If you hear a massive sound of possibly an automobile accident a few blocks away from your home, do you

a) ignore it and hope no one is injured
b) go out with phone in hand ready to call 911.
c) ignore if it is in the small hours of the night/morning but go out and investigate if it is earlier.

What do you do? I often hear terrible sounds from my flat. Sometimes I have gone out with phone in hand and found nothing and sometimes I have ignored them and felt terribly guilt-wracked when I have heard fire-trucks a whole 15 minutes after.

What do you all do?

Yes, and I am bored to death of rains in what is supposed to be summer.

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PS: If you have not watched Bleak House, you should. There are fewer series as wonderfully done as this adaptation and Gillian Anderson is absolutely flawless as Lady Dedlock.

Is Lindt 85% Dark chocolate.

It is probably the only chocolate bar at Walgreens (@Delaware & North) that does not have cloying amounts of sugar and soy lecithin and whatnots that yuck-ify all dark chocolate.

It would have been awesome had they carried the 90% Lindt or even the 85% Valrhona, but they don't. So in their whole dark chocolate inventory, Lindt 85% easily stands heads and shoulders above all the rest.

And yes, I have now sampled each and every single dark chocolate bar they carry or have ever carried (some of them multiple times) so I declare myself a Walgreens (@Delaware & North) dark chocolate expert.

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PS: I admit that I am not a Walgreens (@Delaware & North) expert in chocolate bars other than the dark ones - because I think all non-dark chocolate is mediocre by definition.

I was recently reading an article about how birdsong influences the expression of small RNAs called... microRNA that in turn, influences gene expression.

It's absolutely fascinating. If you think about it, everything happens with gene-expression. Every little sound or image or any sensory input we receive from outside changes and temper the way our genes express in an ever-changing interaction.

I wonder what an intense episode of stress does to our immune-system related genes... Does it promote allergic reactions? Does it suppress the immune-system in a counter-productive move? I have this slight inkling of a doubt that this year, my escalating stress, nightmares about graduating and complete lack of restful sleep day in and day out is probably the primary cause of all my out-of-the-blue allergies.

I have never had allergies to ANYthing before. I usually cope with stress well... but then I have also had family around me in the past to buffer most extreme stressful times. I have sailed through most 40 hour shifts with nothing more than sore throats in the past. But I think if I had to do those shifts now, I would fall seriously sick. Things have changed so much.

So coming back to microRNAs, I wonder how microRNA influenced gene-expression charts the course of body physiology and especially, immune-system function. Sounds like an excellent future avenue ripe for investigation - especially since we can knock some of these microRNAs out with drugs...

Puts her spin on Charles Dickens

I saw no shadow ...
I saw nooo shadowwwwwwwwwwwww ...
I saw noooooooo shadooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwww ...
of another parting ...
from her.

Someday I want to find out if I can belt out a simple operatic tune. Maybe when all this messy academic phase is past and I am a decade older (and not dead or sick with cancer and chemotherapy-related side-effects) I want to take some voice training and see how long I can draw my breath out into a loooonnng note in tune.