Today's CHEM 3310 lecture was rather humorous. Adam showed us complex organic structures which actually resembled people dancing and holding hands! That tickled everyone in the lecture hall greatly. The benzene rings were analogous to a face, and the long alkyl chains or whatsoever resembled hands and legs. Basically, we went through an exercise on multi step synthesis. I got back my chem assignment too and I am really satisfied with the marks I got :)
Had a rather productive time in the library after that, for I printed many pages of information from the set CHEM 3310 organic textbook. But had a fright when I saw a worm resting on mi school bag. Luckily, I managed to use a plastic bag to pull that obnoxious creepy crawlie off and throw it into the dustbin. Now I better be wary when I walk under trees, you never know what could drop from above! At 11.30 am, I went to meet Kris at the Auchmuty Information Centre (AIC), and together we proceeded to the carpark to meet one of our coursemates, Kim, who was going to drive us to the wastewater treatment plant at Edgeworth. The journey was about 20 minutes.
Almost of all the students reached before the stipulated time at 12:20. A lot of them gave their friends lifts and drove there. However, there was a guy who took a 25 minute bike journey instead. The plant tour started promptly. First, all of us were taken to an air-conditioned control room where the guide showed us the entire layout of how the entire treatment plant operates on the computer. Many of the my coursemates were taking down notes,unlike me. The various parts of the treatment plant are located outdoors, and we all had to bear with the bright rays from the blazing sun overhead. The place where they accumulate sludge for treatment gave off a really putrid smell. So it might not be a bad thing that we need to go outdoors in order for the guide to explain how the various parts of the plant operate.
In the clarifying pond, I saw many ducks swimming on the water. I must say they look kind of adorable when they ruffle up their feathers and dip their heads into the pond. In the midst of the tour, I got to know 4 girls in my course. They are Ding, who is a tall Negro girl holding an Australian citizenship, Lisa, Jade, and Rachel. Rachel is doing a double degree in Chemical Engineering and Business. Jade is on a scholarship and lives in Jesmond, which means that Woolsworths is just a stone's throw away from her house. It was rather hard to distinguish between Jade and Lisa initially, for both of them have light blond hair. I am glad that I finally can say hi to someone when I step into the classrooms, instead of being a lone ranger in lessons and not knowing anyone else either than Kris.
The plant tour ended at 1.20pm. Overall, I found the trip quite informative although it was rather short. Shall keep the relevant handout which Geoff gave for remembrance. John, a Brazillian guy of Chinese ( Haerbin and Canton ) descent, offered to give me a trip back to UoN, and I gladly obliged. I also got to know 2 of his other "passengers'', one is a Malaysian guy and the other is a Caucasian guy. John dropped me off at the bus stop in front of the Maths building, and I walked home from there after bidding everyone in the car goodbye. Seems that I have got to know several of my CHEE 2931 classmates within a time span of less than 2 hours :)
Today's afternoon was warmer than usual at 29 degrees celcius. So, I made use of today's sunny weather to wash my bedsheets and Bowie's blankets. In fact, I did quite a lot of novel things today. Such making red bean soup and french toast. For a first attempt, the standard was still acceptable, but I believe that there is still room for improvement. Next time, I should pour in more water while boiling red bean soup and apply more heat to the frying pan when making french toasts, so that the egg will be crispy and more solid, unlike half boiled eggs.
Stir fried vegetables with the Malaysian satay sauce is delicious! For once, I am taking a food risk by keeping mushrooms past their expiry date. Hope to finish them within the next 2 days. And I hope that tomorrow's afternoon will be less warm than today.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Cooking session and Bingo
I was late for CHEM 3210 lecture today, and forgot to bring my notes, thinking that it was Geoff's turn to lecture from this week onwards. So, I used the lecture time to do some of my CHEM 3310 lab write-ups. I realised that I was the only female in the CHEM 3210 lecture. Felt a little odd, for back in NTU CBC lectures, females form the vast majority. In CHEM 3310, Catherine,Kelly and I are the only 3 girls among the 17 students. So Adam would be able to recognize us instantly in the lecture hall and lab sessions. Adam is really friendly, and can even make small chats to us students. He has 2 daughters, and he hopes to divert them away from the chemical and teaching industry. Such a surprise huh?
CHEM 3310's lab session seemed quite disastrous. I lost quite a lot of my yield for the synthesis of an alkene acid because I poured my organic layer into a separating funnel, without realising that its tap was still open. I stirred my dichloromethane organic layer with a green plastic spoon, and the spoon decolorised, turning my organic layer which contained my yield green. I got really upset, but Catherine kindly accompanied me to find Adam, to ask him if I had to redo the experiment. Luckily, Adam said that it was okay, just that my product will have the greenish hue. Sigh, why do I always have major screw ups during my lab sessions? How to be a competent scientist like that? Really hope things get better in the near future.
Made a new friend from CHEM 3310 lab called Michael today. Together with him,Kelly and Catherine,we went to the GT bar at the Shortland Building to participate in the Bingo session every Tuesday. There was quite a lot people in the bar and there were several pool tables too. There was a big screen that played MTV music videos plus a stage for live performances. I bought an Eagle Boys' chicken pizza, for I have not had my lunch yet. The price is reasonable for a full small pizza. Michael passed us 2 Bingo game sheets each. The bingo rules are standard, but I am not sure about all their rules. Shall "wiki'' it or ask my friends. Those who falsely claimed they won the game will be "boo-ed'' by the people in the bar. For those who won, they have several tries on throwing darts accurately onto a board. If they hit the target a certain number of times, they would be given coupons that can be exchanged for freebies. This event really proved to be an eye opener for me, for I never played Bingo before.
Went to Auchmuty library next, where we attempted to find library resources for our CHEM 3310 lab assignment. Unfortunately, the books were inaccessible to us at the moment. Michael kindly volunteered to help us find the books which will give us information of how to synthesize the products that were assigned to us. It was great chatting with my friends, for I got to find out more refreshing facts about Australians. They call their girlfriends "chicky'' and they greet each other by saying "Good day'' or "Good day mate''. Mate is a term used to call the guys in a casual manner. Getting to know their culture is more interesting than I thought. Hope to learn of their culture when I continue to interact with my friends!
Did a little bit of writing for my lab report before going to Aili's house for a joint cooking session. She stir fried vegetables with garlic and mushrooms, while I boiled the macoroni and scrambled eggs with mushrooms. The dinner was simple, but at least both of us liked the dishes. Aili is really easy going and not picky about the aesthetic appearance and exotic tastes of food. But I made a silly blunder, I mistook the ready-to-eat macoroni for macoroni sauce. In the end, I had to eat plain macoroni but I found the taste acceptable nevertheless. Aili's house seems bigger and more beautiful than my plain house in Faulkner Crescent. She buys her own seasonings and butter, while I share with my room mates. But I believe wastage will be minimized if we share, because we do not need heaps of seasoning in our food.
Tomorrow is a more relaxing day, for school ends at 2pm and there is no lab session. However, I would have to read my assigned articles for management and CHEM 3210 lab manual. Wouldn't life be much better without academic stresses and woes?
Another 3 things I learnt about Australia today. It is illegal for more than 3 people to sit at the back of a car, because there will not be enough seatbelts for everyone to use. As long as you have a driving licence, you are qualified to teach others how to drive, without having to be a registered driving instructor. The age for adulthood is 18 years old, not 21 years old.
CHEM 3310's lab session seemed quite disastrous. I lost quite a lot of my yield for the synthesis of an alkene acid because I poured my organic layer into a separating funnel, without realising that its tap was still open. I stirred my dichloromethane organic layer with a green plastic spoon, and the spoon decolorised, turning my organic layer which contained my yield green. I got really upset, but Catherine kindly accompanied me to find Adam, to ask him if I had to redo the experiment. Luckily, Adam said that it was okay, just that my product will have the greenish hue. Sigh, why do I always have major screw ups during my lab sessions? How to be a competent scientist like that? Really hope things get better in the near future.
Made a new friend from CHEM 3310 lab called Michael today. Together with him,Kelly and Catherine,we went to the GT bar at the Shortland Building to participate in the Bingo session every Tuesday. There was quite a lot people in the bar and there were several pool tables too. There was a big screen that played MTV music videos plus a stage for live performances. I bought an Eagle Boys' chicken pizza, for I have not had my lunch yet. The price is reasonable for a full small pizza. Michael passed us 2 Bingo game sheets each. The bingo rules are standard, but I am not sure about all their rules. Shall "wiki'' it or ask my friends. Those who falsely claimed they won the game will be "boo-ed'' by the people in the bar. For those who won, they have several tries on throwing darts accurately onto a board. If they hit the target a certain number of times, they would be given coupons that can be exchanged for freebies. This event really proved to be an eye opener for me, for I never played Bingo before.
Went to Auchmuty library next, where we attempted to find library resources for our CHEM 3310 lab assignment. Unfortunately, the books were inaccessible to us at the moment. Michael kindly volunteered to help us find the books which will give us information of how to synthesize the products that were assigned to us. It was great chatting with my friends, for I got to find out more refreshing facts about Australians. They call their girlfriends "chicky'' and they greet each other by saying "Good day'' or "Good day mate''. Mate is a term used to call the guys in a casual manner. Getting to know their culture is more interesting than I thought. Hope to learn of their culture when I continue to interact with my friends!
Did a little bit of writing for my lab report before going to Aili's house for a joint cooking session. She stir fried vegetables with garlic and mushrooms, while I boiled the macoroni and scrambled eggs with mushrooms. The dinner was simple, but at least both of us liked the dishes. Aili is really easy going and not picky about the aesthetic appearance and exotic tastes of food. But I made a silly blunder, I mistook the ready-to-eat macoroni for macoroni sauce. In the end, I had to eat plain macoroni but I found the taste acceptable nevertheless. Aili's house seems bigger and more beautiful than my plain house in Faulkner Crescent. She buys her own seasonings and butter, while I share with my room mates. But I believe wastage will be minimized if we share, because we do not need heaps of seasoning in our food.
Tomorrow is a more relaxing day, for school ends at 2pm and there is no lab session. However, I would have to read my assigned articles for management and CHEM 3210 lab manual. Wouldn't life be much better without academic stresses and woes?
Another 3 things I learnt about Australia today. It is illegal for more than 3 people to sit at the back of a car, because there will not be enough seatbelts for everyone to use. As long as you have a driving licence, you are qualified to teach others how to drive, without having to be a registered driving instructor. The age for adulthood is 18 years old, not 21 years old.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Chatting session with Aili
Adam released us from CHEM 3310 lecture close to 1 hour before the actual time. That made us jubilant, I was no exception. Immediately, I headed down the Auchmuty library to print my notes and surf the web. Met Eric, who gave me a friendly wave. When I arrived at the library, there was not a single vacant computer seat. Had to pass time by writing out 1 of my lab reports before I finally managed to get a seat.
Lunch was a long sandwich from the Student Lounge, it is costly for the price is $8. This is probably one of the rare times I am willing to splurge on a sandwich that does not taste exceptionally fantastic. Only managed to finish half of it, for the portion was too huge. Intend to keep the rest for breakfast tomorrow. After lunch, I proceeded to hand up my IRHR 1001 assignment at the student hub which was located on the 3rd floor of Shortland Building. The student hub was mainly painted in red hues, and there were abundant computers in it. One of the student helpers stamped my assignment, indicating that I have handed it up this day before I put it into a deposit bin. What an unusual way of submitting assignments!
Today's green engineering lecture was on Water dispersion. As usual, the lecture notes were filled with a lot of mathematical formulae, such as differentiation and integration. But I would need to study them in future in order to complete my assignment. Will be going to Edgeworth Wastewater treatment plant on Wednesday and Kris's friend had very kindly offered to fetch me there from school. :) I have another piece of cheery news to announce: I scored full marks for my Material Balances quiz. It was totally unexpected for I was not sure of my workings for the last question that was worth 40marks.
At around 6pm, I went to Aili's house at Canara Place for a visit cum chit chatting session. There is a man-made satellite outside her house, for one of her housemates study IT at UoN. The wallpapers in her house have flower and leaf motifs that are quite pretty. Our rooms are about the same size. There are 3 PRC students living together with Aili. According to her, they are postgraduate students and are very amicable. Two of us chatted about almost everything under the sun, ranging from studies to relationships. Spent almost a couple of hours there. The sky was almost completely dark when I left her place.
Prepared dinner when I reached home. Finished the rest of my stir fry vegetables and marinated my chicken with the Malaysian satay sauce. The Malaysian satay sauce definitely tastes better than the lemon sauce. Aili invited me for her house for dinner tomorrow. But plans are not confirmed yet. Shall wait for her sms tomorrow. On a not so chirpy note, my housemates and I have already used up 35% of the allowed bandwidth for this month although it was renewed on 4th March. According to Hongjun, streaming and using Skype significantly "eats'' up the bandwidth. Guess I have no choice but to regulate my streaming and frequencies of using web camera and Skype.
Okay, I am done for the day. Shall do more updating tomorrow. On a very last random note, I may be going to Sydney during the Easter holidays. =D
Lunch was a long sandwich from the Student Lounge, it is costly for the price is $8. This is probably one of the rare times I am willing to splurge on a sandwich that does not taste exceptionally fantastic. Only managed to finish half of it, for the portion was too huge. Intend to keep the rest for breakfast tomorrow. After lunch, I proceeded to hand up my IRHR 1001 assignment at the student hub which was located on the 3rd floor of Shortland Building. The student hub was mainly painted in red hues, and there were abundant computers in it. One of the student helpers stamped my assignment, indicating that I have handed it up this day before I put it into a deposit bin. What an unusual way of submitting assignments!
Today's green engineering lecture was on Water dispersion. As usual, the lecture notes were filled with a lot of mathematical formulae, such as differentiation and integration. But I would need to study them in future in order to complete my assignment. Will be going to Edgeworth Wastewater treatment plant on Wednesday and Kris's friend had very kindly offered to fetch me there from school. :) I have another piece of cheery news to announce: I scored full marks for my Material Balances quiz. It was totally unexpected for I was not sure of my workings for the last question that was worth 40marks.
At around 6pm, I went to Aili's house at Canara Place for a visit cum chit chatting session. There is a man-made satellite outside her house, for one of her housemates study IT at UoN. The wallpapers in her house have flower and leaf motifs that are quite pretty. Our rooms are about the same size. There are 3 PRC students living together with Aili. According to her, they are postgraduate students and are very amicable. Two of us chatted about almost everything under the sun, ranging from studies to relationships. Spent almost a couple of hours there. The sky was almost completely dark when I left her place.
Prepared dinner when I reached home. Finished the rest of my stir fry vegetables and marinated my chicken with the Malaysian satay sauce. The Malaysian satay sauce definitely tastes better than the lemon sauce. Aili invited me for her house for dinner tomorrow. But plans are not confirmed yet. Shall wait for her sms tomorrow. On a not so chirpy note, my housemates and I have already used up 35% of the allowed bandwidth for this month although it was renewed on 4th March. According to Hongjun, streaming and using Skype significantly "eats'' up the bandwidth. Guess I have no choice but to regulate my streaming and frequencies of using web camera and Skype.
Okay, I am done for the day. Shall do more updating tomorrow. On a very last random note, I may be going to Sydney during the Easter holidays. =D
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Cheese Naan
Did a final checking of my IRHR 1001 assignment before submitting it to Turnitin. Because I suspected that I had some errors in referencing, and true enough, I did have some indeed. Read my management chapter that almost bored me to tears. I hope I can remember enough information to participate adequately in the discussion during Thursday's tutorial.
Intended to have soup noodles for lunch, but had to end up stir frying my noodles because the deep saucepans were all occupied by my housemates. The ingredients I used were the frozen fishballs, fishcakes and the usual dose of Pan Asian stir fry vegetables. The overall noodle dish turned out to be fairly all right, because it was a bit salty due to adding too much soya sauce. It seems that there is always a lesson to take away from each cooking attempt. Dessert was my all time favourite ice-cream flavour: vanilla. Chatted with Alan for a while before going back to our own rooms. Alan is only 18 years old, but he is really helpful and friendly, a stark contrast to my initial impression of him which was shy and quiet.
At around 5pm, the Aarons arrived and decided us to bring us out for an early dinner at an Indian cafe which was approximately a 20 minutes car journey away. On the roads, we witnessed a most peculiar scene. There was a group of people, spanning a wide range of ages, cycling with little or no clothes on. In order make their nudity less obvious, they sprayed their bodies with paint. According to Hongjun, he had seen a poster in UoN which advertised about this activity. I arrived at a conclusion thus, the Australians are really open about full-fledged nudity in the public. In Singapore, these people would already have been arrested for the outrage of modesty, especially towards the female passerbys.
We went to dine at Darby Raj, an Indian cafe. To Aarons, it was their breakfast for they only woke up at 2pm. I ordered a cheese naan, which was rather huge. Huifang ordered a prata wrap which was packed with ingredients while the boys ordered mixed rice. The naan's taste was all right, although I was hoping that it would be bursting with cheese flavour instead. I absolutely adore cheese. The Indian cafe is quite small, but the range of food was broad, like Muthu's Curry in Singapore. If Aaron has not brought us here, I would never have guessed that Australia does sell Indian food.
After the filling meal, we set out to Woolsworth. I purchased 2 packets of sauces for my macoroni, frozen stir fried vegetables and a file to put my management notes. I will try to buy frozen stir fried vegetables as an alternative for fresh ones because they can be kept for a longer period of time, provided that I do not refreeze and rethaw them. Huifang offered me a bowl of the green bean soup that she boiled earlier today, it was sweet enough for my liking but there the ratio of green beans to the soup was so large. I had to squeeze the beans with my spoon to get the liquid. I have this bizzare habit of drinking the soup and discarding the beans for this kind of soups.
Some random notes about school. They use the terms alkanals and alkanones instead of aldehydes and ketones respectively. There are only 17 students enrolled in CHEM 3310 and I am the only Asian, let alone Singaporean. That will be make me very distinct in the crowd. UoN is organizing a chain of events for racial harmony from 10th -15th March, reminds me of racial harmony day back in Singapore on 21st July. I see Malays in tudongs around school too. Seems that UoN student culture is almost as diverse as NTU's now.
Okay, it is getting late. Should really turn in now before dark eyebags come to haunt me. Goodnight!
Intended to have soup noodles for lunch, but had to end up stir frying my noodles because the deep saucepans were all occupied by my housemates. The ingredients I used were the frozen fishballs, fishcakes and the usual dose of Pan Asian stir fry vegetables. The overall noodle dish turned out to be fairly all right, because it was a bit salty due to adding too much soya sauce. It seems that there is always a lesson to take away from each cooking attempt. Dessert was my all time favourite ice-cream flavour: vanilla. Chatted with Alan for a while before going back to our own rooms. Alan is only 18 years old, but he is really helpful and friendly, a stark contrast to my initial impression of him which was shy and quiet.
At around 5pm, the Aarons arrived and decided us to bring us out for an early dinner at an Indian cafe which was approximately a 20 minutes car journey away. On the roads, we witnessed a most peculiar scene. There was a group of people, spanning a wide range of ages, cycling with little or no clothes on. In order make their nudity less obvious, they sprayed their bodies with paint. According to Hongjun, he had seen a poster in UoN which advertised about this activity. I arrived at a conclusion thus, the Australians are really open about full-fledged nudity in the public. In Singapore, these people would already have been arrested for the outrage of modesty, especially towards the female passerbys.
We went to dine at Darby Raj, an Indian cafe. To Aarons, it was their breakfast for they only woke up at 2pm. I ordered a cheese naan, which was rather huge. Huifang ordered a prata wrap which was packed with ingredients while the boys ordered mixed rice. The naan's taste was all right, although I was hoping that it would be bursting with cheese flavour instead. I absolutely adore cheese. The Indian cafe is quite small, but the range of food was broad, like Muthu's Curry in Singapore. If Aaron has not brought us here, I would never have guessed that Australia does sell Indian food.
After the filling meal, we set out to Woolsworth. I purchased 2 packets of sauces for my macoroni, frozen stir fried vegetables and a file to put my management notes. I will try to buy frozen stir fried vegetables as an alternative for fresh ones because they can be kept for a longer period of time, provided that I do not refreeze and rethaw them. Huifang offered me a bowl of the green bean soup that she boiled earlier today, it was sweet enough for my liking but there the ratio of green beans to the soup was so large. I had to squeeze the beans with my spoon to get the liquid. I have this bizzare habit of drinking the soup and discarding the beans for this kind of soups.
Some random notes about school. They use the terms alkanals and alkanones instead of aldehydes and ketones respectively. There are only 17 students enrolled in CHEM 3310 and I am the only Asian, let alone Singaporean. That will be make me very distinct in the crowd. UoN is organizing a chain of events for racial harmony from 10th -15th March, reminds me of racial harmony day back in Singapore on 21st July. I see Malays in tudongs around school too. Seems that UoN student culture is almost as diverse as NTU's now.
Okay, it is getting late. Should really turn in now before dark eyebags come to haunt me. Goodnight!
10 000 BC
Yes! Mission accomplished. I have finally completed my IRHR 1001 essay, though I did not put in my best efforts. Hope to get at least 50% for it, nevertheless. And the extent of the similarity for the essay is 20%. Hope this percentage is acceptable so that I would not be accused of plagiarism. Secondly, I have also completed my CHEM 3310 assignment. Shall start reading my management textbook chapter and do some analysis for CHEM 3210 lab report tomorrow.
Attempted to stir fry udon again, this time by adding some fish fillet. The dish turned out to be better than the previous time, although the fish was a little tasteless. Must add more oyster sauce and water next round, for the udon is almost completely dry, despite adding more water to it. And I want to try other sauces to season my chicken wings, lemon sauce doesn't exactly fit my tastebuds. Anyway, Huifang helped me buy tissue papers from Jesmond today, because I was busy with my essay since this afternoon.
Had a very quick dinner of mushroom omelette before proceeding to Granville to catch a move entitled : 10 000 BC, which is set in prehistoric times when the now extinct species such as the sabre tooth and woolly mammoth can be found. I must say that the computer effects are marvellous, for the sabre tooth and the woolly mammoths look so real. The lead actress is really pretty with her sky blue doe-like eyes. The movie was rather hard to comprehend due to the lack of English subtitles. Nevertheless, I felt that it was better than Meet the Spartans and Rambo. There was a reasonable plot in the movie and it was barely bloody and gory. Bought 2 packets of chips from the cinema too. I wanted to pay for them but Aaron insisted that I need not do so. Like Weiming, he is also very gentlemanly.
I finished one whole pack of chicken twistees during the movie and that left me with a very dry throat. Just hope that the large amount that I have just taken it will buffer me against a sore throat. Now I am chatting with my friends who are in Singapore with a happy mood, for I have cleared 2 major burdens off my mind.
On a random note, the combination of cornflakes, dried fruits and milk tastes yummy. On top of that, it makes an ideal,healthy breakfast too!
Attempted to stir fry udon again, this time by adding some fish fillet. The dish turned out to be better than the previous time, although the fish was a little tasteless. Must add more oyster sauce and water next round, for the udon is almost completely dry, despite adding more water to it. And I want to try other sauces to season my chicken wings, lemon sauce doesn't exactly fit my tastebuds. Anyway, Huifang helped me buy tissue papers from Jesmond today, because I was busy with my essay since this afternoon.
Had a very quick dinner of mushroom omelette before proceeding to Granville to catch a move entitled : 10 000 BC, which is set in prehistoric times when the now extinct species such as the sabre tooth and woolly mammoth can be found. I must say that the computer effects are marvellous, for the sabre tooth and the woolly mammoths look so real. The lead actress is really pretty with her sky blue doe-like eyes. The movie was rather hard to comprehend due to the lack of English subtitles. Nevertheless, I felt that it was better than Meet the Spartans and Rambo. There was a reasonable plot in the movie and it was barely bloody and gory. Bought 2 packets of chips from the cinema too. I wanted to pay for them but Aaron insisted that I need not do so. Like Weiming, he is also very gentlemanly.
I finished one whole pack of chicken twistees during the movie and that left me with a very dry throat. Just hope that the large amount that I have just taken it will buffer me against a sore throat. Now I am chatting with my friends who are in Singapore with a happy mood, for I have cleared 2 major burdens off my mind.
On a random note, the combination of cornflakes, dried fruits and milk tastes yummy. On top of that, it makes an ideal,healthy breakfast too!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Gathering at Barahineban Hall
From the time I woke up until evening yesterday, I was struggling to write my IRHR 1001 essay. At this point of time, I am proud to say that I have written 831 words,including references. At least I am more than halfway through my essay, compared to just a few days before, when I had not even typed a single word. Having to reference both in-text and at the end is really troublesome. Thankfully, the next essay would not be due until 28th April. The next round, I shall start researching and planning for the essay earlier, so as to accumulate better ideas.
After preparing lunch, I came to the conclusion that chicken drum sticks contain a lot of fat, because the skin is not being trimmed off. There was a layer of fat on top of the lemon sauce which I had used to marinate the drum sticks. And I do not know how to trim the fat off a chicken as well. From now on, I resolve to buy chicken wings or chicken breasts, where the visible fats are already removed.
At around 9pm, the party of 4 and I adjourned to Barahineban, one of UoN's hostels for a gathering organized by the Nutrition and Dietetics students. Barahineban, according to Hongjun, is the most beautiful hostel among the rest, because of the scenic view when you look from the outside and spacious and clean rooms. There was quite a lot of food prepared at the gathering, such as mee goreng, pasta, pork sausages, salad, potato salad with celery and potato chips. I did not take very much for the fear of putting on weight quickly.
Out of the blue through our dinner, the lights went off. Initially, I thought it was a blackout. But actually, it was planned to give a birthday boy and girl a suprise. The candles on the cake were very special because they were in a shape of a star. I had a slice of the cake, which was made up of white chocolate, cheese and cream. The cake was very sweet, but loaded with calories. My guilty pleasure,huh? The rest of the night was spent listening to the conversations between my friends and Hongjun coming up with jokes to crack us up. At around 12 midnight, we left the place.
During the conversations, there were frequent lightning flashes across the sky. The lightning flashes were so bright that they illuminated the sky to a greyish white hue, which made the night sky almost as light as a day. I had a premonition that a thunderstorm would be approaching, and true enough, it started to drizzle, and the drizzle eventually morphed into a thunderstorm as it got deeper into the night. As a result, we were lost on the roads for almost 2 hours, for the poor visibility hindered Aaron from looking at the road signs clearly. Thunder clapped and the lightning flashed incessantly the whole time. I never saw such bright lightning flashes in my life. Learnt from Hongjun that there is a hailstorm in Newcastle annually, in which rocks of ice that can inflict injuries and damages on people and property respectively fall from the sky. Hope it does not happen during my stay here!
After a seemingly endless drive in a maze, we ended up at Tomago Street, which is near Nelson Bay and about an hour's drive from Faulkner Crescent. But thankfully, a miracle happened. We managed to drive to a short cut road which led us to Birmingham Gardens. From there, we heaved a sigh of relief upon knowing that our house is not far away. Within 10 minutes after reaching there, it was finally home sweet home. Aaron had done us a great favour, for I know it must be very exhausting to be driving in the rain for such a long time, in addition to the stress experienced due to losing the way.
The adventure was not exactly over yet. The thunderstorm had caused the electricity to be cut off and the entire house was thrown into complete darkness. Thankfully, I had my torchlight which gave out quite a powerful beam with me. Otherwise, I would not be able to go get cleaned up at the toilet. Amusingly, I saw 4 of my housemates playing Daidee by the candlelight, for they could have gone to sleep instead. At around 2+ am, I dozed off. But I was awaken by the sudden light in my room, which was a good sign, for it meant that the electricity supply has been restored in our house!
The sky is clear and the sun is shining brightly now, together with the chirping of birds and buzzing of those blood sucking parasites- the mosquitos outside. Aim to finish my essay and CHEM 3310 assignment by today. Wish me luck!
After preparing lunch, I came to the conclusion that chicken drum sticks contain a lot of fat, because the skin is not being trimmed off. There was a layer of fat on top of the lemon sauce which I had used to marinate the drum sticks. And I do not know how to trim the fat off a chicken as well. From now on, I resolve to buy chicken wings or chicken breasts, where the visible fats are already removed.
At around 9pm, the party of 4 and I adjourned to Barahineban, one of UoN's hostels for a gathering organized by the Nutrition and Dietetics students. Barahineban, according to Hongjun, is the most beautiful hostel among the rest, because of the scenic view when you look from the outside and spacious and clean rooms. There was quite a lot of food prepared at the gathering, such as mee goreng, pasta, pork sausages, salad, potato salad with celery and potato chips. I did not take very much for the fear of putting on weight quickly.
Out of the blue through our dinner, the lights went off. Initially, I thought it was a blackout. But actually, it was planned to give a birthday boy and girl a suprise. The candles on the cake were very special because they were in a shape of a star. I had a slice of the cake, which was made up of white chocolate, cheese and cream. The cake was very sweet, but loaded with calories. My guilty pleasure,huh? The rest of the night was spent listening to the conversations between my friends and Hongjun coming up with jokes to crack us up. At around 12 midnight, we left the place.
During the conversations, there were frequent lightning flashes across the sky. The lightning flashes were so bright that they illuminated the sky to a greyish white hue, which made the night sky almost as light as a day. I had a premonition that a thunderstorm would be approaching, and true enough, it started to drizzle, and the drizzle eventually morphed into a thunderstorm as it got deeper into the night. As a result, we were lost on the roads for almost 2 hours, for the poor visibility hindered Aaron from looking at the road signs clearly. Thunder clapped and the lightning flashed incessantly the whole time. I never saw such bright lightning flashes in my life. Learnt from Hongjun that there is a hailstorm in Newcastle annually, in which rocks of ice that can inflict injuries and damages on people and property respectively fall from the sky. Hope it does not happen during my stay here!
After a seemingly endless drive in a maze, we ended up at Tomago Street, which is near Nelson Bay and about an hour's drive from Faulkner Crescent. But thankfully, a miracle happened. We managed to drive to a short cut road which led us to Birmingham Gardens. From there, we heaved a sigh of relief upon knowing that our house is not far away. Within 10 minutes after reaching there, it was finally home sweet home. Aaron had done us a great favour, for I know it must be very exhausting to be driving in the rain for such a long time, in addition to the stress experienced due to losing the way.
The adventure was not exactly over yet. The thunderstorm had caused the electricity to be cut off and the entire house was thrown into complete darkness. Thankfully, I had my torchlight which gave out quite a powerful beam with me. Otherwise, I would not be able to go get cleaned up at the toilet. Amusingly, I saw 4 of my housemates playing Daidee by the candlelight, for they could have gone to sleep instead. At around 2+ am, I dozed off. But I was awaken by the sudden light in my room, which was a good sign, for it meant that the electricity supply has been restored in our house!
The sky is clear and the sun is shining brightly now, together with the chirping of birds and buzzing of those blood sucking parasites- the mosquitos outside. Aim to finish my essay and CHEM 3310 assignment by today. Wish me luck!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Last day of the week
Woke up at 10+ am this morning, for my IRHR 1001 tutorial session only starts at 11am. Had garlic bread and fruit juice for breakfast. I burnt the 3 slices of garlic bread on my maiden try of warming it up after taking them out from the fridge. The temperature was too high and the bread turned dark brown and gave off a pungent burnt smell. After setting the oven to medium low the 2nd time around, the garlic bread was done just nice :) Indeed,trial and error is an unavoidable process in food preparation.
The grading for participation in IRHR 100 tutorials will only start next week. Felt really relieved when Tony broke the news to us. Today, we basically went through a worksheet on recognizing plagiarism. I need not emphasize time and again how stringent UoN is over plagiarism policies. Just hope that I acknowledge the information I get from the academic journals and textbooks correctly when I write my essay.
CHEM 3210 lab session was less stressful than the previous one, thankfully. Because for today's part of the experiment, we did it in groups of 4. But I still made some mistakes, such as forgetting which product I synthesized last week, and as result, the calculation of the mass of the product to make up a solution was wrong. Secondly, I overshot the meniscus mark of the volumetric flask while diluting one of the solutions. I must not make anymore of such mistakes, because it might affect the result of the whole experiment. Overall, the experiment was relatively successful, as the UV-vis spectra for our organometallic compounds were quite close to literature. However, I nearly choked on the pungent ammonia that one of my group mates, Heath poured down the sink, instead of the waste bottle in the fume cupboard!
I got to know some interesting facts about 2 of my group mates today. Renee is a 32 year old woman of a 11 year old girl. That means that she was only 21 years old when she had her daughter, amazing! No wonder she demonstrates a high level of maturity and efficiency when she does her parts for the experiment. She is a part time student who is doing a double degree in Chemistry and Education. All along, I thought that Renee is only in her twenties. Paul looks like someone in his forties, though I am not sure of his age. I still remembered how he consoled me last week by patting on my shoulder. That gesture was really caring!
Stomach cramps came to visit me after lab session had ended. It had quite a bad effect on me due to a couple factors, which were the hot blazing afternoon sun and hunger. As a result, I felt faint in addition to my stomach hurting badly. But I am not completely luckless as well, because Weiming responded to my phonecalls and drove me back home without any complaints. Thanks a million, buddy! Hopefully I can repay your kindness one day!
Had not much appetite, so I just finished a packet of pizza biscuits which I had purchased on Monday. Spent some time reading my management notes before cooking dinner. The standard of my cooking seemed to have deproved this time around, the udon was too dry and the lemon sauce for the chicken was a little burnt. I guess my mood to cook was influenced by my less than tip top physical health condition today. Nevertheless, I hope I get better tomorrow after a good night's rest. No school tomorrow! Cheers!
Wilson helped me cut my watermelon today, that was indeed a very thoughtful act. I did not even ask for help, for he volunteered to assist me. Really lucky to have such nice and helpful people around me. :) They make the sun appear during a cloudy day ( not literally of course).
The grading for participation in IRHR 100 tutorials will only start next week. Felt really relieved when Tony broke the news to us. Today, we basically went through a worksheet on recognizing plagiarism. I need not emphasize time and again how stringent UoN is over plagiarism policies. Just hope that I acknowledge the information I get from the academic journals and textbooks correctly when I write my essay.
CHEM 3210 lab session was less stressful than the previous one, thankfully. Because for today's part of the experiment, we did it in groups of 4. But I still made some mistakes, such as forgetting which product I synthesized last week, and as result, the calculation of the mass of the product to make up a solution was wrong. Secondly, I overshot the meniscus mark of the volumetric flask while diluting one of the solutions. I must not make anymore of such mistakes, because it might affect the result of the whole experiment. Overall, the experiment was relatively successful, as the UV-vis spectra for our organometallic compounds were quite close to literature. However, I nearly choked on the pungent ammonia that one of my group mates, Heath poured down the sink, instead of the waste bottle in the fume cupboard!
I got to know some interesting facts about 2 of my group mates today. Renee is a 32 year old woman of a 11 year old girl. That means that she was only 21 years old when she had her daughter, amazing! No wonder she demonstrates a high level of maturity and efficiency when she does her parts for the experiment. She is a part time student who is doing a double degree in Chemistry and Education. All along, I thought that Renee is only in her twenties. Paul looks like someone in his forties, though I am not sure of his age. I still remembered how he consoled me last week by patting on my shoulder. That gesture was really caring!
Stomach cramps came to visit me after lab session had ended. It had quite a bad effect on me due to a couple factors, which were the hot blazing afternoon sun and hunger. As a result, I felt faint in addition to my stomach hurting badly. But I am not completely luckless as well, because Weiming responded to my phonecalls and drove me back home without any complaints. Thanks a million, buddy! Hopefully I can repay your kindness one day!
Had not much appetite, so I just finished a packet of pizza biscuits which I had purchased on Monday. Spent some time reading my management notes before cooking dinner. The standard of my cooking seemed to have deproved this time around, the udon was too dry and the lemon sauce for the chicken was a little burnt. I guess my mood to cook was influenced by my less than tip top physical health condition today. Nevertheless, I hope I get better tomorrow after a good night's rest. No school tomorrow! Cheers!
Wilson helped me cut my watermelon today, that was indeed a very thoughtful act. I did not even ask for help, for he volunteered to assist me. Really lucky to have such nice and helpful people around me. :) They make the sun appear during a cloudy day ( not literally of course).
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