blogg! blogg!

the end of the jazz fest was closed with a performance by cirque du soleil. this time their title was soleil du minuit, which means midnight sun. the spectacle was held last sunday, and as i couldn't find anyone to go with me, i went alone. the place was already packed when i got there. afterall, it was a free show. i saw huge screens everywhere and people were just sitting or standing in front of it watching. at first i didn't think it was live. i mean we're all watching as if it were a TV showing. Then, on the screen, a tree which was formed by a plethora of green ballons were set free. the people in front of me, turned their heads to the left. i followed suit. up went the green balloons into the sky. at that moment, i knew the show was live. thus, i was much more content. i wanted to sit in front of the live show, yet we all know that as long as there is a show that is worth $40 at Costa Mesa, you have to be there damn early to sit in the audience. i was actually there a few minutes late already, but i got a darn good view at the screen. i was in the front row of the standing viewers. i guess you can diffuse pretty easily when you're alone, and can pass for kid size. people just let you pass through. then at the end, actually, i didn't stay till the very end, it was getting late (11:15pm) i found my way to the metro, and what do i see?? the bag-pipers at the specacle parading through the streets. fortunately, i had my camera, but they were marching a bit fast. just as i hit the click, someone behind me knocked my arm, and i have no clue what i had captured on film. i guess we will see when i get them developed.

woohoo, my very first paper! and check it out, the front cover...

it's composed with images from our article

sweeeeet.

thanks Dr. T!!

looks like i lost my labcoat! not in my office, not in the 6 labs i have access to! nowhere to be found. puff! disappeared. sigh! now i have to use my clean one from the cell culture room. the other one had cow blood on it anyways.

two people from our research group are born on the same day (not year) and we decided to throw a little mini party. it was supposed to be a surprise. the bday cards were circulating the corridors and laboratories for a week now, and we've gathered quite a few signatures and bday wishes for the two. this morning we bought the cake at a bread place called "au pain doré." i think it means golden bread or something. i'm never sure anymore. and it was a cake called "opera." which is pretty much a chocolate cake with many layers (4 different layers according to a surgeon who dissected the poor sucker). it was a good cake, kinda sweet (don't eat too much, you'll be saturated with sugar) and i learned a new song. it's not like the french bday song we sang in our french class. it had "bonne fête, bonne fête" and interesting variations of the one i've learnt. in our french class, we sang, bon anniversaire à toi (or vous, depending how well you really know this person), (repeat), bon anniversaire chèr(e) (insert name here), bon anniversaire a toi (or vous)! and that was it.

here we sang, bon anniversaire (insert name here), (repeat), bonne fête, bonne fête, bon anniversaire (insert name here). so, ja i was sining the wrong song.

their bday is actually tomorrow, but as tomorrow is a saturday, we had the mini gathering today. i also came to realize that in Germany wishing someone a happy bday before their actual bday is considered bad luck, so instead we wish one a happy bday, and the other a happy friday.

oh so what was the surprise? the two bday ladies came to know about the surprise before the surprise. they were really suspicious. there was a info leak. so the surprise was on us! fortunately, the leakage happened just before the surprise, so they weren't complete suspicious the whole week.

yesterday was canada day and the second day of the jazz fest. it was raining like crazy. and the thunder was furious. i never heard such loud thunder. there was actually a flood in my balcony, and now a few mushrooms as well (huge orange ones). the drain in my balcony got clogged with dead leaves, which i removed with a paper pole (or advertisement rolled up into a stick). i didn't leave the appartment at all. i was vegging out in front of my computer, thinking about jemanden, still bummed.