The Start of The End

2009 began tumultuously with this.

Already a few weeks into school, and reality finally beginning to sink in that my days in NUS is indeed numbered.

Especially, now that I've officially run out of opportunities to sell my remaining textbooks, after a very unsuccessful attempt at BuyBackAsia.
So here's a final shot. Anyone interested in the following textbooks, please contact me. I guarantee the best price, value and quality!

Title: Essential Cell Biology
Author: Alberts Bray Hopkin Johnson Lewis Raff Roberts Walter
Edition: 2nd

Title: Biology, Concepts and Applications
Author: Cecie Starr
Edition: 6th

Title: Marketing - Real people, Real choice
Author: Soloman, Marshall, Stuart
Edition: 4th

Anyone interest?
A donation is much appreciated...


On a separate note, my Final Year Project has been a bottomless pit in terms of time and effort.
I'm beginning to suspect that my mentor expects me to be in lab during normal working hours, even if it means skipping my lectures and tutorials.

And of course, after conducting my daily experiments in lab, I would have to crunch out some useful numbers, to prove that I'm making groundbreaking discovery.
But I think I'm more more of an alcoholic than a researcher.

Indeed, culturing all these bloody (pun intended) human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells have driven me close to insanity.

But the final straw had to be this...

Do notice that there a tiny lump of growth in the tissue culture flask.
And NO. The flask is supposed to contain clear cell culture medium and NOTHING MORE.

To prove that the twenty-cent-sized lump has to be some sort of insidious creature, here are some photomicrographs of it on the edges...
I get goosebumps whenever I see these evil fungal growth.

So you could imagine how I almost fainted when I found the "MOTHER" Fungus growing in the tray of water in the incubator. The motherfungal thing was at least half the size of my palm!

You might not "appreciate" the gravity / grotesqueness of the situation if you have not handled cell culture before. But it's probably the equivalent of finding first finding a cockroach in your food, and then discovering the cook is a cockroach!

Fine, bad analogy.

On another random note, I just found out that playing 围棋 (WeiQi) and "digging gold" is much frowned upon in Bishan Community Club.

Finally, this entry wouldn't be complete without announcing to the world that I have officially joined...

The Conservatory Chamber Singers of
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Music

It sounds good, ain't it?

Haha. Actually, it's because I'm taking this 2MC module by Yong Siew Toh "MUA3211: Chamber Singers II"

Module Descriptus:
This course allow students to learn the fundamentals of vocal production and choral techinique through participation in a vocal performance ensemble. Students will participate in regular rehearsals, and will learn and perform choral music with an emphasis on Renaissance and Twentieth-century music. Through this course, students will gain knowledge of diverse repertoire, composers, genres, styles and period performance practices. They will also learn fundamentals of vocal production and choral technique and will experience working together in a unique team ensemble.

As I've mentioned, this is my final semester in NUS. So I decided to fulfill my final wishes and end it off with a bang. Indeed, this module is absolutely extraneous which probably has no effect on my CAP and might even siphon some of my precious time from my FYP.

But who could resist not taking a module conducted in a classroom with a Steinway Grand Piano?