Celebrating Xander :)

Yesterday was a day worth remembering.

Michelle had her 2nd baby scan and found out that she'll be having a baby boy!!!

-grabbed from Shaza's facebook profile

Baby Alexander ;P No, not Alex aka Canai. We've already started calling him Xander (my nephew's name too!)

Baby Xander was probably feeling shy yesterday as he didn't turn around to face the ultrasound scan thingy. So we couldn't get a good look of his handsome face hehe. But everything else is normal, i.e. measurements of organs looked ok. I never knew the ultrasound technology and all were so high tech! 3D views were even possible when they took pictures from different angles and formed an image.

It was quite funny coz towards the end when Mich asked about finding out the sex of the baby, the lady looked for any "clues" hehe and pointed at a blurry thing on the screen, saying "oh there it is, the baby's penis!" Ah, priceless moment ;)

Again, congrats to you both, Ray and Mich, baby Xander's going to be so loved (he already is hehe). I can't wait for early October to arrive!

***

Had my last group presentation over and done with for this semester earlier on this morning. yay! In a way, I'm glad that our lecturer decided to mix our groups up so we don't just stick to the same groups for all presentations. Getting to know other classmates and reading their interesting comments being scribbled on the journal article is...refreshing. I.e. my groupmate wrote down "leech with a shotgun" on my copy of the article amongst other notes while we were getting ready to present this morning. Oh, if you do any microbiology at all, the leech was referring to CRISPR arrays. haha!

Ok, I really should start revising now. Country road sale coming up hmmmm should I or should I not go?

dot dot dot

I'm bored. Not the 'I-have-nothing-to-do' kind of bored, but the 'I-really-have-lots-to-do-but-still-wanting-to-slack' kind. Like how most students are this time of the year: pre-exam season argh.

...but maybe not as bored as whoever that did this:

spot the anomaly

I'm surprised my group is pretty laidback about the last group presentation on Friday. We've read the paper, I've made the powerpoint slides, but essentially we have no idea how to answer questions if asked. Or what's the point of having that research done at all. So we emailed our lecturer, which happens to be the nicest lecturer in the department (I think) and might meet with him tomorrow to try and understand more.

My supervisor's being really organised. More than me! oops. He even gave me dates he wants me to hand in drafts of the project write-up. Starting from early August, final draft by early September. gah ugh bluerh. Though I've actually started doing a little introduction, I'm still hoping for more positive results to include.

Surprise surprise the weather's took a turn for the better! 1 whole week of miserable, gloomy weather has finally given way for awesome sunshine. But it's still cold; it's now below 0 degrees. Oh well, it is winter.

Something random I did since last time I blogged: I met up with a German couch-surfer, Bjorn, for hot chocolate after he emailed me asking for a chat/coffee. He's been backpacking/travelling around NZ for the past 11 months! Heading towards Aussie, Singapore, then back to Germany. I wish I could do that now- pack up and just go somewhere warm for a few weeks/months and meet random people, asking them to write down a phrase in their native language then get someone else to translate it.

Oh if you haven't joined couch-surfing yet, go join! That's how I met Jaslin and cell group buddies when I was in Singapore after I contacted her through CS. Great way of getting to know a foreign place better- which is through the locals, of course.

1 week before THE oral exam. Deep breaths.

The Pancakes' graduation

The Pancakes (Alex & Sam) came back to Dunedin for the weekend for their graduation ceremony. They just left hours ago, missing them already!

My 2nd time attending graduation ceremonies at the town hall. Official march from dentistry building to town hall was cancelled due to the awful weather (guess they didn't want the regalia and hood being wet), but I heard that many went ahead anyway

The organist of the ceremony

The Maori orator; funny guy

a reverand being awarded with the honorary degree of doctor of divinity
he even gave a speech at the end- very philosophical

the chancellor giving his speech
a few familiar faces behind him among the staff; some of the lecturers that had taught me throughout the past 3 years

the official photographers (McRobbie's) with the best view, of course

Sam being capped by the chancellor

I noticed that this lady has a pretty purple regalia!
I wonder which uni she had graduated from...

little get-together we had last night
Sam & Lisa, fellow intern pharmacist

Canai & Ray
short lunch at Jitsu

I'm blaming the weather for the lack of photos- didn't even manage to take photos (using my cam) for them in front of the clocktower due to the bad weather. Time was very limited too, barely had time to just sit down and chat. In a way I'm glad that I'll be graduating at the end of the year- exams will be over and it'll be summer (better weather hopefully?) WOW less than half a year to go for my turn to be capped and receive that certificate. SIGH not too far away and I can almost see it- but big hurdles to pass through first.

Had a good laugh about a misunderstanding I had earlier on the week. Alex had asked me to buy a bouquet of roses for Sam, and I just instantly thought of a marriage proposal! Haha. So I even went to the florists telling them I want to order roses meant for it XD Then few nights ago on the phone, when congratulating Alex, he was like, "for what?" I said "for your engagement la, duh what else?!" .... then after a few minutes of clearing up the misunderstanding I realised that the flowers were just for graduation, not because he was going to propose (yet) hahaha! OOOOOPS :P Oh well, not sure why I assumed that in the first place, maybe I just can't wait for more excitement in my life.

Speaking of which, I'm so looking forward to this Thursday: Michelle's going for her scan to find out the gender of baby!!!!! =D I'm rooting for a boy of course, many others as well. But not sure why, something's telling me that it's gonna be a girl :P Ron made a bet with the Yeos and will have to cook for them for a whole week if baby turns out to be a girl hehe. Boy oh boy (pun intended), it's going to be an exciting afternoon no matter what since it'll be the 1st time I'm going to see an actual ultrasound scan ever!

My experiments, as usual, are not working again! Trying to not get frustrated, think positive, and do my best to keep the cells happy gah.

Better weather ahead too according to metservice? Actual sunshine... could this be real? *fingers crossed*

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.