Police Incident @ UBC

Received this e-mail from UBC after my classes today:

There has been a police incident at the Bio Sciences Building, which is located at the intersection of Main Mall and University Boulevard at the University of British Columbia.

On the advice of the RCMP, the Bio Sciences Building has been locked down. Building occupants have been instructed to stay where they are, to secure the room in which they are located, and to await further instructions from the RCMP.

No person will be permitted to enter or leave the Bio Sciences Building without RCMP authorization.

Out of an abundance of caution, the RCMP is advising that others on campus stay where they are currently located. All campus occupants should be aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious circumstances to the RCMP at 911. Persons who are not on campus are advised to remain away from the campus until further notice.

Further information, as it becomes available, will be posted at http://www.ubc.ca.

Stephen J. Toope
President and Vice Chancellor


This explains why i saw a helicopter flying around on the way back and it kept it going for an hour or so... Heard from Cynthia that someone actually tried to bomb himself/herself up!! Omg, luckily nothing unfortunate has happened i think..

Went for basketball today and i still suck at it.. Sigh, i need to practice more!!

Let it snow, let it snow , let it snow...

Was doing assignment in my room last night when Vince said that he wanted to come over and take the cereals for his breakfast the following morning. When he came over with Zhenni and i opened the door, i was greeted with heavy snow falling everywhere covering everything in white!! Haven't seen such heavy snowfall in British Columbia since i reached but it's better late than never!! We were so excited that we went out to take photos though we weren't adequately dressed especially with Zhenni in her slippers.

Attempt to build a snowman, at least it's better than my first attempt!

Look at the amt of snow on our hair after
being out for barely a few minutes!

Poor snowman got buried with more snow the next morning..

This is why it is hard to walk in snow..

Leaving a trail of footsteps

After our engineering professionalism class today, Zhenni and i succumbed to the temptation of skipping our marine biodiversity class to walk around enjoying the snow and building snowman with Julian!!

Posing with a snowman built by someone else..

Photo-whoring..

I managed to climb up the tree!!
*beaming with a sense of achievement*

When we reached back Fairview, we saw 3 snowmans and they looked so cool!!! One of them had 2 heads and one of them was like a cyclops with only one eye!! Another snowman was normal looking while the last one was purposely done in such a way that it was broken and scattered over the ground.. Whoever built these snowmans is damn creative!!

Pls don't hurt me!!

Being inspired, we started building our first snowman ever!! And we aimed to make it bigger than the 2 headed freak!! Haha..

The snowball that i rolled, it was the biggest among the 3 of us!!

From this humble snowball..

to this...

Tada!! Our final product!! (Guess what does LZJ stand for)

Our snowman is even taller than me!!
That's how big it is, not bad for a first attempt eh!

After spending 2 hours or so on our snowman, we were all tired out. Building a snowman isn't as easy as it seems after all, or maybe we are just being ambitious trying to make a huge one. It wasn't bigger than the 2-headed freak but hey, it is still big k!


Zhenni decided to cook the stew that her mum taught her and because of that, she did all the cooking for tonight's dinner!! Ha ha, that allowed me to nap for an hr!! Anyway, the stew turned out good, thanks Zhenni!! I'll find u a golden turtle when i'm back in NUS in exchange for ur cooking services for the rest of the term k!! Haha...

Dinner prepared solely by Zhenni!

Skiing @ Mount Seymour!!

Finally had the chance to try skiing for the first time yesterday!! We went to Mount Seymour which was one of the four mountains that we can go to for skiing or snowboarding. Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, we had to take this yellow school bus which looks exactly like the one shown in the cartoon, "The Magic School Bus".

Welcome onboard the Magic School Bus!!

I have reached Mt Seymour!

Skis!!

So shiok..

All geared up!

13 of us went and that made us eligible for the group discount!! Ha ha, paid 80.50 in total for a 2 hour lesson, equipment rental, area pass and lift pass!! Expected to pay more than a hundred at first.. However, we had to wait till 3pm for the lesson because the earlier slots were all full, but that didn't deter us from putting on our equipment and just go try skiing ourselves!!

Everyone trying to get a hang of skiing!

Look at the paranomic view!

Help! Help! Vince is falling!

Vince looking cool with only his T-shirt on in the cold..

Break dance in the snow!!

Our instructor, Corinne, was really patient! There were these 2 kids who were sisters in our group and they were practically testing Corrine's patience for the entire 2 hours!! Ha ha.. But i must say it is really cute and funny looking at them trying to get their balance and not slide all over the place. The lesson was good cause it taught us almost all the basics we need to ski and these were what we went through:

1. Without any skis on, adopt the posture for skiing which is having your knees bend and shoulder width apart.

2. Learn the braking posture which is by turning your feet towards each other.

3. Put on one ski and slide by using the other foot to push, something like skateboarding.

4. Put on both skis and learn how to recover when you fall. (We had to purposely fall a few times for that!)

5. Try out skiing down a slope and braking in time.

6. Try turning right while u ski and brake in time.

7. Try turning left while u ski and brake in time.

8. Try turning right then left and brake in time.

9. Try having more turns while u skii.

All these took us 2 hours or so and we were ready to go skiing on our own!! After skiing some time, Vince, Zhenni, Julian and i decided that we wanted to take the cable lift and that means we have to ski down the steepest and longest part of the mountain!! Oh man, the adrenaline rush was fantastic!! I nearly made it all the way without falling till some stupid snowboarder collided into me and sent me flying and i landed on a snow bank with my legs above my head! Lol..

can u see the snow turtle we made?

the sisters, Amanda & Sarah!

Vince getting up with the rope tow..

Taking the cable life up!!

Well, the trip could have been great if not till the end when we were leaving. We heard that due to heavy snowing, the bus met up with an accident and the roads were closed. A small van, which can only take 9 persons at a time, was used to bring everyone down. In the end, we queued for 2 hours plus in the extreme cold!! The snow just got heavier and even with long johns, sweater and down jacket, i was feeling cold!! The temperature must have been -3 deg or colder! This shows how bad the contingency plan was! Everyone was feeling cold and they didn't even have a place for us to wait in to stay warm, boo to the management for that. And at least have one more van to bring us down as we have to wait for like an hour before the van gets up each time it sends people down. I just hope the next mountain that we visit will be much better. Anyway, snowboarding shall be my next attempt!! =)

Special dedication for you...

A nice song that i heard recently and u come to my mind whenever i hear it..

I've been awake for a while now
you've got me feelin like a child now
cause every time I see your bubbly face
I get the tinglies in a silly place

It starts in my toes
and I crinkle my nose
where ever it goes I always know
that you make me smile
please stay for a while now
just take your time
where ever you go

The rain is fallin on my window pane
but we are hidin in a safer place
under covers stayin safe and warm
you give me feelins that I adore

It starts in my toes
make me crinkle my nose
where ever it goes
i always know
that you make me smile
please stay for a while now
just take your time
where ever you go

What am I gonna say
when you make me feel this way
I just........mmmmmm

It starts in my toes
make me crinkle my nose
where ever it goes
i always know
that you make me smile
please stay for a while now
just take your time
where ever you go

I've been asleep for a while now
You tucked me in just like a child now
Cause every time you hold me in your arms
I'm comfortable enough to feel your warmth

It starts in my soul
And I lose all control
When you kiss my nose
The feelin shows
Cause you make me smile
Baby just take your time now
Holdin me tight

Where ever, where ever, where ever you go
Where ever, where ever, where ever you go
Where ever you go, I'll always know
Cause you make me smile here, just for a while

Hope u like it =)

Photocopying rampage!!

Realised that we could purchase the textbooks here and return them within 14 days for a full refund... This means that i can buy the book, photocopy it and return it for a full refund!! Fyi, books here easily cost 80+ Cad and above!! That explains for the photocopying resort.. Went with Vince and Zhenni to the bookstore today and tried on UBC hoodies. In the end, still couldn't make up my mind between a 30+ Cad for a not-so-good-looking hoodie and a 50+ Cad hoodie which looks much better, sigh... After that, went to purchase the textbook for my engineering professionalism module which cost about 87 Cad!! Then after lessons, went with Zhenni to the Staples Business Depot to photocopy our textbook. Oh man, it was complete madness!! I was worried about folding the pages or damaging the bind of the book as i had to return it in a good condition which doesn't look like it has been photocopied in order to get the full refund!! Hence, i took even a long time even just to align the book carefully. But managed to pick up speed as i went along and in the end, it took me about 2 hrs to photocopy 3 copies for Zhenni, Julian and me. Imagine standing and photocopying for 2 hrs straight.. *faint*

Went for basketball in the evening with Vince and my house mate Rupert. I totally suck man! Sigh, completely disappointed with myself, should have played much better. Well, guess it is a sign to tell me to do more sports! I shall play basketball regularly!!!

Well, time to hit the books.. Haven't been studying since school started.. Got my first assignment and i shall ace it! Though i can't even do the first question.. sigh...

It's been a while..

Went ice-skating last Fri for the first time at UBC Thunderbirds Winter Sports Centre!! Damn cool to have a ice-skating rink in your own university!! Although we had to pay 5 cad bucks for entry and rental, it was worth it as the rink was not crowded unlike those in Singapore and the best thing is that you can rent hockey skates which are so much more comfortable!!

Group Pic

Made our way to Seattle factory outlet for shopping on Saturday!!! Joel, Ha, Zhenni, Vince and me rented a car as the shuttle service there was too expensive. It was my first time driving in Canada and USA and across the border!! Was excited to drive initially but the journey took more than 3 hours!! And to make things worse, everyone was sleeping in the car when i was driving!! I had to massage myself to keep awake man!! But looking on the bright side, i take it that my driving was stable enough for them to sleep haha... En route to Seattle, we stop by Krispy Kreme!! They actually have an open showcase of how they make and fry the donuts!! We ended up buying 2 dozens of donuts! One dozen of plain sugar coated ones and a dozen of assorted flavours!! Oh and thanks Joel for coming with us and giving us directions and bringing us to the nice HK restaurant for dinner!! The dinner was good though we had to pay 12 Cad for it. The waitress actually spilled my hot cup of tea on my jeans!! Grr, luckily it only scalded my thigh a bit. After dinner, Joel brought us to this place in Stanley Park where there was a good view of Vancouver. We could also see Lions Gate Bridge up, close and personal!!

me behind the wheel!

the road trip gang!

Krispy Kreme!

Delicious Donuts!!

The factory outlet had many major brands like CK, Guess, Nike, Adidas, Levi's, Polo RL, Banana Republic and many more and the price was much lower than their original prices. I bought a pair of Adidas basketball shoes for a mere 34 cad and a pair of Levi's for slightly more than 30 cad!! The jeans wasn't great but good enough for me haha...

Seattle Premium Outlets

entering the shopping paradise

after lunch

Had my third Engineering Professionalism lecture today and i still have problem writing down what was been said. The lecturers here speak much faster English with their respective Caucasian accents which is so different from Singapore lecturers. The students here are also much more vocal and they all seem to be very zhai and keep well abreast of general issues, which is beginning to stress me out! Zhenni's house mate actually went to the library to study during the first weekend!! To think that i was assuming that people here are more slack than Asians in studying, i'm so wrong...

introducing the car, Smart!

After lessons, Zhenni suggested walking to the nearby Wreck Beach as the weather was very sunny today. For your information, Wreck Beach is the only nude beach around!! But it is winter now so no one will be that crazy to go full monty haha... Upon reaching the entrance of the trail leading to the beach, we were greeted by a super long flight of stairs which seems never-ending!! However, it was worth it when we reached the beach as the view was good and the air was fresh!! We were each busy taking our own photos and didn't even feel cold. However, it was a arduous journey back because we have to now climb up the same flight of stairs that we came down from!! I took it as leg exercise and Zhenni couldn't even walk straight even before halfway up the stairs!

are u reading what i read? *cheeky*

zhenni about to embark on her journey!!

me too!

Wreck beach!!

i miss my bolster!!

i've got the whole sun.. in my hand!!

UBC!!

We later realisd that Vince actually skipped lecture and was trying to get us!! In the end, he spent the noon photocopying his textbooks with Ha. He was whining to Zhenni about us not calling him along, sorry Vince!!

-Specially for you-

wish u were here..

Bright & Sunny

Was awaken by sunlight scorching on my butt this morning! haha.. But it is indeed rare to see the sun ever since i reached Vancouver, especially when the day is so short. The sky starts getting dark at around 4 and it just makes one feel so sleepy and tired easily, talking about hibernation eh?

Took a couple of pictures while walking to class with Zhenni and Julian. The weather was nice and sunny, though it was still a bit too cold for me.

Can u see the snow cap mountain?

random pictures of UBC campus

clock tower in UBC

Julian and me facing the bright sun..

Donuts!!

Back to Fairview!!

Attended my second lecture for Marine Biodiversity, which i skipped last week. In the end, realised the guest lecturer was just reading off the slides and i knew skipping it last week was worthwhile haha... Decided to skip the class halfway as i was not focusing to his heavily-accented tone, but thankfully today is his last lecture. Alright then, got to go over to Vince's place to get food and cook dinner at Zhenni's before going to Metro Town again for grocery shopping, again..