Parcels of thoughts

The big 'E' is around the corner again!
Cool. This sem I am having 6 paper.
Everything else except studying is so much fun now.

Whilst dwindling my time away surfing the net, these things interests me, and it may interest you too.

Parcel 1: Love..

Ever wonder why the heart shape - the universal sign of love - is the shape it is? Why it can't be a circle or a square but shaped like this?



I never thought about this until I chanced this article in Damn Interesting. Seems that the shape is derived from an already extinct plant - Silphium. The plant has a heart shape fruit which it is reported to have natural contraceptive properties and enable the eater to have sex without getting pregnant. It is so good that it even appear on coins and so effective that it was harvested to extinction before 100 AD.

I have an inkling that we have this custom called marriage due to the extiction of this plant - as a more forced form of birth control. But now since we have this artificial birth control pills, will marriage be a thing of the past soon? And yeah, will the pictures of these pills appear on coins soon?

Parcel 2: Discrimination..

It is hard not to discriminate nowadays.
There's just so many ways in which one can perform an act that is deemed discriminatory.
For example, writing a blog in Chinese means it discriminate non-Chinese readers.
Watched TV today and got one angmo say: "I loved Malaysia so much. The people are so friendly and helpful towards tourists."
Seems Malaysians treat their guests better then their brothers and sisters. How discriminating.

Parcel 3: Logic..

Malaysian news:
There will be no maid from Mainland China because they are deemed to cause breakdown in families, because you know, men just cannot resist them.

Which part of this is different from saying:

Girls cannot wear revealing clothes when going out because they are asking to be raped, because you know, men just cannot resist them.

???

It can also means that maids from Indonesia and Phillipines are not pretty/sexy/attractive. Such an insult!

Parcel 4: Brain teaser..



Collective nouns are fun. You know a pack of wolves, a school of fish..
If you see five owls together, what do you call them?
Hint: no wonder they say owls are wise animals...

Cool. Actually I got other things to write but seems that time is ticking away fast. Save it for another day!

2015: A day in a Malaysian school

7.10 a.m. Staff Meeting.

Headmaster: "Remember har cikgu-cikgu yang saya sayangi sekalian, you must set simple questions for the school based assessments so that all our students can do well in it. I couldn’t stand Puan Aminah from the school across the street bragging how her students always get 90% for tests during our teh tarik break…"

7.20 a.m. Biology Class

“Good morning class. Today we will have this assessment to test your knowledge on Biology today. Everyone, put your notes in your bag. We start exam now.”

15 mins later, teacher discover all the blank papers and remember headmaster’s pep talk.

“Okay murid-murid sekalian, cikgu kesian you all. Now I give you all 10 mins to look into your books for answers. 10 minutes only, okay? Don’t tell anyone, okay?”

8.20 a.m. PE lesson.

Cikgu Rosli (老色狸): “Today we have this 2km run test. You all run the track 5 rounds.”
Sweet girl: “Cikgu! cikgu! I have asthma, I couldn’t run…" Angelic smile.
“Okay-okay, I give you pass. In the meantime you go rest under the tree…"
Fat guy: “Cikgu! cikgu! I got asthma too…”
“Don’t lie la! Shut up and run 10 rounds or I fail you!"

9.30 a.m. Break time

Ahmad: “Cikgu! cikgu! Can I help you carry your bag?”
Ah Kau: “Cikgu! Cikgu! Come I buy you kuih for morning tea!”
Samy: “Cikgu! I think your shoe needs polish. I help you do it okay…”

10.00 a.m. English Class

“Hi class. Today is essay day. But I lazy mark all your essays. Just take this sample essay and copy. Who got the nicest handwriting will get the highest mark. And be quiet ya. Cikgu will be back in 30 minutes."

11.00 a.m. Psychometric test

“Now we are having a test to gauge your personality. You know lah, every people is different. But if you want to score high-high in this test, must answer all the good-good trait har, don’t simply tell the truth…”

"For example, question 1: what will you do if you see a perempuan tua want to cross road? dont' answer you pretend no see even if you really pretend no see in real life. Answer you help her cross road har. Common sense!"

2.00 p.m. Co-curriculum

“Thank you for attending the English Club meeting. Today we will be nominating for the executive posts. We have the following posts vacant: 2 presidents, 4 vice presidents, 8 secretary, 16 treasurer….”

3.00 p.m. School admin

Ring! Ring! “Hello, this is SM Baru. How can I help you?”

Parent: “Hey how come the test in this school so difficult one? My neighbour’s son studying in SM Senang have such easy test leh. Even my other son in kindergarten can do it easily. You want my Ah Boy to fail izzit? %$#@*! Not fair!”

The idea of no UPSR and PMR: A fairer system to gauge students’ knowledge =)

Everyone needs a hug

HugMug from Max Brenner.

Ever heard of the Free Hug campaign?

Yeah someone actually felt that the world is getting too disconnected and started this Free Hug campaign, where you just go into the street and hug strangers.

I had heard of the campaigns before, and on last Sunday, I finally got to see the Free Hug campaign in action.


Free hugs at Fed Square

Lots of people actually go and hug them. It was indeed fun and enlightening to watch. You know, go and hug a stranger in a public place. Needs such courage.

The campaign initially started in Australia and now had spread to places like China and Taiwan. Who say Asians are too inhibited or reserved? Seems that now everyone is getting out of their shells and beginning to exhibit public displays of affection. Wonder when will it arrive at the shore of Malaysia. To know more about the campaign, the ever reliable Wikipedia have a nice write-up. Alternatively, you can visit this free hugs website.

I felt that this is a very nice concept. A human touch can warm the coldest heart.

Anyone want to give me a hug?

Bartender

I got to be a 'bartender' in Uni on Wednesday!

The Uni had a "Mocktail and Jazz" free event last Wednesday. As a volunteer, I got the chance to be a bartender. It was so cool. I got to play with a cocktail shaker and learn how to mix drinks (with mixed success).

My fellow volunteers and I are entrusted to mix mocktail like Cinderella, Pina Colada, Mock Sangria, Rainbow Cooler and Fruit Tingle. It was fun at first coz there's only a few people around and we got to experiment with the drinks. But as time goes on, the crowd started to grow (it was a free event) and guess we got kinda panicky and end up with some 'disasterous' mixture..but it still was lotz of fun.

This is my version of Cinderella:



The official recipe
Cinderella: 30 mLs lemon juice
30 mLs orange juice
30 mLs pineapple juice
60 mLs soda
dash of grenadine
Pour over ice and garnish with orange.

What I ended up with (I think)
10 mLs lemon juice
20 mLs orang juice
20 mLs pineapple juice
100 mLs soda
dash of grenadine
Pour, add ice and garnish with orange.



3 pretty gals 'enjoying' my Cinderella. Well, to tell the truth, they didn't really enjoy it coz it was too sour. I put too much soda in it coz I got the maths wrong. In the end, need to salvage the drink by adding some sweet raspberry cordial.

The atmosphere was very nice and smoothing as the Uni also invited a Jazz duo to preform some live music while the students are enjoying the mocktails. I am kinda impressed by the one playing the cello-like instruments. He picked the strings with his hands for 1 whole hour. Wonder why it doesn't hurt him.



This is our work station at the end of the event. Kinda messy.



Seriously I found life in uni to be extremely fun this year. The uni are really making a good effort to expose the students to different things and try to give them opportunity to make more friends. For example, two weeks ago they got Photography Club members from Caulfield to have a photography session in Uni. And this is what we did (I did the P):



Who say Uni life isn't fun?

Lygon Street on a Sunday Morning

It was a long long time since I wrote an aesthetic piece of essay.

Seems that nowadays taking photographs are becoming the preferred method of capturing memories instead of penmanship. To revive this ancient but romantic technique of chronicling nostalgic moments, I hereby proudly present to you:

Lygon Street on a Sunday Morning.

The cold morning mist lingers in the air like the smell of my warm bed as I journeyed down Lygon Street on a lazy Sunday morning.

By and large the first block of the street was deserted, with early morning newspapers rustling in the breeze the predominant activity and the soft crisp crunching of brown maple as they passed under my red Nike the prevalent sound. Naked mannequins stared aimlessly into space from the insides of shop windows, as if longing for a ride in one of the lonely cars parked outside along the street.

As I passed another block of rustic Italian eateries and quaint shops, sights of life begin to sprout. There was this bald young man in blue overalls, his pale complexion perfectly juxaposed by his muscled build, furiously applying a fresh coat of whitewash to a tired looking facade.

Then there was also this cigarette smoking mustachioed Greek street sweeper with pincers in hand, fighting for pieces of forgotten sandwiches with an army of pigeons. A fierce intensity hallmarked his persona, as he concentrate every bit of his sinew towards winning this lopsided duel.

Besides the sandwiches, other evidences of last night's merriment loitered in the street. Assortments of green beer bottles, a menagerie of crooked cans and the occasional crumpled brown fast food wrapper lay in abandonment, clearly forgotten by their owners in moments of hedonistic fits.

As I passed yet another row of shops, the first cars began to speed past me, one an apple green Volkswagen Bettle and the other the ubiquitous Holden Commodore; as well as the first pair of joggers, both wearing their matching black beanie caps and having their pink iPods strapped to their arms.

I halted as the empty Trade Hall with their outdated 'Fill the G' posters stuck to dusty windows greeted me. It is the last building of the Street. I glanced at my watch, and looked at the street ahead. Just thrity minutes to go before the Mother's Day race. I inhaled deeply and took off towards the Yarra River, leaving the towering blocks of the city centre nothing but a blurry memory, a clear contrast to the vivid picture of Lygon Street.

End of essay. Hope you all can feel it ^-^.

By the way, I would like to announce that today is the official start day of my self-proclaimed revision period. I am proud to say that I had been sitting here at my study table for most of the last 8 hours.

As you know this process of studying can be tedious and boring, I conceived some trivia questions for you in case you are also suffering from the same syndrome. Have fun answering them:
1. What is a more general term for Papanikolaou Test?
2. What is Spiderman Peter Parker's middle name?
3. What does 65 roses stand for?

Happy Mother's Day

This year, I commemorate Mother's Day in a different way: by taking part in the Mother's Day Classic Run to raise funds for breast cancer research.

Breast cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in women, with an estimated 1 in 8 women developing the cancer in their lifetime. Research attempting to cure this cancer costs a lot and in Australia, the Mother's Day Classic are held every year in all major cities too fund them. More info from this website.

I took part in the 8km run, and managed to finish the race at 46mins 05 sec, which was 6 minutes short of my target. Nonetheless I felt it was okay coz didn't really practice for the run.

Me in my free Team Monash sportswear

Instead of teaming up with my JPA friends this time, I joined Team Monash for therun. Team Monash treats us real well, giving us a free PUMA t-shirt, breakfast and drinks and even a massage. We were also given a free medallion.

Mother's Day Classic Medallion

And to my Mother and all other Mothers out there, I would like to wish you all Happy Mother's Day and dedicate this poem to you:

Because I feel that in the heavens above
The angels, whispering one to another,
Can find among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of "Mother"...
Edgar Allen Poe

P/s: In support of Breast Cancer research, the backgroud of my blog will be a girlish pink for the entire month. Hope you all like it.

Memories of running

We all got more time than we think. That's probably what I was thinking when I signed up for this:



Yeah that's right: barely one and a half month after I took part in the Run for the Kids, I pledged my time (and money) to join another charity run: this time the Mother's Day Classic to raise funds for breast cancer.

I love to run so so much.. maybe I will be Forrest Gump number 2.

It will be held this Sunday and it is a 8km run. My target is to finish the race in 40 minutes.

Hopefully in the midst of labouring over 3 assignments and 4 up-coming tests (not to mention the finals less than 1 month away), my stamina can keep up with me!

But yeah, I do believe we all got more time then we think.. 'fingers crossed'.

Fun Chemistry Test...

Think you are good in chemistry? Try name these chemical compounds:

1.

2.


3.

I look forward to your answers!

Some real chemical compounds have funny names too:

For example:


This is a moronic acid


and this is a traumatic acid

There are some more funnily named chemical compounds that unfortunately are classified 18+. So if you are above the age limit, please feel free to browse this website.

Never knew chemistry can be so fun...

P/s: very busy at the moment. Too many assignments. There will be a lack of post.