Overdue - More than ever.

Lately, I am sourcing for a free unlimited photo storage site as I have almost used up the free space given by Flickr. Till date I have no idea where I can get such a great deal and I might end up paying for 2 years of Flickr subscription just to have my blog done properly. I am beginning to regret that I am not updating my blog because I am in awesome Europe! Luckily I do have a very good memory (not when it comes to study) and I will update my Euro adventures on my blog soon enough. Tomorrow is the official start of my exams! Well, technically I have had one last Wednesday and it did not go so well. I could not answer most of the questions and the examiner had to give me pass. I think he knew I was an exchange student (kinda obvious) and he said I could only manage 50% of the questions. I have no one to blame except myself because I didn't really put in enough effort though. Come on! I am on exchange!


Yesterday I watched a movie called "The Sting" as recommended by Arnau, a friend from Barcelona.

It was a film made in the 70s about the 30s and I must say it was good! The plot is about this con-artist, Hooker (yeah, what a name) who engaged the help of a master con-artist to bring down the killer (a rogue bank dealer) of his friend. The motivation was because Hooker and his friend conned a runner of the rogue bank dealer thousands of dollars and the enraged bank dealer then ordered both of them to be killed. Shan't tell you the ending though, go find out yourself :) It was rather interesting how the movie was played in terms of the sets, scenes and plot.



Don't you think Brad Pitt looks like Robert Redford? 
 Here's a funny quote from the movie. 
Robert Redford stumbles upon the master con artist, Gondorff laying on the ground, drunk like a fish.


Redford: Luther told me I could come learn something from you. I already know how to drink.

It feels weird - Sometimes it does.

It's been months since I've updated my blog. With less than one month to go before I head to Denmark for my exchange, amazingly, I feel nothing. Seeing my friends post about bidding for their desired modules make me feel elated and alienated simultaneously. Finally I can escape the troublesome bidding process for once but I feel like I'm left behind. DTU (Denmark Technical University)'s module-choosing process was very much easier compared to NUS's. I just had to find that module in the system and "check" the box to indicate that I am reading it. Yes, I got it, four modules in total.

Speaking of modules, my results are the same as last semester. My results are always the same. No up, no down. Ok, technically speaking it is decreasing. I dislike the fact that taking UROPS denied me more time for my usual modules, especially Dr Zhao's advanced coordination chemistry. Sigh. Nonetheless, UROPS was my only saving grace for the past semester. Oh well. Looks like I have to suffice with my current CAP. I still remember the hellish days I went through to churn out my thesis. It was OMGWTFBBQ x 10000 experience and I really abhor it. Thankfully I had the kind assistance of a lot of PhD students, especially Min Hwee and my assistant mentor, Akeha. :) Sheau wei really ensured that we (UROPS students) had sufficient equipment to begin synthesis. Now I have no idea if I should continue to be in Prof Hor's lab for my FYP. The only compelling reason for me to go back is that I really do like the people there. On hindsight, I kinda screwed up my synthesis also... So I'm pretty sure even if Prof Hor were to take back, it would not be for my synthesis skills lol.

So many things happened within this short span of a few months. I bought a new camera (Olympus E-PL3) and sold my old (Canon IXUS860IS)! Well actually I bought the camera from someone who did not appreciate the nitty gritty details of a DSLR camera. I like dealing with such people because I think I got the camera from her at a huge discount with ten months of warranty to go. :D

Below is the summary of what I had done over the holidays:

Met up with Terence. Look what medical school has done to Kong. lol.

We ate at Kuru Kuru as introduced by XY. The light made my face rounder than usual.

Kbox with the usual people followed by Coldstone icecream.

Watched Mission Impossible IV with Qi and Kong and proceeded to our fav budget Jap restaurant, Nihon Mura. 

Ever since the outlet behind my house closed down for good, I have no where to order cheap takeaway. :(

Hugeass telescope!

We went to the observatory in NUS Physics yesterday. Hong qi was our tour guide for the night and he showed us this movable roof which I thought was way cooler than Mike Posner. We saw Jupiter and its four biggest moons as well as our beloved moon. It was a really cloudy night.

Anyway...

Time flies - She's got you high and you don't even know it

Three weeks of attachment at Fajar Sec flew by and I'm left with one week left. Gotta submit my two projects soon which I am quite worried about because we have not really offered any novelty ideas. Anyway, I enjoy teaching very much. The students are quite, unique. I rushed myself through the marking of a class's assignment before going out for Harry Potter and I must say the students are not prepared for 'O' levels examination anytime soon! I remembered I completed every practice papers diligently but I don't see it in any of the students. 


Anyway, I went to Joycelyn's convocation a week ago and here are the pictures which I had grabbed from facebook.

We look good here.

:)

Some day it will be our turn! 

I was so deadbeat that day cause I woke up very early for school, proceeded to the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) for a meeting and waited till 10pm for the presentation ceremony to end so that Joycelyn to come out. Thanks Pristine for buying our dinner.


Ok fast forward to this week. I had another meeting with the research team and I was late. I went to IMRE not knowing the venue was at S9, which was damn far away. Supposed to meet at 4pm but ended up reaching at 4.25pm. It was rather embarassing because the room was rather small and the presenter had to pause for me to take a seat, which was a table with a plant on it (there were no seats left).


We had dinner at Superdog and the fish in the fish burger was really smooth, much to my surprise. Afterwhich we had some time so we went to Cold Rock to have some ice cream. 

Itchy nose.

Itchy head.

Strawberry Shortcake ($11.50)

Too close for comfort.

Caught Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 2 with my army buddies yesterday. I must say the movie was really good. Like many people have said, it is the end of an era. We grow up watching HP movies! I found Professor McGonagall damn cute she summoned the stone soldiers. She exclaimed that she had always wanted to use this spell as she shook her fists in excitement. She was quite the pro when she battled Snape and chased him out of Hogwarts. There were a few touching moments like Harry witnessing Snape's unyielding love for his mum through the pensieve and Hermoine's desperate plea to accompany Harry to meet  Voldemort. The small bloodied body of Voldemort was nasty. Overall the movie was really impressive. 


Anyway I bumped into Alicia's clique at 313 before the movie and Ming han commented that I grew fat. Yes Ming han, please be my personal trainer will ya? Today is his birthday, so... Happy Birthday! He doesn't know I have a blog btw.


Thanks to Guan Zhong for sending me and David home again! 


Just finished watching 500 days of Summer.

It was an interesting movie because I actually could relate to some of the things inside. This is not a love story, but a story about love. The female lead looks like Katy Perry. Thanks Steffi for lending it to me! I'm having trouble watching the Kite Runner due to DVD region issues. Gonna watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soon. Oh yeah, I bought 9 dvds from Laserflair cause it is having a clearance sale as it is moving from Bukit Panjang Plaza.

What do ya notice abt the genre?

Three dvds are missing from this photo. Wolverine Origins, Iron Man 2 and Transformers 1. I wanted to buy something more intellectual but they were running out of stock for most of the movies. :/

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon (3D)

I was awake for 23 hours yesterday because I woke up at 5.45am and slept at 4am today. I am still racking my brain to find novelty ideas for one of my projects. I met up with a professor from NUS Chemistry deparment to discuss more about UROPS (undergraduate research opportunity) and it went well. So I do not have to think about taking those boring year 3 chemistry core modules as I can replace the 1 core mod with the UROPS. I really hope I can do well for it because it does not seem easy at all. The first task the professor had given me was to read one of his research papers which I am trying my best to decipher.


I headed to town to meet up with David cause we have some errands to run. Topman was kind enough to swap a new pair of pants for my faulty pair (one button fell off and the other was about to). I hope the new pants can last, but I would not put much expectations for Made-in-China products. Oh wait, my Macbook Pro too. :/


There was a Food Fest Fair in Takashimaya shopping centre's atrium. We ate sausages, ice cream and stopped short of buying the dango.

Dango (roasted riceball in Japanese I think).


We tried a few samples and it was not worth the money.


Since I had booked the movie tickets for us, I requested VB to suggest a place for dinner. He promptly recommended Red Tomato, which we found out was Hot Tomato at 313 Somerset shopping mall. ._.



VB, please get the name right haha.



Salmon pasta with mango salad ($11.90).



Seafood Combo ($13.90).


The green mussels were not fresh and the salmon was half done. Till now I do not have a stomachache so I guess the salmon tasted good (if it was initially meant to be half done). The dory fish was passable as you can get this from Fairprice but at a price of $13.90, it was acceptable.

Chicken Chop and sausage pasta ($11.90).



Fish and Chips ($9.90).



Vb and Wen Juan.


This is Wen Juan's debut!


The photos below are koped from Tian Shuo's facebook so kudos to him! Tian Shuo was excited about his new hoot and kept shooting us.




Cam-whoring while waiting for seats.



Guan Zhong and I.



We looked really funny.



I think I moved a bit.


Mdm Jayne came to join us for dinner! It has been a while since we last saw her. We had a good chat over dinner but she could not join us for the movie.



We caught it in 3D and it took our eyes a while to adjust to the effects. The movie was full of effects that you have to catch it in 3D! I still prefer Megan Fox over the new girl. The new girl has this British accent that did not go match with most of the crew but there were more action than speech though. Some of the scenes jumped really fast and we thought the film was cut at some parts. For example, after Bumblebee and his friends saved the people who dropped from the building, the next scene showed Bumblebee and gang getting subdued by the Decepticons. Also, we found it lame that Optimus Prime was trapped by some ropes and this caused him to be out of the movie for like 30-45 minutes. Overall, the movie was quite good. Even robots have a weak knee for hot girls.


P.S: Thanks to Guan Zhong for sending me and david home! 

Condensed - It's been a while.

It's been about 2 months since my last exam (CM2142 Analytical Chemistry) ended. I have not had sufficient rest yet my internship at Fajar sec is about to commence soon. May be it is because I took CM3291 Advanced Experiments in Organic and Inorganic Chemistry during the special semester. The module was Bah. I certainly hope it will be an eye-opener (the internship) for me. Looking at module codes reminded me about my deproved CAP again. LSM1103  Biodiversity is the bane of my existence cause I got a C+ for it. This is the first module in my university days that I got such a low grade. Really low grade indeed. I swear never to take any life science modules 'cept for the one I am going to take at Technical University of Denmark (DTU) on my exchange.

Speaking of which, I was doing research on the places that I can go while in Denmark during Year 3 Semester 2. It seems like Denmark is situated roughly in the centre of Europe and allows me to travel around! Currently, the only country that I desperately want to visit is Switzerland because of its awesome natural landscapes. I feel it is on par, if not better, than the South Island of New Zealand. SCI SEP has sent us a list of the contacts of students who are going to DTU. Should I email them all for a lunch/dinner gathering cause we are gonna depend on each other in Denmark? 所谓在家靠家人在外靠朋友. Will it be weird? Anyway I guess I will be flying on a different plane with them (unless by coincidence) because MOE has decreed (a rather imposing word) that I need to book a plane ticket via its approved vendor. What is anal about going exchange is the amount of administrative work to be done. It's omgwtfbbq. Till date I have not received the scholarship endorsement letter from MOE. Hope I'll receive it by today so I can time my visit to NUS tomorrow to submit all documents after meeting Dr Leonard to get my recommendation letter.

On an entirely different note, I have decided to take CM3211 Organic Synthesis and Spectroscopy and a UROPS module. If I am unable to secure a UROPS module, I will take CM4211 Advanced Coordination Chemistry to replace a level 3000 core module because the year 3 core modules are does not sound the least bit interesting to me or maybe it is because I did not do well in some of the foundation core modules to warrant me taking up those advanced courses. Kinda excited about the new school term because I can finally choose the modules I want to read (the irony) and to work in the spanking new Radiopulze studio! :D

Sorry for the abrupt change of thoughts but I must thank Lloyd, Stef and Jerel for the present!

At least this saved me from the hassle of choosing a new pair of shoes.

Unimportant aliens unite!


We caught Green Lantern on that day. It was not a bad film but we expected more action from the Green Lantern Corp. There should be more coverage of Blake Lively because she is the female lead! Someone so goddamn chio like her should be featured in the poster itself. I was disappointed she was not in any and was replaced by some fish/insect/alien/rock hybrid.

In The Green Lantern, I felt that they had cast the female lead in a different light - A strong counterpart and not some damsel in distress which is a fresh idea. In the movie, Carrol (Blake Lively) helped Hal to shoot rockets at the monster blob, which temporarily gave her sufficient time to throw him the ring which Hal obtained from the dying purple alien (I like this phrase). Carrol is also Hal's boss and she helped him avoid a dismissal due to unrequited feelings for him. I am a big fan of superhero movies and so far, only Iron Man and Spiderman 2 left me wanting for more. The movie Thor has humour but not enough action as well while X-Men: First Class managed to pull off a satisfactory performance. Lets hope Captain America will be good. Catch the trailer here.

On a side note, Yue Ling gave me some Capitaland Vouchers and I really appreciate it. Oh the reason for the title of the blog is because I have not been blogging and this pretty summarizes everything for the past 2 months. Heh.