For the biologists only

I was browsing through some NewScientist magazines (they're so much easier to read, like Newsweek.. rather than those dense scientific journals!) and i came across this really exciting piece of news! We all know that siRNAs are widely used to silence genes.. but.. did you know that they've been discovered to be able to OVEREXPRESS genes as well??? here's an abstract of the article..

Turn genes on, turn diseases off

• 07 April 2007
• Bob Holmes
• NewScientist Magazine issue 2598

THE experiment should have been straightforward. Long-Cheng Li was employing the hottest new technique in biology to turn off genes in cells growing in a dish. The trouble was that the opposite was happening. Instead of blocking production of the protein he was targeting, his RNAs seemed to be revving it up. In fact, levels of the protein shot up fivefold - a massive increase.

"At first I thought there must be something wrong with the samples, that we'd mislabelled them or messed up," recalls Li, a molecular biologist at the University of California, San Francisco. So he had his technician do it all again from scratch - with the same result.

That pulled Li up short. RNA interference, as the technique is called, is supposed to turn genes off, not on. All over the world researchers were using RNAi to turn off almost any gene they wanted, and its ...

I'm so sorry i have no access to the full online version of this article. But the magazine info is there.. so u can still find it at libraries ^_^ It's mainly saying that siRNAs that target promoters instead of the gene itself have a chance of having the opposite effect, i.e. overexpression. This phenomenon has been observed by multiple labs, but some scientists remain skeptical over this issue. There has also been no definite 'fool-proof' method for creating such siRNAs as yet. But think about it. if one day siRNAs can be used to overexpress tumor suppressor genes.. there goes cancer!! ^_^

Has it been so many days since I’ve written something? Have been SO BUSY with my term paper. Everyday come home early to work on it. (sorry bong, if you happen to read this. I need to rush my paper early coz of the conference week)

Today, someone hurtled a very hurting remark at me. It probably wasn’t intentional, but it wasn’t nice to hear, nonetheless. I really don’t see why having to give a packet of free lunch a miss, just because I have lessons to attend, makes me a loser. There are so many things I could have said at that point of time, but chose to keep my mouth shut coz I don’t want to end up hurting someone the same way I was hurt. Ah well.. just needed to get this off my chest. Everything’s still the same as before. ^_^

Challenge

It’s been some time since I last picked a challenge. For the past 2 years, I became rather laid back and decided to just do-well-enough-to-get-by in school. Finally, this semester, I decided to pick up a new challenge. For my philosophy module, I could have chosen easy topics to do. Yet, I’ve decided to write my term paper on the linkage between the Brain and Religion. How difficult can that be, you ask. Yeah, it’s just another 10-page paper on what I can find. Yet, it would be difficult to score when the person grading the paper is a neurologist and a very critical atheist. Thus, I figured that my term paper would need a lot of substance to not get thrown away in the bin. I chose this simply because it’s more interesting, and I do not want to do something boring just because I am more confident of scoring in that area (and guessing that the prof doesn’t know too much in that area to critic too much). As a start of this challenge, I’ve collated 60+ pages of information from the net, and today I went to the library to borrow 10 books! Woohoo~. I’m so gonna be a nerd til the end of November! XD

Presents for guys?

It's common knowledge that it's hard to choose gifts for guys. (Hey guys, APPRECIATE it k) For guys buying things for gals, it's usually a problem of 'don't know what the girl would like'. On the other hand, buying things for guys is kinda tough coz there're so few things you can really buy for a guy with a limited budget! Guys are BORING. haha. So I chanced upon this website that's specially created for pple to buy things for guys. WHOA. WONDERFUL eh? So i dropped by.. and saw.. hmm.. cabinets, workbenches, flooring, garage stuff.. whoaa.. i realize it's really all really 'gifts for him' kind of things! well, if there was a space large enuff for a garage, and i had no limit of $$, then i'd probably buy down everything offered there! haha.. the range is really quite cool. A place only for car-people though. ^_^

*this is a sponsored post*

misunderstanding

It’s funny how people automatically assumed my “publication” meant some scientific publication, when in actual fact it was a story of my life that was published. Haha. One of the pitfalls of how people have identified me with scholarly stuff. It’s getting more and more frequent that people greet me by saying “hey phD student!” or the likes. This was what I really didn’t want to happen, and thus wasn’t ready to tell anyone what my plans were after graduation. Thanks to a few of the FSC members, I was finally convinced that I should have more pride than inferiority regarding what I have gotten myself into. Good thing too, coz I think I’d have to live with this for more or less the rest of my life. ^_^

Life’s a story

And so I started writing (like I ever stopped).. and submitted it a couple of months later. Just for fun, just because I felt like it. And my story got published. ^_^ So now I have an official publication. Hee~

A day of coincidences

Today’s such a wonderful day. I had a gathering with my hall mates, to celebrate jq and rachel’s birthdays. Some people who’d be arriving were people I haven’t met for a few months. Place to meet—Kuishinbo at Suntec city.

Since I was early, I decided to shop around Raffles city. And on my way up the escalator, I happened to turn to my right, and saw yexin going down the other escalator! Yexin’s my jc classmate, and we haven’t met in years!

While having dinner, the few of us noticed the table beside us suddenly filled with an entire plate of sashimi and another plate of crabs. Noone was sitting there (they were off to get even more food). When the gal returned, jueqi gave a loud scream. It was ETeng, her JC softball teammate! And coincidentally, Eteng is also one of the people whom I went Thailand with to play weiqi! So they yaked away, excited at their meeting.. when.. her friend came along with yet another plateful of food. She turned to look at us, and.. “WEIJIA!!!” whoahaha.. it was tzehui, my secondary school classmate!!! What a small world!! And we later found out, ETeng’s bro is Alvin’s (hall friend who was there) friend too! Lalala.. Singapore’s so small. ^_^

Dolly and Alan Colman

‘Twas a really cool day. I realize that I have ample chances of meeting big shots nowadays. Today, my lecturer got her partner to be our guest lecturer. This partner of hers, is none other than Alan Colman, the man behind Dolly the Sheep! And though Alan’s well known for his work on Dolly, he’s done a lot of other amazing work in the past 20 years of stem cell research. He’s now the Executive Director of Singapore Stem Cell Consortium. Ah.. so many big names in Singapore. And I wonder why people still like to say bad things about the guy who managed to bring these people to Singapore. ^_^

Holiday season coming up again!

It's october.. Children's day just passed.. what's up next? Something that affects me more, i hope. haha. Thanksgiving and Christmas are what i look forward to. Last year was the first time i really celebrated thanksgiving, and it was with the Fat Sunshine Club people. At that time, there were only four of us in the group. A year on, we've increased our membership by 75% ^_^. Last year's thanksgiving was really great. We dropped by Estelle's place, baked a lemon cheesecake (topped with lots of fruits), made rosti, feta cheese and olive oil salad.. and had other things like 'turkey', sausages and our home-made chocolate fondue!! woohoo~~ what a spread!! I hope this year's thanksgiving would be as great. Maybe it's time to start thinking of the menu for this year's thanksgiving! haha. BUT, besides food, there're other components to holiday season-- Gifts! You know, gifts can be really fun things, especially when you know the people really well. Yet, they can be such a chore if the people are not as close, or seem to have EVERYTHING! oh well, the saviour is here! With Coupon Chief, you don't have to worry about getting the wrong things for people anymore! and i imagine what i could get for the FSC people with Coupon Chief... hmm..

Bong: what else for the in-house artist, besides ArtGazebo?
CF: maybe something more for her cats from Petfooddirect
Estelle: in view of her soon-to-be driving license.. driving comfort should be the choice =P
Mintea: for the photographer.. Kodak coupons
Fangers: scholastic store for our scholar..
Wyee: Orbitz dealsfor our hardcore backpacker!

Of course, i wouldn't mind getting all of the above for MYSELF instead. XD

guilty until proven innocent?

Had wanted to write about this some time ago, but forgot.. until I read cat’s recent entry. Indeed, some pple are very distrusting, and everyone to them is “guilty until proven innocent”. On the other hand, I prefer to give everything/everyone the benefit of the doubt, being “innocent until proven guilty”. I always thought this attitude of mine to be quite a blessing, for naivety brings a lot of happiness. Yet, for once in my life, it almost led me to a quarrel with a friend. I simply could not understand why she was so cautious about this other person, deeming him to be evil and out to trick her. It was a simple request that seemed all so harmless to me. I don’t know if it was her being oversensitive or me being dumb and gullible, but my not being able to understand her stand led our discussion to become quite heated up. Until today, I still cannot comprehend why people must be so cautious. Why must everyone in their eyes be sly and cunning, until proven angelic? And even when that happens, people might say there must be a hidden motive behind his angelic behavior. There’s no end to it. Sometimes I wish we were in a more unassuming and carefree society..

Personalized things

Pacey painted his own shirt. It’s really nice, and I didn’t even notice that it was made by him! (I simply dismissed it as another branded t-shirt, since he’s got a load of them after the trip to US!) Ah, how I wish I was as talented as him. His ‘sister’ sewed the t-shirt, and he designed it. I ALSO WANT!! I love personalized things. I also have 1 personalized t-shirt that I got from JB years ago. Haven’t been able to make it back there ever since, neither have I invested any creative juices into thinking of how I want my next personalized T to look like. But.. if only my whole cupboard had clothes that only I have.. clothes that are personalized.. that'd be nice..

(Pacey, if you're reading this, can i have a painted t-shirt for my bdae, for thanksgiving, for christmas, for new year, for vdae, for... maybe just 1 every month would do? XD)

Special name?

I don’t know why, but I seem to always get randomly selected to do things. Maybe it’s my name that makes everyone choose me. I can’t think of anything else. Focal discussions with Dean, being school representatives to talk to ministers, sieved out from scholars to entertain guest-of-honors etc. Today I got a new job-- to go for a lunch meeting 2 weeks later with the International Advisory Panel. These people are from well renowned universities all over the world, visiting Singapore for 2 days. ‘Informal Chichat’, they call it. At least, there’s always free food and special treatment whenever I attend these meetings. Haha. Just hope I don’t make myself look stupid! >.<

long overdue fountain..

This was about a month ago, our farewell for Shireen. Chocolate fountain!! enjoy~


The complete family of FatSunshineClub, plus Shireen! 8 very very happy gals. ^_^

Don't i look very happy? DUH. Who wouldn't be, when there's a chocolate fountain in front of them?
And.. after the whole thing, we got to LICK the chocolate right from the fountain!!!! BLISS~

(and yes, see the hello panda? Hello panda + chocolate fountain = heavenly. Coz hello pandas have a hole behind them, thus by dipping it into the fountain, u actually can end up with chocolate from inside and outside!!)

Best Buds

My bro shared this with me.. Really cool.. i wish i have such rich friends too. make an ad for me!! =P

Nike and Tiger Woods have produced a commercial with a cheeky good luck message for Tiger's good friend Roger Federer as he closes in on a potential fifth Wimbledon victory.

First Generation

That's one of the public artworks done by Fah Cheong. ^_^

music or books?

Wyee dajie posed a question one day, “If you had to choose between the 2, would you give up music or books?” It was a no-brainer for me, but I discovered that majority chose the other. I cannot live without music. I listen to music when I’m happy, when I’m sad, when I’m lonely, when I’m with friends, when I’m bored, when I’m stressed, when I’m relaxing.. music is my life~

cheap cheap calling!

During lunch at the market today, reb's daddy kept loitering around our table, chit chatting and talking about various things. He even insisted on buying us bazhang even after we'd had our lunch. We all came to the conclusion that he misses reb (who's away in London for 3 months for training), and thus needs to shower his love on someone else - us.

It's so common nowadays, for people to be flying from country to country, for either work or study. Some cheapo people (like me) insist on free methods of keeping in touch, but other people (especially the older generation) still prefer the more convenient physical phone. Expensive, we complain. But now there're some promotions for international calling cards with amazingly low rates! Virtual calling cards, they're called. Imagine.. 5 full hours of FREE international calling just by signing up with Pingo, a place for cheap calling card! There's also this Special phone card blog discount coupon: “ppp3” valid for $3 off Pingo. And receive $25 phone card for just $17. Alot alot of discounts and offers.. Pingo Mobile helps you save up to 90% on your International cell phone calls. And of course, there's always the benefit of recommending more friends to use this service. Pingo’s calling card affiliate program pays $15 for each new customer you refer!! ^_^ many many many things.. the Pingo business plan, the pingo family plan, Pingo's ratewatcher (that saves you from the hassle of digging through piles of prepaid calling card offers to see if you're getting really low phone card rate).. and my personal favourite Global Phone Card (coz it is applicable GLOBALLY, of course. haha).. all in all, they seem to have EVERYTHING you can possibly want! So.. Pingo's the way to go! ^_^

*this is a sponsored post*

Illusion of That Shrinking Feeling

Was doing some research on the brain, when i came across this. So fun! haha.

The researchers, led by Dr. H. Henrik Ehrsson of University College London, fooled 17 people into feeling as if they were getting skinnier by outfitting them with gadgets that stimulated a tendon in each wrist to create the false sensation that both hands were moving inward.

The subjects wore blindfolds and placed their hands at their waists, and then the stimulators were turned on, while an M.R.I. scanner measured activity in different parts of the brain. For the subjects, the feeling that their wrists were flexing inward was so powerful that they felt their waists had to be getting smaller.

Dr. Ehrsson said he had tried the tricks on himself.
"It's a very funny sensation," he said. "The nose is my favorite. It really feels like your nose is getting longer. You start giggling."

The first time people feel the illusions, "they're very surprised and shocked," Dr. Ehrsson said.

"The illusion happens as a result of a conflict between senses," Dr. Ehrsson said, explaining that the wrists feel as if they are moving, but the palms of the hands, resting against the waist, do not. "The brain has to interpret the conflicting sensory information. The brain hates ambiguity. It always tries to come up with an explanation."

"It's a little bit of a forgotten sense," he said. "We know about touch, pain and position, but the sense of size of body parts has been a mystery. There are no receptors in skin or muscle that tell the brain the size of body parts, so the brain has to figure it out by comparing signals."

He said the research might shed light on anorexia, in which people can be wasting away, and yet still see themselves as fat. Shown body images on a screen and asked to adjust them to match their own size, people with anorexia often overestimate and create images that are way too large.
"They seem to have a perception deficit," Dr. Ehrsson said. "We don't know if it's the cause of anorexia, probably not, but it's clearly part of the problem."

Dr. Ehrsson's finding was not surprising, since other studies had shown that people with brain injuries in that area had sensations suggesting that the sizes and shapes of parts of their bodies had changed.
Also, in rare cases, people with migraine headaches suffer from the "Alice in Wonderland syndrome," in which they feel as if parts of their bodies are shrinking.

The full article is taken from the NY time here.

Life outside the lab

At first glance, it just seemed like my university days were just school, hall, lab and nothing else. Didn’t do anything for the country, didn’t achieve anything big, didn’t live a worthwhile 4 years. Even my lab also nothing to be proud of. But, as I sat there at my first sculpture meeting today, I realized, I actually did a lot outside my regular schoolwork.

My resume.. has an ultra long list of things I did in uni. From all the committees I was involved in hall (pageant comm, environmental comm, production comm, writing comm, block comm, orientation comm), to the sports I was involved in, to the committees I was involved outside hall (funkamania, some other nation-wide video/photography competition).. it was in uni that I tried out various ministries in church like chijmes/youth/thai too.. and there’s the wonderful exchange at Penn.. ivy league university wor! So I think.. maybe.. it wasn’t too un-eventful bah. Haha. Probably just my final year that I stopped all outside activities.. and that seemed to me an entire lifetime. Haha.

So what sculpture meeting was I at today? That’s my newest commitment. I, together with 4 other students from my school (ultra long name of NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering) are gonna join the other 13 faculties in making a batch of 14 marble sculptures, that will be displayed in the new NUS Alumni House. Sculpture, means designing it and really chipping pieces off to make a sculpture lah! Haha. Sounds cool eh? My commitment for the next 4 months. ^_^ And of course, there’s a professional sculptor to guide us lah! It’s our alumnus, Fah Cheong. Today then I know that his art work is everywhere in Singapore.. the pieces in front of NUS cultural centre, some piece in Toa Payoh central, and the most popular one is the boys jumping into the water in front of Fullerton Hotel! That one I’m sure most pple have seen. Now I can proudly say I know the guy who made that! ^_^

Hotelreservations.com

This year seems like a "traveling year", where every single FSC member went on holiday. From Shanghai/ Beijing/ Chengdu/ Jiu Zai Gou in China, to Tibet, to Taiwan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Korea, and most recently Bintan. What a load! So amidst the hoo-ha and everyone leaving and returning with gifts and foods from everyone around the world, i sit here and surf (fine, i had my fair share of holiday.. but i miss it!).. Hotel Reservations. It is one of the more user-friendly travel websites, where it covers all services ranging from hotels, motels, flights, cars, to whole vacation packages.

I've checked out the airline prices at this webby.. compare compare.. since i had recently flown to quite a few countries AND booked these flights myself, i decided to check out the range of airlines this webby covers, and the price range it offers. (Well, being cheapo and more importantly POOR people, i just had to do this. compare and try to find the best deals.) I tried a whole range of countries, from various states in the United States, to Taipei, Shanghai (pudong), and even Tibet. The results from the search... showed that the range of airlines covered by this website, is comparable to many other travel websites. However, the price range is only average, being comparable to most websites, but not providing the best promotion rates.

Then.. there's the don't-bother-to-plan-your-holiday section... 'vacation packages'!! haha.. the easy way out eh. And i must say.. i was truly amazed at the wide range of holiday destinations these webby covers!! The whole list of cities/countries.. took me so long to scroll and decide what place i wanted to check out! And the hotel list given.. is as extensive as the country list! whoahaha... this is really quite good.. and it's ultra user friendly, with pictures of all hotels provided! i love it manz... it's really like a one-stop travel planner! With regards to the prices, they're quite normal. Nothing too exaggerating, but at the same time no ultra cheap prices that are too good to be true. But since the prices are average, and the hotel/country list is so extensive, i pretty much like this site now!! ^_^ Strongly recommended for anyone who's planning a holiday! ^_^ Doesn't matter which place you're heading to.. they have it! (At first i thought that the website would be more established for common travel destinations like US and Europe only.. but i discovered that it had some really exotic places.. more than 1410 destinations!)



Ah. so where should my next destination be? would it be Christmas in London? Or would it be my long-awaited Thailand trip after picking up Thai so many years ago? Or maybe.. just maybe.. something more exciting awaits me? ^_^

Eye Candy or Eye Meat? XD

The MIT Media Lab's John Maeda lives at the intersection of technology and art -- a place that can get very complicated. Here, he talks about paring down to basics, and how he creates clean, elegant art, websites and web tools. In his book Laws of Simplicity, he offers 10 rules and 3 keys for simple living and working -- but in this talk, he boils it down to one simply delightful way to be.

gifts that make me happy

Little things that people give, out of no apparent reason, make you happiest. Just because, we’re friends.

Something from Shireen, whom I’d heard of for a month before I met her in person. Friends for 2 weeks before she left for Cambridge. It’s now on my lappy.. I see it whenever I use my laptop..

I place this on my desk, and it’s the first thing that greets me every morning when I awake. My own smile makes me smile. HAHA

achievements

After looking at my friend’s list of achievements in his life, I realized that I didn’t lose too much to him. But.. somehow.. he seemed much more achieved in life. Why? I realized.. in the first 20 years of my life, I took part in more things and achieved more. I excelled in everything—琴棋书画— the equivalent of everything that an educated Chinese child should know. However, 小时了了，大未必佳 (to excel as a child doesn’t mean one would be as great in later years). Indeed, ever since I entered university, everything stopped. All my performances/competitions stopped the very moment I stepped into NUS as a student. I quit everything when I was at my peak. I stopped playing the piano right after I passed Grade 8. I quit playing Go/Weiqi right after I returned from my first international competition in Thailand. I stopped dancing after winning countless trophies (and $$). I stopped drawing after I won the silver and bronze medals in international competitions. Even Olympiads and other international competitions in Maths/Science found their way out of my life as I grew older. Countless talents, countless achievements.. but those are part of the past. 20 years of glorious past, 20 years of limelight. Rather short, given that I will probably live much longer than that. Oh well, instead of wondering why I gave up all those at that time, I’ve decided that.. I’m happy where I am now. Being a normal person.. I do miss the adrenaline rush of competitions, and the limelight of performing on stage at times. But at least, I’ve experienced all those before. Nothing lasts forever. Nothing is eternal. The only exception is God’s love. ^_^

missing it...

2 years after i last met a friend, he suddenly appeared on the news, and facebook suddenly found him, thus i revisited his webpage. It's so nicely done up now. plus, there's a blog on his new life at Stanford. It totally reflected the life i had early last year. Miss the university life in US. haiz.

where’s the problem?

Yet another one. Through the years, multiple people have complained to me (directly or indirectly) about our problem. It’s prominent, it’s there, it’s never left us. But.. what can we do about it? We learn from it, we try our best to improve. But, we’re still humans. We can never be perfect, no matter how much we strive to be. Yes, I admit, maybe we didn’t try hard enough, thus there’s still a lot of room for improvement. And because of this, we did not lose just 1 friend, but more. So what should we do now, what do we need to do, so that this will not happen again? And.. is it just my thinking, or does this seem to always happen to someone around me?

Sigh. Can someone do something about this? Coz I really dunno what to do…

Winterfest in Knoxville, TN

Really nice video.. just need 5 minutes of your time.. thanks weilin for sharing this with me ^_^

in remembrance of tibet

i hang this on my hp, an accessory from tibet.. something to remind me every moment of the day, how simple life can be..

Chestnutties Foursome

Yeah, tt’s how cat called us. Our new name. Only 4 of us left. But I really enjoy meeting up with them every once in a while, and I’m sure they feel the same too! Arzhou, Pacey, Cat and I. Maybe cat’s right. We can do this regularly (lunch together). Have Vietnamese food often enough before pacey graduates and COOKS US A BIG MEAL!!!! ^_^

(yay~~ I’m the first to blog about this. Lalalala~)

distance

From 7pm channel 8 show today..

“the most heartbreaking distance, is when 2 people from 2 entirely different worlds come together, grow closer, fall in love, but end up returning to their 2 respective worlds, as far as before”

How true.

Love Song...

Was watching the 7pm channel 8 today, when i heard a familiar song..

There is none like You
No one else can touch my heart like You do
I could search for all eternity long
And find there is none like You

The male lead was playing this song on the piano, and singing it for the female lead. Wonderful love song indeed.. but i wonder who placed it there? The TV producer?

It's only when we listen to the other half of the song, that we know who this song was really written for..

Your mercy flows like a river wide
And healing comes from Your hands
Suffering children are safe in Your arms
There is none like You

written by Lenny LeBlane

News-worthy friends

I got a huge shock when I saw the advert in Straits Times today. It said that this guy, Lo Min Ming, was featured in Zaobao today. This guy is someone I knew from sec school, and even went overseas together for competition 6 years ago. A couple of years ago, we met again and he told me he’d just completed his poly education, and had been offered a scholarship to Stanford U after he finishes his NS. I didn’t know that this would make the news 2 years later, after he’d served his NS! Haha.. how would I have known that my friend’s life would be so news-worthy?! Told JQ about it.. she blamed me for not telling her earlier, if not she could have been the one who took up the job of interviewing him! Haha.. maybe now I should open my eyes wider to notice who around me has lives that are news-worthy..

FEH-llowship

Somehow, everytime fewer of us Footprints meet up, we end up having such a good time. I really wish more pple would be able to benefit from such wonderful time together, time spent bonding, time spent sharing.. (and time gaining weight. Share the fats lah! Haha) Really thank yiwen, Stacey, vivi and pbgb for the time and effort. Had a really nice chat together while doing up the board! Looking forward to more such Saturdays spent together ^_^

Al-Hamra

Al-Hamra is a Lebanese, Middle Eastern Restaurant situated along Lorong Mambong in Holland Village (the stretch with Wala wala, NYDC ). We went there to celebrate Min-tea's birthday, and were given a special offer of paying the set-lunch price, but getting a sort of ala carte serving of various dishes to share and try amongst all of us! It was cool...

The appetizers.. so many types! Most of us still liked the humus most.. ^_^


The main course. With lamb chop, chicken kebab and all sorts of other meat.. it all tasted SO GOOD! Totally worth it.. $20 for the entire set of appetizers, main course, drinks and dessert!


Only thing i didn't like, was that the food was a wee bit too salty. Not noticeable while eating (as the wonderful taste of the food simply distracted us), but we were all gulping down water my the litre the rest of the day! haha..

I signed up for PPP!

It's been a couple of months since i've signed up for this.. PayPerPost (aka PPP) thingie. Not like i'm a hardcore poster like some others.. (who thus end up earning thousands of dollars, literally, each month.. i bet they take this as a professional career!) Instead, i only blog about certain things that happen to interest me.. henceforth.. i get only enough $$ for tea from my blog posts. haha. well, tea isn't that cheap where i work! Each drink can cost 3-4 times more than some other places! So don't undermine my "coffee money" yeah. haha. But the interesting thing is, though i am asked to post blog ads about various places, i noticed a trend in my posts... i tend ot post about holiday destinations and things related to traveling!! and in the process, i discovered i've learnt much more than i've contributed! Now that i've got more knowledge about some online webbies on booking airflights, hotels etc, i'm all ready to travel! All thanks to PayPerPost! ^_^

iSight

iSight's really cool. Like neoprint machine! But i shan't make it an excuse to want to buy a mac. No, i won't.

We think.. (pencil function)

AH HAH!

Return of the Gal Band!!

There're so many functions. Here're a few. I'm lazy to upload more.. like the 'glow', the 'x-ray', the 'comic book', the 'thermal' etcetc

reaching out to the unreached

Today’s sermon was on evangelizing to the people who have never ever heard of the Word in their entire life. Majority of these people reside in the 10-40 window, which means between latitudes 10 and 40. Suddenly, I thought of someone from this group that I could have spoken to. I had made a friend with someone whom I doubt has ever heard of the Word. And amongst this group of people, it is probably very rare to meet someone without a language barrier, which was what happened in my case. I was really looking forward to making a good friend, but I must admit that at that point of time, I didn’t think of evangelizing to him. I wish I did, for I had ample chances if only I had noticed them. It’s such a great pity that we’ve gone our separate ways without me able to make this encounter a more meaningful one. I hope that the next time I have such an opportunity again, I will make full use of it. ^_^

Donut Factory

My sis brought back donuts from donut factory last night. That's my first time having donuts from there. On normal days, this would probably have made me ultra excited.. but she was so late.. that my mum actually came to tell me "hey, your sis is coming back with donuts from donut factory. you cannot sleep until she comes home" Oh well.. so i stayed up just to eat the donuts. They were really great, i must admit. Just that, being way past my new bedtime of 11pm (hey! i have to wake up at 750am ok), that was all i remembered of the donuts. haha. I guess sleep is more important than food then! ^_^

What Mary Didn't Know

Well.. I must admit that my class is quite interesting, but at the same time it's really confusing! Here's a short excerpt of the readings we have, and the kind of discussions we do..

What Mary Didn't Know.** Mary is confined to a black-and-white room, is educated through black-and-white books and through lectures relayed on black-and white television. In this way she learns everything there is to know about the physical nature of the world. She knows all the physical facts about us and our enviroment, in a wide sense of 'physical' which includes everything in completed physics, chemistry, and neurophysiology, and all there is to know about the causal and relational facts consequent upon all this, including of course functional roles. If physicalism is true, she knows all there is to know. For to suppose otherwise is to suppose that there is more to know than every physical fact, and that is what physicalism denies.

Physicalism is not the noncontroversial thesis that the actual world is largely physical, but the challenging thesis that it is entirely physical. This is why physicalists must hold that complete physical knowledge is complete knowledge simpliciter. For suppose it is not complete: then our world must differ from a world, W(P), for which it is complete, and the difference must be in nonphysical facts: for our world and W(P) agree in all matters physical. Hence, physicalism would be false at our world [though contingently so, for it would be true at W(P)].¹

It seems, however, that Mary does not know all there is to know. For when she is let out of the black-and-white room or given a color television, she will learn what it is like to see something red, say. This is rightly described as learning--she will not say "ho, hum." Hence, physicalism is false. This is the knowledge argument against physicalism in one of its manifestations.²

**[ Excerpt from Frank Jackson's, "What Mary Didn't Know", in The Journal of Philosophy LXXXIII, 5 (May 1986):291-95.]

Dick Lee!!!~

Chanced upon all these.. really funny!! hee~

Dick Lee changes lyrics to "Count on Me Singapore", the song he penned himself



It's abit old.. but this is really really funny! From 30th anniversary concert Dec2004..

Do things in Parallel

My HYP supervisor came over to have a chat with me today. She first asked me about my phD program, what I have to do.. then it led on to this:

A: You must do a lot of things in parallel during your phD.

Me: Yeah, I need to go to school, I have a project to complete at the lab, I have to teach..

A: Yes. But this is not the most important. There’s still one more thing

Me: ??

A: You need to find the right guy.

Me: !!??!

A: Really. You have to grab hold of your youth. Don’t miss the chance!

Me: Ok…

A: Look at XXX and YYY. They’re such wonderful ladies. They’re smart, diligent, beautiful, polite, kind…

Me: Yeah, definitely

A: And they’re interesting women. Right?

Me: Yeah!

A: Look at them. They’re doing so well in their careers. But.. they’re so lonely.

Me: oh…

A: They’re not bad people. They’re very good catches. Just that they missed the important period. Do you get what I mean?

Me: Yeah..

A: Men like young women. You have to grab your chance. So you have to do things in parallel! You have to find the right partner before you graduate!

Me: Oh.. ok..

Of course, the conversation didn’t go exactly like this. This is my own interpretation of the Russian-accented-conversation we had. Hehe. But it was really funny. How instead of my parents, my supervisor is the one who came to me and talked to me about finding life partners first. Haha. Of course, I took the opportunity to ask her how she met her husband. Oooh… how sweet. ^_^

Tears that came too late

Fangers asked me if I cried during the show. Coz apparently bong did. Then I remembered I did. But not because I was touched by the show, but simply because the issue brought up in the show, reminded me of some other things. The issue of daring to pursue dreams, daring to try their best to overcome all obstacles just to live their dream.

It was all indeed reflective of my life. This musical is about pursuing dreams. But I, being a cowardly girl, dare only to pursue dreams that are stereotyped in this society. My scientist dreams, I pursue. But other than that, I didn’t dare to pursue love that is totally outside of this world. I wish I could defy everything and live for myself, like that in the movies. Maybe if I weren’t brought up in an oriental society, I might give up everything just for my dreams. But that’s how life is. This is my life. This I how I have been taught to live it. I also didn’t bother to continue a lot of my classes. I really regret not dancing, not drawing, not playing the piano more last time. Then maybe I could be doing fun things like performing in musicals like this too. I miss performing on stage. Too late. Everything’s too late now. I have only 1 dream left to pursue. This is all I have left now. The lab is my life.

Of course, I didn’t think so much during the show. I guess it was just the sudden flashback of a memory this morning, plus the uncanny resemblance of george (lips, eyes, jawline, skin color, muscle lines..) that pieced everything together, and I wished I had dared to pursue that one dream. It’s a regret, but I know that even now, if I were given the chance to make the choice again, I would still not dare to do it. Just that, instead of running away immediately, I would face it and reject it. I hate it when people leave without giving an answer. I felt so bad for doing so.. but I wasn’t given a second chance to give a reply..

If there’re Seasons..

天冷就回来.. by Theatre Practice. that’s the musical I watched today. I’m so glad Wyee dajie (who’s playing in the orchestra for this musical) invited fangers, bong and I to watch (with the best seats too). It’s so worth it! It’s a musical inspired by popular hits of songwriter Liang Wenfu, written by HongKong playright Raymond To, and starring George Chan, Sebastian Tan, Joanna Dong, Magdalene See..

I must admit, I only knew George Chan as a choreographer who was a judge at Singapore’s Dance Floor. Hence, I didn’t know what to expect from this musical, besides the familiar songs by Liang Wenfu, as well as some dances by George. During the earlier part of the musical, I kept watching out for his body movements, trying to see how a famous choreographer like him would dance. I was kind of disappointed to see, that he didn’t have many dance parts, and didn’t even dance in the pub scene! The only times I saw him move around abit.. he looked abit stiff. Haha. Think it’s his role. Or maybe too muscular.. dunno.. haha.. guess I couldn’t help noticing that, coz Wyee kept pointing it out to me when she went for rehearsals. LOL. Well, I must say tho, that though I didn’t catch George dancing much in the show, his body movements were like sooo perfect.. sharp, concise, perfect timing. And because he usually dances as a group, it was easy to compare. Dancing aside, he moves like a professional would in a musical. (well, he IS a pro. Haha) Now I really am convinced of how talented this guy is.

(indeed, it’s his character that forbade him to dance. 'they won't let me dance. My character is pretty stiff, so I'm not allowed to gyrate my hips. I have to look like I cannot dance.' Read more here)

What caught me by surprise, was that George Chan’s Chinese is fantastic! I mean, I’ve only heard him speak English in a very ang-moh-ish way, so I didn’t expect him to speak Mandarin without any ang-moh-ish accent! And… I didn’t know he could sing THAT well!! Whoaa.. totally impressive.. not just because I didn’t expect it, but his vocals are really good!! Listen til the oil leaks out of the ear, as the Chinese description goes.

Ah! And I found out later from Wyee that George cried during the show we watched (which was the finale), and he didn’t the in rest! I’m so honored!! LOL

That's him. He starred in broadway musicals like Chicago and Miss Saigon in London lah!! impressed.

All in all, I had a really wonderful time today. Looking forward to more of such events!! ^_^

A shot and more

Working in a fun-filled place, a few of us (CF, fangers, WYee and i) signed up for a non-scientific seminar—whisky appreciation and tasting. Yeah~~ I’m not an alcoholic.. but I just wanted to go have fun. Hee. A pity, that CF fell sick and couldn’t make it last minute. Fangers and I were late due to work, and arrived just in time to hear the speaker give his closing line. That means DRINKING TIME!! ^_^

I tried 1 shot each of 3 different kinds of whisky (Sullivan’s Cove), from 40% to 60%. Whoaa.. it was all so strong.. esp the 60% ones, can feel it burning! Haha.. luckily, being scientific pple, we knew to take in fats like cheese and chocolates to prevent ourselves from getting drunk (we had to get back to work after tt!) I think my favourite was the 4^th and final one, a whisky cream! I didn’t know that such a thing exists.. and it tasted really good! Like icecream.. like rum n raisin with extra extra rum. Haha.

After the whole event, with everyone happy and satisfied with the high-ness of alcohol/cheese/choc, there was a lucky draw. Sponsored by Lexus, a whole wine set! And… CF won!! BUT, since she wasn’t around, the prize was given to the next name drawn.. Ahboon. Bleah. We went to ‘confront’ Ahboon.. and he actually offered to give the prize to CF! So nice.. haha. That was also the first time I talked to Ahboon since I left the company for a long holiday. It feels weird talking to him this time. Too much resemblance.. I wonder if he has a long lost brother who’s 1 year his junior..

Fruity Spas

It's Nut Spas day in Russia today (29th aug). I vaguely remember an Apple Spas day some time ago, also from Russia. I wonder what this hoo-ha is, about Fruits n nuts and Spas.. and so i checked it out..

The August, the last month of the summer season, when the harvest is sown, is usually celebrated by three holidays called "Spas" in Russia.
The first "Spas" is called Honey Spas (August 14);
The second "Spas" is called Apple Spas (August 19);
The third one is called Nut Spas (August 29).
Spas brings cold dew to lands and meadows. After the first Spas honey is collected, the second Spas brings fresh fruit and the third one, nuts.

The above information was obtained from here.

Ah. And i thought they meant bathing in apples, then in nuts.. XD

I want a holiday~

I know it's still early in the semester, too soon after my 3 month long holiday break, to say that i want a holiday. But sometimes.. as i think of how few days i have a year to myself, i really don't know how i should spend them!! 10 days a year, means there's a limit to what i can do! The only way is to make use of conference holidays, and extend my days from there! haha.. thus looking at feasible conferences on the calender, i foresee myself getting holidays in australia, US and maybe europe! haha.. of course, tt's just me dreaming. I guess i should always start small (and near), such as Australia? Just as well.. a place that i've yet to visit ^_^

Just happened to be surfing (no i'm not THAT free, but we do need rest sometimes), and i found a really cool thing called DialAFlight, where we can CALL to book our flights to Australia, as well as customize our entire holiday! Well i simply love the fact that it can be customized simply by TELLING the person on the other line, with no need to do all the surfing and planning at all. Imagine telling the person "hi, i want to visit Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Gold Coast, all within 10 days. Please plan everything for me. Thanks!" That's it! Perfect holiday to australia coming right up! ^_^

it’s just a passing remark

Was just having a chat with bong. And we started talking about how sometimes people say things without knowing that we really hate hearing those things. It’s not their fault, coz they may either be insensitive, or it may simply be a normal passing remark that means nothing more to others. Who’d know which particular phrase you’re more sensitive to? And who has the right to tell them not to make certain comments, simply coz you’re more sensitive to it? It’s just like I don’t like hearing vulgarities around me, but who am I to tell everyone around me to refrain from using them? Yeah, I may have been wronged in some cases.. but it’s not like it’s a huge misunderstanding.. it’s just tt the passing remark doesn’t apply to me, but the person making it doesn’t know. A harmless mistake, does it really require rectification? Bong thinks I am abit in denial.. but I am just.. lazy. Lol. Life still goes on anyway~

Holiday season coming up again!

It's almost september.. and the whole FSC is talking about the festive season, how we celebrated it last year, how we hope it to be this year! First there's Mooncake festival coming up.. i wonder if we'll have free mooncakes again! (That was the first time i had a few group shots with them, i remember). THen.. there's thanksgiving! woohoo~ thanksgiving last year was the first official meeting of the FSC, and sure did we stuff ourselves with 'TURKEY' and other homemade food!! Last but not least, to end the year, we have Christmas~~

Christmas is definitely more than just gifts, for it is the day Christ was born. Yet, i will still not forget that i grew up with presents under our family Christmas tree.. which kinda stopped in recent years. Guess my mum n my sis are the only ones who still continue this tradition. I wonder what i will get for my family, if i ever do? hmm...

dad: i really dunno what to get. maybe something useful for his frequent traveling.. from travelocity coupons~
mum: music vcds, maybe hokkien OST of the newest craze 881!!
sis: maybe tonnes of shopping vouchers.. maybe some brands she seldom frequent.. like AmericanEagleOutifitters deals (which i like too~)
bro: a loop machine.. or whatever he calls that. it costs hundreds of dollars, for something the size of a calculator! >.< promo codes!!! ^_^

Goodfellas, Ivy’s Vendetta

I didn’t realize, that it’s been almost 2 years since I last met Tong. That was when he gave me a farewell treat, before I left to study in the States.

Things have changed so much in these 2 years. From the hall-boy who is always playing, wakes up late and skips all lessons, Tong now wakes up at 5+ in the morning and can even skip soccer games just to do work. Amazing. I am now the one who is unable to wake up properly before 9am to attend my classes. >.<

After a nice, healthy dinner at Sushi Don, we made our way to Timbre to chillout. Bong happened to be there with a friend too! It’s been exactly one month since I last went there, and still not a Friday, thus no timmy. >.<>

First up on stage, was Ivy’s Vendetta. Disappointing, I’d say. The singer was totally unable to build the atmosphere. After a short while, the band left and the regular Saturday band, The Goodfellas, was up. I’ve heard a lot about this band, and had high hopes. Indeed, the band was quite cute, and was very energetic. They were way better than Ivy’s Vendetta lah. But.. I still didn’t enjoy myself that much. For one, the music was not what I was looking for. The songs.. weren’t that nice. Friends commented that it’s too “teen punk”. Haha. Another thing was, the ambience. They are good at raring up the audience, getting everyone to dance. But, unfortunately, this crowd at timbre was mainly there to chillout, not to dance and be high. Thus, I felt it was a good band in the wrong place.

All in all, all 4 of us didn’t really like the experience yesterday. Too loud, wrong music.. Bong and I both feel that they’d like timmy more, just like we do. Miss timmy.. It’s been more than 3 months since we last heard timmy. Boohoohoo…

As usual, I exit from my supervisor’s office all excited. It was a discussion about my advisory committee, and the people we’ve decided to recruit, are top internationally recognized people! And I always think back, on how I ended up in this lab.. which dates back to 4 years ago, before I even entered university! That’s how God’s plan is. Detailed to the very last bit, and we may not know what each event means until many years later. ^_^

***

How quickly certain events can dampen my spirits. A discussion of Catholicism vs Christianity. So coincidental, to follow what Lin and I were discussing yesterday about different denominations. I don’t deny that outer beauty has been getting more and more important to people nowadays, but organizing beauty pageants within a church, is simply overdoing it! And to dismiss people dressing scantily to church as ‘westernization’ of the church, is simply unacceptable! What is this westernization, where the most ‘scantily’ clad people I see in American churches (at least to those I’ve been to) are people wearing T-shirts? So where is this ‘western’ group of people that dress scantily to church, that churches in Singapore have to follow suit?

***

Is this, spiritual warfare? I can’t wait to start that bible study topic with my cg, half a year later. As I thought about these issues, I thought of the Armor of God, which I discovered later on, SO VERY COINCIDENTALLY, was my quiet time material for today!!

The Armor of God

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:10-18

Do you have Consciousness?

I love the optical illisions offered at the end.. ^_^ (i did those before in Penn.. and got paid! hehe~)

Philosopher Dan Dennett makes a compelling argument that not only don't we understand our own consciousness, but that half the time our brains are actively fooling us. As he puts it, our bodies are made up of 100 trillion little robots, none of them with an individual consciousness. So what makes us feel we have one? Or that we're in control of it? Dennett's hope is to show his audience that "Your consciousness is not quite as marvelous as you may have thought it is." He uses thought experiments and optical illusions to demonstrate to the TED audience that even very big brains are capable of playing tricks on their owners. taken from TedTalks

Toys that make Worlds

Check this out! really cool... to those who play SIMS, it's OUT!!!! the new game is SPORE.

In a friendly, high-speed presentation, Will Wright demos his newest game, Spore, which promises to dazzle users even more than his previous masterpieces. Here Wright encourages users to create not households, as in The Sims, or cities, as in SimCity, but the entire universe, from single-celled life forms to galactic physics. While guiding us through his mesmerizing beta, Wright shares his thoughts on Montessori schools, Darwinian theory and long-term thinking, emphasizing, throughout, that Spore is not so much a game as an opportunity for discovery -- "an imagination amplifier." taken from Ted Talks

Atrophy of entire body

So exhausted. I can’t believe the 2.5 months of wasting away really caused my body to deteriorate so much! I was following a colleague around yesterday (learning new skills), standing and watching her do her experiments from 9am-6pm. And guess what? I was so tired out simply by watching her, that I concussed at 930pm last night and only woke up at 830am this morning! I totally cannot believe myself.. to think that during my peak last year I could actually do experiments for 16 hours in a row (from 7am to 11pm)!!!! I’d better start training up my body again.. both physically and mentally.. it sure is tiring to be just thinking of experiments the whole day!! >.<

DONE!

Today marks the day I finish my first grad module. It has been a really happy process, of getting to know PeckYean, who introduced me to Jasmine, and the rest (Mayyin, Ben, ZhiAng) whom I was to do my term presentation with. Surprisingly, one of the group members was Adrian, whom I met 2 years ago during an internship! The world is so small. ^_^ I had a really great time doing project discussions and filming videos with this bunch of people. Totally hilarious! So proud of them all.. well done for the presentation today guys! Looking forward to seeing you all again for Research Ethics Part2~~ ^_^

Welcome back

I happened to read a post 3 months back, on 31^st may. On farewells. And I remember my boss holding a farewell party for me, together with my welcomeback party. Yes, I am finally back. And it feels SO GOOD to be back! ^_^ There were still weird “first day at work” kind of feeling.. but I was assured of a good working environment and pleasant colleagues. Even the 4-hour safety briefing seemed more fun than ever. And best of all, I am back to my old desk!! Whoahaha.. last week they dismantled it, but today it’s back to normal! They must have finally realized tt my new office table is not ready yet, thus they built me back my old table. So all’s back to normal.. Hee~

Motivation

I chanced upon Sandee’s blog a couple of months ago, from bong’s blog (and later linked it to my own as Days Without Rain). Today, I went to read it again. And as I read the story of this strong woman battling cancer, I am reminded of why I have chosen this career path, and I am all the more motivated to do my part well. Work starts tomorrow. Work on Breast Cancer. I am sorry that I cannot do much. And I know, that world-shattering discoveries may not come from me in the near future, but I know that with all the little pieces of the puzzle we each contribute, we’ll manage to improve the lives of many cancer patients by the day. This is all I can do to help.. press on..

Fill us..

We’re like glasses.. Christ’s love is like water.. He fills us with His love, up to the brim, and yet not ending. This love overflows, and saturates everything around us. However, if we, as glasses, do not allow to be filled with water, and yet desire to spread the love without being filled, we will only wear ourselves out, just like hinges that have not been oiled. Hence, we have to take time to sit down, rest in the Lord, let Him fill us with his love, before we can spread His love. Be in His love, before we can love. ^_^

12 layers...

Arzhou tagged me.. he said he felt like he was making some cake.. as i read on.. i finally understand why.. LOL

Layer 1: On The Outside
Name:
Birth Date:
Current Status: Single
Eye Colour: Black
Hair Colour: Jack black

Layer 2: On The Inside
My Heritage: mix of Hakka and Hokkien
My Fears: lots.. all creepy crawlies..
My Weaknesses: always bound by time..
My Perfect Pizza: thin crust, lots of cheese, tonnes of every topping i can find.. pepperoni, tomatoes, mushrooms.. i love pineapples on my pizza too!!

Layer 3: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
My First Thoughts of waking Up: what day is it today? what time am i supposed to wake up?
My Bed Time: before midnight
My Most Missed Memories: traveling overseas.. the weather, the culture, the freedom from time

Layer 4: My Pick
Pepsi or Coke: Neither…. i don't like soft drinks
McDonalds or Burger King: both! haha. these 2 happens to be my 2 fav fast food restaurants
Single or Group Dates: ah... no preference
Adidas or Nike: used to be nike, now is ADIDAS!! ^_^
Tea or Nestea: Tea
Chocolate or Vanilla: CHOC!
Cappuccino or Coffee: neither. not a coffee person

Layer 5: Do You…
Smoke: NO! it makes ur lungs turn black, it gives u mouth/lung/stomach cancer etcetcetc
Curse: no! and i dun like hearing pple do so either
Take A Shower: Of course! (except when i was in tibet, tt is)
Have A Crush: have.. means at the moment.. no
Go To School: yea~
Want To Get Married: haha yes
Believe In Yourself: yeah~
Think You’re A Health Freak: haha...err.. i analyse things.. but whether i do them or not, is another matter. i used to be one.. no longer.. life's too short to be too into these things >.<

Layer 6: In The Past
Drink Alcohol: Social Drinker
Gone to the Mall: how long in the past? i hated shopping when i was a kid
Been on Stage: Yes. millions of times, in fact
Eaten Sushi: love it
Dyed Your Hair: Not once in my life…. black is the unique color now

Layer 7: Have You Ever…
Played A Stripping Game: nope
Changed Who You Were To Fit In: nope, I pretty much like who i am

Layer 8: Are You Hoping To…
Get Married: yes. (isn't this a repeat question?)

Layer 9: In A Guy
Best Eye Colour: Anything
Best Hair Colour: Anything
Short or Long Hair: short lah. dun like long haired guys

Layer 10: What You Were Doing
A Minute Ago: chatting with fangers on our upcoming conference!! ^_^
Hour Ago: Wii with my bro~
Four And A Half Hours Ago: completing my 12-hr exam paper today
A Month Ago: traveling around taiwan
A Year Ago: working in GIS.. with all my might.. and living in oblivion

Layer 11:
I Love: my current life
I Hate: vulgarities
I Hide: my secrets
I Miss: traveling
I Need: more wisdom

Layer 12: Tag 5 People

Bongbong
Vivien (sis)
Guobin
Jueqi
Plhu

God’s blessings

Today was the day that my CG arranged to meet for an outing. We haven’t had an outing in ages, and this time round, we decided that Ben should open up his house and cook a fantastic meal for us!! And so it was fixed…

Unfortunately, last week in school, I was outvoted and thus my first grad school exam was arranged to be today as well!! Being a 12 hour paper from 9am-9pm, I couldn’t possibly make it for lunch outing with my cg anymore!!

BUT.. God always has his way of working. Today’s exam question… was the very topic that my group chose to do a presentation on!! How coincidental could that be? The lecturers know that we chose this topic for the presentation (which is next week), but I am not sure why they still put this as an exam question. Anyway, the brain-wrecking discussion I had with my group a couple of days back really did pay off!! I managed to jot down most of the main arguments in point form within 2 hrs, and made it to CG outing!! It was a very good afternoon spent together in fellowship.. and I made it back home to finish up the essay in less than half an hour! Praise the Lord!! ^_^ (which was 2 hrs before the submission deadline, thus I even had time to watch my Taiwan tv serial AND play wii with my bro~~~~)

(din make it for Lin’s church production tho. At least.. it went well. Congrats gal ^_^)

boredd...

It's 2 hours into my exam now. I still have 10 hours to go. But i am soooo bored!! I need a break. So looking forward to the CG meeting cum lunch outing later. ^_^

to make things short..

I managed to get my way simply by DEH-ing, even though it was to a girl!! Muahahaha.. I think my deh-ing powers have improved tremendously!! So proud of myself!! heez.. I convinced the company to let me start work on Monday, even though I haven’t gotten the approval letter!! Made them bend the rules a little, and summore at 530pm on a Friday evening, when everyone was already packing up to go home!! >.<

Thanks to L, who finally succumbed to my deh-ing. I have my reasons for wanting to go back this Monday.. I will remember your kindness.. ^_^

I signed up for PPP!

Heard about payperpost from Arzhou a couple of months back. I had noticed that his blogs have an extra phrase "this is a sponsored post" below many of his entries. He later so kindly introduced it to me, as one of his many ways to "conveniently" make money. Him being quite a trustable source (in my opinion), i decided to give it try. Alas, one of PayPerPost's requirements was not met by my blog--blog age. Though i started blogging in 2003, i had recently changed blog address (due to weird things happening to my prevous blog template that couldn't seem to be solved), and that made my blog less than 90 days old!! I've waited soooo long for my blog to turn 90 days, before I finally got it approved. NOW, i can start earning some extra tea-time money! Being a student means we're not that rich, thus the need for extra income in ways like that. YAY~ Now i can start going out more often for afternoon tea or a cup of coffee when i'm free!! It's so convenient! Not like I am going all the way out to do something that makes my life difficult. I am just blogging as usual. Why not try it too? blog network rocks!!~~ ^_^

Hotelreservations.com

Since i haven't yet started work, i was surfing around to find some good traveling deals, in preparation of my next (but not-so-soon) trip.. hopefully to Alaska or Egypt! ^_^ Anyway, i came across this website, Hotel Reservations. It is one of the more user-friendly travel websites, where it covers all services ranging from hotels, motels, flights, cars, to whole vacation packages.

Since the first thing you need to travel out of the country, is the flight (duh), i checked out the airline prices.. since i had recently flown to quite a few countries AND booked these flights myself, i decided to check out the range of airlines this webby covers, and the price range it offers. I tried a whole range of countries, from various states in the United States, to Taipei, Shanghai (pudong), and even Tibet. The results from the search... showed that the range of airlines covered by this website, is comparable to many other travel websites. However, the price range is only average, being comparable to most websites, but not providing the best promotion rates.

Then.. i decided to skip directly.. to 'vacation packages'!! haha.. the easy way out eh. And i must say.. i was truly amazed at the wide range of holiday destinations these webby covers!! The whole list of cities/countries.. took me so long to scroll and decide what place i wanted to check out! And the hotel list given.. is as extensive as the country list! whoahaha... this is really quite good.. and it's ultra user friendly, with pictures of all hotels provided! i love it manz... it's really like a one-stop travel planner! With regards to the prices, they're quite normal. Nothing too exaggerating, but at the same time no ultra cheap prices that are too good to be true. But since the prices are average, and the hotel/country list is so extensive, i pretty much like this site now!! ^_^ Strongly recommended for anyone who's planning a holiday! ^_^ Doesn't matter which place you're heading to.. they have it! (At first i thought that the website would be more established for common travel destinations like US and Europe only.. but i discovered that it had some really exotic places.. more than 1410 destinations!)

19th month anniversary

Yesterday (6th aug 2007) marks the 19th month since the birth of the Chestnutties, the 6 people who coincidentally met in a foreign land and ended up under one roof at 4007 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA.

Well, a few of us kinda celebrated our 18th month at Timbre. Pacey, however, wrote a blog post on us this month. Really wonderful memories.. miss you all too! (guys AND gal ^_^)

Sit up straight

A couple of days back, I arrived at school not in the best of moods after receiving some bad news. As I sat at the bus stop waiting for the NUS shuttle bus, my mind was a blank. From the side of my eye, I saw a guy wearing a bright yellow t-shirt (and thus attracting a lot of attention) walk towards me and squeezed in between me and the gal sitting beside me. He looked a lot like a friend of mine, but a lot younger. I just continued staring at my feet. But I couldn’t help noticing that he suddenly sat up really straight. Like, you know, trying to look taller. LOL. Such a small little action, and nobody else’s business. But it reminded me of someone who did that before too. Hahaha. Happy memories. And I was instantly cheered up. By an intention-less action, coming from a random stranger. Things happen in weird ways, don’t they? ^_^

The 'Experience Machine'

“Suppose there was a machine that would give you any experience you desired. Superduper neuropsychologists could stimulate your brain so that you would think and feel you were writing a great novel, or making a friend, or reading an interesting book. [Or even doing fantastic science for which you receive a Nobel Prize.] All the time you would be floating in a tank, with electrodes attached to your brain. Should you plug into this machine for life, preprogramming your life experiences? If you are worried about missing out on desirable experiences, we can suppose that business enterprises have researched thoroughly, the lives of many others. You can pick and choose from their large library or smorgasbord of such experiences, selecting your life’s experiences for, say, the next two years. Of course, while in the tank you won’t know that you are in there; you’ll think it’s all actually happening. Others can also plug in to have the experiences they want, so there’s no need to stay unplugged to serve them.”

(Robert Nozick, in J. Glover, ed., Utilitarianism and Its Critics, p. 58)

Would you hook up to this machine? Why, or why not?