"人有時要傻一下，要瘋一下，要能多情，也要無情。"---張小嫻

The many faces of scarves

I never knew you can do so much with tying scarf until I came upon this website.

http://www.texeresilk.com/cms-scarf_tying_guide.html

While I'm familiar with some of the basic knots, the others look pretty interesting: neck wrap (looks Frenchy to me), Twice around ascot, and the Hollywood Knot.

Today when my colleagues and I were lunching @ Indochine, a few of us ordered beers. After I placed my order for Tsingtao, it struck me that the waiter did NOT ask for my ID. I told ppl at the table how surprising that was. And my boss asked if that was a good thing, that I finally look like I'm 21. :)

~My wish list~

After I'm done passing my defense today, I finally have time to write up my X'mas wish list. Most of which can be found on Amazon.com. :)

1. Victorinox Swiss army knife (red)

2. Sweater gloves from GAP (red or white)

3. What the dog saw by Malcom Gladwell

4. Women are Crazy, Men are Stupid by Morris & Lee (you gotta love the cover)

5. Bath & Body Works® Signature Collection, Enchanted Orchid™

6. Bath & Body workds signanture, P.S. I love you

7. Candle, Fresh Bamboo

8. L'occitane Hand cream

9. A day planner

"I like challenges but this is ridiculous."--Cat

I'm quoting my friend on that. I can't wait until I wrap things up and defend my thesis. I'm grateful for many things in my life, but grad. school has been such a long journey for me, emotionally and academically. I went from a PhD student to Masters's student, then switched to a new lab due to the unfortunate experience of working for an inconsiderate advisor who lost his tenure track. I've learn not to take things for granted. And at the same time, going through so much uncertainty changed my attitude and perspective. When I'm not distracted w/ FB and reading blogs, and actually preparing my thesis and presentation, I'm surprise and nervous that I'm this close to defending and graduating. It's like...too good to be real...but I know it's real because I put in so much time and effort into it (I've made numerous backup on different computers to ensure my data are safe and sound). Again, for many ppl w/ graduate degrees out there, this is trivial, but for me it hasn't been smooth sailing, so I don't take it for granted, even if it's just a Master's degree.

And it really does suck the life out of you. At an interview today, when asked what I like to do outside of work, I said that I am a skier and love to ski. Then came the question, "how many times do you go in a season", and my answer was "2, on average". I guess two times a season hardly makes that a hobby. ~sigh~ But I really look forward to skiing more this winter. :)

"The world breaks everyone and afterward some are strong at the broken places."--Hemingway

Grad. school for the clueless

Today, while talking to my colleague, I questioned whether my M.S. degree in biomedical engineering is good for something (and what exactly is that something??). I entered grad. school with naivete, believing all the cool stuff I read about bioengineering somehow pointed to a promising job outlook. That illusion pretty much faded during my recent job search, I realized that it's hard for a bioengineer to find jobs in the private sector. Biotech companies out there generally prefer people from traditional science fields: biology, biochemistry, pharmaceutics, etc. Academia, on the other hand, is like the safe net, you don't even need a cover letter to get interviewed by professors who just got grant funding and need to spend the money fast, and also creativity has more emphasis. I was disappointed to find myself competing for the same jobs as biochemist and molecular biologist. Anywhere I look off-campus, I couldn't find companies hiring bioengineers, except this small company that manufactures catheters (not my cup of tea). As for out-of-state opportunity, Seattle seems like a good choice, but I heard it's hard hit during the economic melt down, and currently has a high unemployment rate. I sent a job inquiry email to a professor at a cancer research center in Seattle, only to get this reply "please contact me again on Monday". Uh? So why didn't he just respond to my email on Monday? Weird....

Anyways, got an interview with a local nutraceutical company, and an offer from this professor who does breast cancer research, so Im trying to weight out my options, whether to pursue research in molecular biology OR stick with more engineering stuff. If I stay on bioE track, I would probably be working in academia for a loooong time. If I emphasize on molecular biology, the work can be mundane and even boring, and I will be competing with molecular biologists for opportunities in the private sector.

I think I think too much... my brain is overwhelmed with thoughts. Just the other night, I had a dream where I was trapped in a fancy hotel while being chased by a white tiger and nearly escaped.