Gabe In The USA

Bye Everyone!

2006-12-27T12:17:00.000-08:00

Yeapz..so i have touched down a day ago.....left LA on xmas eve....said goodbye to AD for the last time....reached hawaii..spent a lonely xmas eve walking around hawaii and having the whole world speak to me in japanese......took the flight to narita and again endured another round of greetings in japanese...much to my amusement...
so happy to finally touch down singapore...n to see my family again....reached back home at 2am...woke up at 8 to settlethethingineedtosettlewhichresultedinmecominghomeearly and then finally cut my damndamn long hair...and then...it was back to sheares for sepak..i was so excited even on the bus and it was really great touching the ball again...unfortunately the frenly after that didn't go too well which kinda soured the mood for most ppl...so after a 4 hour session...i finally left the mpsh wif sore muscles.....
went back to blk d to chat wif my frens...who sadly..are now my 'ex-blkmates' since i'm not staying in d anymore....lookin at the way things are going..i wonder if i would be actually staying in yr 4..since i dun haf any points and since i dun haf any desire to join anything to get the points..mebbe i'm just tired from the long flight and the jet lag but while i was back at hall..i felt so tired..and nua..and i just felt so old compared to the year ones and twos...
year 4 is going to be a shittified year for me and it's prolly going to be more sian if i hafta keep shuttling to n fro campus...after being so used to staying near campus...sighz...PGP perhaps?..or kuok foundation house?

exchange is over and it's back to the realities of life in singapore...i hope i will never forget the lessons i learn there and keep the warm memories in my heart forver.....i have come across so manymany ppl there who were extremely kind to me.....and i'm so grateful for it....hopefully i become a nicer person after this..hurhur..

so farewell everyone..and good luck to those going on exchange in sem2.. =)

i'm closing the door again..:P

on a food fiesta

2006-12-22T10:56:00.000-08:00

not doing much here in LA...except zooming down the freeways...and enjoying good food..
yesterday's dinner at the blue marlin was awesome...rice wrapped in omelette with chicken cutlet and curry...simply great...

pity i forgot to bring my camera...

i know i'm coming back to singapore when i'm using www.streetdirectory.com and www.sbstransit.com.sg again...:)

Goodbye Davis

2006-12-20T08:43:00.000-08:00

it's been about 10 days since i last blogged...in 10 days..i have
1) gotten closer to some of the msians as a result of our mugging sessions in the library..
2) started my finals
3) completed my finals
4) got the grades of 2 of my finals
5) cleared my stuff from pacifico
6) attended a farewell gathering by the msians...an ultimate paiseh n humbling event as there were 30 ppl waiting for me...to pack my stuff from pacifico..chuah n jeny had to come pick me up and drive me there..and when i was there..they had prepared the nasi lemak..waited for me to arrive...and i had to give a speech!!!!...paiseh to da max...firstly i dunno half of the ppl there...secondly even for the other half dat i sorta know..i'm not close to them at all...thirdly...i din do anything and yet i had to give a speech as if i'm some big shot...lastly..all of them were waiting for me so they could eat.... paiseh..touched n humbled all rolled into one...totally gan dong by their hospitality..
7) went to tahoe wif some of the msians n nozomi..
8) wasted one whole day (19th of dec) travellin to LA.. missed my first bus ..as i thought that amtrak meant train...so i was waiting for the train..tog wif jeny n peter (who arrived at davis at the prev train)...when i should have been waiting for the bus instead.. totally dumb and stupid of me...
9) met AD again..and he said i'm thinner...sheesh..
10) ate a late supper wif him...and yes..brought back memories of the huge servings i used to have when i was in LA a couple of months back....perhaps i would get to put on some weight before i come back to sg..

the ultimate help sheet

2006-12-10T00:29:00.000-08:00

one thing that I've learnt very well in NUS is how to make a good helpsheet. I may not be able to fill it up with the most relevent and pertinent information but I've definitely had a insight on how to squeeze and cram every single thing i think is impt onto a piece of paper...
right now..i have the challenge of converting 2 double sided helpsheets (for my 2 eng45 midterms into ONE double side helpsheet for my final) and in the process..add in one more chapter worth of information. Currently, besides the fact that I'm procrastinating and wasting alot of time away in my room, I think I'm making good progress as i have managed to cram the whole info of midterm1 into half of the first side...so well done to me...since i haven't been using my time constructively in my room..i guess i hafta push it to tmrw..at the lib ba..and sacrifice some pdc time..

i bought a packet of fried rice for dinner...and after eating some of it for dinner..and some of it for supper..i still have half the packet left..argh...all for the price of 6.50...i have food for dinner..supper and breakfast..

do horoscopes have an element of truth in them? is cancer necessarily right?
heaven forbid the day when i believe in them totally...

how strange that our schedules are almost similar in fact our schedules have almost been similar for the past 4 months...and also for the next 7 months

i run away
because i don't want to get caught
i run away
because i don't play games like others do

farewell parties

2006-12-08T23:31:00.000-08:00

it's the time to say goodbye...todae was my last day of sch.....and jeny ordered pizza at the msian meeting partly cuz it's my last day at sch..kinda gan dong and paiseh...cuz firstly i dun even go for much of their meetings..todae was only the second...so i didn't warrant such treatment....but they have been reallyreally nice all these while...and definitely made my stay in davis much better...
initially din wanna come back to pacifico...cuz even as i type ...there's a party going on right outside my door...and i'm totally against it...argh...wanted to sleep in the lib..but i tot my bed would be a better choice..and besides i din have food to sustain me...haiz..so here i am..wasting my friday nite away...chatted wif xy n jw..n jeny..for most part of the nite...(ooops..i wasn't really chatting wif xy n jw..i was like interrogated by them..hahaha...although jw came to my defence thankfully..haha..and miss lawyer-to-be posted some incriminating pics of me..hurhur..so pls don't offend any lawyers next time...they are highly dangerous..wahahaha)
.n i dunno how long the stupid music is gonna last..the party was supposed to be somesort of farewell party..since like some ppl are leaving..(mainly the singaporeans)...but somehow i doubt that that's the main reason...they just wanna party n drink for goodness sake...and cook up a damn excuse...
tmrw there's another farewell party..which i ain't really interested in goin...so..dat's dat..

the last lect for pdc(157) was todae too..dunno why no one clapped for the prof...i guess they were just dulan wif their lousy grades for the recent test...hurhur...dunno wad's their problem..kena tricked by the ezam onli den dulan...

it's so ironic..when tests are hard..ppl aren't scared of the final...instead..for 158A..where the class average is 80% for the midterm, alot of ppl are worried for it..
that's so like life back in nus.....

time flies...it's kinda hard to say goodbye...:(

congrats!..

2006-12-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

woke up dis morning n saw the good news on my dear fren kokming's blog...hahaha..actually feel happy and excited for him..haha.. wad a year it has been for the 2 of us....from the low point in the NUS SRC swimming pool exactly a year ago......to our current state now...how we came thru dat to where we are now i don't know...but we have made it..woohoo..!

sorry dude..i din add more publicity for u like ur wad "cleo eligible bachelor" crap.....have fun shopping for clothes... and set aside money for my genghis khan treat upon my return...mwahahahahahaha

jiayou! (literally)

one of the last words my ech160 prof told us at yesterday's lecture was..

As you go through life, focus on the doughnut...and not on the hole.....i,e Focus on what is..and not what isn't.....

At The Stars

2006-12-06T23:03:00.000-08:00

Maybe I should drop you at your door.
Or leave tonight and vanish up the shore.
Anywhere but here.

It's three o'clock we're driving in your car,
You're screaming out the window at the stars,
"Please don't drive me home!"

Blame us because we are who we are.
Hate us because you'll never get that far.
And who'd suppose you would go?
I've already learned enough to know.

Tell me all the places we could go.
And count the headlights passing on the road,
A long, long time ago.

Here we are.
Foreign to their world.
Straight and composed.
Your sermons I can do without
And I finally found.
That everybody loves to love you
When you're far away.

Could it be we've done something wrong
We'd make it home to your place before dawn
"Please, don't take me home."
"Please, don't take me home."

it's ending soon..

2006-12-06T21:43:00.000-08:00

suddenly it's become apparent to me that my days here are numbered...i had the impression that there's still sometime to the finals but i realised i was actually counting down to the finals to end... and in fact..it's only FIVE days to the first paper..i guess the main reason why I don't have the mood is because there's no reading week..and lessons are still ongoing..
the 158a lesson was held today...and at the end of it..there was a round of applause for dr.feerer.. it's pretty common to clap for lecturers at the last lesson...but i think he really deserved it...he's been a simply awesome lecturer...n has helped me quite a bit...really grateful to him..

the average for the horrendous 157 test was 41.7%..haha..it's sucha typical chemengin module .. where everyone dunno how to do..and everyone's results are like crap..and den the bell curve sets in...hurhur..thankfully i got above the average...and thankfully i'm used to such crap tests....so go ahead..make the final a killer...bwahaahaha...

sacrifice

2006-12-05T00:13:00.000-08:00

the last 24 hours has been an extremely trying one for me...

it had been a long time since i last felt so down and out....

some horrifying news...
hasty plans to book tics to the east coast..
saw my values obtained for my costing project was way off target..
saw ashish and he told me that a segment of the eng45 final would consist of stuff the lecturer talk in class (i haven't been going for classes due to the overlap)
went for pdc class and he still has 2 more chapters left of multivariable control and the final is next monday..
more horrifying news..

i sat on the floor with my back against the wall...totally defeated as i wait for my pdc class.
i wondered how on earth did i throw away something so valuable to me....i was questioning myself if God was playing with me....and wondering what He was trying to tell me...

with my hair messed up...and my tired face.. i must have looked a total wreck..i had spend the last 2 nites at chuah's place..cuz it was near to the lib and i din wanna walk home in the cold wif my thin trackpants..
i couldn't take it anymore after pdc and left for home...and skipped ech140 in the process..

talked to AD,WL,Jeny online n rach n shipei at pacifico..plus my family...thanx..it did help relieve the pain..

slept early at 9pm as i had totally no mood to do anything...esp studying..was tired of waiting..

and i received a fone call at 10pm...

and suddenly a new set of changes were made..
cancelled my tix to the east coast....
and booked a new flight back to singapore..

so goodbye white xmas.. goodbye new year countdown...goodbye to birthday in USA..goodbye eastcoastgoodbye 100USD just for bringing forward my flight..

hello Singapore 27th December 2006

you learn to cherish..only when u lose it....

A ChemE weekend...

2006-12-02T15:09:00.000-08:00

friday's pdc test was quite buang...everyone came out of the classroom shaking their heads with all the "wtfs" spewing from their mouths....my smart jap fren who topped the first test also said it sucked.."bad test" as he says in his jap accent...nick also din know wad he was doin....oh well...i guess these classes just suck...whereever the place is...the farniest was this gal who came out with her question paper in hand and asked "what was THAT? is it some foreign language or something?" haha..

minutes after the test..i was back in the lab...to do my individual costing project..which was due on mon...spoke to dr feerer..and he questioningly asked me.."are u just starting on ur costing proj?" i sheepishly acknowledged..and he said "u're gonna have a busy weekend"..

haa...so here i am on a saturday in the lib...been here since taking the earliest bus i could in the morning..hurhur...sux lah..this proj is worth 25% of the grade..same weightage as the final...tian ah...and the lecturer tells me the grade for the proj depends on the value...the closer your value is to the answer..the better ur grade..kao..if u cost some equipment wrongly den die la lidat..

saw a chemE clazmate walk past me juz now..n i asked if he was in the lab...apparently alot of them are in the lab too...haiz..i thought it was locked so i din go...

mebbe sunday ba..

2 weeks more....

she sells sea shells on the sea shore.....

2006-11-30T07:07:00.000-08:00

Thank God I found you
I was lost without you
My every wish and every dream
Somehow became reality
When you brought the sunlight
Completed my whole life
I'm overwhelmed with gratitude
Cause baby I'm so thankful I found you

the wait is over...:)

2006-11-30T06:34:00.000-08:00

Thank You Sheares Hall Sepak Takraw...:)

I think there's some one up there guiding me...someone up there that is deliberately planting small obstacles along my way, to shepherd me to the best path for me..someone who is planting small setbacks and disappointments for me, so that I would go to a better path which I didn't see initially....

Thank You so much.!

I should be happy..very happy in fact...but the wait which has made me excited and nervy for so long had turned into dread..at the other alternatives forgone...if not for my thickskinned question...i prolly dunno have to wait for how long more...and even worse...the chance would have gone begging..

yuan lai u alr msged me on the 27th..

moral of story : don't paiseh...just ask...

Who knows how things will turn out after this? It may not be the right one for me ultimately, but still, at least if it fails, I know I can look for other alternatives...

this is the start of something good...don't you agree?

so now there is " a reason for all that i do...."...a reason for me to brave the cold as I come back from school....a reason for me to smile....

I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new
and the reason is you

it's 6am when i crawled out of my sheets...shivering in the cold...and saw the news... there will be changes to be made...but i've come to realise..money shouldn't be a factor..

i'm going to the chocolate factory!

let this be a source of motivation...for me to get thru my lab report submission todae..pdc test tmrw...and hw and project submission due on monday...*prays*

Thank you once again, to the person up there guiding me, and blessing me all these while..

wo zhen de zhen de zhen de zhen de zhen de hen kai xin!

don't u just love everything beginning with SH? ;)

Happy Thanxgiving!

2006-11-27T20:24:00.000-08:00

day 99 thur 23rd nov
woke up bright and early to get ready....after doin pdc hw the prev nite...packed in some ech158a hw..and grabbed a quaker chewy bar...and met christie n roji..who had kindly agreed to drive us to sacramento airport...
arrived almost3 hours before my scheduled departure time since christie was leaving for seattle on an earlier flight...so i plopped myself at a cafe...and..
took out my hw..and calculator...and did hw...

after a pretty smooth flight on southwest....reached seattle...and den i realised to my horror..my phone had no more talktime left!..i though i had about 45 mins!..but apparently i accidentally pressed some button and called to someone in singapore instead...was in deep shit then since i din know the flight arrival time of the others..and i dun even know wad airline mark was on..luckily met weijie after i borrowed a phone from the counter...
so met the noc peeps...and 2 other girls who were also 83 born...they were on the edb tap prog...
so we haohaodangdang drove to down to seattle pike's place market...pretty rainy day...and since it was thanxgiving..everything was closed...SIAN..
drove up to vancouver after dat...and it was snowing at our lodge!..so pretty..:)

day 100 fri 24th nov
woke up bright n early to ski at whistler mountain!..apparently it's the most famous ski resort in north america...so i was really fortunate...skiing wasn't cheap though..but it was so fuN!...though i almost killed ppl by crashing into them when i flew down the slopes since i din really master the art of stopping...but all in all..it was great fun...!..snow is so beautiful!
our hotel dat night was at vancouver...best western...encountered a veri lao gan hotel manager..we tried to sneak in all 11 of us into 2 rooms of 2 ppl each..but swaysway dat motel got cctv's all around....and he was actually smirking at us when the first advance party went in...
when i heard xinen telling us how they posed and took sneaky pics of themselves while the advance party when in..i couldn't help laffing..
when around the vancouver streets at nite..pretty happening place..

day 101 sat 25th nov
toured around vancouver..
stanley park...capilano suspension bridge...and we went to grouse mountain to take pics.of the sign..haha..funfun..

day 102 sun 26th nov
back to seattle...pike's place market...went to try to see salmon upstream but apperently it wasn't the season...before rushing to the airport..i was sooooo nearly late...but thank god i made it in time...(after cutting 2 queues)..and even going into the handicapped lane..
haha..by a stroke of luck..i sat in the middle of two guys..and who happened to be skiiers too..so i told them i went skiing too...and voila..suddenly i was in the group of SKIIERS...by virtue of one introductory day of skiing..haha..
and hengheng..i took of my big jacket..and wore my UCdavis sweatshirt..and the guy next to me was a grad student in UCD majoring in chem!...and he offered me a ride back to pacifico...sibeisibei heng...and he's called mark too..it's like i took rode in a car driven by mark to the airport..and came back driven by another mark...so qiao..

day103 mon 27th nov
suffered from the after effects of the hols...totally no mood to study...submitted my hws..and just stoned my way thru the day's lectures...
haiz...
i need to wake up my idea to get thru this hell week of assignments/midterms/projects...after next monday..everything shld be fine..and it would be prep for the finals..
was tokin to liling n she said she barely passed all her classes on exchange to stockholm..suddenly i felt guilty for studying too much here in ucdavis...but i guess it's a necessary thing to do...so lemme get back my mugging mood!..and don't let me day dream any more about the beautiful snowy moments!

anyway here's a pic of how i look like now...haha..my hair is so long and messy ..argh..haha

somebody tell me whether offer means real...

recapping..

2006-11-27T18:57:00.000-08:00

it's been ages since i last blogged...so i shall try to recap..hurhur..as i eat my ice cream after dinner..

day 92 thur 16th nov
can't rem wad i was doin...haha..prolly hw bah..since got pdc proj n hw due..

day 93 fri 17th nov
took a chance to relax after sch...met chuah after lessons..ate at dis cheap place near sch...the fried chicken was so tasty..the cubes of potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft in the inside..and there was alot of rice!..and a glass of OVALTINE..wahaha...superb!..i absolutely love rice..
joined him at the msian's society meeting after dat..and den watched a shakespeare play after that...so coincidental, one of my chem eng clazmates erin happened to be there too....and obviously i wasn't really able to understand the play much..haha.i'm so uncultured..:(
walked wif chuah to his new place...and den went to the grad after dat...quite surprised to see some of my pacifico housemates there too..
went back to his place at russel after that and stayed overnite..

day94 sat 18th nov.
woke up...wanted to do my ech140 then..since chuah is currently taking fluid mech...but he just gave me his notes..and sample questions..which i was too lazy to read..so i did the problems by myself..(tried to do dat is)..haha...wanted to go to fuji's sushi after dat..but the queue was ridiculously long..so settled for another sushi place instead...got my third tee too at the stadium..haha..
came back to pacifico...washed clothes...and nuaed/did work the rest of the nite..

day 95 sun 19th nov.
went to ashish's place to study for the eng45 midterm on monday..dunno why but i was pretty unfocused...skipped the pacifico bbq...and hide in my room to study at nite...haha..so sad hur...

day 96 mon 20th nov.
had to miss one hour of ech158a for the eng45 test...and wad an impt lesson i missed as it was for my costing project worth a hefty 25% of the grade...argh..luckily my eng45 test turned out ok...(i hope) there was some sort of thanxgiving dinner at pacifico...met some ex residents...and the food was decent..(at least there was fried rice to satisfy my rice craving)...

day97 tues 21st nov.
pia hw day! since i was going away for the thanxgiving hols..had my last lab session.....luckily it was pretty slack and i got to chat with my lab mates.. waited for rach in the lib as i was piaing my ech158a hw.....

day98 wed 22nd nov
completed a couple of my hws todae....packed my bags for my thanxgiving trip..so totally unprepared..and no mood..due to the hectic schedule..

how to act blur if it's so obvious?....

i need directions...

2006-11-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

i think i'm pretty good at reading maps and giving road directions based on road guides...

but i think i need directions..

I don't want to wait for our lives to be over,
I want to know right now what will it be
I don't want to wait for our lives to be over,
Will it be yes or will it be...sorry?

competition..

2006-11-15T22:42:00.000-08:00

and i found out that i'm not the only one who wants to go to the chocolate factory...:(...this guy has a good chance of going to the chocolate factory because he eats alot of chocolate bars and thus has a great chance of finding the golden ticket...

willy wonka ah willy wonka...plsplspls

breather..

2006-11-15T19:04:00.000-08:00

phew..finally a breather after a veri hectic week...i guess there's a cycle to my life here..by the end of wed..it's pretty much less xiong..since most of the deadlines are due in the early part of the week...so for the rest of this week..i'm left with just process control assignment...due on friday....
my hair is so long now dat when i went to the toilet just now..i was reminded of my sec sch days when i had a nice long fringe and floppy hair..wahaha..but the shitty thing is i don't have a comb!..although i have my hairband with me...so negligent..

day 86 fri 10th nov
start of our road trip...it was veteran's day..so there was a long weekend..joined 3 taiwanese (peter, n 2 gals..) at the invitation of chuah...
went to muir woods first...before heading down to point reyes...and then subsequently driving back to peter's sis place in san fran...which is right by pier 38...and near the AT &T park..tink the san fran baseball team plays there
had dinner at his sis place..luckily we bought some food back cuz his sis cooked beef..haiz..
played some cards after dat before sleeping...

day 87 sat 11th nov
went to monterey bay...pretty long drive...but it was worth it i guess..nice view...aiya..actually everything is the same come to think of it...a coast is a coast..the pacific ocean is the pacific ocean...see here see there all the same..
drove back and we met his sis at ranch99..dis asian supermarket..and we bought food for steamboat!..yay..and i bought some taiwan instant noodles and meegoreng..ahaha..miss those stuff..
had a nice dinner..n we played this snatch the spoon game which was similar to heartattack..haha..pretty lame..

day 88 sun 12th nov
took a walk along the pier wif chuah..n took pics of the at n t park...actually for the past 2 days i've been waking up early before the rest and doing my process control work..hurhur...quite spoiler..but ya..had to do it..cuz the prof initially wanted it due on monday...but yea..luckily i made some headway on it..
we went to eat dimsum at yank sing..tink it's the equivalent of yam char in singapore..and it was frikking frikking expensive...pui..and they din even show the prices of their dishes so we just ordered...and the thing was it wasn't even filling!...lousy lousy.. but of cuz the xiao long pao was nice...yummy..
took pics of the golden gate bridge after dat..and we went to sausalito....something like a seaside town...before driving back to davis...reached back close to nine plus...totally shagged out and still had 158a hw..

day 89 mon 13th nov
woke up bright and early and immed headed to my lab to finish up my homeworks...saw pdc prof n he told me dat it was postponed to fri...phew...den hurriedly wrote some crap on my 158a hw and just submitted it..

talked on the phone for an hour after that....really grateful to yeanna for lending the phone to me...
slept after dat..neglecting my undone lab report due tues..

haiz it din go well...:(

day 90 tues 14th nov
met my pdc proj group to discuss proj....anyhow whacked my lab report and submitted it...started my eng45 hw..n started my ech140 hw..both due on wed...luckily both were qed..

day 91 wed 15th nov
day started wif 2 guest lectures for 160 n 158a...and yay!..there's no hw due next mon for 158a...but there's going to be a proj..haiz...i hate projs!
carried on my pdc discussion...i've a really siao on group mate..who has dunno how many textbooks just for pdc....and they really think thru the problem so thouroughly..
finished up my 140 hw n my proj calculations before the start of 140...and dat was the point i heaved a sigh of relief...finallyyyyyyyy....i have time to slack abit..
got back my 140 grades...the class dat i feared most...and yay..i did veri well..wahahaha..n i tink even if i don't take the final i would get at least a C-..yay yay yay...
so i decided to join cory for dinner...at the dining commons...he veri kindly swiped me in...their comm hall is like a food court..and it's eat all u want...damn shiok...i had like 2 big drumsticks and kung pao chicken rice and 2 cups of hot chocolate..really shiok.and i even made it in time for the 1835 bus!..

good luck to my friends in nus taking their exams...and to my family..pls take care of yourselves...

and so i still pray...
that i would be given a chance to go to that chocolate factory...
pls..

November

2006-11-09T22:24:00.000-08:00

So I'm waiting for this test to end,
so that lighter days can soon begin;
I'll be alone, but maybe more carefree,
Like a kite that floats so effortlessly;
I was afraid to be alone,
but now I'm scared that's how I like to be;
All these faces none the same,
how can there be so many personalities?
So many lifeless, empty hands,
so many hearts in great demand;
and now my sorrow seems so far away,
until I'm taken by these bolts of pain;
But I turn them off, and tuck them away,
until those rainy days that make them stay;
And then I'll cry so hard to these sad songs,
and the words still ring, once here, now gone;
And they echo through my head everyday,
and I don't think they'll ever go away;
Just like thinking of your childhood home,
but we can't go back, we're on our own

longweekend...

2006-11-09T21:23:00.000-08:00

yay..a breather...no sch on friday due to veteran's day...and i always have my thursdays free..so this is a really well-deserved break for me...

day 82 mon 6th nov.
got back my ech 160 and ech 158a midterms..i got about 80% for those two midterms..sadly, i was only within 1 std deviation above the average for 160...and only slightly above the average for 158a. why is this worrying?..becuz i asked the 157 prof and he said that if i got the average mark i will get a B- or C+. ...i guess that's why most of the chemEs here typically have a B or C average. so will NUS consider me to have passed the class if i get a D here?..if i fall below average?..man..i dunno..sighz..and i thought i could slack off abit in my hw..

day 83 tues 7th nov
studied for the last of my first round of midterms..140...got back my lab report..wow..got an even better grade then the first one..really happy abt it considering that report was done in the midst of many tests and halloween..

da7 84 wed 8th nov
took the most dreaded midterm...didn't turn out that bad..though it wasn't as flawless as i would have hoped for.. since this tough class has a fixed grading scale..hopefully i can do well enuff to secure a pass...

jumping for joy!

day 85 thur 9th nov
start of a longlong weekend!..thur, fri, sat n sun..
sadly..i spent the entire day in the chem eng comp lab...having 'fun' with aspen,matlab n simulink....was hoping to clear my 157 n 158a hw due on mon....and i still got lab report due on tues...

manki said i had been a ninja these few days...i din know wad he meant... later i understood that his version of ninja..is our hall version of phantom..... well..i won't deny it...i really have no choice..
dan asked me at dinner how i was doin...i said nothing has changed...n he said it was a pity cuz we had so much fun before sch started....

oh well...guess i can't have everything..

ireallyreallyreallyreallyhopesomethinggoodcomesoutofitthistimeround

willy wonka

2006-11-05T19:30:00.000-08:00

felt really down the whole morning...and it din really help that the meals i prepared for myself weren't appetizing at all....or rather..i'm sick of it...
breakfast was dry biscuits soaked in milk...and lunch was instant noodles with bacon,sausages and fish fingers...

afternoon was great though..watched the willy wonka play wif chuah and the other msians..went to the arboratum wif chuah,nozomi n kanae...n dinner at a jap restaurant leaving us totally satisfied..so that we can individually study well into the nite..hurhur

can i be like charlie bucket and get a golden ticket? there's a chocolate factory which i really really wanna go to....

fooling around

2006-11-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

day 80 saturday 4th nov

woke up with a splitting headache for unknown reasons..not as if i was mugging my ass off on fri nite...not as if i din sleep...but still kena it...
i tink one of the benefits of being16 hours behind singapore is that i wake up to EPL news on a saturday morning..haha..definitely something to make me get out of bed...n yay..liverpool are winning again..

met nozomi for lunch n we had chinese buffet for only 7 bucks..haha..really quite cheap..though the food wasn't spectacular...headed to the lib after dat to mug for my mathematical methods test..totally sian....chuah n kanae den met us for dinner...n we went to the thai bistro....subsequently went wif chuah to safeway..for me to get my milk n cereal..and for him to get his beer since he just turned 21 and he wanted to finally be able to buy alcohol on his own..haha..went to his room after that to watch movie n drink..his taiwanese fren soon joined us and we then played big 2..haha..taiwanese rules...pretty diff from our own dai di....and yay ..we are goin on a trip durin veteran's day holiday..

so when shld i go back singapore?

i would probably be able to go back to hall becuz of sepak...but if i reach singapore on the sixth of jan and sepak starts in mid jan...i don't see myself being able to play in the comp....which thus makes no sense in lawrence getting me back to hall becuz of sepak..since i'm useless anyway.. would the hall let me stay if i dun play sepak?..haha..i seriously dunno..
for some reason expectations are really high of the sepak team this year...n it would be so xia sway if i go back and play and screw everything up...

wad are the pros and cons of me going back early?
cons
first i must pay 32 USD to bring forward my flight...second i miss the chance of going to east coast ...third i miss the chance of spending xmas,bday and new year in US...

pros
first i don't have to pay over 300 bucks to change my flight from LA to philly...second i don't have to pay money to go to philly...third i MAY get a chance to play sepak..fourth i get to settle down in singapore before a new term kicks in...

deep down i know what my preferred choice is...i just wish something materialises in the coming week to make my decision worthwhile

day 75 till todae..

2006-11-03T20:42:00.000-08:00

day 75 mon oct 30th
ech 158a test...200 marks in less than 2 hours...quite a nice test to take..except that the first qns asked for a diagram which was worth 40 marks and i drew a ridiciculously simple diagram prolly not even worth 10 marks..haiz..
i loved his last qns...where is a condenser found in a distillation plant? 5marks..haha..obviously a bonus qns to see who has been coming for his classes...i'm sure everyone got it...he's such an interesting lecturer that i'm sure no one skips his class..

got back my eng45 test (which i took on fri)..the TA marked it really quickly...did superbly well..haha..so dat's 50/300 marks in the bag...

had a pretty ridiculous conversation

day 76 tuesday
lab discussion day...me n rach had a really interesting convo abt our sec sch lives..haha..brought back much fond memories..
received some devastating news over the email...:(

day 77 wed
got back my pdc test...brought crashing down to earth...quite disappointed wif my marks..but aiya..since it's only 20 percent..and since my mark is still slightly above average..i tink shld be can la hur..
the ivle system here is quite cool...for every homework or test..they show the statistics!..like the bar charts...pie charts..to show average scores..std deviation..blabla..

day 78 thur
rained todae..and i walked in the rain to go to BOA....the rain reminds me of singapore...
was cook 2 for dinner todae..assisting gwen in preparing some dutch meal...thank god it turned out ok..next week would be my last chore here in pacifico!

day 79 fri
took my ech 160 test....lecturer gave only 15 mcqs...*rolls eyes* the final exam is prolly like 20 mcqs?..25?..c'mon..u can do better than that..

went to the lab after class to use the Aspen software...spent abt close to 3 hours completing 4 out of 6 Aspen tutorials....as it was getting dark earlier these days, it felt like it was 1930 when i left the lab at 1730...hurhur..
felt really guilty for not contributing much to my pdc group....luckily todae the lect touched on simulink...so i offerred to lend them my meagre simulink notes..haha..yay..finally i can be a lil bit useful..

what am i going to do this weekend?..mug my ass off for ech 140? go out with the msians?. sounds fun hur..
sometimes i question myself whether i'm actually enjoying myself enough here on exchange..or am i being paranoid and studying too much...the thing is i'm not like revising ahead of time or wadeva..i'm just trying to complete my hw..and study for my tests..n it doesn't help dat the prof for 140 has a reputation for being a tough prof...who makes every class thrice as hard as it shld be..:( i do envy my friends who get to travel around ...but i tink given the time table i have..and the location i'm in...it really isn't worth it/possible to travel around over the weekend..oh well..i will end my exams in about 40 more days so things may be brighter after that..

a big part of me wanna go back to singapore early...like RIGHT after my exams...and honestly...i would really wanna book the earliest possible flight back...(if the reason arises)...
but i guess we''ll have to see how things go...
this week has been a disapppointment... maybe next week will provide some answers...

i'm so glad the weekend is here!..though i have nothing fun to do..at least i got some breathing space..

BOO!

2006-10-29T22:16:00.000-08:00

halloween weekend was pretty fun...

day 72 fri oct 27th
the party at pacifico was not bad..almost everyone came decked in some costume....definitely more fun than the black-out-bash...

day 73 sat oct 28th
slept for abt 5 hrs onli but woke up thinkin i would do some parts of my lab report..(which i din in the end)...read soccernet to find that liverpool are winning again..yay...skipped on offer to go to the arc n lunch with the girls cuz i was nua...went to find chuah then n found he had overslept..haha..farnie guy...and after some debates..we found ourselves at the msian students gathering...they were celebrating deepavali and hari raya...and i got a chance to eat lontong!..i miss it soo much! one of them actually resembles someone in chemeng..
anyway the msians in ucdavis are mainly scholars sia...tink msia send them to ucd to study biotech...n according to chuah..the chinese malaysians are really zai...
went wif them to the woodland cornmaze too at nite...which was supposed to be scary..but..err..din really turn out to be..basically it's just a maze made from corn fields..and they had another scary trail where ppl dressed in masks and outfits will scare u as u walk along the trail..but since it was a big group..and i was at the back..it wasn't dat scary..
felt so paiseh at the end of the day cuz i've been ferried around by the msians...

day 74 sun oct 29th
daylight saving kicks in..so i get to push back my clock one hour...and i'm now like an additional hour behind singapore...pretty sian day where i spent an unproductive day at the lib wif chuah..

i tink i'm jaded..
i'm sick and tired of turning in good quality work week in and week out..though it's only been 4 weeks..
the work doesn't seem to end n tests and projects are coming in...
i totally slacked my weekend away even though i have ech 158a test on monday which i din really study for..i din do my ech 140 hw due tmrw..and my lab report due on tuesday is undone..and it's 2230 now on a sunday..

for goodness sake...i dun need additional problems which shldn't even bother me in the first place..

day 68 till todae

2006-10-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

juz finished two midterms todae so i'm feeling pretty happy......though there are a couple more midterms next week n after but i guess i can take a breather for a lil while..

day 68 mon oct 23rd
besides the submission of hws n the long day...the highlight of the day was the pumpkin carving session...haha..i carved my own halloween pumpkin...it was pretty ugly of course..haha..but still..haha..i did it on my own..haha..

some chi characters

day 69 tues oct 24th
met chuah by coincidence and we went to the lib...den we both headed for bainer for our own office hours..it was a do math hw day and lab....got back my first lab report...phew..did ok..the TA failed a couple of ppl! and the average was C..tsktsk...dunno wad i was doin in my report also but thankfully it turned out well..

oops..i did it again...

day 70 wed oct 25th
long day again...did my kitchen cleaning chores...and despite having 2 midterms on fri..played a few games of uno with rachel n daniel...

day 71 thur oct 26th
full time mugging for ech 157 pdc and eng 45...actually i spent most of my time on pdc...since it's a typical chemeng mod...:(

day 72 fri oct 27th
my first tests at ucdavis...tink eng45 was pretty ok...as for ech 157..i duno man...there were only 20 marks!..and the weightage is 20% of the final grade..so every mark is one percent of the final grade!..it will be well and good if i do well for it...but if not..i'm screwed man..cuz actually i tink alot of ppl will score well for it.. discussed our pdc proj right after the exam....things should progress well...
talked to another guy (tink he's from china) in class todae...i guess goin to my chemE classes should get better..since i got one jap guy in front..and one china guy behind and ann n kevin in my project group..

supposed to go halloween shopping wif chuah after dat..but he dragged me to play soccer wif some of his new frens he made at the arc..a mixture of guys and gals as his frens were planning to compete in the inter-mural comp....had quite alot of fun...though i was barefooted n they were all decked in their gear..

went to the halloween shop after that to buy some stuff...the costumes ain't cheap man...and the thought of lugging it back to s'pore turned me off...so i bought a hideous mask..haha..and thought of using my lab coat as a costume!..yay..finally my lab coat has come into use....got stuck with chuah and his 2 other msian frens in a stupid traffic jam cuz the railway barrier refused to go up even though there was no train passing.....it was a great pleasure listenin to them talk...the familiar accent which i haven't really heard for a longgg time...

hope the halloween party later would be fun...abit like the black-out-bash perhaps?..lol

i guess it started from the time i was sick....

day 62 till todae...

2006-10-22T22:50:00.000-07:00

day 62 tues oct 17th
mug in lib n do hw...(as usual)

day 63 wed oct 18th
long day again..pdc lect announced proj briefing on fri..haiz..how to form group members?

day 64 thur oct 19th
trytoclearhwsothatmyweekendsarealilbitfree day..met ashish to clear eng45 hw due on fri..

day 65 fri oct 20th
got myself a pretty decent group for pdc...spoke to this jap guy whom i thought was an exchange student since he still toked english farnily and had a strong jap aaccent..turns out he has been here for quite a couple of years and he's 35!...told me he came here to surf..haha..and he was a bad guy in japan...and that his parents will be proud of him if he graduate..haha..

why did i do proj wif him? main reason was i collected my hw 2 from the shelves before the lesson...and to my dismay..i got one big fat zero for one of my questions..(which i kinda expected since i anyhow whack some dumb equations)...so i kpo looked at the jap guy's one ..since i thought he was an exchange student....and to my amazement he got ten!..(full marks)...i was shocked cuz i thought since he was on "exchange" and since he can't speak jap well..he must have some probs with the lang...well apparently not..
so i talked to him before class...ask him to be my groupmate...and apparently he has his own discussion group wif a guy..who has a gf in the class...so juz nice i got a group of 4... and josh told me that the other guy is really smart!...woohoo..looks like my pdc project is 'saved'....

and junichi (the jap guy) told me he is taking only 3 classes..diao...

went to some homecoming bonfire at night...missed out on the free pizza at the amtrak station..haiz..everytime there's free food..i'm always in pacifico eating some junk..

day 66 sat oct 21st
went to applehilL!...yay..thought i missed my chance..got my hand at some nice apple daughnuts..apple cheesecake..apple juice..blablabla...

day 67 sun oct 22nd
mugging session with ashish my american-born-indian friend....went to his place and did eng-45...plus got his matlab...while he copied a few folders of my songs..i'm really thankful i met him..
because of him...i sit RIGHT IN FRONT of the lecture theatre...listening attentively to class... submitting homeworks of high standards..haha..at least i got someone i can check answer with la..when i do my homework...
if i were to rank my favourite classes...the first would be ENG45 (since it's the easiest)...second would be ECH 158A (since the lecturer is the nicest and most interesting)...third would be ECH 160 (since the content is kinda interesting but i dunno how to study for it)..fourth would be ECH 140 (since i keep doing hw...:( ) last would be ECH 157 PROCESS DYNAMICS AND CONTROL (cuz the homework is so difficult........argghh..and i don't understand anything...and the book COST A BOMB)

only a couple of things can make me happy now...

1) all my profs telling me that i dun hafta study anymore and they will just let me pass..
2) some emails from a certain person...

one of my keyboard keys is dead..:( so difficult to type question marks now...argghhhhhh