Friday, October 20, 2006
Ill-Fitting Genes
First thing first,
I wanna see a medical doctor who's techno savvy. We have CT Scans, Heart Transplants, Neurosurgeons...but a doctor who writes, without using MS Word? I wanna see a doctor who not just saves people's lives but also people the torture of having to decipher his hieroglyphics of a handwriting. A doctor who uses a laptop, types in his prescriptions and sends the them to the nurses via MSN. That'd be awesome. Otherwise, there'll be no way we, advanced genetic biomedical scientists, who one day may come up for a cure for cancer, would want to be associated with people who still thinks mechanical pencils are cool.
That said, let me move on.
I've got a Major Sucky Week forecast coming up. While people in my home country are busy with their Deeparaya holiday plans, i'm stuck here having to figure out what testis size have to do with the mating systems of non-human primates. And on top of that, i'm hit with another bout of depression. And to top it all off, my eczema condition just got worse (no thanks to steroid treatments). It's crazy how this whole thing started off with just another bad itch and culminating into me not being able to
Frustrated with my condition, I then googled and found out that apparently, my eczema problem is actually a disorder caused by a genetic mutation (MUTATION, baby!) This gene mutation then causes the depletion of a protein called filaggrin, which is normally found on the outerlayers of the skin and functions to form a protective layer at the surface of the skin that keeps water in and keeps foreign organisms out. So, without this layer of filaggrin, there is an impaired formation of the skin barrier foreign substance can easily enter the skin and cause a inflammtory response. "Leaky" skin, as they called it, nicely complements my "leaky" brains.
Skin with filaggrin antibodies
My skin
(Images courtesy of www.mattek.com)
And apparently, since it's genetic, one of my parents must have been carrying a single gene mutation for filaggrin and would experience dry and flaky skin (hmm...i wonder which one). Moreover, the only way to completely annhilate eczema is to undergo gene therapy, which would take years to be developed and decades to be approved of. I'd be my own grandchild by then.
Sigh...at least this will answer the age-old question for us eczema sufferers :
WHY?
(doesn't quite answer "Why me?" though)
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Paying the Rant
Singapore is a funny island. While the rest of the world is trying to move forward from the dreadful shoulder pads, big hair and synthesizer music, this country is experiencing a full-fledged 80s revival. From horrendous mambo music and and brain numbingly stupid dance moves come wednesday, this place makes you want to stuff pentiums into their heads and burn the patent leather. It's insane! Everywhere you go, from radio stations to iTunes, Belinda Carlisle and Bananarama incessantly jam their fugly tunes into your head. And they are annoyingly catchy and stay in your head for longer than you want them to. *WohoOooh, square rooooooom* They have resurrected the undead, zombified music of yesteryear. Ugh, just makes you want to ban hairsprays.
Talking about the (un)dead, i just realised that almost nobody actually reads this blog of mine (which is ironic since i'm still posting this). It's almost like a ghost blogtown, where the occasional unlucky reader wanders off the beaten track and stumbles upon this ruin, gets turned off by it's distasteful postings and writer, and scurries along to greener pastures, vowing never to make a return. Which is also great in a way, since i can therefore have the liberty of ranting and complaining about almost everything and everyone and not get blasted or sued or banned. But c'mon, why then would i want to have a online journal, accessible by, ahem, the entire world, if not for the fact that i want to let known my rants and raves?! I have an ego to serve, and a pretty huge one at that too. And in fact, i never really got to getting myself one of those site-meter-thingamabobs because i'll definitely be crushed to see a number lower than my IQ.
So then, what should i do to lure more people into this dying blog of mine? Well...
For one, i will post more frequently, even though that'll mean something like :
I had chicken sandwich for lunch today and my lecturer said that testosterone is a handicap. Therefore, i'm thankful i'm not a guy, nor the chicken. The end.
And seeing how some blogs boost their ratings by posting rolls of (provocative) pictures in it, i'll jump on that bandwagon too, and come up with more of something like :
(Sorry dude, it's the most 'provocative' one of myself i can find. Not a 'provocative' person.....ahh......so THAT explains the non-existent blog ratings)
So there.
That should boost some ratings.
And if it doesnt, it goes to prove something else : You're currently wearing a purple top with shoulder pads of an NFL player paired with patent red pumps, listening to "Heaven is a Place on Earth" and chewing gum. Oh, and if you look in the mirror, you have a puffed-up fringe and badly drawn fuschia lipliner. Groovy baby.
