You'll Never Walk Alone

The Champions League final 2005 was certainly a night to remember. Perhaps the best European Cup final of all time? Tears of despair changed into tears of hope and again transformed into tears of pure, unadulterated joy on this roller coaster ride. Miracles DO happen after all. This game will be surely be talked about for generations to come.

Liverpool Football Club, Champions of Europe!

Liverpool was painted Red as an estimated half a million fans lined the city streets for yesterday's victory parade. Football crazy (or should i say dedicated) fans the British are...

AC Milan got off to a quick start, with Maldini scoring within the first 50 seconds. Things went downhill for Liverpool from there, and the score was a humiliating 3-0 to Milan at the end of the first half, and two players suffered injuries. Drastic changes, Rafa!

the mood at halftime...

Drastic changes were made, and just 9 minutes into the second half it began to turn around... Goals by Gerrard, Smicer and Alonso in 6 short minutes of madness!!!! AC Milan 3, Liverpool 3! Who would have thought it?

A worthy captain heads in the goal that triggers the amazing comeback...

30 minutes of extra time. Players were running on empty, but Liverpool hung on for dear life... The oft-criticized Dudek made a super last ditch double save off Shevchenko (European Player of the Year 2004) dubbed 'the real hand of God'. You should have seen it.

The much dreaded Penalties. Dudek the hero again. His Grobbelaar-inspired "starfish with jelly legs" impersonation saved the day, and Liverpool beat AC milan 3-2 on penalties. What a comeback!!!! You too could learn to "Du the Dudek". =P

the final save that won the game... (nice thighs...hee)

and so a miracle happened...the world was painted red.

..and we all lived happily ever after.

The heartstopping drama was well worth it... (damn stressful to watch the game ok!!)

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.....

running out of room
My room is the champion of all messy rooms. I would take pictures of it to prove my point, but it's gotten so bad that i even feel paiseh leaving my door open. Somehow i just always have piles of books, clothes and plastic bags all over the floor. I need more shelving and cupboards, so that i can stuff whatever is on the floor inside and pretend that it's all nicely packed away, and that i'm in fact a good, clean and neat person. My parents are the neatest and most organized people i know, so why did i turn out this way? I want neat genes. Hopefully i can do something by the time they get here in 2 weeks, or else.......endless nagging! =)

Here's a picture of my old dorm room (see the potential already?):

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Weather outlook for tomorrow super blah. Weather.com shows this huge green mass (meaning rainclouds) moving up and into the Bay Area. I wish i would suddenly disappear into nothingness, but that's not how things work. And it's already May. So how about some endless California sunshine? Grrrr.... I hope the weather holds, and i get to go for the windsurfing class i signed up for through Cal Adventures. They have a certain adventureship program where for a measly 100 bucks, you get windsurfing, kayaking and sailing lessons...and free rentals! Yep...have to squeeze in as much as i can before i graduate. =) I've attended 2 days of the 4 day-sailing course, and it rocks! I can now sail a 2 man boat round the little cove at the Marina. Ok, not much of a skill to crow about...but the views of SF, the bay and the Golden Gate are just spectacular. Oh, and capsizing and righting the boat is SO MUCH FUN...even though the water was freaking cold. My partner and i just couldn't stop laughing and giggling while freezing our butts off. Water makes xiao so happy. This has to be one of the best things i've done here in Berkeley.

ole ole...to good weather days
I'm spending yet another afternoon in lab. Indoors. Seriously, how many hours do scientist and researchers while away in the lab just waiting for for invisible molecules to interact with other different, but just as invisible, molecules? Stripping a membrane takes an hour, blocking it another hour. Incubating it with a primary antibody takes two hours, and secondary Ab yet another hour. And those are just waiting times. And so many times, after you invest what feels like half your life doing an experiment, one step goes horrendously wrong, and you say byebye to your results. It can be frustrating completing an experiment, much less duplicates of multiple experiments. We should all be thankful for those good natured, fluorescent-light-loving scientists who spend their days and nights running experiments and killing animals for the good of mankind. One example is the italian expert that sacrificed his life identifying the SARS virus currently going around the world. My parents have always dissuaded me from doing microbiology, in fear of such an outcome. well, no matter what field of biology i pursue, i really hope that it brings some good to the world. I didn't choose to do bioengineering because of the government, i chose it for myself. Although i didn't really know what i was getting into, at the end of 3 years, i'm real glad that i chose to take this path. Bioengineering allows me to do basic biological research, and yet apply it to solving everyday needs. Stuff i'm interested in now: tissue engineered cardiovascular or liver tissue. I'm excited about the coming year. Let's see where it takes me. =)
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On a different note, i spent lunchtime in a corner of La Val's at northside with 40 strangers, brought together by the live Real Madrid - Man Utd game. (i'm sure half of you will stop reading this entry from here on =P) Although not a fan of either team, I was just curious to see if the hype surrounding the game could live up to expectations. It was pretty awesome. Awesome Real Madrid scored awesome goals. But what was more interesting, was watching the other watchers. It's pretty rare to find so many people in a pizza joint, sitting in front of a huge TV, watching not baseball, not basketball, not american football, but real english football. There were some who came in, glanced at the TV, then sat facing away, focused only on lunch. Those were the americans. Then there were those who brought throngs of friends and added to the atmosphere. Those were Spanish. Also, there were British (my ex-math TA!) and Brazilian and Indians. Pretty cool huh? It was like the I-house had moved to northside. =) It's always fun watching soccer with people. The "ooohs" and "aaahs" really do make a difference. If only i had someone to watch soccer with...*sigh* too bad fellow liverpool fans are a tad far away!