April + Hien

Long Time No See

Apologies for the long absence. N. and I just returned from our honeymoon, and are attempting to settle back into normal life. Hien has so graciously maintained this blog in my absence, and quite honestly, it looks much better without my ramblings to interrupt her wonderful artwork. So while I am sure none of you misses me, I did miss you “invisible peeps.” Over the next few days, I hope to share with you some details of our trip. But today, let me tell you about how this blog has changed.

You will recall that Hien and I had never met by the time we started this blog a few weeks ago. I was part anxious, part curious, part excited, and part terrified to meet her. What if she didn’t like me? After all, I tend to sound a lot better on paper (with the help of edit, undo, and redo) than in real life. What if I didn’t like her? The person I so adore could turn out to be merely a figment of my own imagination. The friendship we had built through the years is one of “long time no see.” And no matter how much communication we have had, a meeting in person seems a far truer, and rawer experience.

Thankfully, my worries were in vain. Hien is every bit as lovely in person – beautiful, kind, and talented. Even better, she didn’t seem to mind my craziness. We spent three wonderful days together, along with our significant others, talking about everything and nothing. As T. said in a shop when Hien and I were trying on shoes , “Surely, you don’t have the same shoe size too?” We do, it’s 7.5. The key word there though is “too.” He and N. had spent a few days observing all other ways in which we bonded.

And so this blog is no longer about two friends who had curiously never met. It is rather about all of us who would find a great deal of similarity in our separate lives, wherever our paths may cross in this world. After all, friendship and love are as timeless as the “Eternal City” of Rome.

A.W.

H.N.

*Duke Ellington {my favourite jazz musician}

H.N.

Life pixilated

pixilated (adj)

1 : somewhat unbalanced mentally; also: bemused

2 : whimsical

pixelated (adj)

1 : describes an image in which individual pixels are apparent to the naked eye

2 : describes an image that has been converted from print to digitalised image

H.N.

Reminiscing

I miss you! What can I do to make this a newyorknewyorkblogspot or cambridgecambridgeblogspot?
'To reminisce with my old friends, a chance to share some memories, and play our songs again.'

H.N.

FIRST TIME!!!

April is on her plane to Rome right now, with her beloved N.!!!
And I'm heading there tomorrow morning.
We will be meeting for the FIRST TIME! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm half excited half nervous.
We will keep you all posted on our 4-day trip in Rome - watch this space!

H.N.

Oh noes...wrong movie! ;D

This was done for Ran - one of my besties (although he ignores me most of the time)
Again happy birthdays! You're old now.. even older than last year... And I thought it wasn't possible!!!

H.N.

A wild sheep chase*

This is my cosmic question: Am I making the right decision spending time trying out new things? Or am I wasting my time, as well as others’? Is this a dream worth devoting everything for? Maybe I would be better off sitting in an office working 9-6. I really don’t know. They say I’m insane, AND brave! Do I do it because I am brave and because I like it? Or do I do it because of the exact opposite, that I’m not brave enough to do anything else?

‘How many times did I dream of catching a train at night? Always the same dream...It was all I could do to get up and leave the train at the station. But it was not a station at all. Only an open field, with not a house light anywhere. No stationmaster, no clock, no timetable, no nothing – so went the dream’.

It’s not a dead-end. It’s just an open field for me right now with so many directions; too many that I can’t hastily march forward without stopping, looking around for a light, no matter how dim it is. So yeah, I’ll give myself some time! The long and the short of it is, it’s up to me. And friends, keep your faith! :)

One day I’ll rocket into space.

H.N.

*a superb novel by my favourite author - Haruki Murakami

Without knowing how, when, or where from

"I love you without knowing how, when, or where from;

I love you straightforwardly, with neither complexities nor pride:

I love you thus, not knowing how to love you otherwise."

Pablo Neruda - Sonnet XVII

This Sonnet was the second reading at our wedding ceremony a few months ago. As we leave for our honeymoon next week, I find myself reliving the memories of my wedding. Yes, it's a late honeymoon. The Monday right after we got married, I took a Final Exam in medical school, he went back to the lab, and normalcy returned. I complained about it then, but in truth, it was oddly romantic.

I remember the night before my wedding, I was up late pondering what it all meant. Surely, marriage was not the promise of love alone - that, I had already offered freely since the first day I had known him. And surely, marriage was not just the promise of adoration, attraction, and passion - all that, I had also given and received. Rather, I concluded much later that night, it was the promise of life.

And if I had learned anything in the past few months, it's that life is quite a bit harder than love. Life comes with obstacles and challenges that can continually make you question the very core of who you are. Some days, when everything falls apart, all that remains in your life is each other. And so each evening, in complete exhaustion from today's events, and between disagreements about tomorrow's plans, you reach out and find happiness in your partner's arms, "straightforwardly, with neither complexities nor pride." And the next morning, you wake up with a renewed resolution that together, you will always find the strength to move forward, sometimes "without knowing how, when, or where from."

Much like the Monday after my wedding, marriage takes on the appearance of normalcy. You see it in every couple who goes to work in the morning and returns home at night, juggling their many responsibilities. But in a world filled with wars, deceits, and tragedies, there is nothing normal whatsoever about two people who, despite not knowing what might come next, make the blind promise to always stick with each other and build a life together. It is among the strangest and riskiest promises any sane person could make. It is also among the most romantic. Maintaining that normalcy takes an extraordinary amount of strength, along with all the love, adoration, attraction and passion in the world.

And so in some ways, the honeymoon began long before the trip. It began in the everyday routine, amidst the trials and tribulations of life, with the simple realization that "I love him thus, not knowing how to love him otherwise."

A.W.

pretty

H.N.

Friendship

I watched Star Trek again tonight (quite obviously, from the Vulcan hand salute I’m doing in the snapshot).

When Spock finally got to meet his future self – Spock Prime, this is what Spock Prime said to Spock as asked why he sent Kirk aboard and made Kirk promise to keep his secret instead of having gone and explained it himself: ‘Because you needed each other. I could not deprive you of the revelation of all that you could accomplish together, of a friendship that will define you both in ways you cannot yet realize’. And I immediately thought of you my darling April. I’m very grateful for that email you sent me, for if you hadn’t done so, I wouldn’t have been the same person as I am today.

Until next time, LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!

H.N.

Can't anybody see,
We've got a war to fight,
Never found our way,
Regardless of what they say.

H.N.

Ground Zero

Since I am the New York part of the newyorkcambridge.blogspot.com, I should occasionally write about New York :-). So let's talk about a very current New York debate - the "Ground Zero Mosque." If you haven't heard about this "controversy," a quick google search will give you anything from Wikipedia entry to major news outlet, from comments by President Obama to pictures of public demonstrations by both sides. Many people have already argued about how this project is neither a mosque, nor is it in Ground Zero. You don't need this post to get relevant facts or pick a political side. But if you want to hear the personal perspective of a New Yorker, read on.

I live and work in New York. Like everyone who is lucky enough to call this place home, I love New York. I love it so much that when N. and I were planning our wedding, it came as a no brainer to us that it must be in New York. In fact, we got married in Lower Manhattan, a walking distance from Ground Zero. I walk by Ground Zero regularly, and it never fails to stir up up strong emotions. Nothing in this world can shaken you more than the aftermath of a tragedy, the depth of human hatred, and the evidence of wars. Anyone who tells you that Ground Zero is "just another piece of land now" has probably only seen it on TV, where you can use the LCD screen to create distance, the same way I do for other human tragedies elsewhere. The truth is, at least in my experience, when it is in your home, it questions your beliefs, breaks your heart, and frightens you out of your mind.

But you know what I also see surrounding Ground Zero? I see New Yorkers from all over the globe exchange greetings on their way to work every day. In a steadfast spirit that demands moving forward, their steps are filled with the bustling energy of this city. Like all New Yorkers, I have learned to say "hi" in many different languages. Where N. and I got married, you could actually look out and see the Lady of Liberty in all her glory, her torch held high. We held a celebration there not because we were unaware of a tragedy that continues to affect us all, but because we knew that New York would always be New York - where sadness and fear can not quench the joy of our community.

In the same way, we simply cannot allow an act of terror, no matter how horrid, to affect the friendship among New Yorkers. People who will worship at this cultural center aren't those who devise plans for terrorist attacks. They are fellow New Yorkers - our neighbors, our coworkers, our brothers, our sisters, our friends, and our family. They are honest people who go to work every day to rebuild our community. They, too, experienced 9/11 in all its horror. And they, too, will offer prayers for its healing.

There are times when we stand as a small community, and there are times when we stand as a nation. As a community, we must protect our unity. As a nation, we must protect our constitution. The constitution guarantees freedom of religion and freedom of expression for all of its people. It saddens me greatly when people throw out the First Amendment as though it's New York City traffic law - applied only when needed. This project has every legal right to proceed, by basic principles on which this country was founded.

I look forward to seeing more community centers on every block of our streets, where conversations can build understanding and friendship. And I hope that from Ground Zero, the understanding and friendship that are so fundamental to the diversity of our city will go from New York to Cambridge, the long way around and the short way around, and everywhere in between.
A.W.

- 'Not just another piece of land..'

H.N.

H.N.

The similarity is uncanny!!!

My dip1 project has just been realised!
..
Of course not. Pfft.

This was sent to me this very afternoon by one of our regular readers (what do we know, we have 'regular readers' now! thankyous) - Lam Nguyen - who is the brother figure in my life. Lots of love to you Lam and all of you out there xx

H.N.

The Central Dogma

... of Molecular Biology, that is. In brief, it deals with the transfer of information between DNA, RNA, and protein. The "backbone" of modern molecular biology, it was first articulated by Francis Crick in 1958 in the famous paper entitled "On Protein Synthesis."

I am leading Journal Club for first-year medical-students this semester, and that was our first paper. Since I am only 2 years ahead of my students, I am quite sure that many of them are older in age, wiser, and far more knowledgeable than me. So I brought in bagels and orange juice. Nothing works better than food, especially at 8 AM. But it has gotten me thinking a lot about what it means to discuss molecular biology.

I am a biologist. It goes far beyond my job. I am the girl who wears an engagement ring with a DNA design. My husband proposed marriage by appealing to my appreciation of complimentary base-pairing in the DNA helix*. And I can tell you with absolutely certainty that one does not become a biologist by memorizing pathways in a textbook. It does help to know the vocabulary, and I am certainly the proud owner of many textbooks – my addiction to them being almost as bad as my addiction to shoes **. But it’s not enough.

I learned biology one afternoon many years ago when I took a break from reading textbook to attend a talk by Joan Steitz on mRNA and ribosomes. To be honest, I did not understand much of her data. But Joan’s voice was filled with passion, and I understood then why she dedicated her whole life to the exciting study of such small molecules. And I learned biology in college, when I took a job in the Department of Biology hoping to make some extra money to buy textbooks***. In the prep-room, I spent hours imagining every experiment the professors would do with the hundreds of agar plates I was making. Some day, I would tell myself, I am going to do these experiments too. And I learned biology when I started working in the lab of Doug Robinson. On my first day, Doug sat down with me at the bench, picked up a pipette, handed me another pipette, and talked to me about our project. We worked late into the evening, me stumbling with my first mini-prep, still in awe that Doug was seriously asking my opinion. Doug’s lab studied cell division, and I remember walking home in the rain, watching every rain drop breaking into half, but seeing the fluid mechanics of a dividing cell.

I give teaching a great deal of thoughts not because I can’t explain the details of the Central Dogma (there’s always google for that kind of thing :-)), but because I struggle with whether I can adequately convey the excitement of molecular biology. On my first day, I quoted The West Wing. “Do you know how they say when you go to the West you should always visit the Grand Canyon, because it’s one of those few things in life that don’t disappoint when you actually see it? THIS is one of those things.” Some of his predictions were spot on, others were off base. But his paper demonstrated how one can truly shape an entire direction of science and of humanity, just by careful observation, data synthesis, and a bit of clever reasoning. And if that doesn’t make you want to jump in excitement, what else?

At the end of our hour, someone mentioned the famous Einstein quote, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” I may not have adequately explained the Central Dogma. But I knew then that for at least one of them, I have done my job that day.

How did you end up in the career of your choice? Leave a comment and share with all of us!

A.W.

*N. tells that story far better than I do – perhaps I can convince him to post it another day.

** Almost, but not quite. Shoes always win.

*** and shoes.

I'm no good at writing!

It’s official. Shame on me because both my parents are exceptional writers, but I guess the gene’s lost somewhere or it’s been transformed into my sketchy sketchy sketch skill (which is not even very good. I need April to explain to me if this is possible – the gene thing!). This is probably one of my very rare entries on this blog as being compared to April’s masterpieces; my writings are like bad jokes made up by a 50-something-year-old comedian performing in an empty club on a Monday night.

But I’ve got to write a bit today, because autumnal colours have finally arrived in my area, Cambridge sporting a multi-hued picture as I look out at it from my window. God knows I’ve tried to capture its beauty on paper, and have never truly succeeded. The scenery changes its face every day, misty with a cold faded blue light in the morning, flooded in gorgeous golden sunrays in the afternoon, with a hue of pink-orange-purple in both early and late evenings. It’s different on a clear day, as well as on those that are overcast. My pens failed me. My brushes failed me. It’s just different! Different! Different! One minute I thought I tamed it, the next it defies me, dares me, and laughs at me with its browns, yellows, oranges, reds and leftover greens. Cambridge in autumn, I can neither describe in words, nor draw. Still, I love the season. It offers me clarity of vision, a breath of freshness with added peace for my soul that no other season can – like a calm lake in the middle of the forest left undisturbed.

Winter is not so far away. But if the thought of the approaching long, dark evenings makes you feel miserable, cheer up! September is also a big month for fashion with supermodels in fabulous Autumn-Winter collections strutting down the catwalks. I’ve been spending my last few weeks lusting after latest arrivals on my favourite websites and at local boutiques. And these outfits are what I deem suitable for this beautiful upcoming season (all designed by me – of course!):

H.N.

I wonder what it's like - autumn in New York?

Two quick captures of my day:

H.N.

It's like this - this says it all :-)

We are still in summer here right now. I will definitely write about autumn when it comes. There is a reason why so many people have written about it :-).

A.W.