Movies/stuff

Movies/Shows/Ratings:

The Arrival: 9/10

Interesting if you're into alien invasions and conspiracy theories.

Wrong Turn 1 and 2: 8.5/10

scary shit, very gory too. I recommend it if you like scifi movies or find cannibalism intriguing.

Currently watching:

Gossip Girl 8.5/10

Started from the beginning of season 1 a few days ago and I'm hooked now! Watched four episodes in one day! Ah! My eyes are bleeding from staring at the screen for too long. I used to hate this show (because Vlad likes it. Plus, it just sounded very girly). But after giving it a second chance, it's not too bad.

Other stuff:

Spent a nice relaxing morning in a friends backyard tanning out in our bathing suits. Had to pull out spf 70 sunscreen... although I've been warned that spf 40/above gives a higher chance of causing cancer. Is that really true? If so, I may have cancer now.

I've decided that I don't want to pursue pharmacy as a career. There's too much pressure associated with the job due to its unstable nature, and too much competition rather than collaboration. More on that later.

Sewing machine finally came!. Fixed up some old jeans into a bag. Idea taken from ThreadBanger.com

Pest Control

We found a mouse running around our kitchen! oh no! So my dad pulled out these suckers. They were supposed to be used for catching the squirrels that were chewing on our roof, but since that did no good, we'll try it on the mouse.

Hiking!

Workplace

Beowulf... what the shit

Beowulf was on FX today so I decided to watch it. Hated it.

I read the book junior year in English and it was one of the few books that had a lasting impression on me. Plotwise, the book wasn't so thrilling, but for a story written more than 1000 years ago, it did bring up themes that accurately reflect some of the major flaws of individuals and societies in general so for me it was a thought-provoking and educational book. I felt that alot of that substance was lost in the film adaptation.

The character portrayal of Beowulf was especially disappointing. Beowulf is an interesting character, the flawed and fallible man, the hero who is incapable of being a king... it would have been great if the director had captured some of that essence and portrayed it more thoroughly in the film adaption, but instead more emphasis was placed on sexing up the plot than character development. The "flawed and fallible" aspect of Beowulf's character was briefly touched upon, but only through Beowulf's affair with Grendel's mother and Ursula (I'm pretty sure Ursula wasn't mentioned in the book... but man, if they had to invent a new character, way to choose the worst name), which is nice but seriously Hollywood?... you can do better than that. And Grendel's mother... what the shit, I thought you were supposed to be a hideous monster, not a seductress covered in gold.

The animated effect also throw me off. Maybe it was more effective in theaters with IMAX 3D and all that fancy shit but on tv, it just looks they don't quite know what effect they were trying to achieve so instead they made a hybrid where all the female characters have plastic and overly retouched faces and the male characters are still like their normal self and so when they have people of the opposite sex in the same scene, ie, kissing scenes, it looks as if Beowulf is kissing a plastic mannequin. Also, some of the effects look very futuristic, which doesn't sit well with the fact that this story is supposed to be set in the 5th century.

That's it for my rant. Just had to get it out there, worst movie I've seen in a long time.

Been accused of not being honest, so here's a truth survey!

75 Questions You've Probably Never...

TAKE THIS SURVEY!

Take this survey

1. First thing you wash in the shower?
hair

2. What color is your favorite hoodie?
gray/white

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?
yes

4.Do you plan outfits?
only for special occasions

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now?
extremely cheerful

6. Whats the closest thing to you thats red?
?

7. Do you say aim or a-i-m?
aim

8. Tell me about the last dream you remember having?
being chased by a giant elephant and forced to hide inside a steam tunnel

9. Did you meet anybody new today?
yes

10. What are you craving right now?
iced mocha

11. Do you floss?
i try to

12. What comes to mind when I say cabbage?
chinese food

13. When was the last time you talked on aim?
few months ago, don't use aim now

14. Are you emotional?
of course, i have emotions

15. Would you dance to the taco song?
why not

16. Have you ever counted to 1,000?
no, don't have the patience

17. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it?
lick it, i like to savor the taste

18. Do you like your hair?
not right now, it looks very barbie-like

19. Do you like yourself?
sometimes i love myself, sometimes i hate myself

20. Have you ever met a celebrity?
seen, yes, met, no

21. Do you like cottage cheese?
i love ALL kinds of cheese, except goat cheese

22. What are you listening to right now?
Not Myself Tonight-Christina Aguilera

23. How many countries have you visited?
3-China, US, Canada

24. Are your parents strict?
compared to most asian parents, nope they're quite chill

25. Would you go sky diving?
YES!

26. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush?
sure

27. Would you throw potatoes at him?
sure

28. Is there anything sparkly in the room you’re in?
my room is dark and dreary

29. Have you ever been in a castle?
yeah, it was actually a college dorm, and i would love to live in one too

30. Do you rent movies often?
i use to rent from blockbusters, now it's so easy to pirate movies

31. Who sits in behind you in your math class?
no one sat in the same place everyday in Concepts, so i wouldn't know

32. Have you made a prank phone call?
yup, bad idea...

33. Do you own a gun?
no

34. Can you count backwards from 74?
theoretically yes

35. Who are you going to be with tonight?
no one :(

36. Brown or white eggs?
this is a racist question

37. Do you own something from Hot Topic?
im too scared to walk into Hot Topic...

38. Ever been on a train?
yes

39. Ever been in love?
maybe? but i think i'm still too naive to know what love means

40. Do you have a cell-phone?
yes

41. Are you too forgiving?
i try not to hold grudges

42. Do you use chap stick?
during the winter

43. What is your best friend doing tomorrow?
no clue

44. Can you use chop sticks?
i cant properly use chops sticks... and i'm asian! shameful...

45. Ever have cream puffs?
delicious!

46. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect?
O_o yes

48. What was the last CD you bought?
Bullet for My Valentine - Fever

49. Boys or girls?
huh?

51. Is your hair curly?
not anymore

52. Last time you cried?
beginning of the year

53. Ever walked into a wall?
oh yeah

54. Do looks matter?
not to a huge extent

55. Have you ever bought anything from Pac Sun?
maybe? i actually don't remember where 80% of my clothes come from

56. Have you ever slapped someone?
haha no

57. Favorite time of the year?
fall only because spring =allergies, summer=too hot, winter=too cold

58. Favorite color?
don't have one

59. Are you sarcastic?
nope

60. Do you have any tattoos?
nope

62. Do you sleep with the TV on?
nope

65. Do you like your life right now?
it could be more exciting

68. What was the most recent thing you bought?
organic chemistry book -.-

69. Do you have good vision?
my vision sucks

72. Do you have a job?
internship

74. What are you wearing?
t shirt and shorts

75. Have you ever crawled through a window?
yes, into a school bus

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THIS SURVEY!

MySpace Surveys

mosquito bites

are a bitch.

micelings!

Finally got to tour the animal facility today. The facility has mice of all kinds... black, white, brown, albino, and transgenic mice babies which are about the size of jelly beans. Unfortunately I'll only get to work with the hideous kind, the ones that resemble a miniature version of the naked mole rat. Maybe I'll have less sympathy when it comes time to sacrifice them... no, I kid, it'll be very saddening when the time comes.

One thing that was disconcerting about the Animal Care Manual... it states that the policies are aimed at minimizing health concerns for the animals, but according to the protocol, tumors grown on the mice are only considered problematic when they exceed 2cm in diameter. Now, 2cm compared to the relative size of the mice (average mice here is about 4cm long), is about half the body length. If it were me, I don't think I would be pleased to have tumor that's half my body size growing on me.

first day at AVEO

Contrary to my expectation, the first day was pretty relaxing. I got to Cambridge at 8:30 in the morning bright and early! The actual orientation didn't start until 10 so I walked around and explored the neighborhood. Cambridge is gorgeous, the place has an urban vibe to it but it's still peaceful enough that you get to see old couples holding hands and taking their morning strolls in the park (which I have to say, is the most adorable thing in the world). I'll be sure to bring my camera next time to capture the wonderful scenery.

As to be expected, I got lost inside the building, but the nice janitor man showed me to the receptionist. So, they didn't have alot of work for me the first day. They went through the basics such as computer/email/finance. Then, my supervisor, Feng, took me out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant. This was my first time having a "professional" one-on-one lunch with an adult, and I thought it was going to another one of those awkward and silent lunch since he seems like he is as introverted as me, but we did sustain a couple of interesting conversations about medical schools and Pittsburgh sports teams. After that, he gave me a bunch of the company's publications to read, which kept me busy for the next three hours. Reading bio research publications is ridiculously exhaustive, but I have to say, I'm very thankful for taking Berget's (Yes, thank you Dr. Berget) and Campbell's class because when I came across familiar terms like p53, fibromatosis, dysplasia and knock-out genes I felt semi-intelligent despite the rest of the publication not making any sense. It's a boost of self-confidence at least.

Tomorrow is lab training day! Yay for chem safety all over again. And if you don't recall/have never seen those.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToTPrLh5Kvc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx1ZX6u9t9Q&feature=related

Thankfully, they'll be walking through lab safety in person instead of making us watch videos.

Also, I'll probably be working with the mice tomorrow! So exciting! Feng told me there are 120 of them that need to be injected with tumors. Poor mice :(

On a different note. I don't know why this blog is called summer '13 adventure when it is clearly not 2013 yet, I must been thinking about the class of 2013. Silly me. Time to change that.

Movieeee

Went to see Robin Hood today! Overall a good movie... maybe not so historically accurate, but a good action movie! Russell Crowe was adorable as always.

sustenance farming

My dad, being the silly asian that he is, tried to convince us that it's possible to survive an entire year on vegetables grown only from our backyard garden. So, we planted more vegetables!

Vegetables already half grown:

-Garlic

-Cabbages

Vegetables still yet to be planted

-tomatoes

-peppers

-eggplant

-beans

As of now, I will be solely eating garlic and cabbages for the next few months. Hope those tomatoes grow soon...

Short peeps can be models too!

Watching America's Next Top Model Cycle 13. It's the season where Tyra only takes girls under 5'7. I guess giving short models a chance is an admirable idea, but it's not as believable as they make it to be since over half the girls on the show are 5'7 or 5'6 anyways, which is still pretty tall for the average 18 year old. They should consider a new season: America's Top Model for Midgets, for girls 4'8 and below!

Call myself pathetic

for getting lost in my own hometown 10 minutes away from my own house. It was a warm and sunny day outside so I decided to go jogging. I must have been too immersed in metal heavy music to remember where I was going. Anyways, it took nearly 40 minutes to find my way back home. Next time, I'll need a gps tracking device to carry with me everywhere I go.

I love ebay!

Just discovered the awesomeness of ebay shopping thanks to Vivian.

Things bought so far:

Portable Sewing Machine $17.39

Principles of Biochemistry $43.99

Organic Chemistry $29.99

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Things still on my wishlist:

Adjustable Mannequin: lowest offer $133.80

Noise Cancelling Headphones: $46.95- $300+

Italian Recipe books: $0.99+

More clothes

--------------------------------

So, I cleaned out my closet today and found a mountain of clothes that are too small/old/unfashionable. I'm thinking about recycling the fabrics and making dresses and tops out of them, hence the sewing set and adjustable mannequin. I doubt that any of the stuff I make will be wearable in the future, but it should be a fun summer project. Updates and pictures to come if and when I get the sewing set!

Also, internship starting next Monday!