goodness gracious, dare i blog once more this week?

so in my head, all these strange songs keep playing through out the day. i don't think it's a sign of me going crazy (cuz i've already gone.. ) but it's kind of like having a radio station in my head. where a lot of songs are placed on repeat for a couple of hours. well, maybe not hours, that's an exageration. it's so quiet in our lab, music wise, i mean there is the buzz and hum of the refrigerators and freezers, cold room, computers, centrifuges, rocker thingies, and fume hoods. and every now and then talking, but there's no music. so far today, les miserable (several songs from the second half), some distinctly wen like songs and some.. not hard but not alternative rock...

..it's sort of funny how we try to classify music into these tiny subgenres, but every band is out there to record/play (supposedly) new and innovative songs, perhaps varying on another band or song type, but trying to make something original that they can call their own. so trying to classify all these 'different' songs should technically be impossible. but it's all just theory because in practice, say, mandy moore and britney spears in err.. well their teeny-bopper days sounded like the same girl, as did many other girls. to tell you the truth, i don't think i could tell the difference between them now. so maybe it's like einstein's theory that two things can never actually touch if they move half the distance each time (10-5 is 5, 5-2.5 is 2.5, and so on into the smaller decimal places), but end up touching in practice. yeah, i'm sure that was probably one of the most incoherent things i've ever thought up.

i've recently been looking into some rather large purchases that i'm dying to make: gamecube (in orange! so therefore must come from japan with the us modification), laptop (a pretty one! and not a big bulky dell) and a car (i'm sure you've all heard my lust for a car). i want all these things, but apparently not badly enough that i've gotten off my bum to go out and do the research and find the best price. i sort of want it to fall into my hands for a great price and be like "groovy". i wish all life were that simple. if jobs could constantly fall into my hands where my results were good with vey little effort put in (haha, not very likely). and if traffic were perfect every morning and evening when i wanted to drive. and if people would stop trying to please everyone else and start being a little more opinionated about what they want to eat so i don't have to. plus we can eat in a timely fashion. i once took a personality test that's results read something to the extent of 'you will rule the world because by trying to make everyone happy..', which's logic i'm not quite certain of. i think it was emode. but i digress, it seems that the less opinionated you are, the more people are determined to make you decide. that or life intercedes and you have to make choices. i'm bad at choices. i spent 35 minutes trying to decide between two different curtains at ikea, only to decide that i didn't want either of them and 20 minutes later that i wanted a completely different set. and don't get me started on how long i took in the shelves department. but i know that i'm not necessarily that unopinionated, i can be down right stubborn and pigheaded (did you know pigheaded was actually a vocab word in 6th grade? ask freesh). so what has to happen for this state to occur? i'm not sure...

.. i'm not too sure i understand a word of this post.. so i apologize in hindsight...

ok ok ok i know it's been waay too long, but i've been really busy. mostly.

hmm.. so, my second full was was ok as well. and then came two weekends back (19-20.7.03) where my kitty (the orange one known as wuffles) went missing and we were all hysterical since we a) live next to a freeay, b) live next to a nature preserve known to have bobcats and c) he's never been gone that long before. it was a bad weekend. i did manage to go to the farmers market and alli and greg and then i'm not really sure what else we did that weekend. i know i was super depressed and greg wasn't happy either. but happily sunday night he came running in. we think he a) got stuck in someone's garage and they went away for the weekend, b) he got stuck in the school until the janitor came to clean and let him out, c) he was kitty-napped and then returned. highly likely to unlikely of course. he spent the week sleeping in the front courtyard and eat 4 meals a day without puking. so.. not normal but ok. now he's getting back to normal.

i also just bought spirited away, kiki's delivery service and castle in the sky (or clouds or something). spirited away is really good. i loved it. plus it's soo cute. kiki's delivery service was a little different. but still sort of that coming of age story and pretty cute. i'll let you all know when i get around to watching the last one.

this weekend i went to davis (again) and went to ikea with alli (we both got curtains and i got this.. shelf thing.. more like ledge.. whatever). and then alli went off w/her parents so greg and i played animal crossing. a lot. that game is such a time sucker. it's amazing really how much time you can put into it. it's a great game though. especially cuz freesh has got her whole town set up, all the trees and whatnot plus tons of villagers. some of them are pretty angry though. i do maintain we need a penguin and kangeroo still. but i had great fun. except for catching bugs. i'm pretty miserable at that. we watched some of those movies, we watched tv, we watched taped dead like me episodes (that we hadn't seen yet). i went shopping some more. you know, normal weekend stuff.

and now back to your regularly scheduled life!

my first full week went pretty well, but i'm sort of sick of people asking about it. i don't know if that's ungrateful or something. i'm in general rather non-share-y recently i guess and so people ask, i don't know how else to explain it. in 10 minutes i'm off to catch the shuttle to parnassus, so this will be a short one.

last week went pretty well, i'm starting to get into a groove, but that is rather hindered when my car stops working. but we've figured out the problem, it's just getting said problem fixed. it's still the alternator, but it's not the wiring this time, more the way it's strapped to the rest of the engine. we didn't have the part to fix it so dad's friend steve said he would, but my car's been gone all weekend (not that i was around to notice that..), and still not back yet. i hate getting rides to work, it makes you dependent on other people as well as taking a lot of time out of their life too. plus i guess i'm a particular driver, cuz most people's style of driving just annoys me. hopefully the car will be back soon and i can return to the regularly scheduled where-to-park fiascos of my life.

this weekend we (greg, art and i) went to my grandparents for some party my uncle craig was throwing. it's sort of like a non-birthday party event thing. it's laid back, there's music (from cd's, not live.. sorry), tons of beer a little wine, and lots of food and company. it was alright. kind of weird hanging out my uncle's friends, but whatever. ;o)

gotta go.

several links of interest have presented themselves to me. a lot of it is old news, but here goes:

• http://www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ - a google search for weapons of mass destruction and hitting 'i feel lucky' used to result in you getting sent to this page. it's pretty funny, check it out.
  
• I was reading a book on microbacteria and tb which stated: "deaths from this disease are still the equivalent to the crash of a Boeing 747 aircraft every hour of every day." (Enarson, Tuberculosis as a global public health problem, Mycobacteria and TB S.H.E. Kaufmann, H. Hahn). according to aerospaceweb.org, that could be anywhere between 300-500 people. that's something like 7200-12000 people a day, or 5-8.3333 people PER SECOND.
  

wow.

in other news my car broke, my parents got home, and i'm going to get my own project very soon. hurray!

Nouvelle Commencements

for those who did not hear, i have a new job. i was really worried and anxious that i'd be bad at it, but the first week went really well. i'm actually starting to be really really excited about it. i'm now an sra (staff research associate) I at ucsf over at the new mission bay campus (in the only open building so far, genentech hall).

it's a sweet set up. from my bench row i can see downtown sf, pacbell park, the bay bridge and the bay. it's totally stellar. and any time i feel suicidal, i mean, like getting something from parnassus (the main ucsf campus), i can just hop on the shuttle and it's free. but crazy.

which leads me to...
top 4 scariest public transport drivers
4.) davis unitrans drivers were nuts because they were students on a schedule.
3.) stanford shuttle people were angry because they were driving a bus around the campus (who can't walk or bike that campus, tell me??) and unappreciated.
2.) muni drivers.... well... they're just crazy psycho (i am basing this on the one guy who was screaming at this little old chinese lady to get off the bus so he could make his train). i do mean psycho. overly pscyho need to be on lithium psycho.

and drumroll please...
1.) ucsf shuttle drivers. i think they were all taxi drivers from nyc in the past. certainly makes for an interesting rides these public transportation methods.

so the only downer about this new job. the commute. on a good day with good traffic it takes me 40 minutes. oy. plus i've got to park somewhere on the street since parking is 87.00usd a month (1044.00usd a year), so there's no way i'm parking in the lot. i mainly park on the other side of the tracks on 16th street. it's ok. i'm just worried that someday i'll get out of work and my car won't be there anymore. not that this would be a bad thing per se, then i could get a new one. i would take caltrain but it's 15 mins to the station, 1hr5min on the express and then another 15 minutes by muni to the streets near campus and then i'd have to walk.

speaking of walking, check this out. that's pretty crazy huh? a 9km/h moving walkway?

awesome.
ok enough blogging!

..Wanderlust..
sorry for the lack of blogging as of late, let me explain! last week (24 june) was my last two days over at stanford (yes yes that pesky side bar will eventually be updated). yay!! but they were hectic days where i worked far more hours than i would have preferred to. then on tuesday greg came down and we planned a spur of the moment trip down to san diego and then up the california coast.

so wednesday we spent driving down to san diego. we hit rush hour traffic in la (uggghhh) and so that part of the trip took 3 hours. but total time was only 9-10 hours so not horrible i suppose. it definitely makes me appreciate the only 2 hour drive to davis.

thursday we went to the zooooo and then to the science museum over in balboa park. we found this fabulous desserts place called extraordinary desserts (on fifth street near palm, right by balboa park). so we bought some cake and wandered the gaslight district before calling it a night.

friday we drove up to santa monica and wandered the 3rd st promenade. while we were eating lunch some well dressed girl started screaming as this guy was holding on to her. of course that just looks bad but later it was revealed she was a shoplifter and the guy worked for the store. she had to go turn it into a drama performance by screaming and kicking him and squirming so hard that she "hurt" herself and when the police arrived on hand, they called the paramedics. who knows if she was actually hurt. i tend to think the worst of people, and well, i think she was going on the 'i'm going to sue' road. but who knows. we finally drove on to santa barbara and spent the night there after wandering the town. it's a really awesome town, i'd definitely go back.

saturday we got up and drove to solvang - advertised as this tiny little danish town. well, not so tiny and rather commercialized, but i liked it nonetheless. i tried to find some spatzle, but the only serve it for dinner. so i got danish meatballs and mashed potatos. oh and red cabbage. ick! i didn't eat that. then we drove to san luis obispo (slo) where tommy (lil bro's best bud) showed us the town and helped shop for sandles for greg. then we started some tri tip marinating (cuz some famous beef is from there - harris ranch??) and went off to a really amazing beach. we had to hike in a tiny bit (i do mean tiny) through these eucalypus tree groves. did you know eucalypus is not actually a california indigenous species and is slowly ruining natural ecostructure? not to mention eroding the hills around the beaches. but it was pretty.

sunday we drove home and hooked up with my dad's family side (as mom and dad are in north carolina/dc for their 30th anniversary) to celebrate karen and charlie getting engaged. i'm really excited for them and they were extremely happy. so yay for them!

monday greg left and i did various chores and watched a lot of bad tv. in my defense i have to say that i was wallowing in being greg-less for the first time in a week. but i do admit i even watched e!tv. and that couldn't even hold my attention.

next time.. new beginnings..