Happy New Year! (blows nose)

Lol I don't know how many times I got ill last year... and I don't know how many times I'm going to get ill THIS year (hopefully none after this!). All I know is that I'm sick NOW and quite happy to spread the cheer around so do form an orderly queue outside my house for a special dose of virus (hmmm what's the singular/plural for virus?).

Gosh I must be getting old, all my joints ache in the cold weather.

In the good old (Uni) days, I rarely, if ever, fell ill. In fact, it became an annual event that I had to nurse my poor Simon back to health during the winter because he very punctually caught bugs in the chilly weather.

But look how the tables have turneddddd. Last year, every few months or so (or if I'm unlucky, every few weeks) I'm struck by either some cold, some flu, or some vomiting/diarrhoea bug.

There's an old wives' tale that goes along the lines of when a woman gives birth she bequeaths to her child a part of herself - her beauty (that's why they say a woman looks a bit more aged after children, but I think that's just the stress of childcare + the stench of nappies hahaha), her intelligence, her youth, etc.

Me, I think Jared got hold of my immune system.

That being said, I'm glad he did! His nursery (and all nurseries in general) is a haven for bugs, mostly because there are sooooo many children whose skin would probably peel if the nursery workers made them wash their hands each time they touched something of dubious hygiene.

I wonder what the incubation period for flu viruses are.... I might have actually caught THIS off Jared. Or Vincent. Depending on how long this darned invaders have been incubating in the bodies of their carriers.

Anyway...

HAve a happy new year! Hope it's a great one for you guys and try to set realistic resolutions this time! :)

ORC admission rules

Seriously, there should be a rule in the ORC about enrolling good-looking male students. Maybe a sign/poster/short paragraph in their recruitment media stating "You must be THIS ugly to enter".

Lol

The reason I'm saying this is because well with the new technician and the new students around there are too many things to distract me from my laser and experiment. (Although to be fair even an insect crawling on the floor is sufficient to distract me from my experiment heee heee heee).

Must learn to keep my eyes (and my saliva hahaha) under control.

Laser-induced damage to optical fiber

We have conducted an experiment whereby a large pulse of light is unintentionally sent through the core of a high power fiber amplifier in operation.

It has been observed that when the amplifier experiences such a pulse, the facets shatter in a very spectacular and heart-breaking manner. Eyewitness accounts state that this is usually accompanied by a loud *pop* sound and a bright flash of light.

Below are some images of the resultant fiber end facets, under 8x magnification through a microscope.

(The experimenter invites the reader to check out the amount of glass/debris/cracks/awesome bits that exploded out)

Studies have also been done to examine the effects of such high-power damage on the USER of the laser.

Results indicate that the user is neither more or less sane than before the damage occured. Stress levels, however, have gone through the roof, which may lead the user to perform rather irrational acts and to indulge in greater amounts of procrastination.

Jared's home made haircut

Since people seem to like hearing news abt Jared more than (or at least as much as) news abt my currently rather uneventful existence, here's a post devoted entirely to what happened last Sunday - my mum in law took her clippers out and enthusiastically gave Jared a new hairstyle. I think it looks quite neat (although the word tempurung (coconut shell for the non-Malaysians) does spring to mind).

A picture paints a thousand words... here are three. Wow my longest post ever! :P

And the finished product

Finally! another post!

So I was at the student's union shop the other day queing to pay for my cup of instant noodles (what, I'm a PhD student! I'm allowed to have instant noodles!) when, over the PA system, I heard the strains of a familiar tune -

"maia heeeeee maia hoooo maia hooo maia ha ha"

And since Dragostea tin dei (or Numa numa) is on my list of favourite songs I couldn't help but sing along. What was cute was that I was not alone. By the time they had reached the chorus the queue was going

"mumble mumble numa numa eiii, numa numa eiii, numa numa numa eiii"

Who says music is no longer an international language, eh :P

Couldn't help but smile.

Other stuff currently happening - Jared's got an eye infection. Apparently it started off with a few cases of conjunctivitis in his nursery, which he caught... I don't really understand what the doctor said but the germs decided to heck with the conjunctiva and straight on to the eyelid - so his eyelids are kind of swollen right now and after a course of eye drops (which were a PAIN to administer because it stung his eyes and he would just cry and cry and I suspect the tears probably diluted the drops anyway) which failed to work the GP has just prescribed us a course of antibiotics, to be taken orally (yessssssssss!). Which, like most medicines, Jared loves to bits. After we gave him his dose just now he actually said "more?".

Praise God for fruit-flavoured medication, eh :P