One week.
I have been back for one week. Scarily fast.
Well, the past year has basically flew by. So this was relatively alright comparatively.
Lab was slack... have not worked in such a slack place for a very long time (last time was when I was a TSS in SMM - or SMTI now). My supervisor is bringing me through every single thing that I have learnt before; I am glad to re-learn everything again because this means that I don't have to do actual work :P
The French guys in my lab are really fun. Yesterday during the pizza party (held because they just had a paper published) Sebestian was telling me about how interesting the Renaissance paintings in the Louvre are and enlightened me on the location of the inverted pyramid. Hmms no wonder I didn't see it...
Hopefully I can pick up some French from Youcef. Well, it cannot be always me teaching him English; it has to work the other way round too! :P
(I saw one really interesting painting from the Renaissance period in the National Gallery in London too; it has a skull which is drawn such that you can only see it when you view the painting from the right (or was it left?). No idea about those in the Louvre (and in the Vatican as he pointed out) before he told me :P)
My PI gave me 4 papers to read for the weekend though. This means work is going to start soon. Anyway, learnt that p53 has 2 cousins called p63 and p73 which have a rather high level of structural homology to p53 but not so much in terms of function :P
Haha anyway, I discovered that the language that I am the most comfortable with is Singaporean Chinese; I grew up with it! I have no chance to use it at all when I am overseas; well, as long as I see my friends it just flowed. Of course, it has to be in the right context... It is
strange (or just
not right) to speak English with Songyu and gang, and it feels strange too when GCS forced me to use Chinese with him.
Of course Cantonese also... Songyu is trying to learn it from Ka Yi and me. You can almost guess what he made us teach him.
Though it is kind of sad that I cannot express myself properly in Chinese when it comes to more complicated ideas. When I was talking to Marcus in lab today I switched to English naturally when I was explaining things... How do you say '
The 1910s - 1930s is the heyday of classical genetics because of Thomas Hunt Morgan's drosophila experiments and it being the progressive era in the United States' in Chinese, or even Singaporean Chinese? Impossible :P
I was, hmmms, really embarrassed when I couldn't ask for a glass of warm water in Mandarin last Sunday in a restaurant. Argh.
Labels: Life
Slacking.
Now I have this feeling that I am slacking and playing around too much :P
When I was in the US there will be something to do everyday because there are always deadlines to meet. When I was travelling I have exciting things to do everyday.
Hmms nowadays I sleep late not because I am doing work but because I went out, I was watching some movie, I was using Facebook, I was reading newspapers, I was reading storybooks (yeah STORYBOOKS), or just because I was not sleepy. Even though I did try reading some papers when I am at work nothing seem to go in... It's not that I am not interested but it is just that nothing goes in.
And now I am blogging :P I should be reading some stuff on Alberts lor...
Argh just don't feel right la. Hmms yeah I am weird :P
Anyway the people in my lab are really interesting! Almost all of them are French... sadly I can't speak French (I can only say Thank You, Excuse Me, and 'Can you speak English' :P). I am learning things together with this scholar from Wisconsin doing his one-year internship under a graduate student in the lab (he is also French). From next week onwards I believe I will be bombarded with a whole series of RT-PCR... haha well, I guess Brian would really love this because when I go back to Hopkins I won't have to bug him to teach me RT-PCR anymore :P at least not the theory bits...
Just that I really should stop falling asleep in the afternoon... I guess my body clock is really messed up. Still working on British Summer Time.
Met up with my 3SIR friends yesterday. The most fun about meeting up with them is that I don't have to watch what I say at all. No need to pretend, no need to be sensitive, nothing cannot be said... Haha we were living together for so long, did so much nonsense together, why is there a need to pretend?
Anyway got to drive quite a lot these few days... Though I seriously need to pick it up again fast. Looking ahead to get my Maryland license in fall ASAP (I hope!) :P
Labels: Life
Back Home.
Finally I'm home! After almost 10 months of trodding all over the world, I am finally home. Safe, warm, and relieved.
Between the last time I blogged (basically I wrote that on the floor in front of the sink in my hostel room) and now, I had gone to Disneyland, went up the Eiffel Tower, went to Versaille, and travelled from Paris to Cologne to Frankfurt and then finally Singapore. Certainly a lot for 3 days.
Reflections? Hmms. First thing: I am feeling rather proud that I have survived almost entirely without depending on my parents, and without much need for them to worry about me. Rather, I worry more about them sometimes...
I am pretty sure my parents are proud of me too. I guess this is the best way to repay them... that I can assure them that, when anything happens, they can depend on me.
Isn't it my role as the eldest in the family to support everyone when they need me? I am happy that I have proven to some extent that I am capable of taking the role completely one day...
Also, for the past 10 months I guess I have formulated a certain way of looking at the world, which is much clearer then before. It is one which often poses challenges to set institutions; and I also feel that I am getting too intolerant of people who insist that their viewpoints are the only right ones before they consider the same issue from another perspective. I basically lectured GCS on this subject as part of a looooong Facebook message which took me almost an hour to write.
I really sincerely think that the world can be a much better place if people can at least try to consider other perspectives before making a judgment. This will make life very difficult, because there will no longer be a clear-cut definition for what is right and what is wrong. Though isn't this reality? Often conflicts can only be resolved when we purposely blur the line between right and wrong...
Children need an education which tells them clearly what is right and what is wrong. Teenagers need to be guided to form a set of values that is based on their childhood education. Based on this adults can hence have vastly different ideas about life; but, the way to live in harmony with each other doesn't always involve listening, understanding, and either agreeing or accommodating to the differences?
This is forming the basis of my ideas relating to government, the relationships between medicine, science and society and the relationships between people.
Though, in all of us, there is definitely a line drawn somewhere... To us, right and wrong is determined by what we believe in. The need to blur the line when we deal with other people arises because these things are never absolute.
Chinese saying: 律己严，待人宽 (have high demands for yourself, but cut others some slack). I still have a lot a lot to learn... __________________________________________________
Nice things have been happening to me; both expected and unexpected.
1. I took an ICE train down from Cologne to Frankfurt Airport. There are 2 routes: the faster, more expensive one makes no stop; the slower one is cheaper and makes 3 to 4 stops. The thing I didn't expect is that the slower ICE I took passed through the Rhine Valley (apparently the faster one don't)! The view was simply GORGEOUS for the stretch between Koblenz and Mainz!
Some details for anyone planning a trip:
17:53 ab. Köln Hbf -ICE 927- 19:59 an. Frankfurt Flughafen.
And ICE trains are even nicer than Eurostar ones... at least they have wider aisles and brighter carriages. Really enjoyed that ride!
2. The lady at the check-in counter was really really nice.
> I have a total of 30.5kg of checked baggage (I can't believe it...). I kept quiet, the check-in lady kept quiet, and in the end we smiled very broadly at each other as I said thank you :)
> I got seat 44B randomly at check-in. I couldn't check-in online, and because I am already causing potential inconvenience I didn't want to request for any specific seat. 44B is a middle seat... and it turned out to be on the Emergency Exit Row!
3. Frankfurt was really fast. Got off the train at 8pm, and I was already in front of the B777-300ER at 8:40pm :)
Was really glad that I decided to take trains down to Frankfurt instead of the BA flight...!
4. After hearing so much about it, the first word I said when I stepped onto the plane was still 'woww'. The new SIA cabin design looks really nice... and the most amazing thing is the Krisflyer system. The screen was 1.5 times the size of the B747 ones; the system never lagged; the interface and control was much more user-friendly. Hence, despite my urge to sleep, I watched 3 movies (Mary Poppins, Breach, Charlotte's Web), one episode of House, played games for a while, and hence slept a total of less than 2 hours.
I don't know about the current A340-500 fleet but I am pretty sure that the new A380 fleet will get this cabin design. Everyone flying SIA should get this... it is really fantastic. I will try my best to book these flights in the future! For now, B777-300ER serves Frankfurt (SQ325/326 only), Paris, Zurich, and some other cities; A380 will serve Sydney and London from 2008 onwards I heard.
5. Since I was in Germany, I:
> Bought a huge bratwurst with mastard and bread for €1.99 and ate it in less than 3 minutes.
> Went to Nordsee to buy their delicious fish/seafood sandwiches for dinner.
> Bought a bottle of Mosel River Riesling for €6.90.
6. I learnt from Mary Poppins and Charlotte's Web:
> Believe in miracles (yeah I do... I really do!).
> Reality can be sweetcoated, making it easier to swallow. Sweetcoating reality is not the same as disregarding reality... I have failed to distinguish between the two :(
> All of us need fantasies... like Mary Poppins. They help us deal with reality, a lot in fact...
That is what I was thinking when I was watching the two shows; these are just some very very preliminary thoughts though.
Anyway, I love this song...
I Have A Dream - ABBA
I have a dream
A song to sing
To help me cope
With anything
If you see the wonder
Of a fairy tale
You can take the future
Even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in eveything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream
I have a dream
I have a dream
A fantasy
To help me through
Reality
And my destination
Makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness
Still another mile
I believe in angels
Something good in eveything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream
I have a dream
Anyone who has been nice to me, and anyone who has taught me something, is an angel God sent to me :)
Labels: Life, Travel, Values
Paris!
Eiffel Tower and me.
See it twinkling?
Procession at Arc du Triomphe.
Cool encounters in Paris:
1. Eiffel Tower is very pretty at night, and it twinkles at 12am (and 1am)!
2. Restaurants break plates in front of their doors to... attract customers?
3. Saw a procession at Arc du Triomphe. Might have something to do with WWII veterans... not sure.
4. Told a touter who asked me where I come from that I am from America after refusing to buy his stuff.
5. Disneyland tomorrow! I'll see how fun it would be :)
Labels: Travel
Paradise on Earth.
First read this when I was in lower sec, and then studied it for Chinese Lit in Sec 3. Liked it a lot for the sense of mystery... though apparently it was not written by the author just for pure entertainment.
桃花源記 陶淵明
晋太元中，武陵人，捕鱼为业。缘溪行，忘路之远近。忽逢桃花林，夹岸数百步，中无杂树，芳草鲜美，落英缤纷，渔人甚异之。复前行，欲穷其林。
林尽水源，便得一山。山有小口，仿佛若有光；便舍船，从口入。初极狭，才通人；复行数十步，豁然开朗。土地平旷，屋舍俨然，有良田美池桑竹之属。阡陌交通，鸡犬相闻。其中往来种作，男女衣著，悉如外人。黄发垂髫，并怡然自乐。见渔人，乃大惊，问所从来。具答之。便要还家，设酒杀鸡作食。
村中闻有此人，咸来问讯。自云先世避秦时乱，率妻子邑人来此绝境，不复出焉，遂与外人间隔。问今是何世，乃不知有汉，无论魏、晋。此人一一为具言所闻，皆叹惋。余人各复延至其家，皆出酒食。停数日，辞去。此中人语云：“不足为外人道也。”
既出，得其船，便扶向路，处处志之。及郡下，诣太守，说如此。太守即遣人随其往，寻向所志，遂迷不复得路。南阳刘子骥，高尚士也，闻之，欣然规往，未果，寻病终。后遂无问津者。
Not going to translate this. Too long, and I am already making a compromise by posting it in simplified :P so people like GCS don't complain :D
Oh well. Found this place in Scotland! Haha it is really similar... just that there is no one living in the paradise. I have to walk 5 miles along a road and then scramble (yeah scramble... some parts of the path are so scary that I have to use my hands to help me) through a narrow river gorge for roughly half to one mile before getting to the place :P
Though when I reach the hidden valley it was utmost rewarding. It is mighty, beautiful, tranquil; the river flows quitely in the middle, with grassland and forest (dotted with wild flowers) surrounding it; the jewel on the crown is the waterfall at the other end! I felt so happy when I reached the place... even more happy than Ben Nevis; or I would say, even more happy than getting As for my papers :P
There were a number of other hikers around too... I can see that they are also really charmed by the place, especially the couples. I met this Singaporean family when I was heading back... I was really surprised to see them (Singaporeans, don't, hike... let alone a family, with two 12/13 years-old girls, in a place so far away from the normal touristy places; they actually drove from Edinburgh to get there, and they had already visited Glencoe!), and they were really surprised to see me too (apparently same feeling). When I told them I walked up Ben Nevis the day before, the dad went 'are you an officer in the army?' Haha nope, I am just a medic...
Another thing I like about hiking is that hikers are generally very friendly (at least in both Wales and Scotland). We smile and say hi to each other (basically all are strangers), pick up small chats with each other along the way, admire the scenery together, warn each other with the dangers ahead... Basically I never felt lonely over there even though I was alone. How wonderful that was...
Along the way when I was travelling alone I have met and talked to quite a few people. It's a nice experience indeed! Though the logistics gets pretty nasty at times... especially when you need to use the bathroom and no one can look after your things for you. Also, it can get pretty lonely sometimes... but my kind of personality allows me to tolerate that.
I like to be with people, but I am fine being by myself.
I think I am too careful when I come to planning things... I rather wait than rush and freak out and then see the plane/train/bus leave in front of my eyes. Had one nasty experience of almost missing a flight because of stupid security check at BWI (that's my fault actually); not going to make the same mistake again.
Though I think that annoyed Shireen quite a bit :P I got her to book a 7:45am bus (instead of an 8:30am bus; anyway 7:45 is really early to be honest) to leave Cambridge tomorrow morning so that we can have 2 hours to get everything settled in London before getting on the train. Might be too much, but I seriously think 1 hour is not enough... especially on a Sunday morning when the stupid Tube might have 10-minute frequencies, and we still have to change once. I'll know :P
I am not at Cambridge at a very good time anyway; friends are busy planning and getting ready for May Week stuff and whatnot (though is there a good time? don't know :P). Though still managed to catch up with a couple of friends from A*Star and not; e.g. Haihan, Kelvin Chan (I know them long before A*Star), and finally re-linked Yaofeng to him :P I knew him since SRP time but kind of didn't keep in regular contact... and had a nice chat with Manu yesterday night! Also got to know some new friends, which is always nice :)
Home in 5 days... Biopolis seems quite fun nowadays from what Ka Yi is telling me. Looking forward to joining the fun hahaha :D
And lastly photos!
On top of Ben Nevis!
And this is the very nice valley I am talking about! It doesn't look good here, but really, you have to be there to understand why I am so exhilarated over it...
On the way up Ben Nevis.
Labels: Random, Travel
Ben Nevis.
Yayy I walked all the way up the highest mountain in the whole of Britain today (yeah I changed my plans :P)!
Walked 5 miles up and 5 miles down. The view on the way up is spectacular! Though the top is all foggy so didn't manage to see anything. Had a nice chat with this guy from Canada though.
Recommended for people with my kind of fitness or better! Though, I see kids and elderly couples walking up as well. Probably they will just need to take longer. I took 7 hours altogether (plus around 30-45 minutes rest).
This is only a very small part of the Scottish Highlands... there are so much more to Scotland! Skye, Loch Ness, West Highland Way, Glencoe, etc etc...
Actually, England too. North York Moors, Yorkshire Coast, Doset/Cornwall, Lake District, etc etc...
And Wales?
Actually I find Europe much more appealing than America, really. Well, every single place in Europe is different... Scotland is different from England and is different from Wales, and there is still Ireland? Also Germany for example, southern Germany (Balvaria) has such a distinct culture that the people there identify themselves as Balvarians rather than Germans. This is similar in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. There are still differences between countries!
America? Well, how is Maryland different from New Jersey or Illinois? No idea. All look the same to me. All eat the same things some more. California is certainly more tidy and has more sun though :P
I think I really should seriously consider coming to the UK to do PhD. At least, when I am too sick and tired of cloning plasmids I can take 2 days off, create a long weekend and drive/take bus/train to Inverness to watch dolphins or go to Wales to see seals and their pups :P Where can I go when I am in the US? New York City?
(Chatted with this German guy when I was in York; he says that the European system will require 4 years for a PhD because we'll need to get a Master's first. Cambridge works this way, and this is also in the MRC handbook. Well, I have 5 years :D)
Yeah and there are so many more nice places to hike in!
Well, leaving Scotland tomorrow (before that I will hike into the valley to see waterfall :P). Back to civilisation and people!
Labels: Travel
Scotland.
I have 7 minutes to get this thing up :P
Took a whole day of train and now I am in the middle of the Scottish Highlands. The weather doesn't look brilliant, so I don't think I'll have the chance to go all the way up Ben Nevis (anyway I don't think I dare to do that alone), so depending on weather I will decide whether to take a train further up to Glenfinnan and Mallaig tomorrow (bad-weather plan) or do a hike half-way up Ben Nevis, and then come down and walk towards the North (good weather plan) so that I can at least admire the mountain a little bit :P
Wednesday will be doing low-level hikes around the river and the valley floor (weather report says that it should be clear on that day), so hopefully it will be nice!
Wednesday night will be taking an overnight bus from Glasgow all the way back to London before heading to Cambridge. See how shack I'll be after that :P
(Anyway carried all my stuff and walked 3 miles from the train station to the hostel. Hmms was really seriously cursing my books and the cans of pepper when I was walking :P not going to walk back definitely on Wednesday...)
Labels: Travel
In York.
I am typing this on my laptop in a MacDonald's in York. I bet no one who blogs has ever done that before :P
Of course, the MacDonald's doesn't have Internet connection. I'm simply typing this into MS Word. I'll upload it when it is eventually my turn to use the hostel's shared computer.
Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon (or Stratford) have been rather disappointing. Birmingham is like Singapore: there are a lot of shops and shopping malls, with a few not very interesting museums here and there, a church in the centre, and nothing else. Stratford, being Shakespeare's hometown, is of course touristy as usual. Recommended only if you are a 'Shakespeare nut' (quoting Jessica).
Took buses for the whole afternoon in order to get to York from Birmingham. York is a charming place; it is just that the hostel isn't very appealing (as you can see, they have no Wi-fi!). Oh well. I will only be here for 2 nights so...
I will be heading to York Castle tonight. Unlikely that I will be able to watch sunset there (the sun really sets toooooo late), but it should be pretty nice to see the walls and the castle under evening light conditions?
Haha by the way, whacked GCS quite a bit these few days. In one Facebook email and one MSN convo (he asked for it because he started it) I unveiled all his weaknesses that both Ce Xiang and me saw in him. Hopefully can knock some sense into him...?
I was telling him not to expect people to reciprocate when he tried to be nice to people (I learnt this from my mum). Yeah that is very true... always true, for whatever reason. Well, it makes me feel better for me to think this way. If I have expected people to reciprocate, I would have stopped being nice long ago. As I have lamented to my friends, being nice really gets me nowhere. Nowhere.
I guess he is feeling bad also partially because he feels that people are treating him as transparent, and with his kind of ego, being treated as transparent can be rather unbearable. I guess I am pretty used to that already though. Well, we kind of compensate that by filling ourselves with our academic achievements...
If you take that away from us, I don't know what we have left.
Anyway, I stopped him from doing something stupid by using this quote which he loved: 'Soft toys do not self-destruct and they cannot be consumed'. Haha if he wants to be a (genuine) nice guy, this has to become his motto :D
--Posted 9:30am BST 10/6/07
--Post amended 7:00pm BST 11/6/07 on GCS's request.
Labels: Travel, Values
Pleasant Surprises.
Sister posted this in her blog, prompting me to follow suit:
| Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISTP) |
Your personality type is reserved, methodical, spirited, and intense.
Only about 6% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 8% of all men
You are Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving. |
See how I have changed in the past year (I am quite happy with the 'S' actually :P). Though I have always thought the ENTP last time was a pseudo-personality... I cannot be an E. No way. No E can spend one whole weekend at home reading books (or mugging textbooks) and travel in Britain for 11 days all by himself :P
Though this might not be accurate at all because of the limitations of the questions.
Anyway, the other 2 pleasant surprises:
1. Meet 3 Singaporeans in my room yesterday. They didn't intend to stay in Bath initially; however they realised that the train ride from Lake District was too long for them to be able to tour Bath on the same day. So they kind of randomly found this hostel and this room :P
So today went to the Roman Baths and the Bath Abbey with them:
From left to right:
Me, Clarence, Adeline, Serene.
Anyone knows them? I know Grace does, Shireen should know them as acquantainces, the rest I don't know :P
They only stayed here for half a day; they headed south to Salisbury and then the Continent while I'll be heading north...
2.
Salisbury is a nice place! Didn't exactly plan to visit it initially, but was charmed by it yesterday when I was there waiting for a bus connection. So decided to stay there for a little while instead of going to Stonehenge and back to Bath straightaway. Visited the Cathedral... and saw the 3rd and most well-preserved copy of the Magna Carta. Don't think will be able to see the 4th because it is held in Lincoln... not going there :P
And Bath is definitely nice:
I have not met anyone who looks like Chris Patten though. My parents tricking me again (as usual).
Labels: Random, Travel
Sheep.
Sheep, sheep and more sheep.
Was in Avebury and Devizes yesterday. Numerous sheeps (yeah there are 2 kinds: white and black. There are really black sheep.)
Was in Stonehenge today: even more sheeps.
Comparing the two sites, I would say that Avebury is definitely more charming. The stones there are not as big, but the general structures there are much bigger, grander and well-preserved. The most significant difference is that you get to walk among the stones in Avebury but not in Stonehenge...
Avebury:
Stonehenge:
Two white sheep and one black sheep:
The English countryside certainly has its charm. It was like Agatha Christie's characters and settings coming to life. I have encountered and chatted with an old English couple; the man was a very typical English gentleman and the lady, well, a very typical English lady, just like how the stories depicted them. And the inns really bear names like 'The Red Lion', "The Swan', 'The Pelican', etc... and most have a longer history than Hopkins :P
And endless wheatfields! Had a nice time walking through them yesterday in Avebury, when the wheather was cool and the fields slightly damp :)
Though it was at Stonehenge that I saw grass making up the horizon for the first time...
Labels: Travel
Travelling.
Will be travelling alone for the next 11 days (or 10?)...
Have been asking myself why do I want to travel. It is troublesome, tiring, and costs money... Yeah actually if I want to save money I should have gone home. I have in my itinerary:
22 June (Mum + Dad + Sister):
> Home (Free).
When Shireen saw it she went, 'Home (Free)?!' (Hmms though that's true isn't it :P)
I travel for mainly 3 things:
1. Inspiring scenery, buildings and monuments - allows me to reflect and think about the future.
2. History - basically it is my interest. My historical knowledge all comes from travelling.
3. Culture - the hardest bit for me (because I don't actively approach people), but it is always the most rewarding.
Anyway this EuroTrip is really unique... I am not travelling with anyone, instead, I am travelling to places to meet people. It has been pretty nice so far :)
Had a nice chat with Ce Xiang; we exchanged a lot of ideas. We think quite similarly in a lot of aspects actually I think...
Just to share a little:
1. I am beginning to find making moral judgments meaningless. The more I know, the more I realised that everything has in fact more than two sides. GCS is right: there is
no truth. Although I might believe in a set of things, and I may believe in more (or less) in the future, these are
not absolute truths. I cannot use what I believe in to judge someone else... I have no right to.
2. I believe that the basis of a relationship is: 1) mutual understanding (knowing and acknowledging why each other thinks and feels this way); 2) mutual respect (not forcing anything upon each other); 3) accommodating each other (making reasonable changes to yourself to suit the needs of the other). Sounds familiar? However how many people can actually do that? GCS says that I am too sensitive but I think these have become my principles...
Mutual is the most important!
Haha there are many more. I'll keep them for conversations I guess :)
Labels: Travel, Values
Wales.
Before I went to Cardiff I went to watch the changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace... I don't know whether it is supposed to be so elaborate everyday but it is basically a huge parade complete with a marching band and flag bearers and stuff. Or probably I was just lucky to be there on the first day of the month?
Met up with Zi Yang (and with some effort convinced Kenneth Lay to leave his study desk) for lunch too! Haha well, Kenneth is still the same old Kenneth, and Zi Yang is still the same old Zi Yang... though we have had much less nonsense compared to when we were in secondary school :P
So I have been staying with Ce Xiang for the past two nights, and had a nice chat with him yesterday night :) We went to Mid-Wales (at this place called the Brecon Beacons) to hike today. These are some of the photos we took there! Very nice scenery...
And I certainly have not seen so many sheep at one go in my whole life...
The last photo is taken at Cardiff Bay, where we had nice fish and chips :)
So I will be entering phase 2 of this trip from tomorrow onwards, meaning I will be travelling alone until 14 June. Heading to Bath next!
Labels: Travel
