I was watching videos on YouTube, and then I came across the choral versions of these songs. Having been from choir myself, of course I had to listen to these right? I like listening to different interpretations of the same song, and having these songs sung with different parts really gives a new dimension to them.

Choral version of 3月9日 (March 9)

I actually prefer the choral version of this one to the original. The song works well when sung in different parts.

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I wonder why I feel so tired at the end of each day even though I don’t do anything much at work. Is it because I have to wake up early, or because I sit for too long?

My second week of work is finally over, and there’s the long weekend to look forward too! These 2 weeks haven’t been the best ones for me, being in a new environment and all. I’m someone who hates changes, as I find comfort in things that are familiar. Having to enter a new environment, especially when I don’t know anyone else, is something stressful for me. Starting this internship, having to adapt to this new environment and to learn new techniques… it hasn’t been easy. Plus my mentor just left the organisation yesterday, so I’m following someone else now. Now I have to get used to this change and to adapt to a different style of teaching, and that will take me some time.

Sometimes when I’m free at work, I wonder to myself whether deciding to do an internship this holidays was the best choice that I have made. I wonder why of all places, I was accepted into this lab at a time where the person assigned as my mentor was leaving. Did I really need this internship so that my resume will look more impressive? If I didn’t do this internship, I could have gotten some other job instead and earn more money. If I chose not to work, I’ll have more time to do my own stuff, and I’ll be able to go for the church camp. If I didn’t do this internship, I wouldn’t have to deal with all this… stuff. Maybe I’m supposed to learn something from this experience, just that I’ve yet to see what. At least now I have a clearer idea of what an outside lab is like (in comparison to say, a lab in school), and a change to be in an environment very different from the lab that I was previously in. Somehow, I’m starting to think that maybe genetics is not a field that I should be in if I end up doing lab work after I graduate. At least not this aspect of it? I do have some interest in it, but I’m not very good when it comes to actually doing something or applying my knowledge in this area. Maybe as I continue doing my internship my opinion will change though, so we’ll see.

I came across this site which has translations for Kitou Aya’s diary once again a few days ago, and it was finally updated! Her story was made into the Japanese drama, 1 Litre of Tears, which should be familiar to some. I first came across these translations some time after I watched the drama, but the translations had stopped in 2006 and were incomplete. Even so, I was glad to be able to read more about her story. I really admire the strength and courage Aya had when it came to facing her disease. No matter how tough it was, she never gave up and fought on until the end. Whenever I think about her story, I am reminded never to give up. It’s ok to complain or find an outlet if you need to. It’s ok to feel upset or frustrated, because all humans have emotions. But at the end of the day, you need to continue moving forward after that and not just throw in the towel after meeting a setback.

As Aya wrote in her diary,

It’s okay if you fall.
You can just get up again.
Why don’t you look up at the sky, while you’re down there.
The blue sky spreads across above you.
Can you see it smiling at you?
You are alive.

If someone like her, being in much worse of a situation than I am, faced her problems bravely and never gave up, how can I give up when the problems I face are insignificant when compared to hers? I hope that one day, I’ll have that kind of inner strength that Aya has.

If you’ve never seen the drama or read her diary, I highly encourage you to do so. I’ve heard that the Chinese version of her diary is sold at Kinokuniya, but I have yet to come across it. I’d like to own a copy if I ever see it.

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Last night, Zeling messaged me to ask me to help him out with a skit today, which was supposed to be part of the lesson. I have no idea why he asked me, because the first people that come to mind when I think about skits will be Mao and Ben. They’re good! I’m hopeless when it comes to things like these, but I ended up helping him anyway. Why? I don’t know either.

At 9.45 this morning, we were supposed to head down to the basement to practice. I happened to meet Zeling at the lift, and he told me that he brought a prop. I can’t remember what exactly it was that he said, but something sounded suspicious. When we got down to the basement, he then proceeded to pull out a knife from his bag. EH! It was a pretty big one too. Imagine if he got stopped for a security check at the train station! If the security guard finds the knife in his bag… that would be bad! Anyway, Jireh got the honours of getting to hold the knife throughout the skit. As a loanshark. (It’s kind of weird putting him and loanshark together, heh.)

For some reason, the weekend seems to have passed really quickly. I wouldn’t mind having another day to rest at home!

Waiting for my mentor to get back after lunch. I thought I would be back later than her since I left for lunch later, so I was kind of surprised that she wasn’t back yet when I came in a while ago. But it’s ok, I shall just relax until she gets back.

Took the Fusionopolis bus to Holland Village for lunch since that one came before the Biopolis bus. But I guess next time I should try to stick to the Biopolis bus on my way back! The Fusionopolis bus that we took just now made a big round into the private estate behind Biopolis, only to stop at this deserted bus stop where no one wanted to get on or off. I’m not in a rush so I’m fine, but I think Jasmine’s friends needed to get back to their labs soon, so it wasn’t a good thing that they took that bus. Walking back might have been even faster!

Today’s a pretty relaxing day. There’s nothing to do in the lab so far, and until now, I’ve only analysed the set of data we obtained from the experiment done on Monday. I think generally, the interns here don’t have much to do, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on how you see it. I’m lucky to have a computer that I can use (for now at least), so I can surf the net or blog when I have nothing else to do. Poor Jasmine (Lim) upstairs seems to be more bored than me, since she hasn’t done anything in the lab and she doesn’t have a computer that she can use either. Too bad we’re not on the same floor, otherwise I can have someone else to chat to. Oh well.

Went over to one of the labs at Immunos just now, and the lab is really nice! The lab space is huge, clean and really bright. And they have areas where they can change their labcoats too. Nice sliding doors to access the lab and nice chairs to rest on too! I like! Jas would be there if she had gotten that attachment… too bad she’s at TLL now. (I know too many Jasmines! It’s getting difficult to differentiate all of them when I write their names.)

It’s 2pm now… 4 hours till I get to go home! (Yay!) I don’t think I have a lot of things to do later. I think I need to meet my boss to discuss the results and I don’t know… do some PCR?

I’m so sleepy now.