XII : Geekiness and Sarcasm

I knew it, the moment I began interested in Chemistry, that I would travel the road of geekhood. Behold, from an e-mail about a professor's talk on molecular biology:

"Social catalysts will be provided afterwards!"

AKA. Drinks (and food, I'm guessing) will be provided. wootness. :) I love being in the world of geeky, scientific vocabulary. Sometimes.


climbing up rocks to go into the trees.

I went to research today, after my week-ish long summer break, and we had a "real" fire alarm! (since it wasn't a drill because no one was notified beforehand, it must be real!) So, I had to go down seven stories of stairs and walk out into the blazing sun (there were minimal shady areas. We need more trees). Graduate student conversations are very interesting to listen to. Full of sarcastic remarks that really just poke fun and have no ill intentions. It's obvious when I listen to them.

R: "What did you do?!"
L: "I was stretching. I had just flexed my muscles (*shows biceps flexing on both arms*) and then suddenly, the fire alarm went off!"

L: "I wish I had just left you in your lab, but Melody was in there too, and I just had to let you know that the alarm was real."
R: "Yeah, you SHOULD have just left me there. It would have been less hot inside the lab."

R: "Did you bring your phone?"
L: "No, are you kidding me? I was trying to keep myself from doing this *flails hands about in a panicky manner*. How could I have remembered to grab my phone?"
R: "I managed to turn off everything (the lasers and power to oscilloscopes and stuff) before coming down here. You could have at least got your phone."
L: "I was thinking about saving myself, rather than my phone. If I hadn't told you it was a real alarm, I bet you would have just stayed in your lab."
R: "haha, yeah. I'd open the door, see smoke in the hall, and close the door, thinking 'that ain't normal.' And then continue with my lab work."

Seriously, I enjoy listening to these conversations. Shows how close they know each other. Communication and language is quite interesting. But not interesting enough for me to study.

XI : Tech

First there was technology. Simple technology evolved as electricity and magnetism was realized and utilized. We got electronics to help us with our daily tasks (imagining picking up those tiny bits of grossness that vacuums do without a care) and entertain us as well (Gameboy!). Other fields saw technology's potential in changing our world, and who knew, biotech formed. Splicing and inserting parts of genes from other species' (or within) to another location created another way to synthesize life's codes. It wasn't just organic chemistry anymore. Biotech. Then people saw the advantages of extremely tiny stuff, and who knew such infinitesimal objects could have a gigantic impact on the world. Studying microscopic metals, microscopic chips, microscopic anything flourished, creating nanotech. The perfect size for infiltrating cells and powerful enough for our faster-running computers. It has probably not even been 50 years for this new tech, but biotech isn't that old either.

One day, there will be splicing and inserting of protons and neutrons from one atom to another. Stuff it in, the way codes for insulin are stuffed into the DNA of bacteria. Then we would be able to replenish the ozone layer using the compounds not naturally found up there. Who knows. There might be a way to convert chlorine to oxygen one day. But then, maybe it's not such a good idea to discover if such "chemtech" could work. People get all sorts of selfish ideas without close regard to the consequences. I think I've been reading too much of Normal at Any Cost by Susan Cohen and Christine Cosgrove. A researcher finds that growth hormone controls the eventual height someone grows to and separates it from the crazy load of other hormones the pituitary makes (although still somewhat impure). Physicians and endocrinologists grasped at the chance to make (expected) tall girls "grow shorter" and make shorter boys keep growing. But the doctor had wanted this finding to help those with growth hormone deficiency (or other health problems, like diabetics have with insulin), not for those who are quite normal; they just don't follow the height of societal trends. Heed the cautions? naww, just see how those successful ones are now! Successful! but of course, eventually they realized the mistake of tampering with such an influential hormone. The pituitary produces nanograms of a hormone, but our medicine contains milligrams. Wouldn't that drastic difference (power of six!) stand out? I wonder how many current issues now will be "duhh! Why didn't they see how bad doing that was?" in the future.

I have to write a proposal for my Advanced Writing class. I'm stumped by what I am interested in enough to write a proposal, research on it, write an analytical paper on it, come up with a review, and make a "call to action" video on the same topic for the whole semester. I can't even tell if there's too much out there I would want to go to such lengths to learn, or if everything is interesting to me to a shallow degree. What is it that interests me the most, and is somehow related to health sciences? ... I could read about dinosaurs for.. who knows how long. I wonder what health issue that can be tied to. "Importance of Archaeologist's Health During Digs" or "The Drugs for Preserving Dinosaurs." It would be comically amazing if I could come up with a proposal that linked dinosaurs to health science. My idea might just be taken the same way my idea to write about toilets was taken at a summer camp at Stanford. Everyone was interested in how it would turn out because it was such a common object and random topic. The instructors all looked forward to my presentation, even though they worked closely with me to work on my topic (researching, essay structuring, and editing). Wonderful experience. I enjoy surprising others with my randomness.

X : No Ennui

My sister was studying for the upcoming GRE test next week, and I happily flipped through her little stack of flashcards with 2-3 vocab words on each. So many familiar words, but so many blank thoughts. I still find it very interesting that images and feelings can be associated with a word. If only we could experience each others strange attachment on a word. Wouldn't that be something. Or maybe even be able to feel the way another feels when an image is presented.

I see that and am sparked by excitement and a rush of adoration. It's beautifully drawn, simple, and terribly cute. I have to be careful this semester (and the following semester) and make sure I do not take on more than I can handle. I may be just the type to think I can handle upper division classes, research, and a job and on top of that, continue badminton. I hope that I am not over-judging my potential. But I am determined to be able of balancing all that this semester and the next. This will be my last. My most difficult. My most adventurous year in my undergraduate career. Let my body, brain, and soul be able to handle it all. For certain, I will not be bored.

Addition: It saddens me that there are only five entries for this whole month. I am only expecting it to be fewer for the upcoming months. Too sad.