venerdì, dicembre 31, 2004
:: Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs - A Review ::yeah! i've finally got hold of the latest of reichs' work! and zoomed through it in a day... i had a good time reading it during both traffic jams, to and from orchard. it's a madhouse out there today!
I shan't review this book, my brain cells have already been severely traumatised by reviewing 'The Fountainhead'.
shall just crap. ah heck, shall go drool over pitt n cruise in 'interview with the vampire' (lolz.. i only like them in this show k...)
giovedì, dicembre 30, 2004
:: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand – A Review ::Genre: philosophy (objectivism)
It’s funny how many people shy away from books simply because they are in the genre of philosophy. I don’t deny that I’m one of them. Philosophy, being such a chunky word, was a symbol of an equally chunky book and equally chunky amount of information that would be thrown at the reader’s face. However, I found this assumption completely wrong. The first time was when I read ‘Sophie’s World’, and the next, when I embarked on the 729-pages long ‘The Fountainhead’. Despite knowing near to nothing about philosophy except a few names like Plato, Socrates and Aristotle (whose theories/philosophies were like Greek to me), I was able to understand this book. In fact, I was ‘hooked’ on it! From the time since this book was published, a school of though gradually evolved. It was called objectivism and was lead by Ayn Rand. Heck, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know what objectivism is… I didn’t either. What’s more important is understanding the ideas involved in this school of thought. For those interesting, you could check out this link.
The story evolves around the lives of four people – Peter Keating, Ellsworth Toohey, Gail Wynand and Howard Roark. All are connected via an interesting character, Dominique Francon. Peter Keating represents a second-hander, which means a person who takes the work of a creator and uses it to please others. He is the representation of what is so-called ‘important’, ‘popular’, ‘good’ and ‘acceptable’. He rejects the idea of originality and of creation. Yet, he is the one loved by all. Howard Roark, on the other hand, can be placed in the lines of Edison, of Adam, of Ptolemy and of all the great people whose works/actions were rejected by mankind, because they were simply –different-. Yet, the second-handers took these ideas, and made them famous, made them into universal standards of society! Ellsworth Toohey, is almost the equivalent of Stalin/Hitler/Karl Marx/Lenin… all the influential people who believed in collectivism/communism (with the exception of Hitler). To me, he is the most revolting of all the characters, no matter how Keating might debase himself. Yet, to all the rest, Toohey is the GOD, is their SAVIOUR, their CHAMPION and their LEADER… (You’ve got to read to understand what I’m trying to say here…) Gail Wynand, is a highly interesting character: he’s like a Howard Roark who has become forced to be like a Peter Keating. As for Dominique… hmmmm it’s too complicated to say, but she’s such a COOL character!
It’s queer, this is a totally fictitious story, yet as I read it, I could relate to each character within and the characters seemed like real living persons to me. In many ways, it’s true. What Ayn Rand writes is what we see in our lives… these people that I’ve mentioned are as real as can me, masquerading behind the names of our loved ones/ our family / our friends. On the other hand, it also serves to show the mastery of the author – an author who brings her characters to life.
PS: Thanks to my dearest cousin, who claimed that she accidentally bought the same book, and gave it to me…
PPS: EW interested?
mercoledì, dicembre 29, 2004
:: praise ::'Praise to the face is open disgrace'... even more so when the 'praise' is not that true...
someone i hadn't seen for many years smsed and said: I almost could not recognize u! U have morphed into a butterfly! A very fair-skinned butterly!
hmmm... well, sorry, but i got goosebumps from such an sms. I'm pretty far from being a butterfly... I was so tempted to reply: praise to the face is open disgrace' but then, it would be too rude on account of that person's 'seniority'. i just said: i think the morphing didn't go that well.
i'm an ungrateful brat.
:: Review of 'The Scarlet Letter' (author: Nathaniel Hawthorne) ::
It's been ages since I've read a classic. Did this one last week, and I re-discovered the beauty of the English language.
'... rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.'
Synopsis:
Ann Hutchison, a married woman living in a Puritan village, while awaiting the arrival of her husband, commits adultery and bears a child. She refuses to reveal who the father of her child is, and because of that, was condemned to spend an entire 9 months in the dungeon, and to wear the scarlet letter 'A' upon her chest for the rest of her life if she chose to remain in the village. She and her daughter, Pearl, are scorned every minute of their life, as she represents all that a virtuous, chaste woman is not.
For 7 long years she lived in the village, quietly accepting her fate and teaching her daughter as best as she could, and through the 7 long years, the villagers gradually forgot her 'sin' and stopped wondering who the child's father was... and they started to respect her and see the scarlet letter as a representation of her kindness,quiet resilience and recognised her other virtues.
Meanwhile, while she did her penance, the father of her child (as was later revealed to us to be the pastor), suffered from guilt, eating away at his conscience, leaving him a wretched old man. In addition, her rightful husband had actually returned but made her promise not to reveal his real identity, and for 7 long years, he masqueraded as the town's physician. Fast forward... eventually, the pastor told the truth and stood with Ann and Pearl at the scaffold where the mother was made to stand every day for 3 hours as punishment, and he died at peace with himself and his people. But for her rightful husband, he was so eaten away by his quest for revenge, and when that was thwarted by the pastor's public confession, he was left lost and empty, dying as a man who did not know what he had lived for.
Comments: This intricately woven classic tells us of three important principles in life, as portrayed by the three characters. It emphasises the importance of being at peace with our conscience. No matter how much good we might do, and no matter how 'angelic' others see us, we will forever be tortured by our own demons. We have to first recognise our 'demons', laying them down clearly before us, and then can we start to fix the wrongs we have done. Revenge, might be sweet, but only in the quest and the action of it, what remains after we have achieved 'sweet revenge' is nothing, but a recognition of the vast amount of time and effort we have spent in procuring it; time that would be wiser spent doing other things.
An interesting note to point out would be that the scarlet letter, an original symbol of shame eventually evolved to become a symbol of respect, of virtue and of resilience. I believe that a symbol is only a meaningless picture, something that we should not place too much emphasis on. Ultimately, it's what we do that afixes a symbolism to the picture. Thus, it might be a warning not to place such emphasis on the symbols in life - the condominium, the credit cards, an Oscar, a title... ultimately, it's what we do that people respect us for, not what we have that draws the respect, at least, from the people that matter.
Current read: 'The Fountainhead' by Ayn Rand
Rate: ***** (of 5 stars) aka I'm HOOKED!
Length: 800 pages
martedì, dicembre 28, 2004
:: hootz hootzzz - two lulu-s making merry ::
domenica, dicembre 26, 2004
:: other funny incidents during the reunion ::LM, ant, HY, W and I were discussing the high costs of bringing up children... i expressed that the reason y costs were that high was due to parents who decked their children from top to toe with branded clothes and gave them so many toys to play with... i frown upon such behaviour because firstly, children outgrow their clothes quicker than they learn their ABC's and also, i don't believe that a child needs many toys to develop his motor skills... in fact, the simpler the toys, the more the cihld gets to exercise his imagination. anyway... then that ant said: next time we see a kid on the pavement, wearing singlet one, is liqi's ok... it's like got two sets.. mon, wed, fri - one set; tue, thur, sat - another set, then sunday... ar... stay at home la' haha... v funny lor... anyway... so i guess my children will turn out to be deprived!
LM and a few of us were discussing the wisdom or insurance/stocks/bonds/investments/ unit trusts/fixed deposits/savings plan and so on... hehe and according to our 57-year-old 'expert' (well at least the amount of salt he's taken is more than the amount of rice we've eaten!) don't buy stocks unless times are REALLY bad... like iraq war and so on... or else, it's highly likely u just break even, or u lose your $$$. fixed deposits, savings plans, bonds are safe and you won't lose your capital. that's for one. investments and unit trusts are quite useless as well, generally, the capital goes as well.. banks try to sell those cuz they've got to reach a quota or sth like this... lack of ethics. hmmm i think LM's words can be trusted... i've never known anyone to go wrong when they listen to his advice. :)
SQ started us off by recalling how we had to say 'the best use of today is to prepare for tomorrow' haha... and we had to say something apart from that too and V thought it was 'procrastination is THe THief of time'... apart from the v important meaning within, that phrase made us pronounce our 'TH's! hehe... come to think about it, i would NEVER have been good at english, or interested in that much reading if it weren't for him. he's a very motivational teacher. and also very effective. so many hundreds of students have been nutured by him... and it's really really... hard to say exactly how much, but he's made a huge impact on all our lives.
aiya... sleepy.... signing off! sianz... only 6 more days of hols left! it's NOT ENOUGH!!!!! BOOHOOOO!!!!!
:: 9 years in 4 hours ::
today, 11 people who hadn't met each other for as long as 1 year, or for others 3 years and for a few, even 9 long years went to visit their pri 6 form teacher at his 'humble abode'... it was quite a traumatising experience for one who hadn't seen many of us for as long as 9 years, lolz... though i hadn't seen that person for 9 long years, i was pleasantly surprised that the 9 years had made loads of improvement to his looks haha... today thought another guy that i saw last year actually looks quite cute leh... hia hia... lolz... but anyway, of all my pri sch frds there today... 90% are attached. the 11 of us were: Veronica, Qimin, Siew Qi, Diana, Yanshan, Shuling, Hongyao, Wayne, Anthony and Junwei.
WOW LM (my teacher) hadn't changed a single bit! whoa... bao2 yang3 de na4 me hao3! his place, at Rio Vista, is really cool... it might not look all that great from the outside, but once inside, you find yourself surrounded by flora and fauna around a really HUGE (15m) pool! it's just next to the park connector, thus, there's quite a good view... not obscured by those disgusting inventions of HDB. his 'humble abode' (keke) as he describes it, is what you'd expect of a bachelor's patch. hia hia... (except that it's scrupulously CLEAN AND TIDY)
well, i felt quite privileged and quite embarrassed at the same time today... i found out that quite a few of my friends are juggling uni with work... not easy... and by work i don't mean tuition... a few are actually studying, giving tuition AND working part time... all at the same time... it's no wonder one had such bloodshot eyes... life's really not easy for them... a couple had actually moved out of home and started living on their own... can you imagine that?! having to pay for your lodging, expenses, transport, mobile bills... on top of education! pei4 fu2 pei4 fu2... one of my frd's mother actually told her to move out after her 21st birthday! i'm speechless... then again, i'm very impressed by the resilience and independence they've shown... *two thumbs up*
we had quite a good time there... hehe got hagen daaz ice-cream lolz... haha... though not for me to enjoy... hmmm i believe something really remarkable actually took place today. imagine, so many people getting together for the first time, as adults to visit a teacher who hadn't seen many of us since the days of 'five stones' and 'rope skipping' and the horrid PSLE... unbelievable, isn't it? lolz.. btw, LM was even able to name us and fit our name to person.. not bad eh? i think he did some pre-hand research keke...
sabato, dicembre 25, 2004
:: spanish x'mas dinner ::i had a reaaaaaaaaal special dinner today, at Streeters (Keong Saik Road). It was recommended by Michael. haha... if anyone's thinking of trying it and don't like it, you can have his head... (not mine... muahahaha...)
here's what my family n my aunt had today:
THE MENU
~~~
patatas bravas - potato wedges with salsa
berenjenas con queso - eggplants stuffed with cheese
~~ hot tapas ~~
pollo al ajillo - chicken with garlic
patatas rellenas - potato stuffed with beef
calamari a la romana - deep fried calamari
~~ paellas ~~
paella valenciana - saffron rice with seafood and chicken
paella arroz negro - rice with squid black ink, mussels, squid and prawns
mmmmm.....
the paella is a signature spanish dish... it's a rice (not our normal chinese/jap/basnati rice) that is cooked in a pan with the ingredients and simmered... kind of juicy... hehehe and nicely flavoured. the most special of all is the one that is totally BLACK, it might look a bit ookie yet is actually very nice. the squid ink doesn't change much of the taste.
tapas are fingerfoods, divided into either hot or cold tapas. most people like to have a beer or two with friends, accompanied by some tapas. :)
and... ah..... i lurve brinjals! i haven't had them for quite a long time... i like them plain and grilled, no chilli sauce/chilli seeds or tomato or prawn paste or watnots... just PLAIN GRILLED BRINJAL... hmm maybe next time someone has a bbq, i'll volunteer to make grilled brinjal! any takers?
:: announcement ::
muahahaha...
:: HS has a blog ::
HS FINALLY got a real, proper blog... congrats stan, you've outgrown the 'i lurve arjun' phase! you've matured! from this to that. now, let's all go to his new site to read more about his 'hunting grounds' and his latest dates!
venerdì, dicembre 24, 2004
:: Scientific American Madness ::Here's one of my favourite magazines... unfortunately it's only available here at a rather steep price and it's too much of a hassle to ship it from the States, thus I'm resigned to reading old issues... lolz... like it's now December and I'm reading the April issue. yet, when one thinks of the time taken by scientists and such to churn out such articles, and the years long of research involved, 5 months is peanuts.
one of the articles actually mentioned edison's postmortem contribution to modern science. apparently, scientists had preserved his brain and cut out slices to examine... and voila, they found that he had more glia cells than other people! hence leading these men to embark on revealing an important function of the glia cells. contrary to what is already known (that glia cells only serve as supporting cells in the brain) glia cells and Schwann cells actually also transmit neurotransmitters (in the form of apoE/cholesterol and thrombospondin)! ATP itself, is also one of the proven neurotransmitters involved. thus, this opens up the possibility of using such cells to provide treatment for neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis! who knows... perhaps others like Alzheimer's Disease (which so commonly threatens the elderly) and Parkinson's disease might finally have a cure! or more likely, a way to slow down the process.
another article talked about how MRI, that created uniform waves throughout the entire brain matter could be used as a potential form of treatment for those with bipolar depression. apparently, such patients showed improved moods right after spending only 20min in the MRI tube. unfortunately, this does not occur with normal people (who actually react opposite by becoming quite irritated or claustrophobic).. therefore, this potential treatment cannot be used as a single-shot of happiness.
a new company Gryphon, has come up with a revolutionary... it has revolutionised genetic engineering! genetic engineering centred upon engineering of molecules to create synthetic proteins/genes... but Gryphon has actually been able to use other ways to maximise the use of such proteins... and also, managed to synthesis larger proteins than anyone else has managed to before. Eg. instead of manufacturing synthetic erythropoietin (which stimulates synthesis of red blood cells), Gryphon has revolutionised the idea itself, by making polymers that attach to sugars on two locations on erythropoietin such that that the resulting hormone is larger and thus trapped in the glomuerular membranes longer, thus allowing the hormone's action to be prolonged. :) cool isn't it?
ok there's much much more in just one edition, ranging from the sciene of language, to exploration of other planetary systems, the double whammy of pesticides, the gene that makes one alcohol resistant or alcohol sensitive... haha i sound like i'm advertising for SciAm!
giovedì, dicembre 23, 2004
:: holidays - day 4 ::it's a first, and possibly last experience for me... when to Rouge (peranakan place) to attend a rock band competition organised by NTU CAC. some of the bands were not bad... like Prognosis and The Breakfast Club (where one of the lead singers was a singapore idol reject... she's got the stuff, but just screeches a bit too much) suffice to say, rock is NOT my element, nevertheless, it's still a first, so i guess, it adds to my horde of experiences :)
oh and i met hypoC there! he was supporting the same person sanz was supporting! hehe... what a small small world... these days...
mercoledì, dicembre 22, 2004
:: Dopey, when she was little ::
ain't i cute?
martedì, dicembre 21, 2004
:: 'leng3' (cold) jokes ::instead of saying: you're an idiot!
say: your brain is as smooth as an egg!
instead of saying: my creative juices aren't flowing...
say: my synapses need a plumber!
instead of saying: i have slow reaction.
say: my synaptic clefts are too wide!
instead of saying: i have STM (short-term memory)
say: my neurotransmitters are being lost somewhere in the cleft.
:: holidays - day 4 aka BOOKS GALORE!!! ::
today i finally went to call on my aunt and cousins who've moved to their new place!!! been too bogged down with tests and mugging to do that... now... finally!
the thing i noticed about my cousin's room was that it's super duper small... a bit like 4 mian4 dou1 shi4 qiang2... but in her case it's 4 mian4 dou1 shi4 shu1... given her extensive collection of books! it looks like a mini kinokuniya in there... anyway, i ended up lugging a big bag of books home - 4 issues of scientific american (one of my favourite magz), 'the scarlett letter', 'the portrait of dorian gray', 'the odessy' and 'the fountainhead' (ayn rand). i finished 'the scarlett letter' at her place and while on the way back. hehe... not bad eh...
i hope can finish some of these by this weekend... i've got my eyes (both) on other books like 'the making of a fuhrer', 'the communist manifesto' (karl marx) and 'prince' (machiavelli)... but FIRST, i'd better finish 'bare bones'... i aim to finish it by tonight... shldn't be a problem... but then might have a case of major plate tectonics in my stomach. hahaha...
lunedì, dicembre 20, 2004
:: holidays - day 2 ::keeping to my promise to make FULL use of my time... here's what i've done these two days... on sunday went shopping with my mum... shop shop shop and we've settled all our CNY clothes lolz... i dun care, i'm going to start wearing the clothes right next week. ha... dun care dun care... clothes are made to be worn, not stored up still almost 2 months later! then after that i went for the housewarming...
which, predictably wasn't quite a 'warming' experience.
1. one of my cousins was complaining about an incompetent GP who diagnosed dengue fever in her little baby as heat rash only. so she's quite miffed about it. she marched over and told me: next time you don't be a GP la, be a paediatrician'...
2. an uncle sat him self next to me and started talking about very useless physiotheraphy for his knee (he has got chondromalacia patellae)... poor man... then he told me: next time go do orthopaedics, good leh...
3. the mother of my auntie started complaining about easy bruising especially around the wrists, right after her blood transfusion. anyway she didn't want to say much more so i don't want to press her either... she looked quite upset about the appearance of her wrists more than the fact that she bruised easily.
4. this weirdo person called auntie hazel, who has probably offended more people than i can ever imagine came over to talk to me... she's quite a nice funny person except... she kept saying: eh, gal, u look like a nurse manz... hey, u really have the look of a nurse... you look just like a nurse! u know! really leh, everyone, don't u think she looks like a nurse??? it was weird... at some point i almost felt like abandoning my medical studies (that i've slogged so hard for) and switch profession instead. even when she was at the doorstep, ready to go home, she was still insisting that i look like a nurse. _OK_OK_ now i'm getting the idea that i don't look like a doctor, yea, like she thinks i can never make it issit... or wat huh...
5. RANT MODE ON...
predictably, my uncle came over and said: eh, you look fatter!
OK he always says this... he never even says hi, he never even makes any polite conversation, he just barges into whatever conversation i'm having with other people and announces this. i'm soooo pissed... first, it's rude to intrude into other people's chat and second, it's RUDE to not say hi to the person and third it's extremely RUDE to make such a comment, though yeah, it's probably true. argh. i've put up with this for dunno how many years already, my patience is indeed running out. while i had rather violent images of shredding the smug look on his face, i on the other hand, didn't want my parents to be acused of being bad parents for bringing up such an ill-bred child. so... haiz... i'm so sad to say that i didn't say anything back except: why do you always say this everytime i see you, got nothing more to say ah? his own wife and my mother also kind of chided him for it but i bet it didn't work. hmmm next year during CNY i shall just hop in front of him and say, hi, i'm fatter right? so you got nothing else to say now? ok, bye then...
grrr... i cannot forget the time he said something like this ALOUD, in the presence of MANY MANY MANY people (many of whom were around MY age, were strangers) omg... wanna dig a hole and just go hide inside and dun come out again. i have to say, though i can FORGIVE him now, i CANNOT forget. i hope he turns senile soon...
RANT MODE OFF... this is the reason y i dun like my paternal relatives.
:: holidays - day 3 ::
just watched 'national treasure', it's not bad... :) but it kind of lacks the backup of good background / theme music (unlike films such as mission impossible...) the plot's intricate enough but not my cup of tea... maybe the americans will be able to appreciate it more, it feels a bit like propaganda? like what the americans would show to their children if they had national education classes... haha...
got my shoes mended... and i think i'm going for a rock band competition on thursday! kinda looking forward to it! it'll be a first in many ways! hehe hootz!
actually i wanted to go for the night cycling tonight then wanted to ask rach to go with me, but... i forgot to ask her lor... haiz too late liao...
:: exercise your brain ::
You have 8 balls, 7 weigh the same and 1 weighs lighter than the rest. You have ONE balance scale. You are only allowed to weigh the balls TWICE. How can you identify the lighter ball just by using the balance scale twice?
contributed by ALESI - the one with the MANLY nick. *coff coff*
answers up after you guys try out the riddle... just leave it as a comment here.
domenica, dicembre 19, 2004
:: Bare Bones – Kathy Reichs ::This is my current read, i almost drooled when i saw the title! saw this book in the shops earlier this year but didn't want to burn money on it... hehe seems like my wait has finally paid off! yoohoo!
Synopsis: It’s a summer of record-breaking heat in Charlotte. Tempe Brennan is looking forward to her first vacation in year, but it is not to be. She’s almost out the door when the bones start appearing. First there’s the little skeleton of a newborn found in a wood stove. Did the baby’s young mother put her there? The mother, hardly more than a child herself, has disappeared.
Next, a Cessna flies into a rock face on a sunny afternoon. Both pilot and passenger are burned beyond recognition, their bodies covered with a strange black substance. What could it be? There’s evidence that they may have had criminal purposes for the flight.
Most puzzling, though, is a cache of bones found in a remote corner of the county. Some animal, some human, the bones are enough to keep Tempe busy for a long time to come. Everything leads back to an isolated farm. What happened there, and who will be the next victim? The answers lie hidden deep within the bones – if only Tempe can decipher them in time…
sabato, dicembre 18, 2004
:: holidays - day 1 ::i've decided that, in order to prevent myself from squandering the precious hols away, i shall blog about what i do EVERY SINGLE day.. so that if i find that i'm doing nothing constructive, i shall suffer in shame while the rest of the world reads about the nonsensical, boh liaoz things i do...
hmmmm DAY ONE of glorious glorious hols and -i have to go back to school for community health project-... if this goes on, i have no health watsoever to speak of!
anyway, at least, for once, probably just the rare few times, we were actually PRODUCTIVE! we finally got down to churning out the questionnaire... bascially it was just putting together surveys that famous pple (must be those cofm type) have designed... and then asking for their permission to use it... just pray hard we don't have to pay much money.. cuz we only have this miserable 200bux granted for the research... duh. go swensen also not enuff lor!
anyway... yeah feel at least some kind of achievement, cuz we've taken one more step down this arduous path.
:: da shao chu ::
i cleared out SIX NTUC-sized plastic bags of trash from my room! shifted my wonderful collection of horror books... (ooo...) to my brother's room's top shelf, cuz my textbooks have been protesting against ill-treatment and have been campaigning rather violently for more space. so i trashed, and i trashed, and i trashed...
finally... i ended up with one entire level (of the shelf) of medical textbooks, one carton of notes in files and one mini-shelf of other medical stuff... and also, it was scary cuz i found out that my spanish cum italian material took up ONE shelf (like my med txtbooks!) and one BIG 3-inch file. serious manz... no wonder my ex-compa~neros say i'm a freak! hmmm but anyway, no one's a bigger freak then michael!!! i think he can start a library!
:: nostalgia ::
i was packing my stuff when i came across those essays i wrote, those little notes i wrote at the side of my guidebooks for spanish and i felt a kind of heart-ache! I MISS SPANISH! I MISS MY SPANISH CLASSMATES! muakz! lolz... and I MISS MUGGING SPANISH!!!! WAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! *sniff sniff* haiz...
:: plan ::
i plan to do my italian grammar exercise book. hehe... it's time to polish up my grammar! woohoo!!!
tomorrow have to go to my cousin's new place for house-warming... sick. i can't get along with my paternal side at all. can't be bothered, wouldn't have gone if it was not for the fact that i'm so free now and it wouldn't look nice for my parents if i didn't. urgh... shall bring the gross forensic science fiction book over tomorrow, and i'll describe the human anatomy upon dissection to whoever dares come 'ka jiao' me... or start to be unkind to me... hmph. to think of it, i dunno why i always act like i'm ok and just keep quiet when people say things that aren't very nice about me. it's HIGH time i stood up for my own pride and for myself! i have enough confidence to do it!
:: COUNTDOWN 2005 ::
Countdown @ Boon Lay 2005 -
A fun-filled, action packed event to party away all your worries and usher in 2005! The biggest bash in the West, it boasts an impressive lineup of exciting acts, from sizzling Mediacorp artistes Fiona Xie and Jeanette Aw, awesome cheerdance performances to ultra slick break-dances guaranteed to get your heart racing, and feet moving! There will also be a special appearance of Singapore's rising homegrown star - Sylvester Sim! An excellent opportunity to catch Guest of Honour Mr Lim Swee Say in action, Countdown @ Boon Lay 2005 promises treats for everyone and anyone. Come join our party!
Date : 31st December 2004
Time : 6:30pm to 1 am
venerdì, dicembre 17, 2004
:: day after tests ::finally! all the tests are overrrrr! time for freedom! but the big problem now is... hmm... dunno what to do? lolz... what a loser i am! anyway... the first things up is to clear up my stuff and rest, then catch a couple of movies... oh and of cuz i've got the sickening chp stuff to do too! went to watch 'shutter' with rach and sanz today, hmmm.... thought those two were supposed to be hugging each other in fright... but nah, they were mainly whispering to each other through-out the movie... lolz... i was being my usual 'dopified' self... i don't really like the movie... perhaps it's cuz i've watched too many horror movies in my lifetime that i'm used to their tactics and those storylines... i was really bored at certain points of the film... it was a bit of a torture for me cuz whenever i was going to 'dope' off, there would be a climax, suitably accompanied by LOUD sounds! and argh... i was having a headache by the time i got home... now i've OD on aspirin hehe...
:: shutter - SPOILER ::
*beware* (especially EW and lil'EW)!!! set in bangkok, the story revolves around a photographer, his girlfriend and his ex-college friends. the photographer and his gf knocked down a lady while driving home late after a wedding dinner, (slightly drunk)... following this hit-and-run incident, strange things begin to happen... ah, the usual stuff of apparitions, weird sounds, weird dreams and of cuz... the weird wisps of smoke in the photographs that he developed. both start to 'break down'... eventually, this guy's ex-college friends start to commit suicide, all by throwing themselves off a building. finally, only this guy was left... meanwhile, his very resourceful gf had found out the identity of the lady they had knocked down. (interestingly, there wasn't a single record abt an RTA that night). turned out, this lady was the ex of her bf... thus they decided to track this girl down. the bf only revealed that he had broken up with his ex-gf but she had been extremely clingy and threatened to slit her wrists... eventually his ex-classmates told him they would 'settle her for him' and he let them do it and since then, hadn't seen his ex again. when they got to his ex's house... they found out that she had attempted to slit her wrists but was hospitalised, then she jumped off the hospital building and died... yet her mum -DID NOT- cremate her, but left her body in her bedroom! super gross! so they persuaded her to cremate her daughter and give her the burial rites so that she could rest in peace. that night before the cremation, another haunting began, and the photographer ended up jumping down fr 3 floors... he didn't die. lolz...
just when the couple thought it was all over, the gf (current one) discovered some photos she had taken the night before they left for the countryside and discovered the spirit seemed to have been searching for something... and... the gf found some negatives that actually showed that her bf's frds had raped her (i think) or at least taken some nude photos of the girl to coerce her into leaving her bf. wow! and this 'asshole' had been an accomplice, being too wimpish to stand up against his friends... thus, the gf left the photographer...
oooh and now, for what i regard as the 'crowning glory' or the 'only saving point' of this film - - - the photographer decided to take photos of his house since he suspected that his vengeful ex was still around... finally he took one of himself and guess what he saw? he saw her sitting, astride his back... ooh! no wonder he had been having chronic back pain... despite his cervical x-rays being simply beautiful! no spondylosis, spondylolisthesis or fracture/dislocations! in the end, he jumped off his block too, but fortunately (or more like unfortunately) didn't die and was condemned to a mental asylum, forever bearing the weight of his guilt and his ex-gf (literally) on his back!
:: marathon phone call ::
today, i had to make a special phone call... to a person i hadn't spoken to for up to 8 years - my primary 6 form teacher! cuz he had shifted and the new address i got wasn't too clear... thus, had to make the call to get the correct address. we ended up talking for TWO hours... aiyo... so much to catch up on! mmmm i think i'm going to visit his new place, anyway... he invited me hehe... ok, shall brung a few pple to go along with me... wa laooo.... talk till i feel like i kena cubital tunnel syndrome!
giovedì, dicembre 16, 2004
:: BIG plans ::hmmm now that my plans to sell kacang putih are not going ot materialise, i must find other ways to waste the next two weeks haha...
so...
who wants to go slack with me?
i wanna go watch movies manz... and shop (yeah!) and yeah... that's about it, the rest of the stuff like sleeping i can do myself. *hahaha* and erm, being evil and mean to people, can go look for AGAG! heh...
say... who wants to go watch movie?
:: BIG plans ::
hmmm now that my plans to sell kacang putih are not going ot materialise, i must find other ways to waste the next two weeks haha...
so...
who wants to go slack with me?
i wanna go watch movies manz... and shop (yeah!) and yeah... that's about it, the rest of the stuff like sleeping i can do myself. *hahaha* and erm, being evil and mean to people, can go look for AGAG! heh...
say... who wants to go watch movie?
:: ortho test ::
it's back to TTSH for my test today! oh, i miss the good ole days there! haiz... nice environment, nice people... CANNOT be compared to a particular hospital in the west... poor rach's been stuck there for agessss!
for the long case, i got TB spine! initially i was directed to the wrong bed.. and ended up clerking this rather young patient with a history of many falls and unsteady gait?! aiyoooo i was soo desperate by the time i got the super muddled history that i was ready to think about childhood hip disease leading to shortened leg! lolz... also i had a sneaky suspicion that he was PSY as well... given the really confusing history! then... my saviour came to get me to the CORRECT patient...
lolz... turned out, the correct one also seemed a bit psy, having had a soujourn at u-know-where. he presented with lower lateral back LUMP! and claimed that it leaked pus?!?! and the pus came out in his stools?!?! pengz... then i was brought on a merry-go-round about prolapsed intervertebral disc and scoliosis... he claimed it was from birth... but it wasn't actually. aiyo... i almost didn't get the TB point despite repeatedly asking him abt med hx. until he let slip that he had some numbness after taking anti-TB drugs! by then i was combining hx taking with physical examination cuz time was FAST running out!
for short case, got a pelvic x-ray showing a hip that was in bad condition probably due to RA/OA with protrusio acetabuli and the other side has a grade IV Garden's NOF #. the other two was this pressure mattress and an Ilizarov fixator. the latter two i didn't know, but anyway treat it as a learning experience. later on me and EW went nosing around and saw an interesting traction apparatus and got an MO to explain to us. hehe...
here's a picture of the Ilizarov fixator:
Indications:
- unstable/comminuted fractures
- periarticular fractures
- correcting deformities
- limb lengthening
mercoledì, dicembre 15, 2004
:: It's a Zoo Out There ::"It's A Zoo Out There": is another site by a doc, this time from A&E in SGH. lolz... also can blog helluva lot of stuff! almost like addicted! haha... how come so free? (sanz asked...) also read that apparently blogging must be something so HOT that sgh has blocked blogger.com from their computers?
aiyo trying to study but keep getting other interesting links popping out... trying to read up from orthoteers.co.uk now. it's goooooood!
just discovered something, apparently, my dad knows a lot about SLE... and yeah, cuz his ex-fiancee had it! sad hx manz...
:: mental curd on the net ::
Sanz recommended a blog to me today... so, hearing that it was actually by a doc, probably from the place we did ortho, i decided to check it out. i was quite impressed at the amount he could blog despite being on 36-hours shifts! but one disturbing fact that i've come across more times than i'm comfortable with is that: quite a few MOs (probably HOs) as well rammed into lamp posts or got into RTAs on their way home off-call. hmm... sounds quite scary, though it's not surprising. i think i'd better call a cab to get back from work in the future... since i'm liable to get into an accident even when sobre, well-rested and not hypoglycaemic!
hehe there's a cute entry about the AGV as well... a few interesting anecdotes here and there... and you'll probably find lots of 'mental curd' to chew on after reading it.
best to read after the test this friday, or might get 'burst' fracture of the skull! haha dun think this exists in real life... but... hehe it's funny... when i think of an 'above-neck cast' as rames suggested or a full head cast haha... looks like a lightbulb!
happy la... that bugger wenky's test is over... i'm soooo jealous! i hope my examiner's a nice guy... i really want to enjoy my test as well!
martedì, dicembre 14, 2004
:: off for a walk ::today YT was quite bothersome... he kept wanting to go out... and made a HUUUUGE fuss about it, thus, i decided i shall be a kind soul and grant him his wish and my mum some well-deserved rest... however, i also wanted to study for the upcoming ORTHO tests, therefore i wondered... how else could i safely bring him for a walk while studying, and make sure that i'm holding on to him the entire time, so that he wouldn't get lost or run onto the roads or something...
tataaaa... i decided to put him on a leash! tee hee... so i made one using some rafia string and a little hoop and off we went for a walk... :O
outcome: everyone's happy...
:: the last samurai ::
oh today i had to force myself to watch the last samurai... but after a while i thought it was worth it, cuz i really felt like chopping up apley (the book, not the man) into pieces with the samurai sword! hehe kidding...
it was a really beautiful movie! and a little sad at the back.
i would like to blog more... but this stupid insensitive cursor is killing me! so i'm gonna go sleep now... sianz.... ortho examination not here yet! haiz... lucky reema, probably got it over and done with!
hmmm i should just encourage you all to go catch the movie if you haven't. it's really nice... and the jap lady in there is very pretty leh... wonder who she is... hehe...
lunedì, dicembre 13, 2004
:: blasted ::drats! my test has been postponed fr 3pm today to 4pm on thursday! i dunno the reason behind it though but it had better be a matter of 'life or death', be it my examiner's or his patient's.
poor EW had just reached the hospital when she received the fateful call fr ER, and oh my, she was *fuming*... i hope she didn't decide to go knock around the old fogies in their Balkan frames and Buck's tractions! ER called me around 11am, but i didn't hear it, i wonder if it was about the test? hope not, cuz if EW finds out, i think she'll put some Gardner-Wells tongs around his head!
as for me, i'm so disappointed that i couldn't do my test today! i was already all prepped and ready, my trusty tendon-tapper at my side and all the causes of AVN at my fingertips... now this newly acquired knowledge is all going to leak out of my brains while they wait around for 3 more days, gradually turning into mush. :( and that EW is so evil.... she started the phone call with: hey i have some good news for you!
yeah, my heart skipped a beat and plummeted to the depths of the deepest abyss after that. :S
i shall go slack my day off now...
domenica, dicembre 12, 2004
:: i think i'm a pervert ::they say perverts are people who look normal in all aspects, yet are just psychologically so twisted within... i think i'm one of them.
i used to express what i felt deep within on my face. if i'm happy - i'm happy; if i'm pissed - i'm pissed. now, i don't think i can do that any more. even if i'm all torn up and discouraged inside, people probably still take me as the happy-go-lucky dopey. i wonder, do people take me seriously sometimes, or rather, do i want people to take me seriously? am i just a joke in life? argh... dunno what i'm talking about...
i realised this when i had a good long chat with AGAG. agag kind of pointed out that agag didn't know that i was going through some stuff since i always looked so cheerful in life and in the internet. and i thought, yes i think agag's right, after all, whenever i confide in any friends about my troubles, i tend to complain, express my emotions and dismiss of them within the same breath. maybe that's why people all around me, always think i take the falls in life so easily. actually no, i'm just as damaged as everyone else when such things happen, i am just a pervert who's unable or unwilling to express my emotions... for some reason or another.
i think i'm going crazy... sometimes i think too much, and then i get so confused.... perhaps, it would be better NOT to think, and just live...
venerdì, dicembre 10, 2004
:: almost lost 1/3 of apley (ortho txtbook) ::aiyo today the karang guni man (a man who goes from house to house collecting old newspapers, clothes and magazines) came around to my place. so while my mother was carrying the old newspapers out to him, YT was very excited (he's not shy with strangers), and was jumping up and down the doorway, saying 'uncle guni uncle guni'... then after he saw my mum handing that man a stack of magazines, he decided that he would help too, so... he went to take one part of my apley and wanted to give it to that man! waaaa! bu yao ruan ruan lai ah!!! !!! dangerous manz... i think my 20+ bux apley (well cuz i chopped it into 3 parts) will prob fetch 20cents? luckily my mum rescued my book! or else i'll probably fail the test on monday (not that i'm going to do well even with it... haiz)
giovedì, dicembre 09, 2004
:: the 'orthopaedically-challenged' family ::i think there're some congenital deformities in my family. my mum and i BOTH have some form of toe drift that increases over the years. the drift causes the 2nd toe to drift medially and the 3rd toe to drift laterally, resulting in a larger-than-normal gap between the 2nd and 3rd toes.
dasde says i've got early hallux rigidus, before he proceeded to snicker a bit... lolz... and the patient immediately told me with a pained expression - 'don't go get as osteotomy like me'.
after seeing so many flat feet in the clinic, i've come to realise that i might be a bit flatter on the right foot though i still have a medial arch. it's also a flexible kind of flat foot. eh, wonder if i have an accessory navicular... i think it's possible since a few weeks ago, i noticed a smallish swelling with slight tenderness on the medial aspect of my foot, right over the navicular tuberosity! lolz, i hope i dun kena post tibialis tendinitis in the future!
in addition, i have more or less generalised ligament laxity, evidenced by my ability to flex my wrist until my thumb touches the forearm, to bend my fingers backwards, and a possible bilateral anterior drawer test of the ankle. plus, i've sprained my right ankle >3 times a year, and this according to dasde, IS quite a lot! anyway, many other gals like lax-jointed too! and it's fun to perform such acrobatics in front of others... actually i think it's because of this manipulative and psychotic personality that i've made my joints more lax recently...
wonder whether my brother and i have tight tendon archilles or not, cuz when we were young, we tip-toed instead of walked... even now, when i don't wear shoes, i feel more comfortable tip-toeing that walking flat!
i tried to do the ortolani and barlow's test for congenital dislocation of the hip on YT today and gasp, suffered a vicious kick in my chin! x_x anyway served me right, went to poke a sleeping dragon!
mercoledì, dicembre 08, 2004
:: looking forwards to ENT posting ::i think i'm turning deaf! perhaps i didn't notice the signs in the past. since young, i've always been the odd 'kid' who isn't able to remember song titles or song lyrics... though i could get a drift of the tune. then later on, i realised that i just wasn't really interested in listening to the radio because i wasn't able to catch the lyrics...
nowadays, i realised that i'm turning the tv volume in my room higher and higher, yet i still use the same volume for the tv outside... so is that a problem of my ears or the different acoustics in both places?
recently, i'm unable to catch my brother speak, but then dunno whether it's a problem of him mumbling or my ears?
in addition, when i was taking spanish, i realised that my ability to catch spoken spanish wasn't as good as my classmates'. hmmm but it improved after lots and lots and lots of hardwork. :S
worse, my own cg mates and ex-cg mates have realised that they normally need to repeat something thrice before i get it. during clinic sessions, i'm v prone to hearing the wrong things or not hearing things clearly :( sometimes i even have problems catching what the patient said.
hmmm, am i speaking louder than usual? cuz i think pple who are deaf normally speak very loudly so that they can hear ourselves better and also they speak with a weird toneless voice? so am i going deaf? or perhaps there's nothing wrong with my cochlear ganglion and nerve endings but just something wrong with my BRAIN!
martedì, dicembre 07, 2004
:: kids ::today, wenky and EW launched into a discussion of the brats of modern society and the bane of EW's swimming session - kids. anyway today i shan't discuss the possibility that wenky will trottle his own flesh and blood alive in the future or whether EW's kids will turn out withdrawn and repressed, perpetually confined at the very end of the classroom and possibly growing up into future zhen-zis, hiding behind their veils of black black hair.
today i shall talk about the 'brat' in my house aka YT the evil boy... he's NEVER been taught to share his toys or his snacks, he terrorises the dog of the neighbourhood, specifically, the one who normally terrorises the kids instead and he even bullies his maid! tsk tsk tsk... but at least in MY house no one's spoiling him. hehe my mother's dead against spoiling kids. she's very strict with him, so at least in MY home he doesn't dare to throw that many tantrums. today, something quite 'funny' happened. YT woke up in the middle of his afternoon nap whimpering 'elmo is green... elmo is green.... i'm scared! i'm scared!' and refusing to let go of my mother! hehe so funny! lolz, imagine that poor kid is being terrified out of his wits by a green elmo! (for those still unaware, elmo is RED)
anyway he's quite cute la, when he's not having a temper... he's quite a lazy kid, always rolling around here and there, instead of walking. he doubles as a very efficient mop at home, if only my mother would allow me to attach the special paper on him (tt allows him to pick up the dust particles!) i think his intellect is just so-so, compared to Dayna, the previous kid, he's not that smart, and not that motivated to learn. :( i like kids that look like sponges...
i hope i have spongy kids in the future! lolz...
domenica, dicembre 05, 2004
:: the SAGA of my notebook and the INEFFICIENT & INCOMPETENT TOSHIBA svc centre in NUS ::This has gone too far, i need to blog it all out! I even have to prepare a list of complaints for the Toshiba main people since the whole saga is so complicated and confusing!
One month ago, the notebook DC IN light started flashing orange ie. something wrong with the electrical connection/AC adapter power. Sent for repair. Technician at NUS said no problem, left notebook there for a day to do thorough checking (or so they claimed), received notebook the next day. Went home.
One week later, the SAME problem occurred, back to NUS svc centre. This time, technician claimed 'oh it's motherboard problem, we'll change it for you'. and they proceeded to change my motherboard. Got it ard 4days later. Took it home.
Barely a week later, SAME problem occurred! Now, this time i was majorly pissed! Went back to NUS svc centre, technician looked so clueless, i bet he doesn't know what has happened. Left notebook there for checking again! Called me up later, 'oh, it's your hard disk problem...' (duh, come on i know you dunno what's going on, stop smoking!) so they decided to change my hard disk. Waited for a week before they could fnd spare parts. Come to think about it, perhaps they were waiting for someone else to send in their computer to swap hard disks.
Brought notebook home, started it up, and it was super slow. so slow it was horrid! i mean, how can a NEW hard disk, with so much free RAM and space be THAT slow? so i decided to start up my toshiba recovery disks, effectively reformats the hard disk. i do this periodically for my hard disk in the past anyway, with good recovery. but this time round, there were problems even with the recovery process... as a result, post-recovery, programmes i installed couldn't be used or this blue screen pops up with error messages. in addition, the same orange flashing light problem occurs again! fantastic right?!
CRASH...
Decided to send notebook to Toshiba main service centre all the way in Kallang instead of the ineffective, incompetent, lacking 'COFM' skills, poor-mannered, slack technician at NUS. so now the technician at the main svc centre calls up my dad and says: ah, not much problem, it was just the motherboard coming a bit loose. just need to tighten screws.
1. do you think a motherboard coming loose will cause such severe errors with programmes?
2. the nus pple must have done a damn lousy job because my motherboard came lose barely 2wks post-servicing!
in the end he grudgingly decided to run a check of the notebook. (like i believe, i saw the NUS tecs do it once, they just turn on yr windows media, run it a bit, turn on another programme run it a bit... and that's their definition of THOROUGH check)
So i just got my computer back from toshiba main, and installed the programmes i use such as microsoft office, msn messenger, icq, incredimail (for email) and advanced browser. and then the same problem of the blue screen popping up appears. got errors like 'the computer has detected a serious problem with your hard disk... sth to that effect and has to restart the computer to protect your data.... or it's the error of: physical dumping of memory started'
SICK, tomorrow have to send to kallang again! i hope this is the LAST time!
sabato, dicembre 04, 2004
:: the incredibles & taxi ::thanks to wenky, i spent my entire post-pharmaco test afternoon watching the two movies! anyway thanks for burning those cds for me. :) i didn't know that burning in the rmbv format could mean that two movies could fit into just one cd! kewl!
'the incredibles' was a bit of a letdown, probably it's cuz my standards were too high, since so many ppl had remarked how wonderful and entertaining the film had been. :( the best part i liked was when the elastigal and her two kids were flung into the water from the plane that exploded. the kid was screaming his head off about going to die and looked so cutely distressed! haha... very different from his normal whines and complains when his mother reprimanded him for getting into trouble in school! the girl with the force field reminded me of zhenzi! ha... jogging zhenzi, u all still remember?
taxi was a hoot! queen latifah is at her most charming, funny and her loudmouthed nature lends itself to many jokes in the film! :) i thoroughly enjoyed the film! hmmm the part when the incompetent, trying-too-hard policeman was trying to shift his car out of the parallel parking slot was a bit too close to heart... kind of reminds me that i might be just like him if i were handed a car now and told to parallel park it! lolz... i'm a road hazard manz... i mean apart from the fact that i'm almost drugged 24/7 there's also the part where i'm blur for the remaining of the time!
ha... i might have a little angst blog later on... about the SAGA of my NOTEBOOK!
giovedì, dicembre 02, 2004
:: siao liao ::siao liao, i'm going to get zero for pharmaco!!! luckily the negative marking doesn't extend across questions, or else i'll very likely get a negative mark!
AAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
mercoledì, dicembre 01, 2004
:: singapore idol ::argh! i've spent my entire evening watching tv and occasionally glancing down at my notes... and as a result, i've only done a pitiful amount of studying today, die die DIE! today they both sang really well, but i felt taufik had more style and abilty to perform, and a much more phenomenal set of vocals. sly did 'it's my life' quite well, i felt. it's not an easy song to perform! however, hehe i still prefer taufik no matter what. he's got more talent and idol material, sly, well... perhaps he's the perfect idol for 12-16 year old gals.
anyway, they're taking such a long time to announce the results, i can just imagine how much singtel has earned through all the voting! also can't imagine how many people are actually watching it now. in total, there were 3 million plus votes garnered in total, hmmm, not bad... it's almost 7 million in terms of money! woohoo! great bux!
WOOHOOOO!!!! TAUFIK ONE! hehe go taufik! i'm sooooo happy! woohoooo! singapore FINALLY has woken up! hahahha.. lalalala... ok now better go study for 5min... lolz... i wanna watch the anime at 11pm. sigh... so tired too now... oh my god! i can hear people around my flat screaming! and also sounds of popping and fireworks and dunno what stuff! ha... oooo i'm so happy! (and relieved)
:: traumatised ::
been very traumatised by none-stop activities since monday from 830/9 am thereabouts till 7pm at the hospital. plus, i haven't been sleeping well, only about 4hours a night.. the rest of the time i was just tossing around and suffering from dyspepsia. sigh and i just realised that i haven't gone to study the notes for LA, opioids and NSAIDS... still wondering whether i should go do that, coz i'm really out of time! i'm so glad that tomorrow i won't need to go to school by 830am. hehe... hengz... i managed to delay my appointment to next week.
today i was at the paeds ortho MO clinics, and i thought that all the kids were quite well-behaved and very bright, cheerful and endearing! so cute! dunno why all those kids i see in the streets normally look so dumb to me... my bro says: only kids who exercise and are active look bright, and such kids who are so active are the ones who'll get fractures! haha... interesting reasoning.
my bro is v hiao, he's decided to do a month trial for contacts. lolz... i think he's going to kena conjunctivitis! or else he'll lose his contacts within the first wk of wearing them! guys ah...
and lastly, i have an announcement, i've got Gmail, courtesy of nico! haha... anyway i doubt i'll be doing much with it currently. i shall explore the possibilities and decide whether i want to use it from now onwards or stick with yahoo. i like yahoo too much to abandon it.
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francesca chiu
2 eyebags & 5 wrinkles
on long-term dormicum drip
KIV IMH
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