Fishpond, Heat and Blood

I was at a fishpond today. No, I am really talking about a real fishpond and not the new office which some of us called Fishpond.

I was helping out with a project that was teaching primary school students about pond life. My job was to video the students while at work. There were four stations - temperature-taking, pH reading, turbidity reading and microbes. I had lots of fun while videoing them because I was re-learning my Science too!

At the Microbes station, I think I was more excited than the students lol. I was actually lining up too to look at the microscopic organisms through the microscope. :) It was so fun to see them moving around! I meant the microbes lah, not the students hahaha. :P
I only learnt how to measure turbidity today. :) Never be ashamed to admit to the learning of something for the first time. This is how you will learn, lol.
pH reading was another joy. Told the students to just stick the paper into the pond rather than wait for the test tube to collect the pond water. It is the same result at the end, isn't it? So skip one step lor, get the results faster lol.

Temperature taking of the pond water made me realise how HOT it was out under the sun. Can you believe that the surface pond water was a whopping 35 degrees Celsius??!!!! The weather forecast said it was a max of 34 degrees Celsius today. A quick Science lesson: In a pond or lake, when the sun's rays heat up the water this heated water, being lighter, rises to the surface and loses its heat to the atmosphere. The net result is that the pond water remains at nearly atmospheric temperature. So if the surface pond water was 35 degrees, it meant the max temperature was at least 35 degrees! No wonder I was losing liquid like anything through my pores lol. :P

When our group gathered at the school, I realised everyone was wearing pants except for me, I was in a dress. My boss said she forgot to tell me to wear pants. I thought, no sweat, lol. No puns intended lol :P. Then I realised why. The mozzies were having a field day at the fishpond, attacking me! I have never donated so much blood before, all in the name of Science hahaha. :P Next time, I will wear pants hahaha.

Hot, Hot, HOT

It is such a HOT day again.

I just didn't feel like doing anything at all. Every move is laborious and would break into a sweat. :( In order to "conserve energy", I slept for most of the afternoon away, like in hibernation. Correction, it should be "I was in estivation", lol. Estivation is something similar to hibernation but instead of winter, it happens during summer. Some animals do that. I bet you didn't know this, right? Lol. Estivation keeps the animals inactive and helps them insulate against the heat to avoid the harmful effects of summer, e.g. loss of liquid, increase in temperature, etc.

So, as I "estivated" for an afternoon, I was insulated against the heat and the best part, I was very well rested after that. I am full of energy now in the cooler part of the night. Now must find something to do. Haha. :)

Melting Away...

It is such a HOT day today! I literally feel myself melting away in the heat lol.

Needed to do two things - to send a parcel to my brother in UK and to get a few things from Daiso. Juliane and I walked to the post office around 11am because it is less than 7 minutes away. But I "miscalculated". The distance seemed much further away because of the heat! Got to the post office only to be told what I wanted to send my brother might not get through. Sigh.

The nearest Daiso is at Plaza Singapura. We had to walk to the next bus stop to catch a bus to Plaza Singapura. While walking to the bus-stop, we past by Tanglin Mall. I wasn't really in the mood to go to Plaza Singapura because of the heat. I asked if Juliane wanted to just go to TM but she didn't want. Ok, we walked on lor. Just as we were almost at the bus-stop, she changed her mind. Argh! Now we had to walk back to TM. Sigh. I was never so glad for the air-con when we got to TM. LOL. We had lunch at the food court and we took a quick look around the mall to cool down. We walked home around 1pm, lol. It was just easier to walk home than to take the bus or taxi. But of course, it was HOT! Apparently, a colleague saw us walking home just as he was going to the Garden for a talk, lol.

It is such a HOT day today. Didn't feel like moving at all... but I had things to do when I got home. First thing was to turn the fan on full blast! Haha.