Saturday, May 9, 2009

End of Mid Term Week

Its 2am right now, and I havnt slept yet. Its finally weekends, I was looking forward to this cuz by this time, my mid terms would have been over. Amazing Race finale on Sunday, I really hope Lawyers Victor and Tammy will win! Oh ya, I bought the "Phil Rides Across America" T-shirt online, part of my donation to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Phil's bike ride across America has ended, and he is now in NYC, just nice for the AR finale.

3 Midterms have gone by. 3 different kinds of results I will be getting. I hope to get full marks for one of them, I have a strong feeling. I hope I can get at least 20/100 for the other. I will be really happy for that. For the last one, it will probably fall in the middle.

The flu virus is pretty stable here, at least there is no suspected cases in my city. Have been reading a lot on the measures taken in Singapore, checking the CNA webby everyday. Am a bit frustrated over the whole issue, something that will affect my travel plans...

Should I go London? 12 hrs to travel there, 12 hrs to come back to US again, 20 hrs to return to Sg...Crazy! I should not have gotten a round trip air fare last Dec when I came over, haiz..

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Spring Break Vacation 3 - Montreal Universities

I had to visit the university that I had once applied for SEP and didn't get it. I guess there was only one vacancy in EVE. McGill has a gd reputation for Engineering, and one can easily get lost in the not-so-huge campus. Everywhere looks the same, I felt I was in Rome. I crashed one FNA lecture and was stunned to see the difference in their syllabus compared to ours. You have to write a lot which I didnt get to do so, I guess I was really lucky. Imagine doing a position paper on one FNA topic. haha....

McGill University Main Entrance

Engineering Building

This is how they prove Stoke's Theorem lol..remember MA1505?

Concordia wasn't a big campus as what I had imagined it to be. In fact, beside the main building, there were small groups of classrooms around different areas in downtown Concordia. I attended an Engineering Economy class which was like at the basement of Starbucks. Difficult to tell if the building actually belong to Concordia. The students are so artistic that hand made scruptures are found every floor.

Concordia University

Fitness Center

Lots of interesting scruptures in the campus

Computer stations are everywhere for students to check their emails..

Spring Break Vacation 2 - Montreal

The best part of my trip was in Montreal. In fact, I brought along a montreal guide book to the States and have been reading it for 2 months. More or less, I am prepared. It is the first city where I experienced -10 degrees, the coldest I have ever felt. Most of the time, it is actually the wind which gives u the chill. It was a great opportunity for me to visit places that I have always wanted to go to. And it is very easy to get around, just look for the Metro sign below! Ya, use the SUBWAY train!


The train is pretty old but it is really fast, or shall I say that the stations are very close to each other.

Olympic Stadium, venue for 1976 Summer Olympics
Indoor Swimming Pool

Chinatown
I had to taste their chicken rice because it has been AGES since I last ate it....
Poutine - Its a fast food dish, French fries topped with cheese curds and brown gravy. Nice!
The beautiful and magnificant Biosphere!
It is a water and environment museum!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Spring Break Vacation 1 - Quebec City

I signed up for a Quebec City tour on my 2nd day in Montreal. Initially, I was really hesitant because it cost like US 80 bucks and I didnt want to go on a tour alone to another city which I ain't familiar with. I went ahead at the last min and it was a rewarding one. It was still the winter season and Quebec is really stunning. The white snow scenery, the historic buildings, the waterfalls....GREAT!

Sheets of ICE on the water
Montmorency Falls
Plains of Abraham - National Battlefields Park
Tour guide in Quebec City

Porte St Jean


Funicular

Thursday, April 23, 2009

好歌推荐: 09 年 4 月


歌曲名称:保管

歌手姓名:阿桑

专辑名称:寂寞在唱歌

2009年4月6日早晨八点半, 她走了。。。

05 年的时候,有一段时间,我就很期待她这一张专辑。其实她生前并没有像现在受到人们的关注,但是她不断地努力着。。。

一直都觉得她是个纯粹的歌手,不靠家庭背景跳舞长相身材丑闻来吸引歌迷。一直期待她的新作品,没想到她就静静的离开了。。。

记得自己曾经伤心的时候,一直是听着阿桑的歌在安慰自己。。。

非常可惜失去如此一位实力派女唱将。。祝福阿桑, 一路走好!

听下我最喜欢她的一首歌 -《保管》

想像爱情有如一艘船
随着风你再多勇敢也靠不了岸
把心交给海洋去保管
让它带你找寻海港的。。温暖

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Song Recommendation: April 2009

Title: Make It Mine

Artiste: Jason Mraz

Album: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.

This guy is my idol simply because he writes and plays his own songs. It’s a pity I can’t catch him in Singapore last month at the Indoor Stadium. This album which was released last year was his most self-assured effort to date and spun the first single “I’m Yours”, ranked 18th song for the year in Singapore. His pure clarity and range of his vocals has never failed to attract me to every of his new release. If you are an avid lover of live music, you should never miss his performance, his powerful force, that magical ability to connect to the audience.

“Make It Mine” isn’t my favourite Mraz track in this album. Its recent climb to the top of the Sg chart kind of surprised me and I decided to listen to it a couple more times. It’s a soulful song with plenty going on, a track that puts me in a great mood. A colourful and uplifting song coupled with jazzed up horns!

I looked at the front cover of this single and realized that he looked a bit like Hugh Grant. Haha..

Btw, I give this song 3.5 out of 5 leaves....

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Its Spring Time!

It has been a couple wks since I returned back from Montreal Canada and NYC. I am still sorting out the photos for the blog and its really tough when I can even forget the little places tat I went to. I loved both cities, esp Montreal, though at some point I was really frustrated when there was a language barrier. I could not believe that there were a couple of pple who came up to me, asking for directions in French. I guess my basic French wasn't gd enough to survive if I were to stay there for half a yr. Argg..My dream of meeting snow again didnt really come true. The snow I saw were already on the ground, melting away cuz Spring is coming....The 5 days when I was there, there wasn't a single day when I experienced snow falling from the sky. Well, I didn’t go there specifically for the snow anyway, the places I visited were NICE! Will blog abt them soon.

New York is a busy city, so far the best place that I have visited in the States. I probably will go back again very soon, hopefully I can find someone to go with me. Most of my SEP peeps are alr back in Sg le… The transport system in NYC needs a lot of improvement. I guess even constructing ERP gantries wouldn’t help the heavy traffic anyway. Went to visit Liberty Island and also explore downtown Manhattan. Gosh, Times Square is really big, it’s a shopping paradise! Broadway Hotel was a bad choice, their wireless sucks and it is only accessible at the lobby. The room rates aren’t cheap either.

I received my Winter quarter grades a few days after my final paper, the Profs are really fast in uploading them. I admit that I had worked very hard this Winter because I was dealing with 3 ESE Tech Electives and I am really glad that I passed! The one module that was always worrying me was the Env Policy class where I have to deal with 80 MCQs and memorise the different California policies. I did it, I passed, and who cares abt where I got an A or not!

Semester 2 of sch had just commenced. My friends in Sg are now preparing for their Finals and awaiting the vacations. I still have 8 weeks to go. Currently, I am only studying on Tue and Thurs, meaning I am quite free! The worrying module for this quarter will be Eng Professionalism. Back to writing, its just like ctw! To balance my classes, I am also taking 2 Statistics modules. MisterLyon just can’t leave his calculator aside…

Just received my 3-in-1 coffee supplies from my mum! And also KAYA, haha, really touched!

Still thinking of places where I wanna go travel before I go back to sunny island. NYC, LA….where else…Paris is really ex, I am monitoring and hopefully there is some airline promotion, haha, dream on…

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

好歌推荐: 09 年 3 月


歌曲名称:最幸福的事

歌手姓名:梁文音

专辑名称:爱的诗篇

她是Rachel,参与选秀节目《超级星光大道》而出道,在08年底发行首张甜美专辑《爱的诗篇》。一个用音符与歌声谱写,幻化成隽永的文章与诗篇。每一首歌的音符不断挑战,充满着爱,毎一句歌词完美批注。以抒情的第一波主打 《最幸福的事》抒发著恋人的内心世界,传达的爱情观令我听了非常感动。

能够以最喜欢的方式唱歌,把爱和幸福传递出去,其实是一件很开心的事。。。

什么是爱,什么是幸福呢?

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A peek into my house

I realized that I have been blogging abt my travel trips that I have forgotten to mention abt my life here. Yup, here is a peek into my house.

Arroyo Seco (meaning dry streambed in spanish)

235 Arroyo Seco - I think it is beautiful and we were very lucky to get such a big house with a reasonable rent rate

Living Room - Pretty empty still at the moment because we didnt get any sofas or TV. Its my dance floor actually, haha, provided if we have neon lights, but only one color at the moment. Anywae, this small place gg to be rented out soon.

Garden - Every Thur, somebody will come in and do the gardening

Kitchen - Microwave oven is my best friend, followed by the fridge =)

My room!