pre-exams: did you miss me?

On 18th August, this young man would have turned 22 years old and one year shy of graduating as an engineer. Please show your support in memory of my good friend by signing up as members here: http://justiceforgaryrobert.webs.com/

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Finally I am back blogging after my hectic mid-semester exams are finally over. I have so much stuff to update and I had originally intended to blog all day for this three days but since I have a report due Monday and lots of LI-related stuff (that I had procrastinated before this) to do, I decided to keep this post short and simple (hopefully).

#1: Tze Im’s bday on 1st August 2009.

I know this happened ages ago and I had intended to blog about this earlier, but with the sudden passing of Gary, I thought it might be a little inappropriate…

Anyway, this was a birthday surprise gone wrong. We wanted to surprise Tze Im with a bday cake as she come back to Setapak from Penang but tak jadi lor. When Wei Wei and I went to their Prima house, we found out that Janice and MC went down to eat dinner. Wei2 and me were in charge of buying the cake and then we passed it to Ai Li to put into the fridge. Few minutes later, Ai Li came out, looking worried. We wondered what was wrong.

“I cannot fit the cake into the fridge.”

HAHAHAHA. Ai Li is so so cute ;)

So, the 3 of us tried to fit the bday cake into their small fridge by removing some of their groceries. Suddenly, Tze Im came back with Jia Ying. Panicked, I went and greeted her with the bday candles in my hand. But she already suspected something wrong when she saw Wei2 and me in her house.

Worse thing is, while waiting for Janice and MC to returned from dinner, Tze Im had opened the fridge and we didn’t know how to stop her. Haih…

Ya lor, so no surprise but still got bday cake. Hehe…so,

Happy 22nd Birthday “Lao Im!”

-the cake, the birthday girl and the present-

#2: Mice lab (again!) on 10th August 2009.

The last time was back in 2nd year. Needless to say I was not thrilled when I heard that our CNS lab is about doing experiments on mice again.

The objective of this time’s lab? To test the sensory nerves of the mice. Sounds kesian right?

My group had to forced the mouse into a restrainer and place its tail into warm water. When the tail flicks, then we recorded the time. Second time, we injected morphine (as an analgesic) and repeat the whole thing again.

The mice this time around are super ganas lor. Will not stop struggling, unlike the last time. Will not stay still at all, made me so freaked out just trying to put its tail into the water. And, really, touching the tail was so so disgusting. And freakin’ scary!

I seriously hope I don’t get the mice clinical test for my thesis next year…:(

-my group did the Tail-Flick test-

-this is the group that sat next to my group, which we had nicknamed “The Group with the Olympic Mouse”. Why? because their mouse jumped out of the container. Super jumper lor. That is why they had to put the metal grill on the top to prevent it from jumping for its freedom. This group did the Hot-Plate test-

#3: Visit to Nuclear Agency Malaysia on 13th August 2009.

I think the place is kind of interesting but don’t know whether is it because we don’t know much about nuclear energy, we all got kind of confused listening to the explanations, up to a point when we got kind of bored already.

The worst part of the day is not the trip but the logistics is so crap and a waste of time. Imagine waiting for the bus for 2 whole hours just to bring us back to Setapak. Why everyone was so stressful? The next day we had a Biopharmquiz with Dr Haliza.

We got on the bus at around 1pm. But reached back home at 9pm even though the visit ended at office hours at 5pm. Why? Thanks to logistics lor.

One thing I cannot stand my coursemates doing is to stick together like glue. The X of them are always together, whenever we are divided into non-formal sub-groups like this. What is this? Kindergarten? How old are you until you are so socially inept to mingle with your own coursemates? Haih…

Conclusion: The place is very interesting to learn about nuclear energy but maybe next time I should come prepared so I would not feel blur most of the time. Logistics is crap.

For more, click about Wei2’s experience and all the pics are on her facebook.

-On the way there, sat with Sia. Hehe. I am never going to sit near JC (the one in the background) and Gan Boon Yan anymore. Boys that cannot stay still-

-the nuclear reactor is seriously, the highlight of the trip. Super cool weii. But no pics allowed so this is the miniature version of the actual reactor that is 1000X bigger lar of course. Funny part is how they actually use a custom-made fishing rod to fished out the radioactive material-

-the seven of us good friends. Tze Im wore black, she absorbed the most radiation.

Hahaha. No lar, that is not true-

-The two Carolyns and Wei Ping aka Terev Dickxon were in the same sub-group as me. It was fun hanging out with them-

-Mr. Emo-

-Finally he is back in the blogging scene after a super long hiatus-

-Bloggers Rock!!! Ai Li baybeh, Babi Sia, me and Ah Jane-

-the younger and cuter bunch out of the 7 of us. Hahaha-

-(L-R): YongXin, TzeIm, MeiChieng, Janice, JiaYing, AiLi, me, YuSiang and SzeWei-

-Everyone is not wasting time studying for the quiz the next day and also the upcoming mid-sem exams-

#4: My mom’s birthday lunch @ Mid Valley on 15th August 2009

My Mom turns XX years old on 13th August but because I was not around then, I treated her to a birthday lunch at Manhattan Fish Market @ Mid Valley on a Saturday.

Mom’s grilled seafood platter was heaven and my fish fillet was fails miserably. Not tasty at all lor.

Also tried this Korean sushi / sandwich that tasted good but very filling with all the rice.

Did some shopping but nothing interesting to look at. Bought something though. Will post it up in my shopping blog soon (hopefully!)

#5: ALICE’S GRADUATION PARTY on 15th August 2009

After lunch in the afternoon with Mom. at night I had dinner at an old friend’s house, Alice Pushpanathan. She graduated from UM recently. I know, so fast right? Sob Sob…I still got one and a half more years to go. Alice went to matriculation so that is why she is graduating a lot sooner than me.

Thanks to Stephanie who became our driver that day to Alice’s house, which is quite far. All the way at Seri Kembangan. We even got lost TWICE. First time around Stephanie misunderstood the directions. Second time, Jagdeesh who was guiding Stephanie through directions given by Alice via SMS told Steph to turn left. Only after she turned left, Jag said, “But the directions ask to turn right.” Hahahaha. That was a riot.

Ok-lar cannot blame the girl. She rarely comes back to Malaysia since she is busy becoming a future doctor, studying Medicine at Kursk, Russia. Cool right? She is really awesome for being able to survive so long in a tough course so far away. Currently, in her 4th year of studies.

Stephanie, on the other hand, is in her final year studying Biology at UKM. Her thesis is more on zoology, studying about some rare crocodile species. Ya, I didn’t really get it. Hahaha. I am sorry, I am not so in touch with the animal kingdom.

Malvina, she is working with her Dad right now. And honestly, Malvina is such a great motivational speaker that she has insipired me very much to put all my effort in my studies right now. She is right, we need to think positive in order to attract positive energy and giving yourself a time limit to make mistakes in order to grow from it. Jagdeesh emphasized to me about getting my basics strong and although I cannot finish reading a certain subject, make sure what I know, I know it damn well.

Thanks friends for everything!

-Malvina, Jagdeesh, Alice, me and Stephanie-

Post-exams post is after this…