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March 26, 2006

Party with Sorority

The Mask.jpg

I think Jim Carrey portrays the lead character artfully in this 1994 movie. I remember laughing all the way through the weird and capricious nuances of Stanley Ipkiss under the influence of mask of Loki. And not to forget the silver debut of Cameron Diaz that makes her famous. Some of the most memorable phrases from the green guy are:

[after being shot]
Mask: Hold me closer Ed, it's getting dark. Tell Auntie Em to let Old Yeller out[cough cough], tell Tiny Tim I won't be coming home this Christmas, tell Scarlett I do give a damn..
[he dies, an audience appears and applauds while The Mask is handed an acting award]
Mask: Thank you, you love me, you really love me!

"Sssssmokin'!" (no pun intended)

"Ssssomebody stop me!"

"It's party time!"

So I just got back from the first sorority party ever. Okay mum, don't freak out first. Let me explain why I got myself in a pool of strangers in the dance floor in a warehouse somewhere in the middle of Lafayette town.

So I was eating dinner with Boon in a nice Vietnam restaurant when he recieved a call from MG (a Phd student who had spent 8 years in Purdue, from undergraduate studies straight to Phd) asking him to find guys to go to Purdue's Asian Sorority party in a renovated warehouse in the town. So he made a few calls and finally asked me. I had never been to parties before in my life. Parties here are not like birthday parties where people dress up nicely and eat cakes and talk and play games; okay, people still do dress up nicely, but what they do is dds: drink, dance and smoke.

Out of the three main ingredients of a party, I can only do little of two: I do drink a little (what! pei xin drinks!) but only when I'm compelled to do so out of ceremony and politeness. I do dance a little (ATU Nite highlighted my dancing skills, but everything seems to go downhill after that. I tried to learn ballroom dancing but failed miserably), but I NEVER smoke. I hate the smell reeking off my shirts and pants; plus I don't want a tar/nicotine smothered pair of lungs and shortened lifespan. Nope, I want to live as old as I can.

So the odds were against the possibility of me ever enjoying a party in America, but I am curious what a sorority party can turn out. Now don't call me a pervert or something equivalent (or worse), coz I don't intend to look at girls letting loose in the dance floor. I was more interested in getting to feel the whole atmosphere of a party and to determine whether I can accept or not. My conclusion is: No.

So I followed Boon, MG and 3 other seniors to the party. I had to part with $5 at the entrance door. Besides the dance floor and bar counter, everywhere else was thrown into semi-darkness condition. I had to squint around to aviod bumping into other people, especially girls who dressed up in black tops and jeans. The disco light was dazzling at the far end of the warehouse where the dance floor was flooded with girls and boys making their most upbeat moves to the music blaring from the stereo behind,with a deejay working out his talent.

So as the DJ was dishing out Stefani's Crash, I was tempted to slide into the dance floor. MG and Boon were in there as soon as we hit the place. I was sitting with the other 3 seniors, contemplating whether should I embarrass myself or should I just get out of there. It was then my biology-cum-korean friend showed up from behind and greeted me. We were both surprised to see each other there and chatted for a while (about bio, of course! but imagine us getting into serious conversation about gastrulation in last week's lecture in the middle of loud music, it's kinda nerdy of me).

So in the end, I did dance a little (solo) for about 30 seconds before someone noticed my non-energetic dance movement to a bom-bom song. For the rest of time, I just sat in an empty couch thinking about American young adult's weekend life. Their mentality is like, no party during weekend = no life.

My mentality is: partying is great if there isn't so much drinking and puking and smoking around. It is great without the shady element of sex in the pair/threesome dance movement. It will be great without guys like me hanging out in sofas and thinking about American young adults' life sucks.

I had a chocolate pancake later on and a senior commented on my dressing taste. He said my H&M green shirt (bought in NYC) outlaying a white NIC shirt (bought in Sunway Pyramid) and a white T-shirt (bought in Singapore) underneath suited me. My hair needed some shearing though; it's getting thicker and longer.

Posted by peixin at 06:48 PM | Comments (1)

Testing Page

I found out that some links in my blog don't work. Sorry about that. I'll fix it soon.

Can you see this?

Posted by peixin at 06:45 PM | Comments (1)

March 10, 2006

Howard Hughes Summer Internship 2006

I didn't dare to check my Purdue webmail account for the whole day yesterday. The mail of utmost importance, the result of the Howard Hughes Summer Internship 2006, would be sent to successful applicants and the bouts of joy/sadness kept oscillating inside my head. What if I got it? What if I didn't get it? I buffered my feelings with self-rationalization.

Got it, then it's God's will la... can stay in Feketelab for another semester, kinda like the lab and its people already... Didn't get it, then it's okay too la... can go back to Malaysia and see my parents and friends... a nice break from studying also...

In the end, at about 11pm my mum asked about the result. I was still unwilling to check until the last possible moment (WHAT if the result is not out yet? What if the secretary in charge of mailing them are sick? What if it's a rejection? What if it's not there?) but I login to my account as I need to mail an essay assignment to my English instructor anyway.

5 mails in bold. Unread. I scrolled down the list and scanned through each subject title. 'PUMSA bowling night', 'Free insurance consultant', 'eBay important messages', 'PureAdministrator messages', 'Find love'. 1 club mail and 4 junk mails. Mum says it's okay and that I should wait for another day. I spend the rest of the night finishing up my essay and playing Winning 11 v.8 on Playstation 2 console.

This morning i went to class and sort of 'coincidentally' pass by the secretary's office. I kinda hesitated if I should approach her and asked about the result, but my hesitation didn't last long. I've got to know, the sooner the better (or else my pocket will be blasted by MAS with a large tag on airticket growing bigger by the day). She told me she just sent the mail.

I ran to the nearest computer lab.


Dear Pei Xin Lim,

On behalf of the Biology Faculty Hughes Award Selection Committee, I am pleased to inform you that you have been awarded a 2006 Summer Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Internship. The internship carries a $3000 stipend for the 10 week period, plus $300 for other allowable expenses related to your internship.

I will be in touch with you later in the semester with more information about the program and other program related activities. In addition, please contact myself, Richard Howard (rhoward@bio.purdue.edu) so that we can make arrangements for a research advisor and lab if you do not already have one.

Please let us know via return email to my secretary, Emily Schaler(eschaler@purdue.edu) your acceptance of the Hughes Internship.

Warmest Congratulations!

Richard Howard


Posted by peixin at 10:56 AM | Comments (5)