I know I really

shouldnt be doing this.

 

Having a piece of lasagne at 11pm at night. But bah!!! Haha… 

 

Had the best time at Sorrento @ Mornington Peninsula today. The 12 of us visited both the ocean and the bay beaches on either ends of the Ocean Beach Road. Spent 5 hours under the sun. Swimming, eating, sun bathing, sleeping, laughing, exploring, running, diving, hiding under the umbrella to cool, frisbee-ing, “walking” in water with my hands cos the water was so shallow, climbing “rock cliffs”, putting layers and layers of sunscreen on.

Ok the craziest thing I did today was jumping off a huge rock into a natural pool at the ocean beach. The base of the pool is sand, and is surrounded by rocks. As the tides are changing, it flushes water into the pool. High tide probably submerges the entire pool. People were climbing up to the rock and jumping off. At first me and my girls were too afraid to do it. I climbed up the rock with Michelle, saying “I jus wanna see from up here”. And once we got up there, Mich changed her mind and passed her sunnies to Sabine who was below us, and so did I. Mich jumped first, pinching her nose with one hand, and off she went. I stared down as Mich swam away, I was getting cold feet but decided what the heck, lets do it and in I went. Water went up my nose but the splash was exhilarating. It was great.  

(these photos were taken almost a year ago during another trip to sorrento!) the one with my feet n me standing is at the rock pool i was describing

Work n play

Balancing work n play… The sun is calling out to me. But I will go back to the lab. To make up for the Monday that jus past that I took off to go on a road trip with my girlies. Cos Tuesday was Melbourne Cup day public holiday.

Oh man, that road trip was so good.

Ok work time!

Sweet pea

That’s Tif’s favourite scent from Bath & Body works.

Anyway, had the best dinner with Tif. Simple, fresh, wholesome vegetarian. A huge tofu burger with LOTSA greens (and reds: beetroot, orange: carrots), a haloumi/caramelised capsicum & onions/rocket pizza. Best. Each of us had a glass of fresh juice. Not pricey. Invigorating. BEST. Vegie Bar along Brunswick St, Fitzroy.

I have deleted them

I took the car to Docklands the other day. Convenient drive away from home, plenty of parking space. It was early evening, the sun was still up. I took my book with me and sat right at the edge of the dock, murky waters 3 or 4 metres below me, Tricky’s “Back To Mine” playing from the speakers of my iPhone. I drove here because I wanted to do some groceries shopping but decided to stop by the dock for a breath of fresh air. Then I remembered I also have my camera in my bag, which I managed to clean the day before (there was a piece of dust on the sensor, so my friend and I bought a air pumper thing to swish the dust away). I took it out of my bag and started to capture the darkening skies, heavy clouds, still private boats and calm waters.

 

sitting

 

 

It was then that I noticed two seagulls about 30 meters from me. I could see one just caught a small fish, probably the size of my hand. The other seagull was fighting for it. I quickly took the chance to snap a few shots, but in the end, decided I’m too far to get a good shot. I slung the camera strap over my neck, kept my book and started walking along. 

I was so glad to be there. That’s what I like to do, just randomly roam, alone, sometimes. Then I found the ramp to go down to where the boats are “parked”, and where the two birds were. I inched my way towards them, and turned off the music from my phone so as to not scare them away. Though it seems they were oblivious to my existence and all that mattered then was the fish, and the other seagull.

When I was 6 or 7 meters from them, I stopped and quickly grabbed the photo opportunity, they were still fighting over the fish. Snap snap snap until I thought, ok, enough.

……………

When I transferred the photos that night, I saw a little red on my photos. I zoomed in and it struck me that it was the fish’s blood. It sent chills down my spine. What did I expect anyway? It was food for them. It was prey. I closed the windows.

……………

Tonight I’m flipping through my albums looking for something that I can adjust the colours to for sharing online. I remembered those pictures that I didnt want to see, and from the “thumbnail view” of my folder, I chose the ones that I thought captured the two birds (and the fish) and deleted them. 

*shivers*

Life is too short

To be spent doing the dishes. I am finally a dishwasher convert.

Grapes are packages of goodness, bitesize.

I know…

that there’s millions of people out there, suffering pain, oppression, physical/emotional abuse etc. And what I feel is nothing compared to them. But I cannot help but have tears welled up in my eyes once in a while, to the pain I feel in my back and my hips. I don’t want my family and friends and loved ones to worry about me. But sometimes I feel I really want to talk about it. I know life has been treating me *touch wood* very well so far. And very fair. I complain about my pains sometimes, or maybe too much. But I’ve received so much blessings around me. My parents, my lovely sisters. Grandparents who loved me and passed on too early. A distant uncle whom I never really knew but getting to know better now. Close friends, dear ones.

At times, I just wish this pain would disappear.

I’m sorry for making you worry about me. I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart and I wish I could keep it to myself… but I really need to vent.

On the flip side, something made my day. This morning while I was waiting for an x-ray film to be developed, I walked over to my supervisor’s office which was on the same floor as the film developer. We chatted for a bit, then he told me he bought a dog yesterday. His wife and him didn’t tell the kids and brought a puppy home. I was so excited when I heard it. I couldn’t stop grinning to myself for a long time. How thrilling for the kids! A warm fuzzy feeling just filled me. I felt like a fool for feeling that way.

Alright, my tears have dried and I think its time to check on my gel (SDS PAGE, protein gel). Yes, I’m still in the lab cos I decided to just do a bit more so that I can have more time to enjoy the sunny weekend. ;p

Love xoxo

If you cant be the poet

Be the poem

Market

Decided to drop by the market on my way to work. I felt I desperately needed blueberries but ended up not buying them as they were $4.50 a punnet. Well what was I expecting? That’s how much they usually cost anyway. So I settled with a $2 punnet of strawberries and 3 golden kiwis. A cauliflower and salmon cutlet for dinner too. Walking to work now, up the slope. have a feeling today is gonna be a nice day despite the slight pain in my left hip.

Naked mole rats are cancer resistant

Learnt that today.

 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327267.300-naked-mole-rats-may-help-cure-cancer.html

 

And lack of sleep linked to alzheimers

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17853-lack-of-sleep-linked-to-alzheimers.html

Heartbeats…

I heard a piece of news that saddened me today. I was drawn to tears and the person on the other end of the line started crying too.

I know this will sadden a few others too.

But I know, its for her own good (I hope). I hope she has made an informed decision. A thorough one.

We always take things for granted. But sometimes even when we do appreciate and are really thankful for something… like all good things (and bad), it’d come to an end. We just have to move on. To better things in life.

A lot of people don’t like change. Sometimes I don’t either. But change is necessary. Being stagnant for too long is boring…

“Sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful blessing”

- The Oracle

Sabu bbq

On way to lab with cake on my lab and presents beside me. On tram. Stored food in lab cos fridge at home is too small! Hehe…

I drew Australia

I drew Australia as a spot on my TLC (thin layer chromatography) silica plate.

I forgot to pH my glutathione sepharose elution buffer when I was purifying my protein. DOH! The pH I checked afterwards was 3.5 omg!!!

But my protein seems to be fine as seen on a Comassie!

My protein is tough yea!

Ok… as usual I’m kinda dreading the weekend cos there’s still so much work left to do… this weekend’s gonna be a busy one! Shopping/cooking tomorrow to prep for Saboo’s party on sunday. Praying reallllll hard that it wouldnt rain as BOM (Bureau of Metereology) says it would.  It’s already forecasted to be quite chilly.. Don’t want it to rain too especially its gonna be a BBQ in a park. BBQ + rain don’t really mix.

Gonna make strawberry cupcakes.. will update how it goes! ;p

xoxo back to work

Trying new things

We only live once. Try something new once in a while. Something you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t really had the guts too or think it wouldnt suit you.

 

,……….

Fay’s first ice skating experience.

Jo’s first time up the Thousand Steps at Mt Dandenongs National Park.

Sabine’s first Korean meal.

Sabine’s short hair cut that she’s been wanting to try out.

My hair extensions.

The journey starts now

Was listening to some mp3’s on shuffle while I was working today. I didnt used to listen to much chinese songs and I got this whole bunch from a friend recently. Heard this song for the first time today… the line that really struck me was:

想到達明天 現在就要啟程

To get to destination “tomorrow”: set off on the journey now.

To me, I interpreted it as to achieve my goal, I have to do something about it. No laters. Dreams don’t just come true out of nothing. Dreams only stay as dreams because there’s nothing real about it besides random brain waves firing away.

 

 

啟程-范瑋琪

每一天 都有一些事情將會發生
每段路 都有即將要來的旅程
每顆心 都有值得期待的成分
每個人 都有愛上另一個人 的可能

想愛 就不能害怕會有傷痕
沒有人完整 卻有人能信任
才找到永恆

想到達明天 現在就要啟程
只有你能帶我走向未來的旅程
想到達明天 現在就要啟程
你能讓我看見 黑夜過去
天開始明亮的 過程

Orthodontics

I’ve been wearing my braces for one year and 10 months now!! Yippee time flies.. Can’t wait to see my pearly white metal-trackless again.. I’m at the detailing stage now. Hv an appt in 15mins, wonder what I will b told. Excited anyway!!

Someone’s scared of me!

Testing

6,7,8… Yay blogging from mobile phone!

So glad

I had such a gooooood day at work today

Time and again

Time is really precious. And I’m already past the age (~20) of the maximum number of brain cells I’m ever gonna have and from here it’s all downhill. No time to waste. Make good use of those brain cells now…

I explain to my friends I have no time for drama series, they take up too much time! See, it’s at least 20 episodes per series, thats about 20 hours per series. Some of my friends are really fruitful & productive at other times of the day, so watching drama series is a good way to spend their rest & relax time… As for me, 24 hours in a day is already not enough… I wished I had more, then again, I’d be like a total robot. I’d rather breathe in some fresh air or lay in the park if I had that time then to watch a series actually. Jus unwind.

I think I’m getting back the feeling of loving work as before

Dot point

• It’s spring time (10 days into spring). It’s been raining alot the past few days but thankfully good weather  (low twenties) is coming our way this weekend! Thinking of going swimming Then to Williamstown, west of the city just a few km’s out. Its beside the beach and have some nice cafes there.
• Whatever Philippe Steiner & Kumi (and/or Mdm Chua) did to my back… it’s doing something. I feel a little bit better. Plus the exercises that I’ve been doing (though not diligently enough). 
• Work’s picking up speed. Yay.
• Baked banana choco muffins + lemon shortbread last night and wanted to bring stuff in to work for others but forgot that there’s morning tea provided today so bad timing!
• Jon is going home tonight yay
• Cooking veges now for dinner
• Till next time take care!

The only person…is…

My lovely younger sister came to me the other day when I was back home. She said she realised something that day. That the only person that can make yourself happy is yourself.

That’s so true in so many ways. So many moments in my life, I’ve felt terrible. I crawl into my own little shell and tears flow down my cheeks and I think to myself thats not fair or thats not cool, or I don’t like it, make it go away. Whereas in reality, its just how I make myself feel, how I perceive the world and the actions of others and I let it get to my head. 

I often blame. Blame the obstacles, blame the load, blame my back pains, blame this and that. When the only person who can make it work is myself.

Like right now, I’m facing this problem. That’s not even a problem. But I’m making it one. I take many things too seriously. I dont know why I tend to take things seriously. I have been told before by others that I tend to do that. I can’t help it though. *pout*

I dont want to be this way.