Ratio of your index and ring finger

I chanced upon this very interesting point on the internet: the ratio in the length of your index and ring (2D:4D ratio) finger may be a good indication of the level of testosterone that you are exposed to at birth. Testosterone is a hormone that generally brings about masculine traits. And it was scientifically shown through a large sampling cohort that a higher exposure to testosterone will bring about a lower 2D:4D ratio (a ratio of 0.96 as an appropriate benchmark).

An obvious correlation between homosexuality and testosterone level can be formulated. Interestingly, a higher exposure to testosterone at birth may also be linked to medical conditions such as autism. In contrast, a lower exposure to testosterone at birth may be linked to anxiety disorders.

Abstract

Children with autism have a relatively shorter index finger (2D) compared with their ring finger (4D). It is often presumed that the 2D:4D ratio is associated with fetal testosterone levels and that high fetal testosterone levels could play a role in the aetiology of autism. It is unknown whether this effect is specific to autism. In this study, 2D:4D ratios of 144 males aged 6 to 14 years (mean age 9y 1mo [SD 1y 11mo]) with psychiatric disorders were compared with those of 96 males aged 6 to 13 years from the general population (mean age 9y 1mo [SD 1y 10mo]). Psychiatric disorders were divided into autism/Asperger syndrome (n=24), pervasive developmental disorder–not otherwise specified (PDD–NOS; n=26), attention-deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)/oppositional defiant disorder (ODD; n=68), and anxiety disorders (n=26). Males with autism/Asperger syndrome (p<0.05) and ADHD/ODD (p<0.05) had significantly lower (though not significantly; p=0.52) ratios than males with an anxiety disorder, and males with autism/Asperger syndrome had lower ratios than those in the comparison group. These results indicated that higher fetal testosterone levels may play a role, not only in the origin of autism, but also in the aetiology of PDD–NOS and of ADHD/ODD. Males with anxiety disorders might have been exposed to lower prenatal testosterone levels.

Furthermore, the testosterone level also seems to affect hand preference.

Abstract

The finger length ratio (2D:4D) is a biomarker for the prenatal levels of testosterone. The prenatal effects of testosterone on the development of brain hemispheres are considered as a key factor in the etiology of left-handedness. We tested whether 2D:4D correlates with the type of handedness in males (18 right-handers and 18 left-handers). Right hand 2D:4D, left hand 2D:4D, average 2D:4D, and the difference between right and left 2D:4D (D(r-l)) were compared. The value of D(r-l) in left-handers was significantly lower than D(r-l) in right-handers. This result can be interpreted as proof that left-handers were subjected to higher levels of testosterone in utero.

Clearly, I can go on forever….but before I knock you asleep, go measure your 2D:4D ratio and let me know your sexuality, your hand preference and social skill. You may opt out of declaring your sexuality if you prefer to remain in the closet.

Excerpts from the speech given by President Obama on April 27, 2009 at the National Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting.

On the apparent lack of good educational program for Sci and Maths: " Our schools continue to trail other developed countries and, in some cases, developing countries. Our students are outperformed in math and science by their peers in Singapore, Japan, England, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Korea, among others. Another assessment shows American 15-year-olds ranked 25th in math and 21st in science when compared to nations around the world. And we have watched as scientific integrity has been undermined and scientific research politicized in an effort to advance predetermined ideological agendas."

On a defining goal that is truly important for climate change: "But energy is our great project, this generation's great project. And that's why I've set a goal for our nation that we will reduce our carbon pollution by more than 80 percent by 2050. And that is why -- (applause) -- and that is why I'm pursuing, in concert with Congress, the policies that will help meet us -- help us meet this goal."

On why most scientists voted for Democrats in year 2008: "Next, we are restoring science to its rightful place. On March 9th, I signed an executive memorandum with a clear message: Under my administration, the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over. (Applause.) Our progress as a nation –- and our values as a nation –- are rooted in free and open inquiry. To undermine scientific integrity is to undermine our democracy. It is contrary to our way of life. (Applause.) "

On my key research areas:" In biomedicine, just to give you an example of what PCAST can do, we can harness the historic convergence between life sciences and physical sciences that's underway today; undertaking public projects -- in the spirit of the Human Genome Project -- to create data and capabilities that fuel discoveries in tens of thousands of laboratories; and identifying and overcoming scientific and bureaucratic barriers to rapidly translating scientific breakthroughs into diagnostics and therapeutics that serve patients.

In environmental science, it will require strengthening our weather forecasting, our Earth observation from space, the management of our nation's land, water and forests, and the stewardship of our coastal zones and ocean fisheries."

Memorable quotes:

1) For we must always remember that somewhere in America there's an entrepreneur seeking a loan to start a business that could transform an industry -- but she hasn't secured it yet. There's a researcher with an idea for an experiment that might offer a new cancer treatment -– but he hasn't found the funding yet. There's a child with an inquisitive mind staring up at the night sky. And maybe she has the potential to change our world –- but she doesn't know it yet.

2) As you know, scientific discovery takes far more than the occasional flash of brilliance –- as important as that can be. Usually, it takes time and hard work and patience; it takes training; it requires the support of a nation. But it holds a promise like no other area of human endeavor.

3) And some truths fill us with awe. Others force us to question long-held views. Science can't answer every question, and indeed, it seems at times the more we plumb the mysteries of the physical world, the more humble we must be. Science cannot supplant our ethics or our values, our principles or our faith. But science can inform those things and help put those values -- these moral sentiments, that faith -- can put those things to work -- to feed a child, or to heal the sick, to be good stewards of this Earth.

The misinterpreted expression of youth?

I was out with my friend yesterday and we took a long bus ride back home. When we got on the bus, it was full of people and we were made to sit apart from each other. I happen to sit down to a gal whom I thought was fast asleep. Once I sat down, a young lady listening to ipod started laughing crazily at me. I was puzzled but I paid no heed to her. Just then, the gal sitting next to me started going "crazy" and performed some weirdo hip-hop or ghost-possessed dance. She then put on a messed up wig, tapped me lightly on my shoulder and seeked for my attention. When I turned to look at that possessed gal, the young lady listening to ipod screamed, "You are sitting next to a monster!" I'm glad I thought it wasn't at all amusing, and all I could muster was a darn cynical smirk at that messed-up soul. Eventually, she got no fun out of me and gave up her seat to my friend so that we could sit together. But that didn't stop her from making a mess of herself. She continued dancing that ghost-possessed, god-knows-what thingy for the passengers in the double decker bus.
My friend couldn't help but wonder aloud if they are high on drugs?

This crap made me think of the recent incident that happened in Holland Village. A PhD student basked in full glory with her boyfriend, and chatting up with people at Wala Wala. When she turned up in court, she doesn't want to face the TV crew and chose to hide her face with a ducky umbrella. A ducky umbrella?! Is she trying to make a light-hearted joke out of this? Honestly speaking, I don't want to sound like a typical Singaporean who makes a big fuss out of this. I know this is a conservative society. Sometimes, we need to loosen up a bit and make jokes out of daily life. People call this a liberal expression of self-rights. And I concur with that. I'm sure they don't deserve a jail term. And so when it turned out that they were fined only 2K, I thought it was a just sentence. After all, they should realize that the opportunity cost involved in this act is worth more than 2K.

Are we misinterpreting what is the true definition of expressing our own rights?
To me, expressing our own views and be responsible towards it is very important. And that includes accepting all possible consequences that tag along with it. A lot of people promise this and that, but never deliver. You can call this bullshitting. Others hesitate in making promises, but try their best to prove through solid actions. I respect the latter. Unfortunately, this society seems to recognize the former but not the latter. So do we have to be loud to tell the others who we are?

I am who I am.

Post graduate students are merely slaves to be exploited by the oh-so-mighty advisors.
They slog like hell and often remain unappreciated for all the work they have done. Advisors talk to collaborators and spin up tonnes of bullshit, which in turn gets hurled to the students. The student works to get some sense out from the bullshit, and emails it to advisor. Instead of saying a THANKS (which is the most precious word in the entire universe, judging by how hard it is to get one to say it), the advisor sends to the collaborators directly. Without even acknowledging the presence of the slave.
The oh-so-mercenary collaborator thanked the advisor and forgot who was the one who churned out the data.
Maybe a maid feels even more appreciated.

Self-motivation

"You have all my strengths, but the problem is you do not succeed me in these strengths, and thus they become ur liabilities"

Update

XZ just reminded me that some friends keep track of my whereabouts using this blog, especially for those who don't meet up that often. So I guess I should keep a dilligent effort to keep this blog alive.
Well, for those who don't know, I am back from US for about two weeks already. It's amazing how 4 months just went by. It's a pity I missed the spring. I always seem to miss the spring. The budding flowers and fresh greens would be a nice sight that remind us of the wonders of life.
It's good to be back home and meet up with friends. It's great to stay home and I don't have to do housework on Sundays! It's nice to be back at NUS where I get a big table on my own. The only thing is that I have a neighbour sitting next to my desk. Damn it. Doesn't he respect privacy? There are other tables elsewhere, for goodness sake.
I've finally got internet at home. Somehow, I must be the most sua ku person in Singapore because I just realize there is a thing called Mobile Broadband. I'm always the type who thinks that routers and broadband stations are the ugliest thing on earth. And when I saw those mobile broadband modems, I was simply amazed. So the next day after I learnt about this, I signed up for it. So now I am, blogging at the comforts of my home.
My parents aren't too used that I am going to stay home all day on Sundays. Afterall, I haven't done so since I started my PhD. What the hell was I doing all these 5 yrs?!

How much is a postdoc worth?

An interesting excerpt from EMBO reports

"They are the perfect workforce—young, mobile and fully prepared to work the sort of hours that would immediately send labourers in any industrialized country out on strike. They are willing to move around the world from one assignment to the next and, last but not least, they come cheap. These are not poor, migrant, manual workers, desperate to earn money to send home to their families in less-developed countries. This perfect workforce is an army of highly skilled, well-educated young professionals, often with more than 10 years of rigorous training at top universities worldwide: they are postdoctoral fellows. These underpaid, hard-working labourers represent the most creative members of the academic research community and possibly the most valuable intellectual capital of today's knowledge-based societies.

There is also a striking discrepancy between their value and their rights. While politicians and economists continue to stress the immense value of research in the natural sciences and the knowledge gleaned from it, this seems to mean little when it comes to funding the people who do the bulk of the work. To Sydney Cambridge, an American postdoc working at the Max-Planck-Institute for neurological science in Munich, Germany, 'it is incomprehensible that you spend 10 years of your life educating yourself and then you are earning the same amount as a bus driver'. He feels that although his salary is adequate for his own personal needs, it does not reflect the level of training he received and is too low. Indeed, the meagre level of postdoc salaries has been a recurring theme over the past few decades, but it is only now that science is beginning to feel the squeeze. The number of students opting to study natural sciences is decreasing, and senior scientists and politicians fear that academic research will soon face a real labour shortage.



A quote from an interviewee
'It is incomprehensible that you spend 10 years of your life educating yourself and then you are earning the same amount as a bus driver'

Destined to be poor forever....

What the heck is Linux?

Seriously, I don't understand why the important analytical softwares are designed to work better on Linux platforms. I know Linux is a open-source freeware and so on..BUT, the point is: they are damn hard to work with. So you can design an excellent software and the commands are like darn hard to input.
Why?! Why?! Why must researchers flaunt their so-called intelligence and make my life so miserable? Why?!!

The caged bird

The door to the cage was opened.
But the bird that spent its past 5 years in the cage did not know what to do.
The master prodded the cage and asked it to fly away.
But the bird hesitated, unsure of the future.
It's time to leave the comfort zone, he says.
Was it gratitude, sadness, or anxiety that was stirred up in the bird's mind?
Casting the last glance back, the bird wonders if its clipped wings can really bring it far.

Arctic front and 5 inches of snow

Yes, I know I have survived Finland before. But it's still a terrible ordeal to face the cold. And I'm talking about -23C freaking cold. This week, Illinois was gripped by a cold front that came down from the Arctic and Canada. Overnight on Tuesday-Wednesday, more than 5 inches of thick snow came down and the whole place was covered by snow (again). Temperature dipped to -17C and on Thursday, it fell again to approx -23C. This low temperature remained till Friday. It's a terrible feeling....when the breath runs short because of the cold dry air. And when the upper thighs become cold and numb. I simply "love" winter.

Happy new year 2009!

It's the new year again! To celebrate the start of the year, I took the day off from work and joined a bus trip down to Tuscola factory outlet. This factory outlet is the nearest to Urbana Champaign (about 30 min ride). It's located in the middle of nowhere and so it's not considered the best of US factory outlets. In fact, most Americans think it sucks. No Abercrombie and Fitch, no Banana Republic, no Timberland...etc etc. But guess what? After many months of no shopping, I had great fun splurging money there!


Tuscola Factory Outlet

The Coach there is pretty good (like what most reviews say). It's always packed with women (the guys sit at the bench right next to the door, looking awfully bored). I was entrusted with the important task of helping SW find her wristlet. Although the designs are rather limited in the factory store, most items are 60% cheaper than the retail prices!


Coach factory store at Tuscola. It's pretty chaotic inside.


These are the bags accumulated halfway through the shopping trip. Old Navy, Gap, Samsonite. There are a few other bags hidden within.

In the end, it was a total 331 USD spent in merely 6h!


Left to right: Old Navy coat, Gap pink card holder (hidden in the corner) Old Navy scarf, Nike running shoes, Coach mini skinny purse, Samsonite blue yacht tote, Reebok purple backpack, Tommy Hilfiger striped sweater, Gap brown sweater (2 designs), Gap jeans...and many other miscellaneous bodycare lotions not shown in the photo.

I must be crazy!

Been here for a month

It's been a month. And somehow, it wasn't hard getting used to here compared to Taiwan. It's kind of weird why this is so. Taiwan, afterall is a Chinese society. But I didn't feel part of it. Maybe because Tainan has no public transport and I felt like a handicap when I cannot go anywhere independently. People write documents and emails in Mandarin and I felt like I am an idiot who doesn't know how to send emails to the locals. Roadsigns are in Mandarin, which is a constant reminder that I am not at home.

I think in many ways, Singapore is like a Western-Chinese fusion city. Which is somewhat like Urbana-Champaign (UC). There are a lot of Chinese here, so we converse in Mandarin. But the main language outside is English. Singaporeans watch American shows since young, and so there wasn't much difficulty following their accented English (of cos, I cannot understand Texas or Southern-accented English). So it was really quite easy getting used to things here.

Of course, the weather outside is a headache. Sometimes it gets so cold that I don't feel like walking that short distance to the bus stop. Sometimes, the sun comes out and melts away the snow. Sometimes, the melted snow freeze to become ice, and the whole place becomes an ice arena. I slipped down twice yesterday, and nobody was surprised. Treading on the ice really freak me out. And I am glad today turned to a thunderstorm day and the 15 degree celsius rain thawed away the freaking ice. It's amazing how the weather changes constantly everyday. And I find myself glued to the weather forecast every now and then.

Gone with the wind

Have you ever experienced the pain of forgetting?
Trying conscientiously hard to pixelate the moment into your memory.
Only to realize that the more you try to remember, the more you forget.
Like a mist that came down and fogged your memories.
And you start to blame yourself for not remembering the exact shade of colors, the exact words that were spelt, the exact smell that lingered in the air....


Eventually, time came by.
And the pain tucked away.

10 more days and endless list of things to settle

It didn't occur to me that I haven't been blogging that conscientiously. I guess the Facebook did a good job snatching away most of the time of internet surfers. I was sort of hooked on to the Fluffpets. It's a brainless game where you pet, feed and race your virtual pet. But they have treasure hunts every now and then, and you get to shop for cute virtual stuff to add on to your habitat and so on.....and created a success in getting people's attention (at least my attention).

--------------
I made a trip to Cairns, Australia during August. It was a nice relaxing conference trip. The weather was excellent, the Gloria Jeans coffee was unforgettable. The mussels were delectable. I met my old research friends, and got to know what they are doing now. I've loaded some photos on Facebook. But I was too lazy to add comments to accompany each photo.

--------------
September and October were one of the craziest months for me. I spent most of the time trying to get hold of the stupid J1 visa. Singaporeans are eligible for the visa waiver program, and do not have to apply for the visa when the duration of stay is less than 3 mths. Unfortunately, my boss happily decided for me that I will be most willing to stay at US from Nov to July (9 months).
I therefore had to apply for the J1 visa (a form of exchange visitor visa). There were periods when I just want to snap off people's head for making me wait for an unbearably long time. Eventually, the ordeal of acquiring a visa ended much more smoothly than I had expected. The trip was however shortened to 4 months. I shall not bore you with why it happened that way.
But the ending conclusion is: 4 months is perfect and it's just 10 more days before my trip!!

It's going to be a freakingly cold winter.

The cycle starts again

6 rounds of revision....
Let's see if it will break the record of 18 rounds of revision.

Update:
Submitted on 24 September 2008, after 8 rounds of revision.

I saw a very funny thing at the PUB website. It reads:

Basin-Wide Identification of Fecal Contamination and Source Tracking in Marina Bay by PCR-Based Approach （PUB Project）

Waters contaminated with human faeces are generally perceived as constituting a greater human health risk than that with animal faeces, because of their potential associations with human pathogens. Microbial Source Tracking (MST) identifies the micro-organisms associated with the sources of excreta, through bacteriological, genotypic, phenotypic, or chemical methods. This allows for adequate assessment of water quality and development of watershed management plans.

In this project, the presence of fecal pollution in seven sampling points in the Marina Basin is studied using bacteria Enterococci, Bacteriodes and Bifidobacteria as indicators (Figure 1). Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based [quantitative PCR (QPCR), nested-PCR, multiplex PCR] and other molecular biology methods (cloning and DNA sequencing), are adopted for rapid, cost-effective, high-throughput and sensitive detection. The results will help to identify the source categories of faecal pollution over whole areas (if any), to locate potential problem areas with intense exposure to specific sources of contamination; to advise management strategies to reduce or eliminate the sources; and to generate database for the characterisation of faecal pollution in Singapore waters.




I'm amazed that PUB is actually doing this. Because I get snubbed so many times when I try to sell microbial source tracking approach to a PUB-related personnel.

Actually, this project has been ongoing for almost 2 yrs. So my question to PUB is:

1) Are we actually going to see any publication on the microbial baseline in Singapore waters?
2) If fecal contamination is really present, are we going to see it in publications?

70% Left brained, 30% right brained

You Are 70% Left Brained, 30% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

To test the accuracy of the above test, I took another one from an independent website. Here's the results:

Brain Lateralization Test Results

Right Brain (28%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (68%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

Are You Right or Left Brained?
personality tests by similarminds.com

The reason I posted this is that most people believe left handed people (like me) utilize the right side of the brain most often. This may not necessarily be true. Actually, I am not an obligate left hander.

Fanatic

I'm crazy over pens and perfumes.
Did someone mention that I have > 50 pens and >10 bottles of perfumes?

I'm trying to stop myself from buying more.
But I still have the following wish list.

Kenzo: Amour
Clinique: Happy in Bloom (Limited Edition)
Marc Jacobs: Daisy
D&G: Light Blue

Thank you, but I don't appreciate being called a bully

There are many categories of friends. One category whole-heartedly support whatever decisions made by their friends, and never disagree upon a single thing. Even when those decisions are bad, and will hurt in the long term, they will not hesitate to support their friend. To say that I respect my friend's decision without analysing the whole situation or thinking through the consequences may be the easiest. I can say it too. But I realize eventually I am doing more harm than good.

Another category of friends do not mince down on their words. No doubt whatever they say may not be pleasing to the ears, but they say/criticise and remind their friends of their shortcomings, and remind them of the consequences of their decisions. They did all these also because they care. Those words might hurt in the short term, but it provides another wall of reflection.

To the first category of friends:
Just because I am perceived to be strong and independent doesn't mean I won't get hurt.
Just because I don't cry in front of others doesn't mean that I am not sad.
Just because I say things that people don't like to hear doesn't mean that I am a bully.

And I NEVER bullied any of my friends.
Thank you.

I'm not a fool

This is my blog, and I write what I want to write. If you think I am talking about you, I have no apologies reserved for you.

Some people think I am a fool not to know things. They discuss silently when I am not around, and hush up once I am back. They come into my room in a group, exchange a few glances and then walked out of the room to discuss. If you want to keep things a secret from me, bloody hell do a better job.

Don't let me learn about things from others, and worse, from my own boss. I made myself a fool to try to defend the person two months ago. I felt betrayed to even defend the person, to find excuses in the past and to be scolded by my boss. Now, when my boss tell me what's happening, I felt like a fool and want to eat back my words.

At least I learnt that I need to keep my distance from these people.

Boston- The academic city

One look at Boston and you know it is teeming with knowledge and culture. All the good universities are here! Harvard, MIT and Boston University, all distanced very near to each other.

My hotel was just right next to MIT, overlooking the Charles River. Basically Hyatt Regency Cambridge is darn lousy. Never ever pay your bucks to stay in this place in the future. Everything costs money in this hotel. Internet, breakfast...even the long queue of taxis just right outside are all cheats. They charged me USD35 dollars for a < 15 min car ride from the hotel to the airport. It only costs me USD25 when i took from the airport to the hotel. The difference? One didn't go by the meter, and the other did.

I prefer Boston to Chicago, though I didn't really spend much time sightseeing. I was too caught up with the conference/lazy and would rather stone/cannot be bothered to do intensive sightseeing. But I like the sense of security I get there. I'm not sure why, but it feels safe in Boston compared to Chicago. Maybe it's because of the universities.

Even the subway looks cleaner. Something is terribly wrong with Chicago, because I heard that Boston got their subway much much earlier than Chicago.
At this part of the holiday, I was joined by CD and CA. Both are great company, and we tried to enjoy the good food that Boston has to offer. Unfortunately, my palate only tastes spicy food. So I still prefer Singaporean cuisines to those American food.

Where else can you find nice food at an affordable price? Only in Singapore.

Chicago - The Windy City

After nearly three days at the Land of Corn Fields, I left the rural cities for the city that's filled with skyscrapers - Chicago. I was quite excited to go to a city (finally!). I think I am afterall an urban dweller, and the thought of hitting down to GAP and H&M thrilled me. Haha...

The hostel (Hostelling International Chicago) was right in the Loop of Chicago downtown, which makes it easily accessible and good for sightseeing. I was glad that I shared a dorm with 5 other females, and was no longer the mixed dorm that I had in Vienna two years ago. Sharing with females means that the room is less stinky, the toilets less dirty, and the room less noisy. So it is a good thing. The only one thing that I need to complain was the darn magnetic card, which never seems to cooperate with me. Wireless internet connection also comes free in this hostel, so if you've got your laptop along with you, it's really a cheap place to stay in when visiting Chicago.

The subway is dirty and slow, but it's not packed at most times of the day. So it is a good mode of transport to shuttle around different parts of the city. They also have a lot of Blacks singing live at the metro station, and they sang the Blues or R&B really well.

On the first day, the weather was good, so I decided that I should do more outdoor activities on this day. I went up to the 94th floor of the John Hancock Observatory, and got to see the Lake Michigan and the endless horizons of skyscrapers. It's kind of cool to see the Lake Michigan up close, because everytime when I read the research papers, I read about it. I realised I was a bit foolish and should have went up there later, when the lights of most skyscrapers should be on...but oh well..

After that, I hit the shopping avenues off North Michigan and State Street. I found my fav GAP and H&M, and bought tonnes of things. I also found that the Normstrom is also a good place to shop for designer products at a very discounted price.
On the second day, it was raining and overcast for the whole day. I was lucky that I managed to reach the Shedd Aquarium before I got caught in the rain. The 4D theater was quite nice, and I watched the Planet Earth- The Shallow Sea in the theater. I think I am rather slow in this 4D term, but it seems that it is a combination of 3D and sensory effects. So when you are on your seat, they will spray water or have a stick poking at your back, or wind gushing at your feet (all according to the scenes on the screen)!

The Dolphin show was nothing compared to the one that I saw in HK Ocean Park. Maybe they don't want to ill-treat their dolphins too much, so that's good in some sense. The aquarium exhibits are pretty nice as well. I like the seahorse!
After spending nearly 2h at the aquarium, I walked out to the Grant Park. It was raining and windy, but I eventually made it to see the Buckingham Fountain. It's really a pity that the weather was crappy. My jeans were wet and I felt really shitty.

Urbana Champaign - The legendary corn field

I spent close to three days at Urbana-Champaign, which are the two quiet twin cities that stood by the side of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Urbana has comparatively older houses than Champaign, but both are just quiet peaceful cities. In fact, I wouldn't call them cities at all. I would rather call them village towns that are surrounded by vast stretches of corn and soybean fields. That's why they do excellent research at UIUC....no distractions at all.

This trip down to Urbana Champaign is to know the students and faculty members there, as well as to have an idea of what are the lab facilities present at the UIUC. I was very impressed by the level of dynamism that the faculty has, the extensive inter-department collaborations, and the willingness to share the use of their purchased equipment. Sadly speaking, these are the things you don't really see in NUS, especially the dynamism part.

The place that I reside: Hampton Inn, is a nice place. The bed was very comfortable, the toilet is spacious and clean. The room is well equipped with coffee maker, hair dryer, and wireless internet connection. And best of all, I don't have to pay a single cent! Love it!

25h on the plane is just so darn tiring

I survived my first US long overhaul! Congrats to me!
it's a total of 25 h on the plane including of transit, and it just isn't fun at all.

Firstly, traveling to US means lots of security checkpoints. Like it or not, you really have to be well-prepared for it. I tried to travel light (for my hand carry), so I cleared the custom pretty fast. At the Changi Airport, instead of the usual check-in, there are also security officers checking with each and every passenger their passport, their itinierary, and where their accomodation in US will be. They will look into your eyes and ask you what was the purpose of your trip, before they let you go the counter to proceed with your check-in. Right before boarding, there is another round of X-ray scan of your hand carry, and the laptop has to be taken out of the bag, and switched for the officer to see (though I am not sure what's the purpose).

If you think that's all, it's not all. Once I arrived in HK for my transit, my hand-carry was X-ray scanned again,and the laptop taken out of the bag. It's pretty fast, so I thought it was ok. But alas, before boarding the plane, they manually searched through all passenger's hand carry, and some people aren't very happy about it. I was lucky I only had my poster along and one back pack. So I got up the plane really fast. :D

Then it's the long overhaul. I was sitting right in the middle column, second from the left. Sandwiched between a female elderly and a rather well-built Viet American uncle. It's kind of squeezy in my seat and the air-con was blasting right into me (it took me after 10 h of my journey to realize that I can adjust the knob of the air-con so that it doesn't blast at me...oh well...). UA stewards and stewardess are really old, and I meant old. They are grannies and uncles in their 40s-50s! Only one stewardess looks like she was in the middle 30s, but she was too busy having small talks with uncles such that her service to the others sucks. Like she missed giving me a meal (the meals with chicken are rather nice and tasty), and took half an hour to get back to me after two repeated request for water (they serve water too infrequently). The toilets were surprisingly clean (I like that!). But the UA pilot who was in charge of the HK landing is terrible. He made three consecutive altitude dips, and my heart nearly lurched out of my mouth.

Once I landed in America, it's the clearing of the custom again. I have to scan my four fingers on both hands, and the two thumbs together. I have to look into the camera for them to take a photo of my face, and to answer the officer several questions. And then before I board onto the domestic plane, my hand carry has to be X-ray scanned again, and shoes had to be taken off. It's lucky I wore my crocs shoes, but I think the next time I wear it, I will wear it with my socks. It's more comfy on the plane with socks.

So traveling to US is really troublesome and tiring. I'm glad I finally made my way here. :D

Waste of time to read even a page of her thesis

One of my students is pissing the hell out of me.
The first time I told her something is wrong and should be done the other way, she will always argue with me why she does so. To the extent that I was so pissed that I told her to stop arguing with me, and consider that when the reader reads her stupid thesis, she won't be there to "explain" to them what the hell she is trying to say.
Fine, and off she goes to "amend" the thesis. So happens that she directly submitted it to boss, and boss being the busy person, had it passed to me instead.
I read through and was utterly damned pissed that not all of the things were changed accordingly. Then FOR WHAT I waste MY TIME and GO THROUGH with her PAGE BY PAGE????
I cannot take it anymore, so I just told my boss to let her submit directly without any changes. Not without adding another statement noting that IT IS A WASTE OF TIME (to read and revise).

My grandma

Nothing is going to stop me

Having high hopes on oneself is not enough.
Often, it is how much confidence other people had placed on you that keeps you going.

I hope I can eventually make my way there.

Look what flew onto me

Kaoz. This is darn disgusting. I was on the LRT this morning, stoning at my seat, when an uncle standing before me, coughed. Nothing wrong with coughing, but I distinctly saw something flew onto my arm. Initially I thought I might be imagining things. But the lady next to me promptly took out a tissue and started cleaning her arm. Apparently, the saliva flew onto her as well. Utterly disgusted, I took out both my tissue and wet tissue, and cleaned my arm vigorously. Right in front of that uncle.

Uncle, please lah, cover your mouth before you cough lah! Haven't you all forgot the SARS?!

Olympic torch relay

Is it just Chinese inherent personality or what? Why bother to stage one of the most ambitious Olympic torch relay, when obviously they are not capable of it? If it's the face they want, they have lost it all.
Olympic torch symbolises the peace and wisdom, and as it travels around the continent, it spreads the importance of harmony to all. Ironically, wherever it goes, protesters march down the streets. Some even scale themselves up the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge, in a bid to have their anti-China sentiments hammered across. They got their point.

Government agenda

I'm sick and tired of the so-called governmental agenda.

Four years ago, when I was called up for the second round of interview with A*Star directors, I was asked times and again why I chose to work with Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, particularly on the production of alternative fuels like biohydrogen. I learnt from Philip Yeo that there isn't going to be much prospects and hype on such research topics. Why not do tissue engineering or stem cell research? That's where all the activities are.

Upon hearing that, I sort of had a deja vu, when I was questioned by the MOE scholarship board about why I wanted to choose Environmental Engineering.

Needless to say, I didn't get all those scholarships. Why are all the students moulded to fit into the same model? Why are they directed to work in areas where only the government/economy are interested in?
And after so many years, we see all the renewed interest in alternative fuels like solar energy. Ironically, EDB has pinpoint the solar energy industry as the next IN thing recently.

Well, on second thoughts, I'm glad I didn't get the scholarships. Because I don't want to work in such short-sighted government/government-affiliated boards.

Miscellaneous updates

It's been a long time since I last update my blog. I've decided that I should just be like "Cecilia" in the PhD comics, and write short entries to keep this blog alive.

First of all, in case you are wondering what has happened to my manuscript. It's been accepted! All the hard work has paid off. But now, I will need to pray harder and make sure no one finds fault with my dear paper.

Many of the lab mates have left the lab. And there's less and less of us hanging around already. No doubt it is good they have escaped from the gallows, and started their own jail term somewhere, it really does feel like the lab doesn't feel like what it used to be anymore.

There have been numerous things happening in my life, and I think I have sorted that out with the help of some of my very trustworthy friends in the lab.

Right before the storm, it's always peaceful....

Trying to showoff

72 words

A case of simple maths

A boss brought four guests (his big boss and big boss' wife, an exchange student and her bf), and seven students/post docs to a restaurant for dinner. After ordering too much food, the total bill came up to 400 dollars. The boss signed for the bill with his credit card, gained the credit card points, earned an orange card (a membership card for future discounts) and about 50 dollars worth of vouchers. No mention of repaying the sum was made in front of his big boss, and we thought we got off the hook.

But alas, the next day, he called and asked M.E. to collect 40 dollars from each student and post docs. I gave him an unbelievable tone over the phone by checking with him if I got the sum right. He said, "Yes, 40 dollars per person to include the 400 dollars dinner and the 40 dollars farewell gift for the exchange student. Is 40 dollars per meal at this restaurant usual for you guys?" To which, I bluntly said NO! 20 dollars' fine though. But obviously, the stingy boss didn't care, and asked M.E. to proceed with collecting 40 dollars from each person. He further added, as if adding salt to the wound, that he will cover the costs made by his guests. Now, this is the crucial statement. A primary school kid would have done his maths like this: 400 dollars/ 12 persons = 33 dollars per person. If the boss says he will cover the cost by his guests, he would need to pay 33 dollars * 5 people = 165 dollars! And collected only 30 dollars from us! But obviously, he didn't...or rather he doesn't care!

Reluctantly, not able to argue with the boss, I collected a total of 280 dollars and the next day, went over to hand him the money. I humbly asked boss if I can take 40 dollars from the 280 dollars so as to recoup my loss in purchasing the farewell gift, and guess what?! The STINGY boss actually dare to say in front of M.E. that he has paid a lot for the dinner already, and asked M.E. to collect another 5 dollars from each person to get back the 40 dollars! And to which, before I can actually respond, he handed over 5 dollars and proclaim he has paid for his share. WHAT THE BLOODY HELL does that mean?! And of course I wouldn't want to collect another 5 dollars from all the poor students, and not surprisingly, found myself landed in a bad debt of 35 dollars.

Now where's the logic? A primary school kid would have performed the following calculations again:

Boss paid (400-280) + 5 = 125 dollars for the meal
Boss earns 10K per mth (at least)
Percentage = (125/10K)*100% =1.25%

I paid 40 + 35 =75 dollars for meal and gift
I earn 2K per mth
Percentage = (75/2000)*100% = 3.75%
And three-fold higher!!

Now what's this?!

And to end it up, I recently purchased $1090 worth of lab equipment out of my own pocket! And at first the boss said that I can claim the sum through a BASF grant with NUS dept. When I asked him to sign my reimbursement form, he said they might have overspent their budget, and told me to hold on for a while so that he can talk to BASF to see if he can claim the money directly.

THEN WHAT?! 1090 dollars leh!!! WHEN CAN I GET IT BACK?!

New post-docs in the lab, part 2

I retract my previous statements made on the new male post doc (Dr. R). I admit my first impression was not at all accurate. He turned out easy to get along. And knowledgeable as well. Sorry for my sweeping statement.

But this new female post doc (Dr. G) is getting pretty "interesting". For one, she is starting to get on the nerves of some people. Some examples:

1. Today's her third day in school, and her staff card is not ready yet, so she cannot gain access to the main door. In such cases, our typical response is to wait for people to pass by and get in along with them/call the lab phone and get someone to open the door for us. But from what I heard from my student, she knocked on the door profusely, and shouted for Dr. R to open the door. Because he was not at his seat, she continued to knock on the door so loudly that my student went to get the door for her. Instead of thanking the student, she walked directly to her seat, and ignored my student's existence. (Impression marks: -10)
2. Dr. G is sharing the cubicle with Dr. R, and though both of them are on good terms (they come from the same lab in HK), one must be considerate to the existence of others. Instead, she turned on the music so very loudly that it is extremely disturbing to many. Even CL who is sitting about 5m away finds it distracting. What can we say about the poor Dr. R...? (Impression marks: -10)
3. Maintain silent when she is talking over the phone or else, you will get hushed by her. I was a victim! She was talking over the phone, and Leng Leng and I were standing near to the phone discussing some lab issues. I already tried to talk softly because I am aware some people don't like any noise when they are talking over the phone. But without any warning, she turned around to both of us and hushed us harshly (at least that is what I feel), and continued back to her tele-conversation. For a moment, LL and I were stunned. As in, really stunned. And we have to walk out of the room to continue our conversation. After putting down the phone, she never bothered to apologize. (Impression marks: -20)

Overall impression: 60/100.

I'm going to avoid her at all costs.

Permanent Head Damage

New postdocs in the lab

Recently new post docs have joined our lab, and not surprisingly, they are from Mainland China. But the kinda funny thing is that this new post doc can't contain the pride he has in being a fellow China-man. How does he show that? By forcing me to read all those cheem stuff on DNA extraction blah blah, in CHINESE.

I was like, what the hell...am I supposed to read these concept in Chinese? When I have already read them in the English version. So of course, when he sent it to me, I just politely accepted it, looked at it once, snubbed at those translated terminologies and chucked it aside. But alas, after 20-30min later, he comes back to me and asked me how was my reading.

I was like, duh.....ermmm....am I supposed to tell you what I've learnt from it?? Hey, come on man, I am busy with my writing. Bloody hell, and now I am supposed to entertain you with all these supposedly stimulating discussion in Chinese?! Of cos, I just told him that I am not used to reading SCIENCE in CHINESE. And his reaction was pathetic, exclaiming that I will lose out a lot because they have TONNES of good information there on the website he recommended me.

And the damn thing is that he exclaimed this statement," We the Mainland people changed the HK people's thinking while we are at that lab. Now, we are here to change the SIN people's thinking."

-_-

Come on, I'm proud to be a Chinese. But a SINGAPOREAN one. Don't make me voice out my anti-China sentiments. Get it, dude?

My manuscript (it's just boggling me)

I sent my boss my version 11 of the manuscript yesterday evening, and as of now, he still hasn't got back to me. He's usually pretty fast in throwing back drafts. So I wonder what this unusually "long" silence means. It's either he is busy with his own stuff and thus chucked my paper away, or he's wondering what to do next.

Make it a bingo!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When HOPEs seemingly run high, they will crush you to death when they drop.

My nephew James Hong Ju Yang

I am an Aunt now! Not auntie.....................

My nephew James Hong Ju Yang was borned on August 21, 2007 at 0449am. It's truly amazing when you think of the fact that my brother and sis-in-law, who are both one year older than me, have become first-time parents. How much they have achieved! A family of their own...

Juyang in his deep, sound and pouty sleep....

Hazel and Juyang. Both look happy!!

Fireworks @ Marina Bay (18 Aug 2007)

Fireworks galore! Singapore celebrated her 42nd birthday with a magnificent display of fireworks!

Especially for all my friends who are out of Singapore. We know you miss home....

Agony

It's an agony nobody can understand.

When you first started doing your experiment,all you could eat, sleep, and think of was the nice hypothesis you have come up with, and the meticulous design for your experiment. You can feel your passion burning as you carry out the experiment, as you collate the data, and analyze it.

You start to sum it up, write it into a manuscript. And after some revisions initiated by yourself, you decide to hand it in to your supervisor for his suggestion. The agony starts....

After some weeks, or perhaps months, he called you up in the lab and asked you to drop by his office to discuss over the manuscript. He offered you a seat, and that's when you start to think things aren't going as right as it should be.

He says it's your first paper. He will put you in training. He suggests some new experiment to be done. And off you went to do the experiment. After some weeks/months, you finished the experiment, summed it up and added new paragraphs into the draft. You happily handed it in to him again, silently praying that it will make him happy this time.

After even some more weeks, or perhaps months, he called you up again. He said let's discuss the structure and logic of the paper this time. He suggests a major overhaul. Structure, logic, grammar, sentence...everything. This one move here, that one move there. And you quietly went to do it, without any vehement protest.

After some more weeks, he says. Let's not just move the same contents from here to there. Start thinking how you can write an entirely new discussion or chapter with another logic thinking. And make sure you succeed before handing in your next draft.
And off you went, agonizing over how abstract his words are....

After many agonizing weeks of abstract thinking, he says this draft is in good shape, but can be improved further. He suggests reworking on the discussion. And after that, he will go through the materials and methods, as well as the results section again. You looked at him, bewildered, and said," But Sir, I thought you have already read through those sections?" And to that, he laughed,"Oh, I wasn't reading seriously through it the other time."

What can you possibly say??

AND the ultimatum is, after this, he suggests fine-tuning each and every word, to make sure they are apt.

If someone dare says I am torturing a FYP student with his/her thesis, I will tell them what I am going through NOW!

Some place good

A nice song to share...ignore the movie. I purposely made the thumbnail small, so that you only hear the song.

The lyrics are especially meaningful as well.

Hope you're finally feeling better,
Hope you're in a brighter space,
Hope it wasn't hard to get there,
You found peace and you feel safe
Good to know you finally made it,
Outta thee old neighbourhood,
I know you love to travel,
I know you love the stars,
But did you just unravel
Half the way to Mars.
I hope they're coming to your rescue,
Like I said they always would
When they ask me, I let them take you
I hope to take you someplace good
Someplace good
Did you see this morning's paper?
Did you catch an early train?
Did you find the meet the maker?
Did you find the finally loving?
Or did you simply endup
Exactly where you should
Sure hope this was you last stop
On the way to someplace good
Someplace good
Someplace good
Someplace good
Someplace good

Long live the Earth, 7 July

It's Earth Day today, and to mark this event, there will be a live concert organized in seven different countries. I am not too sure how organisers will ensure that the event be held in an environmentally responsible manner (e.g. are they using energy saving lightings? Will audience pop those irritating party poppers and litter the whole place? etc), but at least through this event, the media are giving more attention to educate the public of the need to protect our Earth.

Generally, Singaporeans are still pretty lukewarm to the calls for environmental protection. Actually, it is not a tough thing to do. Just review your daily practices, and see how small actions can contribute significantly. And I am not an environmental fanatic, but rather, just someone who thought I should start doing a bit.

But how?

1) Reduce:

• It's no longer IN to just RECYCLE. Now the term is to REDUCE. Saying no to excessive number of plastic bags will make a great start. Why bother having a plastic bag to contain the small stuff that you have purchased, when you can simply put it into your bag? Also, placing your groceries into recyclable bags will cut down on the number of plastic waste generated. Be it reducing the usage of just one or two plastic bags, it DOES make a difference.
• Switching off air-con, lights and equipment when you are the last one to leave the room. Saving electricity saves energy, and protects our immediate supply of fuel.

2) Reuse:

• Put your creativity to use, and think of how you can add some personal touches to the plastic bottles and turn them into a pen holder, or a vase.
• Printing jobs should be done on both sides of the paper. Single-sided papers should be used for scribbling, jotting etc.

3) Recycle:

• Don't just throw those stuff into the bin. Sort them out and recycle! It takes a bit of your time, no doubt. But it's not an excuse not to do it.

And to sum it up, I think this is a pretty good themesong for Earth Day.

Weird things scientists can do

I attended a biotechnology course in FOS last year, and it is a pretty interesting course in which they encourage scientists to patent their own innovations and become a budding enterpreneur. Not that I want to say scientists and enterpreneurs are totally opposite polarities. But take a look at what some scientists can think of before you judge:



Innovation One: Here it comes!
Apparatus for Facilitating the Birth of a Child by Centrifugal Force
Patent no.3,216,423
Issued: November 9, 1965
Inventors: George and Charlotte Blonsky, New York, NY





A centrifugal delivery table. The expectant mother is strapped down to the table, which is then spun to use centrifugal force to encourage the baby to emerge.
Where does the obstetrician sit? And what does he use to get the baby - a catcher's mitt? Talk about pre-natal influence...


Innovation Two: Forehead support apparatus

Patent No. 6,681,419
Issued: January 27, 2004
Inventor: Page; Eric D. (3612 Bali Dr., Sarasota, FL 34232)







A forehead support apparatus for resting a standing users forehead against a wall above a bathroom commode or urinal or beneath a showerhead.
The apparatus includes a mounting member adapted for attachment to an upright bathroom wall either above the commode or urinal or below the showerhead. A compressible head support member is attached to and extends from the wall and said mounting member. The head support defines an elastically deformable or resilient forehead support surface which is spaced above the floor and from the wall a distance sufficient for the user to lean his forehead thereagainst and be supported while using the commode or urinal.

HUH??!! For what?!

It's an amazing hiatus

Hi all, hopefully I am back for long. The long hiatus away from this blog has not gone wasted. I am coming back (hopefully refreshed) and filling extremely shitty all over.

For all who don't know what I have been up to, I have been to no good.

• Down with gastroenteritis, or commonly known as stomach flu.
• Degrading myself by rummaging through public dustbins in search of dog poo (refer to my "good" and "encouraging" fren's 18 May 2007 entry @ http://wongsw.blogspot.com/)
• Pestering my good and very kind frens for their feces (I am really, very, truly sorry if I made any of you sick from the act of scooping feces into the sampling container. Sorry pals!)
• Having dinners and gathering, and inevitably ending up with my friends talking about my shit (quite literally) work.
• Attending International Water Association-Leading Edge Technology (IWA-LET) conference held at Swissotel (Singapore). Enjoying the rather sumptuous meal, and the company of my frens made in the lab.
• Extracting DNA from almost all collected feces (tiring chore), amplifying microbial targets of interest and blah blah.
• Absorbing all arrows from my boss, and slowly digesting them....if I can.

Well, life's rather shitty for me, as you all can see. Hopefully, it gets better (which I doubt). But hey, I HAVE to ENJOY it!

Fast food in Taiwan

It's another 13 days to go before I can embark on my journey back home. I kind of feel that time is passing so awwwwwwfully slow here and I wonder how I will endure these 13 days. To be fair, Taiwan is not that bad a country. It's just me. I am simply not used to this place. I don't know why I took it that bad this time. It might be the bits and pieces of differences that's driving me nuts.

For instance, they don't serve chilli sauce in KFC. Oh...you might say that's a small issue. But hey, it sucks to eat a full meal without chilli sauce. It's awful, to be exact. And the waitress at the counter slurs so much, that I asked her to repeat her question twice almost every time. I would go " Huh?" and she has to repeat. I think in the end, I pissed her off so much that when I asked her for chilli sauce at the end, she snappedly say they don't have it. Only pepper. I swore to myself that's the last time I am stepping into the KFC here.

I think MacDonalds is more tolerable (even though they don't serve the chilli sauce as well). At least they have the McSpicy. And I still don't know how to ask the waitress to change the drink to diet coke. I would say" Ni3 ke1 yi3 ba yin3 liao4 huan4 chen1....er.....*mind scrambling for the right word and finally give up*....er....diet coke mah?" She paused and looked at me, before saying " Ni shi shuo jian yi mah?". Feeling utterly embarrased and confused as to what she is referring to, I just nodded even though I don't have the faintest idea what the hell "jian yi" is. I just learned from my roommate today that it is the brand that they market diet coke with over here. So they refer to diet coke as jian yi. As if I would know.

But to be honestly fair, the service at MacDonalds was far better than in Singapore. My McSpicy took some waiting and rightaway, the waitress apologized and served me with a cup of coke while I waited. In Singapore, I think you might have to kneel down and beg them for a free cup of drink...(ok, that's exaggerating. No one will stoop that low for just a stupid cup of drink).

So I think I am going for another round of MacDonalds tomorrow, and try to ask for jian yi again. Heck, so much more convenient to get diet coke from the vending machine downstairs.

Falling sick in a foreign land

Was hit by a common cold virus on the eighth day into the new lunar year. It's just a common cold, I thought, and paid no special attention to it.

From the initial scratchy throat to runny nose, which developed to extremely thick brownish-yellow mucus stained with traces of blood, tonsillitis, poor appeitite, cough and fatigue. I know this wasn't any more of a funny business. Yet, I thought there might not be a need to see a doctor. Afterall, how can I trust the doctor here?

It's that night, when I stood there brushing my teeth, and I looked into the mirror to see how pale I looked. How weary and sickly I appear before myself. Suddenly, I thought I should look at myself more...for I had visions that it may be my last night, that I might not wake up from my sleep the next day. That I might not be able to make it back to Singapore and see my family. The thought that I don't want to die in Taiwan. It's the first time I ever feel so pessimistic. It's the first time that I felt our own death seems so far, yet so near and inevitable.

I need to get out of here.

Room-mate

Honestly speaking, I don't badmouth on a person that frequently. But my room-mate's really getting on my nerves. She is a nice lady (i suppose), but realle...sharing a room is a task that needs tonnes of patience. And unfortunately, the harder I try to bear with all the differences, the more imbalanced I feel.

1) Sweeping and mopping the floor.
Ever since I checked into the room (refer to my first post from Taiwan), she has NEVER done any housework at all. I sweeped and mopped the floor every Sunday afternoon, while she goes out for lunch with her bf. I scrubbed the toilet bowl and wiped the basin clean. But everytime she comes back, she walked all the way across the room, to and fro, in her shoes. WTH. I don't need her to do the housework, but at least, be considerate and change into your home slippers before you step around the room. She doesn't know I am doing the housework alone. She didn't bother to realize how come the dust does not accumulate and how come the basin is clean every Sunday evening. I think she doesn't bother. Sometimes, somethings do not have to be said. Feel it and be considerate.

The day the earthquake occurred, her senior came to our room, and asked if she needs to take off her shoes before stepping in. Right away, my room-mate responded by saying there's no need, since she hasn't been sweeping and cleaning the room for a looooong time. Yah, indeed. Cos I am the one doing it.

2) Watching my rented VCD
Have you ever experienced someone standing behind your back, for what seems like forever, and watching at your rented VCD. Trying hard to ignore her (I can't), I wanted to watch my rented VCD in peace (which means alone). And NOT having someone looking at the same screen, from behind. At least, get a bloody chair, ask if she can sit down and watch together. I will agree if you ask. Just ASK.

3) Talking in that terribly sweet voice
It's sickening when I have to listen to her talk over the phone with her bf. And it is also sickening that everytime, I have my earphone plugged on while watching VCD, she will still use her sweet voice and try to get my attention. I can't hear her from behind, with my earphones on. Can't she speak normally?!

4) Alarm clock
When someone sleeps at 3am, and aims to wake up at 7am to finish her master thesis, do you think it is possible? She knows she can't for she lacks the discipline, yet she always make sure her alarm clock rings continuously forever and ever. Hey, in the end, I am the one who woke up!! And she is still sleeping soundly.

The moral of the story: don't live with someone who is brought up in a different family as you. Everyone has different living habits.

Miscellaneous thots

I was honored to be addressed as a "xue jie" (senior sister in Mandarin) over in Taiwan. The juniors (good ones) always treat their seniors respectfully, and they really treat me as one who knows my stuff (haha! I "smoke" well...)...It made me think of my antics in Singapore, where I bully my seniors. Kind of ashamed..haha..but I had fun doing that. =P
On one hand, this kind of address made me feel respected...but at times, it lack the rapport to build up a friendship. No?

CNY is coming soon...gosh..9 long days of holiday...scratching my head to think about what I can do alone in this foreign land. I don't like to trouble people, especially during the CNY period when people ought to have reunion as a family. It just feels weird to pay house visit and stay in their home. I don't like that kind of feeling. I guess I am used to being independent...

Review of my past resolutions

It’s 2007. Looking back at 2006, it is indeed a fulfilling and meaningful one. Those were my New Year resolutions set last year:

• I would like to go for my PhD qualifying exams this year and hopefully clear it. Only then, can I tell people that I am a qualified PhD candidate. [Yep…I’ve cleared this hurdle…though without much ease. There were days before the qualifying examinations that I have to endure my boss’ constant bugging and bombardment. There were days when I feel like giving up. But thankfully, I have found the strength to move on.]
• I would like to submit in abstract for the ISME Austria conference and hopefully attend it in August! I would like to get the signature of Craig Venter! [Nope…I didn’t manage to get Craig Venter’s signature…but I heard his speech. It was totally unconventional and set many researchers arguing. I went for the conference as well and learnt a lot…saw a lot and heard a lot. Aiming for the 2008 ISME conference to be held in Australia!]
• I would like to submit in drafts for publishing....I had been constipating too long in this aspect. Time for me to move on. [Nope…my draft is still stuck with my boss….]
• Holiday! I need one... [Lots of holidays….flying to HK, Vienna and now in Taiwan. I guess I cannot complain much]
• Bring myself back to good health. Hopefully I can say goodbye to gastric cramps and headaches.. Time for me to pick up exercising yet again. East healthily and live optimistically. [Opps……guilty about this]

More on my new year resolutions coming soon…need time to think about these.

The first earthquake in my life

For a Singaporean, experiencing an earthquake for the first time in her life is a really uniquely scary thing. Not to mention, two earthquakes that happened in a short interval of 8 minutes. And to add on to it, strong earthquakes with epicenter near to Tainan (Richter 6.7 and 6.4 in Hengchun and Pingtung).

The first earthquake struck when I was watching VCD in my room. The first thought that I had at that time was," Oh shit, is this an earthquake?!". And I sheepishly hurried out of my room to look for my roommate (who was in the TV room at that time), hugging tightly to my tortoise doll. My roommate seems dazed and when she saw me, she assured me and told me that the past earthquake was a pretty strong one. She asked me to mentally prepare for smaller tremors, but told me everything should be fine. Hearing that, I went back to my room, thinking that if this is a strong earthquake, then maybe it wasn't that bad after all. It's true things were shaking horizontally, and I felt a bit giddy, but overall, I thought it was milder than I expected.

Feeling relieved, I went back to my room to resume watching my VCD. Eight minutes later, another earthquake struck. And it is NOT a tremor. Books placed on the table were trembling. The door next to me was rattling loudly. And everything seems to be shaking. Feeling really frightened, I ran out of the room again. And halfway down the corridor, the lights went off and girls started screaming. I have to grope around in the dark for about 1 min before the back-up generator was powered up. Electricity! Life saver! Whoever invented electricity is a genius...

Everyone was scared, foreigners and locals both alike. The security broadcast over the PA system and asked us to be careful of tremors. I quickly packed up laptop and passport into my bag and ran downstairs. Phew...this is definitely an experience.

I was pretty amazed that everything rebounded back so fast. 1 hr later, when I walked down the streets, everything seems so normal. In fact, I was pretty amazed how fast I recovered from my trauma. Like what they say, I am the "lucky" one. Everything that can possibly happen, will happen to me. Damn.

Some unimpt things I have noticed

• Taiwanese gals are more gentle, and they talk with an unbelievably sweet voice. I prefer the outspokenness of Singaporean gals.
• Their English newspaper (China Post) is only about 20 pg thick.
• Taiwanese are crazy over their own politics, but I think they do not really know what is happening in the outside world. Open the China Post and almost the entire newspaper is about their own news.
• Politics in Taiwan is 300X more complicated than in Singapore. Vote-buying is true. There are accounts of such vote-buying given by my labmates here. Not the outright paying of money, but things like giving you extremely good lunchboxes or ferrying you from Taipei to Tainan etc (reminds me of the progress package we have received before the general election this year...hmmm..)
• Their Eslite bookstore (Cheng Pin Shu Ju) which opens 24h and is opened nationwide resembles a combination of Borders and Kinokuniya (I miss both of them). English books are marked at an exorbitantly high price due to the low demand. They have a lot of Chinese translation of the current English bestsellers.
• Their fruits and sweet corns are extremely nice! Very very sweet and cheap. It's the harvest season of mandarin orange, so I have having almost one every night.
• The southern part of Taiwan (i.e. Tainan) has food which is very similar to Singapore. The base of the food is sweet, while the northern part of Taiwan is more saltish. Luckily I am in Tainan. That's why I like the food here!
• Temperature has dipped over these 2 days. Think I have caught a flu. Underestimated the power of wind...sigh.

The day I toured Anping

Dr W and SX drove me to the western part of Tainan (Anping district) last Sunday. It has a lot of sightseeing districts like:

• Anping old streets
  The streets resemble a bigger version of our pasar malam. It’s a long stretch of road selling tonnes of interesting things and the whole street is buzzing with activities. There are foodstalls selling stinky beancurd (not as stinky as the wastewater fed into reactors), offering games for the young and young at heart.
• Matsu temple (Tian Hou Gong)
  Generally, Taiwanese are devouted Taoist/ Buddhist. So the temples are usually grander than those we see in Singapore. This temple is supposedly the first Matsu temple in Taiwan, and naturally has the oldest Matsu statue in the whole of Taiwan within it.
• Anping fort (Fort Zeelandia)
  I had a brief history lesson of Taiwan at this place. It was said that in 1624, the Dutch seized this area and established a military and commercial base. Later in 1661, it was attacked and captured by Zheng He, who sailed down from China after failed attempts to restore the Ming Dynasty. Zheng He lived here ever since then. I was told that the current statue of Zheng He looked in the direction of Mainland China, symbolizing his wish of going back to China and fulfilling his dreams. Later, the area was recaptured by Qing Dynasty, and forced to be given to Japan when the dynasty wilted. The fort that we see now is reconstructed by Japanese and is still in good shape. A lot of archaeological effort has been taking place over the past few years. Land has been excavated to find old artefacts. It is rumored that there is a underground tunnel, connecting from the old well here in Anping to the central Tainan. This is the tunnel which acted as the escape route for Sun Yat Sen (I think?), and they are still trying to validate if this is true.
  

On a side note, darn…I still cannot access internet in my dorm, even though I have asked my junior to register for me. So I have to write this first and then post it online later. As I wrote this blog in my dorm, I heard firecrackers cracking away in the streets outside. Hah…not even New Year yet.

Traffic in Tainan

Some additional sidenote...I just realise/discover (to my horror) that Canon Ixus doesn't seem to give me as good picture qualities as Canon Powershot! Shit!

Back to my Tainan trip. The second and third day in Taiwan, being on the weekends, was a relaxing one. Dr Wu and SX kindly kept me company over the weekends and tried to bring me around the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) campus. The entire campus is extremely big, and hostels are like satelite towns in the Tainan central. There are many shops and foodstalls nearby, so it is extremely easy to get around IF you have a scooter or car here. Not so if you only rely your legs (like me). Having a pair of legs here in Tainan is equivalent to being physically handicapped. There are practically no public transport and everyone relies on scooters and cars. Dismay.

My first scooter experience was both terrifying and exciting. I have never ride on a motorcycle before. So when SX came to fetch me that day on her scooter, she has to ride extremely slowly (she says it is very slow already...even though I think it is still very fast) as I tremble behind her. With the wind blowing against my face so strongly, I had to clutch to the grips very tightly for fear I will fall off the scooter. At times, the passing cars and scooters are so near I thought they will collide. Tainan streets are buzzing with cars and scooters. Though traffic is not as orderly as the streets in Singapore, no one flouts the traffic rules (yet).

Besides the scooter experience (now that I think of it, it is rather fun actually), crossing the roads can be a bit tricky as well. Many roads and junctions do not have the traffic lights. You will have to rely on the cars' traffic light to turn red and then cross the road. They also do not really have the junction traffic lights to indicate to drivers if they can turn into the lane or not. So you really have to be careful when crossing the roads so that you do not get knocked down by reckless/ impatient drivers. I still get jitters from crossing the roads here.

Another interesting thing however, is that when you do see the passerby's traffic lights, the green man is no longer standing still. It is walking and running, indicating that you should walk faster! It's rather hard to walk faster because the green man is so distracting! You just can't help but look at it while crossing the roads. I heard there are some which show the green man falling down (in Taipei). I definitely would like to see that! Haha!

First day in Tainan

This post is dedicated to SW because she is stuck somewhere in her Ulu Pandan office. Hahah!

Here I am in Tainan. The Jetstar experience was not bad. Fast and safe. But the Taoyuan International Airport was quite a letdown. It didn't appear as fabulous as Hongkong International airport, not even mention our very own Changi Airport. Now I really really understand why our Changi Airport always make it to the top of the list. There's really no airport (or rather none that I have seen so far) that is as nice..as cozy...as busy...as orderly...as homely as Changi Airport. Hats off.

By the time I reach Taoyuan and cleared the custom, it is already 6pm. I was rather taken aback by how dark it is in Taiwan at 6pm. I have to remind myself that I am no longer in Singapore, which is in the equitorial belt. Get that idea off my head, PY!

The ride from Taoyuan to Tainan is terribly long. I can't remember how many times I have dozed off in the car....so I shall give that a skip, and not describe it here. By the time I reached the hostel, it is already 10pm (imagine...5h of car ride. Enough to kill. Should have taken a train)

And surprise surprise....when I stepped into the room together with Dr Wu's wife (Shi-Xian...thereby abbreviated as SX in the future), I thought I can see where my private room is. But no no...instead, I saw an empty bed (no mattress one wor....luckily I am trained to sleep on the floor since young). The room is very much like a HDB 1 room flat. There is a Taiwanese Masters student who is supposed to share the room with me. And because there is no private room, it means that I have no privacy at all. The thought of it sianz me off. Then I explored the toilet and eeeeee....I guess my room mate is either [1] very lazy to clean up because she is living alone in the room for quite some time, or [2] is untidy. The toilet bowl........yucks is the only word I can say. To the extent that I took 2h on the next day (Saturday) to scrub the toilet bowl and the bathing unit. So you guess what's the state. Now I am glad to say the toilet is nice and bearable liao.

Living together with a stranger, with totally different lifestyle requires lots of patience. For example, I sleep early and she doesn't. I am still trying to get used to it. So I try to reach home late at around 10pm, sleep at 1130pm, and get out of the house at 7am the next day. So that I don't have to interact with my room mate and minimize any possible conflict. I guess I am really anti-social. Forgive me.

Do check out the photos of my hostel in Flickr!

Taiwan - the start of a new chapter

I am all ready to go!

Off to Taiwan to start a new chapter for my PhD life!
Hopefully all goes well and I can meet the goals I have set for myself.
2006 is rather special for me....clearing the qualifying exams, going Vienna for conference and going Taiwan alone to do my research.

It's kind of hard to say goodbye to so many of my lab mates all of a sudden (by the time I come back, they will no longer be around in the lab). Especially those whom I talk to and meet up with almost everyday (some like Mr Sh__ however are really "slack" and don't appear everyday). They, however seem to be counting down and ready to celebrate my departure. It just doesn't reciprocate to be kind and good to them.

Goodbye to my fishes too! Hope I can still see all (if not some) of them by the time I get back to Singapore.

Mass destruction

Day 1: Destruction of the bridge
















Day 3: Almost half is gone





Day 6: Almost done...if this is not efficient, I don't know what else is....

It's all about responsibility

I was rather pissed off yesterday. In fact, it is more appropriate to say that I was VERY pissed off yesterday.

I was supposed to meet up for a group discussion at 9am. I reached at 9.03am, thinking that I was slightly late, but was relieved to see that no one is here yet. I waited and waited...20 min passed and no one turned up. I went to the classroom to have my lecture instead. At the end of the lecture, I tried to find my group mates who are supposed to turn up for the lecture as well. They were not even physically here.

I thought that I didn't make it clear in my previous email sent out on Tues, so I hurried back to check my email after the lecture. And there I saw that statement, " And we will meet up at 9am, same venue on this Thurs." The deadline for the proposal is just 10 days away, and those parts that were supposed to be researched and written by my group mates were either ambiguous, poorly planned or missing. I sent an email telling the lady (who is an A*STAR scholar) that we should be focused and plead her to send me her part soon. But up till today, there were no replies from her. Nothing at all.

It's all about responsibility. If she feels that she cannot work along with me, it's fine [Maybe she think I changed too much of your one page writeup the other time. I have to do so for coherency!]. But at least be responsible and finish your part. We are no longer teenagers! Finding excuses like, " I really don't know how to do this part. Can I don't do?" and " Sorry, I am busy so I didn't do this and that" are NO LONGER acceptable. Please. I hear them too often from my tuition kids.

Everyone has 24h.
It is not as if I have 48h per day.
It is not as if I don't need to do my research.
It is not as if I don't need to sleep, watch tv or idle.

I always believe that if you want to do something, no matter what happens, you will try to do it. Whatever is your responsibility, you should not shirk away from it.
Whatever you promised, make sure you carry out.
I have zero tolerance for people who don't do all these.

How valid is our PSI reading?

There are some days that I can FEEL, SEE and SMELL the unbearable particulates in the air. And yet at night when I watch the news, NEA always assure the public that the PSI reading is in the moderate range of <100. href="http://app.nea.gov.sg/psi/">http://app.nea.gov.sg/psi/] and realise that they have their PSI reading based on the detection of PM10 (particulate matter <10um). href="http://www.epa.gov/air/particles/">http://www.epa.gov/air/particles/], EPA groups particle pollution into two categories:

• "Inhalable coarse particles," such as those found near roadways and dusty industries, are larger than 2.5 micrometers and smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter [PM10].
• "Fine particles," such as those found in smoke and haze, are 2.5 micrometers in diameter and smaller. These particles can be directly emitted from sources such as forest fires, or they can form when gases emitted from power plants, industries and automobiles react in the air [PM2.5]

So, the big question is: Why is Singapore NEA still monitoring PM10 as the criteria for our PSI readings? It's PM2.5 that is more relevant for our case! PM2.5 are the most dangerous particulates. Because of their small size, they reside in our respiratory system for a very long time. No doubt PM2.5 is difficult to monitor and USEPA itself doesn't even list that as a monitoring requirement, but PSI is basically crap if they don't reflect the core issue! And why must our standards be defined based on USEPA? Set our own!

Lastly, NEA briefly mentioned that readings were monitored " through a number of telemetric networks of monitoring stations positioned strategically throughout Singapore". No specific locations were given. Which makes me wonder...so how strategic is strategic?

Health

I know I have been procrastinating. The letter from my insurance company asking me to go for a medical checkup still sits idly on my desk. Somehow I have been finding tons of reasons to procrastinate.

But bad news from the people around me just come one after another...

My friend's dad had died from a sudden heart attack....
My fourth aunt is suffering from depression....
My fifth aunt just went for a treatment for second stage colon cancer....

Things like that....It makes you realize how vulnerable we humans are.

So what if you have earned your first million if you do not have the good health to enjoy it?

I wish my parents the best of health.

Warning

OK, I think I am suffering from some form of PMS. Or the sudden influx of new students in the lab made me feel out of place again. Symptoms of PMS:

• I am easily annoyed by small trivial things: jokes (especially those directed at my character), admin work, stupid antics, raised voices, high pitch voice, laughters etc.
• Not feeling respected
• I feel misunderstood
• Don't feel like talking
• Don't feel like interacting

Pay some attention to how you treat the insecure me at this moment. Try not to step on my toes lest I blacklist you.

I'm back!

Hiya! I'm back from my HK-Austria trip! Yep, feeling really refreshed now. Check out the latest photos at myflickr section...I'm to lazy to blog down what I had done over those 2 weeks. So hopefully the photos will do the trick. =)

Note: There are some more photos that I didn't manage to upload as I had hit the limit allowed by myflickr. Maybe next time...

Be prepared for the worst but remain optimistic throughout

That wasn't meant to be an ironical statement, even though it may sound very contradictory.

I guess I was very much influenced by my father. He was the one who always taught me to expect for the worst possible outcome.

When I was in P6, I listed out secondary schools like Broadrick, Swiss Cottage (?) and Outram Secondary School as few of the choices. It wasn't really a case of being unsure of my capabilities (or was it?), but I must have been thinking that I shouldn't give myself too much stress in trying to aim for those top schools. I think miracles do happen. And I made it. (Though I come to regret my 4 yrs in RV...I made friends there during my Sec 1 and 2, but I don't like my sec 3 and 4 class. And I still don't like them.) Even after I got into RV, while my parents were rejoicing for me, I wasn't happy. I remained pessimistic and I dreaded life everyday. My secondary school friends chided me for being so pessimistic. You can't blame me for inheriting my father's pessimism....he saw a psychiatrist for that.

I don't know when I start to think positively. Was it the university days? One day, I woke up, stare into space, recall back my life and realise I am still the lucky one. Who am I to complain? My parents are healthy, I have my friends, I enjoy my research and I am unburdened.

True...every day of my life (and so is yours) is full of ups and downs. Maybe comprising mostly of downs, but look around you. Were you like the Tiong Bahru uncle who was hit by a stroke and now had to rely on his cane to move about? Were you like my neighbouring kid upstairs who's suffering from hyperactivity and autism, and is unable to control your emotions?

If you are not, why not start thinking positively? I am doing so now.

P/S: I was kidding about the part where I stared into space and suddenly became optimistic.