Bain Of My Life

i really like the interview tasks i've been set. its finally a career path i see myself pursuing in the next 5-10 years. final one today. didn't go as well as the last one. wasn't a complete bomb but neither was it a stellar success. the lady just wasn't very helpful. pls help me in this Lord. i think i've finally found smth i will enjoy doing. till the next reckoning in several days.

pushing the eiffel over, ultra-kawa-i mini bus that navigates the narrow streets of florence, shops-on-bridges and david's anatomy

simply the best food-trip ever ;p just a single meal in florence and you'll never be satisfied with the stuff the brits dare call pasta!

mana mana and entropy effect!

The Entropy Effect

The Entropy Effect
florence, pisa (and bologna + forli) last nite marked the end of the most eventful (note: with the implications here that eventful is not always what you expect it to be) trip i've undertaken. it was a real trip of ups-and-downs, unexpected twist and turns ... it was beginning to look really like a joh grisham trailer or better yet an episode of 24! ;p

THE GOOD THINGS
le food. arguably the best food trip ever. each day is a feast for the palate as we tuck into pastas, bistecca (florence beef steak), pork chops, pizzas almost every single meal. the wonderful thing about florence is the abundance of good restaurants. even the lowliest cafetaria, or the cheapest diner ("self-service leonardo")

the good times. finding out about the bain interview. dreamy conversations before falling off to sleep (think: bouquet!!;p). finding an abandoned copy of star trek: entropy effect to while away the hours while mana mana girl mugs at the books. catching pride and prejudice.

the people. michele, our friendly, scenery-crazy pisa hotel host. the sudoko-obsessed old couple who shared a cab with us to the forli airport.

the sights. the absolute magnificence of david's grace.

the best mates. mana mana girl. entropy effect boy.

THE BAD THINGS
transport woes. missing venice. uninformed about day-light saving and arriving at the train station just 10 min b4 out flight was due to depart. learning that our flight out from pisa was cancelled. informed that we have to travel to bologna (forli) to catch our replacement flight. train to florence which is one hour late AND learning that we missed our eurostar train to bologna. having to stand on the eurostar train despite the fact that we paid 26.30 euros.

the people. crazy train-hijacking communist kids. bitchy counter-women who gossip whilst they are serving you and are not only rude but condescending (because i don't speak italian?!!). horrible official had the cheek to imply that it was our fault for missing eurostar train. gelatto man in pisa who was rude, kept talking to his friends whilst ignoring his customers. (you wonder why that particular economy is in the doldrums!) the queer fantastic four, super size-me american family, weird finger-waving-in-front-of-my-face lady

Blessings In Disguise?

we missed venice haha - we dun blame you bee! - but that may have been a blessing. i received an email concerning a phone interview with bain sgp on wed (while in florence!). almost certainly would not have checked my email and be able to do the extensive case preparation i'm doing now if we had went! heh and so perhaps God's working his miracles again - its up to me to get into the next round now! ;p unfortunately though seem to have caught ze bug from bee ... hopefully both of us will be fit enough to travel and for me, to incomplete the gruelling 40-min long phone case interview.

Running For Our Lives

in the words of benny ben ... this song is "pretty good"

I'll sing it one last time for you
Then we really have to go
You've been the only thing that's right
In all I've done

And I can barely look at you
But every single time I do
I know we'll make it anywhere
Away from here

Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear

Louder louder
And we'll run for our lives
I can hardly speak I understand
Why you can't raise your voice to say

A Little Prayer

my dad's been down with a pretty nasty virus lately. worse, he's a workaholic who will never relax. i hope you guys will pray for his speedy recovery and for God to help him relax on the work if need be. thanks guys.

in no particular order: miso soup, teriyaki chicken, katsu chicken pork chop, prawn and mushroom tempura, grilled squid, tofu, salmon sushi, salmon-skin sushi, californian roll, avacado roll, several other weird rolls and of course sashimi!!!

the placidly satisfied, the joyous and the ecstatically-delighted???!!

Sashimi-ed!

pause for a moment to consider a little restuarant tucked away in the heart of soho - no. 40 frith street - deep in central london: passing through a friendly sky-blue portal you are immediately greeted on your right by a sushi chef preparing the delicacy behind a long refrigerator displaying rows and rows of raw fish of every variety; led downstairs into a cosy dining room where japanses-style cushions are laid around brightly-coloured tables warmly beckoning diners; and of course piles and piles of SASHIMI (and sushi too lah)!!! *goes delirious*
this japanese buffet comes at the very reasonable price of 15pds (good even at sgp prices). you get to choose eight dishes - anything from teriyaki to tempura - and of course the selection of sushi and sashimi is Fluid (what they call their free-flow) ;p sam, bee and alien, 3 very hungry jap-food craving individuals are made to wait 15 min for a table ... but le sashimi (of pretty decent quality) was more than worth it. note to anyone deciding to try out ze place: try to order less sushi, the rice just fills up space, go straight for the sashimi - sam realizes this mistake only at the end of ze meal when le bee and alien are the only ones left stuffing sashimi non-stop ;p
satisfaction guaranteed - the evidence: refusing to sit on the bus because your truly was too stuffed; falling asleep only 10 min after reaching home; fish-dreams; still feeling full and satisfied the next morning
LIG

Operation Laska for Six

had jacky, cadence, weibin and so yeun over for dinner today. we did the cheating method - prima paste laksa! and just earlier today i had a nice conversation with marvin during squash (and learnt that mauritius is in the indian ocean not the pacific! oops!). i really need to get out and mix more with my friends, especially non-singaporeans. i think there's lots of friendships to be built and i've seen some reciprocation in recent weeks that has made me more enthusiastic about the entire issue. second years as a whole, as ben mentioned, are just too busy and drained to make new friends but i guess we can work on strengthening the relationships that already exist.
i'm still having problems about my commitment and faith as whole. we've got doubts all of us ... but unfortuntely some of us are just more burdened that others. with His help i'll slowly work that out.
finished all my bloody essays for the term!!! bwahahahaha ... i shall spend the next week organizing and preparing for the easter hols. additionally our house is a MESS! i will initially conduct [operation spring clean] in my room (with the help of a new vacuum cleaner which i have already looked-up in the argos catalogue!). i hope to extend the operation to the rest of the house (but this is entirely dependant on my ability to persuade my PIGGY housemates to assist!)

Apparently that little pin marks the Tan residence at 18 Elliot Walk as seen from orbit ... Google Earth's cool huh? ;p

Le Passion Sportive

I enjoyed myself yesterday. Just spending hours at sports again was enough to kick the adrenaline and passion back. The gym is a vastly different experience from sporting activities. I keep at the former to maintain fitness but I do so because I have willed myself to do so, because of a commitment to keep fit. The latter however, needs no encouragement. Just as when you're spending time with your best friends or reading a good book, time spent in a good (sporting) game really flies by you. Volleyball had me pretty pumped up even though we really weren't very good (even thinking of forming and training a team next year if its in the Games again). Floorball isn't my favourite game to begin with, but just being out there competing, cheering and working as a unit again was exhilarating. Table tennis with Ben was pretty enjoyable enjoy though I was thrashed in the singles and won in the doubles only because it was just us and KCL competing. Hmmm I'm starting to think "LSE squash team 2006/07"!!! (Of course loads of training, coaching and practice required ;p) Only worry is my knee - it wasn't in the best of shape yesterday; and floorball doesn't even come close to squash in terms of impact!
The Games also brought me face to face with such cases of arrogance that I felt utterly disgusted. True that many of those excelling in sports (and of course in other areas) have a right to feel pride at their achievement. They have probably worked hard for them after all. Yet to assume arrogance and an air of condesending superiority towards opponents (especially "amateurish" people who play in the Games for fun) is totally absurd, carries massive hints of an inferiority complex and is an insult to God as well (who else can we utlimately attribute our successes to?).