Whale sharks in Singapore.

I was at Vivocity the other day, and was visiting National Geographic's store and they had this blue whale exhibition. As usual, I was deeply intrigued when it comes to underwater creatures...

Images shown are the actual life size of a baby blue whale.

Very interesting I must say, but it somehow reminds me of a friend who told me about Singapore casino developers with the intention of bring whale sharks into Singapore. 

They were building the world's largest underwater world in Sentosa, and they want to bring in whale shark, the world's largest living fish. I greatly oppose to having whale sharks being exhibited in Singapore, because it will never fare as well as it could in the wild.

These are extremely big creatures, and evidence have shown that they fare poorly while in captivity. And they have been listed as vulnerable by some animal bodies.

I really condemn such actions, because it jeopardises the well being of the shark in favour of being a tourist attraction for Sentosa.

When will these people ever learn?

Swine flu pandemic. Is it coming?

Just received news that there will be thermal checks in my school in regards to swine flu, and it seems that swine influenza (swine flu) has mutated from only being able to pass from pigs to humans, now can be passed to humans to humans.

Scary isn't it? It reminds us of the dark days of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) when it hit Singapore.

Now, these are the countries being infected with swine flu: Mexico, Israel, New Zealand, United States, Canada and the UK. It hasn't hit Asia yet, however, there are suspected cases.

Swine flu has already killed more than 150 people in Mexico, and up till now, there's no cure for it.

There is every reason for you to be worried, but it is important to eat well, sleep well and take good care of yourself. 

As for me, there is a possibility that I will have to work at home, and do my work and keep in contact with lecturers through webcam, etc. That's provided if the swine flu worsens.

Disrespectful of the dead.

I think I've been having some weird habits recently. I've been inducing cough to get a kick out of it, and I stop when I have the urge to vomit. Oh my, is that a different form of anorexic?

Anyway, two weeks ago I went to the cemetery for Tomb Sweeping Day, whereby we offer food offerings for our ancestors. 

It was rather warm but peaceful. I don't know if it's a tradition to ask lottery numbers from ancestors, but I really abhors it. The worst ones come from funerals where these people hope to get lucky numbers from the dead.

Heck, there are even those who can obtain numbers from accidental deaths reported in the newspapers. I despise people like that, and they don't deserve any of my respect.

They are just like vultures, feeding off peoples' misery and anguish. How disrespectful can that be? If you were the one lying in the coffin, won't you feel sad that people are seeking fortunes off your death and not mourning for you?

Recaps and a new term.

I'm back to school, and I wasn't really looking forward to it. Bah, I've turned lethargic, lazy and uninteresting.

I have my own private desk and it kinda looks empty, except for this:

I felt it was rather thoughtful and sincere. It was great to see those classmates back and schoolmates as well, but I somehow misses some who went for their attachment.

During the past few weeks were a number of events..

Clement's 21st birthday!

Wei Chong's birthday celebration at my class chalet..

Happy birthday to both!

And last but not least...

Singing!

Was wearing a friend's cap to see how it turned out, but guess it didn't work well with my gigantic head!

Let the voices shine.

Today's the big day for my beloved NV Choir, as it is the Singapore Youth Festival where they will be graded for their performance.

Just a short post here to wish them all the best and hope they will attain a good grade.

What is wrong with being left-handed?

You know, I have some relatives who kept forcing their toddlers to use their right-hand, whether if they are learning how to hold utensils or pencils, even though they have an inclination towards left-handedness.

I am a left-hander, and when I was young I was forced to eat using my right-hand by my parents. In the end, they gave up when I cried non-stop.

So yes, I'm left-handed and has a certain amount of ambidexterity, like using mouse with my right-hand (duh) etc.

Other then that, I'm pretty much left-handed in my everyday life.

In this right-handed world, whereby 93% of the adult population are right-handed, left-handers like us face problems sometimes.

tyroneturner.blogspot.com

For example while writing in compositions, I always get my hand smudge with ink when I write with my left-hand. Whenever I go out with my friends, our watches tend to knock against each other, which we will try to be mindful to make sure it does not happen again.

Back to the topic of forcing toddlers to use their right-hand, a quick check with Wikipedia shows that left-handedness is associated with superstition and many languages in a negative way.

These are some of their meanings in regard with "left": Clumsy, Improper, Awkward, Wrong, Illegal, Immoral, and Evil etc.

Seriously?!

I never expected such stigma to be associated with left-handed people, but how come they failed to realise that left-handed people are associated with intelligence? 

Im not self-aggrandizing here, but guess what? The President of United States Barack Obama is left-handed too!

www.washingtontimes.com

So come on people! There's nothing wrong being left-handed, and to hell with stigma associated with left-handedness! It's the 21st century!

Better in time...

The only way to occupy time now is to update more, and I'll probably record more songs and upload it online.

Sorry for not blogging frequently and the recent mediocre posts. Thank you guys for staying with me all these while. 

I appreciates it.

April Fool's day with all seriousness.

April Fools never came as a fun day this year. And I've never felt so much fear, doubt, and inanity for a long time. On the other hand, it was amusing and ridiculous at the same time.

It was also the day which I found the strength, unity and love within the family. It was so overwhelming that I felt they were the most beautiful things in the world.

For now, I could just wish that everything would turn out smoothly. I apologise if the above description fuels your curiosity to know what happened.

To those who knew what happened, I plead with you to not let the cat of the bag.

I'll be back.

Jet-lag, time-lag.

Sometimes I just feel time passes way too fast. It's like jet-lag or something. Suddenly, I'm already going to be in third year, and friends have gone for their attachment already.

In a year's time, it's going to be year 2010. I could still remember the celebrations of the millennium back in 2000.

I sometimes feel that even though my body is in 2009, my actual soul isn't. It seems that I'm still in the 1990s.

They always say: Live your life the fullest everyday. How do you do that, when in this modern society, everything is all about routine?

Routine to school, routine to work. Is that how we spent our lives doing that?

I read somewhere that Time is the most powerful thing in the world. Why? Because it controls birth and death of every living thing.

And have you wondered what will you do if you have only two months left to live? I pondered about it sometimes, whenever I receive blog links of people who write down their feelings when they suffered a terminal disease, all the way till they die.

As for me, I'll probably quit my course. Fly to Cambodia to see my girlfriend and also to help the unfortunate there, and to go work and dive. I'll spent the remaining time with family and friends and during my last breath, I'll be writing a blog post, which marks the end of my journey, the end of my blog.

Damn, I don't really like how this direction of this post is going.

A surge of passion.

I was watching Jason Mraz's performance of his worldwide hit song I'm Yours on Youtube, when he came to Singapore for his concert. Man it was awesome!

I suddenly fell in love with the song all over again, and the guy supporting his vocals, reggae style I suppose, made it so wonderful, my ears were orgasmic with the tune and melody!

I suddenly felt lively and energetic despite cooping in the house for weeks. Oh my, great! If anyone's interested in the video, here it is:





Sorry for not blogging much recently, I've been so unproductive! Gonna go back singing the wonderful song and humming it again!

They were right.

I don't have to rebutt your arguments, you detractors/naysayers.

They were right, I'll let the people do the talking.

Recent movies..

I'm a fan of CGI movies, and here are three recent movies that came to sunny Singapore which I've watched.

PUSH

www.shockya.com

One thing you need to note about movie posters and trailers: They're misleading. And this is what happens to PUSH.

To date, it's one of the worst shows I've ever watched and I suggest you shouldn't as well. The storyline was nonsensical, and the CGI effects were mediocre.

The whole stuff revolves around Hong Kong, whereby two people who have special abilities have to run away from some villains. Chris Evans has the ability of telekinesis and Dakota Fanning has the ability of being clairvoyant.

www.scificool.com

Some of the villains' abilities will make you crack up, especially those who had the ability to give off sound waves that shatters almost everything. 

As the movie continues, it gets more and more vague. The ending whereby the final clash between the two teams was just average. 

Don't even watch it, not even when you're being PUSHED to a corner.

Rating: 1/5

RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN

At first glance, it looks like a very childish movie. Initially I was skeptical about the movie, but I was wrong. 

The story is all about two aliens in pursuit of their crashed spacecraft at the Witch Mountain. The story was good and the pace setting was moderate. Nothing over-rushed.

www.disneysource1.blogspot.com

The dialogues were comical and fun, and it is really nice to see Dwayne Johnson acting in this fantasy action flick. The CGI effects were good, and wasn't overdone. 

Good movie, good entertainment. Worth watching, and it's going to be a race you'll never forget.

Rating 4/5

WATCHMEN

www.actionfigureinsider.com

2 hours and 40 mins. It's the first thing that comes into my mind whenever I think about the movie. WATCHMEN's trailer is awesome and superb, but the actual movie actually falls short.

WATCHMEN is actually a group of ordinary people in costumes...

www.seanpervical.com

except for this guy..

static.guim.co.uk

Apparently, he got his powers after an lab accident. This show is M18, so you'll see some nudity here. 

The story is actually a recollection of one of the WATCHMEN's diary. In this movie, they uncovered each and every watchmen's past, and why they came together etc. They're not your ordinary superheroes that's worthy to be emulated by the public; some came from troubled backgrounds.

In this movie, they use a lot of songs instead of music. I'm slightly irritated with the some of the songs, but the questionable choice of song is when a scene of a pair making love, and they used the ever-famous song HALLELUJAH. Seriously, that was such a major turn-off. I don't think people listen to religious songs when they make love right?

Action-wise, it was moderate, even at the ending. The CGI effects were the best of course, and it was awesome.

Unexpected ending with a controversial decision. Some people might like it, and some might not.

This movie was quite good in my opinion.

Rating: 3.5/5

I'm down because my results are out.

It's a fact that I've been improving bit by bit since my first year. From a GPA of 2.0 to a gradual improvement to my current GPA of 2.585.

It is also my biggest record to date, achieving 2.9 this semester. I'm still disappointed with the way things turned out. 

Still, a million thanks to my polytechnic friends who've helped me in one way or another for this gruelling semester.

I've been mindful of the petty fact that for the past four semesters, my works were never chosen, not even consolation prizes for any competitions. What a bitter pill to swallow isn't it?

I've done my best yet again, but there's no results at all. And by results, I mean even a consolation prize of competitions. 

I should end this, lest my mood gets way affected by reality.

Zi Cai's birthday!

Few days ago, I went to a good friend's birthday, Zi Cai. We celebrated at Ang Mo Kio's Jack's Place. Pretty nice ambience and the mood was appropriate. Here are some pictures:

Someone's finally 20!

Cutting the cake..

Buddies!

Hope you had fun that day, Zi Cai!

Rest in peace, Gong Gong..

I went to a funeral of my babysitter's husband, whom I affectionately call him Gong Gong. It's been 2 years since I've seen him, and nobody expected his untimely death.

He died at the age of 70, and the cause was heart failure.

Sigh, I just feel so sad..

And I just kept thinking of Robbie William's Angels..

"And do they know, the places where we go, when we're grey and old....."

Unproductive.

I've been staying at home for so many weeks, wasting my youth by playing games and singing every single day. I haven't felt lethargic and unproductive for a long time. I haven't had a job, and I just doesn't have the urgency to find one.

This is the first time that I had time to rest because I kept working for the past 3 semesters! But I think I really need to get myself out of the house to work.

My confidence have sunk extremely low and it's rather bad.

Relivin the days.

Visited my secondary school the other day, watching and observing the juniors doing choir practices. Ahh, the sense of nostaligia.

It's the Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) again, and hope they retain a silver and might even get gold this year!

I'm still full of respect of my choir instructor, Mr Francis Liew. It's rather apparent that he has mellowed over the years.

Sometimes, you respect the people because they earned it. Others try too hard to earn your respect and fail terribly.


On a side note, bon voyage to Jia Yi who's leaving to Vietnam for a school trip today!

I'm touched. Really.

I've recently seen a wonderful video that I've bumped into in Youtube, and it's a wonderful stroke of serendipity. It's been a while that I've been touched by a simple video.

If you've been watching movies in the cinemas in Singapore, there's this VISA advertisement that features this guy, Matt Harding:

Credits: www.ninemsn.com

At first glance, it looks like a funny and stupid dance which he is doing. It actually is, his dance is only known to his friends. Since he was travelling all around the world, his travel companion suggested that he uses his dance in every destination he's been to. The video passed around, and he got really famous.

Trust me, it's really worth watching.

I'm constantly amazed by the wonders of the world and the different places that he's been to. And it was an eye-opener to me. And I got to know the world better.

If the above video interests you, you should take a look at a recent video of Matt Harding in 2008, and I feel it's a lot more impactful! And he came to Singapore as well! You can spot him dancing with a group of Singaporeans at The Merlion near Esplanade!

My depiction of the videos after several views:

I'm touched, and I don't know if you feel the same way as I do.

A person with a simple dance, travels around the world with different people dancing with him, regardless of where they came from, which background they had, whether they're rich or poor or even which race they belong to.

It seems to tell me that despite coming from different walks of life, we're all humans. We're strangers to each other, but it is how amazing we can be united and connected as one, just by one dance and how happiness can easily be achieved.

I somehow feel so connected to Humanism. And I simply can watch this video over and over again. The song is simply awesome as well, bringing the whole mood together.

I hope you feel the same way as I do. And I'm sure you will smile or laugh after watching this video. Peace.

A message.

Note: The content below might be considered controversial and offending, which is deemed differently by individuals. Should you feel offended at any moment, please leave this page.




Dear God (if you exist),

I don't know how should I begin writing this post, but I just want to pen down my thoughts about you. I know that I've been a very selfish person when it comes about religion.

I was brought up with Taoism/Buddhism, and I used to go to the temple to pray to you weekly, hoping that you would bring peace and safety to my family.

But as years passed, as my knowledge about other types of religious views increases, I stopped believing in you. But when my examinations or my overseas trips are coming, I prayed to you again.

They said that religion are created to make people find answers in life. Sometimes, I think that is the truth.

But religion has been existing for thousands of years and even more, surely you do exist right? But what if you don't exist, and all these are just blind faith that carried over generations and generations of Mankind?

I don't know if you still remembered an occasion when a family member got possessed and got into our home. I really wondered why didn't you help our family member when you were also in our house as well. (Or maybe you did help, I don't know.)

Someone commented that whether I was an atheist, and that he finds it ridiculous that I believe in the supernatural and aliens, but I don't believe in you.

To be honest, I'm really stuck in between. I don't call myself as an atheist. But I don't call myself as true believer either.

Sometimes, I ponder where do I go when I die, and they say you can only find answers in religion. It's not that I don't want to believe in you, and who doesn't want to believe in hope?

But the thing is that I refused to be blind follower because I haven't seen you. Seeing is believing, and God if you do exist, please give me a sign.

A sign that brings me closer to you. But if not, I'm still labelled as agnostic..

A toothless grin.

I realise that I always get the chills whenever I'm in the dentist's clinic. It's like a surgery in the hospital, except that you're there experiencing the chilling moment.

Thankfully, I was numbed by several injections of anaesthesia into my gums. After taking painkillers, the dentist had to do what he had to do. EXTRACT MY TOOTH.

So in the end, his assistant had to grab my head while the dentist extracted the tooth using something that looked like pincers:

Image taken from www.oetiker.com

And yes... initially it was this:

Now, it became this:

I'm so thankful I went to The Smile Clinique for my extraction. It only costs $65 including painkillers and antibiotics. The Q&N costs me $250 if I went there, and it's because they insisted on me doing it surgically when I only needed a normal extraction.