FYP Oral defense is over!!!!!!!!!!!!

edited with photos

YESH! haha.

mine was at 1315 hrs at Dispensing lab. my panel of judges were : Dr Paul Ho, Giorgia Pastorin and Rachel Ee. I think it was not too good but not too bad. at least everything is over.

at least i think i wun get to present for symposium due to my lousy poster (compared to the rest). so the next step i would have to do is really just to pin up the poster. heheheheh. haha!!! anticipating KTV after the symposium!!!

yay. and after my presentation, met LC in the library who was still brushing up on her poster. den i went to meet my cousins after 1 hr of DFD prac reading and 1 hr of crunchyroll. hehe. photos up next time when i receive them! =)

oh ya and sth qt cool, my dad's gg to present to NUS some business talk about MAS system in SG, kena arrowed by superior to do it. haha, will be in May, wonder what kind of lecture/talk that would be. I think i wan to go "crash" haha!

This was what i ate. Seafood curry udon and lime juice

Me and the yr 2 pharmer and fellow cellist Ah jin (Xueting)

Me with bday ah jin (ah peck)

Ask a passer-by to help us with this groupshot. after he took it, he asked "where are you from?"
The answer came bluntly from Xueting, "Singapore".

Note: the blue curve in the background is the Singapore Flyer!!! Haha we din walk too near it cos our legs too sour already. :P :P

High Heels Day

it started with me looking at the MSN contact list and noticed that some were saying "HIGH HEELS DAY TMR". then, i msged cheryl, "eh heels day, u onz". then "onz!" ahaha!

and my clique added "skirt" day. so it's "high heels + skirt" day... but rare for hua to wear skirt and heels plus, she wasn't online.

after group discussion today, our mahjong paper ended up in Kent Ridge Hall outside Huiting's room. haha. she emailed us the pic for remembrance, to remind us of our good old discussion days. haha. today was sort of a "last Pharm Prac discussion day". The rest of the weeks will be on one-to-one patient counselling. I wonder what would those lecturers be up to again.

InTempo 2008 - ST review

A band on the march

The NUS Wind Symphony marks its 40th year with flag-waving fervour and blaring sound effects

By Chang Tou Liang

IN TEMPO 2008
National University of Singapore Wind Symphony
Leonard Tan, Conductor
University Cultural Centre/Last Saturday

FOR its 40th anniversary celebration, the National University of Singapore Wind Symphony went back to its roots as a marching military band.

Beginning with two marches, Gerry Soliano's patriotic and Sousa-inspired Crescent And Stars and Vaughan Williams' folksong Seventeen On Sunday, the general upbeat tone of the evening was set.

The orchestra, now close to 100 strong, responded with gusto and confidence under budding conductors Ian Lum and Martin Lim respectively, before its music director Leonard Tan took centrestage.

For the 'serious' items requiring more of an interpretation, the young outfit did not disappoint.

Sibelius' Finlandia had more blare than usual in its all-wind guise, and voices otherwise sung by the strings were lost but its nationalistic, flag-waving fervour came through.

The big work of the programme was Dutch wind band-meister Johan de Meij's Third Symphony, also titled Planet Earth. At 50 minutes, it is overblown to say the least.

A solid five minutes of sound effects - the Big Bang and whizzing planets - began the work, and it meandered from the sound world of Holst's Neptune The Mystic before unfolding like some long-winded Richard Strauss tone poem.

More cliches abound, from the chugging of Adams and Glass' minimalism to the inevitable big melodies from a quasi-John Williams celestial score.

Those more accustomed to Mahler and Bruckner's longeurs might have been bored, but conductor Tan's youthful exuberance kept the ensemble from flagging, ensuring a highly spirited reading that lurched from one climax to another.

The band alumni - now in their 60s - accorded the performance a standing ovation. And rightly so, from its humble beginnings at Bukit Timah campus to the spanking new home at Kent Ridge, the band had indeed come of age.

=========================================

quite a disappointing post because he missed out one song, and actually did not write as much as we had expected. but some comments which may be quite true. things like "overblown", yes i think that may be true in some parts. (i'm dl-ing the Earth's official recording, and going to listen to it soon.)

Listened: some parts really overblown and some parts stuck out. cellos should have been louder.. oops. haha. shd juz played everything near the bridge. haha... afterall, cello section in a wind band - who win? :P other comments, i dun wan to write here :P

as concerts come and go, i feel older and older... haiz...

Post-Planet Earth

Actually I've been telling some ppl, i think during the concert, i focussed too much on the technical parts. i din indulge myself in the feeling part of music making. partly because i was still new in performing with a cello, and the stress from being miked up. it was until movt 3 when i realise i shd be less tensed, i should have juz let go and SING! haha. la la la la la la la la.....

yupz, next time, i'll definitely wan to try to just play. but when will i play such great work again?

Greek

Gaian pammêteiran aeisomai êuthemethlon presbistên, hê pherbei epi chthoni panth' hopos' estin; êmen hosa chtona dian eperchetai, êd' hosa ponton, êd' hosa pôtôntai, tade pherbetai ek sethen olbou. Chaire theôn mêtêr, aloch' Ouranou asteroentos, prôphrôn d'ant' ôidês bioton thumêre' opadze. Chaire theôn mêtêr, ô Gaia! Ek seo d'eupaides te kai eukarpoi telethousi potnia, seu d' echetai dounai bion êd' aphelesthai. thnêtois anthrôpoisin, ô Gaia!

English

I will sing of well-founded Earth, mother of all, eldest of all beings. She feeds all creatures that are in the world; all that go upon the goodly land and all that are in the paths of the seas and all that fly; all these are fed of her store. Hail mother of the gods, wife of starry Heaven freely bestow upon me for this my song substance that cheers the heart! Hail mother of the gods, o Gaia! Through you, O queen, men are blessed in their children and blessed in their harvests, and to you it belongs to give means of life to mortal men and to take it away, O Gaia!

seems like the band is still having post-concert syndrome :P

Last Practical in Pharmacy 17 March 2008

Sort of a "last practical", although there is still practical test coming up. so this is the memorable practical session we had :P

Dosage Form Design III - Pelleting

first, blend the coating fluid with deionised water.

then, weigh out the pellets

put tube from the pump into the diluted coating fluid

put the pellets into the chamber and connect everything

let it start pelletisation

put the coated pellets into capsules. TADA~! the one on the right was the one i filled with a mixture of orange and green (from the other group) pellets

The lab group! :)

InTempo 2008 ~ PLANET EARTH

-edited-
i've planet earthed :)

i'm so glad to be given this opportunity to take part in this megawork. weeks of hard work practising at home and with the band. learning to deal with adolescents once more. helping HJ with exhibition. i suddenly feel alive again.

looking back at those days listening to the mp3, i thought, "if i can perform this piece, it'll be such an achievement and a satisfying experience". looking at the score i felt it was slightly out of my capability. today, the miracle had happened. i luv my band for making this possible :) i luv NUSWS!

during concert, at times i was touched. not wanting to let myself down. yes, i agree that it's still harder to get higher with a string instru, a blowing instru can get me higher.

they said mr tan cried. i saw him breathing hard after the last note. haha. touched?

it's like an exothermic reaction (yyk, 2008), feeling low after high. like suddenly there's no more PLANET EARTH to look forward to. no more band pracs (at least for nusws for a year)

besides planet earth, i was listening to the band at the side of the backstage during 1st half (only listen to "stars and crescent" and "cartoon"). i wanted to tell everybody i'm so proud to be part of nusws. cartoon was such a technically demanding piece but i think everything sounded great, at least from the side of the backstage haha :)

oh and i missed the STANDING OVATION!!! standing in front and cant see the dark dark audience properly, being blocked here and dere. i wan to seeeee...

i think i'm so grateful to have Mr Leonard Tan as my conductor. always making the repertoire so exciting. i'm wondering wat would be up next concert already, though i'm most prob too bz to commit to.

having post-concert withdrawal already :(((((((((((((((

sigh, back to mugging :(

before i go, another quote from Mr Tan "PES - Projection, excellence, spirit".




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Thursday rehearsal

I need an outlet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

telling them we sound qt bad, and they blame it on sth else. telling them they need practice, and then hearing that they rather have shorter time intensive...

let me faint.

wat's this attitude.

The EndNote/MSWord Problem Solved!

an email solved all my problems... :)


Hello,

Sounds like the field code viewing is turned on in word. Turn it off using the steps here:
http://www.endnote.com/support/faqs/CWYW/faq12.asp

Let me know if you are still having problems.

Thanks,
Colin
Thank you for contacting Thomson Scientific Technical Support.

EndNote 9

Think my Endnote 9 program got corrupted and messed up my citations EVERYWHERE. long weird codes. uninstall endnote 9, install again, uninstall msn, install again (cos i tot the newly upgraded version is causing the prob), then songwee sent me endnote 11. so uninstall endnote 9, install endnote 11.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... STILL NO USE!

anyway, wrote to the technical support thingy online. i hope they answer me soon. i dun want my FYP P3 and poster to get messed up...

eeks. i want to be more techno savvy..

Lab/Project mates

In pharmacy, our lab and project mates are usually the same few, allocated by our index numbers. This entry is dedicated to them :) although i dun think any of them read this blog :P

I think most of them are really very hardworking ppl and nice to work with. Most of our weekends will be spent working on the cases and projects which we have (well, we've assignments and cases every week -_-"""" ). and my forever-logged-in Outlook Express will occasionally have pop-out boxes showing their incoming emails, attached the work they've completed. That sort of becomes a motivation. At least i noe my groupmates are also doing our project on a sianz Saturday/Sunday.

All of them are really dedicated to producing quality work. I'm influenced too, but slowly.. haha. one day, i'll reach their level. haha!

I think on the last day of project or lab or wat, we shd go and celebrate :)

Come! buy tix from me!

Adolescents

I think i dunno how to deal with them.

so hard to get them to cooperate
so hard to get them to noe that they need to put in more effort
so hard to get them to understand that we want to play our best

i hope that next practice they'll be more aware and play better. i dun wan to nag, esp. when they're guest players. i actually tried to get their efforts recognised. asking complimentary tix for them, and arranging some token of appreciation. it feels like we're being super cheapskate if we just let them come and go, without anything from our side.

during the 1st prac they came, i asked wat motivates them to play with us. one word "professionalism". yes, i have yet to see enuf of this element coming from them. too much to expect of young children at this era? from that institution?

so many comments and i've heard us playing too. i dun wan to let the whole WS down, esp. on this 40th anniversary.

come thurs, still no good. i'll nag.. hope it wun be too late. really hope.

i tink i need the X factor to deal with them...

I think...

... Mas Selamat had fled Singapore... but tt's only my opinion. how else can he hide for so long? think it's so highly possible that he has accomplices, and tt's how he managed to escape too... i still dunno how come it's so easy to escape from prisondetention centre...

(the above is only my own opinion)

Refer to this.

Today understands that last Wednesday at about 5.15pm — 70 minutes after Mas Selamat escaped — a bus commuter reported seeing a man, believed to be the fugitive, at a petrol kiosk near the detention centre.

Four hours before the prison break, a SingPost van was stolen after the driver had left the engine running near the Woodlands Civic Centre. The stolen vehicle has still not been found. Authorities would not say if it was linked to the Mas Selamat hunt.

these might mean that all was planned. and i think the fact that the police kept emphasizing that he's still in Singapore, is juz to keep us still careful of our surroundings/JI/him. or it may be a cover for the police for us to believe that our borders are well protected...

hey, all these are only what i think ah... continue to be wary/careful... report bombs/suspicious articles blah blah ah...

Graduation Trip

Booked the tickets from STA Travel from Sci Coop:

$1124!

14May: Depart SG 1945, reach Melbourne 15May 0445
23May: Depart Melbourne 1000, reach Sydney 1120
29May: Depart Sydney 1655, reach SG 2245
and then Pre-reg starts.

yay! (for the trip, not the pre-reg part) haha!

Good that Jielin is in Melbourne and we can save the accomodation part. hehe :) only need to book hostel for Sydney. smells like the Europe trip la! book this book that and getting excited about the itinerary. hehe!

oh and i need sponsors to buy HTC Touch Cruise for Pre-reg! (sigh. i noe i wun have any sponsors one la.. bleahhh)