Those days

Today I had the best training session I have ever had since dont know when. It is not just the massive pump I felt in my forearms. Neither is it the ultimate shagness I felt after doing finger board.

It was how everyone pushed each other on as we did our "CAMPUS till failure exercise"

Dont exactly know how to describe it here but seriously, the spirit was there. FINALLY. Finally I could feel it in the team. Listening to your team mates' encouragement as you struggle up the 3rd lap is really nice.

It just makes you wanna push one more for them.

"Come on man, Just one more! Just one more! COME on. ALE! Come on!"

The same few words work wonders. Really surprised how those people shouting behind you can help spur you on. Getting past one rung... and then another.. and then another.... and then another till u really really max out your limit. Of cos, besides the cheering, you need to WANT to do it also. I would say that personal belief and the cheering come hand in hand.

Brings back the memories of my early years training in NUS. Those were the days when we hung super massive amount of weights, trying to just squeeze one more pull up. And as usual, you will always have the support of your team, making you just want to give your 101% percent.

Thats what I like about this team. Somehow this aspect of training was sadly lost along the way. But finally, after so long, the feeling is back again. That keeps me going in the TEAM. Knowing that your team mates are always supporting you. Thats my team for you.

As I proceed into the final stage of my uni life, I suddenly realised my time with the team becomes countable and limited. Slowly, new juniors fill in the gaps left behind by graduating seniors in this place I call my Second home. This final year with the team have thus far been good. With credits going to the nice juniors, from naive and perverted buy strongly keen to learn Yr1s, SUPER self motivated and inspiring year2s, Ever so caring yr3s and finally my batch of yr4s who stood strong throughout these 4 years with me.

Thanks to Jiawei for helping me find the answer to my question today. Greatly appreciated.

EMO NEMO

Major shift

Its time for me to blog again.

After much consideration, I have decided to make a major shift. As some of you might have already known, I am applying for a scholarship given by SGH. It is for MASTERS in physiotherapy (entry level). It involves a 2 yearss study in Australia, followed by a 4yrs bond with SGH.

Definitely a big major shift for me (as quoted by my prof). I am not sure if I am able to put everything down in pursue of what I have been wanting. I just hope that if i do get it, the 2years will flash by quickly.

I hope that things do not change back in Singapore (though I know it will be hard)

I hope that my friends and clique are still together when I am back if I were to go for the scholarship.

I am in a dilemma right now. Lets just try applying and see how it goes from there. Two years overseas seems long... But it is not too long either... Hmm..

HOW?

Rigidity

What a great start to a wonderful 2010.

Firstly, I started after this serious kick ass back pain. Finally managed to see Dr Victor Loh who diagnosed it as slipped disc. Early stages thou. Reversible if taken care of. SO he recommended pilates, swimming and physio. Hmm..

Next, due to my back, I havent been climbing much. Hence I cant take part in bouldermania. Taking climbing from me is like SERIOUSLY irritating. It is no fun when you see your peers catching up to you while you are handicapped. SERIOUSLY. IT IS KILLING ME. I may appear happy about not climbing. But seriously I am not.

Next, FYP on the other hand is killing me, even though it has managed to distract me from climbing. Results are not consistent. No time to repeat. Tonnes of data to collate. Havent settled much of my stuff. IT IS SERIOUSLY TIME TO GET ORGANISED DAMN IT. F!@#$%^

Next, my world class institute NUS has this screwed up CORS system that decided to go against me during my graduating sem. I am currently holding on to one of two cores that I need to grad. AND THE LSOC is simply refusing to grant my appeal. SO MUCH FOR YOUR GOAL OF ASSISTING STUDENTS IN ACADEMIC MATTERS. ALL YOU DO IS PUSH STUDENTS AWAY, SAVING YOURSELF FROM ALL THE DAMN HASSLE AND COLLECT YOUR SALARY WHILE SITTING IN THE DAMN AIRCON ROOM, SIPPING YOUR HOT COFFEE, READING DESPERATE APPEALS OF STUDENTS WHO BOTHER TO GO SCHOOL @ 9am TO MAKE THE DAMN APPEAL. SERIOUSLY! I THANK YOU. AND I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR COFFEE. !@#$%^&

Hmm... Seriously. 4.03 is hanging by a thread. And things seem to be out of my control currently.

Lousy lesson timetable with lessons on monday till thursday. Which means no time for western blotting. SERIOUSLY....

I just need some air..........

2010

Happy new year to everyone out there...

Not going to make any public resolutions....

Cos people might make a joke out of it...

So well,

time to heal my back. Meaning no climbing for at least a week...

Take care people.

Literally Broke Back

Hmm... My back hurts.. Like seriously... To the stage that I cant really walk properly...

I injured it once in CA before... Equally bad...

Could be a relapse.... Hmm... The pain goes to the thigh as well...

Saw a doctr @ UHC. After doing sme stretching, he concluded that

1. I have excellent flexibility
2. I have a slightly crooked spinal cord
3. It is a muscle injury (right lumbar) and I shouldnt be too worried

AND... ALL he prescribed was a tube of COUNTERPAIN. !@#$%$^&*((*@#@%^&*&^

oh well.... Not selected for Bouldermania. Partly it was my choice.. And also I am not in the best of conditions with this back problem and FYP... oh well.. Till my back recovers, I will probably stay away from rock. And I seriously need to train hard... To prove that I can still do it....

So looking forward to the grad trip. And come to think about it... I will be spending my birthday overseas...

And I found an iinteresting job online. @ HSA as an forensic scientist. Challenging! KIV yeah?

some random photos....

ONE NIGHT @ ICE CREAM CHEF.... IT WAS THE BATTLE OF THE IPHONEs......

Vincent trying to be funny...

CAUGHT

Long time

Ok. Christmas is over. A couple of nice gifts... Dragon pants. Dragon 3quarts. 20L Ocean Pack from Ken.

Thanks everyone. Sorry yixiang that you got my lousy organiser. Well... At least it is a MUJI organiser and not some cheapo one. Sorry once again.

24th Dec dinner was at Foo Lin Yong Tau Foo. Next,I spent some time surprising Michelle @ her place with Yixiang and Matt. Vincent couldnt make it cos he was at sister's island. Got her a UNIQLO purple jeans. hopefully she likes it. Felt abit awkward to be invited into the house thou. Cos we are like leeching on the free food. Oh well. Played with two dogs! Pebble and Spiky. Cute! Photos FB. Then it was off to some Tau Huay place @ geylang to meet Jud, Ken, Shu and Bert. They were at Timbre.

25th Dec was spent @ KEN's PLACE!!! WII to the max! till 0145h! hahaha! ok. I am officially the toilet paper! Sucked @ it.

26th Dec was spent @ FEL's place. Hmm... Last min gift shopping. Lousy present choice. Oh well... Food and company were ok at FEL's place. First defeat of the season in MJ. Didnt enjoy it cos it was noisy and everyone was crowding around and stuff. Not the most conducive environment for MJ. Oh well... Expensive dinner...

Oh.. 27th I collected my LEvis Jeans that Ibought on 26th! Same cutting. 522. Keep spending alot of money... Eyeing a couple more tops and bottoms...

BUT I GOT TO SAVE. GRAD TRIP IS coming up real soon.... ZHAOXIU!!!! COME COME!!!!!!!

Hmm... Forgot to mention my results.... NOt fantastic.. But manageable..

Toxicology- A-
Understanding the Universe - A-
Cell biology- B
Pharmacogenetics- B

Overall Cap 4.03.

Hanging by a thread. All down to FYP... Time to head to the lab.....

YAWN..

There is this pain in my lower back. Strains all the way down to my right leg.. Bothering me... DAMn.

Vertigo Convertant

Back from a great short trip with Vince, Jenny, Clara, Youjie, Jud, Lala and Ken. Super fun bunch of people to go on a trip with.

All very easy-going. Not wishy washy. Very decisive. Not much time wasted deciding what to eat unlike some other trips. Very efficient!

Food.
We had a great variety. From 530am dimsum, to ramly burgers, to Fexpensive Chilli's, to cheap cheap fish and chips and not forgetting all time favourtie Secret Recipe.

10points deducted from Secret Recipe @ Bukit Bintang thou. For the Fousy customer service. How can a secret recipe staff not know what cake he is serving.

Weather

The weather in KL was hot as usual, measuring up to 36C at one point in time. The last day rained however. It was deja vu all again. haHaa. reminder of what happen for a previous team trip where it flooded pretty bad. We were lucky this time round though as we managed to escape the downpour in time.

Climbing

Climbing was good. Very focused. My aim for the trip was to do vertical and I achieved it. Totally. Spent 90% of my time there climbing high wall. Alot of interesting routes. But I kinda focused more on the more inclined walls rather than the chimney, balancing routes. Managed to send two 7a+s! Not sure if the grades are really solid. But still, it was really a personal achievement for me! Never thought I could send anything harder than a 6b+. So these sends kinda motivated me for the trip.

Somehow I manage to find some sort of serenity when I am doing vertical. I like it.

Overall, it was a great trip. Cheap movies, Cheap food, SO-SO lodging, and most importantly, Great COMPANY.

Youjie, Jensen- All the best with your work
Clara- All the best for your 50pages FYP
Ken- Hope you regained your confidence!
vincent- Thanks for the talkie! and........................so.........WHATCHA SAY!
Jud, lala- UTU results coming out!!!!

Vertigo

Alright.

Heading for Camp5 with the lonely souls left in Singapore

11-14th Dec.

Short trip.

Good break from FYP.

Hopefully my climbing at CA will help me conquer some rutes in Camp5.

Going to upload Progression into my PSP and watch it before climbing. Hopefully can get some psyche into me. ok. Lame.

Take care people.

Yixiang, hope you send some hard stuff in CM.

Down

Hmmm... Exams over not too long ago....

Hopefully CAP wont drop too much. Papers were ok. Eventually it will be down to my FYP.

The team is heading for Chiangmai tmr. I have never missed a team trip before. This is the first time. Due to FYP again. It is depressing? Depressing that I am unable to attend the last team trip. Love team trip. For the climbing as well as company. Hmm....DAMN IT. oh well... I know I have to save up for my own grad trip too... Oh well.... Please take care in Chiangmai.

FYP haven been very smooth. Alot of weird results. And I wasted on INSULIN kit worth $350 last week. Forgot to centrifuge the samples. Plus mentor told me wrong dilution factor = GG. Lucky supervisor nice enough to buy one more for me. Progress really slow. Lots of assays to do... LOTS of readings to do to support the results. LOTS of data to tabulate. OMG.

IT IS THE FREAKING HOLIDAYS DAMN IT. It doesnt feel like it at all....

Hmm.. One last sem to go. One last hurdle.

One last competition season with the team. Probably what I will miss most about my 4years in university. Somewhere I call my second home.....

To Yixiang, MAtthew and Clara, All the best for your MARATHON! Too bad I cant join you guys this year due to my lousy knees. RUN for me!!!

To the team, Have a uber safe trip. See you guys soon.............

It just sOOoooooooooooooooooooooo...........................................

Winter Solstice

Managed to catch 2012 today. First row but it was worth every cent of my $8. Hands Down.

Alot of after thoughts. Firstly, I could relate to a few of my acquired knowledge from Understanding the Universe module..... Planets...Prominence...Solar Flare and every other stuff.

I felt that it was all so real. I mean.. Scientists have proven that it will not happen to Earth in the near future at least millions of year.....



BUT... Still... The magnitude of destruction is unforgiving. it is like FHUGEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee. ASTRONOMICAL! oh my.....It wakes you up as a person and makes you wonder about how small mankind is compared to nature. Be nice to Earth. Hard to explain in words. But really sets you thinking what you do when such a calamity actually happen.

Seriously....It MIGHT happen. And what will happen to us then? Small fry like me would have the buying chip to get myself a spot for any form of survival transport.

The image of humanity struggling desperately for survival against the forces of nature.

How people (leaders) standing up for their beliefs and not leaving their men behind.

The unconditional love of parents.....Sacrificing themselves for the love one.

The dilemma in decision making - Whether to save all and jeopardize the survival of our Species or to be objective in the pragmatic world.

Dirty politics and the power of money.....

Go watch it people. feel the power of mother Earth. PLANET. haha. ok lame.

Finally. $8.50 for 50mins of parking. BEAT THAT. damn it.

Brotherhood

Proud to be in the Brotherhood of Deformed Joints.

It is like a common understanding among the 4 of us. Understanding each other's expectation and putting in the extra effort till the last moment in order not to let each other down. Squeezing the extra juice left in that pumping forearm just to get the extra points from the bonus.

We set the target to be the 1st NUS team and we reached it.

We set the target to improve our ranking from last year. We are 4th.

To Yixiang, Matthew and Jensen, thanks for making this year's climb on! meaningful. Hopefully the brotherhood continues......

On another note, I have finished Phase1 of my FYP- the feeding phase. Now I am onto assays assay and more assays. Own time own target from now on. Hopefully everything will be fine!

Have some pictures of the rats that I kept. But sure if I should post it though. Cos I am not allowed to snap photos in the first place. =P

Exams coming. Study hard people. And Zhaoxiu...STOP PARTYING in Canada! HORRIBLE YOU! muhahaha. ok random. Bye....

Brotherhood of deformed joints.

And so another weekend has passed.

Hmm... Rather hectic week. But glad that it passed quickly with great companionship. And not stuck alone in lab.

So the whole weekend was spent at Climberprix. Literally the WHOLE weekend. All thanks to....

1. Superb adminstration
2. Lack of allen keys and impact drivers.
3. Lack of ladders
4. Numerous cyclops
5. Last but not the least, lots of eye power.

Anyway managed to squeeze into the finals. Not a convincing one though cos i qualified last and there were alot of mistakes with the tabulations of results........So....i am considered lucky.

Finals was good. With one top. I thought my forte was crimps.... But i flopped on a crimp route and I topped a sloper route. =P oh well... Proud of myself. Have something to declare.. This is my first time finishing a competition route... SINCe....................Lets see... Pumpfest 2007? the one I won? haHha.. What a open noob.... if only i managed to do route3.................

Hmm.... Thanks to everyone who supported this short old planet. Hmm..... People like Claudia, Sandra, Jensen, Youjie, Matthew, YIXIANG (my buddy), Jud as well as my team. Appreciated man.... Makes competiting for the team all worth well.
Mind you.... It is not easy being a spectator ok? Especially for ROCKMASTER and Climberprix.

Come to think about it, this could jolly well be my last competition or second last that I am representing the team.. AWwww.. oh well.... move on.............

Now that this weekend is over, I am officially down with a flu and a sore throat...

2 more weekends to go.... Nike run and Sports award next.

Did I mention I got a new pair of shoes? =))))))))

Qouting Jenny...... "I like to start first. Cos if i finish the route, I can f!@$% with people's mind"

I totally agree....

Fucking stress

My FYP results is screwed up. WHAT CAN I DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
And now i am slapped with a two weeks extension....missing climberprix... missing nike run.... missing climb on. seriously....

Hongkong doesnt have my size for DRAGON. SINGAPORE ran out of sizes. AND guess what... THEY ARE NOT BRINGING IN DRAGON ANYMORE. WTF....

Seriously down in luck. Really...

I just need some light.........................................I need to breathe.....................................................................................................

It's my fault

I am not proud of working with 50rats and having to kill at least 1 a day. Seriously

I am trying my best to be careful but somehow shit happens.

Today was the first day of 14 of chronic feeding. The very first session went wrong.

I was distracted and I accidentally caused the death of 1rat. Hmm... Somehow the rat choked on the liquid drug and yea....The rest is self explanatory. No need for details.

I am seriously traumatised by the whole damn incident. Imagine staring blankly at a dying animal. Hmm.... Bloody sinful... I didn't sign up for this.

The whole incident really dampens my confidence and morale for th whole project. Started off wel but somehow alot of mishaps along the way... Partially due to unforeseencircumstances... And also due to my negliance, short concentration span, carelessness. I need to wake up.

On one end, there is the ethical issue of working with rats. I feel sad and down whenever one dies. On the other hand, when each sample dies, I lose one valuable data source. It is really pressurizing. Got to be careful so as to not harm any animals by accidentally (which causes great guilt) and also got to be careful so that I do not shrink my sample size any smaller.

The whole incident is haunting me. Putting 16 live rats into one gas chamber at one go (as instructed) and having an animal suffocating due to your own negliance IS NOT EDUCATIONAL at all.

No wonder Matthew says that FYP are a waste of money.

And now I can truly understand why Chloe changed her diet preference.

This is a dark post.

Till the End of Oct

Hmm... Rock camp just over... It's the last rock camp that I will be attending. Oh my... Thinking back about the previous camps.... Ranging from flying chickens, to CB yuen talk, to lots of sentosa and blah blah blah. Definitely unforgettable memories. No doubt, climbing team is my second family. Ok. Stop emo-ing.

Anyway... Straight after climbing carnival, I had lab. Got to prepare samples and drugs for the rats the next day. Ended around evening time. Shagged.

And then..........................The next day... I struggled to wake up in the rainy morning and left yixiang's room hastily for lab at 830am...

Guess what time i ended. Holy crap................ 745pm..... Thats like nearly 12hours of lab. With 20min chicken rice alone break. I pipetted the most number of wells on a microplate in my entire 4years in NUS. Continuously for 1hour. Pipette until pump. microlitres of reagents.... Volume so minute that you dont even feel you are adding anything in. Crap. To make things worse... the aircon cold until I wanna sleep while pipetting.

And then...............................I got to run back and fro between Animal Holding Unit (AHU) and my lab. Multipe times. Not fun, I tell you....

And then............................ Luckily my lab supervisor is nice enough to help me deal with the blood drawing as I perform microplate reading. Otherwise... 12hours lab becomes 24hours lab....

BUT.......................at the end of the whole day...it was all worth while. Managed to obtain relatively good results and objectives of the last few weeks were met. So thats a consolation. *Pat Pat on the back.

then it was off to yixiang's room. Packed up and off in a jerky cab.

With the attained effective dose of 150mg/kg, I will start the phase two of my FYP. 3weeks of chronic feeding with the TCM. Which means 3weeks of school everyday. Including saturdays and sunday. =(

Now... it is back to Universe and Cell bio. And many many many projects... pls start ok?

End of Oct.... come come....

Stalled.

Dam sian.

The animal holding unit just told me that they are unable to hold the next batch of rats due to the lack of space.

so I might have to delay the second batch of experiments.

Which means, it will eat into the exams period. Really GG already. Just when I thought I planned everything nice nice... aRGH! !@#@$%^%&^*&(*&^%$@#$%

Please help me....

Two of my purchases for the month.

Haystack in a coalmine

School started! Quite a relaxing week so far. More climbing than studying! Shouldn't be the case since I am yr4! Should spend more time in the lab instead of gym!

According to Joyce, it is rumoured that FYP students are graded according to the amount of hours spent in the lab rather than results! mauahah. Must show face more!

And so I have decided to be garang and squeeze 4modules this semester on top of my 16MC FYP.

1. Pharmacogenetics LSM4212
2. Toxicology LSM 4211
3. Advanced cell biology LSM4232
4. Understanding the Universe GEK1520

Hopefully it will not be too bad? Being year4 feels different. It seems that we have more time yet not enough time. Doesnt help when the rest of your Life science peers are always in their lab and my lab mates and I are not doing much. haHAHa.

Hmm...I have just completed my chemical safety course too. Which means I can now order my rats. and probably start my work by end of August. Time to start the project man! Scary. Not forgetting that I have to go to school everyday for one month! just to perform chronic feeding on the rats. Oh well....

AHM is this weekend. Yet to train. Good day... Hopefully yixiang will drag me along the 21km...

About time

Hmm... Haven't been updating for a long time. Dont really know where to start.

School is starting soon.

FYPs are kicking in.

Wonder if things will be the same...Better I hope. I really hope.

Time perhaps will not be on my side. But heart will be. I hope you will.

As simple as a cup of tea...And 3 egg tarts...Promise.

Krabi....

Krabi has been wonderful. Both climbing and the non climbing aspect.

Climbing wise.... I managed to climb many beautiful routes. Just to name a few...

• Missing Snow
• Quarks
• Lion King
• Kitty toes
• Tidal Wave
• Baby gorilla
• Muay thai
• Short and savage
• LARS and LARS

Sent some. Projected some. If only I had more time to finish baby gorilla and many other routes. Too nua at the start perhaps? This is the first time I climbed so man vertical routes. Felt quite accomplished. No major injuries. A couple of big falls. Thanks for the safe belay. =) Overall 9/10 for climbing. I also think DWS is not my thing. Perhaps due to the sea sick.

Moving away from hardcore cranking on the wall, Krabi is really a great place for one to relax his soul.. Free his mind and just slack. Basically you do nothing. Live like a villager and look like one (for my case). Love the place totally. The wind. The sun. The sand. The waves.

I thoroughly enjoyed all 11days of the trip. Every single one of them. Many reasons for them. Some of which all of you know and feel the same.

Alot of random moments that I treasure dearly.

Somehw I wished the trip never end. =) Till then.

Photos on FB.

Will post random thoughts about the trip again when the inspiration comes. =)

Thanks!

Wait.

Back from Krabi.

Villager.

99.9999999%

Will update soon.

Company. Every night.