Under My Skin

Seriously, I think I am going nuts. On this humid night, when everyone are dozing their heads off in a fully air-cond room, I am forced to stick my butt on a chair, and bury my head in a pile of Biology books.

So, I told myself, never mind. My mission today, is to finish cellular respiration. And after that, I can just close my eyes and dream about paradise.


The first part was the aerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration crap that I had learnt during SPM. So 5 minutes, that part, done. The next thing was bedazzling. It was glycolysis. (OK, I never paid attention during class.) I have no idea what it was. It's something like a flow chart with a lot of branches.

See I am so hardworking, I did my own notes.

Glycolysis is the process of converting glucose to pyruvic acid. And pyruvic acid will be further decarboxylased and oxidised to form ATP, NADH, FADH2, and carbon dioxide. And ATP will go to the electron transport system and it will produce water and oxygen as end products.


My own notes for Kreb's cycle. The cycle which involves the conversion of Pyruvic acid(3 Carbon compound)to Citric Acid(6C), then isocitric acid(6C) and then further oxidative decarboxylation to alpha-ketoglutaric acid(5C), succinic acid(4C), Fumaric Acid(4C), Malic Acid(4C), Oxaloacetic Acid(4C) as a complete cycle, catalysed by lots of enzymes such as pyruvate dehydrogenase, isocitrase dehydrogenase, fumarase...etc etc...

Thanks to Mr. Krebs.

He got a Nobel Prize for discovering this mechanism.

Next is the electron transport system.
The diagram from my textbook. This, I have not read yet because all those circles and cycles are driving me up the wall.


So, in the end, what we get is energy, CO2 and water. I remember Michelle flinging her hands:"That's it? After one month of boring classes, what we got is just 3 end products?"

Haha...See, God create wonders. Every cell in our body has mitochondria(plural of mitochondrion), which means we have zillions of mitochondria performing the same job everyday. Every cell in our body requires energy. Brain cells need energy for us to think. Muscle cells need them for locomotion. Nerve cells need energy for generating impulses. If any cell in our body refuses to undergo cellular respiration, our entire body will shut down, hence, we get sick, or worse, paralysed.

One cell to build a tissue. One tissue to build an organ. One organ to maintain a system. One system to sustain an organism.

Isn't life amazing?

Guilt and Greatness

Everyone dreads results day. And for the ever first time in my life, I was so worried about it to the extend I had nightmares about people getting raped and robbed. Scary huh... I knew I had not prepared well and I had not performed well enough.

It was: Shocking, Upsetting, Confusing, Killing, Extra-ordinarily Devastating.
In short, it SUCKED.

To worsen things, sis got the first in her class.

Mum talked about it for about two weeks.

So I was forced to swallow the news and kept quiet for another few days. And finally, I could not stand it. The emotional stress was so pushing, so on one fine day, I rehearsed for a few minutes, took a long breath, and called mum.

Me : I have something to tell.
Mum: What?
Me : Well...
Mum: Later, I am driving.
(phone slams)

So, imagine it when she came home and I talked about it. Imagine people yelling, doors slamming, swearing.......

Honestly, I was so guilty, I cannot even sleep well.

So, I had to put up with military style studying. Honestly, it was so difficult. I am about to give up several times, but I just knew I can't. It's already July. About 3 months for me to catch up with things I had lost. I had to sacrifice lots of things, including things I enjoy and normally do.


I have to do well in STPM. I have to get good grades, get into university, secure a seat in a better course to enable a better future.


A glimpse of my military training base. A mass of papers, notes, diagrams, charts, stationery... My effort is going to determine my destiny.

YEAH! HUITING, MAN, YOU CAN DO IT!!

My all time favorite motivator lay supportively on the chair.


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I will live by my own policies.
I will sleep with a clear conscience.
I will sleep in peace.

'Emperor's New Clothes', Sinead O'Connor

Run, Hui Ting, Run

The o8o8o8 factor had taken toll on Malaysians after the mayhem of the Olympic Torch Relay (twins, Zi Qin and I attended too), and following it, to celebrate the largest Asian country of hosting the Olympics, the National Olympic Council organised Olympic Run, opened for all to participate. McDonalds was the official sponsor.

As early as 7am, we gathered at Merdeka Square. There were already lots of people. And from far, we could hear music blasting and some of the main roads were blocked by the dutiful PDRM.


The Sultan Abdul Samad Building at Merdeka Square.

Many were there. Besides us squash club members, we also saw Pei Foong, Boon Fei, Lavenia, and to my surprise Michelle with her boyfriend Navin. We also saw quite a few ex-classmates and some of my sis's friends.

Oh, yeah, the route for Women's Open category is a whopping 7km. When the gun blasted, we jogged. It was only about 5 minutes when Zi Qin started to complain about stomach cramps. So I left her and continued my slow jog. Sing Yi, Yee Toong and the twins were already sprinting in front. And after about 25 minutes of continous jogging, my legs gave and I walked. So, I lost Michelle and Vicky because they sped past me.

So the rest of the route was: jog jog, pant pant, walk walk, then run again. Then there was a check point for us to have a quick drink. Then I ran among strangers. It was almost about the end when I saw Yen Yuen. So we ran together and talked. Then we saw Yee Toong and Michelle walking in front. I quickly ran towards them, but when they saw me, they continued running. So I was left alone again.

Alas, after about one hour, I reached the finish line. Grateful to get the cert, because certificates are only issued to those who were able to finish the run within 70 minutes.


Yoong Sin running like a orang gila towards the finishing line.

The best part was, there were lots of free stuff. Free Cornettos, Ribenas, Milos, Vitagens. The guy on the Cornetto stand was shouting: "each person one only", which obviously nobody cared, because we all each took two, and in the end were suffering because cannot manage to finish two ice-creams in a go. Michelle took three. I drank 3 cups of ribenas, 1 milo and 1 vitagen. Until now I still regret not having more Milo.


The crowd at the free stash booth.


Michelle and me after running.


Yoong Sin and me. After that Yoong Ling was complaining because she did not get a chance to take photo.

I slammed down on bed after I bathed as soon as I reached home. My legs were tired but I surely had a very happy day participating in a run like this.


Viva 2008 Beijing!!

For your eyes

Ratatouille in internship. Out of nothing, I cooked!! And the outcome was:
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Egg omelette with tuna mayonaise and mixed vege, mashed potatoes with barbeque sauce, sweet corn with butter and cheese.

Bon apetite!

Of Protein and Plastics

Today I wore contacts......
HAHAHAHA.

The staff at the optical store was having difficulties explaining to me.
He spent about 15 minutes trying to tell me how to differentiate the different concavity of the lens. I was, of course, damn blur.

Then, he showed me how to put the contacts on. And it was

SO DAMN DIFFICULT!!

At first, he helped me put on. And when the thing just approaches my eye, normal reflex was: blink. So, as a normal human, I blinked. And he kept saying, don't blink. And I mean, how can I control to blink or not to blink?

Finally, he just inserted one of the contact lenses into my right eye.

And it stung.

And my eyes began to water.

Then, I spent about 1 hour in the store just to put the contacts on, and only for another one eye. The contact lenses stuck anywhere else, the floor, my finger, the contact lens case, the mirror, but my eye.

And it was dumbly frustrating.

And I finished half a box of tissue papers. Ask me why? To wipe my tears. Honestly, I never shed so many tears in one go in my entire life.


The solution and lens case.

Shin Peih (she accompanied me!!) was just casually talking to the staff, because I think he was starting to get impatient.

Finally, I got it on!! Yipee!!
The staff was VERY relieved.

Then, I took it off. And it was fast, because I just wanted that dumb thing to get off my eyeballs as fast as possible.

It feels weird because it was just like, you are poking your own eye.
Eh, my eye very precious one leh~~


HAHA.

PS: Thanks to Shin Peih for being EXTREMELY patient, and also for entertaining the guy.