We decided to take a short trip to LA to enjoy some movie magic and Korean food for Spring Break. Melody was on call Saturday and I had a conference in San Diego. So I flew out first to give my gene therapy talk at Sonoma Eye, stuffed myself with Yangzhou cuisine at Hometown Taste, then slept through the afternoon and stayed late for the evening gala at the hotel. On Sunday morning, I joined Melody and Westley at LAX Hertz to drive to Sun Nong Dan for their breakfast seolleongtang special. We then explored the California Science Center to learn about fire safety, body functions, ecosystems, and space travel, which ended with an inspiring IMAX show about the James Webb Space Telescope. After lunch at Jinsol Gukbap, we explored gundam and K-pop paraphernalia at Koreatown Plaza, and indulged in a kream spanner and kream bomb (i.e. cube croissant) at Le Kream. Our Airbnb apartment was in the same building as our prior K-town visit, just a short distance to MDK noodles’ kalguksu and dumplings for dinner. On Monday, our early access and lightning passes at Universal Studios Hollywood helped us skip the lines to enjoy the Mario Kart ride at Super Nintendo World, a wet ride at Jurassic World, and an immersive Harry Potter ride at Hogwarts. The fish & chips and butter beer at the Three Broomsticks were surprisingly delicious, and the $20 mushroom soup at Toadstool Cafe at least got us a Mario mushroom bowl to go. We spent the rest of our visit at the studio tour, Minion Land, and Springfield before retreating home to watch Moana 2, snack on Every Favor Beans, and feast at Soowon Galbi for amazing a la carte BBQ.  We awoke Tuesday to Han Bat’s Shul Lung Tang and Surawon’s soondubu for breakfast and lunch on the way to WB’s Studio Tour. Despite a lackluster trolly tour guide, we enjoyed photographing ourselves on the sets of Friends and Big Bang Theory, and learned about sound stages, green screens, ADR, and sound editing. We wrapped up our trip with kim bap from the oldest K-town grocery store while waiting to board our upgraded flight home. For a 3-day trip, we were glad to have both our hearts and bellies fulfilled.

With my parents still in town, my wife and I were able to take respective work trips to Philly and Miami. Melody’s visit to Independence Hall led her to the National Constitution Center’s podcast, where discussions of DOGE and presidential power helped shed light on the evolving challenges to my own research, including the rejection of my foreign post-doc’s visa and cancellation of the NIH council to fund my new grant. At work, I welcomed a new technician, consoled my overwhelmed grad student, and cheered on a resident at her concert along with our own pianist-in-training. We were glad that Westley adapted quickly to his first set of braces, which allowed us to try out new restaurants like Pho Yummy, Tasty Pot, and Seapot. At home, we continued planning for our spring and summer vacations and competed online for summer camp openings. We were distracted, however, by episodes of The Day of the Jackal and season 3 of the White Lotus, where Lisa’s first acting role contrasted with her rapper persona, and the likes of other Kpop girl groups like NewJeans, Le Sserafim, IVE, XG, and ILLIT. Our other new after-hours obsession has been Baldur’s Gate 3. Larian Studios‘ role-playing adventure faithfully adapted the D&D tabletop mechanics down to the 20-sided die-roll on screen, which helped immerse us in the Forgotten Realm. Along with Astarion, Gale, and Karlach, we set out to rid ourselves of our mindflayer tadpoles, and hope that escapism could help us deal with the growing existential threat to science and higher education.