"It's a great day for America everybody, yes it is!"

Jordan and I had 2nd row seats for a taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson a few weeks ago. It was awesome, we were only a few feet away from Craig. Neil Patrick Harris was the guest- he's okay, I was just there for Craig.

I love when he does his Prince Charles impressions.

I've been in Provo for the past few weeks...

Luckily the snow has almost completely melted. I really don't like snow. I am happy to be in Utah with my family and friends though.

My first semester in graduate school went well- at least I think it did. My two classes (cell bio and human genetics) didn't wipe me out. I ended up working in the lab that studies cancer. It could have gone a lot better than it did. I didn't really get along with the post-doc that was training me. I don't think she liked me very much, but that's okay, she's not my favorite person either. Next semester I am working with a professor that studies Alzheimer's disease. I think I'm going to like working with her a lot.

I've been watching so much football lately, I almost know what's going on. My dad has a thing for Faith Hill.

He never misses the Sunday Night Football song.

¡Sí se Puede! - Yes We Can!

President Obama spoke at USC on Friday. It was a really long day filled with lines and standing around, but it was totally worth it.

The zoom on my camera was pretty good. I wasn't that close to the podium, but considering it's the President of the United States I was in a good spot.

President Obama gave a really good speech.

President Obama's slogan of Yes We Can, was borrowed from the United Farm Workers' slogan- Sí se Puede. César Chávez helped come up with the slogan when he organized the Farm Workers in the '70s.

Jamie Foxx was at the rally too. He announced Barbara Boxer, and Jerry Brown. He was trying to get the crowd excited about voting.

It was a really neat experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to go.

Nerd Speak

Last week at church they called me to the break the fast committee. Today (fast Sunday), I was in the kitchen cleaning up when a guy who is new to the ward (like me) came in to heat up the fried rice he brought.

This guy is also a new PhD student, but he goes to Caltech and studies math/rocket science. Before you know it he's asking me questions about my program and we are talking about genomes and stem cells. But we weren't just "talking" about it, we were engaged in full on Nerd Speak.

One of the bishopric members was also in the kitchen doing something else; I know that the small smirk he was trying to hide was aimed at us.

Because of the Nerd Speak.

Piled High Deep

So far school is going good. This week I have been meeting with professors to discuss their research. I have to choose three people that I would like to work with throughout the year; on Monday we have to submit our first choice.

Do I work with the guy that studies heart development? Or the guy that studies the genetics of Autism? Or the guy that is developing cancer drugs that will be going through clinical trials soon?

It's a hard decision because the topics are soooooo detailed. If I end up in the heart dude's lab, I could spend YEARS studying how some molecule affects this other molecule, that makes the outflow tract form correctly. Or how the defect of one molecule can screw everything up.

I don't know if I like hearts that much, or if I want to work with mice. I've worked with mice before and it made me feel guilty as hell- I wasn't even the one who had to anesthetize the mouse and then, well, you know...

I'm going out with my friend to get a Chinese foot massage a.k.a reflexology. It's only 15$ for an hour, and it's not just your feet, it's a whole body thing. (We went last week too).

I'm sure I'll be able to make a good decision after I've had a massage.

A good massage is the secret to life's problems.

Labor Day Weekend

My mom came to visit over Labor Day weekend. We had so much fun!

We started at the La Brea Tarpits and museum.

Then we headed off to Beverley Hills; we came across my mom's street.

Then we bought a star map to stalk Russel Crowe and Tom Cruise. They all have huge fences, hedges and bushes- you are lucky if you can even see the roof of their house. We did see Russel Crowe's trash and recycling though. Exciting huh?

A picture of my cat. It doesn't have anything to do with my mom's visit, but it's a cute picture.

"M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!"

Are you singing along? Come on, you know you want to.

I love Disneyland. We especially love the teacups in fantasy land.

Watch the video below, you won't be sorry!

Venice Beach

Venice Beach is awesome!

The drive was insane. I'm not used to major highways weaving in and out, ending and merging in every direction, and a bazillion cars trying to enter and exit all at the same time. I'll get the hang of it though.

Venice Beach is great for people watching. The Ocean Front Walk is hippie heaven.

No, I didn't go in...

There were fantastic murals painted by local artists.

There was a lot of touristy, manufactured-in-Asia junk that could be bought anywhere. If you looked really carefully though, you could find some really neat hand-made jewelry or hand-painted art.

I bought this really cute cat painting from the guy in the picture above. I LOVE it.

There are some good boogie boarding waves.

I bought another cat painting from the guy in the picture above. Can you tell I miss my cats???

I took pictures of these dudes at Muscle Beach for my dad because he is a bodybuilder too.

I had so much fun!!!

By the way, I start my Ph.D program on Tuesday. I'm thinking medicinal marijuana might not be such a bad idea after all.

Charlie bit my finger - again !

This is the third most viewed video on Youtube. I can't believe I haven't seen it before now. I watch it over and over again.

I love the look on the kid's face, and then how Charlie laughs.

“Are you insane? Or are your pants too tight?!”

Whoever can tell me what movie the title/quote comes from gets a prize.

The other day I was getting ready for work when I received a text message from one of my sisters, it said:

“I sat down and [my pants] cut off the circulation to my upper body.”

I tried not to laugh, but then I realized she probably sent the message to make me laugh. Don’t you just hate it when- in the words of Chingy- you have to “jump up and down just to put ‘em on, wiggle it around just to put ‘em on, [and] lay back on the bed just to zip them up?”

I sure do.

I swear I’m not obsessed with diets and big butts. It’s just that my shorts are a smidgen tight around the waist and I got to thinking…

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

I love Elvis.

I'm listening to Elvis on my ipod right now.

I think I might name my first child Elvis- boy or girl. Elvis is a cute name for a girl, right?

Okay, maybe I wouldn't name a girl Elvis.

I first started listening to Elvis in high school- high school in Malaysia, not Provo High.

During art class, Mrs. Butler would let us listen to whatever we wanted when we were working on our projects. There were two students in the class so I got to choose the music a lot.

One day, we were listening to Elvis when Loh walked in. Loh and Mrs. Butler were good friends, he would often stop by to visit.

Loh was one of the security guards that worked at the front gate of the school letting people in and out. In fact, he was the head security guard. I found this picture of Loh online-it's amazing the stuff you can find using Google.

Loh was a big fan of Elvis too. He told me which movies to see and which Elvis movies not to bother with. Loh even made a mixed CD for us to listen to.

From then on, every time I saw Loh at school he would mention something new about Elvis. Or he would sing.

"Isn't it Satisfying to Take Care of Your Own Car?"

Tonight I washed and detailed my car-by myself- for the first time since 2007. My dad coached from the sidelines... he's a pro because he washes it for me all the time. He reminds me to check the oil and add air to the tires. The only thing I do is pay for it- even then he takes the money out of my account every month and makes the payment.

While I was scrubbing away, Dafoo would ask me,

"Isn't it satisfying to take care of your own car?"

I'll admit, it was somewhat satisfying to finally vacuum my car and get rid of the dust. You know what is even more satisfying than taking care of my car??

My Obama dashboard-bobble head that I got in Hawaii.

I love kitschy crap like this.

But I digress...

I have the greatest dad in the world. We rarely call him dad...it's almost always Dafoo. When we lived in Malaysia we took Mandarin lessons because so many of the Chinese in Penang spoke Mandarin; Dafoo is the Mandarin translation for David.

My dad is so good to us. He's never yelled at me or my sisters- I don't think he's ever really punished us either. He's threatened, but that's about it.

Happy Father's day to the greatest dad in the world!

I love you Dafoo!

Juicy Double

I have been on a diet for a few months. Yes, a DIET, not a "healthy life change" or whatever euphemism people like to use for the four-letter word. I think it is working, my Grandparents noticed when I last saw them. My Grandmother gave me a great piece of advice,

"Lose all the weight you want, just don't lose that big butt of yours. Big butts are really in style."

Who doesn't like being in style?

Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce know all about style.

I added a more recent photo because JLo's badonk-a-donk isn't as big as it used to be.

I can't remember what point I was getting at.

I've Got Gas...

Gas laws that is.

Do you remember...

PV=nRT?

Pressure x Volume= number moles (R constant 0.08206L/mol*K) (Temperature in Kelvin)

Neither did I.

(ok maybe I did, I just hate sounding like a know-it-all.)

Christina is making up some chemistry worksheets so the teacher will raise her grade from a C+ to a B (she needs B's or better to get a specific scholarship). Christina has had all year to complete her chemistry worksheets but here we are-4 days before the school year ends- working on the chemistry worksheets (I can't really blame her, I wait until the last minute too).

Imagine a 17-year old, drama queen using her high-pitched "helpless" voice:

"Malaina!!!!! Help me!!"

Often times "help me!" is Christina-speak for "Do my homework for me, I don't really care about learning this stuff." I didn't really care about learning this stuff when I was in high school or when I was a freshman taking Chem 105 at BYU.

I guess I'm glad I know it now, it helps with all the biology stuff.

First Blood

I saw First Blood today.

It was AWESOME.

I almost didn't make it to church because my eyes were glued to the TV. Rambo came on after, I set it to record and headed to church. One of my family members stopped the recording after 45 minutes.

Figures.

I'll have to get it on netflix or something.

I'm going to a live taping of Craig Ferguson when I get to L.A.

The Royal Family of the Guitar

The Romero family is known as the Royal Family of the Guitar.

They are all virtuosic classical guitarists.

In the video below, Pepe Romero plays Recuerdos de la Alhambra (memories of the Alhambra).

The Alhambra (literally means 'the red one' in Arabic), is a palace/fortress built in the 14th century by Moorish rulers. It is located in Granada, Spain. Recuerdos de la Alhambra, is a piece written by Francisco Tárrega- my favorite guitar composer.

Some day I'm going to Spain, and when I do I am going to see the Alhambra. I'm also going to learn Recuerdos de la Alhambra, it is one of my favorite pieces.

I found out today that Pepe Romero is a classical guitar professor at USC. So is Scott Tennant, a member of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. I first saw the LAGQ when I began taking classical guitar lessons- they came to Salt Lake and played with the Utah Symphony. He also wrote this book:

I totally own it. Everyone owns this book.

USC has a FABULOUS classical guitar program. I'm pretty sure I want to go to USC. They came back and offered me a 1,000 dollar gift card to the bookstore (hello, new computer). They also have a really good program for what I want to study. But then there's the University of Utah...they're going to give me a good deal and they have a good program too.

Anyone watching American Idol? I like Didi, but I am so sick of her crying and tearing up. It's getting old.

You know what else is getting old? Kara DioGuardi. I'm kinda sick of listening to her too.

Time for a new show, or at least time to cut TV out of my life and do some homework.