Patriotic me

Do you know there is a public holiday called Malaysia day in Malaysia? Malaysia Day is held on September 16 every year, starting year 2010 to commemorate the establishment of the Malaysian federation on the same date in 1963. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had announced that last year and said the day would involve activities that would foster the 1Malaysia spirit. I am not going to talk much about the history of Malaysia federation cause you can wiki it. I am going to talk about something which made me mad today.

I had joined facebook 2 years ago. It's where my family, friends and I get to keep in touch. If you are a member of facebook you probably know how it works. If someone writes something on their status, it would show on your wall. So today, while friends were wishing one another Happy Malaysia day, there was one particular person in my friend list who really spoiled my mood by writing something very negative about our country, Malaysia. I was very angry because he was a Malaysian, happened to be my 2 years junior and studied in Japan with Malaysian government scholarship for 4 years! How could you write something bad about your own country? Everything he wrote in his status was negative. Giving poeple the impression that Malaysia is a terrible place to live in. He might have written it in a political view, still, the words he used was very 'biadap'. Well, I didn't comment on his status. Instead, I wrote on my status (so that it would appear on his wall):

'Some Malaysians complained about their own country as if they're not indebted to this country in any possible way. For them who had received government scholarship, before you shout out how bad this country is, one question, have you served the country in return? Just a reminder that you had used 'rakyat' tax for your study. The country may not be perfect, I believe patriotic spirit should be there. Selamat Hari Malaysia!'

I hope he got my message and would stop making drastic remarks anymore...which, my hubby thought was impossible.

I love my country, Malaysia. I know there are many flaws and there is always room for improvement. That doesn't stop me from loving my home country. I just wish more Malaysians would show patriotism in them. At least they owe their country that much!

SELAMAT HARI MALAYSIA!

Post Eid syndrome

Yeah...it's the 4th day of Syawal. With heavy legs and stomach I marched to the University today. My stomach is still filled with yesterday's open house food. 2-3 open house a day is really bad for the health I must say. With lots of cookies still piled up at home, we definitely desperately in need of exercise. Otherwise, I can't imagine what we would look like in a week time.


While some of us are still in Raya mood, there is one particular news in Malaysia that really caught my attention. Yes, the multimillionaire, Datuk S's murder case. It is almost confirmed that she was brutally murdered, burned and her ash was scattered in the Panchau river along with 3 other victims who accompanied her for the business deal in Banting. It is rumored that the main person who planned this kidnap/murder is also an influential young Datuk who happens to be a lawyer. It was said to be a well planned murder. Gosh, I had goose bumps when I first read about the news.

The victim Datuk was decent enough and didn't go alone, but went with three other men to close the deal. Little did she know that the other party was so evil and had prepared and hired more people to brutally killed them. Whoever these people are, I hope they would be punished accordingly. I just cannot imagine that human being can be so cruel. To what extent is money the root of all evil? You tell me...


May God bless the souls.

Discussion

My mum has just come back from Taiwan, her hometown.
Well, I had informed her of the offer to UK briefly when she was still in Taiwan and she requested me to hold the decision making until she goes back and discuss with my father. So last night I had a conversation with her.

Me: 'How was your trip mum? How are a-po and all our aunties and uncles?'
Mum: 'Ohh...they are fine. We had a great time. But I am a little tired. Too much traveling. People here invite me to stay, people there invite me to come to their house. Eat here, eat there. I am getting fat la...' But she sounded very happy.
Me:' About my offer, what do you think mum?'
Mum:' To tell you the truth, you should come back. Enough of oversea life la. Your pay here is so good already. What else do you want? Also I missed my grandson. How's his education? He has to learn Chinese too. I have made plans to give him intensive and extensive course in Chinese language. Just like all my kids. Now I know my education method is good. Look at you and your siblings. So just come back la.'I knew this was coming from the way she shoved me when she was still in Taiwan.
Me: 'OK OK.... I will ask my prof what the offer is like. If the pay is not good, I will not take it. I will make sure I benefit from this. Don't worry, I will come back and discuss with you. By the way, what does papa thinks?
Mum: 'Aiyoo, your papa ah. Huh he said good. Everything you say is good. Aiyaa. He said you will be learning more. You will be able to bring back good for the country. Harumkan nama Malaysia. Aiyaa you and your patriotic father are just same la...'
Me:' It's true ma... I will be trying to do good research and publish good paper. It's good promotion for the country...'
Mum:' Aiyaa...whatever you come back first la...'
Me: 'Ok, Ok...I will see what they can offer before we go through the same discussion. Will talk to you later ok mum...Bye'
Mum: ' Ok ok...send my love to your hubby and my grandson'

So...clearly my mum is against this. So, I have to make sure what they offer is worth every penny. At least, I have something positive for my mum to see and agree with my decision. I need mummy's blessing. I always have and are planning to do so...

Choice

I was busy doing my experiment this morning when our secretary came to my room and informed me that I was wanted by the big boss. Oh oh...I knew it. I sort of expected it. In my head I was trying to find the best answer to why I had not sent him his new request of data analysis which only reached my mail box last night at 10pm.

I knocked on his door and mumbled, 'shitsureishimasu~' which means something like excuse me in a very polite Japanese way. 'Come in', he said in a low voice. I went in and stood there with his back facing me. He was looking at his 30 inch Mac monitor. 'Did you receive my mail last night?' 'Yes, I did'. 'Did you understand my idea?'. 'Yes, I did. But I am doing an experiment now so I will send you the data analysis later this afternoon', as I was trying to defend myself. 'Fine, you can send me any time today, tonight or even tomorrow as long as you understood what I wanted.' I was relieved knowing that he was not angry with me.

'There is another thing that I want to talk with you. I just received an e-mail from Prof. A from Birmingham who actually has a new post in his lab. Would you be interested? Well, to be frank with you he actually requested for you.' I was speechless.

'I know you belong to your government and I know that you have to go back to your job. I know your situation well but as I had told you before, I want you to be a leader in Immunology one day in your country and I think this is a great opportunity for you. It is a good exposure for your career. The duration for that post is 3 years and it starts this December. It may be shorten but we can always discuss with him later if you are interested. So...what do you think? Oh, and do not worry too much about completing your degree, you'll be fine.', he smiled.

'Thank you sir. I am very much interested with the offer, but first, I will have to discuss with certain people regarding my situation.' I said.

'OK, good. Discuss with the people you need to discuss with and tell me your decision when you have decided. Thank you.'

I thanked him again and stepped out of his office with a heavy step.

So, let's analyze the conversation.

1. I was offered a fellowship in UK and the duration is 3 years.
2. I do not have to worry about my degree = I am guaranteed to graduate on time? Wow!
3. I did not look for the job and yet the job came rolling to me? Wow!
(My colleagues had to be interviewed several times for this kind of dream job!)
4. The prof in UK knew that I am attached to Malaysian government and yet he offered me this position? Unbelievable.

Anyone would have jumped at this chance. It's the chance of a lifetime. I have never dreamed of this. All this while, my ultimate goal was to earn a PhD degree, go back to my home country to serve as a government servant and start settling down with my family. Now, with this choice given in front of me, my entire life is about to change.

I broke the news to my hubby. He didn't take it too well too. Well...he's got his lecturer post in UM to consider as well. They want him to come back as soon as possible. No way he can delay it for another 3 years. He'll really have to let go of his position if he's coming with me. We agreed to discuss this later.

We have yet to decide. We are still slowly digesting and collecting information about UK life. I know it is a good place to live and the education system is really good too. I want to go to UK and at the same time keeping my position in the ministry of health. I want to go back and serve the government as a better and experienced professional. I want to...
They are so many things that I want to do and achieve now. I hope I am not being too greedy.

May Allah guide me in this....Amin.

FIFA 2010

The soccer fever is back! It's the world cup folks! It would be sleepless month for us, especially my soccer lover husband. We have made a list of matches we would like to watch...with miracle hopes that we will be able to stay awake and be functioning during the day. Tonight at 23:00, it will be the first Japanese match and they will be playing against Cameroon.

My Japanese colleagues excitedly asked me whether I would be cheering for the Japanese team during this world cup. I said, 'Yeah, I really hope they would do well!'. But in my heart, my hubby and I are secretly cheering for the Brazil this year. We are Brazil fans! We love their techniques, the art and the passion they have for soccer, though we know that they are not at their strongest this year.

Anyway, while the FIFA has just merely started, I am beginning to feel annoyed. So so annoyed with the crazy constant 127 decibels bumble bee like sound coming from that Vuvuzela horn. Gosh...to the FIFA authority, please ban that horn from the stadium! It's hazardous! It definitely brings more harm than good. I am quite sure the sound would cause deafness. I am beginning to think that it stresses our mind and heart too! Hopefully the authority would ban the horn and instead encourage the audience to sing or cheer with human voice. It definitely feels so much normal than that vuvuzela horn.

Jet lag and dust mites

3 weeks has passed since I came back from Birmingham.
The first thing I needed to overcome was the jet lag.
I could get only 2-4 hours sleep a day and would be dizzy in the afternoon till the late evening on the first few days when I was back to Japan. That went on throughout the weekdays. So, when the weekend finally came, I decided to sleep whenever I felt sleepy to at least release the sleep deprivation I was having.

Let me rewind my story back to about 6 weeks back when my landlord decided to repaint the whole building. It was 3 weeks of hell! With the smell of paint which triggered my hubby's migraine every day and me with dizziness due to the strong smell. So, we decided to close the windows and doors to minimize the contact with that environmental hazardous paint. For the whole 3 weeks, our apartment was closed without much ventilation. Urrgghh....


Fast forward back to the weekend when I decided to sleep throughout the days....
So, while my son was happy that I let him play the computer game so that he wouldn't disturb me sleeping, I slept soundly from about 10am to 3 pm. When I woke up and greeted my son, he said, 'Mommy, what's that butsu butsu (raised red dots) on your face and neck?' I quickly looked on the mirror and noticed insect bites on my face and neck (more than 10 areas).
When I checked my body, both my arms, hands and legs were bitten as well. It was later estimated by my hubby to be about 50~60 raised red mosquito like bite on my body. I gasped at the look of myself. The first thing I thought was, Gosh...the marks would remain for at least months and it's summer soon! The diagnosis: Dust mite allergy! Any doctor could diagnose that! Plus the itchiness, it was terrible sight to see. Just imagine, more than 50 mosquito bites on your body... x 10 times the itchiness!!! So, there I was, scratching away while frantically looking for medication to release me from that disastrous itch!


After taking an anti-histamine, I spent the whole afternoon cleaning and ventilating the house. From washing the pillow cases, blankets, mattresses, bed covers to putting everything I could thought of in the sun. When my hubby came back from work, he looked at me in surprise though trying to keep his cool, 'Darling, whatever happened to you?'

I told him of the diagnosis. He laughed and ensured me that I still looked beautiful. Ok, so he is being sweet as usual, I thought. (But I recently suspected that he's secretly been reading Uncle Lee's blog and started to apply on me...hihihi)

The story continues. Though not as worse, I got a few new butsu butsu every morning. It was not until we applied commercialized products for dust mites that the new butsu butsu stopped to appear. But I was still phobic. Two nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night scratching my hand and found a new butsu butsu and I was frantic. Luckily my hubby looked carefully and decided it was probably just a mosquito bite. True enough, the next morning, the mosquito bite did disappear.


The lesson here, ventilate the house. In my case, 3 weeks of no ventilation made me suffer! I still could not believe that I am the only one who got it. My son and hubby didn't seem to get any butsu butsu. Not even one! Another good tip, get a good vacuum cleaner which can filter dust mites. Myth: Some people thought that by putting blankets in the sun would kill the dust mites. NO...they survive! They would just move from the surface to the bottom where the sun cannot penetrate and sit there. So, what you can do is, after you hang up your blanket, take the blanket indoor and vacuum it. This is the best way to get rid of the dust mites. It seems.

All the best and may your life be dust mite free!

Trip to UK

I have been really busy for the past 3 months...
My experiment is not going too smoothly. Lot's of money spent but no good conclusion on my project. So my boss is not very happy with my progress.
Meeting him is like meeting a monster. Trying to avoid him in any possible way. Still, that's not likely because he would request a weekly meeting with me lately.

Boss went to Oz for a conference in the middle of last month.
When he came back, he called me to his office.
'So, how's your project going?'
'Not so good. I am still struggling with the technical part'
'Ok. You have been spending some time on this project. Time is running out. How do you think if I send you to UK? I talked to the professor who invented the method during my visit to Oz and he was more than happy to accept your visit to his lab if you are interested.'
'Huh? When?', I was obviously shocked.
'As soon as possible. With full expense supported by me.'
'Of course I am interested.' I couldn't hide my excitement.
'Good, I will tell him that you are interested and we'll arrange the trip'
So, suddenly...I am going for a trip to UK in 2 weeks time.
It may sound too good. But I have to keep in mind that there should be an improvement when I get back. If not, only God knows what kind of situation I will be in...
Life can be unpredictable...hopefully there is a solution to my problem.
Wish me all the best!

Fingers crossed

I am having hard time with my professor for the past 1 month.
Busy is the only word I have with my life nowadays.

I had a meeting with boss yesterday.
The past 2 meetings didn't end well and I sort of disappointed him...he said. Well, that's something you don't want to hear from your supervisor, in any possible way. He has been given me 3 big jobs to do. First, to handle my own project. Secondly, to help out a collaborator in UK for another project and lastly, Lei's project. He trusted me to complete them.
Well, I have to say I am doing a good job so far. I have fulfilled everything he asked me to do. I had all the results but it was my presentation that he did not satisfy. Well...I have to accept that he's a real perfectionist. He said, you did your job but that should include the way you present it. If you never thought of how to present it, your whole effort went to drain. Well, it's true. I took his point. But then again, with my whole day taken for experiments, when do I have the time to prepare the presentation? I should search my way into finding time to prepare the presentation for weekly meeting!? That is too much to handle sometimes.

For yesterday's meeting, I was so afraid that I delayed my experiments so that I have my results presentable. Well, he said he liked the way I presented it. Ohh...thank god! Do I have to do this every week? Too much effort every time. My husband could feel my anxiety and didn't like it too much. But I have to if I want to stay in this lab and graduate with a degree. Just in another year if everything goes well.

Cross your fingers for me...

I am a scientist

Don't get me wrong. I am not yet a scientist... but I do sincerely hope to be a scientist one day. One fine day. However, I feel the word 'scientist' is wrongly used many times especially in my country, Malaysia.

To me, a scientist is a person having expert knowledge of one or more sciences, especially in natural or physical science. The society grades a person whether he or she is eligible to be called a scientist by looking at his PhD title. I have come across a few occasions where these people admitted they were scientists. The inquisitive me usually would follow that statement with a question 'so, where did you do your PhD study?'. They usually ended up embarrassed because they didn't have PhD. I had no intention to embarrass them, because to my understanding that was the requirement to be called a scientist. Later, I felt bad about this and discussed with my husband, who happened to be someone with PhD, a postgraduate experience and vast knowledge in Biology. He agreed that a scientist should at least have PhD or MD degree. Not someone who graduated in science field during their undergrad studies. I was relieved... and I was right.

When I was in the elementary school, my impression of a scientist was a person who is as good as, or not better than Newton or Edison. At this age, I have agreed to lower the level to 'as long as the person has obtained a PhD, he is an eligible scientist'. I do not intend to lower the criteria further because to me, a scientist has always been a sacred symbol that should not be violated. And it would be an insult to those people who had tried very very hard to obtain their PhD and work in their dream job as a SCIENTIST.

It's war time again

The past 2 weeks had been hectic. I had my progress report on the 30th of November where I was crushed and bombarded with questions and telling me 'which part of your research is new?' Ouch!

Fine. To top that, on the same morning, my prof sent me an e-mail saying that the paper which I submitted (to a journal of 10+ impact factor) was rejected. That was another bomb. After my progress report which was like for ages... he called and asked me what I want to do with this paper and how we should improvise the manuscript. I told him to give me some time to digest the reviewers point and I would e-mail him as soon as possible. How soon? He asked. I just laughed and said maybe tomorrow. Why tomorrow, well...because I would have to practice my oral presentation (for a conference) like 2 hours later at 3pm...which during that 2 hours, was my lunch time and practice time.

So, I practiced in front of him at 3, and as expected, he asked for another revision at 6pm. So there I was practicing for another 2 hours and refined the points where he thought I should.
For your information, we were going to have our yearly Bounenkai (忘年会) at 7.30pm the same day (Bounenkai is a Japanese way to celebrate this year and to welcome the new year). I must make sure I could finish before 7pm as that was the time we asked for taxi. Some pressure there.

The practice at 6pm surprisingly went well. What a surprise! The party was a success too and we enjoyed it immensely. Maybe my choice of a seat was good (clearly I was not sitting with him), hahaha...

Then it was the conference. It went quite well. He actually came to me and said I did well in both the presentation and question time. It was at that point I realized, this huge man in front of me was indeed a great scientist and an excellent educationist. How can I ever hate him? The remaining days of the conference were stress free and enjoyable.

This month, my prof will be busy and will be outstation for most of the time. He will come back for just a day for some errand and go outstation again. To think that he is not around does not mean there is no pressure. There is less pressure especially when we do not have to listen to his 'anything new?' question. He would e-mail when he wants something. Ahh...good technologies don't always bring good news. He e-mailed me 2 days ago, telling me 'Hi, I expect receiving your comments to individual points that the reviewers made.'.His exact words. Yup...I have not sent him the comments. Not that I did not try, it was just impossible to digest all the reviewers points when we had a conference to attend. If he knew I actually printed out the comments and tried to digest that during the conference, sigh. To cut the story short, I have sent him my comments on what the reviewers commented and sent him some constructive thoughts with experimental designs... the day before yesterday. He replied yesterday and agreed to my experimental designs and asked me to do them as soon as possible so that we could submit it at the soonest.

Yeah...to think that during the writing of that paper was a war. It has just struck me that the war had merely started and would be on for a long long time.