be a geek!

I really didn't expect myself to voluntarily sign up for the symposium. The very 1st student symposium organized by my faculty. Who'd have thought that i'd have put in this extra effort to organize and print out a whole poster to take part in this event? Then i found out that the organizers were mostly my friends. AIYAH.. should have said earlier.. would have showed my full support lah! Anyway, i totally did not regret attending this symposium. I've been to so many biology conferences and talks and symposias, that it gets a little dry sometimes. I had also forgotten that I don't come from a purely biology faculty (but an integrated school of sciences and engineering), until i attended the first keynote lecture on friday.. WHOA... so exciting! Prof Inami from Keio university in Japan was flown in to talk about the newest technologies in robotics... how cool is that?! and he even brought some of the robots to show us.. oh manz. There's this collaboration with NUS, where they even endearingly called it the CUTE centre, to stand for Connective Ubiquitous Technology for Embodiments. hehe. really cute. looking at his presentations of James bond movie-come-to-live, i wondered why i never stuck to engineering even though i excelled better in maths and physics rather than biology. At the end of his presentation, he indicated that he was looking for post docs to work in japan. I WANT!!!! heheheheh

And that was not the end. There was another student who presented hi phD project, about lovotics. yes, love+robots. hahahha.... how fun is that? And the ultimate... i met this other guy also from the mixed reality lab (even the lab name sounds cool!)who was involved in the very recent Babbage Cabbage project (do a quick search of it and you'd see). If you think about it, back in historical times, humans made decisions by getting clues from nature. Yellowing leaves and falling leaves indicate the need to wear warmer clothing. Stampedes of elephants and scampering of mice indicate imminent floods or earthquakes. So why not go back to nature? So this vege project is a man-plant interactive system where they make use of the cabbage to warn us of dangers around and within us! So the cabbage is so smart as to detect changes in pH in the soil, or even increases in our blood pressue, and change color accordingly so we may be alerted! Wouldn't that be a truly useful vegetable to have at home? =P

so cool right? and so coincidentally, right after the symposium, today the YA walk was at hort park... and we saw plants that would dance to music! i don't know what the relation is to the cabbage project, but to me, plants that can do things other than photosynthesize, are amazing! and gav was saying, that eventually, we'll need to have certificates to approve which vegetables we can eat and which we cannot because they dance/talk/move! XD

(rant on) pachelbel’s canon in d

Couldn't help but laugh out loud in the silent room when i watched this. XD
Many of you probably already know what this guy is gonna say in this video, but the way he says it is hilarious! go watch! =)

Robots

I've seen robots on the news and the papers so very often, but i've never really seen them infiltrate into our lives and become housekeepers or replace anyone in my life. Yesterday, i finally saw the true beauty of technology. Because of this wonderful creation called the robot, i managed to do so much more than i ever could in a stretch of 12hrs, and even had the luxury of sitting down for an hour in between to rest and chat (and be counseled)! i love robotics!!!!! =)

God has his ways

Was feeling so terrible with all that had showered upon me. The sudden awakening, the depressing realization, the unwanted trouble. Well, at least know i am no longer living in my own imaginary perfect world.

No one would understand it all. No one but God. Even those who walk through similar paths might not experience the same things. Amazingly, and so timely, was the chat-turned-counsel. Am so grateful to that person for understanding and being so comforting about it all. It helps so much to know that i am not the only one who thinks this way, in this dishonest and unfair world. Indeed, it's a road of character development more than anything else. Thanks dude.

sigh. what do you do when your mother pleads for you to go home for dinner, because nobody else is? i've been going home almost every single weekday night for dinner to keep her company. should i just forgo all meeting of friends on weekdays so that my mother doesn't have to be lonely? it's as if i'm the only child at home... luckily, i love my mother's cooking. it's yummy, not too oily, very fresh food, healthy, and very cheap! hehe~ looking forward to my asam prawns tonight. so sorry to 77 friends... esp wh who hasn't organized this in 2 yrs or something... next time yeah? and make sure it's not the 15th day of cny. =)

it only takes ONE to push you on...

teaching's never easy, especially when the crowd is young and hyperactive. it takes alot (unless if you're really charismatic) to hold their attention for an hour, and still make sure the entire session is not full of games and nothing to learn. But it's really worth it, when you find out that they really were listening, not just hearing. You know it when they start to apply it to their lives, or when they start quoting you a couple of weeks and even months later. Even if it's only one of the entire group that remembered, it is better than nothing. That's when you know you made a difference. That's when you know it was all worth it. :)

Never too far for a surprise =)

ah. been all too busy to do anything much besides lab and friends. busy with getting failed experiments is the worst thing. bah.

i know it was some days ago, but i really need to jot this down. amidst my busy-ness, i received an sms from an unknown number. some overseas number. the msg said it's from 'down under'.. so i was guessing who from Oz would msg me.. as i read down, i thought it was yet another surprise from the same person who called me just to chat from US years ago. then when i read til the end fo the msg, it signed off as 'the guy (i) saved from the heat in singapore' (or something liddat lah) . hahahaha. totally didn't expect an sms from you dude. at least i appear in your mind during a very boring monday afternoon. haha.