Back to the reality

My mood of 'I still wanna lie on my bed for as long as I want' is abating and now it's more towards 'I wanna go back to Oxford!'

Pros

1) I have just had a last outing with friends in Brunei in 2010. Well, prob another one tomorrow morning if we're going to play squash. Anyway, there won't be any outing anymore here.

2) The thoughts of carrying boxes from a few hundred metres away and up the narrow staircases daunt me so much. I really wanna get it over asap and my life for the next nine months will be rescued from misery. Because I won't need to move out for my vac anymore-I signed a contract for the full nine months!!!

3) Sick of contacting my committee members via emails all the time. Back there, I could just fire a few texts or ring them up, or meeting. So much easier!!

4) Either the Oxford website or the Brunei internet sucks, or maybe both. Fuck it's insanely tormenting to access not only the 'intranet' but also the general public Oxford website. WTF! Back there, it's so much faster and easier. It's literally one-click away. Here, yes it's one-click away but it may take half an hour or more. Seriously, I'm not joking. I usually finish watching a show I've loaded while waiting. Or sometimes, 'The webpage can't be displayed' screen appears.

5) I wanna watch drama and the internet there is much faster duh. And my schedule is much more free than last year so I'll have more time to watch drama/anime wtv.

6) My course properly starts in 2nd yr so I really wanna see how it's like. You know, you're always ambitious before things start.

7) I wanna see the fresh bloods. hahhaha.

8) Alcohol.

Cons

1) Malas to cook and wake up in the morning.

2) Laundry is _l_

ANYWAY, this Summer is more productive than the two before.

1) I played lots of squash- exercise!

2) More outings maybe. Hari raya open houses!!!

3) The effect of jetlag subsided pretty quick.

4) I went to Penang and Sg.

What I ought to do but I didn't:

1) Kg. Ayer and Temburong.

2) Gym <-- damn it so much ahhahha.

3) A proper internship experience. Hey I did try but 'they' disappointed me.

Can't think of other stuffs. Anyway, cya guys and have a good start at your Unis. Safe flights for those who're leaving.

Two weeks to go

The traditional-ish black tie holds a classy modern fashion when worn together with the slim-fit white shirt! So extravagant in a way. The button of my one-really-nice white shirt from Zara got loosed a few days after I bought it. So pissed~

I want that grey jacket-blazer as well!

Croaking frogs. Please shaddup thanks.

I've woken up at an ungodly hour in a holiday- 715am. It was for the Oxbridge Roadshow at MD and I have to say that I really admire those who have brilliant presentation skills. Say the British High Commisioner and Her Excellency/His Excellency's wife (no idea the correct way to address her). Both of them are graduates from Cambridge. Their presentation took the form of a double act, really cool!

Many people, esp students, hate formal talks, dry and boring script-reading speeches. So I always love those kinds as if the presentators are talking about ideas that have just sprung to their minds- the extemporaneous speeches, but, they do have the script right in front of them. It's just the way you deliver the speech.

They can as well guide the listeners to the appropriate mood at certain parts of their speeches, which remain really interesting. Say with a change of the tone, the listeners do know 'he is serious now.' Awesome~

I wish I could be like them.. I did try but I think I failed lol. Quite often, I was like 'urmmm...'

Token of appreciation-pen and a trophy. Seriously, they don't have to give us trophies. Not sure if trophy is the right noun actually.

And yea, this then settles one of the tasks of being a Univ Ambassador (a scheme I have taken part in)- delivering a talk to a school so as to promote and encourage the students to apply to Oxford and providing necessary guidelines and helps to those who are thinking so.

I think I have signed up for and done way too many things to boost up my CV (well actually my primary aim is to meet more people so I can make more friends. Yeayea I know it sounds desperate) but then now I find it unnecessary lol. As if I can squeeze in so much stuff into a CV. But oh well, since I have get involved, might as well just do it till the very end ie till the half term of Michaelmas.

I seriously love the Oxford crest. It takes the shape of the crest of Uchiha Clan from Naruto. Well may be vice versa, since Oxford has existed way before Naruto.

Okay Ox crest looks much better than Uchiha's!

Youngest

My aunts came to Brunei last week and I had to offer them my room so I stayed at my eldest bro's room, sleeping on his bed, with him. The reason why my room was chosen? Coz I have a double bed. And I'm the youngest. Whatever the valid reasons my other siblings gave. The main reason is I'm the youngest.

Since young, I've always been sacrificed, ok not to that extent, but told to do this n that, whenever no one else wanna do it. I don't mind since when I was growing, I was an annoying crybie and money-sucking dependent being. And the elder ones took care of me.

What I'm annoyed is whenever I go around, the adults (uncles and aunties), upon knowing I'm the youngest one, will say 'Oh youngest! Manja ni. I bet you get everything you want!' I smiled and gave them a literal 'haha', thinking 'Fuck off old man/lady! Shut your bloody mouth up when you dunno anything and stop stereotyping the youngest child for god sake.'

Ok lah, exaggerate again, but I do get very very pissed.

Hahah I still remember I always spent minimal amount of money since young so now my parents urge me to spend more money. And also my mum gave me $50 one day during the MS time cz she thought I didn't wanna spend my money on lunch and hence I was so thin. Hell no. I didn't eat much coz I couldn't eat quickly that time and the lunch break was only half an hour long.

Now my aunt came back from Limbang together with my one cuz, and they're staying in my room. I stayed in my elder bro's room (single bed) yesterday night cz he went to KK. Now he's back I'll move to my eldest bro's room again.

Faint

Who's up for a full medical check-up sometimes before we go back? I'm interested in having a blood test only though. Just wanna check out if my blood cells count, cholesterol level, [Hb] (ie concentration of haemoglobin), iron, platelets, etc comply to my healthy appearance!

I hope I don't have hypotension (low blood pressure) nor high cholesterol. You nvr know. I have a sphygmomanometer in my hse and I was tested having a hypotension at that time and it freaked me out. I swore it's because everyone in my family was so worried of hypertension (they get fat easily unlike me the odd one out) that we have been eating healthy food (and I've been eating healthy food for nearly all my life, unlike them, again) so my blood pressure was lower than norm.

And frequently I also find myself close to fainting, or maybe not since I've never fainted and hence I don't know how it feels when you're abt to faint. Maybe I'm just tired. But fainting is a symptom of low blood pressure since not enough blood is reaching your brain and thus the glucose and oxygen.

I tested myself again using another sphygmomanometer in Mubin's hse. I'm normal. Speaking of paranoia.

And you knw, thin people could get cardiac problems too. Thin doesn't imply low cholesterol level and hence I'm worried.

But then, we need to fast beforehand. Urghhh, I think I'll faint after the blood is taken out from my body.

ps Do you know the IV fluid contains sodium lactate? Amuses me for lactate being used as the energy source here. And no, lactate is different from lactose.

Research Centre (?)

I've told my friends that it's in fact not a research centre. The dept/ unit I'm working at is a Vet Lab to check for the presence of bacteria and drug in meats, as well as the health of animals through regular blood check.

Monday boring. Tue dead boring though the thrill that happened (nothing to do with the procedures) excited the day a little bit. Wed I was half-dead. That's when I met these few people: Owen, Chee, Dayangku and Shirah. And they told me to go to the lab they're working at i.e. drug residue lab on the next Mon. Thur Sultan's bday. Sat Big makan for some reason hence I didn't go.

Monday again. In the morning, I spent my time with a lady named Surinah doing ELISA and she allowed me to do some pipetting. Then in the afternoon and Tue, I spent my time at drug residue. It was insanely awesome.

You know lab is actually very boring. Pipette 50 microlitres of this solution into this tube. Add the sample. Centrifudge it for 10 min. Incubate it for 1 hr. Cool it for 10 min. Add this and that and put it into a machine and take the readings then analyse it. Or pipette some microlitres of this into some microlitres of that then into it, add some microlitres of this bacteria solution. Vortex it. Swipe it on the agar. Incubate it for a few hrs. Count the colony or manipulate the colony with further pipetting experiments.

Same as all other jobs in the world, the tasks are awfully repetitive and hence the tormenting boredom. So the best lab is one that has enough work for you to do so you don't have to stare into the space or the machine in front of you AND also an awesome crew!! I have had that experience in that drug residue lab.

Shirah is the permanent staff of the lab. Chee and Dayangku are permanent staffs but still on a rotation basis till the 'boss' fixes them into one lab, because they are new. Owen belongs to the Halal and since they, whoever they are, are still building the lab, those so-called Halal people have to observe and help out in the labs here. These four people just cracked me up so badly.

Because of them, I was thinking of continuing working there for the rest of the week, which I'm supposed to do so but then after some thoughts, I then told the boss that I would like to leave today for good. They are working graduates who are earning money and I'm still a first year and I'll leave this place at the end of this week anyway. They will part their ways in a few weeks time too due to the rotation basis and they're well aware of that. A friendship that won't last. Why bother sacrificing my holiday?

But I've to tell you that these two days have been my greatest lab experience ever. I just kept on laughing!! In Oxford, labs were just urghh. Every second counts or you will get out of the lab after six hrs instead of four. Everyone, well most people, works as fast as possible and it's a huge pressure on us. We brought our tubes/plates/apparatus around the lab as quick as our legs could carry us without bumping onto someone doing the same thing. And the worst thing was seeing half of the lab gone and you.were.still.there.

You know, it's really fun to spend time with normal people who don't care about the truth behind everything-Theology, Science, Philosophy, Economics etc. Normal people who do work for the sake of doing it and have a laugh while doing it due to whatsoever reason. Something funny that has happened in the family, some stupid error, some office gossips. Gosh, I miss my old life that I've lost so so long ago, back when I'm still a normal boy.

I really hope I'll be working in a jolly lab like this, but it's incredibly rare I've to say. Fingers crossed.

'Kau syaitan!'

'Kau antu puchong!'

LOL. I nearly ROFLMAO.

Btw, I met a few attachers and had a few conversations with them, I felt bad for not knowing urm, many stuffs.

'So what're you doing now?'

'ND'

'What?'

'ND'

'???'

'National Diploma.'

'So what course are you doing?'

'Science.'

'In...'

'... Science.'

It's raining

Towards the end of my first academic year in Oxford, the rain was no more a drizzle and I told myself, 'Wow I haven't experienced such a heavy rainfall for long. It's just like Brunei.'

No it's not. Nowhere near the magnitude of the downpour here. JC!

Have been playing squash for three mornings in a row. Many people questioned why we played squash at such an ungodly hour-10am. I wonder that too... According to Chern, this is so that we won't waste our afternoon.

Hh bought me a grand piano ligo from JPN. So awesome!! And I've built it up- it looks awesome. Black and white and yellow and a transparent layer underneath making it all so classy!! Now only if I could upload the picture. Internet connection here sucks.

Words are evolving. Apparently the word 'evolvability' exists, even though I couldn't find it in my Macbook dictionary.