Haircut, Iceskate, Sore throat, And Then Some......

I had a haircut last Saturday at this Turkish barber shop (the area I am staying have a large Turkish community). Not much talking was needed, the barber knew wat to do (it's a barber shop, and it's all guys, so quite obvious isn't it?), jus a few hand signal and there the shaver goes. So I am now having this short hair that I usually have, and the barber trimmed my sideburn (after asking about it through hand signal), instead of jus shaving it off, something which I was quite worried at first that he will do. There is no particular special reason why I wanna keep my sideburns, maybe it's cos when i was in sec sch, my schoolmates remarked that I have nice sideburns. Anyway, I jus need something on the outside that defines me. Sorta like a symbol. Sorta like my dear fren Andrew who will not be my dear fren Andrew if he dun have his crewcut hairstyle.

OK, then I went iceskate with Sharon and LY on Sunday. This is the 2nd time in my life that I am iceskating, the 1st time being about 8 yrs ago (and for only 2 hours, I guess). It was quite similar to rollerblading, so after taking a while to get use to the rink and gaining some confidence, iceskating starts to become fun, like rollerblading. The feeling of being in motion is good, and made better in the company of two nice, fun-loving ladies who know how to crap. Really had a enjoyable day.

Moving on to today, I woke up feeling lousier than usual. Had this sore throat for a week that jus wun go away. Felt feverish the nite b4 and been waking up the whole night. When I reached the lab, it jus felt like I am gonna have the flu. So Mike brought me to the medical centre in the company. There is no fever, but throat is slightly inflammed, so might jus be some common viral infection. Grabbed some medicine and went home to rest after lunch. I was feeling quite ok overall actually, can still work if I want to, but I dun wanna spread virus around. Feel like I am malingering but had a nice nap at home.

Finally, cos I am in the mood, and it doesn't seems quite legitimate to have a personal blog w/o writing something about the affairs of the heart, so here goes:

Yes, I decided to remain single for a year (at least) . You can say I am practising abstinence, or that I am still mourning for the relationship that ended. It is out of respect for the relationship that I made this decision, this promise I made to myself. So even if nobody else bothers, I still have to honour this promise. It was a good relationship, but it disintegrated cos of my indifference. It's my fault and so it's a regret I have to keep. I do not want to plunge into another relationship when I am not ready and not satisfied that I had sorted myself out, so I need this year. You can say it's a self-inflicted punishment, but this is wat I wanna do. Relationship is not very impt to me now. Other things take precedence. I might not get attached again for all I know. Fate shall decide (and nobody can really say wat fate had in store). She is now attached, yes, and I am truly very happy for her that she finally found her happiness, but that doesn't mean I should just go ahead and find someone else too. No, it doesn't mean that; it doesn't work that way for me.

A year is not too long. It is jus right. I decided on a year cos I think it is appropriate, and in a small part I am also influenced by my very good fren TH who got attached with his wife-to-be a year after he ended his previous relationship. So a year is a good gap.

So here it is, all that I have to say. For now.......

Am I Improving?

Hmmm.... let's see....

There are days I am looking forward to going to work......

Column is not scary anymore. In fact, I starting to prefer to do hand column over the column system (still can't quite do a column in 30 min, but I trying to be there...)

I am moving about in the lab with more purpose, with more anticipation about wat is gonna happen and knowing wat are the next few things I am gonna do......

...... on that note, I am getting more organized, and more things are being done....

So nowadays when I go home, I dun feel like I left a mess in the lab to be clean up tmrw (well, at least it's happening less and less often......)

So had my lab skill improved?

Or maybe I am jus getting used to life in a lab. That's all.

An Entry From My Previous Blog....

How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot!

The world forgetting, by the world forgot;

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!

Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd.

Eloisa to Abelard, Alexander Pope

(Yes, I am still in the mood. It's much better to read beautiful verses and words anyway. Or would you rather read about how I went through an uneventful day in the lab, where everything was in good order, everything works and I wiped together 5 compounds?)

Don't Mind Me, I Am Just In The Mood......

春蚕到死丝方尽；蜡炬成灰泪始干。

如今，万里孤魂，无处话凄凉。

伊人何在啊！！！

Where Had I Been.....

My last post was 9 days ago.... so wat had I been doing all this while?

Wat had happened in the last 9 days? Got some news from family, but everything seems to be doing well, so let's hope it gets better from here. As for work, it's about the same. Into the final step of synthesising the compound, all I have to do was to close the ring. As with all synthesis work, things usually dun go the way u expect, and the ring simply refuse to close. And you thot aldol reaction was that simple......

Spent almost all my waking time this weekend playing Shanghai III. I am trying to clear all twelve stages in one go, w/o continuing. I was unsuccessful, and with 3 hours to go before I go to bed and wake up to a new week, I decided to do something else tat are more meaningful, like updating this blog. I also feel like reciting a Chinese poem, and so I shall end this post with it:

纤云弄巧，飞星传恨，银汉迢迢暗度。
金风玉露一相逢，便胜却、人间无数。

柔情似水，佳期如梦，忍顾鹊桥归路，
两情若是久长时，又岂在、朝朝暮暮。

Slippery Hands

While pouring hexane to make EtOAc/Hexane solvent for TLC, the glass bottle slipped from my hand and landed on the TLC tank with a thud!

Nvm, nvm... nothing broken. Even if the bottle broke, it's only hexane.....

Then while pouring EtOAc for another EtOAc/Hexane solvent, the glass bottle slipped from my hand again and landed on the bench with a thud!

Nvm, nvm.... nothing broken. Even if the bottle broke, it's only EtOAc..... jus wear glove for better grip....

While detaching the RBF containing my pdt from the vacuum line, the RBF "jumped" out of my grip and smashed against the bench (with a typical glass breaking sound)!

Nvm, nvm.... the pdt is a sticky syrup. Jus pick up the pieces with the pdt, put inside another RBF, add EtOAc to dissolve the pdt, remove the glass pieces (and throw them with the rest of the pieces), and do the concentrating all over again.....

Jus when I thot it was all over.....

I pricked my thumb when I was putting the needle back into it's cover after I used it to add chloroform-d to the sample!

Nvm, nvm... no chloroform already and jus a bit of blood. Squeeze some out and apply pressure....

I clocked in at 0650, and clocked out at 1933. And over here, the sun set at 1730.....

Oh well, let's be positive. The only good day was yesterday.

Suck it up and go.....

Gym

Workout in the comapny gym for the 1st time...now I need to go for 99 more times (at least) to make the 1 year membership worthwhile.

I had not workout in the gym (in fact, I haven't been exercsing much) for almost two month, and all I can say is...

WEAK!!!

On a much brighter note, things in lab are going quite well. Finally getting used to the hang of things. My product got registered today. My first ever registered product. Now let's hope the second one will come soon....