At Suntec now using the free Wireless@SG. Works SO MUCH better than the free one available at Macdonald's. Much faster and more reliable.
I just realized I forgot to tell everyone my grades for last quarter!! I'm really quite happy especially because this fulfills the prophecy Ai Lin gave me that God said I'll "pass with flying colours"! It was hard to believe, especially cos I had no idea what to write for my 3rd IHUM paper and my Physics Introsem paper but I just tired my best and prayed. Even after submitting my IHUM paper I still had no idea whether it was A or B range, or maybe even C range, so it was hard to keep the faith. But PRAISE GOD!! Looks like my birthday wish i made in July for straight As came true. :)
So here are my grades:
IHUM (5 units): A-
Math 51 (5 units): A-
Jazz Theory (3 units): A
Jazz Practical (1 unit): A+
Physics Introsem (3 units): A
Average GPA: 3.841 (out of 4, although I hear 4.3 is possible if you get all A+s)
GLORY TO GOD! Believing that subsequent quarters will be even better! ;)
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Home sweet home
I'm back in Singapore!! Arrived wed morning at 12:50am. Thought the humidity would shock me more but it didn't really.
Had stomach flu the night before I flew. Thank God I managed to make the flight and get home smoothly. I actually slept quite a bit of the flight cos I was quite tired from not sleeping the night before.
At a macdonald's now... there's free wireless here but it keeps cutting off after about 20 mins of usage. It's quite irritating. But I don't know if it's a problem with the wireless or with my com. I hope it's the former. :P Don't have internet at home cos I'm the only one who uses it so I stopped the account when I left in Sep.
Wondering what's going to happen these 2 weeks. I know God has purposes for me to accomplish while I'm back, I just don't know what yet. But I'll hang on to Him in faith. =)
Met with some of my cell group yesterday, went to watch a movie together, then met up with Cynthia together with Angie who was quite eager to meet her too. Haha. Brought her out to see the lights in Orchard Road then went to Lau Pa Sat to grab a drink and just chat for a while. Looking forward to meeting her and Watchman again this week.
Oh and that reminds me. My grandfather lent me his car for the entire duration that I'm here! i have relatives who're overseas at the moment so he's gonna be using their cars. Although I'm not sure what happens when they come back... maybe someone else will be gone. Anyway it's a fantastic blessing and I'm very thankful. =)
Took a photo of my HDB (government-subsidized apartment) block the other day:
My apartment unit is the lowest one with windows on the leftmost side of the block, i.e. the 3rd floor (there's no windows on the 2nd floor and the 1st floor is the ground floor where the shops are). Thought that might be midly interesting for non-Singaporean folks who visit my blog (I see you Glen!). The everlasting construction in front of my house is construction for a new MRT (subway) line that'll run right by my house. Which will turn out very nicely for me when I graduate in 3-4 years' time. ;)
Gonna sign off now. I'll try to keep this blog updated whenever I can. Merry Christmas everybardee!!!
Had stomach flu the night before I flew. Thank God I managed to make the flight and get home smoothly. I actually slept quite a bit of the flight cos I was quite tired from not sleeping the night before.
At a macdonald's now... there's free wireless here but it keeps cutting off after about 20 mins of usage. It's quite irritating. But I don't know if it's a problem with the wireless or with my com. I hope it's the former. :P Don't have internet at home cos I'm the only one who uses it so I stopped the account when I left in Sep.
Wondering what's going to happen these 2 weeks. I know God has purposes for me to accomplish while I'm back, I just don't know what yet. But I'll hang on to Him in faith. =)
Met with some of my cell group yesterday, went to watch a movie together, then met up with Cynthia together with Angie who was quite eager to meet her too. Haha. Brought her out to see the lights in Orchard Road then went to Lau Pa Sat to grab a drink and just chat for a while. Looking forward to meeting her and Watchman again this week.
Oh and that reminds me. My grandfather lent me his car for the entire duration that I'm here! i have relatives who're overseas at the moment so he's gonna be using their cars. Although I'm not sure what happens when they come back... maybe someone else will be gone. Anyway it's a fantastic blessing and I'm very thankful. =)
Took a photo of my HDB (government-subsidized apartment) block the other day:
My apartment unit is the lowest one with windows on the leftmost side of the block, i.e. the 3rd floor (there's no windows on the 2nd floor and the 1st floor is the ground floor where the shops are). Thought that might be midly interesting for non-Singaporean folks who visit my blog (I see you Glen!). The everlasting construction in front of my house is construction for a new MRT (subway) line that'll run right by my house. Which will turn out very nicely for me when I graduate in 3-4 years' time. ;)
Gonna sign off now. I'll try to keep this blog updated whenever I can. Merry Christmas everybardee!!!
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Good news!
I got an A- for my 2nd IHUM paper! Praise the Lord! Just got the grade today. That's an improvement from the B/B- that I got for my first paper (I'm not sure what B/B- means though) and confirms the feeling I had about my 2nd paper that it was significantly better than the first and possibly capable of an A grade! Maybe I would've gotten an A if one of the points I argued wasn't a little flawed like it was. Anyway an A- is really encouraging right now! Especially while I'm trying with a lot of difficulty to do my 3rd IHUM paper that's due on Mon.
Examz and New Guitar
Not a very creative title. But it works.
So yes, exams coming up. Have a math final next monday, a final IHUM paper due next monday too, a take-home jazz theory final due next tues, and a research paper for my Physics Introsem on any relevant topic I'm interested in due next Fri. Both papers are about 5 pages long.
help.
I'm trying hard to keep a positive attitude and keep the faith and all. It's not easy but somehow God will get me through. Of course I still gotta be on my toes. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!!
Looking forward to Chi Alpha tomorrow. Could really use the time in God's presence.
On to the second topic: I bought a new acoustic guitar! Went with Daryl (Singaporean friend I met at Chi Alpha) last friday to Guitar Center in San Jose. They were having a 10-15% discount sale on all their guitars (we only found out about the sale when we got there), and the guitar I got was marked $400. But get this: the salesguy realized when he checked his computer that the original price was actually $599 (basically $600), so the discounted price was supposed to be around $530 - $540. So he said, if you buy it now, I'll give it to you at the marked price. If u leave, i'm going to change the price tag. So I got it. *grinz*. It's a Takamine, has a very nice sound, and has a built in pickup (which i've yet to test actually).
A few photos of my guitar and our trip to Guitar Center:
Me and the sales guy, Mike, who gave me the mismarked price:
Me and Daryl posing with the guitar, trying very unsuccessfully to act sei
My guitar close up (Daryl took a TON of photos of my guitar. He's super passionate about guitars, was really excited for me.) We've sinced removed the cheesy black and white sticker
My guitar, in the nice soft case I got for it
A photo of inside the store. You can see why it's called Guitar Center. ;)
So yes, exams coming up. Have a math final next monday, a final IHUM paper due next monday too, a take-home jazz theory final due next tues, and a research paper for my Physics Introsem on any relevant topic I'm interested in due next Fri. Both papers are about 5 pages long.
help.
I'm trying hard to keep a positive attitude and keep the faith and all. It's not easy but somehow God will get me through. Of course I still gotta be on my toes. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!!
Looking forward to Chi Alpha tomorrow. Could really use the time in God's presence.
On to the second topic: I bought a new acoustic guitar! Went with Daryl (Singaporean friend I met at Chi Alpha) last friday to Guitar Center in San Jose. They were having a 10-15% discount sale on all their guitars (we only found out about the sale when we got there), and the guitar I got was marked $400. But get this: the salesguy realized when he checked his computer that the original price was actually $599 (basically $600), so the discounted price was supposed to be around $530 - $540. So he said, if you buy it now, I'll give it to you at the marked price. If u leave, i'm going to change the price tag. So I got it. *grinz*. It's a Takamine, has a very nice sound, and has a built in pickup (which i've yet to test actually).
A few photos of my guitar and our trip to Guitar Center:
Me and the sales guy, Mike, who gave me the mismarked price:
Me and Daryl posing with the guitar, trying very unsuccessfully to act sei
My guitar close up (Daryl took a TON of photos of my guitar. He's super passionate about guitars, was really excited for me.) We've sinced removed the cheesy black and white sticker
My guitar, in the nice soft case I got for it
A photo of inside the store. You can see why it's called Guitar Center. ;)
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Shooting nearby
Just heard today that there was a shooting nearby. There's an online report of it at
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/baycitynews/archive/2006/12/02/hayward02.DTL
Hayward is a city in the bay area that's prob about 30 mins drive from here. The 880 is a highway I've used several times to get to Berkeley. Apparently ppl were in chartered buses going to the "big game", the Stanford vs Berkeley Football game (Stanford and Berkeley are arch rivals, way worse than RI and ACS) and on the way down they took a different highway cos the 880 was closed for the investigations.
My roommate says there's this group (I forget what it's called) that's pushing for the outlawing of handguns. It's really hard to outlaw guns in the US just because guns are such a traditional part of culture in a lot of places (think rural hunting, which used to be a regular pastime and source of food, and maybe even cowboy movies though i'm not sure about the latter). But handguns (pistols and the likes) would probably be easier to outlaw than all kinds of guns at one go. Apparently the National Rifles Association has this argument that without guns, who's going to protect you from the people with guns. Which is a really stupid but also very persuasive argument cos it plays into people's insecurities that if they give up their guns, or their right to own one, they're at a disadvantage if someone else manages to get a gun. But it's a cyclical argument that seems very flawed and stupid. Oh well. I'm glad that at least there are people pushing for the outlawing of handguns, which I think would go a really long way in making America safer. But it'd be a real pain to implement so I hope and pray they implement it well. Who knows what'll happen if they don't.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/baycitynews/archive/2006/12/02/hayward02.DTL
Hayward is a city in the bay area that's prob about 30 mins drive from here. The 880 is a highway I've used several times to get to Berkeley. Apparently ppl were in chartered buses going to the "big game", the Stanford vs Berkeley Football game (Stanford and Berkeley are arch rivals, way worse than RI and ACS) and on the way down they took a different highway cos the 880 was closed for the investigations.
My roommate says there's this group (I forget what it's called) that's pushing for the outlawing of handguns. It's really hard to outlaw guns in the US just because guns are such a traditional part of culture in a lot of places (think rural hunting, which used to be a regular pastime and source of food, and maybe even cowboy movies though i'm not sure about the latter). But handguns (pistols and the likes) would probably be easier to outlaw than all kinds of guns at one go. Apparently the National Rifles Association has this argument that without guns, who's going to protect you from the people with guns. Which is a really stupid but also very persuasive argument cos it plays into people's insecurities that if they give up their guns, or their right to own one, they're at a disadvantage if someone else manages to get a gun. But it's a cyclical argument that seems very flawed and stupid. Oh well. I'm glad that at least there are people pushing for the outlawing of handguns, which I think would go a really long way in making America safer. But it'd be a real pain to implement so I hope and pray they implement it well. Who knows what'll happen if they don't.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Thanksgiving week
Before the main part of my post, let me just share some joy with everbardee...
From an email that the head of our math dept sent out today:
"Because we have just started on the max-min theory in lectures, we decided to postpone all Section 4.2 homework problems until Assignment 9... For now, the announcement is Assignment 8 now has 11 problems, all the problems assigned from Sections 2.6 and 4.1."
I've completed section 2.6. Which means instead of having done 1/3 of the hw (which is due thu) i've done half! whoo hoo! =) It suddenly seems a lot more doable. Thank u God!! :D
Anyway, last week was thanksgiving week and we had the whole week off. Took the time to rest, relax, get some hw done... in the process of all of it I suddenly realized to my horror that we only have 2 MORE WEEKS of school and then it's finals week!! And I have math finals AND an IHUM paper due on Monday of finals week (11 Dec). XP Nvm nothing is impossible thru Christ who strengthens me! :)
Thanksgiving was on thursday; I went with Ai Lin, Dewen, Andrew (Hongkee Singaporean friend) and a guy from my dorm called Peter to Cynthia's place for thanksgiving dinner (Cynthia's the american girl I met on the trip to Redding who's moving to Singapore for work at the end of this week... have I mentioned this before? I forget). It was a really good meal and really nice company. Other stuff that I did during the week included renting DVDs (Cars and Thank You For Smoking) and watching them at Ai Lin's place together with De Wen and Andrew, and a trip up to San Francisco on wed. Check out a few of the photos I took at San Fran:
picture of part of downtown san fran
me at the northern coast of San Fran with Alcatraz (famous high-security prison on an island) in the background
a sign prohibiting ppl from taking these really expensive and high quality crabs should they show up on the pier (with san fran in the background)
a guy BALANCING ROCKS (those rocks aren't glued together. AMAZING STUFF!!)
and the Golden Gate bridge in rather foggy weather.
Throughout last week it started getting much colder than usual. Now I usually wear a t-shirt under another t-shirt or a polo shirt or something like that, so I'm effectively wearing 3 layers with my jacket. But it's comparitively warm here; other parts of the USA have been snowing for a while already. We're really in autumn now... getting colder and leaves are turning red and brown and falling. :) Gotta go do some hw now, I'll leave u guys with some photos of the Stanford campus I took last week. Cheers! =)
Taken from just outside De Wen's dorm:
And from across the road from my dorm, looking towards the central part of campus (my dorm's just to the right of the photo)
From an email that the head of our math dept sent out today:
"Because we have just started on the max-min theory in lectures, we decided to postpone all Section 4.2 homework problems until Assignment 9... For now, the announcement is Assignment 8 now has 11 problems, all the problems assigned from Sections 2.6 and 4.1."
I've completed section 2.6. Which means instead of having done 1/3 of the hw (which is due thu) i've done half! whoo hoo! =) It suddenly seems a lot more doable. Thank u God!! :D
Anyway, last week was thanksgiving week and we had the whole week off. Took the time to rest, relax, get some hw done... in the process of all of it I suddenly realized to my horror that we only have 2 MORE WEEKS of school and then it's finals week!! And I have math finals AND an IHUM paper due on Monday of finals week (11 Dec). XP Nvm nothing is impossible thru Christ who strengthens me! :)
Thanksgiving was on thursday; I went with Ai Lin, Dewen, Andrew (Hongkee Singaporean friend) and a guy from my dorm called Peter to Cynthia's place for thanksgiving dinner (Cynthia's the american girl I met on the trip to Redding who's moving to Singapore for work at the end of this week... have I mentioned this before? I forget). It was a really good meal and really nice company. Other stuff that I did during the week included renting DVDs (Cars and Thank You For Smoking) and watching them at Ai Lin's place together with De Wen and Andrew, and a trip up to San Francisco on wed. Check out a few of the photos I took at San Fran:
picture of part of downtown san fran
me at the northern coast of San Fran with Alcatraz (famous high-security prison on an island) in the background
a sign prohibiting ppl from taking these really expensive and high quality crabs should they show up on the pier (with san fran in the background)
a guy BALANCING ROCKS (those rocks aren't glued together. AMAZING STUFF!!)
and the Golden Gate bridge in rather foggy weather.
Throughout last week it started getting much colder than usual. Now I usually wear a t-shirt under another t-shirt or a polo shirt or something like that, so I'm effectively wearing 3 layers with my jacket. But it's comparitively warm here; other parts of the USA have been snowing for a while already. We're really in autumn now... getting colder and leaves are turning red and brown and falling. :) Gotta go do some hw now, I'll leave u guys with some photos of the Stanford campus I took last week. Cheers! =)
Taken from just outside De Wen's dorm:
And from across the road from my dorm, looking towards the central part of campus (my dorm's just to the right of the photo)
Monday, November 20, 2006
Driving Test 2
I PASSED!!! Praise God!! NO errors. And the tester was much nicer this time. Case-in-point: Part of the test was to pull over and then reverse. As I was reversing she was looking at this squirrel climbing a tree and laughing. :P
Had a super busy week last week. Didn't get a lot of work done in Redding so had to work pretty hard, had a math midterm on thu and an IHUM paper due friday. I started pretty late on the paper - even on wed when I went to see my TF (Teaching Fellow - the 'teacher' who leads my IHUM discussion section) I didn't have a clear idea of how to plan out my essay. But I finished eventually and I think it was even clearer and more succinct than my first paper a few weeks ago, although i'll only know for sure when I get my paper back. Which won't be for a couple of weeks I think. Math midterm went well too. Scored 88 this time, which according to the statistics is safely within the A-/A range of 81-90. =)
So it's been a challenging week but it went well and I'm glad it's over. This week is thanksgiving break so I'm gonna try to do some work, get some sleep and have some fun. :)
Only 4 weeks left till I return home! Incredibly fast... And yet Lisa said just now that she feels like we (I and De Wen and one or two others) have been here forever. Which is good. Cos it means we fit in and we're into the flow of things and stuff. Yay. :D
Had a super busy week last week. Didn't get a lot of work done in Redding so had to work pretty hard, had a math midterm on thu and an IHUM paper due friday. I started pretty late on the paper - even on wed when I went to see my TF (Teaching Fellow - the 'teacher' who leads my IHUM discussion section) I didn't have a clear idea of how to plan out my essay. But I finished eventually and I think it was even clearer and more succinct than my first paper a few weeks ago, although i'll only know for sure when I get my paper back. Which won't be for a couple of weeks I think. Math midterm went well too. Scored 88 this time, which according to the statistics is safely within the A-/A range of 81-90. =)
So it's been a challenging week but it went well and I'm glad it's over. This week is thanksgiving break so I'm gonna try to do some work, get some sleep and have some fun. :)
Only 4 weeks left till I return home! Incredibly fast... And yet Lisa said just now that she feels like we (I and De Wen and one or two others) have been here forever. Which is good. Cos it means we fit in and we're into the flow of things and stuff. Yay. :D
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Driving Test
Had my driving test yesterday. And guess what? I didn't make it. :P Was turning right on red (which is legal here as long as you give way) and was checking for oncoming traffic from my left but failed to check for cars turning left from directly in front of me, so I came kinda close to hitting a car and the tester had to tell me to stop. Sigh.
Well, in spite of that I was feeling relatively ok abt it. Guess my ego was a bit bruised but I'll just wait patiently for the re-test (which is in 2 weeks). Meanwhile Lisa (the friend who's driven me to the DMV twice) said I can borrow her car to practice. She was really encouraging, such a blessing to have her arnd. Prob will try practising tmr afternoon since i'm free, provided she doesn't need to use her car.
Had an incredible weekend. Was at a birthday dinner on Saturday night and, without going into too much detail (cos not everyone will get what I'm talking abt) a bunch of us ended up spending over 2 hrs praying and prophesying and moving in the Spirit. And the prophecies and stuff were for me. God spoke so much that night, it was amazing. And very undeserved I'm sure, which just goes to show His incredible grace. Want more details? drop me an email. *grinz*
Going to this church in Redding this weekend. It's a 4 hr drive north from here. Going with the same bunch of friends that were there praying and prophesying, plus some others. It's amazing how God's led me to this really tight-knit group of spirit-filled Christians here, all of whom are Singaporean! Except one. But she's moving to Singapore in a month. Haha. Anyway it's a church with a really open heaven over it, apparently God is really pouring out His spirit in that place. Many testimonies of healings and other miracles. I'm quite eager to see what will happen. =)
Gonna grab a cookie from the fridge and just relax for a while. Have class in 40 mins. God bless!
Well, in spite of that I was feeling relatively ok abt it. Guess my ego was a bit bruised but I'll just wait patiently for the re-test (which is in 2 weeks). Meanwhile Lisa (the friend who's driven me to the DMV twice) said I can borrow her car to practice. She was really encouraging, such a blessing to have her arnd. Prob will try practising tmr afternoon since i'm free, provided she doesn't need to use her car.
Had an incredible weekend. Was at a birthday dinner on Saturday night and, without going into too much detail (cos not everyone will get what I'm talking abt) a bunch of us ended up spending over 2 hrs praying and prophesying and moving in the Spirit. And the prophecies and stuff were for me. God spoke so much that night, it was amazing. And very undeserved I'm sure, which just goes to show His incredible grace. Want more details? drop me an email. *grinz*
Going to this church in Redding this weekend. It's a 4 hr drive north from here. Going with the same bunch of friends that were there praying and prophesying, plus some others. It's amazing how God's led me to this really tight-knit group of spirit-filled Christians here, all of whom are Singaporean! Except one. But she's moving to Singapore in a month. Haha. Anyway it's a church with a really open heaven over it, apparently God is really pouring out His spirit in that place. Many testimonies of healings and other miracles. I'm quite eager to see what will happen. =)
Gonna grab a cookie from the fridge and just relax for a while. Have class in 40 mins. God bless!
Monday, October 30, 2006
Super busy weekend
Had an incredible weekend. See the title. It was busy but fantastic. And a little bit of a stretch but not too bad.
So my weekend started Friday morning. That's right. I skipped a math class. Which wasn't too bad cos I managed to understand whatever they covered by reading the textbook later, thank God. :) Friday morning I went with the mendicants to San Jose airport to catch a flight to Denver, Colorado. We were there to sing at an alumni gathering. So we arrived arnd 2pm Denver time, and there was a snowfall like one or two nights before so the landscape was incredible. The area is really flat and then there's loads of mountains so it's really pretty. Took a lot of photos but this one kinda sums it all up:
So my weekend started Friday morning. That's right. I skipped a math class. Which wasn't too bad cos I managed to understand whatever they covered by reading the textbook later, thank God. :) Friday morning I went with the mendicants to San Jose airport to catch a flight to Denver, Colorado. We were there to sing at an alumni gathering. So we arrived arnd 2pm Denver time, and there was a snowfall like one or two nights before so the landscape was incredible. The area is really flat and then there's loads of mountains so it's really pretty. Took a lot of photos but this one kinda sums it all up:
That's a picture of Denver (it's the name of the city) as we were driving from the airport. Beautiful.
So we stayed at the hotel where the alumni gathering was being held. It was REALLY nice.
Went for lunch (all our meals were paid for), ate at this 60's-style burger joint that served fantastic burgers and REALLY gd miilkshakes (my strawberry banana milkshake had real banana in it and they even gave the remaining milkshake tt couldn't fit in the glass in the metal can tt u use to shake the milkshake). In the evening we went to the reception where we mingled with the alumni in between singing songs. Had a 2 hr break after that while the alumni were listening to a couple of speakers, then went back to do the same as had dessert and left. Some of the guys went out for a movie after that; I went with Lance (the guy sitting on the bed in the picture above) to grab a bite and a drink. Very stupidly left my debit card at the restaurant so I cancelled it and ordered a new one when I got back. Woke up at 6am the next day to take a flight back. Fantastic scenery from the plane.
Was so tired when I got back so I took a 3.5 hr nap. :P
Had a performance at the West Coast A Cappella showcase in Berkeley that Sat evening. Went pretty well, I quite enjoyed the concert. The next morning I woke up early to go to San Fran with Chris. Met up with Yinshan (fellow MAS scholar and Berkeley student) there too. We went to Christian City Church San Fran together (www.c3sf.com). It was a fantastic service and we stayed arnd during lunch to talk to some of the staff and pastors. The journey to and fro took almost 2 hrs each way; hopefully I can get a ride from somebody if I decide to go there regularly. After getting back the mendicants had a bbq together with counterpoint, the only female a cappella group on campus. Was a pretty good time but it was really cold; last night was the first night I could consistently see my breath condense.
So yeah, was really tired last night. Managed to do some hw though. I'm now at an outdoor cafe drinking a juice smoothie and typing this. =) Was going to go into the library but decided it's too nice a day to spend indoors.
Tmr I'm leading IHUM section discussion together with another guy. We're meeting tonight to discuss. I'm praying it'll go well... we're leading the discussion of one of the short stories in James Joyce's "Dubliners", a collection of short stories portraying life in Dublin. Cheem. Haha.
Oh btw, daylight savings time has ended so for those of you who've been wondering what time it is over here while you're doing whatever, the time difference is now 16 hrs instead of 15hrs previously. So like 5pm in Singapore is like my 1am on the same day.
Wondering what this new week will bring. We'll see. No more mendicants performances next weekend but our fall concert is coming up so we'll prob still be busy, though not as busy as before. I think. :D
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Santa Barbara
Hey all! Wanted to update my blog on Sunday but was too tired. Went down to Santa Barbara (about 4.5 - 5 hrs drive down south, near L.A.) to sing for an ex-mendicant's wedding. It was a REALLY nice wedding reception. Think it must've been real expensive. Anyway Santa Barbara was beautiful. Check out the few photos below:
This is a picture taken from the beach which was walking distance from our motel (our motel's straight up the small road at the center of the pic). The beach was fantastic, much warmer than Santa Cruz, very soft sand, awesome weather. So Santa Barbara is a small beach-front city, and on the other side of the city are mountains (which you can see in the pic). Breathtaking scenery.
Another picture of the beach. Like I said, awesome weather. =)
This is a view of the downtown. Much nicer and more happening than the Palo Alto downtown, there's a lot more things happening there, and it's really very pleasant. Went there for dinner just before going to the wedding.
We rented a 15-seater van and drove down on Saturday, drove back up on Sunday. And of course, being myself, I couldn't help not taking a photo of the van. *grinz* So here it is...
Spent Saturday night at University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) where we met up with a friend of one of the guys in the group, and bumped into a somewhat drunk friend of another guy in the group (the latter was a lot more amusing than the former - no offense Greg... haha...). Sunday morning I went with one of the guys (Solomon, a Korean kid from nearby Stanford whose Dad's a pastor) to a church nearby called Harvest Christian Fellowship. Enjoyed the service, thot it was pretty gd though again a lot of the ppl were a little non-participative. Drove back to Stanford in the afternoon, met with heavy traffic so the journey took 6.5 hrs. XP Took the time to learn some music in the van. haha. So anyway u can see why I was tired on Sun. :)
Flying to Denver tomorrow with the mendicants to sing at an alumni function. I think we get to stay at the hotel where the banquet for the alumni is being held. :) Just found out from one of the guys that it snowed in Denver a day or two ago. So I think it's gonna be cold. Will be back on Saturday, going to Berkeley to sing at the west coast a cappella showcase on Sat night. So it's a pretty packed weekend.
Gtg for class now... my IHUM discussion section is from 6 - 7:30pm. Thank God it's the last class of the day. haha. Kinda tired now, stayed up late last night doing math problems and my music take-home midterm. Had a headache just now but it's a lot better now, thank God! Will try to post pics of Denver when I come back. Till next time! :)
This is a picture taken from the beach which was walking distance from our motel (our motel's straight up the small road at the center of the pic). The beach was fantastic, much warmer than Santa Cruz, very soft sand, awesome weather. So Santa Barbara is a small beach-front city, and on the other side of the city are mountains (which you can see in the pic). Breathtaking scenery.
Another picture of the beach. Like I said, awesome weather. =)
This is a view of the downtown. Much nicer and more happening than the Palo Alto downtown, there's a lot more things happening there, and it's really very pleasant. Went there for dinner just before going to the wedding.We rented a 15-seater van and drove down on Saturday, drove back up on Sunday. And of course, being myself, I couldn't help not taking a photo of the van. *grinz* So here it is...
Spent Saturday night at University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) where we met up with a friend of one of the guys in the group, and bumped into a somewhat drunk friend of another guy in the group (the latter was a lot more amusing than the former - no offense Greg... haha...). Sunday morning I went with one of the guys (Solomon, a Korean kid from nearby Stanford whose Dad's a pastor) to a church nearby called Harvest Christian Fellowship. Enjoyed the service, thot it was pretty gd though again a lot of the ppl were a little non-participative. Drove back to Stanford in the afternoon, met with heavy traffic so the journey took 6.5 hrs. XP Took the time to learn some music in the van. haha. So anyway u can see why I was tired on Sun. :)
Flying to Denver tomorrow with the mendicants to sing at an alumni function. I think we get to stay at the hotel where the banquet for the alumni is being held. :) Just found out from one of the guys that it snowed in Denver a day or two ago. So I think it's gonna be cold. Will be back on Saturday, going to Berkeley to sing at the west coast a cappella showcase on Sat night. So it's a pretty packed weekend.
Gtg for class now... my IHUM discussion section is from 6 - 7:30pm. Thank God it's the last class of the day. haha. Kinda tired now, stayed up late last night doing math problems and my music take-home midterm. Had a headache just now but it's a lot better now, thank God! Will try to post pics of Denver when I come back. Till next time! :)
Friday, October 20, 2006
Driving Test
Just got back from brunch after my supposed driving test. I say 'supposed' cos I didn't actually take it. I was supposed to, and Lisa (a Singaporean graduate student here) very generously volunteered to take me. So she picked me up this morning and we got there on time, only to realise that she didn't have her updated insurance and registration with her, which we needed for the test. We rushed back to her place to get it and came back but they said I needed another appointment on another day cos they were quite backlogged and couldn't slot me in. So i'm doing my driving test on Nov 6th. =)
Lisa apologised a few times but it was totally my responsibility to check and ensure that we had all the documents... which I rather unwisely didn't. So even though she took it upon herself to remember it's really no fault of hers.
Oh well, no big loss, I can still drive with my S'pore license. I'll just be patient and wait. =)
So we went to a really nice place for breakfast (at the time we went it was more like brunch) in Menlo Park, a city just north of Palo Alto. It's a very American restaurant, nice country-ish decor. Had a pancake, and skillet (fried toppings and cheese on top of rosti-style potato) and pretty nice coffee. The food was good, and so was the company, so despite the hiccup with the driving test I had a really enjoyable morning, thank God for that. :)
Tmr, the Mendicants are off to Santa Barbara! Singing for an ex-member's wedding there (yes another one). It's roughly 4-5 hrs of driving away, kinda like from S'pore to KL. But with bigger roads. haha. I'll try to update my blog while I'm there, if not i'll update when i'm back. God bless!!
Lisa apologised a few times but it was totally my responsibility to check and ensure that we had all the documents... which I rather unwisely didn't. So even though she took it upon herself to remember it's really no fault of hers.
Oh well, no big loss, I can still drive with my S'pore license. I'll just be patient and wait. =)
So we went to a really nice place for breakfast (at the time we went it was more like brunch) in Menlo Park, a city just north of Palo Alto. It's a very American restaurant, nice country-ish decor. Had a pancake, and skillet (fried toppings and cheese on top of rosti-style potato) and pretty nice coffee. The food was good, and so was the company, so despite the hiccup with the driving test I had a really enjoyable morning, thank God for that. :)
Tmr, the Mendicants are off to Santa Barbara! Singing for an ex-member's wedding there (yes another one). It's roughly 4-5 hrs of driving away, kinda like from S'pore to KL. But with bigger roads. haha. I'll try to update my blog while I'm there, if not i'll update when i'm back. God bless!!
Thursday, October 19, 2006
More Photos
Today was De Wen's birthday, and so a whole gang of Singaporeans surprised (more like shocked) him at his dorm at 11+pm last night with a cake. Here's a picture of him during the initial 10 seconds of his shock:
At one point after we were done with the cake, we grabbed him and threw him into the shower. =) No pictures of that yet unfortunately, it's in a friend's camera.
Just got back abt 30 mins ago from San Francisco, went there to meet some other MAS scholars and MAS staff who were in town for dinner. Had dinner in a REALLY nice restaurant... check out the beautiful view of the city that we had:
Not much time to update, gotta study for a math midterm. Will leave u with a few photos that my friend Daniel took of campus:
That's the road leading to the main part of school. I cycle down this road every morning. =) Most of my classes are in a 10-11 o'clock direction in this photo (i.e. behind the trees, as the crow flies).
A view of the oval (on the right side of the picture), which is kinda like a front lawn of the school. Photo taken from the main quad.
The main quad, a rectangular area that forms a central focal point of the school, is on the right (the road in this photo is the same road in the previous photo but now the camera is on the pavement next to the oval grass). The bus that u see is a marguerite bus, a free shuttle service that Stanford runs. I don't take it much, except when going to the caltrain like tonight when I had to go to San Fran.
At one point after we were done with the cake, we grabbed him and threw him into the shower. =) No pictures of that yet unfortunately, it's in a friend's camera.
Just got back abt 30 mins ago from San Francisco, went there to meet some other MAS scholars and MAS staff who were in town for dinner. Had dinner in a REALLY nice restaurant... check out the beautiful view of the city that we had:
Not much time to update, gotta study for a math midterm. Will leave u with a few photos that my friend Daniel took of campus:
That's the road leading to the main part of school. I cycle down this road every morning. =) Most of my classes are in a 10-11 o'clock direction in this photo (i.e. behind the trees, as the crow flies).
A view of the oval (on the right side of the picture), which is kinda like a front lawn of the school. Photo taken from the main quad.
The main quad, a rectangular area that forms a central focal point of the school, is on the right (the road in this photo is the same road in the previous photo but now the camera is on the pavement next to the oval grass). The bus that u see is a marguerite bus, a free shuttle service that Stanford runs. I don't take it much, except when going to the caltrain like tonight when I had to go to San Fran.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Busy... :P
Haven't updated my blog in abt a week or so... been pretty busy as you may or may not have guessed. Had a paper due on thursday, and this weekend's pretty busy too. Had that performance tonight, practised driving in the afternoon (kudos to Lisa, a grad student and a fellow Christian from Chi Alpha, who let me practise by driving to a dept store and a couple of supermarkets to stock up on stuff); as for workload, I gotta complete a fair bit of jazz hw (composing melodies - doesn't come easily, esp jazz melodies, to a classicaly-trained me) and math hw (2/3 of which I don't undertstand yet cos the lecturer hasn't taught it yet) by tues, I have to read half a book for IHUM lecture by Monday morning, and there's math midterm on thu.
Speaking of the performance, it went pretty, well, thank God! Thought I did pretty ok. Except for that last note where I think I really went quite out of tune, think my voice cracked a little. Nonetheless ppl were telling me it went well so praise God! =)
Gotta get back to hw now... I mentioned in previous entries that my dorm was pretty small but nice and cosy nonetheless. here's a pic of the courtyard outside my dorm, taken from the dining hall. My dorm's on the left, kinda blocked by a tree. It's really very pleasant. Also below is another pic taken with Chris and his parents just after commencement speech. Just got these pics from my dad via email so here they are.
till next time! :)
Speaking of the performance, it went pretty, well, thank God! Thought I did pretty ok. Except for that last note where I think I really went quite out of tune, think my voice cracked a little. Nonetheless ppl were telling me it went well so praise God! =)
Gotta get back to hw now... I mentioned in previous entries that my dorm was pretty small but nice and cosy nonetheless. here's a pic of the courtyard outside my dorm, taken from the dining hall. My dorm's on the left, kinda blocked by a tree. It's really very pleasant. Also below is another pic taken with Chris and his parents just after commencement speech. Just got these pics from my dad via email so here they are.
till next time! :)
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Oh Happy Day!
And yet another week has passed. I'll bet it'll be really soon before i'm back in Singapore again. I'll be returning on 20 Dec wed early morning, at smtg like 12:50am I think. Will be back home until 6th Jan, Sat morning. So I'll be arnd for Christmas and New Year! =)
Sang Oh Happy Day with The Mendicants for an ex-mendicant's wedding on Saturday. Our first paid gig as the new batch of mendicants! And I took the solo for the song. Was really quite honored and thankful that I got it cos I really like the song and it's a very simple gospel message song which I personally believe in. So I wanted to do my best. The performance went well, but I think it could've been better. When I'm actually in front of a lot of ppl I tend to get a bit more nervous and I think the sincerity of the solo didn't really come out. Plus the fact that I was just recovering from a cold and had a stuffy nose didn't really help. :P Nevertheless, praise God for a smooth first gig! It's really gd to have a first gig so soon, it forces us to get things going and stuff.
Anyway, there's another chance this Sat! We're singing it for a performance on Sat night, and it'll be in front of a LOT of ppl, many of whom I know, so the pressure's up! But no cold this time, and more familiarity with the song, so I'm praying I'll really deliver it sincerely and professionally. :)
We really have a lot of gigs coming up. This weekend is the performance, the weekend after that we're going to Santa Barbera to sing at another wedding I think, and after that Stanford's flying us to Denver (whoo hoo!!) to sing at a function on Friday night (i think), and then the next day (Saturday) we fly back and sing at the west coast a cappella festival gathering thingamajig at Berkeley (nearer to San Fran, abt an hour's drive north from Stanford). But it's gd cos it forces us to get moving and pick up the pace, and momentum is really so important to a group.
Ok gtg now. Working on my first IHUM paper. I really like the Microsoft Word for mac, it has this notepad feature where the screen appears like a notepad with lines and everything is by default in bulleted form. It even has section tabs like a file. So I'm using that to type out all my thoughts and stuff for my IHUM paper, compiled a list of quotes, and right now I'm doing up an essay plan. Basically it kinda enables me to brainstorm with myself without having to suffer the terrible consequences of my own bad handwriting and poor organisation. ;)
Take care everybardee! God bless!! Drop me emails when u're free, I check my email super frequently now cos every announcement here is done by email. Cheers! =)
Sang Oh Happy Day with The Mendicants for an ex-mendicant's wedding on Saturday. Our first paid gig as the new batch of mendicants! And I took the solo for the song. Was really quite honored and thankful that I got it cos I really like the song and it's a very simple gospel message song which I personally believe in. So I wanted to do my best. The performance went well, but I think it could've been better. When I'm actually in front of a lot of ppl I tend to get a bit more nervous and I think the sincerity of the solo didn't really come out. Plus the fact that I was just recovering from a cold and had a stuffy nose didn't really help. :P Nevertheless, praise God for a smooth first gig! It's really gd to have a first gig so soon, it forces us to get things going and stuff.
Anyway, there's another chance this Sat! We're singing it for a performance on Sat night, and it'll be in front of a LOT of ppl, many of whom I know, so the pressure's up! But no cold this time, and more familiarity with the song, so I'm praying I'll really deliver it sincerely and professionally. :)
We really have a lot of gigs coming up. This weekend is the performance, the weekend after that we're going to Santa Barbera to sing at another wedding I think, and after that Stanford's flying us to Denver (whoo hoo!!) to sing at a function on Friday night (i think), and then the next day (Saturday) we fly back and sing at the west coast a cappella festival gathering thingamajig at Berkeley (nearer to San Fran, abt an hour's drive north from Stanford). But it's gd cos it forces us to get moving and pick up the pace, and momentum is really so important to a group.
Ok gtg now. Working on my first IHUM paper. I really like the Microsoft Word for mac, it has this notepad feature where the screen appears like a notepad with lines and everything is by default in bulleted form. It even has section tabs like a file. So I'm using that to type out all my thoughts and stuff for my IHUM paper, compiled a list of quotes, and right now I'm doing up an essay plan. Basically it kinda enables me to brainstorm with myself without having to suffer the terrible consequences of my own bad handwriting and poor organisation. ;)
Take care everybardee! God bless!! Drop me emails when u're free, I check my email super frequently now cos every announcement here is done by email. Cheers! =)
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Santa Cruz!
Hey!! Sorry this is kinda belated, been a little busy since Mon and Sun I was dead beat
So in the end we took 3 cars and drove abt 1.5 hrs to Santa Cruz, which is down south, on the west coast of the USA. It's a beachside city, and they'd rented a house near the beach to hang out. It was a REALLY SMALL house. haha. but it was cosy and pretty fun. Check out a few pix:
We went to the beach and played kickball, which is basically softball/baseball except played with a volley/soccer ball, and the pitch is rolled and instead of batting u kick the ball. I kinda sucked at it but just played to join in the fun. =) And I can confidently say that I have never been to such a COLD beach. it was FREEZING. Kinda. I walked into the water and my feet were almost numb within a few mins. Had some fun trying to withstand the waves... I got knocked over by one. :) We stayed the night and I was really blessed the next morn cos one of the guys had arranged to go to a nearby church, and I got woken up when he got up, so I went with him. Amazing how God provides! Really enjoyed the service too. The group went to the 'boardwalk' in the afternoon, it was dristling so didn't go on the rides but we did play mini-golf. Sang impromptu to a few girls too at our music director's spur of inspiration. haha. Funny part was that most of us didn't know the whole song cos we only sang one verse for auditions... so we kinda just barely scraped thru. Gd thing we weren't wearing Stanford shirts. haha.
The group consists of 12 guys, only 3 of whom are returning from previous years. Apparently it goes in cycles, and this year happens to be a year when a lot of mendicants are either graduating or moving on to junior/senior year and need the time to do smtg different. Our first gig is this sat: we're singing Oh Happy Day for an ex-mendicant's wedding nearby.
Just got my first IHUM writing assg today. Gotta work on developing a paper. A part of me just feels like groaning and complaining but I guess I shld get round to it soon and get it done with, and in the process work on my writing and literary-analysis skills and stuff like that. :)
It actually rained this afternoon and all the way into the night. It gets pretty cold esp when I'm biking and my hands are wet and the wind is blowing; my hands kinda end up freezing. Apparently it'll start raining more soon. Anyway, on a more positive note, had a great mtg with Chi Alpha tonight. Really felt more plugged into God during worship. Realised that these folks really are my spiritual family for the next few years, so while I'm still looking for a church (and even after I've found one) I really shld get to know them better. Still praying abt which church to join, there are actually quite a few biblically sound charismatic churches in the area so it may be a few more wks before I finally decide. Pray I'll be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading.
So in the end we took 3 cars and drove abt 1.5 hrs to Santa Cruz, which is down south, on the west coast of the USA. It's a beachside city, and they'd rented a house near the beach to hang out. It was a REALLY SMALL house. haha. but it was cosy and pretty fun. Check out a few pix:
We went to the beach and played kickball, which is basically softball/baseball except played with a volley/soccer ball, and the pitch is rolled and instead of batting u kick the ball. I kinda sucked at it but just played to join in the fun. =) And I can confidently say that I have never been to such a COLD beach. it was FREEZING. Kinda. I walked into the water and my feet were almost numb within a few mins. Had some fun trying to withstand the waves... I got knocked over by one. :) We stayed the night and I was really blessed the next morn cos one of the guys had arranged to go to a nearby church, and I got woken up when he got up, so I went with him. Amazing how God provides! Really enjoyed the service too. The group went to the 'boardwalk' in the afternoon, it was dristling so didn't go on the rides but we did play mini-golf. Sang impromptu to a few girls too at our music director's spur of inspiration. haha. Funny part was that most of us didn't know the whole song cos we only sang one verse for auditions... so we kinda just barely scraped thru. Gd thing we weren't wearing Stanford shirts. haha.
The group consists of 12 guys, only 3 of whom are returning from previous years. Apparently it goes in cycles, and this year happens to be a year when a lot of mendicants are either graduating or moving on to junior/senior year and need the time to do smtg different. Our first gig is this sat: we're singing Oh Happy Day for an ex-mendicant's wedding nearby.
Just got my first IHUM writing assg today. Gotta work on developing a paper. A part of me just feels like groaning and complaining but I guess I shld get round to it soon and get it done with, and in the process work on my writing and literary-analysis skills and stuff like that. :)
It actually rained this afternoon and all the way into the night. It gets pretty cold esp when I'm biking and my hands are wet and the wind is blowing; my hands kinda end up freezing. Apparently it'll start raining more soon. Anyway, on a more positive note, had a great mtg with Chi Alpha tonight. Really felt more plugged into God during worship. Realised that these folks really are my spiritual family for the next few years, so while I'm still looking for a church (and even after I've found one) I really shld get to know them better. Still praying abt which church to join, there are actually quite a few biblically sound charismatic churches in the area so it may be a few more wks before I finally decide. Pray I'll be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
A Wake Up Call
Approx 6:40am: I'm woken up by several really loud knocks on the door. My first thought is, "Oh NO I'm really late for the scavenger hunt!" In my sleepy state I clamber out of bed, open the door, and find approx 12 guys with white baseball jerseys with the word "Mendicants" on it standing in front of me, and they start singing. I've still got the song stuck in my head but I dunno the title... it's an oldie, prob from the 80s or smtg. Anyway they finish singing and, in a rather random order, inform me that I've been accepted into the Mendicants!!! Whoohoo!! Praise God!
And so they leave, and one guy, Matty, gives me a sheet of paper telling me to read it soon cos it's kinda time sensitive. Of course I'm still half asleep and so I put the paper on the table, promising myself to read it once I wake up, and go back to bed.
As an afterthought I wonder if any of those guys slept tonight at all. I mean, if they were going around to every single dorm room to sing for every single guy that got in, that must take a while man!
7:40-7:50am: Alarm rings. I haven't been able to get to sleep... think their singing really shocked me awake. Same goes for my roomate. And maybe everyone else in the hall. :P
8am: I finish nuahing on the bed and finally get up. As I read the piece of paper from Matty I get a sorta sinking feeling in my heart.
"There is one thing we need to tell you, and that is that you need to be at the Tressider bollards at 12 o'clock noon, today September 30th. If your dorm has a scavenger hunt, don't go, we have much more exciting plans for you..."
I'm like... oh man. I can't go for scavenger hunt. After a few minutes though, I get warmed up to the idea and start getting excited abt whatever's going to happen, while being a little wary at the same time. :P My guess is that it'll last till tmr cos they said bring a sleeping bag (which I don't have) and a couple of changes of clothes, among another things.
So... I'll blog again when I come back! If I have strength left in me that is. Haha. I'm sure it's gonna be real fun. If u wanna check the group's website out it's http://www.stanford.edu/group/mendicants/home.htm. Gonna pack up now and see if i can catch a couple more hrs of sleep.
Cheers!! =)
And so they leave, and one guy, Matty, gives me a sheet of paper telling me to read it soon cos it's kinda time sensitive. Of course I'm still half asleep and so I put the paper on the table, promising myself to read it once I wake up, and go back to bed.
As an afterthought I wonder if any of those guys slept tonight at all. I mean, if they were going around to every single dorm room to sing for every single guy that got in, that must take a while man!
7:40-7:50am: Alarm rings. I haven't been able to get to sleep... think their singing really shocked me awake. Same goes for my roomate. And maybe everyone else in the hall. :P
8am: I finish nuahing on the bed and finally get up. As I read the piece of paper from Matty I get a sorta sinking feeling in my heart.
"There is one thing we need to tell you, and that is that you need to be at the Tressider bollards at 12 o'clock noon, today September 30th. If your dorm has a scavenger hunt, don't go, we have much more exciting plans for you..."
I'm like... oh man. I can't go for scavenger hunt. After a few minutes though, I get warmed up to the idea and start getting excited abt whatever's going to happen, while being a little wary at the same time. :P My guess is that it'll last till tmr cos they said bring a sleeping bag (which I don't have) and a couple of changes of clothes, among another things.
So... I'll blog again when I come back! If I have strength left in me that is. Haha. I'm sure it's gonna be real fun. If u wanna check the group's website out it's http://www.stanford.edu/group/mendicants/home.htm. Gonna pack up now and see if i can catch a couple more hrs of sleep.
Cheers!! =)
Friday, September 29, 2006
1st week of sch's over!!
I made thru the first week of classes! Hallelujah! haha...
Thinking I may drop the MS&E course. Don't wanna take on too many things. Had my first IHUM section yesterday, it's really quite a small discussion section (abt 15 ppl). And class participation is an important part of the grade, and I'm naturally not a very loud-spoken person (if there's even such a term).
Update on what we Singaporeans call 'CCAs' (*grinz*): I got into University Singers, and was asked back for callbacks for Chamber Chorale. I attended the first rehearsal of the University Singers, and the callback audition for Chamber Chorale where we learned a choral piece together and sang that piece in different groups within each section. Was really happy to be asked back for callbacks but I realised a lot of my choral technique is gone after having not sung in choirs for 2.5 years and in the first place a lot of the other ppl there have much better voices than me. Anyway I didn't get into Chamber Chorale, and I'm thinking University Singers may not be the place for me, simply because of the type of repertoire. I'd enjoy it, but more like a pastime than anything I'm really passionate abt.
So that leaves The Mendicants, the a cappella group I auditioned for. Went for the callbacks tonight. It was really quite fun, they're a really wacky fun bunch of guys and I think I'd really enjoy singing with them. So I'm praying I get in. It'd also be an amazing opportunity to sing with an established college acappella group with years of experience: the first batch of mendicants was established in like 1960 or smtg like that. And they go on tours and make CDs and stuff. So it'd be awesome experience, besides the performance experience which wld be priceless of course. Well, I've done my best so I'll leave it in God's hands. =)
Tmr is Scavenger Hunt at San Francisco. The whole bunch of freshies are going to San Fran for a day-long city-wide Scavenger Hunt. Whee! Gonna be exhausted tmr.
One last thing before I go: here's a picture of a bunch of ppl from my dorm and the neighbouring dorms:
We were hiding in my room (more ppl came later) cos it was the birthday of one of the guys in the next door room, Othman (or Ozzie for short). And apparently Stanford tradition is that if it's the guy's birthday, u throw him into the shower (thank God my bday's in summer hols!). So some guys got the shower going and Ozzie's roomate knocked on the door. When he opened we barged in, two ppl carried Ozzie into the bathroom and into the shower and we started singing 'happy birthday'. =) The guy with the long hair and the bandana is my roomate. Doesn't look like Orlando Bloom now. In the Stanford yearbook for Frosh which has pictures in it, He doesn't have glasses and his hair's longer and tied back so he looks more like orlando bloom there. :)
Thinking I may drop the MS&E course. Don't wanna take on too many things. Had my first IHUM section yesterday, it's really quite a small discussion section (abt 15 ppl). And class participation is an important part of the grade, and I'm naturally not a very loud-spoken person (if there's even such a term).
Update on what we Singaporeans call 'CCAs' (*grinz*): I got into University Singers, and was asked back for callbacks for Chamber Chorale. I attended the first rehearsal of the University Singers, and the callback audition for Chamber Chorale where we learned a choral piece together and sang that piece in different groups within each section. Was really happy to be asked back for callbacks but I realised a lot of my choral technique is gone after having not sung in choirs for 2.5 years and in the first place a lot of the other ppl there have much better voices than me. Anyway I didn't get into Chamber Chorale, and I'm thinking University Singers may not be the place for me, simply because of the type of repertoire. I'd enjoy it, but more like a pastime than anything I'm really passionate abt.
So that leaves The Mendicants, the a cappella group I auditioned for. Went for the callbacks tonight. It was really quite fun, they're a really wacky fun bunch of guys and I think I'd really enjoy singing with them. So I'm praying I get in. It'd also be an amazing opportunity to sing with an established college acappella group with years of experience: the first batch of mendicants was established in like 1960 or smtg like that. And they go on tours and make CDs and stuff. So it'd be awesome experience, besides the performance experience which wld be priceless of course. Well, I've done my best so I'll leave it in God's hands. =)
Tmr is Scavenger Hunt at San Francisco. The whole bunch of freshies are going to San Fran for a day-long city-wide Scavenger Hunt. Whee! Gonna be exhausted tmr.
One last thing before I go: here's a picture of a bunch of ppl from my dorm and the neighbouring dorms:
We were hiding in my room (more ppl came later) cos it was the birthday of one of the guys in the next door room, Othman (or Ozzie for short). And apparently Stanford tradition is that if it's the guy's birthday, u throw him into the shower (thank God my bday's in summer hols!). So some guys got the shower going and Ozzie's roomate knocked on the door. When he opened we barged in, two ppl carried Ozzie into the bathroom and into the shower and we started singing 'happy birthday'. =) The guy with the long hair and the bandana is my roomate. Doesn't look like Orlando Bloom now. In the Stanford yearbook for Frosh which has pictures in it, He doesn't have glasses and his hair's longer and tied back so he looks more like orlando bloom there. :)
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
On ur marks... get set... go!!!
Classes started yesterday! Got my first homework. Math problem sets (math questions in our lingo). They're all from the textbook, thank God my neighbour has the textbook so I managed to do quite a few of the questions. There're a LOT of questions to be done, it's due next thu. But wanna get it out of the way before other hw starts coming in as much as possible.
So u're probably wondering what classes i'm taking eh? :) Ok here's a breakdown and summary:
IHUM - Stands for Introduction to the HUManities. Consists of a range of humanities courses that tend to touch more on philosophy, sociology and literature. They all have interesting but rather vague names; mine's titled "Journeys" (which applies to practically every literary work ever written), then there's stuff like "Technological Utopia" or smtg like that, "Visions of Mortality" etc. It's compulsory to take an IHUM during yr 1, by the way, so every freshman's got an IHUM assignment. Worth 5 credits.
Math 51 - A more chim math course than the course that a majority (I think) of freshmen doing math start with. I think. But for some reason there seem to be more Math 51 classes than 41, which is the easier course. Our Teaching Assistant who's doing the discussion sessions is a slightly insecure-looking girl from China who's got quite a heavy accent and is prob doing her post-grad studies. I can understand her English but I wonder if it's harder for the Americans in the class. Also worth 5 credits.
Introsem: Physics in the 21st Century - Introsems = Introductory Seminars. They're seminars that are created and conducted by faculty members themselves, based on any topic of their choice. So often it's stuff that's not the normal academia but is interesting. And the class size is usually small so it's supposed to be quite interactive, and a gd way to get to know a member of the faculty Mine's a bit more academic, but not ur usual syllabus. It's gonna touch on elementary particle physics, i.e. the study of very small things, and also cosmology i.e. the study of the biggest stuff in existence (besides God). Worth 3 credits.
Jazz theory!! - Sounds fun eh? I'm expecting it to be. Quite self-explanatory. It's worth 3 credits, but I'm considering taking another 1-credit course called Jazz Skills that runs quite parallel to the Jazz Theory course. It's a course to teach u how to play jazz in a jazz combo group, quite catered to a varied range of musicians including beginners. But see if I have time first.
MS&E Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders' Seminar - A 1 credit lecture thing. MS&E stands for Management Science and Engineering, which is a course I'm considering majoring in, or maybe even doing a masters in. It covers foundational engineering but also delves into operations management, business, economics etc.; it's basically like a business course with special emphasis on industrial engineering and methods of management. i think. I'm just taking this course to see what MS&E is like since it seems like a potential major.
So that's it! 17 credits, 18 if I do the Jazz Skills class. And maybe 19 if I get into University Singers (a choir). I dunno yet. The permitted workload is 12-20 credits so I'm already on the high end of things. i really dun wanna overload myself which is y I'm a little apprehensive abt the jazz skills class. But I have until 22 Oct to drop classes so there's still time. =) for those of u who're Christian, if u're praying for me, pray I'll be led to the right choices in terms of planning my major(s) and/or minor or masters, cos there's many options that seem interesting to me now. =)
On an unrelated note, I was super blessed yesterday to meet a friend called Pearline. Met her thru Charmaine, one of the other Singaporean undergrads. Pearline's a postgrad student doing her PhD in Stanford and she's super entrepreneurial. She either finds used appliances arnd or ppl give old appliances to her when they move out, and she cleans them up and sells them. So I got a mini fridge from her and a microwave for only US$30. Thanks Pearline!! The microwave is super old, prob made of solid steel - it's heavier than the fridge! And the only button it has is a knob to turn for the timer. but it works, and I'm really thankful I have it to complement the fridge which was also a huge blessing. =)
Time to return to homework. Cheers!!
So u're probably wondering what classes i'm taking eh? :) Ok here's a breakdown and summary:
IHUM - Stands for Introduction to the HUManities. Consists of a range of humanities courses that tend to touch more on philosophy, sociology and literature. They all have interesting but rather vague names; mine's titled "Journeys" (which applies to practically every literary work ever written), then there's stuff like "Technological Utopia" or smtg like that, "Visions of Mortality" etc. It's compulsory to take an IHUM during yr 1, by the way, so every freshman's got an IHUM assignment. Worth 5 credits.
Math 51 - A more chim math course than the course that a majority (I think) of freshmen doing math start with. I think. But for some reason there seem to be more Math 51 classes than 41, which is the easier course. Our Teaching Assistant who's doing the discussion sessions is a slightly insecure-looking girl from China who's got quite a heavy accent and is prob doing her post-grad studies. I can understand her English but I wonder if it's harder for the Americans in the class. Also worth 5 credits.
Introsem: Physics in the 21st Century - Introsems = Introductory Seminars. They're seminars that are created and conducted by faculty members themselves, based on any topic of their choice. So often it's stuff that's not the normal academia but is interesting. And the class size is usually small so it's supposed to be quite interactive, and a gd way to get to know a member of the faculty Mine's a bit more academic, but not ur usual syllabus. It's gonna touch on elementary particle physics, i.e. the study of very small things, and also cosmology i.e. the study of the biggest stuff in existence (besides God). Worth 3 credits.
Jazz theory!! - Sounds fun eh? I'm expecting it to be. Quite self-explanatory. It's worth 3 credits, but I'm considering taking another 1-credit course called Jazz Skills that runs quite parallel to the Jazz Theory course. It's a course to teach u how to play jazz in a jazz combo group, quite catered to a varied range of musicians including beginners. But see if I have time first.
MS&E Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders' Seminar - A 1 credit lecture thing. MS&E stands for Management Science and Engineering, which is a course I'm considering majoring in, or maybe even doing a masters in. It covers foundational engineering but also delves into operations management, business, economics etc.; it's basically like a business course with special emphasis on industrial engineering and methods of management. i think. I'm just taking this course to see what MS&E is like since it seems like a potential major.
So that's it! 17 credits, 18 if I do the Jazz Skills class. And maybe 19 if I get into University Singers (a choir). I dunno yet. The permitted workload is 12-20 credits so I'm already on the high end of things. i really dun wanna overload myself which is y I'm a little apprehensive abt the jazz skills class. But I have until 22 Oct to drop classes so there's still time. =) for those of u who're Christian, if u're praying for me, pray I'll be led to the right choices in terms of planning my major(s) and/or minor or masters, cos there's many options that seem interesting to me now. =)
On an unrelated note, I was super blessed yesterday to meet a friend called Pearline. Met her thru Charmaine, one of the other Singaporean undergrads. Pearline's a postgrad student doing her PhD in Stanford and she's super entrepreneurial. She either finds used appliances arnd or ppl give old appliances to her when they move out, and she cleans them up and sells them. So I got a mini fridge from her and a microwave for only US$30. Thanks Pearline!! The microwave is super old, prob made of solid steel - it's heavier than the fridge! And the only button it has is a knob to turn for the timer. but it works, and I'm really thankful I have it to complement the fridge which was also a huge blessing. =)
Time to return to homework. Cheers!!
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Counting down to classes
Classes start tmr! Feeling a strange mix of eagerness, apprehension and numbness all at the same time. Haha. It's been an interesting past few days. Today I went to this church called Highway Community (www.highway.org), it's a pretty gd place. Wld prob be quite likely to join it if I didn't come from a charismatic church. But I really wanna check out CCC San Fran out first (www.c3sf.com). Bumped into a bunch of 4 Singaporeans at Highway, 1 of them is leading some bible study group in the church and the other 3 just arrived and were checking out the church too; they're all from Stanford grad sch doing their PhDs. Joined them for lunch, went with them to Cupertino where we had really nice chinese food (noodles!!) for lunch, then they went shopping at a chinese supermarket and I tagged along. The girl who leads the BS grp had a car which was really gd. Think I really wanna get a car when I can. Which may not be for a while yet. haha.
Yesterday I went to my first American Football game! Stanford Vs Washington State. FYI, Stanford's football isn't fantastic. Check out the score towards the end of the 2nd quarter:
Took another photo with a friend, his name's David, he's from Louisiana. His home town missed Hurricane Katrina by just a bit I think, he had to evacuate but the damage wasn't significant. Anyway here's the photo:
He was really nice in explaining the game to me. The game was really quite fun to watch even though we got trashed. Especially in the 2nd half when the Stanford team seemed to suddenly do TONS better than in the first half. :)
Starting classes tmr. Music theory, math, introduction to humanities course (IHUM) and an introductory seminar on physics. Cool stuff but all very spread out. Really need faith to believe I won't suffer at math cos I'm rusty... It'll take some harder work at the start I guess, but I'll get it all back soon! =) Till the next post, take care and God bless!
Yesterday I went to my first American Football game! Stanford Vs Washington State. FYI, Stanford's football isn't fantastic. Check out the score towards the end of the 2nd quarter:
Took another photo with a friend, his name's David, he's from Louisiana. His home town missed Hurricane Katrina by just a bit I think, he had to evacuate but the damage wasn't significant. Anyway here's the photo:
He was really nice in explaining the game to me. The game was really quite fun to watch even though we got trashed. Especially in the 2nd half when the Stanford team seemed to suddenly do TONS better than in the first half. :)
Starting classes tmr. Music theory, math, introduction to humanities course (IHUM) and an introductory seminar on physics. Cool stuff but all very spread out. Really need faith to believe I won't suffer at math cos I'm rusty... It'll take some harder work at the start I guess, but I'll get it all back soon! =) Till the next post, take care and God bless!
Friday, September 22, 2006
Fountain hopping part 2
Finally getting a feel of the academics here. Getting close to figuring out all the courses that I wanna take for the first quarter but i'm not sure yet. But it feels fantastic to be getting a feel of how things work.
Anyway I've got a photo of us taken during fountain hopping! Check it out:
Anyway I've got a photo of us taken during fountain hopping! Check it out:
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Fountain hopping!!!
I just went fountain hopping tonight with the dorm!! Basically fountain-hopping is a Stanford tradition where some as-yet-unexplained spark of inspiration causes someone to spread the message that everyone's going fountain hopping. So everyone changes into shorts and t-shirt or swim wear etc. and runs together around campus to jump into fountains. So we did! It was freezing cold but it was fun. Another terminology: Whirlpool. it's when everyone jumps into a fountain that's round and starts running as fast as possible in the same direction around it. Then someone synchronises a count and everyone plops their whole bodies into the water. And because the water's moving, you end up with the water pushing you around the fountain as you lie there and float. Cool huh. :)
Anyway I'm super exhausted now. Tmr there's still orientation stuff, I need to arrange an appointment (hopefully sometime tmr) to go to Palo Alto to set up my internet banking, gotta go to the health center early in the morning for TB skin test, gotta plan out which courses I'm going to take cos I'm mtg my academic advisor on Friday and I've gotta have, well, some sorta proposal for him to advise me on. =) Tonight I've also gotta check up on this thing called introductory seminars, or introsems, which are interesting and useful but applications close this Friday so I'd better start applying.
I've finally uploaded my photos from my journey here! Afraid I haven't taken many photos here since I came but I'll show u guys what I've got. Kudos to my dad for at least half of these photos, maybe more. :)
So this is me and my family at the airport with all the luggage that I and my dad brought. The largest suitcase I had actually weighed over the 32kg limit so I had to transfer some stuff to my dad's suitcase. :p
I was blessed enough to discover about 1-2 wks ago that another two Stanford freshmen from Singapore who were on the same flight, praise God! So I had company all the way. That's De Wen next to me; he's also in Chi Alpha (the Christian Fellowship), and Ching Hwa with the window seat. Ching Hwa was really nice, he went to call SIA and reserve seats for the 3 of us a couple of days before we flew.
Dad rented a car from San Fran airport. Picture taken as we were driving into Stanford. Yay! (Honestly, I was feeling kinda tired and apprehensive at that point. But it's a happy moment worth remembering nonetheless.)
That's me in my room. With a box of donuts and another box of bagels that was leftover from church. Made my dormmates very happy. *grinz* The room is really quite small. It's pretty cluttered right now and that's BEFORE classes start. Help!
That's my dorm from the outside. It's a cosy little two-storey place with cosy little rooms. And a very nice courtyard and environment. So the room's small, but it's cosy and nice so I'm not complaining. Food's not bad too. =) My room is the one just to the right of the door that u see there, the one that's sorta next to the lampost in the picture.
last photo! Went for dinner with my dad on Sunday night, I'd never met the other people in the photo before that night. The angmoh guy is a Physics professor at Stanford and a nobel laureate, very nice guy. He has a very kind smile, dunno if u can see. He's there with his wife, and the indian guy is my dad's friend who's been very involved in earthquake stuff at Stanford and is also helping him with smtg in NTU. Visited him and his wife the next evening at their home before going out for dinner together. Very very nice friendly people. :)
So that's it! Wish I had more pictures but I'm afraid I don't. I hope this doesn't make the page too hard to load. Classes start next monday and things are just gonna take off soon so really gotta keep praying and standing in faith. God bless!
Anyway I'm super exhausted now. Tmr there's still orientation stuff, I need to arrange an appointment (hopefully sometime tmr) to go to Palo Alto to set up my internet banking, gotta go to the health center early in the morning for TB skin test, gotta plan out which courses I'm going to take cos I'm mtg my academic advisor on Friday and I've gotta have, well, some sorta proposal for him to advise me on. =) Tonight I've also gotta check up on this thing called introductory seminars, or introsems, which are interesting and useful but applications close this Friday so I'd better start applying.
I've finally uploaded my photos from my journey here! Afraid I haven't taken many photos here since I came but I'll show u guys what I've got. Kudos to my dad for at least half of these photos, maybe more. :)
So this is me and my family at the airport with all the luggage that I and my dad brought. The largest suitcase I had actually weighed over the 32kg limit so I had to transfer some stuff to my dad's suitcase. :p
I was blessed enough to discover about 1-2 wks ago that another two Stanford freshmen from Singapore who were on the same flight, praise God! So I had company all the way. That's De Wen next to me; he's also in Chi Alpha (the Christian Fellowship), and Ching Hwa with the window seat. Ching Hwa was really nice, he went to call SIA and reserve seats for the 3 of us a couple of days before we flew.
Dad rented a car from San Fran airport. Picture taken as we were driving into Stanford. Yay! (Honestly, I was feeling kinda tired and apprehensive at that point. But it's a happy moment worth remembering nonetheless.)
That's me in my room. With a box of donuts and another box of bagels that was leftover from church. Made my dormmates very happy. *grinz* The room is really quite small. It's pretty cluttered right now and that's BEFORE classes start. Help!
That's my dorm from the outside. It's a cosy little two-storey place with cosy little rooms. And a very nice courtyard and environment. So the room's small, but it's cosy and nice so I'm not complaining. Food's not bad too. =) My room is the one just to the right of the door that u see there, the one that's sorta next to the lampost in the picture.
last photo! Went for dinner with my dad on Sunday night, I'd never met the other people in the photo before that night. The angmoh guy is a Physics professor at Stanford and a nobel laureate, very nice guy. He has a very kind smile, dunno if u can see. He's there with his wife, and the indian guy is my dad's friend who's been very involved in earthquake stuff at Stanford and is also helping him with smtg in NTU. Visited him and his wife the next evening at their home before going out for dinner together. Very very nice friendly people. :)So that's it! Wish I had more pictures but I'm afraid I don't. I hope this doesn't make the page too hard to load. Classes start next monday and things are just gonna take off soon so really gotta keep praying and standing in faith. God bless!
Monday, September 18, 2006
orientation starts tmr!
Still haven't got the photos downloaded yet. Again, I'm feeling super tired right now so don't wanna do too much. :p Sorry guys and gals, i'll get the pix up soon for u to see! =) Went to my dad's friend's house nearby in the evening to chat and have a drink with him and his wife, then went to a restaurant to have dinner. Restaurant serves Singaporean food that's modified to suit local tastebuds... I had Pad Thai which was pretty nice, but the serving was HUGE. Also had a lot of alcohol, drank a too-full glass of white wine at the friend's place, and another half glass of champagne at dinner. Could feel a slight effect on me so I didn't finish either one. Was surprised at how fast I could start to feel its effects.
Finally got my bike this afternoon! Praise God! Bought it yesterday but collected it today after they installed all the accessories. It's 24 speed, very smooth, road bike (not the bend-down kind, it's kinda like a mountain bike but with slimmer rounder wheels.) It's parked right outside my room, the bike stand is just outside my window. So I can keep an eye on it. *grinz*. ok not really. but hopefully bikes that are right in front of dorm windows are less likely to be stolen. =)
Tmr (tuesday) is the official start of New Student Orientation (NSO)! Campus is gonna be crowded. Thank God I've finished unpacking. Room is still a little messy but there's much more walking space now that I've stowed the 3 russian doll suitcases away. :) gonna meet my roomate tmr! Saw his picture in this Stanford freshmen facebook thing. He looks kinda like Orlando Bloom. Oh well... we'll see. ;)
It's actually been really nice to come early and get to know this small bunch of international freshmen students (abt 200 or so in total, I think). Wonder what it'll be like tmr when the campus gets about 8 times more busy.
Gonna go shopping with some of the international studets tmr morn! =) So I'd better go pray and sleep. Tmr things will start to get even more hectic so I'd better try to get some rest. Think XMMP's right. I really do find new changes quite exciting. :)
God bless all of u! Miss everybardee in Singapore. Be blessed in all that you do! Drop me comments or emails anytime u want yeah? I will try my darndest best to reply them. :)
Finally got my bike this afternoon! Praise God! Bought it yesterday but collected it today after they installed all the accessories. It's 24 speed, very smooth, road bike (not the bend-down kind, it's kinda like a mountain bike but with slimmer rounder wheels.) It's parked right outside my room, the bike stand is just outside my window. So I can keep an eye on it. *grinz*. ok not really. but hopefully bikes that are right in front of dorm windows are less likely to be stolen. =)
Tmr (tuesday) is the official start of New Student Orientation (NSO)! Campus is gonna be crowded. Thank God I've finished unpacking. Room is still a little messy but there's much more walking space now that I've stowed the 3 russian doll suitcases away. :) gonna meet my roomate tmr! Saw his picture in this Stanford freshmen facebook thing. He looks kinda like Orlando Bloom. Oh well... we'll see. ;)
It's actually been really nice to come early and get to know this small bunch of international freshmen students (abt 200 or so in total, I think). Wonder what it'll be like tmr when the campus gets about 8 times more busy.
Gonna go shopping with some of the international studets tmr morn! =) So I'd better go pray and sleep. Tmr things will start to get even more hectic so I'd better try to get some rest. Think XMMP's right. I really do find new changes quite exciting. :)
God bless all of u! Miss everybardee in Singapore. Be blessed in all that you do! Drop me comments or emails anytime u want yeah? I will try my darndest best to reply them. :)
First entry from Stanford!
Got to Stanford at about 3pm yesterday. Despite it only being 1.5 days here I feel like I've been super busy. Lots of small but impt details to settle like bank account, buying a bike, etc etc, and it doesn't help that my unfamiliarity with the place makes it harder to keep track of and anticipate these kinda issues. In fact up until 10 mins ago I totally forgot that I had a sponsorship letter from the scholarship board that I gotta pass to somebody in Stanford. I dunno who. Yet.
Real busy, so can't upload pictures or tell everyone a lot of details yet. Well ok, I'll give 2 details. 1) Just bought a bike today, it's really light and comfortable but quite expensive. Dad convinced me it was worth paying extra for smtg gd that i'll use everyday for the next 3-4 years. 2) My dorm room is SMALL!! I'm so glad my roomate isn't arnd yet so I have more room to unpack. But it also means the room's pretty cosy, and the dorm itself is really very pleasant. It's not too far from everything else, but it's quiet and quite solitary.
Hope to update more next time. But thanks for checking here! Means u care. So thanks. =) God bless!!
Real busy, so can't upload pictures or tell everyone a lot of details yet. Well ok, I'll give 2 details. 1) Just bought a bike today, it's really light and comfortable but quite expensive. Dad convinced me it was worth paying extra for smtg gd that i'll use everyday for the next 3-4 years. 2) My dorm room is SMALL!! I'm so glad my roomate isn't arnd yet so I have more room to unpack. But it also means the room's pretty cosy, and the dorm itself is really very pleasant. It's not too far from everything else, but it's quiet and quite solitary.
Hope to update more next time. But thanks for checking here! Means u care. So thanks. =) God bless!!
Friday, September 15, 2006
Getting ready to fly...
One more day left in sg! actually less. Amazing how time flies.
Will miss everyone here, cos it's really the people that make my life here in sg what it is. Prob will miss all of u more than I realise now.
No more internet at home so I'm typing this using the free wireless at suntec. Prob won't post again till i'm in the USA, or maybe i'll post smtg tmr at the airport if it's possible. =)
Will miss everyone here, cos it's really the people that make my life here in sg what it is. Prob will miss all of u more than I realise now.
No more internet at home so I'm typing this using the free wireless at suntec. Prob won't post again till i'm in the USA, or maybe i'll post smtg tmr at the airport if it's possible. =)
Monday, September 04, 2006
12 more days!!
Gosh, didn't even realise how short a time I have left until I wrote the title. I've been thinking "1 week and 5 days" which sounds marginally longer.
Occurred to me tonight that it's not just that I'm flying away. Ppl have been saying "you're going away soon" and to me I've been wondering what exactly that'll mean, cos to me I've always just thought of myself as flying away to a new place... but tonight I realised that to me, it's gonna be more than that. My family's gonna be going away, my friends will be away, my church and my home will be going away; everything familiar to me will be leaving me.
Wow. That's gonna take some serious adjustment. Well, home is where the heart is. Where your treasure lies, there ur heart will be also. Pray I'll keep treasuring home and all the people here. :) To everyone who comes to read this, I'll miss u all tremendously! Even more than I realise now, I'm sure.
12 days and counting!!
oh, and on a separate note, brought home a couple of HUGE suitcases yesterday. Really a pleasant surprise, was quite touched. Thanks Aunty Genin n' Rach! =)
Occurred to me tonight that it's not just that I'm flying away. Ppl have been saying "you're going away soon" and to me I've been wondering what exactly that'll mean, cos to me I've always just thought of myself as flying away to a new place... but tonight I realised that to me, it's gonna be more than that. My family's gonna be going away, my friends will be away, my church and my home will be going away; everything familiar to me will be leaving me.
Wow. That's gonna take some serious adjustment. Well, home is where the heart is. Where your treasure lies, there ur heart will be also. Pray I'll keep treasuring home and all the people here. :) To everyone who comes to read this, I'll miss u all tremendously! Even more than I realise now, I'm sure.
12 days and counting!!
oh, and on a separate note, brought home a couple of HUGE suitcases yesterday. Really a pleasant surprise, was quite touched. Thanks Aunty Genin n' Rach! =)
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
New Laptop!
This is a bit of a belated post but I've got my laptop!! =)
It's a Macbook 2.0Ghz with RAM upgraded to 2GB. :) all in all it only cost about 2.7k or so including GST, which is quite cheap for a mac. I really like the mac interface esp after getting used to it for a while (thanks to Shyam who so generously lent me her ibook to try out... thanks Shyam!), and think the size (13.3" Widescreen) feels perfect, not too big and not too small. Also got an ipod at discount with the mac. =) Praise God for blessings! Been bringing my com arnd with me the past few days. I'm actually starting to feel kinda techie. *grinz*
2.5 weeks left!
It's a Macbook 2.0Ghz with RAM upgraded to 2GB. :) all in all it only cost about 2.7k or so including GST, which is quite cheap for a mac. I really like the mac interface esp after getting used to it for a while (thanks to Shyam who so generously lent me her ibook to try out... thanks Shyam!), and think the size (13.3" Widescreen) feels perfect, not too big and not too small. Also got an ipod at discount with the mac. =) Praise God for blessings! Been bringing my com arnd with me the past few days. I'm actually starting to feel kinda techie. *grinz*
2.5 weeks left!
Friday, August 18, 2006
Promises and Hope
God gave me a verse for Stanford! As in, for my life there. Not for the uni. In case anyone gets confused. ;)
Familiar passage, but never before so powerful. Jer 29:11 - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evili, to give you a future and a hope."
My whole perspective changed when I got this. No more worry, no more anxiety, but instead anticipation that arises out of faith. Truly, truly, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Amazing stuff.
Also been corresponding a little with this pastor of a Christian Fellowship group at Stanford called Chi Alpha (http://xastanford.org). It's set up and supported by Assemblies of God. So far feeling pretty gd abt it. It's comforting to know that there'll be other Christians praying for me and readying themselves to meet me and other Christian freshies when sch starts. Thanks be to God. =)
Familiar passage, but never before so powerful. Jer 29:11 - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evili, to give you a future and a hope."
My whole perspective changed when I got this. No more worry, no more anxiety, but instead anticipation that arises out of faith. Truly, truly, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Amazing stuff.
Also been corresponding a little with this pastor of a Christian Fellowship group at Stanford called Chi Alpha (http://xastanford.org). It's set up and supported by Assemblies of God. So far feeling pretty gd abt it. It's comforting to know that there'll be other Christians praying for me and readying themselves to meet me and other Christian freshies when sch starts. Thanks be to God. =)
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Residence in Stanford
I have my residence! Checked it out online. It's called Adelfa, one of the residences in this place called West Lagunita, or West Lag for short. It's really near Lake Lagunita and apparently not too far from the main quad. It's in the southwest part of the campus... check out the map below.
Ok u can't see much but the small blue circle that's sorta in the southwestern part of the map is where my residence is. And that's lake lagunita below it. Just for a reference point, in the centre (slightly off centre to the left) is a small empty rectangle in the middle of a lot of stuff; that's the main quad, kinda like a central focal point of the campus.
And to your left... the Adelfa lounge (seems nice) and front entrance (also seems nice).
Apparently the rooms are quite small cos they were originally designed to be large single rooms, not the double rooms that they're now used as. Oh well. I'm sure it's a nice place. And even if it's not, I'll make it 
nice. Haha. With God, all things are possible. =)
Back from KL!
Ok actually we came back on wed afternoon but haven't had time to update blog.
Left on Sun afternoon. Rented a car from JB. Had some nice sunset scenery on the way up. :) Got into a crawling jam for 45 mins near seremban. Entered KL arnd 9:30 - 10 pm and decided to go explore, went to a suburb (Bangsar) to find their night market. We were really delighted to actually find it. haha.
Check out this building that we happened to chance upon as we were entering KL after Bangsar... Up till now we're not sure what it is but it's opposite Merdeka Square.
Spent a nice two days in KL exploring, went to 1-Utama to shop, berjaya times square too... everywhere's on sale now so it's actually a pretty gd time to go to KL. Went for massage at berjaya but the guy who massaged me must've pressed my back too hard cos it hurt a lot after that. Went for another massage the next day. haha. But the second guy was really gd.
The second day was nice and relaxing, went to sunway lagoon. Water park was great but the extreme park was quite a let down, they only have ATVs on a short paved track, speedboat ride (which was quite fun) and paintball shooting at targets. That's it. But the water was fun so we were happy.
At night we took the highway down to Putrajaya cos the lights there are supposed to be nice. And they were, especially the bridges. Check out this photo... the arc of lights in the middle are street lamps and the lines descending into the arc are suspension cables. Really nice.
Was a good trip, a bit tiring (think we overdid the shopping on the first day) but great fun nonetheless. =)
Left on Sun afternoon. Rented a car from JB. Had some nice sunset scenery on the way up. :) Got into a crawling jam for 45 mins near seremban. Entered KL arnd 9:30 - 10 pm and decided to go explore, went to a suburb (Bangsar) to find their night market. We were really delighted to actually find it. haha.
Check out this building that we happened to chance upon as we were entering KL after Bangsar... Up till now we're not sure what it is but it's opposite Merdeka Square.
Spent a nice two days in KL exploring, went to 1-Utama to shop, berjaya times square too... everywhere's on sale now so it's actually a pretty gd time to go to KL. Went for massage at berjaya but the guy who massaged me must've pressed my back too hard cos it hurt a lot after that. Went for another massage the next day. haha. But the second guy was really gd.
The second day was nice and relaxing, went to sunway lagoon. Water park was great but the extreme park was quite a let down, they only have ATVs on a short paved track, speedboat ride (which was quite fun) and paintball shooting at targets. That's it. But the water was fun so we were happy.
At night we took the highway down to Putrajaya cos the lights there are supposed to be nice. And they were, especially the bridges. Check out this photo... the arc of lights in the middle are street lamps and the lines descending into the arc are suspension cables. Really nice.
Was a good trip, a bit tiring (think we overdid the shopping on the first day) but great fun nonetheless. =)
Monday, July 31, 2006
Birthday
I'm 21! Doesn't feel very different from 20. At least for now.
Never really felt the 'specialness' of my 21st birthday even though a lot of ppl asked me what I'm gonna do for this special birthday. But loads of other ppl made it so special for me. There was dinner on fri nite. Then the surprise birthday gift and cake by Albert & Sam on Sat morn, and ESPECIALLY the con-cum-ambush on Sat night outside church (u guys rock man). And birthday song over the phone at midnight. ;) Then phone calls and messages from special people on Sunday, not to forget celebration with my cell (thanx for the jacket guys!! Very touched, it's real nice), surprise by the BVs after church and dinner at home... And ending with a second but even more unexpected and special con-cum-ambush tonight (thanx XMMP, u're totally the best! I'm touched beyond words).
Thanks everyone!! It's you that made my 21st birthday a truly special one!! I dare not list out names lest I miss out someone cos so many people have blessed me this birthday. What touches me most is the effort and thought and heart so many of you put into making sure it was such a special time for me.
And of course, like what Matthew very wisely said, my birthday is the time to celebrate and thank God for the breath of life He's given me and all that He's brought me through the past 21 years, plus all that He's going to bring me through for the rest of my life. =) Thank You God, for giving me life, for finding me and saving me, for Your indescribable love and unmerited faithfulness to an imperfect me. And thanks Matthew for the nugget of wisdom and reminding me of the most important One to look to on what everyone calls 'my special day'.
Friends, family, and God Himself. Truly a blessed birthday this year. =)
Never really felt the 'specialness' of my 21st birthday even though a lot of ppl asked me what I'm gonna do for this special birthday. But loads of other ppl made it so special for me. There was dinner on fri nite. Then the surprise birthday gift and cake by Albert & Sam on Sat morn, and ESPECIALLY the con-cum-ambush on Sat night outside church (u guys rock man). And birthday song over the phone at midnight. ;) Then phone calls and messages from special people on Sunday, not to forget celebration with my cell (thanx for the jacket guys!! Very touched, it's real nice), surprise by the BVs after church and dinner at home... And ending with a second but even more unexpected and special con-cum-ambush tonight (thanx XMMP, u're totally the best! I'm touched beyond words).
Thanks everyone!! It's you that made my 21st birthday a truly special one!! I dare not list out names lest I miss out someone cos so many people have blessed me this birthday. What touches me most is the effort and thought and heart so many of you put into making sure it was such a special time for me.
And of course, like what Matthew very wisely said, my birthday is the time to celebrate and thank God for the breath of life He's given me and all that He's brought me through the past 21 years, plus all that He's going to bring me through for the rest of my life. =) Thank You God, for giving me life, for finding me and saving me, for Your indescribable love and unmerited faithfulness to an imperfect me. And thanks Matthew for the nugget of wisdom and reminding me of the most important One to look to on what everyone calls 'my special day'.
Friends, family, and God Himself. Truly a blessed birthday this year. =)
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Leavin' on a jet plane...
Seem to have a knack for updating my blog every 6 days so far. =)
Finally confirmed my flight! And got my student visa! Praise God!! So good to get those two really big important stuff outta da way.
For those who wanna know, I'm leavin' on..
16 Sep, Saturday 9:15am
on flight SQ 0016.
Gonna stop by at Seoul and then arrive in San Fran on the same day at 12:40pm (I save a day cos of crossing the international dateline). And then International Students' Orientation starts on the same day at 5pm! Hope i'm not too beat when it starts. And hope n' pray I can go to church on the next day (Sunday) despite not knowing at all what they've planned for us for the weekend.
My first quarter exams end on Dec 15th and residences close the next day (how sweet of them). So I'll prob be back in Singapore arnd 17th or 18th Dec, one week before Christmas. =) No flight booked yet though so we'll see how.
Gotta get adapters... do up contact lists... check if the big suitcase(s) is/are in working condition... plus lots of other stuff I'm sure I gotta do but can't remember now. It's late. Thank God I can sleep in tmr!! *grinz*
Finally confirmed my flight! And got my student visa! Praise God!! So good to get those two really big important stuff outta da way.
For those who wanna know, I'm leavin' on..
16 Sep, Saturday 9:15am
on flight SQ 0016.
Gonna stop by at Seoul and then arrive in San Fran on the same day at 12:40pm (I save a day cos of crossing the international dateline). And then International Students' Orientation starts on the same day at 5pm! Hope i'm not too beat when it starts. And hope n' pray I can go to church on the next day (Sunday) despite not knowing at all what they've planned for us for the weekend.
My first quarter exams end on Dec 15th and residences close the next day (how sweet of them). So I'll prob be back in Singapore arnd 17th or 18th Dec, one week before Christmas. =) No flight booked yet though so we'll see how.
Gotta get adapters... do up contact lists... check if the big suitcase(s) is/are in working condition... plus lots of other stuff I'm sure I gotta do but can't remember now. It's late. Thank God I can sleep in tmr!! *grinz*
Fun!
Been having such a packed but fun weekend... starting with the bday celebrations cum stayover at the President's Lodge. Had a fantastic time with the Vertical Harmony gang... thanks guys n' gals!! U're great folks to hang out with...
Disclaimer: Sorry, dun haf a pic with all of you inside. :)
And ending of course with Jazz@Southbridge tonight for Yu Hsien's bday. Always knew I'd enjoy jazz but never really went to explore it. Tonight was a real eye-opener. It's a fantastic feeling to just nuah with company and chill while listenin' to great jazz music, LIVE. And yes, Yu Hsien, I honestly think u're AWESOME at singin' jazz. Was quite blown away. =)
Monday, July 17, 2006
Brilliance...
Was going to apply for my US student visa tomorrow morning. Had all the forms filled out, took my passport photo last week, prepared everything and was all prepared to wake up early tomorrow to go to the US embassy...
And then I realised I need to have my exit permit before I can apply for the visa, and I haven't got it yet. And the online application on the SCDF website is down. Doh.
Oh well. The truth shall set thee free. ;) Hope I can apply for the exit permit tomorrow. Unfortunately the wonderful website doesn't say what documents I need, though presumably I just need proof that I'm gonna study at the uni for the next 4 years.
Sorting out my cupboard now... my bed has a small mountain of clothing on it. No matter. Don't hafta get up early tomorrow morning now so I can take my time to sort it out. Haha.
And then I realised I need to have my exit permit before I can apply for the visa, and I haven't got it yet. And the online application on the SCDF website is down. Doh.
Oh well. The truth shall set thee free. ;) Hope I can apply for the exit permit tomorrow. Unfortunately the wonderful website doesn't say what documents I need, though presumably I just need proof that I'm gonna study at the uni for the next 4 years.
Sorting out my cupboard now... my bed has a small mountain of clothing on it. No matter. Don't hafta get up early tomorrow morning now so I can take my time to sort it out. Haha.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
*Snips red ribbon*
*cheers*
My first blog entry!! Wait, check that. My first blog entry on my own blog! (I've made entries on my family's blog before...)
Yes yes Sicheng's incredibly slow to jump on the blogging bandwagon. But I've never found a desire or a need to start one... until now. =)
Don't intend to lose contact or become out of touch with my family and friends in Singapore while I'm away, but being away inevitably makes communication more difficult. Figure that there are people who'd wanna know what's goin on with me halfway round the world, so... voila! Sicheng's first blog. And hence the title of the blog.
Shall try to find a way to post permanent, critical info such as email addresses and telephone numbers, without the risks of publishing it publicly. Like password protecting it or smtg. We'll see... I gotta experiment.
2 months to leaving. Gonna fly by like the wind. Pray I'll use it wisely.
*cheers*
My first blog entry!! Wait, check that. My first blog entry on my own blog! (I've made entries on my family's blog before...)
Yes yes Sicheng's incredibly slow to jump on the blogging bandwagon. But I've never found a desire or a need to start one... until now. =)
Don't intend to lose contact or become out of touch with my family and friends in Singapore while I'm away, but being away inevitably makes communication more difficult. Figure that there are people who'd wanna know what's goin on with me halfway round the world, so... voila! Sicheng's first blog. And hence the title of the blog.
Shall try to find a way to post permanent, critical info such as email addresses and telephone numbers, without the risks of publishing it publicly. Like password protecting it or smtg. We'll see... I gotta experiment.
2 months to leaving. Gonna fly by like the wind. Pray I'll use it wisely.
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