Letters to a Persian Cat

Ghazal,my Dear,

Are you allright ? I was waiting today to hear you proposing “Lets drive further, does not matter where, just to get away from the dark sky over Munich and find a place further away where the evening sun is shining.” You are always very disciplined, Ghazal, you could be a bit more crazy, honestly. I think I was very crazy when I was your age (my poor parents, what they had to go through).

It was a pitty that today you did not even accepted some flowers that I was ready to pick from the field. I got the feeling you were not very happy today at all.

Just to bring you some humor befor you go to bed: I found a nice theory about the reason for the right- and left-handed button-ridge on mens versus ladies shirts: They claim it has the simple reason that men always dressed up themself (would be easier to do it on a right-sided buttons), whereas ladies had their servants helping them to dress and close the buttons on their shirts and dresses. For somebody who stands oposite you and has to do it, it would be easier if the buttons are on the oposite side. This theory is extensively described here:

O.k., I know you might reject this theory arguing that today no lady has servants to help her dress up any more. Well, Ghazal, don”t forget it might equally be relevant for the moment that a lady wants to take off her shirt. And here, servants or not, she can still expect to have some assistance from her partner.
Hope you don”t find my permanent desire for explanations slightly psychopathic and naughty. In this case, I have to apologize. But in general, there is not much else to feel guilty of. Therefore, sleep well, dream with passion, relax and wake up happy again.

Michael

…………………………………………………………………………….

hi michael,

yes i am disciplined.. always been kind of. i am happy, just did not have energy to go out and pick some flowers. i think the ones we picked before were very nice:)
its an interesting theory this as well, i liked the other theory about the men with the sword.

have a good night and sorry for the bike. did not know it was just a tiny problem.

/ghazal

…………………………………………………………………………….

Ghazal, my Dear,

I like so much reading some words of you. And it helps to understand. You are fascinating, and a hidden romantic, thats my conclusion when I read that you like the sword-theory. By the way, do you know that the mythological arch-angel Michael was equipped with a sword?

And that he was the ass-h….. who kicked adam and eve out of the garden eden ? Reading about him in Wikipedia one gets the feeling he was like the head of the police force, absolute inhuman.

I hope you don”t draw any conclusions from this, my Dear, Sleep well

Michael

Ghazal my Dear,

Did you had a nice Sunday. Hope you discovered some exciting new subjects from the books or papers you read. I would be very keen to share what you read. I like very much to learn from you about some new developments, like recently about the UV-induced melanin regulation. (Today in the mountains I tried my best to protect from the strong UV in high altitude waering a huge hat and sun glasses).

Write me that you are happy, this will make me happy as well.

Enjoy the evening, the night and your dreams.

Michael
…………………………………………………………………………….

hi michael,

did not discover a lot of new information. just tried to write down some about chernobyl for my thesis. im not quite sure about what i should have in the thesis. i put up some subjects to write about, but dont know if it is enough or maybe not necessary.
but UV is good also, to get vitamin D or something. so everything is good in a normal amount. but its best to protect yes.

have a good night and see you tomorrow.

ooh, for the homepage, persian-cat. could you make it private? because if you search for my name on google you will find it on the first page.
thank you

/ghazal

……………………………………………………………………………

Hi Ghazal, my Dear,

Nice to hear from you.

I”ll give you some stuff about the motivation for the Thyroid Project tomorrow, so you might use it as “raw material”.

I”m very sorry with the blog having risked your privacy. I tried to avoid any hint for outsiders to identify you. I simply forgot to remove your family name from one entry. I removed it now right away. Sorry again for this. I will check tomorrow if Google still finds the blog by searching your name.

Sleep well, don”t worry my Dear.

Michael

Ghazal, my Dear,

Are you o.k. ? I haven”t heard anything from you since Friday. Please write some words, so I don”t have to worry. I understand that “… you grown up and can take care of yourself:)” , but anyhow I just like to hear you are happy.

Take Care

Michael .
……………………………………………………………………………………………

hi michael,

yes i am fine! hope that you are having a good time with your sister.

take care

/ghazal

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Hi Ghazal,

Relieved to read you are allright. We will make a short trip to the mountains today. In case you want to join, give me a call. We will leave at around 11 a.m.

Anyway, enjoy the day, my dear.

Michael
……………………………………………………………………………………………

hi michael,

sounds good. hope you will have a nice time there in the mounatins. i will try to study. but thanx for asking.

see you tomorrow.

/ghazal

Hi Ghazal my Dear,

Have a nice weekend, relax. If you need something, write a message or call. I hope you understoud that my remark from yesterday about “supervising your good behaviour in the public” was ment to be a joke.
Later on, when we were sitting on the S-Bahn platform it appeared to me that you are in fact much more responsible and experienced in everything you do than I am. In fact, I feel a sort of safer and protected when you are there. Strange it is, I can”t explaine.

I think of you

Take Care

Michael .

…………………………………………………………………………………..

Ghazal, my Dear,

Hope you had a nice sunny day today. In the morning Prof. T. contact me requesting to invite all current M.Sc. and former M.Sc. students to meet a lady from Fridericus-Foundation to say thank-you for her support. I could only give him O”s mobile-number. I assume you are not too disappointed that you missed this “unique opportunity” talking about the course on a Saturday morning.

Are you at home now ? Did you watch the Insomnia-movie ?

Maybe the sun made you tired. In this case, sleep well, relax, take a night flight in your dreams (or a night drive, if you prefer).

Michael

Ghazal my Dear,

Usually I hate the S-Bahn for never beeing on-time. Today I hated it for beeing on-time for the first time. Why couldn”t it come an hour late ? Or better not coming at all. I feel very bad leaving you alone, it was such a nice evening. I never thought that it is possible to talk to somebody so easy and openly. You are not an ordinary girl, Ghazal. You are full of mysteries, which are mysterious perhaps even for yourself. If you feel you are not like everybody else, don”t worry. You will overcome all odds. Don”t fear anybody, you are strong enough.

Sleep well, send some words, if you are still awake.

Michael

…………………………………………………………………………………..

hi michael,

yes it was on time, but had to wait a long time anyway, 17 minutes or something. dont feel bad for leaving me alone! im grown up and can take care of myself:) but thank you for always being so caring and nice to me.

i always think im ordinary. everyone is special in its own way.

sleep well, and have fun with your sister and her children. hope your son got good grades.

auf wiedershen (know its the wrong spelling)

/ghazal

Dear Ghazal,

I will arrive a bit later today, since I have to do these PhD interviews.
In case you changed your mind and would like to apply in the last moment, I”ll be available through Skype till 10.30 (Skype contact “michaelr….”). But be aware: I am an awkful and very mean examiner !!!! ;-}

Michael

……………………………………………………………………………………

Hi michael,

good luck with the interviews!
so you mean that this is my last chance to apply. haha dont think we need an interview. think you know me that much already.

see you!

…………………………………………………………………………………..

Hi Ghazal

Am 30.07.2010 10:22, schrieb F….., Ghazal:
> Hi michael,
> so you mean that this is my last chance to apply.
There is never a last chance. That”s at least my firm believe. Although, one should always try to take a chance every day,
sometimes you also have to be patient and never give up.
“Take the bull by the horns” or as the old romans use to say “Carpe diem”.

> haha dont think we need an interview.
Thats right. I think we have a never ending interview already runing since March this year.

> think you know me that much already.
>
I know you a bid. But I also think that I discover something new on you almost every day. For instance your preference for Sauerkraut, which came to me as a complete surprise.

> see you!
>

Auf Wiedersehen, Mrs. F…….

Ghazal my dear,

Hope you arrived well in Unterschleissheim. Just for your interest, and maybe to be used for your PhD project in Stockholm on UV-radiobiology, I found a nice review article explaining how UV-exposure upregulates pigmentation through tanning.
What seems to be essential are the UV induced Thymin-Dimers on the DNA of keratinocytes. Through P53 (as usual), pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) is expressed and quickly converted into a-Msh (Melanocyte stimulating hormone). This is released from keratinocytes and binds to a Melanocortin1-Receptor (Mc1r) on melanocytes. They, in turn increase the production of Eumelanin (the brown-blackish pigment characteristic for tan). The only thing I still don”t understand is why a P53 response after ionising radiation causes other cellular effects (like cell-cycle block or apoptosis) than after UV-damage ? Somewhere, there must be a specific pathway.
What is very interesting, it was shown that treating skin simply with thymidin-rich DNA induces tanning itself (without the detrimental side effects of a UV exposure). But to be honest, I don”t understand the desire of people to get tanned at all. It looks much more aristocratic beeing pale, don”t you think so.

Are you going to watch the Insomnia movie tonight ? I remember it is a rather slow movie, with long camera settings and nice pictures.
Absolute the oposite to yesterdays action film. I”m afraid you might fall asleep, since it is so slow and tranquil. Would be an absurd thing, if you fall asleep during a movie that is about sleepness.

You know what is funny: Your ex-watch (now it is mine, o.k.) runs on the second since you gave it to me. I just contemplate whether it would be possible to permanently link the two watches with each other by a “telepathic extrasensual connector” (sounds to technical to you, my dear ?).
Have a look at this artikel on a phenomenon called Quantum Entanglement. If this works (what I hope) we could stay connected even over long distances by wearing the same watch at the same time. I agree that sounds weared, sounds like a plot for a movie even more weared than the one from yesterday. I don”t want to cause you headache, my dear. Just sometimes my phantasy goes wild. To be honest, I just want to keep the watch as a memory.

Enjoy the evening

Take Care

Michael
……………………………………………………………………………………

hi michael!

thank you for the article. so interesting, so the thymidine dimers gives the tanning. so strange. yes, why does p53 react differently with ionisin radiation and uv-light. well they give different dna-damages. so that is probably how it recognize how to react. but why it reacts differently is a mystery. it looks nice to be tanned, on some people. i think i look best when im tanned. but i dont mind being pale. both is nice.

i dont think i will watch the insomnia movie. i just woke up. but i will save the movie for the week-end maybe. i bought two sauerkraut (think its called). i ate one whole package today! it is so nice. they still dont know which car i will get. but he said that 99% audi a3. i would be soooo happy if that is the car. so just have to hope until wednseday.

the thing with the watch seems very complicated! my watch works on the second right now. but maybe it needs time to slow down, we will see.

have a good evening.
/Ghazal

…………………………………………………………………………………..

Ghazal my Dear,

Maybe you are right that P53 can sense differences between the various types of DNA damage (strand-breaks vs. Thymidine-Dimers). P53 has a whole range of different peptides, that can all be phophorylated or otherwise activated. In theory, this could than (in response to different types of DNA damage) also transactivate different target genes (for instance P21 after IR and POMC after UV). But to my knowledge, this is yet speculative. You see, still many exiting things to discover for you (I think I don”t have to repeat how much I”d like to convince you to stay here for a PhD).

About tanning: In addition to the accelerated skin aging, I prefer pale skin from an aesthetic point of view. In your case, it most attractively contrasts with your dark hair. Stay as you are, Ghazal. There is nothing in you to improve, honestly.

When I brought you home yesterday night you asked about the different phrases used in Germany to say good-bye. I hope, this was just a general linguistic interest, rather than the feeling that you have to prepare for a farewell from here. Please, no unneccessary thoughts.
Just for your “scientific interest”: the most offical “Auf Wiedersehen” is very nice in this sense, since it implies not a long, but only a temporal absence. You translated it quite right yesterday with “See you again soon”.
“Tschau” comes from the italian “Ciao”, short for “Arrivederci”. I guess that the german “Tschuess” is derived from “Ciao”, but is mainly used in the north and it is rather neutral and un-personal. You can say “Tschuess” if you leave a Shop. What is a special south-german / austrian phrase is “Servus”, which comes from “to serve” and means “I will serve you”. It is used both as a greeting as well as for farewell. Sometimes used in literature with a slightly melancholic connotation (for a sad farewell).
The english / swedish “Farewell” means something for ever, I think. It originally means “Happy Journey” or so, from the old-german “Fahre wohl”. I hope we”ll never have to use such a terminal phrase, my dear.

Sleep well, dream well, smile, if you want (good luck with the Audi A3)

Take Care,

Michael

Ghazal, my Dear,

Did you arrived well in your apartment ? I was waiting untill I saw the light going on behind your window, so I could be sure that the stairway up to your apartment did not twist in an endless loop as in the movie “Inception”. Ghazal, my dear, I was so happy to hear that it was not my personal ignorance that gave me problems to fully understanding the sense of the movie, but that you had some doubts as well. To be honest, our talks and ideas about dreams and how they influence our ordinary life seemed to me much more original and exciting than the movie.

However, I want to say thanks for the nice time you tolerated me on your side and for smuggling me into the cinema as a student-mate, and thanks for the sunshine before the movie and for showing me the moon-light later on.

Take Care

Michael

Hi Ghazal my Dear,

What are you doing on such a wet day ? Same procedure as last evening I guess. Why are you so quiet again ? It was a pitty you left so quickly today. I got the feeling you wanted to rescue the last piece of bread from my hungry mouth, didn”t you ?

The rest of the week will stay wet and unpleasant, unfortunately not a good time to go out for a walk. But we could go to the movies ones again, or to an exhibition or concert. I hope you are not tired by my invitations. I still hope that you propose something.

Please write some words before going to bed.

Take Care my Dear

Michael

PS: Whether you believe it or not, it is the same person that writes you the e-mails and that is around in the institute during the day. And I”m not schizophrenic, just try to keep two spheres of life separate. I know it is impossible,but at least I can try to give the impression to the outside..

…………………………………………………………………………………..

hi michael,

did you return your thing ?
i love the bread. i still have it for tomorrow. no you could have the bread, did not know that you wanted more.

i was looking on uv light and melanin production.. i still think its the melanin production that is increased. i mean, normally they produce less, then when it is exposed to uv it increases. but i could be wrong. i asked dag jenssen, hope he answers.
u can have a look at this abstract, i couldnt get the whole article.

we could maybe do something on friday, or thursday.

have a good night!

……………………………………………………………………………………

Ghazal my Dear,

It is o.k. with the bread, I liked it but could not eat much more (like with chocolate).
Thanks a lot for the literature search you did about the problem of UV-induced gene regulation. You are so careful, I did not expect that someone else would sit on the computer right away and try to collect some informations. Thanks once again. I”ll read the articles tomorrow, because my WiFi at home is a bit slow today.

Do you have an idea already what you”d like to do Thursday or Friday. Whatever you dream of, I”ll be happy to guide you. A weared music pub,an avantgard jazz-club, a posh disco, a fine movie, restaurant (if you want I”ll stay for the whole evening with you at McDonalds). I”ll be happy to go with you anywhere. Just outdoor activities will be difficult, due to the rainy weather.

Sleep well,my Dear

Michael

PS: In principal, I personal don”t need the split between scientific day-work and privat evening relation. I love both, I really love my work, Ghazal, and I think science can also give big spiritual satisfaction, same as the time and the conversation with you after work. I don”t see a contradiction between the two. Maybe for you it is different, I try to respect this and try to make it feasible for you. Don”t want you to hate me at the end..

……………………………………………………………………………………

Ghazal ,my Dear, you are indeed an Angel doing night-shift work !!!
If I understand right what you put together about UV-exposure and tanning, then it is indeed an upregulated melanin-production rather than a proliferation of the melanocytes. But then, as discussed today on our drive to the Uni, there must be a melanin-promoter that respondes to UV light and switches on the melanin-gene. I just cannot imagine this has not been identified and cloned so far.
We will check tomorrow.

Have a good night

Michael