Crap.

Truckloads of it.

Sacrifices

You know how the world is so messed up these days, that very rarely does anyone bring forth positivity or the faintest hint of appreciation for the all the hope around us?

Last night, I caught on a friend on Facebook and since I was already bothering people then, I said hi. He's genuinely the smartest person in the world that I know personally and I was happy to hear news about his summer teaching stint while on vacation from medical school.

I haven't seen my UP brother in at least two years, but any contact with him always proves memorable. (You know who this is by now.)

Especially because he said this to me last night:

Sometimes you have to sacrifice what you want for something greater.

This is why I think he will be one of the greatest minds in history.

Biochemistry Pick-up Lines

I grabbed this from Kel's blog. Natawa ako dun sa "alpha carbon", read on so you'll know what I mean.

If I were an enzyme, I'd be DNA helicase so I could unzip your genes.

You're so hot, you denature my proteins.

Can I be the phasor to your electron and take you to an excited state?

You must be gibberelin, because I'm experiencing some stem elongation.

You make my anoxic sediments want to increase their redox potential.

Hey baby, will a little more alcohol catalyze this reaction?

I will fondle your vesicles while you caress my golgi body.

I want to work on your leucine zipper with my zinc fingers.

You're hotter than a bunsen burner set to full power.

If I were a neurotransmitter, I would be dopamine so I could activate your reward pathway.

Hey, wanna put your alpha helix in my beta barrel?

Hey baby, why don't you get your ligase working on my okazaki fragment and lengthen my strand.

Hey, are you an alpha carbon, because you look susceptible to backside attack!

Do you want to extract some protein from my column?

According to the second law of thermodynamics, you're supposed to share your hotness with me.

Everyone knows its not the size of the vector that matters, but the way the force is delivered.

How about me and you go back to my place and form a covalent bond?

We can make a mess as I've hired some lysosomes to clean up after.

Why don't we measure the coefficient of static friction between me and you?

Please have a smooth endoplasmic reticulum but know that I like it rough, if you know what I mean.

I also prefer my ribosomes bound...tight. Spin me round with your basal body and make sure it's turgid.

Do you like aerobic respiration as much as I do?

The Name Curse

I'm doing this because I was tagged by Jewel. Instructions: Share the different names that different people call you.

My full name is a standard example of a kid born in the 80s, with two American-inspired given names and a Kastila surname. As a child, I got to be a little cooler than the kids with short names. However, it's a pain to learn it all quickly in writing... and as I got older, people made different, sometimes appalling, versions of my name. So let's begin the list.

Anna
Common, generic and easy to pronounce (thank god, I don't get called like Jewel's "jeh-wel"). And it's one of the coolest names in the world. Why? Because it's a palindrome. Shallow, I know. Some variations:

     Anna O - Used by D'can buddies to distinguish me from the other numerous Annas.
    Sister Anna - Exclusively Raymond's idea. It strangely originated from this frat-soro handshake thing we had.

Anne
This has been the official nickname so far. Only family and very close friends get to call me such. Besides, you'll hate me if let you use that name when texting me, etc. since I'm being obsessive-compulsive about it: it has to be spelled with a double N and an E. Only my brother can do without the E.

Ann-ann
I guess only your mom can call you a name that sounds like a fungus and get away with it. Nuff said.

Therese
I remembered the only ones who could pronounce this correctly, apart from the familair crowd, were Ms Divina and Ms Guiao from D'can. In college, Chris (I mean, Sir Chris) called me my full given name in the most sosyal way I've ever heard. Some variations:

     Trez! - Courtesy of my dad. And it's always with the exclamation mark.
     Teres - That comes from the people who don't know the actual pronunciation of my name. And recently, I discovered even British people tend to say it that way.
     Theresa (teresa or tereeza) - I don't really blame you if you forget about the little E in the end but I'm slightly bothered by this. Well, my mother purposely gave me my name because she thought "Theresa" would be too common.

Ofilas
Most of my brother's old classmates called by my surname. It's fine because it's no hassle and you can apply it to both of us siblings. It sounds impersonal but we love our surname so we don't mind. Just please pronounce it properly and NOT Ofelas, Ofilia, Ofelia, Ofilias or anything else that I haven't and wouldn't want to hear.

Lai
Only three people in the world call me this nickname and because those three people in the world know the full history behind it. LOL

Valedictorian
I heard this first from Nanay, a family friend in the US, and recently it has become a popular slight insult (and that's from those who DON'T even know me, surprisingly). I guess labels really won't go away that easily.

So I'd prefer you call me the way you've always called me. If you're my friend, I guess I'll forgive you butchering my name anyway. :)

What's on your list, Annie-chan, Verna, Ate Kel, Mame? The curse is passed. *sigh*

Because you can read this, you are in that lucky third set.

There are two sets of people in the world. Those who don't know you well but understand you; and those who know you very well but don't necessarily understand you.

There are those who I can talk to for minutes about the scientific inaccuracies of the latest CSI or House episode without laughing over the nerdiness of the topic; and they don't need me to explain why I'm still single and why I hate weddings or any social gathering with over thirty people. On the other side of the spectrum, there are those who simply know random little things like me wearing men's boxers at home and may even may know one of my dark secrets.  

But just recently, I learned that there is a third set of people: one that's roughly in between the first two. And they're the ones who can read this post.

***

I've turned away four job prospects. For several different reasons. It's either I'm simply arrogant or incredibly stupid; but it's all about waiting for the right one. Just like waiting for Mr. or Ms. Right. So I'll stay patient, wait, read a few books and manga, watch some anime; and for the sake of my parents, learn the basics of "household management". Maybe I'll go back to randomly speaking in Japanese, continue writing that screenplay and make some serious progress with EiC. Until such time when the lawyers start chasing me again about my overdue internet bills and my mom complains about Meralco, I will be engrossed in domestic training and entrepreneurial apprenticeship - things that this bum will do when she's not one.

But god, I miss Swedish pancakes.

Well, I can't be a bum and have pancakes at the same time. It would defy universal justice.

Where's my Genie?

If I had a genie, I would probably be wishing for love, peace and happiness. Lol. I wonder how he'd get around that. If everyone would wish for such long-term things, we should all probably be dead the next day. Haha. So let's go past the pretentious crap and see what crazy stuff I want this year.

I was tagged by Jewel.

JOB. This actually just comes from that deeply rooted desire for money. Cold hard cash, or something better like in the form of a string of digits on my monthly bank statement. It would be really cool to just win the lottery but getting a paycheck from a kickass profession would be so much cooler. Besides, my brain wouldn't stand being a bum for too long.

A PIECE OF FANCY PAPER.  Also known as a diploma.  No biggie, it's just that little reward for all the blood, sweat, and tears (uh, literally speaking).

A CARD. Or two cards, for that matter. One that claims itself to be a license (whoa, it seems I'm considering it) and another one that could be an ID for grad school (whoa, I didn't realize I was considering this either). 

A FLASH DRIVE. I want a new one with more space but it doesn't hurt to wish for this 8GB SanDisk Cruzer Contour Drive. My brother already has a 4GB Cruzer Micro, which he never forgot to dangle in front of my face. Oh, that bragger. So why 8GB? Pictures. Music. Video. Backup. Added coolness. And so that I could be that bad little sister who likes to outdo her brother.


A PLANE TICKET. Maybe I just want to live somewhere else for a while. I don't know. I don't care if it's a round trip ticket to the ends of the world for a week, I'm still biting it. My brother took that one in the picture... hehe. I just realized he was as obsessed as me in trying to take pictures of everything... e.g. doing endless macro shots of stuff like dewdrops, bugs, dessert and even dust in the keyboard.


I have no one to pass this on to, so I'm going to tag YOU. But, should I think of anyone in particular, this entry will be edited promptly. 

Sorry for the Inconvenience. Right.

I'm terribly busy but I'm posting this entry as a protest to bad automated system and customer service. I am very calm by nature and don't usually grump about people or companies unless the situation absolutely calls for it.

But today, I've simply had enough of Globe's system delays and constant glitches.

Here's what happened:
It's my first time using their Share-A-Load service on my few months-old Globe sim; and I know for a fact that there's a short registration procedure in using the system. So I sent 5 pesos to my mom's number only so that I can get the confirmation message which includes the mechanics for registration of Share-A-Load. After a few messages saying my request cannot be accommodated and an hour's delay, the P5 I sent was received, and I finally obtained the mechanics for registration. Obviously I'm not dumb or blind, so I read AND understood the registration procedure. I did the thing in a breeze, and again, after so much delay, I received the message confirming my registration. And by the way, with that I also got a second message confirming the P5 I sent to my mom... which means, because I tried sending it so many times, two transactions were recorded in their system and processed, only because they always CANNOT accommodate the request. How's that? So anyway, after that I tried sharing P100 to my brother, using the four-character PIN I registered with. The return message from Globe said that I entered the wrong PIN and that I should send GET <mother's maiden name> to retrieve it. So even though I was  wondering why that happened, I again followed the instruction and expected to get my PIN. And yet again, after such a long time, I received something saying that I entered the wrong mother's maiden name. How can I be wrong about my mother's maiden name?! I assumed (because I couldn't find any other explanation) that it was probably a glitch. So I sent the Share-A-Load request to my brother repeatedly, like I always do when weird stuff happens like in frequently palpak UnliTxt or Sulitxt requests. And then magically, WITHOUT THE USUAL DELAY, I received the service message saying that my Share-A-Load capability was blocked due to sending the wrong PIN three times! And it said to call 215 for my concerns, etc. After mutterring a few WTFs, I decided to call this 215 and got hold of a poor call center agent. I was ranting non-stop on the phone but then my kinder alter-ego actually wanted to be more considerate to this agent who's not actually the one at fault. Just when I had given my name and number and calmed down a bit, the line went dead. With my patience reaching the critical limit, I called again and got connected to the program playing music while waiting for an agent to pick up. I heard the line pick up but there was only dead air. So for the friggin' third time, I called and fortunately got connected to a new male agent (the first one's female). He told me the same stuff the girl told me before we got cut off and asked for my name and number again, but then also asked for my sim serial number which I cannot fetch due to my location (duh). He explained that I have to call again when I get the serial so they could verify it before they can even activate my Share-A-Load capability. And after a thousand apologies from him and some standard closing spiels, I got nothing.

All the hassle for nothing. In the first place, if the system was reliable enough I wouldn't have resorted to calling Customer Service and the guy wouldn't have to keep saying he's sorry for the inconvenience he didn't actually cause. There are a lot more complaints on several forums on the net when I checked, especially on the Globe Rewards and the UnliTxt service. Besides, I've had enough calling them again and again to ask about mysteriously disappearing phone credits; or the strange load-devouring tendency of my brother's previous roaming service.

I'm not saying we boycott Globe or anything. I'm also not saying we call them up and yell on all of their customer service reps... I'm just ranting.

He kept saying "Ma'am, sorry for the inconvenience". It's his job. I can only imagine him trying to handle the other irate, less understanding customers because they had the same or worse problems that I had with the company's services.

Considering they're a major service provider, probably abound with experts in the telecom and sales industry, I wonder what they could be doing wrong.

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.

Gold Digger

I found this on Snopes, where a woman posts a message on Craigslist apparently having a problem looking for an extremely financially-able partner. Here's the thing, the pathetic message actually receives a reply. It has been posted on e-mails as "The Answer" although the truth to these messages is unknown. However, I felt like posting it too. This is so hilarious. Read on.

What am I doing wrong?

Okay, I'm tired of beating around the bush. I'm a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I'm articulate and classy. I'm not from New York. I'm looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don't think I'm overreaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 - 250. But that's where I seem to hit a roadblock. 250,000 won't get me to central park west. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she's not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?

Here are my questions specifically:

- Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms
-What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won't hurt my feelings
-Is there an age range I should be targeting (I'm 25)?
- Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I've seen really 'plain jane' boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I've seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What's the story there?
- Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows - lawyer, investment banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?
- How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults - I'm putting myself out there in an honest way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I'm being up front about it. I wouldn't be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn't able to match them - in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.

it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 432279810

---

THE ANSWER

Dear Pers-431649184:

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament.

Firstly, I'm not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here's how I see it.

Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a crappy business deal. Here's why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here's the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity... in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won't be getting any more beautiful!

So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you're 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!

So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold... hence the rub... marriage. It doesn't make good business sense to "buy you" (which is what you're asking) so I'd rather lease. In case you think I'm being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It's as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.

Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as "articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful" as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K hasn't found you, if not only for a tryout.

By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn't need to have this difficult conversation.

With all that said, I must say you're going about it the right way. Classic "pump and dump."

I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

I am Green-minded.

Wow. Again, another quiz that got it right.

                            

        What Color is Your Brain?    

    

GREEN:

At work or in school: I work best by myself.  I like to focus on my ideas until my desire for understanding is satisfied.  I am easily bored if the subject holds no interest to me.  Sometimes, it is hard for me to set priorities because so many things are of interest.
With friends: I may seem reserved.  Although my thoughts and feelings run deep, I am uneasy with frequent displays of emotion.  I enjoy people who are interesting and of high integrity.
With family: I am probably seen as a loner because I like a lot of private time to think.  Sometimes, I find family activities boring and have difficulty following family rules that don't make sense to me.  I show love by spending time with my family and sharing ideas and interests.
Take this quiz!

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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.