Yes, Goodbye

Here we are: the end of freshman year. I can't believe it's here already.

Some reflections:
Holy crap. College. I made it. I'm here.

That was the opening sentence of my first blog post as a college student. I was really excited back then, ready to begin a new chapter in my life. 9 months later, I feel like I've learned so much, and that I've been more exposed to real world (then again, compared to the bubble back in Cerritos/Whitney, any exposure is significant). I've cultivated meaningful friendships with some of the greatest people I've ever met, and I've bonded so much with my suite, collectively called "The 3312." (refer to 2 posts ago) So socially, I have definitely grown.

Academically, college has actually made me question my career choice, even if slightly. I've always wanted to be a doctor, but Bio and Chem in college was so much harder than I expected. There was just so much work involved, to the point that some of my friends told me that, in their view, I had disappeared off the face of the Earth. Is pre-med really worth the work involved? We'll see next semester, when I'll have to deal with O-Chem...

As this school year wraps up, I thank all my friends for their contributions to this wonderful experience I've had during my first year at USC. I look forward to seeing you guys again next year. Have an AWESOME summer!

Also noteworthy: Yesterday was my 1-year anniversary of this blog. Thank you, Blogspot, for constantly being there for me, both through my happiest and my saddest moments. Thank you for providing a medium through which I could express my thoughts and emotions. You have been an indispensible part of my life for the past 365 days.

Unfortunately, I believe I have found a better companion for the future: Tumblr. Please forgive me, Blogspot; I know you have been faithful for me, but I feel that Tumblr shall better serve my purposes from now on.

It's not you; it's me :P Goodbye!

Goodbye?

Why must my life constantly be parallel with Scrubs?

I finally got a chance to watch the season finale (DONE WITH FINALS WOOT), and it really made me emotional. Just as Zach Braff is leaving the show, in a few days I will be saying my goodbyes to my friends at USC.

More to come later.

3312 Pride

Today, I went out with my suite (most of it) for a suite dinner. We decided on Kushi Shabu in Little Tokyo, upon Bryant's recommendation.

I won't retell what happened, because I believe I took enough pictures for that. Still...significant thoughts:
1. Props to Brian for ordering unlimited Shabu for himself, then violating restaurant rules by dishing out the beef to us when the waiters weren't looking.
2. Still can't believe that even after looking at Kevin's and Elton's IDs (we said it was their birthdays), the waitress gave us a $20 bottle of champagne.

Final thoughts (someone a repetition of what I said during one of our toasts): 3312, thank you for making my transition to college such an unforgettable experience. Many people I know complain about their roommates/suitemates, and they ask me if I have "roommate problems," to which I reply, "What's that?" You guys have truly been my closest friends for the past 9 months, and I gratefully appreciate how quickly and closely we have bonded. I will never forget the 3312 experience.

Regurgitation

First off, congrats to the Lakers for a solid Game 3. You're finally beginning to play with more effort rather than relying solely on talent.

From this blog post: http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2009/5/7/867864/making-sense-of-these-lakers?ref=yahoo

I have been waiting for the Lakers to "wake up," as though the realization of their or the shock of a loss that shouldn't have been would instantly motivate them, transforming them overnight into the team they are supposed to be. But that's not going to happen. Like me in high school, they have a particular skill set that allowed them to succeed in the regular season. It wasn't necessarily about playing their best basketball, it was about what it took to get the wins, and for the Lakers, it took less. Like me, that natural talent allowed them to slack off, and they weren't forced to work as hard as other teams to establish good habits and patterns. But in the end, these are things that they are going to need, if they want to attain the highest level of success — an NBA championship. Now, the ease with which they sailed through the regular season threatens to bite them in the ass.

The problem is that they have 82 games worth of bad habits to overcome. Just as it has been so hard for me to become a disciplined person, with well-developed time management skills, after such a long time of getting by without, so too will it be a struggle for the Lakers to find the motivation and self-discipline to play at a high level on both ends of the court. It's not going to happen overnight.

And this is why I'm thankful for the Rockets.

Second...I cannot believe how much Bio I absorbed between 4pm and 2am yesterday for today's Bio final. I'll now regurgitate as much information as I can from what I studied, just because I can.

By the way, this is completely from memory.

Osmoregulation and Excretion
Excretion involves three things: filtration, reabsorption, and secretion. The general formula is "Filtration - Reabsorption + Secretion = Excretion." The functions of the excretory system include regulation of water, regulation of ions, maintenance of osmolarity (these three constitute osmoregulation), maintenance of blood/plasma volume and blood pressure, elimination of toxic wastes, and secretion of the hormones EPO and Renin.
Side note: Urine is yellow is because excretion involves the massive destruction of RBCs; hemoglobin recycled except for the heme group, which is ripped out of the RBCs, after passage through the liver and kidney, the heme group becomes a yellow pigment.
Anatmoy: The afferent arteriole carries blood to the glomerulus. The efferent arteriole carries blood away fom the glomerulus. The vasa recta consists of the capillaries that wrap around the loop of Henle. Blood flow through the vasa recta is opposite of that of the loop of Henle, in a process called countercurrent flow.
Glomerular filtration: The capillaries of the glomerulus is wrapped by podocytes, which are flattened epithelial cells of the Bowman's capsule. Blood leaks through the porous capillaries, through the filtration slits of the podocytes.
Osmotic gradient: Osmotic gradient begins in the proximal tubule at around 300 mosm/L. Osmolarity increases as the filtrate moves deeper ino the kidney. At the bottom the loop of Henle, osmolarity is around 1200 mosm/L. This usually involves the juxtamedullary nephron; the cortical nephron lacks the long loop of Henle.
Reabsorption in proximal tubule: The sodium-potassium pump plays the largest role in reabsorption; it is the only form of active transport here, and powers all the other processes in the epithelial cells. Other mechanisms involved include the potassium channel, sodium dependent cotransporter, and aquaporin channels.
Changes in osmolarity: In the descending limb of the loop of Henle, water diffuses out of the tubule due to a high osmolarity in the interstital fluid. The ascending limb is not permeable to water, but osmolarity still decreases because NaCl is reabsorbed by the vasa recta. The NaCl is used to maintain the high osmolarity of the interstitial fluid that surround the ascending limb.
Regulation of kidney function by ADH: This negative feedback system is stimulated by an increase in plasma osmolarity. This stimulus causes the hypothalamus to secrete Antideuretic Hormone, which increases the permeability of the lower collecting duct, therefore increasing its capacity to reabsorb water. To end the system, the hypothalamus stimulates thirst, which increases blood osmolarity.
Regulation of kidney function by Renin Angiostenin Aldosterone: This is another negative feedback system, and begins with the

Okay screw this -_- Another day.

Where will amazing happen this year?

Way too cool.

Final countdown

One final down. Two more to go.

+5 focus
+10 perseverance
+500 intelligence
+1000 luck

-999999999 distractions

Interesting...

The 50th annual stilton cheese rolling competition, held in Stilton, England.

Didn't really see that one coming.

History in the making

Something I stumbled into (taken from an article titled "2008-2009 Top 5 NBA MVP Candidates," written in October 2008):

LeBron James also has a great shot to win the 2008-2009 MVP this year. However, a key thing to winning the MVP is getting 50 or more wins. Cavs will not get the 50 wins, for the simple fact that Mo Williams is not a huge upgrade or as a matter of fact not an upgrade at all. Mo Williams is a decent shooter and scorer, but he is not going to help the Cavs win ball games or as a matter of fact help LeBron get easy shots. Williams is not a playmaker at all, he is just a one-dimensional player who just scores the ball. It is not easy to make an improvement from being a scorer one year to a playmaker the next. James last year had one of the greatest statistical seasons ever last year, but he did not win MVP for the simple fact that his team was not able to get more than 50 wins. The Cavs have a chance to win 50 games, it's a possibility, but it is improbable.

HAHA. I don't like the Cavs, but I still find this hilarious.

Game 7 tonight. BULLS BABY. (just because Brian and Kevin are from the CHI)

SIR

Wow. One year ago today, I signed away $50k/year.

Thank goodness for loans. Massive amounts of loans.

I love chemistry

pentamminechlorocobalt(III) chloride

bis(ethylenediamine)dinitroiron(III) chloride

tetraamminediiodoplatinum(IV) tetraidodoplatinate(II)



I sure love coordination compounds. -_-

Unspoken communication

HAHAHA. Enough said. Don't hate; I didn't draw the comic.

What a n00b

Jialin is, by far, the funnest/funniest girl to play videogames with.

Hands down.

Evan (while playing Brawl): Jialin, where are you living next year? Car[dinal] Gar[dens]?
Jialin: SHUT UP EVAN I'M GAMING.

HAHAHA.
Final K.O. against George was way too hilarious.

It's a fight

Yesterday was my last day at JEP.

It was pretty slow for the first half-hour. A girl named Katisha then showed up, needing help in math. None of the other tutors moved to acknowledge her, so I stood up and told her I'd tutor her.

Her reaction after I introduced myself to her: "HAHA OH SHIT! Janet and Sienna are gonna be pissed off when they come!"

Janet and Sienna are the girls I normally tutor for math, and I later found out from Katisha that during school that day, the two had called dibs on me. Sure enough, when Janet and Sienna showed up, they made a fuss about how Katisha had stole me from them.

It felt good that I have had a positive impact on my students, that they do look forward to seeing me each week. I am going to apply for a paid job next year, so that I will be able to continue tutoring them.

Making a difference, even for a couple people, and being able to shape their future, is definitely one of life's greatest rewards.

It's time

Judgment day.

My ID card

On Saturday, I lent out my ID card to Kyle to let him into the Hawaii Club Lu'au, and unfortunately he lost it on the way back. He was really sorry, and gave me $20 to buy a new ID card on Monday. Still, I was bummed that I would be crippled for the weekend, since the card office was closed on weekends.

Yesterday, a girl Fb-messaged me, saying that she had my card. I was totally not expecting anything regarding my ID card, and I initially thought the "card" was referring to a greeting card, confusing me even more.

My response: Hey, I feel embarrassed for asking this, but remind me where we've met again?

Apparently, the girl lives on the floor above me, which is pretty random, since the Lu'au was located across campus in McCarthy Quad. Eventually, I learned that she is also a pre-med student, and is also a French horn performance major, and also enjoys Scrubs. I mean, what are the odds, of meeting someone who is so similar to me like that? And over a lost ID card too. Weird...

I love my mom

From: Mom
Subject: Love/Food for ya
Date: April 15, 2009 10:57:37 AM PDT
To: Kevin Nguyen

Hi sweetie,

Mama saw on your Facebook that my baby K is single now. Aawww sweetie, I want to hug my baby to make you feel better. I am home today, so just tell me if you want me to hug you in person, ok sweetie? What happened between you and ------? Did she get mad because you went to the USC Spring Fling instead of prom with her? Just know that you're still very young, and in the many years ahead of you, you will be bound to find someone else, a girl that matches your personality and loves you through the bad times and good times. Any couple can sail thru the good times. It's the rough times that defines a relationship and tells you if you and your girlfriend can make it for the long run. Remember what you went through with -----, and know that this rough time with ------ will pass, and you'll find another girl to be happy again in the future. We all learned from our experience, both good and bad.

I love ya, Kevin!

Mama

The end of something beautiful

Unbelievable.

Worst Day

in a long time. My entire body is trembling. When's the last time I was this close to crying?

Sweet memories will last a long, long time

One more month!

CAN YOU SAY, COOL?

This short movie (almost 10 minutes) is really interesting, and simultaneously really moving. All the Architecture students wish they had this technology at their disposal.


World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.