P R E V I O U S   P O S T S A U G U S T   2 0 0 7 2007/08/01 MADE IN MALAYSIA Wow!  The gloves, which I use at work, are all made in Malaysia! :P I guess that the rubber from there is not used to make condoms only. :P Well, that was what I noticed today at work.  I would not normally pay attention to these things, but I absolutely had nothing to do today! I always thought that I would be happy earning money by doing nothing, but I do not like this idea at all.  It is not honest for me... Since the beginning of this week, I had been making a list of all of the chemical products in the fride, which was totally in a mess.  This is about the most long and boring task of all, but someone got to do it. I tackled the freezer this morning, and I had to spend some time in the cold room because of the temperature sensitive chemicals.  I was freezing in there, and I only have my lab coat on me! The place was so empty and quiet, and I feel that just because the director is on vacation, some workers had decided not to show up. I will somehow find a way to entertain myself at my job... Other than that, I think that I feel much better after talking so much at my job.  Somehow, I feel more and more good about myself... ...kerana saya boleh!!! :P En tout cas, c'est ça.  Je m'ennuie au travail et j'aborde tout le monde pour me divertir.  J'ai même parlé à des gars de construction qui m'ont laissé goûter à leur poutine italienne. :P Ahhh...  Les gars... :P Ah oui, pis j'ai eu le «Handshake». :) 2007/08/02 SCIENTIFIQUEMENT PARLANT J'ai failli été en retard pour mon travail ce matin parce qu'il y avait un problème avec le métro. «In hindsight», j'aurai dû rentrer tard parce que je n'avais pas grand chose à faire non plus aujourd'hui.  J'ai terminé tout ce que j'avais à faire et c'était tout... Ces longs moments d'attentes sont dangereuses parce que je me mets à réfléchir pendant ce temps-là et bien sûr, je me fais des idées. Quand j'y pense, je sais que de plus en plus, je me fais vraiment fourrer parce que genre, c'est moi qui fais tous les «dirty work»! En plus, c'était moi qui ai sorti une affaire que j'ai observée et que les autres n'ont pas (dans le fond, je les ai corrigés), mais après tout ce que j'ai fait, je ne recevrai pas autant de crédit que certains qui passent leur journée à lire.  Oui, c'est vraiment con! Je déplore tellement la communauté scientifique pour ça. Mais bon, qu'est-ce que je peux faire?  Rien! Pourquoi?  Parce que je n'ai pas de papiers. :P En tout cas, il faisait chaud en plus aujourd'hui, mais au moins, il y avait du vent.  Je veux tellement porter des vêtements plus légers, mais non... Mais bon, je vais essayer de penser à quelque chose de plus positif la prochaine fois.  Au pire, je vais juste écouter à Sexuellement parlant. :P 2007/08/04 CONFIDENCE, DILIGENCE & WISDOM Hier matin, je rêvais à mon ami suisse qui voulait que je lui fasse une tourtière du Lac St-Jean et une tarte aux pomme et dans ce rêve, mon ami hongrois m'a donné un coup de fil.  La significance?  Je ne sais pas, mais il ne doit sûrement pas à en y avoir. Ce qui m'est arrivé par la suite demeure tout de même une situation embarassante mais sûrement drôle pour certains... Je ne comprends rien de ce qu'il s'est passé.  Si j'avais 65 ans, je comprendrais mieux, mais j'ai encore 21 ans... :'( En tout cas, j'ai ensuite eu un rêve avec mon BNB qui m'a demandé ma main en mariage dans un édifice du futur et j'étais tellement ému que je pleurais.  En effet, WTF! :P Il faut dire que hier, la journée était neutre.  D'une part, c'était bien, mais d'autre part, ça pourrait être encore mieux.  Par exemple, j'ai pu faire beaucoup d'expériences, mais j'ai déchiré une autre paire de pantalons; ça fait déjà deux fois de ça en plus... Beaucoup de choses s'équilibraient de même... J'ai essayé de changer cet équilibre vers le côté plus positif des choses, mais après avoir passé la journée dans une profonde réflexion, je me sens encore plus perdu dans mes pensées. En tout cas, j'espère que certaines choses vont se régler pour moi et je garde encore de faux espoirs pour me consoler. Je vais m'absenter pour un temps indéterminé parce que je veux avoir du temps pour moi-même et j'aimerais bien être seul. Je ne sais plus quoi faire et cette peur s'installe à nouveau, car l'avenir est devenu encore plus incertain... 2007/08/06 WHY CAN'T IT BE JUST FOR ME? Je me suis levé en retard ce matin parce qu'il faisait vriament noir.  Mon père devait m'amener à mon job pour pas que je sois en retard et en cours de route, il pleuvait fort.  J'aurais aimé tellement ça de me cacher sous un arbre pour voir et entendre la pluie tomber. Le rapport avec cette image?  Aucun! Mais, ça fait déjà un mois que cette photo est sortie et je viens juste de la trouver.  Je trouvais qu'il me faisait penser à un mec que je connaissais et avec cet orage matinal, j'ai pensé à lui. J'espère qu'il serait toujours là pour moi, mais restons raionnables... 2007/08/09 DU PIQUANT AU TRAVAIL Le fun commence à s'installer tranquillement pas vite au bureau et ça m'a un peu surpris dans un bon sens.  C'était intense... :P Wow! And, if they think that I am sexy, why not? :P 2007/08/12 MY FUNNY VALENTINE Butterscotch's version is stuck in my head.  It had a sad yet elegant sound to it, and it was echoing between my ears while I was out. Anyway, I have been eating quite a lot these days, and my stomach is surprisingly doing great, I hope.  From Chinese food to IKEA, I must had eaten quite a lot.  Even at home, I apparenltly ate half a chicken by myself. :$ :P Tonight, my friend made me tried some simple French delicacies, and it was really good.  I also had my first sip of wine, but it was really awful! It honestly tasted bad, and I wonder how people could actually drink this stuff.  I always had thought that it would be sweet, but obviously, it was far from being sweet.  Perhaps it was a bad blend with the cheese, or it was too strong. Anyway, I wasn't drunk! :P Well, this will be my last week of working at the lab.  The time really flew by, and I was starting to like working there. I love each Friday because of the Journal Club (and because it will be the week-end :P), not that I particularly love to hear what people had to say, but it is for the free food. :P And last Friday, I must have eaten so much. :P Strangely, I am going to miss my first job even though sometimes, I was bored to death.  I am thinking of taking another week or two if, that is, James would still let me work there... :P We will see how it goes.  In the meantime, I hope that things will settle down for me... 2007/08/15 HOPING FOR THE BEST Alors, quelque chose de neuf? Je ne sais pas pourquoi j'ai attendu longtemps pour cette date, mais j'ai commencé à utiliser certaines nouvelles choses qui étaient dans ma chambre depuis longtemps, toutes neuves et intactes.  C'est à peu près le temps que je les utilise aussi... :P Ce ne sont pas tout de même des objets très sophistiqués, mais ce sont juste des vêtements (non, je ne suis pas encore à la mode :P) et certains outils technologiques.  C'est tout!  Oui, je le sais, wow! :P Au bureau C'est rendu officiel maintenant, je vais travailler encore pour une autre semaine et ça se peut que je sois là pour l'autre semaine d'après. Mais dans le fond, je me demande pourquoi je veux rester.  Il me semble que je chiâle souvent à propos de mon travail, mais je commence à l'aimer parce que ça commence à être intéressant. :P Oui, grâce aux vendredis, mais j'aime bien l'équipe.  Les lundis commencent aussi sur le bon pied avec un certain optimisme roumain. :P Certains croient que ce ne serait pas une très bonne idée parce qu'il faudrait que je me repose un peu avant l'école, mais tsé... Je crois que les choses vont se régler pour moi, espérons le!  Mais, je pense que ça devient de mieux en mieux pour moi et je me sens en quelque sorte inspiré grâce à ce job... En tout cas, je vais suivre quelques conseils de mes amis et dormir maintenant.  Alors, bonne nuit! 2007/08/20 I REMEMBER MORE THAN YOU He surprisingly remembers a lot of me so do most of the types like him, but my time is wasted with them with all of these self-made false hopes because at the end, they (i.e. them) are all the same, and promises are simply those kind words, which do not suit them. The feeling of the cool breeze reminded me of the warmth, which they feelingly gave to me but coldly left to dissipate into emptiness. I first felt the coolness on Saturday on my way to work.  I had to drop by at the office to finish off some things.  The weather was at least comforting for me. It appears that I am the last Summer Student left, and this may be my last week of work at the laboratory.  I still try to do my best and work hard, but from time to time, I indulged myself. I admit that I should have more control on my eating habits on those delicious Fridays.  My sweet tooth got the better of me, and I simply cannot put a stop to what was coming in my mouth.  I may have to restrain myself from eating sweets before I get some sort of hyperglycemic attack. :P Muffins, bagels, doughnuts (or rings), cappucino cake, banana...  The list still goes on with what I had eaten with Cynthia.  Yum! :) This week, I also had my first few sips of alcohol.  I know that I shouldn't, but I was in those kinds of situations where I could not say no, and it was awful.  Really awful!  I heard that it is an acquired taste. It is like those things, which you have to learn to endure, like immature people, where their lack in maturity translates into stupidity in my mind. For example, at the Journal Club the other day, I mean, why can't they show a bit of respect to the paper's authors.  They just kept on mocking them while throwing criticism at them.  It was really pathetic!  They are drowning in their own arrogance. It is all the same, like this guy who actually hangs his "to do" list where everybody could actually read it.  He is just a show-off with his "Obtenir passeport pour San Diego" and "Faire inscription pour le post-doctorat" written in huge capital letters.  I am all like, "Okay, we get it." I should add something on his list while he is away, something like, "Me faire violer à soir!" I mean, what kind of a person exposes his agenda to the world? *sigh* Well, at least that is just a small portion of the people who are working there, and fortunately, most of them are really nice like that guy from Romania... :P Anyway, it is past midnight, and I need sleep because I will have to wake up in about seven hours.  I am going to face this week head on, and I wish that everything will turn out fine by the end of the week. Hmph...  The cold wind still blows gently on me... 2007/08/23 YOU GO FIRST JU JING: ...because you are, obviously, much older than I. HORIA: Yes, but I am still young in my heart. JU JING: (Hmmm...  Good answer!) But even so, I'm still younger than you in there. :P At Work It must be like a week that I have been in front of the computer analyzing data, editing figures and making graphs.  Today was actually the first time that I did an experiment in the lab. I haven't been having lunch either, and perhaps I will treat myself to something good by the end of this week. I am allowed to work next week too, and it will most likely be my last one, so I still try to keep up the good work, and I hope that the people for whom I had helped will benefit from it. I have been like this helping butterfly, flying from one person to another.  In a different context, I may be perceived as a whore (only by analogy)! :P Up to now, I am very satisfied of my work here. I must prepare a speech for my departure, which I hope that it will be modest.  I will think of something touching, which can make people cry and laugh... America's Got Talent Yay!  Ventriloquist and impressionist Tery Fator had won, and he really deserved it because he was the only one who had shown talent. I mean, this is not a singing competition.  All the finalists were simply singers, but at least Terry had more of a unique quality in his act. Well, too bad for Butterscotch and that blond girl, but not for Cas though because he always reminded me, as he sang, of this Charlie Brown character shouting, "Arrrg!"  He just screams! :P Oh yah, Quick Change again?  No offence to David and Dania, but their act is getting old.  I can start to see the tricks up their sleeves!  I loved it when it was the first time I saw it, but now...  I feel a bit embarassed for them to always repeat the same number over and over again... Murphy, Raymond & Kazan Well, that's it for now.  Tomorrow is Friday, which means Free Food, but Horia will be presenting, and I hope that it will go well for him. Anyway, I should get to bed now.  I have this terrible sore throat, most likely from work...  Oh well... 2007/08/25 LE TEMPS PRESSE Ah mon Dieu!  Je parle comme Jovite! J'ai vraiment mal à la gorge et je déteste ça à mort! Allez, vous pouvez sortir toutes les jokes sur pourquoi j'ai mal là.  Je les ai toutes entendues. :P Mais maintenant, je n'arrête pas de tousser et je suis pas mal sûr que je l'ai eu de mon travail. Ahhh...  Pis, c'était comme si aller au travail n'était déjà pas compliqué, mais là, le métro ne marche même plus à cause d'une fissure de sept mètres!  Je dois faire un détour lah... One More Week To Go One of the reasons why I had decided to stay longer is to see my new friend present at the Journal Club yesterday, and although I came in late (I was staining!), I got to hear part of it. I like his presentation, but it was a little hard to follow at times.  I felt that James was on Attack Mode as he kept on harpooning Horia with questions.  I think he tried to understand the topic and to get him to explain, but I don't know... I was all like, "Poor guy," and I felt so bad for not helping him the other day.  The worst part of it was that he actually needed it, and he told me that I should have helped him out during the Journal Club.  Pardon! Anyway, my financial issue at work is now "solved", but there wasn't any problem at all since the beginning.  I think that I really need to learn more about things dealing with money as I really have no idea what to do or what is going to happen. Part of my Project I finished my staining yesterday, and here are a couple of pictures of some cells.  It is nice to see, and it is very fascinating! Figure 1: These cells were all retrieved from mice via a bronchoalveolar lavage. A Hoechst stain was used to colour the nucleus of white blood cells (blue). Hence, under fluorescence microscopy, only macrophages can be seen along with red blood cells. Figure 2: A cytokeratin stain had also been used, and this works by colouring the epithelial cells' intermediate filament keratins (red). This shows that a cluster of cells is not completely formed solely by shedded epithelial cells due to the exposure to chlorine gas. * I would also appreciate it if you ask me before putting these pictures online or whatever.  Thanks. :) * I believe that this may be my first scientific discovery!  An exposure to chlorine will indeed induce epithelial cell shedding in mice, and it was thought that only these cells will form clusters, but in fact, macrophages do also adhere to them! 2007/08/28 JE SAIS QUE ÇA VA BIEN ALLER Il a remarqué ce matin que je ne souriais pas autant qu'avant et il m'a demandé si j'allais bien parce qu'apparamment j'avais l'air distrait, triste et perdu dans mes pensées.  Je suis ému par son geste.  Je lui ai dit que ça allait et je lui ai fait un de mes faux sourires, mais c'était vrai, je pensais à autre chose... J'aimerais bien que ma semaine ait un peu plus de temps pour que je puisse régler certaines affaires et en profiter un peu de ma dernière semaine de «vacances» au bureau. :P Ça faisait plusieurs fois que je faisais du staining pour la cytokératine et ça ne marche jamais!  Je disais souvent à ma superviseure qu'il y avait sûrement quelque chose de pas correct dans le protocole, mais elle ne voulait pas prendre mon opinion en considération. Alors, j'ai été faire de la recherche à propos de ça et finalement, j'avais raison!  Il y manquait une autre cytokératine: c'est un hétérodimère.  Il faudra commander l'autre affaire et si je m'en rappelle bien, ça coûte comme 330$ pour 100 µL!  De la vraie crosse! :P Mais bon, il me semble que mon travail est comme la seule affaire que je peux parler ces temps-ci, mais j'ai quand même une vie lah... :P Je suis sorti dimanche pour aller voir mon groupe de Maisonneuve.  En fait, c'était moi l'organisateur en chef pour cette soirée-là et c'était un succès sauf qu'il fallait que je parte plus tôt parce qu'avais un date. :) Avec la gang, j'ai soupé pour la deuxième fois (Oui, j'ai mangé avant de partir aussi et j'ai bien fait finalement!) au Hanashima qui est fameux pour leur Shabu-Shabu, mais ce n'était rien de spécial, car ce n'était que de la fondue japonaise. :P C'était quand même bon, mais la quantité pourrait être encore plus généreuse!  Tsé, j'avais encore faim à la fin et même Alanna avait faim avec moi! Le prix était comme 13,99$ (sans taxe! :D), mais il y avait tellement peu de choses: le bol de riz était même pas rempli comme il faut, il y avait peu de nouilles, etc...  Genre, le petit format ressemblait beaucoup au médium! J'étais vraiment déçu à cause de ça...  Pis en plus, c'est moins cher pendant le dîner pour la même criss d'affaire pis je viens de découvrir des rabais de 10% sur l'Internet! :O Après ça: mon date!  Je tiens aussi à m'excuser auprès de mon groupe de les avoir laissés de même, mais j'ai bien fait pareil et je pense qu'il voudrait ça aussi. :P On jasait beaucoup en buvant du Bubble Tea (4,50$!) et c'était pas mal ça.  Ben là, je ne me mettrais pas à raconter tout en détail lah... :P Je me suis tellement gâté cette soirée-là.  Oui, j'ai dépensé 20$ qui est beaucoup pour moi, mais ça en valait de la peine.  Sauf que...  À la fin, j'avais tellement mal au ventre.  J'avais peut-être mal cuit une chose dans la fondue. :P En tout cas, j'arrête de taper, car il faut que je me couche bientôt et il faut que je prépare pour ma présentation demain, mais je vais juste improviser lah... Bon, je mets une autre image de mes cellules de souris.  Sur celle-là, on peut voir les cils des cellules épithéliales et les cellules en bas sont des macrophages.  Ohhhh... :P 2007/08/30 EN MANGEANT LES ÉMOTIONS Yay!  I feel all better now. :D I hate being sick, but I try to look at it on the bright side, so at least my body is getting stronger... :P My day today was sort of languid.  My supervisor suscribed herself on Facebook, and she got addicted to it!  She also wanted me to create an account, but I won't succumb to this thing. :P So, I was finishing some things by myself, but I didn't feel that productive. I spent most of my time eating, and I actually had two lunch, which was more than enough.  I first went to eat some pizzas at Amelios after being persuaded, but I must say that I was glad to go there because the pizza was very good.  It made me feel so happy inside, and I couldn't wait to be hungry again. :P The only complaint I have is with the salade, which I thought was free, but it costed like 4$!  They snuck it in, and that was pretty low. I then have my second lunch later on that day in the Chest Institute, and there was this security guard who told me if my cell phone was actually a Rogers Wireless phone, so I checked it, and it was! I still don't know how he knew about it, and apparently, he overheard me in the metro.  Now, that was just strange.  He may be stalking me... :P Speaking of metro, there was this young lad who just wouldn't hold on to the pole in the metro this morning, and at each stop, he just fell!  I had to catch him like for at least three times!  I mean, come on, just hold onto the pole and have some water to swallow down that "Ah, je peux me balancer!" attitude!  Sheesh... And, I nearly got late this morning because of the metro, but I don't know what happened.  I wasn't late at the end, but yesterday, I came in late for my meeting.  It wasn't intended at all, but I was finishing of my cytokeratin staining. Anyway, I was prepared to present a few slides, but there was this other guy from out of no where who was in the room, and he just made me so nervous.  I couldn't speak properly because of him. :P Paint.NET I downloaded this software yesterday for free, and I just installed it today.  I am still trying to figure out how it works, and up to now, I am quite satisfied with the quality and the results.  Finally, I have something to do some images now for my website. :P Gmail I also opened an account with Gmail because I was curious to see what it has to offer, and I wanted to see how the chat worked too, so I am waiting for someone to chat with me there. :P I was kind of disappointed that I could not put an underscore in my username to register for "fearless_247".  Instead of that, I entered my name, but I guess that it turned out to be a good thing for me. :P I will henceforth use this e-mail address for my résumé to look more professionnal and less childish, and this e-mail will be used for this website too... Well, tomorrow will be my last day of work.  My summer vacation has really gone by quickly, and I hope that things will work out for me soon, but I know that it will turn out to be alright. :) 2007/08/31 THANKING YOU ALL Today is officially my last day at work, and there was this farewell party for me.  I really appreciated it, but with all due respect, it was a bit useless because I will most likely be coming back next week. Well, I guess that everyone wanted an excuse to have some cake, but I mean, it would be so awkward for me when I will be back... :P Since I did not have the chance to say my speech properly, I would just like to take this opportunity to thank the entire team at the lab. At the beginning, I was a bit unsure about this whole idea of working here, and I even sometimes thought of walking out, but everyone was so kind and supportive, and they made me feel welcomed and at ease. They all kindly accepted my presence and help, and I thank Toby for having me as her pupil and for being cool to work with, patient and very forgiving. I hope that everyone was pleased with my work, and I apologize for having messed up a couple of times. :P You all helped me renew my interest in Science, and I am inspired by you all. I learned a lot here, and I developped not only my skills but my personality as well.  I hope to grow from here. I will never forget my experience here and the people whom I had the chance to meet.  This summer was lots of fun, and I hope to see you all soon. And thanks to my parents for an early Birthday and Christmas present. :) q¬_¬p B A C K    F O W A R D    H O M E