Birthday

Officially 26. Invited GD, CCL, Gwen, Elaine and Alex over to my house for steamboat on Saturday. Didn't take any pictures as none brought camera. The camera at home is missing. So sadly, no pictures taken. I really would love to have pictures taken of everyone and the fabulous steamboat we had.

Went for high tea buffet at Swissotel Merchant Court Ellenborough Market Café with my mum, sisters and my youngest sister's boyfriend. The food's worth the price, which is $22.90++ per person. Will upload the pictures soon.

For my actual birthday today, I can't take leave as the antibody group was arranged on this day. I was busy for the entire day, raising PO, refilling liquid nitrogen and sending emails. In the afternoon, went for lunch with the Antibody group at Imperial Herbal Restaurant. The food's not too bad, but the price is a bit steep in my own opinion.

Had the meeting from 2.30pm until 8.15pm. Not the most ideal timing to knock off on birthday. By the time I reached home, it's already 9.15pm. Too demoralized by this. Moreover, I had a chat with my Lab Head today. I think he knew of my plan to forgo the DSO Scholarship and go study on my own. So he talked to me today about staying positive and not let the promotion affect me too much. He kept encouraging me to go for the scholarship. My supervisor told me that my Lab Head has already planned for me to complete my Honors back at DSO using the Biacore and he will be my supervisor for the project. My supervisor even said that my Lab Head has got plans for me to continue my Masters using the Biacore. I'm really appreciative for holding such high expectations of me, but I am not confident on the higher management of DSO.

Seriously, I really would love to continue with the scholarship and complete my Honors doing Biacore work. Since I am already familiar with the system, might as well make full use of it to complete the Honors project. To be able to complete Masters is even better. Maybe I'm thinking too far, but it will be good if I can really complete my Masters. Like I told my Lab Head, DSO Scholarship is not really that good for Bachelor. They will only pay for the tuition fees and give you S$8000 per year, regardless of local or overseas studies. So if I do take it up, I will still have to fork out my own cash because S$8000 is barely sufficient for food. Chats with friends who studied in Australia will tell you that you need at least S$12000-S$15000 a year for food, transportation, clothes, accommodation etc.

He was surprised that the Bachelor Scholarship doesn't give an ample amount. He told me to check it up and let him know as he said that upper management want to retain their staff as much as possible. If the Bachelor Scholarship is such, it is not encouraging staff to stay.

I'm not sure. Thinking about my future when I am so busy with work just adds to my fatigue. I am going to take the March Malaysia trip to unwind and seriously think about my future.

Anyway, it is going to be 5 minutes before my birthday is over. So hereby wishing myself all the best in all that I do, stay happy as much as possible, quickly go for my studies and hopefully, find a girlfriend who can understand me. Happy Birthday to Myself!