Xmas photos update

It has been pointed out to me that I have been very lax in getting the photos from the xmas party online. Here is the link just for you, Pooey!

http://mallymoodlespics.shutterfly.com
(p/word = 12345)

(Gee, there seems to be a lot of babies, not much xmas)

Crapmeister

Today we had to inject some rats and despite wearing a mask and taking an antihistamine, I had to stop at 11 animals because it was becoming too hard to breathe.

That's it. After a year of terrorising them, I have become allergic and since they've chosen to attack a system that could result in my death vs. me doing something that does actually kill them...I guess its a stalemate.

I'm gonna investigate better methods of protection!

Something to make the trains run on time

When I was in Europe, I did marvel at the rail buskers there. I must say that when someone sent me this youtube clip, I thought it was fake until I googled it and found it confirmed by The Times.



That's right, some gal was poledancing her way around Milan's subway in December. I don't know how well this will go down here but if it decreases the amount of traffic on the road, I'm cool with it!

This summer of tennis

As I type, Roger Federer and Fernando Gonzalez are duking it out for the Men's Title. As much as I like Gonzo, I want Federer to win.

But I can't watch (right now) - it's too tense!

*UPDATE*
ok, I watched the last two sets...and Federer won 7-6, 6-4, 6-4.
How could I doubt?!

Its a Friday

but damn me if it doesnt feel like a Sunday! Gotta love public holidays.

I'll make a proper blog about what I and the Foodies did today when I get the pics off Shaz.

Hard Week

I know it's only Thursday, but I feel as though I've been trampled by elephants. Maybe it's because I've re-started my gym programme after 4 weeks of relative inactivity. Maybe its cos my experimental load has gone to another level. I don't know, but I do feel like breaking resolution 4 - the no drinking one.

I am really smart

One of the hazards of working with animals is developing allergies to them. I know that I have an allergy to mouse fur. Today I had to handle a number of animals today but for some reason I didn't take any antihistamines with me to uni or wear a mask when handling those squirmy little critters.

So naturally by 12pm my nose and eyes were going haywire. At 12:30, I started wheezing as if I were asthmatic (as described by someone who asked if I were alright). That was a little bit scary and people were saying *geez woman, are you gonna die?*

But at 5:45, I can say that I'm almost back to normal! Time to stock more drugs in my desk, I think!

I am smart

I cut my finger on a rosebush trying to retrieve the newspaper earlier this week. Very small.

But then I made it worse by squeezing lemons several times since then.

Ouch.

Movie review - Click

Think Adam Sandler, think stupid movies like Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore. I'm beginning to think that as Adam Sandler grows up, so too Adam Sandler movies are becoming more mature. Kinda.

Click tells the story of architect Michael Newman (Sandler), who attempts to balance the needs of his family - wife Donna (Kate Beckinsale), parents Ted and Trudy (Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner - yes, the Fonz and Marge Simpson!) and his young children Ben and Samantha - and his boss, Ammer (David Hasselhoff). As that the finances of his family are somewhat precarious, when his boss dangles the promise of a partnership in exchange for landing a large account, Michael's ability to cope with all the demands finally breaks when he can't change the channels on the tv. He goes to Bed, Bath and Beyond to purchase a universal remote, but instead purchases a mystical remote control from Christopher Walken that has the ability to do things like fast-forward past arguments to promotions and decrease dog barks. However, the remote control learns to programme itself and Michael loses control of his life when it learns to fast-forward during various events. Unlike other Sandler movies, except perhaps 50 First Dates, the second half of the movie *spoiler* takes a dramatic turn as it is shown that by fast-forwarding and putting work ahead of family, Michael loses out on being able to watch his kids grow up, being able to spend time parents before they die, and maintaining his relationship with his wife *end spoiler*.

Believe it or not, Adam Sandler gives a pretty good dramatic performance here, helped along by the Fonz and Selene the Vampire. It's pretty clean for a Happy Madison production although there is the obligatory gross bit as the family owns a dog who has found it's soulmate in the form of a stuffed toy duck. While viewers may complain that the movie can't decide if it's a comedy or drama, and the message may be a bit cliched, overall its enjoyable.

6.5/10

I've got one more movie review (Nacho Libre to do) but I'm all reviewed out at the moment, so that probably won't come for another week or so, if at all.

Congratulations!!!

This is a shout-out to my former train buddy and now PhD advice kinda guy (I'm working, ok?!), Dr. Schrodinger, who is gonna be a daddy in about 6 months. Congratulations to you and Yani.

Another generation of duck-men to come ;)

Movie review - The Lake House

Who likes movies that mess with your mind a bit? And when I say mess with your mind, I don't mean something as dumbass as *oh, it was all a dream!* like Vanilla Sky. I mean something that produces a *whoa! That's freaky!* kind of reaction like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The Lake House is one that MAJORLY messes with your mind.

The Lake House is based on the 2000 Korean movie Il Mare (original Korean = Siworae). Kate Forster (Sandra Bullock) is a doctor who is moving out of a house built on a lake, hence the title Lake House. She decides to leave a letter for the next tenant. Architect Alex Wyler (my future husband, Keanu Reeves) moves in, finds the letter and points out somethings wrong in his reply.

1. It's obvious no one has lived in the house in years, and
2. The year is 2004, Kate has dated her letter as 2006.

After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with letters, they realise that the letterbox is some kind of conduit that exists in two different timelines. Is that screwing enough with your head? Despite the seemingly impossible barrier, the two fall in love...but how to join the time-separated lovers?

I won't talk about plot of acting or writing because, put simply, whether or not you enjoy Lake House will depend on whether or not you're willing to just accept it as it is. Or you can try and work out how the time-space continuum thing works. Or you can feel like you've been punched in the head several times, like Pooky did! Jiggs had not seen Lake House but he had seen Il Mare and as I said in the Sydney Rundown, we had a massive argument about whether the time paradox works or not. I said that it did because while their conscious awareness of each other exists at different points in time, they themselves exist in the same time as each other. Jiggs said it was impossible for them ever to meet because they exist in two different timeframes. Jia hadn't seen either movie and couldn't add anything. In any case, I hear the endings are different - this may be where our problem stems from.

In any case, I found I enjoyed it and didn't feel as though I'd been punched too hard.
7/10
(Poster from www.thecinemasource.com)

Movie review - Just Friends

Rarely have I actively disliked the lead characters of a movie as much as I did in Just Friends. They just got on my nerves sooooooo much that I just could not feel sympathy for them (although I did sympathise with a character who was obviously meant to be a foil), and the end message was kinda screwed up too.

Chris Brander (Ryan Reynolds) is a fat teen whose best friend and secret crush is the hot cheerleader Jamie Palomino (Amy Smart). The night they graduate, Chris decides to declare his feelings for her by writing in her yearbook, but the small party he intended turns into a whole school blowout. Daunted, he nonetheless proceeds to try and make her read his message but is interrupted by Dusty Dinkleman (Chris Klein) a pimply, stuttering singer who also has a crush on Jamie, and her quaterback ex-bf Tim. In the course of things, Tim's yearbook and Chris' are swapped and Tim read the love declaration to the entire party, further ridicule ensues when Jamie reiterates that they remain best friends. Humiliated, Chris declares that he'll show them all and runs away to LA. A decade later, Chris has lost all the weight and turned into a womanising record company exec. In the course of trying to sign the Paris Hilton-esque Samantha James (Anna Faris) to his company, he and Samantha end up stranded in his home town and the new Chris attempts to show the town what he has become and win Jamie's heart.

Now that may sound like a pretty unoffensive movie. Pretty common, in fact. But here is a list of some of my grievances.
1. Chris is obviously picked on at school by Jamie's other *friends* and yet while she makes some token protests, she keeps the people who have obviously spent their entire lives bullying him around her. Some best friend!

2. While Samantha is pretty clingly and stupid, but Chris at times is almost downright abusive towards her and seemingly has no interest in her well-being. For example, she falls off a balcony at the Mall and sustains a concussion, yet he keeps putting her in the care of his younger brother who obviously can't handle her.

3. None of the townspeople can comprehend that Chris has changed in the decade he has been away, and insult him when he attempts to show that he has changed. Key scene - when the waitress gives him pancakes covered in chocolate and cream and he goes to refuse it due to his adult diet, then Jamie acts as if he is majorly insulting the waitress by turning it down.

4. The characters' immaturity in general. Chris allows himself to be goaded by children when playing ice hockey, and instead of trying to minimising the damage, takes the children out. I can understand pride but that is ridiculous.

5. Dusty as the villlian is shown to be acting in a particular way to get Jamie to fall in love with him as *revenge* for her relegating him as just a friend. But that's pretty much the same as what Chris is doing.

6. The pair sleep together in Chris' old bed but don't have sex because Chris realises that perhaps Jamie will only ever want to be friends. Jamie however thinks she's been humiliated because he didn't make a move on her. Hello?! She spent the entire time prior to that reiterating that they are just friends, treating him accordingly and then being pissed that he didn't act!?

7.We are shown that the new Chris is a shallow asshole but when he reverts to his prior self, they get together. But he acted like that all through high school when he was fat and scored nothing. So Jamie is also shown to be a shallow asshole who only dates Chris now that he's rich and built.

In the end, I ended up feeling sorry for Samantha of all people, because despite being a deluded talentless hack, she seemed to genuinely like Chris, although whether it's just to forward her career is in question, but she as a person stays true to who she is and is never painted in a different light to what she is. Who would have thought I'd like the bimbo out of all the characters, eh?

2/10

Movie review - The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness is a difficult film for me to review because while I genuinely enjoyed it in the cinema, my curiousity about the story upon which it was *inspired* made me dig around about it and makes me think a bit more about film's manipulation of facts to manipulate the audience.

Set in San Francisco in 1981, the film stars Will Smith as Chris Gardner, Smith's own son Jaden plays Chris' 5 yo son, Christopher. Due to not knowing his own father until the age of 28, Chris swears that his son will have a good relationship with him, but this is put to the test when he comes into financial difficulty after investing in portable bone density scanners that he later finds are considered a luxury by medical people/establishments and therefore difficult to sell. After meeting a stockbroker, he applies for and is accepted into the traineeship programme at Dean Whitter Reynolds (now known as Morgan Stanley), but this makes things even more difficult when his wife abandons the family to move to NYC and he discovers the internship is unpaid. While periodically selling a scanner to make money, a variety of events result in Chris and Christopher becoming destitute and the pair end up homeless - sleeping in the toilets of a subway station for a night and eventually ending up in homeless shelters. The movie shows Chris struggling to do his work while being a good father to Christopher at the same time, leaving work early to pick up his son from daycare in order to make it to the shelter which works on a first come, first served basis. Eventually the story ends up nicely when Chris' perseverence pays off and he is accepted into Dean Whitter as a permanent employee.

First the bits that work - the acting and writing are great. The trials that Chris goes through, his jubilation and despair at the breakthroughs that turn out to be setbacks and his overwhelming concern for his son is totally convincing and absolutely sucks you in. This is no doubt aided by the fact that Smith is acting with his son - their interactions are naturally convincing and well done. A particular standout the scene where they end up in the subway station. Christopher having thrown a tantrum after they were evicted from a motel, is refusing to speak to his father and you can see the stubborness in his little self as they sit on a subway bench. Chris meanwhile is frustrated at his inability to be able to explain what is going on, does the real fatherly thing in convincing his son he should treat the entire thing as a caveman adventure. It's really great.

But the bad things - there are times when the treacle is laid on REALLY thick, and given that Chris states that he arrives at work late and leaves early for the sake of Christopher, the fact that he gets accepted into the company because he made the most sells due to his awesome people skills seems a little far-fetched. While I knew that I was being manipulated with regards to the story, this didn't bother during the film. What does bother me is the extent of the liberties taken when I looked it up later. While the pair really did end up in homeless shelters, key parts in hindsight which bother me are when Chris finds out the traineeship is unpaid - in reality he was getting $1000/month (ok, not enough for rent/food etc but still not as destitute as made out), and when a homeless shelter for women and children turn the pair away despite Chris' pleading and instructs them to a male shelter across town. In reality, the shelter actually let them stay. The wiki entry on the story of the real Chris Gardner is here.

In all though the movie is ok and even if liberties were taken, it is a good story made more incedible by the knowledge that it is essentially based on a true story.
6.5/10

The Sydney Rundown

Well I’m newly returned home from a holiday in other city. I won’t say it was a total break from work because I did bring some things up with me, but I hope you all gather much satisfaction that I didn’t do anywhere near as much work as I thought I would. Aside from that, I do feel quite refreshed even though Miss Pooky packed my days full of activities she’s wanted to do but couldn’t (mostly due to the malicious fun-decreasing elements of her lab), and we also did a lot of lazing around in her wonderfully appointed apartment watching DVDs. Also, since I am stupid, I forgot to take a camera so there are no photos.

After visiting her lab on Friday, we went to some of her favourite undergrad haunts in Glebe, a café called Badde Manors and a The Gleebookshop. The café was a semi-vegan place where I made her eat a Tofu burger that was quite delicious, much to her surprise. And they had really awesome gelati and sorbet. At the bookshop I picked up a copy of More Mere Mortals – a book that contemplates the various medical maladies of historical figures and how that may have affected history. That night we met up with Pooky’s sister, Fluff, and after gorging ourselves at Sushi Train, we watched The Pursuit of Happyness (review coming soon).

Having discovered that Jia One Plus was in town, we met up with her and Jiggles for lunch, Starbucks (I refuse to call that coffee), and shopping. One heartwarming story, Jigs left his umbrella in the Myer foodcourt, a fact he only realized once we were in Starbucks. We didn’t think his chances of finding it again would be high, but despite being away for maybe 20-30 min., it was found in the same place where he left it! That night, we met up with Fluff and her bf, You Won!, for dinner at Pancakes on the Rocks, to get more DVDs, and to buy ingredients to fulfill my sudden urge to bake shortbread. I did and they were delicious! That night we watched Little Man (review NOT coming soon – that’s a shocking movie!) and The Lake House (review coming soon).

Sunday, we met up again with Jiggs and Jia for yumcha, which was actually quite interesting because none of us could speak enough Cantonese to order what we wanted to eat and because Jiggs and I nearly came to blows about whether the Time Paradox was plausible in Lake House. Later I purchased myself a fetching new purse and we purchased some more DVDs to watch. Jia departed to meet up with family, we other three returned to the apartment to watch The Curse of the Golden Flower, Just Friends, and after dinner and So You Think You Can Dance, Click (reviews coming soon).

Seeing as Monday was my last day, we decided to do something educational and spent the morning at the Powerhouse Museum, looking at the history of The Great Wall of China and amusing ourselves in the Science section. Hey, we’re geeks!!! We then went to a Korean restaurant for bulgogi and a way too much food. We didn’t stick to the formula of n dishes + rice – whereby n is defined as the number of people - the two of us ordered four dishes + rice! And then we went back to the apartment for me to pack…and then we bought ice cream and bubble tea to boot!

Despite being internet-free, alcohol-free, exercise-free, and (almost) work-free, I had a really good time! I had such fun bumming around with Pooky and Co. that I’m dreading going back to the lab tomorrow morning. *sigh* This is why I shouldn’t be allowed to take holidays.

Back in Sin City

Hey y'all. Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who congratulated me for getting the schol. You guys rawk! And to Rox, I fully intend to marry rich, just not now and preferably someone closer to my age. And I want to hear that *smart girls* proverb!

But anyway, after a year of labwork and never taking five consecutive days away from the lab (shocking I know), I decided to fly up to Sydney to visit Miss Pooky. The flight was uneventful, the train ride to the city was uneventful, the walk to her building was uneventful. Waiting for her to realise that her phone was dead and I'd been trying to call her for over an hour to say I had arrived was a bit troubling! After calling everyone I knew in Syd and having them laugh at my predicament (which is funny), problems were solved and we headed off to a Thai restaurant for dinner.

Today I'm at her lab, doing some of my work (:S) while Pooky perfuses animals but we'll be heading out to do more of the usual fun stuff in the next few days. Cheerio!

Good news!

All that furious writing in the middle of the year finally paid off cos I was awarded one of the scholarships I applied for! YAY!!!

It's not an end to my financial woes (I dont think anything other than winning the lottery or marrying some kind of sugar daddy - yuk- is gonna solve them), but its a start!

I'm not sure if I should be pleased here

Which Goddess Owns You?

The Goddess Death: Dark, morbid, appropriately represented by the color black and the element water. Death is reserved, intellectual, introspective. Rarely does she do anything requiring a lot of energy or display of emotion -- but when she does, anyone within a few planes would do well to duck and cover.
Take this quiz!








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Battle Scars

Ooh, something exciting happened!

Due to my decreased portions diet and being in the lab for 4 hours, my stomach was pretty sore so I skipped gym thinking that I'd just hop on the bike for a ride post-dinner. Little did I know that I would come to grief after such a short ride. Going downhill towards the parks, I went to brake and turn a corner when all of a sudden I was flying through the air over the handlebars! Ok, it wasn't that dramatic but I did find myself on the ground with the bike on it's side.

After getting up and assessing the damage (sore hip, sore hand, grazed knee) I assured the people who witnessed my fall that I was fine and they helped me pick up and bike and attempt to discern why I fell. It was all a mystery as there were no large rocks present until someone who had righted the bike noted that the front wheel had come off the axle. The axle itself was not broken which made someone else say that it probably had been loose. This then leads me to two conclusions. Either someone is trying to kill me or Pooey didn't assemble the thing properly. In anycase, I now have an ugly scabby graze on my knee in the middle of short skirt season. CRAP!!!

Not much going on

As result of my resolution to lose weight and work harder, there wasn't really anything to write about over the weekend. I sense that I may become increasingly boring if the last three days are anything to go by. OH NO!!!

But as an update, I had a relatively alcohol-free Friday (what?!?). The night started with dins with dirty roy and Hat in Chinatown before mucking around the city to meet up with Teena, Shaz, etc for karaoke at Khoon's place. Such a good hostess, always making sure her guests have an alcoholic drink. I ended up having to take one from her to avoid upsetting her. Unforch, karaoke dragged on for so long that at 2am I declined the invite to stay over night and took a taxi home. This actually may have been the smarter option for I hear that the singing didn't end until 5am.

Saturday I hunted for a webcame and when the store I selected turned out to be closed, I ended up driving randomly in the eastern suburbs, then went home to a night of the classic 80s movie, Ghostbusters.

I did some cycling on Sunday and the new piece of wildlife viewed was a homeless person sleeping on the bike trail, and that evening I met up with Akina and many other Japanese people to watch Zoolander at rooftop cinema. It was quite cold but the many hilarious lines kept us warm with their jollity.

hell

As part of my resolution to work harder on my phd, I've spent 5 hours on this microscope.

1.5 left to go!!!

Resolutions

Just so I remember what they are and people can bitch at me if I don't hold myself to them.

1. Be nicer to people I don't like. Or at least get better at hiding my animosity.
2. Work harder at my PhD. This one is a bit of a necessity.
3. Learn a new skill. I've narrowed it down to either ballroom dancing, kendo or jujitsu.
4. Limit myself to a maximum of four alcoholic drinks per outing.
And of course,
5. Lose 5kg. Heh, this one never happens.

One Good Turn...

Today on the bus we all did the usual skip and dance around the seats to allow people to get on and off but when I sat down in a (new) seat, I jumped up when something hard hit my ass. Imagine my surprise when there was a phone there as if freshly laid, egg style. After picking it up, I tried to figure out how to access the phonebook to see if I could find a number labelled *Home*, *Mum*, *Dad* or possibly even *Work* to contact the rightful owner as I hopped off at my stop. After revealing the true extent of my technology-retardedness, *Dad* rang to claim himself as the rightful owner. As I was already at my place of work, and his was located a fair distance away, we agreed to meet up later for the handover. Imagine my surprise when he handed over a pile of chocolate as a gesture of thanks.

I do like ferrero rocher.

Happy New Year, y'all!!!

I rang in the new year at Lexington, a bar I have maligned as being full of tossers. But you know, experience in bars is always affected by the people you're with as well as the crowd's general demeanour. Well last night's crowd just wanted to kick some 2006 ass and we all partied on with good feelings and minimal tossing! I went with Akina, Alain, and Robert and we met up with some more of Akina's buds, Shirley and her friends, and Eva & John and their friends. Unforch, I have no photos cos I cloaked my bag which had my phone in it.

What can I say? It was a lot of fun, even when some ppl decided to start the count early and then splashed us all with their (free) champagne. And although Akina et al. crashed and went home soon after midnight, I rocked on with Eva & co. and took their invite to go back to their apt so we could dance with shoes off! I eventually crawled out home at 6:30 cos although the invite to crash there was mighty tempting, I really wanted to take out my contacts, wash off my makeup and brush my teeth to feel more human.

2006 ended on a bright note, let 2007 shine on!