Saturday, September 20, 2008

Some pictures! (of my birthday) 3:47 PM

Hey guys!! Sorry I know this is reallyyyyy late.. but as usual, its been busy. So these were pictures taken from my birthday! As you can tell, graduate students don't just study, they go out and have fun too! In fact my weekend had been fun-packed, Friday night at the Aquarium, Saturday evening swing dancing, Sunday brunch at an Indian restaurant, its all been so fun! So much so I feel like I'm paying for it now as I'm sitting at my desk waiting for the course instructor to email us our latest take-home exam :S

Anyways, here are the pictures! We went to this nice Japanese restaurant cos I was craving sushi.. lol.. here are my coursemates... the guy 2nd from the left just had his 2nd son 2 weeks ago!

Ooooh.. my birthday cake!!!

My nice classmates kept asking me to "go closer to the cake to blow out all the candles"..

I KNEW SOMETHING WAS COMING!!


Look at the agony on my face as they are bent on destructing me hahahaha

Oooooh.. ok now for cake-cutting proper... No playing! I got a hugeeeee knife in my hands!

Multi-cultural bonding.....

Best done over beer!

Check out my fantastic JAPANESE FOOD!!!!! YUM!!!!!!! Burpppp

The entire class... ok not entire.. but all those who went!

One came later.. almost full strength now.. except 4.. 3 of whom are married and seldom hang out with us, and 1 whose girlfriend was in town and he was hanging out with her.

Hanyuan seldom had a chance to drink beer in Singapore.. he was having his fill over there..

One more group picture! Really multicultural aren't we? We found that between us all, we could speak like, 15 languages.. wowwww

The "organizers".

The Korean who recommended the place (it was run by Koreans, and the very nice boss gave us sake when he realized it was my birthday haha)


Anyway, on to work-related stuff. I have found new inspiration to continue working hard on what I'm doing. Some background to those who have no idea, I have started my first rotation, it is in this neuro-oncology lab. Many might not know, but JHU is actually most famous for neuroscience, and I hope to be able to learn as much as I can from the amazing people here.


So anyways, I met this great prof and he gave me this project on pilocytic astrocytomas. He said they found something interesting and just published a paper and there were many other groups simultaneously working on this project, i.e. I gotta really work hard if I don't wanna get scooped. So anyway, he continued describing the project to me, and when he went on to tell me that PA isn't really invasive and its really a low grade tumour that is generally considered benign, my interest dwindled.. and I'm really so ashamed of myself now, even though I continued working rather hard on it.

So apparently, this PA tumor is a tumor primarily affecting young kids in the brain and even though it's low grade, cos it's right in the brain in developing kids, some kids die from it. I didn't really know that until one day I randomly read this email printout pinned up in the board in the lab. So this project is really funded by this foundation started by this lady whose kid died from PA. And she's upset because people generally don't have drugs for PA cos its mostly uninvasive and considered benign, but kids still die from it. So she's fighting to make people start taking this more seriously.

You guys can click on the picture for a larger image.. its worth reading. It brought tears into my eyes and I was really close to sobbing when I read it in the lab.. it was a Saturday so no one was around to see that thankfully.

I should be ashamed of myself right... shouldn't I? I used to have all these evil daydreams about some big Nature or Cell paper if I can have a breakthrough or whatever. Now, if I'm working hard, its purely altruistic. So we can be 1 step closer to a cure for these kids. So we can eventually be able to rid all the kids of these unnecessary pain.

Another thing the lab is working on is medulloblastomas. The other day, my PI walked into lab and passed my post doc a falcon tube and told him "medulloblastoma", and my post doc took it and got right to work. I was confused, cos he was talking to me before that and all, so I asked the colleagues where he went. They told me, my PI just gave him a TUMOR and he gotta extract RNA and stuff from it. I was like.. Cool! A real tumor? Did they just get it out today?

And they were like, yea.. a real tumor, and no... not today... like JUST. As we are talking, the guy's head is probably still open. And then, I felt like I was going to throw up.. and then as we continued chatting, I realized that the 'guy' they were talking about was actually a KID cos medulloblastomas affects kids! Its a developmental tumor. OMG... I felt like crying again. Kids that are 6 or 7 yrs old shouldn't be made to go through all that.. that's just wrong! Ya I feel like crying everyday in that lab.. hearing all these.. its kinda depressing.. cos I finally realized one day that my PI works on PEDIATRIC brain tumors. Thats why everything we're dealing with involves kids.

Then one day I was just chatting with my very nice (and cute) post doc.. and I told him this is so depressing.. I feel so upset whenever I think about these kids. And he said, "The way to think of it is we're helping these kids. The faster we work, the earlier they get a cure. And that makes it less depressing."

So thats the mantra I'm living by everyday now. I see that email pin-up in lab everyday. And when I see it, its just a reminder to keep working, keep working. I'm thinking, maybe I should get like a volunteer job to help these kids too. Hmm.. you know what? I think I might just join this lab to do my PhD. Its really more meaningful than all the commercial stuff going on around this place. I feel like I'm somehow, making a difference to these kids. :)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

2:57 PM

short comment i just wanna make.. I realize that what makes a high impact paper may not actually be the experiment or the discovery, but how the paper is written. Usually the experiment might be simple and silly or really common normal stuff. But then you get this puzzling data/result. And then here comes the biggie.. how you interpret it! You can say a zillion things about the implications, and if its convincing enough, VOILA! You got yourself a nature paper! Hahahaha never mind me.. just reading this paper that my PI might be interested in.. gonna send it to him later. But it just suddenly hit me that the results actually seem dumb, its the implications the authors wrote that made it interesting. Anyways.. need to do more readings! BYE!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

PICTURE TIME!!!!!! 9:00 PM

Just came back from a social and guess what?! If you had been following me on twitter, which I try to update with 1 sentence every time I did something new or remembered, I have this take home exam which is really a pain in the ass, and guess what I have one every 2 weeks! And so, I'm really glad today cos I finished BOTH take home exam AND all my assignments!! Well, almost all. All those that are gonne be graded anyways, so thats good!!!

And today I also went to a classmate's apartment (and managed to feel yet MORE inferior about my tiny rathole) and ate a nice lunch with her at a nice little vegetarian cafe. We did our homework together thats why we finished so quickly. And watched tv for the FIRST TIME this time I'm in the US. Hehe.. watched the marathon of House. I think I'm addicted already.

So anyway, finally I have time after all that socializing today cos I finished all my homework, and I decided to upload the photos before I get too lazy or too busy with homework again. Here goes!

This was the first picture I took after getting off the plane and transiting in Chicago.. it's not very clear, but well, it shows all the broken blood vessels in my arm after having to lug that bag here and there and I just got so annoyed and its painful too! Haha but anyway, my arm is fine now.


My JHU pass! Its quite lousy I think cos in older students it gets faded around the ages hahaha


Goodie bag!!! I love goodie bags and they have a lot of free stuff over here, perfect for cheapos like me LOL

OOH look at this CUTE JHU folder!!! I love it!

And more?? JHU luggage tag?? WAHHHHHHH!!!!!! THEY GOT MONEY BABY!

OH and thats what annoying roommate did... hang underwear in the LIVING ROOM!!!!!! WAH LAU EH!!! Lucky I didn't buy 4D here man.. haha anyway nope I don't think they know of this blog.. gotta have a place to vent my frustrations don't I?!
The other day, guess what this other roommate did? She cut her hair!!! Ok cutting your hair is fine. Cutting it in our toilet is fine too.. but you know what?! She cut her hair and left the cut hair all over the sink and the floor in the toilet!!!! WAH LAU!!! Expecting who to clean up for her?! I think she was kinda expecting me actually cos I clean up after them so much cos the mess doesn't bother them?!!! BUT THIS IS THE ULTIMATE!!! No way I'm gonna clean THAT up man!! So here's what I did. The next day I found the culprit, cos of her short hair obviously, confronted her, and got her to clean it up immediately!!!! I think she was kinda embarassed, but WELL SHE SHOULD BE!!!!!


Anyway... ok let off all that steam already. So this is the view from my house.. that building right there is this institute thats under the hospital. The main hospital building is BEAUTIFUL!! But I haven't had time to take pictures and do touristy stuff yet.. so sad.. I hate homework!!

So the other day, this Singaporean lady who's my upstairs neighbour asked me out and we drove all the way to this town near DC for dim sum!!! The place is at Silverspring, but I don't know the name of the dim sum place. Its apparently quite good, cos we gotta wait like, about an hour to get in or something. So after 1 hr of driving and 1 hr of waiting, I was really anticipating and salivating. Thats that place right there, with the red signboard thats kinda tiny.. but squint and you'll see it.
But guess what?! I was disappointed man.. way disappointed!!! The cheong fun was as thick as my arm, the dumplings were as huge as my palm, the pan fried carrot cake was not even solid! It was like gooey and kinda dripping when I tried to use my chopsticks to hold it up. EWWW and thats the best dim sum they get around here!? I miss SINGAPORE!!!


More pictures of the area around the dim sum place...

Pretty blue skies!

So after dim sum, the nice Singaporean neighbour brought me out to downtown Baltimore where I met a lot more Singaporeans!!!! That's downtown Baltimore. Its pretty. Well, I think its the only pretty place in here. LOL!

That's an atas grocery shop I think.. they sell organic stuff.

So there's this Singaporean lady working in a bank here, she gets to live in this swanky apartment right smack in the middle of downtown Baltimore.. so she really loves it.. well I don't blame her cos I love it too! If I got the money! So this is her view.. from the balcony.
Pretty huh..

OH guess what I saw inside atas supermart? Non-alcoholic beer! Should get some of this for Weijie...

Went for dinner at this Mexican restaurant later with the Singaporeans. Pictured here are 3 of them, including me! The one on the left is this Singaporean doing her post doc at Hopkins and the one on the right is my neighbour.
Nice nice nachos!!!


So what's Maryland most famous for??

BLUE CRABS!!!!! So Kai Lee brought us the other day to sample some!!! Pictured below is one of the nachos side dish.. not very important.. and sorry for the orientation cos I forgot to rotate it.. haha just turn your heads ok?
Thats another side.. fried mushrooms..
AND THE HIGHLIGHT!!! So the waiter comes in with this HUGE tray balanced on his shoulder, and then the table was spread with paper already, and he pours ALL the crabs onto the table!!
We even got a hammer to crack the shells!

And... that's how its done! The crabs have this special seasoning on them called Old Bay's seasoning.. I think that's supposed to be what makes it nice. Only in Maryland.

And look at this!!! Crab cakes!!!!!

Oh and look!!!!! Where did these pretty flowers come from?? OOOOhhh lovely!!! Weijie don't get jealous ok? haha
Nahhh not from some secret admirer la... haha got them from the social just now!!! Apparently you get to take the flowers home!!! If you're fast enough.. cos they only have 1 vase per table. And yes, you get the vase too!!!! Awwwwww... sooooo pretty!!!!!!!!

Ok.. thats all for now.. till the next time we meet again!!!!!! Hopefully sometime soon!!!!! Niteee tatas!!!

Monday, September 1, 2008

Here Weijie comes! 8:40 PM

So wj decided to grace me with his presence in Baltimore, and he brought along a bounty of love from my parents in Singapore!!!!!! And the past few days were crazy filled with joy and happiness, and of course, loads upon loads of homework. And YES the workload here is CRAZY! Which explains why I haven't had time to blog for so long after the first one. And I haven't even started my rotation yet!!!!

But no worries darlings, I'll be back for Christmas probably so if you 'got heart' you will probably get to see me! But I'll only be back about a week, so catch me if you can!

So anyway, back to my workload and wj. OMG I felt like crying everyday cos there's so much work for me to do that when he was here all he could do was just sit and watch me do my work and fall asleep cos he was so bored. I didn't even have time to bring him around the hospital campus and the place I have classes everyday, and yesterday night we both basically stayed up the WHOLE ENTIRE NIGHT rushing this damn assignment cos msword DIED on me the night before it was due!!! My entire week's effort... gone! And the worst thing is, I couldn't even redo it cos I couldn't open msword at all! In the end I had to do it in notepad and submit it in that format. And I totally hate it cos its so substandard cos it was rushed out in 6 hours instead of the entire week that I took to meticulously go through the lectures and make notes. I felt so bad and I really totally hated that prof even though she's really a good teacher, cos she took my precious time with wj away from me. And it wasn't like he had a long time here, just a couple of days. Sad...

Anyway, yup here I am, all alone again. Met a few more people in this week, and got to know some of my classmates better. They are mostly really nice people! Starting to love it here. And the past few days, visited a few friends' houses, in which they rented rooms in. Its cheaper than renting an apartment, and it looks and feels really nice! I'm thinking, next year when I have to move out of my dorm, I'd probably go rent a room in a house instead of an apartment. And the thing is, houses like that, you can only possibly live in when u are here in the US! So why not?? Hehee

OK photos, and more entries, when things start to let up alright?

Till then! TATA!

Welcome to the blog of 武林盟主. In this space of hers, she is entitled to and responsible for her own thoughts and comments. You are welcome to give your few cents worth in the tag, but do not force her to accept your thoughts should they differ from hers. If everyone thinks the same way we would all be robots no?

武林盟主 is this pugilistic genius everyone calls a deranged lunatic. But that's cos they haven't witnessed her great powers yet! She can be regarded as the best product coming from the Pugislistic World in the past 100 years, and 武當, 少林 and 峨嵋 are scrambling to get her to be their 掌门人. She likes think of herself as the next 杨过, 郭靖 or 张无忌.

武林盟主 also has this slightly straight slightly crooked sexuality. At times when the Estrogen triumphs, she preys on hot guys. Other times when the Testosterone levels peak, she preys on hot girls. Some say that is a side effect of the 葵花宝典. Her doctors are still working to establish that.

Many say she's invincible. But that's not true. Bring a DURIAN in front of her, and she will ditch her sword and raise the white flag. She's still desperately trying to master the 闭气功 so she can overcome this weakness.

She now resides in a tiny little room in a tiny little building in a tiny little university/hospital in the tiny little city of Baltimore, studying her tiny little life away in the hopes of getting some Permanent Head Damage. If you feel you can communicate at her level and wish for her to be your soulmate, feel free send her a note of pugilistic admiration and alliance!