Museum Ramblings

Practically every day of the 9 months that I've been in this grey city, there has been a seagull sitting smugly on the roof of St. Mary's, staring into our kitchen window. I swear that it's the same seagull every single time... Smug little shit... I will throw a stone at it one day.

Decided to walk over to the Gordon Highlanders' Museum today. Not as far as I thought it would be. I was prepared to walk a good 1 1/2 hours to reach it but it only took about an hour+. It held a good amount of history in it, and the museum "guides" (who are really all veterans or sons/daughters of veterans that have volunteered to keep the place up and running) are more than happy to bring you around. In fact, it's a good idea to ask as many questions as possible or to exude an aura of great interest because you will then get treated with a good many personal stories from the veterans themselves, giving you a more personal side of the Highlander regiment.

It's a pity that this year, all of the Scottish regiments (the Gordon Highlanders, Black Watch, etc.) have been amalgamated into one single Royal Scottish Regiment. Each of them had their own unique history and identity. And there has been more than just a little resentment at this amalgamation.

All in all, a nice day spent walking (2 hours ++ in total. To & fro you know..) and absorbing in more of Scottish history. I'll probably go back to that museum again before I go home, go through everything in more detail next time (was a bit late today, arrived about 1 1/2 before it closed). For £2.50, it's well worth a second look. And I'll definitely have tea in the tea room the next time.

A limited Da Vinci collection should be on display at the Art Gallery starting this week or next. Will need to have a look at that one as well.

Ha? Maji ka??? Usou darou?? (O_o)

Another nice day in Aberdeen. Looks like things are finally taking a turn for the better. Except that the accomodation office has chosen today to allow some construction people to come and make a ruckus in the loft. Doing some kind of maintenance work. I don't know. The letter said they would be there for about half a day and there'd be minimum fuss/noise. My foot. There were sounds of drilling and hammering and stomping. They started around 9am and it's now 2pm and as far as I know, they're not even half-way there. Chances are they'll only troop out around 4pm and that is definitely NOT half a day. Harumph.

Anyhowz, I called up the travel agent today to change the date on my return ticket and to my surprise, I was told that I couldn't change my ticket! HUH?? The last time I called it was to see if I could change my outbound date and I was told only my inbound flight was changeable. Now apparently I can't change anything at all? Was more than a little confused, I can tell you that. Was quite irritated as well, mainly at being given wrong information, either now or previously. At least the girl who picked up my call was decent enough to do a second thorough check and sure enough, it turns out that I was informed wrongly the first time around. Bloody hell (unsaid over the phone of course, I'm quite the gracious phone customer... what... I know the terrors of unreasonable demands made over the phone ok, of course I'm nice over the phone). But she suggested I go down to the KLM office in SG to see if anything can be done as it may be easier on that side.

In any case, I am determined to stay longer in Singapore. There is nothing for me to do here if I come back in early August and the lease for my new place only starts in September.

Fear not friends!! Siew Mai is not so easily defeated!!!

p.s. Ahh... The title may or may not make sense (to those who can understand my broken Japanese anyhow) in context to the post... Mostly, I just felt like saying it. BWAHAHAA

Advertising The Other Blog

Yah. 2 new drawings on ~Siewmanime~ .

So shameless hor....

Weather has turned dreary again. Haiz...

Let There Be Sunlight!

SUN!!

OMG!! Today has been incredibly good weather. I could even go out without my sweater. Had lunch by the beach, then walked around the university's botanical gardens and went crazy talking pictures of the brilliantly coloured flowers until my camera's battery died on me. £"%£&... Then, went and bought a cold chicken pasta salad and had dinner on the King's College Lawn wtih Suzanne and Joanne, among other fellow sun worshippers and damnable seagulls. Ooohh... It was just such a lovely day today. *happy sigh* Hopefully tomorrow is just as nice. (^_^) Go jogging!! Yes yes... Must get back into the running routine. I'm so out of shape now. Yesterday I looked into the mirror and OMG!!! Shades of a double chin coming back to haunt me!!! いやだ~~！！！！ (T_T) Siew Mai is really becoming a dumpling in Scotland.... I shall run off and join the circus. I'll be a part of the side freak show as the amazingly fat dumpling. (T_T)

Oh! And btw, I'm planning to extend my stay in Singapore. So prob be there for an extra month. (^_^)v Well... For anyone who cares anyhow...

So Many Updates... ゆっくり読で下さい

Right... Time to do some major updating, as I keep promising.

Ok. Let's start with the opera. Verdi's Rigoletto by the Chisinau National Opera. It was beautiful! Trooped down to the Aberdeen Music Hall last Sunday by myself since my flatmates weren't exactly big fans of opera. Ohhh... It was their loss. The baritone, Vladmir Dragos, who sang the part of Rigoletto was no less than wonderful. His voice just rang in your ears even after he'd left the stage. Wasn't too sure about the tenor who sang the part of the Duke though. Thought he was a bit shaky at times. However, that said, he did manage to pull off La Donna e Mobile quite nicely, although personally I thought he could have done with a little less self-dramatization. Thought his chest was going to explode at the end.

All in all, it was a great show. The live Golden Eagle didn't make an appearance, due to the small size of the venue, which was sad. And the period costumes were just really really pretty. (^_^) The Marriage of Figaro (can't remember which troupe is singing) will be playing somewhere in the middle of June, definitely going to check that out.

*******************************************************************

What next... Oh yes. Last Tuesday. Had a minor case of homesickness and emotional breakdown. Was just feeling generally unhappy that whole day, and kept thinking that my flatmates had some kind of agenda against me. Talk about paranoia. Finally, just before I went to bed, something inspired me to pick up that book of daily lessons that my great-aunt gave me. The Gentle Spirit's Lesson for May 30 - Calling In The Troops. And it started:

"Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety."~ Proverbs 11:14

The lesson talked about how in our weakest moments, we are made to think that we are alone in our battles and there is no one who could care less about us. But it's not true. Because there is the Man himself, always standing behind us in case we fall. The lesson ended with this verse:

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray for another, that ye may be healed."~ James 5:16

And with that, I went straight to my flatmate's room and asked if she would hear me out for a bit. We talked, I cried and she comforted me, and shared her own insecurities of living in a foreign place, far away from home.

As far as I am aware of, God's sent me an angel once before. I'm sure there were more, but of those that I'm aware, there's one. That night I believe that I was on the brink of slipping into depression again. But something stopped me. Picking up that book brought me face to face with God. He gave me personal reassurance. And then, once more in my life, God sent me an angel.

*****************************************************************************

Friday night, I had 1 Singaporean and 3 Malaysians over for dinner. I've been hitting myself over the head ever since because I forgot to take photographs of the dinner party and more importantly, of the dinner itself. Bad Siewmai, Bad! Oh well... Here was the menu anywayz:

2 June 2006, Siewmai's Singapore Night
1) Chili Prawn (using Prima Taste Chili Crab mix)
2) Chili Tau Gan & Vegetables (also using above mix. My neighbour Sally is a vegetarian, so to be a good hostess, must cater for everyone)
3) Beef Curry (actually supposed to be Prima Taste Beef Rendang.. but I added too much water...)
4) Quorn hamburger Rendang (Quorn is a brand of frozen foods that specializes in vegetarian "meats", their main ingredient is something called mycoproteins.. I think. But it's good!)
5) Vegetable Fried Bee Hoon
6) Stir Fry Mushroom Sauce Choi Sim
7) Thai White Rice
8) Mark's & Spencer Lemon Cheesecake - provided by the SEAsian gang
9) M & S Blueberry Pie (as of yet, still uneaten) - also from the SEAsians

Except for the dessert, everything else was cooked by yours truly (with the help of Prima Taste for the main dishes). Except for the failed beef rendang-turned-beef curry (which was still quite tasty in the end), I must say that I'm quite proud of myself. Everything turned out quite nicely. Everybody seemed to enjoy the food, and even Suzanne and Sally managed to down quite a bit of the spicy Singapore food. And thankfully, everybody had fun! It was a success in my books. I'm glad I managed to get Grace and gang over for dinner before everybody left. I know for sure such dinner parties will not be possible in my new place next year. It's too small.

1 point for Siew Mai. YAY!

Anyone want to request Siew Mai's cooking? ;) It'll only be available for a month. Well... About 3 weeks, really. I'm off to Cambodia during the last week of July.

Siew Mai Lives On!!

OK!! I've decided not to close this blog down. In fact, I've remembered what blogging was all about! Anything and everything can be blogged about can't it?? I think I just forgot how to blog because of prolonged periods on non-blogging. OK! Well. Siew Mai is back!! And with a vengence!!

I've finally uploaded my Easter holiday photos into my flicker account, which can be found here.

And! I've also FINALLY updated my Siewmanime blog!!! New drawings just awaiting your cruel/kind/adoring/flaming criticisms people!! Come and hit me!!!

I do in fact a lot a lot I want to say, now that the flame of blogging is back in me. But first hor... I want to watch some anime on youtube. So if you'll excuse me for an hour or two...

Singaporeans Speak... What?

As I told my flatmate Caitlin, yesterday I decided that Singaporean Chinese are an international conundrum. Westerners (or maybe just the people I've met in the UK.) don't expect us to speak very good English, if we speak it at all, and will always compliment us on how good our English is. Then the mainland Chinese who for one reason or another are stuck here, will automatically assume we are also mainland Chinese and start blathering to us in heavily accented Mandarin, making them barely understandable to us. When they find out that we are not mainlanders but in fact, Singaporean, they will then compliment us on how well we're doing with our command of Mandarin.

So, either way, people expect us NOT to be as good in the above said languages, either due to appearances or where we're from. So what should we have a good command of? Swahili?? Or maybe the Singapore Government should consider making Singlish an official language. I mean, one classmate of mine actually asked me if I spoke Singaporean, so... Why not?

******************************************************************

"Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety."
~ Proverbs 11:14

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray for another, that ye may be healed."
~ James 5:16

On Tuesday, I had a minor issue. And it was these 2 verses that helped me overcome. Heh. I'll talk about it more in detail soon.

Actually... Maybe...

Maybe I should shut this thing down. And the Siewmanime blog. I hardly update due to one reason or the other (mainly that I don't have direct internet access where I live), and there really isn't all that much to talk about in Aberdeen. I lead a pretty boring life here.

Plus, I've noticed that I've lost a number of readers, due to the reasons stated above. Flooble threatens to shut down my chatterbox because nobody says anything, and the comments function is now just redundant somehow. Not that I blame anyone. There isn't much to comment on even when I do say something nowadays.

So far the most exciting stuff I've put up on the blog have been my baking escapades and even then, pictures of breads can only be novel for so long. What else is there to say really? I wake up, go to school, go home, have dinner, study a bit and sleep. Occasionally there is a movie or an outing. But nothing much else. No drama, no angst... For which I think I should be thakful for. But then there's also no excitement. Nothing to ponder about or wonder about or write about.

Well... I'll think about it. Maybe I'll just keep this thing up as an archive of sorts. Heh....

Oh. I suppose I did do something exciting on Sunday. I went to a showing of Verdi's Rigoletto by the Chisinau National Opera. 'Twas very good. For those who don't know, it's where that famous Italian canzone La Donna e Mobile comes from.

Hmm.. Gtg check on other things... Will talk more on it next time I suppose, or if anyone actually cares...

What Now?

Siew Mai's To-Do List:

1) Study for exams Check: 26 May 2006
2) Finish exams Check: 26 May 2006
3) Find a room for next year Check: 28 May 2006

Yes, I have managed to find myself a place to stay next year. It's a little small, but very pleasant. The kitchen is nice and the windows are large, so there's plenty of sun. 230GBP inclusive of all bills. Pretty good, considering. But....

What the hell do I do from now until July when I leave?? I had left myself the whole month of June to look for a flat and I've already found one... It isn't even June yet....

Diao-ded (-_-")

FREEDOM!!!!!

NO MORE EXAMS!!!

Now I have to find a place to live in next year...

Can't wait to go home!!! WAAAAAIII!!!!!

(,o_o,)

Quizzy Quizzy Quiz

Bwahahha.... Sure or not...

You Are Lightning

Beautiful yet dangerous People will stop and watch you when you appear Even though you're capable of random violence You are best known for: your power Your dominant state: performing

What Type of Weather Are You?

You Are Mint Green

Balanced and calm, you have mastered the philosophy of living well. Your friends seek you out for support, and you are able to bring stability to chaotic situations. You're very open and cheerful - and you feel like you have a lot of freedom in life. Your future may hold any number of exciting things, and you're ready for all of them!

What Color Green Are You?

You Are Noon

You are upbeat, ambitious, and never at loss for energy. You have a lot that drives you in life. The desire to be the best, and a secret hope of fame and power. And while you definitely have a Type A personality, you are still fun to be around. You have a ton of charisma and a genuine interest in others. You are adored by many.

What Time Of Day Are You?

Ok. This next one I might agree with...

You Are 60% Boyish and 40% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Latest Mantra

iwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagoho
meiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannago
homeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwanna
gohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwan
nagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiw
annagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohome
iwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagoho
meiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannago
homeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwannagohomeiwanna
gohomeiwannagohome

ただいま? Soon Soon...

Yes indeed.

The Return of The SiewMai.

Coming to an airport near you this July.

I wonder if Peter Jackson thought of adding a fourth to the trilogy... :p :p :p

Quote

If I weren't a transvestite terrorist, would you marry me?
- Patrick "Kitten" Braden, Breakfast on Pluto

Heh heh... I love that movie. It's so weird.

Gah.

Exams.

Gah.

But this industrial action by the lecturers is still going on. I wonder what will happen. Don't think I will be affected though... Don't think any of my lecturers are part of the participating union. But there are quite a few departments that are being affected. Some have no papers set yet, some have pushed back the exams to August, some just have no idea what's going on.

Haaaaa.... All in the day of a life in Europe, where everybody and anybody strikes for some reason or the other...

A-R-G-H!!!!

O.
M.
F.
G.

I'm back to my previous size. FREAKING HELL!! I think it was barely a year ago that I proudly announced that I'd finally dropped a size (I shall have to check my archives...). And now I'm back in the pits of dismay. "£*%^!((£%&*%^£^ How on earth did I let this happen????

Argh... Shane will kill me when he finds out...

Ok. Starting tomorrow, I will go back to the no-carbo dinners and regular short jogs. And no more sugary stuff dammit.

EXAMS ARE COMING!

*insert Darth Vader theme here*

Exam dates are out. Mine are in a month. AAAAAH!!!!

Tuesday 23 May
EG1527 Applied Mechanics and Structures
1500-1700

Friday 26 May
EG1567 Electronics and Electrical Systems
1500-1700

Erk. I'm not so worried about Mechanics. It's the electrical part that's getting me. I can barely understand my lecturer speaking (hespearrkslahrkethirrss). Lecturers should be made to go for "How Not To Mumble" classes. And I'm hating the electronic labs at the moment. GAH! Those stupid oscilloscopes are going to be the death of me. Grrr....

On the bright side, I baked more bread today! Hmmm... One walnut, sunflower seed & current bread and another plain wholewheat bread with a hint of cinnamon. Hmmmm.... I should bake more... Baking makes me happy.

Project Rush

Just reaching the 6 hour mark right now.

My group (minus 1 slacker) have been in the tutorial room in Fraser Noble since this morning finishing up our individual parts of the project, finalising and putting them together.

I don't think I've ever had a group meeting that lasted this long in my life.

But egads. It is one of the most productive sessions ever. And I do believe that this time around, the project will actually look better than our previous group project. I think that was for some form of projectile cannon. Oh no. That was last term. The last group project we did was reverse engineering... That was a near disaster. No one knew what the other was doing and at the last minute, many things were still left undone. We still managed to finish it somehow... God's grace is all I can think of right now. But this time, things have actually been going quite smoothly. If the work had not been split up properly in the beginning and if like last time, there had been no communication at all, we'd be here since yesterday. So this is good. Because we actually breaked for a while inbetween for lunch and various other distractions. So really I think we've only spent about 4+ hours on the project so far.

Woosh! Almost there people!!

がんばって！！
加油！

信じられない！

OMG!! Such a thing actually exists!!

The price is unbelievable as well... SGD$1,400-odd... *PENG SAN*

Still... I can dream can't I?

(*_*)

AAAAHHH!!! *Trauma x2*

Trauma #1
Easter vacation is almost over!!! WWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Trauma #2
Bleach has been licensed!!! WWWWWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Let's Bake Again...!!

I must be on some kind of roll here man! Just take a look at the baby below!!

















Lemon Meringue Pie!! OMG!! It came out BEAUTIFULLY!!! I was actually aiming to just make some kind of custard flan, but it seemed like such a waste to just throw the egg whites away. So the meringue top was just kind of an experiment and LOOK at that texture!!!

















*Happy sighs of content*

Behold! BREAD!!!

How does that look to all you people? This is 100% home-baked bread by Siew Mai ok!! Wahahahaa...

UTRECHT!

I'm in UTRECHT!! Bwahaha...

And I'm paying 1.75 Euro for 30min of internet... #*%^*($@... I have only 7 min left so I'll make this quick and painless... Well.. Quick anyhow.

Went through Edinburgh and London to get here. London is as crowded as ever, and the air is filthy. I swear just after a day in London, your snot turns a fantastic grey colour.

Apparently KS was in Edinburgh just after I left! What a coincidence... She saw my signature in the Museum of Childhood guestbook..

Ok.. The thingy has just warned me that I have only 5 minutes left. So I shall end here and say more when I return to Aberdeen.

Tata for now then...

Siew Mai Can Bite Bake

Siew Mai Can Bites Bake
Originally uploaded by Veetwo Siew Mai.

Nothing to do on a slow Saturday.....?

Bake lor...

Heheheheheheheheh..

Easter Vacation Travel Itinerary

March
Sat 25 - Aberdeen to Edinburgh by bus
Sun 26 - Edinburgh to London by overnight bus
Mon 27/Tue 28 - London
Wed 29 - London to Utrecht by train and ferry! Arrive just in time for dinner...
Thurs 30/Thurs 6 April - Visit Auntie K in Utrecht!! (read: free lodging... wheee!!!)

April
Fri 7 - Back to London by train and ferry again (after lunch of course); Transfer to night bus back to Aberdeen
Sat 8 - Arrive back Aberdeen

Kaoz... I think I will collapse the moment I land back in my flat.... But it's going to be fun!!! Netherlands! Prepare for the invasion of the Siew Mai!!!

By the by, another academic update: 19/20 for my Electronics class test...

Spider-Girl Can??

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 75% Iron Man 75% Hulk 70% Supergirl 55% Superman 50% Robin 42% The Flash 40% Green Lantern 35% Batman 30% Catwoman 30% Wonder Woman 15%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

Can dun wear spandex or not ha??

Fields of White...

Fields of White...
Originally uploaded by Veetwo Siew Mai.

It's been 5 days of snow so far. It hasn't snowed since this morning so hopefully there won't be a sixth. But the amount of snow is amazing. This here was Seaton park a couple of days ago. It's been bloody freezing this last week. Today thankfully has been relatively warmer.

News is, there will definitely be a strike on Thursday. There will be a strike followed by an assesment boycott. But since only a small percentage of the lecturers here are actually members of the union that's striking, the only way we'll find out if we have classes is to show up as usual and see if our lecturers show up as well... (-_^)

Looking for...

Hmm... If somebody could tell me how to find the song "Go GO Heaven" from that 80's anime City Hunter...

Oh.. And...

So far no more news about this apparent strike... But from what I hear, if they do implement a strike, it's going to be an assessment strike. Meaning that the lecturers will just refuse to mark coursework and papers but will continue teaching as normal. This means bad news for people who are supposed to graduate in the summer.

Hmm...

Siew Mai wa Tensai nan da!!!

First I want to complain about this lack of Asian language capabilities on the school computers... I tried to d/l microsoft's own IME for Chinese and Japanese into my student drive but it wouldn't allow me... (T_T)

Now, I want to gloat.
*evil gloat*
Hohoho!! (^o^)

When it comes to most mechanical calculations and algebra, I beat the guys in my study group... Hohohoho!! (^o^)v

During my Monday tutorial for Applied Mechanics and Structures, I was probably the only one or one of two or three people who actually managed to finish the worksheet before class. And I got all the answers correct. HOHOHOHOHO!!!!

Ok... I finished gloating...

Segali my study groupmates find this... Kaoz.. sure die...

STRIKE!!!!!

Maybe.

Possibly.

Vice-principal of the university even sent out an e-mail to the university population to do some preliminary damage control.

All I can say is... O.M.G.

Finally! Some excitement...

Siew Mai Balaku

I got balaku on my head... (T_T) Had a minor disagreement with the wall...

Try and picture this all in your heads ok? The bathroom in my flat is inbetween Joanne's and my room. Now the flat's shared telephone, is on the wall between my room and the bathroom. Ok so far? Now one particular day, 2 days ago, Joanne got a call on the flat phone and took the phone into her room for more privacy. So the phone cable was now stretched across the corridor into her room, meaning that it was also stretched across the entrance to the bathroom. Are you picturing all this yet? Now I wanted to take a shower, but obviously I can't just walk through the wire. So, as all my flatmates and I do very often (i.e. everytime J has a phonecall), I bent down to go under the wire and

WHACK!!!

It took me a while to realise that I'd miscalculated where the wall was... I didn't even know I'd hit the wall until at least 5 seconds later...

So yes... I now have a balaku on the left side of my forehead... (T_T)

Exam Results!!

My exam results were released today... And here they are..

EG1006: Engineering Mathematics -- CAS 20 A
EG1007: Engineering Science -- CAS 20 A
EG1067: Engineering Communication, Design & Practice -- CAS 15 A

(*CAS : Continual Assessement Score out of 20)

(^_^)v

Not too bad huh?
Heeeee....

Another Quizzie

I realise that I have absolutely nothing to blog about nowadays... It's terrible...

Su Mei -- [noun]: A person with a sixth sense for detecting the presence of goblins 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Does this mean I can apply for a position in the Fellowship??? I'd like to have the postion of sidekick to Boromir.. Or Faramir... Or Aragon... Rrrrrrrr.. >=D

Quizzie!

Your Personality Is

Guardian (SJ) You are sensible, down to earth, and goal oriented. Bottom line, you are good at playing by the rules. You tend to be dominant - and you are a natural leader. You are interested in rules and order. Morals are important to you. A hard worker, you give your all at whatever you do. You're very serious, and people often tell you to lighten up. In love, you tend to take things carefully and slowly. At work, you are suited to almost any career - but you excel in leadership positions. With others, you tend to be polite and formal. As far as looks go, you are traditionally attractive. You take good care of yourself. On weekends, you tend to like to do organized activities. In fact, you often organize them!

The Three Question Personality Test

I agree with everything except the part about being attractive and taking care of myself...

Exchange?? To Where Sia...

Been looking up the exhange programmes that are available in the university. It's so limited, I can't believe it. It seems that they only have an exchange programme to certain universities and colleges in North America and Canada... I couldn't find any information about exchanges to Europe or other parts of Asia. I heard last year that they were about to start a programme to China and Hong Kong, but there was no information available about that in the website.

Sigh.

Belated Wishes

ARGH!

In the midst of everything I actually forgot to wish all everyone who reads this blog a "Happy Chinese New Year"...

Is ok... Not the 15th day yet... still got time... SO..

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone!!!

Arrgh.. ok.. gtg for class now... cya laterzz...

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Indeed indeed. Had homemade jiaozi at Bai Yu's place last night. Stuffed to the max. But it was good. Anyhow, some long due updates...

Well. London was fun, as you could probably tell from all my photos. There really is a lot to see. I guess in a way it was the right choice not to go to London. I would've been too distracted knowing that there was so much to do. All the same, I can't help but wonder what it would've been like.

Going to have steamboat tomorrow with my flatmates. Dunno how that's going to turn out. I haven't bought any ingredients yet. My excuse is that for steamboat the stuff has to be fresh. So I shall go out and buy the stuff after class tomorrow. I should end at 12pm. I don't think my tutorials are starting yet, considering that we haven't even had any lessons on applied mechanics or electronics. Well... Hope all will turn out well. Don't think I'm going to try anything fancy anyway. The pot I borrowed from Bai Yu is quite small, and I'm on a budget. London has already put me at least £100 over limit.

Oooooh.... Shopping! Went shopping yesterday. Yes I know... I just complained that I was over-budget. But the post-christmas sales here are really wonderful!! Yesterday I got 2 blouses at £1 each and also 2 jackets for £10!! The jackets were going as buy-one-get-one-free!! The cheapest clothes item was free so I kinda got a 100% discount on the second jacket. Isn't that exciting?? I also saw skirts going for 50p. It was madness.

Tomorrow I start classes again. It's such madness. They don't seem to have after-exam breaks in this place unless it's after the entire academic year. I was lucky this time because I only had 2 papers and they both finished within the first week of exams. I don't even know when the results are coming out.

Gah. Last night before term starts again. And I haven't done anything to commemorate it. I should... I should....

I should sleep early. Got to wake up for 10am lecture... Rrrr..

I Never Exaggerate Ok...

Ah-HA!!
Originally uploaded by Veetwo Siew Mai.

See?? What have I been telling you people about Aberdeen?? Ha!!

As it turns out.. The author Stuart MacBride is the twin brother of my flatmate's brother-in-law...

Ha??

You scored as Art. You should be an Art major! How bohemian! Art 92% Journalism 92% Linguistics 75% English 75% Dance 67% Philosophy 67% Mathematics 67% Theater 58% Engineering 58% Sociology 42% Biology 33% Chemistry 25% Psychology 17% Anthropology 8% What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3) created with QuizFarm.com

Ahhh... Hmmm... Ok... Lots of contradictory results here... But what I want to know is how the hell did I score 67% for Philosophy?!??!?!

Free!

Ok. I'm done for my share of exams of the 1st term.

Physics was actually quite good. It was easier than I expected. It helped that 2 of the long questions that came out were repeated for the last 3 years. The only thing that changed was the numbers, so I just chose to do those for my section B (had to choose 2 out of 3). Section A was all the basic stuff, so that was ok.

In other words, I think I did ok. (^_^)

Going down to London tonight!! I can't wait!! It's going to be so exciting. Of course, most of the time I'll just be following Minna around, since I've never been and have absolutely no idea of my way around. I will take lots of photos and post them on flickr. Hmm... Come to think of it... Did I ever put up my photos of Glasgow and Edinburgh?? I can't remember. But knowing me... I probably didn't. Ooops... Right will find a day to post them up.

Been wondering how to spend Chinese New Year here... Thought of having a little steamboat thingy in the flat but while I've found out where to get a steamboat/hotpot, I haven't been able to find one of those little portable electric/gas stove thingys... Plus, one of the girls is vegetarian... Hmmmm.... Maybe will just make big huge chili crab dish minus crab. I brought the Prima mix from home. Why minus crab? Well.... Despite the fact that we live right next to the North sea, seafood isn't exactly running all over the place. I'd probably have to make do with prawns and other little shellfish, which aren't that cheap. So much for maritime. Oh well... Will figure that out after I come back from London. Heeeheee.... London!!

Boohoohooo.... I still miss the anime that I burned but can never watch.... (T_T)

Current Thought Process

AAAHH!!! PHYSICS!!! AHHH!!!!

I still cannot believe that Romi Paku is the seiyuu for a number of male anime characters. How can she manipulate her voice to be so low??? (O_o) Incredible!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! PHYSICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bai Yu lent me her set of "Xuang1 Tian1 Zhi4 Zun1 III". WHAHAHHAAHAHAH!!! Singapore Chinese serial marathon after today's paper...

PHHYHHHHHYYYYSSSSSSSSSIIIIIIIICCSSSS!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHH !!!!!!!!!

London tomorrow!!! Heheheheheh!!!!

AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

*pengsan*

One Down

One more to go. Ergh.

Monday's paper was quite good. Section A was quite easy, I thought. So kind of flew through that. Section B we had to choose 3 questions to do out of 5, and even that was really quite do-able. Except that for my last question I chose the wrong question to do, so couldn't finish that one question when somehow my working become very complicated. But I suppose, not finishing 1 question out of a total of 8 isn't something to panic about.

Spent the rest of that night watching Akira and Billy Elliot. Hahaha...

Today been studying Physics. Ergh. Can't wait for Thursday's exam to be over.

Going to London with Minna on Friday!!! Woooopeeee!!!!

Sad note: I am without anime for another good 3-4 months. I tried to bring some with me but luggage was 10kg overweight when I tried to check-in. Had to leave 10kg of stuff with my parents to be brought home and the anime was among the non-essentials that had to be off-loaded... (T_T) That and milo. *sobz* No milo again....

It Dropped Off!!!

My wart, that is.

One of them anyway. The biggest one that was on my right sole. Just last night after my shower, I was about to apply the anti-septic (even though it's not really neccessary now, since the warts have more or less shrivelled up and died already due to intense cryo-freezing) when I noticed that the scab seemed to be flapping loose. I picked at it very gently (I promise!) and *pook* out it came. So I now have a rather shallow although rather wide little crater on the sole of my foot, with only tender new skin covering the flesh inside.

I hope I don't step on anything sharp in the next few weeks....

Back In The Freezer

Yes, according to the expired tickercounter, I have been back here for four days now. Just for Aronwy's info (:p) , it was there while I was in Singapore to count down to when I'd have to return... I just never took it off and now it's just continuing the count...

Exams in a about a week. I only have 2 this time around, which makes for rather less stressful cramming than I am used to. Exam schedule is as such:

Monday 16th January 1500 - 1700
EG1006: Engineering Mathematics

Thursday 19th January 1500 - 1700
EG1007: Engineering Science

Hmmm... So far have been doing practice papers, but still not feeling the stress yet... This might be a good thing or a bad thing... I haven't quite decided yet.

我的头发有没有乱...

I went for a hair-cut just now. Just to get a trim, coz my hair was getting really messy. But I also asked the hairdresser to cut the front just a bit shorter. As a result...

My long-lost fringe is back. I haven't had a proper fringe since... Secondary 1!!! Or primary 6 even...

I have a fringe...

O.
M.
G.

(O_O);

Siew Mai Bai Kah Liao...

Haiz. Why is it that I always seem to have some physical pain/abnormality happening within the last few months. I think it started with the abcess, which was followed by the sprained ankle, then finding out that I've got a slow heart-rate, then dengue (have I forgotten anything??)... All happened in less than a year's time.

Now I have warts on my feet. I just went to have them frozen yesterday and now I can barely walk. Where did I get them from? No. Not Aberdeen. I got them way before that actually, just that they were really small then so I didn't think too much of them. They got bigger after I left and more painful. So almost immediately after I landed, went to get an appointment with one of my mum's friends. So yesterday, he shot them with his cryo-gun. BZZZZ!! Frozen warts. Very painful. (T_T)

Monkey ah, Monkey... HOW??? I wanna go for WWW!!! I haven't seen the TLG for SOOOOO LONG!!! (T_T) sobz... But I can't WALK!! Somebody send me a magic carpet....

Incredible Tales 2: The Suitor

Wahaha.

First - Refresh your memories with this post: My Eyes Hurt

Now, let me tell you what that was all about. Jemalelinh and I had actually been shooting an episode for Channel 5's Incredible Tales 2. It was for the last episode.

That stupid night where they made us stay until some ungodly hour was the night we were shooting in some cemetery.

Anyways, my dad recorded the episode for me (it aired in October) and I watched it last night. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard for such a long time. Ok, so it was supposed to be a scary tale, but so what?? It was just hilarious!!! *snorts*

ただいま。

I'm back.

Nightmare

Had a nightmare last night. I've had nightmares before of course, but usually I'd just wake up from them, be fuzzily puzzled, yawn and go back to sleep. This time, I was actually so freaked out that I didn't dare go back to sleep.

I quickly switched on my lights and just sat in my bed, trying hard not to fall asleep. In the end I ended up messaging a friend for about an hour before I was finally convinced to try going to sleep again. I did sleep, though it was far from easy. And I woke up just feeling dead.

I'm thankful that my friend was there for me, despite his own problems. But still I wonder about that horrid dream. I still remember it, and in the day with a somewhat clearer head, it seems silly to have been so scared. But it was chilling, to say the least.

Beyond The Grey

Aberdeen Evening 2
Originally uploaded by Veetwo Siew Mai.

I guess the city isn't all grey after all...

Happy Little Wonders

I've been playing with the idea of getting a Pro Flickr account. 20MB is just not enough for all my photos. But then, it is good in some ways because then I really pick and choose which photos I should display. I don't like how I only get to create 3 sets as a normal user though... Sigh.

It is freezing outside. Although today's weather was relatively pleasant, in the non-rainy sense. Took a walk down to the beach with Caitlin and took some very pretty pictures. Unfortunately I ran out of space on Flickr before I could upload them. Will upload as soon as it's December though, which isn't too far off. Maybe I'll put one here first.

















Tada!! Isn't the sea just BEAUTIFUL?? I love it. All those pinky clouds... *happy sigh* Sometimes it's nice to take a walk down to the beach when things get too grey in Aberdeen (metaphorically, AND literally. They don't call this place the Grey City for nothing.)

There was actually a small rainbow on the horizon, but it didn't show up on the photo. No matter. It's pretty anyhow.

I found a little Chinese supermarket!! Bai Yu (my classmate) introduced it to me. It is WONDERFUL!!! They even had Lee Kum Kee sauces!! Can you imagine???

I'm in heaven.

The "Autumn Tree"

Summer Ending
Originally uploaded by Veetwo Siew Mai.

This is the tree outside my flat. I've been following how it changes with the the weather. This is how it looked just about two weeks after I moved in.. For some reason, my flatmates and I started calling it the "Autumn Tree". I suppose because autumn was setting in and the tree kind of kept time for us by the change in leaf colours. We should rename it the "Tree of Seasons" or something like that since it's technically not autumn anymore. There's more of the tree and its different "costumes" on my flickr album, so.. You know the drill.. Hehehe....

3 Weeks & Counting

3 Weeks!! 3 Weeks and I'm GOING HOME!!!

Maybe I won't want to come back to Aberdeen after that. Oh dear. Hmm...

Question: When a person suddenly seems to do a 360 on you... Practically overnight... What does that mean? Is it a revelation of that person's true character or is it just that you've never actually paid attention to it in the first place?

Snow Snow Snow

It starting snowing this afternoon. Was kind of like those torrential rains we get back in Singapore around now, except with snow instead of rain. It is still snowing. I don't think it's going to stop for the next couple of days. It is quite exciting, but also horribly horribly cold. Will take a picture and post it up here soon.

Come to think of it, I haven't update my flickr album for a while. Right. That shall happen soon as well.

As soon as I get this horrible Physics lab report out.

The Snow Is Coming

There is frost all over the place now. Practically everyday, I will see frost on the lawns, frost on the bushes, puddles of ICE on the road... It won't be long before it starts snowing now. I'm kind of excited about actually seeing real snow for the first time... But I'm also not exactly relishing the thought of below zero weather. I want sun. There is practically no sun around here nowadays. Brrrrr.......

Kena Bombed!!

Finished my computing lab early. Wahahaha... Sadly (or quite happily) they haven't released the results of the Science test yet. I dread to think what my results will be. Monkey... I may have failed you all in the Science & Physics department...

Went for a run down to the beach again yesterday and it was BLOODY COLD!!! Dammit... I swear I saw some stray snowflakes amongst the rain yesterday. Then today for some reason, was absolutely lethargic. Hmm... Kind of in a can't be bothered way rather than a physically tired way. Dunno what's wrong with me. But at least I managed to finish my lab in 1 1/2 hrs (the whole lab period is 3hours. zzz...) Then as I was strolling back to my room in a rather aimless kind of way, I found at my door...

A Bomb.

Hahaha.... A package lah... From... a good friend. (^_^) I was actually expecting only to receive it when I went home for the Christmas vacation and had the whole meet up with friends thing. But here was a nice package filled with some of my favourite shows and one new one. All the way from Singapore. And the postage for the package wasn't exactly cheap either.

I haven't had the chance to watch any of them yet (seeing as how I don't have a dvd reader on my lau laptop), but I'm all warm inside. Although the cold outside is definitely on a winning streak. Heh.

In any case... Thank you.

(T_T)

*SOB*

Yesterday's Engineering Science test was a disaster... I am SOOOOOO going to flunk this test. *sob*

4 WEEKS!!!

4 weeks and I'm going home!!!!

I can't wait.. Really getting quite excited about it. Can't wait to get home and see everybody!!! And then of course there is all the food.. *drool*

What's been happening? Not much.. Nothing much ever happens in Aberdeen. It's grey, it's cold, it's wet. Although I did go down to Loch Ness with two of my flatmates over the weekend. That was fun. Didn't see Nessie though. Probably wasn't willing to come out in the rain and cold. Yup, that's right... We trekked around Inverness and Loch Ness in cold incesscent rain. Brrrr.... It'll be snowing in December... And they say January is going to be really bad... Sob... I want warm sun....

Argh.. Ok... Better stop blogging... I only came online to update my AVG anti-virus... Got another class test in a little less than 2 hours time. Physics... Ergh... Got full marks on my Math test last week though, which is a matter for gloating. Wahahah... But Physics... Ergh....

Eeeerrrrgggghhh.....

Haiz... I miss everyone...

Do Di Do Di Doooo....

Towards the end of design lab... ladida... listening to class presentations... Can't believe I have to go through another 4 years of this... As if the presentations in NUS weren't bad enough... I still feel so old sitting around with these kids though... Haiz... 老了老了。。。

5 weeks more!! Can't wait to go home...

Right... Shall attempt to pay attention to the rest of the presentations... Ergh...

Zzzz...

We turned back the clocks on Sunday. Now we're 8 hours behind Singapore... It was nice to have gained an extra hour. But it didn't last very long, once you adjust to the new timing, it's more or less the same.

Been getting up late these two days. Have had to rush to my lectures even though they are only about 2-5 minutes away from my flat. Also haven't been very productive on the work side this week. Wonder what's up with me. Been feeling extra lethargic and uninspired. Maybe the weather is getting me down. I should go for a nice jog down to the beach....

Now if only it will stop raining....

Found On Mrs Budak's Blog

Found an interesting article on Mrs Budak's blog. It was written by a retired Japanese lecturer who is christian, and who happens to be the son of a former officer of the Imperial Army.

This is an excerpt from the article, where he starts to compare the actions of wartime Germany and the reactions of post-war Germany to the actions and reactions of Japan and post-war Japan. This is a comparision that many people have made with regards to why Japan should or should not be forgiven.

In his famous speech to the German Parliament on the 40th anniversary of Germany's defeat on May 8, 1945, the then Federal President, Mr Richard von Weizsacker, said: "Most of our German citizens today were either children or not yet born during the war.They cannot confess sins they did not commit personally. Nobody with an ordinary human sensibility could expect you to wear tattered sackcloth and sit in ashes just because you happen to be German."

For the whole article, please visit this entry on Mrs Budak's blog.

Sick

The Siew Mai is sick in Aberdeen.

It has contracted a cold...

Sniff sniff...

The Days Crawl By

Suddenly I'm hit by a bout of homesickness and I now miss everyone at home. Friends, family, things, places...

Things are fine here. I've established a small social circle which consists of mainly my flatmates and the one Chinese girl in my cohort. I'm more or less used to the pace of life here already, though I guess there wasn't much to get used to in the first place. Everything closes at 5.30pm around here, or 7pm if you're lucky. Then everyone just troops off to the nearest pub. That's about the lifestyle here, in summary. There really isn't nothing much else to do in Aberdeen. It's really very small. I do jog down to the beach every weekend, but that's about the most exciting thing I do nowadays. Which is good in some ways, I don't have anything better to do except concentrate on my studies. But it does get monotonous. And it's times like this that I begin to feel a little sad that I don't have my friends in close reach.

I never thought I'd see the day when I actually pray and hope to receive snail mail in the mornings then get sad that I didn't get any, but hey... I suppose there's a first for everything.

Mmmm... Food

Almost There
Originally uploaded by Veetwo Siew Mai.

Looks good? Click on the picture for more Elphinstone Stories...

I Have A Confession...

I went and bought a chinese drama serial online. It cost about SGD$50...

*shamed look*

Please don't scold me... I know I should be watching my purse strings... But I'm getting deseperate... (T_T) Please let me do this....

Inbetween Math and Science...

Is my free period on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Wahaha... Which is why I am actually able to come to the computer classroom and catch up on my internet-ing.

I am amazed at the amount of news that has accumulated since I came here. Today was the first day that I actually logged on to Channelnewsasia.com. Lo and behold, there is news on one of my favourite countries in the world, Japan! Yet once again, it seems to be about how the rest of the world cannot wait to criticise her. Koizumi has gone off on another pilgrimage to the Yasukuni Shrine and everyone else in East Asia is making a big hoo-ha about it. Even BY (the China girl I befriended in my class) is upset about it. Not to say that I don't understand China's viewpoint about the whole matter, but I do see Japan's POV as well. I shall not elaborate on that just now (as I'm running out of time and it shall be time for my next class soon) but I would like to add-on (rather than correct, though I am tempted to use the word) to one of the articles posted by CNA about the matter. The article says that the shrine honours Class A War Criminals. One single sentence-paragraph, making it sound as though the shrine holds ONLY the mentioned war criminals. This is very misleading, in my opinion. The shrine is home to many other war heroes of Japan who came centuries before the WWII generals and soldiers. It is an unfortunate thing that these generals, now classified as some of the worlds greatest evils, are housed together in a shrine that holds the remains of greater ancient heroes, who acutally deserve the honour and praise that come during the annual pilgrimages.

One should also remember, that the WWII generals, however evil we may perceive them to be, truly believed that they were performing great deeds of service in the name of their Emperor, their living god, according to their local beliefs.

I am not saying that I would condone any of their actions during the War, or that I agree with their beliefs. I am just saying, that perhaps, there should be a little more understanding in the world, and a little more give and take.

Or maybe, I'm just being too idealistic.

Homesick

I want to go home.

People here are stupid.

The only nice people I've met so far are my flatmates and not one of them is a local, Scottish or from the UK (Dublin is Southern Ireland and Southern Ireland is NOT part of the UK so Jo is not from the UK).

The one normal person I've made friends with in the department is a girl from China, also a mature undergraduate.

The one mature undergraduate who was a local from the Aberdeenshire who is 5yrs older than me whom I thought had more sense than the 17yr old brats here has apparently joined the harem of brats and I no longer hold any respect for him.

The only other nice people I've met in the department are my professors.

I want to go home.

Now About That Weird Guy...

Harbour/Port
Originally uploaded by Veetwo Siew Mai.

More Aberdeen photos from before I actually started classes. I finally figured out why I've been using up my upload quota so fast... My camera's been set to take photos of M1 size... Maybe I should consider changing the setting to M2.

This here's the port near the Shiprow area. Really quite an impressive sight by itself. The smells are pretty impressive too...

Ooooh... Yes... Must update you guys in detail about the weird guy who lives downstairs. There are no words to describe the ABSOLUTE FREAKYNESS of this person. My flatmates and I are all convinced that he is some kind of psycho-killer in the making. He claims to be 21 years old but he looks like he's 35 and dresses like he's 50. I mean, who wears laced dress shoes on a regular, daily basis??? It is almost impossible to keep up a conversation with him (believe me, we've all tried) and the way he just STARES at you just makes your skin crawl. The most recent display of his extreme creepiness was when Jo (one of my flatmates) and I were walking home from the movies (I finally got to watch Howl's Moving Castle!!!) and we were just minutes away from our front door when we heard someone walking behind us. Jo looked around and when she saw it was him she quickly turned back and started walking faster. But this human abnomality, instead of calling out to us first, comes running up to us and starts walking alongside us and just keeps staring at us without saying a single word, until we said hi first. HE IS PSYCHOTIC I TELL YOU!!! A normal fellow would have called out to us first, just to reassure us that it's safe to turn around and stop to talk. But this guy...... ERrrgh!! *shiver* He's scary....

Somebody save us!! Please!!!

Short Post

Yes. Inbetween classes now so this will be a fairly short post.

Have more or less settled into the pace of life here. Classes are a great puzzle to me. I seem to understand everything that goes on during the lectures but come tutorials, I get absolutely lost. The plus side is that the lecturers all seem very friendly.

There is a weird guy in my flat!!! Will update more later. Going off for class!!

Meet The New Fellow In My Life

Everybody...

Meet Winky. The hottest new guy in my flat. And he wears a kilt... Mmmm...

Me and Winky in my room. I'm actually wearing a University of Aberdeen jumper but you can't quite see the words coz Winky is there...

Right... I think they'll soon be chasing me out of the computer room here in Fraser Noble (my department's home building) so I'd better scoot.

Looking forward to everybody's comments and e-mails!!! *BIG HINT!!!*

My Room

The Rest of My Room
Originally uploaded by Veetwo Siew Mai.

See anything wrong with it yet? I actually had to write down complaints on my inventory list...

More here!!

The rest of the photos will have to wait until next month. I've used up my upload quota for September... (T_T)

More Third-World-isms

Hmph. Just got reprimanded for having my laptop cable lying on the floor. At least it was flat on the ground and not raised at some level that could potentially trip and kill people who walk past. Just another example of what Ed would call "Reasons Why UK is a Third-World Country"...

There are hotspots around the library. And there are also tables, and there are also walls with power sockets. BUT!!! The tables are not right next to the power sockets!!! So obviously, if you have to charge your laptops, your cable is going to have to creep across the floor a little bit. While it's not right beside the tables, it's still quite near, so your cable can actually lie flat on the floor without being a danger to people. BUT!!! There is then a sign right above the power sockets that says that personal computers/laptops can be connected to the power sockets as "ONLY IF CABLES TO NOT CROSS THE PASSAGEWAYS". Except there is no possible way to charge your laptop without your cables crossing about 1 meter of the floor.

...

Tell me how like that?? I stick my cables onto the ceiling instead issit??

Flat E & D

Flat E & D
Originally uploaded by Veetwo Siew Mai.

Meet the residents of flats 3D & 3E.

From left: Joanne, Caitlin, Joanne's Teddy Bear Ellie (short for Elphinstone), Minna, Fran & Suzanne

One Big Long Summary of Updates

No. I'm not off getting wasted in Scottish pubs. And no, I haven't found any cute Scottish guys in kilts. No wait... I have!!! In fact he's in my room right now. I just haven't taken a photo of him yet.

Anyway, let me give a quick update on what happened since I arrived here 2 weeks ago.

As soon as I arrived in Aberdeen with my dad, we almost immediately went down to the University to see how many administrative things we could get done. I managed to pay for my entire year's rent, apply for a bank account and find the students' accomodation office all within the same day. We even had time to have a walk around the university and then a short walk into town. After that, since there was really nothing I could do with the university until I moved in and met my advisor, we just made multiple trips down into town and down to the beach. Then on Saturday (I landed on Wednesday, 14th September) we made a trip up the coastal road in an attempt to reach Macduff since there was supposed to be a really good aquarium there. On the way we (or rather my dad) got side-tracked by a malt whisky distillery that allowed free tours of the distillery and its production areas. We even got treated to free whisky! Well... I thought it was vile but my dad seemed to like it.

On Monday I officially moved into my new room. After saying goodbye to my dad for the night, I just never felt SOOO miserable in my whole life. I almost completely broke down after I sent him off, even though he wasn't leaving for Singapore until the next evening. So the next day, even though it was a tight fit as I had to meet my advisor at 2pm, I made sure I had lunch with my dad before he got on that plane.

After that, I was horribly homesick for about a week as I went about with my flatmates around the various Freshmen activities that were going on. I never actually found the Singapore Society so I joined the Malaysian Society instead. And the International Students’ Fair was just plain boring, so I didn’t quite bother about the International Society.

Then over the weekend, I went down to Glasgow by train with one of my flatmates, Suzanne, who’s actually been to Singapore!! Lots of people here still think that Singaporeans don’t speak English. *roll eyes*

Oh. And I never actually got to meet my advisor until yesterday, during the engineering department’s Induction games, which is basically just like an orientation day camp. It lasted until today, for which I am very grateful. For once I can’t wait to start classes. That first “meeting” turned out to just be an introductory talk by the department. Zzz…

Anyway. This post will be followed up by some photos. Managed to upload quite a few, but not all. My quota in Flickr is running out. So I think about 50% of my photos will have to wait until October.

Miss everybody lots. Please please PLEASE e-mail lots, and comment lots. I may not actually be able to blog so often anymore as my apartment doesn’t have internet access. If I want to use my laptop’s wireless, I need to walk down to the school library which is probably only 5 minutes away, but I don’t fancy walking through the freezing cold every night just to use the internet for an hour or so. Once in 2 days to stay here for a few hours is still ok…

Siew Mai Lives!!

More to come... Or you can just go over to Flickr and see some that I've already uploaded. It's not everything though.

Miss everybody lots.

Last Minute Packing Part 3

My mother vacuum-packed my clothes... (-_-)"' Although I have to admit that it works. Everything fits nicely into my suitcase. Now trying to fit all my laptop/camera/phone cables & application installation cds into my carry-on pack, which will also be holding:
- my laptop
- a change of clothes in case something happens to my luggage.
- book(s) to read
- my electronic dictionary
- 1x woolie sweater
- travel OralB set (14 hrs in the air... must have fresh breath in case meet handsome-until-can-die guy)
- mp3 player
- small face towel

Dammit. My travel sewing kit has no needles and needs black thread.

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I will forget something important. You can count on it.

Eff eff eff...

Omae ga Utsukushii

好きだ。本当に好きだ。でも私は何も言ったなかった、だから君がまだわからない。でもそれならもいい。わたしすぐに発つだから、もいい。しあわせである、ね...

You're Beautiful
James Blunt
Back to Bedlam

My life is brilliant
My love is pure
I saw an angel
Of that I'm sure
She smiled at me on the subway
She was with another man
But I won't lose no sleep all night
Coz I've got a plan

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You're beautiful, it's true
I saw your face
In a crowded place
And I don't know what to do
Coz I'll never be with you

Yeah, She caught my eye
As I walked on by
She could see from my face
That I was fucking high
And I don't think that I'll see her again
But we shared a moment that will last 'til the end

There must be an angel
With a smile on her face
When she thought up that I should be with you
But it's time to face the truth.

I will never be with you.

Last Minute Packing Part 2

Started putting stuff into the suitcase. It's crazy, I put in 2 sweaters and 1 old winter coat and it looks like almost half the space is gone already. Either I'm a lousy packer or I'm going to need a bigger suitcase.

Went to Centrepoint with the folks just now to see if any inspiration struck. Found a very nice 2-piece jacket from Timberland that had a removable fleece lining. SUPER NICE CAN!!! But $399... Damn ex. Anyway *very grudgingly* I guess I already have an old coat to start with and I will have other coats to look at in Scotland... *grumble* Ooooh... And also found very very VERY nice boots in Timberland also... One-inch tall, broad heeled boots. Sibeh chio leh!! *GUSH!!!* Haiz... But again... I suppose I can find them in Scotland also... SIGH.

Anyhow, as I was packing (taking a break to blog. Hee hee), I realized that I've forgotten that I need to get socks!!! Dammit... How the heck do you forget about socks??? Siew Mai's brain must be steamed to nothingness liao... It's this slight cold I caught I tell you. Nasal congestion and sore throat for a week already. Erk. But it's OK! I'm going shopping with Nekoweenie tomorrow afternoon. Well, later this afternoon actually, since it's technically Sunday already. Will make good use of the Isetan vouchers. Hohoho!!! Anyone want to join us??

The Rain Came Down

空から落ちて来るのは...

あれは雨ではなくて。

[Ending lines from "Broken Wings" by Tane - Trinity Blood Ending Theme]

Last Minute Packing Part 1

Talk about last minute. I'm going to be flying in about 4 days and I'm still slowly spring cleaning my room. Tell you on Monday I'll be doing very last minute packing and Tuesday afternoon will see ultimate last minute packing.

I've bought new underwear!! Wahahaha... I must be mad to announce it to the whole wide world. But some of it is quite cute. If this blog weren't a G-rated blog I'd post a photo here. (^_^) And no, they are not Hello Kitty thongs. Hello Kitty is evil.

Anyway, remember this checklist?

I have most of the Essential Must Brings already, except:
1) Pocket Bible
2) Walk-about shoes
3) Personal medicine stash

Ok well the medicine is all over the house, I just haven't put a small box together for myself yet.

So I'm basically all set I think. My documents are in order, tickets are printed out, got some warm clothes to start with, got the Lonely Planet guide, and even have a suitcase ready. Am I missing anything??

Hmm.. Ok people, I have four $10 Isetan vouchers left (used one on a pair of sweat pants. I love shopping!! Hohoho!) . What else do I need to get??

Siew Mai Flickrs!

In preparation of all the photos I will be taking in Scotland, I have set up a Flickr account! Apparently I've got sort of a default account already because I've got a Yahoo! account. So cool hor!! Hahaha...

Anyway here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/veetwo_siewmai/

And here are the photos for SSS: http://www.flickr.com/photos/veetwo_siewmai/sets/896138/

Sorry that there aren't more photos of the gang, I wanted to take the group photo too but I hadn't figured out how to set the camera to the self-timer mode...

Oh. And have I mentioned that I have a new camera? Well, I have a new camera. Lalala!

Reply to Mrs Budak

What can I say but "Thank you."

Part of me still cannot believe that I'm leaving. Part is raring to go off on this brand new adventure. And yet another part can't bear to part with the comforts and loves right here...

The depression and denial I went through one year ago is still a fresh memory. With that in mind and with the support I realize I have back home, I will take care. (^_^) I'll be ok.

Thank you.

SSS Post-Mortem

Lalala... This post is two days late. Hehe...

ONCE AGAIN!!! The Triple Letter Gang surfaced to wreck havoc on the stomachs and cholesterol levels of unsuspecting siew mais. And I do believe that this round was PARTICULARLY sinful. I mean... Main dishes aside, the two very rich cakes were enough to give us all cardiac infarcts. That and the ridiculous albeit very amusing discussion on toilet behaviour, the finer points on pimple squeezing and farting, which Budak was all too glad to demonstrate. A lot. Much to the chagrin of Mrs Budak and Monkey (who got the bulk of the "shooting").
Sadly, Ash couldn't join us due to work. (T_T) But I'm sure the "scenery" made up for the loss of good food. Heh heh. And of course, a certain Phoenich had ISSUES... :p Resulting in his absence as well.

Well, if you guys had come, this is what you'd still be digesting:

SSS Roll-Call


1)算盘子 Yam abacus balls - Joelle (I don't know why but now I will think of lacy underwear and crabs when I think of you. Imagine crabs wearing lacy underwear... (O_o) )
2)Various fried tidbits - Monkey
3)Otak - Monkey
4)Carrot basmati rice - Siew Mai
5)Babi sio - Siew mai (peranankan host must have pork dish. haha)
6)Nutella cake - Mrs Budak
7)Fruit crumble - Mrs Budak
8)Strawberry cheesecake - Laurence (sam sui women... *snigger*)
9)Wine - Joelle & Monkey LHam (sorry Ham!! siew mai blur)
10) One bar of chocolate - LHam (eh... forgot to take it out.)
11) 2 salads - Siew Mai's mum

It was a lot! Although I think less than usual. On the other hand, we had more desserts than usual. Homemade nutella cake and Mezza9 cheescake. *pengsan*

[3pm: must showcase Mrs Budak's fruit crumble. She say never take picture... See more of her nutella cake *drools at the memory*...]

Scrumptious Siewmai Suppering

Update 10.29pm:

SSS-ed!!

More Updates to Come. Hehe.. I know I've been a lazy blogger.. (T_T)

**********************************************************************************

At the pleadings of a certain furry mammal, SSS shall be pushed back one day.

Date: 4 September 2005
Time: 5pm 1pm
Area: Sin Ming (obviously I'm not going to post my precise address on the WWW am I?? Perverts.)
Dinner Category: Oh, the usual potluck. Lemme know what you'll be bringing.
SM's Menu: Carrot Basmati Rice and Babi Sio or Babi Tempra. Plus a salad of course. (^_^)v

*Fake lucky-draw-host accent* Do a comment or e-mail RSVP and you will receive ONE directions to Veetwo Siew Mai's place!!

Yee-yah. Anyway, let me know if you're coming and what you're bringing and you'll be put onto the guest list below:

Dim Sums/Animals/People Coming:
1) Monkey!! (Something Columbian... such prompt reply!)
2) Phoenich (threatens to bring pizza)
3) Strawberry Cheescake (Teutoburg)
4) Mr & Mrs Budak (Wine + ...)

Expected to Come (or else. wahahahaha!):
1) Joelle
2) Ash
3) Nekoweenie
4) Aronwy
5) Jemalelinh (got a wedding to attend.. (T_T) )

Mizuno Siew Mai!!

I've signed up for the Mizuno Run!! Wahaha!! 10km here I come!!! Training starts now!! Even though I only signed up for the Fun Run category... My mum signed on for the women's open. Siao. And... *ahem* Since I signed on for the run, and seeing how I've been needing new sports shoes for a while *proud smug look*... Heheheh... I have bought myself a pair of Mizuno shoes!! 40% discount!! Wahahaha... Now I am all equipped to run 10km. (^_^)(^_^)(^_^)

It's easy enough to finish 10km in 2hrs by brisk walking... So the aim shall be to finish in 1hr 30min. *superhero pose* YOSHA!! Siew Mai Banzai!!

Checklist

Cheap thrill of the day: I just realized that my nicknames combined, Veetwo Siew Mai, and my real name share the same initials: VSM. How cool is that?? Whahaha. Ok cheap thrill over.

These couple of days I've been thinking and thinking of what I should be packing into my 23kg for Scotland. So I've written out a list of things I can think off besides the obvious clothes, underwear and toiletries. This is a list of the extra stuff and it's split into 3 parts: Essential Must Brings, Non-Essential But Still Brings & Would Like To Brings (although most probably I won't).

Siew Mai's Checklist

Essential Must Brings:
Bible (shall go and scout for a small pocket one)
1 winter jacket (got an old grungy one I took to China and South Africa)
Woolen cap + scarf (got new ones liao. (^_^)v hee…)
Laptop (old dinosaur though it is, it is still functional)
Handphone + charger
Digital camera (Dad is going to buy me one!! Whee!!)
Travel alarm clock
Extra pair of shoes to walk around in
Small hand torch
Small personal stash of medicine (panadol, clarinase, nasal spray, etc)

Non-Essential But Still Brings:
MP3 Player (if my mother buys a new one, I will inherit her old Creative which is still way better than my Samsung Yepp which is now falling apart at the seams. *cross fingers*)
Discman
Sketch book
Books to read (Trinity Blood novels + Leather-clad woman on cover book)
Electronic dictionary + travel Japanese-English dictionary (otherwise how to read my ToriBla, you tell me?)
Drawing pencils
Bits of accessories (earrings mainly)
1 or 2 small carry bags/purses

Would Like To Brings:
Photo Albums
Anime (NO NO NO!! Focus Siew Mai, FOCUS!!)
My scanner
My speakers (but obviously, this is not going to happen. (T_T) So sad.)
1-person rice-cooker or crock pot
Oil burner (it’s shaped like a teapot and stove! Very cute!)

And of course, Nekoweenie mentioned I should bring make-up... But I'm still debating whether or not I really need to bring any over. I hardly wear make-up in Singapore as it is...

It's not a complete list, I'll probably add and erase stuff as I go along. Suggestions and tips are most welcome of course, especially from those of you who've been overseas studying before.

Flight Confirmed

First must report on my treadmill achievements! (^_^) Did a full hour today!! Yay!! Only breaked for about 5 seconds after 15 min to change treadmills coz the headphone console thingy on the first one was a bit wonky. Have no idea what my average speed is. Was too whooped after the whole thing to notice the scrolling numbers on the LCD display. Top speed was 9km/h though, the jogging/running started at 7.5km/h and lasted for about 45min (yes, i take 15min to warm-up... :p). So I'm guessing total average speed is about 7km/h? Yay!! So happy. Legs all tingly and threatening to give way after that.

Mum is suggesting I join her at the Mizuno run for the 10km route. Wondering whether or not I should give it a try. Actually I'm more interested in the 40% discount off shoe purchases after you register but then I'd actually have to do the run. (T_T)

Anyhow, after my dad and I ok-ed the proposed dates, it is now confirmed that I will be flying 13 September, Tuesday. Suddenly seems so fast hor... My goodness. I'm really going over!!!

13hr 30min flight time to London, followed by another 1hr 30min to Aberdeen. (O_O)'" My joints will lock and freeze...

Siew Mai Play Water

Wheeee!!! So long never swim liao!! So fun!!!

Went to the NUS pool to go swimming with Monkey, who attempted to go one further than her other zen monkey cousins. The result was a lot of talking between every 2 laps of the small pool. Wanted to swim in the big pool but it was being hogged by all these poser jocks with bad tans and thinktheylookdamnhotbutactuallydamnugly faces. Don't these people have lectures to go for or tutorials to bid for?? So free ahr... Ok lah, some of the bodies were worth looking at. But most of them were just... Ew. Especially those in silver swimming trunks. EEYER!! *pui*

After treating the YIH canteen to the rare sight of one monkey and one dim sum wolfing down cooked potential-chick and briyani-ed dead bird, the monkey went off to an interview whilst I went off to the bank to get a new passbook and apply for a debit card.

For some reason, the supplementary card my dad is applying for me is taking forever to process. Just last week I had to re-submit some form for the card. So in case this card doesn't come through, I will be getting a POSB debit card. I've been avoiding this for the simple reason that it's one more temptation for easy-spending. (T_T) 忍，烧麦，忍！

Things Are Speeding Up!!

Hehehe... My legs are tingling. (^_^) So proud of myself. Even though only walked/jogged/ran for slightly less than usual (40 minutes only today), I did manage to push my average speed up to 7.1km/h with a top speed of 9.5km/h. *satisfied look* So proud of myself!! And did 3 sets each of leg presses and hamstring curls. Want to to do quart extensions but 1)the machines were all taken and 2)I had to rush off to the UK Visa Application Centre to collect my passport. They only allow you to collect between 4pm to 5pm. Damn weird lah.

In any case, I got my entry clearance!! Hee hee!!! So cool!!! Ok cheap thrill. But it's so exciting!!! Heheheheh!!! Now I just have to nail down that travel agent... He's supposed to have come back from leave on Friday.. Hmph.
[8.44pm Update]
My mum just forwarded me a tentative itinerary from the travel agent. Tentative date to leave is 13th September. Once things are confirmed, I'll post again for anyone who may be interested.

Good Times, Good Friends (^_^)

I just had to put this in a separate post. To put yesterday's August MMM & today's outing together in the same post would make either one seem less significant somehow. And they were both very important to me in their own special way. So they both deserve a separate post. My weekend has been made, thanks to the Triple-Letter Event gang and a very good friend. :)

Today was spent hanging out at Cineleisure with Phoenich (who STILL hasn't updated his blog. Tsk) who paid for my lunch (soft shell crab & prawns) from Cafe Cartel. Thank you! (^_^) And he even had a very sweet surprise. What I thought was a new handphone for himself (although I didn't tell him that. Wahahaha) was actually a matching winter cap & scarf set for me to take to Scotland. I think the waitress thought he was proposing or something though. Bwahahaha... She looked embarrassed at having to interrupt just to tell Phoenich that they'd run out of rodeo ribs. *snigger* But it was very sweet. Thank you Phoenich. (^_^)

After a rather fishy lunch [tip to everyone in general: just go with the red meat.], we went up to watch 七剑 Seven Swords. It was quite an enjoyable show, although I didn't quite get the ending. I guess it's one of those wuxia movies which leave space for future directors/scriptwriters to pick up where it left. And I can't decide if the kids were reciting a poem with all the swords' names inside. Didn't quite catch the words. Ah well, who cares about the kids when there's 甄子丹 Donnie Yen!!! *swoon* So cool!! Oh the swords were quite cool too. Of all the swords I liked 天瀑剑 the Heaven's Fall sword best. (^_^)v Donnie!!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to find, then navigate the children's section of Kinokuniya; trying to send each other off by MRT even though we were both actually just going to take a straight bus back to our respective homes, and walking one big pointless round through Orchard MRT to the Orchard Boulevard exit when we could've just walked right through Popular.

How to say this without sounding mushy (I've actually backspaced this line countless times already)... Phoenich, you'll be one of those friends I'll miss tonnes, even though you never knew my real name until months after we first met and that was AFTER Guowei had to tell you. :p Ok enough mush. *shiver shiver cringe cringe*

Good food, good time spent doing ultimately meaningless things and good company. What more could a siew mai ask for.

Well. Ok. The food was a bit suspect but hey! Two out of three ain't bad.

Another Successful MMM

And may I add, extremely filling. I'm still feeling the effects of it since yesterday actually. Fwoooh.

As usual, the polite dinner conversation just disintegrated into a lot of talk about sex, pron and big... assets. And since this time round we had some guests from the other side of the globe - Andrew from US and Roger from Holland - the Monkey even treated us to an online flash animation of international "comings". Andrew seemed rather embarrassed by all the sex talk, though I can't imagine why. :p His Dutch friend though was just unfazed by it all.

It was 5 hours of wholesome great fun, companionship, laughter and too much good food which passed by all too quickly. And who could forget the lessons in Singlish 101. ("KSM NB KNN!!!")

Apologies are in line though, as I totally forgot about the onesingaporeminute item that all the guests were supposed to bring. Even the Budaks brought Mr. Budak's duck. In the end, we never took the OSM photos as many of us forgot. Truly sorry for spoiling your plans Monkey. (T_T) How can this poor dim sum make it up to you...

Also as usual, I cannot post any photos as the siew mai does not own a digital camera. *hint hint to anyone in general* So here is my monthly report on the menu:

August MMM Food Roll Call
1) Beef, seafood & vegetable kebabs - Monkey
2) Homous - Monkey
3) Mini chicken pies - Ash
4) Not-so-lumpy potato salad - Joelle
5) Fried sausages - Siew Mai
6) Spiced cous cous disguised under.. Stuff - Siew Mai
7) Vegetarian soba - Mr & Mrs Budak
8) Wines - The Budaks & LHam (who brought "the best chateau in France!!" according to Roger)
9) Evil poison Hagen Daaz ice cream cake - Laurence
10) More evil poison NYDC brownies - Andrew & Roger

(O_O)"' I still cannot believe that we practically wiped out the whole spread, except for half of the cake and half the potato salad. My conscience is killing me after all that. I have to confess.

Forgive me Treadmill, for I have sinned....

Next up: SSS. Who's coming? (^_^)v

Ignore This Gripe

A couple of LJ-using friends have been trying convince me to switch over. The main draw being the user's ability to make certain entries private and accessible only to the user's friend list. Never really saw the point of it really. Don't want anyone to read your blog? Make like Monkey and remove RSS capabilities or if, like me, you're technologically-challenged, just don't blog about it! Private story-telling is what handphones and relay chat applications were invented for. But after reading a certain recent entry, I began to see the advantages of a private entry, so to speak. Since, as we all know, anything put on the WWW is ultimately never actually private. So rather than risk discovery, I'll just stick to the proven method of not saying anything. And I doubt I'll be switching anytime soon. I still find that LJ is rather unfriendly.

Maybe when I start a Siewmai’s Scotland Stories blog. We’ll see.

Guess The Word of The Day

Gym this morning was no shiok. Usually I'd walk/jog/run 45min to 1hour at an average speed of about 6.8km/h (Mrs Budak still win hands down. *bows down and kowtows* My mother confirm also win me. Actually I think my sis also win me... (T_T) ), followed by about an hour of weights training. Today only walked/jogged/ran 30min at average speed of 6.6km/h. And only did 2 super-sets of shoulder press and upright rows. (T_T) Absolutely no shiok. But then again I promised Shane I'd blanjah him coffee during his 8am break. So bo pian.

Went to watch 江湖阿嫂 (Mob Sister) after that since there was nothing better to do. At first I thought I was going to be the only person in the theatre. So cool!!! (ok cheap thrill...) But after about five minutes some uncles started to walk in one by one. (-_-)"'

I have come to this conclusion about Hong Kong mob movies:
1) It's all about the 义气. Brudderhood!!
2) There must be the obligatory tough bitch 阿嫂 and obligatory SYT (read: sweet young thing)
3) Must have a fair share of betrayal (whereupon one betrayee will scream at the betrayer: 《去你妈的!!我们是兄弟!!!讲义气的!!!》 simple translation: BRUDDERHOOD!!!), romance - unrequited or otherwise, and plenty of car-crash-car scenes.
4) Fight scenes or death scenes must either be slow motion or (dunno what the technical term is) overlapped, like those going mad scenes.
5) The point of the movie is that there doesn't have to have a point. ... ... BRUDDERHOOD!!!!!

Actually watching movies alone is quite fun, as I've discovered recently. At least during the more poignant moments in the movie, your emotionally unstable very sentimental friend doesn't lean over, grab your sleeve and go "Ooooooh!!!". And there's no one squealing into your ear just when you've managed to convince yourself to ignore the lousy acting and believe that the character IS that character. Can you just watch the MOVIE already??? Egads.

Of course, watching with friends (BRUDDERHOOD!!!) is still a great thing which I wouldn't replace. But hey, once in a while it actually isn't that bad to be the lone siew mai in a steamer. Or in this case, single pack freeze-dried siew mai.