Down the Rabbit Hole

Months after driving myself to the brink of a burn out, I was forced to take four days off work because I got quite sick. It served as a reminder that it’s okay to work hard, but it’s not okay to forget to take care of myself. So the past week, I decidedly shortened my office hours from the usual 12-14 hours to just 10 hours… which really isn’t too much of a cut, but I gained a few hours free to do whatever I want. The trouble is, with all that time on my hands, I didn’t quite know what to do! I wasn’t used to having so much free time in the evening before I sleep, and I certainly did not want to spend those hours amidst a traffic jam! The good thing was, a reunion of sorts (of my classmates in college) was hastily organised for August 27, Monday… because it’s a holiday. But despite being a non-working holiday (I think), the microbiologists had to come in from work. I, on the other hand, the perennial crammer, had to be at the lab before the reunion because I was (and still am) writi

My trip to U.P. Diliman this week was a like retracing steps I had made long ago. When we were kids, my siblings and I had a "guided tour" from the family’s resident U.P. Diliman alumnus: my dad. But this tour was unlike the conventional walking tours participated in by incoming freshmen during orientation week. My dad’s tour was more personalised. He showed us where he got stuck during a particularly strong typhoon, where our eldest cousin (a nursing graduate) and her brother (a geology graduate) went to class, where the library was, where he hung out for lunch… basically, we had a pretty good picture of what college was like for him. A few years later, I was once again walking up the stairs of Juinio Hall (where the College of Engineering is located). At the right side of the hall, there were several plates listing the "500" alumni of the college - whatever that meant. My dad’s name wasn’t in the list. Apparently, he didn’t join the "500" alumni group.

A hike up to Mount Makiling's Mud Spring. We couldn't stay too long though because the rains were coming... fast.

A few months back, I can’t wait to be able to get past the INQR workshop. All I wanted to do was to get through it. Weeks into the preparation, I was working over weekends… working long hours in the lab… skipping dinner with friends (or at least having hurried lunches/dinners with them — so SORRY!)… everyday felt like I was flying in a whirlwind and everything passed in a blur. Now that the workshop is done and over with, I feel like the storm has ended and the debris that have been shot up in the sky are now falling back to Earth one by one. Ah, everything is going back to its normal pace. But that’s only until the next deadline or the next big activity comes along. For everyone in the lab, that’s the Rice Camp starting Wednesday. For me, the next deadline is on Friday. So, after a short rest, it’s like being blown again into the wind, never knowing where I’d land. And do I look forward to it!

Being in front of an audience has always been one of the situations I tried so hard to avoid. I dreaded going on-stage because I was so scared of facing so many people. I have always felt butterflies in the pit of my stomach each time I go up to face the audience. It’s probably normal. Even the most experienced public speaker must have some nervousness left in him/her. This week, I had to, yet again, keep myself from getting into a nervous breakdown. My oral presentation was finalised the evening before I was going up the stage! I forgot to plan what to wear during my talk. On the day itself, my hands were so clammy I was regretting not bringing a pair of mittens. My feet were getting cold that I regretted wearing leather shoes with thin socks. My stomach was tied up in knots I couldn’t eat properly since the evening before. The presentation went without a hitch, which was a good thing. I received comments about my talk, which was about a new way of approaching old problem

I have always loved to be able to converse in a third language, may it be Spanish (undubbed telenovelas), Mandarin (the new business language), or Italian (yummy food). My recent trips to the uni have exposed me to French (as I stayed in a French couple's terrace house and there were many French students in the lab). Plus, I always am amazed at how smoothly my academic supervisor can talk with me in English, answer the phone in Italian, leave a message in German, and talk in French to a BSc Hons student… all in the span of five minutes! I figured, since Filipino has lots of Spanish influence, I might as well start learning it. My main reference is a Lonely Planet language book (which covers most of Europe’s major languages). Plus, I bought another book on learning Spanish. That was a luck move, because this week, I got to meet numerous people from South America, where Spanish is the official language. Despite all the preparations I had, my Spanish vocabulary was still in a horrib

Ah, yes, the vacation is finally over. If the long weekend can actually be called a vacation. It WAS indeed a break from the daily grind - going to and from the laboratory. However, the weekend was far from stress-free. So many city dwellers have clogged the national highway going to hundreds of pools and private resorts in the Pansol area and the beach resorts dotting the coastline of Cavite and Batangas. And it was easy to pick them out too. They were the ones who brought road rage with them to the province… the drivers who thought they owned the road (and basically caused most of the accidents, in my opinion)… and those who showed no concern for the environment by throwing their trash outside their car windows (as if they’re still in Manila). But now, the tourists are all back in the city and the  probinsyanos  have the roads all to themselves again. Indeed, the long weekend has ended and everyone is grudgingly going back to the daily grind - going to and from work.

This year’s Good Friday was unique because it’s the first time I went to the beach instead of participating in the annual processions in Sta. Cruz or watching the different rituals in other places like Marinduque or Banaue. No, I wasn’t on the beach for a little rest and recreation. I drove all the way to Nasugbu, Batangas to assist foreign post-docs, grad students, and their families in THEIR vacation. The group decided that their short trip would be held on the long weekend of Lent. I thought it’s such a waste to go to the beach alone, so I took along my cousin and her daughter so they could also see the beach. My superstitious mom had some violent reactions with going to the beach on Good Friday. According to her, it’s a particularly bad day to go swimming. I, on the other hand, didn’t see it that way. For me, it’s a time for self-reflection and renewal of faith, not the perfect holiday excuse to go to a resort. But being non-members of the Christian denomination, it’s not such

Once again, I was amazed by the birds of prey that call the Centre for Philippine Raptors their home. On March 31, I was counting on my lucky stars to at least get a glimpse of the mighty Philippine eagle. In the centre, a guide was explaining how the different raptors are being released into the wild. My eyes were suddenly drawn to a violent flapping of wings behind the guide. It was a serpent eagle, and I thought it had escaped from its cage. The guide said that the centre has released the bird into the wild, but it would always go back there… perhaps as if it had a homing beacon atop of its head making it go back. Then there was a pair of eagles, one’s a white-bellied sea eagle. I forgot what the other one was… but it had fluffier feathers. According to the guide, it’s not found in the Philippines. Instead, it thrives in temperate regions. These two birds caught my eye because both were sitting in the middle of a pond, untied, and without a cage! It turned out that these two

At first, I acted as a critique and as a guide for the PUP students while they crammed and nervously prepared for their oral thesis presentations scheduled on March 21. All their efforts had paid off: they all showed confidence and were knowledgeable about their studies... they made me proud. But now, the tables have turned. It was my turn to rush, to cram, to panic, and to get all nervous as the clock happily ticks away the minutes to my presentation. Most of my data are vastly raw at the moment since the instrument got re-commissioned roughly only four weeks ago. I just prepared my slides this week and Melissa and I discussed my talk only on Wednesday; in contrast, Fe and Tita Dory have been discussing the flow of their talks and rehearsing their lines with Melissa since last week. And finally, my first dry run happened earlier today during journal club hour. My talk has a glaring NEEDS IMPROVEMENT sign over it. Because of this, I feel honoured that my supervisor is doing th

Each achievement comes with a price. Case in point: The BSc students worked on their research projects at the GQNPC lab for a summer and two semesters. The final few weeks were the most trying, just when they were so close to the finish line; but their studies were really nice. They were so good we thought they'd be included in the Best Thesis Competition in their uni. However, the examination panel in school had another idea: the IRRI thesis students were NOT included in the competition because the topics presented were all about rice (again!). That was a bummer! It is blatantly obvious that the panelists did not understand that both groups were offering pieces of information that have never been found before. Both teams have created new paths in the never-ending road of discovery. And yet, these achievements went largely unrecognised by the school. Despite being disqualified from the competition, they were still invited to present their work at the scientific congress (w

What is better to eat, brown rice or red rice?  A panelist asked us during the thesis defence of the other group of BSc students from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. With this question, it becomes obvious that it is much much easier to convey results from research work when put into context of the consumers. This was why the second group of BSc students that I helped out had an easier time wiggling out of their presentation… in contrast to the first group, which had a rough time defending their work. But before answering the question, some things have to be clarified first. The colours brown and red refer to the pericarp colour. The pericarp is one of the materials that cover the rice grain when it first comes in from the field. When the grain is dehulled and milled, the pericarp should have been removed to reveal the white grains we know as rice. In contrast, the more popularly known brown rice found in the groceries is rice that has not been milled. Only t

Gene -> Structure -> Function .  This is currently the mantra being chanted by biological chemists. And this is the approach we took in developing the thesis defence presentation of one of our latest BSc student groups from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. What’s exciting about their work, without going very deep into the details, is that they have shown that results from previous studies -- which have used germplasm with limited diversity -- can be reputed because of the very fact that the genetic background of those collections were limited. And the group’s advantage was that a large collection of rice accessions was at the reach of their fingertips at IRRI. Aside from challenging old results, the group may have discovered something new by connecting the dots from the genetic behaviour to the architecture of the polymer and finally to the cooking property. Confident that this group’s work is high-level science and the results have paved the way f

… so says Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster in the Harry Potter series. This message was the first thing that popped into my head as I read Ate Maddie’s message when I woke up yesterday morning. Tito Nani, her dad, passed on to the next life at around 3:20am with his family surrounding him. He battled cancer. Though I am sad at his passing, I am also content that he is no longer in pain and is now at peace. He may even have resumed playing golf in heaven.

it’s one of those moments when i felt both happiness and relief. and it happened last week… the background of the story is, i have been doing an experiment for a few weeks already, but i could not understand why i kept on getting wrong results on a standard (whose description is known: molecular weight, etc.). i tried varying the conditions, and combining different conditions together to no avail. i suspected that the raw data was correct, but i wasn’t plugging in the correct constants and coefficients… or at least i wasn’t filling in the blanks properly. 2006 ended with me still puzzling over why my experiment was not working. then, last week, help came from the tech people from the instrument’s manufacturer. the techies showed how to use the coefficients properly. i was right in suspecting that i was doing something wrong. with knowing how to use the numerous values, i was finally able to get the correct results, and they were replicable too! what a relief! i’m no