The little thing that characterised today, :P that is wordy, how about the LTCT, hmmm that kind of works, and it saves me typing it again and again. Hang on, I've thought of some thing else LTOT - the little thing of today, or today's little thing TLT. Oh, the choices...

Start again: TLT: going to the dentist

I'd already postponed this appointment once, as I thought I would have an unmissable lab meeting last time, so I changed the appointment to today. It was for a filling :(

Anyway, I had just made it for my 9:30 appointment, but despite making it right on time, they made me wait - why do doctors do that? It just back logs everyone else after you - maybe its a power play or something...but if it wasn't for the extra waiting, I wouldn't have seen the this little boy, who could not have been more than 2 years old all of a sudden run through the waiting room and out the door. I thought, ok, then 5 seconds later was followed by his mother who just managed to catch him just before he reached the road. There's someone who doesn't like the doctor. It brought back memories though, when I had to go to hospital when I was a kid - I couldn't have been more than 4 years old, I think. Anyway, one of the few things I can remember from that is that the second time the doctors had to give me an injection, I started screaming, went absolutely hysterical and tried to run away. I wasn't as successful as the little boy I saw today, but they did have to hold me down so they could give the injection. Its funny how you remember things like that.

The filling itself was pretty uneventful. Why is it when you go to the dentist that they always try to talk to you when you can't really talk back? In this case, they had given me an injection so talking became difficult. Its very hard to make conversation when half your mouth has gone numb. That injection became very irritating, as it didn't wear off until lunchtime, and in the meantime it made eating and speaking a bit more difficult. Breathing also felt weird, as the injection ended up numbing half of my nose. It felt very weird. Unfortunately, I had to go to the lab to finish an experiment, which probably wasn't the worlds greatest idea, as talking is required. And me being me, I had decide to talk about funding applications with Ryan :P It was also bad as there was a farewell morning tea for Danielle who's leaving the lab (which no one told me about, but there wouldn't have been any point anyway cause I wouldn't have made it) but she had made these really nice cupcakes. They were very nice :)

The experiment also involved a visit to the Typhoon, which I have had problems before. But for some reason, it worked much better today ie. it actually didn't take half an hour to scan a gel. Maybe after complaining about it, it decided to listen *lol* But at least that experiments pretty much done, so the Typhoon and I get a break from one another for a while.

Another week done. Need some sleep now. Hope you all have a good weekend :)

It was pouring with rain this morning as I made my journey into uni. I don't what it is about the rain, but when it rains like it did this morning, heavy rain but not windy it feels kind of exhilarating, like nothing matters at all. Or maybe its because it reminds me of my hypothesis that every romantic movie has a scene where it rains. Actually, I take that back, its even better when its summer and it rains like that. Its a nice way to start the day.

Everyday there are little things that help distinguish it from all the other days that had happened before. Sometimes these little things are harder to find depending on the kind of day I had (the lousy, dark cloud days). But the rain was one of those things. Another was bumping into one of my high school friends, Annie (though it was only for a few minutes - we both had to do different things). Actually, it was a high school themed day - I also found out Eric, who I also went to high school with is back at Bio21 working as a RA (reasearch assistant). It was a surprise to see him in the lab, as I thought he was still overseas!

Also what happened today was a revisit to the Typhoon - which is basically a big fancy machine that is able to scan things. We have had a difficult relationship so far, and for some bizarre reason, everytime I use it, it never works properly. I don't understand why, because no one else has problems with it, but I keep getting software errors and it refuses to scan. So instead of a scan taking 20 minutes, it takes an hour :P Maybe our relationship will improve over time, but obviously, we have to get to know each other first.

Because of that, everything else that I had planned to do got pushed back, and meant I had to stay later than I thought. It is really annoying when I stay back in the lab after 6pm, as public transport seems to fade to non existence after that time. It makes it more difficult to get home at night. Luckily it hasn't happened too much yet. Anyway, I just made it - I arrived at the bus stop just as my bus pulled up :) It also meant that my brother and I caught the same bus home. It was good to talk, but I always wonder when I talk to someone on the bus, where its so quiet and you're the only people talking, if the other passengers on the bus (and it was a full bus) are listening to your conversation. Hmmmm. Well, I know that I don't tend to listen - unless its interesting of course. Or if I'm not asleep. Oh well, it wasn't as if we were talking about anything that anyone else was interested in - we spent a lot of it trying to figure out where we actually were, as the bus windows had fogged up because of all the combined body heat in the bus.

*From last post: For helping out with Open Day, I ended up chosing hte bottle of red wine*

Its funny how some little things bring your mind back to the big picture - I did my lab talk about the progress of my PhD project, and I realised that in seven (now, its nearly eight) months, I really haven't done anything at all ie. I'm still doing the same things I was doing at the start of the year.

*sigh* Talk about feeling like you're stuck in some place.

Anyway, that's an ongoing thing that will require attention. But to take my mind off that, I've been trying to do other things while my project moves sluggishly along...

Monday to Friday. A combination of
- experiments - they never ever seem to end
- lab lunches - this is not the norm - it was to celebrate Jess and Danielle's new jobs! but that means they're leaving the lab :(
- meetings - Number of meetings I fell asleep - only one!
- seminars - Number of times I fell asleep - in both of them :P
- demonstrating

The working week ended on a bright note though - Chris and I went out for dinner on the Friday and managed to walk from one end of Southbank to the other. Luckily it didn't rain while we were walking outside. But I think even if it did rain, it wouldn't have ruined the night at all.

On Saturday, I had breakfast with James at the Fairfield Boathouse. If you're ever looking for a nice, quiet, scenic place to have breakfast, I'd definetely recommend this place. You can also walk/bike ride along the river. Although you're not limited to breakfast, you can have coffee, tea, cakes and sundaes which I'm dying to try. Unfortunately, they didn't have pancakes :( A highlight had to be the hot chocolates, which they serve on a holder containing a tea candle which keeps your hot chocolate warm. It was nice to be able to drink a still warm hot chocolate after finishing your breakfast. The marshmellow they give you as well was different - its a big block that is very sticky and it melts in your hot chocolate like an iceburg.

On Sunday, it was the Melbourne Uni Open Day, which was a lot of fun. Plus it was one of those beautiful Sunday afternoons that I have missed - and made me realise that I'm lacking some good old sunshine. Pulled off the hyperactive crazy person quite well I think. Plus I get a bottle of wine. Can't decide if I want red or white though. A tough choice, because I have no idea which one to pick!

Yesterday, I also started my Basic Car Maintenance course - I can cross another item off my to do list! Its for 8 sessions, and hopefully by the end of it, I'll be able to look after my car and not freak out if I ever break down on a lonely highway late at night...

But there's still a while to go, as at the moment, I only know what the spark plugs are (they provide the spark to ignite petrol and air in the piston chamber which is found in the engine) and that batteries are much, much heavier than you think. Oh, and that you're supposed to replace our spark plugs every 20,000km. But it looks like it will be fun - its not a big class, and we'll be able to bring our own cars in for the later sessions so we can learn how our own cars work.

:P Had demonstrating today as well, and found out we had taught the class the wrong thing. *sigh* The lecturer in charge of this subject will go through it again with the students, but arrrrgh. Felt very stupid. But I did learn that I can really talk crap and sound kind of convincing though. I don't know if that will be useful, oh wait, if I ever decide to start my own cult...At least we don't have to do any more demonstrating this week.

And its not even Wednesday yet. It feels like its the end of the week though. Until then its the combo of experiments/seminars/meetings/anything else that happens unexpectedly because that's the way life goes...hmmm, that sounds like a song. Oh, I hate it when I can't think of the title :P

Brain is feeling a little bit fuzzy at the moment, so I want to write some stuff down so I remember it...maybe its part of the aging process, and I'm getting old already *shock horror!*

Maybe its just that I've been mentally feeling a bit off color last week. Plagued with self doubt (usually its locked up) Hopefully this week I'll be a bit better *fingers crossed*

But I digress. That's not the point of this post. Just want to note what's been going on during the last few days. Friday was kinda :P, trying to complete data analysis by lunchtime which I had only started that morning - only the calm sounds of Narnia got me through *thank you, thank you* But it was much better after that - had a long lunch, and drunk too much lemon, lime and bitters, marked some practical reports, spent some time in the pub with some of the other PhD and honours students - at the same place I had lunch! then had dinner with Thian and Wendy. Dinner was a lot of fun, and its always followed by dessert at Koko Black. I know now not to order a chocolate dessert AND hot chocolate. Its way too much, and was feeling sick afterwards :P But that didn't stop us from talking the night away until 2am! Its amazing what you can talk about! Or that good conversations like that, where you feel the conversation is flowing and you feel 'connected' can really happen anytime, any place when you're not looking for them.

Thankfully, I was able to take it easy on Saturday - just went into the lab to work on my lab talk for Monday. Basically its a progress report of what I've been up to in my PhD project. It was actually a bit depressing, b/c I realised how little I had actually done, and its been 7 months! Yikes, time has really flown by - but I'm enjoying it (mostly). Or maybe because I could see it was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and that I hadn't really been out in the sun for the past few days. I need my daily dose of sunlight!

Sunday - today was good, in the sense that it was as far away from the lab as possible. The morning was spent at the Melbourne bands festival at Monash University. Its where high school bands perform and are able to get feedback about how they perform, which I think is a great way to learn! My brother Michael was performing in his high school stage band, where he plays barritone saxaphone. His band were pretty good - they played mostly jazz, cept for one piece which had a 'tropical' feel - it makes you feel like that you're on a beach with a fruity cocktail, and people dancing around you with fruit on their head and marracas in their hands. There's a technical term for it, just can't think of it right now. I found it amusing when his solo part was referred to as a 'good pick up line' - I think though that the joke works better when you're actually there.

After that, I went to my uncle's housewarming, which actually was a family reunion (complete with nametags) with the relatives on my mum's uncles side - they're his kids. Or my dad's brother-in-laws kids. Anyway, I hadn't seen them since I was twelve, and I probably wouldn't recognise them even if I bumped into them on the street. I'm never that comfortable at gatherings like that anyway, but it was good to see my relatives - both the ones I hadn't seen for 10 years or a year. Some of them were (my second cousins, I think) are close to my age. I guess it would take more gatherings like this to get to know one another. I also got to see my uncle and auntie's new house, which I must say appealed to me as I like the whole modern, neutral interior design. But I'd like a much smaller place. Features of the place had to be a home theatre room, lap pool and a vacumn in the wall - you can sweep the floor to the wall and all the stuff collected and swept away. My cousins purple, glittery basin in her ensuite was probably the only thing that didn't quite fit. But the most amazing thing was some bonding with my cousins - the ones I have known all my life, but had never spoken more than 20 words to. They were much older than me, I think when I was little, I was scared of them so I avoided them. (I tend to do that with a lot of things) Anyway, I was speaking to one of them, and we realised that we had each formed a story in our heads about why we don't speak to one another (Me: thought she was stand offish, My cousin: thought that I just wasn't interested) I can't describe the feeling when you hear that. Wow.

Lesson to self: don't make assumptions about other people. But its very hard, I do unconsciously. I wonder if there's a training video to help you not do it? *lol* That was a Bridget Jones moment :)

Hopefully we can rectify that and it will help me to get to know my other relatives as well. It will be one long, slow process. It also makes me wonder where other unknown relatives are hiding, I'm sure that there are more around, they all had a lot of siblings, who all have kids...

Family reunions are tiring. It didn't help that there were lots of nice desserts, mmmm, pavlova, trifle, chocolate hedgehog slices, black forest cake, cute litte cupcakes...the list goes on. Stuffed full of dessert now and now just sleepy...

Hope you all have a good week :)

What's on the lab whiteboard right now...

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high
O'er dale and hill
When all at once
I came upon a crowd - a host
Of golden daffodils

"Daffodils" - Wentworth, oops its William Wordsworth!

I really like this, it cheered me up when Ryan wrote it yesterday and I want to remember it :)