numb

Well, I met this girl a week ago, and we had dinner. After exchanging numbers (council was strongly pushing for email), we parted, and she was like "call me". [this seems to be happening quite a bit?]

I still have no idea what that means, but that's not the point.

Right now, Thursday morning, I have no intention of calling her. In fact, it distresses me that she's expecting a call on some level. It's like I have this obligation to fulfill. I bet you guys were expecting some sappy love story, but I keep making all these strange analogies to this situation.
For example, I woke up this morning, and I thought, I should not let this progress anymore, because it means an added time investment. I started comparing this "thing" growing to a tumor. It must be excised before it causes harm.

Ironically, iPod + Bose was playing "Numb" this morning:

i've become so numb
i can't feel you there
become so tired
so much more aware
i'm becoming this
all i want to do
is be more like me
and be less like you

Even stranger, there's a part of me that smiles because of this. Humans are so flawed. Being devoid of emotion would be incredibly ideal. Well, at least I hope I stay numb.

What a depressing post. In the meanwhile, I've been collecting all these BBC Horizon documentaries. They're really good! Yes. I think I would rather watch BBC Horizon than call anyone to hang out. wtf is wrong with me.

Probably one of those ephemeral phases.

Also, Korean movies. I like those too. But you know that.

Ugh. So much coffee.

I've had so much coffee today, I think I'm going to pop. Caffiene is a diuretic, so I'll probably be peeing like a racehorse all night. Speaking of which, I'm living alone right now in Smriti's apartment, and it's pretty scary at night. I refuse to go upstairs when it is dark. Who knows what might be hiding up there.

1.
It seems that everyone else is doing absolutely nothing, while I'm still working. Even in research lab, I pass people and they're... watching TV or a movie or looking for STAR CHARTS to impress their girlfriends with, but no one is running any reactions, well except me. I also have a RADIATION PROTECTION LAB CLASS to worry about. Sometimes I think... If all this beating myself doesn't go anywhere, a lot of people are going to suffer, I mean.. savor... life.

Of course, this is good for me since the PCR machines are all free and I don't have to use that ridiculous ghetto piece-of-paper waiting list which people use pencil on so I can easily insert my name anywhere.

2.
Today in lab, the gel electrophoresis buffer solution was running low, so I had to make some. This entails mixing 38.2 grams of BORAX and 10 grams of Boric Acid. The problem is, those things don't dissolve very quickly, so you have to use a spinvane and let it run for a while. Well, I poured all the borax and acid into the 20 liter big container and some water, and I shook it around and it didn't dissolve. The spinvane wouldn't work for the big containers so I had to separate the water and the undissolved borax, and mix them again in a 4 liter container which the spinvane can fit on. Then I had to pour the water back into the big container.

I actually don't expect too many people to understand that, so the take home message is - I think I would go a long way to save water (and borax and boric acid). Needless to say, it took about 3 times longer than normal because I was trying to save water. Oh well, at least I'm being useful right? Everyone else is watching a movie anyway.

3.
I have written too much. Here are some pictures from my visit to the Blanton Art Museum.

Of course, no "modern" art museum is complete without some P.O.S. thing that people call art. Like for example..
What the hell is that? I've peed better designs in the snow than that thing. I'm going to take all my used pipets and throw them in some wet concrete and when it dries, I'll call it "Frustration".

This is a little better, since it probably took more time to create. There's the kicker right there. The longer it took to create, the better piece of art it is! Like a drug. A drug molecule takes 10 years or so to perfect. What an awesome piece of art! Lets put this up a notch. A human being takes... around.. 4 billion years to make (evolution). Even better! Wanna see art? Look at your hands (well.. most people's hands anyway). So ... perfect. Speaking of perfection, look at this:

DNA POLYMERASE. It's so symmetric, so perfect. Moves along in a spiraling fashion at around 2000 nucleotides per second. PER SECOND. We have billions of these! Picasso my ass.

Some more abstract things I don't understand.
This is a little better. I kinda like this one. An intriguied, curious expression envelops her face.


Remember when I burned my leg with the boiling water? Well I had this ghetto card made for me. I was going to post this a couple of days ago. Look how many people signed it. I need more friends...


Speaking of people... I had an interesting evening last night. Details tomorrow.

Back in A-town + Lab Expose Part 3.

UPDATE: Pictures have been added. Bon Appetit.

See that big machine next to the window? HITACHI ABI3100. Genetic sequencer. Upon seeing this picture, ability to perfectly use this machine can replace Fourier Transforms on the "Requirements to be kickaess" list. No lab is complete without a bottle of Smirnoff for those days that the reactions don't work. And trust me there are quite a few. Ironically, everything on that shelf is ethanol. One for human consumption, the other for DNA extraction. A little bit of alcohol goes a long way. Below the shelf of Ethanol, a keen eye will notice the initials DD. Those are my samples. Most of those on that shelf did not work, but then again, this picture was taken a while ago. Quite possibly, this is one of the many reasons why you should never piss me off. Trust me, you'll never know what hit you, and death will come slowly. Of course, I will be doing the henious act either listening to Eurobeat or Aqua. Also, if you are dying because of this, please use your last bits of energy to imagine me chair-dancing to Eurobeat.

kthx.

You know that song by Usher? (Yeah)

PEACE OUT
A Town's Down!

Another Ranting Session:

1.
Seriously. A-town sucks. I got here and this morning I tried to go to Wal-Mart to get a sunshade for my kuruma and it took me 20 minutes to find it. The ROADS aren't labeled. Roads are curvy all the time, unlike Plano, where everything falls in a nice grid. Yeah I bet Japanese people get confused when they come to Austin and people tell them an address and they go "ROADS HAVE NAMES?" and then they can't find the name, because this armpit of a town is too lazy to do anything except host live music.

2.
Wal-Mart. I went into Wal-Mart and I usually don't have to say this about Walmart, but some people really do need to dress up for walmart. Coming in 30% naked is kind of "makes me want to run away". Plus I kept worrying that some Mexican would bang up my bling-bling car. That's a bad feeling.

3.
That's another thing. Live Music? That's the most retarded thing ever to be known for. HEY GUYS SXSW. Reminds me of Larry the Cable Guy.

If you haven't already put it together, I string these concepts in my head:

Larry the Cable Guy--Rednecks--Lack of education--Uncivility--SXSW--Hick Accents--40% of Austin.

Usually towns are known for more important things-

Dallas: Telecom Corridor (well Richardson, but DFW tends to promote this at times)
Houston: MD Anderson Cancer Center
Eastern Seaboard: Victorian-style campuses
Western Seaboard: Lots and lots and lots of good looking girls.
Austin: Unlabeled roads and live music. <-- Tard.

Live music is what keeps the hippies going, giving them reason to live, and donations (for alcohol) from people that pity them. Please beat your fellow hippie.

4.
DFW. Yes. Another can-o-worms. Fort Worth is another armpit of a town. Originally, there were two airports because armpit-FW didn't agree to a joint one, then there was a joint called DFW, when in fact Dallas-Richardson-Plano probably get about 60-80% of the traffic. I say we rename that airport.

5.
Pictures. Yes, I ran out of bandwidth, but if you check later tonight, I will post some (from Smriti's place). Yeah and I can get no work done there because its kind of nasty everywhere.

Oh and I'm kidding about the carcinogenic substance. I wouldn't hurt a fly. I think.

The quick witted break jumps over the lazy brown student.

Alas. The shortest "summer" break ever is about to end in 2-3 days. Pity? None. Instead, I got a whole lot of hassle*:

1. Registration
Apparently I had forgotten to pay my tuition bill online, and they cancelled all my classes (including Japanese and Nuclear Lab). I was pissed. After one sleepless night, thinking of many many ways to torture the registrar's office, I call them back at 8am in the morning and they say I have to pay by Western Union. So that's how one of my 'break' nights was spent --> panicking over my 'lost' classes.

2. Grey's Anatomy.
This damn torrent is not going fast enough. I finished season 1 of Grey's Anatomy, and dare I say, one of the first medical dramas I actually like very much. I will be burning these to DVDs and I encourage all of you to watch this. Also, surgical interns are so awesome. If I wasn't going [again, hopefully] the research route, I would so try to be a surgeon.

3. The Korean Movies
I have so many! Hard to pick what to watch next. O well. More are on the way, making this decision even harder. So much to do, so little time.

4. My Temperature Sensitivity
I realized something. Quite astonishing actually. Most things slow down when they get colder. Like Absolut** Zero, molecules stop vibrating, and nothing moves anymore. I'm the opposite. I work fastest in colder temperatures, so dare I say, Limit [t --> 0 Kelvins], Productivity --> infinity. So true. Turn that shitz down, and I'll work like crazy. Turn the A/C off, and I sleep like a lazy brown student. This is part of the reason why Blogging has been so infrequent.

This reminds me, Sean Paul came out with that song called Temperature? I think I talked about this before. Man that song is awesome, although I usually don't listen to crude music.

See how fast he's dancing? If it was cold like that, I would dance like that too. So there ya go. You guys think I'm a bad dancer? Well. Turn down the heat, and feast your eyes.

5. The Chinese Drivers
Please stay off the road. One almost ran me over, and another one was going so slow. Chinese people can't drive. And what's with these people buying Fords and other great American catastrophes? Stick to what works guys, Land Rover, Honda, Toyota, M&M**. Kudos to who can identify what the last one means (no trick. It IS a vehicle company, and comment your answer for the world to see.)

Absolutely Beautiful.

6. Finally, every thing is settled. All my grades are in, and I'm pleased with this semester. Now for the summer.



*May not be actual hassles.
**Not a typo.

Picture service NOT WORKING

Blogger picture service is messing up again. Jeez Google, isn't it enough that you know everything about me.

Eh. I was going to post the rest of my lab pictures as well as a "GET BETTER SOON" card, but you'll have to settle with me rambling.

So I'm back in Plano. Yes. Nice, sheltered, elitist, Plano. Also, I'm watching Grey's Anatomy, another pretentious show. When will this end? IN 4 DAYS.

I'm going back to ghetto-ass A-town in 4 days, to do some lab work, make some reactions work, etc. Also, class.

Anyone in Austin want to eat lunch or eat anything please call (email).

I've created a calendar which I update frequently with stuff going on, so if anyone wants to stalk me or something, here's your perfect chance. I'll put a picture link on the side-bar soon, but here's the link:

CALENDAR

Enjoy!

Note, this post doesn't have a title, so it's not really a post.

It's getting late, and I still have a lot of packing to do. I will post tomorrow.