Optimist, sunshine, nature, apples, clouds, animals, walking, being me, air-rifle, sketching, music, laughing with friends, reading, living each day to the fullest
'On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

bolditalicunderlinestrikeout

Secret, a song which i have been addicted to lately.
I need another story
Something to get off my chest
My life gets kind of boring
Need something that I can confess

Till all my sleeves are stained red
From all the truth that I've said
Come by it honestly I swear
Thought you saw me wink, no, I've been on the brink, so

[Chorus]
Tell me what you want to hear
Something that'll like those ears
Sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away
This time
Don't need another perfect lie
Don't care if critics never jump in line
I'm gonna give all my secrets away

My God, amazing how we got this far
It's like we're chasing all those stars
Who drive the shiny big black cars

And everyday I see the news
All the problems we could solve
And when a situation rises
Just write it into an album
send it straight to gold
I don't really like my flow, oh, so

[Chorus]
Tell me what you want to hear
Something that'll like those ears
Sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away
This time
Don't need another perfect lie
Don't care if critics never jump in line
I'm gonna give all my secrets away

Got no reason
Got no shame
Got no family
I can blame
Just don't let me disappear
I'mma tell you everything

[Chorus 2x]
Tell me what you want to hear
Something that'll like those ears
Sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away
This time
Don't need another perfect lie
Don't care if critics never jump in line
I'm Gonna give all my secrets away
__________________________________________

I feel strangely free right now.
Hence, I am blogging.

REP (Research Exposure Programme) 15-17Mar

Overall, I think its because of what we did on the last day that made it slightly more memorable for me. This research exposure was rather interesting because we got to conduct hands on experiments like: Bacterial Transformation, Protein Purification, Ferrofluids... which I think is a rare opportunity thinking that my other peers in school would not get to try. So.. Its another call to tell myself to BUCK UP!

Day1:
After registration we had a welcome address by A*GA followed by a rather lousy Ice-breaking game played with Group A. It is lousy because I felt that the 'Ice' is merely touched and not broken. Then we had a talk by this Denmark Scientist who studies Cell Biology. It was quite boring initially but I had to keep myself awake. I tried all sorts of stuff, drinking water, pinching myself, doodling, pulling my eyelids.. haha. And I also asked her about her opinions on whether TCM is a Science.

Her response is basically dependent on how a particular TCM medicine is being experimented, since TCM is used because it is empirically successful. I also found out how much "MI" applies on Scientists, because they talk a lot, a lot about "MI".

Then we went to I2R for a tour and met a very funny Mr Singh. We went along a tour which showed smart, futuristic apartments. Its damn high tech. Even the windows can self-clean. And all the food in the storage compartments have RFID tags on them, u can check whether it is still there or not by a touch on the screen, or the wave on the hand. I think the RFID tags are targeted to people like me because I can paste it on my phone and wallet, so that I will know where it is when it goes missing from my sight. Everything inside just makes you wow. Then, we went to IBN where some researchers showed us their works. The most interesting one was about the gel which could be injected into the body, and aid wound healing. The presenter was the best too :)

Day2:
We reported at the science centre and went to a lab located near the Mathematics Section. We did Bacterial transformation and Protein Purification. What we did was to transform the GFP (green fluorescent protein) gene into the E.coli bacteria and add Ampr genes into it and make selected bacteria with the DNA plasmids resistant to the antibiotics and let others die! GFP Protein can be found on jellyfishes. I didn't know that E.coli wasn't a very harmful bacteria... I thought it and Salmonella was quite corrupting too. Such can be used for applications in Biotechnology medicine, GM foods as well as for Gene therapy. The bad thing was, we didn't get to receive our Agar plates to keep after that.

For Protein Purification, we used hydrophobic interaction chromatography to purify the GFP Protein. Always the steps involved removing supernatents. but in the end, my product didn't glow as much under the UV light as compared to others.. oh well! Get over it. so Mr Patrick was nice enough to give me his vial.

Then lunch as always for the programme, is every tasty! NJ should try to learn from Astar and change their caterer. Astar's caterer is very very good:D Good food = Happy students.

Then, we learnt about systhesising ferrofluids. oh, Mr Yong (Mr Ferro) explained for like half an hour which made many of us really sleepy. I even caught one boy behind me dozing off! haha. Then Jiaying and I made our product together with 2 boys from RI. They are quite amusing I find. We were the first group to start but our fluid took longest to evaporate the ammonium. We poured the whole measurement of ammonia inside the mixture of FeClz and we didn't exactly drop "dropwise". haha, maybe that's why. After adding kerosene, our magnetic particles didn't exactly clump together. and when we filtered the stuff out, I was so pro to poke a hole into the filter paper. So we had to redo it again. Then the RI friend swirled the ferrofluid around the filter funnel so much that it dropped and the content spilled and dirtied the table. I do remember a funny part...

RI friend: "Oh, I think I see our fluid is changing colour"
Me: "Oh yeah, maybe a little"
*Scrutinizes*
Me: "Eh, actually it looks quite like the same from just now, hhahaha"
RI friend: "Errr, yeah. haha, no harm trying to be optimistic!"

And I have my ferrofluid at home :)

Day3:
We went to ICES which was situated at Jurong Island. Jurong island is quite different from Jurong because, Jurong Island is a place where chemical plants are built and heavy industries.. so, access into it is quite a privilege (unless you're there for work.) So, we got our stickers and cleared the checkpoints. Funny thing is, no cameras are allowed. I don't quite understand the rationale for such a check because handphones are allowed, and handphones do have the camera function too ._. we had a talk then we toured around the ICES building, and went into their labs. Its compulsory to don labcoats and wear goggles, and also I dont understand why. but everybody do so. Maybe because suddenly, a nasty chemical might just blast and fall onto you, you never know. I was interested to know what are the functions of the funnel like thing that sticks out from the ceiling, it looks like what u see in a Hair salon, when u perm hair. But I realised that I would never like to work in such an environment in future.

Then, we went back to Biopolis and have group presentation. Our discussion, turned out quite fruitful because we won in the end! haha! but throughout the discussion, it was really fun thinking of ideas. Our group consisted of Theophilus, Jiaying, Aidi, Gloria, Me, RI1 and RI2. (RI1 and RI2 left halfway, so I didn't know their names.) we sang a song according to the tune of Do Re Mi, which was inspired by The Sound of Music. The 10 dollars Macdonalds voucher is Moiiiii's :D Yippee! Then we had a scholar sharing session. And we exchanged contacts.

After that, I went to City Hall with the intention to get some books for myself. Wanted to go out with Cecilia, but got turned down last minute... because someone realiesd that she had math homework, incomplete!!!!!!!! Feel like kocking your head LEH. Its not everyday that I am very free.

But at least I could say my time was well spent. I went to shop around myself. I pretty like shopping around myself, because u are free to go where you want to, and you are not distracted. So while I was shopping, I felt that I was actually observing how man behave. because it is very interesting. Also, It was also a me time, which I use for contemplating about what has gone past, life, and which I should do next. Having set aside time for yourself to really think about such stuff makes be feel satisfied. Then, I spent almost 1 and a half hours in the MPH bookstore to read books.

I would like to read
- For one more day, by Mitch Albom
- This is my story - Singaporean author.

I can affirm to myself that my holidays are well-spent. Now i should really concentrate on training, SMP, NJCIS sponsorships, Leadership videos, reading flowers for algernon, MI. back to the top?