*scotch tape everywhere*

this is the first afternoon i've spent at home. after... how long??? my gosh i can't even remember!

:(

my project is sucking the life out of me. seriously, if i was just running gels or running any normal experiment, i might not be so sapped of strength. but NOOOOOO, i am working on parasites with 48 hour life cycles and guess what?? all my experiments have timepoints.

to the layman: i have to monitor my parasites until they reach a certain stage, only then can i administer a drug, and from then on monitor them every hour or two to see if there are any effects. this actually sounds fine until you realize you have absolutely no control over what time this experiment will start... and i am already predicting my starting time will be at 2am in the morning. which means i end at 12pm the next day. T_T

then before this part can start, i need to synchronise my cultures because there are like, maybe hundreds of them in one flask, and they all grow at different speeds. it just won't do if they're all at mixed stages; i need them all to be growing at the same pace. so there's this thing called a double synchronisation -

we kill off the stages we don't want right after the majority of them are at the starting stage (these young ones will survive, while those at the later stages are killed off). then we kill them off again after 12-18 hours, depending on what we see.

this really sucks because it means i have to stay in school then entire day. e.g. yesterday we started the 1st round at (tries really hard to remember. really trying!!) ... ...

oh yes. at 1130 am. then we waited around until 1230am to kill them off again; i just got home at 630am this morning. T_T

i haven't seen my mom and adrean in 3 days, haven't seen my dad in 5 days (i just saw him when i got up at 330pm), and haven't seen my room in broad daylight for about 4 days plus (i have no idea anymore).

so this is how my hols have been like -

day before CNY: in school from dawn, went to RTC for dinner, then back to school till late night. i missed out on 2 parties: felix who's leaving for australia, and my cousin from australia who was leaving the next day. eh wait. they both might've been on the same flight. hmm...

CNY day 1: in school from day to late evening; by the time i met my relatives i was so tired i was just stoning on the couch watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

CNY day 2: in school from dawn till late night

CNY day 3: in school from dawn till late noon - i actually made it to the council gathering! hurrah.

Wed: in school from dawn till thursday (130am?)

Thurs: in school from day till friday (i missed sending david off. *sigh*)

you might tell me, "don't worry, honours is almost over!!' but no, my prof would like to continue this project. well, i know this will be a good paper if published, and it would really help me, but the time and effort my partner and i put in is incredibly crazy and bloody taxing.

i have decided i will only stay if the money is above a certain amount. and lesser i won't. because this is really teh shits. seriously.

arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh