i'm coming home i'm coming home i'mcominghome!!! yay. jump for joy.

Shuzhen borrowed the entire series of BlackAdder frm the library. FIVE DVDs!! *rolls eyes* it's really funny... some of it Really Painful (like watching Jack Nicholson in 'anger management') but can't help laughing. some parts also crude.... loads of references to genitalia.

wah. don't play play man. think the British are all stiff upper lip and what not but erm.. hey... BBC showed the Teletubbies. proves that they're actually perverts who like to scare little children.......(!?!)

heh. no offense to any Britons. Oxford probably one of the best times in my life. But it rains far too much for one island.

ello, summer! goodnight, moon! there are chickens in the trees.

so i was thinking about fortune cookie msgs, and what I would write.... i figured that one can grp the msgs into a few categories:

1) random (a penny saved is a penny earned) sayings/advice:
- when it rains, expect to get wet.
- do not pick up random green glowing objects
- if an asteriod collision is imminent, leave earth
- frogs in wells are probably really hungry

2) good news:
- you will get the last cookie in the cookie pot
- the time is ripe for world domination
- it's time you learnt the truth, son. You have superpowers and are greater than any man. Oh yar, beware that kryptonite.
- (spin off frm Homer Simpson's cookie) you will make good love today.

3) bad news/insults (which will never make money):
- you will be bitten by a venomous carnivorous plant and develop multiple open festering wounds.
- someone has discovered a way to turn shit into oil. Congrats! You're now worth a million bucks.
- there are few lifeforms lower than pond scum, but you've definately made it.


ah... ran out of inspiration. might think of other choice selections later... any additions are welcomed. just drop me an email.

Whoop! got a new template! have to learn some html.... can anyone recommend a good tutorial?

Raffles Cafe (damn zai s'porean restaurant in fremont) is gone.... *sob*.... quality of life here has definately gone down a notch.. good thing bubble tea is still around.

HAVE TO DO WORK. which is why i'm wasting time on my blog at this exact moment. am gradually sliding into a procrastination spiral of death. feels good. *grin*

have also decided that my current boss is the guy i wanna work for for the next (hopefully) 4 years... *happy dance*.. check out the lab webpage: http://www.stanford.edu/group/utzlab/ it's awesome.... this lab has loads of potential, the people there are incredible, and the PI is a fantastic person. but the lab is Really Short Of Space..... and PJ (da boss!) is putting me on hold for the moment.... =(... hopefully we get lab space in the near near future and I can finally have a permanent home on campus. all i need now is a thesis project, a valet and a personal trainer--- then time for Complete World Domination.

was irradiating mice the other day, got bored, so cut out a piece of tape, stuck it to the wall, wrote 'Happy Tape' and drew a smily =). after that was completely horrified because i had morphed into Lucinda. Luz: you'll probably never see this but I hope u're doing well n i miss u loads. disclaimer: miss everyone else too but luz especially at this time becos of the tape. oh n of course missing jomo is always a constant ache in my heart =)

mebbe more after i finish work.

*grinz*.... mark just sent me the link to gerri's live journal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/szelin107/ . The april 20 post is especially worth reading.... *beam*.... JC was fun.... must admit (grudgingly) that the class journal entry was one of mark's more inspired moments..

so... the roast chicken frm safeway is really good! *grin* enlightened discovery.... i wonder how they do it... mebbe i shd try......... ARGH. *shudder*... i'm turning into a housewife!! *horror*..... aiyah.... it's simply a survival mechanism, right? need to eat what.

se(4) diao(1) [return of the condor heroes] is on! have to go watch... till later.....

whoa. long time no blog. thought of a few brilliant excuses (eg. my cat ate my computer)... but figured no one will believe me because:

1) i don't have a cat
2) everyone knows that snakes eat computers, not cats.


am inspired to train harder for nanquan again.... can get much faster n smoother... but might end up with even more monster thighs.... hmm.... bad tradeoff?? aargh. need to run more.... lazy lah.. but after a tremendous struggle with my inner glutton, managed to stop myself frm buying icecream at safeway.

heard that they're cancelling the victoria secrets fashion show!! calamity!! cos of compliants after the whole janet jackson super bowl thing about sexuality on TV.... =(... what the F#$%!!! just show the fashion show later at night lah! i mean... it's pretty blatent sexuality, can censor frm kids if need be.... not like the sudden nipple thing that janet pulled.... sigh. the msn.com article has a comment frm some womens' grp that applauds the move, cos it's telling women that they have to be thin. i think the woman saying that has GOTTA be fat. if u're not fat but obsess about weight to the point of bulimia or some other condition it's probably because u have self-confidence issues already. either because of some horrible childhood influence or horrible boyfriend or something. if u're really fat then mebbe u Should Try to lose weight. definately not healthy to be obese. mebbe it'll inspire people to work out.

blame fast food companies, not fashion shows. i think my awareness about my weight is healthy and not self destructive.


so anyways. current lab rotation doesn't involve any mice! (yay) am making a humanized antibody. anyone with experience and advice, do drop me an email.

craving bubble tea.......

hey! found a new thing to do while procrastinating.... i was wondering about what one of my classmates did while at college, so i did a search on her on her sch's webpage. nothing. tried google. nothing. got bored so i did a search on myself on google.... it was pretty cool, i'm on 5 of the top 6 hits... =).... slight ego boost there. i guess that comes from having a pretty unique name.... *grin*.... but i like to think that of all the Pearline Teo's in the world, i probably have the most web presence..... didn't manage to google my blog though..... hhrmph.... mebbe i need more hits.... now my new goal in life is to get more google pages while searching for myself.......

back to work.

eerm.. saw this TV commercial by Clorox saying that they DO remove dirt. am very confused. am also convinced that if it really does clean, it definately has more than just bleach.

anyways. lack of blog postings is due to actually having work to do this quarter, being disgusted that all i can talk or think about is killing mice, and my general apathy with life, school and now even wushu. gotta get myself out of this rut.... i know. i'll get myself a new life. swap bodies n life with someone else for the day..... this is why having a twin will be useful.... on the bright side, i have seaweed. yummy seaweed. went kayaking and saw giant kelp. they were HUGE. MASSIVE. scary. i hope my seaweed isn't made of those.

had lab meeting today, where food was provided by this japanese post doc. we had those small fish-shaped salted cracker thinggys that i really really liked when I was a kid.. not goldfish. shaped like different fish, also got starfish and cuttlefish shapes.. =).. *grin*. second childhood.

so apparently i can take this 'medical mandarin' class, then work as an interpreter in the Stanford Hospital.... so cool right?? not only will i be able to say 'chronic obstructive pulmonary disease' in chinese, i get paid to do it.... but now i have no time... perhaps next year.

i miss my 'yi3 tian1 tu2 long2 ji4' on TV....

so. read Jason's blog about using Clorox to do laundry and it's miracle houdini stain thing. this made me decide to immediately post here to clarify one thing about bleach. IT DOES NOT CLEAN CLOTHES. it just makes everything look white/colourless, giving the False Impression of cleanliness.

it's true. those bed sheets and socks and shirts that look spotless actually have hidden residual dirt!! so. i object to bleach on moral grounds. if i'm gonna wear residual dirt around, i wanna know it. *grin*... heh... isn't this great? a moral justification for my laziness.

so. next time you put on 'clean' white socks, Think Again.

School Again. mebbe I'm getting too old for sch. F*** that life-long learning shit.

Went for one of those brain scan psych experiments! the MRI was very loud, n got to stay still while biting on this mouth-bit thing n trying not to salivate all over myself. but the money is Good. instant cash too. will def do this again when I feel poor. =)

Was just wondering if Fe2+/Fe3+ is ferromagnetic.... how did Magneto do the sucking-all-the-iron-out thing in Xmen2? where's a periodic table when u need one? all I have are coffee tables and dining tables.....

I miss my holidays. can't wait for spring break.

was filling out the form for the expt, and realised that i've been in school for 15 years! wow! obviously I haven't learnt anything because I'M STILL HERE. was watching 'Mona Lisa Smile' where Julia Roberts is one of those challenge-your-perceptions teachers who (surprise!) inspires and opens the minds of her students etc etc. geez. in my next life I wanna be a art history prof. all u have to do (apparently) is look at art n say why u like/dislike it. plus u get to look like julia roberts. what a deal.

hm. was sidetracked. wanted to say that perhaps real and useful education is about becoming more self n world-aware etc etc... but i'm sure they survived pretty well back in those cavemen days w/o sch... why did we have to build all these complex layers of society so that ppl have to spend so much time in school.... but then I guess engineering n medicine n nuclear physics etc needs some time to learn... oh BLAH. can't find a good reason to destroy all schools. *sulk*... mebbe tomorrow.

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.