Thursday, August 25, 2005

I'm a foamy as headily

I am a homely if as day.

O My! Mafia as headily.

Hey! I am a malady if so.

Ahoy! Safely I'm a maid.

Ahoy! I'm a deaf, slimy.

I'm a safe may holiday.

Oh My! I. I am a safe lady.

I am a holy fame daisy.

Oh! I'm easy Mafia lady.

Anyone can guess what I'm up to?

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

When I grow up, I'll buy my own and I won't give u!

According to my mum, that was what I used to say when I didn't get what I wanted. And she said I said the exact same thing to my dad this morning when I complained that he didn't buy breakfast for me (he only bought for himself n mum) so I went like "Fine, next time I'll buy my own breakfast!". Some things never change eh? ;)

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

With power comes responsibility

Today prof laid out the final plans for our project. We'll be collecting samples from factory workers in 2 weeks' time. He really needs a sense of humour. He was giving instructions (70 copies of the questionnaire) and he went like...are u sure u can remember all I've said..do u need to write it down or do u have an excellent photographic memory. Well in the first place, I think it should go under audio memory..and secondly..I think 70 copies is not a very complicated thing to remember. Then he said I'll be in-charge of the entire project from now on..from sample collection to storage to data entry and analysis. Sounds like a mouthful. According to him the PI's job is only to bring in the money. I don't mind doing all the work...but what worries me is that his grant hasn't come in...so I dunno when I'll be a full time RA. Since I'm only a JUINOR RA, I should be given half the workload. I didn't ask for the power, but now I got the responsibility. Anyway, I shall take things in stride - since I do wanna proof to him afterall that I'm capable of pursuing my PhD (since I'm not an official student yet). Hope things go smoothly.

Today's lab work was hilarious. The preparation part was easy...just pipetting stuff here n there..but when it came to measuring the reading on the spectophotometer, my graphs hardly tallied (which reminds me...I'm supposed to be doing the analysis now...). I did another run and it was SLIGHTLY better. Guess I better improve on my techniques...for this assay..practice makes perfect (I hope). My friend CW who also did honours was getting worried cos in his new lab he didn't have any wet lab stuff to do, mostly just analysing statistical data. He was pretty disturbed with the idea that he'd be losing touch with lab work. That set me thinking...gosh...did NUS train us so well that we life scientists are gonna feel strange without our micro-pippetes?? Hope not...

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Saf 7 Delta

Scarlett Johansson (jordan 2 delta) is HOT! And as Louise added, she can run! I fell in love with her since watching Girl with a Pearl Earring last year. She's awesome! Fantastic body..ahem...and sexy lips. *drools* haha. I went to watch The Island after lab this afternoon. Alone. Wanted to call Far along but the movie is gonna stop screening soon so the shows were all during work hours. It was a damn cool movie. Kept me glued from start to end. Ewan McGregor (lincoln 6 echo) was cool too...he must've toned himself up for the movie. My fave line: Hey this tongue thing is pretty nice..why haven't we done this before (when they learnt abt kissing and..well..frenching).

Later on I did some retail therapy. Metro is dangerous. Everytime I step in there, especially at Causeway Pt, I always end up buying something! I got myself a light blue blouse (wanted to follow the palm-reader's advice to wear brighter colours...). Saw this reaaaalllyyyy cool blouse at Hejab Iran but unfortunately it cost like $139!!! Shall wait for my next tuition pay and I'm gonna get it for sure! Went in to JL after that; tried on a couple of pants which to my horror didn't fit despite being..well..err...big. Haha. Either my ass is getting ferociously huge or they have screwed up size labels (I'd like to think it's the latter..). Bought a pair of sandals which I don't really need...my excuse was that I don't have white ones. Well...my two major weaknesses: bags n sandals. :P All that shopping made me tired..I slept the whole journey home in 963 (so much for wanting to explore the bus route..). Ok it's time to show off my loot to sis. See ya!

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Got my own table at last

After weeks of working from home, meeting prof only in his office, roaming ard n looking for ppl to grant me access to places, I was finally given some "status" in my new department. Last Fri I was finally given the temp staff card for accessing the computer lab. Today, prof showed me ard the lab n introduced me to the ppl i'd be working with. met the lab officer n his asst, PCR lady, and the rest of the team for his project. had to read thru a boring SOP and sign an undertaking that i'll agree to the lab rules...guess they became more strict since the SARS incident. I even have my own fridge space and err..a mug (tho i think i'll bring one from home...). YB showed me my workspace n i was given the key to my locker. Oh and 100 pieces of free photocopying...haha. Prof said he'll get me a new thumb drive..fully devoted to work...think he got worried that mine had too many of my own files.
I haven't "moved in"...will do that when more rigorous lab work starts. For now it's still working from home..tho I really lack the discipline. I'll be going back to lab tmr..learning techniques from YB. Hope I remember my shoes. :P

Chocolate Factory

I spent Sunday chillin' out with ma mates. Was a pretty long day. Had tuition in the morning (yeah on a Sunday...but hey it was pay day!! haha :P) After that went to have breakfast (some sort) with Flo at marsiling. she was buying a flower pot for her money plants.

Later on went to meet Mel n Far to watch Charlie n the Choc Factory at plaza sing. We went to the food court but weirdly I had no appetite for lunch. Settled with papaya juice and chiku on a stick...of which 1/3 dropped on the ground (careless me)...yet I was still feeling bloated (maybe it was the twister fries...tho i only ate half of it...hmmm...). The movie was pretty entertaining, albeit some lame jokes (like how apparently everyone knows that u have to whip the cow in order to get whipped cream!)...guess I have to re-read the book to recall some of the jokes. The oompa-loompas looked gross..din expect them to have such a...well..ugly face. Haha. Had imagined them to be cute little creatures. Oh well, the comfort was that Johnny Depp was as cute as ever n i think he portrayed the character pretty well. Mel had to leave early to complete some office work so Far n i hanged ard for a bit. Till we realised how boring the place was...so instead of walking ard we just sat at Gelare for an ice cream waffle. Yummy.

At abt 5 plus we walked to Orchard MRT. Far went off n i met up with ruth n felicia. we were supposed to go for retail therapy...but then i realised i spent half my pay on food alone...so therapy had to wait. We walked ard taka for awhile then went to the food court for dinner. I didnt know why I forced myself to eat...probably cos there was no food at home n i didn't wanna go hungry at 2am. Viva was in taka as well and as "fate" would have wanted...we "bumped" into each other (well according to her she actually sent out her search party...and they were abt to call the search mission off..till i told her i was sitting in front of the chicken rice stall). After dinner, we did some aimless walking...somehow we ended up at wisma and then decided to get a drink...so we headed back to taka to coffee bean. the best part is that we sat there talking for so long without ordering any drinks. and even as we were about to leave, ruth got us some plain water. haha. good thing we didn't get chased out. i wasn't feeling well (dinner made me feel nauseated and the crowd noise gave me a terrible headache...perhaps after-effects of not having slept well the previous night cos of that horrible nightmare i had) so we left pretty early (sorry gals). and to make matters worse 502 was crowded n i had to put up with the bus swaying here n there while standing. was talking to flo on the phone n she got worried so i got down near holland n took a cab back. never felt so giddy...took a couple of panadols n slept early. oh but not before i opened felicia's gift...a cute pooh ceramic bowl with a surprise underneath the lid..haha. blue eyeshadow..hmm..shall wear it when i feel bold haha. thanks girl! :)

Thursday, August 11, 2005

I'm a LEADER!

Today was kinda sucky. I had to wake up in the morning for lessons. And since the bunch of us are just sitting in for the lecture, we didn't have notes so we had to copy so many things down. Then the show-off in class keeps..well..showing off...everytime someone asks the lecturer a question she'll turn around and answer on her behalf. **rolls eyes** Then prof asked me to research on a topic that didn't exist. After hours and hours of searching, I was getting worried cos he wanted an update. Turns out that it's a new finding so there won't be other articles on it. Duh. And then he looked at my questionnaire but told me that he had designed his own. Bleah. Then why did he ask me to design one in the first place? Now I'm supposed to incorporate mine into his. Thanks a lot. The comfort is that I followed my gut instinct and didn't edit too much of my draft. Then prof said I couldn't clock in hours for the lectures they asked me to sit in for. Which is really unfair, since I could've been using that time to do my research work. Gonna be earning a pittance now with only 3 working days. Perhaps I should've taken the RP job...

Later on I finally had a tour of my lab to be. Saw Shi Jie there so I guess I'll have a buddy... the other G.A.M.E. students are in Biopolis..sadly I'm stuck in NUS...maybe it's good..cos I have my friends around for a lunch date. I'll be starting a bit of lab stuff next Wednesday....wonder where my lab coat has gone to tho...

I'm a leader...the palm-reader told me that today. Lakshmi asked me whether I wanted to get my palm read cos she and Ro had theirs read the day before. Why not I guess...she said it wouldn't be anything life changing. Haha. The first thing the fellow said was that I was a leader so I should use my leadership qualities more. Hmmm... A few things he said were true..like I have strong intuition (so I should rely on it more...except in matters of the heart it seems heh). And since I'm a born leader I wouldn't fit being bossed around as a housewife (future husband..whoever u are..read that! haha. oh and apparently future husband's gonna be a foreigner...). He mentioned that I was very observant (quite true too) so I should be in research...and I worry a hell lot so I should take a step back next time and look at the big picture before worrying myself to death. Haha. He made some predictions which hmmm..I dun really believe in so shall not put it down. Just that I'm looking forward to 33 when there could be a possibility that I'll migrate (yes..finally!!)

Alright, that's all for now. Shall get back to my questionnaire fine-tuning.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Happy Birthday to me


I had a great brithday this year! Not that the others weren't great...this was special. Flo and I had lunch at Swen.son's (after I almost forgot which part of Jurong Pt it was at). Yummy..finally had my apple crumble after ages of craving. We hanged around for awhile then headed to Far's place. My best buds threw me a (surprise) party. Between thinking that they were probably too busy to hold one and Sakura telling me she wanted to go out with me for dinner that day, it was surprising afterall. Heh. I was so touched they actually bothered to go through all the trouble. What with decorations and all...the theme was "childhood days"...with spongebob streamers, hello kitty balloons and sesame street party hats! Even Sakura was part of it all...guess she managed to hide it pretty well. And although I was full to the brim, I had to try out the food cos my dear daughter cooked it. Haha. We bummed around after lunch, Far entertained us with a couple of songs on the guitar (Sakura and I were waiting for her rendition of happy b'day...but it never came..haha). We watched a bit of tv then headed home. I sent Sakura home then went to Woodlands to return my auntie's car and hang out with Flo for a bit. Sakura didn't think about inviting my uni friends, so it was just the few of us. Caiyun, thanks for being on "standby" haha.

Second part of my celebrations was on Sunday. Flo brought me for a manicure n pedicure. The manicurist was appalled when she saw my toenails..."When was the last time u had a pedicure??" "Hmmm...this is my first time" And she was like "wow I'm honoured to be doing ur first" Haha. She was trying her best to do it fast cos Flo wanted a pedi too but as she put it "ur toenails are quite..." I guess she meant "yucks" haha. It was nice being pampered. Now I know why the ladies love going for them. I tried to be as dainty as I could cos the varnish hadn't dried. But as I scratched my arm...I was like...nooooooo. The polish form my index finger came off and I was like DAMN. Luckily Ling was nice enough to patch it up for me..heh. Well the next time I go, I'll just get a pedi. Cos with the housework n stuff that I'm doing, the polish is disappearing pretty fast.

We finally cut my b'day cake on Monday. Sakura was bugging me to come home early since Sunday, but I guess she was too tired to celebrate. Plus my parents were not home. So on Monday (apparently the cake was in the fridge since Sat..hmm...) I finally blew my candles...forgetting to make a wish first (age catches up on ya yeah?). Sakura actually played along about wrapping up my presents (which I picked out myself) and handing them to me "officially". Cutie. Haha.

Ok that's all for now. Looks like my wishlist is pretty complete. Thanks again guys! :)