My Random Sense..

i'm sick

2010-08-06T15:50:00.004+08:00

Everyone's in a national day mood. I'm in a nearing-the-end mood!

This mood has triggered a kind of disease that I've developed, which toxic had been accumulated over 9 weeks. You get this when you get too busy, and it’s gross. The symptoms are hardly visible, but are very damaging internally. I need a cure for movie deficiency.

In hope of alleviating the pain, I googled intensively on upcoming movies and even got mildly satisfied by silent trailers (the computers here have disabled soundcards.) Which got me even sicker, now that I know far back I am. How can I not catch Inception yet?! An entire movie dedicated to lucid dreaming waiting for me!

If you're a new reader, you would probably not know that I'm a fan of lucid dreaming many years back. I was so interested in this topic I even researched and experimented on it. For a person who remembers his dreams so frequently, it wasn’t that hard, I still have it once in a while.

So next on my list was Sorcerer's Apprentice, which Mandy termed it as "my kind of movie". Haha, she's right! I watched the trailer and the person did something like a hadouken or kamehameha, seems like it's really my kind of movie.

So the fantasy genre brought me further to check out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, my favourite of the 7 books written by Rowling. Am glad that it'll be out really soon..

And I got carried further, checking out all the sequels to the Epic movies on my waiting list. Some like Fantastic Four are unlikely to have an upcoming, which is saddening, that will mean no more hilarious scenes of Jessica Alba trying to act like a brainy scientist. But Chris Evans will be starring in the first Captain America movie!

Some like horrible Dragonball movie should never try to make a second movie unless they decide to change the lead character. What is a white doing in an Asian manga inspired movie?! Epic fail.

They did a movie on one of my favourite video games too. King of Fighters with another white starring as the character of Kyo. Give the fans a break, please.

And it's good news that Transformers 3 and X-men: First Class is coming up next year!

X-men: First Class will be talking about the most authentic team of mutants with Xavier! Even further back than where the cartoon started.

From Marvel movies, I moved on to realise Spider-man should be having a reboot, with an entirely new cast. This will be a huge challenge especially the previous 3 installments were such huge successes. Can this young dude replace the old Spider-man who had imprinted in fans' hearts for 10 years?

Somehow, i managed to stumble on the Green Lantern, another Marvel hero which I'm not familiar with. Ryan Reynolds will be starring in it. Initially, I thought he would make a good Lantern, but after seeing his costume, he looked more like a clown with crossed eyes. I think his comedies affected his image too much.

and Green Lantern sounds like Green Hornet, which will be coming up SOON next year January, with Jay Chou as Kato, the super fighting Asian kid. The character of Kato was brought famous by Bruce Lee, so Jay Chou got to need more than just acting.

By the time I finish all these movies, I would be old enough for some real full time job. It's too long away! So sick of work and so sick from movie deficiency.

It's 4.23pm now!

PS: I just confirmed that I will be watching Inception LATER! Looking forward! =)

How to have a genius kid

2010-07-26T00:03:00.003+08:00

I’ve been asked a lot of times, by neighbours, relatives or colleagues. Well, from what I learnt as a tutor now, and also from the good old days when my academic glory was during the era of TCS (now known as Mediacorp), I always say, it’s not hard, if you work hard, so will your kids.

1. Be the discipline master at home.

You have the right to your own kids. Teachers and tutors nowadays fear lawsuits and unemployment more than Armageddon. You take ownership of your kids and supervise them. No one else should discipline your kids more than you should, after all, they spend the most time with you. Most learning is done at home, so if you don’t supervise their homework hours, they will lag behind all those 98% of the kids in the school whose parents watch their kids like cats over mice.

2. Homework is a standalone task.

Face it. You’ve been a student before, you know what it’s like to do homework. Anything from ants to Pokemon to FM 958 interests them more than doing homework. They need a conducive environment, like a proper study table, quiet environment with adequate lighting. A lot of kids nowadays do homework while watching ~~crap~~ stuff like 飞轮海. You seriously think staring at 吴尊 can make them score an A? If yes I would prefer you to let them watch 阿妹, at least the name starts with an A.

3. Do homework at a proper desk.

There are various positions to adopt while doing homework. Some lie on the floor, some on the bed, some on the lap. But it’s been tested and proven that sitting at a desk works best for some serious work thinking.. Well, if not examination halls won’t have desks in the first place. So get their butts stuck onto a proper seat with a writing table with decent working space.

4. Kids are jealous people.

They will feel jealous, unloved, dejected, depressed and deprived if they are 40cm away from you yet you’re laughing away at Terrence Cao having the same expression for each of his drama and they can’t join you. For goodness sake, throw them into a study room or switch off the television when it’s time for their revision. I know some dramas are damn nice but you can watch them on http://video.xin.msn.com/browse/catch-up-tv anytime, but these few years are the prime years for them to learn. Once you passed these golden years, not even Glee is good enough to compensate for the wasted time.

As you can see, it’s not that hard to have kids on the right track.

It’s how much support you can give. Never treat them as adults, they are kids for a reason.

The awakening

2010-07-18T00:30:00.001+08:00

It suddenly occurred to me that I’ve changed a lot of my so-called can’t-live-without habits ever since I came back to Singapore.

I’m so used to my outdated collection of songs in my ipod that it doesn’t bother me anymore. Today, I’m listening to Jay Chou’s newest album for the first time after the official release date.

I’m too lazy to drag my camera along wherever I go. In the States, i brought it out even if it’s a dinner.

I can stay at home for the weekend. Instead of meeting with people whom I haven’t had time to catch up with. Weekends used to be not for home alone.

Are all these a sneak preview of what I will become once I step into the working society? Man, I cannot take this.

Next week is the awakening, with friends meet up, exercise, jay chou’s concert and lots of photo shooting opportunities. Time to get back my old self!

Of Legends in the World, and my world

2010-07-15T01:33:00.001+08:00

Just wanna have a quick write before I lose the interest in keeping this place alive.

Randomly bumped into a documentary “Destination Truth” on TV yesterday. Yeap, due to various commitments, the late night home return had only allowed me to watch documentaries on Okto, unless you want me to watch Elvin Ng having a same face for 1 hour in the most recent 9pm drama.. This dude, before I leave for US, he was on the 9pm show, now he still is! Title change, plot change, but expression still the same.

Anyway, about Destination Truth, it’s mainly on the field of Cryptozoology, something I’m always willing to spend some time reading (well, they do add spice to your dreams sometimes, imagine seeing a bigfoot in your dreams).

And out of curiosity at work today, (what wrong with being curious at work?) I went to do some research and found out that Singapore has our very own cryptid - the Bukit Timah Monkey Man!

This is damn hilarious, Singapore really wanna have its little leg ‘chap’ into anything that’s worth international attention. Ferris Wheel must be world’s largest. Airport must be world’s coolest. F1 must do at night. Youth Olympics must be first to organise. Octopus a bit psychic anyhow push a Serangoon birdie to push its luck. Even Bukit Timah such a small nature reserve also can come up with a monkey man to be on the list cryptids.

On a random note, the documentary shows part of USA, places I’ve been to. And it reminds me of a recent movie I watched Knight and Day. There’s no similarity between the documentary and the movie, but the familiarity of BIG places like LA and New York and places I like, like Seattle (featured in Twilight) or San Francisco, just made me feel so glad that I’ve been on that exchange programme. The feeling of watching an American TV or movie and thinking about “That place is nice, I wish I could be there” versus “I know that place is nice, I’ve been there” is just so amazing.

And on another totally random side note, 4 more weeks to the end of internship.

I. Can’t. Wait.

Paul the Octopus or Mani the Parakeet?

2010-07-09T22:05:00.001+08:00

An octopus rose to fame by picking the mussel from the box it liked.

A parrot flew towards stardom by pecking on a piece of paper.

Random or psychic?

Am probably one of the endangered men whose gender were always questioned by other males whenever EPL or World Cup is in the season. I thought what defines a guy is a dick and not the ball he likes?

By the way, I’m into basketball, if you’re wondering.

Yes, i cannot stand soccer. I don’t see why 22 men or the whole world can get excited over which net the ball goes into.

And no, it wasn’t biased. I didn’t hate soccer because I used to step on a soccer ball so often that always led me to falling. And it certainly wasn’t my idea to think that by not playing it, I’m giving it the best revenge.

But this year, the sport which i never bothered finally caught my attention these few days with the rise of celebrity animals like Paul and Mani. This is what I like, seeing people spend big money on analysts and soccer experts to come together to waste time, energy, electricity and papers to do some well thought out predictions. With human brains losing to a bird’s luck and a sucker’s hunger, the ball is indeed round!

Call me a sadist, I like it when confident people got backfired by their confidence, when people with self proclaimed principles go against their principles in their subconscious. No one is a saint so don’t act like one. Expect the unexpected, no matter how well planned you thought you’ve planned your life.

So, does a bird make the balls better or is a sucker better with balls?

I personally prefer Mani’s prediction not because we’re from the same country, but its name sounds a little more prosperous than Paul, right, ‘money’?

I’m a survivor

2010-06-17T01:39:00.000+08:00

Back for nearly 3 weeks, been through all the heat torture, food gobbling moments, mad rushes like a country rat trying not to get hit by big cars in the city, and also attempts to stand with minimal personal space on a public bus.

Besides adapting back to one of Asia’s fastest pace of life, I’m embarking on a new phase of life – internship. And my oh my, give me Marketing Research lesson + Investment seminar + FM seminar + Gn02 lecture any time! I do hope I can say something different at the end of the 10th week.

Another important issue is to restore my income back to before the exchange. Tuition back as normal! Really glad to resume tuitions with the same tutees, though all very critically dangerous.

And so my days are for work, nights are for work. The only time I spend with myself is when I said HI to the mirror in my dream and that only occurred once.

Surprisingly, I’m taking this pretty well. Despite the long period of hibernation, I thought I’ve evolved into a snake (not because of the dry weather that made my skin dry), I’m still full of energy for boring routines, at least for now.

Perhaps the best thing that happened other than food, were the familiar faces I met during the weeks. If I were a Sim, the pampering from girlfriend, support from family, fun and laughter from friends, made my social indicator happily green at its fullest!

Goodbye and Hello!

2010-05-30T16:00:00.001+08:00

Goodbye Georgia Tech, hello Nanyang Tech.

Goodbye road cops, hello speedlight camera.

Goodbye pizza, hello prata!

Goodbye 100 marks, hello Grade B.

Goodbye Krispy Kreme, hello Donut Factory.

Goodbye Mount Rushmore, hello Bukit Timah hill.

Goodbye squirrels, hello cats.

Goodbye free riders, hello free riding.

Goodbye ketchup, and HELLO CHILLI SAUCE.

Goobye Miami beach, hello Siloso beach.

Goodbye Hollywood, hello Mediacorp.

Goodbye Marta (u suck), hello MRT.

Goodbye road trips, hello bus trips.

Goodbye snow, hello nestle snowflakes.

Goodbye Tmobile, hello Singtel.

Goodbye cheap B&J’s, hello cheap Walls.

Goodbye Coca Cola, hello Yeo’s.

I’m back in Atlanta, after a feast of lobsters (again). Seriously, you can’t get lobsters cheaper at anywhere else! 2 for 18 bucks! Anyway, It’s another 1 hour before leaving the house, my attic room which I could barely stand upright. I’m dead tired I could barely be coherent.

To summarize, 3 things I’ll miss:

1. The school life which allows me more space for extra curriculum activities.

2. The weather.

3. The friends that made this exchange so wonderful.

It’s all ending in a week.

2010-05-25T15:09:00.001+08:00

Been enjoying internet access quite often in the various hotels/motels/inns/hostels that we’ve been hopping around since the start of the trip. Just a little lazy to update haha. Sudden urge to do so, because..

I LOST MY CAMERA CHARGER.

And all of a sudden, I felt so crippled.. Since snapping photos has always been the top agenda whenever and wherever I travel.

But on a brighter side, I can at least be more focused on appreciating my surroundings while surviving on my last full battery for the rest of the trip. Used to be too preoccupied with the worry of missing a shot.

It’s also time that I learn how to not spam with a mentality to filter bad photos later. I shall treat this as a film camera to learn the art of making every shot a worthy one.

5 more days, with Yosemite, San Francisco and a surviving battery.

Denver and Custer

2010-05-10T13:17:00.001+08:00

I’m at Custer today and I took my first ever mirror lake photo at Custer State Park! I don’t know why it took me so long to encounter one despite the many beautiful places I’ve been. I think I took a chipmunk photo too. Really looked like a squirrel. And it looked like Theodore, the fattest one.

The past flight had been really bad. Route march to the MARTA station, sweat like a sweaty pig, run like a dog (yes, like a dog, miss tan) and missed the flight right in the face! Oh man. Missed the museum and IMAX show on Arabia! What a way to start our holiday!

But the food were really good at Denver. Visited Osteria Marco for dinner. Wow! Amazed by the friendly service, great ambience, fabulous food (wild mushroom pizza was insane!) and competitive price. It’s like a dream restaurant.

This morning had breakfast at Lucile Creole Cafe. Double Wow! Besides the great pillow like donuts and omelettes and home made sausages, the cafe has a really nice atmosphere. A lot of Americans come here just to wait to start their day with a great breakfast. They don’t mind waiting under the maple tree, holding a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice while chatting with their friends! Kids running on the green grass completed the whole picture of a nice morning in Spring!

I’m looking forward to the wildlife trail back at Custer tml. Close up pictures of wildlife, another thing that I missed in Alaska! Oh and Mount Rushmore, the 4 faces that i can only get to see in cartoons. It’s less than 12 hours!

End of Contraries

2010-05-08T12:55:00.001+08:00

Tomorrow morning I’ll be embarking on the longest tour in my life (22 days!). I can’t say I’m pretty much excited, somehow.

I can explain why finishing exams here is not as exciting as back in NBS, especially when you know given this paper you’ll ace it back in Singapore. The slackness (something I love) has finally reached a point of disgust to me.

This place I called home for the past 4 months, this shit hole, has surprisingly been quite comfortable. I really looked forward to coming back to Atlanta sometimes when our weekend trips got too long. Rest seemed to be more attractive than fun, at times.

I’m really amazed by my threshold, living in an attic which I couldn’t stand fully upright. I was like a Rarry Lotter in the room under the ceiling. But in contrary, I like this unseen corner of the house.

And tml’s trip, it’s the same feeling the night before I left home for enlistment, the night before I left home for Cambodia and the night before I left home for this student exchange. But tonight is different – my home is different.

This is the longest time I’ve stayed anywhere other than Singapore. Calling it 2nd home is natural, no matter how bad it was. Home(s) are always the best.

Before I close my laptop, to explore and end this student exchange with a mighty blast, I wanna remember all that happened.

The school, the friends and the amazing weekends. Last but not least, the discovery of contraries, good or bad.

15 better things you can do besides studying for exams in Georgia Tech

2010-05-05T04:52:00.001+08:00

1. Pick a random photo 3 years ago and laugh at your army hair.

2. Count the total number of moles on all your friends’ faces in your profile picture.

3. Straighten your tissue paper without an iron.

4. Try to replicate the NBS sticker at the back of your calculator on your notes.

5. Read xiaxue.blogspot.com.

6. Clean your camera 5 times.

7. Go to the toilet to squeeze some pee out even though you’ve just peed 10 minutes ago.

8. Drink water to prepare for the next toilet trip.

9. Count the number of receipts you have accumulated.

10. Cut away the stray threads on all your clothes.

11. Watch Digimon season 5 which wasn’t on Channel 8 after season 4 ended.

12. Visit hungrygowhere.com for a list of makan places when you go back to Singapore.

13. Read up about Orang Utans.

14. Visit friends’ blogs and read their archives.

15. Highlight your hair with your highlighter.

So many things to do while preparing for exams in Georgia Tech. Anything besides mugging.

3 more papers to go!

Fairbanks, Alaska (continued)

2010-04-30T13:02:00.001+08:00

Some random scenic point along the highway for you to take a break, stretch and take photos!

World Ice Championship

What is winter in Alaska without showing off its display of ice sculptures that never ever melt in the public under the powerless sun?

Welcome to the world of Iceman!

An icy house

An icy living room

How about an icy stage?

Or an icy maze entrance?

Where you got icy lost?

Or icy retarded?

The sculptures at night looked more alluring with the lights reflected and refracted in the ice. Everything came alive!

This igloo was found in a kids’ playground.

This is an ultra slippery big icy slide! damn fun!

University of Alaska Museum

This is indeed one of the best museums I’ve been to. Probably due to the mysterious Alaskan heritage that’s so captivating. The nature, the dancing night sky, the wildlife, the natives, the culture, the language.. They are something which you can never get in the rest of the continents, not even in the same country in USA. Uniquely Alaska is truly a perfect fit, better than Singapore.

Some sort of time machine?

The wildlife exhibits

Playing with colour combination.

Fairbanks, Alaska

2010-04-30T06:08:00.001+08:00

Northern Sky Lodge

This is the Bed and Breakfast Lodge where we stayed at while we’re in Fairbanks. It’s a rather famous place, especially among the Japanese as it was once featured in a Jap travel show. Most Japanese that we met here were mostly here to see the Northern Lights. The night before we arrived, there’s actually full display of Northern Lights!

But it’s really a pity. It’s like one of my life’s greatest regret to miss it all three nights that we were there. I’m definitely going to witness at least once before I die. If.. If there was Northern Lights that day, it would look something like this

All these were koped from the Lodge’s website and all were taken by the customers. Holy shit. I need to visit Alaska again!!

But there’s some other things worth mentioning. Like

Really spacious room with warm cosy log cabin theme. Dun mind the mess, we’re (i am) messy people (person).

The first night. Only managed to capture a starry sky. Which was already quite cool to me. I love those silhouette of the pine trees!

And I can’t say how much I adore Sid the golden retriever of the Lodge. She’s a great company for all the guests. She doesn’t bark irritatingly. She’s got great fur and she plays along with everyone really well. Even Chubs the animal hater can’t resist playing with her!

By the way, I’m not a dog lover either, but this dog really changed my opinion. I need some smelly peeing black dogs owned by the Indian family above my flat to piss me off again. I can see it real soon in 1 month’s time.

Dog Mushing

Speaking of dogs, let’s talk about dog mushing, of which I kept referring to it as dog mAshing. There’s a difference between dog sleds and mush! Just google it if you want (in a Lyn tone cos she dunno yet still wanna show off)

Anyway, it’s one of the greatest experience I had in Alaska. 6 trained huskies pulling you as though you’re gliding on water (snow is solid water anyway) at such a speed. They’re so well coordinated and running at the same pace I can’t help but imagine they can communicate!

Wait, actually I think they can! Initially our host (she’s the trainer of all these amazing dogs btw) warned me that this team of dogs pulling me are the stronger ones. They were energetic and can’t wait to sprint! So naturally I was hum and applied quite a bit of brake. When we started off, these hyper dogs were hindered by my over applied brake. I’m quite sure 3 of them turned and looked at me and they all gave me the noob-why-are-you-so-hum-we-wanna-run look! Holy shit! I swear I was pai seh at that moment and crazy enough, only these dogs saw how paiseh I was.

Santa Claus House, North Pole

When I first heard about this, I thought we’re really going to visit the HoHoHo Santa Claus’s house, where we see his chimney, his factory of toys, his fireplace where he reads all his letters from the good children and stuff. Turned out it was a gift shop.

But we still managed to get some really cool pictures.

All photos are from Chub’s blog as I think it only fair to kope her collage photos after she koped so many of my photos and always managed to blog first haha. The last 3 photos are actually interaction between us and a Chubbo looking Eskimo statue!

Alaska Trip (part1)

2010-04-24T13:57:00.001+08:00

I’m back after going missing for a little while! Time to put my most exotic trip to my furthest country into words and pictures!

Alaska

Land of ice. Land of snow. Land of huskies. Land of Northern Lights. Land of midnight sun!

You can never get so much of these when you’re 200km above the equator.

A state which bares a population of less than a million. There’s still a lot of places in Alaska are still not tainted by traces of human.

The Delta Flight

Oh, and I absolutely love budget flights that comes with complementary beverages and snacks. They just made the entire flight so much more enjoyable.

And when it comes to window view, yes, flight to Alaska allowed me to gain access to bird’s eye view of great sights that I’ve never seen so much in my life before!

Like how often can you get confused over whether they are clouds or snow mountains?

The airport of an exotic place feels super different. I almost felt like it’s the airport of Mars! Ok, Pluto, since the temperature is more compatible. But anyway the scenery is really different.

Ice mountains everywhere.

I like the picture of a native Eskimo at every tail of Alaska Airlines.

The Anchorage airport just looks ulu and clean!

Alaska celebrates 50 years of statehood! US bought Alaska from Russia at a damn cheap price back then. Please forgive Lyn, she’s hungry and probably waiting for a fly.

Anchorage Day 1

Their sun took its own sweet time to set. The pace of the state somehow follows the sun. Laid back and relaxed. It still sets beautifully eventually.

All cars in Anchorage, sorry to disappoint, looked like this. No one bothers when snow and dirt is everywhere. The capital of Alaska wasn’t like what I thought or had in mind before I came.

View from our hotel window. Like I’ve said, the sun took forever to set. Just nice it’s a very cloudy day. Made my picture look awesome.

An abandoned outdoor dining area of a restaurant.

Our first dinner point. Gumbo House, that sells…

Gumbo. Some sauce and rice mixture with meat and vegetables and prawns. All dumped into a bowl. Taste very much like tasty baby food. Reminds me of my mum’s Orh Beh (Yam Porridge). One thing good about this meal is the warmth you get out of this little bowl in this uber cold city.

Alaska Rail Road

This is my first time sitting on a train. Not MRT, but those choo choo train! Destination is to Fairbanks, a 12hour journey to where we will be doing dog mushing, and camping for aurora!! A lot of fun awaiting us, but little did I know this 12hour transport itself was already so much fun!

Not those Harry Potter Hogwarts Express kind of seats, where a few magicians can sit together in a cabin. But we’re still lucky enough to get a premier 4 seater compartment with a table!

The rest of the car looked something like this.

So much fun camwhoring, a SOP by now.

Anyway, almost everyone going to Fairbanks was armed with a DSLR. Which makes sense, cos everyone wanna take good photos of the immensely beautiful Fairbanks.

The famous Mt McKinley.

It was at this mountain, the captain of the train was so nice. He let passengers alight from the train for the first time, to get this wonderful view.

What more can we complain about! Against the magnificent Mt McKinley!

By the way, did I mention that he’s really an interesting captain? He encouraged everyone to move about and mingle. The people on board are really interesting, coming from almost all over the world. A half Alaskan half Romanian half drunk woman thought Lyn’s traveller’s pillow was like some neck injury support. Wealthy and free American auntie who showed ask her helicopter skiing trip up the ice mountains. American mum who has been here for the 12th time, visiting her daughter and seeing her future son-in-law for the 1st time. This train bears so many people with so many different agendas.

Another interesting point to note on board. They have some really cool exhibits to show us more about Alaska!

Towards the middle of the journey, we started to discover the back cabin for luggage was the best to do some crazy shots!

Needless to say. Getting to take a sunset shot behind a mountain, when the train is moving, leaving behind a trail of railway track that it had just passed seconds ago is simply one of the coolest moments here.

It’s meant to be mere transportation. But so much happened, so much to take in, so much to appreciate, that you’ll think 12hours was not enough. Thank you captain for your flexibility and dedication to making every ride a memorable one!

Goergia Tech after spring break

2010-04-06T10:54:00.001+08:00

It seemed like spring break was a milestone for certain stuff.

1. Became slacker after spring break. Ponning with less guilt, that really means NEARING zero guilt.

2. Crazy weather. Tml Atlanta is hitting a 30 degree Celsius. WALAO. Didn’t I have winter before spring break? So spring’s really just 1 week after months of winter? Now good times really don’t last. And I’m left with 1 month in Georgia Tech.. Sigh.

3. Presentation today went well, even if our content is full of loopholes. I like how I distract the Americans with my powerpoint slides. Haha, and I haven’t chu all my power yet!

4. I’ll be studying 5 chapters today. Tml’s a 30% exam.

5. Georgia Tech had a cultural fest today. A few of us went to help Jessey to distribute food at the Singapore and Malaysia Booth. We are promoting Nasi Lemak and it’s totally awesome! Haven’t had that for so freaking long! The spicy level is quite above average, and I can expect the Americans gulping 1 gallon of water after eating.

Miami continued

2010-04-03T07:59:00.001+08:00

Snorkelling

So far I’ve had my first Broadway show in NYC, first train ride in Alaska, first skiing session in Alaska (will blog about these soon)..

And I had my first snorkelling experience some near Key Largo! There’s quite a few memorable points.

We snorkelled somewhere in the middle of Atlantic Ocean. The water is choppy. DAMN choppy.

Winter time, so it comes with chilly water.

But that’s what make the snorkelling trip so awesome! Chubs (who apparently was the most seasoned snorkelling person) was saying that if we survived this snorkelling trip, we can snorkel anywhere. Haha!

On our way to Key Largo. I cannot emphasize how much I love driving this highway.

Exotic bird once again.

Great view on the yacht

After many attempts, finally got this.

Totally awesome shot of them ogling at the guys

My first time out in the sea so far away from shore. It was pretty amazing.

We went to 2 locations to snorkel. The first one was extremely bad for me. My goggles weren’t tight and I kept breathing through my nose. it starts fogging real bad and guess what? seawater kept surging into my eyes which had my lens on. It was quite torturous and I couldn’t really appreciate what the sea has to offer.

We’re actually the last group of people to get on board. Apparently, the water is too cold to be bearable for the rest. INDEED. I was shaking uncontrollably right from my inner bones with the wind blowing harshly.

But still, Jason, Chubs and I persisted and went for a 2nd round at the 2nd location when most of the rest stayed on board. After adjusting my goggles properly, I can better enjoy the pleasure of snorkelling. It was then I started noticing the little jellyfishes dancing around me as I swim above shoals of fishes and colourful reefs. It’s a pity many reefs are dying due to mankind activities.

The wind was strong (as you can see) and everyone was cold (as you can see too). Our ghost and refugee showed pictures of evidence.

But it was a fruitful and super memorable trip out in the deep blue sea!

Everglades (Air boating)

The famous subtropical wetlands with wildlife swamping in it. Cool birds, rare plants and ferocious alligators! We’re going to take an air boat tour in this place!

It’s amazing to see how the boat “glide/hover above the water. sleek and swift!

excellent scenery

strong wind

Alligator tanning

plant with pineapple crown

simply love getting close up shots with birds

We went to the alligator farm to look at some. I do understand who did Godzilla originate from.

Captain and us!

And we never let a good spot go without a shot!

Burr Berry Farm

Our next visit is to a strawberry farm.

Home of the legendary Strawberry KING!Refreshing strawberry lemonade

Check out all the strawberry goodies!

Strawberry Sundae

Seriously, under warm sun, licking away smooth and naturally sweet strawberry sundae with real strawberries from the KING, indulging in smooth and thick strawberry milk shake, and munching away soft fluffy shortcake that melts very nicely with the ice cream..

It’s heavenly.

We bought a basket of them to finish at the airport!

Domo wrecks the room

2010-03-30T07:59:00.001+08:00

A parcel was on the table when I returned from my Alaska/Seattle Spring Break. Guess who?

Domo is here to wreck the attic!

Thanks a lot dear for sending a Domo stereo over! Now I can blast music damn loud when my housemates skype really loudly. =)

And yup, you’re officially braver than me on your 4th extraction of your wisdom tooth. But that doesn’t change the fact that you still didn’t dare to watch Final Destination.

Sorry that I can’t be by your side this time round, hope you’re dealing with it good. It’s time to appreciate your mum’s porridge. I always find her cooking good. You’re so lucky. =D

Alaska live update!

2010-03-24T14:52:00.001+08:00

So much happened during these few days in the land of snow! Far up north with extreme temperatures with alluring sceneries and great winter activities, this has by far been the most exotic travelling experience for me!

I had my first ever train ride experience from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Initially there was an intention to sleep. But there’s so many interesting people to talk to! So much to see, so much to learn, so much to enjoy.

We didn’t catch the northern lights during our 3 nights at Fairbanks though. Pretty upset about it. I did so much research on photography of the aurora.. Sigh.. Tough luck.

But the lodge we stayed in was pretty awesome. Met some really cool Japanese who shared the same hope of coming over here to view the Northern lights. The Japanese uncle we met over yesterday’s dinner gave us a really insightful summary of his travel journey and I think his retirement plans were just awesome! He’s a pro photographer too! Taught me some tricks which I thought I could put into good use. Tonight is our last chance. I’m not hoping much.

Northern Sky Lodge. Really nice place we stayed in, which I’ll blog in details when I get back to Atlanta.

Some snow fun after dog mushing!

We left Fairbanks early this morning to catch the smallest plane I’ve ever flown in. It’s really cool and retro looking, ha. Today’s itinerary was skiing and I’m down with a slight fever and quite a bad headache. Sigh, nonetheless, since I wouldn’t wanna forgo my first skiing experience in this authentic land of snow, kinda persevere through! =) A pity I didn’t go up to the level 3 slope; the headache was getting too intense towards the end of the skiing session.. haha.

Heading Seaward tomorrow. Hopefully the great scenery (overdosed, seriously) can compensate the loss of a chance to view the almighty and ever mysterious Northern Lights!

Really enjoyed meeting a lot of people across the globe, all here in this lonely state immersed with so much natural beauty. Talking to them made this entire trip even more fruitful.

And it’s Seattle next! My battery is running low, till the next time I blog! To the rest of the Georgia Tech friends, enjoy your Spring break!

Miami Beach

2010-03-19T13:53:00.001+08:00

It’s Wednesday and I conquered two exams! It’s time to get ready for my Alaska spring break!

Actually, we already had a mini spring break at Miami!

Let me introduce to you… this place… with

Jason standing at the walkway to paradise.

It’s a paradise with…

Bright sun (I know you Singaporeans hate the sun. But it’s precious here. now. and later when I reach Alaska)

Blue sky…

Pearly white sand…

and aqua blue sea!

You get to see birds…

Like really interesting ones. (This was just a lucky quick shot. A pity the entire bird wasn’t in the picture)

and colourful flags with interesting people who associate themselves with the flags…

Welcome to the famous Miami beach!

And we love the beach so much, we immediately express our love through various enthusiastic poses – LayHui’s high school musical, Chubs’ ballerina, my hip hop, Lyn’s always successful Buddha jump and Jason’s werewolf evolution.

And a part of the beach is dedicated to gays and lesbians. Check out the colourful flag! Americans are really quite liberal, it’s the first time i see so many of them in pairs or groups! I mean in Singapore you’ll only see one couple roaming on the streets once every few months or something.

We got so excited, started posing for such once-in-a-lifetime shots, until a pair of blacks approached us. Apparently they wanted to party later at night with our girls! hahaha.

We decided to move away, for some Atas lunch!

At Penguin Hotel… Which is just a street next to the stretch of beach.

Some mango chicken and fish tacos.

Really enjoyed the meal, while busking in the sun and indulging in sea breeze and good food. We didn’t even break any sweat in the process. Cool and warm can coexist.

We headed back to the beach for more actions.

Courtesy of chubs, koped the collage from her blog, since she like koping my pictures to blog hahaha.

More fun at the beach. We’re never running out of ideas.

It says GIP 2010

Drawn by the girls, obviously, with a girly heart shape. Haha, that’s cos I can’t draw a decent heart shape, as jieying would always laugh about.

Actually it looks pretty decent to me.

Blue sky, green sea, clear water, white sand. You can even see my feet if you look close enough. Clarity level above average!

On the way to somewhere… Which I’ll continue next time, probably in ALASKA.

I only have 4 hours to sleep before heading down to the airport. I CAN’T WAIT!

And since I’m so tired, I might as well be incoherent too.

I changed my blog photo! This is the original.

Ok, GOOD NIGHT! and cya ATLANTA.

Spring Break! Wooosh!

The greener field

2010-03-17T08:07:00.001+08:00

I’ve always got a strong belief in being decisive in life decisions.

There’s no way you can regret, simply because there’s no way you can see how great life would be if you had taken the other route.

But if that path is a deviation from the mass, it’ll be a different story. You are constantly updated with all the opportunities you’re missing by those who chose otherwise. Seeing snippets of their fabulous lives is always rough.

Note to self: It’s a lone battle. And I must not lose.

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On a happier note, I’m studying for tml’s 2 mid term exams! Yes, it’s a happy event because it’s really hard to concentrate with my pdf lecture notes beside the ALASKA itinerary beside it! It’s just 3 days before the flight to northern lights, dog sledging, wildlife, log cabins and great photography opportunities.

I’m a lucky photographer, for a budding amateur, ha.

online

2010-03-12T14:00:00.001+08:00

Really glad to see Mum on msn, typing to me and getting updated of my life here through the technology I’m most familiar with. Really happy to see her step out of her comfort zone to work and take the courage to touch something so massive and sophisticated for her age. And she’s typing faster with better English every time we converse! Even though I can’t see her facial expressions and her replies are usually short with no punctuations, I can still feel her tone and emotions behind those simple words..

You don’t need big words to get messages across. You just need to understand the person.

Jack Neo Extramarital Affair

2010-03-12T12:12:00.001+08:00

Across the globe, from a familiar hometown, I came to know the greatest news in media after the Ris Low typhoon.

Jack Neo and his 11 women. Even Snow White only had 7 dwarfs. Not even Tom Riddle can surpass this local king in hiding his affairs within the chamber of secrets. But such fiery affection for 11 women, can never be contained, even in the deepest dungeon.

Members of the public questioned his credibility, integrity, blah blah. But ultimately, the wife is the greatest victim. Wendy’s actions, in my opinion, had also made her an immature retard. Being a 3rd party, out to destroy a man’s career just because she can’t get his love, no one fits the title of a bitch more than her. I pity her future husband, that is if she is ever going to have one.

My heart goes out to Jack’s wife. I don’t care if the fainting was staged. Even if it’s staged, it’s still out of love for Jack. For that I respect her, for being stupid, for being blind, but more for being noble, and her undying love. I wish both of them and the family well.

Indoor VS Outdoor

2010-03-11T09:07:00.001+08:00

Back from South Florida with my dark tan, peeling skin, and as always, lots of good photos!! It was a fabulous weekend, totally loving my exchange life.

Shall be disciplined enough to record last weekend’s activities before accumulation of shitload of events again.

NBA Live (Atlanta Hawks VS Dallas Mavericks)

I remembered I was watching MVP qing ren when I was in Sec 3 and started playing basketball cos it’s like a super handsome sport (HAHA). And watching NBA Live was something I was yearning for since then..

And guess what?! Georgia Tech sponsored the tickets for exchange students!

It took place at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, so the entire stadium was almost rooting for Atlanta Hawks. I would say it’s a pretty well played game. They actually tied and had a 5min extension. I must say I was secretly hoping the Mavericks will win as they have some really good players whom I liked better, haha.

They playing of the US national anthem, which sounded so so so good it can be a pop song.

The saxophone for national anthem?! Damn cool la. Singapore should do this man..

Some cool fire effects when introducing the Atlanta Hawks players. Did I mention the commentators were really really biased? haha, that’s the advantage of playing at home ground.

Mavericks coach strategising.

The intervals of the game were really interactive and fun… They have

The Hawks mascot, who did some cool dance moves like moonwalk and hip hop, etc.

Hot girls are a must. What is a basketball match without cheerleaders?

Those hot girls stripped. These fat men stripped too. Oh Am Gee!! Makes me wonder how much a human skin can stretch. They are like human balloons of water.

The famous Kiss Cam…

They really love teasing the opponent team. directing a kiss cam at them hahaha.

Speaking about disturbing the opponents. The screen will get all spectators to boo and make noise to distract the opponents.

I CAUGHT A DUNK!

Free XL Atlanta Hawks T shirt. Haha, this is my first XL, I hope it’s not fitting after I go back Singapore.

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Stone Mountain

Something like Mount Rushhmore, but not as spectacular, because the carving, though detailed, is freaking small!!

See what I mean?

But other than that carving, we walked a trail up to the summit of the mountain… Which was quite challenging, not vertically, but more of combating the winds on the mountain.

Apparently it is one of the most visited tourist attraction in Georgia. I would say it’s a nice mountain to climb in winter, to see the granites, the sky and the slow change in scenery and how nature sculptures the surrounding as you climb higher up the mountain.

When we’re at the foot of the mountain!

The midpoint, almost reaching the top..

The summit!! Check out the wind and the messy hair.

Camwhoring runs in every drop of our blood. I cannot imagine what will happen when we tour the western America. My camera is exploding.

Some nature shots that I took on the way up…

I like the foggy skyline!

Indulging in the wind and freshness of the air…

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Medieval Times

My favourite part of the day!! Not because it’s dinner, more like it’s the COOLEST dinner I’ve ever had.

Welcome to Medieval Times…

Where knights once roamed the land…

And King Philippe ruled the world…

Where you’re invited to dine,

with the royalties..

The best royal cuisines are served by the castle servants. 4-course meal for celebration of peace which finally bestowed the land.

As you feast upon your food in the most authentic Medieval way (with no knives and forks),

you toast a mug of ale with your fellow warriors! For Peace! For Glory!

But peace didn’t come for long,

as the evil Green Knight started to rebel…

The chivalrous Red Knight tried to stop his evil plot, but failed to escape the Green Knight’s scheming battling techniques.

It was the humble Black and White Knight who defeated the evil Green Knight with his superb battling skills.

Who finally brought peace to Medieval England.

It was an incredible dining experience. The moment you entered, they treated you like ministers and rulers of other countries, here to celebrate the peace King Philippe finally secured after years of war with King of the land of Leone.

During your dinner, you watch a WWE + theatre play hybrid, bringing you astonishing life threatening stunts and moves along with spectacular storyline. The tableware, the crown, the atmosphere, the storyline, the actions and the food really made you thought you’ve time travelled back to Medieval Times!

A picture with our red knight (hence our red crowns). I’m gonna miss that place.

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Town of Royston

On the way to Lake Hartwell, we passed by several road signs that directs you to Royston! I’m so near to a town named after me! I know there’s a Royston in London, but here in Georgia there’s one too!

It wasn’t intentional, but we were getting closer…

and closer to ROYSTON. Ahh, the excitement!

And we did pass by Royston. My eyes selectively read “Welcome Royston” and it’s quite shiok to be able to not bluff yourself so hard as blocking the “to” was pretty easy.

And yes, we got it! “Tough luck” to all Roystons in Singapore!

I told you it wasn’t that hard!

Royston has got nice scenery too!

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Hartwell Lake

Another of my favourite. I love it when we explored what mainstream GIP people will not do. This place is really a bonus. Secluded, quiet, perfect for chilling and relaxing.

Everyone had something to do!

Jason always made the headlines

Heart

Hartwell Lake!

An Initial D inspired photo!

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Let’s end this post with a funny photo. Mickey Mouse in his hair! The hairstylist is GOOD.

public speaking in foreign land

2010-03-09T13:37:00.001+08:00

Joined the Public Speaking Club with Jason, hahaha. It’s quite an adventurous attempt on my part because it takes double the courage to speak in front of ang mohs and triple the courage to speak in front of pro ang mohs.

I’m presenting a 4-minute long speech about myself and I’ve still got no idea on how to go about starting.

I need to use the washing machine and it’s being hogged for DAMN LONG.

My first haircut in the States

2010-03-08T13:34:00.001+08:00

The most dreadful thing since my arrival in the States is neither the culture, the tests, the overloading of modules, nor the crime rate at the place I’m living at.. It’s the issue of where should I cut my hair.

Haha, I know this may sound stupid, but when you realised there’s only 4 Asians in your class, 1 is female, 1 has the bmt hair and another has the 80s hair, you’re pretty much the only one left who keeps the most troublesome hair in the class.

The American guys go to barbers.. Their shops have this red and blue swirling device at the entrance. Almost all of the guys have slopes. The longer hairstyles are the Zac Efron kind.

There’s a Great Clips in America that’s quite established. It’s either very Kimage or very QB House. My hair was getting irritating so I’ve decided to go for it.

I think I explained how I wanted my haircut till the black lady can imagine and picture how I looked back in Singapore in her mind’s photoshop. Eventually she gave me a summary,"An inch shorter of everything right?”

I kinda gave up and see how things go. Snip, snip, snap, snap!

Savannah Trip (part 2)

2010-03-03T02:43:00.001+08:00

Krispy Kreme

My 1st KK donut was flown from Australia.

My 2nd KK donut was bought from Publix (those packaged one)

My 3rd KK donut was from the drive through KK outlet.

My 4th donut was finally fresh out of the oven.

All i can say is, it’s getting better and better!

And off we go.. on the way to..

Skidaway Park

Somehow before I went to Savannah, the name always gave me a Safari feel. Skidaway Park proved me right! There’s a certain African feel to it.

Brought my tripod along, and it did wonders!

What I really love about this park is that there’s hardly anyone around except us! That’s the best I can dream of, because I hate going to touristy places with heads and faces of strangers in my photos.

This is what I mean. I can’t help but look at the pink woman instead of myself.

Now you see, you can’t blame us for cam whoring at such a good spot.

We seriously love this place. We took 3 hours to finish the trail when others recommended 1 hour. What to do? Singaporeans, bemused by peace and nature.

Tybee Island

Evidence of appetite increase.

Welcome to Tybee Lighthouse!

Where 178 flight of stairs awaits you.

It was kind of gloomy

and tiring

But for this kind of view, it’s all worth while.

Tybee Island Musuem

Taking a self shot using my camera is NOT EASY!

We found Jason hiding in a picture.

Pirates used to frequent the island!

We went to the beach…

for some ice cream in winter..

and some busking in the evening sun. nice hoodie btw nancy

and did some shouting…

The Crab Shack

Highly recommended by tourism board of Savannah. Rumoured to sell fantastic seafood. What comes to your mind? Jumbo? No Signboard? At least some barbeque sambal stingray?

They specialise in crabs.. Even better! I bet they can do it without fried mao tou. Shit, I’m drooling as I type.

It’s a place good for photo taking! Let’s see the food..

Our seafood platter that comprised of steamed crab that’s pretty dry, mini lobsters that’s even drier and stinky with fishy smell, oily sausages, decent potato..

Big disappointment! Especially that mini lobster. the underside of it reminds me of that of a cockroach.

That place is only good for photo taking.

It’s pretty much an anti climax, but my Savannah getaway ends here! Let’s end this entry with a happy picture!

We heart Savannah!!

Savannah Trip

2010-03-03T00:35:00.001+08:00

The weather forecast predicts snow in the afternoon. Weather is truly insane now. Yesterday I was still jogging in the sun. Not hoping for much, the last time snow didn’t come, it hit me real bad haha.

Enough about snow and let’s start on the sunny Savannah trip! The road trip with the 3 girls (hahaha, yes yes i know, don’t look at me like that, the other guys can’t make it. as in cannot make it. as in cannot make it for this trip) was LOADED with fun! I got to finally wear my BERMS after being neglected in my wardrobe for so long! I had a hard time digging it out man.

Driving was good (almost), scenery was better, photo shoot was superb! I can say this made another peak for quenching my thirst for snapping pictures after Cambodia. I’m loving photography more and more. Who knows what’s next on my next trip to South Florida, Miami beach this coming weekend? =)

Yes, this is our first decent road trip so far. I saw numbers on my GPS navigator that I’ve never seen before, like 325km. Just how many Singapore(s) do to cover that distance. Well, the practice made me used to left hand drive now, and the roads and interstates are pretty comprehensive now that I’m familiar. I must say the traffic police here don’t just eat donuts like how they were stereotyped, they do their jobs real well by catching speeding, drunk drivers haha.

And I do know why the creator of Transformers chose a cab-over truck to be Optimus Prime. It’s EVERYWHERE on the roads in the States.

MAJOR UPDATE: I’m blogging with the window in front of me with snow falling from the sky. My wish came true. The school hasn’t decided to close but my mind works faster, I’ve decided.

Moving on..

Forsyth Park

Our first stop of the day after 5 hours of driving and navigating. It’s been so long since we’re greeted by greenery! Atlanta is so much gloomier. Instant happiness filled every part of me upon arrival!

Even squirrels seemed more handsome in Savannah.

The day was sunny, but not warm enough for the poor bride to be out in the cold. But I guess she’s overwhelmed with the warmth of love haha.

Rainbow that’s formed through the sprays of water!

Joining in the fun! Embracing nature (with no ants)

We moved on to relive some lost memories we had in Singapore. Good old times like…

Playing the swing with a fully comfortable toddler beside us.

Enjoying the breeze and sun on an open field, like how Marina South used to have a huge field for kite flying.

We hanged around till evening…

Before moving on to..

City Market

A place which I find very historic, serene and romantic. A pity we didn’t stay long because the temperature dropped together with the sun and I was freezing with unshielded legs. Damn gek kiang to be in berms.

But dinner at Vinny Van Go Go pizza was pretty awesome!

Gigantic broccoli and sausage pizza!

The candy shop beside the pizza restaurant was FREAKING AWESOME too. Pity I didn’t a photo, probably because they don’t look appetizing, but their pralines… omg, let me see if I can google anything close.

Ok, it looks really good here.. So imagine how nice it is when you give it a bite and the praline just falls apart weakly yet firmly under the strength of your teeth. Your tongue tastes the sweetness of the glazed coating immediately, but soon they melt all over, as you chew the crunchy and fragrant pecans. It was so sweet they you wish for another one…

Only to know that 1 pound costs like 13 dollars. That was the exact emotions I was going through while enjoying the sample. Americans give really huge portions for sample. I got a quarter of this, while in Singapore i think tyou’ll taste more of the woody toothpick than the praline.

Ok! End of Day 1!

Atlanta fun continues

2010-02-25T23:13:00.001+08:00

I’m determined to finish this entry before I bathe, watch Heroes (finally at season 4) and sleep..

So much happened during the weekends that came after every crazy school week. Weather’s still erratic as ever, but I guess I’m becoming more tolerant of it, at the expense of a drier skin.

But nothing stops us from getting good food!

Mary Mac’s Tea Room

It was an ultimate dining experience. The walk to the restaurant was horrible with rain and wind slapping your face and your thickest coat gave up on keeping you warm. But once you stepped in and settled down on the comfortable chair, everything bad turned out great. Nice ambience, warm waitress, good food, famished self and a bunch of friends. Perfect way of spending a lazy afternoon with a late lunch that took forever to finish. Really enjoyed the entire experience!

Appetizers were already filling up 50% of my stomach.

Soup was on the house as we were first timers in the restaurant!

check out my thick pork chop grilled to perfection! and 2 marvellous sides: sweet potato souffle and mac n cheese.

It’s a foggy day..

I-Hop

For $4.99, you get unlimited pancakes and coffee. O . m . g !

That’s insanely shiok to the max! For a pancake lover, the never ending pancakes drenched in maple syrup just drove me crazy.. Haha.

Blueberry syrup that runs down the stack of pancakes..

and you get unlimited coffee too!

Happy people with 4 different syrups to choose from.

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Fox Brothers’ BBQ

They are famous for their pulled pork and ribs. Which were excellent!

They are ranked second on the list of Best BBQ food in Atlanta. Really packed place.

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Our New Malaysian Friends

We met a bunch of cool friends from ex-SAMA (Singapore and Malaysia Association) of Georgia Tech but there’s no SAMA this year due to lack of sufficient Singaporeans and Malaysians.

They are a bunch of really warm and friendly people. Intro-ed and invited us for a lot of activities, like…

.. getting Krispy Kreme..

(ok, i cheated, this KK is from the recent Savannah trip. But they were all too homogeneously gorgeous)

.. having Mediterranean Grill..

.. Vic’s performance @ some cafe..

.. Damn nice Asian food..

.. and Wen Eu’s invitation to his place, which is damn nice..

With a really cool fire place..

Where we camwhored so happily

not forgetting the empty dining room..

which we soon filled it up with a lot of good food..

and laughter..

kitchen was so nice that these two girls were so happy washing the dishes for the first time.

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Just when you think I’m about to end this post. NO! Because I’m going to talk about what Atlanta is famous for.

CNN

Having its headquarters here, we had a good time unravelling what’s behind the scenes of these news broadcasting and it was indeed quite an eye opener!

Larry King

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World of Coca Cola

Actually, Atlanta bears another big C! C is for Coke! Yes, this is the birthplace of Coca Cola! We went to

It’s sort of like a fun tour.. Guides are engaging and fun. Reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And there’s a lot of propaganda and interesting artefacts. Made me, a non-coke lover thirsty and yearning for coke towards the end!

Statue of the founder of Coke.

I guided him through the process..

Everyone is in love with this polar bear.

At the end of the tour we got to taste many other different flavours of soda that Coca Cola company produced all over the world. Some really exotic flavours from Africa were quite unbearable. But it was a very gassy aftermath, just like how your stomach’s bloated with soft drinks on Chinese New Year.

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Georgia Aquarium

It’s the world’s largest Aquarium. It houses whale sharks in it.

Yummy crab that I really feel like eating. I will try an Alaska King Crab really soon when I’m at Alaska this spring break!!

The whale shark that swam too fast. It was too big to capture all of it anyway.

Playing around with my camera and I really love the dreamy flowing water effect.

It was a fun night.

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My new lens

My Sigma 18 – 200mm lens that I bid on Ebay finally arrived! So far so good, have been playing with it a lot and I like the zooming capabilities of it!

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Chinese New Year

Ok, I’m so tired now. But I cannot miss talking a bit about Cny cos it’s so different this year! No Bak Kwa but there’s SNOW! No cousins but there’s friends. So everything’s new here. No bai nian but there’s loads of shopping to do!

Webcam on the first day of CNY with the family and my lovely cousins… I wanna go sing ktv like how we did last year!

Anyway celebrating CNY through shopping wasn’t a bad idea at all..

Massive shopping.. so much that even the boot of a minivan wasn’t enough!!

Ok, I’m really tired and I shall not post photos on the steamboat we had at Garen’s. It was a great gathering, and thanks to the house of people playing such a great host!

Atlanta was quite fun..

But still not as fun as Savannah! I can finally upload my Savannah photos on facebook (because I made a point to finish this before allowing myself to upload, haha)

So much for hellish monday

2010-02-19T15:28:00.001+08:00

“Hell Week” was finally over! The Oh-So-Scary Monday was not so bad. I must say I’m a really bad student.

Assignment 1 (Due on Monday 8.05am)

Told tutor that we haven’t printed and we’ve got a class to rush to. Requested to hand in at 12noon. Request approved.

Assignment 2 (Due on Monday 10.05am)

Continued working on Assignment 1. Wanted to print Assignment 2 out but printer had NO MORE PAPER. Went to ask tutor for extension to realise the class was cancelled (how slack was that). She gave a gracious extension to turn it in next lesson, which means I’ve got 2 more days to edit my work, haha. (which I still didn’t, obviously, not due to integrity, more to laziness)

Mid-term Exam (Monday 1.35pm)

4 choose 2. Questions are like the past year paper that tutor posted. WITH ANS. Given 1h20min to finish. That’s 40min for each question. Finished in 30min, checked for 10min, almost fell asleep.

Mid-term Exam 2 (Monday 3.05pm)

Questions are 99% like past year paper (again). Given 1h20min. Finished in 40min. Should have believed and memorised the entire past year paper after the previous exam. Due to my over expectations, couldn’t remember the answer to a similar question, I’m 1 mark short of full credit.

So much for Hell Monday.

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I’ll be going Savannah this weekend!!! WOOTS! =) First road trip!!

I’ll update A LOT after I come back. Stay tuned!

side effects of caffeine

2010-02-12T18:13:00.001+08:00

It’s 5am now. Caffeine from the coffee that was initially meant for mugging hasn’t worn off. The thought of this upcoming week just made me dread Chinese New Year so badly for the first time.

Been mugging through the night, not exactly productive, but better than nothing. It’s a few days into my 23rd year of life. Many peers find it hard to accept that I’m already such an old freak. I know my baby fats on my cheeks are bad at age telling.

Perhaps, this exchange experience is the closest I can get, to my dream of studying abroad. So it kinda made me wanna enjoy this very tremendously. Despite the financial challenge I have to face after going back to Singapore, I would say this is by far the most enriching part of my life.

If I’m asked what I’ve learnt so far, I would first say I finally learnt how to cook. And many lessons generated through my cooking experience: like how time consuming cooking is, how noble my mum is at washing all the crap. Cooking is not just about producing nice yummy food. It’s about handling gross and soft raw meat, risking your hands from hot splattering oil, clearing the choked sink and washing all the slimy gravy off the plates. But the taste of self cooked food is really different. Even though I gobbled down my food like a lion within just 10% of my preparation time, it was so worthwhile.

Another learning point is about human. People surprise you everyday. Their little gestures, speeches, reactions and responses, gave away little clues of themselves which they probably would never want the world to know. People whom you thought you knew, are capable of giving you the biggest surprises. People whom you thought you can count on, decides to fail your maths so you can’t really count on them. People whom you made an option, actually made you a priority. People, whose irresponsibility becomes your responsibility.

Lastly, I learnt that coffee powder from Walmart is damn strong. Back in Singapore, I usually hoped my coffee would take me further for a few more hours but often ended up sleeping right after drinking. Well, this cup has been making me either blink so much lesser than a normal human or made my eyes bigger than they usually were. I guess that means finish the chapter before I try to hit my pillow for a quick morning nap before heading to school for a project meeting.

The downside of exchange

2010-02-11T07:44:00.001+08:00

It’s funny how I’ve been slapped by procrastination again.

Over and over again.

Hi Fyp, you bitch, I’ve got no groups yet.

And it won’t be long before I’ll be slapped with 2 assignments due and 2 exams on Monday, 1 group case study on Tues, another presentation on Thurs.

Happy (crappy) Chinese New Year in advance.

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Update: I’m really glad i joined sife last semester, not only did it gave me a memorable Cambodia trip, i found my fyp mates from there!

New York Trip (part3)

2010-02-06T02:14:00.001+08:00

Firstly, happy belated birthday to myself! shall blog about my birthday on the next entry. I must finish about new York.

Fifth Avenue and Shake Shack

Jason said it was the best burger he has tasted in his entire life. And trust me, he is the most eligible person to be the critic, based on his volume of food intake. He probably ate as much as I would have eaten in 40 years out of his 24 years of living. But it’s BEEF burger. So I can just watch them go slurping away with the juicy burger, while I ate my pathetic bird dog (chicken hot dog bun) which was not worth my time writing on it.

photo courtesy of Jasper

Chinatown

Even strong ang moh brands have to give in and have Chinese characters at this heavily cheena place! We had dinner at the famous Shanghai 绿波廊, new York branch!

This is how the New York branch looks.

This was the authentic one that I went in 2007!

This is the New York 蟹粉小笼包

上海的好吃多了！

Frankly, the food was nowhere near the one I’ve eaten at Shanghai.

But this Chinatown ice cream factory was REALLY GOOD. They had exotic flavours like lychee and coconut. It’s like eating snow with a sweet coconut taste to it.

Along Chinatown

Woodbury Premium Outlet

Situated at New Jersey, we shopped from late morning till night, and I only combed 40% of the outlets. Those that I didn’t comb are available at North Georgia, so my pocket will burn another time.

Photos courtesy of Jason and Chubs, cos I’ve got no hands/time/mood to whip out my camera. My shopping tap spoiled again and I couldn’t fix it. Actually half of my purchases are not for myself. This is a true confession of a shopaholic.

I shall not go ranting about my purchases. It’ll only pain my heart and probably my mum’s and jieying’s as well. You can see them in my photos when I wear them!

The Last Day of missed flight

We visited the Empire State Building on the last day.

Photo credit to Lyn (finally) for the group photo and Chubs for the giant-wrecking-havoc-on-the-street photo. I am the Godzilla in this picture! All monsters/heroes love to be near the empire state building!

The flight back was exciting. It was the first time my group of friends got separated and 4 of them didn’t make it to the flight on time! Security check at New York airport.. you know…

The 3 girls and Wenyi, got to skip school the next day. Blessing in disguise!

Well, but the flight was GOOD. the scenery was Oh.Am.Gee NICE!

Try capturing a crescent moon coexisting with a sunset, against a nice gradient, in a single picture, miles above the ground!

New York Chapter Finally ENDED!

New York Trip (part2)

2010-02-02T07:56:00.003+08:00

Times Square

This is one place I’ll never forget. Too cool! It’s the vibrancy, messiness, energy that made this place so unique at night.

We saw David Blaine performing some street magic! Too many people, couldn’t really see what he’s up to. Someone even shouted, “Come on David! Do some magic! Fly! Cos I don’t believe!” David Blaine looked kinda pissed.

Time to unleash the childish sides of us. Toys R Us!

Spidey!!

Lego King Kong and Empire State Building

We see at least 4 of such cars in Times Square.

This Batman is black.

Broadway musical – Phantom of the Opera

This is one of the best thing that happened during this trip. My virgin musical is actually the famous Phantom of the Opera, in the famous Broadway of New York. Omg, this Broadway experience is FANTASTIC! It sets a benchmark so high for my subsequent musicals, I guess it will be quite a while before any musical can surpass this. Probably Les Miserable's, if it ever comes to Singapore.

The queuing process. We queued for 2 hours in the cold, shivering like mad just to make sure we’re FIRST in the queue so that we could get cheap tickets. Haha, even though we’re first, we don’t feel the kick cos people here do not have queuing as one of their favourite pastimes. Each ticket costs $65, a little steep, but worth every cent.

Still in the Phantom mood.

Wall Street

The Wall Street Charging Bull.

My newly acquired picture frame of a rainy Times Square!!

Statue of Liberty

No, not this. This is a fake one. No, this is a real one. Real as in real human. Haha, but this irritating person kept wanting us to take picture with him. But I just wanna take photo of him just to piss him off.

So this is the real one. But from the place where I took this picture, we’re 3 hours ferry ride away from the statue. That’s how FAR we were. So this was the biggest i can zoom. Looks kinda cool anyway huh?

With the Brooklyn Bridge as the background. Spot the helicopter above my head!

That day was as happy as the day at Ang Kor Wat because I managed to take some rare photos! Some of my favourite bird shots.

This can be used to teach toddlers to count.

And this is one of my favourite shots in U.S thus far

New York Trip (part 1)

2010-02-01T15:58:00.002+08:00

I’m the last to blog about New York City! What can I say, it’s one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to! It’s really a damn cool place, so many movie settings just come to LIFE! When I look at the skyscrapers I thought I saw Spiderman swinging from building to buildings. When I saw statue of Liberty I thought Cloverfield is chopping off the head. When I saw Brooklyn Bridge I thought of Fantastic Four doing the bridge rescue. I though of transformers fighting Godzilla. I saw the princess from Enchanted singing at Central Park. I saw Hiro Nakamura shouting YADA at Times Square… And the list goes on and on..!

As we’re poor student, we travelled by Greyhound coach, which was a 20 hour journey. If I were 200 pounds (might be at the rate I’m eating), I would say it’s a tough journey, but given that Asians are relatively smaller in size, all of us were pretty comfortable! In fact it was better than the seats on economy class!

I mean this kinda sunset just makes the long journey worthwhile!

Just a side note, if you have some chance to stay at Hotel Pennsylvania, avoid the counter that sells tickets. That bitchy guy is a bloody con man who sells overpriced musical and bus tickets.

On the Streets

One of the most iconic symbolic element that makes New York feel so right is the New York Taxi.

We had a lot of pizzas. And a lot of Macs.

All these cute mascots are there for photo and money taking.

Mr Obama and his unapproved advertisement.

@ Fashion Street

Subway

The infamous Subway of New York is really crazy. It looks more complicating than the expressways in Singapore. Survive this and you can travel in any cities by trains.

Central Park

The adventure started at Central Park! The entire park looked really cool in winter! This is the park where Enchanted was filmed at.

Haha, I caught this squirrel butting at my camera.

You see people doing their music…

Really pleasant and nice sceneries even in this winter. Photo credit to Wan Ting, the swivel camera owner.

fountain

on the rock

in an underground tunnel

in front of the bridge

a frozen lake

the G11 powerful swivel screen that allows perfect self shots.

How can you not love Central Park?!

Dinner @ Rai Rai Ken

This place is supposedly the best Ramen in town. Pretty decent, but not very very superb. Nice ambience actually. Feels like stepping into an authentic ramen shop in Japan.

Dessert @ 16 Handles

This frozen yoghurt shop cafe is unique! Reminds me of Island Creamery back home. A lot of exotic flavours like Margarita, cheese pie and peanut butter! Price of yoghurt is determined by the weight of your cup, so you can fill your cup with as many variety as you want, your only limiting factor is your wallet! So typical Asians like us will be calculative by not adding toppings like fruits, and spam chocolate rice and peanuts! Hahaha.

it’s all about food

2010-01-27T12:20:00.002+08:00

I haven’t blogged about my exciting New York trip! Ok, let me talk about the past week before I go back to my Wal-Mart case analysis which I’ve been working on for the past 3 days. Argh, work 15 min, sleep 5 hours.. I’m eating and sleeping more than I was in Singapore.

I finally satisfied my craving for Dim Sum on Saturday! We were out on this foggy morning and the scenery is so damn chio, like Genting!

My new Tommy Hilfiger jacket that I got at the Woodbury Outlet when I was at New York!

Watch out, I eat buildings!

We finally travelled on a bus! We’ve been on planes, car, trains, taxis, school buses and feet, but not public buses until that day!

Canton House, awarded the best dim sum or chinese restaurant in Atlanta!

The food was decent and more like for comfort to tame the craving. Because my Swee Choon and Geylang’s one is way better than this! But still, one of the most shuang meals to date ever since I stepped into America.

We went to Lenox Square next to do some shopping. FCUK was going at 50% and one tee shirt was ridiculously 15 USD! I grabbed 2! and I got a checkered shirt from Buffalo David Bitton.

America is full of different kinds of variation of M&Ms, unlike Singapore! I got this from Wal-Mart!

Stylo milo packaging! I know, I got cheated by marketing strategy again. Sigh.. But it’s ok, cos even though

they look like rocks..

they taste damn freaking good! After you eat this, you’ll know the true meaning of “melts in your mouth”. As they are mint chocolates, they leave a cooling tingling sensation in your mouth. These ‘rocks’ truly rock.

Speaking about tasting good..

I’ve finally done my first ever dish in the kitchen! It’s microwaved cheese omelette with bacon and ham! It’s damn easy to make and taste awesome! Best thing about it is not much cleaning up to be done!

Nancy aka LayHui and I also made potato topped with sour cream, bacon bits and shredded ham! We also had bagels with Philadelphia spread and sausages and yoghurt with apple cubes! That’s the menu for our brunch. Fillingly yummy!

Kinda fattening, but since it’s for 2 meals, acceptable! Sigh, ever since I come here, my appetite has evolved into insatiable hunger. It’s really quite scary.

So, I’m unlocking the iron chef in me. More experiments coming from the kitchen! Can you smell…? Cos the noob is cooking! haha

schooling experience

2010-01-23T07:41:00.002+08:00

Ok, for the benefits of my new readers or people who don’t know me but happened to chance upon my humble blog, I’m actually here for a student exchange programme at Georgia Tech. I’m here to study, not holiday!

Reason for this clarification? A friend was asking me online, why I suddenly go US for holiday during school semester. And my blog and facebook pictures are like full of fun, totally no hint of studying haha. Ok, my bad, my bad…

So this post is dedicated to my schooling experience so far. It’s been 2 weeks, I went school for 3 days each! Now you understand why I’m still on a heavy holiday mood. Last week we ponned the last day of school to go New York, and this week 3 days due to King Martin Luther holiday. I’m taking 6 modules here, and I haven’t seen the overloading of work, yet. It should come soon and trust me, you will be the first to know as this place is a well known bitching avenue.

About communication

I’ve been indulging in my little Asian world with like few ang moh friends. It’s kinda hard talking to them, I can’t speak fast, as they would have problem understanding our fast but weird accent. I can fake some accent, but Lay Hui aka Nancy is beside me and it’s weird to let a friend hear you speak that way. Some more I converse to her in Mandarin all the time! I tried this:

Me (with more slang than usual): Erm, I was wondering if you know of any online platforms, like forum sort of stuff where Georgia Tech students actually go there and sell their textbooks?

Ang Moh girl (typical hollywood chick flick style): Oh, erm, I’m not really sure about such online platforms exclusively~ for students down here, erm, (I don’t know), but, (you know), I always got my books from like amazon.com or half.com, (that sort of stuff?), i actually got my book for 2 bucks! (shrugs shoulders, tilt head, smiles)

Me (turns to Nancy my Singaporean friend): I think we should go there and see see lor.. walao, like damn cheap la!

Me (with slang again): Well, that’s great information you’ve gotten us! thank you so much… blah blah blah

How can a person speak English differently? I guess only Singaporeans can do that, lol.

About classes

For some modules, I find it amazing that the entire class doesn’t know that the demand curve shifts to the right when it’s due to non-price related factors. I knew that in J1 and I was like one of the worst students in my class!

For modules like Strategic Management, the class was really participative and the Singaporean golden mouth just wouldn’t open even though I know many of the answers haha.

I’m still quite apprehensive about LCC module, which was the AB214 equivalent in nbs. Speaking in front of a class of Americans with accent you only hear in movies will be happening to me really soon.

About CCA

I just went for a chior practice last Wed as I didn’t wanna stop singing during this long 5months and I thought it’s a good way of getting me into vocal practising and English music at the same time. OMG, reading off the score and singing immediately is what almost everyone can do. I’m merely depending on my lip syncing skills and following the notes of the louder guy beside me. And he sings really well, American Idol style.

I wanna join a club man. If not my life here is very sad. Only looking forward to shopping and travelling trips during the weekends. Just missed a SIFE meeting, intending to go down next week, hopefully there’s something I can do there!

Looks like I need more than a head of red hair to blend in! haha.

Chinatown, Underground, Homely meals!

2010-01-22T00:58:00.001+08:00

I’m like way behind in recording my exchange here la! haha..

Chinatown in Atlanta was quite pathetic. Korean town was way cooler. But they serve really good Chinese food there! Portions anywhere outside Singapore are HUGE! i remember food in Shanghai were cheap and came in large portions. Here in US too. So you can expect Chinatown in US to serve REALLY BIG portion of food. It’s like buffet in a bowl.

check out the fat you tiao!

The train system here is called MARTA. We got cheated by a black ‘teacher’ (you will know why later) into buying his tickets which are fake. So basically we got stuck in the station as the cards were invalid. Lucky it’s only $2 for this lesson.

Atlanta Underground

It was quite a cool place. sort of like City Link back in Singapore.

As we are poor students over here, eating out is too xiong for us. Luckily we have decent chefs here! So the home cooked dinners saved us a lot of money, but it doesn’t compromise on the satisfaction! haha.

Our biggest chef! Cooking is really her forte cos she takes normal looking pictures only when holding a pan.

Wan Ting, the chilli chopper.

It’s Jason’s birthday!

Some pork that looks like chicken

Some chicken that looks like pork

Nancy cannot take photo cos she’s wearing spects. Look, Ning’er closed her eyes while using a knife.

Yum Seng!

The road trips, the shopping, the snow!

2010-01-12T23:04:00.001+08:00

We had a mini road trip on 6th Jan to do some shopping! Oops, I wasn’t clear, major grocery shopping. We rented a 7 seater car which was obscenely spacious and fun.

Jason, our ~~chauffeur~~ driver!

She was replaced by me after that as the vehicle commander, wahaha. And the 70 bucks GPS was damn worth it!

Our family car for the day! I felt excited for Jason when he did his first LEFT U-turn.You’ll never get to do that in Singapore.

With all the hippest American music blasting along the way, some moments felt as though we’re in those road trips featured in Hollywood movies! Ha, but it’s just a small ride trip probably from Pasir Ris to Orchard kinda distance.

We went Korean Town, where we can buy a lot of Asian stuff at Super H Mart.

And they served REALLY GOOD Korean food.

the famous Passerby A.

Playing with apples

We even visited the Walmart Supercenter!

I love this bus! Looks exactly like the MAGIC SCHOOL!

I’ve always loved foreign supermarkets, they are full of interesting surprises.

Like discovering the Ben and Jerry’s price. And seeing the flavours only available in America.

Or seeing some cool flavours, like HOT chocolate ICE cream. Paradoxical eh?

You find ice cream tubs bigger than your head.

And red bull so small that my camera lens cap can be a coaster.

And you find interesting packaging everywhere!

Driving back at dusk was really good!

Because it was so damn chio.

But we’re not quite done with the car yet! Drove up to some inaccessible but very authentic American restaurant called Fat Matt’s to have dinner. This place reminded me of Billy Bombers. And there’s live band!

But that place was FULL HOUSE that evening. Argh. What luck. So we packed our food and went back home to eat.. But the food was sinfully good!

Check out the fat piece of meat!

Everyone’s still happy with their food!

Orientation day (known as Faset in Georgia Tech) was pretty fun. On subject registration day we actually experienced snowfall for the first time since we were here! According to the locals, snowing in Atlanta is exceptionally rare! We’re definitely a lucky batch! It’s the first time some of my friends and I see snow, and naturally we got damn excited over the drizzle! It’s quite sua ku looking on our part. None of the locals really bothered with it haha.

With our advisor Bryan.

And i think it’s my first time again seeing a squirrel from such proximity. I don’t see them hanging around before the snow! They must have come out to play, just like us hahaha.

And nothing beats having warm home cooked dinner in a snowy winter night!

And nothing beats waking up early next morning to this kind of window view!

Woohoo!

Snow on swing at Wan Ting’s window!

You just feel like shouting Merry Christmas!!

Btw, check out our family slippers series.

Since there’s no school due to snow (now how cool is that), we’ve decided to get a car and travel out again! On the way, the snowy scenery and amazing buildings were simply fabulous.

Snow flakes on the windscreen!

What a nice castle!

This reminded me of Mustafa Centre.

I love this building a lot! It’s called Silhouette!

HUGE Borders.

A word of caution from our experience that day. Do be extra cautious when travelling by car during snowy days or days after snow. The refrozen snow became ice on the road and the car was constantly trying its luck to skate with tyres. The brakes will not work on ice and if you’re travelling down a slope, you should pray there’s no car because if there is, there’s nothing you can do but pray that you’ve bought full coverage for the car insurance. Avoid roads that are less travelled on and keep to the main roads.

We shopped quite a bit. Actually, I shopped quite a lot! I guess my best buy was a pair of Tommy Hilfiger sneakers for 20 usd! Kio tio! So far i bought a lot of boxers, that pair of sneakers, H&M jeans, a beanie, a scarf, 2 tees, and I can’t wait to go New York this coming weekend!

This post is getting so long, but I’ve got 4 more hours before school. Ok, shall end this post with a final update on Firehouse Subs. They sell really cool subs with cool theme, cool range of hot sauces and the coolest soda dispenser I’ve seen!

The soda dispenser is woohoo! 103 different flavours.

Hot sauce from a scale of 1 to 10! 10 being the hottest!!

Yup, that’s all for now! Next up, the Chinatown visit and Atlanta Underground!

The preparation phase

2010-01-11T06:15:00.001+08:00

Hello again from Atlanta! Blogging has never been such a daunting task to me and the reason I’ve been delaying is because there’s too much too much to share and I really have no idea how to do it! But since I don’t want these beautiful memories of my exchange in this beautiful city with such great company to be washed down the memory lane, I’ll try my best to recollect from day 1 onwards, at the expense of squeezing my brain juice till the very last drop!

Day 0

The flights were long but bearable. Yet, my stomach wasn’t in the best condition for me to be out for so long since that Cambodia trip. So besides breaking the record of the longest time on plane, I also broke my personal best for using the plane’s lavatory the most number of times. Anyway, transit was at Doha, what an exotic place in the middle east!

A&W was rather different in Doha. The onion rings were quite inedible.. The coolest thing was probably the bottle of water.

Before the domestic flight @ New York Airport.

We reached Atlanta after some 30 odd hours to spend the night over at a hotel as our house was rumoured to be beyond living condition according to Lyn. (I believed her since I don’t really know her well on Day 0).

And you find amazing stuff in the hotel room tv. Now I know why Singapore can never be a service oriented country like the US.

Day 1

Breakfast next morning was superb and my housemates and I were unglam-ly exhibiting Singaporean buffet eating style: Eat-all-you-can-take-all-you-can-and-worry-later spirit is kinda paiseh as we attracted a few pairs of blue eyes.

Check out the SPREAD on the Singaporean table. Maybe i got too used to black eyes so being AA wasn’t so bad in Singapore haha.

Distorted looking waffle. hand made is like that one haha.

So we travelled down to our place by cab, only to find out we’re at the right house at the wrong street. So the same house number can appear at 2 different streets. Haha, that’s our first walk in the cold and my nose started to fail me real badly. To spice things up, the –3c kinda froze my mucus as my hands were busy pulling my luggage. Gross as it is, it’s funny to have a layer of ice under your nose, hahaha.

The house wasn’t as bad as what Lyn had described. But the girls were whining over eerie looking attic rooms and made no effort to conceal their loud hints of wanting the guys to occupy these claustrophobic rooms. Haha, not that I mind, in fact, I quite like the oddly shaped room! The only thing that bothered me was the head banging moments against the ceiling. But those were signs of tall people, so can’t really help it.

My room underwent some 摆家乐 and after a night of packing, my little Japanese concept bedroom is almost done! Quite cui right, but this is what you get for low rental haha.

Day 2 – 4

Subsequent days were used to do spring cleaning (in conjunction with cny tradition anyway) to make the house a little more “dwell-able”. That’s when I get to see Vicki’s infamous thermal cleaning outfit. Anyway just a side note, she’s got another cool terrorist ba zhang look. check this out.

Jasper is our regular guest.

@ Tin Drum, an Asian cafe. That’s Lyn and WanTing. Btw, Lyn’s expressive photos were one of a kind. You’ll understand why if you follow my blog or facebook albums.

@ Target Supermart, shopping for pillows and comforter.

It was quite sad to start the exchange on such a low note, doing major cleaning instead of shopping at factory outlets, but I guess my mentality was not very adjusted. Was still in a very touristy mood then. But it certainly felt DAMN GOOD when the fridge was free from those year-long stains, carpets were comfortable to be stepped on bare footed and the toilet bowl glittered under the toilet light.

At least it’s all sparkling clean!

Alright, so much about the first few days, next up, our first mini road trip on a rented car!!

Day of Departure!

2010-01-03T14:43:00.001+08:00

HELLO from Atlanta!!

It’s been quite an adventure, so far!

The day of departure was Mum’s birthday. Actually it was in celebration of Dad’s and mine too and so we conveniently combined into a 4in1 dinner.

Ah Ma doing an endorsement poster for the soup.

sam and i

my annual family portrait came early this year

my celebrity ah ma

girlfriend

HAHA

poser boy

last shot with sam…

…before he left for a countdown and didn’t bother sending me.

Ahh, damn tired, shall do the next post tml night! good night.

Conclusion

2009-12-31T16:06:00.001+08:00

After the trip to Cambodia, I came to realise that I’m a guy with little reflections. I don’t normally look back and reflect if I’ve achieved my purpose, unlike many of my peers who went to the trip with me.

2009 was unusually fast paced, yet so much happened. Wouldn’t say it’s a great year, but certainly a year to remember.

This was my most well travelled year. Phuket in May,Hong Kong, Macau, ZhuHai in August, Cambodia in December and here I am, typing a last entry before packing my laptop into my bag and reopening it at my new home at Atlanta.

So much time spent having fun and getting busy during the year. How selfish. Eh, no. Actually there’s nothing wrong with having fun, but looking back, there were some things I shouldn’t have overlooked or took for granted.

This is the first time I’m leaving Singapore for such a long period, and frankly, I’m not exactly ready to leave to have fun.

A little update: Project Waterloo

2009-12-13T15:21:00.001+08:00

Been in Cambodia for 5 days, bypassing the popular cities like Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, we headed straight to Pursat, a very rural town. It was quite a nice trip so far, as far as satisfying my thirst for taking photos. Really, this is a place that’s not stained by urbanisation, there’s something very pure here…

And finally, I get to witness the expanse of stars at night! They can easily amount to 500% of what I get to see at Tekong. And yes, shooting stars.. I saw like 4 yesterday! And I set a quota of 60 shooting stars in this trip, hahaha.

This is how our hut looks like… Lol, looks like a freaking resort la! But the interior is really quite cui, and there’s a lot of weird creatures roaming around at night, but still, a lot better than what I expected..

The kids here are really DAMN CUTE. like seriously. nothing like the nerdy singaporean kids whose faces are stuck in their PSPs.

And this boy really made my day hahaha

it will go wrong at the wrong time

2009-11-22T22:43:00.001+08:00

ok great. i just forgot to save the document that I worked on for hours. the paper is tml and i need to redo my preparation work all over again.

get away from me, you murphy bitch and your stupid law.

vocal range

2009-11-16T17:54:00.001+08:00

Something happened yesterday that made me really proud and happy during this period of mugging tension.

Was trying out Cai Hong yesterday (stopped singing this song for quite a while) and I realised my range increased!! After so long, it finally increased with more punch than how I usually did it!

It’s like finally emerging from the bottleneck after being stuck for nearly a year. :D

Totally wanna try it again first thing when I reach home later tonight, to make sure yesterday wasn’t tyco, lol.

Exams’ nearing, Cambodia’s nearing, Georgia’s nearing… Hang in there!

2009-11-05T22:44:00.001+08:00

0.1 second can kill if you’re world’s second, swimming beside phelps.

1 second can kill if your singing is not in sync with the music.

1 minute can kill if you miscalculated bus arrival time.

1 hour can kill if you’re waiting for the paper to end.

1 day can kill if you are going for competition the next day.

1 week can kill if you are going to army field camp.

1 month can kill if you finished your salary on pay day.

1 year can kill if you’re looking forward to 22nd birthday on your 21st.

time is the world’s greatest mystery.

waiting is life’s greatest torture.

with time,

you can heal the deepest wound, or build the strongest trust.

with less time,

you can reopen the wound, demolish the trust.

seriously, no one can ever do good time management.

so why bother?

3 cheers for Astro!

2009-10-26T19:11:00.001+08:00

Crazy weekend.

Oh, regarding the accounting quiz, I died badly in it.

Monday = no lesson. But I’m in school anyway, mugging for Thursday’s Astro quiz. So while trying very hard to understand our very abstract universe and its ridiculous big bang theory, a “Big Bang” exploded right in this very lounge!

“ V…. BOMB! V ah V ah V ah Bomb..

Bomb ah Bomb ah Bomb ah V.

V ah Bomb, Bomb ah V.

We are… we are…. HSS!”

WTF?! I’m caught in the middle of a HSS interview for OGLs.

But it’s really ok.. I’m kinda enjoying the embarrassment the interviewee had to bear when i looked so attentively at her as she cheered away in her weirdest, unnatural, rigid sitting position.

There’s another 8 more people queuing. Curiosity is burning like supernova. The 7th girl looks like a female Harry Potter. I wanna see her cheer really badly. She definitely seems very alright screaming Expelliamus when she’s cheering in my mind now.

______________________

On a side note, I’ve finally bought my first DSLR! Canon 500D! I’m so broke. broke broke, haha. Will probably post some photos after playing with it. This weekend, hopefully.

Rants before the quiz.

2009-10-21T13:29:00.001+08:00

Am slacking in the library now, while waiting for the accounting quiz to start. Oh man, 1 hour more to waste, not that I’ve finished studying, but mood cultivation failed. Everyone around me is reading intensive Chinese characters. And the murmurs of cheena conversations just came knocking at my eardrums, uninvited. I give up.

Days seemed to pass so swiftly these days, I’ve been mixing up last weeks with yesterdays.

I remembered I just closed my eyes, and it’s time to wake up the next moment.

I just started eating, where has my food gone to?

Didn’t I just finished an accounting quiz? Why’s there another one later?

I’m left with less time in Singapore and I still haven’t booked a date for IPPT. I haven’t got a chance to buy my camera. I haven’t gone singing for very long. School’s too overloading! Exams please, thank you.

I heart my new toy

2009-10-13T02:47:00.001+08:00

with this new toy, i just checked mail, downloaded and installed msn, went facebook, checked bus timing every 10 seconds, watched youtube, prepared writing this entry…

On.a.bus.

portable enough.

mobile enough.

I love the convenience this small toy brings.

do re mi

my 10” LG X120 at 1.2kg

Our First!

2009-10-11T04:39:00.001+08:00

Woohoo, just spent a great evening with my dearest celebrating our first anniversary!

EveR since 10 October 08,

my habits changed. my preferences changed. my fashion sense changed. my taste (for food) changed. my priorities changed. my perspective changed. my life changed. my world changed.

The only thing that doesn’t, is my love for you.

rant before a midnight oil burning session

2009-10-05T00:30:00.001+08:00

The feeling is like

when you’re running a marathon, you’re 100% exhausted (chances of collapsing increase exponentially with every stride), but you’re only 30% through…

It’s my fault for taking up another 2 tuition assignments. Now that all my 5 tutees’ exams crash so beautifully into my deadlines and quizzes, my sleeping hours crashed even more beautifully.

And this was supposedly my recess week. sweet.

mr tao’s rendition

2009-09-28T01:10:00.001+08:00

Yet another 暗恋，yet another story! This is interesting, 2 favourite singers singing 2 different songs of the same title!

Recess week is here!

2009-09-23T23:58:00.001+08:00

Super sick, down with same old runny nose problem again. Need to be armed with tissue paper most of the time.

Super tired, just finished accounting quiz, which turned out to be really weird, a bit too much preparation for 5%.

Super stunned, by the MV of a recent favourite: 暗恋 by 张智成. The simple lyrics moved me and brought back some memories of secret admiring, haha. Had always wanted to sing this in ktv, but they always didn’t have it. Now I know the reason. Ok, for those who haven’t seen the MV, watch it for yourself, I shall not spoil it.

But I kinda like the complexity added to this triangle, not so typical. and I must say he acts REALLY WELL, a little too creepy, hahaha.

Life is finally getting almost the way I wanted it

2009-09-20T19:10:00.001+08:00

I was bombarded with a lot of things to look forward to, been a while since my life is filled with so much excitement! As a result? Simply can’t concentrate on preparing my quiz!

In chronological order,

1. LG netbook, with mobile broadband. now I can be seamlessly connected online anywhere!

2. anniversary. a milestone for us!

3. getting a dslr, this or next month, play awhile with it before

4. peiqiang got his 1st VERY OWN car (congrats dude!) and the 3 musketeers shall embark on photo shooting outings and late night suppers and ktv.

5. dye my hair after exams so that I’ll look damn cool in

6. cambodia for some meaningful community work and tour and finally

7. study in STATES for a semester where i can tour like mad and revamp my wardrobe into a new americanised wardrobe.

For now, SAVE HARD, STUDY HARD. It can’t more rewarding. =)

For the 1st time, royst will be beyond Asia!

2009-09-17T04:08:00.002+08:00

Dear ROYSTON,

Congratulations!

We are pleased to inform you that you are selected to participate in our programme, details of which are as follow:

(GIP Study)- Georgia Institute of Technology

Please note the following:

1. Letter of Offer and Acceptance

Please note that your letter of offer is ready for collection.

You can collect it at our office (GIP Office, Student Services Centre, #05-21) from 9:00am to 12noon, 1pm to 5pm (Mondays to Fridays).

Please do so as soon as possible, before Wednesday, 23 September 2009.

…

..

.

Best regards

Global Immersion Programme Office

I can’t believe it, I’m really going to the States next sem!

busy month…

2009-09-11T13:19:00.001+08:00

A very hectic September so far!

I took up NTU SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise club) as my CCA, let’s hope it’ll last longer than my guitar tour in the guitar ensemble, lol. Basically I’m in the team of people organising a YEP trip to Cambodia for some community work in December! Finally I got my chance to do so, really excited and looking forward to it!

People who’ve been to Cambodia, feel free to tell me more about the country!

But that would mean that I would be unable to attend my cousin’s wedding. Damn! There goes my first relative wedding dinner =(

Something interesting. Is this period like the season of love? So many ppl getting attached within these months! I’m feeling so happy for them, and myself as well! Another month to go before it turns from monthly to annually. =)

Hong Kong/Macau/ZhuHai Days 4 and 5

2009-08-30T21:56:00.001+08:00

Day 4 – Of KTV and shopping

The day started with KTV at this place called CEO, very nice and spacious room which came with a private washroom! Buffet lunch was served as well. It would have been perfect if they could have more updated Chinese songs, but it’s understandable since Canto pop is way more popular in HK. Overall a great session!

and it’s mr lan’s birthday surprise from Christina!

ahh, maxim! not that magazine, sadly.a beautiful white cake under the delicate hands of peiqiang.

The KTV room was freezing, so much that the lens of the camera had condensed vapour, creating some very nice effects! I was totally bemused by the ‘Lucky Plaza’ scene when we came out of the mall.

Maids everywhere having picnics and gatherings.

Yes! the authentic Hong Kong electric tram! We got up and found it really stuffy inside.

Jieying’s got a really cool digi cam! =)

Another bemusing sight. This is getting too Singapore!

It was shopping at 女人街 and more shopping in the afternoon. Too busy shopping, so didn’t capture any photos, lol. As evening arrived, our legs reached a point of sourness equivalent to stepping on 53 lemons.

Dinner was at authentic HK 茶餐厅 in Mongkok! I think I would prefer the less authentic Xing Wang and central HK cafes in Singapore because they have more variety. Or it could just be this 茶餐厅 we visited wasn’t doing justice to many 茶餐厅 in HK.

Interesting procedure before eating - cleaning of utensils using tea.

My not so fabulous dinner, with a pissed 茶餐厅 boss in the background.

On a closer look. Haha, looked like it’s from a sick pig. I think I’m getting too used to Singapore Charsiew. I thought it’s a must to roast the charsiew, until it’s chao ta, nearly cancerous then happy that kind of stage?

To make things worse, they had smelly tofu for supper. Well, they were forced to eat outside the hostel and forbidden to talk to me until they brushed their teeth and popped a chewing gum, LOL.

______________________________

Day 5 – Of Ocean Park and typhoon

The entire final day is dedicated to Ocean Park! It was really really HOT that day.

Monkey mania.

Just when everything was going well and fun with all the thrill rides, TYPHOON scale 1 started to invade Ocean Park! Torrential rain came! We were stuck not only in the rain, but at the highest point of Ocean Park.

Because of the weather, the cable car stopped operating, and everybody was evacuated from top of ocean park to the entrance. How bad could that be? Imagine walking in a slow moving queue, from Bugis to Lavender, in the heavy rain. It was that bad.

We were getting late even though we didn’t manage to clear Ocean Park as intended due to the rain and congestion. People were queuing to get out of Ocean Park via public buses at the entrance. This was getting bad because Peiqiang and I had a ferry to catch back TO Macau because we had a plane to catch back IN Macau!

We resorted to cutting queue. Yes, cutting a queue of angsty hostile foreigners wasn’t an easy task. It was a blessing we couldn’t understand Cantonese because Christina was telling us a Canto auntie was swearing at us! Hahahaha.

Alright, another worry was whether the ferry would set off as scheduled as they would not do so if typhoon was scale 3 and above. Luckily it did!

Now the next worry was whether the flight would be cancelled because we saw a Tiger Airway flight back to Singapore being cancelled the same night! Luckily ours didn’t.

group of happy people having picnic in Macau airport.

Peiqiang and I, safe on the plane, without Yikang and Christina. Both of them will be staying for another few days for the lovely typhoon.

And that concludes the Hong Kong trip, with much excitement, hiccups and little adventures here and there! =D

Happy Birthday to you!!!

2009-08-28T00:00:00.002+08:00

I don’t do birthday wishes for people in a single entry.

But there’s always an exception when it comes to you..