OH BABY!

So in recent events, Raj and I had a sort of extended 3 yr anniversary. We both were concert virgins on tuesday(8/26) and emerged deflowered later that night. Cheap Trick wasn't bad, and I was suprised by how many people were singing along to Heart. Journey was amazing though ( apparently theyve changed band members a la Destiny's child style) the lead singer is this Flip dude with long hair who has a penchant from jumping up and down. I really liked him, though. Its nice to see someone who's so into their music and just doesnt even care! It was sort of like a huge party at times, sooo many cups of beer, weed, shirtless fat men ( ah so reminiscent of my frat party days!) drunken women falling over themselves. Raj and I abstained from the spirits, but I was high on life! I was so blown away, though. Hearing music live is amazing. I keep replaying "Lights" but I can't recapture the feeling =\ Anyhoo Thursday we went hiking. There's a trail in plainsboro preserve, it wasnt all that intense, but there was a beautiful lake. I felt like Pocahontas, all earthy and natural. This is not to say I didnt shave or smelled, I was just getting my zen on with nature. The frogs were soo cute! Then we saw Tropic Thunder (f-ing HILARIOUS) and dined at Old Bay. I got a tad drunk ( no judgements ! I havent been drunk in forever!) and rolled on home. So thats what's new! Here's what I did
read:
The outlander
dragonfly in amber
The talisman ring
Ravished
Surrender
Reckless
Scandal
My Lady Madness
Double Standards
Paradise
Perfect
Inner Harbour
Sea Swept
Rising Tides
The life of Pi
Twilight
New Moon
Shadow Prince
The Brides Bodyguard
A well pleasured lady
Duchess by Night
Watched:
The Thorn Birds
Bachna Ae Haseeno
Tropic Thunder
Wall E
The Mummy 3
Wanted
Dark Knight


and heres what I'm going to do
read:
Eclipse
Break of Dawn
Chesapeake Blue
Voyager
How I paid for college
Attack of the Theater People
do:
STUDY FOR GRE's

ps Whats with this vampire craze? ! I keep seeing more and more vampire romances, posters and crap.

this blog exists?!

so in some recent conversations with people who contribute to this blog, both karen and I have realized that we forgot this blog exists! so today I had to catch up with weeeeeeks of past blogging haha. so hahahaas to the funny posts and woohooos to the happy posts and sighs to the emo posts! haha sorry, so lame.

all I want to say is, I miss hollywood videos. that store was cool. and they tore it away from me! I once promised myself that I'd never come back to edison unless they put HK supermarket and hollywood videos back. my threat didn't work! oh welll.

I think I'm in love

with French tennis players. They wouldn't leave the court until everyone who wanted an autograph got one. I am so glad I love Paris and French people now so that I can root for the French players. I used to think the French were all snooty and rude, but my vacation proved me wrong.

The landmarks in Paris were elaborately beautiful, Versailles was impressively huge, and there was a bit of serendipity throughout the two days I was in Paris. It was already 11:30 by the time we finished dinner one night (after a whole day jam-packed with walking around the city and trying to cram a week's worth of tourist attractions into one day) and almost decided against going to the Eiffel Tower, but we didn't travel all the way to France to not see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. By the time we got to the base of the Tower, it was nearly midnight and all of a sudden its lights started flashing, which we didn't expect to happen so late into the night, and an audible gasp came from the crowd around us.

The next day, we wanted to go to Place de la Concorde, where the Jardin des Tuileries, Champs-Elysees, and the Arc de Triomphe are, but when we got out of the metro station, it was all blocked off because the Tour de France was going through the same area right then. Which was really disappointing but gave us a chance to see the Sacre-Coeur Basilica where there was an amazing view of the city. When we finally when back down to the Arc de Triomphe area, the bikers and crowds left, but the Champs-Elysees was still blocked off to traffic, but not pedestrians, so that the cleaning crews could do their job. And how often can you say you walked down the middle of the Champs-Elysees, all the while taking the perfect picture of the Arc de Triomphe?

Also, my dad bought a bottle of absinthe, which was previously banned in many countries and was thought to cause hallucinations (and also rumored to be the reason Van Gogh cut off his ear), in Paris. He had no idea about its properties, except that it's 50 proof and that he thought the way absinthe should be served (with a sugar cube and water dripped over into a bit of absinthe) was cool. My sister and I warned him not to drink too much...and he said, "Why? It's only 50% alcohol." And we said, "No...50 proof doesn't work like that..."

bronx v2

Chris, I didn't understand half of what you said in that last post. But I do like to tell people that I have a friend who is pursuing a PhD in something brainy. Which you are, right? Neuroscience.. brainy - haha, get it, get it? Brain-y? :D

So, I start my first day of work tomorrow. Which is really frightening if you ask me.. For those who don't know, I was offered a position to be a 10th grade architecture/math teacher at Pablo Neruda Academy of Architecture and World Studies in the Bronx. It's a trek from my apartment in Brooklyn, but I'm excited about the prospect of infusing the two subjects and loves (?). It'll also be the first time in a long time that an architecture course will be in the school curriculum, so I'm especially nervous because I have no precedents to build off of. I have no idea what to expect, or what is expected of me.. But tomorrow is day one of a week curriculum planning. Hopefully, by September 2nd, I'll have something substantial to present on the first day of class.

Still, I never thought that I would be doing this, and I'm hoping that I can share with these high schoolers a little bit of what I know (though at this moment, I feel as though I don't have too much to offer!).. and maybe, something that might inspire them.

Happy belated birthday, Tammy! I hope you girls had a fantastic weekend. :)

tales from the front

Hi! Figured it's about my turn for an update.

So I'm pretty much settled down in the Bronx. Unfortunately, it's a short term kind of settled down--housing has me in a temporary studio share. What that means is that they reserve the right to tell me to pack my bags and move to my permanent locale. Whatevs. Life is still pretty good, and the rent (< $300 a month, utilities included) is quite sexy. Very sexy. Yeah.

I think I have fallen in with my own kind, here at Einstein. Nerds. Super nerds in the form of PhD candidates. I've been at a bunch of mixers now, and I have to say that the dedication to research these people have is almost frightening. We don't talk about the Olympics at our PhD parties. We don't talk about drinking. We rarely talk about the hot girl across the room.

We talk science. The dude across from me is explaining Bioinformatics as he chugs a beer. The fellow playing flip cup juggles red, party plastic and a conversation concerning cannulas and electrophysiological apparatus with equal deftness. Yet another cradles his head in his hands, whining about how he has to go back to lab in 10 minutes to "finish another run." Someone else extolls on the poor state of NIH funding in a country with a crunched budget. Awesome.

On the other side of the spectrum are the MDs, whom I've had the chance to hang out with as well. These people aren't nerds (sorry Tammy, Karen). They're people we're familiar with: driven, hardworking, generally younger, typically Asian...and they all have an uncanny love for happy juice. I like these people. Fun to party with for sure.

The MD/PhDs really bring out the best of both worlds. Nerds and partiers. Some express one allele more than the other, but all are pretty cool, diverse people.

Through it all, I think I have to point out one thing: my youth. People going to graduate/medical school straight out of college (like me) are definitely in the minority. And there are a bunch of people here with kids. There are even more that are married/engaged. Scary shit yo. Scary. Even if they're older than me, they're usually no more than 4 or 5 years older.

Shit. Should I be thinking marriage already?

Overhyped/Overrated

I met Sam.

Yup.

That is all.

Help!

How do you pronounce the word "werewolf"?

1 - WEERwolf [wir-ˌwu̇lf]

2 - WHEREwolf [ˈwer- ,wu̇lf]

Anxiously awaiting responses from EVERYBODY please, gracias.

fobby fresh!

AHHH!

I think I'm going through withdrawal. I miss all things Taiwan. I think that I'm going to be retiring there so I can have stinky tofu, bubble tea, and Meetfresh to my wrinkly heart's content. Gosh, I even miss hearing the garbage trucks blast Für Elise. Would anyone be open to cofounding a Funkygardenfresh senior citizen center in Taipei? :P

I have been entirely remiss in my blogging duties, but I plan to make up for it with pictures...at some point :P This summer has been one of the fastest everrr for me. And maybe it's seemed especially precious since every dean or teacher at school has warned us at least 23492808 times to savor this summer as it is the LAST SUMMER EVERRRRRR. Why does it sound so scary? :( It feels like every second wasted is one second of my LAST SUMMER EVER aka free life as I know it poof!ing. It's not nearly that dramatic I'm sure, but this year is super scary sounding already, not even taking into account that I have to look forward to boards come next spring :(

For now,I shall block those unpleasant thoughts and save my spaz-isode for later :P Let's play! If you are in Edison/have time :D

Hello all!

wow, i just read all the posts, back to when I left for HK. :) and left comments on nearly all of them. teehee.

Angela's back! i would like to give her a shoutout, along with a request to hang out. i oh-so-miss you guys.. all those in the area say AYE!

PS- this picture's dedicated to nancily. taken at the tsim tsa [?] bay.

JMraz Concert

I promise to write an entry about Paris/London later on...but does anyone want to go to a Jason Mraz concert on Friday, October 10 with me at Radio City Music Hall? I'd go with my sister, but she'll be in PITTSBURGH, so...please? Also, tickets are around $60 each.

I'm also sad that I can't move my sister into CMU next weekend (16-17th) because it'll probably end late on Sunday (plus a 6-hour drive home), and I'll have an early flight on Monday, so if anyone's in Edison that weekend...please don't leave me bored at home!!