:: _______ *`Bubu in Bubuland`* ____________

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

~*~ ~*~

Monday events- 30th Jul 2007

Histofreeze treatment
My sister and Dennis accompanied me to the NTU medical centre. I was super early cos my appointment time was 0830.
Arghh I had wart on my left sole. Been there for around 1 week le. Initially I thought it is corn, so I put corn plaster on it in hope for the "corn" to dry up and drop off by itself. This is what I call self-treat, haha~ Went to see doctor last Thursday while waiting for the super-long postgrad matriculation and she fixed a histofreeze treatment on Mon. I had probably caught the wart while I left my feet unexposed while bathing in the shower room of swimming pool. Doc said it's quite common to catch wart there and esp from shower areas in halls. Contagious lei... hope that other parts of my body won't have it cos it's really hard and painful when in contact.

My treatment was at NTU medical centre and conducted by nurse. The nurse seemed very experienced in doing such treatment. She cut away the dried skin and removed the harded small "lump" underneath the skin skilfully. There was little bleed but not painful lah. The painful part was when she put liquid nitrogen on my infected area. It was so cold and my skin felt so numb when in touch with the nitrogen. Pain pain! I underwent the pain thrice before she bandaged my sole. I was charged $30 for the treatment (so expensive since I don't get any subsidy as a postgrad student) while undergrad students are charged $10.

After my treatment I went back to the counter to queue for turn to see the doc. Why, I'm sick again loh. Having dry cough. Doc said that my tonsils are inflamed. Believed to be a virus attack rather than a bacterial attack since I didn't have a fever. I asked if I should have my tonsils removed but doc said that it is not necessary since I don't really have inflammation as frequent as every month and tonsils are part of the human immunity system to fight foreign bodies. I was given cough mixture to suppress my cough, tablets to subside my inflamed throat and lozenges to soothe my throat (perhaps).

First time having Pot Luck

Our delicacies....

QiYue is leaving on Tuesday for USA, thus we decided to hold a pot luck over at my house yesterday (mon). It was my first time cooking for friends and I decided to cook chicken cos it's the easiest to handle. All of the 4 "musketeers" turned up: QiYue, Geraldine, GeokYan, Me. Qiyue cooked seafood pancake while Geraldine cooked carrot cake and vegetable stew. GeokYan was so sweet to have bought nice cookies for all of us from London. I made fake claypot chicken (since I don't have a claypot) and honey lemon drink for my girls. Haha, I didn't follow the recipe totally cos I added mushrooms and I dun really like onion (so I didn't add loh).

Buffet at Brio's cafe, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore
For the food, 3/5 stars but for the service 1.5/5 stars.
SiHui, Ivy, MiaoLing and I were sitted at a small dining table. There were many types of cutlery for each of us. There was not much variety in the food but my favourite were the salmon sashimi, the chocolate fondue and the choc moose cake. It was taking forever for the bill to come and when we see the bill, the charges were more than what we were promised and expected. There was some miscommunication when asked about the promotions and charges on phone. The assistant manager insisted that it was our fault, making us look ignorant about understanding how the promotion system work. Hmm, I feel that it's not that we don't understand English, it's just that he don't understand Mathematics.
Will I go there again? My answer is NO. I would rather spend my money eat at The Line @ Shangri La Hotel even though it's $65 per person for dinner. More variety, more delicious food, more table space, better ambience.

Tuesday happenings, 30th Jul 2007

To the National Skin Centre
Went with my parents.
I have this keloid on my chest for more than 3 years. Not itchy and not growing but painful at times. So decided to go see doc about it since my mum had a follow-up appointed at the national skin centre. Doc said that this scar can't be removed as it is prone for bigger growth if scarring takes place again. So what could be done is to flatten it. The colour won't go away too. I was given steroid injection on my scar. Very painful when the liquid was injected into my scar, my scar is very sensitive to touch and the needle went so deep in with liquid forced into it. My mummy was with me while the injection took place and she exclaimed that my scar turned white to the nurse. The nurse said that it is alright la. My scar is still swollen after 1 hour plus and the redness around the area is still intact. Not flatten yet but made swollen. Hope that the steroid start its flattening job soon. Looking forward to good results.

I was also prescribed pimple cream for my pimples by the doc. Haha~ will use it at night to see the effects tomorrow.

Drowsy effects of cough syrup
Feeling drowsy now. In dilemma of whether to sleep or not. My scar still in pain and I'm afraid of touching it while sleeping by mistake.

[*-Bubu leaves a print of thoughts 'n' feelings-*] | 4:06 PM

Saturday, July 28, 2007

~*~ My convocation ~*~

Busy busy and rush day for bubu. My family and dennis made it to my convo ceremony. It was very crowded after the ceremony, so I didn't manage to take photos with all my friends. MSE had made special arrangement for the graduates. Our reception was at level 3, examination hall B. Can dedicate songs to family, friends and professors. Got free postcards with own shots taken (instant ones loh, plus unlimited, what a pity that I only took 2). Many backdrops for us to take photo. Free 8R photo to be taken with family or friends. I didn't eat anything cos I was prepared for a big feast later (dinner-seafood with my family to celebrate my graduation).

Some of the photos taken. Sorry, I didn't adjust the brightness and constrast. Hee~

me with angel wings!

wacky photos with my xiao mei zi

darling, brought his convo gown to take photos with me!

with my mummy and daddy

with my mummy

[*-Bubu leaves a print of thoughts 'n' feelings-*] | 10:51 AM

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

~*~ ~*~

I have finally applied for Project Officer position at my school. I'm such a slow coach. And I was told that my application will take at least 3 weeks to proceed. So, at the meanwhile, I am still a full time phd student. When I become Project Officer, I will be doing phd part-time and will be doing research work and administrative duties at my school. Haha~ I still don't know what are my responsibilities now. See, I'm so unprepared to be in the workforce.

Collected my medical examination results. The nurse said that I got pretty good immunity against Hepatitis B. I spent $42 for this medical checkup which is inclusive of X-Ray. But... I was just told that I don't have to go through this checkup and there will be another one for me after my PO job is confirmed. Alamak, is it healthy to undergo X-ray screening twice within a month?

I asked about insurance being covered by the school. Apparently local students are covered under some mysterious insurance within the premise of NTU. Guess I need to buy some insurance for being outside NTU. I'm worried for my health man, cos I will be spending most of my time in laboratories and there are a lot of types of chemical and radiation that I'm subjected to unknowingly. Oh yah, I need to get a new labcoat too.

[*-Bubu leaves a print of thoughts 'n' feelings-*] | 2:53 PM

~*~ No Monday Blues yesterday! ~*~

It was a Monday Full for me. Gosh, I was so exhausted after a whole day filled with activities that I slept till 11am today. Following written is how I spent my day.

Darling Dennis' Convocation Ceremony
First time for bubu to attend a convo ceremony plus it was ceremony 1. Something special about this cere was that the president of Singapore Republic attended it! Even still, the First Lady of Indonesia was amongest the VIPs because her 2nd son was graduating with a Masters. Now I know why people always say that convo is very time-consuming. Cos everyone will be busy taking photos with one another. Everyone is wearing "uniform", the same type of gown mah, and everyone wants to have his/her classmates in their photos. I can feel and see the joy of all the graduands and the happiness in their parents! I was busy taking photos for Dennis and his friends. Not much photo with me in it ya.

Karaoke at Chinatown
The place was called Ten Dollar Club. Interesting hor? As what its name indicates, for session from 2pm to 7pm, the cost per person is $10nett. Happy to see the word "nett" cos it means no extra charges like GST(7% now le) and service charge. It was the first time being in a karaoke lounge other than KBox and also the first time with this group of friends. LianLee (my BangkokTrip Kakhi) asked me to join her buddies for singing. Since I love singing karaoke, I gladly accepted the offer though I'm a bit shy. Haha~ Present there was LianLee, Joanna, WeiFen, QianHan & SokYee. The room that we were in is big since the TV screen is far away from the sofa we were sitting on. Haha~ the songs sang were nice and fun too! Heehee~ Joanna praised me for my "good" taste of songs, cos I selected songs of different genre.. haha~ (internal joke). After singing Grasshoppers' and AhMei's songs, I starting to feel tired and breathless le.. haha~ is it considered as a type of workout? Looking forward to going to the place again! Affordable and the entertainment factor is high!

Early supper with girlfriends
It was supposed to be my dinner la. My friends have eaten le and so, I was the only person eating. Geraldine and QiYue met me for "supper". I gave them my earrings, heehee~ so happy to be able to make something for my friends. We chatted till 11pm... girls always have endless stuff to talk to ah. We watched one another grow. 13 years of friendship is long man and we still have lots of things to chat about. Of course, the topics do change over the years. From telling one another who was our crushes in our primary school class to now, we are talking about boyfriends and marriages. In the few years' time, I bet we will start attending one anothers' weddings, housewarmings, 1st month celebrations of babies, and of course, bring our children to visit the Jurong Bird Park together!

[*-Bubu leaves a print of thoughts 'n' feelings-*] | 12:19 PM

Sunday, July 22, 2007

~*~ The Orion Belt of the Orion Hunter ~*~

After 2/3 nights of late night sleep, my pimples pop come with organisation. 3 on the left side of my chin lining up as one straight line. I remember that at certain season of the year, when I look up the sky, I would be able to see the Orion Hunter constellation. Good old days being in the astronomy club in NJC. How many schools would have CCAs taking place fornight and start when the sun is setting on a Saturday? I'm scared to admit that I was part of this extraordinary CCA before becos I have not been very into astronomy and my knowledge in it is really limited! Paiseh!

Still I'm still quite tempted to leave an entry before I sleep. Cos it's past 1am already, the optimal time for beauty sleep is over and by sleeping now doesn't really solve my acne problem anyway. Convocation is just 6 days away and I'm still unprepared for it. Haven't ironed my gown yet. And my face is in bad condition. Oh my oh my... I've not submited my application as a PO, really very slow me!

Gathering with 4 working ladies

5 of us, the 2i girls met up for dinner at PS tonight. All of us graduated at the same time, each with an engineering degree. But different types of engineering course: LiLing (Bioeng), SiHui (Mechanical eng), Ivy (Electric eng), MiaoLing (Chem eng), me (Materials eng). All except me have started working le. Heehee~ happy for all of them ya. Chatted a lot through the night and we laughed a lot among ourselves. Girls night out was fun-filled and I feel so happy being with them. This is called life after undergraduate bah and we are all proceeding to the next phase of our lives. Heehee~ looking for to hearing more work and play adventures they experience in our future gathering.

Today's Straits Times had reported graduates of Class 2007 being the luckiest lot to be graduating at this point of time. We are called the "Good Luck Club" with high ratio of offers:applications for jobs and also we get jobs with higher salaries and we can get jobs more related to our field of study with more ease. Good luck to my friends who are still looking jobs! The job market is really looking good now. Heehee~

[*-Bubu leaves a print of thoughts 'n' feelings-*] | 1:30 AM

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

~*~ Random thoughts ~*~

I'm happy that many of my friends have gotten jobs and started to join the worklife in full force.
Me- Unemployed still. I have accepted the offer from NTU to do full-time phd course along with a monthly stipend. BTW, i got rejected by MEWR. So no EWT phd scholarship from it. But I'm hungry for more, currently trying to get a Project Officer position so I will be doing similar work but getting a salary instead of stipend. I love the idea of being employed, heehee~ I'm not sure of what lies in front of me and I don't even know what is the job scope of being PO. Gosh, I'm so so so impulsive. Surely, there's definitely more demand in being a staff in school and I'm expected to hold some teaching duties. Hope to be teaching Lab sessions!~* Going to be matriculated on 25th July!!! Convocation is on 27th July, Fri. My family is going to be there to see me up the stage. Ha~ they can be even proud of me if I agreed to give a convo speech on the behalf of my cohort. I'm a coward! I'm scared to go up the stage to talk to such a big audience.

A really random post....

[*-Bubu leaves a print of thoughts 'n' feelings-*] | 11:10 AM

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

~*~ Self indulgence ~*~

My collection of beads and creations

Days are not boring if I'm occupied with some self creation. Cheezezzzz! These earrings are not for sale la, they are made for my friends. I'm not confident that my earrings will sell la.. haha~

[*-Bubu leaves a print of thoughts 'n' feelings-*] | 6:41 PM

Thursday, July 12, 2007

~*~ Sick me ~*~

Haha~ fell sick after my Thailand trip and after going back to school to collect my convocation free gifts and certificate. Hee~ so sick and blur that I've missed what was printed on my cert. The class of honours is printed on it too... nice!

White Hunt @ JP
Despite being (occasional sneezes and runny nose), I went shopping in Jurong Point with QiuTing yesterday. Shop around all the female apparel shops in JP and found that only Dano sell what we want- white long-sleeved collar shirt. It's meant to complement our convocation dress. Hmmm... limited choices around... currently contemplating on whether to get a white top or not. If yes, perhaps need to get from G2000 bah cos the one I eyed in Dano was stained. Yucks!

N73
Haha, my cousin Ah Pei came to visit my family yesterday. Dad and I went together to the nearby market with her to get her new mobile phone and change her price plan. Time really flies, 4 years ago, my dear cousin just arrived in Singapore to pursue her bachelor studies and my dad bought a HP for her. Now, she has graduated from NTU (same time as me!!), got a stable job, got boyfriend, got place to stay... and my mum sponsored her a new HP! Wow... I can't believe that we have gone through four years of uni life le! All the best to Ah Pei!!!

[*-Bubu leaves a print of thoughts 'n' feelings-*] | 2:18 PM

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

~*~ Beautiful Thailand ~*~

Flying Tiger

Darling Dennis, Me, LianLi, MingJie

We took a 6.30am flight to bangkok on the 6 Jul. First time being in the budget terminal. Not as bad as what I thought. And there is air-con! Not much shops in there. Tiger Airways' plane is pretty small with 3 seats on the left and also 3 seats on the right. Pretty cramp in there and I think the guys are not sitting very comfortably due to lack of leg space.

Tiger Zoo

On our way from bangkok to Pattaya, we went to the tiger zoo. Of cos there are tigers in there. We were welcomed by circus performance by tigers. It was the first time I see tigers being so tamed and agile as compared to the lazy sleepy tigers in zoo on typical hot days. Even got a tiger dancing on 2 legs and it really reminded me of tigger, heehee~

Next we proceeded on to watch crocodile show. Gosh the performers really went all out to do their stunts and to make viewers impressed. They were quite small-sized but they do have the strength to pull the crocs all by themselves. My heart beat very fast when they put their heads inside the croc's mouth. So risky!

Pigs are not stupid! Meet this pig, it can count!

Be it multiplication, division, substraction or addition... so as long as the answers are in the range of 1-6. The pig can do the calculation and can pick up the right number tag. If not, it would become roasted pig...

I wonder if the tigress and the female pig know that their babies are swopped. It was proven that when the baby tiger cubs are reared by pig mum, they are able to grow up fast and strong. Look at the piglets wearing tiger printed cloth... haha~ would they be able to trick the tigress?

Pattaya

First time watching Ah Guah show. They are so pretty and well-endowed!

We took speed boat to Coral Island. In the middle of the trip, there is a station for some sea parachuting. Haha, I don't have the guts to try it. It's pretty expensive too. When we reached Coral Island, it was pretty disappointing la. Cos it was flooded with people and sea activities like jet ski and banana boat. We ended up just playing with the waves and seawater. I didn't take out my blue top ya... cos I am not brave to wear my biniki there to play water.

Went to the Nooch Village which has very smart elephants. Look at them! They can do a lot of things. So capable! First time seeing so so so many elephants at a time. Very amazing sia.

Bangkok

This is where we stay. It's located on Petchburi Soi 15. Very convenient location as we are directly opposite Pantip Plaza (IT Mall). We are near Pratunam market and Central World Plaza too.

One-bedroom apartment in studio style. Nice nice!!! Very big and well-equipped. Dennis' and my mouths couldn't stop wow-ing when we first see the place in real. Really look like what is seen on its official website.

Temple of Dawn-Lies along the famous Chao Phraya River. Our boat stopped a while for us to feed the fishes. I was literally throwing something I hate (bread) into the river.

Grand Palace- A place where King Rama I to VIII stayed before. Magnificent. I like the museum with the royal collection. However we were not allowed to take photos in the museum, what a pity... Saw many expensive accessories and clothes in there, a lot of gold stuff!! Another place which tourist should not miss out is the Emerald Buddha. Went in the temple and feel very peaceful in there. Fact: The Emerald Buddha has 3 different outfits for different seasons- Rainy, Hot and Cool.

Eat and Shop

A&W

Chatuchak Weekend Market

Very hot and crowded! Coconut juice to quench our thirst. Only 15 baht (>40 Sing cents).

Central World Plaza

Colourful cabs

Dunkin Donuts

We don't have this brand in Singapore. Bought value pack of 1/2 dozen donuts for only 109 baht. Yummy!!! Many flavours to choose from and gosh, they really make me very very full even though I only had 1.5 donut.

KFC

Yap, my all-time fav... the food was served on plates and we were given knives and fork. But we... didn't use... cos it's finger-licking good.. haha~

Tut-Tuk Experience

We took a tuk-tuk to the Pratunam Market.

Pratunam market

This is a heaven for wholesale buyers. Lots of goods here at cheap cheap prices.

MBK
7-storey shopping mall. We went there 2 times to shop. Movie there also very cheap. Either 100 baht or 80 baht person only!!! We watched Fantastic Four there.

@the airport, we had thai food...

Me after the trip....

Happy and Satisfied!

[*-Bubu leaves a print of thoughts 'n' feelings-*] | 7:15 PM

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

~*~ Idling bubu ~*~

I'm very free these days, a big contrast with my boyfriend who is always busy (haha). These idling days are times when ...
I don't have to have to work,
meant to be stress-free days for me (to charge up my "chakra"),
opportunities to catch up with my friends (don't worry, I'm totally jobless and a student-wannabe, so don't be mistaken that I'm going to sell you any products cos i've none to sell to ya),
giving myself time to think of my goals in life,
go for getaways to be far from the hot lil red dot (and enjoying my passion- travel and see the world on the other side),
make lil craft works i.e. jewellery-making,
learn cooking (wanting some dish to be called my own original recipe)....
the list is going non-stop

Hoho, I'm be heading to Bangkok, Thailand and Pattaya island soon... in 2 days' time. Can't wait to be there to visit the landmarks and shopping for beads (heehee~). Most importantly is to spend quality time with my darling. Very exciting to be there and I hope that the situation there is peaceful and calm when I am there la.

What people says... (is it really me??)
I'm people-oriented and love to interact with people
I'm more like a salesperson who can really sell products well
I've got a face which is sincere and won't-cheat-your-money kind
I'm loud and talkative, full of nonsense at times
I can be very fierce when I'm having mood swings
... I guess I'm a typical Gemini with lots of personalities... hohoho...

Taiwanese Porridge Buffet @ Suntec
weekdays: $9.80 nett
There is a variety of dishes to complement with the porridge. However the dishes are more on the salty side. What I like most are the three layer pork, fried ikan bilis. I think I prefer to eat flavoured porridge bah, not really used to eat this taiwanese porridge. There were only three types of porridge available: Plain, Sweet Potato, Peanut. No beverage served... need to purchase from the counter, no sight of ice-cream too. I don't take the deserts there... black glutinous rice and green bean soup...
I like the congee at Crystal Jade Kitchen!!! Even the plain ones are delicious and you can find scallops in there too!!!

[*-Bubu leaves a print of thoughts 'n' feelings-*] | 10:51 AM