Lesson of the day:
When all has been going well, brace yourself for sudden upsets. Beware of undercurrents and navigate carefully in choppy waters.

FYP has consumed my life, and it's really tiring working 10-11 hours a day, nonstop, not counting the ~45mins lunch break that we get. I feel dehydrated, my muscles are aching and the only reason I don't doze off on the job is cos I sleep early nowadays (earlier than school days!) and I have that daily cup of coffee during lunch to thank. Plus I'm too busy to have time to feel tired.

I survived the cold room yesterday without getting frostbite! Take it from me and put on 1 pair of latex gloves and 1 pair of nitrile gloves :D Maybe next week I'll try on 2 pairs of nitrile gloves instead ;)

Yesterday was the record for leaving school at 8.20pm. And for my only passenger falling asleep on me -.- (Hahaha you know who you are :P) Oh and yesterday was the record for lunch at 2.30pm. I was certain I was buying food meant for the dinner crowd.

For now, I better tread carefully, learn to be completely self-sufficient, ask less stupid questions, do less (or don't do!) brainless things......


Oh wells. Lemme go rest for awhile before I go back to analysing my experiment. I spend every waking hour thinking of/doing FYP, and I'm certain sometimes I do dream of it. It's stressful, and the stuff we work with is detrimental to health. Think about the hours we work, like camels without water, the bacteria on every surface, all the stupid corrosive chemicals and neurotoxins, the smelly LB and bacteria.....


My best friend is 70% ethanol. Maybe it's everyone's best friend. M was spraying it on his cut today. How about that! And he said it doesn't hurt hahaha. M, the bionic man who is forever in a good mood, has coffee for lunch, goes kickboxing (?!), innocently tries to help, is always blamed by my shifu whenever there are chemical spills, and tries to learn chinese.


I had a really funny conversation with K today. 异族同包s really make my day.

K: Is urea a salt?
Me: Yes.
K: How do you say urea is a salt?
Me: Urea is a salt.
K: How do you say urea is a salt?
Me: Er. Urea? Urea is a salt. Yup.

*we stare at each other with disbelieving expressions*

Me: Oh! You mean WHY is urea a salt?
K: Ya.
Me: Err...Hmm...I duno. Ask Jo.
Jo: Don't ask me!

*K walks away, probably thinking we're hopeless retards*



At the end of the day, when I finally get to lie down, fatigue washes over every fibre of my being and I feel that the day has not been in vain. Strangely, I don't really dread lab as much as going to school, and there's that sense of accomplishment. I guess when you know what you have to do, how you're going to do it, and that you have to do it, and time is so tight, you really feel the pressure and the drive to do it. But I wonder how such motivation can last for years for researchers. Mine is like a 3-month adrenaline boost, complete with turbo. But I think I'll sizzle and die out if I continue at the current pace in the long run. This week I've started multi-tasking, combining 2-3 days' worth of work into 1, and the only limiting factor is time for growth of the cultures. Oh yes, and limited resources. Thanks to stingy boss and poor lab facilities. I no longer count down the time to lunch or to going home, only counting down the time for me to carry out the next step or to use the equipment. And time really flies too. The sky changes colour throughout the day while we're working in the lab and before long it's dark.


Results will be out on Friday but somehow I don't feel anything. Not much impact, compared to the magnitude, perceived or not, of what I'm currently doing. What's done is done, and these are the results for my last sem, so I guess there's no point worrying. The only thing I can think of now is FYP! But I refuse to start on my thesis yet! Hahaha.

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