Rowie's Scribbles

I submitted this article to Cheresources so I thought to publish it here as well. It's mainly directed to students who aren't sure what chemical engineering is all about; a situation I was in 4 yrs ago :) I remember the time when I’d just finished my pre-university course and wondered: what career do I want to do?  I was a brilliant student, business and accounting was NOT for me, and I knew I wanted to go into something science-related but I didn’t want to be involved in research.  Be a doctor? Nah I’d probably accidentally kill someone.   Be a teacher?  I lack the patience and the passion for that. I came across the term “chemical engineering” and decided to do some reading on that.  I had trouble understanding what it pertains to and I wished that someone provided an explanation about it back then!  I took a risk accepting an offer to study chemical engineering and four years later, I’m grateful that I took that chance!  So here’s my countd...

I've decided to have a 2nd blog focusing on music to help me put my music links & thoughts in one place!  It's brand new, I'm still mulling over the design & the background but do check it out & feel free to give suggestions!  It's gonna be a new experience for me, I think it'll help me to write more constructively in such a "specific" environment!  It's an exciting venture for me so I hope you'll like it too! :) UPDATE: The new blog is inactive, since I've barely time to update the main blog :)

I can't believe I forgot to write a review on this film! I watched it 4 times in the cinema, every time was like the 1st time, this film just tickled my funny bone endlessly! Plot Phil & Claire Foster is a married couple with 2 young children from New Jersey. They live an ordinary life & every week they go on a date night, leaving their children with a babysitter. They order the same food, refuse dessert & the demands of their working life made it difficult for them to embark on spontaneous intimacy. When another couple (their friends) divorce, they realize they need to spark some life in their marriage & instead of eating at the usual place for date night, they dress up & drive out to Claw, a trendy new seafood restaurant. The couple were unable to get a seat & resorted to taking another couple's reservation, under the name Tripplehorns. While enjoying the food, 2 men approach them & request them to leave the restaurant. The couple obliged, under th...

Yesterday I had a tiny dilemma but with immense proportions: what was I gonna eat for dinner? After laying out all the raw materials, I decided I was gonna make: 1) Black pepper stew 2) Stir-fried cabbage The ingredients are: 1) Garlic: 6 pips for each dish 2) Black pepper flavoring: this Maggi offering was a bribe (private joke lol) 3) Lean pork mean: of course you can replace this with chicken, best to use thigh/meat with bones for extra flavor. 4) Cabbage: I'd half a cabbage so I used 3/4 of that for the stir-fried cabbage & the rest for the stew. 5) Carrot: 1 stick for each dish 6) Corn flour 7) 5 fresh prawns 8) Potato: I'd only one :p 9) Button mushroom: 6 pieces for the 1st dish. You can add some to the other but I felt there's only so much mushrooms we'd eat. Let's go dish by dish! Black pepper stew 1) Chop the potatoes into cubes. Dice the carrots & cut the cabbage but not too fine. 2) Slice the meat into thin slices. Dust each one with corn flour. ...

Hey all! I haven't been free lately, so it's hard for me to find inspiration to write good stuff! I'd the idea that if I were to commit to a routine, it'd be easier for me to produce something periodically, so I'm going to start writing book reviews on works by Nora Roberts, since she's the only author I'm faithfully following these days! I'm now looking for a star rating system as we speak! :p I may also start a series of engineering notes, focusing on the new stuff I learned & solving calculation problems that I've encountered during my internship. Some stuff is in the works, like natural gas processing & some heat transfer calculations, I'll post them up as soon as I get into the mood to writing them out! Feel free to drop suggestions, I'm open to other ideas & stay tuned! :)

I heard that this was a good film but I wasn't so sure because romantic comedies these days tend to be dry stuff... But I was pleasantly surprised when I watched this at home with mom & sisters :) The Plot Sophie Hall is a young writer who travels to Italy with her fianc é, Victor, to celebrate a pre-honeymoon, since Victor is going to open an Italian restaurant in New York. Sophie starts to feel distanced from Victor when he explores Italy for inspiration for his upcoming restaurant. She comes across a wall pasted with letters. These letters are by women who detail their heartaches to "Juliet". She observes as a woman collects the letters into a basket & Sophie follows her, only to meet the Secretaries of Juliet. She learns that this group of women write back to the owners of the letters. When Victor leaves for a wine auction, Sophie decides to join the ladies & received a letter by an Englishwoman, Claire. Claire was 16 when she met Lorenzo & they planne...

Something random about the name Rowan which I am terribly fond of :p The rowan tree is a shrub commonly found in northern Europe as well as in the north east parts of North America. Also known as the mountain ash, the rowan tree is believed to have magical properties by various cultures for many years. There are many different legends pertaining to this tree: 1. According to Finnish legend, the land was barren & devoid of life until a goddess, Rauni landed & took the form of the rowan tree. The tree was struck by lightning, described as the mating between Rauni & Ukko, the god of thunder, hence all plants & animals sprang forth from the rowan tree. 2. In England, the tree is where the Devil hanged his mother. Morbid, no? 3. The tree is prominent in Celtic folklore, providing protection against evil spirits. Rowan trees were planted at churchyards to keep the restless spirits in their graves & to protect the church. Women would wear necklaces of rowan berries strung...

I just watched Going the Distance with uni mates today, I had my reservations seeing that some reviews described the show as one where the audience lapsed into a coma, but it was surprisingly good! The Plot Erin meets Garrett in NY & spends a great 6 weeks together before she returns to San Francisco to complete her studies. They embark on a long-distance relationship (LDR), coping with being without the other & missing each other. The strain of the relationship gets to the both of them but true love prevails *aww* The Cast The chemistry between the leading stars is critical for any movie, especially for a romantic comedy & this is where the strength of the film lies: the chemistry between Drew Barrymore & Justin Long is awesome, I wonder if they REALLY split up. Christina Applegate was hilarious as Erin's protective big sister, plus the tag team of Charlie Day & Jason Sudeikis provided some of the great laughs in the film. The Music Boxer Rebellion makes a came...