The Mystery of the Perpetual Child

The prodigal son returns

2007-10-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

A good friend asked me why I stopped writing my blog.. I didn't have a sufficient excuse, and "I got too busy" just doesn't cut it.
Hence, I'm back.
Beware :-)

gel filtration

2006-07-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

Why is gel filtration so slow?
I've been staring at this stupid column for the past 2 hours now, watching stuff drip out at one end.. excrutiatingly slowly.
Drop by drop.
its killing me.
and also makes me feel like peeing ever 20 odd minutes.

oh for a HPLC :-)

VEGAS..... BABY!

2006-07-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

So here goes the rest... lemme start with a couple of shermans prize anecdotes..
"I need to goto the gym everyday.. its my duty to keep my body in good shape. Its like wot spiderman said - With great power comes great responsibility"!!!

The second act of sherman came when he discovered Sephora.. For the uninitiated, Sephora is a cosmetics chain, and Sherman, previously unaware of a garden of eden such as this, took a leap into a new line of mens cosmetics, and came out a new, metrosexual and rejuvinated man. He also, during the couse of our vacation, discovered conditioner. With his exfoliated skin, and silky smooth hair, watch out ladies, Sherman is on the prowl :-)

The third act of sherman began on the first day of our trip, and ended somewhere near the end of it. For those of you who know sherman, its no suprise that he likes to sleep. It was a suprise, however, jus how MUCH he wanted to sleep.
At the grand canyon, I decided that since we've come all the way, it would be pretty cool to walk along the rim as the sun rises over it. I suggested we leave the room by about 5am. Sherman laughs it off saying that I would never be awake by 5 am!
4.45am - I wake up, take a quick shower, change, and get ready for the hike.
5.00am - Try to wake up Sherman and Rashad
5.05am - Rashad gets up and startes getting ready.
5.15am - Rashad is ready
- Try to wake up Sherman

"get up"
"mfft"
"sherman, get up or we're gonna leave without you"
"mfft"
"The bloody sun is going to rise.. get up!!!"
"mfft"
I now proceed to jump from one bed to another trying desperately to get him out of bed. To give him credit, he did wake up eventually.

Back at Las Vegas later that morning, we get back to our hotel, and much to my horror and disgust, BOTH sherman and rashad decide that 11am is an excellent time to take a nap.
Sigh. Whats the world coming to :-)

Rashads acts of Brilliance.
Part 1 - Cranky at mealtimes. Rashad needs to eat every 4-5 hours witohut fail else all bedlam breaks loose. I, being the dense little boy that I am, was totally unaware of any form of crankiness untill it literraly, almost hit me in the face.

Part 2 - The face that launched a 1000 ships. Rashad discovers make-up. Again at Sephora. The emerged a new woman, with a TINY bit too much make-up on her face. We of course, told her she looked wonderful, but truth be told, she looked a bit like dame edna.

Now lets get to Hamlet..
Flavours.
Thats the name of the restaurant. And for 12 dollars, they had the most supremely awesome buffet. I started with a plate of seafood, a plate of grilled meat, a plate of fajitas, a plate of sushi, and a plate of chinese food. This was topped off by 3 scoops of ice-cream with chocolate sauce, and a rather large slice of chocolate cake.
Obviously, I felt sick and very nearly threw up over the other two. Needless to say, I learnt my lesson and ate significantly less the next few days.

All in all, the vacation was a huge success. We gambled at a little casino called "Casino Royale", made a decent amount of money, and then lost it all. Met some interesting people at our poker table, many of whom, lost a LOT more than we did, and one woman who won about $1000! The Korean dealer lady was the one who christened Rashad and Sherman with these delightful names!
We saw the cirque du soleil and the incredible David Copperfield (and for those of you who get the opportunity to watch either of these, make sure you do!), we obviously went to a Las Vegas Srtip show called "Bareback'.. Suprisingly, most of the other people in the audience were above the age of 50! Maybe they need a lil impetus to get their sex-life goin!
And finally, we walked around in the scortching hot 50 degree celcius heat!
And here ends our vacation. along with our savings :-)

What happens in Vegas...

2006-07-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

Stays in Vegas.

Or so the saying goes.. But thats kinda lame and I think it would be much more fun to reveal the interesting things we got upto over our 5 days there. So, dear diary, listen up :-)

Day 1: 5.30 am, the sun rises. Shockingly, I'm awake about half hour before him. Get ready in a big hurry. All the essentials, but no bath for lack of time. Run downstairs. Hail a cab. Tell the cab to goto the subway station, so I can take the tube to the airport. Check the tickets. Realise I've forgotten them and have no idea which airline I'm on. Cab turns around. Run upstairs. Get ticket. Run downstairs. Back in cab.
And there begins the delightful tail. It goes on with my flight getting delayed, my connection getting delayed, and me having to wait 4 hours alone at Pittsburgh airport for the people I'm going with (Sherman and Rashad - names have been changed to protect the innocent) to show up.
The time is now 6pm.
I left the house at 5am.
I'm still only in Pittsburgh.
I've spent the past 13 hours not talking to anyone. And if you know me, thats wayyyy past the threshold limit! But no worries. I take it out on them by not shutting up for the next five days (and for those of you who know me, jus imagine wot THATS like!)
Anyhow... Flight leaves Pittsburgh. Reach Vegas at midnight (Pacific time) and walk around for the next two hours, till 5 am NY time. I've been awake for 24 hours straight, and I'm kinda proud of it :-)

Guilty as charged

2006-06-26T23:32:00.000-07:00

Whoa.. A whole week has passed since I wrote my last entry.. Its not like nothing has happened, and although I've been busy, you're never TOO busy to write a blog. Whenever something interesting happens, I think "huh.. I should write about this in my blog", and when I get home, I usually forget about it, and several brilliant anecdotes are lost in this manner.
"So why haven't you written about the stuff that goes on at home?" you ask.. well, to be perfectly truthful, nothing interesting really happens while I'm at home!

So anyway.. getting to my point (I have one, I promise).. I was day-dreaming earlier today.. dabbling on the egde of human reason, when it suddenly occured to me..

Paranoia rhymes with diarrhea. Not completely, but kinda.

Now this struck me as odd. The two words are spelled TOTALLY differently. A person can be paranoid, so why can't they be diarroid? Which led me to wonder.. What do you call a person who has diarrhea? Which is when I came up with the "oh-so-classic" phrase
"his reverse is in fast forward".. If ever I had to put money on anything I have said going down in the history books, this is probably gonna be it!

Which is when it struck me. I AM a little paranoid with diarrea. I realise I'm bearing my soul in a most unbecoming way to a group of, for lack of a better word, strangers, but what the hey, we all have deep dark secrets :-)
I'm actually not paranoid about diarrea, rather, just slightly obsessed with it. Well.. Not obsessed with IT (thats gross), rather, obsessed with "the concept of it".. Once, about two years ago (man.. time flies!), I was stuck in the back of a car with a friend for a couple of hours in a traffic jam, and I came up with an elaborate plot on "involuntary defecation" (a fancy way to say diarrhea), and how there's an underground industry set up by our college to recycle it and sell it to us in our canteen as food. She was not impressed by the story, nor were the 15 other people I told.
Maybe there is something wrong with me.
Maybe there's something wrong with everyone else.
Maybe there's no right and wrong.
Maybe we're all just a group of people living according to a set of guidlines which society has created and proclaimed to be the norm, and by adhering to these, we're missing out on the true value of life.
Maybe I AM weird. But I'm proud to be weird, and I celebrate it :-)

weather issues

2006-06-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

whats the deal with the weather in new york? within the span of a month, it went from being pretty cold to ridiculously hot.
I miss bangalore, where "too hot" wasn't that hot, and "too cold" was just an excuse to don your favourite sweater.

in the beginning...

2006-06-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

...the lord said let there be light.
over the next four days he made the land, the sea, the sky and other cool stuff.
on the 6th day, he created man in his image.
and on the seventh day, he rested.
but not before pointing his almighty finger at me and proclaiming
"Let there be stupid"

Of all the times I have made an ass of myself, and trust me, there have been a LOT of times, last night was possibly the worst... worst ever.

let me paint a little picture. Its the grad school "summer soiree".. everybody is dressed up, drinking wine, chatting, laughing and enjoying themselves in a sensible fashion.
and then there was me.

I had reached the event by about 9 along with a friend, early, by new york standards... I, being me, started drinking at 9, and by the time most of the school (now.. this is the ENTIRE graduate student population) showed up, it was around 10 or 10.30, by which time I had loosened my collar, and was decidedy "tipsy".

And then the 80s music began. Bad move Mr. DJ.

People who know me KNOW I cannot resist the sounds of the 80s, so my friend (who's equally drunk as me) start swing dancing. and jiving. and 'boogie-ing". and anything else which involves shaking your ass.
And this went on for the next 4 hours. So for FOUR WHOLE BLOODY HOURS we were the only ones dancing, with the whole school watching us.
When I woke up this morning, I felt the desperate need to transfer schools. I still haven't seen a soul all day, and I will hopefully never have to.

the irony of it all

2006-06-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

The experiment I've been trying to do for the past month worked.
finally.
and I have to leave the lab in 2 weeks.
awesome eh?
Why does it always happen that you get good results when its too late to do anything about it?? All you "science geeks" who read my blog.. any theories?

fuuuuuuuccccccckkkkkkkkkk!!!

2006-06-14T23:04:00.000-07:00

I jus poured my cells into the waste container.. I was supposed to remove the supernatant, but instead, I dumped the whole thing. Why did the good lord make me such a moron?

aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

californication

2006-06-14T22:34:00.000-07:00

I met a girl from California.
Fascinating demographic.

I could leave it at that, for the above lines are fairly self-explanatory. But jus for fun, lemme entertain you a lil longer. Here's a sample of the conversation we had..

Me : you wanna get some food?
her: yeah.. wot do you kids eat in new york?
me : I dunno.. I guess we could get a bagel..
her: no way dude.. Peace to the Cho's.

Now.. lemme pause for a second to list out a few of the multitude of thoughts that passed through my mind when she said that

1. She's making a racist statement about the chinese.
2. She has no idea what I'm talking about.
3. She has no idea what a bagel is.
4. She's spazzing out, and said the first string of alphabets that came into her mind.

Needless to say, I was wrong on all four accounts. Cho's, in californian vernacular, is an acronym for CHO, or for the unintimated, carbohydrates.
Bagels, being made of bread, contain carbohydrates.
She, being californian, does not eat carbs (she actually eats very little of anything)

And now, I'm hungry. Peace to the Cho's.

biting the hand that feeds..

2006-06-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

I got into a bit of a tiff the other day with co-president of our program. He's a very well known, respected, and well-published professor in the field of immunology, but the other day, he was pulling stuff out of his a** that I really didn't care for.
Unfortunately, I went into a bit of a tirade of how stupid his idea was.
Unfortunately, it was at an immunology group meeting, consisting of all immunology faculty.
Unfortunately, these people are dirctly responsible for the next 5 years of my life.

Fortunately, I sat down before I told him that if he had any idea how our program was run, he wouldn't have come up with such a ridiculous idea.

No harm was done.. but I'm sure the immunology group will now be wary of the otherwise unopinionated little graduate student.

the joys of 23

2006-06-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

I jus realised that when my dad was 23, he got married.
I called my mum, and asked her if dad was anything like me when she married him.
she said..
"no.. give it another 10 years or so".

oversleeping

2006-06-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

I dreamt that I overslept this morning. I jumped out of bed in a terrific hurry, showered, and while I was changing, noticed it was only 7 am.
Needless to say, I wasn't happy.

On an entirely different note, girls are weird. If I ever, ever understand them, it won't be a moment too soon.

God Save Japan

2006-06-03T23:53:00.000-07:00

Every country should be able to stand up proudly infront of the other nations of the world and show off their ONE truly great contribution to society today.
I propose Japans greatest contribution..
Close runners up included SONY, the Toyota, sushi, the geisha, and the ever lovable pokemon..
However, all these could NOT compare with KARAOKE!
why, might you ask?
I just spent the last 4 hours in a karaoke bar singing a positively delicious assortment of songs which included the ever popular "Hit me baby one more time" by America's favourite mum, Britney Spears.. and old favourites like "I will survive" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".
Any culture which could come up with words that move along the screen AND alcohol at the same time is truly one to be celebrated.
JAPAN... we love you :-)

X3

2006-05-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

I saw X-men III last night. Although I really should have been studying, and now I'm horribly unprepared for a final I have on Thursday on Developmental biology (yuk!), it was definitely worth it.
It was one of the best made movies I've seen this year, and although the story didn't exactly go the way I had hoped (The killed Scott AND Jean.. my FAVOURITE X-men), it was still awesome.
Its weird.. I've done so much molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics to know that the stuff they put on screen is completely impossible.. but at the end of the movie, I still left with an enchanted feeling of "what if?" and a feeling in the pit of my stomach that can only be classified as disappointment that I dont have any cool mutant powers.. Then of course the mind wanders into what kind of superpower I would posess.. Its times like these when I wish I didn't know anything about the workings of the human body, and to be able to think that something like this COULD actually be possible..
Anyhow... to all my faithful readers.. if you haven't seen it, do so. its comes with my stamp of utmost approval.

random thought.. if theres only one of them, would you call him/her an "X-man" ??

inappropriate, but true...

2006-05-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

you can learn a lot about a person by looking through their personal belongings.
I don't plan on elaborating on this... lets just leave it at this :-)

random

2006-05-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

I went for a haircut earlier today.. as the woman started cutting, she gave me a sidelong glance and said "you've put on weight".
I left her a tip for her honesty, and a pretty bad haircut.
From tomorrow, I stop eating.

The 90/10 theory

2006-05-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

This is a lil theory that pertains to biological research around the world, and the funding issues that come along with it.
90% of the money put into medical research by the United States goes towards curing diseases that affect 10% of the worlds population.
I always knew there was a skew, but I never realised it was this bad.. Diseases like cancer, parkinsons, and alzheimers... mostly ailments of middle to upper class caucasians who can afford treatment. On the other hand, diseases like tuberculosis, HIV and malaria, which are predominantly diseases of the third world, affect the people who cannot afford expensive drugs and treatment. As a consequence, pharmacological companies often look at these treatments as a waste of resourses, and as a consequence, very little is being done to solve them.
Its shocking to know there are so many educated people out there who believe that tuberculosis has been eradicated.
Even worse than this is the fact that more money is being put into developing treatments to prevent balding and skin wrinkling than all infectious diseases put together..
Its a cruel world we live in.

the all american dream

2006-05-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

What exactly is that anyway??? People say I'm living the all american dream.. Does this mean that all americans have the same dream, or that americans are dreaming about an existance which is essentially "all american" and devoid of other races?

From what little I watch of the news, I have come to the conclusion that the USA loves to meddle in other peoples affairs.. The whole issue with iraq, israel vs. palestine, india vs. pakistan, Vietnam etc etc.. My naive outlook on world politics today had led me to believe that it was out of genuine concern that these acts were performed..
Untill recently.
I'm now convinced (I'm sure everyone else was quite some time ago.. I'm jus a lil slow) that this is NOT the case. I think the US government likes to stick its unwholesomely large nose into everyone elses private matters jus to check out whats goin on..
There are several parallels that can be drawn between the USA and an old, idle, fairly well to do woman... She's bored, primarily because everything in her life went off so well.. She doesn't have to work excessively hard to keep herself going on a day to day basis, so she drops by her friends (less fortunate friends, might I add) on a day to day basis and comment on the inferiority of their lives.
Now you (and I hope SOMEONE reads this) might ask why I'm getting all hot and bothered about this now, when this has been goin on for a fair few years now..

And I'm gonna tell you..

Because earlier this morning, it hit a subject thats VERY close to my heart, and I get agitated whenever someone even mentions it..

its called the 90/10 theory, and in a minute, you're gonna hear all about it :-)

Abercrombie and Fitch

2006-05-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

There's just something about that shop that makes you want to buy stuff. True, its ridiculously expensive, and meant for guys with a six pack (as opposed to guys who drink 'em).. and yet, I'm compelled to buy stuff every time I enter that store! Its weird though.. Just trying on their stuff makes me feel great because whatever I wear makes me look awesome.. No easy task, but I salute you Mr. Abercrombie and Dr. Fitch (I dunno why, but I just feel that Fitch should be a Dr.)

the incontinence issue...

2006-05-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

so as it turns out, I'm NOT incontinent..
I just pee a lot when I'm really nervous.. And this is accompanied by bouts of nausea, extreme restleness (seriously, I mean EXTREME), inability to concentrate and a continuous desire for unhealthy food..
This pretty much sums up the last 3 days of my life.

the male mind..

2006-05-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

Aside : After I post this, I'll be a confirmed science geek, but I don't care.. I think this stuff is really cool :-)

so for all you chicks out there who have ever thought that a guy thinks with his penis, its time to eat your own words..
There are a set of genes encoded in the testes (balls, for the uninitiated) called the MAGE genes.. Now in certain men who have certain types of brain tumors, these MAGE genes are actually expressed in the brain.. SO.. you have proteins from the male reproductive system now expressed in the brain :-)
Hence, if a guy DOES think with his dick, don't blame him.. he can't really help it ;-)

The high school from hell

2006-05-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

So as part of my experiences as a grad student, I decided to get some teaching experience.. and who better to teach than willing high school students who cling onto every word you say, and whose minds are waiting to be moulded into engines of thought..
ok.. its a little over-dramatic.. but its my firt time actually teaching in a school, and I was really psyched about it!
Besides, the over-dramatization makes what I'm about to say ever so much worse..

So this is a big high school on 33rd and Park Ave.. pretty 'hoity-toity' location..
I entered the school.

To get into the main building, you have to pass through a metal detector, and they frisk you with that weird looking cattle prod like device they have at airports.. then you put your bag through an actual baggage scan!!
and who's monitoring this?? Not some security guards, but acual NYPD policemen.. it was INSANE.. After about ten minutes (which is how long it took to get into the damn building), I walked upto the classroom..

Begin : nightmare no2.
Far from eager minds waiting to be moulded, I saw a whole load of tenth grade kids without minds.. And honestly, I don't blame them..

Begin : nightmare no3.
The TEACHER.. Miss Bonus (irony?) was probably the most incompetent woman on the face of the earth.. She looked like one of those people who did drugs all through the 70s which left her mind so thoroughly screwed up that she was doomed to remain stoned for all eternity..
to cite an example, lemme jot down a conversation i had with her in the class..
*I was demonstrating how bacteria which express GFP glow when you expose them to UV light*

her: thats a UV light?
me : yes
her: where can u buy one?
me : I dunno.. I guess through some research company like Biorad
her: ahh... (she looks at the lamp).. Is this one of those lights they have at discos and clubs?

me : yeah yeah.. this is it!
her: ohh.. it makes things which are white become fluorescent! thats why they tell you not to wear white bras and panties to a club..

me : *silence* (!)
her: you know... otherwise your bra and panties would glow and everyone would see them..

me: errr.. ok..

How can this woman actually TEACH other people???

Now... I can't blame it totally on her.. some of the kids were outrageous..

kid: miss bonus.. you've got a really big ass!
her: *marginally reproving look* sit down everyone!
kid: uhh.. don't look at me like that.. you know you do!

WOW! I could just see myself getting kicked right outta my high school for saying anything remotely like THAT!

In the end, I dont think the kids really learnt a lot, but they saw some glowing bacteria, and did a little experiment of thoer own.. If any one of them goes on to do anything remotely scientific, I'll give myself a pat on the back :-)

Diet Coke

2006-05-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

I've been drinking coke from as far back as I can remember.. I love it, and didn't think that ANYTHING would come between me, and what can only be described as my first love..
The other day, someone asked me to try a diet coke... Under some amount of duress, I took the can and started to drink it..
It tasted like swill. I honestly felt a little nausea after drinking it.. BUT.. while I was drinking this, I did happen to notice that diet coke contains NO calories.. I was always under the assumption that it contained about half the calories of regular coke, so I was always like "whatever"..
But the prospect of getting a drink of coke with NO calories was a little hard to digest (pun intended)..
Anyway.. by the end of the can, it didn't taste all that bad, and I could understand what they mean by it being an aquired taste..
Now.. armed with this new knowledge, I had another can the next day, and another the day after.. and for the past ten days or so, I've been enjoying a can of Diet coke while I study..
Now.. While I was out to lunch today, I ordered a regular coke (I actually didn't order a "Regular coke", I just ordered a "coke".. force of habit, you see)..
The coke came to the table.. (it wasn't a magic can of coke.. the waitress brought it)
and it tasted like SWILL! I coudn't believe it.. I just could not drink it because it tasted AWFUL..

Now this is a potentially upsetting situation..

Ten days of drinking diet coke has effectively ruined 20 odd years of drinking sugar loaded regular coke.
I suppose this is a good thing, and I should look on the bright side.. But I refuse to.. I will look upon this as the disaster that it is, for I have parted ways with my first love, only to replace her with a skinnier, younger variant.
the coke is dead.. long live the coke!

when do they grow up?

2006-05-11T23:18:00.000-07:00

It was 2 am.. I had to run back to the lab to take out some cells for a timed experiement that I was doing.. It was kinda cold, so I put on a sweater vest (a sleeveless sweater, for the uninitiated)
In the background, I hear what appears to be a mix between a howl, and a gasp.. all in all, a fairly unpleasant noise..
"Whats THAT???" My sister.. visiting for a couple of weeks, makes no pretense at hiding her disgust.
"what?", I reply in a confused tone, all the while, knowing exactly what she's talking about.
"the sweater... You can't seriously OWN a aweater vest"
"I actually have a couple of them"

And here begins my fashion training by my 16 year old baby sister.. Its slightly pathetic.. It seems like yesterday I was wrestling with her and pulling out her hair.. Ok, I confess.. that actually did happen yesterday..
But y'all know what I'm talking about.. When did MY sister become more fashion savvy than I? I honestly see nothing wrong with wearing a sweater vest with shorts..
Apparantly, its a majoy faux pas.

So for all you sweater vest fans.. the style is out.. and apparantly, has been out for quite a while.

sigh.. I shall have to aquire some more "trendy" outfits.

FACS

2006-05-10T12:07:00.000-07:00

I HATE the stupid facs machine.
its a stupid, time consuming, unreliable technique..

AND I CAN'T GET THE STUPID THING TO WORK!!!

pee pee

2006-05-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

I pee-ed 6 times this afternoon.. I think I'm getting incontinence.
I hope its not serious.

mission impossible

2006-05-08T06:44:00.000-07:00

So Tom Cruise made MI-1 (I'm not sure, but I think it was just called MI at the time), and MI-2..
Then he waited a couple of years, got a lil insane, and then made MI-3.. I'm not sure of the chronological order of craziness vs. MI-3.. depends really on how long it took to make the movie.. which in turn depends on how crazy he was.. MAN.. this is ONE viscous (spelling??) circle..

ok ok.. I digress..

So the point is, that MI-4 will come along soon enough, and then we get to the intesting one.. MI-5.

Here's what I think is gonna happen..

Her royal highness, the queen of England, fed up with the promiscuity of 007, James Bond (because we ALL know the royal family aint promiscuous!) will look overseas for her no.1 agent..
She finds Tom Cruise, and says to herself "hem hem.. lets give him a shot"
So he comes..
on his motorbike..
blows wind up her skirt..
After a lot of "hem-hemming" and an excuse for the maralyn monroe "skirt move", she sends him on a mission..
Pissed off at having to give birth with her mouth closed and her eyes open, Katie Homes stars as the villian.. an American Housewive seeking revenge..
Theres the usual ensuing saga.. couple of people are killed, some hot sex scenes, perhaps the occasional silent birth.. the usual stuff.. so I'll cut to the chase.

Katie Homes falls desperately back in love with TC, proclaiming that she'll never open her mouth again..
TC, suddenly feels desperately homesick, and while chasing after Canadian Terrorist, stops head in his track and sings the Star Sprangles Banner..
The Queen (god bless her), takes the bus to Selfridges to buy a new dress..

Now theres a movie everyone would watch ;-)

the sunshine state

2006-05-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

The "Happiest Celebration on Earth" comes with a bloody long queue. What exactly am I talking about? Read on..
Since the ol' folks and the younger sibling decided to visit me in this land of liberty and freedom, we decided to take a trip to see Mickey, Donald, and the whole gang and Disney World in Florida.. Now I could say that this was entirely spearheaded by my sister, but who the hell am I kidding? I'm totally into the whole Disney "experience"..
The only drawback, as I briefly alluded to earlier were the damn lines to most of the rides.. It just annoys me when you wait in line for half an hour for a ride that lasts all of two and a half minutes! Space Mountain was a lot of fun, and not nearly as scary as I expected it to be.. The huge big rollercoaster at Universal Studios, on the other hand, scared the crap outta me so much that I decided not to go on it.. On hindsight, I wish I had gone, because I feel like a bit of a wuss (is that how u spell that?) right now..
I bought myself a big Goofy hat, which made me look, well... for lack of a better word, goofy.. but thats not really a suprise.. I think Goofy and I are some sort of kindred spirits.. Mebbe a past life connection, or twins separated at birth, coz I see big similarities in our thought processes and the consequences of many of our actions..

Lets move on to a slightly more surreal aspect of the trip..
I had to take a taxi to the airport coz I was heading back to New York, and my folks were goin somewhere else.. (in case you were wondering, I haven't gotten to the surreal part as yet)
So the taxi driver, much like the majority of the population of this highly sociable country, took all of two minutes to strike up conversation.. As it turns out, the dude had gone to GRAD SCHOOL in NYU.. Now the obvious, but highly inappropriate question would be..
"dude.. if you went to grad school, why on earth are you driving a taxi?"

Needless to say, I didn't ask him this..
But in light of his aforesaid sociable nature, and also pleased to be in the company of a current grad student, he tells me that he did some sort of chemisrty in grad school, went on to some sort of chemical synthesis industry, led a happy and fulfilling life of synthesizing some obscure compound thats probably an essential component of hairspray, and then retired..
sounds pretty normal.. but I'm not done yet..

So like many people in the united states, he moved to good ol' Florida to retire, spent the better part of a year golfing, fishing etc etc.. y'know.. retirement-ish stuff.. and promptly got bored... so much so that he JOINED A TAXI COMPANY and drives around idiotic tourists like myself to the airport at seven in the morning..

Now this honestly scared the living daylights outta me.. Could this be me, fifty odd years from now? I shudder to think.. After a lifetime of working in a lab, wouldn't you wanna do something slightly more interesting than drive a taxi through the "magical kingdom"?

I have taken a vow to do something interesting with my life.. I will not let my blog, fifty years hence, to read..

"I drove a yappy lil grad student to the airport this morning.. He told me wot he intends to do with his life, and I secretly laughed, knowing that there was no way in hell"

So there reads my vacation in Florida. The sunshine state.

american chickens

2006-04-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

So my folks came home yesterday, and to show them how well I could survive, and have been surviving, I decided to cook them dinner..
Chicken, I thought, because, well... who doesn't like chicken?
I took a walk to the nearby food emporium and ambled along to the raw meat section.. There I was greeted by a whole plethora of different ways to buy chicken..
skinless
boneless
individual pieces
large birds
small birds
oraganic hens
country hens
jesus.. it was quite a sight.. whatever happened to the good ol' days when you pointed to the bird which flapped its wings the most, and asked the butcher to chop it up and wrap it up?
ok ok.. Im getting sidetracked..
so since I'm a grad student and perpetually short of cash, I bought one of the cheapest kinds.. Regular chicken thighs, with the skin..
what the hell, I thought, It'll take me a couple of minutes to remove the skin before I cook it.
So I got home and started to remove the skins.. and lo and behold.. there was no endd to the fat on this chicken! it was attached to the meat, attached to the skin, ingrained deep in the meatt.. EVERYWHERE!!
This was by far the MOST unhealthy set of birds I've ever seen (I say set of birds because there were 6 thighs, and lets face it, what are the odds that both the thighs of 3 chickens ended up in the same packet?).
It took me a good forty five minutes to clean up all the excess fat, and about 30 minutes after that to cook the damn things.
Its no wonder that so many americans are overweight and suffer from hypercholerterolemia! (its a word)
If they're eating chicken like that with the fat still on it, its bound to likk you sooner rather than later!
i'm still in shock over those birds..
each thigh had more fat on it that an average african individual. what do they feed these things??

@23

2006-04-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

I'm 23 years old.
In 8 months, I will be 24...
Ten years ago, if I had known what I would have achieved by this age, would I have done anything differently? Possibly..

Why the introspection all of a sudden?
I was watching the Formula 1 race earlier this evening. At the age of 24, Fernando Alonso WON the world championship. I haven't even sat in the damn car as yet! I suppose I can't complain.. Not everyone can win a world championship by 24.

While on the subject of the Formula 1, I think I've realised why nobody in this country watches it. The commentators are absolutely AWFUL. I'm not saying that I could do it, but it was far below the standard of the guys who are on ESPN.. Perhaps if they change the commentators, more people would watch the best sport in the world.

random questionnaire

2006-04-22T23:31:00.000-07:00

Q: How many beds did you lay in yesterday?:
A: two!

Q: What color shirt are you wearing?:
A: white

Q: Name one thing that you do everyday?:
A: take a shower

Q: Whats the color of your bedroom walls?:
A: white

Q: How much cash do you have on you right now?:
A: nothing (not suprising)

Q: Whats your favorite sport?:
A: squash

Q: I cant wait till..?:
A: firday

Q: When was the last time you saw your dad?:
A: 10th January, 2006

Q: Are you taken?:
A: Do I really need to answer this question?

Q: Whos your best friend(s)?:
A: Chloe

Q: What did you have for dinner last night?:
A: cheese burger and chips

Q: Look to your left. Whats there?:
A: caeser.

Q: Whats the last piece of clothing you borrowed from someone?:
A: took a tie from my dad.

Q: What website do you visit the most?:
A : email.med.cornell.edu

Q: Do you have plants in your room?:
A: nope.

Q: Does anything hurt on your body right now?:
A: nope!

Q: What city was your last taxicab ride in?:
A: New York

Q: Do you own a picture phone?:
A: yup.

Q: Whats your favorite starbucks drink?:
A: iced café mocha.

Q: Recent time you were really upset?
A: yesterday.

Q: Would you have a problem if your friend went after your ex boyfriend/girlfriend?:
A: I dunno why, but I’m gonna say yes.

Its been a while since I've been this bored. I need to sleep.

caeser

2006-04-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

someone told me that I'm becoming obsessed with caeser, and that he's all I talk about these days. Is that true?
and even if it is? is there anything wrong with that? He's a very major part of my life right now. Albeit, I'm usually talking about his defecatory habits, and occasionally, how frequently he goes pee pee...
Am I going to become one of those parents who speaks constantly of their children? I hope not..
I've heard parents go on and on endlessly about their children.. After a couple of minutes, and several cloying comments about how brilliant young tom or suzy (I dunno why those names popped into my head all of a sudden), these are the thoughts going through my head..
"Get on with it.."
"Are you kidding? I've hung out with your children! they're spoiled brats"
"I wonder whats for dinner"

My parents never ranted or raved about my accomplishments (few and far between as they were).. At the time, I used to be pissed off, thinking perhaps they weren't hyping up my existance as much as they should be doing so. In hindsight, I'm pretty glad they didn't.

So back to the matter at hand... Am I going to be a parent who rants and raves about his kid? Or will I just be talking about my kids pooping habits (might get embarassing for him/her once he/she (phew) hits puberty!)

growing up

2006-04-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

I took caeser out for a walk today, and it started raining.. The poor lil guy got completely wet, and since his lower body is so close to the ground, it got very dirty too. I picked him up and got home as soon as possible.
I ran him a hot bath, and washed him with "head and Shoulders".. Dried him with a towel, and made him feel nice and warm with a blow dry.
I suddenly feel "all grown up" and very responsible. Its an awesome feeling having someone completely helpless be so totally dependent upon you.. And when you fulfill their needs, its the most gratifying feeling in the world.

i am SO ready to have children!

4 am

2006-04-22T00:52:00.000-07:00

I drank a full bottle of coke earlier this evening, and am very wired right now.
Its 4 am.
I've tried calling all my friends, and I'm pretty sure some of them are gonna be very pissed off with me tomorrow morning.
Even the guys on the west coast are asleep.

Tomorrow aint gonna be fun.

the scientific version

2006-04-21T13:21:00.001-07:00

don't put all your protein in one eppendorf.

I'll tell you the story behind that little pithy later this evening.

thought for the day

2006-04-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

there's no problem so awful that you can't add a little guilt to make someone feel worse.

different strokes..

2006-04-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

I dunno whether its just me, or a more widespread difference in the way different communities interact with each other.
Earlier this morning, just after class, I looked over at one of my friends and very nonchalantly said "man... you look like you've just crawled outta the ground".. A bit of an exaggeration, but she was clearly not having a good morning.. It was what I figured was an appropriately inappropriate comment.. She dint say much, but gave a "dont tell me something I already know" look. On leaving class however, a couple of other kids in class told me that that was an incredibly rude thing to say..!
Now I hadn't meant any offence by it, and it was clearly in jest.. But they said that even in jest, it was a highly imappropriate comment.
I was told "perhaps you can talk like that to boys, but not to girls"
Now this to me is a completely novel concept. When another person is my friend, gender ceases to be an issue. Whenever I talk to my female friends, it never occurs to me that I'm talking to a "girl".. Just another one of the dudes!
This hasn't been a problem all through college. Most of my friends being girls, were not spared. From simple insults on how fat they were, to how badly they dressed, to how dreadful they look, they got the hard, honest truth (and mebbe a bit more). And to be perfectly honest, I expected the same from them
But here.. its totally different.. Boys should "watch what they tell girls". Even best friends aren't "brutally" honest with each other. I promised my pals here that I would try my best to keep my foot out of my mouth, but I really dunno how thats gonna pan out.
So why the difference?
was it that my interaction with friends from college was just different from how normak people interact with each other?
is it a difference between friends in india, and friends out here?
or is it just that people in grad school are more grown up, and hence expect me to grow up too (i'd like to see THAT happen).

dreams and streams

2006-04-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

I had the most absurd dream last night. I was trying to fit myself into a centrifuge, in the hope that I could "spin myself down". Getting in wasn't a problem, but I was pouring coke(?) into a bucket to see if it could serve as a balance. I wonder if it means anything?
I need to get out of the lab more often..

On a completely separate note, the apartment was in a state of total disarray after I got home this evening. lil C (caeser, my dachshund) was freaking out that I hadn't come home all day... He somehow managed to open the shoe cupboard, and pull out every last shoe.. AND.. chew up a fair number of them! To make matters worse, he decided to boycott the "wee wee pad" and poop all around the room, making the place look (and smell) very sordid. Now.. you don't just let a dg get away with stuff like this. So obviously, I yelled at him.. and raised my hand to smack him..
Big mistake.
The lil dude, afraid of what would happen, started peeing. Now when a human kid (or grown-up) is scared, and they pee, they're usually wearing clothes (hence the expression, "so scared he pissed his pants"). Unfortunately, lil C doesn't wear pants, so he unloaded on the floor.
So now, theres poop, shoes, and pee all around the floor. It looked like a bathroom from hell..
sigh. I coulddn't even blame the lil guy, so I took him out for a walk.

my gmail account/orkut still isn't opening. my life officially sucks.

what the frig??

2006-04-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

how is it possible for the misfortune of the entire world to fall upon the shoulders of one innocent being?
obviously, I'm talking about myself.
for some weird reason, my gmail account isn't letting me access my inbox, and it says that the password I'm typing is incorrect. Highly doubtful.
To add insult to injury, my orkut account is linked to my gmail id, so I can't access that either. Now this may seem trivial, but on most days, the orkut messages are small rays of light in my otherwise bleak life. How can this possibly happen to me?
I'm going to DIE.

I exaggerate.

I'm probably going to live, but not as content as I could or should be. I need to find a way to get my account working again. Then things will be hunky dory once again.

So maybe the misfortune of the ENTIRE world isn't upon me, but theres some pretty crappy karma flying around.

AND, I woke up late this morning.

Its fate.

whipped cream

2006-04-16T21:55:00.001-07:00

this is my third blog for the day (man.. I'm on FIRE!), but I just couldn't resist writing about this.

I'm at a coffee shop, standing in line (not a starbucks.. just incase you were wondering), when the dude infront of me orders a coffee..
"can i get a coffee please"
"sure.. what kind of milk would you like?"
"skim milk.. with sugar and extra whipped cream"

Theres something fundamentally wrong about this.
I can understand if you're on a diet.. skim milk is fine.. But really.. does anyone see the logic in having extra whipped cream with skim milk? Can you really justify the calories of the Whip by cutting out a few measly grams of fat from regular milk?

What is the world coming to?

the boy vs. girl issue

2006-04-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

so I never really realised wot the fuss was about when people got baby genders confused.. An old lady comes up to a young mum at the supermarket, looks at her baby in the trolly, and says "my, what a lovely little boy you have". After a pointed glare, the young mum dons a superficial smile and says "why thank you, but she's actually a girl"
Honest mistake?
perhaps..

I was out taking the puppy for a walk this evening, when an old lady (!) starts "oohing and aahing" at the little guy.
So I said "Hey Ceaser, say hi"
At which point, the lady looks up at me, beams and says... "awww... she's adorable"
Now honestly.. WHY (oh why?) would anyone name a female dog CAESER!
Its not a girlie name..
and much of the roman empire would be very distressed if the average American today thought that it was.

Young mums around the world.. I feel your pain.

ridiculously happy

2006-04-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

I have had what can easily be described as "the perfect weekend".. New York is just shedding its winter cover, and the first blossoms of spring are budding forth. The streets were full of people enjoying the weather, enjoying weekend, and enjoying New York.
So what made my weekend so perfect? Let me tell you..
Ferrari's, Porsche's, convertible BMWs, and a Maserati, among several others at the New York auto show.
Roast Duck with a tangy orange gravy at a tiny bistro on the east village, a lot of sangria, and a brilliant night out on saturday.
French Toast and Eggs Bennedict for Brunch, along with a mimosa on sunday, followed by ice cream from cold stone.. which, for the unaware, is among the best ice cream I've ever eaten.
Walks in the park with Caeser, my lil miniature daschound.
And the episode of Desperate Housewives earlier this evening kicked ass!

So as you can see, I'm riotously (is that a word?) happy... and since happiness is infectious, I hope anyone who reads this will feel some of the springtime cheer too!

pathogenic yeast

2006-04-15T01:36:00.000-07:00

why would anyone in their right mind choose to study something like this? And why would any self-respecting institution fund research pertaining to this???
I guess I'm just annoyed at having to listen to some dude (a professor) talk about his work on pathogenic yeast for 3 hours this morning! Thats three whole hours of my life I'll never get back...
But then, I'm in grad school, so thats like 5 years I'll never get back. At least I'm not studying pathogenic yeast.
Tuberculosis rocks :-)

When I first told my friends in high school that I was planning to do a PhD, the immediate responses were not what I expected..
"oh! in what?"
"really? interesting.."
"cooooool!!!"
were the things i DIDN'T hear..

Instead, I was greeted by
"Why?"
"Are you kidding?"
"hahaha"

Now pondering about that first question, I often ask myself "Why?"
I'm..
overworked, underpaid, have no chances of significant career advances in the next 5 years (or ever), and theres a good chance that the insignificant little piece of work may not have a lasting impact on human welfare, and will probably get lost in the grand scheme of things.

Unfortunately, I just think this stuff is really cool.

relationships

2006-04-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

has it occured to the members of the human race that the current attitude towards finding "that special someone" has been made unduly complicated?
I was out last night with a friend... the usual university scene.. beer, music and fairly meaningless chatter. Anyhow, she was telling me about some guy she was interested in, and how she hoped that he would be there that night. So after an hour, and a couple of drinks, we bump into this guy... She was talking to him, and I was trying to make myself invisible, when I see that this guy (lets call him X) gets signaled to by a friend, P. Now P, clearly excited that X is talking to a girl, gives him a thumbs up.. X, fearing embarassment, gives P a look of disapproval, but not without a smile to let P know that he's interested in my friend.
Now for a casual bystander like me, this is gold :-) I've just witnessed what was supposed to be a candid communication between these two guys... Obviously, I tell my friend.. Now she's excited that X is interested in her.. So I ask the inevitible question..
"what are you gonna do about it?"
"about what?"
"well.. this guy likes you.. are you gonna take it further?"
'Oh NO!!! I don't really want him.. I just wanted to see if I could have him, and besides, I like the attention"

Now this completely left me speechless (not an easy task).

Why would anyone want to complicate their life so unnecessarily?

Completely dinenhartened by this tragic turn of events, I wind up in a karaoke bar and sing "I will survive" very loudly, and not quite in tune...

that post-exam feeling

2006-04-13T23:11:00.000-07:00

Bliss :-)
There's not much else I can say to describe wot I feel right now. After what seems like an eternity of studying, to finally finish the damn exam (irrespective of how you do) is a brilliant feeling.
Added to that, I actually did my taxes today, so theres two things I no longer have to do.. BIG DAY :-)
In order to reward myself, I've decided to spend the rest of the weekend semi-concious, in a drunken stupor.
C'mon.. I've earned it ;-)

rare moment of joy

2006-04-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

I sat in class today, feeling as smug as boy in a candy shop. Over the past few days, I had been studying for a test, and had a sinking sensation that I didn't know anything, and the test was going to be a disaster. Listening to the doubts of other people in class, I sat back and realised that I knew far more than most others in class.
Should such evil thoughts be harboured? probably not..
do I care? again, probably not..

always a bridesmaid...

2006-04-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

at the risk of sounding gay, im gonna say it anyway.. am I gonna end up being the perpetual "bridesmaid" ??
I just had a conversation with a friend about how worried she is about her relationship, and how scared that she and her boyfriend are goin too fast.. C'mon people!! Don't do this to me.
Here I am, watching my former fat/annoying/hopless friends enjoy pre-connubial bliss, while I'm (literally) watching the river go by (read the previous post)..
What went wrong? I feel like Joey at the end of friends.. and while on that subject.. whats the deal with that anyway? Its so unfair! It took them 10 years to hook the other 5 of them up.. would it have killed them to do this for another year and hook joey up with someone? Instead, they give him a crappy show to follow, and he'll forever be known as the one who didn't hook up.
Its like this new show thats coming out on television. About 7 friends, 6 of whom who hook up, and hte 7th dude who's left out.. What about Brian? (or something like that?)
Do television networks think we actually enjoy stuff like that? Does it give you "paired up" folk a good laugh to see wot the single people are upto?
sigh.
I'm ranting and raving far too much today. anything to get away from the dreaded work that needs to be done.

the east river

2006-04-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

this is really bizarre!
the east river flows south in the morning, and north in the evening!
how is this possible?
I've been in the rockefeller library all evening, and its been flowing north.. I swear when I was here the other morning, it was flowing south.
I shall have to spend the whole day here, and watch the time at which the direction changes.

addictions

2006-04-10T16:46:00.000-07:00

Why oh why did I have to start this Blog thing now ?? I have an enormous amount of work to do, yet, I've spent the past two and a half hours reading random peoples blogs. I've read about stuff ranging from how people milk their cows and wot they do to make a good souffle to one dude who was debating on whether or not to divorce his wife..
Since I had a bad throat last night, I took a spoonful of "non-drowsy" cough syrup. If anybody from the Vicks cough syrup company happens to read this, let me assure that the cought syrup is definately not "non-drowsy". I woke up this morning feeling very out of sorts (much like I do when I've had too much to drink the previous evening), at NOON! It goes without saying that the rest of the day was pretty unproductive. So after waking up at noon, I watched television for an hour and a half (reruns of Everybody loves Raymond), ate for an hour, had a bath, and finally left the house at 4pm. Went to the library to study, and said to myself.. "well.. lemme just check my mail".. BIG MISTAKE.. Its now 7pm, I havent done a scrap of work today, and I have an exam on thursday.. WHEN WILL I LEARN??
Sigh.
On the brighter side, I did eat a most delicious brownie this afternoon, and am feeling very pleased, in spite of myself :-)

annoyed

2006-04-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

is it just me, or does everyone feel like their life is passing them by?
It was a beautiful day outside today, and instead of soaking up the new york scene, I was stuck in the library studying fuckin Hedgehog signalling !! Who the hell cares what signaling pathways are involved in the development of drosophila?? I certainly dont.. so why do I need to know about it??
Really.. if someone wants to study development (and I really dont know who would want to subject themselves to that).. why study it in flies? Why study anything in flies??

and by the way.. developmental biologists... THE CUTE NAMES DONT MAKE THE PROCESS ANY BETTER!

and then there was light..

2006-04-07T22:34:00.000-07:00

So I've fianlly been coaxed into starting a blog. An evil waste of precious time, and resources.. But since I haven't got much else to do, I might as well bore the rest of the world with the inane subtilities of my life. For those of you who don't know me, and those who dont know me too well, please bear in mind that I'm simply horrible at spelling. For those of you who know me well, but didn't know that, shame on you.
So here I am, at 1.30am on a friday night, writing my first blog. Clearly, I dont have a life. I spent the last 3 hours trying to file my tax returns for the previous year.. Unsuccessfully, might I add. Is there a reason why the IRS has to make things so complicated?
So on this positive note, let me end.
untill next time, nanu nanu.