i have nothing to write about. my life here is getting a little boring without my fieldtrips and out of town trips. there is absolutely nothing blog worthy. so if i dont blog means my life is zzzzzz.

for now till easter it is just going to be alot of readin books i dont understand, doing a GIS project i cant get data for, writing up two reports i am too lazy to start, and studying for exam i dont really care for.

and ultimately looking for jobs.

the only thing that amaze me now are the flowers that are blooming in patched all over school. today is officially the last day of 'winter' and 'spring' starts tomorrow. i have survived 2 seasons here in wet cold UK. huray for me! nothing much to show you guys except some flowers randomly blooming on the way to the library. so pretty, esp when it is a nice sunny day.


anyway. i am on a 'lard-away' fitness regime. i am aiming to shed the fats i have accumulated through the winter. hibernation period is over so i dont need need the insulation around the waist anymore. so far i have hit the gym every single day for one week. good job shanny! but i dont know how much more determination i have to hit 55kg.

and one more point. i am like DAMN FAIR now. i dont think my skin as seen so little sun before for such a long time. for ones my skin is like yellow instead of brown. i want brown skin. i go to the gym and when i compare myself to the angmohs im YELLOW. like jundice. i was so desperate i even bought a bronzer so that on days i feel WHITE/YELLOW, i can powder up and pretend i am who i should be.

joining the improvers class is making me feel like i am the worst player in the class. and you know what? not only am i the only female in the class, i AM absolutely the worst player. dont try to comfort me coz it is the absolute TRUTH. all the guys are like college/university standard and i feel like a peanut being stepped on playing with them.

and everyone knows that in places not called 'Singapore' college/university standard is WAY in a level so HIGH UP THERE you cant even imagine returning a serve. the perfect case example = thomas.

and to make things worse. today was volley/net. and GOD HOW I HATE THE NET. everyone knows that and how bad i play upfront. and to make it worse, the guys serve the ball like God put the speed of sound in it. and just for being a guy and being good, i can barely see the ball to return it. much less bother to make a run for it.

i pity my partner. and the other guys i played a doubles game with. i know how irritating it is when a player in your team is inadequate. and what made it worse was that on the next court, the other four guys were playing a hell of a 4-at-the-net doubles game. hello?!?!?!? to play '4-at-the-net' literally means you are good. no one plays '4-at-the-net' just for fun unless your standard is WAY UP there.

i hate the net too much to bother going up.

i feel ashamed to tell people that i have played tennis for the longest time and still suck at this level. people keep asking me 'so... how long have you been playing?' and i dont know how to answer. it is true that i am carry the X chromosome, and i only played at the pathetic singapore school level. but i have honestly been playing since i am 14 and training 2 times a week at least. that is really almost 9 years and yet at an international standard i feel i already stuck at loughborough level.

honestly... i am not a big football fan. in fact, i dont even really understand the game other than the classification as '22 people running after a ball'. the guys will tell you its the game that is important. but for me... other than admiring the physique of soccer players and their fancy footwork, i dont really admire anything else. its too bad they can't their shirts off anymore.

there are many things i dont understand about soccer. like:

1. what is the circle at the center of the field for?
2. why are that checked grass?
3. why throw in?
4. why 11 people per side?
5. what the is the semi circle near the penalty box for?

anyway. just in case you guys actually watch soccer. i was at the derby vs manU match today. and just in case you wanted to know the score, it was 4-1 to manU. 5 goals in total but i only witness 3 of the 5. i know. i wasnt really paying attention.

anyway. this is ther derby stadium. ron's irish classmate manage to get hold of tickets. and i think the mascot for derby is just so damn cute - a ram. i think it is totally adorable. plus their home colors are black and white. and although i knew nothing about soccer, i still coincidently wore my black and white stripped shirt.


this is the inside of the stadium. taking some pictures during the players warm up. and knowing im the soccer idiot i am, the ONLY person i knew on the field was Ronaldo. i dont know any of the others by name, face, physique or number.

im a true blue soccer idiot.

ron and darragh were talking about who is playing well and who is good and who sucked and who was the man of the match. all the names and positions i dint have a single clue about. that is why i say - soccer idiot.


just before they went back to their little locker rooms to rub warmup sweat off themselves. spots of players. i just laughing to myself while looking at manU players who tucked in their shirts. after tucking in their shirts, it left all their white pants visible and it looked like the male versions of granny panties. plus it made their nice arses FAT.


the welcome/starting ceremony where they walked the derby mascott out. they literally had a ram on a leash and two gurads walking their pet ram. plus the stuff headed mascott was so adorable.


at 4:30pm sharp during the kick off. dint bother taking photos during the match.

i was almost falling asleep half the match. it really wasnt as exciting as watching world class rugby players ramming into each other at christchurch the other time. but the goals i saw where pretty nice. just that i missed two goals, one when this idiot was walking pass me and being british and tall, he took out everything in my sight.

and goal number two was when i was a little distracted by the manU fans creating a half riot at their side of the stadium. yeah no kidding. they were almost pushing the barriers down and half the stadium's stewards where trying to 'contain' them. too bad i dont have a photo of it.


funniest thing was some total idiot who manage to get onto the field in the middle of the second half. seriously. it was just stupid. this guy just ran pass the stewards and started cheering in the middle of the field. he was even slowly escotted out by the police. and you should see the players standing there and staring blankly at this idiot.

that is probably the end of my soccer experience in UK. UK is soccer heaven to many guys and for me, one match is enough experience for me. this is not the world cup, so i cant fancy it much.

but eh. at the end of the match, i got to see some good stuff = players TAKING OFF their shirt to exchange shirts. and i can tell you soccer players have some really lean and yummy bods.

i kinda informally baked cookies for 'project valentine ron'. cinnamon cookie cutter cut cookies. all from scratch. right straight from the measuring cup and whisk. just picked up a recipe from the internet.

my dough totally dint stick to itself. and it irritated the hell out of me when i tried rolling it out. it kept crumbing if i dint press it over hard enough. and the cookie cutter shapes where just plain boring. i wanted to buy heart shaped cutters but i dint find any.


this is the final result. i have to say that they tasted good. just that they were a bit too hard after baking. i could have easily chipped off the other half of my already chipped tooth if i wasnt careful eating it.



ron was sweet enough to pick me up a bouqet of flowers from the market. i love the fact that it is not roses. and they smell really nice and sweet. ron is always so sweet to get me flowers once in a while.


ps: mommy. aint you jealous of the flowers?????


dish= yesterday's roasted tomatoes and smoked bacon black pepper fusilli.
portion = 2
meal = lunch


dish = ron made chicken rice
portion = 6
meal =dinner

ron invited george, darragh and the two taiwan girls for dinner. it is always nice to share some chicken rice. just that ron came up with his own concortion of the rice paste and it wasnt really that successful. but at least the overall result wasnt too bad.

im really getting good at cooking non-tomato base pasta. in fact, today's lunch tasted so damn good i have to brag about it. it is shanny style - roasted tomatoes and smoke bacon black pepper fusilli.

it is purely inspired by the best pasta dish me and ron ever had in italy, and the latest episode of 'master chef' on BBC (which i watched this morning). no cook book, just alot of shanny agar-ation and imagination. secret recipe? = putting parsley-seasoned roasted cherry tomotoes into bacon and roasted garlic.

i cant tell you how good it tasted. i think im pro now. i think it is the best pasta i have cooked so far. so much better than the white wine ones from early this week.


see? im really so proud of it im putting my secret recipe online. actually i think if you search online, you might get some recipe. but i 100% did not use any form of recipe from anywhere. just pure shanny's cooking brain.



anyway. i went for my first photogrammetry and remote sensing lesson today. not only did i get lost in school trying to find the lecture room, i was late and when i got my notes i think my brain hit ground zero.

remote sensing is really cool in its own ways but needing to know the functions behind the actual work really kinda sucks. check this out man - matrics and sin-cosin-tangent



the last time i did something of this sort was in secondary 4. that is like 6 years ago!!!! who the hell in doing arts in NUS will actually have to solve matrics and weird formulas? this stupid module is a joint module with civil engineering and building people from undergrad. and half the whole time in lecture, me and emma where giving each other 'WTF' looks.

i can tell you i still dont understand anything. and the engineering people keep asking questions i cant even start to understand.

and then there was this whole right hand (x,y,z) transition coordinate thing and focal plane shit that made me go so confused i think my IQ dropped by a hundred points. this is really not funny if it is actually going to be coming out on the exams.

just for today, i had a class cancelled. and just for today i was almost too lazy to get my butt out of the house to go shopping for groceries, stock up on my teabags and sugar, buy a new toothbrush , buy new washing sponges, buy a cookie cutter and a new nail polish color . just too lazy to do anything.

have been craving for timsum the whole week. there is 40% discount at Basin and that makes each long of timsum only 1.5 pounds. only thing was that everyone rejected my timsum fieldtrip idea today. annabelle is in paris, kethy is running bank errands and ron is busy. i harboured the idea of going alone with a book. since it is very common to see in singapore in nice eating places with a story book on hand. but...

but firstly, it is plain dumb to eat timsum alone. how to eat variety
and secondly, i can go eat at a restaurant alone in singapore but here, it just feels weird dont even know if brits do that. culture differences. people might start thinking i am the loney-outcast-PRC eating by herself. i dont need pity.

so i ended up making a small lunch project - sushi

just that since i was too lazy to go out to buy sushi rice and other better ingredients like salmon and crabstick, i ended up making really loose and crappy sushi. that were not only an eyesore but a mouthsore too. there were so many problems with it:

1> no sushi rice - so i used normal white rice. taste the same but it cant bloody stick at all. it doesnt clump together the way sushi is suppose to. i definitely cant make nigiri with this coz everything will just fall apart. i learnt that white thai rice shouldnt go in sushi.
2> no sushi mat - so everything was finger-rolled by hand. and adding to the unstickiness of the rice, i ended up with loose rice falling from the sushi roll after i chopped it into sushi looking pieces.
3> no ingredients - i only had eggs and left over avocados. so the only thing that sat between the seaweed and the rice was slightly sweet eggs and think slices of avocados. my favourite ebi and scallops and jellyfish and baby octopus is a far off imaginary sushi.

anyway here are my half-past-6 sushi. if you look closely, everything is heterogeneous and non-uniform. sushi chefs roll it nice and tight and neat and colourful. all i have is ugly white/yellow stuffing in seaweed.


well... i can tell you that at least i tried. my first attempt making sushi myself and i have to say actually it really wasnt that bad. just stay in, eat crappy sushi and drink the left over white wine from pasta the other day.

it is slightly more than half a month away to spring. i really cant wait for the temperatures to warm up nicely so that i can stop wrapping myself up and constantly playing the mind-game of 'to-go-out-or-not-to-go-out'. its tiring to keep thinking to yourself how cold it is gonna feel outside.

last week was the last week of my 3 day week and from today on, im gonna have class 5 days a week at 9am every morning. i cant decide which is worse - 9am classes or classes everyday. totally not looking forward to classes. my projects for the semester is all coming in with deadlines in a month.

besides... the result for last semester river coursework is back. i can say that it is above class average for what i have earsdropped in class today. results as follows:


firstly - i totally screwed steve's coursework up - 55. like seriously the worse grade i got all semester. lucky it was only 25% of the course. heng i did ok for the other 2. i was marked wayyyyy down for writing style and referencing and funniest thing is incorect SPSS stats. i totally need to buck up my SPSS man.

secondly - marker number 2 decided to disagree giving me 85 for Ian's work. i hate moderation at times like this. ended up getting 80 marks instead, kena degraded. this was my cut and paste assignment if you remember from my jan 17 post. the one i thought was going to come apart before it reaches the markers table. apparently i think it stayed intact

thirdly - even with my really crappy grades for steve's work i still manage to get a 70 average. that is above average and if nothing happens to my exams then i think i might make it through. the class average is about 66 or 67 i think.

now im just waiting for river's coursework which i think i might do worse for.


anyway. i spent the whole last long weekend watching series after series of jap drama. (yes i know it is a total waste of time) it was a two week project of mine. i started with the the most popular in order of (compliments website from annabelle):

1: hana kimi
2: zettai kareshi (absolute boyfriend)
3: hana yori dango (boys over flowers)
4: hana yori dango 2
5: gokusen 1
6: bambino!
7: kimi wa petto (You are my pet)

all the shows here good entertainment. i think hana yori dango 2 is wayyy better than the taiwan's meteor garden anytime. so much better and funnier and the daomingshi guy is so cute i went ahead to watch his other shows like 'gokusen 1', 'bambino!' and 'kimi wa petto'.

anyway, the point to where i am getting in this section of the post is... that i got inspired watching 'bambino!' to cook pasta the non-tomato-sauce way. and i ended up cooking white wine scallops and pancetta linguini and white wine tomato seabass linguini for last night's dinner and today's lunch respectively.

and they both taste divine!!!! i think i can go work in some italian pasta restraunt now. plus my italy trip was not a waste after all.


anyway. to give some randomness... i bought tulips this week. red tulips from the market last thursday. they dint last too long. started to wither this morning. i dont know how to keep these flowers to that they last longer. maybe it is because my room is so damn hot even in the winter.

dont know what i should try next.


and check this out. picture of an eaten pack of chips. but go and try to figure out how exactly chilli and chocolate will taste like. apparently it is a new flavour walkers is testing out.


and this is forest court's black cat. i decided to bring it in to my room to play for 2 hours because i saw it in the stairs the other day when i came back. i think it belongs to someone living in forest court. really cute cat. see it sometimes frolicking outside. the poor cat must be freezing when it is let out at night.


i know.. this is a totally random post. well... my life has been dull without the snow.

it's thursday morning and loughborough is hit by another snowfall over the night. so that means yay for me!!! another happy day sitting in my room and watching things falling outside. i was out for tapanyaki in nottingham last night with denise, ethan and darren and it wasnt even snowing when i got back at night.

on a side note: tapanyaki was really good. i havent had tapanyaki in years and this place we drove to is far out nottingham town center but the food was good (although expensive even after 40% off). need to try this timsum place in loughborough. denise says there is a new chef and new menu soon. and there is 30% off this month.

got a call from ron at 8 this morning and it was snowing all over again. so me and my flatmates decide to go have a photo romp around forest court. i think we really walked a whole round around the flats. apparently they dint get to play in the snow during the weekend because they were busy muggin.

this is me and jessie (she lives right opposite me) we decided to go play abit first while waiting for my other flate mate later. we almost destroyed half the fresh snow fall before anyone woke up.


snowman? with a cooking ladle for an arm. someone built this the other time and it got snowed over through the night. this is my other flatmate xiao jie (lives down the corridor directly beside me) dont know why she dint give herself an english name.


im fully water proofed this time - trackpants and jacket. only things that were freezing were my fingers. but you know what? i really enjoy lying on the snow. it was actually comfortable. took too many photos. just too lazy to sort them out, so i just picked a few.



i love how the snow sat on the tree branches. i have been watching it the whole time i was outside. it's like a sliver lining on dark wood. great contrast.


im begining to have nothing more to say about snow other than what i already have. bottom line is that i still love it although it was get quite crappy getting to school in non-fresh snow. end up having to take the longer no-ice route on bike.

its market day today. but im too nice and warm indoors. want to get some sushi rice and seaweed for my own sushi party. shit. too lazy to venture outdoors for shopping.

*snow photos overload. for all you in hot and humid singapore, happy viewing! may the cold reach you through the internet

going to school never have been so fun. and the cold was bearable when you spend most of your concentration admiring the view from every single angle. same route but totally different feeling. when snow covers your usual route, i dont think you will care if you care walking on grass, road, ice or snow.

forecast for a big blizzard through the rest of the day. london airport is totally closed. no flights in and out of the country (800 flights canceled). an aircraft even slid off the runway while taxi-ing at the airport. roads round the country is in utter chaos. 3000 schools all over the country is closed. snow shovers and gritting teams are out. and 6million people not being able to make it to work. but hell yeah!!!


class indoors really isnt too much fun when it is snowing like crazy outside and you can see it from the window. GIS can go and die for all i care. when you put snow and GIS on a balance. GIS can go eat shit.

this is me on my way to my snowfight date with annabelle and kethy. the usual route i take to school. for once my 15 mins walk to school is enjoyable. this is behind forest court near the leisure center. love how the bars are snowed over.


this is the tennis center's courts. 5 inch snow cover. ever wondered what will happen if you bounced a ball on it? will the ball bounce or just sink into the snow? but then again. who plays tennis in freezing cold when you can spend the time making snow angels and snowmans.



this ditch here has almost 10 inches of snow. it is usually a mud pool when it rains. but just for today, it is beautiful.


this is my dearest river woodbrook. potentially my dissertation field site if i dont change my mind. im going to be digging the riverbed for caddisfly larvae in another 3 months when the snow melts and the weather gets warmer. just that i dont think water temperatures will get any warmer then.



this is ms annabelle trying to get fresh with the snow while we waited for yongshen and kethy to get their coats from upstairs. annabelle will not make it to any softball team as pitcher. and from watching all the brits and their snowballing skills. i have to say they are skilled.



fresh ice kachang anyone? have you wondered what is the best way to pack snow to ensure the following

1> most painful hit or
2> most splattered hit.
3> most accurate hit


we walked to the central field and there were people sledging. people actually brought their own sledge from home to sledge down the little slope in the middle of school. and there were a couple trying to design sometime big with snow at the corner of the field.

good place to play. thick snow and totally untouched by anyone until we came.


yes my boots were almost soaking wet with all the snow snuffing about. and kicking.



can you actually eat snow? i can tell you that my gloves are wet by this point. totally soaked through but i almost cant feel the cold coz im too excited doing stupid things like trashing snowballs at people.





my hat looks like it is dropping off. for once i am totally glad i have this little earflaps to keep my ears nice and warm and fuzzy while everyother part of me have been hit but some form of flying snow.


question: how heavy is a snowball that big?

i can almost assure you that i cant lift it up at all.


annabelle making a snowangel face down. the snow here is so thick it barely hurts when you hit it face down or bottom up or arse down.


i know the background is white. this is me actually lying down on the snow. that is how white it actually is. i think this picture is so nice. im dry from lying down thanks to my waterproof ski jacket. but my jeans were almost soaked through.


this is the snow ball afternoon gang. people with nothing better to do on a snowly day but to create havoc in the middle of the school on the rugby pitch.


this one is quite funny. annabelle wanted to climb a tree. so yongshen helped place her right on it. so here she is wedged right in the fork of the trunk of the tree. she keep saying 'it hurts it hurts' but stayed on anyway.



all these happened until i had to go for class. i tell you. no one in class was concentrating at all. emma walked into class soaked in snow juice, toby and tim walked in after her with snow covered jackets and hair. apparently i think they got into a little mishap on the way to class.

and the funniest thing was that toby and tim ran out of class as soon as it finished so that they could ambush emma on her way out. and everyone was just standing around to see how it would go. ended up in half the class (includin me) trying to trash out everyone else with snowballs right outside the building.

half the class was having snowfights right in the middle of an active walkway where other very innocent people where trying to walk through to get to where ever they were going. and ducking coz one of us sent a snowball over to the other side of the walk way.

i managed to take some photos while the snow fights were about. me and shak.


emma (aka snowball queen as she called herself on facebook) taking the time off to pose while the guys were off packing big snowballs to pludge her with. i think she can be given the award for 'most snowball hit in 15 minutes'


jo was pushed into the snow by the girls. from the whole journey from SMB to martin hall's traffic light where everyone parted ways, there was tonnes of ambushing and snow lumps. we were all packing snow off cars in the carpark.


it was fun! love it. i wonder how many days can i keep up this enthusiam. i heard it is going to be snowing the whole week. i wonder if i will never be sick of it.

watching the bbc is really hilarious!!! there are people snowboarding down their main streets and the signs on trains in UK readings 'polar express', people swimming in outdoor swimming pools

*this is an important post, marks a first in my life man. im going to rant and rant because i deserve it.

it is a monday today, just that i cant say that it is bad. in fact, it is probably the best monday ever had been. there is no such thing as monday blues today. although things are literally possibly only can be classified as 'below freezing'. according to the weather people, it is -1 outside but feels like -7. but hey. i dont care how cold it is outside.

all i want now is a nice cottage, a huge burning fireplace, a big furry dog (or amber will do just fine), a nice cosy blanket and a ron in a romantic mood.

here is a video for you people:

i was sleeping this morning when i got a call from ron telling me to, quote unquote 'look outside' and swept my curtains aside and instantly im in very awake and in heavenly la-la-land. have you seen anything so beautiful!? snow cover on every possible surface there is. apparently my wish for snowing through the night came true.


who cares if christmas is over. shanny is going to recelebrate a wintery christmas right now. right all over again



it is so pretty from every single angle. even through the kitchen windows the neighbouring houses and their cars are all stacked with snow. can you even see the car? camo-ed coz the snow is so thick. i would say that it is about 5 inches of snow at some places.

i've never seen 5 inches of fresh snow fall. and the ski slopes dont count coz you never know if there are powdered snow. and it was NEVER like that in NZ. as much as i did love snow days in otago, it never got to this standard at all. only in the country where by the time i put my foot in the snow we had to push a caravan from the ditch. (oh god i will never forget that)


i got fresh fallen snow off the window still in the kitchen, rolled it into a ball and i have a ball of snow in my very own flat. you dont even have to go out to touch snow. and here is photo with my little bedhead. unglam yes, but im going to post it anyway.

here is a big snow nose for me. it red nose day sometimes this month. why not have a snow nose day just for one day in my life?


since it is snowing. i just put on my fake uggs and went photo taking. there is no way im going to miss out taking more photos on a day like this one. espically since loughborough rarely snows and have snow cover this thick.

i was praying so hard when i was alone during christmas that it would snow nice and hard like this. i guess the snow is one whole month too late for my white christmas, but at least it really did come in the end. winter is going to be over in a month.

kethy was just telling me that as your grow older, you will realise that snow and christmas dont come together most of the time. unless you are in the artic of course.


just to show how deep is my first snowfall. i stuck my finger in the shallowest part of the ground outside ron's window. the snow is soft and fluffy. no wonder the bunny rabbits and the squirrels go into hibernation. if not they will be snowed on. it is so thick you will probably step on a bunny rabbit sleeping under the snow.


trust me. it is freeking freezing doing that. althought the picture is remarkably a high point in my life. all im wearing is a teeshirt, a thin fleece zipup and trackpants. and the snow literally melted upon touching my back.

and it is important to wear boots in the winter. you need waterproofs. im so wearing my ski jacket out to class and for snow fight date in the afternoon with kethy and annabelle.


poor ron has his bike snowed on through the night. he was so upset when he found out that his bike got frozen in the now. even though it sat at the corner of the building, it is now covered with a whole layer of snow.

isnt he cute!



this is the front of hall. everything is packed down with snow. i realised that watching the snow makes me more happy then being on the receiving end of a harry winston box. it is just so magical and absolutely serenely warm and fuzzy just being able to watch it. no wonder kids love snowdays.

someone made a snowman last night. and it is still standing in the cold this morning. isnt it weird that people will always make snowman when it snows? and talk about snowangels too. i will get myself a chance to do it later.

for now? shanny is in her little dreamland.


im going to recharge my camera, and carry my camera on hand while walking to school today. im predicting more photos to be taken by snowcover melts. beside i have a snowfight date. will post up soon!


ps: im going to make myself pretty for school today.