Chevrolet Scalextrics Competition 2008

I just spent my Sunday helping my uncle out at Gotham Penthouse for the Chevrolet Scalextrics Competition, which was held in conjuction with the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix final race. Aunt Linda and my cousin, Malcolm, were there to help out as well (and my uncle really pays us well and I ain't complaining muahaha)

*Gotham Penthouse*

*Scalextrics Digital Tracks*

It was quite an eventful start to the whole competition, from the preparation phase till the packing up, I must say. When Malcolm and I first arrived at Gotham Penthouse, the lady from there was like in a panicky state. She asked if we were from Hobby Bounties, and yes of course we were, and she was asking us to look at the table with the tracks.

Lady: See? Too much grass!! Table still quite empty.
Me: Err, okayyy, Linda should be on the way with some of the other props.

*Table too empty, too much grass*

And so Aunt Linda came.

Me: Where are the props?
Linda: What props??
Me: zomg!!

Okay, so the next task we had was to make the table look not so empty. So Malcolm and I got down to making the track circuit more difficult by adding more tracks to cover up the green areas of the table.

*Extending the circuit*

*The best we could do*

And then came the problem of "short-circuits" because suddenly after extending the circuit, one throttle/controller could control 2 cars which were on different tracks! We had to dismantle and re-fix quite a number of parts and time was running out... zzz stressed.. but we managed to do it still.

And so by 7pm, the event at Gotham Penthouse started. Participants could just come in and sign up and play for free. There would be an overall winner out of 32 players. And so, the rest of us were just supposed to be in charge of briefing the players on what to do, guiding them on how to race the cars on the digital tracks, and be the timer for the competition.

The race totally made me see the fact that, in the case of an emergency, Singaporeans can never drive a sports car!! Zomg, who in the world increases the throttle when negotiating bends?! The cars would definitely fly off the track. And true enough, 6 cars were used, and all 6 had broken windows and windscreens at the end of the evening. And each car ain't cheap - ~$135 minimum? zzz. And one Indian guy who wanted to try out the game blasted the throttle till it burned out totally, causing it to be non-functional anymore, had the cheek to tell me "Take it home, I don't want to play it anymore." zzz why dun u just take yourself home, and don't come out and play at all?

And so after all the qualifying rounds, of course we had our winner. But the lady who came in 2nd place was very good too! In fact she beat almost half of the male players to reach the finals! We wanted to take a photo with the Chevrolet girls as well, but zzz, working... and they disappeared soon after the prize presentation ceremony.

*Scoreboard*

*After packing up*

*They have nice basins in the toilet*

Anyway, Gotham Penthouse also broadcasted the F1 race live on the big screen!! And in the midst of working, I could still steal some glances at the F1 race, and everytime I look at the screen, I see the most happening stuffs! First I saw that Nelsinho Piquet totally crashed out and then I saw how some technical fault made Felipe Massa drive off from the pit when the fuel tube was still connected to his car causing his mechanic to fly and enter the hospital. And then of course I saw Kimi Räikkönen crash his Ferrari too. Last but not least, I saw my prediction come true!! Fernando Alonso became the champion of the first ever F1 Night Race!! Happy for him!

Besides getting to steal glances at the F1 race (I'm still gonna watch my recorded version another day cos I wanna watch the whole race), I also got to eat free catered food there which was super nice, and of course enjoy the free-flow of drinks!

So in the end, after everything has ended, it was time to go home. And I was so drained out that I totally dragged myself home. And it's so friggin' late alr.. I wonder if I can even wake up tomorrow morning. Feeling kinda weird cos my whole body is aching like mad. Urgh

*The beautifully-lighted stairs from Clarke Quay*

Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix Night 1 - Circuit Trial Run

Stood outside the Parliament House this evening to catch a glimpse of the event itself! It was freaking exciting, and the vroom..... just makes one go high for the moment. But after awhile, we decided that it was bad for our ears, and we left the area. But yeah, at least I've seen and heard the F1~~!! I'm not a sua-ku (mountain tortoise) anymore muahaha

Managed to capture a few (lousy) pictures lah, and videos too, but I don't know why I can't upload on YouTube... but I can share them thru MSN if anyone wants to see it =) Anyways, I'm sure you guys also do watch it on TV already, or maybe even been to town to catch the race or the roar of the F1 engines yourselves.

*My view of the track - it's a turn point*

*See the F1 on the left? It's so blur cos it's moving so fast!*

I'd love to go down to Millenia in fact to watch it too! Harvey Norman is a good spot according to Yuhui... but, I don't think I'd be able to make it since I won't be free tomorrow evening, and I'm helping my uncle out at Clarke Quay on Sunday evening. Zzz....

But anyways, tonight Alonso finished 1st place, followed by Hamilton and then Massa.... So who would it be this Sunday? haa... i'm so hyped up about F1 now....

Of korean dramas, biology, some ranting..... and huh? Charlie?

Okay, many people have been asking me what "你想要闻土的味道吗?" means. So far only Ah Boon has made the smart guess.

It simply means, "you want to die is it?". Why? Because if you die, then you will be buried, and that's when you get to smell the soil.

But well, Shermain argued that as a Biology student I should know that:

Medically dead = Brain shuts down = Olfactory senses (in your nose) shuts down

But c'mon... the phrase is from a Korean Drama!! HAHA.. and dramas and biology don't mix.

Anyway, for now, I just wish that things back home would be normal once again? Where's the harmony? Are we really that hateful? Are we, huh? Why can't you and I even hold a proper conversation anymore? I just hope that you can back here with us. Sigh... Isn't our conversation the kind that family members have with each other? If not, then what are we supposed to communicate about? Why don't you enlighten me a lil'? And so much things are happening at home, do you even know? I don't even know if I should be saying all these here. Bah

Okay time for some lame shit that was shown to me on YouTube earlier on while working on some slides... Let's welcome Charlie =)
*Beware: the following videos can get annoying after awhile*

Charlie the Unicorn 1


Charlie the Unicorn 2

Now the "stuff the bananas into your ear" song is embedded into my head zzz

A new favourite drama =)

I have found another Korean drama that I like, and I think it is worth watching. The title of the show is 不良家族 .

The 大纲 of the story is about a little girl (娜琳), who is the youngest child in the family, who lost her memory after her whole family got into an accident during a family trip. And the story went on to tell how the girl's uncle employed a man (达健) to create a temporary family for 娜琳 and help her regain her memory, so that she can narrate out what had happened to cause the tragic accident. 达健 sourced out the members of the temporary family by looking for those who have owed him money (达健 was a loan shark then).

The sweet thing about this story is that the story tells of how a whole family made up of total strangers could become so closely knitted together and eventually becoming a real family on its own, and also how 娜琳 could actually bring so much happiness to everyone. Oh and how could I forget 娜琳's temporary sister, 良雅, who is really beautiful I must say and how she supported 达健 throughout the whole issue after she got to know what happened.

So, all in all, I say this show is a must watch :)

*Members of the temporary family*

*Snapshots from the show (娜琳 is in the centre)*

*All the casts*

Preview (sorry no subtitles)


And I love the phrase that is always used in the show every now and then - "你想要闻土的味道吗?" wahahaha

Paul Mauriat with his Orchestra

Music for the night, from Paul Mauriat (which my dad was crazy over when he was young) and his Orchestra.

Love Is Blue

Chanced upon this piece, while helping my dad look for a song, which I remember listening to when I was much younger, but never knew the title. Soothing indeed.

Medley - Love Is Blue with El Bimbo

Talented arranger, isn't he?

Toccata

I love this piece too.

Toccata & Fugue in D minor

And I'm sure everyone knows this piece ^.^

Hungarian Dance

Ahhh, super love this piece.

Medley - Hungarian Dance with Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 Final

=)

Ah, and to sidetrack abit, just visited the Nike+ Human Race website a few days ago and I saw that SRJC won the Category A School Team Challenge, BUT nooooo~~~ we are not SJC. We are SRJC!! Omg. Since when did we become St. Joseph's Convent? Geez...

*SRJC, not SJC >.<*

And the first red guy on the left beside Utt, was my PE teacher Mr. Teng, whom I am super grateful for because he helped me in doing my very first successful chin-up!

Alright that's all. Hope everyone enjoyed the music :)

A minute off from my work.....

A msg from ah cui.... quite funny

“幸福”就是猫吃鱼，狗吃肉，奥特曼打小怪兽；

“代沟”就是我问老豆觉得“菊花台”怎么样，老豆说没喝过；

“自恋”就是下辈子我一定要投胎做女人，然后嫁给一个我这样的男人；

“无语”就是法官问：“你为什么印假钞？”罪犯无辜地答道：“因为我不会印真钞。”；

“绝望”就是中午在食堂点了两个菜，吃了第一个，我震撼了：“世界上还有比这更难吃的吗？”吃了第二个，我哭了。“还真有啊！”；

“诚意”就像是像我这样祝你中秋节快乐！

Happy Mid-Autumn =)

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone (^^,)

As of now.... it's one presentation and two assignments down.

Left with one presentation (wic is giving me one of the biggest headaches ever), three more assignments, and one more quiz.

We finally presented our Current Topics in Cell Biology topic on Friday morning *heaves a huge sigh of relief*. Thank you to my group members - Jian Zhong, Ant, Weibin, and SJ, for all the hard work and effort put in. And also a big thank you to everyone who gave me so much encouragement for the past one week to relieve the nervousness in me.

Went to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in Yunnan Garden (for the 1st time in 4 years) on Friday evening as well. We got to make our own mooncakes and eat them at the event. We also got to watch the 变脸 performance! We were also hoping to win the PSP in the lucky draw, but nope, none of us got it. Not even a steamboat voucher >.< but okay lah, most impt is that we all had fun.

*Yunnan Garden*

*Ant lighting his own lantern*

*Weichao tries it too*

*Don't know why everyone was praying for some divine lots here*

*Our foreign friends try making their own mooncakes too*

What else, hmm, went out with some hall peeps for dinner at BAB noodles in Millenia Walk, and watched Liverpool vs Man Utd at the pub in Conrad Hotel. Liverpool won 2-1 !!! yay-ness! Felt damn good to be cheering all the way for Liverpool and seeing how much the Man Utd fans there hated us buahaha.

Talking about sports, I'm really proud of our riding ace, Laurentia Tan, and our swimmer, Yip Pin Xiu. Because Laurentia won 2 bronze medals while Pin Xiu won a silver medal (50m freestyle) in the Paralympic Games!!! These people somehow seem more capable than many of the normal us. Congrats!! =) All the way for any other remaining games!!

That's all for now I guess, 中秋快乐 to everyone once again.

i ish going mad

The semester is getting crazy.

The craziness is getting out of hand.

Nike+ Run The Human Race

Sunday 31st August 2008, was Singapore's first ever Nike Human Race. Trust me, when I was on the train that day, every other stranger around me were wearing the same red Nike shirt for the run. Since each person has a unique number printed on the shirt, I totally felt like I was on a train that is fetching prisoners to a faraway island.

The run was 10km, and I really enjoyed it alot, together with all the wonderful entertainment along the running route. It had to be one of the best runs (no not diarrhea) I ever had, except for the part whereby people suddenly stop to walk and bottleneck regions of the jogging route. Totally broke my momentum so many times, made me unable to hit below 1 hour.

But anyway, the week before, if you remember, I was saying that I queued 5 hours for the goodie bag right? So well, the only useful (and really worth it) stuffs are like the tee-shirt, the Nike water bottle and, the tote bag itself.

*The Nike Race Pack*

And yes back to the race proper, there was a part when suddenly the panda mascot was running beside me at the same speed, and I was like "wth, how can someone wearing a mascot costume be running at the same pace as I am?!" and totally spurred me to run on faster haha. Joanne Peh was there too, but I didn't see her though. Met Kheng Boon on the way too, and also my army pal, who is also working for Nike. Okay now I have two friends working in Nike. Maybe I should join them muahaha... Wanted to watch Boys Like Girls perform Live but they, for obvious reasons, had to put the long-awaited performance at the last, allowing the local talents to perform first. So I decided not to stay.

And I saw familiar faces at the finishing stretch cheering people on! The NTU ACES team was there, and I saw Mun Chun, Ya Yun, and Rina. Funny that I don't really know Rina, but she gave me a High-5 when I ran past them haha.

*Waiting for the flag-off*

*The Panda mascot*

*Drummers providing entertainment along the Singapore River*

*People stop running at such areas, causing the jam*

*Us after the run*

*Chin Teck and I decided to play Pass-The-Baton*

Okay okay, and in my last post on Hall 12 D&D, I mentioned that good luck came to me in another form right? Here's the whole story. The emcees for the concert at the Padang were throwing iPod Nanos down to the audiences as free gifts! So the catch is, well, you have to go catch it! But me, being the lazy person as usual, was like "aiyah, sure won't be able to catch one la, tons of people snatching for it lea." and then the guy emcee, Utt (The Brand's Cheeken Essence guy), threw one iPod Nano off the stage. I saw it fly and everyone was like trying to grab for it. So at that moment, I thought, "aiyah since i'm already here, just join in the fun lor." And the moment I raised my hand to pretend to want to catch it, that freaking iPod bounced off somebody else's hand, and landed right onto my palm!!

*Concert stage where the iPod Nano was thrown from*

At that moment, I was like "OMG!!!" and in that instant, I knew I had to start running away from the crowd, just like how a rugby player, who has caught the rugby ball, has to run for his life. Haha, and Nick, JJ, and Adrian all started jumping onto me like rugby players trying to snatch the ball from me! Haha... I'm one lucky bitch.... It was a Silver 4GB iPod Nano that I caught!

*My iPod Nano*

Anyway, I hope there will be another Nike Human Run next year, because it really is meaningful to run for a cause (choose 1 out of the 3 possible charity organizations) and the goodie bag stuffs are really worth it too. Nike is too rich. Haha.

The race results are also out.... and I really performed like shit compared to the top runner from Germany. And Singapore's acerage timing was also quite bad... The pictures speak for themselves. Only consolation was that I'm better than Singapore's average timing (^^,)v

*I'm rank no. 152954*

*We don't see Singapore here*

*Singapore is ranked no. 25!*

Okay I guess that's all for this entry haha. Time for bed.

The 12th Parallel - Hall 12 Dinner & Dance 2008

The day was finally here, 30th Aug, Saturday, my final DnD event with Hall 12 before graduation. The event was held at Grand Copthorne Hotel and the theme was "Heroes and Villians". But well, as usual, most of us didn't really dress to the theme. But the programmes were really good and entertaining. Kudos to the programmers and also to the rest of the main committee. And especially, the Deal or No Deal event for the person who was picked to win the 1st prize of the evening. He had to play the game, with the maximum prize money of $250. He won $175 if I remember correctly.

But anyways here comes the photos. Not many taken this year though. But I'm glad I went for this Dinner & Dance event because it really meant a lot to me.

*I love my ticket number... 007*

*Shuwan and I on the way to Grand Copthorne Hotel*

*Michelle, Kristle, Adrian, Junjie, Wu Juan, Michelle*

*Yewhong, Ben, Hongda, Ruifang, Rol, Mike, Chin Teck, JJ, Gareen, Nick, Andy, Kyon, Alvin*

*Sandar, Yayun, Munchun, Ben*

*Siewhoon, Wenxin, Michelle, Siting*

*Lihua and Liling - Buttercup and Blossom*

*Regina - Bubbles*

*Finally got all 3 Powerpuff Girls together*

*Roland and I*

*Buttdy Emily (^^,)v*

*Xiumei and Andrew*

*Xiumei, Nick, Adrian, JJ, Hongda, Em, and I*

*Ex-Hall Queen - Jingying, who always thinks she herself is hot*

*Alex as The Joker*

*Elyn, and thanks Liling for trying to squeeze my head into Blossom's*

*Jianyang (as L), Mingyong, I-dunno-him*

*Leon - DnD 2008 Chairperson*

This year never win any prize from DnD.... BUT something bigger awaits me because luck came to me in another form! Check it out in my next entry on the Nike Human Race, coming up soon maybe after I've done all my work.