Of Counting Down..

Last Friday marked the submission of the unbound thesis. Hurray!
I've new found respect for all of us Bioengineers who survived the hellweek before the submission. Was really scary now that I recall. *Traumatised* and functioning on adrenaline, I found myself being able to survive nights and nights without the aid of caffeine. (Now.. what is it in Ginseng that keeps me awake?)
Strangely enough, I didnt feel immensely relieved after the submission, neither did I feel extremely proud of it. A pity though, but it was the best i could do in 2 days/nights.
And how could Friday end without a celebration?? Was really glad I dint head home directly to sleep after submission (: Had a very relaxed night... Thanks all BIE buddies!



8days
..to my last paper in NUS.
The post-thesis-submission-inertia really kicked in quite well. Preparing for exams is totally not in my daily plans at all. Interview preparations are.

12days
..to submission of my FYP poster.
I am so definitely not going to do it last minute. Really want to do a nice and pretty poster to really do justification to my hard work for the past 8 months.

21days to my poster session.
I know that is the day (almost) all Bioengineers will feel immensely high and relieved. I'll bring my camera that day and snap the last moments of us being students, before we step into the working world (: / ): ?

~1month to flying off for my grad trip.
5월30일 -- 6월10일 한국에 가요! 저는 행복해요!
아주 재미있어요!
경치하고 연세대하교를 보고 싶어요! 한국음식을 많이 먹고 싶어요. (Beautiful scenary, all the shuai ge from Yonsei University, korean Food here i come!) ㅋㅋ (Keke)
하 하! (Haha)

有种人。。。

他叫双头蛇。 他比恶人更恐怖

김치(Kimchi) Making Session

I think taking a Korean Language module during my last semester was a right choice. Albeit the busy coursework.. I get to learn how to make kimchi! It was like a mini excursion, getting me of my FYP lab work..

It was held at Korean Plaza @ Raffles Place. Basically it was just the Korean Tourism Association. Not exactly a plaza, more like a hub.
Some pictures to share! 선생님 took them! Yes, I know I look ultra tired.

Kimchi making was really tedious and you really need to be good with the knife to cut nice thin slices of carrot, radish and garlic etc.


Cutting the spring onions! Luckily we got this, imagine those who got garlic! The garlic smell will stay with them at least for few hours!


Hehehe... Adding the fish sauce to season..


Our product! Haha..

We still have one more project to complete... a 10min Korean Drama!
We have so many ideas to contribute to the film that Yixin had to keep reminding us we r not filming a movie!

Another highlight of the week, my 1st skype session with the IMPORTANT PERSON went well! (:

Mid-term Break

I am not sure if this would be my last mid-term break in NUS but this is definitely my last mid-term break as an undergraduate. Promised to myself that I'll enjoy this break (albeit all the BioBiz stress and FYP stress + assignment stress haunting me..)

Monday: Got the blueberry muffins recipe from Amanda and baked these for my lab mates! To thank them for being so nice to me, always letting me jump queue in using the equipment and teaching me stuff and always helping me get the samples... Really paiseh being so *spoilt* by them so decided to bake something for them! Its not bad but not perfect either, but I'd say the muffins are very photogenic! First time trying my hands out at muffins, I hope my bakes will be better the next time! I've got myself some very nice muffin cups :)



Wednesday: Got myself a shorter and neater haircut. Played tennis with the lab peeps and saw rainbows! Pretty happy.

Friday: Went to Sakae Sushi (after a very long time.. since 2007) with the girls! Haha we all agreed that our stamina isnt as strong as when we were in JC. And arcade basketball is a very good activity after the buffet stuffing (:

The BIE slacking outing at Bing's place. *Though it might not be as happening as "the other BIE outing" but Hee..Jenga was fun..



Saturday: Bee's byebye-house bbq party. A v 另类 bbq i would say haha!

22.04.2009

Watch this.

Catching the 2nd last day of CNY!

Ok my post has nothing to do with CNY..
Lately all my free time (which is not alot) has been spent on learning Hanguel.
Have yet to talk to my parents about the propsosed grad trip to Korea and looking at Yixin's latest facebook status regarding grad trips, I am holding back even more...Argh.

Was finding nice photos to put on the BioBiz website and I found this (on a totally unrelated note, except for the test tubes)



Nice ma??? I like the flowers , the color, the woody feel from the test tube rack. And yes I missed the Sentosa flowershow with my family.. all the nice photos of the flowers... ahh. And that was the day my camera got scratched. Hai... Not a v big scratch, not a v big deal. But it is always less forgivable when such things are not done by u.
(on a side note, i still relish the memories from Cameron Highlands..)

Ok I have to run for tuition! Before that, I am going to cook myself some instant noodles with abalone.. YEH! ( I found it in the fridge, must be some leftovers during new year dinners..)

Have a nice week ahead everyone (:

Miss Invisible

Theres a girl
Who sits under the bleachers
Just another day eating alone
And though she smiles
There is something just hiding
And she cant find a way to relate
She just goes unnoticed
As the crowd passes by
And she'll pretend to be busy
When inside she just wants to cry
She'll say...

Chorus

Take a little look at the life of Miss Always Invisible
Look a little closer, I really really want you to put yourself in her shoes
Take another look at the face of Miss Always Invisible
Look a little harder and maybe then you will see why she waits for the day
When you'll ask her her name

The begining, in the first weeks of class
She did everything to try and fit in
But the others they couldnt seem to get past all the things that mismatched on the surface
And she would close her eyes when they left and she fell down the stairs
And the more that they joked
And the more that they screamed
She retreated to where she is now
And she'll sing...

Chorus

Take a little look at the life of Miss Always Invisible
Look a little harder I really really want you to put yourself in her shoes
Take a little look at the face of Miss Always Invisible
Look a little closer and maybe then you will see why she waits for the day that you will ask her...her name

And one day just the same as the last
Just the days been in counting the time
Came a boy that sat under the bleachers just a little bit further behind...


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I'm so glad when I read the last verse of the lyrics. Happy for "Miss Invisible" (:
Because.. Loneliness is a scary thing.
Sometimes you'd just wander around in school looking busy because you cant find someone to talk to, cant find a place to sit down looking invisible.

Note: This is a whining post

I think ... Exams Period is the least stressful period of the Uni Life.
Why?
Because normal school days are flooded with so many deadlines, projects, assignments.. It has become more stressful than exam times.
And... my holidays have been booked by UROP VIP and now FYP since year 2.. and this current "holiday" that I am experiencing now is definitely not stress-free.
I only have to read and study and memorise during exam periods..so its definitely the least stressful period liao.

>.< Whine No. 1

Last night.. I dreamt of going into the classroom for my FYP Oral Presentation to see a v young and cocky professor as my examiner who doesnt believe anything that I presented. Dead flat.

>.< Whine No. 2
I spent many many many hours in lab looking into the microscope, playing with the motion tracking software to obtain only results comparable to only 1/10 of the effort I put in. I srsly need a mentor and tell me whats wrong whats right with what I am doing... Or maybe I should feel proud with the immense leap in the video quality I am able to produce now compared to Day 1. This is called 摸索。 摸索是个孤独又漫长的过程。。。

>.< Whine No. 3
Today is Friday. Tomorrow is Saturday. I was in lab today. I will be in lab tomorrow.

>.< Whine No. 4
The malaria parasites arent behaving normally :( Hence my results are abnormal too. 救命啊
Today... I was staring into space looking very sad after my failed experiment. A phd student came over and said: 不做了 我们去开餐馆吧。。。Hahaha...

>.< Whine No. 5
There have been countless time my dinner = a Double CheeseBurger from Mac finished on my way from Mac to the busstop or from the busstop to my Tutee's hse.. I havent had a proper dinner at home FOR.. I dunno since when.

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After a lab's day of hard work.. I came home to 8 tasks on hand. Emails yet to send. Emails yet to reply..

>.< Stressed. And school hasnt even started.

Today

There are days you wake up to your alarm, snooze it for 3 times, and finally decide that you are too tired to go to school. Then you start feeling warm all over, feeling that you have a fever, a bad throat, and said to yourself: Yes, I dont feel well I m going to stay at home today.

Then you went back to your dreams to wake up at a slightly more comfortable time at ummm lets say 10.30am? You get out of bed, still feeling convinced that you're not feeling well. So you start sneezing. So that's how you conjure an illness, out of plain laziness.

So after having breakfast, you feel guilty for feeling sick and not going to school/lab. You start wondering can you do to feel less guilty. And you dig out readings and data to analyse at 11am.. And wonders if you should start packing your bags and head to school now.

And you scream to yourself: Why cant I do fyp at home???? (Why am I doing fyp?)

HohoHo...



Wishes all a merry christmas and a happy new year!
Am glad I'm not the last one to leave the lab at 6.30pm today!

Busy Busy

Its been 3 weeks since the last day of my exams!
Its been 3 weeks since the holidays (got meh?) started!
Its been 3 weeks full-time FYP!
Its been 3 weeks since I last blogged!

3 weeks.. Was pretty busy with different engagements after lab, gatherings etc...
What I've I been up to????

New Griller @ Home!


Failed Ben & Jerry Chunk Fest + Cape No.7!



Supper Gathering with Pals!




HR Movie Outing @ Orchard (Lousy movies but nice Xmas deco!)



Clement's Very Belated Birthday Celebration!


Secret Santa Gift Preparation!!!!
& One more Surprise planning in progress.. >.< Heeheee....


Woohoo! Its the weekend!

Caldecott Hill!

On the eve of HR2002 Finals, I embarked on to trip to Japan! Bishan to meet up with Huimin before heading to 20 Andrew Road. HAHA.. Look at the different bus routes that I had to snap along the way before I arrived safely at Bishan..(dont ask me why I dint take alook from the SbsTransit website the night before, dont ask me why I dint take the train) Was a last minute decision to make my way there by bus. Impromptu..







Tada! After we arrived at Mediacorp (die die must take a picture of their signage..haha..) Was a pity we dint have lunch at their canteen lor... Would have got more "starry" pictures to share if we did..


This is the reason why we abandoned our HR readings on the eve of the exam! Audition for "I want a Holiday!" and also "a chance to win a trip to Japan!!!". I think we dint do well enough to get through the audition.. BLEAH..there goes my sponsored Japan trip!

Nevertheless, an exciting experience for us to get so close to appearing on National TV!

I thought I found a reason to blog.
It was after a mixture of crazy laughter and sugar rush from supper at Xin Wang.
It is a well-deserved weekend break after 2 wks of internship.
It was a week of gatherings and binging.
Was high. I had things to be glad about.

Then i found a better reason to blog. I realised...
Those who wanted to know whats happening to me wouldnt need this space to know. Cos its no longer reflective.
Those who are close need not ask.
Those who wanted to be entertained should go to Facebook which is of higher entertainment value.
Those I wanna write I cant share.
Those I can share i dun wanna write.

I no longer feel the need to update people about my life.
If theres a reason to hide.. Beneath the smiles and silly jokes, you still wouldnt know.

I will just stop blogging till I find an even better reason to resume.
Girls are fickleminded, me inclusive.
_____

Sometimes I rather not have the time to realise who's drifting apart and what's missing.

WOW! its been so long since i last signed in into Blogger.

GOOD MORNING SINGAPORE!
goodnight, world.
goodbye REHAB report, in few hours time.

NUS workload is getting inhumane :(

I just abandoned my policy :( Out of not much choice

Get-Slack Policy

"No studying on Friday nights"

Of all sorts of policy, I think I am adhering very well to this.
And I tink im extending it to weekends too. Shakes head.

Food For Thought



Indeed we needed some nourishment for our brains after the Rehab meeting. So I suggested to take a walk after the meeting and since Food For Thought is so near, and so hyped up about in ieatishootipost and different magazines, might as well.
And we gave in to the heavenly mushroom smell which welcomed us even before we stepped into the cafe. You know it has to be shitake.

And so we ordered a mushroom soup to share. N oh bleah, its not nice. It tasted so differently from the smell! Amanda described it as "mushrooms not being washed clean enough" and indeed the description on the wall says "earthy mushrooms.." Bleah, wad a disappointment and so much for the anticipation!

however! I think the pastries look decent enough.. and the ambience just right for an afternoon spent reading a book (since the lib is jus opp) and sipping tea and eating muffin. (:

Wrist Ganglion


Look yixin! Its urs on the left and mine on the right.. -_- I sound like im so proud I have that bump on my wrist. No.

Some background info on Wrist Ganglion

CAUSE
A ganglion cyst contains a thick, clear, mucus-like fluid similar to the fluid found in the joint. No one knows what triggers the formation of a ganglion. Women are more likely to be affected than men. Ganglia are common among gymnasts, who repeatedly apply stress to the wrist. (I think I write too much... And the pain always come after exams/tests.. cos I write notes n study.. grr.)

SYMPTOMS
Because the fluid-filled sac puts pressure on the nerves that pass through the joint, some ganglion cysts may be painful. Large ganglia, even if they are not painful, are unattractive. Smaller ganglions that remain hidden under the skin (occult ganglions) may be quite painful.
A ganglion grows out of a joint, like a balloon on a stalk. It rises out of the connective tissues between bones and muscles. Inside the balloon is a thick, slippery fluid similar to the fluid in your joints. Usually, the more active the wrist, the larger the cyst becomes. With rest, the lump generally decreases in size.

n look what I found under TREATMENT

-Putting a needle into the gangliong n aspirates (burst) the fluid. The sac remains inside.
-Barbaric treatment. Use a book to slam down hard on your wrist to break the cyst. The cyst breaks and sac breaks too (implying its better than the first method) LIKE !?!?!??! Why is there such a treatment? I seriously think my wrist is going to break before the cyst breaks.
-Surgical Intervention. Removing both the fluid n the sac.

But Im not gonna take any of those 3. Because the chances of the ganglion reoccuring is quite high. I think this is so not worth it. With any surgery comes a risk, and on top of theres a high chance of it recurring !?! Narh. While the pain is still bearable and acute, the bump on my wrist will continue to be there till the day it makes me scream in pain (choy)



Reference: orthopedics.about.com

Not any typical school day.

Despite previous whines about how hateful a schoolday Wednesday is.. today is a special Wednesday schoolday.

Began at 9am at Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD) for my Rehabilitation Engineering module. I went there not knowing what to expect and was really feeling reluctant to make my way there at first. Located at some ulu area in Tiong Bahru, transportation was qt a headache.

Had the chance to interact with clients with muscule dystrophy and cerebal palsy. ( I began to notice that the therapists address the disabled by "clients" instead of "patients" or "the disabled". I noted the careful choice of words)

Contrary to the misconception that cerebal palsy patients are intellectually challenged, they are actually intelligent and some can even spell. One client we met had no formal education but he actually taught himself to read and spell so that he would be able to use a "special keyboard" to type out his sentences and plays it through the microphone attached. And there I was refusing to learn spelling when our primary school teacher forces it on us to hav Spelling every Thursday.. Nothing but in awe of their will. I see him struggling to press every key and recalling every spelling of the words he wanna use. The amount of effort put in to convey a message, to him is all worth it, for what he is struggling for is a voice. I feel so 辛苦 for him yet at the same time very grateful to be reminded of the things we tend to take so granted for in life. I think we need such constant reminders in life.

The other boy, suffering from muscular dystrophy, is attending school at Temasek Polytechnic. The illness robbed away his mobility and stability cos the muscles of the body basically waste away as he grow. So basically, he cant walk and has to move around in a wheelchair and his mum follows him wherever he goes. But wad he said made me realise that he is just any other boy..
May I share..
BIE: "So what kind of improvements would you like to see on your wheelchair"
Boy: struggling as he speaks, "Can play games. Maybe a PSP lar"
BIE: "Would you like your wheelchair to move faster?"
Therapists: "Dont challenge him!"
Boy: "Try liao. Not fast enough I wan faster"
BIE: "What are the common misconceptions you get from people?"
Boy: "People think we lead a different lifestyle lor. One friend say I dont have MSN ah. Of cos I have lar"

A lot of take home lessons from that session.. the 4hours just passed by so fast and Im so glad the Prof arranged for such a session.. I went there expecting engineering-related inputs into my knowledge and came out gaining much more valuable inputs into my life.

Lastly, I would like to share a conversation between one of my BIE classmate and the physiotherapists. Ponder over it a while. Have u had similar thoughts?

BIE: I m glad that today we have managed to see 2 cases of clients with disabilities and they are very sociable. But I find that there is a barrier, sometimes I feel that not all of them are happy to see us students interacting with them and some might not even welcome us. So..

Therapists: I would like to point out that "the disabled" is not a branding that you give to these people who are challenged physically. They are not programmed and supposed to behave all in a similar manner, not all welcome interaction. Some are reserved some are boisterous. Just like you guys here, they have different characters. Hence its normal for some to not welcome interactions from strangers/volunteers.

I have never thought about the issue in this manner before. I have alwaes thought that its the psychological barrier between the society and them that causes them to be less receptive towards help and friendly interactions. Somehow, I feel enlightened.

::Take it slow. You'll see it in time::

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Went to Tiong Bahru Food Center for lunch after the session! Whee, I think we were all so excited to get away from school with a legitimate reason in a food haven somemore. Alot of stalls had newspaper cuttings pasted on their signboards bla bla. I ate Charsiew Chee Cheong Fun! Nice! and SugarCane juice! and the guys treated the famous Tiong Bahru Pau dimsums. Hawker Food 就是那么 sedap!

And then because we placed all our confidence in jy to lead us back to the 197 busstop to bring us back to NUS, we walked around the area and sort of got lost.. I m not complaining.. Cos the area was rather oldish-singapore.. I like walking around in places I ve never been before and admiring oldest flats in SG. The whole area just feels so different from the newer HDB estates. Combined with the silly conversations pearl liche amanda n i had.. n concluding tt we shld nvr go on a free n easy tour with jy n kelvin... today is jus a HAPPY WEDNESDAY.

::Relish small pleasures::

Biothermodynamics Back To Haunt

As I was reading up materials for my term paper on Dental Caries .. and somehow I was assigned to some chimalogy Interfacial Dynamics (haha, dont ask me whats that) and I came across the following statements..

"in a very dilute solution, the activity of an ion is similar to its concentration.... "
"activity is related to activity coefficient"
"solubility product at equilibrium.."

To fellow BIE coursemates:
Bad news if u cant remember them.. Its only last semester, n u forget liao!?!
Bad news even if u remembered them.. too bad u were too horrified by Prata last semester and cant get them off ur mind??

Hai I find it very disturbing to come across stuff every now n then (be it in patents, journals, books), finding them strangely familar, yet not remembering the exact details,albeit its only 1sem ago.. And I realised how crucial were last semester's module.. its only in Year 3 that you learn applicable Bioengineering principles.. Year 1 n 2 were kinda crappy if I recall.

I conquered Biothermody last year...at least during the exams.. but now its as if I dont remember a single thing out of it alr. NOTHING SEEMS TO BE MAKING SENSE IN THE JOURNAL IM READING NOW! Time to dig out last year's horror.


(....Yuenling is suddenly very amazed by the wealth of knowledge the universe has to offer.....and how we input knowledge into the slightest of everything...)