della mia vita!
Alritey, so I have been pretty lazy and dormant for quite some time, basically cos I have been reading, running, watching italian dvds, travelling, rafting, hiking and, of course, doing dumb research at the medical school. Since tmr is Indpd Day, I finally have time to... yes, CONTEMPLATE WHO SHALL WIN THE GER-ITA match!!!
Although Lippi is doing a good job (23 consecutive matches undefeated record for the Azzurri), I have to give my 2 cents worth, for what it's worth. Italy should use all their good players and attack like crazy first (inzaghi, gilardino, pirlo, del piero, totti, luca toni)... and then they can get ONE goal against the super all rounded germans. After that, they should sub one or two strikers down and put in more defensive players (of course I am assuming that nesta and cannavaro are both taking defence all this while, else the deutsch can successfully get in a goal too)... And THEN they should play defensive for the remainder of the 90 minutes... Yes. See? I can't really play much soccer but I can do a better job than Lippi ok? And although I know that the germans are more likely to win, but at least the Azzurri have a morale booster from the Ukraine match and even Shevchenko is for the italians now (come on... they rightfully won 3-0!)... As for France vs Portugal, I will unfortunately be starting work at 6am that day and ending at hopefully 7pm, hence I won't be able to watch the match.
=( Anyway, Forza Italia!
Ok, back to random stuff regarding my life. Haha I know this pic isn't really relevant. But my mom sent it to me and I just found it too cute to resist putting it up. My parents just went overseas again, but this pic is from another trip they took a month ago in China. Notice the strand of noodle on my dad's face: PRICELESS.
Doesn't everyone love Outback Steakhouse? I think that the Bloomin' Onion is the best invention the aussies ever made. Basically, they take this huge onion and kinda squash it so that the whope onion splits out radically like a flower in full bloom, while each strip is still being connected by the stem at the bottom. Then they dip it into creamy flour batter and then DEEP FRY it. Absolutely delectable and to-die-for. Not for the weak hearted or the i-cannot-eat-i-wanna-lose-weight-whiners.
How rich is WashU? Well, rich enough to set up a whole FUN FAIR in the middle of the school. Yes, you heard it. And I am not talking about the cheapo kind. Comes with all sort of exciting rides and foodstalls and the best deal is that you get to see the beautiful victorian architecture of the school's main castle when you are on top of the rides. Erhmm... i tink we really ought to do more for charity and stop wasting money like that. What say you, chancellor wrighton?
Super Mario and Luigi spotted at the fun fair. Note: These are italian names. Cool right?
I went to Toronto for some time, as some of you might know. Before that, there was an accident whereby some of my frens cut off almost all of my hair. This pic was taken 3 weeks later, near the Toronto CN Tower. I know, there isn't much hair (and this is like the best one already). Which gives me more reason to do my masters at stanford so that I can invent a cure to save all MANkind! Wheeeee!
Great lobsters at reasonable prices. I have actually stopped eating lobsters, abalone, shark fins and bird's nest because of ecological reasons. Unfortunately, a few years back, my grandma was outraged at her birthday celebration at the restaurant because I refused to eat the first dish, which was shark fins. I mean, I don't mind eating lobsters once in like 5 yrs... but one piece of fin is equivalent to one life, and it is extremely wasteful and cruel too. Guys, let's stand up against eating shark fins and bird's nest!
Niagara Falls is so freaking spectacular. When I was here some years ago, the dumb tour guide told us that the left waterfall was Horseshoe Fall and that belonged to the US and was way less spectacular than the one on the right (supposedly Niagara Falls). The cheater bug's lie has been fortunately debunked by wei this trip. The collective name of the falls is Niagara Falls; both of them belong to Canada; and the one on the right can be called Horseshoe Falls for its shape, and is, on the contrary, the more magnificent one. Great wonder of the world!
I don't understand why the ferry ride into the falls is called Maid of the Mist. Is there a sri lankan or indonesian maid working inside the ferry or the falls? (possibly french, since there are french words too)
What would I do without you guys? Oh well, I think that TCHS boys are nerdy and we happen to be above average.... MEANING we are even nerdier... but oh well, you guys have all returned to Singapore (or about to, since someone is going to the Vatican City... please don't embarrass yourself by calling it the vaticanS again... there is only ONE vatican city)! Boo hoo! More reason to move to California for me...
Eeeeeew... I hate it when girls do this to me! This pic is for calvin to enjoy only... (i know you are not a lao se lang, chris) ((maybe beng is, but not you))
Chicago is still as charming as ever. Went down to Millennium Park (which was completed 2004 and not 2000... haha) Took photos at the Bean, which is supposedly a multi-million dollar polished steel structure in the shape of a bean. So polished that it's better than a mirror! The real me is the one on the left....... JUST KIDDING!
Apparently the Bean (it's real name is like Castle on the clouds or whatever, but according to my friend, it's affectionately called the bean) is so freaking expensive because it captures the whole skyline of Chicago onto its surface. Cool!
There was this weird waterfall coming off a building in the middle of nowhere, with massive LED screen behind it, showing a picture of a woman in it.
And then she opened her mouth...
And pretended to blow...
Voila! Wait I mean prego! Water came gushing out. Sigh, chicagoans are way too extravagant. (but I like it!)
The symphony orchestra was playing one of Mozart's concertos that night. We got a good spot and Rebecca and I fell asleep promptly. Btw, did you know that Chicago has fireworks every Wed and Sat? !#%!@%#&%$&$^*
Rebecca's family. We were having lunch at Buca di Beppo (quite a mouthful if you ask me) and the italian food was simply BUONISSIMO! The funniest thing was that there was a special highly-coveted table IN the middle of the kitchen and we got it! Quite an experience to see those people cooking and after some time, I realized all the cooks were latinos and only the head chef walking around was italian. After some eavesdropping, I realized he was talking to them in italiano while they replied in espanol, and there was no difficulty understanding one another at all! Bravo!
Alritey... I need to go off and do stuff. Today was a frustrating but good day at work. Dr. Klein gave me a series of shit again and this time, I prepared a whole list of reasons why the protocols she gave me wouldn't work (because she has screwed me up so many times):
Jew-bitch: Each brain you can stain for the 4 colors for Flow cytometry.
Me: NO. PerCP cannot withstand Perm buffer treamemt for BrdU staining.
Jew-bitch: I didn't know that.
Jew-bitch: After you get the brain from each mouse and extract the lymphocytes, do 2 different experiments on each, and with isotype controls for each. (that's splitting one brain into 4 parts)
Me: (calmly takes out paper and begins calculating) No, it won't work. You end up with 60000 lymphocytes in each well. Over-low density will cause sub-optimal staining and you will end up losing both experiments.
Jew-bitch: Oh? RIGHT. RIGHT.
Jew-bitch: Why can't you label more cell markers? You don't have to use only PE, APC, PerCP and FITC for FACS, you know that right?
Me: Does OUR lab have any other fluorescent chromes?
Jew-bitch: I could borrow some...
(proceeds sneakily to steal some from Diamond Lab. Worse still... got lost while looking for their fridge to steal stuff, and I had to bring her to the right fridge for her to do her dirty work..
Yay! I feel so much better now!
I want to post the same pic again, cannot ar?
Go Italy!
Have a good week ahead guys!