i can't believe that my twin sister met jason mraz... i am so jealous!!! i guess i can always pretend that my sister in the picture is really me. :) the one guy i wanted to meet. so strange she met him after i just blogged about him, below. I know she gave him my blog URL, so jason, if you're reading this, can you save me a dance sometime?? your music really rocks my world. 

Jason Mraz's new CD is out! It's awesome - currently my favorite tracks are "Geek in the Pink" and "Bella Luna". "Mr. Curiosity" is lovely, too~

Hey Mr. Curiosity
Is it true what they've been saying about you
Well, are you killing me
You took care of the cat already

I'm looking for love this time
Sounding hopeful but it's making me cry
(Trying not to ask why)
This love is a mystery
Mr. Curiosity

just for you, jen. i know you think he's the dorkiest dork ever. but he's just so adorable. :)

 

wow, what a busy two weeks... but it's been really good. For the first half a week or so, it was a rude awakening working again, but now I've gotten kind of used to it. I found out that I enjoy being busier than being bored (I totally fall asleep when I'm bored). So like tomorrow, I'll have three experiments running at once, on top of taking a two hour break in the afternoon for lab meeting.

And after work, *every* single day, I've been out of the house... catching up on meeting with people and catching up on my movie watching. sigh. My house is such a mess, I just need to take a day off and clean all day.

Sandy says that my demeanor is so much more relaxed, being in PhD than MD. ;) It's definitely a different type of stress, a stress that is less defined b/c the goal isn't to pass, but to do *well*, whatever that means. oh well, i'll worry about that later.

an image from my life, sitting on my table. a little bit of sunshine 

i was boring myself with my own blog, so i decided to update it. ;)

i'm a PhD student! i can't believe two years have passed already. PhD is going well - slowly been getting some data, altho it hasn't been exactly smooth sailing. hopefully it'll come with time. after all, it's been barely over a week. slowly getting used to easing myself out of vacation mode... occurring slowly but surely.

excited and scared to see what the next two years hold for me...

Light in the Piazza

My current favorite musical, in the spirit of the older traditional musicals. The writer is somehow related to Rodgers or Hammerstein, and it made sense because it's written in the same style. As a review put it, lush romance has appeared back in Broadway with this musical - a familiar tale of an American girl in Italy who falls in love with a dreamy Italian boy (truly Matt Morrison is every girl's dream Italian lover), but told in a refreshing, innocent, and a passionate way. Everything about it was beautiful - the sets, the singing, even the Italian that I didn't understand.

"Say it somehow, anyway you can...
I know the sound of touch me,
I think I hear the sound of wrap your arms around me"

"Without risk, there is no drama,
Without drama, there is no aiutami [help me]
Without asking for help,
No love, no love!
So
Give me suspicion! Give me tears!
So give me shouting, that's right,
Passion!"

Two reviews that are different, but I agree with both of them:

Broadwayworld.com
NY Times

 


With Matt Morrison and Kelli O'Hara

last week, i got diagnosed with acid reflux disease. so byebye, coffee... like the cappucino like this one. ack. it sucks, but at least i know what it is - no one gave me a diagnosis for a long time b/c i presented abnormally. i really liked my doctor tho - he described everything, and made me feel comfortable about asking him questions. finally, a good doctor; up til now, i've mostly had doctors that have always demonstrated what i should NOT do as a doctor, as i've learned in doctoring class. here's to good doctors - and becoming one. 

check out jen's blog for recent updates~ including a blog i blogged on her site as a secret guest blogger. definitely packing in my last few days of summer vacation. possibly my last one, ever.

Happy fourth of July! We celebrated it as a family on the army base in Seoul, Korea - with the addition of Jiwon. It was a nice time as a family esp in my last few days here in Korea. I hope my classmates are enjoying their fourth of July as I know that they start their third years the day after - good luck! my thoughts are with you~ 

Fireworks on the fourth of July - fireworks on the army base, probably the closest I've ever been to fireworks, the noise was deafening but really beautiful. at one point, it literally burst over our heads and everyone started running. ;) 

trip to thailand

Outside of Five Island Restaurant
Originally uploaded by jochang621.

wow, what a trip!! i traveled to the small private island of ko samui in thailand, and spent a three very packed and amazing days there. met up with some med students there and traipsed around the island. second day, we took a speedboat out to Angthong National Park (a group of small pristine islands) which is about an hour away. Got horribly seasick, but still managed to snorkel a little bit, and then kayak (andy was doing most of the kayaking :D) and hike up to emerald lake, a saltwater lake. third day, we rented a motorbike and took a tour all around the island. our navigation consisted of "keep the ocean on your left". :D it was such an adventure b/c our motorbike broke down, we (or rather, andy) ended up pushing our motorbike up a hill... despite all that, we saw the most amazing viewpoints on top of a mountaintop where you can see three sides of the island, beautiful ocean views, and ate lots of thai food (thai curries for $1.50 ;). lots of good memories.

only a few more days in korea. how sad. trying to pack my days. got my bangs trimmed today at my usual place - he gave it to me for free. ;)

Me and my friends~ in our open-air hotel lobby 

my beach naptime view~ 

Angthong National Park 

our broken motorbike - what an adventure!! trying to communicate 

taking a dip in the ocean 

Snorkeling area in Angthong National Park 

Emerald Lake in Angthong National Park