Monday, June 30, 2008 . 3:38 AM

c-AM-br-I-dge week 4

Can't believe I've been in the UK for a month already... Home's so close now I can begin to smell it. 4 more weeks to go!

It was Mahmud's birthday last Wednesday so the whole lab was out together for lunch at Wok and Grill. Pretty decent Chinese buffet for 10 pounds. I was extremely cautious not to overeat though - given my tendency to overeat at buffets.. ;p - as I was still waging war with the bacteria in my GI tract, but I've triumph victory over those pesky Samonella (I suspect... thanks to that suspicious pasta sauce). I'm really to pig our Singaporean food!! Come to my tummy! HAHAHA...
Went to Windsor, Stonehenge and Oxford this weekend... Pretty much touch-and-go, but I guess there's nothing really to do there except to thoroughly examine every single portrait and artefact in Windsor Castle and to scrutinize every single chunk of rock at the Stonehenge...
The Windsor Castle is like a weekend get-away residence for the royal family. In Windsor Castle itself, there's a gigantic doll house which was a gift to Queen Elizabeth. History has it that the castle was orginally constructed to guard against western approaches to the capitol.

I was warned by friends not to expect much from Stonehenge, touted as one of the must-see English monument of Britain.
ZY remarked, "到那里只是看几块石头罢了!"
Xiaoyang was "don't expect much from stonehenge."
Jared repeatedly went, "the stones are very small, and i didn't bother to pay to enter. i only took photos from outside the fence."
I'm glad I did enter Stonehenge even though I wasn't particularly "wow-ed" by it.
I tried hard to pay attention to what was said as I press the audio guide close to my ears but hardly anything went in. We were too engrossed taking photos.. vying for the perfect location and time to pose for a good shot with the stones. All I remember hearing was, "it remains a mystery...." Everything about the Stonehenge is a mystery. Perhaps that's the very reason why it remains a huge magnet that draws tourists to 这几块石头. It might have been a place of pagan worship. It might be a gigantic sundial that tells the time and day. No one knows how those enormous rocks were transported to its current location.... Nobody knows.... and probably, nobody will ever know. It remains a mystery... Mystery...
With only 45 minutes at our disposal, and with plenty of lao bei bei and obasans hobbling at such leisurely paces, and taking forever to take their photographs, it was hard just to get a picture with the rocks.
Fortunately, it was much less crowded at Oxford. This is Christ Church College... where Harry Potter was filmed.

Bridge of Sighs.

looking forward to my irish weekend!

dash

Friday, June 27, 2008 . 1:52 AM

old maid

happen to chance upon this video while surfing youtube.... has got my fave east asian artistes... enjoy!

dash

Thursday, June 26, 2008 . 1:46 AM

c-AM-br-I-dge week 3

london and east grinstead over the last weekend.... westminster abbey

a few things...

1) tummy's still rumbling... it's better today, after 10 hours of rest, but still not ready to pig out.
2) disgruntled of the way certain things turned out - not that I've pinned high hopes on them, but for every single itsy teeny weeny little things that have built up over the past, what? 3 months? i shan't go on here. period.
3) awfully appalled that a good friend of mine just ended his relationship with his girlfriend - and they are one of those ''model couple'' that everyone looks up to; marriage quality. I know the both of them and it has never occured to me that they might ever break up.... oh wellz...

disgusted.

dash

Friday, June 20, 2008 . 4:01 AM

LA LA LA Love Song

まわれ　まわれ　MERRY-GO-ROUND
もうけして止まらないように
动き出したMELODY
LA LA LA LA LA LOVE SONG

ドシャ降りの午后を待って　街に飞び出そう心に降る雨に　
伞をくれた君と"まっびら!"と横向いて　本音はウラハラでも　
そのままでいい　お互いさまだから

めぐり会えた奇迹が
YOU MAKE ME FEEL BRAND NEW
泪の色を变えた
AND I WANNA LOVE THAT'S BRAND NEW

息がとまるくらいの　甘いくちづけをしようよ
ひと言もいらないさ　とびきりの今を
勇气をくれた君に　照れてる场合じゃないから
言叶よりも本气な　LA LA LA LA LA LOVE SONG

WANNA MAKE LOVE,WANNA MAKE LOVE SONG,HEY BABY...

知らぬ间に落としてた　小さなかけらを隙间なく抱きよせ　
肌でたしかめあう

宇宙の见えない夜
YOU ARE MY SHININ'STAR
かまわない　君が见えゐAND I WANNA BE YOUR SHININ'STAR

まわれ　まわれ　MERRY-GO-ROUND
もうけして止まらないように
动き出したMELODYLA LA LA LA LA LOVE SONG

とめどなく乐しくて　やゐせないほど切なくてそんな朝に生まれゐ　僕なりのLOVE SONG

ためいきの前に　ここにおいでよ




この歌、大好き！
デーシ

何を食べちゃったかな...

何を食べちゃったかな。。。

午後から、腹はずっと唸って、ちょっと悪くなってきた。食欲もなかったし。。。だから、今日はほかの日より、早く帰って、薬を飲んだり、早速寝た。何だか寝られなかった。急に、えづく感じがあった。トイレに間に合わなかったから、つい部屋の中で、えづいちゃった。でも、えづいたあとで、本当に気分によくなった。だが、部屋を汚くしちゃって、ルームメート、本当にごめんね。それより、チュウちゃんもリュウさんも元気じゃないさああ。。。皆、早く元気になるといいですね、土曜日にロンドンに行かなきゃから。

今腹はペコペコで、死にそうだ！食べるか、食べないか、どうしようかな。

デーシ

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 . 4:17 AM

inside a travel bug's mind - checkpt 1

Having big plans about my graduation trip now…. I know, I know, it’s a little too early to be dreaming about it. I think I’ve mentioned to many people before how Americans are so very blessed to be in such a beautiful country.... tonnes of things to do (besides eating, shopping, working and sleeping) and magnificent landscapes aplenty. It comes as no surprise to many that more than 80% of Americans do not travel overseas (don’t quote me on this!), simply because you can do almost anything you wanna do here in the USA. Diving, caving, hiking, skydiving, mountaineering.... Anything. There’s just so MUCH to see and do here. Let me see how I should go about spending my precious breaks…. Ah…So the yellow pins are actually places where I plan to go for my grad trip… Starting from Salt Lake City, Utah, we’ll cut through the Arches, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite and finally end off at San Francisco, California… sounds like a perfect way to end it! And then a flight from San Fran back to Singapore!!

And the black pins show places I really hope to go someday in the US
1) Washington DC… yea, I know, I still have not been to CAPITAL CITY of the USA!!!
2) Boston. I wanna visit MIT and Harvard, and also Sarah…. Have been saying that I’ll visit her someday but haven’t got down to doing it. Will go there to satisfy my seafood cravings! Wahahahaha….
3) Philadelphia – I need to stomach one real Philly Steak someday!
4) Niagara Falls! One natural beauty not to be missed!
5) Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee/North Carolina – heard from friends that this is a must-go too.. but it’s a tad too out of way… sighz…
6) And Montpelier, Vermont to visit the birthplace of our all time-fave, after dinner dessert – BEN and JERRY’s ICECREAM!!!

Monday, June 16, 2008 . 3:44 AM

c-AM-br-I-dge week 2

good day folks....
i did the "siong-est" thing i've ever done this year.... something in my opinion more siong than
1) squirming and leopard crawling my way through 18 inch crevices in Mammoth Cave
2) running 20km around lake monona, braving strong winds and rain

yes, i hate to admit it, but the biking to Ely was insanely excruciating and tiring. I've never been an avid fan of cycling to start with, and I really thought biking 27km up (=54km to and fro from Cambridge to Ely) would be chicken-feet... Perhaps, to veteran cyclists, 54km's really nothing - just further affirms the fact that cycling is really not my cup of tea. Shucks... now my hopes of taking part in a triathlon's dashed. I can forget about Ironman now... =(
but we, more like I (coz I was the one slowing Xiaoyang down) persevered through... My butt, or more accurately, perineum was wildly protesting, that I should stop cycling and instead, drag the bike with me all the way to Ely. somehow or another, we managed to bike to Ely, in 2 hrs...

all for THIS cathedral.... Ely Cathedral.

Monday, June 09, 2008 . 4:54 AM

unglam singaporean aunties

some absolutely hilarious videos of unglam singaporean aunties...

this is why handphone cameras are so dangerous... you'll never know when you are being filmed...

this auntie quite fierce leh...

this auntie is the ultimate...


tell me how can i not love singapore?? watching these vids make me feel like I'm back home again.. very soon... 7 more weeks!!

dash

Sunday, June 08, 2008 . 8:09 AM

HA HA HA song

Guys, check this out.... be warned, laughter IS infectious!

dash

c-AM-br-I-dge week 1

hey folks,

a very quick update on what went on during my first week stay here in Cambridge.... yes, I AM in Cambridge! =) Cambridge is a very lovely university town. The weather is rather gloomy the past week, and it has been surprisingly cool at this time of the year. I would have been fried if I were in Madison this time of the year... Not to mention, the research environment here is nowhere less inferior compared to research in the US. People here really make the effort to get to know you, teach you and most importantly, make sure you learn something at the end of this 8 week stint. Even though they may come across as "slack" (think 30-45min morning coffee break AND another 30-45min afternoon tea break), they do get things done. I'm now seriously considering doing grad school here, and reasons, I shall ruminate over it and blog about it when I have the time....

For now... let's meet Viren!! =)
Isn't he adorable? Viren is Sonali's 16 month old son (ps: Sonali's our landlady). She quite a nice lady, except that she can get just a tad too obsessed with cleanliness in her house. She has in place a list of "house rule".... quite daunting at first, but nothing too hard to accomplish.
This is the bedroom Xiaoyang and I share....