FYP at Week 0

Auntie Paz: O Chinky, naayos mo na ba ang gamit mo? Paalis na tayo, baka may naiwan ka.

Me: Auntie, ang puso ko po.

Yes, my school has this thing called Week 0. Lectures haven't started yet, but it's like, you know, revving up the engine for the journey for the new semester.

I spent the whole day doing something for my FYP. I woke up at 7 am but got off my bed at 7:45am, showered, and headed straight to the Engineering Workshop 2 where the lab I'm using for my FYP is located. My supervisor Dr Lee asked me to report today so I could visit the site where we collect our water samples used for our project. Mr Tan and Dr Lee were already loading the huge containers that would be filled with RO brine (the reject water of the reverse osmosis process in the water treatment plant). I came there just in time when Mr Tan was about to leave to go to the NEWater plant in Bedok.

So we drove for 45 minutes. We talked. He was nice.

Then we reached the place. Gosh. So...bland. Well, what should I expect? It's a wastewater treatment facility, so there are no colors other than gray and gray and more gray. I went there once before, but only where visitors have limited access to. That part is actually very interactive and impressive for something educational. But the real treatment plant below where all the processes take place is noisy and no-fuss kind of thing.

I am actually the type who cannot own a plain black computer or cellphone, and somemore I CANNOT TAKE GRAY surroundings. MUST HAVE COLOR ONE!!!

I stoned there for 2 hours, with periodical snap-backs to reality when the RO brine jugs get full and I'd have to transfer the small tube where the water flows into another empty jug.

Mr Tan really had a good workout as he was the only one loading the 20 or so jugs to the trolley and unto the van. So heavy sia, what can I do??? I can't even lift a jug 1 cm off the ground.

When we arrived at NUS, I went to the lab again and stayed there until 6 pm. I was assisting my supervisor with all the tests she was doing, which is also good because I'll be doing those same things on my own when I start my FYP for real.

Every single time I go for any labs here in NUS, I see instruments I have never seen before in my life. Even though the lab was well equipped in its functional sense, it's severely lacking in the aesthetics department (which is of no real use to the people there anyway, so they keep it like that). I reiterate, I just don't like gray surroundings. So to make my time at the lab more exciting, I pretended I was part of the C.S.I. team while doing the experiments using the sophisticated instruments.

I think I am getting married to my FYP.

Gosh. I can see the black hole that's going to suck all the fun and leisure as I know it for the next 9 months or so.