cont'd

tuesday

17.1. the boss wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to go for a run.

17.2. dissatisfied with just that, he also makes a bloody twenty-minute long-distance call back to singapore to make absolutely sure there is no possible way i could still be asleep.

18. i sit in on jamie and michelle's presentations. i worked with them back when i was in biac, so even though i'm not really into social cognition any more i go out of a sense of loyalty. the talks are good.

19. there's not much else in the way of neuroscience for the day.

20. the boss grabs me to explore chinatown. everything is tacky to the nth power. we eat in a little hole-in-the-wall place that's supposed to be one of the best bargains in washington dc. admittedly, for $4.95, the bowls of noodles are big - it's quite frightening to think how much msg goes into each one though. we also have duck that is 100% skin, and vegetables that have been boiled into submission.

21.1. i've been worrying about accommodation for when i visit penn for a while now (actually, since a week before, when i asked cp if we still know anyone there (answer:no)). things get a little worse today when i find out that rooms near the school are either (a) taken, or (b) cost $200++++ a night.

21.2. i e-mail the ssa. one edward wee replies to say that he'll ask around. his email signature is the ocs creed. my hopes flag.

21.3. my boss rescues me. i'm going to be shining his shoes for the rest of my life. his very first ra is a penn grad who's still working there and who lives right on the outskirts of campus. things are put into motion.

22.1 at the drugstore, while looking for chapstick, i decide on impulse to buy a powerball ticket. 8 20 28 37 54 and 24

22.2 the odds against winning, incidentally, really suck. 1:146,107,962? i mean, come on.

23. house is on. the week's episode is, coincidentally, about drugs and performance enhancement. i rediscover the fact that hugh laurie really is awesome. do you still have season 1, su-lin?

(tbc)