The Primary Investigator of the Parasitology Lab

Watch this if you haven't. Who'd know that the prof would be so sporting?

Scientists can party! Er.

Presenting the DBS Christmas Binge!

Complete with too-loud karaoke, a colouring contest for the children, multi-coloured helium balloons (home made ones! secured with... rubber bands!), and a lucky draw at the end. Of course, not forgetting the refreshments, which was the only thing keeping people seated through it all. Binge yes? I doubt the leftover document bags from a conference (wrapped in newspaper!) given away as lucky draw goodies were much of a draw. Hurhur.

Eugene wondered if the lights on the much bedecked Christmas tree were fluorescing bacteria.


It's really too bad of me to be so cynical. Heh.
It was all good fun la. I think the cleaner aunties, other uncles and the small kids enjoyed it. And it was a chance to see the lab people let down their hair and sing their hearts out. Not fantastic, but entertaining nevertheless.

Psychoanalysis

Sometimes I feel like I'm striving to become something that I am not. As in:
What I am: an upper-middle achiever, with a splash of mediocrity somewhere
What I am deluding myself about: that I am more than that
Result: I keep having to do things that I don't really want to do

In which case, I should just plant my feet solidly on the ground and look for a 9-5 after graduation. Or I could even do something I like, such as things to do with books (as in fiction) or craft (as in the craft in art-and-craft).

But some other times, I'll think that that's not true. As in:
What I am: an above-average achiever, capable of greater glory *snicker*, with a timid streak somewhere, but really wanting to make it big somewhere.
So: to give up is just to take the easy way out, which everyone can do BUT to knuckle down and fight for my glory should be the way to go, which is not what everyone can do.

In which case I should ra-ra and become a warrior. Doesn't that sound really romantic.

What I need is affirmation (doesn't anyone?). As in from people who really know me and understand what I am talking and thinking about. I need to know that I am not deluding myself on this. I also wish that someone could hold my hand and do this with me. But this is asking the impossible, as far as I can envision. So it's up to me.

Fight to the end!

PS: haha, this sounds like quarter-life crisis to me.

What I really don't like is staring at a computer screen.
Give me printed material anyday man. *sigh*

The holiday season is giving me a headache.

Yesterday I experienced Regret. Yes, with a capital "R" no less. *sigh* I knew the moment I walked out of the shop. Dang it, shouldn't have been so easily persuaded when I wasn't even convinced.

Why like that?? The PCR machine doesn't like me.

Argh. I want to go to the beach. Why got monsoon, I ask you.

Chocolate only helped that much.

Crap. Maybe I'm suffering from SAD. Yep, seasonal affective disorder... even though Sg is equatorial. Must be the monsoon.

Trudge trudge.

Post Exam Madness

I have been going out everyday from the day I had the last of my papers. Haha. Even I'm surprised by myself!

5 Dec, Tue
Went Carl's Junior with the girls to have lunch after the rather expected Pharmacogen paper. My first time there actually. And my verdict: it's probably rather exciting for people who take beef. There are over 10 varieties of beef burgers with exotic dressings like guacamole and interesting fillings ranging from bacon to portobello mushrooms (pw went straight for this one). The fish and chicken burgers are considerably less varied but they are more than decent. I love how they give entire leaves of fresh crunchy lettuce instead of the standard fare of yellowing strips of sad vegetable. My Chargrilled Sante Fe Chicken was just right; the others all had massively filling (should I say stuffing) servings for theirs.

Following that, we walked around PS in a bid to aid digestion. Though waffles were going for half-price at Gelare, no one could even entertain the thought.

6 Dec, Wed
Met xq for crazy earring shopping and Ding Tai Feng for dinner. That has been one year in the making, I tell you. And it was definitely well worth the wait.


The appetiser, which is one of the recommended dishes. xq's favourite. I'm ok with it.


Xiao Long Bao! Very very good. The soup was tasty and not oily and the meat was nicely flavoured. The skin was nice and thin. This dish actually has the Health Promotion Board's "Healthier Choice" mark, so I guess the soup in the bun wasn't the result of frozen fat blocks like vally wally wrote.


Then we had the egg fried rice. I like how the egg was nicely distributed throughout the rice. Tasty.


Shrimp wonton soup. The shrimp! So fresh! So crunchy! Oh, this is bliss, I tell you.


And finally we had yam pau for dessert. The yam paste was smooth and not too sweet. We both liked them very much. Did you know that there has to be more than 18 folds on each bun?

7 Dec, Thurs
Met qy for Sakae Teatime buffet at Harbourfront. Sam joined us one hour into our meal. Having learnt our lesson, both of us went in at the start of the buffet time slot and not 15 minutes before the last order. So this time round we took 3 leisurely hours to eat. (And still failed to eat enough for the price we paid! 3 of us consumed 20 plate. Dismal, I know.) The dessert included in the buffet price was strawberries and cream. Real strawberries were filled with ice cream, coated with some sweet white thing and then frozen. Heaven.

After the meal we wandered into Vivo City for a bit to look for cards. Went up to the sky garden thingy which had a play pool made to look like the beach. I wonder why you'd want to play in there when Sentosa is just a stone's throw away. Ok, maybe the kids don't know. Didn't get to the waterfront facade though, which was what I quite want to see.

8 Dec, Fri

(Tired of reading yet? Haha..)

Went shopping with my mum at Orchard. We started off at OG at Somerset and worked our way up towards Orchard. It was raining cats and dogs when we got there soon after lunch but fortunately the water ran out while we were in OG. Eventually we made our way to Taka for which she had vouchers to spend.

I was sort of looking for heeled shoes so I took her to Far East Plaza (!) after failing to find anything I liked. Far East was thronging with teenagers as usual. I kept going for shoes with some sort of bow or quirky bauble, much to my mum's disapproval. Most shoes were really too high for me to function in; if I got them I would only be able to stand around! But tall shoes really do make a girl look good.

We got home around 9 pm. I have to say that I am really quite surprised that we walked for as long as we did; my mum was wearing low heels and she is more than twice my age. The only two times we stopped were to drink coffee at 5 o'clock and to have dinner before we came back. Haha, people still surprise you even when you've known them all your life.

Today
Will be off to an AWC gathering in the evening. Wahahaha. More fun! I think I'll buy Mini Cornettos to bring along.


I'll go back to lab on Monday happy.