are you out if you're not in trend

twitter has been around for ages but all of a sudden it is becoming an epidemic. you even see people cursing twitter when the service was down. it is like one of those thing people can't live without. at present time. it intrigues me how one thing that has been introduced many years ago only suddenly become in trend when celebrities do it. they tweet on the go. anyone can follow them. and with the introduction of iphone...microblogging is now the IN thing to do.

talking about iphone is another craze. this one is a more extreme IN trend to follow because this one actually costs money. do you know how much phone companies are earning from just people constantly wanting an iphone...whether or not they actually NEED an iphone. i for one would not get an iphone just because it is the IN thing to have at the moment. i think people need to realize that corporations are smart. they know how to manipulate the market. ya make everyone get an iphone then introduce a better one few months down the road. who is to say it will stop at iphone 3G S. you know they will come up with a better, lighter, sleeker model in no time and then the whole craze will start over. people. you can never keep up with the TREND. of course no offense to those who really need a mobile upgrade from those bulky old school blue screen polyphonic ringtone handset.

the other thing i noticed increasingly while blog surfing is that people tended to use same expressions. it used to be WTF or WTH. now everyone is using FML. it doesn't even seemed to be the appropriate expression to anything. sometimes it doesn't even fit into the context of discussion.

this is totally the same as things that are IN fashion. was out and about window shopping over the weekend and realized that various stores were selling similar fashion apparel. once you see it on the red carpet or in a fashion show...replicas of them will appear in the market...made affordable. like that is not good enough. no. you will see even more replicas of lower quality appearing in bargain stores. who puts the VALUE into what fashion is worth anyways. you'll just end up being BROKE if you were to keep up with fashion. it is a vicious cycle. only if there's plenty of space around the world...people should just hand down clothings from one generation to another as we know the fashion will soon take its cycle and repeat itself.

seeing how the world goes round.

anything can be an excuse

i am annoyed at how everyone says they are saving money. to the extend that they can't even go to all-you-can-eat for only AUD 20. i think that saving money is something that should be done continuously. it shouldn't be when you already planned a holiday and only start to save up after. just taking that for example means that these people will not have a life until they decided that they've save up enough. so from now on, i'm expecting a boring phd life. just work and no play.

and no. i don't need to use the excuse of need-to-save-money. i won't even be bothered to try and organize events anymore. just have to find my own entertainment from now on. or maybe find new friends to hang out with. hah.

chillaxing

having a relaxing weekend at the moment. melbourne weather has been great (only during middays). looks like winter is coming to an end. it's good to not think about work on weekends. yum cha was enjoyable eventhough there were only 3 of us. can't wait to go shopping!

not an imposter

if everything goes well tomorrow, i'll be a REAL PhD candidate! woo hoo! ok maybe a bit early to celebrate but i'm kind of over it already. want to move on with my life now. so many things awaiting to be done.

life as a phd student

makes one wonder

when will be the day that one truly grow up. how can one grow up when they are over protected. how can one adapt to a whole new culture. how can one accepts that it is a norm. how can one be in terms with situations. hopefully one day. soon enough. i doubt so though.

just when you think it is impossible

things always fall into place in the end. just last week...totally thought wouldn't be able to finish up confirmation stuff at all. then freaked out on tuesday because only found out the report was due on monday instead of a wednesday. had a very very long day burning midnight oil and managed to get a draft out on time. and of course at the end of the day it's too long. but thankfully it was all good and not much changes needed to be done. now just have to work on the presentation for the next week. seriously can't wait for all these to be over. but also knowing that once it's over there's so many other things waiting to be done.

life as a phd student.

crunchy or not?

can't decide which part of the brownie i like. what about you? do you prefer the corners which are always crunchier or do you prefer the centres which are more moist?

just tried a new brownie recipe today. i made a chocolate chip cookie brownie. it's a hybrid between a chocolate chip cookie and a chocolate brownie. wait i forgotten to take picture of it.

money can't buy love

of course money can't buy love. although it's always good to have money because money makes the world go round. without it we can't possibly do anything at all and just be content that you've found love. but this is all random. i think my brain is overworked these days. still another 3 more weeks to presevere. 3 more weeks til the end of all these confirmation what not. then i'll know if i am no longer a probationary phd candidate. sounds pretty freaky huh. what if they think my projects are crap then that's it. haha.

(see how random and jumbled my thoughts are...how am i supposed to write concise statements. sigh)

anyways the whole point of this post was to thank someone. as most who knows me should know that my birthday is around the corner...a phone conversation went something like that.
.
.
.
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f: nowadays carry bag with laptop plus a stack of papers while walking to and fro work is seriously killing me. last time just laptop only still bearable.
m: of course la. carry so many things how to not "die".
f: yeahlor. that y must really go buy one for home so i don't have to carry it around all the time. so detrimental to health.
m: you still haven't buy meh? thought you already decided to buy long time ago already?
f: aiya. i keep going back and forth on which one i should buy. the one i want is like so expensive. plus if i buy online then i have to use the credit card.
m: why you don't want use the credit card? you don't want "d" to pay is it?
f: i still got savings ma. thought i can pay for myself ma.
m: (talking to "d" at the background who is always listening in on the conversation.)
d: (how much is it?)
f: expensive lor. few thousand dollars.
m: wah. why so expensive one?
f: have always been like that but i think it'll definitely last longer and have longer battery life...the new one says up to 8 hours leh! not like my stupid one now...only two years and it's telling me my battery is dead.
m: then how?
f: i'm going to try to ask my supervisor to buy me a new battery. since he don't have to buy me a laptop i'm sure he can buy me one battery right. summore i use it for work one.
m: ask "d" whether he wants to pay for you or not la. wait i pass the phone to him.
d: hello. so you want to buy one how much?
f: almost AUD 2000 something with student discount.
d: my new one they say battery life also can last 8 hours what. they say you should drain the battery before you plug in ac cable all the time so that the battery will last longer, just like hp battery.
f: no way! that's a misconception! you go read online and see. sure cheat people one.
d: yeala. they say can last that long if you don't really use it much.
.
.
.
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f: so so my birthday coming...what do i get for birthday pressie? haha.
d: oh ya hor. 25th rite?
f: aiks...how come you remember one? you always remember 24th one wor.
d: haha. i thought it was 24th. then your brother told me it's 25th. don't know why i always remember 24th (24th is my brothers birth date). wednesday i going bangkok...then friday i going philipines...so if i remember i'll sms you la.
f: haha. ok.
d: maybe just buy you the laptop for your birthday? then ma got birthday present already lor.
f: wah! crazy ar! so expensive leh!
d: yeahla. if it's a requirement then buy ma.
f: yeahla. i will need one la. else too troublesome already. so much easier if i don't have to carry it back and forth.
d: just charge it to the card lor.
f: wah! really ar!? THANK YOU!!

so yes peeps. my dad is paying for my new macbook pro. yay!

hope you enjoyed the story!

have a good day!

girls who smoke ain't cool

i'm so bored i'm playing FB games

second world record breaking day

what record? this is the second time in 2 weeks that i've got to work by 7 am in the morning. it's kind of nice walking to work so early in the morning when i could actually get out of bed. the sky was still dark but everything was crystal clear. the dimly lit streets not cluttered with people. birds were chirping as early as 4 am i reckoned.

it's going to be a long long day as we have plans later in the evening. now i just have to find stuff to do to occupy my time for the rest of the day. seeing my empty google calendar is not helping. haha.

have a productive day everyone!

p/s: i think i might possibly be falling asleep on my desk by noon. =S

beyond explanation

it's so hard to explain what is going on. but all i can tell you is everything is alright. it is what you think it is but not exactly. it will come a point in time that you would understand.

meanwhile...i'm living my life.

da-squared

thank you

yes i was on the radio

dear all,

if you've not already heard...i was on a melbourne radio talkshow on may 31st. it was a panel of 3 radio hosts interviewing three invited guest for intervals of 10 to 15 mins regarding their project in conjunction with australian society of medical research week. the live broadcast was conducted in the foyer of mind and body gallery at melbourne museum on a foggy sunday morning.

so here's some entertainment to make your day courtesy of yours truly.

click on the mp3 link on this page

http://rrrfm.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=486338

or visit http://einsteinagogo.net/ and look under recent podcast on the right.

now and go judge it for yourself...good night world...

I'm also a painter. I paint in people's mind

/Eugene Ng 04052009

in with the new, out with the old

just in case you're wondering who is this other random stranger on the blog...it's still me! i've just decided to change my user id for the sake of it. if you've been spying on me on facebook you would have realised that i have a new nickname. i'm known as yaf. who is yaf? what is yaf? have you realised what is it yet? it's just my name spelled backwards. it's kinda catchy. now half the friends at work calls me that. i kinda thing it's nice too as a nickname. so fay is lynn is yaf is yaffie. maybe it's a good thing too seeing that marianne won't be confused with lynn and lynnz anymore. haha.

another thing is that i would like to thank steve for setting up a site for me to post photos or anything related to my softies to share with everyone on the web. visit me at yafkho.tumblr.com

absence makes the heart...

...grow fonder

DOES IT REALLY?

the month of april

i've been neglecting my blog for a while now. i guess it's hard to find time to reflect on what has come and gone. don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing. i've said this time and time again that it seems so much easier to just upload a whole bunch of photos on facebook and let the picture tell its own story rather than dedicating a post to all the random events happening now and then. but come to think of it a blog post would prolly be better if we wanna look back and reflect.

04042009
went fishing for the first time. woke up super early just to get to mornington bay to catch a fishing boat into the sea. the sun was not even up yet. unfortunately...my observation skills did not help me much during fishing expedition. the fishes had successfully steal bait from my line all the time!

24042009

went to st. vincent's student society annual retreat at anglesea, ymca camp. this was by far the best retreat so far! i've attended 3 including this one throughout my time at st. vincent's campus. the food was catered for and it was really good if you were to compare to what you normally have at camps. brekkie of bacons and eggs one day and banana pancakes the next, on top of hearty meals for dinner! can totally see us coming back here again next year. the place was really well taken care off and rooms had ensuite which was a plus. overall a weekend well spent away from work!

27042009

then we came back on the sunday and went for dinner at thegrillroom to celebrate min's birthday. the best steak i've eaten so far in melbourne. ok it's not like i go out for proper steak that much anyways but definitely money well spent and hell ya i would love to go back there again!