the bottoms

Dreams last night:

I left my backpack on the sidewalk while doing something in the middle of the street, and a pair of thugs nabbed it. They just kept running through this suburban neighborhood, with me in tow. After running for who knows how long, I walk up into this apartment to find Asians playing poker at a square table when I get a phone call from one of my high school friends. It was a really boring conversation so I made up the excuse that I had to go eat.

Then I appeared at some conference/convention, where people were sitting in seats that circled the center of the room. To my right was Barbara Walters and to my left, Diane Sawyer. The fixed menu included salad, soup, dessert, your choice of wine, and a main course. Upon inspecting the entire meal, I think I was disappointed, which may have been why I woke up.

I think I'll cook for my cousins tonight. Why the hell is Janey in Houston?! Stop following me!!!

shinsengumi

New obsession: Asian snacks. Less sugar.

Dream last night: guys and girls were forced to sleep on the floor together in one room. Some people had fallen asleep, while some of the girls were trying to force me to have sex with them. I kept trying to get them off of me, but everything I did kept turning them on.

Then it switched to me mentoring this kid on some life lesson.

Woke up at 2PM. Even though my parents have DSL in their house now, it's still ridiculously slow. Adios

the williams

Dream last night:

An old postal worker lady stopped by my house to drop off my mail. Sweat was pouring all over her face, so I offered her something to drink/eat. I kept asking her if she wanted juice or milk, a sandwich or bagel with eggs. I managed to get her the orange juice, but discovered that there was only one half of a bagel left, so I told her I wouldn't be able to make her an egg and cheese bagel. She said don't worry about it.

FINAL! AGH!!! PROBLEM SET! AGH!!! PAPER! AGH!!!

(above draft was from Sunday night?)
--------
Today:

Back in the good ol' TX. Where the people are friendly and fat. Everyone is bigger in Texas.

Finished most of my work. Just going to revise my draft for my lab paper and submit it today.

Ciao.

tsiolkovsky

Had another dream last night about my PI, and his son.

It was at a 50s diner, and his son looked half black, half Asian, with a brown skin tone but straight black hair fashioned into a chili bowl.

His tiny son was sitting next to me at a booth away from his parents, and we were having a conversation about soccer at first, me asking him all kinds of questions about what he likes to do. I felt bad, though, because their son wanted to sit next to me rather than eat dinner with them over at their booth.

Crap. Procrastinated yesterday, so now I have to finish a problem set, extra credit lecture, start a paper, and study for my last final while heading to and from lab. Annnd it's raining. Just great...

Research. Not so bad in terms of work hours put in; the only issue is coming up with great ideas and then designing a sound project. Sigh.

eva braun

23.

Thursday night- I dreamed about Drab... It was in this science museum, and I was so excited to walk on my own, take my time, and enjoy each exhibit at my own pace. Then along comes Drab, shouting out my name, drawing attention towards us in public. Then he wraps his arm around my neck, and starts spouting,"HEY! Where have you been? Whatcha been up to?!" etc. He proceeded to drag me along with him to EVERY exhibit, giving me his own personal insight into each and every thing, just wouldn't shut up! Every time he began one of his rants, I would try to walk off surreptitiously, but once he caught me in the corner of his eye, he would start running over to catch up with me, and then begin anew a conversation about the current display. UGH!

Friday night- I had a dream about my PI. We were in some boat, and people were outside either jumping onto a helicopter or getting off of it. I happened to be someone getting on board the ship, along with this other girl who seemed to be in a rush to get somewhere, as she almost tripped and fell over this gap we had to jump across to get from the boarding ramp onto the ship. We kept walking through the corridors until I found the ladder that would take us to the ceremony on the top deck, but when I turned around, I saw my PI standing there all dressed up along with my lab manager at the other corner of the room. We started talking about martial arts, with me mentioning that he was once a 3rd degree black belt in taekwondo, but he corrected me in saying that it was some other form. As I started to mention that I only took a semester of taekwondo and tai chi in college, he started doing back handsprings in succession. He just kept going and going, until after having done about 10 in place. I kept climbing the ladder up to see the ceremony, and noticed that every guy was in a dress suit, every girl was in a dress. I turned around to ask my PI if this were a formal occasion, as I was currently just wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

And now I'm in a lazy mood. Obsessing recently with the sci-fi/fantasy television genre. Tried out Legend of the Seeker on Hulu; now I'm going to procrastinate by watching Doctor Who. Any other recommendations? BESIDES BSG.

rocket j squirrel

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There. I'm done. Not with finals. With venting. Haven't felt this unprepared for a test since science classes at Rice. FUCK!

Ok, I'm done. Until my last final, which is Monday. It shouldn't be as unpredictable as the two I had today. Hopefully.

During finals week, I have grown accustomed to chicken katsu and macaroni&cheese. Chocolate pudding, not so much. It gave me diarrhea an hour later after eating it. I think that's how my PI got sick on Monday. Salads, also, not so much. I had to douse it with ranch sauce to make it edible. There's really no point in adding regular lettuce to a salad, which is what, 90% water? Something ridiculous like that, and no beneficial nutrients either.

Lab manager flies out tonight for xmas vacation. And I'm still going to be here until 9...

bullwinkle j moose

My PI is the 1st person to give me an xmas present! EEEEK!!! (P.S. It's a Hallmark.)

We're drinking Chianti wine in lab! EEEEP!!!

OMG yogurt whips! Best food invention ever! Although I feel like I'm getting ripped off for less yogurt and more air.

SO screwed for finals tomorrow!

I have a new analogy for vegetarian meals- they're about as enjoyable as having sex under the laws of Newtonian mechanics, where the surfaces are all frictionless. Static and kinetic friction = 0!

hoppity hooper

There's the possibility that I might be a nice guy who's just putting up an unfriendly front. Let's hope this isn't true.

Met an MSTP today. Doris. I think she was rotating through neurosurgery as a possible option for residency. Strange thing is, I thought I remembered her name from somewhere, and looked up the MSTP candidates on the school website. There she was, entered in 2004. I double checked her name badge to make sure that it was the same person. Yup. Don't know why I remember obscure names of people I've never met before. She looked like Ming Na at first glance.
--------
Had a dream last night, where someone's girlfriend followed me to the bathroom and she was forcefully trying to give me a blow job. STILL apathetic about sex in real life and in my dreams- I pushed her away.

Then I woke up and realized I had fallen asleep studying for one final today. Once I got to class, I glanced over the exam and noticed that it wasn't CUMULATIVE, as the syllabus had stated it would be. UGH, I could have spent all that time studying for my more important classes. Still, I guess I'm guaranteed at least one A for the semester.

Off to studying for the two finals I have tomorrow... that is, once I finish lysing/collecting my cells tonight, which would be after 9...

hoescht

My parents' solution to all of my life's problems is to eat something. Maybe they're to blame for me eating everything in sight. Maybe my life has a lot of problems? Oh well.

Maybe med school will be good for me. It'll be like studying for finals all the time, which is when I learn the most about a subject very quickly. And I forget just as fast...

So I will have everything collected before I leave, except the Genomics Core facility here takes a week-long vacation for Christmas and New Years. Wtf??? No wonder they're still backlogged, taking ridiculous amounts of time off for the holidays. Pfft! Although some "studies" are showing that people who take vacations every year are more productive, happier.
-------------------
Today in lab:

Fuck it's hot!

Guess I'm not changing my flight plans anytime soon. Leaving on the 23rd, coming back on the 9th. My cousins and brother are going snowboarding without me, yet again (ergh), while I get to spend an extra week with the parents. Oh joy. Crassie offered her place to stay in College Station if I wanted to get away from them. If anything I've heard about living with Crassie is true, then HELL NO!

sarah nade

Office hours with a prof... not as bad as I thought it would be. Although I'd prefer not to have to go to another one ever again, I need to make a trip tomorrow. Because I missed about a month of classes when I was sick and flying places.

Met the crazy man again. So his pattern- if you ever want to meet him- is to take the 18 line from Stonestown up along Lake Merced every Tuesday and Thursday at noon. If you wait, you'll see a man groaning while covering his ears.

SF's weather has been so fickle. Yesterday it rained in the morning, was sunny in the afternoon, and rained at night. At midnight, hail started falling. When I went to lab at 5AM, it was pouring, and now, it's sunny and windy.

Yesterday was the first time that I didn't eat anything all day until 8:30PM. I don't know how people can have eating disorders. My head started burning up, and my face turned red as if I were drunk. My PI also handed me $2 before he left so that I could get a soda from the vending machine downstairs since the water jug was gone from our floor. Just like my dad, handing me money, and me feeling that Asian guilt for taking it. Mmm.

yorba linda

Right after I finished plating my cells, something didn't seem right. I looked over my calculations and what seemed like the wrong dilution factor was used. At 2AM, after having gone through 7 plates of samples and 14 chamber slides, I let out a resounding,"FUCK!" If the dilution factor were 5 instead of the 10 I used, then the number of cells plated per well would have been half the intended amount, which would reduce the RNA yield in the final phase of my experiment, which is the ENTIRE POINT of my project, to extract RNA for microarray analysis.

Ok enough babble about science. No wait, not just yet.

Also have to tackle 4 science finals, 1 assignment, 2 extra credit papers, and 1 paper for the research I'm doing in this lab. All in a week before flying out. Suck.

Asian lady and her daughter were annoying me at the bus stop today, feeding this foot-long bag of bread to the pigeons and seagulls. The problem with the exploding pigeon population is the people. Maybe I should start throwing rice into the mix every time I see someone feeding the animals?

Oh right, a reply to a previous comment: and hello to you, too, Clare. Jackass!

Tired. Night. Random pictures soon, maybe.

bovine pituitary extract

I just got back home, from lab, which I left an hour ago. It's 3AM.

NEVER AGAIN. UGH.

There was also a drunk ass drunk on the bus. He was trying to get to Noe Valley. On the 91 owl. Shitfaced Hispanic 20-year-old lying on the floor of the bus in the back, without any friends to guide him home. The bus driver finally told him to get off the bus and take the N-Judah to Castro and 24th, while not standing in the middle of the street.

epigee

Price of gas has dropped to $1.71. Haven't seen those prices since... the 90s.

So my grandfather's PET scan revealed a tumor in his aortic arch instead of the lung. Now if that aneurysm ruptures, he could die within hours. Since my gramma is so stressed out over him, her cardiologist is now asking that she go in for extra tests in addition to her ultrasound later this month.

My brother's actually going to visit family this weekend. I guess somebody dying is what it takes to convince him to see our relatives.

Bombed the test, as I had predicted.

Crassie's pestering me with increasing frequency about wanting to hang out in TX. I finally opened the envelope containing my plane ticket, and my parents booked my flight from SF to DFW and then to Austin. Why not just stop in Dallas?!

These teenagers on the bus last week: SO ANNOYING. I can't believe I went through that phase. 4 girls and 1 guy, all loud, sitting at the back of the bus where I am, chanting,"Loser, loser, double loser, whatever, as if, get the picture, duh!" The hell is wrong with them?!

Need to start studying for finals... ugh. Good night.

aortic arch

22.

OH, you're right, MattPatt. About the diabetes. NOT the loving of High School Musical haha. Although I do know the names of 5 of the cast, only because I played the board game with my 11 year old cousin.

Haha, and Jalto, I was TRYING to be subtle about that mannerism of yours. Ugh, and that better not be lyrics from a John Mayer song. ALL he ever talks about outside of his music is Jennifer Aniston. Boo hoo!

UGHHH. Multiple dreams last night.

One involved some girl... who was it... OH, my lab mate. She was talking to me at some table about how good she was at yoga.

Another dream involved Clare... what was he babbling about... I forgot. Not memorable! Hmm, and these new posts from his blog that pop up on my Vienna RSS feed. I'll CONSIDER reading them.

And the last dream: I was in some bar/parlor with a gal, and we were sitting at the bar playing this gambling game. The first time around, though, neither of us knew how to play the game, and someone at the other end of the bar ended up winning the pot. Eventually, I figured out that the way to win the game was simply determining the numbers from an algebraic approach. Once I was about to start explaining the method to the lady, DRAB all of a sudden pops out of nowhere to INTRUDE on our conversation. Asking all these questions: "Who are you? What are you doing? Can I join?!" UGHHH!!!!

So I suggested to the girl that we hop on over to another bar/club, but Drab decided to invite himself and join our company. We were dancing, Drab was ruining my time and dancing like a dork, you know, the usual. And then we ended up over at some bathrooms, in a location that looked like one of those rest stops along the exit ramp of the highway. While Drab went in to use the bathroom, my lady friend came out of the women's side, and I told her to escape as fast as she can before Drab came back.

Then I found myself in my house. With Drab at the entrance. My dreams ends there. Whew.

Other news- my project has commenced!!! But my PI is abandoning me yet again for another trip out of town. Although I had a nice conversation with my lab manager about gin and juice, the song originally done by snoop dogg but covered by the gourds. He especially enjoyed the bluegrass rendition.

The doctors have a DIFFERENT diagnosis now for my grampa: advanced stage lung cancer. They say it's a tumor in the aortic arch, and there's a chance he may be having an aneurysm? Doctors... My parents and my uncle are apparently in LA now, seeing to him. Uncle flies back Monday, parents Wednesday. I'm seeing them in 2 weeks? It might be nice, seeing my cousins from my mom's side after such a long time. Oh yeah, my brother will be in TX too... But my parents also don't know that I'll be taking a secret road trip down to Houston. Shack up at Rox My Socks' place again.

Since I'm not setting up my own Christmas tree, I'm going to steal the one from the hospital.

apiarist

In the pigeon world, the white one is the minority. That will soon apply to America by the year 2050.


Gas prices keep plummeting.


Today I was thawing cells, and had extra liquid nitrogen left over. So I found the closest thing that I could freeze, which happened to be leftover pieces of popcorn. That didn't turn out so well, so I tried this soy sauce packet instead.

Nothing spectacular happened; just that it froze within minutes. Not sure if I'm going to thaw cells again any time soon...

I was using the bathroom on the ground floor of the hospital and suddenly heard this whirring noise behind me. After finishing, I turned around to see the machine going haywire. Churning out paper when nobody was standing in front of the motion detector.


Now I was about to leave but suddenly saw this on the floor.

So THIS is the kind of bathroom reading material people go through at this hospital. Oh, pardon me for not introducing each other. Ladies, a men's urinal. Although this one was abnormally scooped out farther then the typical ones, long enough to be a toilet seat. I hope none of the elderly confuse it for a toilet seat. Speaking of elderly, I walked in to the same bathroom a few days ago, and this morbidly obese senior citizen was sitting on the john of the handicapped bathroom stall, door FULLY OPEN, with his pants down, talking on his cell phone, grocery bags on the floor, and stanking up the whole damn place with his dump. UGH!

But there was something odd about this magazine. Take a closer look.

It's Nick Jonas! On the cover of... Diabetes magazine?! Even stranger, look at the subtitle. "Nick Jonas: The Teen Idol Rocks the Diabetes World." I don't even want to know how he does it.

Oh yeah, I heard a gentleman starting to walk into the restroom, so I tried to turn off my camera before he could walk in on me taking pictures in the bathroom. It was off by the time he got in, but I wasn't able to put my camera back into its case and into my messenger bag. Sigh. Another person finds me weird.

le bikini

You know those wedding pages couples make when they get engaged? There's a page that they have detailing how they met each other and magically fell in love over the years, how the guy proposed to the girl. Awww? Gag me now.

I was distracted by that hideous wedding album. Back to blogging. Keeping it short, relatively, since I'm screwed for finals.

Response to MattPatt's last comment: HAHA I liked the movie but didn't love it. That's all. No judgment, as far as I know?

Remember the time when Jalto would always play a song repeatedly for like, FOREVER, in the suite? Well, I'm doing the same thing, except on my iPod so that I don't have to subject other people to the mishmash that is Girl Talk.

This is the crazy guy I see on the bus every week now. Let me know if you also run into him. He does this weird wailing thing while putting his hands over both his ears.


So it turns out my Grampa may have a lung tumor instead of Parkinson's disease, as my aunt had incorrectly diagnosed on the internet... Don't know which condition is worse. Don't know if I feel sympathetic about his situation, for multiple reasons. Such is the effect of trying to rationalize one's life. I suppose I could detail my "feelings" about this situation in a later post.

NECK FACE! No idea why someone etched this into the armrest of a bus seat.


This place had a nice "OPEN" neon sign, one that accurately depicts what goods they sell at said establishment. Refreshingly not generic, at least for me. Have any of you seen a more creative OPEN sign?


I see this apartment every morning, and really liked the colors on the front of the house, so I snapped a picture. The only problem is that the other side of the apartment looks like shit. Why they didn't decide to redo ALL sides of the house, I don't know.

blind pig

A long time ago (back in college), MattPatt had a conversation with someone else in the suite Junior Year, about a movie named Sister Act. I was wondering what was so funny about the movie.

Years later, I have just finished watching Sister Act. What was on my mind... those nuns living in those barren cells. They must be masturbating when no one else but God is watching. What else is there for them to do in a room with just a bed and nightstand after they've finished praying? And Minerva McGonagall was also the headmistress in this movie?!

Well... it didn't seem that funny. Maybe they were talking about Sister Act 2 instead?

Currently playing on my iPod: electropop, Asian pop, Christmas pop music, and the Nature podcast.


Ah, public transportation. Bart- the SF equivalent of D.C.'s Metro Rail.

Restless! Gotta wake up in 4 hours for lab. I'm out. Peace.

ten no hikari

Hey want to know what's worse than having diarrhea?

Having diarrhea 7 times in before the clock even hits noon. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh. Talk about cleansing one's colon. Woke up this morning with a pain in my stomach- never a good thing. Talk about embracing the shame. I'd like to find a girl besides Nants who likes talking about natural human processes. And excluding Tina Fey- she definitely likes joking about diarrhea. I think she included it in her high school reunion script on 30 Rock. Why can't all girls have a dirty sense of humor?

Maybe this is my stomach reacting to the thought of hiking tomorrow? Don't even know if I have 4 free hours to spend on walking. Besides, I have to wake up early to go to lab anyway. Who knows how long that'll take.

Have less than 2 weeks before finals. Haven't started studying... Busy in lab, too. Project's backed up because one of the mice sucked ass.

My parents landed in L.A. today. Hopefully they won't be making a trip up to the cold city.

People were just pissing me off tonight as I was walking to Safeway. SF drivers stopping right on top of the pedestrian crosswalk, impatient assholes turning left quickly to avoid oncoming traffic, foreigners stopping suddenly while walking inside the supermarket, couples kissing and holding hands in public. Ugh.

So I like trying random crappy food from the supermarket. Almost convinced myself to buy Entenman's donuts, lil' smoked wieners, funyuns. The hamburger helper tastes just like the cheesy double beef burrito from Taco Bell. Why bother cooking it when I can just grab it from the store for a lower price?

Vanity. Wasted an hour designing my own hi top on the Nike website before noticing that the shoe costs $140. Stopped immediately.

Gramma, always taking care to make sure I'm full.

mukashi

What is it with old people and wanting to talk to me... Conversation in the elevator:
"How's the research going today?"
"Ummm, slow..."
"Yeah, but isn't that how research is? Ha ha ha!"
"Hah, yeahhhh..."
"Maybe you should turn up the heat!"
"What?"
"You should set that Bunsen burner up on high!"
"........"
"Have a nice day!"
"You too....."

Yesterday was dad's bday. Today, Yoshi and Nilk. Happy Birthday?

I get to see the sunset across the Pacific Ocean. Need to find an apartment with a better view. Even the view from my lab isn't close enough.


Finals in 2 weeks. Haven't studied in a month because of illness and spending more time planning lab work. Ai.

What boggles me still is why fat chicks wear skinny jeans. They're called skinny jeans for a reason.

Tired of thinking about the welfare of others and trying to better the world. Wanting to buy new clothes. Thinking of a style change. Hip hop + preppy + 1980s French punk? It's beginning to look a lot like hipster...

I was looking at this birdsong book by Miyoko Chu, thinking that oh this could be a nice present for Janey (even though I'm not buying it for her), and I opened it up, fascinated at the paper engineering that goes into pop up books. But once I opened it, all these girds started chirping out of the book. I closed it, put it back on the shelf, and they kept chirping! It was about 5 minutes before it ended, with me standing there embarrassed. Later on when I pulled the book back out of the shelf, I finally noticed a button to turn off the noise. Ugh.

thymesia

21.

UGH! Not only did I have a dream about lab, but it also involved Drab. WHY ME?!?!

I was standing in the middle of an empty metropolis, most likely downtown SF, and across from me is Drab walking towards my direction.

"I haven't seen you in forever." He proceeds to hug me.

"...Drab, you're touching me..." He continues making physical contact, grossing me out in the process. "Get offa me!"

Afterwards, we went to the garage of an autoshop (?) to have lunch. We were sitting there, eating sandwiches, catching up on lost time, I suppose. Near the end of the conversation, Drab asked me if I wanted to go see his lab at Mission Bay. I guess I agreed...

Walking towards the campus, the conversation transitioned to talking about science. Jabber jabber jabber, and soon the topic was about doing great science. The one line I remember Drab saying as we walked along the sidewalk was,"I don't think I could ever become a great scientist. But maybe you can." Something along those lines. HAH! This part of the dream, I found tolerable. That is, until we reached the school.

Strolling along on the ground floor of the parking garage, Drab headed in past the gates, and as I was catching up, I hear this screeching, the slamming of car brakes. I turn around, and what do I find but Doerfy and Nilk, BOTH drunk, laughing hysterically at the toll gate. Neither of them were in the right mind, as both of them couldn't figure out how to get the ticket out of the toll booth, not could Doerfy figure out how to drive the car past the gate. Should I also mention that she was trying to drive the car sitting on the passenger side of the car? All the while, Nilk is pissed drunk and not helping by giggling the entire time.

Inside, Drab showed me around, even the gift shop, who knows why. As we wait for the elevator, it opens up, and none other than Krazy Katie is standing inside. At the sight of her, I start walking elsewhere in the lobby as to avoid her, but suddenly someone jumps me from behind, and I collapse onto the floor with Krazy Katie. She starts talking to me and asking all these questions about why I haven't kept in touch with her. Then I push her off and start running away, as quickly as possible.

TERRIBLE dream! I should have just taken the car and partied with drunk Nilk and Doerfy.

Watching Kung Fu Panda.

autotune

Squeeze her cheeks.


My other cousin. The one who told his mom about our private conversation, the one where I divulged to him about my crushes. Ugh, never sharing secrets with him again.


My gram-ma-ma made fried rice the day I left. It always turns out better than mine, even with her rusting skills. Shinier, healthier.


If someone's tag is sticking out of their shirt, would you tell them?

My PI's scrubs were inside out today, and I was wondering the same thing. Then I thought, maybe he intentionally wore them that way, but why would anybody do that? It's like that thing with the food stuck in a person's teeth, particularly lettuce, spinach, beans. Hmm, it's usually a dark colored vegetable...

I get the feeling that my PI wants me to play around with everything in lab. I also get the feeling that he wants me to become autonomous and start running some experiments on the side without telling him. Should I or shouldn't I waste valuable lab resources? It would be fun, just randomly throwing stuff together and seeing what happens.

Oh yeah, bombed my test today. I blame it on the blogging.

On the bright side, no acne this time. My usual pattern is to stress out before a test, resulting in pimples exploding all over my face. Maybe I didn't stress enough for this test? Which could explain why I didn't feel so great about it afterwards...

OH! I saw an Asian fellow on the bus today, who had a similar facial hair pattern to mine, basically above the upper lip, below the other lip, and the chin. I now know what it would look like if I were to grow it out. Pubes.

I hope he shaves soon.

agglutination

Pfffft! My lab mate thinks I'm trendy. HAH! She also can't figure me out, in terms of sexual orientation, other preferences, etc., because I don't seem to fit a certain Asian stereotype. Always nice to know that people still can't figure me out. Although she does keep giving helpful advice, but I'm probably going to need to make time in my schedule for extracurricular activities.

Gramms in the kitchen doing what she does best. Actually I have no idea what she's doing in this picture.


Cousin, just woke up.


Other cousin, the not so brilliant one.


She was a little too rowdy, messing up her hair. She might have an intolerance to pain, too, as she kept bumping her head against the bottom of the upper bunk bed.


Test tomorrow. Adios.

sprachbund

I filled it ALL up when I was sick. And then some.


I had to deal with this little monkey when I went down to LA for Thanksgiving.


She wouldn't sit still and let me take a picture of her.


Finally!

blue room

Interesting dream(s) last night:
First off, I was on the ballroom floor, yet again? Either President-elect Barack Obama or I was dancing with a girl. Except during the dance, he was just gazing at me the entire time. Kind of like in the last episode of Grey's Anatomy in the second season, where Meredith is dancing with the Vet while Derek is dancing with Addison. In one camera shot you see him creepily staring at her while this grossly mesmerizing sex music plays in the background. Ugh Grey's Anatomy reference, terrible. Suddenly, he leaves his dance partner and slowly but steadily walks towards my direction. He stands right in front of me. And then he plants one on me! How can you say no to the President?! This must be how Monica Lewinsky felt in the Oral Office. My dream scope shifted from first to third person view, and I just see myself dangling there in his arms while the future President is taking advantage of me. Once I caught my breath, I started yelling at him and asking why he was violating my mouth. That caused him to start making out with me even more!

Then, I wind up in lab. I'm standing still, looking around at what I thought was my lab, but it had been remodeled into a day spa. At least it gave off that vibe when I was there, with the running water and odd soap scents.

I was actually thinking about lab too much last night. So dreaming about lab was understandable, but kissing Barack?! Sheesh.

They finally diagnosed my grandfather with Parkinson's disease. Or so my aunt says. I sent her an email reply to confirm whether it was a doctor or just someone searching for symptoms on the internet.

Juggling/multitasking in lab today. PCR, gel electrophoresis, fixing/immunostaining, passaging cells. Oy. Feels productive and all, but very stressful since my PI sent me an email yesterday expecting some things to be completed today. But then I find out my PI has clinic on Monday afternoons! So I can't really report any of my results to him until AFTER he gets back. On the upside, because I went past noon, I spent 5 hours in lab today, which was enough to get me a free lunch downstairs! MMM.

Now I sit, waiting, studying, planning. Sigh.

New York Times online site: fraught with errors and typos. Who edits their pages?! Horrible job.

maknae

That one crazy guy at McDonalds- I see him almost every week, whether on the bus or at a bus stop.

Tried the sausage egg mcmuffin today. Not bad, English muffins. Although their coffee lids are getting looser- I tried pouring it into my mouth this morning, and it ended up scalding the middle bone of my thumb.

A nature hike with Clare, his high school friends, and his Rice friends. Hmm, I don't even know if I have stuff to take care of in lab. I suppose I'll go, if the weather permits. For me, permissible weather is either dark, cloudy, windy, cold, or a combination of the above.

More photos of drunk Nilk at Janey's apartment:


Janey was talking to me on the phone the other day, and SOMEHOW my blog ended up in conversation between her and her other. Why my blog is still a conversation piece, I have no idea, but due to some turn of events, Janey ended up telling Dan about my blog. Now the question is whether I should watch what I say. Janey said that the appeal of my blog was its candor, that I say whatever is on my mind without the other person's feelings in consideration. Although, I have been censoring some bits about people and their lives recently. Should censorship be removed?

Things that gross me out recently: people who post photo albums on Facebook concerning them and their significant other in public displays of affection. I already deal with enough of that crap in public- I don't need any more of it splattered all over the internet. Now THIS is something that should definitely be censored. Why can't people touch either other shamefully like back in the old days- in the privacy of their own homes? I demand the return of shame-based religion!

Another thing that grosses me out: finding increasing numbers of people I knew from back in high school, either getting married, or pregnant, with their second child!

Dulles International Airport in D.C.? Their transportation is a little funky here compared to other airports. They have these things lug people around to their respective terminals.


One delightful encounter today was the frozen section. Tator tots! Except I bought the Safeway version, which are called Tator Treats. I have also given in to butter as a spread. Clare was regaling the wonders of butter in a past conversation anywhere from vegetables to toast. A semi-recent food craving led me to buying three different loaves of bread and a tub of Country Crock butter. Fine. I will allow civil unions between butter and toast.

More obsessions of the moment: bagels and cream cheese, sweet potatoes, and fritos.

Crack still rocks my socks. Her messages are too hilarious. Hopefully my project finishes before Christmas so I can go visit her in Houston.

california love

Back from LA.

And the weather is cold in SF. Nice.

Just an update. Expect posts/pictures tomorrow, at the earliest.

Night.

beauregard

Odd angles as a result of being too slow to take the picture...


Painting pop art at Janey's apartment, when she decided to go visit Dan for exactly an hour, as she promised me, but it turned out to be an hour and a half. Fantastik, isn't it!


I think this was after eating Indian food on the Monday night before I left. Janey and her roommate were in their respective bedrooms, and Nilk was watching Family Guy on his laptop, except he fell asleep midway through the show. Here it is again, me exploiting people when they're most vulnerable. Mwahaha.

upholstery

So a girl has drapes and a carpet (hopefully they match in color), but what/where exactly would be the upholstery?

Crap. So I listed 8 friends on my employment form, even though I'm only VOLUNTEERING at this place. Jeezus. Why do they even need to do an extensive background check when I've been doing stuff here for the past 2 months. Fingerprinting as well?!

So ANYWAY, a warning to all that were listed on my sheet- you're either going to get a letter in the mail that you have to fill out and confirm that I was living at said residence and/or am an upstanding/outstanding citizen. I have faith that my friends will do the right thing, except when it comes to food. Yeah, that comment's probably going to screw me over. Oh well!

Ended up having to track people's old addresses through google maps (thank goodness they save your searches). Also ended up having to call Clare and Nants, both of whom sounded surprised that I would call them on a Tuesday. Yes, I was also surprised at having to call people randomly.

Finally tried the food in the "canteen." Umm, it was alright... The macaroni salad was overtly sweet, which I don't think is how macaroni salad is usually made? The spicy chicken and bacon sandwich was a cross between a Subway sub and better quality meat.

The one thing that works at work is gChat, so I spend half of the time doing stuff, and the other half bugging Janey.

sui caedere

More pictures from Sunday. Slutface Janey, in her clothes from the night before. Why ANYONE would wear skimpy clothes in such cold weather, I won't understand, but I'm more of the practical/rational-minded type. Janey = otherwise.

Me, not so hungover, sitting across from Janey and Nilk at a Mexican restaurant. Salty soup, undercooked fish, overcooked steak. Terrible! Former-dinners-with-Drab-terrible!

And to the left of me, a very much hungover Nilk.

AND ANOTHER. I think Janey took these shots of Nilk. I have more pictures of Nilk and less of Janey since she was ALWAYS over at her Dan's place. Then again, Nilk's always putting himself in circumstances that are hilarious to keep in photographs.


You know, instead of reading my blog to see pictures of old friends, you could always make the trip and go see them in person... and then cough all over their floor/sheets/room to try to infect them with your disease. 50% success rate so far- waiting for Janey to crack. Somehow I managed to get my coworker's husband sick, even though he lives in Arizona. my lab mate came back to lab today and told me how her husband responded,"I don't know who J is, but tell him that I hate him, too!" She was telling my PI about how she was cursing my name as she was flying across the U.S. to go to her interviews.

debbie downer

Happy birthday, Marky Mark.

So it was a suicide. Another suicide. It's what I predicted, but was hoping wouldn't be the case. You just never know who's going to be next.

Then there was a news article on CNN about a live-stream of a teenager committing suicide while others just watched, even encouraging him to up the dose.

Why don't people ask for help when they need it? How is it that the ones at risk are always the people you least expect? How can you spot a suicidal person if they look and act just like everybody else?

WHO posted some statistic that one person commits suicide every 39 seconds? If there were a room filled with 30 people you know, they would all be dead in about 20 minutes.

Enough of this.

bard of avon

I've decided not to be a sad sally/negative nancy and spend Thanksgiving by myself this year. So I'm flying down to LA to enjoy the holidays with families.

Another student death. sPamalot's cousin, Paul. I think he was a student at Jones, too. No idea what happened. I hope it wasn't the med school pressure thing that got to him. Seeing all these postings for a wake.

I keep having these moments in lab of pure clarity followed by apathetic desensitization. There's points where my head just explodes with how great the research might be in having an influence on the world, and then there are days where I see the pointlessness of going to lab day in and day out. Little progress, if any, in the grand scheme.

People giving research presentations- more and more annoying. Pet peeve = any time the presenter uses filler words such as: essentially, basically, etc.

Hungry! Grocery shopping. Adieu.

rogan josh

More drunken encounters = more page hits. Therefore, I must put myself in more drunken situations to increase viewership? I hate you peoples.

The morning after!

Much too bright outside. Nilk and I headed out to Bethesda to meet up with Janey for lunch. This is the outside of her apartment complex.

Down at the station, where it's nice, cool, semi-dark.

Hungover Nilk! Actually, it was much easier having fluid conversations with Nilk post-college. Reasons? Half of the time I saw him in college, he was either tired or drunk? Anyhow, no awkward moments when traveling with him on the train or eating with him at dinner. When drinking- he usually babbles on, so there's less of a necessity for me to talk then. I could just nod and he'd continue speaking/shouting.

Meeting up with Janey. Why does she look half-naked? Because she is! Dressed in her clothes from the night before, morning walk of shame.

To be continued...

aloo saag

"Whooaaa. These are the tighest, penis-compressing-est, sperm-killing-est, testicle-grippin'-est jeans I ever tried on." ~Family Guy episode on skinny jeans. HAR!

See the red mark on the side of my neck? This is also from the night of Janey's bday. So first off, we were drinking at Dan's place, playing some Guitar Hero, and then the three of us went to the dive bar, which involved dancing. Definitely NOT divey. Anyway, I was drinking as much as I could, while the other two were shooting and chugging away. After a certain point, I was tired so Nilk and I left without saying goodbye to Janey and Dan. Only problem was, after we walked SO many blocks to the metro station and were on the LONG escalator down to the train, Nilk decides to remember HALFWAY down the escalator that he forgot to close his tab at the bar. Here's a dark picture of the escalator to give you a clue as to why I was bugged by the news.

It took us a few minutes to get down, and then twice that time to get back up the sloooow escalator. Getting back to the bar, I see two remaining patrons inside: a stumbling Janey propped against Dan. Yeah, ignored that to go to the bathroom since I had to pee while Nilk took care of his bill. Once outside, drunk ass Janey was requesting that I say,"I love you," to her, which was probably one of the most ridiculous things that anyone would ever ask of me, knowing fully well that I don't say that shit. Because I refused, she decided to give me a 1+ inch laceration on the side of my neck. Slutface!


Janey went back to Dan's, Nilk and I went back to bug Janey's roommate at her apartment. Fun times!

cheltenham

Last night, I had a dream about Kaiser.

We were sitting at a booth in an American diner- I was at the end of the booth that hugged the wall, while Kaiser was actually sitting up on top of the booth, the backs of the seats. Her friend sPamalot was also there, sitting across from me, along with a couple of their friends. Every time I tried to ask Kaiser a question, she would always respond in a unique manner: she would lean forward, rest her forehead against my left temple, and whisper her responses into my ear. The only problem, though, was that she'd whisper so low that most of her conversation was inaudible. Then when I turned my head to look at her face, I noticed hundreds of pimples and/or freckles all over her face, at which point either I was grossed out or starting laughing at her. Maybe both?

Three adjectives to describe Janey's apartment...

1. DIRTY!


2. DIRTY!


3. DEATH! Never bring live things into their place.


Drunkass Nilk! This might have been a picture taken in the dark, actually. First night I got there- Saturday night- was Janey's birthday, so we went out to what Janey claimed was a "dive." Sapphire Bar. I stopped at 2 1/4 beers, and part of an Irish car bomb, while Nilk and Janey were swigging away like sailors. I ended up having to walk Nilk's drunk ass home since Janey decided to give the DRUNK the keys to her place instead of the more likely to be SOBER one (moi). He was basically the east coast equivalent of drunk Clare. He had no idea where he was walking to; I had to keep guiding him to the train station. Once we got back, he threw up on the toilet, over the toilet, around the toilet. Seriously, I found stains on the OUTER SIDE of the toilet bowl after I went in to use the bathroom. While he was lysoling the shit out of it, the door was closed, but suddenly I heard these clinks followed by a loud thud in the bathroom. Nilk was screaming out,"Everything's fine! Don't come in yet!" He had fallen over into the bathtub, pulling the curtain down with him, and was trying to fix it before I went in. Anyway, once he was done throwing up in there, I was starting to use the bathroom to brush my teeth and take out my contacts when I heard vomiting and running water from the kitchen sink. JUST GREAT. Once I came back out, all the lights were dark. So I grabbed my camera to capture drunk Nilk. More pictures of hungover Nilk and Janey to come.

Hmm, maybe this is a picture of hungover Nilk from the morning, since there's light protruding from under the blinds. So maybe this is a picture of him missing the poster presentation by one of his former PIs at the conference. I walked into the living room since it was 8:30AM, and Nilk was still there. He was muttering half-awake if it were 6:30AM, and I responded,"Uhhhhh, no. It's 8:30." He was supposed to get to SfN by 8AM...

fantastik

Congee doesn't taste as great when I'm getting over my sickness, even if I still have that hoarse cough. Today, I bought preserved duck eggs, pickled radish, pork sung, jellyfish, and oxtail.

Since I'm too lazy to write about my D.C. trip, I'm going to just post pics:

My dinner at SFO, on the way to LAX Friday night for my red-eye flight to D.C.


FIVE dollars for a bagel and coffee! First day of SfN: Saturday morning, after my flight, after meeting up with Nilk at Janey's place (although they were passed out over at Dan's place because they were drinking the night before...)


I slept on the floor of Janey's apartment, to the left of the coffee table, on most nights. Slept in her bed during the day. About her bed- SO many things that I did not want to find out. Dirty girl.


More to come...