So long

I have decided not to continue blogging on this platform anymore for personal reasons.

Thank you for being a faithful reader for these couple of years even though I have not been faithfully updating it.

I would probably start writing again soon. If you are interested in being part of my readership, do drop me an email to snowbiscuits@gmail.com.

autumn in london


The start of fall in london.

It is getting colder here and i feel like a huge sausage roll, wrapped up with layers and layers of clothing. It wouldn't be long before i may end up rolling around with this heavy external shell.

Thankfully, the heaters in my room are somewhat working in the night to help me get through the cold chill that infiltrates through the poorly insulated infrastructure.

Will try to post some more about my adjustment to living in london.

not ready to go

Will be flying off to london in eight hours. I have done most of my packing and the preparations but i am still struggling with making farewells with my loved ones. The idea of leaving my home and the people i have been living with didn't really sink in until i bade my grandma farewell yesterday. I can never really describe the feeling but it felt almost like tearing my heart up into pieces to say a goodbye to my grandma.

I can't imagine how i'm going to be like when i bid farewell to my dad and sister later at the airport.

I don't feel ready to go yet:(

Anyway, i will be leaving at the 140 am flight, transiting at dubai before heading off to heathrow. Till i get my internet connection over at UK, bye:)

with my family and close family friends

procrastination is fatal

My long absence is all due to my habit of procrastinating. Meetups with friends and close relatives, last minute shopping trips and getting my paycheck in time...

And to think that i'm leaving this tiny sunny island that i have regarded as home:(

I will be leaving in two days' time and the newfound reality that my life is going to change is starting to sink in.


granny goes to starbucks

Since i was told that i looked pretty granny with my cream coloured summer sweater today, hence the title.

Remember your first time at starbucks? When unfamiliar terms like "grande" and "frappuchino" were staring back at you from the menu board? and you scrunch up your nose trying to decide what they really meant and what you want to order and not sound like some clueless noob and get snickered at other customers? wheew, that was a mouthful.

Anyway, though i have been to starbucks a few times previously, i still get the same jittery feeling whenever i stand at the counter. i can never get the names right and the most ironic thing is, i don't drink coffee. so latte, cappuccino, espresso... they all mean coffee to me, simple as that. Try explaining to me the variations and my eyes will start to glaze over after 5 seconds.

So the only item i usually order would be anything that sounds vaguely non-caffeine. The next toughie is the sizes. Being used to macs, i always find myself in pretty awkward situations when i start ordering my passion fruit drink (i forgot the exact name) "medium" at starbucks. Alas, "medium" doesn't exist in the size categories. And this never fails to be accompanied by a weird stare from the guy at the counter. Oh boy.

Today i requested for an iced full-leaf tea and i was shown this huge array of different tea flavours. i think the only flavours that rang a bell were earl grey tea and chamomile tea. The guy looked pretty bored, staring at his nails as he waited for me to make my selection. In the end, i threw my hands up and asked him exasperated, "i don't know. What do you recommend?" By the time, i expected the bored guy to just roll his eyes and randomly stab a finger at the closest flavour on the tea rack.

Instead, he looked a little surprised and thoughtfully recommended his personal favourite - jasmine orange. He even added that it would taste heavenly with some xxx syrup (sorry i can never remember all these). Since it would take a while for it to fully soak up the flavour, he suggested me to wait at my seat and he would serve it to me later. My iced jasmine orange tea was served with a cheery smile from the no-longer-bored guy.

Wow, at least someone gives a s*** about my order this time. Feels pretty good actually, to be honest.

my tick list - four eyed monster

Got two new pairs of glasses made since it seems expensive to get glasses made in the UK.

I became a little adventurous and decided to move away from my usual comfort colour, red, to more edgy (fierce?) colour like black and dark purple.

my black glasses

I always shy away from black when it comes to clothes because i look pretty frumpy in them. Which is why i usually stick to dark grey tones when i try to pull off a more classic look.

This time, i made a bold move on the choice of colour and gotten myself a black. Surprisingly, it didn't turn out so bad. In fact, i really liked how sharp and intellectual (haha) i looked.

Black is the next black.

eat, photo-taking, bye

As the date draws near, i find myself struggling to meet dear friends within the limited period of time i am left with. 

Although it was the usual eat - photo - bye routine, it was nice catching up with some whom i have not seen for months. 

Happy happy

pre-school jitters

It's 1248am and i can't sleep right now because i'm getting the jitters.

The schedule for my masters course arrived in my inbox today and i decided to take a quick look at it initially. The insanely packed timetable is scaring me and i have no idea how i'm going to cope with this on top of living in london alone.

Okay, i know i will get through this but i'm feeling really anxious about the whole thing now. I guess this is the time when reality sinks in... and replaces the euphoria behind the good news of being accepted.

Oh boy:(

ted talk

Wanted to blog a proper entry as a start of this new column of yuka and ted talks but i'm really tired now.

In the meantime, watch this entertaining but thought-provoking talk by Sir Ken Robinson, titled Bring on the Learning Revolution!


I promise to blog more about it when time permits me:)

my tick list - the eye bug

Being a huge procrastinator, i still have pretty lots of stuff to do before i fly off. Which includes things i can buy cheaply here because things in london are twice the price here :(

So, i managed to tick one off my list today - my green little eye bug, the canon ixus 105.


Although it was slightly above my expected budget,  i wanted to stick to canon with its reputable quality and specs. And the colour won my heart over when i laid my eyes upon it. On the whole i felt i got myself a pretty good deal because it came with the essential accessories and a cute tiny tripod (awww).

the paper chase- a myth?

I am a huge hypocrite when it comes to my view on education and qualifications. Despite being against the rote learning style of the education system here, i got myself into a course that required an extensive degree of memorizing and i have to admit that i used to study my materials without fully comprehending them.

Likewise i would say that qualifications are not everything. Non-academic qualities are equally important in helping you clinch that job or degree you have been eyeing on. But frankly, if you think about it, qualifications are the first on our priority lists whereas non-academic ones are bonus brownie points that put us a level higher above the rest.

Now, if you are wondering where i am heading to in this entry, i will just bring up this talk i had with one of the HR staff from the company i am currently working at, the other day.

Apparently, they target fresh graduates from the top universities on the global scale (think Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge), in other words intellectuals of high calibre. During the interview, they are given scenario based questions to answer which exemplifies their abilities in crafting a solution to that certain unique situation. I would have to say that i was not surprised or doubtful about the qualifications of the people working in this company because you could tell that they were not only highly motivated about what they do but also very knowledgeable (and funny).

What surprised me is the plain fact that this company is looking for the best and only the best. They don't look at the second best (not even nus, sadly). All the pacifying talk about how the paper chase is not everything because it's merely a certificate, doesn't hold in this case. And i am starting to get this feeling that this company is not the only one that feels so.

If you come to think about it, going to a top school is not about knowing all your academic stuff so well that you can recite from the first to the last line readily. Imagine the other smart (or even smarter) people who are in your course, fighting for the honours. And that sets the ultimate challenge. I think it's more of the challenge and competition that raises us up one notch. The nature of the environment pushes us to be more on the edge and constantly searching for ways to reach the top. That also comes with the spirit to compete with the others too, which i believe is something many students share when they aim for a degree in a elite institution. It's the fighting spirit that makes the qualifications rather than the paper, the paper is just merely a symbol of that fighting spirit one possess in order to achieve a specific goal.

So all in all, the paper chase is still important but it should be seen under a different light. It's not the paper that is precious but what comes with the paper that is the secret to success.

Truthfully i felt a little on the low side because i felt nowhere near this colleagues on the intellectual side but later it transformed into something more encouraging and motivating for me, like a reference point i can start from. I guess it is a good introduction or a short insight into what it means to plan your directions when it comes to a transition between graduating to working. And that there are so many paths branching out from a single point, that may take us to somewhere we would never have considered previously. As long as we are aware that these paths exist and how we can find them.

I am glad i had the time to write this post because it has been something i have been pondering over during my part-time stint at this company. It brought me a completely different view about work and very useful insights on how some of these people planned their futures. This would come into handy as i try to map out my very own path in these few years.

rollllll in!

I have so much stuff that i want to share but time constraint and fatigue refuse to allow me to do so.

I usually make a mental note to blog about something that inspires me at that point of time. And now my brain is filled with all these mental sticky notes. Shall try to start posting them soon 

getting ready for london

Before i fly off to london next month, i have been busy busy busy.


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I have to say my biggest worry was getting the student visa because it was the last obstacle that stood in between me and ucl. In all honesty, i would never ever want to queue up for my visa applications at the Singapore centre again if i had to because it was simply mentally torturous to wait for 5 hours just to get your visa application form submitted together with your biometrics taken.

Anyway, all i am left is going for a medical checkup and xray scans and of course, packing. 

On top of this, my work has been pretty demanding too because i am expected to finish what i am told by the first week of september:( oh bother.

Spending time with my family and dear friends is also another note on my priority list. I'm not sure whether i'll come back to singapore any time soon, and that makes me feel sadder when everything is still uncertain.

I know it sounds a bit dramatic but having realized that i may not be coming back any time soon makes me feel even more appreciative about this sunny little island. I know i won't be leading such a comfortable life as i have been when i go over to the UK. 


Whatever time that i am left with shall be spent with people i hold dear to.

guilinggao

We headed to chinatown for a scrumptious meal of roast duck noodles, which i will sorely miss when i head over to london this september. Despite having lived in a humid climate for so long, i can never get used to the stifling heat in hawker centres, which would usually result me sweating away and huffing and puffing in an effort to dispel some of the heat away.

But we found this gem amongst the loud chinese vendors and money changers - a place that sells guilinggao, a cooling dessert eaten during the hot summers. It can be directly translated as 'turtle jelly' which got me worried initially because i did not want to eat a part of a turtle! Fortunately, it is nothing of that sort and is in fact, a herbal dessert. Having said that, guilinggao is a favourite among the women as it is good for the skin complexion. Being herbal, it is very bitter but one can always top it up with honey or sweet syrup to mask the bitterness.


I liked the oriental style of the place - the chinese paintings and wooden tables and stools with intricate designs. The air-conditioner was switched on and there were fans around to create a lovely cool ambience inside.  


And you can read the effects of the dessert from the walls which were amounted to like a hundred approximately. 



A couple of bites swiftly brought down the body temperature and i felt all cool and happy:)

a view of the yog run from above

sorry for the lack of updates:( work has been zapping up all the energy that is left in me and i am usually all exhausted and grumpy when i get back.


This was taken from my office, where the YOG pre-opening ceremony race at the central business district was held. It's not very clear but there were people running along with the little red bus seen near the centre of the picture.

As you know, Singapore is the first to host the Youth Olympic Games and reports on last night's opening ceremony was splashed all over the front page today.

To be honest, i was not all that hyped up about the YOG. But i was very impressed by the opening ceremony yesterday and realized how creative the setup was.

concrete jungle

Despite being grateful of the full-blown airconditioned buildings in the central business district where i am temporarily working at, walking along this area can be totally unbearable at times.

There are hardly any greenery. And with all the buildings sandwiched together, heat gets trapped within the pockets of air spaces in between and it literally feels like i am in a sauna room at times. Which resulted in a severe headache that had me sprawling on the bed after panadol pills and water.

I should probably get clothings with ice packs attached to the insides or something.

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wednesday finds












[icanread/oneinamillion/leilockheart]

whoopie


This arrived at my mailbox this afternoon.

It is the official confirmation letter stating that i have been accepted by University College London for my postgraduate school application:)

I have resisted the idea of blogging about this before everything was confirmed because it would have looked pretty bad if i somehow got rejected later. Besides, it felt like a dream that i could hardly believe because i always thought that ucl was way out of my league.

I know i haven't shared much about my graduate school applications previously. I applied to six schools in total, two from nus (dbs and yll school of medicine) whereas the other four were british universities. No response came from nus by the time i got replies from all four UK universities. Out of the four, one came with a rejection letter whereas the rest came with conditional offers. So i took ucl's offer straight away.

I am thankful that i decided to give a go for ucl when i was about to submit my applications for the other schools. I had to knock myself a few times for the news to sink in when i read the offer letter.

If everything else, including visa applications, goes smoothly, i will probably be heading there in the beginning of fall.

at home with yon-sama

We usually have our favourite hainanese chicken rice for saturday lunches because we happen to be chicken rice fanatics. Sadly, we are hardly faithful and we are guilty of chicken rice-hopping several times.

In singapore, you can mostly find the best local food at hawker centres mostly run by the locals, and as the saying goes, the dirtier the place the better the food tastes. Well, i can't find anything concrete to back this up, but i have to admit the food somehow tastes yummier at places strewn with rubbish on the floor and dirty tables.

My sister and i are usually the ones who make the order at the stall which involves a one sentence long order that states the nature of the dish, the quantity and the price, in mandarin. But ever since saturdays became reserved for chores (which means that all the women in the house have to get down with the housework), the only man in our family was entrusted the duty of bringing the chicken back home.

Naturally, our dad cannot maintain a conversation longer than a sentence in mandarin. Which means english and some occasional hand gestures.

Anyway, my sister, for some reason, went to buy back chicken rice recently, and she found out something interesting from the chicken rice lady. Apparently, the lady had thought my dad was korean because he looked foreign-ish despite being Asian, and he always spoke in english. And she was very curious about my sister when she saw my dad and sister together one day. That led to the whole table erupting into laughter when my sister recalled the story.

So that's where my dad got his nickname from me - Yon sama. Yon-sama is an affectionate term coined by japanese aunties who are crazy over the korean auntie-killer bae yong jun. Urgh, this guy is barely a heartthrob!

Oh my yon-sama~

Now knowing that my dad is japanese, he has been getting megawatt smiles and even a word of arigatou from the chicken rice stall sellers.

I have to admit my dad usually gets admiring stares by these ladies whenever we are doing our grocery shopping at the neighbourhood supermarket. My dad is completely oblivious though. And my mom? She seems to love it.

gone baby gone

Apart from the dennis lehane-inspired title, i actually had this phrase stuck in my mind after my visit to the doctor yesterday.

I probably have not mentioned this before, but i had a close/potential brush with cancer about seven years ago. A small benign cyst was found growing at the isthmus between my thyroid glands and we had to keep it under constant monitoring to check if it grew. So it started with a six-month regular checkup with ultrasound scans and consultations, and i was constantly terrified to think that i might have needed to go through a surgical procedure to get the cyst removed if it became malignant.

Thankfully, it shrank in size five years ago and seemed to disappear three years back. But to be on the safe side, i had my annual checkups to check on the progress.

Yesterday marked my last appointment because there was no trace of the cyst at all and i was immensely relieved. The doctor assured me that it would be fine and i did not need to worry at all.

Gone, baby gone.