Sunday, September 27, 2009

Random pictures- NYC, White House, and misc 10:05 AM

HOLA long time no see! Sorry I've been busy with work and stuff... but as promised, lets take a sneak peek inside my tiny but cosy pad!

Pics are taken in such that the view of the room is as complete as possible ahaha.

Here's my dresser in the middle of the room, beside my study table and my chair that is semi-blocked by the tv..

Thats the entrance to the kitchen and dining area and thats my tiny little table with my laptop on it. That thing that is beside the table, kinda blocked by the edge of the bed is my exerciser.. my stepper! I can feel the muscles building and the fats melting away.. haa no no nooo i dont want Madonna muscles! I need to find a way to lose fats and not build muscles..

Thats the view of the other side of the room. On the right is the closet door, with a mirror hanging from it, in the middle is my drawer set with my tv sitting on it.. my 32 inch tv! Not the biggest, but big enough! To the left is the entrance to the bathroom.. yes that door with a mirror on it. And somewhere to the left of the tv is my lame attempt at making my room a little greener.. my tiny little plant from ikea. That bizarre looking thing in front of it is my tv antenna.. so I can get free-to-air channels without having to pay for cable! The extreme left is my study table once again. If you zoom in you can see on the magnetic board above the table I have stuck some of the birthday cards that I got... from my parents and from JINGWEN with the very ugly duckling magnet hahahaaha jkjk.

That's my very comfy bed.. with my tiny table in front of it. I know I did not make my bed.. hahaha thats cos I was still lying on it surfing the net! I was too lazy to move to the study table.. heehee. And that box underneath the table? That holds the notes that I compiled to prepare for my orals.. which I have really yet to get to studying for.... :S

Enter the kitchen! View from the dining area.

I have this other tiny table somewhere in the dining area right beside the kitchen/dining area partition and it holds my tiny rice cooker and tiny coffee maker and kettle and most importantly the USD$32 mooncakes I got from Hmart. Exhorbitant I know.. but that was really the best kinda moon cakes they had, and I badly needed something to remind me of home heehee.

View of the sparsely furnished unfurnished dining area from the kitchen.. Where the tiny vase lies on the floor is to mark the demise of a cockroach.. dried up on the wall after many years of unnoticed death. Till this day, it lies, stuck on the wall.. because I dare not touch a dead cockroach FML.

My tiny stove in the kitchen.. super tiny eh.. no space to even put up a drying rack. I really need to start looking for one that I can hang on the wall.. one sturdy enough so it wont fall and crack all my ceramics.

My kitchen cabinet! Holding my stash of Chinese tea, milo, instant coffee.. and below it, my microwave, my apples and my stash of junk food... and some more tea and evaporated milk for my coffee (I love my kopi si!).

The last but not least picture of my room.. the view from my window! It faces South.. not fantastic view, but also not facing the source of noise etc from the pubs. More than what I can ask for!

Next up.. NYC! My Baltimore BFF Kailee persuaded me to accompany her and her parents to a weekend NYC trip. Bolt bus tickets = cheap! No need to drive = relaxing.

3 years before, I visited ground zero. Had the hardest time trying to find it cos there was really nothing there but construction. 3 years on, I visited ground zero again. This time, just a couple days after 911. Nothing changed. Its still a construction site. They said next year the official memorial will be ready. Lets wait and see.

View of the tall buildings around NYC.

This is still around ground zero.

New location I visited: Wall Street. Never was really interested in it.. but now that the economy is recovering, the people do look slightly happier than in spring.

NYC street view.

Another building in NYC.

Somewhere in the Wall Street area.

They were filming something!

We were trying to kaypoh but got chased away.

Changed a location to kaypoh.

Everything is fake.. even the cab is a prop!

Get ready for filming...

Thats what they were filming.. see if you can see it on tv! It should be an ad.. dont know what its for though.

Pics from Patho department picnic! The brownie was phenomenal.

K2, my labmate/bff2 Kahjing eating the crabs they provided at the picnic. Maryland blue crabs.

It was a beautiful day for a picnic!

The picnic.. and part of Jackie's face.

On the way home. Zoom in to the car plate and tell me what you see ;) ps it was at the red light.. I wasn't trying to take pics while driving!

Fall is here.. tree leaves are turning red! Sooooo pretttyyyyy!


Pics of the White House tour!

Obama invited us to his place one day. Blarh. Security was so tight and you would think for all the crap they make you go through, and all the background checks they did on you (quoting someone, they probably knew how much you peed in the past few days prior to the trip), you would think they would show us more stuff. But no. All we got to do was go in, follow a certain route through the first floor of the White House. No Oval Office of course, no Obama (he was at G20!!!), everything was barricaded.. we could only see from a safe distance. No fun at all!

Anyway, pics. Kailee at the entrance of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Me next.
Ya if you were wondering why I was holding on to so many things its cos they refused to let us bring in even tiny purses, only wallets phones and umbrella. And it happened to be a rainy day so everything I had to carry in my hands blah.

The only redeeming factor is it is really pretty.

The crowds milling around outside.

'We're inside the White House grounds and you're outside suckers!' wahaha.
It usually takes about 6 months to apply, and you gotta apply through an organization and through a congressman before you will have a chance to go visit the White House. But I would advise you, its not worth the trouble. For us, it took like 1 week so that was fine. Otherwise, there's really nothing much to see.

The protesters from Iran sitting outside.. hey you guys.. your President is in NYC! Why are you in DC!
The funniest thing about this picture was the tent was full of protesters on 'hunger strike, day 60'. But beside the tent there's a table full of snacks and beverages etc. Define hunger strike, someone?

Warning.. graphic pics. Don't zoom in if you gotta a weak heart! Tamil Indian protesters.

Crowds milling outside the White House, taking pictures.

Crowds leaving.

US Secret Service man. Wearing a vest with the huge words 'US Secret Service' emblazoned across his back. Guess that's not very secretive any more is it Mr Secret Sevice? Face has been blurred to protect his identity. Heehee.

As we were chatting outside, someone said that legend has it that there's a sniper above the White House aiming at each and every one of us, in case we try something funny. My hair started standing on ends. And another said that in the red building beside the White House, it appears that there are surface to air missiles ready to be launched any time they see any air craft going too close to the White House. Yet another said that he once witnessed the President coming in on his chopper. They gotta clear off immediately. There would be 3 choppers landing simultaneously, only one is the bonafide one holding the president. The others would clear off after the right one lands and the president gets off. Heehee sounds like a scene right out of a spy movie!

Talking about spies, secret service and stuff, it also happened to be the National Library of Congress book festival in DC this weekend! And guess what.. at the moment that I was at the fair, my favourite author David Baldacci was supposed to be giving a talk there! This is so totally random. We were too far away from the stage to be able to tell if it was really him, but it did not look like him in the book *disappointed*. But we were in such a rush to catch the bus home we couldn't wait. But a lot of other famous authors were also there, including my other fav Jodi Picoult (my sister's keeper), Judy Blume, and John Grisham!

Okay.. enough of small talk.. gotta go get some groceries and move my car. Seems the parking space is too cramped and I need to move my car closer to the wall so others can get past safely. TTYL!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Scared 7:41 PM

Did you read about the Yale graduate student who was killed? Its so scary how she shared so many similarities to me... both 24, both 4"11, both about 90 pounds, both Asian, both graduate students, both studying in dangerous cities. It's absolutely freaking me out. Especially when I got home today. I swear, I heard something in the kitchen. Later I realize it was this plastic bag holder I had near my backdoor which is in the kitchen. It fell to the ground. And initially I shook it off as my imagination. Then my microwave started beeping. And I KNEW I didn't touch it. I just got home! I ran into my kitchen. And I understood. Someone was INSIDE my apartment. He/she heard me come in and ran out the backdoor. In his/her hurry, he/she knocked my plastic bag holder to the ground.

The first response was to open the door immediately and check. But of course by then, whoever was gone. Then I ran back into my apartment and started looking to see if I lost anything. Nothing. It's not the first time something like this happened. The first time, my closet was messed up and the lights were turned on but I attributed it to the maintenance man because the pipes were in the closet wall. But there was no maintenance ticket, which is the normal practise for the maintenance man when he comes in. And I still don't understand why my microwave was beeping.

By then I was starting to shake in fear. I could only think of how lucky I was the person decided to leave and not stay and hurt me or whatever. I called the management emergency number and they promised to check to see if it was the maintenance man who came in. But I highly doubt it because I got home after the working hours of the maintenance man. The management also promised to change the locks if it was not the maintenance man. Now I think of all the time someone else might have the keys to my apartment while I sleep at night, while I was out working, and I just feel this horrible sense of fear. All the time I was under the false impression that I was safe...

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

My exciting life 6:54 PM

So do you guys wanna hear about the more exciting or less exciting story first? Both happened in the same day. How bout lemme decide for you guys. Less exciting story first.

1. A Fedex delivery person came rushing into the lab some time in the afternoon. He had a cooler box in his hands and he was looking for anyone in the lab next to ours. However, no one was around except for people in our lab. He looked pretty desperate, so old man Mike decided to help him out. He tried calling the people in the other lab. No one picked up their phones. Finally the FedEx guy handed the package to us and told us he needed to hurry and go about the rest of his deliveries.

We took a good look at the package and did a double take. On the top was a bright red stamp 'Medical Emergency'. AHH!!! Can't be some organ for transplant can it??! We decided to open the documentation accompanying the package. It was some donor information. The donors died a couple days ago. Bad news, its gotta be some kinda organ. Good news, its probably not for transplant if it was harvested a couple of days ago and only got here now. Mike decided to open up the box to store the samples in the freezer. And out came 6 containers. Mike joked, 'This person has 6 eyes!' and held the 6 containers right in front of me. AHHHHH!!!!

My exciting work life.

2. Yesterday, I went home earlier than usual. Took the shuttle back at 6.30pm. That was the express shuttle so it gets me home faster. A few minutes into the ride, the bus came to a screeching halt. It was really annoying and some people were standing so many people fell. I was really annoyed initially because I thought the bus did that because the driver did not see a red light or something. And then I heard sirens and I understood. Now, in the US, the thing about driving is, ambulances and fire engines are the kings of the road. If you hear any kind of siren at all, its not like in Singapore where you just change lanes or give way. Here you have to literally pull over to the side and come to a stop to allow the emergency vehicles to pass. If the road is too small you gotta go onto the kerb to give way. So I understood why the bus driver had to jam on the brakes.

But that did not prepare me for what came next. Like in a split second after the bus braked, sirens suddenly started wailing and a police car flew past. Right on its heels was a civilian car with police lights flashing on the dashboard. It was like right out of the movies. The plainclothes officers in the car were holding walkie talkies and looked really tense. In a split second, they were gone, as fast as they arrived. The sirens wailed in the distance. Like a slow mo movie, the cars that came to a stop on the road started slowly coming to life again.

It was then that I found out a shooting had just occurred. In the news today, it was reported that there was a domestic dispute right behind the hospital and someone started shooting. An innocent hospital employee was shot by a stray bullet. Poor lady is fine after some outpatient treatment. But must have been shocking! Rush hour too!

My exciting life....

When I told Jackie chan this story, she very enviously said, "I am so jealous of you. Not everyone can see that kinda stuff lo." Ya... I'm sure also not everyone wants to witness that kinda stuff.. no really..

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

God 6:18 PM

Do you believe in god? I was a believer. Just in that there is a god, doesn't matter which god. I have my faith, others have theirs. And I respect them all, so let's not go into an argument about faith. But I do believe that in this universe, there must be a higher power. Someone looking out for us all. And this week, my believe is strengthened. Everything that happened to me is just too much of a coincidence. God knows what I need. God is looking out for me.

So remember my previous entry about how money came when I was really hard up for cash? And so I thought, now that I am a little less hard up, how about lets get some of the essential, but not critical appliances that I had been putting off because of my financial situation. I needed a microwave, a rice cooker, and a coffee maker. The last one is just cos I drink so much coffee, it just makes more sense for me to make my own coffee every morning rather than buy coffee from starbucks. Anyway I digress.

So I went on craigslist looking for these appliances, in the same order. Microwave because its most critical, then rice cooker because I can always eat instant noodles if there's no rice, and then coffee maker because I can always get coffee from starbucks in the mean time. At the moment I still do not have that much spare cash so I decided to get them second hand. So I looked at the ads and started sending out emails to people selling off stuff and my emails were always titled 'Microwave' or 'Rice cooker' or maybe 'Vacuum cleaner'. So whenever I get replies, the replies always carried the same heading.

Yesterday when I saw the email titled 'Microwave' in my inbox, I thought it was another reply telling me sorry, the microwave is already sold or that the microwave is located so far away that its just stupid to drive there to buy it. Guess what, its none of the above. In fact, it wasn't even a reply to an ad. It was a fellow Singaporean here I've met just once. She was moving and she had 2 microwaves so she decided to give one away. She heard that I was looking for one so she wanted to offer hers to me. Isn't this the most amazing thing?

I was dumbstruck. I might not be the luckiest person all the time. I always get lousy data in lab, sometimes get yelled at by my boss, sometimes get so stressed out I can't sleep, sometimes I'm just really messed up. But this week, I feel like I am the luckiest person on Earth. Its small little things, but coming at the right time, really made my day. I guess that is why I say, god is watching out for me.

Maybe I should ride on this luck and go buy the 300 million USD lotto!!!!! WHEEE!!! Hahahaha just kidding!!! I won't squander my good luck like this!

Welcome to the blog of 武林盟主. In this space of hers, she is entitled to and responsible for her own thoughts and comments. You are welcome to give your few cents worth in the tag, but do not force her to accept your thoughts should they differ from hers. If everyone thinks the same way we would all be robots no?

武林盟主 is this pugilistic genius everyone calls a deranged lunatic. But that's cos they haven't witnessed her great powers yet! She can be regarded as the best product coming from the Pugislistic World in the past 100 years, and 武當, 少林 and 峨嵋 are scrambling to get her to be their 掌门人. She likes think of herself as the next 杨过, 郭靖 or 张无忌.

武林盟主 also has this slightly straight slightly crooked sexuality. At times when the Estrogen triumphs, she preys on hot guys. Other times when the Testosterone levels peak, she preys on hot girls. Some say that is a side effect of the 葵花宝典. Her doctors are still working to establish that.

Many say she's invincible. But that's not true. Bring a DURIAN in front of her, and she will ditch her sword and raise the white flag. She's still desperately trying to master the 闭气功 so she can overcome this weakness.

She now resides in a tiny little room in a tiny little building in a tiny little university/hospital in the tiny little city of Baltimore, studying her tiny little life away in the hopes of getting some Permanent Head Damage. If you feel you can communicate at her level and wish for her to be your soulmate, feel free send her a note of pugilistic admiration and alliance!