Breathtaking

I've just watched the season finale of America's Next Top Model cycle 9 and one thing that I feel should get special mention is one of the contestant, Jenah. Jenah's picture for the Covergirl shoot was fantastic. Although she was sent home after that I still think it's the most outstanding photo of the three. I stole the picture from froggies blog. Apologies :)

My Idol

I think the result was a big, big surprise for everyone. It was a great upset for millions of peope I think. Jac, although you didn't win, you're still my idol. Mwakss

Asian idol is a must watch

Make sure you all tune in to the Asian Idol tonight and makes sure you do vote for our Jac! The medley below from IKON is simply beautiful and I felt that the way she ended it was spectacular. Unfortunately she did not win that particular day and I really hope tonight, she does win.

Good luck tonight Jac.

All that glitters is not gold

The Golden Compass was a little disappointing for me. The short previews were of course fantastic but when you've really sat down and watched the movie, you'll find it lacking substance. Oh, all the special effects, audio visually, were impressive but other more than that, it had nothing. It did not moved me emotionally nor did it impressed in me a message so strong, I would leave the cinema feeling awed. One consolation though is of course the ever beautiful Nicole Kidman. She dominated the screen with her presence and I feel she did a wonderful job bringing Mrs Coultier to life. Bravo!

I was Enchanted

I got so worked up last few days about the previous post matter that I forgot to blog this. Well, here it is. I watched Enchanted the other day and I can tell you that is it simply wonderful. I know many of you have been taken by Stardust (my roommate swears by it) but after watching Enchanted I have fallen in love with it. While Stardust has been more of an adult kind of movie, Enchanted appeals more to the children or the inner child in most adults for that matter.

The movie gives you a feel good kind of feeling where its main message, as cliched as it may seem, is that happy endings do exist after all - even in the real world. It brings a smile to your face and you leave the movie theater with a light spring in your step as if all your burdens weren't so bad after all. It brings back memories of when I would watch Disney cartoons such as Cinderella,, Sleeping beauty and Snow White with my sister on hot Sunday afternoons when I was little. Sigh... those were the days of great contentment.

Well, if you have not watched it, hurry up and do so. I guarantee you'll like it. After all, everyone likes a happy ending. No?

If you do decide to go, invite me to tag along. LOL

And yeah, my fav actor from Grey's Anatomy is in it too :D

When the pot calls the kettle black

I've always been a little tetchy when it comes to talking about races. As much as it is worth, I get annoyed whenever a Chinese complaints about how unfair life is for him in Malaysia. Oh, sure anyone can very well see the real situation with their rights and all but would you blame them?

One thing I've learned since coming to university is that the Chinese can be just as selfish or much worse than the Malays. The very first friend I made in my course during my first year was a Malay and I've been accepted by the Malays more readily than the Chinese for all my strange traits and peculiarities. I've never fitted in with either group but if experience is to be drawn on to make a judgment, I would say that I've had a better time mixing around and talking with the Malays than the Chinese in my course.

Well, with that being said, the situation would be just as bad for the Malays with the Chinese in power if the flipside is to happen. Its just the luck of the draw that they are and we just gotta live with it. Oh don't give me bullshit about the situation in Singapore. I should think that the Chinese in Singapore have a very different mindset from the ones in Malaysia. I'm not saying the Malays are not being unfair, I'm just saying they're being humans and protecting their own people is a very human thing to do. The Chinese students seems to be doing a rather excellent job protecting their own people too as I have seen.

I'm not defending them but I can 't help feel annoyed with all of that being said and especially when I get spam in my blog that seems to reek with racism. Is that how you are going to show that you're better? By posting comments filled with vulgarities calling them 'babi'? Or how about the comments bursting with smug pride regarding their success since moving overseas? A bad case of sour grapes I would think and with them being really wrinkly prunes.

Oh I do complain about the Malays, but for me its more for their traits rather than hating them just because they are the takers of our rights. Besides, I complain about everybody and everything under the sun and to not complain would be a discrimination to them don't you think?

PS: I know some of you out there are bound to be angered but I am who I am. Love me or hate me. I don't bloody care.

888

I guess I better do this since I got tagged. I really realy have no mood to blog anymore lately. I've made two revelations and they are a tad disheartening. Anyway, Si Bong owes me a belanja for so obviously spelling my name wrong even though he has me as a contact on facebook.

8 Things I'm passionate about:
1) Writing
2) Being at the top (of anything)
3) Reading
4) Not being all sappy and nice
5) Gaming (but I think it's waning)
6) Animals (especially cats)
7) Being a perfectionist
8) Being melodramatic

8 Things I want to do before I die
1) Become an accomplished novelist
2) Rule the whole world!
3) Win a Noble prize (LOL)
4) Have my name recorded in the annals of world history
5) Win a million dollars in a jackpot lottery
6) Publish in a scientific journal (soon to be taken off this list, I hope so)
7) To visit and trace leylines all over the world.
8) Be happy :D

8 Things I say often
1) Bloody hell!
2) You don't gila
3) You ownself kena bully...
4) Very sien
5) I'm so gonna fail (almost every test or exam)
6) Celaka you!
7) Possibly (a response to anything I don't really want to confirm)
8) ... (in online chats)

8 Books I've read recently ~ No money equals no new books to read :(
1) Neither here Nor there by Bill Bryson
2) Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
3) Every Living Thing by James Herriot
4) The Terminal Man by Sir Alfred Mehran
5) Muder She Meowed by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown
6) The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan (reread)
7) James Herriot's Dog Stories by James Herriot (reread)
8) Working for the Devil by Lillith Saintcrow (reread)

8 Songs I can listen to over and over
1) It Hurts by Mariha
2) Everything by Michael Buble
3) Seven Days in Sunny June by Jamiroquoai
4) Eternal Flame by Bangles
5) When You Believe by Whitney and Mariah
6) 1973 by James Blunt
7) I will always love you by Whitney Houston
8) Happy People by Skoop on Somebody

8 Things that attracts me to my best friends
1) The ability to tolerate me (LOL)
2) Their wackiness
3) Their lack of pretense
4) Their capacity for being evil (it soothes my conscience)
5) Of course their proficiency in English (in a sense)
6) Their competitiveness
7) Their lifestyle
8) Their tastes (in everything from food to movies to interests)

Mists of Avalon

Oh man, I woke up this morning, took a look outside my balcony and found out I'm living in genting! LOL

It Hurts

Lately, I've just lost the mood to write anything. Oh there are lots to tell and lots to write about but whenever I do start, it does not come out. As much as feelings ebb and flow just like the tides, I guess the will to write adheres to a similar pattern.
Well, I'll just post a song. I have been listening to this song alot. Somehow I feel it is just beautiful with its simple melody and the clarity of the voice is soothing. The singer is Mariha and she's a German. To me, she's simply gorgeous. Her facial bone structure is amazing!

Calvin and Hobbes

For those who know and do read the comic this is hilarious :D

LibraryThing sucks!

I thought of giving this LibraryThing a try since numerous people have it on their blogs. It looks kinda cool , some sort like a visual bookshelf. Thus, I visited their webpage and and I was greeted with various praises. At one point they became arrogant (as shown in exhibit 1) and I thought, "Wow, this must be a super fantastic bloody wonderful thing!". I must, must, must, must sign up and be a part of their so very satisfied members.

Exhibit 1

I clicked 'Join Now' and proceeded to to fill in the required fills. All was going dandy and fine until I reached the email field. I know its optional but I thought what the heck and filled that in as well.

That was then I discovered their stupid email field had a character limit (Exhibit 2). What the hell? Who is stupid enough to create a website and put a character limit to the email field? I know its optional but if you don't want anyone filling in their email then don't put the bloody thing altogether.

Exhibit 2

I got so riled up I didn't register after all...

Hairspray- Big Blonde and Beautiful

I loved this song solely because of the lyrics. The play of words is simply wonderful and the creativity is astounding.
When the last line hits you, it sends a tingle up your spine for pure literary appreciation.

"Who wants a twig when you can climb the whole tree"

Woot!

My supervisor requested to see me this morning after my molecular biology paper and guess what? She wanted to discuss the options of getting my research paper published in an international journal. It is an opportunity not to be missed and I'm definitely elated about it.

She gave me two options regarding the publication. Option one was that she will handle everything, from the rewriting of the paper to be submitted to the handling of the correspondence. Option two was that I do everything myself with her guidance. Guess what I chose?

I chose option two of course. It would be a very good chance for me to gain a little experience regarding getting myself published and it is something I will not want to miss. Of course it will mean more work for me but getting your name in print is definitely worth it.

There is definitely a possibility that I will be rejected by the different journals, but then again... there's no harm in trying.

Post-raya Shopping

One would have thought that shopping for something after the raya festival would be a very quick thing. One would have never guessed that the check out line would be such a long one. One could have died waiting for all the kiddies to pay for their toys with their duit raya. One should have smashed their heads with all the coins and dollars they were counting out to pay for their purchases. One is evil...

Life?

Is life always that cruel? My cousin just told me her house got robbed and she was devastated. What's worse is that her laptop that was taken contained all her assignments and they are due soon. What can she do? She had a backup in a pendrive but that got taken as well. Double blow of the suckiness of life? She lamented to me over the net and somehow I felt very much saddened that sometimes, life just blows.

Her parents and brother seem to be handling it rather nonchalantly maybe because all that was lost were just material stuff to them but to her, work and effort lost cannot be recovered so easily. Sometimes grown ups think that for students, life is just so simple. I find that patronizing.

She said and I quote:

thatz y...i cried so hard not for the laptop
i cried for the content
my family said they will buy a new one to replace
its not that
they can get the latest high tech one
but its not the same as the old one
because all my stuff is gone

Well, I understand. My heart goes out for you in these troubled times...

Hanging up the ol' lab coat

The place was desolate on that particular day with everyone having fled with anticipation of much joyous festivities on the morrow. The long halls he traversed were eerily muted with the ringing silence of emptiness and as he walked on by, he noticed how much this contrasted with the everyday hustle and bustle of footsteps and voices.

It was rather amusing how he had such a change of feeling now that he had completed those few months in the lab. He remembered how frightening it was on the first day with much trembling hands and jumping hearts but with time, experience steadied the hand and confidence calmed the heart. As stressful as it was, those couple of months will be a time always remembered. The friendly jibes, the whispered secrets and the shared whining all added colour to the long lab hours. It was hard work but satisfying all the same.

As he cleared his cluttered workspace he can't help but think about it. He will certainly miss it, now that it is over. Slinging the lab coat over his shoulder, he walked out with the thought that maybe doing it for a living isn't so bad after all.

I'm not imaginative

"I'm just very selective about the reality I choose to accept."

Calvin

Es tut mir leid

I know, I'm dreadfully behind time with this one.... Apologies to Ah-Bong. My fingers are to blame :S

Five Things:

In my bag
(I'm assuming it's the bag I take to classes).

1) Freakin notes for different classes
2) Lots of rubbish - candy wrappers, torn papers, etc
3) Bits and bobs from the lab that have mysteriously lodged themselves into my bag - PCR tubes, latex gloves etc
4) Ethidium bromide contaminated pens and pencils
5) A paperback novel of any kind - never left the house without them!

In my wallet

1) Movie ticket stubs
2) Sheaves of receipts
3) Identity stuff
4) A minute amount of money
5) A coin - who is probably dying of loneliness

In my room
(Of course the room I have in my hometown)

1) My TV (I LOVE YOU)
2) My huge ass shelf of books and more books
3) My giant queen size bed
4) My computer (I LOVE YOU TOO !)
5) My laptop (I LOVE YOU THE MOST !)

I would like to try

1) Backpacking
2) Taking a hiatus from life and just travel for a year
3) Going to Germany and yakking in German
4) Extracting DNA samples from chorionic villi
5) Throw rotten eggs from the balcony of my apartment - don't ask


I'm doing now
1) Falling asleep doing this
2) Thinking up a fairytale to write during my viro paper tomorrow
3) Thinking of reasons to explain why the multiplex PCR I developed has a less than perfect sensitivity and specificity
4) Typing?
5) Errr.... breathing?

I'm tagging

No one. I'm probably the last person on the face of the earth to do this.

Diabolical Sweetness

The things these quizzes come up with these days. Here's one I found to be highly amusing. I do not certainly feel like a brownie. A brownie sounds so mushy and all sugar and spice, everything nice kind of thing. Ok, so the description says otherwise but in the end it says I'm sweet. Sweet? Me? I don't think that those two words will ever exist in the same sentence.

I wanna be something more thrilling yet demure in its way, with a quiet affluence in taste and with a sense of a swagger in its name. I wanna be the rum and raisins chocolate truffles dessert. Now that's cool :)

On second thought, I could be the silent killer type of sweetness. Think of diabetes and being sweet does in the end, sound evil after all.

*Roar*

Ehem

*ROAR*

You Are a Brownie

Decadent and intense, you aren't for the weakhearted. Those who can deal with your strong flavor find out how sweet you really are.

What Dessert Are You Most Like?

Sexy Veggie

Now who wouldn't go vegetarian after watching this? :)


Alicia Silverstone’s Sexy Veggie PSA

When death is no longer a fantasy

James Oliver Rigney, Jr or better known as Robert Jordan has passed away on September 16th, 2007. I only found that out reading the newspaper today and I'll be mourning the loss of a great fantasy writer. His World of Time series is a masterful work of meticulous detail that brings a reader into a world where you could lose yourself for days. Yeah, his series spans eleven books and one prequel. In my opinion, the world Robert Jordan created even rivals the classic Middle Earth by Tolkien. He now joins the ranks of writers, like the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, who I feel, live and died for fantasy.

When the cookie crumbles

I had my honours research project presentation last Thursday and the outcome? Bad. The first 20 minutes of the presentation was smooth but I got burned in the 10 minutes, question and answer session. Could I be better prepared? Did I get tough examiners? I wouldn't know.

I wanted the best oral presentation award so badly but now it wouldn't come true.

The cookie crumbled...

But in whose hand?

Click on it to get a bigger image and you can almost see me in the camera
screen. Yeah, the man with the bald pate is one of my examiners. He was
the nicer one of the two.

I see it's hard

I just saw the new Kelley Armstrong book on the shelves the other day and I can't wait to read it. Too bad only the hardcover version is out. I'll have to wait for the paperpback and that is gonna take months. *Sob*

Sway with me again?

At about 8 am I once again felt the building swaying and this time, the tremor felt is rather strong. It went on for almost a minute and I really thought soon my apartment would come crashing down and we would all have something to read about in the papers tomorrow. I have been preparing for my research project presentation all week and I thought that I wouldn't even survive to the actual thing by being dead a few hours before it is due. LOL.

I missed the quake yesterday at about 7 in the evening because I was out shopping so maybe this was a chance for me to feel it and maybe have my life flashing before my eyes? :)

She ain't heavy, she's our Britney!

Britney's VMA performance was something you wouldn't expect to see...

Landlubbers Unite!

My life's soalan cepu emas

Does unspoken words signify hope or just an unavoidable ending?

Bug me!

How wrong could I be when I decided to go for a movie to take my mind off matters? A whole lot of wrong I would say. I wanted to forget that harrowing viro term paper assignment that I received today which requires a minimum of 7 pages (excluding title page, figures, tables and reference list) on novel ideas, that makes me feel like jumping off my balcony, so stupid me decided to go see The Invasion.

I was treated to a whole hour and a half of a story full of terms like vaccines, bugs, immunity and epidemic which promptly jolted me back to the thoughts of that bloody term paper which I have not started on. The story was great but Nicole Kidman was even greater. :)

Elizabeth The Golden Age

I am looking forward to many movies but none rivals this in unbridled anticipation. The rush of emotions that the trailer evokes is enough to have you starving for more.

Holiday afflictions

The problem with self-made holidays are the classic symptoms that seem to manifest effortlessly after you have stayed home for a few days. It kills the fun and ultimately makes you feel rotten, like all other diseases.

Symptom 1: Lethargy

Too much time spent being idle apparently causes the body to become lazy and every movement that isn't followed with an immediate pause for relaxation makes you feel like you're gonna keel over and die of exhaustion. This is because you have been lying around listlessly doing nothing for days in a row, very much like a 200 pound bear in hibernation.

Symptom 2: Mental deterioration

A drastic decline in mental capacity is bound to follow the long days of putting your brain on hiatus. Your mind becomes sluggish and you eventually find yourself blanking out every few minutes where your thoughts seem to be occupied with thinking about nothing. When you realize that what you have been thinking about is redundant, you just don't care because a repetitive loop of blank thoughts keeps the voices away.

Symptom 3: Drooping eyelids

In the case where you do go out, you are then faced with the problem of eyelid ptosis. Too much 4 a.m. gaming rounds and afternoon wake times wrecks havoc with your sleep patterns and you soon feel like falling asleep at any time of the day. Just let your eyes have their way and soon you will walking around with your eyes half closed and your mouth half open.

Symptom 4: Guilt mania

As with sex and chocolates, an over indulgence in holidays makes you feel like you've done a crime. The onset is at the end of your break and really sets in when you realized you have been doing absolutely nothing productive in the span of that few days. You start to punish yourself mentally for being weak and giving in for a taste of the oh-so-delicious sinful pleasures that you have vowed to never be tempted with again.

Symptom 5: Obesity

When everything you see around you is food, you naturally pack on the pounds. Food seem to magically replenish itself with help from your parents and everytime you enter the kitchen you are faced with delicious smells and sights. How can you resist?

Hilfe!

You know you're in trouble when you have a German language test in a few hours and you don't even know whether the Waschbecken is a masculine, feminine or neutral noun.

Hilfe! Ich bin sehr dumm. Ich verstehe nicht!

Is that an oasis I see?

I was left high and dry with these really boring topics to choose from for my principles and practices of management class. Which one do you think I should choose? I have to do a presentation and a five page paper on it. Five pages!

1. Discuss the different skills that a manager must have and the roles they can fill.

2. Identify the stakeholders of an organization and the impact on the organization and the environment.

3. Discuss issues a manager must consider in applying ethics.

4. Describe the common barriers to effective communication. How may these barriers be overcome?

I am seriously thinking of picking number three because as it is always with ethics, you get to ramble alot. Ethical issues are soooo debatable. Anyone here with a background in management wanna lend me a hand? I'll won't do anything naughty with your hand :P
If all else fails, then it's back to the old trick of completing non-scientific assignments that I have tried and tested. Writing beautiful sentences that looks mightily impressive but if one delves deeper into the meaning, you get nothing. In short, cover your lack knowledge with flawless English. Seriously, it works.

Disclaimer: Method only works for public universities only.

Meme: 8 Random Facts About Me

The rules of this tag:


1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.

2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.

3. Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).

4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

Fact 1:

I can't cycle. Yeah, I can neither ride a bicycle nor a motorcycle. When I was little I never learned and when I grew up I just didn't see the point. Jumped straight for my car license when I hit the appropriate age.

Fact 2:

I was the teachers' pet. No, I did not go around asking the teachers if they needed help carrying their bags or something. Apple polishing is much more a subtle act than most people think. I was articulate, attentive and I asked the right questions. Wouldn't hurt to mention I had good grades too. :)

Fact 3:

I had alley cats for pets. When I was young I used to feed the alley cats behind my house with scraps and they always eventually flocked to my house, bred and I had a whole family of kittens to play with. My father hated it though and said they were dirty. Maybe so, but I grew up into a healthy young man anyway.

Fact 4:

I am not very particular about food. I always say that when you're hungry, most food will taste great. What enters through your mouth comes out the exact same thing the other end. I eat to keep myself from feeling hungry.

Fact 5:

I can't converse in nor write and read any Chinese dialect. I'm a Straits Chinese and my grandparents spoke Malay. Why haven't I learned? Same reason lots of people can't speak English properly either. It's a matter of pride.

Fact 6:

When I first started reading when I was young, I started with Malay story books. I didn't know how to read English until a lil' later. Maybe because Malay words are easier to mouth and pronounce or something but until I picked up the skill of reading English, my mother read Enid Blyton to me every night. :P

Fact 7:

The only animal I have fear for is the crocodile or alligator. Fear as in the feeling bordering phobia where a picture of a crocodile is enough to get me to shudder and flinch. I really don't know why. Must be a manifestation of a childhood trauma. Probably got bitten by a cicak when I was a baby.

Fact 8:

I love watching Spongebob. LOL. In league with reading Enid Blyton, it calms me alot. Reminds me of my childhood days where everything was so simple and life was void of worries. My favourite character in the cartoon? Squirdward.

There, all done now. No tags from me. Just too lazy I guess. All me mes will of course end here if it reaches me. :)

A lil' adult magic

What with all the hype about Harry Potter I still think that it's so much still a children's book no matter how many adults do rave about it too. People running around waving little sticks calling out "Ava Kedavra" is plain comical if you think about it . Here's a taste of a little adult magic with much more practical uses. ;)



Excerpt from Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong:





I whispered a spell and a small fireball appeared in my hand. Cortez looked from it to me and tilted his head, eyes, questioning. I grinned and cast a dampening spell, putting out the ball and leaving only my fingers glowing.

Interesting," he said. "But I don't see - "

I pressed my hot fingers against his chest. He gasped. I traced the heat down his chest, then slid my hand under his briefs and stroked him. He moaned, closing his eyes and leaning back.

"See now?" I asked.

"Teach me that," he said hoarsely.

I grinned. "Maybe."

I peeled off his briefs and slid one hot hand under his balls, caressing them, as I stroked his shaft with the other. He arched back moaning. I continued, measuring his breathing until I heard just the right tempo, then stopped, still holding him tight.

"Do I win?" I asked.

"Yes, God yes." He paused, then pulled free of my grasp, eyes flying open. "No."

"Changed your mind?" I said with a grin. "That's okay. You're right, maybe it isn't such a good idea. " I started backing off him. "We should keep this professional. After all -"

He lunged for me, knocking me onto my back and stretching over me.

"I meant 'No' as in 'I don't concede defeat'. Not yet."

He kicked off his briefs and grabbed me by the hips. We rolled, entangling ourselves in the linen. The soft sheets and clean scent of lemon engulfed us. As we kissed, I felt Cortez's lips move and opened my eyes to see his hand arc above us. A low thrumming drowned out the radio, then a fog of purple and blue light rose from the floor.

"Tell me that isn't the koyut," I murmured against his mouth.

He chuckled and slid his fingers between my thighs, teasing. I arched back and closed my eyes. When I opened them, the fog was wafting toward us. I touched my arm first, sending a tingle of energy through it. I gasped. Cortez chuckled again and pushed his fingers into me. The fog wrapped around us. Every hair on my body rose and I pressed my head into the sheets , luxuriating in the sensation.

"That is-" I gasped after a few minutes. "You have to teach me that"

He smiled,pulled out his fingers and slid on top of me. "I'll teach you anything you want."

Everybody hates viruses!

I think I have to say that I certainly hate my advance medical virology class. The assignments are the worse lot I have ever had in history. It isn't so much that it is difficult but more of the fact that you feel cheated of the self-satisfaction that generally awaits you on the completion of an assignment. If you have worked hard on an assignment and produced a good paper, you get a wonderful feeling, knowing that it is a job well done. However in virology assignments, it isn't the same. You struggle and you toil over a span of a weekend, trying to understand and explain the whole bloody complicated information on a particular topic and what do you get? Three measly pages which in other subject matters could be done in an hour.

The time and effort invested does not pay off with the result. You take over three hours to write a single short introductory paragraph because you need to find that elusive journal article from which you want to quote from and another twelve hours to explain it because it is so complicated you yourself find it impossible to understand. It doesn't help either that the lecturers are giving assignments on topics that are so thinly researched that the experts themselves have no clear idea on it but just speculations.

You know it's gonna take a whole weekend again when you google something and all that comes up are three results....

Sway with me

Yeap, it was at about 1 am. I felt the whole building swaying and shaking rather violently. Probably another tremor felt from a far off earthquake in a neighboring country. It's rather frightening when you think about the fact that I'm living 14 stories up. That's a very long way to fall...

MIKA - Love Today

His songs are rather too perky in my opinion and you don't usually find me and the word "perky on the same page but I love all of his songs.

Doom da da di da di Doom da da di da di

Everybody's gonna love today,
Gonna love today, gonna love today.
Everybody's gonna love today, gonna love today.
Anyway you want to, anyway you've got to,
Love love me, love love me, love love.

I've been crying for so long,
Fighting tears just to carry on,
But now, but now, it's gone away.

Hey girl why can't you carry on,
Is it 'cause you're just like your mother,
Little tike, like to tease for fun,
Well you ain't gonna tease no other,
Gonna make you a lover.

Everybody's gonna love today,
love today, love today.
Everybody's gonna love today,
Anyway you want to, anyway you've got to,
Love love me, love love me, love love.
Girl with a groove with the big bust on,
Big bust on, big bust on.
Wait till your mother and your papa's gone,
Papa's gone
Momma, momma papa, shock shock me,
Shock shock me, shock shock.

Everybody's gonna love today,
Gonna love today, gonna love today
I said,
Everybody's gonna love today, gonna love today,
Anyway you want to, anyway you've got to,
Love love me, love love me, love love.

Carolina sits on ninety five
Give her a dollar and she'll make you smile.

Hooker, what a looker, walk away!

Carry dresses like a kid for fun,
Licks her lips like there's something on 'em,
Tries to tell you life has just begun,
But you know she's getting something other
Than the love from her mother!

Everybody's gonna love today,
Love today, love today
Everybody's gonna love today,
Anyway you want to, anyway you've got to,
Love love me, love love me, love love.

Girl with a groove with the big bust on,
Big bust on, big bust on.
Wait till your mother and your papa's gone,
Papa's gone
Momma, momma papa, shock shock me,
Shock shock me, shock shock.

I said,
Everybody's gonna love today,
Gonna love today, gonna love today
I said,
Everybody's gonna love today,
Gonna love today,
Anyway you want to, anyway you've got to,
Love love me, love love me, love love.

Doom da da di da di Doom da da di da di Doom da da di da di Doom da da di da di.....

Everybody's gonna love today,
Gonna love today, gonna love today
Everybody's gonna love today,
Gonna love today,
Anyway you want to, anyway you've got to,
Love love me, love love me, love love.

Doom da da di da di Doom da da di da di Doom da da di da di Doom da da di da di.....

Help wanted - Many positions available

I was getting off the elevator of my apartment building, rushing to get home when I saw this ad, and I laughed. I mean who in their right mind is gonna respond to it when it sounds so very, extremely dubious. Did you notice that the word 'free' was repeated twice? Light house keeping? Relative to what? Slaved labour? Then, there's the part about giving 'personal assistance' to the Professor and immediately this picture came to my mind.

Feeling sea sprays on the sea shore!

You know it was something you will always remember when then mere thought of the phrase "sea sprays" makes you laugh.

Nicht Besonders

Been rather busy lately with lots of things happening that seemed to pull down my mood substantially. This, of course, caused a minor disruption in my blogging activity (which was not very regular to start with), resulting in a drought that dragged on for almost a month.

Anyway nothing much happened in the past few weeks and now it's the new semester again with new classes, new first-year students and new feelings of self-afflicted laziness. As I never had a holiday to begin with, I feel morosely drained and not at all enthusiastic for starting a new semester of lessons. Bah!

Yeah, the two things I wanted to comment on and somehow was put off due to the above mentioned circumstances, are the two highly anticipated movies, Transformers and Harry Potter. What do I think? I thought that Transformers was rather average because I had a high expectation for it and I thought Harry Potter was average because I did not expect anything from it. Which was better then? Do the logic. Lol.

However, there is something I like about the Harry Potter movie and that is that they took on the fantastic Helena Bonham Carter to play the maniacal Bellatrix Lestrange. I think she did a very good job embodying the character, carrying herself as Bellatrix Lestrange down to pat. Pity she had so little show time and lines in the movie as I couldn't get enough of her in it. She's now on my list of favourites villains. :)

Nasty

Nastier

Lab Series 2

Our little Miss Photographer has been harassing me to post this batch of pictures up but I've been rather lazy. Well, here's the second series featuring DNA extraction from blood specimens using the phenol-chloroform reagant method. I was extracting nine different blood specimens and I had to stop to pose all that time. One word, "cramp"!

There are alot more pics but it takes a rather long time to upload so I picked out the beautiful ones :)


Starting with transferring the blood to another tube and washing it with tris-EDTA.


To incubating them on ice.

You can see the pellet containing the DNA after blood has been washed out.

A side view of the pellet.

Adding phenol chloroform to further isolate the DNA.

Shaking the contents with phenol chloroform turns it milky.

After centrifugation you can see the two layers of where the lower layer will be removed.

Removing the lower layer with a syringe to get as much of the contents of the layer out.

After precipitation with sodium chloride and 100% ethanol you can see the DNA floating in the solution.

And after the long steps of drying and solubilising, the DNA is ready to be quantitated using a quartz cuvette in the spectrophotometer.

Priceless

The Qaigen HotStarTaq DNA Polymerase cost RM 672 for 0.05 ml and the mistake in calculations this morning almost caused me a stroke but the feeling of joy when you see the exact DNA band you desire appearing in your gel is simply...

-priceless-

Simply divine

Michael Buble – Everything lyrics


You're a falling star, You're the get away car.
You're the line in the sand when I go too far.
You're the swimming pool, on an August day.
And you're the perfect thing to say.

And you play you're coy, but it's kinda cute.
Ah, When you smile at me you know exactly what you do.
Baby don't pretend, that you don't know it's true.
Cause you can see it when I look at you.

[Chorus:]
And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times
It's you, it's you, You make me sing.
You're every line, you're every word, you're everything.

You're a carousel, you're a wishing well,
And you light me up, when you ring my bell.
You're a mystery, you're from outer space,
You're every minute of my everyday.

And I can't believe, that I'm your man,
And I get to kiss you baby just because I can.
Whatever comes our way, ah we'll see it through,
And you know that's what our love can do.

[Chorus:]
And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times
It's you, it's you, You make me sing
You're every line, you're every word, you're everything.

So, La, La, La, La, La, La, La
So, La, La, La, La, La, La, La

[Chorus:]
And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times
It's you, it's you, You make me sing.
You're every line, you're every word, you're everything.
You're every song, and I sing along.
'Cause you're my everything.
Yeah, yeah

So, La, La, La, La, La, La, La
So, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La

When angels sing

Thumb it

Most of us don't really notice how large a role our thumbs play in our daily lives until you hurt it that is. I had a cramp when I was preparing a 19 tube PCR mix and now my thumb is all sore. When it hurts everytime you use your thumb, you realize how frequently you rely on those babies everyday. Fortunately for me, I'm an amateur typist and I don't use my thumb at all when I type. Strangely I realize I don't use my thumb either when I'm using the mouse. Does that mean, a primitive animal with no opposable thumbs is able to operate a computer? The opposable thumbs we all so proudly possess is hailed as a very significant evolutionary change that sets us apart from the primitive animals that are lower on the evolutionary ladder. Thus it is ironic that something so advance like the computer does not need an evolutionary advancement like the thumb to operate.

Spare a thought on why animals hump trees and you'll realize another important use of the thumb. Too bad, no playing with my..... err.... shoes tonight. :P

Being sick!

I'm no longer considered as a healthy person... I was accepted as a subject for a drug bio-equivalence study and they were paying me RM310 for it but now I'm rejected because I have alpha-thalassaemia. Ok, maybe they would not have found out if I had not told them about it since I passed their haematological screening and all but it would still be a responsible thing to do. If I kept back that information wouldn't it be considered that I did not disclose everything on my health history?

How nice it would have been if I had found out that I had alpha-thalassaemia earlier on in my schooldays. I wonder whether I could have gotten a doctor's note exempting me from sports. Imagine no pendidikan jasmani sessions for me and all those ujian tara I hated so much during sports day. I admit, I'm not a very physical person at all, but that only applies when I'm in the field ;)

Lab Series

Photos courtesy of little Miss Joyce, avid photographer extraordinaire who excels at snapping almost any object except moving ones. Yes, those are my hands. I almost had a cramp in my arms because it was taking so long to snap those pictures and I had to freeze each pose :)


Micro pipetting DNA into the PCR mix.

Operating the thermo cycler used for the PCR reaction.

Removing the gel after electrophoresis of the PCR products.

Resolving of the products by viewing the gel under the UV transilluminator.

Updates

I've been rather busy with the research for my undergraduate thesis lately. Learning new things, perfecting techniques and overcoming 'shaky hands'. Here is a picture of my very first passable duplex PCR products run on 1.5% agarose gel. =)


On a side note, I found out that I'm α-thalassaemic... I extracted my own DNA from blood and run it in the diagnostic test of the duplex PCR and found out that I'm carrying a SEA double deletion for α-thalassamia. Maybe I'm destined to be taking this research project on. What am I working on? I'm working on the development of multiplex-PCR for detection of α-thalassaemia.

And yeah, I haven't been online much as my streamyx connection has been down since last week. Right now I'm typing this entry at my faculty using the free wifi which unfortunately is extremely slow. This is my third week of research work, hope I can survive till the end. Haha.

Happy International Thalassaemia Day

It was yesterday but it's never too late to create awareness I guess. In conjunction with the International Thalassaemia Day and with the research I'm doing for my undergraduate thesis, I'll be featuring a few links for my readers to read up on Thalassaemia. Thalassaemia is the name of a group of genetic, inherited disorders of the blood and it is widespread all over the world in certain regions and also in Malaysia. A lot of us are carriers of the gene but we do not know that and ignorance in this case will certainly not bring bliss in the future when we have a family.

The 8 May is the International Thalassaemia Day, dedicated to "Quality Treatment for all" in 2007.

On this occasion, the Thalassaemia International Federation, National Thalassaemia Associations and thalassaemia Medical Centres across the world, organise activities focused on public awareness with regards to Prevention and Clinical Care of Thalassaemia Major.

Yay?

My exams are finally over after these long, long, long weeks. Yay? Strangely, I feel rather disgruntled and the usual euphoric, 'I'm walking on air' kinda feeling is absent. Maybe it's because my exam duration was too long. Six paper spread out over three weeks with many many intervals full of boredom.

Now, I feel like I'm cheated of the opportunity to celebrate the end of my exams. Oh, people have been saying that I have celebrated enough in between my papers by going out and all that and having a very much relaxing finals but if given the option of choosing I would have chosen otherwise. It isn't the same enjoying during the exams as you have a dark, gloomy cloud hanging overcast and guilt of course just spoils all your fun. I very much rather have a concentrated dose of all that study stress rather than a long drawn out malaise that seem to kill you in episodic bursts of ennui.

And to make matters worst, I'm starting my research for my thesis on Monday. No rest for the wicked. Isn't my life full of fun?

Visual DNA would actually be chromosomes....

Got this in the mail I simply like the pictures :)

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Double traumatized

Happy Labour Day to all you labourers out there. I thought everyone would take this opportunity, getting off from work to stay at home and relax but apparently not. Where do all those hardworking people go? They congregate and form huge ass mobs in shopping complexes. I was at Mid Valley this afternoon and I tell you, people were there by the millions. Ok maybe I did exaggerate a tiny bit but there were so many people there that all the outlets selling food were full to the brim and getting an empty table was almost next to impossible. Of course, the Mid Valley fashion week didn't help lessen the crowd but whatever happened to good old fashion 'relaxing at home'? I, a semi-pseudo-sociopath, am dreadfully traumatized...

Then of course I had to go watch a movie and what did I watch? I watched The Hills Have Eyes 2 which is the single, most disgusting movie that I have ever watched. It even manage to beat The Mortuary in my opinion in its degree of graphic grossness. The gory killings with all the wanton splashes of blood were ok but the rape scene is simply disgusting. Everyone watching will forever have their sex live ruined and I am now double traumatized...

Nevertheless, I still had a good time there. Thanx very much ;)

The tarot says it all

A rather apt description looking at the fact that I am temperemental, emotional, and generally indecisive when it comes to the most mundane of things in life. I am a complex person after all, extremely difficult to fathom and even more difficult to predict even at my best times when I'm most lucid.

You are The Chariot

Triumph, Victory, Overcoming Obstacles.

The chariot is one of the most complex cards to define. On its most basic level, it implies war, a struggle, and an eventual, hard-won victory. Either over enemies, obstacles, nature, the beasts inside you, or to just get what you want. But there is a great deal more to it. The charioteer wears emblems of the sun, yet the sign behind this card is the moon. The chariot is all about motion, and yet it is often shown as stationary. It is a union of opposites, like the black and white steeds. They pull in different directions, but must be (and can be!) made to go together in one direction. Control is required over opposing emotions, wants, needs, people, circumstances; bring them together and give them a single direction, your direction. Confidence is also needed and, most especially, motivation. The card can, in fact, indicate new motivation or inspiration, which gets a stagnant situation moving again.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

The Queen's Breasts

I received this forwarded mail from Joyce and I find it simply hilarious. x)

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful Queen with voluptuous breasts.

Nick the Dragon Slayer was obsessed over the Queen for this reason. He knew that the penalty for his desire would be death should he try to touch them, but he had to try.

One day Nick revealed his secret desire to his colleague, Horatio the Physician, the King's chief doctor.

Horatio thought about this and said that he could arrange for Nick to more than satisfy his desire, but it would cost him 1000 gold coins to arrange it. Without pause Nick readily agreed to the scheme.

The next day, Horatio made a batch of itching powder and poured a little bit into the Queen's brassiere while she bathed. Soon after she dressed, the itching commenced and grew intense.

Upon being summoned to the Royal Chambers to address this incident, Horatio informed the King and Queen that
only a special saliva, if applied for four hours, would cure this type of itch, and that tests had shown that only the saliva of Nick would work as the antidote to cure the itch.

The King quickly summoned Nick. Horatio then slipped Nick the antidote for the itching powder, which he put into his mouth, and for the next four hours, Nick worked passionately on the Queen's voluptuous and magnificent
breasts.

The Queen's itching was eventually relieved, and Nick left satisfied and hailed as a hero.

Upon returning to his chamber, Nick found Horatio demanding his payment of 1000 gold coins. With his obsession now satisfied, Nick couldn't have cared
less and, knowing that Horatio could never report this matter to the King, and with a laugh told him to get lost.

The next day, Horatio slipped a massive dose of the same itching powder into the King's underwear.

The King immediately summoned Nick.

The moral of the story -

"Keep Your Promise!"

Pauper of paper

I have three more papers for my finals and I'm so bored. It isn't so much bored of studying but bored with nothing to do. Most of the subjects that needed much studying have already past and what's left are the easier ones. Imagine, I have an English paper this Thursday. Me! Taking English? It's compulsory or I would not be wasting time doing it.

Moreover, I received my very first spam on this blog. Take a look at the comments on my last post. Ten comments completely irrelevant to what I posted and on sensitive issues nonetheless. Sometimes it's surprising how much time people waste spamming and frankly I just feel they're suffering from a very bad case of sour grapes.

And the last thing I would like to say is that World's Book Day was yesterday, I kinda missed it. I knew the date but I didn't realize the 23rd was yesterday. So here's to books! Love them and read them. Become a pauper for all that paper. Well, yeah books are expensive you know.

Happy Friday the 13th

And the word of the day is:

Paraskavedekatriaphobia


Definition: The Fear of Friday the Thirteenth, a form of triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number thirteen.

I'm even beginning to fear pronouncing it!

A movie review: The Reaping

Just one word describes it all: Hilary Swank. What more can you expect from an actress that has already won two Oscars? Despite what is being said about the movie, I would rate it an astounding A+ for its wonderful, wonderful unpredictable plot. I certainly didn't see that ending coming until it was too late.

What is it about? Well, courtesy of Yahoo!Movies:

A supernatural tale that centers on a myth debunker who tries to prove that a small girl is not the supernatural force behind the devastation of a small, religious Texas town.

I won't say much more. Anything more might spoil the fun for you when you decide to take my advice and go watch it. I'm not the type that goes for horror movies but this certainly isn't one horror movie that I would like to miss.

Touché

When men go nude!

In response to FableFrog's question: why there isn't any PeTA ads with a nude male?