Don’t ask me how I’m doing if you don’t wanna know I stayed up too late, woke up late, oh you know how it goes Give off the vibe that everything’s fine As long as, as long as you don’t look in my eyes It’s all going just so perfectly wrong
Hey hey hey what can I say? It’s just been one of those, one of those days Hey hey hey what can I say? It’s just been one of those, one of those days
Don’t mind this kind of life of hurry up and wait Too many things to do, to lose, it gets a little insane So much crazy in 24 hours So many bills, too little frills, and not enough flowers What I wouldn’t give for a minute to myself
Hey hey hey what can I say? It’s just been one of those, one of those days Hey hey hey what can I say? It’s just been one of those, one of those days
lyrics from Joy Williams- One of those days from her latest EP (One of those days), which I absolutely adore
***
Mondays; it's one of those days, eh?
And I love the bluntness of the first line "don’t ask me how I’m doing if you don’t wanna know". How often have we asked that question, but end up not even really listening to what the other person is saying, only to think of how to make our own day/situation sound worse than it really is?
So whenever I feel like complaining how bad my day/week/year has been, I listen to Joy Williams and imagine my troubles being washed away :)
Also, I'm excited and happy for Joy Williams for her song "charmed life" being featured in the season finale in Grey's Anatomy. I remember telling everyone how I would never start watching that series, but now thanks to my flatmate Amy, I find it hard missing an episode every week. Watch the acoustic version of "charmed life" here.
Found this auction when I was browsing through trademe. Hmm 'creative' but does it really help with the bids?
Finally, did something different with my experiments today. I'm being vague again as I'm bound by an intellectual property agreement. I finished the experiment and was about to throw out this particular reagent since the amount left in the tube was around 50 µL or less. So yeap tiny amount but then I was told to keep it aka store it back into the freezer as that would cost, I quote "a few hundred dollars".
FYI, the price of gold per GRAM = ~NZD50 the price of X reagent per 50µL = estimated NZD500 and as 1000 µL = 1mL, price of X would be an estimated of $10,000!!!
OKAYYYY. All the more pressure to score this experiment. So I took the precious leftover and put it back into the freezer, which would cost even more with ALL the expensive materials etc. in it. GOSH I know that research is expensive but this really opened my eyes. Which means one single day of running experiments (from now on, pretty much) would cost thousands. Now that's why I'm paying 27K for my yearly tuition fees...
There was so much hail at the North Island that it actually looked like snow!
The weather's going crazy; winter's arriving much sooner this year... all these contribute to:
YET I still have much to be thankful for-
...the fact that I'm healthy, unlike a friend who has to undergo surgery on Thursday and is incredibly stressed about, well, everything. You'll be in my prayers.
Lift conversations with strangers always have to do with how bad the weather is
You find it hard deciding on what to wear - "where are all my long sleeved tops? and why did I buy so many short sleeved/sleeveless tops anyway?"
You walk by shops with jackets on display and decide to walk in *just to have a look* ahem
You crave for hot chicken soups
You walk by the ice cream isle at the supermarket without a second glance
You go to the library more often just coz it's so much warmer there compared to the cold flat
You don't need to refrigerate fruits (and other foodstuffs) since the temperature inside and outside the fridge is about the same anyway
You wonder when it'll snow yay
You browse through old photos when the days were sunny and SIGH
My (potentially) last winter here in Dunedin. wow.
Ski trip is less than 2 months away! An exam in the way, then there's still the project that thankfully is progressing along quite well. I am learning lots, so fingers crossed in 3 months' time there'll be enough results (groundbreaking, maybe? a cure to MRSA? =P) to present and write up the honours dissertation.
Alex and Sam coming down for their graduation ceremony in 2 weeks' time! Super excited! =D
Gah my fingers are numb from the cold. K enough typing. Keep warm
My new favourite singer/guitarist in a while: Newton Faulkner.
I personally think he has the voice of Chris Rice and guitar skills of Kaki King. Brilliant combination :) I love this song of his "to the light". It was featured in one of the dances in the dance competition show "So you think you can dance (Australia)"- which I am totally addicted to now =P Go have a listen, it's such a feel good song, perfect after a hectic, manic Monday.
I'm taking a break because I'm losing it again And I wanna relate without you thinking I'm insane Oh, it's the same another train Just sitting around with-a-record in my brain You could have everything you wanted But you would be still be wanting more Cause the sun is always in your eyes You search for stillness on a rock That's spinning round and round and you're surprised
Take a break from all I know, Just sit back and let it flow, Then I find I've broken through, To the light again.
Every time I find I'm thinking about the things I want to That is the time I have nothing to sing And every time I find I'm thinking about things that don't matter That is the time I see everything I want to know lord Why it's got to be so hard Wanna know lord Why it's got to be so hard I feel like a muppet with a drunkard puppeteer but I'll survive I will survive.
Take a break from all I know, Just sit back and let it flow, Then I find I've broken through, To the light again. Then I find I've broken through, To the light again
Speaking of which- sorry for the lack of updates. I barely had time to breathe, let alone blog. But I'm keeping on my eyes on the goal- graduation and getting that awesome job next year haha! 6 months to go- yeap that does seem very soon YET it's still so far away.
I've been talking to the postgrads in my lab, which have been very helpful. I've found my potential employer- Institute of Environmental Science of Research. Eyeing the forensics department ;P It's quite a sought after place to work at, especially for fresh grads, and a previous PhD student at my lab had went on to do her postdoc there, and she's coming back for a visit soon, so I'll get prepared for questions to ask her then.
To be honest, I don't have the slightest idea of where I'd be in 5 years' time. I can definitely see my friends getting married *wink wink you know who you are* and having babies, comparing diaper prices. I'll be the aunt taking photos of them. Fingers crossed, I'd have permanent residency by then, so my parents can retire here/travel around, maybe broaden my horizons and go overseas (again)- but really- who knows? But for the next 2 years, staying put (somewhere in the north island) would be my immediate plan. As for doing a PhD.... HMMmmmm not going to happen anytime soon though it does sound tempting to have the "doctor" title and scrap the "miss".
New things since I last blogged: I bought a new mouse and mousepad! Great gaming mouse and super smooth m/pad which I had always wanted to get. Bought a few tee shirts from threadless.com, sharing postage with Chyi my fellow KW buddy. Looking forward to the Pancakes coming down to Dunedin in 3 weeks time for their graduation ceremony :)
Ok more pics and stories to tell during the last day at Napier/Hastings during Easter. Gosh how I miss that place!
Day 4: touring around Napier yay
the "duck" bus/boat which nearly ran me over as I was taking a photo of it
on the way to the chocolate company, we found this beautiful park I love this photo of Sam!
wallpaper, anyone?
Mich *wistful thinking* ;P I like the windy footpath
group photo- joss, may, & sam a fun park for kids at the background
nothing but blue skies!
hehe how cute! *cough* Mich, Sam, and Janice in the future *cough*
finally, we reached the Silky Oak chocolate company and ordered the amazing "Hot choc extreme"- extremely rich melted chocolate with thick cream and optional chilli flakes sprinkled on top
ordered bacon & mushroom soup as well. YUMS
then we joined a tour around the former Napier Prison the hanging yard- people did get executed here decades ago
fooling around...
...and again
there was even an actual graveyard where a few executed prisoners were buried at *creepy* we saw the rooms and solitary confinement units etc: a real eye-opener indeed It's now been made into a backpackers :P
we walked around the beach: rocky, not sandy!
then went up to Bluff Hill lookout just in time to catch the last of sunset Had a great dinner (again, paid by mr pancake) at a restaurant called "the Thirsty Whale"- interesting name indeed. Had one of the best carbonaras I'd tasted ever + awesome customer service + great company
I'm thinking of doing skydiving. The prices are insane though. $249 for 9000 feet, $299 for 12000 feet, and $399 for 15000 feet. I'm wondering if a few thousand feet will make that much of a different once you're so high up on the plane waiting to jump. A few more seconds maybe? Do I have the guts to actually do it, though? =P I want to though; hoping that there's another person who'll want to skydive as well.
