If you had a time machine...

what day/year would you go back to?

I'd turn time back to elementary school: When boys were just those with cooties. When currency was the rarity of your Pokemon cards. When the only thing we competed over was how high one could swing. When there was recess, not recessions.

More often now, I find that although adulthood is rapidly approaching, I haven't necessarily become mature enough to face its onset. Is it really time to grow up?

Can I be in one of your shorts?

Lol, oh Wong Fu. I'm going to make a real Youtube account this time, so I can start subscribing to people I like.

I don't know what to think of Super Junior's comeback song. On the one hand, it sounds like they're trying to hard. But on the other, it may be catchy.

口是心非

I don't know why I do this. This, as in, say something when I'm thinking something else. Example, if I'm excited about something, I downplay my excitement to a level of indifference. Likewise, if I don't like doing something, I try my best to act somewhat excited and go along (although I have feeling I'm not very good at this). The reasons I've come up with to explain this behavior are quite irrational. I think I'm only alienating people, instead of having them think I'm easy to get along with.

Long time no see

Sorry, it's been a while. It's finally spring break, and with nothing to do, I'm sitting at home blogging (Unfortunately, spring break plans never materialized. At least I'm saving money). So what's happened since 2008 ended? Nothing much really. Been feeling the wrath of the recession. The DP says that OCR recruitment has been down this year. Although I failed OCR, the interview practice was still helpful for when I really need it. I applied to a bunch of non-OCR stuff. Maybe something fruitful will come out of that. My backup plan is staying at Penn to do research, which will hopefully yield a published paper. What else besides job searching? I applied for submatriculation for biotech masters. I guess it doesn't hurt to get some more schooling under my belt, especially if I want to do research. A bachelor's degree won't even get me into the door of a biopharma company.

So that's what's going on my prof/academic side. As for others, I'll blog later about. My stomach is grumbling. Food comes first.

Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009

Like the past few years, I ring in the new year by myself, no parties, no champagne, no countdown in Times Square (although I want to eventually). I do expect to be flooded with texts in about 8 minutes or so. Usually, I don't even bother waiting for 12am. But, this time I'm up at this hour because I've been reading Twilight, only to understand what the teenage hype is about, not because I'm in love with Edward Cullen.

I guess it's a perfect time to reflect on the year 2008. If there's one thing I realized this year, it's that time is passing too quickly. 2010 seemed so elusive when I was in high school, telling people I was in the class of 2010. Now, it's only 365 days + 8 minutes away. Oh dear, I am not ready for adulthood. Was 2008 a fruitful year? I would say yes. Made a few thousand working my first real job. Asian survived a 7 class semester. Spent nearly 8 months (and counting) with a special someone. Pulled off a trip to London with friends. *shrug* not particularly glamorous, but it was fun.

So, in the course of blogging, it has passed 12:00am. I'd like to wish everyone a happy new year. Cheers to 2009.

More pieces of the past

While cleaning up my closet, I found my handy London travel book, which not only includes maps of the city and other useful travel info, but also a few I guess you would call diary entries from the spring break trip. I must say those entries are quite interesting, which means no one can lay eyes on them because they're so poorly written. It's obvious that I wrote them at the spur of the moment. Whatever I was feeling, I wrote it down. So there's happiness, sadness, frustration, etc. My travel book turned into a diary about myself rather than about London. So much for trying to be an intellectual world traveler. Funny.

If you're looking for some new chill music, I'd like to suggest Big City Dreams by Nevershoutnever!. It kinda reminds me of Hey There Delilah.

Time Travel

Until someone invents a real time machine, music never fails to transport me to the past (not physically though). It's quite interesting how a song can trigger a wave of memories and emotions. It must be the built in memory in my cortex. Anywho, just a few examples:
- Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry: the song of summer 2007, it followed me everywhere, to work in the lab, in the car, in the dorm, in stores, everywhere.
-The Fray's Over My Head/Nick Lachey's What's Left of Me: the songs of summer 2006, i heard each at least once each time i drove to and from my cashier job at the supermarket (yes, i was one of those, one of those American kids who work as cashiers in high school).
-John Mayer's Dreaming of Broken Heart: my go-to sad song, regardless of the occasion. So, whenever I hear this song, I remember the sad times. Or if I want to "record" a sad time, I'll take a listen. Depressing, yes.

That's it for now. There are a few others I may share later. Maybe.