Living in the tropics.

Conclusion to hibernation

2010-05-13T23:09:00.002+08:00

The society is rotting. People are degenerating to what they aren't. I should start to blog again.

Brother go, brother gone

2009-08-29T23:31:00.000+08:00

Ah, so my brother set off for France today, for two years. Not sure whether he will come back anytime in between.

Honestly, all of us feel a little at loss. My parents, my sister, my cousin, me, and even my brother too. Being his brother all my life, it wasn't hard to detect the tinge of uncertainty in his air, in the words he speak, in his eyes. So now my sister has one good mathsciencewhatevertutor/reminder/brother/adviser/confidant wanting, I having my at-home PCM tutor missing, and my parents relieved of all the domestic disorderedness caused by my brother.

Btw room for rent!

My brother is from Toa Payoh
Now gone far away aiyoyo
Missed by family
To go and study
When he comes back we're gonna say 'yo'

Better come home once next year, I need your help for A levels and testimonials.
Well, thanks folks who still take the effort to click on my url from wherever. Will update on a more regular frequency, maybe some overdue posts coming up. Blogging is cathartic, so stay tuned!

POP Today

2009-05-23T01:50:00.002+08:00

Ah, it was pop today. Met up with old buddies to do all kinds of stuff. (Land the helicopter onto the top of the shelter, playing facebook games with a laptop at parkway macs). Walked out of the long stretch of road once again, when the sky is already dark and our stomachs already growling.

Bumped into Sunny and Hongwei in parkway, and some other ex-schoolmates(I never failed to meet someone I know there), crashed macs till 10+pm. Returned home with a lil bit of nostalgia, just finished watching The Kite Runner. And intending to sleep now.

Goodnight.

Rachmaninov had big Hands

2009-05-03T14:52:00.001+08:00

This is cool.

RANDOM POST

2009-04-30T20:19:00.004+08:00

Hihihihi people a random post after being MIA for so long!

A scene in school today, while giving back maths test papers .......

Can come ask me if ya don't know what's DA, it's an inside joke XD

Teacher(DA): ehhh... Lau Yong Yi

Me: Yes Sir.

Teacher: So above average or below average?

Me: Er, below average ah.

Teacher: Wah congratulations you know yourself very well.

Me: AHAHAHAHAHAHA

AND

I texted Katie and YiXin good luck for SYF, only after it's over. All schools got silver, how screwed is that.

Just another day of mine. ;)

Class OutingS

2009-01-23T23:04:00.003+08:00

I swear that I am going no where near pizza hut for the next 6 months, at least.

After faithfully returning to primary school twice a year(cny eve and teachers' day) for four years, I have this feeling of visiting old patients with Alzheimer's, because most of the time they can no longer remember who we are, with sufficient details.

Seeing the familiar faces still there, alive and teaching, suffices.

For pictures go to facebook.

If you can understand

2009-01-22T12:13:00.001+08:00

Instructions:

1. Read the passage carefully
2. Grade yourself with the grading system at the end of the passage after reading.
3. Not that difficult, chin chai do lah !

Section A: Orrler Exeminetion (60 marks)

Question: Singalella why become rich ?

Koo zhar wu chee ay char bor kia, Singalella.

She got two sisters, but the stepmarder and the sisters all damn kuai-lan, so she quite zhia-lat oso.

Last time Singalella got own maid, but now she become the amah.

Everyday must cook lah, clean lah, simi sai mah bao-kah-liao.

If her sister say liak kar zhuak, she liak.

Tak jit zho kah tau-hin.

CPF poon boh.

But then, kay piak eh ah-pek got one son call Ah Ming got party.

So he say, 'oeh, long chong lai ah.'

Singalella very happy because she never go party before but then her step-marder say, 'Lee Mana eh-sai kee, this one bahru lu eh sisters wu standard.'

Then Singalella must zho sui-sui for her sisters and step-marder.

Tap pai how, buay zhia, buay koon and buay pang-sai.

That night she only can wave bye bye and then she go back to the kitchen and cook Maggi mee.

Her neighbour came over and ask, 'Eh, an-zhua lu boh kee party?'

So Singaalella kong, 'I-wan, lau-bu kong buay-sai, so boh pian.'

She never expect but the neighbour say, 'Aiyah, kee lah, I give you money.'

So singalella brush teef and zhang-zhui, chen-kor, after that look very different.

She quickly run to opposite of the beh-chia-lor, already 11 o'clock.

At the party, Ah Ming also quite sian because the char bor all boh sui one.

Dance floor even got one ah pek dancing.

Just as Ah Ming told himself, 'Aiyah see-pay zhia-lat', Singalella came in.

Ah Ming straight away lau nuar.

'Wah-lau eh, see-pay heng ah, chee kor buay pai.'

Ah Ming say to Singalella, 'eh, sui eh, wah ai kah lee zho flen!'

Singalella say ok but Ah Ming like octopus, touch here touch there.

But then just it was 12 o'clock, one ah pek die on the dance floor.

He become ghost and tell Singalella all the good 4D number.

So after that Singalella quickly go and buy 4D, and then tiok tau-pio, zhit-pak ban.

So she pay back the kay-piak eh lau-kay-poh and then kah kee cho sen-lee.

Simi kuan eh sen-lee wah mana eh zhai.

Section B: Grades - Gauge Your command of Hokkien....

A1. Can understand the story and pronounce Hokkien correctly.

Hokkien eh sai, bo beh zao.

A2. Can understand half story and/or cannot pronounce Hokkien properly.

zhia lat

E8. Don't understand story and/or catch no ball.

leow leow, mai ka lang kong you is Hokkien Singabolean

F9. Don't understand rating.

kee see lah, wah mana eh zhai lee kong simi? ??

Subtle blight

2009-01-20T00:18:00.006+08:00

Post O level results periods are times of degeneration, sloth and idleness. With the facebook window in firefox never closed, and the others on someone else's blogs, whether I know the person or not, you can roughly guess what I do online these few days. When night arrives, my stomach is either growling with voracious hunger or bloated by flatulence. Fatigue usually doesn't set in until I get my reasonable serving of food and when the time is beyond 1am.

Catching up with old friends is fun. More so when they're pretty girls and you get their new numbers :p.

RJ's in a hurry. For those who don't know, they already started auditioning people for different ccas, even before o level students like me get in. Panic not, there'll be a second round of auditions for o level students. But I'm going for piano ensemble's one this Wednesday. Lol I don't even know whether I'll end up in that school or not. Everybody seem to prefer rj over hc.

Anyway, the rj piano ensemble seems harder to get into than the school itself. I wonder if I'm the only alien going for audition.

Friday, I am going back to ChungCheng first. Noon, I'm going back to PeiChun. Class outing, see first.

Midnight reflections

2009-01-17T01:34:00.004+08:00

Sitting before the laptop with a whole new life awaiting me, with the mood of chalet still not checked out of my blood, with an ironically subtle hungry stomach which was just filled with Indian supper, with a crippling concentration of poignancy precipitating in my head and heart, and talking to friends that are almost long forgotten, I can't describe the emotion I am feeling now.

Okay the last clause sounds weird, boys aren't good at expressing their feelings, especially when they're left brainers, like me.

Some disclaimers, I totally didn't expect my results to be this way, although it's a really pleasant surprise, I got a freaking 13 points after moderation for prelims.(It was 16 before mod). Thank you all for the congratulations and stuff.

For those who did well, congratulations and I advise that you do not become complacent even to the slightest extent. 骄兵必败, the haughty soldier is sure to lose.
For those who didn't do as well, think that this exam doesn't decide your life for you. You still have the chunk of your life in your hands now, don't screw it up this time.

I'm stoning and thinking about people, and when I am going to see them again.

Very soon, I hope it will be.

2009-01-06T00:03:00.000+08:00

Screw it

2009-01-02T18:22:00.001+08:00

I didn't know that I could use ms words to type a blog post.

2008-11-20T21:41:00.002+08:00

Sentosa is quite officially a tourist trap. The IR there will be expansion and further manifestation of operation tourist trap(not the penguin one in Madagascar 2). Perhaps our people here think like the penguins.

That place certainly does well to suck the tourists' pockets to the maximum extent. Like you know, sucking on a straw until you can hear hollow sounding, but sentosa continues to suck.

Maybe the next thing we know is, the trams and shuttle buses require your ez-link too.

Behold the weirdness of the Holy Bible

2008-11-20T20:15:00.004+08:00

Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to an alien living in any of your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

-- Deuteronomy 14:21

Strange enough? How bout the next one?

1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel ^[c] —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

-- Genesis 11:1-9

I shall provide more examples when I have the mood to.

ocean olive OVER!

2008-11-13T17:05:00.008+08:00

Yes, finally, after a month of answering questions in a literally mechanical manner, frantically scribbling and regurgitating social studies essays till my wrist muscles cried, and shading lozenges which safely guarantees 25% of the MCQ paper even if chosen at random, I am officially done with the screening-testing-assessing-predictable-ineffective-inefficacious-irrelevant-unreliable-useless-redundant-obsolete exams.

Some of us want to sleep, some of us want to play, and some of us will involuntarily live in fear till the day of truth.

Some will get a temp job and screw up the company, some will do housework, and some will rot at home till the day of truth.

Some will be worried sick, some can't give a damn, the others --- I don't know.

Until then, may we play, work, sleep, mess, crash, bash, flash, dash well.

Good luck to all,

IT'S HOLIDAY!

I love the whole world

2008-09-15T16:16:00.000+08:00

And now I am using it

2008-09-05T09:33:00.002+08:00

HIATUS

self explanatory, won't be back until exams are over, or when my long gone literal inspirations return.

2008-08-03T15:15:00.006+08:00

That it will never come again
Is what makes life so sweet.
Believing what we don't believe
Does not exhilarate.

That if it be, it be at best
An ablative estate —
This instigates an appetite
Precisely opposite.

-- Emily Dickson

Rest in peace, George

2008-07-02T20:16:00.002+08:00

Folks, how 'bout taking a few minutes and listen to Carlin? He does make sense ya know. With him gone, the world has indeed lost one of the most effective spokesman for reason and critical thinking.

Think people, think.

As a conclusion

2008-07-01T20:03:00.003+08:00

The pronunciation of men has been clarified.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/men

For man,

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/man

You can click on the little speaker icon, and listen to the pronunciation. According to this source(dictionary.com) and the oxford dictionaries in my handphone, the difference between the two words is, man is pronounced maan, a slightly longer vowel. Whereas for men, the vowel is short and brief.

You can listen for yourself, or figure out the pronunciation keys.

And,

George Carlin is dead.

So the moral of the story is,

2008-06-26T23:12:00.002+08:00

Yet another periodic update

2008-06-20T22:33:00.006+08:00

As the unproductive holidays near a conclusion, YongYi begins to wonder about the absolutely rhetorical question, which is whether he had made good use of time. Besides quenching his thirst for wikipedia, documentaries and pushing daisies, he has attempted the feats(with little success) of multi-tasking, overcoming insomnia, and almost missing his bus stops because he was thinking of Earl Grey tea.

And thanks to television, specifically pushing daisies, his style of speech and writing has evolved drastically from the old shape, amazingly to the extent of amusing himself. Being a heavy user of Mcdonalds for the past months, the boy ultimately finds himself disgusted with fast food and hopes that this new found obnoxiousness will remain within him for a very long time to come.

Alright alright, enough of the above.

To conclude the poll which expired aeons ago,

12% thinks that Mr Kastari has escaped, but still in Singapore.
6% thinks that he's dead.
56% thinks that he has escaped, and out of Singapore.
25% thinks that he did not even escape at all.

Interesting.

And folks, do ya like my new music?

Banned commercials ( damn funny! )

2008-06-10T23:34:00.001+08:00

2008-06-08T22:53:00.002+08:00

You know sometimes,

when people try to numb themselves,

with schedule or alcohol,

until they can't tell whether it's June or December?

Dunking videos

2008-05-31T22:39:00.002+08:00

haha guys look what I found! Orangy t-shirts are us!

Mr Chua Chor Loon, discipline master

Mdm Tan Lay Gin, vice principal

For this you can fast forward to the 6th minute.

Mr Loh Chee Lin, principal

I think he spoiled the machine ya know, wasted 4DL's 2 hours to repair it.

2008-05-31T17:02:00.002+08:00

Narnia was very good. Enter their world and you'd never want to leave, ever.

A very real fairytale indeed.

But the kind of romantic relationship between Prince Caspian and Susan, felt so surreal yet so desirable.

A masterpiece indeed.

George Carlin - You are all diseased

2008-05-30T22:48:00.000+08:00

Carlin talks best :)

Yay I wrote this

2008-05-25T18:14:00.002+08:00

Here comes falling of the meteorites,
that flies quicker than the fastest light.
They burn, they vanish,
we learn and relish,
on a typical silent night.

By the way, does anybody want to go night cycling? With many many people? You may not know all of them, it's organised by the youth group of 2 community centres. It's from the evening of 7 June, to the morning of 8 June. It starts and ends at East Coast Park. A small amount ($) is needed.
Bring friends! Contact me!

2008-05-23T22:48:00.002+08:00

Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear

Scientist's reply to sell for up to £8,000, and stoke debate over his beliefs

James Randerson, science correspondent
The Guardian,
Tuesday May 13 2008
Article history

Albert Einstein, pictured in 1953. Photograph: Ruth Orkin/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." So said Albert Einstein, and his famous aphorism has been the source of endless debate between believers and non-believers wanting to claim the greatest scientist of the 20th century as their own.

A little known letter written by him, however, may help to settle the argument - or at least provoke further controversy about his views.

Due to be auctioned this week in London after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, the document leaves no doubt that the theoretical physicist was no supporter of religious beliefs, which he regarded as "childish superstitions".

Einstein penned the letter on January 3 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. The letter went on public sale a year later and has remained in private hands ever since.

In the letter, he states: "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."

Einstein, who was Jewish and who declined an offer to be the state of Israel's second president, also rejected the idea that the Jews are God's favoured people.

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

The letter will go on sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair on Thursday and is expected to fetch up to £8,000. The handwritten piece, in German, is not listed in the source material of the most authoritative academic text on the subject, Max Jammer's book Einstein and Religion.

One of the country's leading experts on the scientist, John Brooke of Oxford University, admitted he had not heard of it.

Einstein is best known for his theories of relativity and for the famous E=mc2 equation that describes the equivalence of mass and energy, but his thoughts on religion have long attracted conjecture.

His parents were not religious but he attended a Catholic primary school and at the same time received private tuition in Judaism. This prompted what he later called, his "religious paradise of youth", during which he observed religious rules such as not eating pork. This did not last long though and by 12 he was questioning the truth of many biblical stories.

"The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression," he later wrote.

In his later years he referred to a "cosmic religious feeling" that permeated and sustained his scientific work. In 1954, a year before his death, he spoke of wishing to "experience the universe as a single cosmic whole". He was also fond of using religious flourishes, in 1926 declaring that "He [God] does not throw dice" when referring to randomness thrown up by quantum theory.

His position on God has been widely misrepresented by people on both sides of the atheism/religion divide but he always resisted easy stereotyping on the subject.

"Like other great scientists he does not fit the boxes in which popular polemicists like to pigeonhole him," said Brooke. "It is clear for example that he had respect for the religious values enshrined within Judaic and Christian traditions ... but what he understood by religion was something far more subtle than what is usually meant by the word in popular discussion."

Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Brooke said that Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and once wrote. "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

So maybe Einstein became a pantheist towards the end of his life? Or was he one all the while? Maybe he became an atheist.

I have a bad feeling 'bout this

2008-05-22T18:32:00.004+08:00

What I have to say is, the story is slightly absurd. (Come on, how can you include aliens?)

Cool eh, the magnetic skull which is so damn magnetic.

The second thing is, the music is fab, like Star Wars'. All ingeniously composed by John Williams.

Man you can't deny that he's good.

But many questions remained unanswered, like why did the aliens do that etc etc. I think many of which don't have answers.

Therefore morals of the story are, knowledge is gold ( like -.- ), aliens do exist and their skulls are magnetic ( -.- again ), and love is powerful.

Yup that's about it.

Forgive me for my scarcity of words, maybe the momentum will return soon.

2008-05-21T23:08:00.003+08:00

Currently reading: Bill Bryson's A short history of nearly everything

It's a re-read, a good read, and mostly mistake free. Especially effective in illustrating the roominess of the universe. It's seriously a hell of waste of space, at least for now.

And yay, we're watching Indiana Jones tomorrow! Who else wants to come?

2008-05-20T22:46:00.000+08:00

You know, I never really recovered from it.

2008-05-19T00:00:00.001+08:00

Oh great, I almost got drunk again just now.

That's what, partying with extended family?

What if you wake up to find yourself on somebody's towel?

2008-05-13T22:47:00.003+08:00

ARE YOU:

1. Perfect: nope

2. Tall: not really

3. In your pajamas: always

4. Left handed: was

LAST

1. Friend you saw: Kevin Na?

2. Talked to on the phone: papa

3. Person to text you: Jing Shen

4. Was today better than yesterday: I don't know, at least I didn't get any failed papers back today.

FAVORITE:

1. Number: 13

2. Color: White for the moment.

3. Food: anything that is prepared with effort and love

4. Place: ?

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:

Q: What was the first thing you did this morning when you got up?
Put on my spectacles and thought, 'is that my bed?'

Q: Do you have anything bothering you?

Always.

Q: What's the last movie you watched in

theaters?

Whou it's like damn long ago!

Q: Where is the last place you went?

moelc?

Q. Do you smile a lot?

used to, yes under certain circumstances, or when it is bloody required to

Q: Do you wish upon stars?

heh? might as well wish upon dog shit

Q: Are you a friendly person?

I suppose so, strangers love to talk to me.

Q: Where did you sleep last night?

where else?

Q: Why did you sleep there?

Because it is my bed.

Q: When was the last time you cried?

It's a boy's secret.

Q: What was your last thought before

going to sleep last night?
holycrapdamnitibettergetsomesleep

Q: Rate life as of right now, one being

bad ten being great?

8?

Q: What do you hear right now?
air rushing outta my air-con

Q: Does anything hurt right now?
something that always hurts.

Q: What's your favorite month?
I don't know.

---------------------------------------

Are you missing someone right now?

Am I?

Are you tired?

Yeah sure, who isn't?

Real name: Lau

Birthday: 28 March 1992

Eye color: Black?

2008-05-10T22:24:00.004+08:00

Yes I am indeed a very bad person.
And yeah I visited some places that we've gone before today.
I admit to have mentally murdered my neighbour countless times, because he smokes in the corridor and the cancerous air is inevitably blown into my smoke-free home. Yes I was rude on several occasions to the extent of slamming the wooden door right in his presence, but he still puffs white smoke stoically. Since there wasn't a change, I stopped slamming the door, instead I just push it silently to a close, although the visual aspect doesn't change much.
Like the exact spot, where we had our first, you know.
Albeit I go "Omg, it's that son of a b!tch again," every time I detect the slightest hint of unfiltered cigarette smoke that puts our lives in some helpless jeopardy, it doesn't change the fact that we unwillingly breathe in litres and litres of polluted air daily.
And Thaiexpress lol, it was beside the cold storage.
And why did I type the chunk of text above?
And I wonder when you'll read these not-that-visible texts.
Whoo and I just came back from supper. Nothing beats this kind of late night 'escapades' at Muslim Indian open coffeeshops along Yio Chu Kang road, sauntering into the always freezing cold storage in serangoon gardens(it was as cold months ago), and marvel at the variety of organic goods that I see(1 kg of organic rice costs more than 7 bucks, it's about 3 times higher than the normal rice), but how does the rice prove itself to be organic? Will it be the 'fun' size of the rice grains, due to the less usage of chemical fertilisers, or is it the sheer pleasure of tasting something so uncommon, so that one can say, "aiyo, tell you hor, I eat the organic rice at home leh, it's very the chewy and nice one" to co-workers to elicit their envy?
And you know, sometimes I feel weird when you're around,
I need to sleep, I can't think properly, and the paragraph above didn't quite make sense.
But it's not exactly a bad thing, neither is it anybody's fault.
So sleep.
I shall elaborate at a later date.
And volunteering at the science centre is the best cip you can ever have in this country. The really good thing is, free lunch, no joke.

My disheveled desk

2008-05-10T09:30:00.001+08:00

If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?
- Albert Einstein

It isn't that messy, is it?

And where is my plastique bag?

2008-05-08T13:41:00.005+08:00

Exams are NOT over for me.

Masterclass tomorrow, Japanese next week.

I cannot agree more baby.

A little summer nonsense

2008-05-03T18:54:00.006+08:00

The hot weather elicits my sweat,
Which makes me all wet.
Like Zimbabwe,
Its long railway,
But the ice-cream can't make me fat.

2008-05-01T10:50:00.001+08:00

My a.maths paper 1 questions are stapled with a.maths paper 2 solutions, and my paper 2 questions are stapled to my paper 1 solutions.

I didn't staple them, someone else in the school did.

2008-04-30T19:55:00.002+08:00

车来了，
雨停了。

车开了，
你走了。

First things first. Screw the e.maths paper setter, she deserves nothing less than a shot. Who can be so sharp and responsible to even print the subject code wrongly? Okay okay, she's not worth the attention.

Yes, Fascinating Rhythm is finally in my hands.

Like the atomic oscillation.

2008-04-22T22:25:00.003+08:00

Omg, I do have mood swings.

A bit more and it'll be bipolar.

2008-04-19T22:15:00.001+08:00

Someone please tell me what music to use for this blog.

Carnival SCGS

2008-04-19T13:33:00.008+08:00

Wheee I just came back from their carnival! The crowd is comparable to ours, but not with St Nicholas's one, it was almost like Mecca in St Nicholas. Okay lemme show ya some pictures.

After walking rounds for about half an hour and having spent $0, I decided to get rid of the coupons by patronising game stalls. Hence, my first game.

This involved throwing ping pong balls into the coloured indents in the egg carton. I asked the lady about which zone being the best, she said that it's all the same. The games were quite okay, it's the prizes. Look what I've got even though I landed 3 balls into the coloured zone.

Okay the next game.

This one also involved throwing ping pong balls, I wonder why they love it so much. But getting 3 balls in a straight line win you the big prize, like tic tac toe. Eh I think I forgot to take a picture of the prize I won for this. Never mind, next game.

This one was damn funny. They gave you a straw to blow wind to sway the duck from one end to the other, I wonder if they reused the straws lol, and I did it under 5 secs, and recevied the "mystery prize 1", as written.

It is the,

I think they drew the eyes themselves.

And classmates, does this look uncannily familiar? Well there's nothing uncanny to it. Certainly the game needs a lot of improvement. They used disposable plastic cups! How could it slide, when it's so damn light? On such an uneven surface of the plastic wrapper? But I still played, and tried to tell them about filling water inside the cup, and they said that water would spill out. Actually there's nothing bad to water spilling out. The floor looks dry.

Opps you can't see the eyes. My mother said that it's washed, I have no idea man.

Okay that's all folks. Oh I almost forgot, I saw Teri and Yia Kuan.

Ades mosquito (a joke)

2008-04-15T20:50:00.003+08:00

Hahah I came across this from the web, click on the title to go to the source!

Was just washing my floor and became very inspired to write on the topic on ades mosquitos after gazing at my cat's waterbowl.

Enjoy ...

Have you ever wondered how people would react to the campaign to elliminate ades mosquitos ?

Apparently, this ades thingy is causing a lot of attention from the government and every now and the you would see advertisements by the PCK's "Margaret"... (forgotten her name but her husband is like Lim Yu Beng i think...)

Undeniably, it is quite an issue especially if your loved ones and your friends are the victims. But do normal citizens understand what is going on ?

"Put a layer of oil on water that is not used. If possible, pour away all possible traces of water in any containers to prevent the breeding of ades mosquitos"

Reply from Mr Tan Ah Beng

"Siao is it? If i put a layer of oil in your water you want to drink or not. Siao ah you all, if i put a layer of oil in my pet's drinking water you think they want to drink huh ? What is worst is that stupid inspector tell me to pour away the water and refill it when my pet wants to drink it. Wau lau, you think i very free is it? Now and then go an ask my pet whether thristy or not, better still i ask it to bring a water bottle lah so it can drink as and when it wants ..."

I cannot say that Mr tan is unreasonable but can there be exceptions ?

"Regular fumigation to keep mosquitos at bay"

Reply from Mrs Chua Ah Huay

"Ai yo fumigation again. All that fog will kill me first or kill the mosquitoes first. Heard from my friends that the fogging thing is poisonous leh... if i die hor, can claim insurance or not? Also hor, i don't understand why i need to close the windows and doors tight tight when they do the funigation leh. I think hor i will die first lor, singapore so hot and i don't have aircon, so like that i will die first one leh. Then somemore i think my house also got mosquitos leh then like that closing all the windows hor will keep them protected right? So what for close the windows?"

Enough of human's perspective, so what do the ades mosquitos have to speak for themselves?

Speech given by the ades mosquito spokes person at the annual mosquitos meeting in a drain in hougang

"Dear all, thanks to the humans, we are now breeding a new generation of mosquitos that are larger, suck more blood and more resistant to pesticides.Our scientists had been working hard to produce a new generation of mosquitos that need no water to grow, so even if the dumbo humans removed all traces of water, we still can survive. Also, the ades government will also be giving out our new technological weapons that helps fellow mosquitos to fly higher at such when the fumigation people comes, you all can fly to the highest storey to seek shelter.Last but not least, we have colonised new areas for infection. They are potong pasir and hougang. If you cannot live in marine parade or aljunied anymore, please feel free to join the potong pasir and hougang areas. There are less fumigation and the walls have a lot of cracks for you to hide. Somemore not every floor got lift so very safe for hiding."

Just for laughter... Any resembalance to any person dead or alive is deeply regretted.

Cheers

2008-04-14T17:40:00.004+08:00

Bazaar was a blast, on our part, we've done well, yes we have. My team and I, and Emilene's team, have done well. As for the school's part, eeeks. For more information, please visit the class blog, photos included.

And huang lao shi's great, and quick. She relayed the message of cancelling the homework only today, the homework which I did during midnight earlier today.

And I finished The memory keeper's daughter. Wonder how it was a multi-million-copy bestseller. Reading Michio Kaku is a better way of using time.

And to my friend wiki, IIMNIGSTSOTYAOLUK.

Fitna

2008-03-29T17:50:00.004+08:00

I don't know how many of you have watched Fitna. I made a deliberate search for it, and watch the 16 minute 48 seconds film. Everyone should go watch it, and decide for themselves. But look, I am not taking any side here, look left if you want to know my stance(you know, the 'A' word). We learn reliability and usefulness in social studies, everyone should put it to good use in the real life, and this is the best example you can have.

However biased and propagandistic a source is, it can never be useless.

If I were to express my genuine view about this issue, I can substitute Mas Selamat as the No.1 wanted man in Singapore, or even surpass Osama bin Laden, to be the wanted guy of the known world, hunted after by any individual with a religion, and become the person responsible of Fitna no.2.

Okay Earth Hour very damn soon, cya people, remember to switch off your lights!

2008-03-28T14:19:00.005+08:00

It isn't good when you have your birthday falling on the same day as your school's sports day and your grandfather's death anniversary. Unfortunately that is the case for me today. (Who won? Was it us or Dunman? They didn't bloody announce it. Lol but we were damn high during 20 X 100 and teacher's race, with the latter ending so damn dramatically, a win nonetheless.)

[edit]

here are some pictures

See the buildings on the left half of the picture? It's moelc in case you can't recognise!

Whee what a fine sunny day.

[/edit]

To compound the problem, my question was mistaken, for my 'must' in the message was ignored as if it was transparent, and hence I was deprived of the chance to leisurely have lunch with my newly made friends and is complaining like some sheep now. Mehhhhh

[edit]

Thanks for everything people, it'd been better if there hadn't been any miscommunication.

[/edit]

Er, I realised that my school is mentioned in the newspaper Today. You can read the article here. Spot the mistake if you can.

Have you? If not, try this part specifically:

50 students from Raffles Girls School and Chong Cheng High School (Main) will be getting schoolmates to join the programme.

Thanks for spelling our name correctly, Miss journalist! But weird, why the two schools, why only RGS and Chung Cheng? What link is there?

Hmm never mind, the world today is so screwed.

Derailed girls

2008-03-22T20:10:00.011+08:00

Yes, as some of you may have read in The Straits Times today, I read it too, while I was waiting for my turn for a haircut at the amir's barber shop where they never failed to provide the day's newspapers. I jumped straight to Saturday upon seeing the feature, somehow I was just simply fascinated by people who don't exist in my world.

Disclaimer for prudes: the contents that ensue may cause extremely disturbing experiences and please absquatulate for your much cherished innocence when necessary.

For the article, here. Don't worry, it's The Straits Time site.

For those who are lazy to read, here is the summary. The number of teenage girls selling sex for money or barter trading for branded goods is increasing, but I am not sure steadily or not. This problem we have here is the reason why the modern Japanese parents are more concerned with their daughters than their sons. The girls in question aren't disgusted by sexual promiscuity, as driven by their material desires and 'quick cash' or because of the influence of the mass media, mainly of the western culture. In certain groups of teenagers, the very idea of virginity has been considered as a stigma. Appalled? Certainly some aren't.

Do note that the paragraph above is entirely based on the article, except for the words in maroon.

One such blogger, Teenage Lolita, said that she is 'not poor' but 'hankers after the better things in life.'

I'm not selling my body. I call it a mutually beneficial relationship,

The teenage sex trade has become so overt, to the extent that the advertisements for sex trading appear together with normal classified items such as second hand computers, real estate, and job classifieds. You can read the descriptions yourself, it cannot get more explicit. To substantiate my claim, http://singapore.craigslist.com.sg/ and http://www.sgadsonline.com/

And in case you didn't know, prostitution in Singapore is legal. So is it time to take a second look at the realities of our society, before many of our virile boys morph into Spitzers?

Max Bruch Violin Concerto No.1

2008-03-19T22:49:00.003+08:00

This is the youtube version I found after prematurely terminating many other videos performing the same piece.

2008-03-18T20:10:00.006+08:00

My principal deserves a pat on the back. His assembly speeches has intensified from irresistible lullabies to slightly motivational talks, albeit there are unequivocal evidences of materialised bore scattered across the auditorium. An improvement it is, nonetheless.

School is getting increasingly senseless, I feel that I'm indiscriminately time robbed.

Teachers in my school are infatuatedly indulged in issuing petrifying pink slips for detention because he/she does not have his/her socks at a length gratifying enough to the particular teacher, and sending students for in-house suspension because they were 10 minutes late for SAP in the holidays. I am not a victim, yet.

2008-03-16T20:11:00.000+08:00

What melodrama, what reality, and what entertainment.

Joke of the day

2008-03-15T22:49:00.002+08:00

My cousin said that I resemble Edison Chen, somehow.

2008-03-13T18:27:00.004+08:00

The weather now reminds me of the temperate countries that I have been to. I wouldn't mind if this turns out to be permanent. There is such a world in the story of star wars, where the planet's rain never cease.

My infatuation for classics got me again today, and I watched Forrest Gump. When I read the page on imdb, it says PG13 for drug content, some sensuality and war violence. Then I began to recall the times where my school showed us parts of the video, there were no horny scenes that I could remember. So I watched the whole film and figured that maybe the school was afraid that the horny scenes might outrageously appal prudish students, which my school abounds with them. For those who want to watch it, I think you can get it from youku or something, it's definitely worth the time.

Next, Forrest Gump the novel it shall be.

A spastic scene

2008-03-07T22:15:00.003+08:00

Mr Gary Chua knocked childishly on the door, "Can I see two students?"

Mr Faizal gave a retarded smile, "heh heh, cannot."

I burst out laughing, so did everybody else.

2008-03-01T00:12:00.002+08:00

Touch 2008 was fantastic, with a tinge of mistake, of insignificant proportions.

Let pianist one be P1. Let pianist two be P2.
Let page turner one be T1. Let page turner two be T2.
The page turners turn the pages for the corresponding pianists.

And hence allow me to re-enact the scene.

T2 turns page for P2. T1 sees T2 turning the page, turns the page for P1 too.

So far okay? No confusion?

P1 realises that the page is wrong, quickly uses left hand to flip back to the previous page. T2 realises too and helps to flip back to the page.

Still okay right? By that time I was already O.o

Music continues and when it is time to flip again, T2 stands up, confident of not making the same mistake again. But P2 is faster, she flips it with her right hand before T2's hand even come close to the sheets. So T2 sits down.

By then I was O.O.O

Interesting huh.

2008-02-27T19:30:00.002+08:00

I have emaths, chinese and japanese tests tomorrow. Great.

Night Cycling

2008-02-24T14:08:00.003+08:00

Surprisingly my body isn't aching anywhere now, and I am not that tired. 10pm to 6 am. Let me calculate, it's 8 hours. Wow it seems like quite a long time, but it was fun though.

Interestingly when people from the nus rovers first met me, they actually asked which faculty I was from. When I told them I was 16 and was Alfred's brother, they got a slight shock, or was it more of a pleasant discovery? Unfortunately I am haplessly incompetent in remembering people's names, so I could only remember their faces, haha.

Memorably the best part of the trip was covering the entire stretch of geylang. I saw things from Bangladeshi selling untaxed malboro in a dozen packs, to the main attraction of the place itself(heh heh you all know what it means), to seeing a pack of flamboyantly dressed youths constantly shrouded in almost impervious cigarette smoke outside a pub. Manoeuvring one's bike between the larger chunks of metals on the sleepless street of geylang was fun but dangerous business, especially in most cases where the spaces between cars were hardly more than a metre wide.

Ah I think I should get some sleep. I alighted from the lift on the wrong storey on my way to my grandmother's house just now.

2008-02-21T23:34:00.001+08:00

This is the exact piece my cousin requested me to play on CNY!

2008-02-17T19:24:00.002+08:00

ANZCA wasn't as great as I thought, considering the fact that they marked the tickets at a pricey $20. I didn't have to pay for it though, my sister got it for free.

But never mind, the next concert will be on the 29th of Feb with my teacher performing, a promising show.

From the remnants of Keith Low's birthday party

2008-02-16T23:23:00.009+08:00

What began as a mild cultural shock from my sec 2 juniors developed into relaying ghost stories in Keith's deliberately darkened room that weren't my own accounts, preluded by some matured talk with Keith's parents and aunts, which followed by some inexplicably obscene actions administered by Keith's 7 and 8 year old cousins(with the names of Mervin and Esmond respectively), with Jeramyn cornered in Keith's very own bed and left the rest of us with some decent amount of overboard laughter and amazement at the lasciviousness of the primary school kids which was credited directly to Keith himself, ended with Jeramyn sitting in the space between my legs in of Keith's aunt 7 seater on our ride home. All elucidated within one sentence.

My pretence of expected prudishness slowly dissolved upon meeting my juniors (I didn't know that green tea kills sperms) in the billiard room, where I have very unfortunately delivered the cue ball into the (hole?) on my first shot, after two years of inactivity in it.

The two St Andrew's kids were damn horny I swear. I was sitting beside Mervin before the TV when I doubted my ears.

Mervin: "Shoot your bird bird, shoot your bird bird."
Me: (What was that I heard?) -Turns head-
Mervin: -Aims his rifle to the enemy's you-know-where in his psp and starts shooting.-
Me:-OH MY GAWD-

Okay now for some photos. Sorry about not taking much lol.

Hehe funny Keith.

He certainly was sincere.

And he surely had a lot to wish for.

Back in the room, the two little devils were playing with Keith's gundam, more of damaging rather. Then Esmond jumped on the bed and started to intimidate Jeramyn with his front-and-back-crotch-rocking action, you know like hard gay. Aww my abs had surfaced after that.

This is getting so cranky, gotta sleep, cya folks!

2008-02-13T22:29:00.002+08:00

Bryan got me The Notebook today, and I finished it within the day. Thanks Bryan, to help me get the only Nicholas Sparks in the school library.

The book and the movie are unique in their own aspects.

The book is more erotic. (Are you people surprised? Xenia told me earlier that she skipped the whole "R.A" part). And the ending, the book ended with something like "unbuttoned them one by one..." but the movie ended with them just cramping on that small pathetic bed, highly possible for people to mistake it as they were going to die, because the old man said along the lines of "do you think our love will take us into our deaths?"

The movie is more touching, seriously it is. Some details are slightly different too.

Do both, do both.

2008-02-10T15:04:00.001+08:00

Currently Reading: The Centre Cannot Hold by Elyn R. Saks

2008-02-09T22:18:00.000+08:00

Nicholas Sparks is undeniably brilliant.

The Notebook was, I must say, tear-jerking.

2008-01-27T19:14:00.000+08:00

I spent a fraction of my time today singing my grandfather's clock. Apparently it's quite a touching song.

http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/grandfather.htm

2008-01-25T19:23:00.000+08:00

I learned a new word today.

hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

From Aaron's blog. In case any of you are thinking that it is 'learnt' instead of 'learned', check out the dictionary, and no, it's not archaic.

For your amusement

2008-01-21T23:10:00.000+08:00

If you can't understand chinese, sorry luh huh. But when was handphone coined hand-chicken?

2008-01-11T22:40:00.000+08:00

Do not lie to me,
Don't be afraid to tell me your true intentions.
Do not lie to me.

2008-01-03T21:34:00.000+08:00

YOOWUWCHEERRTEAIITNHLUYRKTNS

PDLOETAHSIESDTOONMTE

2008-01-01T11:55:00.000+08:00

I almost suffocated at esplanade park yesterday, but luckily I didn't.

Happy new year to all.

2007-12-21T20:20:00.000+08:00

Err for my Japan trip, the photos can either be found on my facebook or at my sister's blog, which I don't know and don't intend to find out the address, because entering her very blog lags my computer. But the one on facebook is very summarised one.

2007-12-21T17:12:00.000+08:00

Maybe some of you have noticed.

I seem to have paused in churning out short yet emo posts.

Some of you were informed about why I was emo.

I didn't find the motivation to blog, she's out of town anyway.

Thanks for not asking too much, and maybe I will resume with my dreamy posts later.

2007-12-19T18:11:00.000+08:00

Everybody should listen to Bruch's concerto no.1 in G minor Op.26.

2007-12-17T20:54:00.000+08:00

ME: -DID GLISSANDO INCORRECTLY, TOO SLOW-
TEACHER: Do you know how long it should be? Copland gave you that long ah?
ME: Oh I didn't notice that.
TEACHER: Did your fingers bleed the past week?
ME: Yeah, -points to the middle joint of index finger-
TEACHER: Huh how did you get it there?
ME: Dunno, but it bled.
TEACHER: Oh so once only ah, must bleed more, must bleed more.
ME: O.o

2007-12-12T12:32:00.000+08:00

Whee!
YY002 complete!
Ask from me if you wanna see!
(it rhymes lol)

2007-12-05T17:53:00.000+08:00

This is the second time my finger bled from a glissando.

Years ago was my thumb, now it's my index. I didn't know that my skin was so tender.

Castle on a cloud

2007-11-28T13:04:00.000+08:00

That song was from the play Les Misérables. We used to sing that in primary school. Well, I googled for a few versions, see which one you like! lol.

Here are the lyrics

There is a castle on a cloud,
I like to go there in my sleep,
Aren't any floors for me to sweep,
Not in my castle on a cloud.

There is a room that's full of toys,
There are a hundred boys and girls,
Nobody shouts or talks too loud,
Not in my castle on a cloud.

There is a lady all in white,
Holds me and sings a lullaby,
She's nice to hear and she's soft to touch,
She says "Cosette, I love you very much."

I know a place where no one's lost,
I know a place where no one cries,
Crying at all is not allowed,
Not in my castle on a cloud.

2007-11-25T01:21:00.000+08:00

It's 1.22 a.m. I just arrived home from supper with our close Malaysian relatives. We were talking so merrily that if I had not reminded them of the time, I would not be home at this hour, yet. But those were not the point.

It was only while waiting for my father's car when I realised where I was. Remember what I told you on Thursday? The bus stop where we alighted at? The place where my family always have supper? Where I told you that it looked quite different in the day and in the night? Before we took a long walk into serangoon gardens?

Well I guess I turned sentimental again. I'm sorry. Give me time and I'll get over it. I guess there is only one solution to it, work myself to numbness, let me be as busy as a bee and it'll shadow the past with a façade in my mind.

But from now it's the thing behind the façade that will drive me. And the full moon is consoling me tonight too, thanks moon. Goodnight for now, everyone.

2007-11-24T12:27:00.000+08:00

The weather today's perfect.

My mind is not.

As I wrestled with Schubert's impromptu, emotional sounds produced triggered some flashbacks.

You told me that you loved that piece. I heard you play it. You told me that it is demanding, for your left hand, according to you. Sorry if I can't remember what else you told me, I tried to store every information that you spoke, and still speaking.

I hope that you can hear me play it some day, wherever we are. It's my pleasure to perform to you. But I don't know whether it's pleasure listening to me.

I wouldn't be learning this piece if we hadn't gone under the same teacher. We wouldn't be under the same teacher if I hadn't met you. If I hadn't met you I wonder how will I be like today. In another parallel universe where everything is the same just that we hadn't met.

I shall perfect it for you, yes I will, and it will not be in vain. I shall go practise now.

The weather today is perfect to play Schubert.

How to make a grand piano

2007-11-18T13:12:00.001+08:00

2007-11-16T22:38:00.001+08:00

In case you can't see, here is the detail.

I wonder how those girls feel if they were to see this.

2007-11-07T21:55:00.001+08:00

Random facts from observations

Birds can balance on one leg too! I saw it this afternoon in the bird shop outside at the bus stop. That fellow kept raising his right foot. I couldn't help but to stare at him. Like O.o

Yes and I'm leaving for Japan tomorrow already. I may get a chance to come online and blog, hope that I get that chance.

And my dear, you know that I'll miss you dearly.

2007-11-06T15:47:00.000+08:00

日本へ行くからの二日です。

2007-11-04T15:56:00.001+08:00

You Are a Purple Crayon

Your world is colored in dreamy, divine, and classy colors.
You hold yourself to a sky high standard, and you are always graceful.
People envy, idolize, and copy you without realizing it. You are an icon for those who know you.
And while it is hard to be a perfectionist, rest assured it's paying off!

Your color wheel opposite is yellow. While yellow people may be wise, they lack the manners and class needed to impress you.

What Color Crayon Are You?

2007-11-03T17:02:00.001+08:00

You Should Play the Piano

You are a true music aficionado who loves many musical style and eras.
You find music to be an escape. And you'd like to be relaxed and comfortable when you're making it.

You're very innovative, and you have a unique way of knowing what may sound beautiful.
There's a strong possibility that you could compose some of your own work songs quite easily.

While you have a lot of creative energy, you are also serious and conscientious.
Your musical talent needs time, practice, and lots of privacy to flourish.

Your dominant personality characteristic: your painstaking attention to detail

Your secondary personality characteristic: your natural tendency to be whimsical

What Musical Instrument Should You Play?

haha interesting.

2007-11-02T22:21:00.000+08:00

oh nice maths joke

prove that study = fail

study = no fail eq.1
no study = fail eq.2

1+2

study + no study = no fail + fail

study ( no + 1 ) = fail ( no + 1 )

divide equation by ( no + 1 )

therefore

study = fail

proven.

2007-10-31T22:26:00.001+08:00

BWRARARARA

Bored, I am. Amuse myself, I will. Yoda, I have become.

1] Who has your heart?
- HER

2] How did you wake up this morning?
- My mother.

3 ] Which is more romantic: sunrise or
sunset?
- when the sun is hanging right above us.

4] Are you wearing any clothing?
- yeah

5] What did you do last night?
- I was doing comprehension passages and then watched brainiac, the last episode of the seaon :(

6] Who was the last person you kissed?
- Erm, you sure you wanna know?

7] Would you kiss that person, again?
- Yeah as soon as possible perhaps( lol I sound desperate )

8 ] Did you brush your teeth this
morning?
- Eh yes of course

9] Have you ever been on the radio?
- eee radio no fun

10] What did you drink today?
- Ehh allow me to recall. Water, and soup.

11 ] Do you like honey?
- Yes if they come from bees lol.

12] What's the last thing you broke?
- Can't remember, should be something tangible

13 ] Do you know your bf/gf well?
- To a certain extent, but many things remain elusive.

14] Did you sing at all today?
-dunno

1 5] When's the last time you cried?
- hmm last month?

16 ] How many letters are there in
your last name?
- 3

17] When did you go swimming last?
- last monday, wanted to go today, but weather wasn't good.

18] Do you love anyone other than
family?
- Yeah baby.

19] Do you have any tattoos or hennas?
- Had.

20] Do you live near your best friend?
- Define near. Oh our moon is so near..

21 ] Are you a Bon Jovi fan?
- YEAH BABY

22] Can you play the guitar?
- Learnt in primary school before.

23] Do you believe in love?
- Yes, and I am deeply in love.

24 ] Do you like basketball?
- Not really.

25] Last time you went out of
Singapore?
- Hmm not sure, but going out in a week's time.

26] What are you doing right now?
- Staring into the LCD monitor scrutinizing black letters

27 ] When was the last time someone
said something sweet to your face?
- Last week?

28] What are you wearing right now?
- red shirt, semi-translucent shorts lol

29] Do you miss anyone?
- HER.

30] Did you have fun today?
- Yeah baby, O level chinese was sooo fun.

2007-10-23T22:25:00.000+08:00

HFPSPFEBKOPECZKPGVZBPSVFSOFPBUDIIFIS

whoo solve this if you can! Whoever it is!

2007-10-23T21:27:00.000+08:00

The three trees stand behind three trees.
So three trees are before the three trees.
9 12-15-22-5 25-15-21
Tongue Twister.

2007-10-22T13:22:00.000+08:00

I'm leaving for the pool soon. In case you're wondering, it's the swimming pool, not whatever pool that punks go to.

The replete photons in the surrounding has motivated me yet again to write. What a condition for life, mildly energetic forces of nature being in excess, providing every opportune condition for semi-animate matter to thrive.

What you see around is nothing but a manifest of our energy supplier, the Sun. Every object's visual existence is dependent on it, and is prove to which the star exists.

That's all for today, random ponders which attempts to philosophise and reflect empirical truths at the same time, but has never succeeded, albeit the author ultimately hopes to achieve that.

Bye, to my exercise or swimming here I come.

This is for today, dedicated to her but people with exemplary mental capacity and sheer determination shall be rewarded with the thrill of deciphering the encrypted.

bor auy brl yso ifn log lrt bai evm yee

2007-10-20T13:44:00.000+08:00

It's a beautiful afternoon, just not very perfect.

Chopin's posthumous waltz no.20 echoes painfully through the flash widget in my blog. A mellow instrument to accentuate the tranquillity and abjection of the music. The screaming soul inside me resonates with relief and my body reacts in the form of hormones. Feels like everything and nothing at the same time. It is only subtly painful yet arrestingly numb. The shift between the comatose of emotions and the over-sensitivity of my ego made me what I am today. Indolence has invaded my life, and consumed it, without even leaving the slightest tinge of my old self or history.

I can sense the realisation of the truths of life in this piece, and fortunately it provides me momentary spiritual solace. I had always believed in music, but I had no idea of its ability to render emotions so compelling such that it is involuntary.

After five seconds, no more. Everything is over after the climax. No more fantasy, no more pleasure, no more self-delusion, it's back to reality, where post-climax problems are already staring into your face. A mirror, it is like one.

If we really think about it, death, is the true and ultimate purpose of our lives. I have over the last several years form such a knowing relationship with this true and best friend of humankind. But this image holds nothing terrifying for me any more, instead it holds much that is soothing and consoles me.

- W. A. Mozart

I guess I'm feeling the same as when Chopin composed that piece. It has dawned on me that I am quite self-centred, considering that many of the above sentences starts with the word "I". Well, maybe not.

It's a really beautiful afternoon, just not very perfect.

Want a Mozart ball?

2007-10-19T20:45:00.000+08:00

Mozartkugel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Find out more about navigating Wikipedia and finding information •

Jump to: navigation, search

The “Original Salzburg Mozartkugeln” made by the confectionary Fürst

Imitation “Real Reber Mozartkugeln” made by P. Reber Pty. Ltd., Bad Reichenhall

The Mozartkugel (English: Mozart ball), known originally as the “Mozartbonbon”, was created by the Salzburg confectioner Paul Fürst in 1890 and named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The confectionary Fürst still produces the original Salzburg Mozartkugeln by hand according to the original recipe and only sells them in its shops or over its website. As the Fürst confectionary does not own a trademark for Mozartkugeln, there are numerous imitation products, most of which are produced using industrial techniques.

[hide]

[edit] The Original

The master confectioner Paul Fürst came to Salzburg in 1884 and opened his own shop at number 13, Brodgasse. He presented the Mozartbonbon for the first time in 1890, later producing and selling it in greater quantities as Mozartkugeln. Fürst’s achievement was the production of a perfectly rounded chocolate. The production process used by the confectionary Fürst has not changed to this day.

Paul Fürst presented the Mozartkugel at a fair in Paris in 1905 and was awarded a gold medal for it.

Today, the confectionary Fürst sells the original Salzburg Mozartkugeln exclusively in its four shops in Salzburg (at the Old Market, in the Ritzerbogen, the Getreidegasse and near the Castle Mirabell), and via a direct service, but not in other shops. Mozartkugeln can be bought from the confectionary Fürst individually and in packs.

[edit] The original recipe

The “Original Salzburg Mozartkugeln” are still produced manually by the confectionary Fürst according to the original recipe and using the original technique: First, a ball of green pistachio marzipan covered in a layer of nougat is produced. This ball is then placed on a small wooden stick and dunked in a dark chocolate coating. Next, the stick is placed vertically, with the ball at the top, on a platform to allow the chocolate to cool off and harden. Finally, the stick is removed; the hole that it leaves behind is closed with chocolate coating, and the ball is wrapped in silver tin foil. Approximately 1.4 million Mozartkugeln are produced by hand using this technique every year. In the firm’s air-conditioned salerooms, the balls remain fresh for about 8 weeks.

[edit] Prizes

The specialist magazine “Der Feinschmecker” (English: The gastronome) gave the original Salzburg Mozartkugel first place in a comparison of different Mozartkugeln in its January 2006 edition. It was noted that the original Salzburg Mozartkugel is handmade and that its nougat taste is complemented by a touch of pistachio marzipan. The original Salzburg Mozartkugel was awarded a gold medal at the second international truffle competition during the confectionary fair ÖKONDA in Wels in September 2005.

[edit] The rights to the name

The existence of numerous imitation Mozartkugeln finally led Paul Fürst’s descendents to initiate a court process. At stake were the rights to the name, not the Mozartkugeln recipe itself. At first, the dispute concerned only confectionary producers in Salzburg, but later spread to include the competition from Germany. The result was an agreement which obliged Fürst’s competitors to use other names. The Mirabell firm, based in Grödig near Salzburg, chose the name “Real Salzburg Mozartkugeln”. The Bavarian producer Reber opted for “Real Reber Mozartkugeln”. In 1996, a dispute between Fürst and a subsidiary of the Swiss food producer Nestlé, which wanted to market “Original Austria Mozartkugeln”, was decided in the third instance. Only Fürst products may be called original Salzburg Mozartkugeln^[1].

[edit] Other producers of Mozartkugeln that employ the original recipe

The confectionary Dallmann, located in St. Gilgen on the Wolfgangsee, produces Mozartkugeln by hand according to Fürst’s original recipe. Like those produced by the confectionary Fürst, they are wrapped in silver tin foil marked with blue print.

The confectionary Engljähringer, which has operated in Salzburg since 1948, also produces Mozartkugeln by hand using the original recipe. They are sold in cardboard boxes and are available at Salzburg’s University Square and at the Engljähringer market stall. Handmade Mozartkugeln are not produced en masse using industrial techniques, whereby hollow Mozartkugeln are created and then filled. Engljähringer Mozartkugeln are produced by “wuzeln” (a regional term in Austria meaning to turn or to roll) the pistachio marzipan, by covering it in nougat and finally by dunking it by hand in chocolate coating.

The confectionary Petrik, whose base of operations in the Getreidegasse, not too far from the house in which Mozart was born, produces Mozartkugeln using the same sound and traditional method. The confectionary took a top place in the 2006 Mozartkugel test carried out by the “We are Mozart” website^[2].

[edit] Industrially produced imitations

Shortly after the presentation of the Mozartkugel in Paris, other Salzburg confectioners started to copy it due to its popularity. The newly developing sweet industry quickly began to produce this popular speciality too, as Fürst had not secured the rights to the name Mozartkugel.

Paul Fürst once said of two of his competitors: “The Mirabell Mozartkugeln are just as fake as those from Reber.” ^[3]

The industrially produced Mozartkugeln do not use the original recipe, being based instead on variations on it. Furthermore, they are smaller than the original and are often flat on one side. The Mozartkugeln produced by the Mirabell company have a ring-shaped marzipan centre surrounded by light and dark nougat creme. Those produced by the German company Reber have a centre made of nougat, which is surrounded on one side by white marzipan, and on the other side by green marzipan. Moreover, they are flat on one side and not completely round. The Mozartkugeln produced by another German company, Lambertz, are also flat on one side, with a hazelnut and nougat centre surrounded by pistachio and almond marzipan and covered in a layer of dark chocolate. Both Mirabell and Reber emphasise that no preservatives, colouring or artificial aromas are used in their products.

The leading industrial producers of Mozartkugeln, Reber and Mirabell, are both based in the area of the Euregio Salzburg – Berchtesgadener Land – Traunstein.

[edit] Austria

The biggest industrial producer of Mozartkugeln in Austria is the Mirabell company (Kraft Foods Austria), which is based in Grödig near Salzburg. According to its own figures, Mirabell produces over 90 million Mozartkugeln per year and exports them to more than 30 countries. Mirabell claims to have produced a total of 1.5 billion Mozartkugeln since 1945. Other producers include the Viennese company Hofbauer, which produces varieties with milk chocolate and dark chocolate, and Manner, which has factories in Vienna, Wolkersdorf and Perg.

[edit] Germany

The biggest industrial producer of Mozartkugeln in Germany is Reber Specialities, which has been active in Bad Reichenhall since 1983. According to Reber, its daily capacity is 500,000 Mozartkugeln, and it exports its products to 40 countries. The Confiserie Dreher is also located in Bad Reichenhall and has been producing Mozartkugeln since 1931. It claims to be the oldest German producer of Mozartkugeln. Dreher was bought in 2000 by the Halloren Chocolate Factory in Halle (Saale).^[4] The Lambertz company, based in Aachen, also produces Mozartkugeln.

[edit] Dispute between Mirabell and Reber

At the end of the 1970s, a dispute arose between the Mozartkugel producers Mirabell and Reber over the trademark. An agreement was finally reached in 1981 between representatives of the Austrian and German governments, whereby only Austrian producers were to be allowed to produce and export Mozartkugeln. Reber protested against this agreement, and the EC-Commissioner charged with deciding in the affair finally declared the agreement invalid^[5].

Nonetheless, only Mirabell Mozartkugeln are allowed to be round. Reber Mozartkugeln must have one flat side^[6].

[edit] Further chocolates produced by the confectionary Fürst and named after famous personalities

Besides the famous “Original Salzburger Mozartkugel”, which is named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, there are further chocolates that are named after famous personalities: the Bachwürfel (English: Bach cube) (Johann Sebastian Bach), Wolf-Dietrich-Block (Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau), Doppler Kon(Ef)fekt (Christian Doppler) and the Paris-Lodron-Truffle (Paris Graf von Lodron).

[edit] Trivia

In the winter and spring of 2006, 80 oversized polyester Mozartkugeln, each with a diameter of 1.6 metres, were placed in the old town of Salzburg. They had been designed by artists. In the night of the 27th of March, vandals removed one of these Mozartkugeln from the Franziskanergasse, where it had been bolted to the ground. The unknown vandals then rolled the Mozartkugel onto the street, causing damage worth around 7000 euro^[7].

The confectionary Dallmann in St. Gilgen offers a Mozartkugel seminar. Participants graduate as Mozartkugel specialists^[8].

2007-10-18T20:39:00.000+08:00

I'm going to type this in this way so that only you can understand okay? Try so solve it.

[ purpose fulfilled, message deleted ]

2007-10-09T21:02:00.000+08:00

I WANT MY LEXEAN!!!

I can't seem to find it at the newstand. Some people said that the third issue is already out, and is crap.

BUT I STILL WANT IT!!!!

2007-10-08T17:29:00.000+08:00

Hmm this is the ultimate.

2007-10-07T10:06:00.001+08:00

lawl man this is so damn funny.

hmm the second one, a bunch of jokers.

2007-10-01T17:49:00.000+08:00

BBLLLLEEEAAAHHH nothing to post about, but this. Actually I should have posted this 2 months ago.

Choose one:

http://www.mediafire.com/?dn93ktmyxtj
http://www.filecrunch.com/file/~nq4p57

It's our research paper, by the way.

2007-09-27T16:00:00.000+08:00

I thought that you were already very much out of my life.

Can't you just get out once and for all?

Deep-voiced men 'have more kids'

2007-09-26T22:01:00.000+08:00

After supper, I clicked on the firefox shortcut at the bottom left of my screen. One, two and three, and my metal lion mozilla materialised. Instinctively I directed my cursor to the horizontal 'favourites' bar which rests below the internet address bar and also spans across the screen.

Latest Headlines, was the first from the left with the icon of the familiar RSS feed. Hmm what shall I read? China bans 'sexy' advertisement, nah so boring and mundane, what's wrong with those adverts man. It was many horizontal strings of letters before the sequence of Deep-voiced men 'have more kids' got registered into my brain.

Ahh this is interesting. Therefore I clicked and my iGoogle homepage morphed into the bbc news website in a matter of milliseconds by html codes. It is only correct and responsible for me, as a male and a human being, to share this interesting finding with my fellow homo sapien comrades. Disclaimer : the original article is taken from the bbc website where the link can be found above. Edits were limited to highlighting and underlining only, the sole purpose is to facilitate comprehensiveness and ease of understanding.

Men with deep voices tend to have more children than those who speak at a higher pitch, scientists say.
Their finding is based on a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania known as the Hadza, who can be studied without bias because they use no birth control.

The Hadza still live much the same way as ancient humans did

Males who hit lower notes as they talked had about two more children on average than squeaky speakers.
It fits with observations that women find masculine voices more attractive, the team reports in Biology Letters.
"There are a lot of reasons why lower pitch and reproductive success could be linked," said Coren Apicella, from the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, US.
Deep tones are suggestive of increased testosterone levels, which could lead females to perceive such men as better hunters and therefore better providers, she told the BBC.
"Or it could be that men with deeper voices simply start reproducing earlier. We really don't know what is behind this yet."
Sound system
Apicella's group studied the Hadza because "they provide a window into our past" - they live their lives much as our ancestors did, and their behaviours could illustrate key facets of evolution that might otherwise be swamped by modern culture.
Hadza females gather berries and dig for tubers, while the males hunt animals and collect honey. Marriages are not arranged, so that men and women choose their own spouses.
The Hadza are monogamous, but extra-marital affairs are common, and the divorce rate is high.
For the study, voice recordings were collected from 49 men and 52 women between the ages of 18 and 55.
"The experiment was really simple," said Ms Apicella. "I went to nine different camps and I'd just get them to come into my Land Rover and record them saying the word 'Hujambo', which means 'hello', into a microphone.
"I then analysed the voice and pitch, and compared it with the person's reproductive history - how many children they had had and how many were still surviving."
The results indicated the deeper the man's voice, the more likely he was to have fathered more children, she said. She added that voice pitch was not linked to child mortality.
"We found that for women, the voice pitch was not connected to reproduction."
'Hadza Olympics'
Because of the similarity which their hunter-gatherer lifestyle bears to that of our ancestors, the reproductive success of the Hadza could be indicative of the way that human beings evolved.
If females are drawn to deeper voices, this would drive selection in the population towards that trait. In other words, lower-pitched male speakers would become dominant over time.
"It's possible that vocal dimorphism has evolved over thousands of years, partly due to mate selection," explained Ms Apicella. "Perhaps at one time, men and women's voices were closer in pitch than they are today."
Her group has plans to extend its study. It is analysing data gathered from an experiment designed to test whether lower voice pitch in Hadza men really is any kind of indicator of performance.
"I set up the 'Hadza Olympics'," she said. "The tribesmen participated in lots of activities, like archery competitions, racing, hunting, etc.
"I'm going to look now at these to see if there is a link between hunting success, reproductive performance and voice pitch."
The research was undertaken with David Feinberg of McMaster University and Frank Marlowe of Florida State University.

Yeah, so this is it. Deeeep voice huh, sexaye.

2007-09-26T20:11:00.000+08:00

Currently reading: The Piano Teacher(originally Die Klavierspielerin) by Elfriede Jelinek.
A Nobel prize winner for literature. Okay, I shall resume my reading, seems quite interesting.

2007-09-16T19:34:00.000+08:00

HIATUS [hahy-ey-tuhs]
–noun, plural -tus·es, -tus.

a break or interruption in the continuity of a work, series, action, etc.

Everybody seems to love this word, I can see it being plastered on the main page of many blogs. It'd be staring right into my face, and when I read on, I would find that the user still updates frequently.

So is that only a fashion statement?

Sorry bout my colour, it's random :)

2007-09-14T21:55:00.000+08:00

３月かかりましたね。感じがどう？この間、あなたがいない時間がどんな短くでもあなたが淋しがってしまいます。時々、あなたばかり考えます。他のことが全然できません。ロー、面白いですけど、ちょっと大変でした。

ええと、以上の文は練習に書いたね。

かもしれません。