Project Final Fantasy Update 2

2.5 weeks since beginning of Project Final Fantasy. What I have done:

1. Bought materials.
2. Grew organism in mosquito cells.
3. Learnt cholesterol assay
3. Begin preparing for cells for plating to perform drug treatment
4. Harvesting organism
5. Assaying organism number

Seems a lot? Nah... It has been slow. Could have been faster, if not for the 2 consecutive stupid days. Like what the people around me says, I should try to slow down and think through more carefully and ask people around me for opinion/help. True, true and true.

I think I am intrinsically very competitive in things I believe I can do well. Ok. Practical work is not something I can do well at the moment. However, since I have a year of prior experience, I have expectations to live up to. Particularly since my previous experience tells me I am error-prone and so should work harder/faster than most people to avoid last minute scramble. Then again, "Haste makes Waste". I am attempting to find a good balance between speed and solid progress.

On another note, somehow after watching last week's Guess3, I am stuck to Rainie Yang's songs. Previously, after I watched a Taiwanese game show: A Million Star, I got stuck to Jay Chou's songs. A Million Star is a show similar to the American "Can you remember the lyrics", except it has artistes trying to continue songs instead of members of the public. In a way, this increases the standards of singing and makes it more interesting. The host and "principal" Harlem Yu and "class monitor" No-No provides very interesting interaction also. Very very good entertainment.

MRT woe

I admit. This are very oooold complaints. Still, people complain about it. Cramped MRT. MRT carriage has no seat.

Problem 1: Cramped MRT. I do observe that MRT is getting more cramped since 2 years ago. This is probably because the costs of driving and cabs are going up and so people are resorting to cheaper means of public transport: MRT and bus. Compared to bus, MRT is much faster. Therefore, people tend to take MRT. Problem is the MRT system (East-West and North-South lines) is about 24 years old. From what I read, the signaling system cannot handle train frequency of less than 2 minutes (Some people are demanding trains at a frequency of once every minute).

We can try the frequency of once every 2 minutes. However, I think the problem is with the passengers. There are more passengers. The train is more cramped. People need more time to get out of the carriage. Therefore, if we stipulate the frequency of 2 minutes, the trains will be held up between stations (Remember the times when the trains stopped between stations or halted at a station?). This is because the trains have anti-collision system that tracks the distance between trains. When trains are at a minimum distance apart, the system kicks in and stops the train behind to prevent collision for example. Therefore, even if the frequency is once every 2 minutes, eventually, it will stretch to 3.

Can you imagine how will your days be if they have to overhaul the entire line? Imagine days of MRT. Imagine you, getting from Pasir Ris to Boon Lay by bus. Imagine standing in traffic jam and on the road for 1 hour without seats. At least twice a day. How? I think they probably have to overhaul sooner or later. Let's hope they have a better plan.

In the meantime, I think we can address this "cramped" problem. Ever thought why it became cramped? More people taking MRT of course. But how about people refusing to move into the centre of the carriage? Ok. Some people with big bags (or big sizes) cannot squeeze into smaller spaces. This is not their fault (I remember someone suggesting SMRT ban backpacks on trains). The slimmer ones can move into these spaces. The carriage can actually hold 3 rows of standing passengers. But often, you will see only two rows. Why? People did not think to stand closer to the sitting passengers. Or the legs of sitting passengers went too far out, obstructing the standing passengers.

Problem 2: MRT carriage has no seat. Obviously, this is to accommodate more passengers. Logically, standing passengers take up less space than seating passengers. There are opinions that people actually take up more space when standing because of their need of more private space. Owners of these opinions, therefore, believes that SMRT should put the seats back because people expect to be seated since they paid the full fare or SMRT should charge less for standing passengers.

Somehow, when people give comments, they rarely realize that the problem can be solved by themselves. More private space? How private do you want? Should SMRT mark out square boxes in carriages and make sure people stand in their own squares? As long as no one gets molested or feel the hands of others on their bodies, have their pockets picked or have to sniff some bad body odour or perfume throughout their journey, it should suffice. Often, it is only a short journey. A little tolerance will go a long way. Besides, do you not feel guilty that because of your need for private space that others are late for appointments or to work? How about if you are at the receiving end? Even if there are seats, what are your chances of getting a seat in actual situation?

Granted, people do not change immediately. They need some time. Therefore, people should work together and make the MRT rides a more efficient one and which is more comfortable for everyone is general. Instead of merely complaining to SMRT, we should also take a look at how we can help alleviate the problems.

Stupid for 2 Consecutive Days

Ok. I have done dumb things for 2 consecutive days. 1st day's problem is because I assumed certain things and did not thought to ask. 2nd day's problem is because brain lapsed (as usual) and my inept-ness in maths reared its ugly head again. Ok. It is not "inept-ness in maths", but rather, my inability to rationalize the procedure.

It seems like the more I try to rush, the more I stumble into errors (even though I spaced out my work throughout the day to prevent error from fatique). Time to put into place damage control - before the work piles up. This calls for planning!

3 Persons

The Taiwanese variety show, Guess3, had a segment in which they featured a celebrity and 3 persons (or people. Pardon my poor English)known by the celebrity at certain point of his/her life. Each of the "persons" was made to stand behind a curtain and only the silhouette was shown to the celebrity. The celebrity is then made to guess who this "person" is, based on the silhouette, what this "person" says about the celebrity (voice of "person" is altered so celebrity cannot identify the "person" by voice at this point of time) and an item which is supposed to link both of them together.

Failing which, the celebrity is made to shut his/her eyes and the "person" is allowed to come and and talk to the celebrity (in real voice now). Celebrity can feel the "person's" arms, face etc... Before guessing who that "person" is.

I think it is interesting (I have always wanted to play some of the games in these shows. Like the one where celebrities go "treasure hunt" in a house). Never mind the attention grabbing tag lines that were used to introduce the "person" -- like "XX celebrity once said she would marry me" or "XX celebrity rejected my confession". Then again, these lines indeed piqued my interest (I confess. I am a sucker for gossips when I have nothing better to do. BUT I do not gossip about others).

After watching the episode, I started to question. If it was me (I have never dreamt to be a celebrity and will never be able to be one), who would the three persons be (in no particular sequence)?

1. 
   
   Teacher who supervised us for a science project in junior college. I had formed my team of 4 guys back then. However, we slacked off (probably not thinking properly at that time) for half a year (ridiculous right?). Then the time drew near for a science fair where we have to present something. This teacher had another group of 2 girls. Unfortunately (or fortunately in this case), the maximum number of people in a group was 3. So I volunteered to transfer over since I knew at least one of the girls. We worked on plants, coconuts and strawberries and somehow, got a gold award at the fair. Unbelievable I tell you. 3-4 months work, really simple in experiment and write ups compared to all the real science going on. Somehow, we got the gold. I will always savour the moment. The process of preparing the poster and report was tortuous. New to the demands and norms of the scientific community, I questioned and was not very happy about why Teacher's insistence of certain things to be done a particular way (I realised this is the norm in scientific community only when I entered university). Wonder how Teacher is now. It has been 6 years already.
2. 
   
   Sister. OK. For those in the know, she is not biological sister nor adopted. I shall not waste your time explaining. Ever tried message 40 times a day to a single person about non-important stuff? (Very sorry about that) Or talking over the phone for 1-2 hours. I know. Some people are already doing this in primary or secondary school. I started late. Very interesting period of my life. We started out... shall I say... very differently from how we ended up. But I think this is probably the best ending. You cannot go wrong with having an additional sibling.
3. 
   
   TWM. Again, I shall not explain. It is very strange trying to introduce this person I have known for... let's see... 11 years. We started out being as different as heaven and earth. He is rich (dad drives a Jaguar), smart (got first in level several times), stronger in English than Chinese and has nice handwriting. I am... well... relatively poor, not so smart, probably having similar levels of command in English and Chinese (I do not claim to be good in them) and poor handwriting (I was writing with a ruler back then). Somehow, we stuck together. Never mind about wealth. I admire his intelligence and style in handling things. He would use nice coloured papers for project work reports etc and was accused of "spoiling the market" on several occasions I think. TWM went to study medicine while I went life science. He probably graduated. Somehow, he is slow on reply my SMSes. Probably busy. Doctors are very busy people. He should be doing quite well. In a profession which is always in demand, already driving a car, has a girlfriend.

Of course, there are several more important "non-family" people in my life. My tuition teacher in primary school, my primary 6 school teacher, this guy I know in my secondary school CCA (another very bright guy with considerable athletic prowess) and my research mentor. Then there are of course, important people in my social circle, in a more relaxing way (various classmates, CCA mates, module mates, people in lab, NS buddies).

Project Final Fantasy Update 1

It has been 1.5 weeks since work began. Finally, the plan is somewhat finalized by supervisors. The rest is up to me. Finally, the heart has caught up with the brain in wanting to work. It sort of took 1 month to achieve this. Unfortunately (or fortunately), in only 1.5 weeks, 2 problems have cropped up.

Should the organism be cultured in mosquito or mammalian cell line? Seniors and articles I read grow the organism in mosquito cell line to simulate normal transmission cycle. I agree with this. Although the genomic material of the organism might not have changed with the use of different cell line, the composition of the envelop might. This might have an effect on membrane fusion or perturbation of the intracellular biomolecular homeostasis. For practice sake, I was taught how to grow up the organism in mammalian cell line. Now the question is, should I use this organism, grown in mammalian cell line to do my experiments. Probably I should grow another batch from mosquito and use those grown from mosquito. The ones from mammalian cell lines, I can use to compare with those grown from mosquito if I have the time.

Problem with medium. I was taught to filter the medium, then add FCS. However, one senior suggested I add FCS, then filter. I did what the senior told me, the filter got stuck due to the large proteins in the FCS. So now, the question is, should I use this medium, or prepare a new one. Since large proteins get stuck in the filter, the final composition of the medium is altered. It could impact on the intracellular biomolecular homeostasis again. Preparing the medium would only take a day. However, checking its sterility would take another one to two days.

So yes. I learnt the skills, though of course not close to ideal yet. These "goof ups" are costing me time, precious precious time... BUT if I used the organism grown in wrong organism, my results may not withstand scrutiny. Then it will waste even MORE time...

A few things I dislike

Just got irritated by the computer. Okok. Technically, not the hardware but the program, the code. "Inspired" by this, I shall list down a few things that irks me no end.

1. When I find an important article, but because the institution did not subscribe to it, I have no access or because the website my PC to accept a cookie, but somehow, my PC cannot (it has no problem on other sites and previous pages on this site).
2. Toilet except my own. This is rather subjective. Sometimes, I can stand these toilets outside, sometimes I cannot. Perhaps it has something to do with the floor tile, the design, the age of the facility.
3. When I cannot decide what to eat. This is actually a daily problem. A very big problem, but no solution --- Unless someone develop a pill that contains all the nutrients of a meal and which when consumed makes the person feel full.
4. Stupid mistakes that arose because of... well... I do not know why. People commonly term these mistakes as "carelessness". However, I seriously think this trivializes the problem, especially when it occurs too frequently.
5. People trying to make Government lower the weightage of Mother Tongue language in exams. Refer to my past post to figure out.
6. When brain knows I need to get work done, but heart thinks I can still procrastinate. This is an absolutely irritating situation, especially in recent times. Even if I force myself to work, I can understand the individual words but not understand the idea conveyed by the phrase or sentence. Then I have to read again and again.

Back to battlefield

Right. This is exaggerated. After all, how can shading circles and writing essays be compared to the horrors of a real war (Watch Zeta Gundam to get what I mean). Then again, I like action anime and so invariably, these lead to fights and battles. So yes, given my penchant to relate most of the things I encounter in real life to reel "in-anime" events, I am heading back to battlefield. I think this habit started in secondary school, after my first exposure to Gundam W. Back then, I supposed you can say I was totally brain-washed. Fear not. Although I still play this make-believe thing, I am as in tune to reality as any normal person.

Like the post on 19th May said, I am tired. The good thing, there are new and interesting "weapons" to play with and new "techniques" to learn (I am still lacking a new "power plant" though). This will be the penultimate battle. I thought I will chronicle some of the "techniques" in codes (a la "Fullmetal Alchemist"). Then again, may be it is a little too troublesome (I am a lazy person). Anyway, if you ever see recipe for dishes on this blog, please do not follow it, unless I say it is fit for consumption. These probably are codes.