Happy Halloween!

Welcome to my least favorite holiday! It doesn't help much that I don't like candy... Give me peanut MnMs and I'll be happy :)

Last night for dinner, had mandu soondubu. That's a delicious Korean version of a hot pot, I suppose. Boiling hot spicy tofu soup in a stone bowl with dumplings and little rice cakes. It also comes with a raw egg that you crack into the boiling hot soup, and it cooks in it... soooo good. I definitely burnt my tongue though. That's the problem with the soondubu (or bibimbap for that matter)... I'm so impatient that I want to eat it, but of course it's so hot, so I end up burning my tongue. It's worth it :P

I can't remember the last time I was able to sleep in without having an alarm set... Ohhh, this morning was so delicious! I rolled out of bed at about 11:15. Can't remember the last time I slept in until then either! It was exactly what I needed :) Sleep can be so underrated. I can definitely function at some basic level without having had a lot of sleep, but not very well. My mind just seems so much clearer now that I had about 9-10 hours last night. Very satisfied :)

As I was falling asleep, I heard a mosquito buzzing about (I had seen her earlier)... and I now have two bites on my cheek. Yuck. Stupid mosquitoes... the scourge of the earth.

Just finished my ham-on-bagel-melt. I was going to have microwavable pad thai from TJ's, but our microwave is broken :( The melt was good enough though... MMM savory for breakfast! My favorite.

OK, so today's agenda:

Lab time, orchestra concert, Halloween fun!

I have two costumes: gluttony (violas are going to be the 7 deadly sins) and Misty (from Pokemon... oh sillies in my house).

Tomorrow-- SLEEP IN MORE!!!

Update #1 (3:51 pm): I found 2 more bug bites!! One on my nose and one on my eyebrow.

Update #2: Stanford Theatre has an awesome upcoming schedule until winter break...

OMG BABY ELEPHANT

SO ADORABLE THAT IT DESERVES BOTH ITS OWN POST AND ALL SHOUTING

(major shoutout to errrrrrrica for that one)

Blown away

Soooo much wind! Dirt gets blown into my room even with the windows closed... siigh. I don't mind it being cold, but the wind just makes things so much more unpleasant :( Oh, but did I not predict this happening? Monday was beauuutiful, and here we are... cold cold cold! And so windy that biking into the wind gets me nowhere.

Ryan told me that I post a lot. Is that bad? I have yet to decide.

In other news, Munchausen by proxy. Don't do it. In the Child Health class, we were learning about seizures in children, and we talked about a case where a mother was telling her kid to shake like he was having a seizure... Wow. Having a parent tell you that you're sick and tells you to act out symptoms just to get attention, that just sounds like a miserable childhood.

Check this slideshow out! It's a really cool prize that Nikon gives out to photography in science... Super nerdy, but they're beautiful.

To close for the day, I wrote a poem about Alzheimer's Disease for my neuron death class... Enjoy!

Amyloid precursor protein,

Oh what a fiend!

As a protein transmembrane,

We find it in the brain,

A mutation in APP

Can cause familial AD!

Plaques of the beta-amyloid peptide

Are found in the brains of those who died

Particularly in those with AD.

But if you analyzed your pee,

You may find the soluble kind there,

For it seems to be present everywhere!

Well, now I'm scared!

With memories, so well I have fared!

But, I have not hit my head, folks,

Nor have I had any strokes!

Even more reasons to listen to my mother,

For this specific one, there is no other...

I think I have a lower risk,

But, I must always wear a helmet, tsk tsk!

As for protective factors,

Maybe it helps for us to be actors!

We'll find out in Thursday's class,

When it's sure to be a blast!

P.S. Some good articles for your Wednesday:

Smiling is makes you feel good (duh--I could have told you that).

I love brussel sprouts.

Animals are awesome.

I totally forgot that we don't have a Surgeon General...

This drink sounds delicious... savory!

Why I cringe while watching football. (The Associated Press version HERE)

--A note on this last article:

[NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell] also highlighted the "88 Plan," named for former star John Mackey, who wore number 88 and now lives in an assisted-living facility because he suffers from dementia. Under the plan, the NFL gives up to $88,000 a year to former players who need nursing-home care due to brain injuries.

Really?? $88,000 a year to make up for giving people dementia and depression and paralysis, among other things? That's great compensation, good job NFL! Glad to see that football players are being paid to ruin the rest of their lives just so you can pay them more money to make up for what horrible things the sport has done to them for mere entertainment.

"I'm not worried about my body, I'm worried about my brain."

--heard on the way to Stats

Through my open window comes the smell of onions sauteeing in olive oil. Mmmm, dinner is being prepared: coq au vin, gnocchi... I love Monday nights.

Today is a beautiful day, but where's the COLD? It's the end of October!! I really should stop saying that, because it'll probably set in with a vengeance, just to show me. And then I'll complain about how I want it to be springtime. Such is life...

My plant (still nameless) is like a baby. I set it on the windowsill this morning and pulled open the blinds so it could get some sunlight. I keep watching the little buds on the slowly withering flower bundles, waiting for them to bloom.... and when I got back from class a mere 3 hours later, there are some really bright coral flowers amidst the faded ones!! Anyway, so why it's like a baby: if you go away for even a short period of time then come back to visit it, it changes so much!

Maybe not. Maybe I just like to anthropomorphize my inanimate objects... (CEDRIC=case in point)

Anyway, I have some work to finish up...

Meanwhile, I listened to BOTH Harry Nilsson's The Puppy Song and Stevie Wonder's Signed Sealed Delivered, and now I have such a strong urge to watch You've Got Mail :( BOO ON WORK.

(10:00pm) ALSO, I am wayyy victorious-- I found out how the little buggers (literally) were getting into my room!!! The window I infrequently open also (apparently) opens at the top, and this was not fully closed. Victory. Good bye yellow jackets/moths/mosquitoes/mosquito eaters/weird bugs with long wings that get stuck in my light fixture and die... hello room that won't get to be the same temperature as the outside...

So amazing that it warrants its own post for the day...

I was standing in the bathroom, brushing my teeth, and the smell of laundry wafts in through the open window, carried in by a cool breeze.

I love laundry.

-_-zzz

Oh, emoticons.

In the CoHo. Started to read papers and want to fall asleep.

Update of life.

(5:26pm)Annnnd, yum. This is how Halloween should actually be celebrated, by pumpkin risotto.

(9:19pm)Annnnd... life changing: delicious softness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can feel it all over!

Oh, Stevie Wonder knows how to make everything good.

So sorry for how long it's been... I've been recuperating (sort of) since Thursday, but I admit that I haven't really posted anything substantial.

Thank goodness for the weekend... So here we go!

Kershy was here this weekend!!! She stayed with me from Wednesday until today, and we are ridiculous. That is all. :)

Friday afternoon, we did a little excursion to Anthropologie... I got some wardrobe staples. Yesss for sales. I didn't dare look through the rest of the store, lest I be tempted. That place is seriously dangerous.

I also got a flu shot. Reminded by how much I'm not a fan of getting stuck by a needle. :(

Friday evening was too good for words. We had a French House reunion and we made crêpes!!! I was supposed to go out to dinner with my visiting aunt and uncle, but that did not prevent me from demolishing bread, cheese, salad, and a crepe. Soo good. I loved seeing everyone... it didn't really feel like things had changed. I always say that's a nice indication of who your good friends of life are; even though you haven't seen someone for a really long time, you still manage to click and start things back off how they were when you last saw them. Three words: Shimmer, rock band. = AMAZINGNESS and so much happiness!

I went to my second football game of the year (v. ASU... we're winning!), I got a RedZone shirt, AND I saw a touchdown before I had to leave for dinner. 5,6,7,8, woo!

Dinner was with the bro and my aunt and uncle. We went to Jinsho, on Cal Ave. It's deemed to be "Executive-Class Japanese"... I admit I don't really know what that means, other than yum. The restaurant was started by the chefs at Nobu in NYC, which is a pretty swanky place, apparently. The quality of fish was great (particularly the yellowtail), and I'm way in love with a roll called "ume shiso kyu." Ume = sour plum paste; shiso = minty leaf; kyu = cucumber. Ughh sooo stuffed. Food coma.

I'm going to keel over into bed. Soon.

Today's music:

Beirut--Scenic World (Version)

MSTRKRFT--Heartbreaker (feat. John Legend; Wolfgang Gartner Remix)

Stevie Wonder--Sir Duke

Grizzly Bear--Two Weeks

Phoenix--If It's Not With You

Passion Pit--Seaweed Song

Andrew Bird--Imitosis

The Decemberists--July, July!

Phoenix--Lisztomania

Eyelids heavy.

It's that feeling of exhaustion, where I'm sinking in to my chair and can hardly expend the energy to keep my eyes wide open.

It's also that mind fuzziness, where it feels like I have a cloud of pillow stuffing in between my ears.

It's also the buzzing, where my skin is very prickly and sensitive in some areas but numb in others.

Tea and the prospect of a nap are what is fueling me through the morning.

And P.S., I had donut number 4 of the last 36 hours. So that makes 2 raised sugar, 1 plain cake with chocolate frosting and colorful Halloween sprinkles, and 1 plain old-fashioned (in that order).

But, it's not all bad--

It's Thursday, which means Thursday Styles section of the NY Times is out.

mmmmmmmmmm

I'm on Happy Donut #2 of the day, #3 for the last 24 hours. I am so happy.

SMART FISH!

CHECK IT.

Fish are way smart. Make sure to watch the little video on the side!

With [the fishes'] attention to colors, patterns and shapes and their ability to learn about new forms, one wonders how much these creatures can learn and what limitations they might have. They couldn’t read Dr. Seuss, of course, but they might enjoy looking at the pictures.

Air (the music) and my lit review between now and Thursday.

Oh, and my neuro paper for Tuesday.

Oh, and my midterm for Wednesday.

Weekend please.

Sleep please.

Lauren quote of the day:

"Man, I'm so glad I did Pilates today. I feel like my ab muscles are there just to prevent my stomach from exploding."

(after La Table Française, and eating so so so much)

With all your power, what would you do?

--The Flaming Lips

AH. I spent this weekend in San Francisco, on good old Treasure Island for its eponymous music festival. It proceeded as follows:

Saturday

This was the 'party' day.... just more the electronic music. I drove up to SF after an early wake-up post Cafe Night and lab work, and met up with Tim in the city. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, with weather in the 70s in the city. We picked up a sandwich and made some lunch before heading over to the island for Passion Pit. UNFORTUNATELY, we underestimated how many people would be waiting for the shuttle over to the island, so we waited in line for 40 minutes and finally got over to the island just as they played their last song. SAD. The festival had an awesome setup: the two stages were pretty close to each other, and you could definitely hear the music really well if you were between the two stages. As a result, you didn't really have to move far to hear things clearly, which made things super convenient. We checked out Dan Deacon, who is this balding, pot-bellied guy who has this huge ensemble playing percussion of various sorts while he has a voice modulator that does funny things with his voice. Interesting, to say the least. After that, we posted out for a couple of hours, hearing mediocre acts until about 7pm when MSTRKRFT came on the main stage. This group was really really good. I only had one of their remixes (one of my favorite songs lately, remix of Heartbreaker by John Legend), but they did an awesome set. They remixed D.A.N.C.E. (YAY!) and finished with Bohemian Rhapsody. They have an all around great sound, which made it awesome. We left that set early to get into the crowd for GirlTalk, which was a big dance party. Great mashups, except that I don't really like them to begin with... a lot of the songs that he uses, I really like, so it's sad for me when I hear a song I like and it's gone within 30 minutes. Following GirlTalk was the last set of the night, MGMT, which was pretty disappointing. Their songs are good, but they sounded more rock than electro... we left early to beat the crowd and headed home.

Sunday

The chill day! Perfect for me! I did some work before we headed out, but we got on the island at about 3 in time for Grizzly Bear, which was pretty good. There was their one song, Four Weeks, which is played pretty often and seems to be the most well known, and I knew that one! But they did a good set. I think that kind of music definitely catered to the festival more, because it was nice to be able to stay a distance from the stage, but enjoy the music, as opposed to totally raging, which is what the night before seemed to try to get at. After Grizzly Bear, Beirut played the sunset, which was absolutely amazing. They had an accordion player, and an awesome brass section... including tuba solo. The ensemble was really beautiful and made me appreciate the layering of sounds they weave even more than I already do. Post-Beirut was The Decemberists... which was really disappointing :( I love their old songs, and I think they have a new album out (which I haven't heard), but the set was basically a rock opera of sorts. It didn't pause, and they had this background movie/animation going on as they were performing... Their new stuff strays a little too much from the pirate-y rock sound that I really like in them. I understand that they have a new album to promote, but I really would have liked to hear Los Angeles, I'm Yours, or Sixteen Military Wives, or O Valencia... Finally, after fried chicken (OMG SO GOOD), the Flaming Lips finished up the festival, which was great. They were super energetic and had quite a set up. The main guy ran on top of the crowd in a giant inflatable balloon (like a hamster ball but for a human), and then they played my 2 favorite songs (The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song and Yoshimi Pt 1) before I had to leave to come back to campus.

Overall, it was a very satisfying event! I mentioned the fried chicken once.... but this stuff was so good. On a bed of garlic fries.... mmmmmmm. Sunday was really cold, too, so it was so nice to hold this tray of hot garlic fries and fried chicken... 2 days in a row. So bad, but SO good :)

Anyway, this was my recap of the weekend! I have to head to class, but I wanted to do a bit of a distillation before I forgot it all.

Bon.

N'imp

So many things I want to write about!

I read a bunch of articles over the course of the last week... wanted to share them

I read an article about how France is having "La semaine du goût!" Part of what this week does is to introduce school children to the products of France (butter, cheese) and have them appreciate its goodness. WHY DON'T WE HAVE SOMETHING LIKE THIS?? Priorities, priorities. In my Child Health class, we're learning about obesity, and how it came about despite our country having raised malnourished kids in the early parts of the 20th century. A lot of it had to do with presumptions about how people were feeding their kids at the time, and how the government was trying to find ways to dump agricultural commodities... into school lunch programs. High fat, high protein... yes.

In other news, David Brooks thinks people in neuroscience are young and good-looking! (that is the true point of this article :P) Brain, Mind, and Behavior! My area of concentration! It's just really good-looking.

And, since everyone's sick... washing your hands with cold water apparently does as much for you as washing with warm water! Just use soap.

Hope that was entertaining and edifying!

OK, so I still am not better. I can't seem to get rid of phlegm (gross, sorry).

The weather is also super warm-- I'm wearing shorts! :(

Tomorrow is our Café Night and Treasure Island this weekend... I'm going to be taking my computer to SF :(, but it must be done.

Need to get work done... happy almost weekend~

CATS AND DOGS! ELEPHANTS AND GIRAFFES! TIGERS AND BEARS!! (OH MY!)

also known as Contemplations on Rain.

I wouldn't be surprised if at some point, the rain just swept our little house right off the ground and carried it down Mayfield... It's absolutely POURING right now, and it couldn't be more

beautiful. It's what I woke up to, the sound of the pouring rain, and looking out the window, the greens are magnified in both color and spectrum. There seem to be hundreds of different kinds of greens! Other than that and the single tree outside of my room that has beautiful yellowing leaves, everything else looks like a dull grey. It's incredible what the rain can do. I wish the picture here could do the rain justice, but I was on my way to the lab when I saw the same spot that I had taken a picture of in an earlier post, totally awash with sunlight, and here it is, in the downpour. I'm just so enamored with the situation right now. They turned the heat on in the house, so my room is such a comfortably warm temperature, and I'm facing windows that are spattered with rain, giving my outlook on life a sort of Monet feel (literally).

The pane glass is blurred, so everything has that sort of romantic haze to it. Add to that the sound of a torrential downpour that, most importantly, I am protected from, and you have the beautiful state of mind. Again, this picture does not do it justice at all, but you get some sort of idea what I'm talking about in terms of colors... my silly plant (who still does not have a name) looks violently bright in this situation. Love that, too. My little yellow guy is bobbing his head back and forth; he seems quite content with the light conditions in the room. Cedric is, of course, being a lazy cow and is in between the pillows, taking his nap. I know I said I wouldn't update until I feel better, but I couldn't pass up this opportunity. Walking in the rain, too, is great, as long as you have the correct mindset. One of my pet peeves is to get the hems of my jeans wet... water then crawls up the pant leg, leaving you uncomfortably wet. But, given this utter downpour, nothing really seemed to matter. I eventually gave up using my little panda parasol that I bought in China, and just walked in my rain jacket. The wind and rain, of course, got the better of me, slapping me around on my walk back home and drenching the entire fronts of my pant legs, but I couldn't help but smile because of how much I loved it, and how few people, I think, are currently appreciating it. Maybe I would have a different outlook on this situation if I had to go out again, but I'm not planning on leaving the house for the rest of the day... so I'll enjoy this feeling as much as I can.

To everyone else who has to brave the elements, good luck and stay dry... just think about the warm room that awaits you when you get back home~

sick :(

At least it's not the flu... (I don't think)

Will write when I'm better and my head is not so fuzzy :)

Until then, some things to tie you over--

Just like me, at the moment

Yess!

Apparently, how to do my favorite chore properly

Feel better everyone~

Lazy (Saturday)

Not Lazy Sunday... How many times I watched that during summer RA training...... (link is there for you to enjoy in case you haven't seen it)

Well, not exactly lazy, though. I'm a bit of a sickie, but at least I don't seem to have the bad bad flu that's going around the house. Bit of a sore throat (eating and drinking definitely helps it... yay for that!!) and a sexy voice (haha-- just way lower than normal). I had pho this afternoon, which helped so much. Mmmm, beefy broth, noodles, beef, Sriracha, hoisin sauce, lime, jalapenos, Thai basil... so perfect for a cold. I took a WONDERFUL nap (drool and all... that's when you know it's successful) and woke up with sexy voice. Cedric-cow probably gave that one to me, silly cow.

So, how am I going to spend my evening? MAD PARTYING??? Bien sûr... with my computer and 30948230948 neuro articles open in order to write about which evolved first, injury or classical apoptosis. Woooo, neuron death!

Meanwhile, doing laundry, drinking tea... that's lazy, I suppose.

Yesterday, tried to bake tarte tatin... I'll post pictures at some point and write about it. It was really good despite the fact that the sugar didn't caramelize... but when you put delicious apples (Honey crisp-- go to Trader Joe's NOW and buy some, they're incredible-- tart, sweet, crisp, flavorful) in a pan with butter and sugar, of COURSE things are going to turn out well.

Yumyum, well back to work.

Happy Saturday~

Something that can make you do wrong, make you do right

I think it's funny that when I think of potential blog posts, I HAVE to write it down, so either I write it down on here, I compose an email draft with the topics, or I write it down in my planner (if I don't have my computer). Silliness.

So, the topics I wrote down are as follows:

sleepy

babies in helmets

nightmares when i was little

(the last two came from Child Health section.... thanks Em :))

sleepy

Despite having slept at least 8 hours for the last 3 nights, I'm realllly tired. Chronic fatigue syndrome, anyone? I feel way more alert when I get less sleep... how sad. I was totally dragging this morning :( My fish certainly didn't help. I've been running the same fish, and this group does NOT want to learn. Total failures. As a result, I sit there for 15 minute stretches, during which I don't move much because it'll freak them out, so I am stuck with being sleepy. So I drop in and out of sleep, which is really bad for the rest of the day. Prince Igor tea at lunch helped to perk me up a bit... Now I'm a little bit better... Sigh. It's 4:30.

babies in helmets

Positional plagiocephaly... BABY HELMETS!!! AHHH. I saw a kid wearing a helmet at the mall about 6 months ago... Silly supine sleeping and SIDS.

nightmares when I was little

I used to get this really weird nightmare where I was being squeezed through tubes that got smaller and smaller, except that I was watching it from a third person perspective? It was basically claustrophobic, which is weird because I'm not particularly claustrophobic, nor was I as a kid. I remember this one episode that was scary, when I took a nap and had this dream, and I remember still experiencing it and running around the house and Tim was trying to calm me down because it was only a dream... but I couldn't snap out of it, though I was aware of what was going on. Nightmares are scary, scary things.

In other topics...

My advisor let me borrow this nifty little tool... so this weekend, I will be going around campus trying to look for BATS! It's a "Mini-2 Bat Detector!" It detects ultrasounds and tunes it down so we can hear it as clicks on this little device. In lecture, he's mentioned several times that we should try going to the quad at night and flipping a coin in the air to see a bat come out because it's echolocated it.... I really want to try this!! Aweeeeesome :)

Aside from this, it's almost the weekend. Yay for lots of work to do...

Hippohippohippo is hungryhungryhungry

I also forgot to mention that today, I wore my little orange riding hood sweater. I love this sweater ... makes me happy :)

I wanna stop (stop!) and thank you baby...

LOVE Oldies!

Tip for the night-- listen to some Oldies, and it'll make you feel awesome-o :)

La musique pour aujourd'hui (Genius playlist based upon Aretha Franklin--Baby I Love You)~

Aretha Franklin-- Baby I Love You

Al Green-- I'm Still In Love With You

(sensing a pattern........?)

Otis Redding-- Try a Little Tenderness

Stevie Wonder-- I Was Made to Love Her

Marvin Gaye-- How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)

Al Green-- Love and Happiness

Crusts are not just "any other buttery dough"

2 posts in one day... it's totally unprecedented! Although, I'm not sure that the first one from the day can count... but it is an important post in and of itself. Condé Nast is going to close Gourmet magazine, which sucks considering what deliciousness comes from that magazine. Modern Bride and Cookie (which is NOT a magazine about cookies, in fact) don't matter so much... Bon Appetit just doesn't look as nice as Gourmet does. Sigh. Let's just hope they don't fold Vanity Fair.

However sad that is, there is this little blurb about tarte tatin in Bitten. It sort of makes up for it, except for the fact that I want to eat it. Mmmm. I love tarte tatin... It is a really perfect dessert, when done well. I think I'm going to try to tackle this when I go home. The descriptions in this article just sound soooo gooooood... carmelized apples... I kind of wish he wrote a bit more about the crust itself. He makes it seem so inconsequential--

This could be all-butter puff pastry, either home-made or store-bought, or it could be any other buttery dough, even a fragile short crust – it has no structural function.

Really?? I love the crust on a tarte tatin!!!! No matter how good the apples are, it really ruins the dessert if you have a mediocre crust. It can't be just any old crust! The more I think about it and write about it, the more it actually makes me kind of frustrated at how he thinks the crust doesn't matter!! I recognize that he's emphasizing that it doesn't have to have any actual structural integrity to it because it's not actually cradling the apples... But, "Any other buttery dough"?? You can't have just a tart/quiche crust on a tarte tatin!! That certainly can be a buttery dough... Ughhhhh. The flakiness and lightness of a puff pastry contributes SO much to this dessert, when it's mixed with the apples and the caramel-y syrup. Sigh. It's like if you make a quiche and just talk about how amazing the filling is and say, "Oh, for the crust, you can just use any old thing." WRONG. The crust matters so much, how hard, how soft, how much, how thick, how thin...

OK, I need to correct some things I said. Yes, he makes the process of cooking the apples sound REALLY GOOD. BUT. He also calls this "the best apple pie in the world." I die a little inside some more. This. Is. NOT. An. Apple. Pie.

So many sighs. I'll move on.

Look at how clean and beautiful my computer desktop is!

Unfortunately, I wish I could say the same about my real life desktop. I don't think it's been this spotless since the day I got it. Even then, I feel like it already had icons on it when Tim set it up for me and I was using it. It's so nice to look at, and it doesn't clutter up beautiful Lighthouse State Beach (Santa Cruz).

OK, enough of this... I could go on some more about that stupid tarte article. Work calls.

Update 6:46 pm-- Dear Stanford, PLEASE turn the heat on........ I'm going to be a popsicle before long. :( = major unhappiness

A sad day...

Condé Nast will stop printing Gourmet magazine.

추석 잘 보내세요

Happy new week!

And, more importantly, happy Chuseok! (Thanks to Yahoo Answers for the Korean translation of happy Chuseok... :))

It's a Korean harvest festival that coincides with the first full moon of fall... and you eat delicious delicious food, like toran-gook, which is a mountain potato soup. My Halmoni (Korean grandmother) makes it the best. It's essentially a beef broth (maybe a kelp broth?) with taro in it... it's soooo good and soothing, perfect for fall. Aside from that, you eat other Korean deliciousness, like kimchi and kalbi, and hang out with all of your Korean relatives... I talked to my parents when they were on their way to my aunt's house to enjoy the feast, and I miss it so much! I remember going to my Halmoni's house when I was still at home, pre-college, to celebrate Chuseok. Such good times... makes me want Thanksgiving to be now that much more quickly. Maybe when I get older, I'll carry on a tradition like that, as a semi-prelude to Thanksgiving, Korean-style. Somehow, I don't think I could ever do justice to the dishes my Halmoni makes.

Something that makes me want toran-gook even more is THE WEATHER. IT IS SO COLD. The cold wind comes in... even with the windows and door closed, I feel the draftiness. Sigh. Having a big bed is not that enjoyable now because it's even more room that I have to heat up, and more sheet space that is freeeezing.

I have now, on my desk, a squeezy orange brain. It makes me very very happy :) It's from CO-SIGN (College Student Interest Group in Neurology), which I took from our board meeting today. It's a stress brain, so I guess I'm supposed to squeeze it when I get stressed.

Other than that, all is well. I have a full tummy (I starve over the weekends...), and I feel productive. Will go to bed early and get a full night's sleep and will be productive again tomorrow.

Lab presentation tomorrow on my fishies... wish me luck!

Oh, and a parting video for you... smart fish!

Goooo Stanford!

I'm back! Emily was quick to remind me that I hadn't written since Tuesday... Oops...

I went to my second football game! It's nice that by my senior year, we have a pretty decent team... Finally! Oh, and we just managed to beat UCLA this afternoon, 24 to 16. The picture on the left is a picture of the Red Zone, the Stanford cheering section... I learned a few things about how football works, and the very silly things our cheering section does... when we make the 10 yards on a first down, we put our hands up and go Oh, Oh, Oh, First down (and point towards our touchdown side... but Go Go Go? Oh Oh Oh?). We also jingle our keys when we're kicking off and make lots of noise when the other team is trying to yell out their plays. I also managed to get a bruise on my thumb from slapping the backs of the benches to make this crazy rattling noise... SO HARD CORE!!! GO STANFORD WOOOO! It's a really awesome experience to be the midst of so many people who are so school spirited. I never really got such a sense that people were such avid Stanford fans until I went to a few sporting events. It's a nice reminder that people like our school, and that I actually like our school too :) I was sitting behind the band (ALTHOUGH UCLA HAS CAPES. WE NEED CAPES.) and that made it additionally fun. I was way excited when they played Wallace and Gromit theme song!! Is Lauren going to become a football fan??? Probably not, but it's more school spirit than anything else that would keep me going to games.

(Un)happy Saturday... No meals in house... I'm starving... It'll be a lazy/work evening for me aside from scrounging around for food, especially after La Mais' event last night....

I went into the lab this morning and set up my tank for next week. I'll be running more fishies, so I hope I picked some winners (sorry guys...). Speaking of, I need to get to work on my presentation. I'm giving a lab presentation on Monday in which I'll talk about what I've done up until this point and, most importantly, dispelling the myth that fish have short memory spans. Because they most definitely don't!

OK bye~

Music for today-- Classical!

Handel -- Sonata in a, HWV 288, movement II: Adagio

Bach -- 2 movements from Suite 5 in c minor

Rossini -- William Tell Overture

Mozart -- Duo No 2 in B-flat for violin and viola