“If we’re going to be friends with benefits, I want health and dental.” (Woman to man in bed.)

ID: 126300, Published in The New Yorker December 8, 2008

I sort of thought things out last night before I could sleep. I figured out that the last award I was ever going to get was The Most Self Disciplined Student. That would be most shocking please. So apparently Most Caring Student isn't the last on the list, but rather Most Self Disciplined Student.

I played away my time since around 10am this morning. Have been gaming and have yet to have lunch yet. No one's preparing lunch and my sister just refuses to go buy packet lunch back. Lazy bum.




Anyway, Derrick, the post on the 60 Things Girls Don't Know About Guys is gone since this post is up. Awww. Too lazy to dig up the URL. =)

Seems like I have to go down to AJC some time before the 26th of June to get the application submited for the interview/audition. True enough, I haven't got the letter of recommendation signed, I haven't prepared a song to sing should I be asked to sing, nor have I settled the worst at hand - finish preparations for the Chinese O levels tomorrow. So I do have quite alot of things to be done. But most importantly, to do any of them or get them well planned, I need to have my lunch.

All said is done, and what's done is done, in its irrevisible truth of the cycle of karma.

“Actually, I preferred ‘Heaven,’ too, but then the marketing guys got hold of it.” (Saint Peter at Pearly Gates says to man about a sign over the gate reading, in red letters, “Birth, Death & Beyond.”)

ID: 38578, Published in The New Yorker December 15, 1997

PS: Clara - Hope you liked your surprise on your blog, planned by non-other but me! =)

I practically slept away my afternoon. I was already half awake in the morning at about 10am. In my dreamy dreamy state I saw my sister got off the bed to walk towards the computer room, thus made up my mind on whether to wake up and time soon. No point waking up early if I ain't gonna get to use the computer early you see, so might as well sleep on.

Then I got up at mid-day and the lengthy sleep indeed made me even more exhausted. After breakfast and lunch, one after another, I started to do some slight revision for the upcoming Chinese paper on Monday. I just copied down some good phrases onto some paper for my reference. Pretty slack revision, as apparently bathing before starting of revision didn't really helped much in keeping me awake so I ended up sleepy and sleeping on my bed an hour or so after that.


MOST CARING PERSON AWARD

-CLARENCE LIU-


Now I'm known among Derrick and some others as Mr Caring. Like so darn dumb. I was telling everyone else around me, before they released the name of the Most Caring Person Award that it was going to be Zhiting, then all of the sudden the screen just figuratively screamed Clarence Liu. So darn funny. Having my name on any of the awards just wasn't on the first list on my mind. Last thing I was gonna expect was to get the Most Caring Award. Luckily though, I didn't hear any jeers in the crowd when I stood up and walked towards Mr Pu. The reason - most probably being that the cheering for the others awarded for the same award from other classes being more louder than the jeers I was getting.

Derrick, An Hua, Shao Lun, Wan Xuan and I stayed behind to get our chinese compositions from Mr Siah. In the end, we ended up staying till 4+pm, with only Derick, An Hua and me remainning, while the two others left. I achieved the least out of it all since I didn't get my essays marked. So the 4 hours of waiting time just turned out to be of no Work Done.

I best be getting back to do my stuffs on the net so that I would have time as I planned to read up on my assesment book of Chinese compostions.

Ja-na!~

Right OR Wrong.

"I just see no meaning in gossiping from my point of view. I make an conscious effort to not gossip or talk bad about others behind their back. However, it is pretty subjective to say what is gossiping and what is not. "What is right and what is wrong would also differ from one to another."

People often ridicule and rebutt the above statement by saying, "Is killing a right thing to do, or not?" It is ridiculous to make such a comparison though. I stress that such a statement is no doubt almost as childish as a 5 year old toddler is. Ask a 5 year old toddler whether killing is a right thing to do, or not. Tell me his/her answer.

Maybe my explanation wasn't exactly explicit enough. To further simplify matters, killing is a bad thing not because our parents told us so. Neither is it the bishops, or other religious figures, the president, the teachers, not to mention even friends. It is more of like a default idea as the human brain develops as we grew up to around puberty age (average ages of 9 to 14 for girls and 10 to 17 for boys). The brain is default to recognise that killing or other "sins" are "sinful" and are never the slightest possible right thing to do in anyway."

- Science4Freaks. 4/7/09

I've just realised I had actually ask this question before, so I shan't bother to retype but rather, quoted it.

What is Right and what is Wrong?
Who defines it all?
How do you know He is Right or is He Wrong?

“Miss Dugan*, will you send someone in here who can distinguish right from wrong?”
(Businessman over intercom to secretary. There are three other businessmen in the office.)

ID: 41051, Published in The New Yorker March 24, 1975

http://www.cartoonbank.com/product_details.asp?sid=41051
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dugan

People develop this sense of justice and ability to determine and deferentiate between right and wrong when they come of age I have mentioned early on. However, how do we know what we think is Right is Right, and what not is Wrong?



*Sadly, I am unable to locate this name or why could it have possibly been chosen in this cartoon. Should you find out, please do tag and comment.

Kris Allen - No Boundaries.



Adam Lambert - No Boundaries.

Five Reasons Why Adam Lambert Lost.

1.Location

Adam is from Los Angeles, which is known to be too cool to vote.

2.Gokey Effect

Gokey's supporters went to Kris cause their music is more similar as compared to Adam. Plus, Gokey's pastor asked Gokey's fans to Save Kris Allen! on Twitter.

3.Comfort Factor
Adam's flamboyance - eyeliner, ambiguous sexuality - made middle American uncomfortable, while Kris is a shy, all-American boy and devout Christian who married his long-time girlfriend.

4.Backlash
Allen fans were worried about favouritism towards Adam, and Katy Perry did not help by having Adam Lambert's name on her cape.

5.The Adam Note
The trademark high-pitch, rocker-like screams were getting old and predictable, while Allen showed off his inventiveness.

No Boundaries - Coronation Song for American Idol (AI) 2009

Seconds, hours, so many days
You know what you want but how long can you wait
Every moment last forever
If you feel you've lost your way
What if your chances are already gone
Started believing that I could be wrong
But you gave me one good reason
To fight and never walk away

CHORUS:
So here I am still - holding on
Every step you climb another mountain
Every breathe its harder to believe
You'll make it through the pain
Weather the hurricane
To get to that one thing
When you think the road is going nowhere
Just when you’ve almost gave up on your dreams
Then take it by the hand and show you that you can

There are no boundaries
There are no boundaries

I've fought through the limits
Stand on the edge
What if today is as good as it gets
Don’t know where’s the future’s heading
Nothings gonna bring me down
I jumped every bridge
I run away alive
I risked being safe but i always knew why
I always knew why

CHORUS

You can go higher
You can go deeper
There are no boundaries
Above and beneath you
Break every rule coz there’s nothing between you and your dreams

With every step you climb another mountain
Every breathe its harder to believe
Yeah There are no boundaries
There are no boundaries

With every step you climb another mountain
Every breathe its harder to believe
You’ll make it through the pain
Weather the hurricane
There are no boundaries
There are no boundaries
There are no boundaries

Written by Kara DioGuardi, along with Cathy Dennis and Mitch Allan.

I had postponed my post yesterday for today so as to share my happiness and joy after receiving my results for Chemistry. However, it turned for the worst in the end.

She was just like the stars in the skies that I could never reach (even in my wildest dreams), for I had nothing I could offer or promise her of if we were together, nothing at all, (nothing).

- Promises

SA1 PAPERS!!

Amazing Lighter Hack


Did You Know?


Greg Pritchard - Britain's Got Talent - Show 5



The science of voodoo: When mind attacks body

* 13 May 2009 by Helen Pilcher

Editorial: Breaking the voodoo spell

Late one night in a small Alabama cemetery, Vance Vanders had a run-in with the local witch doctor, who wafted a bottle of unpleasant-smelling liquid in front of his face, and told him he was about to die and that no one could save him.

Back home, Vanders took to his bed and began to deteriorate. Some weeks later, emaciated and near death, he was admitted to the local hospital, where doctors were unable to find a cause for his symptoms or slow his decline. Only then did his wife tell one of the doctors, Drayton Doherty, of the hex.

For full article, click here.


Word of the Day
Friday May 15, 2009

querulous \KWER-uh-luhs; -yuh\ , adjective:
1. Apt to find fault; habitually complaining.
2. Expressing complaint; fretful; whining.

pièce de ré⋅sis⋅tance

THE MOVIE.


Angels & Demons is a 2009 film adaptation of Dan Brown's novel of the same name, due for release on May 15, 2009. It is the sequel to The Da Vinci Code (2006), another Brown film adaptation, although the novel Angels & Demons was published and takes place before the novel The Da Vinci Code. Filming took place in Rome and the Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles. Tom Hanks reprises the lead role of Robert Langdon, while director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman also returned.



I'M SICK!!

The Movie was excellent. Must watch! I can't say more as I am seriously feeling sick after all the fun I had today. All the running around made my frail body worst apparently. I was already sort of sick this morning before taking the paper, still I went on to have fun after that, celebrating the end of the MYEs.

However, I must say, the Chemistry Paper I was pretty tough. I forgot quite alot of things, only to realise my mistakes at the end of the paper while discussing with the rest of the class. Hopefully I did much better for my Paper II to cover up for my mistakes here. Can't really push it all to being sickly this morning when I am responsible for my health and much of it was really me not being good enough at it yet

Have to run. Stomach's grumbling! (So are my parents.)

BIOLOGY!!

Biology is killing me!! However, I'm just helpless against the situation, but do my best to turn the tables in my side. Struggled pretty much this afternoon, trying to get as many information as I can in my brain from all the notes and the textbook. All this was the result of over slacking in the last year of biology lessons in school. Only started to revise on them more last October for SA2.

It sort of worked out for me last October though, after some effort to really work on my poorest subject. However, after all the last minute work today, I won't do badly for the papers tomorrow too.

Only thing that could brighten me up for tomorrow would probably be the end of the Bio papers and the Physics Paper 1. Gonna do abit more of last minute revision on Physics Paper 1, although I should already be prepared since Paper 2 is already over.

A. Math Paper 2 was relatively easy in comparison to E Math Paper 2. However, I did notice I made a few mistakes here and there in the paper after the discussion with the rest after the paper ended. Hopefully my mistakes aren't very severe at the cost of my A1.

Anyway, gonna enjoy some time on the net before I get back to work.

Ja-na!~


EDITED:

Star Trek: Beam me up, Hottie!


And1 Fireball

HOLD ON - DAVID CHOI



Hold On

You fought your way up to the wall
But you havent gone past at all
While gazing with tear filled eyes
You just cant help but ask why
If trying hard is what it takes
Then why does it feel like a mistake?
The world has taken its side
You just wanna run away and hide

Its tough
Theres no one to turn to
I hear screaming inside you
Feels like hells all youve been through
Hells all youve been through

CHORUS:

Hold on
Dont stop your breathing
I see your dreams and
I feel them too
Hold on
Dont lose your faith
I know you cant break
Im hoping and praying for you

All your peace seems far away
But you know there comes a day
When everythings so bright
All the darkness you feel subsides
And in the rising of the sun
You can finally say its done
The world will take your side
And your heart will start to shine

I will
Be holding on to you
There is nothing you cant do
I will try to be strong
Will try to be strong so

CHORUS

Ill never let go of you
Ill never let go of you
Ill never let go of you, of you

CHORUS

DAVID CHOI

http://miscellanea.wellingtongrey.net/comics/2007-01-15-science-vs-faith.png

SCIENCE-Y!!

OK. This post is gonna be totally dedicated to Science, specifically the articles of NewScientist. I bet some of us may not gonna like it, but trust me. They ARE pretty interesting articles. In this post, there are going to be 6 NewScientist Articles. Enjoy! (I hope.)


Tonal languages are the key to perfect pitch

* 06 April 2009 by Hazel Muir

IF YOU want your child to have perfect pitch like musical maestros Mozart and Chopin, then start them early on Mandarin or Vietnamese lessons. The likelihood of developing perfect pitch seems to be strongly linked to the language people speak, confirming that children can pick up the ability when they are very young.

For full article, click here.



Quantum arguments for God veer into mumbo-jumbo

* 18:00 06 May 2009 by Andy Coghlan

Not only does God exist, but he intervenes in our lives – at least according to Francis Collins, the former head of the human genome project.

Collins recruits quantum physics to make his religious case, and has set up a website called Biologos. The site is funded by the Templeton Foundation, which seeks to find common ground between science and religion.

For full article, click here.



Bigfoot hobbit could be ancient island human



* 18:00 06 May 2009 by Ewen Callaway

The tale of Homo floresiensis – aka the hobbit – is beginning to read less like a Tolkien epic than an Agatha Christie whodunit.

Two studies add a new twist to the plot. One claims that the skeleton's ape-like feet push back its ancestry near the dawn of Homo. Another argues that the hobbit is a later offshoot of Homo erectus, dwarfed by aeons of island isolation.

For full article, click here.


Five futurist visionaries and what they got right



* 18:00 06 May 2009 by Michael Marshall

Within 50 years humans will merge with machines and become both superintelligent and immortal, in an event known as the technological singularity. So says the ever-controversial futurist Ray Kurzweil. We pick his brains on his latest initiative, the Singularity University, and on his plan to use advancing technology to bring his father back from the dead in our exclusive interview with him this week.

For full article, click here.


Hunting the mysterious monopole



* 06 May 2009 by Eugenie Samuel Reich
* Magazine issue 2707. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.

THEY seem magical: magnets, every child's favourite science toy. Two otherwise ordinary lumps of metal draw inexorably closer, finally locking together with a satisfying snap. Yet turn one of them round and they show an entirely different, repulsive face: try as you might to make them, never the twain shall meet.

For full article, click here.


Ray Kurzweil: A singular view of the future

* 06 May 2009 by Liz Else

Read more: Five futurist visionaries and what they got right

For inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, being human with limited intelligence and doomed biology was never good enough. So he came up with an idea called the Singularity - a time when humans merge with machines, become smart and live forever. From MIT to the White House, people either hate the idea or can't wait for it to happen. So, asks Liz Else, will any of us live long enough to see it?

For full article, click here.

Flu outbreak: The pig connection

* 16:18 05 May 2009 by Peter Aldhous
* For similar stories, visit the Epidemics and Pandemics Topic Guide

You may know it as swine flu, but the WHO wants us to call it "Influenza A (H1N1)". So is this a pig virus? And if so, why hasn't it been possible to control flu in pigs using vaccines? Peter Aldhous investigates...

For full article, click here.

Remember facts by cramming with fat

* 06 April 2009
* Magazine issue 2706. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
* For similar stories, visit the The Human Brain Topic Guide

INDULGING in a fatty meal after studying for an exam could boost your results. A study in rats shows that eating a certain type of fat produces a hormone that helps the brain cement short-term memories into long-term ones.

For full article, click here.

CHEMISTRY BREAKTHROUGH!

I'm proud to announce that I think I did pretty well for Chemistry Paper 2 this morning. Totally unexpected. My brain seemed to function at its peak today as I had little difficulty trying to figure what the question is asking and answer the questions with exceptional accuracy. Everything I needed to answer the questions just seemed to flow exceptionally well. I guess it would have to be because of my Adrinaline rush before the paper and maybe the good night sleep last night.

MATH paper was exceptionally easy too. Totally caught off guard as we had expected it to be alot more tough than these. Leonard and Anhua all agreed that this paper was too easy. However, that could mean that paper 2 tomorrow might be tougher to balance it up.

I was just thinking, if O level's was this easy, maybe I wouldn't have to worry after all. So yea, I did notice that I'm getting abit overwhelmed with confidence, especially after expecting myself to do pretty well for the papers thus far, except for English and Chinese Paper 2 and Social Studies. Other than that, I think I'm gonna do pretty well for this SA1. However, I am reminding myself not to be complacent too. If not history might just repeat itself.

I can still remember 4 years ago, I was rather complacent. Didn't prepared much after the EOY papers in which I scored pretty well. If I'm not mistaken, I had originally gotten a T-Score of 230++ for my EOY in school. However, I just didn't do just as well as I did in EOY for PSLE. Darn saded about that. However, had I not recieve that lesson, I wouldn't have come to BBSS and be part of the wonderful choir. Neither would I have met some one like Ruth, who "spurs" to work hard, nor Leonard, Zhi Ting, Clara and maybe even Hong Zhang, etc. I guess, all these was fated.

That's gonna be all for today. I'm pretty much prepared for Math paper as seen from my performance during today's Math Paper 1, so I'm gonna slack off for the time being and go have a game of DotA. Just to celebrate finishing the toughest few papers already. Geog students have Geog paper tomorrow, however we history students have it on Friday. So good luck!

Ja-na!


Word of the Day
Wednesday May 6, 2009

lugubrious \lu-GOO-bree-us; -GYOO-\ , adjective:
Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, esp. in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner.



Jack and Rai - The Fa La La Song



The Fa La La Song - Jack & Rai

Verse 1:

No twisted lovers
No forever and evers
I’m a sucker for simplicity
No complications
No angry telephone conversations
Seems like yesterday when
I learned to be free

Chorus:
If you wanna fa la la la la with me
Then let’s go let’s go
Don’t be another one just like the other one
If you wanna fa la la la la la with me
Then go oh no
I ain’t gonna wait
Cos I’m doing it fine on my own

Verse 2:
So watcha waitin' for
Just gimme your hand and we’ll explore
The many little kinds of things that
Lovers don’t do or hardly anymore
Your clock is ticking and so is mine
Why put everything on the line
Good ol' Daddy Time says
We’ll learn to be free
I wanna be free

Chorus:

If you wanna fa la la la la with me
Then let’s go let’s go
Don’t be another one just like the other one
If you wanna fa la la la la la with me
Then go oh no
I ain’t gonna wait
Cos I’m doing it fine

Bridge:
On my own
Yessirree
I’m runnin on a new ground
Comin' from a newfound
Free is what I’m looking into calling me.
You takin' your time to think it through
I’m moving ahead with or without you

(back to chorus)

Promises - A Personal Recount
Regina and I met each other in high school. Those were the most wonderful years of my life...
All I could see was her silky long hair with a tint of gold in it...
My thoughts goes with you till the very end of time...
For that moment, I know that God does exist for He had finally answered my prayers...

David Archuleta - To Be With You



I can't really recall in any greater detail of what I wrote this morning, but I pretty glad about myself this time round. I proud of my story line and plot that I came up with. The plot just came to me immediately once I saw Promises.

To prevent any misunderstandings or make anyone feel uncomfortable, I took half a minute to one minute trying to figure out the best name I can come up with for my female lead in the story before I start to write. Then I thought of King and Queen. Well no exactly King and Queen but rather Rex and Regina.

Rex is the Latin translation for King, while Regina is the Latin translation for Queen.

It had difficulty remembering the Rex part but was fortunate that I'm a guy, so I just have to introduce my "Queen" as Regina. This was just something my sister told me quite some time back. Seems like this extra general knowledge came of help after all.

If you are wondering if T-Rex have anything gotta do with Rex, I believe so too.

Tyrannosaurus (meaning 'tyrant lizard') is a genus of theropod dinosaur. The famous species Tyrannosaurus rex ('rex' meaning 'king' in Latin), commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture around the world.

Reference to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Rex

So apparently it meant the King of the Tyrannosaurus.

Anyway, here is a summary of how the plot actual goes. This IS the first time I'm actually writing such a corny and romantic story, hope you don't find it revolting.


Josh Groban - Awake


Promises - A Personal Recount

The story starts off as a reflection. It rotates about how I first met my dream girl, Regina, in high school and I seek to find what I can offer and promise her of should she and I come together.

Regina is the belle at the high school and is often surrounded by guys in school during recess. I had always carried a torch for her, however, I chose to look from afar and "all I could see was that silky long hair with a tint of gold in it". Then one day I and Regina end up being classmates and what's more, desk partners. Thus, the whole chemistry between us two soon sparked off.

However, since the very beginning, I always felt as if Regina and I came from two different worlds and that I am not worthy of her as I have nothing to offer and promise her of even if we do get together. Things were just as usual and every time during recess, Regina and I would run off to the canteen before anyone catches us at it, trying to escape from the guys that was coming for Regina. That was when I realise "this was not a one-sided feeling".

It still didn't help that Regina felt the same way about me I felt about her. Until one day while completing an essay Aspirations, did I finally realised what I can offer and promise her.

We went on to high level education, University. Lucky for me, I got enrolled in Cambridge. However this also meant that we had the seperate. I called Regina out in the evening, under the stars at the Singapore River and after staring into space across Clarke Quay, I turned to face her and released the news to her. "I looked into her eyes like how our eyes first met each others..."

We managed to pull through the obstacles and our feelings for each other stayed intact. After I return from U.K for National Service, and soon after that we got married and lived "happily ever after".

Westlife - Can't Lose What You Never Had



That was pretty much how the story is as I plot it to be. What do you think? Corny? I personally thought my ending was quite the rush. I guess I still am unable to end my essay properly, happens every time. However, I'm hoping I score something above 20 for this essay. If I don't, it would have to be something wrong with my language component.

Well, I was so satisfied with myself that I pretty much wore a smile on my face the entire day. Fiona and Shreya commented that they sort of got freaked out by my grins. Well, you can't blame me for being elated. I sort of felt I did pretty well for both my Chinese Essay and English Essay. How can I not grin from teeth to teeth when I'm actually doing well for my Languages for the very first time?


OTHERS.

Physics was tough. I had only a few minutes of time to check through my work and almost couldn't complete it. I can count myself lucky on that as quite a few others couldn't even complete it. That sounds pretty bad. All I can do now, is to start finishing up whatever I wanna do online and go to sleep soon. So that I can do well for my E Math Paper 1 and Chemistry Paper 2 tomorrow.

Ja-na! And good luck to all for the rest of the MYEs!

Nearby asteroid found orbiting sun backwards

* 23:50 01 May 2009 by Jeff Hecht

The discovery of a 2- to 3-kilometre-wide asteroid in an orbit that goes backwards has set astronomers scratching their heads. It comes closer to Earth than any other object in a 'retrograde' orbit, and astronomers think they should have spotted it before.

The object, called 2009 HC82, was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona on the morning of 29 April.

From observations of its position by five different groups, Sonia Keys of the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center calculated it orbits the sun every 3.39 years on a path that ventures within 3.5 million km of the Earth's orbit. Combined with its size, that makes 2009 HC82 a potentially hazardous asteroid.

For full article, click here.


Word of the Day
Friday May 1, 2009

risible \RIZ-uh-buhl\ , adjective:
1. Capable of laughing; disposed to laugh.
2. Exciting or provoking laughter; worthy of laughter; laughable; amusing.
3. Relating to, connected with, or used in laughter; as, "risible muscles."