purpleblabbers Just another WordPress weblog

Click to see my Disney toys arranged on my bed.
There are four pieces missing from this collection:
1. Chip N Dale —> at Navitaire with Ajay
2. Bambi and Thumper –> on my work desk here, beside my lamp
3. Ariel –> at Ajay’s house
4. Eric and Sebastian –> at Ajay’s house

It would be interesting to enumerate them all and maybe I’ll do that later after class. Meantime, check out this silly photo shoot we did sometime last year…
Irvine takes Selphie away from pal Rinoa
Irvine goofing around.. space cowboy!
Got gams Rinoa? Irvine flirts with Selphie

Oh and this one I just got from email. They said these ladies are in dire need of friends. Click here. Not so interesting eh? Oh well, it was funny for a few seconds.

Having to do coursework for Pure Maths, I have found myself capable of working on Analysis problems. Even better than I used to be with undergraduate Analysis courses. However, learning more has brought much query into this wee little brain of mine…
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Taken from http://www.robertrohde.com/classes/:
Math 630 : Lebesgue Analysis

    This was my first graduate course, taken in my next to last semester of undergad.  At this point, I still hadn’t decided between graduate school in physics or mathematics.  While, I enjoyed this class, I ultimately realized how disconnected the world of mathematics is from the world of everyday experience, and that is why I chose grad school in physics.
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With due apologies to my professors (most of who were outstanding) , I can’t believe I have reached this point in studying that I can almost agree with this person, at least up to this level… Everyday life is such a vague idea, because yes, any mathematician can argue that whatever it is he is learning has its analog in everyday life. Hello? There is such a thing as Applied Maths… and hello? that’s my major. I should not be the first to say this. But well, I’m not disowning math. I’m just intent on picking what is useful and putting it into action.

With regard to studying maths in its purest form: It is bothersome to have to deal with EVERYTHING there is to learn about the abstractions of spaces, functions, sets… when what you can really work with is a mere fraction of all that. It is very elegant and omnipotent in a sense, but is it really all so useful?

First off, I acknowledge the possibility that a person can actually understand a lot about mathematics. But to say that they know everything is to say that they are GOD. On my end, I am okay with what little I know. Of course I am open to learn more, and understanding more, in any occasion that I may be required or motivated to do so. I am even open to the possibility that I could actually understand a lot about maths.

Now I realize, I’d rather that it be in a situation that would benefit others directly. And maybe, sometimes, it would all be just for my own selfish reasons, for mere self-satisfaction. However, I do not want to perch high atop a tower (and as Dr. Mendoza would say, “I won’t even call it ivory”) and be totally useless to the people around me.

*yawn yawn yawn*

In Math Bio class, Dr. Mendoza was talking about how the average human is at his sleepiest at 0600-0800H. An extensive research study on biological clocks (also called Circadian rhythms) proves this, and I’m looking for a timetable similar to what he showed us in class…. (hopefully inserted here… i can’t find any…)

So, in general, it is absolutely ridiculous to expect most students to make it to classes earlier than 8 am. In fact, given preparation and travel time, 8:30 or 9 am should be the earliest class schedule. Of course it all depends still on an individuals biological clock, and this turns out to be a unique mechanism among individuals. Some may be alike with others, but never the exact same thing.

============boring blabber===============
Circadian rhythms, as I fondly refer to bioclocks now :), are a favorite research topic among mathbiologists, it seems. There are a lot of hits in a Google search: There is Texas AMU, who has research groups on the different prokaryotes.. etc. Apparently, there are still a lot of areas in Circadian rhythms that have not yet been explored. Behaviour of different animal species in environmental changes, and evolution even…
http://www.nwu.edu/ccbm/ Web site of Northwestern University�s Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology
http://www.sleepquest.com/ Information site of William Dement�s Sleep Research Center
http://www.med.stanford.edu/school/ Narcolepsy site created by Emmanuel Psychiatry/narcolepsy Mignot at Stanford University
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/ Web site of the National Sleep Foundation
http://www.srbr.org/ Web site of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms
http://www.cbt.virginia.edu/ Web site of the Center for Biological Timing at the University of Virginia
http://www.hhmi.org/grants/lectures Web site providing Howard Hughes Medical Institute Holiday Lectures
Mathbiologists in this area can closely work with medical researchers, mental experts and in particular, neurologists. It has its implications on behavior, emotion, state of health… very interesting.
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I realize I have not sketched anything at all for TWO YEARS. This was the last I did.


Kinomoto Sakura from Card Captor Sakura
I shouldn’t even be calling it a sketch since I colored it. I forgot to scan it before coloring.
I think I can salvage a few other sketches I have, I’ll be putting them up in penreyes.deviantart.com ASAP. I remember having head sketches of my mom and dad, I have to remember to scan those.

Remember Kimberly Williams, the actress who played Annie Banks from the movie “Father of the Bride”? I wonder where she’s run off too. I wanted to really have curly hair like she did that time I saw the movie in RPN9.
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I’m in dire need of a hair trim. Sonia has a monthly haircut since she wears her hair really short, but I haven’t had the luxury of a salon visit since early this year, around March I think. My hair has grown to right above my back bra strap now. I like having long hair, but now it’s getting all frizzy at the ends even with the Citre anti-frizz I use. Citre hair products smell heaven to me, and they work well too. I recommend the anti-frizz spray and also the straightening balm. The shampoo and conditioner scents complement each other too. Feels really great on the scalp too, very refreshing.
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Ajay’s NBA toy models are on display in my office window for those interested to see. They’re the minute models of Yao, Dirk Nowitzki, T-Mac, Tim Duncan, Rasheed, Shaq, Iverson and Webber. I’ll put up photos soon as I go around shooting the recent ones.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on the following. Well, at least if you’re interested.

Narusegawa Naru
Motoko-chan
Battousai in UP Diliman
Chii!
Other members of Pen’s Nippon toy collection
Hanamichi, Rukawa, and ?

Thank you God for making weekends. Fully charged for the week! The past weekend I did absolutely nothing that had anything to do with school. I shunned Leithold, Taha, Lieberman, Royden, Rudin and Murray. Before I reunite with them again, I’m typing this journal entry, lest I retreat to the echo-ey caverns of Real Analysis Theory. My brain gets really empty I can actually hear echoes after I do problems in Royden.
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I don’t have a study partner anymore. From undergraduate days when study buddies were abundant, to my master’s classes where there were the occasional 2 or 3 people to discuss and compare notes with, now in my Ph.D. it is really weird to do independent study now. I’ve been enrolled in independent study before (Math 300) but like duh… Maan, Ajay and Ric were around and we were helping each other out. It’s a challenge to have almost nobody to learn with in the classes I’m enrolled in this semester.  Of course I have classmates. There are 6 of us in Math 226.1Real Analysis, 7 in Mathematical Biology. Kent and Jinzen in Math 226.1 say hi - goodbye each class, but other than the smiles and nods we don’t really hang out. Jinzen, who’s Chinese, isn’t enrolled but he looks brilliant, he talks to me but never about the class. Kent is a 21-year old from the Visayas, he talks to me to verify some stuff about class but he usually hangs out with this other girl (who I don’t know) during and after class.

Blah, blah, blah. It really is no big deal to study alone. I go to see Dr. Sy to ask questions sometimes, thought it really is different to have a classmate to discuss with. They say it’s supposed to be this way anyway when you’re a Ph.D. student. You ought to work independently, and work on research most of the time unsupervised. It’s troubling though, because often I would stop and think, “what am I supposed to do now?” I don’t have a supervisor here, but I know I’m supposed to have one. Maybe Ric is my supervisor. I have to ask him about that.

University applications. Checked my email, there are several replies again. I was told to look for a university that will accept me into a Ph.D. program that is more suited to what I like. Here in UP I am enrolled in the Pure Mathematics program, but I’m practically a non-major so long as I don’t have a specific area yet, and a defined person to spuervise me. I’m still taking the coursework of a Pure Math master’s student, and that would take a couple more semesters to finish. So far, I’ve only made inquiries in schools in the States, Australia and the UK.

Recurring problem: Funding. UP does not have money to fund a Ph.D study abroad, unless I take what’s available. Among those readuily available in the past year and this year, how many interests me? Zilch. The ones I like are the ones that are unattainable. Unless anyone is ready to lend me 10,000 pounds a year, for 3 years? I would so love to study in the UK.

Reality check. So for now I’m completing coursework for a Pure Math Ph.D. It’s not so bad, since I’m essentially sharpening my knives for what’s to come.
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Ajay and I brought the PS2 console to Greenhills for lens cleaning last Saturday. There’s something funny about how it won’t play some of the game discs anymore… I actually haven’t been using the PS2 to its limit recently. It’s been months since I’ve played an RPG, with Kingdom Hearts still the most recent one I’ve finished (that was last year!) and I haven’t gone around finishing X-2 since this March ‘04. Come to think of it, after getting my master’s degree I haven’t been playing videogames much.

Wow, this is long overdue. Just a continuation of pictures I toook around campus:

I was out on field trip yesterday. ^_^ I was ranting the other day about not having anyone to spend my holiday with, but I decided to make the best of it and go out anyway. I ended up going to the mall (not very creative but hell I still had fun!)
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In a McDonald’s near campus there were a lot of teeners. Reminds me of that time when I would stay late in McDo Philcoa to study alone for a Physics exam, and in walked a group of Physics instructors, who did not leave me alone. It was funny really, I acted all irritated but I was really amused to have them around for a few minutes. Hehe, alright I admit I had a silly crush on one of them. Anyways, here’s the story from yesterday. I was in the McDonald’s, slurping my Coke and heartliy digging into my meal and looked up to see this giant of a teenager. A foreign dude hangin’ out with his Asian friend. I don’t usually stare at people, heck I can’t even look my students in the eye for longer than 2 seconds. But there was something irritably magnetic about looking at this Caucasian stranger. He must have been 16 or 17 years old, sort of dirty blond and had the brightest green eyes. I know I haven’t seen much of authentic green or blue eyes, but these guy’s eyes were sparkling! And I couldn’t care about anything else about him, because frankly, I am not attracted to “whites” when I encounter them in person, realizing just how… white they are. I mean, come on… look at me! I’m brown (and sometimes yellowish), and being with a white guy is just too weird for me. Not that they look bad, and nothing against those who are related in any way— gene-wise, romantically and/or physically— with these white-skinned folks. But this McDonald’s guy must have been the prettiest white guy I’ve seen. As if he stepped out of a storybook to enchant me that afternoon.
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In an ATM vestibule I was lined up behind this couple, a 30-somthing man with a backpack with his pretty pregnant wife. They were acting all sweet and talking about where to go after they get money. Smiling a foolish smile I was fidgeting with my hadns and umbrella, embarrassed to be overhearing their conversation. When their turn came, each of them had their own ATM card, and the lady went first. The man was really talk and towered over her while she inserted her card into the slot. What came next was amazing. The man was barking orders at her as if she was the stupidest animal in the world. Push this, push that. He grew impatient each time and would touch the screen himself. I wanted to pound his face with my umbrella. When she was through with her transaction (which seemed like forever! they seemed to be touching the wrong keys each time), he had his turn, his wife was digging for something in his backpack, the man finished, and they walked away with arms around each other.
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I’m dizzy from eating potato chips for breakfast. I should not have brought this snack with me!
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TOYTOWN finally had the latest release of the Disney TOMY series:

The Three Musketeers: Mickey, Donald and Goofy

Mickey and Donald were the last pieces of their kind in the display, but stocks for Goofy were overflowing.
Next on the TOMY line-up are the “Incredibles”.

There’s been a lot of reports of theft in the vicinity where I live. Tenants living in the approximate center of the compund who have smaller floor areas compared to ours are talking about how they are being robbed during the night, and even in the lazy afternoon siesta time. Teenage boys they were saying, were able to eneter their homes through windowa which are easily accesible from the step-up stairways. The design of our buildings is such that the windows come open a few feet from the front door. It is much farther away in our unit, because our building has three-bedroom units as compared to the building (being robbed) with two-bedrooms only. Anyhow, it still scares the hell out of me.

One night after I heard of these things from Dr. Noli Reyes (his place was robbed around 4 a.m. with him fast asleep and the robber peacefully entering and leaving), I was so disturbed that when Leny (my roommate) didn’t come home that night I was going out of my wits hearing suspicious noises from the vacant bedroom.

Being by myself at my place is no fun now anymore.
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Ok, on to something else.

Two days to bum around, no one to bum around with. Senseless Quezon City Day Holiday since most of the pople I would want to spend a holiday with aren’t in Quezon City. So guess what? I won’t be bumming, but rather I’ll be in my office, spending quality time with the PC.
I’m trying to put together a home page where I can put in all my teaching stuff. It’s sort of bothersome to have separate e-groups for wach of my classes, only to ditch them after a semester. Well, I can clean up and remove my student memberships but then it’s a weird way to share public files. So far I’ve come up with this. : (click here to see what I’ve cooked up in the past hour.)

Lame, I know.
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(eyes go blink, blink) Eye exercises. This glare from the screen can be very damaging to the eyes
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Last time in Dr. Concepcion’s lecture in our Math Bio class, she talked a bit about cancer cells. I recall reading about this in high school, but it hasn’t been anything relevant to think about that I never really took notice since then. When Dr. Giselle spoke about it in class it was like an eyeopener to the dangers of this disease, dubbed the number one killer in the world. She described the cancer cells the way a molecular biochemist would: at the cellular level. She decribed it as a very malicious entity that I could not help the anger well up towards even the simple picture she was flashing from the projector of the cancer cells. A cancer cell can really multiply so fast and so efficiently that it can mutate itself and nourish itself independently, and at a faster rate than any of our own cells. I knew that, I always knew that. I just never put much thought or care into it. We were doing mathematical models of living systems, and probably in future research the main question would be, would our work be relevant in such a way that people can actually benefit from such models? If not, then what worth is there is what we are doing?
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(Blink blink stretch stretch). Ok, on the home stretch. I remember talking about this Acca Kappa (sp) thing in an earlier post sometime after my birthday. Well, what about it? Nothing much, just it’s interesting to note that my brother and his girlfriend Ruth gave me this bath product with the label Acca Kappa (sp)that is actually something that Oprah Winfrey and Tom Cruise patronize.
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And we’re done! Well, I guess I’ll be packing up now. It’s going to be quite a lonely night tonight, because I can’t think of much to do. Guess I’ll be finishing up on Ajay’s pocketbook. I’m not in a reading mood today even.

Carbonic anhydrase - a phenomenon that occurs at a rate of 100,000 molecules per second, something which involves an enzyme converting/translating a substance to carbon dioxide.

That was probably the only thing that I picked up clearly from the last half-hour of the 2-hour biochemistry lecture given by Dr. Giselle Concepion in our Math Bio class this afternoon. My head was swimming in nausea, I could hardly keep my eyes peeled. I didn’t even get the terminology clearly, but the ideas somehow were easy to understand.

Why?

Well, in a conscious effort to keep “normal” during these natural days of a woman’s lunar phase, I picked up a can of san mig light from Rustan’s. Clearly remembering friendly advice that beer helps numb the cramps. I could go on and on about the horrible pangs of pain I go through each month, so this time I decided to finally give it a shot.

Had some ice ready, pop, then hissss. The can was half full with the glass full of ice+san mig light. Sip. Blech. Sip. More blech. Gulp. Okay it felt better to gulp than sip. Gulp gulp. Set down the glass.

Began on a little work and I had home videos playing. About 2 F.R.I.E.N.D.S episodes later, I felt it. I felt heavy as a boulder, I needed to lie down. But I needed to get some stuff done for the next day, so I strruggled with the feeling for a while. I gave up around 11 (or 12 was it?)

Damn, I was drunk after a can of San Mig Light?

Yeah right, numb from pain. This morning my head was swimming from nausea. Up to now. This is what they call beer bliss?