the way to start a Lunar New Year, is to end it with an interview.

*grinz. just had my first job interview for this year, at biochem. The lady prof shocked me when she called me on Thurs. Okie, the story goes like this:

Thursday morning 1030plus: "hey, i shd call her up and see if she's ard" *took out my handphone then decided to check my calendar* "hey, i'm sposed to call her on Fri, as I hv set it. okie, call her tmr lo"

Thursday afternoon 5plus: "hey, got 2 missed calls, from 6874--- oh, NUS number.. hm, mus b WL la..." went to lab office to make phone call. then a thought came to mind that i shd chk the voicemail first but i dismissed that thought as soon as it was formed, telling myself: 'nah, it's WL.. i'll jus call him'.

On the phone: "Hi, can i speak to WL?"... heard confusion on the other side. "Oh, this is NUS, yups? Which lab is this?".. a muffled sound of dunno-which lab.. "Erm, this is not Mechanical Engineering?".. a clearcut no.. "Oh, who are you?".. a very clear mention of name.. "Ah, DR DENG!"...

*haiz... n it was a bad start, bad impression, bad whatsoever.. haha.. but it was funny the way things turn out at times. so i had to talk to her in my lab office, which was relatively noisy, n i had to keep my voice down because i did not want anyone to find out. n i din chk the email she sent me on Wed to arrange for an interview tis morning. so another *haiz.. i need to beef myself up better next time so that such instances do not happen too often. :P

so, the interview.. she brought along a Dr Tan, and he was the one asking all the tough questions. i'd better be more prepared next time. all in all, i can say that it was a fruitful interview because i got to know her expectation, that she wants someone who's more than jus doing her RA duty, more like a student as well. she cant promise me a part-time Masters, n i assured her tt the degree can wait, so she need not b too worried on that issue. i see that she's a very dedicated prof, n i like her. i think i can work well under her. so pls God, let that person be me!

she'll reply me in 2 wks' time, n yes, she has other ppl to interview. but i appreciate the effort she took jus to come down to NUS to meet me this morning. o God, pls let that person be me!

n she even bothered at the end of the interview, as she was showing me the way out, to explain to me why Dr Tan was quite hard on my academic performance in NUS, was cos he was from the same college (VJC) as me last time. she gave me the impression tt the capping did not matter much to her. n i really hope tt's true. many ppl are in need of second chances. i'm not any less. so pls pls God, let me be the person.

n an even more hopeful tone: may all of u have a blessed Chinese New Year!!! :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

yayaya, i know it's the 7th day into the new year, but still, it's a new year, as long as 2006 is here to stay.. hehee..

had a most fun time celebrating the end of 2005 mostly with my sisters from cell, FK (a sister to me, in our special way), n my brothers WL n Seanie (brothers to me, in a special way too.. ;))!! hee.. i'm most glad tt Seanie made his way down all the way from KL to be with us!

we went to the Star Wars exibition. tho i'm not a ra-ra fan of Star Wars but i've watched every episode, esp the older ones with Princess Leia where Harrison Ford has never looked any better (He looks good in Indiana Jones too). so i enjoyed myself when i saw all the miniature models of the characters, n the space ships.. i mus admit tho, the guys mus hv been more thrilled over it, than us girls.. haha.. i cant wait to see all the photos we've taken there.. huhu.. (note to Seanie: send us the photos soon! :))

then at night, we had potluck-style dinner at my place. we took a while to cook the dishes, but it was well worth the wait! hehe.. n the guests got to watch Madagascar while waiting. hee.. after din, we sat ard, laze n daze a while, waiting for the food to digest.. the guests took turn to view my HK photos plus my sister's big family in Sri Aman. hee.. n onli when FK n Steff went off, then the action began. haha.. i decided that the food shd b well digested by then, so we could take out the dance pad to play. i bought a new wireless one from Sim Lim that same day so that two players could go at one time. however, wireless may not be such a great option bcos the wireless connection may be blamed for slow response to the PS2.. heee...

it was jolly fun to see the sisters dancing.. their first time, i tink. nyanyaa.. too bad din take any photo shots of them. i'm sure they had fun. n mb we can do this again another time... *grinz.. Seanie n WL danced v well. i still cant believe they can beat me in beginner mode. haha.. mus challenge them again next time.

then we had countdown, based on an unreliable clock. hahaa.. couldnt switch on TV on time to do countdown with the rest of Spore, n we din pop the grape juice in time either. yet it was still an unforgettable time together with my dear frens, with momie too. :) we blew each candle after making a wish. hehh.. seems like everyone grew a year older after new year. :P

haiz.. the days with Sean in Spore may b short, but it was great. good to hv him down here. i wish he'd come down more often. then again, thinking from the currency exchange rate, mb it's more profitable for me to go up to KL. hee.. shall see how. i still hvnt got over my bad impression of KL when i went down there with a tour group last time.

went JB with my postgrad on 2nd Jan. felt like it's my 1st time in JB tho. i went ard the place with them, went to Danga Bay, then to the Duty Free Area where we had our seafood dinner. that was the highlight of the day -- to eat seafood. cos my postgrad frens are not too keen on shopping or watching movies, which are the two main things tt i go down JB for. anyway, we all ended up happy with the seafood cos it was rather cheap for 4 persons, n we ate loads! hehe.. i'm certainly glad that my appetite has returned after my diarrhea session..

but now i'm down with cough.. err... gone with one, now down with another. i wonder when i will really b well again. i cant wait to function fully n enjoy life. i'm still quite restricted now in the food that i take. but that din stop me from eating my boss' wife's homebaked hazelnut cookies.. *yumz.. richly topped with chocolate n filled with caramel. a lil too sweet, but i'm not complaining. heee.. mb tt's why my cough lasted so long.. *hee.. guilty.. :P

i've really over-typed. my apologies to my readers. i'll keep my blog short n sweet next time, n make more frequent entries. hee.. i've been neglecting my blog, but i hvnt set any new year resolution yet. so we shall see.. hehh.. :)

a final update: there's a new addition to my lab. we finally hv a new PO. someone who can help share my burden in maintaining the lab. she still needs some time to get used to the ropes ard the lab, so i'm not tt harsh on her yet. on top of that she's sorta like my lunch partner now. i hope we dun create too much friction on each other due to the amount of time we spent tgther.. i guess in a while, when things hv settled down for her, it will be better. :)