fire in the sky
Living near Moeser Lane made it possible to catch yesterday's spectacular fireworks across the bay, even though it took 5 minutes of muffled 'booms' to make lazy ol' me leave the house. The annual KFOG KaBoom was one of the longest displays i have ever seen. Forget about the waaaaaaay short Singapore National Day fireworks. This one must have been close to 15 minutes! Just imagine the money they spent. I didn't take pictures though...just grabbed my car keys and raced up the hill. After the fireworks, there was a grand line of cars chugging down Moeser Lane. Somehow i thought it was pretty funny.
i miss him the most not when i'm upset, or having a bad day. It's when i'm really happy, or see something nice that i feel the great distance between us. I'm looking forward to the day where we can actually live our lives together, and the emptiness will be a thing of the past.

Here, there and everywhere
Mike the headless chicken sure helped lift my spirits tonight! I'm serious, check it out. It's even on the Online New Paper! *chuckle*
Justin.Org occupied me for quite a while last night. Google describes it as "screens full of Justin, links that intertwine all over. One of the pioneers of the Online Journal." Well, the main page itself is not that interesting, but click on the tons of links to various other Justin pages and you'll discover lots of interesting snippets. Here, there, everywhere.
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Finally went to Tang Center to check out the cough that has been plaguing me for the past 2 weeks. Came home with 2 different asthma inhalers. So scary hor? Turns out that my breathing volume is only ~355 when it should be about 465. No wonder i get out so of breath walking up that hill to North Gate. Yep, now i can blame it all on my inflamed lungs. Of course it has nothing to do with me being terribly unfit from lack of exercise. So i'm officially taking steroids...hope i don't start growing hair in weird places! =)
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I'm super excited about my parents flying in for my graduation in 2 weeks. I miss them a whole lot...Can't wait to show them around this place that has been home to me for almost 3 years. Can't wait for them to see what an independant life i lead. Can't wait for them to share with them the beautiful sights of the bay area, and for them to see it through the eyes of a non-tourist. We have an exciting itinary lined up. Dinner at Chez Panisse? My lucky, lucky tastebuds =).. What's more, we're heading off to Japan for 10 days. Tokyo, Kyoto, Mt Fuji.. that'll be an awesome graduation treat! Arigato to my parents in advance =) Unfortunately, I can't speak Japanese save for a few basic (and useless) sentences. Watashiwa kawaii des! right.....

running out of room
My room is the champion of all messy rooms. I would take pictures of it to prove my point, but it's gotten so bad that i even feel paiseh leaving my door open. Somehow i just always have piles of books, clothes and plastic bags all over the floor. I need more shelving and cupboards, so that i can stuff whatever is on the floor inside and pretend that it's all nicely packed away, and that i'm in fact a good, clean and neat person. My parents are the neatest and most organized people i know, so why did i turn out this way? I want neat genes. Hopefully i can do something by the time they get here in 2 weeks, or else.......endless nagging! =)

Here's a picture of my old dorm room (see the potential already?):

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Weather outlook for tomorrow super blah. Weather.com shows this huge green mass (meaning rainclouds) moving up and into the Bay Area. I wish i would suddenly disappear into nothingness, but that's not how things work. And it's already May. So how about some endless California sunshine? Grrrr.... I hope the weather holds, and i get to go for the windsurfing class i signed up for through Cal Adventures. They have a certain adventureship program where for a measly 100 bucks, you get windsurfing, kayaking and sailing lessons...and free rentals! Yep...have to squeeze in as much as i can before i graduate. =) I've attended 2 days of the 4 day-sailing course, and it rocks! I can now sail a 2 man boat round the little cove at the Marina. Ok, not much of a skill to crow about...but the views of SF, the bay and the Golden Gate are just spectacular. Oh, and capsizing and righting the boat is SO MUCH FUN...even though the water was freaking cold. My partner and i just couldn't stop laughing and giggling while freezing our butts off. Water makes xiao so happy. This has to be one of the best things i've done here in Berkeley.

no strings attached
mood: super weather day!
Guess what? I'm sitting on my bed writing out this blog...isn't it cool? It's just perfect for someone as lazy as me. =) Yes, i splurged and bought myself a cordless keyboard and mouse. It was going at such a great price (only $35) such that i couldn't resist. Guess the digital camera will just have to wait a little longer. Wish i had a bigger computer scrreen though, coz it's rather hard to read the littler words..Argh..okay..now i have even less of an excuse to get out of my comfy bed....soon my poor leg muscles will waste away into oblivion, and i'll be a slob...but a cool, high tech, wired one, with incredibly strong fingers. .

summertime reunion
Happy coz i'll go to sleep tonight having just had a great conversation. Life stories, travel updates, latest gossip and weather trends were exchanged over much missed lighthearted bantering and laughter. =) Everytime i talk to her i'm reminded of the year we spent living together. Some days, especially the sunny days which make you feel like there's so much of the world to take in, i'm reminded of her more than ever. It's nice to have a friend to appreciate the littlest things in life with. Like feel all excited over a simple sandwich, or the blueness of the bay. Or the feeling of grass between one's toes, or finding a little ladybug. mm..I have a feeling we'll get to meet up here in Berkeley again. Just to let you know...I'm looking forward to that day, when we'll share our stories while soaking up sun on Memorial Glade! =)

ole ole...to good weather days
I'm spending yet another afternoon in lab. Indoors. Seriously, how many hours do scientist and researchers while away in the lab just waiting for for invisible molecules to interact with other different, but just as invisible, molecules? Stripping a membrane takes an hour, blocking it another hour. Incubating it with a primary antibody takes two hours, and secondary Ab yet another hour. And those are just waiting times. And so many times, after you invest what feels like half your life doing an experiment, one step goes horrendously wrong, and you say byebye to your results. It can be frustrating completing an experiment, much less duplicates of multiple experiments. We should all be thankful for those good natured, fluorescent-light-loving scientists who spend their days and nights running experiments and killing animals for the good of mankind. One example is the italian expert that sacrificed his life identifying the SARS virus currently going around the world. My parents have always dissuaded me from doing microbiology, in fear of such an outcome. well, no matter what field of biology i pursue, i really hope that it brings some good to the world. I didn't choose to do bioengineering because of the government, i chose it for myself. Although i didn't really know what i was getting into, at the end of 3 years, i'm real glad that i chose to take this path. Bioengineering allows me to do basic biological research, and yet apply it to solving everyday needs. Stuff i'm interested in now: tissue engineered cardiovascular or liver tissue. I'm excited about the coming year. Let's see where it takes me. =)
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On a different note, i spent lunchtime in a corner of La Val's at northside with 40 strangers, brought together by the live Real Madrid - Man Utd game. (i'm sure half of you will stop reading this entry from here on =P) Although not a fan of either team, I was just curious to see if the hype surrounding the game could live up to expectations. It was pretty awesome. Awesome Real Madrid scored awesome goals. But what was more interesting, was watching the other watchers. It's pretty rare to find so many people in a pizza joint, sitting in front of a huge TV, watching not baseball, not basketball, not american football, but real english football. There were some who came in, glanced at the TV, then sat facing away, focused only on lunch. Those were the americans. Then there were those who brought throngs of friends and added to the atmosphere. Those were Spanish. Also, there were British (my ex-math TA!) and Brazilian and Indians. Pretty cool huh? It was like the I-house had moved to northside. =) It's always fun watching soccer with people. The "ooohs" and "aaahs" really do make a difference. If only i had someone to watch soccer with...*sigh* too bad fellow liverpool fans are a tad far away!

if i could just...
it always hurts to say goodbye. the stabbing pain when we hug our last hug. the dull, empty achy feeling as he disappears around the corner. the tears. it never gets any easier. i know we're strong, and every day we spend together reaffirms that. but it's amazing how one person can change your life. Every day is a day to look forward to. and every day, no matter rain or shine, is one of the best days you've ever had. but well, life goes on. and i'm fine now. no more tears, no more sadness. just looking forward to the next time we meet, which is still somewhat uncertain. but mostly, looking back on the beautiful 2.5 weeks we shared together, i'm real glad. =)
welcome back mundane life! right, gotta start day one w/o him studying for midterms. *groan*

Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles

Making my way down town
Walking fast
Faces pass
And I'm home bound

Staring blankly ahead
Just making my way
Making a way
Through the crowd

And I need you
And I miss you
And now I wonder ..

If I could fall
Into the sky
Do you think time
Would pass me by
Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles
If I could just see you... tonight

high ho (to the tune of Heigh Ho)
High ho High ho
It's off in a plane we go
We fly so high, we touch the sky
High ho High ho High ho ...
Somehow this little tune that my sec 1 gep camp group invented has stayed with me all these years. Given, it is not a very difficult tune at all, but aiyah...give me some credit lah. We were the "Wright Brothers", thus 'High-ho"...geddit? haha..cute little sec one peeps we were. =) We were bundled off to this dark youth hostel thing on Sentosa, where every group shared a room with many many bunk beds. It was on this camp that i picked up some very useful skills, such as how to play Daidee. Of course, we played a slightly nicer version called "Asshole". it was fun, sitting on the top bunks of beds, calling each other assholes, manholes, kings, queens and the like. Oh, and bridge too, now that used up more brainpower, but it was useful, and helped me get by many boring moments in the future. somehow, i think that if you play bridge, people assume you have some kind of mental capacity. But when u play daidee, it's more "aiyeeee, u got all the 2s, no wonder u win lah". but fun fun fun all the same.
Anywez, i've kinda lost the point of this blog. Just wanted to send some love out to him, all the way across the pacific, who'll be getting on the plane to SF pretty soon. *huggies*
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Anywez, check out Singapore's First Online Ghost Stories. *evil laughter* Haha...campfire tales have gone high tech! Remember all those leetle black books with spooky eyes that we have read some time or another in our lives? It's somewhat like that, except the stories are submitted via email and posted online. farnee titles like 'terror tekong" and "bedok beware". They even have a picture section, which is erm, interesting. go see see!

making a mess of things
gosh, why am i so terribly untidy? Trying to clear up my room bit by bit everyday so that he'll have some space to put his stuff. Yet somehow, piles of stuff never seem to stop appearing on my table and floor day after day. Clothes suddenly sprout on my desk and chair, while notebooks and magazines line the floor. Perhaps i was picked up from a rubbish bin, for my parents are the neatest and most organized people i know. Messy room syndrome will terrorize me for the rest of my life! =(
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went for a dance class with housemates and hk. attempted foxtrot and samba. woohoo. okay, really, i had a great time....just that dancing seems like a rather personal and intimate thing...and so it was kinda weird to dance with some random guy. remind me to convince him to try it out. haha, it'll be something if he does.

snippets of spring
mood: comatose
Weekly dinner parties are a great idea. Ever since we started hosting them 3 weeks ago, saturday/sunday nights have been something to look forward to. We get to meet the mysterious 'missing' members of berkeleybunch, like rob. Also, our uncoordinated schedules result in our cooking our own meals on weeknights. so this reminds of how nice it is to sit down and eat a nice big meal together. yesterday the 7 of us enjoyed a spread of salmon, roast chicken, mifen and veggies (not to forget the all important contribution of rice from L). Somehow we managed a comfortable level of conversation while having our attention fixated on the "dirty dancing" taking place on tv. This movie and dinner parties always reminds me of yoek, and i thought of her, and how much she would enjoy this. But i'm sure she's having a great time in France, having her own little dinner parties. =)
Cooking is always fun, and my housemates have never failed to surprise with culinary experiments throughout the semester. Sometimes a cheesecake suddenly appears in the fridge, or i wake up to the smell of bread pudding. Very often there are yummy-looking pork dishes that i drool just looking at. lucky, lucky me. hopefully when the *ahem* 'man-slave' (as kaka and i call them) arrives, i'll be the one preparing delectable dishes for them, while he washes up. so much to look forward in just 3 days!
Past weekends have been the epitome of sloth and unproductivity and this one is no different. Spent the day glued to the telly. 12 Angry Men blows me away every single time. Although it's in black and white, although there are 12 not-so-hunky men, although 95% of the film is set in the one same room, it is nevertheless a gripping expose of the jury system. Watch/read it! who cares about homework?
Argh, my browser has crashed on me 3 times in the past 30 minutes. It's a sign. time to go.
*sigh* i can't wait till wednesday...*big grinz*