Finally, my last exam in NTU is over, and hopefully, all is well and I should pass and graduate, apart from the FYP presentation next Monday... Somehow, it seems that even though I have been dreaming of this day almost ever since the day I stepped into NTU, especially so during each biannual exam mugging period. I seem to have this big part of me that seems to be missing student life already. However, I shouldn't be missing the exam mugging, which is so totally hateful... It could be the part of me which seemed to be so lost, with the door open in front of me, yet I don't know where to go... how nice it was to have that door closed with the student me behind the door just caring about my studies, and packing in playtime into between whatever time I can spare and sometimes more. Now, I'm applying for whatever job opening that seems fine and do-able to me, and yet I would worry about whether I suit the job and whether the job suits me. The "TKY" in me also wants to hold out to see if there will be ever-better opportunities coming along, if any... haiz...

Big worries aside, my bedroom is long-due a big spring clean and make-over! Must have dinosaurs living under and inside my cupboard!

My FYP presentation is a little worrying to me too... 30mins long, how am I going to find so much stuffs to present? And TKY also stressed me the other day, by saying that the presentation would take up 50-70% of the total FYP marks... mampos lah... my project seems so simple and unscientific compared to the cheemmelogy-projects of others... would require a dang hell of effort to smoke out my presentation!! ~

A nice super steep, rooty drop on the Offenburg Germany Mountain Bike World Cup course. Looks great, especially when dry. Should be crazy scary when wet and muddy.
Bikemag.com

Mampos... I've been spending a bit too much time playing Restaurant City on Facebook. I find it so therapeutic seeing Mas, Wei and Justin toiling in front of the stove hahahaha!! Finally I can "command" Mas to wash the toilet and stuff hahaha!!! Of course, Kelvin is the "running runner" waiter, like the old Kelvin in his Fish & Co. days, pretty much doing the same things, serving food and clearing plates without catching much breath in between (handling Section C really sucks...), except that the Restaurant City Kelvin doesn't actually run. Nor does he mix up his orders. Which is good.~~

Short break after my 3 papers... Took my bike out to West Coast Park. Love the serene peacefulness of a weekday, not missing the loads of kids on bikes, pedal-carts and rollerblades all over the place. Was trying to spot birds at a quiet estuary, but most probably it's the birds which were spotting me instead...


Gleaming in the sun! Took the back-rack off for this ride, and it feels noticeably better! Especially when setting up for corners, where it seems sharper, even though the rack only weighs like 2kg...

Ok, time to get back to business... PV and FYP presentation left to go...~~

Day-dreaming already... I want to revive my Giant NRS trail bike! I want the new Shimano SLX crankset to replace my 5 yr-old Truvativ Stylo which I cannot trust anymore after it fell apart while I pounded on the pedals on the road! I want the new SLX Shadow rear deraileur as well to replace my totally-worn 8 yr old XT! I can make do with my now 8-yr old XT shifters and Deore front deraileur, and my also 8-yr old 2001 model XT disc brakes, and I'll keep the Xpedo pedals which I absolutely love! I want a new 1-inch XC riser bar to replace my straight bars! I can already feel my legs itching up already! Now all I need is a job to finance my fantasy... =p


Nice 2009-model yr SLX Shadow rear deraileur...~


Nice SLX cranks...

More day-dreaming... if I can afford it, I want a new hardtail which can allow me to try cross-country racing again! With full Sram X7 drivetrain, an Avid Elixir 5 disc brake set, a good wheelset, a X-Fusion Velvet fork, and a black frame with gold anodised components! Drool... =p````

Felt like I needed to sweat out a bit, in the evening sunshine, eat a bit of air, but didn't really want to get too tired out as well, a short bike ride is such a nice thing to do...~~

Today's my last morning exam paper in NTU, possibly in my life to come as well! Yay! Even though the exam didn't go as smoothly as I wanted it to be... Went home and "fainted" for a couple of hours on my bed... never had so many weird dreams in the short space of a few hours! Next up are the 2 more papers on next Tuesday, 4 days to cover 2 modules' revisions! 6.5 hours of continued madness on that day! Then I can finally relax a bit for the final paper that is PV, which seems so far away...

Nope, this Mentos isn't past expiry... it's slightly black! It's Mentos Extreme Mint! Never saw this before! Got it from the Value Shop at West Mall... Never been to West Mall for so long, even though I walk pass it like almost every few days! Same for Jurong Point... Stocking up my stash of sweets and titbits at home, in preparation of exams, again... ~~

I've learnt some new words today from a Facebook quiz! The meanings from Wikipedia:

The 'Personality Plus' personality profiles

Choleric: This is the commander-type. Cholerics are dominant, strong, decisive, stubborn and even arrogant.
Melancholy: This is the mental-type. Their typical behaviour involves thinking, assessing, making lists, evaluating the positives and negatives, and general analysis of facts.
Sanguine: This is the social-type. They enjoy fun, socialising, chatting, telling stories - and are fond of promising the world, because that's the friendly thing to do.
Phlegmatic: This is the flat-type. They are easy going, laid back, nonchalant, unexcitable and relaxed. Desiring a peaceful environment above all else.

I'm a Phlegmatic, as what the quiz says of me and what I thought I'm closest to... Apparently I'll be attracted to the Choleric type of girls, hmm... let's see if this will be true, not that I really know of any of such girls yet...

Man, I was really tormented last night, by a pesky mosquito! She was like toying with me, giving little bites all over me without settling her fill with just one big bite! Kept me half-awake all through the night... even with me sweating out under my blanket, with the fan switched on to the max naively with hope that it'll blow her off hahahaha!!!

My GT bike has new bar-ends! Got them 2nd-hand from Togoparts... as were 90% of everything on this GT bike!! A few scratches here and there, but still very much usable... they're pretty good, stubby but just enough to rest my palms on, and they have nice shaping at the ends for me to put my thumbs when gripping them! Been wanting to try bar-ends for a long long time... should be able to help make climbing and spinning on this single-geared bike somewhat more comfy...~~

Found two blogs dedicated purely to chocolate reviews! Hahaha! My chocoholic madness is seeping deeper and deeper, can feel my blood turning brown already~~ Links are on the side of my blog~


Drinking good old Lipton's tea can help get rid of the chocolatey breath, and up the shiokness / satisfaction levels even more!

Link to BikeRadar
A city in Britain will be building 13 miles of fully-sheltered bicycle paths for bike commuters such that they can cycle to work without getting in the rain! Amazing right?! When can S'pore have this? Hehehe~~

2 weeks into it, I'm still not getting over my chocoholic madness yet... in fact I'm still popping a chocolate into my mouth something like once every 15-30 minute! Funny I'm not getting heaty yet either, which is so nice~~

Time for lazy lazy lazy lazy lazy me though to get my ball rolling, since my FYP is finally over for now... time to roll onwards to the last exam of my NTU student life!

Switched the Selle Italia saddle from my currently-in-cold-storage Giant trail bike over to my commute bike, what a big difference it made! It's so much cushier, so much less road surface noise and shocks transmitted to my ass, and I could still feel my ass after 2 hours of cycling! Because my Giant has rear suspension, I never felt that the seat makes such a big difference to ass comfort, but it sure does on my hardtail commute bike! Could be the gel padding, could be the titanium rails, or the well-seasoned top shape, I'm totally enjoying it! Just needs regular baby lotion rub to protect the now rapidly scuffing leather cover... and my bike just looks so much sexier with the Selle Italia on it~~!!

My new aloe vera shoots, after a pair of my neighbour's kittens came over and dug the plants out! They are scaring my mum and sis out too, especially when me or my dad aren't around to carry them out of the house, now my home front door is almost always closed!


The rim of my pitcher plant, Nephenthes Hookeriana... so pretty! Not quite as pretty to the insects in my home though... so many ants and flies died inside! My other pitcher plant, N. Amplullaria, isn't doing quite as well though... it didn't really recover from a period of drying out (forgot to water it during exam period!)... but some new shoots are sprouting out from the base, it's not giving up just yet!

New animal species discovered recently in Papua New Guinea... Amazing to know that new animal species are constantly being discovered even in today where almost all of the Earth's lands have been supposedly explored by Man. National Geographic


Like a Martian alien... Little green thing with big black eyes! A green tree frog still undescribed to Science...


White Sifakas lemurs from Madagascar... how do they keep their furs so white while living in the jungle? Do they use two bottlecaps full of Dynamo daily to wash?


Tree kangaroo, so cute machiam like stuffed toy!

Come to think of it, both Madagascar and Papua New Guinea export brilliant cocoa beans! In a severe chocoholic mood recently, finally gave in and bought that bar of Cadbury's Marble, with white chocolate/milk chocolate mix and filled with hazelnut praline inside, but I find the white chocolate a little too sweet for me, and the hazelnut praline while smooth not fragrant enough. But if I pop enough of them into my mouth, then it's still bliss all the same, can't ask too much of a $4 Cadbury's right? Nice~~

Singletrack link
This article in Singletrack, an online bicycling magazine, is the first one that I've read that says that not wearing a helmet would make cycling safer! Apparently, wearing a helmet makes drivers give less space while overtaking, and that making cyclists wear helmets by law would make less people want to cycle, and with less bikes on the roads, the risks per biker would increase, which personally I feel is true. Most drivers in S'pore take the roads for granted, and forget that according to Traffic Police rules, bicycles are entitled to half a lane's space on the roads, and that bicycles are entitled to use the roads as much as any other road vehicle. Drivers are also required to leave 2 feet spacing while overtaking bicycles, although this may be difficult given the constant congestion and width of local roads. But local cyclists are not perfect either. 99% of them don't signal when changing lanes or turning (I do!). 50% cannot cycle straight with swerving left/right. 95% don't wave back to drivers who do give way (I do! I smile back even!) But local drivers seem to be always in a rush, even slowing down for a cyclist seems too hard for them, which would at most cost them maybe 5 seconds more to their total journey time? Too many times I get drivers speeding past me not giving way, only to be stopped at the traffic lights 50m ahead, with me stopping right beside him, me grinning away at him, with the driver black-faced! But I have nice drivers who give way, and even if we stop at the traffic lights together, we'll chit-chat about the weather, about the traffic, about bike-commuting, and we part feeling happy. Isn't this a much better outcome? Either way, I still choose to cycle-commute, especially in the mornings and evenings, traffic congestion or not. Except on days which require me to be dressed nicely (too much clothes to carry on my bike!), or on especially hot or wet days... but my personal gripe is that it is darn difficult to get secure bike parking in S'pore! Parking anywhere else apart from inside your own home would be tempting bike thieves!

My horoscope says I will be cranky for the next few days... Not a good period to be cranky! Got a quiz on Thursday that might be difficult given it's on solar cells and set by Lydia... Got a sense that we might get a Mobilisation this weekend since this is my NS Manning week... And next Tuesday is my FYP report submission day and my prof still hasn't given me back nor commented on my draft report! Ok I'm getting cranky typing all this out...~!!

Finally got to sun myself today, except I did it while forgetting to remove my bike gloves... now again I look like some funny animal with white hands and dark skin! Didn't get to do it on the last two days due to some stuffs... and the weather... Had been catching up on sleep too, found that I do really get quite grumpy and blur when I don't get my fair bit of sleep! Feeling good and recharged now, although my plans to do some school stuff late into tonight may lead to lack of sleep tomorrow morning again... vicious cycle of life...~

Was back in school on last Saturday morning to do my last XRD test, although found that I might not be including that result into my report, if most only in my Appendix... NTU open-house on that day... balloon on my bike! Took it off before I rode it, because it didn't seem safe to have a balloon fluttering around behind me while cycling with traffic...!


Link This is now my favourite online game! Such cute characters! Racing on wooden boxes with wheels, shooting each other with acorns and special powers like my favourite "skunk stink"!

Have been looking forward to going to Pulau Ubin today. Emptied my backpack of all the school stuffs, and in went my trusty sunglasses, towel, spare clothes, waterproof windbreaker in case of rain. Spent half-hour deciding whether to wear shoes or slippers, I put my shoes beside the main door, and packed in my slippers into the bag as well. Charged up my camera battery and got my sis to empty her pictures from my memory card. Set my alarm clock and mobile phone to ring at 5.45am, and went to bed. Until I woke up at 11am, alarm clock firmly silent and my mobile phone grasped loosely with my left hand, under my pillow where my head was resting, left arm painfully numb due to lack of blood circulation after being weighed down by my head in a strange posture for dunno how long. What hell, Mas and guys were already on the boat back to mainland island at the same time! Then again, I haven't had such good deep sleep in a week or two...