Interests:Science (Biochemistry, Physics, Theoretical Physics, Astrophysics), Anime, Japanese Culture, Taiwanese Culture, Manga, Beautiful music, Games.Well, just to show that I'm not some anti-social loner (hehe, only partially): I also love praising God, giving God glory, finding Christian values in everything I do (even Anime!!), studying the Bible, and hangout with friends and fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Expertise:Yeah, my expertise is still being a NERD though.... Occupation:Student
Seems xanga is pretty much a thing of the past, but I felt a random urge to update. Ever since finishing my master's program and job hunting, I've been feeling complacent in pretty much all arenas of my life. And seems life has turned exceedingly frustrating. Well, I know God is doing something, but when swimming through murky waters, one can only see what's directly ahead of them and trust in God to pull you through. I just hope I can keep that faith in these times given that my frustration sometimes gets to "unhealthy" levels...
I was distracting myself from TA work, thesis writing, lab work, and classes today by watching Seto no Hanayome nin OVA that just aired. Ah, the OVA brought back happy memories of 2007 summer. Needless to say, Seto no Hanayome has been one of my favorite manga to anime comedies.
Although the animation isn't overly spectacular, it certainly is up to par. The OVA episodes themselves so far are hilarious; brought out all of the running jokes of the series. I also thought the opening sequence was just totally fun to watch. Best part of the OVA is all of the various references. Three anime references in the opening alone (at least from what I could find): Lucky Star opening dance reference, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu opening reference, Galaxy Angel Rune (opening dance) Well, just for reference: Let's see, I found a couple movie references (I'll post screens when I decide to slack off) in the anime: Matrix, Die Hard ("Bruce Willis"), 300 the movie, Dark Knight, and The Ring.
Okay, enough of distractions, back to my current sucky life...
Since I was playing Guild Wars for a bit of the summer, when I watched the Lucky Star OVA, I just had to put this video up: I couldn't stop laughing at some of these jokes. Unfortunately, the only people that will really understand this will be: MMORPG players, people who have watched Lucky Star and people who know some Japanese (if not fluent :P). Sorry, I'm too lazy to translate the conversations. Besides there's about 10% of the words that I totally can't translate.
Oh well, great anime parody of MMORPG that required a blog entry, haha.
After another long hiatus, I found something to blog about.
Well, I'm in the last quarter of my Master's program and needless to say, I didn't have much of a summer break. Summer was rather bland, hence the lack of updates (nothing to update about). I've just been preparing for GREs, doing lab work, working on my thesis, and TAing. Life has been rather insipid and mundane but I guess I'm at the point where I just need to be patient.
Okay, now on to the real reason for this update. So in July, scientists in Osaka, Japan have discovered a new gene/protein in the eye responsible for retina ribbon synapse formation. In layman terms, it's a cellular neuron junction that allows for vision signals to the brain. So without that new protein around, you end up with altered visual function. Guess what the name of the new protein is called? pikachurin. Yup, named after Pikachu from Pokemon. I guess the logic is the protein assists in delivering neuronal electrical signals just like the electric mouse. Here's the abstract to the actual paper: http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v11/n8/abs/nn.2160.html
This actually isn't the first protein to have a video game character name. There's been a gene called sonic hedgehog thats been known for producing a protein responsible for regulating the growth of limbs (the limb growth looks like a "hedgehog"). Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_hedgehog There was also a gene called "pokemon," which was elucidated as a master switch for cancer evolution, but the name was dropped because Nintendo didn't want the name Pokemon to be associated with a gene responsible for causing cancer. Now the gene has been renamed Zbtb7. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbtb7
Anyway, I thought these names are an interesting juxtaposition of sorts. Scientist are given the right to name the gene/protein they discover whatever they want. The problem with these "fun" names is the fact that if a mutation in these genes causes a disease, it will be really awkward to diagnose. Can you imagine a doctor saying, "I'm sorry but you have cancer. The cause is a mutation in your sonic hedgehog gene."
Okay, back to studying. Blogging will again be sporatic.
A week has past now since Edmond and I went to Sushi Ota for Edmond's graduation dinner. To me, that meal was a meal to remember for its exquisite tastes and subtle flavors as well as the atmosphere of a traditional, authenticJapanese sushi bar (as traditional as it can get in America anyway). Well, it was also a meal that our wallets will remember too. Stupid me forgot to check the menu before ordering. We originally wanted appetizers for chef's choice [お任せ (omakase)] which goes for $30. Instead I ordered the main course and got the fanciest dishes Sushi Ota can dish out for $80. My tongue and stomach was happy, but not my wallet. Maa, totemo oshikatta desu yo! (t'was very delicious) Anyway, I'm still learning sushi/Japanese food names and here are pictures of the main course. Given that these were cuisine dishes, portions were relatively small. Sushi Ota sign. Well, we didn't eat the sign, but Edmond wanted to get a picture
Appetizer: Tako salad (octopus salad) contained bean sprouts, red/yellow peppers Dish 1. chuutoro (middle tuna), hiramasa (yellow tail amberjack), ama-ebi (sweet raw shrimp) sashimi. Came with a nice bamboo-looking shredded vegetables (I'm guessing daikon) and real wasabi. The shrimp killed on the spot, so the shrimp head was still moving (I know, just a tad bit disturbing). However, the shrimp was delicious, think shrimp flavor x10 + a natural sweetness. The hiramasa was also good too, sweet and not a hint of fishiness. The chuutoro was a bit dissapointing though, wasn't as great as I remember it too be.
I had my shrimp head fried. Tasted great. Kind of like shrimp crakers, and cooked shrimp.
Dish 2. This was probably my favorite dish of that night though it's hard to choose from very delicious and extremely delicious. I didn't catch the fish name, but this dish was a lightly salted broiled Japanese fish (soft, scrumpous, and tender) over a bed of sauteed zucchinis. The bamboo looking things were crab meat wrapped in cucumber drizzled with this sauce. Next to it was a wad of light soy sauce shaved daikon. Then the interesting part of the dish was unagi (eel) jello. I'm not joking, it was unagi floating in a cucumber jello and man it was good. Like unagi sushi without the rice, and some vinegary cucumbers.
Picture of Edmond with Dish 3.
Dish 3: Soft-shelled crab cooked in what seemed like a stew of zucchini/onion/soy sauce dish (I wouldn't know the exact ingredients, my tongue isn't THAT senstive). A bit on the salty side for me, but still delicious. Edmond had a ball with this dish (i.e. He scarfed down). Edmond's favorite dish of the night.
Edmond took a pic of me with Dish 5.
Dish 5. A slightly sweet and salty fish broth (I totally could not tell what was in it, just tasted wonderful). Another Japanese fish that was broiled and I think simmered in the broth. The fish wraps around enoki and shiitake mushrooms (yum). Then topped off with a couple uni (sea urchin). The sea urchin wasn't as great but maybe it's because I prefer uni nigiri.
Dish 6. Platter of nigiri. From left to right: chuutoro (middle tuna), ika (squid, tasted good this time), hiramasa (yellowtail amber jack), sake (salmon), anago (sea eel), hamachi belly (yellow tail).
Last Dish. makis (rolls). Two pieces were chopped toro (tuna) with umeboshi (sour plum). The other two were yamaimo (slimy Japanese potato), which was a rather interesting experience for me (it was like eating a sweet raw potato with slime.
Edmond was actually still hungry, so we ordered a spicy tuna roll, which was much better than any other spicy rolls I've ever had. Unfortunately, I felt the roll defeated the whole traditional feel of an authentic Japanese sushi bar, but hey, we're in America. Yes, contrary to everyone's belief, authentic Japanese sushi has no such thing as "rolls." The only "real" roll that exists is known as the kappa maki (cucumber roll) which is simply and appetizer-like roll with cucumber, sushi rice, and nori. Traditional sushi is nigiri (raw fish on rice balls) and sashimi. Rolls came with Americanization (or culturalization) of Japanese food as it left Japan. I mean, come on, you think Japan would really have stuff like Philly rolls (cream cheese sushi roll), Mexican Santa Fe roll (spicy tabasco sauce roll), or the most famous California Roll (which doesn't contain raw fish at all)? Not that rolls are bad or anything, they are "comfort foods" meaning you get a lot of food, and a wide variety of flavors all in one. Unfortunately, most of these types of rolls mask the flavor of whatever fish it holds, defeating the idea of sushi: showing the subtle, sweet flavors of fresh raw fish. Besides, usually fish that is put into rolls are of lower quality, but most people can't tell given that plenty of other flavors cover it up.
Whew, enough with the lesson on sushi. My update is now complete, and I'm going to enjoy the rest of today by relaxing. I've had a busy week in lab, but given the lack of hw and studying, I just played computer games, watched anime, hung out with Ed/Rocky/Mario for card games, hanging out for smaller dinners, and joined in last night's game night at Cindy/Natalie/Pauline's apartment.
Been a good week, but I drank some home brewed, overly concentrated/caffienated green tea this week and I totally messed up my sleeping schedule (i.e. had trouble sleeping and went to bed around 3am every other day).
Oh, and I decided to change up my xanga a bit in terms of color. I was going to use the new Xanga themes, but I couldn't figure out how to keep my custom module at top so I couldn't get my music to work properly. I'll switch over eventually once I figure that stuff out. However, I like the simplicity of the old xanga look anyway, so I don't think there's a point in me switching over *shrug*
