Musings of a barefoot traveller

Have some spare time on the first Saturday of June and want to get back to nature? Consider joining the Pedal Ubin ride on 2nd June, where you'll be guided around the less-known areas of Ubin, and get to know more about the history, culture and nature of the area. I kinda miss barrelling down the bumpy clay slopes of western Ubin! If you want to sign up and stuff, here's more info on the Pedal Ubin homepage .

Watched the Goo Goo Dolls LIVE in concert last night!!! What's more, I won free tickets to see them!!! How sweet is that?? Squeeeeee!!! And it was an AWESOME show..... Song delivery- spot-on, guitar playing- kick ass, crowd interaction- very personal, sound mixing- you could hear each individual guitar!, screaming fanatic hijinks- till I became hoarse, hehehe... I almost felt like I was fifteen at my first rock concert again :). The downside? I kinda obsessed with the Goos now. Just spent a good hour reading all the bios and meanings to the songs, and playing the songs from the new album ad nauseum, instead of working out the correlation between river discharge rates and sea chlorophyll levels....Also persuaded the Salted Fried Tempeh to book tickets to their show in UK! ....Ok, that didn't take much persuading, haha. They'll be playing in North Carolina again in July (4 days after the Manchester show! We can squeeeee together!!)! In Raleigh, 2 hours drive away! Should I go...

Saw this article in the Dallas Times today. Something that gets my goat to no end in these conservation debates is how people are so limited in their thinking! It doesn't mean that to go green, you have to suffer, lose money, spend more time at the sink, sit in the dark, or throw rubbish unwrapped down the chute! There are alternatives! Now, the root of the issue in this article is how convenient disposables are right? Not very possible to wash dishes for 100 people each week (well, unless EVERYONE is damn 'on'). There are BIODEGRADEABLE disposable tableware out there, made from materials like rice husks (yeah, you could even eat them if you wanted to, but not recommended ;)). Solves your landfill problem and the matter of inconvenience doesn't it? We just need to support such green initiatives and companies when they start-up! Get the products in the stores. Have choices! We have brains don't we? We can solve problems and be innovative with them! Think people, thin...

Went salsa dancing at Club Vida with Susanna, Wendy and Crystal last night, and realised I was waaaay out of my league man! Time to go back to salsa school... It was very fun though, we stayed till the club closed at 2.30am, and unlike other places, you constantly get people asking you to dance, and more importantly, teaching you how to dance. Wendy said it was just amazing that the guys continued to ask us at all, after seeing how much we suck on the dance floor, hahaha. Next time though, I'm going in running shoes.....oooh my feet......

Was really sad the read the news yesterday, about the shooting massacre that happened on the Virginia Tech campus Monday morning. I guess what was eerie about it was that it started out like any typical morning, students going to school, grumbling about assignments and tests, blearily shaking off the weekend's partying, and in a matter of minutes, their world turned upside down as they were plunged into hell, a lone gunman relentlessly stalking them down the hallways of their class building, shooting to kill as he moved along. What kind of world do we live in these days, that the first solution to spring to mind for life's problems is the use of lethal force? And the ready access to efficient killing weapons here is frankly terrifying. I know, guns don't kill people, people kill people, but people without guns would kill fewer people than otherwise. Sure, the assailant could have picked up a kitchen knife to go on a rampage, but he would definitely have been stopped before ...

I realised today that I've never bought a girly-girl top for myself before! Always relied on fashion-savvier Mum, who walks down the Orchard mall strip everyday on the way to the MRT to go home, or 'borrowed' clothes from my sister's office collection (heh..). That left me with experience only with buying dri-fit tees, outdoor/biking gear and tank-tops. Decided a little retail therapy was in order today, seeing as how I couldn't get the motivation to analyse nutrient data, the Azalea Fest was cancelled due to bad weather, my head was still a little fuzzy from last night's festivities, and I was supposed to go salsa dancing this Friday... So here's the top I bought! What do you think? It's not as red as it turned out in the photo (sorry Jani :P), a bit more burnt orange. If you have negative comments, just be sure to tell me within 30 days, so I can bring it back to the store for a refund, hohoho.

Okay, so I'm blogging my posts in a seemingly random fashion. What happened to the posts from Charlotte , Singapore and Berkeley you say (don't even mention East Africa )? That's what you get when I can only blog in between rotavapping sponge extracts. So last month, shortly after Spring Break, my lab headed to Atlanta , Georgia for the 36th Benthic Ecology Meeting. I was pretty excited as it was my first national conference, plus imagine meeting a whole bunch of scientists who are psyched about various spineless creatures! Try telling a dolphin researcher why you find boring sponges so interesting! I jest, dolphin researchers are actually very nice people :). We managed to loan a vehicle from UNCW to drive to Atlanta , and I picked Steve up early in the morning to go pick up the MPV. When we got to the holding area, lo and behold, someone had snuck in at 6am and taken our vehicle! Fortunately, there was another MPV available and we didn't have to squeeze in a se...

Of course it wasn't all work work and work. In between attending talks and networking (something I desperately need to work on...), we found time to have some fun too! Tim's very momentous 30th birthday was on the first day we arrived, and we made sure he was properly sauced up by the end of the evening. Free flow of free beer provided by the conference organisers during the welcome reception didn't hurt too. After a night out at the local brewery (on the street that will soon become very very familiar to us- Peachtree...), we persuaded him to come to Susanna's and my room to help with Susanna's and Steve's presentation rehearsals...and surprised him with a cake! I'm just surprised and mildly impressed at how we can go out at nights, and attend talks (plus pay attention) in the day. Kinda reminded me of the glorious Okinawa ICRS days. Really enjoyed the talks at the conference, even though the rooms were too small most of the times, and I spent a lot time st...

I've been telling this story so many times, I figured I should just blog it... So here's the sad tale of how I got into a car accident. The story begins a few weeks ago, when I was trying to leave my previous auto insurance company (I decided not to name names, but let's just say the company mascot is a certain green reptile...). Unfortunately, it seems like leaving the company wasn't as simple as letting the insurance policy lapse, and not paying for a new term. I was charged for an additional two weeks without my written consent, AFTER I had switched to another company. So I've been wrangling with them for sometime about removing the charge. I'd just faxed over some documents and was notified that all charges would be dropped. Then on Saturday, I received another bill extending my policy for a single day for US$60. Feeling quite fed-up, I called customer service again, and somehow wound up in a shouting match with the rep. She said they never received the fax,...

I always liked the Goo Goo Dolls, ever since waaaay back in my long past teenage years, so I was pretty chuffed when I found out that they'll be playing at Myrtle Beach on April 24th. My first impulse was to go and get a ticket, but then I started thinking....is it very 'loser' to go to a rock concert alone (okay, there'll be about 600 people there, but you know what I mean)? Not only that, but I would have to drive 3 hours roundtrip to and from Myrtle Beach... Alone! Jeez...I started feeling a little anti-social. Times like this I wish the Significant Other was around. So he doesn't like rock music. In fact, he seems to hate it with a passion, e.g. he once yelled at me to lower the volume while I was blasting Linkin Park 'cos it was giving him a terrible headache. Still, you know he would accompany me to the concert just because, even if I have to stuff ear plugs in him before we enter the venue. It just seems a little weird to jump up and down excitedly and ho...

How quickly fortunes change. One moment I was paddling along a tree-lined river, enjoying the warm sunshine and the scenery, floating along in bliss, and thinking about how energised I'll be for the coming week's work. The next moment has me standing outside my car in shock, looking at my crumpled rear hatch hooked on the rear bumper of a truck that I just backed into, and receiving a ticket from the cops for 'unsafe backing'. Now, instead of rotavapping sponge extracts in lab like I wanted to do, I'm at home playing rock music really loud to drive my depression away while my car sits in a garage awaiting repair. All I can say for now is....don't drive when you are really really angry... Sigh

Yeaps, I've been a little too busy these days to update my blog very much. But I've been uploading my photos! They're now on the Multiply site, as I ran out of space on Flickr- http://tehhaliatarik.multiply.com/photos Saw two deer on the access road to CMS yesterday morning. Though many people regard deer as pests that are wiping out native plant populations, it was still a treat to see them so close without a fence in between. What else? Hmmm.... I've been really glad that I visited an Asian hypermart when I went to Berkeley, and bought a whole lot of preserved vegetables! Stir-fried some pickled radish with garlic, tofu and hot sauce yesterday, and it was yummy! Alright, gotta grab some brunch now, and head off to campus soon. Joining the Discover Outdoor Club for an afternoon of kayaking on the Black River. Hope the weather stays sunny!

What could possess a right thnking person to leave the warm comforts of a bed at 5.30am on a cold and windy Sunday morning to venture outdoors? So I ruefully left my warm abode to join Adriane and pals on a bird banding trip. Yup, you heard right. Despite my numerous jibes at twitche..urm...birders all this time, some feathered fiends were actually depriving me of much needed sleep, and driving me into the merciless chill. This is the fiend in question. One of the three species of marsh sparrows Adriane was studying for her MS thesis. This one was the seaside sparrow, characterized by yellow bands on the head. Tiny creatures- they only weighed around 13g. Something I haven't seen for a long time- an actual sunrise, haha BTW, the water looks deceptively calm and inviting doesn't it? Well, it was BLOODY cold!! It was -2 degC in Wilmington, and that's not counting the wind chill as we zipped along the intracoastal waterway in an unsheltered boat. I thought it was spring alrea...

Attended a talk by EO Wilson today. Yup, the same second named one of the MacArthur and Wilson Theory of Island Biogeography. The ecology fangirl in me gave a little squeal when the talk was first announced. Remarkably, the 700-seat Kenan Auditorium was filled to capacity today, and for a talk by a biologist! He kicked off with a hypothetical letter to a religious leader, asking for reconciliation between science and religion, in order to protect creation. What creation? Biodiversity of course! All that live and roam on this Earth. "Where is biodiversity? It's everywhere!" From the peak of Everest to the depths of the deepest ocean; more bacteria thrive within a handful of soil than there are people in Singapore. I guess we didn't gain any deep insight or startling new knowledge from the talk and discussion, but it's just inspiring to see this person, who shaped the early research into metapopulation ecology and social biology, share his anecdotes and his musings ...

Spring is here! Finally went out in shorts today into the brilliant sunshine. Nice to see the abundance of pink blossoms upon my return to Wilmington as well.

Warning: This post is going to be pretty Aikido-intensive and technical. Read at your own risk! One of the highlights of coming to Berkeley for my exchange semester in Spring 1999 was the opportunity to train with Pietro Maida Sensei at the Ki No Kenyukai dojo . It says something about his teaching when his words still resonates so strongly with me even after 8 years. I get asked pretty often what the differences are between practitioners of various Aikido schools like Ki Society and Aikikai, and while officially, there are some broad strokes that led to the founder of that particular school breaking off and starting something on his/her own, in my humble half-baked potato opinion, most times you can't really tell, and it depends on a lot on the instructor of the dojo and what he/she wants to teach you. So managed to find out the new location of the dojo, thanked my lucky stars that there was public transportation there, and was surprised and very very happy that Sensei still reme...

So here I am in California, kinda hanging loose and bumming around in Berkeley. Then I had to pick up some free newspapers to see what's on around here. And saw that the North Face outlet store was having a sale! Long story short, I went in to look-see and came out with a Goretex XCR jacket! In bright yellow with reflective strips no less. Kinda stayed away from browsing REI after that. But it is a very good price for a XCR jacket, and I'm pretty excited about using it soon. Will post pics in a bit!

Some videos of a recent demonstration on Feb 17th (yup CNY eve) by the dojo I'm currently training at- the Garden of the Spring Wind Dojo in Wilmington, NC. No aikido videos cos I was too busy demo-ing as well!

So I don't get to dive Florida, but I'm headed to San Francisco and Berkeley tomorrow! I have spring break after all, haha. Visiting old friends and familiar places, and hopefully, I'll get to train with Maida Sensei at the Ki Society dojo again. Am so excited! Can hardly wait :)

Looks like the Florida trip didn't pan out after all- was met by unexpectedly sombre faces at 6am this morning, and it turns out that there's a small craft advisory for Key Largo tomorrow afternoon, and possibly high waves on Monday, maybe even Tuesday morning. Since Tim needed at least 5 days worth of larval collection, and it didn't make sense to drive all the way down just to sit at the NURC base, it was decided, after a discussion with the boss, to postpone the trip till May :( , and we might even go earlier in May to get all the stuff we wanted to do worked out. Means that I might spend close 1 1/2 months away from Wilmington! Gosh. So we had a two hour breakfast at McDonald's going over options, waiting for the latest weather updates, and generally chatting like we had too much time on our hands...then headed to Wrightsville Beach as Tim had to get his housekey from his gf working there. Didn't go for a swim, but it was nice to see the sea at least.