Friday, January 30, 2009

A Farewell Concert


Nella Hunkins Chamber Recital- farewell concert was a perfect one!!

The six beautiful pieces of Beethoven's Piano Trio No.5 in D major 'Ghost trio' Op. 70 and Tchaikovsky Piano trio in A minor, Op. 50 were so stunning!!
Sooooo nice!Wonderful! Amazing!
:D

You can watch alternatives here..
Allegro
Largo assai (my fav)
Presto (also my fav)
Pezzo elegiaco
Tema con Variazioni
Risoluto e con fuoco (sorry, can't find)

(even harder to remember than microorganisms' names!)


We were awed in the hall. No one dared to make a single noise when the three talented people were playing with their piano, violin and cello instruments.
And, when they've finished a piece, the hall would be quiet for 3 seconds and then..ta daaaa...some would cough, whisper to the next person, check handphone messages or flip brochures;)
Then, when they start performing again- everything will become static. The r-e-a-l static type.
It''s like everyone knows that they should hold their breath and it's fatally wrong to make even a single sound.

Geok, you must come with me next time if there are any other events that you are interested at. They're open for all!

So long~~

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Piano recital

The piano recital in the YST (Yong Siew Toh) Conservatory was amazing!
And the faculty in it was..so nice!! The moment we walked into this conservatory, we knew that we did not come into the wrong place. It was nicely built, tall, and with an air of class. Yaloh, conservatory right..can't be that 'cincai'..

Well, again I would like to stress that it was a lucky thing that we went. Unfortunately, due to unavoidable reasons, I was late by 5 minutes and we could not enter the hall while the first performer was beautifully playing Clementi's Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 26. It was really nice though we were listening and 'peeping' from the small glass from the door=)

The moment the young lady finishes (whom she learned piano when she was 4- yes 4 years old! And perhaps, I was just running around with my brother back then..sigh!) applause filled the entire hall. Then, we quickly went in to have a good seat. Hehe.. kiasu a bit.. since my companion was pestering to sit near the performer to watch the dancing piano keys. It wasn't really packed and there were empty seats, but whenever a performer had stepped out and while waiting for the second performer to come in- the hall was so quiet that we can even hear our own breath. So so quiet..

Okay, back to the story. Soon, the recital event was followed by another young lady who played the masterpiece by Prokoviev; Sonata No.2 in D minor. Again, we all cheered when she finishes and then, the event was continued by an European guy who played- Beethoven's Sonata no.32 in C minor, Op. 111. Wooow.. that was really amazing. The keys were so fast and the tune was really beautiful. Though I frankly admit that I'm not a musician and wouldn't know much if the music went off the track, but, the pieces were played very nicely.

The last performer was another guy who played Chopin's Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31. Really nice! I couldn't help admiring these people:P
I will drop by again for violin recitals hehe.. soon. Hopefully it doesn't clash with my lab time;)

So long ~~ and I'm going back home tommorow!;)

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Confusion

Have you ever been in a state of confusion? No no...not the normal confused thingy. This is the T-O-T-A-L confusion one! It's like trying to understand how aliens try to talk to us.

Today I had the courtesy of joining a meeting with my supervisor and his research team. And yes, that includes me..the newbie..hehe
Each of them had a great talk on their current project with the great researcher from Korea, and I was there- trying very hard to understand whatever they were talking about, but I was unsuccessful. Sob sob..

What's more, 99% of the terms that they had mentioned were never in my list of vocabulary before. =.=

Words like AK2, cascade, Apaf, G2, shRNA, etoposide, Bcl-2, AFAC 10, AIF, Y2H..yeah yeah..and the list goes on. And while he was presenting his research, I was there, feeling like hanging on a rope (which is like going to break!)and will fall down a 100-storey building deciding on how interesting this project going to be.

Suddenly, it strikes me that I am a different species of bird trying to join a flock of birds. You know, the phrase- birds of a feather flock together? Yeah..imagine that they're the swan and I'm the duck. Yes yes..quack quackkk!

In the question and answer session, only those who knew what was he talking about asked questions. And so and so.. And ducks like me tend to feel isolated. In the lake of my own. It's okay, I have my own lake at the moment before joining theirs. *winks*

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

5 Lessons

I've got this email for many, many times but it never failed to inspire me. Hope it does to you too;)

Five (5) lessons to make you think about the way we treat people.

1 - First Important Lesson - Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions until I read
the last one:

'What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?'

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50's, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.

'Absolutely,' said the professor. 'In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do
is smile and say 'hello.'

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

2. - Second Important Lesson - Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:3 0 p.m., an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rainstorm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride.
Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 60s.. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached..

It read:
'Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away.. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others.'

Sincerely, Mrs. Nat King Cole.

3 - Third Important Lesson - Always remember those who serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less,
a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and
sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him..

'How much is an ice cream sundae?' he asked.

'Fifty cents,' replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled is hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it.

'Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?' he inquired.

By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient.

'Thirty-five cents,' she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins.

'I'll have the plain ice cream,' he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies..

You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.

4 - Fourth Important Lesson. - The obstacle in Our Path.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the
King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand!

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

5 - Fifth Important Lesson - Giving When it Counts...

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare & serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had
miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness.. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, 'Yes I'll do it if it will save her.' As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheek. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded.

He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, 'Will I start to die right away'.

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her but he had chosen to save her anyway.

Inspired you, didn't it?

Monday, January 12, 2009

Life choices

Yes, life choices.
She was worried but she accompanied me while I ate.
In return, I accompanied her until she made one of the largest choice in her life- to choose a pHD topic and a good supervisor in 30 minutes' time.

It was a life choice but she had to choose that fast.
And I've contributed slightly while enjoying the process at the same time.
It was an eye-opener to me. I did not know that they are doing extensive research in bioengineering. WOW. I was seriously amazed with those works.

You know, how engineering is used to combine cells? Or tendons, or ligaments?
Or in curing scarring as scarring could obstruct biochemical systems?
Or how you modulate tissues so that it could be used biologically?
This is what I call science. And contribution to mankind. I could feel the surge of interest when I read it. Really, it's marvelous!
And there were lots, lots more..

The advancement in technology is great:)

Sunday, January 11, 2009

More pictures..

Chinatown 6th January 2009

Commonwealth Drive 11th January 2009

Bronze room in NUS Museum, an artifact on Bronze Money Tree (fragment) with ceramic base. Visited this interesting museum with few friends but ended up chatting with one of them. We were on the way of attending a 'Singlish' course. Since we didn't have much to do after the short orientation talk on facilities and services provided by NUS, we've decided to walk into this museum. I will go again and get more pictures later:)

Artifacts during Neolithic Era- there were more but I did not finish exploring because I was having a deep conversation with a sweet friend from Myanmar. Hope she will get well soon so that we can go to classes together.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Not long ago..

Burned the rest of my photos so these are some of the few ones kept in my phone. Been leaving this blog for some time dy. *paiseh*

Wax figurines in Images of Singapore, Imbiah Station, Sentosa 6th Jan 2009

Chinatown. Welcoming the year of mooooo. 6th Jan 2009

The God of Prosperity. Decors were placed along the road in Chinatown. Nice! 6th Jan 2009


If you are having insomnia, please look at this. Guaranteed sleepy. Trust me=P
Missing my doggie.

UPM. 23rd Dec 2008