Study-No-Enough

Many people were asking why would I want to study (again?!) when I've a doctorate that comes with the "head-damage" title. Isn't it enough of studying? If you didn't know, I have taken a series of high-level chemistry course & examination that allows me to be a Licensed Chemist. The question that has been thrown to me a thousand times: "Why do I need to study for a Chemistry License after all the 10++ years of accumulated studies in my entire 20s?"

 

I graduated from a first degree called Bachelor's Degree Bioindustry with a major in Entomology. What that actually means is that I am a agriculture science graduate which does everything else, biology of plants, insect sciences, and how to kill insect pests. In a nutshell: I learnt the best ways to kill pests such as my little brother and caterpillars munching on your sawi. :-P

 

After my first degree, I received a scholarship from Kuok Foundation to do my Ph.D. to continue to find fancy methods of killing insect pests. Yes, best gilerrr to kill insects like cockroaches, mosquitoes, caterpillars, locusts, etc. But upon graduation of my doctorate degree, I was hired into a non-related industry - the Oil & Gas industry. Let me tell you, this studying is something personal that I want to do, without any coercing by my boss or company. It's entirely personal. Actually, my brains is already wired to do chemistry (I do a lot of chemistry work in my Ph.D. dissertation & in my current job), but it's more like ....if I don't get a Chemistry License, I can't sign off any chemistry reports at my workplace. Why? Simply because I am not from a chemistry background. Damn. That does frustrates me that even a Ph.D. is insufficient for the O&G industry! Btw, there's a governing Act for Chemistry that requires that only one from a Chemistry degree could be a Licensed Chemist.

 

So what I did was to take up a whole entire comprehensive course on chemistry - high level Analytical, Organic, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, and sat for their examination to obtain the so-called "chemistry background". It was very refreshing yet intimidating to study chemistry from zero (e.g. memorize the periodic table, again?!). You know, this is harder than STPM. Imagine fitting the entire STPM chemistry (and even harder) in 5 months, to then take the exam on month-6th. Total: 6 months to get a Chemistry degree.





#Wefie during the practical exam that took us 8 hours(!!) to complete 3 experiments, with the complete lab report.
And the next day, I went to run a full marathon 42km.





President of Institute Kimia Malaysia (IKM) handing me my Chemistry completion certificate.

I am old. Don't appease me by saying I am not. I have so much workload in my company. My hair is turning white literally. To juggle between studies and work is pretty difficult and therefore, am amazed by how some of my colleagues could find time between studies, work and family (kids!). And my handwriting too, or should I say: my penmanship has deteriorated, probably  due to the reliance of keyboards to write reports.

 

I am old because I realised that I could not memorized reactions and mechanisms anymore. Being in the 30s compared to my Ph.D. years (in the 20s) is completely different (180 degrees). My brains couldn't store any information as easily as before. The only strategy was to study last-minute, where I packed all knowledge a week before and spill (read: vomit!) them all out on exam day. Well, to say the least, that strategy worked rather well for some papers.

 

I am now awaiting the results of this exam results, to which I have both my toes and finger's crossed. My worry basically lies on Organic Chemistry where memory is required the most.

 



Article on us by Dr. Sharon. My coursemates at the end of our 4 month chemistry course.

I do enjoy Chemistry because I can relate to my current jobscope. But the truth is, I still enjoy biology more than chemistry, although practically you can't independently separate 'em both. Again, some people JUST LOVE STUDYING. Nothing is more satisfying than solving a problem related to chemistry or biology both at work and in life (think: cooking!)

 

I thank God because He allows me gave me the thirst for knowledge (albeit all the time!), the ability to study well and handle stress alike. I thank God for his grace for getting me through this stressful/sleepless period with ample support for my husband (he is a fan of mine), and family members. I study because I am personally happy for myself for having the extra edge against others apart from my accumulating experiences at work. With all these in mind, I hope to climb up the career ladder and slowly accumulate more wealth for my family and to....errrr...errrr... buy myself a bungalow or a Mini Cooper or anything for that matter - without thinking twice! That's the whole point kan? Far-fetched objective for a cute little lady, many thinks?

 

For years, I have gained or am accumulating knowledge in:

1. Insect science (Entomology)

2. Agriculture

3. Microbiology

4. Pesticide science/formulation science

5. Analytical Chemistry

6. Environmental sciences

7. Oil and gas, EOR

 

Next knowledge to acquire based on my passion:

1. Management (MBA). Planning yah...

2. Psychology

3. History

4. etc.

 

For now, let's just find some time to finish a bunch of novels and fiction....bought from past two Big-Bad-Wolf ago. LOL!

 

Thinking forensics

I was suffering from a bout of skin disease and boyy, I didn't know I was allergic to anything in this world (is it even an allergy?). Or bacterial/fungal attack?

I am in my early 30s and since I was a baby 'til now, as far as I am concerned, I wasn't allergic to any foods or environmental factors (e.g. pollen, sunlight, sweat). I once thought I was allergic to vegetables, but that surely wasn't true - was just an excuse to my mum not to eat them when I was in my primary school years. I was very lactic tolerant, no problems at all with any sort of seafoods, and no damn problems with gluten (I wish I did!).

Recalling back, I used to have occasional hives, or what Chinese people termed it: "fong mok" where red spots aggregate into large raised red & itchy surfaces that appear due to intolerant to some dust mites or maybe hyper-reaction of some antibiotics I took and then I went straight to some stressful physical workout like swimming. Nevertheless, I will encounter "fong mok" and usually it heals in 1 night after a jab of antihistamines into my ass. I have not had any skin conditions besides face acne (cause I am still young) for say.....15-20 years already.

Therefore, I was worried because I had this very bad itchiness on my entire legs (especially knees and elbows) just this Hari Raya 2014. I was worried because this was so not the "fong mok" symptoms like I've previously encountered. And what if I am suddenly allergic to some common ingredient like say eggs in my adulthood and not childhood, which would be unbecoming because...hei, eggs are common in any local dish!

Skin-thinning after continuous application of anti-itch creams - side effects of steroids-based topical creams. 

So I decided to do a thinking-forensics examination, where what you do is track back your steps to what you ate, what you did, what you saw, and who you met, before the outbreak. Btw, thinking forensics is only in my own dictionary, so don't bother to Google:

1.
It was Raya eve this year when I went back Ipoh to celebrate my father-in-laws birthday at East Ocean. In the evening, we went swimming at the deplorable public pool at DBI, Ipoh bring my niece and nephew there for a splash. After 20 yrs of not stepping foot at DI pools, nothing has changed. 20 years and the changing/locker rooms were fungus-filled t the shower and tiles. Even if I am not OCD, I couldn't stand the sight of the lockers.

Hubby brought back really fresh (and expensive!) fish and sea-cucumber (lagi expensive!) from Sabah when we were there for our marathon. We let the restaurant cook it as our dinner - both fish and mollusks were steamed. I took a lot of fish, but just maybe 2 slices of sea-cucumber because not that big a portion. Share share marrr.

2.
After dinner, I went home, slept, and when I woke up the next day, my back and calf was itching. I spotted one red spot on my back, and one at my right calf. And it was super-itchy. The itch on this 2 spots didn't subside even till the next day because I continued scratching it. It's called the itch-scratch-itch cycle (this one is a term on Google), whereby, the more you scratch, the more the spots will itch (and spread), and you start scratching more.

3.
Then I came back to KL to work on Raya 3rd day. I spotted some new red spots on my legs (femur) and knee. Because I am the only one at office, I just roll up my pants and scratch...whole day. Well, no one looking and it was sooooo syiok to scratch.

4.
The 4th day of Raya, my boss came back and knew that I was studying to be a certified chemist. He dug out a very, very, very super brown old text book on Organic Chemistry from his office cupboard and said that he used to use this textbook for his studies 30 years ago. Hmmphh...I said I would really love to borrow it. When I opened the book, it has this super-dusty-old-hapak smell, and the paper was crisp. Guess what, I took the book home, opened it on my lap and read the book with full enthusiasm whole evening and night and made it my bedtime storybook.

More like chicken pox, but I've got chicken pox when young di. I've got immunity.

5.
My itch worsened on Saturday morning. I was supposed to go Chiang Mai with my bff on the same evening, but I felt like ripping off my jeans because there's this one spot on my knee that was super itchy, but I just can't scratch beyond my thick jeans. On the plane, I boh care already and start scratching the knee because whattodo, damn syiok weiii!


6.
Reaching Chiang Mai just in time for dinner, we had tomyam kai, a coconut drink, and paku-pakis in garlic sauce. That's when the itch became unbearable: one spot became 100 raised red spots and aggregating as I keep scratching them. Luckily I traveled with my pharmacist bff (yay!), and she took me to this drugstore and recommended me some oral antihistamines and topical ones too. At night, the itch was unbearable, and even with antihistamines in my system, I woke up in the middle of the night to top-up on the antihis cream.

Back in Malaysia, the doctor commanded like Caesar: "Take steroids, and be gone is your urticaria!" But I refused to take steroids and willing to bare the itch with spreading Tiger Balm menthol cream. Tiger Balm burns my spots and causes me to temporary to forget about my itch. I somehow think I need antibiotics/antifungal (bacteria spores attack?/ fungal attack?) and not steroids. Never listen to doctor advice is like dat lu.

The itchiest spots are in this feet area!!

Old spots has since turned into pustules. Pustules are painful, but I felt super great with them around because pustules means that the whatever "foreign thing" in my body is in the process of being eliminated out from the body in the form of nanah fluids. And these pustules are no longer itchy! (yes!) Let's see, I have 20-30 pustules all around my legs and heels which no longer itches, but I look terrible in my shorts or miniskirts. People asked if I had Chicken pox or...Ebola. Like what, Ebola!?! (Do you even freaking know what Ebola's symptoms are?!)

4th week into this disease, it just got completely healed (no itch and no new spots, but scarred!).

Based on my thinking forensics, the culprit could be: 
1. Fungal infection from public pool or changing rooms.
2. Fish, prawns and/or seacucumber from Sabah.
3. Mites on my Ipoh bed or sofa. Bed bugs are likely.
4. Dust mites or dust bacteria on the vintage organic chemistry textbook of 30 years.
5. Unwashed jeans of 1 year.
6. Tom yam chicken in Chiang Mai
7. Stir fry Paku Pakis with garlic dish in Chiang Mai
8. Coconut juice in Chiang Mai
9. Stress. No way jose, I am not stressful lately. I swear :-)
10. Genetic predisposal. My family especially Dad has very bad skin sensitivity problems - to ants, to spiders, to caterpillar, while Mum can't eat too much beef. Elder brother has eczema problems on and off.

My forensic findings: No.1, 2 or 4 are likely primary factors that led me to my ugly scars. Then, the elevation of severity (or seriousness) is caused by consumption of "toxic" foods such as tomyam and paku-pakis vege, while in Totality: genetics played a huge role in causing the sensitivity.



**Just pray I am not allergic to anything as I get all, especially not to common ingredients. Some people's sensitivity to things change as they grow older. I have a friend that was never allergic to pineapple when young, but now can't take pineapples in any form. She had allergies to squid (only!) and is now no longer allergic to any seafood, not even squid. I have another friend who was allergic to eggs, but could now take them as adults.

Your thoughts?

Minutes of Kuantan.

Kuantan airport --> Hired Car --> Wira Automatic --> "Wah, tak ada Kelisa meh?!" Wira expensive lah --> Sesat --> Found hotel. Too early. --> "Yay! - a Starbucks nearby" --> Chamomile-Tea --> Facebook --> text my colleagues --> "Eii, mana you all??" ---> "Sudah sampai" ---> Makan --> Gossip --> My professor thinks meal too expensive ---> taruh the restaurant: "Wei, though we are tourists, we're not stupid lahh!" --> Colleagues checked in ---> "creepy lah, your resthouse" ---> Register as participant at Hyatt --> "Wah, nice swimming pool!" ---> Short, but scenic beach --> East-Coast Mall --> "Wah, another Starbucks here. There's only 1 in Ipoh" --> Eat laksa --> You balik your creepy hotel; I love my cozy hotel --> Alone. Scared. ---> Watch HellBoy 2 pirated DVD ---> Olympics --> Ter-sleep.

L-R: Starbucks in Berjaya Megamall, Chamomile-T, Extremely beautiful beach of Teluk Chempedak

Aiya, late! Snoozed 3 times --> Drive recklessly --> Lost --> Alas, Hyatt --> Papers after papers; presentations after presentations --> Boring --> Found out that 'Yakult has human feces-bacteria' --> Lunch --> Dr. Tan found me --> become his kuli --> Presented posters --> Car missing, friends 'stole' ---> Swimming --> Pina colada by the pool --> Freestyle, thinking of Park Tae-Hwan --> Alone --> "So many ppl wanna tumpang my car arrr??? Please queue-up" --> Lost (again!) --> I forgo my Grand Dinner --> for Malaysia --> Watch Malaysia kena belasah in Badminton finals --> Dissapointed --> Alone --> "Should have just gone for the Grand dinner" :(

L-R: My poster; My new friend (she's soo nice), Lunch ALONE.

Hyatt --> Dr. Ting's presentation - My ultimate rival in research! --> Flirted with judges --> Later told me I win 3rd place (again! think AMC2007) --> Buy souvenirs --> Sleep in my cozy hotel --> Sleep --> Dream of Patrick, my doggy :P --> Sleeeeeeeeeep --> Prayed that I don't snooze next morning.

Airasia --> KL --> No place like KL. My home.

A scientist near you?

If you read the book "How Starbucks Saved My Live", you will be surprised how some insignificant, everyday, routine, daily activities can change you into a better person. I could relate to that story, all the more, it happened in Starbucks right in the heart of PJ. My X'mas mood plus my daily dose of caffeine requires me to be in Starbucks at least once a week. No doubt by this time of the year, I yearn dearfully for my Toffee Nut Latte and the need to collect 17 stickers before mid-Jan to get my cute little 2008 diary.

So there I was on a Sunday afternoon after visiting an aikido friend in hospital for a fractured collar bone, ordering my ToffeeNut Latte and then filling up some Sudoku numbers. With my Prof.'s reminder haunting me (he haunts me daily by saying: read at least one journal a day), I took out two scientific journals and started reading (well, it was just browsing and flipping those pages). Not even a minute passed, I almost doze off. But I was kept awake by a really cute guy in front of me and it's definitely not science at work.

All of a sudden, the guy beside me with a laptop pat my back and asked if he could join me at my table. I thought: "Hey, you've got your own table, don't take mine! And you're not that cute!" And I blurted out rudely: "Err...yes, anything?!"

He was a Singaporean, started working a month ago with our WWF saving tigers in Malaysian jungles. He claimed he has been in Malaysia for a couple of years doing research near Ipoh, Kelantan, Pahang checking out on snails. He's a snails expert :) He couldn't help but noticed that I was reading scientific journals. Ohhh come on, what are the chances of you meeting a guy who loves biology and .....err.....have an inclination towards snails!!! (weirdo) And yes, he passed me few of his papers, published in high impact-factor journals. And of course (sob!), I have none to pass to him. Malunya! Now I can see why NUS is such a great university, he's just a master student for 2 years, and has published 4 papers (four!!!) in high impact-factor journals.

The rest of the day (and night) was history..... I had a great time, and it's been a long time since I had some nice intellectual, scientific chat with anyone. Especially when someone is interested in your field too. Did he change my life (like the story in the book)? Indeed it has, because from today onwards I swear to publish at least one paper in a high impact-factor citation-indexed journal. What a great motivator.

P/S: I should go to Starbucks more and read journals there...you will never know a scientist is just right beside you.

Writer's block.

After attending a seminar on 'Publishing for Postgrads' last week, I think I need to revamp my whole Ph.D. research. It's more like little changes here and there to cater for my publishing needs. To publish in citation-indexed journals is like...impossible (with regards to my research), but I think maybe I need to brush-up on my English and make it more professional/business-like. My grammar is quite good (chhe....!!), but I definitely write like a 5-year old! Many people do not realise that despite flawlessness in my spoken English (cheez....my scholarship interviewers were defeinitely impressed), I write English like a kindergarten kid - no 'flowery' words, no puns. And depite my hobby being reading (I read A LOT) and watching American movies (that's how I indirectly improve my English), I still cannot write professionally. It's like there's a 'barrier' in my brain that...okay, seeeeee.....I cannot find the exact word to say it (sigh). I cannot express anything properly in writing! How to publish?

(come to think of it, blogging is also a form of publishing)...nevermind...

I also had this 'writer's block' this month. I wanted to express myself but I just can't. Not in words and not verbally too. Not sure about the science behind 'writer's block' but I hate it. There's soo many stuffs that I want to say - about my country, my life, my friends, my studies...but cannot pour out to anything and to anyone. Nm. After my publishing seminar at UPM, I went to Camerons. And there, I got hooked up with this lady from MARDI, who knows almost every farmer in Camerons. She's an expert in this pesticide thingy, and she is tactful in asking pesticide questions when interviewing farmers (sensitive issue leh)....god, she knows like millions of languages...I just adore her.

When I was down from Camerons, I had ppl waiting for me to celebrate my birthday...not that I don't like my birthday...it's just like another day to me. Thanks all who celebrated for me. And just THREE DAYS in Camerons, I didn't know soooo much have happen down at lowland Selangor. I didn't know: "Pak Lah got married?!! Bird Flu in Sg. Buloh area?! Some landlord set-up hidden cameras to spy on naked tenants?!" Camerons is soo dead and un-cold (blame it again on global warming?) that you just don't get any breaking news there. Nobody talks about anything, but vege, flowers, pesticide and contaminated water. Cameron folks just do their thing and forget about the world beneath them. But I believe that being ignorant about the world is good at times. Carefree.

(okay...er...err....er...I dunno what to write!)...Writer's block syndrome coming back!!

Pui Wah came back from Taiwan to be with here family here for a month. Welcome back, Pui Wah!!! Glad you are back. We will meet up. Tell me about bird flu...or the chicken research you are working on (not!).

Hei, this SMART tunnel is not too 'smart' after all. Now, don't tell me it's to save KL from STORM floods and not FLASH flood?!!? So what is it EXACTLY built for, hah?! Also, there will never be an end to this flash floods in KL centre as long as SemiVallue still reigns his JKR throne.

'Brave New World'

My form 3 tuition teacher (Mr. Low, who lives on the same street as I 'til today) have always talked about 3 books that have to be read by everyone:

1. Alice In Wonderland by a Reverend (?! wow) Louis Carroll, also a mathematician & logician.

2. Animal Farm by George Orwell, an anti-Stalinism.

3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I read Alice in Wonderland..like..years years ago...when I was still a kid. Well, I read it uncritically and thought of the story as boring and weird or 'just-another-fantasy kinda story'. Now, it's is the most mathematically profound (exaggerating..) book I've ever read!! (okay, because I DON'T read maths book!).

I've read Orwell's Animal Farm also like....years years...ago whereby pigs, chicken and all sorts of domesticated animals playing politics right at your backyard. Hmmph...I actually totally forgot what it's all about right now. Guess I'll just go to UPM library to pick up this book and read it all over again...when I have the time.

At present, I am reading Brave New World. Well, it's like a science fiction thingy (dystopian fiction, they call it) but it's inconceivable that our world would be divided into two worlds in the future as 'humans' search for 1) stability and/or 2) freedom. Which world is utopian? Which world is dystopian? U decide. A 'civilised' world -where people literally worship the maker of their world (they depise God), nobody gets pregnant, nobody becomes old, everyone is squeakily hygiene, babies are hynotised to live in their unquestionable own castes when they grow up, little girls taught to be promiscuous, no families, kids asking "what is a 'mother'?", hormone therapy everyday, etc. etc, etc (nighmare!). In 'civilisation', stability is achieved. No clashing, no fighting, no wars. Everyone is made to understand their own role in their respective castes. No questions asked.

The dystopian world is the one we currently live in. Women conceive viviparous-ly, people do get old and fat, worships God, stinkingly unhygienic, wage war against one another, there is such thing as 'family' and 'mother' and 'father', and there is such thing as 'romance', etc. etc.....all those things you own/have today. In Brave New World - these are percieved as wah lau...'uncivilised'.

Come to think of it, I prefer THIS world - overwhelmed with abnormalities and oddities. Makes us more human, right!?

Remember the movie - "The Island" starring Scarlett Johanssen? Something like that lorrr.....but, of course, different plot la..

Cellulite or no cellulite, that is not the question.

Never is a thousand years would i thought of going to a gym. I basically hate the thought of enrolling myself in a fitness centre because I heard that there are many 'aunties' there working out. Well, I don't want to be labelled 'Auntie' marrrr. Another reason why I loathe fitness centres was because I knew it would be a dull thing. You are alone doing your stuffs, using the equipment. Nobody is your friend when it comes to fitness. All alone. I have always prefer pure sports such as swimming, badminton, and martial arts like Aikido because competition, contact and skills are involved. We make many close friends in sports. In short: not dull.

I went for my first class of aerobics. Wow, I thought I can do aerobics, because I presumed that my swimming and aikido would have made me fitter than any other ppl. Once the class got started, I realised that I was soooo lost! Lost & blur. People can just jump, leap, and dance and dance and dance non-stop for an hour, and here I am drinking a whole bucket of water and resting on the bench all the time.

Then, I tried bodycombat. Bodycombat is like kickboxing and dancing in synchro. Okay, I know Aikido, so I again presumed that I can do this like a piece of cake. I almost died. These 'Aunties' are 10 times better than me in terms of fitness. They kick-box (and shout kiai) like they have just murderlized someone in the hall. I can't do kick boxing at all! I have no strength to continue. What more: I am suppose to climb Mount Kinabalu on 1st Feb.

Peak of Kinabalu

My Personal Trainer did not make my day either. He said that he has climbed Mount Kinabalu 3 times, and people like Ivy Chai will 'suffer' their way up. He assured me that in 2 weeks, I would be the fittest and the first in the group to reach the mountain. Okay, he make me do push-ups 30 times. I died. He made me run the treadmill and cycle to check my endurance. I died. I died in almost everything he asked me to do. I am not fit. Aunties with cellulite also can beat me. In 2 weeks, hopefully this will change for the better.

Gym is boring. Period. I have NO friends, no motivation. My personal gym trainer is my only friend and motivator. Almost everyone's goal is either to be fit and toned (that's my ultimate goal) or to lose weight (not my goal). Almost after every run at the treadmill, or after kickboxing or after aerobics, I will still return to the swimming pool in the gym to swim my favourite backstroke. And then, in the evening, I love a piece of good whacking, rolling, shomen and flips in Aikido.

Thinking bac

E. coli is one of the most common bacteria, and what I meant by the word 'common' is that we can find it in our gut (it is basically harmless to human, animals), and we usually use it in genetic engineering, esp. in cloning purposes. However, the strain Escherichia coli O157:H7 is now being identified as the culprit in the recent outbreak of E. coli poisoning in the US. CDC has yet to establish the source from which the disease spread. It could come from the cheese, milk, or more probably vegetables like spinach and lettuces; some vegetables may have come into contact with feces of animals. The bacteria may even arrive on our food thru' the fertigation system. I am not sure about the situation in The US, but it interest me a lot because I believed that last September, I was victimised by some bacteria thingy tooo......

It was Sept. 2006 that we had our annual aikdo camp near Betong, foot of Genting. Well, my boy-boy had already realised that our lunch was not fresh. He claimed that the pok-choy has this pesticide-laden-taste kinda feeling, and does not look fresh either. However, I went on gobbling up my lunch. Aha, upon returning to my house....the same night, I developed some nausea feeling; I felt sooo weak that I can barely wake up. The headache was soo bad. Pounding on my right eye socket. It was sort of like some migrain. I took a whole lot of Panadol, eventhough I know that was not recommended, but even the pills could not help. Next morning, in the lab, I was vomitted, and my lab stinked! Vomitting all out couldn't help either. I thought throwing-up would have solved the problem, but it didn't. The pounding on my head was sooo bad that i couldnt drive back home.

The next 2 days (!!) was hell. I had this appointment with an Australian company and together with my professor (I drove!). I was already shivering in the car. During the meeting, I couldn't even concentrate. It was a shame, because the meeting was very fruitful, and imagine this - I didn't talk much. Usually, I would be the one dominantly speaking in the meeting. :) Anyway, my fever was soooo bad (my supervisor did not know), and freezing, I drove my supervisor back to UPM, ran straight for the toilet bowl and vomitted.

Many people who joined the camp also experienced the same problem. I heard that Kow sensei was also sick, Jong Yan and others too. I could have gone to the hospital, and that is, if Dr. House were there to diagnose me. Love him. Til today, I have no idea what triggered the whole thing or what was that bloody sickness all about. I implicated that the bacteria Salmonella typhi was the bloody cause of it. Typhoid. It was the most probable cause.

Kuok and Oscar

I was invited to the Kuok Foundation Award Ceremony which I 'striked' (lottery) after last month's interview. I did feel like a lottery ticket because I found out the there were only 2 receipients this year for Ph.D. (out of MANY interviewees)! Another receipient was a girl from UKM, doing research on molecular medicine (cancer research), just a year older than I, and fast-tracked thru' Ph.D. too. I think her name was Wong something something....sorry!

The son and daughter of the late Tun Hussein Onn's was present, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, Chye Kuok (manages the Shangri-La hotel business), datuk-datuks and my interviewers were also there!!! (Hisshamuddin Hussein wasn't there - a set back!). I was glad I met with all of them, mixing with 'big-shots' was what I wanted all this while, because I've always believed in networking (think SIF!) as the way to grow further and succeed in live. I realised that their perspective of things are somewhat different and their advices came in handy. I am glad to be invited into this elite club of scholars!

Wong something something, GM of Kuok Foundation: Lynette Ng, and I

I went shopping after that, but shopping was also quite torturous because I have to button-unbotton, zip-unzipped my shirt a thousand times just to try on the clothings. My boy took me out to eat the famous pan-mee behind his office for dinner. The pan-mee was absolutely superb, but the price is mad! Sooo bloody, dead, freaking expensive for a small bowl of pan-mee. But my boy-boy pays for me, so I just eat only.

I thought this year was bad year for me. It wasn't entirely afterall. True? True?

I want to dedicate this award to several people (like an Oscar speech): First, to myself for unbelievably convincing during the interview, My parents who are just soooo happy I could pay for their bills now that I have money, my supervisor who took time writing all those recommendation letters and dunno-what letters to Kuok, to Yeng Pooi who knows of someone from received the scholarship before (g00d luck in Taiping!), to Callie, Beatrice, Fee Yen whom I met last weekend (Fee Yen, manage my money well, k?) and my boy-boy who feeds me fat (with pan-mee) and love me fat too.

Weird day with my supervisor...

Yesterday, I had lunch with my co-supervisor. He reprimanded me for not consulting him on my temperature bioassay that I did last week. Well, I thought he was on leave and I assume that he would go on vacation or something. Oh, now I realised that (he told me) that even he's on leave he will return to UPM to finish some work. Weird, isn't it?! On leave but still in office?

Lunch was great. We chatted couple of hours. He tought me how to use the haemocytometer in the restaurant. Eyes were staring when he spoke rather loud and I guess people around was wondering what was this person doing - teaching a girl something with his pen and paper on the table, instead of a nice piece of meal on it. Again, isn't that weird?!

Oh, another weird thing is that he heard a-very-loud- knock on his office door yesterday at 7.45 am. And, when he opened the door, nobody was outside! He said that he was definitely not hallucinating. Hungry ghost la, maybe. Weird hah......

He complained that students in his microbiology class don't even know these words (see list below). He was lecturing about "Man and Agriculture" and he never knew that the universitiy student's mind and knowledge is soooooooooo shalllow and poor....very shallow indeed, if you don't know these words (below). I was surprise that students do not know:

1. B.C. and A.D. (as in 2006 A.D. and 2006 B.C.)      see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.C.E

2. a bison

3. a mammoth

4. Noble prize winner for peace (just name anyone)

.....and the students were blank, blur, and..whatever you call it - dumb founded!

My say is: Education without Discovery channel sucks! Don't they just watch a little tv?

He told me to leave this country ASAP. It's a time bomb here. "Finish your Ph.D. and off you go, Ivy!"

Guess which is which:





 

"don't be afraid of injury(ies)"

I was just waiting for this sentence to be said! And yesterday, my Aikido sensei mentioned it so clearly - "Do not be afraid of being injured" and "Do not be afraid of pain". Everyone is afraid of pain, but you will never know when pain comes. It is not the pain that I fear, it is the lingering thought of never knowing when this pain will actually hit you! Curiosity kills the cat.

This month alone, i sustained 4 injuries. One to my right hand (7 stitches!), one to the knee (bone), one to the wrist (sprain), and lastly (I hope this is the last!) one to the foot (bruise). How cool is that!? I some more had an old injury to my toe (not healed yet). Errrr, most from Aikido.

Each time the injuries hit, it is painful. But, I can stand excruciating pain. I just can't stand wondering when the next injury will hit. Just want to tell everyone in my life that my pain is my responsibility. I have never blamed anyone for the pain I sustained. In fact: no pain,no gain. I have learned soo much from pain. Learn from the pains and problems we face each time in life.

Come what may. I will praise God.


 

To Shawn: Thanks!

Yesterday, I met my former senior who is now currently attached to the Department of Biology, UPM. He's now studying population genetics on termites. He did his Master degree in Uni of London on taxonomiy. When I was in my degree years, I met him through Ikatan Kristian UPM when he was the president at that time. He is mixed chinese and indian and yesterday he told me he's Mexican! He claimed that he changed his name to Rodriquez, Banderas....whatever! Duh!! I found out that he still possess the same great smile and sense of humor as before, and still have the greatest passion for insects, just as I do.

Many people question my interest in studying insects. But I studied insect or n area called Entomology because of:

1. Insects are one of the most successful organism in this planet (in fact, I believe that it is the most successful). You can just tell by its number of species in this earth - millions of species! In fact, humans are learning much from their adaptability and survival for millions of years in this crap earth.

2. My senior: He was the one that convinced me that studying insects is interesting. I frowned everytime I see him because he would actually talk and talk about his research on insects when we meet face to face. Ahh...and he finally convinced me to joined 'Pest Management' major. And when he graduated, I heard he was working with FRIM - studying insects, of course.

I was surprised to meet him again yesterday in a cafeteria in UPM. I actually said thank you to him for introducing me to Entomology. I told him that it is an area of reseach that I, now, could never let go - thanks to him. He added (soo damn action!) that he was also the one who brought POP SHUVIT's lead bass player to it's fame today. No kidding! THAT, I believe.

I believed because he has changed not only mine and the bass player's lives, but many others today.

Thanks Shawn.

You must meet my Professor

Oh....Dr. Tan is a killer. He is also a joker, a story teller, an insinuator, a self-proclaimed genius, and a mad scientist! U know, each time you see him in class - he reminds you that he could beat you in a chess game. Each time you meet him, you will get some stories which always has the word - 'shit', 'bullshit' and f*** in it. There's always a moral behind those stories (you aesop fable)and ohhhh yes, he'll tell you loads of shit on Stephen Hawkings. He will make deduct your marks if you even say something wrong, or make wrong sentences, or wrong grammar.

Too bad my class has only 3 Ph.D. people! Only three!!!! Dr. Tan has not much choice. So, he will drill us with questions, make sure we make a blunder and then laughs the hell out of us. Our saviour could not be anyone else but this Iranian guy who dares to fight back Dr. Tan, and could answer every single question Dr. Tan throw at our faces CORRECTLY!. Thank God for this Iranian friend whose religion is Muslim, but loves Jesus and kisses the cross (pendant), and drinks wine because he told me that it's the blood of Christ. Holy cow. Dr. almost fainted when he heard that.

Oh, Iranian friend - You are God sent. You saved our lives from the notorious scientist.

Un-motherly!! Kill Me NOW

I was sitting on the table during my Agriculture Faculty Dinner at a hotel in Putrajaya, sooo pissed off with her, that I could just blow my heads off at that very moment. Of course, I just smiled all the way thru the dinner, tried to ignore her loud announcement that my certificate had my name spelt wrong, trying to show off my large mock cheque to everyone, telling the people in my table that the food is little and scarce. Hey, there are 5 other award winners. I am no better than them, can't you see? And you arrived late for the dinner - you VIP or what?! Kill me now...

Imagine sitting with 7 other prominent faces in the academian world, and somebody just embarrassed you in the most unsubtle way! I was proud of myself getting one of the best award from faculty, but she spoilt it all. ALL!!!. Nobody wants to be famous. HOW CAN YOU BE FAMOUS, when there are sooo many famous ppl there, hahhh...Okay, you want to put me in the centre of attention, then do it subtlely. What is it with her that I am so not proud off?? You apple polish for me - telling the whole world that I'm buying books with the prize money. PLEASE !!! I am sooooo not buying any books with the cash money. I will be buying loads of clothings from Zara and MNG and Gucci and loathe on good food. And please, you are not my mother!