break again

Damn it! I “hate” the delay. Well, my boss will be giving talk on a workshop on FT-NMR for this whole week. As my work would be dealing on stuffs that I haven’t learn before. I can’t do anything. So? BREAK FOR ONE WEEK!!! (Journals next…^^)

When would we finish the laboratory work as “promised”? Not to say I blame or anything, is just… boss, at least let my partner and me know about on how long would your workshop be, and NOT just let us wait like an idiot there…=.=

Ok, I shall enjoy the break without the smell of chemicals.

the process

Has been one week since I started de-caffeination. The 3 in 1 coffee that I made, of course is in half of dosage, and for the purpose of de-caffeination, the water is more than I usually added in. So, I think you all would know what I will continue my sentence. Ya, the coffee is nearly tasteless… It really opposite from my habit that will make my coffee in the form of expresso which is very thick…><

At first, was really kinda torture. As time goes on, getting used to the nearly tasteless 3 in 1 coffee. Last weekend, I used the coffee maker that my friend gave me as present to make myself coffee o…hehe^^ Only very little sugar, and NO creamer. I HATE creamer. I can’t get rid of the creamer in 3 in 1 pack, but at least my brain is processing more on the taste of the coffee than the taste of creamer XD. Oh, I enjoyed the smell.

Am imagining if I totally reduce the coffee dosage until no coffee…the plan is the thicker taste of coffee would be my breakfast for first or second day of my final semester. And again, I will remember the lesson, not totally extreme for the first dose. (think too far…== lolz)

free time

These 2-3 days less things to do for FYP. The last thing I did is washed the column and combined the 15 fractions of the minor products from column chromatography. I saw it turned into solid form. If not mistaken, my major product would also in solid form.

These few days, (avoid saying boss’s bad things because it does has a habit that actually makes me feels annoyed, however, never mind) However, finding journals for my topic is not an easy job. This topic has quite limited search, I tried my very best to search. Normally I search info during night time. From around 8pm until I fall asleep. Well, I can stay up very late. To find specific ones for my topic, there is not much that I can find. But I WILL TRY MY BEST!!!

Kinda waiting forward to do the DPPH antioxidant assay and antimicrobial assay…^^

De-caffeination is in progress. So far, is quite smooth, I am decreasing the dosage little by little. Now everyday, I will remind myself that I am undergoing de-caffeination.

de-caffeine

Last night, told myself that I will drop off the caffeine addiction within this short semester. Maybe I forgot that this kinda “therapy” needs to perform in steps, but I did it in an extreme way, today didn’t drink coffee at all. I felt so damn headache and uncomfortable when doing my lab work. My friends also said that I looked pale…=.= Is it so serious? Oh gosh!!!

My head dizzy and my body is weak until I almost faint and collapse. If that time I still continue to do it, I might really just faint there…=.=||| So I cycled in a very slow mode until back home. Trying to distract my headache by dealing with the clothes, there were a lot of clothes needed to have them back at place. Not very successful. I sat in front of my laptop. Can’t remember what I did, I only remembered that, my head was “heavy” and almost bang on the table. == Then headed to nap, around 4 something then woke up around 6pm. Dinner time.

By the way, today my supervisor came to search for his supervisees. Wow, thats weird. Haha… He even told me some keywords to search for information. Isn’t it sounds nice?! XD Ok, Chup chup, head to work…^^

trip in Penang

Back from Penang around evening. What I felt that time is muscle ache on both my legs. Tiredness is gone because I slept during the journey back. Is just quite weird that, why I can’t fall asleep during the journey from Kampar to Penang, even though I was actually very tired. On Friday, rushed from Kampar around 5:45pm to Penang.

Late for the bible study that night, however, I did realized something from what was shared by Sister Lindsay, about Sabbath. Then they were surprised that I was there. Haha…and my friend, Tse Shing, said that when I came in to the house, why suddenly a student with a bag behind came in. Ya la, I am still a student…haha, of course I looked like a student. For me, I prefer to have a bag that is backpack kind, is convenient. Then chatted with friends. Again, many people said I am even thinner… Why every time also the same comment…?! I purposely wore a fitted collar shirt that day. Still…hahaha (actually 在暗爽中) I know it myself, there is obvious fat accumulation on the stomach during the break, but if people said is not obvious, means is really not obvious?

Saturday morning, I think I am the second one woke up in that whole house. Went to Tse Shing and Tze I’s room this time. Got other 3 people in that house. Tse Shing’s woke up the earliest, I supposed, then the next is me. I sat in the living room, and damn it, got attack by the mosquitoes…==”’ Then got one housemate went out around 9am. I went to clean up myself and then watched “Bones” until lunch time where all of us (Tze I, Shirley, Shirley’s friend, 美萍, if I am not wrong, and me) went out. Around 10am, only took my breakfast because can’t be I took somebody else’s things to eat, right? Then Tze I made me a cup of coffee. Then something happened, I felt a little dizzy and stomach not feeling well after drank the whole big cup of the coffee for the breakfast. (After I finished the coffee only I realized that I usually finished one cup of coffee within one day, but not one shot, thats why my stomach was not feeling well that time. Made myself 打嗝 to remove the air inside the stomach (so called) Felt a little better. By the way, Shirley and 美萍, both of them are certified teachers, will be sent to secondary schools by Ministry of Education. We had 鸭饭 as our lunch, one thing I want to stress here is the soup together with the 鸭饭, is so damn nice!!! Then went to Queensbay mall. Continue myself 打嗝 to remove the air in the stomach. Ate McD ice-cream and also watched the live dance competition organized. Nice outing…^^ Got myself a pants too, haha. First time bought one pants that quite suits my every lower part of my body… Back to the house and rested a while before heading to badminton session.

Played a few doubles during the 2 hours and singles with Felicia. Wow, she is good in playing with left hand. Sweat a lot. Felt great after sports!!! ^^ After some sorta dinner, back home. Rested a while then went to bath, and then continue watching “Bones” series until my head kept on “fishing” only I headed to bed. That night, mosquitoes attacked me. Grrr, I really can’t sleep well. Lastly, the pillow is on my head and I 缩成一团 (很烂的形容词) to avoid the mosquitoes. Ah, whatever. Damn those mosquitoes!!!

Went out for breakfast this morning. Then headed to Sunday service in church. My neck muscles a bit pain because of the extending pain from the shoulder’s muscles…== Then my pose of sitting is with the head down, like I was sleeping…==”’ But I wasn’t sleeping, just close my eyes, but I still listen to what Sister Lindsay and Sister Lindsay shared. Ok la, maybe I did fall asleep. But wasn’t deep, so far, I think I didn’t really sleep. After the lunch, Chin Ling brought me to Prangin Mall for shopping. Bought what I wanted…^^ Was laughing a lot during we walked…^^ She said she was like bringing 小朋友 (me) to go for shopping. ==|||

Journey back. Slept for 3/4 quarter of the journey… at least felt refreshed after the sleep, if not, I won’t be blogging here. Lolz. Thanks for everything and those who involved…^^ Truly appreciate it!!!

At least in this trip, I didn’t think anything about my studies and FYP…fully enjoyed and relaxed myself.

a good experience

Today, I made mistakes. I nearly got a mad scold from my supervisor…><

Around 5pm, supervisor came to check. Erm, suddenly I was very nervous. Was trying very hard to calm myself down. Then when dealing with important product, I accidentally split almost all on the floor…OH GOSH!!! He gonna mad that time, I knew that. But still thinking how to recover how to get back the product. Then cotton wool soaked with solvent is used to wipe on the product on the floor, still manage to recover most of the product. I SHALL be extra be careful. If not, the next time, I would be scolded in front of the many people in the lab…T.T…

Since my title for FYP is changed, so information, journals, references, etc need to be found and searched. Seriously, I felt this new topic is more interesting…^^ Somehow, I still think of other techniques that might be used from the previous topic, for example, crystalization and recrystalization. Learned it in Organic Chemistry practical session, but was long time ago. I hardly remember it. That time was group work, so I really can’t remember what is all about. By the way, learned IMAB in Y3S1, and had experience to pack and run a column chromatography is great! Finally got to practice it for real. ^^ Really happy! Maybe I will get the chance to see how my friend from Chemistry course perform the crystalization and recrystalization process. I shall see it. Won’t miss any chance to learn anything that I am interested as it is available. Somehow, I am also happy that I can help my friend who is doing other topic for FYP but need to use methods that I learned.

4th of October

Today is kinda HOT!!! I was keep on sweating and it caused stickiness on my skin, so damn uncomfortable…ish…!!! And also causing me kinda impatient. However, text messaging with someone is really happy; have no idea why, just feel very happy and relax when text messaging with that friend…^^ Suddenly I didn’t feel that impatient anymore for that moment onwasrds, and cooled down.

Reached campus before 9:30am to meet supervisor, but nearly 10am only saw him…=.= Again…!!! Ah, whatever, at least I got time to cool myself down because I noticed that my heart beat very fast and metabolic rate is shooting up…STARTED!!!

Supervisor started with briefing, at first, hard to catch what he was talking, because I don’t understand. Then we (my partner and I) asked him, he said, is another title. Oh gosh><, his research assistant, KC done it before, so KC will be guiding us according to supervisor’s instructions. Then after briefing, straight away start, I don’t even get a time to “fix” my mind back, then my next response was “WHAT?!” Haven’t get ready, I mean I took a little time to get my mind back and digested what supervisor instructed. A great challenge to me today, a new order and straight away start…wow…>.< Starting materials for the experiment, according to KC, is carcinogenic and…ehem, very smelly, some more need to take out 8.73g of 4-methoxyphenylhydrazine together with 6.2 mL of methyl levulinate, together with acetic acid (I forgot how much is used). The acetic acid is smelly until even the smell is quite sharp when I am near the fume hood (when I was about to pour the acetic acid to the measuring cylinder). Used a lot of organic solvents during the experiment: ethyl acetate, chloroform to rinse the apparatus, hexane and ethyl acetate as solvents for thin layer chromatography to test the purity of product, methanol, etc, these volatile solvents really cause my cells in nasal cavity to die  A LOT…>.< The reflux took 4 hours in oil at above 100 degree celcius, then is separation to get the products by extraction with ethyl acetate (a lot; so u can imagine the smell when pouring out the solvent), then drying and concentration of product with magnesium sulphate and vacuum rotary evaporator. There are 2 layers in separation of products: the aqueous layer and the organic layer, the main concern is the organic layer. The whole thing after reflux is crude kopi o colour. Aqueous layer initally is teh o in colour, then slowly became orange juice in colour then ice lemon tea in colour; while the organic layer, from the beginning, is kopi o colour, is just the change of concentration as a result of addition of ethyl acetate to it, so it became a bit diluted in colour. The process to get the product is by separatory funnel, and shake, shake and shake. (Shake it, shake it…XD). The knot of the funnel is kinda loose, I didn’t know that time, so I accidentally shake the funnel and twisted the knot, then some of the products dripped to my pants…==||| (Luckily the product is not corrosive, if not, my pants would be a few holes there…=.=) Watching the aqueous layer’s colour turning from teh o colour to ice lemon tea colour, means the organic parts is getting less n less in aqueous layer. The final extraction for today ended with kopi o colour, just that this “kopi o” is VERY SMELLY!!!

Then is the drying and concentration part. Drying by magnesium sulphate and filtration by using funnel and cotton wool then the rotavapour (vacuum rotary evaporator). Most of the organic solvents is getting rid off, but STILL SMELLY…@@. Did the thin layer chromatography to test the purity, just that haven’t check the plate yet. Will continue tomorrow.

Meanwhile, doing research for this new title…a BRAND NEW topic to me. Chup chup, gotta work hard on it. Ciaoz…

Is very TIRED today, but worth it, I learned some new techniques today. ^^

journey back after holiday

Sunday evening, train in 5:55pm. Depart from Seremban at 5:55pm, with one backpack and one luggage, both of them are heavy…>< Today, is my first time to sit ETS back. Wanna have a try on it…^^

Well, the new train is REALLY different from the old one. First, the sound proof, the kind of floor structure, the door, and almost everything, just the way of arranging the seats is the same. The thing I want to stress here is the speed. I noticed that whenever the train reach 90km onwards, the television screen in the train will show it. I noticed the speed, or actually can be considered that I watched the television screen almost all the time. When it reached 145km/h, I was thinking, is this the fastest? Then not longer…it reached 160km/h. Wow, sit inside the train, really hard to feel that. I wondered if that time I back is day time, I can see the scenery just passed very FAST…I was imagining. By the way, on the way near Bangi, it stopped, then the driver announced that there was another train broke down around Kajang station. Wow, this kind of announcement, there is no such thing in the old train. The person who check the ticket (I don’t know what name of the occupation is that), gives a wide smile. Well, this also doesn’t seen in the old train system. This new train is NEW in the sense of its speed and its service too. The destination that it gonna reach also it will announce and SHOW ON THE SCREEN ON THE TELEVISION…that’s nice! Reached Kampar within two and a half hours, shorter time compared boarding the old train, QUIETER than the old ones. That time I was thinking, save money or save time better? Fare cheaper but time taken back home longer, another option is fare more expensive but time taken back home is shorter. I think I will choose to save time. Long time travelling really tiring. I rather use the time that “saved” to do other things. Haha.

Thanks my friends who fetched me back. Safe and sound at room around 9pm. I am kinda excited now…

end (part two)

Gonna use the short semester for my Final Year Project lab sessions, which is experimental. Feeling like the new challenges of my Year 3 is going to be more interesting…^^ With the supervision of a great lecturer and I hope I am “thick face” enough to bear the scoldings and my supervisor’s (is a he) anger…>< but most importantly is I will be learning a lot from him!!!

Remember the chat I mentioned in the previous post “end”? I chatted with the lecturers involved. Neoh graduated from Bachelor of Science in Education (I am not very sure whether I have get the name of the course correctly), whatever, the thing I want to stress here is he graduated as a teacher in Education course in University…Wow!!! And now, he is a Chemistry lecturer in UTAR and he is Dr. Neoh who is major in inorganic or polymer chemistry (if I didn’t get it wrong) Well, all the while, I know teachers’ hard work and their dedication, except all those really put “no heart” in education to teach, those kind of people, I won’t respect. Well, I shared my experience to them, that I taught primary school children for half a year, they were looked surprised and seems like felt happy for me. Somehow, suddenly I had a new idea and plan for myself…XD He also said something about job interview and application…haha, hmm, some sorta learned something on how to have higher chance to get a job…I hope so.

Seriously, that celebration of finished the exam, was the time I mixed and talked with my coursemates the most…seriously? Yup, seriously. I seldom talk to them because as for me, everyday meet that kind of FACE, ya, that kind of fake or whatsoever faces, I am kinda tired and no mood, now, no more exam, of course different faces were coming out. This is the time I felt that those people won’t be fake. Enjoying what, won’t have that kind of faces on their face, that is the nice part I was trying to think of.

Chai and Neoh talked about the so called power distance…they don’t like. And they are asking us to call them like how I call them here. Sometimes I think, how would the learning environment be if this culture is practised here…? Isn’t it fun. And from what they told me, actually if power distance is not that emphasized, actually both parties learned a lot. And I listened to how they told me, and they actually already practiced on us, that time only I recalled. Actually all the while, we were practicing, just not so deep. They said, through this, when students do not hesitate to ask, the lecturers will also more willingly and feel the joyfulness in teaching and the most “interesting” part is the lecturers will also tell the students very frankly that they do not know certain facts; when this happens, both parties actually will try their best to look for answers and discuss about it. From here, students actually respect more to the lecturers rather than laugh at the lecturers, rather than some, already don’t know but still bring students round and round and yet doesn’t tell anything to the point. Seriously, lecturers or Dr.s or Professors, they won’t get to know everything in the universe, so why not just admit what they don’t know? No big deal, just learn! Life is all about learning, right?

In this semester, I have gained a lot and found some ideas in improving my memory. For me, the first thing is interest, I must tell myself and get myself be interested to the subject and due to my health problem, I get my mp3 to record the lectures and of course those recordings are not being thrown into “dustbin”, I will listen it over and over again if I missed any points. Somehow, I found that this method worked on me in this semester…^^ Seriously, ya, seriously, I really enjoy the subjects that I took in this semester.

Tuesday morning

Good morning, everyone!!! Woke up around 8:30am…but I actually slept later than 4am. Well, I have no idea why I can’t sleep even though already 4am in the morning, in fact that I was very very TIRED!  So I blogged here to summarize how I felt in this semester. Hmm, just part one, and to be continued actually. Haha… Even though I slept not long, but I feel very energetic now…is it because I gonna go back home? Hehe… packing…the last round.  Actually feel a bit fed up of packing, scared left this and that…@@

Blogging here and enjoying the music, at the same time, still thinking whether do I still left anything that haven’t put on list…hmm…hope to bring as light as possible for my luggage as possible, because I scared I have a lot to bring back here.

Neh, I shall leave now…last round of packing and prepare myself…^^ see ya, my friends in hometown!!!