Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Dos and don'ts in the lab>
1) Watch the chairs.. they travel a great distance. - i ended up on the floor , rear end first, in front of my supervisor while trying to simulataneoulsy pippette and sit down.
2) your calculator is never there when you need it
3) pens are extremely precious.
4) never turn you back on your pippettes. they have legs
5) cartidges ( small tubes) FLY... very far... they like homing in on the dustbin.. especially when you're in a hurry to get things done.
6) when you screw up, just try to alter the protocol - you never know wat can happen --- rephrased from J's policy
7) Eating agar with nutrient broth to wash it down iz standard lab fare.
" Do not ring me while i'm suntanning on the beach , like J did.. " - Al to me, on his going away for a conference.
" just drink water to dilute, then sit on the shaker in the lab" - me to J on how to decrease the effects of alcohol absorption.
" Lao ban! we're here, ok, let's go for lunch>" - on reporting to work the day after lab dinner .
1) Watch the chairs.. they travel a great distance. - i ended up on the floor , rear end first, in front of my supervisor while trying to simulataneoulsy pippette and sit down.
2) your calculator is never there when you need it
3) pens are extremely precious.
4) never turn you back on your pippettes. they have legs
5) cartidges ( small tubes) FLY... very far... they like homing in on the dustbin.. especially when you're in a hurry to get things done.
6) when you screw up, just try to alter the protocol - you never know wat can happen --- rephrased from J's policy
7) Eating agar with nutrient broth to wash it down iz standard lab fare.
" Do not ring me while i'm suntanning on the beach , like J did.. " - Al to me, on his going away for a conference.
" just drink water to dilute, then sit on the shaker in the lab" - me to J on how to decrease the effects of alcohol absorption.
" Lao ban! we're here, ok, let's go for lunch>" - on reporting to work the day after lab dinner .
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Ice
You slide past the crowd in the middle of the rink
Trying your best to keep you balance.
It's such a good feeling,
like you're gliding on air.
Then suddenly,
out of the blue,
you slip
and slide
and everything just comes to a rude halt.
And you're at the bottom looking up at everyone juz zipping past you.
The whole world just seems to keep going.
oh the cold cold ice,
it burns your skin.
you ache all over,
in places that never came into contact with the ice.
pick yourself up and keep going.
try to stop without falling over.
that's the trick
Something i spent about 1 and half hours teaching myself .
but I still can't do it properly.
but i know :
I can't juz keep zipping round the rink
I've to stop sometime
can't keep ploughin ginto the sides of the rink
can't keep tripping landing on my rear end.
coz it's just gonna hurt more and more.
let go from the sides gal,
Angle your right leg,
drag the left
coz the time is up.
time to leave the rink,
back to life
The ice has melted.
i'm just waiting for the water to dry.
coz my pants juz looks darn bad.
You slide past the crowd in the middle of the rink
Trying your best to keep you balance.
It's such a good feeling,
like you're gliding on air.
Then suddenly,
out of the blue,
you slip
and slide
and everything just comes to a rude halt.
And you're at the bottom looking up at everyone juz zipping past you.
The whole world just seems to keep going.
oh the cold cold ice,
it burns your skin.
you ache all over,
in places that never came into contact with the ice.
pick yourself up and keep going.
try to stop without falling over.
that's the trick
Something i spent about 1 and half hours teaching myself .
but I still can't do it properly.
but i know :
I can't juz keep zipping round the rink
I've to stop sometime
can't keep ploughin ginto the sides of the rink
can't keep tripping landing on my rear end.
coz it's just gonna hurt more and more.
let go from the sides gal,
Angle your right leg,
drag the left
coz the time is up.
time to leave the rink,
back to life
The ice has melted.
i'm just waiting for the water to dry.
coz my pants juz looks darn bad.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
wheeeeeeeee just finished ice skating with AIai and Calv, I learnt how to brake! I learnt how to brake!!! haha.. after trying and trying, and running full on into a bunch of horrified teenagers and finishing with a spectacular fall on my rear end. ( shan't go into the sordid , sore and sopping wet details about my ass) but I did it in the end. And yup, managed to move backwards too.
STREET JAZZ!!!
Then I went for street Jazz. The dance, not the music. At first, when Lz and I stepped in and saw everyone doing ballet like movemnts.. i was like :wtf, wat did i sign up for? My whole body seemed to have lost touch totally with toe pointing, arching, finding my balance. I was trying to dig into my memory to find a trace of my gymnastic balance beam routines, but i came up dry. So i wobbled precariously on my toes, looking more like an elephant on a balance ball than a wanna-be jazz dancer.
Then the routine started... It's so different from hip hop! The style! The brashness! Throwing your inhibitions ( and your hair) to the wind and just let go , look and feel sexy! I loved it. It suddenly hit me that this was the dance style i was looking for all along. Well, street jazz, is something like wat you see in a J lo MTV video or in musicals like fame. The strutting, the blazing look of pride and the big, graceful movements... *whistles*. It's an incredible feeling.
" stop dealing with your hair," ryan told us, after a serious of wild spins had left our hair looking like it juz ran amok after a drive in a car with the window down. yeah. apparently, we're supposed to let it swing around and smack our faces for good measure. Or if we can, we're supposed to do spins in a way that our hair gets twirled into an intracate twist. i'll just concentrte on not tripping over my feet first.
And LZ.. REST YOUR HAM STRINGS. Or they will become tenderised. I'm serious.
Now to keep on dancing :) lloooook at me!!! *imagines i'm in fame*
ok. i'm going nuts nuts nuts
Yah know, the concert is next week. and i've yet to memorise my lyrics heh.. guilty ridden confessions.. OMG.. next week's gonna be craaaaaaazy! Cross my fingers and hope the performance is goes well, otherwise everyone can juz kill me. heh :) thanks for coming guys!
STREET JAZZ!!!
Then I went for street Jazz. The dance, not the music. At first, when Lz and I stepped in and saw everyone doing ballet like movemnts.. i was like :wtf, wat did i sign up for? My whole body seemed to have lost touch totally with toe pointing, arching, finding my balance. I was trying to dig into my memory to find a trace of my gymnastic balance beam routines, but i came up dry. So i wobbled precariously on my toes, looking more like an elephant on a balance ball than a wanna-be jazz dancer.
Then the routine started... It's so different from hip hop! The style! The brashness! Throwing your inhibitions ( and your hair) to the wind and just let go , look and feel sexy! I loved it. It suddenly hit me that this was the dance style i was looking for all along. Well, street jazz, is something like wat you see in a J lo MTV video or in musicals like fame. The strutting, the blazing look of pride and the big, graceful movements... *whistles*. It's an incredible feeling.
" stop dealing with your hair," ryan told us, after a serious of wild spins had left our hair looking like it juz ran amok after a drive in a car with the window down. yeah. apparently, we're supposed to let it swing around and smack our faces for good measure. Or if we can, we're supposed to do spins in a way that our hair gets twirled into an intracate twist. i'll just concentrte on not tripping over my feet first.
And LZ.. REST YOUR HAM STRINGS. Or they will become tenderised. I'm serious.
Now to keep on dancing :) lloooook at me!!! *imagines i'm in fame*
ok. i'm going nuts nuts nuts
Yah know, the concert is next week. and i've yet to memorise my lyrics heh.. guilty ridden confessions.. OMG.. next week's gonna be craaaaaaazy! Cross my fingers and hope the performance is goes well, otherwise everyone can juz kill me. heh :) thanks for coming guys!
Friday, September 16, 2005
The research lab is laid out like a gauntlet. Chairs, bins, and fallen objects litter the floor. I'm holding on to centrifuge tubes for dear life, trying to keep the slipperly objects from escaping from the grasp of my clumsy fingers and slidding away to oblivion. Meantime, while working all the motor nerves for fine grasp, my legs are doing a little do-si-do dance trying to get to an available work bench. I finally came to a grinding halt at a dead end carelessly constructed by AL and JW who were working back to back and occupying the entire narrow walk way . Both of them gave me a quick apologetic glance and tried to shift their chairs out of the way, but there wasn't much room to manuveur anyway. So i guess liposuction would be the next best thing for me to do.
It's easy to feel lost at first in a world full of scary, and very expensive looking machines, freezers caked in ice which churn and groan all day long, dangerous looking chemicals, signs warning you to keep your gloves and lab coat on. I had to hone my skills of keeping my hands steady, which was absolutely close to nil. I had to deal with the frustration of trying to empty my pipette tip properly, trying to keep track of the numerous tubes that littered my work place, trying to picture the protocol and trying to understand what the procedures meant. Even the slightest mistake like touching my pipette onto the dustbin could mean a serious contamination. After numerous reminders and reproaches from my superivosr Al, I still forget sometimes. eg. I didn't put the ring securely on my pCR samples and the machine started emitting a cacophonic aria when i switched it on. In desperation, Al pulled the plug and both of us looked around sheepishly at the rest of the amused lab. " Someone inside the machine?" G asked us. Wasn't really funny if you think about the costs of the machine.
I have a love hate r/ship with my pipette tips. They're the bane of my life. I can't seem to empty out the last drop. the more I suck up and re-expelled, the more the drop of fluid contemptously ignores my efforts to set it free. " Don't breathe," Al reminded me as I bent over the miRNA samples, trying to load the tubes. " I'm not," I said triumphantly, then realised I had just mouthed into the tubes.
The first day at the lab, i performed an miRNA extraction with Al. By the time I finally got the last test drop on the spectrometer, it was 3.30pm. Al, me and PY were half starved to death. " KFC!!!" Al groaned. "C'mon"
Then suddenly PY piped up, " XL, which tubes did you load onto the Mass spec?" We turned our hopeful gazes onto the ice box, but as life has it, dreams don't aways come true.. I guess the chicken at KFC had a wait a little longer
It's really overwhelming at first, but after you get the hang of the procedures and learnt where everything is kept, life gets a little easier. Even better is the enthusiasm the researchers have when they talk about their topics. I was really apprehensive about this new project at first, because i had heard how boring and stressful lab could be. But I found that ppl were willing to teach even though they were busy. Ask and probe and they'll share with you their knowledge or encourage you to look up the answers. I cornered JW that day to talk about part of my project. Even tho' the poor guy was hard pressed for time, when he started talking about the project, he really tried his best to help me to understnad his views. Al also tries to explain everything to the best that he can, even tho' he's got his hands full running the lab and overseeing his own stressful projects. And i really appreciate it. It's so different when you're encouraged to learn and explore. I feel so much more compelled to actually read up and understand what my project is about this time round as compared to the last one.
You get a weird feeling of satisfaction when you slip your tubes into teh RT -PCR ( minus the weird singing from teh machine) and a simple graph marks the results of your 4 days of hard work. And even after I performed my first miRNA extraction by myself, and got the worst miRNA yield anyone could get ( " What???? i gave you 4 flasks of cells!!!!" - Al), i still felt really satisfied that i coudl perform the procedure by myself. I felt like skipping around after i photographed my first gel. ola! mebbe the feeling will get old soon, but for the moment, i really like poking at the gel. ooooo... see my finger print! oooooo.. see my photograph!!!
the procedures are really painstaking and it really tests your patience sometimes. LIke when i doing the extraction, i really had to go to the loo. but you can't leave the miRNA to be degraded while your legs are all contorted in an attempt to remain dignified and continent in the vicinity of your colleagues. I looked at the dismal extraction readings with Al who mouthed the dreaded words.. " Elute again!'
well.. i dunno wat else he said coz i shot off straight for the loo.
And the lab is not a friendly place for the vertically challenged. From doing jumping jacks to get my xtra small gloves, to craning my head to look at the readings from my RT pcr... Al looked at me quizzically as I balanced precariously on the stool to look at the computer screen. After I told him the reason was that i was going crosseyed trying to crane my neck to see the screen, he started laugin uproariously. hai.. so much for understanding the trials and tribulations of her royal shortness. i didn't laugh that hard at his obsession with the Amy's The Lion sleeps tonight hand phone ring tone.. Aaaahhh eeeeeee..eeeee.. eee mmmm eee pump pum puway!!!! aaaa wimba wap aa wimba wap .. aaa wimba wap aaa wimba wap.
But on the whole, even tho' it's hard work, i'm a lot happier. It's interesting to be on teh forefront learning togehter with teh rest of the team. And it kinda eats into you after sometime.. So besides telling my supervisor to vortex ( or mix ) his ice blend drink, I think i'll suggest trying to PCR ( replicate) cute guys. Mebbe there' really be someone inside the PCR machine next time. And if they hear that grinding noise again, you know what kinda experiment I'm running :)
It's easy to feel lost at first in a world full of scary, and very expensive looking machines, freezers caked in ice which churn and groan all day long, dangerous looking chemicals, signs warning you to keep your gloves and lab coat on. I had to hone my skills of keeping my hands steady, which was absolutely close to nil. I had to deal with the frustration of trying to empty my pipette tip properly, trying to keep track of the numerous tubes that littered my work place, trying to picture the protocol and trying to understand what the procedures meant. Even the slightest mistake like touching my pipette onto the dustbin could mean a serious contamination. After numerous reminders and reproaches from my superivosr Al, I still forget sometimes. eg. I didn't put the ring securely on my pCR samples and the machine started emitting a cacophonic aria when i switched it on. In desperation, Al pulled the plug and both of us looked around sheepishly at the rest of the amused lab. " Someone inside the machine?" G asked us. Wasn't really funny if you think about the costs of the machine.
I have a love hate r/ship with my pipette tips. They're the bane of my life. I can't seem to empty out the last drop. the more I suck up and re-expelled, the more the drop of fluid contemptously ignores my efforts to set it free. " Don't breathe," Al reminded me as I bent over the miRNA samples, trying to load the tubes. " I'm not," I said triumphantly, then realised I had just mouthed into the tubes.
The first day at the lab, i performed an miRNA extraction with Al. By the time I finally got the last test drop on the spectrometer, it was 3.30pm. Al, me and PY were half starved to death. " KFC!!!" Al groaned. "C'mon"
Then suddenly PY piped up, " XL, which tubes did you load onto the Mass spec?" We turned our hopeful gazes onto the ice box, but as life has it, dreams don't aways come true.. I guess the chicken at KFC had a wait a little longer
It's really overwhelming at first, but after you get the hang of the procedures and learnt where everything is kept, life gets a little easier. Even better is the enthusiasm the researchers have when they talk about their topics. I was really apprehensive about this new project at first, because i had heard how boring and stressful lab could be. But I found that ppl were willing to teach even though they were busy. Ask and probe and they'll share with you their knowledge or encourage you to look up the answers. I cornered JW that day to talk about part of my project. Even tho' the poor guy was hard pressed for time, when he started talking about the project, he really tried his best to help me to understnad his views. Al also tries to explain everything to the best that he can, even tho' he's got his hands full running the lab and overseeing his own stressful projects. And i really appreciate it. It's so different when you're encouraged to learn and explore. I feel so much more compelled to actually read up and understand what my project is about this time round as compared to the last one.
You get a weird feeling of satisfaction when you slip your tubes into teh RT -PCR ( minus the weird singing from teh machine) and a simple graph marks the results of your 4 days of hard work. And even after I performed my first miRNA extraction by myself, and got the worst miRNA yield anyone could get ( " What???? i gave you 4 flasks of cells!!!!" - Al), i still felt really satisfied that i coudl perform the procedure by myself. I felt like skipping around after i photographed my first gel. ola! mebbe the feeling will get old soon, but for the moment, i really like poking at the gel. ooooo... see my finger print! oooooo.. see my photograph!!!
the procedures are really painstaking and it really tests your patience sometimes. LIke when i doing the extraction, i really had to go to the loo. but you can't leave the miRNA to be degraded while your legs are all contorted in an attempt to remain dignified and continent in the vicinity of your colleagues. I looked at the dismal extraction readings with Al who mouthed the dreaded words.. " Elute again!'
well.. i dunno wat else he said coz i shot off straight for the loo.
And the lab is not a friendly place for the vertically challenged. From doing jumping jacks to get my xtra small gloves, to craning my head to look at the readings from my RT pcr... Al looked at me quizzically as I balanced precariously on the stool to look at the computer screen. After I told him the reason was that i was going crosseyed trying to crane my neck to see the screen, he started laugin uproariously. hai.. so much for understanding the trials and tribulations of her royal shortness. i didn't laugh that hard at his obsession with the Amy's The Lion sleeps tonight hand phone ring tone.. Aaaahhh eeeeeee..eeeee.. eee mmmm eee pump pum puway!!!! aaaa wimba wap aa wimba wap .. aaa wimba wap aaa wimba wap.
But on the whole, even tho' it's hard work, i'm a lot happier. It's interesting to be on teh forefront learning togehter with teh rest of the team. And it kinda eats into you after sometime.. So besides telling my supervisor to vortex ( or mix ) his ice blend drink, I think i'll suggest trying to PCR ( replicate) cute guys. Mebbe there' really be someone inside the PCR machine next time. And if they hear that grinding noise again, you know what kinda experiment I'm running :)
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
" Time crumbles things, everything grows old under the power of time and is forgotten through the lapse of time " -- WJ ( okok.. just kidding ) .. Aristotle.
Just for the record ,my brother can memorise the whole " chocolate salty balls now" :). he's right next to me now singing and acting it out and mind you, he's acting it out in the right... i mean, the wrong way.
So i'm really hoping the quote you gave me is true, otherwise, i'm screwed in more ways than one.coz my mom just walked out of the room, while me and brother were singing it at the top of our voices :).
but even i have to admit, We're darn good at the chorus!
Just for the record ,my brother can memorise the whole " chocolate salty balls now" :). he's right next to me now singing and acting it out and mind you, he's acting it out in the right... i mean, the wrong way.
So i'm really hoping the quote you gave me is true, otherwise, i'm screwed in more ways than one.coz my mom just walked out of the room, while me and brother were singing it at the top of our voices :).
but even i have to admit, We're darn good at the chorus!
Monday, September 12, 2005
Memorable quotes of the day.
" What is wrong with you people? From the youngest to the oldest...Why are you still here??? Go home! Go home!" - Al , upon walking into the lab and seeing us there at 7 plus in the evening.
" Life's depressing enough already, I don't need to be depressed any further " - me reasoning to my mom why I just flipped through the papers without reading it .( full of news of floods, hurricanes, pple getting chopped up and thrown next to MRT stations, and someone's foot getting caught in the escalator)
" My MOONCAKE!!!" PY on Al eating the mooncake with the biggest egg.
" There's always a time to hold on, and a time to let go" - Jess.
" Life is a constant struggle against chaos." - Tzuie
actually Tzuie, my tuition kid did ask me about how come the subatomic particles in our bodies still stay where they are. I was thinking, in terms of static electricity, it can actually illustrate transient disintigration of our subatomic particles. Like our hair standing after a rigorous combing.
" THis is the new protocol to eat ice kachang!" - weird Al on making his ice kachang melt b4 he eats it.
" zzzzzzzzz.... " - me and Hildy at lab meeting.
Anyway, I'm settling down in my new AMS unit. Still like a blur sotong swimming around. ( eyes the illustration of the sotong on the cartoons drawn on the white board) Oooooooooooooooo. sotong!
Like to say a BIG thank you for everyone who was there for me through that rough, tough last week. dunno where i'll be w/o you guys, :) .
whew. Everything's sorta stabilising now. and my mom's better !!!!! yay!
All the bad karma has been repaid.. now let's look at the new conditions provided! * rubs hands*
Alright, i'll stop the crap blogging, and do my miRNA essay for AL, groan. I promise next entry will be a little entertaining rather than just sordid details of my sordid life. :)
" What is wrong with you people? From the youngest to the oldest...Why are you still here??? Go home! Go home!" - Al , upon walking into the lab and seeing us there at 7 plus in the evening.
" Life's depressing enough already, I don't need to be depressed any further " - me reasoning to my mom why I just flipped through the papers without reading it .( full of news of floods, hurricanes, pple getting chopped up and thrown next to MRT stations, and someone's foot getting caught in the escalator)
" My MOONCAKE!!!" PY on Al eating the mooncake with the biggest egg.
" There's always a time to hold on, and a time to let go" - Jess.
" Life is a constant struggle against chaos." - Tzuie
actually Tzuie, my tuition kid did ask me about how come the subatomic particles in our bodies still stay where they are. I was thinking, in terms of static electricity, it can actually illustrate transient disintigration of our subatomic particles. Like our hair standing after a rigorous combing.
" THis is the new protocol to eat ice kachang!" - weird Al on making his ice kachang melt b4 he eats it.
" zzzzzzzzz.... " - me and Hildy at lab meeting.
Anyway, I'm settling down in my new AMS unit. Still like a blur sotong swimming around. ( eyes the illustration of the sotong on the cartoons drawn on the white board) Oooooooooooooooo. sotong!
Like to say a BIG thank you for everyone who was there for me through that rough, tough last week. dunno where i'll be w/o you guys, :) .
whew. Everything's sorta stabilising now. and my mom's better !!!!! yay!
All the bad karma has been repaid.. now let's look at the new conditions provided! * rubs hands*
Alright, i'll stop the crap blogging, and do my miRNA essay for AL, groan. I promise next entry will be a little entertaining rather than just sordid details of my sordid life. :)
this song is a real life saver. :) Playing on repeat on my car radio.. hee hee.
Ehipassiko ( music /lyrics : Daniel yeo)
Ehipassiko,
Come and see you know!
The teachings of peace,
The teachings of love.
The teachings of the Buddha
Is for all,
Who want to be free,
for ever more!
But Don't just believe,
Investigate!
Do not simply accept,
what you hear or see,
Not even if it's uttered by me!
So Don't just agree,
you've got to verify.
When you know that it's good
And it's praised by the wise
Then live up to it, for the rest of your life.
Ehipassiko ( music /lyrics : Daniel yeo)
Ehipassiko,
Come and see you know!
The teachings of peace,
The teachings of love.
The teachings of the Buddha
Is for all,
Who want to be free,
for ever more!
But Don't just believe,
Investigate!
Do not simply accept,
what you hear or see,
Not even if it's uttered by me!
So Don't just agree,
you've got to verify.
When you know that it's good
And it's praised by the wise
Then live up to it, for the rest of your life.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
"bounce!" Carol told us. " you've got to groooove."
After a couple of months of being out of touch with hiphop, my brain seemed to have lost the sensory map of my arms and legs. And to make things worse, it juz wasn't in the mood to groove anyway.
BUt after about 1 hour, I actually found myself bouncing along to teh music. Ok, i was super duper rusty, and i think i looked a bit like crap. THe choreo was really simple, but it was quite interesting to go back to teh basics and perfect all the moves one by one.
So at the end of the one and half hour workshop, me , lz and Sammie stayed back to just to spy on the classes. I really enjoyed the workshop, and i liked Carol's clear style of teaching the moves and the way she intereacted with the class. ( yez yez, lz, i know marcus' choreo rocks to high heaven , but i really ta boleh tahan the "teaching" grinz)
NOw , just like every other world of specialities, dance has it's own little language, own little culture that you've to initiate yourself with.
Yez, you shouldn't turn up to class in a plain t shirt and beach shorts, like I do. Coz
1) you look like a complete idiot
2) since i was already dancign like a complete idiot, that made me look twice as bad
3) it juz shows off fat thighs to its greatest advantage.
Hip hop dance attire ( tho' not mandatorY) consists of tank tops, ( for the gals), baggy track pants / body hugging long pants, track shoes and a cap or kerchief to top it off. Add in sweat bands, bandanas, and you're ready to rooll
Jazz , which i want to go into , is a tight black T shirt and black tights.
And then there's the terminology.
body rolls, Wham bam ( don't ask me, i'm still tryign to figure it out), OMPH, round the world, hiphop walk, old school, new school, locking, poppping,
i've been dancing since year one in uni, and trust me, half the terms are still alien. mebbe coz i'm not as into it as my partner in crime, Ms lz, :) .
Dancers like to explore a lot of different styles of dance because they compliment each toher.
my dance instructor in melb had salsa back ground, which was well pronounced in her booty shaking moves that she made us do.
Lz says her hot fav :) marcus has some jazz background.
Sammie's sensual style at hiphop displays salsa and exotic dancing background.
Exotic dancing.. hmmm.
Yez, i mean lz and I do practise making love to the wall to get our body rolls right ( Aaaahhhh don't kill me gal, for revealing all) , but whoooo hoo exotic dancing??? ( xl very interested)
Sammie continued telling us about it.. the hooker's walk, the sensual moves.
( xl now very very interested)
but it's to keep men happy in the bed room right?
Wrong.
" my guy friend actually wanted to try it," Sammie told us.
Lz and I tried to conceive an image of a guy doing a sensual body roll and failed.
i could only concoct an image of a gal fleeing the room in complete terror.
"aiyoh, show what?" lz asked.
Yeah? show wat? got nothing to show in a body roll lah. mebbe the last move of the roll, but other than that, nothing to show k? they might wanna try with viagra first, mebbe that'll work better. ( urgh, i'll stop, incase under 18's are reading this)
Anyway, i don't know what possessed me to part with 100 bux. but i did. And i'm the proud owner of a dance card and ready to jump back into a long neglected part of my life --- dance.
only bad thing is i don't see exotic dancing classes on the class schedule.
After a couple of months of being out of touch with hiphop, my brain seemed to have lost the sensory map of my arms and legs. And to make things worse, it juz wasn't in the mood to groove anyway.
BUt after about 1 hour, I actually found myself bouncing along to teh music. Ok, i was super duper rusty, and i think i looked a bit like crap. THe choreo was really simple, but it was quite interesting to go back to teh basics and perfect all the moves one by one.
So at the end of the one and half hour workshop, me , lz and Sammie stayed back to just to spy on the classes. I really enjoyed the workshop, and i liked Carol's clear style of teaching the moves and the way she intereacted with the class. ( yez yez, lz, i know marcus' choreo rocks to high heaven , but i really ta boleh tahan the "teaching" grinz)
NOw , just like every other world of specialities, dance has it's own little language, own little culture that you've to initiate yourself with.
Yez, you shouldn't turn up to class in a plain t shirt and beach shorts, like I do. Coz
1) you look like a complete idiot
2) since i was already dancign like a complete idiot, that made me look twice as bad
3) it juz shows off fat thighs to its greatest advantage.
Hip hop dance attire ( tho' not mandatorY) consists of tank tops, ( for the gals), baggy track pants / body hugging long pants, track shoes and a cap or kerchief to top it off. Add in sweat bands, bandanas, and you're ready to rooll
Jazz , which i want to go into , is a tight black T shirt and black tights.
And then there's the terminology.
body rolls, Wham bam ( don't ask me, i'm still tryign to figure it out), OMPH, round the world, hiphop walk, old school, new school, locking, poppping,
i've been dancing since year one in uni, and trust me, half the terms are still alien. mebbe coz i'm not as into it as my partner in crime, Ms lz, :) .
Dancers like to explore a lot of different styles of dance because they compliment each toher.
my dance instructor in melb had salsa back ground, which was well pronounced in her booty shaking moves that she made us do.
Lz says her hot fav :) marcus has some jazz background.
Sammie's sensual style at hiphop displays salsa and exotic dancing background.
Exotic dancing.. hmmm.
Yez, i mean lz and I do practise making love to the wall to get our body rolls right ( Aaaahhhh don't kill me gal, for revealing all) , but whoooo hoo exotic dancing??? ( xl very interested)
Sammie continued telling us about it.. the hooker's walk, the sensual moves.
( xl now very very interested)
but it's to keep men happy in the bed room right?
Wrong.
" my guy friend actually wanted to try it," Sammie told us.
Lz and I tried to conceive an image of a guy doing a sensual body roll and failed.
i could only concoct an image of a gal fleeing the room in complete terror.
"aiyoh, show what?" lz asked.
Yeah? show wat? got nothing to show in a body roll lah. mebbe the last move of the roll, but other than that, nothing to show k? they might wanna try with viagra first, mebbe that'll work better. ( urgh, i'll stop, incase under 18's are reading this)
Anyway, i don't know what possessed me to part with 100 bux. but i did. And i'm the proud owner of a dance card and ready to jump back into a long neglected part of my life --- dance.
only bad thing is i don't see exotic dancing classes on the class schedule.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
it feels like a ship wreck.
I saw the situation was beyond salvage,
there was no point staying on board.
why? it was going to sink anyway?
might as well die trying
so i jumped into the choppy seas and swam for the shore
As I hit the black waters,
the sudden cold took me by surprise.
I knew it was going to be difficult,
but i didn't know how deeply it would cut into my skin.
i made it to the distant shore
don't really know where i am tho'
it's dark, and there's no one around.
Who knows what i'll see when the sun rises.
i can only live with the comfort that time will past
the night will shed it's dark cloak
and the sun's comforting rays will dry my clothes
and drive away the cold,
the shivering
but it won't take away the loneliness or the injuries of the journey
for that is somthing,
only time can heal
I saw the situation was beyond salvage,
there was no point staying on board.
why? it was going to sink anyway?
might as well die trying
so i jumped into the choppy seas and swam for the shore
As I hit the black waters,
the sudden cold took me by surprise.
I knew it was going to be difficult,
but i didn't know how deeply it would cut into my skin.
i made it to the distant shore
don't really know where i am tho'
it's dark, and there's no one around.
Who knows what i'll see when the sun rises.
i can only live with the comfort that time will past
the night will shed it's dark cloak
and the sun's comforting rays will dry my clothes
and drive away the cold,
the shivering
but it won't take away the loneliness or the injuries of the journey
for that is somthing,
only time can heal
Monday, September 05, 2005
it's like looking up and seeing a sliver of sunlight dancing on the ocean's surface
it's beauty beckons mockingly
to the dolphin that lies helplessly
tangled amongst the seaweeds and abandon fishnets that line the ocean floor,
waiting , wondering, hoping.
THe slightest movement could bring about help,
or death in the form of the predators that prowl in the vicinity
Oh the mockery of it all.
that a search for fish, for nourishment to help it grow,
would result in the loss of its freedom.
it's spirit lay as crushed and broken as the empty seacounches that litter the sandy bed.
so anyhow, save the environment ( and marine life) Don't cast your fishnets in the wrong places!
it's beauty beckons mockingly
to the dolphin that lies helplessly
tangled amongst the seaweeds and abandon fishnets that line the ocean floor,
waiting , wondering, hoping.
THe slightest movement could bring about help,
or death in the form of the predators that prowl in the vicinity
Oh the mockery of it all.
that a search for fish, for nourishment to help it grow,
would result in the loss of its freedom.
it's spirit lay as crushed and broken as the empty seacounches that litter the sandy bed.
so anyhow, save the environment ( and marine life) Don't cast your fishnets in the wrong places!
Us and our bikes at one of the beaches
We want food! we want food! aahhh. nvm, we'll pacify ourselves with coconuts first
seafood and coconuts!
On the island...
excited melb ppl on bus 2 heading for changi jetty
on the bum boat, looking set for the day ahead.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Would you rather get chased by someone you don't like, or rather not get chased at all?
Tzuie asked me this question last night. hmm. tough one to ask a girl, but i'll give it a go. i think the fairer sex is the one that usually has to face this question simply coz that's the way things are.
Let's examine the first option.
Being chased by someone who falls in your " cannot make it" category. Not to say that these guys are downright hopeless. They make good friends, but your heart tells you that as a bf, it's an abosolute No-NO. But try as you might to explain this fact to the poor guy, ( diagrams and illustrations, ignoring phone calls and smses and all), he juz doesn't get it.
One might say, you should feel flattered. At least you're wanted, and even if this may not be prince charming of your dreams, chances are that you would get chased by Mr right in the future. Well, yez and no. I suppose i would feel initially flattered, but than, if it was my guy friend who was chasing me, i think the feeling of freaking out will immediately overwrite any teensy bit of female ego( if there's such a thing, heh) . At that point of time, all you want to do iz just shake this guy off. Both for your own good and for his. But if he insist on hanging on to your leg like a barnecle on a sperm whale, the feeling can be so suffocating that you juz wanna run screaming to the nearest temple/ nunnery and beg them to shave your head and take you in.
But even that isn't enough to stop some of the really determine dudes. They'll fill up your inbox with emails, your handphone with smses, your drawer with an incessent stream of letters, your life with a persistent dinner invites. I get a mixture of irritation and sadness everytime i look at those. You feel regret coz you know the guy is wasting his time and you feel exasperated because there 's no way you can get out of this without breaking someone's heart. Although we may have no special feelings for them, we feel strangely reluctant to toss those things away without a 2nd thought because you know how much effort and hope had been placed in those little items.
Although it may seem like a good deal to get free dinners and movies, i feel that if you really have nothing in it for this poor soul, it's rather unethical to keep on going for date after date. but then agian, one could say, if anything makes him happy, and you don't lose out... why not?
So we rack our brains for nice ways to brush them off without having to
1) admit that we know that they're after us, coz no one is admitting anything anyway
2) try to brush them off w/o seeming like an utter bitch
It ain't an easy task. BUt here's the usual tactics.
Step one : keep saying that you're busy, waaay too busy. eg. you've got lunch with girlfriends, you've to wash the toilet, you've to walk your pet goldfish.
Most guys will get the hint after a numerous " i'm too busy" lines.
but if they don;t... some of us move to the next tactic
2) my parents would rather i concentrate on my homework. ( which is actually true, or if you're guilt stricken, you can try mock flunking a few tests so your parents will actually spell it out for you)
or you can try.
2) gushing about some dreamboat in your faculty. and somethign about how your heart melts everytime you see him.
Still doesn't work?
try the next ( this one was tried by someone, and apparently it works like a charm)
stage 3 : get your guy friend to call him up and tell him to stay away from you.
HOpefully it won't get to stage 3. coz besides breaking his heart, you're doing it in the worst way possible.
Well, screw it, if only you could look at him and say.. " yeah, i appreciate the fact that you're being awfully nice to me, and i'm honoured to be the object of your affections, but we just won't work out k?"
HOwever, that would involve direct confrontation. And I admit, i dont' have the guts to do that, neither do most of the gals, unless of course, you're super duper desperate. Either way, the friendship will be shot to hell for a period of time.
So if you ask me that question if I"m being accousted by someone I don't having feelings for, I'll tell you, I'd rather not be chased.
But when we're sitting on the shelve and stoning into the distance, it's a different story altogether. Especially when you get a full view of those happy couples who contemptously plop themselves in front of you in the LT or the tram and proceed with extreme cases of PDA ( public display of affection), the loneliness that hits you just makes you want to look skywards and scream Where the hell is Mr right?
I quote my fren,
" the first is sadistic.. but agreeing to teh 2nd option would be plain lying"
I got a mixture of answers from the others... i don't think anyone's one is wrong or right.
For me?
I think at different points of time, i'll probably think differently. like i've explained above.
But anyway, doesn't matter. Don't have to ponder on the problem anymore, thanks to the person who posed the question to me in the first place. :)
Tzuie asked me this question last night. hmm. tough one to ask a girl, but i'll give it a go. i think the fairer sex is the one that usually has to face this question simply coz that's the way things are.
Let's examine the first option.
Being chased by someone who falls in your " cannot make it" category. Not to say that these guys are downright hopeless. They make good friends, but your heart tells you that as a bf, it's an abosolute No-NO. But try as you might to explain this fact to the poor guy, ( diagrams and illustrations, ignoring phone calls and smses and all), he juz doesn't get it.
One might say, you should feel flattered. At least you're wanted, and even if this may not be prince charming of your dreams, chances are that you would get chased by Mr right in the future. Well, yez and no. I suppose i would feel initially flattered, but than, if it was my guy friend who was chasing me, i think the feeling of freaking out will immediately overwrite any teensy bit of female ego( if there's such a thing, heh) . At that point of time, all you want to do iz just shake this guy off. Both for your own good and for his. But if he insist on hanging on to your leg like a barnecle on a sperm whale, the feeling can be so suffocating that you juz wanna run screaming to the nearest temple/ nunnery and beg them to shave your head and take you in.
But even that isn't enough to stop some of the really determine dudes. They'll fill up your inbox with emails, your handphone with smses, your drawer with an incessent stream of letters, your life with a persistent dinner invites. I get a mixture of irritation and sadness everytime i look at those. You feel regret coz you know the guy is wasting his time and you feel exasperated because there 's no way you can get out of this without breaking someone's heart. Although we may have no special feelings for them, we feel strangely reluctant to toss those things away without a 2nd thought because you know how much effort and hope had been placed in those little items.
Although it may seem like a good deal to get free dinners and movies, i feel that if you really have nothing in it for this poor soul, it's rather unethical to keep on going for date after date. but then agian, one could say, if anything makes him happy, and you don't lose out... why not?
So we rack our brains for nice ways to brush them off without having to
1) admit that we know that they're after us, coz no one is admitting anything anyway
2) try to brush them off w/o seeming like an utter bitch
It ain't an easy task. BUt here's the usual tactics.
Step one : keep saying that you're busy, waaay too busy. eg. you've got lunch with girlfriends, you've to wash the toilet, you've to walk your pet goldfish.
Most guys will get the hint after a numerous " i'm too busy" lines.
but if they don;t... some of us move to the next tactic
2) my parents would rather i concentrate on my homework. ( which is actually true, or if you're guilt stricken, you can try mock flunking a few tests so your parents will actually spell it out for you)
or you can try.
2) gushing about some dreamboat in your faculty. and somethign about how your heart melts everytime you see him.
Still doesn't work?
try the next ( this one was tried by someone, and apparently it works like a charm)
stage 3 : get your guy friend to call him up and tell him to stay away from you.
HOpefully it won't get to stage 3. coz besides breaking his heart, you're doing it in the worst way possible.
Well, screw it, if only you could look at him and say.. " yeah, i appreciate the fact that you're being awfully nice to me, and i'm honoured to be the object of your affections, but we just won't work out k?"
HOwever, that would involve direct confrontation. And I admit, i dont' have the guts to do that, neither do most of the gals, unless of course, you're super duper desperate. Either way, the friendship will be shot to hell for a period of time.
So if you ask me that question if I"m being accousted by someone I don't having feelings for, I'll tell you, I'd rather not be chased.
But when we're sitting on the shelve and stoning into the distance, it's a different story altogether. Especially when you get a full view of those happy couples who contemptously plop themselves in front of you in the LT or the tram and proceed with extreme cases of PDA ( public display of affection), the loneliness that hits you just makes you want to look skywards and scream Where the hell is Mr right?
I quote my fren,
" the first is sadistic.. but agreeing to teh 2nd option would be plain lying"
I got a mixture of answers from the others... i don't think anyone's one is wrong or right.
For me?
I think at different points of time, i'll probably think differently. like i've explained above.
But anyway, doesn't matter. Don't have to ponder on the problem anymore, thanks to the person who posed the question to me in the first place. :)
Dear S.I.S ), i dedicate the following song to you gals... Go go go!!!
( tho' the lyrics seem to pertain more to CS and Tzuie, heh :P )
Had a Bad day - Daniel Powter
Where is the moment we needed the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to grey
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on
You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee you go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces everytime
And I don't need no carryin' on
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day
Well you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don't need no carryin' on
You had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day (Oh.. Holiday..)
Sometimes the system goes on the brink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong
So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
You've seen what you like
And how does it feel for one more time
You had a bad day
You had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
( tho' the lyrics seem to pertain more to CS and Tzuie, heh :P )
Had a Bad day - Daniel Powter
Where is the moment we needed the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to grey
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on
You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee you go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces everytime
And I don't need no carryin' on
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day
Well you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don't need no carryin' on
You had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day (Oh.. Holiday..)
Sometimes the system goes on the brink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong
So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
You've seen what you like
And how does it feel for one more time
You had a bad day
You had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Friday, September 02, 2005
RIP.
The folder was in a mess. There were the letters RIP carelessly scrawled on the top of the cover.
" Yup, this is the file," Dr. N gingerly flipped over the cover and grimaced at the messy pile of papers inside.
i scanned through the first page.
From a boy's home
caught glue sniffing
admitted for liver failure
The file chronicled his treatment on MARS ( a liver dialysis).
I went thorugh the documents with Dr. N, extracting all theimpt info for her journal.
just page after page chronicalling his downward spiral into enceph and finally .. into death. Just a row of numbers, charts, and descriptive medical terms.
There was no mention about family , no mention about who was there during his last hours.
Just one folder, to mark the end of this child's life.
The folder was in a mess. There were the letters RIP carelessly scrawled on the top of the cover.
" Yup, this is the file," Dr. N gingerly flipped over the cover and grimaced at the messy pile of papers inside.
i scanned through the first page.
From a boy's home
caught glue sniffing
admitted for liver failure
The file chronicled his treatment on MARS ( a liver dialysis).
I went thorugh the documents with Dr. N, extracting all theimpt info for her journal.
just page after page chronicalling his downward spiral into enceph and finally .. into death. Just a row of numbers, charts, and descriptive medical terms.
There was no mention about family , no mention about who was there during his last hours.
Just one folder, to mark the end of this child's life.
heard this song this morning :). didn't know it was air supply tho'. funnily, it didn't sound like them. but i think the lyrics are pretty meaningful :P
Air Supply -
Two Less Lonely People In The World
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I was down my dreams were wearing thin
When you're lost where do you begin
My heart always seemed to drift from day to day
Looking for the love that never came my way
Then you smile and I reached out to you
I could tell you were lonely too
One look then it all began for you and me
The moment that we touched I knew that there would be
CHORUS
Two less lonely people in the world
And it's gonna be fine
Out of all the people in the world
I just can't believe you're mine
In my life where everything was wrong
Something finally went right
Now there's two less lonely people in the world
Tonight
Just to think what I might have missed
Looking back how did I exist
I dreamed still never thought I'd come this far
But miracles come true, I know 'couse here we are
CHORUS
Two less lonely people in the world
And it's gonna be fine
Out of all the people in the world
I just can't believe you're mine
In my life where everything was wrong
Something finally went right
Now there's two less lonely people in the world
Tonight
Tonight I fell in love with you
And all the things I never knew
Seemed to come to me somehow
Baby, love is here and now there's
CHORUS
Air Supply -
Two Less Lonely People In The World
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I was down my dreams were wearing thin
When you're lost where do you begin
My heart always seemed to drift from day to day
Looking for the love that never came my way
Then you smile and I reached out to you
I could tell you were lonely too
One look then it all began for you and me
The moment that we touched I knew that there would be
CHORUS
Two less lonely people in the world
And it's gonna be fine
Out of all the people in the world
I just can't believe you're mine
In my life where everything was wrong
Something finally went right
Now there's two less lonely people in the world
Tonight
Just to think what I might have missed
Looking back how did I exist
I dreamed still never thought I'd come this far
But miracles come true, I know 'couse here we are
CHORUS
Two less lonely people in the world
And it's gonna be fine
Out of all the people in the world
I just can't believe you're mine
In my life where everything was wrong
Something finally went right
Now there's two less lonely people in the world
Tonight
Tonight I fell in love with you
And all the things I never knew
Seemed to come to me somehow
Baby, love is here and now there's
CHORUS
