Stepping off the plane after spending a weekend in Los Angeles, I was greeted by a gust of freezing wind reminding me that I have indeed returned to Boston. My third trip to LA this year felt a little bit too short, mainly because it WAS too short. I flew there just Friday evening and returned on an overnight flight arriving a little past 6am this morning. Over the course of the two days, we spent our time mainly eating, sleeping, and playing pool (what did you expect?). We tried out a new Dim Sum place called Hong Kong Palace which the LA times had the gall of considering the “Best Dim Sum in town”. Perhaps by “town” they meant “within a half-mile radius”. We also ventured into the outskirts of South Central to savor some authentic BBQ pork and beef ribs at Philip’s Bar-B-Que. We also spent some time at The Grove, an upscale outdoor shopping mall which features a “Red Car” trolley as well as a musical fountain. Though I wish I could have stayed longer, I’ve got a stack of 170 midterm exams to grade, a recitation section to teach tomorrow, and a lab meeting on Wednesday to prep for. Man! The fun just keeps on coming!

Waking up this afternoon after 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep, I realized how much I’ve missed a good night’s rest over the last couple of weeks. I looked out the window through my squinting eyelids and noticed that it was already getting dark. Yet despite how unaccomplished I felt, it was truly revitalizing. Overall, the week’s been relatively uneventful, though I was able to get a lot done, cleaning the apartment with Jeff, doing my groceries and laundry, and most of all, installing Windows and reconfiguring all my software on the new harddrive I got for my laptop. I even got to check out my very first full lunar eclipse last night on the way back from the local Stop & Shop. Though less dramatic than the solar eclipse I witnessed back in college, it exhibited a rather subtle beauty, the kind I tend to appreciate a bit more. It was too bad I didn’t have my camera with me at the time, so I will leave you with a picture of all the fun I had with the computers instead. =)

After the long week spent cooped up in lab, even on Halloween night, some friends and I decided to head back out and reexperience the Boston clubbing scene. Through some of Bob’s connections as an ex-promoter, we found out that Saturdays were International Asian Night at Club Aria, and was able to get into the VIP “Angel Room” with discounted admission. The crowd was pretty attractive and the music featured a good mix of hip-hop, reggae, smooth dub, and even a dab of Latin. Overall, highly recommended.

Hehehe… This is kind of funny. I came across this little quiz while checking out my cousin’s website and it claims that I’m obsessive-compulsive. Nothing that I didn’t already know, of course. Click on the image to read more … it’s uncanny! Anyway, I’ll be starting my first week as a TA for a cell biology class at the med school. Given my OCD, I wonder what this would mean for the students… =P

It’s been almost a month since my last update and yet when I look back, so little has happened that it’s almost sad. It appears that work has unfortunately dominated my life since coming back from LA. I even missed all-you-can-eat lobster at the annual MD-PhD retreat, which as many of you know, is not very characteristic of me. I did, however, get to pig out at two of my closest friends’ birthdays. Last Tuesday, a bunch of us drove out to this sushi buffet in Natick called Minado to celebrate Leo’s birthday. The place charges about $16 for lunch and $25 for dinner, which is very reasonable for all the sushi you can possibly stuff into your stomach, not to mention shrimps, crab legs, mussels, scallops, and even an udon bar and hibachi grill. This evening, we treated my roommate Jeff out to some hearty Chinese seafood at none other but our beloved dining locale East Ocean City, where we consumed almost every kind of meat they had (lobster, shrimp, fish, chicken, duck, and pork) and feasted to our hearts’ content. You know, looking back, I wonder how many of my posts are dedicated to my dining experiences. Well, what can I say? So much food… and so little time… Must eat it all before it’s gone! Btw, based on a friend’s suggestion, I’ve changed my guestbook into a forum. It’s really the same thing, but a guestbook implies a one-time comment on the website, while the forum allows people to comment on my updates as well as other visitors’ postings. I wonder if this will make things a bit more interesting…

For those of you who have an email address at Xephalon.net, a members entrance has been added at the bottom of this page. It will bring you directly to the webmail interface.

I just had to put this on here. Melody and I came across this baby T-shirt design during our last week in LA and I just had to get it for her. It was from a novelty gift store called Aahs over in Westwood. Confused readers may wish to refer to Angry Little Girls, and read about Kim in particular. =P

Our last week together was mainly spent kicking back at the apartment in LA, watching movies and Simpsons episodes on her computer while sampling various restaurants in the area, with some Italian cuisine in Santa Monica, Chinese seafood on Wilshire, Indian curry in Westwood, and Japanese noodles down the street … yes, and Noodle Planet too. One of the more memorable places was this really chic restaurant called Eurochow, which featured both Italian and Chinese cuisines (not fusion as we had thought) in an architecturally dramatic white marble building, in which stark white walls climb 55 feet high to a dome, with frosted-glass floors, a glass bridge, and a two-story bar. It’s certainly a place to check out for its impressive decor, though the food there, while savory, was not uniquely outstanding. Aside from the wining and dining (actually, only just dining), we did venture out for some touristy attractions like Hollywood, Venice Beach, and of course, Disneyland. Since it was off-season, we were able to avoid the abomination of waiting in line for rides, though unfortunately, the three main attractions we were looking forward to (Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Haunted Mansion) were all closed for refurbishment. Nevertheless, we had a great time adventuring with Indiana Jones and Winnie the Pooh, exploring Tarzan’s treehouse and Tom Sawyer’s Island, cruising through jungles and pirate coves, flying with Peter Pan and Dumbo, riding with Mr. Toad and Casey Jr., journeying with Alice and Pinocchio, riding on King Arthur’s Carousel and Gadget’s roller-coaster, exploring Mickey’s House and Roger Rabbit’s cartoon world, driving a go-cart and piloting a spaceship, and last but not least, riding through the “It’s a Small World” exhibit (we wondered whether the song there drove the workers crazy). That evening concluded with the Parade of Stars, as we stood before Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and kissed under the stars. Thanks for everything, Melody. =*

Last Wednesday, we began what turned out to be a rather monotonous 6-hour drive up I-5 through Central Valley to visit Melody’s home town of Stockton. Despite its location further up North, the small suburban town suffered from intolerable heat, with midday temperatures in the 90’s. We spent Thursday going through her childhood memorabilia, and visited her high school, middle school, and elementary school. On Friday, we drove to Yosemite National Park. Though the landscape was gorgeous, many of the waterfalls were dried up by this time in late summer. I stared at an impressive sign declaiming “Yosemite’s Crowning Glory”, only to glance up and behold the puny trickle of water that was Yosemite Fall. Nevertheless, we did find a large flat rock upon which we could sit back to indulge in an unimpeded view of the majestic Vernal Fall, which shimmered with the colors of the rainbow under the lazy afternoon sun. Our relaxing evening which ended with a cafeteria-style buffet dinner at Curry Village, however, was quickly overturned with an adrenaline-filled driving adventure along Route 120, bearing miles and miles of sharp twists and turns in dark, unlit roads through the Sierra Nevada mountains. Happy to be alive, we decided to ease off and spend Saturday in San Francisco, where we caught an afternoon matinee of 42nd Street. The show was pretty entertaining and well-choreographed, though I’d be more satisfied if the songs and dance numbers were better-integrated into the development of the plot. We finally concluded our little NoCal side trip today with the same boring drive back down to LA. Exhausted from all the driving, we’ll most likely take our time over the upcoming week to unwind.

Greetings from LA! That’s right, my long-awaited 2-week vacation with Melody has finally begun! I arrived in the city of angels this past Friday and spent our first weekend mostly chillin’ out, doing some shopping, shooting some pool, and most importantly: eating and sleeping … a LOT. Yesterday, we drove down to San Diego to visit the world famous San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld. The zoo was fun, but since we got there relatively late in the afternoon, most of the animals were asleep, which made for less-than-interesting photo moments. SeaWorld, though more than double the price of admission at the zoo, offered some pretty entertaining animal performances, featuring dolphins, sea lions, otters, and killer whales (or Shamu, which I have yet to figure out whether it’s the name of a specific killer whale, or just SeaWorld killer whales in general … Melody theorizes that it’s like a family name, like Mr. Shamu and Mrs. Shamu, but I find that hard to believe). We also got the opportunity to pet a variety of sea creatures including sea slugs (feels like silken tofu), bat rays (like soft tofu), and dolphins (like firm tofu :9). We also made a number of more eccentric observations including the size of Shamu’s dong, as well as the color and appearance of their poop (green). We finished off our day with dinner at Hooters at Pacific Beach, before driving back to LA.