upset

Who has a superior who told you he wants to kill you with a gun when you did a mistake? I DO!!!...and to think that's the first mistake that I've done in months and not to forget, I've never done that mistake before...I was VERY upset. I literally burst into tears in an isolated room after I managed to finish up all my experiment...as if I don't feel bad enough that I made that mistake. Do you really need to say that? And I even apologised...Who say that you don't face situation like this in first world country?

The story begins like this...

I was troubleshootnig a past experiment that I've been working on for the last two days as it didn't work and was advised during the lab meeting to test it with just one (and not 30) samples. And we need to load the sample onto a gel for protein analysis. Like what layman says, it's like putting agar-agar into the mould. Before I proceeded, I asked if I should make my own gel as the ready-made one ($26 each) can be used for 18 samples in one go and I thought that's quite wasteful. Whereas if I make my own gel, it doesn't cost much. But the superior got me to use the ready-made one as that will save me some time (for waiting the gel to set before I can do my test). Thinking that was a bit strange, I didn't question and started my experiment with the $26 gel. Only when I was about the load my samples onto the gel, the superior started screaming at me...

"What did you do!!! Why are you using the big gel?"

"What?!! I thought you asked me to use the ready-made one?" 

"YEAH, BUT YOU'RE ONLY RUNNING ONE SAMPLE!!! OH MY GOODNESS, USE THE SMALL GEL!!!"

I was literally freaking out...thinking what kind of mistake and trouble I've gotten into...

"What?! Small ready-made gel? I didn't know we have that...and I've never used it before. For the past, I've only either use the big ready-made one for lots of samples and make my own gel when I have less samples."

And the superior went to another fridge and grab two boxes of small gels out...

"YANN, YOU'RE A THIRD YEAR PhD STUDENT. YOU SHOULD BE USING THIS, NOT THAT!!! DID YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE THE BIG GEL IS??!!!! YOU JUST WASTED $26 WORTH OF GEL!!!!!" 

"I'm sooo sorry...I didn't know we have the small ready-made gel...which is why I was asking whether I should make my own gel just now."

By then...I was already upset enough...and tears were welling up in my eyes. It's not like I purposely wanted to be wasteful but I DID ask beforehand. Blame it to miscommunication...he was probably thinking of the small gel and I, on the other hand, was thinking of the big gel. And because he has raised his tone so much, everyone in the lab was looking, including the summer student. 

So the superior and I started to wrap up the big gel (so that we could save it for the next experiment). 

 

Then the other PhD student jumped in and asked "what did she do? She used the big gel for her test?" Then directed the conversation to me "I'm not going to use the gel that you've opened. You better make sure you use it for your next experiment!" 

Did he really need to add extra salt into it???!!!!!!! I was literally at the verge of bursting out tears, run out of the lab and not come back anymore... until the superior said...

"OH MY...YANN, YANN, YANNNN....IF I HAVE A GUN NOW, I'LL KILL YOU ON THE SPOT!"

I can't say anything more, can I? I did do a mistake and I'm paying for it...but killing me just because of a $26 worth of gel?!! I think that was inappropriate to even say out...

I did my experiment alone and still couldn't believe what the superior has said. So after I finished my experiment, I went home without telling anyone. I was soooooo upset. :( :(

electricity outage for the first time in the new house

I feel like crap at the moment - down with a sore throat since last Saturday and develop into coughing fits since yesterday. And coincidentally, our house was out of power TWICE due to the heavy storm. Well, you might not actually know, but Adelaide is a place where very very few storms actually hits. I guess we could possibly blame it to global warming...we had terrible and horrifying thunderstorms and lightnings almost all day though it couldn't had been worse than Sandy in the US. I ended up showering using cold water and not doing anything useful all day. Thankfully the power resumed for a short while during dinner time so that allowed me to cook and eat my meal before the power was out again...The sky outside was literally brighter than inside the house and we (my sis, me and the bf) gathered near the window (just because it's brighter) and do nothing. -.-" Ended up going to bed at 10pm coz we've got nothing better to do. ha!

Invasion of the arachnid family

Typing just the title of this post makes my skin creeps...Well, I've abandoned this blog long enough that even cobwebs would have formed and baby spiders would have popped out. Urghh...Not that I know if anyone still reads or access this blog of mine anyway...Summer is approaching again...and it's the best breeding season for insects, spiders, moths...you name it, you see it. Hate them to the max, I tell you.

I've recently moved to a house, yes a proper house (been staying in uni accommodation and apartments for the past 6 yrs of my life) and the situation is definitely 10x worse than when you stay at higher ground. They comes in from every nook and cranny and you cannot do a thing about it. -.-" I've meant to get some proper photos of the new place up but I'm way too tired/ zoned out everyday to get it done. My bad! The house still feels pretty bare as we're yet to get more furnitures and storage cupboards. You would not believe the amount of craps stuffs that I've accumulated throughout the years and still refuse to chuck them into the bin e.g. err, my first year undergrad assignments?? No idea why I'm still keeping those...but who knows it might come in handy one day right? Or my sis might need it one day??

We're mostly settled in and start out a daily routine of chores at the new place. Now that we're staying in a house, we need to make sure we water the ground, clean the surrounding, push the bins out every Monday (or you get smelly garage/ backyard for the entire of next week), etc. Earlier this week we've got a minor incident where a worker who was building our verandah (or deck or outdoor area) fell down from the height of the roof and broke his wrist. =/ The whole verandah structure literally collapsed. My sister was home at the time and she totes freaked out...well I was pretty anxious when I got a call from my sis. But apparently he was okay and even managed to drive himself to the hospital (how on earth did he even does that?) Am thinking the man must still be in shock that he didn't feel the pain and drove straight to the hospital with his bad hand...I could not imagine how dangerous that could be!

Feeling crappy

It feels crap when I'm supposed to enjoy my weekend and back in my mind, there are heaps to be done. Can't believe I'm already in my final year of PhD. *gulp* It's such a scary feeling thinking that I'm now officially a senior HDR student and yet, I feel so incompetent and under-achieved. :| Would I even be able to finish and graduate on time? Would I be able to secure a good job next year? Would I be able to finish all my writings? Looking at the horrendous piles of journal sitting on my study table...Urghh! I'm speechless. 

This is probably one of the bottleneck-of-my-life's post since my last entry. Realised that my English standard has deteriorate so much though I speak and use it everyday >.< I start to wonder why do I even want to do a PhD for a start......

What happened when I'm bored...

Well, this is a little embarrassing to be announced on my blog since I hardly blog nowadays.

I got a whatsapp message from my mum (who was still at work) last saturday afternoon after I came back from my unsuccessful grocery shopping to chat with her online. It's not that we don't chat with each other but our timing seem to be a bit off recently due to her massive workload and I'm usually off to bed by the time she's free to chat. I should be ashamed of myself seeing that I literally did nothing productive or work-related all weekend.

Waited till 3.45pm and my mum still hadn't come online. There I went sending another message asking her whereabout. STILL.IN.THE.OFFICE. *rolled eyes* C'mon mum, I'm supposed to leave in 15!! I'm such an inconsiderate daughter. So there I went telling the bf who just got back from his haircut and was indulging himself with tonnes of really old Bruce Lee/ Wong Fei Hung's movies next to me to postpone our outing. *We were due to go over to a friend's place for a pre-christmas party celebration at 4pm*

I wasn't a big fan of Kungfu movies, despite all the "ninja acts" that I perform at work and how all my lab mates think I'm a ninja in action. =.=" So instead, I opted to do some random net surfing...came across a very tempting online sales on Cotton On. Low and behold, I managed to stash 5 outfits into my shopping cart within that 15 mins wait for my mum!!! Yeah, I'm not so much a filial that I blamed my mum for my impulsive shopping spree. What to do?? They were dirt cheap and I really needed some new outfits (Ok, I lies...maybe I only needed 3 out of the 5 outfits I picked) but the free shipping managed to persuade me into buying the other 2 not-so-keen ones.

All the while the bf didn't know what was up on my sleeves until I told him to keep a look out for my delivery (since I'm going back home for Christmas) and might miss the delivery all together. So here's how our casual conversation goes...

Me: Ehh, can you look out for my delivery when I'm home. I'll pass you my postbox key.
Bf: Uh huh...*still grossly into his movie* What did you buy?
Me: Nothing much. Just 5 pieces of clothes from Cotton On.
Bf: How much?
Me: Ermm...$55?!!
Bf: *pause the movie* WHAT???!!!!!
Me: 55??
Bf: Are you crazy???!!! You spent that much in 15 mins???
Me: *embarrassed* Ok la...I don't shop around that much here ma...(as in locally)
Bf: OMG....girls....

Oh wells, as long as I'm happy spending my OWN money right???! (: *big grins*

So, what do you think of my latest purchase??? (Top to bottom: Lacey 3/4-sleeve top, biker jacket (my sis took mine away), dress, cardigan and grey top).

I know, I know 4 out of 5 are blacks...nevermind, I'm so into black these days that I couldn't resist turning my wardrobe into a witchery black. :P Anyway, they were really quick with the shipment because I received my parcel 3 days after placing my order!!! (:

blessed birthday

Time does fly...it's already the last month of 2011 and so did my 25th birthday *gasp* Can you believe I've reached a quarter of a century???

I had a pre-birthday celebration with a bunch of my Adelaide friends at an Italian restaurant a week before and dinner with Mr. Bruce "Bruise" at a Japanese restaurant on my actual birthday. We were so lucky to get a parking spot right in front of the restaurant and we didn't even realise that until we got down from the car and started laughing at each other.

Thanks everyone for their well wishes and hope my wishes will come true soon! (: xxx

Home bound soon!!!! very very soon...

Finally booked my air ticket home 3 days ago!!! Boy, it was super duper expensive!!!! Like my stipend for a month??? T_T I'm already so broke before I even start spending on anything...

Been doing experiments non-stop for a week now...makes me feel like I'm back to Honours year. Haha! =P

On a very very random note, my birthday is coming up!!! I'm excited, not! Will be reaching quarter of a century in officially 36 days...O.M.G!!! I'm OLD!!!!