finally started lab work proper today.
i was so worried that my supervisor would be slack and disorganised cos he disappeared for a seminar last week.
during CG on fri my prayer request was for the project and my working relationship with my supervisor and the lab.


finally got to discuss the project more with him today.
didn't really discuss the big picture, and long term plans, which we will need to do soon.
got an idea of what we were going to do this week, which seemed pretty ok.
did before in biopolis, so hopefully i won't screw up.


i'm working under a phd student, but he had years of lab experience before starting on his phd so he is pretty good.
and he is super organised.
a bit scary.

the head of the lab rox. she is so nice.
she let me use her lab bench!
then my supervisor took a roll of tape and started labelling boxes of pipette tips with my name. i even got a storage box with my name on for the freezer.
was so happy haha.
it seems trival, but after working in 2 labs over the past summers i really appreciate it. and that really makes things so much easier man.


my supervisor was like "if u don't understand anything, just ask"
then i realised that this lab project is different from all my previous attachments in s'pore cos now i'm in school and i'm supposed to be taught.
in biopolis its sort of applying what i learnt in school.
need to get used to that difference.


my biggest gripe with the lab is that no one wears lab coats and gloves.
i really really don't like working in a lab without a lab coat.
eee.
but no choice la cos i cleverly threw both my lab coats away at the end of 2nd year (what was i thinking!)
the lab tech gave me a box of gloves cos i asked for it.
but the lab only has purple nitrile gloves.
feel a bit dumb wearing purple gloves when no one else in the lab wears gloves.
boo.
last week i didn't have gloves.
so for the very first time in my life i used a micropipette without gloves.
felt so strange.



but overall i'm loving this lab, and i really, really thank God for putting me there.
and i'm so glad my supervisor is actually quite organised.

the salsa instructors in camb organised a full day salsa event, mini-congress of sorts, for the East Anglia counties. or shires. or watever.
that was on saturday.

my plan for sat was to go for dance rehearsals from 12-4 pm, brazilian dance workshop 4-6 pm then salsa del este 8 pm -230 am.
obviously no time to study.
but.
by 4 pm when rehearsals ended i was really tired so i went back to my room to cook dinner and rest.
got a lift from raj to the ulu vineyard where the salsa party was held, then waited around till 10 pm when classes were over and the party started.

had the first 2 warm up dances with haihan.
and then i was tired.

couldn't even muster enough energy to stand up much less dance.

and i was a bit off form cos i hadn't danced salsa since congress 2 weeks ago.
following was ok, shining was not.
add that to fatigue, and i really didn't feel like dancing.

but i forced myself to cos that was what i was there for.

tried to avoid dancing with the camb ppl.
they must think i'm damn dao/ proud.
cos i avoided dancing with them during congress as much as possible. didn't reject when they asked, of course, but didn't look too enthu either.
thats cos the whole point of going for such large-scale salsa parties is to dance with different ppl.
so whats the point of sticking with the camb ppl.
not that i don't like dancing with them la.


the highlight of the evening: Moshi from Salsology asked me to dance! :)
spent most of the evening asking non-camb ppl who looked like they were good dancers to dance with me.
so it was nice being asked for a dance :) and by moshi too! :)
the dance was great- lots of fun shines and exciting variations.
and on2.
mwhahahahaha.

dancing with moshi. thats me in white haha.

shining with haihan.
we had good dances that night!
but i did lots of random rubbish moves.
will cut down, promise :)

got to dance with the really cute dj too!
but it wasn't that fun sadly.
it was a normal dance.
fortunately it was on1, so following was quite easy.
no fun shines though.

so on the whole the evening got better towards the end when i decided to put in more effort to dance.

my supervisor decided to go on a seminar this week so i haven't had a chance to discuss my project with him yet :(
so the head of the lab decided that i should learn how to sex flies (ie determine their gender) and dissect ovaries.

so on wednesday i practiced identifying flies.
on thursday i learnt how to dissect ovaries.
as in dissect flies to obtain the ovaries.

the lab tech who taught me had some dissections of her own to do so she transferred some flies from a large flask into a smaller vial for me.
then i practiced on my own.

knocked out the flies, placed one under the dissecting microscope, orientated the fly, did the dissection...
and didn't find the ovaries.
"its ok", thought i, "try again"

so i discarded the fly remains and took a new one.
and realised:
the most impt first step when dissecting flies to obtain ovaries is:
make sure that the fly is female.
...

so i sorted the flies and discarded the males into the morgue.

went back to dissecting and got the first pair of ovaries in 2.5 mins.
wayy too long.
so i practiced and practiced
about 7 flies were sacrificed in the process.
my best timing was 1.5 mins.
still too long i think.
ideally should be under 1 min per fly.



went to the lab today cos my supervisor was supposed to return today.
but he wasn't there.
so i was made to sit in the office for a bit and look busy.
then i went to help them get fly food.
i thought it would be from the basement or sth.
but it turned out to be from the Gurdon Institute "cos the head of the lab doesn't like the food prepared by the zoology dept"
so from New Musuem Site we had to walk abt 10 mins practically the length of tennis court road to get to the institute, then walk back carrying trays of fly food.
i carried a tray with 100 vials of food.
whoa damn heavy.



then i went to the lab again to practice dissection.

placed a fly under the microscope.
and realised that i didn't put enough anesthesia.
so the fly was moving around in the buffer.
and then it layed an egg!
i was like "aww"
(although fly eggs are seriously scary. they give me the creeps)
felt a bit bad killing the fly :(

next time must use more anesthesia so they don't move and look more dead so i don't feel so bad.
don't think i can ever do mouse work man.

First 3rd year formal of the academic year!
at St. Catherine's college.
thanks tianyi :)


posing at the master's table.

at our table. it was quite wide so it was difficult to talk to ppl across the table :(

slacking in tianyi's room after formal.

er.

yijin signing hk's bday card on someone's car.

with my bike! can't really see it though. Corpus Christi college in the background. oh and kenny.

You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26:3

went for a formal at pembroke on sunday.
got to meet the freshers from a.*
there are so many of them!
can't remember their names.



me and my 3 cumsa children :)

me, manu and my 2 sort of adopted children haha. 2 very sweet little girls :)

with 2 of the 2nd years who dance as well

3rd years! there are only 3 of us. we used to have exactly the same subject combi but now we are all in different departments :(

a long, long overdue post.
the results of the critical review and project allocations came out about last week.
i was so worried about it at the start of the month.
and as it turned out, i got allocated my first choice project and critical review.
really thank God for that :)

there is one drawback- there is another girl doing the same critical review as me. we'll be assessed by the same ppl, so i don't know if thats a good thing or not :(

but i'm glad i got that paper to review.
cos its on a field i'm sort of familiar with- dna damage response.
so we'll see.

went to visit my supervisor for the project today.
she's really nice :)
and she's spanish!
but she was really busy- apparently preparing her ppt slides for the lecture she was giving the next day... to us haha.
she is a bit scary though.
bears some similarities to my cdb supervisor last year.
they are both successful, highly intelligent female scientists.
who are very passionate about their research and very demanding as well.

was assigned a lit review to do- standard stuff- before beginning lab work proper.
this is a field i have almost no clue about- most of my lab experience is in cancer research.
but i look forward to learning new stuff!
*excited*
especially the fly work :)
maybe can even do some embryology if there is time.
hopefully!

back to the lit review.
so much to read :(

went for big brother's housewarming party last night.
he invited all the salsa regulars and collegues from work.
so it was a nice gathering of salsa ppl away from the usual loud music, so i could actually carry out some pretty good conversations.

i arrived in time to catch the end of the rugby world cup.
england lost to south africa.
that much i gathered.


with the host!

drinks! apparently he only bought half the amount of alcohol- other ppl brought the other half. the stuff in the bowl is some deadly White Russian, expertly mixed by Rich, who just (seemingly) randomly threw alcohol in. but it was really good :) like melted ice cream :)

mr tan haihan was the dj for the night, and after we complained about the salsa and bachata he was playing he finally agreed to play rnb and some random stuff. so we could all dance.

me and the salsa guys! mark, hh, zern and cyrille. who taught me a bit of french in exchange for a bit of chinese. didn't get any photos with them at congress :(


all in all it was a great party.
everyone was slightly high.
or, in the case of *ahemthedjahem*, very high.
so we could dance to some of the trashy music that he churned out.
but most of the songs were well chosen.
especially the bachatas towards the end when we were all tired.

borders held a book signing session for Terry Pratchett in conjunction with the launch of his newest novel, Making Money.
which is the sequel to Going Postal, which i read in s'pore before flying to the uk.
so i was pleasantly surprised to discover that the very entertaining book had a part 2.

a bunch of us went down for the book signing, which was supposed to be from 1-2 pm.
we went at 1230 pm, and the queue was already snaking through the first floor of the store and up to the second floor.
so we waited.
and waited.
and the borders staff came around with chocolates "to make sure everyone was happy"
so good loh.
then terry pratchett arrived and yifan volunteered to go downstairs to take a photo of him.
and this is what we got:



terry pratchett signing on a baby's head!


we waited until about 215 pm, when i realised that i really had to go cos i was going to brounemouth.
so eemae and i went to the book signing table, stood as close as possible, and took a photo each with the author in the background haha.


then i left my copy of Making Money with ivan, then left.
and as it turned out the poor guy (and the others who stayed) queued all the way till 430 pm!!!
whoa.
effort man.
thanks a lot! :)
i now have an autographed copy of the book :)
it says "dear agnes, banking (geddit?) on you. (signature)"

belated post!
had our very first 3rd year (gasp!) nat sci gathering of the academic year.
held in hk's big big room.
was a pot luck.
lots of good food :)
and good company.
love the (3rd year) nat scis man.. we are one big family haha.
just so sad the we don't see each other as much anymore cos we are (almost) all in different departments (specialisation!) :(



us!

us again! not very sane.


food!

more food!

sat around chatting after dinner.
cos we didn't want to go back to do work haha.
and then we planned our next gathering.
looking forward to that :)
*excited*

and so i went for yet another dance class last night.
with the funky teacher who loves physics.
so he taught me another arm wave.
this time involving both arms moving out of phase at the same time (as i pointed out).
he agreed, adding sth about harmonic motion, which i did not get.
then he demonstrated the 2 types of arm waves- the transverse wave, which he taught us, and the longitudinal wave, which looks pretty darn cool but is way above me. "like light and sound waves respectively" he said.
the wonders of physics.

12-14 oct 07
Bournemouth

spent the past weekend at bournemouth dancing.

Friday: 3 h social dancing
Saturday: 5 h workshops, 4 h social dancing
Sunday: 3 h workshops, 5 h social dancing

total: 20 hours of salsa. whee!



Friday

went for 2 lectures in the morning, followed by Borders for a book signing by Terry Pratchett (more on that later)
then got a lift from Ed all the way to bournemouth.
got changed in the hotel, then went for dinner.



me, big bro raj, haihan at dinner.


then we headed to the venue, where we watched performances from 930-1130 pm.
the performances were of variable standards.
some of them really weren't that good, which made the items by lee & shelly and jaime & liz so much better in comparison.
the mc and the fillers they had between items were terrible- most of us were willing them to shut up and get on with it.
we were actually glad when the performances ended and we could dance.


jane and some other ppl got to the social dance hall earlier and bagged us a table strategically located by the door, which, as we realised in due course, was where the really good dancers decided to position themselves.
had a few warm up dances with the camb ppl, then stood around waiting to be asked to dance.

but i didn't get asked.

was a bit put off at first but then i realised, as raj pointed out a couple of days later, that in the uk scene, we are nothing.
i.e., unknown amongst the really good dancers.
so i decided to ask guys to dance instead. cos i figured that if i didn't ask i'll just stand there the whole night. took a bit of getting used to- i usually don't ask guys to dance both in s'pore and in camb.

so i stood there and tried to figure out who to ask.
and i realised that there were many, many good dancers.
somehow a lot of them were tall, well built, black and bald.
and from france, too apparently- hiphop dancers who converted to salsa (so says a source).
i found them quite daunting. cos they were so tall and really good. and they didn't smile.
but i decided to go for it anyway.
all the guys i asked said yes, although they didn't really look too happy abt it.
all of them danced on2.
and one of them started off the dance with a basic step followed by spinning me 7 times. thanks man.
all in all it was an educational experience. got to learn to follow strong leads and on2. though didn't really succeed all the time.

and then i met super mario!
who remembered me from s'pore.
he even remembered where i studied.
i was impressed.


super mario and me. he decided to tickle me cos apparently that made the photo more interesting.

had a dance with him.
"on1 or on2?" he asked
and then i dug my own grave.
"lets try on2"
big mistake.
the dance went ok, cos he was a good lead, but i didn't feel comfortable somehow. and i messed up here and there.
should have said on1.

left at 3 am.


saturday.

woke up at 830 am, and went for the first workshop at 930 am.
watched the lunch-time performances after 3 hours worth of workshops.
there was a reggaeton competition.
only caught the final 2 items.
they were quite disturbing and honestly just downright vulgar.
ew.
watched the heats of the European Open Championships.
uk was represented by lee & shelly. i thought they were really good.


went for 2 more workshops after lunch, then went back to the room to sleep for 2 hours. (recharge!)
had dinner, then went to watch the performances.
somehow the standard of the items on saturday night was much higher than that on fri night.
and there was no more annoying mc, and the fillers between items were actually really good.
so we were all suitably impressed.

found super mario again, and got an on2 dance. this time he didn't even ask.
but it went really well.
at least i thought it went well haha.
so did they other camb ppl who were watching so YAY i was happy :)

danced from midnight to 4 am, slept by 5 am.


Sunday.

got up at 830 am for breakfast, then went back to bed.
missed the first 2 workshops- was too tired.
went for juan matos' partner work class.
dunno why i went. didn't learn much cos it was partner work, but i really like parts of the variation. cool stuff.

me and juan matos!

went to the beach (bournemouth is by the sea) for a bit, then headed back to watch the team competition.
the bulgarian team rocked.

an English beach.
bought the cheesiest postcard i could find too. reminded me of Peter and Jane story books.


went for 2 workshops in the afternoon, then went back to sleep.
got up, had dinner, then went for the performances.

this time they tried sth different- the shows were intercalated (like EtBr between dsDNA) between spurts of social dancing.

so we were there form 930 pm- 230 am, watched abt 1 hours worth of shows and award presentations, and danced the rest of the time.
Most Popular International teachers: Hacha Y Machate
Most Popular UK Act: Lee & Shelly.

can't remember the rest.


significant dances:
with Niko, who is irene miguel's partner.
i've always wanted to dance with him!
cos i saw him dance at irene's workshop and was like "wah"
his lead wasn't that good (i felt. maybe its just that i can't follow. watever)
but his shines were good! so it was fun cos we were shining 70% of the time anw.

then there was a cha with haihan, which was fun HAHA.
dunno what rubbish we were doing but oh well i had fun with all the random shines.
A 80% shines dance.

another dance with a guy aaron from boston whom i danced with on saturday night.
significant cos he was one of the few guys who asked me to dance and who was also quite good.
most of the strangers who asked me to dance weren't that good :(
good dancers don't ask me to dance (unless i know them la).


then we shifted to a new location for the after party.
we danced from 3-4 am.
the dj ought to be shot.
he played all sorts of random music (hip hop, reggaeton, merengue, bachata) before finally moving on to so-so salsa at 330 am and then fantastic salsa at 4 am when i had to leave.
seriously man.

but the hightlight of that part of the evening was when raj pointed out where lee from lee and shelly was.
so we together inched towards them as a merengue was being played.
then the song ended and raj was like "go ask him now!"
so i went up to lee, who was sitting on the floor with shelly, and asked him for a dance.
and he agreed!

and then.
"on1 or on2?"
i said "up to u"
he said "no u decide!"
and i dug my own grave again.
"on2"
(wat is my problem man)
the dance went okay, once again.
he led safe moves, they weren't patronizingly simply, but they weren't overly challenging either.
i think it was cos i stumbled for some of the moves.
would have been a lot better if it were on1, then i wouldn't have come across as such a terrible dancer.
he was really sweet though, ending with "that was lovely, thank you!"
and he was smiling throughout the dance too, which is always a plus.
aww.
but of course he is gay as well, which allows him all the freedom to flirt, as raj pointed out.

and that was my last dance of the congress.

(big thank you to raj for 'forcing' me to ask lee for a dance cos honestly i was thinking of backing out at the last min :s)


caught the 5 am coach,
arrived in camb 10 am, went back to my room, removed makeup,
went for lect at 11 am.

the transition from salsa to Notch signalling pathways was not a smooth one.

went for a dance class today.
we learnt how to do the arm wave.
the teacher is this really zai dancer who also happens to be doing his phd in physics.
so he said "first we need to understand what a wave is"
"it is a series of displacements from a neutral position" (or sth to that effect)
"so make sure only one part of your arm is moving at each point in time"
was rather amused :)

recently i've been reading all these verses about trusting in God.
its so easy to say "yes God i'm going to trust in you, your provision for me, and leave everything in your hands" after reading the verses.

but when the difficulties hit, its a different story.

i've got to choose a project and critical review to do for my final year.
and we have to choose out of a list of about 20 options.
the problem is that the process is competitive- more than one person may apply for the same project, but only one person will get it.
and for some strange reason, everytime i meet a potential supervisor to discuss a project/ review, the same girl will be there applying for the same thing!
and now that i've established which project and review i want to do, i really, really hope to get them.
especially the project.

after talking to the supervisor today and hearing things like "oh another student came in this morning who was really keen" "i can only accomodate one student in my lab" etc i got incredibly worried :(
i really hope to get this project cos it has so much potential and sounds so fun :(
get to play with flies ah.

i've got an alternative project in mind but after talking to the supervisor i really wasn't too keen on it. cos the supervisor wasn't as inspiring and the project seemed quite boring. although the head of the lab is some big shot.
also get to play with flies.


so i was incredibly jittery after talking to both supervisors.
cos i really really want the first supervisor's project!
i was so jittery that i emailed my DOS to ask for advice.

now i'm also quite stressed. what if i don't get the project and review i want? :(

yes.
and so when i pray "teach me to trust in You"
i guess this is what i get.
i'm learning!

term hasn't officially started yet, but quite a lot is already going on.

led prayer and praise at CF on monday.
thats something i've wanted to do for sometime, somthing that i thought about over summer.
even wanted to email the com to ask them to put a p&p on the 0th week of term.
but i didn't.
and then one day i got an email from the com asking us to sign up for worship leading, and behold, there was a p&p slot on the 0th week.
so i signed up for it, and since the prayer sec was busy, i could cover both prayer and praise.
and as it turned out the com was apparently worried that no one would volunteer to lead p&p, so i guess God does provide.


had 2 lects and a computer prac on monday as well.
have a stats lecture every day for 10 days.
can't wait for it to be over its so boring :(
boohoo.


had a department welcome talk and party on tues.
got issued my department access card (YAY) so now i'm officially treated like a proper student with access to all the department's resources.
in our first and second years we didn't have access to any of the department libraries or facilities, which required swip card access, leading to an apt observation by a fellow nat sci "they only acknowledge our existance and treat us as members of the uni in our third year"
so hah. those days are over whee!
and i'm officially a Zoologist :)




third year.
feel so old.
:(
feels as if i just came to camb.
was at HMH on monday at CF and there were some freshers there.
then when i introduced myself to them i had to say that i was a third year and i felt this responsibility to be a good big sister in Christ to them.
in my first year i felt that the third years in CF were so wise and caring and spiritually mature.
really treated them as role models.
now they've mostly left and we've got to take their place.
feel so inadequate :(
but i pray that this will be a time of spiritual growth.

27 sept 07- 30 sept 07

just got back from sweden yesterday.
went to stockholm.
which is just like any other european city really.

27 sept 07: Gamla Stan

"old town".
wanted to visit the Nobel Museum but was too late.
so didn't get to visit.
but i got to walk around gamla stan more which was nice :)


Gamla Stan.