Some advise from my senior

Well been havin several self-doubts abt my own capabilities in research.... supervisors seem not so impressed with my work... been workin my ass off but they don't always pay off. This translates into supervisors thinkin tat I ain't puttin in enough effort but which is not true in reality. Furthermore, die die gotta settle my research stuffs by this year by hook or by crook!!!

Ideas which I bring up are sometimes sidelined into being not so critical and trivial issues..... which is very untrue.... yes it may be a trivial problem but tat doesn't mean that their solutions are easy and trivial too! Infact it can take quite a fair bit of time to solve them!!!! Surely they must have gone through this stage rite?? But my supervisors have been very patient with me nonetheless.

Was passing by my lab when I saw a senior who had just graduated. Well we are in the same field but different focus. He has completed his studies and many of us have looked up on him as an inspiration (yes Joey, I am talkin abt U... haha). Well, I wanted to ask him abt some administrative issues but in the end, ended up discussin abt the challenges he faced during his studies. From this discussion, I learnt a few things:

1) NEVER COMPARE YOURSELF WITH OTHERS.
Don't get concerned tat others have published so many papers cos tat is not the inportant thing... their field might be just carrying out investigations and publishing papers. My field is different as in I do developmental work to prove my concept. It is not as simple as setting up an experiment & running experiments. Papers are not critical at this stage for people like us.

2) BE CONFIDENT.
After two years into one's research, you should be able to know the direction to be heading and the issues to tackle. You should be more knowledgeable than your supervisors. Many a times they will doubt or sideline yr ideas, but you gotta be confident. Come prepared with some hard facts and convince them. This is a training to convince others of your work as well! What better way to start than with your supervisors.

3) NEVER GIVE UP. KEEP PERSERVERING.
Many a times, things will seem impossible and you will face obstacles from all sides. You will feel like giving up but never ever GIVE UP. Keep perservering cos this is the main skill to be learnt from doing a PhD. To believe in yr work no matter what and keep pushing for it to be a success. Tat will SURELY make it a success.

Well, these are the main things I have to keep reminding myself time & time again. Thanks Joey for tat pep talk. Really appreciate it. Although beaten badly at this point, but I ain't out of the race. I WILL SUCCEED SURELY!!!

You just gotta have faith

Yesterday, I went for a sermon and as always, I will try to pay attention but somehow, I could never have 100% attention all the time. At some time, my mind will start to drift off but will always start to pay attention once I discover I have gone off to 'lala' land. However, after yesterday's sermon, I decided to pen this down so that whenever I am feeling down, I will read this and recharge my spirits.

(This is just my personal opinion)

Yesterday, during the sermon, we were reminded to have one main thing..... To ALWAYS have Faith in God. No matter how bad things may get, there is always something good behind it. Sometimes, I myself admit that when things go bad, I ask myself "Why did this happen to me? Why?". But doing this is actually futile. One should look at the situation, learn from the mistakes, appreciate that it could have been worse, and most importantly, move on as fast as possible with minimal period of regret and sadness.

In addition, Our prophet and their successors went through so much hardship in order to uphold the belief of our religion. Though we were never there during that time to witness their sacrifices personally, we are constantly reminded of these sacrifices during the sermons. From this, there is also another lesson to take note: No matter how bad the situation or our suffering may seem, it is NOTHING compared to what our prophet & their successors had to endure. They did this for us (many many future generations) without hesitation and with great faith in God. I always remind myself that whatever challenges I may face in the future, I must always remember their sacrifices and take them as an inspiration to overcome my own hardships.

Well, one just gotta have Faith and let the angels help us along the way . Then life will seem much much more wonderful & beautiful.

Budget Terminal

I went down to see the new Budget Terminal beside Terminal 2. Afraid of the crowd, I went there in the early morning. Takin a free shuttle bus from T2, I reached the Budget Terminal (BT) by 9.30am. Not much of a crowd which was wat I wanted. Proceeded to the walk-in counter to register using my IC. The counter staff then scheduled a tour group number and gave a visitor pass and a tour group number sticker.

Less than 5 mins, the tour started. Proceeded from the Departure area thru. the immigration counter to the Departure hall food court. There were also other shops like 7-eleven, perfume shop, etc...all Duty free ofcourse. There was also a free internet corner. After that, we went through the departure gates. There are 10 departure gates but only 7 waiting areas. Gates 1-3 are clumped together. Airplanes will be ard. 30 metres from the departure hall. After that, we were taken to the arrival area which is just beside the departure hall. Same thing.... exit via immigration counter to the baggage collection area.

All this took about 30 mins and it was a very pleasant tour. BT is very simple yet elegant at the same time. There will be kinks when it starts from 26 March 06' but I'm sure it will be solved asap. Oh yah, at the end, they gave an Oreo biscuit pkt and a bottle of New Water to everyone. Wat a nice guesture yah :)

March Babies Birthday celebrations

We celebrated the March babies birthdays from our research cluster today. Ten of us including the three bday gals went to Oishi Pizza at The Village Centre to makan Oishi Pizza...(what else will we be eating but pizza...duh!!!) FYI, Oishi means good in Japanese. Apparently, my friend also told me that if u say that to a lady, it means she is beautiful.

The place was quite small, accomodating to ard 20 people and the food was relatively good. The uniqueness of the japanese pizza is that it uses japanese ingredients like teriyaki chicken, wasabi, etc. But instead of cheese or mozarella, they use mayonese either plain, mustard or wasabi flavoured. It also has a thin crust which is crispy.

After our dinner, we then went to Mount Fabor for a drink... FYI, I HATE overprized beverage establishments but this one was just even more super ridiculous.... A freakin Green tea for $15 bucks!!!! and u can buy a can of green tea for just 70cents... what a ripp off.... anyway, my friends ordered their drinks while I ordered a glass of AIR!!!! hahaha

Had a roaring good time tonight, just talking cock and not thinking abt research for the moment.