I'm not one for throwing up a big fuss about my birthday. Yeah, it's a special day for me - one which I do look forward to with just the slightest hint of excitement, but not one which I planned out an elaborate 24 hours non-stop party. But I've to admit, I was slightly disappointed this time around.

The day before I decided to take half a day off to just chill a bit and get some items. I got down to Midvalley in the afternoon and caught The Spiderwick Chronicles, which was actually rather good. Hmm, the crop of fantasy movies these days seemed to have really improved, focusing more on coherent and well-developed storyline and characters rather than just CGI wizardry. I also got One Republic's album, Dreaming Out Loud, which is quite... unique. In the sense that I've never bought an album of this sorta genre before. It sounded quite good, and they remind me of a slightly more mature and pleasant-sounding version of All-American Rejects, where its lead singers high-pitch singing is a lil' grating for me. Then I also received a call from an old F6 friend who asked me for dinner the next day, which I agreed to.

I woke up that day with a sore throat and feeling a slight flu coming up - not a good sign. So I quickly took up some Strepsils, and got to work. I also decided to postpone dinner with my friend for today as it'll be quite tiring for me to travel back and forth from KL. Later during lunch, I went out for McD's with my colleagues, where they kindly got me a slice of cake. Later in the evening, my colleagues and I went to visit another colleague who had just given birth a few weeks ago. We left rather late, and I was quite tired. So I just got a quick dinner and went to bed early.

Sure I got some well-wishes from friends and acquaintances, not to mention a great postponed-dinner at Pizza Hut with a cake and presents to boot! Which I'm really grateful and appreciative of. But I'm just a little disappointed that I didn't hear even a peep from some of my closest and oldest friends. Perhaps it'd just slipped their mind. Not that I'm taking it as a point-blank sign to sever all friendships, but it does get me down a little.

This weekend I came back, hoping to go out with some friends. Unfortunately, things on the social front was a little quiet. I then tried to find someone for lunch, and even that was almost unsuccessful. Remember how I said the littlest things then to get to you. I was really feeling quite sad and... lonely. Thank god I eventually found someone for lunch; and it was really much more enjoyable than I expected.

Sigh... I need more friends.

Labmate from hell

Warning: Long, bitchy post ahead.


Those who are have been around me for the past few weeks or so would know that my biggest gripe and whine currently would be this labmate from hell - a middle-east guy who's doing PhD also under my supervisor. Now there's been a bunch of middle-eastern students in my uni, I think due to a special memorandum of cooperation or something. The main bone of contention is that they are doing post-grad studies without a degree in molecular biology (which is a wide aspect of biotechnology). So them being here, they haven't do labwork like we do before. They have zero knowledge on the theory and understanding of what we do. It's like asking a high-school kid to split atoms by pressing a sequence of buttons on a machine, without him knowing what's actually going on.

So then I have this labmate from hell - X. First off the bat, he doesn't know anything. Like how to use a micropipette which is used for transferring liquids in the range of 0.1-1000 microlitre (ul). Which would be tantamount to an IT consultant not knowing how use Windows.Or that he's confounded when a protocol for an experiment calls 0.75 ml of buffer (1ml = 1000 ul, you do the simple math) and he comes asking me whether we have a pipettes for that. When I point him to the appropriate one, he spend another good 5 minutes examining it and twirling the liquid volume setting and asking my other colleague for verification.


3 pipettes with different volume ranges



Using a pipette

So maybe he doesn't know all that as he's never used them before. But pardon me, isn't he supposed to be a PhD student? Well, Wikipedia is has become quite comprehensive and a quick reference point. Still struggling with measurements of ml and ul? Quite a few times actually, like when he's supposed to take 3.25 ml and he used the 100-1000ul pipette set to 325 ul. I keep asking reminding him again and again he needs to take 3.25 ml and he shows me the 325 ul on the pipette, "Yes, yes. 325". I swear I was about to explode, thankfully some divine force granted him enlightenment soon after.

X doesn't read manuals carefully and write down the steps in simplified flow-chart, so that the experiment can be done smoothly without errors. Which is like defusing a bomb while reading long winding lines of the manual. Or preparing certain things needed before starting (which I suppose, could *possibly* be known from reading the manual carefully and planning your work in a simple flow-chart). Kinda like how you usually take out the chicken half an hour before cooking and turning on the oil a few minutes earlier for it to heat.

There was this time he wanted to start work using a new reagent kit which we've never used before, and I told (again and again) him to read the manual carefully first. And he goes with his usual "Yes, yes".

I took a quick glance at the steps and asked him, "What about these temperatures for incubation? Have you turned on the machines yet?" (These machines also takes time to heat up/cool down to a specific temperature, which is why they need to be turned on earlier).

"I haven't used these machines before. Where are these machines? How do you use them?"

I went ##!!@@@$$ inside.

Then there are things in the lab which we all used in shared fashion. An analogy would be a kitchen with a few cooks - usually there'll be a big bottle of sauce, or even chopped garlic in a jar. Usually there's no written rule on who should refill the sauce bottle or chop garlic, people just understand and take turns doing it. Well, in my case X just used them but have never tried or asked to refill things he used. That nice big bottle of TAE buffer running low - never bothered to ask where it came from. Little plastic PCR and microcentrifuge tubes nicely sterilised and packed in bottles (with names of the people who packed them), he probably chalked it up to little lab-elves that come out at night.

And then there's also the pipette tips, which is used in conjunction with the micropippete to transfer liquids. Each time you do a transfer, you use one tip. Which is actually quite bad fro the environment cos it's plastic and you can use up to 5-6 tips to mix liquids to prepare for a single reaction in a tube. So anyway these tips are usually used up pretty quickly. We keep a large basket of these boxes of pipette tips which has been filled up and autoclaved (sterilised). And then a few boxes are placed on the workbench and whoever's doing work there will use them. Then the empty boxes are put aside and after it piles up, they'll be refilled, autoclaved and returned to the big basket.


A typical box of pipette tips

X knows about the big basket, he goes and dig up a new box when it runs out. And I've refilled the pipette tips in front of him at least 3 times (twice on purpose). Yet he has never deigned to refill those empty boxes. Sure he may not use as much as us, but who's keeping count? Couldn't he have done it, perhaps out of courtesy? Or goodwill since he does rely on me and my colleague a lot?

Like yesterday and today's incident. Now our lab is undergoing renovation, so we had to move to another lab and I just took a few boxes that we've been using, so they're about less than half of tips inside. Late in the evening I started to refill the some of the empty boxes (around 9 boxes). He was doing some work halfway when the tips ran out and he ask me whether he can use the ones I've refilled; I told him no, they haven't been autoclaved. So I asked him to borrow some tips from others as the big basket of tips is in our old lab and it's quite troublesome to take them. He proceeded to do just that and went home straight after that. Not even a simple, "Need some help filling up the tips?' Not to mention that I've actually finished my work for the day and had just refilled the tips to pass the time cos he wasn't finish and to leave him unattended in a lab is like letting Chucky run free in a nursery.

The next morning, I started to seal them and label the boxes for autoclaving. He came in and started to asked me all sorts of questions. I just told him to wait. I go about cleaning, labelling, and what-nots before settling down and guiding him from A-Z on what he needs to do that day - which in this case happens to bee a simple procedure which can only be done in the evening due to time factor etc. So he went back immediately. Then I noticed there were 2 more boxes of tips which only has a few left and so I took out the bag of tips to refill them later. But I got busy with my work and left them there, near his table. Later in the evening, he returned to do his work which requires quite a lot of tips. He noticed the box of pipettes (with the bag of tips just next to it) had only a few left, so he shoved it aside and take a new box (which I've taken from the big basket at our old lab earlier). Then he go about his work, finished, asked me a few questions on what to do tomorrow, spent about 10 minutes trying to understand what to do tomorrow, and then left. All the while with 2 nearly-empty box and a bag of pipette tips just next to him.

I dunno about you, but for me when you're starting out in a new workplace or office, you usually try to pick up what your colleagues are doing around the office. And you try to be more helpful with things to learn more and get into your colleagues' good books, especially since you'll be depending on them a lot initially. Like when we were undergrads doing our labwork for thesis, we helped filled out countless tips and helped around the lab cos, well we were very dependent on our seniors there. And when I started out last year, I did the same thing as the new guy, to learn more about the lab, and to foster goodwill with my new colleagues.

In my case, he depends on us 99.99% of the time. Not just how to do things, but what to do. "What do I do after this? What to do next?" The only time he ever asked about a buffer or kit is when he needs to use them and he ask whether they're already prepared (which mostly is) and they're found them.

Am I asking for much? Is he really that dumb that he's not aware of things like these? Do I need to tell him directly to his face in billboard-sized letters that he needs to move his ass around the lab too? Does he somehow assumes that it's my job to keep things on the ready in the lab since I'm just a research assistant and he's a *coughs* Phd. student? Which is utterly stupid, cos he know I'm also working on my own project and he also gets paid under a GRA scheme (graduate research assistant). More actually, since he technically has a Master's.

There are plenty more things about him that drives me up the wall, but to go over all of them would probably result in a book thicker than the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Racial confusion

Yesterday I decided to get up a bit earlier to the lab, the make a quick stopover at a nasi lemak stall on the way. One of my colleagues had recommended it; I tried a bite and it wasn't too bad. A few days ago I wanted to try it but unfortunately it was sold out.

Well, I was in luck this time - it was almost finished and she was gonna close shop already. As she was dishing out the rice and condiments, we made conversation like whether I'm studying and where I'm heading. And then suddenly she she popped this question.

"Adik ni Melayu ke Cina?"

I was practically stunned. This was totally a first for me and out of nowhere. So I was like, "Huh? Apa dia?

"Adik ni, bangsa Cina atau bangsa Melayu?"

I managed to get my head back, and decided to play along. "Kak rasa saya ni nampak macam Cina ke atau Melayu?"

"Cina ada, Melayu pun ada." She answered shyly. I gotta admit, I was practically laughing my ass out inside. As she was packing up the nasi lemak, I told her that I was really Chinese, aesthetically at least.

My colleague and I had a good laugh about it later. What made this incident hilarious was that this was the first time I've ever been asked this question.

I recalled how during uni where 99.99% of the time, a Chinese dude will strike up a conversation with me in Mandarin, if they happen to be a complete stranger or don't know me well enough. Or the time when I mentioned that I've never went to a Chinese school, they looked aghast and shocked beyond words. Which is probably not too far from how most of our politicians looked when they saw the results of the recent General Election.

When I mentioned this to my friend, he said that's because I have a, to put it crudely, a typical Chinese. With slit eyes and rather fair skin and all. Hehe, I guess the kakak above would disagree with him.

Just woke up bout an hour ago, completely exhausted. This has been a long and somewhat unanticipated type of weekend. I was quite gung ho bout using this weekend to work on my attachment proposal, manuscript and put in some extra lab hours, since I got some pretty good results on Friday. Let's rewind...

So I was sitting there as prettily as can be just doing work in the lab when a friend suggested we meet up in SS2 for the night. So I thought *fine*, since I have a whole day tomorrow to catch up on work. Unfortunately, as I was driving by on the right lane on the stretch of road of Jalan Universiti (I think)-SS2 which is really dark, and I went over a really, really deep pothole. Like seriously, and I was like *oh shit*. I could hear the sound of something sliding off below my car and next thing I know, there is a loud rattling sound as I continued driving. Immediately I pulled by the road side and checked briefly. The tires looked fine, and well it's not like I can slide in under my car to take a look.

So I took a deep breath and considered my options - get the car fixed right now or continue driving. Option 1 is a little hard as I'm not sure where is the nearest workshop, and whether it's still open at this hour. So hoping for the best and crossing my fingers, I chose option 2. So then I drove a little bit further, albeit very slowly and the rattling sound getting extremely with any speed increases, I reached SS2. And as I parked my car, I realised the reverse gear wasn't working too well; I need to step on the gas to get the car to move in reverse. Anyway I met with my friend and asked if he could put me up for the night and and then next morning I could find a workshop. Thankfully he was totally cool about it. And me being me, I could only snatched a few hours of sleep before giving up and surfing aimlessly online.

Which led to some workshop-hunting this morning. The ones we saw at SS2 weren't open, and then my friend suggested one near KDU which luckily was open. All the while I was really worried about the cost of repairs, me imagining the gear box/clutch/what-nots thingamajic being severely damaged. Turns out that the suspension, car chamber etc was damaged...and it cost around RM250. Well, I guess (sorta thankfully) that it's not a huge amount, but it's still a dent in my pocket. And one of the tyre rim was also damaged and needs to be fixed, or worse, replaced, and that cost is still not known.

Sigh...as if I'm not broke enough already with getting a new monitor. And here I was so glad that this month I was running on healthy surplus and meeting my budget.

So sad...and so broke. Just spend around 500 bucks to get a new monitor. My old one just upped and smoked last night. I found out that monitors usually come with 3-year warranties, and mine just expired like 2 months ago. The unfairness of it all!! Though I'm quite enjoying my new monitor and all - a 17" LG LCD monitor, which is larger, sharper and more vibrant than my old one.

And I also realised how dependent I have been on my comp. Without it I was feeling bored pretty quickly, and the bright side would be I managed to be quite productive without my a computer screen staring in front me.

Song: Say It Again - Marie Digby

Unless you have been stuck in an underground bomb shelter, chances are that anyone who's a citizen of this fair country would be aware of the massive changes in our political landscape. Most notably, BN has been denied its 2/3rd majority in Parliament, and 5 states are now being governed by the the loose coalition of DAP-PKR-PAS. This has also gotta be the most exciting election ever, with it being my very first one, heh. I was logged on to Malaysiakini and following the updates by the minute - XXX leading in area YYY; Opposition in trailing closely in state Z. It was pretty damn exciting, I tell you! And exhilarating too, as one by one the states fell - Penang, Kedah, Selangor (!). I followed till 2 am, with the final breaking piece of news of Perak falling into the opposition.

The local mainstream's seemed to have a (poorly) hidden agenda of provoking the loose coalition and painting it the most negative light possible, while at the same time giving (undue) positive spotlight on the BN. So lately I've avoided reading the local newspapers like The Star/NST (though The Sun is one of the few independent ones), and choose to source my news from sites like Malaysia Today and KTemoc Konsiders.

Perhaps some of you might be wondering the rather dearth mentioning of the general election prior in the last few weeks. Well, I sincerely doubt that but I'll go on anyway. As much as I do try to keep somewhat abreast of the political happenings locally, at heart I'm not a political activist. Sure I might mention it bits of politics and social happenings here, but I'm a pale comparison to individuals like Daniel and Shi Jun. I guess I'm more concerned with the environment, and perhaps one day I might actually take up the mantle of an animal/enviromental activist.

But on to myself, things are just generally alright. I've been making some progress in my lab research, so at least I'm moving forward. Nothing else of interest happening lately, other than the recent St. Patrick's Day which originated from Ireland and now is just a good excuse for people from other countries to drink themselves silly. Here's how a high-profile local 'celebrity' celebrated it.

Song: Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis

Sometimes we forget how the little things can rankle you for a disproportionately long time. Like yesterday night when I wanted to refill supply of drinking water at one of those RO water vending machines that's getting quite inconspicuous these days. So I brought along my bottles and a slightly larger amount of coins than needed.

There were 3 of those machines side by side, and luck would have it that the one I picked happened to be spoiled that very day. It swallowed in my coins but won't discharge any water. And I have with me 3 empty bottles with few coins left. Hating to return to my room just to get more coins, I decided to change a RM1 note which I happened to have with me.

So I went into my college cafetaria. Sitting at the counter was the owner, a near middle-aged guy, chatting with a young lady worker. And so I asked if I could change some coins. "Duit syling tak ada," he answered gruffly, when it was in plain sight that even a naked mole rat could see, was large stacks of coins lying in the opened cash register. I was quite annoyed, and asked again, "Seringgit pun tak boleh?". He then decided to liken my existence to an annoying gnat and just looked around in a nonchalant, bored way. I stared at him and then to the lady worker next to him, who at least had the decency to look slightly embarassed.

I mean I can totally understand if he doesn't want to change, something along the lines of "Oh, kami nak guna syiling untuk esok" or even a short "Sorry, tak boleh tukar duit syiling" would have been kinda acceptable. But to blatantly lie , rather rudely, and then ignoring me was seriously in bad taste. What ever happened to customer service, or even decent manners?

Well, I've never been much of a fan of this new cafetaria management that took over this semester. The previous management was quite good actually, lots of food variety and quite tasty too. This current owner had less than half the variety of food, poorly stocked bread/snacks/drinks, and just alright food. Like during lunch hour, it will be packed and semi-packed during dinner that I usually plan my way around the crowd if I want to go to the cafe. Right now, it barely picks up the few stragglers here and there. With this kind customer service, I won't be sorry at all to wish its speedy demise.