Kumorizora - 曇り空 - Cloudy Skies and ... RASPBERRIES!!

Massive Flickr Upload...

2009-08-25T03:35:00.000-07:00

I upgraded my my flickr account to pro today. (Yay!)
And am in the middle of uploading over 100 pictures from the past year...it's insane but I didn't want to be backlogged anymore. Now I'm current with my photos on Flickr.
(...DeviantArt is next....)
I should put dates taken on the pictures I just uploaded soon.
I also ran out of creativeness for the descriptions for many of the pictures... so "..." is used quite a bit.

My Flickr Photostream.

On an unrelated not: I go back to Portland Saturday!!! Incredibly excited.

New Project: Organic Natural Hair Dye

2009-06-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

I like dying my hair colors, especially not natural colors.
Not all of my hair usually just parts.
Most recently I dyed my hair completely bright purple last October and back to a more natural brown this January.
I have been missing having different colors in my hair.
Because I dye my hair colors that are not natural, I wanted to look into the possibility of dyes that are organic and can dye my hair rich colorful colors. Also the problem of the dyes with massive amounts of chemicals being damaging and carcinogenic has been worrying me so I wanted to look into organic dyes for that reason as well.
I have a friend who uses henna to dye her hair a brighter red and that gave me the idea to look into different shades using henna. I am also looking for more colorful dyes like crimsons and purples that are organic and less harmful.
I'm going to investigate the organic options and best brands and products.
Also, this as an excuse to get into some henna tattooing.

Initially I have found Indigo and henna can be used to dye hair and skin...I'm looking forward to being able to use and play around with indigo.
I will continue to research into it and post my findings.
Maybe even work into figuring out some of the chemistry behind it.

Extremely excited. ^_^

Summer Research Program Presentation

2009-06-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

I presented my work in this research lab so far this summer today.
I talk too quickly and criticize myself and sometimes forget what to say and what I meant to say. Otherwise I did fine.
Note to self: Why not practice recording what I'm saying and turn it and the powerpoint into a movie...that could work...
Yay for talking to myself on my own blog.
I also want to post my work.
I'll work on the research paper for publishing first...

Professional Micropipetter

2009-06-03T16:39:00.000-07:00

I officially started my job in a research lab today!
I am working under a current graduate student at the University of Utah investigating two probes (4-methylumbelliferyl-boronate ester and -boronic acid) that detect oxidants within T-cells. When oxidants are present. the probes are oxidized to 4-methylumbelliferyl which fluoresces. I micropipette varying concentrations of oxidant or probe into wells and then run them through a machine to measure the relative fluorescence of each mixture. Then I process the data and determine the effectiveness of probe and oxidant...well trying to anyways. I'm working at the technique and I'm getting better.
I am a micropipetter.

Summer

2009-05-14T00:04:00.000-07:00

My mind: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Freedom? What? I can do anything I want?
My motivation has been completely drained and destroyed with the end of school.
I just want to zone out and turn off my brain for a few days. Constantly thinking, constantly worrying, constantly aching.
Aaagghhh

More colors!

2009-05-07T10:52:00.001-07:00

Again, for fun. ...and taking a break from my research paper...
(the names of the colors are translated roughly using an online Japanese dictionary)

Pea-green (Kimidori・きみどり・黄緑) #b8d200
Scarlet, red, blood red （Ake・あけ・朱・緋) #ba2636
Light green （Moegi・もえぎ・萌黄) #aacf53
Finch light green （Hiwamoegi・ひわもえぎ・鶸萌黄) #82ae46
Water light blue （Mizuasagi・みずあさぎ・水浅葱) #80aba9
Dark grey navy blue （Konnezu・こんねず・紺鼠) #44617b
Jet Black （Shikkoku・しこく・漆黒) #0d0015
Scarlet/crimson Chinese bell flower （Benikikyou・べにききょう・紅桔梗) #4d4398
Chinese bell flower color （Kikyouiro・ききょういろ・桔梗色) #5654a2
Bluish purple （Shikon・しこん・紫紺) #460e44

Holy haiku Batman!

2009-05-07T01:41:00.001-07:00

oh my dirty chai
two shots of espresso
please keep me awake

It's like a a cross between an ode poem (not really) and a haiku.
I think I should write delirious, sleep deprived, caffeinated, procrastination haikus more often. Maybe that's just me.

Color!

2009-05-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

Fun with finding the perfect hex code identities for my favorite colors!!
(I could be using RGB, maybe I'll switch later. But I'm having more fun with Hex right now)

Alizarin crimson! defined by wikipedia (#E32636).
Dark red/crimson (Koikurenai/こいくれない/濃紅) found on a Japanese Traditional Colors site (#a22041). It's almost raspberry color like.
Tyrian Purple, harvested by humans from the mucus of sea snails. The imperial purple used by Phoenicians and Romans (#66023C).
Indigo blue defined by a hex color code site (#2E0854).
Indigo blue defined by the SVG (scalable vector graphics) colors (#4B0082).
Indigo blue (aiiro/あいいろ/藍色) from the same Japanese color site above(#165e83).
Moss green (kokeiro/こけいろ/苔色) also from the Japanese color site which rocks (#69821b).

I'm not sure which indigo color I prefer.

This post is mostly for reference and fun.
...it was so difficult not writing colour and favourite...
I'll change the colors to make them more kind to the eyes later.
Edit: Fixed this post to stand alone so I can fix the colors on the blog.

I swear I'm studying.

Thunderstorms

2009-05-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I've been in a thunderstorm. This is the first time I've experienced one in Portland. Portland rarely gets them and this past summer in Salt Lake City had hardly any.
I always love rain, but thunderstorms just make me indescribably happy.
The loud rain falling. The thunder booming in the distance. The wind. The huge heavy rain drops.
The most beautiful thing in the world.
Thunderclaps right above. Loud enough to make you jump out of your skin, heart racing.
Like huge sheets of metal being shaken and snapped

It made today so much better

I don't want it to end.

Thunderstorms are on my list of things I wish I could preserve forever.

...back to studying for finals....

Dollhouse

2009-05-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

Joss Whedon, you are the master of plot twists and fantastic diverse, in-depth characters.
The most recent episode, Briar Rose, was at first amazing because of the underlying connection with a fairytale story (see title of episode), and then Alan Tudyk shows up as a great environmentally concerned pothead...which then leads to an incredible plot twist!
I'm still trying to recover from the shock.

Edit: Going to write more about it later.

let me forget about today until tomorrow...

2009-04-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

Droning day after day
To complete menial tasks
Some highlights
Some happiness
Mostly stress
And worrying
Trying to escape
Trying to take a break
Constantly thinking
If only there was a way
A way to turn this damn mind off
Can't concentrate
Slipping into procrastination
Into days of dreaming
Of fantasizing
Trying not to think about the present
Trying to find a way to freeze the world
And forget about today until tomorrow
But it is impossible
I wonder if I will ever be able to find that again
I wonder if I will ever be able to not need that again

Delay in posts...delay in life...

2009-04-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

I've been too busy to remember to post.

College life. No life. Only studying.
And the occasional friday night of stumbling around in the forest and falling out of trees.

Soon:
I'll write some about my coming summer laboratory internship

Sooner:
the unknowns in my orgo lab...I'll finish the freaking posts and post them when the hell of finals and school is over

Not soon enough:
SUUUMMMMERRRRR

Organic Chemistry Unknown Identification: Day I

2009-02-18T00:03:00.000-08:00

Today...well yesterday I suppose...the identification of an unknown solid began.
Unknown No. 19.
A bright yellow solid.
It would not dissolve in H2O, NaOH, NaHCO3, H2SO4, or HCl.

Aromatic Hydrocarbon?
Aliphatic Hydrocarbon?
Diaryl Ether?
Perfluoror Alcohol?
Ester?
Ketone?

It dissolved in acetone which helped greatly with cleaning the glassware. And quite well in CDCl3 for the NMR spectroscopy solutions.
Run through NMR hydrogen and carbon spectroscopy. (Figure(s) ?)
Melting point determined. 80-84 degrees Celsius. Closer to 84 degrees.

More details to come soon (I just need to look at my notes in my lab book and examine the NMRs).

Bizzare and freakish occurence.

2009-02-09T02:39:00.000-08:00

It has been a disconcerting night for me. I suppose technically it is morning now but I haven't gone to bed yet. Too many things going on in my head. I would divulge the details but they are a bit too ridiculous...regardles they led to something crazy.

A little bit ago I tried to go to bed. I grabbed my iPod and crawled under my blankets and drowned out the world with the song Welcome to the Machine. I started skipping through songs like I always do when I'm bored and and can't find anything to listen to.

Now this requires a bit of a backstory. My iPod is a little bit special. I can't choose what I listen to on my ipod. There was an incident where I ran into a wall...and cracked the screen. Basically it now functions like a large iPod shuffle.

As I was flipping through songs I came upon a bunch that brought back memories. Some good some bad, and some painful and emotional. I started thinking about how I associate certain things with certain music. And then I started thinking about the songs that I don't assosicate anything with and how that could explain my recent affinity for musicals. I have never really listened to musicals before, so what could they remind me of? I started thinking, what other songs don't remind me of anything. Then suddenly the song Doesn't Remind Me by Audioslave pops into my head. (May I remind you that the entire time I'm skipping through songs madly.) The moment the lyrics "I walk the streets of Japan" started going through my head I skipped to the next song. I think I about dies when Doesn't Remind Me started blasting in my ears. The chance of that being the next song was 1 in 3,500.
One of the weirder coincidences of my life.

Oh, and I just lost The Game.

Computer Games

2009-01-02T17:04:00.000-08:00

Half-Life 2
Diablo II
Portal
KOTOR

Oblivion
Fallout 3
Diablo III (I dream of its release)

Books I would like to read

2009-01-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkein
The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time, by John Kelly
The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorus, by John Emsley
Molecular Gastronomy, by Hervé This

Time machine, by H.G.Wells
Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert
Player Piano, by Kurt Vonnegut
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel, by Suzanna Clark
Bedlam, by Greg Hollingshead
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Napoleon’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History, by Jay Burreson

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon
Heart of a Dog, by Mikhail Bulgakov
On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, by Hunter S. Thompson
Neuromancer, by William Gibson
The Blind Assasin, by Margaret Attwood
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
Ilium, by Dan Simmons
Master and Commander, by Patrick O’Brian
HMS surprise, by Patrick O’Brian

Liberation, by Brian Francis Slattery
Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
Nano Comes to Clifford Falls, by Nancy Kress
Sly Mongoose, by Tobias Buckell
The Alchemy of Stone, by Ekaterina Sedia
The Night Sessions, by Ken MacLeod
Postsingular, by Rudy Rucker
Matter, by Iain M. Banks
Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Infoquake (Multireal after), by David Louis Edelman

Currently Reading

Favorite Books

2009-01-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

Dune, by Frank Herbert

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin

1984, by George Orwell

Animal Farm, by George Orwell

Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut

Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey

Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Attwood

Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling

His Dark Materials Trilogy, by Philip Pullman

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Movies I would like to see

2009-01-01T11:53:00.000-08:00

The better Twilight: Let the Right One In

2008-12-31T17:55:00.000-08:00

I have seen so many girls who are obsessed with the Twilight Series and I'll admit that this past summer I devoted a few days to reading all four. I still wonder what exactly came over me and why I did not stop after the first book and my initial reaction to the ridiculousness. But I don't completely feel like it was time wasted. I found the theme of the relationship and that the story could be likened to a cheesecake being hungrily lusted for.

I saw Let the Right One In on a whim with some friends of mine this past week. Although they were convinced I was going to be incapable to read the subtitles (since it is a Swedish Film) because of my slight inebriation.

More realistic in the sense that the truthes of life are shown
no sparkly vampires, a pale girl who when enters a home uninvited bleeds out her eyes

dude wait what eli is/was a boy?

New Years

2008-12-31T17:51:00.000-08:00

So I am failing to post as often and about a variety of things as I had hoped. I want to post but then I'm almost afraid to...

New Years!
I'm going to be more ambitious and actually get done more things I set out to do.
Like this.
Yes.

Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus

2008-12-10T14:03:00.000-08:00

Victor Frankenstein is led astray by an ambition for glory.
His ambition is perilous.
His ambition is blind.
His ambition leads to catastrophe.
It could have been avoided if only he had confided.
Ambition requires companionship.
Ambition required Henry Clerval.

Repo! Movie

2008-12-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

So last week I actually got a chance to see Repo! The Genetic Opera. It was exciting. It took us about three buses to get there but I think it was worth it.
The movie theatre was not the most upscale ever, but hey it was adequate. The sound system was lacking, which I think was one of the reasons I struggled with watching it. It's an opera, it needs a good sound system.
As for what I thought of the movie itself, It was fantastic to finally see the scenes to put to the music I have been listening to. Everything seemed quite episodic. At times it would introduce a character and then have an episode describing that person's history. Which was nice but it seemed a bit awkward. A lot of it was not tied together well. The pace was bit too quick in the beginning and although they did have back story for the characters, there seemed to be pieces missing. For example, Nathan Wallace's wife and Shilo's mother Marni isn't described adequately. You only hear about how she left the president of Geneco to whom she was engaged for Nathan Wallace. It would've been nice to know the conditions under which she did those things rather than getting the impression she was a manipulative bitch.
The cinematography was varied. I think it changed a bit too drastically at times. Sharp at one time and fuzzy another. like within the Wallaces' house. Lots of crazy colors and some CGI but the imagination and ambition were totally there.

Overall it seemed to have elements that should have been fleshed out but rather were left hanging. Like Shilo's mysterious and random obsession with bugs.

I still liked it.

eXistenZe

2008-11-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Repo! Genetic Opera

2008-11-06T22:20:00.000-08:00

First of all, I'm going to say that I am not a a huge fan of violent and bloody movies. I can attempt to stand them but they are not on the top of my list.
When I discovered Repo, I was intrigued. Many parts of it compel me:

It's a funky rock musical.

The idea of a future where people can purchase new organs from the company GeneCo in order to live. If they can't pay their payments on said organ, GeneCo sends the Repo Man to reclaim the organs. Creepy and disturbing but interesting.

Anthony Stewart Head playing Nathan Wallace and the Repo Man. =D

The story of a father who must struggle with reconciling two different identities hiding one from his daughter and coping with his wife's death.

The common theme of how much control we really have over our genetics and our inheritance our genes. Also, what we could or should try to change and to what extent.

I'm not expecting the actual movie to be absolutely fantastic. In fact, I may not enjoy it at all with its blood, violence, and vulgarity.
But it is intriguing and some of the music is enjoyable and fun, albeit in a weird way (e.g. Zydrate Anatomy).
The DVD does not come out till January.
So we'll see.

Videos:
Zydrate Anatomy
Trailer

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog!

2008-09-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

Totally happened upon this by accident and remembered a friend raving about it. Decided to watch.
Absolutely fantastic.
Nerdy Sci-fi Musical.
Greatest combination.
I'm not going to be able to stop listening to the soundtrack.
I hope Joss Whedon makes more.

Want to say "Love your hair"

Red LED Origami Cube

2008-09-23T19:26:00.000-07:00

This an origami cube with a red LED light inserted into it that I made.

There are strips of aluminum attached to the paper in such a way that it creates a circuit from the LED to a battery that can be inserted into the folds. This was done very crudely. But it looks really pretty in the dark!
I ran into the design at Evil Mad Science Laboritories. I just happened to have a few LEDs lying around and a watch battery and decided to make one. Even though I used a gluestick to attach the aluminum, it does the job. It doesn't work as well now because I keep deflating it and re-inflating it to work on it.

I'm going to order more colors of LEDs
And make more....lots more

More awesome pictures here.