Busy week ahead

I also forgot to mention that I'll be damn busy this coming 2 weeks so I'm really sorry for not updating my blog... But then again, you guys will be done with exams in a few days! Once you're done, you'll probably not read my blog le since you'll be out playing or something... wahahah....

anyway, here's my plans:
This Week
Wed: Spanish Quiz
Thursday: 45% presentation
Friday: Spanish Essay First Draft in Class
Friday - Sunday: Boston Visit (MIT, Harvard, Boston, Weizhong)

Next Week
Monday: Econs Quiz + Spanish Final Exam (yes, right after Boston)
Tuesday: Spanish Essay Final Draft in Class
Thursday: Spanish Oral Exam
Friday - Tuesday: Florida (Orlando - walt disney, Miami)

Next Next Week
Monday - Tuesday: Still in Florida
Wednesday: Econs Final Exam - 25% (yes, right after Florida)
Saturday - Sunday: Bring SMU friend (Ron) around Philly

Next Next Next Week
Tuesday night: Derivatives final exam - 40%
Tuesday Midnight / Wednesday Morning 3am: Head to West Coast

For the rest, see West Coast Schedule.

The lovely days in Toronto

Hi all,

as mentioned, i spent my thanksgiving in Toronto, Canada with my relatives. My main purpose in going to Toronto was to visit my grandparents as well as my uncle. Frankly, apart from the short 3 days in August, it has been more than 16 years since i've met my uncle, my auntie as well as my grandpa. My grandma visited Singapore 4 years ago and that was the last time i met them.

I have to thank my Uncle Tom (see pic below) for sponsoring my return air tickets between Toronto and Philadelphia. It was one of the best gifts ever as it really gave me a chance to meet up with my "long lost" relatives.

Over the past 4 days, I spent every night chatting with Uncle Tom. It was really crazy how we could still bond and talk about everything in life even though the last and one of the very few times i met him i was just when I was a 9 year old boy.

This trip really meant a lot to me. I felt family love for the first time since i left Singapore. It was also really touching that I could love them so much although I have not really met them much in my life. Well, I guess this is a good starting point for the family to come together. Although my relatives are spread all over at the 2 ends of the world, I really look forward to the day that we can spend quality time together as a family.

Snowing in Toronto (only started when I arrived)

My grandparents and I

My grandparents and I @ Tom Houston (a coffee shop like Ya Kun)

My grandparents, Uncle Tom and I (see the similar jacket, actually its different brands)

My grandparents

My grandparents and I once more

That's what we did all the time (eat, and yes i'm damn fat)

A nice pine tree outside my uncle's house

Taking a picture with Auntie Angie (Uncle Tom's wife)

Boring weekend but exciting weekends ahead!

Hi All!

sorry for the long drought of blog entries. My weekend has been so-so but I'm sure all the SMU people would be busy mugging for their finals. As such, I would like to provide some suggestions for some entertainment in between studying. Well, i would suggest that apart from blogging or reading blogs, you can consider the following:

Playing DOTA, CS, etc

I just found out that DOTA map 6.49AI is out! you can play DOTA 6.49AI if you're by yourself and you can also lancraft with the rest of your friends. If you are still thinking about the last semester when we played CS all day long before, during and after exams, you can also gather all your friends to CS! Trust me, after CSing for about 4 to 5hrs, you'll probably feel guilty and start studying. However, do note that these activities might be addictive and cause a negative impact on your final grades.

Watch Drama / Shows

I have been watching "heroes" every week since the start of season 2. Fortunately for me, I am able to watch "heroes" on the NBC website. The storyline is getting interesting and I'm sure you guys will enjoy it. For those who are not in America, i'm sure you guys have got your own "sources" for your viewing pleasure. Anyway, another title recommended to me by ah kow is "How I met your Mother". Its shown on CBS every week and trust me, its really one of the funniest shows i've watched. Catch both of these!

Going for supper

this is one of the activities that i really miss! Nightlife here in US (i would say specifically in Penn) is really boring. GSRs are full at night and lack of places for you to get supper. Not to mention that they don't have "Dou Hua" or "You tiao" here. Do consider going to chomp chomp, or other nearby hawker centres during this period to relieve stress. Note: for those who are going exchange next semester, this is a highly recommended activity.

Exercise

I think i miss this activity the most! It is really difficult to exercise when winter is approaching. I'm experiencing temperatures around 2 to 8 degrees celcius. Not too appropriate for running I guess. Nonetheless, I think exercising is the activity that helps most in studying. For me, exercising keeps me awake and helps me to focus. So try this out!

Continue to mug hard

Well, this wouldn't be a recommended activity. Trust me, as an economist, i can assure you that there are decreasing marginal returns to studying. I even think some people have studied so hard that they reach the pt when they have reached decreasing total returns. So please, study just the right amount will do!

So what did i do last week?
Well, i seriously didn't do anything interesting last week. On saturday, i slept in to recuperate from the lack of sleep during weekdays. I usually sleep at 2am and wake up at 8am... I know its quite a lot already. Just that I feel tired lah...

On sunday, the 4 SMU exchange students together with 1 lady from NUS took up the challenge and drove to and fro woodsbury premium outlet. Woodsbury premium outlet is one the most popular factory outlets for tourists. There are seriously many many brands that you can choose from and the price is much cheaper than regular prices. Well, i highlighted only the word cheaper because i want to emphasize that it is cheaper and not cheap. Nonetheless, a lot of my friends (especially girls) would refute the point and claim that it is cheap. Well, i guess the idea of cheap conforms to Einstein's famous finding - the theory of relativity.

View on the road is good

View from the road again

Woodsbury at night

What am i going to do for the rest of the week?
This week is thanksgiving for US. Thursday is thanksgiving day and this is the day when people come together to thank god for all the good things that has happened to them. I think this is a good holiday at just the right time. The US market has been diving for the past weeks and I guess giving it a 2 day break should help to slow down the fall. Regardless, let's just shifts stocks away from our minds and just relax (or alternatively you can shift your stock holdings away from your portfolio and purchase fixed income instead, haha).

Anyway, due to thanksgiving, i am having holiday from thursday to sunday. So for the next 4 days, its time to travel again! This time, i'm going back to a familiar place. I will be visiting my grandparents and my uncle and auntie in Toronto. I will be leaving on plane in about 2 hours time and I hope I've got time to still update my blog and show you guys more of toronto ya?

Time's running out
Anyway, i've got many deadlines coming up and i'm kinda bothered by the fact that i still have to do work during thanksgiving. I've got 1 spanish quiz, 1 presentation and 1 assignment due next week. What the hell! Well, what i meant by time's running out is that i'll be coming back to Singapore soon! yay and no yay. There are probably 4 more "tours" that i'll be making b4 i come back to Singapore. Let's hope it turns out well. The details are as below:

30th Nov - 2nd Dec: Boston Trip (got spanish exam on monday right after)

7th Dec - 11th Dec: Florida Trip - Orlando to visit walt disney and Miami to visit south beach (got econs final exam right after on 12th)

19th Dec - 28th Dec: West Coast Trip - Santa Monica, Hollywood, LA, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon

30th Dec - 4th Jan: Taiwan to visit May!

Yupz... this is a long blog entry... so take care and till next time!

2 more dishes:

Steam Fish with sweet soya sauce

This is a new creation

i'll call it "8 treasures for the poor" (not really 8 treasures)

(has pork, egg, crab meat, mushroom, and tofu)

Yam's Kitchen (noodles version)

Hi all,

just in case you guys were wondering how come only got rice... here's some noodles / spaghetti:

Dried Noodles with Mixed Gravy

(crab stick, mushrooms, pork and green pepper)

Fettucine
(Tastes good)


Roast Beef Slices

Failed Chaowanmushi

Fried Fettucine (yes it was the left over from the spaghetti)

steam fish

Do i know what i want?

I've decided to dedicate the million dollar question to my friends out here reading my blog... do you guys think i know what i want? Here are your options:

(a) Yes i know but only for the short run (i.e. next five years)
(b) Yes i know and i know how my whole life should go
(c) Yes i know but only abt the long run (i.e. how i want my life to be in the future)
(d) No i'm a confused fellow
(e) No and i choose not to think about it

My first live basketball game in USA (Upenn VS Drexel)

Hi peepz!

I'm writing this entry with lots of energy and fervour. I just came back from a basketball match between Upenn Basketball and Drexel University Basketball Team. The experience was really so much better than any Basketball matches that i've watched back in Singapore. I totally enjoyed the atmosphere. Everyone was SUPER enthusiastic about the game and the crowd was constantly cheering for their teams (or booing the opposition). I have never seen a crowd as enthusiastic as them back in Singapore. It really brings back memories of my track and field days when we cheered for our trackers down on the field.

Anyway, the whole match was unlike the typical university game that we see back in Singapore. in fact, the whole show is even more grand than a typical S-league game! At the beginning of the match, the bballers would run in into the courts while the broadcaster read out the names of the starting players. The cheers and boos from the crowd were just overwhelming. Shortly after, the whole stadium would rise to sing the national anthem.

Although the way the basketball match was run is similar to singapore (i.e. 2 halfs, and similar rules), the crowd really made the difference. At every timeout, cheerleaders would run out onto the court to cheer on their teams. There is also a band from each school who will be playing music or drumming beats for cheers. During halftime, there were also dancers from each school who would be putting on a halftime show. Sometimes, there would be random participants who will go onto the court for quickshot competitions to win prizes during breaks.

The part that i enjoyed most was the active and participative crowd. During every free throw, the audience from the team who was making the shot would raise their hands with their wrists flapping downwards to support their team. The opposition team would also try their best to distract the opponent by waving their hands or booing the shooter. throughout the game, you could hear people calling the players name. My favorite one was when a drexel guy shot an airball. The penn people immediately chorused in unison, "airball airball, airball airball, LOSER!"

This got me thinking about how the players would react. They really had to hold their calm and make their shots. I guess the players probably also got used to this and wouldn't take it to heart after the game.

Anyway, i'll just end this entry with the summary of the game. Although Penn didn't lead the game at all, they put up a very strong fight. My favorite moment of the game was when Penn was still lagging by 3 points during the last 30seconds of the game. Defense by Drexel was tight and it was almost impossible to win the game. When the game was left with around 15 seconds, Penn was awarded 2 freethrows that might reduce the score difference to 1. What happened was almost legendary. The player show the freethrow and got the first 1 in... One more to go... He made the second shot... and he missed! but what happened next was like in the movies. Penn got the rebound and continued to make shots. They made shots continously from under the basket but they keep on missing due to the tight defense. The clock slowly ticked away and Penn was 1 second away from losing when a Penn player finally scrambled the ball in for the draw! Everyone from Penn was jumping in joy! I saw people hugging each other and everyone was almost moved to tears (that included me). This was truly one of the most exciting matches i've seen.

Well, unfortunately, although we were able to pull a draw in regular time. Extra time wasn't so smooth. The drexel shooters were darn accurate and got quite a few 3-pointers. In fact, i suspect that the number of 3points were more than the number of 2points. In the end, Penn lost by 5 and that was the end of the game.

This experience was definitely worth the $6 that i paid for the ticket. I'll definitely go for more matches from now on... I would say that this is the best form of entertainment i had for months!

My ticket (US$6 and its the student price)

One of the decorations in the stadium (it was about how Penn got disqualified from NCAA because some of their players on financial aid did not get at least a 1.6GPA)

Singing the national anthem

The match (Penn in White, Drexel in dark blue)

another view of the match

Penn students trying to distract the drexel player making a freethrow

This is the hand gesture that Penn students make when we make our freethrows

The cheerleaders

22seconds left with 3 points difference

Getting the draw in the last second forcing extra time

(i know someone else from SMU women's bball who did this too)

The final score...

Yam's Kitchen

Hi guys,

i'm coming to the end of my menu... so far, i've consolidated about 50+ different pictures of the food i've made... not exactly 50 dishes but more or less 50 variations of food. I'm running out of ideas for new food already... in the mean time, here are my recent dishes... please do offer some suggestions ya?

Maybe i should make chi kuey... hmmm

fried celery with beef

hong shao tofu (crab stick and beef version)


Hong shao tofu (another variation)

shang hai mian

Jiao Zi

Fried Rice

The food is getting boring man...

The past 1 week

Hi all,

time to update my blog again... thanks to Paul, i have to speed up the blogging speed. Anyway, the past 1 week was kinda busy because my friend was going to visit over the weekend and I had to finish all my work before that so that I can bring her around over the weekend.

Anyway, on Saturday, i brought my friend around Philadelphia and showed her to the various places which were interesting. Seriously, it was quite limited and all i could show her was the parkway / museum district which has the famous philadelphia art museum, the commercial area, the italian market, the famous Pat's cheesesteak, and the historic district. The following are the pictures in Philadelphia.

Logan Circle

Outside of the Philadelphia Art Museum with the best possible Phiadelphia Skyline View (people were having their wedding photos taken here)

Finally, i got the chance to take a picture with the liberty bell

A war memorial in Philadelphia for the unnamed soldiers who fought for America during the American Revolution

An old US submarine at Penn's Landing

On sunday, i brought my fren for a 1 day quick tour of NYC. We took the 530am bus from Philadelphia to NYC and reached there at around 715am. After having a nice breakfast at Chinatown, we made our way to wall street. The familiar views of the NYSE dawns upon me once again and after a quick walk east, we ended up at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Nonetheless, we did not board the Staten Island Ferry that was free. Instead, we walked to battery park and took a US$15 circle line trip that brought us around the the bottom half of manhattan island... i would say that this is quite worth the money since the view of the skyline was quite outstanding.

We then began our arduous trek up north. The plan was to walk from the southern tip of Manhattan Island towards central park. Half way through, we made pit stops at NYU, Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, and various shopping spots. The trip was planned to exhaust our legs and i guess after about 6 hours of trekking, we reached Central Park, our final destination. Well, this is a good lesson indicating that the aim of a trek is not the destination but the process. The route from Battery Park to Central Park (approx 20km) was filled with the various attractions of NYC. Apart from the ones listed above, seeing the new yorkers enjoy their sunday serves as a pleasant experience for us as we immerse ourselves in the NYC city life.

After viewing the ending of the New York Marathon (yes its like standard chartered marathon), we made our way back to Chinatown for a sumptuous dinner at a restaurant called Joe's Ginger. Check out their website @ http://www.joeshanghairestaurants.com/. Their xiaolongbao is really one of the best ones i've eaten so far... you can check out the dinner pictures below too.

After a tough day of trekking in NYC, i called it a day at 11pm when i waved goodbye to my friend and headed back to Philly for a midterm exam in the morning. Here are some pictures that might excite you.

On the circle line with the NYC skyline

Another view from the circle line

The tall building is HQ of goldman sachs (for you mervyn)

NYU (sterns business school)

Top of empire state building (this is where teenage mutant ninja turtles fought shredder)

View from the top of Emipre State Building
Another View from the top of Emipre State Building

Another View from the top of Emipre State Building

The New York Marathon

Xiaolongbao @ Joe's Shanghai Dumplings

Yupz... that's it for my weekend! This week will be a busy week preparing for my intervies and 2 midterms next week!