Confessions of a Percussionist - Part 2

Okay. Time for the much un-awaited second part. In the last post, I talked about the social aspect of being in a percussion ensemble, a concept that was not-so-familiar to me. This time, I'll talk about the not-so-pretty stuff of culture shock, namely the second stage: Disintegration. Disintegration...

Confessions of an Amateur Percussionist - Part 1

"Music has always been a big part of my life". A very common phrase, and one that's starting to sound a bit corny if you think about it. There are so many flaws to this generalised statement, and yet some of us just can't stop ourselves from saying it. Because such a broad and overarching statement...

My Life as an Imposter

I work in a lab. Let me change that sentence a bit. I 'work' in a lab. But I guess a better way of putting it would be 'volunteer'. I volunteer in a lab. Yes, that sounds better. In the winter break, I was fortunate enough to earn a golden opportunity to help out in the Whiteley lab at UWA. The...

Day 7: At Week's End

Here it is! The final entry to my second OVA: Sieban Chronicles. I've already mentioned the name of this little OVA series. And if you've read the spoilers, it meant "seven" in German. Sieben doesn't look very cool, but I can assure you, it sounds cooler. For those of you who've never taken basic...

Day 6: To Go Your Way

*WARNING: I am not an expert in what I will be talking about. Do not take this as gospel (unintentional pun). Coming to Australia has made me realise that Christianity can be seen as a dying religion. Back in Malaysia, the spread of the gospel is becoming stronger, which is always a good thing...

Day 5: Bye Bye Wongan Hills

Going up to Wongan Hills wasn't just a complete break for me. We still had to work, y'know. More specifically, we were showing kids how great science is. We had them extract DNA from simple strawberries, which were visible and touchable. In the end, I even gave a couple of presentations to the school. It...

Day 4: Of Digging and Extracting

MicroBlitz is a citizen-science project. I'm not sure if I've said this before (but I'll say it again anyway), but citizen science is where ordinary people (even those without a degree, such as kids) help collect information for scientists. This can be a cost-effective method of acquiring data;...