The Beauty of a Test Tube

I quite believe that if you want something done correctly, you have to do it yourself. Possibly, my superior subscribes to this maxim too.

The above is a test tube drawn by her in Microsoft Word. I really have no idea how she drew such beautiful curves in Word. She put this in a set of notes I was in charge of preparing while proofreading them. Instead of reprimanding me for the crappy original drawing or giving me vague instructions on what a diagram should look like before asking me to change it, she drew the test tube herself.

Dear God, thank you for giving me such a wonderful superior =).

Noises in the Night

With the advent of mobile phones, you can expect the person you wish to speak to to answer his/her cell phone when you call.

However, you should not expect everyone to know who you are when you answer the phone. Even if they have caller-id. Especially if you call them in the middle of the night.

No, "I'm talking to you on MSN" doesn't help a half-awake person to identify you. It may not even occur to that person that you have dialed the wrong number as 'talking' can be taken to mean a recurring affair and not something that is happening at that present moment.

This is especially so if you have managed to correctly identify that person by his/her name.

Even if you have ascertained that the person on the other line DOES respond to the name of the person you wish to contact, it does not automatically mean he/she IS the one you intended to call.

ESPECIALLY if you have MORE THAN ONE person of the same name stored in your cell phone.

Remember: It is NOT a good idea to insult people in the middle of the night. Especially if you have just woken them up. Especially if you called them by mistake. And especially by saying 'This must be the right Shelly the other one is not so friendly.'

The Optimist

The optimist looks at the glass of water. It contains some liquid. Happily, she proclaims it 'half-full'.

Slowly, the liquid drains out. Keeping up her cheerful demeanour,she fully embraces the liquid that is left.

Drop by drop the liquid flows out. Frown-lines appear near her eyes. But 'it's not empty,' she says with a smile.

Taught to reason, inate curiousity constantly questioning. The world has conditioned her to accept, though.

What happens when all the liquid is gone? 'It never will. It won't. It can't,' she insists, pleadingly, desperately.

What's another shattered dream in a world of unfairness and inequality?

Paper Bags Vs Plastic Bags

I've just come across an enlightening piece of information:

Paper bags are more environmentally friendly than plastic bags because we can grow more trees, but we cannot grow more oil!

http://open.salon.com/blog/jodi_kasten/2008/11/18/environmentalism_for_the_rest_of_us

Going by this and the fact that they are teaching students (at least in schools in Singapore) that biomass is a renewable source of energy, we should be allowed to use as much paper as we wish.

Hmm..... Then what is this 'save paper, save our forests' campaign all about?

CONSPIRACY! =D

Breaking News - America's Got Talent Judges Make Fun of 4-Year-Old Kaitlyn Maher

It seems that in the modern world of show-biz, as long as it makes money, anything goes. As Lily Allen so aptly puts it in her song The Fear, 'I'll take my clothes off and it will be shamless because everyone knows that how you get famous."

And in a live television show, what better way to do it than to get the audience on your side? Tell sob stories to get them to sympathise with you or crack jokes and make them roar with laughter. It doesn't really matter HOW. Just as long as ratings go up.

Thus did the three judges on the episode of America's Got Talent which can be viewed at the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG6jAeeaoeo&feature=related

Poor little Kaitlyn Maher is only 4. After her performance of "What a Wonderful World", the judges then teased her mercilessly, sending her into shock and rendering her capable of uttering only 2 words - "Thank you." Rubbing salt into the wound were the members of the audience, who laughed appreciatively at the jokes and did absolutely nothing to stop the poor girl from being tortured on live television.

*****

Heh. I can now imagine the exact same set of people who criticised Riz Low in the Shan and Rozz show going, "Wah! This person so STUPID! How come she cannot tell that the America's Got Talent's judges are merely playing around with Kaitlyn Maher? It's JUST A JOKE! They don't really mean it!"

Eh, but the audience is laughing leh? How come har?

Ohhhhh. I see! They are IN ON THE JOKE TOO! *beams*

As the Ball Flies

When the ball is in your court, there are several things you can do with it. You can opt to hit it back or you can let it drop to the ground. That is, if you notice the ball in the first place.

An ex-colleague of mine posted up this video on facebook and wondered "why a girl would humiliate herself lidat .. even after she's fallen?" I assume she was referring to Riz Low and not Rozz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpHoHJ4DFIQ

My first thought after reading that comment: Huh, you mean never fall can humiliate herself liddat ah?

After watching the clip, I didn't really get the impression that Shan and Rozz were out to humiliate Riz Low. I tune in to the Shan and Rozz show on 98.7 quite alot (at least every working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday), and have noticed that they quite like to "insult" each other, and themselves, quite abit.

Just on yesterday's (02 November 2009) show, Rozz said that due to her being heavily made up when she took her passport photograph, she sometimes gets questioned as to whether the passport belongs to her at the airport should she not wear makeup. Of course, that led to Shan asking if she scared the officer with her looks. And I've heard the pair talking about Rozz's chest (or lack thereof) several times.

People crack jokes at the expense of others, or even themselves, from time to time. Its all in the name of fun. Some students in one of my classes 'put down' people who manage to get the answers to questions correct by saying 'So smart! Must be from Eden!' Said students do not exempt themselves from such 'humiliation'.

So why would people not view Shan and Rozz's behaviour in the interview in a negative manner? Perhaps I need to go back to something I experienced in my secondary school years for an answer. In my secondary school, and at home for that matter, if the people around me did something wrongly, it was not uncommon for them to be teased as 'stupid'. In fact, in secondary 1, my classmates called each other 'spastic' and 'moronic' for FLPJ. Thus, I was rather taken aback when a friend from another school told me that I had to stop saying that his friends were 'stupid', because they sincerely thought I meant it. Not because of my character, but because of the school I came from.

Could it be possible that some people are empathising with Riz Low, as being not very academically inclined, she would likely feel that Shan and Rozz, with their wonderful accents and great command of the English Language, are humiliating her with their words?

A follow up comment to that clip by a friend of said ex-colleague asked "doesn't she know that they are making fun of her?"

I can think of several different ways to answer that question.

No, a person can't notice she is being made fun of if she is NOT being made fun of.
No, she didn't but she couldn't care less if she was being made fun of.
Yes, but she recognises that Shan and Rozz are just playing around and her sense of humour allows her to fully participate in the joke.

Yes, but she feels that Shan and Rozz are lesser beings, thus their opinions are of no concern to her.

Yes, but she feels that Shan and Rozz do not have such a deep understanding of fashion as she does, hence she forgives them their trespasses.

Well, exactly what were you expecting as an answer?

Balls are best hit over the net with racquets. If one does not posses the required racquet for ball play, one had best not participate. And if one does not understand the rules of the game he/she is watching, he/she should refrain from judging the players. Especially if he/she does not know what the aim of the game is.