Kwani's Xanga

Monday, March 31, 2008

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:10:35 GMT

When it was Thursday of my Spring "break" and my work hours of the week had tallied up to 46 hours, I decided it was time to play hookey. So on Friday a bunch of us first years blew off work and drove down to Santa Cruz Boardwalk for a few hours. Of course we went to work before we left and came back to lab and worked all night after we came back, but the 6 hours away from lab was incredibly refreshing.

***

I guess it's not that hard to figure I've been in a foul mood lately. The frustration of things not working in the new lab (hence 8 weeks' worth of work down the drain), the anxiety of picking lab (2 weeks left to decide), and the general stress and too many changes in life, I'm desperately in need of a support system that I don't have here. Berkeley is great in so many ways, if only I had the time to enjoy it.

Good food is always the best remedy, so the last few weeks I've been indulging myself whenever possible --

Street fair on St. Patty's Day, of course I couldn't pass up on the pupusa

Coffee at Arlequin, a French Cafe few blocks from the Opera House, great place for people watching

Brunch at Absinthe, one of the most famous place for brunch in the City. AMAZING ricotta stuffed french toast and corn beef hash

Random coffee place on the street corner, where we sat and enjoyed the sun for an hour while sipping coffee

Lunch at one of the Italian restaurants at North Beach, delicious mojito and pastas on the sidewalk

While we were hopping from coffee houses to cafes to restaurants, I was gorging on chocolate the whole time...

***

I guess the goal for the next few weeks is to keep myself from going insane. Rotations are coming to an end, it'll certainly help when things are finally decided and I'll have a home for the next 5 years. Looking forward to Alumni weekend, seeing friendly faces back at Duke sounds incredibly comforting right now. If all goes well I might actually make it through first year of grad school without killing myself, now THAT would be amazing.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:14:52 GMT

Death and Taxes.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:22:13 GMT

認錯旅店的門牌　認錯要逛的街
便當冷了想保存　怎可以亂擺
沒有你我的和弦　但有結尾伏線
黃葉會遠飛這場宿命
最終只能講再見

一個, 4 months.
兩個, the new life.
三個, presumptuous prick.

I should really quit whining, life is really not that bad. Sure I'm stressed all the time, but I'm also in a wonderful place surrounded by awesome people doing things that I like.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:41:35 GMT

After 3 consecutive weeks of excruciating amount of work and stress, things are going to quiet down for a little bit as Spring Break rolls around. Not that it's a real break, no classes sure, but that just means more time in lab. But the fact that there's no paper to read, no presentation to prepare, no discussion to lead, no lecture notes to doodle on, for a WHOLE week, is an amazing concept.

Sun is out, spring is here, what should I do this weekend besides watching the NCAA tournament?

***

There was the talk, there was the conclusion. Finally out in the open, straight forward, but I'm pissed.

***

Started a dream journal.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:44:21 GMT

It’s been a while since I’ve had the time to sit down and update my xanga. The past month has been overwhelming and stressful. It’s not clear how grad school can get any worse, but apparent it does, just wait till I take my quals, as second years told me.

With 12 hours of my day spent in class and in lab, and the 14 papers I’m supposed to read for class every week, it’s no wonder I’ve stopped sleeping. And when do I find time to work on presentations as they come on average once every 3 weeks?

Things that have kept me from jumping off the roof in the past month –

Planning the wedding at Tahoe with Garrett and Brandi

Skiing in Arnold, although I got disgustingly bruised and felt miserable for the next 10 days

Lunch at Chez Panisse with Terence and Joanne

Flowers blooming everywhere, spring in California is quite amazing if you have the time to enjoy it

****

Sometimes people really amazes me.

Can they really be this presumptuous?

I should stop wasting all my energy on being so pissed off at people.

****

Been listening to old Cantonese pop all day while working on my slides, 至鐘意 lee 句 "擒住你".

馴服不到的黑夜豹妹

唇上載滿著狂野曖昧

擒住你　

然後使身心崩潰

遺留一串追悔

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:56:35 GMT

身體健康, 心想事成!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:32:27 GMT

o甘又一年...

Another year.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:12:12 GMT

Just got back from BMB Retreat at Monterey, completely exhausted. Weather was beautiful, location was perfect, talks were intellectually stimulating, and parties were wild. Too much caffeine and alcohol and entirely too little sleep, sometimes I wonder if that's the only recipe to get scientists to come out of their labs and socialize :)

Gorgeous view of the ocean from my room -- night and day

Precious hour of solitude on the beach

A seagull kept me company while I read my book

Hanging out in Santa Cruz during free time

Can never get sick of watching the sunset on the Pacific

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:15:38 GMT

The most relaxing week I've had in the past 4 months, all thanks to the wonderful company I had over my quasi-break. Felt like I was on vacation even though I had to go to work most days, couldn't remember the last time I had the luxury to sit at a cafe and read for hours, not to mention all the activities like hiking and wine tasting, it was as if I had a life outside of school!

Hiking at Muir Woods

Sunset at Muir Beach

Berkeley Botanical Garden -- coolest cacti I've ever seen :)

Dinner with Brandi and Garrett -- it's incredible how happy it made me to hang out with people outside of MCB for once :)

Mission Dolores -- oldest building in San Francisco, built in 1776

De Young Museum

My two favorite galleries at De Young -- loved the glass tear drops (actually raindrops) from the ceiling

Wine Country - Sonoma

Wine Tasting

"Door to Nowhere" at Benziger, I was too cowardly to take the risk... very existentialist indeed...

Sipping port with a port sipper :)

What an amazing week. And usually what follows is crappy reality. Don't know how winter break is barely over and everything is already happening. How am I stressed already?! Is that possible?!

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:34:10 GMT

Is it the new year, that everyone's looking into the future when the past catches up and comes crashing into you? All of a sudden people from the past kept popping back into my life. Somehow people have the guts to think they can come back anytime they want after walking out on me.

I'm not mad, just amused by how presumptuous people can be. We haven't talked for years, of course we can be best friends. You should tell me how you like your eggs. Would you like me to tell you why I prefer black socks to white ones?

Now, we're soul mates. :)