1 more week to go!

DNA. The topic of the 21st century.

For those not of the science background, DNA is seen as the ultimate genetic makeup of the human body- essentially, what makes us, US. They cringe at the mere mention of genetic manipulation, stem cell research, bad bacteria mutating into a man-made monster, and mad scientists creating the ultimate virus/cure for cancer in an underground lab.

Greenpeace, Green Party, and many other "green-loving" organisations bash anything that has to do with genetic engineering/manipulation. They go to the extreme of pulling out genetically engineered crops from plantations, or the not-so-extreme of advertising no-GE foodstuffs. They claim that as scientists manipulate and mutate organisms, we are acting as God- defying nature.

Those having at least some science background know DNA as being made up of the 4 bases- A, C, T, and G. These four simple bases are linked together in different arrangements, forming stretches of bases which get transcribed and translated into functional products = genes. Mutations in some genes lead to cancer, diseases, etc.

The story started with these 2 guys, Watson and Crick. The race to solve the structure of DNA was won by them. Since then, DNA has been portrayed as the double helix.

Then we started seeing DNA everywhere...

In architecture,

...in books/movies,

...and even in cellphones

...and as the symbol of my favourite tv show, Heroes

... and just recently, TIME magazine has announced the retail DNA test, 23andMe, as the 2008 invention of the year. For just US$399 and a tube of saliva, testing results can tell you whether you're more susceptible to over 90 types of cancers and diseases.

I personally think the idea is of pure genius. Such a simple concept, but it's one of a kind in the market. It became quite controversial, of course, with people worrying about how a person's privacy can be kept, and of the various ethical issues related with inherited diseases.

I can't wait till the day when $1000 is all we need to get our genome sequenced.

***I can't believe I just blogged about DNA. This is what studying too much has done to me. =P

Getting there. Slowly.

2 down, 2 more to go!

Bioc353 was HARD. I felt so sleepy during the exam! First time ever. At least it confirmed my decision in NOT taking biochemistry as my honours major next year. Hopefully would still get at least a B+ in that.

This weekend would be all about studying, studying, and more studying. Bioc354 is on Monday, then Micr336 on Tuesday. After that, freedom awaits me. Oh wait, I spoke too soon. I'll have to pack up 3 years' worth of stuff into boxes, clean up my room, run some errands, and pack luggage to go back home!

I've been complaining a lot about my Singapore Airlines flight from Spore to Christchurch in Feb. Apparently SIA has this nonsense rule about not allowing us to book connecting one way flights using different airlines- which means I can't book a cheap MAS or AirAsia flight from Kuching to Spore, then use SIA from Spore to Chch. If I want to, I'd have to pay the SIA flight ticket in SGD, which makes the price escalate to RM8000++.

So my plan was to just forfeit the SIA ticket from Kch to Sg (had to stay overnight at Changi, which I didn't want to), buy a separate ticket from MAS to fly to Sg on the same day itself. Which all made perfect sense to good old stubborn me UNTIL I started getting upset and thank goodness for knocking some sense into me guys- I decided to just go along with whatever mum thinks is best- which is: to arrive at Spore from Kuching on the 21st, stay overnight at Changi airport (maybe head to town for a while), then fly off to Chch on the night of 22nd of Feb. Troublesome, but sigh that is the best choice for now.

My accomodation in Spore has been confirmed, people! I'm going to stay at Evans Lodge for 3 months- price is $470 a month including electricity. No linen and food provided, but oh wells, Spore food heaven right. I'll gather up layers of fat in my tummy to keep warm during winter next year. Which reminds me: I'll need to start emailing/leaving msn messages on those people in Sg for a meet up.

Sooo many things to plan, to buy, to bring, to do, and to pack!

But for now, studying is the number 1 priority. But I want to go watch the Full Monty musical tomorrow night!!! Super talented Michelle got the role of the 1st pianist so she'll be playing throughout the show- must be more than 10 shows. Cost is $37+ for students I think- venue is at the Mayfair theatre. Go support her and see guys strip!

Anyway. I love this list of shoppers taken from NZ Herald website:

I'm not sure which one am I: a treater or a clothcutter. Which one are you?

Go light your world

Janice and Greg left for Christchurch this morning, then arriving in S'pore in a few days' time. I'll still have the chance to meet up with them there, but for others like Ray and Mich, last night was the last time we could have dinner together THIS YEAR.

So we, self proclaimed food lovers, decided to have a little get together again before everyone left for the summer. As Michelle had the Full Monty play rehearsal and Alex was on duty until 11pm, dinner (or shall I say supper?) started at around midnight. Ray and Greg made super delicious roast chicken, kumara/leeks, really yummy (and oily) gravy for the chicken, and spaghetti.

Dinner was (as Ray would say) SUPER AWESOME. (thumbs up sign)

We rubbed our bellies and talked for a while... until the 2 cakes were served. =P

The 2 cakes were meant to be early birthday cakes for Sam (Dec baby) and Alex (Feb baby), but somehow everyone started mock blowing the cake ("flame" provided by Greg, haha!), then each of us cut the cake once. We had to mock blow as the candles weren't even lit.


So in a way, we celebrated every one's birthday at one go last night. It was really significant and meaningful as it meant that by next year, we can no longer celebrate each other's birthdays all together, like how we've been doing for the past 3 years.

It's sad to see so many of you guys leaving: the Pancakes (Sam & Alex), the Grapes (Greg & Jan), and May May; and it's so hard to let go of friends so close I can call family, but we can't all stay in Dunedin forever =P We came here to study, built bonds, took care & cooked for each other, graduate, then leave this town with life-long memories (and gigabytes of pictures). And of course, we'll keep in touch by calling and annoying each other 24/7 hehehe. I'm also counting on that proposed ski trip/Hillsong next year- I've been here for almost 4 years now and still have NOT skied!

***

Last Monday during cell group, we planned a special "leaving" ceremony for those who are leaving. EVERYTHING was super emotional, haha. From praise and worship (the guitarists playing together at cell for the last time), to giving testimonials, and to full on crying during the lighting of the candles.

I came prepared, knowing that I'll cry when I see others cry too. What I didn't expect was to see the grown men cry too =P I went from just shedding a tear to full-on sobbing when Alex and Ray spoke. The tissue box had to be passed around the room as more and more people cried. I compiled a video of the history and memories of Lighthouse Fellowship from 2006 to 2008, and I'm glad it did touch the hearts of some. After all the crying and hugging sessions, we stayed around for food, more chit chat, and ended up leaving only at 2.30am. I think we broke the record for the longest cell group session ever.

At times I take this amazing cell group for granted. But looking back at how we started, and how much we've grown over the years, and the seeds that we've planted even in the hearts of non Christians- all the planning and sleepless nights (especially during shine 08!) were so worth it.

There's about 34 of us now in 2008, compared to just 6 in 2006 when we first started. At least 9 would be leaving next year, which brings the number down to 25. 2009- a new year, who knows how many more new members we'd get to include in this family?

Tagged

Did you know that the Vice Chancellor actually earned between $460,000 and $469,000 last year? Read more here. I wonder if I'll ever make that much money in the span of 5 years.

***

Tagged by Samantha W.


1. What’s your ambition?

If I really have the guts, time, and talent- a rockstar as mentioned.
A more realistic one is being a freelance photojournalist.

2. Who is more important to you? Friends or boy/girlfriend?
Friends. Full stop. At least for now ;)

3. How often do you think of commiting suicide?
I love living too much to even have time to THINK about ending my life.

At the Dunedin harbour, 2007 during a supposed fishing trip.
The closest I ever got to jumping off something.

My mum once thought I WANTED to commit suicide. I was about 6 or 7 then, I somehow ended up standing ON the window sill- 3rd floor of a building, facing the Tabuan Jaya (in Kuching) market. The aunties (they knew me/mum well) rushed to my mum and started shouting "don't jump!!!". I was just having fun- until I saw my mum crying and had to convince her I really wasn't thinking of commiting suicide at all.

4. Do you think you have enough confidence?
Nobody can ever have enough confidence. Yes there are times when I wished I could speak as well as those who can sell anything in their hands in 5 minutes, even if it was just a normal ball point pen. But I do have confidence in the things I set my mind & heart to accomplish- if I want something badly enough, I'll find a way to realise it. Does that qualify as having confidence?

5. How many babies you want?
Ask me again when I have a ring on my left hand wedding finger.

6. Do you believe in seeing a rainbow after the rain?
I believe in seeing TWO rainbows after the rain.

7. What is your goal for this year?
Gain the experience needed for my degree at GIS, S'pore.

8. Do you believe in eternity love?
Eternal love? Eternity on earth is probably a millionth of a second's worth of time in heaven. The answer to that question is NO. There is no such thing as eternal love on earth; and I never liked the use of adjectives in describing love anyway.

9. What's the most annoying question you had ever gotten from one of these so-called memes? (this is the one I added)
Refer to question number 11.

10.What feeling do you love most?
Content.

11. What are the requirements you wish from the other half?
Ok fine, here's 3.
I'm a light sleeper; therefore he must be one as well ;)
Able to turn my frown into a smile.
He must love cooking, eating, and cleaning up (future Mrs Pancake- inside joke :P but it's true!)

12. Is there anything you wanna tell the ppl you hate ?
-__- No comment.

13. Do you cherish every single friendship of yours?
yes, yes, and YES.

14. What does flying means to you?
Going across continents. Jetlags. Seeing my family again.

15. What do you crave for the most currently?
Sleep. End of exams.

16. Who's hotter, Chace Crawford or Kevin Peake?
Neither. (I had to google Kevin Peake). UGH.

17. Describe the person who tagged you in 7 words.
Random blogger about to come to Otago.

18. What have you done to make yourself happy?
Make others happy.

19. What will u become in another 10 years to come?
A biotechnologist? (hopefully)
A wife, mum to a few kids, aunties to mini pancakes/yeos/grapes/chius?
Owner of a big-as SLR, a shiny black grand piano, owner of a red mini cooper...

20. What is your fear?
Losing the ones I love

Who follows the instructions anyway? I refuse to tag anyone. Do if you have nothing else better to do.

P.S. I have zero tolerance to all sorts of chain letters and tags- that include those pitifulsympatheticsosad emails with pictures of dying babies or cancer patients. Especially those that end with threats and the "pass this on if you consider me a friend..." phrases.

It's 4.36am. I should get back to studying. =P

Hail Halo

It is now 4.00am.

I'm awake. Very awake. For once, it's not caffeine that's keeping my eyelids from drooping.

It's this.

Halo 3!!!

I know I know I should be studying/sleeping. But I gave in to the temptation for 1 or 2 hours of playing halo with May, Ray, and Alex. The intensity of the games alone was enough to make my palms sweaty and keep my adrenaline pumping.

Wooo. Goal of the day: study, watch the beautiful sunrise at 6am-ish, then (maybe) take out my camera to snap a few photos of dawn appearing. =)

UPDATE*** a few hours later...

Managed to squeeze more biochem facts into my head, then went out of the house (still on Queen Street- it was cold!) with May to take a few photos of sunrise (not that beautiful today due to the high clouds, but OH WELLS), studied some more, and slept at 7.30am. Life is too precious to miss out on the sunrises.

Capturing 16.09.08

Warning*** Many happy pictures ahead.


My 21st was what I wanted it to be- memorable. Even when I'm 50-ish and celebrating my bronze wedding anniversary, I'll still remember how you guys drove me (blindfolded) around the Countdown carpark (all the bumps included) and made me guess where it was. :)

So I should start from the beginning. It was Monday night: which means Lighthouse Fellowship as usual. I knew something was going on as many of you stayed back talking/*attempting to* dance (remember that?) until late. A few minutes past midnight, everyone sat in a circle (and gave their emotional speeches. HMM who (almost) cried? Haha, must look back at those videos to remember. Thanks again to all those who stayed despite it being a full-on assignment-handing-in week, especially to dear Hsiu Ping when it was clearly past her bedtime already *hugs*

By 1am-ish, I managed to control tears from flowing down, said goodbye to those leaving, and headed back to my room. Lo and behold, when I turned on the light switch, nothing happened. The curious side of me told me to turn on the light function on my handphone (despite Sam and Janice asking me not to, haha!) and peered into my room. A big blob of shadow right above my desk/computer caught my eye, so I went closer to have a look. I stopped poking at it (looked to me like my bedsheet covering something) after being told not to ;)

There was a powerpoint slide show on my computer- the title was "Yo Dudedess"- I smell something fishy. The slide show began, but halfway through it (before the last slide with the birthday cake), I couldn't help but notice the light coming through from the curtain drapes to my left- which I opened to find the shocked faces of those holding the birthday cake :P

I couldn't stop laughing. I PLAN birthday surprises. Call me the queen of birthday surprises. Which is why trying to surprise me will end up with you saying things like:

"Aiyaaaaa you're NOT supposed to do that!"
"You spoiled the surprise!"

Then I was asked to pull on a string which released the balloons hidden behind the bedsheet. Not the normal oval-shaped balloons, these came in weird shapes and sizes haha! So we ate the cake, laughed about how I ruined the surprise, then they truly went home.

Tne next day, I was supposed to meet Michelle for lunch at the Rainforest. Yet there were 6 more of you little birthday surpisers sitting there already :P Great times, great food! (Lunch photos from Jaq)

a very happy me.

The 3 J's (Janice, jOSs, & Jaq)

I wished for...?

At around 5pm, met Chyi, Janice, and Greg for a vain photoshoot around uni- the pretty blossoms are out! Photos- credit to Greg.

flowers stuck on the cobweb

The Gn couple. Greg, watch your hand :P

Chyi so cute!

Why wouldn't anyone want to study here?

We love our uni

I love this little alley way between the staff club and the river

Then I went home, getting ready for a quiet night. I took out the leftover food from lunch and leftover soup from the previous night, and happily had my dinner- UNTIL Janice texted me "Get ready, the Kura-kura gang is going to kidnap you. Dress up as pretty as Chyi". I texted back "are you guys bringing me out for dinner? I'm already eating..."

Then I heard a knock on the door- it was Michelle- dressed up! I can't remember why, but first thing I asked her was "Are you here to kidnap me?" She asked me to stop eating and quickly go change, hehe. Where else can you find such a friendly kidnapper which allows you to change and get ready before being taken away to some mysterious place? ;)

A few minutes later, a blindfolded me was led to the car. They even drove around the Countdown carpark to confuse me where we were heading to (as I had managed to guess where we were earlier on haha). We finally stopped somewhere- I heard the chime of a clocktower and instantly thought of the uni registry building. Then again, why would they bring me there?

Still blindfolded, I was told to sit down on a chair. I heard many voices around- trying to listen for a familar one. Felt a little self-conscious knowing everyone's staring at me- looking silly with the blindfold on as well (thanks Michelle for choosing the most stylish blindfold, hehe!).

When the blindfold was finally removed, I was greeted with this (watch video below):

Unfamiliar faces! A baby in a stroller to my right some more!

My friends had somehow mutated into having very angmoh faces, and I had a severe memory loss and couldn't even remember about my cute little baby I had a year ago...

Which is NOT the case, of course. The sneaky/cheeky group of people I call friends swapped tables with a group of baseball players and their family from Aussie on a tour around NZ to surprise me. YEAH I was surprised and speechless (as you can tell from the video).

The restaurant was called The Terrace, where we had stone grill food- YUMMY though the price was tad high for the small servings. The chime I heard came from the other clocktower at the Octagon which I didn't even think of earlier.

The highlight of the night was undoubtedly when one of the baseball players came over to our table and KISSED Michelle on the cheek just before he left and said "Happy birthday!" hahaha! Imagine Raymond sitting there, clenching his fists, and thinking "That's my WIFE you're kissing!!!" I wonder how he could have mistook Michelle for me, when I was the one being blindfolded and sitting at the end of the table. Some hidden agenda, maybe? haha. So maybe he just innocently couldn't tell us apart... you decide.

Just look at those smirks...

Oh about the presents! Thanks again for the pretty (and expensive) bag from Witchery, which I mentioned I wanted a few days ago. :) Other prezzies include the George Foreman's grilling machine (love it heaps! -from the Pancakes!), yummy mooncakes (there's even one mooncake in the set with 3 egg yolks!) all the way from China/HongKong- I was told it would cost around $100 or more to get those (from Victor), and not forgetting the scrapbook (still in production, but word leaked out to me hehe).

one of the mooncakes

pretty flower from Jaq
Michelle so disapppointed when she found out it wasn't from a guy! ;)

For ALL you've done- the birthday wishes, surprises, would-be surprises, food, presents, hugs, smiles, laughter (and tears?), prayers, photos taken, facebook wishes, and most importantly the memories that were made to last- I treasure them deeply in my heart. =)

17 days to Singapore- GOSH.

So long commerce papers

Management 303 exam was not as bad as I thought it would be. The lecturer, being lazy uncreative as she is, just took past year questions and compiled them together. Thank God I looked through the past year exam questions and tried doing some. 3 hours of writing while trying NOT to sneeze too much was surprisingly not that difficult. Thanks for all your prayers, guys. =)

Going to bed at past 5am every day for the past week has taken its toll on me. For the past few days, I've been feeling lethargic. My nose feels like the elephant below: only that the peanut butter feels like a big block of ice cube, keyword being ICE. I can't stop sneezing, have to breathe using my mouth 24/7 (not even panadol with decongestant + lemon helped), using up my 2nd box of tissue in a few days- now the only way of feeling slightly better is sticking tissue up my nose. Seriously. Don't laugh.

I'm never THIS desperate to get better. Bacterial/viral infection or serious hayfever/other allergies or just burnout? I wish I had my own lab now so can plate out the bacteria/virus and see which of those little rascals are causing me this discomfort. GRRR.


But for now, I'm grateful for advances in finding accommodation in Singapore. I MIGHT settle for a twin executive room at Evans Lodge for S$470 a month. Seems like my best option now since all single rooms are fully booked.

I've gotten my long-awaited reply from the Genome Institute of Singapore! =)

The working hours are Mondays to Thursdays 8.30am to 6pm (5.30pm for Fridays)!!! Thank goodness for no dress code; I was told t shirt and jeans are fine, but I was thinking if I should wear smart casual on the first day of work. First impressions count, right? But will need to buy more comfy closed toe shoes soon.

The majority has spoken. I'll blog about my 21st very soon!

I need to know...

UPDATE*** Monday, 20th Oct
Poll closing tomorrow. First exam tomorrow. HMM I might just blog about the 21st after the exam tomorrow night then :P

I just realised that I have yet to blog about my 21st celebration 1 month ago due to endless assignments. Should I do that now?

poll by twiigs.com

The exam factor

So often we complain about how busy we are. We list down the things that are yet to be completed, stress the fact that whatever we're studying/working/doing is MORE stressful than others. We think, or want others to think, that nothing else can compare/understand what we're going through.

"You have NO IDEA what I'm going through".

Oh how I hate that phrase.

If you find that familiar, maybe it's time you stop wanting people trying to understand what you're going through. Stop complaining and know that there are people out there who are going through more difficult times than you, but are NOT complaining. Those are the ones I admire. The ones that I look up to. Without them, won't the world be filled of whiny, self-absorbed people? Every single day, I thank God for placing them in my lives and reminding that life isn't about ME ME and MEEEE.

Anyway, some photos from Lighthouse Fellowship's possible last BBQ of the year last Monday at the Gn's place.

Rachel & Rebekah. The mental hospital escapees aka psychology students gone mad =P

Sharon showing her injured fingernail. *OWH poor thing.*
Consulting a future doctor, pharmacist, & psychologist...
May mentioned that it looks like Sharon's trying to "pluck" her hair heheh!

Music practice

The lighting wasn't perfect, but I personally like how this pic turned out :)

BBQ-ing. Foooooooooood!

Last but not least, my fav photo of the night.
Jaq & Janice being silly.

Whheeee I'm happy for those who are joining the blogging revolution :P

I'm having 2nd thoughts about buying a macbook pro. Too pricey for the specs it's offering. But sigh I still love its aluminium finish and sleek design. Another laptop has caught my eye: the HP Pavilion dv7-1000 Entertainment Notebook PC. GOSH so pretty; about same price as the 17" macbook pro but more powerful in so many ways. It boasts a 4Gb ram memory, Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T9400, 500Gb storage, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (ahhhh games!), super cool built-in Altec Lansing speakers, etc etc. Price is NZ$3199. *wipes drool off my chin* My current comp is pretty good too, but lately the thought of having a portable laptop is just too tempting. We'll see.

don't drink and study

To all those who spend all their student loan/hard earned money on drinking every Thursday/Saturday nights at the MANY bars in Dunedin, READ UP--> a study has shown that drinking alcohol SHRINKS YOUR BRAIN.

Now that, I'm surprised. I only thought alcohol shrinks the liver, not brain. But what long term a smaller brain size means (think Homer), nobody knows for sure yet. Maybe I can do research on that and earn lots. HMMMM.

Anyway, I'm distracted from studying again. This time, worrying (seriously) about where I'm going to stay in Singapore (less than 1 month to go!). Worse case scenario is I'll have to stay with my dad's 2nd cousin whom I've only met once.. Not looking forward to that, but if that saves me money (enough to buy a MacBook Pro), I'd be more than happy to live with her.

So I tried posting up room-wanted ads around property websites again- almost gave up due to the lack of response or scam replies. Then just a few hours ago, I received this in my gmail. An email from a girl thinking that I'm the one renting out a room. -__-''' So much for hoping for a decent reply.

I replied her, telling her the story of how I'm looking for a place myself, sorry for the typo (if I did mistype OR she misread), if any. She replied. And I replied again. And it went on and on, until I told her about me almost being scammed.

So random.

More replies now after I posted an ad on this website. 4 replies so far. But none that really stood out. Either it's too far, or too expensive, or no cooking allowed, etc etc. So frustrating. I'm really praying for a good/near/cheap place now. Desperately.

Dedication: Shaza

Happy 21st Shaza!!!
(now that's a cool nickname)

I still remember how I got to know her: first year Chemistry lab ;P

She's such an inspiration to all those around her: despite her busy schedule (future physiotherapist & president of OCF - overseas Christian fellowship), she finds the heart and time to text other people a word of encouragement, a bible verse, or just simple prayer requests. I enjoy listening to her testimonies during cell group too :) Will definitely miss her next year.

I doubt that she'll get to read this, but dear Sharon: all the best for your practical exam tomorrow!

Hopeful!

I'm so unmotivated to blog (and study).

We had our 2nd slumber party this year! Held last Friday/Saturday at Michelle's place. Just the few of us, and it was more like a study party; we ended up studying most of the time, playing card games, going to the Otago farmers market on Saturday morning, more shopping at Countdown, then a sumptuous meal together with the guys Sat night. =)

It was definitely a challenge waking Janice up. "5 more minutes!" is all she says, and that was over 30 minutes trying to prevent her from snuggling back into the sleeping bag.

Here you go. Pictures!

The 4 of us: Mich (eyes closed!), jOSs, Janice, & Sam.

I have no idea why too...

The queue to get crepe! GOSH so yummy!

Loads of people getting up early too.

Mich with the lamb kebab. Absolute tastiness

So cute.

In the railway station.

This used to be a ticket booth!
Janice being Janice.

That's Canai in 50 years =P
(replace violin with guitar)

Railway station: taken from inside the car; no time to switch to widescreen mode.

I should be studying, but suddenly had the urge to plan a Hillsong 09 conference trip from 6 - 11th July. I came up with the estimate cost of spending 7 days 6 nights in Sydney: including airfares, accommodation, transport to Acer arena, food, conference tickets, etc: came up just under NZ$1000. More info about that, do contact me.

FIRST time ever that the conference is not coinciding with uni, PLUS I'm so excited about the guest speakers for next year. Really hoping that this will come to pass, considering will be busy in 2010 when work starts. Praying that the others can make it as well; would be hard to get a 5-day leave but- all things are possible! =)