Recent happenings
Some friends and I conceeded that our lives seemed full of downs (and no ups) ever since we turned 18. It's just plain demoralising to experience one setback after another, in chronological sequence: getting back of A levels results, SSEF, H3 Chem test... nothing else YET and I hope to keep it that way. Coming blocks looks like something that would join the list, but as much as I don't want it to I don't seem to have the conscious determination to work really hard for it and steer myself away from failures. It's a dangerous thing to encounter failures consecutively... because you sort of get used to it?
There are some happy moments recently though. Because of the long waiting time at SSEF, I walked around the exhibition hall more than half the time I was there to talk to people I've known for a long time yet had no time to talk to. Somehow talking gave me a sense of emotional fulfillment that I have not had for a long time, and perhaps talking helped to divert my attention from the unhappy things that happened too. I should have spent the time studying for my H3 Chem test, but I brought the wrong set of notes so there's nothing to distract me from engaging in conversations with people. Although that might have lead me to flunk the H3 Chem test I don't really regret not studying... or maybe I'm just being too forgiving on myself.
H3 Bio lab was the most -.-''' I had so far. I tell myself again and again I must pay attention during the lab sessions and make the best out of it but ARRRRGHHH for the first half of the prac we were filling in this survey for some genetic analysis of asthma/allergies/actually I can't remember what because I didn't fill it in at all since I was unwilling to let them prick me and inject dust mite or fungus extract into me for no reason. And people were gargling salt water for full 5 minutes to get their cheek cells to get shaken off into the salt water for genome sequencing. (I can't remember this part too. Are they really going to do it for EVERYONE?) I wonder if it's just the school's easy avenue to get free volunteers for genetic analysis, giving students this kind of lab sessions... because students will not likely reject it, thinking that it's a once in a lifetime experience.
Was stonning while the people around me tire themselves out gargling/ trying to fill in the forms... and an attempt to break out of the stupor by reading the later part of the prac (observing wild type and mutant drosophila) and doing the tutorial at the back was interspersed with sporadic events of my nearly falling asleep. I attribute it to my lack of sleep the previous night... effects of the prac itself will not be discussed.
The second part (observing wild type and mutant drosophila) left me wondering WHY I had to encounter a drosophila, limp and unconscious after getting anesthetized, with maggots crawling out of it! Not one, but three! My TA said it's contamination. A while later David came by and told me his drosophila was defaecating while being unconscious. OMG. My NUS benchmates were all amazed at how the JC students got all the exciting drosophilas while theirs were just as they were supposed to be, with red eyes or dumpy wings.
There are some happy moments recently though. Because of the long waiting time at SSEF, I walked around the exhibition hall more than half the time I was there to talk to people I've known for a long time yet had no time to talk to. Somehow talking gave me a sense of emotional fulfillment that I have not had for a long time, and perhaps talking helped to divert my attention from the unhappy things that happened too. I should have spent the time studying for my H3 Chem test, but I brought the wrong set of notes so there's nothing to distract me from engaging in conversations with people. Although that might have lead me to flunk the H3 Chem test I don't really regret not studying... or maybe I'm just being too forgiving on myself.
H3 Bio lab was the most -.-''' I had so far. I tell myself again and again I must pay attention during the lab sessions and make the best out of it but ARRRRGHHH for the first half of the prac we were filling in this survey for some genetic analysis of asthma/allergies/actually I can't remember what because I didn't fill it in at all since I was unwilling to let them prick me and inject dust mite or fungus extract into me for no reason. And people were gargling salt water for full 5 minutes to get their cheek cells to get shaken off into the salt water for genome sequencing. (I can't remember this part too. Are they really going to do it for EVERYONE?) I wonder if it's just the school's easy avenue to get free volunteers for genetic analysis, giving students this kind of lab sessions... because students will not likely reject it, thinking that it's a once in a lifetime experience.
Was stonning while the people around me tire themselves out gargling/ trying to fill in the forms... and an attempt to break out of the stupor by reading the later part of the prac (observing wild type and mutant drosophila) and doing the tutorial at the back was interspersed with sporadic events of my nearly falling asleep. I attribute it to my lack of sleep the previous night... effects of the prac itself will not be discussed.
The second part (observing wild type and mutant drosophila) left me wondering WHY I had to encounter a drosophila, limp and unconscious after getting anesthetized, with maggots crawling out of it! Not one, but three! My TA said it's contamination. A while later David came by and told me his drosophila was defaecating while being unconscious. OMG. My NUS benchmates were all amazed at how the JC students got all the exciting drosophilas while theirs were just as they were supposed to be, with red eyes or dumpy wings.