Farrer Park Sports Challenge

Went for the Farrer Park Sports Challenge today...

My event was delayed for 2 hrs...all 'cos of a heavy rain...so sianz...

Anyway, we saw MP elect Mr Teo Ser Luck...who's also the president of the Triathlon Family...came by as Guest-of-honour...to present the prizes for the kids category and start off the family relay event...
Ang Peng Siong participated in that event...swimming with his son on his back for one lap...hehe...so cute...

The inter-racial relay events started after the family relay....
I swam 400m in abt 7 mins while my partner, Sukaimi aka The Lonely Runner, ran 4.3km in abt 19 mins...while it continued to drizzle...

Team Beyond Boundaries came in 2nd for the Inter-racial mixed relay...yippee...hehe...good har...hehehehe....

After that...we had lunch at KKWCH...and headed home...

Was supposed to come back by 2pm for a meeting with my housemates regarding our up-coming Vietnam backpack trip...haha...yup..we had to set a meeting time since we hardly see each other...besides we r also supposed to meet our ex-housemate too...but...in the end...she was too lazy to travel...so meeting was cancelled...haiz...

Happy Birthday, Blog!!

My blog just turned one year old today!!! Hehe...

Can't believe I have managed to maintain my blog for one year now :D

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!!

Hmmm...this also means I have worked at Unity for one year...one year and a couple days to be exact ;) Wow...
...and I've been back in NUS for almost one year now...2-3 more years to go...hehe

YIPPEE!!

Coastal cleanup

Helped out in a cleanup workshop for abt 20 ppl...from a certain company...who'll be leading a coastal cleanup this coming fri...at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve...

I'm definitely not an expert in this but have participated in the International Coastal Cleanup last year with my Sri Lanka YEP teammates...

Here r some photos of wat we did...

First...it's a briefing by Hang Chong...one of my Sri Lanka YEP leader...also from the Nature Soc of S'pore...
A brief history of the coastal cleanup which started only abt 10 years ago locally...initially carried out on the beach only...but now also in the mangrove swamp...


Tools that r needed for the cleanup...


Proceed to the cleanup area...


Another briefing...how to use the data collection card...


How do u get down to the cleanup area??!


Dead horse-shoe crab...leave them alone...they part of the nature


Hang chong couldn't resist telling the participants more abt the horse-shoe crab...


A small pile of food wrappers n plastic bags...


How the cleanup is carried out...

One person will hold on to the trash bag, another 2-3 with gloves on will pick up the trash...then one person will record the type of trash collected e.g. food wrapper...

A big drum...leave it alone...to be handled by park rangers


Trash that are collected are brought out and weighed...b4 disposing into the dumpster..


Hang Chong's nature talk again...hehe...


Although we did the clean up for abt half an hour only...a total of 32kg of trash was collected...which includes hundreds of food wrappers, straws, drink bottles, glass bits, styrofoam bits...but excludes a car seat!!!

Take home msg...

All this trash that ends up in the sea...may end up in the stomach of the marine life...and starve them to death...
U can help save them by minimizing usage of disposable items such as plastic bags (mimics favorite food of the leatherback turtle), styrofoams (breaks up and gets eaten by fishes) etc...

Release of exam results

Totally forgot my results was released today until I received an email with the following content...

We have been informed that the release of the results will be slightly late. Please do not fret if you are not able to view your results as yet.

Hmm...fret...din know ppl use such words in formal emails...hehe ;)

Well it turned out I have passed all the papers I have been taking the past month...and with very good results for the graded one...now I can slack for the next 2 modules I need to take :P

Makeover

I have done some makeover to my lab bench and room recently...

Lab bench because my space will be more limited soon...so decided to tidy it up and get some drawers to put my glassware etc :D
Din take a b4 photo...but here's how it looks like now ;)


This is the bench space I have...


The drawers I've bought...we have funnels, round/flat bottom flasks in the big one...and filter papers, rubber septums, sample bottles, magnetic stirrer, adapters etc in the other :D


I relabelled all the solvent bottles...neat hor :D

My room also had a makeover 'cos I figured I have too many books now and it looks really messy...so I shall get a bigger book shelf...
Took a while for the bookshelf to come since the furniture guy din kept to the specs I asked for :P
Made them come to my place 3 times!!!

Anyway, here's how my room looks like now...after it's tidied up...



B4 that it's like that...

Can't really see how small the previous bookshelf was..but many of my books were either on the table or under it...now they r all on the bookshelf :D

KeGILAan?

Craziness?

It's been pretty much madness since wat seems like forever...

In the last post I mentioned wat happened til the Sunday b4 last...since then it was just a lot more craziness...

Mon was spent in the lab...

Tue pretty eng...started off with a swim at TPY...followed by studying bet TPY lib and home...had to come home to wait for the furniture guy to send my bookshelf which turned out to be not exactly wat I want yet!!! sianz half...

Wed is exam day...hmm..it was actually really easy...esp since we only need 50% to pass...so I left after less than an hour...even though we were allowed 2 hrs...hehe...
Anyway by now we know we have all passed :D
That evening I went to Outram campus to send a couple of my compounds for testing...went to the old CDA (Center for Drug Administration) building which now belongs to Duke University-NUS Graduate Medical School...that's where my other boss' office is ;)
Intended to go visit the lab which is at NCC (National Cancer Center) but no one was at the lab then...
Anyway, after that I went visiting at SGH...from the lab...to DPIC...to SOC...to SP73...hehe...b4 I met up with another fren at Raffles Place...
Quite an exciting day!!!

Thur was back at the lab...computer all day...yawnz...
Finally got my bookshelf as I wanted that night :D

Fri was at the pharmacist training at GWC...hmm...it was a full day of eating...morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea...hehe...yummy...
Speaker was pretty interesting too...it was on diabetes...
Then at night was work at HLC...

Sat...swam at NUS in the morning...haven't swam there for a while...it's so much nicer than TPY 'cos there're less ppl...and there're lane lines...no swimming across the breadth :P
Then went back to lab to clean up my glassware and did a bit of work...b4 I left for work at RFC...


I'm sufficiently bo liao to take a photo of the glasswares b4 (top) n after (bottom) washing :P

Right after work...I left for the train station to go KL...wow!!!
It's definitely nicer to sleep on a train then in a bus...hmm...but a lot of ppl claimed it was shaky...was it?

Spent a whole day at a workshop in KL on Sun...
Took a bus home that evening...got home at 1plus in the morning...I feel so shack for myself!!

Yet the next morning I woke up at 5.45am as usual...din wanna get stuck in traffic plus I was meeting some frens that evening...so decided to go in early to get my work done ;)

Tue was another busy day in the lab...followed by another dinner with another group of frens...

Finally Wed...I decided to slack...woke up late...went to sch late...and left early too...hehe...had to send another cpd to the lab...this time I got to visit the lab and see the preliminary results of my previous cpds...hmm...looking good :D
After that...went to SGH again...this time to the lab only...chat till time to meet another fren again...hehe...busy hor :P

Today was another synthesis day...did 3 synthesis at the same time in the morning...and 3 work-up together in the evening...in bet...met up with my insurance agent and followed by a Da Vinci talk...hehe...haven't watch the movie though...shld be watching next week ;)
In the evening...while I was almost done...suddenly got a call to go cover RFC...hmm...shld I or shld I not...on my first free evening after dunno how long?
In the end...I decided to be nice :P

Tom will be another busy synthesis day...with a seminar in the afternoon...followed by a lunch treat from boss...actually I'm kinda just a calefare...or in hokkien I would say poon tio :D

Sat is helping out with some coastal cleanup training in the morning and working in the afternoon...

Sun is the Farrer Park Sports Challenge...team Beyond Boundaries will be in the inter-racial relay...look out for a swimming penguin and a lonely runner :D

That's how "gila" this 2 weeks is...how m I supposed to fit lifesaving and tennis training in my schedule?? Both on Mons and Weds...sighz...

IWA weekend away

I for international...hehe...
We have globalized...
Hence we'll be all over the world this weekend...

Best WA member...Vorlacks...will be gg away on a business trip in China...2 weeks after he started working...woohoo!!!
Good job, Vorlacks!!!

WA boss...Oyster...busy travelling as usual...this time for the World Health Assembly at Geneva...doing his best for mankind...wahaha...

Err...I'm just gg KL...still away for the weekend :P

So if u need any WA help for this weekend...there's NONE...dun bother to contact us...wahahaha :P

When will I ever be free again?

Another busy week has past...

Plenty of running up and down between 2 labs since I can't sit still and watch the HPLC run even with my laptop at the side...1-2 days...still possible...anymore of this...I'll just die of restlessness!!!

I was running HPLC on Mon, Tue, Wed and Sat...so I couldn't take it anymore...
Actually I was supposed to be done by Tue...then I kaypoh...go show my boss something...and she wanted me to do more...so I ended up spending Wed and Sat running up and down, up and down, up and down...every 15 mins :P

On Sat I decided to make-over my lab bench in between running the HPLC downstairs...
Forgot to take a b4 photo...will post a photo of how it look likes now later...added a couple of plastic drawers..and re-labeled on the solvent bottles neatly...I can be a neat freak at times...but when I'm busy I just can't be bothered :P
Wonder how long the neatness will last...probably it'll be gone the next time I start synthesizing again...so a few more days? ;)

That nite...had dinner with Vorlacks, Weiyi, Howard and Cupid...at Manhattan Fish Market at Plaza Sing...super long wait...but food was great..yummy!!

Checking out the menu while waiting...we ordered almost immediately after we were seated :D


The grilled and fried seafood platter...each meant for 2 ;)

Later that night...we went for coffee at TCC with Angel and Weihong...

Couples tend to be antisocial at coffee place?

Took twin photo there again...hehe

Whose hair do u think is shorter now?

Penguins also turned up...


Today after a swim, lunch with one of the TPY2 aunties, chat with TP3 aunties...hehe...went to study n work in the library again...had to study for a exam this Wed...and write an abstract for a poster presentation at a conference in US in October... :D

I wonder when will I be less busy again...2-3 years later?

Photos courtesy of Vorlacks ;)

Sian half

Soooo sian...
I've been stuck in the instruments lab for almost 12 hours liao...yawnz...
HPLC w/o an autosampler totally sucks...such a waste of time...so not WA-like!!!

Anyway, the whole day I have been shuttling btw here...


...and here...

Having ur personal laptop surrounded by solvents isn't the best thing to do...but...oh well...

If u noticed the bottles on the left of the first photo and right of the second...u'll realize I'm just shuttling along a bench...

...and occasionally...I'll run up here...


Wow...m I turning into a computer geek??

YAWN!!! I wanna go home soon...it's 7pm liao!!

7yrs-itch?

Found this sign at the door of a room in the computer center...was having a workshop at the SVU Vis lab...
Not too sure wat's that room for...but it looks like it's for storage...



Can u make sense of why this sign is on a door to wat looks like a storage room?

An attempt to nua the whole day

Well...wanted to spend today nua-ing since I have been unwell the past few days but have still been working...
Besides...we were originally supposed to be locked out of the lab for this weekend too...

....but I totally FAILED!!!

Guess it's just not WA-like...so I couldn't stand it :P

Anyway, I started off on track....

Woke up at 10 plus...had bfast at 11 plus...
After that I started nua-ing in front of the tv with Tigger...usually the tv watch me while I do my work...but this time...I was actually watching it...hehe :D
Kept changing channels btw The Nanny on Hallmark and CSI on AXN...hehe
In between...I went to do laundry...well...that's when I started gg off track a bit...

After the laundry was done...all hell break lose...I started cleaning up the kitchen...then my room...and b4 I know it I'm no longer nua-ing...sighz...

Luckily I got hungry...so I had lunch...Gardenia's Original Wholemeal bread with cheese spread and bak hu...had the same thing for bfast :D
Then it was back to nua-ing and watching tv...hehe...it's the Secret Bible week on National Geographic...

B4 I know it...I was back to cleaning up the house again...oh man...

Then somehow I was back to watch tv...until housemate, Feei, came back...then we went out for dinner...

Oh well...so I failed to nua...but at least I din do any school/work related stuff...at least for the day ;P

Labour Day Dive at Perhentian

Well...being a WA member...working hard and playing hard is very impt...hehe...
So it was a hectic week from Mon to Fri...synthetic work, computational work, analytical work...blah blah blah...throw in a couple of tests...and u get ur mad WA member :)


That's were my computational work is done...yup..penguins are very excited with the penguin OS computer...hehe :P

At 6pm on Fri evening...we were all rushed out of the lab which will be out of bounds for the weekend...hmm...some lame excuse was given for it...power maintenance and repair...are u sure?? hehe...we know the truth now :P

Getting kicked out by 6pm turned out to be quite good since I was supposed to hvae dinner and get to the dive shop at Telok Ayer St by 7.30pm...and who cares if the lab is out of bounds for the weekend...I won't be ard anyway :P

The trip started with 12-hour "schoolbus" ride from the dive shop to the jetty...where we transferred onto our "iGallop" speedboat to Perhentian island...

So why "schoolbus"...well...mainly because the bus driver-cum-tour guide (yup...that's how that guy introduced himself) is very strict...
Firstly...he does not allow us to eat or drink in the bus...only mineral/drinking water is allowed...he even have plenty of signs to reinforce his rules!!!
Secondly...he expects us to greet him back properly when he greets us...otherwise he'll keep repeating himself...wah!!!
Then he also does not allow us to stay in the bus we stop for a break...everybody have to get off...wow...can't I just stay in the bus and sleep??!!!
Strict hor...this guy?


Check out all the signs...U'll first be greeted by a "Pls Queue" sign...then there's the "Keep clean" and "No Food and Drinks" sign...followed by a sign that bars u from entering the drivers seat...and plenty of reminders while u r watching tv on the bus...

...and why "iGallop"...hehe
We had a good butt work out as we rode the wave towards the island...it was almost like working out on OSIM's iGallop...except w/o any cushion!!!
...and lucky for us...we were stuck with that boat throughout the dive trip!!!


The cushion-less seat boat (top) vs the cushioned seat boat (bottom) which we never got to ride on :P

Once we got to the island...we had bfast and checked into our rooms...3 to a room...Angel, Wei Hong and I one room, Cupid, Howard and Alex another...Kelvin shared with another 2 ppl...Melissa and Jonathan...whom we din know b4 the trip...


Couples get the queen sized bed...light bulbs get the single bed...that's Alex and I...haha :D

After that, it's off for our first dive...followed by lunch, nua-ing...second dive...nua-ing...third dive (which only Angel and I went for...the rest took a boat to another part of the island)...followed by dinner...then zzzzz
Second day was abt the same...first dive...followed by bfast, nua-ing...second dive...lunch, nua-ing...third dive...snorkeling...nua-ing, dinner...then zzzz
That's a lot of eat, sleep/nua, dive...hehe :D
Anyway, we went snorkeling at Shark's Pt hoping to see some white tip shark since we din see any while diving...


Nua-ing in progress...regardless of day or night...


This is wat happens when u nua on a "waffle" hammock...

Third day...which is labour day...we left at abt 8am...in that cushion-less "iGallop" speedboat again!!! This time we sat at the back of the boat...so it's much less bumpy...hehe...
Then it's another almost 14 hours of "schoolbus" ride back to S'pore...
Amazingly there wasn't any jam at the Woodlands checkpt though...everyone must have gone to the 2nd Link...hehe...

By the time I got home...it was almost 11.30pm...washed my dive gears, showered, did laundry...yet I managed to sleep by abt 12.30am...amazing!!!

Anyway this labour day long weekend wasn't a very restful weekend with so much time spent on the bus...but it was still a great holiday...away from work!!!

Labour Day Dive at Perhentian (2)

Here's how each dive goes...


First we prepare our dive gears here...bottom is how the place looks like when there r no tanks and BCDs...


My rigged up BCDs...Penguin is in the pocket!! hehe :D


We have our dive briefings b4 each dive here too...


Then we have to carry the heavy tanks on our back to the boat...

Since we are diving off a speedboat as shown above...we had to do a back-roll...haven't done that since Open Water!!!

Here's how it's done...hehe...

1) First, do ur buddy check, put on ur BCD...de-fog ur mask (that's wat Howard is doing on the left)...put on ur mask and regulator...
2) Then, get ready at the edge of the boat...
3) Lean backwards...and...
4) Roll back...dun forget to cross ur leg like Alex ;)
5) U r in the water...whose fins r those?
6) Gone...

After each dive...u could either climb up the ladder at the side of the boat...or if u think that's not challenging enough...u can try wat Howard n Alex did...


Howard seem to make it look easy huh?


Well, Alex din think so...


Without the tanks it's much easier...hehe...

Labour Day Dive at Perhentian - Divers shot

Me


My buddies...Alex and Kelvin...


Oh...and penguins...that's 5 of us buddying each other...wow

Couples get to be each others buddy...


Angel and Wei Hong


Evelynn aka Cupid and Howard


Our divemaster for one dive, Ben...and Janice who's a dive instructor...at the 5 meter safety stop...

Groups photos...a must in all penguin outings :D


In the water


On the boat


By the beach