Whither the Weather

Some of you may have heard me complain ad libitum about the (imho) overly-warm and humid weather in S'pore and my penchant for cooler climes (which is one reason why i like to holiday in faraway atas places where possible, as well as partly why global climate change vexes me so much and hence why i'm quite environmentally conscious, but that's another story). Anyways last year around this time i was on the last leg of my time in the States - over the holidays after exams i went to places like Boston and St. Louis. And it so happened that in all these places they were experiencing above-average temperatures - fair enough. So i didn't get to experience snow and what not, hardly the end of the world.

Now that i've cable though, and hence watch CNN/Headline News in lieu of Channelnewsasia (cos imho, the latter sucks and i really could not care any less for mediacrap), i've been observing the weather patterns in North America quite a fair bit - and lo and behold, places which i'd visited last year in the Midwest and New England have already experienced crippling snowstorms, stuff strikingly absent when i was there. Not that i'd have liked to be there during such frigid conditions, but it still seems to reinforce the conclusion that i've arrived at, which is that the mercury always seems to head upwards whenever i'm in town. Apart from this prime example, i also recall last year when there was quite a bit of snow in Chicago just the week before i arrived there, which of course had all disappeared by the time i got there, and which reappeared just after i flew back to Chapel Hill. Even when i went back to the Philippines earlier this year, my cousin-in-law told me that there was hail the morning of the day i arrived (of course, i only arrived at night). And there are more examples where those came from... Sigh - how to ever do stuff like skiing like that (and i don't count snow city as a legitimate example)?

CORS bidding is just around the corner, and i'm as indecisive as ever. Experience obviously doesn't breed ease of action in this case... It doesn't help that i never got around to doing the pre-allocation this time round cos i was occupied with other stuff, and so it totally slipped my mind. I'm as fussy as ever when it comes to choosing classes, even though i've only three to choose in total, and i've already decided on one of them... Anyone else is shopping around for a good s/u-able (and hopefully non-examinable) breadth class?

Managed to go down to Esplanade to watch ACJC Choir caroling the other day - got to meet some of the people from my batch as well which was good... Miss those days quite a bit (well ok, maybe only parts of it) - i could still remember a good deal of my parts from the songs, especially since they've by and large remained the same even after seven years.

Yesterday's PRC camp, by God's grace went well - i think that was the only truly sunny day we've had in the whole of this month (and to that end i now have a painful reminder that i musn't forget to apply sunscreen on the back of my neck...), and thankfully no one got injured or anything like that. Once again, just like the prc camp i was at three years ago, i'm pretty sure that i spoke more Mandarin the whole of yesterday than i have in the rest of the year put together. And i was reminded why i'm so reticent about ever taking a holiday in China/HK/Taiwan etc - language frustrations would just drive me bonkers...

I totally concur with what mr brown posted about taxi drivers. Government affiliations aside, i think that it's just not right that basically no matter how bad the situation gets for the drivers, the cab companies basically are hardly the worse for wear, since regardless of how much (or how little) the drivers earn in a day, they still have to pay a fixed rental to the company. Talk about being out of touch. This latest fare increase basically affects the demand for taxi rides, at the expense of the drivers, whereas the companies themselves definitely feel less pain. It's situations like this that make me more sympathetic towards a proper labor movement in terms of unions and what not (and please NTUC so doesn't count). Of course, this has many messy drawbacks, but still nevertheless the drivers deserve to have it better than they do now (and yup, i'm speaking up for them even though they have caused me many an angry moment when i'm cycling).

happy (hectic) holidays

Well the holidays this time have not exactly been the most relaxing of moments for me as there have been a lot of things going on over the past month or so - allow me to randomly recall and recap...

AnnTIC this time round was a bit of a change from previous ones i've been to - with stuff like exco time and all that, plus the fact that i came a day late and was rather disoriented at first. Thankfully the message of the theme talks especially was something that i hold rather close to my heart, and so those at least really rang a bell with me. I guess i'm the sort who may not be complacent in terms of knowledge, but rather complacent in terms of action, if you catch my drift; so the message was definitely a timely and relevant one. Glad to have gotten to know quite a few new people too. And if time, inspiration, and creative energy permits, i'll get cracking on that song sooner or later. One regret though is that i never managed to get down to playing any games at all, after having looked so forward to that initially...

Have also had to get started on prep for ht, and to that end i felt like i had accomplished so much when i went down to school on at least three separate occasions for consultation and book-borrowing. That however has proven to be the more-than-easy part. The actual reading of all of these resources is another matter altogether, and i've barely begun with anything where that is concerned. Can't seem to get out of the lazy, holiday mood and get down to actual work (schoolwork of this nature during holiday time is a rather alien concept to me). Hmm, but come to think of it, there's a big load of stuff to read. So think i shall have to find my way back to school and do my research there - at least the environment there is somewhat more conducive (i hope).

Christmas this year was the first in three years i've spent here - there was MEET camp two years ago and then was at my cousin's place in MD last year. Nothing special though - went for the Christmas Eve midnight service, first time in donkey years that i've been for the service at SAC. And i never realized that having the right family connections could secure one a reserved seat in the front row (all the better to fall asleep in front of the preacher in). So i was seated right in front of the lectern, and in the middle of methinks Joy to the World i looked down and lo and behold i spotted a little gray mouse peeking its head out from its base (and let me clarify, it was a little cute gray mouse, kinda like the kind people keep as pets, not a vile gigantic brown rat). Yup so that was the highlight of my Christmas i guess. Fun, eh?

I was admittedly rather anxious about this past sem's results, particularly because i've been straddling the fine line between classes of hons. And well, after this sem, basically nothing has changed, which i'm thankful for, that at least things have more or less maintained rather than regressed. What intrigued me a bit was the specific grades for some of the classes - i trust our dear friend Mr Bell Curve had a rather heady role to play in that one...

Yesterday was floorball time - something that i've missed over the past one and a half years or so - was good - finally got some exercise this month (and coming right after all the Christmas pigging-out, the timing could not have been any better). And as proof of the exercise i now have the expected body aches and orh cehs (sp?) on both knees, the latter thanks to my unintended expertise at sliding all over the floor while lunging for the ball. Ah well, it was fun, so all these are worth it.

Parents are away now at some clergy retreat thingy (it's supposed to be a family retreat, but almost all the children who go are like primary school age and under, and the last thing i want to do is to babysit annoying children), so i've had to do my part in bringing Bingo down to answer nature's call - i must say, it's hardly the most fun thing in the world to scoop up his waste matter from under him and pop it into the bin. Ah heck, it's only for two days... On a related note, it's sad to see how he's aged exponentially ever since we moved over here (he's 14 btw) - now he hobbles about as if he had just gotten neutered, and can't pee the usual male dog way of lifting one leg anymore (cos think he'd lose his balance), and constantly slips on our marble floor, and has to prop himself on his snout before lying down or else risk bashing his head on the floor. Poor thing.

(temporarily) paved paradise

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till its gone

These words, albeit taken completely out of context, sum up pretty much my thoughts regarding what's been going on over the past month. As much as the little idiosyncrasies and recurring questions and what not may have caused distancing on my part over the past, i don't know, ten or more years, the swift and sudden progression of events culminating in early this morning bring about a strange sense of longing for just a quick fresh experience of being at the receiving end of some of these actions that would otherwise draw me further away. I'm glad for the minimal suffering though, and trust that all that was expressed during the past couple of days especially was heard - after all, hearing and touch are the last to go they say... There's an endless succession of brighter days in a better place ahead, and the prayer now is that one day in that place there will be a joyous reunion - if it is in God's will, then for everyone, bar none. And until then, while there will always be regrets and struggling to know what to feel and all, the important thing is i guess to keep looking ahead, and more importantly looking upwards...

Wednesday in the Park with the Birds

Exams ended for me yesterday (or technically, the day before yesterday) - not much to say about it really save for that there appeared to be some kind of consensus among the class that the compulsory question was quite one kind, for anything else we'll just wait for the boxing day present from nus...

I'm still in pgp though, at least up till friday, cos i've amassed quite a bit of stuff over here over the past two months or so and i'll need transport to bring it all back, and the folks have been away as of late - which has complicated overall happenings at home but anyways...

Yup so to that end i was looking forward to today, cos, armed with my zoo card that costs a bomb but i've not used ever, i was sorta intending to take a random trip up to Mandai and perhaps cover both the zoo and the night safari at one shot.

As they always say, however, the best laid plans of man can go wrong, and to that end it just had to be today when the rain came and lasted practically throughout the day up till early evening. I wouldn't actually have minded still going there, just that i think the animals would probably be less keen on the constant rainfall than i am.

So instead, and so as not to totally waste the day just lounging in my room, i decided to take a looong walk over to Kent Ridge Park, just cos i've not been there in a while - and so off i went on a methinks 45 minute trek in the pouring rain (i made an exception to my general lack of enthusiasm for umbrellas even in the pouring rain simply cos it was such a long walk) and then got there and just soaked it all in (the scenery, as well as the water into my sandals and berms). One thing that cracked me up was some of the anti-poaching/fishing signs that i encountered there:



While there, i chanced upon an info board that listed some of the bird species that one might encounter in the park - but as it was pouring unceasingly at the time i didn't think that i'd actually be able to spot any of them. One bird listed though, did catch my attention, the White-crested Laughingthrush, which inspite of my semi-familiarity with local bird species, i'd not paid much attention to before.

So then on my way back i decided to use the science park route, and just as i was going down the steps towards there, i heard this noisy group of birds in the trees above me (they must have been unsettled by my sudden appearance cos i was like one of ten or less people in the whole park, as far as i could count) - it was a call unfamiliar to me - and it sounded strangely like laughter. Then i looked up and after a couple of seconds, i spotted them - a group of at least six or seven White-crested Laughingthrushes =) Unfotunately i did not get a shot of them, but i must say, as geeky as it sounds, that spotting them made my whole rain-soaked trek to the park more than worth it.

I dunno if these were clouds but if they were, they sure were low...

From north to south, they're as blonde as they come

good to see that she knows when to laugh at herself though haha...

(at least now that exams are over i can waste time over at youtube et al without feeling guilty)

Score one for the Preble's meadow jumping mouse

My downstairs neighbor is an intriguing fella - i've never met him before but i've heard his music very frequently (throughout the day and night) and at very loud volumes to boot - it's an eclectic mix of repeated mandarin pop (kinda brings me back to my army days when my ears were constantly at the mercy of my bunk mates, for one particular CD each from Jay Chou and Stefanie Sun were all that they ever would play for two and a half months - no surprise there as to why i can sing to you at least the choruses of virtually every song on those two albums) and tacky Disney showtunes. The chao mugger in me is inclined to stick my head outside and yell at him to turn the volume down, but oh well, the chao mugger in me is miniscule to say the least. Oh, and did i mention he sings/whistles along to the songs as well?

Ah but when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, eh? This is the perfect opportunity for more random ramblings...

I was doing my usual morning browse through the internet news, when i came across this report on endengered species rulings in the US. Apparently there was this official in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (and surprise surprise, she's a Bush appointee) who was using her influence to unduly pressure scientists into altering their findings that would have otherwise given certain species protection under the Endangered Species Act. Earlier on, she also had used her position to influence the delisting of a species of fish from the Act - and it so happens that the fish was endemic to the area where she so happened to have an 80-acre farm. Disgusting, if you ask me. Well, she has since resigned, thankfully. I especially like what this environmentalist was quoted as saying in the wake of that: "Julie MacDonald's reign of terror over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is finally over." And also what a congressman said about her actions being an example of "this administration's penchant for torpedoing science." Haha... Hopefully once Bush finally leaves someone will take over who will get down to signing and ratifying Kyoto once and for all.

And while we're on the subject of Kyoto, another reason i'm glad that Labour has won in Australia is that unlike Howard, Rudd's firmly committed to the need to be a good steward of the environment and to that end is going to ratify Kyoto as well - not a moment too soon either, given the latest report that puts the Aussies as the worst carbon emitters per capita. It's nice also that his cabinet features a specific ministry, apart from environment, dedicated to water and climate change - he's obviously sending a message that he's serious about it.

And speaking of the Aussie PM i was doing more random wiki-ing and found out that his annual salary is $330,000 (i presume it's Aussie dollars, but anyway nowsaday they're almost on par =p). The American President's salary is justifiably somewhat higher: US$471,000 (enough for peanuts, i suppose)... Fair enough. S$3.1 million? You gotta be kidding me man...

i was thinking back again about the latest happenings in the Philippine political scene again, and then i remembered that i did in fact get stranded there once beforehand due to a coup attempt - it was quite a serious one too - lasted for about a week, and the Presidential Palace itself was hit. But then even then (1989), it was really nothing to get overly worried about. Or at least that's what i perceived from how people were reacting to it over there (but then again, i was all of six years old at the time). Maybe it's some of that been there, done that feeling that has been passed on to me, such that i don't really see all the nonsense that's going on there as much more than just that - annoying nonsense...

eh, and i guess i should make the disclaimer that any views expressed here are strictly my own personal views =p

Hmm should try and do some work eh...

misquoting Esther

Anyways, i sure did spend a lot of time following this - having cable proved a boon cos i watched the election returns on the Australia Network - in some ways it was more exciting than election night here, just cos there actually was a competition going on... Am pleasantly pleased with the result - no surprise i'm not a fan of Howard anyways. Oh the perils of associating oneself with Bush...

I also was sad to hear of the deaths of the five national dragonboaters. It's so hard to believe that something like that could happen. At the same time though, i wonder how many people actually know that there was a sixth person killed during the same event as well, just that he happened to be a Cambodian. The local coverage of that was limited to one paragraph in the Straits Times, to the best of my knowledge (and forgive me if i'm wrong here) Although definitely five Singaporeans ought to receive the bulk of the local coverage, at the end of the day should we really forget that there was someone else who also died? Kinda reminds me of what happened in the wake of the Virginia Tech Incident - one country's own tragedy (and i'm not taking anything away from this) blots out everything else.

And lastly, ah so yet another coup thingy in the Philippines - sigh will these never end? I know that typical S'pore crisis mentality means that no one here would be too interested in going there now (or at least their parents would not be), but oh well, that's just part of life over there really... I'd personally still go there in a heartbeat, and anyways, if i perish, i perish :p

oh the pain...

i really feel for these people if they don't know how unintentionally hilarious their little attempt to be trendy or whatever you want to call it actually is. But if they didn't writhe in pain when negotiating some of the lyrics of this piece (or when they saw the finished product for themselves) then well maybe they deserve it... And whoever conceptualized and produced this in the first place, well - i also dunno what to say... In comparison, it makes even the PCK SAR-Vivor Rap seem like a grammy contender...

anyways, with our mass media in the hands of creative geniuses like these, no wonder why sometimes i'm not too big on staying cooped up here...

if anyone ever wants a good cry...

(and is not in the mood for any ridiculous, ott Northeast Asian soaps)

this is just the thing...

A Little Fall of Rain = A Huge Flow of Tears

(or is it just me?)

side note: ah i'll eternally regret falling asleep watching Les Mis on Broadway (even though i didn't miss this part - just the boring part in the first quarter of the show)

aside: dear downstairs neighbor, please turn down your atrociously loud and repeating Chinese music say about a hundred notches k...

edit: whoops, it got taken down =p - anyways for the record, it was Lea Salonga (Éponine) and Michael Ball (Marius) singing A Little Fall of Rain from the Les Misérables Tenth Anniversary Concert - great stuff.

physically un-proficient, mentally even less so...

Can't seem to get away from noisy and therefore distracting people around keeping me from getting real productive work done while in the engin com lab so...

Just got back from ippt - was the first time i've taken it when i failed - i'm not too annoyed that i failed (and anyway, as i've only recently come to realize, being a full-time student precludes having to sign up for rt even though i failed), but it's the way in which i failed which is so frustrating for me.

Managed to finish the four static stations with little trouble (as in just barely cleared all of them save for shuttle run, even though to my slight surprise i almost couldn't to enough sit-ups). So i needed to get a 12:20 to pass and an 11:00 to get $100. I was not too convinced that i could do 11min though it was vaguely possible, but 12:20 was definitely no prob. Or at least so i thought...

Cos of my number tag (091) i was placed in the first detail (i.e. all those whose numbers ended in '1'). And when the clock started, (and only cos think everyone else in my detail was older and therefore didn't need to run faster) i immediately went to the front and hence led the way. Things were good until say the 500 meter mark - btw this was the first time i was running in Maju Camp - and one thing about the route here is that, unlike Bedok, where you've to do 6 laps of the track; here you do three laps of a road route. Now, i actually prefer the road route, cos it feels shorter than the same distance run on the track. The problem was that since i was not familiar with the route, and i was in the lead, there was no one for me to follow - so i happily turned right instead of left (cos they had said follow the yellow line and there was a yellow line turning right as well - the line left was actually broken since it was across the junction and when one is running at such a speed one usually is less-than-observant). I went on in the wrong direction for at least half a minute before turning around and realizing that no one was behind me - i knew i couldn't have been that fast, so it was only then when i realized that i salah. Think whoever was behind me must have been more aware of what was going on and so went the correct way. So i ran across a portion of the parade square to rejoin the actual route - but the whole think took out so much from me both physically and mentally that by the end of it all, i stood no chance... Must have lost methinks at least near a minute owing to my error based on the extra distance alone, and prob more due to an inability to recover from that.

Well, what are the odds that things came together in such a way that i just happened to be the fool leading the way? Thankfully i'm more or less beyond being too worked up about this (though admittedly it's mainly cos there are no adverse consequences to failing). I also can't help but see the irony - running is basically the only prep that i did for ippt (and i did quite a fair bit of that), and in the end it was the very thing that did me in. Heh.

as if

The other day i randomly came across the news that the latest Times Higher Education Supplement World University Rankings (you know, the one where NUS was methinks two years or so ago ranked #16) were out. And then last night, after piecing together my thoughts for the think piece, i went over to the library and finally read the newspaper for the first time this week (excluding Sunday) and came across the article that had a headline with "NUS drops from 19 to 33 in World University Rankings" or something to that effect. After a big laugh (silently, as i was in the library), i read the subtitle to the headline which of course had to attribute the big drop to a change in ranking criteria, which saw student-to-faculty ratio counting more. Then i forget who was defending NUS, talking about how it doesn't have the kinda endowments that other schools have to get lots of faculty, and how it has to take in more students blah blah... Oh well, whatever, criteria schmiteria...

So i just came across the rankings online, and here are some excerpts of it:

Seriously, even though NUS dropped 14 places, it's still better than the likes of Beida, UCLA and U of Toronto???!!!

Ack and egads! UNC is joint 151st? I wonder if they mean just UNC at Chapel Hill or every single member of the UNC system as a whole - i'm inclined to think the latter since they didn't clarify it on the ranking, unlike say California or Texas, but oh well... Any ranking that had NUS at #16 before is inherently suspect in my books... I remember reading that report a couple of years ago, and i nearly gagging in response to that. Kinda like how i felt when i heard that the batch after me at ACJC had put it into the top 5 JCs (where it apparently still is today?)...

Oh well, i'm not anti-NUS or anything, just that i can't imagine how it's that good of a school as the rankings suggest it is. I'm thankful to be here all the same, though something tells me that if they included students' own impressions of their own schools as part of the criteria, NUS would be even further down there... And of course, i don't want to do my part to further perpetuate S'pore's obsession with rankings [e.g. corruption-free, living standards, ministerial pay (heh maybe that's not one they'd want to broadcast eh)]. Of course there are other rankings like press freedom, human rights and democracy that are far less harped upon, but well, i'll leave that off the record...

no regrets, no consolation

i received back ca grades for one of my classes a couple of days ago, and though they were not exactly spectacular, i can't say i was expecting anything more than what i got actually. So, semi-irrational worries over how this may help to pull me down to the next class aside; i'm pretty at peace with what i ended up getting, and guess am a biiiit extra motivated for the final to put in much more effort into the class than my (inherently lacking) interest in the subject would require.

what i'm sorta annoyed about is the class participation grade, not because i didn't deserve it (cos i so did), but more because i don't see how i could have gone about things in such a way as to get anything higher than the B- that i got. Basically class participation for this particular class equals to asking question s at the end of each person's presentations. My beef is that i honestly believe that my brain generally processes info at a slower rate than many others in my class - so what happens is that once each presentation ends hands tend to shoot up all over the class in order to ask questions - and not once has one of those hands belonged to me, simply because in such a short time frame, i normally am still processing what has just been presented, and therefore i'm not able to ask anything that would not make me out as a total doofus (e.g. - "uh, i don't quite understand your presentation - can you repeat it again please?"). and basically, the time allocated for the questions tends to zoom by with intelligent question after intelligent question being asked, and once the question time ends (rather abruptly, due to time constraints), i'm left still grasping at random straws with which i can ask questions with...

so this has gone on for pretty much the whole semester, and before i knew it, and after two token questions that by God's grace have come out of my mouth, that's the end of my chances for this 15%. Doesn't help that the other 45% ca component is far less than stellar (even trash like the Hyundai Stellar) as well. And that i feel somewhat helpless where this participation grade is since i dunno how things could have gone differently, and in any case i do so hate asking questions/ commenting just for the sake of it, and without any constructive purpose being served for the person whose presentation i'm responding to (not that i'm insinuating that anyone else in my class did so, of course - they have the same purposes in mind, they just think far faster than i ever could)... One feels like such a loser at times like these - ah crap.

vaguely voyeuristic

In the mood for some randomness so...

About two weeks ago went together with Clem, SJ and Weichang to Astons, where we had a real good meal. Here's a more-than-decent New York Strip with house salad and coleslaw, all for just $13.80.


What was a bit intriguing about the meal is that we did not head over to near my old place in Katong to have dinner, but rather we went to, of all places, pgp... Yup Astons has just opened an express outlet in the pgp food court, which is really quite an unlikely place for so atas an establishment wouldn't you say? But well business appears to be good for them, even though from my observation the prices are no cheaper than they are at Katong. But well, the prices are really reasonable given the quality anyways, so no complaints there. One other good thing is that while the ambience is hardly as good as that in Katong, at least one doesn't have to wait in line for at least half-an-hour outside the restaurant inhaling car exhaust to even get seated. I suspect that a good proportion of their clientele comes from western exchange students who are hard-pressed to find more authentic so-called 'western' food close enough to nus than that at Astons...

Anyways, yours truly is looking for excuses to go there again so if anyone is ever in school with a somewhat padded wallet and in the mood for a good steak/burger etc just buzz me heh...

In other news, it was a little sad to hear of Martina Hingis' abrupt second retirement from pro tennis under a cloud of suspicion, especially when it involves something like cocaine of all things. Well drugs aside, it's a pity that such an impressive career had to end in such a manner... Women's tennis is nowadays chockfull of hard-hitting banshees in the general mode of Maria "make every shot a power shot" Sharapova, and Hingis' clever and nuanced way of playing flies in the face of all that. Even though Hingis used to be a bit of a brat when she was playing long ago, since she returned to the sport all that's by and large gone, and she'd become one of my more favorite players. And with Anastasia Myskina also out of commission for now, it's hard to find another top-tier female player in that mould... Ah heck, i reckon most people reading this wouldn't have a clue what i'm rambling on about... Heh.

I was wandering around Cold Storage yesterday when i came across this - Saffron - the world's most expensive spice. One gram of the stuff retailing at $11.01. Fwah. But in any case, you must admit, the packaging is such a clear example of excess - the stuff is so expensive that i suppose it has to be well-showcased... I don't see what's the big deal about saffron though, all it does is add a nice orange-y color, i don't taste any difference when it's added to food...


After that, and while killing time before heading to law for some thingy, i took a brief walk around the botanics, and chanced upon the Wildlife Stampede thingy that was going on - to spread the conservation message, something close to my heart as well. While there was a really long line of people who took part, definitely more than half of them were ang mohs, and even many of the Asians who i saw were from SAS. Sadly, i don't think most S'poreans could care two hoots about conservation. While S'pore doesn't really have a lot left to conserve, it doesn't mean we should not bother to do anything at all... The recent motorcross thingy that they agreed to open in Kranji or somewhere in the general northwestern direction at the expense of an important site for local birdlife, and @#$% golf courses that take up lots of space, destroy valuable habitat, and are by and large catered to the elite do so annoy me...

Oh, but anyways, i've digressed. My point in mentioning this was that i managed to catch sight and take a distant picture of Dame Jane Goodall. Cheap thrill, but ah well...

And in keeping in the spirit of boliaoness, she's probably about the fourth most famous person i've ever sneakily taken a picture of, after John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, and Chris Matthews (Well actually, if you're not American, you'd probably not have heard of these three people, but conversely, i reckon that most Americans have no idea who's Jane Goodall but will know who the other three are, in descending order...)

In other news, the Tar Heels are #1 - woo! Go heels!

more tales from the engin com lab

I sit here close to 40% through with my histo paper and i'm quite happy with how things have progressed in this second half of today.

This time round, however, while there are no annoying couples to distract me, there instead is someone who is listening to Selena's "Dreaming of You" on the com but who has decided to share the song with the rest of the people here (it just finished playing for the second time). And in between the haunting refrains of a now-dead lady, there is also a less musically gifted individual seated in front of me who's listening to some inaudible music on her headphones which she feels obliged to share with me via the gift of bizarre humming.

Anyways, i like totally wasted this morning watching weird stuff on youtube in my room, which is why i moved to school to do my work. By and large it's been successful, save for this...

Okies back to work...

lifeline

So after dinner today, i went to do a bit of (enforced) star-gazing at the src field in order to better understand the universe - it turned out to be more of moon-gazing as all i did manage to see before scootering off after exactly 30 minutes to do right by my conscience (rather than marking attendance and scramming right away) was the moon as seen through a refractive telescope - well, the detail of the image i saw [plus the fact that today's moon is quite gibbous (read: close to full)] leads me to the conclusion that Chang-E does not exist... Mooncakes schmooncakes...

Then went back to the room and later went for a run again - went by a different, longer route this time and nearly died-ed again - getting there though, hopefully...

After that i plopped myself in front of the laptop and after an hour or so of procrastinating, i finally was in the preliminary stages of beginning my histo paper when i opened my mail and read this:

Hi class

The deadline for the essay has been extended to Wed 31 Oct in the interest of quality. Hard copies of the essays should be in my mailbox by 10 pm.

Fwah and boy did i need that - thankfully now my weekend ahead looks a lot less terok to me now since i've two extra days to do up the essay - Dr H, you rock (and not just because of the extension...)

The downside though is that i've now even less motivation to get any work done tonight - so think i shall call it a night and see how tomorrow goes... Dun want to end up piah-ing till wed evening...

Dinner was like more than 7 hours ago btw, and i couldn't tahan, so now i'm having breakfast - it's the morning after all...

And before i go, there's a new random thingy i'd like to put here: basically it's my pet peeve of the day, cos i always seem to be peeved by something - maybe by the end of it all i can set up a pet peeve shop... heh... (the purpose of this is not to complain, but just to provide some sort of outlet lah - sorry if you're reading this and you happen to be a perpetrator - but bo pian leh...)

Well anyways, one thing that annoys me is people who insist on boarding buses/trains before the people on the buses/trains get off - i had always noticed it on the mrt on the rare occasions i took the train, but now i'm noticing even more of it on the nus buses - i really can't stand it (cos to me it's a symptom of the prevailing impatient and "me first" culture that we seem to have here) - these people just seem to be interested in getting a seat before the rest behind them do, and have no qualms about barging their way through the mass of people who want to alight in order to get one. Now, i normally try to be a nice person, but i must admit, when i am the one getting off the bus and i happen to encounter one or more of these inconsiderate people headed in my direction, i do purposely go out of my way to make it as difficult as possible for them to squeeze past me - isolate them to one corner, brush against them slightly more roughly than is needed, that sort of thing - i dunno how right of me it is to do that (but boy does it feel good to do it), so if it isn't, do let me know...

Visit Philippines 2008

There's a histo paper due in just over a week's time which better judgement urges me to continue (though so far have just been doing some reading - no planning or writing) working on, but i've decided rather to ramble on a bit about other stuff and we'll see where this leads to...

Well i've been meaning to talk a bit about my recent trip back to the Philippines for like the longest time and then some right - well just the other day i heard about the bomb blast at Glorietta in Manila, and it troubled me quite a bit, cos especially ever since i came back from there i've been trying to push the Philippines (apart from Mindanao at least) as a safe and worthwile tourist destination, touting, among other things; the tight security at malls. Well, obviously that tight security still fell flat this time round.

Had taken a pic of the Atrium at Glorietta
(the mall complex where the blast happened) when i was there

In any case though, i'd still say that a great deal of the security and safety concerns that many people have about traveling to the Philippines are stretching it a bit. Media reports tend to give the impression that the entire country is a no-go zone cos it's unsafe, but that's really not the case. The south - Mindanao island and all that's below it - yes perhaps the security situation there may be more questionable, since that's where the hive of seperatist/terrorist activity is (although even within the island there are places that are still relatively safe). But much of the rest is really pretty safe.

Ok, maybe after the latest blast Manila may not be everyone's favorite place to go to (and it was not really one of mine even before the blasts) but it does have good shopping (eh and yup i know that's exactly where the bomb hit) - but seriously, the malls there are ginormous (if that word has been accepted into general parlance yet). And beyond Manila there's a lot worth seeing - i personally regretted spending so much time in the Metro Manila area (even though i was with relatives) and hence not seeing enough of the rice terraces to the north - and to that end a return trip in the near future is definitely a goal of mine.

Eh this picture really doesn't do the terraces justice, but it'll have to do for now

That actually was to me one of the main highlights of going back - the chance to go up to Ifugao Province and take in a bit of the scenery and all. My cousin put me in touch with a local pastor who is involved in work with many of the tribal people in the surrounding hills, and so he showed me around the terraces and put me up at his place for the night. What i was really blessed by though, was his sharing with me a bit about his ministry - stuff like Bible translation and hiking to various villages to screen the Jesus film, among other stuff. The stereotypical awareness of how much i'd taken things for granted in S'pore hit me - yup and to that end this song came to mind (taken from here btw - and since it's more than 100 years old i shall assume am not infringing on copyright restrictions by putting the lyrics here - is that the way it works?):

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

The true simplicity of things there is in stark contrast to the wanton (not the mee) excesses that seem to constantly confront us here in S'pore and in many other parts of the world, and it has really brought me to a point when i wonder how essential is all the excess that we have (am talking within the sphere of the church here, though it extends to society in general).

So anyways, this aspect of ministry really got me thinking about stuff - and i'd like to think that this is something that i would be open to doing if the Lord ever calls me to it (although there'll be a great deal of language-learning to do first haha). Pastor Ardo did say that if things allow for it, maybe one day i could accompany him as he goes about one of his trips - that got me excited (though of course it really is as the Lord leads la - dun want to go just because it sounds cool).

And of course, this aside, i'm really keen on going back real soon (maybe a grad trip? though i'd like to do this on top of another trip to another, more distant place) to hike around a bit of the rice terraces [the terraces i went to were the most accessible ones, and coincidentally (or not), also the least fascinating ones] - there's a far more ulu yet still nearby town called Batad with far nicer terraces along with other cool (literally) stuff like waterfalls and all which i'd like to hike to the next time. And maybe while i'm in the Philippines can see some other stuff like the Chocolate Hills (nope, sorry Debs, they're not made of real chocolate =p) and Yoda's close primate relative. And of course this whole post is so tourist brochure-y for a reason - am also advertising for any possible travel companions - do give it a thought ya =) I can settle most of the arrangements and also communicate with anyone who doesn't speak English with my (laughable) Tagalog (seriously, while i was there, everyone thought i was a local - and hence always talked to me in Tagalog - leaving me smile embarassingly and mutter whatever i could in reply - which usually amounted to "yes", "no" or "no more")... Anyways, if and when this happens, it'll be in May 2008 earliest so there's plenty of time to consider...

Let me know, salamat po ;)

ponderings from pgp

It's been a good three weeks now since i moved (booked?) in to pgp. So far it's not exactly worked out as how i'd expected - in the sense of how the time that would otherwise have been spent traveling to and from school from my house has now been put to use. Of course, what other way would i in theory intend to spend the two extra hours of free time than to do school stuff - i.e. readings, papers, tutorials etc? Instead, the reality so far has been largely one of spending more time sleeping and slacking in my pgp room (read: what i'm doing now) rather than doing exactly the same in my room in the house.

And the prevalent conditions actually favor me slacking off a bit, since my deadlines are relatively far away, and hence the panic syndrome that usually kicks in a couple of days before the papers are due has yet to appear. I'm really trying to reverse this apathy towards work though, so watch this space and hopefully the next time i appear (whenever that will be) at least the first paper will be close to done with.

One good thing that has come out of staying here though is that i've finally managed to find ample opportunities to run, something i maintain is absolutely lacking back at home. No more being confronted by traffic lights every what seems like thirty metres or so; or incessant noxious vehicle fumes; or intriguing bohemian types with remarkable hairstyles, creative body piercings, and eternally puffing on a ciggy.

So to that end since i've moved in i've run more times than i have over the entire holiday and the school term before moving in. Or around there, at least. This is not entirely in the interests of a healthy lifestyle though, as ippt is rearing its annoying ugly head again, and so i'm due for that in less than a month. This time i've really no lofty ambitions whatsoever. If i pass (sans $100), i'll already be happy, since i've been largely inactive for months on end prior to moving in. Hope to continue this after ippt too though. Supplemented by tennis at some point or other and maybe a swim (and on that note, the vegetarian stall lady in the arts canteen has for the past few weeks recognized me as the not-so-Chinese guy who cannot understand half the Mandarin she spouts out to me whenever i go to the stall, and hence will automatically switch to English whenever i appear; but this morning she went about the old routine of speaking to me in Mandarin again, and i was actually wondering if that was cos i've been out of the sun as of late and hence have been getting lighter and so am starting to look more Chinese again).

God's been speaking to me in various ways and more than usual this past week or two, glad for that - though there's quite a bit of stuff that requires some revamping though... However, my brain is incredibly slow when it comes to processing such thought, so hopefully things won't be so bad this time...

Make no mistake about it though - i'm at a loss - it's not an intentional delay, that's for sure.

a tale of two (edit: now three) couples and one annoyed me

ok i usually don't do this smack in the middle of a school day but well conditions warrant it...

monday night i was in the engin com lab trying to finish my now-finished paper, but i couldn't get far because this couple seated opposite to me were talking so loudly to each other and i couldn't concentrate as a result, so after thirty minutes of futility i gave up and went back to my room to finish it.

so just now i went back to the same place to get more work done, and i saw the same couple seated next to a computer that i usually use. Wary of them after the other day i looked around for another computer and plopped myself down at one a good distance away. And just as i've started to get down to work, lo and behold another couple opposite me have started to talk loudly to each other as well. Meanwhile the first couple are bust doing work and are hence no even making a noise. I'm tempted to ask them to keep quiet but i'm afraid my irritation will get the better of me - and i'm wearing an FOC shirt too so i dun want to risk binge a bad testimony from the way i ask them to keep quiet...

Rejoice! They've just packed up and left!

ok back to work...

(ten minutes later)

my goodness how do i always kena these situations ah? a third couple has just plopped themselves down in the exact same place that couple two were in and are chatting away...

Prince George's Camp

I just got done with one thesis proposal and two papers within the past four days or so (and kept close to twenty-hour days too), yup so now i'm in the mood for anything but work.

So to that end (gosh you have no idea how many times i used that phrase in my papers), i'm making my first visit back here after quite a while. I guess by the grossly reduced frequency (and length) of my posts here compared to last time you can tell how much more busier have been nowsaday... Hmm...

Well, thankfully after a long drawn-out exchange of emails with the campus housing people, i got offered a room at pgp this past tue. And i figured i really needed it yup, so to cut a long story short i'm now a weekday westie...

It feels a bit weird to be here though. When my parents were driving me and all my stuff to pgp on Sun night, i had a feeling of déjà vu, and i knew exactly why - cos it felt just like old times on Sunday nights when they'd drive me back to book in to camp. Yup here's kinda like army camp, just without the regimentation... But at least now i save an extra two hours that would otherwise be spent traveling and contributing to a public transport system that can always be depended upon to find new ways to irk me each and every day... Even that alone makes it a fair enough trade-off...

Open your eyes please

Allow me to take a brief sojourn from my endless pile of work (off the top of my head there's one 800-word response paper, one 2000-word research paper, one thesis proposal, one test on tuesday, one midterm after the break, one temple presentation - but eh, i must admit, i've been sleeping much of this weekend) to grumble a bit about something that's really annoyed me.

I was late for church this morning, so i had to take the bus (ok, so it's only two stops). As usual my ever-present foe tv mobile was blaring away, and just as i got off the bus, i caught the headlines of the channenewsasia news - something to the effect of "a silver lining to global warming, a new passage between the Atlantic and Pacific opens". I was aghast.

So later when i got back home i flipped on the news - channelnewsasia yet again - and i was so disgusted - the whole report was about how lucrative this new route in the Canadian far north is - that thanks to the ice melts because of rising temperatures during a part of the year this previously perpetually icy route is now navigable. And it seemed that people were looking forward to the day when it all melts so that ships and what not can traverse this route all year round. Global warming was not a problem, it was an incidental providence.

Just so to not let my inherent disdain for mediacrap programming get to my head by assuming that it was just their distinctly Singaporean, pragmatically-minded programming that was the issue, i went on to check what BBC World and CNN had to say about it - couldn't find it on the tv, so i went to their websites - thankfully a bit more grounded perspectives there - the problems of global warming were not just brushed over as they were in CNA, though the boon to trade was still a major point. The Straits Times? Well - it's Singaporean, so i won't say more than that i was not surprised...

The whole nexus of greed and immediate profit is something that really disgusts and frustrates me - here we are so flippantly damaging this earth that we have been entrusted with by God, and content to do so even more, only now to be further encouraged by this ice-melt. Has this self-serving attitude really gotten so deep into our heads? Are we to just let this earth degrade even more under our charge? Does not global warming and all it's problems not hit home at all?

Well to that end, i did catch a sentence in the ST report - "it could have a negative impact on Singapore's importance as a shipping hub". Well, forgive me if this paints me as unpatriotic, for this is not the reality at all - i smiled to myself. While the very presence of that line just shoves in my face the nauseatingly pragmatic mindset of Singapore in general, (i know i'm grasping at straws here but) i'm hopeful that this may provide some sort of motivation for Singapore to do more in the interests of slowing down this process of global climate change. If the rampant damage to the environment won't do the trick, then maybe this threat to one of Singapore's main economic lifelines will...

so...

So it was that today i decided to go back early rather than stay back and do work till late.

So it was like the earliest time i've ever gone back home on a weekday at least in the past few weeks.

So it was still 8:16pm when i finally left campus.

So it is that i've no life.

alors, qu'on peut-il faire?

J'ai beaucoup de travail ce semestre.
Trop de travail, peut-être.
Alors, j'ai besoin d'une vie en dehors de l'école...
Mais, est-il possible?
Je ne le pense pas.
Sacrebleu...

earth to matt

Honors year - quite the challenge
So i'm led to think.
Cue the coy ambivalence.

Then the first week comes and goes,
Brain still in good form.
It may work out after all...

Alas, i check the forum -
Nineteen atas posts
I'm in way over my head

plan b

So it's the beginning of the weekend and all, and i'd been meaning to finally try and recap my recent trip back to the motherland over here (not as much for others to read as for me to be able to have something concrete for me to actually recall what happened there in the distant future...)

Alas, circumstances have made it such that it is way past the time when my brain is normally capable of such deep recollective and reflective thought, so the aforementioned post will have to wait till another day for it to reach fruition. Instead i'll stick to random thoughts over the past couple of weeks.

The recently concluded summer break has in certain ways been anything but, owing to the amount of stuff that i had on my plate from both moving house and then settling in (which is, as always, a work in continual, and i fear eternal progress); as well as from cf stuff (which has thankfully been more enjoyable, but still time-consuming and tiring). Still, however, i'm glad it was, when all is said and done, a fulfilling one, not only due to the timely and sorely-needed quick escapes from S'pore to our friendly ASEAN neighbors; but i guess due to the stuff that contributed to busyness as well...

When i was recalling the year past and how i missed things that happened then, one thing that i forgot to mention was how last year's national day was my favorite one in a long time. Um, unfortunately, it was precisely because i was out of the country that it was my favorite one. Yeah (and i hope the people up there in charge of the national pottery don't take offense if they ever should read this) i'm sorry but i'm just not a fan of huge outward displays of patriotism. My personal take is that resources could be far better spent elsewhere, and particularly not spent on things like the commissioning of atas nat'l day songs that seem to be less your love for the country than a lesson in world geography cum a rubbing it in to the average S'porean who probably counts the occasional weekend trip up to Genting or even JB as a real treat that some of us (um and i readily admit i'm one of them) just have been blessed to have it much better or the choreographing equally atas mass display programs that seemed more a showcase either of unwilling or, worse yet, alarmingly enthu parade participants with drag queen outfitting and makeup (more befitting perhaps of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert than of a country's birthday celebration - and yes, freaky red fish-man, i'm talking about you here...) than the retelling of the S'porean past.

It's not that i don't like this country (though once again i'll readily admit that many people love it more than i do), but rather exactly because i do that i shudder to see how it celebrates its birthday each tacky year after another. Well, if there's anything i am happy about from this year's festivities, is that the engineers played a key role in its execution, and that the guy in charge, the current CEO, is a real nice guy whom i respect from the time i was still serving. And if there's anything that i'm even happier about, it's that he was not tasked to do this five years ago, for if so i might be the one frustratingly burning weekends and then some for an event i don't really care much for...

And so now school has started... As i've probably mentioned somewhere before, i'm really thankful that my workload this year isn't that bad after all, owing to one times favorable exchange last year which cleared me of 37.5% of a typical honors year workload. That's freed up much deeply-treasured time for lots of other things.

It hasn't been all roses though. My classes (especially the honors ones), while hardly as bad as i thought they would be, are still nevertheless a challenge (for one of my classes, i nearly freaked out when i entered the room early and lo and behold the lecturer was talking to one grad student in Mandarin - i immediately put my bag down and went outside to check the room number, and it was correct - but it turns out that he was only talking to the student in Mandarin cos i guess more efficient communication could then be carried out - the proceeding lecture, save for the occasional, incomprehensible cheng yu here and there, was thankfully in English). The future of any possible thesis looks as grim as ever since yours truly is too indecisive thus far to narrow down a topic in any way (although the deadline is still weeks away, i know i'll procrastinate heaps) And the other day, i got so tired after four days of continuous activity, late nights and early mornings, that i think my energy level just fluctuated downwards drastically, so for the first time in my living memory i skipped cg to just go home and rest. I guess it's still early days yet though, so there's the unavoidable slow adjustments that have to be made...

second eye semi-blind

One of the countless things that irks me about moving and all is the inevitable loss of things left right and center. You can count two pairs of spectacles, two watches, a Bible, several vouchers and a bank book among the important enough things that have been at some point in time lost. Many of those things are in fact still lost - and what makes things more irritating is that by the time i get back everyday i'm really too tired to look for these things among the piles and boxes and bags and stuff all around my room.

Of the two pairs of specs, one is actually already broken so that doesn't really count - the other one is a remnant from army days (i.e. those style-less black plastic kinds). The fact that they've actually been missing for at least a month if not more now speaks volumes about the amount of reading that i've been doing the whole break, which basically apart from my qt has been an absolute zilch. So while i can see normally and all, the lazy right eye (takes after his owner, i must say) makes me feel dizzy and get slight headaches whenever i try to tackle less reader-friendly material (and my readings so fit that description) over a prolonged period of time. And now that school has started and i'm (for a rare fleeting moment) still in totally ons about school mode, the lack of specs is rather annoying...

And of course, owing to my sched, i don't think i'm able to go down and make a new pair till at least Saturday probably, which stinks. I haven't really had much time to do much much-needed regrouping and reorganization, on top of other duties that call... Bummer...

hooray for the underdog (or more accurately, the underbuffalo)!

Have been quite the insomniac for some strange reason, even though i've ingested more alcohol today than probably the rest of the year combined...

But anyways, that sparked off a chain of events that culminated in me finding this gem of a video - real compelling viewing i must say... God's creation definitely never ceases to amaze =)

Now to find a way to get back to sleep...

(Dang i've no idea how to make the boundaries fit in properly - that's way beyond my threshold of technology manipulation)

wax and wane

The combination of having a good Sunday nap of four and a half hours, downing a cup of tea after dinner, and ingesting three panadols with a non drowsy formula has meant that yours truly now sits here alert and wide awake - something that at this time is a real rarity. So i've decided to kill time for a bit, hopefully by doing something productive rather than killing it with inane banter... And to that end i just wrote a little facebook note - fyr:

So it's actually just over a year since i left for exchange at UNC - i can't believe how quickly it's approached - i've always been one for remembering mundane dates such as this but lo and behold, maybe it's cos i've been way too busy over the past couple of days; that only today i realized that hey, last year this time i already was in the States (Oregon, to be exact), holidaying for a bit before flying cross-country to begin fall '06 semester, which at the end of the day turned out to be one of the best experiences i could ever have hoped for...

Yeah, and i compare myself today with a year ago, and realize that much has changed - last year i was all set and raring to go, real psyched about the great time that lay ahead, the cool people i would meet, the fun experiences that i'd go through, the more welcoming weather, hey, even the interesting courses that i would end up taking. This year on the other hand i look at classes that i'm signed up for and i just sigh. The environment too is just a real bucket of cold water compared to what it was like in UNC (or maybe i'm just being sentimental here i dunno). I mean, we're talking Singapore here - how stimulating an environment could that ever be? Eek.

But i guess i've much to be thankful for, for even the opportunity to be able to escape from NUS for a bit, even if it just were for a semester, and the chance to go through something different, that most others back here don't have a chance to experience eh... Yup so even as i've been waxing sentimental over the time long gone at UNC and in the States as a whole, at least i've had something to wax over i guess...

I must say, i've really been complaining more than my fair share recently, and particularly so once i got back from the Philippines - mainly these are silent complaints heard only by me (and God) though... I dunno, the more i look at how things are panning out for me in this (academic) year ahead, the more i want to scream. It's a real complex mishmash of issues that i dun really want to begin to even touch upon too much here and now. 1 Timothy 6:6 talks about godliness with contentment being great gain (and i hope i'm not too out of context here). Well, by inference from this verse, i've no great gain cos at this point in time i seem to be lacking in both (they really do go hand in hand i suppose)... Ah well - this is a work in progress, that's all i can say...

Revisiting Khao Lak

I've been meaning for a long time to talk a bit about my time in Thailand earlier in the break, and finally now provides the perfect brief repose between loads of stuff to do in order to write a bit yup so here goes...

Well just to clarify, while i did go up to Thailand, i did not step a single foot into Bangkok, a place that despite my more than two months in total spent in Thailand i have yet to really visit apart from Don Muang, and which i'm really in no hurry to visit either cos i'm not really a shopping person (or at least not there) and i'm not a fan of crowds or traffic too. And since those are the three things i immediately associate with Bangkok, there's no real reason for me to go there is there...

I also did not go to Phuket - while my flight did land there, upon landing Clement and i immediately went up to Khao Lak in Phang Nga province, about a 90 minute ride north of Phuket. Now, Khao Lak is far less of a tourist trap than Phuket will (hopefully) ever be, especially so in July, which is smack dab in the middle of the tourist off-season in Khao Lak; this suiting me and my aversion to huge crowds just fine.

Well, as you can see from the above picture, Khao Lak now has some form of a Tsunami evacuation system in place, and for good reason too. It was one of the worst-affected areas of the Thai Andaman coast during the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004, with tourists and locals alike numbering in the thousands being killed, and is still in the process of recovery from that devastation really. As i was strolling along the beautiful expanse of beach, i came across several simple memorials to those whose lives were lost that day. And there are still several places in the area which have obviously not even been touched since the Tsunami hit - and hence they lie abandoned and overgrown with creepers.


Observe those waves (which look far tamer than they actually were). Now imagine wave upon wave countless times more powerful than those you see relentlessly pounding the coastline and all in its path. Can you? Well i could barely imagine it myself. But basically in considering that, i was reminded of the awesomeness of nature, and yet in fact that our God is the Lord and Master over it all. My room was facing the beach on the third floor, and Jeremy tells me that in fact the waves actually swept through the second floor, which is a good (but my estimation is bad) twenty meters above the sea level as i observed it. That's just mind-blowing man...

Well up till now recovery work has been steadily going on, and it appears as though within a year or two things should be back to the way that they were before. The human side of this tragedy did present itself to me, albeit in a truncated manner, during church on Sunday, which Jeremy brought us to. The female pastor was thanking a visiting mission team from NJ for coming and then she broke into tears, clearly deeply thankful for all the help that has poured in from abroad to the devastated Phang Nga area in the wake of the tsunami. That, i thought was part of the essence of being a Christian - to help out those in need, sharing the love of Christ as He once did and still does, be the recipients believers or otherwise, and all to His eternal glory...

Hmm now on to less weighty matters - i remember first tasting Thai-style ice cream during MEET last year, and i was hungry for more... Well, the perfect opportunity afforded itself on the first afternoon there when the ice cream man came by in his motorcycle. The beauty about this is that it's so simple - just Thai coconut/pandan/chocolate ice cream topping glutinous rice, peanuts and jelly - yet oh so delicious... And all that for just 10 Baht =)

I was also somewhat pleased with myself that my less-than-rudimentary command of Thai, almost totally acquired during MEET, did come in quite useful, especially when it came to ordering food (mee nam prik mai?). I always try not to draw too much attention to myself whenever i'm abroad, and speaking even a bit of Thai sure helps along that vein. It helped even more that i look more Thai than i ever did before for obvious reasons (or maybe not so much Thai as Muslim - that's what the immigration officer asked me...) so i could blend in a fair bit...


My (almost) life-long trepidation towards being bitten a leech, which has manifested itself ever since i watched Stand By Me, and which i had somehow escaped through two years of basically being at least knee-deep in water during NS, finally reached a head when we went to explore a local waterfall, which was a fairly long trek in to. By the time we made it back to the car, i had found a total of four leeches on my feet, with one of them (the one above) biting me for good measure. Um but obviously i wasn't too alarmed since i took the time to take a picture of it before it was plucked off. Heh well at least i can cross off getting bitten by a leech from my to-do list =p


So i've barely scratched the surface of what actually went on during this trip, and hence i've barely done it justice... But anyways i'm thankful for this trip for so many reasons - the friends, the sights (that's James Bond Island from The Man with the Golden Gun behind us btw), the food (phet mak mak) etc... And one other thing is that this trip was not of the usual touristy variety, but i got to see the social aspect of things there, for lack of a better term. The post-tsunami setting of the place somehow provided for me the perfect backdrop for a fruitful time spent with God, and i really dunno how to say more about it than that =)...