Ma-ia-hii … Ma-ia-huu … Ma-ia-hoo … Ma-ia-haha! I just can’t get this song out of head! It was Friday when a friend forwarded me this link to the new 19-year-old Romanian webcam lip-syncing sensation which strangely has attained a reputation worthy of CNN, VH1, the Today Show, and Good Morning America. Some even claimed this to be the funniest online fad since All Your Base. I can’t really explain it, but it just makes me happy and really brightens my day. Otherwise, the past week’s been pretty lax overall, though I predict that my experiments should start to pick up in the upcoming weeks. I’ll just have to keep in mind the magic of the Numa Numa dance. =)

Welcome to the Year of the Rooster! It’s unfortunate that Chinese New Year had to fall on a Wednesday. It also doesn’t help that I have to prep for my first Pharm class tomorrow and my lab meeting on Friday. It’s only halfway through the week and already I feel overwhelmed! Can’t wait till I head back to NYC this weekend for some home-cooked comfort food. Btw, there’s a new press release about our paper. The same article may be viewed at Science Daily, Eurekalert, Innovations-Report, and RxPGnews.

I’ve finally found a worthy alternative to pocket billiards. It’s called snooker, or as I’d call it, pool without pockets. Last Friday, my labmate took me to a Korean billiards joint in the Fenway, which can only be described as, in the words of 50 cent, “so gutter, so ghetto, so hood”. The entrance is an unmarked door between a gay leather bar and a porno shop, and the place itself is located in the basement past a series of poorly-lit corridors, kind of what you’d imagine a gangster hangout to look like. At the end, I concluded that I’m just not smart enough for snooker. Between all the spins, banks, follows, and draws, I was completely drained after the 2.5 hours it took to complete two games. The rest of the weekend was a good mix of work and play, though I dreaded having to wake up early on both days. I spent Saturday morning interviewing some high school students for college before a belated holiday meal with the lab over dim sum, where I served my usual function as the Canto-translator. We even made it out to a club that night (finally), which featured an eclectic but fun mix of dance music from hip-hop and old school rap, to 80’s rock and pop. Though exhausted, I scrambled out of bed again Sunday morning to chat with some Harvard pre-meds over Dunster’s famous Belgian waffles, paid a visit to the shops at Chestnut Hill Mall, and concluded with some warm treats at a Chinese New Year party over at Amy’s. I’m not sure how much longer I can handle weekends like this. It’s tough just thinking about going back to work today…

We just got news today that our paper is now available online at Neuron. So for the next 2 weeks, you’ll have the opportunity to behold my awesome cover design on the front page of their website. An explanation for this cryptic image is provided in the cover caption, and you can also read about my botched submissions in this old update. And for those who are actually interested, an abstract is also available. Now go! Go and check it out before my brief moment of glory disappears forever!