the lucky number '8'

1. i have great housemates -

so i was sick. one asked me if i want some chicken soup, and asked me three times. another asked me if i want some orange juice (and bought specially that day) for another three times, and then changed tactic to ask if i want some green tea. last one asked me if i want some honey. haha. felt very well taken care of! and they think i shouldn't do the dishes when i'm sick, and helped me out whenever. knocked on my door to check if i was okay. offered to help me read through my essays and talk to me when i was down and out. we gossiped together and try to help each other. i'm so glad that i got these housemates and didn't stay with the other singaporeans in my cohort. specially planned birthday brunch with me and researched where is a good place for brunch, which place i will like.

2. i stay reasonably far away from school - not near enough to camp in the school library all day long, but not that far to get muscle cramps from walking to school

3. i stay reasonably near enough to the supermarts - which also explain my crazy stash of food.

4. one of my housemate has a car. we get excursions! and she often volunteered to drive us to the laundromat or grocery stores. refer back to blessing no. 1.

5. i received so many cards and presents from my friends! (im shameless) and i got the company of miss liew for the weekend. :D

6. i have got great professors. my really cute, grandfatherly econs prof, my brilliant advisor and all the other old-ish profs. ohoh and not to mention the reasonably young prof who let me into the course - we were discussing about the neuroscience of monogamy yesterday. how vasopressin receptors are implicated in males and oxytoxin receptors are implicated in females. vasopressin is also implicated in the males' desire for territorial control, oxytocin with all the child-rearing activities - which therefore present the evolutionary implication of males in monogamous relationship treating women as part of their territory, and females in monogamous relationship mothering their mates. HAHA.

7. i have a great study group.

the classmates in my small study group - 5 of us in total are really sweet. they are patient with me, filling in my gaps in my understanding of this country's education system, very encouraging, baked some coffee cake (cake that goes with coffee but doesn't not have coffee) for us. one even got me honey sticks cuz she thought i have never tasted honey sticks!! they surprised me with a card and a present too, i didn't even know that they know its my bdae. hee.

8. i have a superb mentor right now.

its almost as if someone somewhere decided that i have my fair share of evil mentoring and start to serve good mentors on my plate. i'm now learning happily about fMRI, am taught well, learn all the different processing procedures involved in the research, tho i'm also doing some saikang on the sly too.

i need to constantly remind myself of the blessings so as not to be depressed and emo over some unhappy things that i have lack of control over.