My Garden

Here are some photos of how my garden currently looks.

Those purple and orange flowers are varieties of what are called "mums" in markets. The leftmost yellow flower is a variety of black-eyed suzy. The rightmost is a kind of aster.

 The black-eyed suzy is not doing very well. It's too dry. (And its flowers get eaten too.) The soil is very dense and clayey - no matter how much I water, water just seems to run-off instead of going into the soil.

 At least the mums seem good. I think I caught what's destroying my plants! You can see that all the pansies' flowers disappeared and their leaves were plucked. I was so angry to see a hare running away from the flower bed when it saw me. Okay, I've some "pest" problem here. I probably need to experiment what kinds of plants fit here the most.

 Those are my herbs! Herbs seem to like here. The person who sold them said most herbs like the temperate climate and grow in the drier and sunnier side.

 Rosemary and basil.

 Thyme and cilantro.

Mint. I probably need to wait a long time for them to grow to the usable amount?

Not Optimistic About the Genetic TA ...

I've been going to my genetics lecture for almost 2 weeks. We're mostly dealing with math now - basically, how to calculate the number of offspring with specific traits or hereditary diseases. Not something that I exactly expected when I chose the course. But well, it can be interesting to know the math behind some biological phenomena.

We learned the Bayes' Theorem. It is used for, for example, calculating the chance of a couple getting a second child with a certain genetic disease, given that their first child doesn't have the disease. The formula for the Bayes' is a bit complicated and it gets confusing sometimes, so I looked forward to discuss with my genetics TA.

My genetic TA spent our first discussion section on only one problem, because she basically did it wrong! A few students (including me) kept arguing with her about this question. I think she made all of us confused. I believe we should apply Bayes' Theorem to the particular question, the TA however used the wrong formula, used the wrong number, and ... got the right answer! In addition, she used the autosomal gene pedigree for this question regarding an X-linked disease. I don't know how that worked, but she thought it was the "shortcut" to the Bayes. I was certainly unhappy that my TA made such a big mistake the first time we met ...

花被拔了 ...

上課中間有空檔回來一下，發現我種的其中一棵三色菫不知被誰連根拔起，丟在那裡曬太陽，看了好心疼！還好還來得及把它塞回去。

在想是誰在惡作劇？突然一隻松鼠從我家門口衝過去，弄出一些聲響。會不會其實是松鼠拔了我的花？
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我將暑假當中寫得一篇關於分類學的日記給我的演化生物學W教授看，他非常地欣賞，還說他的一位分類學家朋友前一陣子也提出類似的懷疑和困擾。他把我的日記寄給他的朋友看，然後鼓勵我修這堂課的honor。我今天去看了一下這堂課的honor在做什麼？W教授告訴大家，honor不代表多很多作業，他只是希望大家可以多探索一些一般學生不會上到的內容，然後互相討論。我想‧‧‧既然大部分的內容我早已熟知，教授又這麼好的樣子，這堂課我會修honor喔！

受到仰慕

話說昨天參加台灣同學會聚會時，一個新來、同樣是念生物系的學妹問了我一些問題。我講了一些關於CALS和修課的資訊。學妹好奇地問我為什麼想念世界上最冷門的科系(她覺得)──昆蟲系？我跟她解釋其實昆蟲系也參與很多領域，有些和人類的生活有密切關係，還有我的honor program和做實驗的事情。說著，她居然冒出一句：「學姊，我好崇拜你唷！」我只好傻笑，告訴她說如果她努力讀書，成績好一點，將來也可以做同樣的事。

Planting Around

I got my Then & Now self-portrait back! However the sad news is A Hero of Sustainable Agriculture (portrait of Prof. K) is lost. I'm so sad that I can't send it as a gift to Prof. K. I also found my Hotel Red texture collage, but it initially had a black border and it looks as somebody has ripped and took the border away.

I was going to watch The Avengers with a friend, but she stood me up and watched Packers football game instead, so I went to the movie alone.

Except watching movie and doing some homework readings, I was planting flowers around this afternoon. Everyone passed by seemed to appreciate the pretty flowers. I also bought two varieties of chili pepper plants and young plants of 5 kinds of herb (thyme, rosemary, mint, cilantro, and basil). I planted the herbs outdoor and kept the chili indoor. I've heard the herbs are perennial: they die in the winter but the roots would survive into the next year. I hope they grow strong and more and more so I'd have a large supply of chili peppers and fresh herbs for my kitchen!

物理學家最臭屁了

一打開物理課本，就看到「物理不但是最重要的科學，更是所有科學的基礎」或是「物裡可以預測自然界裡的一切運動和現象，小至原子，大至宇宙」等字句，一副有了物理我們就人定勝天的樣子。新的物理教授熱情滿滿，希望把她的熱誠也帶給學生。她在第一堂課說：「物理可以很好玩！物理實在太重要了，其他的科學家不但要先懂物理，再了解其他的科學，生物學家和化學家更要倚賴物理學家來了解更多的事！」

嗯，當我閱讀生物課本時，或是這禮拜的第一堂演化生物課，教授是說演化生物學是解釋生命自然現像的重要學問，課本則引用一些演化生物學家的話，說現代生物學如果沒有演化理論是沒有意義的。但是他們好像沒有物理教授講得那麼誇張，所以我還是覺得，物理學家最臭屁了！

早安！盲蛛

耶！我的新家終於裝好網路了！

因為剛開學，還算輕鬆，過了一個悠哉的禮拜，再來周末就要開始努力了，包括準備台灣同學會一人帶一道菜聚會的食物。

有一天一早起來就看到一隻小胖盲蛛在門上跟我道早安，心情就好，放在手上玩好可愛唷！走路還搖搖晃晃的。然後盲蛛被我嚇得落荒而逃！

星期四見到好人教授，這次我正式算他的實驗室裡的人了。第一次進真正的實驗室，我有點緊張。他又跟我說了一堆關於他的研究的事，最後給我生化的書，說要我真正養細菌前先讀書、增加知識。每次我問這位教授，你有沒有什麼事等一下要忙？他都說，看你啊！如果我不走，他真的可以說個沒完。

也和C教授問好，C教授說好人教授是昆蟲系裡最好為人師的一個，喜歡教整班的學生，更喜歡一對一教學，這下好玩了 ... 算我找對人了嗎？再這樣下去他可能非要我修微生物學和生化不可。

我說juvenile hormone binding protein是一個burrito molecule，因為它是一片beta sheet包裹在一個alpha helix上，跟juvenile hormone結合時就是把賀爾蒙包在裡面，好像還蓋起來。叫著叫著連好人教授也開始說它是burrito，他還說因為這個蛋白質外面是親水的，內部是排水的，就像麵皮包著油油的豬肉餡，說我比喻得真好，他喜歡 ...

亞洲人、兄弟會、和姐妹會一定要這樣嗎？

離我住的地方不到五分鐘腳程有一家便利商店。昨天商店的店員把隔夜過期的小派都送給我，可是我吃不完那麼多，就拿了三個，其他的他就丟掉了，真可惜。因為上次Trader Joe's買的櫻桃派太難吃了，想說另一個牌子的會不會比較有希望，結果很不錯。商店裡一個老美跟我說，小派加冰淇淋用微波爐加熱30秒後很好吃，我還以為我聽錯了。

言歸正傳，這兩天我看著返校購物和搬家的人潮，總覺得為什麼亞洲人(東亞人)出門一定是至少成雙成對，要不然就是一小群或一大群，嘰嘰喳喳說著中文、韓文、或日文。這三天以來大概才看到兩個跟我一樣獨自在街上行走的亞洲人。美國人也會跟朋友走在一起，但獨自走路、購物、或慢跑的還是多；常常走得很近的是一家人，如一對夫婦有時還帶幾個小孩。

我昨天和朋友聚餐時和Lucy提起這個，我說你好像是我見過唯一一個好幾年和一個白人當室友又一天到晚和她在一起的亞洲人，其他的亞洲人似乎都只跟同類黏在一起。Lucy說對呀，我常常獨自走在路上，覺得自己像異類，並表示她覺得亞洲人不願意拓展自己的生活圈不太好。有些人是真的英文不太好，但很多是來了美國多年，英文很好，也是一樣。難怪對中國人的刻板印象就是到那裡都一大群。亞洲人一定要這樣嗎？

我住的那條街其實是學校的兄弟會、姐妹會的集散地；尤其是靠近學校的前半段，街道兩旁的房子上都有希臘字母。我真慶幸我的新家位於那條街的中段(在斜對面還有兩個兄弟會/姐妹會，但過了我家就一個也沒有了)，如果當初選了前段的房子，不但貴，恐怕會不堪其擾。

我實在不想製造刻板印象，但這兩天經過這些地方，覺得那些人看起來滿討人厭的，讓我一點也不想加入兄弟會/姐妹會。他們經常脫光了衣服(男生穿短褲，女生穿無袖上衣和熱褲或比基尼)，一堆人坐在房子前的階梯或陽台喝酒、玩樂、大聲喧嘩，還把大型喇叭搬到戶外放音樂，好像在比那一家比較大聲。怪的是那些人清一色都是白人，沒有亞洲人，我連一個黑人也沒看到。

昨天和Lucy提起這些人，她很好奇兄弟會和姐妹會是做什麼用的，而且聽說那些人喝很多酒。我聽說兄弟會/姐妹會常常是有錢人家的子女，來到學校想要社交、玩樂、並只和自己類似的人整天相處加入的。Lucy說他們常常有嚴格的加入條件，例如說只收金頭髮的人。我常常聽到同學說，他們在高中有不愉快的經驗，因為同學不成熟，太喜歡搞小團體並歧視、欺負別人；直到來上大學，他們真是豁然開朗。我感覺，兄弟會/姐妹會有點像是把高中的那一套搬到大學來 ‧‧‧ 兄弟會和姐妹會一定要這樣嗎？

新家

更正：我現在住的房子是淡灰紫色和白色的 ‧‧‧ 之前因為光線關係有點印像錯誤。

旅行之後又採購又打掃很累，昨晚從晚飯時間睡了一大覺，今早七點鐘起床，太陽高照，但感覺整個鄰近地區都還沒醒。聽到「呱、呱、呱，嘎───」的聲音，以為是那隻烏鴉，誰知是一隻松鼠在樹上叫。因為新家地勢稍微高一點，上學或買東西有點「下山去」的感覺，雖然走路才十幾分鐘。

這兩天因為足球賽的關係，Madison又交通阻塞，連公車都改道，害我拖著沉重的行李箱走來走去，手差點長繭，只想趕快回到新家。晚上又餓又冷，吃到Hilldale Mall一家叫Hong Kong Wok的中式餐廳的沙茶牛肉湯麵(在美國算很不錯，在台灣就不好吃了)，又有中式辣椒醬，就感動萬分。

現在家裡幾乎什麼都還沒有，因為儲藏公司放假不送貨，沒有現金卡，連網路都要等網路公司來牽線。昨天決定不要搭公車了，靠自己的力量騎單車到Hilldale Mall把有汙痕的棉被換一條，還買了漂亮的浴簾和門口的地毯。這棟房子應該很老，租屋公司之前還給一張「這棟房子是70年代以前蓋的，可能有含鉛油漆」的通知。但或許就是老房子吧！有點古典味的格局和家具反而讓我比住Regent更有家的感覺。有點奇怪的是居然沒有抽油煙機 ‧‧‧ 呵看來煮飯要小心一點不要弄出太多煙。因為這次預計待稍微久一點，我一定要把新家弄得又乾淨、漂亮、又溫馨！

Got drunk before my school starts

Journal transferred from deviantART ...


Aug. 30, 2012

The first time I got drunk was when I was eight, or nine-month-old, my uncle and mom gave me a half baby's bottle of red wine. I was too young to have memory, but my mom said I was totally drunk and went crazy on the bed. I'm curious how it's like to be drunk (intoxicated by this super classic psychoactive drug) that I bought a bottle of vodka, made cocktail with cranberry and orange juice and soda, and drank at home. I probably ended up drinking half of that 600 ml, 40% vodka.

The following is the record of my first rememberable experience with Ethanol:

14:00 - I began mixing cocktail and drank. Didn't feel much at the beginning except my face and eyes turned red.

14:30 - I continued to drink, while reading Wiki pages on ethanol. I was heavy-headed, might have a bit euphoria but it was negligible - more like being too impaired to recall the unhappy things. My heart beat fast and my stomach was hot.

15:00 - I drank a bit more and after 20 minutes felt the nausea coming up. My motor function is somewhat impaired. I could still walk, talk, and perform most tasks but with less accuracy. I knocked an empty bottle over and when I poured drink, I spilt a little, for examples.

15:30 - I vomited and felt a lot better after that. My body, especially legs, hands, and mouth, were numb, as though injected with a small amount of anesthetics. I felt dizzy so I brushed my teeth and went to bed. It was very difficult to fall asleep since my heart beat fast and I was gasping uncomfortably. I have a resting heart rate around 60 bpm but now it rose to >80 or >90 bpm. My vision wasn't blurred but moving; the ceiling looked like it was spinning. My head ached.

16:00 to 16:30 - Drunk on my bed but didn't completely fall asleep.

17:00 - My dad came home. I got up and told him I wasn't able to cook dinner.

18:00 to 19:00 - The numbness started to wear off. I wasn't hungry at all but still ate a normal meal (Chinese food) with my parents. I was so thirsty.

20:00 - My head ached that I had to take an acetaminophen pill. The dizziness was less but I still felt a bit numb on hands and feet and heavy-headed: the so-called hangover. My face was still red and my dad said I smelled like alcohol. During the whole episode I didn't lose control in speech, acts, and appetite, etc.

Conclusion: F*ck, it wasn't fun. I won't get drunk easily again. Compared to Ethanol I like Caffeine so much better. I feel like I pay more than the euphoria of getting drunk. Now I understand why it's dangerous to drink outside of home.