Of Thermo Tests, Earthquakes & The People Around Me

In a desperate attempt to forget that I have a thermodynamics test this afternoon and that I should be desperately cramming for it, how about some random bloggings?

Earthquake in Kent!! WTH??? I didn't know that you could GET earthquakes in the UK!! It's insane! According to this BBC report, the most recent quake in the UK was in December! In Dumfries and Galloway! How is it that this isn't actually bigger news?? Granted that the last major quake was in the 1580's (around scale 6) but still! So are earthquakes actually that common in the UK that the media no longer see them as newsworthy? Coz I didn't know that until yesterday. I guess everyone is now more caught up with the 2007 elections and why the modern fairytale couple that is William & Kate actually broke up. Pooh.

Made a new friend yesterday! Brunei guy, K, who landed in Aberdeen just 3 weeks ago. He contacted G through ex-SS president FreDICK Fredrick, and so we all met up for lunch after church. He's here on a company posting and works in the oil & gas industry. From what I heard yesterday, he's led quite an interesting life. Practically been all over the world since his dad used to work for the embassy. Think it may be quite worth the effort to get to know him better. Plus he's gonna get a car. Hir hir hir... >=D

And one last thing before I go back to crunching thermo numbers... CJoe, know that you've been pretty down and stressed out lately, what with one thing and the other. I won't say the usual cliches like "it's ok" (coz it never is) or "don't think too much about it" (coz how can you not?) or other things like that. Instead, I'll just say that you're in the hearts of all your friends here, so if ever things feel like the world's about to fall apart on your shoulders, you can always find an extra pair of shoulders to help share the burden. (^.^) And if Ah-Leb gets too irritating just don't hesitate to kick him. I'm sure he deserves quite a fair share. Hee~

Ok. Lunch (Indo-mie) & thermo. Heat transfer from the fire, to pot, to water, to noodles... (@_@)

New Sidebar Feature

Hmm... Added a little radio station thing-y on my sidebar, but I'm not sure what I think of it. Unlike the YouTube videos, the player doesn't quite follow the resizing dimensions, instead parts of it are cut off. But if I don't, the player won't fit into my sidebar. And it kinda looks ugly if I put in where my Ticker is at the moment.

Well, let me know what you think of it, if you think it works for the blog. I don't necessarily want to make it a permanent feature, just thought it'd be fun to try. If it works, I'll keep it.

Although I must say something about this online radio, Last.fm. I'm LOVING it!! Finally I have found a source of great music that I wouldn't normally be able to access in the UK or even in Singapore in some cases. And it's advertisement-free!! woot woot!

Happy Happy Birthday~!!

Haha... One more year before I hit the quarter-century mark. Hahaha...

This year's birthday was GREAT!! Omg, I don't even know the words to describe it. It was simple but I was just SO HAPPY!!

I suppose it really started a couple days before when PL called to "book" me for dinner, so I knew we were going out. Then at 12am Thursday, she, G & CJoe called to wish me "Happy Birthday", which was so sweet! And before that I was already receiving messages from Singapore (Neko-chan!! Jemalelinh!! Luv you guys SO MUCH! \( ^3^)/ chuuu~!!)

The day started off normally enough - go for tai chi, jog home, do some exercise, go for classes... I didn't say anything to the flatmates, coz I had decided to keep it low this year. I knew we'd exchanged birthdates before casually, but I wasn't expecting them to remember, and I wasn't about to go around announcing it. But N caught me out when she asked if I had any plans for the night and I invited her to join us for dinner.

"We know it's your birthday you know."
"..." Busted.

Turns out that the three of them were planning to cook me dinner if I didn't have any plans at all. So touched!!

So it ended up with a fun dinner at the Ashvale Fish Restaurant with the people I love the most in Aberdeen. And the cake was just so cute!! Look at this!

Isn't it just adorable??? I almost didn't have the heart to cut it!! And when PL, G & CJoe revealed their present, my breath was just taken away...

I can only imagine the amount of effort that went into this. It's amazing!!! I only wish that I had the space in my room to actually prop it up somewhere. It's one of those where, the more you look at it, the more you see. WAH!! And I've only really gotten to know these guys in the last year!! (T_T) I wish there was some real way to describe how I felt when I received this.

And just when I thought the night could get any better, the flatmates surprised me when we got home with this....

A Peace Lily and "The Hogfather" DVD!! Waaaiii~~~!!! I know I told N & R at various times that I was waiting for the DVD to come out, but I didn't think they would actually remember it. And now I have my very own plant for my room!! Oh my goodness!! I love it! Oh! I promise to take such good care of it! Hope I can find a suitable plant-sitter for the summer though...

Heee~~ (^_^) I just couldn't stop smiling that day. And I don't think I've stopped. Haha!!

There are more photos from the day, they'll be uploaded onto Flickr soon enough (i.e. as soon as I get down to uploading the rest of my Easter vacation photos... (>_<)

Post-Easter Break

Ok well, not quite. We still have a week left before we go back to school. But I've been back in the flat since Wednesday.
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Uhm. Yah. I started this post like 1.5 weeks ago and just never got back to it. Oops. Haven't even finished uploading my holiday pictures onto Flickr. Dammit. I'm falling behind!!!

Anyhow, Easter's over. School started again last Monday, and already we had a test on Thursday. Erks. Got another one next Monday. Ekks!!! *pui* And exams are in about a month's time. I should get a tickercounter for that too I guess..

Siew Mai's 2nd Year, 2nd Sem Exams
Monday 21 May, 3pm
EG2539 Fluids & Thermodynamics

Thursday 24 May, 9am
EG2559 Electrical & Mechanical Systems

Tuesday 29 May, 9am
EG2510 Engineering Mathematics 3

Of course, my greatest confidence is once again in good old Maths. Goodness knows what will happen with the other two. Haiz. Guess this means I need to start my revision some time this week. At the very latest, next week. There's so much to study.

On the bright side though, I'll be going home on the 31st!!! Immediately after exams are over! Woohoo!!

70% Likeness to Stephen Chow???

Hmph. Oh well... At least I got an 86% likeness to Matsu Takako. Hahaha.... I actually don't really see the likeness (scarily, I see the likeness in Stephen Chow. *shudder*) but it's quite a fun program, no? Heh! This is an incentive to take glamour photos of myself... Unfortunately they have to be face-on for the program to work to its full potential.

My plan to camp out once again in my now CLEAN kitchen had to be abandoned. D came home early, so it's a no-go.

Cleansing The Flat and Mind

Haaaa!!!

Sometimes it's nice to be all alone in the flat. I've just cleaned the flat again today and for once I don't have to worry about someone coming in halfway through the cleaning or after the cleaning and totally messing up the kitchen. The last few times that's happened it was all I could do to stop myself from having some kind of hissy fit. Now it just feels so good to have a clean bathroom and clean kitchen/living room. At least until tomorrow. That's when D's coming back from his sailing thingy. Haiz.

I'm thinking of suggesting to D that he install some kind of shoe rack or shoe cupboard for the flat. At the moment everyone just kind of stomps around with the shoes that we go out in. True, there's not actually any space for a shoe rack at the moment. BUT!! D did say he was considering installing a mounted wall shelf for the phone and modem in place of the little rack that's being used right now. So what can happen is that the shoe rack then goes underneath this wall shelf. Or.... If he's willing... And if the other flatmates are willing... Have the shoe rack outside on the stairwell... We do have that little half-landing... I dunno. I'll suggest it to him and see what happens. I mean... If it can help keep the flat cleaner for just that little bit longer... Why not?

Watched TMNT with Caleb, Chris and Puili yesterday. It was entertaining. Fun just watching something that you grew up with. Although I think I still prefer the old cartoons from the 80s/90s period and the original feature films from so long ago. Argh I feel so old. But yeah it was fun. Actually I think I've watched almost every major spring release in the last month or so. Watched 300 the night before with Caleb and Siva. Hahaha!! Then before that there was The number 23, Premonition (hum... wait for the television premiere), Ghostrider (waste of money), Hot Fuzz, Music & Lyrics. Think there was one more but I can't remember it right now. Hahaha!! It's mad. And it was with more or less the same bunch of people. Ah-ha.... I wonder when we're going to start getting bored of each other...

Ah well. Enough verbal diarrhea for one day. Anymore and I'll be divulging potential candidates to have crushes on. Fwahaha... Like there are going to be any in this grey town. I'm off to bask in my clean living room/kitchen.

Eeks!!

Interval
Originally uploaded by Veetwo Siew Mai.

That's it. I'm officially ugly! OMG!! LOOK AT THAT!!

Sian

Once again I find myself with nothing better to do.

I'm done looking at my group assignment worksheet, I'm clearly not going for choir tonight (it's already 8pm. Choir started 30min ago), neither am I going for the First Aid Society social. And nobody seems to be free to go out.

I seem to be going through some kind of phase. I wanna stay in but then I get bore of staying in and want to go out but then the idea of going out makes me tired and I wanna stay in. And the cycle just keeps repeating.

Something's up with me. Hmm.. What could it be? I'm putting it down to reaching my 6-monthly limit of Aberdeen at the moment.

The Thing About Choirs...

I love being in a choir. It's fun to sing! I love it!

BUT. There's always a but.

Choir committee members are so uptight and irritating. Maybe it's just this choir. But I swear those 2 girls need a serious dose of laxatives and maybe a great big helping of prunes.

Girl, Put Your Record On!!

Fwoooaaah!!!

Went clubbing last night. First time in dunno how long. Think the last time I properly went clubbing was in September or October when I came back after the summer. So fun! *does a little jig* And it was the first time I went clubbing with Chris & Caleb!! Y(O.o)y Milestone!! Those two usually do their own thing. So amusing to see them in a club scenario. But then I'm sure it was amusing for them to see me get loose as well. Oops. (~3~)

Got my choir performance tonight!! Aaah!! First performance with the University Choral Society!! Aaaah!!! I wonder if can record the performance.. Don't actually have a digital cam-corder... My digi-cam does have recording capabilities, but I imagine the quality will be a little limited. Well... We shall see. Maybe I'll pass my camera over to Puili and Grace during church and ask them to see if they can do anything.. :p

Lalala! Better drink plenty of water... I could barely speak after leaving the club last night. And I'm sure there's still some alcohol in my system. *hic*

And it's snowing. Dammit. Middle of March, and it's snowing...

Mini Elphinstone Reunion

Suzanne came back to visit! She went back to Canada this morning though, she was only here for 5 days. But it was great fun to see her again. Had her over for dinner yesterday, along with Sally and Caitlin. And it was great! Made dhal, stir-fry choi sim and Osaka style okonomiyaki!! Or at least... As close as I could get, following a receipe. Had to improvise with a couple of ingredients (like replacing cabbage with lettuce). It was SO tasty, if I dare say so myself. Was actually quite a lot of food. Got carried away with the cooking and forgot that Sally and Suzanne aren't exactly the most adventurous eaters. They had like 1 helping each and that was it for them. Although fair enough, they did say they had a late lunch. Thank goodness N and R were around to help finish up everything.

Increasing my cooking repetoire! Woohoo!

Welcome To The Year of The Pig

Welcome To The Year of The Pig
Originally uploaded by Veetwo Siew Mai.

Oink Oink! Flickr update! Check it out

Chinese New Year Overload

Ok I know this post may be a bit late but I really have to say this about the first week of the Chinese New Year season: I don't think I've had so much food in single week. My goodness. This was how the week starting from the 17th of Feb went.

17th: CNY Eve dinner at KH's place
18th: CNY dinner at G & PL's place
19th: CNY dinner at my place
20th: CNY dinner & karaoke with G, PL, C & C and the Hong Kong and Cantonese Association

4 Days STRAIGHT!! Non-stop eating!!! Then on Saturday that weekend went out to watch Hot Fuzz with G & PL and stayed over at their place after having supper at Chicken Hut. Followed by another party on the following Monday at V's place!! I've probably put on about 2kg in that one week. (T_T) I shall upload the photos soon. I'm really terrible. Even after promising that I would update my flooble Flickr more often, I have yet to do so since December I think.

Ohh! Go watch Music & Lyrics. It's such a feel good movie. I love it. I love THAT song!!!

AND!! To stay true to the "overload" part of the post title, I went and bought some more DVDs and a new CD:

1) Lord of The Rings: Return of the King (Extended DVD version) - Mainly bought this for my brother. Since it's the only extended DVD of the trilogy that he hasn't gotten his hands on yet. But since it's not going to be back in SG until the summer, I've taken the "liberty" of breaking the seal. (^_^)v It's region 2 though. Hope he isn't that nit-picky. 18 pounds! He better appreciate this.

2) Ghost In A Shell: The movie/ Ghost In A Shell: Innocence Box Set - FINALLY! They FINALLY got it into their heads to package these two movies in a SINGLE set. And for 10 pounds I say it's a good deal!

3) Finally, Brit Awards 2007: Brits Hits 2CD set - Yes well... 'twas a moment of weakness...

Ta-da! Thus concludes my Chinese New Year season. But it's far from over. Suzanne is visiting this weekend so there's probably going to be another fair share of dinners and outings with the Elphinstone-rs from last year. (>_<) Going to turn into a real dumpling.

Hee~! Camping out on the sofa bed in the kitchen (flatmates are all away this weekend, so I must entertain myself with cheap thrills), watching the Appendix DVD of ROTK now. Hehe... I love it!!!

Aragorn!! Faramir!! Wheee~~!!

Year 2 Sem 1 Exam Results

[Based on the CAS scale over 20]

Engineering Mathematics 2 - 20
Materials & Structures - 19
Electronics & Programmable Systems - 19
Engineering Design & Practice - 17

やった！Can't believe I got 19 for Materials and Electronics. I really had almost no confidence for those topics. Materials, because the notes were as good as none; and Electronics, coz well, I just don't understand it well enough.

But this is good!! Thanks to all for prayers and support! 皆、ありがとう！

Friend to All and No One

I need to stop being a "best friend" to everyone. Does it actually do anything for anyone? Definitely it rarely ends well for myself. And now the guilt sets in as I wonder if I'm being selfish for thinking that why. Granted, yes, there are true friends out there who would do just about everything they can for me, you know who you are. But then there are "friendships".

I don't even know what I'm on about anymore really. Just that sometimes it feels like going into autopilot being concerned about someone when really the truth is I want... a hug, for example, all for myself for that one selfish moment. Or some alone time.

I dunno. I'm ranting. I'm sleepy. I need to do a boring tutorial. Ignore me. (>_<)

Where Are My Results??

I want them now now NOW!!!

There Are CATS In Aberdeen!

Haha! I can't believe that I forgot to blog about this. Bad Siew Mai! Bad!

Went to watch Cats on Monday with N, R and 2 of N's friends. It was so fun!! Ok. There wasn't actually a plot, but the dancing and the singing was SOOOO great. OMG you should've seen the muscles on the guys... So well-defined!! *swoon*

AAAAHHH! It was just AMAZING!! ! AMAZING!!!

*sings* MEEEMMMOOOORRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! All alone in the MOOOOOOOONNNLIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGHHTTT!!!!

Wheee~~!

Ha?

What Fantasy Archetype Are you?
The Unlikely Hero You are the Unlikely Hero! Others like you are Frodo (Lord of The Rings), Young Aurthur (arthurian Legend), Luke Skywalker (Star Wars), Peter/Susan/Edmund/Lucy (Narnia), Richard Mayhew (Neverwhere), Harry Potter (Harry Potter) and Richard Cypher (Wizard's first Rule). You were happy to just live out your life as a peaceful schoolboy/farmer/wood's guide. But alas, greatness was thrust upon you. Don't let the hordes of The Totally Wicked Villain get you down, you have your Seasoned Veteran Friend to protect you and you almost always end up with the Pillar-of-Strength Love interest. Heed you Mentor well and keep your chin up, hero! You are simple, humble and kind but possess great potential for truly inspirational heroism, bravery and strength in dark times.
Take The Quiz Now!	Quizzes by myYearbook.com

Life of a Sloth

I feel like a sloth.

I've been on the couch for the last 3 hours since dinner. Ok. Granted that N is also here on the couch but that doesn't mean I'm any less of a sloth. Fwahaha... Watching the finale of Celebrity Big Brother as well, I'm embarressed to admit. Hm. They're just about to announce the winner.
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Haha! Yes! I knew it. Shilpa has won. Although I believe that most of her votes were sympathy votes. Ever since the whole racism row with Jade Goody, there was almost no doubt about her winning. Well. It was always going to be between Jermaine and Shilpa during the last couple of weeks. If it wasn't for the stupid row that Jade and her minions started, Shilpa wouldn't have stood a chance against Jermaine. Oh well. Either one of them winning would've been a good thing. I was just so filled with evil glee when Jade got evicted. Mwahahah.. Stupid b****.

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In other news, school starts tomorrow. (>_<) This term I'm going to have to travel out of Aberdeen for some lab sessions. And those labs don't even belong to the University. They belong to a local college. I don't understand why we have to use those labs? Are they better equipped than the university's? That would just be ridiculous wouldn't it? Argh. And having to report there at 8.45am in the morning! AARGH!!! 1 hour 20min to walk according to D. So probably about 45min to 1 hour on a bus, if I can even find out what buses go there. Sigh. (T_T)

Been shopping since my exams ended!!! I got a new pair of brown suede boots!! Eeee!! So happy! Spoils of war (so far) include:

From TK Maxx (kinda like Factory Outlet. It's got a lot of brand names going for CHEAP!!):
1) Pale pink 3/4-sleeve Bench t-shirt
2) Pink (rose? not sure what shade this is) long-sleeved Tommy Hilfiger shirt
3) Cream-coloured Betty Barclay sling bag
4) Red Jasper Conran sweatshirt
5) Pair of pretty Miss Outrage socks

From SportsWorld:
5) Pale blue/green Heart And Soul tank top
6) Blue-striped loose long-sleeved Ocean Pacific shirt
7) Brown Miss Fiora suede boots
8) Blue and white Diadora shirt

Wahahaha... All this for under ₤60!!! And they're good brands too!

And of course today went and got two more tank tops from Primark (one cream [₤1.50!!] and one khaki-coloured [₤2!!!]). Might go and get the emerald coloured one tomorrow... I'm GOING MAD!!!

Fwahaha....

Post Exam Rant

やっと。試験が終わりました。

Exams are FINALLY over. Well. Ok. They finished yesterday morning, but I've been having minor problems with the internet since yesterday so here's a delayed update.

The Electronics paper was surprisingly easier than I anticipated. There was only one question that I had to give up on. I may actually get above a CAS 15 for this particular course. As for the other two, Maths I should get either 19 or 20. Structures... My confidence was shaken a little when I blanked out on a simple formula. But hopefully won't be below 15 either.

So that's exams for the first term of my second year in Aberdeen. Things are looking good so far I guess. Heh. Went over to G & PL's place after the exam yesterday to do some online shopping from Japan Center. Hohoho! Although I promise I didn't spend over 20 pounds. I did that today shopping for Classical/Opera CDs and cheena DVDs... (>_<)

I can't help it!! I'm addicted to DVDs & CDs!!! And it's after exams! I should be allowed to have some kind of release!!! 发泄发泄！