Marathon Charity Swim

Just decide to post an email I sent out regarding my charity swim....

Hi all

The swim is over!
It must have been the most exciting swim I had in a while...especially when I started swimming at the same spot for more than an hour!! Feels like swimming on a threadmill!! hehe

Anyway, it's all my fault..haha...I was way to slack to start off...
During the briefing that morning, we were told the current will push us to the 5km mark and it'll turn ard at 12 noon...so reach the 5km mark by noon or u r doom!! haha...the latter was wat happened to me...wahahah

We were first matched to our kayaker, randomly...the kayakers were there for safety and also to carry our own goodies :D Mine was Verna, a very nice gal...who was unfortunately stuck out in the sea for quite a while with me...hahaha...

Well...it all started with a really slow and relaxing swim...took 36 min to complete 1km...and that shld be with current assisting...I call that atrocious timing...wahah...at least the next 1.5km was faster...36min (so abt 24min/km)...hmm...but that makes its abt 1145am already...it's too late!! the current is gg to turn ard soon!!

so i took another 24 min complete the next 0.5km...and...hehe...the next 1km was indefinite...i was swimming real hard but not moving at all for more than an hour...b4 i found out that the current is gg to be that way for 6hrs!! heh...that's when the speedboat came by to pick me and so that i could re-assess the situation...we found ourselves drifting at least 50 meters back towards the starting pt within a minute!! no wonder i'm not moving at all no matter how hard i swim...

I was dropped at the 4km mark and swam back from there...
I swam in extreme slow motion...heh..my arms were pretty tired from fighting the current..but...i still completed the first km in 15mins...the next 0.5km in 8mins...the next 1.5km in 18mins...and the final km in abt 12 mins...wahaha...that's less than an hour for the last 4km...versus 3 1/2 for the first 4km...
so it was sort of a 8km distance if u observe from land...but it felt more like 11-12km of swimming...hehe...exciting?

Well I'm still alive and kicking..in fact...i could still go back to work after that..and u prob couldn't tell i just swam if not for the "permanently" tattooed swimming cap on my forehead...hehe..

In conclusion...I had a real interested and fun weekend :D
I shld attempt more of such swims...maybe the English channel in the future :D

Thanks again to everyone for ur well wishes and support!!

2008 is more than halfway through!

Oh man...how infrequent can my postings get!!
Had some inspiration to write somethings previously but never really found the time to do it...hehe...anyway...

More than half the year has gone pass...what have I achieved so far?
Wow...I shld really have asked myself this question earlier!!

Din seem to have done as much as I would have thought man!

I only managed to get quite a fair bit out in the lab...

I'm finally done with synthetic work...got a nice post-doc to help me do any additional synthesis now...hehe...so cool...

I can finally concentrate on biological work! Doing enzyme assays, antiproliferative asays, western blots...growing cells, killing cells...blah blah blah...hehe...it can be a lot of fun...even though enzymes and cells are not easy to handle though...currently stuck with a bunch of less active enzymes which is preventing me from reproducing results from the US...BUT..I have good news today...seems like a new batch of active enzymes has finally been made...after I'm not too sure how many months of wait...hehe...now just gotta wait for reconfirmation and shipment over...hopefully the enzymes can withstand the trip well :D Shall keep my fingers crossed...otherwise it might mean heading to US just to get the assay done!!
I also love my current lab...no need to wash glassware, fill pipette tips, autoclave, order chemicals/biologicals...someone else does all this things...our time is really valued here...so we can really spend more of our effort in research...and more imptly for me...other personal stuff...hehe...

Now that I know I have not achieved enough...time to buck up!!
5 months to go b4 2008 is over...

Gotta start getting down to effective planning! Just learnt that in a full day leadership training seminar I attended today...now it's time to put wat I have learnt into action!

Hmm...first step gotta learn to differentiate efficiency vs effectiveness...
I guess it all starts with a clear goal in life...

Ok time to get my goals clarified and come up with an action plan...

Till I feel like writing again...adios!!

2nd post of 2008!

Wow...we are almost halfway through 2008...and i only have one post for the year!
Haha...i'm just too busy man...having plenty of fun though :P

Anyway, let's see wat's up this year...

I'm attending plenty of weddings...and there's also plenty of frens who're now pregnant...hmm..the rat year must be a good year :D

I've been out of the country so frequently...I feel like I'm now a frequent flyer...wahahaha...except that I dun always fly :P
Within the past 6 months or so, I've been to US, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, HK...and of course Malaysia! Wow...

I've also helped plenty more ppl improve their health...especially among my relatives and friends...I'm indeed fulfilling my role as a legal drug peddler :P

I'm doing a lot of biological work instead of chemistry work now...a biological lab is a much more pleasant place to be in...but that means I'm more of a mad biologist now than a mad chemist...mad chemist sounds nicer!!

Anyway, I think this post is getting very messy...just putting watever that comes to my mind...scatter brain...time to stop writing...wahaha...til I feel like writing again...ADIOS!

First post of 2008

Wow! I'm getting really irregular here...hehe

It's almost the end of Jan and this is just my first post of the year :P

Anyway, life's been hectic...which is actually very good for me :D
I'm planning to be a rich PhD graduate by next year 2009...the progress is gg very well so far...just keeping me really busy...haha...