Wonderful creation

Friday, May 04, 2018

Learning developmental biology all over back in 2015 was amazing.


Psalm 139:14 ‘I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.’

I am awestruck by the intelligent design of our Creator, and humbled by His grace and love.

control

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

I well understood the limits of what I could and could not control. Or at least I thought I did. They always say you can only control yourself - your actions, your reactions, your thoughts. But when it involves another person or other people, there is no control over the outcome. Makes enough sense. Sounds comforting enough in the face of disappointment.
But why do I feel this tinge of disappointment when my students tell  me they went over time for the presentation, got cut off, and did not manage to get to the concluding segment, which would cause them to drop down the rubric, costing them a good grade.
It is not their fault. It is not mine fault.
But I so wanted the presentation to help them get a good grade for the course, setting up office hours for them to practice and gave them pointers. I wanted them to do well.
Yet, I forget that ultimately, the control of their grade is not in my hands, but in their hands and that of others. It is frustrating, knowing how good their presentation is, how much effort they put in, and yet, not being able to do anything.  This is so so frustrating.
Acknowledging that you have no control over something, and not putting the responsibility upon yourself can be so hard.

back home

Sunday, September 13, 2009

it's been 4.5 months since I flew back home.
Singapore feels different, from when I left for the US in 2006.
definitely more crowded. was recounting with a friend about the more peaceful, or should I say 'tranquil' times, when I was in school. Then, the population of 3 million was a more homogenous and closer-knit one. Today, the population has 'boomz' (yes fav word of the moment). But it's sad that the people who make up the numbers are just that... with no sense of belonging nor ownership.
Anyway, back to changes... I love how the skyline is changing at the marina bay area. love love love the skyline of Singapore:)one thing that I missed lots in Madison. city living!
and the new shopping centres - Orchard central, ion, iluma. but haven't been in the mood to shop ever since i came back

settling back into Singapore has been relatively easy... except for the weather.

brother's 21st!

cousins! dinner at long beach before Mike leaves for France...



pulut hitam with ice-cream, chilled on a cool green liquid. paiseh not a chemist so dun know what that is...


first snowskin mooncakes... the teacher prepared everything for us, so it was quite successful. but my own attempt was bad:(

pimply kitty mooncake <3

at Shillawon :)

not ready to graduate just yet

Friday, May 01, 2009

How ironic. To think that all along, I have been counting down the semesters and looking forward to the day when I'll finally graduate. Yet now, I just want a little more time. It's a scary thought actually, that my final semester here at UW ends in just 2 more days. One exam, a couple of papers, a thesis and I am done officially. Commencement is next Sunday.
It's hard, the thought of packing up and leaving for good. Never never had I imagined that I wouldn't bear to leave Madison. Ok. I am looking forward to graduating, but not about leaving Madison. Leaving the place that I have grown so comfortable with. One where so many memories, good and bad alike, started...

try this

Thursday, March 26, 2009

By the pool,I scooped some water with my palms. The water remained carefully contained within the careful cup my hands formed.
But, as I try to close my fingers around it, it spills through every crack it finds...

precious time

Sunday, February 22, 2009

The hours of Mondays through Fridays get drawn into the chasm of onerous routines. And whatever little time left is salvaged, is cherished, is thanked for.
The weekend becomes the cynosure of each week. Yet, they have to fly by.
I don't want an end to the weekend. And sometimes, just sometimes, I woolgather and wish I had the power to freeze special moments in time.

I'm just amused. How strange it hadn't struck me till now - the value of time. Not with the passing of each birthday. Neither did it during the A levels or finals.

Yet, now, I've been reduced to a scavenger, a hoarder.
Every hour, every minute, every second. They matter the world.

YES! one more semester to go!

Monday, December 15, 2008

And so classes ended last Friday, marking the end of yet another semester. To be exact, the second to last.
The end is sort of in sight, and really, it helps to know that this chapter is finally coming to a close:)I can't wait to graduate!

what will be will be

Sunday, November 16, 2008

It was my 4th attempt, and the outcome was the same as the previous attempts.
Not an immediate failure, but the points I chalked up were enough to cost me.
I was really upset, more with myself than anything.
Starting to seriously doubt my abilities, and question whether it's all meant to be in the first place.
Whilst I'm trying really hard to convince myself that it was just my luck running into such a b*tchy tester, one can be that unlucky only a couple of times. Now is WAY pass that threshold. And I guess it's just something wrong with me... if you're good, you're good. the tester or test conditions wont' be a significant influence.
When people start asking how i did, don't even want to answer them. Yea, maybe before the next test, I should tell them to assume the worst case scenario, and not ask unless they see me jumping for joy.
Some people can pass on their first attempt, but me...
Everytime I think about taking the test again, I get knots in my stomach.
It's the thought of failing yet another time. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if that happens...
Whether or not I pass this test is inconsequential. Life goes on. But the fact that it's taking so long.. the feeling is absolutely crappy.
And the pressure just increases with each attempt
Pretty amazing how little things like that can make you doubt your self worth.

about decision making

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Sometimes, no, actually all the time, I wished I could make better decisions.
A number of wrong decisions back then, and I am living with the consequences even till today.
And it's only when everything is carved in stone, that people tell me that I should have made this and that of a decision. Yah, I appreciate that very much.
If only I could turn back time...
算了

你是答案

Thursday, October 09, 2008

very sweet song:)
Ni Shi Da An 你是答案 - Fan Wei Qi 范瑋琪

a mind of our own

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

I wished...

Sometimes, even the most sane person make the most irrational decision.
And the most level-headed person allows emotions to rule his head.
Moods swing like a pendulum because of who-knows-what chemical fluxes in the brain.
The worse is being hapless as the biochemistry of it all overpowers our ability to think straight.

back in madison

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

2 years have passed. And I thought it would get easier to return to Madison and start Fall semester all over again. It just gets harder to leave each time... Maybe because summer back home was only 3 weeks. It flew by and I guess I didn't get to do everything I wanted to.

Finally rearranged everything in my room, and it looks and feels more cosy than the previous semester!
I love my new table, which was a gift from dear jo. Thank you! Haha... and the very comfortable papasan, which I got from Yun. One of the best things is reading papers whilst slumped in it... and getting lulled to sleep:x

Hmm. It's only the second week of school now, and I feel really tired - both physically and mentally. To the extent that I don't feel like going anywhere, doing anything or meeting anyone. Sigh... And it doesn't help when it rains for the whole day. But I probably need to sleep more too.

Breathless

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

the Corrs
album: Best of the Corrs

love this song!

Cambridge Week 5

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Destination: Dublin, Ireland!

First and only trip out of the UK over the 8 weeks.

Welcome to Stansted Airport, a haven for cheapo overnight airport campers like me. An experience to forget asap... The airport was a hive of activity when we reached at 12 midnight! There were obviously seasoned campers... who were already sprawled across the prized benches by the time we arrived. The champions were those who set up shop on the floor with their sleeping bags and blankets. And you thought a jacket was sufficient. No... not at Stansted because, for some reason, the entrances were left open. I barely caught a wink, no thanks to the cold drafts. At around 3 am, I saw 2 armed policemen patrolling the terminal. Got a bit worried... They were called in because some joker left his bag unattended. After some instense interrogation and admonition, the poor guy was let off. He probably would never dare leave a packet of tissue on the table to reserve his seat anymore...

Dublin in a day!
Avalon House, the hostel we stayed on Saturday night...




A trip to where it all started... the St. Jame's Gate Brewery.
Guinness is good... not that I have tried lots of other beer. But yes, I like the clean taste of the brew... it's particularly refreshing... Cheers~





It started pouring by the time we reached the temple bar district.

We scrambled for shelter at a random restaurant/bar, and the food was not bad!

Guinness beef stew...


Really glad that we went for a tour to Wicklow and Glendalough the next day!




A view of Kiliney coastal area, where all the rich and famous stay... See if you can spot Enya's castle towards the top left of the picture


Wicklow Mountains... Loch Tay aka Guinness Lake

the view was marvelous!


Glendalough... at the ruins of a monastery.



with yunqin at Upper Lake...

The famouse Trinity College of Ireland, where the Book of Kells is kept. Unfortunately, we got there too late, and the library was already closed to visitors...

The fickle weather did dampen our spirits... but still it was a fun-filled weekend, thanks to the wonderful company!

photos stolen from khian hong!

Cambridge Week 4

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

DESTINATION: Stonehenge, Windsor, Oxford


All in a day's work! Pretty amazing eh?? One good thing of a package tour - every minute is stretched to the last second (that is a bit of an exaggeration)... you get the point!



1st stop: Windsor Castle!


What visit to the UK would be complete without a visit to any one of the castles? The royal family, albeit anachronistic, remains an integral part of the British identity... even for tourists like me!



A closer look at the flag atop the round tower... the Royal Standard! So the queen was in that day...





Heavy, thick stone walls with narrow slits (for the archers) surrounded the perimeter of the fortress. That sure didn’t prepare us for the interior wards of the castle, which were... residences befitting of royalty - extravagance complete with a touch of cosiness...
And the much touted Queen Mary's dollhouse... A fully functional house, only a miniature one (a scale of 1:12). The chandeliers and the grandfather's clock in the front foyer actually work! And there is even electricity and plumbing in the dollhouse! Even vintage wine, albeit a mini bottle... Amazing... A dollhouse fit for a queen indeed! It's really worth the see, trust me!



2nd stop:
Presenting...

Once a site of pagan worship, now a place where tons flock to marvel the construction feat...

Set amidst rolling meadows, it is probably the most prominent feature in the vicinity. Probably why it was, and probably still is, a place of pagan worship... Close to 4000 years ago, they transported the bluestones from Wales over sea and land for close to 240 miles! Go figure! Although the Sarsens were brought in from 25 miles away, they were HUGE...

What purpose the stones served remains a mystery...

3rd and final stop: Oxford!


It was a shame that we spent less than 2 hours in Oxford, of which half an hour went to a walking tour of the campus.

Christchurch college! Harry potter!



Thankful... for the wonderful weather that weekend amongst many other things!

photos were stolen from khian hong!

Cambridge!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

CaMbRidGE!

And so a long overdue post. Just an update… Been in Cambridge for almost 2 weeks now. Did everything there is to do around here – went to Corpus’ formal last Friday (thanks to Shireen),


sure looks like one of those harry potter dinners, doesn't it?


punting on Saturday,

and that is expert punter Hong King, together with Yao Feng (left) who brought us around Cambridge on Saturday.




and more sightseeing on Sunday.






Corpus Christi College

Everything but what I had set out to do in Cambridge from the start – research! Ahh! I am frustrated but yet, I can’t do any bench work until my work permit gets approved. I have been reading paper after paper, attending seminar after seminar, and I am bored stiff. My mentor, Al, has been showing me the protocols, and has even started my project for me, just because time is an issue. 2 weeks gone, 6 weeks left. I am worried because I may not be able to complete the project in time. I am really annoyed because these delays were completely avoidable. Enough said. And the sporadic showers don’t help at all.

On a lighter note, Sean, the group leader of the lab I work in, was really nice about these delays. He kept apologizing about all the red tape and told me that if I got too frustrated, I could take a day off and head down to London. Sounds like a plan to me! Initially I planned to do just that tomorrow, but apparently not already, because I have quite a bit to learn tomorrow.

Cambridge is a really nice place and I am settling down well. Thanks to Xiao Yang, who has been showing us around the place, and came to pick us up from Parker’s Piece on Sunday when we first arrived. Khian Hong and I would have never found our way to Sonali’s house if he hadn’t. And Sonali is the landlady of the house the three of us are staying in. She is a really nice woman, and she is 7 months pregnant with a baby girl.
13 Tenby Close
the living room
my room!
our first attempt at cooking dinner

And her 16 month old son Virem, is such a dear! Unfortunately, she stays over a lot at her mom’s, so we rarely get to play with the boy…
Aww... look at Virem!
and khian hong was trying to buy Virem over with chocolate

As of now, we are getting place to place by walking. It’s a one hour’s walk to the city centre, and when you walk enough, you just get used to it… But I should learn how to bike.
So yesterday whilst I was walking home, a 4 year old boy on a mini bicycle, passed me by. His dad was pedaling at a deliberate pace so that the boy can keep up. In a desperate attempt to comfort myself, I scanned the bike for trainer wheels. Sadly, there were none…

all pictures courtesy of khian hong:)

nonsense

Thursday, May 15, 2008

I am so sick of studying for biochemistry... Actually I shouldn't be complaining because as compared to people who are doing biochem 508, biochem 503 is but the tip of the iceberg. And I had all the time from Monday to study, but I did
not want to. the bolt of finals during the last week of school just killed me...
So what did I do on Monday and Tuesday? Hmm. That is a really good question. Time just flew by... For one, I burnt the whole of Monday in lab, running my western. And I am glad I went to lab because I would have whiled away my time watching Bleach anyways... I spent half my Tuesday in lab, and the other half watching Bleach... Hopelessly addicted to Bleach. I started watching Bleach 3 - 4 weeks ago, and I am already at the Arrancar Arc. I skipped the Bount Arc though, but I am planning to watch that some time in summer. But Bleach is the coolest anime, really... not professing to be some anime guru, but go watch it, and you will know why it is so addictive. I regret not watching it with the rest last Spring... and back then, I wondered about the magic of Bleach... now i know.
Ahh.. back to mugging for biochem... Studying is so much harder when are studying about things that you have already learnt in, say genetics, but yet, you have to force yourself to plough through that useless crap because there is a different (aka biochemical) slant...
Just willing next Monday to come...

take a deep breath

Monday, April 14, 2008

take a deep breath
The end, to the semester that is, is already in sight. 5 more weeks! It's so close, yet so far... so many things must transcend before it's finally time to leave.
It is just scary to think about the things I have to settle before the end of the semester... Academics, summer internship, the Europe trip.
I can't, and don't even dare to think ahead now... Just taking one step at a time.
On a lighter note, I couldn't believe my eyes when I got back my 2nd Andersen exam... lol. Seriously, I thought the exam was bad. Firstly, I went through my notes ONCE... Plus, during the exam, the girl beside me was happily munching nature valley bars... can you imagine? Here I was trying to concentrate so that I can put an essay together, and there you are creating a din with all your chewing. I was really irritated, and I even contemplated writing a postscript in my essay, to tell the professor to ban eating during exams. Thank God she was done with all her eating after 15 - 20 mins, and I did well for the paper. If not.. hah... Seriously, eat before the exam or something, because it is really disruptive to the people around you when you eat during exams... Anyway, distractions aside, I did not even know what I was writing during the exam. After the exam, I felt like crap. Now, I am just AMAZED at the art of bull...
And Mammoth cave that same weekend. Woo. An experience of a lifetime.

all spick and span before the tour


They weren't kidding when they said that the Wild Cave Tour is physically strenuous. It was mentally exhausting too... Personally, Kathleen's Crawl was the worst for me. All the leopard crawling drained my energy. If it wasn't for the encouragement from jo, roys and kh, I would have given up halfway... which is silly because you would have to leopard crawl all the way back anyhow... And an 18 inch high tunnel really doesn't give you a lot of space to adjust and be confortable. All the crawling took a toll on our knees, and it is really admirable how the guides are doing this every so often.
There was less crawling in the second part of the tour, but what was installed for us was just as challenging. The canyon walks were really good... and I really enjoyed them, although there was one where getting a good footing was tricky because the rocks were slippery, and there wasn't a good handhold anywhere... that was really scary. But I survived... haha.. thanks to jo, roys and kh:)

And yes, I think it would be really cool to spend a night in the cave. I love how it becomes pitch black once we turn off the headlights. Plus the lovely temperature around the tens...

Oh yes, and something that we concurred on: if not for the helmets, we would have suffered from concussions... bumping into the roof of the cave was quite a common occurrence...

Look at us after



with Ranger John, in all our caving glory

not so clean after it all. But really really glad we went for the tour:)

Pictures courtesy of kh:)

Sunday was another adventure in itself... in the interest of time, it's a story that I'll blog about some other time... Got back to Madison on Sunday later than expected, and could not do much about Biochemistry the next day...

Hah... I think I screwed up Biochemistry... bigtime. Screwed up many other things too... Trying to take things in my stride... Getting better but yes, it isn't easy at all. I guess after it all, you see that what is meant to be will be. What is not meant to will never be.

 
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