we had a cg dinner-cum-prayer meeting last night.
primarily to pray for each other, cos we were all quite stressed.
it was very encouraging, hearing everyone share. and even more encouraging to see almost every cg member there despite the exams being like less than a week away.
i really thank God for blessing me with so many fellow brothers and sisters in Christ here.
the cf has been amazing- we've just started this thing whereby we split into groups after each talk and share and pray for about 15 mins. its really helpful cos i tend to forget whats important in the business of preparing for the tripos, and hearing other ppl share reminds me of it.
such as how God has led me thus far, and how faithful a God He is.
received a note in the mail yesterday with a kit kat and a poem with a verse.
a timely reminder and encouragement.


So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10


it doesn't mean that i'll do fantastically well for my tripos.
it doesn't mean that i'll definitely get a first.
but it does mean that whatever happens, the results are in His hands, and they are part of His perfect plan for my life.

xiaoen called me on wed night
and told me sth pretty amazing

long long time ago on 31 dec 04 some of us went to jia fa lao shi's house for the new year countdown.
on 1 jan 05 he made us write our goals-cum-prayer requests for the year on piece of paper, which we then put into a bag.
each person then drew out a piece of paper with someone else's prayer request on it.
and we were supposed to pray for that person for a year.

on thursday xiaoen told me that she found the piece of paper that she drew out- with my prayer requests on it!
and she read them out to me over the phone:

1. to speak chinese more fluently.
hmm. i hang out with the prcs from my college. and they seem to understand me. so should be ok la.

2. to grow closer to my brothers.
i talk to them over the phone and web cam them. does that count? dunno.

3. to be a better sister
trying la.

4. to serve God no matter which uni i ended up in
i thank God for putting me in the cf com.

and..


5. to master salsa.



God is good :)

agnes is no longer a teenager.
boo.
she is old.
there is no more "1" no more "-teen"
now its "2"
eeks

and so it was my birthday yesterday.
at a rather terrible time too, i might add- 10 days before my exams.
and yet my dear cg came over to surprise me with a cake on the night of the 24th- along with ls and hx, who had to cycle here all the way from homerton in the pouring rain. thanks dear :)




my dear CG + hx and ls

and then on my bday itself we had a first year nat sci-cum-bday formal.
plus 3 old ppl- my older 'brothers' who have been really nice to me :)
that makes 15 ppl in all.
whee!
we went for a formal at fitz


everyone!


my corner of the table. note the red wine i bought- a south african shiraz (thats the name of my dance partner :S)- the bottle is so cute. the person at the shop didn't even check my ID. woohoo! i'm old.

dinner ended at abt 9pm. then we went outside to the gardens to take photos. note how bright it is even at 9 :) we are all wearing gowns cos we decided that since we paid so much for it we might as well make the most of it.

then we adjourned to ee mae's room to slack and finish the wine.
tianyi baked tiramisu for me.
and almost missed supervision to do it.
so sweet- thanks :)

photo with the 3 wise men. they have taught me a lot.
i do thank God for putting them in my life.

me, tianyi, ivan, the scarf they gave me, and tianyi's physio prac.

i love the scarf!!!!!
its my college scarf! and i've always wanted it.
thanks!!! :) :)

close up of my college scarf!

chilling out on the bed.

and then we played truth or dare after the 3 wise men left.
primarily to finish 2 half-bottles of wine and one almost full-bottle.
very amusing truth or dare.
a bit dodgy also.
but it was fun haha.
ended with me being carried while having a bday song sung to me.

i received, amongst other things,
2 books on apologetics,
a 3-CD salsa set (are u reading this harry? mwhaha),
earrings,
underwear,
chocolates,
several bday cards,
a t-shirt,
and a 1.5 hour- long phone call from xiaoen. it was great catching up *big hug*

the t-shirt is worth showing:

from 4 of the nat scis. i wonder whose idea it was :p though i can guess :)

my bday card from hk! my dear long-suffering physio lab partner and pri sch classmate. incredible card that. i have no idea how he did it. its made up of 5 graphs superimposed on each other, and the graphs were from physio prac! such as ecgs, ulnar nerve conduction velocity, breathing rate etc. hehe very hk. thanks :)

i had a fantastic bday.
thanks everyone
for sacrificing mugging time to celebrate it with me.
means a lot a lot
*big hug*

i lost my M1 sim card a few months ago.
so please do not sms me.
sorry for not replying ur smses.

today is a significant day.
i had the last QB lect of my life.
i.e. no more math lect. ever.
YAY.
but i still have QB tripos :(

i had the last chem lect of my life today too.
by peter wothers. i've got 2 of his textbooks. so does pretty much everyone else.
he had his usual mid-lecture "pause for a moment" and read out some comments and students wrote in previous feed-back forms.
some were rather x-rated.
like "i want to hybridise my orbitals with you"
there were a few others that were worse and we were so shocked when we heard it that we forgot wat he said.
the best one was at the end-
"why can't you lose 2 electrons and be a LUMO instead"
cos he is openly gay.
that was hilarious haha.
(if you didn't get that too bad. take chem :) )

anyway.
at the end of the lecture he wanted to demonstrate some pentaiodide reaction that would go if we supply kinetic energy.
so he got all of us to fold paper aeroplanes and throw them into boxes in front filled with the chemical.
so imagine a whole LT of paper aeroplanes raining down towards the lecturer.
that was cool.
haha.



aeroplanes raining down. i only caught the tail end of it so not many were left.


areoplanes on the floor. there was a huge mess.




one plane managed to hit the target and cause a mini explosion.
the other 2 had to be set off by prodding with a stick.
and thus the ended his lecture series with a bang, and received the loudest and longest applause i've ever encountered.


group photo at the end of lecture.


tianyi and i took a photo with wothers after most of the students left haha. he was picking up all the aeroplanes with a few other lab techs. he is actually quite tall. we were standing one step above him.

then we went to the physio LT
and discovered that there was no lect.
but no one new.
so everyone was just wandering in and out of the LT and wondering if there was a lecture cos we weren't told anything.
so we went back.

i once had beautiful physio notes.
until a certian Someone decided to use my highlighter to deface my notes.
i asked that Someone a question and that Someone wrote the answer in blockletters over the top of my notes.
and its not as if the answer is of any value.
boo.

note the ugly background :(

there was a "cambridge salsa may ball" last night.
which is a very misleading name.
it was just a salsa party at the guildhall.
quite fun.
was there at 730, had classes from 8-9 pm, then socialed till 1 am.
cool.
there was this very hyper swiss guy there who had boundless energy.
everytime i sat down to rest he'll go "no break!" and drag me to the floor to dance.
he is an amazing dancer so i don't mind.
apart from the fact that the floor was incredibly slippery and he insisted on doing multiple spins so i almost fell once. so embarrassing :s
in fact he is so good that the other guys are quite jealous. its amusing :)

well well.
ben chanced upon some ducks at king's college.
and shared the photos with us.
here's one of them:


so cute!!!!!!!
i wanna see :(
i haven't seen baby ducks yet.
boo.

had my last cells prac of this academic year.
i was really really dreading it this morning cos we are studying development now and i was convinced that they will make us sit in front of the microscope and draw embryos all day.

in the end i was pleasantly surprised.
we were given a handout each, and there were stereomicroscopes all around with samples we could view.
and there was a demonstrator at each bench to answer questions too.
there wasn't anything we had to do, so most ppl just went in, got the handout, and went out.
i stayed to look at the samples.
and cos v few people stayed, i got the full attention of the demonstrators. which was really good cos i could ask stupid questions and not feel embarrassed.

there were many fascinating things to look at.
the first benchi went to had different drosophila mutants. and since we were using steromicroscopes all the phenotypes could be seen clearly.
that was really interesting.
stereomicroscopes are fantastic.

then i looked at Drosophila eggs.
having the demonstrator around was important to understand which stage of embryogenesis the embryos were in cos they all look the same at first.
she told me "you need to be able to differenciate between the different shades of white"
which was really true.
now i can identify the gut and the gastrula.

then i looked at a preserved fly exoskeleton with 4 wings.
apparently it is a very precious and delicate slide.

then i looked at a shark embryo.
that was cool.
it was preserved, sadly, but it really looked like an adult shark.

and then i came to the second best bit.
the chicken egg.
i watched as the demonstrator removed a portion of the egg shell to reveal the developing embryo inside.
she then pointed out the heart to me and i could see the heart of the 2.5 day old embryo beating away. with my naked eye.
then i looked at it again under the microscope.
and i could see the blood flowing throught the heart as it was being pumped.
that was utterly amazing.
upon focusing the microscope a bit more and looking more carefully, i could see the individual red blood cells flowing through the capillaries.
how cool is that.
i was fascinated.
i just stood there and watched the heart beat and the blood flow.
fortunately there weren't many people around so i could hog the microscope.
that was one of the most amazing things i've ever seen in my life.


and then came the other amazing thing.
the zebrafish embryo.
first i saw many perserved blastulas.
nothing much there.
then i saw more preserved blastulas.
and then i came to the third microscope.
and i saw embryos after 24 hours of embryogenesis..
and they were alive.
and moving.
i was like "oh my goodness"
i could see the notochord in the tail as the embryo flipped around in the membranous thing enclosing it.
so there were many embryos sitting in a petri dish and moving about in their membranes.
each membranous thing was perfectly spherical and transparent, so it was like looking into a bubble containing an embryo.
and the demonstrator pointed out the heart to me.
and i saw the zebrafish embryo heart beating.
whoa.

so i left the lab a very happy girl.
cos i got to see so many fascinating things.
and then i realised that i would probably be working on these organisms in future.
i don't mind :)
i was reminded of why i love biology in the first place.
which is so easily lost in the whole business of studying for exams.

and, of course, as i was reminded of this song, which played in my head as i left the lab.


From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation's revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untamable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing God
All powerful, untamable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
You are amazing God

found this on wikipedia:




so cute! :)

had a 2 hour-long cells supervision today.
my brain was totally fried after that.
cos i had three lects and a chem sup before that.
so i indulged in a spot of retail therapy.
at sainsburys.
bought a pear, a nectarine, a peach and a kiwi.
its the first time i've bought any of those fruits here cos they are all so ex (compared to apples).

i really like the peach.
it has a furry skin, and its skin is a pretty orange-red colour.
so cute :)
but i ate it up anyway.

haven't tried the pear yet- its too hard.
i need to wait for it to ripen.
but i don't want to leave it in my room cos the temperature fluctuates too much in the day and it can get really warm.
don't want to start culturing fungi in my room.
but then again i want the pear to ripen so i can eat it.
leaving it in the fridge decreases the rate of ethylene production and hence delays ripening.
but there is a decreased chance of mould forming.
well well.
dunno how.
maybe i'll just leave it in my room for a day then eat it at night.


i'm becoming more and more random.
boo.

met my partner today for the first time since varsity on saturday cos we had team practice today.
and he passed me this:



not the shoes.
the medal.
the shoes are my darling 3.5" ones that i bought long time ago.
just discovered that the heel is a bit slanted.
oh no.


yay :)

my very first medal for dancing.
after dancing for 16 years :s
ballet exam certs and syf don't count.
this is a significant event :)
whee.

suddenly missed singapore quite a bit
so i went to You Tube, and searched "singapore"
and lo and behold
i found video clips of the sunny island.
i watched a clip uploaded last month, which was made by a tourist using a video camera, walking from orchard mrt station control to into wisma and up the escalator.
it has changed.
now there are (to me) new shops along the way.
a crystal jade thing
and this shop i could make out right beside the escalator

and i watched a clip of chinatown as well
taken by a tourist walking along a street there.
and guess which street it was..
pagoda street :)
it wasn't explicitly mentioned, but i could recognise it.
didn't spot xenbar though, cos the person started fliming after that, walking towards the mrt station.
it looks the same.


i once dreamt i went back home and drove to orchard road.
and all the buildings had changed, becoming futuristic sliver structures with no windows.
that was sad, cos i no longer recognised anything, and it was so foreign.


i look forward to going home.

today is a significant day.
i did the last chemistry prac of my entire life.
we did synthesis and titration.
made some really pretty and glittery ammonium polyiodide.

titration.
haven't done that since A levels 2 years ago.
brought back memories.
used the glass pipette with the squeezy filler again...
probably for the last time.
don't think i'll be using a pipette that can hold anything more than 5 ml anymore.

well
so thats that.
strange feeling, knowing that i wouldn't do chem prac anymore.
have had it since sec 3 i think.
and now there is no more of it.
ending physics prac was a great relief.
ending chem prac...
i feel a bit sad somehow.

not that i'm complaining, really.
i'm looking forward to next (academic) year when i can really concentrate on bio and drop the math and chem.

yup.
so today is a momentous day.
no more chem prac for the rest of my life.
whee.

competed in Varsity today.
against Oxford.
in the Salsa Open.

i danced with my partner in feb, then we breaked for the easter hols, then we started sch again in april.
so i danced with my partner just once during team practice the week before last.
and we were going to compete in Varsity.
with that amount of pracitce.

my partner is a committed dancer.
committed to the dancesport team, that is.
he is in the dancesport A team, and he is a Fantastic dancer.
so he doesn't spend much time on salsa.

in the Nottingham competition last year, we practiced an hour before the match.
in Cuppers this year, we practiced 40 minutes before the match.
in Varsity, we practiced 20 minutes before the match.

the thing is, the style of competition is such that all the couples dance together on the floor, and the judges walk around to judge.
thats the first round, and it lasts for about 1.5 minutes.
then the couples clear the floor, and the judges pick some couples to go on for the next round.
then they play music for 1.5 mins again, and couples are eliminated.
and so on.

for Nottingham there were 3 rounds, and my partner and i didn't get to the finals.
for Cuppers, there were 2 rounds, and we got to the finals and were ranked third.
for Varsity, there were 2 rounds as well.

since my partner had to compete in latin in the morning (salsa was in the afternoon), i only got to talk and practice with him like 20 mins before the actual match.
since its social (ie freestyle) we don't have a fixed routine.
so we could just go onto the dance floor and do anything.
which is pretty much what we did.
although we did spend some time (20 mins before the match) trying out some moves he wanted to do.
which we didn't really end up doing in the end.

i wasn't really that nervous somehow.
was far more jittery during Nottingham.
got a lot of people to pray for me today- thanks :)
i was nervous on the bus ride to oxford but before the match it was just adrenaline, not too much fright.

the first round had about 12 couples i think.
and from there they picked about 6 for the second round.
4 couples from cam were in the finals, and 2 were from oxford.
of the couples from cam, 2 were from the salsa team, and 2 were from the latin team.
the couple that won Cuppers in cam didn't get into the finals.
such is the biasness of ballroom judges when judging salsa- the 2 oxford couples in the finals were latin ballroom couples.

it was quite scary when they were doing the recall.
cos they did it in numerical order.
so they called out 5 couples.
and the dancefloor looked quite full.
and my partner and i were still not recalled yet.
he turned to me and said "now i'm getting quite worried"
i was like "oh no"
and in the end we were the last couple to get recalled- cos our number was 108, and they started from 40.
that was truly scary- we almost thought we didn't make it to the finals.


and then we did our thing, then i went back to cam with the salsa team and the r&r team, although the results hadn't been announced yet.
we had to wait for about 3 hours for the results to be announced cos there were other events before prize giving, and we didn't want to wait that long.
so we went back first, and left the dancesport ppl in oxford to receive the prizes on our behalf.

and i smsed my partner to make sure that he would tell me the results when they were announced.
at about 8pm i realised i had 2 missed calls from him.
so i rang him immediately and he was like
"we got second!"
i was stunned.
and amazed.
then i started jumping around the kitchen in Darwin where i had been invited for dinner.
i was so, so happy :)
and i really really thank God for the win.
its incredible.

a part of me regrets not staying in oxford for the prize-giving.
cos i wanna receive my medal from the judges, and with my partner.
but i couldn't, cos i had to go back with the rest of them.
plus we weren't very confident that we were going to get a high ranking cos the judges seemed to favour the latin ballroom people.
during the Nottingham competition i sat through the entire prizing-giving, including the salsa open results, where i watched latin couple after latin couple get salsa medals.
this time i actually won something, but i wasn't there..

there is no use regretting now- Varsity will be held in cambridge next year, and i'll definitely stay till the end.
don't know if i'll get the same partner next year though- i'll just have to wait and see.
part of me wants to stay with this guy cos he is a really good dancer, yet another part of me wants to partner someone who is more committed to salsa.
i don't know.
i'll just have to see what God has got planned for me.


my partner and i. he is wearing his latin ballroom outfit. which is really hilarious :)


us dancing in the finals- he changed out of that strange tight outfit for the salsa open.


team T-shirt!

but i am cos 2 dear friends have decided that i should.
so here goes:

I AM: a child of God
I WANT: to hug my mummy
I WISH: my exams were over
I HATE: exams
I MISS: singapore.
I FEAR: pain
I HEAR: because the stimualation of mechanoreceptors my inner ear by soundwaves leads to oscillating receptor potentials which are transducted to the brain and interpreted.
I WONDER: if what i wrote above is correct.
I REGRET: not spending enough time with my family when i was home.
I AM NOT: depending on coffee to stay awake. i think.
I SING: songs of praise and worship to my Lord and Saviour.
I CRY: when i'm sad.
I AM NOT ALWAYS: as frivolous as i look
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: earrings. though its been a while.
I WRITE: essays.
I CONFUSE: myself. and sometimes my supervisior.
I NEED: God.
I SHOULD: love God more
I START: dancing when i hear dancable music.
I FINISH: whatever i start
I LOVE: God, my family and friends.
I REMEMBER: God's love and awesome providence.


who should i tag?
yifan, yijin and hong king :)

spring is lovely.
but this comes at a cost.
with the flowers come bees, wasps and flies and other random winged insects.
i don't dare to leave my windows open too wide in fear that some poor lost insect will wander in.
so i only open my windows a tiny bit.
and yet this bee still managed to sneak into my room...
and totally freak me out.

now if i were in s'pore i will immediately call for help (ie daddy)
but my dad is 13 hours away by plane.
so cannot.
so i took up a piece of newspaper, rolled it up and used it as a scoop to pick up the bee and flick it out of my window.
*applause*
then i slammed the window shut.
but it got a bit warm.
so i opened the window a tiny bit again.
all was fine for a while.
then i heard the dreaded "zzzzzzzzzz"
and i knew the bee had returned.
so i repeated the process- scooped up the bee with the newspaper and flung it out of the window.

and everything was fine for a while until i saw a thing flying between my curtains and window and heard the annoying buzzing noise.
then i decided that i had enough.
so i rolled up the newspaper, waited for the bee to fly to a nice spot on the window...
and *whacked* the poor member of the Hymenoptera order.
i observed it for a while, appreciated the tiny hairs on its back, then flicked it out of the window.

and i was left in peace.
yay.

bees are poikilotherms.
so therefore they should be at abt 16 deg C and quite sluggish.
that explains why i can pick the bee up with the newspaper and guide it to the window.
the thorax is at 46 deg C though.
that comes from all the effort required to make that incredibly annoying buzzing noise.
maybe if i spray ice cold water at the bee it will shut up.

it has just occured to me.
i'll be back home next month!
AHHHHHHHHH

random photos:


hehe :)


burrel's walk. the path i walk through everyday to get to town. v pretty :)

its spring!
so there are lots of tourists here.
they walk around in herds and block up the passageways so i have to cycle very slowly and carefully to avoid banging them down.
ringing the bicycle bell helps a bit.
but not much.

anyway since the weather wasn't that bad today, a few of us decided to meet for lunch. so we got sandwiches and sat in front of King's college to eat and talk.
kt passed by on his bike so we got him to take a photo of us and king's college :)
he thought we were mad.
"what are u all doing?"
"acting touristy loh"
"in the middle of exam term?"
there is more to life than exams la.


our touristy photo!



i cycle across 2 bridges everyday.
the first one is a long straight tree-lined one.
its really nice.
i've got pictures of it in november, december and may.
so thats winter and spring.


november- frost


december-snow


may- SPRING!!

temperatures soared today- it reached an all-time high of 25 deg C in the afternoon!!
sitting in the physio LT with no air con was absolute torture.
especially since we were learning abt thermoregulation in animals.
how apt.
each of us emits as much heat as a 110W light bulb so it got rather warm in the LT.

the brits like the sun a lot.
so since the sun was out they parked themselves on every available grass patch and just lay there sun bathing/synthesizing vit D/ encouraging thymine dimer formation.

the s'poreans concluded that its "just like home"
so the s'porean and msian bio nat scis decided to have a picnic.
a potluck picnic
in my balcony :)



yay:)

we had cf yesterday
and we sang this song during worship
the words are incredibly meaningful


Lord you've been good to me
All my life, all my life
Your loving kindness never fails
I will remember
All you have done
Bring from my heart
Thanksgiving songs

New every morning is your love
Filled with compassion from above
Grace and forgiveness full and free
Lord you’ve been good to me

So may each breath I take
Be for you Lord, only you
Giving you back the life I owe
Love so amazing
Mercy so free
Lord you've been good
So good to me

Graham Kendrick
Copyright © 2001 Make Way Music,





yesterday i felt quite alright.
on the happy side despite having had a 5 hour chem prac.
so when i sang that song i really sang it from my heart as i reflected on how God has blessed me.

today hasn't been as good.
in fact it has been quite the opposite.
and i think the challenge is to still be able to give thanks and praise God even when the going gets tough.
it is not easy, and i'm still learning.
spent sometime reading Romans 8 in the afternoon cos i was really feeling quite off.
it was a source of encouragement, and did remind me about some of the promises that God made- most importantly that everything works together for the good of those who love Him.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38,39