Annoying thing #2

The clocks go back this weekend. Daylight savings time only makes me (and other people too I'm sure) confused of the time. Does putting the hour back makes any difference really other than making people mess up their clocks? No!

Annoying thing #1

Right now, the most annoying thing to me is the neighbour playing loud music. I'm currently living in an apartment building, and so I haven't a clue which neighbour is playing this loud music because it sounds like it's in my living room...
What is it with these people being so inconsiderate? Sure, sometimes you are a bit too loud without intentionally too, but on a regular basis? Booming their stereo at deafening volume and often in the wee hours of the morning? How are they not deaf yet? How can they also ignore the rest of the neighbours who complained? Seriously, I'd wish I was as big as The Terminator and bash them in the head.
But it isn't just neighbours that are loud. Only a couple of days ago in a bus a guy had his handphone radio on to some hip-hop music at full speaker volume, probably thinking he was some cool underwear-showing-becauseIcan'tputmytrousersoright gangsta. What makes them think they had the right to annoy everyone (or most people? maybe someone in the packed but enjoyed having some beat going in a cramped bus who knows) in a public transport.

OK. Rant over. back to work.

Limbo

Well, I'm almost done... but no quite a doctor yet... I'm in post-graduate limbo land! Things at work is not good, but I'll soon be gone and can't wait to start the next leg in my life. Just hoping my limbo status will not last too long.

Positive, eh?

Holiday?

I'm bored. I'm supposed to take a break now that I'm kinda done with my writing. But a weekend alone (yeah, most of my friends have gone on holiday, and those still around are not the ones I really want to hang out with) is making me crawling up the walls with boredom. Why is it that when one who was so busy desired so much to have all the free time, and yet when the time comes there desire to work comes back? Irony? Or maybe because I haven't settled my future plan yet. I'm still undecided on what to do with my life. yes, I'm an not that young a person who should still be struggling with this question... or so it seems.

I used to think this is what I would like to do, but lately I feel that I've gone a little bit off course. Since young I've always like to go into conservation. Sometime in my undergrad I've decided that evolution was a better choice, since I did well in those subjects than ecology. I do tend to do better in medical-related subjects too, thus ended up with medical entomology. It is still an interesting subject, but I wonder if it is really worth a day job for?

Well, not just in medical entomology, but scientific research positions in general. After years of studies, honing your skills for such specialities, what kind of job do you end up with? Working as a postdoc, if you intend to stay on with research. The pay is terrible (it really is terrible), the benefits near none, working hours are long... At least if you were to study medicine, with the same amount of years put in, you would have been a senior doctor by now or a surgeon.

And the BBC reports that kids nowadays are losing interest in science. Less scientist are being churned out and will affect our ability to be at the cutting edge of scientific discovery. Well, how about pay us scientist to work huh? the average train driver gets paid more than researchers.

I say, maybe, just maybe, the kids are smart.

Anyway, digression over.
Back to the subject. Bored. So I came into lab, to the surprise of some people. Look at my babies in the insectary to make sure they have food and water. Talked to the boss, demanding we write a paper ASAP. He agreed. Now I have something to do, write a scientific paper. Hours later, pondering on my unwritten paper, I decided that I should take a holiday.

I've finally submitted

There it sat my two copies of my thesis... nearly 300 pages long... on the old wooden bench of the examination school... and off it went tucked in two ginormous envelopes, ready to be sent to my examiners. It may be a relief, but years of my life was basically summarised in The Thesis. I'm exhausted, and feeling strangely empty.

The next leg awaits... the oral exam and meantime, the hunt for a real job. *sob*.

Goodbye, Grandpa.

As of today, I no longer have living grandparents. The only granddad that I'd ever known (my other granddad died when I was just born) had passed away. He was 88 years old, I think.
I still remember when I used to visit him as a kid, he would make sure there were plenty of kit-kats and yakults in his fridge...

I'm gonna miss him.

Panic, panic, panic!

I've given in my forms for thesis submission. Deadline is next month.

PANIC!! PANIC!!!

Coffee miss

I keep missing coffee during the lab's morning caffeine round. Nearly everytime that I do, someone puts a note on my desk.

Cute.

State of mind

No more jury duty, yay. But more work in the lab. I'm so ready to finish this work and find a real job! I'm so tired right now, and as one of my friends put it:

Doing a PhD is like having your life on hold, but it ages you like 10 years.

I've been stuck with this song for the past week. check it out if you are a star wars fan: Here

Jury Summoned

Just great. I have been given a jury summon. It's not that I mind doing it, it is just that can it come at a better time? Bleh, guess I can do my thesis while I sit there in court. :P

And there is that concern about my effing shoulder. Man, what should I do? I only have a couple of days to decide.

2010 already

Oh man, time sure flies.

I'm still stuck indoors (with a white fluffy freeze blanket that covers outside my home) attempting to get some progress done with my thesis.

Sigh.

What has changed since 12 months ago?
My shoulder still hurts, thought not as bad as it was 12 months ago. I am permanently on painkillers, and trying to finish this doctorate.

Here's to the new year. Somehow, humans take the start of a calendar to resolve doing something. I kind of find it hard to do so. I believe that once you have a resolve, do your best to have it done, whenever that resolve started and don't wait till new year to get you started.

Still, one can't help to feel that the start of the roman calendar brings an opportunity to do something anew etc...

Ok, so here's to 2010. May it be a mark in time of my life that was notably good and things that I want done gets done.

Term is almost over!

Yay, In two weeks, I'll be flying to South East Asia for a break. I can't wait.

Today is the last day of lab practical teaching of second year undergrads. Wow, with my condition, it was quite exhausting. I had to sit down at intervals... but great that all the practicals when well, better than last year anyway. It is funny how some of the students asks such bizarre, and some just down right silly, questions. Here are some examples:

In a microbiological testing practical:
1. "How to I spread the bacteria on a petri dish with this swab?" - by swabbing the plate, maybe?
2. "How do you describe bacteria morphology?" - that's like giving you the answer to the practical question, dude.
3. "How do I get the bubbles out of the API strip?" - arrgh!
4. "I put the wrong reagent in the API strip, will it affect my test?" - what do you think?
5. "The bacteria looks round. is it?" - ...

In a molecular testing practical:
1. "Is 020 on the display mean 20 µl?" - on the P20 pipette? no!
2. "I don't have enough reagents, I think you didn't give me the right amount, is it?" - no, you were using the wrong pipette at the wrong volume.
3. "So the ethidium bromide is used for tagging the nucleotide in the sequencing reaction?" - no! did you read the practical book?
4. "why won't my sample load into the gel well?" - that's because you are stabbing the gel and so the nozzle for your sample is block.
5. "My water is frozen, what do I do?" - ... that's just the best question to ask...

Michealmas

Argh, Michealmas term begins! All the little freshers so wide-eyed and confused are streaming into this city. The traffic's jammed with kids with their parents in big Land Rovers or station wagons, which are packed full of their belonging for their start in university life.

Maybe it'll be another time for me to start torturing some of these kids in class again. hehehehe.

This will probably my last Michealmas here. That means last time for me to be all friendly with the newcomers.

If you are thinking why I'm so bitter, it is because I'm so tired to re-introduced myself to a bunch of kids who are trying to be friendly, only to then never see these lot again. It is such a waste of energy.

Yeah, my thesis is getting on my nerves, how could you tell?

Trip to an Oxfordshire village

When I first stepped off the bus in Eynsham that late morning, the first thing that came to mind was a song by the Thrills. It has lyrics that goes like this: "hanging around in a one horse town ...". Except that this wasn't a town, it was a village. But the gist of it is that it was a sleepy village even during the daytime.
As I have mentioned in my last post, a shop here was the only Mac shop In Oxfordshire that would let me try out Macspeech Dictate and eventually help me buy one.

Just so you know, there is a Mac shop in Oxford Town itself. But don't bother going there.


The village centre. Love the little coloured flags. But could do with a few more people around.


Walking along what seems to be the main road through the village, I was wondering if I would find the shop. But there it was, a little shop painted white (indicated by the red arrow), with its big vehicle parked outside.


Finally, an aide I was looking forward to. As you can see, it comes with a headset. I'm still getting used to dictating, but eventually I will be good at it to write my thesis. if not, at least good enough to write this blog post.

So, if you ever are in need of Mac related software and services, why not take a trip to this place? Oxford Mac solutions are staffed by knowledgeable and friendly people. Thanks a bunch!

Trying to adapt

Well, it seems like I haven't updated this blog for some time now. My shoulder and arm, as well as my neck are still giving me trouble. I have been trying to sort this out with the help of the University occupational health service, and one of their recommendations was to try out a dictation program. After weeks of finding out who sells a copy of the detection program for Apple (Macspeech dictate) as well as haggling with my boss, he is finally agreed to buy a copy for me (but still licensed to him, talk about generous). This software program has just arrived, and I have been testing it out and "training" it over weekend. It is not as accurate as I would like yet, but still it is better than what I had anticipated. Voice recognition software has really improved during the last few years.
anyway, since now there is a chance of actually writing my thesis without straining my arm further, only to do now is talk to my computer.

Another thing, I am also waiting for a specialist in the orthopaedic unit to have a look at me. As it is NHS, waiting time is ridiculously long. How come the NHS does not understand that the longer one waits to be treated, the more likelihood that the condition will worsen. And then, they would have to spend more money in treating the patient. Man, how I wish I have medical insurance.

PS: the only place that sells Macspeech dictate is a little shop in a village just outside Oxford. I will blog about that another day. Right now, it is time for sleep.

Slow torture

Headaches, arm pain, upper back pain, shoulder, elbow, wrist pain... it's probably easier if I were to actually break my arm. Physiotherapy is not working so well and the only thing that is helping me right now is the needles. It's nearly 6 months, and am still showing very little signs of improvement (if any).

This is surely like slow torture...

Needles Karma

It feels like a trial of pain endurance lately. Here I am struggling to keep sane from the pain in my arm and shoulder I am still having since the bike accident while trying to write my thesis in the slowest possible pace, which is a tremendous pain in itself. My doctor has prescribed some drugs for me to help me, but the side-effects are so strong. It nearly isn't worth taking the drug which, by the way, just took off some of the edge of the stabbing pain. But when you are feeling like there is a knitting needle stuck into your back, any pain relief you can get is good.

Which brings me to my topic for this post. While bearing/grimacing the pain, work must still go on. I've been dissecting mosquitoes for my next experiment. And as you know the mosquito is a tiny creature, and conventional dissecting tools are far too big for this kind of work. Therefore, I used acupuncture needles to do the job. Here's how it looks like under the microscope.



Funnily enough, when at the doctor's... while being prescribed the painkillers for temporary relief, I was also advised to sought out other ways to treat my shoulder. One word was suggested:

Acupuncture

At first I thought the doctor was joking. But recalling a conversation I once had with a postdoc from Sweden, where acupuncture is a legit form of treatment on their NHS, I thought maybe I shouldn't dismiss this doctor just yet.
So off I went at to a respectable sounding acupuncturist (i.e. certified therapist) and have it done, and hey presto! The stabbing pain was gone... by stabbing me with six needles no doubt... oh, the irony!

Well, there you go. Acupuncture is a way to go with nerve injuries. In fact, even WHO approved the treatment. Unfortunately for me, this treatment is not on the NHS. I'll have to cut down on the drinks and night outs now. Then again, I wasn't doing too much of those anyway lately.

Tinkering around...

I'm really no techno geek. But finally today I've decided to try out the new customisation of Blogger thanks to Ping. Bear with me, as I only have very little spare time to be tinkering around with this blog. And with a still dodgy arm... I think I may overdid it already ... :(

Valentine's amusement

There was a guy on Cornmarket Street yesterday with a large sign that read:

"Happy Valentine's Day.
Fancy a date?
Over 18 only."

I was tempted to take a picture, but thought he was embarrassed enough already, given the stares and other cameras taking him. I wonder if that was a dare or a lost bet?

Happy Darwin Day!

Charles Darwin was born 200 years ago on this day. His theory on natural selection is the foundation of every biologists. Today, Darwin Day will be celebrated by millions across the world. Oxford University is making a bit of an effort into it. You can now download Darwin's book Origin of Species from Oxford University and Google Book. Now go read it! and have a bit of cake while you're at it too!