I love December! Last Friday, we had some xmas buffet with cheese and wine at 5pm. Ever got a little drunk in the lab? Lol! I did. It was only that day that I realized my colleagues have the same mentality as me. That we should try every wine which is on the buffet table. This ended up with Chuan Sia having a super red face and neck, and me super red ears. And this Friday, we are having another xmas buffet fom 11 am to 3pm! With wine again! We can go home after that. So nice! Got my first bonus too! :D So cool! I can now afford better xmas presents! I feel so discouraged since my queue number for the Hougang 4-room flat is 979 when there are only 610 units! First timers are given twice the chance in the ballot but think we are too unlucky. My cousin and her mum are looking to buy a flat near Serangoon. They also wanna get the same flat as us! I also knew it the last time Cousin talked about it. She said she wants to be my neighbour and will come over to my house everyday until one day the unbearable Simba chase her away. But her queue number is 1369. Omg! Hope we can get a better flat next sales launch. :D I'm going to dye my hair. After so long! After so much persuasion from Simba. :D Have u watched "You Are The Apple of My Eye"? Yes I have! Also watched "Already Famous" directed by Michelle Chong and "Alvin and the Chipmunks 3". Yea, Michelle Chong is awesome! Anyway, I think the theme song of the movie is really nice! And the main lead actor is really cute. Omg. Don't you think so? I'm 3 months into work! The hardworking me at my desk! Hahahahahaha! (Pui Haan asked me to act like I"m very focused at doing my stuff but I can't help but smile! I look so fake!) Pui Haan also used my camera to take a photo of Chuan Sia. That's him and the mice in the cages! And we each have a box of chocolates and this small xmas hat from our German collaborators. Inside this hat were many chocolates too. Chocolates they brought from their country are so different from ours. I love their version more! Much much more! Finally the busy week with the Germans is over and I must say I learn something again. :D And Chuan Sia took about 100 photos of me in order to get 1 ugly photo so that he can email Pui Haan and she can post it up on Facebook. Omg. And sadly, cos Pui Haan said something evil to make my expression dull and her accomplice, Chuan Sia, took that ugly shot of me. So sad! Can they not annoy me just for one day? And that's me with the 3 bullies in our office. Pui Haan, me, Kar Perng and Chuan Sia. We are all 24 years old! Do we all have the SCIENCE look? LOL. At the first look, u may think that I'm the only girl in the picture but look again! :D Pui Haan likes to keep short hair but she is a girl! Have been hanging out with them too much. Omg! Overdose of each of them. But I'm really glad that I felt very comfortable with them. So comfortable that I will keep saying to them, "你们好烦!!!" Sometimes I wonder how old they are when: Pui Haan taps me on my shoulder from the back and pastes stickers on my hair. Chuan Sia types "I am a pig" on my computer. Kar Perng keeps chanting "cheese and wine" once the clock strikes 5pm and our 4pm talk still hasn't end. This is another photo of us, this time in the lecture hall. Our supervisor took this photo using her camera and emailed us this photo. In her email, she stated, "Hello boys and gals, here is your "gang" photo." Lols! I like the way she calls us boys and gals. Sounded as if we are kids. I have gotten feedbacks from these 3 bullies that I smiled awkwardly. They said I should smile with my teeth shown. U think so? One friend told me not to show my vampire teeth when I smile and she thought that looks better. I'm so confused now. Told my colleagues I will smile the way they want me to next time and make the smile more natural. After being a little drunk that day due to the Cheese and Wine session, Simba wanted to go Waraku for dinner. We ate the Xmas dinner set that includes wine. Lol. Yes, definitely a painful dinner for me! Caught a piece of evidence that he was playing his Tiny Tower on iTouch again! Lol. I think the game is very addictive since it was rated Top 1 iPhone App. When he said, "Hey look!" I forgot what he was pointing at anyway. Lol! He has grown fatter and was very worried about it. Hence, he decided to slim his face down by making long faces. It's me with the horrifying white wine. Our raw smoked salmon. It was meant for 2 to eat but I'm afraid of eating raw stuff, so poor Simba stuffed everything on that plate down his stomach. His smoked duck with spagetti. Nice! Our big dessert that made us really full. But it's really heaven! It's chocolate banana fudge cake. And it's me with my beef steak. Cute! I'm still loving xmas! Merry Xmas everyone!
Today as my senior colleague was busy, he wont be able to help me catch mice for my measurements. I caught six of them one by one, made them breathe in some anesthetics and took measurements the whole day. But one died as I may have suffocated it with too much cotton wool. :( Although all mice will be killed by my colleague right after my measurements and the time that I accidentally killed it was just right for further analysis, I feel so bad. He killed 5 and I killed 1 today. And he said as soon as I get my license, I should kill all on my own. My supervisor was amazed that I'm not afraid of mice. Lol! I said I was amazed too! I realized maybe Simba influenced me to like animals. I like to put them onto beds, cover them with blankets and stroke them. I feel bad that I have to kill hundreds next year. :( I promise to be more gentle tomorrow.
Hi dears! My colleague says I suffer from Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Do I? Maybe u won't think so until u work with me. Lols. She said it can get more and more serious if I am unaware of it.
For your info from Wikipedia:
Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency. The primary symptoms of OCPD can include preoccupation with remembering and paying attention to minute details and facts, following rules and regulations, compulsion to make lists and schedules, as well as rigidity/inflexibility of beliefs and/or exhibition of perfectionism that interferes with task-completion. Symptoms may cause extreme distress and interfere with a person's occupational and social functioning. Okie, maybe a little! Lols. I think this disorder is contagious. Simba passes it to me! Haha! Well.. I still think it's not hard to work with me. Hahaha. At least I hope so! Oh no! I like a dress from ASOS. It costs ~SGD$250! I have to refrain myself from looking at it everyday at the web. Hahahaha! Good luck to me! (I promise myself and you my friend that I will save $1,000 per month, which is not considered difficult since I have income from giving tuition too.)
I have a very strong feeling about wanting to buy a book! "Hard Truths to keep Singapore Going". :D Simba has been hurrying me to post an entry here. He said I haven't been faithfully blogging ever since I started working. So today he wanted me to go home early to blog for my faithful readers, you guys! Working drains my energy away. Hahaha! But it has made me a much happier spender! Hahahaha! Here is how: Went to the "Ruins of Titanic Exhibition" at the ArtScience Museum. It was fascinating, I tell u! I love every bit of it. Locals have a 15% discount. The entrance ticket for us Singaporeans is $20 instead of $24. I only ate a little bit of my lunch and so we went for some cupcakes before going to the museum. Simba took me to Twelve Cupcakes Cafe at Millenium Walk. Millenium Walk is one of Simba's favourite places to go since he used to work part time there and has since fall in love with that place. Sometimes, I think he's strange. Lols! I chose the Rainbow Vanilla Cupcake. It was heavenly I promise! I always have a prejudice against cupcakes and muffins. Simply said, I don't really like them. But in order to not turn down Simba's choice I decided to give it a try. And wow it didn't disappoint me. One cupcake costs $3! Simba was considering about buying 11 of them back for his colleagues as xmas treats. Makes me wanna buy for mine too! Great xmas gift idea! If u like it soft and creamy, u are just like me! U will love these cupcakes. But the Iced Latte is kind of diluted. Try it at your own risk! Love the colorful and happy menu. ;) Nice high heels. And we entered the exhibition. No photography was allowed in there. I was very disappointed. I brought an extra battery for my camera in case it runs out of one. I promised Simba not to break the rules but told him I will just hang the camera on my neck and may accidentally take one or two photos. No one in the museum was taking photos and I didn't dare to at first. I secretly took a few photos using my iphone and showed Simba. He felt that I have violated the rules and kept telling me to delete them. And after a while, I have mastered the courage of taking the camera hung over my neck and take this first shot. Of course Simba unwillingly posed for it. Lols. This is the first class cabin of Titanic. Titanic was then the largest ship that was built and was aimed to provide the most luxurious facilites and sturdy structure for the passengers. It was claimed to be "practically unsinkable". It looks very grand and impressive I must say. First class passengers at that time had to pay about $2,000 (about $500,000 current value). Only opulent people could afford such tremendous amount of money. Or should i say atrocious! I know, it's crazy. While this is the third class cabin where 4 strangers slept together in the same cabin. It was cramped but still provided better facilities than the 3rd class cabins of other ships. Real mattresses were supplied instead of straws. However, only 2 bathtubs were available and had to be shared among 700 third class passengers. Hence they resorted to bathing once a week. The elegant staircase where first class passengers mingled on. The hallway to many cabins. Titanic sank on 15th April 1912. Felt my eyes go watery when I read about the individual disaster victims. There should be 32 lifeboats on board to cater to the 2,200 passengers but there were in fact only 16. And all the lifeboats weren't at full capacity when they sped off from Titanic. Many men died as priority to go into lifeboats was given to women and children. Many men waved goodbye to their wives and children while they stayed on board. 1,500 died while 700 survived. Laws were then enforced on giving training to the staff on dealing with cases like this and placing adequate lifeboats on board. This was a painful lesson to learn from. The ruins left behind by the wreck was only recovered lately. Submarines were sent to the deep oceans and divers suffered hardships to dive in the deep seas which have little oxygen and light. I'm surprised that over 100 years, thousands of things were still properly conserved underwater. One of such is some perfume samples. They still have a strong scent even till now. A kind tourist volunteered to help us with this photo! SO nice! And another tourist volunteered to take few photos for us. He set different camera functions to suit the scenery. Wow! Some stranger knows my camera better than me. Tourists are really nice! Went to Singapore Flyer for dinner. Had Bah Kut Teh. Tasted great! Everything there has a vintage feel to it. Look at the cup with such an oriental design! He tried a new bottled drink. Tasted like chocolate milk though. Yes, I'm not adventurous. Still Fanta Orange gives the safest taste. Cute reindeer! I have to do something silly by the end of the day. This necklace is what I bought as a sovenir from the Exhibition. This necklace was popular in the Titanic era and it costs $39! Omg! I'm a big spender. Bought something in Titanic era for Miao as my xmas gift for her from this souvenir shop too! I have bought 4 xmas gifts for my friends and spent about $120~ Faints! Still I had fun shopping for them. If u kept on searching, u will eventually find something they like. Cool! Still 3 more gifts to go! Merry Merry Xmas my dears!
I wanna go diving! My newfound idea! :D My colleague loves diving and after hearing from him how beautiful the ocean is at those small islands he went to, I wanna go diving too! I wanna touch the fishes! Hahahaha. I am sure Simba won't mind going with me. Will be very busy this month with work~! But it's getting interesting cos our overseas collaborators are coming to teach us how to place implants into the mice's bodies. You know, with some work experience, I may be able to apply for PhD studies, skipping Masters. Sometimes, I think about it. Other times, I think I am crazy. When u reach Research Fellow level, u own a lab, supervise and life will be easier. Lol! Must be that my supervisor, the Senior Scientist, who is too nice, has made everyone in the lab so nice. She made me wanna be like her. LOL.
After my old camera spoil since Simba's birthday 2 months back, I didn't really take many photos as before! My phone goes out of batt easily and Simba's is an army phone (Not allowed to bring in camera phones in his workplace!). But.. But.. But.. Welcome the birth of my new Canon IXUS 230HS on 27th Nov 2011! Guess what color I chose! So many many pretty colours. Almost can't make up my mind. All of them have a shiny finish which I really like! My old camera has quite abit of flaws. I'm good at trembling while holding the camera and the result will always be a blurred photo. And when the lightning at certain restaurant is too strong, all our faces turn yellow! But now now no more shaky photos! The resolution is higher too. Love it love it! It comes with a pretty checkered pouch too. With a colorful strap. I like I like! Here are some first few photos I took wih my new camera: My proudest photo! So in love with my new camera! :D
I went for "Run For Hope" run. My first 2km run! Lol. Signed up with all my colleagues. (Okie, I only have 3.) One decided not to go since he thinks he won't be able to wake up in time. The other, a female colleague, whom I wanna walk the 2km with said she would go out late the night before and so she won't go the next morning. This left me and 1 male colleague! I admitted that I had the urge not to go too! Felt very embarrassed to walk alone since my colleague will run so fast! And that night I msged Simba if he could accompany me and he said okie! He gave me a morning call the next morning at 6am and guided me to Bedok Jetty. We were late by 5 minutes and everyone had began running! We joined in and he walked with me. Hahahahahahaha! So nice! We only realized that we went for the 10km run instead when we did not see the finishing line at 2km. Lol. Walked for another km and I felt like fainting (I didn't take any breakfast!), so we made a turn for Burger King and hoped nobody saw us~ Anyway, every 80 cents each runner donated goes to cancer research! Simba and I became very health-conscious since I started working in the Cancer Centre. I attended lectures on Singaporean cancers and discovered the horrifying statistics! 1 in 4 Singaporeans develop cancer in the time of their lives. 1 in 3 of those die of cancer. This trend is rising at 8% per year. Singaporeans have such high possibility of developing cancer cos we not only are prone to Asian cancers, we are also tend to develop Western cancers since we are going more and more westernized. We eat french fries and burgers too. Omg, dear friends, please take care of yourself! Cut down on fried food and beers. :D While I was at NTU doing experiments, my colleagues over at NCC lied to me that I failed my Safety Course. 94% has passed the test and I didn't??? I was at first sure that they must have been too bored and want to trick me. Then I started to doubt myself. Omg.. For several minutes until they admit that they lied. I must be more confident of myself!~
A friend, a Sales Engineer, whom I have not met for a year came to meet the Research Procurement Executive at NCC and I saw him on the way to buy coffee. I was struggling to stay awake. Lol! I was definitely not slacking. :D The most memorable statement he made today, "Huh u can do research! Oh no I worry for the future of Singapore!" Hahaha. Kept me laughing for few minutes. I really like frank, in a way sarcastic and funny, people.
My PhD went to the symposium in NCC and the first thing she said when she saw me was, "How is everything over there (NCC)? How did they treat u?" I'm so touched!~ Omg! It sounded like I went to prison and she came to visit me. Lol! Today I went back to NTU for an experiment and to learn about the new equipment. And saw the Masters student who said that time I graduated, he was doing his thesis and looking at my facebook photos on Hainan Island. And he exclaimed to himself, "Oh! Everyone else is having a great time except me!" LOL. Had a good time catching up with PhDs and the Masters students. I missed them! My PhD encouraged me to stay and develop myself in the Research field for the next 4 years cos she just went to a talk that says Singapore is going to invest 16 Billion in Bioinstrumentation (which happens to be what I'm doing now in NCC) from Year 2012 to 2016. HOW HOW HOW?!!! I only wanna stay in Research till 2013 and hopefully get a Business-related job please please please! God works in an amazing way. The more u wanna avoid doing something, the more He wishes for u to face it. Lol. I realised that the Circle Line didn't help alot! Going to NTU the old route: (Serangoon to Outram Park, NEL) 17 min + (Outram Park to Pioneer, EWL) 29 min + (Shuttle Bus) 15 min = 51 min Going to NTU the new route: (Serangoon to Buona Vista, CCL) 20 min + (Buona Vista to Pioneer) 17 mins + (Shuttle Bus) 15 min = 42 min So I saved 9 mins of my life! But if u add the walking time: - Walk from home to Serangoon MRT - Walk from the underpass from Buona Vista CCL to Buona Vista EWL - Walk from Pioneer MRT to Shuttle bus stop) And the waiting time: - Wait for train at Serangoon - Wait for another train at Buona Vista - Wait for shuttle bus at Pioneer It still totals up to about 1 hour of trip! :( I thought Circle Line will be so fantastic that I will be able to reach NTU from Serangoon in 30 mins' time. LOL! This thought will only stay in my dreams! Even the cab to NTU during peak hours take 35 mins! Okie! I will remain calm and not complain... At least 3 days of my work will be in NCC, which take me 17 mins to reach. :D I took part in the 2km run for Run for Hope after some persuasion from my colleagues. Run for Hope is a charity run with NCC being one of the organizers to encourage our cancer patients. Our supervisor wants us to go so that our appraisal will look better. I have got my very first "jersey" from the run. Applause for me! Bought my very first FBT shorts to go with it. LOLOL. One medical attachment student in our lab made a comment yesterday that after she watched "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", she was afraid that the mice might take revenge on us! I'm getting scared too. Please no nightmares tonight!
