the rounds of interviews begin...

and the show begins...

this morning marks my first graduate school interview. made a boo-boo yesterday morning, waking up early to get ready for the interview, only to realize 10 minutes into the supposed time I was to receive a call from them that it was actually today. well, I guess I never had to convert SG time to US time, only converting the other way round when I was in the states. (explaining why i got the one day early instead of one day later) =P

Anyway, to all our friends out there, fm and I will be flying off next week to the states for some of our interviews, flying off on 24^th jan morning. Fm’s gonna be back 29^th jan, and I’ll be back 5^th feb. Just in time for CNY, thankfully… dun wanna miss it now that we’re back for this one year after 3 years of being missing in action.

after CNY, we'll be off again mid-late feb for our second round of interviews. lots of flying around this couple of months, and earning a lot of mileage (hopefully)!

a magical night - engaged on the twelfth day after christmas

Epiphany - the twelfth day after Christmas
(warning this is a long post, I’m sorry... but I must write everything down... =D)

“As a feeling, an epiphany is the sudden realization
or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something.
The term is used in either a philosophical or literal sense
to signify that the claimant has "found the last piece
of the puzzle and now sees the whole picture,"
or has new information or experience, often
insignificant by itself, that illuminates a deeper
or numinous foundation frame of reference."
- Wikipedia

And it was yesterday, 6 January 2008, that I said 'yes', to spending the rest of my life with my dearest darling. After (almost) 3.5 years, yes, I’m engaged.

My darling, the sweetest guy ever...
never did it ever cross my mind that this day would come so fast, and he would ask for my hand. But he swept me off my feet with his elaborate and wonderfully planned surprises, and ended off with the big bang.

~~ ~
so it all started with the night of Christmas Eve (to the unknowing me)... when we spent Christmas Eve roaming the roads of Orchard, and ended outside Café Cartel of Raffles City. It was a place with fond memories, where he popped the question 3.5 years ago and we debated whether to spend our lives together... there, he gave me a card, and wished me a merry Christmas. 12.03am.

over the next few days, a series of gifts came along - the love book of answers, the movie 'love me if you dare'... I was also taken on a mini treasure hunt around the IMB building to find a present wrapped up in black wrapper, which I was told not to open until further instructions next time. (without any indication of when...) a few days later, another black box was thrust into my hands as the gift of the day, this time a small little one.

couple of tasks were part of the big game plan too, and I was told to get a blindfold for myself, figure out how to publish the new backgrounds for our blog (on the top left corner of this page. refresh the page to see other bkgrds like the Taipei, Hualien and Venice pictures =D) and also to write a reflective essay for our past, present and future (refer to "Love 2008" post, 3 Jan 08)...

these spate of events were baffling me, and I din know what to think of them. I had just simply thought that it was part of a darling's spurt of pampering me, as part of the Christmas/new year celebrations... and I simply waited in anticipation for the next gift to appear... =P

then I was told - "we're going night cycling on Friday (05 Jan 08), go home, drop your stuff and meet in East Coast Park..." Flashing back to the fond past memories again, night cycling back then on 9 July 04 was the night which gave us plenty of opportunities to chat and play together, as we zoomed down empty roads with the cold wind sweeping past us, tried grabbing each other's handles while biking along (resulting in us crashing to the ground, heh..), and lazed on the floor at the esplanade and chatted our time away as we rested...
and we were going to do it again, to spend our night exploring the streets once more, and more importantly, enjoy each other's company.

~~~
night cycling ended, and we went separate ways back home to wash up the sweat, dirt and grim. But with a specific instruction to find my clue of the day on the webpage. And the clue...

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming
Eleven pipers piping
Ten lords a-leaping
Nine ladies dancing
Eight maids a-milking
Seven swans a-swimming
Six geese a-laying
Five golden rings
Four calling birds
Three French hens
Two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree

= SENTOSA

So off to Sentosa it was, where we played the luge ride (fun!) and watched the songs of the sea (ending is nice, but otherwise lame story...)… only downside was that the weather was not pretty, and it was raining the entire day, on and off… and was even pouring as we watched the show. And we were so unprepared for wet weather. Hehe.

More importantly, I was told in the middle of the day that a room in the Siloso Beach Resort, complete with a private Jacuzzi was waiting for me on the rooftop of the hotel... and was led blindfolded to the hotel and up into our room, up to our private Jacuzzi! *gasps*

Isn’t it really really nice? Mini pool massage and overlooking the beautiful Siloso beach and the sea… and that’s where we lazed/soaked the rest of the late afternoon/evening away, until the “songs of the sea” show at night.

After the show, it was dinnertime… and “your choice”, said my darling, “go somewhere u want to try, we’ll have a good dinner”. Until then, I had not suspected anything, except that it was a terrific and pleasant day with my darling pampering me. And this was under the quite-convincing reason of us having pulled through all the tough times of GREs and grad sch applications and finally having a slight break before the interviews start and we’ll be flying in and out of the states soon.

So dinner was at Barnacles at the Shangri-La area… amazing dinner with nice ambience and delicious food! Interesting rockfish soup (we had to stir in mozzarella cheese and this mayonnaise-based sauce into the soup to our taste), and the highlight of the meal, the LOBSTER! Live giant lobster from the kitchen, lightly grilled for the 香-ness, yet the meat was soft, tender and very juicy! Complete with a glass of white wine for each of us… (too bad we din have pictures for this, cos the camera was flickering badly from a little rain that seeped in, and we had to rest it first in hope of it functioning again…)

It was then a slow walk back along Siloso beach, digesting our very full stomachs and simply enjoying the moment… until we reached the hotel. I was left at the rooftop outside our room (there are an access from the 8^thfloor into the room proper, as well as access from the upstairs Jacuzzi rooftop) for a long time... and wondering what my darling was doing... I din think too much, I suppose, but was thinking that he was trying to make the room exceptionally nice for my viewing pleasure (?)...

So he finally opened the door, dressed smartly in the black long-sleeved shirt that we bought together in Hong Kong, and beckoned me into the room. "Wow" was definitely my first reaction, as I saw the faint glimmer of a candle glowing by the Jacuzzi side, and lovely rose petals were randomly floating in the Jacuzzi pool... how romantic...

Without leaving me much time to entirely grasp the situation, he led me down the stairs (again littered with rose petals) to the room where I totally gasped and was left open-mouthed. On the bed were the words "i ♥ u" written in rose petals and the 2 black-box presents, and there were 3 tea lights which lit the room dimly... it was magical...

He sat me down at the end of the bed, knelt in front of me and gave me a card. Epiphany.

Then he asked me to pick a present to open first. And since I got the big one first, I chose that first. I carefully tore the wrapper off, and he then told me to shut my eyes and that he would help me open the box...

and this was what was inside... wow......
A gold-plated rose, a rose - symbol of love - that would last for eternity... simply beautiful.

Next in line was that tiny little 2nd present. About 10x4x4 cm cuboid thingy which can be "the most expensive or cheapest thing u've ever received, but regardless, I’ll give you the best I can". That was the clue I was given together with the gift. I carefully tore off the wrapper, and opened the box... an idealscope for diamonds...

I stared up at him, only to see him reaching from under the armchair footstool a little white box... and as he flipped open the box in my direction, a little bulb inside the box shone upon the precious stone which shimmered ever so brightly right into my eyes...

As he said, “will you marry me?"...

I will not forget the moment ever... my mind just went into a blank, and I just stared at him, gasped and cupped my hands over my wide open mouth... as tears welled up in my eyes. I simply couldn't believe my eyes (and ears)... I had never considered that it would be the day, so fast into this one year that we were back in Singapore. All along we had discussed about maybe waiting 1/2 years before any consideration of marriage... and I had innocently taken that to be true. But here it was, a ring with the little shiny stone that was staring right at me... and my darling in front of me looking anxiously for my reaction...

"You gotta say something, or nod your head......"

I grinned. And looked at him and nodded, barely able to whisper the words, "yes, of course I will". Then the emotions started to flow... tears of shock/joy flowed down, and I reached out to hug him long and hard... and after a good while, he gently pulled away and put the ring on for me...

so for rest of the night, I was in bliss. The hotel had prepared champagne and the flutes, and they were nicely chilled in the ice cooler. So we took it up to the Jacuzzi and while we soaked in the pool, I popped the champagne high above into the air and out towards the outside, so far and high the cork flew that we lost it in the sky. =P we had our very own pool side champagne bar… and not too forget the candlelight flickering dimly by the poolside too… it was simply, amazing…

so ’tis was my long exciting adventures of the twelve days of xmas 2007, leading up to the epiphany on the night of 5^th Jan ’08 onto the day of 6^th Jan ’08 with my dearest darling…

his elaborate plans that completely blew me away…
his proposal not long after the clock struck 12 that night which absolutely stunned me…
and the ever-so-charming him that I totally am in love with…

~06 January 2008~
Epiphany – the Twelfth Day after Christmas
A Day to Remember, Forever…

the treat to ourselves... post-graduation part 2

one-week trip to Taiwan :
celebrating the reunion of the darlings after the end of 3-year LDR...
and a little reward for ourselves for our college graduation!

one of the world's tallest building, taipei 101... i'm always amused by how countries would add tall antennae and what-nots to make the building 5 storeys taller. the shopping within wasn't a lot actually, just a few storeys..

a must-go in taiwan is of cos their night markets (aka taiwan's version of singapore's pasah malam!) there were so many people going around, many food stalls, clothes shops etcetc... just interesting to wander amongst the crowds, try some snacks (we did try the 臭豆腐 stinky toufu, but agreed that we din like it... heh), and see see look look.


a nice bike ride along 淡水 area...

at the lover's bridge in fisherman's wharf 渔人码头... i think it was officially opened on valentines' day!
after long-wanting to get a caricature... we finally did it! and i'm glad we decided to.. this sweet lady was really good! fm took this picture after she was done with drawing him... though i was still stuck sitting on the chair... waiting to see the picture!!! =(
the finished project! and she even gave us a additional free 'lover's bridge' inside too! cos we were the last customers of the night... so nice!

went up the ferris wheel in miramar...

and that's my cool dude right there!

from taipei, we also caught the train to hualien, and went to the taroko gorge national park for a couple of days. a little too underdeveloped though, and by dark, there was nobody around and nothing to do... =( there were only 3 places to live: 2 hostels - the catholic church hostel and the youth hostel, and a (3-star?) formosa hotel.

nonetheless, the scenary was quite nice. just a simple place to chill and relax, where we went on a short trek, and walked to see the 水帘洞 (we only took a few steps in it though, cos we din have torches with us... heh.)
me admiring the waterfalls...

darling taking a 360-deg video, i think...


lazing our evening away by the river rapids... i tried to walk into the middle of (the shallower part of) the rapids. =)
OMG... this will be a hotel that we'll never forget. we got the room for NT$1000/night, really good price for its quality! wonderful comfy couch-bed, plasma screen tv, fridge, a big dome shaped bathtub that one can just soak inside. fancy modern design! simply amazing... too bad we were only staying for a night...

and who would forget all the 台湾小吃！ we went food-hopping a lot... especially in hualien itself, where there was a food map with all the must-try food! ok, some of them weren that great, but it was fun (and i was so full.....) ~!

watermelon king! woah.. the biggest watermelon i've ever seen, and really sweet too!

more food sampling...
and more!

i will never forget this... i played with fireworks for the first time in my life! poor deprived raised-in-singapore me haven set off my own fireworks before... and finally had a chance in taiwan! we bought 3 rockets one and set them off into the sea... and we bought a BIGGY too! a 6x6= 36 dandelion-like one, like the ones that they always set off during national day celebrations and countdowns... and i lit one!

the taiwan trip wrapped up the entire undergraduate chapter of our lives... and back to SG we went, to start our work in the labs for the one-year attachments... =P

post-graduation part 1

part one of my post-graduation...

a well-kept secret, but yes, i graduated twice! once from duke, and another from ucsd!! my darling 'made' me an honorary member of ucsd anyways, haha...

so lugging along many many (big) luggages, my family and me went wandering around niagara falls, toronto and nyc!

the majestic niagara falls...
ooh... i love this picture! timing was simply perfecto, to catch the boat beneath the pretty rainbow! (btw, niagara falls is a sure place to catch a long-lasting rainbow!)

staring at the falls all day long will make one sick of it, no matter how pretty it is, no? and anyone who plans to travel around there next time, why not check out these other cool activities around the area? =D

go-karting! let's go for some speed, baby!

horse-riding! a nice little 2 hr trek/trot session during the sunset time... especially for beginners, it's quite neat and my family sure enjoyed it!

of cos, going to nyc = the usual statue of liberty, empire state, times square etc. =)

the bright and pretty nyc night scenary...

and so.. my family went back home to singapore, while i continued on my travels! off to seattle to meet my fren, mz, for the weekend! had a great time with her "the boyfriend", and her fren from USC, Jacob and his brother Isaac... our wonderful hosts!

us at the pike street market! oink oink!
the lovely trio, our hosts... Jacob (left), Isaac (right) and their mum!

and finally... flew down to SD to pei my dearest darling till the end of his quarter... time for me to slack, help him with his work, be the cook, or just bumming ard!

cute little yummy muffins which i baked!

fm's mummy flew in... and we brought her around the beaches...

watching the sunsets...

picking strawberries! (the strawberries were really sweet, nothing compared to what we have here in the supermarkets... =( )

exploring miniland in legoland (in this pic is mini-vegas!)...

all in a sleek convertible! darling had not meant to get this car, but Enterprise ended up not having a regular economy car, and had to give him what they had for the same price- the convertible! haha... that was the bargain of the week!

and finally... congratulations to fong for graduating! this was a celebration which the lab threw for him. =)

after the biology honors reception ceremony... congrats to our graduate with distinction in mol bio!

outside sungod lawn taking commemorative pictures before the sixth college's commencement...
i love this pic! the three ucsd graduates and me, the pseudo-ucsd honorary member too! heh.

dearest auntie joined in the graduation fun too!
and so the graduation was done... and darling packed up all his stuff, and off we went to SF! also a perfect opportunity for fm's mum to travel around, see a little of US... =)

fm and his mum at the embarcadero, with the coit tower behind...
the golden gate bridge!

one of the most amazing pictures ever! the seagulls just came at the perfect moment!

amongst the hilly roads all around SF, lies the world's windiest road ever, the Lombard Street! they had even nicely decorated the roadside with a load-ful of flowers. and many drivers were getting the cheap thrill of going down this curvy road...

the walk down further from the piers to the fisherman's wharf... the crabs are a must-try! the steamed crab is really sweet... and we had delicious cioppino (seafood stew) at none other than the Cioppino's on the Wharf... recommended!

fm's mum left back home to sg in the morning, and we had half a day to spare in sf before our flight at 1am that night... perfect timing that dear Shannon was at berkeley doing her summer school then... and we had arranged to meet up after her classes for dinner! yay!
'tis was really a short friend-visiting stint, and on the way back from sf, we had a transit in hongkong, where my duke friend was home for the summer.. perfect timing to meet up for the afternoon too! thanks to karen for bringing us to the yummy 'yum cha' restaurant, and dessert!