Rowie's Scribbles

Now that I've settled in my new routine, I'm outlining some music goals I want to achieve: 1. Improve my violin skills I've resumed my violin classes & now I'm trying to master the 3rd position, my bowing is still problematic (I hate hearing notes that aren't supposed to be there) but at least the notes sound more solid & clearer. I've a copy of the Eta Cohen Violin Method book 3, it's a really good book with drills to strengthen the fingerwork & has a nice compilation of songs for practice. The current song I want to master on the violin is Bach's Violin Concerto in D minor, I'm learning different fingering combinations & trying to get the bowing right. 2. Expand my piano repertoire I want to play these songs by the end of 2011: Claire de Lune - I can't get past the 2nd page! Flight of the Bumblebee - I'm still unable to play the piece smoothly Fantasie Impromptu - suggested by a senior, I've trouble synch...

Well 2011 has arrived & man, what a yr 2010 was! I started working in Dec & everyday is about learning something new! I realized I really like what I'm doing, I really enjoy coming to work especially since I've so many good friends there & a great group of people to look up to! :)  Now I know I haven't been updating my blog (giving reasons for my absence still doesn't make up for it, I know!) but I've been super busy & we all know it takes time to really focus on writing a proper blog piece! My promise still stands: should I have more time & attention, some new material will pop up here!  I suppose 2011 will be a yr where I will truly learn the meaning of financial independence, adult responsibility & fulfilling my career aspirations. If anything, 2010 has shown me that life can have many unexpected turns & it helps to have family & spiritual belief in oneself to overcome the challenges & become a stronger person at the end of...

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! :)