deepest condolences

shucks, the earlier incident effectively ruined my entire day =(

anyway, a friend of mine had been posting up tons of lovely pics in facebook over the last couple of weeks taken in america, and i was so looking forward to seeing more of her pics. but well, things do not usually happen the way you expect them to - she died in a car accident in america on friday, so my deepest condolences to her family... even though we are not exactly good friends (we were in the same class together for 1 or 2 semesters in uni), everything just happened out of the blue...i remembered when i first stepped foot in portugal 2 years ago, i had this dream of finishing my studies and then getting a good job, after all, i am supposed to have a long way ahead of me right? but this incident really really gave me a jolt, and reminded me how fragile life can be... and like what leandro said to me during one of our MSN chat recently, that if we want to do anything, we should just do it, instead of making excuses and pushing it to a later date...

one thing that i have been pushing back for the last one year is me wanting to visit some places in europe (ok, i don't mean to associate my friend's death with something so jovial like travelling), and now i've finally made up my mind. rather than to wait for a couple of years later (who knows what would have become of me), i am going to carry out my plans for one final mad dash around in europe... no concrete plans as yet, but istanbul (turkey) and budapest (hungary) remains top of my agenda...

i was branded as a thief! ok, that lady didnt exactly mention the word "thief"... as usual, weekends were spent in the uni since most of us are trying to finish our thesis report before the submission date in less than 2 weeks... and i went to the store like always to get some drinks... said "hi" to the lady-owner and she gave me this dirty look, and proceeded to say this:" i saw you leave the shop with a bottle of drink on friday... did you pay? and who did you pay the money to?" bloody-hell!!! how would i remember whether i bought a drink or to whom i paid the money to? it's freaking 2 days ago! i go to the shop on a daily basis, and how would i remember what i bought 2 days ago?! and she kept insisting that she saw me leave the place without paying!! after a frustrating 5min trying to explain to the 2 owners, chaminda and i finally solved the mystery... conclusion:

#1: dont ever walk into that freaking shop with a drink bottle if you didnt buy it from that place

#2: dont give me a fucking dirty look and accuse me of something that occurred several days ago... if you see me bring out something without paying, shout out to me and we will settle the issue on the spot... you think we fucking asians are too fucking poor to pay for a fucking bottle of drink?! catch me in the act of stealing if you have the fucking proof!

#3: will NEVER patronize that fucking shop again! overpriced for undervalued goods...people go to that shop because it'e the only place in school selling drinks and other stuff... from now onwards, i will eat shit and drink pee instead on stepping foot into that fucking place again!

forgotten features of my camera

a prolonged absence from my last blog... will be coming home soon in october for good, and that will be the end of my 2 years of adventure in europe...=( will be writing a long post regarding my top 10 moments in europe over the last couple of years... but before that, i just realized that my camera has a lot of functions which i had been too lazy to explore since i bought it a year back... here are some of pics which chami (who gladly pose as my model) and i took... see the original color and compare it with the other shot...see the spider upclose...=)

frustrating one week....

my 3rd? or 4th?

so that's it!!! it was an lunar eclipse that i saw last night!!!! happie happie....

my little secret crush...=D

she is so adorable in this show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

national day weekend...

as usual, weekends have been spent in the university cos we need to tap into the internet network of the university... which sets me thinking - is internet an essential part of my life? ha~ what happened to those weekends in singapore spent far away from the computers, instead i would indulge myself in food, movies and gatherings... ha~

also, with my masters program coming to an end, i started crossing out on my calender the days to my departure - start of october... just found out a couple of days back that sterling airlines has some discounted tickets from aalborg to london starting from only 300DKK after taxes, and with this, i get my ass to london and fly home via A380!! =D

however, to do this, i have to leave aalborg latest 30th sept... kinda rushed but maybe, just maybe, i will be able to push through my thesis defense by end of sept...

found out dave had landed in germany! well, got to know him when i was in my 2nd semester in TUHH (hamburg), and he got himself the erasmus mundus scholarship to spend the next 2 years in europe! it's comforting to know that this scholarship scheme had become kinda well-known in singapore; and that i've managed to convince them (dave and yanling) to take up this scholarship... =)

for yanling, she returned to singapore recently after spending one year in italy and france... she was convinced that the past one year was indeed beneficial for her, and that she would definitely consider moving to europe again after her PHD studies in NTU... see what some international exposure will do to someone? (yanling, to me, is someone who is extremely homely and i was pretty amazed when i saw how much she've changed over a mere 12 months)...

for dave, he enrolled in a 2-year environmental engineering masters, which will see him spend some time in barcelona and hamburg... and i am sure that this experience will help him mature as a person...

lastly, for me, i dont know how my past 24 months in europe had changed me... guess i will only have a clearer picture after i get back...

snails for today =)

ok, i DON'T have a fetish for ladybirds or in this case, snails... it's just that there is nothing significant things happening in my life at the moment... working in uni, typing report, go home sleep, working in uni, typing report, go home sleep, you get my meaning...=(

so, the most entertaining event(s) occurs during my morning walk to the university... and for today, i am no ladybird shooter, but a snail-shooter!! eeewwwwwww, you can even see the eyes of the snails in some pics...

the bee and ladybird...

will be going to copenhagen next tuesday! of course, it's not for fun, it's a business trip... hope that the weather will turn out perfect, so that i can be trigger-happy... ha~ the pics which i took for the last trip to copenhagen were terrible cos of the weather...

and hey, i just realized that ladybugs make really good "shooting partners" cos of their colors and contrast with the environment... and don't ask me why the ladybird is orange in color....bees are next in the list...

coming home soon!

been working hard in lab for most of the last couple of weeks... and with that, my so-called internship will be coming to an end... i felt so bad about "riding" on the hard work of both fabio and abraham, since they were the ones who came up with the concept and the preparation of the test specimens, and i am the one who enjoyed the fruits of their work (i started helping out in the testing and the preparation of the report)... but well, i am due some good luck anyway =p

so, after sending out all those letters of applications for maersk oil and vestas without any tinge of success (ha~ okok, went for a couple of interviews), seems like i am coming home to singapore afterall... and from the look of things, i should be coming home in 60-80 days' time... my thesis defense should end by 30th sept, so barring any unfortunate events, i should move out of my apartment and to make my way to germany, probably hamburg or frankfurt where the air ticket is cheaper as compared to flying from aalborg/copenhagen... hopefully, i will be able to pop by some other european cities before flying back...

why is my ladybird orange instead of being red?

spent 10min trying to get a shot at the ladybird.... helloooooooooo pretttty!