sonic highways: boston

dear daisy,

sonic highways - foo fighters

rewiring the creative process - and the best way to do that is to go to the place where this whole tissue engineering and regenerative medicine began. in the process, i wish to learn more and explore about the place, the vibe and atmosphere of the city, deemed the best place for runners, art goers and academicians.

boston common is located at the central, located downhill to the statehouse and stretches half way along the park street to newbury street, where i stopped at georgetown cupcakes for chocolate ganache.

 me, and l'arc en ciel - my beloved omd's catch for the day.

mit openday 100th year in cambridge

walkabout in boston

ai wei wei in boston 2016

boston harbor walk

it was cold and windy afternoon when i took these shots,

it made me sang a verse from all american rejects..... my hands are getting cold, your hands are mine to hold. stick to me.. all you need to do is keep it strong.. move along, move along, even when your hope is gone.

a kind and thoughtful gift

song: i wanna know what love is, phil collins.
memory: coffee bean and tea leaf, malaysia

what actually makes a thoughtful gift?

a wonderful gift should reflect both sender and receiver' - which result from deep thought and contemplation of what can be practical, also serves as token of appreciation.
it is not just about the item or the value, it is the thought that comes with the gift that matters.

penmanship has always been my favorite since school and the most poignant memory i had was with the 90's Parker which i treasured so much. i seldom used the pen for it was very expensive for a school girl like me. many of my friends had the same pen, only back then, the pen came with dark blue and black.

i received this silver, engraved Parker for my departure gift from A.J., whom i knew since we were seven. we were classmates for nine years until i went to boarding school. it was a sentimental gift, the kind that brought me back to the time when a pen was seen as precious as diamond back then.

myself, A.J., nick and baby were classmates and good friends since day one. i heard this a lot, that when a friendship last longer than ten years, it is going to last a life time. i would never imagine that someday i will be saying this, we have been friends for quarter of the century, how time flies.

the signs are evident, we aged beautifully like wine or cheese (couldn't find a better metaphor). i had to change my glasses every 2 years now - signs that my sights are aging badly, nevertheless. and as life is getting messier with jobs, mortgage and  expanding circumference, most of us are blessed with wonderful kids. kind of reminding me of our childhood, back to the days that life was easy.

there were a lot of beautiful things that we shared, many were of funny anecdotes and songs that blast from the past - like the kind of nirvana's unplugged in new york and from muddy bank album.

when life throws me far away from comfortable and great life i had with my friends, i know it is the memory that keeps me going.

working life in the nice, stupid playground II

dear daisy,
it has been a week since i work in the lab, right now i'm just working on literature review for detection of cancer prognosis and reading materials from recent advancement in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. there were two breakthrough events that happened in the hospital area where i am working at, one is the rejection of face transplantation on the recipient and another is the success of penis transplantation on a patient who had his organ removed due to cancer. 

if you didn't fail you probably not trying as hard as you could be and nice guy finish last :-)

Excerpt from Interview with George Church of Harvard University

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/05/if-youre-not-failing-youre-probably-not-trying-as-hard-as-you-could-be/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hu-twitter-general

All the failures I’ve overcome? That’s much more important than any successes. I had to repeat ninth grade. I had to repeat the beginning of graduate school. I lost my major source of funding just before I came up for tenure. One of the major things — news flash — that they judge you on for tenure is whether you can support yourself. In each case, it helps if you can think out of the box and think of a new way of doing things. The other thing is: Follow your dreams, even if it does mean taking a risk. If you’re not failing, you’re probably not trying as hard as you could be. And being petrified of failure means you’re going to be probably a very extreme underachiever.

One of the things we recruit people for in my lab is being nice. That’s the ethos we try to encourage. “Nice guys finish last” — isn’t that a terrible message to be sending to the next generation?

I think what goes around comes around. You have to really want all the teams to succeed, all the boats to float. You want your competitors to not fail. It’s hard enough to get progress in the world if everybody’s succeeding.

....run, impossible girl

 Run like hell, because you always need to. Laugh at everything, because its always funny. Never be cruel and never be cowardly, and if you ever are, always make amends…
The Doctor (Hell Bent)
Advice on how to be the Doctor. .. for when she becomes the Doctor.

dear daisy.

boston, massachusetts.
song: run, snow patrol

i was at boylston street in the afternoon for a stroll, a glimpse for what it is like to be at the famous spot for every runner - there i was staring at the wall, of incredible woman named bobbi gibb who broke the running's gender barrier some fifty years ago. i don't run very often actually - definitely not a long distance runner, but i gave it a try - on half marathon (like five in 2015 alone) - almost broke my knees and knocked me down to earth with pants, making breathing a difficult task. i did half marathon for both penang bridge (things that i had been telling my self for years that someday i will run on this bridge, no matter how slow, i will make it to the end). i never thought i would have done it. my dad said i was crazy. everyone thought so, when i took the ets train and without any plan in my head - just go.

'light will guide you home and ignite your soul' - coldplay.

the weather in boston is nonetheless like the God's land, unprecedented - vagaries. a city of long history and great scientific wonders, which is the main reason why i wanted to be here in the first place. to reach for the stars and dance with the auroras. the knowledge is sky limit.

well, here are the glimpse of boston, MA.