only 4 of us went to Pulau Ubin as many ppl would wan to sleep in on a public hols. HAHA pigssssssss...
so i was late for the tanah merah meeting, yokes and danielkang were already there. went to changi village to meet cloud who was also late since he knew i was late...
walking towards the boat queue
excited!!
me trying to take pics of the terrapins
the terrapins all swimming towards daniel kang who was feeding them with his favourite RED BEAN BUN
i was just walking away cos they threatened to take a pic of me.. haha
the quarry. NICE!
Group photo!
we want water!
lousy Thai coconuts at $2 each
instead of drinking from their indiv coconuts, they all want the middle one which was sweeter and nicer and colder and blah. HAHA
it was a great workout, going upslope (i walked most of the time cos cant cycle up!), and going downslope (wheeeee!) and then, went to eat lunch at Changi Village. RC came to join us.
den danielkang went home, while the rest of us went to Orchard to collect Settlers and eat free ice cream hehe :)
i worked almost every second during my attachment working hours today. pls skip the scientific details if u dun wan to read :P
Morning:
continued doing my Western blot, adding primary antibody, washings, secondary antibody, washings, develop films in dark room... addition of horse radish peroxidase got error (due to lack of skills OOPS) redo addition of HRP, develop films again.
observed killing of cells and fixing them, before doing FACS (fluoresence activated cytometric sorting)... and it was 3pm by then...
had initially wanted to go with the rest to eat at Clementi, in the end need them to da bao the beef noodles for me. and it was really good. so lunch was at 3pm in the pantry, eating ta bao-ed beef noodles plus my leftover lipton tea. then, cant even have a full 1 h of lunch, because i had a timer on for one of the washings and had to return to lab after 30min of "lunch". SAD and shagged...
Afternoon:
continued western blot, did the blot with alkaline phosphatase this time, instead of HRP... helped in extraction of RNA
BLEH... and it was already time to go to practise at CFA.
Alumni prac on Saturday again, only 几只小猫 went for prac and so we decided to merge the bands for the 2nd half of the concert. so instead of playing only "Galaxy Express 999" and "Saturday Night Fever" for the alumni item, the alumni will be joining the band for "Galaxy Express 999", "Saturday Night Fever", "Carioca" and ENCORE (cannot tell u the title :P). it's a better plan than having the alumni item itself, because of the attendance. felt quite sian that we had to do this, but i think it's really bo bian, better than asking half the band to "join the alumni band"... haiz. i just hope that somebody will take over me next year...
KTV at Party World Orchard met RC and Jenn before the KTV as they were already there and i reached Orchard early after prac. KTV was quite fun with Ruixiang constant teasing of khee nguen. I tink Ruixiang is always happy with Khee Nguen around HAHAH. (and we know why :P ) and u noe wat, Khee Nguen bought alot of extra titbits to "refill" the trays :P
but i wan to complain! Party World cheated us of the time. Supposed to be 4 hrs but they stopped us before our time was up and I think their countdown was screwed up.
[i wan those photos! send me somebody! and i think there was a video too, i want! :P ]
Pirates of the Caribbean and then after KTV, we had nothing to do, so went to visit Cloud at Lido. and u noe wat, Cloud knocks off at 1am on Saturdays. and since we're bored, we decided to watch Pirates 3 after he finished work. So it was Pirates 3 at 2.10am at PS. quite a messy plot i think. haha but i've watched pirates 1 and 2, so better not miss Pirates 3. haha.
Breakfast was roti prata and milo dinosaur. the kosong prata was great! but i din manage to finish it tho it was really nice, because i think my stomach haven wake up yet :P
Last friday, there was a commotion at my workplace, when somebody spotted a "twister-like" cloud while she was drinking water and gazing out of the window. and seconds later, u find the office with excited researchers toking abt it and suddenly running out of the office to catch a better view at the "Sky Bridge" at Level 5. they were even saying things like "if the crane thing fell when the twister is near it, we noe it's time to run" and someone even wanted to report to Straits Times.
and from the sky bridge, i took this picture with my camera phone. not very clear. but at least u can see sth.
after a like 10min of toking abt twister and it sweeping across the city from swissotel, i left the excited group when they said that it had subsided. HAHA.
actually, to me, the whole commotion was quite a comic-relief and an excuse to stop work for a while. heh. how often do u see ur office of researchers running around with video cameras and cameras. HAHA
Later that night, after VJC concert, Cloud showed me this link : Channelnewsasia article. So it's a water spout, not a twister. HAHA
=================================== VJC concert
i love 3rd Symphony. hehe.. emotionally draining. tho VJC din play very well (due to lack of rehearsals) i think 3rd movt was quite "emotionally delivered". 4th movement was messier because it's a more technical and fast movt. i love their Spartacus too! hehe. Concertino for bass tuba was ok, in terms of tone, it was quite impressive, but the soloist needs to work on projection.
then after the concert, went for supper at macs. den those west and north ppl had to leave earlier than the east ppl to catch the last train home.
things are getting settled, mainly by acting as a grumpy customer. It really works if u are thick-skinned enough to complain and show ur dissatisfaction.
in my last last entry i was talking abt the 4 emails i sent to the helpdesk personnel about my work login. in that email, i said sth like "i'm quite upset at this because of a lack of immediate assistance for something that had affected me so much" ... then on Monday morning, the IT guy came to my office and helped me fix it. u noe wat's the prob? my login name "chiahs" is now "chiaha"... eeeeeks.. cos they set it wrongly.... so i'm Hui A___... HAHA [but now i sense a little problem when using one of the lousier comp. shall see how tmr...]
the STA travel card. emailed the NUS branch instead of the headquarters and the person responded by saying she mailed out already, but nobody seems to want to take the responsibility. she said that the mailing thing is very prone to become missing. then again, if u're offering the mail service, cant the customer use it? and do they really think that the customer will noe that the STA mailing service will be very prone to errors? so after a few grumpy replies asking about replacement card, the person asked me to get the card tmr... bleah... so sometimes, things can be done, but ppl are juz plain lazy or are just too proud to take up the responsibility (i guess by correcting it, u're admitting that u're in the wrong? haiz watever...)
glad that i've a group of batch coordinators to help me with getting members for alumni band :) hope attendance will be better on Saturday.
something quite disturbing (not really scary but juz... not very nice....) happened. Some frenz whom I chat with almost everyday suddenly disappear, only to find out that they went overseas... without telling everyone else.... (i'm like ... huh?...) I noe it's supposed to be some secret, but.... sometimes things are not v nice lidat... [somewhat feel that the "family" thing is creating an insider-outsider effect]... i shan't go on.
heh.. at least for today, the things i shopped for are necessities.
from the pic, u can see the Carlsson rosin for string bass and the stopper for cello and string bass. bought them from Frank Brothers at Esplanade for a total of $55.80. before this, i tried the Artisto stopper which was supposed to help to resonate the sound of the cello/string bass when u put on this box-like wooden stopper. however, we realised that the sound got amplified for perhaps only 5-10%... not much use if I bring it to italy cos the performances will be most probably open air. so i decided to buy a normal stopper ("plate" one) and a normal rosin which is recommended by the shopkeeper.. [but i just heard from cedric i've to pass them back to the PM after i finish using them... since i'm doing a claim haha.. sigh but rosin is consumable ma haha. but i can foresee myself playing for a long time i tink] and i saw the terracotta coloured BAM case i want!!! haha...
then this yellow box-like thing beside the stopper is Kenalog (R) which is an ulcer cream. haha.. i thought i could heck ulcers from now on since i'm playing strings now, but i still got alumni band prac which i'll play tuba. haha so still need to prevent/treat ulcers. and this VERY SMALL box of Kenalog costs me $10.55 from Guardian. I think it would cost lesser if I go polyclinic haha but abit out of the way for me. heard it's super good (from Hui Ting) and the pharmacist also mentioned that it's the strongest ulcer cream over the counter. i tried it just now, easy to apply on, cos it's a semi-solid gel which keeps itself quite firmly in place over the ulcer, unlike other powder or liquidy gels. It contains triamcinolone which is a topical steroid, thus, it can be only applied for a maximum of 5 days. and u've to be disciplined to apply it 3 times a day so that ur ulcer will shrink and disappear. However, muslims or vegetarians will have to be more wary of such gels because for Kenalog, it contains gelatin of bovine origin, and may not be acceptable to strict Buddhists or vegetarians.
This is taken from Moovellous at Biopolis... The orange chalk is very nice :)
Cool decor at Moovellous
My spagghetti
The Hawaiian pizza which costs only $8 and it's super big and juicy!!!
Overheard this: All our stem cells work is caused by Dolly the sheep. 它该死. I guess somebody sent the snake to eat Dolly up :P hehe
HC main band in the new HC band room at SALT centre. Leng conducting Symphonic Overture. The room is soundproof BUT too wet... sounds like CFA audi b4 the curtains were up..
1. sent 3 emails (now sending the 4th one) to BTI's IT personnel asking them why i cant log in to the domain using my user name and password... no replies. GRRRR
2. sent 2 emails to STA asking them why my International Student Card not sent to me yet... GRRRR.... no replies..
3. initiated HC alumni band prac. got pangsehed by some ppl who either told me they'll play or come for prac... worse is i've to ask them wat time they reaching for them to tell me they're not going. i'm not getting support from my frenz/batch. even the vernon is now tagging on my blog, threatening that he wants to unsubscribe the yahoogroup. sorry if u're joking but i'm juz not in a good mood now. i wan to rant on... but GRRR.... it's only for 3 pracs k... (to tink i went thru all the trouble to change my cello lesson to Saturday 8.45am) if u see somebody is trying hard to do sth which is worth doing, can u show AT LEAST some appreciation? (not aiming at vernon alone) now i'm questioning myself why am i doing this..
i tink i can just continue the list if i want. cos in a bad mood, even my hair drop oso i can complain....
okiez let me tell u some things abt my attachment:
1. not all ppl are nice. i realise i like my previous jurong polyclinic ppl more.. haiz. 2. i feel v sianz. i still wan to holiday and play.. :( 3. techniques are super new to me. ppl need to guide me for everything :( --> bright side: learn new stuff. (but isit relevant to me?) western blots, cell passage... 4. no comp at my desk. cannot do other things other than read papers... and go inside the lab for demos.... 5. the NTU students are leaving soon :( no lunch mates soon :( 6. ok. at least i can see some of the ppl really putting in alot of effort teaching me :)
String bass at practice today: sadded... cannot play wat i've practised cos real tempo. sigh. tho LT praised me, it's for the easiest song :( haiz. need to practise alot alot. prob going on tue and wed for indiv... can i dun play pieces that dun have the string bass parts (tho i've already went to transpose them from tuba part)? haha
Actually heard HC's recording 1 day before the competition, ok la, i did not want to expect too much because the judges this year was much stricter. so the day started with me being late to queue up with the rest of them, reached at 7.45am but thanks to Daniel Kang and Xinhui we were at the head of the queue! WOOHOO! HAHA...
think i wun want to comment too much on the other bands, so just talk abt HCJC which was quite a shaky gold or silver standard. the tempo for the 1st fast section was very fast, so i guess that's why the band was ver unsteady. but the tonguing was quite clear & good, for such a fast tempo :) yay! haha. only 1 tubist, think he is so super stressed la. haha. den the harp was a good investment too! hehe (i think the JC kopped it from the high school HAHA) then there was a contrabass clarninet too, which helps to ease the tubist's stress haha. apart from the unsteady 1st fast part, i think the rest of the piece was ok. Sunrise sounds safe after the starting notes which had some tuning probs. OVERALL, THE BAND DID WELL! and HCI (college) got GOLD. yay! good work! and think leng must be super relieved now that the previous silver is now followed by a gold medal. and i heard that most of the CCAs in HCI got gold with hons... crazy school HAHA.
i think VJC did very well. ACJC and SAJC too! i wan to go to finals sia HAHA.. YJC improved alot! overall, this year JC SYF is a good show. :)
============================
Nick's bday celebration at Glasshouse Fish & Co.
so after SYF, we brought Nick to Paradigm Infinitum where we ordered Settlers' of Catan cos the game was out of stock in the whole of sg when I checked at PI, Mind and Settlers. think the game would come in 2 weeks later, at least PI would help to help us order heh (i tink Mind and Settlers bought their games from PI too HAHA)
after that, headed to Glass house.
Seafood platter for 2: share with Yokes
Birthday cake: Ali volunteered to bake, cheese cake! nice!
The whole glasshouse sang for him! wahhh....
Prize presentation: Cloud presenting the Passionfruit bottle with messages for the bday "boy"
I presented the baton (Mollard 12 inch, tulipwood)
PK presented the "card" which she volunteered to do with the pics we sent over :) NICE!
Close up on the "card", i tink it's very nice :) [but got wrong caption hahahaa!]
oh and jenn got her friend to sing a bday song for him since her friend was working as a singer that day at Fish and Co. then, jenn sang:
it's us again: marshmallow honeystar makers HAHA
Group photo! ALOT OF US TURNED UP!
then later nick paiseh, treated all of us to starbucks while we watched goldfishes kissing (really!)
my dad has been coughing very badly, and REALLY VERY BADLY. cos he described the shortness of breath as something he can die from (tho we noe u cant die from not enuf air due to coughing)
really quite jialat. like abt 3 months le... and the company doctor kept giving normal cough syrup.
suspected chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. asked my dad to suggest doing a pulmonary function test. but the doc checked using a stethoscope and said that it isn't...
suspected some rare flora on his throat since he said the cough was due to irritation. suggested doing a swab for culture. but the doc said this test is only done for sore throat...
now, suspecting ACEI-induced dry cough, cos my dad has been taking Approvel for quite some time. suggested my dad to tell the doctor that. but this side effect is very uncommon (1/1000 to 1/100), duno whether the doc will recognise the significance of it anot. some ppl may just be more prone.
sometimes, i just hope that doctors would do more for their patients. chronic cough for 3 months and you're still giving cough syrup? wake up...
9May: happening day! Badminton 10am to 12pm --> practise at CFA --> Settlers (again)
this time rd at Settlers', we cant play Settlers of Catan, cos there was another grp playing. played BANG! fun game, but the last game when I was the sheriff, i found myself protecting my vice (PK) and all my vice died first, so I died. HAHA. funny :P
i asked rixin for permission liaoz. we can bring the BANG game to italy heh. BUT ALL OF U MUST TAKE CARE OF IT! hah. ermz. i'll try to contact the bros if we're still onz :P (so are we still onz? hehe)
next time we can try a bean game. oso a strategy game. quite fun!
10May: sian day BTI --> Pfizer plant at Tuas
chose a stem cell project at BTI. the pfizer plant was damn sianz. and not applicable to us. ok la, at least we noe how manufacturing plants are like, before the tablets were made. -_- haha. wasted my time. and money.. for the transport. TUAS IS LIKE HOW ULU LA!!!!
blogger is crazy. i cant post pics haha. nvm.. next time.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
7May Mon --> ECP with 10 pharmers
quite a rare occasion to have so many pharmers going for an outing tog. at least for me. normally i hang out with my clique only heh. went for this outing cos i tot it was a clique thing HA. den turned out that it's a merger of cliques.
elgar is the bestest, cycled from Jurong West to ECP in 2.5 hrs, den cycled somemore with us (2hrs), den cycled back to Jurong West after the whole thing. He brought H2O too! which kept us all alive/hydrated/good haha. good pharmer.
only the 2 of us from my clique HAHA
lost my quite-new nalgene waterbottle in Bedok hawker centre :( sigh. duno y when we went off, nv check the table. BOO
I WAS SUPER CHAO TA-ED AFTER THAT! din put enuf sunblock, or juz din put at the right place haha...
===========================
8May: String bass indiv @ CFA --> hang out with Yokes --> Settlers @ Holland V
visited Cloudadoodee & Ali at Gelatossimo: can only see a small part of Cloudadoodee, cannot see Ali
Yokes and I hanged out at Taka.. went Kino and lib to search for Italy books!
den went to this toy shop which sells really nice things. and the opera gallery to see some art work (we're quite artistic one leh HAHA)
den nick jio-ing ppl to go Settlers to play after his IPPT. got me cloud nick pk mw. the game called Settlers is fun and addictive!!! i wan to play again!
oh forgot to add that we had XO 鱼片米粉 before Settlers. NICE!
ermz. settlers again? haha and who onz for KTV? heh
Monday, May 7, 2007
6May: Nephew Isaac's 2 Year old party at new house at Changi Village Road --> Shopping with cousins!
and then, me with 2 other cousins ended up shopping at Tampines Mall and Century Square.
shopping rox la, but burn hole in pocket. bought a pair of shades for outdoor activities, new covered toe heels for concerts/interviews/work, a top just becos i gian.. haiz..
wanted to buy 陈绮贞's new compilation. i got $5 sembawang CD voucher so the $12.90 was $7.90 liaoz. but i shopped so much today! haha smsed Cloud Nick and Yokes and they all told me to buy... haiz. i'll buy after next Mon when i've found out how much i'll be earning for attachment haha. shd be more than $5 a day? :P
walking towards the boat queue
excited!!
me trying to take pics of the terrapins
the terrapins all swimming towards daniel kang who was feeding them with his favourite RED BEAN BUN
i was just walking away cos they threatened to take a pic of me.. haha
the quarry. NICE!
Group photo!
we want water!
lousy Thai coconuts at $2 each
instead of drinking from their indiv coconuts, they all want the middle one which was sweeter and nicer and colder and blah. HAHA
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