The past 2 weeks have been kinda crazy. I'm just going to write briefly about what happened, with more detailed updates to come as and when i find the time to post photos up here. I still have to upload photos on facebook, and the backlog stretches to about 3 weeks back.
Ok so far, we've been to the White Mountains Range, which is actually in New Hampshire. I was the one driving this time round, and lets just say its not pleasant to drive for 7 hours in total in a car that accelerates like a toyota, handles like a nissan, and has an uncomfortable seating position. What about the Range then? its kinda pretty seeing the foilage, but i guess the girls were more excited than the guys. As Kox said "Pretty gets boring real quickly". At some point we almost wanted to abandon the girls for taking a photo with another tree with yellow leaves for the umpteenth time.
I've also been to Harvard, and specifically its law school. The architecture is really very pretty, which is a huge contrast with BU's brutalist style of architechture. The only complaint would be that the campus is so spread out, that it must be a bitch to walk to classes in winter.
We had a BU LLM gathering at some seafood place, where we all had lobsters. the lobsters were real good, and i developed a massive craving for clam "chowdah" after that. However, clam chowder is definitely something you wouldn't want to cook yourself. A mere glance at the receipe and you would be horrified as to the amount of fat that goes into it. As they always say, ignorance is bliss. And while we left the gathering bringing with us a sense of satisfaction, some of us brought home more stuff than others - specifically Kox brought home rashes in his mouth from having an allergy to lobsters, one which he didnt know he had until that day.
With Halloween approaching, we decided to head down to the town of Salem last weekend. For those who didn't already know, Salem is famous (or rather, infamous) for the witch trials of 1692, where 100 over people were accused of being witches and about 20 were later sentenced to hang. The whole town now gives off a commercialised spooky and campy vibe, and you need to buy into the campiness in order to enjoy yourself. The amazing thing about Salem is that lots of people will play dressup and nobody will give a 2nd glance at them, as if they had dressed like that their whole lives.
And of course, Halloween isnt complete with a halloween party, and the one organised by the SGA rocked! It was amazing how the Americans really put effort into making their costumes, and I heard of people spending hundreds of dollars buying them. I think its a waste of money, seeing how you wear them only once a year, but then i guess thats part of the American culture. Another weird thing about Boston clubbing is that the event ended at 2am, and when they say it ends at 2am, it doesnt mean the music goes off at 2am. it means that you have to get out of the club by 2am, and hence the music stopped at around 1.30am. Thats way too early and it didn't helped that most of us were just starting to get into the mood. But thats Boston for you.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
I have humorous professors at BU
The following was an email exchange between my professor and I:
Me: ... Can I meet with you on Wed afternoon, at around 2pm, to discuss my outline?...
My Professor: ... I left back to my country and it might take you two days to travel in order for us to meet. Skype?...
The country he was referring to was Israel. Funny dude, isn't he?
Me: ... Can I meet with you on Wed afternoon, at around 2pm, to discuss my outline?...
My Professor: ... I left back to my country and it might take you two days to travel in order for us to meet. Skype?...
The country he was referring to was Israel. Funny dude, isn't he?
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Skyping with "she-who-shalt-not-be-seen"
The whole point of skyping is to see the other party, and yet this person here defied logic in positioning her webcam like this:
At least her wall had something to look at.
And at least there was alot of red around, which is auspicious, or at least according to her.
And finally, at least i can claimed to have skyped with Obama, albeit a rather aunty-sounding Obama =)
At least her wall had something to look at.
And at least there was alot of red around, which is auspicious, or at least according to her.
And finally, at least i can claimed to have skyped with Obama, albeit a rather aunty-sounding Obama =)
Another advertisement
So, another jnr requested a mention on this blog. I've known her for 3 to 4 years already, and its funny how I think she never changed all these years =) she's still the same loud, funny, amusing and random girl now as she was 4 years ago.
And finally, good luck to your A Levels! (which makes me think that I'm damn old; my A Levels was 5 years ago!)
And finally, good luck to your A Levels! (which makes me think that I'm damn old; my A Levels was 5 years ago!)
The Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is simply the most majestic library I've seen so far. See the photos below and you will know why.
And back in Singapore, they tore down our iconic National Library to build a 100m tunnel =_=
And back in Singapore, they tore down our iconic National Library to build a 100m tunnel =_=
lawyers love apples because it takes much more than one to keep us away
the BU school of law organised an apple picking trip for the international students last week.
Basically, it was a chance for us to go out into the countryside, and look at the New England scenery. And "apple picking" was a bit of a misnomer, because i actually picked more pears than apples =)
And of course, there were horses and goats, and you can feed apples to them. The horses were practically slobbering over those apples, and the big white horse over there is a real bully, snatching up every loose apple that fell to the ground.
And lastly, this is a family outing, which means the older LLM students brought their wives and kids out =)
Basically, it was a chance for us to go out into the countryside, and look at the New England scenery. And "apple picking" was a bit of a misnomer, because i actually picked more pears than apples =)
And of course, there were horses and goats, and you can feed apples to them. The horses were practically slobbering over those apples, and the big white horse over there is a real bully, snatching up every loose apple that fell to the ground.
And lastly, this is a family outing, which means the older LLM students brought their wives and kids out =)
Take me out to the ball game (part 2)!
We were supposed to go to the Red Sox-Yankees game the following week, but it got rained out on Saturday and we were told the game was postponed to Sunday at 730pm.
We decided to visit our classmate's studio apt and her dog instead. The dog is very cute, but also very shy, and it absolutely hates the raincoat.
we went back to the game the following day. The picture above showed the view from our original seats, at USD$30 each;
Before our friends found seats in the section near the home base, which had a much much better view. Those seats cost USD$90 each!
The action. Pretty exciting game.
The crowd. pretty excited, bored at times, self-entertaining at times, and at times having no idea why the whole park booed. But we joined in the heckling anyway =)
The last pitch of the 10th inning, where tension mounted and everybody was anxious to see the Red Sox win..
And the Red Sox win! There were celebrations on the pitch although in truth, the Red Sox already clinched their playoff spot, while the Yankees were already out of the playoffs.
Random photos of Fenway Park.
And finally, i got right down to the baseline to take a photo =)
Road trip to the beach and Provincetown =)
Immediately following whale-watching Saturday, we decided to go on road trip Sunday, a Sunday which the news marked as the "last day of summer".
A photo of the mess inside our car. notice how the driver is posing for the camera AND driving at the same time =) (for the uninitiated, i'm referring to the one on the left; its left-hand drive over in USA)
And more often then not, road trips mean that 1 person is awake driving on the road, while the others are all sleeping in the car.
The first town we stop at is called "Sandwich". I'm sure the town people have heard countless times of outsiders asking them where they can get the best sandwich in Sandwich. Its a rather quaint little town, with pretty houses and stunning scenery.
Like every town or city, Sandwich also has its own memorials and signs proclaiming ordinances that prohibits certain forms of behavior. In Sandwich, it seems as if the most pressing issue is the abandonment of ducks and geese. They also had a memorial commemorating the American Declaration of Independence, and a little WWII memorial honoring 3 men from Sandwich who died in combat.
And Sandwich has its own imposing buildings, like the Town Hall above. Its a pity that we couldn't enter the Town Hall as it was closed on weekends. The only church in Sandwich was also rather imposing; check out the clocktower (though picasa stupidly cut it off while this photo collage was being created).
But then, the highlight of the trip was the visit to the beach!
On the beach-tram to the beach. I cant believe they charge us USD$10 to park our car at the beach!
Slowly approaching...
And then we finally see the endless sun, sand and the Atlantic Ocean! It seems like a glorious day, but the fact is that the water was %*$%& cold. Your feet will go numb within 1 min of standing in the water. I asked a local person how cold it was, and she said she thinks that its too cold to swim.
more photos of the beach..
And finally, a crazy group photo taken by everybody.
Interestingly, we met a couple of Singaporean NTU engineering students in the Men's changing room! They are here going to MIT on exchange. I ID them by the way they speak, which proves that you can take the Singaporean out of Singapore, but you cannot take the "Singapore" out of the Singaporean =)
Our last stop was to Provincetown, which was traditionally known as the town where gays and lesbians congregate. They are trying to change the reputation of Provincetown into one which is "family-friendly", though I dunno whether they are successful at that. As an aside, can anybody tell me what that flag there means? We joked that the flag is the flag of the "United States of the European Union", though of course that is not true.
We went to the first restaurant, only to find out that they ran out of food as its the last day of summer. The owner of the restaurant (the lady in the black cheongsum) and her friend were very entertaining. It turns out that both of them had been to Singapore many times, and the dude in black could even tell me Singapore's traffic control policy in the 1970s! The owner, on the other hand, had stories of Singapore revolving around the British and American Club, and the Marco Polo hotel.
Only 3 of us went in search of food as the others have already eaten. We went to this fantastic restaurant that served lobster. It was a damn big splurge for me, as the whole lobster meal cost USD$45 including tips and other stuff. But the lobster was worth it =)
We finally made our way to some very long rocky path that separated the ocean in that part into two. The view was stunning as the sun made its way down on this side of the world.
Wonderful, isnt it?
A photo of the mess inside our car. notice how the driver is posing for the camera AND driving at the same time =) (for the uninitiated, i'm referring to the one on the left; its left-hand drive over in USA)
And more often then not, road trips mean that 1 person is awake driving on the road, while the others are all sleeping in the car.
The first town we stop at is called "Sandwich". I'm sure the town people have heard countless times of outsiders asking them where they can get the best sandwich in Sandwich. Its a rather quaint little town, with pretty houses and stunning scenery.
Like every town or city, Sandwich also has its own memorials and signs proclaiming ordinances that prohibits certain forms of behavior. In Sandwich, it seems as if the most pressing issue is the abandonment of ducks and geese. They also had a memorial commemorating the American Declaration of Independence, and a little WWII memorial honoring 3 men from Sandwich who died in combat.
And Sandwich has its own imposing buildings, like the Town Hall above. Its a pity that we couldn't enter the Town Hall as it was closed on weekends. The only church in Sandwich was also rather imposing; check out the clocktower (though picasa stupidly cut it off while this photo collage was being created).
But then, the highlight of the trip was the visit to the beach!
On the beach-tram to the beach. I cant believe they charge us USD$10 to park our car at the beach!
Slowly approaching...
And then we finally see the endless sun, sand and the Atlantic Ocean! It seems like a glorious day, but the fact is that the water was %*$%& cold. Your feet will go numb within 1 min of standing in the water. I asked a local person how cold it was, and she said she thinks that its too cold to swim.
more photos of the beach..
And finally, a crazy group photo taken by everybody.
Interestingly, we met a couple of Singaporean NTU engineering students in the Men's changing room! They are here going to MIT on exchange. I ID them by the way they speak, which proves that you can take the Singaporean out of Singapore, but you cannot take the "Singapore" out of the Singaporean =)
Our last stop was to Provincetown, which was traditionally known as the town where gays and lesbians congregate. They are trying to change the reputation of Provincetown into one which is "family-friendly", though I dunno whether they are successful at that. As an aside, can anybody tell me what that flag there means? We joked that the flag is the flag of the "United States of the European Union", though of course that is not true.
We went to the first restaurant, only to find out that they ran out of food as its the last day of summer. The owner of the restaurant (the lady in the black cheongsum) and her friend were very entertaining. It turns out that both of them had been to Singapore many times, and the dude in black could even tell me Singapore's traffic control policy in the 1970s! The owner, on the other hand, had stories of Singapore revolving around the British and American Club, and the Marco Polo hotel.
Only 3 of us went in search of food as the others have already eaten. We went to this fantastic restaurant that served lobster. It was a damn big splurge for me, as the whole lobster meal cost USD$45 including tips and other stuff. But the lobster was worth it =)
We finally made our way to some very long rocky path that separated the ocean in that part into two. The view was stunning as the sun made its way down on this side of the world.
Wonderful, isnt it?
Whale watching!
On 1 fine day, we decided to head out to the sea north of Boston for some whale watching.
The top 2 pictures were the whales we saw! or rather, those were the pictures of the whales that were in the catamaran's cabin, in case we didnt see any whales that day. The bottom 2 pictures were that of the Boston skyline in the day =)
The weather was good, there were expectant faces eager to see some whales, it was very windy, and the view was fantastic. we actually went underneath the flight path to Logan International Airport, and were rewarded with the sight airplanes taking off and landing right above us.
But of course, the further out we went, the choppier it became. The sea was really rough after 1 hr plus of sailing, and there were only a few people who ventured out to the bow of the catamaran to take in the sun and the sea breeze.
After the long journey of approx. 2 hours, we finally were rewarded with some whale sightings. You cant tell from here, but the whales were simply majestic. Your jaws will drop at the sight of 3 or 4 of them swimming together, and diving and surfacing at the same time. We were lucky in that we spotted a total of 10 whales, but also unlucky in that they were all lazy at that time and didnt do a complete dive in or surfacing.
of course, other than the whales, I took a few other interesting photographs, I was fascinated at the way the sunlight shimmers off the water surface, and i was damn amused at this "mickey tao" logo on someone's bag.
And of course, it was time for more camwhoring on the way back to Boston =)
The top 2 pictures were the whales we saw! or rather, those were the pictures of the whales that were in the catamaran's cabin, in case we didnt see any whales that day. The bottom 2 pictures were that of the Boston skyline in the day =)
The weather was good, there were expectant faces eager to see some whales, it was very windy, and the view was fantastic. we actually went underneath the flight path to Logan International Airport, and were rewarded with the sight airplanes taking off and landing right above us.
But of course, the further out we went, the choppier it became. The sea was really rough after 1 hr plus of sailing, and there were only a few people who ventured out to the bow of the catamaran to take in the sun and the sea breeze.
After the long journey of approx. 2 hours, we finally were rewarded with some whale sightings. You cant tell from here, but the whales were simply majestic. Your jaws will drop at the sight of 3 or 4 of them swimming together, and diving and surfacing at the same time. We were lucky in that we spotted a total of 10 whales, but also unlucky in that they were all lazy at that time and didnt do a complete dive in or surfacing.
of course, other than the whales, I took a few other interesting photographs, I was fascinated at the way the sunlight shimmers off the water surface, and i was damn amused at this "mickey tao" logo on someone's bag.
And of course, it was time for more camwhoring on the way back to Boston =)
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Steak Dinner
we finally decided to put kox's cookbook to use.
Its kinda funny how we used a chinese wok to grill this, but then our only other option was to use a frying pan that was supposedly non-stick, but then had all those black bumps all over that look like they would give us cancer in 10 years time.
The cooking process. Kox learnt that you should not let the bloody interior fool you into grilling it for a longer time. The mushrooms were fantastic =)
And our end result. we should improvise and add a few more sides, if only to make the presentation look better =)
Its kinda funny how we used a chinese wok to grill this, but then our only other option was to use a frying pan that was supposedly non-stick, but then had all those black bumps all over that look like they would give us cancer in 10 years time.
The cooking process. Kox learnt that you should not let the bloody interior fool you into grilling it for a longer time. The mushrooms were fantastic =)
And our end result. we should improvise and add a few more sides, if only to make the presentation look better =)
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