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!

Waking up this morning, I felt disoriented and paralyzed, with every part of my body painful and numb. Wait. Let’s rewind to last Friday. It was our very first lab ski trip, and never having skied in my life before, I was, needless to say, less than thrilled. Nevertheless, succumbing to peer pressure, I found myself atop the ski slopes at Waterville Valley Friday morning, with little clue as to what I was getting myself into. My lab mates had convinced me to skip the beginner’s lesson, explaining how skiing was simple and really just required practice. What I eventually found out was that I indeed didn’t need any skiing lessons. I needed stopping lessons. Heading down the slopes turned out to be effortless and even somewhat enjoyable. The hard part was trying to stop. I basically ended up riding the lift up, only to barrel down the fall line and crash at the bottom each time. I would’ve liked to stay longer, but I had to return to Boston early for my birthday dinner. This year, the group was much larger than I had expected, with 16 people sitting around two large tables at East Ocean City, where we feasted on delicious seafood Canto-style. It also happened to be the Neuro recruitment weekend, so we got to slip in several rounds of pool at Boston Billiards before the night was over. We spent my actual birthday shopping at Natick Mall, where we both scored some bargain clothing. Of course, what’s a trip to Natick without a visit to Minado? The sushi buffet left us uncomfortably full though, and pretty much wiped us out for the rest of the weekend. After all the shoveling, skiing, and feasting, it’ll definitely take some time before I’d go looking for more food and fun.

This weekend began quietly Saturday morning as I zombie-walked into lab bright and early at 7:30am to get some experiments started. Fortunately, this turned out to be a wise choice, for when I left work around 5 in the afternoon, it had become a complete whiteout. By the time the weekend blizzard ended late Sunday afternoon, we had been blanketed by more than 2 feet of Jack Frost’s finest. And of course, what better way to spend a snowed-in weekend than mindless computer games? In fact, I had just gotten my hands on a copy of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, perhaps the sleekest, most handsomely-designed adventure game since MGS came out in college. Of course, back then, I actually could afford the time to do this on a daily basis. Nevertheless, armed with high-tech gadgets, from thermal goggles to sticky spy-cams, and from the roof of a US embassy in Indonesia to the underside of a passenger train in Paris, the game certainly made for an action-packed weekend.

The verdict is in! We just got an email from the managing editor at Neuron this morning, and it appears that we’ve been selected for the cover of the upcoming issue! And to my complete surprise, the winner turned out to be … drumroll please … the horse mosaic! Of the three images I submitted, this one had the least scientific relevance and took the least time to create. But either way, I’m just glad my work paid off. In celebration, I’ve decided to describe my evening with a haiku:

hexagonal flakes
tangled between eyelashes
lost in udon steam.

We finally packed away our Christmas tree and decorations after putting off the task for the last 2 weeks. At least we didn’t have to worry about the thing bursting into flames since it’s a fake tree after all. It was a bit sad though staring at the empty spot where it used to stand. You know, I never realized how empty my living room felt without that tree. I almost feel obligated now to go out and get one of those big potted plant to fill the space. Anyway, the weekend’s been otherwise uneventful, though I did make it to Shangri-La for the 3rd time in the last 4 weeks. We also vowed to finally hit a dance club last evening after chickening out on every occasion for the past 6 months. But alas, fate stepped in with another several inches of snow, forcing us back into the apartment for another night of movies…

Sounds like the title of a really bad B-movie, huh? But it was just one of those weekends. It was Friday night when I found out that both my desktop and laptop computers had been infected by a number of adware viruses, which took most of Saturday to completely clean out. I then woke up Sunday morning with the worst case of a stomach virus I’ve ever experienced, followed by a splitting headache for the rest of the afternoon. Perhaps it was all an omen from our totally unproductive weekend as we embarked on a 2-day marathon to complete Season 3 of 24, the award-winning drama series from Fox about, of course, the outbreak of a deadly virus. Though we ultimately fell short by 3 episodes, we nevertheless caught the season 4 premiere, all the signs of which points to a terrorist attack in the form of a computer virus! Speaking of computer virus, I would highly recommend this article at Majorgeeks.com as a sure-fire protocol to completely wipe out them nasty buggies.

Since our manuscript has been accepted to Neuron for publication in February, we’ve been invited to submit a possible design for the journal cover. Based on our story, I’ve designed several covers to show the role of the protein TROY in blocking axon regeneration. My first design is just a merge of two images showing the expression of TROY, but not another protein in mouse retina. There’s a shadow of a neuron superimposed on it to suggest that the TROY protein can prevent regeneration. The second is a photomosaic of many expression images, the composite of which shows a wooden horse, reminiscent of Odysseus’ device against the ill-fated city of the same name. The third combines the two ideas. Anyway, I’m probably gonna submit all three, but I’d really appreciate any suggestions you have to make them better!

Happy 2005! It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 2 years since I first began this blog site. Looking back last winter, this year’s holidays have been comparatively slow as Boston was blanketed by a foot of snow. For Christmas, my parents spent a quiet weekend at my apartment, while Melody went back home to Stockton. Half the lab’s been missing too, making for a relatively slow week at work. After having to spend New Year’s Eve working, Melody and I chilled out for the rest of this weekend with a bit of pool at Boston Billiards and some Northern Chinese cuisine at Shangri-La. We also took the car out to a nearby Scrub-A-Dub as a treat for surviving its first Boston snowstorm. Our first self-serve car wash experience got a bit more wet ‘n wild than we had hoped, but nevertheless left the car sparkling clean as we ring in the new year.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and I had just realized how many movie trailers I’ve missed over the past month. To my surprise, more than 40 trailers had been released since December began! Since I’m such a movie trailer fan, and with the Golden Globes and Oscars coming soon, I’ve decided to announce the winners of my very own Movie Trailer Awards for this month:

THE STARS …

Best choice for an actor: Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Willy Wonka! Willy Wonka!)

Worst choice for an actor: Ice Cube in XXX – State of the Union (I think Vin Diesel turned down the job)

Best choice for an actress: Nicole Kidman in Bewitched (beware the spell of the blond…)

Worst choice for an actress: Alicia Silverstone in Beauty Shop (wtf? is she supposed to be a sista?)

Best choice for a couple: Owen Wilson & Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers (Owen just can’t be alone)

Worst choice for a couple: Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith (oh god)

Best Hair: The Rock in Be Cool (if you touch the fro, you’ve got to go)

Worst Hair: Colin Farrell in The New World (I would’ve chosen “Alexander” if it were a choice)

… AND THE SHOW

Most stylish trailer: Sin City (the visuals for this is probably the most interesting I’ve seen this year)

Most geekish trailer: Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (if you don’t know why, you’re not geeky enough)

Most anticipated film likely to crumble: War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise?! Why? Why???)

Most anticipated film likely to deliver: Batman Begins (Christian Bale & Chris Nolan will not fail me)

Most unoriginal plot: Guess Who (like “Meet the Parents” ‘cept the in-laws are black… even more cliche!)

Most ridiculous plot: Sahara (it’s about a treasure boat hidden in the desert – yes, a boat in the desert.)

Most memorable quote: “Once there was a family of…elves. The elf team decided on an L-ambush and lay down a layer of heavy suppressive fire on the gnomes” – Vin Diesel in The Pacifier