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.