I decided to spend some time with my father in Los Angeles before I embarked journey with the Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP) at the University of Cincinnati. Not much has changed since I left six months ago besides the house being more furnished. My father is still working weekends, holidays, and nights. Ping is still cooking (my condolences). Ming, my step brother, is still exploring the world and envying the successful and young billionaires, the creator of facebook especially. The main thing that did change were the interactions I had with my father and Ming.

I prodded into my father’s past, learning about his childhood, his college life in China, his training in England, ultimately trying to see what made him tick. I was fascinated by his stories of life in the countryside, the amount of work involved on sunny days, and the magnitude of boredom that ensued on rainy days when one could not work. His trials and tribulations are reflected in his relentlessly serious countenance and persevering tone of speech. On some days, after eating lunch, we would talk for hours, eat dinner, and then banter some more.

I tried to get out of the house as often as possible by convincing my dad to take me to the zoo, to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and to visit UCLA. Ming usually came along for the ride. On days when I had no activity planned and when we had nothing to discuss, we would without fail, go grocery shopping. At the supermarkets, I became fully aware of my father’s excessive frugality. Not that it was a bad thing, I viewed it more as a reflection of his upbringing. Fortunately, when it came to important matters such as laptops and MCAT books, he was very open minded and willing to pay.

At the beginning of my stay, I met with up a Duke friend, lets call him Jawz, and we went to UC Riverside with two of his friends. Here I got to experience my first house party. I took one of Jawz’s friend with me to talk to these two girls and after a few lines we started dancing. His friend thought I had mad game. Afterwards, we went to a friends house and tried some OG cush and as always, it made me hungry and sleepy. After eating what seemed like 3 tall cans of pringles, I passed out.

But what is truly awesome about LA is the weather: tolerably hot during the day, comfortably cool during the night. I am definitely trying to go to graduate school here.

The next day, I went with two friends to the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory in Burlington, VT. We got a tour of the factory and got some ice cream (of course). I saw a lot of movies since cable is free there (where does our tuition money go?) and overall the weekend was quite relaxing. Unfortunately, I still feel burnout from work but luckily there are only a few weeks of school left!

As I reached for my unopened half-gallon of milk, removed the twist cap, and took a sip, I realized that the milk did not have as much flavor as the milk I had earlier from a coffee shop. The only difference between my milk and the milk from the coffee shop was the temperature (no one would spring for the organic stuff in today’s recession), mine being many degrees cooler. Now when I say flavor I am not referring to whether the milk tasted good or bad. I am referring to the absolute taste of milk and how noticeable the presence of flavor is.

Temperature is one of the main determinants of the taste of food. Think about the difference between hot and cold pizza or hot and cold chicken or hot and cold rice. Just as the same food item can taste refreshing at one temperature and hardly enjoyable at another, the flavor can change as well. Milk is just another item that falls under this category. However, the fact that milk flavor is more noticeable at warmer temperatures presents quite a paradox since milk spoils faster at higher temperatures.

Coffee shops circumvent this problem and keep milk at room temperature since it is consumed so quickly that it never gets a chance to spoil. For the rest of the world, rancid milk is a problem. We could just buy milk by the cup or pint, allow it to reach room temperature and then proceed to drink it, but that is inconvenient and expensive.

Compared to the problems encountered in the world today such as AIDS and hunger, I will admit that this is a small problem. But nonetheless, having a solution would be pretty darn great. Being able to obtain room-temperature milk on a whim would be exhilarating and highly enjoyable.

This weekend was an exciting way to start off the weekend following spring break. After a week of intense two-a-days, it was about time to relax a bit. My high school friend was on her spring break and decided to stay at Duke for the weekend with her two friends on their way back from Tampa. They arrived sometime Friday afternoon, but since Crew practice was running late I couldn’t meet them until an hour later. After everyone got settled in, it was already time to start the pre-game and begin the weekend.

They left in the afternoon on Sunday after the Phi Delt cookout.

In other news, I have found that taking six courses is pushing my limits. Although there is enough time in the day to get all your work done, falling behind is just too easy. But my days do go by fast, which I enjoy.

If things goes right, this summer I will be doing research at the University of Cincinnati using single-molecule FRET to investigate the mechanism of a tumor suppressor, merlin. And if everything goes right, I will be either doing additional research at Duke before and after my fellowship or I will be spending time in California with friend(s).

On New Years Eve, I met up with Yangyang and we did the routine exploration of NYC: Chinatown, Central Park, Columbia University, Rockefeller Center, watching TV in Jag’s apartment, failed although informative attempt at watching the Macy’s Ball drop. She stayed over Jag’s place since her Big did not move into her apartment in time or something like that. The next day, we decided to start the year off by going to the gym together.

This upcoming Spring semester I’ll be taking 6 courses, so I hope I don’t fall flat on my face.

Moreover, after reading Peddling Prosperity by Krugman, I wish I were an Econ major…

I visited San Diego yesterday. More specifically, I visited Carlsbad, CA, a town that is located 20 miles from San Diego. Adrian’s friend George, picked us up and drove us. George drives a 2 door 2006 Honda Accord but he decided to bring along 3 other friends. The final seating arrangement was Adrian and George’s 3 friends sardined in the back, while George and I were hanging out in the front.

We took a break in Irvine to stretch and meet up with another friend. We had left Los Angeles around 11:30 a.m. and finally arrived in Carlsbad at Tian’s house around 2 p.m. We were given a tour of the house, became reacquainted with Michael (Tian’s brother) and met one of Tian’s best friends, Connie.

We went shopping, ate hefty California burritos, ate Chinese food, ate many persimmons (that was just me), met Tonya (another of Tian’s friends), played sporcle, got boba tea, and hung out during any down time. I had a great time and this morning, another of Tian’s best friends, Stephanie, came over. Stephanie and Tian dropped us off at the train station, where we basically caught a free ride back to Los Angeles.

My step mom picked us up and took us to the YMCA, where we attempted to get huge but instead we both ended up feeling nauseous (Adrian more so than me). The night ended by taking Adrian back to my old apartment to get a protein drink and then getting my step brother, Ming, to drop Adrian off at his house.

Thanksgiving Break:

I spent Thanksgiving break at Taylor’s house in Cumming, Georgia. I met a few of his friends, we went shopping and Black Friday shopping, and most importantly we went boating. Boating involves going 25 knots on an open lake at 2 a.m. in the morning when the outside temperature is already around freezing, doing doughnuts and all sorts of other stunts. It was a blast. We even got to see what a club means when they say “gay night”…

Finals Week:

During finals week, I mainly focused on two classes: BME 83 (materials science) and BCHM 227 (introductory biochemistry). I was exempt from my Statistics final, which meant that my last final would be on Friday and I was not leaving until Monday morning. I really enjoyed being on campus without having any work to do, it is very relaxing.

California:

I arrived in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon. I spent a majority of my time here checking out the new house (it’s big and can host a mean party), buying furniture and food, meeting up with my friend Adrian from Duke, and texting Yujin a lot (thank god for unlimited text messaging). We will move in to our new house on Monday the 21st, but I hope we can move in earlier.

I have also been drinking a lot of tea and reading. Although I am getting more sleep than ever (8+ hours a day), I still wake up each day feeling tired and lazy. Maybe I am better off getting 6 hours of sleep a day and drinking massive amounts of caffeine.

Future:

I return to Pennsylvania on the 25th. Fortunately, I do not legitimately celebrate Christmas or else that would cause some big problems. I look forward to shopping, watching movies, and hanging out with friends when I get back.

It’s that time of year again when the common cold is spreading like wild fire. Living within close quarters of all your friends in the dormitories does not help either. I noticed that many of friends and peers were coming down with the cold so it was only a matter of time before I was next. One day I woke up, feeling a little groggy, blew my nose and lo and behold, it was yellow.

My illness came a few days before Thanksgiving break and I wanted to be in peak condition for my life transforming experience in Georgia, so I was worried. I had always known that vitamin C was a potent antioxidant and could be used as a prophylactic for the common cold, but I was unsure of its efficacy for after the contraction of an illness. I did some research and found that vitamin C in doses around 1 gram a day did not speed up illness recovery but when the dosage was around 8 grams some mild differences were noticeable. So I decided to experience it for myself and since vitamin C is water soluble, it’s almost impossible to overdose on it.

I began taking 1.5 to 2 grams of vitamin C three to four times the first day. Upon waking the next day, most of my symptoms were either the same or slightly better. I repeated the procedure and by the second day, I felt like I was almost back to my old self again. By the third day, I was fresh again.

This recovery time could be typical of a cold, but I feel that a few days is much quicker than the normal week long convalescence. I was able to arrive in Georgia healthy and ready for the events to come.

Obviously drinking alcohol and going out can equate to having a great time, but this was not the case for two people last night. I was minding my own business in my room (scanning ebooks), when Tony (last name withheld) knocked on my door. I invited him in and not surprisingly he was holding a can of Yuengling on that fine Saturday night. He was looking for my roommate who was downstairs so I decided to join Tony.

As we were leaving, we were joined by two others, Micah and Paige, both of whom were stumbling around enjoying life. When we finally reached the common room where Carlo was, I noticed that Lauren was also there working on a self-portrait. Micah had to use the bathroom so I showed him where it was and then we sat down in the kitchen, chatted for a while and got caught up. Upon returning to the common room, I saw that Paige was passed out, sitting on a chair, head on a table, drool probably about to commence and that Tony was sitting on the sofa beyond drunk, approaching blackout land.

So the plan was to carry Paige back to her room in Edens and for everyone else to call it a night. However, at that point, something happened (we’ll leave it at that), and we had to wake her up so that we could assist her instead of carry her home. Along the way, Tony was just being straight raucous and belligerent so it took some restraining and coercion from Carlo and I to keep him in line. But we made it in the end and I will admit that as unfortunate as those series of events were, it did make my night a bit more interesting.

*Note: The man in the picture is not Micah, Tony (last name withheld), or Paige.

Today was the last organic chemistry lab. Students simply had to clean up their work area and complete two problems in which they had to elucidate the structure of a compound provided the H NMR, C NMR, IR and molecular formula. After saying our farewells, it was only 3 p.m. (we usually finish around 4 p.m.). Instead of heading directly back to my dorm, I decided to be a little ambitious and clear up some questions I had with my professors.

I first visited my BME 83 (materials science) professor, Dr. Gimm. I had a few clarification questions, asked her to do a sample problem, and then proceeded to make small talk. We discussed my interest in Tissue Engineering, my course load next semester, independent studies, her teaching load, her scientific background, other professors’ research interests. I have heard good things about going to a professor’s office hours but never really bothered to do so until now. I must say I had a great time overall and might do it again in the future.

Leaving her office a bit rejuvenated, I decided to try my luck on my biochem professor. I went over to the Nanaline building, found his office, and asked for some clarification on a homework problem. He was very friendly as well and after answering my questions we proceeded to talk about the class and how he and two other professors split teaching it. I was surprised that he asked me for my name, first and last. My biochem class has 250 students so either he asked me due to a perfunctory response or maybe he actually wants to remember my name (I’m leaning towards the former). Nevertheless, it was a fun experience worth trying again.