Anna Chakvetadze

Didn't realize how cute she was until today...actually I haven't seen much of her on TV until this weekend.  It's hard to see her as anything but, since she isn't "hot" to me at all.  She has the long hair in a braid thing going on, and it acctually got stuck in her racket while she was prepping for a shot (obviously lost the point) but that was amusing.  I'm glad to Sania Mirza in a final, though I wish she was playing better in it.  I'm kind of rooting for Sania, even though I started off writing about Anna.  Haha.

So I finally slept all the way to 9 AM this morning without waking up in between.  I've been having problems sleeping in past 7 so this was really welcome, but I should have known that it forecast something else being shitty today.  That ended up being my period starting and my desalting column basically eating up my enzyme and then my enzyme not reducing with its substrate like it is supposed to...  So I gave up and went home...just kidding.  I got something done.  I also stole the data fitting program from the lab but for some reason it isn't working...it would be sweet if I could get it to work...then I could spend more time at home watching TV!  Why won't it work...

Did I tell you how I'm procrastinating on my poster that I have for my research?  Oh well, I'm just being lazy again.

I'm getting somewhere...

I broke one of the mice at lab so I didn't have a mouse for my computer these past few days until I bought one this morning.  Yay for having a mouse; a computer is sort of useless without it nowadays.

Yesterday I went on a tour with a bunch of other college students to Pfizer in Portage, Michigan.  The facilities were impressive, as well as the technology, but I'm not so sure most of that stuff is for me.  It's either the small laboratory or nothing in terms of Pfizer.  So it looks like the medicinal chemistry route if I'm going to tackle Pfizer.  Or analytical chemistry, but as of now I'm putting that on the back burner for the "worst-case scenario" (as in I can't find work anywhere else).  I did pretty well in the analytical course I took, but I find that work terribly boring and much worse than the stuff I'm doing now.  Ok, I'm admitting that I'm not perfectly happy with my research right now.  It's cool, but a lot of work must be done before I get the little information that is interesting.  It's just too repetitive for me.  I don't think I'm going to find a job that is not repetitive, but why not keep looking?

Unfortunately no one is working in Pharmacology through the Alumni Career Mentoring thingy, so I need to get to work thinking of questions to ask the three people that came up in the matches.  I'm almost tempted to just go straight to work right after my B.S. degree just so I can get my feet wet before deciding on a graduate program, but I'm afraid that I don't have enough experience to even get a job.  And doing rotations might not be enough for me if I'm still completely clueless.  Though I'm getting prepared for the GRE General Test that I'm taking August 11, so that should be done with (hopefully no retake) and then I can focus on writing a resume and bugging professors for letters and everything!  Yay!

I'm spending too much time trying to learn skills and find items in VP2.  I'm never going to get anywhere...still in Chapter 3!  But with my stupid enzyme not expressing for some reason, I have to try purifying another stock, putting me back a day.  3 columns in one day?  I'm going to try that tomorrow.

And finally, I have to throw in some sports.  Unfortunately Marko Djokovic didn't make it past the first round of qualies for Umag, and his brother lost in the 2nd round!  Sal Zizzo (UCLA soccer player - now former) just signed for Hannover 96, which is great because they are my Bundesliga team for this season (or more).  Sacha Kljestan scored in a 2-0 victory over the Red Bulls.  WTA tennis is on TV this weekend at Stanford, and CBC is showing Toronto FC vs. the L.A. Galaxy, and they hope for David Beckham.  We'll see...

U-20 World Cup Final Thoughts

To my pleasure, Argentina won the U-20 World Cup!  Yes it was expected, but with Spain and Japan losing to this Czech team, I was sort of afraid.  And the Czechs did score first, but Aguero!!!!  He was so deserving of all the awards, as well as little Maxi (Maximiliano Moralez)!  Now off to the list of my own awards:

Best player - Sergio Aguero, duh.  He deservedly won the Golden Ball and also won the Golden boot, because he got Argentina back with the equalizer in the final and that golazo against Poland was a beauty.  Also Ever Banega and Max Moralez were really good for Argentina, so he was lucky to play with such talents.  I think Dos Santos was also a very good player, and I would put Toselli and Petr (even though he allowed that 2nd Argentina goal) into the mix.  Unfortunately Bruno Gama got injured so early, or he might have gotten a bit more recognition.  I don't think i even got to see him play...

Best Team - Argentina.  They played offense, they played defense, they teased the hell out of their opponents and they had golazos.  It's hard to pin down the 2nd best team because of the draw.  I want to put Mexico down as the 2nd best team even though they lost in the quarters because they ran into Argentina in the quarters, so it wasn't their fault, but otherwise they were playing very well.  Spain really should have beat the Czech Republic, and Chile played a very competitive match against Argentina.  The Czechs were really organized, so perhaps they were the 2nd best team after all.

Best show of Team Spirit - I have to say the painted Austrain flags on the back of the Austrian players' heads today for the 3rd place game.  The Czechs shaving their heads together also deserved mention, as well as the Japanese team's goal celebrations.  Talking about goal celebrations....

Best Goal Celebrations - By the Japanese team.  Most creative (not just one guy jumping up in the air and throwing an uppercut).  I wish I could describe them, but you should just try to Youtube them.  Of course points for team involvement.  And crazy hair...wait, that goes under...

Best Hair-Do - Vidangossy's "horse" mane.  And the coloring is pretty sweet too.

Worst Refereed Match - Chile v. Argentina.  Those red cards...ugh.  And it completely ruined the game.  USA v. Uruguay might have been next.  After all, I didn't watch all of the matches because they weren't all on TV, but I also think that game was also unfairly card-heavy.  Actually, all of the later matches seemed that way because refs were falling for dives and also giving cards for just regular fouls. Things were more important in the later rounds, so teams were playing tougher and rougher, but still...

Craziest moment of the cup - Zequinha taking the red card from the ref while he showed it to a fellow Portuguese teammate.  Zequinha then got a red card and was inconsalable, but the nerve!  Just it was so crazy...

Newest Favorite Team - Chile.  They stole a part of my heart, except it's more like my heart grows another part for them.  But then some of my other favorites are swimming in the vast ocean of my heart so sometimes I forget about them, which is unfortunate.

Newest Favorite Players - Max Moralez, for being only 5' 3" but being awesome, Chris Toselli for being a great goalkeeper but also showing a large heart for the game and for his team, Arturo Vidal for being crazy and passionate and something I can't actually describe.

I am sort of sad that the U-20 World Cup is over.  It was a great ride, and I can't wait to see the next one!  At least it is only 2 years away!

Valkyrie Profile and TV

This is my life outside of lab: Valkyrie Profile and TV.  Though with the end of the U-20 Cup there isn't much in terms of sports to look forward to except for on weekends with limited tennis coverage and the weekly MLS match.  So that means I should study more for the GRE...yeah right.  But perhaps that could cure my insomnia...  No matter how late I stay up, I can't manage to sleep in past 7 AM.  It must be too noisy, because it's not because of the sunlight.  But I sleep like a rock sometimes...ahhhh.  And it's not like a great rest or something.  I wake up and feel pretty meh and not sharp at all, for basically the rest of the day.  I can't even type correctly right now, or focus on the soccer match on TV.

Okay, soccer rant.  First, the MLS All Star game was much better than last years.  Arthur Boruc was amazing as usual and the MLS All Stars could have been up 4-0 before the half.  Yay for Juan y Juan, though, for scoring.  And Jonny B. did pretty well too, plus I got to see him without his shirt for a moment, so that was very, very good.  I can't wait to see Chivas USA v. Red Bull New York (or is it New York Red Bull?) because a lot of players I like will be in that game.  Also, I did watch Beckham's debut for the Galaxy yesterday...and no it's not because I am a Beckham maniac or anything (I've come into the sport just recently so I don't feel like I can be a maniac about anything or anyone in soccer yet), but I do respect him.  I just wanted to see if the Galaxy were going to get killed by Chelsea or not, well since I hadn't seen either team play in such a long time.  If the Galaxy were on TV before, I didn't record it.

I'll be back soon with final thoughts on the U-20 cup, which I am watching now.  Vamos Chile!  Vamos Argentina!  Vamos KUN!

Love for Getty Images, other randomness

Thank you, Getty, for providing access to the MLS All Star portraits.  Like, where else can I get them?  No one else cares.  Yay for Jonny looking hot, Brian Ching in a Hawaiian shirt (haha), Eddie Johnson blinging, Jimmy Conrad looking his usual charming/hilarious, DeRosario looking badass, Toja looking like a rock star.  I'm excited to see Toja and Angel and Johnson together.  I also hope some MLS fans decide to show up...will probably be a better game than last year.

The Czechs decide to start off the U-20 semifinal match against Austria by scoring 2 early goals.  Take that, Austria!  I hope they get killed, and please no extra time!

But the news of the day: LIndsay Davenport is coming back!  Right before the U.S. Open at Pilot Pen!  I didn't even have a bad day at lab to compensate for the awesome news.  I mean, the only bad thing that happened was that I ate too much for lunch!  So no dinner for me today...probably have to throw out the soup that is at least a week old...

Randomness

1. I took a practice GRE exam and scored 700 on the verbal and 740 on the math.  You're probably thinking, how the hell did she score only 740 on the math?  Well, it was a combination of deciding to cook lunch, going to the bathroom, eating lunch, and receiving a phone call during that time.  I don't think I will be doing any of those things during the real test.  Oh, and I needed more scrap paper, because I can't do math in my head.  But I miserably failed through the essay section.  Just the timing and stuff...everything was way too short, and for the issue essay it wasn't specific enough.  I don't know what I would have scored...3 or 4's?  I hope for at least a 4 on the real test...that means I can write coherently with some logical reasoning within a time limit.  I mean, 45 min. should be enough for something good.

2. Sweet peas smell soooo good when they are being cooked.  They also taste wonderfully.

3. I'm going to lose my ears soon because I basically wear them for many hours a day, especially when I am at lab.  It's just so quiet, and I can't live without the music...

4. I am now looking up pharmacology programs, because I don't think the Medicinal Chemistry area is developed enough.  Sometimes these programs are in the same school anyway.  Anyways, this might be the closest to drug design, my original plan.  But my real plan is to apply to a billion schools and not go to class winter semester because I'll be visiting all of them.  Or maybe just 10.  We'll see.

5. I finished Patricia McKillip's Riddle Master Trilogy.  It was good, but I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had read it within a shorter time period.  I just forgot a bunch of things that happened at the beginning, but I still caught some of the clues, so I wonder if she was a bit too obvious?  She's a fantasy writer, not a mystery writer, so I don't care.  The only thing I might complain about is the whole "time" issue of the story.  Time sometimes flew and nothing seemed to have happened in the world.  I guess I should have studied the map so I would have a better idea where places were in relation to each other, but of course I'm too lazy.  But I'm always like that.

6. I couldn't lose in Mexico v. Argentina's quarterfinal match yesterday in the U-20 World Cup since I like both teams.  But like all the other quarterfinal matches, scoring chances were few and hard to find.  Mexico was basically beaten by Max Moralez's golazo, which is really unfortunate.  I'm afraid, though, that these games will get more and more defensive.  I don't mind extra time if it was like Spain v. Brazil in the round of 16.  But 3 out of the 4 quarterfinals went to extra time, and it just felt like a dragged-out match.  Meanwhile, in the Copa America goals weren't that hard to find in the later rounds.  Brazil won that final yesterday that I almost forgot to tape (caught it 5 minutes in).  I was basically a neutral, but I did hope for Argentina to get at least one back.  Poor Messi.  Oh well, best of luck to him at Barcelona.

7. Gael beat Tommy Robredo!  Yayayayayayayay!

It's time to cry

But I won't, because I'm not a player on the U.S. or Spain U-20 team.  It's just too depressing...I mean, they aren't supposed to lose on the same day!  If only Adrian Lopez scored that goal from 1 meter or so out instead of hitting the post...  Penalty kicks are always so stressful to watch, let alone to actually kick one...I had a feeling the Czechs would win after they got to that stage.  And the U.S...I knew some team would take advantage of the U.S.'s poor defense on set pieces but I didn't think it would be Austria, or that it would be that bad.  I think Perk should have been in there instead of Seitz, but I can't make decisions.  Jozy was alright...the U.S. has like no striker depth at all at any level, so was still the best option and he did score.  Ahhhh and tennis hasn't been the best either...I should go look up the Fed Cup scores.

But for some reason, with those two losses today, I just feel like my summer is slipping away from me.  I mean, I know that my summer time is ticking away at the same rate, but things like this just remind me of it more.  Damnit...

and more

Got to have a list of people I don't particularly like, right?  So here are the people on the "dislike" list at the moment.

Men's tennis: Robin Soderling, Fernando Verdasco

Women's tennis: Serena Williams, Justine Henin

Soccer (players): Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Carlos Ruiz (FC Dallas), Luis Suarez (Uruguayan U-20)

Soccer (national teams): Uruguay U-20, England, Guatemala

There are totally more soccer players that irk me...why can't I think of them at the moment????

Rankings (at the moment)

I figured I should write down the hierarchy of fangirling for the sports I follow the most just so I can keep track of them myself (since they change quite often)!  Or so maybe you can understand my posts a little better...

Men's tennis (singles):

1. Mario Ancic

2. Novak Djokovic

3. Richard Gasquet

4. Gael Monfils

5. Marin Cilic

6. Marat Safin

7. Andy Murray

8. Tim Henman

9. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

10. Marcos Baghdatis

Women's tennis (singles):

1. Ana Ivanovic

2. Svetlana Kuznetsova

3. Amelie Mauresmo

4. Vania King

5. Jelena Jankovic

6. Michaella Krajicek

7. Dinara Safina

8. Elena Dementieva

9. Sanja Ancic

10. Sania Mirza

Soccer (individual players):

1. Benny Feilhaber

2. Sacha Kljestan

3. Philippe Senderos

4. Gael Clichy

5. Theo Walcott

6. Jonathan Bornstein

7. Michael Bradley

8. Clint Dempsey

9. Sergio Kun Aguero

10. Gerard Pique

Soccer (men's national teams)

1. Spain

2. USA

3. Croatia

(everyone afterwards I root for depending on my mood)

Soccer (U-20 men's national teams - yes they are different, only pertains to teams in the WC)

1. USA

2. Spain

3. Mexico

4. Argentina

5. Portugal

I think my soccer rankings are a bit biased to what I have been watching most recently, which is basically the USMNT and some MLS.  It'll probably completely change once the summer is over and the European leagues start up again.  Then I'll remember that certain people exist.  Like...oh shit, how come I couldn't find room for Philipp Lahm on the soccer player's list?  This is bad.

Trends in Capriciousness

I found something more capricious than me!  Unfortunately it is my mp3 player.  The battery keeps "dying", so I just unscrew the back off, take out the battery and put it back in.  Then it works fine again.  Though after dying like 3 times today, I noticed that my mp3 player was burning hot.  Talking about burning hot, the damn weather is above 90F again!  AHHH maybe I should move to Canada.  I mean, they have the U-20 World Cup going on right now!  But their soccer team sucks, but I have no problem rooting for the U.S.!  I hope they do well.  I haven't gotten to watch Spain play yet, so I hope I see them play Brazil!  But I did see Argentina v. Czech Republic so I got to see Sergio Aguero.  I wish him the best, and not to get injured like Bruno Gama.

So what I really was going to rant about is not knowing what the hell I'm going to do next year.  As in next summer.  I always think I have an idea what I would do after college, aka grad school, but I have no idea what grad school to go to!  My dad keeps confusing me...  All I know is that I'm not going to Med. school or dentistry school (or obvious things like business school or engineering or law school or beauty school, haha).  Biochem?  Med. chem?  Biophys?  Chem. Biology?  Sometimes it sucks to have too many choices.  But I just want a Ph.D. in something that can take me to an industry job, since I don't want to post-doc for the rest of my life.  The things I know I want: time to watch sports on TV, enough money to afford my own space and be able to take a vacation, not having to work on weekends.  I'm already working weekends as an undergrad...no way I can't as a Ph. D. or a post-doc.

Anyway, I noticed trends in my capriciousness.

1) I change my mind about what I want to do in my life because I'm worried about how comfortable I'm going to live my life (or if I'll even get a job).  That's why I listen to my parents too much about what to do with my life.  But at least they haven't given up hope on me as a human being and don't tell me to "just get married".  Because I think it'll be easier for me to change my major/career than to find someone to marry.

2) I change my favorite athletes for a few reasons.  Firstly, because I love to root for newcomers/challengers/up and coming people.  I get "bored" too easily.  Secondly, I pick people to support too quickly and don't really evaluate them, so I can drop them just as easily when I dig up the dirt.  Thirdly, I have this rebel streak in me that makes it hard for me to root for the most popular or the most dominant of athletes.  I'm getting better with this last one...after all I can root for UCLA men's soccer and USWNT soccer and those teams are rarely underdogs, if ever.

3) I like people pretty easily.  I somehow manage to remember the things I like about a person, especially athletes, rather than things I dislike about them.  If I get mad at someone, it usually goes over pretty quickly.  That is why if I "hate" someone for over 3 months, that means I really do dislike them.

4) I already mentioned the "rebelling against popular trends" thingy so it's just repeated for emphasis.

Anyway I just watched Mexico destroy a very sad Paraguay side (after they lost their goalkeeper in the 2nd minute to a red card).  Nery Castillo!  Wow, he's amazing and doing crazy shit!  Can't wait to watch Mexico v. Argentina!  Also, Robinho is always amazing, and he's leading the Golden Boot race!  

Amazingnissitude!

This is totally my new word as of now.  Just so many crazy things have happened at the moment.  But nothing can beat Wimbledon!  NOTHING!!  Especially since it somehow managed to finish the women's and men's singles finals on time!  Just wow.

1) Roger winning the title in 5 sets.  I teared up, but did not cry.  It was just...I guess if I was supporting one of the other, I would have been bawling.  Just awesome.

2) Marion Bartoli?  She finally breaks through!  She kind of ruined my idea of the top draw, but that's alright.  I like new people to be challenging...that makes the women's side more interesting.  Michaella did well with her QF run, and so did Ana and Richard and Novak with their SF runs.  Just was so happy with Michaella's win over Anna Chakvetadze.  And then Tsonga to the 4th round.  Congrats!

3) Jamie Murray/Jelena Jankovic.  I just love the press on them because it is hilarious.  And Eric Butorac is good fun too.  Right now Murray/Jankovic are playing for the mixed doubles title!  But at least my sister agrees that Jelena is too hot for Jamie Murray.  (Because she should be mine...just kidding!)

Life is good for other reasons, such as my mp3 player working again and my DVR managing to record basically everything I asked it to, and getting a test time for the GRE.  I even spent some time looking at grad schools, so I think I might be getting somewhere!  Maybe I'll do something like graduate?

Bitchy

I totally need to bitch right now, so I will.

Firstly, electronics hate me.  My mp3 player already ran out of batteries or something, since it won't charge at all, but it works when I plug it into my computer.  My sister's laptop is a complete mess with the CD/DVD drive and USB drive "pretending" to not recognize the DVDs and USB sticks we stick in.

Secondly, my period may actually be regular.  And it has to come on Friday, when I decide to wear white pants, and the blood did not come out completely from them either.  It sucks...

Thirdly, rain is ruining Wimbledon play/coverage!  There was absolutely nothing of it to watch on Saturday.  How am I supposed to entertain my sister?  Food network is alright, she doesn't like soccer, there is no more NBA Draft, the multiple MTV stations only play rap or like 2 other songs...she's back to Minesweeping.  I'm back to blogging, bitching, slacking.  The only good thing about this week is ice cream, like cherries in chocolate ice cream, or strawberry cheesecake ice cream.  Yummy.