Beach Road Fried Kway Teow tick
Mos Burger Iced Milk Tea tick
Yoshinoya tick
Ding Tai Fung Xiao Long Pao tick

yummy yummy. more food! hehe.. it's good to be home... :)

just today walking through esplanade mall while taking a break from work, i bumped into so many people. first i bumped into Esther from Zenitant (the company i worked with doing trails for schools). Was wondering at first why got so many school kids running around the Esplanade and then i recognised the Zenitant booklet. Then even got to sit down for a drink afterwards.

then walking back, i met Alvin (Tan) from TNS. he couldn't recognise me! hehe... but what's new right? he was gonna meet Ryd who's working at the Esplanade.. must look for him one of these days...

then also met Ya Ting (don't know whether spell correctly anot.. hehe.. if wrong must tell me leh.. ;p). she also stare at me for such a long time... at first i walked by while she was giving a briefing, then she dao me and was probably wondering, wah lau, why got this dude with long hair keep staring at me... then i went away and came back after a while, and then i went up to her and said hi.. then she stared at me blankly for a while and then said "oh, you came back!" yeah, of course i came back :) so we arranged to meet up for a meal one day...

feels so nice to just be home and being with friends... the convenience and the familiarity.... i don't wanna go back now.. haha...

It's 1.51am now. And i just got home not too long ago. From work. Hmm. Talk about being overworked! (i know Pierre reads this.. hahahahahaha... ;p) Such a busy day it was today, but enjoyable nonetheless. Meeting over lunch discussing band schedule (it was a loooong meeting), then sourcing for musical instruments (which involved sitting in macdonalds and making some phone calls) and then setting up the rehearsal studio for rehearsals (we had so much to do that we only left when they finally switched the light off on us! hehe)

Anyway, i must go to bed now. Meeting Pierre at 9.30am in the morning. (refer to sentence #5 above. *grinz*) Nitez all!

I feel like i'm in Bourne Identity. Walking through the streets of Singapore, noone seems to recognise me as if i've taken on a whole new identity.. hehe.. although i've gotten quite used to the "Oh my goodness, it's Kenny!" already... ;p

Anyway, on the plane ride back, i watched Crash, which as Rajesh described, was "f**king good". Can't agree more with that statement. All the tension in the movie, the issues, and the twists... It was incredible.. If you haven't watched it, you should get your hands on a copy... (I don't suppose i need to spell out how? hmm)

And since I got back, i've had my share of good food... Nasi Lemak from Changi Village, seafood (buffet), chwee kueh, home-(mum)-cooked food and more... yummy... of course have to eat more lah.. must help so many people who didn't come back eat... like Ying... haha..

So rehearsals for Cabaret have started for me.. it's nice to be back in the business... oh, there's a 15% discount if you get tix through me so let me know SOON!

Well well... what can i say... coming home was yet another adventure. So i decided that i was gonna take the National Express direct to Heathrow instead of being a miserly student who was gonna save a few pounds by going via London (tube). Then guess what? On the very morning of my departure, the M11 (motorway) was CLOSED! like wtf?!?! so we were diverted via some ulu-ulu route which was soooo jammed. We took two hours to reach Stansted and another two and a half hours to reach Heathrow, instead of the 2hr 20mins total journey time that was stipulated.

So well, i reached Heathrow at 12.10pm. My flight was at 12noon. No chance i was gonna catch it at all. So I went to the SIA Customer Service and asked if i can be put on the next flight (at 6.30pm). And because i had already checked in on the internet, the person at the counter even knew i was Mr Low... hmm... But anyway, the next flight was full! So i could only be put on the waiting list. Hung around the lousy, cramped, claustrophobic Terminal 3 for 2 hours, before checking in to see if there was any progress. So this time after being redirected here and there and back, I was told that i was to be given a standby boarding pass and had to come back at 5.30pm to check if there are available seats. So I hung around for a while more, watched the Italy vs Czech match at a pub, and came back at 5.30pm.

And i tell you, when i finally got the confirmation of the ticket and went to check my luggage in, the staff at the counter was like you're late. I'm like yah, i know, i was on the waiting list. duhz. i've been here for 6 hours already btw. well anyway, so i was put onto the "fast track" security clearance, which i must say wasn't much of a FAST track at all. I had just about enough time to go through the "efficient" and "thorough" security checks before having to shuttle for the boarding gates.

As if that wasn't tiring enough, i was told at the boarding gates that i was supposed to have some dunno-what coupon! Great, like i'd know if i was supposed to have one. So i showed them my e-Ticket (which was in every way an e-Ticket - it was on my laptop.. hehe) and then they key into the system and then cannot find! hmm. so while the rest of the world was cramming into the Boeing, i was waiting at the boarding gate awaiting to be cleared. Then finally, the lady told me to just go ahead and board, and she will settle my ticket issue on her own after we leave. So begins the longest 12.5 hours in the air...

When we got to Changi Airport, went to Duty Free to buy stuff (being Singaporean, who can miss Duty FREE right?) then when i was at the counter trying to pay, i bent down to retrive my wallet from my bag and the lady at the cashier was like "yes, ma'am?" and then i stood up, and she's like, oh oops. haha. then i collected my luggage, and proceeded to the arrivals hall. My dad having stood near the gate only saw me when i got near and my mum who had been staring patiently at the glass panes hadn't realised that i had walked by and had already exited until i stood right behind her. hmm. long hair... hehe.. anyone who would like a glance of kenny with long-hair, (which i gather makes me look ABSOLUTELY DIFFERENT from the response i get), you better do so in the next week or so before the locks of hair on me gets trimmed. :)

keke. i'm still contactable on my SG hp number as before (97994472) if anyone would like to have those simpang bedok, or block 85, or chomp chomp adventures!

Chea Lu came to my room last week and said that my room has character... And as i have come to discover today, character takes a looooon time to pack.... :( home in <30 hours! hurray!

adventures in peak district to follow. stay tuned!

oops. i realised i have been missed dearly on my blog... so sorry about it... although exams are over, it seems that it doesn't make me any free-er... So after my last paper on Wednesday, was bumps and was on every afternoon until yesterday. and i got sunburnt, believe it or not! my skin's so red from sitting out in the sun waiting for bumps each day that i'm rather tanned now.... hmmm.

May Bumps 2006
So i was coxing Churchill W2 for bumps this time around... Relatively novice crew with three rowers starting this term, a fairly fluid membership, but i must say we did really well, even though we got bumped every single day (ie. we got spoon-ed). Doesn't make a difference to us though, because i think the crew really enjoyed rowing together and it was nice to see improvement every day. (We made it further each day before we got bumped!)

The women of W2 whom i'm so proud of...

And of course, in good old Cambridge tradition, the cox (ie. me) gets thrown into the river after the last race, although not before being showered with water from 8 water bottles, and then me dropping my specs into the river (which i miraculously managed to find with my toes in the murky River Cam! ;p).

Boat Club Dinner
And of course, who could miss Boat Club Dinner after bumps?!?! And Jo even got us a spoon each for everyone in W2, to "celebrate" us getting spoon-ed... :) (i imagine no other boat's as happy as we are to get spooned... hehe..) And Siswi, who was visiting Cambridge over the weekend also joined me for Boat Club Dinner... Been soooo long since i've last seen Siswi so it was really nice to meet up again! :)

Boat Club Dinner was really special this time though.. Because it's the end of the year and many people are graduating/leaving... For one, Claudia, the women's captain(2nd from left below), is finally graduating, after spending about 6 years in Cambridge and rowing for most of the time... Learnt loads as a cox with her at stroke... For the other, Lady Julia, our boatclub president is leaving this year, because our Master (of the college) is leaving.. So there was a honorary blade presentation during the dinner to her... It's sort of the "highest honour" one can get i imagine... But I must say it's really nice of her to come down to support every other race we have, cycling alongside on the towpath.. and providing us with Jaffa Cakes... As a rower/cox, you feel appreciated really..... So yeah, it was a touching and moving BCD...

The Pink Ladies & Kenny. (yes, it's also a tradition for the ladies to wear pink) More photos to follow soon though... Have them taken on film... ;p

CUMSA Garden Party!
And of course, how can i not mention the CUMSA Garden Party, which kept me extremely occupied after the exams (and during too actually).. Unfortunately, i had to leave halfway for bumps, which I was rather disappointed about.... nonetheless, everything went well, and i think Michelle really deserves credit for making everything so wonderful. (she came up with the menu, and assigned us to make the various food... how awesome is that!) Of course, i think everyone else in the committee worked really hard too, and deserves a pat on the back! :) And most importantly, i think the people who came all enjoyed themselves...

Siswi!
So yeah, Siswi came down to Cambridge on Friday night, having done her "graduation tour" with Andria in Europe and now at her last stop. Of course, she couldn't have chosen a better time to come, what's with all the May Week events happening.... so she got to attend Garden Party, watch bumps, attend Boat Club Dinner, check out the observatory, feeding the ducks, ;p and more... none too much the tourist-y route i imagine... And hope you enjoyed yourself Siswi! cya back in Singapore!

And now it's just 4 days to me flying off... So soon.. But before that, Sean and I are gonna take a road trip to the Peak District, starting tomorrow morning. It should be awesome. 2 men, 200 cameras, 20,000 photos... hehe...

6 hours of furiously scribbling away on foolscap makes a very sore left thumb. (yes, i'm a lefty/southpaw ;p) It's still numb, 3 hours after the paper. In the last of the 6 hours, it was so hard to concentrate! I couldn't really focus on what i was writing anymore.. it was tough, and terribly exhausting... but it's OVER now. :) Well, i feel so much more relaxed after the 2 papers... so much so i don't really want to do the last maths paper tomorrow anyway....

well now... bumps also begin tomorrow! can't wait for 12 noon tomorrow! 15 more hours! ;p

Can't quite believe that i'm gonna be headed home in about 11 days.... it's a strange feeling....

If my brain explodes now, the wall around me will be splattered with splotches of "contact metamorphism", "natural selection", "carbonate cycle", "evolutionarily stable strategy", "exams sucks".

and how i can not be stressed. if you refer to Chapter 111, the picture at the end of it was the amount of stuff i needed to cover for TOMORROW. yeah, all in one night. GOSH.

somehow, i remembered camp stuff earlier on... hahaha.. Ying will prob remember... i was thinking about "Kenny, FOCUS!" haha.. someone shout that to me too. (and don't forget the hand gestures... ;p)

Ok.. Let's play guess who's back of the head was that.... ;p [thanks Gabriel for the photo]

So i had my maths paper 1 today, and i shall officially declare that i HATE maths (yeah, with capitals). well, it's not that bad, but i swear it wasn't fantastic. Two papers tomorrow. 10 essays in 6 hours. I'm kinda looking forward to it somehow. seems rather exciting. by the end of tomorrow, i can almost put down my notes and books already. 2 more days, Kenny. Hang in there!

A little comic relief... (click on it for the enlarged version)

just thought i'd drop everyone a postcard... ;p (i meant to put the photo credits[to myself of course] on the right hand edge, except i ran out of harddisk space and photoshop went on strike...)

anyway, had my 2nd paper yesterday - Physics. Well, it was okay. wasn't fantastic. It was rather unnerving though, especially towards the last hour of the paper, but i guess it went alright (=i'll pass)... maths tomorrow. urgh. more nerves wrecked.

Wow... The book the Red Queen (by Matt Ridley) is amazing... for 2 reasons:

1. it mentions Lee Kuan Yew.
After all, as a diverse array of observers from Charles Darwin to Lee Kwan Yew, the former primer minister of Singapore, have noted with regret, clever people are not noticeably more prolific breeders than stupid people.

2. i realised that almost my entire year's worth of lecture materials for Evolution & Behaviour seems to have come from the book! And in the exact order that the chapters are written. Well well... (of course, our lecture notes have alot more supplementary materials... ;p)

talk about plagiarism... tsk tsk... =X

Checklist
Shake hands with Royalty - Ticked

Well, that was my little bit of entertainment for today - Attending the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust reception as an "Honorary" scholar and meeting Prince Charles, HRH, The Prince of Wales. Although we didn't actually get much further than "Hi" and a handshake. Still it's something worth noting. :) And also, i have to mention that Royalty = arriving in style too, such a helicopter landing in the middle of trinity's fellows' garden... [ps. Gabriel, send me a photo! ;p]

Back to swotting now. First paper tomorrow...........

gee. something about this exams is making me really stressed. i think it's the stress of not having had exams for close to 4 years now...... :(((((( [to use an analogy.. try recalling what you studied for your O levels and see if you can recall any facts for those who don't/have not done their NS]

so anyway, i did manage to escape Cambridge for a day yesterday.... went off to visit Fraser..... we went off to Oxburgh Hall first (it's this stately English house, which has a cool moat around it, a nice garden and this thingy called a "Ha Ha" which is quite cool. it's kind of a ditch to keep out the cattle, but you won't notice it until you like 3 feet from it... ;p go read about it) and then we bought some strawberries and cream on the way back and had a very English-y tea break, with English tea (duhz), short bread, and strawberries & cream while sitting out in the cold sun.

So that's Fraser(right) and Bob(left) having our afternoon tea....

And because it's Spring and the flowers are in full bloom and Fraser has a nice orchard that has LOTS of plants, it's really nice. Like this field of ox-eye daisies... aren't they lovely? :)

We ended the day in more typical english fashion by having a BBQ in the orchard... Fraser trying to open the wine bottle, Bonzo (the dog) taking a breather...

Bob the chef who prepared the yummy-licious food for the night..... and we had bbq apricots with yogurt and honey (fresh from the hives in the orchard) for dessert! yummmmmmmmmmm.

So yeah. by the time i got back to my room, i was too tired to do anymore work and went straight to bed. And on another note, last week, while i was working, my lamp cast a nice shadow picture that i quite liked. it's rather quirky but there's something alluring about it....

Now now.. taking a break from studying and I decided to give my photo gallery a new look! and i think it looks about 10^23 times better than the last one.. presenting:

http://photos.thebluesock.com/
And i was having this interesting conversation with Ying earlier about Creationism vs Evolution... that in Ying's words got the brain juices bubbling... haha... interesting also because the reason we got started on the conversation was cos I said I was going back to read on Human Evolution... ;p So what do you guys think? Being a scientist, i have to say evolution, although i'm not against creationism... i think the problem lies in trying to reconcile the two....

well well.. i think today marks one of my most hardworking days yet... actually managed to go through a number of topics for a couple of subjects... need to do more though... and in case you need some extra procrastination fodder/banter, check out:

http://theschoolconspiracytheory.blogspot.com

If you're just plain lazy (*grinz*), here's an abstract:

Our Girls' School Correspondent has recently brought to our attention her latest findings, that whilst sitting in a Geography class, she has noted that our major holidays coincide with the monsoon seasons of the South-East Asian region; with the South-West Monsoon in June and the North-East Monsoon in the November/December months. This has led our experts to the realization that students are kept out of schools in the holidays for the reasons of conservation of energy.

It's awesome banter to read... hehe... although it's quite new, so there're only 3 posts for now...

In more ominous news, exams start in like 5 days? And the pimples signs of stress are starting to show... Let's get it over and done with please... although i can't say i'm absolutely prepared now... :( [it's amazingly scary how much stuff i have to study all of a sudden.. to think all the information was covered in just 20 weeks of lectures!?!?!?!?! omg..]

my geology file on the right bursting out of the binder...... :(

Some slides i shot a few weeks back. haven't had time to get them scanned yet. ;p

Such an exciting day today.. My F5 has ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!! check out it's slender sleek body man........

the curves a perfect fit for my hands,
holding it close to my face,
i can feel the two of us as one....
-the photographer's fantasy...

and it's really new!!! what a bargain really.... so happy... hehe... so well, after doing the stipulated amount of work today, i decided to take a group shot of my camera equipment... got no time to take individual portraits lah.. you see the next couple of photos you will know why.... ;p

这个是NIKON的全家副。(i'm quite sure the last character is wrong.. but what the heck.. hehe, must type chinese once in a while so my mother can read also... it reads "This is Nikon's family photo" btw...;p)

then, oi, everyone gather leh.. take group shot already.. u miss this chance too bad...
这个才是全家副。(this reads: "This is then the family photo" direct translation of course... haha)

Then of course new toy must bring out and take picture, so me's go to the Cavendish again to take photos... DAMN SHIOK! the power of the F5 in my hands.. muahahaha.. ok. i think i better stop now before i become labelled as mentally unstable.... =X (blame it on stress... )

[edit] btw, my photo gallery's thumbnail problems are not fixed! check out Cambridge on Film and Cambridge Spring Regatta (how different can rowing photos be? ;p) [/edit]