Yay free things! I <3 all things Bruin.
Today I attended my first alumni event, a young alumni mixer held in the San Fernando Valley. People from a variety of backgrounds showed up, ranging from fresh-ish grads such as myself from the Class of ’08 to people as far back as the class of ’98, and grad students as well. It was a nice event, with free appetizers and some raffle items. I was the first one to show up, even after I found that my original parking spot is permit-only and had to move my car a very long block away. The place was strewn with lots of small gifts that people could take at will, like Class of ’09 cups, Class of ’08 keychains, Class of ’07 stickers, etc.
I sat down to chat with a few people and when the appetizers came, I munched my way through quite a bit before curbing my hunger. I met a bunch of interesting people – a guy who was my year, a Chem major who is doing R&D work now; two girls who were ’04, one is a third grade teacher and the other a nurse at UCLA; a guy who was ’06 Psychology, now working on techie stuff for UCLA Biomed or something like that; a lady who was ’06 Music History and History, and has been a professional musician for 25 years; a girl who was ’03 and is working at the UCLA Fund; and a few others who work for UCLA, as well as a handful of people in the environmental field. I got a nice lead with Ms. UCLA Fund, who told me to let her know when I submit my application for a job on campus that I would really like to have.
As luck would have it, I also won a raffle item and chose to take home the mug. I was a sucker for the gold trim and black and white image of Royce Hall. I was almost tempted to get the mouse pad, but then I realized I never use one. This clocks in as the second mug I’ve won and one of many that I have unofficially collected over the years. I will never forget my beautiful black mug from Gallery and Toff’s (two nightclubs in York), which I got during Fresher Week when I first arrived for my year studying at the Uni of York. I think it’s the sturdiness, yet fragile nature of them that make me feel they are valuable enough. Everyone’s a winner when I win things, because I get really excited and that brings a smile to most everyone’s face (except for the super bitter who reaaally wanted to win too, I suppose).
I had nothing else to do, so I stayed quite late chatting with these people. The last guy I had an extensive talk with kept calling me a cougar because Panda is two years older than me. 🙁 He was teasing, of course, but for some reason I was very eagerly trying to deny his allegations. He joked that I go to high school proms to pick up guys and buy underage kids alcohol to bribe them, all ridiculous notions, but I still defended myself. I’ve had my share of pseudo-dating but I’ve quite happily settled on my first and only boyfriend, thank you very much. But hey, cougar is better than cradle-robber, right? And so I concluded my night, taste buds happy with the food, mind pleased with the service, and overall a very positive feel about the night.
Somehow I didn’t take a single picture there though…
It started Saturday with dim sum, where we also ate with Cherry (who was also an Orientation Counselor with us last year) and Envie (Panda’s brother). It was really nice to catch up with Cherry, who just completed a rigorous summer program, and meet Brother, who I’ve heard about over the months, but never gotten more than an impression of. After we filled our bellies with delectable tidbits, we went across the way to a photo sticker machine place and took some fun shots together. Between the six of us we managed to squeeze into one booth and split the sixteen copies of the four shots we printed, then split off. I took Panda, Envie, and Cherry back before spinning back to get Opti and Doc, who had gone back to Opti’s so she could pack for the overnight.
As I thought, the wait was drastically shorter than the guy told us, so we were seated about an hour after we had originally arrived. Unfortunately, restaurants of this type work at a slow pace, casually letting you soak in the atmosphere and enjoy your soup and salad before the chef shows up to entertain the table. We were ravenous and didn’t get fed substantial food until about 10 o’clock. The performance was fun, but not as flashy as others I’ve seen and the fried rice was very tasty, but the chicken was a bit chewy and bland. The vegetables were juicy, but not my favorite thing to eat and the shrimp was pretty good with the provided sauce. Overall I felt the experience was average and probably not worth the money, so I think I’ll look for cheaper alternatives to this type of dining next time. It was nice to share it in a double date kind of setting though.
This morning, Panda woke up early and couldn’t quite get back to sleep, but the rest of us slept in until we lethargically pulled ourselves up and decided that we were due for some brunch. We walked down to a cafe that serves breakfast all day and uses fresh ingredients to make tasty sandwiches, burgers, and of course, the standard breakfast foods as well. From there, it was time to resume our carding craze until dinner. Throughout the game, the boys got chastised by the girls, who were both whooping the boys for the majority of the time. We can get pretty sassy and have a fun time bantering back and forth flirtatiously. The guys learned that they just couldn’t win unless they placated us. 😛
What a fabulous experience at Sentosa! I touched so many creatures I can’t even count them anymore. From butterflies to sting rays and even a dolphin, it was an absolutely thrilling time for me. Though I enjoyed the views from the Tiger Tower and Merlion, what stood out the most was the time I spent at the Butterfly Garden and Insect Kingdom, Dolphin Lagoon, and Underwater World.
The Dolphin Lagoon provided good entertainment as the pink dolphins there showed off their speed, balance, and accuracy. They even showed off for us before the show and posed for pictures. They are still adolescents, so only their bellies have started to turn pink, which was interesting to see. After the show, we were allowed to pose for a picture with one of the dolphins for a small fee, so I happily lined up for my turn. My dolphin’s name was Splash and loved the ladies, but swam away when the only guy entered the water! He was good for me though and struck the best pose. 🙂
Continuing on, there was a pool entirely of rays that would whisk by and occasionally stop to say hello and see if you had food. It made me want to have a pet sting ray – they’re better than dogs! I spent a lot of time there, petting their soft bodies as they went by and marveled at the opportunity. There was a display showing sharks at their stages of development with live examples! Then it was case after case of bizarre and brilliant species, like jellyfish, cuttlefish, seahorses, crabs, and sharks. There were these “angels” that flapped their wings and cuttlefish that changed skin patterns in the blink of an eye. Some leafy-looking sea horses floated around near the seaweed they resembled and some giant crabs scuttled slowly across the sand.
That’s what I thought, anyway. Then I saw pictures and it was undeniable; these things are PINK. Like little girl playing hopscotch and blowing Bubble Yum gum pink. Like pink rose pink. Like how flamingos are neon pink, they are baby pink. Nothing like the “pink” tint of human skin or other such wannabes. So, I was really excited to go out to see some of these creatures for myself. I almost couldn’t get on a tour, but we managed to book me for a tour before I was due to leave (though I had to delay my intended departure time by a few hours).
When we were first heading out, we were right around the area where the planes were coming in for landing at the airport. Distracted, I took pictures and videos of them as they roared overhead and came down for a smooth landing. By the time one plane landed, another was appearing from the clouds, making its descent. One by one the planes took turns coming in, like clockwork, as others left going in the other direction. I marveled at how many people and how much cargo I had just seen arriving in Hong Kong. It was the first time I’d ever spent some time watching the operations of an airport and it was pretty cool.
At one point when we were further out, I was sitting in front, staring down at the water when a little fish jumped out and quickly got overrun by the boat. I continued staring down and soon more came, jumping just ahead of the boat, then falling off to the sides to avoid being hit. Excited, I started to film and snap away, trying to get a good shot of these little flying fish. Maybe it was just my imagination, but they looked a lot like mini dolphins. I spent a long time observing them and noticed that when they are in groups, they all jump at more or less the same time in some sort of coordinated effort. They also really seemed to like jumping in front of the boat in the rushing water, but once they went off to the side, they seemed to resume swimming more. I guess they’re looking for the adrenaline rush!
I so wanted to hop in the water, toxins and all, and go join them. I wondered if they’d come closer to explore if I had some body parts dangling in the water. Still, it was so rewarding to finally find them, after so many hours of searching. I had even begun to entertain the idea of how I could go on another trip (they offer a free retry if you don’t see any on your trip) – perhaps I could get an IOU that wouldn’t expire, so I could use it years down the line, or whenever I return. Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about that in the end and we ended the trip on a happy note.
When I went to visit Patong Beach, I was delighted to find the sand teeming with live little clams that could be caught burrowing whenever the tide washed away the sand hiding them. I happily spent the next two hours digging them up and taking pictures and videos of them climbing back down again. It was truly an amazing time for me, since I love creatures of most sorts and it was my first time seeing clams in a natural habitat and not at the market. The next day, I went to check out a different beach with the hopes of finding more of them, but the sand was rougher and there was hardly any life to be found.
At the hostel, I wasn’t sure about the policy on bringing back such things, so I quietly took them upstairs and went out to find a container to put them in. I ended up finding a styrofoam bowl and transferred them over. The sea snail with the pointy shell was an active one, always coming out to climb around whenever I put him on top of the sand. He left a little slimey trail with sand clinging to it and made a small indent in the surface of the sand as he moved around. The clam, however, was super boring and just lay there for hours. I guess he was trying to get used to the still water and the little bit of stirring I did was not enough to simulate the ocean’s waves.
It’s a pity I couldn’t keep them, but as a fellow hosteler pointed out, they wouldn’t get through customs. However, Panda is willing to get an aquarium one day, so I can get some then! I also want starfish and sea cucumbers and anemone and sea horses and sea urchins and shrimp! It’s going to be one intense aquarium, I tell you. However, I’m going to have to wait a few years before I can afford to maintain such a thing. So for now, I’ll just enjoy the life that I can find when I go to the beach to play around.
