Quote of the day!

Jangan tanya saya macam mana. Sememang macam tu!

- Human Physiology lecturer,
2.15 p.m. 27th February 2007

In response to why plasma calcium levels drop when plasma potassium levels is extremely raised.

A big round of applause to the Malaysian educators.

A book review: One Good Knight

This is long overdue and I best get over it before my fingers turn to lead again. As much as I have listed Mercedes Lackey to be one of my favourite fantasy authors, I find this book to be mediocre at best. Her previous tale in the same hundred kingdoms series is so much better and this just doesn't compare.

The story is about a princess whose kingdom is being besieged by a dragon and the only solution is to provide virgin sacrifices to appease the dragon. All seems simple enough until she herself is chosen to be sacrificed.

A tale that goes against all traditions with an iron-willed princess, a gender-confused knight and dragons that are guardians of a different kind of treasure.

The story seemed a little rushed and the characters were flighty at best with an ending that is most abrupt. The title of the book is also kind of off as the story revolves around the princess and not the knight. When I bought it a friend commented that the title sounded like a title for a porn video. Come to think about it yeah he's true ><

Thieving Pugna

If I was Slardar I would feel so retarded. Imagine Pugna stealing the gem back from your own fountain...

Pet peeves ~ 1

Condiments are like old friends—highly thought of, but often taken for granted.

-Marilyn Kaytor

Somehow being compared to condiments isn't very flattering to me and I do so very hate it when I'm taken for granted.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year. May your year be filled with an abundance of of good fortune and year-long serenity. Let's all celebrate with never ending camaraderie!

And to those who just have had their reunion dinner, here's to a night of over-indulgence and feasting. Pack on those kilos everyone :S

Before...

And after!

Tribute to Anna Nicole Smith

It is really some shocking news when I read that she passed away recently and at such a young age too. It was really unexpected. She was a great supporter of PETA and that is how we all want to remember her for. Her love for animals.
Read about her work for PETA here.

Head aches and mind breaks

It's officially my holidays now and strangely I'm not much excited about it. It is rather odd as I'm usually happy as hell over holidays no matter how short they are but this one I'm greeting with insipid enthusiasm. I guess it's because this holiday marks that the mid-semester point is here and I really don't want this semester to end. Why?

I've been putting off thinking about it and even writing about it here releases apprehension as though the mere mention of it will make it arrive faster. I'm talking about my research project I'm suppose to do after this semester ends for my thesis. It is so overwhelming and rather intimidating. How do I start? What do I do?

Of course you're assigned a supervisor to guide you but then again, it is really a big thing. What more, it carries 10 credit hours and I so want to get an A for it. With that much credit, scoring anything else but an A will drag my grade point average down a lot. It will make or break my goal of getting into the first class honours list.

And thus I'm all for procrastination, putting off choosing a research project till the official list comes out but several of my course mates are already going around fishing for research titles from the lecturers. Obviously they can't let things lie for the moment and let me enjoy the remainder of my semester. Well, I'm never the one to be left out and neither did I want to be one left to pick out from the leftovers so I did a little sniffing myself and manage to unofficially get one promised to me but it's not a sure thing. It is from the pharmacology department but it's molecular biology work regarding schizophrenia. I'm not much clear about it but the professor said she'll get materials for me to read up on after the break for me to see whether I'm into it or not.

I gotta go rest. Thinking about it gives me a headache...

BOOM?

My mid-semester break is here. Strangely time has been rushing by as though as I'm enjoying myself. If it passes this fast when I'm bored and weary, imagine how fast it can go when I'm actually enjoying myself. I'll be like having fun and *BOOM* (time breaking the sound barrier flying past)

A movie review: Stranger Than Fiction

Imagine that you're running your everyday life which, simply put, is rather average when you suddenly hear a voice narrating your every action. Bad enough that you're distracted and spooked out by the ominous voice, it suddenly hints that death is close in the near future with the inevitable development of your life's plot. You then do all you can to find the owner of this 'voice' and stop it from narrating your life to a tragic end.

This is exactly what happened to Harold Crick who is an auditor with a very much average life, that is until the 'voice' descends on him. He is a man so ruled by numbers that he sees figures everywhere. He counts the number of strokes while brushing, the exact number of minutes he takes to knot his tie and even the number of steps he takes to the bus stop. This all is disrupted when he suddenly hears a woman narrating his life and suddenly dropping a hint that his story ends soon with his death. He then does all he can to try to find this author and change the ending of his story before he is dead.

I would like to say that this movie is certainly entertaining enough if you're an avid reader of novels and you appreciate the magical development of a novel's plot and the significance of all the elements that the writer touches on, that ultimately adds meaning to the ending. Literary buffs will enjoy it when the story of Harold Crick is critically analyzed and dissected in his search to piece together the mysterious identity of his narrator.

It is a movie yet in every sense it embodies a novel with a masterful literary touch of reflections on a quiet man and the change in his life that could very well end in tragedy. A very strange man in a very strange story with a seemingly strange ending.

I do not care what others would think!

I do not care for anything.
I do not care to ride, for the exercise is too violent.
I do not care to walk, walking is too strenuous.
I do not care to lie down, for I should either have to remain lying, and I do not care to do that, or I should have to get up again, and I do not care to do that either.

Summa summarum: I do not care at all.

Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)

Sometimes I feel I shouldn't care too and I should just do what I want, pursue what I want and just get what I want.

*Yawn*

Artwork on my hand courtesy of Joyce who wantonly felt the urge to burst out with creativity in a dead physiology class.

Life goes on... and on.. and on...

It has been almost a month since my new semester started and I think I've finally gotten my sleep cycle regulated. Getting up in the mornings for 8 a.m. classes isn't as life threatening anymore but it still proves to be a pain, a big one.
Everything is pretty much mundane again - classes, lab work, assignments. Day in, day out, things have been boring and fraught with unexciting matters. I have less practical lab work this semester but then more assignments in return.
Let's see what do I have currently. I have to write an article, magazine style, for one of my classes which is due next week and I have not even chosen a topic yet.

Titles that crossed my mind.
1. Fight Cellulite Right
2. Finding The Gay Gene.
3. Say Hello To Aloe Vera
4. A Few Maggots A Day Keeps The Doctor Away

Which should I pick?

I totally agree

Famke Janssen in support of PETA!

I'm undergoing withdrawal

Been two days and I can't stand it anymore... Classic symptoms of withdrawal has surfaced such as depression, anxiety and craving.What can I do?

I don't want to admit it but I have to say I'm addicted to holidays...

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a very happy new year. Resolutions anyone? :)

Dreams and more dreams

What is it with dreams? For the past week I have been getting one every single day when I go to sleep. Oh, they are not recurrent but they are odd nonetheless. The worst thing is that after a few hours I can't remember what was it and what's left is just a lingering memory that I have been dreaming something odd. This is rather disturbing because I'm not the one to have dreams. Maybe an occasional one every once in a while but that's all. This sudden bout of dream diarrhea is really worrying...

Updates... and Eragon sucks!

The water has gone down two days now and everything is back to normal in Malacca. It's been pretty much dry too with no rains whatsoever and certainly no signs of a flood rising again. What have I been doing? Pretty much hanging out with friends as all of them are back for the Christmas holidays.

I watched Eragon yesterday's afternoon and I would like to say that it is a complete waste of money. I feel the suitability of the actors and actresses casted was bad. They simply did not carry the characters well and the characters were not developed appropriately at all. I felt most of the people acting were wooden and it's like they did not really know their characters at all. Maybe it's excusable that the story line was hashed up to fit it in a movie but not till the point where it became so bad it was laughable.
Nobody has ever seen a dragon grow from a fledgling to full grown in seconds!

Arya, the elven princess was the worse I have ever seen. She was described to be beautiful yet strong, a steely fighter with the grace of a dancer, emanating an aura of power, but in the movie she was neither beautiful nor strong. In fact she looked weak and anorexic even when she was cured of the poison afflicting her. Her fight scene was brief and not really impressive.

Angela the witch is probably the biggest letdown in the movie. I know fans of the book wanted to see her character come to life on screen but she appeared only as a cameo. Her werecat, Solembum was the most intriguing character in the book but he was cut out altogether.

Brom was not acted out well and Arjihad was simply wooden. Need I comment on the other people in the movie? The only person I felt was up to par is the lead actor, Eragon. The others were a letdown.

Fans of the book should indeed stay away from the movie and those that have not read it, you are advised to watch some other movie.

Ps: Merry Christmas! :)

City under water - The sequel's sequel!

And the water keeps rising! Albeit being slow, it's a steady rise nonetheless and now my kitchen is now submerged. My room? Thankfully is dry and water free :)


The lake in front my house :)


My books piled high, and that's only the half of em!


And............ on a footnote, I am watching Malaysia Hari Ini on tv3 since I'm up so early because of the blasted flood and there is this news on Utusan about a girl reading 2200 books and she's only 11 years old. What the heck? I think I've read that much and more at that age. This is because what she reads and counted involves books, magazines, and comics... Comics? I bet you she read all the episodes of doraemon, sailormoon, dragon ball and a whole lot more comics and that probably made the bulk of her book count. I can easily top that and more, if only books weren't so damn expensive.

I've read a lot too, why am I on the news too? Bah!

City under water - The sequel!

Hmmmm... it seems that it has not been raining since yesterday but the water keeps rising and rising. This morning the water level was high enough to flood half of my porch and now its high enough to reach my door. Apparently, water in the Durian Tunggal reservoir of Malacca has reached its maximum level and water is being let out. This is what that is causing waters around Malacca to rise continuously. What crap!

Oh and my internet connection is still unstable, I was cut off for over 12 hours again... And the field in front of my house had turned into a lake. Hey I now live in a lake-front house with a beautiful view and a pleasant breeze. Fancy aint it?