Quick jot to just get off my chest. Frustrated .I really felt that yesterday And all because of tiny minute little living things in this world called bacteria. I know I am not supposed to overreact but there you go for I did. I have been for the umpteenth time trying to get my research project off the ground and for the umpteenth time have been faced with challenges. For one, the RM10 grand that is parked for me in IPB for me to use has hit some snags in the form of red-tape. Then my seed-fund project of another measly RM10 grand is also somewhere between the sea and the sky, likewise with my FRGS of RM130 grand (small money, small research only la). I have two MSc students constantly wanting to know when they can start their projects. Finally after so,so,so much patience the initial 10 grand is released.Hurray.
Then the unthinkable happened.
The bacterial strains that I have been asking from Korea for weeks on end: Got an e-mail from Prof Hae-Yong Kim that oh sorry Zarina, we have loads of it here but we are prohibited from sending them across to you. Bummer. The same not two minutes after with Prof.Williams from Nottingham who was symphatetic but could not help either. I think this has got to do with post 9-11.They are scared we were going to make terrorist weapons from these little tiny things.
Fair enough- it is after all a Class 2 pathogen.
So I decided to contact ATCC and HPA in UK to see if they can help. Initially it looked hopeful as they requested for an institution profile to verify my intentions as legitimate for research purposes only. I quickly prepared one..and then..oopss..sorry, we cannot send it to you because...?? no reasons given. I think its probably of laboratory facilities and access policies they are a bit sceptical about.
I could have torn all of my hair out yeterday out of frustration as I took SUCH a long time to prepare the profile. Then I decided to go for a bit of God-searching to try and calm myself down.Truthfully my life these past three weeks is entirely dominated by anxiety due to these darned bugs. And then somehow or rather after the calm, En.Aziz'z face came into my mind. En Aziz is SJMC's Senior MLT and an expert in microbiology.We have been friends since I was in ITM. I rang him up to ask whether it would be possible for him to maintain such a strain in his collection. It really was my last shot and was already expecting him to say..sorrylah Zarina,tak adalah...
But what did I hear?? "Oh..yang purple tu ke? Saya rasa adalah, saya check dulu nanti call saya next week?"
If not for the fact that he was not in front of me I would have hugged him ...regardless of the fact he is alim..hhm..now that I mention it, I might probably never see my bacterial strain if I did that..so good job he wasn't.
Thank God for little things. The thing I want to say is sometimes we are so awed by the strains other depositors have in their respective countries we miss our very own collections right here in ours.
No Post 9-11 problems, no money required. ATCC charges 300USD per ampoule of bacterial strain.En Aziz: Free. But of course when I eventually take it from him I will belanja him makanlah kat someplace nice in Subang, then debit it from my grant. Yes!
Like last week, this week is NOW good. And did I tell you why last week was good? Because my life is surrounded by the people and the things I love and without the people that I don't.
Have managed to do most things this week esp with my Science Fund application. The only thing I need to do is ring Aree as I really owe him a phone call. Aree when you read this know you r on my mind and I WILL ring you okay then we chat ?
Another good week . Syukur alhamdulillah for that.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
What an event!!
Last Thursday 21/08/08 Jun my PPT @ IPB rang me at the office to tell me not to forget to pick up the robe for the UMS' 10th Convocation . I have been invited to attend the 'first sidang' on Saturday 23rd August at 8 am.
When Saturday came, my colleagues and I had such a good time chatting about things ( of course when it is us, our so-called good chats were about the Geneva Innovation competition,IENA, and other boring stuff like that). It was quite a sight to see,us fully clothed in our academic robes making jokes and having fun like schoolchildren!
Now, I have always had it in the back of my mind that we were going to sit somewhere in the front rows just slightly behind the parents.When we were eventually called for the academic procession we all lined up and started walking down the dewan. There were about 50 - 70 of us as we kept on walking down towards the stage and that was when I decided to ask AP Dr Mike the clever question - when are we going to take our seats here ? (referring of course to the very front seats between the stage which was already the very front'est'. Then he casually said..no we are sitting on the stage.Huh?And that was my knees started wobbling.
It was really a nervewrecking experience.Throughout the time I was climbing up the stage witnessed by the whole Dewan I was hoping I was not going to stumble over my robe which was very long.All the same it was a wonderful celebration as we celebrated the success of the students.This was really my first experience attending the convocation.At one point I even asked myself..how did I get here?
The week was good.
When Saturday came, my colleagues and I had such a good time chatting about things ( of course when it is us, our so-called good chats were about the Geneva Innovation competition,IENA, and other boring stuff like that). It was quite a sight to see,us fully clothed in our academic robes making jokes and having fun like schoolchildren!
Now, I have always had it in the back of my mind that we were going to sit somewhere in the front rows just slightly behind the parents.When we were eventually called for the academic procession we all lined up and started walking down the dewan. There were about 50 - 70 of us as we kept on walking down towards the stage and that was when I decided to ask AP Dr Mike the clever question - when are we going to take our seats here ? (referring of course to the very front seats between the stage which was already the very front'est'. Then he casually said..no we are sitting on the stage.Huh?And that was my knees started wobbling.
It was really a nervewrecking experience.Throughout the time I was climbing up the stage witnessed by the whole Dewan I was hoping I was not going to stumble over my robe which was very long.All the same it was a wonderful celebration as we celebrated the success of the students.This was really my first experience attending the convocation.At one point I even asked myself..how did I get here?
The week was good.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Catching up..
We had a grand couple of weeks.For one, Syirin,Tun,Li'l Miss Sunshine, Amon, Rai and Faizal came but the anticlimax was I came down with a darned sore throat. I really wished I could keep them all with me as I was really sad when we eventually sent them to the airport. We had some good times with Rai and Faizal going up Mount Kinabalu and me with the few days off that I had taken took them all to Pulau Sapi for mandi mandi. I just felt bad I could not spend more time with them as I was mainly feeling rubbish all the time.
As for the Anuar Zain concert, I just have one word for it : Brilliant. He is the reason why even after three weeks my throat was still sore and on the brink of septic tonsillitis. Oh yes, the screams of 'I love you Anuar' s did not go unnoticed as he acknowledge my and Amon's presence and said hi to the both of us.
Needless to say, my dearest Prof Ann ( I love her to bits for that!!) took us backstage to meet him amongst the Senate members of the uni, her hubby the VC and her daughter Karina who like us is also besotted with Anuar Zain.
The week after we went back to KL for Ija's wedding. It was a nice one, Ija looked lovely in her wedding dress...and I must say...both she and Izham looked really good with each other and I wish them every happiness.
All the same, the housework was a nightmare. There were so much to do but so few people to do it with. I wondered where all of Endy's cousins disappeared to apart from sittting in front looking pretty. Luckily we had some lovely aunties in the form of Angah,Mak Usu and even Utih who came to help where they can whilst Awa was busy with the arrangements of the hantarans and stuff and some cousins like Aree,Farah, Iwan etc who helped too. There was so much work post wedding to be had between me and Kak Ina that I swore I felt I was in Segamat during the heyday kenduri days with Aruah Mak looking over our shoulders while we were washing 20 kgs of rice , 30 ekor of chicken and copper pots of 50l for people to cook.
All the same we got the job done eventually - kudos to Kak Ina who had relentlessly helped as soon as she arrived at the front door from London. I do have great in laws, I hope Izham is going to be great too.
But the real fun was with Aree my dearest cousin, I tell you he is a laugh a minute and I love him by the hour. Even my own family love him to bits - Amon included.That was really the bonus for my coming home, and seeing Tun, Syirin and Little Miss Sunshine again. Syirin bought me 2 tudungs from this shop at Tmn Tun that makes tudung for the Permaisuri Agung. When I tried it on it fitted perfectly o I decided to try and find time to buy a few more as she said it wasn't too dear. But oh dear, when I got there it was at least 50-120 bucks apiece! Thats when I realized - SYIRIN said it wasn't expensive...( her watch alone on her hand is 5 grand) All the same I so love her for her thoughts and wishes everyone will have friends like I do her. I guess I will be stuck with just those two tudungs for a while until I can find 1000 bucks to buy ten more of different colours (yea right!)
Mum , Bobo, and sisters were also there and it was great seeing everyone.They will be in KL for a while and I think she is happy to be back in Semenanjung for a bit.
Fast forward to the present. Yesterday we met up with an old friend from our uITM days who is in KK Shang Tanjung Aru for a regional sumthing with dealers. This guy was really a dear friend of ours whom I have always secretly wished would be the one to marry makcik instead of the lousy doctor. It was great to see him again, like all our friends in DIC ITM he is also doing very well as a director in LG. I am proud to say that all my Malay friends in ITM that I met so far have all become somebody and that we all heeded ITM' mission and that i to memartabatkan Melayu.Tinia is a Phd Cambridge graduate, Endy likewise Sheffield, Yusof an LG customer service director, Shahrul an engineer in Oman - syukur alhamdulillah. Glad to know Malays are going somewhere; my generation; my friends.
As for the Anuar Zain concert, I just have one word for it : Brilliant. He is the reason why even after three weeks my throat was still sore and on the brink of septic tonsillitis. Oh yes, the screams of 'I love you Anuar' s did not go unnoticed as he acknowledge my and Amon's presence and said hi to the both of us.
Needless to say, my dearest Prof Ann ( I love her to bits for that!!) took us backstage to meet him amongst the Senate members of the uni, her hubby the VC and her daughter Karina who like us is also besotted with Anuar Zain.
The week after we went back to KL for Ija's wedding. It was a nice one, Ija looked lovely in her wedding dress...and I must say...both she and Izham looked really good with each other and I wish them every happiness.
All the same, the housework was a nightmare. There were so much to do but so few people to do it with. I wondered where all of Endy's cousins disappeared to apart from sittting in front looking pretty. Luckily we had some lovely aunties in the form of Angah,Mak Usu and even Utih who came to help where they can whilst Awa was busy with the arrangements of the hantarans and stuff and some cousins like Aree,Farah, Iwan etc who helped too. There was so much work post wedding to be had between me and Kak Ina that I swore I felt I was in Segamat during the heyday kenduri days with Aruah Mak looking over our shoulders while we were washing 20 kgs of rice , 30 ekor of chicken and copper pots of 50l for people to cook.
All the same we got the job done eventually - kudos to Kak Ina who had relentlessly helped as soon as she arrived at the front door from London. I do have great in laws, I hope Izham is going to be great too.
But the real fun was with Aree my dearest cousin, I tell you he is a laugh a minute and I love him by the hour. Even my own family love him to bits - Amon included.That was really the bonus for my coming home, and seeing Tun, Syirin and Little Miss Sunshine again. Syirin bought me 2 tudungs from this shop at Tmn Tun that makes tudung for the Permaisuri Agung. When I tried it on it fitted perfectly o I decided to try and find time to buy a few more as she said it wasn't too dear. But oh dear, when I got there it was at least 50-120 bucks apiece! Thats when I realized - SYIRIN said it wasn't expensive...( her watch alone on her hand is 5 grand) All the same I so love her for her thoughts and wishes everyone will have friends like I do her. I guess I will be stuck with just those two tudungs for a while until I can find 1000 bucks to buy ten more of different colours (yea right!)
Mum , Bobo, and sisters were also there and it was great seeing everyone.They will be in KL for a while and I think she is happy to be back in Semenanjung for a bit.
Fast forward to the present. Yesterday we met up with an old friend from our uITM days who is in KK Shang Tanjung Aru for a regional sumthing with dealers. This guy was really a dear friend of ours whom I have always secretly wished would be the one to marry makcik instead of the lousy doctor. It was great to see him again, like all our friends in DIC ITM he is also doing very well as a director in LG. I am proud to say that all my Malay friends in ITM that I met so far have all become somebody and that we all heeded ITM' mission and that i to memartabatkan Melayu.Tinia is a Phd Cambridge graduate, Endy likewise Sheffield, Yusof an LG customer service director, Shahrul an engineer in Oman - syukur alhamdulillah. Glad to know Malays are going somewhere; my generation; my friends.
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