OK, big confession. I skipped school today. Now, I have several very good (IMHO) excuses for this - first, I was confused over the timing. Second, I was feeling lethargic. Third, I don't think they'll be remotely useful for anything at all. And lastly,

Right, there's no lastly.

Anyway, hope I don't get into trouble for this. It's true, but I really did get a nasty bout of diarrhoea today. It's like pine-coloured melaena. Pungent, sticky, oddly-coloured stools. It's not pale stools, so hopefully not any weird liver pathology. And while we're on the verge of being hypochondriac, I'm glad to announce I've FINALLY discovered the source of my skin irritation. Been having this ultra-sensitive skin condition for the last 2 months, where erythematous angry welts will appear on my skin. Xuan gave me the clue to it, since she told me she had some skin erruption. We figured it was something in the washing powder or softener. So I tried a little experiment the last couple of nights. Control - shower, then don't wear a shirt. Exp 1 - shower, then wear a freshly-laundered shirt. Exp 2 - shower, then wear a shirt washed months ago. Exp 3 - shower, apply a layer of talc, then wear a freshly-laundered shirt. Needless to say, Exp 1 yielded the best results. It itched so much that at the end of 30mins I looked like I've been brutally whipped. =( Hate having sensitive skin. This sucks. And I'm running out of betamethasone for my face. Yes, the doc gave me corticosteroids for my skin allergy. Hopefully I won't get Cushing's syndrome.

Oh this is crap. I just learnt that Dopey passed the lovely spanish CDs to EW to pass to me today, but I'm not in school!! =( OK, I'll prolly go later and get it from EW. Feel bad about getting her to hold it for so long. These 2 girls are mad. They did 2 night duties in a week! Where do you 2 get your animalistic drive from? I want!

Was looking at tonnes of XRays of Garden's 1,2,3 and 4 fractures, and still cannot figure them out. 3 and 4 is easy, but 1 and 2?? OK, this really sucks.

Repotted my Nepenthes merilliana and N.veitchii yesterday. I'm really lucky to have a specimen of N.merilliana shipped to me from Australia in 2001 - this species comes from the Phillipines, and is reportedly able to produce larger pitchers than even N.rajah. Rats have been reported as occasional prey. My little plant is tissue-cultured, and started off as a 7-cm diameter baby. Now it's almost 20cm across and producing 2-inch pitchers! The N.veitchii is a mature plant but isn't pitchering. Talking about these 2, time to go have a look at them. Plants are most vulnerable after repotting.