whoa. realised it's been a while... now that it's the holidays, i actually have stuff to do instead of procrastinate n avoid work. =)....

new n exciting developments:

I sedated mice!!! a life-changing experience, i assure u. involving
1) holding the mouse at the back of the neck without getting bitten
2) inserting the needle at the right spot (ie. the mouse instead of ur fingers)
3) delievering the correct amt of sedative (so it's KO-ed but not dead)

all technically challenging and extremely scary. =(

*shudder*

the mice are really cute. but one wrong move n they become lean, mean, finger-biting machines. squirmy too.


Oh yeah, merry christmas n happy new year to everyone! Spent Christmas in Tahoe. snow tubing is awesome. snow is pretty amazing too. if only it wasn't so cold. The guys (mark, len n rivai) are dangerous ard snow... a generous chunk might appear in ur face or behind ur neck at ANY TIME.

BBbbrrr.

Harlow. spent the weekend on my butt, trying to snowboard. thank goodness it was a powder wonderland, pretty forgiving to people who insist on banging their behinds forcefully against the mountain. Am not gonna start on the eternal snowboard vs ski debate, but my personal opinion is that SKIING IS BETTER. eternal gratitude goes out to Sean Wat, for his loan of knee and wrist guards. eternal gratitude also to the plentiful powder, which is the reason why i'm here typing at my computer instead of in hospital with multiple concussions and broken buttbones.

I GOT TO TOUCH MICE TODAY!!!! They were unconscious, but still warm n tiny n fuzzy n breathing. *beam*... so cute. they didn't smell too good though. and they were squirmy n belligerent and tried to bite the post-doc who was injecting them with anesthetics.. I think I get to inject them on thursday......... eek. There's the whole mouse-ethics thing which I'm kinda divided on n don't wanna go into... just like the snowboard-skiing debate.... and like the Saddam-Iraq debate..... I bet Bush Jr AND Senior are both really happy.

Jr: "Look dad! I got Saddam!! Now u can go kick his ass like he kicked yours in 1991!!"
Snr: "Good Job Son, see I told you this whole Iraq pseudo-terrorism thing would work out. Now mebbe u'll keep your job for another 4 yrs. Down with Democracy... erm... Democrats."

LOTR 3 is coming out in TWO DAYS! yay.

hm. well. another week goes by. brings to mind this quote frm Macbeth:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow,
Creeps on this petty pace from day to day;
Till the last syllable of recorded time.
And all our yesterdays have lighted Fools,
The way to Dusty Death.
etc etc.

thank goodness the quarter is ending-- new hope that next quarter this whole petty pace thing will be NO MORE.

so my aunt is getting me to help her buy human growth hormone. for everlasting youth. =). wow. I hope when I get old, i won't want to buy HGH too. I mean. I may get fat, old and ugly (unlike my aunt who is tall and slim and really not that wrinkled-- why she wants HGH is beyond me), but I hope I never realise it. or mebbe I'll know it but won't care because everyone loves me regardless =). but how effective is HGH anyways?? unless we can reactivate our telomerase and never need to enter replicative senescence, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!! I'm sorry. stark naked truth. get over it.

This whole cloning thing..... I dunno man. I don't think it's the solution to eternal youth. If your brain dies and you get a genetically identical brain, is it still you? how about if you only get a partially new brain? say they manage to get new cells to replace those lost in Alzheimers.....?? Will they make the same connections? do you get a new consciousness? is it gonna be like an alien taking over part of your brain?? heh heh.... I've read too many Animorph episodes... (it's a great series, btw, by KA Applegate, about aliens taking over brains. True it's targeted at 10yr olds, but it's still pretty good.)

anyways. enough crap for today. stay tuned.

ps: needle and thread is officially removed frm my wish list. replaced by Personal Maid Service.

Ooops. missed my self imposed dateline (wednesday) to post on this page. ah well. *shrug*. the beauty of being able to break self-imposed datelines. Although I do have a good reason. Instead of pretending to do hw and actually playing solitaire (as per usual), I was watching "Fucking Amal" on my computer. Unfortunately, the version I downloaded was in Swedish. WITH NO SUBTITLES. It was still really good. No porn, despite it's name. Realised later that Amal is supposed to be a small town in Sweden, and that the teenagers there are really bored. Hence the title. It's actually a good teen flick. about these two gals who may or may not be homosexual. i think (but can't be sure due to my lack of Swedish) they end up still somewhat uncertain about the whole thing. But how on earth did I end up downloading the completely Swedish version of a movie I knew nothing about? I dunno. I think it was one of those 'hey-this-guy-on-kazaa-is-downloading-really-fast-lemme-check-what-else-he-has-and-download-everything-he's-got' things.

so. no offense to the Swedes, but I think French still sounds a lot better. Although I recognise one or two words that sound like French, and 'mama' and 'papa' is also used..... hm. isn't weird that so many languages use 'mama' and 'papa'???? even chinese....... i wonder if it's the same in arabic and the African languages....

I STILL HATE BIOCHEM

I HATE BIOCHEM

Heyheyheyheyhey
Skiing was good =)..... something about careening down mountain slopes and all that adrenalin that puts me on this High..... heh heh.... (that was a really bad corny joke, btw) Also, we had way too much food and had to bring stuff back... I now have three big bags of about 10 hamburger buns, as well as copious amts of Sprite n Pepsi.... *bliss*

Tahoe is nice, but Thanksgiving is a wee bit too early to ski-- not enough snow. And the ski lifts have the disconcerting habit of stopping suddenly, leaving you rocking gently above lovely sharp rocks and steep slopes.... it was also kinda weird to see two bras decorating a tree as we were going up the slopes..... *shrug*....... *rampant imaginings*..

Was avoiding homework and reading Irving's "The Fourth Hand"... Pretty good, as all his books are.... haven't finished, so can't say for sure what his point is.... something about changing and growing up (?).... somehow it seems to revolve around kids being the obsessive goal and fulfilment of Life.... Hm. can't say I really agree with that at this point. but mebbe I haven't really grown up yet (thank God). But I def see the Darwinian argument for it.... Mebbe we have a sort of biological responsibility to perpetuate our genes? Ensure variability and hence the survival of the species? But if we're all gonna die sooner or later frm another asteriod or the Sun dying out then what's the point of it all?? sigh. I hate steering myself into one of these meaning-of-life debates. oh blah.

on a brighter note, Shuquan made Bread Pudding =)... with chocolate chips =)

Was pondering over this whole gift-giving phenomenon-- I just don't like it..... Perhaps it's cos my family isn't at all into it-- not even during b'days and Christmas etc. It's so much easier to give $$ during Chinese New Year than to agonise for weeks over the "perfect" gift, which never turns out to be all that perfect anyways. Imagine if all that brain power could be directed into thinking about World Peace or sustainable energy, or famine, or alchemy etc etc... I bet Einstein never really thought about what to give his mum for Mother's Day...

I think the Top 3 gifts I ever got were my Oxford Rugby shirt, and socks. And my frog..... And that's when I continually vocalised my burning desire for them..... It's Brilliant that all these websites now let you create online wishlists-- Everyone should do them and check out their friends'.... i mean... U get exactly what you want, and ppl don't have to waste days of their lives getting you something that really means a lot to you, but is PURPLE and thus you usually won't be caught dead wearing. the only problem is that each store has their own list, so if u want 1 thing each from gap, ae, amazon, best buy etc etc etc, ur poor friends have to devote brain power to guess which website to check out.....

so I've decided to create my sample wish list here (just for reference, of course):
1. Needle and Thread.
2. Socks. (can Never have too many socks, esp with the weird time warp/black hole thing going on with the dryer)
3. wushu staff (for nangun)
4. wushu shoes
5. Brad Pitt
6. Socks

=).... so. not all items are practical and realistic (I understand if you can't find good socks), but the rest should be manageable, right? oh yes. a US Green Card and US$10million can't hurt either.

ciao and happy thanksgiving!

Hey! My first Blog! This monumental occassion is inspired by Mark the Spark, resident alien in Seattle, WA. His blog is at http://sparkliest.blogspot.com , which kinda makes him seem like a big diamond...... but rest assured that he's not. Apart frm the whole inner glow thing he's got going on, mark is mostly human.

There's so much I can rant about..... that i'm left momentarily speechless...... ironic. I watched the Victoria's Secret fashion show the other day. Man, it was Good. It wasn't (just) the cleavage..... they all have damn good bodies..... and incredibly sultry looks.... *bliss*... heh heh. ok so Jason thinks it's demeaning to women to have these shows..... I really don't think so-- haven't u guys watched Miss Congeniality?? I think men AND women have to get over themselves about this whole gender equality issue. I'm sure it's extremely empowering for the models, and it sure as heck brings viewers loads of joy. The only adverse effects I can think of is on those bulimic and anorexic people who might get even more bulimic and anorexic... go to safeway and buy a normal self-esteem. those stores have Everything.... or go to Target. expect more, pay less.

so I was talking to Dana, a friend who does weightlifting..... he sez that all these weightlifters who do shows are all on crazy diet and steriod programs.... apparently some ex-Mr Universe guy has only 2% body fat, so he has so little peritoneal fat that the impact he gets frm jogging would seriously injure his internal organs......

point of my rantings today-- it's not just women who do crazy things to their bodies...... men are equally cuckoo... *sigh*.... live n let live, i say.