My very first YouTube video

For Eng 201, I made a video about Murphy (the cat). I played it today in class, and a copy is on YouTube, but it's not showing yet.




To all the people who saw the video in class today, the video was taking in my room, and I am sorry about the mess. The video was taken during spring break, and I just had a shopping spree then, that's why there are so many bags in the room...

One more step towards Graduation

I sold my car today. It's another step towards leaving Madison, but I am consoling myself with the fact that I am coming back next March to visit my friends. The funny thing was, when the buyer came to get the car, he found a shotgun shell in the backseat and he asked me how it got there. I have absolutely no idea...

On Saturday, my friends organized a farewell dinner for the 7 of us who are graduating. I thought it was a casual get-together among friends, but I was persuaded to dress up for the dinner. So I did, and then I went to the venue of the dinner. Just as I was feeling self-conscious and over-dressed, I saw surprise number 1 of the night. I met the grad student that I am working for in the lab outside the dinner venue. I thought it was a coincidence, then he told me he was invited to the dinner, but he's not sure what's going on. When I went inside the place, surprise number 2 was my academic advisor and his family. They were invited to the dinner too.

There were more surprises as the night progresses. My friends (those who are not graduating) made a few videos reminiscing the good times that we had. It was sad and touching at the same time. Then the organizers of the evening revealed that they invited my grad student and academic advisor because they know that I will miss them after I leave. It was very sweet of them, but at the same time, it was was a bit strange because my grad student and advisor has never seen me out of the school setting. In school, I a always dressed in t-shirts and jeans, but that day, I was decked out in a short skirt, boots with heels and a shirt that was just the teeniest bit revealing. Still, I am glad they came and it really was a night to remember.

I'm almost leaving...

I got a mouse for my laptop a few days ago. I have always been using the touchpad on my laptop and while it was functional, the touchpad is not as effective as using a mouse. Say, use the touchpad to play Diablo II, or WoW...that would be a nightmare. After I got my mouse, I spent the first 2 hours playing solitaire and freecell. It was much more fun using a mouse to play.

I checked my calendar today, and realized (with some horror) school is ending in 2 weeks. I still have so many assignements to do, and since I am leaving Madison, I have to start selling my stuff as well. I am most worried about selling my car; I'm not sure I can find a buyer for it. Then I have to deal with all the books and notes accumulated from 3 years of classes, throwing them away seems such a waste. So many things to do, so little time. At least I've already booked my air tickets...

I am going to miss Madison after I leave, afterall I have called this place home for the past 3 years. I am just hoping I can come back here for grad school.

Undergraduate Symposium

The Undergraduate Symposium was at Memorial Union on Wednesday. I was scheduled to present my poster during the second session. When I went for my time slot, there weren't many people around to look at the posters displayed there. I was expected to stay there for 1.5 hours, but since there was no one looking at my posters, I started walking around to look at other posters. Some posters were quite impressive, and it seems like the presenters have managed to do a lot of work. Others were a bit more simplistic.

A few of my friends came to MU to support me, maybe because they knew there wouldn't be a lot of people around during lunch time...

When I looked at my poster, I find it hard to believe I have done 2 years of research. What is surprising is that I have results to show for my 2 years of work, because I remember a lot experiments not working, machinery not working , funny results etc...


Me with my poster

GRE!!!

I took the GRE subject test on Saturday. Considering that I am definitely applying to graduate school, I should take this test at this time to make it in time for applications, even though most grad schools don't make them compulsory anymore. Just optional, or strongly recommended. But still, I thought I should just try the test.

The one I took was Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology. I had to dig up my notes from some of sophomore science courses. I only started studying on wednesday, cos I had an exam on tuesday...so cramming 2-3 years of notes in 3 days was a challenge.

The test had a lot of questions, not that hard if you know your facts at the back of your hard, extremely difficult if you have not been working consistently and crammed for it instead. Yeah, so I was overwhelmed by the amount of questions. When I walked out of the test center, my thoughts were...I can't believe I paid $130 to go through that...

Archery and Memory Loss

Last week, I decided to try my hand at archery. My friend was from the archery club, so he managed to let us into the place early to try a few rounds. It was at the barn near Babcock. The bow was so cool, but getting the string on required more strength than I have. When I finally got the bow ready, and everything setup (it took almost 35 minutes), I kept missing the target by a few inches. It's frustrating, but shooting arrows at a target board is fun too, haha...

The most amazing/freaky thing happened to me on Sunday morning...I sort of lost of memory, and I wasn't even drinking before that. I fell asleep on Sunday morning 3 am after doing some reading, and I set my alarm clocks to 6 am. I wanted to wake up early and start working on my assignments. When I woke up, it was 12 noon. Definitely later than I wanted myself to wake up. I checked my alarm clock, it was turned off. My second clock was turned off too. When I called my mum to tell her about it, she said she called me at around 8 am, and I picked up the phone. The scary thing is, I have no memory of either answering the phone or turning off my alarm clocks. I thought things like that only happen to people who were drunk the night before??

Open Media Project

I am excited about the Open Media Project. I had a few ideas for it, but finally decided on doing a video clip. I was inspired by the numerous pet videos on YouTube, so I think making one of my own would be an interesting experience.

To make a video, of course I would need a video camera. In case anyone needs one, College Library can loan one to you for 3 days at a time. If you intend to keep the physical copy of the MiniDV tape, you would need to buy a tape to replace College library's.

Then I need a pet to videotape. Getting a cat to cooperate for a video is near to impossible. He stops whatever he's doing to stare at me whenever I turn the videocam on. So now, I have a large deal of footage featuring a cat staring at the camera and not moving.

However, I think the hardest part is editing the footage to piece together a video. I haven't exactly started on that yet. I tried using iMovie, but it's challenging for someone who doesn't know her way around a mac. Does anyone know of any easy-to-use video editing program that can be used on a PC?

Procrastination

How many people cannot work without the pressure of a deadline?

There are some people who are so motivated they get everything done before the deadline. E.g. My friend who has to present at the Undergraduate Symposium this coming April already had her poster done and are putting on the finishing touches.

And then, there are some people who are so un-motivated everything is done at the last minute. E.g. Me, who frolicked the whole spring break away without churning out a piece of work. I have to present at the symposium too, but I haven't started on the poster; I haven't even finished my experiments.

It's not like I didn't try to start doing things earlier, but somehow I still ended pushing them to the last minute. Say, I tried doing a piece of homework several days before the deadline, I couldn't concentrate and was distracted easily. But when it's the last min/hour before the deadline, my productivity and motivation shoots up, I get it done and the grade I get isn't all that bad too.

As much as I hate rushing deadlines at the last minute, that seems to be the only way I can get things done. Does anyone else have a problem like that? Does anyone have suggestions/solutions or should I just accept that this is the way I function?

Spring Break

Spring break is ending soon, and I haven't really done anything interesting. My friend's cat Murphy came over to stay at my place. Yay. I love that cat. The bad part is I have to clean out the kitty litter, his puke and his fur. He wakes me up every morning by licking my face and patting my eyelids...his signals for food. I've been trying to videotape him, but I think anyone who has tried doing this knows how exasperating it is trying to get a cat to cooperate for a video. Whenever the camera's on him, he refuses to move an inch. As soon as I turn the cam off, he starts prancing around. He's a good kitty, but I just wish he would stop waking at 4am to meow for food.

I can't live without the internet

I didn't have much to do this weekend, so I decided to run an experiment on myself. I wanted to see how long I can last without an internet connection. I switched off my computer on saturday night and managed to last 16 hours. The breakdown of the 16 hours:

Sleep ~12 hours
Cook/eat ~ 1 hour
Reading a novel ~1 hour
Afternoon Nap ~ 2 hours

So, I spent 14 hours sleeping. After waking up from my nap, I could resist the internet no more, so now I am connected to the rest of the world again. I felt secluded when I wasn't connected to internet, so I had to nap to pass the time. I am such an internet addict.

Brokeback Mountain

Today is a warm day. I was determined to enjoy the weather outside, despite being down with the flu. Bad decision, since now my mind feels so fuzzy, my throat is burning and my head feels like it's going to split into two. Now I wished I had stayed at home and slept the afternoon away.

Anyway, the most interesting thing I did this weekend was to watch Brokeback Mountain. I finally got my hands on the DVD. It was quite unlike the usual movies I watch, but I have to say it's a thought-provoking film to me. I felt that Ennis Del Mar would have led a quite different and more successful life if he hadn't met the other protagonist. The film met with mixed reactions when it first came out since it portrays the love between 2 men over 20 years, but I thought the film has portrayed complex relationships within bisexuality very well. However, the ending was kinda anticlimatic. I would give it 3 out of 5. Anyone who has watched the film, I would like to hear your comments on it :)

Of Puppies and Kittens

I'm a cat lover.

I used to be a cat and dog lover, but after I took care of my friend's cat Murphy over winter break, I am now more inclined towards cats. Nothing against dogs, of course.

I went down to Mad Cat at Mineral Point this Saturday for the adoption fair by Dane County Friends of ferals. They had 5 cats up for adoption that day, but by the time I went there, one was already adopted. Mad Cat, the shop itself, owns 2 or 3 cats and they are always walking around the shop. One of the cats, a shorthaired tabby named Lucy I think, gives plenty of attitude. She actually snarled at a customer who wanted to pet her. Kinda cute...everyone likes attitude now and then, don't they? The other cat was a black and white shorthair. It's funny how these cats are so different from Murphy. Plenty of sass, plenty of weight too. The black and white cat, which I have no idea what its name is, looks like a cow to me. Heh. It looks like it weigh as much as a cow too. I'm not being mean, but both cats looked pretty bulky to me. I guess I am comparing every cat to Murphy. Murphy is sweet, affectionate, curious and perpetually hungry. He's kinda on the thin side too, but he's cute and he knows how to worm his way into your heart.

Anyway, back to the cats up for adoption. The 2 cats for adoption that were out in the shop were sleeping or just lazing in the cages. I think they don't really like the cages. I got to pet one of them, she's kinda docile, didn't tried to bite me and actually tolerated my fussing pretty well. Then I went to the back of the shop, where 3 other cats were. 2 of them were hidden under some kind of post. The 3rd cat, Lucille, was in a basket. She's cute, so I went to pet her. She's docile too. No one has adopted her yet. If I had a permanent home in Madison, I would adopt her. Too bad I am leaving in 3 months, I wouldn't subject a cat to forming an attachment to me and then left behind by me. I was there actually hoping to take some pictures of cats. I even brought my camera there, but was too shy to take it out. I don't want to explain to the volunteers there why I am taking pictures of their cats. In the end, I used my phone instead. Here's a snapshot I took of Lucille. The resolution is pretty bad.

I hope all these cats find a loving home soon. They deserved to be loved.

Pet owners looking for a cat should try looking at the shelters, instead of just buying a cute kitten at a pet shop. Kittens will eventually grow into adult cats. Cats from shelter are usually spayed/neutered, house trained and have distinct personalities. They make good pets.

One observation I have made, these cats all looked to be on the heavy side. They actually looked massive to me. I think I would have trouble carrying them. Once again, I am using Murphy as a standard. I wished I can keep a cat when I go home, but I don't think my parents are going to allow it. They would prefer dogs. Actually, they would prefer no pets at all. Now, I am considering volunteering at Friends of Ferals. Gotta think about that...

Winter Storm ...again. Why? Why??

The Chicago Auto Show is ending tomorrow. I wanted to go, but in view of the impending winter storm, I decided to stay at home instead. Sigh...I had been looking forward to it, in fact, it was the only thing that kept me going the whole week, but the possibility of being stranded on the road in the midst of a snow storm is quite deterring. In the end, I consoled myself by watching DVDs the whole weekend and looking for videos on Youtube. In case anyone is interested, autoblog.com does a good coverage of the whole show.

In response to Chris' post on microwave experiments, I went to look up some blender videos I saw months ago. Basically, this guy, in response to what his fans ask for, will blend a particular object. He has blended lightbulbs, an iPhone (and smiling all the way through the blending process), bic lighters and glow sticks.

here's the iPhone blending video:


and the Bic lighters:


If I have a kid, I am not showing him these videos and putting ideas into his head.

♥♥ 14 Feb ♥♥

Happy Valentine's Day!

I like how Google always put up this kind of nice pics at their search page...

Happy Chinese New Year

The first day of Chinese New Year was last thursday, Feb 7. Chinese New Year is a big thing in Singapore, Taiwan and China. In Singapore, the first 2 days of Chinese New Year are public holidays, and school usually ends early on the day before Chinese New Year. Let's just call it CNY for short. My family used to spend both days visiting relatives, but in recent years, we pack all our visiting in the first day, and spend the second day lazing at home.

For the third year in a row, I am spending it thousands of miles away from my family. I don't miss visiting relatives, since we see them often enough besides during the CNY holidays. What I do miss is the day before CNY. On CNY eve, it is customary to have a reunion dinner. My grandma starts preparing in the morning and I would help after school. The food is ready by 4pm. My cousins start flocking in at about 5pm. There's about 20 people (I eat enough for 2) and there's lots of leftovers, so you can imagine the amount of food that was cooked. After dinner, everyone just hangs around, watch tv, play cards and leave at around 9.

CNY also means lots of goodies. It's another custom to buy CNY goodies and offer it to guests who come visitng. Since we don't have a lot of guests, I get to eat whatever my mum buys. My favorite: pineapple tarts =D.

Another practice during CNY is married couples and the elderly giving red packets to children and unmarried juniors. These red packets contain money and signify good luck. Yeah, this is probably what I like most about CNY. The advantage of being single... Since I'm not at home this year, my aunts have called to tell me they are saving some red packets for me. How nice of them ^_^

I got together with a huge group of friends last friday to have a CNY dinner. It was at Imperial Garden near East Towne Mall. There's another Imperial Garden in Middleton, but in terms of authenticity, I prefer the one near East Towne Mall. So we had one room to ourselves and there were about 30 of us. Before dinner started, we tossed "yu-sheng", which means fish salad.

Yu shen is a colorful salad consisting of raw fish and crunchy vegetables. Sesame seeds, peanuts and sweet sauce are also added. The raw ingredients signify the renewal of life, and the sound of the word for fish in Cantonese sounds like the word for prosperity. The most important and fun part of eating yu sheng is the mixing together of the ingredients. We are supposed to toss the salad upwards with chopsticks and call out propserous sayings at the same time. However, someone made the msitake of tossing outwards. As you can see in the pic, the salad ended up all over the table.

Dinner was a 10-course meal, complete with dessert. The quantity was was a bit too much, if you ask me. All the food that we had:

The food was quite scrumptious, though it was nothing like the food my grandma cooks back home. Still, this was like a reunion dinner among friends and I got to meet up with some friends that I haven't seen for some time.


P.S.: thanks to KH for taking the photos!

Snow Day

Wednesday was Snow Day.

The amount of snow was astonishing. Makes me wonder how long they have kept it all up there before dumping everything on us in one day. They, meaning the powers above. I couldn't recognise my car because it was 1.5x its original size. I spent more than one hour brushing the snow away and digging it out, then I spent another hour helping someone else dig her car out. Even after being dug out, a lot of cars were stuck because of the uneven roads and the snow by the side. Many passerbys had to stop and help push the stuck cars.

Things I tried:

- falling onto the snow. It doesn't hurt.
- running through snow that came up to my shins
- found out that it's really cold when snow gets into my socks.
- ice that fly out from a spinning wheel will leave a nasty swollen bruise if it hit any body part.
- thawing my frozen jeans and shoelaces.

This is a funny video I found on Youtube about a guy cleaning the snow and ice away from his car.



I guess cars stuck in snow is a common sight during winter. This is another video I found on Youtube. It's horrifying yet funny in a warped way. I hope no one ever gets into such a situation.

My First Blog Post!

This is my first official blog post for this class. The previous posts were results of my experiments with uploading pictures and hyperlinking. I guess I will start off with a little introduction of myself and where I am from. I am from Singapore (hey look, a hyperlink!), a city state near the equator where the climate is vastly different from where I am situated now. Singapore started off as a British colony and gained its independence in 1965, after a brief 2 year merger with Malaysia. I completed high school and pre-university studies in Singapore before opting to come to US for my bachelor's degree. I am a Biocehmistry major in my senior year and will be graduating this May.

Enough of me, back to my blog post. As I have mentioned before, my blog is probably going to be about random things, which reflects how random my thoughts can be. This blog post is about the most exciting thing that has happened to me so far in my 21 years. For a large part of my life, I felt overprotected by my parents; even after coming to the States, I was always cocooned by my friends. Last summer, I decided to go to Japan on an impulse. With me was a friend whom I have not seen for 3 years, and her friend whom I have never met before. We met up in Hong Kong and took NWA to Narita, Tokyo.

When we landed in Japan, we were pretty much overwhelmed by all the Japanese spoken. We couldn't really understand what was being said, and after bumbling about the airport terminal for an hour, we found our train and took it to Asakusa in Tokyo. We only stayed in tokyo for a night but there was a festival at the Sensoji temple (aka Asakusa Kannon Temple) and we spent the evening at the festival.

Five-storied pagoda at the temple

Some candies sold at the festival

Of course, this was only our first night there. We spent 3 weeks in Japan. If I am going to talk about each day in detail, this blog post is going to be LONG. For the sake of brevity, I'm just going to talk about some of the things that left a real deep impression on me...for instance, this Hello Kitty...

Will you look at the size of that Hello Kitty?!!

That's me on the left, suffering from jet lag and sleep deprivation.

For those of you who don't know what/who Hello Kitty is, Hello Kitty is a fictional cat produced and marketed by Sanrio. This kitty is very popular, especially among teenage girls. Distinguishing features...extreme cuteness in its simplicity and lack of a mouth.

Picture was taken outside the Sanrio shop in the Shinsaibashi district of Osaka.


We also had fugu cuisine in Osaka. Fugu, also known as pufferfish, is lethally poisonous if not prepared properly.

And then there was Universal Studios...

All the shows were in Japanese, but I could catch the gist of what they were saying...

The most efficient means of transportation through Japan is probably the Shinkansen. I managed to get to Narita from Hakodate (in Hokkaido, northen part of Japan) in half a day, just in time to catch my flight back home.

Picture taken aboard a moving train on my way to the airport.

At the end of the trip, I was pretty amazed we managed to get by fine with Sayonara, Arigatou and frantic hand gestures. The Japanese were helpful people, though not a lot of them understand English. Even though I spent 3 weeks in Japan, I felt I needed more time to fully explore Japan. I will probably go again next summer. Has anyone gone to Japan or planning to go? If I am to go again, I need ideas of places to explore!

Petrolhead

Some of the people using Facebook might have noticed an application called Petrolhead. You get a car, you race other cars, and you can upgrade your car when you have accumulated enough points. Currently, I am a fan of that application. Here's my latest car...a Lamborghini Reventon!!



The 2008 Lamborghini Reventon was revealed in the Frankfurt Motor Show 2007. Pictures from the Frankfurt Motor Show (www.autoblog.com):









Isn't this car a mean-looking machine? Read more about it here. Only 20 are made and each costs 1,000,000 euro to own. *gasps*

Hocus Pocus!

I haven't managed to think of a theme for my blog, so it shall be about random things. Let this random blog have a random name...Hocus Pocus!


Hocus Pocus!!

ho·cus-po·cus [hoh-kuhs-poh-kuhs]

1. a meaningless chant or expression used in conjuring or incantation.

2. trickery; deception.

3. A fun and addictive game with colorful 2-D graphics developed by Moonlite Software. Little sorcerer Hocus is on a mission to prove his worthiness to join the Council of Wizards (MobyGames.com).


4. A movie directed by Kenny Ortega. Hocus Pocus (1993) is a story about 3 witches sentenced to death more than 300 years ago and are now back to seek immortality.