Kind of unusual for me to be blogging in the middle of the day, but it's not an ordinary day today. i'm in macau! that was the overseas trip i very briefly mentioned a few posts ago. my professor wasn't too happy about it, but that's because he thinks i'm going on a holiday...which is not exactly the case. i'm actually here for refereeing! got an invitation to come for the JUA junior championships, and i figured that it's a very good chance to get to know the big guys in the refereeing scene. besides, food and accommodation is provided, all i had to pay for was the airfare, and whatever personal expenses i might incur. quite a good deal, i think.
it's currently day 1 out of 5, and so far, we've checked into the hotel, and explored the surroundings a little. we're staying in this place called the hotel royal, and i'm bunking with the coach. not bad...i'd guess it's rated at about 4 stars. the room is pretty comfortable, nice bed, quite a panoramic view (we're on the 14th storey), good bathroom facilities, and most importantly, free wi-fi and wired internet connections! the room is set up in such a way that the LAN port is close to the window, so much so that i can (and am) blog(ging) while seated on the window ledge.
as for macau, it's my first time here. so far, i kind of like the place. there's a certain rustic charm to it. almost reminds me of marine parade...old HDB-like housing among quite a lot of low-rise buildings. not for the first time in my life, i found myself wishing that i was able to speak cantonese. i mean, they understand chinese, but somehow you feel closer to them when using cantonese as a medium of communication. i'd imagine the same goes for hong kong. i can sort of get the general idea when listening to some conversations, but when they speak fast, or use words which don't sound that close to the chinese equivalents, i get horribly lost.
i've got to admit, it's a welcome break from singapore. sure, the weather's still hot, and it rained a little just now, making it kind of humid, but at least there is a comfortable (and more importantly, air-conditioned) hotel room to where i can escape. sidetrack: might be because we didn't really take many overseas trips when i was a kid, but i'm somehow kind of fascinated by hotel keycards. anyway. hopefully this little break will allow me to recharge somewhat and get me energized for lab work. goodness knows i need it, because once i get back, there will be 10 reactions waiting for work-up and column. but let's not think about that now.
over the past 9 or so blog-less days, there's been a(nother) safety check, and i screwed up a whole set of reactions. definitely, more stuff happened, but those 2 kind of stand out in my mind...maybe because they're the most negative. those safety people really love pulling stunts. they email us, saying that they want to check one of our two labs. then on the day itself, they go, "by the way, let's see your other lab as well". it's...cheating, for lack of a better word. but well, we can't exactly refuse, can we? and as for screwing up the reactions, i guess it's my fault for not thinking through the role of each reagent. so what happened was that a particular reagent is supposed to promote the racemic reaction. and without thinking, i added it to the chiral version of the reaction, and not surprisingly, got 0% ee. got chewed out by my professor for that idiotic error. so i re-set some reactions, and got some ee. so those 10 reactions which i set up before leaving are for solvent and concentration screening. hopefully some good results await me when i get back.
prior to this, the last time i was out of the country was for my grad trips, slightly more than a year ago. so this trip helps to fulfill my "at least one overseas trip per year" quota. not having flown for a year, it took some getting used to again. thankfully, it was a short flight. i was hoping to catch a power nap on the plane, since i stayed up all night in lab and went directly to the airport from school. managed to nap for a bit...though i got awoken intermittently by the pressure imbalance in my ears. somehow, i think flying is the best method of ear-cleaning, at least for me. as the plane ascends, i find that whatever stuff that has been accumulating in my ears gets pushed out. not sure why, but i bet there's a perfectly scientific explanation for it. just wish i knew how exactly it works.
like i said earlier, more than half of day 1 is over. what's left for us today is collecting our athlete/coach/referee passes, dinner, then a night walk and/or a chem tuition session. these kids are missing school, after all, and a few of them sounded enthusiastic when i kind of mentioned that i'd be willing to help. major events for day 2 are the referees' meeting and subsequent welcome dinner. days 3 and 4 are the competition, so i'm not sure how much R&R can be done on those 2 days. the last day is basically packing and departure, so i've got to get my souvenirs either tonight or tomorrow morning. which kind of reminds me. i still don't know what to buy. bugger. well, the coach used to be a tour guide specializing in japan, so i'm sure he's very knowledgeable about the art of giving omiyage. will have to consult him for tips. meanwhile, i think i'll go rot on the bed, and maybe try to fit a short power nap in...or maybe not. given my current fatigue levels, plus the nice comfortable hotel bed, plus the nice cold air-con, i think i'm in for a REALLY nice sleep tonight.
it's currently day 1 out of 5, and so far, we've checked into the hotel, and explored the surroundings a little. we're staying in this place called the hotel royal, and i'm bunking with the coach. not bad...i'd guess it's rated at about 4 stars. the room is pretty comfortable, nice bed, quite a panoramic view (we're on the 14th storey), good bathroom facilities, and most importantly, free wi-fi and wired internet connections! the room is set up in such a way that the LAN port is close to the window, so much so that i can (and am) blog(ging) while seated on the window ledge.
as for macau, it's my first time here. so far, i kind of like the place. there's a certain rustic charm to it. almost reminds me of marine parade...old HDB-like housing among quite a lot of low-rise buildings. not for the first time in my life, i found myself wishing that i was able to speak cantonese. i mean, they understand chinese, but somehow you feel closer to them when using cantonese as a medium of communication. i'd imagine the same goes for hong kong. i can sort of get the general idea when listening to some conversations, but when they speak fast, or use words which don't sound that close to the chinese equivalents, i get horribly lost.
i've got to admit, it's a welcome break from singapore. sure, the weather's still hot, and it rained a little just now, making it kind of humid, but at least there is a comfortable (and more importantly, air-conditioned) hotel room to where i can escape. sidetrack: might be because we didn't really take many overseas trips when i was a kid, but i'm somehow kind of fascinated by hotel keycards. anyway. hopefully this little break will allow me to recharge somewhat and get me energized for lab work. goodness knows i need it, because once i get back, there will be 10 reactions waiting for work-up and column. but let's not think about that now.
over the past 9 or so blog-less days, there's been a(nother) safety check, and i screwed up a whole set of reactions. definitely, more stuff happened, but those 2 kind of stand out in my mind...maybe because they're the most negative. those safety people really love pulling stunts. they email us, saying that they want to check one of our two labs. then on the day itself, they go, "by the way, let's see your other lab as well". it's...cheating, for lack of a better word. but well, we can't exactly refuse, can we? and as for screwing up the reactions, i guess it's my fault for not thinking through the role of each reagent. so what happened was that a particular reagent is supposed to promote the racemic reaction. and without thinking, i added it to the chiral version of the reaction, and not surprisingly, got 0% ee. got chewed out by my professor for that idiotic error. so i re-set some reactions, and got some ee. so those 10 reactions which i set up before leaving are for solvent and concentration screening. hopefully some good results await me when i get back.
prior to this, the last time i was out of the country was for my grad trips, slightly more than a year ago. so this trip helps to fulfill my "at least one overseas trip per year" quota. not having flown for a year, it took some getting used to again. thankfully, it was a short flight. i was hoping to catch a power nap on the plane, since i stayed up all night in lab and went directly to the airport from school. managed to nap for a bit...though i got awoken intermittently by the pressure imbalance in my ears. somehow, i think flying is the best method of ear-cleaning, at least for me. as the plane ascends, i find that whatever stuff that has been accumulating in my ears gets pushed out. not sure why, but i bet there's a perfectly scientific explanation for it. just wish i knew how exactly it works.
like i said earlier, more than half of day 1 is over. what's left for us today is collecting our athlete/coach/referee passes, dinner, then a night walk and/or a chem tuition session. these kids are missing school, after all, and a few of them sounded enthusiastic when i kind of mentioned that i'd be willing to help. major events for day 2 are the referees' meeting and subsequent welcome dinner. days 3 and 4 are the competition, so i'm not sure how much R&R can be done on those 2 days. the last day is basically packing and departure, so i've got to get my souvenirs either tonight or tomorrow morning. which kind of reminds me. i still don't know what to buy. bugger. well, the coach used to be a tour guide specializing in japan, so i'm sure he's very knowledgeable about the art of giving omiyage. will have to consult him for tips. meanwhile, i think i'll go rot on the bed, and maybe try to fit a short power nap in...or maybe not. given my current fatigue levels, plus the nice comfortable hotel bed, plus the nice cold air-con, i think i'm in for a REALLY nice sleep tonight.
-random thought of the day: No time zone difference between Macau and Singapore.-
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