these days.

the weeks seem to pass me by.
mid-feb is here.
chinese new year is almost over.
valentine's day is here again.

no i'm not here to moan about what happened 3 years ago, 2 years ago or a year ago.
it's just a regular day, right?
except for the over-commercialization and over-emphasis of this day by couples and merchants.
well i did enjoy my valentine's day last year.
i remember it being very cold. and i watched my first movie in the US with my girlfriends, 'because i said so' and i loved it.

***

well anyway, switchfoot concert was GREAT. i know i'm like 2 weeks behind with this recap. but it was a good concert. they sound very good live and jon foreman is quite charming too. i think band lead singers HAVE to be charming. it's mandatory. that's how you win the hearts of girls. the fire fight, one of the opening bands, did us proud. (:

i remember one moment during the concert where i just stood still and really was quite stunned. twenty-four was the song. and during jon foreman's acoustic guitar solo, just his voice and his guitar was kind of amazing. it reminded me of a similar experience i had at damien rice's concert. this was especially amazing because of the lyrics. now this song is on repeat on my itunes and N95.

and thank you zeh zeh and justina for being great concert-mates, rocking out at the concert. (:

***

chinese new year was the usual affair that i remember. a lot of food, a lot of people, a lot of catching-up with relatives. it's strange that i haven't seen some of them in 2 years and it didn't felt like 2 years. there was also the usual get-together at bethany, this year was complete with a hilarious sketch and weiquan misquoting a Bible verse in front of everyone during the sketch. there was also a family picnic at the marina south pier with roasted chicken sandwiches, chips, curry (:, cny goodies, fruits, jelly and red wine. then we still went to eat zi char.

a lot of eating.

***

was quite sad that ah meng died, for some reason. i kinda remember vaguely taking a picture with him when i was young. but when i saw that beautiful potrait of that beloved orang-utan on the front page of the papers on saturday, i got upset. then i saw the memorial service and eulogy on the news and i can relate to the zookeeper's tears. 'cos those same tears fell when my dog, oscar died 8 years ago.

***

am very very glad that the writer's strike is O-V-E-R. also very glad that the writers got what they deserved and the big mogul companies giving way. but those billions of dollars lost because of the strike can never be replaced. the cost of pride can be so tangible, and intangible at the same time.

***

am also very very glad that obama has won 8 straight primaries and caucases. and i'm glad my state of washington voted for him. i have some obama for america campaign goodies with my friend alvin, so alvin come back soon!! i hope he wins ohio/texas or both, for the high number of delegates there could really push him to win the nomination.

***

simple joys come in the form of

the kids in church, whose bright eyes, cheeky wit, pure innocence and abundant energy really makes me smile.

the dogs i see, from day to day, and my own dog, who is so laid-back and carefree with life. who lies on his back and enjoy the cool evening wind and is friendly with every friend of the family, but barks insanely at people he doesn't like.

coming home at the end of a day at work of injecting things into fish embryos and probing them with stuff, to home-cooked dinner and tv shows. after finishing my 2nd west wing season 1-7 marathon, i'm now rediscovering lost right from the beginning and fishing out clues to the mystery. oh yes and those precious episodes of brothers and sisters, house, and lost coming up online every week. (:

reading and learning and discovering God's word and seeking to walk closely with Him everyday and under every circumstance. learning what it means to receive His precious provisions and blessings and not take them for granted. (:

light of the world.

“He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

- John 8:12

***

i'm getting tired of furiously making collages of my zebrafish embryo photos. reading past issues of youthwalk and thinking about discipleship brings comfort, joy and peace.

in the midst of turbulent waters, lots of uncertainty, doubt, fear in ways unimaginable, i'm trying to seek solace in the Lord's Word and His promises and mercy. to bring comfort to myself and more importantly, to you.

i'm reminded once again of the reality of salvation and just how many people around me are in desperate need of God's grace. this grace that is extended to me and you.

***

Lord, as I seek

Your guidance for the day,

I find my thoughts unyielding,

confusion crowds my way

But then when I bow to You,

The challenges You guide me through

Your promises are ever new,

I need them for today

Your will cannot lead me

where Your grace will not keep me

Your hand will protect me,

I rest in Your care

Your eyes will watch over me,

Your love will forgive me

And when I am faltering

I still will find You there

Each new day’s design

is fashioned by Your hand

And graciously revealed as I seek Your Masterplan

Keep my footsteps faithful

when from You I go

Return me to the joy

that Your blessings can bestow

Your will cannot lead me

where Your grace will not keep me

Your hand will protect me,

I rest in Your care

Your eyes will watch over me,

Your love will forgive me

And when I am faltering

I still will find You there

- grace

a californian road trip!

sooo the day after disneyland we got out of bed a little later. and we were thinking since we have a car, might as well take a road trip and see sights around LA. lonely planet, travel guides and the internet prompted me to head up north to santa cruz, malibu and santa barbara. 3 coastal towns that are supposedly very beautiful and beachy. (also because many hollywood stars like rob lowe live in such towns so it'll be nice to check out the houses hahaha) i was also tempted to to see orange county, just because of the show O.C. but it was in a different driving direction. so too bad. i reckon they all look and feel similar.

so we left our motel and i wanted to check out the farmer's/flea market on 3rd and fairfax, which, by word-of-mouth, is very good and a must-go. so we navigated there and we paid a small entrance fee (after flashing our student ID - a privilege that i'd not have anymore). i saw so many nice things!

but the weather was SO hot. but we persevered, or i did. linda didn't seem to be into such things. but i was so excited. in the end i bought a black/red/white "carrie" dress (because the huge poofiness of the dress is a sarah jessica parker/carrie signature look) from this nice guy who adores sarah jessica and sex and the city, a pair of hand made wood carved earrings and a very nice vintage clutch for jiejie.

after realizing we're running out of time for our actual roadtrip, we headed to quickly eat lunch and begin our journey along the coast of california, instead of taking the shorter route to the towns on I-5, we took the longer freeway that snakes along the coast, so it's guaranteed beautiful views throughout the drive. and WOW. it's so nice. i miss it.


within a short drive (relatively) we reached malibu. i'll always associate malibu to barbie (wherein never been kissed, one of the shallow popular girls dressed as malibu barbie to their prom) and the world's nicest drug rehab facility (wherein brothers and sisters, justin's drug rehab center was in malibu).

we parked our car at this cluster of shops and cafes and took a walk through the marshland (got boardwalk, not wade through the mangrove (: ) to get to the beach.

beautiful, strange flora here.

you can almost see the houses dotting the slope of the mountain, facing the sea. how i wish i had a house like that.


on the beach. not very crowded, which is good. see that flag up in the sky, that's an advertisement for something. a small plane will fly the flag of the brand.





so many mandarin ducks around. (:

after the beach, we walked around the shops for awhile. i think people aren't used to seeing asian girls. there are so many asians in LA, but once you get out of the city, you hardly see them.


just chilling out.

we arrive at santa barbara! finally! i love this town. it's has this mix of small-town charm and city-like affluence and style. it's edgy and up-to-date and current, and yet the people are nice and the buildings are beautiful. and no tall buildings anywhere. just blocks of short buildings, lots of palm trees, the beach, the sun, the sea and the mountains.





we walked along the shopping promenade where there were so many quirky interesting small shops among the big names. i like. (:

santa barabara art museum.





we love santa barbara. and i was so tired from driving i needed the caffeine boost. and also to shop!




the sun begins to slip away.


i love how tall the palm trees grow here. and how skinny they are. compared to palm trees elsewhere. and i love how they accent the landscape of the santa barbara beach.









along the beach, there was this boardwalk that extended out to the sea, very much like kelong or bedok jetty (except it's bigger). called the stearns wharf. it has restaurants and shops and cars can enter the boardwalk.

and a strange fishing spot just below the boardwalk.

i remember we saw dolphins while we were at the end of wharf looking towards the ocean. 2 dolphins were leaping out of the water several times. and we were so excited!




hard to have steady hands to take nice night shots when the strong ocean wind blows and the temperature drops. hence it took many shots to get a few decent ones.

good night santa barbara. maybe i'll live there someday.

and then we squeezed with the end-of-weekend traffic back to LA. it was a nightmare! it's like 9pm and the freeway is packed! 'cos everyone who has weekend homes in neighbouring towns are going back to the city on sunday night. and it was a really long drive. and i remember swerving a little off-course while driving 'cos i was tired, and hearing a gay radio station, complete with gay discussion topics and call-ins. very educational and entertaining. haha.

the next morning, we got up early 'cos we had to drive to the airport, return the car, and take our flight that would take us to san francisco. and we still had one more thing left to do.

take picture with the famous hollywood sign. so some research on the internet led to driving directions up mulholland road (i think), a neighbourhood where many stars have homes there too. and ta-da!



i think it's quite hard to capture any of it on the ground. the best is an aerial shot, but obviously we don't own any helicopters or planes. so this is actually very good.

one of the houses along the road had this flag up. i thought it was really interesting. i think we'll be sent to jail if we ever did anything like that to the singapore flag.


and a parting shot of our car, which has served us well for 3 days. rental was cheap too! due to a weekend special rate. before that we grabbed lunch at a carl's jr. drive-through. quite exciting 'cos carl's jr here got no drive-through. after returning the car we hopped onto the enterprise shuttle bus that brought us to LAX.

you know what. i do love california a lot. it represents america in so many ways. it's like a mini-america because in california you'd find the rich (and the ultra-rich), the poor, the middle-class, city and glam, small hip towns, small rural towns, shady gangsters crime-ladden boroughs, deserts, mountains, beaches, national parks, vineyards, factories, nuclear plants, farms, immigrants from asia, latin america, africa, americans from all over, california-borns and so much more.

ok plug for california tourism ends here. (:

complete in You.

Here I am, Oh God
I bring this sacrifice--my open heart.
I offer up my life.
I look to You, Lord
Your love that never ends
Restores me again

So I lift my eyes to you, Lord
In Your strength will I break through, Lord
Touch me now, let Your love fall down on me
And I will be complete in You.

Here I am, Oh God
I bring this sacrifice--my open heart.
I offer up my life.
I look to You, Lord.
Your love that never ends
Restores me again

So I lift my eyes to you Lord
And by faith, I will walk on, Lord
Then I'll see beyond my calvary one day,
And I will be complete in..

I look to You, Lord
Your love that never ends
Restores me again

So I lift my eyes to you Lord
In Your strength will I break through Lord
Touch me now, let Your love fall down on me
I know Your love dispels all my fears.

Through the storm I will hold on Lord
And I pray I will hold on, Lord
Then I'll see beyond my calvary one day
And I will be complete in
I will be complete in
I will be complete in You

- Complete, The Parachute Band

election laughs.

on a recent "late show with david letterman",

The Top 10 Barack Obama campaign promises:

10. To keep the budget balanced, I’ll rent the Situation Room for sweet 16s.
9. I will double your tax money at the craps table.
8. Appoint Mitt Romney secretary of lookin’ good.
7. If you bring a gator to the White House, I’ll wrassle it.
6. I’ll put Regis on the nickel.
5. I’ll rename the 10th month of the year “Barack-tober.”
4. I won’t let Apple release the new and improved iPod the day after you bought the previous model.
3. I’ll find money in the budget to buy Letterman a decent hairpiece.
2. Pronounce the word nuclear, nuclear.
1. Three words: Vice President Oprah.

hurhur. i especially like #10 and #4. #10 is a great way to balance the budget, instead of tax cuts or cutting spending, find ways to raise money for the government!

congrats to the obama campaign for winning the south carolina primary in a landslide. (: i almost jumped up and down when i saw the win on CNN.

***

speaking of money and government, i've been wondering where in the world did GI*C's money come from. how did our government become so rich? any business student would like to enlighten me? and not just G*IC, tem*asek hol*dings is another formidable power. and all these talk of SWFs in the papers have made me quite curious.

***

my thoughts are with heath ledger's family. i will certainly miss watching him in breakthrough roles in film. i loved him in 10 things i hate about you and brokeback mountain. it amazes me how versatile an actor he was. how talented he was. and how sad that we lost such a great actor.

another death this week was ex-indonesian president suharto. well his health was failing him and it was time.

***

i love the reuters photographers blog. the photos posted up there are so beautiful and they really speak a thousand words and convey emotions that normal photographs cannot accomplish. the photos come from all over the world, from the fields of hanoi to the desert plains of afganistan to the city skyline of frankfurt to the elections in taiwan to the elections in the US to the soccer stadium in england to a surgery operating theatre in berlin to a woman's prison in buenos aires to the tennis courts of the australian open. and this is just the first few entries. and these photos speak of current affairs and global and domestic issues around the world.

very nice.

***

another week starts. 5 days of FYPing to go before the weekend. have a feeling that i'm gonna be horrifying busy this week with experiments. hmmm. social calendar seems a little empty, other than the switchfoot concert on thursday. hmmm.