027: Be balanced or your screwed

As I am in the midst of preparing for my fast approaching examinations, I read alot of science. And some of what I read do amuse or intrigue me at times. This time, its the female hormone, oestrogen.

Our bodies have a love-hate relationship with this hormone. Too much of it, and we'll have a high risk of breast cancer, too little and it might be overshadowed with other androgen hormones that make you sprout hairs where you least like it. I was reading on contraceptive pills (for the exam!) which for most of it, are pumped up with synthetic oestrogen. Yes, it will stop you from ovulating, but with every drug, are the side effects.

As you are pumping your body with an extra dose of hormones, oestrogen would have a risk of doing one or all of the three things below:

1. Cause an increase in good fat (HDL) and a decrease in bad fat (LDL) which would decrease the chances of artheroma formations, which decreases the risk of blockages in your blood vessels. (Yay!)
2. Cause increased synthesis of Vitamin K which increases the risk of blood clotting and forming a thrombus, which then could be dislodged and cause blockages in your blood vessels (Boo!)
3. Cause decreased synthesis of anti-thrombin III which could have saved you from blood clotting (Boo!)

So, although there is good news, there is also bad news and the scale favourably tips towards a blockage in your piping (2-1). Oh, its good to be women.

I guess oestrogen effects and your body is akin to life. Too much of a good thing is never good. Richer people aren't happier, nor are those at the poverty line. It is all about balance. A physical, mental, emotional and spiritual balance. Cause if you tip the scale, all you get are blocked veins.

026: Peer Pressure and Tumour Cells

Ok. This post will be a tad geeky. But here goes.

I have been studying for finals and currently running through the genetics module.

On the topic of mutation, my flatmate Afiqah, who is also studying medicine but at Imperial, and I made up a short conversation between tumour cells (TC) which are akin to school bullies and normal cells (NC) which are more like geeks and nerds who are less popular in the social pyramid.

And it goes something like this:

TC: Hey, we are powerful. You should be like us. Cause we're cool like that.

NC: No thanks. I like the way I am.

TC: Really? You're not as fun or fast. You should try being like me.

NC: Naaaahhh, no thanks.

TC: Ok, you don't have to change yourself fully. Just change your genes a little. 

You will still be yourself, I promise.

NC: If you put it that way, I guess I could.

*NC undergoes gene mutation (a little)

TC: See, it wasn't that bad, was it?

NC: Yeah, I got to admit that that wasn't as bad as I thought. I still feel like myself.

TC: Why not change a little bit more. I assure you you will feel much better.

NC: Ok, I'll give it a try.

*NC undergoes more and more gene mutation until...

NC: Wait, what?! I have nothing left that is me! I want to change back to myself.

TC: Too late man. The ship has sailed. You're one of us now.

(insert creepy villain laugh here)

So the moral of the story is - do not give in to peer pressure.

Unless you want to be a tumour.

And no one wants to be a tumour.

025: Still into You

They still got it :)

Mood: Butterflies

024: Karipaps at the end of the Rainbow

Oh My Golly!

I just have to blog about this because this is AMAZING!

To let you know a little bit about me, I LOVE Tuk Din's karipaps.

And for the past few days, people have been giving them to me for free!

Salma has bought karipaps for the house a few times.

And when I asked Nad to get some for me, her friend's mom paid for it.

Then, in the same night, Aira brought back karipaps paid for by PwC.

So its like there is a never ending supply of karipaps!

I love how life surprises me sometimes! 

And I love how little things such as chicken in fried dough can make me the happiest girl on the planet.

Signing off now to enjoy more of this scrumptious delight! :)

023: Rights and Responsibilities

This is a picture that I took whilst on a trip to Bath, England with my flatmates. I love how it shows the beautiful synergy of people and planet, of land and sky. It gets me thinking, what if the trees demanded more carbon dioxide from the people before they gave us oxygen? What if the sky demanded a larger market share in the world before it supplied trees with sunlight and air? Its the same as people demanding more land from the trees before they carried out their responsibility to care for the planet.

If we think about our rights before we carried out our responsibilities, the scale would ultimately tip and a world which was once balanced would be no more. So, I guess before asking for women's rights or rights of a spouse, maybe think have I given them their rights by carrying out my responsibilities? Talking now in the context of religion, is it fair to ask for more rights if we do not do what God asks of us first? To think of it, who actually gave you 'rights' if it is not for God anyway? And it is what He knows that is best for us and perfect, while what we think for ourselves imperfect and limited by our cognitive ability.

Some points to ponder on on a beautiful Sunday's night.

022: I am a Princess

It is only when we constantly remind ourselves that we are princesses,

that we will never let any (useless) man treat us otherwise.

021: The Ultimate TfL Adventure

My flatmate Salma and I took a trip around London using all public transports available in London except the Overground. Here was our route:

Underground: Lancaster Gate - Bank

DLR: Bank - Canning Town

Bus: Canning Town - Royal Victoria

Emirates Air Line: Emirates Royal Docks - Emirates Greenwich Peninsula

River Bus: North Greenwich - Embankment

On foot: Embankment - Hyde Park Corner

Barclays Bike: Hyde Park Corner - Lancaster Gate

Loved going out in the crisp spring (more like winter) morning and see what this city has to offer. Really, it is a city full of surprises. Heres hoping to call it home for a long while, insyaAllah.