_*Raison D'etre Blog*

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

damn I'm really behind time in updating my blog! I'm just done with my CSB328 presentation which i performed verbal diarrheoa, but nonetheless I'm plenty glad its over... as usual its waiting for my long but interesting UNI255 sexuality class... the last weekend was a long one thanks to fall break on thursday and friday.. since my roomies were planning to spend their romantic xmas with their bfs/friends while I will be in vancouver, I decided to take a trip to new york on my own! pretty fun since I know 5 groups of friends going NYC during xmas: Pam and raf, Justin my NUS-Bi ex-boss, Janet+BF, Felicia + friends, Kelvin + Jean + Elaine... would have been really interesting if i was to be there for xmas too! imagine meeting 5 groups of friends in a foreign place! zomg... I think theres another 1 or 2 groups that I can't remember now too!

oh wells... gotta say first that my exp in new york has been far from good.. the weather was terrible with intermittent light rain throughout the whole day, complete cloud overcast and foggy nights... for an outdoor person like me, it was a big minus especially since I like to take nice photographs.. I started off on wednesday night with a greyhound bus overnight for 10hrs from Toronto Bus terminal.. it stopped over at buffalo after crossing the border (as usual customs were very suspicious of non-whites), followed by syracruse and finally new york city.. I reached slightly earlier at about 7am and decided to walk over to nearby times square since I had time to kill~ the huge billboards and colourful signs are really cool! I then took a subway (after taking the wrong line once) to my hostel at amsterdam avenue - Hostelling International! Its pretty much like a army bunk with 12 beds per room, the bed was all nice and comfy and was cooling (natural air con).. they had really nice lounges and wireless internet at the common area with neat kitchen facilities! except for the 2 powerpoints per room thing, I found the stay in Hostelling International raelly worthwhile!

after dumping my stuff, i took the subway down to Battery Park amidst light drizzle and went through the airport security thing before boarding the boat to liberty island.. sadly the statue looked almost defaced on the side facing manhatten, but as the boat cruised closer to the front, can see that its still pretty green and ok~ so quickly took shots while fighting for space with other tourists to take a photo on the top deck.. when i reached the island, i tried to take some pics below the statue but the wind was so strong that my tripod (unmounted) just toppled on its own~ so I decided to go into the pedestal first.. there I noticed a bunch of guys who seemed to take notice my NUS jumper and after chatting with them, found out they were singaporeans too who just ORD-ed earlier november and now on tour before uni starts.. shioks sia! post ORD come so far! We explored the musuem at the pedestal before heading up to the top of the pedestal where the rain fell on us like needles with strong winds throwing off any chance of good stable shots of the manhatten skyline... later i went to staten island as I left the group and looked around the immigration museum before heading back to manhatten island..

from battery park, i went on to visit wall street, the place where lincoln became the first president of USA, trinity church and the world trade center site (which is nothing more than a construction site).. apparently the pool memorial was no longer there or something~ or had to pay like $20 for a tour inside a musuem in an adjacent building.. not interested.. =\ I just feel that its wrong to make money out of a tragedy man.. totally put me off.. in the end I just looked from afar and could only imagine the collapse and the great number of lives lost that day and offer a silent prayer.. I walked on and found myself near the municipal and city hall, took a few pics and took the subway up to empire state building.. surprisingly, although it was close to sunset, there was no queue and all and I just flew through all the lines they set up.. Feel abit tricked for my $2 additional online booking to skip the lines that didn't exist! tsk.. the so called legendary lines is a dud! booo~ nonetheless pretty glad I went up quick and saw a nice sunset on the west~ however as they confiscated all tripods, i couldnt take a solid shot, resorting to sticking my camera off the ledge of 86 stories and letting it go for long exposures.. haha made me take a heavy heave of relief after every shutter closure as i bring it in~ later on the wind became so strong that I was stopped in my tracks and struggled just to take a step forwrad.. I spotted what seems like a skating ring near times square so impromptuly planned my next destination!

first I popped by Madison Square Garden (which I first heard of from Godzilla) to look-see before heading to B&H photo! the famous camera superstore in USA! was kinad lucky coz I only vaguely remembered its location and had no idea whats the address.. after getting lost abit, i found it! it was HUGE! omg.. all that camera gear.. unfortunately I didn't do any research if the stuff were cheaper so in the end didn't bought anything (since I didn't need them eitherways).. unlike toronto, it was like 8pm but still so crowded, so i decided to venture on to times square again, this time at night! it was soooo cool that I just took a seat on those infamous red chairs and just relaxed and took in the cool colours and billboards in the bustle as everyone rushes here and there~ I then popped by the Hershey and M&M World shops and also hard rock cafe to grab some souvenirs~ I then ventured onto where i thought i saw the skating ring and found it! (though getting lost abit again!) took some pics and kinda wished I knew how to skate well! NVM shall practise when i get back to Toronto when the outdoor rings open! sastified and sufficiently shagged, i took the subway back to retire for the night~

waking up early, i set off to central park which was about 5 streets east of my hostel.. the weather was gloomy and cloudy as usual so central park didnt come across as very beautiful to me especially since it was late autumn too with all the dead leaves.. I did like their nice looking bridges and the place called turtle pond i think! The ramble which supposedly had a rich diversity of animals was dissapointedly empty probably due to the migration of birds away from the impending winter~ saw other landmarks like the bow bridge where spidey got dumped by mary jane (i think), bethesda fountain where losta movies were filmed... in between, i also went to visit the exterior of the metropolitant musuem of art~ after the long trek from the top to bottom of central park, i went on for lunch at a bar/grill called UNO chicago before entering the american musuem of natural history!

strangely it didnt look one bit like the movie 'night of the musuem'.. its cooler! haha greeted by 2 huge dinosaur skeletons, paid the 'voluntary' donation of $12 for students (which the receptionist actually didnt give you the option to pay less)and went on! the exhibits really looked very life-like and huge~ saw animals from africa, canada, a cool sea animals exhibit, some human civilizations and aboriginals, birds, reptiles and the coolest dinosaurs! though the number of dinosaurs weren't much more than the ROM which i visited the week before, they have ABIT more actual dinosaur bones~ quite dissapointing still to know many were actually casts! boo~

tired but still keen to go on, i decided to go visit some of the districts, namely Greenwhich Village and SoHo! got really lost in greenwhich village due to the zoomed-out map i had (which I am still thankful for from Velda) and the confusing angled road intersections.. now i realise the importance of having a digital compass in the Iphone 3GS.. (which hopefully i can get when i return to sinagpore!) Greenwhich village was pretty cool with red brick buildings and classy looking boutiques.. i randomly chanced upon this bakery called magnolia bakery which was filled with people and smelt TERRIBLY AWEEESOME! so i went in, saw that their specialty was cupcakes (which i HATED), bought 2 to try, ate one as I walked out, and fell in LOVE WITH CUPCAKES! makes you wonder how the rest of the world made such horrible cupcakes! I explored further taking some wrong turns again from the confusing roads before finding my way to SoHo aka ORCHARD ROAD! woohoo~ H&M, Uniqlo, Coach, Oakley, AX and other high class brands~ the weather grew worst during this period so i decided to just keep my camera in my bag~ so no photos.. BOO! the clothes had alot more but weren't exactly cheaper save for the higher end brands, so the thrifty me so window shopped for fun!

funnily, walking around i ended up at city hall again, thus meaning i have explored everything south of city hall on day 1 and north of it on day 2! cool! though satisfied, it was 9pm-is (which still feels early in the city that never sleeps) so i went on to walk the brooklyn bridge~ was pretty nice but couldnt find a good photo spot~ moreover I didn't bring out a tripod since I knew the wind could blow it over eitherways so it was really difficult to take any nice shots.. once again I just gave up and looked around.. though the wind became so strong I could swear I saw the suspension lines SHAKING... so i quickly walked back, took the subway and KO back in the hostel~

last day! packed my gear, checked out in the morning and rented a locker to keep my luggage before heading on for my last day~ decided to visit grand central terminal~ was pretty big and grand, but before i could take a cool photo, was courteously told that i couldnt use my tripod in the terminal~ oh wells.. after that i hiked down to the united nations in light rain... (AGAIN) and boy i was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo dissapointed! the coolest part of united nations were all the flags there.. but due to the weather.. they KEPT THEM ALL!! &*%&@%*@)&)(*# cursing and swearing.. i took some pics (albeit abit indifferent from other buildings w/o the flags) and went on~ as my MUST-DOs list was all cleared, i looked at the map and decided to randomly walk around~ funnily i found myself at st patricks cathedral which seemed pretty touristy.. i also ended up at rockfeller center which was actually pretty cool! they had a huge xmas tree and a ice skating ring! oh man.. too bad it was too early to light up the tree if not will be sooo nice! boo~

i walked on towards the shopping areas adjacent to times square but the rain forced me to take shelter and early lunch before continuing on.. I was however pleasantly surprised to find a kinda street market! they sold losta pasar malam-y stuff like fake shades and losta cool stuff too! though i was tempted to buy some cliche IheartNY, the weather took a very bad toll on my mood so i decided not to~ i finally reached times square again, with a weekend crowd this time, though abit too many times, I didnt really get bored of taking photos at this center of human activity (as long as i was seated and relaxed and not bustling around)~ this time I went on to explore the thearte district and was surprised to see long queues and at almost every thearte! haha too bad I not a big fan nor with friends who love them so just look see can le~

still about 4hrs before my bus back, I though of getting souvenirs for my roomies so I decided to travel all the way to greenwhich village to buy the cupcakes for them~ this time it had a long queue outside probably due to the weekend so took quite awhile just to buy the cupcakes which are USD$3 each! ouch~ I then went on to Times Warner Center which was actually a shopping center~ looked around as I couldnt head out in the heavy downpour... after the rain let up abit, i finally got on to central park, hoping to catch people skating at the famous wollman skating ring.. sadly due to the rain it was closed.. ARGH! I &(@)&$*(((@)$(ing hate the rain! ***... GRRR~ dissapointed AGAIN, i kept my camera from any further abuse by the light rain and went back to my hostel to grab my gear, headed back to madison square garden to buy krispy kreme to share with my roomies too then went to the Port Authoriy bus terminal..

though the end of my trip, I had a bad experience there cause of there was NO information booth or had no one manning them.. ended up being lead by this African American who ended up asking me for tips after leading me to the bus bay.. i gave him USD$1 for his troubles, but ended up realizing that it was the bus bay for morning bus to toronto~ i ended up trying to find, running up and down again to find the bus bay to toronto.. was approached by others like him, but was so angry I just shrugged them off.. finally found it thanks to a flimsy piece of paper pasted on the wall.. the bus left on time, but before it even left the terminal, it had an accident as the bus driver his his side mirror as he was negotiating a bend and the whole side mirror came off.. we ended up being delayed 30min just to board a smaller and noisier bus before leaving.. the whole trip back i couldnt sleep well in fear of this bus driver especially since the visibility was barely 100m in front of you thanks to the lack of streetlights (like anywhere else here) and the *^(*&ing weather causing a fog.. nonetheless i was glad to make it back safely, went back to my room and KO-ed..

gotta say this is my first travel trip with so much DISSAPOINTMENT... i guess its 90% due to the weather.. cause if i take that out of the equation, i actually achieved alot more than i set out to do in NYC! but yeah the weather really made me change my plans all the time, cause considerable damage to my camera (i dropped my camera bag which caused my dented B+W filter glass to fall backwards.. thankfully it was just the filter, at first i thought my autofocus mechanism was broken) and overall bad mood and atmosphere for all 3 days.. I didn't particular like the crowded nature of NYC especially since I was alone and on free and easy.. makign walking around a pain sometimes.. I especially had a very very bad impression of American African Blacks: 1. One receptionist at the subway who was chatting with her boyfriend while on duty complained and bitched to me as I asked her for help getting change to buy my metro card.. 2. on a crowded train, as I moved towards the center of the car, a black man just shoved my plastic bag carrying the cupcakes as it was being held in front of him.. i was so pissed but didnt want to pick a fight in a foreign country so just stared at that son of a b*tch who retardedly wore shades indoors and flirted with his gf next to him.. f***er.. 3. as you already know, that guy who 'helped' me at the bus terminal, in the end causing me unnecessary distress thinking I might miss the bus... thankfully i went there early.. phew...

well thats basically my NYC trip... not as beautiful and lovely as all my other tours here so far.. leaving a very sour aftertaste in me... though I am pretty thankful that I won't have to go back to that terrible place anything soon, especially in christmas where i bet the number of people will just piss me off big time.. makes me wonder why so many people claim to LOVE NEW YORK.. in my opinion, its just a huge, messy city that is totally overrated.. being back in toronto, also a relatively big city, with nicer people, less blacks, less crowded, better weather... I am really thankful I cleared this 'tourist destination' albeit with a terrible experience...

dEminG

My mind's unweaving/ 6:54 AM

Friday, October 30, 2009

Wow.. its already nearing the end of October and the end of fall.. Time truly flies here (its almost becoming a self fulfilling prophecy everytime I blog).. Since academic life kickstarted in UofT, my life has been passing over in weeks... everytime wishing the weekend will reach soon and seeing it fly past just like that.. Though it is not for nought as I've also done quite a few things here in Canada since the last post!

Firstly, heres the photos I have not uploaded to share till now of the various places I've been in and around Toronto!

Canadian National Exhibition Air Show

ISIC Welcome BBQ

Me winning free tickets to....

St Jacob's Village and Elora Gorge

St Jacob's Farmer's Market

Mennonite Museum

Elora Gorge!

More Photos of UofT!

University College where i take UNI255

cool windows in Hart House

Gerstein Library (Science Library)

Convocation Hall!

Toronto Islands!

Friends over in Toronto!!

Fabby + Yue Zhi at Salad King!

With Kelvin and Mooncakes I bought for his gf to give kelvin by proxy!

Great Ice Wine with great friends!

Kelvin our proud marathon-er who did his PB in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon!

Joker's Hill Forestry Field Trip

measuring Basal Area!

Measuring Tree age (rings)

Mid Autumn Festival + Nuit Blanche (an overnight town arts festival!)

Mooncakes Kelvin bought for us!

Eating mooncakes + Tang Yuan in our own balcony while enjoying the full moon view!

Inside AGO

Rabbit Balloon!

At Nathan Philips Square

St Lawrence's Market

Sunday Antique Market

Historic Distillery District

CabbageTown

Yup thats basically cleared by blog/photographic debt for my life in toronto up till my montreal/quebec trip! Shall upload my next post on my wonderful 4D3N trip to Montreal and Quebec City! Stay tuned!! =]

dEminG
Loving every bit of Canada!

My mind's unweaving/ 3:41 AM

Thursday, September 24, 2009

somehow on exchange, time seems to pass by soooo much faster.. maybe its because I walk everywhere I go... maybe its cause we cook our own meals and wash our own dishes... maybe its cause we sleep so long and comfortably in our comfy home... maybe its just me... its kind of hard to believe that I've been in Toronto for close to 1 month and that I've only explored this much of Toronto...

My lessons unfortunately have been congested into Monday to Friday with no free days.. lest Thursday and Friday being relatively free days with only 1 lesson each... my tiring days are usually monday and tuesday with my classical mythology class early in the morning with a 30min walk to class, and my late histories of sexualities class till 9pm on tuesday night... Week 3 is coming to a close and though I've pretty much settled down into the routine of school life, the revelation of class tests coming in 2 weeks time unsettles me so..

CLA204H - Introduction to Classical Mythology:
An interesting subject matter, one of which I would not have expected myself to take in NUS.. I took it as a matter of desperation due to a time table clash and myself not taking note of the way to read the module description well enough to realise the clash.. what i dislike most about this course is that its on Mon,Wed and Fri at 10am and is 30min walk for me.. Whats more, the lecturer is just mumbling to himself for the entire one hour.. at first I thought moving closer to seat in the front rows will help, but his rumblings just got worst and he does not articulate his words well that I just gave up.. now my only reason for attending his classes is to copy down the lecture notes he presents ONLY because he refuses to upload them online... and for every lecture test on fridays... sigh... not quite my exchange enrichment module i was looking for...

CSB328H - Developmental Biology
1 of my 2 core modules I managed to map to my LSM modules in NUS.. its funny to do really Biology stuff again especially since the only Biology module i took so far is Biodiversity.. Being a Cell and Systems Biology (CSB) department module, it seems like the students are all pretty well versed in Biology.. especially in lab processes... just last tuesday, we used microscopes to observe Xenopus (african toad) embryos in different stages of embryogenesis and were asked to make complication disections that left me going "huh?".. I didn't buy the textbook cause its the exact same textbook i can buy in singapore for half the price here but not having the textbook feels like I won't catch up with the other students here.. nonetheless, i like the enthusiasm of the lecturer and I can understand clearly what he teaches and also rekindle the fun of drawing cells and structures like JC biology again~!

FOR200H - Conservation of Canada's Forests
A really canadian module! Its funny cause the other students seem to know abit about the forests around their country and the situations they are faced with... maybe they are forestry majors, but even for me, I only know abit about the tropical forests around Singapore.. the lessons were taught quite normally but I like the photos of the forests, habitats and wildlife included in the lecture notes that keeps me interested! this weekend I'm going to Joker's Hill (a UofT reserve) to do a field trip for this module! Looking forward to it!!

PCL302H - Pharmacodynamic Principles
This modules pretty normal as in it doesn't feel that much different from a NUS module... it has less class involvement and more studying NUS style~ but that also makes me feel alot more comfortable taking this module with just the right (less is right) amount of lecture notes being covered during every 1hrs lecture~ bought the textbook here since the author is actually the lecturer herself! don't think I'll be able to buy that from Singapore huh? it does kinda stir my interest due to the drug names and all and my interest in biomedical studies! woohoo!!

UNI255 - History and Sexuality
Why, I can't possibly take too many science LSM modules here right? beats the purpose of coming on exchange~ As I was module shopping, this module kinda caught my attention studying the history of sexualities, not just the male-female sexes but every thing else too~ though the lectures are long and tiring (on my Tuesday long days 3hrs long), it is a unique subject matter myself esp since I myself actually HATE homosexuals alot... but along the course it seems that my hate was kinda unfounded... oh well its complicated.. I still do not support their cause, but studying more into the changing cultures and psychologies of sexualities over the course of history is quite an interesting module!

well, thats what I've been doing in school! I've also joined the Hart House Camera Club with like 4 underground personal darkrooms and 1 big group darkroom.. I also tried out the Atheletic Center's indoor stadium with track and realised my HORRIBLE 'fitness' that I can't run more than 1.2km without breathing with difficulty (which i partly attribute to the cold air causing it hard to breathe) but still... damn... i gotta run more often lest i go back for eternal RT... I've also been about and around Toronto abit, to the St Jacob's Village and Elora Gorge with the International Students Center, Toronto Island for a shooting trip, St Lawrence Market, Historic Distillery District and Cabbage town~ So much more of toronto remains unexplored as I slowly discover my toronto! =]

dEminG

My mind's unweaving/ 8:57 PM

Monday, September 07, 2009

phew... finally got some breath left in me to blog~ its amazing how time flies when there's so many things on your mind as well as tasks to achieve when you're in an overseas country on exchange~ though tiresome at times, I'm starting to find fun in all this small challenges and discoveries we make along the way~ But well, lets head back to where I left off from the last post: Niagara Falls Days 2 and 3!!

Niagara Falls Day 2

After a good nights rest at the Courtyard, we went over to tim hortons to find cheap breakfast! was our first time eating and I was really surprised how cheap it was at $1.27 per cup of coffee since it seems so alike to starbucks.. they also had really nice looking pastries and I got myself a sausage muffin! yummyy~ after that we went to the visitors center to get the All day adventure great gorges pass~ First off, we went to the Maid of the Mist where we board this double storey boat that sailed next to the american veil falls and into the mist of the canadian horseshoe falls~ was nice getting a close up of both falls and especially the heavy downpour caused by the mist inside the horseshoe falls! luckily i brought a ziplock to protect my DSLR~ woohoo fun!

after that we headed up to table rock via the people movers bus (which the girls commented about having cute male tour guides - where's the pretty female guides!!) where we watched the Niagara Fury, a 4D simulation show about the creation of the falls followed by taking a lift down to the side of the horseshoe falls in the Journey Behind the Falls to get another close up and even walk in age old tunnels behind falls itself~ after lunch (teriyaki chicken rice yummy!) we went up north of Niagara River to the white water walk to see Class 6 rapids~ thats a place you wouldnt wanna do white water rafting in!! with losta time left before sunset, we went up to the botanical gardens passing by the Whirlpool Aero car to kill time.. i then headed back to the hotel to get my tripod and grab some rest before meeting the girls to hopefully catch the sunset along the falls..

unfortunately before sunset the wind was blowing into the canadian side where i was standing to take a nice shot of the falls so it was pouring heavily along with cold chilly winds.. with only my NUS jumper, i kept shaking as I struggled to wipe the len clean for a split second to take the shot before another spray of water hit the lens and prevent it from focussing properly.. it was a gamble I took and the outcome was not as desirable as I hoped as the sunset was not spectacular and my camera obviously shortened its lifespan alot during that cold and wet 40min i spent unprotected in the downpour for the perfect shot..

in my drenched sweater following sunset, we went to burger's place where i grabbed a cup of hot chocolate to bring some warmth intomy freezing body as I went to the male toilet to use the hand dryer to dry my sweater, clothes and body as i drew curious and strange stares from people seeing me trying to dry all parts of my body using the hand dryer~ nonetheless, after getting some warmth back we walked along the niagara falls parkway to take nice shot of the niagara falls illuminated by coloured lights from the canadian side.. its these shots that really make me feel that lugging my heavy tripod halfway across the world was worth it all.. satisfied we went back and i took a nice warm shower and retired for the night without falling sick (YEAH!)

Niagara Falls D3
the night before, I was searching for wine tours and I finally found a cheaper alternative than the one offered by the hotel (which did not offer a tour of inniskilins) coz of a student discount~! we slept in late so we woke up straight and got a pick up direct from our hotel by a nice old driver/tour guide called Chuck and picked up another American lady called Marie in another hotel nearby before we started our tour!

first off chuck took a short stopover not in the plan (thats what i love about small group tours) at the floral clock! after that we stopped at a hill overlooking america where a battle occured.. during the ride he talked to us extensively about the history of Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) and also about wineries.. soon we reached our first winery, stonechurch wineries! At first my mind was all about just inniskilin and famous canadian winery Reif estate.. but after a nice patient explanation by the store owner, we then tasted their wines which weren't half bad! I then bought a bottle of ice wine for only $20! woohoo! Small wineries prove my point that "GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES!"

after that, we dropped by Pillitteri Wineries (we thought the driver read "Military Wineries) hahaa~ but he did advised us against buying anything there.. and the wine tasting was so-so~ but i did notice this ICE-WINE jams which I asked if I could buy later and chuck say have~ so i decided against purchasing anything~ after that we passed by Virgil, the center of NOTL and stopped over for lunch in the nice nice retirement town~ the buidlings were all old and vintagy but also quite new and refreshing at the same time! truly an option for my retirement!

after lunch, we headed to MY long awaited Inniskilins! Woohoo!! We went ahead for a tour around the winery and the smell of wines really make me thirsty! after the tour, we had another wine tasting before being released into my mini heaven of ice wine selections... there were riesling and carbernet franc ice wines too! but to truly taste something diff, i paid to taste the sparkling vidal ice wine and it was fantastic! so i bought one! yummyyy~~!! satisfied and educated on the production of ice wines, we headed to our last stop, Reif Estate wineries! was pretty quiet for a popular canadian winery and the wines weren't half bad either.. so i bought one bottle of ice wine and several small ones as souvenirs! with that done, tired and semi-high on wine tastings, we stopped by a cute small church called the "Living Water Wayside Church" that can barely fit 5 people inside to get married! finally we drove straight back to the hotel and rested...

being the last night at Niagara Falls, I decided to try my luck since Chuck mentioned there maybe a possibility for fireworks even though its September~ so i took my tripod down alone while the ladies went for dinner and waited with many more tourists also expecting fireworks that should happen at 10pm.. unfortunately, even with the huge turnout and signboards that read "Fireworks Tonight", I waited 30min in the freezing cold before a police car drove by announcing "No fireworks tonight"~ Dissapointed, I was still satisfied to have spent more time enjoying the sights and breeze of the Niagara Falls nonetheless~~

We had a long nights rest and checked out and took the bus back to Toronto and took a cramp streetcar back to our apartment, dropped our stuff in our now-cleaned up apartment and settled down~ UofT life here we come!

dEminG
Seen a Natural Wonder of the World!!

My mind's unweaving/ 7:43 AM