I have finished the 1st version of the European Conference Poster. Finally having a night to take a small break.
Heading of the poster:
My project title with the authors below it. I am the 4th author. :D
Jun Wen and I have signed the Sales & Purchase Agreement and will soon be paying for our 1st HDB loan. There is no turning back. Lol.
I was browsing at the photo gallery of our future home and wanna share with you some.
We are going to live in the 9th storey in a block that is really near the BBQ pits. The BBQ pits are going to be on top of a multi-storey carpark. So unique right! After that we sort of regretted choosing the unit since we were concerned about the noise level at night. But I heard from my cousin that there will be security in the area so reminders will be issued for those loud teenagers.
Our living room will be linked directly to the balcony. We can add a door that separates the balcony from it or we can just use curtains. The flooring and the aircons are provided.
A small dining area by the corner of the living room. A mirror is placed beside the table to make the area more spacious I think.
This is the kitchen. The stoves and all the cabinets are provided.
The stove's brand is Bosch. The agent said it is a good brand but ya.. I find it hard to trust any agents, be it insurance, housing or investments. Lol.
The toilet will look like this. :D
The master bedroom. An additional balcony will be extended for 5-room flats only, so we won't be able to enjoy the scenic view from the master bedroom but we can still view it from our living room's balcony.
The park in the neighbourhood.
I know the Light Festival is long over but I'm here to tell you more about it. Lol.
Jun Wen helped Carine get tickets for the musical Wicked and we asked her to join us for the Light Festival that night to pass her those tickets. I felt like going too but it was kind of expensive. And the thought of Jun Wen being a regular napper in cinemas and musicals makes me not want to buy those tickets.
We walked around the stretch along MBS, but didn't find anything. No lights! Hence, my first photo was this, the photo which I'm confident that most Singaporeans have taken.
As we walked and walked we saw a large crowd of people sitting in front of the river as if waiting for a performance. And true enough, there was a laser show.
One of the effects made by the show. I was exasperated by the couple standing right in front of the show at the railing. Every picture that I took consisted of them. Everyone else was sitting down on the steps and being considerate.
Carine and I were disappointed that the show doesn't portray any story or meaning. It just exhibited some kids growing up. They graduated, get married, have kids and became grandparents. Erm... We wanted to see cute characters on screen instead of these real people. We are already people and we want to see something we are not.!!
The next thing after the bizzare laser show puzzled us again. It seemed like the Light Festival visitors were looking and taking photos of this tall white very striking brightly lit lamp attached to the MBS Shoppes Mall. We stood there wondering what we were supposed to look out for but we saw nothing. We read the description that told us this "lamp" was used to send out messages in the early days. Lol.
And as we went further away from the lamp, I saw a Peace sign emitting from the lamp. So... The trick is that u must look at it from a different angle, not directly at it. Sometimes u see it sometimes u don't. Carine began swaying her camera from side to side and we saw the moving pictures emitting from the lamp. It is so cool! The lamp changes colour from time to time and you will find yourself looking at different pictures. Cool factor is 9/10!
Jun Wen with the sea view.
Sorry about the poor resolution as the light emitted from the decorations was too bright. This is a squid made from recycled materials. It changes colour from time to time too, perhaps due to the different angles you were looking from. Well.. I didn't really know how to appreciate this artwork. lol.
We later realized the reason why we didn't get to see any lights from anywhere. It was Earth Day that day and the light decorations were turned off for the Earth Hour from 8 30pm to 9 30pm I think.
A craft made out of recycled materials once more.
When u start screaming into the flowers sticking out from it, that particular flower lights up. Kids liked it so much! They were taking their turns to scream into the flowers.
Carine and I in front of the masterwork.
We then passed by a row of small orange "tents". Saw some curious people going in it and we were curious too. Initially, we were fearful of uncovering the truth beneath the orange cloth. Lol. It looks scary and mysterious from the outside. It felt warm once we went into it. Lol.
Turned out that these tents were made for monks to meditate in them. We could understand why it was tailored for this use. The tent was warm and we felt serene in it. I dunno if this feeling was a psychological impact since I read its description before heading into it.
And Jun Wen loves it. He loves the scary ghostly figure of his. Carine thought he looked like some trapped human in those huge test tubes.
Lol!
Handmade lanterns in this hut. I told them to pose for a photo together and they gave me this expression. Carine is so used to his expression since the Vietnam trip that she copied him rather well. Lol.
A nearer picture. I just saw a girl looking so blur and pale behind Jun Wen. Gave me creeps for a sec!
The photo of the night. The miniature effect made by my camera where it blurs out the top and the bottom focusing solely on the middle strip. If I wasn't mistaken, each parts of the hanging lanterns were designed by the Vietnamese children.
A lit igloo made of many huge water bottles.
And colorful mushrooms made from tiny light bulbs.
And this was the last photo before all lights from the decorations were turned off. It was 11 30pm when all of this ended. Sad! We were intending to see the colourful Merlion. :(
We were kind of surprised by how these lights were turned off. A bangleshi came up to us and said something like, "No more! No more!" And he went ahead to the control circuit inside some circuit box hidden by the tree and switched it off. Lol. Then he cycled away to another attraction to make people sad. Lol.
Quite an experience I must say!
A little bit about Bangkok before I get tired.
Our hotel is quite near to the Platinum Mall so we decided to walk through some alleys before reaching it. Passed by a nice-looking mall which is opposite to Platinum Mall. And it's Shibuya!
How the inside of Shibuya looks like. A row of shops that looked so tempting. Lol.
But I wasn't in the mood to shop there yet since I wanted to go into Platinum Mall asap!
Of course I would want a photo with the Thai Macdonalds!
I remembered that Ting, Daniel and I took one such photo about 7 years ago in Bangkok too! We were sent to a conference to present our FYP project. Lol.
And we reached the Platinum Mall. We were at the overhead bridge taking an overview of the busy road with the mall. Look at the blue tuk-tuk! It looks so cute from this distance!
And we shopped... For a short while before I got really hungry.
Sure enough, our first meal has to be Tom Yam Soup Noodles. My favourite in Singapore and of course of course I can't miss Thailand's!
Jun Wen who can't take spicy food has to try it too! He loves it as much as I do. At least I think he does. Lol. It's difficult to guess his mind since he often lies.
We were shocked that after dinner at about 7pm, the shops started closing. Omg! I was relieved that i grabbed a few accessories before dinner. Lol.
We hailed a cab to go to Khao San Night Market but the cab driver told us that it only opens at 10pm although my itinerary stated 8pm! :D Maybe the website isn't updated enough or something. The cab driver drove us to a seafood restaurant instead. He said many tourists specially came to this restaurant whenever they visit Thailand. We decided to give it a try although we were still full from the dinner. But well... We are tourists.. We are supposed to listen to the locals and try everything they said. Lol.
He ordered a coconut drink so that he could scoop all its flesh up to munch on. Lol. He loves the attention and the stares other people give him, so he loves being extraordinary. (It's kind of a classy restaurant where most Caucasians are dining at.) I felt abit embarrassed but what can I do? :D
In his hardworking attempt to scoop all contents of the coconut.
We ordered scallops. They were so delicious I tell u!
And tom yam again. Thailand is the only place that Jun Wen would permit me to eat lots of Tom Yam! I dunno how to appreciate this again. He thought the taste was fantastic while I thought it tasted like vomit. Lol.
We ordered also curry crab since it was most recommended by the cab driver. Lol.
Yes, it was so nice!
Unglam and caught by the camera. Haha!
Ending the post with Simba standing in between 2 sleeping dogs. He said this photo would be memorable since the dogs were sleeping in the same position but at a distance apart! :D
I realised Thai dogs are so lazy. We saw many napping dogs on the streets!
Hi dears!
I just dyed my hair to somewhat red. The hairdresser's recommendation. And it's quite obvious! Simba has been going to the salon "NK" at Nex. He was so pleased with the service and his haircut that he booked a haircut package at his first visit. I went there before too and was full of praise for it. Lol. We dyed our hair there for the 1st time and it didn't disappoint me. My hair is not as damaged as the previous times I dyed my hair. Since Simba's package included a free treatment, I took his and he gave me a very gloomy face. Lol.
We went ahead to share a package (12 visits for $1100) for hair colouring. (OMG I KNOW!) Each visit will cost about $80 (Colour + Highlights!) You should go there too. Simba chooses the senior hairstylist, so I think to be safer you should spend abit more to get the senior ones. Simba used to patronize Jean Yip but I feel that the service is quite bad, and the hairdressers kept persuading you to buy some expensive hair conditioners. He decided to give other salons a try and we found NK! Nice!
I'm excited to share with you a shampoo I was lately introduced to. The brand is Evoluderm! It's French product. I love it! :D You can get it at Guardian. :)
I had a bad fall 3 weeks ago. And the pain was worse than before. Couldn't really walk or stand the first few days of the fall. Can't walk down the stairs normally even now! :( This is the 1st time I took so long to heal. I think it is because I have gained some weight and this has taken a toll on my knees. Took an X-Ray and my company doctor diagnosed me with Patellar Subluxation. Of course the doctor can't fully confirm it, so I was referred to the orthopedic specialist for further examination in June. I was pretty glad that finally someone tell me of the exact condition I have been suffering from the past years.
I researched about this condition and the mentioned signs and symptoms match mine exactly! Not knowing that I suffered from Patellar Subluxation previously, I used to google for "kneecap pain", or like "ligament tear" but I don't know what I can do about it since I dunno if I am really having a ligament tear or a dislocation!
Now finally there is hope for me! I hope I no longer have to fear walking down stairs and slopes or running anymore! All I have to do is to wait for my appointment with the specialist and have some physiotherapy or a very minor surgery done. My company will pay for my specialist fees and 90% of my surgery fees. Yea!
After learning that the surgery is minimally invasive, I am not so afraid. The surgery is only for cutting the tight lateral ligaments around the kneecap to shift the kneecap in place. The surgeon will only make a small cut on the knee, use an arthroscope to look at the inside and cut a few ligaments. I think I can handle it. :)
I am looking forward to walking normally like other people! I may have to wear knee braces or be on crutches for about 3 to 6 months after the surgery but I think it will be worth it if I can recover from it.
Or if I don't need surgery, I will go for physiotherapy to strengthen my quadriceps so that I have better support of my knees.
I have so many things to tell you but I have some analyses to rush. :( Supervisor is going to a conference at the end of May to present my project and we are preparing the presentation and poster for it.
I decided to tell you abit about Thai Airways I have travelled in to Bangkok. It's somewhat like Singapore Airlines! :D
We were really excited since morning at the airport. Great shopping is awaiting us. Lol!
Had breakfast at KFC at the airport. We weren't sure if meals are provided in our flight.
Did I tell u before that I love KFC's porridge and egg tarts? They are the best! I was so blessed having such a savory breakfast. It was a blissful morning. Lol.
Love how he expresses his love for the breakfast. Lol.
Our attractive boarding pass. Lol.
Thai Airways uses purple alot!
While waiting to board the plane. I thought I heard passengers who are having seats 15-75 can board the plane, but it was actually seats 50-75. We quickly went out of the queue after that. :D
Love the appealingly colourful seats.
And we were surprised that there are TV screens! Since it was a 2 hour flight, we didn't expect to have TVs to watch! Everything is just like SIA. Cool!
The earpieces with Thai Airways logo!
The TV guide is very summarized, so you can skim through the backgrounds of these shows quickly. You get to save time and be ready to select a show to watch.
I always get window seats. Not that I really like it, since the rays are shining in so much that they hurt my eyes sometimes!
Always ready for meals. Lol.
He is always embarrassed whenever he gets hungry. I would be like "Why are you hungry again? I thought we have just eaten lunch?" And he would blush and say he is not hungry actually, and that he was afraid that I am. HAHAHA!
Our breakfast in the plane. I couldn't finish them since I had KFC breakfast! Luckily the meal isn't too great. It has raw vegetables and raw pasta. Omg. Was it supposed to be this way?
And we are in Thailand! At the Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Airport.
The queue at the checkpoint is tremendously ridiculously long! Check it out behind me.
After a very long ride to our hotel at Pratunum, we reached and were ever ready for the Platinum Mall. Lol.
Jun Wen's colleagues asked me to give them what they call as "rejects" from Bangkok. As we aren't able to try on the clothings in most of the stores, they are quite sure I will have clothes I rejected buying from there. True enough, I have 2 that I didn't like when I fit them on. Lol. Two out of the 20+ that I bought. (Simba decided to change a day of sightseeing to fuly shopping!) They must be so disappointed! Bangkok clothings are so nice and those maxi dresses or other dresses are a sure fit! :D
First time I spent my birthday overseas!
Thanks for all the birthday wishes dears!
Hello dears!
Ever feel so tired on Monday and thought u will be more energetic on Tuesday and discover that u are wrong in the end? I feel tired on some Mondays, more tired on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and can't open my eyes and ears on Fridays.
Was dining at the Korean Charcoal BBQ Buffet today and found it hard to fight my eyes open. I already had a hard time stuffing in the leftovers on our table. What a day! But my week will end on Wednesday this week! Once I reach Bangkok on Thursday, I will be a totally different from how I am at work. I guess lazy people are like that! :D
Here is the Day 1 and 2 of the Bangkok Itinerary I have created.
Day 1
- Check in at hotel (Did I say we will be staying in Pratunum Pavilion Hotel?!!)
- Pratinum Fashion Mall
- Pratunum Wholesale Night Market
- Khao San Road Night Market
Day 2
- Bangkok Dolls Museum
- Krungthong Plaza , Apparel Center
- Siam Square
- Bonanza Mall
- Suan Lum Night Bazaar
- Khlong Lot Night Market
ALL SHOPPING! Lol. I always have the impression that Bangkok exists only for tourists to shop at. No sightseeing is ever needed. I wanna buy crochet shorts! :D
And here is Day 3 that Jun Wen planned.
- Taling Chan Floating Market
- Wat Pho
- The Giant Swing
- Democracy Monument
- Souvenior Shopping
- Mahakan Fort
- King Rama VIII Bridge
- Chao Phraya River & Waterways
- Wat Arun by the river at Sunset
- MBK Center
- Swensen’s Dessert
He compensated the shopping with a day of sightseeing!
His schedule is always madness. The Hong Kong Itinerary was solely created by him. And throughout the trip, u will only hear him shout to u, "Hey, quick quick! We need to follow the schedule! We are already late" And u find yourself brisk walking behind him and catching your breath. Lol. But thinking back, it is cool that we went to every place scheduled in the itinerary.
Day 4 will just be Chatuchak Weekend Market before we head for the airport. :D I told him that I remembered there wasn't much shopping that will interest us in Chatuchak. Jun Wen insisted on going. The reason was... If his friends find out that he had been to Bangkok without visiting Chatuchak, he will be really embarrassed. Lol.
Will blog again this Wed okie!
Happy Birthday to me!
I have finished 3 seasons of The Good Wife. Now I'm at Ugly Betty Season 2. :)
Just love the feeling of coming back home after a day's work and watching something I like.
That day at work, CS was telling me how lucky he has been since young. Something about how he said it moved me. It could be his tone, the genuine smile on his face, that sincere pair of eyes or all of these combined. He could be so appreciative about what he has achieved so far in his life. The things he has been grateful for he remembered so vividly, every accomplishment he has made he has cherished and every blessing granted to him he has counted one by one. And wow, it was truly heartwarming. He said he owed most of it through luck and believed that other than hard work, luck is a significant factor attributing to success. If you don't have luck, you probably won't succeed as things don't go you intend them to be.
In my opinion, I like to think it this way: You have to work hard to be lucky. If you kept trying and trying, you will eventually become lucky. Just keep trying, don't get stagnant, move, travel, take a class, take a risk. Leave all the brokenness behind. Embrace today with all your bravery, your fortitude, your faith and intensity to keep travelling down the life path. You will get lucky. I promise.
He made me begin to feel guilt. I felt responsible for not being appreciative of the things around me. Just recently a long-time friend told me that he felt that my life has been smooth all this while. My reaction to his comment was to smile and dismiss it. I did not feel exceptionally privileged or lucky. Now that I think about it, I thought maybe it's greed making me less satisfied and less thankful. :(
Sometimes I'm too blind to see my life as a whole and appreciate it. I get affected by insignificant lousy events. I know I shan't feel this way but couldn't help it.
I should learn to accept that I'm blessed all this while and not forget the things that I was appreciative for. :D I have worked to come this far and shouldn't always doubt myself. There is still so much that I can learn from others.
:)
Hi friends! It's April! Lol. I am going to annoy all of u with the word 'April' until my birthday is over!
My tutee's mum is kind of hinting me to teach a class of Korean pupils in her tuition center part time next year. I tried hard to ignore the hint. Lol. Omg, I find it so hard to reject someone, especially when she is so kind and nice. Sometimes, she bought me biscuits and chocolates. Other times, she treated me to dinner. And other other times, she just added more "commission". My tutee got accepted by a branded school and transferred to it just this Jan and her mum was really grateful for it. Omg. I just happen to have a bright tutee who scores more than 85 for every subject. Are all Koreans so generous? :D
Jun Wen just bought a new desktop. He is a very surprising person. He would think of random stuff and the next thing u know, he has done that random thing. Like the day before he bought PS3, he told me he was going to buy it and the next day I saw it sitting in his room. Lol. This time it was almost the same, except that he gave me a week's notice. I slowly dug out the reason that he needs the desktop for. He bought a computer game and needs a efficient desktop to suit its specifications. Lol right! People buy games to play on their desktops and he bought a desktop to play his game?
Every time any occasion is near the corner, Jun Wen will be very troubled about what present he can get for me. We have run out of things to buy actually. He asked me what I want as a gift. And of course, I would say anything. But this time he asked a few more times, like if I want Wii and I said "No no, I don't want Wii. Just miscellanous stuff". And he knew that whenever he buys miscellanous stuff, I would wear it for a day or two and he will never see it again. And the things I really really want is way too expensive to be mentioned. I would buy them myself one fine day.
Lol. So to make his life easier, we went shopping together! I choose all my gifts for a change.
1st misc stuff: a iPhone cover.
I only like covers with covers! Which means there should be a flap covering the front screen of the phone. I grow to be more and more protective of my phone. I dunno why. I used to say "Oh it's okie never mind" whenever I dropped my Nokia phones (They would exclaim loudly for me but didn't expect such a response from me).
My old one has spoilt after 5 months! I was swinging my phone right in the presence of my colleagues in order for them to notice that my cover was so wrecked. And they might just probably buy me a cover for my birthday. Instead, they didn't notice and when I had no other choice but to request this gift from them, they would pretend that they didn't hear it.
But Jun Wen has bought it. We went to the top level of Plaza Sing to get it. Love the patchwork design so much!
And whenever we went to Plaza Sing, I would stop by a shop that sells Sanrio stuff. And I saw this:
It was love at first sight. Cutest thing ever invented I think! I love the black bow
And that was gift #2.
Gift #3 is a skirt, which I somehow can't get a good picture of. I would show it to you some another day when i was wearing it out to the streets.
:D Nights dears!
Hi friends! It's April! Lol. I am going to annoy all of u with the word 'April' until my birthday is over!
My tutee's mum is kind of hinting me to teach a class of Korean pupils in her tuition center part time next year. I tried hard to ignore the hint. Lol. Omg, I find it so hard to reject someone, especially when she is so kind and nice. Sometimes, she bought me biscuits and chocolates. Other times, she treated me to dinner. And other other times, she just added more "commission". My tutee got accepted by a branded school and transferred to it just this Jan and her mum was really grateful for it. Omg. I just happen to have a bright tutee who scores more than 85 for every subject. Are all Koreans so generous? :D
Jun Wen just bought a new desktop. He is a very surprising person. He would think of random stuff and the next thing u know, he has done that random thing. Like the day before he bought PS3, he told me he was going to buy it and the next day I saw it sitting in his room. Lol. This time it was almost the same, except that he gave me a week's notice. I slowly dug out the reason that he needs the desktop for. He bought a computer game and needs a efficient desktop to suit its specifications. Lol right! People buy games to play on their desktops and he bought a desktop to play his game?
Every time any occasion is near the corner, Jun Wen will be very troubled about what present he can get for me. We have run out of things to buy actually. He asked me what I want as a gift. And of course, I would say anything. But this time he asked a few more times, like if I want Wii and I said "No no, I don't want Wii. Just miscellanous stuff". And he knew that whenever he buys miscellanous stuff, I would wear it for a day or two and he will never see it again. And the things I really really want is way too expensive to be mentioned. I would buy them myself one fine day.
Lol. So to make his life easier, we went shopping together! I choose all my gifts for a change.
1st misc stuff: a iPhone cover.
I only like covers with covers! Which means there should be a flap covering the front screen of the phone. I grow to be more and more protective of my phone. I dunno why. I used to say "Oh it's okie never mind" whenever I dropped my Nokia phones (They would exclaim loudly for me but didn't expect such a response from me).
My old one has spoilt after 5 months! I was swinging my phone right in the presence of my colleagues in order for them to notice that my cover was so wrecked. And they might just probably buy me a cover for my birthday. Instead, they didn't notice and when I had no other choice but to request this gift from them, they would pretend that they didn't hear it.
But Jun Wen has bought it. We went to the top level of Plaza Sing to get it. Love the patchwork design so much!
And whenever we went to Plaza Sing, I would stop by a shop that sells Sanrio stuff. And I saw this:
It was love at first sight. Cutest thing ever invented I think! And that was gift #2.
Gift #3 is a skirt, which I somehow can't get a good picture of. I would show it to you some another day when i was wearing it out to the streets.
:D Continue tml! Nights dears!
