Sick lor….

Weekends was spent recuperating from the 39.2 degrees celcius fever. Luckily I was sick on Friday or else my lab schedule will just be screwed up and down for next week.

The period was no fun at all. When people were feeling hot, I was wearing a jacket walking around at home. Then, I even had to jump into my bed covering myself all around with blanket to sooth the shivering coldness. Alarm was set to remind myself of all the medicine eating and temperature taking time cos I was the only one responsible for my own sickness. Even then, I was scolded for being sick with little symphathetic concern from people around. The worse came when I had to eat my dinner back in my own room cos he was scared it might be h1n1. Ignorant people who don’t know that one of the symptoms include flu which I obviously don’t have! Nvm, I know how to take care of myself. Anyway, I have learnt to grow up in this world being quite independently by myself. Nothing is supposed to be a difficulty for me. Any difficulties could be solved and conquered.

I’m glad I fought the illness down alone. This was the fastest and most painless time I have experienced. Most importantly, have to thank all my frens for the concerns! The time may be short, but the frenship will be strong. Back to school tomorrow!

Michael Jackson

The passing of Michael Jackson has sent a huge wave of shock around the entertainment industry. At a mere age of 50, no one would have expected that life would be so short for the pop king once famous for his moonwalk, white complexion and sharp nose. However in recent days, he is remembered more for his fetish for young kids. Life gives no warning – a simple cardiac arrest is well enough to take the world away from you. But a pity for his British concert organiser who have to incur wraths of loses due to his passing. Maybe they should use some of Michael Jackson’s huge monetary wealth to pay for it

I believe he will remain as a legend for which I could safely say that anyone above the age of 15 would know who this guy is. Thanks for all your contirbution to the music industry. Some of the songs are really nice coupled with the fantastic dance moves as well.

R.I.P Michael Jackson

Time flies…

Time flies… Another week has just gone by with July loomng near. The whole week is pretty much another roller coaster ride. Was forced to change project once again. The consolation is that I will have a mentor this time round meaning I need not venture around alone from now on.

Gradually, I think I have slowly cultivated my passion for science research work. Its not as easy as it is made to seem on paper. When the results did not appear after 2 days of hardwork – running gels, washings, incubating and testing, it will no doubt be a very big disappointment. The practice I received these few weeks like just remain as practice. When the real experiment starts, it will be a totally different case. “No results” will sound more devastating but it will force us to think further about what has gone wrong. Being inexperienced personnels in this field, it will be difficult to accept such facts at first. But slowly, I believe we will all learn to accept it and take it into our stride to make things better.

All that being said, positives do happen as well. Performed 8 rat brain injections last wednesday and everything turned out pretty smooth and fine. More experience really did the job for us. The 8 rats were more or less done in around 3 hours. As compared to the 5-6 hours work during the last session, the improvement is obviously huge. For me, the phobia due to the mouse bite last week did not seem to have dissipated. The problem is there -> a solution is needed. How long will I take to curb the phobia? Only time will tell…

Another week……

1) Penny’s Birthday

One of my rarest meetup in recent recent weeks. Everyone is busy with their own lives, so much so that it seems that a complete group outing is never possible. Well, sacrifices have to be made somehow, be it for urself or for ur frens. I just hope that I do not put too much emphasis just on my work in the coming months.

2) Qi and Jo meetup

Was over at the shoduko outlet in Heeren for our dinner. The food there was quite nice actually at a well, quite reasonable price as compared to Marche. Its been long since I last had rosti that I forgot how it tasted like actually. The reminiscent of the smell and ‘kou gan’ is quite fantastic. (Ok abit exaggerated) Of cos not forgetting the good company as well. (*coughs)

3) Animal Training Course

The unforgetable memory. Went for 3 animal practical hands on session: Rat, aseptic surgery and mouse. The first 2 sessions end up really well that it changes my perception of rats. Erms, they are really super cute. I know I shouldn’t be using that word but well sometimes its hard to defy the reality. Just when I was about to conclude the same for the small little mouse, I was bitten on the thumb by one of the furballs. Was quite scared since I didn’t have the tetanus jab beforehand. So the only consolation is that I didnt have to pay the 37 bucks for a tetanus jab cos the medical centre could claim it from insurance. But have to live everyday with fear, checking on the wound day and night, changing the dressing day and night and bounded with restricted movement on my left arm cos of the tetanus jab. Kao… Save me from all these pain man….

4) Stayover at my house

The lab clique stayover at my house. As usual, the fights btn Ms Monkey and Mr Xiao S S while me and Mr Kola Bear would look in disbelief. Well kids are kids, they never grow up do they? Played the whole night away with our best intellectual game of the year: Bridge. Guess no one would want to touch it again especially our dear Mr Kola right? Finally someone cannot be so ‘zhuai’ already due to the numerous continuous card shufflings. Lionel is not ard to boost your ego already. Hahaha…Everyone ended up like a panda in the morning, hardly able to open their eyes wide. If age were a contributing factor, then I believe age has really catch up on us. For someone like me, it doesn’t really matter cos slping is one of my best hobby around other than playing sports. Take away my best hobby? I might just go for the kill.

5) Ken’s house warming

The first private designed HDB flat in Singapore. The view is quite magnificent and the design similar to that of a condominium. Not bad huh. Paying the money of a HDB unit for the design of a condo with the exception of the normal facilities. No wonder so many people were down there queuing for the flat some 3 years ago during its launch. But one thing that I still cant tolerate is the size of the room. My current room is safely 1 and half times the size of the typical room. Honestly, I won’t swap size with stylishness and design. The most I would just re-renovate my house in the near future. It wont be a hell lots of job than buying a house and refurnishing it right from the start.

IT fair

The place for cheap cheap technology. Got a pair of portable speakers, mouse and laptop lock all for 25 bucks only. And prices are dropping like nobody’s biz as the days passed. 2 days ago, the 320gb passport size portable hardisk from seagate was going at 109. To think that it dropped to 99 bucks today would really make ppl going early crazy. And for me, it make me even more dui cos the 150 bucks i spent 1 year ago on a 320gb desktop hardisk would get me a 1TB now. Seeing how much technology has improved is really scary. Things that we thought as ‘mission impossible’ is slowly made possible with speed like improvements in technologies.

Speaker

~ How I wish I am in school right now……

1 week break

Phew… At last there comes a one week break just in time when I feel so drained and shagged out becos of lab. Lab has been pretty alright getting more hands on experiment these few days. Never knew my lab mate is so observant. He can observe the slightest things on human behaviour which I admit I didn’t even notice it myself. There comes the ‘ana ana’ ‘pi lah’ and ‘dowan lah’ pet phrases that pretty much irks/irritate people when pronounced in the right tone. Its really exercising my cheek muscles to a very high extent recently. The kind of company is really very impt…

Project title sort of confirmed for me. While I will be working with rabbits, I think I am quite lucky that the techniques that are required is non-invasive in nature which means no killing or slaughtering for me!! Woots!! Plus point on that side. Adding on, the proj also focuses more on clinical study which I had earlier mentioned to my prof on the area that I am interested to study. And he actually remembers it and tried to shape the proj in such a way to fit my interest! My godness…. Think I’m seriously damn lucky to have met such a nice prof with such a nice lab environment as well!

But well, the trade off for that one week break is to read journals and the grant proposal on my side. Now I understand why my senior say its a 24/7 job. Seems abit no life….. NO NO not true… I’ll be having lotsa fun the coming week. Just hope that I don exert too much of my remaining energy that soon! Hahaha

The winning mentality

No one likes to lose. So how far would you go in order to win?

Its difficult to understand the issue sometimes. There I met a person who likes to win so much that the issue of losing never ever flash through his mind. But on the other hand, there exist another who literally does not possess any fighting spirit or rather motivation in life. Is it the workings of character? Upbringing? Or just plainly genetically determined?

Its quite scary to witness the scenario every now and then. In these people eyes, I see fire. The hot fiery eyes that does not even allow one to commit any margin of errors. They play by their lives with victory as the ultimate purpose; mistakes will never be forgiven and forgotten. Their ‘winning mentality’ has so called surpassed the initial objectives even to the extent of sacrificing anything in the name of victory. Maybe that’s the joy in life, maybe they felt only victory is able to bring satisfaction. I really don’t know. Only the subject would be able to understand themselves better.

The notion is neither bad nor it needs a little bit of curbing. Rather, a balance of both extremes would make us look more humanize in a sense. If life is judged by who wins more, then the world would more or less be one without any human touch. Instead, I believe what needs to be done is to learn the art of ‘kan kai’ a little bit more, be less perfectionistic and taking things like a pinch of salt.

Its in the character. There is so much more to learn to allow for the chance of character shaping. It seems very much similar to an experimental protocol: things take time, be patient and there you enjoy the fruits of your labour. Think about it…..

~ Sometimes I really wonder what my brain is made up of cos ideas would just come flashing by without notice but I’ll make sure the info is all captured down.

Laugh laugh

Hotel NOT…

Mum’s complaining… I have no qualms about that as well since I indeed see her less than 15 minutes everyday. But never did I had the intention of treating my house as a hotel. So don’t get me wrong.

Lab
Did the rat work all by myself. It wasn’t too difficult but I could still hear my heart pounding really hard against the rib cage. Luckily all went well with that rat. But the next wasn’t as smooth probably cos the rat was scared and it tried to somersault itself out of my control. In the end, it ended up turning round and round mimicking a fan which leaves me with no choice but to put it back into the basket. But, death was still imminent…

Its getting a little bit boring with so much incubation time. Normally, one will do and the 5 others will just stare. At times, the staring takes up even more energy especially after lunch when most of the energy are channeled for digestion purposes. I wonder how I’m going to survive next time when I will be alone waiting for the incubation time…

After lab activities
The main reason why my mum sees me for 15 minutes everyday and the only reason why I am so shag but revitalized everyday.

Meet up with qi and jo was a good exercise for my laughing glands. Be sure to NOT to make it a yearly affair. Reminder for myself.

Table tennis was really fun. I never knew I had the innate ability to play it cos i only touch the bat no more than 5 times before that. I would continue to play that sport if possible picking up more skills as well.

Basketball was hell. For someone like me who refuse to bring a proper footwear in fear of heavy bag, it was a very tough lesson learnt. Full 10 toes filled with blisters after the mere 2 hr workout was the result. I always have to learn the lesson the hard way man. Thank god I have plenty of plaster supplies at home. Hahaha.

2nd driving lesson turned out well. Learned u-turn and drove normally on the main road. Stalled 1 time only which I considered to be an achievement. Nearly beat the red light if not for the instructor stepping on brakes for me. I can forsee myself as a dangerous driver and I mean it.. Patience is a virtue.. Patience…

Terminator Salvation
Fantastic movie. Action pack for the whole 2 hours inside the theater with near perfect storyline. This is one of the best movie I’ve watched recently. Christian Bale and Sam Worthinton acting also brought in life to the characters and I really love it.

“This is John Conner, if you are listening to this, you are part of the resistance.”

Expo Fair
Wooooo… I’ll never step into another food fair again. The people there are really like greedy pigs. Pushing ans shoving their way through. Seriously, I think otherwise about the issue of recession. H1N1? No problem. People will still turn up at places with cheap stuff. Who cares that much right? Anyway, there’s nothing to be scared too. Its overrated.

Happening

Only 2 days into the week but I’m totally shagged out already. The daily activities after lab is taking a huge toll on my stamina especially after spending so much eye power in the lab.

Did rat surgery yday. It wasn’t as scary as it was made to seem previously before we carried out the whole process. The procedure is very much similar to human surgery from catching, anesthetizing, fur shaving, clamping, injecting and lastly stitching of wounds. Throughout the whole process, it actually triggered my thinking regarding the ethical issues on the usage of animals as human models. Although considered as the most appropriate model in human disease studying, there is no doubt that these rats will also undergo some pain and trauma during the experimental process. So it really makes me wonder if humans are really the “SUPERIOR” mammal on earth where we find and sacrifice other animals for the sake of our own benefits. It can also be considered as a noble cause depending on the different viewpoints to the issue. I’m going to stand on a very neutral viewpoint cos there won’t be any breakthroughs w/o the aid of these little rats. Respect and careful handling is what I would ultimately aim for during the course of my project.

Dissection today turned out fine for me. At first, it looks really really bloody and disgusting. But after awhile, I am sort of like immune to that sight which I believe happened to the previous batches of students as well. I think all fears will be erased by the time I’m going to do my own dissection and experiment. Practice makes perfect!