Another LS day
Been feeling bloated for days. The stomach big and round. I did not dare to weigh myself cos I noe I will tip the scale, like Garfield. Self delusion. Haha. Finally, I had a few rounds of LS. Think the trigger was the milo. I dunno whether I am being overly suspicious. Whenever I drink the last packet of milo (they come in bundles of six), I get LS. Coincidence? Some unknown forces of nature? Anyway, LS is a quick solution to fix the tummy problem. Felt better. The worst part was that my stomach was churning while I was at work. Cell culture day. So was in my labcoat with gloves at the biological safety cabinet when I felt the first waves of stomachache. Had to quickly remove my labcoat and rush to the toilet. Kinda embarrassing. But after that, all is well.
Idea to product
Out of 3000 ideas, hundred will evolved into ten major projects of which only one will become a product. It is so amazing that people, just like you and me, can come up with such brilliant ideas and eventually turn them into marketable products. Haven you ever thought of inventing something? I think it is an extremely satisfying moment to see people who appreciate and use the product one has invented.
Why am I suddenly talking about ideas and inventions?? Cos I was so inspired after the idea to product competition. This is the first time the competition is held in Asia. The main competition will take place in Texas at the end of the year. So the organizer is actually selecting teams from Asia for the international competition.
Some of the ideas include transparent braces, wireless storage device, mobile gaming by movement of the phone itself etc. The teams actually have patented their inventions!! Totally kool. Imagine holding a patent to something. Anyway, besides having brilliant ideas, the teams need to sell their ideas. That is where presentation skills come in. Most of the presentations were very clear and a layman like me could understand. Simple and informative is what presentations should be. I will be having a presentation soon. Stressed. To the big boss and other colleagues. Will keep in mind to have a simple presentation.
So who won? The team from Singapore with their transparent braces. Aesthetic market is HUGE. Everyone wanna look good. Big money if the product does take off.
Coincidence and arranged meetings
It’s my day off again. Cos I am working on Sunday. So wat great plans do I have today? Meeting dawang after like so many months. Haven seen her for long. We are all busy in our own ways with work. Work, work and more work. Cyclical.
We arranged to meet at Far East Plaza to shop. Before that, I decided to do a bit of my own shopping. Wanted to buy something for my kid. It’s children’s day soon. On teachers’ day, she gave me a present. But I din really like the present. It was a photoframe. I dun like receiving photoframes cos I dislike having to cut my photos into funny shapes to fit the frame. A gift is still a gift though. It’s the thought that counts. I liked her previous gift which was a pencil case. I like useful presents.
In the end, I bought more stuff for myself. OG is having some anniversary sale. However, I did not have sufficient time to shop for more stuff. Felt like splurging. I quickly made my way to far east plaza to meet dawang. I was already late!! But dawang could entertain herself by shopping in this fashion.
We walked around, chatting and trying on shoes. I love to buy shoes. But the cheapo shoes I bought do not seem to last. They spoil very easily. Was wondering if expensive shoes will last though cos they are made to walk so many miles. It was great meeting up with old frens. Feel so deprived lately. :(
While I was on my way to the mrt station, I actually met C. C was the one who called my name. It was really a surprise cos we were not very close frens in uni. We had a small chat before we parted ways. Guess even aloof looking people can be friendly. This proves once again that pharmacists are nice people.
ktv galore
Yay. More ktv. I like to sing and sing and sing. It’s fun lah. But the other day I heard on the radio that the ktv in Taiwan is very shiok. Free flow of drinks plus each room has its own toilet. Wow such cool facilities and services. Must go there one day. If ever I have leave and there are frens who are interested in visiting Taiwan.
So who did I go with this time? Since everyone seems to be unavailable. The one who is still in school. It’s the four day term break. Haha. The one which was initially a week and got scraped. Finally it was reinstated to a four day break. This was the conversation that I had with my ktv companion:
P: Wah Britney is so hot man. Must watch more of her mtvs. The last one we watched was toxic. And she was HOT.
Me: Yeah lor. So hot. She always gropes herself. Such hot dance moves.
P: Must find her newer mtv. More hot.
Me: We always go ktv and watch her mtvs. Must sing too lah.
Haha this conversation sounds like one between two horny teenage boys. But it’s actually between two gals!! Me and Princess S. So Princess S went to search through all the alphabets, trying to find hot Britney mtvs. But still unable to find the supposedly newer ones. We settled for the older mtvs and ended up scrutinizing her abs. Not that toned enough compared to beyonce. But still hot.
No hot dates?
I thought we could get together this week after the girls had their vivas. But I guess it was not meant to be. Something cropped up somehow. It made me sick of trying to organize an outing. Last minute someone had to do something by a certain deadline, so cant go out. Erm maybe it's because most of them will get to meet during the sessions they have at ncc. But I dun get to meet up with anyone. Then in that case if I wanna see any of my frens, I will have to organize an outing. Which seems to take forever since everyone is available at different times. Anyway, I wont let this spoil my mood. I will still go out. I can still meet up with people who are free.
Ban mian
My favourite ban mian cannot be found around Holland market. So I finally satisfied my craving for it this weekend. It came with a half-cooked egg. Double yummy. I love half-cooked eggs with the yolk oozing out when you poke the egg.
Actually I still cannot believe not a single stall in the market at Holland sell ban mian! It’s such a common dish and well-liked by many. Or am I mistaken? Instead, this market has many drinks stalls. Once you get seated, the stall vendors will pop by to ask wat you wanna drink. Usually I just ignore them cos I have my favourite drinks. Only barley and soya bean drink from two particular stalls. In the past, I did not order drinks to go with my food. But nowadays it seems weird if you do not order any since the rest of pple will order drinks. So peer pressure and I end up buying drinks too. But I try to stick to healthier choices. No soft drinks.
Are we frens?
Would you store a fren’s hp no on your hp? I thot that would definitely be yes, unless? I was exploring possibilities to this question after wat had happened today. Two parallel events took place.
This being my cell culture day, I had no time to go out to makan. Therefore, I asked a fellow colleague, XX, to buy lunch for me. She said that she was meeting someone from another lab for lunch and was not sure where they would be going. But she said she would call me.
Back at the lab downstairs where I was doing my cell culture work, CY came along.
CY: Do you have XX’s hp no?
Me: Yeah.
(I proceeded to show him the no.)
I thot it would be strange if I said no since I shared the same work area as her.
After lunch time, XX came and looked for me.
XX: I did not buy you lunch. We went to the café downstairs to eat. I did not store your hp no on my phone. You wan me to go to the food court to buy for you?
Me: (Shocked that she did not store my hp no) Er, it's ok. I will go and grab some food when I am done.
Why din she have my phone no? That was so strange. I even sms-ed her before??!! I tried to come up with a few possibilities:
The SIM and phonebook were full. No place for my no.
she accidentally deleted all her contacts.
her phone was spoilt and did not have my no. after the repair (it had happened to me before)
since she was using a borrowed phone, her fren forbade her to store new hp nos
she did not consider me a close fren.
I really hoped it’s not 5. cos I have considered her as one of my closer frens at work. Maybe I shall go and ask her why directly?
Free bowling
I finally got a strike on the final chance of the last game. Plus it was two strikes in a row. Wow. Previously were a few spares only. But the total score was not fantastic lah. Only like 150 plus for two games. It was fun though. Gotta eat free mooncakes. They were really good, especially the green tea flavour. They came with egg yolks too. I like egg yolks. Slurp.
Feel that bowling is a game which requires you to focus. If you focus on the pin in the middle, chances are that you will throw a good ball. So if we focus on wat we want in life, we can achieve the target? Provided there are no distractions along the way.
The bowling balls all lined up. My favourite is the number 8 ball. The rest are just too heavy.
The West Bowl at West Coast Recreation Centre. Can see my lane? Lane 12. We were initially in lane 2 but the balls refused to roll back. So we had to migrate.
Mozzies, ma and me
I told my ma I kept a blog. She was so excited and said I should write about interesting things, then I can get famous. Oh please, I did not start a blog to get famous. It was an avenue to vent my frustration and keep my frens updated on my miserably boring life (with occasional highlites only).
My ma suggested I write about mozzies. Singapore’s fight against dengue cos it’s a hot topic.
Me: It’s too serious. Why blog about such serious stuff?
Ma: It’s a hot topic mah. Then more people can read your blog and you can become famous.
Me: People write about interesting things or racy stuff. Not serious stuff.
Ma: You can educated people on how to keep mozzies at bay. Also can benefit people mah.
Me: I refuse to talk to you any further.
This was a summary of the conversation I had with my ma. She is so fired up by the dengue fever fight. And wanted to give her two cents’ worth on this issue. The reason is that we are fighting the mozzies at home too. Cos for some unknown reason, I attract mozzies. I am like the only one at home who gets bitten by the horrid bloodsuckers. My frens who go on bbq with me can testify to this. I am like their protective shield.
Currently, we live on the third floor. So the mozzies can fly into our flats. I always think that mozzies cannot fly too high unless they take the lift? Or is there anyone out there who lives on higher floors but get mozzie bites? To save me from the bites, my ma has painstakingly taped a net over the open windows so that the mozzies cannot fly in. It seems to work a bit since there are fewer bites on me nowadays. At nite, I use an insect repellent to ward off the bloodsuckers. However, sometimes they are not that effective. Then I will be awakened by the itch from the bites. And I will be totally grouchy the next day. Let’s fight the mozzies!
Sucker for romance
I am a sucker for romance shows and books. Why do I like them? Cos they are some kind of fantasy and not realistic. You dun get such guys in real life. Guys who will pamper you and give up everything for you. I have just watched a show starring Tony Leung and Shu Qi. I think Shu Qi is so hot!!! I feel compelled to watch her in all her shows as she has such stage presence. Tony Leung too. His eyes can electrify you. Such charisma. Swoon. In this movie, Shu Qi thinks that Tony Leung is a gigolo but actually, he is a super billionaire (though miserly). He finds it hard to find someone who loves him, not his money. So he is amused that Shu Qi thinks he is poor and gives him money for posing as her boyfren. Plus, this means she really loves him, not his money. Anyway, all's well ends well.
Another show I am hooked on is stairways to heaven. Although it is almost the same as winter sonata. I already know the plot but I am watching for the devoted guy. The Korean guys are all depicted as so devoted and have eyes for that particular gal only.
Channel u is showing another romance starring Takuya Kimura. He is a bad boy in the drama but falls for a good gal. Bad boys are so attractive in show. Bad image but has a good heart. Melts....
What is a blog? What is a friend?
Initially started a blog so that I could post photos on my own website and keep in touch with my frens. But actually was wondering if anyone bothers to read and keep in touch nowadays. Sick of initiating outings and kena rejected. Not free leh….Erm if someone says not free, at least must give a reason then it’s acceptable. I am totally envious of a colleague who meets up with her frens from jc every week!!!! Guess this is how you keep a friendship going? Or even a simple sms to say hi will do? I know I sound very duh and petty. But still, I treasure my frens and wanna see them. Work does not equate to all work and no play. Time can be channeled out somehow?
Day off!!
Yay!!! Day off. Can rest. Slept till late in the morning again. So shagged.
Thanks to my wonderful brother who helped me taped the repeat of “Project Superstar”, I got to watch it finally! It’s strange that whatever show that I want to watch, I usually do not manage to catch it. I remember that I wanted to watch tian mi mi by leon lai and Maggie cheung but I was having my exams. Plus when the show was repeated, I fell asleep on the sofa cos I was too exhausted.
In the afternoon, I went to the library to return books. Din manage to finis the book, “A short history of nearly everything”. I decided I should just borrow comic books. Entertaining and less words. Then, I can finish the books on time. Since there was still time before dinner, I took the train down to bugis. Shopping!!! But was disappointed that I did not see anything I like. Okie lor, save money.
The cells are fine!!
The cells are fine. Thankfully. The cell count is low but at least the viability is still high. I din kill them yet. Phew. It was another long day in the lab on a Sunday. Left at around seven plus. Actually met EY, my ex-classmate, now junior cos he went overseas for attachment. Such a small world. He was going back to his hostel to discuss pharm pract cases. Haha I remember those days when we had to meet up so often to discuss these cases. Plus those last minute editing. Adrenaline rush….Well, we survived anyway.
A series of unfortunate events part two
Oh my goodness. How could I have done such a stupid thing!!! I am almost a murderess. I was supposed to seed the cells on Thursday to a cell density of 3E+05 per mL to a total volume of 20 mL. But I forgot it was 20 mL and I seeded according to 5 mL. which means I underseeded the cells by 4 times. Argh….
It was really a black Thursday. Though I have only heard of Friday the thirteenth. Will know on Sunday if their viabilities remain high. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Besides the unfortunate event, everything was fine. I was actually looking forward to Friday since there was a hot date. Haha. Having a farewell dinner for one of the attachment students at Swensens. So after work, we proceeded to Orchard. Tried the salmon mushroom baked rice. Din really like it due to the fishy salmon taste. Salmon sashimi is much better-without fishy scent. Another disappointment was that there was no free flow ice-cream at this branch. The one in Holland V has a sign saying something like that. Where got such a good deal?? Probably it's a limited choice of flavours. I haven checked it out yet.
A series of unfortunate events
I wanted to leave for work early so that I could make it back home to watch the superstar singing finals. Guess what happened? U r rite. I din manage to catch the show except for the last few minutes when Kelvin was proclaimed the winner. Sad ah. To think that I was an avid follower of the show. L
The series of unfortunate events occurred as soon as I stepped out of the house. While I was at the traffic light, I saw my shuttle bus 187 (to lakeside mrt station) leave without me cos I was on the other side of the road. Soon, I could see another 187. I thought to myself: better jaywalk then can catch the bus or I will have to wait for some time since two buses had left. So, I dashed across the road and flagged for the bus. The st***d bus uncle just drove on without stopping. @#$%^#@$ I felt so embarrassed that I hopped onto the bus 334 which was behind. Imagine running for a bus with the people at the bus stop looking at you and you did not catch it, what will you do?
When I was seated, I thought: 334 also can take me to another mrt station ie jurong east. Ok lor. Usually, it will take around twenty minutes if the road conditions are fine. I can still be early for work. Alas, things did not go as I thought. The st***d bus auntie was driving at a snail's pace. The bus was practically crawling. And today, the school kids din even have school. The road conditions were smooth. But the auntie was very very slow. I could feel my blood boiling….. Anger management. 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6…..
Never mind, things will get better right? No lor. The biopolis bus just left when I was walking on the pavement towards it. It’s ok. Usually I walked to my work office anyway. Once I reached the lab, I looked for my labcoat in the cupboard. Wah, my labcoat was missing!!!! My hanger is still there, but labcoat gone! I started to panick. Cos this labcoat was signed out under my name. Calm down, calm down. Breathe. I searched through the closet again, one labcoat by one labcoat. Eventually I found my labcoat hanging on somebody else’s hanger!! It was later that I found out that the girl had borrowed my labcoat but forgot to hang it back using my hanger.
Ok, now I could begin my cell culture work. For those of you who have forgotten, I have to passage the cells every three days. This involves cell counting, changing media plus harvesting of cells for analysis, cryopreservation, facs etc if required. Initially, I thought I could finish on time since I did not need to harvest cells. Then, we decided to harvest the cells so that there will be less work on Sunday. There are currently 56 cell lines (the newly thawed ones plus those which were not contaminated). Therefore, it is a lot of work.
The work took forever. Time flew by and soon it was six. Then, 7, 8, 9 pm. I only managed to finish the work at 9.50 pm. Broke record again. The previous time was 8 plus. I had even sacrificed my lunch hour. No wonder I am gaining weight due to the irregular meal times. I had dinner at 11 plus tonite. Goodness. Hope tomolo will be a better day. Yeah, it's already morning.
Remnants of the buffet we had at Kuali, Suntec. The place is having a 4 for the price of 3 offer at the moment.Each of us paid 20.45. Ate lotsa sashimi. Slurp. But still not enough. They din replenish more sashimi. =( Cannot publish other fotos of my sec frens cos they requested not to publish their lovely pics. scared get too many admirers. :P
The singer wannabes @ kbox on saturday 27/8. Me and clarice all dressed up.
Second time to k box in a week. First was with luen. For dinner. Very ex. But this time is cheaper cos its k lunch. Muahaha.... We ordered curry chicken. Not very fantastic though.
