My brain doesn't freeze, apparently.

Today is about 0 degrees F. Wind chill around -20 F. Again, F not C. Only single-digit highs this weekend. My head still hurts due to the 8-degree cold from the other day. For the life of me, I wore a coat which didn't have a hood and I refused to wear a hat for the simple reason that my blow-dried hair will be ruined. However, I just gave everyone the right to call me stupid because my hair was ravaged by the high winds anyway. LOL.

Okay, what follows is just totally random babbling of which you won't take the time to read unless you terribly miss me or you simply care about me that much. It came to the point that my fingers felt numb after going out in below freezing temperatures, but it seems that my brain continues being the stubborn machinery that it is no matter how cold it may be.

I've gone everywhere. Birthdays, holiday parties, workplace blowouts, family reunions, Christmas concerts, weddings and even funerals. The other day was actually a funeral of someone who passed away before I got to meet her. That's why I blow-dried my hair so I'd look decent enough to blend in with the visitors who were mostly health professionals and concert producers (don't ask about the strange combination); and so that my scalp doesn't freeze and kill me once outside. Funerals never had any effect on me; but I noticed: a death actually seemed sadder during winter. Outside, it was brutally cold and dreary to start with. People shared condolences with mist in their breaths and everyone came in black- suits and coats, wool and leather, scarves and boots.

I think the experience was funny in a sense. First, I went to visit a wake of somebody I don't even know and got to express my condolences to people I met for the first time. Second, the family of the deceased has got this gay relative who produces and promotes concerts in the Chicago area... so those middle-aged ladies who attended the funeral can't stop talking about the upcoming Piolo-Sam concert this March (see, even I now know about this stuff). It's still a mystery if I will be given passes to the after-party or a private dinner with the artistas, but I have to watch my mouth and not say anything derogatory about the the ex-pat fandom; or else my chance for free food will be gone. I assume they're treated VIP style, I'd expect they'll be in a good hotel or restaurant for dinner so you can't blame me if free food is what I'm after. Hehe. The other good thing that could happen though is that if my 14-year old niece gets to perform in an opening act to any of the Pinoy concerts produced here. Even though we are related and I don't seem to exhibit such talents (lol), she has built a reputation in the performing arts being part of the on-stage production of Disney High School Musical in the area. 

Blah. Blah. Blah.

The rest of this entry is in my other blog which I don't get to show everyone.. but it's there. It's just that some opinions are to be left there. Well, at least this is better than being alone in my room and talking to the laptop computer in a strange language in the wee hours of the morning. That's because I'm still self-studying Japanese, which I know seems odd when I should be learning a more useful language like Spanish so I can talk to the Hispanic waiters at restaurants, haha.

Watashi wa Anna desu. Hajimemashita. Dozou yoroshiku. (Dapat pala nag-Japan Airlines na lang para ma-try ito sa Tokyo. Haha.)

-edit-
I can't see my jawline anymore. I compared the new pictures from the despedida shots, I noticed my face appears to have swollen. Ten pounds makes that much difference.

Random Thoughts and Jitters

Judgment day is near. (While writing this, I'm just taking a well-needed break from thesis mode.)

First random thought: So anyway, I just saw this on TV: Korean pop star Rain is in the new Clear Men commercial! Yes, CLEAR - Unilever's well-publicized anti-dandruff shampoo. That was rather unexpected, considering I last saw him with dyed hair; and I was actually too busy processing the thought in my head that I forgot to see if his hair was any blacker this time. Lol. As far as I know, in anti-dandruff shampoo campaigns; the blacker, the better. I guess it has something to do with the better contrast to white flakes. Anyhoo, I'll just have to watch out for the next rerun so I could check his hair color. Haha. I already kinda like Clear, the shampoo, so having Rain there doesn't do much in my product likeability meter. Besides, it actually seemed more like he advertised himself rather than the product. He's being all cool and sleek then says "My name is Rain." Lol.

Second random thought: I haven't cleaned up my place in the lab yet, 'cause I want everything to be done before I pack up. However, I've taken my cages and remaining rats home; and sis is planning to adopt my favorite albino rat Rein.  Their eyes are a little pinker than usual, contrary to the blood-red hue that I was used to. Well, I haven't fed them in weeks... I'm actually surprised they're still alive so I guess I can settle for light-colored eyes. Haha. And by the way, if you are interested, you can check out my rats album in the Photos page for new rat pics.

Third random thought: CAGES FOR SALE!!! Since I don't know what to do with them and I also need moolah, I'm selling my cages. They're actually bird cages, sizes 9"x14" and 9"x16". They were only used for around two months, so they're in fairly good condition (which will be in even better state when I clean and repaint them). 28 in stock. Contact me for info and price negotiation. Wehehe. Eto na naman ako, nag-aadvertise, pasensya na.

Now that I've unloaded the excess stuff that's been hogging some of my important brain space, I return to thesis mode.

Gangsta Love

So what. I'm a sucker for gangster/mob films.

Crows Zero is a live-action adaptation of the popular manga by Takahashi Hiroshi, which is actually a prequel of his earlier work Crows. Marketed in Japan as Kurozu Zero, it's a story about gangs in delinquent-rich Suzuran High School where a transfer student, Takitani tries to take over the school over rival Serizawa while mentored by a Yakuza old boy Katagiri. Evil,  scheming teenage megalomaniacs trying to kill each other; gangster brotherhood; icky, sweaty and bloody bad boys - love it. And finally, a role that fits Mr. Oguri! (Away with the shoujo manga characters! Away with the pretty boy haircut! Haha.)
The film is directed by Takashi Miike who also did One Missed Call and Dead or Alive; and stars Daito Shunsuke, Oguri Shun, Yabe Kyosuke, and Yamada Takayuki (…to my surprise. Diba matinée idol ito? Lol.)

I can't wait to get my hands on this.

Reminds me of Battle Royale, hmmm.

The trailer isn't much, so anyone interested can search in YouTube by themselves. The one above is just a screenshot of their official website, which was kinda cool except for the annoying loading time.

Yep. I voted for this guy.

So for the past few weeks I've noticed I haven't posted anything socially relevant on this blog. First of all, I've stopped being a politics junkie since... I don't know... I guess when I got totally immersed into science. I'm at this point where nothing excites me other than transgenic transparent frogs, pGLO "glow" monkeys, synthetic 30 kiloDalton giant polyoxometalate molecules or the strange fact that rats cough. Secondly, I didn't think it would be wise to post another commentary on the Desperate Housewives controversy or the Cory Aquino 'slut' photograph or the issue about Andy Manzano's photo used in a mail-order bride website (I was kidding about the last one, lol.). That would just be overkill. But then I found myself joining the 11821 persons who voted for this guy several days ago:

Marco Antonio Torres. An expat in Beijing who's aiming to be the second Filipino torchbearer in Olympic history; the first being in Tokyo in 1964. He's a marketer for M Moser Associates, a prominent Chinese design firm and claims to be a sportsman and frequent traveler. From the pictures I think he looks like some adventurous yuppie with typical camwhore tendencies. (No offense intended. We're all camwhores. :P)

According to him, "Should I get chosen, I will take it as an opportunity to promote China to the Philippines and vice versa. There is truly more to China than the Great Wall, it is after all one of the earliest civilizations, and China has a lot of unique and interesting things to share the world. This is probably why despite over a year of exploring, you just can’t get enough of China."

About what he said, he practically babbled about how he loves China... we can only wonder what percentage of Chinese actually voted for him. So anyway, I found the link for the torchbearer rankings suddenly non-existent, so I assumed the voting has been closed; though I'm not really sure. In any case, you can still view his promotional site at http://pinoytorchbearer.com/.

Only 8 candidates will be chosen as the torchbearers in the Beijing 2008 Olympics so the whole country is rooting for him now. Way to go, dude.