Jaderays

Friday, April 28, 2006 @7:51 PM

“Everyone here is intelligent if not you would not become a doctorate student.”

As mentioned I am currently attending a two-week course as one of the requirements in being qualified for dissertation later on. For the past few days, I have been hearing this line mentioned by several instructors/course organizers repeatedly.

Are doctorate students, PhD holders or other prestigious professionals smarter? Or those without ones or going to be one are less competent?

Many of us have a general misconception thinking those with higher degrees are somewhat smarter, more intelligent, more capable, wiser…However, it actually doesn’t seem to be the case. Probably it just happens that the person with a higher degree has some luck to be born in a nation that education is a necessity? Or he/she has some financial support to make it through for the degree?

I have seen some highly educated people whose qualification was not reflected through their behavior (i.e. way of dealing with matters and people). On contrary, I’m sure you and I have met some amazingly smart people who apparently do not hold the piece of paper yet they are successful in various aspects of life.

Education is really just a form of training. It doesn’t measure one’s intelligence; nor can it indicate one’s success. I don’t deny that education is important for us. We do need to go through certain proper way of training to equip ourselves with some tools for practical reasons (i.e. jobs) or even contributing something (stuff acquired from the training) to the society. Yet it doesn’t mean that he/she is smart if someone is highly educated. The same goes for a PhD holder. You don’t have to be that smart to grant the degree. The degree does somehow carry some weight though. I do respect those with the degree because it is not that easy to go through the frustrations during those 4-5 years (some even did for more than 5 years!!). One would definitely not make it if lack determination.

...to be continued

♥ every page of my imagination

0 people traveled to my fantasyland

Thursday, April 27, 2006 @8:46 PM

I am attending a class at the moment. This class is pretty small, only 30 students in total. We have at thousands of doctorate students in the whole campus, thus it is impossible for us to know each and everyone. One of the tasks that we were assigned to was to write a proposal seeking for funding. After that, we were grouped in pairs by the course coordinator for criticizing/commenting the other person’s proposal.

Initially I did not know who my team partner was. But later on coincidentally I found out that he was just sitting next to me during the class. I didn’t identify myself to him immediately because I was antisocial and didn’t feel like talking. Yeah, of course I am just kidding. The truth is I was playing cheeky; I wanted to see how fast he could realize I was his team partner.

During breaks, several Chinese classmates came up to me telling me my “partner” was looking for me. Apparently we have several Chinese students enrolled in this class, which is somewhat unusual as we are the minority in the campus. So it seemed that my team partner was approaching every Chinese in my class asking them whether I was one of them EXCEPT me. I assured all my Chinese classmates that I would tell him when it was time for that discussion session at class later that day. Actually I was holding myself to not look too excited in my little trick.

Guess what happened later? Just prior the discussion session, the course coordinator had to make sure everyone “found” their “partner”.

“Anyone who hasn’t found out who is your partner, please raise your hand?” (Geez, is this kindergarten?!)

Yep, you guessed it right! My work partner, who was sitting just next to me, raised his hand indicating he hadn’t found his “partner”. I immediately identified myself to him. Hey, I'm here. I'm just sitting next to you. He gave me a suspicious stare. Well, it is either he didn’t believe that I was just sitting next to him or he really doubted that I am a Chinese.

I don’t think this will be the last time of me in confusing others about my ethnicity. And because of this, I can tell that there will be more amusements and fun for me to trick more people. Isn’t this fun, eh?

♥ every page of my imagination

2 people traveled to my fantasyland

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 @7:01 PM

Have you heard of this old Persian fairy tale called The Three Princes of Serendip? It is about three men who were on a mission but they always found something that was irrelevant but needed in reality.

How much do we understand the word “Serendipity”? When I say understand, I mean how much do we truly realize and comprehend this word, through our own experience?

I always had this thought that if you want something, work on it hard enough, some day you’ll get it. I do still believe that. But now I’ve changed my mind a little. I have come to realize what you used to think “best” for you, the things that you were eyeing on, things that occupied your heart days and nights, might in the end turned out to be something that is NOT really “best” for you. Let me share with you my own little experience here…I have mentioned before that I was dying to get into Graduate School in Country B, the country where I did my undergraduate degree and my final year of HS. I had applied for many institutions and universities for scholarships. I wasn’t offered any, well, maybe a partial offer (if that counts). So much so I really wanted to stay there for a higher degree, I had to leave with disappointment and doubting my ability for the next few years. I didn’t understand the meaning of “serendipity” there then. But now I do. Why so? I found a door opening for me for Graduate School approximately 3 years later I left Country B. It was a serendipitous event that happened in one fine afternoon when I bumped into Mr. Nice who apparently had quit his job heading for Country D (where I am now). He was the one who made me aware of other possible places to pursue my dream goal. Although I haven’t granted my degree yet, I must say I am really glad that I am doing my degree here instead of Country B. I am not saying Country B is not good; but for sure I know I would miss out many different experiences that could only be experienced in this continent if I remained in Country B that is over at the other side of the world.

Then there are times we are sweating ourselves working towards certain things in our mind. We may or may not get any closer in achieving this particular thing; surprisingly we find something else during the process instead. The discovery of Penicillin is the best example to illustrate this. The Scottish biologist and pharmacologist, Alexander Fleming was investigating the properties of a type of bacterium called Staphylococcus. But Fleming was a pretty careless person (like me); his lab was usually in chaos (yeah, I am like that too!). Although I am as careless as Fleming and my work place is as messy as his lab, I am not as brilliant as him. The latter factor really explains why I am still nobody struggling to just grant my degree. Anyway, his contaminated bacterial culture dishes were growing a fungus, which he later on isolated and identified as Penicillium. It is this serendipitous discovery of pencillium that opened a big door for discovering one of the most important antibiotics against gram positive bacteria – penicillin! Without this antibiotic, millions would not have survived.

Few days ago, an experienced old Professor was sharing with us the magic of serendipity. He shared with us some of the stories about serendipity from a career point of view. He was trying to get the message across of not letting getting too attached of what we are going after or even feel despair of the negative outcome because serendipity does happen. I know exactly what he meant. More than half a year ago, or I should say all these years, I had never thought about meeting this special wonderful someone. But hey, I am really glad that serendipity did step in to lend a hand! :)

♥ every page of my imagination

2 people traveled to my fantasyland

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 @8:14 AM

Last Friday, I chatted with a middle-aged coworker. Somehow the topic was drifted to whether I am interested in going out with guys of a different race, or to be precise non-Asians. And then we went on chatting about some parents actually do mind their children dating or marrying someone other than their own race.

I remember 10 years ago when I was getting all set to go to another country pretty far away from home. My grandmother, my aunts and my mom each gave me a “talk”. The “talk” included trying not to date any non-Asians. Although they are a bit more relaxed now, still they would prefer me not to. Is my family racist? Well, no, as you might be aware of, my family is really traditional and conservative; they are just really concerned that what if there are some not uncommon major issues in between two different cultures.

I have some Asian friends who are dating non-Asians and some non-Asians friends dating Asians. Some are married and some did not make it. The failure might be due to the conflict of cultures but it could also be due to many other common reasons in any relationship.

Since I am a food person, let me use this analogy to describe this…I think all food is delicious (potato, pasta, rice, bread, whatever you can name of) and each has its uniqueness. However, everyone has the absolute right to choose what they want to eat. There is no right or wrong. You just go for something you like and think that’s the best for you. After all, that is what is going into your stomach. I know I am a “rice” person. Not that because my family would like me to, but more because I know I am more comfortable and enjoy “rice” than “potatoes”. In reality, I really dislike eating potatoes that much. I will only eat some fries from Fish and Chips. I like the Italian cuisine; Pasta Marinara is one of my favorites. I do enjoy eating all sorts of sandwiches with different type of bread. But if I have to have it on a day to day basis, I still prefer rice so that I can eat with different dishes.

I think all in all, you just have to choose someone you really have chemistry with and you are really comfortable with. I am that sort of person who goes for personality. Hey, I may end up choosing a “potato” if I like how it was cooked or prepared. If the “rice” doesn’t possess the personality and trait that I am comfortable with, I still won’t like it. You know, we all should just go for the food we are happy with.

♥ every page of my imagination

2 people traveled to my fantasyland

Monday, April 24, 2006 @8:12 AM

I had totally forgotten about it, until an email arrived in my mailbox that brought back the memory.

Few years back, I was volunteering myself in an organization while I was working in Country C. I met a few others who were as passionate as I was there. We became close buddies very soon. We gathered almost every weekend and some public holidays. We even initiated some projects in promoting the organization and its resource library.

I could still remember an idea popped out one Sunday afternoon. I immediately told my buddy (who’s also our team leader in the volunteering job). He was very supportive with the idea of making a comic in introducing the organization and other things in association with it. So I went away composed the dialogue of a comic that was about 10 pages in length (including pictures). I was emailing back and forth with my team-mates. One of the guys offered to draw all the pictures for the comic, while the other went around with his digital camera snapping pictures and edited them at Photoshop to put together the whole piece. A few others were helping bits and pieces. It was a fantastic teamwork. I could just feel everyone working together moving forward towards the same goal – composing a masterpiece for the benefit of the organization.

2 months later, we sent the draft to the committee of the organization. We received some positive comments. Yet we received more critiques albeit reasonable ones. It wasn’t a full green light for the comic to pass through motion; partly because it was just an impromptu idea from us who were volunteering and also partly it would involve extra effort from the seniors (the committee with better understanding about the organization and stuff) in improving the content of the comic. Hence it was put aside. We were, of course all very disappointed but we respected the decision from the people above us. So we moved on pretty quick and focused on other things that were also in the list.

4 years has past, though I have left the country and the organization, I do still stay in touch with some of the people there. Few days ago, one of the senior committee members sent me an email informing that the comic is ready for publication and for distribution! I was so elated to hear that. The effort wasn’t flushed down the drain.

When you sow a seed, if the condition is not right, the seed will not sprout immediately. But as long as you sow a seed, some day you may get to see a small plant growing out once the condition is optimal. Even decades have past and there is still no sign of it sprouting, it is still all right because we have already enjoyed the initial sowing process.

♥ every page of my imagination

0 people traveled to my fantasyland

Friday, April 21, 2006 @2:51 AM

When I first started work in the laboratory here, my relationship with the autoclave lady was pretty doomed. She is a perfectionist in her job and I didn’t exactly know her way. Thus she always came up to me telling me the proper way of putting the used flasks, how I should be quick enough to collect my stuff sent for autoclaving yada yada. Fine, it should not be a big deal; but the problem is I never understood what she wanted because she doesn’t speak much English, hence I kept repeating the same mistake or I would make different mistake that upset her. I had her talking out loud to me at the corridor when she confronted my mistakes! Every passerby stared at me with sympathy.

Was I irked about her? Not really. I was just a bit scared of her. But still whenever I see her, I would just smile and tried say hello. Someone did come to me and told me not to take her reactions too personally since she just wanted to do a perfect job. And I absolutely agree with that statement.

Now almost every time I bump into this lady at the corridor, we’ll both say hello to each other in a passionate and warmth way (note: she’s Italian and I’m well-known for my craziness, which really explain well). She usually gives me a big hug and I usually will “flirt” with her although she responds in English. But who cares? We’re having so much fun.

We have a few old technicians who are pretty serious and sometimes make mean comments to us, students. We don’t particularly like to have any connection with them. When we see them walking towards us, we would try to avoid going up. Now you can probably see how not pleasant it is. One day, while I was doing some work and one of these old serious technicians came into the room. I instantly was standing on guard and be prepared to listen to her mean comment. Surprise, surprise…she didn’t, instead she started chatting with me complaining about someone leaving the measuring area messy. That was so unbelievable. Yesterday, I even found her talking with another guy and when I walked in, I sort of joined in their conversation too. She seemed nice.

There is no doubt that none of us like to have a doom relationship with anyone. But I do believe that there is a reason for each individual’s behavior. I tend to just stay away from them, not because of hatred, but more because I don’t want to get into trouble. Keep an open heart; who knows that person will be nice when they are in better mood?

♥ every page of my imagination

2 people traveled to my fantasyland

Thursday, April 20, 2006 @4:19 AM

I chatted with my little sis recently. She was complaining of herself being stupid because she feels that she doesn't know so many things and she's made (and still making) numerous silly mistakes.

While listening, my memory was rewinding back to my early age. My little sister seems to be the younger version of me 9 years ago. I realized the small fragile plant that was living under the shelter has somehow budded all these years. It wasn't an easy experience for the small plant. The plant had to learn to stand against the strong wind, the heat and the storm. But if the plant was to live under the shelter forever, it would have never grown stronger, not to mention how it managed to reach the budding process and blossom eventually.

Perhaps what I’ve experienced all these years, especially since the day I left home was really nothing compared to others. I did, and still feel exactly what my little sister is feeling now. I am such a fool! If I do a calculation on all the mistakes I’ve ever made, the list could circulate the earth thousand times. Really; sad but true. But the truth is who has never made mistakes before? Don’t we all learn from all those silly mistakes or even big mistakes? As long as we learn from it/them, we’ll be fine. Even if we don’t get it in the beginning, we will still get it eventually. This is exactly what I told my sister.

Not only silly mistakes I’ve made, but there were quite many encounters or incidence that I was forced to deal with them by myself, which later on made the small plant grew stronger. I’m sure you know what I mean.

So my little sister was making an envious statement, “I wish I could be like you. You’ve learned so much and you know how to deal with things better than me.”

I laughed and responded, “I am still learning. Everyone is still learning. You never know what my next foolish mistake is after this.”

It is so true. When I first left home, I was learning how to live independently on my own. It was tough for some spoilt brat who had never done any housework before. She didn’t even know how to fry an egg or make her own bed. I wish that was a joke. Nope, it is the truth. Then I learned how to share and mix around with different people, some of whom later on become my friends, true friends. I learned how to find a new place and deal with all relocation matters. I could still remember my first time calling up the remover, my first time finding a house, my first time of seeking advice from the legal adviser for a possible housing issue, my first time of a major decision-making of dropping the Information System degree from my dual degree program and just concentrate on the other degree that I fancy…

All these stuff listed here may sound simple, but trust me; it’s a whole new learning experience for me coming out of a protected shell. Looking back, I’m really grateful for being thrown out of the house. Ok, no, my parents didn’t throw me out of the house. I was the one who wanted to go abroad and my parents were all up for it.

Many years have passed. I am a bit more experienced in terms of living independently and dealing with some matters. I found a way that I feel comfortable to deal with matters and people, a way that I know I would not be guilt-ridden later on.

“You’ll be fine. I’m always very proud of you. You’re even much better than me at this age.”

“We all are learning. You see me better than you because I’m much older than you and you’ll probably be going through what I had. And you’re come out much better than me.”

“You know I am still learning now…and I’m sure 10 years down the road, you and I will see us ‘improved’ too.”

I am still learning. I am learning how to deal with a different bunch of people I meet now out of school, especially in front of a bunch of academic smarties, smart-ass or even nerds. I am learning to be less selfish and give more to others. And now I am learning to open myself more to share and be more understanding..

♥ every page of my imagination

0 people traveled to my fantasyland

Wednesday, April 19, 2006 @12:19 AM

Since I left home, I haven’t been really making an effort in linking up with classmates and teachers of my elementary school/high school back home. I attended the reunion gathering for the first two years after I left home. Everyone was busy updating the rest of what course and college they were studying. At that time, I was enrolled in a dual degree program. One of the degrees was in Biological Science. Almost everyone who found this out was shocked for a moment of two, especially my Chemistry teacher (who was my class teacher for 2 years of HS).

Why were they so surprised that I was studying biological science? Well, to tell the truth, I wasn’t a brilliant student during my 2 years of HS. I was top 10 students in my class, well; I mean top 10 from the bottom! What’s more shocking to them was I was doing a degree in biology-related specialization. Whoa?! The only student who failed Biology in the class was studying human genetics?! This is so unbelievable! Yet, this was not story and it did happen unfortunately. How embarrassing!

Last year, I attended the reunion lunch. I haven’t seen my old classmates for many years. My Chemistry teacher was there again. When they found out that I am currently pursuing Graduate School in a biology-related field, everyone’s jaw dropped. Believe me, if my Biology teacher were there, she would be the first person to fall from her chair. Even while I was in HS, I would have never imagined myself doing a degree in human biology because I was struggling with the subject and barely passed the subject throughout those two years in school.

You and I may not be good in certain things, but if we work hard on it, who knows we can still do pretty well in things that we like and enjoy. Where there is a will, there is a way.

♥ every page of my imagination

0 people traveled to my fantasyland

Monday, April 17, 2006 @6:30 PM

What do a bunch of people from several nations gathered together talk about? Especially surrounded by different cuisines from their own countries?

I was invited to MB’s place for a get-together lunch yesterday. In the house, there were 2 Italians, 1 German, 1 Swede, 1 Brazilian, 1 Greek and 1 Chinese (moi).

I had a real blast yesterday. Listening and joining in the conversations was so fun. We just criticized each other’s country and even criticizing our own and then everyone had a good laugh. No one took the sarcastic criticism as an insult. If only every ethnic group or nation could be so cool, everyone would be able to live peacefully. : )

I really cherish my stay in this country. This is the place that allows my fruits of meeting people of various ethnics ripen. I am truly grateful that this place is one of my stops of my voyage in my life.

By the way, I am now really well-known as the R&B Princess. Friends and co-workers have been commenting how crazy I am when it comes to R&B music.

“We both don’t happen to work at the same time in the lab. But each time I walked in, I would always hear her exclaiming, ‘Gosh, this is my favorite song!!’ with the R&B radio station on.” GG told everyone at the get-together.

Am I embarrassed? Me? Not at all! I’m so proud of being the R&B girl!

♥ every page of my imagination

0 people traveled to my fantasyland

Saturday, April 15, 2006 @4:14 PM

It was a pleasant surprise when I saw an email coming from my ex-coworker when I was working in Country C. It was a surprise because we still stay in touch after so many years and once in a while drop each other a few lines. It was pleasant, well, I should say funny pleasant…oh, go read yourself of her introduction of the email -> “Hey, I was watching beauty pageant the other day on TV…guess what? The champion was from your home city. Your city seems to produce pretty girls huh?...”

Now don’t you agree that this introduction of the email is amusing? I remember when I first met my ex-coworker upon my first day at work, I introduced myself, “Hi, I’m from City I, a place that produces pretty girls. Don’t believe me? Look at me, I’m the perfect example!” She stared at me thinking I was some sort of crazy girl for a few seconds. Then she burst into laughter. And since then we got along really well. We even went for extremely long lunch hours to try out different food somewhere far from the work place.

I’m happy that I get to know many wonderful people from work. Funny it is that I become good friends with some of them. These are the little things that I find pleasant. I can’t ask for more, can I? : )

Addentum:
I just received another email from another ex-coworker (Vietnamese lady) who I knew from work at Country C. The second line after saying Hi to me was, "Any good news?". Huh? You must be curious what "good news" she's actually referring. All right, she and others (all my family, relatives, friends and coworkers around all those countries I have been whom I still stay in touch) have always been really interested about my status. This ex-coworker was extremely curious about my dating status all along since I started knowing her from work in Country C. Well, she still is even though she has returned to her home country and I am now in Country D. Great, should I be really happy that everyone is soooo concerned about my status?

In another great news, this coworker whom I have actually mentioned in my previous post (Can it work?) now has a baby boy. She was complaining that everyone who've seen her 3-month old son claimed that he looks like her husband but not her. Hehe...this is really funny and I'm definitely going to tease her about this later. I am so happy for her. I really am. :P

♥ every page of my imagination

2 people traveled to my fantasyland

Friday, April 14, 2006 @2:32 AM

I was brought up in a traditional Chinese family. As you might not be aware of, back in the older days (up till my parents’ era), it is so not uncommon to hear about conflicts or disharmony between the daughter-in-law and her spouse’s family, especially with her husband’s mother. I’ve heard a lot of this kind of thing; it almost happens in all family, depending to a larger or lesser degree. I have even seen first hand news from my own family, between my mom and my dad’s family; between my maternal uncle’s wife and my maternal grandmother, the unclose ness of all my aunties (paternal uncle’s wives) with the family of my dad’s side, paternal aunties with their spouse’s families.

I used to hear about my mom’s complaints about my dad’s side of family. Well, I agree with her because I literally understand the actual cause of the problem. But since I’ve grown up, I began to wonder if things would have turned better if my mom could have put a bit more effort in communicating with my dad’s family. I don’t mean to sucking up to them, this is so pretentious. I just think maybe the conflict could be lesser if something could be done from my mom’s side. Well, probably it is really not that easy if I were in her shoes. Nevertheless, not to be paranoid, I have seen some families without this family conflict.

I like to keep things as simple as they can. I like to be myself and bring my heart to communicate and interact with everyone, especially people whom I really care and like. This also includes my husband’s family (that is if I would get married some day). Maybe his family is not easy to deal with. But I still think I would be grateful to his parents, especially his mother for bringing him up and educating him to become such a nice guy. Now I assume my future husband should be a really nice guy, if not I would not want to spend the rest of my life with him. I would certainly want to get to know more about his siblings (if he has any) because they are the ones he grown up with and have fun with too. I know there is a strong bonding between siblings speaking from my own experience.

I used to think a relationship only involves two individuals. Well, in a way, I still think this is a valid statement. However, now I begin to realize that the relationship actually means so much more if the couple receives supports and blessings from both sides of the families. : )

♥ every page of my imagination

0 people traveled to my fantasyland

Wednesday, April 12, 2006 @11:26 PM

We had a laboratory spring cleaning today. It was just not a usual cleaning event but it was a life show of human nature.

My boss called for a 9am action. No one was really punctual. I was there starting to clean up my own bench. A few walked and popped in their heads to check out whether the chore has started. But when they saw no one, they just walked away. Some were doing their own experiments. Oh well, it is really tough to gather everyone for teamwork.

An hour later, someone came in and said, “The boss will be here soon. We better start cleaning.” I was almost done with my own bench and started to cleaning up the communal area (common benches that everyone works).

I only saw the rest starting the cleaning task after the boss has arrived. A postdoc walked up to me and grumbled, “I am really annoyed. No one wanted to start cleaning. But when the boss is here, almost everyone pretends to be so busy. Did you see so-and-so didn’t appear until the boss came?! Urgh!”

I giggled and responded, “This is just human nature. Just do what you can for your part and not bothered by others.”

I don’t mean that my lab mates or coworkers around are lazy or not nice people. But I do understand that sometimes we can be a little selfish when it comes to teamwork. You just think about yourself but not others; you take yourself as the top priority and abandon others if you have to. I have had a couple of such encounters. Let me share with you my recent encounter; I was sharing some chemical and material with a lab mate. When we were making the order, we both listed out the exact amount that we needed to facilitate the ordering process. It was all sorted out. But just when I wanted to start using the material, she told me on the last minute basis that the material has run out. I was puzzled and checked with her how much she intended to use initially. It turned out that she changed her mind after the material arrived and without informing me, she took my share of the material to finish her work. Therefore I have to postpone my work schedule and to reorder more new materials. My coworker did not realize because of her selfishness, she has actually not only caused me pushing behind my work schedule but she has nearly killed me because I do have a timeline for that work.

Sometimes this can be really irking when you find out that due to selfishness or not willing to share, the other person has brought you some inconvenience. This is especially obvious when you are working in an environment with others. Well, in a way, I wasn’t that happy about this encounter but I sort of see it coming. So the only thing I could do and I did, was to immediately make an order for it and be prepared of not meeting my timeline to finishing that project.

So back to the Oscar nominated Cleaning Day show today; I was pretty amused by observing the human nature as the theme of the show. It is just very funny to see highly educated matured adults behaving in such way. Yes, I know everyone likes to impress our bosses. I do that too but by trying to make progress of my work. I really see it foolish to pretend to be someone in front of your superior. Isn’t it awful if your superior finds out that you are pretending? Cleaning chore might not be an appealing task, but if you’re in a team then you’re obliged to perform your duty.

If only everyone could be less selfish, more considerate, more truthful and not pretending, the world would certainly be a better living place for you and me.

♥ every page of my imagination

2 people traveled to my fantasyland

Tuesday, April 11, 2006 @10:46 PM

Many people have asked me what type of guys I am interested.

How did I respond?

I smiled, paused, gave some thoughts and then replied, “It’s pretty simple; someone that I feel comfortable and secure. Someone I trust and admire. Someone whom I can communicate and share some similar (but not necessary exactly the same) views and aims about life. He possesses certain good qualities such as kind-hearted, responsible, mature and caring.”

That’s all. Am I asking too much?

“I don’t think you’re asking too much. Your list sounds general.” Some commented.

Actually I think I am pretty picky. It is not that easy to find the perfect one who fits in my criteria. Why? Well, I am sure there are a few who do possess the traits as described in my list. Yet that is really not enough; it has to be dual way traffic too; the person has to feel the same too. Then there ought to be some chemistry to keep it going.

“Oh dear, why are you behaving like that?! Why don’t you behave a bit more lady-like?”

“Don’t laugh too loud. You’re scaring guys away.”

“You have to smile more. You better dress up nicely.”

I used to get these harassing suggestions once in a while from my family. They think I need to make some improvements on this. I usually just laughed and told them, “Well, I am happy of who I am. There is really no point for me to fake change for another person. He has to like and appreciate me of who I am.”

Okay, I admit I am superficial; I like to look at good-looking people. But to me, someone with a good heart will naturally make the person looks attractive. This great charisma is far better than any so-called beautiful appearance. Now I know why I always disagreed with my college-mate’s view of defining “charming guys”.

“Awww…this guy is so cute!” obsessive college-mate exclaimed.

“What?! You like guys who are cute? No way! Cute is meant to refer to little young boys, just like my brother!” I strongly objected.

All right; I have to take back my words. I would say a guy is cute too if he falls in my category (the-one category). Not that he is really cutie cute, but someone who brings joys and happiness to my life, someone who can share the ups and downs with me.

I don’t sound greedy, do I? Hehe…

♥ every page of my imagination

0 people traveled to my fantasyland

Monday, April 10, 2006 @8:11 PM

Here I am again after disappearing for a few days. To make up for the lack of posting during my absence, I am going to make this entry as long as possible. Make sure you have time to go through a long-winded report here! :P

This capital city was never on my want-to-visit destination list. If it wasn't because of the conference, I do not think I would actually purposely go there as a tourist to check out the place. Nevertheless I am really glad that I made it for this trip. It is one of the best trips I have ever had, for a couple of reasons.

As I might have already described or you could tell from my short updates during the conference days, I really got quite a bit out of this conference, in terms of the knowledge itself, as well as the career aspiration.

On the first day of arrival, I got to know a German girl at the hotel lobby during check-in. We were both each carrying a long tube containing our poster for the conference presentation and instantly knew that we were its participants. We started chatting and decided to work our way to the conference venue for registration. We then went to explore Chinatown, which is just nearby the convention center. She was really impressed by the quality of Chinese food there, compared to Germany. I laughed and told her that she could get better ones elsewhere. We chatted and it was my turn to be amazed that she had a vast experience in many things at her age (she’s just 6 years older than me)! Firstly she is practicing medicine and doing research. She has been to many different countries working at different universities, hospitals and even farms including India, Spain ex cetera since she was a teenager. I thought I could be proud of my own experiences, but when compared to her, mine was really nothing. And I actually did tell her this. It was nice to meet a new friend at a new place.

All this while I always thought I knew nothing about my work or I should say I lack the scientific mind. It was surprising to find out that I am able to follow some of the lectures/talks now. So I do know something huh? I am even impressed by my answers when I was approached during the 4-hour poster presentation. Ok, not to sound arrogant or trying to exaggerate, the work I presented apparently was not the highlight of this research field. Therefore I did not expect I would get much response or visitors during the exhibition. Nevertheless I did get some people to come and look at my poster and some of them who seemed to be interested did ask questions. I realized I enjoyed interacting with these people, exchanging ideas and even just asking which institution they are from was already fun enough. By the way, did you guys know that I became a model that day? Oops, I exaggerated; well actually there were two people who were interested in the material I was studying and wanted to take a quick snap of the content of my poster but they politely asked me to be at the picture too. Although I was usually a shy girl, I was happy to be posing as their model. And I asked for a fee for that too! Haha, hey you know I’m just a student. I need money!

Believe it or not, the scientific content was not the most that I got out of this conference. Of course getting the latest update and development of the field is always the priority of conferences. Yet to me the best part of this conference compared to the previous 3 I have had since I entered Graduate School was I was utterly inspired by 2 speeches of 2 great scientists. It is not about how high they have achieved that are inspiring me but the way of how they share their little achievements and how they value other matters in life other than career that moved me deeply. I love listening to speeches. But to be honest, there aren’t that many that made me having this “Wowwww!!” feeling. One of these old professors was given a prestigious award for his great achievement in discovering a gene that is involved in the development of cancer. The award sponsor was invited to give a short address in introducing this professor. She told thousands of the audiences sitting at the podium that in conjunction of this award presentation, she went up to interview this professor so that she could share some of his tip with us of how he got so high up there. He told her, “Nothing.” She asked again. He told her the same answer, “Nothing.”. She then took a few steps towards her right and then started walking back to the microphone stand. We were all guessing what she was trying to do. She paused and then said, “Step by step…Professor told me that he never plan that far but just did things step by step and that was what led him to where he is now.”. I felt so inspired instantly. I recall I actually did write an entry about “Step by step” last year. Then the Professor was invited to give his speech that includes a summary of his work. He kept emphasizing that he did not do the work; it was all contributed by his students and post docs who have been working very hard. His speech just lasted for an hour yet his wisdom has greatly motivated me.

I was at a roundtable discussion session. A female professor was invited to give a short speech. She was also one of the recipients of the prestigious awards at this conference. She shared, “I have my frustration moments too although I am the director of XXX research center. I feel like yelling at people when I found out my papers are rejected or my grants are not approved. But you know, when I get home, my kids asked me, ‘Mom, what are we having for dinner?’, all this frustration just vanishes. I am lucky that I have an understanding husband and kids who are always cheering me up and my husband is constantly checking at me and being supportive.” Again, I was sitting there feeling so touched. She has the message right; Career is career. Life is not just about career or any other thing by itself. A healthy balanced life is the way to go.

During another roundtable discussion session that I attended, the mentor assigned to our table was a funny chap. He made us asked him lots of questions. He talked a lot too. The main message he kept emphasizing that night was, “Don’t worry too much…everything will gradually fall into place when you know what you want and are working towards it.”

All in all the conference is fantastic. It did bring my long absence motivation back and most importantly the advice from these people are useful to me be it in this field or in life in general.

This trip is not only about conference and aspiration. A lot of walking was done from the downtown to several other attraction spots. I haven’t been doing that much walking for a long while. Since this capital city is well-known for its museums, visits to some of them were a must. I have to admit I lack the appreciation of arts and history but I did not feel bored for a single moment while I was there. Perhaps I have an amusing travel companion? Oh one thing I just realized that I was not nervous or scared exploring the huge city with just a map in hands. Usually I would be panicking when I had to go to a new place as you know I do have a very bad sense of direction. Even for places I have been to several times, I tend to get lost too. Was my travel companion having a better sense of direction than me? Well, apparently not. The two people with no sense of direction exploring the city; usually just the thought of it is nerve-racking enough. However, I did not find myself fearing to death when we were lost somewhere instead I wanted to continue exploring the unfamiliar streets. I was all relaxed and not impatient. This is so unusual because usually I would be pretty tensed when I found out that I could not find my way.

“So did you enjoy the trip?”

“Yeah, I did. It was good.” I replied.

I guess I was not being really honest and elaborative in my reply. I should really give the credit to my travel companion. I dare say I would not enjoy the little voyage at this capital city that much without his presence. It has been a really long while since I had my last good enjoying and amusing laugh. When was that? I think it was during one of the comedy movies of Stephen Chow or something like that. I was laughing my head off during the entire trip. And for moments when I was not laughing, I was actually laughing up my sleeve. The best part was I felt more joyful seeing him laugh and hearing his laughter too. Thank you so much for this. : )

♥ every page of my imagination

2 people traveled to my fantasyland

Tuesday, April 04, 2006 @2:26 PM

My gosh, it is already the 4th day of the conference. I have a lot to say about this trip! I was listening to many speeches and lectures. There were several that really touched my heart and I was inspired instantly! I'll definitely talk more about them after I get back.

Well, I regreted of giving out my second clue yesterday! It was a give-away! Damn, that was a bit of an insult to you all. You guys would got it right even with misleading clues. Am I right? Hmmm...another guessing game shall be up soon! When will that be? My next conference trip, perhaps...hahaha...that's if I am smart and hardworking enough to make some new findings for my research. Fat chance then! :(

♥ every page of my imagination

1 people traveled to my fantasyland

Monday, April 03, 2006 @2:15 PM

Hello again. I am having a little break at the moment and managed to fight for a computer here at the internet resource center.

It is already the third day of the conference. Time does fly! This is actually my second meeting for this annual conference. I begin to enjoy and able to follow what is really happening in this field. I did not really appreciate much last year during this conference. Well, basically I was very new then and knew nothing about this research profession.

So I've been a pretty diligent student, thirsting for a lot of knowledge. Do you believe I have been waking up very late to walk for 20 minutes to get to the conference venue just to listen to the 7am seminar? Yeah, now you can really tell how thirsty I am huh?

Ok before I rush to get some "drink", here comes the second hint; there were many tourists rushing to this city on the weekend just past, just to admire and enjoy the cherry blossom. Geez, this is so obvious now!

♥ every page of my imagination

2 people traveled to my fantasyland

Sunday, April 02, 2006 @2:53 PM

Hi there! Here I am, making a quick update at the conference center.

It is the second day of the conference. It has been so far so good. I have lesser stress for this trip because I am only making a poster presentation. That's right; I'll have to be a model standing in front of the poster booth interacting with people who will be, hopefully interested at my research work.

By the way, did I tell you I missed my connecting flight?! My first flight landed the airport terminal exactly at the departure time of my connecting flight! By the time I got from one end of the terminal to the other and passing through immigration, the flight already left! It was a bit of a tragedy for me. Thank goodness there were two other later flights. I was rescheduled for an aftertoon flight 2 hours later. The 8-hour flight was fantastic. I managed to catch some sleep and read most of the travel guide book introducing the conference city.

So where am I? Let me drop a hint - a city famous for lots of musuems. Any guess?

♥ every page of my imagination

0 people traveled to my fantasyland

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