..:･yuka･:..

beautiful hair and makeup

2009-11-08T22:14:00.000+08:00

Came across these hair and makeup tips when i was surfing the net. I love the colour combinations used on the model. *drools*

My favorite is the beige theme. What's yours?

library day

2009-11-06T09:04:00.004+08:00

Time flies and i am back in the good old library, all ready to start on my intensive revision session. The smells of books and carpets (it doesn't stink though), together with the quiet drone of the photocopiers at the back, bring back the nostalgia of my early undergraduate years as i sit here typing this.

Exams are two weeks away, and i have yet to start on my first round of proper revision. Drats.

Printed a stack of scientific journals to read on, but relatively untouched. Unlike my earlier undergraduate years when the content learnt is mostly based on textbooks, my current modules in the final year require us to keep in touch with latest discoveries published in journals. Which is both interesting to read, but taxing for the eyes at the same time.

Time to shelve away the jeans and covered shoes (my usual outfit for wet labs) and dig out the shorts, sweaters and sandals because it's time for studying!

bushed

2009-11-05T23:36:00.000+08:00

Experiments are put on hold for the moment so that i can focus on my revision for the upcoming final exams in late november.

Feeling extremely bushed right now. In fact, i fell asleep halfway while typing this entry.

the 25th hour

2009-10-30T06:46:00.002+08:00

I am completely swamped with so much reading and experiments to do simultaneously. Sometimes i wished that there were more than 24 hours a day so that i could have more time to catch up with my work:(

directions

2009-10-28T08:42:00.000+08:00

A long talk over my plans on postgraduate studies with my professor got me thinking, What do i ultimately want to achieve from pursuing postgraduate studies?

My plan was to do a year of Master's abroad, work for year or two to fund for my PhD education in the subsequent years and then enter the research field as an official career path. The reason why i decided to take a break and work was because the competitiveness for attaining a scholarship in a good postgraduate program will be extremely high and i am fully aware how far my capabilities can get me.

My professor raised a crucial point that i have to ask myself, How serious am i in doing PhD? I couldn't give a definite answer at that point of time and it brought me to the realization that there are so many things to consider in making this decision. Clearly, i have been wrapped up in my own naivety and failed to take different considerations into account.

Another lesson learnt: just like how scientific theories that i have learnt are complex, it applies the same to my own life. Life is complex.

僕は君に恋をする

2009-10-25T21:01:00.003+08:00

歌／歌詞／曲：平井堅

もしも願いが叶うなら君の悲しみを僕の胸の中に
注ぎ込んで下さいその痛みならば僕は耐えられる

未来描く地図も無くしてしまう
ちっぽけな僕だけれど君をみつけた

さよなら、ありがとう、好きだよ、好きだよ
さよなら、笑ってよ、泣くなよ、バカだな
伝えたい言葉は止めどなく溢れる
何度も、何度でも僕は君に恋をする

君の願いが叶うなら全て捧げると心からいえる

僕がいなくなっても消えること無い
恋色に染まる心君とみつけた

さよなら、また会おう、ごめんね、好きだよ
さよなら、笑ってよ、怒んなよ、バカだな
恋しい苦しい、愛しいじゃ足りない
何度も、何度でも僕は君と恋をする

恋する瞳と愛する痛みを
君が僕にくれた輝き忘れないずっと

さよなら、ありがとう、好きだよ、好きだよ
さよなら、笑ってよ、泣くなよバカだな
伝えたい言葉は止めどなく溢れる
何度も、何度でも僕は君に恋をする

さよなら、また会おう、ごめんね、好きだよ
さよなら、笑ってよ、怒んなよ、バカだな
恋しい苦しい、愛しいじゃ足りない
何度も、何度でも叫ぶよ好きだよ
さよなら

感動しすぎて、泣いちゃいました。平井堅の歌詞って、すごく心に伝わってくるもんだよね。もうすぐいなくなる人間の気持ちってこういう気持ちなんだなって、この曲が分からせてくれた。やっぱり、切ない気持ちだよね。

the great scale

2009-10-24T11:10:00.000+08:00

When it reaches the last one month of every semester, which means that exams are around the corner, i will set this tiny goal in my mind whenever i start my revision: to climb up the grade ladder. It doesn't matter if it is a very small improvement, it is still an improvement to me. And i am proud to say that ever since i have started working towards this goal after my disappointing grade in my freshman year, i have not fallen since.

This semester is an exceptionally tough one compared to the past semesters, but it wont' be as tough as the following and final semester in my life as an undergraduate. My goal still sticks firmly with me and despite facing several hiccups from my experiments, my assignments and my presentations, i am still determined to trudge on, reach the apex and plant a flag saying, "I made it!"

ファイト〜

pilgrimage

2009-10-22T21:58:00.002+08:00

There is a place i have set in my heart, somewhere i must travel to, witness and experience.

Hiroshima.

It left a tragic mark in history when the famous Little Boy was dropped on the heart of Hiroshima, during the Second World War. The aftermath was gruesomely tragic, and the tragedy still continues across many generations till today.

I suppose the main factor that pulled me towards Hiroshima and this historical event was perhaps the movie "Black Rain" which i watched as part of a film module curriculum when i was a freshman. The "Black Rain" was a film chronicling around the life of a victim, a hibakusha, from the time of the bombing to the postwar period when she had to deal with problems of her prospects in getting married, and the disease that stuck to her as a result of the radiation exposure during the bombing.

Most of us need to be constantly reminded how fortunate we are to be living comfortably and that we will probably never experience anything close to what the people during the war had to. Getting myself in touch with the history, especially wars in the past, never fails to bring me back to two important reminders: to be thankful for being where we are now and to learn from the mistakes made in the past.

To be able to stand at a place where a major historical event has occurred must be an unforgettable experience. And i have placed Hiroshima as my destination, a pilgrimage that i must go.

Last night, i was reading accounts by the survivors on the net. Through their narration, i imagined the horror and chaos during that time. But sadly, i will never be able to understand or experience what they have experienced. Perhaps, making a trip to the exact physical location will bring me a step closer to have a clearer picture of the event that took place half a decade ago.

Here is the link to the stories these survivors have shared. I spent the entire night reading them and my heart mourned for their loss as i read every line.

dealing with some people

2009-10-21T19:00:00.001+08:00

The crazy period of time in the semester has started when all the assignments and presentations start piling up on you, and worse still, you have to juggle with your fyp plus trying to do some revision (which you never eventually start until the week before the actual exam).

It's simply madness.

This week has been a crazy one for me, because my assignment deadlines and presentation happen to fall during this time. My dreaded hair still remains in its pathetic state and i'm close to pulling them out of exasperation.

On a brighter note, my mom has been whipping up good food recently, as a reward for working so hard every day:D

The other day, my mom whipped up a tempura feast consisting of red capsicums, green ladyfingers, orange sweet potato slices and fat juicy prawns. I wished i had taken a picture of the feast but it was so enticing we gobbled everything up in no time. I was marvelled by how colourful the feast was, and at the same time, i felt a little sad that i would miss all these food if i were to further my studies abroad next year.

die H&S die

2009-10-19T23:23:00.000+08:00

If you have seen the state of my hair, you will understand why this entry's title sounds so vindictive.

My usual shampoo ran out and i had to switch temporarily to my dad's Head and Shoulders. You can call me picky, but i usually never get anywhere near H&S, because i dislike it for many reasons: the three-in-one formula, the dull packaging and the anti-dandruff effect. And the biggest reason of all: it leaves my hair so greasy it looks like i have slapped tonnes of gel on my hair.

Unfortunately, i forgot this very important detail when i squirted that dreaded H&S onto my palm in the shower room. My hair which i prize most, is in a dreadful and pathetic state. My usually fine and soft hair is now reduced to straggly limp strands. It is such a hopeless sight i keep cursing at H&S under my breath.

The last time when this happened, it took me weeks to restore my hair to its original texture. Elsève Nutri-Gloss came to my rescue.

This time, i have switched to a cheaper alternative, Herbal Essences. After two days' of thorough washing, there is some improvements but not significant enough to make me feel happy. I will simply have to exercise more patience and work on restoring my hair back to its original state.

Hair blues :(

macaroon fever

2009-10-14T22:11:00.001+08:00

The more i think about them, the more i crave for them. It's funny that despite not knowing how they taste like, i am forming this little picture of a marcaroon in my mind, combining the taste and texture i can imagine, based on my limited knowledge of marcaroons.

Marcaroons fascinate me, primarily by their colours.

So when i posted a random update on facebook a few days back,

I received a couple of replies from friends and one of them started sending me links to mouthwatering pictures of macaroons.

I GOTTA TRY ONE OF THESE SOMEDAY.

One of my friends introduced me to a place that apparently serves good marcaroons - Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie. The website was as enticing as its name and i hope it applies to their desserts as well.

So my new goal (bye fyp!) will be:

LOVESSSS

2009-10-13T09:17:00.001+08:00

~m-flo's 10th anniversary best~

*my current love*

please get me one pretty please~

lovely sunday

2009-10-11T11:56:00.000+08:00

taken from leloveimage.blogspot.com

Have a lovely sunday everyone :]

Everyone is your competitor

2009-10-04T11:18:00.000+08:00

Being an honours student ain't easy.

Especially when you are constantly surrounded by geniuses with full scores.

If you are not familiar with the local university academic system, here is a brief crash course about the honours year a.k.a the fourth and final year. In most of the courses in NUS, honours students are required to maintain a certain grade (we call it the CAP score, which is equivalent to GPA), to graduate with a bachelor's degree with honours, instead of the usual bachelor's degree if you graduate in three years.

As a RESULT, those with better scores mostly carry onto the fourth year. There are some who do qualify for the final year but choose not to do so for some other reasons. All in all, honours students are generally very smart, except for me (an average student) because i'm just plain lucky to do comparatively better in the recent semesters.

One of my friends in the honours batch recently gave me her golden nugget of advice: everyone in this hall you are looking at is your competitor.

Although i don't feel that everyone looks ready to bite each other's heads off, there are some who do come across as pretty serious and aggressive at some point. Saying that i'm extremely stressed is just half the truth. In fact, i'm terrified that i won't be able to do well this year which may compromise my plans on my future studies.

As much as i know that i need to loosen up and quit being too uptight about everything, i can't shake off the gnawing feeling that i might just be booted out of the race even before it has ended.

Okay, it's time to hit the books again.

ostrich

2009-09-30T09:44:00.001+08:00

Lately i have been sending my smses to wrong people, and it's getting very embarrasing for me because: 1) some of these smses are personal; 2) i send to people i don't wish to have any contact with but for some unknown reason, i still keep their contact numbers in my phone.

AAAAARGHHH.

I'm so embarrassed about my absent-mindedness i can't wait to stick my head into a hole and pretend that nothing has happened.

Darn it.

a short rant

2009-09-29T14:17:00.000+08:00

If you need to use something of mine, please have the basic courtesy to ask me. Having some of my items missing or misplaced doesn't make my day. In fact, it kills my mood for the rest of the day.

My mom has always taught me to be respectful and seek for permission whenever i need to since i was a little girl. I'm sure your mom probably would have said the same thing to you too.

So i beg you once more to be nice enough to let me know if you're using any of my things. It's the basic principle of courtesy.

Okay, end of rant.

yuka ♥ m-flo

2009-09-29T00:28:00.002+08:00

I have no idea why i haven't introduced this great band on this blog, so with no further ado, here goes~

m-flo was originally a three-member band comprising of: VERBAL, TAKU and LISA. VERBAL is korean while LISA is japanese-colombian, which explains for the fusion of different styles in their music. After LISA's departure from the band in pursuit of a solo career, the remaining m-flo, VERBAL and TAKU, carried on creating great music.

They went on to collaborating with other famous japanese artistes including BoA, Melody, Yoshika, Aoyama Thelma and Ryohei. And the cute thing about their singles is that they will name the titles as "m-flo loves xxx", xxx referring to the name of the artiste they collaborated with. Their songs are so jumpy and fun, i am at the tip of my toes whenever i'm plugged in.

As much as i like their new songs, nothing can beat their first few songs, namely Been So Long, Come Again and L.O.T. Mainly it's LISA's voice that i love listening to, because it is so edgy and yet beautiful at the same time.

I decided to share their music video for Come Again here, because it's the least cheesy one among the three i mentioned. It is almost a decade old, so you can imagine how cheesy the plot is.

Their latest collaboration with Tohoshinki's Jejung and Yuchun, a new version of Been So Long, has been played a million times on my ipod. It's different from the original version, but i liked the quirkiness and fun injected into the music. Do check it out:)

when i like someone

2009-09-24T22:16:00.001+08:00

When i like someone, i try to play it cool. I won't look up when that person walks by, not even batting an eyelid. It's a stupid move but i can't seem to fight off defiance.

When i like someone, i will bask in my little warmth of happiness even if i get to see him only once in a day. It's like having my mouth stitched upwards permanently because i can never seem to stop smiling.

When i like someone, my four senses are on full activation so as to detect any possible hint of him coming nearby. This excludes sight because i refuse to look up, remember?

When i like someone, i am in a constant turmoil in my mind, battling with another voice that tells me i should give this a try. Usually my voice of logic wins the match.

When i like someone, i find it ironic that the more i like that person, the harder i find it to visualize his face clearly in my mind. He's like a fuzzy image in my mind that i can't seem to focus on.

When i like someone, my play cool tactics usually fail me at times, and i get thrown offguard when these kind of situations happen. My face, along with my entire body, goes rigid, if we bump into each other at the corridor. It's all written over my face, honestly.

When i like someone, i get so conscious about the things i say to him, i stop being funny. It's really sad because i think i send off bad vibes when i stop being funny.

When i like someone, i may have this crazy thought that he likes me too. Which doesn't happen everytime. The thing is, usually when i get a strong gut feeling about something, it doesn't go wrong.

When i like someone, it happens like a flash. One moment, i think that he's either a bastard or a good friend, the next moment, i'm like, oh my god i think i like him.

When i like someone, i look at what he is inside, not what he is outside. That's why many of my friends can never really agree with my choice of men.

When i like someone, while i may look cool and collected on the outside, but internally, i'm desperately coming up with ideas on how to drop more obvious hints to him.

When i like someone, i wish i can be more honest with my feelings.

When you like someone, what do you do?

learning languages

2009-09-23T10:00:00.004+08:00

I was commenting to my dad on how my grasp of the mandarin language has improved a lot last night when we were on the road. Which is mostly attributed by the fact that i have been working with the Chinese students in my lab.

We discussed on how the constant exposure to the language plays a highly significant role in mastering a language. Forget about the audio books. Throw them away. The quickest and most effective way in learning a new language is to be constantly exposed to it. Easier said than done. Most of us don't have the privilege to live in the country of that particular language. So the next solution will probably be creating more chances of interactions with people who speak that language.

Another good way is to integrate the language into some parts of your daily life. I always try to link the things i do or see with the new words i learnt. It is not a huge step, but its effectiveness accumulates if i stick to it faithfully.

It's true that one can easily start to forget the language if one doesn't use it constantly. I don't really have many opportunities to interact with japanese people recently, which explains why i tend to space out in the middle of the conversation because i simply can't recall the right japanese word to fit into the sentence. The conversations with my dad are not enough, and i try to read at least a chapter or two in japanese every morning.

Right now, in my lab where most of my colleagues are Indians, i try to slip in a word or two of Hindi or Tamil into our conversations. Which will end up me being laughed at because: 1) my pronounciation sucks; or 2) i'm using the wrong word. Hah.

Learning a new language is fun. I'm still more of a 'halfway' person, a direct translation from a japanese phrase: chuto hanpa (中途半端) which essentially means 'something done halfway, left unfinished or incomplete, a half measure' as defined by sensei's library. Since i'm learning a few words here and there, and not being diligent in getting down into the real studying of the language.

white pig

2009-09-19T10:20:00.000+08:00

This is my current nickname that has been circulating among my family, because everyone thinks i should start hitting the gym soon.

To be honest, i'm not bothered.

Hah.

And i think being fair has its disadvantages too, because it seems like having fairer skin makes you look slightly flabbier than someone who's tanned.

I have no scientific theory to back this up, but i will just stick to it for the moment.

hello i am yuma

2009-09-16T10:52:00.006+08:00

One quirk about having my iTouch around with me is that i can answer my mails anytime, anywhere. Sounds like some cliche advertising line huh?

And i love the iTouch keypad because it automatically corrects the words i mistype (i have fat sausage fingers with widths that span across two buttons), like it can read my mind.

Magical piece of invention, i tell you.

However, i have been befuddled about why i always sign off with a different name in my mails, whenever i reread my mails.

Funny, i don't remember signing myself off as Yuma.

And then it struck me. My iTouch keypad has even corrected my name, changing the k in Yuka to m!!!

So if you are expecting a mail from yuka and you get one with yuma signed off, don't be too fast in hitting that delete button.

from rags to riches

2009-09-13T18:07:00.000+08:00

My parents and their friends usually organize get-togethers, especially my mom and her friends from her uk university days, just to keep in touch with what's happening in their lives.

Naturally, my sister and i have to tag along, which isn't a bad thing in fact, because we usually get good food to eat:)

One thing i love about my parents' friends is that they never treated us like kids and excluded us out of their conversations. Besides asking us on the usual like how's school, they would listen to our take on certain current issues and we would launch into a chain of fiery discussions.

Most of my parents' friends have established careers and it's really hard to imagine them as being once poor during their childhood days. Their secret to success is no secret to anyone, i guess: but just plain perserverance and a stroke of luck.

Which is something relevant to me at this point of time because i'm starting to map out the path that i want to take on.

long due post on my tempura feast

2009-09-09T10:46:00.002+08:00

As i was browsing through my phone, i found this photo i took during our tempura feast which i really wanted to blog about but later forgot to due to my forgetfulness.

Prepare to salivate!!

Haha.

~ a tempura feast of pumpkin slices, green peppers and lotus roots~

welcome back

2009-09-09T10:32:00.002+08:00

Since i have yet to receive the specific enzyme i have ordered, my experiments are put on hold at the moment. Which fits nicely with the fact that i have an important test coming up, so this temporary lab hiatus serves ample time for me to do some catching up with my coursework modules.

Welcome back to the life of a nus student:)

..:*･yuka･*:..