stubborn teacher assistant

had my first lab 4 days ago, and boy, it was a hard time. my group mates had no clue what the experiment was all about. i practically had to guide them through each step methodically. not forgetting the fact that one of them, an iranian girl, kept on complaining that the lab was terribly long, which didn't change her stand considering all she did were sit down and observe. lazy bummer!

and apparently the reactor wasn't working well too. the conductivity gland wasn't calibrated well. our results were peculiar enough that we had to retest 2-3 times. and the teacher assistant basically had slightly more clues than us. he was actually appalled that the reactor gave weird results!

it ended with compromise coz the professor noticed our problems and immediately told us that if the results were too erratic for a lab report, we would be given the accurate experimental data from the teacher assistant. thank goodness, our data was close enough to theoretical data, but 1 problem---negative conversion for a reaction is impossible and i got that. right from the beginning of the calculation!

went for teacher assistant's office hour. he looked at a sample of lab report. told me straight on my face that my calculation was definitely wrong and i should recheck again. but for goodness sake! i had checked it thrice, and negative conversion was still inevitable! i argued with him. showed him the logic of the entire equation. he, again, was appalled by the situation. while we were still bargaining for whose reasoning was right, a prof came in and intervened. and true enough, there unit written on the lab manual was wrong. it's off by a factor of 3! bah! how could the ta be unaware of that!!! and he always thinks he's right. let me do some generalization now (though it's not right) greek guys are extremely stubborn!

on a lighter note, i don't really have much things to do aside from the lab report. that's good! coz i was so afraid that i would have a ton of things to do while nug's here. and so far, i am still enjoying every single day to the max. went to kensington palace. watched les miserables. (the music and the singing were good, but the storyline was a facade coz they sang out their lines, which made it hard to comprehend) tried new restaurants. cooked some burnt fried rice, which didn't turn out that bad. and of course, had nice fruit cakes for birthday (grinning sheepishly. didn't realize that i could get the entire fruitcake coz i thought i wouldn't get any other cakes aside of nug's fruit cake. but ci lenny and friends gave me) visited the national gallery. i think we've combed through london deep enough. well, we'll see.

but all good things must come to an end too. he'll be leaving this sunday evening. on chinese new year! argh!!! i hate the feeling of loss. makes me feel lonely and want to turn back time. but, there will be good times soon. am so looking forward to returning to purdue. back to bullying my dear roommie and of course, walmart!

birthday cards

as my days of being 19 are coming to an end pretty soon, i received 2 birthday cards already. one's from anna. funny lady. said that i was made up of 1 tablespoon of prawn brain, (no wonder i don't eat prawns. they're my ancestors you see :P) 1 tablespoon of fragrance (i am assuming nice smelling ones. or is she refering to my 10 year old's smell?) and unlimited spoonfuls of confidence. hahaha! na, if you're reading this...if that's how people create a baby, i think i would not only have 4 kids, (as what i've always wanted) but at least 10! thanks a lot though! no one has been that original before :)

i received the second card today. yes, it's from my sis, my lil bro and mom. apparently, yongma tried to copy melin's 'without love' comment, but melin immediately cancelled out the 'out' which left 'with love' for yongma. ahh! how i miss home! just like michael buble's home. another summer day has come and gone away. in paris or rome. but i wanna go home. indeed, it's true. there's no better place than home. despite the 6 pm prayer announcement from the nearby mosque, mom's constant wake up reminder at 6 am and not many friends back at home, home is where i belong. the heaven of food and loved ones.

i'm going to my ex-roommie's (from europe trip, not my dear roommie at purdue) graduation ceremony tomorrow. besides being the photographer (love it!), i want to know the differences between the ceremonies in the united states and here. are your names gonna be up on the ohp? or they're calling your name in dignity while you shake hands with the president of the university. it's going to be very interesting.

and i realized that though i'm not really on holiday mood, my vacation has actually eaten up my science and mathematics skills. i can't calculate right. when i do substitutions, some of the terms will most likely be missing at the end. there's once in which the prof had the notes written wrongly for the area of a circle and i still followed it for my coursework. dumb!!! i need to wake up. or maybe practise punching the right numbers on my calculator.

and yes, i think i am losing my appetite these days. would just have 2 meals per day. (anna, your fault! you asked me to go on diet! that might cause some psychological war in my brain!) and sleeping has been my main priority each day. i could sleep for more than 8 hours per night. whoa...signs of aging? don't know! but give it sometime and i think i will be fine.

i guess i will be home this march. god bless me!

nostalgic mood

it's 4p taken on racial harmony day 2002. and what made me post this picture? simple. i saw jialing's blog. she posted pics of her outing with 5 ex-classmates...and i got into nostalgic mood. and since i happened to have nothing to do today, (well, there's a coursework that needs to be done, but i guess i shall relax now :P) i checked some ex-classmates' friendster profiles. whoa!!! many of them have changed! gone is the boyish crop hair...now long highlighted tresses. some sporting with make up and of course, pictures with guyfriends. hehehe! i got this feeling that i haven't changed much over the years, while everybody's groomed into ladies. ah, doesn't matter. but would love to see these girls when i get the chance.

next, it's the subject of traveling. been getting a lot feedback about my expensive hobby. han actually confronted me. told me that if i happen to be his company in future, there'll be a strict budget set aside for my travel. i told him there's no need to worry for that. for a start, i am not going to be a housewife, staying at home all the time, waiting for husband to be home. i will work and if y husband does disapprove of me spending on my travel, i shall use the money that i earn. fair enough? :P but really, i can't be apart from traveling. i don't spend much on the road. i just love looking at the sceneries that i normally see on pictures. i like the new air that i breathe. i like to know the history behind each monument. i love looking at people, conversing in different languages, asking you to help them take a picture while they pose. plus, i believe in living life to the fullest. i don't know when i'm saying goodbye to this world. but i want to make sure i've seen enough before i'm gone.

school's going to start in 24 hours' time! no more strolling along totenham court road to get to chinatown. time for english breakfast, school and back doing coursework. :)

there's a beginning and there's an end

i hate farewells.

whether i'm bidding one for loved ones or people whom i just know for a matter of days, i would get overwhelmed. there's some level of uncertainty when i would get to see them again. i know the technology has made the world shrink, but again...it's still up to us to decide whether we should keep in touch or not. i don't know whether i am indeed bidding farewell to some people forever, out of their lives, or it's just for a temporary of time till we meet again.

but hey, that's why there's nothing absolute in this world. (except for those school-related equations invented by some genius fellows) and that actually brings more excitement to my life.

after a long day of school and you go home to discover that your high school friend has successfully published a book. you are a new student, entering the dining room and to your disbelief, you see an ex-hostelmate whom you haven't met in 7 years.

the europe trip was a good event to close the year. actually, i was a bit of a loner during the trip. yes, i did enjoy it, but i thought i didn't make many friends by the end of the tour. i sent a couple of pictures to some people and i thought that would be it. but guess what? within days, i got an invitation to go for new year countdown with 4 of them. (and i didn't even talk much to them during the 13 day tour!) i would be meeting my ex-tour roommate before she's heading back to the mainland in mid-jan. interesting? yes!

within the span of 2 days, i conversed in chinese continously, (you know how little i speak in mandarin) and you know how chinese people are. they tend to tell you directly how they feel about you. by the second day, people have told me that i am a person of a substance and they're glad to have known me. boy, the europe trip didn't just end on 29th of december. in fact, it's just the beginning of my friendship with some of the people in it.

as i was about to bid goodbye to my tour mates, again this feeling of loss dissipated in my mind. i hugged all the girls and wished them well. when it came to the only guy among us, i shook his hand. but to hell with it. we just cut the formality and gave each other a bear hug. not forgetting that we did a three peck french greeting, signifying how we respected each other as new friends.

a big toast to new friendships and of course the beautiful beginning of 2006! woo hoo!