No water.
No water for the night. Even now. No warning.
Implications: gross.
Cannot brush teeth, cannot shower, cannot shave, no water to drink, cannot make proper coffee (the coffee I am drinking now is made using all milk), cannot wash face...
This is worse than outfield - because, at least when we are outfield, we bring cans and cans of water out with us, and there is always a river where we can get water from to purify.
It better comes back by 8:30am...
Labels: Life
Warum hast du Angst?
‘Denn wir haben alles, was das Herz begehrt, und wir brauchen uns vor nichts zu fürchten!’
- der Tiger von
Oh, wie schön ist Panama Das stimmt - ob wir nicht zu viel für unsere Leben suchen, und wir sind einfach und glücklich - was gibt uns Ängsten?
('Because we have everything, everything that the heart desires, and we do not have to be afraid of anything!'
- the tiger from 'Oh, how beautiful is Panama'
That is right - if we do not seek too much for our lives, and we are simple and happy - what will give us fears?)
I am happy with the kind of life that I am leading now, and all I look for is to maintain it - also, according to projections into the future, I should have no problem maintaining it financially anyway.
So why worry? Just go find whatever I am being called to do and do it!
Labels: Life, Random
Spring Break.
Wow the last time I actually wrote something here was 8 March :P
Anyway, I must thank all my friends in Madison who gave me a really wonderful time! I did not want to leave...
It is a really warm feeling to know that friends are genuinely happy that I am there, and that they are pouring all their hospitality on me - I can really feel it! :) Thank you so much!
Before Madison I was doing HCF's spring break urban plunge in SW Baltimore. I did the same thing last year - last year it wasn't a stay-over programme, and we were at each site only in passing, but indeed it was a great learning experience and more importantly my first step in being an active Christian - a step that I want to make but had never known how to make.
This year I was helping to plan it and led some of the discussions. It had not failed to be inspiring, and had made me realise the main shortcomings that I have hindering me in putting my words into action. Also - I mean, two years ago, I would not have imagined myself doing these stuff that I am doing today; it is the Spirit at work, it is the grace of God - through the HCF people and Grace, who decided to make the 'serious and intellectual' xiaoyang (this is not I say one okay) the target of her invitations without even knowing what I have been up to on my own.
What I was obsessed about two years ago was basically condensed in a question that Songyu and Gerald asked me on the car yesterday. I have told my story quite a couple of times - I actually didn't realise that Songyu has never heard it before. I cannot publish the whole thing here, but the abridged form is simply - I have realised that what happened and what I hoped for in 2006 - 2007 was not built on the right foundation. We were very different in terms of values and world-view and I didn't realise that - which I finally did, and I am glad that I did. I do not know if she had ever liked me before but it is now inconsequential.
(Actually one more thing that I didn't realise was - how widely spread was the impression at that time. I only realised that recently when Kenneth, wz etc. all came to ask me about it separately and I was forced to ask them - where did they get the impression from...?! I will not deny anything, because it happened - if I cannot even be honest to myself, how can I convince others to trust me?)
Luke 6:46-49 -
"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."Jesus wants us to actively build our foundations on him, not on our own hopes and ambitions. Extend the 'Stardust' metaphor that I used to tell and still hold on to, and you will know what my attitude of life is...
Labels: Life, Philosophy and Religion, Relationships
I can smell spring!
After the 5" snowfall on Monday and Tuesday and temperatures below 20 degF...
This weekend is AWESOME. It is 72 degF now.
And the sun is officially setting after 7pm because EDT has resumed!
I looked at the ten-day forecast - it is not going back to below freezing again. Thus, I started my exercise routine again finally!
I started with the usual round-the-school route, which is only 2.1mi long. I finished it under 20 minutes - it is a good start. The next time I run, I will make the routine round ~3mi long so that it would be approximately 5km. Then I will build from that.
The route will be nice because I will be running to the northern end of Guilford, and coming back by either Charles Street or Greenway (which will bring me past the tulip garden). There are actually a lot of possible routes to use, and I hope that by the time I go back to Singapore I will be able to add the complete Uni Parkway - Roland Park - Cold Spring Lane - Loyola - Greenmount - Faith - 39th Street loop to what I am doing now.
Just hope that I can keep to the routine! I actually have time to run, depending on lab work, everyday except Wed, and I definitely can do Sat, Sun and Tue, if I want to...
Labels: Life
News...
TEMASEK Holdings has been given a perfect 10 in a report on transparency among sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) published yesterday.Is it better to laugh or to cry when presented with stuff like this?
There is more.
Zaobao, 7 March 2009and there is no parallel found in ST, so I will translate.
From a guy who is an A-level top scorer, ranked first in IChO, PM book prize winner, LKY maths and science award winner, etc. goodness knows what (all according to the same article).
为个人前途而言，也许到欧美大学留学能学习世界最前端的科技知识，但是为了国家，我相信在清华大学留学四年的经验，将对国家公共部门的服务更重要。在这个问题上，我愿意把国家利益放在个人利益之上。公共服务委员会介绍几位曾在清华大学读书的朋友给我认识，他们谈起在中国留学的经验都说很有趣、很有意义。我会参考父母和老师的意见，作出最后决定。
It might be better for my future if I were to go to a university in the US or Europe to learn cutting-edge science and technology, but for our country, I believe the experience gained from studying for 4 years in Tsing Hua University would be more important for Singapore's public service. Regarding this, I am willing to place our nation's interests before my personal interests. ...CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?!
This guy is either VERY NOBLE, VERY NAIVE, A PLAIN HYPOCRITE (i.e. SUPER politically correct), his family are hardcore PAP loyalists, or the reporter is a word-twisting idiot whose act deserves banishment from civil society for 20 years.
Singaporeans are never that noble (how to be kiasu and noble at the same time?!); I would hope that he said that because he comes from a PAP background. If he is naive, he will regret what he said and probably his decisions a couple of years from now. If the reporter twisted his words - well he would have been flamed for nothing. If he is a hypocrite,
I DO NOT WANT HIM IN THE CIVIL SERVICE...ST is smart - no mention of that in it at all. They know - if they publish something like this, they will receive endless amounts of flame. Zaobao is a relatively safe place to publish this kind of thing, honestly, things that Zaobao readers care about are pretty different...
Sigh.
Labels: Random
More on research, and upcoming stuff...
Thank you everyone for your encouragement! Haha that was just an example of how messed up experiments can foul up mood, especially when under stress... Things have gotten better - actually the blots all worked excellently well! I have been really happy for the past couple of days and now what I have to do is to get the
in vivo and
in vitro time point data done, wait for results from the transgenic mice, and I would be able to start writing up.
There are two ways now which the paper can be structured:
1) Reporting expression only
2) Report expression + first couple of studies regarding function.
If we were to go by strategy 1, the paper would be good for places like Journal of Urology; not very good journals but well we get to publish it first. If we were to do it the second way, it will take a little longer but it can go into a better journal, not Developmental Biology standard though - still have to think about that.
Problem is, we know that THERE IS SOMEONE OUT THERE DOING A SIMILAR THING WE ARE DOING. It is a race now - which would be lame if we lose it.
The BMP4 story is neat - we might include it, but I guess the main thing should still be: what on earth is the PTEN doing there - as it doesn't seem to be playing its regulatory function through pAkt, and that excludes the whole downstream pathway. We will find out.
Haha my whole life is revolving around these stuff now, to an extent that I do not feel like doing homework and studying for exams at all (which explains why I have been putting off studying all the time until the very last minute; honestly, I don't care already, if I get all A-es or B+es for this semester, so be it - will not kill me completely :P). Anyway, I am going to take a week's break from 13 March to 22 March, in which the first 7 days will be spent on HCF's urban plunge (community service project - I will talk about it when it is done, together with the whole idea of urban ministries and Christian community development), and the last three days in Madison WI (and the amazing thing is that Gerald is also going to be there - completely by coincidence). Then Kenneth will be coming over in April (awesomeness - I am hugely thankful for that! He is choosing to fly over the Atlantic to come see us for his week-long Easter break!), I am graduating at the end of May, and going home at the end of June.
I will start the application process for Duke-NUS and the graduate schools pretty soon too - I have gotten my MCAT score, and I probably will take my GRE some time soon as well. All these will start when Spring break is over!
Labels: Life, Studies and Career
Psalm 92
It is good to praise the Lord
and make music to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
and the melody of the harp.
For you made me glad by your deeds, O Lord;
I sing for joy at the work of your hands.
How great are your works, O Lord,
how profound your thoughts!
The senseless man does not know,
fools do not understand,
that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will forever be destroyed.
But you, O Lord, are exalted forever.
For surely your enemies, O Lord,
surely your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.
You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox;
fine oils have been poured upon me.
My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries;
my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, "The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him."
Labels: Sharing
5 am...
The blots worked! Yayy!
But cannot be too happy yet - must wait for the results of a replicate gel. Though by Thursday's lab meeting I definitely will have a story to tell.
And also teaching myself the Fat/Hpo pathway. It seems rather interesting - judging from the papers that I have read so far. Though I still have no clue how those P elements enhancer traps work. I don't think they are that hard to understand, it is just that I have so far been too lazy to figure it out.
Okay - back to work!
(I slept enough in the afternoon. That is why didn't sleep...)
Labels: Life
