I wonder if anyone is still reading this

Facebook had totally taken over the meaning to blog because everyone can just get updated via statuses
However,if one wants to vent like me, planning to write a whole chunk of words, i bet a blog is still needed

Anyway
Pardon me for not updating
Although you may have read from my Facebook statuses
I think I shall also talk something here

Had been really busy for the past month
Was rushing 3 sets of experiments
& finally
I got to rest before i am going to start again

In 3 weeks time
i'm heading to Russia for my conference
Which sounds exciting & not-exciting at the same time

It'd always been a dream to visit such far & exotic places
& I'm glad I've finally gotten the chance
But as I am preparing the trip
Alot of hiccups are occuring
All because of the stupid VISA
Luckily
The Embassy has this Express VISA service which I can get it within 3 days, at a charge doubled the normal

I think I shouldnt care so much about the cost now for if I even get stingy about just a $140
I'm forging an entire trip of $3000
As well as an opportunity of a lifetime

So
BREATHE IN BREATHE OUT
RELAX & WAIT

I still have 20 days to work things out

& hopefully the courier doesnt screw things up!!

I am going insane
To say
I still thought I can sit down & do some writing
But with my frantic piece of mind
This is unlikely
What the hell

Peace be with me, Please

It's been a realllllly long time that I'd last blogged
Everyday is filled with work & more work

My labmates have gone to Hawaii for a conference
& I'm currently alone with 2 FYP students
My snails are my companions now
See them more than I see my mother ;\

Heading to Russia in 2 months time
Excitedddd
yet abit worried coz I've not prepared anything for it!!!
Needa go take photos for my presentation slides one day

Sigh....

Sometimes
When someone has high expectations of you, it's best that you dont fall flat on your face
& that's what I'm doing
Kicking myself up at the surface daily

Gambatte!!

extreme physiological responses to extreme stress

For the past few days
I had been very busy

I was trying to test out the protocols for my experiments but failed at the very end of it
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo demoralised that i took the weekend off to really free my mind

Sigh

Imagine that
i'd spent 10 hours working on that everyday for 1 week
70hours gone only to get NO results

;(

I will work harder, again

I've been escaping
Away from all the shits happening around

I have enough of all those rubbish
It's none of my business
Why should I bother?

I will stop being a good Samaritan from now on

Hola!

I'm backkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!
From the gorgeous island of Malaysia

I love love love it

Well, activities are pretty much the same
But I still enjoy it
The clear blue sea is really enticing
Saliva-stimulating as well

Tell me about it >_<

Went snorkeling alone
Saw this damn huge titan triggerfish feeding from the fingers of dumb visitors

I said dumb because I'd already warned them dont finger-feed that triggerfish
But they ignored me
Until one of them went OUCH real loud

I left slightly later anyway because I didnt wanna risk my life being charged by it
I wished all those dumb people return home with hands

Dives were great too!
Water temperature was at 28deg C
& I did not see any coral bleaching




Enjoyed myself much (not very, but still ok)
Tried to unload all worries & relax
The past 3 months were really exhausting
This is a good rest ;)

Hope everyone had a good Easter holiday too!


*more photos at here

Havent been updating posts lately
Coz for the whole of last week
I was away back on my rocky shore
It was fun
Seeing how my snails are

Tomorrow is the eve of Good Easter
& I've got plans over the long weekend

As much as I can say
I'm going away
Far far away up north

Till next week
We shall see

I have finally finished my book - Eat Pray Love
I love the Bali part most
Probably coz I was able to visualise since I've been to Bali twice
After reading the book
I feel like going to Bali even more

Bali just has this mystical feel
This, I cant agree more
I was in a total devastated state last year due to the many unfortunate events that occurred
However
After a short trip to Bali
I found myself, afresh

So did Liz Gilbert!

Having read about this palm-reader who unleashed Liz her sorrows
I am so eager to look for him
Many readers and tourists had looked for him (according to search results in Google)
With or without a purpose
But for me
I am going for a purpose

But goddamn
I'm so packed this year
I dont know if I'm able to make a week for my spiritual trip

Seriously
I'm so in love with Bali

Some may call me crazy for I can talk about Bali non-stop
Some may call me the 'Bali advertiser' (hey, no, i wasnt paid by the tourism board of Indonesia to do this part) for I keep promoting Bali when asked which destination is nice to travel

This time round
I am just going there to find myself
& relax

The recent man-made disaster arose from Japan has become a more major concern than the deathtoll from tsunami

Yes, although it's saddening to know that so many lives are gone
It's even more saddening how this secondary disaster is causing a world-wide disaster

I'm talking about the nuclear radiation

The radioactive elements that leaked from the damaged plants
are now invading every environment
Be it just next or furthest to the plant
As far as North America

Shocking isnt it?

But
I'd all these expected

Look
I studied geography
I understand how Coriolos effect works
So it's expected that radioactive particles will eventually reach the other side across the ocean

While it can reach the other side
It must have affected Pacific Ocean some way or another
The marine environment as deep as 40m
All animals affected

I'm not exaggerating!
You know how tiny molecules are
Small surface area:volume has large impact on absorption!

My dad still said he is going to visit Jeju, Korea
He said the particles only reach USA
That the wind blow over to the East
& not to West

Fancy my Dad spoke with wisdom when I was young

I told him that it will affect world-wide
It will keep on blowing in a signle direction
Until all unaffected area be affected
Because the Earth is round

This kinda thing works like diffusion
From a medium of high concentration of particles to a medium of low concentration of particles

It really pissed me off when my Dad insisted his Korea trip
Until a week later (which is now)
News broadcast that Korea & Asia are affected

See?

I admit I'm not modern Nostradamus
But this is by pure science knowledge
It sucks seeing people disagreeing & disapproving my effort to warn them about the possible harm that can occur
Challenged me to becoming an idiot

I then find further supporting evidence to prove that this radiation leak is more disastrous than any other natural disaster

Look at the half-life, everybody

Nope, not the game
I mean, half-life of the radioactive particles
The time taken for the radioactive particles to decay, to become less harmful

There were several types of radioactive elements that had been leaked
Several because no one except the Japanese themselves knows the the exact number of the types of elements they had
They only announced 2 initially
namely Iodine-131 & caesium-137

Luckily, Iodine-131's half-life is only 8 days
& thus, we can all assume that most of it have been decayed, unless there're still storage of this Iodine-131 left 'un-leaked'
Then we have caesium-137
This is more severe because it's half-life is 30years
So by the time a present 5 years old child turns 35
Japan is considered caesium-137 free

The more shocking news came
News showed Japanese nuclear plant's officers bowing non-stop for apology
& announced that other more severe radioactive elements are leaked
such as Plutonium

& Plutonium's half-life is a FUCKING 241000 years!

Given any long-lived person around the world surviving generations & generations
It simply means that the Earth is still gonna be contaminated until 241000 years later

Now
Even the most healthy guy around will just get affected
No matter where he is
Or maybe
Would Earth still exist by then?

I understand how governments are trying their very best to assure everyone that we are safe
& that a little radiation wont hurt

But then everything can be explained by biology
That totally depends if your body is efficient enough to disintegrate & excrete the absorbed particles
If the rate of excretion is slower than the rate of absorption
This promotes bioconcentration
While we gain energy from food sources
The affected food further leads to bioaccumulation
Our whole system is simply imbalanced

Frankly speaking
I'm resigning to this
There's nothing we can do now
Simply cant escape in all manners
Not that I'm awaiting death to fall upon me
But it's time for us to get our ass kicking to do more meaningful things

Since we're in this fate
We shall just go ahead & live

The Japanese affected by tsunami are picking up their lives
So had the Indonesians & Thais since 2007
Nothing is gonna stop us

It would however be good that we all learn from these incidents to be a stronger person
& be grateful for everyday you live

& hope Earth be saved (& safe) soon

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOo excited about next month

I am just giving myself 10 minutes to blog
Because I'd already used up 2 hours since I woke up to do grocery & all sorts
After 12pm
I shall work on my report

My lab is getting more & more rowdy
& I looooooooooove it
Compared to the status of lab 3 years ago
It was dead silent
But now I have labmates (& friends) to talk rubbish to
At least I'm no longer talking to my snails
& problem-solve together

So great fun!

However
One of our labmates is not entirely participating
While we shared thoughts about how to do good experiments
She couldnt accept what we told her about the inaccurate, illogical & irrelevant procedures in her experiments
She accused us for being racist
& obstracised herself from us
Well
I didnt really care much about what she thought to do this
But I was uneasy initially because that means I'm losing a friend

The next few days came
& surprisingly
I was no longer her friend
She 'unfriend'ed me & the other labmates in Facebook

Ok..........

Other labmates & I discussed the probable issues we could have done to anger her
& thought of trying to 'make friends instead of enemy'
But then we realised that
She is all about herself
Her subconscious mind was telling her that we were against her

& since then
She really treated us like enemy
Never say 'Hello' never say 'Bye'
Only talked to us when she has problems
But so far think she's (i) doing well or (ii) didnt know she is doing everything wrongly because she hasnt talked to us for long

Frankly speaking
I like to help people
& I like to ask people why they do things like that because I DO NOT KNOW WHY YOU WANNA DO THINGS LIKE THAT
I asked because I really do not understand & expect you to enlighten me, not that I want to rebuke
However
Some people do not think this way
As such
I believe that's why I was also included in the 'unfriend' list even though I dont chat much with her

I am innocent

But seriously
I just shall not put in effort to help such nonsensical person
Only waste my all sorts of cells

Lastly
I must really agree
Her experiments cannot make it

-period-

It's been almost 2 weeks of NO updates
What is new
Facebook has totally taken over any forms of 'broadcast'
BUT
I will still try my very best to say something

How about this?

I GOT THE STUDENT GRANT FROM THE X INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM OF LITTORINID BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY TO ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA!
ONE OF THE 5 AWARDEES
ONLY ASIAN
FREAKING 400EUROS! (EQUIVALENT TO SGD714)

JEALOUS?

*p/s: no hard feelings. just sharing the joy. ;)

Something is wrong with me today

Early morning
Sent Dardar to work
& then bring Chili to VICOM for IU unit inspection

Got along the way
But took the wrong turn
Nevermind

After IU unit was fixed
Went back home
After I'd parked Chili
I realised I have to update my new IU unit # to HDB
So I drove off again

After the update
Returned home
Parked nicely in carpark
Off engine
Locked doors
Realised I DID NOT BRING MY HOME KEYS!

Stranded
-_-

Felt totally tok-gong
Because I have never been so tok-gong before!

So I went to DarDar's aunt's place to chit chat for a while
Before I return the car to DarDar for his afternoon lesson

I was quite pleased with today's traffic
Not sure if it is because I'm driving (pretty girls on road has advantages. BWAHHAHAHA)
or everyone was being nice
I got to honk at others because this cockster was not turning right when the green arrow was up!
& imagine that
I was 4 cars behind
4 honks at that cockster, the car behind the cockster, the car behind behind the cockster & the car in front of me
One honk to each
BWWAHAHAHAHAHHA

I think what causes accidents nowadays is the driver's failure to signal
In fact
I almost kissed twice
1 on the ass of an Estima
& another of a mini van
Not signalling at junction
Thought they are heading straight!
It's not smart to stop within 3 seconds before turning when the car behind is picking up speed, dont they know that?

Thank Dog I was safe

My 2nd insomnia since I'm back
& I can foresee it's gonna be get frequent when my deadlines are here

It was really irritating not being able to sleep
Not because of panic attack but thoughts kept running through my mind
& the next day
I woke up with heavy head + intense headache

I hope this will be gone soon
& NEVER return
Must try to manage my tasks better than before

I'm so desperate that I'm calling up tour agent for quotations to Phuket
A short relaxation getaway right after my submission of report
But apparently the phone operator was pissing me off
For every word I said
She was unable to listen properly
A 'F' can be heard as 'T'
'Cynthia' as 'Jennifer'
Look
These alphabet/name have entirely different syllabus!
How on Earth could she have done that?!

Can I call her amazing?

Wah biang
Wanna kill myself further

I sometimes hope that people can be much smarter
So unnecessary & nonsensical issues can be avoided

In a blink of an eye
It''s now March

Oh my DOGGGGGGGGGGG

Jan was busy
Feb was fun
March is hell, with lotsa assignments to rush before April

Why does Earth have to spin this fast?

Feb was fabulous
I enjoyed it
Chinese New Year was exciting this year
Since we had invited the lion dance troop to celebrate at DarDar's house
& then I went to Universal Studio Singapore with DarDar to celebrate Valentine's day

Oh this V-day trip is all planned by DarDar
In fact
I'd totally forgotten what's so special about 14 Feb until he showed me the face






USS was fun
Amazingly it was crowded with people even on a weekday
Most of the rides were however too adventurous
Only the brave hearts could take it
DarDar went on Galactica Battlestar TWICE!!

The next Feb week was followed by our Desaru roadtrip
I bought this Pulai Desaru Beach package online at SGD80 for 2d1n
The room was enormously huge!

Although it said garden view, we could still see the sea!

My parents came along too
& they were having fun as well
That's very nice since it had been years I last took them out for short fun
We went go-karting, fishing @ kelong, firefly cruise & seafood dinner




The durians we bought from the Desaru Fruit Farm was gorgeoooooooooussssss
It's so fragrant I could almost died of over-satisfaction

Following this Desaru trip
I had a lab outing to Pulau Hantu
Because one of our fellow labmates is to do her research on that secluded island
& we all accompanied her for a recee trip

As usual
I always wandered off to the lagoon & mangroves to look at corals & snails ;)





The last week of Feb
I indulged myself into field & labwork
Irritating
My labwork didnt seem to be successful
& that I lack specimens & equipment isnt helping me to complete them in time

Sigh

I have yet analyse my stupid proteomics data
Feel like dying in one corner so people wont hunt me for my report
Hahaha

These 2 weeks had been crazily busy

I was back on track to work
Spent the whole of last week attending lectures (which I actually just sat in)
& had been spending time re-thinking my data analysis
& sighing at the fact that I needa re-do most of them (whatta fuck)
Spent some time with the monkeys (aka DarDar, Mong Mong & Toby)after dinner
& dropped dead at night

DarDar has started work
He is now teaching students about multimedia
& I think he is having fun

I'm getting out to Ubin as usual for my snails
& back school for my research
Now we hardly have time to each other
Probably only a mere 3 hours before bed time

That's working life, isnt it?
I think this is horrible
Imagine we're gonna have kids in the future?
How would working 14 hours a day (for me) help in family bonding?

Mom thought we went out to play & skip dinner every night coz we returned home together
But little did she know DarDar picked me up from school

Anyway
I think we just need to adjust life alittle to make the world go round

Also, in the past 2 weeks
I had fun-filled activities
But I didnt have time to blog about it
Gimme another few more days

;p

sooooooooooooooooo funny I can kill myself to laugh again

It seems abit hard to get work started
I have a whole list of tasks waiting to be accomplished

But the moment I sit down at my table (at home) or at my bench (in school)
I am doing other things or simply chatting with whoever is available to entertain me

goodness

2 more months to submission of annual report
5 more months to ISOLBE
7 more months to graudation

3 manuscripts outstanding
3 experiments on hold
5 analyses re-doing
1 messy thesis in hard disk
1 mad scientist/ ecologist in the making

May February be a good month
Although filled with lotsa fun-filling mind-distracting activities
Provide me the force to work!

Bless everyone

Nothing is more exciting than being sick non-stop since the day I'm back in Singapore