ごちそうさまでした！

今夜の夕食はごちそうだった！

家族と「霧島」という日本料理屋でクリスマスの夕食セットがした。
なかなか一番良い日本料理屋と思います。あの夕食セットもすごくおいしかった。

最初は刺身もりあわせだった。
すごく新鮮な鮭と鮪と白鮪を食べてみた。まじでうまかった。
あの石の上に立ってるのわさびも手作りものと思った。すごく新鮮感がした。

それから野菜サラダーができました。野菜もとても新鮮でおいしかった。

その次はあのセットのメェーンコースでした。
色々なおいしい物が皿にできた。
ジャムボ蝦フライや、肉だんごや、変わったふとまきなどした。
もちろん、タルキーもいただきました。クリスマスだからね。

そのメェーンコースと一緒どんぶりみたい物を飲んだ。
ゆずが入ったので、あたし特に好きだった。

最後にデザートだ。黒ごまのアイスクリームだった。
味はちょどよかった。甘すぎではなくて、薄くておいしかった。

けっ局はらがいっぱくなりました！
なんだか、こんなのごちそうは本当に久しぶりだった。
ごちそうさまでした！

～みはる～

Inadaptability

How adaptable are you to changes in life?

I had a shocking revelation that I am a pretty inadaptable creature.

A few days ago, I was performing my usual weekday routine of getting my butt out of bed, morning shower, eating breakfast - all in a bleary state of mind. It's Monday, so young people like me get the Monday blues. "It's the start of a working week. Ugh." そのところの感じね。

So I was chewing wholemeal + cheese washed down with chocolate milk when my cellphone beeped an incoming message. Reading the message sent a shock great enough to hurl me out of my Monday blues. No, actually, it hurled me out of my mind.

"Please move out by end of January - Landlady"

In the bleak rainy morning amid the bleary breakfast, I lost a shelter over my head.

When I finished reading the message I was in such a shock that I suddenly felt like a lost sheep in the jagged moutains, not knowing where to go or what to do. It was particularly difficult for me to accept that I will have no place to go in a month's time because first, the market rental price now is at its absurdly high peak with greedy owners and property agents taking the advantage to charge desperate tenants exorbitant fees. Second, I had just made commitments to language and music classes, which require an amount of budget every month. All it took was just an overnight, and I have been degraded from living comfortably to living off every penny of my-already-measly student salary. That shock resonated in my whole being for the rest of the day. It stressed me out so bad that I could not concentrate in my work in the office. All I could think of is the urgency to find another place before the stipulated deadline, and what would happen if we don't find it within the period of time, and how we are going to get an affordable place in the midst of the inflating market.

Shelter is a need for the living, and even the wildest animal would instinctively search for a new location in replacement of the abandoned so as to keep on surviving. Similarly, my damage control switch automatically activated: I began frantically searching classifieds for houses and contacting agents. But you see, although it is instinctive, the emotional impact didn't alleviate. I find it difficult to swallow the reality I had to accept. It made things worse that my rational brain completely comprehended the situation and could strategize procedures to overcome the problem, but my emotional brain could not help reacting negatively to the news. My emotional resistance kept building up, messing with my mind and concentration, until I just felt like letting frustrated tears flow. I was trudging listlessly home in the heavy rain with a growling stomach and unsettled mind and I wanted to just cry it all out, when my coursemate SY appeared behind me. It was like my Guardian Angel was aware how down I was and miraculously put comfort there beside me just when I needed it.

Holding back my floodgates, I lamented to SY about my shock of the day. Although I didn't expect any solution to come out of it, I felt better after talking it out. It helped me to accept the news a bit, and I did not feel as troubled anymore. It also happened a few friends popped my several messages to chat, and after lamenting to them, it helped me felt better too. However, I supposed the last thing that helped to dissipate the emotional shock was a phone call from home. Mysteriously, families know just when to call. In pouring out all my grievances over the phone and letting all frustrated tears flow, I somehow came to terms with reality.

In retrospect, I find myself inadaptable to changes. It took me a while to get over the emotional hangover before I had a clear mind to play out the strategies. What makes it challenging was the fact that I was completely aware of my incompetency and I know how to overcome that incompetency, but it is so overwhelming and powerful that I couldn't help but gave in to it.

Looks like I've much more to learn.

～みはる～

PS: Thank you all who had been there just when I needed support. やっぱり偶然はないと思う。^^

音楽の力

As scheduled last week, I went for the violin trial lesson yesterday after my Japanese lesson. To my disappointment, the actual violin instructor was not able to return in time from her orchestra performance overseas, hence a student/teacher (I think) relieved her position.

Okay now I don't want to sound shallow, but when I saw G, the student/teacher, I was slightly taken aback. Bespectacled and timid, I had thought for a moment whether I had entered the wrong studio. But as it appears, G was about to blow me away.

So we did a brief "Hello, how are you" before G shyly asked me what I know (and want to know) about the violin. I had thought it was a pretty standard question, so I just shared my tiny knowledge on violin with him. He looked really nervous, probably it was his first time teaching an adult, so I thought to help him relax by jokingly telling him to show off his violin playing skills. "Play me a song, show off your skills. Don't worry, I'm tone deaf, you can play anything and I'll think it's music. Haha" Very lame, I know, but was just trying to ease the tension. "Okay," G shyly replied as he placed his (very gorgeous) violin under his chin and positioned the bow.

The moment G drew the bow, the violin sang very beautiful music and he completely transformed into a very different person. There wasn't a hint of shyness or timidity; it was a very confident and graceful demonstration, and for the moment, I saw a different G. He exuded confidence and was very obviously enjoying playing the violin. I was really awed by the transformation before my eyes.

Then I thought, "This must be the power of music."

It goes without saying by the end of the day, I ended up with a violin and violin lessons every weekend beginning next year.

これもきっと音楽の力だと思う。

～みはる～

やっちゃった

やっちゃったよ、あたしは。

今日ね、ヴィオリンをさわって、ヴィオリンを買って、ヴィオリンの授業も決めたの。
あせったかったかな。
良いことか、やばいことか、よく分からないけど。
でもね、なぜか、やってみたいなぁって感じがあふれている。
今やる気満々そうです。子供っぽいかな。
でも自分で決めたし、楽しんでがんばらないと仕方ないよね。
では新たの年に新たの先生によろしくお願いいたします！
楽しみしています！

～みはる～

ツイシン：「この決を後悔しないように」祈っている。だってお金がかかるんだもん。

ぐうぜん。。。かな？

やぁみんな、元気してたかい？

Don't quite know why, but in quite a chirpy mood today (although I hate being chirpy). But anyway.

In my last post, I listed 5 resolutions (heck, it's not even New Year's yet...). And when I put those 5 resolutions as my "I Want To..." list on my blog side bar, I thought, "This will just be a wishlist if I don't do something about it".

Several days later, I received a call from the Japanese school I signed up, informing me that I've successfully been placed into a Pre-advanced Japanese class, after a 3-month wait. I was pleasantly surprised at the timing. There was I getting all pumped up about mastering Japanese, and mysteriously, opportunity presented itself for me to realize my wish.

ここで、ホリックのゆうこのせりふがします：「この世に偶然なんてない、あるのは必然だけ」。まぁ、そのおいといで。。。

So finally, I went for my first class last week. It was alot of fun. The class was comfortably sized, with approximately 15 students and one Maeda-sensei. All first Japanese classes run by default: 自己紹介(introduction). You know, the "Hajimemashite...hitotsu yoroshiku onegaishimasu" stuff. でもね、the weirdest thing was Sensei missed my 自己紹介- twice. First was when she did the attendance thing. The "X-san? Hai!" thing. She called on everyone except me. I thought I stepped into the wrong class or something. In the end, I had to called after her to call my name. Sooo not my idea of introduction.

The second time Sensei missed me again was when we did a 自己紹介 exercise. We worked in pairs and are supposed to introduce our partner to the class after a brief getting-to-know-each-other time. Everyone introduce their partner, including myself... except my partner. So, basically, I was not introduced to the class, again. まさか、先生わざだったの？T_T

However, I'll look over it as a first day glitch or two. The class interaction was great, with everyone talking at ease. Much to my surprise, every single other student in the classroom is a working adult except me. I think I could have been the youngest in there. I was also quite surprised to find the level of Japanese in there not very high. I had thought with one year interval since my last proper Japanese lesson, I may need to work harder, compared to the ongoing students. But in the end, I had to explain some of the words and sentence structure that was used in the class to the other students. Although quite relieved the starting level is not too difficult, I'm still a little surprised (and maybe disappointed). でも、これからも日本語の勉強がんばります！上手になるまでに一所懸命頑張ります。

Have you experienced times where opportunities seemed to bloom at your feet at your every wish and request?

I think I may have.

After my Japanese class, I walked out and just next door, is a classical music school/store. On the door, a notice reads: Free trial lessons for violin, flute, saxophone, viola, ... (insert more instrument names here).

*Scrolls down to my last post* Learning violin is one of my other things-I-want-to-do !!

またここで、ゆうこのせりふがする：「この世に偶然なんてない、あるのは必然だけ」。なんか、私こうやって好きだ。おいといで。。。

I went into the shop and a very friendly man entertained my request. We discussed about playing violin, the lessons offered (i.e. talk money. No fees, no class), and the violin teacher they have. As promised on the flyer, he offered to arrange a free trial lesson for me to get acquainted to playing violin and also to get to know the teacher. I thought it was a pretty tempting deal to pass, so I (uncharacteristically spontaneously) took his offer. So, suffice to say, I left the shop with a violin class appointment next week.

In that one day, I was granted the opportunities and the beginnings to do what I had haphazardly listed in my last post. And it dawned upon me, that maybe that list will not become a wishlist afterall. I am still thinking whether to seriously take up violin because I understood my work commitments will only get heavier with time (teaching duties, thesis for confirmation, data to publish paper, data to write thesis, mentoring students, etc, etc), but at the same time, I wanted so much to give the girl in me, the one who loves music and never quite properly finish learning one instrument, a chance to do at least one carefree thing she had given up somewhere in her childhood for conforming to the society's demands. I would hate to look back and sigh, "I wish I had learned violin then".

偶然なんてない、でしょう？

～みはる～

金色のコルダ

You know when you watch a show and it makes you go, "If only I could do that..."
Thanks to Shiyun-san's recommendation, I'm now in a wishful-thinking-mode of, "If I had done music instead..." And it's all because of this:

金色のコルダ

La Corda d'Oro ~Primo Passo~

Yes, music is my mental staple food. My love for music began at an early age. I remembered doing solo chacha and Japanese dances for the annual kindergarten performances, of which elevated to something more ambitious like choreographing dance moves for Awards Day in elementary school. High school saw more ensemble performances; woodwinds, traditional Javanese instruments, choir and the like. My earlier university days were hyped with Latin dancing, which I had enjoyed alot. When music plays and the feeling is right, I could feel life and excitement coursing in my blood.

Even though I liked music since young, my formal music education did not start until I was in high school. I don't recall playing anything extravagant during my elementary days, apart from the pianica, tambourine, triangles and castanets. I had always envied my neighbour's daughter who could play piano very well, and each time I paid her a visit, I weasel my chance to touch the black and white piano keys, much to her mother's annoyance. However, my family could not afford professional music lessons until I was in high school. Some people thought that age is pretty much late for learning piano, but I was enthusiastic to finally be able to learn to play it properly. So enthusiastic was I that I managed to persuade my parents to sign me up for organ classes as well.

However, high school equates national exams, and soon I became burdened with schoolwork and practice. I began to slack on practice for schoolwork, to the extend piano classes became a chore and I was terrified of going to class because I could not play without practice. Finally I stopped piano and organ lessons and it never picked up from there.

Some time last year, the Japanese drama Nodame Cantabile aired. I was filled with nostalgia and, maybe, regret when the beautiful sound of music rolled out with each episode. Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Mozart,... the richness of classical music resonated the music I loved so much. Watching the piano duet by Nodame and Chiaki, I regretted not persevering through my piano classes. How I wish I had the discipline to complete my music education then.

And now, when I watched La Corda d'Oro, the sounds of piano and violin once again stirred my incomplete musical dreams. I wishfully thought, "What it's like to be able to play the piano at a concour? What if I had learnt to play the violin too?"

I figured this wishful thinking would come back to me, neverending, the next time I watch another classical music show, so I came out with a little "5 Things I Want To Do Before I Die" list:

1. Get a piano and finish my piano Diploma.
2. Learn to play violin.
3. Give a public piano/violin performance.
4. Watch a real orchestra concert in Vienna.
5. Master Japanese.

Number 5 is out of point, but I just want to speak another language.

Told you music makes my blood excited, didn't I?

～みはる～

The irony

It's one of those days I've had, but unlike previously, it grasped me.

I'm talking about little surprises. Allow me to explain.

I was alone at the campus bus stop, waiting for bus this morning to go grocery shopping, when another girl joined me in my wait. She's a total stranger, so as I do always, I just continued what I was doing, i.e. listening to music and staring into the green scenery across the street.

After some 5 mins of waiting (not that it was unpleasant; the breeze was gentle and the sun was bright..), stranger girl suddenly lifted her hand and waved in my direction. Surprised, I turned back, expecting to see another person behind me who would be returning her wave. However, there was no one. I turned back at stranger girl, who was actually waving to me. I smiled at her, and she must have taken that as a green signal to begin a conversation. And with that, I found myself accompanied throughout my journey to the shopping center.

In retrospect, I find myself thinking, "Ahh, I haven't seen such a person for a long time." To me stranger girl (called ZY as I found out) was cheerful and courageous in socializing, something I felt I, and my generation in the society, totally lack in. She took the initiative to warm up a silent wait at the bus stop, a silence I have come to thought as natural over my years living in an urban city. I mean, how many of us speak to total strangers while waiting for our transport? With all the security issues plaguing the society (mothers tell us not to talk to strangers, no?) ignoring the person next to you seems like the right thing to do. But surprisingly at times, it can be quite a warm and pleasant encounter, getting to know someone new this way.

Thinking about it, I wondered if I have allowed myself to meld into a hypocrite: believing that I am sociable, telling people I am friendly, advocating courage in others, labeling ill-mannered people as hypocrites when myself am cowardly and hypocritical to start with. It's so easy to point fingers at another person, blaming them for all things that had failed you (or rather you had failed) and shrugging off your responsibility. It's a comfort to our state of mind, convincing that we have done all right and no wrong, and what we are now is a consequence of their err.

How ironic a warm encounter can invoke all these unsettling emotions.

～みはる～

You know you had too much...

... Code Geass when you mistakenly called your former Japanese-course classmate "Nina-san" instead of "Nani-san".

... work stress when you start screaming upon sudden realization that you ruined an expensive culture media with unfiltered nutrient supplements, resulting in everyone in the lab running to your direction in great shock. R-san, I'm so sorry for sending you running to me in shock, but I'll never forget the look on your face. ほんとうにすみませんでした!

... thoughts in your head when you can't recall what you did last weekend, or what you ate for dinner yesterday.


なんか、ちょっとやばいことになりそうです。

～みはる～

Enchanted vs Geass

Disney's fairy-tale princess given a reality check:

The trailer had seemed really funny, so I thought it might be a good watch. Although entertainingly comedic, I find the story terribly uninspiring with its weak plot and not very convincing actors.

If you don't know already, Enchanted tells about a cartoon fairy-tale princess, Giselle, living in the land of "Once upon a time" who dreams every single minute in her life about marrying her Prince Charming. Like all Disney's naive princesses, she has her heart sets on 'true love's first kiss' and was all hyper when Prince Charming swept her off her feet and proposed to her. However, in typical Disney style, the evil Queen stood in her way of a 'happy ever after' by sending Giselle to NYC for a taste of reality. And so goes the adventure of our fairy-tale princess in discovering the shocks of real life: where love doesn't lasts and 'happy ever after's are non-existent.

While I know the writers were playing around with Giselle's naive and pure nature to generate humor and comedy, I find it overly annoying and pretty much stupid. And Prince Edward is such a blockhead. The idea of the story seemed appealing, but the production was below my expectation. Furthermore, the chemistry between the characters were weak, so I wouldn't reckon the acting too much. And the ending was... boring. They did give some sort of a 'happy ever after'... but it was nothing extraordinary. I did not find the movie very funny, in fact I think Ratatouille was funnier.

I supposed this is what I get for watching Code Geass before Enchanted.

I've been totally spoiled by Sunrise's amazing animation and storytelling in Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion. The plot is mindblowing, because every episode gives unexpected twists and incredible action. I have to say, it's been a long time I enjoyed such action-packed mecha anime since Mai-Hime. With CLAMP in-charged of the character designs, Code Geass can only be visually fabulous. And it's no wonder why this series had garnered so many awards, including Best TV animation series in the Tokyo Anime Awards and Animation Kobe Awards, as well as the Best Seiyuu award Fukuyama Jun won for his excellent voice acting as Lelouch Lamperouge. Code Geass is what I call entertainment. Enchanted is pretty much for kids who still believes in 'happy ever after's.

So, don't bother with Enchanted. Go get yourself Geass-ed.

Images from Random Curiosity and Code Geass.

～みはる～

Folding@home

Anyone doing life science would acknowledge the power of proteomics. And anyone doing computational biology would comprehend the massive computation needs to model or understand even a fraction of the proteins in the human body (and we're talking only ONE species here - Homo sapiens). Last I understand, IBM created some next-generation supercomputer called BlueGene touted to boast world's greatest computation speed and power for protein research. Imagine the cost (material and intellectual) of construction and utility of this sophisticated robot.

But who would guess, leeching CPU power can actually get you farther.

As one researching on genetics, I'm not very well-versed in protein research, nevertheless, I'm amused and pretty much impressed by this project by Stanford University: Folding@home

I guess this is where the ancient proverb "United we stand, Divided we fall" carries good meaning. If everyone in the world were to contribute a little CPU power each, the resident researches would have a collective sum of computational power more than sufficient to fuel their modeling work (and leaving BlueGene trailing in their wake!). Quite a nifty strategy, if you ask me. And it's for good cause! I wonder if there's a similar project for genetics research.

If you have extra CPU power to spare and would like to contribute to the research community, visit them here for the client and start protein-folding at home!

～みはる～

PMS

In certain circumstances, I think the threat of PMS is underestimated. I've been suspicious of myself recurrently displaying some of the symptoms with such consistency that it might actually be some sort of a sickness.

I quote NHS:

There are many different symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and they can vary from person to person. Most women only experience a few symptoms each month, but these may differ over time. For example, you may find that you have similar symptoms every month but that they vary in intensity. Equally, you may find that you have slightly different symptoms every few months. PMS tends to be different for every woman.

As many as 150 different symptoms of PMS have been recorded, but the most common are:

• feeling irritable and bad tempered, (so that's why I was mad at the whole world the other day)
  
• fluid retention and feeling bloated, (nope)
  
• mood swings, (that explains my sudden happy-depress-annoyed-disinterest mode)
  
• changes to your skin and hair, (hmmm... does unexplained bruising count?)
  
• feeling upset or emotional, (very frequently, totally)
  
• insomnia (trouble sleeping), (nope... sleep like a log)
  
• difficulty concentrating, (oh yea... short attention span)
  
• backache, (yes... and I thought I was getting old!)
  
• muscle and joint pain, (no wonder I get cramps at the side!!)
  
• breast tenderness, (uh.. not really)
  
• tiredness, (absolutely... won't be enough even if I slept the whole day)
  
• some weight gain (up to 1 kg), and (1kg??!! NO)
  
• appetite changes, or food cravings (that's why I've been eating curry and spices!)
  

The symptoms of PMS usually happen at the same time in your menstrual cycle each month, which can be up to two weeks before your period starts. They usually improve once your period has started, and then disappear until your cycle starts again.

While most women with PMS find their symptoms uncomfortable, a small percentage find that they are severe enough to stop them living their normal lives. This is due to a more intense type of PMS known as premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). The symptoms of PMDD tend to be similar to those of PMS, but more exaggerated.

Causes

The exact cause of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is not fully understood, but there are a number of possible factors that may contribute to the symptoms. These are detailed below.

Hormonal changes

During your menstrual cycle, levels of hormones, such as oestrogen and progesterone, rise and fall. Hormonal changes are thought to be the biggest contributing factor to many of the symptoms of PMS. The fact that PMS improves during pregnancy, and after the menopause, when hormone levels are stable, supports this theory.

Chemical changes

Like your hormone levels, certain chemicals in your brain, such as serotonin, fluctuate during your menstrual cycle. Serotonin is known to help regulate your mood and make you feel happier, and so it is possible that women with low levels of serotonin are particularly sensitive to the symptoms of PMS. Low levels of serotonin may also contribute to symptoms such as tiredness, food cravings, and insomnia (difficulty sleeping).

Stress

You may find that your symptoms of PMS become worse the more stressed you are. While it is not a direct cause, being stressed can aggravate the symptoms of PMS.

Diet

Eating too much of some foods, and too little of others, may also contribute to the symptoms of PMS. For example, too much salty food may add to fluid retention, and make you feel bloated, and alcohol and caffeinated drinks can disrupt your mood and energy levels. Low levels of vitamins and minerals may also make your symptoms of PMS worse.

I need more serotonin.

～みはる～

Miyazaki Hayao

Been watching a bit of Miyazaki's films lately. Yea, yea, I know. I'm a little late in appreciating his works. But better late than never.

I must say I love the themes and fantastic imagination Miyazaki-san animated in his masterpieces. The animation is obviously top-notch, but what was far better was the amazingly imaginative stories and characters.

1986 - 天空の城：ラピュタ
(Laputa: Castle in the Sky)

1988 - となりのトトロ
(My Neighbor Totoro)

1989 - 魔女の宅急便
(Kiki's Delivery Service)

1997 - もののけ姫
(Princess Mononoke)

2001 - 千と千尋の神隠し
(Spirited Away)

2004 - ハウルの動く城
(Howl's Moving Castle)

All are simply excellent and brilliant. I especially like Howl's Moving Castle because the voicing by Kimura Takuya (as Howl the wizard) is just fitting. 木村さんの声とハウルの性格はすごくぴったりだよ。

One thing I note about the style of Miyazaki's characters is that they tend to have pretty similar designs over adjacent releases. Take Satsuki (My Neighbor Totoro) and Kiki (Kiki's Delivery Service) for example. The two movies were released in two consecutive years (1988 and 1989 respectively), and both of them looked pretty much the same!

The other example is Haku (Spirited Away) and Hauru (Howl's Moving Castle). Okay, the resolution's pretty bad here, but watching Hauru reminds me instantly of Haku! Even the trait of the voice actor had the same clear tones!

One thing exceptionally incredible about Miyazaki's works is that his films makes you think about the themes he wants to convey. For instance, in Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, there's a very significant emphasis on environmental issues especially concerning the collapsing harmony between the human race and the nature. In Howl's Moving Castle and Laputa: Castle in the Sky, he contemplates the issue of love and war. Not all his movies are laden with heavy themes though. My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away takes you into a world of forbidden fantasy, which is simply entertaining.

While Miyazaki establishes the foundation of all these masterpieces with his fantastic plots, it is Joe Hisaishi who breathes audio vibrancy into all these films. All the soundtrack were mastered by Hisaishi-sensei himself, and they are masterpieces in their ownright. I can't put in words how marvellous a job he has done, to the point Miyazaki's films would not be Miyazaki's if it does not come with Hisaishi's soundtrack.

While I think Shinkai Makoto rivalled Miyazaki in his quality of animation, I have to admit Miyazaki's storytelling is way over Shinkai-san. Miyazaki's art of capturing his audience into his fantasy world is incredibly refined and incredible, and it makes you look forward eagerly to his next release (which is of course, God knows how long). Well, as of now, we know that his next feature film will be released sometime in 2008, and it is entitle Ponyo on a Cliff.

たのしみ待っています！

～みはる～

わがまま

ちょっと落ち込んでいて。
気が悪くなっちゃう。
何でみんなもわがままなの？
どうしてそのわがままな人達は他の人の気持ちを考えらないの？
ずるい過ぎだよ。もう嫌だ！

～みはる～

良いこと

あのね、昨日ひとつ良いことになった。
あまり話さないけど、すごく嬉しかった。
そのこと前にまだ長い時間があるけど、もうどきどきしている。
本当に本当に嬉です。
その時までに、頑張ります。
良い時来たら、必ずみんなに教える。
（でも、ひとつヒントをあげるわ）

ヒント：パリ

～みはる～

RXJ Manga

やっときた！
ロミオX ジュリエットの漫画が。

Front cover

Back cover

Okay, so this is the RXJ-niac writing.
I got hold of the only (remaining) copy of Romeo X Juliet Japanese manga last weekend. Wai~~!

With the anime ended (T_T), the manga version is slated to release until next year. And the first volume made its debut in Japan since 25th August. The story is essentially the same, but the sequence of events were slightly altered. And get this: the manga version has a slightly more romantic impact. The drawings are comparable to Gonzo's, but much cuter (with all the chibi's) as Juliet was granted larger and more adorable eyes and prettier dresses and hair curls. I could keep gushing about how pretty the drawings look, but I'll let the splash pages do the talking (although the horrible resolutions of the images do no justice to the actual gorgeous-ness):

Splash page

Volume #1 splash

When's volume #2 releasing??!!

今日も幸せ！

きょうもしあわせ！

Romeo X Juliet

I shouldn't be posting at this time, much less still be up at this ungodly hour. But I just have to.

The love story of the year = Gonzo's Romeo X Juliet

The final episode for Romeo X Juliet aired this week, and as expected, it ended tragically. What is Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet without the death of our star-crossed lovers??

Although it sounds like a cookie-cutter series, I applaud Gonzo's brilliant re-telling of the story in an interesting adaptation. While they essentially followed every signature events in the original play, each of these events were portrayed uniquely in this series. For example, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet died in the Capulet crypt in a state of high-strung lover anguish over miscommunication and teenage lust. However, Gonzo's version of their death in the Escalus room was rather elegant, in that Romeo fought Ophelia to protect Juliet and his vow to her, and Juliet, in keeping her vow to be with Romeo for eternity, accepted her fate and sacrificed her life to protect the people of Neo-Verona.

While the original Shakespearean play is literally legendary, I like the moral inputs in Gonzo's improvised Romeo X Juliet. The whole series was beautifully summarized in the final line delivered by the character William:

「争い、憎しみ、悲しみ、痛み
　それがのすべてを終わらせることができる物
　それは。。。愛
　人を愛する喜び　そのことを
　あなた達は教えてくれた」

"Strife, hatred, sadness, pain
The one thing capable of ending all of these
That is... love
The joy of loving another person,
Is what both of you have taught us"

I like how they play with themes such as revenge, justice, naiveity, idealism, innocence, loyalty, responsibility, choice-making, and of course, love. Gonzo was able to drive home their point on these themes by transforming them into the adversities Romeo and Juliet had to face. In this sense, their adaptation has far more depth and maturity in comparison to the original play. Furthermore, Gonzo's Juliet is no damsel-in-distress, she can kick villian butts. However, the best Juliet-sword-brandishing scene would have to be the one where Romeo and Juliet fought each other using their family swords in the penultimate episode. It was a fight not of hatred, but of love.

Apart from the unique story-telling, I also thoroughly enjoyed the animation and soundtrack of Romeo X Juliet. Although the animation at certain episodes were not up to mark, episodes creating great impact were marvelously drawn and animated. The soundtrack is something I cannot describe, but can only say that without it, the whole series would be dead. The theme song, "祈り～You Raise Me Up" by Lena Park was of course excellent and extremely appropriate, especially when it was played in the end, where Juliet requested for Escalus to grant her prayer to save the land she fatefully met Romeo (祈り... geddit?). The voice acting was also pretty satisfactory.

Another thing that I thought was lovely is that Gonzo had cleverly represented the two feuding families with a signature flower icon. The Capulets were the family of Irises, whereas the Montagues were represented by the classy Rose. This floral signature gave a very "Awwww" ending where we see people who hold Romeo and Juliet dear, such as Curio, Conrad, Hermione and William, whilst continuing their lives post-RxJ yet forever commemorating their love with a bouquet of a single iris and a single rose.

The ending of Romeo X Juliet was very well done, and so necessarily tragic that tears had to roll out of my eyes. I would think that the sadness of this tragic tale had been portrayed with greater impact by Gonzo than the original play would have. Those who have not watched Gonzo's Romeo X Juliet have NOT experience the great-ness of the most popular tragic love story of all time. So..... go watch it already!!

Image from Random Curiosity. Please visit them for excellent reviews.
Official site Romeo X Juliet

～みはる～

Turning 24

Some XX days ago, I turned 24.

"Nyaa, you got older!!"
"What's the big deal? Age is just a number"
"How's it going to be special? Celebrating?"
"It's just another day what. Work lo. So much data to analyse"
"24-full years. And you have not done anything tondemonai (extraordinary). Very pathetic lehh"

At some level, I think my internal dialogue is amusingly disturbing.

Actually my 24th anniversary on Earth was not that sordid. True, it was just another day. I mean, heck, I always think it's just another day. I spent it working till late at night. However, there are little happy things spread over the several days surrounding the day that marks it my 24th. They are like a handful of fragrant cinnamon dust or a cloud of saffron sprinkled over a plain vanilla (why vanilla??! hmm) sponge cake.


Cinnamon dust #1~ Messages~~!

E-cards, emails, Msn messages, Sms-es, phone calls and other sorts of e-messages reached me when I was still 23 years and 363 days old. Even though I am of the opinion that virtual messages are terribly impersonal and detached, I am still touched by the fact that there are acquaintances who still remembers me as a friend, and their thoughts alone meant more to me than the fancy animated teddy bears break-dancing on the e-cards. Thank you, all of you, who so kindly spent 5 mins of your life to wire me those generous words serving as a reminder of my old age and my ties with you.


Cinnamon dust #2~ Cakes~~!

I have an issue with cakes and candles this year.

In the darkness of data analysis misery, my lab mates lit a candle on a slice of tiramisu and sang me a birthday song. After (another) long day on front of the computer, I had thought to take a break from the numbers and scuttled over to the food corner in the office to dig for some of the very sweet lemon-Manuka-honey candies we purchased several days ago. So engross was I digging that I was oblivious to my colleagues' antics until they switched off all the office lights and presented me with a candlelit-cake whilst breaking into the tunes of Happy Birthday.

So I happily blew the candle after the song ended. You see, that was the mistake. I didn't take note what cake that was.... until the cocoa powder came flying all over, then did I notice it was tiramisu. But it's okay, we laughed it off and jokingly said never to buy tiramisu again for birthday.

What are the odds it will happen again?

Sis bought me a cake when Mum and Dad came down for the weekend to celebrate with me. To my delight(ful horror), ja jaaaang!! TIRAMISU!!! Shikamo, whole cake desu yo!! It was a lovely cake emanating the alcoholic fragrance of Kahlua generously blanketed with exquisitely fine cocoa powder. When the campfire of candles indicating my age were all fired up on the cake, I dreaded the blowing part. But it's a birthday and you have to make a wish then blow the candles, right? There's no escaping the ungraceful end, so I urged Mum, Dad and sis to blow with me. Because, according to the law of physics, if the air velocity comes from all directions at the same angle, the motion of the fine particles layering the cake surface will balance out, hence the cocoa powder won't fly all over (again)... right?

Wrong. We had a cocoa-coated tablecloth at the end of the episode. But you see, that was not the most embarassing thing. The very moment we blew the candles, the snuffed out candles emitted pretty swirls of smoke and.... "BRRIIINNGGGG!!!!!"

The fire alarm went off.

I didn't know to laugh or cry when every other diner turned to the direction of our table and stared at me and my cocoa-scattered tiramisu and the smoke-emitting candles. Suffice to say, I was terribly embarrassed... although having my family to celebrate my birthday with a cake was the best thing I could ever ask for.

The fire alarm rang for like ONE full minute before it was turned off, much to my relief. However, my embarrassment didn't stop there. Less than a minute later, a lady spoke over the PA system: "We've detected a fire signal from within the building. Do not panic. We are now investigating the source of fire and will update all guests as soon as possible."

Again, everyone turned to our table to stare at me and my still smoke-emitting cake.

If not for my gratefulness for my family's companionship... I would have liked to hide myself from those accusing stares. I mean, give me a break! Are the firemen going to come up to evacuate the building armed with a ultra-powerful water hose to find me there sitting with my little smoking tiramisu??? What stupid smoke detector did the restaurant install???Some 5-10 minutes passed before the PA system lady came back on to announce that it had been a false alarm (duhh...) and everyone can go back to their normal lives.

While Dad assured me that there's no way the smoke detector could have been that sensitive (and stupid) to pick up smoke from birthday candles and the whole fire-scare could have been due to some real fire in the kitchen, I find it difficult to swallow the coincidence. I mean, at the exact timing we blew off the candles, some apprentice chef slipped some 10oz olive oil into the firey wok resulting in a campfire which he haphazardly poured two cupfuls of water into, generating volcanic smoke right under the kitchen smoke detector. Guzen?? Nante nai yo...

But it's definitely one birthday I will never forget.

Then my 3rd cake was presented by my friends during our outing last weekend. AM had graciously chosen a mango cake (much to my relief wasn't a cocoa-coated tiramisu again) topped with yummy mango slices. Before they lit the candles in the air-conditioned cafe, I scanned the room warily to check whether (God forbid) any smoke detectors were snooping within the to-be-smoking radius. It was a pretty uneventful 'candle' episode and everyone was happy with a slice of mango cake. Wanting to give everyone (and myself) a slice of the juicy mango flesh, I distorted the jellified surface after which the remaining cake looked nothing like the aesthetically pleasant one presented to me several minutes ago. When I suggested to share the rest of the cake with the kind staff who served us, AM looked at me and politely suggested that I remove the 'ugly' sites I have generated. Ahaha... oops :P

What a cake-y year!!


Cinnamon dust #3~ Companionship~~!

"Love makes the world go round"
That's what philosophers claim. And I suppose they render a lot of truth.

The best gift had been my parents' coming down for the weekend. I had been missing home alot, and it had been such great joy to be able to see them and spent time with them again. I had rushed to the airport to receive them and upon seeing them out at the arrival gate, uncharacteristically, I transformed into the 5-year-old I once was and ran to hug Mum and Dad right in the middle of the international airport. Can't really put into words how happy I was to see them. We had alot to talk throughout the whole weekend and simply enjoy fundamental stuff together, such as lunch-ing on Japanese food, strolling in shopping centres, browsing books and trawling their favorite Daiso! If I had the money, I would love to fly them in more often for relaxing meals together and just doing stuff together. Guess that would have to wait, but I am forever thankful for my family's infinite love and companionship!

The bunny mooncake I bought for Mum, Dad, and Sis! Soft dough filled with deliciously sweet white bean paste and tangy yuzu in the inside... simply an exquisite taste!

I am blessed with not only company from my family, but also from my friends. As age add on to a greater number, I find myself sinking in a world and society where people are incredibly superficial with their feelings towards you. It makes you wonder whether they take you seriously, sincerely, and faithfully. I've come to learn that some 80% don't, but the precious 20% does. And I treasure this 20%. I have high school mates who never forget my birthday, who every year without fail, will send me a note or a card or a message noting they remembered me, no matter which corner of the Earth they are residing now. I have the privilege of the enjoyable company of friends, who had so generously treated me to a movie or a slice of tiramisu or a meal-cum-crazy-boardgame-session or a meaningful phonecall, all of which telling me that they think of me (hope I did not over-interpret their intentions though :P).

To all of you, my 20%, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.


Cinnamon dust #4~ Cosmic wonders~~!

Have you ever felt like the sky is smiling to you, wishing you a happy birthday? Well, I did.

On my birthday, the weather was gorgeously blue, the sun was beautifully sunny, and the clouds were merrily puffy. The peacefuly green and sturdy trees were puffing oxygen and the gentle wind was especially teasing. Being quite a weather person, a deep sense of serenity and happiness overflowed when I breathed in my little lovely nature-world. It felt like a wonderful (birth)day.

Some several days ago, my colleagues and I were walking back to office from the canteen when we caught sight of a rare and beautiful cosmic display. Deep yellow sunlight was bathing the sky in dusk, but the angle of sunshine was such that it collided with a particular flat-looking cloud, causing the whole flat cloud becoming a prism, emanating the 7 shades of the visible spectrum. It was our first time looking at a rainbow-colored cloud, and it was so pretty and lovely that we just stood at the open-air corridor gazing intently at the twilight for a long time. Such cosmic wonders never fail to stir amazement in me, because such miraculous display often seem like divinity to me.


Cinnamon dust #5~ Boardgames~~!

On CS's recommendation, me and my friends threw our reservations and turned into the screaming, cardgame-crazy kids we used to be. We went to The Mind Cafe for an outing, and this is a quiet nook along the Sg River... until crazy people like us turned up. Sofas and coffee tables were comfortably arranged to give a homey feel and people gather here to play boardgames, card games and the like as a method of catching up with friends. The food here was not fantastic but the things you can do here are pretty wild. There is a wide range of boardgames for all tastes, from brainless Snap-type card games to the brain-power requiring English chess games.

We opted for brainless stuff like charades and card games, and one violent game in particular, was alot of fun and umm... violent. We basically chaotically traded cards to obtain a set of the same color before screaming and grabbing the limited number of bones located at the center of the coffee table. The loser, of course, is the one who did not get a bone. Sounds incredibly brainless, strategy-less, and out-of-the-mind, but surprisingly fun. It does feel good to scream like a kid once it a while haha.


So, it is quite evident my 24th anniversary isn't very sordid, ain't it?

～みはる～

Data mining

Somewhere in my last post, I expressed relief towards the ending of the mammoth experimentation and how less taxing the data analysis seemed in comparison to the phrenetic data acquisition.


I take back all my words.


Data mining and analysis (for a mammoth experiment) is one hell of a b**ch. Here's an anecdote of the past 2-data-mining weeks to illustrate why.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 1

Energetic faces. Rolled up sleeves.

Me : Yosh!! Let's count plates!
SanSan : Remember ya - red colonies, big and small green colonies, and tiny blue colonies. I've printed the record sheet here.
MH : (dons face mask) Okay. I'll count the 24h plates.
Me : I'll count the 48h plates.
P : I'm still counting the 12h plates.
R : (already marker pen in hand)
Me : 'kay, let's count!

4 hours later....

LB : Do you all want to go for lunch?
MH, R, Me : (looks up, eyes glazed)
Me : ...fifty-six, fifty-seven....
LB : I can help you pack :)
MH : I'll go for lunch.
Me : ...fifty-nine, sixty. One hundred sixty. (scribbles number on plate) I'm sooo going for lunch. I'm seeing stars already.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Day 2

Walks into lab and puts on lab coat reluctantly.

SanSan : Someone should start recording the numbers on the log sheet.
Me : I'm still counting 48h plates.
MH : I'll do it.
SanSan : R can help read the numbers.
R : Okay.

30 mins later....

Me : The small green and tiny blue colonies look the same. Which is strain 3 and which is strain 4?
MH : hmmm....
R : Yea, it's quite difficult to differentiate. Sometimes I just count all small ones as strain 3...
MH : Strain 4 has a little white peak. Strain 3 is slightly mucoidal.
Me : (stashes out an agar plate) So this is strain 4?
MH : (peers at agar plate) Hmm.... yea, I think this is strain 4, that is strain 3.
Me : Does everyone knows?
R : ..... count again?
Me : ..........................
MH : (runs around lab educating which is 3 and which is 4)

2 hours later....

Me : I can't count anymore. My eyes are hurting!
MH : (eyes glazed) Umm.
Me : I'll go plot fluorometre graphs.

5 hours later....

MH : Red - 3. Big - 35. Strain4 - 13. Next dilution, red - 7. Big - 28. Strain 4 - 12....
R : (scribbles furiously)
Me : Excuse me, which hour are you at?
MH : 12h.
Me : ...then 24h and 48h..?
MH : (eyes glazed) Not done.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Day 3

In office. Looks at plates in the lab. Turns away and plops into chair.

Me : (peers over at SanSan) Still many plates to count?
SanSan : ... and record. Some of the strains 3 and 4 are not distinguished... have to count again. And some numbers are funny. Need to count.... again...?
Me : (moans)

3 hours later....

Hunched over the lab bench with the largest trolley beside the bench, FULL of stinky agar plates and gross bacteria.

MH : .... Red - 15. Big - 166. Strain 4 - need to count.
Me : (looks up, eyes glassy, and brow furrowed) Eeehhh... but it's TNTC (too numerous to count)
MH : Yea, but the following dilution is under countable range, so we need to count these.
Me : (looks at the tiny colonies despairingly and whines) But they are so tiny and.... so many :'(
MH : ...twelve, thirteen, fourteen,....

~~~*~*~*~~~

Day 4

Bleary eyes into the office.

Me : Today no more plates to count, right?
SanSan : We will need to incubate the acid agar plates longer because strain 2 is growing very slow.
Me : ....

1 hour later....

Shal : How's the fluorometre results coming?
Me : Still plotting.
Shal : Okay. The colony counts?
SanSan : Still recording. And plotting.
Shal : Okay.

5 hours later....

Shal : Don't you think we should start discussing the results already?
SanSan : (very sien look) I still have a lot to plot.
Me : (eyes on computer, plotting) Umm.
Shal : Let's discuss tomorrow after lunch?
SanSan : Okay.
Me : (still staring at screen) Umm.

3 hours later....

MH : You all want to eat dinner?
Shal : Yea.
Me : (finally lifts face from the computer) Arghh!! How can it not work??!! I need a break from plotting!!!

~~~*~*~*~~~~

Day 5

Morning. Everyone at computer in the office. Agar plates sitting at all the benches and stinking up the lab.

SanSan : (plotting graphs)
Me : (plotting graphs)
Shal : (plotting graphs)
MH : (plotting graphs)
R : (plotting graphs)

4 hours later....

LB : Are you all going for lunch?
SanSan : Can help us pack?
Me : (plotting graphs)
Shal : (plotting graphs)
MH : (plotting graphs)
R : (plotting graphs)

2 hours later....

Shal : So are we discussing?
SanSan : I still have a lot of graphs to plot. And the numbers are weird! We need someone to re-check the plates.
MH : I'll do it.
Me : We need to take out plates from incubator also right? They are the size of a 10-cent coin now.
MH : Umm. Yea.
Me : Yucks. It smells as disgusting as it looks.

7 hours later....

Shal : So are we discussing?
SanSan : There's still a lot to plot...
Shal : Yea, but....
Me : (brain in screensaver mode) I cannot concentrate already.
Shal : We do it next week, in the morning?
Me : Yes please.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Day 8

Morning. In office. Agar plates unmoved, stench in lab is getting unbearable.

SanSan : (plotting graphs)
Me : (plotting graphs)
Shal : (plotting graphs)
MH : (plotting graphs)
R : (plotting graphs)

3 hours later....

SanSan : (plotting graphs)
Me : (plotting graphs)
Shal : (plotting graphs)
MH : (plotting graphs)
R : (plotting graphs)

2 hours later....

Shal : We still haven't discuss!!!
Glazed eyes looked up. And back down on computer screen.
Shal : .....

2 hours later....

Shal : Let's just stop plotting first and discuss.
R : Okay.
Me : Okay.
SanSan : You all go ahead. I need to finish this plot first. And guess what? We have missing plates.
Shal : ... how?!!
SanSan : Beats me. Can't find them.

6 hours later....

MH : We've been discussing 6 hours in a row.
SanSan : (points at me) She's in screensaver mode already.
Me : I'm not registering anymore. Very tired.
R : Continue tomorrow?
All : Yea.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Day 9

Morning. In office. Plates still stinking lab.

SanSan : (plotting graphs)
Me : (plotting graphs)
Shal : (plotting graphs)
MH : (plotting graphs)
R : (plotting graphs)

4 hours later....

SanSan : (plotting graphs)
Me : (plotting graphs)
Shal : (plotting graphs)
MH : (plotting graphs)
R : (plotting graphs)

3 hours later....

Extensive debate on contamination which lasted almost 4 hours.
Back to plotting.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Day 10

Morning. In office. Potted plant looking sickly. Must be the stench in the lab.

SanSan : (plotting graphs)
Me : (plotting graphs)
Shal : (plotting graphs)
MH : (plotting graphs)
R : Are we discussing?
SanSan : Some of you can go ahead with the discussion....
Shal : Okay, let's.

4 hours later....

Plotting and discussion continues.

4 hours later....

Plotting and discussion continues.

4 hours later....

Plotting and discussion continues.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Day 11

Morning. P's unhappy.

P : The smell of the lab is awful. Can't you throw the plates yet?
Me : I'll go. (dons face mask and discards all plates in hazard bag) Bleah... stinks so bad.

1 hour later....

Me : The lab's all clean! I enthanol-ed all the benches and the lab!
P : And you are still standing?!
Me : Yea... still sober from all the alcohol! hehe... (looks around in office)
SanSan : (plotting graphs)
Shal : (plotting graphs)
MH : (plotting graphs)
R : (plotting graphs)

6 hours later....

SanSan : (plotting graphs)
Me : (plotting graphs)
Shal : (plotting graphs)
MH : (plotting graphs)
R : (plotting graphs)

~~~*~*~*~~~

Day 12

Morning. In office.

SanSan : (plotting graphs)
Me : (plotting graphs)
Shal : (plotting graphs)
MH : (plotting graphs)
R : (plotting graphs)

3 hours later....

Plotting and discussion continues.

4 hours later....

Plotting and discussion continues.

2 hours later....

Me : I'll never want to do this scale of data mining ever again T_T
Shal : I know what you mean.
SanSan : I want to do experiments! Not plotting graphs T_T

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dialogue's not exactly word-for-word, but you get the idea.

～みはる～

Work & Play

The past week had been, for no better word to describe, eventful.

For the whole week, my lab colleagues and I had been tremendously busy with the massive experiment in a way we have never quite experienced before. Preparation for the experiment started on Sunday morning and transcended to the execution on early Monday morning. A few delays and stalling resulted in the experiment timepoint beginning at 3pm, which means that we would need to be acquiring data at 3am in the morning. Working in shifts, all of us worked around the clock on Tuesday, and in fact, we actually created a record for working 23hrs non-stop. On that day, I had to juggle a 3-hr class on top of experimentation, and for the first time, I practically slept thru the classes. It's like, I know vividly what the lecturers were saying, but nothing registered in my head. If not for the Shiroi Koibito cookies so kindly given to me by Shiyun-san, I would not only be sleeping but also starving through the classes. But hey, I discovered that I still have the stamina to attend classes even without one night's sleep! But towards the evening, I was already very blur and couldn't think coherently, and I almost fell asleep at the confocal microscope. To keep myself awake and warm (the confocal room is very cold!), I made a little picnic of hot Milo and Julie's peanut butter cookies for my colleague, MH and I. Nevertheless, I was quite proud that I could still carry myself until 1am, close to 24hrs of no sleep, although my colleagues kept pointing out my eyes were practically closed and that I look very sleepy. I must have been very tired, because I actually slept till near mid-noon the next day and through the noisy construction work outside my residential block. Amazing.

The following days were not so bad, even though we did work past midnight, making endless serial dilutions and spread thousands of agar plates, we managed to get through with lots of laughter and support for each other. In fact, we'd probably doubled the speed of agar spreading to 200-300 plates/hr and I've never laughed so hard in my life while aliquoting culture for spreading, thanks to YN and Shal for coming up with the 'word game'. Let's spread more acid agar ya :P

With my experience of staying up 36hrs writing thesis months ago behind me, I had thought this episode is peanuts. However, when I suddenly had breathing difficulties one night after work, I started freaking out. I did not think my body's stress response would be that dramatic, but a constricted airway and tight sensation in the chest told me otherwise. Not wanting to risk collapsing of heart attack or the like, I seeked medical consultation the next morning. I was pretty worried about getting a collapse lung (like sis many years ago) or arrhythmia, but the in-house doctor assured me my lungs were fine and my heart ECG was normal. Phew. Not that I felt really stressed out, my it seems my body had hit a limit somewhere there.

Although we worked hard, we played hard as well. To celebrate my colleagues, YN's, departure to France and P's birthday, the whole lab (i.e. plus supervisor) went out for a dinner on Thursday. We dined at a restaurant called Original Sin, under the recommendation by our supervisor. The restaurant serves excellent mediterranean vegetarian cuisine in a chic ambience. The mood was very relaxing, and we had a great time eating and laughing so hard my facial muscles ached. The food was marvellous beyond words (although fattening!!) as we tried a great variety, with everyone ordering a different main course each. I love outings with the lab because everyone is so much fun to be with.

でも！... we still have to go back counting the thousands of plates we spread the next day after the fun dinner. But with all the data acquisition work done, the pace is no longer as taxing, and what's left to be done is data analysis. So, it'll be another week of experimentation, albeit in front of computer making sense of all the data. However, midway our experiment, we discovered contamination in majority of our samples, and there seem to be a possibility of repeating.... hopefully at a smaller scale.

After a week of hard work, I basically just take weekend off lab (no agar plates for 2 days! *shuts eyes*) By doing that, I meant eating out with friends and eat eat eat. Had dinner with my colleagues on Friday night and then another buffet binge with my friends in Chinatown today to celebrate AM's and HC's bday. I know I'll be paying dearly for all the calorie intake these few days, but I so enjoy eating out with friends and laughing the day away. At anytime, I love being in lab, with my colleagues and friends!

Oh, and Happy Birthday to AM and HC! May you both be blessed with happiness and love!

～みはる～

夏祭り

夕べ２００７年の夏祭りが行ってきました！
日本料理を食べたり、ラムネを飲んだり、金魚すくいとヨーヨー釣りもやりました。
シーユンさんと一緒にしたんので、すごくたのしかった！
いっぱいヨーヨーと金魚も集まったし。。。うれしかった！
なのに、私もシーユンさんも金魚を飼うことができないから、最後に全部四匹もプールに入って戻りました！あのオーガナイザーさん達ちょっとびっくりそうですけど、本当に楽しかったよ。
そして、浴衣がきるの人たちもたくさんいました。
あんなきれいな服も着たいけど、ちょっと高すぎので、できなくて残念でした。
こんなに楽しい祭りはぜひまた来年行きたいです！

The Natsu Matsuri (Summer Festival) held by JAS in Changi was my first and I must say I enjoyed it alot!! Thanks to Shiyun, who got us tickets, was I able to take part in the summer festival.

While waiting for the shuttle bus to ferry us to the Japanese School, we saw a number of Japanese (and maybe locals) donning the yukata (cotton version of summer kimono) complete with geta (wooden clogs) and the squarish tote bag. Urayamashikatta.... We had contemplated wearing the yukata too, but with the exorbitant cost of donning one, we finally went with casual English clothing (i.e. bermudas, khakis, tees)

There was quite a crowd at the festival, but I'm sure it's nothing like the real ones in Japan (where you would have to squeeze most of your way, and queue loooong queues). Anyway, our stomachs demanded attention first, so we made a beeline to the food stalls. Using the coupons, we exchanged it for our main course dinner and drinks. We took bentos and ramune (I like ramune, yay!) and digged into them while 'washing' our eyes with the parade of people in all sorts of interesting yukata. Some donned really pretty prints, but there were very weird dressers too. There was one paper thin guy in sheet-white yukata who fished out a white yoyo... whom we decided is not, umm..., that thing (you know, with the 7th ghost month and everything...).

There were not many games stall up for the festival, but we tried 2 which kept us happy enough. We first tried the Yoyo Tsuri, which means 'fishing yoyo'. Basically, they give you a strand of paper(!) with a metal hook attached to the end and you have to use this hook to fish out the water balloons in a mini swimming pool. The queue leading to this game was incredibly long, but we got all excited at our turn and aimed for the color of the water balloons we wanted. We managed to fish out one each (mine's a blue, and Shiyun's a very pretty murasaki (purple)!!), but the paper tore before we could even attempt to fish for another :( However, we went back for a second round to fish more yoyo's and in the end I went home with 3!

After fishing yoyo's, we joined the long queue for Kin-gyo Sukui, which means 'scooping gold fish'. We were provided with a small plastic bowl and a scoop, which has a thin tracing paper for the filter membrane. Joining the crowd, we squatted beside the pool of tiny, terrified gold fishes and tried to scoop them into the plastic bowl without breaking the paper membrane. It was pretty an impossible task I think, because firstly, paper tears when wet; secondly, the terrified fishes were swimming for their lives away from the scoopers; and lastly, with all the crouching your legs cramp in no time. Nevertheless, I was amazed that we actually managed to scoop up a total of 4 gold fishes, although I kinda cheated abit. By putting both the bowl and the scoop together into the pool, I basically just trapped the fishes into the bowl :P Actually, I kinda felt sorry for the fishes, because for the whole night, they were swimming frantically around the tiny pool in great stress trying to escape all the scoopers.

We were pretty pleased with our catch... until we came to what we were going to do with the 4 fishes. Shiyun suggested I keep them in the lab, but when I thought about the wilting potted plant in my lab, I was sure these swimmers will be facing a death fate. Because neither of us knows how to rear a fish, we finally decided to do a good cause: release the fishes back into the pool. The look on the organizers' faces when we asked to release the fishes back was sufficient to tell me we're the first ones to do so :P However, come to think about it, I don't think it was a good cause afterall... the fishes ended up in another scooper's bowl anyway.

It was all a fun night and fortunately for us, the weather was pleasant. On top of it, I actually bumped into Fujita-sensei! She was all harried running around with her hyperactive son and Itou-sensei's little daughter. In all, I had a great time and if possible, would definitely like to return for the festival next year!

本当に楽しかった！

～みはる～

Lazy Saturday

Today's a one-day breather from my tightly packed schedule stretched over these two weeks. I've been juggling classes, seminars, planning and executing complex experiments, data analyses, and social life in a manner I could only best describe as phrenetic. Monday saw me running from lab to office to class to cafeteria to office again to lab again. I've even broke my personal record for staying back working past midnight and spreading some 200++ agar plates with a colleague in a neck-breaking speed of 100 plates/hour. The massive data collected demanded analyses on the day after, as I run from lab to office to class to lab again. As the analyses were going on, another massive experiment planning was underway.

Although it had been a very busy week, it had been fun because I get to work closely with my colleagues and learnt many new things. I get to understand the joy of team-working, the frustrations of managing task delegation, the emotional implications of working with people coming from different training and background. I also get to brush up my techinques with the equipments I was not so familiar with, and appreciate the pains of preparing for a humongous experiment and the analyses that follows.

In fact, the mother of all experiments will commence tomorrow. This experiment is so large scale it involves the entire lab and several days of prior preparation. We made agar plates in thousands, and prepared tubes in thousands. I've never made so much agar or aliquoted so many tubes a day in my life! For the entire day, everyone in the lab was efficiently manouvering back and forth the lab and the autoclave room mixing agar, sterilizing agar, pouring agar, drying agar, packing agar. Nevertheless, I find the scale of the experiment exciting and am really looking forward to (another tiring but fun) next week.

Although I had been very occupied with my work, I tried to make time for socializing with my friends. Somehow, after graduation, meeting them (university mates) was not as easy as before, and it seems to take a little more effort to keep in touch with them. Probably it had been that way, but I didn't feel the impact of it until my previous housemates and I started living apart. Previously, they will somehow be just in the next room, or in the kitchen, or simply just in the house. Now that we no longer live together, we can only see each other in the weekends, when we are not occupied with work or other things. The same goes to my coursemates. No longer are there the days we see each other in class or grab lunch together. When the emptiness encroahes, it makes me feel quite sad and lonely because it makes acquaintance seem so superficial. Out of sight, out of mind..kind of thing.

Last weekend, a friend had organized an alumnus gathering, and I was glad to have attended it. I get to meet with friends I have not seen for a long time, and had a great talk with friends I had so enjoyed their company all these while. It served to remind me that I still have ties with many people whom I have not been keeping in touch with. It makes me realize that I should put aside time to meet with with them once in a while, no matter how busy I would become. Because being with friends makes me feel like I have life apart from work. Which is why, tonight I'll be going to Natsu Matsuri with Shiyun-san!!

So excuse me while I soak in the remaining of my lazy Saturday....

～みはる～

Musings

Humility is the path to understanding.

Understanding is the root of compassion.

Compassion is the source of peace.

Peace perpetuates love.

Love grants us the joy of living.

～みはる～

Spitz - Robinson

I can never quite understand how certain songs have titles that are never mentioned in the lyrics of the song itself. Think Iris by Goo Goo Dolls.

Of late, I've been addicted to songs by Spitz and I find one song particularly nice. It's named "Robinson" from their 1995 Honey album. When I read the lyrics, nowhere did the title name "Robinson" appear throughout the whole song. In fact, I don't know how "Robinson" is related to the meaning of the song, or what "Robinson" means at all. You can read the kanji and tell me. In the meantime, the song's on repeat mode in my playlist.

ロビンソン
(Robinson)

新しい季節は　なぜかせつない日々で
かわらの道を自転車で　走る君を追い変えた
思い出のレコードと大げさなエピソードを
疲れた方にぶら下げて　しかめ面まぶしそうに

同じセリフ同じ時　思わず口にするような
ありふれたこの魔法で　作り上げたよう

誰も触れない　二人だけの国
君の手を離さぬように
大きな力で　空に浮かべたら
ルララ宇宙の風に乗る

片隅に捨てられて　呼吸をやめない猫も
どこか似ている　抱き上げて　無理やりにほほ寄せるよ
いつもの交差点で　見上げた丸い窓は
うすよごれてる　ぎりぎりの　みかずきも僕を見てた

待ち伏せた夢のほとり　驚いた君の瞳
そして僕ら今ここで　生まれ変わるよ

誰も触れない　二人だけの国
終わらない歌ばら撒いて
大きな力で　空に浮かべたら
ルララ宇宙の風に乗る

大きな力で　空に浮かべたら
ルララ宇宙の風に乗る
ルララ宇宙の風に乗る

Romaji here

～みはる～

In breve

Gomen. I know I've been not blogging for a looong time.
Two excuses: (i) very lazy, and (ii) very busy.

The latter is hardly an excuse... it's a fact. Anyway, lots of things had happened, and I can't possibly detail them in one post, so I'll take the short cut and do it in breve.

• Transformers The Movie

I'm hardly a cinema person. The number of times I've stepped into a cinema in my entire life has got to be less than 20. But when I was back home for vacation, I could not resist paying the few bucks to watch Transformers The Movie. And I did not regret it. One of the greatest action movie I've seen. And, oh, the nostalgia. Watching the movie transported me back to my childhood days of Transformers the cartoon, Thundercats, Smurfs etc. Now where is my Optimus Prime toy figure....

• Pre-PhD break

My two week holiday in my hometown was the last of my break before commencing my PhD studies. It had been a terribly short, but enjoyable time..... slacking and eating. Come to think about it, I always eat alot when going back home. This time though, we made a weekend trip to KL and stayed in a 5-star hotel at corporate rate and stuffed ourselves mad with good food at every meal. Can't tell you how much I enjoy eating, shopping, and lounging in such luxurious setting for the weekend. Thanks to Mum and her dunno-wat-it's-called membership card.

Since it's the last break before PhD (no term break okay!) commences, I made a point to satisfy my culinary desires to the maximum. Fluffy eggs tarts and exquisite dim sum from Golden Phoenix, Hokkien Mee and Laksa from Pulau Tikus, Spaghetti Aglia Olio from Dome, Korokke from Kirishima, Bak Hu Roti from Uncle at the padang, Yellow-Skin durians from Balik Pulau Ah Pek, Roti Canai from Bt Jambul... I probably ate 4 years' worth of Penang food in two weeks. Once research starts, there'll be hardly time for going home and dig in culinary heaven.

• PhD

After one month of scouting around for supervisors and projects, I finally made a very difficult decision to return to the lab I was attached for my thesis project. There were alot of factors which I painfully mulled over in choosing a lab for my PhD, but in the end, I decided to work with people I felt would be most enjoyable working with. It was a relief to be released from the heavy-duty decision-making and thinking, and I made a promise to myself that once I had made my decision, I will never look back and will put all my effort to make this coming 4 years an enriching experience.

I was pleasantly welcomed to the lab, because my supervisor was very enthusiastic to have me on board, and all the staff in the lab were equally as warm. On the week I returned to the lab, we had a small party after a meeting to (in parallel) celebrate a colleague's birthday, welcome a new staff and myself to the lab, and to send off two attachment students who will be terminating their internship in the lab. It was really fun, chortling and laughing, and I totally felt at home in the lab.

• Head-hunted

I would be lying if I said I did not feel a teeny weeny bit unsure or insecure about my decision to do PhD, but an incident last week erased every remnant of this insecurity. It was on an evening approximately 1.5 weeks after I went back to doing lab work.

I was doing data analysis on my computer when my phone rang, and when I answered the call, to my great surprise, it was from the HR of a multinational company. The manager had received my CV from the university and was inclined to recruit me into their company. She first gave a brief promotion about the company and the benefits, i.e. competitive salary and positions, and then asked whether I'm already attached to a company. When I told her I am continuing my postgraduate studies, she sounded surprise, and then instinctively asked, "Masters?.." I said, "No, doctoral," and could literally hear her gasp in astonishment. I was like, 'okay... what's so weird about it'. But it seems she was impressed with my direct-PhD-from-Bachelor programme, and was even more impressed when she found out I was sponsored to do this PhD programme. I didn't think this was all that impressive: considering many Bachelors can do direct PhD and most, if not all, the graduate students in my school are sponsored to do PhD. It is nothing out of ordinary, but it seemed people from the industry like her find it otherwise.

Then it occured to me, hey, PhD is a great choice afterall! I'm doing what I like to do, and people from the industry are actually finding it impressive. So maybe that can be a good selling point upon graduation? Hmmm. After a little talk, she told me to give them a call after graduation, and I went like, 'whoa, can k.i.v. so long one ah?'. But it's kinda nice to know that there is a great value in doing PhD now, and it actually makes me feel glad and proud to be doing PhD now.

• Loan-sharker and loan-sharkee

I didn't know my neighbours owed loan shark money. A few days ago, I was in my room doing data analysis (again) when I heard a voice talking over the phone outside my room in the corridor. I peered out and to my shock, there's a fully armed policeman patrolling the corridor at my door front, all the while talking into his cellphone. I freaked out, afraid that this is one bogus cop with a real gun and ready to attack me outside my door. But he was just patrolling up and down, so I thought maybe some neighbours had complaints and stuff.

But he patrolled for some time, and I became pretty scared, so I ran to the living room to shut all doors and windows. After a while, I heard more voices, but they stopped after my neighbour returned. When my housemate came back, I informed him about the patrolling police and he said it likely our neighbour owed loan shark money. I didn't believe him until he showed me the graffiti on the wall of the stairwell next to our apartment. It has the name of our neighbour scribbled in purple chalk, along with his house unit number, phone number and a demand for money back. My face paled upon seeing such graffiti for the first time. I've only seen such things on newspaper reports and dramas.... never expected it to be outside my room wall.

• Orchestra concert

Thanks to my university sponsoring a symphonic performance, I have a little orchestra madness lately. Last Friday, the Sg Symphonic Orchestra (SSO) was invited to perform in our auditorium, and I took the chance to experience my first live orchestra concert. Admission was free, and the best part is they had a line-up of songs I would love to listen:

Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet: Fantasy Overture
Sarasate's Carmen's Fantasy (violin solo by a very talented violinist)
Alfven's Midsummer's Vigil

I was very excited about watching the orchestra, and very receptive of symphonic music too, thanks to the influence of Nodame Cantabile drama. And boy, did I enjoyed the performance. It was superb. In the auditorium, it's like watching Nodame Cantabile live. The orchestra was fantastic and watching the conductor, it was something like watching Tamaki Hiroshi doing the conducting scene, although this conductor is the real deal of course. I loved every song they played, especially Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy. The violin solo was captivating.

This led me to enthusiastically inviting friends to watch their next act on Sunday, in the Botanic Gardens. In the end, I towed WW, CS and my sister to the Botanic Gardens to listen to classical music in the park. It's my first outdoor classical concert experience, and although I could complain alot about the sound quality (it's bad acoustics without the auditorium walls!), it was nevertheless enjoyable. Of course, such enjoyment did not come without the pains of getting to the park itself. I have never been to the Botanic Gardens, let alone knowing how to get there. In the end, WW and I got lost after taking public transportation based on the streetdirectory.com recommendations, where the bus left us in the middle of a very busy highway, and without walking directions to the park. We finally took a taxi into the garden, which was actually just a turning away from the location we flagged the taxi. I didn't know whether the joke was on us or the irritated taxi driver.

• Research life

I have been very busy since Day1 of my return to the lab. My supervisor is now in the writing for paper publishing and since my thesis project was in some (remote) way related, I was made to be included in the paper publishing team. Hence, I've been very busy doing experiments to collect more comprehensive and concrete data, which explains the endless data analysis I had to do over these few weeks. Furthermore, I've been orientating and working with the new post-doc on my official PhD project, which is on a pathogenic bacteria, hence all the starting up work has been taking up my time and energy too. It's like, a month ago, I was basically doing nothing, rotting at home, but now I'm so occupied with work that all I want to do when I reach my room is to fall on bed and sleep. However, I can't help but feel fulfilled having a purpose to look forward to each day and I hope to keep up this positivity for the following years.

Okay, this is the extend I will backlog for today. Hopefully, I will have time to drop in again soon... if I'm not doing data analysis, that is.

～みはる～