A Dream Come True?

I've finally been pre-allocated for FYP by Prof Arvind on the project "Modeling of Matrix-Assisted Protein Refolding". It has always been my dream to do something which combines chemical engineering and biotechnology, which has the potential to improve people's health & life. This project provides an opportunity for me to achieve that. Somemore, with Prof Susanna as my co-supervisor, I couldn't ask for more, since she's also my ex-IA supervisor.

For Prof Kunn, I am really really sorry to tell him that I have accepted another prof's offer. That's really a bad karma to reject first, as I have a very strong hunch that I'll get pre-allocated again. Now that I've learnt a lesson : Don't overplan things & don't be too kiasu. Things may not turn out to be as bad as I think. Too extensive planning is no good at all, especially when it involves other people's trust in you.

My only concern is that there's no lab experimental work for this project & it's entirely a theoretical, conceptual & MATLAB-based modeling & simulation project. Furthermore, facing computer more frequently than now gonna make me even more nerdy. But thinking again, it's important to learn how to model systems, which would be beneficial in the future, since its applications extend far beyond chemical engineering field. Guess I really think too much.

Haha, I should be happy now, as I don't need to worry about computer allocation anymore. Thank God! Hurray!

Laugh Out Loud #2

Here's another master piece which I just found. Haha, enjoy!

^-^ Upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0 ^-^

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources. In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Hunting and Fishing 7.5, and Racing 3.6 no longer run, crashing the system whenever selected. I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 from running in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0. Please help!

Thanks,

A Troubled User

Here's the reply from the Tech Support.

Dear Troubled User,

This is a very common problem that men complain about. Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed. You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony/Child Support." I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation." I suggest installing the background application "Yes Dear" to alleviate software augmentation. The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE. Because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway. Wife 1.0 is a great! program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2. However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0 !

WARNING!!!

DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

Best of luck,

Tech Support

:: Brighten up your day with a laugh ::

Laugh Out Loud #1

Yoz everyone! From today onwards, I'll try to share some jokes, to brighten up the day. I may modify it a bit to make it a little lamer, haha. At the end of each post, there may be a question for you to try & guess the answer.

Haha, enjoy!

^-^ 1

1st thief: Ooh! The police are here liao. Quick lar! Jump out of the window!

2nd thief: But then this is the 13th floor le.

1st thief: Haiyoh, hurry lar! No time for superstitions liao.

2nd thief : Okie... T_T God bless me!

^-^ 2

Girl: Do you love me?

Boy: Yes, dear.

Girl: Would you die for me?

Boy: No, mine is undying love.

Girl: -_-

^-^ 3

Manager: Sorry, but I can't give you a job. I don't need much help.

Job Applicant: That's okay. In fact, I'm just the right person in this case. You see, I won't be of much help anyway!

[ Special Section ~ Extra Laugh ]

Wife: Honey ah, what are you looking for in that paper?

Husband : Ooh, nothing la.

Wife : Har, nothing?? But you've been reading our marriage cert for 1 hour liao le.

^-^ What is the husband looking for in the marriage cert?

:: Brighten up your day with a laugh ::

Give It Another Try

After pondering, I have decided.
I shall give it another try.

Previous attempts have failed,
due to complicated & draggy intertwined factors.

Now it's time to try again.
Start afresh.
Try to be happier & healthier.
Try to be less worrisome & more optimistic.
Tackle problems as they come.

Ok, set!
希望明天会更好 :)

V8 Birthday Celebration

After made appointments with the ATP 大忙人, finally today managed to get all (except ML & L) together for a belated birthday celebration for Regina, Chiu Seng & Tat Kuan, haha!

Basically the theme of the day was food, gossips & matchmaking (again). We had lunch at V8 Bugis & I ordered Black Pepper Chicken Spaghetti, hmm quite ok. After gossiping, we walked around BHG & then had 田品 (Barley with Gingko) at I-also-dunno-what-is-the-name place. Then the hardworking ATP reporters continued to gossip & dig news from Zhirui for 新民晚报 tonight's headlines, led by ATP Prosecutor Mr TK Lim & ATP Queen's Counsel Defender Ms SZ Tng. Haha, obviously there are too many juicy news around!

Ok, here are the selected photos taken today.

Zhirui & Regina (Looked so happy!)

媒婆 from DATES ~ Your Love Catalyst ~ Matchmaking Agency

The Rankine Division (Always calm & cool!)

ATP 全家福

Haha, once again, Happy Belated Birthday to Regina, Chiu Seng & Tat Kuan. May all your wishes come true :)

Digital Water Pavilion

Artist's Impression 1

Source: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/waterbuilding-0711.html

Haha, I usually don't read about architecture. But today I came across a novel concept in urban architecture. Unveiled at the The 2008 Zaragoza World Expo in Spain today, The Digital Water Pavilion is selected by Time Magazine as the "Best Invention of The Year" in the field of architecture. The theme of the expo is water and sustainable development. The fair is part of the city of Zaragoza's broader effort to reinvent itself as a 21st century hub of knowledge, innovation and creativity.

Artist's Impression 2

(Source: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/waterbuilding-0711.html)

Located at the entrance of the expo, it features an entirely-water-based programmable water walls which act as doors which can open & close like a water curtain. It can be programmed to display various shapes & also texts, images, patterns and are able to respond dynamically to input from sensors. The only solid structure is its roof, which is supported by large pistons which can move up & down. The roof location is also adjustable by how much wind is blowing at that time. So advanced!

The water walls are generated by high-speed computer-controlled solenoid valves, about 3000 of them! The water used is fully recycled. But some of it is lost due to evaporation, but it is supplemented by rainfall at the pavilion's site.

A Snapshot of the Expo

If you interested to know what it's all about, here are the links :)
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/waterbuilding-0711.html
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/zaragoza-tt0611.html

Time for Action?

After yesterday night's MSN Chat of The Week of the theme "Random MatchMaking", I kept tossing over my bed for over an hour, couldn't sleep at all! The moment I closed my eyes, snippets of the conversation flashed through my mind. Haiz, what's happening?

Actually I understand what you all were talking about...

It's just that, in my current state, no relationship will be successful. Why?

It's not because of too shy or too scared of being rejected.

It's because I'm not prepared for it yet.

Maybe it's simply because I know myself too well (especially my weaknesses).

If I naively plunge into it, assuming "it may work", then it'll be a mess.

So I'd rather not start it off.

You may say, "How do you know when you never even try it?"

Well, I am willing to try only when I feel :

1) There is a high possibility that it'll work out in the end

2) The feelings are right

If you ask me, are there any suitable ones around?

Probably yes.

But is it time for action?

Hmm not now, after I start working maybe. Why?

Because it isn't my priority now and

I also need time, as I cannot change to be much better overnight

Haha, that's all I can say!

A Kiddy's Affair - Season Finale

From left to right : Yu Mon, Sandy, Kungfu Panda, Wei Jie & me

I finally scanned & got the photos taken at the Taka. (It's a pity that we forgot to pose our newly-learnt kungfu stunts, haha!). S & WJ are from NUS, studying Mech Eng & Life Sci, respectively. YM is from NTU, a Masters student in Biomed Eng! Both girls are from Myanmar (they're Myanmar Chinese) & WJ is from Malaysia (KL). There were a few times my sup teased us that we can form 2 couples. There's once he even suggested us to take leave together so we can go dating. Walao -__-|||

Well, the girls cannot go out of Taka in their uniforms (unless they changed to normal wear), so stayed inside Taka during the breaks. Weird policy... Then for me & WJ, we chatted while walking & windows-shopping nearly the entire walkable Orchard area & its shopping centres during the long 2-hour breaks. Yah I know it's 无聊 & 脚痠, but what to do? Hmm, better than sitting down & stoning for 2 hours.

The Iron Man

This is the cotton-like iron man that I mentioned, haha. But the costume was specially flew in from US & cost > $10K! Don't play play...

The Winx Club Girls (L-R: Flora, Stella & Bloom)

Well, I decided not to post my photo with them, as it's a bit blurred. Believe me, they looked much prettier after removing their make-ups, haha...

To summarize, it was fun working with them, my sup (haha, he's humorous) & other 幕后工作人员. Learnt that teamwork & communication is important in this kinda event. Although I've known them for just 3 weeks, we can hit it off quite well, haha. Hope can go back there for vacation work next time :)

Ooh by the way, JY! WJ is only 20 years old wor. Although not exactly 19, but he's a nice guy. Can consider lor, wahahaha!

Advances in Technologies

:: Striped Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery ::

(Source of image : http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/nanocell-0609.html)

Although the use of nanoparticles for drug delivery is nothing new, but how to synthesize nanoparticles to interact properly with cells remain an area of active research. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) recently discovered that nanoparticles of striped morphology were able to penetrate cell membranes without damaging it or killing the cell itself. Amazing! The trick is to coat gold nanoparticles with alternating bands of 2 different types of materials. Usually when cell membranes encountered foreign objects, e.g. nanoparticles, they'll engulf it into the cell, digest & then excrete it from the cell. However in this case, by mimicking the properties of cell membrane, the nanoparticles are able to bypass the cell defense system to successfully deliver its cargo, in this case, the fluorescent imaging agents into the cell (as shown in background of image).

Well, cells are certainly smart & probably the way to interact with nature without causing damage is to be natural, i.e. to mimic the behaviour of nature.

Reference : http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/nanocell-0609.html

:: Nanosensors for Detection of Deadly Gases ::

(Source of image : http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/nanotube-0605.html)

Carbon nanotubes are interesting materials with novel electronic properties. MIT has created a carbon nanotube-based nanosensor which is extremely sensitive, low cost & low power consumption. With 25-ppt sensitivity, it's the most sensitive electronic gas detector to date. Sarin, mustard & other nerve agents can be detected. Sarin was the toxic gas which killed 12 people in the 1995 terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway, with lethal dose in ppm range & effects surfaced after 10 mins. In addition, with power consumption of only 0.0003 watts, it can run for very long time with a regular battery.

The principle behind this is that when different gases bind to nanotubes, different changes in electrical conductivity are generated. Hence, the identity of the gases can be established. But how to make the binding reversible in order to detect a series of different gases? The MIT team coated a special type of material onto the nanotubes, which allows the gas molecules to detach shortly after binding. But then how to separate the different gases for detection? The team etched a mini GC column onto the silicon chip which rapidly separates the gases before feeding them into nanotubes. Oh my God, amazing!

Reference : http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/nanotube-0605.html

[ Reflection ]

It's heartening to see that some of our FYP projects are related to these new discoveries, e.g. layer-by-layer system by VC/TT & nanostructured semiconductor gas sensors by TT/CY. It's weird why VC keep discouraging students not to do his projects, saying that it's useless & impractical. Well, they have the foundation for creating advanced technologies, unfortunately the atmosphere is just not there yet. I do feel that NTU can be the MIT of Asia, provided it can cultivate its own kind of atmosphere which stimulates excitement for discovery among ALL of its academic community, not just for the elites of academic results.

A Wretched Life

People often say we have to live life optimistically

But... How often can you really do that?

When you are constantly faced & expected to solve those damned problems

When you are always treated as a spare tyre

It's really hard to live a life like that

When you are sincerely trying to help

But only realise that you hurt & get hurt more everytime you do that

What's the point then for you continuing to do that?

To satisfy people's expectations of you?

To prevent people from labeling you as cold-blooded?

Or just for the sake of doing it?

No one knows for sure

Nothing much can be done to change this

It's just a wretched life