I’ve managed to come up with 6 names which I really enjoy. Some were recommended to me by hardcore wine lovers and the others were accidental finds. Now I’m not about to give a review here plus I don’t think I’m qualified enough to gab about the ‘aromatic heads’ and whatnot. Let’s just keep it simple – they taste great. So if you are lucky enough to get them in Singapore (or wherever you may be on this planet), go on and take a sip. You won’t be disappointed.

1. Chateau Franc-Perat (Grand Vin de Bordeaux) – 2003
2. Castello del Poggio (Moscato d’Asti)
3. James Squire beers
4. Floris Apple Garden
5. Deutz Marlborough Cuvee Brut NV
6. Inniskillin Ice Wine (Vidal and Cabernet Franc)

I was a tad annoyed by the first night. But by the third, I went from just a little annoyed to mightily pissed off. They are manageable as individuals but as a group, the interaction and dynamics never fail to drive me up the wall. Honestly, I don’t see the point of whinge-ing too much over it because they are my family after all and I love them in my own flawed way. Things have cooled down somewhat and they’ll be leaving this Sunday for home in Singapore.

So far, I’ve brought them to the nearby suburbs (Toowong, Sunnybank, Indooroopilly etc.), DFOs, down to the Gold Coast and Byron Bay and lastly, up north to Sunshine Coast. I stuck to the usual itinerary of beach, Amimoto, shopping, Hazel Tea Cafe and Natural Bridge Cave while we were at the Coast. I got a tan from all that walking around with them and they enjoyed themselves pretty much too.

Cindy and I warned them that the drive to Natural Bridge Cave to see the glow worms would be a really dark one but I think they only got the point when I started the drive into Nerang-Murwillumbah Road. We were surrounded by the murky darkness when I turned off the headlights to scare them a little bit. Didn’t help much that the road was winding and stretched on for god-knows-how-long. When we reached the parking area, they got freaked out by how dark it really was and kept really close to me while we were walking on the footpaths. As always, seeing glow worms that close to you is always an amazing experience no matter how many times you return to Natural Bridge. We stayed at Backpackers In Paradise (yes, backpacker’s lodging) for the night because we were on an el cheapo itinerary but it was fine because we had our own bathroom.

The next day, it was a long drive down to Byron Bay to see the lighthouse before heading back up to Harbourtown for a bit of shopping. That sure kept the ladies happy and I got a couple of new tops from that trip. The dose of retail therapy soothed my frazzled nerves and I was a lot calmer after that. We headed back to Brisbane for a bit of R&R.

When morning came, Cindy drove the bunch of us up to Sunshine Coast to visit the Ginger Factory and Maleny Diaries. We were supposed to see The Big Pineapple in between but it was closed due to renovations and we had to make a detour to the local Maccas for lunch. I took over the driving after that and it was a good thing we left early for Maleny because the flipping GPS got us lost in the mountain wilderness. Cindy and I had to get out of the car and tread through muddy dirt roads (caused my thongs to get stuck twice and hers to break) to ask a local for directions. We found our way in the end but that was some experience driving a sedan in terrain that was more suited for a 4WD!

We drove down to Redcliffe for fish and chips but had to change our plans in the end because of the crazy storm. In the end, I bought a bag of mussels and a dozen pacific oysters and drove the lot of them back home for a hotpot dinner. The mussels and hotpot were scrumptious because of the cold weather and they were washed down with two bottles of Floris Apple Garden beer we brought back from a German restaurant down at the Coast.

The next couple of days will be pretty spontaneous because I don’t have anything planned for them at all, so it means we’re all in a rather laid-back mode. The next big event will be my graduation ceremony this Friday so I’m looking forward to that.

Till then, enjoy your week folks!

In Google Maps, in the ‘Get Directions’ tab if a person writes Japan to China, the 43rd Direction says ‘Jet Ski across the Pacific Ocean.’

via Jet Ski – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Drop me a message if any one of you guys out there try that and it turns out to be true.

It’s easy to lapse into a daze these days… which only made me realize that I need a fair amount of structure in my life to maintain a normal degree of function. Having an overload of time on ones hands may not always be a good thing after all. For the longest time ever, my days have been centered around home, project and thesis. I envisioned myself zipping off to different parts of Queensland for mini-adventures after the project ended. Instead, I found myself at home most of the time, scratching my head and wondering what to do with myself.

Proof of effort came in the form of a barista certificate and a jet-ski license. Both courses were immense fun in totally different ways. The barista workshop got me to use my brain, which felt so refreshing after such a long period of inactivity. The jet-ski course on the other hand was pure adrenaline. My face was actually stung by the rain because I was traveling at 50 mph. The power of the engine, the wind in your face and the feeling of being airborne for 3-4 seconds whenever you ride a wave was TOTALLY AWESOME.

Mom, Aunt Helen and Grandma Tay will be arriving in Brisbane on 2 Dec so I’m anticipating a fair amount of shenanigan-reporting on this blog soon.

I’ve been wanting to get a Kindle for quite some time and the decrease in US dollars couldn’t have come at a better time. After a couple of clicks, my order (a graphite wi-fi enabled Kindle + Burnt orange leather cover) was placed. I was supposed to receive the shipment this Thursday but to my surprise, the courier rang me this morning to say that he couldn’t get past the metal gates to my apartment.

Of course I bolted out immediately to collect the package. Opening the cardboard boxes made me feel like a kid all over again. In a few minutes, the boxes were opened…

… to reveal the beauties within. When I saw the instructions on the screen, I thought it was printed on those films which you can simply peel off, but no. When I flipped the power switch and turned it on, the ‘film’ flickered briefly before the home page appeared. It was as if I was staring at the pages of a book. This is some really cool technology indeed.

At this point, I must add that I have been downloading (free) e-books into my Kindle even before the shipment arrived because it was hardwired to my Amazon account soon after I placed my order. I think it’s a nice touch that different charcoal portraits of famous writers appear on the screen each time it goes into standby mode. 

Now all I’m going to do is to share my thoughts on the Kindle. This isn’t cut out to be a full review because you can darn well get loads of that over the internet. So far, I’m loving my Christmas present because of the following:

1. It was designed primarily to be an e-book reader and it does its job very well.
2. The E ink screen isn’t backlit and hence, doesn’t result in any glare. You can totally read outdoors without squinting. You gotta see it for yourself to believe it.
3. It never gets hot. Getting laptop burns annoy the shit out of me, so this is a huge plus point.
4. It is smaller and lighter than a paperback. Yet, you can store up to 3500 books in it.
5. For the wi-fi model, keep that function turned off and your Kindle’s battery will last for close to a month.
6. One word: Whispernet. As long as you are connected to a hotspot, you’ll be able to view, buy and download books in 60 seconds. However certain countries do not offer this service, so you’ll have to do it the old school way i.e. transfer your downloads via USB from computer to Kindle.
7. Whatever you download are actually stored in your account on Amazon.com so there is no need to freak out if you’ve accidentally deleted ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ from your Kindle – simply transfer it back in from your account.
8. The Search function is seriously powerful.
9. Sync your Kindle with your Facebook and Twitter accounts and post meaningful passages online.
10. Say you came across this word and it piques your interest. Simply move the cursor before it and the definition pops up at the top/bottom of the page.
11. Wireless access to Wikipedia.
12. Subscribe to leading newspapers and magazines and have them wirelessly delivered to you even before they hit the news stands. Picture this: Wake up, wash up, reach for your Kindle to read today’s papers.
13. You can transfer PDF files and read it from the Kindle. 
14. Buying e-books off Amazon is actually cheaper than trekking down to Borders or Kinokuniya to buy an actual book because you don’t have to pay for the paper and for it to be transported to your local bookstore.

I travel quite a fair bit and being a hardcore book lover, I find it a hassle to have to go through the process of packing my books each time I’m due to live in another country for an indefinite amount of time. Being able to carry a maximum of 3500 books around with me in a device that thin is a godsend. I chose the wi-fi model in the end because I didn’t see the point of having the 3G enabled one when coverage isn’t guaranteed.

The Kindle has rocked my world and changed the way I read. I will still be making trips to the bookstore for the therapeutic smell of fresh pages, but I’m afraid they’ll be losing yet another loyal customer to Amazon.

P.S. Join the dark side today and click here to purchase a Kindle for yourself or anyone who deserves it!

Anyhoo, I went on a road trip (of sorts) with Jolene and Cindy from 7 – 8 November down to the Coast and Byron Bay. Yes, three girls, a rented Mitsubishi Lancer and heaps of food, just in case.

Soon after we hit the highway, this was what we saw in the first lane. Now isn’t the fine print absolutely hilarious?

I couldn’t resist beeping my horn and waving wildly at the folks in that van. They gave me the thumbs up sign in return, those good sports!

We originally wanted to lunch at Amimoto after reaching the Surfers Paradise but boohoo, it was a Sunday and hence the joint’s fabulous Chirashi don had to wait till tomorrow. Hazel Tea Shop made a pretty good replacement though!

While we were walking back to the car, who else but Qi Yuwu came jogging down the sidewalk in our direction. Jolene was the one who spotted him when I was semi-daydreaming away and the following ensued…

Jolene: Eh it’s the Singaporean actor! The小娘惹guy!

V: Who??? (Thinks for a bit and squints at the doubled up, panting figure) YOU MEAN QI YUWU AH?!

Jolene: Ya ya ya!

V: Do you think we can ask him for a photo? (Starts walking over)

Sadly he declined our requests to have a photo taken with him (‘不好看啦,’ he said and gestured to his unshaven face). We chatted for a bit and he told us that Adrian Pang and himself were in Australia to shoot this 3D disaster film that was due to be released in 2012. Yeah, the year when Earth supposedly gets wiped out in yet another disaster film of the same name. Huh.

After we checked in at the backpacker’s hostel, it was down to the beach for a bit of body boarding and tons of sun. The R&R by the beach managed to soothe my frazzled nerves.

Dinner followed at dusk with the three of us trooping over to the Bavarian Hans Restaurant for their awesome pork knuckles. I decided I liked the sound of the Floris Apple Garden beer from Belgium and ordered a bottle of it. It was probably one of the best tasting beers I’ve ever tasted next to James Squire. The low alcohol content (mere 3%) was a great bonus since I was the designated driver for the trip to Natural Bridge cave at Springbrook National Park.

A nature park? At night? Are you absolutely out of your mind?! Ho, ho, ho folks, of course we wouldn’t go out into to the middle of nowhere to sacrifice ourselves to the cows. We were there for worms… glow worms to be exact and it was worth driving up those scarily dark roads for them.

The darkness took me by surprise when we got out of the car. It’s one thing to be able to fumble about but it’s a totally different thing altogether when you can’t even see your damned fingers in front of your face. Jolene’s mini alarm/torch came in handy, probably because it was the only source of light we had. The first colonies of worms we saw were spread out in the soil beside the walking path. It it was almost as if you took a giant step out into the universe and became at one with the heavenly bodies around you. The iridescent pin-pricks draw you in till you can’t bear to tear your eyes off that beautiful spectacle, much less turn away from it. The highlight of the trip was whatever that awaited us in the cave. I can recall the roar of the waterfall, the dampness of the air and the expanse of fallen stars which lay before our bedazzled eyes. Words don’t really do those scenes justice and it was hard to take decent photos in the darkness with our point and shoot cameras so these stolen pictures of Natural Bridge cave will have to suffice.

We headed back to Surfers for a bit of shut eye before setting off for Byron Bay around 2am in the morning. It was my third time there but this time, we walked the entire length of the footpath. While a random surfer riding the waves, a bottlenose dolphin leapt out from underneath the water just a few metres away from the dude. Only lasted a few minutes but I bet it made his day.

The ‘WTF?!’ bit happened when we reached the end of the footpath and found out that we were on the other side of the cliff and had to hike all the way back up to where we parked the car. By the time we got to the top, I was dying to pee and couldn’t really be bothered with crossing the boardwalk just to get to the loo… hence I did the (not so) unthinkable and peed on the grassy patch behind the car.

Breakfast was at the Twisted Sista Cafe. The food as usual, was good, especially after the early morning workout we had.

Then, it was back to Surfers for a bit of rest before checking out of the backpacker’s hostel. We went over to Harbourtown which was nearer than I originally thought. Lunch was of course at Amimoto’s. I finally got to eat the Chirashi donomnomnom! We decided to head home after that because we were seriously tired from the trip.

I thought the trip was a much needed opportunity to spend some time with Jolene as I was busy with my project throughout the time she was here for her exchange programme. It was also a chance for Cindy and I to get out and have some fun together and that was exactly what we did.

I have a couple of friends (female ones) who fret a lot over their weight issues. Whether the excess weight is a result of excessively high expectations of their body image is another issue altogether. Dear reader, if this isn’t a description of you, then I’m sure you will know of someone within your social circle who perpetually thinks he/she can lose a bit more weight.

If a person’s weight issues are a result of bad eating habits, by all means, incorporate the necessary changes and go on a diet; but it’s a firm belief of mine that a balanced diet and good eating habits should always be coupled with a decent amount of exercise for well-rounded results. However, I do not advocate going on crash diets or taking dieting pills  (especially dieting pills!) because it’s unhealthy and not to mention dangerous, in the case of dieting pills. Call me a cynic or a critic, whatever that takes your fancy, but I’ve worked for an American pharmaceutical company specialising in developing drugs for diabetics and am familiar with the exact and methodical nature of the industry. I know the regulations that goes behind the release of a drug into the market and all I can say is, those prerequisite tests are there for good reason.

A product can be subjected to less rigorous testing by a country’s regulatory body (e.g. FDA) if they marketed as a ‘health product’ instead of a pharmaceutical drug and that is a loophole that many companies exploit. For companies that manufacture 100% natural stuff, you guys are off the hook because I don’t see how plants or whatnot can kill you unless there’s an abnormally high amount of toxic shrooms/ivy/venom in a pill. I naturally (pardon the pun) doubt the efficacy of such products but if they happen to work, hey I’m happy to eat my words any day. Chemically-based products on the other hand should never be released into the market without proper validation. Slim10 saga anyone?

Faith in one’s product is expected of but blind faith can be dangerous. Unless you tell me that you have a scientific team to validate that the product is safe for consumption and does not result in any nasty side-effects which can be supported by unbiased scientific data, sorry mate, I’ll assume that you simply haven’t done enough research and the production process does not comply with cGMP.   

All I can say is: Having 14 days to type out a decent, publishable thesis is a huge feat in itself. DO NOT ATTEMPT unless you work well under obscene amounts of stress. If you are reading my blog and happen to be a postgrad student, please begin drafting 2 months prior to the submission date. I can’t emphasize enough how important that is and you can thank me for the tip later.

At the beginning, it was a struggle to get the momentum going because I found myself sorely lacking information regarding the areas of my research. It was quite daunting to not know that much stuff and I got into panic-attack mode quite frequently then.

Nevertheless, I submitted the first drafts of the introduction, materials/methods and results/discussion to Tim for editing (one has to be thick-skinned at times like this). The document files looked quite crap when they got back to me and I believe Tim’s comments were a much nicer form of: This is a shit-arsed job you are doing, please make the necessary changes. At one point, I was still doing the last bits of histopathological analysis on the tissue sections in the morning and rushing home to write my thesis after that. Those 3 days were boring as hell because I spent hours doing up the stats, looking through the microscope and taking pictures to support the results I got.

Things got intense from 15 Oct. For days, it was thesis-typing for hours without a break (managed to sneak in the odd Youtube video here and there though) and going to bed before daybreak. Stress levels were at an all-time high and I practically lived on adrenaline. In hindsight, it was probably the adrenaline that kept me going and if there was one thing which I got out of all that keyboard-banging, it was the realisation that I work well under stress. That really came as a surprise because I honestly expected myself to putt about for a bit before crashing.

The last night was absolute madness. After dashing off to uni to see Tim, it was pure work once I got home. My left shoulder has a tendency to tense up whenever I’m stressed so it didn’t come as a surprise that I had a sore shoulder for the entire time I was typing.

D-day itself happened in a whirl. I put my foot down and told both supervisors not to make any more changes to the content lest I go nuts on everyone. They took a crack at the title of the document file (Occurrence of a protozoan parasite across different bivalve species in Moreton Bay, Australia_MUAHAHAHA!!!) which Andy shortened to “VW_Thesis_Final_MUAHAHAHA!!!’. Printing took forever because I had colour figures to print out but Kat and I made it 30 mins before the submission time.

Us three honours year students (Jan included) together with Tim and Andy trooped down to the staff club for a round of drinks and chips. It was a little awkward at first but there were some pretty hilarious moments. Since Tim mentioned that he’s open to bribery, I will have to make a mental note to buy him coffee and arrange to have him as the stooge in my presentation.

This year wasn’t all fun and games. It did come with its challenges but at the end of it all, I guess honours was something which I needed. There is a chance that I will get a publication out of my thesis but it isn’t really about whether I’ve got fancy results to present. It’ll be great if my experiments all turned out right, but most of them didn’t and it’s fine anyway. This year helped me to figure out a couple of things and that was what mattered most.

In all honesty, it is enough to have to see my other colleagues from Monday to Friday… but to have to spend a couple of hours at Fab’s place with them on a Saturday? Don’t get me wrong though. Typical dose of politicking aside, I happen to think that they are a great bunch of people. It’s just that sometimes you love them and on other times you really, really hate their guts. This week has been pretty rough and I would like to be able to stay in for the entire day instead of having to zip off in the evening to gab, nod, be intelligent and flash smiles at everyone. But like I said, it was Fabian’s party and I really like the guy so I went in the end.

I brought along with me two six-packs of James Squire beer and a bottle of Deutz champagne. It rocks to have First Choice liquor supermarket just down the street from where I live. The supermarket is like the ultimate place to go for hard-to-find booze that can’t be bought in the usual BWS… and this is Australia, Land of Booze, so if I say a particular bottle is hard to find, it is hard to find. 

I thought the alcohol was a bit much but in hindsight, it was good thinking in the end because boy do those guys drink a lot. By the end of the party, all of the James Squire disappeared and I couldn’t find that fantabulous bottle of Deutz. Speaking of champagne, to the hell with the Moet, Dom and Cristal. Cecile explained to me that they (meaning the French) held Deutz champagne in high esteem and apparently a bottle costs 50 Euros back in France. So it was a huge bonus to find a Deutz from New Zealand that is just as good as the French version which costs a mere AUD$20 – the result of a collaboration between the Kiwis and the French.

The food was good and that cheered me up significantly after I got there. It was a little intimidating to have an entire table of colleagues (boss and co-boss included) turn to stare at you after you arrive. Jerome prepared Ceviche from the Whitefish which he caught yesterday and the birthday boy, Fab cooked Camarones al pil-pil (some Chilean recipe of sauteed shrimp). I love fresh raw fish so it was a given that I’ll like the Ceviche but the prawns were absolutely delish! The Ceviche, being raw fish, put some people like Andy off because of his background and extensive experience in microbiology. Well, I’m a microbiologist too but what can I say? I’d take sashimi anytime.

Entertainment came in the form of tipsy/drunk Olivier and Jerome. Olivier laughed hysterically at stuff that wasn’t really that funny and Jerome went around hugging people and air-kissing them. I found it amusing that the general conversation never did leave Science, or our individual projects, for long. Of course we talked about silly things we did when we were drunk but a little later, it switched to Australian politics and the Aussies’ hatred for Julia Gillard. It was amusing to see Tim get that riled up over the current prime minister of Australia.

When I was trying to find a good time to leave, all three of us honors year students got caught in a conversation with Andy in Fab’s kitchen. He was telling us not to enter Science with the glorified notion that whatever we attempt will work and that the more important thing is ones resilience and learning how to work around problems with whatever that you have got. His words soothed the disappointment I felt over 2 months worth of failures immensely.

I was a little disgusted at the self-marketing of a certain individual during the course of the conversation with Andy. While I do understand the rationale behind letting the boss know that you have been working hard and thinking about your project, it was unnecessary to harp away at it and make subtle sabotaging statements about your co-worker all at the same time.

I left an hour later than I originally intended to. I might not have wanted to go in the first place, but I had my fair share of good food, a mouthful of bubbly (I had to scoot home) and got enough information to make the next few moves on the chessboard.

All hail chaos.