Saturday, January 31, 2009

My god-daughter 2:41 PM

Don't you just wanna hug her and kiss her and keep her in your pocket?

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Random pictures of gifts, snow, celebration and lab 3:40 PM

Whats small, shiny, and comes in a pretty turqoise box?
Hehe.. answer: see that thing on my finger?
Tadaa...
A not-so-clear picture of it..

So the other day, I woke up to the sight of snow blanketing almost everything.. and I thought that really cool..
I tried capturing picture of the snow falling.. but to no avail..

And YESTERDAY, the snow fell for the WHOLE DAY and there were inches and inches of snow covering the ground. After the snow, came ice... we had snow and then freezing rain from yesterday till today, and finally like an inch of ice covered the roads and the authorities deemed it too dangerous to drive and everyone got a snow day!!!!! YIPPEE!!!!!

Look at the layer of ice covering everything..

That was after they salted it mind you..

And the roads.. it was pretty funny.. every time the cars came to a stop at the traffic lights, workers would come with shovels to shovel snow off the road.. and then when the lights turned green they would go to the side again.

I saw a couple of smashed cars.. unwise for travelling in this weather unless you have snow tyres..


And CNY.... because we had to miss the real CNY celebrations at home due to CLASSES (grrrrr) we decided to have our version of a reunion dinner in Baltimore! Yusheng!!! Can you believe how creative these fellow Singaporeans are? hahaha



How can we forget the default steamboat!!!! With lots and lots of different kinds of balls!


Close-up.. 2 different kinds of soup base... the left one is prawn and the right one is sukiyaki.

Everything we can grab from the Asian supermarket.

Everyone cannot wait to start lao-ing the yusheng! (including me.. note the bowl in my hands. Btw I specially wore PINK for this auspicious occasion!)

Fellow Singaporeans who made this possible. I really envy those who came with their families because I miss my family especially during this festive season :(


START!!!!

Ohhhh look how cute these kids are!!! Especially the one in the middle! The tallest one!

Family portrait.

Today I was at lab when I noticed many people lining up outside this auditorium.. I decided to take a peek inside to see what they are up to..

WHAT!!!!! TRAYS AND TRAYS OF CHINESE FOOD!!!! REAL CHINESE FOOD!!!! I hopped in line immediately!!!! It was a CNY celebration for Hopkins Chinese!


Look what I got!!! Egg tarts, steamed dumplings, fried dumplings, har kow, siew mai, spring rolls.. OMG!!! I'm in heaven!


Sorry this is kinda unrelated to the rest of the post but its a picture too so I guess I should post it.. so now my lab is a blood cancer lab and we deal with a lot of bone marrow.. yesterday was my first time extracting cells from raw bone marrow.. and I thought it was really cool!!!
Look at that bag.. it was used to hold marrow. I wish I had taken a picture of the syringe that contained the marrow I was working with, direct from the patient's body.. omg.. I can totally imagine his pain... the syringe itself was AS THICK AS MY ARM!

Anw.. things are getting busy... so I might not be able to upload as often.. but I will try! Especially this Friday I might be heading to the Singapore Embassy in DC for the special CNY reception they have for us. So keep your eyes peeled. Peace out.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Obama 1:51 PM

The infatuation with him is almost cultlike. And he hasn't even done anything yet.

After seeing him live in Baltimore, I finally understand why everyone is so drawn to him. They see what he represents. Hope. In this country, a first world country with a crumbling economy, neverending wars, people having to dig into their savings to survive day by day, this is something that is as important as life itself. Hope. I see his sincerity when he talks. He doesn't bullshit. He loves this country. As does everyone else in this country. Seldom do you see people as united as this, in a country. The janitor said he is going to pray for this man, to tide the country through this difficult time. Everyone had their computers tuned into cnn.com to watch the inauguration live at work. Or they skip work altogether.

All for this one thing he represents. Hope. The power of Hope.

Now, we have to wait and see what he does, and see if he lives up to expectations. He has a tough ride ahead.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Life in general 4:11 PM

So the weekend just past, supplies were running low, and Kihyuck suddenly suggested.. why not lets go to Costco! He had a Costco card and we could buy our daily essentials + groceries there! Costco is actually this HUGE warehouse like place where everything is sold in bulk, at ridiculously cheap prices. The only catch is that you gotta buy everything in ridiculous amounts and you gotta pay a membership fee of $50 per year. So the way to get around this is to share with friends.


And so the 3 of us went and OMFG. First time in my life. I was in awe at the sheer size of a grocery shop. LOL. To call it a grocery shop is actually not quite accurate, for they sell almost every friggin' thing, from groceries to electronics, from clothes to jewellery. Yes jewellery. Seriously. I saw this 2.5carat diamond ring, grade G I think, high clarity (forgot how clear it is) and costing 25kUSD. Weijie happened to call me at this time. A timing he will regret later on....


And YES!!! My books arrived!!! My scholarly books! Books to help in my academic pursuit!
1. A PhD Is Not Enough: A Guide To Survival In Science by Feibelman, Peter J.
2. Advice For A Young Investigator by Ramon y Cajal, Santiago
2. Apprentice To Genius: The Making Of A Scientific Dynasty by Kanigel, Robert
That last one was highly recommended by my post doc in IMB. Now Weijie's post doc. So Weijie read the book and in turn highly recommended it to me. And in the end bought it for me. Hehe.. And 3 books was a better deal so he ended up buying all 3 for me on Amazon. Can't wait to start reading! Since this weekend is a long weekend (MLK's birthday), and all exams have finished and new coursework barely started, along with new labwork, I have some time to chill! YAY!



On one weekday, I decided to try cooking some of the food I bought from Costco and Hmart. On a stroke of genius I made this. Looks good? Hm? HEHE!
Its really easy! Basically I just stuck everything into the microwave and waited for it to cook. Only the preparation took some time. Lol!

And today was, quoting some friends, 'fucking freezing'!!! OMG. With the windchill it was -20 degree celsius in the morning when I was going to lab. When we got into Kihyuck's car just now we could see our own breaths INSIDE his car. That was how bloody cold it was. I hope this is as cold as it gets. At least we don't have any precipitation here! For now! And I still gotta go out tomorrow for a friend's birthday... its supposed to be colder than this... blah!

P.S Obama is going to be downtown tomorrow.. where the celebration of my friend's bday is! Wahaha its gonna be CRAZYYYY!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

安静了-S.H.E 9:09 PM

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Bob 1:01 PM

Nope thats not the name of my new boyfriend. It is the name of my new haircut!!! YAY I got a bob!!!! Mostly because I wanna ensure my hair doesn't get too long and unruly here because I don't anticipate cutting my hair here. Because the ang mohs can't cut Asian hair. And the Asian salons here who do, charge SKY-HIGH prices. So far, as scouted by Kihyuck, the best Asian salon here is this Japanese one in Washington DC (an hour drive from here) and it charges like 65 bucks for a haircut. And its 75 bucks with tips. Just a haircut mind you. Sigh.. I miss Singapore.

And so let me post some pictures of me with my new haircut from Facebook! This is for the sake of those who don't regularly scout facebook like I do, and those who complain there are too many words and too few pictures on my blog e.g. Kayan. It is also because I am too lazy it takes too much trouble waiting for people to send me the pictures.

This is from Melek's birthday! So we have this class tradition.. whenever its someone's birthday they get to choose where they wanna have dinner and we go out and have this fancy dinner together! Melek is half Turkish so she chose Turkish food. We went to this place called Cazbar (pronounced Jazzbar)

That's my salmon club! Yum!



My Turkish coffee... Melek told us the way they made this is by adding the coffee grind with water into the same small cup and then warming it slowly until it comes to a boil then serving it.
The grind will stay at the bottom of the coffee cup and you are not supposed to drink it. It is supposed to be used to tell your fortune. But no one on our table knows how its done.. so I can't get my fortune told :(

Group picture!


Pictures from before I got the bob... my new cap from Oakley that costs just 5 bucks after discount heehee.


Santa claus-reindeer I received in the mail from the man in Singapore! The antlers light up and it sings Jingle bell rock when I press its hand/hoof!


Starbucks coffee cup and coffee, my Christmas present from Darshil during the Christmas gift exchange!

Pictures from After the haircut.. heehee.. wearing my new reversible coat from Veeko.. its fab!

The underside is leopard-print.. and I can wear it outside too.. but I just need the guts to do it damnit.. I just need the guts!


The above non-facebook-derived pictures are taken using my webcam, using a new function I just found out it could do.. take pictures! =.= Sorry yours truly ain't too IT savvy. Blah. Ok.. back to the grind.. shit I can't get my body clock to adjust back.. omg... I can't take melatonin but the fact that its there is just tooo tempting... should I trash it!?

Friday, January 9, 2009

Drug interactions 2:53 PM

Oh.My.God.

So I went back to Singapore and then because right after the day I get back to Baltimore I would be having an exam, I decided to take this anti-jetlag medicine Melatonin in a bid to try to curb jetlag before the exam. How this 'natural compound' works is it makes u sleepy. It is something that is originally present in the brain during the sleep cycle and thus it shouldn't have much side effects. I first started taking it when I was in Singapore to ensure it works before taking it in Baltimore. I would take it before I go to bed every night.

First few nights was fine except I would have these really vivid dreams that I remember with the greatest clarity when I awoke. It seems just like reality. I ignored those dreams.

When I got back to Baltimore, I took melatonin and within an hour I got so sleepy I could barely think clearly. I dropped down to my bed and slept till the next morning. Even when I was supposed to wake up, I could hardly wake up. I felt like I was in a trance, weaving in and out of very very realistic dreams. I finally made myself get out of bed and tried to study but my mind was unable to focus.

I struggled through the exam, hopefully it was fine oh my god.

After the exam I was soooo tired I felt like throwing up all the time. I thought it was because I caught a cold when I got home. My friends insisted that I went out to celebrate with them so I went along trying not to disappoint them. When I got back, I took melatonin again and went to bed. I didn't wake up until 5pm the next day. I thought it was the jetlag. But I resolved not to take melatonin again because I have class the next morning and did not want to miss it. That night I couldn't sleep the whole night without melatonin. I finally got out of bed at 5am and didn't go back to sleep after.

So the next night I thought, I better try Melatonin again. So I took it. And after that I woke up at 2pm the next day after a lot of effort and very realistic dreams. Finally I thought, there must be something really wrong.

And I went to check.. and I realized that the drug the doctor prescribed for me for my anxiety actually interacts with melatonin! OMG. No wonder I've been experiencing a lot more bouts of anxiety attacks lately. My hands kept shaking and I kept feeling like I couldn't breathe. Shucks. No more melatonin!!! OMG please help me pray that I pass my exam.....

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

My new wallet 6:02 PM

Christmas present from the man in Singapore... wahaha

Love you! (I mean the wallet) LOL

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!