departure

so i've made up my mind.
I'm moving over to http://dragonflyin.wordpress.com/

iphone

so I've been suck into the world of iphone. immediate uploads on facebook, constant updates on my friends' whereabouts and best of all, regular contact with friends from home.
its a love and hate relationships with the iphone and i admit i am an addict now. I was hoping that with the iphone i'll be able to blog more but i'm stuck at the first step now. Should I switch to wordpress because of the free app or should i pay $1.99 for an app. Let just say I am a scrooge and the only app I bought was 99cents whatsapp. $1.99 sounds exorbitant but I really dont want to abandon dragonflyin.blogspot. either. help~

Security Alert

You know the weather's getting better when you start receiving security alerts. Zero alerts over winter because its too cold but the numbers increase when the weather warms up.

March 18, 2010

Security Alert

At approximately 11:55 p.m., Wednesday, March 17 – a graduate student walking alone at 56^th Street and Dorchester Avenue was approached from behind and struck on the head with a blunt object causing a non-life threatening injury. An unknown suspect took the man’s wallet and fled. The victim was transported to the hospital by Chicago Fire Department EMS ambulance.

Police are investigating.

When out at night, try to have a friend walk with you. There is safety in numbers.

Friday night dinner turned suprised birthday party

our italian dinner

it was a normal stay-in friday night dinner with the room mates. Then the room mates got really busy, bringing the trash down, "trash is really hard to sort" comments, Sara running in and out of the house, people banging on our door and, "SURPRISE!" a huge gathering of people outside our house, party poppers and 2 cakes! I was truly surprised even though nobody believes me. (Sometimes when you lie too much, nobody believes your truths)

***

It was really nice having friends over for a party. a party for me. I was sort of in a daze the whole night. My birthday? That quick? Its that time of the year again? Its the last thing on my mind at this point, really. Such a different perspective from college years where March was always a month of anticipations and celebrations. My second birthday abroad but I'm glad I never have to celebrate it alone. There's always people around me trying to guess my age and share the cake and celebrations together. I am blessed with friends wherever I am and I am grateful. However, a tinge of bittersweet trickles down my heart. Where will I be next year? Who will I be with? An uncertain path I embarked on 2 years ago, no regrets, only more and more stories to carry with me along the way.
leaving you with some pics. more to come on facebook.

policy brief

my first attempt into the world of policy writing. Definitely not my forte but it was an exciting first try, will probably be my last one too. I am sticking to Clinical work, I'm more at ease doing that.

Policy brief on child care in Chicago

the proud nerdy writers!

***

in the midst of finals

despite having 3 papers due this week, i couldn't bear to miss the Oscars. so my room mates and i randomly put together some food, flopped in front of the tv for the next few hours and worked on our papers. this week needs to pass quickly...

How many computers does a graduate student need?

Week 10 is coming up. I have 3 papers to complete by this weekend. While everyone has 1 more week till finals week, I'll be done by next week. Pressing on. Pardon me for the limited post at this point. Looking forward to SPRING BREAK! SUN.BEACH.FREEDOM. I'm coming.

Chicago Restaurant Week

Chicago Restaurant Week
Gourmet Prix-Fixe Menus
February 19-28, 2010
$22 Lunches & $32 Dinners
Enjoy special three-course, prix-fixe meals at participating restaurants.
***

This is my favorite week of the year! Being able to feast at top rated restaurants at a low low price and without compromised quality! The other perk is that portions are so big, I even get to pack them and bring it home for a second meal! I already went to Smith & Wollensky last Friday, Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Snow Crab tomorrow night and David Burke's steakhouse on Saturday. Thats the tentative plan for now, there's still room to squeeze in more restaurants!

ice cream maker

Ever since I discovered the ice cream maker, life has never been the same again. I've been experimenting with different flavours every day. Any suggestions on 'special' flavoured ice cream?

On the first day, I checked the recipe off the website and decided on making oreo ice cream. Unfortunately the quantity was too much to fit everything into the maker so I only used half of the portion. Somehow the proportions didn't turn out right and I ended up with something milky and milkshake-like. Thankfully it was still a hit (God bless the kind souls) and everything was finished in less than an hour! ^_^

*oreo milkshake

On the second day, I reduced the amount of milk and upped the heavy cream and it turned out successful! My first successful ice cream making attempt : Matcha green tea ice cream! On the third day I used milk tea powder and this time I got milk tea ice cream! Honestly I dont know what the correct proportions are. I just put milk, sugar and heavy cream all into the maker and add the flavor I want and whala, ice cream! Just make sure the proportion of heavy cream is more than milk then it'll be fine. I wish I could leave you with a recipe but I really can't, its all by tasting and 'aga-ration' (singaporean term for estimation). More ice cream making to come I'm sure!

costco

huge ass place

my roomie

my favourite place in the world. not really. but i do like shopping there, the abundance of food inspiring me to whip up a scrumptious meal! It happens to be superbowl weekend so the place was pretty empty which made the trip blissful not having to maneuver the big cart pass 10 other carts every 3 mins. the other fun part of the shopping experience is the array of food samples available. We would move from sample to sample and end up having a complete meal proudly sponsored by costco.

half way through, i lost my roommate. i tried looking for her but there was no trace of her. Until..... i spot something familiar at the egg section. hmmm...



Thankfully I managed to free her from her seclusion and drag her home. This was our final damage (for the whole household in case you were wondering).

the lodgings

i moved out of my tiny studio apartment after a year's settlement and moved into this huge apartment block, Regents with 3 other girls. some trivia about Regents, Obama used to have an apartment here and worked out at the gym. He already moved out by the time I move in so I never met him but my friends have so I do have some Obama stories up my sleeve. Anyway here is my current room.

It was taken a few days after moving in its still pretty bare. By now, I have collected even more things to occupy the room.

***

I live on the 34th floor, one floor below the penthouse and i get a wonderful view of Chicago city skyline and lake Michigan. Living here has made me so much happier just because I can get the sunlight. Every morning and night I can indulge in the million dollar view of the city. I have absolutely no complains about life here!

***

Before you start bitching about me being a lucky rich kid I have to clarify myself, I am actually paying way less rent living here then all through last year! Thats simply because we have 4 people living in a 2 bed-room apartment. See, we're all poor students skimming to survive. How it works, I get a room, one room mate gets the masterbed room, one in the living room and one in the dinning room. Basically there is no common area for us to have our 'gatherings'. We end up sitting at the walkway to the door or we'll just have a meal together in the living/bed room. The downside is we can't invite friends over because there's virtually no space.

My room mates and I.

Unfortunately I couldnt find a nice decent pictures of us together so this will do for now! One interesting fact is, despite our congested living situation, we don't usually have 4 people living in the apartment. Its usually at least 6 because there's always friends visiting. We get probably one-two weeks in between friend's visit with only 4 people around but other than that its usually a busy market place, friends are always welcomed! We're literally a hotel! So here's a shoutout to all! VISIT ME! FREE ACOOMODATION PROVIDED!

February 2010

I finally got myself to restart blogging about my life here in Chicago. Really the Reebonz vday promotion really got me to start blogging again!

So its my last 2 quarters, 4 more months of school before I am done. And done meaning no more opportunity for further studies. There is still the possibility of a phd but definitely not in the near future. I cannot see myself in the academic system for another 4 long years. So while I'm busying myself with school work and internship, there's also the busyness of writing up a resume and getting it sent out to potential agencies. Wish me luck and pray for me that I get employed!

-stay tuned for more bunny news!

To Reebonz: I want to win this!

The Skagen couple timepiece set not only has its own unique features yet comes together to define the basis of the bond displayed through its solid titanium framework. The black and white face signifying the different yet distinct features of each nature, the charcoal and white dial ticking individually yet tracking the same moment. An everlasting testament of the amalgmation of two individuals sharing this time of love in unison.

Back!

So winter quarter came and left. spring break came and I indulged in the much needed sun for a whole week. got myself a tan, lost tons of weight and felt much happier. Fourth week into Spring quarter and I'm happy with school and life overall though every once in a while I do wish badly I was home. I miss my various groups of friends and my family. Although I'm settled here, the number of friends and close friends I have cannot be compared to those at home and I'm definitely sick of the cold weather. The cold is slowly seeping away but too slow for my liking. It's already mid April and weather reports predict snow on Wednesday. :S Warm weather please come and stay. Alright, leaving ya all with my mexico pictures. I'll be home in July, thats confirmed! Till then, take care ya all. Drop me an email when u can!

Mexico Pictures

weather's warming up!

so the weather's warming up this week and the snow's all melting away! such a huge relief after three months of cold and snow, it does make commuting difficult. and i finally dont have to pile on extra clothes anymore. it was fun initially but after a while it does get into you. definitely miss the times where i can just put on a t-shirt, shorts and slippers and head out. sunny times coming up, time to head out! :D

Chinese New Year'09

so it was my first time away from home during cny. didnt feel particularly upset or home sick, probably cos i had cny goodies delivered to me from singapore and that helped alot! had my own celebrations with friends and it was two full days of non-stop feasting. didnt help that there was no break from school and i had two submissions i had to rush so it was a crazy weekend and week subsequently. nearly fell sick from the lack of sleep but now i'm back on my feet. even started an exercise regime with my friend. our goal: to get a hot bod by summer! oosh!

Thanks to those who called for the well wishes! you guys' timing's getting alot better! hahaa.. leaving you with pics from cny celebrations!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Murphy's law

Murphy's Law

(noun): the facetious proposition that if something can go wrong, it will.


first day of chinese new year. managed to churn out a paper over the weekend and submitted it on time on top of not skipping any cny celebrations. another paper due on wednesday. surviving on 6 hours of sleep in two days. pipe under sink just exploded. kitchen flooded. help. long night ahead.

update on phone

okay, so it hasnt been the most successful trial period. ha. i dont have enough adaptors at this point so sometimes my phone's not connected, but i try to keep it connected when its day time over at your side of the world. anyway, to make it easier for you all, i've added a clock at the bottom of the right sidebar, so check in on the time before calling! :D would definitely love receving all your calls! :D

Happy Chinese New Year one and all!

i'm definitely feasting over here too! pics coming up soon!

phone

heya all. my phone is connected so you all can call me now instead of waiting for my prank calls. but please check the time before calling, you dont want to wake me up from my beauty sleep. :D the no. is 68767251. keep a copy of the no. cos i will take this post down after some time.

2009 update

this is a terribly over-due post. but i've finally uploaded the pics and you can view them, part I and part II. it was fun, too much fun. a gathering with friends from home, it was as good as going home. we planned it in summer'07 and anxiously waited for this day to come. by now, it has come and gone. it was a bittersweet departure and everyone of us felt a sense of loss when we left. it is one of those moments where you just got to treasure every minute of it because you dont know if there will ever be another second time.

i was so disoriented when i arrived in chicago. i was back to my default language: singlish and having to switch to american english again was just tiring. the first two weeks were hard, re-adjusting, i naturally became home-sick again. sigh. my mom would know because the phone calls home suddenly increased. ha. but i'm okay by now.

school's getting better. this quarter's supposed to be the torturous quarter but it has been getting better and better for me. what happened was i was placed in the basic research class. i tried to get out of it but for one whole month i tried to track the prof-in-charge down to no avail. she was constantly away. in the end i decided i should just stay in the class. unfortunately, having to sit through a whole quarter of basic research was painful and pure toture for me. (even the textbook used was the same as the one i had i undergrad!) i still decided i should suck it up and get through it but after complaining to friends they insisted i try again. i plucked up the courage and tried again. took me three hours to track the prof down this time (not forgetting having to deal with her pain-in-the-ass assistant) and in 5 mins she decided to just put me in the advance class. i was mortified. it was that easy! 5 mins was all I needed to convince her to switch me into a different class and i was all ready to suck it up! oh well, at least its done now. i suddenly have no submission dued next week, thats the best part! yay!
on another note, we're going through seminars now to find out more about the courses we would like to take for next quarter. i'm excited because i can finally go for classes that i'm interested in! yay! family therapy here i come! i have to start looking for my second year internship too. sigh, decisions and choices, what and where should i choose?? hmmm...