Thursday, March 29 | 1:06 pm

so the report is submitted. phew. it's so over.. almost. there's just the two presentations over the next week before the urops is really over. for good. *satisfied smile*

i'm not exactly satisfied with the project. a lot of things went wrong. things that should not have. tsk. one thing i learnt is never to depend on anybody else for a project that you are doing. plan yourself from the start. never take anything blindly from someone else. double and triple triple check.

so next time around, when it comes to The Hons, i'll know better what to do. (:

which brings me to a much happier topic. i've approached a Prof at CMM - Center for Molecular Medicine. (which is to be dissolved come April 1st.) haha. CMM has always had 3 discrete units within themselves, and i suppose it's about time they realised they cannot go on together. different aims i guess. apparently, one of the 3 discrete units within CMM is like a clinical research group - a bunch of clinicians who wanna do research. hmm. "their work is very different.. they are a different group of people altogether.." says the Prof. ...

so anyway. i've just secured a project with him. he's i think born and bred in the UK (english accent, whoots!) but of pakistani origin i expect. from his name. what a pleasant surprise it was when i called him! expecting indian accent but hearing english! haha. i'm crazy about accents like that.

he seemed quite taken by me. ;) yay for the urops project! because i have all the right skills and techniques to pursue this project he says. so let's hope this turns out well. (:

SO let's take my mind off work! yayy! i've caught up on my sleep debt! (but that doesn't mean the mass breakout on my face has cleared, grr.) tuesday i went shopping with zat AND for the FIRST time in a loong time somebody else bought MORE than i did!! yess! i only came back with a bag (the most gorgeoous bag EVER i fake you not), three tudungs and a top - a tunic top yess! (: (: good days are here again. today i'm all set to get that brazilian and hopefully a good relaxing dinner somewhere. i hope nobody tries to challenge me into a debate - hatta's friends have that effect on me. ;P tomorrow is dinner with ... who mars?? haha. we haven't confirmed! and then and then monday night its the whole jingbanggang! yess yess yess! (: (: let it roll!

i have to savour The Good Days while it lasts.. because before you know it, exams will be around the corner! not to mention i have 1-2 reports/presentation every week til the end of the semester. after which, it leaves me with exactly ten days to study for 4 papers. ... :|

shit and i swore to take my mind off work. dammit.

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Sunday, March 25 | 12:39 am

geezites i didn't do anything today. anything at all. the urops report is due on monday, and i've gotten the most of it done - cause i was supposed to show it to the supervisor before submitting it. so i was expecting to meet him, get feedback, and subsequently (been using a lot of that in the report. ..and subsequently investigate if cell function was affected.) make the appropriate changes. that was what i had set aside my saturday for. but apparently, the supervisor isn't available until thursday, 5pm! these big guns are always busy. and so i sadly told him that the deadline's monday (see he didn't know that.) and i hope he could feedback through e-mail, that would really help. but no word so far.

so i didn't get around to reviewing the report. didn't have the mood to.

all i did today was.. look at flight options, plan the trip, look for hotels, check out greyhound buses and.. yep that's it.

oh mak nyayi dropped by, and that's always good. i got to see her. (:

maybe i'll go look at the report now. tsk.

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Thursday, March 22 | 12:55 am

"...all drawn here to be a part of the ambitious and imaginative Singapore project of building a biomedical industry here in record time."
says an a*star website.

it sounds damn funny. almost sarcastic, really.

ambitious, imaginative, in record time - a lot of pretty words.. that could possibly eventually backfire on us.

i wonder if they realise how with that statement, we are simply shooting ourselves in the foot.


what do you think? (by you i mean you zat, and you too khairiah.) haha.

ok back to that stinkin' report. looks like another sleepless night. GOD whyy did i sign up for this.

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Saturday, March 17 | 11:34 pm

i had a really good time today. it's beyond great when something you've been looking forward to lives up to all that you expect it to be. (:

we had high tea at carousel, royal plaza on scotts. i wasn't expecting much out of the food, thankfully. so i was not at all disappointed. the spread was decent, nothing to get excited about. but OH! there was a chocolate fountain. ;) perhaps if it weren't so mm, crowded? then maybe i would've enjoyed it more.

there were many tudung-heads there. "the only other place i've seen this many tudungs is at a syarahan!" huzer says. according to nina, they just advertised on radio.. malay channel! thus the crowd. the boys say my friends and i will be like that. like twenty years down the road, some new eating establishment pops up, and we'll be so eager beaver to go down together and try. :|

i forgot what these were called. or maybe they weren't really given a name.
but that's about the only shot of food i have. tsk.

nice to meetchu faizal. :]

the extended family.. shall i say? ;]

claiming my throne!
these seats are like 3-sided boxes. i can't decide whether they make me feel protected.. or like i'm sinking.

she looks at peace in her throne. maybe because she got bodyguard.
why i don't have bodyguard!

the kids!

look what we found in ck tangs! an ancient orange COIN phone!
like when did i last see one of those.

we discussed and deliberated sooo much. about what to do next.

after walking around rather aimlessly, just drifting here and there, looking for axs machines and other random stuff, we set off for..
supper?

we-ell, it was a good 4 hours after the buffet..

so what did i do today? i ate and ate. really.

nevertheless, the company was great and conversation was stimulating. in other words, i had fun! (:

so thank you for having me. (:

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| 7:32 am

good morning! i'm up early this beautiful saturday morning, with no plans until the afternoon! like noo wayy. neverr happened before, serious!

anyway, i'm up soo early that people i sms-ed aren't replying me! they're probably asleep. wake up sleepyheads!

yay i can't wait till later! mm, much needed break! life has been pretty mundane lately, routine and stuff.. speaking of which,
because we are worker bees.

that's my project group for Medical Microbiology. united by a common enemy! we got such a difficult topic that we had to meet up soo often to try to get through the mess of a topic the lecturer assigned us. they're mostly Year 4s, and so i've heard loads of Hons proj horror stories first-hand!!

and the camera was not mine! nor was the idea to take photo. [: (yesss!)

oklah so i am up for a reason; to start writing the wretched UROPS report. i just cannot get down to it, gahh.

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Wednesday, March 14 | 3:09 am

no time, no time. it's the second rush of the semester. the Round 2. of CAs and deadlines. well at least i had a break in between. i have some poor friends who have CAs straight for 4 weeks. what break?

giant apology to friends whom i have had to put on hold. :( will make it up, promise. movie dates, girlfriend time - i'm running into debt!

and i haven't contacted hatta all day. i'm sorry baby, and i miss you. ttyl?

amidst the hustle and bustle, the rush and the stress, i found a good friend. Rainlendar! keeps track of deadlines, events and to-dos! i recommend. (:

it sits on your desktop and when you mouse-over the days, a little bubble pops up and you see what you've got on that day. the days are colour-coded too, according to the event/deadline you have that day. see this:
and the bubble pop-up:
because we are Mac-phobes.

i'm really pleased with it right now. (:

i'm slowly moving away from the traditional notebook organisers, self-decorated with coloured pens and markers.. oh no. ):

this is unrelated but who cares. last friday i managed to sneak a dinner into the crazy schedule. a little breather - dinner with hatta. we settled on fish&co airport, because we haven't had both lately. the fish&co, and the airport. the airport is a really nice place; i like just being there. and seeing that it was the start of the school holidays, the check-in counters were rather crowded. i felt envious, watching from the second floor. more importantly, i began to wonder how my life will be. maybe it won't make sense to you how the two are related. it's not important that you understand anyway.

what's odd is how different i used to think. how my goals in life have changed. how one thing may have sufficed in the past, but seems measly now. oh how i have changed.

but there's always that trade-off see, and i right now cannot choose between the two. as a result, i have stopped looking too far into the future, and instead focused all my efforts into the present.

and service at fish&co was beyond fantastic. that is why i like being in changi airport. [:

oh dear, look at the time. gotta go, bye.

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Saturday, March 10 | 12:00 pm

i'm happy because i can use my laptop(and the net) at ibn. i feel productive already. (:

oh my dear god it's week 9 already! :-O should i panic? i have looads of deadlines to meet, decisions to make aaand.. yeah that's about it. but i look at my calendar and i think it's okay, i can do them all. it actually works, and i can't feel the panic anymore. although i'm still waiting for it. i think it's just hovering above me, tailing me everywhere i go. and i suspect it will crash all over me sometime next week. gosh.

it's high time i get those official professional-looking files with labels and tabs. my stack of journal articles is growing! papers for med microbi project (which is total crap, scientifically speaking. the project is not science, it demands astrology!), hons prep, even papers to read for regular lab reports! what is this! soooo manyy.

i shall be more organized, because it's good to be organized. and archive aalll the articles i have read. (wahh i'm psyched!)

or maybe, it's high time i threw out my jc notes. (!!) then i won't have to buy new files. [:

ok brace yourselves.

:) so i've accepted, but there's still all that paperwork to go. i'm not as excited as i was for exchange at king's, and i'm slightly dubious (of myself). because firstly, part of me is concerned about all that time that could be spent on working the hons project instead. and secondly, this time around, who wants to gimme money? :|

all that aside, here i come cali! (:

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Sunday, March 4 | 1:35 pm

that's my secret profession. isn't it so fun&frivolous. [:

zat's 22nd was on sat; celebrated on fri night. dang the weather. we had a whooole elaborate plan drawn out, emails and smses sent out, who brings what, who does what. and then. IT HAD TO RAIN. :(

so evening picnic had to be called off - and we had been lugging around mats and paper plates and cups all day!

but it's okay, whether the weather we still scraped up our own brand of fun! ;)

so, it started with regular dinner. at a place i shall not disclose because it's highly embarrassing (for me). but if you're the slightest bit sharp, you'd probably guess it.

creme chicken mushroom.

bbq chicken pepper.

chicken pesto carbonara.

yay to us! because we pulled it off! (well, sorta.)
invitees who couldn't make it: syahirah, rawdah & kamal. you were remembered! (:

we had an interesting dayy. ;]
(kerajaan, krajan, kajian - yeah i think it works.)

these two were soo high on something, the rest of us were left bewildered!
they were on a rooll. ;]

so after dinner, i played Selfish Brat who dragged zat all around. decoy ok! to buy time for the others to set up. so it was to atm machines to pretend i had to transfer money, when i jolly well knew i couldn't transfer inter-bank. and then, toilet - i took my own sweet time putting on makeup. followed by aimlessly walking around - "70% sale!", "let's go take a look in forever 21!".. all while zat was hinting that we should get back to the girls because they must be waiting. ;P

so after many phonecalls, i finally brought zat out to the deck, where the silly girls blocked the cake in vain. and tried to act nonchalant about it. haha. so cute these girls. but we could see the flickering flames of the candles from like a mile away, because marlini cleverly tried to block it with her skinny arm. -__-

surprise! :]

happy 22nd birthday love! [:
we haven't done something like this for any one of us in a long time, you lucky girl you.
syah's birthday was unfortunately at a bad time for many of us. :(

whoots to us!

prize-presentation ceremony. (??)
beats me too; i told you they were high. i stayed behind the lens throughout. haha.

guess where that's from!

oooh.
semangat seyy budak-budak ni posing.

presents!
we got her Victoria's Secrets lotion and spray (whoots! syahirah just came back from washington dc - for a global health dialogue no less. cheydebah, cheem seyy!) and 2 pairs of topshop knickers. (:
check out su in the top-right. DRAMA MAUT! ;]
(su's a natural i tell you. we just had detik-filming that day, so i know. ;) but that, is another entry for another day.)

lilin girls!
one of the few times i'm in front of the lens. (wah, i must be growing up.)

cut cake!
pathetic-nyer the knife.
to cut a cookies&cream ice cream cake, no less. -__-

aper lagi, dig in!

monumental moment!
because marlini does not (at all) hug. but since it's her birthday..
so now all of us are going to claim a hug each on our birthdays. yess! [:

next birthday party was iskandar's! he turns twenty-two today, and yes, party was last night. (:

baaaaarbeque babeh! mm, shiokshiok. at labrador park (yeah, where the hell is that right. haha.) and maann the food was whoooots! let me list it down:
chicken wings
otak-otak
satay - chicken and mutton
hotdog
crabsticks (okay all the regular stuff)
corn
sweet potato! (my new favourite bbq item!)
bbq chicken chop!
SAMBAL STINGRAY!!

all for a crowd of not more than 20! mmmm. [:

so all morning (technically, we started only in the afternoon. because well, i never wake up early enough to have a morning, so.) fadilah and i rushed around like maadd picking up party supplies! and for me, to piece together isk's gift. and then we rushed back to her place for the delivery guy (everything was catered hokayy. ;) ), where i sat down and did up isk's present. i think it's by far one of the best presents i've given, because for the first time in a long time, i managed to sit down and personalise the gift. so count yourself lucky hor! [;

that night:
surprise!

i so suck at lying. or making up stories. and the story became so warped that it was hard for isk to not suspect. -__- plus the fact that both hatta and i (at first) refused to pick up his calls. and then when i actually did, i lied so bad. bahh.

chocolate indulgence, mmm.

cut cake! knee-guard and all.
hope your knee gets better.

fadilah and King Iskandar!
check out the blue ribbon - macam he won first in a dog show. ;]

the barbecue guys! they were so good at the grill. like real men. ;)
i love my hatta - he is so dependable. (:
not to mention soo good at the grill. ooh, i liike. [;

the spread. (:

we also had sparklers!
which entertained the young, and the not-so-young as well. ;)

this was i think 3 sparklers joined at a point, and when all three were ignited.

so cool! ;)
i met fadilah's sister too, an ex-rgps girl. haha. pretty easy to talk to her, no surprises there. d;
in fact i think i had the most fun just talking to the few left after most of isk's friends had left. at the table with just the kids, hatta, isk and la. [:

the boys.

that's our gift for him!
it's like a photo-pocket thing to hang on the wall. i told him it better be up in his room the next time i'm there.

oh during clean up, the boys cleverly scraped off the stuff on the sparklers, and threw them into the remnants of the hot coal. voila!

ok yani, that's the end of your career as a professional birthday-celebrator. at least until may. ;)

//i just saw it - omg eew. :[

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Friday, March 2 | 2:06 am

When you drop a glass or a plate to the ground it makes a loud crashing sound. When a window shatters, a table leg breaks, or a picture falls off the wall, it makes a noise. But as for your heart, when that breaks, it's completely silent. You would think as it's so important it would make the loudest noise in the whole world or even have some sort of ceremonious sound like the gong of a cymbal or the ringing of a bell. But it's silent and you almost wish there was a noise to distract you from the pain.
- if you could see me now by cecelia ahern

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