Dont Matter

2010-03-05T23:54:00.000+08:00

if there's anyone who should be good at this, it's us

Dance Performances in '09

2010-02-12T07:47:00.001+08:00

Those of you who know me well, know I love to dance. Initially I did it as a hobby, then as part of exercise in the gym (as a matter of fact, it's the only form of 'sports' I ever indulge in!) back home.

I never danced to perform because dancing for fun and dancing for an audience are 2 different worlds apart.

When I came to RCSI, I got to experience that 'thrill' of performing for an audience. It is nerve wrecking I have to admit, but nonetheless, so ever worthwhile.

From International Nights to Chocolate Balls, I wanted to go all out this year seeing that it is my last year in RCSI. And although there may be chances to perform back in Penang, who knows whether we have the luxury of time then.

So in October, as part of the Dance Society, we performed for Diwali Night a.k.a Deepavali back home.

DIWALI NIGHT

It is my first time doing Indian Dance but from what I experienced, it is somewhat like Hip Hop only less body rolls and more booty shaking!

If I remember correctly, Students Union, PMCSA and Dance Society organized this small event. It usually is held in Damer Hall but somehow this year, it was scaled down and was held in one of the compounds in the college. So imagine a lot of people contained in a very small space.

L-R: Jeffrey, Alex, Joanne, Yiu Ti.

L-R: Jeff, Chung Lee, Joanne, Strahan, Perry, Hui Xin, me, Eleanor, Eng Keat.
Being one of the first few events of the start of the term, many of us attended this event. On the plus side, Indian food was served as well. I can't recall what they served because I was so nervous! Reason being there were so so so many people, and secondly, I know that if I enjoy myself too much during the dance, I will space out and forget my steps!

With Czhia Hao and Melissa.

L-R- Margaret, Lavenia, Zoe, Sarah, Wan Lin, me, Hui Xin.
They should honestly put performances first before food because I was starving!

L-R: Vino, Janet, me, Tamal.I miss 'em Canadians!
Before we knew it, it was time to perform for the crowd who were literally 10 cms away from us!

When I say crowded I really mean crowded.

Spot me! ;p

+.+.+.+.+.+
It felt like only yesterday when we were at our senior's farewell in 2008. Little did we know it was time to bid farewell to ourselves!
I wasn't a 100% sure whether I would want to perform because I've never choreographed a dance my entire life (International Night was an exception coz I had Mandy's guidance) and the workload was starting to get hectic (Hemato-Lymphoid and Trop Med *groans*).
After much self debate, I finally decided to go ahead with only approximately a weeks worth of time left! At the meantime, Wan Lin and Hui Xin were busying themselves with their vocal performance practices. It was a lot of stress and sleepless nights, somewhat like an exam week. But with hardwork, we managed to give a decent performance, if I do say so myself!
+.+.+
PMC FAREWELL 2009

L-R: Joanne, Ryn, Malin, Hui Xin.

L-R: Yvonne, Catherine, Yee Ping.
The problem with performing is that you don't get the chance or the mood to go around taking that many pictures. But with Facebook, having your own camera is not a necessity these days.

Wan Lin and her band performing Fallin' For You, Colbie Caillat.
It was our turn to go up on stage after Wan Lin. I don't have any good pictures in my camera, but to give you an idea, the four of us, Catherine, Joanne, Janet and I danced to 3 songs, featuring Vino, Mehul and Dr. Alice Mcgarvey as well. Fun times, that was.

Hui Xin, Sze Ryn and Alex performing ZhuFu.

Accompanied by a simple ballroom dance.Thank you Cherisse, Joanne, Mehul, Arthur,Tristan and Jawing for helping Hui Xin and I out!

L-R: Tristan, Hui Xin, Arthur, Joanne, Jawing, me, Mehul, Cherisse.

As a closing act, we sang to Ain't No Mountain High Enough co-ordinated by Margaret, Lavi and Hui Xin. The song was stuck in my head for a pretty long time!

L-R: Zoe, Sarah, Joanne, me, Christelle.

The 2nd Meds were unbelievably amazing. From the food, organization, to deco, it's hard to believe they pulled this successful event in 2 weeks! They even had all PMC students' names printed in stars like the above.

+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+
CHOCOLATE BALL '09

This year's chocolate ball was scaled down because of last minute work. However, on the brighter side, the food was much better than last year's and the performances were more diverse.

That's Tc being Tc.

With 2 amazing dancers, Shafina and Catherine.

We had awards given out this year, something like the Grammy's. eg. The Snoozer Award, Mr. Punjabi, The Anatomy Award etc etc.

The Dance Crew before our performance.

Catherine and I. Dance partners for life!
+.+.+.+.+.+.+
Blogging about all these now when I'm here in London actually makes me feel sad. I'll miss all the stage frights and the juggling between studies and practices. With fingers crossed, hopefully this did not affect my term results. =/
Ah well, I had my fair share of fun and I am enjoying my break right now.Happy Chinese New Year & Happy Valentine's Day!

21st in Dublin & London

2010-02-08T11:08:00.002+08:00

MY 21st in DUBLIN& LONDON
I'm not going to bother with the dates since it's been too longg. But these are the kind of things that you will want to blog about because in a few years, heck, even a year from now, I know that I will not be able to wipe that smile off my face, looking back at these things.
Anyway, my friends in Dublin celebrated my birthday a week before the real one as I was going to London on the 10th of Oct. Normally Jie comes to Dublin for my birthday but this year we tried something different.
I wasn't aware of the surprise at first, but I guess things got a lil fishy and you get suspicious. What surprised me the most was the amount of people who were present. Alvin and Elijah were having their house warming on the very same day so they made it a 'double celebration' (which was part of the reason why there were so many people in the first place!)
My birthday cake, baked by Catherine, Hui Xin, Wan Lin, and Yvonne.

White chocolate and berries!All my favourite!

That is not usually how I hold a knife to cut cake but somehow, people always catch things like that on camera.

My cake and the awesome bakers!

Alvin's and Elijah's place is equipped with Wii and xbox (i think).

Half of us busy with the wii.We had a singing competition between the guys and the girls.
With voices like Rachel's and YiYun's it's not hard to guess which team had the better score!

L-R: Alvin, me, HuiXin, Kevinder, Mehul.

Me in my birthday present. Probably the most expensive dress I've ever owned.

'Me to You' birthday card from Hui Xin. a.k.a. biggest card I've ever owned. lol.

+.+.+.+.+.+
BIRTHDAY DINNER @ LAUNCESTON PLACE

As every year, Jie will take me to somewhere nice for my birthday dinner. And every year, Daddy Ong will ring Jie up just to remind him to do so! Sadly, not for this year's birthday which falls on the 10.10.10!!

Pre-appetizers. Some crackers and Veloute.

US enjoying our Veloute.
Food:

My first time ever having rabbit as a main. It is handsdown one of the tastiest meat I have tasted and I wouldn't mind having more. Just don't remind me that I'm having a 'bunny' for dinner.

And as every year, Jie will do something special and somewhat surprising for my birthday. This year, he made a card for me. That's right he MADE the card.

I thought the external part of the card was great until I opened the card and was shocked to see a home-made 3D Forever Friends bear extending his arms towards me!!
Never knew he was such a creative and artsy person!

+.+.+.+.+.+
BIRTHDAY PARTY @ NO.9

Me birthday cake.

Helena, Michelle and Soraya busy with the wii.

The girls and I.

The guys and I.
Yes, there were alot of people. The most touching of all was to know people like Jonson, Grace, Stanley and Wee Joee who traveled all the way to London for this!

The great chefs.

Me and my yummy cake.Thank goodness there was to cake-in-face/cake-in-hair ordeal.

21 shots for the 21 year old!

The weird things I did halfway through the 21 shots. lol.

The Mallorca Gang!

My new soft toy, given the name Khong Chiu cause apparently he looks like the bear/ the bear looks like him. Thankiu Helena, Agnes, Loong!

And yea, it certainly ended well.Hopefully everyone had as much fun as I did though.
3 birthday celebrations but somehow I don't feel any older compared to the previous year. Which I presume is a good sign. =]
+.+.+.+.+.+
I just got back from Copenhagen. Time to replenish sleeping hours and burn away the food we excessively indulged.

My 21st at Home!

2010-01-23T07:12:00.002+08:00

Yes, I'm back.. After my holidays in London and, what we all hate most, exams.Before leaving Dublin I was about to blog about my.. (can't believe I'm saying this) birthday which happened a very long time ago.So I'm just gonna kick off from where I last left.Btw, most of these were written a month ago so don't get confused. Lol.
+.+.+.+

I knew it. By the time I blog about my birthday, it would be Xmas. Lol.
I had a really busy November and December which is a good thing because after this, the amount of time I have here in Dublin (excluding the exam period) is very minimal.
So to cut to the chase, here's my early 21st birthday surprise my parents organized for me back home in Malaysia.
+.+.+.+.+
21st B'DAY SURPRISE @ LAS CARRETAS
It's this Mexican Restaurant where my dad celebrated his birthday during the summer as well. But I wasn't around for that.

Jie and I, before going out.It was supposed to be a normal family dinner encompassing mummy, daddy, may, ming, jie and I. Lil did I know what all of them were up to!
Ming with 2 bottles of wine. I should have guessed!

The game of Cranium which we all love!

So Jie, Ming, May and I arrived in one car while my parents came from work. While we were looking for a parking lot, I spotted Helena's car. And like any normal person, my reaction was 'Hey! That's Helena!'Jie was pretty smart and played along, so he called Helena and asked her what was she doing there. Anyway, I still thought it was a coincidence as she was working opposite La Carretas during the summer.
Met my mum on the way in and was startled by the length of the dining table. AND Joee's and Jin's presence. Lol.
Damn right I was surprised! Reminded me of the time WanLin, Melissa and Strahan surprised me for my 20th birthday in Dublin. It's either really easy to surprise me or.. I'm just a sucker for surprises.

Ming and I.Gosh, my hair was sooo bright! (but definitely not as loud as May's ;p)

Lim's reunited!

Joee, Jon, Agnes, Helena, me, Edmund, Jie and Jin.

Margarita!
The food!My sister got to use her new camera that day and boy was she a happy girl that night as well!

Grace came later after getting er.. lost. lol!

May and I.

We were so stuffed with Mexican food, we shared a few desserts which look so good right now!(I've this self-diagnosed thing called Post Exam Eating Disorder. Because I don't eat "right" during the exams, once my last paper ends, I tend to crave for a lot of things! The 3 kgs I lost during the exams will eventually come back! Boo!)

My dearest family and I.The story about the sombrero; you know how typical restaurants like Friday's, Italliannies and what-have-yous will sing birthday songs to the bday boy/girl? Well, in Friday's they make you stand on a chair. Here they make you wear the sombrero and take a picture of you, nicely framed La Carretas style.

The girls and I.

Boys and I.
It was a really great birthday dinner surprise. Never knew my parents put thought to these kinda things when they've got so much stuff to shoulder at work. Thank you mummy and daddy and the rest who came!
One thing I cannot forget from that night was the question May asked me.
May: *points discretely at Edmund*Is that Agnes' bf, Loong?
Me: *gives the look of disbelief, horror, shock, and the list goes on..*
Rofl!
+.+.+.+
Anyway, it's time for me to really catch up on updating my blog. I'm still in the midst of packing and of course, catching up with the many series that I used to be hooked on to last semester. Well, I made a promise to myself to abstain from Gossip Girl, Grey's, OTH this term and hopefully it has paid off.
Right now, I'm gonna cook myself a packet of IndoMee Goreng for supper and enjoy New Moon. Toddles!
+.+.+.+.+

Picture Of The Week 5

2009-12-13T08:30:00.003+08:00

P.O.T.W. #5

The dance crew for Chocolate Ball '09!L- R: Me, Shafina, Carol, Fi, Aunshu, Siofra, Kailyn, Catherine!

This was us after going through the dance over and over backstage. This year's chocolate ball was toned down compared to the ones I've been the 2 previous years. Instead of focusing on the Fashion Show, there was no fashion show this year as they provided better food and chocolate. You'll see this on Facebook because by the time I actually blog about this, I might just be back home in Malaysia reminiscing the good times I've had here!
I was not looking forward to this year's choc ball since there wasn't a fashion show to watch. But after the event, I personally think it's better to do without the fashion show. It's more laid back and everyone is not obliged to sit put and forced to watch the fashion show. Or, perhaps my expectations were too low in the first place!
So that wraps up all the dance performances for this year. I'm definitely gonna miss rushing from the hospital to the college for practices and the adrenaline that comes with performing!

Picture Of The Week 4

2009-12-09T01:51:00.004+08:00

P.O.T.W. #4

The past 2 weeks have been hectic. With early morning lectures to late evening tutorials to dance practices for PMC Farewell AND Chocolate Ball, I'm surprised I managed through it alive. The videos for Wan Lin's, Hui Xin's and dance performances are on Facebook and most of you would've already seen it.
Dance practices are fun and some what nerve wrecking especially when the time frame is very narrow. But nonetheless, the moment you walk off stage, you know it was all worth your while.
I personally enjoyed the farewell organized by the juniors and headed by Evelyn. When they say time flies when you're having fun, it certainly did last Thursday when most of us had to change from one outfit to another and could only sit our butts down for less than half an hour.
Now, instead of looking forward to going home, I think I might actually miss this place. ;p

Picture Of The Week 3

2009-12-04T10:52:00.002+08:00

P.O.T.W #3

Vino and the turkey he and Tamal stayed up till 4am for.
We had Thanksgiving Lunch with the American Medical Student Association on Saturday to celebrate Thanksgiving. Apparently Thanksgiving in Canada, England and America fall on different dates. But the most striking similarity is definitely the presence of the yummy turkey ready to be eaten!
~gobble gobble~

Picture Of The Week

2009-11-25T18:05:00.002+08:00

P.O.T.W. #2

Amanda, Michelle and EeVien were in Dublin for the weekend. On a very early Sunday morning, we headed off to Howth for some yummy goodness of orgasmic fresh oysters only 7.50 euros for a dozen. This picture was taken when we were feeding 8 seals at the pier.
Will update on this soonish.

MUNICH DAY 3

2009-11-21T04:06:00.000+08:00

MUNICH DAY 324th September '09
On our last day in Munich, with a late afternoon flight to catch, Jie and I cramped our city tour into what ever time was left for us.
Because we booked our flights and accommodation for the Oktoberfest a tad too late, (by late I meant 5 months prior to the event. Normally, people would actually book a year in advance!!) we got a hotel that was a 30 minute train ride away from the city of Munich itself.
So up we were, early in the morning, taking turns with the shower and finally, breakfast at the hotel. I've always been a sucker for hotel breakfasts. Ever since my trip to Australia in 2003, I've never said no to any buffet breakfast that were provided by hotels. It's not like they serve Michellin-quality food, but it's the variety that makes me go nuts!
Look at me, I'm sidetracking again.

After a really good breakfast of heaps and heaps of bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages and loaves of ham, Jie and I headed to the station for our walking tour.
It's not obvious in this picture, but Jie is (proudly, if I might add) wearing Munich FC's jersey.
Our free walking tour started at Marienplatz and it takes about 3-4 hours to complete the entire tour. It's free but the tour guides are given tips based on how good you think they are.Our group ironically got an excellent tour guide from New Zealand! What are the odds!

A closer look of the New Town Hall. The gold statue atop the Mariensaule on the right is the Virgin MaryThis is a better picture if you're interested.
Mariensaule is a column erected at its current location after the Swedish occupation. Germany, Munich in particular, has too many good and bad histories with other countries and I can only remember a few bits here and there.
That aside, the point I was trying to make was that Marienplatz (Mary's Square) was named after Mariensaule (Mary's Column).Ah.. makes sense right? ;p

And the rest of the new town hall.

I actually can't remember the name of this building. But it looked unique to me.

As you walk through the new town hall, this is what you see on the ceilings.It's a priest holding 'something brown' in his left hand and pointing towards a direction with his right.When our tour guide asked us to guess what was in the priest's left hand, I immediately said BEER without any thought what-so-ever that OBVIOUSLY it's a BIBLE!!! *shy*But, people do joke about how these priests can be thought as holding a mug of beer and pointing to the next nearest beer house!
Next, we walked towards a cathedral called Frauenkirche that was under refurbishment. Based on a long-winded legend, it is said that the Devil helped the builder construct the windows to the cathedral.
Okay, I know that sounds very odd so I guess I have to clarify what I said with the long-winded story itself.

Teufelstritt a.k.a the Devil's foot.
Before the cathedral was built, the devil made an agreement with the builder that there should not be any windows because he knew that Christians sing songs a praise as part of worshiping God. After much give and take, they came to a consensus of building small windows instead. When the cathedral was built, (note, these are all based on legends and myths and this one that I remember is just one of the versions) the devil could still hear the singing coming from the large windows of the cathedral. So he flew down (or up if you get what I mean) and told the builder to remove the windows. The builder who didn't want to argue with the devil agreed. So the devil stood, watched and ridiculed as the builder removed the windows. Little did the devil know that he was tricked because the builder made the windows in columns, in such a way that the devil could not see from where he was standing. As expected, the devil was furious when he found out. Because the church was already sanctified, the devil could not enter. So at the entrance, that's where he stomped his foot in rage and fury.
This was one of the few things out of the many which I remember in full from what the tour guide said cause as she was reiterating this legend to us, I could actually picture all of it happening. Well, with my own version of 'the devil' and 'the builder' in my head.

In the Frauenkirche.Looks like any other cathedrals you see in any parts of Europe which I've been.

On the left, is what was beside the Frauenkirche. They're tombs of bishops if I'm not wrong.On the right, is where Mozart used to live. It's now a Button Shop.

Left: The priest with a mug of beer pointing to the Hofbrauhaus.Right: St. Peter's.

That's our tour guide. She was explaining to us some historical facts about that thing on the wall. That's about when my attention slipped from me.

Next stop, last stop for Jie and I, was the Viktualienmarkt.
It's a market which sells all sorts of stuff. Fruits, vegetables, flowers, decorations and all that jazz.What captured my attention though, were these really cute but not very cuddly animal look-a-likes!

Aren't they adorable!!My favourite is the hedgehog. Sho sho sho sho kuuutee!

In the centre of the Viktualienmarkt.

Jie was in desperate need for water. Lol.At the market, this is the German's version of a water cooler. Barcelona's is kind of similar.

Another beer garden where the Germans just eat and drink.

What a lovely summer day.*looks out window into the charcoal black sky*=[

Pork knuckle!

Potatoes.

Sausages!
That was the first part of our lunch. There were no seats left so we hunted around the area for some good beer before heading back home.

Ah... Augustiner bier, what a way to end our trip!

Sausage and sauerkraut for me.

Beef + beer soup for Jie.

Although it was a mere 3 days, we certainly enjoyed ourselves, with good company, good food, good beer, nice hotel, what's there to complain about?
I know Jie will revisit Munich for another round of Oktoberfest in the near future. Even if you don't enjoy beer as much, you'll enjoy the atmosphere of Oktoberfest because to me, that alone made my O'fest a one to remember.
+.+.+.+
Next up, my birthday celebrations in 3 different countries!I honestly thought by the time I get to my birthday post, it'll be time for X'mas!
Ta now!

Picture Of The Week

2009-11-17T07:46:00.002+08:00

P.O.T.W. #1

Jie was in Dublin over the weekend. His first time this term and hopefully more to come!

OKTOBERFEST @ MUNCHEN, BAVARIA, GERMANY.

2009-11-13T03:51:00.001+08:00

OKTOBERFEST @ MUNICHTuesday, 22nd September '09
Well hello there! I'm back!But not for long. The workload is starting to pile up and with only a month left before the Xmas break, there's just too much to do! (studies AND social life included)
A couple of friends just got back from Munich yesterday and a few are going next weekend. This prompted me to blog about my Oktoberfest experience in Munich before it becomes nothing but a vague memory.
+.+.+.+
DAY 1
Jie and I flew from Malaysia on the 20th of September, arrived London Heathrow on the 21st of September and left for Munich on the 22nd. It isn't as tiring as it sounds, cause in a funny way, you get immune to the airports, airport people, airport smell, express trains and the whole travel vibe.

This was my first time on an EasyJet flight which doesn't operate to or from Dublin. Jie took the window seat but that did not deter me from taking window-view pictures.

At our hotel, Am Moosfeld.The gang from Dublin; Joanne, Hui Xin, Kev, Kings, HanBing and Jason were booked into the hotel earlier that day and were roaming the streets of the city by the time we arrived.
So we headed towards the city centre for tourist-y activities.

A beer garden and I.Missing those summer days! As I'm typing this, I'm wearing 3 layers of clothes + a scarf. And I'm indoors. Joy.

The new town hall at Marienplatz.

HuiXin and I at the entrance of Hofbrauhaus where we had our dinner.
Apparently, way back then when the women used to wear Dirndls and men used to wear Lederhosens on a daily basis, the floors of the restaurants and beer houses were coated with a thick layer of sand.
Because there's so many people and you'd be a nuisance if you make everyone get up from the bench just so you can visit the loo, the men would have walking sticks with them so that they can use these sticks to dig up holes from the ground of sand, unhook their Lederhosens and pee right there and then. Then, with the walking stick, they'd push the sand back above their excretions.I wonder how the women coped with this problem. Heh.

Looks awesome eh?A typical guy would love Germany; Meat, carbo, beer, meat, carbo and more meat! Nothing green on the plate.

Cheers!To our first litre in Munich!

L-R: Kev, Jo, me, Huixin, Jie, Kings.

DAY 2
After a good hearty buffet breakfast, we were all geared up for the real deal. The Oktoberfest itself.

All of us on our way to Moosfeld Station.

<3
You cannot imagine how packed the trains were on that day. Pictures do tell a thousand words but this is something you've got to see with your own eyes.

This is just a glimpse of it.
The weather was perfect for a day out that day. It was a lil hot but I'd rather be boiling hot than freezing-Titanic-scene-cold.

Of all things, we first spotted this at our entrance.Yumzz! But Oktoberfest is about Pork and Beer so we left this for later.

Our first tent, HIPPODROM.The word tent is very deceiving.

Look at the colours!

First Oktoberfest litre.There are 2 types of beers, one is the normal bittery beer which I call the man's beer. The other is the lemonade beer which I call the lady's beer. It's sweeter and alot like cider. For those who don't like beer in general, I'd recommend the lemonade beer. I personally prefer the bittery beer and it's after taste; the consequence of an overdose of Jie.

Cheers, round 2!

German white sausage and a pretzel with kickass German mustard!

Performances by a live band.I don't get German music. But if you're high on beer and sausages, it makes a very good combination!

The camera and it's 10-second picture capturing function.

*Roar*

Next tent, PAULANER.

Second litre of the day.

Performances again by the Germans.One of the performers was quite an elderly person (far right if I'm not wrong) but he displayed so much enthusiasm in his routine! And as you can see, it's very very packed. Little did we know it was gonna get worse the next few tents.

How can you resist this!

Roast chicken and Pork knuckle!Munchen, I miss you!

He was obviously having the time of his life. Lol.

The performers stood on the tables and were whacking their whips in the air to the beat of the live band.

Getting pink from the heat and alcohol.

Before leaving for the next tent.
We decided to take a break from food and beers.
Shooting looked interesting to the boys.The gun was deceivingly heavy. Kinda denotes what the average size of a German is.

Us girls and our prizes.

Horsey and Jie.The horses pooped everywhere!

Jie and I with the Augustiner-Brau cart.

Third tent, Augustiner-Brau! Literally, the best of the best!

Nothing can beat this litre.

Cheers to round 3!The only downside about A-B is their mugs. When we were clicking (okay, more like whamming) our mugs, one of the the mugs broke and there goes a litre of good beer. My dress was drenched in A-B but better this than hot Milo i guess. =p

Group pic!And besides brewing one of the best beers on earth, their waiters are the kind of workers anybody would like, excluding their employers. The waitress took our orders, served us and never came back to get our money!We waited and waited, we even asked other waitresses but when they're put in charge of a single area, they stick to a single area. It's not like we were dishonest, we just got lucky I guess.The best tent, and it was free for all of us!

And as you can see, it made all of us very happy people. Especially Kevinder. ;p

All smiles!

4th tent, Hacker.

This tent was filled with so many people, many didn't have seats. Then again, people with seats didn't bother sitting down anyway. It's very intimidating to see very happy men standing on the bench/tables while singing/roaring the words to the songs that were played.
But their cheery mood is so darn contagious, it just feels so good to be part of this German culture.

*ngom ngom ngom**stares at picture**stares at own bowl of salad**gags*

This wasn't too bad. But when your body is submerged in what, 4Ls of beer, it doesn't matter anymore.
After we decided we're finally full, Jie, Kev and I went to play more games while the rest went for rides.
I would have loved to go on rollercoasters and whatnot but with the ridonkulous amount of food measuring from my intestines to esophagus (I was THAT full), it would be better not to risk it.

Throwing darts to pop 'em balloons!

Whheee!.. Probably the only funfair game I'm good at.

This stall was a big con.
You had 15 tries to throw the hoops around the prizes places nicely in the middle of the stall.Obviously the more expensive prizes were the furthest, and the crappier prizes were within an arm's length. The catch here is, all the prizes are placed on top of a square block. A hoop is only counted if the entire circumference of the hoop gets through the prize AND all the sides of the block.
Wow. I managed to explain it quite well, if I do say so myself. Heh.Anyway, point is, how is that even possible??That's why the first 5 hoops were fun and when it came to the next 10, you know it's never going to go in.

Last tent, Lowenbrau!

By the time we got to our last tent, it was already 5 in the evening!Check out the amount of people in the tent!The Germans really know how to live life.

RCSI-ans.

I wanted to buy one of those dirndls probably as a Halloween costume, but the really nice ones costs a bomb!!! 100 euros or something like that. Giler.

This looked like so much fun!!*touches tummy* not so much fun anymore.

And we're back to our baked friends.

Om Nom Nom Nom!

By the end of the day, when the alcohol starts to die off and our limbs begin to tire, we were all restless and sleepy. I was a lil jet lagged but still very eager to snap touristy pictures!

OKTOBERFEST 2009!
And just when we thought we were about to head home, we decided to go for more German goodness!

Augustiner Keller, the Biergarten.

Apparently, the German people used to sit on these benches, drinking their mugs of beer, while watching people get hanged in the area in front of them (the right of this picture). Now, that area is a playground. WOW.Gory!

To sum up Day 2, here's a typical Jie picture.
+.+.+.+
A short post on Day 3 coming up soon.
On a rather random note, I think I might be starting my Project 365 again. Well, not one picture a day perse, but I was thinking more along the lines of 'Picture of the Week.'
We'll see how that will turn out.

HONG KONG DAY 3

2009-10-19T03:48:00.004+08:00

HONG KONG DAY 3,

DISNEYLAND!

26th August '09

Even before our trip to Hong Kong, Grace and I were having this dilemma as to whether we should spend an entire day in Ocean Park or DisneyLand.

We verbally listed the pros and cons on the plane but came to no conclusion. We discussed it on the first day in Hong Kong during dinner but to no avail. Until the day before, we opted for DisneyLand because we are still young at heart and how can you not like Disney characters??

I guess Ocean Park would be a more adult choice but I've never been to DisneyLand before. Apparently, it's one of the worst Disneylands ever but if you've never stepped into Florida's or Paris' then HongKong's is a good stepping stone.

This was the MTR that brought us to DisneyLand.If all our Putra trains back home looked like this, I actually might use Msia's public transport more often.

Cute Mickey Mouse handles which I held on to with dear life.It's not often I can reach up to handles in trains/tubes/buses without tip-toeing since I'm quite vertically challenged.

And finally, we're here!

I spotted my favourite Disney Princess on the way in.

Grace and I with Mickey and co in the background.
Our first stop was Mickey's PhilharMagic.You could see people swarming into the theatre, and when I mean swarming, I really mean swarming.

Hence, this was the best picture of the entrance I could capture.

Blending in with the Asian community in Disneyland..
Our next stop was some river ride around Tarzan's Treehouse. Lol. Doesn't sound very exciting does it?

A view of Tarzan's treehouse from the river.

Elephants that actually look real.

Urm, Tarzan ate all of them?

This was probably the most exciting part of the river ride. I don't think the flames were real but there was definitely heat coming out from the caves.Basically, it's there to fool kids.
We then took the raft over to the treehouse.
I'm really sorry to whoever this is but I just couldn't help it!

Dysfunctional Wardrobe Syndrome.

There you go, welcome to Tarzan's Treehouse!

Tarzan & Jane.Actually, this is a really good epitome of Jie and I. hehe!

3 of us eliciting our strengths.
After so much walking and being dehydrated by the sun to the state of hypertonicity, we decided to have lunch indoors, where as I've mentioned, we can enjoy the turbo blast of HK's aircon.

Then it's back out in the sun again.

Lilo and Stitch seemed to be the in thing that summer.Honestly, I'm not a Lilo and Stitch fan. But when you're in DisneyLand, everything miraculously seems appealing to you.You want a picture with every single Disney thing that you spot.

And this picture illustrates just that.
Next up, The Lion King Musical.It's a really short version of the real deal you get from London. I'll probably do that with my family when they come.

Simba, Timon & Pumbaa!
Out into the sun we went and on to the kiddiest ride we could find.Before stepping into DisneyLand Grace and I swore we wouldn't go on any teacup rides that required spinning and ONLY spinning. Not our cup of tea. Had a really bad experience in Genting with May a long time ago.

So we opted for Dumbo!

That's me in my Dumbo.

Grace and I were trying some jump shots and obviously Stanley has never taken jumping shots before. =p

So instead of jumping shots of us, we took a more decent picture with the 7 dwarfs somewhere in the background.

And we were in luck!We got to the end of one hell of a queue just to see Cinderella.
As though we weren't osmose-d to dried ikan bilis by 3pm, we stood with the crowd for Mickey's Water Works Parade.

This is probably the first time ever, I'm grateful to that someone who sprayed water on me. I swear I could've heard my arm 'sizzle' cause it was THAT hot.

Like a kid, I was so eager and happy to see all my favourite Disney characters.Unlike the majority of the lot, my favourite old school Disney character is Donald Duck.I know he's annoying, but if you think about it, they're all annoying in their own unique ways too, especially Mickey.

And out of the 7 dwarfs, my favourite is Dopey!One, because he doesn't have a beard and two, he wears a purple hat! =]
And my all time Disney Channel favourite, Winnie The Pooh.I used to watch every episode in the evenings with May during my primary days.

Winnie the Pooh ironically isn't my favourite character.

But Tigger is! =]
We visited Buzz Lightyear's domain next where we played sidekick and helped him shoot bad guys. This sounds very wrong coming from a 21 year old.

Grace and Stanley obviously doing a better job than me alone. hehe.

Time for a break!Stanley treated us goodies before we tried to finish up DisneyLand.

Yummy cotton candy!

At the entrance of 'It's A Small World'.

Another boat ride but thankfully not under the sun!

A fat version of Princess Jasmine, Pocahontas and Ariel.
The ride was quite interesting at first. But when every single character is doing twirls and shakes to the song 'It's a Small World After All' in sync, it gets really creepy. 5 rounds of this ride and I might just need an asylum!

One of the most adult rides in DisneyLand. Which also means a crazy queue festooned with very rude and audacious people from you-know -where.
Before leaving DisneyLand, you know you must set foot into the souvenir shop even if you don't plan to get anything. We were in there for quite a while, oohing and aahing at all the cute Disney things you wished you had when you were 6 and still do.
Me being me, I bought a fridge magnet because I'd rather spend my HKD on other things like clothes and... clothes. Heh.
Then, it was time for the fireworks!

A view of Sleeping Beauty's castle.

Not very clear pictures of the fireworks cause my camera is ancient giler and I somehow refuse to get a new one.

We rushed from Disneyland to Peak Tram on the same night!The amount of walking we did in that day, was probably enough to walk from Johor to Penang. I kid you not.

People with vertigo, my advice is to take the elevator.

The view of Hong Kong by night.

Grace and I.

Awww...
On a more random not, in Hong Kong, there seems to be a Hello Kitty frenzy amongst not only the kids but in every single generation on the island!

This was what we saw on one of the Crocs shop.Hello Kitty is pointing her middle finger at you.Lol.

And this is how it looks like in human form.Not so cute anymore eh?

The ride downhill was even more stressful than the one uphill. Why can't all rides be like the ones in Disneyland?!Cute and safe.
Well, that sums up our trip to HK.

Thank you Grace-y for accompanying me and having me as a 120Watt lightbulb. Lol, after all the years of being mine, I guess it's high time I play bulb instead. =p

Thanks Stanley for bringing us around, moving from the island to Kowloon numerous times a day, and thanks for the gifts!

Next up, Germany.

HONG KONG DAY 2

2009-10-07T02:26:00.001+08:00

An update. Finally.

Third Med is not funny at all hence the disappearing act for almost a month.

And so much for Project 365. I've missed a couple of days here and there so I guess my project 365 was nothing but unsuccessful. (sorry Helena dear!)

But trust me, I've still got loads to update on.

Without further ado, here's the continuation of my HK trip.

+.+.+.+

HONG KONG DAY 2
25th August '09

Grace and I reluctantly dragged ourselves out of bed the following morning. We were supposed to meet Stanley at 10.30am at Tsim Tsa Tsui but knowing us Malaysians, we were 15 mins late.

Our plan that very day was to go over to Hong Kong Island itself.

Just to illustrate, Grace and I are staying in Kowloon. Stanley planned to take us over via the ferry just for experience. More on that later.

Some random building on the way to the Avenue of Stars.

The view of HK Island from Tsim Tsa Tsui Promenade.
Perfect love scene.
Being retards.
During my primary school days, I used to indulge in cantonese dramas shown on TV2 every weekday while eating dinner. I especially enjoyed those which involved HK's policemen and triads. But I've cut down on cantonese dramas ever since and whatever miniscule cantonese knowledge I had, deteriorated with time.
Some way, somehow, I've never come to know the actors' and actresses' names cause I never bothered to find out. I might know their English names but that's as far as it goes. Up until my recent trip to Hong Kong, I've never known Jackie Chan's chinese name. Heh.
Anyway, The Avenue of Stars is a project made to honour the professionals in the Hong Kong film industry.

Syiok sendiri.

I couldn't recognise half the people's names there. So when I came across one or two known names, I admit, I was a lil too excited.

The weather was a lil better today nonetheless still burning hot.We stopped by Starbucks for a cup of cold ice blended wtv. No coffee for me cause I get severe headaches with caffeine in my system.
Note Grace's stressed out face. She was talking to one of her distant relatives (bau-bau bacang, if you know what I mean).
Why the stressed out face? Well, most of us from SKDU are as banana as a banana can get. Grace can converse relatively well in mandrin for a banana but even then, she struggled to hold a proper conversation with her 'aunt', switching from mandrin to hokkien.But I must say, she did really well. *pat pat*

She even had time to take silly pictures with me whilst on the phone.
We took the ferry over to HK Island. Grace and I aren't huge fans of boat rides and the lot. So we were rather well behaved on the ferry. It wasn't as bad as we expect it to be because the ferry went at a very high speed and it wasn't all covered up like a claustrophobic prison cell. *pHew!*

First stop, IFC Mall for HK's extremely powerful blast of air con.

They even have air con vents on the ground!My failed attempt of a Marilyn Monroe moment.
We were at the rooftop of IFC Mall, where you can see the spectacular view of HK Island in front of you and Kowloon at the back.

Bank of China, as Stanley pointed out at least 5 times. hehe.

Awwww...

3 of us.

No offense but some people in HK have very weird sense of fashion.Everything from the head to ankles are fine but the shoes......As Jie would call it, 'Highlighter shoes'But I've seen worse.

A view of Kowloon.

Weird looking chairs that look like they might just topple over by sustaining my weight.
All the walking made us hungry and there's nothing else I'd like to eat in HK except more DIM SUM!

Lunch was at LEI GARDEN, IFC Mall. The dim sum here was better presented compared to the day before. Gosh, just by gawking at these pictures, I can hear my tummy rumble. I know where I wanna go this weekend in Chinatown, London.. ;p
Next, we took the tram to Central (if I remember correctly).

The tram looks like a very skinny bus with *hyperventilates*...no air con..Hence the sticky and dirty look we all have the moment we stepped out of the comforts of IFC Mall.

Talk about being efficient.Oh, check out the tram infront.HK's version of our pharmacy, Guardian is called Mannings. (weird...)When I mean HK's version I really mean EXACT version..Even the logo and their uniform is the same as ours. But Guardian sounds so much better than Mannings. Rofl.

In front Times Square.

I don't think the old woman knows what she's holding.

I was so amazed to see bamboo sticks at their construction sites. Makes me feel part of the typical Jackie Chan movie where he spider walks up these bamboo sticks and gets thrown down by the bad guys. Heh.
In we were to yet another shopping mall.Seriously, the air con is simply fantastic. There's no other way to describe it!

To freeze ourselves for what awaits us outside the shopping mall, Ben&Jerry's ice cream was just the perfect solution.
We met up with Grace's friends from Reading for dinner.Since they're Hongkees ordering wasn't such a hassle and if you eat what the locals eat, you can never go wrong.

L-R: Grace, Natalie, Adrian, Stanley, Chestnut, me.
Right after dinner, it was time to experience nightlife in HK.Ironically, the place they brought us to was called Sahara. Lol.The weather definitely made it feel Saharan.
6 of us.

And Chestnut took a really cool pic of me.I'm quite amazed at how I've had my camera for so long and I do nothing to the other function buttons except switch from macro to normal and zoom.Heh.
With the speedy internet connection here, I promise you HK DAY 3 in no time.=]

Project 365 week 13

2009-09-08T11:06:00.005+08:00

PROJECT 365 WEEK 13
31st August - 6th September '09

85. Jonson had us over at his '4 timezone' house for a feast. Despite being super late, I managed to gobble down Jonson's mum's homemade fish lasagne because it was so delicious! Jie, mund, Helena and Jonson were playing mahjong while Agnes and I watched. I used to play mahjong with my grandfather when I was in primary 4. Those days seem ancient and so is my memory of the game.
~31st August '09~

86. After having my long awaited Ayam Goreng Mcd for lunch, Jie and I spontaneously decided to watch District 9. So much for not being a movie person. I watched 2 movies in the same week!
It's not too bad for a low budget movie. The first half hour was relatively boring but when you start to get the hang of the movie, it's quite enjoyable.
~1st September '09~

87. Traffic lights!
The 4 of us, Jie and Benson were at Neway for 3 hours worth of singing. Edmund was, as always, the star of the night doing a few solos, followed by Benson's heart wrenching singing in English, Mandrin, Cantonese and Malay. I've gotten so accustomed to having more chinese songs than english songs at karaoke sessions in Dublin. This must have been the first where I did not ask 'What does this song mean?' =p
~2nd September '09~

88. Thai dinner at Sri Ayutthia.
This is a candid shot of me by May. I had my nails done the afternoon before dinner. As you can see, I'm trying to be extra careful with my nails just in case it gets into my hair and ruin the varnish. In addition to that, I was suffering from a major sore throat because I was able to sing majority of the songs that were chosen in the previous nights' karaoke! Lol.
*shakes head* The things we sacrifice to enjoy ourselves fully.
~3rd September '09~

89. At times, drivers with the smallest of cars tend to think they're notoriously huge on the road.
This Kancil was right in the middle of the yellow box with so much more room to move in front of her (if it's not bob, it's a woman in the driver's seat but it's BOTH this time round) so that the Jazz and I can cross. I was literally BOILING and at the brink of erupting. I took my camera out of my bag, I even had the time to adjust my camera settings, then take a picture of her godforsaken car in the box. These are the people who create unnecessary traffic in KL. I think May would agree with me that JPJ should fail these people with no road etiquette instead of those who can't complete a 3 point turn.
~4th September '09~

90. On a more cheerful note, it was Agnes' 21st birthday celebration at Vintry on Saturday night. I was the only person who ordered a Malaysian dish, Coconut rice platter. On a normal basis I wouldn't have. But with only 15 more days to London, I decided not to dwell on any Western dishes till I get back. Thanks for the yummy dinner sweetieNes!
~5th September '09~

91. Lunch at Sage was postponed to the week after so we had goose for lunch at Cheras. (it sounds far for a person living in TTDI, but you've no idea how far and early Msians drive out to have a good meal, eh Helena? ;p)
~6th September '09~

HONG KONG DAY 1

2009-09-06T01:40:00.004+08:00

As promised, a proper post. You know it's been a while since you've blogged a proper post when you have no idea how to start.

Why is it that no one pesters Jie to blog when he's the one going around telling people that his blog 'autoupdates'!! *sigh*

As always, I blog in bits. 5 minutes typing followed by a 5 hour break doing something else.
*tsk tsk*
It's no wonder I never get posts done on time! Like for example, now, it's 12.22pm. I just got up from bed but I feel like sleeping for a bit more. Then it's lunch at somewhere at least 10kms away from my house. I'll come back, blog for 10 minutes, fiddle with this and that, then it's out the door again. If only we could blog in our minds. Think of how convenient
that'll be.

.xxxxxxxx.

HONG KONG DAY 1
24th August '09

For the first time in this one month back home, I had to get up crawl out of bed as early as 3.45am to catch our flight to HK at 7am. On a normal day, getting up 3.45am would've meant only 45 minutes of sleep.

Grace's dad drove us to the airport. I was trying to stay awake but the cool air from the air con vents and uncle's smooth driving told me otherwise.

At the LCCT, the queue for our flight was too long to be true. Aren't people supposed to be extra paranoid with H1N1 and not travel?? Sheesh!
Thankfully, we checked in online and all we needed to do was drop our baggages off (though some ignorant air asia personnel told us to join the queue despite checking in online. must.write.complain.letter!)

Boarding our flight at 0700.
It's simply too early to pop in our contact lenses, hence the spectacles.

We slept for the first hour or so. I kept waking up every 5 minutes because I have a teeny bladder. The problem was, I had the middle seat, Grace had the window seat and the person on my other side was sleeping even before the plan took off!! (the scary part; she was wearing a mask ) So I had to wait for the right moment to politely tap her shoulder and scoot to the toilet. Twice. *blush*

When we realized our bodies refuse to go into snooze mode, we decided to ...
(take a wild guess)...
...
...
...
draw..

Bet you didn't think we'd be drawing parts of the human anatomy eh?
This was how it all began. Grace and I were talking about how we can't be pilots cause our eyesights are as bad as bats'. Then I suggested laser, because that's what most pilots do.

Me: Laser only la!
Grace: But the say laser is not permanent.
Me: Really?
Grace: Yea, coz laser is just stretching your kanta only. Puan Chew (our Form 2 Science teacher) told us one la when we were learning the eye last time.
Me: Ohhhh...

Then Grace started drawing her version of the human eye. Then the ear, the tongue etc etc. I did my version beside hers. I've to give it to Grace, 4 years of not touching Bio and not to mention hating Bio, yet her drawing looks better than mine.. but not necessarily functional.

This is her masterpiece.

As I look back, I'm quite thankful Ms. Mask beside me was asleep the entire time to not see what monkey business we were up to.

There you go. The difference between a medical student's (L) and a finance sudent's (R) perception of the human body.

I must say, my human looks very off balanced.

We napped a lil while and before we knew it, we arrived at Chek Lap Kok Airport!
The airport was swarming with tourists, esp from mainland China (urgh, more about that in Day 3) and India.

All a sudden, the Malay Language seems pretty useful now when you need to mock the person beside you.

Stanley picked us up from the airport.

Not only was I burning under the scorching sun, I had my specs on so I was suffering from a minor migrain.

We managed to find Aunty JooLee's place thanks to my vague photographic memory of her place from 8 years ago and a few phone calls.

After saying our hellos, how are yous and popped in my lenses, we headed towards Festival Walk for lunch!
It wasn't difficult to choose what to have as I was craving for Dim Sum even before I left Malaysia. So DimSum was it.

Lunch has never been so stressful.
My spoken Cantonese and Mandrin are limited, so don't expect me to read this menu of ours!
Grace is not as banana as I am. Her mandrin is pretty fluent and she can guess a few Mandrin characters. Stanley's Cantonese is better than Grace's and mine combined but he can't read either.

Eventually...
Stanley: *gestures for the waiter's attention*
'ngo dei ho yi tong lei... *pause* teng (wtv order is in cantonese) choi mou? ngo dei um sek tuk..'

To translate, since I'm not 100% sure if my spelling cantonese is right,
'Can we order from you because we can't read the menu.'

But I figured, speaking Canto in HK isn't too bad. You just need to find an English word and Cantonize it, something you'd see very often in Cantonese Dramas. Stanley couldn't remember the word for order, hence the *pause*, but I'm sure if you sed 'or-dar' they'd understand you perfectly.

I honestly can't remember the names of these dishes.
They aren't the best, but no matter how bad the DimSum is in HK, I think it's better than the ones we get in M'sia.
Before any of you gungho/patriotic DimSum eaters in Msia start sneering at me, let me remind you it's just an honest individual opinion.

In less than 3 hours in HK, I'm experiencing yet another culture shock. When I scooped my rice on to my plate, Stanley gave me this weird look.

In HK, you don't eat from the plate, you put bones on them. You eat from the BOWL.
Hey, I'm using CHOPSTICKS! (fyi, chopsticks and I don't see eye to eye) I'm trying to blend in and now you want me to eat from what I'd call soup bowl?

Then, there's a pair of common chopsticks in the middle of the table where everyone uses to pick up their dishes. Apparently the hongkees became uber obsessed with this hygeine gibberish after the SARS pandemic.

Nonetheless, it was quite an experience, eating rice with a pair of chopsticks and the whole culture shock thing.

Next stop, MONGKOK!

*groans*
Out of the comforts of Festival Walk's air conditioning and onto the burning clutches of Hong Kong roads.

So tempted to bring home one of em snuggly soft toys!
*bounce bounce* I want!

You know how sometimes you stumble upon broken english signs and instructions that simple crack you up because you actually know what they're really trying to say?
Well, I have no idea what 'I'm happy to give helping hand to anybody except money' means even after reading it again and again!!!

Easy Drink Easy Go, HK's famous bubble tea stall.
It would've been as easy as the stall's name implied if it weren't for the queue!

Bubble tea lovers.

I had bubble tea 3 times in my entire 21 years. My first experience was horrible, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt and thought I was just unlucky. Second time, wasn't much better but after trying for the third time, I know bubble tea ain't my cup of tea.

Next Street.

Hongkees have this Hello Kitty fettish which I can't seem to comprehend.
And I don't think it's just the younger generation.
A Hello Kitty iron?.. toaster?? Potato peeler??

The heat was so bad, we deliberately stepped into one of the shopping malls to enjoy the air con for a while. There were many interesting yet weird stuff that we encountered so much so we ended up spending more time in there than we'd thought we would!

There were zodiac signs on every floor (it's a very high building) and this is mine, Libra.

Funky names for the many shops in HK.
They're definitely running out of names for shops judging by the names people give their shops these days, eg. princess princess. =.=''

We were dead beat after taking the MTR home.
But dinner was still to come!

Uncle SG took us to this chinese restaurant nearby for goose! (siew ngor! ;p) Apparently I was there 8 years ago but sadly I have no memory of it.

Jacqueline did most of the ordering cause she speaks mandrin more fluently than any of us at the table. She even checked our bill at the end of dinner. Heh!

The food

Everything was delicious! I contantly reminded myself to eat from the bowl and not the plate. =]]

We hit the sheets quite early that night, 1am to be exact. If we weren't that drained, we could have either, option 1, go to Tsim Tsa Tsui or option 2, gossip till early morning!
(hey, it's Grace and I, nothing can stop us from gossiping except sleep ;p)

+.+.+.+

Okay, remember what I said about me taking eons to finsih one post?
I started off with this post on Tuesday 12.22pm.
It's Sunday morning 1.40am.
I'll revive that angelic blogger in me come this October.

Arms aching from crazy pushups at Pushmore with Helena.
Need sleep!
Will be back with Day 2.
*pinky promise*

Project 365 week 12

2009-09-02T00:22:00.002+08:00

Ah.. my second round of project 365 in less than 24 hours.
I'm starting to get the hang of this. =]

PROJECT 365 WEEK 12
August 24th - August 30th '09

78. Day 1 in Hong Kong!
After dropping our bags off at Aunty JooLee's Stanley brought us to Mong Kok for some street shopping! The weather was panas gilerr I just couldn't understand how the hongkee's walk around in long TROUSERS (inside joke) or jeans!
Stanley introduced us to this famous bubble tea place which has 2 stalls on the same street. Not being a fan of milk bubble tea, I told Stanley to get me wtv that doesn't contain milk. Ended up with Ice Jasmine tea.. *gulps gulps gulps* =]
~24th August '09~

79. Day 2 in Hong Kong!
L-R: Chestnut, Stanley, moi, Natalie, Adrian, Grace.
Met up with Hongkees from Reading for dinner, drinks and shisha. See what I mean when I say all Hongkees wear jeans and anything below knee level. I honestly felt like I was in a chinese version of Eygpt.
~25th August '09~

80. Day 3 in Hong Kong!
Disneyland was quite an experience. I felt like I was 6 again! And kinda got carried away with it even after leaving Disneyland. Heh.
Anyway, this is Cinderella and the 3 of us. Didn't manage to get a picture with my favourite Disney Princess, Ariel. We were debating whether she'd be lying down in her fins or standing up in her human self.
~26th August '09~

81. Last day in Hong Kong!
In Chek Lap Kok with our tour guide for 4 days! Thanks a mil, Stanley for your time and lil gifts!
~27th August '09~

82. Went over too Jean's place for Laksa and poker thereafter. They caught me off guard when they said they won't be playing with chips but cash instead. Lucky me, my walkable ATM machine was around!
~28th August '09~

83. What a hectic week.
There goes my 12 hours of sleep per day, replaced by a 4 hour sleep just so my dad and I could catch our plane to Penang on time. My first time on a firefly. It's so much better than Ryanair in terms of leg space, take off, landing and hospitality, so to speak. When we arrived Penang, it was raining quite heavily. Little puddles around formed by big blobs of raindrops. And believe it or not, our disembarkation was delayed because they went off to get umbrellas for the passengers!
~29th August '09~

84. CousinTing and I.
She's one of the very few kids I enjoy being with. For most of you who don't know, if I had a choice to specialize in anything possible, paedetrics wouldn't even be on my list.
Despite being only 4 years old, she can speak 4 languages!
English, Hokkien, Mandrin and Thai!
~30th August '09~

Project 365 week 11

2009-09-01T20:11:00.000+08:00

PROJECT 365 WEEK 11
17th August - 23rd August '09

71. This was certainly not the typical yum cha session we usually have.
Wei Jin and Ivan had this debate on who is stronger/fitter/faster etc etc etc..
To prove this, they obviously needed an experiment. First, they arm wrestled to see who was stronger. Then they raced from one end of the road to another and back to see who was the fastest. Mind you, I'm talking about the road in front Jaya Diri Tuition Centre. =.= THEN, they played this insane game of slapping each other's palms to see who has the higher pain threshold.
These two kept Jie, Nick and I laughing the entire time!
~17th August '09~

72. Jie and I at Devi's Corner after watching G.I. Joe. I was never a movie person, and am still not one. I have to agree with Jie that the storyline for GI Joe wasn't the best, but I still enjoyed it. This is how I usually feel after a Hindi movie. Sometimes, it just doesn't need to make sense!
~18th August '09~

73. Heh. Sitting in the backseat of Chee Han's car. I'm still not used to the back seat safety belts. If I had a choice, I wouldn't be sitting at the back. And since it's the puasa month, you just don't want to create unnecessary trouble with the police.
~19th August '09~

74. Jun Hann brought Jie, Jonson, Agnes, Yi Siin and I fishing at Selayang. Didn't manage to catch anything, perhaps we were too noisy and impatient but it was pretty fun, sand flies aside that is.
~20th August '09~

75. Ah.. Fridays.. I love my weekends though I remember looking forward to it more than ever a month ago when I had my 9-5 weekdays. Anyway, Chin Wah and I went for a massage in the morning (12pm is morning to people like us). It was a mixture of reflexology and normal aromatherapy massage. I almost fell asleep if it weren't for Chin Wah's constant giggles! =p
At night, it was dinner with Sue Faye as she was leaving for Dublin soon.
Feels like Flat 28 (minus Loong) all over again!
~21st August '09~

76. Followed Jie to Timberland to do some last minute shopping for his hike up Mont Kinabalu. It's great how our plans worked out so well for the summer, me going to Hong Kong with Grace doing girly things and Jie hiking up Mt. K with Jonson, something I refuse to do cause I wanna live much longer than this.
~22nd August '09~

77. Dinner at Bijoux Mont Kiara!
Apparently, this restaurant is famous for its cupcakes. No surprises here if I told you I had a cupcake even before the appetizers were served! =]
~23rd August '09~

I'm running late on my Project 365. I'll start working on it soon and start blogging a 'proper post' as SisterMay puts it.
Damn, I only have 19 more days before reality starts sinking in all over again! =[

Project 365 week 10

2009-08-18T03:08:00.003+08:00

PROJECT 365 WEEK 10
10th - 16th August '09

64. One of my favourite hawker food in KL, Pan Mee.
Speaking of which, I've yet to visit my favourite Pan Mee shop on Jalan TAR.
After a very early Pilates (pronounced pee-la-tez, not pai-leits) class, LayGaik took Jie and I to have Pan Mee at Aman Suria. It's a new place called Cha Cha Original Pan Mee.
Surprise surprise, their pan mee failed to leave an impression despite trying to sound authentic.
~10th August '09~

65. A couple of us took a drive down to Sepang Gold Coast to watch the sunset and supposedly have a bbq. The sand was so beautiful and soft, it didn't matter if it was man-made! But it's times like these that you'll miss Dublin's 10pm sunset and cool breeze.
~11th August '09~

66. Pedicure time with Agnes!
It was quite an impromptu decision to get our nails done. My last proper pedicure was about a year ago. My feet feels so clean and pretty now. Lol!
~12th August '09~

67. My mum got too excited pouring her mug of Tiger, she ended up with half foam and half beer. Heh!
I guess Tiger beer does not taste as bad as I thought it would. Being one of the cheaper beers around doesn't have to be a bad thing all the time. In fact, when Jie and I were scouting around Jaya Grocer the other day, we found that Asahi is not too pricy amongst the other beers. But who needs beer when you can get teh 'o' ais limau anytime at at most RM1.80?
~13th August '09~

68. Wai Shun a.k.a Teko's 21st birthday dinner at Schokolart, Solaris.
We spent more than RM250 on dinner so we were entitled a 1kg cake from Schokolart itself. No idea whose job is it to finish the cake. If putting on weight wasn't my second nature, I'll gladly finish a kg of toblerone cake.
~14th August '09~

69. Belian Reunion at Pui Shen's house.
It feels so good meeting up with ex classmates since 2003 and to realize that most of us have not changed that much makes it very nostalgic! I was most happy to see Hun Yee as I've not seen her since she left for Australia in 2006.
Jie, being an honourary Belian-er was invited as well and being the 'social butterfly' (as Hun Yee put it) he is, he could easily pass off as one of our classmates.
~15th August '09~

70. Korean BBQ at The Maples.
Kim (the korean) , his wife and Saito (the japanese) organized a bbq at their courtyard on Sunday evening. The food was really good, from the homemade kimchi to the bulgolgi to the SOJU! Everything was so good that my sister recovered from her 'motion sickness' just to eat the lettuce. O.O
Kim kindly gave us a bottle of Soju each, according to him, it's the best soju in the world.
When a Korean says that, you simply can't argue with that. ;p
~16th August '09~

Project 365 week 9

2009-08-10T20:46:00.002+08:00

PROJECT 365 WEEK 9
3rd August - 9th August '09

57. Esmond invited us over to his place for pizza and konyaku jelly. As promised, despite the rain and only 2 hours to pack, he made Mehul's, Cherisse's and my trip to Belfield very worthwhile. We had Baileys + Kahlua + milk, a concoction Mehul (our self-proclaimed bar tender) has mastered.
~3rd August '09~

58. Only 22 hours in London, and this is how Oliver greets me. =p
Although slightly tipsy from drinking with his office colleagues, he's still the Oliver we love.
I'm proud to say, I did not get lost in London! I made full use of my so called photographic memory to get myself from one place to another, in one piece. I had only two meals in London, and unsuprisingly, I chose SNOG's frozen yoghurt for lunch and Szechuan food for dinner.
~4th August '09~

59. For the first time, I did not sleep on this flight home. I was so excited, I watched 3 movies back to back with a Hindi movie being the first. For those who are in the dark, I planned to surprise my parents, Agnes and Helena 10 days before my supposed date of arrival. It fully worked on my parents though I can't say the same for the 2 sneaky Lims. Guess I'm not an expert in surprising the people my age. Heh. Nonethless, my parents' reaction was CLASSIC!
Oh btw, I can't stand Heathrow Airport!! I was so eager to have my twister fries in Mcdonals but I couldn't find a single fast food chain in the lounge I was designated to!!! I ended up at Yo Sushi instead. The NERVE!!!
~5th August '09~

60. The day I arrived, I only had 3 things in mind. KFC, Crabs, Asam Laksa. I was in the midst of jet lagging, so I opted for a nap instead of crabs. That night, Jie took me to SS2's pasar malam for Asam Laksa, popiah and Ling Chi Kang before I went home to give my parents the shock of their lives.
~6th August '09~

61. Mummy brought us to Checkers that night for dinner. It's one of the best western places there is in town. Although I'm not entirely keen on indulging in Western cuisines, you can't say no to the Jamaican Chicken they serve.
~6th August '09~

62. The Lims reunited!!
Wished my surprise could've worked 100% and not just 65%! I'll just stick to shocking you guys back in London. I promise it will work this time round.
At least now we don't need to rely on extremely long fb msgs and emails to keep in touch.
~8th August '09~

63. Wei Jin is a happy boy when he sees me with a big bag of M&Ms for him.

WJ: Ping!!... *speechless* PING!!!
~9th August '09~

PROJECT 365 WEEK 8

2009-08-03T07:10:00.002+08:00

PROJECT 365 WEEK 8
27th July - 2nd August '09

50. Yup, another book to eat in to my sleeping hours. I was so engrossed with this book, I finished it in a day just so I can get started on the 4th book. Which also meant sleeping at an ungodly hour and having to get up at 7am for research.
*groans at the sight of eye bags*
But nonetheless worthwhile. =]
~27th July '09~

51. So since I was done with the 3rd book, I got on to the 4th book the very next day and managed to read 700 over pages worth of vampire-werewolf dramama in 5 days. =]
Handsdown, Stephenie Meyer is a genius. I'm not much of a fast reader neither do I get addicted to books to such an extent.

But now, she's got me literally 'falling in love' with a vampire character that doesn't even exist! I'll definitely reread these 4 books in the future.
~28th July '09~

52. This is how scientists work.
Take this space beside our sink as an example.
Most of them I know are very much messier than I am, though setting me as a benchmark to compare with isn't the best idea cause I'm particularly OCD when it comes to cleanliness and tidiness.

But anyhow, I don't understand how they can be that messy and yet able to carry out experiments that require anal measuring techniques; we're talking microliters here!!
That's something I'll never come to understand no matter how long I work in the lab.
~29th July '09~

53. My first prescription.
It's not like I was seriously ill or anything along those lines. Here's how I ended up being prescribed Omeprazole by my supervisor, Catherine who happens to be a doctor.

Again, it's a Thursday, equivalent to rise and shine at 5.30am. I thought a gulp or 2 of lucozade's sports drink would keep me wide awake for the meeting. It damn right did!

I overlooked the part of the label which says 'flavour: orange'. It doesn't take a genius to know what anything sour such as orange flavoured lucozade would do to your (empty) stomach walls. I had gastric pain almost the entire day. I was ranting about it to Catherine as a friend, not as a patient. Before I knew what she was doing, she took a sheet off a booklet and started asking me questions we were taught to ask patients in exams!

It felt weird knowing that this is what I'll be doing in a few years' time but it was hilarious as I've never seen her in her doctor mode before! I did not use this in the end.
Just like any other pain, it fades away with time. =]
~30th July '09~

54. Meet Fiona Bane, one of the lab technicians.
She was preparing her Hamburger costume for a festival that evening. Everything is handmade. The sesame seeds were sewed on by her in the lab, the cheese and lettuce (inserted later) stuffed in by Marie also in the lab. They really go all out for this festival. I just didn't think a scientist would do such a thing and in the end admiting it's the funnest 'lab work' she's ever done!
My lab is just full of whacky personas, something I'll begin to miss.
~31st July '09~

55. We were at St. Stephen's Green Park after lunch and Thorton's ice cream. As expected, Dublin's weather decided it was the right time to PMS. We had 10 minutes of scorching sun followed by 30 seconds of rain! So here we were, caught in the moment, switching from umbrellas to sunnies!
~1st August '09~

56. At UCD's massive field, playing all girls soccer. (all girls football sounds weird la sweetie!)
Jong Chern and Esmond (taking the pic) are exceptions, I think. =p
We diverted to basketball when it started to drizzle, and back to FOOTBALL.
And that was the first time I sweat outdoors in Dublin.
~2nd August '09~

PROJECT 365 WEEK 7

2009-07-26T05:22:00.003+08:00

PROJECT 365 WEEK 7
20th July '09 - 26th July '09

43. New Moon, the sequel to Twilight. I started this book on Monday, reading it during my breaks and occasionally before I sleep. I stayed up to 5am to complete this book on Saturday night. It's one of those books which are so difficult to put down although you know you have to.
Can't wait for the movie this November!
~20th July '09~

44. Er.. O.O. I know, I'm not used to taking pictures of myself either. But! Just a random note, I decided to change the parting of my hair. Jie says it looks better like this. And I've always wanted to change it just that the process can be quite tedious; aggressive brushing and blowing and pins and clips to help the hair stay put. It's been a week and I've yet to give up. heh!
~21st July '09~

45. 6 of us (Hui Xin someway somehow wasn't caught on camera) and a bunch of friendly and whacky Americans from Illinois. We were having dinner at O'Neills when this lady, (short hair, pink top, beside me) decided to have a lil chat with us. Once she found out we're studying medicine, she allocated jobs in the medical field to each and every one of us. Talk about being tipsy!Kingsley was looking back because this lady that was close to being drunk muttered 'Oh c'mon you stupid Irish man' to our Irish cameraman.
~22nd July '09~

46. Thursdays. I. LOATH. THEM.
Thursdays begin as early as 5.30am for me. Lab meeting starts as early as 7am and no, you can't get any meeting earlier than this. And this fateful Thursday, I brought work home! This is what I see under the microsope everyday. It's like looking at a star-filled sky. =] Anyway, 4 more lab days till I'm done!
~23rd July '09~

47. Crazy Roll and I. I simply couldn't resist picking on the bonito flakes floating above the sushi.
Hui Xin and I managed to stay in college till 8pm and although we were pretty stuffed from a vegetarian lunch we had with Mehul and Melissa, we managed to stick to our initial plan and head forth to Kimchi for sushi. Their lunch and dinner menu are completely different with the latter having a vast range of choices.
~24th July '09~

48. Outdoor Yoga with Sarah at Dartmouth Square.
I've been doing yoga 4 times a week after lab everyday. But I've never had a chance to do outdoor yoga, only suitable when the weather is on your side. Thank goodness it was sunny and cooling that Saturday morning. Speaking of sun, I'm slowly losing the tan I got from Mallorca. *sulks*
Can't wait to go home so that Msia's sun (I know it's the same sun) can brown me.
~25th July '09~

49. After a very tiring week; lab, yoga, laundry, ironing, mopping, vacuuming, cooking, reading, this is what I need. Peppermint foot soak. Revives your feet and gives you the calming and cooling sensation you deserve.
~26th July '09~

PROJECT 365 WEEK 6

2009-07-19T04:42:00.006+08:00

PROJECT 365 WEEK 6
13th July '09 - 19th July '09

36. After an entire Sunday of art and craft, Jie's first half of his 21st birthday present is done and ready to be hauled from Dublin to Heathrow and then to M'sia!
Unfortunately, the card was too big for the box.
~ 13th July '09~

37. 12 takes out of the many recordings I did for Jie's second half of his present.
Singing an unknown MANDRIN song your boyfriend's friends chose is not easy, especially when mandrin is not your first 3 languages AND when you come home with a shower, food and sleep on your mind.
~ 14th July '09~

38. Wan Lin made Cherisse and I dinner before she left for home the following day.
The house has been really quiet since and without Wan Lin around, there'd be no karaoke for a while.
~15th July '09~

39. Aha! 20 euros Dunnes Store vouchers courtesy of donating 80mls of my blood for some platelet experiment.
That's 1-2 weeks worth of groceries for me.
~16th July '09~

40. Jie's 21st birthday!
I rushed home from the lab and luckily (or unluckily, you be the judge) for me, I had unbearable cramps so I took a taxi home. Reached home just in time; 5pm local time, 12am back home.
I breathed a sigh of relief (while trying really hard to ignore the excrutiating pain stabbing me in the uterus ) when I managed to merely catch him before the cake cutting 'ceremony' and not forgetting the truckloads of texts and phone calls he received following our Skype session.
~17th July '09~

41. With my 20euro vouchers, I did some grocery shopping after having to force my eyes away from my Twilight book and getting myself off the bed at 3pm.
Nabil came up with a nickname of Hui Xin not too long ago, just like he does for every other person. Heh. And Hui Xin's was non other than 'HoiSin Duck Sauce'. Besides the fact that it was only 1euro per bottle, I decided to humour myself (Nabil and Hui Xin) and bought it.
~18th July '09~

42. I realize weird things happen in my courtyard on Sundays. I was blowing my hair when I heard a few people conversing in the Malay language. Don't get me wrong, but I can differentiate Indon BM from Msian BM, and this was without a doubt Msian BM.

So I just had to sneak a peak and saw a couple having their wedding photo shoot in the courtyard! I watched for almost half an hour, blow drying my hair only for 10 mins ofcourse.

I know it's not very nice to take pictures of them, but that's why I took this picture when their faces were unidentifiable. And the courtyard is public to the residents anyway.
Besides me, I wonder how many other pairs of eyes were watching...
~19th July '09~

SUMMER IN LONDON!!!

2009-07-18T05:43:00.002+08:00

SUMMER IN LONDON!!!
28th May '09 - 1st June '09

I was looking forward to this trip so much! It's actually the only thing I look forward to after every exam because that's my destination one or two days after the last day of the exams.

I had a day's break to catch up on sleep, keeping away notes and stationaries, and catching up with the latest on British Got Talent before the final which I manage to catch in London, LIVE on TV!

One of the first few things I did in London besides eating was getting a 5 pound pedicure!

Just in time for my Mallorca trip!

Agnes and Helena had their fingers and toes done as well.

I remember having SNOG right after our manicure/pedicure session.
That's will be my first meal in London this August before I return home.
The frozen yoghurt in Dublin is way beyond pathetic.

After so many times eating out in London, I've never tasted their Korean food till one fine day.

Korean pancake and Bibimbap.
Song Hwa Jong will be so proud of me!.. =p

Covent Garden is one of those places which I will definitely go to during my London trips. I've finally familiarized myself with the location of Covent Garden and the short cuts around.

I saw this guy sketching a picture of a few kids and I just couldn't resist. Though it took me quite long to decide whether I was up for it or not.
After it was done, I noticed he sketched my shades as well! heh!

My second time watching a movie in a cinema in London.
I've waited for this movie since the Da Vinci Code. DVC was so-so. But this is one of the best movies this summer.

(Much better than Transformers 2 if I might add. It was like watching The Megan Fox Show. Jeez!)

My personal favourite Dan Brown book.

Jonson and I before the movie.

Helena and I.

I envy them so much!! They've probably seen or spoken to Jie more than I have in the last.. *looks at calendar*...
omigod 3 WEEKS ONLY?!?!!
gah!

The 3 of us gathered at Flat 28 for the finals of British Got Talent.
I know it's a few months ago but I still awed by Diversity's performance. I'm just not a Susan Boyle fan. And for me, dancing trumps singing anytime. But you're free to prefer otherwise.

Michelle was so fascinated at how bright it looked at 10pm.
At this point of summer, the evening sky looks very much like the morning's. It's a good thing I can sleep no matter how bright it is.

Bright bright sunny EVENING after TkMax..

Which brings me to our Mallorca trip.
It was 30 degrees there. I LOVE THE SUN!

I hate the cold and rain.
But that's what Dublin has in store for us here this summer...

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY & HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!..

2009-07-17T07:15:00.004+08:00

Of Glucose Levels, Greenary, Pre-Exams..

2009-07-16T04:28:00.003+08:00

STRESS RELIEVER PRE-EXAMS &
MELISSA's EARLY B'DAY SURPRISE
Saturday, 25th April '09

Approximately a month before the exams. The stress was piling on.
Wan Lin, Melissa and Jo volunteered themselves for this programme, assessing the general health of the people in Dublin.

The 3 of them and a couple of other medical students had to take the blood pressures and test the blood glucose levels of the people in St. Stephen's Green Shopping Mall.

While they were doing that, I was at home trying to catch up on studying. Ugh! Remind me to study EVERY SINGLE DAY from day 1 of next semester.

Doctor Ng and I.

5.4mmol/L..
I'm amazed it's normal judging from the amount sweets and chocolates I eat.

Then I rushed to LEON to get Melissa's birthday cake which she didn't know off and walked it to Yamamori where we would be eating dinner. Her birthday is not till mid May but because exams were in the way, we decided to have a precelebration a month early. =p

So, in the meantime, we went to the park. It's not like we could've studied within that 2 hours before dinner anyway.

Wan Lin and her photography skills.
The Desigual bag is free. They were giving it out when Helena and Christine were in Dublin.
It's my grocery bag btw.

Melissa and I.

Wan Lin and the camera.

The parks in Dublin (and London for that matter) are so beautiful during this time of the year.
It's too bad we had to stay in and study our heads off most of the time. We missed the good weather and now we're suffering from Dublin's typical summer sunshine-and-drizzle.

Cherry blossoms don't only exist in Japan. =p

The 3 of us with the beautiful tulips in the background.

DINNER @ YAMAMORI

Us with our orders.

Can't wait to go home for mouth watering Japanese buffets!

It was so difficult trying to tell the waiters when to take the cake out without Melissa knowing because she's really sharp.

I knew that they were gonna sing the birthday song out loud but I did not have a hunch whatsoever that they'll blackout the entire restaurant and flicker the lights!!

Melissa was definitely surprised. Something you don't see that often. AND according to her, a lil paiseh. whoops!
The ladies at the corner were eyeing the cake the entire time!

They're not even trying to be discrete! But the cake tastes as good as it looks.
Strictly speaking, the best cake I've ever tasted in Dublin.
That's why I was so skeptical of my 5.4 mmol/L.

Although we were almost a month early, I hope you enjoyed it!

PROJECT 365 WEEK 5

2009-07-13T06:45:00.001+08:00

PROJECT 365 WEEK 5
6th JULY '09 - 12th JULY '09

29. Homemade barley drink which sadly lacked the taste of home.
Perhaps it's the simple ingredients I use. Normal sugar instead of rock sugar, no winter melon and the use of my rice cooker instead of a slow cooker.
~6th July '09~

30. Melissa and I were asked to participate in a study on laparoscopic surgery using surgery simulators and visuospatial tests at the surgical training centre. This was our second time. You can not imagine how horrible my first time was. I almost gave up thoughts of being a surgeon!
And let's not talk about my left hand. It's simply embarrassing.. but it was good experience. I can imagine us using these simulators in 10-20 years time!
~7th July '09~

31. A very cold and windy day in Dublin led to this; white hot chocolate, white chocolate flapjack and a good magazine. =]
~8th July '09~

32. Kingsley's early birthday surprise and karaoke session. One of us went home with a new Swatch, some of us with sore throats. =/
~9th July '09~

33. 9 of us causing a ruckus in my living room. Thanks for the idea Kingsley!
Friday nights have never been like this in a long time.
~10th July '09~

34. Met up with UCD friends, Bernice, Fiona and Jia Hang for lunch AND dinner AND karaoke at a korean restaurant. No, it's not the only thing we do here. The restaurant closed at 2am so we sang to our hearts' content.
~11th July '09~

35. Something random Hui Xin and I saw in my courtyard. It's not a bad idea to dry your duvet cover under the sun like that especially if you're staying on the ground floor.
Definitely someone Asian. ;p
~12th July '09~

PROJECT 365 WEEK 4

2009-07-07T06:07:00.004+08:00

PROJECT 365 WEEK 4
29th June '09 - 5th July '09

22. I was not looking forward to this very day. First of all, it was a Monday which means getting up at 7am and returning home at 8pm. Secondly, Jie was leaving Dublin for London and Malaysia 2 days after that. So it wasn't like any ordinary goodbye.

Distance is something we've been accustomed to but differing time zones is definitely a killer. Thank goodness it's only a month!
We had crepes for our last meal together at Lemon. Looks a tad bit like tosai, no?
~29th June '09~

23. I always had this fettish for making beds. Pillows must be fluffed and positioned correctly, sheets must be pulled tight so there's minimal crease, well you get the gist. Since I started research, it just hit me in the head. I do 2 things on the bed; sleep and read, and when I do, the pillows are strewn all over and the comforter gets distorted anyway! So conclusion, making the bed is nothing but pointless.
No matter how early I get up, I'll manage to use every single blinking second getting ready and forgoing my bed.
Nonetheless, I managed to make my bed today before storming out the house.
*smiles in utter smugness*
~30th June '09~

24. Time in Dublin: 7 *yawn* am..
Time in Malaysia: 2pm..
Jie arrived safely that morning and managed to get his first taste of home, nasi kandar.
I on the other hand can only think of going back to sleep.
~ 1st July '09~

26. Don't we just love Fridays?! It's the start of the weekend which means no need to wake up to blaring alarms or sleep before 12am as though we're 60 years old. (No pun intended )
Melissa, Hatem (Mel's friend from Bahrain) Wan Lin, Hui Xin and I had dinner together at Captain America. Looking at this picture, I realized the irony of our slight tans despite being in Dublin for the past 10 months. Blame the variety of European countries we've visited.
Anyhow, we'll be heading home soon only to get even tanner!
~3rd July '09~

27. On that very Saturday, 11 of us took the bus to Powerscourt Gardens and Waterfall. We had so much fun I have a feeling we'll be doing these kinda things more often during the mundane weekends. I guess that's how people get closer during the summer, whether you realize it or not.
I enjoyed every second of it; laughing, eating, climbing trees, walking in the rain, getting my shorts dirty, sleeping in the bus..
The Powerscourt Trip post will be up in a few weeks time. In the meantime, I've got TOO MANY photos to choose from!
~4th July '09~

28. Currently reading Twilight. I have a confession to make.
As pathetic as it sounds, I've watched this movie 5 times.
I'm not one who can watch movies over and over again. It's not that I don't like doing it, I just CAN'T. I'm surprised I managed to get through the 5th time alive.
Now, I can mimic my favourite conversations!
(Reminds me of Emperor's New Groove, right May?)

~ 5th July '09~

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paan sent this video to me and asked me whether the singer was a guy or a girl. Well, since he asked, I'm guessing if the singer looks like a girl that means in reality, he's a guy. Why would people ask you something that's obvious right?

If the video is too disturbing, just click *file* *new tab*.
Enjoy the song with the ears.
That was my last resort.

LONDON CHICAS IN DUBLIN!

2009-07-05T08:59:00.001+08:00

HOUSE WARMING @ SUE's & NANA's
Saturday, 18th April '09

Helena and Christine decided to pay Dublin a short yet fun-filled visit. Since Helena has been here in December, she was well-prepared for a non-shopping and non-eating out trip.

Sue Faye and Nana had just moved in to their new home not too long ago (well, if it was still April it definitely was not too long ago, but we're currently in the month of July.. )
So Sue and Nana decided to have their housewarming party the weekend the London chicas came to Dublin.

I have no idea how they did it. It's been a while since I flew on the earliest flight to or from London and will never do such a thing again.

But Christine and Helena had so much energy (and girl power) and wtv that kept them running that weekend, that they survived an entire night at Stansted Airport and somehow brought the sun to Dublin!

This was how I was greeted when I stepped into Sue's room.

Lots of food prepared by Nana and Sue.
Don't you think the picture just screams 'You can salivate.. NOW!' ?

With Helena and Sue.

Nana and I.
It's amazing (and unfair at the same time) how she can cook that well and still stay so thin.

L: Helena, Melissa and I. Melissa and Sue used to be classmates back in their Catholic High days.
The world doesn't get any smaller than this!
R: Charlie's Angels.

Sue's friend brought Yee Sang over and since he was the most experienced with Yee Sang, he did the honours of spreading the essential ingredients while reciting for first classes auspicious wishes.

Being the first few in the apartment allowed us to watch the living room fill as more and more of Sue's and Nana's friends walked in. The tiny tinge of awkwardness and the occasional Dublin sun got us to our feet and off to Henry Street for a lil walk.

L: Us in our sunnies!
R: This is what happens when you put a happy Christine and happy me together.
Imagine putting a tipsy us together.

One thing led to another and off we went to Phoenix Park.

We took the LUAS to the Museum stop.
From there we took about 10 minutes to get to the park.

I've been staying in Dublin long enough yet I had no idea the park was this beautiful.

Jumpshots, we all love doing when there's sufficient room.

L: 'No, you can't read my poker face..'
R: Us amongst the pretty tulips.

We searched high and low for deers in the park but did not manage to come across any.
So we gave up, and headed back to the park for more picture taking.

L: No idea what I was up to.
R: The 4 of us..

On the way out, we came across a bunch of tulips that, by nature, were facing in the direction of the sunlight. What's the word.... PHOTOTROPHIC..
And we thought we'd try it too.

We went back to Sue's place for more leftovers for dinner. All 3 of them walked me home so that I could 'study for my exams' instead of tagging along to Temple Bar for a pint.

SUE's BIRTHDAY SURPRISE
Sunday, 19th April '09

The very next day, while I hestitatingly dragged myself out of bed to read about Thrombosis, Helena and Christine have already been to Trinity College, were about to visit Howth, Guinness Factory and Arnotts for some Yankees candles.

I never knew it was possible to do all that in a day. But like I said, I have no idea where they get their adrenaline from.

That evening, Helena, Christine, Sue, Nana and I were gonna have dinner at Elephant & Castle. (The place with the awesomest chicken wings in Dublin)

While walking into the restaurant, Sue was surprised by her dearest friends.

L: All the future doctors from Trinity.
R: Sue, Helena and I.

Us with the birthday girl.
When Helena mentioned, Christine and herself were eating with 10 doctors-to-be, it was only then when I realized I experience the same thing whenever I go to London.
(Michael and Roderick aside..)

The 3rd cake we had that weekend.

Helena's expression when looking at the prices for Malaysian food in Charlie's.
Don't we all love London or better still, Malaysia for dirt cheap hawker food..

We headed off to Porterhouse for a few drinks.
Porterhouse brew their very own beers. It's got a different taste to it but I'd prefer Corona anyday since it's been my favourite for a while.

We chocolate and good drinks!

Not long after Kev and Farqhan joined us and the world just seems to get smaller and smaller when mutual friends were discussed.

Paan, Kev, Sue, Helena & Christine.

It's amazing how all these events happened a long time ago yet I can type the chronology of the long ago events from the top of my head.
*pats self on the head*

PROJECT 365 WEEK 3

2009-06-30T04:53:00.003+08:00

PROJECT 365 WEEK 3
22nd-28th June '09

15. After 2 hours in the gym, Nabil decided to challenge Hui Xin and I to a 1-against-2 game of foosball. Being the pro that he is, every goal he scores takes on 1/2 a point whilst every goal Hui Xin and I score is 2 points. At the end of the second game, Hui Xin and I won 10-6 1/2 (which essentially is 13 points or probably more)
~22nd June '09~

16. Before our first Yoga class, Nabil just had to convince me to have an Ice Blended Chocolate instead of going to the gym. Hui Xin joined us later after gyming. The deceiving weather in addition to the icy cold chocolate did more damage than good. *shivers*

(Note, the ciggies aren't mine!! *scowles at Nabil*)
~23rd June '09~

17. Content: Fresh Blood
Volume: 45mls
Species: Homo Sapien yiping
I've never donated blood because believe it or not, I was underweight. Nonetheless, this is nothing like donating blood. It's just 45mls for crying out loud! Unlike majority of the human population who do not like needles, I actually enjoy looking at my flesh getting pierced by a needle. The wider, the better. Well, it's that weird aspect of anyone of us; e.g. liking the smell of petrol, the smell of paint, the taste of dog food, that others and even yourself can never come to understand.
~24th June '09~

17. My second pic of the day.
The day before the results were released, Arthur got us together at Salamanca for some spanish food. The person with the reddest face drank the most wine.
Many thanks to Arthur for buying us a bottle of wine.
~24th June '09~

18. Results aside, this was shocking news.
Cardiac arrest at 50 years old. I'm not entirely surprised after all the things he has done to his body. Still, he gives you the impression that he's immortal prior to this date. It's a good thing his songs will never lose their MJ spark..

'If you're thinkin about my baby
It dont matter if you're black or white'
~25th June '09~

19. Jie's last trip to Dublin this semester..
It's been a while since he last came to boring ol Dublin. I promised myself I wouldn't make him cook every single meal because 1. cooking eats up alot of our precious together-time, 2. I eat in every blinking weekday (Salamanca does not count), 3. Nabil introduced us to this dish above, CRAZY ROLL at Kim Chi.
~ 26th June '09~

20. We managed to catch The Riverdance on Saturday after brunch at Lennox. It's mainly tap dancing and instruments but a lil bit of singing here and there. I honestly did not have a clue what the story line was but the tapping was so a-frickin-mazing I'm going home to dig out my tap shoes from wherever they might be.

If you're in to tap dancing, Irish bag pipes or simply visiting Dublin, this is a must watch! (Word of advice, I'd pay nothing more than 20euro for this one )
~ 27th June '09~

21. Jie's last dinner in Dublin. I made banoffee pie for him but he did the dirty manly work.
I just realized everything about banoffee pie screams 'IT GOES TO YOUR HIPS'. From the banana, to the hob nobs, to the condensed milk and whipped cream!
~28th June '09~

I've managed 3 weeks of Project 365! It's definitely showing good progress if I do say so myself. But sooner or later, I can bet I'd run out of pictures to take. That's the biggest challenge of this project! I'll try my best not too overdose on my random picture taking..

NITEZ!

Finally, Summer Begins!

2009-06-26T06:30:00.002+08:00

Our results were released today, hence, the title of this post.
We knew the results will be released by at most 1pm. Some of us would be in the lab, some at the hospital, some at home.

I had no plans of viewing my results in the confinements of a laboratory with scientists walking up and down, screaming profanities in the air just because they are having trouble with locating a pipette. But due to some miscommunications, I got to know my results and I PASSED!!!!
I've never been happier the past one month (Mallorca does not count =p)!

Thank the Lord! I am so so so grateful that words cannot express my gratitude towards this miracle. The total amount of time I spent with my notes between February and May simply does not justify my results.

Which leads to this storm of emotions I feel right now. Some of my classmates, not to mention close friends, who were a million times more hard working and attentive than I was, who devoted so much time into studying, weren't as lucky.

So I just need one more miracle from You. IC2 will never be the same again if this ordeal robs any one of my classmates of their next semester in RCSI, whether we're merely aquaintance or close friends. I can only do as little as bringing them up on their feet, but it is in Your hands whether they choose to walk or fall and entirely their call to carry on walking and running.

*fingers crossed*
-because some people deserve better than this-

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!

2009-06-24T07:07:00.002+08:00

I'm wishing you on my blog as well because I'm not sure whether checking your Facebook or my blog is of higher priority. ;p

This is my dad at the age of __.
(Readers, you have ABSOLUTELY no idea how sensitive this issue is. =p)

Not only does he look young, I bet he makes a better 21 year old than me!!

I was going through my blog and realize how important this blog is to me. Dad's birthdays in 2007 and 2008 are crystal clear to me because of jieandping.blogspot.com. It's just too bad I wouldn't be able to celebrate it with you this year.
(I can't believe the number of important birthdays I'll be missing this year! =[[)

Having read this on May's blog, just made me realize how much I miss home and my family. *calms self down before bursting into tears*

Anyways, just wanted to wish you a belated Happy Father's Day
and a very

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!

PROJECT 365 WEEK 2

2009-06-22T18:35:00.001+08:00

PROJECT 365 WEEK 215th-21st June '09

8. Due to the erratic weather in Dublin, I had a runny nose and blocked sinuses for 5 days in row. So when Boots had that buy 3 for 2 offer on supplements, I knew there was no 'it's too expensive' excuse anymore. By the way, after all these years, I've never outgrown chewable tablets. =]
~15th June '09~

9. Hui Xin, Jeffrey and I were walking to Asia Market when we noticed a man dragging chains from one side of the road to another. I don't know about you, but things like this usually catch my attention and although it's rude to stare (and ruder to take pictures of people we don't know), I just couldn't help myself! He was actually clamping someone's car outside Mercer. To be honest, I've never seen it done before, hence, the amusement.
~ 16th June '09~

10. Around this time, last year, I would have already been for a manicure/pedicure session back home. Unfortunately, this year, that was obviously put on hold. So I decided to give myself my own manicure. It's a milestone away from what you'd normally pay for but hey, I'm not about to fork out 20-30 euros for a manicure here.
~ 17th June '09~

11. Pear cider. My favourite cider at the moment. I don't drink this on a regular basis but it was a special day that very Thursday so I deicided to celebrate by having a pint, tit bits and Desperate Housewives.
~18th June '09~

12. Drinking with the juniors at Millin. If only every Friday night was like this.
Notice the marker pen markings on the second bottle? That was Rachel's. We were playing a drinking card game, 'Pyramid' and I'm guessing Rachel's isn't a huge fan of beers (how can anyone not like Corona!) so they had to mark how much she must drink each time she 'loses'.
~19th June '09~

13. Pigging out in Alyson's ex room in Mercer. This was after lunch at Lennox and before Transformers 2 with Nabil and Hui Xin and somehow or another I just had to go to the bakery to buy this sinful piece of chocolate cake, thinking I would eat this instead of popcorn. I ended up eating both, as expected.
~ 20th June '09~

14. I know, technically I did not take this picture. But I was actually saving the 21st of June for this special person whom I first met at Old Asia Cafe in One Utama when LinDy intro-ed us. Who knew after 4 years, we'd be sun tanning together in Mallorca!! Thanks for being there whenever I needed your help. You have no idea how much your 'words of wisdom' have brought me from situations from hell to complete recovery. I wished I could've done the same for you, or at least celebrate your 21st with you! I promise to make up for it in August.. ;p
HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY HELENA!!
~21st June '09~

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There's nothing more deceptive than a smile
And no one knows this better than the people who hide behind them,
Some flash their teeth as a polite warning to there enimies,
Some put on beaming faces to keep there tears from falling,
Others wear silly grins to mask their fear
but sometimes it is that rare smile that is actually genuine,
it's the smile of a person who knows that troubles will soon be.

Easter Break in Brighton.

2009-06-21T09:02:00.001+08:00

BRIGHTON DAY 1

The initial plan was to stay in Dublin/ London during Easter to study for the finals. Like how promises are made to be broken, plans are made for last minute changes.

So the 11 of us set out to Brighton from Victoria bus station for our 3 day trip.

Jie and I in the bus.

The bus ride couldn't have taken longer to get to our destination. I was sleeping most of the time but I don't do very well sleeping in moving vehicles.

So after 2-3 hours, we finaly reached our hotel. (can't remember the name though.. )

As usual, Jie got all comfortable on the bed, remote and TV.

No rest was needed as we were all suffering from hunger pangs. And the erratic weather didn't do us much justice either.

So we found this 2 seafood restaurants side by side and it wasn't too hard a task to choose which one to walk into; one had ZERO customers (okay, for the benefit of the doubt, there were at most 2 tables occupied) and the other was sardine packed full!

Appetizers!
Fried anchovies and oysters!

L-R: Elaine, me, Jie, Jeanette, Diana, Jonny, Nesha, Hua Xiong, Jun Hann.

After that, it was time to explore the pebble beach. Though there wasn't much to be seen, I remember how excited I was cause I've never actually been to a pebble beach before.

Loong and I.
Potential Evisu ad?

Us girls.

L: Jie literally skided on moss to get to that spot. R:

Tadaa! Pebbles...
Don't even think of taking your shoes off. It definitely hurts more to walk barefooted on pebbles than on sand.

Boys being boys.

L: The bi's R: Jonny giving a 'sexy' with the green shades.

I first thought this might be a potential cK ad, but it doesn't take a genius to know that most, if not all, cK ads bear alot of.. skin..

I love this pic!

Whilst walking along the beach, we came across many eye catching moments which seem to be normal to the Brighton-ers. The vivid memory of 2 guys kissing and making out on the beach kept us staring and taking pictures for quite some time.

But this..

THIS was unusual, not to mention revolting... It was bigger than it looks and although I do love fish, I can't bring myself to imagine sea gulls pecking into the fish's flesh..

Loong caught in a moment.

Brighton Pier, nothing like Genting.

On the pier itself,

We tried playing all the random games they had in store for us. This one in particular sucked up most of our money and left us with nothing but frustration.

But yet, we spent at least 2 hours there like lil kids.

Group pic!

I wasn't feeling that well. Headache and heavy sinuses is not what you need on a holiday.

Us walking back for dinner.

All smiles after a scrumptous meal. Not so much for me since everything will obviously taste bland given the fact I had dysfunctional taste buds that night.

Back at the hotel, we washed up and got ready for POKER! (Well, the guys at least.)
I was too tired to do anything but Agnes managed to pat me to sleep. Honestly, I can see why Xiong and Jun calls her mummy.

So everyone had to camp in my room cause I was 'ill' and I wanted to watch the guys play poker.
Hey, if you're sick, what's wrong with taking a lil advantage from it?

This got me really amused though.
Jonny's painted toes. They're not only painted, they're in different shades on both feet.
Jeanette did it for him while he was dota-ing. Never knew dota was THAT encapsulating.

I remember falling asleep on Agnes' lap that night.
Ah, that's what best friend's laps are for.

BRIGHTON DAY 2

I felt so so so much better the next day. But apparently the weather chose not to.
Nonetheless, I wasn't gonna let the weather spoil my frisky mood.

So I wrapped Jie with a towel for kicks.

We headed towards the Royal Pavilion which looked like a mosque to me when we were on the bus towards the bus stop the previous day.

Does it not??

All 11 of us.

The boys.

The girls.

Hoodies up.

I'm not a fan of rain so I had to improvise by taking Jie's trilby for the day.

Then we entered a museum.. lol.. not my kind of thing at all but we were in and out in a jiffy.

Then it was lunchtime!
We searched high and low for a perfect place and we had to travel quite far for this one. Sadly, the weather never subsided. *sigh*

I want to own a big white boat too!

We ditched the idea of fishing and explored the city instead. Found a few funky stuff here and there but I must say, I feel lucky not to be studying in Brighton. And I am so thankful to be in Dublin and shall not complain of its scarcity.

Beautiful somewhat random graffiti in one of the alleys.

We stopped by a frozen yoghurt place for urm, frozen yoghurt (?).

My 2 sweeties.

The cold and windy weather was so drastic, that we were hungry all the time! Well, at least from what I see/blog now, I realize we are always eating! And we were all entitled to free buffet breakfast in the morning!!

In a Greek Restaurant where we tried all sorts of alcohol. One of which I vaguely remember, Ouzo.

Back at the hotel, it was yet another late night at Jonny's room. Jonny and Xiong shared a room and somehow or another, they, TWO GUYS, get a bigger room AND a bigger bathroom.
It doesn't even make any sense!

Xiong, Jun and Elaine.

Again, I fell asleep on one of the beds.
How un-glam, I know.

LAST HALF A DAY IN BRIGHTON

It was a short trip anyway, and thanks to the weather, it made our trip shorter than ever.

We rested well and walked along the beach again in the other direction before leaving to London.

Gloomy gloomy day..

But when you have the right company, it doesn't really matter where you are or how bad the weather is, you'll eventually have fun and the memory will stick in your head for at least 2 months for you to eventually blog about it.

Jason Mraz in London & Project 365

2009-06-14T11:41:00.002+08:00

JASON MRAZ CONCERT @
HAMMERSMITH APOLLO, LONDON
Sunday, 5th April '09

My first ever concert abroad. It was quite an impromptu decision when Helena, Agnes and Loong were visiting Dublin.
Jonson supposedly organized this but went home to Msia instead at the start of April for Easter.
*boo *
Nonetheless, the show must go on, with or without Jonson.

I'm a little hazy with the chronology of this short weekend trip but judging from the way I tied up my hair, I think we had SNOG before going home to change for the concert.
*sigh* The disadvantages of lagging for 2 months. *tsk tsk*

Anyway, Helena intro-ed us to SNOG, as the pic above clearly says, Pure Frozen Yogurt.
I only realize it was THAT great when Nabil kicked up a row about me not telling him where SNOG was in London.
Picaddilly Circus fyi.

The servings look as delicious as any other ice cream, only healthier and prettier, if I do say so myself.

Just look at THAT!
I wouldn't mind replacing my meals with these everyday!
In fact, I might just try a homemade D.I.Y SNOG this week.
*skeptical look*

Yummy!

As you can see, it was burning hot in London since the start of April!
How unfair is that.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've got to admit, I'm not a huge fan of Jason Mraz.
At that time I only knew at most 5 of the many songs he sings, which is quite a sad number.
But I guess that's why artistes perform at concerts anyway. To promote their new singles.

The Hammersmith Apollo was packed with fans when we arrived.

The 5 of us.

With Stephanie.

There were 2 opening acts, one of which was Marit Larsen of M2M.

Jason Mraz's voice, the band, the instruments, the lighting was just perfect.
If only we could get closer to the stage.

'Well open up your mind and see like me,
Open up your plans and damn you're free,
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love,
Listen to the music of the moment maybe sing with me,
I like peaceful melody,
It's your God-forsaken right to be loved love loved love love.'

Being creative.

The thing about this gig was that Jason Mraz made the crowd feel so together.
As odd as this may sound, there were times when he did connect to his crowd which I think is really important if you want people to understand and love your music.

If you have the time, just try reading through the lyrics to any of his songs. The words he chooses are so meaningful it's just impossible to not like his music.

And I'm officially a Jason Mraz fan now.
I wouldn't say a gungho one, but nonetheless, a fan.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PROJECT 365, WEEK 1
7-14th June '09

So as I mentioned earlier, I am about to start Project 365 in which I'm supposed to take pictures of any random thing/person/event/food each day for 365 days and blog and post them up at the end of each week.

It's gonna be a tough one for me judging by how updated I am with my blog.
But I think I can manage with the weekends free and all.

1. Coming back from a holiday always screams the same one word in my ears; LAUNDRY. So that Monday night after my first day at the lab, I took all my dry clothes for some ironing and whilst putting them back into my wardrobe, I just realize I have quite a colourful taste.
~ 8th June '09~

2. The weather was so inviting that day, I just had to have lunch at the park. So there I was sitting my tired ass on the damp grass eating my home cooked pasta, listening to my ipod and reading Glamour. Lol, no one would have guessed that in an hour's time I'd be donning a white coat in a lab filled with scientists. And I must say, I like the discretion.
~9th June '09~

3. For the first time ever in a very very long time, I'm hitting the sheets before 12am. That's quite an achievement because ever since the exam ended, I can't remember the last time I went to bed without the subtle 4am sun rays peeking through the curtains.
~10th June '09~

4. Me and my gym buddy. We managed a 5-day-in-a-row-gym-regime per week after research and I've never felt healthier. Mind you, it is tiring but it's worth every single sweat.
~11th June '09~

5. Sophie Kinsella's Remember Me? is the current book I'm addicted to. I've got to find some way to put the book down before it eats into my sleeping time.

At the same time, I'm addicted to Facebook Scrabble.
HOW.NERDY.IS.THAT.
I blame the researchers in my lab for this addiction of mine.
At the end of this 8 week programme, I'll definitely learn random nonsensical words that most of us didn't even know exist! e.g, lox means cured salmon fillet. This is handy when it comes to scoring points since X is worth a big fat 8 points.
~12th June '09~

6. The weekend is finally here! And so is the time to indulge in sinful, fatty food.
The KFC here is nothing close to the ones back home. By this I mean that it's better at home. It's just too salty, too fat, too small and tasteless.
But we've got not much of a choice here and when life gives you lemons, you make lemonades.
~13th June '09~

7. I was a lamp post/ flower pot for almost 2 hours with this couple.
After having a look at Alyson's new place and giving the minimal interior deco 'advice' I had to offer, we head off to Jervis for some Swirls ice cream!
*slurpp*
I better stick to my 5 day gyming regime this week!
~14th June '09~

Captain America, Lennox, RCSI Ball 2009

2009-06-14T08:38:00.003+08:00

I'm done with the first week of research!! No words can describe my daily 9-5; that is, TIRING! I put the blame on my daily gym visits after 8 hours of lab and chemicals.

ALAS! I get the gist of the working world. Trust me, even with me doing half the amount of work the normal reserachers do for a living, I can tell you it's no fun working 9-5 in the lab and sometimes working overtime. Nonetheless, I am having fun cause I know it's only for 2 months of my life.

What I've been through this whole week was nothing as anticipated. You know how majority of researchers are stereotypically nerdy, serious and just plain boring?

Well, well ,well. Think again. They play Facebook games whenever they can, swear incessantly in the lab, gossip and occassionally back stab their boss! Don't get me wrong, bad habits aside, I've learnt so much this week to the extend that I refuse to use my brains this weekend!

Unlike most people who hate Mondays, my Thursdays are the 'new Mondays'. I start at 7am with a VIDEO CONFERENCE with Prof. Hill who will be sitting at his desk at Beaumont Hosp. It. Is. Beyond. Creepy.

To put things in perspective, Prof. Hill is a perfect epitome of Prof. Snape from Harry Potter. (I'm so proud of myself for finding the ideal match! ) Thank goodness he'll be in PMC for an exam next Thursday.

All in all, it's been a long yet short week.
So many friends have left Dublin for home that I'm starting to have withdrawal symptoms!

And just to make my life busier than usual, I've started Desperate Housewives Season 3 (after getting so agitated by the biatchy-ness of the show3 years ago), reading Sophie Kinsella's Remember Me?, gyming 5 times a week, blogging at least 3 times a week and last but not least, PROJECT 365! (inspired by Helena )

DINNER @ CAPTAIN AMERICA
Wednesday, 25th March '09

Being a student, we're always looking for the cheapest food we can find yet edible at the same time. We all love student discounts and vouchers and the occasionaly buy 1 get 1 free's.

So that very Wednesday, with THREE buy 1 meal get another for free voucher in hand, we headed to Captain America's for sinful American food.

I'm not overly excited when it comes to American food, though I must say their greatest invention in the fast food industry is Mcd's.

Choices Choices.

Alyson, me, Hui Xin.

Kev and Nabil.

Tristan who can never take a decent picture.

O.D on fries, big time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RCSI BALL @ THE BURLINGTON HOTEL
Saturday, 28th March '09

My first and last RCSI Ball. Only 2 words can descrive it.
Total RIP-OFF.
Tickets were sold at 70euros pp and the food was akin to the food we get at Beumont Hospital.
Nonetheless, the atmosphere was pretty great and so was the company.

But before I get to that, you know how I always criticize Dublin for expensive and unpleasant food? Well, it seems I have been introduced to a restaurant which serves food that are actually worth paying for; Lennox.

I kid you not; Lennox is like the Moses of Dubliner's palates. I'm just dissapointed that I've only less than a year to enjoy it!

Anyway, since Jie (and everyone other person I know) has always been complaning about the price and quality of the food in Dublin, Nabil, Kev and Shazman decided we should actually bring him to Lennox.

And there's no better day to pay Lennox a visit other than a Friday afternoon right after lectures!

Check out the arrangement and deco of our dishes!

Omelette.

Fish & Chips

Chicken Caesar Salad.

Their pancakes and breakfast are awesome too. All simply TO DIE FOR!

Right after that, the boys went shopping for last minute Ball stuff. They definitely can afford to do that.

But when you think about it, there are times when guys make better girls.

Kev and Shaz took so long to choose the perfect tie.
' Is this too much?'
'That's no worth its price'
'I have sth like that.'
And the comment a tad too familiar to us,
'That's just so gay lah.'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The night that we've splurged so much on been waiting for has come.
After spending the entire morning/ afternoon getting ready, we were finally all made up and dressed for the occasion.

This year's theme was Brazillian; what a difficult theme to live up to in my opinion.
But I've bought and brought my prom dress from Msia (which was 1/3 of the ticket price might I add) and decided to stay loyal to it no matter what the theme was.

Besides, there's nothing wrong with going against dress codes and themes, just don't overdo it.

Hui Xin and I.

We waited for Kev so that we could share a cab to the Burlington.
And since we were early, we started off with some drinks at the bar.

Jie and I, boys working 'em bow ties.

Shaz, Kev, Jie and Dubai.

3 sexy mamas shaking their booty to the beat and giving out colourful necklaces.

L: With Brian
R: Alyson, me, Joanne, Ryn

What's going to a hotel if you're not gonna use the washroom for photo taking!

Hui Xin, Therese and I

Alyson, Eleanor, me, Hui Xin.
The blonds and redheads must think we Asians are such wannabes!

At the table,

Dubai, Ryn, Jie and I.

Fabian, Shaz, Kev, Dub, Ryn, me, Jie, Nabz

Janso, our Student Union president, me, Hx, Brandon our ex class rep.

Ze couples.
Don't you just love the way Eleanor's dress matches Eng Keat's tie??

And when the music started playing...

It was time to PARTAYYY!!!

Jaegerbombs are de bombs!

We moved to PURE nightclub beside the Burlington for the after party.
We were probably there too early but me made do and had our own fun.

Teehee!

This night may seem like your typical ball; classmates all dressed up, guys looking smarter than usual, flashes from a gazzillion cameras and all that jazz. But I personally think the 8 hours of fun and company definitely brought us closer than ever.

Looking back, I think it was worth being ripped off every cent for.

St Patrick's & Daffodil Day

2009-06-09T07:58:00.001+08:00

See? Told you I'd be efficient.

ST. PATRICK's DAY
Tuesday, 17th March '09

Wan Lin managed to convince me to face paint on St. Patrick's Day on behalf of SUAS, a movement that supports quality education in under-resourced communities in Kenya, India and Ireland.

It was quite an experience having to go up to random people on the streets asking if they wanted their face painted. Technically, the face paint which consist of shamrocks on either side of the cheeks, is free. It's basically up to you to donate whatever amount of money your generous heart and mind tells you to.

The experience differed from babies to children (ew!) to the elderly and not to mention their nationalities. Sadly, majority of the Asians blindly walked pass us without any acknowledgement what-so-ever! I'm not too surprised myself cause that's what I would normally do.

So the day started off REALLY REALLY early as we planned to get a bus to Merrion Square to meet the other volunteers. We opted for the morning shift just so we can watch the parade at noon or so.

That's all of us face painters, stationed at the Molly Malone statue.
I guess we did draw more attention than other groups coz we had the shamrock mascot with us.

Wan Lin and I.

Wan Lin, me, and the guy who designed the Suas logo. ( I haven't the slightest clue what his name is..)

Me, Wan Lin, Hui Xin and Yin Ling with the Shamrock mascot for the afternoon shift.

After the face painting, we headed out to watch the parade.
I'm not a big fan of parades. And since it was so difficult to stand on my tippy toes just to watch people dress up like idiots and parade themselves, I gave up on the parade, took pictures and headed for lunch!

The girls.

Us and Kingsley.

We went for Japanese/Korean food after that.

My disgusting bibimbap.

With Alyson.

The boys.

Posers for life..

Us doing a Perry.
'Can you nottt???'

>.<

>.<
*yumzzz*

DAFFODIL DAY
Friday, 20th March '09

Daffodil Day is Ireland's biggest charity event runned by the Irish Cancer Society.
Once again. my dear housemate managed to convince me to help sell daffodils voluntarily.

I have only one miserable picture of that day from Nabil's phone because although I did bring my camera, I forgot about the memory card!!

There you go.
Spot me in a ginormous yellow bip..
Business was good but sometimes some people just gets on your nerves.
I must say, the Irish are a very charitable and generous lot.
Some put in 20 /50 euros for the 3 euro daffodil pins but refuses to accept the change!

When we encounter such a scenario, we are instantaneously reminded how worth it all these efforts into volunteer work is.

Time for bed.
Early day tmrw and straight to the lab; a place of which I will call my new home for the next 2 months..

International Night 2009

2009-06-07T11:51:00.001+08:00

I'm back from Majorca/Mallorca!! (whichever you fancy) Judging by how efficient I am with my blog, our Majorca trip would probably be up say... 2 months' time?..

What a way to start off summer two-oh-oh-nine by replacing the Twilight-white skin with semi-tanned, semi-lobster tone skin.

So... back to where I left off... (believe it or not, I've kept this in my archive since the exams but never got to the stage of blogging about it..)

INTERNATIONAL NIGHT 2009
Thursday, 12th March '09

In conjunction with RCSI's International Night, the photography society had a photoshoot of traditional costumes that represented the multi-national student population of the college.

I've only managed to get pictures of the Malaysians with my own camera. The rest can be found on facebook, ages ago if I might add.

Azyan, Farqhan and I.
*sigh* My hair has grown so much since then!

On the night itself, it was the juniors' turn to perform. Alyson, in charged of make-up and hair was just THAT close to insanity due to the pressure and limited time.

That's when the busy body seniors came in handy.

The hustle and bustle in Jasmine's room before the performance.

The juniors rehearsing for their performance.

After the make up, hair and cam whoring..

Here are pictures of the other performances representing different countries.

There were more but I was too engrossed with the performances to take pictures!
But I must honestly say, the performances this year totally trumps (new word I learnt on my trip!) the previous years'.

During intermission...

With Christelle, who according to her, can't smile for the camera.
With Pian, who obviously has no problems posing for the camera.

L: Hui Xin, Vivien, me
R: Joanne and I

Hui Xin, me, Chzia Hao, Wei Lin, Melissa, Wan Lin.

Nabil enjoying himself after the Malaysians were announced as the winning performance!

INTERNATIONAL FOOD NIGHT '09
Friday, 13th March '09

Hui Xin and I decided to cook for IFN this year after much thought.
Nasi Lemak and Curry Chicken was the best we could do to represent Malaysia. And as always, my recipes come from Jie through Skype!

Our nasi lemak and curry chicken on the right and Rachael's Malaysian Chinese dishes.

Rachael, Hui Xin and I.

Janso, the Student Union president at that time, Wan Lin and the cooks.

A whole bunch of us Malaysians and Singaporeans.

L: The 3 of us R: With Vino from Canada.

Group picture with the IFN committee.

And guess who painted this?!?!

My dear housemate, Wan Lin... Awesome huh?..

Okay, need some sleep.. Will be back with quick quick quick updates to catch up!..

2009-05-28T18:42:00.002+08:00

It's finally over!!!
I had such a hectic MONTH. Today will probably be the first night I sleep without an alarm and have AT LEAST 8 hours of sleep.

So as of now, everything seems stress-free and my brains are starting to leak whatever I've crammed in the past month (and not forgetting the uber last minute studying.)

The written papers were tough, the MCQs were ATROCIOUS. Did I mention we commenced the exam with a 120 question MCQ paper??.. 120!!! The worst I've done was 80 and that was for PTS at the age of 9??? Jeezz...

It was like playing a computer game which required us to 'draw our guns' and start shooting at any option... BLINDFOLDED... Makes me wonder whether medical students like these should even be doctors.

Nonetheless, I really pray that my oral exam will someway or somehow help me touch the passing mark. I can honestly say I was overwhelmingly nervous for my oral exam (waiting for my turn to come did no good to my stomach, heart or brains!) but when the ball got rolling, I thought that was the best exam I've had in a really REALLY LONG time! In short, the exam started off horridly but ended quite satisfyingly to the extend that I was so happy, I really didn't know what to do when I came home!

There was just TOO MUCH to do! I wanted to clean the house, clean the room, watch a movie, EAT, dye my hair, blog, sleep, bake, drink, party, dance, start a new novel, AND PACK FOR LONDON & MAJORCA!

My flight to London is in 2 hours time.. I just HAD to blog about something to let my vanishing number of readers know I'm alive, not to mention my parents back home who must have been so worried cause normally I'd blog about anything at least 5 hours after the exam..

Gonna enjoy the sun and freedom now!!

HAVE AN AWESOME SUMMER!!
coz I know I will~

2 more papers to go!!!

2009-05-23T07:43:00.002+08:00

Only 4 more days to freedom, yet I pray for that extra 24 hours PER DAY to study.

I wake up every morning wishing someone will tell me it's 27th May 2009.

I wake up every morning looking forward to..... going back to sleep in 18 hours time..

Why why why do they cram so much info into one semester?? It's not doing ANY justice in moulding us into becoming better doctors.

Even Trinity has a gap week between 2 papers!!

Well, it's not like ranting about it will make a difference.

Of course, the fact that I'm actually blogging gives you the impression that I have something real to share, considering how much I've abandoned this page. (damn you exams!)

So today, I woke up and the whole cycle repeats itself; blaring ringtone from Jie's wake up call, open eyes, fall back to sleep for another 15 minutes, bathe, make the bed, coco pops with milk *chomp chomp*, sit *deep DEEP SIGH* and start off with Lecture X.

Most of the time, I would be either concentrating, switching highlighters and coloured pens, filling my cup of water, going in and out of the toilet to pee, or just day dream. I'm in my own world, so to speak.

It rained today, as it has for the last few weeks. Summer Gods not too pleased with Dublin.

So here I was doing my own thing *highlight highlight* *gulp H2O**click click**flip flip*, when suddenly I heard thuds. I decided to ignore it cause the walls here are anything but sound proof.

So, *stares back at notes*. Then out of a sudden, it got darker, as though there was an eclipse. (Okay, I'm no expert in metaphores but that's O.D on Heroes for you..) So I wanted to see this eclipse right.. *thudding still going on* *draws curtains open*...
.
.
.
.
.
.

AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

SO NOT FUNNY!

SINCE WHEN were apartment dwellers THIS privileged to get their windows cleaned by... cleaners (?)

So here I was, on the 3rd floor, looking absolutely ENTHRALLED (I'm NOT kidding!) by this thing-a-majjigy. I didn't dare look out to see who was cleaning until 'it' left to clean the neighbour's window. It was some dude donned in a yellow raincoat (it was raining).

It's not like I expected to see a robot down there or something, it's just that..... I've been in the room with the notes for tooooooo long so much so THIS window cleaning thing has the potential to sweep me off my feet!

URGH!!! 26th May 2009 1.30pm!!!!

2009-05-16T05:11:00.002+08:00

Do you know what's worth fighting for?
When it's not worth dying for?
Does it take your breath away
And you feel yourself suffocating?
Does the pain weigh out the pride?
And you look for a place to hide?
Did someone break your heart inside?
You're in ruins

When you're at the end of the road
And you lost all sense of control
And your thoughts have taken their toll
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul
Your faith walks on broken glass
And the hangover doesn't pass
Nothing's ever built to last
You're in ruins

Did you try to live on your own
When you burned down the house and home?
Did you stand too close to the fire?
Like a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone

When it's time to live and let die
And you can't get another try
Something inside this heart has died
You're in ruins

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms
Give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky,
You and I

- GreenDay, 21Guns

+.+.+.+.+

C'mon, 26th May '09!!!!
I'm in dire need of my daily-12-hour-beautysleep!!

Backlogged....

2009-05-01T06:00:00.000+08:00

I know I've seriously BACKLOGGED this time around. Exams are coming up really soon and the draft for this post has been up since a month ago! Lazy me.. tsk..tsk..

Anyway, I'm not going to waste my time explaining myself and shall proceed with this ancient post of mine.

WAN LIN's 21st BDAY SURPRISE @ MELISSA's
Friday, 27th February '09

I arrived from London on Thursday evening. The following day was the preplanned surprise party for Wan Lin and I somehow ended up being in charged of the cake. Bake it or buy it, it was a tough option considering how little time I had. But being the typical pro-Londoner that I am, I imported a few ingredients that can easily be found in Waitrose, London (think Cold Storage, Malaysia!).

Hui Xin and I spend almost the entire afternoon baking the chocolate cake while Chzia Hao, Wei Lin and Melissa were busy cooking and making numerous runs to Tesco for the ingredients.

Alas! The food was ready and good to go. Transporting the cake from Hui Xin's to Melissa's house was no fun at all. We ended up taking the bus since we had a bus pass anyway.

Thanks to the hosts and hostess, we had just too much food!

The chicken tasted better than the Dublin's KFC. We were flabbergasted when we saw the amount of oil that was used, not knowing the oil that fast food outlets use is a ten times the amount and a gazzillion times the colour.

The chocolate cake, courtesy of bbc.co.uk/recipes and Waitrose (I told you I was pro-London)

We made two just in case it wasn't enough to feed the guest.

By 5pm the food was ready to be eaten. Being the usual Malaysians that we are, friends trickled in one by one, thankfully before Wan Lin arrived.

Alyson, me , Eleanor.
Yes, we had balloons because Wan Lin's a big fan of balloons.

L: Hui Xin, me, Kevinder (who obviously just had a haircut)
R: Nabil, Alyson, Eleanor, Eng Keat, Yiu Ti, Kev.

I have to say, this was such a long time ago, you can't even outline the stress and anxiety we're experiencing now.

The next thing to do is to get the birthday girl all the way to Beaumont, a 20 minute bus ride from where she lives. Melissa decided to have an emotional chat with her and somehow managed to get her on to the bus.

The rest of us were sitting in the dark talking and hushing each other while waiting for WL to arrive.

And finally, after numerous false alarms...

WL and Nabil, looking more exhilarated than anyone else in the living room.

The next thing you know, we were all cooped up in the kitchen, helping ourselves to the scrumptious food, aka titik peluh Wei Lin.

Very colourful people we have here.

Birthday girl with Z-cups (heh!) and matching balloons.

And of all things, you would never have expected this in someone's surprise birthday party.

The boys started playing Counter Strike and managed to get Hui Xin really hooked on to it.
You can sense her enthusiasm from the pictures.

Not longafter, it was time for cake!

Wan Lin with her cake.

Group pictures!

Us, getting ready for the camera. Well, at least some of us are.

Wan Lin, her gift and the mastermind of the surprise.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WAN LIN's BIRTHDAY DINNER & KARAOKE
Wednesday, 4th March '09

After much procrastination and fickle mindedness, we decided to go for dinner. It was THE MOST last minute dinner outing I've ever encountered but it's good to be spontaneous sometimes.

The food.
I must say this is one of the best chinese restaurants we have in Dublin.
It sounds quite pathetic but beggars can't be choosers, can they? ;p

Karaoke here is nothing like what Redbox or Neway has instore for us back home. Judging by the 'numerous' times I've been karaoke-ing, my comment didn't do much justice to Dublin's karaoke standards.
Nonetheless, we always made do with wtv we had and lacked of. In the end, like everyone else, we just want to have our own silly fun times!

The housemates, evidently portraying differing personas.

And we never leave without a group picture.

Make that 2. ;p

Exams are coming up really soon!.. 17 more days and time is running out!
After the 26th, it's all London and Majorca baby!
*can't hardly wait*

2009-04-24T08:11:00.002+08:00

Do you dream that the world will know your name?
Do you care about all the little things or anything at all?
I wanna feel, all the chemicals inside
I want a sunburn, just to know that I'm alive...

Do you believe in the day that you were born?
Do you know that every day's the first of the rest of your life.

This is to one last day in the shadows,
To know a brother's love,
This is to NYC angels,
And the rivers of our blood,
This is to all of us.

You can tell me all your thoughts about the stars that fill polluted skies,
Show me where you run to when no one's left to take your side,
But don't tell me where the road ends cause I just don't wanna know.

Don't tell me if I'm dying cause I don't wanna know.
If I can't see the sun maybe I should go.
Don't wake me cause I'm dreaming of angels on the moon.
Where everyone you know never leaves too soon.

OH AHM GEEE!!!

2009-04-02T06:04:00.003+08:00

OHHH AHMM GEEE!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

JIE looks like HOWIE DAY!!!

hahahahahahahahahaha!
I'm not the only one who thinks so.. Have to thank Collin for pointing that out!

AMOUR, YU TAU MAI, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY!

2009-03-27T08:40:00.001+08:00

AMOUR @ FUNKY BUDDHA, MAYFAIR
Wednesday, 25th February '09

I must say this was my most random and quickest trip to London.

But I'm just gonna cut the crap and go straight to the point.

The event we've all been waiting for, Amour, brought to you by LSE's Malaysian Society!

In County Hall's lift.
Damn, I wished the lift to my apartment was this glam.

Besides the long awaited event, the highlight of this trip was me surprising my two sweeties!!
EVERYONE, when I say everyone I literallymean EVERYONE, knew about my trip and the surprise was a success!!

I shall now attempt to surprise Jie one of these days.
Wish me tons of luck.

Agnes, me, Helena, Christine, Yvonne outside the tube station where I watched Helena's jaw dropped and where my ears were ringing from Agnes' squeal.

Inside Funky Buddha,

Jun Hann, who looks like he's all dressed for prom, Xiong, Jie.

Before drinks: Elaine and I
After drinks: A red Elaine and Jun

Sweeties Galore!

We pre booked a table for 15 of us and it came with a fruit bowl!
And that's one huge martini glass that Loong and Jie would not have hesitated taking if they hadn't removed it from the table so quickly.

Jie, Jun, JJ, Joong Loong.

I was really glad I could successfully surprise my two sweeties in London without breaking a sweat. Would definitely do anything to see their reactions again!

Our table bought a bottle of champagne and it came in with 'em fire thingamajiggies..

It was burning my fingers (note the up flexing thumb) but the posing for the camera was just wayyy to important.

Us girlies with the champagne and the sexy attendant.

To First Classes this coming May!!

Black, Silver, Red, Pink...

The 'Indonesian Gang'.
Speaking of which, a korean guy in my class thought I was Indonesian Chinese.
I wonder why that might be. But he told me to take it as a compliment and I definitely will, skin as thick as a tree bark.

♥ put your hands up! ♥

Jonny having a moment & us girls taking a break from all the dancing.

Sexy Backs!!
heh!

It was a good break from the 4 walls of Beaumont and fun times with Jie and the girls.
We went for supper at Chinatown after that and this was definitely one of those night to remember.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LUNCH @ RASA SAYANG, CHINATOWN
Thursday, 26th February '09

I don't really do much when I go to London. One of the main reasons Dubliners go to London is for the FOOD!

Just ask Chung Lee, Sue Faye and Kev!

Jie and the boys are always looking for new restaurants to try. It's advantageous for me cause I don't have to go through the hassle of trying something icky and having to pay for it.

Loong with his Nasi Lemak and Sweetie #1 still being the same ol Primary 6 Agnes.

Sweetie #2 and I.

The food:

Everything was HEAVENLY.
But the saint-iest of them all is definitely the YU TAU MAI!!
I just had to have it after reading about my sister's lunch visit to Jenny's yu tau mai back home.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a more recent note,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOOSIE!!!!
May, now everyone knows what mummy's second name is!

Daggles got Moosie an iPhone! That's so unfair but perfectly fair at the same time.

My card reached home just in time; the perks of having a post office in the hospital!
And although there's no tangible present for you, the timing of the placement for this summer couldn't be any better.
*hugz*

Love,
Ping and Jie

Rapping Flight Attendant

2009-03-24T05:57:00.004+08:00

Don't we all wished Ryan Air adapted this system.

VALENTINE's DAY & PANCAKE DAY!

2009-03-22T09:39:00.001+08:00

VALENTINE's DAY
Saturday, 14th Febraury '09

As expected, Jie was down in Dublin for the weekend for V'day. Eons ago I know, but I like keeping record of things like these so that on the 14th February 2010, we can look back at these photos and wtv I'm writing now and have a good laugh at ourselves.

We didn't do anything significant on V'day. It's just an excuse for Jie to come to Dublin actually.
We couldn't decide where to go for lunch. Jie's first choice is always O'Neills and never failed to dine there everytime he's in Dubz. But not this time!

I took him to Captain America's instead. Sounds pretty ironic but the chicken wings are TO-DIE-FOR (quote unquote Helena)

Mr. Liar.

We shared these and jsut by the looks of the pizza, I can make better pizza from scratch than that! But the chicken wings are simply the best!

We headed off to Asia Market and on the way back, Jie bought me a Vday balloon. It was fod a good cause alright! I can't remember what was it for though.

And he simply couldn't keep his hands feet off the balloon.

You can't imagine how thankful I am to have a bus rambler (can travel as many times as you want in a day for 3 euros). Throughout most of my first year I never took the bus unless it was to the airport. Right now, I just wanna take the bus anywhere I go. Even if it's 2 bus stops away!

Before I get sidetracked, I told Jie that since we had awesome meals in London when I was there, why not cook at home this time since it's just so not worth paying to eat out here.

So home cooked food it was for the night!

I was comtemplating between my top 2 favourite, Japanese or Italian.
Ended up with Japanese instead. (Sigh, I miss the Jap buffet in PJ Hilton!)

Heart-shaped seaweeds.

Jie drying the sushi rice with my HAIRDRYER in MY ROOM!

End Result:

Udon Seafood Noodle, my favourite cooked Jap food.

Sushi.
Some looked pretty retarded cause we had no mayo!

Notice the candles??
I can't believe I actually went through the trouble looking for the perfect candle. I still have it, I can prob reuse it next year.

Edamame!

And you know what boys are like with fire..
Jie tried to blow off the fire from his seat. And successfully did it.

Thanks sweetie!!

After that we headed off to Kev's place since it was his real birthday and chilled there for a lil.
Ended up watching THE LOVE GURU! Annoying as it is, it's still more tolerable than Mr. Bean.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THAI DINNER @ HOME
Sunday, 15th February '09

In the midst of my exams, I had this sudden craving for Thai food. But somehow, the Thai food we had in London wasn't as satisfying as I thought it would be.

So the next best thing is to ask my sweetie to cook sth up.
We made Wan Lin join us that night for dinner. I know you're thinking light bulb, flower pot and what have yous but honestly, Jie and I never believed in 'two is company, three's a crowd'

Tom yam soup with Laksa noodles!
(managed to find them in Asia Market and the packet reads 'PRODUCT OF KEDAH')

PANDAN CHICKEN!!
I was amazed we could actually make this. It wasn't as fragrant or crispy but the gist was there.

That wraps up Jie's short trip to Dublin. He's coming again in 3 days time and I can't hardly wait!
It's been almost a month since I last saw him. Booo!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PANCAKE DAY
Tuesday, 24th February '09

Pancake day, a.k.a Shrove Tuesday is celebrated a day before Lent.

We shunned the thought of making our own pancakes because it requires loads of work and cleaning up!

So we bought instant pancakes from SuperValue and had them with jam, peanut butter and jelly, Ben & Jerry's ice cream and NUTELLA!

Sinful-nya!

CHAP GOH MEH DINNER

2009-03-15T08:44:00.001+08:00

CHAP GOH MEH DINNER &
KEVINDER's EARLY BDAY CELEBRATION
@ JOANNE's Monday, 9th February '09

This year, Chap Goh Meh fell on the first day of IC1. After 9 hours in Beaumont, we got home and prepared for Steamboat at Joanne's new place. Basically, it was a CGM-cum-house warming thing.

Thank goodness Joanne lives only 3 minutes away from Wan Lin and I. One of the many advantages is that there's no need to rush to the bus stand by 1130 to catch the last bus!

You'd think bringing food and drinks over to her place would be no probs at all, but! the paper bag with a wine bottle in it tore when we were TWO STEPS away from the main entrance of her building.

How unlucky is that!!

Steamboat materials and herbal chicken soup.

One lesson learnt. Never EVER use a slow cooker for steamboat. There's always a reason why it's called a SLOW cooker.

Wan Lin and Elijah working on the Tom Yam soup, Kingsley slicing salmon for Yee Sang and Joanne the hostess!

I made Sangria, Spanish/Portugese wine punch. Jie made this for me last year on New Year's eve and once again, I stole his recipe.

And since the wine bottle broke, we replaced it with Ribena!

Yee Sang, all the way from M'sia, courtesy of Wan Lin!
Bring in the first and second classes for Intermediate Cycle!!

Elijah, Tee Keat, Kevinder and Arthur, un-gentleman-ly helped themselves to the first helping.

Wan Lin and I with our Sangrias.

Elijah, ZiFu (currently back @ PMC), Eng Keat, Eleanor, Xin Yun (back in Penang as well)

Someone decided to celebrate Kevinder's birthday 5 days ahead. I can't believe he's born on Valentines Day. It's good for his future girlfriend(s) but not so for him coz no one wants to get ONE present for Vday + Bday.

Kev singing happy birthday to himself.

Speaking of which, he made me call him by his middle name, Ryan cause it sounds cooler. And in return, he calls me Cathy now.
So that lengthens the list of people who call me Cathy.

L: With Kev and Sheng Joule (I can remember cause it's so so so similar to Sheng Jie!)
R: Wan Lin, Joanne, Xin Yun and I.

Arthur MADE the 3 of us do that.
He doesn't drink alcohol, or tries not to but eventually reluctantly gives in to peer pressure. I'm not quite sure why he made us act that out actually.

Real men wear pink!
Lacoste vs. Ralph Lauren.

All of us minus ZiFu.

As you can see, I'm taking my own sweet time updating on last month's events. Our timetable is so so so packed. Our free time is spent 'resting' or doing something for some college event.

I won't be in Dublin next year round so I thought it's best to go for wtv events that come our way. Things will be incomparibly different back in Penang but I still can't wait to go back to the place I call home.

Next post would be on Vday! And I'm so getting Jie to do it. Heh!

CNY @ DUBLIN

2009-03-08T06:42:00.000+08:00

CHINESE NEW YEAR BUFFET LUNCH
@ JIMMY CHUNG. DUBZ
Sunday, 8th February '09

In conjunction with Chinese New Year, the PMC-RCSI society organized a buffet lunch at Jimmy Chung's. As Chinese as the restaurant's name sounds, Jimmy Chung's is a chinese restaurant chain, originating all the way from SCOTLAND.

A total of 300 over people from RCSI and UCD were expected and I was really lucky to get a last minute subsidized ticket!

Arthur, the VP toasting to good health, wealth and prosperity.

On occassions like this is where we take the opportunity to catch up with our UCD counterparts.

L: Yes, I was baking with Jean the previous day but meeting up with the UCDians only happen on rare occasions like this so I definitely wasn't Jean overdosed much.
R: With Jamie and Melissa who's back from RCSI's student exchange prog in Bahrain!

With Yi Jiet and Wai Onn.

The DUrians.

The 3 of us with our 2 whacky juniors, Rachel and Alyson.

Wan Lin, Melissa and I.
Looking at this draws me back to a time last year.
*gasp!!!* I'll never have long hair again! At least, not anytime soon... heh!

Very unusual of me, I didn't take a single picture of the food served but you can sorta imagine the typical chinese buffet food; spring rolls, fried wantan, fried rice, fried noodles and the list goes on..

This is by far the best chinese buffet I've tried because you can make your own dessert (they had that sundae machine and what makes it soooo fun is that it's DIY!) and you can actually distinguish the taste of one dish from another!

Many a time, the sauces for different dishes in chinese buffets are so similar that eventually, the chicken dish you had would taste exactly like the vegetable dish you are gonna have!

Wan Lin, Jawing (who had hair longer than mine before the 2 week break), Mehul (the president) and I.

International Week is coming up. Can't wait to see what the juniors have in store for us! It's gonna be a different experience from a spectator's view point.

Time really flies when you're enjoying yourself. I can still remember the numerous practices and stress we had to endure for International Night '08.

Anyhoos, I'm off to complete my Sudoku which I've been attempting since god knows how long ago, thanks to the 2 influentials, Aubo and Hui Xin.

BAKE WITH JEAN!

2009-03-03T07:45:00.001+08:00

I'm just gonna do a quick post on whatever I've left behind. I'm officially on a one month lag but hey, at least I know there's always something to blog about whenever I sign in to blogger.

I've been catching up on alot of sleep during the weekends but somehow it just will not suffice. It's 7.30pm and I feel so sleepy, but sleeping at 7.30 won't do my biological clock any justice.

So I'm keeping myself awake by blogging, facebooking, occassional glances at my notes, one tree hill and eating the goey chocolate slice I baked yesterday!

Speaking of baking, I realized my baking habits aren't as rampant as last year's. But 2 days after I got back from London, I had a baking session with Jean!

BAKE WITH JEAN! @ JEAN's PLACE, SOMEWHERE NEAR UCD.
Saturday, 6th February '09

After getting my heavy lazy bum out of bed, I took my very first bus ride after a very long time on the DublinBus. As usual, the expected headache ensued and I was lucky it was a 15 minute ride.

Unlike the city, most parts of UCD was covered with snow. It was sooo bad we literally had to wobble our ways in to Jean's house!

I had a biscuit for breakfast, before storming out the door, biscuit in one hand, forcing my foot into my converse with the other. And Jean was kind enough to serve me Chicken Stew for lunch! Not many people can bake AND cook well, most of the time it's either or but Jean's one in a million.

We planned on baking cinnamon rolls and peanut butter centres.

In Jean's highly organized and neat kitchen.

Jean having a go with the peanut butter and kneading the dough.

I'm not as patient so Jean had to do most of the kneading.
Most of the time Jie does the kneading as well, while I do the easy stuff.

After filling the chocolate batter with peanut butter, we were left with this.
And guess who refused to wash this just so he can lick the bowl clean??..

Yi Jiet!
I guess I should mention his name as he was our very important asset, washing the dishes and eating the products!

Our peanut butter centres.

Next up, Cinnamon Rolls!

Yi Jiet, Jean and I rolling up em rolls.

Before entering the oven.

The 2 master chefs.
*self claim* heh!

Yi Jiet in an apron + our baked cinnamon rolls!

We had 2 more trays to bake so while waiting for the sugar to melt and the dough to rise, we went out to play with snow!

That would be Yi Jiet and Jean in Jean's backyard.

The lighting was perfect for a lil bit of posing.

4 Ultimate Poseurs.

Then Jean had this BRIGHT idea to snap a picture, with the flash on!
Jean: 'Eh, why don't I try taking a pic of our shadows with the flash?'

*CLICK*

ROFL!

We were probably high on peanut butter and cinnamon!

With Jean and Jonathan.

The snow was too hard to make snow angels so we had to improvise... a wee bit...

*sniggers*
Awesome company la, that's all I can say.

After a snowblockball fight, we went back in to dry ourselves and eat!

Yummy!

Blogging about this makes me wanna bake cinnamon rolls this weekend!
But with the RCSI ball coming up, this probably shouldn't be the time to indulge in such sinful food!

Till our next baking session (curry puffs!), toodles!

LONDON DAY 13 & 14!

2009-02-22T02:35:00.009+08:00

LONDON DAY 13
SOUND OF MUSIC @ THE PALLADIUM
Tuesday, 3rd February '09

Although I've been to London on numerous occasions, I've yet to watch a single musical.
I've always wanted to watch Stomp, when they were in KL in 2005 but never got to. My first 'musical' experience was when I watched Grease with my dad and it was amazing!

Now Jimmy Osbourne is the new Grease and I must must must watch it before I leave next year.

Frankly speaking, I think Jimmy Osbourne is not Grease-y () enough for the role. He just doesn't have the bad-boy-I-am-too-cool-for-you look. When I think of Grease, I think John Travolta (during his skinny times) but J.O is everything but skinny! How's he gonna dance ON THE CAR to Grease Lightning?
*no offense*

Anyhows, Agnes and I went to The Palladium to watch Sound Of Music despite the snow.
(I was that desperate to watch a musical and SOM was about to end in early Feb)

I can't remember when I last watched The SOM but I can vaguely remember the details.
Songs, curtains, church, kids, mountains..
I always mix SOM and Mary Poppins up that I thought Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was from SOM.

Maria and the 7 kids.

We weren't allowed to take pictures during the show.
I thought of showing my true Malaysian colours by snapping as much as I could without the flash but we were way too near the stage.
So my M'sian self went back into hidding.

The interior of the theatre.
I kid you not, LSE's lecture theatre looks a tad bit like this and it's called Peacock Theatre.

Agnes and I before the show.
The boys, who were at Michael's place doing guy stuff, decided not to come with us after so much comtemplation.

The show was really good, I was particularly impressed by their props and the lil kids.

During the show, I kept my mouth busy by munching on 2 packets of Skittles. Actually, I only do that when I'm not concentrating on the show, especially when the emotional parts kick in.

A funny thing happened to me. During the 15 minute intermission, a guai lou tapped me on the shoulder.

Guai Lou: Excuse me. I'm really sorry to ask but can I have the sweet you were munching?
It looks really yummy and I can't help myself.

Me: *stunned.this.is.so.weird* Er....
*hands over the whole packet of Skittles* Here, take them all.

Guai Lou: Nah, I just want one. Thanks.
*looks over to the lady who was sitting behind me*
*laugh laugh* She made it look so yummy you know.

*laugh terbahak-bahak*

Okay, I was thinking to myself whether I should take it as a compliment. I was merely eating Skittles! Well, I don't blame the guy, the theatre only served ice cream (hello, it's snowing if you didn't noticed!) and sweets that weren't Skittles standard. (say hi to a die hard Skittles fan)

During the second half of the show I controlled the amount of Skittles that I popped into my mouth. Just in case someone decides to take the whole bag from me.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LONDON DAY 14
LUNCH @ THE BERKELEY
Wednesday, 4th February '09

On my last day in London, Jie, Loong and my sweeties decided to have lunch at a 2 star Michellin restaurant. It's a good thing their Wednesdays are quite free.

This was my early Valentine's meal since, sad to say, there's nothing worth it's price in Dublin to eat.

It used to be called Petrus under Gordon Ramsay.
But now it's called Marcus Wareing, his ex-head chef.

So it was dress-up time again, though the boys weren't as excited about that part as the girls were.

The ambience of the restaurant.
And much to Agnes' dissapointment, Ramsay actually took Jean Phillipe, his Maitre d', with him

The 5 of us.

The food:
I can't remember the exact names for all the dishes and they're too long even I don't understand them anyway.

Foie Gras Triangles and urm.. Bread Crisps with some kinky tomato and truffle dip! hehe...

Their freshly made butter to go with an assortment of bread and nutmeg mousse with white onion veloute. it's cold on the top and hot at the bottom! (my favourite of the pre appetizers)

Appetizers: urm.. Quail with foie gras and Caesar Salad, Lobster Bisque, Suckling pig terrine with snail beignet!

I can't even remember who had what. I just like looking at all these pictures of the pretty food.

Main course:

Jie, Loong and I had the Mutton while Agnes and Helena had the Venison.

Their selection of tea infusions.

Our pre dessert:

Lychee Ice cream with passion fruit jelly and lemon cream.

The ladies.

Desserts!

Mine, Agnes', Helena's, Jie's, Loong's.
And Loong's dessert won best dessert amongst the other 5.

Jie and I.

BON- BON TROLLEY!
What a way to wrap up an awesome lunch!

After the bon bons, we were given a tour of the kitchen.

It's so neat and tidy. I expected chefs screaming on top of their lungs and the banging of pots and pans, you know, like the normal 'tai chow' back home.

Jie was the happiest boy ever when he met his idol, Marcus Wareing. It's like me getting to meet Victoria Beckham in person!

The 5 of us with Marcus Wareing.

Since we were in a hotel, why not take the opportunity to use their washroom?

I wished I had a bathroom that looks like that!

Can't wait to go to London again!

So that's how I spent my 2 weeks worth of holidays.

Now it's time for dinner and work work work!

LONDON DAY 9, 10, 11, 12!

2009-02-19T01:54:00.004+08:00

LONDON DAY 9,10,11,12!
Friday, 30th January '09

I'm currently lagging behind so much that's it's not even funny!
I was supposed to update during the weekend but Jie was here for Valentine's so I had to 'devote' my time to him instead.

Thank heavens! Tmrw's lecture is at 2pm so thanks for giving IC1's the opportunity to BREATHE.

Anyway, picking up where I left off, I realized we've been eating out alot for the one week that I was in London. CNY is an excuse but when your boyfriend can cook way better than you can
as good as renowned chefs, why not make full use of it?

We had GBK again for lunch but this time I actually had a burger instead of a salad.

We met up with Grace, Stanley and her parents at Bayswater but I don't know how, I forgot to take pics! But Grace's parents are really cool just like her.

And ka-chingg-chingg!! One more red packet into the bag! Hehe!
Thankiu Aunty!

When we got home, Jie got down to cooking whilst I who wished to do anything but to interrupt him, went swimming!

I even brought my gym attire but didn't manage to go. It's so unfair how equiped Jie's place is. Having said that, I still prefer my apartment.

After washing up, I was presented with...

Tadaaa!

Puttenesca and Salmon!

Then it was over to Flat 28 for their Friday Night rituals..

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STEAMBOAT @ FLAT 28
Saturday, 31st January '09

Similar to last year, we had steamboat this year at a different venue with a different group of people.

And before that, we had to make a trip to Chinatown for our materials and such.

In conjunction with CNY, they had Lion Dance performance for almost every shop in Chinatown, where the lion has to dance as though it's been druged then try to catch an entire lettuce from the top of the entrance.

The only part I personally enjoy is the sound of the drums and when the lion occasionally flutters its eyelashes.

And I never fail to blog about what I eat in London so here's another one of the must-go's,
Leong's Legend which serves the best Taiwanese food I've ever tasted.
(I haven't tried many though, prolly only 2 restaurants but it's as good as it gets la..)

Guess how many of us were there to wallap ALL THE DISHES?

Jie
Agnes
& I

No, we're all not big eaters, I think it's just me, coming from Dublin POST EXAMS and all.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STEAMBOAT!

The food.

I was too busy eating to even look for my camera. So some these pictures are stolen from Helena.

Jie sits like a girly girl and Loong loves the camera.

Jie can sit like a monkey too!

Jie, Yvonne, Helena ever ready for the camera, Jun Hann.

The Bridge Gang - Agnes, me, Xiong, Loong.

Then I'm not sure who's bright idea was it to start CANING people on the cubital fossa arm with 2 fingers.

I've yet to try it but from all the guys' expressions I'd think it hurt alot!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SNOW SNOW SNOW!!
Sunday, 1st February '09

We had leftovers from the steamboat as lunch and stayed in Flat 28 the entire day only to realize it was actually snowing outside!

It started off mild and the rest is history..

Me at the balcony of Flat 28.

Agnes and I.

A view of Brunswick centre from the balcony.

Loong and Agnes.

There was just enough snow to make snowballs so...

We threw at each other, I faked a white flag and we threw 'em off the balcony.

Since the roads were thickened by the snow and we were so unprepared for this, we stayed in for porridge and a good movie.

The boys did the cooking.

Jie frying the bacon.

Meanwhile....

Agnes carries Loong!!

When Helena got back from practice, we went out to play with and in the snow like kids who've not seen snow in their lives.

Helena and I.

The Lims! ♥

Meet our snowman (Project 101).

Jie and I waited for the snow to die down before taking the cab back to Waterloo.

View at night.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SNOW FIGHT & PROJECT SNOWMAN 102 @ REGENT's PARK
Monday, 2nd February '09

One night was insufficient for the snow to melt.
LSE's lectures and classes were CANCELLED!
Good for me, Jie and the whole lot.

The view in the morning!

Outside Waterloo Station.
The buses were not in service that day but thank goodness for the London Underground!

Jie and I on Regent Street.

We were on our way for lunch before enduring the blistering cold in Regent's Park for at least 3 hours.

Aren't the telephone booths pretty?
They look like they've been coated with icing sugar.. yumzzz..

We simply couldn't wait for Regent's Park to get at one another.

Me, trying to get Jie with a hugeass snowball and Helena with an ICE blended frappucino?

L: Loong showing no mercy to Helena.
R: Snow Mushrooms!

LUNCH @ CHA CHA MOON

Yet another must-go.

The Char Kuey Teow costs only £3.50!
I'm semi grateful I don't study in London. I'll end up over eating all these good food till it comes out thru my ears!

Drinks were slightly on the high side but I made the most awesome choice by ordering a COLD drink on a very OBVIOUS cold day.

We were off to the Regent's Park..

So pretty!

We tried making snow angels but the snow wasn't fluffy enough.

After bombarding each other with snowballs, we got on with Project 102.

All hard at work.

But, Helena's ever ready for the camera.

Kudos to them for rolling the giant snow ball.

Rolling was too heavy and cold for me to handle so I helped sculpt the snowman.
My fingers were too cold to even tie up my own shoe laces!

The others came and the best way to welcome them is to attack them with snowballs too of course!

Especially the girl with the pink umbrella.

Sweeties!

Check out our snowman, Van The Man a.k.a Vannie!

My 2 strong sweeties!

L-R (clockwise): Clarence, Van the Man, Loong, me, Yvonne, Helena, Elaine, Xiong, Jun, Jie, Agnes, Wyng Teng.

All the ladies getting our sexy butts frozen.

One more post to complete my London trip and plenty more posts to come!