Bernard's going to Tokyo U for Masters.

Kamil's taking a year off in Japan for a one-year internship with Asahi Kasei.

Xiao's likely to go for Masters too, a stepping stone to that PhD.

I'm also sticking around Imperial for Masters (hopefully).

And the others are staying to complete their current 4-year degrees.

We They are house-hunting right now; with two gone, it's unlikely that we'll keep to this house next year. I'm at Silwood, so I can't join them in their quest. I wonder where we'll end up. 

A handful of them are staying over summer for internships. If I could stay, I might have tried applying for one. But Singapore's got me on a leash and I just have to return before July. It'll be good if I could go travelling before that though. For a bit. At least to France, or somewhere else close by. Not even sure if I can get back into London if I do that! Haven't gone anywhere this year, and everyone around me has been been going places. Bleah… such a pity. There's less than a month left. 

I believe the last time I went to the cinemas in London was in February, when my household went with a few of our MUN friends to watch a very appropriate, politically-intense Munich. Last night, we caught the controversial The Da Vinci Code, naturally followed by lots of questioning among the more religious conscious, and quests to find out more (I did so after I read the book, but I have since forgotten and dismissed most of the 'truths' in the novel). I did enjoy the film; Tom Hanks was the Robert Langdon I envisioned and I totally appreciated the scores of my long-time favourite composer Hans Zimmer. 

Today kicked off with some 菠蘿包 and Hong Kong tea, the few of us fixed in front of a laptop watching The Apprentice. The engineers having finished their exams, they're currently hooked on that reality TV series - "watching smart people being dumb is better than watching dumb people being dumb [ie. in Big Brother]". :D 

Meanwhile, I am working on my FYP write-ups and the others are out there fretting over their FYP… something to do with an uber smart vacuum cleaner. 

My aunt EE is in London again; shall be strolling down to Knightsbridge later for dinner with her and my cousins. She'll be meeting with my parents in Copenhagen over the next this week, and then come the weekend, I'll see my parents in London.  

… makes me wish I was back there!

A T-rex named Sue and Friends, a dino exhibition at the Science Centre with a T-rex cast on loan from the Field Museum, Chicago…

Dolphins and dugongs on Singapore's shores…

Hawksbill turtle hatchlings at East Coast Park…

Project NOAH is no more!! And in place, chats have begun on the beginnings of a potential Blue Plan for Singapore…

Pencil drawings of animals. Dogs, mainly, but there are others. I can't find my other scans, so this will have to do. 

It was just as well that the video card and fan of my S2020 completely broke down today, since Ototo-chan came knocking at 7.30am, fresh off the flight from Hong Kong, and presented me with my new preciouss: a Fujitsu S7110! (Centrino Duo Core, 2 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB SATA hard drive, dual layer DVD, 14.1" weighing at just 1.8 kg). And a host of other freebies besides. 

I brought home the predecessor of the current enhanced S2020 a year and a half ago, but that 'budget' notebook didn't last long. And I'm glad I'm not the only one for whom AMD Athlon has failed. 

This S7110(B) is one powerful machine; I'm thoroughly impressed. Launches Photoshop in less than 10 secs, and runs World of Warcraft (and HL2) like a movie. 

A good enough reason to wag a day off my FYP? Totally. Even if I am forced to stay back and work this coming Saturday. But… rain is forcasted for this whole week… with heavy rain on Thursday, and it only makes things worse as I'm setting wet traps. 

Today sees NParks launching the National Biodiversity Reference Centre (NBRC):

"Singapore's one-stop centre for biodiversity-related information and activities… … to manage all available information and data on biodiversity in Singapore… [which are] at present generated, stored and updated by different organizations and individuals. NBRC will maximize the usefulness of such information and data by linking them in a single meta-database. Having relevant, complete, and up-to-date information is crucial for many decision-making processes that take biodiversity into consideration. Having such a hub of biodiversity information and data at NBRC will also allow knowledge gaps to be better identified and addressed… …

NBRC will continue to take responsibility for the conservation of both terrestrial and marin flora and fauna in Singapore and represent NParks in its role as the government's Scientific Authority on Nature Conservation. NBRC will also represent Singapore in various biodiversity-related international/regional conventions and fora, including the Convention on Biological Diversity [CBD] and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity." [circulation from the Biodiversity Centre, National Parks Board]

See also: International Day for Biological Diversity (22 May 2006)

An exciting development and a noble idea, but looking at what's existing on the website, there's still a lot to be done. Hope it will grow to be the definitive resource in due time. 

Birthdays:

Princess Anna's
Terry's
Vincent's
Xiao's
Jac's (erm… mine)

And from last Friday… WinK's

Others photos include those from my QuGee household and the somewhat freaky Xiao Series.

Found this page from the Hague International Model United Nations website. Apparently they held the first MUN conference in Singapore last year, but it's only for secondary school students. A rather fetching idea, but I'm still a bit hazy. They "hope that the annual conference Singapore will soon grow to achieve the status of the THIMUN Conference in The Hague". Would be interesting to see how it actually goes.