life is unpredictable~ i hit a jackpot!

jackpot = money? nah....it's just my project~ ahhaha!

my professors are pleased with my project! and i had isolated some proteins which they had never isolated before! hooray~ my prof. told me that if the protein is confirmed to be the one i wanted, then half of my project is done!!!!! talk about efficiency!!!

My prof. asked me to travel to Sheffield University with him the following week...and i will get to meet another well-known prof (i'll keep him anonymous) and we'll do mass spectrometry on the protein to determine it... all these will be done early in the morning and my prof said he will let me do whole afternoon shopping in Sheffield~ hooray~ i guess hard work pays off...

my results were released today and i am quite happy with it...another two modules to go..let's pray that i'll do well in the other two modules~

good news: our research team might be getting a grant for something related to my project... so, if i perform well in my project, i might get a fully funded phd which takes only 2 years to complete~

life is like a living hell~

i had to arrive at university for my research at 9am.... i had appointment for blood test at 11am... and at 10.30am, i left the university and walk all the way to the health care center... right after the blood test (around 11.20am) i had to walk back to uni to continue my lab work...

when i arrived the uni at 9am, i told the supervisors that i had blood test at 11am...guess what they said?

"Do you want me to accompany you to the health care center? I will walk you back to the university to continue your work"

YEP!!! okay....there were two SHOCKS in this dialogue...

1st: that supervisor is 74 years old and another is 64 years old! They ACCOMPANY me to health care center?!!! shouldn't it be the other way round? hahhaa! I wouldn't want a 74 years old man walking me to the health care center!!!!!

2nd: WHAT? i have to come back to the university??? i have to continue my lab work after my 5 or 10ml blood being taken??!!! damn!


i work till 4pm....i know blood test is not a big deal, but shouldn't i get at least a half day off???? darn! what kind of thing is this? argh! the other students can come to uni at 10 or 10.30am and leave around 2pm! WTF!! all their procedures were written precisely and mine is like...spontaneous thing!!! life is so god damn unfair!

one of my coursemates just started his project today!!!! damn it! and another has taken 4 days off in a row!!! darn!! the one who started today was due to clubbing and dont feel like coming (his reason is: he burnt his hand and the pain killer makes him dizzy and he cant wake up....i wonder what kind of place he hailed and which era..pain killers dont make you sleepy ANYMORE...come on, give a better reason, dumbass!)

the other who took a 4 days off is because she need to work..come on!! she is enrolled in a full time course and she absent because she wanted to work??!!!

and for me...i went for blood test and i cant even get a bloody half day off! I cried during the blood test (which is a normal thing for me...yea, laugh all you like...this is me..even when i am 70 years old, i'll still cry)...and on the way to the university, i feel like my life sux! i feel all these inequality and it really pissed me off...i ended up crying on the way to the university and stopped just before i reached the uni...i freshen myself up in the ladies and work my ass off in the lab...

i didn't tell my family that i went for blood test yet...after i get the blood test result on monday, i'll let them know i went for the test...i am actually thinking of the result...i don't know whether i should wish the result to be bad or a good one!

okay...it's like this...if my blood is okay, it means something is definitely wrong with me (maybe some cyst) and if my blood test is not good, it means something is wrong as well!

argh! so, definitely, something is wrong...ha-ha...conclusion: something IS wrong... but no worries, it is not a serious thingy~ woo hoo~ what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger..

a lot happened in a day...

1st:

my marble cake sold out completely! everyone liked it so much and it was my first attempt...i ma kinda lazy to upload the photo coz i am kinda busy at the moment...argh!

2nd:

my stupidity in making mistakes created a miracle...i might have found a new method purifying some protein...i'll have to determine what protein they are tomorrow..

3rd:

everyone is looking forward to what i am baking everyday!!! i have a hard time..coz i don't know how to bake actually! i am a novice!!! i just google up some recipe and bake the cake! now i am having quite a headache in varying my cakes...

4th:

since i had been baking cakes everyday, made Connie's speciality...called 'connie's sandwich'... i am not bragging about this sandwich...but everyone who tried this sandwich will actually get addicted to it...hehe! just ask those who had tried it before... and even i put on weight due to this stupid sandwich! i am restricting myself from eating it..i'll just make it for those people...

not only i made a sandwich, i baked another banana cake as well...due to high demand...coz the banana cake's news spread so fast that those who havent tried it complained! and they forced me to bake one...i am exhausted from baking and doin project...and sorting out my assignment...and searching for journals!

honestly, with all those cakes i baked, i actually lose 1kg...haha! good for me...i am losing weight with cake eating~ weird stuff happen to weird people...

stupidity...

i just killed my whole day of hardwork with some stupid mistakes!!!

i screwed up the protein purification just because i got the monobasic and dibasic concentration the other way round! darn....forever in my life, i will remember this stupid mistake and never do it ever again...

K2HPO4 is a dibasic!!! KH2PO4 is a monobasic!!!! argh! because i confused myself the other way round, i put the buffer the other way round! which means my linker histones get flushed out directly and my impurities retained in the column~ ha-ha~ luckily, i collected everything...include the waste, so i can re-do everything tomorrow...and i have to prepare the buffer again...and this time, i will make sure that i wont repeat the mistake...

everyone is so kind to me...and helped me a lot...thanks everyone~

pressured...

i am under quite a lot of pressure due to the responsibility of my training...my supervisors made me start everything from scratch!

eg:

1) even when there are prepared buffers, they don't want me to use it...they wanted me to mix the buffer myself...means measuring everything...

2) before using the chromatography, i need to set all those pressures, temp, volume, conductivity, concentration etc...myself...

3) learning the software before using the chromatography....

4) my supervisor said 'I want this young lady here to be as busy as possible without a single second she is idle...'

5) i have to dialyse everything and mixing the solution as well

6) the prepared polyacrylamide gel cannot be used! they want me to micropipette everything and make the gel...even the buffer for running the gel need to be mixed by myself...

sob-sob....anyway...i think they wanted to train me...so this is what it meant by industrial training...haha! but the barbarian working in the same lab as me doesn't get to do this...i pitied him but i think it is due to his attitude problem...who would trust someone who don't even bother to turn up and who is always late?

as a reward, one nice lab assistant gave me some really GREAT chocolates!! i had never seen that chocolate before...but it tastes SUPERB...okay, i gotta do some reading coz i'll be tested on some application tomorrow....

PS: my coursemates get one supervisor each...i have 3 supervisors, 2 lab assistant, 2 PhD students doing my project and getting me started...i guess i am the lucky one...coz i can learn more...but the downside?

i have to work harder than anyone else, i have to put more effort in everything...and lastly, i am kinda involved in three different projects...not to mention my main project is the latest project done by cambridge university in october 2008! since it is quite new, i have to revised the method and redevelop the method for future reference in LJMU! (i just get to know it today...more pressure...no wonder the lab assistant try to reduce my pressure with the nice chocolates...i had eaten 4 pieces before taking the picture..haha!)

crazee with baking...

Yesterday, i baked banana cake due to high demand (ha-ha)....so below are pictures of the size of banana cake that i had baked and packed into 5 different tupperwares.. before that, my housemates got their hands on the cake and had a quarter of it before i managed to let it cool before packing it...

This is the banana cake on the cooling rack...

banana cake straight outta the oven...

spongy moist banana cake

5 different tupperwares for everyone at university...of course, except for that particular barbarian who made me prepare 40 samples...

TODAY: i managed to bake sponge cake with strawberry filling...i baked two loaves...and my housemates finished a whole loaf! so, i quickly pack away another loaf so that i can take it to my university for my 'friends'....(including the security guard, health & safety officer and a few research assistants...i don't dare to give it to my supervisor or lecturers because others might think that i am trying to bribe them...i hate people talking behind me..i kick asses when i hear that)

i had no idea why it rises like that...it looked like a tanker to me...i am too aggressive, that's why my cake looked like a tanker...

sliced it in half to spread my strawberry jam~

look at the amount of strawberry jam...hahha! dont worry, i didn't add much sugar in the cake itself...and the cake's aroma just like...hmm...the smell of egg-tart?

ermm..it tastes better than it looked...

managed to wrap it with cling wrap...because i have no tupperware left...they haven't return it to me yet...

PS: mum, i think i would be a better pastry chef than a biotechnologist...

lecturing a lecturer~

a bit confused by my post's title?

YES! i will be tutoring my lecturer tomorrow...hehehe! My professor (Prof. J), specifically asked me to give one-to-one tutorial class to one of the lecturer (Dr. K)...

well, it's an honour to become a lecturer's lecturer, isnt it? at the same time, i am intimidated... how can i possibly tutoring my lecturer? my god....anyway, i believed i will do a great job... Prof. J should know my capability, right? so if he believed i can do it, i can~

let's hope connie do well~

PS: i brought my cake to uni today...and it's all GONE~ they demanded that i should bake a banana cake tomorrow...

So, not only i excelled in bakery...i had been appointed as a tutor to a lecturer~ i guess i am not too bad after all...

Mom, this is my mother's day present for you~ and something else..ahem..secret~

my project...

why did i suddenly bake the impromptu spongecake? because i was mad..

i mentioned about doing a different project with a barbarian in the same laboratory, didnt i? guess what?

GOOD NEWS: HE DIDNT TURN UP FOR HIS PROJECT ON FRIDAY....

BAD NEWS: I had to prepare 20 samples for myself...and i ended up have to prepare 40 samples...20 for him and 20 for me! what the heck!!! i didn't want to do it, but i have no choice! the safety officer instructed me how to do it...and the barbarian wasnt here...and the officer wont be staying long, so i had to do his part! i REMINDED him to turn up at the lab and even texted him!

DARN! just my luck that i am stuck with a stooopid barbarian...if he is born stoopid, i wont blame him...he should at least made up his lack of intelligence by being a lil' bit more hardworking, shouldn't he?

oh well, barbarians wont understand this theory...or they wont be a barbarian anymore~

my impromptu cake...

i never planned to bake a sponge cake...i planned to make myself a pancake...


i ended up googling how to bake spongecake...after i mix the butter and sugar..i realised that i dont have any fillings for my spongecake...i ended up making custard filling...hahhaa! reason? i have eggs...hhaha!


it was so good that...right after i cut it into half and spread my homemade custard on it, my housemates all rushed in and finished it...luckily i managed to take pictures and grab myself a slice~ hooray~ here's the photo...

my custard (i dont know how to make...erm...i didnt read the instruction properly...milk should be boiled then the yolk and sugar added in....)

what i did: sugar + yolk, mix...add cold milk...then microwave for 3 mins, then mix it again...

this is my mixture...ready to be dumped into the oven

i sliced the cake into half so i spread my custard in between

custard spread on top

this is the cake...before slicing it...sorry for the jumbled photo..

just look at it...omg...it taste....DELICIOUS...not only palatable..haha!

this proves that it is actually a spongecake...

my mistakes during cake baking:

1. instead of using vanilla extract, i used lemon juice....
2. instead of using self raising flour ONLY, i added plain flour and baking powder to it
3. instead of 190 C i used 150 C
4. instead of 4 eggs, i used 5...
5. instead of cream and strawberry fillings, i used custard..

Outcome: it is still a spongecake and tastes great...

conclusion: Connie had just obtained PhD in bakery~ muahahhaha

mad at myself~

i am kinda mad at myself... i did mentioned about filing a complain as thick as dictionary, didn't i? but i didn't do it! argh!

just as my parents (okay, entire family of mine) predicted....my devilish horns melted before it harden...i am so pissed off at myself! i know i should be complaining about this thing as i had been through hell due to that assignment..somehow...

I can't do it! My rationality says: complain! complain! complain!!!

my heart says : No, connie...it's all over now...as long as you managed to hand up, why do you want to make the others suffer?

yea, so i am actually battling inside...and my project starts today! guess what's the good and bad news?

Good news: I know what i am doing...and i am quite sure i can do a good job~

BAD NEWS: one of the barbarians is doing a different project but under the same supervisor..which means our projects will have similarities....and he is sitting opposite me - FACE TO FACE EVERYDAY... argh! the same barbarian who made me walk through hell last friday...argh!

i still cant get over the issue, so i dont even want to talk to him or look at him in the face...i am afraid that i might shove whatever i have in the lab into his face!! okay, let's hope my 5months will be a happy experience...luckily, we have to wear goggle, mask, gloves and lab coat....it helps a lot when you dont want to look at someone~

ps: i hate barbarians...a few called me...i didnt pick up their calls purposely...ha-ha~ serves them right~ if they need any help, better call 911, i am not baby-sitting them anymore~ i am kind enough not to complain...(my brain is forcing me to complain!! argh!!!)...okay, i dont want to blog bout this issue anymore...i will have bi-polar attitude before finishing my MSc...hahhahah!