Last day at lab

After mia-ing for so long... I have so much things to update.. haha... Let's start from the oldest event.

26th June 2007 marks my last day of in Dr Liang's lab. After having been there for half a year, from following Rao Feng around in Dec, to doing my own stuff, to free labour after FYP was over, I kind of miss the place when it was finally time to go. The nature of the work might not be fun, but I really kind of miss casting gels, grow cells, run column etc. While the process was very long and tiring, the end result is something that can be really satisfying. But anyway, now that everything is over, I should be getting ready to embark on the next phase of my life. Keep tuned for more updates in later posts.

Some photos to share.

My work bench for 4 months...

Before i managed moved here....

My seat in the office... which i had to share with 2 other ppl after my fyp coz all the undergrad started coming in...

My storage places in the lab...

The 4 deg fridge... it was supposed to be much more cluttered but i cleared a lot of things away before i took this photo...

And the -20 deg fridge.... i think my stuff only took up like 20% of the space..

My poster that is sitting outside the lab now. The only remaining trace to show that I have been around...

And last but not least, the all familar corridor

new gadget

i got a present!

On top of my dear lappie, my wonderful k750i and a new home PC, i am now a proud owner of a brand-new PSP!

yeah!! all thanks to my wonderful dearie. hehe... i told him not to buy liao.. but i was shocked to get it on sat when i met him. Now i am hooked onto games.. ew... i gotta take care of my eyes.

but anyway, thank you very much darling for ur present! =)

MISS NG

This miss ng ah.. She complain I nv mention about her in the GEMs blog so I shall dedicate one entire post to her. haha..

Well.. Actually the main reason why I nv mention her coz the photo we took together was terribly ugly.. And I forgot to acknowledge her somewhere. But I still refuse to post it here.. haha..

But anyway, thanks to this girl, my life got entwined with GEMs. While there was a difference in role between org comm and facis, I am glad that we all got along pretty well.

So well… thanks to huimin I got to know a lot of young, vibrant and very nice ppl. MUACKzz…

Oh.. since I got no photos here.. I shall post embarrassing photos of that girl. She was so touched on the last day that she cried loh.. tsk tsk…

some random photos

People...

this photo was taken at the airport when i went to send my "little" cousin off to new zealand for her school geography field trip. so lucky, they have a lot of schemes now to provide financial assistance and she only paid very little for the trip. sigh.. me oso want to go..

I was giving tuition to two of my cousins and this little one insists that he wants to join in oso. so i told him to "do homework". He was so serious about his work that he went to his house to grab his "pencil case" and started drawing. Look at how serious he is at his work. =)

And this boy is so cute, got this sunday i happened to be at home so me and my sister brought him out to the market to eat. He passed by this small place that has a lot of toys so he says he wants to see the toys. I do not intend to get him anything so i told him that see only ah. he was having so much fun looking at the toys that he was reluctant to leave. But being the very good boy, he nv scream and shout for toys. he even waved bye to the toys.. so cute........

Food...

i met the godiva gang for dinner one friday. supposed to be initiated by shu juan and peck yean but end up only got me, xiling, jo and mitch. we went to riverside restaurant or something like that to eat. we order this bbq platter and it was very nice!! wow.. and we were so full. after dinner, we went to walk ard clarke quay and finally settle down at coffee club to drink something. sigh.. but got so many ppl, so noisy. end up we kind of like screaming into each others ears. but still, i still think that clarke quay is a great place to hang out. we even intend to set aside a friday to meet up.

Oh.. and i could not get this out of my mind. this was supposed to be the cesar salad at the soup place at raffles city. me n hm was staring at it when it came and thought that this look more like a sandwich than a salad. but then, the soup is nice. haha.. ilike..

Even more random...

Me, mitch and xiling met up one sunday for cosmetics shopping. Conclusion: Bobbi Brown has very nice concealers. Oh.. and along the way, we were stopped by this guy doing sony roadshow outside heerens. we got a free photo taken and printed. AND we got a free air-brush tattoo. See.. so nice!! and look so real. haha.. but now its gone liao.. sad sad...

There.. the 3 girls with their tattoos. we took this in diesel. got another which we took in the toilet but that one is too dark. not nice.. anyway, can vaguely see the tattoo on xiling n mitch's arm and the one on my leg lah. =

A direction

I have finally made up my mind. On Tuesday, I went for an interview with MOM. Initially, I did not intend to take up the job. But later, the HR guy called me to offer me the job and I was so enticed that I accepted the job offer after 1 night of pondering.

Now, i no longer need to send out anymore resumes, and type any more cover letters. But my research also ends here. I will never know what kind of job is out there for there, at least for the next 2 year. But I think that a govt job is seriously not a bad job to begin with. And is going to be a good stepping stone for what I have planned for the next couple of years.

In any case, I am glad to have a job now. I can finally sleep peacefully already.

Gemmer rocks

Well.. I am always procrastinating and delaying my blogs. Anyway, this is something I really wanted to blog about…

8th June 2007 marks the end of 2 phases of my life.

The first was my university life as this was the day I received my results. This year the school decided that results will be released on 12 midnight. As a result, I knew my results super early in the morning. But luckily it did not affect my mood although I was disappointed about it.

But 8th June 2007 also marked the closing of the pilot Young Gems Camp.

This camp was an initiative taken on by WDA to raise the awareness of GEMS (Go the Extra Mile for Service) and how to provide good service in secondary school students. I was very lucky to be involved in this camp as a facilitator. It was really a very different camp that I have attended and I have really learnt a great deal.

My trainer, Serene was a nice person, my fellow facis were wonderful despite the fact that we had conflicts here and there and the participants were wonderful. Remember: the camp has ended but the lesson continues…

Some photos to reminisce about.

This camp was held at republic poly, which happens to be 15 mins walk from my house.

My wonderful cluster 2(sunshine as they were called although the guys refused to admit it) on day 1:On day 2, on our way out for the Customer Experiential Activity.

We had neoprints and we introduced Matthew to his virgin KFC meal. It had been like donkey years ago since I’ve taken neoprints but I must say that I am totally impressed with how neoprints has evolved. I totally loved the neoprints we took and I am now hooked.On day 3, before we leave for the Gemmers-in-Action along Orchard Road:

Look at how happy everyone was!Gemmers, let’s get ready to rock and roll! Can you see me right at the tip of the triangle? I kneel until my leg wanna break liao…My cluster along orchard road. It had been a hard day for them. Having to give away NeWater, the Gems tattoo, ugly poodle made from balloons and to provide free gift wrapping services. But I thought it was a great day! Even though I was attached to a different cluster.The cluster that I was attached to. I really admire their spirit despite rejections. Well done!On day 4, everyone was out for service attachment. And at night, we gather back at RP for a small picnic. And shortly, we had a prize presentation ceremony. I am so proud of my cluster. They won something! Here’s the entire camp. We were all supposed to say Tuesday and I must say this method really helps us to smile better.Well. Lo and behold, the ending has to come. In a flash of an eye, we are at the end of the camp. The last day started off with a performance. Which we all spent 2 nights staying back super late in RP trying to rehearse. Following was a dialogue session with Ms Grace Foo. There was a buffet lunch and somehow, the participants decided to sabotage the facis! I was hiding behind the buffet table but apparently, my fellow facis sabotaged me. The damage was not too bad, with only 1 tattoo on my face, 1 on my neck and 2 on my leg. I think there were facis who suffered a worse fate than me. But still, I was very sure everyone had fun. And we had our fair share of emotional scenes and tears as well.

Here’s my chacha group. Thanks for putting up with all my nonsense and pressure. You girls and guys were wonderful! Love ya!Here’s my cluster again! We survived the camp! Well done!The entire strength of the participants. With about 80 students from 18 different schools, these students have managed to bond together in a short span of 5 days despite their differences. Look how pretty this arrangement is.Woohoo! You've made it!Well, how can we forget the people without whom this camp will not be possible?

There! Here we are. We could still manage to laugh after the first day. But subsequently, we were making a very conscious effort to be the role model.

My beloved fellow facis. I missed you all!

From top to bottom, left to right.
Me, Sihui, Sham, Choon Hua
Kathy (my partner), chin, Kun Rong,
Chris, Ally and Leonad

Hip hip hooray!

haha.. we were taking photos when we should be listening to the debate. Opps…Our signature “huat ah”. I dunno why they use huat but I dun really mind. Wahha…Well, last but not least, the most important man without whom, these photos would not have been possible. LUKE! the photographer who is always getting on our nerves with his camera. But I love his touch of humor.

Although the camp is over, I am sure that the friendship built and the lessons learnt will not be forgotten. Let’s go out and make a difference. LET’S GEMS!

Crossroad

Well, I have finally ended the last phase of my education when I received my final results on 8th June 2007. No doubt I was pretty disappointed with my results, but I guess I can only move on from here. The end is only the beginning of an end. Now I still have a long long journey to go and the next thing I have to worry about is my career.

Sigh… talking about my career gives me a headache. I am now standing at a crossroad.

I am considering a career as a financial advisor but I am so worried that I cannot survive without money for the first few months of the job as the job is 100% commission based. On top of that, I still have to fork out a couple of hundreds to pay for my exam first before I can even get the job. Sigh… so fan.. can anyone give me a small advice? I promised myself that I will never get a job with no basic pay but yet, I am really quite interested in this job.

Or should I just go ahead and get any job? I seriously have no idea which field to explore and which occupation I really like. So sian.. I feel like I have totally no life goals and objective now. I cannot see my future.

BOYCOTT!

okay.. to quote lele, i am starting a boycott campaign. To boycott this particular bubble tea shop at the basement of causeway point which used to be sw*** t***.

I was so super pissed by them today.

I went to buy bubble tea coz huimin wants to drink. Den i decided to buy for myself and usually I do not take the pearls. However, today, coz i was in a hurry, i forgot to tell the auntie not to put pearls and I realised my mistake too late. But I told the auntie nvm, although i think i looked unhapppy coz i was pissed with myself for forgetting to tell auntie. so another auntie who was there said this to me: “ 如果不要珍珠，可以换一杯给你。不用脸臭臭的。”

.......

very good. Now i am so damn pissed off with them i have decided not to patron them anymore.

They are not $1.50 instead of $1.20 and for 30cents more, the service is not 30% lower?

so much so for Go the Extra Mile for Service. I think singapore still has a long way to go.

i need money money...

sian.. initially in really tot i was living comfortably off my tuition salary. But recently, i realised that while income remains stagnant (or even got lower), expenses have now increased considerably.

For example, my lasik sugery added an expense of $335 to my monthly expenses for 12 months. And 3 months from now, i have to start paying my laptop loan, adding $250 to my expenses for 10 months. Adding on to that, i have to start paying $250 a month for my facial package in July for 3 months. And i have kind of agreed to go hongkong, meaning i have to spend more money. To add on to my woes, Transitlink decided that I can only buy bus concession until 30th June, means i have to start paying adult fare from july. omg... 愁上加愁...

sigh... i need a job now... fast.. sian...