Steph's graduation

Yippee!! Steph is now a Dr! The beh ik lang eh lok kun. Happy for her but Ping is also going to miss her a lot. The first time Ping met her was when Ping came to the department for a visit. But at that time, Ping still wasn't sure if she was really staying for grad school so at that point, to Ping, she was someone whom you bump into throughout the life journey, say hi and walk on. It was when Ping joined the department that Ping knew she would be someone Ping would like to know more. Ping was walking along the hallway of 6th floor looking for a professor's office when Ping bumped into Steph again. She was nice enough to give Ping her email address! But we only got close when Ping joined the Schmidt lab...she's been Ping's 'bestest' friend, and the most valueble mentor. Ping would not have made it through this far without Steph. All the nerdy discussions...she was the only one whom Ping can talk to about it and who took time to understand Ping's stuff...the Friday nights...weekends in the lab...afternoon walk to Grand River.

We had a celebration for Steph at The Post on Wednesday night after she defended. We were supposed to go to Peanut Barrel but there were too many people. We then walked towards Harpers but guess what...there was a line!! Can you imagine???? It's final's week..the MIDDLE of final's week and those kids got time to go to the bar for half-off beer. Usually finals week, we don't even want to do anything. Just want to bury our face in the book. But maybe there are just lots of people who were done by Wednesday.Anyway, back to the celebration, we ended up going to the Post. Ping actually like that place. Not a big fan of most bars, The Post is more subtle. No crazy undergrads, no crappy music, no smoky atmosphere...pretty comfy. But as usual, Ping didn't get any drink....had dinner there instead. Ordered some Thai Pasta with chicken, Steph got nachos and dips, Allison got mac and cheese (don't know if it taste different but it definitely look more 'gourmet'), Daniel got some kind of burger, and Kristi got black beans nachos but we didn't see any black beans at all!! We kept saying that we didn't see any black beans but then leh nobody said anything to the waitress. 可能喝了太多酒吧. *grins* The black bean nachos also came with pickled jalepano..it taste like 'cheh huan jio' but not sure if cheh huan jio is jalepano or not. The ang mo didn't eat much of that so Ping ate them with the pasta...they don't exactly fit each other but ho chiak enough lah.

Just before we were all about to leave, Dion suggested that we should do a shot. Ping insisted not to get one but they got one for everyone. A bit 不好意思 if don't take it right. They got 'bomb' which is a mix of Red bull and rum. Taste pretty good. So Ping actually drown it down (yup, Ping did. The last time Ping did that....Ping was jumping up and down at PD - that was when Ping was at PD with BK's friends when they did the tequila shot...that was definitely a once in a lifetime thing!). At first Ping didn't feel anything...but by the time we were about to leave, Ping felt like she had her head stuck in a heater! 好才沒有吐出來. Definitely wasn't Ping's best behaviour that night. Lucky thing Daniel was there to give us a ride home. Otherwise Ping would probably end up sleeping in the office.

Last night we went to Steph's commencement ceremony. Definitely different from Western's commencement ceremony. Ping like's the way they have the video of Western's campus at the end of the commencement ceremony. They didn't show anything like that at MSU. But, there was a Sparty guy. He actually sat there for the entire ceremony too.

After the graduation, we adjourn to Steph's place for 'dinner'. Steph and her 'parental unit' had prepared some crackers, cheese and fruits. It was a very American style..similar to a mini 'hi-tea' when we go to hotel but don't have to spend crazy amount of money. There's crackers and cheese slices. They usually eat the cheese by itself or eat it with the crackers. There were also slices of turkey and ham which they are collectively known as 'cold-cuts'. We usually eat them with roti but here, they eat them just like that. As for the fruits, unlike the regular Malaysian style (papaya, melons, mango, nangka), they are a combination of melon, grapes, and raspberry.

Ping likes the cheese curd the most. Ping usually don't buy cheese 'coz when you eat out in the States, almost everything has cheese. Ping don't need more cheese at home. Furthermore, Ping don't really know many recipes that need cheese. But Ping couldn't help snacking on the cheese curds. Ping probably finished all of Steph's cheese curd. On top of that, Steph even gave Ping the remaining that she had in the fridge. Ping could probably finish the entire bag in two days!! Err...they are really good mah!

Congrats Steph!!....Dr. Steph!