Book List- February

It's the end of the month! Time to update my book list!

I am drawing up a book list. Till the end of the year, at the end of every month, I shall add a title to the list. Then from the start of next year, I will read one title a month....

Jan 2011 - Did You Spot the Gorilla? (Richard Wiseman)
Feb 2011 -Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) (Richard P. Feynman)

DVD List- February

It's the end of the month! Time to update my DVD list.

I am drawing up a DVD list. Till the end of the year, at the end of every month, I shall add a title to the list. Then from the start of next year, I will watch one title a month....

Jan 2011 - Sense and Sensibility
Feb 2011- 300 Days of Summer

Sem 5, Recess Week: Worries and No Worries

(I was supposed to post this yesterday, but kinda slipped my mind...)

Ok, so the recess week came to an end.

I didn't achieve all that I set out to do, but was nonetheless still satisfied with the progress I made. Got started with the literature scan for Contemporary Organometallic Chemistry, and the revision for Graduate Organic Chemistry went well. Didn't really touch Advanced Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, but I'm sure it will work out in the end (I dunno how, but it will...).

Quiz 1 for Graduate Organic Chemistry is on this coming Friday. Like I said above, the revision is going well, and I should be able to do ok for the test. CA1 for Advanced Topics in Medicinal Chemistry is at the end of next week. Among the three modules I am taking this semester, this module is the toughest, so the CA is a bit of a worry.... but I shall deal with it after this Friday.

Literature scan for Contemporary Organometallic Chemistry is due next week too, but by then I should be done. Afterall, how difficult is it to collect a citation of 20 papers on Pd-catalyzed C-C coupling? Already I had got 5 citations down, and all I have to do is to add a couple of citation everyday and I will be done. So I am not worried about this at all...

What I am really worried about is my project. 2 months gone and I had only done three reactions. I haven't even synthesized the key intermediate yet. And the work on my slides had been on hold since January. Some real progress has to be made in the next month or so.... gotta make it happen....

Another worry is that I am kinda down with a flu. Let's just hope it will not slow me down and I can recover in time.

Sem 5, Week 6: It's a Mess...

Ok, the 6th week of the semester is just over.

Gave the presentation for Contemporary Organometallic Chemistry. Not really satisfied with it 'cos I wasn't well prepared for it. The night before the presentation I was still writing my script. Usually by that time, I would had know what to say for each slides (down to every single word) by the back of my hand. For this presentation though, I even have to improvise for some of the slides, as in to come up with the phrasing on-the-stop. The end result is a short presentation (shorter than the required 20 min) peppered with erm-erms, ah-ahs, and alot of points unmentioned.

But looking on the bright side, at least I was able to answer all questions asked. And I will not flunk (it takes a huge effort to fail a presentation actually....), so I think I'm quite ok for this module so far. Anyway, it's over, no point to keep thinking about it.

What I ought to think about though, is how to plan for the mid-term break in the upcoming week. After the mid-term break, term tests will come, so it's really high time to do some catch-up and sort out all the mess. And there's no better time to do that than the mid-term break, which only last a week. So everything has to be fast, faster, fastest.

And there's quite a bit of mess to sort out. This week was supposed to be a good week to do some catch up and put everything in order (to some degree at least). However, somehow I got hit by a bout of lethargy and low-energy. There's work to be done, but suddenly, I either don't feel like doing them, don't know where to start, or just simply just too tired to do anything. Maybe it's the carry-over fatigue from working on the presentation slides, or maybe it's cos things are kinda slow at work (I was on course for a good part of the week; and the momentum at work is somehow related to momentum in studies...), or both. Anyway, things should be back to normal starting tomorrow, and I can start putting everything back in order again.

It's a mess now. It really is.

DVD List

(Actually, I wanted to post this on 31st Jan, but because of CNY, so...)


I am drawing up a DVD list. From now till the end of the year, at the end of every month, I shall add a title to the list. Then from the start of next year, I will watch one title a month....

Jan 2011 - Sense and Sensibility

Book List- Jan 2010

(Actually, I wanted to start this on 31st Jan, but because of CNY, so...)

I am drawing up a book list. From now till the end of the year, at the end of every month, I shall add a title to the list. Then from the start of next year, I will read one title a month....

Jan 2011 - Did You Spot the Gorrila? (Richard Wiseman)

Sem 5, Week 5: Ditch

Ok, The 5th week of the semester is just over.

One word that's been on my mind recently is the word "ditch". It's not that I never heard of it before; just that I very rarely use it. In fact, I still don't use it. Just that it had been on my mind recently, that's all.

So why the sudden interest in the word "ditch"? Because I realized that it's really easy to stay focus on the tasks at hand if I start to ditch some of the unimportant stuff away. Not literally (not always, at least), but more metaphorically. I have quite a lot of wants, but only a few needs. For example, I need to study, but I want to watch Youtube (indiscriminately). So, if Youtube is getting in the way of my studies, then I just 'ditch' my Youtube-watching habit away; and it's really easy to do that. Already I had 'ditched' quite a few habits of mine to focus on my work and studies and other important stuff. Somehow, it's just easier to break away from habits by thinking that I am 'ditching' it than to think that I am "ban" from doing it. I dunno, maybe it's an empowerment thing; but whatever works....

Ok, so for now, I shall 'ditch' blogging for the next one week, and go back to work.

Sem 5, Week 4: It Will Be Done

OK, the 4th week of the semester is just over. Because of the Chinese New Year holiday, there's no lecture this week.

I don't want to talk about my study progress this week, simply cos it's late and I want to go to sleep soon. Writing about it will take too much time. Plus, it's no fun talking about the same thing every week. I rather write anything that comes to mind.

The 4th week of the semester means the beginning of mid-sem, the point in time where I should start to worry - or even be scared. This is because all the presentations, report deadline and the (dreaded) mid-term tests are coming. There're a few things that makes me quite worried, but I'm quite sure I'm gonna manage to get through it. I know this from past experience. There were times when things looks worrying and I dunno how I am gonna to manage to get through it, somehow I did. So it's the same this time. I have no idea how I am gonna get things done, but they will be done. Eventually.

OK, it's late. Time to have a good rest before starting tomorrow to get the worrying stuff done. I still have no idea how I'm gonna do it, but I'm sure by the ned of next week, they will be done. Definitely.