So in an embarasing turn of events, I managed to injure my back on Sunday. The accident involved some rope and some poor jumping on my part. I spent 5 hours in emergency that night, only to be told "You're fine. I recommend 400mg of Advil 3x a day"

Oh, happy Canada Day everyone! I went out for some fireworks with my friends - got back nary an hour ago. This was at Mel Lastman Square ; not exactly the most impressive fireworks show, but it was fun enough. Spent some time before that chilling with friends at a bbt place. Fun times, gifties :)

Most of the day was actually spent studying for MCAT.  I've finished the physics section - it was indeed nothing very deep, so I'm relieved. I want to start the bio stuff, but I need to obtain a book off someone.  As it happens, the biological science book is missing from the set I have. Well, I can't complain, since I got it for free.  If anyone has an extra copy, let me know.

Out of the blue... there are a LOT of things I want to do but simply have no time for. I've probably mentioned these before, but... piano, website, japanese, anime (!), Karaoke. Man... this is starting to really blow chunks. I really wish my work didn't spill over into my evening times. But I may be asking for a lot right now. I should just focus on what's on my plate and do it well - no more of this angsting around.

Time to sleep. Relatively short updates, recently.  I think this is a good way to keep it.

Firstly, thanks to everyone who asked about me about my last entry. It really does make me happy to hear from you guys.

The past several days have been pretty stressful on me. In the end, I have decided that writing the mcat would be a prudent choice. Whether I get into med school is another story, but it's better to have the option later this year.

I've talked with plenty of people about this whole research thing and have had plenty of good (and a few bad) conversations. For one, I feel stupid for not looking into my lab more closely before leaping into it - it seems a lot of people aren't big fans of my boss. Truly, having a good supervisor seems to make a huge difference in this whole experience.

I've also heard of many people who had terrible times the first time in a lab but had a great experience the second time around.  I suppose it really does take a bit of getting used to - that's all. 

That aside though, I'm still worried about a lot of things. Can I spend all my time doing something that may potentially not work? Am I the type of person to go hardcore dedicated into my work in order to reach the top? How badly do I want a stable pay check? All stuff I need to think about...

Anyhow, the past two days, I went on a trip with the Immunology Department. It was a great time, of course. Definitely an opportunity to ask others about graduate studies. Also a great time to just chill and hang out with some of my new friends from Imm, especially those who'll be on the undergraduate council next year. 

In other news... I think I hear gun shots. But they're probably not...

I lost my train of thought, so I'll leave it at that for now.  I gotta work on a protocol for tomorrow's lab work, anyways. I suppose this is just a quick update, then.

Toodles

Fear not, my dear fans (yea right!!). I have not forgotten about Xanga. And the quote is NOT by Smith.

*Erhem*

Edit: CCS in PKMN?

As you may notice, I haven't blogged since I finished my exams.  And even that entry was merely "5/5". It seems like an eternity since then and many things have crossed my mind, so I really don't know where to begin. Since I mentioned exams, I might as well start with that.

School Year
The school year was alright. I always draw negative attention when I talk about marks, so if you're one of those people, kindly skip this paragraph. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... This year has definitely seen my lowest marks to date.  Despite that, I actually think my marks are pretty decent, still. After all, I've come to accept two things.  (1) Marks are relative, and I've done relatively well.  (2) Immunology is a GPA-killer, and my GPA is still alright. So, while I'm not thrilled with my marks, I'm by no means bitter.

Socially, the school year has been fun. You'll know that I moved out this year and am currently living downtown. I learned a good deal about taking care of myself (cleaning, cooking, replenishing supplies, etc...) and I continue to learn and improve myself. A long way to go to be totally "independent" but I'm learning.

I took part in the Immunology Students' Association (IMMSA) as well - I was a council member and will continue to be one next year. I was really glad, actually, since I met some great people and made some new friends. Organizing events and the like was fantastic, especially OQUIC (Ontario-Quebec Undergraduate Immunology Conference). I'll get to that later, if I remember.

Summer Job
Let's change gears and move onto what I'm doing now. FYI, I have landed an internship sort of job as a summer student in research laboratory. Yes, I am getting paid.  No, it's not lax. It's in fact a great deal of work and the past two weeks of have been very tiring.

If you've ever seen my in my biochemistry lab, wash the dishes, cook dinner or set the table, you'll probably notice that I'm not the most adept at ... how to put it ... doing many things that don't involve pen and paper (not an accurate description, but I hope you get the point).  Translate that into working at a research laboratory and it only spells out a lot of pain. Doing things take so long and remembering all the rules of the lab is pretty hard (what is allowed to go into what disposal bin, what is not allowed to go into the tissue culturing hood, etc...)

Granted, I've only started for 2 weeks and I'm not expecting to be suddenly good at everything. Still, I'm going to put in a huge amount of effort if I'm going to be able to use my time efficiently during the day. By that, I mean thinking in close detail about everything I'll be doing while at home, the night before going to work. Still, I'm determined to get the hang of this.

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, here's a summary of my research project in lay terms.  When white blood cells (of your immune system) try to clear a pathogen, they must often travel through such things as blood vessels. This depends on molecules called "integrins", which help bind the cell to the surface of the blood vessel. My research project involves looking at what happens within the cell, right where the integrins are located, as these white blood cells get ready to go through the vessel.

Academia
This past year, I have had several opportunities to see what academia is like. The obvious one is that while working in the lab, I've seen how the politics are playing out between scientists and various professors. I've always seen how much work is required to publish papers and also the type of work that is required before you can even begin to think of publishing anything at all.  Tis a hard road, for sure. And by the looks of it, most people don't get paid that much -- what a shame.

I also attended two research conferences and will attend one more in a month's time. The first was OQUIC, which I helped to organize. Seeing what other undergraduates had done for their summer and/or thesis projects was really cool. Of course, the actual organizing was difficult but rewarding as well - from the planning stages to seeing the event come to fruition, I was quite satisfied.

The other conference was hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Basically, it's a vascular health retreat held jointly by the University of Toronto and Western University's Robarts research institute. My first impression was... FREE FOOD OMGWTFBBQ!!! It was fantastic. The talks and poster presentations were really informative too, and it was another look into how politics might play out in the science field.

Free Time
Did I say free time? Does such a thing exist anymore? I kid =P

You'll know that I took up a recent interest in Magic the Gathering again. I've since decided that this game is too expensive to play. While it was fun while it lasted, my obsession is now being banned and I will avoid spending money on this if possible.

I'm still trying to finish Fire Emblem for the game cube (Path of Radiance).  I think this summer, I'm going to focus on only a few things, especially seeing that the summer job is so busy. Completing Fire Emblem will be one of them.  I have another game that I'd like to play (tales of symphonia) but I'll get to that another day. Probably won't be soon.

Oh, I did read a lot of manga and watch anime, though =).  For one, I have caught up-to-date with both Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles and Full Metal Alchemist.  Many hours were spent and my eyes were quite red for the days after that, but I have no regrets.  It was so good! (I'm still keeping up with Naruto and Bleach, though Naruto is so slow)

Code Geass continues to strike my fancy. Season 2 is out and I'm enjoying every bit of it. If there are anime fans out there who want something to watch, then this is definitely a top pick.

Remarks
I've got other things on my mind too. But said mind is a blur right now and I don't want to say anything I might kick myself in the ass later for. So I'll leave it at is for now. Sitting at over 1000 words, this entry is pretty short considering that it covers a year of stuff plus the last three weeks =)

So, continuing with the theme of our Starfox 64 quotes... this is Peppy's line - because we all know that Slippy's only contribution to the team is the Boss Life Gauge.

I'm in the midst of exams right now. In fact, after this post, I'll get right to studying Virology. I must say that this has been the worst exam period ever. I've been spoiled in the past, tbh - I don't think I've ever had five exams so close together. I guess I shall rethink my plan d'attaque for next year, in case this happens again.

Anyways, back to the books.  Only 2 more left =D

I'm sitting in a pool of mixed emotions right now. Long post up ahead!

Let's take it slow and just give a quick update. School ended last Friday -- nothing spectacular.  In fact, I skipped the last two classes of the year. Review session? Screw that   Since then, I have been spending most of my time trying to study. It's quite frustrating, actually -- I used to be able to focus so well, but now, I always have plenty on my mind. If not my YUI obsession, then M:tG -- if not M:tG, then Utopia -- if not Utopia, then Super Smash Bros -- and if not Super Smash Bros, then what to play on the piano when I have time. Yea... my mind is a mess at times DX

That said, the past "study week" has been so crazy. I'm glad to say that I have almost kept on schedule with my original study schedule. I was hoping to get a preliminary run-through of all my material for my first (and most important) exam by today. I was pretty close ;; in fact, I would have succeeded, but I shall let you know what happened in a second ;)

Recently, I took up reading "Every Young Man's Battle", which is a book about sexual purity from a Christian perspective. Without going into the details, I was very impressed by the honesty of these two authors. And yes, there is a female version of that book.  Which I have no read.  Because I am obviously not a female. *twitch*

Tuesday was a lot of fun. I spent the morning/afternoon with Chun and Rach. It was a blast! They tried to instill some fashion sense into me. Lesson of the day: "cut". Erhem. But it was also very tiring. You see, we walked all the way from my apartment to the Eaton's center.  There, we spent a few hours walking around... and of course, we walked back afterwards. Ouch. We'll do it again in the future though... preferably we'll drive to the mall instead =). 

Today/Wednesday. Where to begin. The morning/afternoon was nothing too special - i just spent the time studying Molecular Biology. I got a semi-substantial amount of stuff done, which I'm quite satisfied with. It was actually my roommate's birthday, so we had a lot of people come over. Gamecube + Pasta dinner @ Daddyo's (yea. interesting name). Dessert and... second dessert (see my facebook for dessert #1) were extremely filling

Anyways, the night was actually a lot of fun but mad tiring. After everything was over, I came back uptown. Here I am as we speak.

This rest of this rant may sound familiar to some of you who follow my Xanga very closely. I always try to keep in touch with my friends. A sad fact of life is that time doesn't wait for you -- and you simply can't keep up with everyone you knew. But hey... give me credit for trying.

This will probably sound a little familiar too. I wonder how many of my friends try the same for me? Oh, and I'm talking about old friends, of course -- people I don't get a chance to see often. Mainly those that are out of town or in different programs. This may sound very emo to you (I think it does too).. and I actually do know of many out-of-town friends who I *do* keep in touch with in a mutual way. I'm so grateful for these friends.. it always warms my heart to receive an unexpected message from a friend in this way.

And then there are those I am sure do *not* reciprocate my actions. And I gotta say first and foremost that I don't hold it against them. After all, whether they think of me as a close friend or not is entirely their decision. Just as I know that I can't keep in touch with everyone, it's the same for them. Humanly impossible.

But that doesn't mean I don't get hurt by it. One of my old friends actually called up my roommate today and invited him over to a party tomorrow. I didn't get a call/e-mail/message... I wasn't even given a relayed message from my roommate. This is what you'd call "Punked" (with a capital P).

For simplicity's sake, I'll call my old friend a "he"... but "his" gender could swing either way. To be honest, it's not like I expected to be invited to his party. So many events in the past have pretty much convinced me that he doesn't care much for me. Still, I'm hopeful and I give people second chances. I always let him know when the Gifteds are holding parties and whatnot, even though I don't hope for much.

Repeatedly, I ask myself: why do I care so much? To this day, I don't know. Maybe I just expect too much out of people... perhaps I ought to set some more realistic and fair expectations from others. But seriously! I got punked so badly in this situation!

It's 1:45 right now... so before I get any sleepier and start making less sense... I'll  conclude.  Whoever is reading this, please don't feel like it's directed at you, nor that I'm asking to be invited to all of your parties. On the contrary, I'm usually quite alright with *not* being invited to certain things. This situation is just kind of different for me, tis all.

Anyways, I should stop. Gotta wake up early and study. student life = no life.