a friend loves at all times..

was digging through my drawer for some paper to use, when i discovered a laminated drawing. So long ago.. the last time i saw it was probably after i moved out of my first room in hall. I read thru the note written behind, and remembered that the drawing was given to me halfway through year 1 uni. Memories rushed back. At that time, it was a tough decision-making time. And while the decision was being made, i was so afraid i'd lose a friend. That was when kor was there for me once again. And of course, i remember that crazy night the 3 of us shared, to comfort one another. Yeah.. the short short note, spelled out our relationship so well.. how we understand each other, how much we have in common, how the other's presence made uni life much better. I'm really glad you chose to stay, dear. It was a fantastic 4 years i had with you. ^_^

eat eat eat it all up

I vaguely remember when i was young that my mum said that ants were eating away my house. How can teeny weeny ants eat away my house? and.. does a house taste good? (i seriously doubt a house can taste better than chocolates or icecream) But i saw it with my own eyes.. those masses of ants scrambling all around certain parts of my house.. walls getting chipped off here and there, powdery red stuff that kept pouring out endlessly from the walls. MY HOUSE WAS DISAPPEARING! i hated those ants, eating away my beloved home. But, they were not removable! there were so many of them, that no matter how we killed them, more seemed to appear. I can't really remember what happened later on.. but termites are hateful things. If i buy my own house in future, i'm sure i'd build some termite barriers to protect my house from them! Houses are expensive okay. i am not so generous as to pay so much money for a termite's meal.


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我的一颗心交给谁?
交出去会不会后悔?
爱情的边缘一次又一次徘徊
我的一颗心交给谁?
交出去能不能收回?
付出了感情只怕换来是伤悲.
过去我为爱流过泪,
现在已锁上我心扉...

黄品冠

less than a month away

if not for pb who mentioned tt it's their 11th month, i wouldn't have realized that we're already past thanksgiving and nearing christmas! Less than a month away! Time flies. too fast. been too busy.. so busy that i don't even have time to fall sick. Cannot afford to fall sick! Want to shop also cannot. boohoohoo. Oh well. at least i have time to come online occasionally. ^_^ And i found CouponChief.com that has useful stuff! My favourite Body Shop.. heez.. pple who 'smell' me everyday would know.. and i couldn't help but notice Dell.. something that mr Dell should like!! XD And that reminds me of our happy meal together at Crystal Jade last christmas.. mr Dell's best-meal-of-the-year.. wonder how christmas would be like this year? hmm..

Helping hands

Just a couple of weeks ago, my brother was frantically studying for his A levels. As one family, we all studied with him, trying to help him with sums he had problems with, making sure he got enough brain food, ensuring that he was in his top form for his exams.

Today, less than a week after he fought that month-long war, it’s my turn to need his help. A sudden reversal of roles, it was his turn to make use of his finely polished differentiation-integration skills to help me with my school work. So who said only the older and more experienced can teach the younger students? We help one another, and my brother who had just completed his high school managed to solve my graduate school assignment! =P

Remember the sweet moments

I seldom see my sis watching the news so attentively, especially when it's early on a saturday morning. It was only then that i learnt of the incident, the cambodia dragonboating incident. The next couple of days, i saw my sister buy every single newspaper featuring the incident, following the updates so very closely. Because one of the five who went through a brave struggle last friday, was her very good friend. To hear of such freak accidents is one matter. To know someone involved in it is another. It is so heart piercing to read the blogs and comments by family and friends of the victims. And it is even worse to read the forum comments by naïve, thoughtless people who mock the victims and their families.

I used to think that those people suddenly dying in their sleep without any known health ailments was scary, simply coz you really won’t know when you’ll die. But now, I think to die in a freak accident like this is even worse. In both cases, you don’t expect to die, but there is definitely less suffering if you die in your sleep.

To those who are families or friends of these five who have left unexpectedly, I really hope they’ll cope well and remember them at their very best.

And she’s off and away. Maybe it’s a good opportunity to lessen the grieves too, returning to only remember the good times they once shared.

So it really happened..

After so long of not touching any experiments, I was totally lost. Like a newbie in the lab. And I made a mistake. BAH. And it wasn’t even myself who discovered the mistake. I was so so soooo fortunate that it wasn’t a big mistake. This better not happen again. Mass production cannot afford to have mistakes. Too costly, too costly.

-------

On a happier note, sister made tiramisu yesterday (and so today can eat!). I haven’t had tiramisu since.. since Arzhou last made one for me as my farewell. Oh that was so long ago! I liked my sister’s tiramisu actually. The liquor was good.. haha. But unfortunately, there was way too much cocoa powder! I mean.. not that I dislike cocoa.. I LOVE it.. but.. it’s in the wrong place! Tiramisus shouldn’t taste like that.. cocoa overpowering the cheese and coffee.. lost the essence of tiramisu. Maybe she should just rename the dessert as something else.. then... it’d be wonderful. =P

New ministry

It’s been a long break. Had tried out various ministries last time.. choir (dun luff!), chijmes, youth, thai ministry… then I took a break when I went overseas to study.. a break that extended for 2 yrs. I’m now getting back. From 2008, I’d finally be serving in the Sunday School! Yeah.. after so many rejections when pple tried to pull me over.. there’s really no excuse lah.. fear of unpreparedness and inadequateness is no excuse.. coz we wouldn’t need God if we’re fully equipped and ready for the job, would we? It’s precisely the fearful and unequipped pple that require God’s providence. ^_^ I agreed to sit in Stan/Roy’s class today.. and before I made it to their class my name got taken down already! Haha.. I was just walking past.. and my name/email/phone number all got recorded. Like being caught by a prefect for being late for school lah!! Haha.. In addition to that, I’d prolly be stepping up at Assistant CG leader next yr too.. it’s gonna be a busy but exciting year ahead! ^_^

pretty flooring

I always imagined garage to be the most unkempt places in a house. A storage place, dirty, messy and untiled floors. Worse still, a garage full of rats running around! >.< tiled and be pretty.. and shining like diamonds! Not a dark and gloomy place, but pretty, clean and pleasing to the eye! It can even be protected with professional grade epoxy to make it easy to clean and to keep it nice and new.. whoahaha... i am day dreaming.. but when i finally get my own landed property with a big garage, i'd definitely pay attention to the garage flooring. The car.. will come later. =P

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It's gonna start..

After so many months of waiting, they finally arrived yesterday. Spent a couple of hours doing preparation work today.. it's been so long since i last did any benchwork, the pipette's exciting to the touch! XD I can't wait til next monday, when experiments start. It's a funny feeling, how excited i am to finally start on this project, but at the same time a little fearful coz i have never done this experiment before, yet the first time i am gonna do it, it's gonna be mass production already! Oh well.. i can't always waste time and resources to just practice alone.. i have to learn to be more confident, as well as of course be more careful and diligent with everything so that things can succeed at first try. No more allocating weeks just for practise. FEEL the experiment! woot~

Want..

It'd be nice to have this.. Nike+iPod Sports kit.

"Transform your iPod nano into a personal workout coach with the Nike + iPod Sport Kit. This wireless sensor and receiver combination works exclusively with your Nike+ shoes and iPod nano to give you real-time feedback during workouts and let you track your performance on your Mac or PC"

I don't really gian the ipod, but the tracking function is cool.. and is compatible with alot of events by Nike! Can even do charity k.. =P

Unfortunately, tho the sports kit is only $29, i still don't have an ipod to match with it. Bah.

Morning Surprise

Been sleeping a lot lately, for some unknown reasons. I went to bed at 10+pm yesterday, and only woke up at 9+am! I got out of bed, and saw a big bag sitting on the dining table. ‘Donut Factory? Not again..’ I thought. Donut factory isn’t that bad lah, but after a few times, it gets boring. Nonetheless, I peeked into the bag to grab my breakfast.. and then I saw… “Krispy Kreme”!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was stunned for a moment.. Groggy after sleeping for 11 hrs? Nonono.. Indeed, that’s what I saw. Muahahah… Krispy Kreme after almost 1.5yrs of no KK!! This has got to be the best morning surprise ever lah!! ^_^ Thanks to my sis who just returned from Manila. I guess I have given up eating KK ler, such tt it didn’t even occur to me that Manila has KK outlets. ^_^ I had 4 different donuts today, of which only 1 I’ve eaten before. Manila sure has different flavors (or has it been so long that KK has come out with new flavors that I don’t know of?) Oh that boundless filling oozing out of the donut from all directions.. the sweetness of the icing.. the softness of the donut.. is heaven~ Pity there was no chocolate filled.. But still.. KK is all that matters!!!! =P (But I feel so full after just 2 whole donuts.. I cannot imagine how I used to be able to eat 4-6 at one sitting.. bah.. no wonder I gained so much weight in so short a time.. maybe it’s good KK is not coming to Singapore. Maintain weight while the craving for KK will remain. ^_^)

Special insurance for Women?

A recent debate about whether oocyte extraction from women is harmful raised a question: would such a dangerous or emotional harmful procedure require insurance companies to create new policies for such events? Would it be better to have such insurances that could possibly insure women in case they emerge emotionally harmed by the oocyte extraction procedure? This is definitely not a rubbish question, as oocyte donation is becoming more and more popular, with human oocytes being higher and higher on demand for infertile couples, as well as for research. (of course, not nulling the fact that woman are very much highly paid for their eggs, ranging from a few thousand to 5-digit numbers depending on their educational level, ethnic group and age!) It's value compared to other insurance policies such as car insurance, home insurance and even pet insurance cannot be neglected. Of course, i personally do not think that any insurance would be able to account for the damage done on a woman if she suffers side effects from the donation. However, this is only my opinion, and i believe that many people have and will continue to 'donate' their eggs because of the huge monetary incentive.

* this is a sponsored post*

where’s the responsibility?

Yesterday, I took an exam. Graduate students, as you would expect, should be people who take learning seriously and study terribly hard for exams. I was shocked when 2 guys sitting beside me seemed shocked that there was an exam. After the lady left the room (she only came to give out the exam questions and left us to write our answers, assuming that graduate students are old enough to know to keep quiet and hardworking enough to have studied), the guys took out their handphone to make a call to confirm the date of the exam. Ok, since they weren’t using it to ask people for answers, so be it. There isn’t anything wrong with using a cellphone if you are not cheating with it, right? But then.. what about discussing exam questions? Is there an issue then? Those 2 guys started off whispering to each other, but eventually ended up having pretty loud exchanges that disturbed a lot of people. I was really pissed, and wanted so badly to shout at them to shut up and write their own answers, but held myself back as I didn’t want to disturb the rest of the students even more. I was sooo glad when a guys sitting right in front of them turned to say “can you please do your own answers?”. I was cheering for him deep down. Unfortunately, these guys don’t listen. They continued to discuss. Obviously their discussions were futile, coz both of them did not study for the exam, and I suspect they’ve never attended the class either. The guy beside me obviously saw me scribbling furiously, and decided that it was more wise to check out my answers. He was at questions 2 then, and I was at questions 7. He made it so blatant as to flip quickly to question 7 and turned to discuss my answer with his friend. I was so PISSED!! I started covering up my answers, sitting in weird positions.. and he happily changed his seating to continue checking out my answers! I’m so glad he never saw the though, coz some time later, he gave up and went back to his question 2. Then, the most unexpected thing happened. The guy in front (the one who barked at them earlier to shut up) turned and started discussing answers with them! By then, I was so angry at them that I was writing my answers as fast as I could, so I could leave the exam hall. I left an hour early in the end. Any longer and I would not be able to contain my anger.

I am totally dumbfounded by what happened. In undergraduate courses, cheating and copying is quite common in class tests, but even so, exams are treated more seriously. At those times, I just close an eye coz I know some people really resent what they’re doing, mostly coz they’ve been tricked or force into taking a course they didn’t like. However, graduate students obviously chose to further study because they have the interest, and they know this is the career they want to seek. Noone in the right mind would choose such a tough road for the fun of it. So if these people are serious about what they’re doing, why aren’t they putting in any effort at all? If there is interest, why is there still such behavior? To add on to that, we’re graduate students, old enough to take responsibility in what we do, matured enough to know what’s right and what’s not. What’s more, this exam consisted of questions that are easily answerable by JC students as these topics are simple stuff covered in JC! If they have never studied all these before, never attended the lectures, never even heard of such simple things before, I really question what they are doing with their lives. These 3 guys totally changed my impression of that particular nationality. Terribly ugly behavior.

(I just wrote to the authorities regarding this. I didn’t name any names, but simply suggested that maybe there should be invigilators for future exams. Sad to say, I have to ask them to treat us like young, immature undergraduates again. I chose not to name names simply because I do not want to make such a big hassle out of it, knowing that I am already known to be a complain queen by the school authorities within 3 months of candidature. Furthermore, I doubt that those students managed to get very far by trying to cheat, thus they should have already received their deserving punishment)

Bliss~

I pretty much enjoy what I do right now. Being a student. Sitting at the back row in class, listening to the lecturer feed me with knowledge, taking part in heated discussions.. I am beginning to like school more and more. If only I realized this earlier. I used to be so caught up with finishing my lessons and scoring my As that I never really sat back to enjoy the process. I no longer view exams as so important. It’s the learning process that matters more. I have to enjoy it while I can.. coz I may have only 1 year more of school.. (don’t know to if I should be happy or sad.. on one hand I am hoping they cut down the syllabus and I clear my courses faster, while on the other hand I enjoy schooling.. life’s a contradiction, ain’t it?)

it's GIS day tmr!

I happened to check my Earth Calender today, and i found that tmr is GIS day!! What a cool day!! haha.. And i managed to trick alot of pple abt it.. hehe.. what fun~

Demonic Visitation explained

I used to hear about such things called gui3 ya1 chuang2 or demonic visitations, especially on Taiwanese variety shows. They make it sound so scary, but i never knew what they meant, until i experienced it for myself--not so coincidentally in Taiwan. It was scary.. really.. but i am not one who believes in such things, but prefers to take things from a scientific point of view. Indeed, there is a scientific explanation behind what many cultures have long thought to be a demonic/spiritual attack.

For those who dunno what i am describing, "Sleep paralysis is a condition characterized by temporary paralysis of the body shortly after waking up or, less often, shortly before falling asleep. Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the bodily paralysis persists. This leaves the person fully aware, but unable to move. In addition, the state may be accompanied by hallucinations.

More often than not, sleep paralysis is believed by the person affected by it to be no more than a dream. This explains many dream recountings which describe the person lying frozen and unable to move. The hallucinatory element to sleep paralysis makes it even more likely that someone will interpret the experience as a dream, since completely fanciful, or dream-like, objects may appear in the room alongside one's normal vision. Some scientists have proposed this condition as a theory for alien abductions and ghostly encounters.

Sleep paralysis occurs during REM sleep, thus preventing the body from manifesting movements made in the subject's dreams. Very little is known about the physiology of sleep paralysis. However, some have suggested that it may be linked to post-synaptic inhibition of motor neurons in the pons region of the brain. In particular, low levels of melatonin may stop the depolarization current in the nerves, which prevents the stimulation of the muscles, to prevent the body from enacting the dreamt activity (e.g. preventing a sleeper from flailing his legs when dreaming about running).

Several studies have concluded that many or most people will experience sleep paralysis at least once or twice in their lives.

During paralysis episodes, patients may be advised to try moving the facial muscles and moving eyes from one side to the other. This may hasten the termination of the attack."

For more information, visit wikipedia

Closing Banquet at Swisshotel the Stanford

The ballroom where we had the conference..


On the final night.. we had a banquet at the former Westin! ^_^

That's some of us at the cocktail reception..


I'm a pro.. can pose while looking for my favourite nuts to eat.. hehe


We wanted to give a cool look.. but tt extra 'mike man' popped into the photo and made us luff. grr..


I had a really good time at AACR. i can't wait for the next big conference!! (prolly a yr later bah.. boohoohoo)

Sleep more to stay slim!!

More excuses to sleep more! Not only do early nights help in the rejuvenation of your skin (and thus make you prettier.. that's where 'beauty sleep' comes from), sleep also keeps you slim! Now now, isn't staying pretty easy after all? Just lay in bed!! ^_^

"In experiments by Van Cauter and others, sleep-deprived adults produced more ghrelin, a hormone that promotes hunger, and less leptin, a hormone that signals fullness..." Get the full article here.

AACR Pathobiology of Cancer Workshop

32 workshops in 30 years, and this is the first time the workshop was held outside the United States of America.. and they came to SINGAPORE!! ^_^ A thoroughly exhausting but beneficial workshop. I feel so honored to be amongst this group of very privileged people. Presenting the students and teachers~~

End of Part 1

90 more minutes to the end of the pre-conference workshop. The professors from overseas are touring biopolis.. thus i took the opportunity to come back to the lab for a short rest.

I never excepted this workshop to be SOOOOOO intensive! Heard from a colleague (who'd attended this same conference some years back in the States) that this is supposed to be a week-long workshop, which for some reason has been compressed into two days! Imagine the amount of information crammed into our tiny heads.. and staring into the microscope for 12 hours a day is a source of terrible headache! It was a good experience though.. learnt a whole lot of stuff.. but could have been maximised if it was more spread out over a week.

Some people got abit reflective during this course.. coz we got to see really bad tumors in their raw form.. (and touch some of them).. and also getting to hear from the pathologists' point of view.. certain areas of research really isn't getting anywhere beneficial to the general population. But somehow, many pple outside the field get this misunderstanding, that everyone doing scientific research is due for a world-shattering discovery sooner or later. However, the real fact is, science is not something that one can do alone. It's not about making HUGe discoveries and being the next einstein. Working on cancer does not mean i am due to find the next cure. What happens is that everyone does a little bit.. we're like little people working on a huge puzzle. Each person finds a piece that may look unimpressive.. but when everyone comes together with their own little pieces (some bigger than the rest) and puts it together, a big picture is formed, and that's the whole big result that the general public sees. So, it's a group effort. I didn't enter this career wanting to make it big by finding a cure that noone could. I'm just joining this big team in finding more pieces of the puzzle that could eventually make up a big, beautiful picture.

Of course, i am not saying that there are zero big discoveries possible in the near future and that we're all bound to die. BUT, more often than not, alot of big discoveries are surrendipitous.. and thus it's something that we cannot really 'search' for, but can only 'chance upon'. We just have to wait for that surrendipitious discovery (whoever's lab it may be), or wait for the big puzzle to be solved piece by piece. ^_^

AACR

Woot~ My first real conference.. hope the pre-conference workshop would be fun too! (better be fun.. coz i've got to wake up at 6+am just for it!! >.<)

Police!!

For those who don't know, i always hold a certain kind of respect for policemen (and policewomen). It must be all due to the great amount of tv serials i watched that featured the police force and how heroic they can be. I even almost applied for the police scholarship a few yrs back, if not for my strong dislike in running! haha.. oh well.. no policewoman to be, but i chanced upon this really cool site 5.11 Tactical! police gear!! haha.. really cool.. go see see also happy.. ^_^

Dumb Blonde... >.<

Gossimer

Ever thought of hosting your own webpage? have your own domain name? heez.. i used to think it'd be so cool to do that.. just that.. i'm abit of an IT idiot that i never managed to do tt. haha. i'm easily satisfied anyway. haha. but for those who do want to register their own domain but have yet to do so, why not try Gossimer ? Services include web hosting and domain registration. All packages feature no setup fees and come with web site builder, MySQL, PHP, FrontPage, and multimedia support. ^_^

Eat your Cutlery!!

I chanced upon this website, on G-living. Green-living, the new age way of living.. to save the earth!

The website has information of various items that can help you do your part in saving the environment, ranging from cars to hand dryers to edible cutlery! Yes.. my favourite.. edible cutlery!! ^_^

A whole lot of parties, a whole lot of plastic cutlery.

Cutlery? Not exactly what you’re focused on this time of year, but when you consider all the events on all the calendars around the world and all the guests that will probably nosh on various holiday goodies (a party without food is not a party worth attending), it adds up to a lot of disposable silverware. The plastic kind, while convenient – you buy it, use it, then throw it away – is disastrous for our planet. Once it goes into the earth in the form of a landfill, it stays there for hundreds of years.

That’s why I was excited to discover SpudWare™. Just in time for all of your holiday events, this heat tolerant disposable silverware is completely compostable. These fully functioning forks, spoons and knives come are made from 80% potato starch and 20% soy or similar vegetable oils. They’re just as durable as the plastic stuff, but they biodegrade in 180 days.

It’s a cool stustainable alternative to petroleum based cutlery. It can even be washed and used again if you’re a frugal party planner. But you needn’t worry. Twenty bucks can buy you a party pack of 50 forks, 50 spoons and fifty knives.

The full article can be found here.

French vs Singapore

So what's the difference between a Singaporean seminar and a French seminar?


Yeah.. red wine. french seminars provide red wine!!! it's weird entering a seminar with everyone reeking of alcohol.. haha. everyone should learn from them. coz red wine is good for you!!! ^_^

if you have eyes like this...

please stay away from me. this is self protection. ^_^

NUS-Baden Wurttemberg Joint Scientific Conference in Life Sciences

Office of Life Sciences, NUS, together with Baden Wurttemberg, will be holding the NUS-Baden Wurttemberg Joint Scientific Conference in Life Sciences in the fields of Immunology, Cancer, Tissue Engineering and Translational Research. Location: Centre of Life Sciences (CeLS), NUS.

Beautiful eyes..

Was headed to a conference today after class, when Lin called to say that she wouldn't be going today. Since i wasn't totally interested in today's conference topics, i decided to go home. In a split second, i pressed the 'stop' button on the shuttle bus and alighted. There, at the busstop, stood someone grinning at me. WHOA. if i hadn't made that split-second decision to go home, i wouldn't have met him! it's been so so so so sooooooo long already! And it was nice, knowing that it was all over-worrying. i had thought my memory and eyesight had failed me, unable to recognize someone who had been more than just acquaintances. it kinda bothered me, to think that my brain had selectively forgotten some things in so short a time. i even thought it was some variance of those selective amnesia people experience. geez. If that had really happened, i can't imagine what would happen if i don't see some friends for more than 20 years. so happy that i can still recognize a friend. ^_^

had wanted to do something in this post.. but.. i realized all photos have been transfered out of my lappy. too lazy to go find ler. haha. just as well.

toys for everyone

Cat gave me this toy from japan, for my bdae.. it's apparently a cultural toy! (woo hoo.. we're all so cultural.. hahaha) (with a really nice pink LeSportsSac pouch too! and my mum tried to steal it from me.. grr)


It's really fun! Seen fei1 ge1 play with it on tv.. now we have one too!! haha.. challenging k.. now everyone treats it as some morning exercise.. haha.. thanks cat~ ^_^

Loans?

Recently, there's been this big amount of talking about loans.. sigh... finances.. something which i really don't like to have dealings with.. yet, which one of us can run away from financial issues? Everything around us involves money.. home, school, work, holiday, cars, shopping.. involves some kind of $$$.. and worse still.. it usually involves INSUFFICIENT money!! >.< Secured Loans online! ^_^ bright orange template.. i like! makes the first step so happy alreay. haha. Magic Loans, they called it.. sounds fun and exciting already.. taking away the fear and anxiety the word 'loans' tends to bring along with.. heez..

**this is a sponsored post**

OktoberFest and Halloween Party~

It's my first time celebrating OktoberFest and Halloween!! ^_^

There were alot of people...
But i'm quite easy to spot, given the bright pumpkin on my head (courtesy of wyee) It's halloween mah!

All queuing for beer.. (now what's Oktoberfest without beer, right? ^_^)
The cheese sausages were really good..

Lots of other food too..


Some played Indian POker..

While i emerged the Queen of Gamblers~~
It was lots of fun. Can't wait for the next company event ^_^

Thanksgiving

if some of you know, i have a conference from 4-8 november, and a pre-conference workshop 2-3 nov.. luckily it's in singapore, so no plane/hotel to pay, but just entry fees, which total to about S$1000+ for the 1 week. (it's alot of $$!) Unfortunately, one of my current modules' exam is on the 6th.. right smack in the middle! i wrote in to the prof in charge, asking for an alternative plan for me, such as a term paper or an assignment (it's common for grad school modules coz phD students always have conferences overseas). However, this prof very mean.. he refused to excuse me! he insisted that i should skip conference for a useless exam... so i bobian...

Last week, the NUS grad school asked every student to give 1 feedback on any module we are currently taking.. of course i gave a heated feedback on this module! I told them how every module coordinator should be prepared to make alternative arrangements for students who have conferences to attend, coz this is grad school and it'd be a common sight in every semester...

Today, i got an email, informing us that the exam has been postponed from the 6th to the 14th of november!!!!! YAYyyyyyyyyy~~~~ Thank God. He always makes things right in the end. ^_^

Bdae..

Met the chestnutties today.. our almost monthly gatherings.. love it! ^_^ thanks pacey for organizing.. and shamir happened to pass by too!! ^_^

I received my first bdae present for this year.. from pacey! Thanks so much.. for spending time even when u are so busy with school and hyp and interviews.. ur presents are always so special.. so different from what the others give.. things that u make urself, things that i have no skills for.. and i must say ur painting has improved tremendously!! everyone look what he painted for me!! (it's an oil painting..)


I'm the sunflower (i seem to be always associated with the sunflower.. by everyone.. hmm) and he says the dark sky at the top left corner is him.. but i brightened up the sky ^_^ (correct hor pacey? i remembered correctly?) i shall have to think where i can put this up..

India?

Honestly speaking, i've never really thought about going to India, until Bong mentioned that she'd love to live there for maybe a year. It's about the ultra-rich culture there, she said. And i thought about it.. holidays in india would really be quite cool.. can try the authentic indian food!!! ^_^ I love indian food.. it may be oily.. but the rich use of spices!! woohoo~ And then i wonder about the pricing. Would flights to india cost alot? Ah.. no worries.. flights to India are available at DialAFlight! ^_^It offers Delhi flights, Bombay flights.. ah alot alot! I really wonder where will be my next holiday destination?

**this is a sponsored post**

Methane Burp-the end of human kind?

In response to Al Gore's film, my prof brought out a point that CO2 is not exactly the main greenhouse gas that we should be wary of. The scariest greenhouse gas is methane, which is 20 times stronger as a greenhouse gas as compare to CO2. However, where does methane come from? They're all hidden quietly, a ticking time bomb buried in the Arctic tundra. When global warming has caused the earth's temperature ot rise above the threshold for these hidden time bombs, a sudden emergence of methane called a 'methane burp' will occur. Then.. will humans survive that episode?

Read the full article on Methane Burps: Ticking Time Bomb. A follow up article is also available here

A change of perspective

Nowadays, I seem to be more affected by certain things going around me. Things that shouldn’t affect me as much. Take yesterday’s show for example. We all rushed home after CG fellowship to watch the final episode of a particular tv show. But I cannot believe how emotionally affected I was by the show. Just a show. But it got me thinking.. of what I will do if I was in a similar situation.. if someone around me was diagnosed with cancer. Not just focusing on the possibility of losing the person, but the reason behind it—cancer.

It just had to happen. Today I received a call, a notification of a relative who was defeated by cancer. I must admit I wasn’t very close to this person, but it struck me nonetheless. I know I couldn’t have done much, but.. having chosen this field to work in, I just feel more obliged to hold more responsibility for such things happening. I know I shouldn’t, and I know that there is a limit to what I can do. I know that whenever I tell people what I am doing and they ask me “so when will you discover a cure?”, it is probably not going to happen in the near future, nor from me (unless if a miracle happens, that is). Yet, I just feel.. I dunno.. like I haven’t done enough. Will my work now affect anyone at all in the future? Will my work be futile, and I end up not having contributed anything at all?

I haven’t found an answer to any of my own questions.. but I will learn to deal with it along the way. In the meanwhile, I just have to be more hardworking and go out even less.. just to complete my work and be a good student.

An Inconvenient Truth

A highly recommended film by Al Gore. I watched this during a class on a saturday morning. (Hey, i know this sounds pathetic, but it was coz my teacher got stuck in China due to some plane delays, and we had to rearrange our class time.) It was a class on ethics, and the show was to pose us the question: is it ethical to ignore environmental problems and allow future generations to suffer because of our negligence? Al Gore is indeed a very good lecturer, and i thoroughly enjoyed this 90minute film featuring him. Go watch!! ^_^

Lunch with IAP

And so today was the day I had lunch with the International Advisory Panel. It turned out that there were 5 tables, and each table had 1-2 professors and the rest were students. So it was a comfortable chat. My table had Jan from Sweden, and it was so coincidental that he mentioned my lab! (coz we do collaborations with Karolinska) So cool! ^_^ It was a really interesting chat with students of various backgrounds and scholarships coming together.. and sure did I gain a lot from the wise old man! Ah! And I met hongye from my junior class from hcjc! She was there too.. at another table. ^_^ (there was a camera crew around, but I bet the photos all showed me staring at my delicious lunch.. so I’d rather not publicize the glutton side of me. =P)

I realized today, that some students managed to attend the Nobel Laureate award ceremony.. sponsored by A*STAR! How cool is that? 3-week trip to Sweden! I also want!! I wonder if I will get the opportunity next year.. hmm..

Spoilt for Choice

Sometimes, it ain’t good to be too spoilt for choice. I was glad enough to have JQ’s sis to help.. who knew, my sister threw me another 2 pple to talk to, making my initial “definite choice” turn into a “difficult choice”! The biggest problem was that all 3 of them were from the same place, very professional, nice to talk to, were very well prepared and well equipped with relevant knowledge. Then how? It was such a tough 10 days.. with many sleepless nights while I tried to weigh to see who was better than who. Yet, even after so many days of contemplation, I still came to no conclusion! I have never come across such a difficult situation before… I really wished I could choose all of them! Even if friends want me to recommend someone, I wouldn’t know who to recommend! I’d prolly have to recommend all 3 and let them go thru this grueling decision-making process too. Argh. Oh well.. I’ve finally come down to 1. Not exactly based on all the important factors I need to consider (coz all 3 of them possess the things I was looking for), but on some dumb reason that even I am unable to truly convince the 2 other people that they’ve not clinched a deal because of such a lousy reason. I feel so bad… but well… life’s tough. I hope I have other chances to work with them next time. >.<

I need to get over and done with this issue, and get back to my term paper!

Start of my Journey

This is long overdue.. my award ceremony on 27th july this year. haha. coz i've been too busy to look through the cd that A*STAR sent me.. finally did so today! And oh manz.. i realize there're alot of photos of me doing such unglam stuff!! >.< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZL2_yYYbEfg66-Ghzj08PspFdK8-gIxo03ld_30JD5lZXLGJyEbyDuxcb4WNcKkYqPwYPqYiupHoCc1a631MP9u_fE9IX7HSfiet0ViA-lpjRom_WPS6b059hHACMMk-s1wE1fMKMQQ/s1600-h/130-me+receiving+my+award.+looks+abit+hunchbacked.+humph..JPG">After the ceremony, a few of us were selected to have refreshments together with the GOH (seperately from the rest of the population.. they split my parents and i!! >.<) This is me chatting happily with Dr Eng. He's a very pleasant man to talk to
I seem happy even after he leaves.. can't remember what i was thinking.. smiling to myself..


Caught looking greedily at the good food!! argh


Darn.. caught red-handed taking lots of food behind the minister's back! (there's a photo that captured my really overflowing plate.. but.. i shall not show that. enuff is enuff. XD)


Well, that was one of my first times 'forced' to network with people. So many more to come, and i realize i have so much to learn. I must improve my networking skills! This thursday i'm gonna have lunch with 5 of our international advisory panel. Once again, i was 'randomly selected' to interact with the IAP. Longer interaction (stuck at the table with them!), 5 times the amount of brilliant brains... wish me luck!!

For the biologists only

I was browsing through some NewScientist magazines (they're so much easier to read, like Newsweek.. rather than those dense scientific journals!) and i came across this really exciting piece of news! We all know that siRNAs are widely used to silence genes.. but.. did you know that they've been discovered to be able to OVEREXPRESS genes as well??? here's an abstract of the article..

Turn genes on, turn diseases off

• 07 April 2007
• Bob Holmes
• NewScientist Magazine issue 2598

THE experiment should have been straightforward. Long-Cheng Li was employing the hottest new technique in biology to turn off genes in cells growing in a dish. The trouble was that the opposite was happening. Instead of blocking production of the protein he was targeting, his RNAs seemed to be revving it up. In fact, levels of the protein shot up fivefold - a massive increase.

"At first I thought there must be something wrong with the samples, that we'd mislabelled them or messed up," recalls Li, a molecular biologist at the University of California, San Francisco. So he had his technician do it all again from scratch - with the same result.

That pulled Li up short. RNA interference, as the technique is called, is supposed to turn genes off, not on. All over the world researchers were using RNAi to turn off almost any gene they wanted, and its ...

I'm so sorry i have no access to the full online version of this article. But the magazine info is there.. so u can still find it at libraries ^_^ It's mainly saying that siRNAs that target promoters instead of the gene itself have a chance of having the opposite effect, i.e. overexpression. This phenomenon has been observed by multiple labs, but some scientists remain skeptical over this issue. There has also been no definite 'fool-proof' method for creating such siRNAs as yet. But think about it. if one day siRNAs can be used to overexpress tumor suppressor genes.. there goes cancer!! ^_^

Has it been so many days since I’ve written something? Have been SO BUSY with my term paper. Everyday come home early to work on it. (sorry bong, if you happen to read this. I need to rush my paper early coz of the conference week)

Today, someone hurtled a very hurting remark at me. It probably wasn’t intentional, but it wasn’t nice to hear, nonetheless. I really don’t see why having to give a packet of free lunch a miss, just because I have lessons to attend, makes me a loser. There are so many things I could have said at that point of time, but chose to keep my mouth shut coz I don’t want to end up hurting someone the same way I was hurt. Ah well.. just needed to get this off my chest. Everything’s still the same as before. ^_^

Challenge

It’s been some time since I last picked a challenge. For the past 2 years, I became rather laid back and decided to just do-well-enough-to-get-by in school. Finally, this semester, I decided to pick up a new challenge. For my philosophy module, I could have chosen easy topics to do. Yet, I’ve decided to write my term paper on the linkage between the Brain and Religion. How difficult can that be, you ask. Yeah, it’s just another 10-page paper on what I can find. Yet, it would be difficult to score when the person grading the paper is a neurologist and a very critical atheist. Thus, I figured that my term paper would need a lot of substance to not get thrown away in the bin. I chose this simply because it’s more interesting, and I do not want to do something boring just because I am more confident of scoring in that area (and guessing that the prof doesn’t know too much in that area to critic too much). As a start of this challenge, I’ve collated 60+ pages of information from the net, and today I went to the library to borrow 10 books! Woohoo~. I’m so gonna be a nerd til the end of November! XD

Presents for guys?

It's common knowledge that it's hard to choose gifts for guys. (Hey guys, APPRECIATE it k) For guys buying things for gals, it's usually a problem of 'don't know what the girl would like'. On the other hand, buying things for guys is kinda tough coz there're so few things you can really buy for a guy with a limited budget! Guys are BORING. haha. So I chanced upon this website that's specially created for pple to buy things for guys. WHOA. WONDERFUL eh? So i dropped by.. and saw.. hmm.. cabinets, workbenches, flooring, garage stuff.. whoaa.. i realize it's really all really 'gifts for him' kind of things! well, if there was a space large enuff for a garage, and i had no limit of $$, then i'd probably buy down everything offered there! haha.. the range is really quite cool. A place only for car-people though. ^_^

*this is a sponsored post*

misunderstanding

It’s funny how people automatically assumed my “publication” meant some scientific publication, when in actual fact it was a story of my life that was published. Haha. One of the pitfalls of how people have identified me with scholarly stuff. It’s getting more and more frequent that people greet me by saying “hey phD student!” or the likes. This was what I really didn’t want to happen, and thus wasn’t ready to tell anyone what my plans were after graduation. Thanks to a few of the FSC members, I was finally convinced that I should have more pride than inferiority regarding what I have gotten myself into. Good thing too, coz I think I’d have to live with this for more or less the rest of my life. ^_^

Life’s a story

And so I started writing (like I ever stopped).. and submitted it a couple of months later. Just for fun, just because I felt like it. And my story got published. ^_^ So now I have an official publication. Hee~

A day of coincidences

Today’s such a wonderful day. I had a gathering with my hall mates, to celebrate jq and rachel’s birthdays. Some people who’d be arriving were people I haven’t met for a few months. Place to meet—Kuishinbo at Suntec city.

Since I was early, I decided to shop around Raffles city. And on my way up the escalator, I happened to turn to my right, and saw yexin going down the other escalator! Yexin’s my jc classmate, and we haven’t met in years!

While having dinner, the few of us noticed the table beside us suddenly filled with an entire plate of sashimi and another plate of crabs. Noone was sitting there (they were off to get even more food). When the gal returned, jueqi gave a loud scream. It was ETeng, her JC softball teammate! And coincidentally, Eteng is also one of the people whom I went Thailand with to play weiqi! So they yaked away, excited at their meeting.. when.. her friend came along with yet another plateful of food. She turned to look at us, and.. “WEIJIA!!!” whoahaha.. it was tzehui, my secondary school classmate!!! What a small world!! And we later found out, ETeng’s bro is Alvin’s (hall friend who was there) friend too! Lalala.. Singapore’s so small. ^_^

Dolly and Alan Colman

‘Twas a really cool day. I realize that I have ample chances of meeting big shots nowadays. Today, my lecturer got her partner to be our guest lecturer. This partner of hers, is none other than Alan Colman, the man behind Dolly the Sheep! And though Alan’s well known for his work on Dolly, he’s done a lot of other amazing work in the past 20 years of stem cell research. He’s now the Executive Director of Singapore Stem Cell Consortium. Ah.. so many big names in Singapore. And I wonder why people still like to say bad things about the guy who managed to bring these people to Singapore. ^_^

Holiday season coming up again!

It's october.. Children's day just passed.. what's up next? Something that affects me more, i hope. haha. Thanksgiving and Christmas are what i look forward to. Last year was the first time i really celebrated thanksgiving, and it was with the Fat Sunshine Club people. At that time, there were only four of us in the group. A year on, we've increased our membership by 75% ^_^. Last year's thanksgiving was really great. We dropped by Estelle's place, baked a lemon cheesecake (topped with lots of fruits), made rosti, feta cheese and olive oil salad.. and had other things like 'turkey', sausages and our home-made chocolate fondue!! woohoo~~ what a spread!! I hope this year's thanksgiving would be as great. Maybe it's time to start thinking of the menu for this year's thanksgiving! haha. BUT, besides food, there're other components to holiday season-- Gifts! You know, gifts can be really fun things, especially when you know the people really well. Yet, they can be such a chore if the people are not as close, or seem to have EVERYTHING! oh well, the saviour is here! With Coupon Chief, you don't have to worry about getting the wrong things for people anymore! and i imagine what i could get for the FSC people with Coupon Chief... hmm..

Bong: what else for the in-house artist, besides ArtGazebo?
CF: maybe something more for her cats from Petfooddirect
Estelle: in view of her soon-to-be driving license.. driving comfort should be the choice =P
Mintea: for the photographer.. Kodak coupons
Fangers: scholastic store for our scholar..
Wyee: Orbitz dealsfor our hardcore backpacker!

Of course, i wouldn't mind getting all of the above for MYSELF instead. XD

guilty until proven innocent?

Had wanted to write about this some time ago, but forgot.. until I read cat’s recent entry. Indeed, some pple are very distrusting, and everyone to them is “guilty until proven innocent”. On the other hand, I prefer to give everything/everyone the benefit of the doubt, being “innocent until proven guilty”. I always thought this attitude of mine to be quite a blessing, for naivety brings a lot of happiness. Yet, for once in my life, it almost led me to a quarrel with a friend. I simply could not understand why she was so cautious about this other person, deeming him to be evil and out to trick her. It was a simple request that seemed all so harmless to me. I don’t know if it was her being oversensitive or me being dumb and gullible, but my not being able to understand her stand led our discussion to become quite heated up. Until today, I still cannot comprehend why people must be so cautious. Why must everyone in their eyes be sly and cunning, until proven angelic? And even when that happens, people might say there must be a hidden motive behind his angelic behavior. There’s no end to it. Sometimes I wish we were in a more unassuming and carefree society..

Personalized things

Pacey painted his own shirt. It’s really nice, and I didn’t even notice that it was made by him! (I simply dismissed it as another branded t-shirt, since he’s got a load of them after the trip to US!) Ah, how I wish I was as talented as him. His ‘sister’ sewed the t-shirt, and he designed it. I ALSO WANT!! I love personalized things. I also have 1 personalized t-shirt that I got from JB years ago. Haven’t been able to make it back there ever since, neither have I invested any creative juices into thinking of how I want my next personalized T to look like. But.. if only my whole cupboard had clothes that only I have.. clothes that are personalized.. that'd be nice..

(Pacey, if you're reading this, can i have a painted t-shirt for my bdae, for thanksgiving, for christmas, for new year, for vdae, for... maybe just 1 every month would do? XD)

Special name?

I don’t know why, but I seem to always get randomly selected to do things. Maybe it’s my name that makes everyone choose me. I can’t think of anything else. Focal discussions with Dean, being school representatives to talk to ministers, sieved out from scholars to entertain guest-of-honors etc. Today I got a new job-- to go for a lunch meeting 2 weeks later with the International Advisory Panel. These people are from well renowned universities all over the world, visiting Singapore for 2 days. ‘Informal Chichat’, they call it. At least, there’s always free food and special treatment whenever I attend these meetings. Haha. Just hope I don’t make myself look stupid! >.<

long overdue fountain..

This was about a month ago, our farewell for Shireen. Chocolate fountain!! enjoy~


The complete family of FatSunshineClub, plus Shireen! 8 very very happy gals. ^_^

Don't i look very happy? DUH. Who wouldn't be, when there's a chocolate fountain in front of them?
And.. after the whole thing, we got to LICK the chocolate right from the fountain!!!! BLISS~

(and yes, see the hello panda? Hello panda + chocolate fountain = heavenly. Coz hello pandas have a hole behind them, thus by dipping it into the fountain, u actually can end up with chocolate from inside and outside!!)

Best Buds

My bro shared this with me.. Really cool.. i wish i have such rich friends too. make an ad for me!! =P

Nike and Tiger Woods have produced a commercial with a cheeky good luck message for Tiger's good friend Roger Federer as he closes in on a potential fifth Wimbledon victory.