Tired Again

Hello again,

It has been a relatively tiring day. I spent a ridculously long time going through a peer-reviewed review article for my essay. "HMGB1 Mediates Endogenous TLR2 Activation and Brain Tumour Regression" from the Public Library of Science. 3 letters pretty much sums up the whole article. W.T.F.
Here's a happy little picture of green chimeric mice for you
My little mice are happy to see you. They've been injected with Brain Tumours, yay! Ever article I read bored me to tears. But I managed to somewhat complete the essay with just 1 referral to a cited article regarding "Combined Immunostimulation and Conditional Cytotoxic Gene Therapy Provide Long-term Survival in a Large Glioma Model" Yes, these were also injected into the happy little green mice. There was another chart on happy little red chimeric mice too!

The lectures today weren't that bad. It was really about genetic variations and stuff like that. The second lecture was pretty simple as it was more about hereditary traits and a revision of Meiosis I and II. I got my first essay back, I got 6/6! yay! Some of the other people didn't do as well though but it was a good thing no one failed. I confirmed my schedule regarding the Biology exam. I'll have to sit for it after the 3 hr biology lab next Thursday. There is also a revision test before the lab. I'm having a heart attack from the overwhelming joy... So in summary, 1 biology test, 1 biology exam on Thursday, and my Chemistry exam on Friday (most probably). Pardon me dearies if i start becoming incomprehensive and emo in the next week or so.

(Foreword: The following paragraph might be fairly incomprehensible as it'll just be mindless bitching about the trouble trying to get a form signed between two different faculties)

After lectures today, I had to run around lower campus to get the clash of timetable form signed by the respective course authorities. Thankfully, the lecturer in-charge of Biochemistry was one of my lecturers for the Biology course I'm taking now. She's such a nice lady. I'm glad that she'll be teaching me again next semester. The other course is Calculus for Life Science. That one was the one that caused me the most trouble. Had to get to the 3rd floor of the crappy maths building, find the old lady to look at my form, fill in another form (which I didn't have to do for Biochem), only to find out that I'm supposed to have enrolled in Biochem first, so I had to rush down to the Math Computer Labs to get myself enrolled since her lunch break is in 15 mins. I thought that'd be the end of my worries once I got down to the math labs, to my dismay, my user id and password wasn't accepted... I had to rush to the next nearest available computer, I quickly made my way to the law library when I realised that I could have used the computer at the Science Student office just opposite the maths building. I backtracked and got myself officially enrolled online into Biochem at the SSO and got back to the maths building with 5 mins to spare. When I got to the old lady's office, I found myself staring at a locked office. I was like "WTH, she said lunch was at 1 pm, why did she leave at 12:55?!?" Disappointed, I headed out to the reception and I found her hiding behind the computer monitor, trying to figure out a problem for her colleagues. I thought, "Phew! She's still here." After waiting for another 5 minutes, she gave up and we went back to her office to get my enrolment done. I was sadly mistaken, thinking that it was the end. She needed me to print out my timetable to find out the tutorial and lab timings... I was thinking to myself "omg... why didn't you tell me earlier!?!?!" There wasn't enough time for me to get it done as she was going for lunch so I just gave up and told her I'd be back tomorrow during the short breaks I've got in between Chemistry lectures. I felt so fatigued having to shuttle back and forth between buildings and offices in blistering 31 degree Australian heat... I went to Law Library to chill for a bit while I was waiting for papi to reach Kingsford. We were going to the club to have steak for lunch again. There were a few hot guys walking around today. I'm quite satisfied that I managed to turn their heads as I sauntered past with my usual genteel smile and demure facade. Under all that, I was actually swearing in my head from the insufferable heat.
Lunch was good as always, Papi and I discussed where I was going to stay in Singapore as Grandpa has become somewhat of an unhappy grouch. I was thinking of staying with my uncle at Bukit Timah which is as inaccessible as it is posh. His mansion is pretty nice! Papi started talking about "the best thing to do" vs "the right thing to do". Basically, he wants me to stay with grumpy grandpa even though there's a chance things could turn very ugly... I will really be needing all my skills in maintaining a porcelain smile while masking my emotions as I get verbally abused... It hurts alot more that he's my grandfather but it'll be a test of the extent of my ability.

Alright, enough of bitching about things which are still some ways off... It's hot, I'm tired, I'm getting naked, I'm taking a nap.

Lurbs yew long time,
Jo(n)

Hellish Heat

Hello all,

I’ve been relatively lazy in updating my blog. Nothing substantial to bitch about anyways. I figured, I might as well bitch about the thing that’s most annoying at the moment. The votes are in, a landslide victory goes to this confounded heat! Today’s temperature was about 31 degrees Celsius.  To some people, this may not seem like much, to me, I feel like I’m in a conflagration. This sweltering inferno has induced slothfulness and stupor in everyone here. Unlike in Singapore where everywhere one can find relief from the heat in just a few steps into a shopping mall, Sydney does not have the luxury to such amenities.

Today in biology lecture, I fell asleep, in both lectures. I didn’t sleep throughout the lectures, thankfully. I was sitting up the front as well. But I wasn’t the only one who had trouble staying awake. The air conditioner exuded a soothing flow of cool air which lulled everyone in the room to a light slumber. We awoke occasionally but always at the critical moment where notes from the screen were required to be taken down as they were omitted from the lecture handouts. To summarise the lectures in a nutshell, first lecture was about metabolism – catabolism & anabolism. The second lecture was about the protozoan Giardia. We saw video clips and pictures of the parasite. It was most fascinating! It had 4 pairs of flagella and 2 nuclei! Sadly, we still succumbed to the  pacifying effect of the air conditioner. Lectures ended at 12 00 hrs today. Uni was quite packed today as it was Info day for all the new students that would be starting this coming semester. Everyone looked so young, freshly popped out from high school. Oh well… Good luck to them!

Went off to the city and got to JB Hi-fi at the Strand. Bought my IPod Nano 4th Gen case. It was quite a deliberation to decide which colour to pick. Both were pretty matched but in the end, I picked Silver as it had the most contrast with the carbon black colour of my IPod. At the bus stop on the way home, I met Dad. I was caught red-handed gallivanting after Uni. Crap! But he wasn’t too mad. He was just slightly irked that I didn’t tell him beforehand as he had a $30 gift card for JB Hi-fi and I could have used it.

Anyways, we got to Kingsford and we went to pick up the car and drove to the club for lunch. We had medium-rare sirloin steak which vegetables and chips. It was really good. I love the steak there. It was succulent and the gravy was  most palatable. Kudos to the chefs! It has been a while since we went to the club for lunch. Dad seized the opportunity to renew his membership anyways.

We headed to East Gardens to go pick up Bee Bee from work. Did some window shopping before coming back home. Spent most of the time uploading stuff into my IPod. It seems like I’m the only anomalous person that is into traditional Japanese theatre. I was desperately trying to convert 早乙女太一 妖艶絵巻 Scene of Heaven into a compatible format for the IPod.

I don’t know how many of you will actually like this performance but I am in rapture every time I watch 早乙女太一 perform. Exquisite skills for a 16/17 year old. Oh, and this is a 女形 (female role specialist) type kabuki performance with a slightly modern twist, as can be felt in the music and the speed of the movements. Nonetheless, the movements are still fluid and graceful. This really doesn’t do justice to 早乙女太一 so I might do a proper blog entry about this marvellous performer.

Anyways, time to sleep now. Chemistry day tomorrow…. Feeling sick already.

Lurbs yew long time,

Jo(n)