Shopping

I had no idea why girls like to shop.

In Singapore, I have always hated shopping/accompaining people to shop.

I'm the type of person who doesn't care about style/fashion or anything. In fact, for the whole of my J1 year I spent it trotting around in shorts much to the disgust of many of my teachers who seemed to think every decent RJC guy had to be in long pants. I only want to wear something which makes me feel comfortable and shorts were, well, nice and cooling. I didn't really care about things like cut or colour(and still don't) and well my daily selection of clothes is the first shirt and jeans/pants I could grab from the cupboard. I mean, that is if I had nothing special for that day.

Today was, WOW. After paying $10 to take a bus ride to Aurora, a place to shop for winter clothing, I felt that I really had to buy something to make my money's worth. Anyway, Puffy's yield for the day:

Yellow Down Jacket: 90 US
Yellow Nauctica Sweat Shirt: 30 US
Winter Boots: 50 US
Nice blue comfy slippers: 20 US
Black Leather Gloves: 20 US
Ear muffs: 16 US

Total: 236 US.

I'll take photos of'em after I get my handphone.

Being the first time I actually chose my own clothes, I think it is amazing how quickly money flows away. It's like. WOW. Anyway it was really fun picking and choosing my clothes. But, I still cannot understand how people can spend hours fussing over jeans/tops/bags/ whatever. I guess some day I will understand. Just like how some day I will understand why people like alcohol.

On selecting courses

I have decided to drop my stats course in place of a macroeconomics course. Now why would I do this? The stats course, is after all, even easier than A-level stats while the macroeconomics course would take up an avg of 10-15 hrs a week. Am I feeling so bored with my time or just love torturing myself?

Actually, it's because of this evil thing called GPA. Now, a lot of Singaporeans who are here on scholarships require a minimum of 3.6 or 3.8 otherwise they will get a warning letter 'you are not upholding the standars expected of a blah blah blah scholar' or something like that. As a result of this restriction, a lot of scholars are torn between selecting courses which they are interested in but are extremely difficult to get A (Honors analysis being an example which has an average mark of 10%) and selecting easy courses. Another example would be the calculus sequence which many of us place out of. Should we still take it( a free A which can help to pull our GPA up, and A's are precious commodities here)? Or should we skip it and attempt harder courses. Now DSTA, thankfully didn't give me any formal GPA to meet. But there's always that desire to excel. To do well and be the best in everything you do.

As a side note: We Singaporeans have actually made a name for ourselves in U of chicago as all the other Hong Kong and foreign scholars actually try to *avoid* the courses where all the singaporeans flock to as we normally push the grade curve higher *giggle*


Anyway, the reason I decided to drop the stats course was because it requires a freaking 90+ for an A/A-. Now I cannot even remember the last time I have scored 90+ for an subject. Maybe secondary school. Than again this is STATS. OMG. Look up one value wrongly off the stupid booklet and *poof* there goes 15 marks. And I know I am very very careless. So there. 2 wrong values and suddenly I find myself with a C.

Anyway, I've decided to flee from that course and hide in a macro economics course which, well, has 1/3 of people getting A =). I know, going to courses because it is easy to get A is well, superficial, but that's life. At least in U chicago, where the Dean's list is, well, 3.2. So there.

Honours for Partner

My bridge partner who is mentioned most frequently in the Psyching post steadfastly refuses to read my posts. Hmpf. So I had to tell him what I wrote about him, and once again poke fun at him for never having honours in his bid suit. He looked pained and put on this innocent face and said 'butbutbut...'

Then he proceeded to remind me that once I went to bid a 7C grand slam because of his sudden introduction of clubs to the picture at the 5 level. Why did I do this? Because I figured that if he could bid clubs at the 5 level, he should have length in clubs, and at least one of the top 3 honours in the suit. Holding AQJ10 in his suit, it would nearly be a crime not to bid the grand for him to play. Especially since 7C appears to be HIS contract (also have no idea why. Ernie, did you arrange for this?) I almost fainted from sheer incredulity when he decided to play the Ace of clubs from my hand (dummy) on the first round of trumps, and DROPPED THE OFFSIDE SINGLETON KING OF CLUBS, making the 7C.

Amazingly in another session, against the same opponents, this partner of mine preempted 2S, and I was like yay my partner prempted while vulnerable without any of the honours in spades. Again. Because I was holding the spade AKQJx. And so we missed the grand slam because I decided not to ask for the number of kings my partner had I was too traumatised by my partner. He actually claims to be embarrassed when the lead of the 10 of spades showed that he didn't have any of the top 5 of his prempted suit.

To Psyche or not to Psyche

Today, when I went to NUSS Guild House to play bridge, there was some talk about psyching, as my partner had partnered someone on Monday whose psyche landed her in the opponent's game contract. I was really very amused when someone actually greeted me by asking "Hi, you're not the psycher, are you?"

For those people who don't know how to play Contract Bridge, and don't know what psyches are, they are bids that don't represent the cards you are holding, and is not a bid agreed on by you and your partner to describe such cards. In short, it is a lie. And this is legal. While I have never psyched before, I used to not approve of psyching, I'm starting to get the idea that a correct psyche will probably be extremely useful as a competitive tool. As Hank Youngerman said, psyches are 'just another bidding option. Sometimes the call most likely to be successful is a psych.' [http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/psych4.htm]. Perhaps someday I will psyche too, but only if I am sure the contract will land up in the opponent's hands *giggle*. (I think the contract IS supposed to end up with opponents in an effective psyche anyway hmmm...)

There have been many interesting incidents about psyching at my table though. One of them is my amazing ability to produce spades for my partner when he psyches in spades. If he has only 2 cards, I will spawn 6 for him. If he has only 4 cards, not only will I spawn 4 for him, I will also spawn honours in spades for him. (This also seems to go for that certain partner's preempts. I have laid down a dummy with ALL the honours in the preempted suit several times, or at least all the honours in both our hands, even when we are vulnerable.) I have been accused by an opponent for knowing my partner psyched, because i refused to lead my partner's suit in NT. Obviously I didn't know, and I just didn't lead the suit because I was holding AQx in it and didn't feel like playing into the declarer's K (shown from the bidding). I've also had an opponent totally clueless that my partner had psyched 1S (showing at least 5 cards in spades) when her dummy came down and she saw she had 9 spades between them. She still didn't suspect a thing when I showed up with one spade. She thought I didn't lead spades because I had none and my partner had 4. (I think I didn't lead spades because the bidding showed both opponents having stops in my partner's bid suit, which is actually very expected because that partner, as I mentioned above, tends to lack honours in the suits he bids.)

For some reason, for all the psyches remember having been committed against me, I have never been defender or declarer. Yes, I contentedly sat there and stared at my partner declaring (or rather stared everywhere else and daydreamed). One of the psyches happily landed us up in a game contract that we would have not reached otherwise in the opponents bid suit (which was the correct contract to be in anyway). The other one was the more interesting one, where after my 1NT opening my LHO called 2H, so my partner decided to fantasize, and finally, he decided I had a ton of clubs, so he bid 6C. And because this partner is the abovementioned partner, even after providing him with 2 honours in clubs, and he loses to one of the opponent's honours, he claims saying he loses to the Jack of clubs o.O. Yes. No honours in his bid suit again >.<. (I don't know why this is a trend. It baffles me.)

And just on Tuesday, I had someone psyche 1C against me. I don't really know if that can really be considered a psyche, considering he was really holding a whole bunch of clubs. But he had no points at all. I think it's the influence of the Ernie, who really likes clubs. She has induced me to open 1C when I was holding 5 spades and 4 hearts (correct bid was 1S). Budi, this is what you get when you insist Ernie come and sit on you during a match, and then you leave her in the bag throughout the match. Not only will she induce your partner to pass your 2C opening, she will induce you to open 1C because you have so many clubs, notwithstanding your total lack of points.

But the funniest incident occurred thanks to the owner of this blog. He asked me during an extremely competitive auction if my partner could possibly have psyched one of the bids, and if that bid, if he psyched it, could mean that he actually had some other distribution. I was like 'Huh? How would I know?!' more because I didn't know what in the world he was trying to ask more than anything. His partner proceeded to scold him by saying 'If it's a psyche how could she possibly know!' (Turned out that my partner was not psyching anyway.)

So I guess a proper psyche at the proper place and time can lead to good results. Perhaps the reason I don't psyche is because I haven't found this place and time yet. Or perhaps it's the fear that I will land up declaring 4SX-8. =Þ.

Disclaimer

In case anyone gets mad at me because of my posts (this is in special reference to the o.O post) because they feel that I am trying to provoke them, or am making fun of them (yes, this has happened before), I would like to state here that the main aim of the post is to tell people of an incident I found amusing, and to share my responses to that. In short, the post is not about you, it's about me. (Unless you are Jason, and then yes the 2nd part of the post is all about you. You abandoned me to find a Japanese wife. You deserve it =b.) Evidently although it may be in my best interests not to write this disclaimer, because a post/comment/tag flamming me generally works in my favour, I'm not as scheming and evil as all that to wish for such an occurence.

Just a passing thought. Perhaps there is another possibility for someone to be too smart for their own good. Such as when people dig into my statements in public posts, and decide that I am 1. accusing someone of doing something and 2. possibly (probably) accusing them of being the culprit/villian, and then proceed to get all hot and bothered. Or when their name is mentioned in a post in a totally non-accusing way, with no hidden connotations, and they decide that possibly the entire post is in reference to them, and that they are being accused in not so many words of being the perpetuator of some situation. For the record, although I am a girl and girls tend to talk in circles around an actual topic, I have only one 'encrypted' post: Guild Recruitment, a post that was intended for someone named right at the top of the post. (If I feel like publically showing my appreciation to someone, and I feel like doing it in a way such that a private joke can be shared, it's my prerogative, so no need to comment heehee.) So is it possible that such people are too smart for their own good? Actually after a fleeting moment of wondering, the idea of 'not smart enough' started floating around. But since most people at some point in their life wish that they had more intelligence than they were born with, that's probably not right either. Anyway I agree with the numerous statements that 'not mature enough' is more accurate. Oh well. I guess I'll just remain amused at purely the 'advice' part of the 'too smart for your own good' issue.

Oh ya and before it's too late, I would like to say to Weili that I'm not at all mad that you thought I/Ernie was Gideon's alter ego, or that you thought I was an alter ego at all. I was just very taken aback by the statement that someone would suggest that I am an alter ego >.<. It's all Puffy's fault. Never make things clear to people. (Yes blame the poor guy *gigglez*.)

And yes, because this is a Disclamer post, I will add here that except for the Weili part, this entire post is about me. (Well, actually, if you want to look at it this way, even the Weili part IS about me heehee.) But feel free to write your comments on this post (oh wait if anyone wanted to, they so don't need my permission to, do they? lalala) because more amusement in my life is always welcome.

Something to think about...

Pulled from a friend's blog...

"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.

You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life... You give them a piece of you.

They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart.

It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love."

- Neil Gaiman

Note to self: Puffy must not think of holding paws with anyone while in University.
Work work work work.

Stupid Jason

I used to call Jason all the time, and Jason used to talk to me. Then Jason went away. And left Ernie alone. So I had to name him Jason (see picture) so that when I wanted a Jason to talk to, there would be a Jason who wouldn't run away and would always be there for me. I am still mad at the 1.8m tall Jason.

I still love you, Jason Mooshie (2nd name also given by me it's better than the one given by Sophie's brother - Dog Dog). I'm just mad at the other Jason. *Muakz*

o.O

Yesterday I was messaged over MSN with this 'heres a little bit of advice for you although its going to fall on deaf ears anyway. being smart is good, but being too smart for your own good is not.'

Yes, that is what Gideon was talking about. I obviously met this with my usual retorts 'oh are you talking about yourself? take your own advice'. And after approximately 5 minutes, it struck me why I was replying like that.

The statement reminded me of pubs in DOTA who sprout nonsense. As Gideon put it, is it possible for anyone to be too smart for their own good? It's like saying 'Being pretty is good, but being too pretty for your own good is not.' It's like, even if it's possible for someone to be too smart for their own good, what CAN they do about it? Stop being smart?

Btw, I feel this is a very apt blog to post this on, especially since the three contributors are from GEP. Yes. There are THREE of us. WE don't see a problem with that. And that is all that matters. So back to this smart issue, I guess at least the Ministry of Education in Singapore thinks we all are intelligent. (Unless we happen to be one of those test subjects with an average IQ rumours say MOE planted in the GEP. For statistical or observational purposes or whatever. No confirmation that these people actually exist.) I am not publically announcing my intelligence (or lack of). I don't believe in such things. Many days, I don't feel all that intelligent at all (I blame you, cells. Stop dying on me!) But since MOE believes I am of somewhat above average intelligence, can I possibly be too smart for my own good?

I seriously don't think so. I feel a person can 'waste their intelligence' by not making use of it. I also think that people who think they are smarter than they really are, and proclaim this belief of theirs to the world may be, well, digging a hole for themselves. But neither of this relates to the statement of 'too smart for your own good'.

There is only one possible scenario I can see about people being 'too smart for their own good'. My primary school teacher told my class about this guy who managed to introduce poison into can drinks in an almost undectable way, and managed to kill people with his concoction. But apparently that guy had an extra Y chromosome (XYY genotype) which, while making him ultra intelligent, also gave him violent tendencies. No, I can't really confirm this story, but it's true that guys with the XYY genotype are very smart, and very violent. So possibly, these guys are too smart for their own good. (Rest assured, I have at least 2 X chromosomes so I won't find a devious way to kill you if you show your disagreement with my post.)

So yes, possibly, in these rare cases, you can be too smart for your own good. But I'm female. And I don't use my intelligence to scheme about how to deal with my next victim (unless you are my opponent at the bridge table muahahaha). But just to give it the benefit of the doubt, let's say that it IS possible for me to be too smart for my own good.

Then what am I going to do about it? What CAN I do about it? I am not going to try to reduce my 'smartness' in anyway. (Ok if a piece of my brain was really what you wanted, and I don't doubt that removing a piece of it would make me less intelligent, you should have just said so instead? Not that I would have agreed of course, but it would have made matters so much clearer =P). I don't think it actually possible, other than by horrible physical trauma. So then. How is that statement 'a little bit of advice'?

No clue at all. I actually spent the some thing giggling over it. Yes, I am easily amused. But my friend's reply to that statement when I showed it to him was really classic. 'its just rhetoric isnt it? by definition anything "too" already isnt good. its not very clever also. tell us something we dont know!' Which sent me into peals of laughter once more.

Let me introduce you to my amazing friend, Jason Lee. He stands at a whopping 1.8+m, while I am but a miniscule 1.55m.

He is now stationed in Japan, where he attracts insects to himself in the night. He freaked out over a spider in his bathroom or kitchen or something the other day, and tried very hard to kill it. Here is a picture of the poor spider. Yes, someone 1.8m tall is so scared of a spider that he had to soap it to death =X. Ok fine I might actually have tried that to get rid of it.


And shortly after, a giant centipede visited him while he slept. That was really freaky. In the picture below, the paper is A4-sized.



Apparently it was damn hard to kill, and was still alive when flushed down the toilet bowl >.<. And best, Jason says he found out that they live in groups.

Jason, you want to come back to Singapore. Now. Really. You may be the first lab partner I've ever had who actually admitted to anyone that he/she missed me. Well guess what. I miss you now. So ditch that place in Japan next to the forrest or mountain or whatever with all those crazy insects and come back here.

Cellular Growth

Yay my cells are finally growing. Must be due to the magical touch of my dear labmate Shugui. Thank you so much =). And the CO2 incubator is fixed too! Looks like I can do my experiments after all WHEEEEEE.

In lab now waiting to make my cells happier. Will blog more later when I get back *gRiNz*

First Day at School! Wheeee!

Well, I should start of with saying, if you're considering studying in Chicago, please don't, lose your health booklet. Chicago has this mandatory policy that everyone there should have 2 doses of MMR and Tetanus. So, I have the unfortunate priviledge of being the only Singaporean to appear for the mandatory jabs. The MMR one still hurts even though I took it like 3 days ago. Bleah. The PE test and lugging 2 bags full of files & books and staplers and what not from a supermarket 1 km away probably contributes to the general aching in my left arm now, but, whatever.

Classes started with Economics. I guess they put it as the first lesson on a Monday so as to whip us quickly into studying mood after doing whatever over the weekend. The material covered seemed quite difficult, but the lecturer was this cute lecturer who was born in China, but speaks with an American accent. She couldn't be more than 5-6 years older than me! (don't women like compliments which imply they look younger than they actually are *giggle*). Oh. yeah, I like what she said: In this class I won't downgrade grades, so if all of you deserve an A, you all would get an A.
Of course, we were taught that everything after the word 'but' is what actually counts.
'But, I would expect about maybe 3-4 of you to get an A'.
What a nice way to start a lesson in University. I pity those poor scholars who have that 3.8 minimum to meet. 'San Ba' they call it.
Anyway, she is quite a funny teacher and appeared very confident. I wonder if I will feel that way if Sophia teaches me Biology or I will hate the subject even more *giggle* wahahaha.

Maths and Stats were next. Well. Nothing to say about'em. Suffice to say, I was totally lost when they started talking about set theory.

Finally, I had humanities. It was interesting, to put it nicely. I am currently doing Greek Thought and Literature, but I am totally clueless when a poem written by some strange sounding name is passed around and we have to engage in a discussion on it. Now. My class is entirely non-Singaporeans, other than me. All the Singaporeans fled to other philosophical perspective in dunno what or World Literature. I have NO idea why they like those 2 topics. Anyway everyone else in the class seemed so interesting and 'connected' to the poem and I was like, um ok. I better say something. Class dicussion = 15% and it will be pretty bad if the professor doesn't know you at the end of 11 weeks. Oh! The good news! The grade for this class is determined by 3 papers, each of which we have about 2-3 weeks to write, and we can rewrite and rewrite and rewrite and rewrite(for me) them as much as we wanted and he will keep grading. There are even 4th years who ran back to him to remark their essay in order to get a better grade. sheesh.

When mentioning about academic integrity, he brought up this story:
Apparently there was a student, who unknowingly(stupidly) copied an essay written about some really tragic greek text. And the person who wrote that essay happened to be his professor some 40 years ago. Now, so what did the professor do? He called the chap to his office, and went 'The essay which you copied from me, was written 40 years ago, when I was having a difficult period as I was having a divorce with a 2nd wife, not so amicably, and the essay was one I never wanted them to publish. So, unfortunately, I feel really bad about the text and have to give you a D.'
(Note to self: I will probably die from Lit unless I start begging the Lit S distinction people here for help. Time to treat them to breakfast)

Anyway, Monday is the worst day of the week for me and I look forward to the other days, mainly because, the total number of lessons I have on the other days is about the same as the number of lessons I have on Monday >.<

Oh. Finally, quote of the day(not said to me, but said to a friend by another rather pissed person).
'being smart is good , but being too smart for your own good is not'

Is it possible to be too smart for your own good?*giggle*

Gideon

Gender crisis

This so confirms it. Other than being anatomically and genetically female, I am male otherwise. I test male on theSpark Gender test. I play WoW and DOTA, and I actually play DOTA because I played Warcraft first. Yes I know, there are girls who wear makeup and all that who actually have been playing these games since Starcraft and before. And I sincerely think I will never be able to learn how to play Starcraft. Possibly,too, I am not like guy who plays DOTA because "don't go reading freaking manuals and study up on all the various heroes." Yes, I have confidence in myself that randoming heros will in the long run teach me how to naturally play them all. Just like my declarer play at bridge. I will learn from experience ok *gigglez*. Stop trying to make me do bridge master or the BBO deals bleah.

What I 'take pride' in during DOTA games is the insulting of opps (or possibly allies) who insult me or my teammates first. Perhaps insult isn't the right word here. Suan is more like it. When you yell on all about how you are going to pawn us fuckers, I am going to giggle and tell you that killing me because I get sex and you don't isnt going to satisfy your cravings. And of course the classic retort of 'Girls have no balls/other male genitilia'. Which usually gets met with 'You girl meh? Don't bluff!' What DOES this mean? That girls don't play DOTA, or that girls are too crap that I can't be a girl, or that girls are so much better than guys that my standard doesn't match up? Goodness knows. I personally think they are unhappy I actually could react in a totally unexpected way to their insult/suan/whatever.

Apparently some of my friends actually like me scolding the opps. One of them even asked me why I wasn't helping him in some game where I was particularly quiet.

And when I appear crap in a game, I will always blame the lag. My computer is rather sucky anyway. But obviously I'm never going to say I played like crap during a game because I'm female. Makes no sense to me at all. Unless of course I get my period in the middle of it all and have to go clean up and am really pissed at the world. (Betcha none of you guys wanted to read that statement buahahaha.)

Links to my posts on DOTA opponents and DOTA allies.

David Hasslehoff

If you are reading this you probably must be bored, so take a look at this MTV done by David Hasslehoff in 1997. The song is nice, but in the words of one of the people who commented on the MTV "Oh My God so yeah I don't know whether to laugh hysterically or rip my eyes out."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi2CfuqcUGE

21 Reasons why bridge is better than sex

http://www.elsid.co.za/bridge/jokes/bridge_better.html

1. You don't have to hide your bridge magazines
2. It is perfectly acceptable to hire a pro to play bridge with you once in a while
3. The Ten Commandments don't say anything about bridge
4. If your partner takes pictures of you at the table, you don't have to worry about them showing up in the tabloids when you become famous
5. Your partner doesn't become upset about people you played bridge with long ago
6. It is perfectly acceptable to play bridge with a total stranger
7. When you see a really good bridge player, you don't have to feel guilty about imagining the two of you at the table together
8. When your regular partner is not available, he/she will not mind if you play bridge with someone else
9. No one will ever tell you that you will go blind if you play bridge by yourself
10. When dealing with a bridge pro, you never have to worry that they are an undercover cop
11. You can have a bridge calendar on your wall at the office, tell bridge jokes and invite co-workers to play bridge without being sued for harassment
12. There are no bridge-transmitted diseases (except the compulsion to play more bridge)
13. You don't have to lock the door when you play bridge on the Internet, and when you visit a bridge website you won't get emails from asianteenagesluts.com for the rest of your life
14. Nobody expects you to play bridge with the same partner for the rest of your life
15. Nobody expects you to give up bridge if your partner loses interest in it
16. You can still do it in your 80`s, and people won't gasp in horror if they find out
17. Your bridge partner will never say, " Not again, we just played bridge last week! Is Bridge all you ever think about?" Oops! - maybe they will
18. A man doesn't need lots of finesse(s) to be successful at bridge, but then he needs some squeezes
19. The phrase "could be short" carries no negative connotation....
20. The principle of "Fast Arrival" would not be regarded negatively
21. If the partnership agrees on two over one, it wouldn't be considered an orgy

Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you need a good hand.
-Woody Allen

So there. You guys better appear for the bridge introductions I plan to publish soon =X.

Chicken/Egg Farms in Singapore

I suddenly remember actually going to a chicken/egg farm in Singapore a long long time ago! It was in Primary school for one of them excursions, so it could well have been just an egg farm because we only got to see the hens laying the eggs, and see how the eggs were sorted due to size. And of course there were plenty of little chicks. But it could have been a farm where chickens were bred for food coz I'm pretty sure they would not have destroyed the sensibilites of little kids by letting them see the slaughter of chickens.

Anyway the important part of all this is that I don't remember the egg laying hens having no beaks, or having shorn off beaks! I think I would have remembered! (More out of horror than anything else). So yay I guess I can feel less guilty when eating eggs in Singapore =).

I did get another chance to go to a chicken farm during one of my church camps in primary school, but I turned down the opportunity because, sincerely, I just wasn't interested. One time in such a short space of time was enough for me. The teachers tried to get me to go. One told me I should go there to find out 'Which came first? The chicken or the egg?'.... As if the answer would be provided there. And seriously, it's a really dumb thing to say at of all things, a CHURCH camp. I told him matter-of-factly that the chicken came first, because God made animals first. No, I didn't spawn a witty answer there and then just for him. I actually thought about it before coz I really had too much time on my hands as a kid. But that got me out of going to the farm, and perhaps shielded me from the fact that at some farms in singapore egg-laying hens have shorn off beaks.

Oh well. I will just eat eggs in the belief that the hens that laid them were not treated with undue cruelty =D.

Best things in life

The Best Things Ever:

(http://bestthing.info/top.html)

1. The ability to instantly teleport anywhere in the world
2. Hot steamy sex in the shower
3. Hearing someone say \'I love you\' and knowing they mean it
4. Finding something you lost and forgot about.
5. A hairstyle that takes no maintaince but still looks good on you
6. Personal theme music so you know when something good or bad is about to happen
7. Knowing that somewhere out there at least one person loves you or is thinking about you
8. Waking up next your significant other and realizing that they are the one
9. Saying something without thinking, and having it be the perfect thing to say
10. Finding out that that hideous accident/chemical spill/etc that should have killed you has instead imbued you with superpowers
11. Your own tropical island where anything you want magically appears
12. Finding a job that pays a lot for your knowledge without requiring you to actually work
13. Saying the perfect thing at the perfect moment, so that everyone laughs long and loud.
14. Delivering a smart comeback at that right moment
15. Comfortable silences
16. Screwing around all day at work and not getting yelled at
17. Having the best day of your life
18. Having one of those great conversations that lasts all night and draws you closer to people you like
19. Simultaneous orgasm with someone you love
20. The most amazing person you've ever met wanting to be with you for the rest of your lives.

Battlestar Galactica

First up, some pictures from the show (courtesy
of scifi.com)






























Battlestar galactica is a home(US)-grown scifi tv series which my brother brought with him back from US when he came back from his studies. It quickly became my favourite tv series and I am extremely excited as season 3 is returning during October.

Now in case, the cute blond gal or the handsome captain hasn't caught you attention, I'll provide a brief description of the show.

It starts off, as all sci fi shows usually do, with the total destruction of the home world of the human race. Now, in the show, the humans live on 12 planets and do not live on Earth. The Cyclons are a race of robots who were created by humans, but evolved themselves and declared war on earth, before disappearing for many many years. After many many years, we see that cute blond gal, who is actually a cyclon, signing a peace treaty with a human representative from on a space station seconds before the entire space station is blown up. Now cyclons, apparently have this ability to transfer their memories wirelessly juz before they die into a new body and so can 'reincarnate'.

Subsequently, humanity is almost entirely destroyed, save for 1 battleship, Battleship galactica, which is led by commander Adama in search of a legendary 13th colony of humans living on a planet called Earth.

Now, what strikes me most about the show is the amount of character development and how 'human' the show was. Unlike other sci-fi series that focuses mainly on the different wonderful new technologies, this one focuses more on politics and human interactions in an enclosed environment.

There is a civilian president, as well as a military commander. The civilian president, was well, an ex kindergarten teacher who well erm became Minister of Education(which is really really low down in the ranks). But in the cyclon attack, all the top ppl all matied. The military commander was a well respected colonel. Naturally, the first human-human politics arises right after the cyclon attack- who should lead the fleet? I mean come on. A kindergarten teacher.

On one hand the commander wants to regroup and fight back against the cyclons, which is really suicidal considering the cyclons wiped out the rest of the fleet with hardly any casualty; and on the other hand the president made use of the religious belief of a mysterious 13th planet with humans living somewhere else to attempt to give the fleet a direction. Eventually, the commander realises that the president is really capable, but not before a military (attempted) coup and throwing her in jail.

Eventually the viewer is led through many themes, including whether the cyclons are really evil and we get an episode from the cyclons' perspective.

Some quotes:

Lt. Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace: [after Starbuck has to plan a vital mission] I never wanted this kind of responsibility.
Commander William Adama: The Cylons never asked us what we wanted. Welcome to the big leagues.


Number Six(the 6th in a series of cyclons who look like human. The cyclons are, surprisingly very religious): [ominously] God has a plan, Gaius. He has a plan for everything, and everyone.


Episodes can be downloaded from: http://www.tv.com/battlestar-galactica-2003/show/23557/downloads.html

For those people who read my entire post on Vegetables

http://Thank you!

Of Vegetarians and Vegans

I recently read a post on one of my tuition kid's site, saying she was going to become a vegan because of the massive cruelty animals raised for food are put under. She's in Secondary 3, and coincidentally, at that point in my life, I also turned vegetarian, for 'health' reasons and because some of my friends decided to become vegetarians too. That lasted for like a brief period of a couple of months, before we all started eating meat again to get the nutrients because we were still growing (ya I wished... still as short as ever heh). Then, straight after I read her post, I get a craving for a double cheeseburger, whilst in the midst of wondering how any girl can possibly make this ultimate sacrifice - no chocolates and icecream. I go to Macs, and did something I haven't done for approximately 10 years. I got myself a double cheeseburger, and finished the entire thing all by myself. Yup, after stopping being a vegetarian (not vegan) I swore off all meats with the exception of chicken and fish, coz I really didn't want to give up eating chicken, and since I ate chicken, why not fish as well.

Ok, for those of you who actually know me, I have to admit here that I did 'cheat' over those 10 years by eating bits and pieces of beef here and there. But since I didn't limit the variety of my food intake for any much better reason than red meat causes bowel cancer (apparently due to the high amount of iron in red meat, not sure if this is actually proven although statistics do show some link), and since that little part of conscience in me that felt guilty for the cows dying so I could enjoy myself was kinda appeased by the fact that the bulk of the beef was actually going to be eaten, and was ordered by someone else, it didn't particularly matter to me.

I don't think I am going to actually get negative comments about this post, or actually any comments at all, considering the traffic to this site isn't that high, and I seriously doubt anyone can be bothered enough to read through my ramblings. But just in case some avid meat eater or vegetarian/vegan/fruitarian etc decides to take offence at what I say, I will first state that I am not going to ever push my views of food intake and cruelty to animals onto anyone. The most I'll ever do to 'enforce' my views on others is to insist they brush their teeth first before they even attempt to kiss me *gigglez*. Oh and of course if you are going to be my future lifemate, ya I won't cook foods for you that I won't eat. To save YOU obviously, not me. Did you really want to die of indigestion? =D

Well, a little background of my eating habits. I don't eat pork because I don't like it. I don't eat beef because it's red meat. I am too scared to try meats other than those mentioned above with the exception of chicken and fish because.... I am me? Haha. I don't eat prawns or any seafood with the exception of fish because I am scared of all those things with so many legs/tentacles, cooked crabs smell plain freaky to me, and my mother hid a prawn in the leaves of my vegetables when I was young and I took a big bite out of it and now I'm also scared of eating the leaves of vegetables =X. (Ok fine i DO eat the leaves now. But I always spread them wide open to ensure nothing frightening is inside. My friend once commented that I'm mad because his grandmother once 'hid' a caterpillar inside his leaf for him, so my mother's prawn is nothing in comparison. HMPF. For all I know, the caterpillar would have tasted better!)

I am also very opposed to animal cruelty. But that is also because I cannot stand physical torture of any kind. I spent 1/2 of Hannibal hiding behind my hands, crouched up in the cinema seat. Yes, so I did kill like plently of mice for my Honours year project. But I was very humane about it. Turn on the CO2 full blast, leave it on for extra long to ensure they are fully dead. No experiments with neck breaking, which is supposed to be the best way (instant death, no pain), because I know I can't do it skillfully. This, by the way, is all my friend's fault. In year 1 of uni, I had this Biochemistry practical which required me to kill a mouse to extract it's spleen and lymph nodes. So the day before, I geared myself up, all ready to hold the mouse down to kill it on first go, so it would suffer as little as possible. Then on the day of the practical, my wonderful friend comes up to me and tells me 'I pulled off the tail of the mouse!'. So GG. I didn't dare to pull too hard in case the tail came out. But then the mouse wouldn't die. Argh. Surrender. Back to the lab mice that I killed with CO2, well, I for one have weird views of life and death. I don't really like my existence on this earth, and would like to die ASAP, but I also can't stand pain while dying. So I vaguely told the mice as I killed them (Ya I'm mad I talk to them too. Even when they are dead.) that I'm sorry, but I have to do this to graduate, and sincerely I would like to die a quick death just like they were going to. I sincerely think they have come back to haunt me though, coz now my cells used for my experiments keep dying. BLEAH.

Josie, I know you'll probably never read this, but this is the reason why I insisted you turn on the tap full blast when killing the mice and insisted you turn on the tap again when you turned it off 1/2 way and cried. I'm really sorry but I couldn't stand the thought of the mice suffering on the way to death.

Yes, torture to death is one of my worst nightmares. So when I saw that part of fear factor where they were blending live insects and worms and goodness knows wad to make some fearful cocktail for the participants to drink, all I think of was what is wrong with the producers? Is the fear they are trying to establish fear in the competitors, or in those poor bugs who on top who can sense death all around them and are trying to crawl out? Or perhaps is the fear that those poor critters will come and haunt them for giving them such a horrible death? Given all my pickiness in foods, I would actually say that I probably would not have found much problem drinking that concoction, if the insects were not blended to death.

I am really picky when it comes to food. My mother and ex-boyfriends can all testify to that. One of them actually went to have a happy long chat with my mother about my eating habits >.<. Not that I am that unappreciative of my mother cooking for me when I am old enough to actually be cooking for the household (ok fine, I don't want them of die of food poisoning by my hands) and helping out with the other chores. But I wonder if my pickiness comes from my mother's cooking. When I was young, she turned the only dish I really liked (chicken stew) into something totally uneatable by adding sotong (??!!!!) in. She is also the only person I know who can turn brocoli bright yellow by adding some bizarre reagent in. My brother also sometimes calls me to tell me 'you better buy something back to eat today's food looks.....'; and he eats practically anything. But anyway she's really nice when it comes to food nowadays, and caters to my extremely limited range of food preferences, so I must say I really appreciate her efforts.

So since I am this picky about food, and I am opposed to (unwarrented) animal cruelty, why am I not a vegetarian? I like chicken. And until today, I sincerely believed that chickens were slaughtered in a humane way. Yes, the link on my tuition kid's website tells about how chickens are killed in horrible ways, but it was a PETA website, and I thought they were overexaggerating. I had also read some websites before which highlighted the fact that actually many animals that live in the fields of crops such as wheat and soy die during the plowing of these fields, such that vegetarians can't claim to prevent cruelty to animals purely by avoiding meat or their products. There was even some other site which gave figures to show that more animals are actually killed by vegetable eaters than animal eaters. If only I had bookmarked that site, I really can't find it anymore. PETA's response was a simple 'Animals bred for food eat crops harvested from those fields too' (well something like that, not quoting here). Hmm. I am so Singaporean I always thought cows only ate grass hahaha, and although I did wonder (before ever reading PETA's response) whether the fact that livestock do eat enough crops such that if everyone became vegetarian the number of small animals dying during the harvesting process would be reduced (I for obscure reasons decided that it was possible that the same no. of animals, including the cows, would die in the process), I felt that PETA's response was a little too, for lack of a better word, short. It really felt like that was all they could come up with.

But then today I was referred to this site http://www.meat.org, where I saw chickens really being kept in those horrible conditions described by PETA. I always knew the conditions were cramped, and that dead chickens in the pen were to be expected (I mean if you can keep hamsters and some can randomly die even though you are so nice to them....), and that injuries were bound to be present. But I didn't realise that to save time chickens are just hauled out of boxes and slammed into the travel vehicles, and many times the handlers miss and slam the chickens right onto the sides of the box, pick them up and slam them there again by mistake. And chicks bred for egg laying do get their beaks shorn off to minimise harm done to each other in those crowded conditions (I didn't believe PETA's complaint that KFC would do that to the chickens bred for human consumption because I didn't think it possible for those chickens to be able to eat properly without beaks). And of course the part of the movie where the chickens were scalded alive (after having their throats slit of course, but I am told they may not be dead yet; perhaps the question is can they still feel? Nagging feeling the answer is yes), was rather disconcerting.

So great. Now that I know how horrible the living and dying conditions are of the chickens I happily devour, will I be able to continue eating them? Yes I can always choose to block it out when I eat chicken. I just ate chicken for dinner today, no guilty feelings about it at all. I can also choose to pretend that here in Singapore the law does not allow the chickens that reach me to be treated in this way. Weeeeelllllll. Sincerely, over the years, the size of the chicken in KFC appears to have shrunk to me, another reason I didn't believe the pumping-chickens-with-antibiotics-to-make-them-grow-faster story. But given the fact that the only thing really stopping me from being a true vegetarian is my great love of chicken, it is way possible that if i ever find out that the chickens in Singapore are being treated with that much cruelty, I'd stop eating them. Eggs too. But I think as yet, I will continue to eat chicken, and donate blood for good karma instead.

And as for being a vegan, that one is really. Next life. Or maybe not even then. Girls need their icecream and chocolate to survive.

Hi Ernie! I found your photo!

Taboo topics

When I was in Singapore:
Sex, Politics, Money, Results, Religon

Now in US:
Politics, Money, Results, Religon

Gideon's Picture

Cannot find Ernie's picture so put Gideon's picture heeheehee.

Ernie says hi!

Hello! I'm Ernie, and long long ago, Gideon said he wanted to marry me! Coz I don't wear spectacles, and I'm older than him. Gideon said that he wants to marry a girl older than him coz guys die first then he and his wife can die at the same time. Hee hee. Dunno why cannot wear spectacles. But Ernie cannot wear anyway. They keep falling off.

Ernie want to put photo let you see, but Sophie stupid and dunno how to put picture from phone into com. Next time me put.

Ernie likes pink, red, Sophie, clubs and TV. Ernie has fur and smells nice, and lives on Sophie's bed. Sometimes Ernie plays Dota and bridge and WoW too.

*Hugz all*

On comparism and competitions

Today, while walking down university avenue, I had a short chat about comparism and competition.

Such a topic came up naturally in the context of the results of the placement tests which were just released. Within the Singaporean community, there were some who placed with full 3 credits, some with 2 credits, and some with none.

Having seen my fair share of competitions, I have come to dislike competitions and similarly, I loathe to compare results. Whenever I mix with Singaporeans, I usually crinch when I hear the standard questions 'how were your a levels' or 'how did you do for such and such a test' or 'what s papers did you take'.


Now comparism and competition, I believe, is a double edged sword.

On one hand, comparing results serve as a source of motivation; where perhaps if you had spent a lot of time playing and ended up screwing up a paper, while the rest of your friends get nice results, it would remind you to work harder before ending up with something like second lowers. Or for example, competitions would serve as a source of motivation a pinnacle to work towards. (Note to self: Not to have a crush again on anyone who is attached)

Now why do I hate competitions and comparisms in that case? This has to do with the amount of negative emotions it generates. Imagine a competition. 1 winner. 1 happy person. What about everyone else? More primitively, if 2 girls are chasing after the same guy, perhaps 2 of them will live happily ever after. What about the 3rd person? How about the amount of jealousy, hate, sadness generated? ( I mean that is if they are not malays). Does the positive emotions generated in so few people outweigh the negative emotions generated in so many?

Similarly, why do people like to compare results?

Scenerio 1:

SmartyPants: So how did you do for the test?(Having just scored 99/100)
ZR: Oh... I got a C
SmartyPants: Oh dear, never mind work harder next time(Giving ZR a pat... what a dumbass!)
ZR: Thanks! Oh, how did you do for it?
SP: Oh! I got an A (Happily gloating)
ZR: Heh (Feeling even worse than before meeting SP)

So what has been achieved? 1) SP's ego has been satisfied. 2) At the expense of ZR

For me, I'm particularly sensitive to when people are feeling sad and have the unfortunate tendancy to feel sad also when someone else is feeling sad. This could explain why I no longer derive joy from winning competitions. Satisfaction, yes. But no longer the sense of happiness I used to feel.

Bleh. It's 2130 and I've a freaking physics paper tomorrow. Time to study and thrash all the other physics wannabes =X.

First entry

Here I am, blogging, while probably 1/3 of the rest of my house are outside having a party in the COLD chicago night....
How should my first entry be like? I guess I should start off with why I decided to start a blog. Well, I guess it's like the start of a new life. A marker. A way to remember and record my university life, the process of change and growth. I believe everyone who enters university will leave with something; for better or for worst? Only God knows.
Perhaps a good way to start a new life would be to account to people whom I still have something to say to and will like to remember: ( if you don't understand a certain comment... well it probably doesn't concern you =D)
To R:
I don't know why you're the first person I think of, but so there, here you are. It's probably coz I feel that I have not treated you with the respect you deserve. Always canceling at the last minute. Thank you for putting up with it :))) . And for being understanding when I was feeling down. Work hard, I'm sure with your passion, you would become very good at it one day. I still owe you a friday night game =D
To Y:
The first girl I ever went to a movie with(This comes with being in a boy's school all my freaking life)... you would always have a special place in my heart. Not that I enjoyed the movie particularly. You know, when I think back about RJC in future, I believe that the one thing I will remember most is still all the fun we had together.
To R:
Well, what can I say about someone whom we share so much in common, even the same PSLE score? =) I guess if I signed up for it, we would have met earlier and gotten to know each other better. When are you coming back to Singapore? Feel free to visit me anytime at Chicago. It's really not thattttt far. (Just about 3 days if you take a cab down =D)
To M:
Thank you for the fun we had dotaing and playing bridge together. I must add, you were probably the best real life partner I have played with. Even though I don't care much about winning, it does feel good to actually win Youth Teams :))). I don't think we would play together again though, because simply put, you care a lot about winning, and I don't feel the same way. But nevertheless it was fun!
To S:
What do I say to someone who has touched my heart so deeply?

怎么去拥有一道彩虹
怎么去拥抱一夏天的风
天上的星星笑地上的人
总是不能懂不能知道足够

如果我爱上你的笑容
要怎么收藏
要怎么拥有
如果你快乐不是为我
会不会放手其实才是拥有

当一阵风吹来风筝飞上天空
为了你而祈祷而祝福而感动
终于你身影消失在人海尽头
才发现笑着哭最痛
Was fun. But unhealthy. Somehow, I still find it hard to forget the things you said. So maybe you said it in a fit of anger. But I believe you meant it. Not that I blame you, but it hurt nevertheless. 'You are nothing but academia'. I've tucked your pressie somewhere in my room. Maybe one day, I will take it out and peek at it.

To the many other people I forgot: Too bad. I do have a short term memory you know :D.

Just came back from the library. It's freaking big. So big that I got lost inside. I mean, but I do get lost in a lot of places. Like the basement of Max Palesky. It's like a maze. Seriously, we could have a treasure hunt or play hide and seek there. I mean, that is if you want to ran the risk of having people lost down there. There's no handphone reception there you know?

I love my dorm. The location is fabulous. It's like right next to a library, a dining hall, a bookshop, Citibank, the main study are the University and dunno what else I haven't explored. Oh. and my mother was so pleased with this. It was next to a church. It's fully aircon/heater & has a nice carpet floor, not to mention it was built like 5 years ago, so it does not have cracks for creepies to crawl through unlike some other dorms *stares east*.

Time to sleep. Hope I didn't do too badly in the chinese & maths placement tests. The chinese paper was like. WTF. MCQ leh. Still don't understand what the hell the last freaking passage was talking about.