Day 39: The Day I First Skated

In Sweden, that is. (I have a life, okay? I tried skating before back in the little red dot. But that was many many years ago. And yes, we have an ice skating ring there.)

And somehow, everyone kept asking me if I thought they were crazy for skating today. Granted that it wasn't the best of days; it was snowing, windy and very cold; but still it was not too bad. I can't imagine sitting still though. That would be way too cold. And no, I don’t think anyone is crazy here. Crazy would apply to the people who will be willingly torturing themselves by skiing 90km tomorrow for the sake of doing just that – skiing 90km. And I heard that tons of people actually do that. It's a really BIG event.

We went down to Lake Mälaren near Sunnersta, in the late morning, and had a small picnic lunch before strapping on the skates. These skates I used today are unlike the ones I’d used before. The blades and the shoes were separate, and the blades are much longer than the length of the boots. I am told that these are meant for long distance skating and are much more relaxing while those that I used before are meant for speed or ice hockey. Hmm… I didn't realise that there are so many differences in the skates and skis. But, it’s not surprising, I guess. I come from the little red dot, and am not the most sports-inclined person in the world.

It was fun nonetheless. Let me state for the record that I did not fall! I managed to start gliding on the ice towards the end of our trip at the lake. Maybe there’ll be another trip soon, and in much better weather. I kind of like the feeling of gliding on the ice. It looks so easy when they are doing it, but when it takes a lot of effort on my part. I wonder if I’m doing something wrong.

Anyway, this was a bad day for experiments. Somehow, my PCR products were ‘eaten’ after purification. That means I have to redo the entire amplification process once more. More work on Monday. Hopefully what’s left of the purified products is sufficient to run some tests on the BioAnalyser but 3ng/uL? That may be pushing the limits of detection. Oh well, if it works, at least I’ll know that the machine is highly sensitive. If it doesn’t then, it’ll need more work.

And I’ve just been informed that there’s something wrong with the internet connection that I’m trying so hard to get into my apartment. The price quoted to me was wrong. The new price is almost double of the previous now. But I simply cannot live without internet, so I have to pay up. The administrator will only order it again (for the third time) after confirming that I want to carry on with the order despite the huge increase in price. So that means the modem will arrive, at the earliest, next week. Freaking long, okay? Service is really slow. I got my cable connection in Singapore the next day, after I called. And their customer service hotline and support are open 24/7. Being used to speed (though it may not be efficient), this waiting is simply irritating me. It’s just too long.

And you thought queuing is Singapore’s national pastime. You are wrong. The people here like queues. A. Lot. The only difference is that they queue for a purpose. Take a number, sit, wait for your turn, or stand in line and wait for your turn. The whole idea of queue numbers and queues are meant, I guess, to indicate some form of efficiency. For us, we stand in line simply because everyone else is doing it. We don't have to bloody know the reason at all. Cannot lose out mah. People queue, I also must queue. However, I have to qualify. This mentality applies to the older generation much more. I certainly don’t stand in a line if I don’t know what the queue is for. In fact, I try to avoid them as much as possible.

I seem to have gotten some kind of reputation, of which I have no clue about. This evening when I was leaving SLU to catch my bus, some person stopped me in the middle of the hallway and asked if I were (my name). He heard about me but had not seen me around before, so he was wondering who this person was. Now he knows. But the weird thing is that he sits very far from me. We are not even on the same level! How and why would my name spread like that??? I keep a very low profile. I wonder if things said about me are good or bad. But then again, who cares. I can't stop people from gossiping about me. Neither will I lose sleep if someone thinks horribly of me. I've had my share of persons who dislike my guts (Check the archives of Reborn for that.). Oh well, I have to live with the fact that I'm famous. Am I a celebrity now? Will they actually celebrate my pressence? *grin*

To more days filled with fun, and more days with experimental successes as well. Cheers.