I’m back

I totally forgot I still have this blog…How time flies!!

Two years have passed since this blog opened. And I left it barren for two and half years. How things have changed. I already moved out of the first apartment I lived. Haipeng had come from Florida as my boyfriend and gone back to Florida as my fiance.

2015 has just started. I will cherish every moment with my friends and my lovers. Continue challenge myself and explore knowledge as a Ph.D student. I’m not a good one but I will try harder. I promise to give an update once a month. It’s always good to keep track of something as a person with poor memory..

Keep going!!!!!

shot in US virgin islands, St. John, the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been.

Good science must be clear and easily understood

Everyday I have to read papers, either related to my current research or just supporting materials from my classes. Today, I read three papers on convergent evolution, and I found that the paper written by my mentor is the most clearest and well organized. I love that paper and I read carefully, following his thoughts and logic, and finally get to know the ideas. Another paper just made me totally lost and wasted my time! I should take my mentor as a good example. I swear I will not write anything that’s ambiguous and I will strive to make things clear and easy to understand.

Good science should be able to tell people a story, with integrity and logic. I don’t like some of the huge projects ongoing. With the advent of Next Generation Sequencing and low cost to do various sequencing, biologists begin to pile up data. And they publish paper by simply displaying of their data. That’s the least of what biologists can do. When will be the next paradigm shift in biology? Yamanaka has won his Nobel Prize today, but his finding has already been accepted and broadly developed.

Though I have non finished projects that can be shown to others, at least I have several guidelines that I want to follow. Firstly, I don’t want to play with data. Secondly, I want to tell a good story.

Mid-Autumn Festival

It’s Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday. I don’t know why western culture doesn’t have similar holiday. When we look at the biggest and brightest moon on that particular day, we will think of relatives that are far away. We share the same bright moon, even if we are not together. This emotion is somehow inherited, and can be traced back to ancient times, thousand years ago.

Since I came to US, I first realize that I’m totally independent. I like that feeling, which you can decide everything on your own. The first time I feel that I separate from my original family, one that I live with for 22 years. It’s like you finally have a pen to draw your own picture, mostly white now, or imagine the whole picture after you finish drawing. When I was a little girl, I like fairy tales that ends with this, “They live a happy life ever since”. Will I end up with this? Really life is far complicated than that. Happy life requires everyday effort. We always disregard the process and admire the agreeable result.

There is an ecological conception, “niche”. Each individual, after making different choices, will find their own niche, that best suits them or simply is fine with them. No matter it’s great or small, you’ve got to create your own.

When asked about my favorite quote from a movie, I wrote, “Forest, run!”. I couldn’t forget the scene when Forest ran all the way, conquering all obstacles, and finally to success. Whenever you have a goal, just go for it. You will get what you want, and you are the person who you want to be.

 

The first blog should be “Hello US”

It has been a month since I first landed in Detroit airport. It’s hard to forget the sense of fresh and excitement, when everything around is totally new. The sky is much lower, as you can see the whole sky without any big obstacles. When first entering my apartment, I saw just an empty house, totally empty, with only several appliances in kitchen. And here I start——a brand new life!

 

I saw an old Chinese couple taking walk together, as I took picture of my new apt. Don’t know if I will be one of them in future. What a harmonious picture! I love this small town at first sight!

There is only one change. Everything is on my own. I make decisions, I take care of myself, I try to be responsible for others. I think I’m grown up now!