I witnessed the lunar eclipse first hand right in the comforts of 36Orbell. How cool is that. Today, the moonlight is so bright that the entire backyard can be seen even with no lights on.

Next one is in 7 years time.

This morning, Dunedin was littered with the remnants of the Undie500 event.
An annual student tradition from Christchurch to Dunedin. The event that sparked student riots down the streets of Dunedin on friday night. Burning couches, drunk students, bottle throwing, mass parties. Marks the end of Undie500 2007.
Hopefully this put the end to the tarnished image of our student ghetto. hahaa...

Anyway I headed down to varsity today to attend a physiology seminar presentation. one which the entire physiology department attended; lecturers and post-grads. I must admit, an hour long presentation is really tiring. but it's really interesting attend a real seminar in the scientific world. The questionaire session after the talk was intense, the questions that they pose are indeed a far cry from the undergrad level. For some, though their research interest are on the other end of the spectrum, it was interesting to observe each of their figetty reactions while others sat completely still, paying complete attention to the speaker describing her years of research work. So it goes, for us third year undergraduates, it was a time of gaining exposure to the scientific community prior to entry.

The holidays are here, finally.. Lotsa people are away for the holidays considering that there's three weeks left before the ski season's closed. Su-ann's gone to the mountains, Nad's going this week, Ben's probably gone to christchurch, it's left with Chew and I. So it goes, I'm stuck here again..

Agenda for the week:
Though the mid semester break is just for a week, well it's good for me to catch up on the lectures. A break from all the assignments means I can start revision eh, havent exactly gone through the notes again eversince each particular lecture. (ie. it has just been there collecting dust)Hahaa.. I've also got two lab reports at hand currently, would probably get started with that too.

I collected my semester one scripts on thursday just to see whether I managed to keep with my record for Dr K.H's question. And yea, I must say I managed to keep it going still.. Full marks for his lab report and the channelopathy essay from the first semester, 19/20 for his question during the semester one exams and for this sem, another 19/20 for another essay. It's a wonder why my peers assume he is my favourite lecturer. Lol. Hopefully, this sem is another good sem.

Looks like I'll make a good physiologist or a good essay-writing-machine eh.. -_-"

Noteworthy event from the week: I had the honour of retrieving the jejunum from the mouse specimen on tuesday. Yeah, the only one in the class to do the disection. ~whee! Well, I wanted to do it la.. First time working with mouse. And yes, Anatomy did train me extremely well with the ovariectomy last sem. Felt good to be holding the forceps, hemostats and other surgical instruments. Certainly did manage to increase my interest in the study of epithelial physiology. Besides, our experimental results were flawless. Kudos to my wonderful lab partner! :)

With a couple of days to kickoff, the rugby world cup fever that's hitting this country can be felt everywhere. I have absolute faith in the All Blacks in their ability to win the cup! May the best team win.. Cant wait to hear the Hakka and the NZ national anthem being played which never fails to send shivers down my spine (in a good way). Cant wait for all the excitement, the adrenaline rush, with each try or scrum.

Tomorrow will see more people graduating! Tomorrow will see road closures for the graduate's march. Tomorrow will mark new beginnings, forge new friendships! It will be a time to celebrate years of hard work. **Congrats to Lyds and Bels on your achievements over the last couple of years..

Aside for that the exam timetable's out.
26th Oct: ANAT334
2nd Nov: PHSL343
5th Nov: ANAT332
8th Nov: PHSL344
9th Nov: Hello Singapore! SING101 hehee...
10th Nov: UBIQ119 the start of a wonderful time of UBIQ..

so the timetable's not that fabulous this year. But I'm flying on the 9th Nov, be in Singapore the same day, and meet the Prof a day later!
hectic schedule indeed but it's something i'm most definitely looking forward to.

~whee!

But for now, PHSL344 Physiological dead space using the Bohr method! :)

The countdown's begun.
Another week has passed.
13 weeks to Singapore.

So it goes, the week in a life of a varsity student...

This week have been a pretty crazy week with 3 assignments due, each contributing massively towards the internal assessment. After handing in the immunocytochemistry report yesterday, I heaved a sigh of relief as it marked the end of the week. That report is worth 10% and I managed to complete it within a day. But i know last minute work isnt good. I wonder how much a night's work is worth... I should get started on the Autism essay. actually get started on the readings first.

Because of that report, I wasnt able to catch NDP live webcast too.. But i could always catch it later on if I wanted to. No matter which part of the world we may be, which continent or country: HOME truely is where the heart is.

Friday: We were looking at our intentionally induced deformed chicken embryos. We had one that was totally cooked! and many more that were mutated beyond recognition. Some looked normal yet not as quite. Others portrayed signs of anencephaly and spinal or cranial bifida. Just simply highlights the dangers of Retinoic acid on the developing foetus. hahaa..

I'll be working on ubiquitin when I'm back in sg, but hmm... it's ubiquitin. I'm just hoping all goes well then. fingerscrossed.. I've got papers to read from my boss already. pre-preparation for what is to come eh. And it so happened that last week's lectures on epithelial physiology were on ubiquitin and protein trafficking. Hope that helps.. :)

Okay I should head back to the stack of readings.
I'm sleep-deprived and it's not funny. heh.

The 4th of August may just be any other ordinary day for some, but for us Fairsians and ex-fairsians, the 4th of Aug is a very special day indeed. It's no wonder there's a particular tingling, fluttering feeling even as I attempt to start on the Cardiorespiratory report due this coming Tuesday.

I have been greatly blessed eversince the day I first stepped foot onto 100/102 Dover Road. Though I may not show it openly, but I'm very grateful that I was truely 'handpicked' by God. For those of you who dont know my story, the gist of it all is that I entered Fairfield due to a difference between an 'is' and a 'was'. I may not be an English Major, but I am certainly able to explain that really well. Hahaa..

It is an honour and pride to say that Yes! Fairfield have really played a pivotal role in forming who I am today. And for that, I'm thankful. It is clearly evident that this school instills something in each individual that will live on for a long time.

Well, that's the school that have transformed and moulded me to the Rachel I am today. Kudos to all whom have contributed to my life in one way or another. Fairfield have done so much for me, it is now my turn to give something back to her!

119 years of rich history.
Can you imagine the number of lives She's managed to transform?

I've got so many things on my 'to-do' list that I dont even know where to start. Just handed in Kirk's 2000 word NP essay on tuesday and i've got three more to hand in next week.

Agenda for this week:
- Cardiorespiratory lab report due 07/08 (7.5%)
- Epithelial Physiology journal presentation on Curcumin in cystic fibrosis 08/08 (5.0%)
- Cell Signaling lab report due 10/08 (15.0%)

How wonderful the life of a student is. 16 years of continuous education and I'm getting tired of this monotonous regime. I wonder how people can continue studying all the way till Ph.D level. hahaaa, pardon my ranting...

Aside from all that, we SUFFOCATED A GUINEA-PIG from the respirometer lab we had a fortnight ago. I'm sure it suffered a really tragic and slow death. Imagine being stuck in an enclosed chamber and being deprived of oxygen.. I can even picture the guinea pig gasping and struggling for air.

To think that a couple of hours ago before the lab, I was watching John and Ray place the animals in their respective chamber. I've got a picture of John with a guinea pig too. Wonder if that's the one that tragically passed on.

Anyway, on the bright side.. this is all for the sake of progession in science!

Coming up tomorrow, we'll be injecting chicken embryos with retinoic acid in an attempt to study the teratogenic effects in morphogenesis. Absolutely interesting! Two to three weeks from now, we would get embryos with gross-malformations and abnormalities. Isn't the study of developmental biology exciting!

Coincidentally, this is also the same research area that my boss-2-be (B2B) did years ago for his thesis. Hahaaa... Perhaps that's why we 'bonded' so well. lol.

Aights! I shall head back to drawing my log-log cardiorespiratory graphs and begin preparations for the seminar presentation. Till the next eventful event! :)