真无奈，被点中了！

没办法，原本还打算等明天得空时才update的
现在唯有在百忙中抽空先完成这个吧

第一 被點者請在自己的部落格裡寫下答案
第二 請傳給10個人
第三 傳閱人請在於這10個人的留言板告知他被點名了
第四 這10個人不能拒絕
第五 被點者請注明被誰點了 在哪接到 再傳給下10位
第六 這些被點名者 你們會得到幸福 並且願望會實現哦


【幸福套餐】開始囖~~~

---幸福套餐No.1---
01 你的綽號 - 靓仔，摆摊子买东西的都那么说的=.= 高佬算吗？
02 年齡 - 17歲
03 生日 - 91年7月29日
04 星座 - 狮子座
05 興趣 - 唱歌、踢球、看电影
06 專長 - 讲废话、审美

---幸福套餐No.2---
01 你有沒有喜歡的人 - 有
02 你是否在交往 - 没有
03 現在幸福嗎 - 知足
04 如果上天給你勇氣，最想做什麽事情 - 只修我喜欢的科目
05 如果有天，你喜歡的人跟你告白的話 - 证明你的幸福套餐管用

---幸福套餐No.3---
01 點你的人是 - 慧美
02 他是你的 - 朋友，是她，不是他
03 他的個性 - 开朗活泼，但表面看起来有点忧郁
04 認識他多久 - 今年是第二年了吧
05 你覺得他怎樣 - 人不错啊
你想對他說什麽 - 谢谢你，我会报仇的

---幸福套餐No.4---
01 最愛的節目 - grey's anatomy
02 最愛的音樂 - 慢歌
03 最愛的季節 - 秋
04 最愛的卡通 - 柯南
05 最愛的人 - 家人
06 最愛的顏色 - 白
07 最愛的國家 - 奥地利
08 最愛的天氣 - 多云

---幸福套餐No.5---
01 如果上天給你三個願望 - 家人身体健康，生活愉快
- 去我想要得大学，完成我的志愿
- 不贪心，就只要多三个愿望吧
02 你是很專一的人嗎？ - 无可否认
03 最深刻的影響 - 他的教导
04 你是很有信心的人嗎？ - 曾经
05 你是愛微笑的人嗎？ - 应该不是
06 如果要你放棄現在的生活你要嗎？- 未满一岁时你问我也许我会考虑
07 妄想什麽樣的生活 - 万人拥戴
08 是否橫刀博愛才是愛？ - 何方道理？


調卷到此結束，點人者請置於被點著的留言板告知被點名了

* 點名名單 *
Candy
Eleena
JiaJun
Justin
ChingMing
LooTing
ShinWei
Xia
YeongZiang
ZhiTao
不好意思，我就只有你们可以点。
Everyone I linked.

9 days more

Arghh...
I am down with a running nose=(
Can you imagine how annoying it is to pipette out 60 tubes of cocktail for real-time PCR along with a nose that is draining out fluid non-stop?
Also, you must constantly refrain yourself from rubbing your nose with your gloved hands that might be contaminated with all sorts of bacteria or hazardous substances.
Not to mention that your eyes are also tearing badly as a result of the running nose.
It really challenged my ability to concentrate!
Seriously, out of all the illnesses, I hate running nose the most.
I know I look like Roudoff, thanks a lot KennSiang=.=

Anyway, Hugh Jackman crowned People's "Sexiest Man Alive" for 2008! yeah
"You can't go wrong" with Jackman, People.com On-Air Correspondent Michelle Beadle told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez after revealing the selection. "He's Australian, first of all. He's adorable. He's got one of the best bodies ever. And he's a family man. We all love that. He doesn't -- he's not on the party scene. He loves his kids, he loves his wife. He likes to stay home and make pancakes. He's almost too perfect!"

Next up,
There was a breakthrough surgery: World’s first tailor-made windpipe transplant.
A paper published in the Lancet Medical journal online yesterday described the cutting-edge collaboration involving doctors in three countries — Spain, Britain and Italy. Scientists hailed the procedure as a breakthrough.
Scientists removed all the cells from the windpipe of a 51-year-old donor by scrubbing it clean with a high-tech detergent.
The next steps were to reconstitute the living tissue using Mrs Castillo’s own stem cells and graft them onto the windpipe. The new windpipe was transplanted into her in June.
Because the new windpipe was made from Mrs Castillo’s cells, she has not needed powerful drugs to prevent her body rejecting the organ. - TODAYonline
Mrs Castillo is now leading a normal life again!
Her damaged trachea on the left was replaced with a tailor-made trachea build using donor's cartilage grafted with her own stem cells.
So cool, isn't it?
You now do not have to wait in the transplant list to get a trachea.
However, as far as I know, they are still working towards building an organ entirely, without the need of a donor.
And also, scientists are still unable to construct other organs using this method.
Perhaps this is still a one-off success. More effort should be put in.

Besides, my research mentor is also on the newspaper today!
Under Stem Cell Research - Hope for diabetics.
Singapore team able to produce insulin in mice; humans next.
So happy that I am contributing to this.
It's a meaningful research.

Lastly, I also subscribed TIME from a girl from TJC who is now interning at EmitAsia.
She said she is offerring me a price cheaper than what the school will charge me if the school is helping me to order them.
Well, I thought I will have to order them next year anyway and they will be delivered directly to where I live.
Why not do her a favour?
So I trusted her.
I know the commission is hard to earn :P

TigerAttack

Days before, a malaysian who worked as a zoo keeper in the Singapore Zoo was mauled to death by three white tigers.
How so?
He deliberately jumped into the tiger enclosure with the full intention of dying.
He said goodbye to his fellow zoo keepers before approaching the tigers.
What happened was he later realised that dying is actually not something that he really wanted but unfortunately he couldn't manage to escape from the tigers even if he wanted it so much.
Licensed shooters were going over to the area after being alerted of the attack.
However, when they reached, the tigers were nowhere in sight as they had retreated back into their den.
By that time, the man's breathing was already very shallow and he subsequently lost his life despite the first aid provided by veterinarian.
You know how tigers attack.
They bite at the neck.
I feel so sorry for that man.
Even if he wanted to die, there were so many better ways of dying and why chose this.

Anyway, what disturbed me was that a discussion on whether the tigers should be "removed" as a punishment was raised.
Why would people even think of killing the animals in the first place?
What had the tigers done wrong?
They are not like human.
They can't think cognitively like us.
They do not know that we humans are so superior that we cannot afford to be harmed.
It's their nature of hunting down perceived enemy or prey.
They might also do it out of curiosity.
So, why is the blame on them?
I understand that some people might think that the man changed his mind.
He wanted to live but if the tigers weren't that wild, perhaps he might still escaped.
Hence, they came to this conclusion that the tigers deserve the punishment.
First of all, I would like to say that at the very first second he stepped into the enclosure, he had to be all prepared to die.
There was no guarantee that you would escape alive.
It's no joke.
Well, the tiger might see you as a deer? a zebra? I don't know.
You can't just say that once you change your mind that you don't want to die anymore, the blame will now be on the tigers if you couldn't escape.
That doesn't make sense at all.
Moreover, it is expected that he will change his mind.
It's basic instinct to stay alive.
No matter what, people struggle to survive.
I am sure even those who wanted to commit suicide, at the point when they are that near to death, they will be overwhelmed by fear and start to struggle for survival.
Poeple will only want to die when they think that they are better off dead based on the simple fact that no one knows what is going to happen after death and I am sure not everyone go for euthanasia sincerely feel that they should die, if not all.
Their state of mind must have been influence by their false perception on the suffering of intolerable pain, the unnecessary burden caused to the family memebers, the unbearable quality of life and so on.
Therefore, it is not justifiable, given the above reasons, that the tigers should be killed.
If the tigers were killed on the spot so as to stop them from attacking the man at that time, then it is still reasonable.
But after the incident people are still thinking of whether or not to kill them is ridiculous.
In additional, just a bonus point, those are rare white tigers.
It's funny to see that poeple are not looking into other more important areas and instead, focusing on what is totally irrelevant.

Questions on the safety measures that the zoo prescribes were also raised.
This I think is a good point although I think that we cannot possibly stop everyone who tries to commit suicide.
At least we can put in more effort on eliminating all or most of the opportunities that can allow such incident to happen.
From what I understood, the zoo's security was quite well but definitely, there are still rooms for improvement.
Working on this certainly yields no harm but benefits.

By the way, from the report I got to know that the man was actually a family person.
He placed family first in everything.
For this, I respect him.
He called back to his Malaysian home every morning, and up to 4 times in a day.
He even kept his family photos in his wallet which his family also did not know.
He came over to work in Singapore so that he could earn some money and send back to his family.
He was also a very helpful and dilligent worker.
What a waste that he died.
It's still unknown as to what triggered him to commit suicide.
Rest in peace.

Arsenal's Rookies

"If he [Capello] wants to have a good selection now he wants to come to our Carling Cup games," joked the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, after the 3-0 victory which progressed his teenage team to the quarter-finals. "We have a competitive future," Wenger added. "Gavin Hoyte, Kieran Gibbs, Mark Randall, Jack Wilshere. The four are top class. Jay Simpson, too. On the bench there was Emmanuel Frimpong, Henri Lansbury. All are top class. If you give me time I will bring a few of them through."

Introducing to you:
50 Jay Simpson(19)
19 Jack Wilshere(16)
40 Kieran Gibbs(19)
41 Gavin Hoyte(18)
47 Mark Randall(19)
56 Emmanuel Frimpong(16)
42 Henri Lansbury(18)

I'm not going to comment on them because I really know nothing much about them, except that they scored quite a number of goals for the past matches.

BoyBands

Which is your favourite?
Westlife

Backstreet Boys

N'sync

Boyzone

O-town

Blue

IlDivo

Try listening to how all of them do the harmony at parts of their songs.
They are so nice!

LooTing is going to be so envious of me

Ask me why=)

All style, no substance?

This guy:

Michael Essien
Chelsea's midfielder
Commented that Arsenal is all style and no substance.
In other words, they are all crap besides looking good.

His exact words were:
"Everybody likes to watch beautiful football, but to play beautiful football without points is… I don’t think it’s worth it. Arsenal is one of those teams that just plays beautiful football, but at the end of the day they don’t get the points that they want to."

Also, he said, "For me, I don’t care. To be rough and get three points, or play well and get three points—win ugly or beautifully—I don’t care."

Do you agree with him?
I don't.

Firstly, I think Essien's perception of substance is way too shallow.
Substance is not just about winning the title and scoring.
It includes how well is your defense, how well the team coordinated in terms of creating chances or grabbing opportunities and so on.
And frankly speaking, you certainly require a certain unassailable level of substance to be able to play with style.
Does it mean that your team is full of substance if you can score plenty of goals but you have never played a nice game because the goals were just plain lucky or through dirty tricks?
If Chelsea can play like Arsenal and still scoring that well, then I have nothing to say.

Secondly, Essien made his judgement based on the assumption that Arsenal compromised on their scoring performance due to the emphasis on skills.
Playing a beautiful game is actually a sign respect to the soccer fans as well as to the team itself.
Essien would probably never able to understand this.
You will have no regrets although you have lost in the end because you know that you have given your best and you played it impressively.
Furthermore, Wenger has just managed to silence the critics by the triumph over Manchester United in the recent game.
Style can be side by side with Substance.
Does this mean that Manchester United has no substance?
Certainly not!
Why so?
because we know it deep in our hearts, they have played a great game.
Sometimes, maybe, maybe it's just not your time yet.

Lastly, I don't think that Arsenal have it wrong as suggested by Essien.
Instead, "Wenger deserves huge admiration for the way he insists his team goes about its business," as agreed Phil McNulty.
Look at the youngsters that Wenger has trained.
The skills and vision that they possess.
They are the playmakers in every game.
So, what's wrong now with playing a beautiful game without points?
Although I must admit that winning the title is also very important,
this is something that Arsenal can work towards perfecting the team,
every team has its own way of playing,
and the Style is what makes Arsenal stands out from the rest.

Keep it up and go all the way!

The gunners.

SPM

All the best to all my malaysian friends who are taking their SPM tomorrow!
I know this is kind of late but I hope that you all can see this.
Rest early so that you can be absolutely focused for tomorrow's paper.
And most importantly, be confident!
It is either you have prepared or the other way round.
If you are fully prepared, all the more that you have nothing to worry about.
You can never say that you have studied EVERYTHING, you know it.
So, please not let your unnecessary emotions penalise you even before you begin on the paper.
Else, if you have not prepared, you also should not worry because you have nothing more to lose.
All that you gain from the exams will just be bonus to you.
So stay confident, and see how much extra bonus can you gain=)
The more the merrier, so aim high!
Unexpected events always occur, you will never know.
Oh ya, and don't you think that exams are more fun to you all compared to those that have fully prepared because there is this additional excitement in it where either you spot on the questions or you get something totally alien to you which is challenging=) We all love challenging stuff, don't you agree?
OKay, so in other words, you all have no reason not to do well, at least within expectations and it must be the highest attainable point.

By the way, 我强调：一分耕耘，一分收获。
这还是最基本且无可否决的原理。
虽说运气与临场表现也有份主宰你的成绩结果，
世上没有免费的午餐，
如何在变数中掌握至多的控制权，
关键就在于你是否明白这道理，
不劳而获并不是大自然的一部分=)
认命吧！

FacOuting

Yesterday night, I went to alloha Changi for faculty outing.
Theme: scary.
Around ten from our class were present there.
Went there late because YuRong and I waited for RuiXian and ShiHuan who were having Biology Olympiad competition that ended rather late.
Luckily YuRong was together with me at the Bouna Vista MRT.
Okay, back to the outing, a chalet was booked for the event.
Then, inside there are rooms where I suppose games designed to scare you were going on.
We arrived late, so couldn't really play the games.
Luckily there was still food.
Otherwise RuiXian would have to treat all of us.
Did I see any ghost? No, but there were countless pretty girls :P
Nevertheless, there were still people dressing in weird costumes.
I simply wore a black shirt because I was doing my research in the morning.
How dis I feel about the outing?
Maybe due to the fact that I went there late, I basically did not get the fun of it.
It felt like the event just ended not long after we arrived, not even warmed up.
Till now, I still don't see the meaning why I am blogging about all these.
I just feel like writing something.

Nevermind, Here is another thing that I can talk about:
昨天，我在报纸上读到一则相当可笑的新闻。
标题写着：
马国现任首相阿都拉认为
在马来西亚，来自少数民族也可担任首相。
我究竟该说他极度肤浅抑或是过度自信呢？
凭他的言行举措，想必答案明显只有那个。
他们何时才会成熟独立仍是个未知数，
还说什么掌权者有机会是非马来人!
要达到美国般的开放与民主程度？
我不说不可能啦，只是难如登天而已嘛。
恳请他别再作出类似的发表，
声望已被自己的办事与领导能力左右了，
别再为自己德愚昧加分，雪上加霜。

Change has come to America

First of all, congratulation to the new owner of this house:

All of you must have known who is he.
Barrack Obama
The newly-elected 44th president of the United States.

He has won my vote simply through his skin colour.
I can feel the meaning of him being elected to the US and also to the rest of the world.
I can sense hope and freedom.
The world is changing, for the better.
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," he said in the first sentence of his speech.
With him being the history defying proof, I totally agree with what he has said.
Sadly, I probably would not live long enough to see this level of democracy attained in my country.
Or perhaps, it will always be a myth.
Barack Obama has committed himself to doing more on global warming and wants greenhouse gases reduced by 80% by 2050.
This will be one of the most important issues of his presidency, as the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 and negotiations about a follow-up have stalled.
I hope that he will do a great job in this aspect.
Lets enjoy his wonderful and inspiring speech:

He is the first ever African-American to be elected as the president.
Years back, who would even think that this might happen?
But, before our eyes, he made it.
With the fullest respect, I present to you the Black Man in the White House, president Barrack Obama!

ProjectWork

Today was the assesment day for PW Oral Presentation.
So glad that PW finally ended!
Can you believe that? It is ended!
It was a great relief=)
And most importantly, all our effort have not been put into waste.
The unlimited time that we have spent in completing our project and rehersing on our OP has eventually been paid off handsomely.
The enormous change in the first draft of our work, be it written report or the presentation slides, compared to our final product is so unbelievable.
I really couldn't expressed in words how grateful I am towards my group members at this point in time.
Also, not to forget, our beloved mentor Mr ChrisHo!
I am sure we all love him=)
All I want to say now is that I cherish the bond that we have forged within our group.
I sincerely want to thank every single one of you for making PW so memorable and enjoyable to me.
I agree to Steffi, it is hard to imagine anyone of us missing from the group as every single one of us contributed in our own way to the synergy that our group possesses.
Without any one of our unique characters, our group spirit might not even exist anymore.
Thanks everyone for making me more discipline XD
Forgive me for all my disruptions during discussions as sometimes I just couldn't stand it but to joke around so as to cheer the group up :P

Today, after our OP, I asked a question: So, what do we do after PW?
JuatYing then replied: Go and eat.
But what I was actually trying to refer to was our PW group.
Since that now our OP has ended, where do we go from here?
Does it mean that we are not going to work together as a group anymore?
Does it mean that our bond is going to weaken as time passed by?
Does it mean that we will just disband?
I asked the question because I suddenly feel a gust of emptiness in me.
Long live Wild Wild WE!

OKay, after that. we went t Bukit Timah Plaza to have Pizza Hut with the other groups that have presented at the morning timeslot.
These are the people:

Bryan, I, YuTong, RuiXian, ZongNing(top)
Joelynn, Steffi, Jolene, Denyse(middle)
Eleanor, JuatYing(Front)
We played 终极密码.
Bingo will taste the "delicious soup" with pepper, cheese, pepsi, cili and what not added.
It looked more like some evil-looking concoction to me.
I got the number twice.
Trust me, you will puke if you taste the soup.
Then, in some unknown ways, ZongNing was asked to perform a dare.
After resisting for quite some time, he finally did it.
He went over the to table beside where someone elses were eating there and sat there for 3 seconds..haha

My PW group also took some picture together there:





Next, I was dragged to Orchard Road by the guys.
Initial plan was to watch Tropic Thunder.
Then somebody said he wanted to save some money.
So in the end, after a long debate, we did nothing but stone outside the cinema.
Afterwhich, we walked to the Borders to look around and see if there was any interesting books.
I then went to Kinokuniya with RuiXian to look for some SAT reference book.
There were 3 different types due to different publishers.
The contents were quite different too.
So I couldn't make up my mind as to which one is the right choice.
And I shall seek opinion from others who are more knowledgable about this.
Lastly, we went to HMV to look at and listen to some of the new albums.

That's still not the end of my day...
We then went over to YuJie's house at Seragoon.
So far....
Anyway, I enjoyed my time there=)
Many others from our class went too.
We played cards and mahjong.
Some of the rest were playing the XBOX or some boardgame.
And I 自摸清一色 today. muahahaha
YuJie's mom was so nice, brought us towel because we were drenched by the rain while walking to her house=)
We also had apple, green tea and oreo.
Moreover, no 10% service charge like the pizza hut=)
It took me 1 hour to get back from YuJie's house

Today was tiring but fun!
Starting from tomorrow, I will resume my research at IMB.
Hopefully it can be completed within this month.

Wonderful Animation

Found a nice animation on youtube that I thought of sharing with you all:
The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello

I particularly enjoyed the sounds and music that make you expereience and feel as though you are really present in that place, the storyline as well as the use of animated silhouttes.

Background information on the animation:
Nominated for an Oscar and for a BAFTA award, Jasper Morello is a short feature made in a unique style of silhouette animation developed by director Anthony Lucas and inspired by the work of authors Edgar Alan Poe and Jules Verne.
In the frontier city of Carpathia, Jasper Morello discovers that his former adversary Doctor Claude Belgon has returned from the grave. When Claude reveals that he knows the location of the ancient city of Alto Mea where the secrets of life have been discovered, Jasper cannot resist the temptation to bring his own dead wife Amelia back. But they are captured by Armand Forgette, leader of the radical Horizontalist anti-technology movement, who is determined to reanimate his terrorist father Vasco. As lightning energises the arcane machineries of life in the floating castle of Alto Mea, Jasper must choose between having his beloved restored or seeing the government of Gothia destroyed. Set in a world of iron dirigibles and steam powered computers, this gothic horror mystery tells the story of Jasper Morello, a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his Plague-ridden home on a desperate voyage to redeem himself.
Also winner of the Grand Prix award at the Annecy Animation Festival, Jasper has also won the top honours at the Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival, Best Animation at Flickerfest 2005, Best Animation at the Sydney Film Festival Dendy awards and Best Animation at Toronto worldwide shorts.

This animation made me recall a short snimation that I watched long long ago:

There isn't a word spoken but the emotions are elegantly and thoroughly conveyed.

For what is a man? What has he got?

Yesterday, I watched a horror movie: 4biaIn my opinion, this is the best horror movie of the year.

So all horror fans, this is a must-see.

It is composed of 4 differrent but related stories.

This is not the main point as I personally find the link between them quite superfluous.

Apart from that, it has fantastic sound and visual effects (one of the most important elements required for horror movie), brilliant camera shooting angles and marvelous storyline.

Additionally, the director is very good at cost-cutting.

For the first story, a girl, a room and a phone, done!

For the second story, it has the best camera maneuvers. The film is elegant with digital effects.

For the third story, four men, a tent and a river, done. Best plot with a shocking twist.

For the four story, sorry to say that this is the least appealing to me perhaps due to high expectations that have built in me by the previous 3 stories. Nevertheless, it has a few scary moments. Oh ya, not to mention, just a plane was used for this story and obviously they do not really need a real plane and fly them in the air.

Next, the day before yesterday, I watched Cellular.

If you ask me, what makes a man?

I will tell you that the main character in this movie is the answer!

The movie started with the portrayal of this guy who is dumped by his girlfriend due to his levity.

To prove himself, he took on a simple task suggested by his girlfiriend.

Suddenly, while was halfway doing his task, he received a random call from a kidnapped woman asking for help using a shattered phone and he happened to be her only source of help.

Also, he must do everything to ensure that the line is not disconnected, otherwise the woman might not be able to get back to anybody for help.

It took him some time to put down his task on hand and decided to help the woman.

He then got involved, committed and finally determined to save the woman and her entire family.

He risked everything just to save the family even tough he was scared at times.

And what more can a victim like the woman ask for?

He is her only hope.

What did the man do in details, why was the woman kidnapped and what's the ending.

I am not going to spoil you, so go and watch yourself.

Actually, there is a remake of this movie in Chinese version this year: Connected
Comments so far is that the Chinese version is better.

I think they probably expanded on the emotion component if I am not wrong.

For that's the only thing that I can think of changing.

No worries if you haven't get a chance to watch Connected as I think watching cellular is already good enough.

The most memorable scene in the movie to me is the part where he was negotiating with the culprits whether to release the family first or to surrender them what they want first.

And this guy, trying to act smart, telling them that they lose and cut off the line as they refused to release the family first.

He was so worried that he had made the wrong choice and that they would not call back and straight away kill the family.

Fortunately, it was worth risking, they called him back as the thing they wanted is really very important to them.

I like the way he acted out the emotions while he was waiting for them to call back, or rather hoping that they will call back. It's so real and funny.

And you just can't wait to say "nice one" because that's indeed not a bad tactic to use.

OKay, lastly, I would like to recommend a song: 我还想她 - 林俊杰

It's a song in his latest album, JJ陆 Sixology

31st Oct: Treat or Trick?

First of all, Happy Halloween!!!

Treat:
Today is also one of my friends' birthday!

Happy Birthday to KennSiang!

He must be super pissed at me for putting his photo up=)

He kept avoiding my camera today:

1st attempt

2nd attempt
3rd attempt

4th atempt5th attempt
All failed=(

We went to Orchard Road to celebrate

Ate at Delifrance

and I had this:

I should not comment about its tastiness..

All the following people went:

Don't understand why the are so obssessed with the "Loser" sign...

CalvinSim here with a charming pose=)
We even saw Andy Lau in the 瘦身男女version. Look at the guy in the background...

I am not kidding. He seriously looks alike to that version of Andy Lau

We then went to watch the Coffin
Karren Mok starred in it

Not going to comment on it also

More about KennSiang, he is a smart guy, naturally

5 years my roommate.
All the best in earning his 5As

and getting into MIT!!!

You can definitely do it.

If you can't, who else can?

Eh, eh, know you are happy now.

But don't be overwhelmed with hubris and turn complacent.

Trick:

Today is also the day where SAW V is available on the big screen

Rated R21 in Singapore.

So, couldn't watch it.

Next, we walked along Orchard Road after the movie and saw this guy waiting for a cab.
Then, I requested to take a photo with him=)
Scary?

That's not real okay? it's just him costume!

There are several other ghosts walking around Orchard Road too. So cool!

OKay, that's it for today.

Hope that you have also enjoyed your 31st of October=)

H3

After much consideration, I have changed my mind of applying for a second H3 subject which will require me to downgrade one of my H2 subjects into a H1 due to the cap on academic units.
Initially, I thought of applying for it and see if I am accepted since I am eligible for applying another H3 on Biology or Chemistry.
If successful, I will downgrade my H2 Economics into H1.
However, there was this dilemma in me all the while.
Because, I felt rather reluctant to downgrade any of my subjects and also if I were to reject the offer after I am accepted, I would have denied someone else who is interested the place.
So, I went to seek advice from my civic tutor and she said that actually one H3 is already good enough.
If I am not taking another one, perhaps I can spend more time on my weaker subjects like GP and also avoid the trouble of adapting to a new schedule with the change of H2 to H1.
Unless I am really so passionate about that particular H3 or else she would advice that I stick to the status quo.
Honestly, I do think that I need to allocate more time for my GP.
So, I gave up on applying finally.
Since that I have made up my mind not to take the H3, I might as well just not apply for it since that it might possibly take up someone else's place.
Furthermore, I have already got the H3 that I wanted which is in biological research and I am currently enjoying it.
Not that I am not passionate about the H3 that I thought of applying, just hope that this sacrification can be translated into high grade for GP as well as A for all other subjects.

Okay, enough of H3.
Today, I read in the newspaper that on 27 October, a French professor and leading heart transplant specialist Alain F. Carpentier announced that a fully implantable artificial heart will be ready for clinical trial by 2011, and for alternative transplant in 2013.
This prosthetic device beats almost exactly like the real thing using electronic sensors to regulate heart rate and blood flow.
"If you showed the electrocardiogram to a cardiologist he would say 'that's a human heart.' Well no, it isn't: it's a prosthesis," they said.
Alain Carpentier said it had taken him 15 years to perfect and claimed his device overcomes some of the drawbacks with other prototypes.

Heart disease claims some 17 million lives a year. Existing pneumatic heart implants are intended only to be used as a stop-gap during transplant operations or while patients await a donor organ.

The new heart is covered with specially treated tissue to avoid rejection by the body's immune system and the formation of blood clots, and can respond instantly to blood pressure changes thanks to guided missile technology.
Prof Carpentier cites their use of sterilised ‘bioprosthetic’ pig cartilage and exactly replicating human heart blood flow – hemodynamics – to overcome the biggest stumbling block to artificial hearts: blood clots.

3Things

1st
Today I attended the HC Idol competition in the evening, where every faculty sends two representatives for it.
It was amusing.
I went for the audition but couldn't make it through=(
Reason: Too nervous and so did not prepare well for my high notes
Anyway, the competition was totally owned by Timothy.
He is such a natural performer.
I seriously admire the kind of composure, equanimity he has on the stage.
To him, the mindset was like there is never a problem but only situtation.
And so, what's the big deal?
Microphone producing a sharp sound, peak fell on the gound, unsure of lyrics, fingers cramp.....
All these had not affected his overall performance.
Why? Because he simply moved on wisely and effortlessly without showing any panic.
He made it so enjoyable with all his humour and creativity invested when situtations arised.
I really wonder when can I attain this kind of standards O.o

2nd
My Project Work group had our third oral presentation rehersal in the morning.
My tutor said that he is perfectly happy with my speech this time.
And that I have had a great improvement compared to the previous rehersal.
I was so elated when he said "great improvement".
Strange enough, I wouldn't be as happy if he had said something like "you are the best presenter today!"
The word "improvement" just sounded more meaningful to me.
Moreover, it was a "GREAT improvement". =)
Perhaps it's the encouragement that comes along with the phrase.
I do believe that continuous desire for improvement spurs creativity.

3rd
I let a golden opportunity slipped by.
It passed by in front of my eyes, walking in slow motion and at the same time, mocking at my cowardice.
All that I had in me was just fear and certainly adrenaline rush.
Fear of what? I don't exactly know but I just couldn't do it.
And tomorrow is the last day of school.
Lets see if something interesting will happen.
Why my school work doesn't end with the school semester?

Happy Deepavali

First of all,
Happy Deepavali to those that have not received my wishes.
The atmosphere here in Singapore is definitely not as bustling as that in Malaysia.
I bet there are fireworks for celebration in Malaysia.

Next,
One of my friends told me that people would rather know more about me instead of the cats.
So I should write more about myself.
Quite true I guess but at least you now know what's my favourite animal.
That's a valuable piece of information, don't you think so? =)
maybe not, whatever.

OKay, so what I have been doing for the pst few days?
Mostly playing dotA.
and the gamer name that I use for dotA is Mr. Muggles
Who is Mr. Muggles?
Those who watch Heroes will know who
Besides, my gamer name for CounterStrike is also a chracter from Heroes - Sylar
Cool? he has the unstoppable ability of headshot =)
And yesterday, I also went out with a number of my friends to a studio that we rented.
We kind of formed a rock band and made music there.
We played Cantonese, Chinese as well as English songs, all in rock version =)
I don't really know all of them actually.
We just get people who can sing or play different instruments and group ourselves together
There formed the band=)
The was an Indian Indian among us. I mean he is really from India.
He is a very humorous person.
We then went to a stall nearby to have some Indian food.
There, he told us about how different food that are regarded as Indian food but not truly Indian food are originated.
I do love Indian food actually.

Lastly, I can only go back after 29Nov due to Choir pactices.
How sad=(
Miss my family and friends a lot.
Our choir is ranked 7th in the world currently.
We have just became the champion of the 5th World Choir Games held in Graz.
With an incredibly high score, as mentioned.
Although much has to be sacrificed, it all worths it.
This was when they were announcing our results:

Proud to be part of it!

Okay, that's all.
I have been thinking very hard of what to blog for the past few days actually and I finally gave up.
Let the creativity unleashes naturally.

Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.
—Edgar Degas

My favourite animal

Today, I am going to talk about my favourite animal=)
It is under the biological family: Felidae, in layman terms, the cat family.
There are 40 known species of felids in the world today.
Extant felids belong one of the two sub-families: Felinae and Pantherinae.
Under Felinae, there are Genus Prionailurus, Puma, Acinonyx, Lynx, Leopardus, Leptailurus, Caracal, Profelis, Catopuma and Pardofelis.
Under Pantherinae, there are Genus Neofelis, Panthera and Uncia.
However, I am just going to feature some the prominent ones.

First, lets talk about one that is already extinct.
Smilodon剑齿虎, also known as saber-toothed tiger.
They belong to an extinct genus of large machairodontine saber-toothed cats.
They possess extremely long maxillary canines.
They became extinct around 10,000 BC.
It is hypothesised that their extinction is due to the end of the ice age.
Nowadays, you can still see them actually.
But where? In the museum,
In this form:


Next in the list, the King Of JUngle, lion (Panthera leo), one of the four species of big cats under Genus Panthera.
Eight subspecies of it is recognized today.
They are the tallest of the felines.
They are predatory carnivores who manifest two types of social organization.
Some are residents, living in groups, called prides.
Some are labeled nomads, who range widely and move about sporadically, either singularly or in pairs.
Lion sounds include snarling, purring, hissing, coughing, miaowing, woofing and roaring.
They most often roar at night; the sound, which can be heard from a distance of 8 kilometres, is used to advertise the animal's presence.
Singapore derives her name from lion, in malay, Singa.
Given by a fourteenth century Sumatran Malay prince named Sang Nila Utama, who alighting the island after a thunderstorm, spotted an auspicious beast on shore that his chief minister identified as a lion.
However, recent studies shows that lions have never lived there, so the beast that he saw was most likely a tiger instead=)

Another species under Genus Panthera is the tiger (Panthera tigris).
They are the heaviest cats.
Reaching up to 4 metres (13 ft) in total length and weighing up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds).
The pattern of their stripes is unique to each animal, and thus could potentially be used to identify individuals, much in the same way as fingerprints are used to identify people.
Recently, there are nine subspecies of tigers.In my opinion, Sumatran tigers are the most handsome tigers out of the nine subspecies.
In a poll conducted by Animal Planet, the Tiger was voted the world's favourite animal, narrowly beating man's best friend, the dog.

Third species under Genus Panthera is the jaguar (Panthera onca).
It is strongly associated with the presence of water and is notable, along with the tiger, as a feline that enjoys swimming.
The jaguar is a largely solitary, stalk-and-ambush predator, and is opportunistic in prey selection.
They have developed an exceptionally powerful bite, even relative to the other big cats.
This allows them to pierce the shells of armoured reptiles and to employ an unusual killing method: it bites directly through the skull of prey between the ears to deliver a fatal blow to the brain.
Like most cats, the jaguar is solitary outside mother-cub groups.

Lastly under Genus Panthera is the leopard (Panthera pardus).The smallest of the four roaring cats.
The leopard has relatively short legs and a long body, with a large skull.
Physically, it most closely resembles the jaguar, although it is usually smaller and of slighter build.
Its fur is marked with rosettes which lack internal spots, unlike those of the jaguar.
The rosettes on a jaguar's coat are larger, fewer in number, usually darker, and have thicker lines and small spots in the middle that the leopard lacks.
Jaguars also have rounder heads and shorter, stockier limbs compared to leopards.
The leopard is an agile and stealthy predator.
They are known for their ability in climbing, and it has been observed resting on tree branches during the day and descending from trees headfirst.
The leopard is primarily a nocturnal creature, and many of its operations are done by night.
This is to avoid other competing large predators.

Now, here comes my favourite animal:
Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)
Why so?
1) Unique due to its speedIt is the fastest land animal, reaching speeds between 112 and 120 km/h (70 and 75 mph)[3] in short bursts covering distances up to 460 m (1,500 ft), and has the ability to accelerate from 0 to 110 km/h (68 mph) in three seconds, greater than most supercars.
It lacks climbing abilities though.
The cheetah's paws have semi-retractable claws (known only in three other cat species - the Fishing Cat, the Flat-headed Cat and the Iriomote Cat) offering the cat extra grip in its high-speed pursuits.
Adaptations that enable the cheetah to run as fast as it does include large nostrils that allow for increased oxygen intake, and an enlarged heart and lungs that work together to circulate oxygen efficiently.
Cheetah also uses its tail as a rudder-like means of steering to allow it to make sharp turns, necessary to outflank prey who often make such turns to escape.
2) Beautiful skinThe coarse, short fur of the cheetah is tan with round black spots measuring from 2 to 3 cm (0.79 to 1.2 in) across, affording it some camouflage while hunting.
There are no spots on its white underside, but the tail has spots, which merge to form four to six dark rings at the end.
The tail usually ends in a bushy white tuft.
3) Slim body and striking featuresLook at her legs...
The cheetah has a small head with high-set eyes.
Black "tear marks" run from the corner of its eyes down the sides of the nose to its mouth to keep sunlight out of its eyes and to aid in hunting and seeing long distances.
The cheetah's chest is deep and its waist is narrow.
4) It looks more humble.If you ask me why choose cheetah over jaguar or leopard, I must say that cheetah has a more humble look, unlike jaguar and leopard that look much like a tiger=)
5) They have cute cubs:
Other facts:
Unlike "true" big cats, the cheetah can purr as it inhales, but cannot roar.
By contrast, the big cats can roar but cannot purr, except while exhaling.
Males are very sociable and will group together for life, usually with their brothers in the same litter; although if a cub is the only male in the litter then two or three lone males may group up, or a lone male may join an existing group. These groups are called coalitions.
However, females always hunt alone, although cubs will accompany their mothers to learn to hunt once they reach the age of five to six weeks.
For a short time it was thought that there were six subspecies of cheetah, but Acinonyx rex - the king cheetah - was abandoned after it was discovered the variation was only a recessive gene.
The king cheetah is a rare mutation of cheetah characterized by a distinct pelt pattern with larger, blotchy, merged spots.
Actually cheetah looks nicer with this coat.

Besides, we also have Cougar (Puma concolor) under Genus Puma.
Also a capable stalk-and-ambush predator.
Aside from humans, no species preys upon mature cougars in the wild.

Furthermore, we have Eurasian lynx and margay.Eurasian lynx
margay
they have the biggest eyes=)

Cutest among them we have the snow leopard (Uncia uncia):

We do also have hybrids, usually breed by the zoo:Liger - the offspring of a female tiger and male lion
Jaglion - jaguar and lion hybrid
Pumapard - a union between a cougar and a leopard

I dont really like the idea of cross-breeding, mainly because it sometimes leads to dwarfism and it also contaminates the pureness of species.

Lastly, due to melanism and albinism, leucism or the chinchilla mutation we also have cats that are totally black or entirely white respectively:
White tiger
White lion
White Leopard
Black Jaguar
Black Panther
I first see this animal in the Zoo Negara.
okay fine, who doesn't see wild animals like this only in zoo.
I always thought that it was another species called the panther.
Now i know actually they are just melanistic leopards=)

Another recessive gene may create a very unusual "golden tabby" colour variation.
Golden tabby tigers have light gold fur, pale legs and faint orange stripes.
Their fur tends to be much thicker than normal.

Cool or not? There are even sightings of blue tiger - the Maltese tiger.
"The markings of the beast are strikingly beautiful. The ground color is of a delicate shade of maltese, changing into light gray-blue on the underparts. The stripes are well defined and like those of the ordinary yellow tiger."
-- Caldwell in Chapman (1925)
Up to you to believe it=)

Information from wikipedia.

I took one day to complete this post!
Waste of time? Not really..
I feel like I am an expert on cats now
By the way, one important thing,all the animals above are endangered, at least near threatened... how sad
I realized that you will always have countless reasons, usually excuses for the things that you like to do
So, do the things that you really like
and apply this mindset to the things that you do everyday
Your life will be a lot easier and happier!