Love-hate relationship. I believe I am slightly narcissistic, but I have come to realise that I have been exuding a certain behaviour that I cannot accept. Now, I am casting so many questions about my own self and it feels so unhealthy.

School. Standards are dropping exponentially. With a marginally slim chance of 4.0, this extremist have decided not to forgo any form of enjoyment from now. Anyway, Frida from NBS sent me the following email:
"Can you let us have more details; especially in relation to which areas of law the subject will cover? Thanks!"

Seriously, I am so tempted to reply with:
"I certainly can let you have the details if I am teaching the course. Unfortunately, I am just a student?"

Spring break. The decision is to proceed to Florida - Fort Lauderdale (1), Miami (1), Key West (2), Orlando (3), Daytona Beach (1). Pretty sure 8 days in Florida will have a nice balance of what I desire - outdoors, scenic views, attractions (Disney or not?), beach parties (well, just for the exposure) and shopping =) Quite sad that I will not be travelling with my usual PP clique, but I thought 7 would be too far off the ideal 4.

I have always found joy in doing endurance sports. The exhilaration of going miles after miles, pain after pain and finally the state of achievement is fabulous. CK suggested that the best investment for this exchange thus far is his bike, I cannot agree more.

Saturday. Bakeries and sunset at Alki, or so I thought. After a hearty breakfast, the cycling trio did not even have a chance to taste any of the 6 bakeries planned. So depressing =( Sunset at Alki was beautiful, perfect if not for the massive clouds that day. Oh, Spud Fish & Chips (best in Seattle) is grossly overrated.

Wednesday. Burke Gilman trail - arguably the BEST trail I have ever cycled in my life. 4 hours, 40 kilometres, 3 books, 3 scoops. When objectives are aligned, decisions and consequences become so much easier and enjoyable =) Flat terrain with almost no obstruction, I am certain to ride on this dedicated bike lane again very soon..

Went for the UWSO concert yesterday. When I saw the Steinway and Sons grand piano, I began to fantasize about playing it. Seriously, I am not sure how much more I can contain my desire to run the fingers =( Anyway, the concert was very well performed and I personally enjoyed the piano playing most.

After the 30 minutes of roaming, its now time to travel for a video conferencing. Rather surprised at how accommodative Barcap can be for an internship position actually. Wish me luck =)

All-time favourite breakfast.


Cafe Presse. The only bakery we went to, just to LOOK but not TASTE =(


Piroshky piroshky, surprisingly delicious considering the ingredients involved.


We saw a seal here, but were too slow in taking out the camera =(


There is a need to conquer all the trails.


Alki beach.


Statue of Jesmine. Check out the props.


Burke Gilman. Where we turned back, only because the sky is turning dark.


When 2-for-5 takes its leave temporarily, an alternative 2-for-9 enters.

Breakfast/lunch. Very thankful for Shihan's invite to a Tuesday breakfast - toasted bread-ham-cheese and the oh-so-delicious chowder. I did become very envious of the meals they are having, since my breakfasts and lunches are never more than cold ham and cheese with 2 slices of breads at the sides. When the sumptuousness of your food is determined by the slices of hams/cheese you put between your sandwiches (with Dobson closely monitoring the figure), you start to miss good simple fare =(

Trip to Victoria. Tremendous =) Hope everyone enjoyed thoroughly, and have already managed to catch up with the never-ending school work. It is always very nice to travel with good company, doing fun activities and having great food.

According to Jane, firms cannot discriminate qualified applicants unless it is for a business necessity. The JPMorgan Assessment is held in Singapore, obviously I cannot turn up. Rah.

Cycling at night (Pa, I was returning from school) in Seattle is not as safe as I thought would be..


Despite a morning call from Signature Blue, I woke up late for the trip.

First view of Victoria!

Lost a bar. Try Cheng Wee's knowledge of dogs.

Birthday cake for Cheng Wee, about a month in advance?

Wax museum. Where I forgot to use the coupon.

Somehow this reminds me of Shihan.

Heard some stories about Empress. I tried hunting for food along the dark streets alone once in Victoria. Pretty sure that will be the last time I move individually.

Boundless. Beautiful.

I like this picture a lot. Some kept trying to get this "feel" but failed. Its not the photographer, its the subject.

Piano in Castle. There is a need to visit Northgate to satisfy my desire.

Tourist attraction - Algae Garden. Free smell. (I am trying to conceal the actual location by slotting this pic in the midst of those from Victoria)

Miniature world. Not that fun because Crepes was on my mind then.

Nice =)

How enjoyable this can be.

Whats with all our helmets?

Where the cyclists met the walkers. Impressive really.

Terry Fox wearing the same kind of shoes as I am =)

Oyster burger. Heavenly...

Last stop. Unfortunately, I didn't get to finish my share of the food =(

Sorry Pa, I went up to the deck of the ferry =P

It is amazing how Google can search, seriously. I was trying to look for this particular blog which I failed, but chanced upon a few others that I didn't expect haha. In the process, I have probably read something I shouldn't have? Sometimes, ignorance is indeed bliss. There is truely nothing deemed as "private" out in the Internet, and I do believe it will be the strongest weapon in the coming era =P

On a lighter note, I want to join Google! Well, I have actually planned to submit the application a month ago but the 3 required essay questions are still undone hurhur. Procrastination again, whats new.

So looking forward to next Friday! =)

Not sure if I am handling things correctly, not even sure why and how I have gotten into this. I am really afraid I would unknowingly offend someone in the process. However, I strongly believe things will turn out great eventually =) Victoria, here I come!

Boeing visit. We are always over charged, and there are no significant benefits to join FIUTS as compared to OTOT. I enjoyed the trip though, just that it was not credited to FIUTS but Boeing. I thought the entire tour was well planned out, and the script for everything was tremendous. Add in a short plump guide who led by example and brisk walked 0.3 miles, frustrating activities somehow lost that impact. Great job done.

Postponed BarCap phone interview.

Jiren: "Hi, before we start the interview I would like to inform that my current location is at Seattle, Washington. I am on an exchange for 6 months, and am wondering if there are any complications to the procedures."
Interviewer: "Oh, ok. I won't want to waste your time, let me check with HR."
End of first phone call. Haha.

10 minutes later...
Intervierwer: "Hi, can I speak to Zheng Xiang please?"
Jiren: "Erm I am Jiren, I suppose Zheng Xiang is the next person on the list?"
Interviewer: "Oh... anyway I have checked with HR and bla bla"
Chit-chat continues...
Interviewer: "By the way, how did you know about this internship application? Did you attend our campus recruitment at NUS?"
Jiren: "Hmm, I am from NTU..."
Quite interesting. Obviously, I asked about work-life balance again ha. 30 minutes on roaming, thanks Pa.

Schools good. Clearing assignments comfortably, but not exceptionally outstanding in my opinion. Students here are interesting, and there is this Cole from my Accounting class who is especially so.

Lecturer: "Any questions?"
Cole raises hand. Lecturer asks for the question.
Cole: "Do British like to wear red?" (The lecturer is a British and was wearing red)
The lecturer answered and asked for further questions. Cole responded again.
Cole: "How many children do you have?" (Or something along that line, I cannot remember)
Lecturer: "Ok Cole, do you have any questions related to Accounting?"
Cole: "No."

It so happened that I crashed another Accounting tutorial and Cole is there.
TA: "Any questions?"
Cole raises hand.
TA: "Cole, is your question related to Accouting?"
Cole: "No."
Apparently the TA anticipated well.

"Avoid expectations to avoid disappointments" - something that I have told myself 1 year ago, but yet to master =( I am just feeling emo again haha.

It was 1am. Who says Seattle is cold at night?

I remembered I wanted to become a pilot 5 years ago. But I failed the interview =(

100% natural. Style.

According to the Wise one, putting your hand on full-marks scripts while sleeping will boost your chances. This is in addition to having neatly stacked notes, books and clothes while you rest the tired mind.

Yeeeeeeeee. "The high-low approach is a quick and easy method to provide a highly reliable estimate of the cost function even though only 2 data points are used." FALSE!! The 2 points are most likely outliers. Sucks.

Have been feeling rather emotional these days but I suppose not many could tell ha. Probably its due to certain realizations, perhaps I am starting to feel a sense of loss, maybe I am just bored lol. Anyway...

Theo chocolate factory. I thought the product, those brown chunks of solid we termed chocolates, was so good. Especially the Vanilla ones. The guide, however, preferred a German machine that looked cute and huggable. Rather different tastes huh.

Chinese New Year Eve was spent at Lee's, where everyone gathered to have a huge dinner and played the usual entertaining games. We went to Microsoft the following week to celebrate as well, meaning free food. I will be back there some time later, and then more pictures will come.

Schoolwork has been good thus far, getting more-than-decent grades for assignments so I am pleased. WLBalance has also progressed to rounds 2-5 for E-Strat, so Paris is a step closer in some sense haha.

"Dear Jiren, apologies that interviewer could not conduct interview this morning, please login to re-book another time for interview. Thanks, Campus Recruitment" - clap clap.

The samples. I can't remember how many I took, but I felt pretty full after the tour.

The famous fremont troll, but I don't know whats special about it.

Missing Vietnam food...

The girls at Lee's during CNY eve.

So heart-warming =)

CNY celebration at Microsoft, free Chinese dinner! =)

Heavyweight roadbike.

Putting the bike on the front of a bus. Seattle is rather BIKE-FRIENDLY =)

Glad.

The past.

The present. No choice, its simply too tempting.

In good timing before the Lunar New Year, wishing everybody a great and fun-filled Year of the Ox (moo~)