Microvascular Reasearch for Summer 2012

Before I go into details of the research I am doing for this summer, I just want to say this.  Why, why, why did you make the layout of the input of text more user-unfriendly for bloggers?  Ugh, oh well..

Anyway, let's go into details.  First off, thanks to one of my UCLA friends, Kaitlyn, I finally got back to blogging.  And yes, I realize that I haven't used this site for what, at least 5 months or so?  Anyway, enough of this digressing, now the details of my research!

If you guys missed my status about me getting a research assistant position for the summer, well, you're in luck in that you get to hear it via my blog post!  This research project I am on involves utilizing retrospective medical record review, subject recruitment and screening, and research database management that I use to study breast reconstruction, patient reported qualitative outcomes, micro-vascular reconstruction techniques, and aesthetic outcomes analysis.  I know you guys have heard me say that I am not doing pre-med.  Still, this doesn't mean I won't do that.  In fact, when I went to the presentation just before my interview, I was fascinated by the techniques used for the breast reconstruction!


Why we do breast reconstruction?  Well, simply put, we do that due to people suffering from breast cancer especially.  Since I'm obviously still trying to get familiar with the scope of the lab, there can be other reasons why we do reconstruction that I might not know yet.


Among some of the methods that UCLA medical staff utilize includes usage of implants or flaps that take over where the old breast was at.  If you are confused by what I mean by flaps, well that procedure uses the skin from other parts of the body to cover up that spot.  This is because your body has so much skin that you can subsequently use that to make up for the loss of the breast.  Implants, I'm sure you're all familiar with since that involves enlarging the breast or decreasing it.


I do acknowledge that I might not be completely clear about the details of the research project.  You can attribute that to the fact that I, along with 3 others who got into this lab, are only barely familiar with these details of the lab.  Once I do the research, I promise I will definitely be more clear about the main details of my research.


Anyway, I can't wait to start this research this summer!  I can't believe I will be doing this at the UCLA medical plaza!  I am thrilled for a new challenge that's now ahead of me!  This will definitely be a big plus on my resume, even if it's not chemical engineering!  I am glad I took the advice of my orientation counselor from last year to search for research labs in other departments that are related or close to my major!

StarCraft II: Siege Tank Moments

Were you guys ever wondering which hilarious moments I've had to encounter already? Here's one: an epic fail moment I refer to as "Siege Tank moments." In this moment, if any of my opponents either doesn't scan, or scans but doesn't catch my siege tanks and goes in for an attack, my siege tank simply does its job and wipes out the opponent's army. Well, I present to you the three "Siege Tank Moments" that I've initiated throughout my time on StarCraft II.

The first one here involves one of my opponents, NutsAndGums, a Terran player, overconfidently attacking me after scanning me without catching my Siege Tank behind my wall and army. The result: exactly what you would expect to see. The worst part? He had 20 men in contrast to me only having 13...

The second one here involves another Terran player, Eric, who hesitantly attacks me and scans me while doing so, resulting in him losing all but his siege tank to my two siege tanks at my base.

If you thought these moments were hilarious, you ain't see nothing yet! Here's the third Siege Tank Moment, where during the 3v3 match, one of my protoss opponents, DarkilaMasta, carelessly and cluelessly moves his stalkers near the Xel'Naga tower where my siege tanks and guess what happens!!

When Will Some of My Allies Ever Learn?

If you are familiar with StarCraft II, then you will get the idea of what I'm trying to speak of. If not, StarCraft II is a strategy-based game that in which you try to develop your economy so that you can use it to build your army and try to take out your opponent's base before they can destroy yours with a variety of attacks, including pushes and quick attacks known as rushes, albeit at the cost of economy.

Okay, let's get to the real topic. Seriously, every time I see an opposing Probe, SCV, and/or Drone go into our base, it may imply the imminent rush or scouting. Well, I did a 3v3 random battle against three opponents (Terran, Protoss, and Zerg races) who actually implemented rushes against us.

I swear, I saw a probe come in and warned my allies about a possible photon cannon rush. I too, scouted my base and I saw not a cannon rush, but a proxy bunker rush. Oh my goodness, it's time I need to prepare my marines... now.

Before I told my allies about an incoming proxy rush, one of my allies, RickyRicardo (Zerg), actually listened to my warning and scouted his own base, only that he was not cannon rushed. Too bad. GreatHorde (Protoss), my other ally, ignored my warning and simply went on with his void ray build order.

As the bunker rush was commencing, all of us got some low-tiered units ready and immediately started to take out the proxy barracks and eventually the bunker, along with the 2 opposing SCVs that were there. Unfortunately, the zergling rush also came and we had to deal with that rush as well. Thank god for my own scouting that rendered these rushes useless.

But wait... remember how I mentioned that GreatHorde neglected my warning about a possible cannon rush? Well, just merely seconds after we disposed these two aforementioned rushes is when the worst happened: my warning and prediction came true. This is what the dialogue was like when GreatHorde was unfortunately successfully photon cannon rushed:


KentYingYang (me): I warned you guys!!!! :P
RickyRicardo: lol
RickyRicardo: yeloow... (Referring to GreatHorde)


I swear, I was literally like "@#$#$%# it!!! I thought I told you guys to scout your own bases to watch out for rushes like these!!! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Okay, GreatHorde does indeed try to fight back... but unfortunately about 4 photon cannons were already there, with 2 pylons next to them. Crap, it's too late, it was already about 6 minutes into the gameplay and he just barely notices the cannon rush and the probe responsible for the rush. Darn, he loses all his units to that rush along with his probes. I tried to get in the base to dispose the rush, but seeing that there were too many cannons for me or RickyRicardo to deal with, I had to leave him to be defeated. GreatHorde left the game afterwards, leaving only me and RickyRicardo to carry the burden of the battle with us.

That's not all, as we tried to strike back is when we saw that the opposing Terran player had actually built proxy barracks, bunkers, and missile turrets next to the entrance... oh wow. That's seriously your response? I am no guest to that, I've done this before with my best friend, Bryan Kitchener, when we did 2v2 together.

Anyway, because of two failed rushes, the opposing team did indeed fall behind me and my surving ally (RickyRicardo), and we just simply disposed that opposing team via carefully repeated medivac drops, MMM, mass roaches, mutas, and brood lords.

When will some of my allies learn? When will they learn to consider my warning and scout their own bases to make sure no rushes are implemented? This isn't the first time I've had to deal with such issues. :P

Blissey as the Co-Captain for my Pokemon Team

June 19, 2011, 2:00 AM-

Ryan Samii, when you saw my Pokemon team montage video, you disapproved me from adding Blissey to my team. Guess what, I have largely confidential information of why she's so important to me.

That's because, it just happened on this very day.

One night, I was on a five-battle losing streak after seven battles when I battled on Pokemon Battle Revolution online against random players. Believe me, it was hell I went through.

Blissey's role was finally made clear during the eighth and final battle of the night for my Pokemon team.

I was battling against an opponent named Irving (his team consisted of Arcanine, Latios, Dialga, Gengar-shiny version, Deoxys-Speed Forme, and Shaymin) for the second straight time (first time he trashed me). Literally, he used the same but different combination of Pokemon for this battle. He sent out Arcanine and Latios first with Deoxys and Gengar as backup.

As for me (my team consisted of Palkia, Kyogre, Blissey, Gengar, Metagross, and Gyarados), when I lost against him the first time, I had used Gengar and Metagross first with Palkia and Kyogre as the backup. The second time, however, I sent Blissey out in place of Gengar.

It all started with this: I immediately withdrew Metagross and sent out Kyogre in his place when I sensed that Arcanine was going to use a fire attack on him. It worked because his Flare Blitz did nothing on Kyogre. Meanwhile, Latios used Ice Beam on my Blissey, but she took the hit too easily. Afterwards, she used Thunder Wave on Latios to paralyze him, allowing easier opportunities for us to attack as Latios was slowed down from this paralysis.

After multiple Ice Beams from Kyogre and Blissey took down Latios, even after Latios attacked Kyogre with a Draco Meteor, Arcanine kept attacking with Flare Blitz, only on Blissey this time. In the process, Blissey paralyzed Arcanine after Gengar came in. Arcanine took out Kyogre with an Extremespeed, but Gengar fails to kill Blissey with a Focus Blast in spite of its super effectiveness, leading to Gengar being paralyzed by Blissey as well. Blissey made matters worse for Irving by using Softboiled to heal herself.

Palkia then came in and quickly took out the paralyzed Gengar with a Spacial Rend, while Arcanine exhausts out Extremespeed's PP due to Palkia's Pressure ability and the fact that he absorbed these attacks with ease. Deoxys came in and even his Thunderbolt failed to kill Palkia, leading to him taking out both opposing Pokemon with a Rain-boosted Surf due to Kyogre's Drizzle ability that left the rainstorm going even after he was taken out.

What was the difference? My pokemon team had a huge disadvantage over speed since all four of the Pokemon I battled against were all faster than my entire team except for Gengar. With Blissey's Thunder Wave, the speed disadvantage was eliminated as paralysis reduces any Pokemon's speed to one fourth of its speed stat.

This is why Blissey is important to me, because faster Pokemon tend to really wipe out my team with ease!

Lookback at UCLA Freshman Year

June 22, 2011

This is it, the one you've all been waiting for. My reflections and memories of what I'd like to remember the most from UCLA freshman year.

I'm fortunate enough to live comfortably with my fellow D10 friends, or Dykstra-10 friends. If you don't know what D10 is, it's another name for 10th floor (top floor) of Dykstra Hall. I know the quality is not as good, I still loved living there because of the key things:

-View from the top, where you can actually see the Pacific Ocean, Westwood, and UCLA Medical Center!
-All my friends, including especially my roommate and best friend, Bryan Kitchener
-Close proximity to the main campus compared to the other halls I could have lived at

Ah, do I miss my friends dearly. I'll never forget about talking with them so much! We need to reunite at Sproul Hall or Sunset Rec!

Sure, UCLA is hard, especially their engineering program! I barely survived Physics classes without a strong prior background in high school! I guess the only things I'm generally okay with are just Math and Chemistry. After, all they are my favorite subjects! Gosh, I hate that you have to all of sudden change your way of thinking, something I am not fully transitioned to quite yet...

Next time I watch sports, I'll for sure get a DENS pass to see the football and men's basketball games! It will definitely get more tense for next year because I'm going to be clashing with half of my Utah friends who all go to the University of Utah! So much for the prestigious conference we are in right now...

Los Angeles is nice, and I might even live here if I find a job after college! I just love the weather and climate here. How the heck did I go from a relatively quite capital city (Salt Lake City) to living in a bustling large metropolis (Los Angeles) directly next to Beverly Hills and Hollywood?

Anyhow, I shall just enjoy my summer in LA before I return again to Utah for a month before Fall 2011 begins. I can't wait to see all my UCLA friends again when Fall comes!

Famous People/Friends who know Famous People

May 6, 2011-

Here I am, living in Los Angeles in the Westwood Village, having come all the way from a relatively quiet suburb of Sandy City, Utah. How many people have I met who are related to, know, or are famous people?

Before I even moved to Utah, I knew just three. There's no doubt, just three.

These people are Danielle Shurtleff, daughter of State Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. she went to the same middle school and elementary school with me. I also had classes with her during those times. The other is one of my best friends, Jeffrey Bennett. For those who were in ALPS program or Hillcrest High School, you know who he is related to. For those who weren't, he's related to US Senator Bob Bennett. (Jeffrey, I hope I am not flattering you too much about this.)

I also saw Sarah Hughes in New York City, when I visited in 2005.

What about now? How many more people have I met who have these distinctions of being linked to famous people since moving to Los Angeles?

Actually, tons.

Here are some of them. Two of my friends, Kory and Kristian Kiraly, are related to famous US Olympian Karch Kiraly by father-son relationship. My best friend and roommate, Bryan Kitchener, was a high school classmate to Taylor Lautner, which should be interesting if you watch the Twilight series.

You've also got Chanell Heslop, who's related to both Mitt Romney and Orin Hatch. And there's Kaitlyn Williams, who starred in Akeelah and the Bee, if you know that film.

Wait, is this all? Of course not! You forgot about the UCLA athletics teams. Some of them are celebrities even before college. And don't forget that about one of my earlier posts when I went to see the premiere of No Strings Attached! I saw so many more celebrities from that premiere!

Gosh, I guess this is true, about how Miley Cyrus describes her first experience of Hollywood. Living the LA life has indeed been crazy so far. Yet, I'm having fun at the same time! MLILA (My life is Los Angeles, thanks to my friend Daniel Kaplan, who first used that acronym).

Did I forget? I am jealous of Daniel for meeting up with Anthony Rapp, who had one of the main roles of the film adaptation of Rent!

From Tuesday, September 11, 2001 to May 1, 2011

May 1, 2011-

Today, on Sunday May 1, 2011, is the day, I shall reflect both my experiences on what happened that day, and my experiences on the day that I first heard these attacks. Let's start with what happened that Tuesday, the day of the 9/11 attacks.

Tuesday, September 11, 2001: 9:15 AM, to September 15, 2001-

I remember that we, as 4th graders, were on a field trip headed to This Is The Place heritage park and Hansen-Clark Planetarium for the day, until all of a sudden when we were on 600 south, we turned back to Granite Elementary School after an official announcement that the trip had been cancelled. I thought we got into school trouble at that time. At first glance, whilst we were on Highland Drive, near my house on the bus headed to those aforementioned locations, I heard noises and shouting on the bus radio saying something about some kind of plane crash, although I admit, I was fairly dumb at listening skills at that time, so I couldn't understand from that situation.



Okay, why did we stay outside of the school for a recess that lasted for 2-4 hours? I was really confounded by why this was the case throughout the day. It wasn't until I got home after school that day, that I would hear the worst of the news occur to us: The World Trade Center (both North and South Towers) was attacked and destroyed by hijackers of Flights 11 and 175, respectively, who were all associated with al-Qaeda, led by Osama Bin Laden. In addition, Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, and Flight 93 went down into a field in Pennsylvania.



What happened after this? No survivors, but utter catastrophe not only in these attack sites, but also throughout the world as they see the surviving superpower of the 20th century get besieged by these disgraceful and violent terrorists. If you are a Christian, you can certainly call that the Judgment made because of the chaos that followed after these attacks triggered an enormous disaster and social apocalypse.

As I lied on the sofa, listening to more worse details about this unexpected and unprecedented tragedy, I shouted out in a rage against whoever was responsible for these attacks. The next few days involved us writing journals about what it was like to experience such events. There, I condemned Osama Bin Laden and his organization (al-Qaeda) for what they did to us. I admit that I supported George W. Bush for his bravery and intentions of wanting to go after this organization. That's what American Patriotism is all about. It was time to wake up and try to preserved the peace that supposedly existed after 1990.


May 1, 2011: 7:59 PM, to May 2, 2011: 11:39 AM-

It was 7:59 PM, the day I would normally return to my dorm quickly to watch The Amazing Race, as that would normally air around that time. Just as I got there, however, something peculiar and fascinating had happened. History has been set in stone... just now.

OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD.



That's the headline I saw immediately on CNN news when Bryan's TV was on, with Jessie, Mariam, and Ryan Chung all there to listen to this moment. Becky also came over to watch The Amazing Race, but she too, decided to watch this breaking news as well.

Blimey. I really said it, blimey. I was like, is this true? Did we really find him? I admit that I performed a very close scrutiny to make sure this news was for real since many other news that reported his "death" before today had been all, but a conspicuous deception.

As I listened on, I heard that this was confirmed reportedly by DNA testing and/or facial recognition techniques. From there on, I texted to pretty much all of my close Utah friends about this news, starting with Jeffrey. Actually, I can't believe that he hadn't known about this until I told him, since he always would find out about significant political (and international) news before I would. I'm glad I did let him and his family know about this, since this was a huge news he needed to hear for sure. After all, why not let a best friend know about this too?



Besides Jeffrey, I remember I texted to Albert, David Evans, David Markewitz, Blake, Clare, Annicka, Tyson, Kevin, Nate Leung, Nate Odendahl, Anna, Grace, Sarah, Andy Cheng, Nino, and Daniel Kaplan about this historical moment and their opinions about it. I admit, I am jealous of David Markewitz, since he was there in Washington DC at the White House when this happened. If you know him, look on his Facebook profile for his pictures of him being there to witness and celebrate history with other GWU students and DC people. I guess it was the right decision for him to attend George Washington University in the first place!

I saw from CNN images of American having patriotic celebrations in New York as well, especially at Ground Zero and Times Square. I admit, I wish I were in any of those places to celebrate.



I also wrote my Facebook status about this, and blimey, I think the whole site was going ruckus for hours just because of this headline. I was going to do my homework and watch The Amazing Race directly after dinner, but I ended up staying on Facebook for 4 hours, reading LA Times, NY Times, and other news about all the details about this story. Luckily, I was still able to do the homework I had to do and finish it. I later watched The Amazing Race online the next day.

I admit, every one of my UCLA friends were going crazy and celebratory about this remarkable news.

Unfortunately, though, I did have a fallout with one of my Facebook friends from just this political moment. Parissa Azar, one of my Brighton friends (formerly I shall say-both officially and on Facebook), just de-friended me after I posted my status about my happiness at his demise. I was insulted when she commented that he was nothing but a scapegoat. What a typical supporter she was. When I looked on her profile to see if her wall was open and that she had said her opinions on this historic event, is when I found out that she was Facebook purging nearly everyone who celebrated and supported Osama's death, directly after expressing her condemnation of the Americans for their involvement in the War on Terror. Come on, it wasn't our idea to go in the war in the first place! What an idiot she just became from just this moment. Sure, she's not un-American, but she's a pseudo-American from just saying that she hates this nation today. Where was her American pride all of a sudden?

You ask me what my thoughts were from this event? There were tons of reasons why I am elated (and relieved) from this news. One, one of my fun field trips I could've gone to was cancelled because of his implemented attacks. Two, he has done so many wrongdoings to the entire global society. He was responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center attacks, 9/11 (obviously), 1998 US embassy bombings, and the spread of radical Islam via al-Qaeda beliefs that caused more trouble (in a negative sense) than it was worth to worldwide peace. Not to mention, he didn't just indirectly kill 3,000 people from just the 9/11 attacks, he killed thousands more innocent lives (including even moderate Muslims) from other events including bombings! I know it looks like we had no right to kill anyone, including criminals. But, we had to either capture him, or kill him to make the world safe for democracy in the words of 28th US President Thomas Woodrow Wilson. Ever heard of that saying before? In addition, ever heard of the quote, "The license to kill?"



Finally, with Osama's death, the balance is shifted within al-Qaeda. I know the War on Terror will continue even with this event, but this is a significant progress in our quest to preserve freedom for all. After all, al-Qaeda was not Islam, it was radical Islam. Like what George W. Bush and Barack Obama said, War on Terror was not to fight against Islam in the first place.



Speaking of which, Obama made the best speech he has done in his presidency. I'm glad he made key points including the one I said in the preceding paragraph. He didn't celebrate the victory, of course. He instead explained the real meaning of Osama's death by connecting this with a tribute to the fallen and the victims of 9/11 attacks. That is what a true leader does. That is what a Nobel Peace Prize winner does. This is a credential Barack can never share with anyone else. This speech reminds us that he truly did deserve the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Barack Obama, you officially regained all the support that I lost with your success of finding Osama Bin Laden with a well-coordinated plan, as well as from your speech. I hope you will win the 2012 US Presidential election a year from now.

Give props to the George W. Bush administration as well. I may not like the 2005-2009 administration, but the 2001-2005 administration is the one that established the goals of War on Terror and went for attacking al-Qaeda as a retaliation against Terrorism. Bush was able to unite everyone in the world together in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. This is what a true American patriotism is.

After today, I shall say this, in the name of the victims of the 9/11 attacks: LONG LIVE AMERICA.