The final post.

Like I said in the beginning, this blog was for my summer. Although I haven't been very good at updating all the time, I hope it's been somewhat interesting to read. My summer ends tomorrow, it has ended with a week of craploads of research and coursework ='( I thought I would actually talk about what my project was about. During the end of June, Sabah and I embarked on a piece of fieldcourse which lasted 2/5 days of a working week (the other 3 days was classwork). Our initial investigation was on the mounds of a particular meadow ant called Lasius flavus which live in meadows all around Europe. We shaded half of the mounds with egg boxes supported by skewers =P and then we took volume measurements followed by temperature measurements every hour.


Using the results of this and a lot of data analyses, I decided to focus the main discussion on the way that these ants thermoregulate in comparison to other ant species and how their mounds help them succeed in this.

The work was hard, lots of early mornings and long days spent in the field but that's not to say we didn't enjoy it!! We made some friends with the local wildlife:


Another highlight was seeing this very endangered species, The Large Blue (Maculinea arion). Unfortunately, the downside to seeing this was the fact that we have to write up this horrendous hypothesis which I STILL haven't completed!! (The deadline is tomorrow but hey, the day is still young haha). Another downside to this fieldcourse is that the fieldcourse supervisor is just TERRIBLE at providing us with information ¬_¬" and giving us MINIMAL guidance hoping that we can somehow READ HIS MIND *eye roll*.... grrrrrrr....


So yes... that was just a little update of my fieldcourse project. It has been causing me a lot of headache but if I do well in this fieldcourse I will be very very happy! I think I put in a lot of effort into this so... I hope it will pay off!! *fingers crossed*

This is the end of the beginning. Here's to my final year at University, I hope that I will have the most fun this year and that it will be rewarding. It is worth 82% of my final degree, it will be hard, I believe that I can do it if I put my mind to it and also with the support of all my lovely friends =)

I will end this blog with this song: Broken Strings. Last night, I realised that I had this song on repeat for hours. It means a lot to me this song and I really like this duet.

For further blog posts refer to: http://rinnyrin.blogspot.com . If I haven't invited you to read please message me and I will. So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu. Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.... ~_^--Y

Broken strings ft. Nelly Furtado - James Morrison

Let me hold you
For the last time
It's the last chance to feel again
But you broke me
Now I can't feel anything

When I love you
It's so untrue
I can't even convince myself
When I'm speaking
It's the voice of someone else

Oh it tears me up
I tried to hold on but it hurts too much
I tried to forgive but it's not enough
To make it all okay

You can't play our broken strings
You can't feel anything
That your heart don't want to feel
I can't tell you something that ain't real

Oh the truth hurts
And lies worse
I can't like it anymore
And I love you a little less than before

Oh what are we doing
We are turning into dust
Playing house in the ruins of us

Running back through the fire
When there's nothing left to say
It's like chasing the very last train
When it's too late

Oh it tears me up
I tried to hold on but it hurts too much
I tried to forgive but it's not enough
To make it all okay

You can't play our broken strings
You can't feel anything
That your heart don't want to feel
I can't tell you something that ain't real

Oh the truth hurts
And lies worse
I can't like it anymore
And I love you a little less than before

But we're running through the fire
When there's nothing left to say
It's like chasing the very last train
When we both know it's too late

You can't play our broken strings
You can't feel anything
That your heart don't want to feel
I can't tell you something that ain't real

Oh the truth hurts
And lies worse
I can't like it anymore
And I love you a little less than before
Oh and I love you a little less than before

Let me hold you for the last time
It's the last change to feel again

Science as a religion

I was having this really indepth conversation with Max today about how science can be classified as a religion in the future =P It's weird because I've never thought of it like that... I've never ever doubted in my mind that I want to and WILL become a scientist, just that I never really thought of it in that sense... I will carry on this post later (when cwk is finished) because I have lot of interesting things to say...

In other news, I've had the most horrendous and stressful freshers week ever. Right now I am mentally and physically exhausted. I am deflated and I need a hug, for someone to come along and tell me that everything will be alright just so that I can shoot them down and tell them how fucking unfair this report is and how badly it's affecting me .. I think after I write this I will crawl into bed, roll myself up into a ball, surround myself with my fluffies and just sleep like a log.

I feel like crying but even tears take too much energy to generate and to fall. *sigh*. what. a. week.

ARGHHH

*&%)"&%&""$(&*&*($*(

STUPID
F-ING
COURSEWORK
DRIVING
ME
INSANE
CRAZY
MENTAL
STRESS
FAIL
RESEARCH
ANTS
ANTS
ANTS
DON'T
CARE
ABOUT
STUPID
ANTS
AND
THEIR
STUPID
THERMOREGULATORY
HABITS
>=(



*cries*

My final year at University is going to kill me... actually no, first it will reduce me to a blubbering mess and then it will kill me. *sigh* how am I going to survive?! someone throw me a lifeline please...

C'est la vie....

Song of the day: Fish Leong - C'est la vie.

Yes I think it's cheating how she only sings one phrase in French but still, I like this song... I've changed Music<3 - CMB's translation a bit...

I've been too lazy to translate anything lately... I think my grasp of the Chinese language is taking a sharp nose dive down *sigh* why is there not enough time in the world?! It's so hard translating chinese into english, it loses it's beauty somehow... I can't seem to find words in english that does chinese words justice.... hmmmm...

Cest la Vie - Fish Leong 梁静茹

C´est la vie
作词：黄婷　 作曲：易桀齐/伍冠谚
Lyrics: Huang Ting Composer: Yi Jie Qi/ Wu Guan Yan

Ne laisse pas le temps te décevoir
Don´t let the time disappoint you
ll ne peut être conquis
It can´t be conquered
Dans la tristesse dans la douleur
In the sadness in the pain
Aujourd'hui, demain
Today, tomorrow
Au fil du temps Le temps C'est La Vie
As time goes by the time It´s life


Maybe I´ll meet you again, like the lovely way lovers meet again
Look at the moustachioed smile on your face, as candid and frank as always
C'est La Vie C'est La Vie C'est La Vie


Walking the strangeness of a town, I have arrived and dawn's still not aware of the sunrise
all the way the sky´s smiling full of stars has disappeared in the sunrise
C'est La Vie C'est La Vie C'est La Vie

The Seine flows tears from the heart
every shape flown through your smiles (when it goes it won´t return)
I will, in your memories, see myself
see an end... love in the aftermath will be more cherished


We should go in direction of a new journey , goodbye
(we) agreed we won´t stay for each other
Watching in silence through the car´s window.... I won´t cry
C'est La Vie... C'est La Vie... C'est La Vie


The Seine flows tears from the heart
flown through life's ever flowing scenery
wish us each to have a fine future
a fine longing of love; in the sorrow it is more clear...

You are not alone.

I couldn't sleep last night, it must be the new surroundings... This morning my body woke me up at stupid-o'clock again and I forced it to sleep more. Gone are the days when I can sleep until midday and still feel tired... this extra bit of sleep that I imposed upon myself has made me feel more lethargic, life is cruel. I'm taking it slow, I don't think I should though... there's a lot of work still left to be and oh so little time to complete it in =(

This is the song of the day... I think it says a lot about what's going on... even though I'm sleeping and resting, my thoughts never rest.



Another day has gone
I'm still all alone
How could this be
You're not here with me
You never said goodbye
Someone tell me why
Did you have to go
And leave my world so cold

Everyday I sit and ask myself
How did love slip away
Something whispers in my ear and says
That you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you're far away
I am here to stay

But you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we're far apart
You're always in my heart
But you are not alone

'Lone, 'lone
Why, 'lone

Just the other night
I thought I heard you cry
Asking me to come
And hold you in my arms
I can hear your prayers
Your burdens I will bear
But first I need your hand
Then forever can begin

Everyday I sit and ask myself
How did love slip away
Something whispers in my ear and says
That you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you're far away
I am here to stay

For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we're far apart
You're always in my heart
For you are not alone

Whisper three words and I'll come runnin'
And girl you know that I'll be there
I'll be there

You are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you're far away
I am here to stay
For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we're far apart
You're always in my heart

For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you're far away
I am here to stay

For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we're far apart
You're always in my heart

For you are not alone...

Through the monsoon....

.... just me and you. *sigh* I think I've reached breaking point now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6n0h7Xrw-8

Tokio Hotel - Durch den Monsun

I'm staring at a broken door
There's nothing left here anymore
My room is cold, it's making me insane

I've been waitin' here so long
Another moment seems to have come
I see the dark clouds comin' up again

Running through the monsoon
Beyond the world 'til the end of time
Where the rain won't hurt
Fighting the storm into the blue

And when I lose myself I think of you
Together we'll be running somewhere new
Through the monsoon just me and you

A half moon fading from my sight
I see your vision in it's light
But now it's gone and left me so alone

I'll know I have to find you now
Can hear you name and don't know how
Why can't we make this darkness feel like home?

Running through the monsoon
Beyond the world 'til the end of time
Where the rain won't hurt
Fighting the storm into the blue

And when I lose myself I think of you
Together we'll be running somewhere new
And nothing can hold me back from you
Through the monsoon, hey, hey

I'm fighting all this power coming in my way
Let it take me straight to you
I've been running night and day

I'll be with you soon just me and you
We'll be there soon, so soon

Running through the monsoon
Beyond the world 'til the end of time
Where the rain won't hurt
Fighting the storm into the blue

And when I lose myself I think of you
Together we'll be running somewhere new
And nothing can hold me back from you
Through the monsoon

Through the monsoon
Just me and you
Through the monsoon
Just me and you

The worst of the British.....

I think if there was a degree in procrastination then I'd be top of the class. *sigh* This is ridiculous. I haven't revised all week and I'm just at my wit's end about how/where to start all this revision. I ended up just half-heartedly sifting through the papers and hoping that inspiration would come to me and I would snap out of my lazy mood. I feel like just screaming "THIS IS YOUR FUTURE, DO NOT THROW IT AWAY LIKE THIS!" but nothing seems to be working. My mind is seriously preoccupied and I'm not sure what with.... crap as always I would suspect. Pah. I've learnt endless 'new' words which I think if I had studied English properly I would have known. My knowledge of vocabulary is extremely poor but this hasn't really been of a disadvantage to me until I actually found out that I would FAIL 2/3 of my exam if I didn't improve. I think in the long run I will try to improve gradually but in the case of my up and coming exam, it is too little too late. On a side note, why the fuck do we have to take an AUSTRALIAN based knowledge exam?!?! I think the aussies are out to get us.... they just want to prove that us British are stupid and ignorant. Or both.

Song of the day is by JJ Lin. I was obsessed with this song waaaaaaaaaay back in the days when guys and relationships did not take up even a slight proportion of my wandering thoughts which kind of begs the question why on earth was I addicted to this song so much?! anyway, here it is, many of you might've heard it before. What kinda throws me is the fact that there are 3 languages in this song....




사랑해요 只对你说 | Sarang Heyo Only Said to You

It's so long baby. So many hours, so many days.

我心里的这句话，还是想对你说 사랑해요
wo xin li de zhe ju hua, hai shi xiang dui ni shou, sarang heyo
I still want to tell you the words in my heart. Sarang Heyo
FYI: Sarang Heyo means "I love you" in Korean

站在寂寞的舞台上
zhan zai ji mo de wu tai shang
Standing alone on the stage

灯光下拖着自己的影子
deng guang xia tuo zhe zi ji de ying zi
My shadow is casted by the spotlight

音乐重复我们共同的忧伤
ying yue chong fu wo men gong tong de you shang
Our common grief is represented by music

不是每一次的演唱
bu shi mei yi chi de yan chang
It's not everytime that I sing

就可以淡忘明天没有你
jiu ke yi dan wang ming tian mei you ni
Will make me forget that you won't be with me tomorrow

In my heart we’ll never be apart

残留手上的香味提醒我
can liu shou shang de mei wei ti xing wo
The fragrance that you left behind in my hands reminded me

在数位相机里留下的承诺
zai shu wei xiang ji li liu xia de cheng nuo
The promises left behind in the digital camera

每一封简讯传出的思念 都对你说
mei yi feng jian xun chuan chu de si nian dou dui ni shou
Every message that is being sent is telling you

사랑해요 means “I love you”
sarang heyo means I love you

代表着我离不开你
dia biao zhe wo li bu kai ni
Represents that I can't leave you

每分每秒每一个声音
mei fen mei miao mei yi ge sheng ying
Every second, every minute, every sound

只有你撒娇会让我微笑
zhi you ni sa jiao hui rang wo wei xiao
I can only smile when you behave like a little (spoiled) child

사랑해요 只对你说
sarang heyo zhi dui ni suo
Sarang Heyo, only said to you

I will love you, and forevermore

我答应, baby you will see
wo da ying baby you will see
I promise you, baby you will see

每一个我都属于你
mei yi ge wo dou shu yu ni
Every part of me belongs to you

Crazier

I don't know what to say today. I don't know what to think. I don't know how to behave, how to live, how to function, and just.... what is wrong with me?




I'd never gone with the wind
Just let it flow
let it take me where it wants to go
till you open the door theres so much more
i never seen it before
i was trying to fly
but i couldn't find wings
but you came along and you changed everything

you lift my feet off the ground you spin me around
you make me crazier crazier
feels like im falling
and i'm lost in your eyes
you make me crazier crazier crazier

i watched from a distance as you made life your own
every sky was your own kind of blue
and i wanted to know how that would feel
and you made it so real
you showed me something that i couldn't see
you opened my eyes and you made me believe

you lift my feet off the ground you spin me around
you make me crazier crazier
feels like i'm falling
and i'm lost in your eyes
you make me crazier crazier crazier

Baby you showed me what living is for
i don't want to hide anymore

you lift my feet off the ground you spin me around
you make me crazier crazier
feels like im falling
and i'm lost in your eyes
you make me crazier crazier crazier
crazier crazier

Coldplay - Fix you

I'm rather cold, shivering in my room at the moment and this song came to my mind. It's beautiful and so bitterly sad at the same time.



When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home,
And ignite your bones,
And I will try to fix you,

High up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Isn't it funny

How something that once meant so much doesn't seem to mean anything anymore?
I'm back in London now after the end of the rats. I think that work experience was one of the best things that I've done in my life... PhD is definitely in my mind now but medicine is definitely first first first!

UKCAT is looming, it feels like doomsday is just around the corner.

I feel a bit funny right now, maybe because it's like the end of an era *cry cry*....

Sorry i'm talking crap right now.

Over and out.

I heart Taylor Swift S2S2S2

Horticulturist in the house

Oh yea, this is going to be a short and sweet post. MY PEAS HAVE GROOOOOOOOOWN! I got so excited when I saw a pea =P I think I'll be a professional farmer now thank you very much =]

some of my crops =) carrots, cress, flowers, peas and some salad ^^

the peas have started growing!!!

on a different note i went to the Banksy exhibition today and waited in the queue for 3.5hours, it was most definitely worth it! =D i'll put my fave ones up here soon, the rest are on Facebook =)

Chinese soup

I was thinking that I need to cut down on my intake of what I like to call 'Kevin food'. As some of you know, my little brother's diet is made up of entire JUNK and crap that the body subsequently turns into more crap.... So tonight I thought I'd go a bit healthy.

Sifting through my freezer I found some lamb neck which I assumed was still edible (1/2 year is still alright right?)... and defrosted it under a cold tap (we are still microwave less *sob sob cry* - yes I am so very dependent on modern technology and yet unable to keep up with current technological advances)... Now this may look very plain, simple and boring but believe me, it's bursting with flavour and you are going to wish you had some after reading this =P

You start by boiling up some roughly chopped lamb in salted water. Fry up some ginger (very important!) and some onions and other vegetables (I chose carrots as those are the only vegetables I have left in my fridge). Once the lamb is boiling skim off the crap that floats to the top and add your stir fried vegetables. Add other non fried vegetables, I added chinese leaf, choi sum, wintermelon and soft tofu (note: different vegetables cook at different speeds eg. Tofu goes in the very last minute and only needs a gentle boil to 'cook'). Season with salt and sugar (yes, that's it!). In the meantime boil up some noodles, whatever tickles your fancy and place nearly boiled noodles in a serving bowl, the heat from the soup will finish off cooking the noodles to perfection. Scoop in the soup and veges and serve with a sprinkle of roughly chopped spring onions. Simple non? ^_^Y The gentle flavours will come from your selection of meat and vegetables (and the fresh ginger + spring onion), this light soup is perfect for a quick and nutritious meal any time of day! =]



Ps. My mum normally just makes the soup and we'll have it as an accompaniment with the rest of the meal which will consist of a lot of other vegetables but this is the easy studenty all-in-one 'recipe'. This is the way I cook it, the way I like it, but it will be different wherever you go etc etc etc...

Bristol Harbour Festival

Last weekend was the Bristol harbour Festival. When my flatmate told me on Saturday that she bought some "good cheese" there I thought it would just be some random old market which happened to sell some "good cheese". So, seeing as I was meeting a friend on the Sunday we thought we'd head over and not expect much. To my surprise it was bustling with lots and lots of people, many a stores and fun activities! =) For lunch we had the Thai salad that I was mentioning before (but this time I forgot to take the seeds out and nearly choked to death.... homemade sushi probably what I like to make most for dinner parties as everyone likes it and it's rather easy and cheap to make hehe:


We also had some very yummy spinach lasagne and cheesecake with no eggs, surprisingly delicious!

lots and lots of people!

We found a free science showing there too and thought being scientists plus token lawyer/compsci dude we should check it out! To our surprise we were rather stunned by the experiments that he carried out including nearly stopping my heart when he burst a balloon full of Hydrogen =P Did you know that you can fry an egg using a cradle made up of newspapers on a burning flame? hehe! These people were actually from the BBC, a programme called: Bang goes the theory, check it out if you have time. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ly58z/Bang_Goes_the_Theory_Series_1_Episode_1/

*BANG!*

On a complete separate note, look at this little cutie =) My Bonnie was digging around in the gravel and a bit landed on her back =P also, spot the other frog! hehe =]


Hope y'all enjoying the sun that was bound to come out eventually ;)

Fish sauce smell much?

I attempted my first Thai style salad today with the all important fish sauce. So, I had a bit of this stuff stashed at the back of the cupboard or rather in one of many identical looking cardboard boxes and was inspired by Rick Stein's adventures in the far east: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lyfqf/hd/Rick_Steins_Far_Eastern_Odyssey_Episode_3/. So I decided to grab the bottle and start the making. The result was surprisingly nice to my very asian palate but I don't know how it will be to another so I shall have to try it out tomorrow on some western palates =P

The picture is not very good but this 'dish' is very easy and since I didn't have many ingredients this is a Thai salad a la Rinny hehe!


Salad ingredients: Cucumber finely chopped, carrots grated, chinese leaf, 1 spring onion finely sliced and a large handful of small ready to eat prawns.
Salad dressing: 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 1/2 red chilli chopped finely, 1/2 lemon (or lime) juice squeezed, 1 garlic clove crushed then finely chopped, 2 tablespoons water, 1 tablespoon sugar.

It's amazing how such little ingredients can make such a delicious dish!

You can tweak this ofcourse! Try adding: finely sliced shallots, shredded green mango, basil, kafir lime leaves =]

On a different note, I dissected 6 rats today and my lab partner tried to dissect a rat brain but ended up decapitating the poor rat and accidentally cutting a chunk of brain out! She also dropped rat gut onto her jeans, lovely (!). All in a days work ^_^Y

Drawing Pins

I got a drawing pin stuck in my shoe whilst clearing out the last of the rubbish at my old flat. It reminded me of back in the days when girls thought it was cool to stick drawing pins into ugly black school shoes to seem 'cool'. I was one of them.

I've had a horrendously long day at work, good thing I've finalised my temporarily home move into a friends. =P

The Start

This morning we collected tens of thousands of nematode worms and infected 48 rats with approximately 500 worms each =O the squealing was a little bit upsetting but the good thing is, the infection won't kill the rats.... we will ='( apparantely we kill them either by CO poisioning (or was it CO2...?), injecting them with a mild anesthetic or other mean ways.... the quickest way according to the professor is actually a quick break of the neck but I think I would never be able to do that, the poor mites.

So today was D-day =P 5 days on, the infections will take place and we will start culturing their poopies, we do 4 kills of 12 rats spread out during the month to dissect their guts *eek* and fingers crossed we will have some nice graphs at the end of this month! I'm rather excited at starting the experiment after 2 weeks of 'training'!!

Mum's coming tomorrow and I have a few days off work so I can actually have some fun and eat some proper food! Lots on this weekend! I have a first aid training day in Cardiff on Saturday and on Sunday I'm officially moving house-ish and will finally have internet back, here's to hoping.... but until then I'm off to a friend's birthday party tonight and am going to be very very sad and go home now to eat and play feeding frenzy 2!!!! w00t! oh aren't I just the most awesomest? ^_~Y

Not enough time

There is just not enough time in the world. I was making a list of all the things that I have to accomplish in what seems like too little time. I have 2 exams looming on the horizon with minimal revision being done for them and also some coursework which I said would be started 34 minutes ago exactly. Normally I'm ok with courseworks but unfortunately this one which is worth a good 6% of my degree I have no idea where to start with; I don't think it helps that our experiment went disastrously wrong.

On a different note, I'm still ill... I sincerely hope that I have not somehow contracted swine flu in my days of travel but we're all inevitably going to get it right? Have no fear, 'stiff upper lip' as I like to say. I'm going to spend the rest of my sunday slavishly hacking away at "work" whilst farming and stealing crops on Facebook (oh how I'm painting a brilliant picture of myself on here....) and so I shall leave it at that.

Note to self: try not to make the world think you're a crazy person.

I tried to make myself better by eating healthily yesterday and supplementing it with a good 'ol swig of chinese hebal medicine (because obviously that's what's going to make me better...).... for breakfast (YES BREAKFAST- I hardly ever have breakfast but i thought it would be a first after 14.5 hours of snoozing) I managed to somehow poach 2 eggs and sat them on a beautiful bed of lambs lettuce with a wholemeal bap hmmmmmm!! I found some awesome mackerel fillets to defrost and happily made lunch with that but kinda gave up on dinner and went for the ever so easy studently meal of instant noodles *sigh* I was doing so well....

I tried to make porridge this morning but my lactose intolerance nearly killed my bowel and have subsequently not eaten anything since *palm on forehead*.

I don't think I realised just how salty the fish was....

Don't you even try to deny it, everybody loves instant noodles.

It was healthy.... til i doused it in sugar, honey and a truckload of jam.

'Un'eventful summer

I think it's about time I started another blogger just so that people who I may know or may not know can have a little insight into the life of me ... for this summer anyway =P My summer holidays are not really holiday per say, the fact that I have to work monday-friday 9-5pm (ok that's an over exaggeration, maybe it's more 10-4.30pm with a 3 hour break in the middle =P) is a kind of killjoy in the season of holidaying and fun.... oh well, this is what one has to do to get to half of where they want to get to.

A little about me? Just finished my 2nd year studying the joyous degree of Biology and currently I am doing research on lab mice (albino ones with red eyes) and parasitic nematode worms that inhabit them (or rather ones that we inject into them). Most of my day is collecting and counting worms in the their poo and trying very hard (and most of the time failing) to identify males from females.... I am also studying for 2 exams that are needed for graduate medicine and also trying furiously to finish (or start) my hardcore coursework which I should've finished about 2 weeks ago.

Here I will update every day with my rants (maybe about rats) and maybe a few food posts as I am rather in love with food, living to eat =)

I don't expect anyone to actually read this but it's here because I don't really want to spam my actual 'thoughtful' blog with random thoughts that I have running around my head.