Who's the busiest of us all?

It's the busy period of the semester. Exams are coming and assignment deadlines are due soon for the students. People are studying or working on last minute reports. I may not have any reports due until August but I do need to start working on it. I have a huge pile of papers waiting to be read.

The people at work seem busier too. There's less friendly chatter along the hallway; less people stopping by each other's room to gossip. Even when we are in the same room together, we are just too preoccupied with our own problems to bother about catching up with each other's lives. Supervisors are constantly in meetings, discussions, emailing or calling other people. Trying to find time to ask them a question or two is getting more difficult. Still, they are always happy to sit down for a few minutes to look at my progress and figure out how to more forward from here. I miss being able to just sit down and talk about something other than work, or even to tease someone. But everyone doesn't seem to be in the mood for that. They are also coming up earlier from lunch and leaving later after work. I've had my fair shares of that. Today I skipped lunch because I wanted to work on a software only available on my colleague's computer. So I decided to use the lunch break to work while she was eating. I forgot to bring my own lunch and when I went down to eat around 2.30 pm, I found out that the canteen lady was away so I drank lots of water and ate a muesli bar. Thank goodness I had Uncle Toby's!

Starting from this week, I'm going to be really busy. The experiment I have to conduct will take most of the day and I'm trying to figure out if I can optimize my time so that I can finish this earlier. It will mean planning my time precisely and having to forgo some things like sleep and internet time. I also have to work in some research time as I can't discard my report.

Guess I'll be having less fun and more stress in the weeks to come...

Although the Easter break was just last week, it feels like it was ages ago. This week was hectic. Even though everyone else was having his or her mid-term break, I still had to go to work as per normal. It was a little strange going out early in the morning and not seeing any of my housemates getting up to prepare for school. Still, I was too busy to think about it. We went down to Blue Lotus at Milton on Wednesday night. It was the first time for Steph and I think she enjoyed it. I had Apple and Rose with Green Tea ice cream. Yummy! Not many people knew how to appreciate these flavours but it was ok. More for me!!!

I was starting a new experiment this week and my supervisor was going to show me how it was done. So I had to get the materials ready on Wednesday and this took up the whole day. I went to work early on Thursday just so that I would have enough time to start and complete the trial experiment with my supervisor. In the end, many things came up and I had to stay at work till 6.30 pm and I was the last to leave. A small shock occurred when I was leaving the lab. I found the main gates closed and padlocked. Since the front and back gates were separated by the lab, I was stuck out in the front as I was unable to get back into the building. So I called my supervisor and she came down to pick me up. It wasn't a very fun experience considering the fact that I missed my bus and would have to wait for another hour for the next one. Also, exiting the building was nerve-racking since it was pitch black outside so I had to use my handphone to light the way and practically crouch on the ground to feel my way down the steps. The next time I work late, I will bring a torch with me. Fortunately my supervisor felt really bad about not telling me that they locked the gates after work and she gave me a lift home, just in time to join the girls for a sushi night. Millie's best friend was here on holiday so we had a sushi party together. It was really fun but I was exhausted by the entire "getting locked up" experience so I came back early to sleep. I went to work early again on Friday. My supervisor had lots of fun telling everyone about how I got locked up in the grounds. I don't mind her telling but this goes to show how news gets around the lab so quickly. One comment she made when I told her that Gary was next on my list if I didn't manage to get her kind of upseted me. She said that Gary would never have come out to get me if I had called him when I got stuck out there. I really wonder why she would think so and if he was really so heartless. She has known Gary for a while and can read his thoughts pretty well. So I wonder if it were true. I didn't get a chance to question him about this though. I was busy collating my results from the previous day's experiment. Having such a busy week made me tired. I actually fell asleep while using a computer program to analyze my results so I decided to go home at 4 pm. I guess I thought that I deserved it after having such a horrible experience the night before. Chris actually asked me to join them for dinner at Kit's place. But I went home and slept till 9 pm. This is the second time I've turned them down for dinner. The last time they had dinner together before going down to Blue Lotus. I don't know but all I want to do after a busy day at work is to go home and relax. Plus I usually get hungry earlier when I work and I've been having my dinner around 5 plus 6 pm. They on the other hand only eat about 6 plus 7 pm. So timing is just too different and I know that I will snack while waiting for them so I'd rather just have my dinner early.

A few little updates from the top of my head:

1. Brando is no longer with my family. He was given back to his original owner because he kept barking at night and was keeping the neighbours up. I guess he was just too lonely by himself and my dad wasn't always there to play with him, let alone me. I'm sad and disappointed that we couldn't keep him and my mum keeps reassuring me that we can get another dog when I come back but he's the one I want. My dad's upset about this too but there's nothing we can do about it.
2. My grandfather has been hospitalized yet again. He was in the hospital for lung infection before and now there is something wrong with his oesophagus. Surgery may be required.
3. My grandmother is not recovering well from her cataract surgery. She still sees things blurred and the doctor doesn't know what to do. Seriously if I were there, I would be questioning the ability of this lousy doctor.
4. Moving house may not take place anymore. The deadline to give a reply to Campus Lodge is 1st May and I still have no luck finding any suitable place. Maybe it's for the best. After this past week, I forsee myself being very, very busy once I start my experiments on full scale.
5. Two friends are now single. Apparently one of them was cheated on and the other, well, things just blew up and tempers flared. I'm not sure whether they'll get back together again but you know, sometimes, breaking up may be for the best.
6. Ju was having work problems. I got her email but didn't have time to reply her. I should make it a point to contact her soon.
7. The toilet light went out and I've been bathing with a torch every night until Friday. I was quite annoyed by T because he couldn't be bothered to go down to the office and tell them to replace the light. I mean, he was on holiday for god's sake and he was at home practically every day. Walking down to the office would probably just take him 10 minutes but he had no initiative at all. I had to ask him to go down. I would have gone myself but hello...I had to work every day!!! Sorry for this whining but I was really irritated by his "can't be bothered"attitude.
8. My sister said that she should be coming down in July. Hurray!!! I think I should be able to take a few days off work to bring her around.

Looking forward to Ju and my sis's arrival in Brisbane....

I’m so glad I get the Easter break just after I finished my presentation. My report is completed and has been since last week. It’s now with Gary and he is going to read through and correct it before I hand it up on Wednesday. In a way, the Easter break is like my reward for the work I’ve done for the past 1 month or so. We (myself, Chris, Wilson, his girlfriend, Kit and Darren) are planning a steamboat for Friday evening and they went down to Chinatown yesterday to get the ingredients. I joined them for dinner at Cybercity (not again!!) and had the Baked Fish with Creamy Sauce. It wasn’t too bad except that it was full of peas. I spent the first 5 minutes picking out each and every one before giving them to Wilson since he was the only one who actually liked the yucky stuff. I guess the food wasn’t too bad this time but I think it was a little pricey and it’s still not my favourite place to go. After dinner we went back to their place where we were supposed to be cutting and marinating the meat for Friday but we ended up playing 3-people mahjong. They had just bought this mahjong cloth to cover the table and we couldn’t wait to try it out. In the words of Chris, it was “hao hua” (very slippery) and it took some time getting used to. The tiles kept dropping on the floor when we “washed” them and the tiles would slide really smoothly when we threw our tiles out. It was great!! The cloth cost $10 which wasn’t very cheap but considering we were sharing this among 5 people or so, it was ok.

I don’t have any specific plans for this 4-day break. I am looking forward to the steamboat and tennis on Saturday. Most of the shops won’t be open during this break anyway so going out is pretty pointless. The price of petrol has gone up due to the holiday season and air tickets are more expensive as well. I guess I’ll just be staying at home a lot and rotting. Maybe I could go over to their place and play Maple Story all day. It would be good to catch up on the game after so long.

I realised that I am more disciplined as compared to last year or when I was back home in S’pore. It’s an unconscious thing which I’ve only thought of recently. Small things like forgo-ing mahjong or dinner with friends so that I can stay home and work on my report. Sacrificing fun and games for work! I am very puzzled about this revelation because I never used to be like this. I always put play above work in the past. I guess subconsciously I know that this year is really important for me and I really want to do my best, especially since I really like the work I’m doing, the people I work with and the place I work at. The only problem would be the travelling but I’ll get used to it. In fact, I already am. Amazing, I hope I do well this year. I would be seriously devastated if I didn’t. Then again, high expectations means higher chances of disappointment. Well, you can’t have your cake and eat it! At least I know that I’ve got my priorities straight and I’m moving in the right direction unlike others. This is what I want and I just have to work hard for it.

Presentation Stress

I don't understand it but I was super stressed out for the past week. I haven't been sleeping well; my dreams were filled with horror scenes about the presentation going badly and my supervisors scolding me for it. So sleep was affected and I had nerves all the way up till today. The practise session I gave in the lab wasn't too bad. But the episode before that was bad. My supervisors went through my slides with me and Gary was criticising practically every slide. That was so demoralizing especially when you always hope to do well in front of them. Still, I took in all the criticism and made the changes accordingly. Then just before the presentation, I was so nervous that I couldn't sit still. Fortunately the room was tiny and not everyone came so I presented to a pretty small group of people. The comments I had after that helped a little and I also agreed on some of the points mentioned. One of the more interesting things that was pointed out was regarding the template that I was using. One of them didn't like it because it actually looked like it was a template for some company. So he said that if I was going to use something that looked like a business template, I might as well use the lab's template and do some advertising at the same time! Funny and I changed my template immediately after that. Everyone said that I did well for this session but I didn't think so. I talked much too fast and only clocked about 12 minutes when I should be talking between 14-15 minutes. I was also quite confused with some of the points I was supposed to say so I needed to do more reading. Anyway, it was some relief for me since I could sort of relax till the real presentation. So I took a "break" and tried not to think about the upcoming presentation but it didn't do me any good. I was still dreaming about it. I played all weekend and ended up going for a colleague's housewarming party on Sunday which took up the entire day. It was good to talk to people outside the lab though and I got to meet various boyfriends/husbands of my labmates. The food was good as well, seeing that the colleague's husband was a trained chef. After the party, my friend and her boyfriend offered to send me home. They are both from Germany by the way and my friend is on an attachment in the lab while her boyfriend had a 4-year contract with Ikea and he was working on setting up a new branch out in Logan. Before we went back, we drove up to the sea since it was just a few minutes away and the sea breeze was so wonderful. I could have stayed there all day. There were pelicans and seagulls and the clouds were magnificant. They then sent me back to my doorstep even though they stayed pretty far away from my place but they were so nice about it. The next thing I know, it was Monday and I went down to the morning session of the presentations to get a feel of what it was going to be like. It made me more worried though, after hearing how good the students were presenting and hearing the kind of questions they had to answer. Then I was at the lab trying to see if I needed to make any changes to my slides and also get some last minute information for my project. I think I was panicking a little because there was just so much to read and I couldn't possibly predict the questions the judges were going to throw at me. Sure I was real stressed but I tried to act nonchalent. My supervisor and a friend were really nice about it. They kept reassuring me and I really appreciated that. Chris came over for dinner (I owed her baked pasta from a bet which I lost; it's a long story) and then listened to my presentation. She took my timing (11 minutes 40 seconds,ARGH!) and gave me good comments about how I could improve my presentation. So after she went back, I tried to relax a little by watching America's Next Top Model and that helped for the 45 minutes the show lasted. Next I did a last practise run before I went to bed with more nightmares. I woke up at 7 am to go down and check out another morning session of presentations. Heh the judges know me now that I've been there twice and one of them even mentioned that it was good to see students coming down to listen to these seminars. He should have said student instead of the plural form since I think I was the only one kiasu enough to keep going for these seminars and I also had problems sleeping. This morning's seminars weren't as good as the previous ones. One guy talked really fast and I couldn't catch what he was saying because he was mumbling a little. I also felt that his presentation was a little off-focus. The next guy read entirely from the slides, occasionally stopping to describe certain picutes. Another girl was nervous and she got a little lost during the presentation. Maybe she forgot what she wanted to say. She had a big group of supporters though; a total of 4 of them and they even brought their own laptop for her to use. I felt a little more reassured knowing that these other students were also nervous and weren't so perfect. It made me feel like I had more room for error. Still the questions were scaring me and I started to over-analyze everything. I couldn't take it anymore so I left after the 3rd presentation and went home to sleep. Once again, more bad dreams about the presentation until Chris called and came over for the final practise. This time I clocked 12 minutes and had explained my project more clearly according to Chris. It's good that I had her to help me out. She left to go for a birthday lunch with friends while I prepared to go down to the lecture room. I thought we had to go 30 minutes early so that we could load our slides onto the laptop there but when I got there, a lecture was taking place and so I had to stand outside with all my nerves and butterflies waiting for it to end. At long last the students left the room and one of my examiners came. He commented that it was finally my turn to present after seeing me at all the presentations. Yup, my turn indeed! I had to sit through 3 presentations before it was my turn. The first guy was really bad. He didn't seem prepared at all and it didn't help that he couldn't speak very well. I totally stopped listening after a while and I think the judges had a lot of problems understanding as well. They asked questions mostly based on his slides and asking him to explain certain parts again. The guy left immediately after his presentation. The next girl did pretty well. But she was unlucky. A lecturer named John Fuerst came in to listen and he asked her some pretty profound questions and he mumbled. Steph came along after this and I was so glad to see a friendly face. By this time, the butterflies in my stomach started growling. I think it was partly because I hadn't eaten anything the whole day. The next presentation was given by a Vietnamese girl and it was pretty boring. I wasn't listening anyway since I was too busy freaking out about my turn. Gary (one of my supervisors) came in during her presentation. Actually I had spotted him loitering outside the lecture room around 1.20 pm but I guess he didn't want to come in so early. Narelle (the other supervisor) arrived around 1.50 pm, 10 minutes before I had to go up. By this time, I was shivering and my teeth were chattering. I couldn't sit still and was REALLY freaking out. My legs were shaking as I stood up to go to the front of the room but I told myself to be confident. Hence I stood straight and tried to walk as if this meant nothing to me. Once I started talking, I didn't think. The words flowed although I was aware that I was talking fast and I had missed out on certain points. I tried to relate the talk to the pictures (I had quite a few of them and some were quite gross) and used the pointer. I said all that I should and then it was time for questions. Damn, the questions practically flowed out from the 2 examiners. Immediately after I answered one, another was asked. I was worried because they were asking a lot of questions related to applications in the industry and my knowledge was limited. I had totally thought they would be asking more on my approaches and methods used. Boy was I wrong! I tried my best even when some of the questions stumped me. How was I to know why Salmonella was more well-associated with chicken instead of pork and beef? Sigh...I answered all the questions for almost 10 minutes (by right, we only have 5 minutes of questions) and then walked back to my seat where Steph and my supervisors were waiting. Yes I was quite upset about how the whole thing went. They did say I did well and that I seemed relaxed and I spoke well but my mind kept replying all the mistakes I had made. I just wanted to go home and sleep. Narelle did suggest going for a coffee or something and I kind of regretted not going with them when I got home. Oh well, too late for regrets. The relief and the feeling of a burden being lifted didn't hit me till 5 pm. I was still too edgy to feel it so I went to sleep. I needed to have some sleep that was unaffected by bad dreams. I needed that so badly.

Thinking of turning vegetarian?
Here's a link to convince you even further.
I found this site while I was surfing for chicken pictures for my presentation.

http://www.exploreveg.org/issues

Well I'm not surprised with this result at all. After all, I've love Biology since I was a kid.

As for English, I did think about becoming an English teacher when I was younger and my favourite subject all the way till secondary was English. I used to love writing compositions and I would always go for the argumentative essays...

Sociology...what exactly is this?

You scored as Biology. You should be a Biology major! You are passionate about the sciences, and you enjoy studying cell growth and evolutionary concepts which enable living organisms to survive. Pursue that!

Wendy Matthews - The Day You Went Away

Hey, does it ever make you wonder what's on my mind?
Hey, I was only ever running back to your side
I never cried, I just watched my life go by
It's just a pack of lies,'cause you're leaving me behind
Why, after this long is there nothing
I'll keep, oh, I can shout
you'll pretend you're falling asleep
I live a lie, yeah, believing that you're mine
It's just a waste of time cause you're leaving me behind

Hey, there's not a cloud in the sky
It's as blue as your goodbye
and I thought that it would rain on a day like today
Hey, there's not a cloud in sight
it's as blue as your blue goodbye
and I thought that it would rain
the day you went away

Hey, does it ever make you wonder what's on my mind
Ooh yeah, I was only ever running back to your side

Hey, there's not a cloud in the sky
it's as blue as your goodbye
and I thought that it would rain
on a day like today
Hey, there's not a cloud in sight
it's as blue as your blue goodbye
and I thought that it would rain
the day you went away

He's on the buses, and the aeroplanes
with some groceries and a sleeping bag........

Desperate Housewives Quiz

Apparently I'm Edie!

http://abc.go.com/primetime/desperate/quiz/index.html

Science vs Religion

I read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons recently and I found that I liked it more than the Da Vinci Code. Perhaps it's because there's too much reference to the Bible and God in the latter. I guess I also could relate better to Angels and Demons since it talks about the conflicts between science and religion. Personally I am a science person and people who really knew me would understand my take on religion. The book also addresses the issues of how we use science to explain the creation of life and remove God from the picture. I'll admit that my point of view is very biased as well. I tend to agree with science and would say that I don't believe in a higher power or being. I'm neither religious not spiritual. I might change my mind in the future; who knows? But at this moment, I don't understand how religion can take over a person's life and how people rely so heavily on their belief in God. Maybe like the book said, some people just need something to believe in so as to survive in this harsh world. Maybe they just need something to look forward to and hope that God will perform a miracle. For me, I find my miracles in science. Sometimes, I am on the bus and I look out the window and I am faced with numerous miracles. I see cars, buses, motorcycles and I marvel at how Man came to invent such machines to allow us to travel. I look at the houses, streets, shops, skyscrapers and marvel at how Man used architecture and engineering to build them. I marvel at how people are rushing to and fro and how we rely so heavily on technology such as handphones, television and computers to get by our daily lives. And then I think, was all this created by the power of God or by the intellect of Man? Like I said, I'm biased and lean towards science. My vision is shaded by my own beliefs. To me, the miracles performed by Jesus in the Bible are just fairy tales. To me, the real miracles are the small things we do everyday like sending a text message or using a webcam.

In Angels and Demons, there is a physicist who wanted to prove that science and religion are one. He and his daughter found a way to produce the opposite of matter - antimatter which falls into the wrong hands. The person who stole this wants to use it to destroy the Vatican City. The story is exciting and addictive. I couldn't put the book down so I read until 6.30 am. Even so, it's just a book and it's just fiction. I wouldn't change my point of view even though it did bring many questions to my mind.

For now, I'll stick with science. How could I doubt the field I'm currently pursuing?