~Dedicated to Ju ~
The week's not even over yet, and I've already got stuff to write about! Also the title is in reference to a conversation I had with Ju today about how she never reads my blog (at least, this one) and that I never post anything.
Here's to you, Ju
Also, I just realised it's been an exact week since I last posted. CONSISTENCY HECKY YEAH Anyway, I got more things to observe this week at the lab. I went in to hand in my indemnity form that was emailed to me. At first I wanted to give it to my parents to fill in because there were those option thingies that say my child/ward, until I looked in the corner. It read that parents fill it in if the child is less than 18. So I filled it in myself since I'm a no longer a child. Even after filling in the form though, I'm still not allowed card access, which doesn't seem like that much of an inconvenience, since I can message either the lab technician or the lady I'm shadowing. Problem is, is that the lab itself doesn't really have wifi or 4G. And they can't touch their phones when doing work either, because contamination and all that.
After handing in my form, I wasn't really planning on doing anything, but the lady I'm shadowing (let's call her Lab Lady, and the lab tech lab tech lol) gave me the Hallmarks of Cancer to read, so that I know what it is that she's doing and what the research on cancer is mostly about. I spent the three, four hours there reading through the whole thing - and that might sound like a bad thing, but it isn't really (I felt rather proud of myself for finishing it lol). [Skip the next five paragraphs if you don't want to read about the science I've learned lol]
Basically it's about the six (now possibly eight) characteristics of cancer, and the two underlying reasons for these characteristics. Basically if a cancer cell can continue signaling other cells to proliferate, avoid growth suppressors (proteins from tumour suppressing genes), resist death, can replicate for forever, enable creation of blood vessels in the tumour (angiogenesis), and invade and spread, it's cancer. Research has shown that another two possible characteristics is that it can reprogram its energy metabolism (instead of going though oxidative phosphorylation it works solely on glycolysis), and evade destruction by the immune system (it can even use the leukocytes for its own means) which are pretty astounding and unthought of.
At least according to my knowledge and what we're exposed to, we're taught that cancer are cells that have undergone gene mutation in either the tumour suppressor genes or oncogenes. That may be the reason for it being able to happen, but the maintenance and growth of tumours is much more than that. Like there's this thing when cells digest their own organelles in an effort to conserve energy when starved of resources. That seems like it means the cells will eat themselves, but in reality, it could be just what they need to continue living, even if dormant, so once resources can sustain them again, they're active - which is probably why people's cancer can recur. And it's not just about the tumour or cancer cells, it's also about the tumour microenvironment. Even though cancer can spread to elsewhere in the body, the new place doesn't have the same kind of tumour environment the cell had to proliferate in, so theoretically the cancer could be gotten rid off then. I should probably read through all of the Hallmarks of Cancer though, so things stay better in my mind.
Anyway, Lab Lady told me that she was gonna start on real time PCR this week, and that I could observe her when she does it, so I went today to see her extract RNA. At least this was pretty new to me, even if we've - very crudely - extracted DNA in school before. Basically, you lysate the cells so that all the membranes and stuff break down, and centrifuge it many times, (three times with two separate wash buffers, once with nothing to dry the column inside the spin tube) and wash out with a special water that is specifically free of any enzyme that breaks down RNA (centrifuge again) so that all the RNA (like all of them, not just the mRNA) are flushed out into the collecting tube. It's repetitive work, but you have to be careful with each run because it's time consuming and you want pure RNA lol After that you can measure the concentration of RNA in some fancy machine that uses UV spectroscopy.
There's an alternative way, that uses Trizol, just that it forms three layers in the tube: RNA on top, a small layer of DNA in between, and everything else at the bottom. That's not particularly easy either, because if you accidentally have some DNA while you do PCR, you don goofed 'cos you want the DNA that coded the mRNA, so having unnecessary DNA is like contamination.
They want cDNA (DNA reversely transcribed from mRNA) because if they use PCR on it, mRNA will break down really easily, so the amplification process will mess up with short chains of DNA that don't mean much, but DNA is more stable when heated. But I think for now, what she needs is whole chains of DNA from the mRNA strands, so she just does this once using the real-time PCR machine. I can't remember if she said I can come down that day, but we'll see. That ends the biology lesson for today lol
Okay, onto more life-stuff. I think the day before yesterday, my mum bought some clothes for Chinese New Year (even if I said I didn't need any since I've been shopping for clothes quite frequently with my mum and I'm like so much money has beens spent mother pls st op). There were some that I liked, so she was gonna exchange them for better sizes. Then she thought it would be better if I went down with her so I can try on the sizes myself, so I was like, sure. And I did, I went down to the store in downtown on my own, and met her there - but I forgot the bring the original clothes with me. Not all is lost, though! She said she can bring them down on Friday instead since the pants she ordered (or something, idk) were only ready on Friday anyway. So I tried on some stuff, we got them reserved, and went window shopping for a little too.
Honestly, I really like dresses. Like, I liked skirts for awhile, but dresses are easier in the sense that you don't have to match them with anything. And not all skirts are nice with every shirt omg the pain of having only one nice shirt with one skirt. I have like four pairs of black shoes now, so I can wear literally anything with them. And I really like dark-coloured dresses. Like, I always look at the black ones, and my mum is like, "no more black dresses" but JOKES ON YOU MOM, I ONLY HAVE ONE, AND THAT'S THE FORMAL ONE THAT I DON'T WEAR OFTEN ENOUGH! The other one is just a navy blue one, like come on bruh. *chanting* black dresses black dresses balack dresses black drdss BLARC DRDDES BLACK DRESERS BLAK DRE-- There was one dark blue dress that was really nice when I wore it, but the quality was kinda bad for its price. The downside to female clothing is price. It was $168.
Anyway, after we were done shopping, we went back by train (because my mum has been taking public transport to work since the downtown line has been up), and we stopped by the petrol station to buy milk. She messaged my dad, telling him to do so, but because he didn't reply, she assumed he didn't. Until, we saw his car at the station!! I don't know what got into my mum, but she tried opening the car door (it was unlocked, dad so daring) and we snuck inside. She tried to lie down flat in the back seat so he wouldn't see her, and I was surprised that my dad didn't bother checking. When he sat down and looked behind, he audibly was shocked and omg his reaction made my day. This whole incident was a surprise to me, because it's so rare seeing parents like this, especially since my dad is pretty serious. (I hope I can be like this one day ;w;)
Oh yeah, also I've been going to Clementi a lot, since that's like the next closest place to go after lab. I've been going to there to buy craft supplies, and I don't know if I should get a membership card. Technically I've only gone there "regularly" twice, to buy crepe and tissue paper and floral wire, so maybe I' should seriously get a card if I go a third time. And I've only done with four out of the twelve flowers from the bouquet Coach ordered, and I need to hurry up if I want to finish before Valentine's day. Not just because that's what he's getting it for, but because I'm getting braces done some time around then, so I should do it while I'm still functioning and not inebriated lol
All that aside though, today had some real drama: once when I was leaving the lab, and the other when I went shopping.
Since the lab is in NUS, I walk past NUH to get to the MRT station, and I walked past what seemed to be a verbal argument. This middle aged man was shouting, furious at an ambulance driver, what about, I don't know. At some point the driver shouted back, "WHO AM I? I AM A NOBODY" (if I remember correctly), so I thought that it was either a personal matter, or a petty one. Then the middle aged man was distraught, saying he was told to specifically pick up his handicapped wife "here", referring to what I think is the ambulance bay, since well, there was an ambulance there. So I guess what went down was that in his panicky state, he was told to pick up his wife at the drop-off/pick-up point, where the taxis usually are, but he went to the wrong bay? I can't really make much of a judgment, because I only happened to walk in on it, just as it got serious, and I didn't see what caused it.
It was so surreal at first, because all I heard first were raised voices, and seeing the scene was as though I was watching some TV drama, and that the personal question might have been between a father and son experiencing a strained relationship. Anyway, a lady who had asked me for directions to the station, went up to the middle aged man telling him not to shout, because you know, hospital, but I don't think she managed to do anything. I didn't stay to watch what happened next though, I'm not good with raised voices.
I headed to Jurong East and Clementi to find a present for Bei's birthday which is/was some time this month. Although the whole thing leading up to the gift-buying was more of a suggestion from me to Daryl about something entirely different, but since he couldn't do it himself, (being in NS already and having no free time to go shopping) I offered to do it for him. That was when the second drama of the day happened, as I looked around at Clementi mall.
I was typing it halfway, but then I was wondering if I'm allowed to talk about what happened. It's not that serious, considering the person involved is still quite young and probably isn't entirely aware of what they had done and the consequence of it, but I don't think it's a matter to be shared publicly. The middle aged man thing is separate, because he knew better.
Also, it rained - real bad. I waited at the station outside my place, and I was really concerned about the stuff I bought getting wet. Good thing though, was that I had a ziploc bag with my old school lab coat, which I had brought along the previous trip to the lab because you always need a lab coat! (Apparently, even that I'm not allowed to, because the lab coats they have are washed internally in the university, so that whatever was cultured in the lab doesn't go outside, even if it's molecular biological work.) So, I kept my phone and wallet in there, and kept everything else under the ziploc bag.
When I left the station, it was a faint, but still consistent drizzle, and it was pretty tolerable, apart from the cars rushing through puddles that pooled at the curb, that's annoying omg Possibly due to the lack of better judgment, I went the wrong way. Not as in being lost, I went the wrong way for my shoes and legs. There's like a little inner road that runs parallel to the main road, in between the two bus stops, for the row of bungalows that are built there, and what I didn't know, was that it sloped down slightly. And there were huge puddles of water on the sidewalk too. And it just so happened that when I reached it, it got heavier. So, I had to either sacrifice my feet through puddles of water, or water that flowed down the road and into my shoes. And because there are huge trees there too, walking under them is like being bombarded by fat raindrops that has been collecting on the leaves. By the time I got through that stretch of road, I felt like I was literally walking in puddles all the way home, because somehow my shoes weren't bad at collecting water. And then it got lighter, which is nice because it made things easier, but makes me feel so cheated because I just so happened to go through a small stretch of road at the worst time.
I could have been cheated even more. It could have been like that time I was walking out to go the lab and it rained for like ten minutes, but left me soaked up to my knees. I don't know what's worse in terms of the battering by the rain being worth my time and effort lol I did see a loaf of cat today, though.
A loaf of cat, outside a pizzeria that has the tagline, all you knead is love.
I think that's most of what has happened this week so far. The next big thing is probably TOB (again) but meh, I don't really want to bother myself with my kids lol Other things I need to do is practice piano, make more flowers for Coach's requested bouquet, and wrap the notebooks my mum asked me to do (for the kids who don't bring their journals. why kids, why must you do this to us adults) [also are the length of my posts Ning-worthy yet LOL]
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