Monday, March 31, 2008

OH NO!

This is maddening... My IDP samples are really polluted with bacteria. Super foul smelling. I hate this. My hard wrok for 5 weeks are gone. Haha! But I've got plan B and if plan B don't work, I really have to start all over again!

Lovely. But I enjoy my work, it keeps me excited and curious... Fills my time, heightens my creativity.

The truth is my life has become really hectic. But I love it. Ok Today, I think I overdo it! HAHA.. I was hogging my time up with many cell counts, harvesting and two passages. The Cedex machine had a long queue today... So I resort to the laborious manual counting and then using the machine to double confirm.

What really fire me up was the injustice man. My IDP sample!!! Luckily I have heed Dr Ng advice to salvage the remaining cells after each stage of well transfer. So, I manage to make myself busy by cracking my brain to combine whatever samples I have, trying to estimate the cell density that I will be getting from these "leftovers".

Then I went to generate my work plan for the week, prepare reagents for ELISA and decide to carry out one ELISA Trail tomorrow. This time, I discovered another mistae that I have made for the past.... I use the wrong substance for dilution.
So I really want to prove that I am not that blur ok! Argh.. One more chance for myself!

Alright man, have the chance to do a little math today. Hopefully I can read up on the Thick Java book that I borrowed!

Ok now for the Foodie...

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Peanut&Jam bread+ one egg + one herring fillet
Snack: Oats
Lunch: Yong Tau Fu
Snack: Soyabean Drink
Dinner: Rice + beef & Tofu + French bean and cabbage
Supper: High Fat yogurt plus muesli


Sunday, March 30, 2008

Nice transition to a Sunday!

Wha! I have to wake up so early today! Hehe.. not so early actually but relative to what time I sleep last night ok! Life is quite hectic on weekday but weekends are time which I am spending to learn how to laze around, how to sit still to read books and type my Bloggie.

As mention, I was outwith my daddy last night, after returning from my office. Gosh, my IDP samples looks contaminated.. This time it is more real! The whole flask was like super cloudy man. I was quite frantic ast night, trying to fit into my brain the possible tasks that I can deal with concurrently. My cell count went well and definitely, without queue!

Yeah! I went to have a great super with Dad at Coffee Club ©
Now that I've learnt how to realx, actually sat in the cafe for two hours reading and eating, and of course, talking to my dear daddy. Daddy is really so nice to me. I really have to show my respect for him.




SUNDAY

Yes, I just can't wait to go chrch with Jose Neo, partly because I haven't been there for 4 weeks le. Kinds sad how I treat God this way. But I really do loveGod as He is my saviour and righteous redeemer.



After church, we went to TM forlunch and to buy some stationeries. I must say Jose is one nice girl. She really has a good heart. Friends that are truly concern for you are hard to come by...

After we parted, I went back home to prepare formy driving lesson. I love this instructor because he really knows how to teach! He taught me what to look out for, even which traffic junction most driver failed he also know.
PLEASE!!! I WANT TO PASS!

Ok. Now I am reading up some HTML language stuff. Hopefully, I can gain enough knowledge to beautify this page.

ok man... SO long! good bye!

What a blank Saturday, filled up with activities out of the blue!

Today seemed boring. However, I was rebellious against boredom. I was fighting tough against it, telling myself doing nothing is a form of relaxation. However, things fall into place naturally as thought of things which i could do.

I had a splendid and awesome time with my Dad today- For lunch and supper. Not only that, I gave my grandma my very first dinner treat to her and manage to borrow my much sought of Java and computing book by the library.

I went to office late at night to take care of my cells...

I am going to church tomorrow! yeah! good night!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Wha haven sleep yet lei!

Introducing, My Marist Gang:




Haha.. I am still up! Just had a late nite super with my marist gang!





Just had lots of fun there! certainly! Ivan with his dirty jokes... Thanks Marcus for the nice food! Yeah!


Had mutton soup!


Let me see. What to do when morning comes... hmm... Gonna do maths tomorrow, teach mei mei. OH SHopin with Ah ma!


Yeah!


Haha.. she will be glad to see me!





Today ELISA expt was a failure again but it was an expected failure and yet a good practice.


Ok man... Received a good & encouraging message from Jose Neo! Alrighty.. Going sleep with nice nice dreams! Take care guys!

Friday, March 28, 2008

TO: Marcus Foo Guo Wen

This entire entry is dedicated to my best friend, Marcus.

When I was Sec 1, still fresh in Maris Stella high, friends were the prime of my life. Life then was carefree- there was no contentious spirit, no jealousy and no desperation to get a girlfriend (boys sch what!). We live on each other, have fun together and also work hard together. Few friends become very close to me. Marcus is one of them. Together, we joined the band and in studies, we excel together. Although we played different instruments, we were in fact quite close together and we always spend our breaks during combine sectional drinking coke or discussing about life.
Then later on, I became a student councillor but Marcus was still very friendly towards me and treat me as "the usual Darren". I still remember the day when we took photo together, our very first photo. Sec 1 and 2 went past very fast. During sec 3, our friendship went through a period of trial and it made our relationship stronger. We manage to entire Sec3B, a triple science class. There, we continued our intellectual discussions, religious talks and we did many fun things. The most memorable ones would be WWE-Wrestling in class, which i am sure Marcus is most proud of, and the inauguration of the Cucumber football club.
However, during the mid term of sec 3, we had a very bad quarrel, because I broke Marcus promise to skip a band practice. This sort of betrayed his trust. I was quite remorseful at that time because Marcus is my best friend and has always been one to me. Thank God we forgave each other and let the matter rest; we went of with life and strife for more progress. End of sec 3 saw the dream of two of us progressing into biological research work. We were having a course on Biology organised by AMBDON. We then shared the dream of opening up a Bio company in the future! Haha...
Then Sec4, our relationship became even more solid! Due to the approach of O' Levels, we began to organise a weekly clandestine meeting, which we call the alliance, to combine our wits together to study and tackle tough questions.
Yes, the end of Maris Stella marks the physical separation between us, but not the mental and spiritual. Still, we kept in contact with each other and this continued through the army period.

However, the frequency of meeting up became lesser and lesser till we even have different interests. To me, I was caught up with exercise and there goes my social circle.

Before I flew of for my studies, I find myself in a very difficult position. My Marist friends were always there for me but yet, I felt that there was a barrier between us. I could not connect with them. They talked about girls, soccer and clubbing. Me? I only have exercise and studies in mind. The ultimate showdown came when I joined them for a sentosa outing before I flew off. Instead of participating with them in the games, I went off for my own physical training.... How crazy was I! ... At the end of the games when it was rest time and when I came back from my run, Marcus came to me and ask me to a corner. Then he started to probe into my life, asking me about my behaviour. He was afraid that the friendship between the Marist gang and me became too diluted. Instead of talking normally, the crazy me was still doing push ups while talking to Marcus. I have no idea how rude was I. I was totally consumed by the condition.

Marcus afirmed that memories are memories but friendship is not history yet. Although we may not be very well linked with each other now, our hearts are still connected.

I was blind. Exercise made me more than myopic. I could not resist the evil one.. even on the day of my birthday where my friends attended my birthday party. I was ridden with eating disorder.

I must have broken Marcus heart. I must have failed as a friend. In Cornell, Marcus even gave me a long distance call to show his concern. I was really into depression at that time, suicidal and anti-social. I told him I was busy and I quickly ended our conversation. Great. What a friend am I!

Despite all this, Marcus was not let down. As soon as he heard news that I was back in Singapore. We asked me out.
When I was in SGH, he came to visit me. He took the initiative to ask me out for supper. I can see that he understands me very well. Marcus is still my best friend!

This is what I call all-weather/true friendship!

During new year, I went to his house one night and we had a solid two hours chat. He noticed the change in me. It was like a revival of the OLD DARREN; It waas like the baptism of Fire. I was particularly touched by his action, though subtle. His Dad was like asking me to eat but Marcus, nowing that I had Bulimia, told his Dad that I already had my dinner to avoid me from my frenzy eating. Thanks Marcus. I notice that your love as a friend never simmer. I will always cherish someone like you.

God Bless you and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Thanks for this wonderful friendship!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Back from Tuition.. TIRED!



What a fulfilling day with sooooooo much activities!


Ok some pics from Today's farewell party:



Dr Janet!
delectable lunch

So I am pretty sure tomorrow will be more hectic: I got ELISA, passaging, IDP harvesting+cellcount. Yup. Hopefully can end by 5.30pm. Then Sunday have to come back again!

Meanwhile, I shall show you my messy worktable, which is always full of notes and stuff... But must thank the cleaner aunty,always help us wipe our tables!






(ps. I love my squeeky timer! )

Ok man! Today Auntie was nice to cook fried rice for me.. seafood version one + soup. Again, I really enjoyed teaching Kathy! She isso willing to learn and work hard!All her answers are so neat! ok.... I really have full confidence in her.

Lovely, 10 pm and I am back home and eft with less then two hours before bed time.... Hoho. Tomorrow or rather 45 mins later is one of my best friend's birthday. Tomorrow I would dedicate one blog entry for this faithful and precious friend of mine: Marcus Foo Guo Wen

for now, FOOD DIARY!

Breakfast: Corn beef with bread
Snack: muesli with hazelnut milk
Lunch: special indian menu... ( hey Ms Boon, I ate Oily stuff! Oily Brinjal, curry and and more curry!
Snack: Macademia steamed milk
Dinner:Seafood fried rice
Supper:Mr bean pancake + soy milk

All the Best to Dr JANET! Take care ya>?

Today is one busy day for me again...

With my second batch of cell having their "promotion"
yes funny as it sound- Promotion!

This time round, I was a little later then usual so guess what... The CEDEX machine had a super long long long queue... Poor cells have to suffer in the falcon tubes without enough oxygen. haha
But i manage to multi task.. so I planned and I manage my expt such that I finish before noon.

Lunch was crazily out of the world! We held a party at level 3 pantry to wish Dr Janet well for leaving BTI tomorrow. Guess what's on the menu? The aroma could be smelt like 50metres away. Curry Smell.... Wha.. We had a good mix of spicy indian food and chinese pork dumplings.
I took a solo pic with Dr Janet.

We went to the fish pond to take picture as an entire act gang. Haha. I really love you guys man!

Then during my break I went to buy something funyy... Flavour steamed milk.. Quite expensive, considering such a small cup ($2.50) but taste wonderfully zesty! haha.

Ok pals.. I've gotta return to the lab for more solution preparation for Tomorrow's ELISA! hahahahahahahahahahaha.. 9 hours of torture! no la... I love it!

bye!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Words of encouragement and assurance by my parents!


Meeting Cum Birthday celebration!--> Nice choco fudge cake!


Oh yes... Gonna upload some pictures from BTI here! Mr See Jye not happy ar...




Tonight I actually did something very positive (on my own definition), which is to solve some very difficult math problems... Really keep my mind focus man!


Actually on my way home, I was quite dissapointed with myself for screwing up my previous ELISA expt. I went to dilute 100 times instead of 250 due to a clculation error. No wonder my standard curve saturates so fast at 1000pg/ml standard. I sms Dr Ng to ask for "forgiveness". He is so merciful and he saidwe all make mistake and so cherish it by learning from it!


Ok are you guys ready for some high level thinking?

This afternoon, I was having some thoughts about parallel universe and graviton. The term parallel universe is actually kind of inappropriate because I take these universes from Hawking's point of view--> making Instances of different universe as probability, which means when we step into our very moment, what is infront of our eyes is actually the superposition of the wavefunction of the Universe! Wha. I was thinking whether this Forth spatial dimension could be that of the probability and that is why we can't view it. This is analoguos to the uncertainty principle. So when we want to observe exactly the universe of the next moment, the wavefunction collapses to give the observation,which is the universe that actually occur to you. In Dirac notation, it actually mean that A Hermitian operator is being applied to the wavefuntion and being projected into real space. Thus the imaginary space could be what we are looking for: The fourth dimension....


So we are saying, equivalently, that our Universe that materialises at this very instant, is the specific solution to a complex Fourier Series solution. The rest of the solutions are hidden in this volumous "extra dimension" waiting to be the one that would be the choosen one to be "observed".


A sudden thought dawn upon me! Could this be the way to explain Big Bang. Wait wait wait... Wha.. I am thinking a lot man. Going crazy le... Why do I say so...? See if big band actually occurs, there should be equal amount of matter and anti-matter produced. Why is it that we only observe matter in our universe and that anti matter can only be created (not found naturally)? ok this is a little bit complex


What I assume is theat uncertainty principle is making us dizzy. As we all know, Uncertainty principle can be expressed in terms of energy-time relation. When big bang happened, Vast amount of energy is converted into mass, creating matter/anti-matter pair. At various instances, the universe is expanding, which means to allow the observation of the universe, the parallel universemust constantly superimpose to give what is reality. The thing is we can very sure about the time frame of activities of the expanding universe and the certainty of energy levels becomes hazy. (compromise) So out of luck(probability), energy flux tends to the creation of matter. From then on, matter creation becomes more probable and soon, matter outnumbers anti-matter. And now we've got a stable matter-universe. (because probability of the anti-matter universe being observed is super hell low)


Ok. Then why is it that we observe equal pair production for a single photon? All I can say is that the energy level of one photon is so low compared to that which is needed to create the universe. Now time is the uncertainty. haha.. guess I am baffling you people.. Take a break, have a food diary man.


Food Diary:


Breakfast: bread with cheese and a glass of milo

Snack: almond nuts with muesli

Lunch: Wanton noodles

Snack: Choco cake

Dinner: Corned beef/pork + cabbage

Supper: muesli




Way to go...!

This Morning while climbing the freaking slope up to Biopolis, I saw Dr Janet and immediately greeted her! Then you know what her said.... She said " Darren, you seemed to be so happy every moment!" Dr Janet, is one of the first few scientist that I've got acquainted with when I stepped into BTI.. This Friday will be her last here in BTI. She will be leaving us for Germany and she revealed That she will be starting her new job right away on next Monday.

Today got quite a lot of cell work to manage. There's bad and good news... Good news is that My ID sample has promoted to the shake flask level! The bad news is that my I sample has demoted to 24 wells/5 days cycle. haha.. Looks like my weekends are burnt of by this job. But you know what? Passion, purpose and Drive is what leads me on!

I've got ACT general meeting at 2 to 4pm. Then we are celebrating Mariati's and Wan ping's birthday after that... Haha. The meeting was a session of translational practice for me. All of them seemed to be speaking a foreign language. I really can't decode what biological terms they are engaging on. So I just have to keep the question marks to myself. At the end of the meeting, Janice went to take out the beautiful choco cake. (haha Ms boon, it's another sinful pleasure)
Manage to take a few picture and talk to our main stars for today!

Hmmm. When I was back to my desk, Dr Ng told me to decide my own next ELISA expt.. Wha he is giving me full autonomy man. You know what, he is super busy today man. He looked enclosed in level 5 lab for the whole day. Good good.. looks like I've got business to plan!

Then I received a special email, which I will not reveal much of its content but I am just going to say that it is always comforting to know that there are people around you facing the same problems... But the heart of the matter is that through mutual motivation, problems could be overcomed easier. To those who is suffering eating disorder or other psychological disorder, have faith in yourself and look at the positive side of your recovery! You have only this one life, so cherish yourself and your body!

Before I end here, I want you people to know the Body Peace treaty:

-Remember that the sun will still rise tomorrow even if I had one too many slices of pizza or an extra scoop of ice cream tonight.
-Never blame my body for the bad day I'm having.
-Stop joining in when my friends compare and trash their own bodies.
-Never allow a dirty look from someone else to influence how I feel about my appearance.
-Quit judging a person solely by how his or her body looks — even if it seems harmless — because I'd never want anyone to do that to me.
-Notice all the amazing things my body is doing for me every moment I walk, talk, think, breathe...
-Quiet that negative little voice in my head when it starts to say mean things about my body that I'd never tolerate anyone else saying about me.
-Remind myself that what you see isn't always what you get on TV and in ads — it takes a lot of airbrushing, dieting, money, and work to look like that.
-Remember that even the girl who I'd swap bodies with in a minute has something about her looks that she hates.
-Respect my body by feeding it well, working up a sweat when it needs it, and knowing when to give it a break.
-Realize that the mirror can reflect only what's on the surface of me, not who I am inside.
-Know that I'm already beautiful just the way I am.

Love yourself and those who care about your well being!

Take care!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

More crazy ideas!

Hey Hey I am back! Whaha.. It is so good today! I wish everything would go smoothly tml! Oh yes. To Mariati and Wan Ping-> Happy Birthday! Haha!

Ok somemore fascination! I just thought of parameterizing object. A line/plane can be parameterize by one variable. A surface can be parametrized by two variable. So how a bout a volume. This is so crazy... I am trying to think of more clues...

Quoted from wiki: "In physics, the Fifth dimension is a hypothetical extra dimension beyond the usual three spatial and one time dimensions. Some scientists have speculated that the graviton, a particle thought to carry the force of gravity, may "leak" into the fifth or higher dimensions which would explain how gravity is significantly weaker than the other three fundamental forces. The Kaluza-Klein theory used a fifth dimension to unify gravity with the electromagnetic force, and now is seen as essentially a gauge theory with gauge group the circle group. M-theory suggests that space-time has eleven dimensions, seven of which are "rolled up" to below the sub-atomic level."

how I wish one day. I will discover the extra dimension.

Food Diary:

BreakFast: Cheese+ egg+ beef jerky+ bread
Snack: Muesli
Lunch: Mixed rice
Snack: milo
Dinner: Chicken+ Tofu+ egg+Wombok+ mushroom
Supper: Weet-bix

More support from friends!

Yeah! Just got more emails form friends in Cornell wishing me well. Thank you pals..! One of the most important person I've gotta thank is Yuan Hong. He was the one who save my life back in Cornell. He was the one who woke me up from my disillusionment. Now, as a friend he even helped me with my housing rental, ap problem which I have dragged my friends down. He is one true friend that I can rely on. I also use his words as a statement to preach to thos out there who had similar experience as me or having suicidal thoughts- "Darren, You have a loving family that supports you. You have only this one life and you should cherish your life with them while there are still alive" -Yuan Hong. He then told me that his Dad passed away when he was 5. He is really a mature thinker.

Yes. I look forward to everywork day, as usual, because I am just an avid fan of research. Frankly speaking, today will not be that busy. Although responsibility is still there, I've got much more free time. What... FREE TIME! haha. Dun worry. Now I have mastered the art of managing my time. There is no such thing as free time. Time is just flowing and everyone has a fixed amount of it. It is just like the idea of free smses. It is not really free. So today, I went to do the necessary cell work in the morning. Guess what.. I saw See Jye again. Seriously, he is quite hardworking too.. always come as early as me to the lab.
I got a shock when I was using the Level 3 CEDEX machine. My cell count was registered ZERO. WTF! Out of all the hysteria, I saw a tag beside the screen- "CEDEX Spoilt" wha.. make me worry for nothing. Luckily See Jye told me there is another CEDEX at level 2 if not I have to resuspense my cell to do another harvest and manually count them again.

Then in the afternoon, I enjoyed my lunch with my lunch buddies from level 4. So long never go with them le. Because now I am stationed at level 3. As usual the funny John and the cheery Cherie plus cool Natasha was an entertaining bunch. They told me about their experience in Bintan and sharing their own scandals with me. This Cherie was like so happy to be taking leave for Japan. Then I ask her whether she would be keen on a trip to taiwan... She was actually quite keen on it. She even said she don'y mind sharing a room with Us(FU and me). wha... damn daring lei! haha.. Cherie has been very nice to me.. I can say she is one of the most helpful staff around and I always say she is my LADY LUCK. Whenever I ran out of reagent or accessories, bumping into her is an instant panacea to my woes. haha! Her good mornings in the labs really start my days!

Ok then after lunch, I pleaded Dr Ng to take a look at my supposed contaminated sample. To my relief, my BOSS confirm.. I say again.. Dr Ng confirm that it is not contamination!!!! Yeah. It is actually cell clump. Wha.. Phew if not my 22 days of effort will just go down to the drain. I almost threw my sample away when Janice told me with conviction that it is a contamination. Luckily, I ask the BOSS.

Today, actually I would like to lay down some of my theoretical pursuit that has been ongoing in my mind. It seemed to fascinate me. I treat theoretical physics and mathematics as part of my grand interest, something which would last throught my entire life.

I love to think and this is one reason why I think too much. haha. But this is a postive example ok! One might think what can theoretical physics do to the society. Frankly speaking, it only satisfy curiousity. Take for example, Fermat Last theorem. Andrew Wiles was the man who solved it. But what good did it do to the world? it only say a^n+b^n+c^n not equals to d^n in antoher words, pythagoras theorem does not extend to pwers beyond two. I mean what use is there to tell everyone that an equation beyong the power of two do not exist? Hmmm. ok. But what actually happened, as when I read the book about Fermat, is that what is contributing to the mathematics society is the new way to solving problems and a twisted approach which in the end solidified another area of mathematics. Andrew made use of elliptical and normal equations to solve it.

Ok, Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce my area of interest:

1. Fourier analysis and wavelets
2. Schrodinger equation and Hilbert space (quantum mechanics)
3. Higher dimension
4. Vector calculus and Tensor

Ultimately, I have a goal which is congruent to that of Einstein- To Find the equation that binds the four fundamantal forces of the world- Strong & weak nuclear force, electro magnetic force and gravity. Of which, gravity is the most difficult to grasp and link to the rest. Because of gravity, it seems that physics has enter a state of confusion when the quantum theory and general relativity have a growing lapse. Many have been trying to sew the two together but all have seen their effort gone to waste. Even Eistein tried to scribble the last few of his working before his death.

Ok. Why that four general topics? Actually it is all linked. Linking and making logical relation is the essence of science. That is what an equation all about. It equates or links the LHS to the RHS.
So why am I thinking of this four topics? It is because I find that these topics tend to inter-relate to one another to unravel the mystery of higher dimensions which woul simplify equations. We would need Fourier for the expression of particles as wave packets(superposition of sinusodal waves) and schrodinger to take care of the quantum mechanics portion. Then I need to extend this into higher dimensions, whereby vector calculus really simplifies a hell lot of things... Just look at Maxwell's equation for example, beautifully simplified electricity and magnetism in time and space into vector relations.
Lastly, Tensor would take us to even higher dimensions which is somewhat difficult to analyse because of our mental constrain. We live in our 3D world. We find it hard to add another spatial dimension. Some think that time is the other dimension but they are only half correct. Time to me is progressive and temporal. You cant really fix time unless you are travelling at the spped of light. So it doesn't make sense to extend a phyical object with an element of time. Think of the hassle that would arise when I say that " this ice block measure 3cm by 4cm by 8cm by 0 sec since measurement" I mean time is progressive so as long as the object remains with time, temporal dimensions can be neglected. The complication comes when object moves at high speed-- near speed of light. Spatial dimesion seemed to be compromised together with time. Time can be dilated, lengths can contracted. So together we call them space-time.

Ok. Now on why study higher dimension. There are several things that are left unexplained by physics. The big Bang(inflationary version) is one of them. Some mentioned with the help of advanced modern theory like superstring or m-brane theory that our actually universe consist of 10 or more dimensions... wowowowo.....
Let's go easy first. Let's try to visualize an additional spatical dimension.

Today, I will just discuss this because I would still want some time for study and not blog all the time. I just want to post an illustration.






Suppose you live in a 1D world. You can only move front or move backwards. So in your world you move from point A to Point B as on the diagram, with your path following the curve. Your vision tells you that this is the only path and the shortest path to get from A to B. But a friendly creature from the 2nd Dimension visited you and told you that you are actually walking "around" an "area". ok. You are confused by those two words. In your world there is only ahead and behind, there is only path but what the hell is area to you? So you begain to realise that what you have been doing all these years is to take a longer path and people from higher dimension are having an easier life by travelling straight from A to B instead of your circumvention.
Ok end of story. So what if We consider ourselves to be living in a 3D world and people from 4th Dimension comes to visit us? They would tell us that we are not making full use of space. Imagine, Singapore is so packed! how much more can we squeeze? But according to that "Hyper being" What we are locating ourselves with is only a projection of his hypervolume onto one of the volume.

Ok let's end with some maths...
-in 2D.... y=f(x)
-in 3D.... z=f(x,y).. to visualize this 3D surface, we can project it onto a level surface by making z a constant. Suppose z=x^2+y^2, so x^2+y^2=c--> this is a plane circle at a helight of z=c. So if we keep changing c to a range oof values, we can roughly visualize a segment of what the object looks like in 3D by superpositioning all level surfaces.
-in 4D.... w=f(x,y,z).. So now instead of drawing level surfaces, we have series of "Level" volumes. Haha.. just go and visualize an expanding sphere... try to superimpose them.

The point that I am making here is that the link between unexplained science maybe the fact that this invisble dimension is holding the secret. How can one photon split into two to form interference? But when one tries to intervene by trying to disclose which path is the photon taking, the interference pattern dissapears. How is one photon able to communicate with one another... faster than speed of light??? Quantum entanglement is one of the greatest conundrum of the new millenium. Looks like if an extra dimension can shorten distance....... it might not be travelling at spped of light even...

Ah......

Monday, March 24, 2008

Thanks for all the support people!

It is great to have friends and even better to have caring friends! Wow! I've got so many words of encouragement and friendship affirmations after sending out the letter of apology to the cornell-singaporean mailing list. I am really very touched tonight, very very touched.

My friend Josephine had also truly touchned my heart. She really showed her concerns for my recovery and I really respect her candor towards this friendship. Looks like I have found another person whom I can open my heart to.

The third thing to be touched by the fact that I know that I am not alone and people are joining me in this fight with the evil one. I guess it is very comforting to know that there is always someone who is going through this with you and can empathize you fully. I just met a friend online and she really showered so much concern for me and revealed that she is also going through some disorder. Ithank her for being so brave to share with me. Hey Let's Jia you ok!

Now for some music!



Food Diary:

Breakfast: 2 slice of Bread with cheese spread and peanut butter.
Snack: Maple nuts oatmeal
Lunch: Mixed rice- sardine, cabbage, egg tofu
Snack: guava and milk
Dinner: Rice+beef+tofu+mixed veg
Supper: Muesli + Choc Milk

My apologies...

Hey I've got a reply from the person whom I have hurt in Cornell.
He doesn't sound too happy still. However, I pray that the Lord will ease the tension between us. I pray that the Lord will bless Zhi Wei. I am sorry. Please forgive me, My Father.
His reply-->


"Hi Darren,
Glad to know that you are doing fine and recovering well. I understand that it's not really your fault and that nobody can be blamed.
As a result of your not returing to cornell, i believe your previous house tenants are facing some problems.
Please kindly contact them about it. My personal stand is that, at the critical point when they were deciding what to do with the house, they asked you about it and you said you'ld be coming back next fall, so they saved the spot for you. As a man, since you have put your signature down on the housing contract, I believe you should pay your previous house tenants the entire year's rent in order to be fair to them. Hope you will consider this seriously.
Hope to see you in a*star if there is a chance."

Ya. I really owe my friends there alot. Frankly speaking, they are very nice nice nice people. They came to visit me in the ICU at Cayuga and even bought farewell gifts for me. I could only say I am stupid to neglect them at the time I was there. About the housing, my point of contact is Yuan Hong, who told me everything. But he still have faith in me that I will come back. Unfortunately, the decisions for me to stay in Singapore,NUS were too late. It is about time to pay the rent. I know I am such a pain in the A**. I am sorry. Really.

Let me tell all of you. This is a mistake in my life. I will learn it. Nobody wants it but I can't shake my responsibilities off it. Since I am ridden with it, it is my duty to clear up the best, to lead, to excel and to overcome! I believe all this is possible because God gave me and revealled his mission for me. I am His son, His friend and His warrior. Glad I made the decision to battle with my Bulimia. Woe to you , O' evil one!

Ok man. Work work. I was kind of shock just know... I saw my passage 11 flask left with very little media inside... Who the hell who want to steal my cells man? funny Har... Den I saw another tragedy... It looks like my batch two ID sample has been contaminated.. Oh no! My hard work! There are clumps of green patches living with my cells!!! Oh no! Please I don't want this to happen. Haven't I treat you guys well?

Hmmm. Gues life is like that. But I have learnt how to learn to accept failure. Learning is a journey, not a destination---Yoman

Thousand and one apologies

It is not easy taking the courage to write this. But if I don'y I feel guilty and perhaps ashamed of myself.

If you see this, my friend, I am really sorry. Please give me a chance to hear me out ok? Please accept me as a friend again ok?

I wrote this:

Dear Zi Wei,

Greetings! How’s everything going? Well I really don’t know whether you would delete this mail or at least take a peek. I am writing this letter as a man, as your previous friend and a room mate, to request for your forgiveness on my rashness and cantankerous disposition at that point of time in Cornell last year. Time flies, and it has been 4 months since I left that place to seek treatment back in Singapore.
If you are unaware, I am not coming back to Cornell anymore and I will be pursuing studies in NUS. During my stay in Cayuga Mental Institute, my depression was under control and I took a very positive outlook on life. At that point, I was still unaware of a condition that is still dragging on me. I was still blaming you for most of the things that happened. I am pretty sure that I can testify to you that it was not Darren in Cornell; It was Bulimia, the evil eating Disorder. I was not aware of this condition and compulsion was still holding me. Exercise is like my only friend and eating is my way of life. I shy away from you guys… I disgust you people by the way I eat, the way I exercise and running away from social events by hiding in my own corner. I was pitifully trapped in my own binge/purge cycle but instead of seeking help, I got drag down by depression, thinking that I am the only one in this world, feeling so lonely and thinking that you have “betrayed me”. You see I know these are all lies but I really was controlled by this disease.

Zi Wei, I am really sorry for blaming you, for being childish and for scaring you. Now that I have normalized, I am still intrigued by my supernatural ability to exercise so much and was utterly disgusted by my actions and attitude. Can I say something…. I hate my life in cornell. What the hell am I doing? Waking up 5am everyday to go gym, going gym in between classes, rejecting having dinner with you people so that I can have my own secret binges with buffet all alone. I became less and less like the Darren that I have used to be, the cheerful, playful and sociable Darren. Come to think of it, I am shameful of my past. I still remember that you have asked me out for swimming just before we flew off for Cornell. It was like more or less me and myself, happily telling you not to disturb “me” and letting me finish my 20 laps. Seriously, I must be insane. You’ve asked me out and I’ve transformed it into my own Physical Training session.

However, ever since I stepped into eating disorder program and was warded into SGH for 3 weeks, my life has been transformed. I know more about myself and whose voice am I hearing. I learnt that these guilt after eating is just silly and learnt how to listen to my hunger cues instead of restricting myself. Not only that, my greatest happiness was my freedom from the bondage of compulsive exercise. During my recovery, I found this the Hardest part to conquer. But in Jesus’s name, I did it. I told my father to threw away my handgrip in representation of my rebellion against my compulsion. It was difficult. During my recovery, I was still hiding in toilets, exercising. Getting caught by nurses doing crunches on bed and waking at night to exercise. As time goes by, with the help of medication, my family support and the correct channeling of my determination, I start to cut off my compulsion. Now, without exercise, I start to realize that there are so many beautiful things in life. I love the life that God has given to me. I really love my family for they are the one that I can always fall back upon to seek shelter and love. Lastly, I regained my friendships that I have lost through succumbing to the compulsions of my bulimic behavior. I thank my friends for the assurance of this renewed friendship and the fact that they have not looked down on me but are inturn impressed by the courage to start life afresh, to mend my broken tracks.

The treatment process was not easy but it is worth it. For this one year that I would be lagging behind my peers, I believe it will be a blessing in disguise. I believe that this is a U-Turn point set up by God that would deter me from heading nearer toward the Evil one.

Lastly, after explaining so much, I realize that there is still one part of me which is sadden, which is this inflamed relationship we had. Please forgive me, as I have forgiven myself. Please give me a chance to befriend you again. Please give me a chance to share that I really love you as a friend. I am truly sorry for the past, Zi Wei and I hope all will turn out bright for you.

I wish to hear something from you!

Your truely,



Neo Chi Jin Darren
Assistant Lab Officer
Animall Cell Technology
BTI, A*STAR

--------

Ok I must head back to the lab now to passage my cells before they overgrow. I also have to check whether the antibodies are running out... reporting to my supervisor later..

so long pals...

Sunday, March 23, 2008

The most power pack sunday!!! Easter Sunday!

Wow! What a fulfilling day! Wonderfully planned and went smoothly with fooling around with my CPK! haha! In fact, I was kind to mybody by treating it with lots of goodies today.

My morning started powerfully with mum's beef soup with bread. It was really good. I feel the power. Come on.. It is time to built more muscles by the ang moh diet! Haha. Then I had a good rest before I went to teach my tuition kid.

Today's tuition was quite different. Today, we used half of the session for test paper discussion. I made him more frustrated by revealing more mistakes in his answers.. Oh no! But quite dissapointing you know. I actually went through the same question with him before and he anyhow put an answer. Hmmm. I really want to help him!

My tuition kid, although lazy.. I think he is not lazy on purpose but he really packed his activities to the brim. Hmmm. Today, he gave me a physics TYS and told me that I can pass it to my sis. Yup... Thanks anyway!

Then I had my lunch and head to my office at BioPolis. Wha. Today I have to juggle between 3 plates of cells. Quite curious how my promoted cells would be like. When I did my cell count.... to my gretest relief... the viability of my ID and IDP cells were rather high! Looks like they are happy with me!

Guess what, I am not the only one in lab.. Who's there????? Mr See Jye.. so Sway! why must I see him everytime!!!! Lucky I used the CEDEX machine before him. Frankly speaking, he is actually a very nice person, just that he is not tactful enough.



I leave office also see him! Come on man. He really is my new office buddy le. Sorry Janice! No la.. Janice is still myl ady boss! YES MADAM!

Now for the part of the day that I am looking forward to. Not about servicing my phone, but after that! I am meeting one of my classmate that I am really impressed with. Recently, her words meant a lot to me; they intrigued me and enlightened me. I will live up to be the best that I can be, to take care and love thyself and to love my family and friends around me. Today, my meet up with her is a thing that I am very proud of. Why? It has been around two years since I approach a girl for a meet up. I manage to overcome my crazy self, to slow down my life and apreciate company, enjoy talking with friends. Oh yes, my classmate, Josephine, is different. She is sincere and speaks words of wisdom into me. Her presence is my motivation. Yes, I thank the Lord for this Easter day, for ressurecting the Dead Darren to a lively yoman again! Yes! I am no longer against any girls or being chauvanistic. I want to be a gentleman and not be afraid to talk to girls!

Josephine is so nice to me! Truely, I will cherish someone like her! Oh yes, we ate at NYDC--> A true challenge for me. Ms Boon would be very happy to hear this. Give me a star ok? I am glad that I really enjoy the session chatting with her, sharing our thoughts about food, about my condition, about our future and about life. So much so that I don't even havethe slightest feeling of guilt with the indulgence infront of me. I ate a BandAid Mudpie and ice cream. Wow. Ice cream never taste so good. I always looked for low fat ice cream or yogurt.. I really lost touch of cream. The mudpie was heavenly.... It was choc, nuts, fruits, cream and cool ice cream. Wow. Where did I get this courage from??? Must be Josephine la! haha!






Delicious right! Yeah! Now I will be more open for these stuff! NExt challenge--> Oily food

Josephine was so nice to company me to select a birthday present for Dad. I bought a nice nike, cool looking bag for daddy, plus a sleek nike bottle. The cost doesn't matter. What matter is the heart. The passion to give the best for my Dad. But the biggest present for dad is still a complete recovery!

Haha! Time flies and we have to go back! Actually saw Randy along the way... He looked busy!
ok. I am very glad that today went well. I am very proudof my food diary today. Why?
There is no more so called structure already. I eat when I am hungry!

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Minced Beef soup + Bread

Lunch: Niang Dou Fu with Yam Rice

Snack: Auntie Anne's Almond caramel pretzel

Dinner(more or less): MudPie+ Icecream+ Hazelnut elephancino

Supper: Muesli and granola Bar with milk

Saturday, March 22, 2008

A night of complete inactivity

Tonight- is going to be a rest night for me. I am going to just eat and sit. sit and eat. But I am going to keep my mind active and make tonight productive.


Maybe I should start to mug and come up with a suitable time table. Maybe I should plan something for my tuition kid. Whatever it is, I am getting FAT. Tomorrow will be an even better day I guess. There will be tuition, work and then going out with someone. Sounds cool.


Let me see, tomorrow, I will have to top up my batch 1 and 2 transfected cells, count I samples using the CEDEX machine.



lunch with MUN PUN!


I was talking to Mun Pun just now. Was tryingto explain to him how to get from Fourier Series to Fourier intergral. Brings me back to my days of attending math 293 backin Cornell. Although I was not taught about it, I did read up on it before I left for Cornell. Some how, I think I am just a little crazy about math and fascinating phenomenons. Haha..





ok man. I am like that. I love knowledge and I am curious to know more!

Alright I am going to blogtv.sg to see what I can complain about.

Dinner: Garlic Rice + Chicken & chicken balls in tomato sauce+ bittergourd egg+ dou miao

Supper: peanut butter bread and Milo

Wierd

All I can say is that today just feels wierd. Just wierd. I woke up with no aim in mind again. Very sad.

---I just discovered that my phone is failing me. The receiving party don't seem to be able to hear what I have said. This is totaly annoying. This phone is not even a full month old yet, it is giving me a hell lot of problem and even went through a single servicing. This proves a conjecture: The more versatile your phone is, the more compromise is given onto a phone's basic function- to make a call. Yeah. Nowadays, it is hard not to see a phone that has an integrated camera, that can play music, serve the net and play java games. What about the calling function? why is everyone neglecting that? Maybe in this modern society, the mundanes are being overlooked while the flamboyants are being underscored. Tragic.

Today's news is a long read. I was particularly captivated by the section on stem cell research. Is there a future for Singapore in it? I think very much so. Singapore can never almost never innovate something but is very capable of optimizing processes and procedures. Singapore can never be at the crest of the technological tide but we can always fall upon to improve on other people's idea. Stem cell researcg is actually quite a few decades old of reach arena. However, the promises that it could bring to the society hasn't quite materialise yet. Why? I must say stem cells research is a ethically sensitive realm of science. We are playing God; We are manupilating life. However, there are merits which deserves our attention. Things like Organ growth and even recreating tissues that are non-regeneratable. Our only wish is that these grand ideas don't fall ino the wrong hands, especially the monopoies of the world.

Hey, are we trying to boast that we are able to decide how we should live and what can be done to attain longevity? I really don't know. If we can live and relive a life again and again with the same soul but the flesh keeps regenerating through transplant, then what is death? Could it be a term of history? Then is there a God that decides how long we should live. Wow. Huge questions.

Back to Singapore: Singapore certainly has her forte of promoting other people's idea into one that is more complex but at the same time, more attractive. A country thriving on meritocracy would mean that efficiency is of prime importance. A dedicated workforce is what we have and we also have an influx of foreign talent.This truely makes Singapore a pronounced Biomedical hub. Already, Singapore is a reknown medical hub. So if we were to integrate stem cells to the medical faculty, we shall just have to enjoy the benefits of this confluence of different research arenas.

Ok whats more... The Dalai Lama. He is really a interesting figure. Up till know I am still wary of who is speaking the truth- Beijing or Dalai? Anyhow, please stop the violence.

Lovely, I've received an invitation from Mun Pun to take lunch with him and Marcus, and then study at Marcus's club later. I suddenly feel that I really want to study again! So I took my books and placed it in my bags. However, I did one extra stuff. I sneaked an extra pair of pants and undergarment so as to prepare myself for some unexpected activity. sort of expected it actually. My brain did entertained the thought of swimming. So before I studied with them, I told marcus that I am going for a swim. He said, "Sure, but don't overdo it!" Wait.. I told myself... Is this a compulsion or just a wanting to soothen my body before studying? Nevermind. Don't think so much. So I went into the pool for some skin deeping and found myself swimming a few laps. After 15 minutes, I told myself "Darren, not too much... Remember...." Then I stopped immediately. I was just really curious- This 15mins of activity is really nothing to me. It doesn't satisfy a compusion and I was able to stop it. Hmmm is this a good or bad thing.

When I reached home, the horror was revealed. It was actually a bad thing. Mymum actually noted that one pair of pants went missing. So she questioned me as soon as I stepped in. I can't answer or rather, I dare not answer. I want to tell her that it is not a compulsion.But trying to explain is useless. In the first place, I should think about my future. Come on, just a little more effort DARREN. ok. I tell myself please give yourself a chance to really rest. Please. Just a few more blood tests. Why don't you look atthe long term. But I tell you it is kind of hard. How can I just laze around and being sedentary? At least let me move about after some kind of inactivity, like tudying or reading, chatting? Swimming doesn't burn much calories (and it is only 15 mins).

Hmmm, guess I have to learn how to balance it again. But for now.. no more pleasing myself. Let me rest.
Thanks.


4am? Music please:




Food dairy:

Breakfast: One slice of multigrain Bread with peanut butter and jam. + Salmon with eggs

Snack: Muesli and Milk

Lunch: Char Siew wanton Mee($4) + herbal tea

Snack: Soy milk and milk + 1/2 a MrBEan pancake

Dinner: --Delayed telecast--

Friday, March 21, 2008

Retail therapy...

With things like mesotherapy on the ban.... I think that the only thing that is viable now is... RETAIL THERAPY! haha. No man. I didn't really live up to that word. ButI spent a good deal of time today, cultivating patience, doing something that I would not have done in the past. That is what I called mindless shopping.


It was a really daring attempt for someone like me to drag me feet along, not exercising, taking time to appreciate the scenery, the crowd and the plethora of fashion goods.


Ok, my morning started with the papers as usual. However, today, it was slightly different. After my read, I went on to teach my sister. WOW. The feeling is great. I have hardly the opportunity to interact this close with my sis nowadays. Last time we used to be very close. But now, due to our busy schedule and due to my crazy self (which I am definitely recovering), we hardly have the time to chat, play and to gossip. However, I want her to know that in my heart, I still love her as much as I do as in the past. Believe it anot, we never once quarrelled before. That ishow solid our relationship is. We are so used to giving and taking, helping one another, shielding each other from the scathing remarks from our MUM! haha... It was really great to rekindle this wonderful relationship again. I hope that from my guidance in her studies, not only will she excel academically, but also become more confident and mentally prepared, not forgetting that these few sessions will definitely improve our relationship.


After the teaching session, I have a date with mum for grocery shopping. Something good happened during lunch. I had a gastronomic appetite, something that hasn't struck me for very long. When I say appetite, I mean having to eat without feeling guilty. I actually called for $5 worth of beef noodle (Generous serving of beef) and then shared a rojak with mum. I also tried a mouthful of Char Kuay Teow from mum. It was a brave attempt for me. It all tasted so fulfilling that I don't feel guilty at all. Furthermore, I feel that there is still some room in my tummy! ok. It is groceries time and I went to help my mum to carry some of them. Yes, this time we really bought full cream milk.


In the afternoon, I went to meet my army friend, who used to be my colleague in 3 Sig. This fellow officer ( like me, a platoon commander), is a damn nice guy. He is really a man of integrity and he really mean what he speaks. Alvin really knows how to give lame jokes and knows when to be serious. LTA F M FU, watch your front! We had a good time walking around and he also treated me subway! We went hunting for snacks and also traded ideas on what to give as a present for my Dad. Oh yes, we also have a plan in mind to go Taiwan (bagpack) durig July. Anyone interested can phone me @ 82286121. We will make sure you spend SGD $1000 there.
We pass by this shop called CHARLOTTE.
How the hell do you pronounce that? Char-Lor-Tee??? Fried bread? Haha we just trying to be lame la. See, I am trying to increase my lameness level.
At Suntec, we were throbbed by a massive throng of young people,screaming and yelling. It was quite a distubing scence. A closer look tells me that someone special is here because everyone is holdingout his or her cam. I did likewise but I was too short. So I hel my cam as high as possible and took a random shot. But I still don't get it. I was damn curious and soI asked a girl standing next to me.
"Hey what goin on?", I asked.
"TWINS!!!!! TWEEEEEEEEEEENS! Do you know Twins are here! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" she yelled at me.
Crazy girls.
I will scream even louder for the day when Jesus come down to Firma Terra again.
Very quickly, It was 545pm.. OOPS... I am late for my class appointment. ok.. So I better leave for raffles place.
18/03 has always been a darling to me. I come to love these bunch of people more and more, even after our schooling years in JC, we still very much keep in contact with one another. The most touching moment was when each one of them came to visit me during my stay in SGH. Even Shera, the busiest girl, came. I love 18/03, that is why I am out there with them to celebrate our belated class birthday. We went to lau par sat to settle our dinner and then head onto pit stop Cafe- A place to relx and playboard game. Again, another huge challenge. I used to equate board games to "bored" games. I can't sit still so this is definitely goingto test my patience. I survived! Not only that, I was complaining when my mum called to say that they are coming to pick me up. I was actually so immersed in the games! ok.. I told myself, it is the interaction that matters the most. 18/03 rocks!
Kinda wasted, because actually someone that I was hoping could come did not appear. Nevermind, there is always another day!
Ok it is pretty late now... or rather early in the morning. Still have to rise and shine soon. so I will end here with my food dairy...
Breakfast: Eggs, 2 slices of bread and luncheon meat(with cheese)
Snack: milk
Lunch: Beef noodles soup+ rojak
Snack: pancake+soy milk
snack(ii):Subway mini tuna sub
Dinner: Ban Mee and satay(5 sticks)
Supper: Milk with weetbix

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Another $250!

Yeah.. although I keep emphasising that money is not the thing that drives my passion for teaching, I am rather happy to receive today's pay. Why? Because I am very sure I deserve it and I had taught her well. I am very confident that she will do well for her exams! This tutee, her name: Kathy, is truely hardworking and very serious with her work. I can see that she is making the effort. I must really thank Elsa for her recommendation. Kathy, you can do it ya?

Today is a happy day! Sound usual right. But the fire in me is not simmering. Just like what Ms Boon said, you must keep improving; You need to have a target.

-->My target is to really be the Darren that I've used to be.

I was actually commented by Dr Ng this afternoon as he said that I have been managing my cells pretty well. Glad to hear that! At least my hard work and effort of coming back on weekends payoff!

ok now for the Food Diary:

Breakfast: Two slices of bread+ seaseme spread+salmon and cheese spread
Snack: Muslei
Lunch: Chicken noodle
Snack: Milk
Dinner: Egg+ prawn+Stirred fried veg+ rice+soup
Supper: peanut butter bread-one slice and yogurt

What A busy Lab day!!!!!!!

Wha! I've never been so busy before...

4 hours straight in the lab--> doing 3 experiments in one go.. Of course you need to plan how to stagger your experiments. So I started out very early... I thought I was the earliest..... but guess what, See Jye was there too at 810am! wha.. He want to fight with me for the queue of the CEDEX machine.

So tiring man.. I almost did a wrong thing.. which is to put my "promoted" batch of sample into the same incubator. Then I quickly shifted them to the shaking incubator... "phew.."

After that. I went to collate my results from the CEDEX machine. WHa!!! What the.... The number of dead cell was tremendous.

Second Harvest
Batch 1
Date: 20/3/08
**with 1.5X dilution

I
ID
IDP
IDA
IDPA
Viable
7.80E+04
2.87E+05
2.56E+05
4.30E+04
5.80E+04
Total
3.66E+05
7.17E+05
4.25E+05
3.99E+05
3.77E+05
Viability
21.40%
40.10%
60.20%
10.70%
15.30%
Agg
7.9
10.2
28.2
2.8
7.7
Std Dev
1.34
2.25
2.05
1.02
1.2
Actual Viability
1.17E+05
4.31E+05
3.84E+05
6.45E+04
8.70E+04
Remarks
Cycle shorten
6 Well
6 Well
same
same

At first look.. I got a shock. But then I realised that it is only natural.. Furthermore I forgot to time 1.5 due to the dilution. How come so blur???
Basically, I've got my batch split up into 3, which basically more work and more overtime.. Have to come back on saturdays and sundays..

Oh Dr Ng is back but he gotta rush off for some meeting. Haiz. Later I will report to him... Too busy man! OK I better go and prepare my enzymes for ELISA>>>> no time to waste!
Bye

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Good friends are hard to find

Just ended a small chat with Josephine. I must say I didn'y really get to interact with her during my JC years and only get to talk better wit her after the "incident. Perhaps, as a future occupational therapist, she is one who can really dig deep into what I am feelingand really empathise me. Yup, she is a good friend that I will cherish. I will never forget her words of encouragement to me!

Oh yes... Food diary time!

Breakfast: A piece of bread with two slices of ham+ a cup of milk with some oats
Snack: Musli
Lunch: Mee Sua soup+ soy milk
Snack: Delifrance: half a ham and cheese foccacia+ half almond crossaint
Dinner: Pan fried fish with garlic parmasean cheese sauce+ cabbage+ Tofu and braised peanuts
Supper: Yougurt with granola


Wonder - full :P

Nitez!

Appointment with one of my most respected Woman

Today is a short work day for me. Hey not that I am trying to escape from work ok! I am not malingering! I can't express how much I love my job now! Although the work is pretty repetitive and draggy, it is the subtle changes and elements of unexpectancy that catches my enthusiasm. I love to analyse what happened. That is the tedious part and the scientific part of it! I must thank the Lord for is beautiful arrangement for me to carry my passion in science,albiet not my sbject of interest. Skill is what I acquired and attitude is what I endeared upon. From the day I left SGH to resume my service to BTI, I took my job seriously and often get a sense of accomplishment for my commitment towards research and responsiblity that is entrusted to me by my supervisor.




Just yesterday I took picture with this french girl....

Funny with the goggles on right?


HAHA! In Level 3 lab, there is only me Qian Qian and her that is available. The rest are all at Bintan. Wonder how they are doing.
Very quickly, I diluted my Antibody capture by 8000 time to yield 250ng/ml. Then spend my tie coating the ELISA plate and then put in the fridge to be kepy overnight.
Very quickly, it was 11am and my parents came to fetch me to SGH. See my parents are so nice! They took time out to send mearound and to hear what the doctors have to say. Today I met Ms Boon. She is one of the woman that I truely respect. Patient, courteous, bold and fascinating! She is an open and candor person. You can expect a lot of truths and decent comments from this psychologist. Hey being a Psychologist is not easy ok... and being a friendly one is even more onerous. I used to disregard psychologist but now it is the reverse. They are more then "Aunt Agony" but are meticuluos character analyst and emotional supporter. Empathy is what characterises them. Ms Boon is one cheerful psychologist that I will never let down. I promise her to keep a food diary. So will resume it again!
I was watching the Ellen show just now. It was a very very long time since I watch variety shows and I actually enjoyed it?!? They show is a jolly mix of incredible people, stories, cooks and very very wierd stuff... like the Hawayian Chair. Something like osim bouncy chair. Then, there is one boy that is featured in the show who could play the game Guitar Hero like a freak... and he is only 12 years old. (got Girlfriend somemore). Talking about girlfriend, it is time for me to stretch my area of operation wider to hunt for more potential candidates. Sounds mean.... haha!
ok. I am handling a few maths question now.. Can't wait for tml. Because it will be a very Very VERY busy day! Got tuition in the evening too!
relax now ya?

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Lonely lab and office

Why is math suddenly so interesting to me! Haha. Last night, I was really intrigued by the definition of flux and circulation and the relationship with Green's theorem. I spent two solid hours reading and digesting the splendor of the theory. Haha, actually dreamt of it while sleeping. I was thinking maybe in future I might discover the fourth spatial dimension by using Gauss's Law.

Ok don't be disturbed by my wierd dreams---- At least it is not those kind of dirty dreams ok!

Today IS the Usual Elisa expt. So much time is spent on this... Please give me good results ok?

Haha. No supervisors around today... Sneaky... Can have a longer lunch break. Nevertheless, I still rush back to office to resume my experiment trail. See responsibility ok! Qian Qian is also as sneaky as me! haha.. Today she offered me some rose tea.. So nice of her! Today I also get to know a french girl working in the same lab as me. Gave her the easter egg choc yesterday. She is really amiable.

Without anyone in office, we assumed we are the biggest around. so we decided to end our work early!HAha. I left office at 5pm, to meet mum at kovan at 6pm to help her with the groceries. Wow.. we bought a lot of goodies. I am just happy to see mum this happy. My happiness is founded on my mum's mood.

Oh this afternoon, I actually had a nice chat with dad over the phone. I really love and respect Dad more and more. It seems like lady luck is by his side too.. Got another job interview! Hope that Dad can get a less taxing job that pays as well as the curent one.

Now I spending my time analyzing the data collected for the experiment. Hoping to impress Dr NG... Yup ok.. bye bye!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Great week ahead ok!

Hey hey... Last night I had a good lesson (self taught) on vector calculus, on the topic of flux and circulation. Tonight I'm gonna touch on Green's thoerem. Heehee... Sounds fun...

Ok what I've learnt:

As a mathematical concept, flux is represented by the surface integral of a vector field,

The surface has to be orientable, i.e. two sides can be distinguished: the surface does not fold back onto itself. Also, the surface has to be actually oriented, i.e. we use a convention as to flowing which way is counted positive; flowing backward is then counted negative.
The surface normal is directed accordingly, usually by the right-hand rule.
Conversely, one can consider the flux the more fundamental quantity and call the vector field the flux density.
Often a vector field is drawn by curves (field lines) following the "flow"; the magnitude of the vector field is then the line density, and the flux through a surface is the number of lines. Lines originate from areas of positive divergence (sources) and end at areas of negative divergence (sinks).
See also the image at right: the number of red arrows passing through a unit area is the flux density, the curve encircling the red arrows denotes the boundary of the surface, and the orientation of the arrows with respect to the surface denotes the sign of the inner product of the vector field with the surface normals.
If the surface encloses a 3D region, usually the surface is oriented such that the outflux is counted positive; the opposite is the influx.
The divergence theorem states that the net outflux through a closed surface, in other words the net outflux from a 3D region, is found by adding the local net outflow from each point in the region (which is expressed by the divergence).
If the surface is not closed, it has an oriented curve as boundary. Stokes' theorem states that the flux of the curl of a vector field is the line integral of the vector field over this boundary. This path integral is also called circulation, especially in fluid dynamics. Thus the curl is the circulation density.

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Why must I punish myself with so much knowledge? Hey That's not punishment. I regard it as a form of relaxation. I love knowing more. now I must make it a habit to revise every week. On top of that, my weekly tuition is a good revision of my A Levels syllabus. Yeah!

Ok man. Today not much of work because I started my lab work pretty early. Now, pipetting is my mastery! haha. Easy la.. Stability is the key!

ok ok.. Going back to lab to incubate my ELISA plate!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

happy Driving...

"beep beep" It's 730am but my brain tells me that I should sleep more man! So I ignored my alarm and let mum be my alarm clock. So my body woke up only at 845am. It was refreshing, bearing in mind that I slept at 1am last night.

Why so late? My family actually went for supper @ T3. The food and shopping at Changi airport terminal 3 was great! We took our time to stroll around B2 and look at what they have to offer. There was a grand fair price mart with lots of unusual stuff in it. There is also a candy empire! WOW! I spent 20 minutes in that shop browsing for sweets and goodies that are unusual to common sight. There's eclipse sweet in cinnamon flavour, lots of jelly beans and nougut, cookies and chips. All so tempting. But I was still quite euphoric about the taste of chocolate ever since I took my rare bite of easter choco this afternoon. I almost forgot the taste of chocolate. I always eat sugar free,fat free stuff and then chocomilk. But I 've never tasted REAL chocolate for a very long long time.


Ok ok.. Some pics at T3:




Oh what we ate? I treat my pa too POPEYE's Crispy Chicken. Yes I manage to slavage some pieces of meat before dad gobbled them up! haha. I

bought my fav Mr bean pancake and soy milk, and then I bought a miserable diluted bowl of peanut cream. Cheeze... I shouldn't have gotten that. not worth the money and my appetite.

Now, back to today's event. Morning: breakfast with news as usual. Any catchy news... not really. Mostly about taxis and American $$. Oh yeah.. and an article about children being disturbed mentally nowadays. (Don'y be like me, I hope). More children are getting depressed and are seeking help from IMH. Looks like something is wrong with the neurone pruduction or specialisation nowadays. Must be the food that we are taking in. We have created our own troubles.

Then I head on to the same tuition kid. He really dissapointed me today. I realised that he did not put in effort to revise. I think everyone has the ability to absorb knowledge. This is what I told him. "Wen Jie. I really want to help you to do well but you must play your part too. I guess everyone is able to acquire knowledge but most have the problem of analysing questions and how to express their knowledge to fit the question. As a tuition teacher, I seek to address that problem. Hence,at the first cut, you must be willing to take in the knowledge. I think it is my 4th time talking about acidity and basicity. He still refuse to memorise some of the key concepts. Really. I think I've put in a lot of effort into teaching him. If he refuse to learn, there is none that I can do!

After the tuition, I went to Eunos to have my lunch. Yes the sameplace as yesterday's lunch. Had a good meal and I took bus to ubi driving test centre for my lessons. Wha! I enjoyd my lesson today man! I fully felt so relax in today's driving and I think I've learnt more in a single lesson then in all the lessons with my previous instructor. He taught me the proper parking techniques and he is really patient! I love his tips and tricks!!!

Haha.. I had a nicely created dinner with lots of tomato sauce on my noodle with ricotta cheese. Looks like a chinese/italian infusion meal.

kk. Looks like I've got to end here. Tata. prepare for tml.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Optimizing my weekends

Hey hey.. I slept at 1230am last night and I woke up at 730am this moring.. Still I feel so alive! I really feel so much hearty these days. My weight had certainly increased (I hope in a good way) and I am more confident of my recovery. Wow. Waking up with such a positive mood is really cool. Furthermore, I got to see my wonderful daddy back from work in the morning! He is my MOTIVATOR! I Love My Dad. Really. Sometimes I really wish that time can take on a negative sign. I want to twist the arrow of time so that I can go back to erase all the bad moments I had with my Dad and the bad/irreverent attitude towards him. Come to think of it-->I am Blind.


Let me tell all of you that my dad is really a wonderful person. Selflessness is one of his traits and he is really humble and well-mannered.I must say that Dad, I love you and thanks for motivating meto change int a better person. Moreover daddy, you've changed too (for good of course!) You have become more open and frank towards me and because of this incident, our hearts tend to sync better. Thanks Dad. I wanna give you a good 14th of April surprise!


Ok. Back to the mornings.... Yup. I went to teach my lazy tuition kid at 11am but I extended my lesson time till 130pm. I really want him to do well but ultimately, it al depends on how much effort he puts in. Then my lovely parents picked me up for a munch at Eunos and then send me to Biopolis to tend to my Transfected cells.


Yeah!My cells looks healthy and thriving! Ok so guai.. so I shall give you 1 mL more of media, warmed up specially for you at exactly 37 degrees celsius! Haha. Oh yes and my newly prepared media is sterile! yeah can use le!


After that, I went to NUS open house. Not that cool after all. The same orange handbag and the noisy crowd.
The band was playing one of my fav songs- Starlight, by Muse. After the rock and roll, I went to treat myself with some gelato icecream... yummy durian and vanilla flavour. $4.30 haha
ok ok. I have to head back home. Went to buy some groceries first because mum not feeling well and I don't want her to be lugging groceries. pains my heart... later massage her!
This time, I bought some choc back...something rare huh... Some for me, some for my colleagues on the easter week!
Ok.. Tonight must do something productive. I will be working on some powerpoint later.. hehe see ya!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Patience

The greatest test on earth.. Patience. I was literally sueezed on the MRT carriage. Yes patience. Wait for the cramp to go off just wait. Can't move about. Close your eyes.. wait wait wait.....
"Outram park Interchange" Oh yeah! Finally! I am out of the sardine-packed carriage. I have two newspapers on my hands, but none of them have been flipped open yet.

Early in the morning, I found myself doing my lab duties. Today was quite interesting! I actually have a chance to show my 'gentlemenliness' by helping Janice with the heavy stuff. Carrying the waste filled carboyl was no joke. After that, we went to fill pipette tips... The ultimate patience test too! Haha. Putting the tips in rows, one by one... Wha.. I really think this is good training for me!

Then I went on to prepare media..

Wha.. First time I prepare so much solution man... 7.2litres in total!

Haha..All for the ELISA expt. Oh yes, next week most of my colleagues will be gone for Bintan Company Presentation/Retreat. So I have to do most of the stuff on my own. On top of that, I have to take over some of the jobs of my colleagues. Damn xiao on ar...Now I have my residence in level 3, 4, 5 labs..!!! No wonder the yo man is gaining back his popularity! (Oh YOMAN!)

I don't regret reqesting Dr Ng to keep me busy.. See I even have to go back to work on saturday! Most importantly, I learnt what is patience and responsibility.

Nevertheless, I really enjoy working in BTI. I keep the documents that I have drafted and the log book that I jot all my expt down. They will be dear to me. It is my HARDWORK! Oh I amthinking of doing a powerpoint presentation of my research work.. That will be very gratifying.

Ok Enough about work. Now about my handphone.... It is back! Hopefully the battery doesn't disappoint me again! But my phone has more added function (free Upgrade!)

Aiyoyo.. Mei Mei is not back home yet.. so late already. Mum is worried!

Ok let's discuss some news article.Oh yes.. Malaysia's Gen election- All I can say is that I am proud of the maturity and sensibility of this election. It is really fairand square. The opposition was given a chance to show their aternative view. I wonder when would Singapore's second voice appear. Must we always vote for security? Indeed, political stability is the buttress for social, economical viability. No doubt, I expect the Malaysia's stock exchange to slump following the election due to the political uncertainty. Look, Selangor and penang have been owned by the opposition. Rules gonna change. Can investors trust them? Hard to say man.

ok I am going to explore more of my phone! Bye Bye!