Monday, May 30, 2011

Flight Review, literally #1

It's been a century since I've updated my blog. That's because I'm back in Malaysia now!! This time around, my journey back is WAY better than the one I've had when I first arrived in the States. Still, it's a looooonnngggggg flight.

Since I wanted to depart from the airport NEAREST to Blacksburg (which is in another town an hour's drive away) and CHEAP tickets, I had to take a redundant flight. I took US Airways and Cathay Pacific this time, which is definitely cheaper than most flights available. Here is my itinerary:

Roanoke, VA (ROA) --> Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT)
CLT                           --> Queens, New York (JFK) 
JFK                            --> Hong Kong (HKL)
HKL                           --> Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
KUL                           --> Kota Bharu


US Domestic Flight 1

I took US Airways from Roanoke and it's not too good. Weather's bad and the flight was delayed for about 45 minutes. If one's afraid of small planes (like some of Firefly airline's fleet), this one will scare the life out of you. I was not bothered by the fact that I could see the propeller blades rotating when I look to my right, but the engine sound instead. It was basically "screaming" during take-off and about 15 minutes after. I felt like I was in a factory with loud, heavy machinery blaring in my ears. It's as if the engine's trying VERY hard to lift up. Thankfully, the plane stabilized and I arrived safely at Charlotte. =)

This was the redundant flight that I had to take. Since there's no direct flight from ROA to JFK, I had to fly downwards to North Carolina's Charlotte Douglas Airport first and then upwards to New York. Flight period was short but waiting time's forever.

This forever is short compared to the one I'm bound to have next. I'll update this next because the blog's getting tedious. :P

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Do I have Greenfingers?

I'm really bored and stressed from all the studying for the past few days. I had an exam each day from Thursday through Saturday (yes, Saturday) and another two this coming Tuesday. And then I'm done for the semester!

Remember I planted a few plants earlier this year for my Plant Propagation class? I actually planted more than that because I have greenhouse lab every Wednesday (not anymore now).

Here are some of the plants I've planted and those that have grown in that period of time:

My two tomato seeds planted at the beginning.

Then they began to germinate. The feeling I had when I saw this was priceless :)

And they got bigger..

And bigger..

Until they finally bear fruits! Tomatoes after I forgot how many weeks lol.

Flowering Forsynthia..not available in Malaysia. (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) Don't have the mood to Google today :(

Below are some pictures of narrow-leaf evergreen cuttings that we had to root. I can say they are quite successful.




Ornamental pepper. They look extremely pretty when all "grown up"..which explains why they are ornamental.

Leaf cuttings --> Pepperomia. I got the green ones instead of the variegated ones, as you can see from the neighboring plants.

Sweet shrub, which I think looks really cute.

Red buckeye planted from the seed as can be seen below. It's supposed to grow into a very big tree, like an Oak tree.

My Kentucky Coffee plant that grew quite well after I'd scarify them by scraping them against the concrete floor of the greenhouse.

Air layered a rubber tree to get the branch to root..that's just a name tag for me to recognize my masterpiece lol. It's not sold to me.

My Granny Smith apple graft (in front) and Fuji apple graft (the back). I was kind of worried they won't grow.

And I was wrong! They were successful! My professor said the plant will need at least 5 years to grow before I can actually think of getting apples from it. I can't even watch it grow up :( I would have graduated by then.. Goodbye, zai jian, zoi kin, selamat tinggal, annyeong, sayonara etc. etc. etc. :'(

That's it! And I'm still bored and my shoulders are aching. And two exams on Tuesday! I seriously need some motivation right not!! Help!!!!

Happy Mother's Day

To all mothers around the world, Happy Mother's Day!