Tuesday, April 28, 2009
zac is at SIM now. orientation day for him. he reached the lecture theatre super late, but when he reached there, people immediately came to talk to him. this is so different from ntu culture. in ntu, if you're sitting in the LT alone, it's unlikely that a group of people will come and introduce themselves. i guess in sim people are friendlier, or they're just less serious, people who have fun, didn't do well for alevels and ended up at sim.
it sucks that he's entering school now. i know he's ultra friendly, he is those sort who can talk to strangers like he knew them since forever. i know insecurities are super unattractive, but i know what im feeling is normal. when i entered uni, he was insecure for months and months and kept questioning me every few minutes. i was understanding though. i know he'll feel that way because i will too.
the swine flu is spreading! 140+++ and counting people have died from it. studying biology makes me so aware of how scary the influenza virus is. it is so much more contagious than SARS virus. if the swine flu spreads and cannot be controlled, it can definitely kill thousands. like the H1N1 spanish flu pandemic in 1918 that killed 40 MILLION people. flu is a crazy virus. it mutates like mad, combines with other strains to come up with a whole new strain. singapore bought millions of dollars of Tamiflu. but i think it is a lousy measure. flu strains are already showing resistance to tamiflu. and medication must be given fast. within 2 days of first signs of infection. normally people delay getting treatment. first signs of infection might be mild, so most people just ignore it.
just hope it doesn't spread to china. china authorities cannot be trusted. during the SARS pandemic, china lied about the number of cases of SARS they have, and also about the death rate, which lead to WHO being misinformed about the seriousness of SARS. china is also not vigilant enough, but their population is too big, so can't be helped sometimes.
i got to study hard! my skills will come in useful in future in cases like these. imagine, just being able to sequence a new virus during an outbreak can already potentially help the whole world. though it's not easy. being a research scientist is always a race against time to find cures, identify novel viruses etc...
11:17 AM
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Happy birthday evelyn babe! sorry that i couldn't plan much of a surprise thing for you. just hoped the simple gifts worked! i was soooo scared you bought the shorts already la!! luckily you haven't. right????
bad bad stomach. sigh. i have to eat every 3 hours now to prevent gastric pain. because im lazy to eat and eating takes up too much time, i've been drinking milk like it's water. so other than my normal 3 to 4 meals a day, i've been drinking milk in between. wonder how much weight am i going to gain. haha. i need to bring chocs into the exam hall also. because milk is liquid. don't want to waste time going to the toilet in the middle of my paper.
second last paper tmr! BS209 advanced biochemistry. this is what speed studying is about. have to study 11 chapters and uncountable journals in 2 days!! 3 more chapters to go..4pm now. i can do it!!!! i hope =(
soon wednesday will come and i'll be freeeeeeeee!!!! but have to find a job though =( but i'll prob take a month break first. haha. survived 6 papers leh!
4:01 PM
Monday, April 20, 2009
why why why am i always so last minute?? i always regret it like crazy during exam period, but i always don't do anything about it. bad bad bad habit. i only start studying one week before my exams. so bad.
1:29 AM
Thursday, April 16, 2009
i just had two papers this week.
CS119 Fictional Film and BS208 Virology
let's talk about the first one. it wasn't good. it was more like CS119 Creative Writing. yep basically i was using my creativity to cook up stories to link whatever i remember from the movie screenings, to the essay questions. i s/u-ed it though. hopefully i get S!! my first essay was out of point already i think. 2nd one was worth more marks than the first, yet i wrote less. you get the idea. the last one was worth the most. 50% in fact. but i spent too much time pondering how to write the 2nd one so i had insufficient time for it.
2nd paper. stupid fat ass. i hope you get so fat until you get stuck in every door you go through. i was with cariann right before the paper started. she said that he "bui bui"(fat fat in hokkein) just came out of the door. guess what i said right away. i said, "HUH he can fit through the door? didn't get stuck? did he open one side of the door only or both?" HAHAHA. im talking about the prof by the way..
the paper was marginally better than microbio last sem. both has same marking schemes. all MCQ with negative marking. if you didn't do then no marks. but if you get wrong answers marks will be deducted on top of the no marks you get. i hate this prof. such papers are all stupid mind games screwing up your mind. i hate the battle in my head everytime i don't know the answer. of course, mathematically, if there were 4 choices, once you can eliminate a choice, you have 0.3333333 chance of getting it right. and only 0.25 marks deducted for each wrong answer. hence statistically you should attempt it. but another side of statistics is that sample size is too small. inaccurate!!! you'll probably get more wrong than right. unless there're thousands of questions and my options is really random, only then that theory really works. arghh! do i think too much?? i feel safe attempting it only if i can eliminate at least 50% of the options =(
4:34 PM
Sunday, April 05, 2009
exams are here. they're next week..nooooooo!!!
im still coughing and coughing. got a sore throat last sunday. it wasn't getting well, in fact it got worse. couldn't eat, drink or sleep. so i went to the NTU medical centre to consult the doc on tuesday. the doctor couldn't decide if it was a viral or bacterial infection -_- he kept changing his opinions and prescription, until the end, he decided he'll just give me a mild antibiotics anyway. as a bio student, i know what's going to happen if you abuse antibiotics like that--having a viral infection, but eating antibiotics. or the neglegance of doctors to diagnose well and prescribe antibiotics anyhow. we learnt that in lectures. but the pain was so bad. i ate the antibiotics anyway. though i kept forgetting to eat it because it was to be eaten before meals. odd.
anyway recently i've got a new goal in life! i always wanted to be a research scientist by interest. but it was only for interest sake. while doing my resume assignment for HW111, i realised that i wanted to save lives. researching for vaccines, medicine, i can save thousands and thousands of lives at a go, way more than doctors could in their lifetime.
im looking at the virology notes now. there's a fantastic quote by one scientist:
"i feel i'm more useful as a scientist than as a doctor. i practised as a doctor, and there you can help patients one at a time, but when you work as a scientist if you come up with something good it can affect the lives of lots of women." women because she is the one who developed cevical cancer vaccine. she's one amazing woman. so inspirational. i must study hard! maybe even get a PhD.
11:52 AM
