Snow (Part of I of The Overdue Posts Series)

I'm not a big fan of snow. It's annoying to get around anywhere in Ithaca on any given day already and with the crazy amount of snow December brought, it got a whole lot worse! But for all you snow freaks... here are some pictures of snow!



These were taken during a pretty bad snowstorm that hit the upper Eastern states... and left the roads in Ithaca closed. I saw a lot of students who were leaving Cornell dragging their suitcases uphill in the snow... damn poor thing! Snow is evilLLLL!

View from my living room... It was kinda nice to look at, but generally a bitch to walk in and to clear. Ah, I am so angsty.

After a heavy snowfall a lot of students take out their sleds/fake sleds/dining trays (wth) and attempt to sled down the great slope that Cornell's campus sits on.

Said slope:


People sledding:


Yup put the two together and you get what I mean.

We were too lazy to walk up to school to slide down the slope (?) so we decided to make it work at home cos we had a baby slope in our apt complex. Made snow angels!


And it was not a glamorous process. At night we got kinda bored/daring and we decided to take our ironing board and snowboard/ironboard down the baby slope... and it was fun! That was kinda the greatest purpose of our ironing board... we hardly ever ironed any clothing anyway.

The subzero temperatures made the falls near my house freeze! So we trudged there one afternoon to take photos.
Haha look at the penguin...baby. So cute!



And with snow comes... snowy slopes! Which means skiing and snowboading! After I left Ithaca I went skiing at Vermont... unfortunately I don't have many photos of my ski trip! And that's because one's tendency to take photos and smile for photos diminishes with the increasing number of times one falls on the ski slopes! Skiing was fun, but I was really stressed out at first because I simply couldn't get it right. After MANY lessons I finally made it up the ski slopes on the chairlift and got going... slow and steady but thankfully not so slow that the ice melted while I was skiing down the mountain.

Ok I gotta end it here... funny how I blog so much after I've returned home. And I'm mostly blogging because I'm jetlagged... ARGHH sucks!!

In Orlando

Hey guys,

I'm in Orlando now... visiting the theme parks... it's been too crazy, too many people and far toooooo long waits for the rides (which weren't very fantastic either). I guess the next time I update might be when I get back to SG!! GASP! I'm COMING HOME btw... 5jan SEE YOU ALL!

Merry Christmas (belated) and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2009... 9/9/2009 - who's getting married on that day?!!! HAHAHA

USA: the land of retarded (but terribly amusing) commercials

Don't get it? See any similarities between the last part and this picture?



I'm 2 things in one: A Man, and a Pretty Smart Shopper

Last 11th day

I am studying (more like 20% studying, 80% daydreaming + net surfing) for 3 exams that will be over the next 5 days... and I'm damn bored! Especially this Friday's Marketing Research exam - it's so lame cos I'm taking it "out of interest". It counts as a Business Option which I don't need, since I've 2 majors?!! And I'm taking it Pass/Fail which means I need a minimum of C- to pass at Cornell, but even if I do get a D it's considered a pass in SMU? But if I get a D, I'll fail here so SMU will say it's a fail! ARGH I've brought unnecessary misery upon myself :(

YES my house is cold. I've to wear a beanie and the $4.50 Hanes (from TARGET!!) sweater!

Just so you get what I mean... some of the tinier streams have frozen!



And I cooked this for dinner just now... teppanyaki beef and mushrooms (hahahha). Taking cues from my idol Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef (aka the unhygienic, fat, saliva-spouting cook)!

Ok one last photo... you know you miss seeing my kawaiiness hehehe
Oops that's not me! It's DORA... my other idol! I wanna be just like her when I grow up! Ha

Ciao!

America's Next Top MUGGER

I must have blogged several weeks ago about how the library was so empty and how Americans don't mug as much but how wrong was I! The library is PACKED TO THE BRIM today. It seems like Americans mug as much as we do, only that they wait til the last minute to mug... so Singaporeean muggers still win cos we mug all year round! YAY.

Lazy

It's so dreadful because I've been incredibly lazy of late (what's new) and I've absolutely zero inspiration to blog about anything regarding America! Maybe it's because it's a little less than a month before I return to SG(!bachormee!). I guess I'll miss the somewhat-carefree school life here (you mean I can choose not to go for lessons?? And my instructor is fine with skipping classes because he used to skip classes too? wow wow wow)... I'm really excited about returning to SMU tho. ARGH! However I'm looking forward to seeing my LONG LOST FRIENDS again! no more Robinson Crusoe days! Yipeeee

Anyway in no way is this an indication of how much I've learnt from ARCH1301 (Intro to Architecture) because I did not learn much, haha, but aren't these pictures lovely? The genius behind it all's Ondine Karady, set designer for Sex and the City and Top Design contestant.





Ondine Karady

I wanna do something like this for my room too! I'm tired of living in a pig sty!

You say ice hockey, I say ice ka-changggg

Ice hockey's a pretty big thing in the US of A. And Canada. In fact, I came across an Ice Hockey musuem in Toronto! I wonder if it pulls in the crowds...

So I'm pretty lucky to be at Cornell, as it has a very vibrant hockey history. It's one of the stronger hockey schools in the Ivy League and after years of letting Harvard and Princeton steal it's thunder, it's yet again vying for the coveted Ivy Champions title! Ok great.

Cornell v. Dartmouth College - match on!
Ice hockey is really violent by the way... at least one player's hockey stick breaks per game. There's a whole load of smashing and slamming as well, so all that padding that the players wear comes in handy.

That said, fouls are a-plenty every game. When a player fouls, he is sent to the "sin bin" for 2 minutes and his team plays 4 against the 5 opposing players.

Cornell v. Colgate University - 2 Colgate guys in the sin bin
This was a pretty exciting moment because Colgate was down to 3 players for about 1.5minute and Cornell had 5 still, but it was down 2 goals as well! Cornell redeemed itself and tied the game, ultimately, but that was a real nail-biting moment in the game!

Remember back in primary/secondary school/college, when out supporting your school against any other team in whatever sport, your teachers forbade you to boo or taunt the opposing team? Well anything goes over here. Popular cheers include "__(insert school name here)___ SUCKS!", on perpetual repeat mode, and taunting individual players with quite unfortunate last names, like Cox ("You Suck, Cox!") and Morin ("MORON! MORON!").

Cornell v. Harvard University - go Big Reds!
Cornell has many sporting and academic rivals but one of its greatest hockey nemeses is Harvard. Apparently in the 60s, during one of the more exciting hockey showdowns between the two, some Harvard supporter threw a chicken into the rink to mock Cornell's agricultural leanings. Some Cornell guy retaliated by throwing fish (?!) into the rink at the next match... apparently because it was "gross and smelly", just like Harvard. Great.

Well, the tradition still continues today...although the school officials work hard to stop it. There was a sign at the entrance to the rink saying, "We have a cat. Do you have a fish? Feed it to our cat". And inside, there was a huge dustbin with the tag "CAT" on it. Haha.

SOTONG! Also, at the end of the Colgate game, some people threw empty Colgate boxes into the rink..! Fun stuff.

Oh yes despite the cage over their faces and the great distance that separated me from the rink I kinda thought the Harvard players were quite handsome!
Bernice, this picture is for you! Unfortunately this is the most upclose shot that I have of them... but I'm sure you can tell from the picture that their players are not bad already!! Haha. :D

Victory cheers!

Between every period (there are three periods in total), the "snowmobile" resurfaces the ice. And the uncle manning the machine dresses in a different costume every match...
Elton John for a day...
Napoleon the next...
and then, Burger King? Damn boliao la this uncle!

After the uncle resurfaces the ice, the Cornell Big Red Bear comes out and skates on the ice..! Cute. Anyway I read some interview with this girl who works as one of the Bears and she said her most embarrassing incident as a mascot was when she was in high school. After a basketball match that her school lost, she went up to one of the players' girlfriends and taunted her by doing the telephone signal thing, as if to say "Call me", and obviously the guy saw her and he beat her up in her bear suit! HAHA hilarious. I reckon it'd be kinda fun to work as a school mascot, if I were younger...

And here's our resident ice hockey wannabe..!


Boy that sure took long. 'til next time!
SCHNAPPI, OUT!