A Trip To The Movie

It's a public holiday today. So on this cold, drizzling Monday morning, I decided to do something that I had been waiting to do since my first day here in Basel (in fact, I had been waiting to do it even b4 coming to Basel): to catch "Pirates of The Carribean: At World's End."

After checking again the time of the show and the location of the cineplex, I left the house and walked in the light rain to the cineplex which is at the city centre. After walking for 15 min on the quiet and empty streets, I arrived at the cineplex The cineplex is called Pathe Küchlin, and unlike most cineplexes in Singapore, it's a building of it's own, among a row of shophouses by the side of a clobberstone street. The inside though, is jus like any other cineplexes, so beside the little problem that the lady at the counter and I didn't speak a common language, there wasn't any problem buying my tickets and drink. However, she did suprise me a bit when she asked me do I want a seat at the ground level or the balcony. (It's like "ok, so the theatre is big...", and when was the last time u went to a cineplex in Singapore that has a balcony in it's theatres?)

The theatre was actually as big as (if not slightly bigger than) the big theatres in Singapore, but it had 3 levels. My "balcony seat" was on the second level and the third level was apparently closed. What is really impressive about the theatre is that it's designed like a classical opera theatre, complete with a small stage jus below the screen. I'm guessing this theatre might be used for some other special occasions like movie premiere or something (imagine a light-saber duel display before the screening of Star Wars), but I dun really know. Anyway, maybe cos the theatre is showing the English version (they have German version here), or maybe b'cos it the morning show (in fact it's the first show of the day), there were only 20 ppl in the theatre which can easily sit a few hundred audiences. That's the way I like it: I had always liked to watch a movie in an empty theatre.

Midway through the show, I was in for another suprise: there was an intermission. Yes, an intermission that allows ppl to visit the washroom, grab more tibits or do watever business they can in that short period of 5-10 mins. This is something that cineplexes in Singapore should consider, cos sitting through a 2 hour plus show in a bone-chillingly cold theatre (and sometimes with a full bladder for fear of missing the best part, or any part) isn't really an enjoyable experience.

By the time when the movie ended and I left the cineplex, it was already early afternoon, and the cineplex was getting crowded. I wasn't sure I like the movie or not (It was nice, it was fun, but maybe there was too much there was too much the movie was trying to show.....), but I do like the experience. Yes, it was kinda expensive (could had easily watched 3 movies with the same amount of money), but I'm not complaining. The experience is kinda different, yet kinda similar. It kinda remind me of those couple of times when I sneaked out of work in the morning to catch a movie; or those lone movie trips around different cineplexes during holiday (or unemployment) period; or the time I went to watch the midnight "Double Bill" special (Kill Bill 1 and 2) after my last paper; or those countless times I went watching movies with all my frens: the gang of good old frens, best buddy TH, dear fren Melvin (hmmm... haben catch a movie with him in a while...) and dear fren Andrew (wait a min, I never watched movie with Andrew b4....ok, I am getting over-nostalgic... but maybe when I'm back... but does Andrew watch movie? Hmmmm...).

Anyway, I miss my world....

And anyway, if anyone of u are planning to catch Pirates of The Carribean: At World's End, be sure to stay until the end of the credits. There is one more scene. I only found out about this when I got home..... Damm!

條條美德。。。

來，各位中華兒女們（你們知道你們是誰的啦，不用我指名道姓。。。）讓我們來重溫當年我們幾乎每日都歌頌的十二守則：

忠勇為愛國之本 孝順為齊家之本
仁愛為接物之本 信義為立業之本
和平為處事之本 禮節為治世之本

服從為負責之本 勤儉為服務之本
整潔為強身之本 助人爲快樂之本
學問為濟世之本 有恒為成功之本

出乎意料續集

很意外，沒想到Alex兄會對“蔚藍天空”這麽感興趣，竟寫了多一個版本- 伊人篇。就登出來讓大家欣賞：

伊人篇

蔚蓝天空，碧綠草原；
遼闊天地，幸福人间；
执子之手，与君微笑；
灵犀相通，慢步至老。

真實佩服，佩服。兩個版本的意境都這麽美好，優美。換作是我接的話，意境都會是蠻悲哀，淒慘，灰暗的。所以我還是別接了。不想破壞風景。。。。。。

出乎意料

本來是想描敘今天跟老K斗拼命的經過，還有想通知各位我換了一個我早該就用的筆名（請看篇底）。不過很意外地，竟有高人對上一篇未完成的詞句感興趣，把它接完了。所以就在此登出來與大家共賞：

蔚蓝天空，碧綠草原；
遼闊天地，祥和仙境；
手拈鲜花，慈眉微笑；
心念佛号，慢步净土。

感謝Alex兄。

Wasserfallen

Over the long weekend last week, I went hiking with a few of my frens at this place called Wasserfallen. We took a gondola (aka cable car) up the hill and hiked through some forested area to reach a grassy hilltop. After taking some photos, and checking the map, we took another route, where we walk through a horse farm (yes, through it, with horses standing jus beside us without fences) , back to the gondola station. Had a nice lunch there before we scootered our way down on kick scooters (with brakes).

The photo above was taken while we were on the hilltop. I had always pictured myself to be standing on a grassy highland and there are 2 versions of it actually: one version will have a cloudy gray sky, windy weather, maybe having taller grass; the other version is jus like the one in the photo.

遥望远方，忽然一阵感触：

蔚蓝天空，碧绿草原；
辽阔天地.....................

（哦，接不下去了... 不如就用这个....)

竟不见伊人芳踪。

不行，不行，要好好想想怎么接。今天就写到这里。再会。

轻松一下......

西游記之仙履奇緣 - 唐僧唱 "only you"

A Long Day......

I left the lab at 8.15 pm today, 15 min more and I would had been working for 13 hours (including an hour of lunctime of course). It's all because of an unforseen situation (distillation took longer than thot) and a few - I wun say stupid - decisions (should had left the rxn to run over night; shouldn't had used so much ice to quench; should had let that slurry mixture of ice and water to melt completely before filtering). Towards the end, the last couple of hours, I was feeling drained and tired, and was going through a fast cycle of depression and frustration.

But then I thot to myself: I shouldn't be feeling negative. Afterall, I decided to stay back and finish the rxn. Even K was telling me to leave it overnight. I wanted to finish the rxn so that the rest of the week will run smoothly. So from tmrw onwards, it will all be good. And I had been lucky today, I was able to capped the RBf of the liq pdt jus in time that when it slipped from my oily gloved hands and did a 360 degree turn downwards in the air before landing back in my hands, the pdt is still inside. So it's good. Then I also got a finalise a compound today, so that's also good. Anyway, this is wat I wanted to do, to work in the lab, so I jus have to accept that day like this is part and parcel of life in the lab and take it in my stride, and maybe even embrace it and be proud of it.

So, by the time I stepped out of the building, my mood was quite good. Probably the fact that the sun was still up helped a bit (yes, though it was cloudy and it was 8.15 pm, the sun had yet to set. The sun-set timing here is around 9pm, and it will get later and later towards summer.)

I am feeling a bit sentimental now, so I will jus end the post with lyrics from a song:

当多少情深意重已成往事
爱与恨悠悠
人生事太匆匆
转眼梦飘流

昨日美好已随风去
爱与恨悠悠
能不能再回首
陪伴你到白头

　　　　-林隆璇，《爱恨悠悠》

The CY Example

So here I am, writing a post about one of my long-time good fren CY. In his comment (as ecypeh) on my previous post, he mentioned that there is nothing to write about him unless I wanna mentioned the lantern-burning incident in sec sch. Well, this might be a suprise to some of my long-time good frens, but to be honest, the incident also slipped my mind. Since CY provided a kind reminder, maybe I will jus have a brief mention about it.

The lantern-burning incident (like the seashell-throwing incident with WL, which is totally another story for another time) is one of those memorable moment in sec sch. What happened was that like many other Chinese schools, our sec sch had a mid-autumn festival celebration at the night of the festival. And like all decent mid-autumn festival celebration, there were free lanterns. So as the story goes, I got myself a really nice paper lantern, and as I was showing it to the rest of the gang, CY, perhaps trying to irritate me (something he occassionally takes great joy in during that time), decided to burn the lantern with a candle. He of cos succeeded in doing it, and I can only look on as the lantern was reduced to ashes. That's pretty much about it.

Of cos, when talking about CY, there are much more things to say then the trivia above. Like how, when his voice first broke, his voice changed from one pitch to another during mid-sentence. How, during that time, he had difficulty pronoucing "clash", and keep ending up saying "crash". Then there is also his creepy habit of burying fishes...alive (yah creepy, and luckily this is jus a joke among the gang). I can also talk about how he apparently seems to be oblivious to everything that is going on in his home. We are talking about a guy from a close-knitted family here, who goes home everyday, and he can have no idea to things like whether his sister had found a job, or things like "hey CY, didn't u used to have a small pond in the front yard?".

On top of it all, when talking about CY, his famous quote of "阿~~~ 我的命好苦啊！~~~" must be mentioned.

If not for CY's comment on the previous post, the original beginning of this post will be a mention that CY was one of the first few ppl I knew in sec sch, simply by virtue that his elder sister was the ex-classmate of my sister. He was an average student and did well enuff in his "O" level to qualify for JC. However, like so many of our peers, he developed a phobia for the English subject, and decided to go the poly way to avoid (wat he perceived) as the terror that is GP.

During his poly days, while everyone around him is enjoying their new found freedom, CY discovered the beauty of the grading system of tertiary instiution (i.e. grading by distribution curve). He realised that if he jus work a bit harder than the rest, his grades will improve significantly. If he work even harder, distinction is his for grabs. So, with his unique single-mindedness, he stuck to his plan of working hard and achieved good grades modules after modules. For his hard work and good results, he was duly awarded the COM, which allow him to enter uni.

In uni, while everybody around him is still enjoying their freedom, CY continued to stuck to his plan and ploughed and grinded his way through. His hard work was once again paid off with good grades which culminated in him achieving a 1st class honours. Now, with his qualification and work experience, he was about to secure a PhD scholarship and there is no doubt he will still stick to his simple plan of working hard when he starts his postgrad studies.

In his personal life, CY is also doing quite well, having a lovely, stable gf and leading a peacful, healthy lifestyle free from much worries. Perhaps his hard-working attitude in both his work and studies jus kinda radiates to other aspects of his life, affecting them in a good way. Or perhaps, all his hard work built up good Karma which lead to all good things in his life. I like the latter explanation better.

Regardless, CY is a good example that hard work pays off. If you stay focus and put in the effort u will be duly rewarded. Sure, there is also need to work smart, but while working hard is about the amount of input, working smart is about efficiency. If you are not giving enough input, let's not talk about the efficiency.

Personally, looking up to CY as an example to follow is much better than looking up to some great icons that I only get to read and know about in books and other media. Cos here is a fren, someone close to me, someone jus like me . If he can do it, so can I; if he can work hard, so can I; if he can achieve wat he achieved by putting in the effort, so can I. Suddenly, alot of things doesn't seems so out of reach anymore. This is why I said in my previous post that this bugger is an inspiration.

Ok, it had been a long post and I am tired. So I shall stop here and wait for CY to practise his vocabulary (in preparation for his GRE. Funny how u jus can't run away from English right?) by leaving a comment for this post.

Month In Review - April

April was mostly peaceful and smooth-sailing. Work and life, all was fine (so was the weather too, it's spring now).

Let's start with work. Simple Chemistry rules. The reactions I had been doing were rather straight-forward (i.e. 1 pot reaction, few impurities, easy purification) and thankfully there was no big disaster, or unexpected situation. Everything is working in order and proceeded quite efficiently. So everyday work that was planned for that day was completed w/o much hassle and I go home everyday feeling good that the day's work had been tied up nicely. That's satisfaction for me.

Went for a drink with K and the ladies from the biolody lab. Got to know a bit more things about K. Turns out his supervisor for his postgrad years was a demanding guy with a fierce attitude. Apparently, there is a corelation between the type of boss one were under and the type of boss one will turn out to be, so I wonder if (by luck and fortune) I end up having my own lab, will i be a tyrant boss as well? Nah.....

Moving on to life outside work. The month started with a one week holiday, so I was able to visit Neuchâtel. Other then that, day-to-day living had been rather mundane and rountine; exercise after work, grocery shopping or stay home during weekends. It's warm and sunny nowadays so in the evening I can once again run along the Rhine river (which is convienently near my apt), where there are lotsa of ppl sun-bathing along the bank. Running along the river reminds me of my runs along the canal near my home in Sg (yes, the view of the river is way nicer, but still, not my world. And the feeling is different) . I was also reminded of ECP.... must go there when I am back in Sg.

One exceptional good news is that we had fixed a date for the return to Sg. I had also finalised when is my last day of work with K. Having a certainty over when we are returning certainly lift the mood of everyone and it jus make a happy April sweeter.

Long time fren CY had been reading my blog and dropping comments ecypeh (I pronounced it as "easy peh"). He's working hard for his GRE (which I am sure he will pass) and heading for a better things. He's an inspiration. Maybe I shall write a post about him.... but that might mean I have to write about my other long time frens as well. Hmmm...

So, now I am a month into the 3rd quarter and by the middle of next month, I will be halfway through it. Talking about May, it will be a month of holidays; there's one at the start, a long one in the middle, and one more at the end. Will I be doing more travelling, or will I jus laze at home. I dunno, that's something I will think about. Stay tuned for the next review if u wanna know more.