NDP 2014

last weekend was SG national day & for the first time in like almost 20yr, we FINALLY gotten the tickets to see NDP!!! & whats even better, we gotten the tickets for ACTUAL day!!! i was like OMG!! when i received the sms that my papa won the tickets!!! i had been to two NDP before but both times were like preview or pre-preview kind of things, so i was really excited to see the actual event!!!! the ticket state that the gate open at 4pm & strongly encourage the audience to be seated by 5.15pm..... so we went down to have lunch at raffles city osaka ohsho first before heading down to floating platform...

fried chicken + chili ebi

ginger pork + fried chicken

stir fry pork + fried chicken

personally i am not a big fan of japanese gyoza but osaka ohsho sell really nice ones =) i had the ginger pork + fried chicken.... really yummy..... & the portion is relatively large if you are not a big eater....price wise is on average $15-16 per set... so after all the GST + service charge, is about $20/pax

after lunch we walked over to floating platform.... the route there was kind of complicated cause they block off some of the roads.... i think we spent like almost 1hr from city hall mrt to be seated at floating platform...

our ticket

queuing for security check

finally seated

look at the crowd!!!

we seated about 5pm & by then i think more than 70% of the audiences were seated... people really kiasu wor..... so before the platoons march in, there was some singing by random people... honestly i dont know any of them so i was like rampaging through the fun pack to see what's inside.... about 5.40pm or so, the real performance starts.... & i will flood the post with photos =)

the red lion coming down

first parachute

army band

platoons marching in

platoons

the flags people

more marching

ships to shoot the cannon

our light bands =)

helicopter with SG flag

bang... firing of the cannon

marching off

bang & out came the coloured smoke

coloured smoke

some navy people

continue marching off

night fall & it look so nice with the light sticks

performance

mini firework at the end of performance

all the participants

honestly, i dont really understand the performance for this year NDP.... it was too chim for me to understand... it just feel so modern/contemporary dance = i am just not artistic enough to understand.... so i kind of zone out during the performance & also it was tiring to sit there for like almost 3hr..... & my favourite part of NDP is actually the FIREWORK!!! who doesnt love fireworks!!!! so next up are the decent firework photos that i managed to take =)

start of firework

1 of my favourite type of firework

lovely

the lighting from spotlights kind of complement the firework =)

beautiful

everyone leaving

we were actually sitting on the right side of the stage which was just nice where the fireworks were shoot from... so lucky for us, we get unblocked view of the beautiful firework!!! yeah!!!! going back was also a pain due to the huge amount of human traffic... so we had to walk all the way to raffles place to take the train back..... last but not least, how can i forget about the fun pack =)

fun pack 2014

i gotten the bluexred fun pack... there was quite a number of colours in different combination.... not really interested in the colours since i doubt if i will bring the bag out... but the bag was really heavy.... lets look at what was inside...

the gifts

 so the fun pack include the usual clappers, hat, light stick, SG flag, tatoos, pins, rain coat & some coupons.... the thing that really beats me is the SG scarf!!??!! i was like huh??? when i saw it... like seriously, we need a scarf in SG??? i thought a towel will be more useful... but since it is free so dont complain....

food & drinks

so all these things contributed majority of the weight.... 2 bottles of water + 2 packets of drinks.... how can the bag be not heavy!?!?!??! but it will keep the audiences hydrated while waiting under the hot sun....

i think it was a nice experience to watch NDP on actual day since everyone will give their BEST of the BEST performance.... but the drawback is definitely going &  coming back from the events... even if you have a car... you have to park it quite far away from the event & not to mentioned the number of roads that were blocked off..... nonetheless, i really enjoyed myself especially watching the beautiful fireworks =)

my FIRST first author paper publication!!!!

YEAH!!! i have finally published my very first, first author paper in a scientific journal!!!! for those who are new to the science field.... being the first author in the paper is a real honour!!! is something like the author of the book, it encompassed all your hard work & it is amazing to release it to the world!!! being first author means you made the most contribution to the work & is a personal achievement... of cause my paper was published in Plos ONE, not like SCIENCE or NATURE which are like THE scientific journals, i think Plos ONE is pretty good for me... i am satisfied that my work is being published.... but of cause publishing in SCIENCE and NATURE will be almost every researchers' ultimate goal.... 

Identification of Polyketide Inhibitors Targeting 3-Dehydroquinate Dehydratase in the Shikimate Pathway of Enterococcus faecalis.

this is mine paper!!! YEAH!!!! this paper has free access so do read if you are interested =) actually this paper should be published like 2years ago but we were gathering more data & some other things which resulted in the delay... but no matter, it has at last be published!!! thanks everyone for the hard work!!! YEAH!!! =)

Garfield run 2014

*back dated entry*

i guess most people would have known by now that the Garfield run was held on 19th July 2014 at MBS area.... i am not the running marathon sort but this is something new and the distance was not super long so thought can try something new... my bf and I signed up for the couple run which cost $85 for both of us.... personally i felt paying like $40+ to run is quite ridiculous but haha i joined in the crazy gang.... so for this run you will have the garfield tee, race tag, garfield draw string bag, garfield soft toy, note book & some vouchers.....

garfield tee & race bib

soft toy + note book

for our couple run, the distance was 5km, fun run was 3km & one more family run or something which was 2km+.... to me 2km is like want to die already i seriously cant imagine myself running/walking 5km....

garfield run

stage mascots

race tag

so the run was held at Promontory @ Marina Bay... which was this field opposite those CBD building or the area near MBS.... the couple run flag off at 5.30pm so that was abit of evening sun....

garfield run route

u-turn mark

.so you can see the route was running from the bridge to MBS, pass by gardens by the bay, u-turn at marina barage & back to the bridge.... for those frequent runners, 5km is no kick but for lazy ass like myself.... it was a TORTURE!!! i only managed to run 1km non-stop, subsequent 4km was a mixture of 70% walking & 30% super slow jog..... but i think we managed to finish the run in about like 40min+??!?!?! i didnt keep track of the time but i guess it was around there....

finisher medals

only the couple run participants will have the finisher medals.... quite cute i would say.... then it happened that the very same day there was NDP rehearsal... probably the one for primary school kids so as we walked towards city hall to get our dinner... we saw the fighter jets fly passed...

floating platform from far

hello helicopter

bye bye helicopter

so after that we walked to raffles city for dinner... by the time i reached the place, my legs were super jelly.... & it ached for afew days... haha..... we had dinner at soup spoon union....

some chicken thigh with creamy curry sauce

meatless minestrone

the tag system...

everything but.....

 so the soup spoon union now has afew more stores inside.... so we tried that vietnamese chicken thigh noodle.... chicken was tender but the sauce was too spicy & creamy..... we also gotten this "everything but..." from the western store which i forgot the name.... i dont understand why the dish is called such a name... but when it was served i was abit shock to see the product.. this plates of fries cost $14.90... like what??? fries with cheese + egg+ sour cream cost so much??? then we realised there were hidden treasures... beneath the fries were some sliced sausages & shredded beef stew.... i mean ok la... you have more meat inside but they were way too salty... so i dont think i will order it again....

feedback: photo selection at La Belle

*back dated entry*

after waiting for 1 whole month, we finally went down to La Belle to check out our pre-wedding shoot photos last fri.... kind of excited cause i want see how firstly, how the photos will be like and second is of cause whether i look pretty anot =p like all companies, they have individual dept, so in la belle, there is a guy who is in charge of dealing with photo selection... if i didnt catch his name wrongly, it was rayden, i dont know if that's the correct spelling but no matter.... if you have been to La belle's wedding workshop at hotels, you would have definitely seen the guy before... he is the one who will usher people to check out La belle's store....

so we sat down punctually at 6pm.... rayden told us that kenny (our photographer) took over 300 photos and after first round of filter, we are left with 149photos.... i am not surprised with the amount cause it was a whole day shoot & i believed taking 300+ photos is the norm.... for the first round the photos wont be photoshop.... kenny did some adjustment to the colours & minimal touch up, after final selection of photos, only then he will do all the beautifying steps... fair enough, it will take super long time for him to edit every single photos for all his customers...

so rayden gave us a brief look at all the photos first... i would say in general they were very well taken but some of the photos were not my style so i had a mental note that i will filter those out.... after that he went to show us the format of the photo album, canvas & 10R table top sizes... then we go back to select our photos.... for those who are new to this including myself, the photos were taken in series, meaning like same background/theme & they will psycho you to get all the photos in a set... after first & very brief selection, we left with 76photos & like 21 series.... our package only include 36photos + 11 series, so we exceeded by 40photos.... then rayden went on to tell us about the extra cost... additional photo is $80/piece of hard copy & $40/piece for soft copy, additional series is $130.. so that will total up to $4500... CRAZY sum of $.... i mean unless you are the kind of super into photos & want to have like TONNES of wedding photos then high chance you will need to top up alot of $... personally for me & bf, we want to keep to the minimum cause we felt that no point paying so much for the photos when other than the actual day banquet, nobody is going to flip through the album everyday.... then we went onto second round of more stringent filtering.... & we left with 42photos & 12series, meaning extra $610.... i mean this is a much more reasonable sum of $ but nay... still exceed our budget..... then rayden suggest us another package which cost $1088 which include 50photos, 14 series & 10soft copies... i mean ya... attractive package whereby you can save like $700 but nope... i am insistent of what we want = save $.... so we had our 3rd round of filter & narrow down to 39photos, 11 series & 5soft copies... in the end we top up $440..... my initial plan was to select up to 40photos which is additional $320, so we exceeded our initial budget by $120 which i think is still ok....

by the time we are done with all the filtering, it was like 10min to 9pm.... i would say rayden is quite professional, i mean at the start he was happier & more bubbly but after 3rounds of filter, he seem kind of exhausted & sian about it.... cause i believed they earn extra by the additional top up we made to the package & of cause stingy couples like us will mean lesser $ for them.... at least he contained his sian-ness & still try not to show us the black face.... my bf told me that another lab mate of ours also engaged La belle & they paid like $1000+ extra for the photos... i suspect they took the $1088 package.... this is also common for other friends who took up pre-wedding shoot packages, almost everyone need to top up for additional photos....

conclusion: i think La belle services is not bad, the staff are quite professional & kenny really took pretty photos for us.... rayden was not super forceful in psycho-ing us to buy more photos... also perhaps cause we were very firm with what we want.... i guess the most important thing is what the couples want... like i said, for those who love photos & have the budget then by all means, pay more for the photos cause they are really pretty.... but for those who are not, then you have to be firm & not get sway by the staff.... i would dare to say that i am very stubborn & i am very firm with what i want especially when it comes to $ stuff.... in such times you have to be persistent or else you may end up spending like $8k+ for a wedding album which personally i think is not worth it.....

curel free sample

recently my friend told me that i can get free sample from curel so i went to register for one... after about 1 month, the sample finally delivered to me...

curel free sample

inside the sample it contains Sebum Care Lotion 8ml and Sebum Care Moisture Gel 7ml.... is really small but is free so why not =p

i have yet to try it but i read from qiu qiu blog that she quite like the product.... i also saw this brand is now selling in guardian...... so grab your free sample now by filling up the form here.... =)