Bored

Sitting in Yan Yao's still-bare apartment on a Friday mid-night, I am bored mindless.

I've had enough of gaming (completed a DLC pack in Borderlands 2); I just got done with my TV show (this time it's Hell Kitchen, Season 11); I got bored watching a live DOTA 2 game commentary with friends (living next door); I kept floating between units to check on people, and am not in the mood (or clothing to do a workout).

So what else can I do but blog?!  *enthusiasm: activated* It's been quite a while since I've crammed my emotions and experiences and wrung them out dry.

Work is great, as usual.  My boss had a 2-week vacation to Florida to see his in-laws and left me, 2 undergrads and a grad student to watch over the lab.  The first few days were fine, but uneventful.  As we were in midst of a steak run project (which had a 20 steak test per week for four weeks), midweek was hectic as Brett, Alex and I have to excise a 5 x 10 cm portion for each steak (we had scalpels and templates), dilute them in peptone water and mush them up with a stomacher machine.  We then have to do ten-fold dilutions for each sample, from 10^-2 until 10^-7 on both Anaerobic Count Plates and Enterobacteriaceae Petrifilms (two per dilution).  Yes, it took the whole day to do (about 5 working hours) and it was rather tiresome.  Thankfully it was only a day in the week.

Run 2 was done smoothly with minimal deviations and anomalies.  However, we (or maybe I?) plotted INCORRECT data points to the spreadsheet, which was programmed to count the number of generations of bacteria per sample.  The deviation, was a log count of about 2, when it was originally supposed to be around 7.  That was a difference between 100 bacteria per area of exposure, to 10000000 bacteria.  That was boo bad, to say the least!  I felt like crap, and quickly emailed our supervisor about the mistake.  He noted it and made the necessary arranges to contact the company.  Sadly, this was only noticed in the following week, when we need Run 3.

Our boss got back shortly after Run 3 and told me that the steak project was cancelled and that "the company had pulled out".  I sincerely hoped it was because the company were satisfied with the results, and not the more apparent notion.

Besides that hiccough, I had my first experience boating with the Malaysian peeps.  It was a really great way to unwind (although I had a major ENGL 250 assignment to do, dislike that class...).  The tan was not fun at all, but kayaking and floating along the lake in Big Creek, Iowa was a great experience.  Here are some pictures (a tad gutted that the photo of me kayaking was deleted, life goes on!).

On a sourer note, Yen Fei and I got into a big argument.  It was terrible as I felt like I was treated like a kid, and the pent up anger made me snap at her.  It was solely my fault, and not approaching her in person like an grown-up only made matters worse.  If there's one thing I can take from that, it is to always be honest and straightforward to a person.  Speak your mind, and act like an adult.  Don't go talk cryptic messages and spout dribble behind that person's back with the notion of "avoiding conflict".  We eventually made up, thankfully.  It hurts to think about how I had wronged her, and myself too.  But a lesson learnt it was.

Last night was Mun Wai's birthday, so naturally alcohol was involved too.  Sadly, it was another off-day for me, as a can of Lime-a-rita (of 8% alcohol content) left me with rashes.  I beat a hasty retreat to Yan Yao's room, as I had work the next day.  I was not prepared to miss work due to social protocol.

I suppose that's it for now.  Sorry for not writing in a while.  Take care, peeps!

Royals - Lorde