samsamsam

last

2010-02-24T12:38:00.001+01:00

Dear readers. I have decided to stop contributing to this blog. Thanks for reading.

epic fail

2010-02-23T01:44:00.003+01:00

ever had one of those days when everyting fails?

was supposed to go to a 2 day department retreat at some castle. went to the train station on time. but the snowfall the past two days and the cold made the trains malfunction. can you imagine, a country that experiences -30C temperatures buying a train that cant work in the cold? so i waited 30 minutes for the train instead of 5. and when the train came it was packed like sardines. and the 20 minute trip now took 55 minutes. so i was late to the bus terminal and missed the charted bus the department provided. That would have pissed off my boss i guess.

on the way to the station in the train i realized my phone battery died. so i couldnt call anybody to tell them i will be coming late. i dont know if they waited for me, i dont want to ask. when i got there, just walked over to the other platform and waited for the return train. it took the train 40 minutes to get back to where i started.

did some labwork and ran the results. i had two plates, and one totally failed. and this is a patient sample which is difficult to get, and its cells cultured for already a week, and the assay took me 5 hours to do.

then i found out that my abstract submission deadline just passed a day ago and i didnt submit it in. i dont know why i keep thinking it was in 2 days time. my boss sent me an email and for the first time, his email had exclamation marks! not one or two but !!!! four marks. he must be jumpin mad.

someone called up and asked me to go for lunch tomorrow, then a doctor called up and said there will be one patient coming in who is critically sick. so i had to cancel my lunch. and then the bloodbank server went nuts and didnt register my order. and i dont know if the order went in or not and if it didnt went in, i wont get working material tomorrow but if it went in and i reordered, i will have wastage of material.

ggggrrrrhhhhhh

p00l

2010-02-21T12:06:00.002+01:00

the small function room at my place. free rental, if you get to book it before the 100's of others.

bought 5 pizzas and shared them out. the banana curry one is interestring.

siam ah!

8 ball

bridge

played till almost 1am

the serious face.

16th feb 2010 1030pm

2010-02-16T22:21:00.004+01:00

sometimes life is so busy, i wish i had time to relax
sometimes i wish life would be busier so i dont need to think of some things.

words pop in now and then
i want to pen them down but then
there woudl be so much criticism i would be condemned.

people say live life with no regrets
i regret alot.
little things, big things.
things i did not so much
things i didnt do, more.

innuendoes.
its like i cant say it straight.
too many people, too many feelings
even this.

i want to be here
i want to be there.
maybe a little bit of here and there: thats paradise.

wounds heal, but the cold cracks new ones.
whats the point of healing then?

look at the mirror,
i dont like what i see
thats what happens
when you are cheap
and go for ikea.

there's a reason why
the road less traveled
is less traveled

the air is cold
so are my feet
so is my heart.

i climb up a high mountain
and think im at the top of the world
until i look up
and see another mount

throw a ball
it bounces and comes back
thats fun
thow a ball
it disappears
you walk away.

hmmmm

2010-02-05T23:04:00.003+01:00

I realise that this blog only has pictures, and thats because I've gotten to busy/lazy to think about things to write as its very time and energy consuming. But I guess a true blog is one that involves some thought and have thus decided to try to write, erm, type again, though infrequent.

Stumbled upon this site,
http://www.ideapaint.com/site/gallery_work.html

Its this amazing paint that you just apply on the wall and then can use regular whiteboard markers to write and rub off using a duster. When I get my own house, I'm going to paint one wall like this. So cool!

pet sister's bday

2010-01-31T21:56:00.006+01:00

my pet sister's birthday so we had dinner at my place. this is the common room any resident can book for free.

made jelly the day before.

overlay with clear jelly and fruits.

swedish birthday cake, aka. 'princess cake' with cool block candles.

waiting

laid table with one special chair

waiting

dinner: beggars chicken

wear by force

tiara and fur coat. really look like a queen

showing off her food.

my smudging jelly. still edible

dissecting the jelly

we cut out differnt letters. here i am ''seizing the 'day' ''

she is cutting up her 'happy'

the multilayerd princess cake: marzipan, sponge, biscuit, cream, custard

eating the suepr sweet flower.

group shot before clearing up. happy birthday!!

Bruges 2 of 2

2010-01-23T00:12:00.007+01:00

more beautiful buildings

cant remember what you call them. the small ones, you light a candle and the warm air causes the fan to turn on top. but this is huge and so it has a plug. when the fan turns, so do the little people and other figures on the different decks. very cool

church of the holy blood or somethign like that.

town hall

inside the town hall

door at the town hall

some japanese designer made this 'monument'. i see it as a car wash shed.

interesting letter box

church

canal

super long handle doorbell

first pub in bruges. serves charcoal cooked pancakes. too bad they dont have no smoking area. the whole room was filled with cigarette smoke, so we went somewhere else

outside of the pub

church of the holy blood

the tube thing in front of the priest holds some gauze supposedly containing the blood of Christ. well, the blood is still red, so i really wonder...

fluttering flag

sun passing through a tree hits a building giving it a cool mottled look

chocolate museum: demo of how pralines are made.

origins of cocoa

yes, i would like to have this and this and this and this and this and this please.

moon

night christmas market

chocolate beer! tastes good

sundial. I wonder how they read in winter or spring when the sun is so low on the horizon.

Bruges 1 of 2

2010-01-22T00:00:00.007+01:00

as usual, we had to get the highest floor and i lugged the luggage up.

another UNESCO heritage site, some belfry

old house

sarcophagus

whole silver

whole gold

ornate dome ceiling

mini church in stone on top of the doors

a michealangelo, rare that its out of italy

reflections

the city is full of them

tackling the belfry

lower levels, the remains of old clocks- huge arms

lower parts of the tower have broad steps

no graffiti

shiny steps, worn by years of tourists' feet

halfway bell

the steeper parts

the top deck, every day, the bells play a song as encoded by the music wheel

the view

view

366 steps up, and 366 steps down

exhausted

Antwerp 2 of 2

2010-01-21T00:45:00.004+01:00

next day walkabout

the bridge built pre wwII that connects two sides of the city by a underriver tunnel. 3 of them. one for pedestrians, one for cars, one for trains.

500m walking one way

we went to the other side to see if the air was fresher there. then walked back. had to go on two of these super long and ancient looking escalators

central train station

south side of Antwerp, lots of old nice buildings

notice the figure of a man on the high balcony, its a permanent display. the red one visits every december

crossroads buildings, 4 similar buildings with plaques of winter, summer, spring and fall on them. they look the same but are decorated differntly. very cool

art nouveau

miseltoe

poor plants in the cellar

shipwrecked on a building.

a ship balcony. either you think its super cool or you think the architect is crazy

Antwerp 1 of 2

2010-01-20T00:40:00.005+01:00

nice city and lots of sights.

the main church that also displays paintings

rubens, quite a famous painting, forgot why

olden day comic strip of Christ carrying the cross to calvary

bookshop

outside the church, lending a hand

walking santa band, play and walk and joke

we found this place, €20 seafood all you can eat. The owner probably didnt know how much two skinny asians can consume in an hour. the place is probably closed now. hahaha

the church at night

some city hall thing

the hotel we stayed had super narrow stairs, and we were on the 3rd floor. shiesh.

up up up

some other notable buildings

downhill sledding!

2010-01-19T00:25:00.006+01:00

when you have trash bags and some cardboard, what do you do? why go sledding of course

whole lot of fun on the slope next to the train station.

very slippery trying to walk up the slope

ready?

straight

not so straight

wrong side

a good shove

turning

turned

distracted passerby falls

the only one that could go down straight

cardboard boxes in trash bags

Brussels pt2

2010-01-18T20:50:00.005+01:00

day 2 in brussels.
church hopping

yucky exki vegetarian shop

stained glass

closeup of the stained glass

this church quite interesting, they have differnt groups of ppl set up nativity scenes around the church, in their own cultural setting. this one is japan

beyond a shadow of doubt, this is an angel at an interesting angle

korean jesus
'

italian

?

outside of the church

underground of the church, the present structure was built upon an older church. just build on top of it,

next a trip to a local brewery. Lambic beer takes 3 years to mature before they sell it. its unfiltered and uses yeast in the air to do its job of fermentation. being unfiltered, the yeast is still in the beer when its sold and so will continue to mature until you drink it.

some are left for decades and still drinkable.

having a barrel of fun

unfiltered

the brewery in the same building

come again 3 years from now

belgium: where tintin, smurfs and lucky luke came from

subway drivers have rear view mirrors at the stations

at first i thought it was a castle, upon closer inspection of the tightly closed door, realized it is a prison. so if someone says they live in a prison in brussels, be wary.

a street lined with art nouveau buildings

Brussels pt1

2010-01-17T20:33:00.010+01:00

brussels, the capital of belgium and supposedly the capital of EU since the group's main conference center is in this city.
this city is SO much more alive than the others we've been before on this trip.
at the main square, they lighted up a building and it follows a soundtrack. very cool

the christmas celebrations in brussels consists of light ups, christmas markets, food stalls, a few amusement rides, an ice rink, and even a balloon monster. Its almost 2km from end to end.

the balloon monster, can walk through, cost quite abit.

damsel in distress

ferris wheel and background sweeping lights that lights up the sky

galleries, a name for olden day shopping centers

nice nativity scene, with live sheep

chinatown gets tang loong inspired christmas deco

very cool carousel, strange animals and machines

Stockholm Life: my church in Stockholm

2010-01-16T21:37:00.003+01:00

just started english speaking chruch in stockholm. small now but will grow. last year they had 1 meeting a month, and this year, its now every week! great, now no need to go swedish church.

as usual, im doing sound.

thai food

2010-01-15T22:37:00.003+01:00

found this very normal looking thai food place while walking around and decided to pop in. the workers speak thai and the menu has thai words, so you know its the real deal. the food was simply amazing. so like the real thing.

green curry

red curry

fried rice, very good

yellow curry

overall very satisfying and must go back again to try their tom kha

Hero: Sam

2010-01-14T00:46:00.000+01:00

Sigtuna

2010-01-13T20:57:00.008+01:00

Sigtuna near Märsta is Swedens supposedly oldest town, or street. So we had to choose a -30C morning to go there.

First stop was a castle thats only open on certain days for visits. Not today.

A lake that has frozen over, solid ice.

looking inland from the shore.

hair turning into ice.

Theres a 'cultural center' next to the castle, and it sells home or handmade stuff. this is syrup from rose, lavender and other stuff.

home made candles that looks deceptively like chinese sausages

the candle making machine

metal soap to get rid of fishy smells?

one figurine released every Christmas

colour trapped in

everything going for 50% off the sale price, dirt cheap

as i said, solid ice

ice crystals on the bus stop panels

we went to a cafe that has a fireplace, warmmmmmm

maybe some people prefer to chill out al fresco.

not enough with tea, we went to another shop and ordered 'larger than my head' pizzas

today's bored youth

:)

The bowl i bought for sek45. hand made, very cool

Leige, Belgium

2010-01-12T22:29:00.007+01:00

interesting town .
Lunch at a local cafe, where i had rabbit in sweet stew, with some herbs and berries, and very sweet sauce. served with fries that you eat with this strong smelling cheese and saucer of honey. strange.

whats up doc?

the other meal, seafood in home made pasta. half a lobster, loads of prawns

weird christmas trees around the town

another one

after a good meal, mandatory exercise is required. 400 steps up a hill sounds good.

come on, come one

half way rest stop, somone considerate left a bench there. I pity the guy who had to bring the bench up there.

last few steps!

war memorial

cat shivering and meowing for its owner to open the door

church

some baptismal basin from 1100's

recently restored

around the church the builders skillfully left a few nook and corners as it originally was to remind us how it once looked.

black and white keys opposite

slanting glass

another strange christmas tree

ice slide. very cool

tumble down in a heap

meat!

city hall

Ghent

2010-01-11T22:20:00.006+01:00

small beautiful city of Ghent. lots of photo oportunities but we went only for a few hours with a friend and her parents in their car in the late evening. So it was a walking tour in the dark and a lovely dinner after.

some UNESCO world heritage site, a belfry, looking down on a christmas market.

some church

opera house

another church

i belive i can touch the moon

the calm waters give amazing reflections.

the bbq spare ribs place, 15.50 for all you can eat!

ornately decorated insides

Luxembourg city 2

2010-01-10T18:59:00.001+01:00

more church glass, this one is about the birth of Christ.

can you belive, an old folks home

mulled wine in a boot.

singing and music from a little stage

dustbin

tiger balm goes international!!

nice glow

seafood shop.

feel like having an urchin and some snails.

yum snails

not so yum urchin

to more food.
home brewed unfiltered beer.

horse meat fillet!

just like beef.

Luxembourg city 1

2010-01-09T19:06:00.005+01:00

cold day in luxembourg

dont stand under it when the stalactite falls.

supposedly called the balcony of europe, best view. in the cold, cant really appreciate

train staiton

inside the station

Lux city has this interesting natural forming valley flanked by two steep cliffs. making it a natural fort. We walked through the valley

part of the cliff. theres actually a whole lot of tunnels and holes in the ridge that people dug long ago as a security measure. too bad its closed to visitors in winter

some church

WWII memorial

morning market, got plastic warps around the stalls and iinside its heated air. very nice to stay inside.

grilled chicken from a truck

fruit stall. check out the huge persimons middle bottom of this pic

yet another chirstmas market

st micheals i think

micheal the angel slays the devil

part of the fort built into the cliff

another view of the city from the ridge

some fort on the north east of the city. as everything else, it was closed.

mostly rebuilt some years ago

framed

Vianden

2010-01-08T18:50:00.006+01:00

a castle in the north of luxembourg. wrong time to visit is when there is a heavy snowstorm a few days before christmas as everything is closed and you can hardly see whats in front of you.

kitchen.

very cool method to keep your pot hot or warm with a screwlike device.

where the family eats

big hall for functions

the nearby cellar, where beer and wine was kept.

knight in shining armour

mail coat

face

quite a silly looking helmet.

its disproportionate but too lazy to make it look better

on the main turret

the town below

some important room, refurbished and painted to look like what it once was

open court.

flag flying high

people long ago are short

interesting windows.

spa, the real one

2010-01-07T18:42:00.004+01:00

Spa Belgium for a day. From our room, you could see the Spa resort on a hill, linked by a diagonal fernacullar, I think thats what they call it.

three types of spring water, all vile tasting. You can see the marble getting discoloured by the water. On is high in iron, another in sulfides, another I have no idea.

pay and you get a token to be strapped around, it acts as a key to open lockers for your clothes and stuff.

the outdoor pool, where you soak and feel warm from neck down and chillingly cold from chin up.

infrared lights to tan or maybe to get skin cancer.

The main pool, heated and indoors, they added chlorine to the water. some parts are like jacuzzis or water umbrellas. quite fun.

the entrance.

the building

the front desk

another famous spa product

taking the fernacullar down

quite steep actually

going off by train. weird sign.

dream on

2010-01-06T13:09:00.000+01:00

Some things will remain dreams, for good reasons.

Clock museum, Utrecht, Holland

2010-01-05T13:01:00.003+01:00

Went to the Utrecht Clock museum. Its more of automated music museum than clock I think. It comes first from clock towers that tell the time but before striking for the hour, you need to warn people that the strike is coming so you had a little tune before the 'dong!'. Thats how it all came about.
From that, there was lots of automated music machines that came out. from simple bells to a whole orchestra. The first video is a small street entertainer's box with moving people to entertain the watchers, while the second vid is a huge magnification of the simple music machine. The thrid video is an automated piano plus 4 violins. It was just simply quite mesmerizing to stand and watch it play by itself.