Beginners' woes

I'm sure a lot of us have something to say about their 'first time'. Don't get me wrong lol. After I read ET sama's entry on her first attempt at injecting a tracer into some poor mouse's brain, I just want to say 'Don't give up! and always think on the bright side!' So here's my two cents' worth of personal story to tell. First of all, it's common knowledge that beginners suck. (If you don't have this common knowledge, you're either too dumb or too confident. And if your boss expects you to be perfect on first try, your boss sucks.)Second, the whole monkey look and monkey do theory doesn't stand. Watching someone else performing an experiment 100 times and trying to cram in the details of what you see is not even as effective as doing the experiment yourself for once and failing it. Failing is great start. You'll be actuely conscious of what could've been done to make things right. The first time I watched my labmate making a polyacrylamide gel, I thought I had the whole protocol clearly in my head and when it was my turn to do it the next day without anybody around guiding me, I was really surprised at all the minute details I missed. There was one step where we lay a thin layer of isopropanol on top of the resolving gel until it solidifies and then we get rid of isopropanol and lay the stacking gel solution above the resolving gel. What I remembered was 'dump isopropanol > dry > lay stacking gel'. I poured out isopropanol and dried the casette with filter paper without rinsing the whole thing with distilled water. The result was, there must still be traces of isopropanol stuck on top of the resolving gel and the stacking gel therefore didn't solify properly. (isopropanol is slightly dehydrating so you can imagine it sucking out water) I had to do the whole thing again and it took me whole afternoon just to make a gel. I'll definitely remember even 10 years from now, the ridiculous amount of time I spent on one gel. It's easy to lose interest and be defeated as a beginner but with practice, your confidence will surely grow. I have shaky hands too and when I load samples into tiny little wells, they easily spill and make a nasty scene. It's even worse when someone's watching me with criticising eyes. It's not a problem anymore after a month's training ^^ There was once I made two mistakes in a row and the lab technician said 'It's hard to trust you sometimes.' It was a very humiliating and discouraging remark which made me miserable all morning. But I know I'll feel even cheaper and more unaccomplished if I let one remark get in the way. The best thing is to be earnest and learn from those who point out your mistakes.

My internet's down and I'm typing this in school library, which's closing in 10min. TATA for now. Cheer up ES! You'll be good! No worries ^^

A funny video

This's a funny Japanese game show. Rule of the game: contestants are shown an English learning video. If they break out laughing while watching the video, they're out of the game and they'll get a hard swat on the butt.

Re: RADWIMPS 3rd Album & latest single

On 6/18/06, Jade wrote:

jude,

thanks for the album first~~ though i don't know when i can actually download it. i am in Lhasa now. Long, eventful trip from chengdu all the way up. been in this mesmerising city for a week now--and haven't been to the Potala, taking it slow...too much to write,yet just can't sit down and write a word. the blazing highland sun rises before 7 and sets well after nine thirty here--and i've totally lost the concept of time. i'll write and update some time soon, hopefully.

tashi delek,

Jady.

On 6/18/06, z z wrote:
Hey I was wondering where the heck u tiny dot is located right now. Wow already been so far as to Lhasa! Great to hear that. Yeah I sure understand the lack of time and patience to write just enjoy the bloody brilliant scenery and human culture and wat not. Update when you're back with settled excitement. It's been a long journey eh? Ah I could've been to Tibet if I was home a bit earlier. Travelling is really an enviable enjoyment ^^ Take care pal and dun get hungry on the road!

jude

One summer night out

Me and gang met online this afternoon, when the sun was up and high, and exchanged our mutual agreement that life in summer was slow and boring. In the end, two bored people decided to go out for dinner together. We walked back and forth along Bloor trying to find the right thing to eat in this scorching weather. Korean food is a bad option really, unless you don't mind sweating like a fountain after a bowl of spicy bone soup, with dishes and dishes of kimchi as appetisers. We settled with Japanese sushi and decided to stick with our old favourite restaurant. The Japanese waitresses there spoke rather incomprehensive English and when the girl asked us 'Would you like tea or water?' in a strange accent, I replied 'water' after a brief hesitation. The girl took our order and left. Gang had a ridiculous amused expression lingering on her face. 'I didn't even say water. I said 'wat'? coz I didn't even catch her.'Obviously, the girl mistook 'wat' for 'water'. Not much difference.

Our meal was interrupted (brutally) by the boss who turned out to be a Chinese, who couldn't hold his (feigned?) excitement that we're also Chinese. (Hey, take a look around! 1/4 of Toronto is Asian population...) To put it bluntly, he hang around our table like a fly, buzzing and buzzing. We had to hold our chopsticks in successive suspension to wait for him to finish his little talks, while he'd apologize profusely 'Don't stop eating! Listen to me talk but don't stop eating!'. He was hospitable enough to change two sushi pieces to unagi since there was no unagi in the combo we ordered and we both love unagi to death. Of course he didn't shy telling us all the promotions, new additions in the menu, customer service, upcomings in the restaurant and what not. 'Don't forget to tell your friends to come!' This's the real business man speaking. After the meal Gang took out her cell phone which has a handy programme called 'tip calculator'. A perfectly impersonal, mathematical, economical calculation returned a value around two dollars. We left 2.25 worth of coins. The boss mused for a while. 'One dollar each...' He looked at us and said, somewhat disappointed. And when we were on the way out the door, 'Give me a five!' The boss extended his open hand and beamed a brilliant smile. I, very reluctantly, gave him a low, followed by a high from Gang. Can't we leave the restaurant in some obscure peace?

Summer night in Toronto is just perfect for outing despite all the 'interesting people' you meet. Bought 3 packages of strawberry and a whole bag of cherries. Life is perfect perfecta perfecta!

Does it dull your mind?

Lab,to some extent, dulls one part of my brain and sharpens another. I'm not sure if it's a good sign but maybe sometimes, when you concentrate too hard on one thing, you'll sure have to sacrifice something else.

This morning we had our weekly lab meeting. Our prof pushed us newbies pretty hard. Although we haven't even started on our projects yet, he asked us to do a presentation. What is there to present when you have no results to talk about? All we've been doing are the the indispensable basics, and the technical proficiency that comes along with repetitive experimental work will help you get good results eventually. This might be, for now, the primary factor that contributes to the success of the current goal since the ground work is already laid down for us. We've been told the protocols and the assays to try out. ..

<5min break>

Oh man!!! What a sucky day... Gloomy, stupid gloomy.

Just now Sherry popped online and the first thing she said was 'We made a mistake!' and what?? Well frankly I didn't know the fresh bacteria should go to 37 degree oven because I've never done transformation myself before but I was stupid enough to just throw it in the fridge... Tears. I won't see colonies tomorrow morning.

Sheryl - who wants to go to Wonderland with us on Friday?! says:
what a bloody day
sigh,i just realized this while taking shower

ZhU says:
wat reminded u

Sheryl - who wants to go to Wonderland with us on Friday?! says:
i was thinking about what a horrible day i had
well, actually

ZhU says:
dun tell me it's the shower

Sheryl - who wants to go to Wonderland with us on Friday?! says:
i was reheating a soup to kill all the bacteria, so i can store it over night
without putting it in the fridge

ZhU says:
....

Sheryl - who wants to go to Wonderland with us on Friday?! says:
then, i realized our petri dish
......

Where am I? If I keep making nonsense mistakes like that... I'll be speechless myself. Why why why am I so absent-minded T^T

Going to rescue my lovely bacteria tomorrow morning!!