back on the road again...

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