No More Late Nights

Right... this just rocks. I missed stats this morning and I'm skipping computer science, all because of my final report.

Gee, I wish I worked at a faster rate. Then I wouldn't be stuck in this weird scenario of trying to study for my post-test, writing my report and preparing for my presentation all within 24 hours.

Man, my life is messed up.

Pulling Through - 走出去就有路

I've had a pounding headache all day yesterday and today, and I figure it's from the insomniac habits that I've acquired over the week. And I've had some thoughts as I passed through the week.

It seemed on Monday that I would have a long, long week. With 5 assignments due over 3 days, I could see no reprieve - knowing myself, I would stay up until the wee hours of the night just working and working on them tirelessly. It would be bad...

Fast forward five days, and after 5 nights of sleeping less than 4 hours each night (sleeping at 5.30am on Thursday morning and waking at 8am - just in time for BIOL200 class after writing Philosophy all night), I've been functioning, not living. Surprisingly, I'm functioning well. Under such conditions, I've successfully completed one PCR genotyping of 22 samples of mice, including 4 controls that we use making for a total of 26. The bands came out nice too. And I even did my analysis of the gel properly too! OMG, I can't believe it now...

But then my thoughts as I bought my final cup of peppermint mocha for the week weren't rejoicing over how well I pulled through. Not at all, rather; I've merely survived. No more than that. 

The real meat of my thoughts lay in God's promise though. When I was at my lowest this week, when I thought I couldn't pull through, I sat there at my desk listening to different Chinese worship songs by 赞美之泉, and that really lifted my spirits up. No particular song, no lyrics particularly struck me, but the emotions of peace inside me were immediately stirred up, and it kept me going. 云上太阳，宝贵十架，宝贵十架（韩语）, and 祷告 were the four songs that I had recently downloaded, and the Korean version of 宝贵十架 really was so beautiful. Somehow, with these songs playing through my life these four days, I pulled through. God's promise never fails.

In any case, the PCR went well, I was happy, and now I can look forward to some good rest tonight. Though I am very tired, I guess I have some last few duties for the night before I head to bed. Laundry, cleanup, and getting rid of my bean sprouts in a dish for food tomorrow are the prime things I have to clean up, before I enjoy tonight's rest.

First Time

OMGOMG, for the first time ever, I've finished an exam early and was the first to submit it. OMGOMG...

That said, hopefully I don't bum out of the exam badly. (*crosses fingers for more than 90%!)

Oh... ow... CPSC111 - 33/40. *sigh* Gonna have to work harder for all the finals.

Time to move onto the final sprint of the exam.

Programming

Kudos to Phillip Mah for giving me guidance on solving the last 1/5 of my CPSC111 assignment - blurring. An elegant solution contrasted with my clunky code that I was trying to do. Working on it for 3 days already, and I finally get it done.

Man, thanks Phil. =)

Day 2 at Lab

It really felt like day 1, because I was given a hands-on chance to pipette stuff, rather than just observe. But I digress.

It's a good feeling to be back in the lab, working away with chemicals and biological samples, pipetting numerous times, forcing myself to be uber-careful with whatever I'm working with. Thanks so much to Jill (lab tech) for giving me the chance to do hands-on work as opposed to just observe. I definitely felt a lot more confident this time round, especially when it came to my pipetting skills. Hopefully, I'll keep up this confidence in knowing that what I'm doing is right.

In any case, I missed out on this morning's class, which means I missed out on 50% of Dr. Berger's lecture for the week! Ouch! I am sooooooo going to make sure that I sleep on time next Wednesday, so that I don't sleep in on Thursday. Gee.

A random thought - as I stepped out of the LSC, I smelled the fresh, cold air. This is another reason why I'm back home, and, more importantly, this is another reason to protect the environment.

100% Record

AHHHHH!!!! My 100% record to this term has finally been shattered. =(

I finally managed to skip one lecture - BIOL200 lecture. Oh the horrors of midnight sleeps! I shall go to bed at 10.30 from now onwards. No more staying up late. And MSN - you will be closed!.

Digital Rebel

For you camera buffs out there... do not despair...

[CPSC111 Class, 9.00 am, Introduction to Computing]
Kurt Eiselt (instructor): "I'm going my own way this time. I'm a rebel."
Eric Ma (myself, student): "You're a Digital Rebel."
Kurt Eiselt: "No, no, let's not go there. Digital Rebel is a camera... 'You're a camera...'"
Eric Ma: [chuckles for like a whole 5 minutes]

Slime

OMG, I was cooking fried rice today, and I had this thin coating of carbs from rice on my fingers. I wet it with some water, and felt it slimy and sticky... and then I recalled Dr. Berger's lectures on carbohydrate networks as a part of the extracellular matrix forming a slime coating for cells.

BIOL200 RAWKS!

I Will Get There

So today, I finished all of my first mid-terms. With CPSC111 going well, STAT200 going well, and BIOL200 going okay, I'm glad to have survived them all. Granted, I do have an easier time than my peers, some of whom have to go through mid-terms every week... But in the long-run, all exams do take a toll on us to some degree, don't they?

I'm only glad to have been blessed with the wisdom to manage my time, and the prudence to keep myself nourished and rested during this week. Having gone through with the worship team on Sunday as well (and completely throwing myself in the arms of God and enjoying it in the process), I guess I have also been blessed with a time of peace prior to the buildup of this mid-term. My homework isn't in some messy disarray either, and readings are the only thing that I really do need to catch up on.

In retrospect, I have pulled through, and I have gone through it all. Not by my strength alone, that is the reminder I have for myself, though. It is through the Higher Power alone that I can do this without wrecking myself.

Game

This game was introduced to me by Mo, so I give Mo full credit for letting me know about this game.

Randomly draw 4, 5 or 6 cards from a shuffled deck of cards. Using any of the four basic mathematical operators, combine all four cards to form a pre-defined number.

I've played this game with Mo, Charles Zhu, Charles Au, Josephine and Irfan, and this really provoked some thoughts in me with regards to problem solving.

1. One has to simplify the problem into its essentials.
2. There can be many solutions to one problem.
3. With a defined criteria, the best solution can be found.

I've been quite inspired, having talked to Irfan, Charles and Joey about the outcomes of the game. I think that it's a very good game to teach to this year's kids. Like, maybe in a tutorial, we can devote one hour of time towards it.

Pleasant Surprise

Now, just yesterday, I had a pleasant surprise come in the morning - my mid-term for CPSC111. I scored 43/45!!! Amazing!!! I can't wait to see STAT200, though; I'm sure I have conceptual errors that will bar me from getting the full 60/60, but we'll see. I do want to know where I'm going wrong, though.

And yesterday, I bumped into an alumni of TCHS who is in this year's Sci1 class. Awesome! So, if I count all the people that I've met who have studied along Bt Timah Road, there's him, there's Alina, and there's Michelle. 3 now. Interesting. This world is really small.

Code

Man, CPSC111 MT was such an amusing MT.

"Instance fields gain values through:
A. Osmosis
B. [something that I forgot]
C. [something that I forgot]
D. [something that I forgot]"

Having seen the "osmosis", I chuckled and wrote down this code:

public class BoredStudentThatFinishedEarly
{
public static void main ( String[] args )
{
String a = "Osmosis";
System.out.println("Instance fields gain variables through " + a);
System.out.println("hahahahahahahahahaha.......);
}
}

You Java programming folks out there will surely know what this code means. ;-)

Pride, Elation, and Happiness

I am proud, I declare to the world, I am proud.

I am proud of Hwa Chong's track and field team. Their dominance in Singapore's school track and field scene is amazing - while I was there, we did the double of the B and C div championships, but when I left, the amazing juniors who, in 2002, broke 13 national records including overall team score picked up where my batch didn't, and finally clinched the A division championships. At the same time, in the past three years, they have done the treble thrice - a treble of trebles. Amazing.

I am proud of the achievements of my school. We continue to go from strength to strength, in sports, in academics, in leadership, in community service, we continue to lead other schools. Hwa Chong is definitely the school to be in, I must say.

I must say that my junior, Jin Yang, must be very proud to be on the podium to lift the trophy on behalf of the school. Way to go, JoY!

Kiddish

Oh gosh, I guess I'm still waiting like a little kid for my summer term marks to be out. Gee. Kept on checking the SSC for the grades, but they're not gonna be out for a while anyways. I should just stop.

Woot~ 90.6% for CHEM233 MT2!

Woohoo! It seems all the slogging paid off. After a bad day at work, I come home to see my CHEM233 MT2 marks -- 39/42! What a pleasant surprise.

But as usual, with my nonchalant self, I must learn to control the elatedness and quickly settle back down to go for 100%. ;-) But don't worry, I won't kill myself if I don't get 100%. Goals were never meant to be attained.

Last night in Totem Park

I wonder how many times a year I get to be this philosophical, and most importantly, with enough free time on hand to write entries like this.

I recall the first day I moved into Totem Park. I hated it. It totally lived up to its reputation. It was a party house, a drunkard's haven, a slum to live in. Showers looked old, shower heads were leaky, floor was rowdy... the list goes on. I was determined to be the sober guy around.

But I realized how different things could be once I tried to integrate. People with similar thoughts were actually around. Graham Beebe, a fellow man with equal amounts of thoughts about life, popped by my door one night and just said hi. We chatted a bit, and the parted for bed. I never realized we'd have more in common than we thought.

The rowdy nights carried on. I remember blasting at my floormates thrice in a night, with a nerdy scream, "For the nth time already, SHUT UP!!!". I would come to a revelation with this screaming at my floormates at the end of the year.

I remember discovering other Sci1-ers in Rez, particularly Rachel, Sirim and Sally. Of course, there was American Phil, Kaylen, Breanne moving in during the 2nd term, Nathan, and Yana (forgive me if I forgot a few!). Study parties at my place, late-night jamming sessions, and then going to class bushed out and tired.

I remember how the 2nd term flew by, all with the musical rehearsals, and RezSC. Not to mention working, school, and trying to keep myself sane. I guess I did.

I remember how I promised my floor's guys one night that I'd take a sip of alcoholic drinks, and they ended up giving me a shot instead, with some coke to chase it down too. I also recall rejecting Sirim's alcohol pushing, wanting to keep myself the sane and sober guy.

I remember how big the musical was, how great and professionally put up it was, and the friends who came to support the five of us Sci1-ers in the musical: myself (chorus), Matt (scarecrow), Sirim (bassist), Rachel and Sally (pianists). Our musical, The Wiz, was to be the last musical ever performed in that commonsblock. It will now be renovated, and the memories will last only in our photos and the video.

Finals came, esp. for 2nd term. I composed the song Science One Days, a parody to Yesterday by the Beatles, and asked people at 2 am in the morning (right before chem finals). A crazy night.

Tonight, the guys on my floor are drunk and getting rowdy. But I chose to lock myself in my room, packing, prepping for the next step, moving to Fairview Crescent.

I guess with that much havoc going on outside, I'd better stop and move on. Bad start turned into good memories. I figure this'll be how I remember Totem Park in 2006/2007.

Measurement Project

It's been a long while since I last touched this blog of mine. About time to clear out some dust.

I've been taking measurements on bacteria and the effect of fungal extracts on bacterial growth, and it seems that the bacteria don't respond to the fungal extracts. It seems as if they are not getting killed by the extracts, as I had hoped for. But I'll wait till I do the statistical tests and data analysis before I make any comments on it.

I've gotta re-look up my literature and see if it's really E. Coli that aren't so effective...