Sunday, July 31, 2005

coming down

For a small asian chick, I know that I handle my alcohol well (must be all the fat :P). Alcohol makes me jovial and open to suggestion. However, it has come to my attention that when the alcohol wears off...that's when the trouble starts. It appears I become less even tempered. Downright surly, perhaps even a little scary. I suppose there are two ways to solve this problem.

1. Stop drinking
2. Keep drinking

Hmmm, I'm not sure if this is a real conundrum or if I'm simply making it so.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Snippets of conversation

Sometimes, when you walk past people or they walk by you, you hear snippets of conversation that can seem quite funny or intriguing. For example, I was walking down Charing Cross road when I heard a guy say *Yeah, I love you but....* That kind of line is intriguing.

But today, I heard what is possibly the BEST/WORST snippet ever.
*Yeah, and he used to donate sperm every month.*
I don't know how I'd work that into a conversation.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Movie review: Sin City

Sin City is actually 3 stories from the *graphic novels* by Frank Miller, *Sin City* (I think its now called *The Hard Goodbye), The Big Fat Kill* and *That Yellow Bastard*. The characters and locations are interconnected, although the time line is not like Pulp Fiction...time is kinda undefined here. The Hard Goodbye features a big, ugly guy, Marv. Marv has a history of violence and difficulty distinguishing reality from imagination. One night a beautiful hooker, Goldie, shows him the night of his life only for him to discover she was murdered while he was sleeping. The story follows his efforts to avenge her. The Big Fat Kill has Dwight and the Ladies (prostitutes) of Old Town attempting to avert a gang war after a corrupt cop is murdered in the Ladies' territory. That Yellow Bastard follows a good cop's attempts to protect a young girl from a paedophile.

If there's anything I like more than violence, its violence with style. And Stylish Violence is all over Sin City. It is VERY graphically violent so i agree it wont be everyone's cup of tea. Other than the violence, there's a surprisingly big dose of humour. Of course, its humour linked to the violence so....yeah. For example, Marv kills a lot of Police, drives a car off a pier, and swims off through the sewers. When you next see him, he's covered all over in little white bandaids that you know in reality would do jack all, but the visual gag is hilarious. Later, when police are searching for him, they say *No sign of him!*, prompting Marv to climb out and say *here's a sign!* and wack a cop in the nuts with a hatchet. The one-liners are great.

So, my score? If you love *fun* graphic violence (e.g. like Tarantino movies), 4.5/5
If you don't, don't watch it

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Nelly and Poker

Well I went to the Nelly concert on Friday. I found it entertaining and well worth the money I paid for the tickets. If there's something I must complain about its that females of a certain age seem to believe that such things are an excuse to go out and dress in the most inappropriate manner. This may make me sound like a prude, but I'll just say this. I was wearing knee boots, fishnet stockings, a skirt and a very low cut black top. I saw another female, pregnant (she looked ready to pop), wearing a very tight, very low cut top and a denim miniskirt. Yeuch

Poker! It's the new social thing for young professionals.Tak and Nicky hosted a party and the final two were *Pimp Hat* Phu and *Erotic* Nick. The winner in a very tense final hand was Nick, with a pair of nines and a pair of aces.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Work

Well, I'm no longer working for the florist, I am now working for the Sushi shop at uni. And you know what? i'm not sure if I really want to work there.

It's not that its a bad place to work. I'm sure that when I learn everything so that it becomes second nature, I'll probably enjoy it. The people seem nice, and the perks aren't bad. Its just that because the place is so busy and the need to have a quick customer turnover the environment has the feeling of being a pressure cooker. I'm not sure if i want to be working in a high stress environment while I'm doing my honours project. The thought of being stressed in the lab and at work and at home doesnt appeal right now.

I wish i could find some brainless work. Like broccoli pollination ;)

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Wah!

I think this is the longest I've gone without writing any updates. Well the rest of the week panned out in a way that was sort of expected.

The full run of the CD3 on my knock-out tissue was semi-successful. That is, it worked, but it was a lot paler than I expected it to be. I chalked this up to leaving it washing for 2 hours while I went to lunch with Queenie. I repeated it on Friday, and while it was still paler than I would have liked, the human tonsil control tissue was looking pretty good so I accepted the result.

I also had the monthy Friday Girls' Night with Cathy, Nicky, Vanz, Jen Pang, Jessie, Li-Hsia, Carmen and Mandy at Bearbrass in the Southbank complex where, surprise surprise, Cameron was sitting at the next table. Afterwards, some of us gals went to Stellar Bar where a whole bunch of people we hadn't seen in ages also rocked up! It was like an impromptu reunion and has led to the planning of future such parties (reunions).

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

project update

For the last few weeks, I've been attempting to stain my brain sections for CD3 and CD68 to identify/quantify the cells that comprise of the infiltrate in my GM-CSF -/- mice. It had been working well, but we found that using the rabbit anti-human CD3, although the antibody was specific for the right cells, there was background staining of residual plasma in the blood vessels as well as staining cells that shouldnt have stained within the cerebellar white matter.

Today and yesterday, I attempted to get rid of both of these. Yesterday I changed the secondary antibody from the DAKO LSAB kit to the old skool swine anti-rabbit and streptavidin, as well as doing an anti-isotype control. The anti-isotype *worked* in the sense that nothing came up, but since the normal run showed absolutely nothing at all when it should have, I consigned both runs to the bin. Today, after talking to Tech Support from DAKO, I added mouse serum 10 microlitres/ml of LSAB Universal Link solution as well as the anti-isotype control. Both worked (yay!) in that the plasma staining is gone, but the other cells remain.

How puzzling. Maybe there are endogenous CD3 elements in the CNS. That's intriguing.

Saturday, July 09, 2005

2 things

I'm beginning to think my alcohol consumption is getting out of control. At the end of each week I usually go out and have a few drinks, if you define a few as about 6 mixed drinks. This morning I didnt have a hangover, but then again I did wake at 2pm feeling sore.

And another thing. I've been thinking about Bombing Logic. So far it seems to be the work of an Al-Qaeda affiliated group demanding that Britain pull out of Iraq. But if you think about it, the troops are in Iraq as a result of the WTC 9/11 attack anyway. Do they really think it will help their cause? All it seems to have accomplished so far is to rally people who would normally have ambivalent or neutral views to oppose the groups actions. Really, when has the bombing of innocent people ever helped? Even Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that just led to the nuclear arms race and the creation of *rogue nations*.

C'mon people, there's gotta be a better way than aggression.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Awww man!!!!


I *heart* London, and I'm most displeased that it has been victim of what appears to be terrorist attacks. That's not to say that I don't want to move there anymore. It just means I have to get superpowers so I can clear out the mean people first.

Me and my trusty bear, we'll do it together!

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Oh yeah...

With all the excitement on Monday, I burnt my hand on Sunday night feeding a midnight craving for crepes. Curse those crepes, so delicious!!!

And for those who don't know and would like to know, the Man died.

Monday, July 04, 2005

Today...

started out like anyother day. I was running late for uni, but still made it for an 11am meeting with Marg. I was focussing the microscope to show her my CD3 and CD68 staining results when we heard the sound of breaking glass. I turned to look out the window and saw a foot kick out the glass in a window at a right angle to where I was and about 2 metres down. I remember thinking *It's Maintenance changing the glass in the womens toilets*, when the head of a man, Asian late 20s/early 30s, came out and looked down. He then started to climb out the window and I said "What's he doing?" to which Marg said "Ohmigod, its a suicide attempt".

Marg ran to the office to ring security and told me to remain where I was and keep an eye on him. Unsure at what to do, I stood there and watched relaying his actions to the office. He climbed out and balanced on the window frame, then squatted and started to take some deep breaths. Suddenly he started yelling *Don't try to stop me!*, and I realised there was somone on the ground talking to him. He then started to pull at the shards left in the frame and I had a vision of him slitting his wrists or throat. At this point, he started moving around on the frame which is/was pretty flimsy. I'm not sure how long he was doing that for, but I was relieved when he went back inside the bathroom. After a few moments he climbed out again and leaned backwards out of the window in the reverse of his original position and turned his head a few times. I saw his face clearly, I don't know if he saw mine, but that kinda snapped something in me and I started to ask (well, yell) that someone replace my watch. At the same time, I couldnt force myself away from the window. Then I started to cry and Siobbhan from the office came to take me away as Police and Security had arrived.

They sealed off the Cameron and we went to the Common room where I kind of burst into tears. Other people in the dept came in and we all sat around discussing theories. The observation was made that if he really wanted to kill himself, there were higher floors to jump from and he would have done it quickly rather than sit there. We sat there for about an hour or so when an announcement was made that *The Incident* was over and anyone who had observed anything was to go down to the 2nd floor foyer. While I was waiting for another girl to get her jacket, Peter the Lab Manager came to speak to Marg and I. Marg asked if The Man had been talked down successfully to which Peter replied that he had jumped.

The stairwell had been blocked off with Police tape so we took an elevator down where we saw more Police tape and cars parked on Grattan St. We were ushered into the West/Medicine office wing, which was probably the worst thing to do because the offices on the right had a direct view of the garden where The Man fell. I saw some distraught women in those offices. This area had not been sealed off and I remember seeing students making enquiries at the desk. There was more Police tape and people taking photographs out there. The next bit is a blur, but I remember writing my name and contact details down for security, crying, and talking to a counsellor who told me to stay at uni but not to do any work.

Around 3pm, I was informed that The Man was in the Emergency ward of RMH, his condition was unknown, and that he'd been discharged from the hospital this morning. His last place of residence was a Salvation Army hostel. I don't really know anything else.

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Bar crawl

Last night Mandy, Lydia and I went bar-hopping. I think we did quite well in all. I started at 5:30 at the Bedford Hotel/Turf Club with the departmental staff. Then I met up with Mandy at 6-ish and we went to Canary Club for drinks and tapas. Met up with Lydia and went to Transport. Then we went off to Robot, Martini Lounge and Stellar Bar. We were gonna go to Loop and Double Happiness but those places were packed out.

And at the end, we picked up my drunk brother who'd been at Gin Palace all night and he provided us with some entertaining conversation for the ride home. Job well done!