an uber long update

an uber long update

As you can tell from my frequency of blogging, i haven't been active at all. Well, maybe i wasn't really that active from the start. The initial fiery passion in updating the blogosphere every minute of my life has dwindled slowly, and it gets replaced by a i-will-blog-if-i-have-time kind of attitude gradually. Which i feel is, a bad habit that i have never actually gotten rid of. It's like getting hyped over a new toy for the first few days, and then throw it aside with the rest in the toy box once that spark of interest distinguishes.

SO.. to get rid of this sense of guilt i have over my neglect, i decided to post a comprehensive update on what's been happening in my life recently. Here goes:

1. My final year project:
Aah, it has been on my mind, every second, every minute, every hour, every single day. I cannot stop thinking about it when i'm munching on my rice over dinner, and i can't seem to get it off from my dreams.

I have been clocking in and out the lab from the morning as early as 8am to as late as 8pm in the evening, and if you have met me in person lately, you can see that i'm an utter mess. I don't give a heck about what i wear anymore, and i am suffering from dry skin and stress-induced breakouts which i suspect is a result of hormonal imbalance. In other words, i look ratty and crabby every day in the lab.

But but but.. as life works in its unexplainable ways, i have been getting pretty good progress for my project currently and it seems to be too good to be true. Well i can think that it's because all my hard work have paid it off, but i would like to believe that i'm just plain lucky. So i'm crossing my fingers tightly and hoping that luck will be on my side for a longer time:)

2. Lessons
Nodding off during classes alongside with people who are the cream of the crop (a.k.a honours students) is a big NO-NO. I am seriously considering using scotchtape to tape my eyes open so that at least i look as attentive as the rest. Or maybe i should stock up on the red-bull bottles for some instant recharge.

The lecturers don't seem to be speaking greek.... yet. So i shall take comfort in that, and try to catch up with the pace of the lessons.

3. Relationships:
Honestly, this has to be one of the major phases in my life when i have to deal with issues on my relationships with my lab mates, my friends and my family. Let's start with my lab mates first.

In my lab, i'm considered the minority because most of the undergraduate and graduate students in my lab are from India. Like always, during the intial stage, i was unfamiliar with everything including different types of cultures: the work/lab culture, the differences in our cultures etc. Which was why i was feeling pretty insecure at the beginning because i wasn't sure i could adapt to this new environment.

I re-evaluated on where my fears and insecurities were coming from and tackled at those exact areas, by being more 'thick-skinned' and observant. Apart from being that crazy undergrad who goes asking questions to random people in the lab, i tried to make myself more approachable to the others who began to warm up to me after a while of getting used to my randomness. After 3 months in the lab, i can proudly say that i love being in the lab because there seems to be a sense of belonging and also because of the bonds i built with many of my lab mates there. Submitting my soul to the lab for 12 hours daily isn't a bad thing to me after all. Right now, i'm learning new words from my Indian friends and their cultures, which i think i would never had the chance if i didn't choose this particular project:)

My friends: my circle of friends has certainly widened a few folds (sorry for the scientific jargon but i'm just constantly bombarded with terms like these!) It's great because it opens up my view of everything, which was something i discussed over lunch with a friend the other day. Everyone has their own unique story, and interacting with these people adds on new threads to weaving a wider network of ideas, knowledge and understanding. 

My family: Sadly, with my hectic schedule, i haven't been spending much time with my family except for the late dinners every night. Thankfully they are pretty understanding about my situation and they are a huge pillar of strength for me:) The warm homecooked food after a long day at school, which my mom would painstakingly prepare every day, warms me up everytime i reach home. My sis has been a great confidante whenever i'm feeling the blues, and we share snippets of our daily lives with each other regularly. My dad is the MAN, he sends me to and fro between home and school, so that i can avoid the unnecessary exhaustion of taking the public transport. He has been very supportive of me, mentally and physically, and despite him being boggled down with work-related problems, he never fails to give me a loving pat whenever i'm ranting on. As you can see, i love ranting, i think it takes up 80% of my daily conversations.

So here's the super-duper long update that i have on my current life. I have dedicated this one hour to blogging this entry, abandoning my revision on pharmacokinetics.

Maybe i should go catch my beauty sleep soon. One more glance at pharmacokinetics, i'm sure i will start seeing sheeps jumping over fences.

recharge~

recharge~

Finally the weekends are around the corner!

Time to catch up on my sleep and recharge:)

I promise more entries in the next 2 days.

Oyasumi~

the end of a rollercoaster ride

the end of a rollercoaster ride

Remember my previous post on re-evaluating my life? Here is the continuation to it and a conclusion i have made thus so far.

Over the past week, i have come to a realization that the bond i shared with some people which i had always hold dear to my heart was just something based on mere convenience. I happened to be there when they needed me, and now since we don't see each other often anymore, the basis for any more interactions no longer holds.

Instead of coming up with the 100000001st reason to convince myself that i'm perhaps thinking too much, i have stopped trying and it's time to move on.

Last week was a helluva rollercoaster ride for me, a turbulent ride filled with sadness and frustrations.

To those who offered the warmth and love when i suddenly broke down last week, thank you for the hugs and words of encouragement even though you guys didn't know what was going on at that point of time.

I am feeling much better now, and hopefully i won't need to write such posts anymore in the future.

gravity

gravity

An absolutely beautiful song.

Gravity by John Mayer

Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bring me down

Oh I'll never know what makes this man
With all the love that his heart can stand
Dream of ways to throw it all away

Oh Gravity is working against me
And gravity wants to bring me down

Oh twice as much aint twice as good
And can't sustain like one half could
It's wanting more
That's gonna send me to my knees
(repeat)

Oh gravity, stay the hell away from me
And gravity has taken better men than me (Now how can that be?)

Just keep me where the light is
Just keep me where the light is
Just keep me where the light is
Come on, keep me where the light is
Come on, keep me where the light is
Away from all the dark
Keep me where the light is
Keep me where, keep me where the light is

woozy wooo

woozy wooo

Another boring post on my current life~

I have been alternating my time in lecture halls and the lab for the past one and a half week, and boy, i'm starting to feel the strain here.

Being able to stand straight for a few minutes has become a challenging task for me, and the worse thing is, i'm beginning to get stress-induced breakouts:(

Got to stock up on those beauty masks.

modules for sem 1 09/10

modules for sem 1 09/10

Apart from my final year project, the three other modules i will be taking this semester are:

LSM 4211 Toxicology
LSM 4212 Pharmacogenetics and Drug Responses
LSM 4232 Advanced Cell Biology

My weekly timetable is great.. in terms of the number of days when i have lessons, because essentially i only have two days of classes every week.

But but but.. that means more time for me to be stuck in the lab with my project:(

Life is full of gives-and-takes.

a quick update on my fyp

a quick update on my fyp

FYP progress is forseeably getting better and i have been pretty occupied with learning the new experimental techniques to move onto a new task.

Good good. I'm really happy with myself:)

a need for a re-evaluation

a need for a re-evaluation

It's time for a re-evaluation of how i lead my life and the things i prioritise. Because it seems like the old system no longer works as well as it used to.

baby faced dad

baby faced dad

It doesn't help if your dad looks ten years younger than his real age.

I was shopping for groceries at meidi-ya with my dad last week, and we coincidentally bumped into a japanese client of my dad's. Apparently they haven't met each other for four years.

After the usual formal greetings and polite bows, the client stared at my dad for a while and remarked, "Suzuki san, you still look young, and so much fitter." My dad dismissed the compliment with a modest wave and patted his stomach, "Not much. I have been watching my diet closely nowadays."

But i bet he was doing a silent cheer in his head as he said that.

When we were in the car, i brought up that tiny incident again and asked him whether the client was older than him. Surprisingly, my dad was older than him by a few years but i guess the dishevelled look and a sagging beer belly made the client look at least half a decade older than my dad.

Me: I bet you were doing imagainary star jumps in your head when he complimented that you looked young. Come on, admit it.

Dad: ..... (scrunched up his nose into a very thoughtful expression)....

Then he turned to me and shrugged nonchalantly, "Everyone calls me young all the time. I'm used to hearing all these compliments, what's there to be excited about?"

♪そうめん♪

♪そうめん♪

To combat the recent humid (and annoying) weather in our hot and sunny island, my family has been whipping up japanese dishes suited for the summer weather. One of them is called そうめん (somen), which is quite similar to the cold soba noodles.

And i'm proud to say that i'm getting the hang of making somen:) 

A brief introduction to somen is:

" Somen are thin Japanese noodles made from wheat flour. Boiled somen noodles are usually chilled and served with dipping sauce and various toppings. It's a refreshing meal to have on a hot day."

(taken from http://japanesefood.about.com/b/2009/06/26/cold-some-noodles.htm)

On my part, i made some modifications to the original recipe by using a different noodle type called hiyamugi, which is slightly thicker than somen noodles. I am more of a thick noodle person than a thin noodle one, so i usually eat more udon rather than the thinner ramen.

To get good (and authentic) noodles in singapore, it's good to visit the japanese supermarkets like meidi-ya or isetan instead of resorting to buying noodles from ntuc, which are cheaper but disappointing once you slurp it up.

☆ ~ My recipe for somen ~ ☆

Ingredients:

1. Somen or Hiyamugi noodles (it depends on your preference)

2. Tsuyu sauce to dip the cold noodles in

3. Thinly sliced Canadian pork belly

4. Finely chopped leek

5. Japanese cucumber

6. Green leaf vegetables (of any kind, i usually use spinach)

Steps:

a) Boil the noodles in a pot of water for 3~4 minutes. It's good to read the instructions on the packet because boiling time varies for different companies. This step is the same as boiling spaghetti.

b) After boiling the noodles, immediately transfer the noodles onto a sieve and rinse it under running water for a few seconds until the noodles cool down. Subsequently, transfer the noodles into a huge bowl filled with iced water to keep the noodles cold. Store the noodles in the fridge as you prepare the other ingredients.

c) Next, boil the pork belly slices in hot water for 5~10 minutes. Again, like the noodles, quickly rinse them under running water. Do the same for the green leaf vegetables too. At the same time, prepare a plate where you can arrange the different toppings for the somen noodle: pork belly slices, boiled greenies, sliced japanese cucumber and finely chopped leek. For the cucumber and leek, they are not boiled like the other ingredients, because it's best to eat them raw:)

d) Prepare a small bowl with the tsuyu sauce. Personally i will add a little water to dilute the sauce to get a milder taste.

e) The last and most important step: EAT! Dip the noodles with the toppings into the tsuyu sauce and slurp them up:) 

This dish is both cooling for the hot weather and very healthy at the same time, because it's just mostly boiled food. I didn't have the chance to take a picture of the somen noodles i made, but for a general idea, here is a picture i took from rakuten.co.jp:

currently in an evil mode

currently in an evil mode

I'm currently in an evil mode, which probably started since a week ago. Before i got bitten by this evil bug, i rarely showed my displeasure openly to people i wasn't close to. Instead, i would just swallow that ball of anger and carry on with whatever i'm doing quietly, because i absolutely hated direct confrontations.

It was a different story last week. 

I had "Yes i'm pissed at you right now" clearly written over my face, which i didn't bother to hide because i realized that there are some people around me who are absolutely selfish and plain damn inconsiderate. And the best thing is, they can get away with whatever they do. And there is this other group who treat me like crap in the past, and now they come up and ask me to help them. I know i sound like a grouch here but it annoys me so much it has gone way past the threshold.

Oscar the grouch strikes.

UPDATE: I almost reached my boiling point after talking to one of them. All i want to do now, is to yell out in japanese since no one here will understand a single word of it. ARGHHHHHH!

tastebuds gone wrong?

tastebuds gone wrong?

I had always been a huge sashimi fan. The word is had. BUT recently i have noticed that my cravings for raw fish disappears even after one bite, for some strange unexplainable reason. 

Whenever my family and i were in japan, we would hop into the car and drove along the coastlines, looking for places that served great seafood. Sashimi was definitely on the top of the list and we scoured for fishing ports that sold high-grade raw fish at affordable prices. I could even name the three grades of tuna at the age of twelve, and tried every grade including the highest grade called ootoro. And my parents would lament that they had spoilt me because i would never ever eat any sashimi that would be of lower grade than ootoro.

But yesterday, when my dad brought out this huge spread of sashimi for my sister's birthday celebration, i couldn't stomach any more raw fish after a few pieces. I am guessing that it's probably due to three reasons: 1) The humid weather killed my appetite, even for my favourite dish; 2) The sashimi were fatty by nature including salmon belly and swordfish; 3) Something is way wrong with my tastebuds.

I shall not request for anything raw in the meantime, not even on my birthday.