Apple of my eye

Apples.

So red, so shinny, so smooth. Beautiful aren't they?

But what hides beneath that beautiful exterior, is a mystery which can only be uncovered with some risk.

And of course, some apples do show signs on the exterior which indicate what they may be like inside. Oh yes they do. Dents and dimples, little specks and darkened marks. You gotta be smart when you choose them apples.

Some apples may look beautiful on the outside but they're rotten to the core. Oh poor Snow White and the beautiful red poison apple. Such cases are inevitable because by nature we are attracted to beautiful things.

But there are some apples with dents and dimples, specks and marks on the surface. You think that you should give them a chance. You ask yourself, what if it's just as delicious on the inside? I mean, people do say don't judge a book by its cover. So I shouldn't judge the apple by its skin, right? Boy oh boy do those old sayings screw people's life up sometimes.

Oh but some apples are just as rotten on the inside as they seem to be on the outside and I have tasted the foulest of them all. Ok, maybe ONE of the foulest of them all. I won't deny that there are worse apples out there. Just that this rotten one (on the outside and inside, mind you) left such a ground shaking impression on me.

I wonder, how would such an apple survive. Since it's rotten inside out, who would take on such a noble task to sacrifice oneself to eat it and spread its seeds? At least if the apple is beautiful on the outside, it still stands a chance or perhaps I'm just being superficial OR I could be realistc.

Oh yes, you gotta be very careful when you choose apples. Some are just so damaged they shouldn't be around people. That's why at times you shouldn't ridicule your mother's advice because after all she has seen many more apples in her life, hasn't she?

Genetics Australia

I had the opportunity to visit Genetics Australia on Friday morning with the dairy science class. It's just a short 1.5 hours away from the city centre. I had to wake up at 630am because I had to reach uni by 730am.

The uni hired a small van/bus to bring us there coz there're so few masters students.

View of the city from the freeway. You can vaguely see the city behind the complicated mass of wiring and fencing.

The grand entrance of Genetics Australia. The purpose of this visit is actually to see the process of insemination of cows to create cows of superior breed which produce more milk with good quantities of proteins and fats. This place doesn't deal with any other kinds of genetics stuff like GMO and plant based things. Strictly cows for dairy purposes only. So basically it's quite a small facility but the land is big coz they rear the bulls to get their sperm for analysis.

Suburban Australia is a very nice place to be. Very green and the sky is always bright blue and clear. The air is very fresh as well. But the bad side is that it's always much colder in suburbs compared to the city and the weather is more erratic, can suddenly rain when the sky is so bright. Good example is that day on Friday, with such clear blue skies, it suddenly poured like mad.

Resulted in this mini rainbow. The rainbow was actually really vibrant but I think my camera phone couldn't capture the essence of it. Forgot my camera in the midst of morning rush. :P

We had a short presentation by the manager of the lab. He then told us that we could go see how they "collected" the bull sperm, and he said that if we're not comfortable seeing the process we can be excused. hahaha.. Basically we're just seeing cow masturbation. I'm not kidding! They have the tools ready for it. But of couse it doesn't involve any cow porn.

This is the cow shed. The bulls are kept here when they're not forraging for food on the grass fields. Those big bulls tied to the front are erm.. sort of castrated bulls. They are tied there so that the other bulls can climb on them when they get an erection. So they're sort of there just to be ridden. But of coz they don't get penetrated, I'll explain later. They're just like.. something to be climbed on.

The picture again is not very clear. This is what happens when the bull gets.. horny? He mounts the poor stationary castrated bull and the guy at the side collects his sperm with an artificial vagina. hahaha! Cow sex toys! It happens damn fast! Like 30 seconds then the bull ejaculated d. The manager realised our astonishment and he said that generally the mounting process is as good a foreplay for bulls already and there's no passion or whatsoever involved, very straight forward process. hahaha..

This is the artificial vagina. That knob is where you put in warm water for some reason which I can't recall now. Thank goodness I don't have to write a report on this trip.

This is the tube where the sperm will be collected. His thumb marks the spot of the average amount of sperm which can be collected with each bull. This amount of sperm can inseminate almost 100s of cows.

The sperm samples are then sent for analysis. They count the number of viable sperms and the dead ones and then judge if the bull contributes to good quality sperm or not. Bulls that don't or are too old to do it so many times a day are disposed off. To where do they get disposed off we asked? He replied, I'm sure you all enjoy McDonalds............... -_-

This is to observe the movement of the sperm. He says that some sperm dart forward quickly which is good. Some just dart around in circles which is practically useless.. Somehow puts the image of a dog chasing its own tail in my mind. hahaha..

The sperm is then "packaged" into these very fine looking straws labelled with the name of the bull. They actually sell the sperm in these straws to farmers and also to international markets. Malaysia is one of them.

The straws have to be frozen immediately using liquid nitrogen to ensure "freshness" :P

That's about the field trip. Definitely an eye opener! Btw, those people handling the bulls actually had to take a cow psychology course so that they know when and how to handle them when they're aroused. This is the first of my many field trips this sem.

Alright, back to my wine assignment......

Urghhh...

I've been procrastinating on my wine essay for too long now. As usual, when the due date is around the corner only will I start to do my research. This is not any ordinary essay, this is a 3000 word essay which is quite a lengthy one. Being the "hardworking" person I'm, I looked through the essay topics aeons ago and decided on my topic.


Since I already know my topic, and being the "hardworking" person I'm, I've been to the library a few times to look for books suitable for my essay and boy did I find a thick black book on Australian wine, so yay! Oh yeah, my essay title is 'Discuss one wine region inside Australia incorporating brief history, viticulture bla bla bla you know the drill'.


So I carried this thick black book home, switching hands as I walked and walked coz it was so heavy. That was last week, and of course I researched on a wine region and read the thick black book. The wine region of my choice was South Australia. I wrote down lots of notes about it. Over the weekend, I didn't touch my books, so today I start work again.


I took a look at my assignment topic again.



















'Discuss one wine region OUTSIDE Australia'














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Speechlessssssss............. -___________-



I think my jaw hung open for a good minute...

LE SIGH!!!!!!!!!!

Hi again

Writer's block or just sheer laziness. I don't know.. :P

Not been updating the blog. I think I'm not used to telling people my daily routine, coz it's the same everyday! I go to uni 3 days a week which is so much more relaxing compared to the undergrad years.

Random thoughts:

I feel like dancing. Maybe it's the overdose of Britney Spears youtubing. She's coming to Melbourne btw. I'm thinking of going for her concert before she has another meltdown again and may never come back.. Her songs may be somewhat nonsensical, but I have to admit she's a great entertainer and I wanna see her dance! :P

I have a 2 hour class tomorrow and I have to walk a total of one hour to get to and from uni. But I'm still looking forward to it? Maybe coz I've been at home for 2 days listening to my playlist over and over again. Sometimes the songs seem boring when I listen to them at home. But when I'm walking on the street, the songs suddenly seem to be more interesting. Does that make sense? Maybe the scenery and the people you see makes the song more interesting.

Happy songs help to dilute the intensity of embarassing moments. You will still embarassed, but to a lesser degree :P


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Let's hope I continue blogging more often since more people have stumbled across this thing that I call a blog now.