

A quote that describes my feelings right now

2011-07-10T23:36:00.003+08:00

"This thing doesn't work. It started out alright, but now it's.... *shaking head*"
-Wendell Bray, Bones 06x23

Doing an art thing, engineering style.

2011-07-03T13:15:00.002+08:00

Late night series

2011-06-25T08:10:00.002+08:00

The more I watch Bones, the more I find the resemblance between their lab and mine. And even those techniques and machines I know exist in the division I am studying at. Micropipettes, GC-MS, and today, I saw the plastic petri dish. Which, I am definitely using. Oh well. Luckily Jack Hodgins is that funny and different from those people in my lab (which are.. equally funny in other ways. And LOUD). If he is similar to any person in my lab.. I might be going to puke. It's like seeing them for 7 days a week for non-stop.. Well, no offence, I like those people in my lab, but I need my life aside of lab-bing and stuff. I guess everyone does.

Anyway lately I find that several people have weird preferences for TV series. Like, guys watching Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives.....?

current mood: pathetic

2011-06-24T23:06:00.004+08:00

Ok. I'll promise. If my experiments until FYP is finished work well, I'll pay more respect to Italian national football team. At least I won't say any curse words or bad opinions or whenever they are playing, especially plays against Germany. Let whatever happens, happens. This is for the sake of my super-patient and genius Italian mentor.

Anyway, by this, doesn't mean that I don't support German national football team wholeheartedly anymore. I love die Mannschaft with all my heart. Really.

Sweets with toothpaste taste

2011-06-23T03:06:00.006+08:00

My friend gave it to me. This is the package.

There are two openings, one is for sharing and the other one is not for sharing.

So, when I opened the one for sharing, a small opening was revealed:

And when I opened the one not for sharing (aka for myself)...

I don't really know what's the logic behind this arrangement, whether it is a wrong placement of label, or it is meant to avoid contamination of the content from a lot of hands by placing the large opening for share, or it is just being stingy. But yeah, pretty tricky isn't it?

courting ethics is courting ethics. but.....

2011-06-22T14:24:00.005+08:00

The same as posted in my tumblr. I think it's nice to put it here also since ~~I haven't decided between blogger or tumblr~~ I know some of my personal nice fellows who somehow love the topic of "~~dating~~ courting ethics" will actually read this. About a group of unusual people happen to co-exist in our lives. This doesn't make me question or have my beliefs shaken, I just ponder about this since the pinkdot movement in Singapore last weekend and @alittlelamb's (I believe she's clearly straight and not in a relationship with her co-star and ex-roomie! Go to and spend time at all-girls school and you'll know why) blog post some time ago.

---

Each of God's creation is wonderful on their own.

But with the resentment towards the LGBT community, even from the Christian community with the belief that the Bible shouts the disapproval towards those people, I sometimes wonder, "are they not created by God? But God is the creator of all things, so why are there such a big resentment and alienation towards them, even from the Bible itself? How if it is actually genetics and not lifestyle choices? Naturally, genetics are not a thing we can control, we only can predict the outcome but ultimately God decides which dominant and recessive genes will be expressed so that sometimes genetic engineering doesn't get what it wants the fenotype and genotype of the modified organism to be in perfect condition. Well, unless the parents want to have a genetically-modified children to satisfy their own desires."

.

I've seen the example of some members of LGBT community or even those who have undergone surgery who stay close to God (not necessarily Christians). Are they sinners? Don't they love God enough? Don't they try to obey what God said?

.

I believe if they can choose, they also don't want to be born as those who are thought as abnormality in the society. Or worse, an abject.

.

Anyway if it is actually lifestyle choices, then, I won’t shout any opinions anymore. That'll be clear though, I'll stick with what I believe in.

Enjoying my day off~

2011-06-22T12:46:00.005+08:00

cr: tumblr

I don't recommend working for 7 days a week (well, 6, if you count the half-days). Really. It's crazy and exhaustive.

So.. Since my working stations are used today so I have nowhere to work, and with the fact that I have a rightful holiday in one weekday of my choice to compensate for my work on the weekend, I'm staying here, in my room, with my camera, books, laptop, Adobe Photoshop and TV series. And my planner and a few Power Point slides for tomorrow's work.

Sometimes I just need to feel good about myself..

2011-06-20T21:56:00.002+08:00

Some buses in Singapore have two seats in front that are narrower than the rest of the seats. As pictured, it is meant for one adult and one child only because it is that small and narrow and somehow they think (and I also used to think) that it's impossible for two adults to sit there.

A few weeks ago I rode on a bus with a friend. There were only one of those two seats left. We were hesitant at first to sit there together and I actually chose to stand instead, but then we decided to give it a try. And guess what? It fitted us both! It was not a big surprise though since we are both girls and Asian girls are in general skinnier than Westerners due to different measures of our bones and tissues. But still, hey, the seat was just nice for us, which implies that we are in general skinny enough! LOL

A few days ago suddenly a bored PhD student in my lab went inside and tried to lift each girls. She claimed that she could approximate somebody else's weight by lifting them. Which is very nice, because she may be useful for a mass balance so I don't necessarily buy one (well, maybe you can approximate my check-in baggage weight everytime I am going to fly overseas! =D). I think I was the first person she lifted.

I was holding the micropipette and my electrode at that time when she suddenly removed me from the ground I was standing on very easily. I was surprised and squealed (more like quacked......) because from what I see, she's that thin (even though she eats cookies a lot when she's not in the lab! talk about injustice in the world).

What did it imply? I weighed less than her.

So.. I am thin enough, aren't I? Haha. Happy =D

And there's additional fact that I am still the youngest person in my lab. FYI there's still a 2nd-going-to-3rd-year student in my lab and he's older than me. One thing to be thankful to Indo education system that we entered uni at one year younger than those students at the other regions nearby (ie. South East Asia).

LOL

All glory and praise be to God alone!

2011-06-09T01:49:00.005+08:00

"As someone told me lately, everyone deserves the chance to fly!" - "Defying Gravity", Wicked (Original Broadway Cast)

SVC is here!

2011-06-05T23:26:00.002+08:00

so these are my staple reading materials from now on...

(and start tightening my belt from now.)

Finally, I have some time to write

2011-06-03T01:13:00.004+08:00

I guess it's been a long time that I haven't updated this blog. Yeah. A friend had asked me about that earlier.. And yah. I'm working now, in that same old brand new lab. There are more people now, compared to three of us last year. It's merrier, but at the same time, it's been harder to work at the same rate as I did before. Well then, now I've got to work on Sat but I am entitled one day off-duty in weekdays. Not bad. It's quite tiring, and I spend most of my time in my lab since I am doing the tedious process of preliminary results, so I'd be more active in tumblr since it has the application for phone so that I can easily post whatever I want (short posts only, that's what my tumblr is for, aside of reblogging) from my phone while I'm running the program for my experiment. So yep, I'm still around. Don't worry.

Anyway, I've been using my days off to work with the school as helpers in chemistry workshops for JC and sec students, so apparently, they are another kind of labwork. But these few days had been fun! The last time I taught chem in A-level prep in Indo, I didn't think that I did very well, because one, I communicate by writing better and two, it's quite hard to me to communicate in Indo properly now. Furthermore it was organic chem which was (and still is) not the field that I am interested in and am currently working on (but yeah, it's relatively easier to understand compared to quantum chem ~~and kinetics~~). Alright, no excuses! On the positive side, the lesson earned from the past experience combined with my love to labwork have brought me to understanding of the teaching and learning process itself. Plus I speak in English more, so that's good since I am working on speaking fluently and correctly, which I am struggling on because of the Singlish-around-me atmosphere.

One of my friend shared this to me.

"A US chem professor ever said that, if an undergrad, even PhD student can't make even secondary school students understand about the chemistry they're doing, then they are not a good scientist at all."

So? It's like telling me to be a gracious and respectable chemistry student who are reliable, knowledgeable, fair and considerate. Specially like those research students who are blessed enough to do good projects with a superb and helpful professor and mentors and labmates ~~and chances to publish papers afterwards~~.

At the same time, I'm worrying about my grade as well as hall allocation. The NTU system is somehow mysterious. I've even lowered my standard to "no F in the transcript". So yah. Please God. Please.

I only hope this hardwork pays off. The nature of my work now is a die-die-must-finish-in-one-day, so I must try to come as early and work as efficiently as possible if I don't want to spend my night in the lab and not on the mattress provided by my hall, which I have been close to. Even though it's not King Koil anymore, it's much better than carton boxes on the floor. The synthetic lab training had given me some useful skills to be applied in a general labwork, even though I am far, far, far away from synthesis and organic chemistry.

And I've been treating someone badly today. It was nice that the person did something good. But then I did not treat that person properly. I feel like I'm reeeally a bad person who can't appreciate the blessing that God has given me in the form of friends. I must be more grateful to the people who stick to me through thick and thin, aren't I? Sheesh.

nguping bench, spring 2011

2011-05-18T10:08:00.008+08:00

A post in Bahasa Indo. Enjoy~

TIK, IPG dan KK exam terakhir semester ini.

TIK: Aduh optics nih, aku takut fail..
IPG: Iya nih. Udahlah, jangan khawatir, masih ada semester depan. NTU belum tutup.
KK: *lewat di bench HSS* Gw juga.
HSS: Emang mereka semua berencana mau fail ya?

---

SNG ambil module nyanyi.

IPG: *mendekat* Mention the singing positions! Jongkok, duduk, berdiri.
SNG: Hahaha. Jongkok-berdiri-jongkok-berdiri aja. Squat jump.

---

Di bench lagi panas2nya (Singapore ~35 derajat C), tiba2 ada angin lewat.

TIK: Angin.....

---

SNG: Suara orang itu paling optimal waktu malam. Baru bangun itu suara paling ga optimal.
TIK: Oh pantesan, kalo aku choir di gereja, choirnya kan mulai jam 3, aku baru bangun jam 1..

---

IPG: Step 2 ... Kita campurkan bawang merah dan bawang putih... Menjadi bawang pink!!

---

Petualangan TIK dan IPG mencari ujung semut.

AH: Nyari ujung semut tuh ya, semutnya (panjang 1 semutnya) segini, ujungnya ya disini..

---

SNG: Eh, ini jangan dimasukin nguping bench ya.

didengar oleh editor yang langsung mencatat quote ini.

---

SNG: Should we call it a day?
IPG: Yeay! A day!

---

Waktu lagi ngomongin Google:

IPG: Eh bosnya Google siapa yah?
IK: Bukannya Sergei Brin dan satunya yah? Tapi itu ada Senior Vice Presidentnya si OI yang jago banget..
SNG/IPG: COE?
EW: College of Engineering?

---

Lanjutan

IPG: OInya jago apa? Bikin prata? (uda ngakak)
EW: Ntar ada bahasa pemrograman yang gantiin Java, namanya Prata..
SNG: Iya, ikonnya roti pipih kasih kare.
CS: ...

---

Lanjutan IK: Ah ini harus masukin Nguping Bench
EW: Eh kirim LPJ ke Rendi dulu!
IK: Udah!

---

SNG: Itu di Quad ada kartu yang dijual, tulisannya Never Hold Your Fart. Terus lanjutan tulisannya gitu Never Hold Your Fart, itu kan gas-gas beracun yang harus dibuang, jadi kalo ga dibuang, itu bakal naik lewat spinal cord, terus masuk ke otak, that’s where the shitty thoughts come from.
EW: Kartunya kalau dibuka bisa bunyi yah?

---

IPG: Gua pernah tuh nonton film Kuntilanak yang kepalanya terbang2, terus makanin ari2, dan itu ditayangkan di TPI (Televisi PENDIDIKAN Indonesia)

---

SNG: Kata guru HP806, “RSAF jangan ketuker sama istilah British yang banyak pake 'Royal' jadi Royal Singapore Air Force yah."
EW: Iya, kalo Inggris kan dibikin Royal semua.
IPG: Kalo Indo Regal!

---

IK: 3 Gorges Dam kan deket sana ada makamnya Liu Bei
SNG: Bukannya 3 Gorges Dam di India yah? (gubrak)
EW: 3 Gorges Damnya membendung kari pake prata.

---

IPG: Lu masi mau bikin summary?
CS: Iya ntar sambil tidur.

---

IK: T, kalo kamu punya pacar, trus ada 2 foto, kamu sama pacarmu, trus kamu mau bikin sesuatu. Kamu lebih suka pasang fotomu sendiri atau fotomu sama pacarmu?
TIK: Wah aku ga tau bos, aku ga pernah punya pacar..

didengar oleh benchers yang langsung merasa kasihan.

---

HSS: (Baca nguping bench) Menarik, menarik. Tidak masuk akal.

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HSS: Bulannya indah sekali. Aku ingin ada bulan seperti ini setiap hari.
JK: Bulan depan juga ada lagi.

---

SNG: Kalau mau nyembunyiin perut tuh harus tahan napas kayak gini..
Seorang cowok di bench: Pengen ga punya perut deh.
HSS: Emang ada manusia nggak punya perut?

---

cr: AHP's friendster

TIK: Bench itu kan mulai dari segelintir orang.
KK: 4 orang doang. AHP, VA, RED sama GBS.
TIK: (AHP dan VA kan pacaran) Kenapa GBS gak mau sama RED aja ya?

---

(lagi nge-raid friendsternya KK)

IK: (Liat foto KK waktu SMA) Dulu kurus ya?
(beberapa saat kemudian)
IK: Maaf To, gw ga tau kalo dulu lo kurus.
HSS: Gendutnya mulai kapan?

---

Molecular Model, anyone?

2011-05-17T16:46:00.004+08:00

My friend is selling her molecular model. She asked me to keep the thing for her in case there are people in school who want to buy it. So, if anyone is interested, please contact me, or if you know someone who needs it, please refer me to them. The buyer must reside in Singapore, best if they can arrange to pick it up at NTU. Thanks.

Dear problems.

2011-05-17T00:23:00.001+08:00

cr: weheartit

Seems like self-assurance. But yeah, that's what I need for now.

2011-05-09T17:09:00.003+08:00

http://designshack.co.uk/articles/graphics/55-t-shirts-made-just-for-designers

I was LOL-ing at the one with "You are here, but I can fix that in Photoshop"

Photoshop is really ftw. LOL.

Anyway I want these :p

oh well, I'm not a web designer, but who cares about the first two :p
and yeah, I'm not a graphic designer either. ~~if it's so, my course would have been ADM, not chemistry~~ But well...

iluma stall is surprisingly not crowded today. due to high temperature outside?

2011-05-08T18:47:00.000+08:00

eat, koi, ~~#sgelections~~ study.
yeah.

A friend brought me the koi. Of course it's not free, but it was a very nice of him to offer me nice drinks when outside temperature is 36 degrees Celcius and inside temperature is more than 100 degrees (oh, I'm quite stable, aren't I? I haven't decomposed yet. LOL). Thank you, brother!

Anyway,
Have been playing with ~~the program used when in a hurry or in a deep midst of laziness to give more effort in photoshop~~ Photoscape lately *exams!*. The more I see the 'film effect' filter, the more I miss the time of film/analog photography. Yes, the current digital era makes photography cheaper and more accessible to everyone (my friends know that this contains a bit of cynical criticism) but well, some era never dies. Especially with certain special films and cameras you can buy or modify yourselves..

Last convocation, my senior brought her (or her dad's?) SLR (don't confuse this with DSLR). I was like all "...." and thankfully I was allowed to use it when she asked me to help taking photos of her and her friends. Creepily happy! Especially because the last time I took photos with film camera was around 10 years ago. Not a long time ago I met a senior who was also bringing his film camera to school and said that he needed to finish his film soon. Nice!! Request sent to dad =p

Quoting this lady:

About once a year, I acquire a new camera. I’ve missed shooting with film. Although I do shoot film with my lomo cameras, it’s different. So, this is the solution I found, especially after marveling over the photos my friend took with her FM2. This new camera will be joining in the ranks of my G11, Panasonic LX3, Diana F+, Polaroid, and Holga. I may have a problem.

Just a thought. If you want to have a decent program for photo-editing, Photoscape is a freeware. It is quite handy, a lot of things can still be done (well, I haven't found the brush tools and all stuffs, but for enhancing photos this is nice-and-easy, you can still modify a lot and you can still use the curves..) and it'll give you nice results afterwards. If you consider yourself a pro so you "die-die" want to use Adobe Photoshop instead, just buy the original one, don't use the piracy version. I know it's expensive if you can't access the student version, but it's a good investment if you're really into it. Intellectual properties need appreciation, too ;) Just saying.

Firefox 4

2011-05-08T17:44:00.004+08:00

Call me super late, but yes, I haven't updated my firefox yet.

Care to know why?

This.

Super FAIL. Considering this as a 'technological university', this learning portal has become really an annoyance.

Edventure = NTU learning portal which is only optimized for IE.
Duh. Anyone still using it? Everytime I use using IE at both my lapie and my home PC, the whole systems hang. So?

With Firefox 5 (said to be) coming, I don't know what to say. Definitely won't sacrifice the enhancement of my lapie for this, so I may need to hang out at library more often in the future (2 more mods to go..). Only to use that old version of IE and open edventure. Sad.

Honoring Lady Di's Birthday

2011-05-01T12:33:00.006+08:00

from shumbodynamedharry (Harry Shum, Jr.'s tumblr blog)

I was like.. "huh? Lady Di?" And even thought that was Lady Diana Spencer aka Diana the Princess of Wales' photo (post Royal Wedding effect, yea).. Then I realized that THAT Diana's birthday is (or was?) in July.. So?

Oh well.

Lady Di here means miss Dianna Agron. Funny how I notice that Lea Michele calls her "lady" on her tweets. Now I know another reason why (apart from the fact that she is really a lady!). (ex-)Roommates' secret =p

Anywaay. Happy belated birthday, miss Agron! Keep smiling, keep acting, keep writing and taking photos. Go Fabray! Lucy Caboosey FTW.

And hmm. Jenna and Kevin are there too, sitting side-by-side!

A slight sign of OCD?

2011-04-30T10:29:00.007+08:00

In class. This module has no posted notes, so the students need to copy whatever written in class.

Coursemate: He talks very fast! Does he expect us to write and listen to what he's explaining at the same time?
Me: He expects us to be able to multitask and his accent is not good at all. I don't understand what he has been teaching this far.
Coursemate: Yes. He changes his paper very fast! What is he thinking...
Me: Agreed. And I don't like it when my notes are not neatly written.
Coursemate: Neither do I.

Then what am I doing now? Rewriting notes that were not neatly written.

When I say "I am a Christian"...

2011-04-30T00:28:00.000+08:00

cr: tumblr

A (late) commemoration of the end of teaching lab session in my undergrad life

2011-04-28T20:26:00.007+08:00

A compiled lab manual, washed-with-soap googles, ~~perfectly~~ ironed lab coat,

and polished nails. Good bye DCM for a while!

And hello exams!

an old video.

2011-04-26T12:35:00.001+08:00

NTU-ISCF camp is not complete without mass-singing and guitar in the bus. Well, a quite effective way to build and strengthen your fellowship. During our journey to the campsite, I decided to record them singing one song.. Here it is, who knows years later these people are famous with their own bands. Enjoy =)

Miles to go to sleep.

2011-04-23T23:06:00.005+08:00

Tomorrow I'll attend Easter service at dawn. I really feel sleepy now but I can't relax if my reports and quiz prep haven't finished yet.. So, I am still here, stuck in front of my computer...

cr: tumblr

Anyway, happy Easter, people! A sermon at my church on Good Friday reminded us on how a lot of people greet "Merry Christmas" but only a few people greet "Happy Easter", although both celebrate God's greatest love to the world where He sent His Son to redeem the world. Well, in Christmas, Jesus was born, so it is a really festive and joyful day. But, on Easter, Jesus, who had died on the cross, beat the death and gained victory. So be happy and be grateful for the Lamb that has been slained, for He has been crucified for our sins.

Dinner today

2011-04-23T22:24:00.002+08:00

taken by Panasonic Lumix DMC LX-5 at Botejyu, FEAST, Jurong Point.

My batch's excos were having dinner together today. Thanks all for coming, gathering and catch-upping in the midst of exam preparation and tiredness of internships =) And thanks for the treat, girl! Happy birthday~

Cut here, tear there, and enjoy the bits!

2011-04-21T01:23:00.001+08:00

cr: topit.me

Don't do it, people. It does not worth it. Your hands and veins are not plastic bags.

"Do you ever feel already buried deep, 6 feet under scream and no one seems to hear a thing?
Do you know that there's still a chance for you,
cause there's a spark in you,
you just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
just own the night like the 4th of July!"
Katy Perry - "Firework"

Well, it's no secrets among my friends that I don't like her voice. But this song talks a lot and I kinda like the lyrics so I just post it here.. Uh anyway, ofc Glee has made this song more listen-able for me. LOL.

slurrpp

2011-04-19T22:52:00.002+08:00

cr: flickr

late night studying for tomorrow's test + dizzy head + skeleton structures + seeing this = moral booster.

=D

Of David.

2011-04-18T18:40:00.004+08:00

I stumbled upon this verse today, this really cooled my heart in the midst of heat and tears. Kiasu-ism, selfishness, unfairness, envy and scheme plotting ~~to block the internet access from NTU students~~ are everywhere.

Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
(Psalm 37:7)

Apparently the whole passage is a good reminder, too!

Praise the LORD, stay faithful, and be blessed to be a blessing to others!

Agony

2011-04-16T21:08:00.007+08:00

cr: tumblr

My hall (and the whole campus') internet has been really bad for the past 1 or 2 weeks. For those of you who have my twitter or google buzz, you might notice that I've been complaining about that for several times. It has been hard to download anything, the browsing, download and upload speed is not as fast as before, and the worse is sometimes the internet is down. So at times, I can't browse anything. Well, for me internet is not merely for entertainment and only-for-fun stuffs. It'd been hard for me to read papers (yes, JOURNAL PAPERS or EXAM PAPERS not the word "paper" students and teachers use in Indo which I think, has different meaning), google something out, read wikipedia for basic stuffs, etc.

One thing that disturbs me is the worse download speed for YouTube. It's no secret that while I was still in Indo, the internet speed was much worse than what I have here in Singapore/NTU. Now I can listen to a lot of good songs, be them from the original artists or its cover versions (esp those whose originals are creepy =p), uploaded at YouTube. And they are completely legal, because recording labels upload songs there as well, for promotion or outreach. So there should not be any copyright infringement. It keeps me updated with new songs or songs that I've never heard of and were recommended to me by my friends as well. Some of my friends also record their performances and upload them in YouTube, too. Creativity matters and appreciation required. So IMO, there's no reason to ban or block access to this.

Lately YouTube (or NTU internet..) has been acting strange. Sometimes the videos can't load at all. Sometimes they load only a part of it and then, can't continue or become buffering. Sometimes the bar shows that the video has been completely buffered, but in fact not all parts can be played. So I can't listen to a lot of various songs while I am studying (yea, exam is near) or doing my reports or doing any other things (browsing, blogging, editing photos, etc).

It is not really bad, since I have my phone and my mp3 player, but the songs inside them are limited (both of them don't have big memories, once again because there's YouTube so I just put in songs that I really like) and sometimes after 4-5 cycles of the same set of songs in a day, I'll get bored.

One alternative is to shuffle series and films to keep me company but I will have the tendency to watch them instead. So, a big no. There's Glee which has a lot of songs but still, it is series that has story and watch-able (and its new episode will be out next week!! How am I supposed to watch it without decent internet speed?)

I know exam period is near and maybe the school wants the students to concentrate on studying and achieve good academic results so the university reputation will be improved (well, this is Asia and reputation are based on quantitative achievements and how do you compare to others.. meritocracy!). But does the school expect us only to sit down and cram for exams with our notes and textbooks without company or relaxation? Some brains, at least mine, don't function like that, else we might turn insane. Music and sound make our life normal and may increase our productivity and creativity.. So, if you don't want to produce robots, please return our internet connection!

What's wrong with studying?

2011-04-16T11:28:00.006+08:00

As in, if you choose studying instead of gathering with friends, you're wrong. If you choose studying instead of attending other events or participating in a committee, you're really wrong, and lame.

Some people are just perfectionist, their standard of understanding course materials are higher than others. Some people also need longer time to grasp all the concepts. Some people just find studying (and learning) more interesting. Some people just have different priority. Of course, some people do not fall to any of the above criteria and most of the times, most of the people I've met, they are the people who judge those who simply spend more time to study. Basically, people are different.

Or studying is just an excuse for the person to spend time alone. It is just an excuse to allow you to go home and sleep without looked lazy or tired that leads everyone to ask a LOT to you. Some people give it as excuse while they are going to do something else later. Some people may just be tired of gathering and do activities. Or they simply don't like to be around those people.

Nutellaneedles

2011-04-13T00:49:00.001+08:00

cr: tumblr

Is this a good reagent to be used in lab? Definitely NO. Why? Cos if yes, I won't be so careful with syringes and needles anymore.. LOL

Traffic congestion on Sunday morning?

2011-04-10T14:46:00.009+08:00

phone camera is still phone camera, even though this one has better resolution than the previous one. I wish I brought my beloved semi.

Anyone knows what happened at Jalan Bahar this morning to afternoon?

The jam started at 8 am (I am more than certain that today is SUNDAY!) and when I went back at around 11.30 am, the traffic was still pretty much the same. I stucked inside 199 bus for 1 hour (the journey from Boonlay interchange to my hall only takes around 20 mins). Anyway I heard that one person had been waiting for any 199 bus in NTU hall for 40 minutes plus.. Well...

I even thought that if I walked from the beginning of the traffic jam until my hall, I would have reached NTU much faster (even though it'd be REALLY tiring). Boonlay to NTU ~~only~~ takes approximately 30 minutes by foot (try only if you want to dare yourself or you have no other options of transport..). If they could be more flexible, gave one-off exceptional case and allowed the affected passengers to alight not on the bus stop and walked from there (199 bus stops are not so many, the stops along Jalan Bahar are quite far from one another), I wonder how many people would have alighted back then. I didn't ask for that anyway, I had known the answer right away: NO SUCH THING EXISTS.

I was thankful for my phone, music, phone camera and reading materials that I always bring with me ~~to church~~ to keep me company. I used to live in Jakarta which is famous for its long long traffic jam for 18 years and had battled inside public buses for 6 years =P ~~My experience as a lonely wanderer really prepares me for the better and the worse~~

179 bus service was not better. No 179 buses came to pick up passangers in the interchange even after 10 minutes of its scheduled departure. I couldn't find any news regarding this at STOMP, Straits Times, yahoo.sg, even the so-called almighty google.. So?

(edited at 8.29 pm) So apparently there was this annual event. Usually I never passed through that area on this date since 2nd week of April is usually Easter day and my church holds the Easter service before dawn (according to the story in the Bible when Mary Magdalene went to Jesus' tomb).. So.. yah, should have planned my journey better.

A late evening melancholy

2011-04-09T19:17:00.007+08:00

cr: Mere Musings

If only there's a coffeeshop like this nearby, I'd really love to go there and stay for a whole day to study or simply reading books, just like what they do in movies and TV series.. I have never found any place like this near the place where I am staying at. The height of the table is just right and the ambience is just nice. Yea. Students here seem to gather in junk food stalls and I don't really like the smell of it.. And besides, to be able to stay, at least you must buy a drink and I don't fancy those common soft drinks.. The nearest starbucks is too noisy and their tables are too short for me to write, do calculations and stuffs. Studying at my room makes me either sleepy, dizzy, losing my concentration, or remembering people or behavior I don't like in that particular class. Sad.

Nutellabrot

2011-04-09T19:03:00.002+08:00

Ich liebe Nutellabrot!

anyway.. this was my sinful dinner for the past few days. Cheers!

2011-04-08T01:18:00.003+08:00

I was listening to Wicked's Defying Gravity when suddenly I took a look at the youtube video and saw that they are putting this very ad on the video. Super anticlimax.

How do they even know that the person who was listening to this is doing chemistry for her future life? I even have never watched (err ok, maybe once in a million times) chemistry video in there..

Old days.

2011-04-04T23:28:00.004+08:00

The more I see photos of film cameras all over the internet, the more I want to go back to the days of films, analog cameras, darkrooms, self-cut with those special edges and chemicals. Oh.

And I want to read Sweet Valley Confidential so badly. Borders Singapore, have you put it on stock yet??

A Wikipedia Story

2011-04-03T18:06:00.002+08:00

Browsing through google and wikipedia for self-study.

Supposedly: p-n junction
Reality: Motion control photography

lalala~

The recently-appointed Assoc Prof is abroad! :D

2011-04-02T21:18:00.008+08:00

Lecturer (in video, because he is abroad for a week which equals 2 sessions): OK, that's the end of my presentation. As normal, my presentation in front of camera is usually very bad, I think I am a lot better, probably 100% better in normal classes.
Me (in front of lapie): HUH? If you talk that fast until I have to repeat and rewind some slides multiple times and you have THIS much of self-notes.. (looking at my handwritings in lecture handout that fill the gaps in between lines and slides)
Lecturer: But of course this is a video, you can watch a lot of times and hopefully you can catch up.
Me: YES.... That's the usefulness of you videos, Sir!! *faints*

Just in case you want to take a look and do something about it =)

2011-03-25T21:02:00.000+08:00

http://athousandcranesforjapan.tumblr.com/

Just changed my language preference in tumblr to German

2011-03-25T20:42:00.006+08:00

Then my brain said,

"Seriously? You are even afraid to read German 3."

trololol.

Another thing to ponder

2011-03-24T23:18:00.005+08:00

from @ijennaush on twitter

"There are a lot of things God has granted us in every moment of our lives. Do you want to realize them? If you have realized, then, do you want to share them?" - ci Mel (paraphrased)

The awkward moment when you were about to collect mid-term result and were supposed to mention your name but the lecturer already knew your name

2011-03-23T18:13:00.002+08:00

It was creepy and super awkward.

I stunned on my way home. After reaching my room, a friend called. He must hear a very very loud, high-pitched scream:

ACKHOWCOMEHEKNOWSMYNAME??!!

Mosaic Music Festival '11

2011-03-18T21:26:00.007+08:00

I went to this year's Mosaic specifically to see this guy performing. My friend is a huge fan of him and I kinda like his and his collaborators' music, plus this performance is FREE =D

And haibara wasn't herself if she does not bring her camera along, so, actually this post is meant to showcase my (always in mediocre level) photos. LOL. As usual, the complete set of the chosen photos are submitted to my tumblr log..

All photos were taken using haibara's Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

MARTABAK!!~

2011-03-18T21:09:00.005+08:00

So, we had dinner at a food stall selling street foods from Jakarta before going to Mosaic. The owners are an Indonesian couple and the reviews in the internet have been good this far. IMO, this is the best Indo food stall in Singapore so far, from price, foods offered and taste. PLUS, this is definitely a good alternative to all ayam penyets that are really popular in Singapore, which IMHO, don't taste like in Indo at all. They are more Malay-like.. or.. (OK, the NTU students from Jakarta may hit me now, cos my friends from that specific town love eating there!) well, simply they don't satisfy a Chinese-Javanese-stayed-in-South-Jakarta like me (and how many people with that combination are there here in NTU??). So if you want to know how Indonesian foods taste like, the best way is to go directly to Indo and eat there. =)

The good thing is this stall sells MARTABAK. Oh God. Love it. They also put pangsit, both fried and soup-made, in their menu but I had never encountered this type of pangsit filling before until I ate there.. I don't know, it was just different. Anyway if you're not familiar with these foods, I can't give the English names, sorry, so you have to try them yourselves. The closest names in Singapore would be Indian murtabak pancake and dumpling but the Indonesian's are different and unique that I completely refuse to call them Indonesian murtabak and Indonesian dumpling.

I don't have the picture of the pangsit (we ordered the soup one and the contrast was not good because they were all white, including the bowl, so I discarded the photo right away..) but these are what we call martabak. The first image is buttery-sugar martabak and the second one is martabak filled with the combination of rice chocolate, cheese and peanut.

They also sell siomay. This is inherently one kind of dumpling too.. Siomay is fish-cakes (I hope this definition is correct) topped with peanut sauce (you can add lime water on it if you like) and usually served with cabbages, boiled eggs, beancurd cakes and this bittery veggie called "pare". Anyway, the peanut sauce and the fishcakes are the most important part of siomay; if one of them don't taste nice then the dish is a fail. Back to basics, people. LOL. So I tasted the peanut sauce, it tasted nice. I didn't taste the fishcakes since my friend said that the portion was quite small so I didn't have the heart to take some =D But my friend said that this tasted nice =)

Anyway this is not the correct way to eat martabak, actually =D But there were only 3 forks for 4 of us so the one who didn't get the fork used this Chinese way for eating instead. Haha.

Anywaaaay *promo* just in case you want to give it a try, I'll give you the details =P

Jtown Cafe
220 Orchard Road
#B1-04/05 Midpoint Orchard S238852 (nearest MRT station would be Somerset MRT cos Midpoint is just across 313 Somerset)

Facebook page
Review 1 | Review 2 | Review 3

All photos were taken using haibara's Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

I'm high

2011-03-17T17:35:00.004+08:00

My line below just popped out instantly when I saw the first sentence with the circled word.

LOL. Too long staying here already, eh?

A walk from Somerset to Esplanade

2011-03-17T03:53:00.010+08:00

16 March 2011, ~6pm
By Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

Make me melt, Haägen Dazs. Give me a coupon for daily free ice-cream for one month =P (same thing goes to you, Starbucks! lol)

The rest are in my tumblr blog.. So go there if you'd like =)

Rachel

2011-03-16T15:10:00.005+08:00

I was in the mood of screen-capping scenes and combining them into one, so here's what I made for the latest ep of Glee (yep, the series I was watching while ~~multitasking~~ writing the lab report)

Rachel Berry! Oh girl, you stand by me* finally you have friends!~

While they were group-hugging (did I just see Santana, who supposedly be one of Rachel's biggest hater-enemy-torturer?), I suddenly remembered two things:

After competitions, they usually have a group number to sing together, either for celebration (two Sectionals) or crying their heart out (last season's Regionals). There was NONE in this episode. We were given an award session, speech, and super-sweet group-hugs moment instead.
Rachel Berry was said to be named after Friends' Rachel Green by her dads.

Taking note that Rachel's MVP award is by vote (which is also unanimous), I would love to if they (minus Rachel) sing this song for this little misunderstood future Broadway diva =) I've been hitting the replay button for hundreds and hundreds times, and I really feel the need to rewatch the series of this song, the whole series, too! Summer, maybe?

*"Oh girl, you stand by me" makes reference to Glee/Finn-Rachel's rendition of Journey's Faithfully in last season's regionals

How to keep up with a really busy academic schedule while there's a need to catch up with a series that will be on hiatus for the next one month?

2011-03-16T12:57:00.008+08:00

This makes use of the fact that female brain is designed to enable her to multitask =P

What's for dinner?

2011-03-15T22:00:00.000+08:00

So this was what I had for dinner today.

The white balance was quite a fail. Had been working on it in photoshop but this was the best I could do. Sorry ='(

IKEA's ocean salad + KOI's black tea macchiato. The salad was considerably healthy (REALLY? with the mayonaisse and stuff? OK, I am comparing to foods sold in NTU canteens where most "more affordable" foods are fried and even their veggies are cooked with LOTS of oils! DUH). The tea macchiato is KOI's new variant, so I decided to give it a try because the nearest stall to my place is not really crowded. It was quite nice =) But on the darker side, these were quite expensive. But it was the price to pay for better food and more importantly, better health *back to the 2nd sentence above*. I am looking for personal earnings so I can have what I want (nway, I am not a shopaholic nor a hedonist, so please don't have bad opinions on me, haha) without feeling guilty for my parents' money.
Until then...

2011-03-12T23:35:00.005+08:00

When the world gathers and people are forced to put their ego aside. Pray.

Think. Ponder. Decide.

2011-03-07T21:50:00.000+08:00

After this, comes this..

cr: weheartit

Shine, so everyone can see our light :)

2011-03-06T13:27:00.004+08:00

cr: tumblr

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be - brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so small
that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in us, it’s in everyone.

As we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

- Marianne Williamson, 1992
1994 Inaugural Speech - Nelson Mandela

cr: vicky.com

A quote that describes your feelings in the lab when your experimental yield exceeds the theoretical yield

2011-03-06T13:25:00.003+08:00

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." - Nelson Mandela

trololol

The reason why I still print my notes and write on them

2011-03-05T23:43:00.002+08:00

We support the printed word in all its forms: newspapers, magazines, and of course books. We think reading on computers or phones or whatever is fine, but it cannot replace the experience of reading words printed on paper. We pledge to continue reading the printed word in the digital era and beyond.

Nothing can replace printed forms and handwriting and liners/highlighters on them =)

http://readtheprintedword.org/

One advertisement on why you should go for PhD

2011-03-01T19:33:00.006+08:00

A short chit-chat with one of the TAs in teaching lab today, while waiting for my reaction to complete.

Him: Next week is my last TA session.
Me: Woah? Why don't you continue? *hope this super nice and helpful TA will be an exception to the TA scheduling rule*
Him: After that I will go to Cambridge.
Me: UK? I always want to go there!!
Him: Me too!
Me: Anyway why are you going there?
Him: Research!
Me: As in, continuing your PhD there? Or for post-docs?
Him: No.. My boss asked me to go for 6 months then I'll return here. He is paying for me.
Me: Oh. Super nice.
Him: I'm really happy to go there.
.
Me: (by heart) pleading to my boss: Boss? I want this, too! If not for research, you can bring me.. err.. maybe me and my labmate(s) along to your business trips or if you need to do some measurements abroad. Please? =P

2011-03-01T18:12:00.005+08:00

Noticed this on twitter:

No Bahasa Indonesia?
I strongly believe that Indonesians are among top twitter users. Proof? Just check the daily trending topic. Some TTs are Indonesian-made, some TTs make it to the list because of the Indonesian users' contribution (especially those Korean topics.. DUH), and well, one of Indonesians' stereotype is : "I eat, I pray, I tweet". True.

Well, I'm not going to help them translate twitter to Bahasa Indo (my Bahasa for formal purposes is not so good either and has become even worse since I came here, lol) but they should really consider this. Should.

I was surprised that a lab-tech at teaching lab knew my name!

2011-03-01T17:45:00.008+08:00

...Hopefully it was because of the fact that my name sounds Italian, but I don't even look like one since I am a Chinese descent with no European blood (I presume), and not because of bad behavior (or the accidental shots of ethylacetoacetate at two fingers in the morning of the first lab session).. I still want to (or have to, if I go for PhD) be a lab TA.. PLEASE??

Does loving your career equal to being a fanatic of it?

2011-03-01T17:15:00.023+08:00

I don't know why, but while my labmates (as in, research lab-mates) aim for more and more papers published each year, my primary goal is *ahem* to contribute cover/frontispiece design(s) for my or my fellow groupmates' paper(s) and have them pinned to the board in front of my prof's office or pasted at the lab. It's not like I put my own publications behind; sure, I really want to publish more too - it is a privilege for an undergraduate here (suddenly an image of Natalie Portman passed by), but it won't be perfect if I have not achieved the aforementioned goal. Weird? Yeah.

My strong attachment to cameras and my habit of taking photos of anything, everywhere (including teacher's notes and unposted lecture slides since I was in junior high) plus enjoying my spare time (or having ~~guilty pleasure~~ my mind refreshed in busy times) with photoshop make me wonder if I'm a real full-time budding chemist..

Sheesh. My fellow friends in chemistry or those in physics and maths who are seriously pursuing their majors often relate to their respective fields in their convos.. Wow. Again, it's not that I'm not serious in here, I really love what I'm doing, I just think that I don't sound as enthu as them *staring at my camera, then to the ICES brochure at my push-pin board... and thinking, why I'm so contradictive?*

I hope that being a real chemist does not mean having mind filled with a fanatic enthusiasm on chemistry 24 hours a day, 7 days a week..

Oh anyway, I finally took a sip of this! One of my friend had bugged me to try this since, like, 2 weeks ago. I think she's a fan. Good that a fundraising event had this sold on campus, otherwise she will have to join the long long queue at Iluma for her obsession (OK, the Ang Mo Kio stall is said to have shorter queue, but I still don't understand the fuss). LOL. Anyway, I think the milk tea taste was not very intense, like it had too much water in it.. Maybe it was because I did not drink it immediately when it was still fresh and cold.. But it was smooth and the pearls were chewy. Well, at least this has much more appropriate feel than hawker's ones which are super intense.

Counting down the days

2011-02-26T01:21:00.010+08:00

A friend and I predicted the number of years remaining in our lives, and what we are going to do with it. What we are going to do after graduation, what the plans that are thought, where we will settle down with our lives, which career path we are going to take, etc etc.

And I realized one thing.

Life is SHORT

true
true
true
true

20 years are indeed, short. And I only have a very, very, very few multiples of them to add to my life. Summing them up, they are still SHORT.

Well, the good thing is, it's never too late to start planning your life, and enjoy every sweet bit and bitter piece of it. As cherries are fun, and dark chocolates are awesome. And coffee, be it latte, mocha, espresso, macchiato, cappuccino or coffee liqueur are ALL superb and come in many different tastes and varieties. Just like... What else, life.

Actually afraid of forgetting why I turned to the East Asian music back then.

2011-02-26T00:11:00.003+08:00

Accidentaly bumped to this video in youtube. As much as I remember the good ol' memories of early 2000s where music was fairly done well (slapping the almighty machine called AUTOTUNE),

I know there was a nice memory hidden at the back of my packed brain about this particular song. A school production of ours. TBH, it was one of the latest good memory about being in a community of people who learnt and had fun and did not take it merely to fulfil the CCA requirement, during my school days in that particular country.

"Cause I've got friends who love me, blue skies are above me, my blonde hair is everywhere" - Hilary Duff, "Sweet Sixteen"

imaginary.

2011-02-24T01:15:00.006+08:00

Found at roomie's desk, and the first thing I could think of was:

NaCl plate?

#fail

...of course it isn't. She's not even a chemistry student! If yes, why should she has it in her desk nway?

NaCl plate = the thing to submit your samples for IR spectroscopy

Gosh!!

2011-02-23T17:16:00.003+08:00

Just couldn't finish today's test straight,

and I am devastated through the day.

I just hope there's still a light for me at the end of this.... semester.

It's the day again!

2011-02-14T20:04:00.002+08:00

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone~

...and thankies gals for the chocs!

Halal flavors

2011-02-10T13:30:00.007+08:00

A friend posted a shoutout about Ben & Jerry's halal certificate for several flavors. It was highlighted in this blog: http://www.worldhalalquest.com/2010/05/ben-and-jerrys-ice-cream.html.

The certification does not affect me, since I don't need that certificate to consume something. However, I feel glad that now Moslems can finally consume their ice creams (because Ben & Jerry's is delicious yet expensive). Anyway, why the flavors like vanilla, chocolate, brownies and strawberry shortcakes are not halal? I think they are good on themselves even without alcohol, or is it because the animals where the dairies and animal-derivations come from are not halal-certified? Despite all of those thoughts, seeing this from business point of view, this is more to touch the psychological aspect of assurance of the quality of the products and of course may widen the market. =P *no offence*

There are some flavors that do need alcohols or liquors to enhance the flavor and you just can't take the alcohol away from them, otherwise it is just not right. Of course they will not be halal until eternity. An example:

I am 100% sure that this is NOT halal. Dublin = Ireland = Irish = liqueur. No liqueur = not Irish, isn't it? YES. I just want to know if this flavor have restriction for underages? =P

Drawing from the example above, is the flavor of Rum and Raisin halal? It is not specific to Ben & Jerry's, but all brands. As far as I know.. Rum is alcoholic. And anything alcoholic is not halal. I stayed in Indonesia, where most Moslems are populated, for 18 years in my early life, and am still going back there in vacation periods for sure, and I know that most ice cream brands (local or international, home-made or factory-packed, street vendors or amusingly-expensive-only-can-be-sold-in-big-malls) sell that flavor while almost all foods sold there need halal certificate.

I asked that friend, who is a Muslim, about this flavor. And she admitted that rum is indeed, alcoholic. Then why is it still halal? She just replied that most Indonesians (implied meaning: Moslems) don't care about this as they assume that most foods are halal (I hope they don't assume the same thing to Tony Roma's pork ribs.. it is very OBVIOUS) and hence, "safe" for consumption. So, it depends really on yourselves, whether you want to put that specific flavor in your tongues and swallow it down to your stomach (even though personally I don't fancy the flavor, but I know that it tastes nice) or stay away from it and choose other flavors that are equally delicious (mint chocolate chip, anyone?).

I am not saying that Rum and Raisin should be banned in Indo since Indonesians are not 100% Muslim the same as I doubt Ben & Jerry's will go all halal and discontinue the production of Dublin Mudslide, but with the "anti-alcohol" sort-of-policy in the religion, the integrity is on test. It is like indirect consumption of alcohol, if the rum there is "real" rum. But if it isn't, they still taste just like alcohol! So you still can taste alcohol while you are not supposed to! Comparing with vegetarians buying meats-look-a-like (texture-wise and taste-wise) in a vegetarian stall, which IMHO quite strange since they only eat veggies and dairies and not "meat" in any forms (literal or non-literal)?

But for now, let's just enjoy the fact that Ben & Jerry's has 10 halal flavors with a cherry cola toast!

Eh... This is not halal yet. Sorry. Hopefully soon (I think there aren't any non-halal ingredients?), and more people can taste this cough-syrup-like flavor!~ <3

all pictures are from http://www.benjerry.com.sg

Shocked as well.

2011-02-09T21:00:00.005+08:00

I was chilling in my room with my IR spectra when a friend called me and told me that he just posted a breaking, shocking news in Google Buzz that...

my paper has been highlighted on the division's website.

Aaarghhhh. Even though only the people in our circle of friends who are going to see that post/buzz, I'm still shy. Not really onto publicity, though. Or maybe I'm just not ready for it. Well....

About quotes

2011-02-02T15:30:00.001+08:00

"It's funny how no matter how different our stories or situations are, we all can relate to quotes and each other."

- twitter

Decision

2011-02-02T15:27:00.003+08:00

Following the previous post,

I've bid goodbye to the life I don't want.

It was regretful, not because of the goodbye, but because of the earlier events.

"The worst regret we can have is not for the wrong things we did, but for the right things we did for the wrong one." - twitter

Then no use to regret them =)

Happy Chinese New Year! *time to find adaptor for my new camera's charger*

To follow or not to follow

2011-02-01T14:50:00.009+08:00

I am contemplating now whether 2 semesters of "overloading" (the "real" overload, not literal) really worth the effort and time. Sometimes I feel like I wasted my brain, time, and energy. I was overwhelmed, pressurized, having continous headaches and pains, living a stressful life and tired to do everything else. As the result, I slacked off, then wasted the result that I should have gotten.

"Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional." - Roger Crawford"

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure." - Colin L. Powell

A friend once suggested that I should not really rely on whatever seniors told us about modules and semester burden. They were simply suggestions based on how they saw the modules from their perception and their situation at that time. Just believed in myself, and what did I think of the modules. Yes, it is indeed true. When I put some trust in myself and had myself decide, I got better result.

"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing" - Dale Carnegie

I don't say that seniors' and friends' opinions are bad and worthless. They are really helpful to get some insights on modules and things, the pros, the cons, their ups and downs, since they have encountered the same-but-different thing once. Knowing how to succeed and learning from their mistakes. Their opinions may come in quite a high level of accuracy. But some things to note are that they did it in different situation (such as, they were not in a batch full of hardworking and overly smart people), they have different traits, preferences, strengths, weaknesses and abilities. In the end, it is you who are going to "walk this journey", and it is up to you who decide and live up the path you have chosen. So.. Think, think, think and think before you do something. Gain opinions, and decide your own path of happiness.

Perfectionism

2011-02-01T14:43:00.010+08:00

http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/How-Perfectionism-Hurts-Your-usnews-1180775693.html?x=0

I must agree on the idea that nothing is perfect and sometimes being perfectionist may limit whatever things you are willing to try, and even give you unproductive and unnecessary pressure..

"Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly." - Dr. Robert Schuller

Because nothing, even though they are done flawlessly, do not exist.

But is it OK to simply say that things are "good enough" when you can work it out to give better output? Chasing after whichever potential opened up is indeed, perfecting what you are doing, right? I don't think it's a bad attitude as long as the perfectionist can put his/her attitude in the right place, situation and condition.. Am I justifying myself? Perfectionists do come in different ways.

"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra." – Jimmie Johnson

"Don't settle for less than you really want now simply because it's easier to achieve or even because it's a sure thing. You don't need to limit yourself. You don't need to take less than you deserve. Dream big, and you will achieve big things as long as you pursue them with your heart and soul." -tumblr

Dear God,

2011-01-30T15:29:00.007+08:00

Thank You Lord, for providing us with overflowing water, for creating the chilly weather, for helping me reducing the air-con expenses, and for giving me some time to shut my brain up and take some rest.. Surely, You will help me to remember all these amino acids completely and pass tomorrow's quiz successfully, won't You? ;) My hands, feet and brain are freezing and I barely can think of anything. And I am sleepy.

I'm stucked in my room, feeling cold.. and getting devastated.

I need brain defragmentation.

2011-01-29T14:54:00.004+08:00

Greyish day + Heavy, non-stop rain + Coldness + Nice blanket + Thick jacket + Amino acids quiz + Lessons + Broken hot water dispenser = Wet laundry + Unpleasant mind + Malfunctioning brain + Dizzy head + Lack of concentration + No coffee + Continous sleepy feeling.

I.Want.You!!

It's really good to have them BACK in my life!

2011-01-21T02:38:00.001+08:00

cr: google

Loved them! I read them through my school days, both in English and Indonesian (they were translated), and enjoyed the stories. They had successfully given me readings outside mangas and comic books. And much to my delightment, school library finally was useful to me! I think it was also the time when I first ship some pairings/couples too =P However I stopped reading at a few first books of SVH, for the reason that I couldn't find the rest of the books everywhere (I can't say that I read all of SVK and SVT and The Unicorn Club etc.) and also SVU and the other spin-offs.. They were filmed, too, but I think it happened in late 80's/early 90's when I was not even born yet =(

Now they make me really grateful that I don't grow up in Twilight era or become a hard-core Gleek. Anyway, both Sweet Valley and Glee have one thing in common: lack of continuity. LOL.

So as soon as I heard that a new sub-series, set 10 years after the last event of the last book (which I can't really remember what), will be published some time this year, I put it in my wishlist.

After reading the excerpt of the 1st chapter that is published online, I felt somehow disappointed. That girl was really out of character! She changed a lot in 10 years.. But well, what you see is not necessarily what you get, so I am really looking forward to have the book in my hands and start reading again. YAY!

Are they truly superior?

2011-01-20T01:33:00.004+08:00

A friend posted this for his friends to (hopefully) read, and as I gaped I couldn't resist to comment.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

I won't judge any education or parenting ways because each of them has positive and negative sides on its own. I am just concerned about the effect they have on the childrens, especially after reading the comments. Research discussions, self-experiences, hate, suicides of family, to name a few, put me in awe.

I won't say, neither, that I did not face all those things the mother claimed as superior. Being a Chinese-descent, I did experience what the writer self-claimed as the best way to raise children. In elementary school, I was scolded when I didn't bring good marks with me. Yes. But I think this happened to every children, especially when their parents thought that they really could! I was trained for maths as a fundamental lesson each kid needs to have, but now I don't end up as a math student (even though my current study is quite close to it, well, science/engineering fields are interconnected to one another). I was kind of "forced" to play either violin or piano and the members of their respective family, but well, it seemed that I didn't acquire any talents on them. I ended up doing something else which are equally useful and fun for me. I was never forbidden from school plays; my parents continously pushed me to on-stage performances and social engagements, it was just me who was being all anti-social and introverts that I preferred doing all backstage acts and organizing committee involvement and stuffs.. And ya, I am still an introvert. I prefer to take photos, organize events, publicize, design props, backdrops and decorations or write reviews rather than be on-stage in a sold-out performance in an auditorium. It is just a matter of self-satisfaction to me when I feel I can use all my energy and talents to them. And who said that people who stayed in backstage can't socialize? They may as well gained a big big social network! I was angered by a middle-school IQ/EQ test results who claimed so, and some people who just generalize. On sleepovers, well I don't remember having those memories, but maybe it also dealt with the fact that I am the only children of my parents..

Back to the main topic, my parents never tried to change me to someone I don't. I had never forced to stay awake all nights to catch up on my studies by them (so, by someone/anything else? LOL. I admit that I am perfectionist, and clearly ambitious at times ;)). They gave me inputs and choices, but in the end I would be the one who had the responsiblity to find out what I really want to do, and they have been supportive about that.

School plays, music instruments outside piano or violin and sports are achievements on their own. Maths, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, art and literature are good in their own way. Which parents wouldn't be proud of their children if they achieved something that make them felt whole, proud and, if I may give an interpretation to the article, famous? Award-winning movie stars or filmmakers, highly-acclaimed writers, high-class musicians, managers, photographers, scientists, designers, lawyers, doctors? None of them is worse than the other. I believe every parents would, and they wouldn't be willing to bear sadness when they saw their children reaching lives that made them unhappy even though they gained all the wealth and fame, or eventually hate them for turning them to somebody they aren't.. Afterall, they are people who have minds and feelings, not robots.

I agree that parents are responsible for the kids they are raising, but what is better than having children being thankful and proud to have their parents in their life?

The Periodic Table of Pokemon

2011-01-19T20:49:00.002+08:00

cr: tumblr

OMG! LOL LOL LOL LOL

I hope Chris' win is a good sign for what will happen tonight

2011-01-17T14:27:00.009+08:00

Heee, Chris Colfer's win was unpredicted, but great. Congrats to him!

Same age, and he got the Golden Globes =D (so did you manage to taste the champagne, Chris? lol)

His anti-bullying speech was a win too! And so were Dianna Agron's excited reaction, Naya and HeMo's proud looks and.... Lea Michele's ~~shocked, exaggerated~~ about-to-cry-cant-breathe face.

Congrats too for Natalie Portman, Bound to You, Glee and Jane Lynch.

And I just know that The Social Network is better than Black Swan as a picture.

update: awwww Chris! thanks for sharing the luck! *hugs*

An Amazing Little Lamb

2011-01-11T22:23:00.016+08:00

Oh my. A blogger, director, photographer (she has 6 cameras! she got to use her high school's dark room! she was her high school yearbook's photographer so she must be reeeeally good!), actress, beautiful girl and, don't mean to talk about race actually, another Jewish I feel blessed to know.

The memories of days of careful shooting (compared to digital photography nowadays where you can select the good pictures later on and use softwares to enhance them..) and developing films using those chemicals and silver papers and that special trimming flow back. Love them!

What more can I say? She.is.just.simply.awesome.

Or an example of perfection.
Whatever.

Admirable. Yes, it is more because of her love-to-media-things appeal. LOL.

Dianna Agron. How I wish I can be more like you. Think I should be nicer and calmer as she is to counterbalance the Rachel Berry 'side effect' (to be exact: Rachel's side that I probably ~~naturally~~ have more ~~yea I'm a Rachel Berry by nature as I've said.. sigh.~~) on me? Yea.

(I don't need to be an actress or singer to be more like both of them though.. Being a budding chemist is already as hard as it takes to be a good actress and/or singer)

---

Dianna Agron Spills About Her On-Screen And Off-Screen Interest Besides Alex Pettyfer: Photography!

from: http://littlelambfans.livejournal.com/

Dianna Agron and Alex Pettyfer are obviously in a photography darkroom in this new 'I Am Number Four' pic, but it's no coincidence. In the book, Dianna's character Sarah is a photography buff. And when we visited the movie's set in Pittsburgh over the summer, we discovered it's also one of Dianna's passions in real life (how's that for perfect casting?). Allow us to 'shed some light' on Sarah's and Dianna's love for photography.

"Similar to Sarah I kind of picked up the camera in high school because I was a photographer for the yearbook and I loved it then," she said.

When Dianna was in real-life high school, back in the early 2000's, she worked in her school's dark room too. She told us that they only worked with film though; there was no high-tech digital stuff like today's photographers are lucky enough to have. Because of high developing prices back then and the fact that digital cameras were only used by people who could afford them (it was almost 10 years ago), Dianna had to make wise photographer decisions.

"With digitals now there's not really a concern for costs or anything like that," she explained. "My mom was like, 'Okay you can have this film but you have to processs it and do whatever' -- you had to be very selective about things."

So what about her photography skills now? "My love for it has grown, I have six cameras now and I'm always looking for another new toy."

In fact, Dianna's love for photography helped inspire her to take the part in 'I Am Number Four.'

"I read the script and was like "oh that's fun" because I'll be able to actually take photos during the experience, and I have been. They've used some of them in my room and in the dark room (scenes), it is just a little added fun bonus."

You can actually check out Dianna's real life photography not only in the film but also on her personal blog where she posts a lot of her work too.

Are you into photography like Sarah/Dianna? Will you go check out 'I Am Number Four' and peep Dianna's work when it comes out in theaters on February 18th?

referral

2011-01-07T17:00:00.002+08:00

After checking my google reader after a long, long time I have not logged in to it (FYI I use google reader to subscribe to blogs that I read) I saw that this blog is a relatively top referring sites to some of my friends' blogs.

Ahem.
Wondering if reading by google reader adds to it or people use the right-hand side bar links for others' blogs?
I think I rarely click on the links and open the websites unless I am redirected there by any chance..
Hmm.

Doctoral degrees?

2011-01-07T12:34:00.003+08:00

A good article for those who is considering to do PhD, is considering not to do PhD, is doing PhD, is not doing PhD, or is considering to pursue a degree in science. Well, science students are the most susceptible group for doing this kind of thing. Yayayaya include me. I'm in the first category above. ~~grades grades grades... please save it from free-fall for another time~~

http://www.economist.com/node/17723223?fsrc=scn/tw/te/mr/academic

Stressed out.

2011-01-07T12:29:00.007+08:00

Just had another menstrual cramp this morning (for the nth time during the past semester). Heard lots of the cause of it, and heard some scary, true evidences of my friends' about some overgrowing tissues, angiogenesis, surgeries and blahblahblah.

My mom just gave a short comment:

mom: it's influenced by stress..
me: so last semester was far moooooreeee stressful than the previous ones?

So heterocyclic ~~(to be exact: 7 examinable modules)~~ is much more stressful than thermodynamics ~~(to be exact: entrepreneurship-art of acad writing-thermodynamics combo)~~?

Then someone's story on free-falling of GPA regardless of number of AUs taken must be true.

Hope I still have a good, safe one. A must-add to my wishlist.

Introducing: Gudel

2010-12-29T22:44:00.004+08:00

Prediction business will never end.. At least, to lift up the spirit of the supporters.

Gudel is the brand new, Indonesian Paul!
Only correct for second leg, though, not for aggregated/overall result.

Appeal granted <3

2010-12-28T17:41:00.004+08:00

After, like, 4 hours plus of waiting, heart-beating, refresh-ing firefox and else....

I got what I wanted!!

Thanks a lot for a friend who was willing to swap an index with me (now I pray that this swapping is mutual and a win-win situation for both of us),

and the profs/lecturers and CBC officers who kindly granted my appeal! ohooooo. Thank youuuuu!!

I think I should start being nicer to lecturers, especially those two. =D

And I am praying that another two modules will be successfully added. yeay.

Home.

2010-12-24T07:38:00.002+08:00

This sem's schedule was full of flaws. We got a packed exam period which ended two days before Christmas.
So for those Christian foreign students who had to sit for paper(s) until the last day of exam period like me, we needed to choose whether we were going to stay around for Christmas or rush back to celebrate Christmas at home on Dec 23rd evening or 24th morning.

I chose 24th morning. So I am boarding in several hours.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays =)

7 papers were not the problem. Myself is.

2010-12-23T23:16:00.000+08:00

After a semester of skipping the exam review due to a big disappointment, this sem I'm going to post it again. It's not that I'm not disappointed, or I am content with the result.. But this sem taught me a LOT.

I had 7 papers this sem, they are a LOT, but since 1 module is put under S/U option and another 1 is lab which, more or less, you can't study a lot and wait and see it happened, so, it is roughly the same as usual =)

So.. let's start.

CBC922 - Medicinal Chemistry
Roughly a simple module, or 3rd biochem module according to my friend. My biochem record is not good at all, but thank God I could get through this. The paper was considerably, relatively more difficult than the past years' ones.

CBC314 - Physical and Biophysical Chemistry 2
A LOT of questions, and a WAAAAYYYY LOT harder than past year papers! My friend who sat behind me showed a bad sign after the invigilator collected our answer booklets, and I couldn't help but agreed with her. Moreover, we are, more or less, at the same level, and she was worried until days after this paper. Made me worried as well.

CBC316 - Chemistry and Biological Chemistry Laboratory 4
Somehow I believe that the questions are being recycled each year! Lab written exams were never easy for most students, especially because the TAs only explained things that were necessary for experimental procedure and data processing. In the paper they asked technical questions (who had expected?????). INCONSISTENCY!!!!! Oh.My.God.

CBC932 - Polymer Chemistry
The paper itself was relatively easy, only a few "trap" questions. I only hope I am helped by the bell curve, though.

HP806 - Psychology of Crisis Stress Management
I am very glad that I S/U it. The module was quite interesting, but the exam paper was quite deadly.

CBC311 - Chemical Spectroscopy and Applications
Overall remark is the same as polymer. The first lecturer, who gave a HARD mid-term quiz, put easy questions, but the second lecturer who had an easy mid-term quiz gave one "trap" but easy question and one super long, tiring question. Yaaa, so, bell curve, save me please!

CBC934 - Heterocyclic Chemistry
The initial shock was interesting. And I wondered why I put nearly the same answers with those students who S/U this module? *faints* I still do strongly hope that I will pass this module with a good remark.

It was not a good exam period, right? Yes. It was tough.
But it was not as most NTU-ers tought. The problem was not the number of papers (this is NTU! Chemistry and Biological Chemistry division, to be exact. You will end up with 5-6 papers normally). The problem was MYSELF. With procrastination. Yessssssss. Maybe the same thing was also my pitfall last sem, apart of being insecure, having lack of confident in myself and ending up listen to and follow people's opinion out there, tired of all the ~~unimportant~~ projects from core modules (should I cross that out? even professors in my division admit that as well!), works, bad priority adjusment and people out there, in general and in specific.

I need more Rachel Berry good qualities.

However, it seems that not only me who realized something was wrong about some students in our cohort.. So if that person reads this, just be confident in yourself, gal. You have much more incomparable, good qualities as well =) Just do your best and don't think about anything else, I believe you will make a good chemist, a good scientist, or a good person in whatever form you may be (musician, perhaps?), one day.
Looking forward to treasure the long journey of research with you =)
Hey! Who, among undergrads in CBC, have ever gotten 4 papers, as first author, accepted at top, high-impact journals from 10 weeks of work, anyway?

Bell Curve God

2010-12-16T16:43:00.006+08:00

My friend texted me after our super hard lab written exam today:

U noe, fb got a new trend, people r praying to e bell curve god. Haahahx..

OH MY GOD.

I can't help but laugh so hard.

Thanks dear for introducing me to a new term which made my day.

Anyway, can we have the TAs explaining about theories that do not direcly related to data processing and are not in lab manual? Please? Because we didn't even think, nor expect, that they would appear in the examination paper.
*no use, no more lab exams, haix*

I had never seen this scene, I think.

2010-12-15T02:21:00.006+08:00

pic cr: tumblr

Watching Rachel Berry is like watching myself on TV. I must admit that we're much alike, apart of her being a prodigy in singing and me currently pursuing something really different (plus I have mom and not gay dads, sorry Rachel). Let's see. The similar way to annoy people, the same way of being misunderstood, the same way of being full of ambition, the same way of exaggerating things, the same feeling of insecurity, the same pride.. However, she's much more hardworking than me, and I guess she does not procrastinate. ='(

Anyway, even though there's quite a probability that I'll end up doing PhD after undergrad, I strongly don't believe on the power of procrastination. Nah nah, I don't want to procrastinate, and I don't intend to procrastinate (but I don't intend to overwork as well, hey, I need to go out and get a life!). I love PhD comics, tho =D

One side of me gives a strong disagreement everytime people say that Rachel Berry is a bad person, and I should not admire her, and blahblahblah. Hey are they real (as if Rachel Berry is real.... she's completely FICTIONAL!!!!), or are they simply images that the writers put on her? I have ever read a lot of essays defending her (and having a reverse opinion than what people think the characters are) and I strongly agree with most of them. I will elaborate this later.

Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron, to be exact) is an example of injustice in this world in terms of looks. A good thing to work on entertainment industry anyway. Her acting is definitely not bad, no worries. Anyway, I just knew that she played a part in Burlesque! Yeah, the Golden Globe, Christina Aguilera and Cher's film. Awr! I'm looking forward to be able to watch it and see what's the role for Glee's ice queen HBIC there.. LOL.

Sorry for the sudden bombardment of Glee during the past 1 month or so. FYI, I'm not a hardcore fan of it, only a regular viewer ~~who ships Brittana~~. These are only some things that came out of my mind after I'm desperate enough after ~~procrastinately~~ intensively doing quantum mechanics, lab reports and polymer materials. And since this show generates a lot of source for some oasis of mind (photos, photoshop materials, and stuffs), then let them be here until exams are finished and I can ship other things =)

Why I should love writing and photoshop-ping lately.. Hix. The source of procrastinating!!!! And its gift just makes me more and more miserable.