MY MIRROR: Depression

To biotechnologists, this is a fun toy

Seriously, life's been even more mundane lately! The weekdays were filled with revisions, readings and planning for next semester's course. Apparently, I would need to take Japanese introduction course in order for me to accumulate enough points for graduating. I was planning to take Buyer Behaviour study (200 level marketing) but considering the location of the campus which are far from my current campus, I decided to put it off.

Today, I had my first chemistry lab. 3 hours inside there has been very draining to me. Since the topic covered for this trimester is spectroscopy, there's no explosion or corrosion risk. Awww no fun! Plus, I would be handling fragile, expensive equipments. Just the thought of accidentally breaking one of those equipments already made me shiver =.=". Apart from that, the size of the lab class has been sort of diminished. There's only 18 people per session. Perhaps due to limited equipments, 'ay? Half of the group I was already familiar with and the other half pretty much unknown to me. It's really awkward that although I've been sharing classes with some locals, I've hardly even know their names! There's like an invisible barrier between us. This don't happen between Asians though. Drat, I think I do have racism buried inside of me!

Just this evening, I ran into a Malaysian senior whom had sold her books to me. Apparently, she would return back to Malaysia this weekend as she's finished her three year degree. Too bad. She made great Nasi Kerabu. Well anyway, I asked her of her plans. She said she would look for jobs in private sectors since she's a biotechnology students and although it has been "over-promoted" by the Malaysian Government, there isn't much job for biotechnology graduates unless you're in agricultural fields. Worse, the biotechnology in Malaysia does not put emphasis in genetic engineering and bacteria modification, which what the Victoria University is putting the stress on! THE PART OF MODIFYING BACTERIA AND DNA IS WHAT I'M ENTHUSED IN! Oh yeah, if you're involved in biotechnology for drug design, your chances are even lower! Sad truth is, Malaysian universities does not have state-of-the-art equipments that we are utilising now! Heck, I don't know if they even have a software to design primers!

I'm not saying what we have learned overseas are futile. It's just that we couldn't maximise the knowledge that we have acquired back home. Also, even in private sectors I don't think there are one that hire folks to modify bacteria or genes. Oh well, I am permitted to work overseas for two years. I do hope my time spent here in New Zealand would be valuable and benefiting for the rest of my life.

Here's something to share. I found this recently I'm trying to collect all 7 volumes.