GARGANTUAN steps
Friday, February 29, 2008
floorball sticks, prions and cotton
First of all, happy birthday to my dear friends Michael Lui (24.2.1985), Clare and Kenneth (28.2.1985)! We sure are getting old real soon, and wrinkles are already appearing on my forehead! I credit that to over-studying, if there ever was such a term.Meanwhile, it is exactly 2 months to the start of my exams and the nerves are beginning to get to me. School hasn't ended yet, and I haven't even gone to Russia for my Easter break yet, but I feel the pressure to study hitting me in a continual wave, and that rises each day till I'm sure it'll reach tsunamic proportions. I really hope to be able to knuckle down when the time comes, I can't even think about failure. I've prepared all my holidays already so that is settled. Will be going to Switzerland for four days with my medic friends after exams and even that has be planned and sorted out! All that's left now is finishing up the remaining lectures for this term before starting some serious mugging.
Will be a busy weekend ahead, with me going to attend Malaysian Night, which is a production by the Malaysian Society, tomorrow night. Really bemused that the dress code is semi-formal, taking themselves over-seriously but yet holding it in the school great hall and serving nasi lemak for dinner. Worse still, dinner is after the entire event, which they hope will end by 10pm. Kind of dissatisfied that the planning is rather poor, expecting people to have dinner so late? Rationalising that the interval has insufficient time for people to eat is really quite irrational to me. Meanwhile, I'll have to go to school tomorrow in my Sunday best and last the entire day, and that really irks me the most. I probably should wear a tie.
I attended the third and final lecture by Professor Stanley Prusiner, the discoverer of prions which won him the Nobel Prize in 1997, earlier this evening. He spoked about the future research into prions, discovering how they replicate and possibly branching out into Alzheimer's disease. Really inspired to go into the research field, but perhaps something much more stimulating than what I did last summer. He'll be having three more talks in the coming three months and it involves having a conversation with past Nobel Laureates! Here's a picture of him!
Will be a busy weekend ahead, with me going to attend Malaysian Night, which is a production by the Malaysian Society, tomorrow night. Really bemused that the dress code is semi-formal, taking themselves over-seriously but yet holding it in the school great hall and serving nasi lemak for dinner. Worse still, dinner is after the entire event, which they hope will end by 10pm. Kind of dissatisfied that the planning is rather poor, expecting people to have dinner so late? Rationalising that the interval has insufficient time for people to eat is really quite irrational to me. Meanwhile, I'll have to go to school tomorrow in my Sunday best and last the entire day, and that really irks me the most. I probably should wear a tie.
I attended the third and final lecture by Professor Stanley Prusiner, the discoverer of prions which won him the Nobel Prize in 1997, earlier this evening. He spoked about the future research into prions, discovering how they replicate and possibly branching out into Alzheimer's disease. Really inspired to go into the research field, but perhaps something much more stimulating than what I did last summer. He'll be having three more talks in the coming three months and it involves having a conversation with past Nobel Laureates! Here's a picture of him!
Professor Stanley Ben Prusiner
Nobel Laureate 1997 (Physiology or Medicine)
Nobel Laureate 1997 (Physiology or Medicine)
I just bought a new blade for my floorball stick, the new Unihoc Zorro blade (it has a pre-made pocket at the blade-end) together with the other two Bens - Ben Loh and Ben Goh. Unfortunately, the holes for the screws were not really aligned that well and I had a bit of difficulty fixing it in, but it finally did. Hopefully it will help improve my game. Time for me to change the grip too, if there was a golden one available that is.
There's going to be floorball on Saturday at Wilson House so I shall get to test out this new blade. Sunday is UK's Mother's Day, have to go and get something for my aunt, if I do get the time to find something! Forgot to mention that I'll be going to Manchester from 7-8th March together with Fontane. Was suppose to meet up with Raymond, but unfortunately, he has to go back to Singapore for unforseen circumstances. Please keep him in your prayers. Meanwhile, there's still Jason, my old army friend there! So that's more than good enough!
Labels: Floorball, Lecture, London, Nobel Prize, Science
Sunday, February 17, 2008
27 days later
Haven't updated my blog for the past few weeks (27 days to be exact) because I haven't had any idle ramblings in my head. Not that I'm going to go on a rampage now, but here's an update of my life since a few weeks back.
Had a floorball tournament 3 weeks back that was a Jekyll and Hyde performance, playing exceptionally well and beating teams against the odds, and then losing the next week playing absolutely pathetically. So much for all the London Vikings' trainings that I keep going to every Monday. Had a bust up with one of them where he kicked and tripped me dirtily after play had stopped and I just wouldn't sit down on that one. I don't mind being roughed up during play, but he lashed out and kick me after play had been called to a stop, so I gave a good piece of my mind. Don't think I would have won in a fight against him though, though he's much more gravity-challenged, but they all think Chinese people have an innate ability for martial arts, thus things get any worse.
Celebrated my birthday that weekend too! Had a nice Korean tepanyaki dinner with Fon, Ben Loh and wife, Zhijing, Ben Goh and Han Yan. Brought my camera out but forgot to take any photos unfortunately. Uncle Joe brought me out for dim sum on the actual day itself and then Fon topped it up by bringing me to Gaucho for an excellent steak dinner! Gaucho is definitely high on my recommended list for eating steak, if anyone is interested!
Meanwhile, Amanda and her fellow exchange student Eric came down last weekend. It was good to see her again, though things didn't turn out the way I expected. I was highly amused by the endless opinions that Eric had, from how sushi-rice had much more resistance when biting down on it as compared to normal rice and also how horse mackeral sushi melted faster in the mouth than just normal mackeral sushi. Also, I must always remember how one must request for vinegar when eating 'xiao long bao' (steamed dumplings) during dim sum so as to be truly authentic 'xiao long bao' gourmets.
Valentine's day was just a few days back and unfortunately, the Japanese restaurent that Fon and I wanted to eat at Ealing Common was fully booked on that night. We did have a succulent meal at another Japanese restaurent a few doors down, and not in the least superior at all! Meanwhile, happy friendship day to one and all back home and also in Manchester! Know I haven't been talking much to you guys but life is really hectic (lousy excuse...haha)!
Next up, I want to go and watch Speed the Plow, which is a play with Kevin Spacey (of Kaiser Soze fame) and Jeff Goldblum (think he acted in Jurassic Park) acting in it! It has been higly rated too! Also, there is a Chinese New Year lunch (how many are there!?~) at Trysha's place tomorrow with all the medics and some others too! I'm contributing can longans and lychees and also glutinous rice balls with peanut/red bean filling! We have to plan for an after-exam holiday too, not too sure where yet though, but I'm quite looking forward to that! And also my upcoming trip to Russia. I've got my visa settled and so I'm more or less waiting to go, just waiting for time to come along!
Meanwhile, will have to get my work plan sorted out too. And I'm highly interested in researching for a few places to go on holiday - Germany, New York, Israel, Peru and fascinatingly enough, Iran. Got to thank my brother for that last one there!
Had a floorball tournament 3 weeks back that was a Jekyll and Hyde performance, playing exceptionally well and beating teams against the odds, and then losing the next week playing absolutely pathetically. So much for all the London Vikings' trainings that I keep going to every Monday. Had a bust up with one of them where he kicked and tripped me dirtily after play had stopped and I just wouldn't sit down on that one. I don't mind being roughed up during play, but he lashed out and kick me after play had been called to a stop, so I gave a good piece of my mind. Don't think I would have won in a fight against him though, though he's much more gravity-challenged, but they all think Chinese people have an innate ability for martial arts, thus things get any worse.
Celebrated my birthday that weekend too! Had a nice Korean tepanyaki dinner with Fon, Ben Loh and wife, Zhijing, Ben Goh and Han Yan. Brought my camera out but forgot to take any photos unfortunately. Uncle Joe brought me out for dim sum on the actual day itself and then Fon topped it up by bringing me to Gaucho for an excellent steak dinner! Gaucho is definitely high on my recommended list for eating steak, if anyone is interested!
Meanwhile, Amanda and her fellow exchange student Eric came down last weekend. It was good to see her again, though things didn't turn out the way I expected. I was highly amused by the endless opinions that Eric had, from how sushi-rice had much more resistance when biting down on it as compared to normal rice and also how horse mackeral sushi melted faster in the mouth than just normal mackeral sushi. Also, I must always remember how one must request for vinegar when eating 'xiao long bao' (steamed dumplings) during dim sum so as to be truly authentic 'xiao long bao' gourmets.
Valentine's day was just a few days back and unfortunately, the Japanese restaurent that Fon and I wanted to eat at Ealing Common was fully booked on that night. We did have a succulent meal at another Japanese restaurent a few doors down, and not in the least superior at all! Meanwhile, happy friendship day to one and all back home and also in Manchester! Know I haven't been talking much to you guys but life is really hectic (lousy excuse...haha)!
Next up, I want to go and watch Speed the Plow, which is a play with Kevin Spacey (of Kaiser Soze fame) and Jeff Goldblum (think he acted in Jurassic Park) acting in it! It has been higly rated too! Also, there is a Chinese New Year lunch (how many are there!?~) at Trysha's place tomorrow with all the medics and some others too! I'm contributing can longans and lychees and also glutinous rice balls with peanut/red bean filling! We have to plan for an after-exam holiday too, not too sure where yet though, but I'm quite looking forward to that! And also my upcoming trip to Russia. I've got my visa settled and so I'm more or less waiting to go, just waiting for time to come along!
Meanwhile, will have to get my work plan sorted out too. And I'm highly interested in researching for a few places to go on holiday - Germany, New York, Israel, Peru and fascinatingly enough, Iran. Got to thank my brother for that last one there!
