乌龟！

(Note: The title if the post is in Chinese cos I dun wanna be bothered with the differentiation of a turtle, a tortise and a terrapin. 乌龟 is more straight-forward and encompassing. For convienence sake, I shall use "turtle" for the rest of the post. Anyway, let's go...)


The Malayan Box Turtle ( Cuora amboinensis ) is something that I want since young. When I was a kid, I always see it in the school's pond or temples, but jus couldn't find it on sale in any fish shop, or anywhere for that matter. Except for once at a wet market in Chinatown, at a stall that was also selling snakeheads, softshell turtles and brown rabbits. So maybe those turtles were sold for comsumption...

So anyway, AVA had approved the sale of this species of turtle, but apparently there aren't many pet shop selling it. Kinda expected given the conditions being slapped on the importer and pet shop for the sale of it. Maybe by the time I am back in Sg, more pet shop will be selling this species, but if not, most likely a trip down Pasir Ris Drive 12 will do the trick.

The pig-nosed turtle ( Carettochelys insculpta ) is another type of turtle that I am interested, though not as much the Malayan Box Turtle. Wat I like about this species is that it resembles a sea turtle, and that it can grow quite big:

I once saw one that is about half the size of that shown in the picture, and even at that size, a standard 2 feet fish tank is too small for it. So wat this means is that, if I am to get one of this species, I will need a big tank.

Even better, maybe I will get a pond. Then that way, I can keep a couple or more full grown pig-noses. I can even keep both box turtle and pig-nose. So wat I need to do is to get a house - a semi-D or something - with a front yard (or a back yard, doesn't matter) and dig a pond in the yard. Sounds nice. Sounds like I'm dreaming.

Then again, dreams do come true. If I work really hard and earn those money, and together with some luck, who knows?

Fish!

Polypterus senegalus, commonly known as gray bichir (or Senegal bichir, or Cuvier's bichir, or 九节龙）. It's a beauty isn't it? (Dun appreciate? Nvm then, it's ok.) It can grow up to 35.5cm. The one I used was about 15 to 20 cm long when I freed it, and it looks jus like the one in the picture. The one dear buddy TH had (dunno he still has it or not) was better: big, fat, long and shiny. So ok, I am getting another one when I am back in Singapore. It will be an albino, which will look like this:


It's a few times more expensive then the normal one, and sometimes it's hard to find, but that's the fun part too. I'll get a juvenile, and from there I'll try make sure it will grow better than the previous one.

Gray bichir is quite non-active, and spend most of the time lying around. So I gonna get another fish to swim around. It has to be something big (so the bichir can't fit it in its' mouth). For that, I will get a Cyphotilapia frontosa :

Always wanted to get one of this (once again, if u dunno how to appreciate, it's ok). Not really the type of fish u get from ur friendly neighbourhood fish shop, so a fish hunt for both the albino bichir and the frontosa is definitely on the plan when I am back in Sg.

But maybe I should get a turtle to go with the bichir, especially that the Malayan box turtle had been recently approved by the AVA to be kept as pet... always wanted one of it, and it's quite hard to find... especially juvenile ones. So yup, there is still gonna be a fish hunt (exciting....). Will write about the turtle next time.

A Dish And Its' Meaning

International Nasi Lemak. Except for a selected few, I guess nobody reading this will know what I am talking about. Even among those selected few who know, it means a different thing from one to the other.

For buddy TH, it will mean our time in Changi Point. Those days were tough, but fun. Lotsa shit but no worries. A bit of stress here and there, but nothing to lose sleep over (cos sleep is a luxury). Basic necessities were taken care off, all we have to do was do our job (or our own stuff), make no mistake, and wait for the day to pass.

For dear friend Andrew (if he remembers at all), it will mean our recce trip round Pulau Ubin. Then the days in the Canoeing Sub-Club will come to mind, and there was the SIE, the NIE, LnP. I always had a story and according to Andrew, there is nothing there can't be done (and can't be chained). The planning was fun, so was the admin, but the time at sea was the best.

For good old frens Doug and CY, it will mean our 2-star course at Changi. It's a short course, only a few days, but then from there wat come to mind will be the round Ubin trip, or about WL picking us up after the course with his rented car. Then there's the dinner at Marina South that followed. There was a drive-around after the dinner, and this will bring about the memories of the other drive-around we had. Seriously, we know each other for more than a decade, from loitering in shopping mall to weekly movies, from mahjong to watching football matches, the list of things we do can go very, very long.

Ah happy days... how I miss everything simple, fun and sunny (actually, it can be raining cats and dogs. I dun mind, as long as I am enjoying it. Like those times kayaking in the heavy rain...)

How I miss my world.

Me In The Lab

Yes, that is me in my lab coat (it has my name on it) standing beside my seat (the one on my right in the lab. I am looking out at the crow's nest on one of the trees outside the window....

The lab is the place where I spend most of my waking hours, and so I dun hate it cos this will make me miserable. But I dun love it that much till I wanna live in it either. It is an interesting place and sometimes I do look forward to going to the lab (ok, that is partly due to me lacking a life outside work). It's a place where I'm gonna "make it".

Once I am in the lab, it's all about work. Lotsa it. There is the experiment and there are the lab chores. Usually it is a few experiments running concurrently and in between tending to the experiments, lab chores has to be done. It can get very busy, so much so that sometimes I didn't even know I am so thirtsy until I took a small break and down 1 litre of water, water-parade style. Then I go back to the work again.

So yah I can get very immensed in work that I jus lose myself and go on and on and on work. This is actually a good thing cos with me thousands of miles away from my family, my frens, my world, it is possibly something that keeps me from losing my sanity.

Then again, lab work being independent work, and so with me spending so much time by myself, sometimes some self-exploring qns jus come to mind. Qns like: why am I doing this? Wat am I doing this for? Who am I doing this for? Sometimes I am able to figure an answer, sometimes I am not. For those that I am not, I'm sure I will be able to figure it out, sooner or later.

So me in the lab, a place where I lose and find myself.

Neuchâtel

Easter, like X'mas, is big in Switzerland. In Singapore there is one day of holiday for Good Friday. Here, the following Easter Monday is a holiday too. On top of that, the company gives a holiday on Thursday. All this means a 5-day super-long weekend.

So, on Thursday, I went to Neuchâtel with two of my frens. Neuchâtel is a French-speaking canton in Switzerland and is one of the last few to join the Swiss Confederation. The photo above was taken at the castle (notice the rampart in the background). Initially I wanted to put a photo of the lake or the city, but I didn't take that much photo that day, so have to settle for this one. U can see the rest of the photos in my photo album.

Anyway, after going to Geneva, Lausanne and now Neuchâtel, the conclusion I am drawing now is that the French speaking cantons are beautiful, with all the nice architecture, landscape and scenery. The pace in these places are slow and they are really the places to go to relax and do some aimless travelling, walking along the street and getting lost.

These are places that I might wanna visit again. Maybe next time when I am there, I will do the super-relaxing thing of sitting at a side-walk cafe under an evening sun, sipping coffee and have long chat with my frens. That will be very nice.

Music Video Time

Gwen Stefani (feat. Akon)- Sweet Escape


No long post today (though I do have a few ideas in my mind...), just a nice music video of a nice song. A better quality video can be found on Gwen Stefani's website, and I might as well save u guys the trouble of finding the lyrics.

May all women look so fabulous at 38 (and beyond).

Enjoy.

Monthly Review: March

Decided that maybe I will write a review every month. March (and late Feb) was mostly about re-settling and re-adapting to work and life in Basel after coming back from a month-long holiday in Singapore. Initially it was a bit difficult as homesickness took some time to wear off and there was an uncertainty over housing. But towards the end of the month, all were resolved and everything is now fine.

So back at work, I took a bit of time to get back in condition. The hands were rusty, the heart was at home, mind was wandering and distracted, and the soul is simply not there. I started slow and gradually it all came back to me. Sarah's last day in lab was my 1st day back at work. Then Mike went on a 4-week holiday on the 2nd week of March. Most of the time I was alone in the lab as K was busy with his patent application, presentations and meetings. Fortunately, the reactions were easy, and it was jus mindless repetition of the same reaction with different starting materials. Managing both reactions and the lab alone seems to have a good effect on concentration.

There seems to be some changes in K's behaviour. He is now as nice as he can be. I returned to the lab with a new attitude and a new-found confidence. Not giving K too much respect and preparing to stand for wat I derserve, I was prepared for a bust-up if necessary; a shouting match or something more. Instead, K is like friendlier than b4, and an easier guy to talk to. So, maybe there wun be a bust-up afterall, and the remaining months will be smooth sailing.

Then about life at large. I came back to this big housing issue and so the first couple of weeks has been about apartment hunting, making calls and house viewing. Kinda makes me appreciate wat a nice place I was staying in. In the end, it was all resolved and I can focus on getting life back to normal again. I am now staying with SK, and it kinda quiet at night, but it's ok. The "cast" is now thinner since a couple of "characters" (beside Sarah) had left the "set", and some of the remaining "characters" seem to take on a lesser role. Boredom seems to have crept up a bit on everyone of us, but I guess as the season changes, things will better.

Ok, so a month had passed marking the halfway point of this attachement. Half a year more and I will be on a plane back to Singapore. As a preview, I am starting April with a one week holiday, that's about as good a start to a new month as it can get. It's gonna be exciting, and April is gonna be better than March. Tell u guys all about it when I write the review at the end of the month.