Re-cap for the week:

This week has been a pretty good week. Everything seems to be coming into place. My application for student attachment at a particular research institute has been accepted after a 15 minute international phone call with the A/P. As usual, there was some stuff that I was concerned, yea he managed to sense that! and assured me that something like that wasnt gonna happen. How nice of him eh.. Only goes to show how well he understands people. Well, all that took place through a 'conversation' of 5 emails in less than 3 hours. Should have told him: Sir, why dont we chat on msn.. it's faster to get the point across. Hahaa... Of course I didnt!

He informed me of the topic he proposed. Even though, what i'm going to do isnt exactly of direct help to Grandma, but it may one day benefit those of her age. The entire conversation though short, was very light and easy. Funny at times too. So yup! I manage to charm him yet again. But I forgot to ask one thing tho, I was planning to ask him what made him interested in my application. Hahaaa perhaps at the end of the year. :)

Back to the recap:
Monday: Anatomy lecture was cancelled since the lecturer was ill. However, the lab still carried on though. But nevertheless it was a pretty interesting lab. We used the SEM and TEM to view our immuno-labelled cells at a cellular level. Going down to a nanoscale just simply illustrates how complex the human body is. Really cool. and the lab was situated at the other end of the Lindo Ferguson building, underground as well.

Tuesday: Rushing for the cardiorespiratory lab report. Managed to complete the task on time but I was sleep deprived.

Wednesday and Thursday was just any other typical day at University. I think I was attempting to read through journals in preparation to write an essay.

Friday: We had a continuation of the embryology. And I'm proud to mention that I managed to crack successful eggs this time round. ~whee! Ben reckoned I was on form that day.. hahaa.. well.. maybe I was... This time round, we had a wider range of fertilised eggs, ranging from a 7day embryo to a 30 hour one. In addition, we had this MASSIVE egg and it was so funny. One of the demonstrators commented that she pitied the hen that laid that particular egg. hahaaa.. Unfortunately, the embryo resorbed. It probably is the biggest chicken egg I've seen.. I wonder if it is from Farmer Brown's.

I forgot to mention in my previous post about my 1st development biology lab session and my double-O-seven, license to kill spree in the lab, due to the lack of experience in the kitchen.

This lab was basically to extract the chicken embryo at the various stages from different eggs, fertilsed at different times. So we had a first trial run, cracking unfertilised supermarket eggs.

"Piece of cake" you may say. True, I managed to crack the egg with its yolk intact at the first attempt. So, with such success at cracking eggs, I had a go at cracking another egg fertilised 66hrs prior to the lab. I made a crack in the egg and shoved the egg into Ben's hands.. and it was yet another successful attempt!

To cut the long story short, I killed 2 embryos, depriving it the chance of being a successful candidate to be stained, fixed and studied under the light microscope. Tried to save George the second, but didnt managed too. Yup, we named our experimental subjects. I guess our best subject was Stuartlina, in which we performed a minor surgery and watch her fully recover from surgery, before ultimately ending her life prematurally with a heart puncture. FYI, chick embryos at Stage 33 looks really cool. Embryology isn't so bad afterall! Wait till we get the chance to examine mouse embryos. Can't wait for that!

With that unsuccessful attempts, I decided to return home to practice on my culinary skills. And so happened that my dad was cooking ommelettes that night.... I'm proud to announce that I managed to crack 5 eggs without the yolk sac breaking. However, there is a scientific explanation why I could crack them successfully at home and not at the lab. That's because the shell of fertilised eggs are much harder than that of unfertilised eggs. Besides, there wasnt any pressure with the unfertilised ones.

Anyway tomorrow's physiology lab is pretty interesting too. Just finished reading through the manual and we've got to measure oxygen consumption for humans, mouse, rat and guinea pig. Interesting eh? More lab updates on that later.

One week of school have just gone by. Feels as though the week passed by really slowly but I guess once the assignment deadlines start nearing, time would fly by really quickly. I’ve just finished plotting all the deadlines on the calendar and Boy! does this semester seem short. There is at least one assignment due every week, with some clashes as well. The amount of reports and essays combined is enough to make a thesis --- Indeed, the stressful, sad life of a student!

Thankfully, the previous semester was a pretty good one even with the hectic schedule. Though they always say that academic results and qualifications isnt everything in life, but in academically-oriented Singapore, it does mean a lot. I have just submitted my application for student attachment at a research institute in Singapore. If you’re reading this, kindly do me a favour and PRAY for me, that my application would be successful. My return to Singapore this coming vacation is highly dependent on the success of my application.

Rachel these days have been pretty geeky. Well, if you were to know me.. you would know that I’m most certainly not the geeky type. This is what 12 years of education in Singapore and 3 years of education in New Zealand does to a person. I’m currently writing my second NobelPrize essay for the year, one for the 1st semester and now another one. Of course, it is everyone’s dream to be able to be awarded such a prestigious recognition for endless years of research on one specialized topic. Sometimes, my heart really goes out to the rest of the scientists whose work hasn’t been given its due recognition. It certainly is every scientist’s dream and goal to be awarded the NP, but in reality, how many will eventually get such recognition?

I have a dream too.

My ultimate dream currently is to develop a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, in particular to prevent hyaline degeneration of the medium and smaller cerebral blood vessels. In doing so, find a cure for Grandma. Hopefully by that time, she hasn’t return to God’s hands yet. Perhaps with this discovery, in recognition of my hard work, the NP will be awarded to yours truly. Hahaaa..

Hey! I am entitled to dream too. Heh.

Even Walt Disney started off with a dream.

I cycled 35.1 kilometres today!

Feel so refreshed after all that workout. ~whee!

One event.
Two days....

64 SALVATIONS!!

Thank God for Harvester!
Wonderful job guys.. That's the first step of many more to come.

Years being apart doesnt change the love I have for her...
She's still my wonderful, fabulous girl!


She's grown but still the same.


the dog (on the right) and her lovely boyfriend, Derek (on the left)
How cute and neat they look for their Christmas dinner. Awww... Doggies on a date!