"Dear all,
I still seem to be four essays short! 6 if you include last week's...."
an excerpt from the email sent by my bmb supervisor at 5.30pm earlier. the essay was due 5.00pm the day before. i just handed in mine 15 min ago. there were 4 of us in his supervision group...
three days ago, my cdb supervisor asked if we have read the 'light reading' (i.e. review articles that are at least 8 pages long) that he gave us the previous week. my supervision partner answered 'i flicked through it...' before the supervisor interupted in disbelief 'FLICKED THROUGH IT?' . he sort of pleaded us to read the articles with the words 'PLEASe, PLEASE read my presents ' at least three times during the one hour session.
he gave us another two presents before we left.
it is week 6 of lent term. struggling to catch up is the norm. i am not sure if i am looking forward to term ending though; i have 4 assessed practical writeups and an assessed presentation due just before the end of term. furthermore, end of lent marks easter, which co-incidentally starts with the same big E.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
A Weekend Spent with Friends
it was reinvigorating to be able to just get away from work for the weekend and just be in the company of great friends =)
it started on friday night with cg cny dinner part II. we had express steamboat, ie everything was cooked steamboat style in the pot on the hob, so that we could have the food faster. we had massive quantities of food; two pots of tomyum AND two pots chicken soup to share among the 6 of us. and of course, the big piles of bak kua which sean brought back from his weekend escapade to kuala lumpur.
on saturday, jyy mei came to camb. she hasn't changed much-- as glam as usual, but with a lot more exciting updates this time, haha!
we did the usual touristy things: punting and college visits. and i am embarrased to say that i just found out that the bridge just outside magd is the cam bridge that tsu zhi mo referred to in his famous poem. i cross that bridge everyday.
then we met mabel. the three of us were secondary school classmates.
in the evening, it was dinner with weishen, jinyang and his sis, and hongking before going to mnite.
mnite was good entertainment; a light-hearted evening that brought to memory all things malaysian, even the area overlooking the words SOUTH COURT at midvalley. the pontianak dance was good. i don't think it was provocative at all; it was like a ballet pas de duex to me. kenneith clearly did it again!
sun was spent in church/ grafton/ zara/ h&m with jyy mei. she tried to help me get an outfit for the cumsa ball next week. unfortunately, i was so picky that i ended up only getting a top for everyday wear. she, on the other hand, got a few bargains =)
after sending jyymei off the the train station, i rushed to sains and back to magd to cook for the astar pple. it was a gathering that i organised in the name of chinese new year. it was good to catch up with manu, and start having ideas about more random things nicole and i could do.
so it was a good weekend. i thank the Lord for placing wonderful people in my life to share the little joys of life =)
it started on friday night with cg cny dinner part II. we had express steamboat, ie everything was cooked steamboat style in the pot on the hob, so that we could have the food faster. we had massive quantities of food; two pots of tomyum AND two pots chicken soup to share among the 6 of us. and of course, the big piles of bak kua which sean brought back from his weekend escapade to kuala lumpur.
on saturday, jyy mei came to camb. she hasn't changed much-- as glam as usual, but with a lot more exciting updates this time, haha!
we did the usual touristy things: punting and college visits. and i am embarrased to say that i just found out that the bridge just outside magd is the cam bridge that tsu zhi mo referred to in his famous poem. i cross that bridge everyday.
then we met mabel. the three of us were secondary school classmates.
in the evening, it was dinner with weishen, jinyang and his sis, and hongking before going to mnite.
mnite was good entertainment; a light-hearted evening that brought to memory all things malaysian, even the area overlooking the words SOUTH COURT at midvalley. the pontianak dance was good. i don't think it was provocative at all; it was like a ballet pas de duex to me. kenneith clearly did it again!
sun was spent in church/ grafton/ zara/ h&m with jyy mei. she tried to help me get an outfit for the cumsa ball next week. unfortunately, i was so picky that i ended up only getting a top for everyday wear. she, on the other hand, got a few bargains =)
after sending jyymei off the the train station, i rushed to sains and back to magd to cook for the astar pple. it was a gathering that i organised in the name of chinese new year. it was good to catch up with manu, and start having ideas about more random things nicole and i could do.
so it was a good weekend. i thank the Lord for placing wonderful people in my life to share the little joys of life =)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Tea
attended a tea tasting session with first class tea today. i don't usually drink tea as i prefer coffee, but i went anyway out of curiosity to why the english like their tea so much. it was disappointing at first because the teas that we were going to try were all asian teas, including the all too familiar oolong and pu erh. then i thought it was strange to drink asian teas in glasses, as i thought the tea set and the tea drinking ceremony were part and parcel of the tea drinking experience. nonetheless, the session turned out to be quite interesting, as i didn't know the taste of tea could be described as such before:
china jasmine white clouds (dong ding, fujian)
silver tea; the most highly recommended by will, the person who led the session. incidently, it was the most expensive one we had today, as it is retailed at GBP20 per 100g. jasmine-scented, delicate and light.
organic green darjeeling risheehat (india)
so i learnt that green tea is black tea before the latter gets fermented. the best teas are grown without pesticides because the chemicals will affect the taste of the tea. this particular tea was described as fishy/ seaweedy o.O
organic china oolong
oolong means semi-fermented tea, which is the intermediate between green and black. this is done through tossing the tea leaves such that their edges are bruised and start fermenting there. it was described as woody, smoky, intruguing/ confusing. ironically enough, it is thought to aid clarity of thought and the orange oolong (i.e. orange-flavoured(!)) was the best business tea at first class tea.
japan bancha houjicha
this is roasted sheng cha, meaning the tea leaves are unprocessed as far as it is possible. it's scent reminded me of mai xiang cha. some people thought it was seaweedy (again?!).
xiaguan pu erh tuo cha 2006 (yunnan, china)
this tea has to be matured in a brick, hence the date that shows its year of produce, just like wine. some people described it as 'earthy', like 'kicking up autumn leaves in the woods'- such romantic notions, no wonder it created a commodity bubble not too long ago. also, victoria beckham claimed that pu erh was her secret to staying slim.
abali vrikshayurvedic (arunachal pradesh, india)
the least popular tea of the night. people thought it tasted like rubber. some thought it smelled like chocholate. i thought it was drinkable, just a stronger version of the bancha earlier. oh, this tea was pinkish in colour.
sikkim temi
most people like this one. they described it with all the positive adjectives- honey-like, flowery, armchair tea, even 'a hug from the tea'! i think people are fond with it because it tastes very much like the typical 'english tea', which most of the time is black tea. this tea reminds me of BOH tea from cameron highlands.
rose claire, scented white tea
the name explains the tea. 'claire' was after will's fiancee, to whom he just recently got engaged to. his opinion on the tea: creamy, like turkish delight in a glass.
overall, it was an interesting session with tea. oh, i also learnt that people can get tea drunk on too much tea. apparently this is due to hypoglycaemia, as some types of tea like oolong and pu erh have blood glucose lowering effects. does this justify the all the sugar-loaded cookies and cakes that accompanied the tea session today? i think i have had too much tea in one session, and the acid is giving me a gastric...
china jasmine white clouds (dong ding, fujian)
silver tea; the most highly recommended by will, the person who led the session. incidently, it was the most expensive one we had today, as it is retailed at GBP20 per 100g. jasmine-scented, delicate and light.
organic green darjeeling risheehat (india)
so i learnt that green tea is black tea before the latter gets fermented. the best teas are grown without pesticides because the chemicals will affect the taste of the tea. this particular tea was described as fishy/ seaweedy o.O
organic china oolong
oolong means semi-fermented tea, which is the intermediate between green and black. this is done through tossing the tea leaves such that their edges are bruised and start fermenting there. it was described as woody, smoky, intruguing/ confusing. ironically enough, it is thought to aid clarity of thought and the orange oolong (i.e. orange-flavoured(!)) was the best business tea at first class tea.
japan bancha houjicha
this is roasted sheng cha, meaning the tea leaves are unprocessed as far as it is possible. it's scent reminded me of mai xiang cha. some people thought it was seaweedy (again?!).
xiaguan pu erh tuo cha 2006 (yunnan, china)
this tea has to be matured in a brick, hence the date that shows its year of produce, just like wine. some people described it as 'earthy', like 'kicking up autumn leaves in the woods'- such romantic notions, no wonder it created a commodity bubble not too long ago. also, victoria beckham claimed that pu erh was her secret to staying slim.
abali vrikshayurvedic (arunachal pradesh, india)
the least popular tea of the night. people thought it tasted like rubber. some thought it smelled like chocholate. i thought it was drinkable, just a stronger version of the bancha earlier. oh, this tea was pinkish in colour.
sikkim temi
most people like this one. they described it with all the positive adjectives- honey-like, flowery, armchair tea, even 'a hug from the tea'! i think people are fond with it because it tastes very much like the typical 'english tea', which most of the time is black tea. this tea reminds me of BOH tea from cameron highlands.
rose claire, scented white tea
the name explains the tea. 'claire' was after will's fiancee, to whom he just recently got engaged to. his opinion on the tea: creamy, like turkish delight in a glass.
overall, it was an interesting session with tea. oh, i also learnt that people can get tea drunk on too much tea. apparently this is due to hypoglycaemia, as some types of tea like oolong and pu erh have blood glucose lowering effects. does this justify the all the sugar-loaded cookies and cakes that accompanied the tea session today? i think i have had too much tea in one session, and the acid is giving me a gastric...
Monday, February 11, 2008
1 Corinthians 13:4
coincidentally or not, is the verse of the the day on biblegateway.
to love someone like you is ordinary.
to love someone unlike you is extraordinary.
to love someone who hates you is revolutionary.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
to love someone like you is ordinary.
to love someone unlike you is extraordinary.
to love someone who hates you is revolutionary.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Halfway Hall
the dinner marked the middle of my time as an undergraduate in magdalene college. at the end of the dinner, the master gave a speech. he recounted how he first met all of us in the same hall on the morning of our matriculation, to tell us the history and architecture of the college, and to tell us that we were a group of 'extraordinary young people' and that we were 'academically promising'.
the master went on to remind us that the second half of our time will only pass quicker, if we thought the first was already too quick, and he warned us against complacency. to further illustrate his point on complacency, he told us a story:
a crow was sitting on the tree doing nothing. a rabbit came along, saw the crow and asked,'can i sit and do nothing all day long just like you?' the crow answered,'yea, why not?'. so the rabbit stopped hopping, sat beneath the tree and did nothing, just like the crow. a fox came along and ate the rabbit.
the moral of the story: if you want to sit around and do nothing, make sure you are sitting somewhere high up.
naturally, the hall applauded the master; he was as eloquent in his speech as always.
now, the expectation to be 'extraordinary young people' who are 'academically promising' and much more-- the Lord will complete the work He has begun in me, amen.
the master went on to remind us that the second half of our time will only pass quicker, if we thought the first was already too quick, and he warned us against complacency. to further illustrate his point on complacency, he told us a story:
a crow was sitting on the tree doing nothing. a rabbit came along, saw the crow and asked,'can i sit and do nothing all day long just like you?' the crow answered,'yea, why not?'. so the rabbit stopped hopping, sat beneath the tree and did nothing, just like the crow. a fox came along and ate the rabbit.
the moral of the story: if you want to sit around and do nothing, make sure you are sitting somewhere high up.
naturally, the hall applauded the master; he was as eloquent in his speech as always.
now, the expectation to be 'extraordinary young people' who are 'academically promising' and much more-- the Lord will complete the work He has begun in me, amen.
