Sledging... on a tiny slope

well, since i finished my exams.. and i have a new camera... here is my first batch of pictures. (kinda first batch). As i have no internet access.. it has been a pain to upload pics.. or update u guys about life. Not that there is much to say. Today is the 22nd december, most of my friends left for their respective countries/provinces.. so i am more or less alone in montreal. Feels kinda weird. It is such a blessing that iman has returned.

I decided to scrap te plans of NY cause i wana wait till spring break. IN addition, eleni (the greek girl) has promised to visit me in March, and that we can go together to NY. That will be so fun (crossing fingers..)

an injured snow covered personell... we seem oblivious

in action..

mountain of snow to sit in..

FINALLY --> MY NEW DIGITAL CAMERA

hihi

i think all of u must have stopped checking my blog already,, but no worries! i finally went in the blistering -15 C today to buy my new digital cam. this time round, i chose a cheaper model, (abit) sony powershot S90. Of course, a memory card is a must. i cant wait to start shooting the snow n stuff. Will be keeping you updated.

To be honest, tomorrow is my exam. but no worries, i am prepared for it. (kinda) i mean, it is 60 MCQ, so it cant be that awful.. unless they give really unexpected questions n stuff.

For my life, i have eben getting busier not because of studies, but because of my lab work. i have finally embarked on my little project/thesis. GOD. it takes soo much planning n precision, carefulness, brains etc to work. I keep forgetting ingredients, measurements, tubes etc. It is said that starting is normal, with time i am suppose to become better. *SO....... we will see. I am planning from 16-25, i will work hard on my research, so that i have something running. *it is about time anyway.

Iman has been away since 5th of dec - to visit his grannies etc in iran. I miss him sooo much. It is good that i have lots of work to tend to, else... *_* DEAREST IMAN, if u read this, i want HUGE HUGE PRESENTS ---> ONE for my bday, ONE for XMAS, ONE for mental conpensation!~

pics donated by iman

The fall has LONG passed... was so pretty. A view in iman's neighbourhood.

Courtesy of iman's camera.

Dazed...

lazy shisha place... so comfy....

ONE semester is almost over. Am working hard hard hard to clear exams n schedules.. Will be buying a new camera again... soon.................... when i have time to go shopping. *anticipating.*

BLOG SATURATION

DUE TO UNFORSEEN LOADS OF WORK, THIS BLOG WILL CEASE TO BE UPDATED UNTIL A NEW CAMERA MATERIALIZES. *_*

MEANWHILE, SNOW BECOMES MORE AND MORE COMMON HERE, WITH THE TEMPERATURES DIPPING LIKE CRAZY DAY BY DAY.

FOR THOSE BOGGED DOWN BY STUDIES, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

FOR THOSE WORKING, SHARE SOME MONEY.

FOR THOSE WHO HAS TOO MUCH MONEY, DONATE SOME.

FOR THOSE WHO HAS NO MONEY, GO GET SOME AND THEN SHARE.

FOR THOSE WHO MISS ME, MOVE YOUR ASS HERE SO THAT I GET TO SEE YOU.

FOR THOSE WHO LOVE ME, CONTINUE TO DO SO. (I LOVE YOU TOO).

FOR THOSE WHO DONT, I DONT LOVE YOU TOO.

it snows

The snow started today.

At the early hours where the sun was still sleeping.. it has been snowing for at least 3 hours already. Most roofs are already covered with a thin layer of snow, same with the naked tree branches, the parked cars and the soil. The foggy landscape and the fluttering snow flakes, paints a perfect picture for my eyes, making it look surreal. Almost as if the time has come ot a stand still.

Taking a closer look, I see people still hurrying along the streets, cars moving with windswipers on, an occassional seagull or pigeon flying over your heads.. reminds you that the time is still ticking away.

Sitting by my window, pondering. loss in the beauty of nature. The snow seems to wander aimlessly everwhere, floating in batches, pushed by an invisible force. I think seasonal changes does evoke very serene, pure, beautiful feelings in you. Reminds you that mother nature is all powerful.... *wishing there is no school today....

MY boring life

As the semester draws near, so is are my stress hormone levels rising in an exponential rate. *grumble. Just deadlines and deadlines to meet. Anyway, i will be fine. Still hanging on....

I volunteered myself to be the 'lab helper' in my laboratory, so as to increase my non-exsistant basic wet-lab skills to something useful. I guess crossing over to a suddenly more bio based lab is a double obstacle path. If you dont know nor understand the use of the basic skills on e.g: plating, culture cells, dilutions, use specialised machines, how would you know how to plan your own experiments? Even if you have a hint of an idea of what you want, how can you express it in paper since you have no idea how the experimental setup should go? It boils down to just working twice as hard, learning while churning out ways to create experiments which can lead you closer to the goal. As i learnt, it is not easy to sit down and PLAN an experiment yourself, and to excute them perfectly. Often, it screws up. You overlook details. Unexpected human or random errors occur. Oh well. Rattling off.

The newest forecast... do checkout the link i have given on the right hand corner of my blog. Perhaps snow is approaching. Ah well. I wouldnt bank on it. Forcasters....

lazy ass

another week has passed. It is soo awful to know that the semester is running away so fast. All deadlines are converging at the end of this month = oh no! I have made it a pt to wake up everyday by 930 on a weekday, even if there is no classes. This helps me to get more things done. (or so i think)

I have been feeling abit lost lately, probably due to the lost of my bag, and the absence of my laptop (i sent it for repairs). In addition, you know, the bouts of loneliness you get facing 4 walls in your room. Sure, socialising is a great way to get rid of these feelings, but i am not really in a mood to. *GRUMBLE.

Yesterday, i ate pizza with iman's sister Baharan - after studying together in the lib. WAS SOO FULLLL after that. Her mum picked her up, and i volunteered to walk home. (feeling tummy guilty) Then i spent like an hour walking in the neighbour hood, feeling bored and claustrophobic. It was night by then, so i didnt dare to be to adventurous to walk to a park or something. Parks at night here = darkness. No trace of streetlamps.

Today, i am doing an outline of another term paper. I neeed inspiration man. *grumble.

Just a note, i MISSSSS my camera sooo much. *whine.

holloween blues

my friends

beard!

jean + me

couldnt resist the 'afro' 70 styled basketballer.. haa..

Us girls...

There was a tini girl's dress up session - which we happily finishes a bottle of rose wine and some cheez and bread. I guess i was determined to not let the unfortunate bag incident bring me down.

So.. arent i pretty? *just abit red... not my fault - the wine..... (i am suppose to be a renaissance witch)

Some frog prince came to pick me up, with stupid lines like are u a witch? did u turn me into a frog? then again, you look too pretty, perhaps you are the princess i am looking for to turn me back.. *_*

anyhow, it was really fun, n memorable, with EVERY SINGLE PERSON dressed up as something. even the most boring one came with a wig. There was a dressing contest --> the person who won was a vibrator girl. *HAAAA... Also, there was some guy dressed in a g-string, painted white from head to toe. he DOES NOT HAVE A GOOD BOD. i was laughing too hard to remember to take a picture of him.

almost back to normal life

MOI

stolen BAG

great loss!

SNIFF --> was enjoying a beer and pizza with some friends in a restaurant. Some one, just took my bag away without me realising it. i left it besides me, on the floor.

LESSON LEARNT.

i lost my phone, my wallet, my keys, my NEW digital camera, my pencil case, my memory stick, my money.. and most importantly, my handwritten french notebook.

SNIFFFFFFFFFFFF

but i got over the pain, and picking up pieces and moving on. Iman's mum was very nice, she gave me a pretty black wallet which she has used before, iman supplied me a new set of pens and pencil case. *SO SWEET OF THEM. Tomor, i need to go apply for my ID cards, my buspass etc. OH WELL. I definitely will be even more protective of my belongings. (i do pride myself for being very careful.. *GRUMBLE)

zzzzzz

1 yr 4 mths --> not too long, not too short

KISSES

X is where you can get away by looking cute when you fart stinks.

X is when you stare in one's eyes for 5 min, it still seems normal

X is when its more than ok to sound incoherent at times.

X is when you can whine all you want, you know that one still listens.

X is when one waits patiently for you to form sentences in french, and always correct you gently, if mistakes happen.

X is when one has a exam in 2 hrs time, and is still willing to make time out to hear your woes, to make you smile again.

X is when one will cook dinner for you, before you get home - cause you complained you are hungry.

ohoh! X is when you can call at ANYtime of the day, and know its fine. (even if it steals sleep away)

.................meow................

SHITTY DAY

My bread of the week: butter zopfe (i made it, a swiss speciality bread) Abit on the dry side, but its my first attempt. tastes GOOOOD. BIEN!


First, i crawled out of bed feeling sore on my back at 9.30am>> There is no classes, but its my habit to wake up by 930 in the weekdays.

Next, i debated whether to study spine (disc nuclear displacement developments) or to read up on protein detection via FRET or BRET. (go find out yourselves on www.wikipedia.org)
In the end, i ended up washing up the leftover dishes in my sink, and making a strawberry jam for myself. *ophs

TADA! my homemade strawberry jam! (think i didnt cook it long enough. still abit watery..)

Next, i decided to go lib to read up on my spinal stuff, with my labtop. at 1130, i went out of my apartment, and realised i LOCKED myself out. *GRRR. SO, i had to hunt my landlord down to open the door for me.

Studying went well for first hr. the second hr, i decided to be 'smart', and set a password for my comp. 1 hr later, i realised that i have FORGOTTEN the password. i spent 2 hrs typing different combinations, and gettin rejected from my OWN LABTOP, getting stressed out!. I was ready to DIE when an inspiration struck. WHEW. <<>

next, i met up with a friend to start on a review paper project (the spinal paper); it went well. UNFORTUNATELY, i was in a rush and left my phone in the library, when we left. I didnt realise until 1 hr later. I was panicing and calling my phone in VAIN. *Sniff. It was actually time for french, but i really COULDNT settle without my phone. So i delayed my french class, n went phone hunting. LUCKILY, it was still there, inconspicous on the table in the library. *WHEW.

GRUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

preview of holloween

pink actually does suit me
haaaaa

SHE LOOK SO GOTHIC..

i bought a costume with caroline.. NOT TELLING YOU WHAT WE HAVE. BLEH. here is the preview of hairdoes.... hee

update later.. *I LOOK SOOO CUTE!!!!!!! in the costume.. and the hair. maybe i should highlight them ;D

i am staying at home today, a SATURDAY NIGHT. and!!! i am going to STUDYYYYYY*****

chirp

kt

autumn is arriving

NOW

BEFORE
zzzzz..

Look: autumn is coming.. the leaves are changing color... THere is a maple tree that i walk pass everyday. It is changing its color slowly, turning from a beautiful velvety green to a warm red shade. i was always meaning to take a picture of it weekily for self comparision, but i never gotten down to it. *thats life

anyway, today is friday, i am tired. just the whole week i guess. I have finished one of the term papers, on the uremic patients stuff. The next paper is on nucleus replacement therapy. (Something about the spine).. At least i am learning hell lots.

This is my lunch today. A nice pizza, with hotdogs, oats, veges.+ prawns. Forgot to take a picture of it before devouring it away... ** it shows that pizza can be healthy, IF YOU ADD LESS CHEESE.

]

Tomorrow i will be going with caroline for halloween party shopping.. my first costume... yeh.. Noon, lab (last one for this yr i think), evening, grocery topup and perhaps erm.. study.. heeeeee

boston vs montreal

THE STADIUM WAS HUUUGGGGEEEE.

pretty me... and unflattering view of iman (in my opinion)

Caroline and co >> somehow, the guy screwed up in painting the colors of the flag... he drew a french one instead of the local Quebec one.. *HAAAA
Our cheerleader
Bruit!!!! --- NOISE Vague!!! --- WAVE!!! Olê!! ..>????

GO HABS GO >>> GO habitants go. habitants is kinda the french word for saying go locals go. enlightening.

Today is the NHL league. spent 25 bucks to get a 4th level seat. hrmp. heard that the first level seats go up to 200 bucks. *_* This game was really cool. The atmosphere was INTENSE. Everyone was just jumping up and down, screaming their heads off. We even had supplied cheerleaders to motivate us to make more noise. hee. Occasionally, someone wins a free drink for cheering the loudest.

I would spend sometime expaining the rules of hockey, if i had the energy. Am too tired. Anyhow, worth the experience, not worth the time and money to watch again. (maybe i will, who knows. its really fun. keeps me at the edge of my seat) EVERYONE was dying when boston led for the first 2 segments of the game. Fortunately, the tide turned and it was 4:3 in favor of montreal. *WHEW.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

pictures of last week

the beer keg is empty and Cyril is thirsty...

Singh's first performance...

my accomplishment... (healthy, no sugar muffins -used honey, oat, banana, milk and whole wheat flour)

the banana's made it look warty.. haaaaa *tastes good thou

its good to be a weather forcaster

new weather projection

COMPARED WITH the projection just 2 days ago, it seems like the progession gets colder AND WETTER.. WHAT A CHANGE. How unpredictable weather can be.. SO how come there is a job called weather forcasting???

You wouldnt believe how busy i am, SUDDENLY. lets see, i have 2 assignments due next week, 3 term papers & 1 presentation due at end of november, together with exams in december. IN ADDITION, my formal lab experiments are just starting. I have to do paperwork for the approval of using animal trials (SORRY ANGIE, required for benefit of greater good *HEE), in addition attend to my baby bacterias weekly, process them to make capsules.. (god knows how frequent that will be), make solutions.. *SNIFFFFF. (MAYBE i will lose weight due to stress????!!!!)

I have been lacking of exercise. I am so sure i wil be SOOO FAT soon. *SNIFF. I think i need to add exercise into my routines.

sniff.. working on one of the papers..

Kittie *looking pitiful...

running for classes

Just had lunch. Am writing a review paper on treatments for uremic patients. Still in progress. Thanks to kind souls like coni, meiting and wenlong, they have facilitated the organisation of my thoughts by clarifying some doubts. *KISSSS.

On a grumbling point, there goes the days of summer. here is the average temperatures now...

Montreal weather

The day is always fine, but at night it does get abit annoying, with the strong winds they have, usually below 10 C low. With the winds, my legs freeze, even with jeans. Will be starting to wear stockings on daily basis if this continues.. (maybe the wind will slim my legs down further...? higher metabolism on legs?!)

A big thanks to my mother, cause be bought this pretty, white thick jacket from CHINA for me. It is my life saver these days.... Will post a picture of that soon.

k, classes at 1430..

MOI

my first thanksgiving turkey

The queen of the night (vege tofu turkey!)

The king of the night

It was so nice to be invited over for a thanksgiving dinner. The turkey was like.. HUGE! the real dimensions is approximately 80 cm X 50 cm X 50 cm. It had lots of stuffing (tasted weird.. if u ask me).

Anyway, the host is the tall, handsome black guy - a yr 2 biomed guy. (the darkest in the picture) All the people you see are year twos. (meaning they are either graduating soon, or they are phDs). All of us contributed by bringing a dish, and i made mash potatoes... (i learnt! it is OSOOOO FATTENING!!!! GOD)

Dont be fooled by the proportional guy:girl ratio. The girls have been artificially boosted by alot. only 4 of the girsl in the picture are genuine biomed engineers. *winks* I am really glad that i went, cause i got to know the people in my department alittle better. (YES, i am emphasizing the fact that we are so little)

As a graduate student, I find it much harder to create ample oppotunites to socialise, even within your own faculty, because everyone is so busy with their research, we are in different labs, different supervisors, different courses etc. I also realise that time flies as a graduate student. I think its just because i am soo busy juggling research and courses. There is sooo much i want to learn.

US

A wonderful cheese platter decorated by one of the guys.. it looked soo professional!!!! *we engineers arent that dull huh.*i could hardly bear to eat it...

sicky friday

MEOW..
am alone today, on a cold, rainy, friday evening -- sniffing mucus at home. *WHIINE. only my darling gerbie is with me... *kiss. I was suppose to go clubbing today. there is a nice club called altitude737, apparently the best view in montreal.. *squirm
i am down with sore throat, phlegm, horrible coughing fits.. and of course a dripping nose.

darling gerbie

Here is a bag of rice i bought recently. I think i caught on the indian taste right.. the long rice taste good.. especially with abit of olive oil and salt... *from iman...

I bought this breadbook recently. it has EVERY kind of bread i want to make. it devided the breads over the world into different regions, and they gave specific reciepes for it. UNFORTUNATELY, it didnt give any that of chinese ones.. this weekend, i need to make some bread..

I need to rest. hope i recover tomorrow. i wana enjoy a nice saturday and sunday. I have to go lab again tomorrow to discuss the animal protocol for my project thou. *sorry guys, some rats are about to be test subjects...

In addition, this blueberry jam that i made a month ago (when blueberries were everywhere) is finishing.. whine.. seems like the berry season is over too.... *HOW!? i dont want preserved ones...

random thoughts from a already shutting-down-mind..

SICK SICK SICK

*SNUFFLES>.... medicine time....

btw, for those who have violently protested on these animal stuff.. i felt bad too.. but i needed to pass the test. Else, i cant do my experiments.

In addition, come one, most of the medicine you have taken in your life required the minimal sacrfice of at like 60 animals before they can be even passed on to clinical trials...

*COUGH COUGH
*i need rest... ZZZZZ

ATTN: NOT FOR THE FAINTHEARTED

HELLOW MATES!

had a rat handling workshop yesterday. SEXING THE RAT:

Female and male, it is the difference between the anus and the vagina/penis length

First i learned how to catch a rat, YES by the BASE tail

Next technique: feed rats with my new cocktails.. the nicer term --> gavage.. (forcefeed?)

the CORRECT needle size: from the mouth to the end of ribcage..

Cardiac puncture prior to killing the rat (for post mortem purposes) By the way, cardiac puncture is just a fancy term of saying poking a hole in the heart to drain its blood....

Killing the rat: There are many ways to put it too sleep. It must be done as HUMANE as possible.

1: carbon dioxide poisioning

2: 3X anaesthetic dose

3: General anaesthesia + preceding physical euthanasia (cervical dislocation, decapitation,
exsanguination) --> I had to do a cervical dislocation = breaking its neck.. *

4:Gas anaesthesia overdose

NON acceptable ways of putting a rat down:
• Decompression
• Asphyxiation
• Air embolism
• Freezing (rapid freezing permitted under anaesthesia and with protocol approval)
• Carbon monoxide
• Methoxyflurane
• Ether
• Nitrogen flushing
• Nitrous oxide
• Chloroform
• Chloral hydrate
• Poisons (strychnine, cyanide)
• Household products and solvents (acetone, alcohol)
• Drowning
• Burning
• Physical Methods

HAHAHAHAHA.. some of them are atocious. ANYONE still wants to do research?

kisses..another day...

Monday monday

I FEEL BORED. Mondays are my 'free' days. (if so you call it) I went to buy my groceries, a book - the blue pocket book of french VERBS and a day cream from yves rochers. I got to know of Yves rochers while i was in switzerland and i was really impressed by their products. ALL their ingredients are botanical based, hypoallergic blah blah. IN ADDITION, today i realised that they offer FACIALS!!! *I DESPARATELY NEED ONE. oh well oh well. soon soon. I decided to help them do some free advertisment --> www.yvesrocher.com <--- quite a pity that singapore does not have this brand.. yet?

Yesterday (sunday) i wasted my daylights cleaning up my room, recovering from my slight flu and baked chocolate-oat chips cookies. (YUM YUM). In addition, i went to my lab at 7pm and stayed till 11 pm for abit of hard-core studying. You know, i thought i would be the ONLY one in the building, considering the fact that it is a SUNDAY and NIGHT. NO..... there are still a few people milling around, even in my lab there was 1 guy. *faints. Guess i will be joining the crew of night-roamers in the Duff medical building... =)

I was sooo touched that my microcapsules finally turned out after the 5th round of encapsulating polymer beads in 200 & 300 micron sizes.. ARGH. I kept the PIONEER batch in a bottle, with CaCL2 (calcium chloride soln) in the fridge.. (MY beads of prespiration). PS: i will take some photos of them using the microscope we have in the lab (SOON).. then i can SHARE my 'achievements'...

Did i tell you i bought hockey tickets to watch boston vs montreal? it will be on the 18th Oct.. *looking forward to it...*

tralala.. i gota plan for my next experiement... probably starting tomro... i shall let monday be monday...

MOI

TRANSLATION TOOL

HIHI

this is especially for my MUM::: one the right hand side, there is a translation tool -- click on the chinese flag, and MY webpage will be translated to chinese.



FOR others who wish to read my webpage in spanish or german etc, click on your respective flags. DO NOT expect pefect translations, of course... but in general, it will work.


have fun...
caroline

SACRIFICES IN THE NAME OF BEAUTY

143.78 CAD for only 2 SMALL jars of cream... *pains of a woman...

!Its the most front 2 jars - Hydra zen night cream n stupid eye cream!

Anyway, they soothen the pain of this exorbitant price by giving me a whole bunch of goodies.. - the tini perfume, the 3 tini creams u see at the back - 1 Vit C for body cream, 1 vit C serum for face & 1 day cream. In addition, 1 lip stick, 1 lip gloss and 1 mascara. (BTW, i was weary of the color initially; its abit dark purple; - but they look GORGEOUS on me.. very elegant....) The parfum is nice too, but i dont use that much of parfum anyway.... OHOHOH! and the bag! The color contrast n the material gave a very nice classical look to it, so i am sure i will use the bag. YOU KNOW, this is the 1st set of 'free' gifts that i think i WILL use....

*THANKS dad... hope the hole in your pocket arent too big... *

LOUSY BLOG PICS!!!

1 2




3 4

For some reason, the previous blog REFUSED to let me upload more pics.. SO THERE. i have to enter a new post. BLEH. Notice the fast progression of sunlight disappearing. The transition was within 1/2 hr... *SNIFFFFF... i totally didnt enjoy the brisk walk. We hardly got to enjoy the vast variety of gardens.. They had like 1st nation gardens, japanese gardens, aborigines' garden, Herbs garden, etc.

the pretty lanterns..

guess what i found!?

Just update, That girl is also called caroline.. She is the only girl in biomed Masters - year 1, that i know of. The rest are either hiding, or there are NON-existent....*SNIFF