guess what? while i was on my way outta scott building, i decided to make a left turn instead of the usual right turn. and i was treated! got to experience the graduate's march first hand. i was really walking in there with them, but beside. following the huge group of people for about a quarter of their walk down george street. oh manz, was a great experience. cant wait for my turn to walk the graduate's march. and to add to the heat, i took some pics too. but it's on my phone. see, the convenience of a camera phone. thanks guys for the pressie. i'm putting it to good use! =)

the theory of human evolution! did humans evolved from apes? are the great apes our human ancestors? hmm, a rather contradictory section of science versus religion. isnt biological anthropology fun! somehow after all these practical sessions, i got to appreciate life more and the things around me. bones and skulls are part of the practical sessions. comparative anatomy is much more interesting than cellular anatomy. the humnan skull can be so bony and sharp at certain edges that one can wonder why didnt it burst a vessel or nerve.

then comparing our skull and skeleton with the orang utan's, gorilla's and chimp's. we've got so many features in common, yet some of which are used for different purposes.

well, back to the topic of human evolution, of science versus religion. if God created us (humans), we could not have evolved from apes. however, clearly the structures of the early man, those dating back to couple of million years ago, shows it to be rather ape-like. and slowly after the years, it evolved until what we are today. on the other hand, if we really evolved from apes, God then did not create man. which in this case, i do not believe it to be true. moreover, if the theory of evolution is really true, then the whole concept of God and christianity and i believe of other religions will be crushed.

also, its quite cool to see how the skeleton differs in various populations. and it is good to know that in the asian population, our skull is more gracile. woohoo! looks quite good actually! okay, this is a totally bias statement taken from an asian herself. point is: it does really look good.

somehow the more i do comparative anatomy, the more it seems that we really did evolved from the great apes. *i'm confused!* the facts are there, yet its so ambiguious. the question is still out there? i guess it is up to the individual to decide.

guess what? i've been seeing heaps of couples at varsity. i suppose its just me i guess. not sure, but it is only these couple of days that i'm noticing it. hahas.. i'm sure u know what i mean. right daniel? lol. i'm wondering when my turn is coming. i wanna be happily attached too!

found nad's 10 year life-plan for me written last year. wont say much about my wonderful planned-out life, but according to that, should get one by this year.. i must say its currently on the right track there. yipee.. and yes nad and bel, i wont forget our date at esplanade merlion walk on 31st dec 2015 at 6pm for dinner. really do hope it would all go according to plan.

aside from that, time passes by very slowly after turning the clock an hr forward. somehow it just does. usually it gets dark around 9 plus, but now.. light turns to darkness. and before u know it, night falls rather early. woots. therefore, following our biological clock.. we do get tired out easily.

went to unipol today after anat lecture. played table tennis and did cycling plus a little while on the cross-trainer. was a short and good workout tho! was hoping to do a little tread too. oh well, perhaps next time.

work-outs are really good. they help to clear ur head and mind.. and more importantly giving u a good workout. now i feel so refreshed!

so back to hitting the books peeps.

friday was St Patrick's day. some irish tradition thingy. so many people wore green to school, some even bringing it to the extreme. i saw this guy wearing dark green tights and a bright green simpsons boxers over. i wonder how he managed the stares and glares.

and the Gold medal goes to the new zealand ruggers again! straight record eversince rugby had its debut in the KL games. how cool is that manz. the best part of the commonwealth games so far is watching and hearing kiwis do the haka. that experience from the tv brings about fear yet pride. i'm positive if i were to watch people do the haka first hand, it would definitely send chills down my spine. well, it already did while i was watching the telly, what more first hand.
The haka is a war dance. The words are shouted in a menacing way accompanied by arm actions and foot stamping. A haka was and still is traditionally performed before charging into battle, just like what the All Blacks do before each game. it came about from a legend in about the 1800s by a warrior chief. and from there on, i suppose nz have always been associated with the haka.

Ringa pakia
Uma tiraha
Turi whatia
Hope whai ake
Waewae takahia kia kino

Ka mate! Ka mate! (It is death!, It is death!)
Ka ora! Ka ora! (It is life!, It is life!)
Ka mate! Ka mate! (It is death! It is death!)
Ka ora! Ka ora! (It is life! It is life!)
Tenei Te Tangata Puhuru huru (This is the hairy man)
Nana nei tiki mai (Who fetched the sun)
Whakawhiti te ra (And caused to shine again)
A upa ne ka up ane (One upward step, another upward step)
Upane, Kaupane (An upward step)
Whiti te ra (The sun shines!)

well done to the new zealanders over at melbourne! more medals to come i hope. =)

i believe ensuring that ur shoe laces are done properly is one of the key to winning. guess what? my laces were undone today and i start off 4-0. until i tied them, then i began to win. bringing the total games to 4-4. how cool is that!

i've finally completed the essay for mr wong. saw down at Scott cal, surfing the net halfway and typing the essay halfway. however, while multi-tasking.. i still get the job done! woohoo...

mr wong, when's our date to the restaurant on the top of swissotel'.

Hey hey. The weekends are over yet again. Weekends are never enough eh and i suppose that is so true. Well, back to the start of the week again and i must say it isnt the highlight of the week. Oopsie, I know its mid-week soon. I've actually got heaps of work to catch up with and i'm lagging lots too.

Need to catch up. Catch up.

Hmm, was on my way to Scott Cal today when i met Holly at the traffic junction. Great seeing you again pal! Its been ages and after three weeks of the first semester, i finally get to see you along the streets of Albany. we need a chill out session soon darling!

Yup. And in an unrelated event, there seems to be many other people hitting on that certain someone in sg. Goodness. More competitors haa.

Okayy. I can see that this entry is not exactly flowing the way it should be in a normal one. But who cares! I'm random.

Have to head for another boring anatomy lecture soon. Apparently all my lectures seem boring, especially the physiology ones. Cardiac cycle again, but this time with much more greater details. However still, the prof is still mumbling to himself and yes bel, his water-bottle habit is getting on my nerves.

Cant actually stand the way he holds his bottle and speaks with it near his mouth. Furthermore, he makes jokes and laughs to himself occassionally. His jokes are those that are un-laughable. (if there is such a word as that)

Anat ones are still relatively endurable. The seats in Colqhoun are very comfy, if like i should say sitting on ur armchair at home.

anyway, i've got chao.

Watch a documentary on the life of Mother Teresa. and there are many parts that struck me throughout the show. Parts of the poverty shown in india, of how the people suffered and the charitable work that Mother Teresa and her sisters were doing. they were self sacrificial and thought of others above self which is certainly hard to expect from people nowadays. Likewise, i too can be guilty of that. Many times, i can be so caught up with myself that at times i forget that there are people living around me.

After i've finished my degree and get stabilised financially, i would like to go to one of the poverty-striken countries to help out for a couple of years. I'm sure there are many things that we can do to help out the community there. I remember one of the trips to thailand during our pb days, when we went to a children's home in one of the slumps in bangkok. Was taken aback by firstly the rates of the HIV and how many lives of innocent kids were being affected by i should say irresponsible parents who did not care about the generation to come and also themselves. Yet, despite all these happenings, the kids can still smile and welcome their visitors from afar. helping them feel welcome and taking part in all our activities. yes! we taught the kids singing and games. a wonderful and unforgettable experience indeed!

My friends, let this be your goal in life too just as i have made this mine.
- Where there is desperation, may I bring HOPE. Where there is sadness, let me bring JOY. Allow me to CONSOLE, rather than be consoled. To UNDERSTAND, rather than to be understood. To LOVE, rather than be loved... because giving is receiving, and because it is in forgiving that we are forgiven. lastly, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

"MOE to get tough on those who harass teachers via mobile phones"

This was the headlines for the online news from channelnewsasia today. Well, at least this news came later then expected. I wonder what would happen if this news came like three years ago. Things would not be the same, somehow I wouldnt be getting texts, calls, chill-out sessions, dinners, long car rides to the ends of singapore and emails.

Okayy. But harass sounds really bad. And nope, i was not harassing. I was establishing a rapport. Now that is the difference! Haa.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, "Harass" means to worry, trouble; attack repeatedly.

I was not attacking repeatedly, nor was I causing trouble or worry. I was just being a nice student that replies her teacher's texts. Really appreciate the texting conversations which would last for ages. sometimes the entire day too.

Yes juan, I know at this point you would say:"ah! rache! stop your nonsense!!"

Haa, I will when I'm done with this post. Ever thought what if it was the other way round? If it was a teacher that keeps texting a student, what consequences would there be? I wonder.
Anyway that was perhaps the very reason why my aunt did not actually recommend that I gave out my number to the kids. However, I'm thankful I'm did. For if I didnt, I would not even be in contact with my kids now.

Anyway. It's only after being a teacher, that i know how tiring it was for my teachers having such a rebellious kid as i. And you get to see things from a teacher's point of view as well as a student's.

Artist: Michael W. Smith
Album: Changing Your World
Track: Friends

Packing up the dreams God planted
In the fertile(sp?) soil of you
I can't believe the hopes He's granted
Mean the chapter in you life is through

Bridge:
But we'll keep you close as always
It won't even seen you've gone
'Cause our hearts in big and small ways
Will keep the love that keeps us strong

Chorus:
And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

And with the faith and love God's given
Springing from the hope we know
We will pray the joy you'll live in
Is the strength that now you show

(Bridge)

(Chorus x2)

Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends

after lectures yesterday, i went to unipol with felicia, hoping to meet aaron in the process. went there, did a little cardio, a little biking, a little rowing.. all in all adding to about 5 cliques. was a relatively good workout.. then headed back to the central library to do a little bit of revision. met aaron at the link and after studying a while, we went off to unipol again. the woman at the counter must have thought what was i doing back there again. anyway, did a couple of hoops there and played table-tennis with aaron. boy! must i say i'm good in that. hoops on the other hand is not something for the vertically challenged people. yeah.. working out once in a while is great for stress relieving, especially after a relatively stressful week of lectures and labs. i intend to make it a point to go to the gym at least once a week if not twice. it really depends on how busy i am these days.

anyway i've got to run for a lecture. gotta lab later too, which means i wont be home till 6.30pm. boo hoo!

exhausted! had classes from 9am until 5pm today, cos i had a physiology lab. and good to note some familiar faces in my lab. woohoo! the lab started off well with a meet and greet session, getting to know your mates as we would be together for the rest of the semester. did my lab with a kiwi guy, steven. which happened to sat beside me during the early morning lecture in which i was dozing away. yup.. a relative technical lab with someone to share the workload out with you is really great. beats doing it on your own! anyhoo, during the lab.. this other kiwi guy was preparing for his ECG measurement, and he was partially sitting on my table and bending down taking off his shoes, with his butt brushing against my hand. i immediately pulled my hand away in the most uncomfortable way. that was when steven came to my rescue.. hahas.. sounds weird eh.

aside from that, ermm.. i dont suppose i have much to say. that was the only interesting thing that happened today beside those boring lectures which i'm certain that you are not interested in.

till next time folks!

the weekends has been awesome! there's no word better to describe how fabulous my weekend was.
had lunch with the singaporeans at minami and was great catching up with them. and as usual, speaking in singlish. what's more! there are new additions to the osc.. hahas and some of which i must add are a big WOW! anyway that's not all that made my weekend so awesome, even though i must admit it did take up a huge percentage of that.

the main highlight was that i got to catch up with one of my long long time friend. he sort of MIAed for a while when he went to england. yups, great too see u online tae gyu! (opps not sure if i spelled it correctly tho) well okay, better known as daniel seo. now he's happily back in korea and studying at Kia St. exchanged a couple of pics and talked about the good olde' times. i vividly recall how good he was at dancing. remembering going to cheer them on for anti-drug dance competition which i'm proud to annouce that we won. oh yes and he was in the same group as me for outward bound trip. can still remember how he spontaneously offered to wash our entire groups' laundry. good future house-husband eh.. anyway thanks daniel for all the wonderful memories. these definitely wont be fading in the near future. hahas and ps: u still look the same daniel!



hope to see u soon, perhaps when we visit korea.. meanwhile have fun studying!

its coming to the end of the week already! yipeee... finally, the long awaited weekends.
this week has been rather eventful. having a change in life can be good sometimes and in others not so. have been very busy trying to start the year right and getting my thoughts and mind organise. trying to psycho myself that it isnt the holidays anymore. running around from lecture to lecture..

spoke to many people these couple of days and i realise that a career in research is not what i really want. i dont forsee myself working in a laboratory from 9-5 everyday. i guess i'm the sort that would want to go out and meet people. or so u call a person-oriented kinda job. even just for the basic labs that we are having now, they dont seem to be shouting out: hey rach, this is the thing that u want to do in future.. and mind you, these two labs that i've been too are the most interesting labs in say about 3 years. working in the lab is kinda geeky too, dont u think?

oh wells. i dont think this is suited for me, but since i'm already in 2nd year.. its a little wasted if i drop everything now eh. just have to make myself like it for now. perhaps after a year more, i'll slowly begin to like it.

anyway these days have been quite pathetic too. at home i'm like a princess, in uni i'm a loner. hey juan, now i know what it is like. its really good to know that someone u know is in the same lecture as you. i shall accompany u more for lectures! hahas which means i get to crash more of them. lol... didnt i pose off well as a math student the other time. =)

after splitting up after the first year, some friends are just the hi and bye type. while others, they dont even bother to say hi. and some, they act as if u dont even exist. of course, there would be the wonderful ones that stick by you through the good and bad times. that just goes to show how arrogant some people might be. so now, i know who my true friends really are.

anyhoo.. we shall speak of the blissful times and not the ones which evoke sadness. it's really wonderful to know that ur students still remembers you. it seriously warms my heart.. just a day or two back, i was talking to a couple of my students and it brings back memories again when i was teaching them. they keep updating me about their classes and their activities. that's how i got to know that i was their continual assessment exams.. it shocked me how even at this young innocent age, kids can be involve in boy-girl relationships. though this kid didnt tell me much, but i told her not to get involve in such stuff at a tender age and to wait till they get older. goodness! they are just in pri 5. as i recall, i wasnt boy-crazy yet then. see how a goody-two-shoes i was. lol. anyway i'm just waiting for their results.. hope my small-talk with each of them did help them to get their thoughts on the right track and get them to aim for something higher than they can possibly imagine. pri5-6 all the way! whee~