The End of Summer

The company went on an outing last June 2 and 3 --- to Mactan, Cebu's Plantation Bay.



Here's a sample view of the place.












Two take-away thoughts from the experience:

1) I still know how to bike!
2) I never really learned how to swim...







I wanna learn how to swim!

X-cape! (Day 6)

The last day of the conference was a half-day program, which left us time to do some last minute shopping.


And we ended up teaming up by age group.


Which means we two young 'uns shopped together...


And youth is such that after finishing our shopping (at around 9 or 10 pm) and eating dinner we, on a whim, decided it would be a GREAT idea to watch X-Men 3. Without telling the elders.


Haaaayyyy. I am too easy to influence in a bad way.


So we ended up going back to the hotel at 1AM. And my roommate, the head of the other department which presented a paper, it turns out, had been quite worried.


Good girls should have told, I know. Just so the elders wouldn't worry. Ewan ko ba.

[sneaking out was kind of fun though...]

And I hit upon a realization: to be able to stay out late, I would have to be in another country. I would have to be a jetsetter!


Brilliant!

Gala Dinner and the Toy (Day 5)

The fifth day is worth mentioning for these reasons: the gala dinner, which was surprisingly fun, in a geeky sort of way, and because after that, all of us snuck out to Mustafa's Place (or some name like that, its an electronics emporium within the Little India compound) and shopped til 2:00 AM.

That's right folks.












And I came away with this baby ---->









Yes.... it's a thing of beauty. And so far, it plays everything. Can you tell I'm in love?

Free Day (Day 4)

Wednesday was a free day for the conference participants, and we used the time to go around town.


For the morning, we got on the SIA Hop-on/Hop-off bus, and got off the Botanical Gardens, Little India and the Esplanade.






Then in the afternoon we went to magical Sentoooh-saaah --- Singapore's Island Resort!



Rode the cable car, saw Underwater World and watched the Fountain Show.











And Joseph is right. Underwater World is small. I wouldn't know if it's worth S$20, but he didn't seem to think so. Oh well. Animals are still fun to goggle at.


The Fountain Show is pretty good though. Water as projector screen. Sugoi!


I think Kiki the Monkey is a bit demented though. And I don't mean in the clinical psychology sense.

I present to you these two droids..... (Day 2)

"...both are hard-working, and will serve you well."

--- Luke Skywalker to Jabba the Hutt, Return of the Jedi

And that's how I felt I guess, on presentation day. Like I was going to be offered to Jabba the Hutt.


Well, not really. But my fingertips were cold as I waited for my turn.


Apparently however, I needn't have worried.


For the first day, the presentation sessions were arranged 2-3 per hour, with coffee breaks and lunch interspersed after every hour. Paper presentations were divided among 4 venues, so that for each hour, about 8 papers were being presented, in groups of 4, simultaneously. (I hope you got that).




Which is my long way of saying only 10 (or less) people stayed around to listen to ours.


It didn't help that we got the last time slot either (1630-1730).


Some interesting comments on our presentation though:

- Nigerian delegate, coming up to me and saying that I was a role-model: "A girl talking about math... you are a role model!" (which made me feel like I was 12).

- Chair for the session: "I almost forgot to ring the bell (to signal that we had gotten past the 20-minute time limit), I was listening to your presentation."

- Singapore delegate, the next day: "Did you present yesterday? Because I heard from my colleagues that 2 Filipino presented yesterday, and it was very good." (are they required to say this because they're the hosts?)


So it went well enough I guess. I'll do better next time though!

Cut-Off (Day 1)

My first day in Singapore... and Smart's roaming feature failed to activate (on time, is my guess)...


I want to sleep now, but I'm supposed to prepare for a presentation! But since I bought S$15 worth of 5-hour wireless internet connection, I feel I need to make full use of this first!


Haaayyyy.


So what did we do today? Pigged out in Chinatown and dropped by the afternoon cocktail event for the IAEA participants. New foods I tasted today: Peanut Soup Dessert, Oyster Omellette, Beef Jerky and Red Caviar. I felt like I was going to have indigestion...


We walked from Chinatown to River View Hotel and I realize now as I think about what I was thinking back then while we were walking: I have this amazing ability to turn all wondrous things into the absolutely mundane. I mean, I seem rarely to get impressed by anything. Earlier today I was thinking how Singapore really just looked like the better parts of Hongkong, which really just looked like the Makati Business District. Talk about blase.


Well, let's end here so that I can pretend to prepare for tomorrow :D

Memories

My sisters call photos, "memories." So I was leafing through some old 'memories' and came across this picture. I'm rappelling down a wall! (Yes, it's me the ropes are covering.) It wasn't a long way down, but it was vertical, and that alone kind of makes your head spin. But I made it down. And no, none of that Extra Challenge screaming. Although in fairness, we didn't scale a 2-digit storey-tall wall (ugh, what a bad rhyme). :)

Look at the angle this was shot. So anime!

This picture was taken in Tintern School, Melbourne, Australia. Nine years ago. They have rappelling for P.E.

I should do more things like this. Leap into new experiences, and savor every moment of the harrowing way down :)