More random stuff:
1. 40% of my finals over! So far my results should be good enough to satisfy A*Star. Upcoming work: Biochem exam (Mon, 20% done), Final Essay Revision (Wed, 60% done), Organic Chem Exam (18th), Arrangement for research in Spring (Dr. Horner/Dr. Beemon), Arrangement for Boston/New Hampshire/New York holiday (50% done). Though still don't feel like doing any work...(and should I try to get a tutor position for Gen Bio? Hmms...)
2. Yi Chung's birthday today. We celebrated yesterday at my place with chicken rice + CHICKEN RICE CHILLI & DAO YIU contributed by Lynn! :D :D Apparently the sauce that my mum sent me was loved by all :D and we bought a cake from Giant too! It isn't that good though. Really need to source for a proper bakery around campus... And there he went to Jersey (Atlantic City?!) with Michelle this afternoon...
3. Finally found a proper post office which provides proper postal services where I can post parcels and buy stamps at the counter using cash. Just that that area is really a bit, hmms, shady... Passed by this group of guys sitting in front of someone's pouch (analogous to the Bengs sitting around HDB void decks or playgrounds, just that these people here never seem to leave you alone), and passed comments like 'Yo! Do you know you look like Yao Ming?' to me. Hmms. I know. So I smiled at them, tried to wave (couldn't because my hands are full) and walked off :P
4. Updates about Spring sem:
> Taking 5 courses, 16 credits. 2x core science courses: Cell Biology (4), Intro to Organic Chem II (4); 1x lab course: Cell Biology Lab (2); 2x humanities: Genetics in Medicine and Society (3), Invitation to Anthropology (Writing)(3).
> Parents may be coming in March during spring break.
> (It is always easier to plan with fixed dates in mind first) 28/05/07 Baltimore -> London. Stay in London (and surrounds) for 2 weeks. GCS (might be) joining me 13/06/07. Then we'll move all over UK. Return to Singapore 23/06/07. (=27 days, budget = US$2500). Start work with A*Star 27/06/07, ends 22/08/07. Come back 04/09/07 (classes start 06/09/07). The freaking US Dollar better stop devaluing (or, the Sterling Pound can devalue. Whatever..).
5. Last bit: Genting Wins Sentosa IR Bid
If you think about it, it is not at all surprising. Albeit a little disappointed because I was hoping that Kerzner can recreate Atlantis in Singapore so I don't have to go to the Bahamas to experience it. Now seems that I have to already...
Anyway, hmms the government is trying to recreate a Cali experience for all those people from China, India and Indonesia who either cannot afford to go there, cannot tahan the excruciating flight, or just simply cannot get a visa. It will be complete with 1. Universal Studios (yes, there are 16 new rides unique to Singapore, and it's the BIGGEST in the world!), with 2. casinos (hmms fellow Asians who do not speak Chinese, you don't have to go to Macau anymore), 3. dolphins swimming around you trying to get you to kiss them when you do spa (I thought we already had the pink dolphin?), 4. beautiful beaches (artificial ones of course, if you want real ones go to Bintan), 5. nightlife (Clarke Quay, yes, is getting cool), 6. the arts (the Esplanade), 7. Mickey Mouse speaking Singlish (rumour or not, time will tell), 8. a world class airport, and 9. excellent chicken rice, laksa, nasi lemak, char kway teow, bak chor mee, sambal stingray, fried oyster/oyster egg, peanut tang yuan and kaya toast.
Though, however, for our Asian friend who has been to (or who can afford to, in the end, go to):
1. Los Angeles, CA; Orlando, FL (in which, Orlando, FL is the holy shrine);
2. Las Vegas, NV (another holy shrine);
3. Hilo, HI; Atlantis, Nassau;
4. Honolulu, HI; Miami, FL;
5. New York, NY;
6. London, UK; New York, NY; Vienna, Austria; Paris, France;
7. Los Angeles, CA; Orlando, FL; Tokyo, Japan;
all such, in Singapore, has no appeal. Conclusion: what Singapore is building has no appeal to anyone outside China, India and Indonesia (and how can I miss out Malaysia). It's cheaper for Americans to get to CA, FL, Vegas, and Atlantis (~US$300 return airfare), Europeans to get to CA/FL (~£200 return airfare) or any European city (hmms, a TRAIN RIDE away?!), with Cricket, Phamtom of the Opera, Chicago, the Lion King, C.A.T.S., showing ALL YEAR ROUND (I heard in London there are ~£10 tickets?), complete with the Metropolitan, the British Museum, Kunsthistorisches, etc, they must be out of their mind to pay £665 to fly SQ321/SQ322 to Singapore to experience all these.
Maybe our government has ruled that, these people in the West already had their wallets filled to the brim, and theirs are going to explode anytime because of whatever structural economic problems they are facing, so screw them. We are practical people, so we should be tapping the burgeoning spending power of the Chinese, Indian and Indonesian (or Malaysian) middle class, while targeting also the rapidly expanding wallets of their getting-rich class.
Yeah right. What if, one day, most of these people can afford Japan, America, Europe, and coming to Singapore no longer satisfies their ego (you know Chinese, they NEED face; so if my relative has been to Singapore, I must go to Florida; if he has gone to Florida, I must go to Alaska)? Then we die. Hmms.
Though,
8. Changi Airport is really the best. You can transit there for 10 hours without feeling bored, or get aches all over by sleeping on plastic chairs. The signs there so clear, the service so efficient, that you won't feel frustrated at all using their facilities. And they avoid long queues by scanning carry-on baggages at the gate (unlike a lot other airports, e.g. HKG, AMS, BWI, LAX...), provide nice chairs for you to lie on when you sleep, gaming areas, and Internet access at the remotest corner of the airport. So far NO OTHER airport I have been to beats it, really. Thank you CAAS :) and we really shouldn't take it for granted (well, I WILL STILL MAKE NOISE about the 7% GST, unless you raise my salary for more than 2%! I am also a civil servant!).
9. Nothing is better than eating your favourite food at your favourite stall with your friends or your family at home. This has nothing to do with tourism :P as I believe most tourists cannot take our food (not my relatives in HK I guess) such as sambal stingray, laksa, nasi lemak, or the HUM in char kway teow. Or even the hawker center ambience. (Or they have better; Malaysia!) Haha my Aunts/Uncles (hmms, whoever had not tried everything), come and visit us in summer, and I will bring you all over the island to eat all these food :D:D
