Counting down

This week has been "one of those weeks", in fact.

Most unproductive week, especially regarding the progress of my project anyway. Bummer. Nothing seems to work; hoping today's experiment will, still in the process of ordering more raw materials which will take a long time to arrive.

I'm beginning to feel.... overwhelmed. Trying not to; trying to stay positive heh and keep the momentum going. Still very nervous about the oral exam happening in less than 2 weeks- gosh gosh gosh. Out of the 4 lecturers (3 of which will be on the panel, selected at random): 1 is super scary and will ask hard questions, 1 is nyeh OK I guess (don't talk to him much), 1 always talks a little too much when I consult him about anything; the last one is the friendliest and very smiley :) So I'm hoping to get the 3 less scary lecturers; though I'll go into that exam room expecting the scary lecturer will be there.

I finally got myself a Kathmandu jacket! I think at least 1 out of 3 students in Dunedin own a kathmandu puffer jacket anyway. But mine's in cream, not the boring black. Expensive but oh well the terribly cold weather recently has got the better of me. I forgot to bring it home from the lab yesterday and freaked out whole night: how if someone stole it and sold it for half price??? *gasp* but of course, I was being paranoid and I was so happy to wear it today. hehe. Super warm my goodness I was even sweating when I got home just now.

3 more hours till Mantha arrive in Dunedin!!! =D The Pancakes' graduation ceremony is tomorrow, ah the excitement!

brrrrrr (again!)

It is 5pm, and the temperature outside is 0 degrees plus wind chill!

Some say it might snow in the city tonight; who knows? FYI it's already snowing in Christchurch, people say.

I'd have to say that this winter is the coldest yet since I've been here in 2005. Wrap up, people. Layer up. Drink hot soup. Jump around and/or annoy your flatmate (that's what I do) to keep warm.

I'm OK with the cold, but not ok with clothes not being dry. Or how hard it is getting up in the morning just because it's dark and windy outside.

YESH my Threadless tee shirts just arrived today! Perfect sizing since I took a risk in ordering the same size for all 3 tees.

winter's just starting

It was bright and sunny this morning, but it soon turned gloomy, wet, and windy. That's Dunedin, though. My umbrella overturned many times; and I hear the sound of hail knocking on my windows now.

Thank goodness I bought these super cute slippers to keep my feet warm ;P

P.S. 'Angels and Demons' was awwwwwesome. Loved every twist and turn in the movie.

it's one of those days

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.

pricier than gold

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...