Labour Day

If I were in Singapore, today would be a public holiday because it is Labour Day. But in Australia, 1st May is just another ordinary working day. I do not really feel indignant over this fact, for I have had 2 weeks worth of mid semester break instead of a mere 1 week recess break that my NTU friends had :P

I skipped CHEM 3310 yesterday morning, because I was awoken twice in the dead of the night due to acute abdominal pains which led to diarrhea. I had to grope around in the dark for I did not want to wake my housemates up. Due to the disrupted sleep, I decided not to wake up early to go for lecture. But I went for Green Engineering lecture at 12 pm. Michael went through 4 questions for the Kinetics and Catalysis tutorial and many of us found his handwriting illegible. We often had to ask him to explain what he was writing. To be brutally honest, I have never seen such horrendous handwriting from lecturers.

After the tutorial, I went to Auchmuty Library with Jon, and I got to find out more interesting facts about him. He has a Bachelor of Biotechnology from UNSW, but has decided to do another degree in Chemical Engineering because he could not tolerate the mundane job scope of a biotechnologist. Jon preferred a job that could stimulate his thinking and unleash his creativity skills. And according to him, the course on Chemical Engineering involves a lot of critical thinking for they have to constantly design new processes to improve the current state of affairs in the industry. I can't help but be awed by Jon's determination to pursue his interest, although I find that is such a pity that he spent a hefty sum of money studying for a degree which he ended up not liking.

Went home after printing some relevant notes for my FCC assignment. Cooked instant savoury chicken rice for lunch, with the addition of some butter. And the meal tasted great, for I absolutely adore the taste of dairy products. I also love to add milk to campbell soups. Went back to school at around 5 pm for I wanted to print articles for my CHEM 3210 literature review and enjoy the privilege of having a faster Internet speed. I proceeded to Auchmuty Library after meeting up with Renee at the Geology building to get her intepretations of the various spectra for Experiment 5 of CHEM 3210 lab.

I spent around 3 hours in the library, but did not manage to get a lot of work done as I was distracted by the Internet SMS and random web surfing. Doing anything related to school bores me out. Yesterday was the first time I walk home from school in complete darkness. It was quite a refreshing experience, but I still prefer to go home in broad daylight due to safety reasons. But I am not scared darkness!

For the first time, I marinated my frozen food with a myriad of spices and sauces for dinner before stir frying them. The fragrance and taste weren't as good as expected, for the taste of the sauces had neutralized the fragrance of the spices. I should not add both sauces and spices together in future. But cooking involves a lot of experimenting, doesn't it? And the saying " practice makes perfect'' is oh-so-true with respect to this life skill.

Today, I woke up at quite early at 8+ am for I had fallen asleep before midnight the day before. Spent most of the morning working on my CHEM 3210 assignment, which quite tedious because I had to put on my thinking cap and analyze the experiment. Time really whizzed by and I was late for IRHR 1001 tutorial by about 10 minutes

Attendance at the tutorial was exceptionally bad today, for there were only 8 of us in the class. The discussion topic was on managing change and as usual, I was more of a watcher than do-er. I felt that my ideas weren't in tandem with my group mates, and my brain felt empty despite doing the assigned readings. Everyone who was present expressed their opinions spontaneously to Tony, except for me. I only spoke out when he prompted me to do so. If I continue showing such passiveness during all the tutorial sessions, I will most probably fail for the 15% allocated for participation. And it is kind of demoralizing when you always feel tongue-tied but yet, you do not know how to overcome it.

Went to the Student Hub to try to finish up my literature assignment, but it was a futile attempt for 1 hour is not sufficient for me. Bought a pistachio and chocolate coated meringue, which was tasteless on the outside but sweet in the inside. Nevertheless, I still prefer cakes, cookies or wraps.

Although there were no major hiccups during CHEM 3210 lab, I felt that it was rather unproductive and disappointing. Despite 2 attempts, ie, 1 by Renee and myself, we did not manage to get the orange pink product for Experiment 3 for the cobalt complex had decomposed even though we did not heat it to 90 degrees celcius. Worst of all, even Geoff could not point out exactly on what had gone wrong. So, we were left with no choice but to utilize the samples from the fridge for our reports. And, I did not have enough time to use the rotary evaporator for Experiment 7, for a lot of time was spent waiting for the thermometer to show a reading of 90 degrees celcius, for the lab manual stated that the complex will become plum coloured at that temperature. And afterwhich the complex will become brown if heating is continued. Ironically, the complex decomposed and turned brown, even though the solution had not reached 90 degrees celcius.

Looks like I have no choice but to make a special trip down to school tomorrow just to hand up my literature review. In order to make the journey more worthwhile, I might just stay in school to complete my lab reports. It is already Week 9 but I have not submitted a single report for both CHEM 3210 and CHEM 3310. This weekend shall be spent devoted to lab reports, for the allowance time for procrastination is getting lesser and lesser at an alarming rate!

On the way home, I realised the leaves of the maple tree have turned from yellow to red. It was an intriguing sight, for red maple leaves are non existent in Singapore. This colour change indicates that autumn will turn into winter soon. For me, it is my maiden time experiencing the distinct differences in seasons all my life. What Liyun said is so true, living in overseas can enrich one's life.

There is something to look forward to this weekend. Rachel will be coming on Saturday for a 3rd round of cooking session and a sleepover before she goes to church on Sunday. I believe that the carbonara that she intends to cook will taste great. If your friend prepares food for you wholeheartedly, it will taste exceptionally good, even though it might be psychological. Anticipate a lot of fun and laughter. It makes me smile when I think of the excellent chemistry between the both of us. :) Hope our friendship will continue to blossom, even when I depart for Singapore.