Towards end of stay in Lab 3?

It's been 2 fun semesters. Perhaps fun is not what most people would put it. Still, I think it's been fun.

Honours students already stopped coming to lab, preferring to write their thesis at home. Makes the lab feel very quiet(they are a very boisterous (read: noisy and gossipy) bunch of girls). I kind of miss them though. Looks like I will need a bit more time to warm up to new labmates next year... Hope honours students do well in their projects.

From lab at 7:40 on Saturday

I read a biography of Dr. James D. Watson, part of the team who discovered the double helix structure of DNA. If memory serves, he said that people do not come to the laboratory on a saturday. UNLESS they are working on something really interesting.

Of course, I am in the laboratory on a saturday. Am I doing something really interesting? Probably so. I do want to confirm my results. However, is this the most important reason for me being in the laboratory on a saturday morning? Probably not. Dateline is in sight but the goods have yet to be delivered --- I am rushing for time because of my squandering of time and efforts for half a year.

Memo to self and anyone who reads:

1. Plan your things properly.

2. Draw a realistic timeline and paste it somewhere so you can see it every day.

3. Troubleshoot immediately, seek help immediately.

4. Take stock of what you did so you know how much you have progressed.

Sure, these looks super simple. Perhaps I am just too thick in the head to put it to practice. I am okay with theoretical stuff, on paper. When it comes to real work, well, I need to put in more effort. Perhaps it is not more effort. But rather, more using of brains and analysis of problems in real work.

On another note, I have a problem. How do I distinguish real fondness of someone, from say, the want to help/protect someone, or just because I am stressed and that person is nice to talk to because that person is someone outside my sources of stress?

Surprise at lecture

Ok. Status report. Not much done.

However, I was finally able to perform a basic experiment to acceptable level. This, after 8 months. Shows how slow I am.

I still remember a scenario 6 years ago. Person X was seated there. I came later and hesitated to sit beside Person X for reason I shall not reveal.

Today, Person Y surprisingly came. Was hoping Person Y would turn up for some time. But after a while, I gave up. Too many things require my more immediate attention. So Person Y came. Ok... then Person Y sat beside me. That was a big big plus. Actually, I was hoping for that.

What a turn of events from 6 years ago. Almost every detail was reversed. However, this is probably transient. I am simply inundated with work. Probably not the type Person Y is looking for anyway. Oh well.

Uncertainties

A lot of uncertainties crept in again....

1. Project Supervisor?
2. Further studies?
3. Gene Chip?
4. Where am I going with my life?
5. How come I cannot think with my head and execute with my hands?


Point 1: It seems almost everyone has started to look for a supervisor. Even if the supervisor is good but mentor is not good, then what is the point? Currently, I have yet to achieve satisfactory ability to work independently. Theoretically, I could... But then things always don't go what I thought it will be...

Point 2: Further studies? Everyone I know seems to assume that I will go on to do further studies. But if I cannot work independently, further studies will only make my life miserable. Then again, I could see it as a way to stretch myself. After all, some do say "If you started out knowing everything, then you could have skipped school." But then, there are those who say "You should be able to do such things at this level". So it is obvious that there is no one truth to such things. Everyone has their own views -- Blindly following them will only lead to doom.

Point 3: Microarray yielded what seniors considered impossible or even ridiculous data. But mentor says it is correct. What to do? On one hand, I trust my mentor. On the other, seniors are not dumb. So how?

Point 4: Financial planning and perhaps.... family planning have not started. Getting old already...

Point 5: This is by far, the most demoralizing part. Ability to think things through, but not the ability to carry experiment to prove them is pathetic for a scientist. My efforts to solve this has yielded dismal results... Perhaps I did not try hard enough?

Analogy

I thought of a suitable anology for my situation at work:

Suppose in the past, I am the only one with true GN drive, now there are others with false GN drives and better machines. Think of the Aheads, Garazzos and Gadessas against the Season 1 Celestial Being machines. They are outperforming me...

Half the Story

I happen to see this advertisement promoting "intensive tuition" for $90, 3 subjects. What struck me was not the price, but the word "intensive".

While I do believe that certain students would do better academically with some tuition, local parents might have taken this a little too far. Just last week, an article from the newspaper revealed that a parent spent close to $200 on assessments books and the likes. The child is merely primary one!

The most explanation from parents, I supposed, is that this is for the good of the child, to give them a headstart amongst their peers. This is all good and well. However, academic results are just a fraction of what determines if a person is successful. Once, on a public transport, I saw a parent telling her child that it is useless to get first in some sports event (her child won some race I think) - getting a good grade is more important. Local parents seemed to forget that there are more ways to be successful tha just through academics, and that the definition of success
depends on the individual. Academic results is important in today's world. However, it is not everything.

Interpersonal effectiveness skills (such as how one interact with other people) are important too. If parents merely focus on the academics and perhaps certain sports just for the purpose of their children emerging ahead of others and winning some competition and glory, their children would perhaps grow up with this competitive mindset that "I must be better than the rest". Time spent studying or training means less time to interact with other children or to see other children as friends, not competitors. Would they grow up to be socially inept?

The very young are impressionable. If we instill such min such mindset in them at an early age, they would grow up believing in such things. I believe that trying to reverse such thoughts would be difficult later in life, especially if the children are successful in their endeavours all along.

So I hope parents would give their children a little break. Tuitions and enrichment classes are fine. But do remember to give the children to interact normally with their peers - without any sense of competition.

14th Biological Sciences Graduate Congress @ Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok (10th December 2009 - 12th December 2009)

It says "Graduate Congress" and I am "underaged". Feels kind of weird to be among people doing Masters, Ph.D, etc. Then again, they are all very young. I would have mistaken them for being my peers if I didn't know any better.

However, thanks to my mentor, seniors and supervisor, I got the chance to see what this is all about.

These are just some of the photographs I've taken. Not of high quality, I know. Then again, I am not even a photography enthusiast.

Bangkok Center Hotel. Right in front of it is the Hua Lamphong MRT station. So it is very convenient to commute around. Alternatively, if the road is not too jammed and you have 4 people, cabs are also viable options. Jams are very scary (costly too).

View outside my hotel room.

Room at Bankok Center Hotel. Very nice. If you need to work on a laptop, do remember to shop for a plug/adaptor. The powerpoints there are not compatible with our plugs. My roommate have a tough time asking for a suitable plug/adaptor. The hotel staff were professional and eventually lent us one of their own plug. Still, it's better to buy your own.

Dinner on 1st night: Briyani with curry chicken (cannot remember the exact name. But they come as two separate dishes).

Dinner on 1st night. (Mis)lead by the cab driver to this place that serves Indian food. Kind of high class and as expected the price is a little steep. Well, guess what, the cab driver got 160BHT commission from the restaurant.

Room M01, where I am scheduled to present. Kind of shocked at first because it was the size of our lecture theatres, meaning its big. Haven't presented to such a large audience before. However, the number of people dwindle to only about 20 on my presentation session because 1. my session is on the second day of the Congress (people could have gone off for shopping if they have presented on the first day), 2. it was the last session for the day and 3. there were 3 consecutive sessions.

Building of Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Science, where the Congress was held. The university is huge, with a large water feature you would mistake for a public park. Students there wear uniforms. White shirts and black skirts/trousers.

Lunch at Chulalongkorn University.




Bangkok MRT station. They don't have LCD screens to show how long more the next train takes to arrive however.

Their MRT ticket is a token, not a card. It's just a black circular piece of plastic with a chip inside that utilizes RFID (touch and go system). Before you exit the station where you disembark, you drop the token into a slot at the faregate. The gate will then open to you to go through.

Dinner on second day at the Suan Lum Night Bazaar. It is just beside the Lumphini MRT station (easy access). Food this time was cheaper than the previous night. After dinner, went to shop in the bazaar. The guys bought quite a few stuff. I didn't buy any. Kind of hard to decide what to buy and there is always this nagging feeling after buying certain things that says I shouldn't have bought it. Didn't have much baggage space to begin with anyway. Haha.

Wat Prakaeo Temple. Went on a tour organized by Chulalongkorn University on the 4th day.

This is the exit of the Grand Palace (of the tour anyway). Took this before the tour ended because it was close to the entrance and I had no idea this was going to be the exit for the tour.

The grey statue is of some deity. Cannot remember the name. It is the first thing you see when you enter the temple.

Gate demons guarding the entrance to Wat Prakaeo temple.

3 stupas. Each of a different architectural style. One Cambodian, one Thai and one Chinese.

Cannot remember what this is.... but this is around every stupa. One of them is some sort of tribute to albino elephants. The guide said albino elephants signify power of the King. The more albino elephants, the more powerful the King is.

Stupa

Closer view of one of the stupas. It is made of teak, but gold plated. Real gold.

Guardians to the stupas.

Model of Angkor Wat of Cambodia. Cannot remember why it came to be here. Can Wiki for it. I tried. Just lazy to put it here.

Chedis. (I don't remember what is it for or what it signifies). But there are demons and monkeys at the bottom. Demons are those wearing shoes and monkeys don't wear shoes, and have opened mouths.

Mythological creature. The posture signifies "welcome". You can actually see statues of these along the highway to and from Suvarnabhumi airport to welcome the tourists.

Mural from the story of Ramayana. This huge ape-like creature is Hanuman. There are many of these murals, running continuously, around the temple. They tell the story of Ramayana.

The temple building that houses the Emerald Buddha. Photographs are not allowed inside the chamber. So you won't get to see the Buddha unless you are there in person. The Emerald Buddha sits on a very high platform. There are three costumes for the Buddha. One for spring, one for rainy and one for winter season. It has to be changed according to the seasons.

Gate leading to inner palace. (No entry)
The Grand Palace is just next to the Wat Prakaeo Temple, separated by a door. However, once you enter the Palace, you cannot return to the Temple again.

Statue of Chinese deity. Symbol of trading history between Thailand and China.

On the left is the building that houses the royal museum and columbarium and something else (cannot remember). One floor for one purpose. The gold building is where the body of the royal family is placed before being cremated.

Guard (real person) of the royal museum. Changes shift every hour. Kind of pitiful... tourist taking them as exhibits...

Royal museum building

Royal museum building (front)

This building was the one in which the body of the sister of Thai King was placed in before she was cremated last year I think...

In all, I think this is a very well organized Congress. Although most of the Thai students organizing the Congress were not very fluent in English (it is not their first language I think, or perhaps because I didn't speak clearly enough), their hospitality and willingness to help are top notch.