Science Centre with my NIE mates was fun but, erm, quite boring at the same time.
Some of the exhibits were interesting and fascinating, but, sorry, not my cup of tea. I was never a 'science' person, and I never will be.
I only agreed to go cos it's been quite long since we last saw one another, so I thought it might be a good chance to meet up. Plus, it was a different experience, a breakaway from the normal stuff we do everytime we meet up.
And so, there I was, travelling all the way to JURONG to see this demonstration. Some electricity thingy, which I can vaguely remember.
Okie lah. The demo was pretty amazing, especially when the balloons burst into flames when the current was turned on. Don't ask me why. They explained, but I forgot. Something to do with hydrogen gas and wireless transmission something. If you wanna know, go watch the demo yourself.
If not, be good and admire my photos. =)
There were some hands-on exhibits that we can play with, and try to learn at the same time. By the way, the disgusting-looking picture at the bottom right-hand corner is infested with huge huge cockroaches. Not the normal brown ones that can fly. But black and just huge. Like those that can be fried and treated like delicacies in some South East Asian countries. Urgh. Creepy crawly blackies. *shudders*
The mirror that makes me look super slim! How neat if I look like that in real life. Hehs.
After touring the boring parts of Science Centre, we went to the Da Vinci exhibition, which was the best part of all.
I was seriously amazed by the works of Leonardo Da Vinci. No wonder they call him the Genius, cos he really was!
You should really pay a visit to the exhibition. I think it's worth it. =)
Just pay for the exhibition.
You can skip Science Centre AND I-Max. We went to watch Sea Monsters at the omni-theatre, and I fell asleep for two-third of the entire show. *shrugs helplessly*
So don't ask me if it was nice or not. But the seat was comfy, that I can assure you. Hee.
And then we had dinner at Mac and waited for nightfall so we could go stargazing! For free!
But who knows, it rained quite heavily at night, and they had to close the observatory for a while.
Thankfully, it opened after the rain stopped, and man, was the queue long long long! As long as this post is going to be.
Plus the weather was quite humid after the rain, so we were all sweaty, sticky and hot.
But still, we queued, hoping to see some neat stars through the telescope.
They said we could catch Saturn, Jewel Box and Centauri (names of the stars).
Sounds like a lot of stars to you????
Me too.
Who knows.
After queueing for 50 minutes, after anticipating for THAT long, all I saw through the one and only gigantic-cum-humongous telescope was two pathetic little shining dots that were really close to each other.
I was expecting to see clear stars that are shaped like, well, stars!
Really, sometimes it's good to have no expectations at all, so you won't be disappointed when your expectations are not met.
But I have to say, I've learnt quite a bit from the astronomer, who owns a superduper cool laser pointer that can actually point directly at the stars in the sky!
Imagine how far the laser can reach!
And one amazing fact about one of the stars (which I forgot what it's called) is that its light takes 4.6 years to reach the earth. So when we were looking at it at that moment, we were actually looking at it 4.6 years AGO.
So cool, huh?!?!!
Oh wells.
At least I learnt something amazing from this trip.
But no more Science Centre trips for me for the next ten years. Unless my future school sends me. Yeeeeeewww.
*** *** ***
"This is the season to pick durians, la la la la la, la la la laaaa~!"
That's right!
Now is the durian season!
Good news for those who adore the king of fruits!
Better news for those who can get it for free! *woots!*
Went to Pulau Ubin a few days ago with my parents to pick free durians. Hee hee.
It was totally a spontaneous decision on my part, cos I thought it'd be fun and nice to visit the island after so many years (I used to go there when I was really young as my dad's friend had a house there donkey years ago).
Because it's the durian season, my dad and his friends have been going to the island to pick free and of superb-quality durians.
I'd describe it as a stakeout, cos you have to wait for them to fall off from the trees and then you go searching for them.
It was a totally neat experience, cos we had to cycle quite deep into the forest to look for the uncles (note: uncles = durians), wait for the durians to drop from the sky, open them up on the spot and savour the fruits of our labour. Hee!
Another fun part was the boat ride. =)
An enormous vessel came sailing at top speed, and our little boat had to slow down to let it pass.
Reaching P. Ubin!
That's my mummy. I didnt capture a very beautiful picture of her, hor?
And that's my father in white.
Choosing bicycles for us. Rent was dirt cheap, but the bikes were in quite bad quality.
Saw BeBe-lookalike, the not-so-pretty version. Hehs.
The uncles who were there since the hot afternoon (it was late evening when we got there). The number of durians they picked was unbelievable. And they didnt bring any food. They just ate the durians.
Burning the durians shells to keep away the commandos. Meaning super big mosquitoes.
The narrow trail that we cycled up to get to the landing.
The makeshift hacking area. Saw the three rectangular containers? Those were already filled with durians. =)
Durians are deeply loved by the Neo family. Just look at her.
And me. =)
Heaps of durian shells. 
My super white track shoes. Must wear long track pants to prevent being kissed by the commandos. My forehead was exposed and I got a kiss as soon as I got there.
Non-stop hacking and prying open the hard hard shells.
My mum helping to fill the round container with our yellow friends. Quite impossible to fill it cos we kept eating them. Ha!
When the round container was filled completely with durians, and when the uncles finally decided that they couldnt bring back any more durians, we headed for the jetty.
These two dogs are really obedient! They just mind their own business and laze around, enjoying the breeze. =)
You know those huge rick sacks coolies always carry over their shoulders?
We took two of them that are completely packed with you-know-what. Plus the three rectangular and the round containers.
Offered some to our neighbours, who were simply overjoyed.
But we were still left with an overwhelming amount of durians.
Me and my mum made durian muffins the next morning.
The taste was heavenly. =)
I can't imagine how anyone can hate durians.
*** *** ***
Shaheena's 23rd birthday celebration!
We had a hard time finding a halal restaurant that is nice and affordable.
In the end we settled for this:
Shaheena, SC and Philip.
Me, Keng Tzu and Eleanor.
We let Sha ordered for us, cos we simply dun understand the menu.
But the food was very very nice!
The taste wasn't overwhelming so it was rather suitable for local taste buds.
It was fun trying all the different sauces/gravy.
Plus their service was two thumbs-up.
They were very polite and kind towards us.
Although we made a reservation, we were late and when we got there, it was their break time (they close the shop after lunch hour to prepare for dinner crowd).
But they still served us very willingly.
So we were the only ones in the entire restaurant, which is so Bollywoodish.
Cake-cutting ceremony was done in a jiffy cos we didnt want to impose on them.
Present-giving ceremony was done outside the restaurant. Haha.
There was this Mini Rider 2 outside Toys R Us, and Eleanor and I paid $6 for a 'thrilling' ride. No picture for that, though.
While waiting for Tzu and Sha's turn of the ride, I wanna try and see if I can still fit into those kiddy rides.
And then Eleanor joined me, the only one who's young at heart like me. HA!
Spent a long time deciding what movie to watch.
In the end, we settled for Drag Me To Hell, a horror flick most of us wanna watch.
Poor Tzu.
She kept her eyes tightly shut in the entire show and held Eleanor's hand for support because she's a timid girl who doesnt dare and doesnt like horror movies. Lolz.
She's the first person I know who does that. She paid $7 not to watch movies, but to listen to them. HAHA! So cute.
Anyway, the movie was damn nice lah! Very scary, very gross and very surprising. Though I already know the story (thanks to Lester!), but still, it made me scream at some point.
Lesson learnt from this movie?
Always be kind and good and true to yourself and others. You never know who you're dealing with.
Maybe those two people I mentioned earlier should go watch the show.
But I guess they wouldnt know the lessons, cos they'd probably die in the cinema from all the 'little' shocking moments.
Hehs.
Oh boy.
What a long post this is. Took me 3 hours to finish it!
It's 4.23AM now.
Tsk tsk.
Till then, take care and eat lots of durians if you can! HAH!
Xiang and Tiong. I edited this pic for ages just so their faces could be shown. The original pic was so dark that you can't even see their smiles.
Darren and me. He's also going to Melbourne for studies soon. And in case you're wondering, I permed my hair, so it looks kinda messy. But I love my curls! Hee.
