Serangoon Road during Deepavali is as crowded and illuminated as Orchard Road on Christmas Day.


When you look ahead, exams are approaching day by day. When you look further ahead, holidays are approaching day by day
- Tengkia (the undergrad)

Monster Killer Declares Reclusion

From Monster Killer to Mugger

The (self-declared) "Top Monster Killer in the Faculty of Engineering" announced that he would go into reclusion for a period of three weeks, commencing yesterday. The shocking news has brought untold worries to his fellow monster killers, for they would have to fight monsters for the following three weeks without their strongest ally (this is also self-declared).

The reason for his reclusion was to bi4 guan1 xiu1 lian4, in order to mug for his upcoming exams, as well as to improve upon his monster-killing techniques for subsequent fights after the exams (there isn't a fallacy in this statement, just a paradox).

From Mugger to Ant Killer

The Top Monster Killer returned home from his final fight before his reclusion, only to discover that red ants have invaded his secret hideout (which is just his bedroom). Ants appeared from every nook and cranny, crawling along cracks (his flat is only 4 years old mind you) and corners. They seem to be trying to find a suitable location for their nest.

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

Sidetracking a bit, there's a law (guess what? I'm taking a law module now) in Singapore that prevents anyone from suing any government body, so there's nothing I can do about those dumb cracks.

My whole room reeks of insectide now.....

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

Can there ever be peace in the life of a monster killer? Impossible, much less a top monster killer. Hence, only one day after his announcement of reclusion, the top monster killer declared that he shall not rest until all the ants in his house have been wiped out.

From Ant Killer to Ninja Turtle Wannabe

Anyone still remembers that in the cartoon "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", the ninja turtles' favourite food is PIZZA? I'm eating my Canadian 2 for 1 Pizza for the second time this week. Although my craze for pizza started since my adolescence, I don't have the luxury of eating them so often.

I ate one 10" pizza by myself. As compared to half of a 14" pizza I had the other day, I think I ate more today. Yummy.

The author apologises for typing in hanyu pinyin instead of Chinese because he doesn't have the relevant software to do so. He is still using the most outdated Operating System that is still around, Windows 98, because it's good for gaming.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before Fengchun starts to say I'm blogging again when I'm supposed to be studying, I would like to say that I have completed a tutorial before I blogged this.

Mission report

Our master plan has succeeded, although less blood was spilled than we had hoped. For anyone who is still wondering, the plan is to buy Justin's birthday (which is tomorrow) presents and give it to him today.

Why would such a kind gesture invoke any bloodshed? Let me elaborate. Justin is a fan of Stephanie Sun and Manchester United Football Club. His birthday presents naturally revolve around them. Weijie (an Arsenal Fan), on the other hand, hates both. So we decided to get Weijie to present Justin's gifts to him in our traditional prize presentation ceremony style. Of course, Weijie doesn't know what the presents are until he passes them to Justin. Recall that Man U just beat Arsenal, ending their record for being unbeaten. See any sparks flying now?

As our brilliant plan proceeds, Justin, Weijie, Erin and I will gather outside the lecture theatre after our law lecture (on a Saturday, can you imagine?), and carry out our birthday gift presentation ceremony. Erin had brought a digicam along in anticipation of filming down the bloodiest footage ever using a digicam, and possibly earning a Guiness World Record.

Justin was already hopping around in anticipation of receiving his birthday gifts. Weijie came along probably more out of curiousity to look at the presents than anything else. I carried the gifts in an opaque paper bag and told Weijie that he'll be presenting them to Justin. Erin got into place with her digicam poised.

"First, the CD." I announced. Stephanie Sun's latest album, released only yesterday and bought last night, came out from the paper bag into Weijie's hands. Weijie merely took a look and said, "Oh you got this for him." He then took a photo with Justin while both of them were holding the a la PM awarding scholarship to the top student. Erin, the ever ready photographer, snapped them with the digicam.

"Next is this." I took out a Man U scarf wrapped in a black plastic bag and handed it to Weijie.

"What is this?" asked Weijie as he took the bag from me. "Let me take a look first."

I can smell the distinct odour of iron-rich blood in the air already.

Weijie opened the plastic bag and peered inside. All that he could see was a red fabric because the scarf was folded up. "What did you guys buy for him?" he asked again drawing the scarf out of the bag. The scarf unfolded as it came out revealing the words "Manchester United" stitched in white.

Erin stood poised to capture the subsequent brawl between the Man U fan and the Arsenal fan.

It came faster than anyone had anticipated, like a flash of lightning streaking across the sky on a relatively calm and and cloudless day. Weijie bellowed like an enraged bear and sent his fist flying towards Justin's nose. Even Erin was unable to catch his swift punch. *Bish* Justin was sent flying to the wall behind him.




Sorry to disappoint but I've run out of crap to write. Anyway Weijie only threatened to throw Justin's scarf away when he saw what it is. Not even a single drop of blood was spilled at all.

Show's over. The end.


You will never know where you may end up until you take the first step
-Tengkia

Who will be the next US president? Cast your votes now!

Just kidding. I hate politics. I'm just experimenting with putting polls on my blog.

1. Dilemna

Your exams are appproaching. Your good buddy, A, asks if you can get hold of any past year papers to prepare for the upcoming exams. You source your other buddy, B, for papers. He passes you a past year paper, but makes you promise to keep it to yourself. You agreed because he's doing you a favour and he's your buddy. However, you remember your obligation to A.



Click here to advise this headache besieged guy




2. What girls want

I received an email today which lists out the following:

1. When a girl says she's sad, but she isn't crying,
it means she's crying in her heart.

2. When she ignores you after you've done
something wrong, it's best to give her some time
to cool down before touching her heart with an
apology.

3. A girl can't find anything to hate about the guy
she loves (which is why it is so hard for her to 'get
over him' after the relationship's over.)

4. If a girl loves a guy, he will always be on her
mind every minute of the day, even though she
flirts with other guys.

5. When the guy she likes smiles and stares deep
into her eyes, she will melt.

6. A girl likes to hear compliments, but usually is
not sure how to react to them.

7. When a particular guy flirts with a girl very often,
a girl would start thinking the guy likes her. So if
you treat a girl just as a friend, go easy on the
smiles and stare ok?

8. If you don't like a girl who likes you, break it to
her gently.

9. If a girl starts avoiding you after you reject her,
leave her alone for a while. If you still treat her as a
friend, talk to her.

10. Girls enjoy talking about what they feel. Music,
poetry, drawings and writing are ways of
expressing themselves (which explains why most
girls like writing journals).

11. Never tell a girl that she is useless in anyway.

12. Being too serious can turn a girl off.

13. When the guy she likes calls her for the first
time, the girl may act uninterested during the call.
But as soon as the phone is back on the hook, she
will whoop with joy and immediately start
telephoning her friends to spread the news.

14. A smile means a lot to a girl.

15. If you like a girl, try making friends with her
first. Let her get to know you.

16. If a girl says she can't go out with you because
she has to study, leave.

17. But if she still calls you or expect a call from
you, stay.

18. Don't try to guess a girl's feelings. Ask her.

19. Hearing the words "I love you" is a great
reassurance to a girl that she is beautiful.

20. After a girl falls in love with a guy, she'll wonder
why she never noticed him before.

21. If you need tips on how to flirt with a girl, read
romance stories.

22. When class pictures come out, a girl would
first check who is standing next to her crush before
actually looking at herself.

23. A girl's ex-crush will always be in her memory,
but the guy she loves now stays in her heart.

24. Girls love having fun!

25. A simple 'Hi' can brighten a girl's day.

26. A girl's best friends usually know best what
she is feeling and going through.

27. Girls hate it when a guy pays attention to them
just to get close to their 'prettier' friend.

28. Love means devotion, caring and happiness
to a girl, in that order.

29. Some girls care about looks, some care about
brains, but ALL girls want a guy who will love and
care for them.

30. Girls want nothing more than to feel loved.



Click here to advice this lovesick fool



I think the results of this poll would be more accurate if only girls participate in it, but I wouldn't like to stop people from taking this poll.


Vote today for a better America tomorrow!

Ugh.....

Cryogenic Stasis

In case you're wondering what my blog title means,
Cryogenic: I'm literally freezing inside my lab
Stasis: My FYP has more or less reached a standstill

As always, whenever the end of the study term draws near, my fellow monster-killing buddies and I will be hard at work ridding the world of evil. It's not easy being a monster killer, but I'm proud to admit that my buddies and I are getting more and more proficient at it. Ok, I'll cut the bullshit. It simply means I've been playing Warcraft III more often.

I haven't run any tests for the last 2 weeks. The most I did was to waterproof my spine holder (AGAIN!), and compile some experimental data collected by Kuan Ming. My friends from the same lab have agreed unanimously to stop FYP starting from next week till end of exams. I think that simply means I have more time to kill monsters, heh heh.


Covert night operation was a success. The final phase of the master plan shall be carried out this Saturday. I think Fengchun would like to come down to school to watch the plan in action. The Red Devils will be doing a little victory celebration.


The way to be more happy is to stop wanting to be more happy
- Tengkia

Food for thought

• Ate half of a 14 inch Canadian 2 for 1 pizza for lunch
• Digested 2 thick files and a few megabytes of journals throughout the day
• Had 4 hours of Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne for supper

Need to rest early tonight. Have a covert night operation to carry out tomorrow.


When you remember how to smile, you'll find that the rest of the world is smiling along with you
- Tengkia

Back to FYP

I requested to put my FYP on hold last week because I had to do my DFMA term paper, IA lab report and IA take-home quiz. Of course my co-supervisor was nice enough to grant my request.

It didn't take me a week to get all those assignments done. Nevertheless, I didn't step into my FYP lab at all last week. Another self-declared break.


25th Oct (Monday)

0956h: Stepped into my FYP lab. Only Zhang Jing was around. Greeted him and logged in to a pc.
Program used: None
CPU usage: 0%

1001h: Gave Kuan Ming an sms. He replied he was having breakfast. I started to surf the internet.
Program used: Internet Explorer
CPU usage: 1%

1020h: Kuan Ming returned. Showed me experimental results obtained last week (carried out without me). Told me to analyse and verify the results with literature.
Program used: None
CPU usage: 30%

1035h: Kuan Ming reminded me to finish the waterproof sock for the spine tester.
Program used: None
CPU usage: 35%

1100h: Kuan Ming informed me about changes to making the waterproof sock.
Program used: None
CPU usage: 40%

1115h: Kuan Ming sent me an email telling me what is required of my experimental results in my report.
Program used: Microsoft Outlook
CPU usage: 70%

1124h: Took out my log book to look at the "to-do list" I made before last week. None of them are done.
Program used: None
CPU usage: 100%

1126h: Started to look at the experimental values and tried to make some sense out of them.
Program used: None
ALERT: There is insufficient space in the hard drive. Free up more disk space before continuing.

Acion: Shut down internet surfing
CPU usage: 100%

Acion: Shut down waterproof sock making
ERROR: Program not responding. Do you want to end program now? All unsaved changes will be lost.
Yes
CPU usage: 100%

Action: Shut down "to-do list"

WARNING! The program is not responding. The system is either busy or has become unstable.
Press any key to return
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart
Ctrl+Alt+Del

*system crashes*



Important! Please read
Kuan Ming is not a slave-driver, nor is this post intended to make him seem like one.

Will you stand up for what's right?

I'm tired of drawing and erasing and drawing and erasing my circuit diagrams. The paper is going to tear if I erase one more time. It's a sign to stop doing work and start blogging again.


I have been pondering over this question ever since I was in my adolescence. Singaporeans are often criticised for their lack of consideration and kiasuism. Examples of such behaviour are mostly seen when taking public transports - people jostling and shoving at the entrances trying to ensure that their butts end up on seats, and blocking the exits while they do so. Or refusing to move in after entering the bus or train. Everyone knows this is wrong, but no one does anything about it.

These are only the minor examples. Peijun once told me that when she was still in JC, she happened to be taking MRT with Huimin, and there was this group of ACJC students sitting down on the part of the train where the carriages are joined. Legs extended and all. Like they own the place. She said that they were contemplating to walk past them and step on their legs. I think they will be able to get the idea across better if they were much heavier.....but that's another issue. Of course they did not do anything in the end. It would not be wise for girls to do so anyway.

Chris also told me not too long ago, that one day while standing inside a fully occupied bus, he noticed that the old man (old enough to be a senior citizen) sitting down in front of him kept leaning to the girl seated beside him. The old man's eyes were closed but Chris thinks that the buaya was just feigning sleep and trying to get fresh. Naturally, Chris 'woke' the old faker up and told him politely that he was leaning onto the girl beside him. But that old man had the audacity to retort back loudly "What? I didn't do anything. Don't maglign me!" (in Mandarin). But he stopped his tricks.

Chris asked me a question after telling me his story, "What will you do when you see something like this happen?"

On my way home today, as I was on the bus, a couple of young punks (again, but this time they came with a skateboard each) cheerfully placed their skateboards down at the joint of the bendy bus (the super long TIBS bus) and sat on them. They didn't even have to stretch their legs to obstruct the passage. I came up with the following possibilities:

1. Get up from my seat and walk over their legs as per what Peijun said

2. Get up from my seat and tell them politely not to block the way

3. Stay on my seat and stare at them, hoping they would get the message

4. Do nothing

Normally, I don't have problems answering MCQs.

Ok. I considered for some time. The first three options would make me look as though I was trying to pick a fight (punks fight over the most stupid reasons as far as I know), though I was somewhat caught between options 3 and 4. I stared at one of them for a while, but he didn't seem to notice me. In the end, I option 3 was no longer an option.

Maybe I was too comfortably seated to bother about people who are not affecting me. Maybe I was just too cowardly to stand up for what's right. Maybe.....it's time I do something.....

Most people will say that a person of my build don't have to worry about others picking a fight with me, and I should stand up to these black sheeps of the society. Some of my friends have told me before that I am too nice. I do know that if these people get on my nerves, I won't hide what I feel.

But sometimes, I really don't know what I should do.....

PUT THE GLASS DOWN TODAY!

Something meaningful I want to share and remember.

A professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see & asked the students, "How much do you think this glass weighs?"
"50gms!" .... "100gms!" ......"125gms" ......the students answered.

"I really don't know unless I weigh it," said
the professor, "but, my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?"

"Nothing" the students said.

"Ok what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?", the professor asked.

"Your arm would begin to ache" said one of the students.

"You're right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?"

"Your arm could go numb, you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis & have to go to hospital for sure!", ventured another student & all the students laughed.

"Very good. But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?",
asked the professor.

"No."

"Then what caused the arm ache & the muscle stress?"

The students were puzzled.

"Put the glass down!" said one of the students.
"Exactly!" said the professor."
Life's problems are something like this. Hold it for a few minutes in your head & they seem OK. Think of them for a long time & they begin to ache. Hold it even longer & they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do anything.

It's important to think of the challenges (problems) in your life, but EVEN MORE IMPORTANT to 'put them down' at the end of every day before you go to sleep. That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh & strong & can handle any issue, any challenge that comes your way!

- Anonymous

Thinking of food

How do you tell someone that his concern is doing you more harm than good?

How do you let someone know his jokes are not funny without losing your sense of humour?

How do you stop saying the wrong things when you become incoherent?

How do you tell a friend he is upsetting you without upsetting him?

How do you let a friend know you need him when you know he can't be there for you?

How do you smile even though you are unhappy?

Tengkia Mag

Mel’s health tips


By far, this week has been the week with the most number of problems heard. Problems such as falling ill, getting weird dreams as well as facing severe pressure from school work, are especially prevalent during the final year when everyone has to cope with their Final Year Project and other modules.

I would like to send a gentle reminder to all, that no matter how much work you have piled up, you cannot complete them and do a good job out of it in a poor state of health.


Replies to the letters for the week

The first letter sent to me this week is regarding dreams. The person who sent the letter complained of having dreams almost every night, none of which make sense. The following paragraphs will be rather technical, but they explain how the brain works and is important for maintenance of mental health.

Dreams are actually a way by which the brain purges negative emotions built up over time (Van Winkle, 2000). Chemicals are released into the brain cells whenever a thought passes through the mind, or the brain wishes to perform an action. In essence, when you are feeling unhappy, 'unhappy chemicals' will be released.

Taking a typical final year undergrad's life as an example, when the work starts to pile up, those 'unhappy chemicals' also start to accumulate in the undergrad's brain. Knowing that high workload is an evitable part of a final year undergrad's life, he could only suppress his feelings and try his best to do his work. This suppression of feelings cause the 'unhappy chemicals' to remain inside the undergrad's brain, when under normal circumstances, the brain will remove the chemicals automatically.

As the chemicals build up to a critical level, the brain begins to take measure to purge these chemicals. During the purging process, sypmtoms such as flaring up, having dreams or nightmares, or depression will occur.

--------------------
Sidenote: In case anyone thinks I'm bullshitting, I had to read this journal and write the above topic as part of my GEM term paper.
--------------------

Having explained the way the brain works, the question now is: "How do I stop those symptoms from occuring?" The only way, is to allow the brain to remove the 'unhappy chemicals' before they accmumlate to a critical level. In our context, de-stress. Everyone has their prefered way of de-stressing. It can be playing sports, doing your favourite activity (e.g. shopping, watching movie or listening to music) and even just sharing your problems with your friends. My personal favourite is singing (anyone game for a session of ktv?).

The next time you feel down, remember that you do not have to hold it back. If you need someone to hang out with or just to complain and complain and complain about something, try looking for someone with a MSN nick that goes something like "Tengkia (blah blah crap nonsense rubbish etc.)"


Onto the next letter, we have someone who has been suffering from sore throat for quite some time and does not seem to recover. Given the curent climate conditions (very hot and sometimes rainy days), sore throats, coughs and flu are easily becoming widespread. Even the recent news have been warning people to get flu immunisation before going anywhere else on the northern hemisphere.

The best course of action to take when you are ill, is to see a doctor. However, merely seeing a doctor and taking the prescribed medication doesn't guarantee quick recovery. The following are some tips on what to do and avoid when you have flu:

• Sleep early (at 10 pm)
• Drink lots of warm water (7 litres for healthy people, a lot more for those not feeling well)
• Include more fruits (except durians and mangoes) in your diet (avoid eating them chilled)
• Keep warm at all times
• Do not eat anything chilled, oily, fried food
• Avoid chococlates and chocolate based food (including Milo)
• De-stress (see above)

Whenever I have cough or sore throat, I will always make myself honey dissolved in warm water and squeeze in the juice from a slice of lemon. Soothes the throat and helps to recover more quickly =) Emotions and feelings do affect the state of health and rate of recovery. Do not undermine the importance of mental health when minding physical health.


If you have any queries regarding health issues, please send them to mel@tengkiamag.com.sg and I will do my best to answer them.

PS: the above email does not exist
PPS: whoever doesn't read this is not cut to be a lawyer

hamster.blogspot.com

Blogger of the day

Ha ha. I thought I'd let my hamster blog for me today, but it has problems reaching the desired keys without depressing the others. If only there was a way to write using the mouse. I'm sure a hamster can use a mouse.....

There's an ad in Today on husbands for hire. Really. They even provide a link for you to book online. Times have really changed huh.....



GOTCHA!!!

I was fooled by the ad too.

Guess what? I'm writing this in my FYP lab. No the time and date stated below this post isn't wrong. Neither is my state of mind. I'm actually staying back to do my FYP and my DFMA term paper. Doing work at night for the 1st time in weeks! My PHMS is gone! This calls for a celebration!! After which I'll get PHMS again.....talk about vicious cycle.

It's not that bad to be staying back in school at night doing work. At least it holds true if you're not rushing to meet some deadline. Right now, I'm just waiting for my silicone rubber to dry and doing my DFMA paper in the meantime. And when I'm bored, I'll just read my copy of Today or blog. Although I'm alone in the lab (as in my friends have left but not the other research staff), I still have the company of YES 933's online radio.

My mood is not that of loneliness, nor am I feeling lethargic having to re-pot my spine for the upteenth time. I'm quite relaxed actually. Sometimes, we should have some time for ourselves. While family and friends are very important, spending time with oneself can also help to relax. It doesn't matter what you do or where you are (as long as it's not somewhere uncomfortable). Being alone can make you temporarily forget about all the complications involved in PR with the people you know. Occassionally, wonderful memories of the time spent with friends will just drift into your mind and you find yourself smiling unknowingly. You don't have to worry about looking like an idiot either because there's no one around.

I've attained nirvana.....

Classified

Looking for Research and Development personnel. Applicants need to fulfill the following requirements:

• Able to accept failure. Not just once, but probably for months. Should always expect results not to turn out as desired or not even expect any results at all.
  
• Be able to work under pressure and constraints. Ask not what you can receive but what you can give (hey wait.....doesn't this sound like what a love consultant would say?).
  
• Able to stare at the computer for long hours. But don't even think about claiming any bills incurred for damage of eyesight.
  
• Prepared to do dirty work. You're getting better pay than a butcher does. What more do you expect?
  
• Must be very devoted to work. Preferably able to work 24/7. Helps save your pay too.
  
• Very independent. Don't bug us for every little detail, we didn't hire you to bother us.

Final year students are most prefered (free labour), followed by interns (cheap labour), and finally full time workers.

PS: We will most likely not hire the latter as universities can provide an endless supply of suckers for free and cheap labour.

We have moved!

Dear customers,

The Virtual Spine Workstation group laboratory shall be moving from Science Park 1 to DSO (located in the Faculty of Science) from 12th October 2004 onwards. The duration of moving is estimated to take about a week.

While we regret to inform you that we are unable to carry out any CT scans, or use our loadcell as a weighing scale, our butchery and pottery services remain undisrupted as these are carried out inside Bioengineering corridor laboratories located in the Faculty of Engineering.

Customers are still welcome to order their Bak Kut Teh and Kambing Soup from us. As our way of showing appreciation to our loyal customers for their continued support, anyone who makes any order for the duration of the moving shall be given an invite to attend our opening ceremony at our new laboratory. Reception will be provided after the ceremony.

Once again, we would like to thank you for your support.

The VSW group

Prolonged Holiday Mood Syndrome

Caught that naughty Fengchun trying to read my post first hand again (reading while I'm typing it out). Shoo shoo! No one gets to read my blog first hand except me.

I've been getting mixed feedback about my sudden change in hair length lately (from short to very short). My mom and my brother insist that the new look doesn't suit me, while my friends (Cheryl, Yijun, Christopher, Dengli) insist I look good with it. Me? I only care about when is the next outing I have (refer to the article below).

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

Prolonged Holiday Mood Syndrome, or better known as PHMS, is the state of mind whereby one is unable to focus or concentrate on any work related issue, for a period of 2 months and above. Symptoms include daydreaming, procrastinating, forgetfulness and lack of focus. People suffering from this syndrome will often have very poor work efficiency, piss their friends off very easily (by forgetting things or not paying attention), and have to rush to meet deadlines at the very last minute.

Any person with the abovementioned symptoms, or suffering from the abovementioned problems should immediately contact their travel/tour agency to plan for a holiday as soon as possible.

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

I've been amazing my friends with the amount of crap I churn out. Too bad for them, they didn't know me well enough until now. Maybe my previous hairstyle gave the impression I'm just a typical quiet and studious undergrad in NUS. Boy are they wrong. Wonder what my current hairstyle makes people think of me.....

Hey hey hey, it's Christopher's birthday today! Happy birthday pal! I'll never forget how we met in year 1, and all the good times we had hanging out together subsequently. Good 'ol Chris was the one who taught me how to be a gentleman, how to have fun, improve upon my badminton skills, gave me tips on creativity, etc etc etc..... And we shared our woes together too, like getting C for Financial Accounting.....ooops! Did I just tell everyone our lousy grades?

Actually, there wasn't enough space to write on the little birthday card I made for him, so the remainder of it is in this post. No, we're not homosexuals. Making a card for someone is a very nice touch for a friend (guess who taught me that?). But he doesn't know about this blog though.

Came across this article in today's issue of TODAY: "S'pore's shoe sellers are 'sizeists' ". Can read it at this link. Not that I'm glad there's others out there who share my problems. I've learnt to be indifferent to 'inconsiderate' people. Just that someone has spelt out what it's like to be 'socially unacceptable' in Singapore.

Please don't be hasty to chastise the taller than average people, they can't help it.

FYP progress update

I really have to salute my 2 FYP co-supervisors for dashing down to the Animal Holding Unit (AHU) last night to rummage through the rubbish bin for dead pigs and goats. No, we're not from the Department of Scavenging. We need those dead animals for their spines to do testing. Recently, our group has been running short of specimens, hence the desperation to get new ones. So here's to the 2 heroes for the year 2004 *salutes*

I've come to realise I'm spending more and more time blogging inside my lab instead of doing work. Previously, I don't always have work to do, so I'll just sit around surfing net and chatting away with my friends. However, now I'm choosing to blog instead of making the waterproof sock for my potted spine. As opposed to what SOME PEOPLE think (that going to the lab means doing work). I think I'm getting from bad to worse.

My workload for my FYP has just increased. Will have to come up with new designs and get them to work by the end of this year, carry out experiments by myself (I'll miss you Kuan Ming *stifles back a sniff*), prepare more specimens (because the new ones just came in) and call up AHU EVERY WEEK to check if they are going to sacrifice more animals because they FAILED to inform us they have sacrificed animals despite the COUNTLESS TIMES we have called them up asking if they are going to!!!

Yes, I noticed my previous sentence is a perfect example of atrocious sentence structuring, but I'm just too pissed off. So much for being the biggest slacker in my department. Going to make my waterproof sock now.....

Tengkia Times

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Movie Critique (no spoilers)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Went to watch Resident Evil 2: The Apocalypse last night with Kangwei, Eric, Kok Kin and Loo. Haven't been hanging out with the first 3 guys for quite some time, and it was the first time Loo went out with the 4 of us. Had to wait till the final year before he's willing to, tsk tsk.

Resident Evil 2. The name brings to mind a zombie infested scenario hopelessly outnumbering a tiny group of survivors, 1 of whom is a girl in kinky outfit, loaded with arsenal and well verse in all the martial arts moves. In addition, there's zombie dogs this time. Funny thing is, the viral infections make the humans more clumsy and slow, but not the dogs. They (viruses) are biased I tell you. There's also this monstrosity that reminds me of the "super soldier" in "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" (a first person shooter PC game). Both look hideous, carry a rail gun, are damn tough to kill.....

The movie itself had a few scary parts. Kangwei admitted to covering his eyes at certain scenes (don't know whether he really did so), and the sounds effects really made the 5 of us jump from our seats. On another note, the supporting female actress (don't know her name) looks not bad. Action was so fast paced that we didn't realise the show was only 1 and a half hours long! Need I say more? Just go and watch it.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Business & Finance
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A surprise merger between 2 clothes retail giants, Samuel & Kevin and Baleno sent ripples across the industry. Tengkia Times had an exclusive interview with the CEO of Samuel & Kevin to find out more about the unexpected buying over of Baleno.

Mom: Hey, I bought a pair of ankle socks for you. They're on the sofa. Go try them out.

Me: Ok.
*walks over to sofa and puts the socks on*
The socks are a pair of black ankle socks with Samuel & Kevin sewn on them in grey.

Mom: How do you find them? I bought them from Baleno.

Me: Baleno??
*looks carefully at socks again*
Me: are you sure they're from Baleno?

Mom: Yes. The Clementi branch.

Me: Well, it says Samuel & Kevin here.
*holds out socks and points at the words*

Mom: But I remember I bought them from Baleno.....

Me: Are you sure? There's a Samuel & Kevin in Clementi too. You could have mixed them up.

Mom: No no. I'm sure I bought them from Baleno.

Me: Whatever.....
*puts on socks and leaves for school*

Disclaimer: The author doesn't keep up to date with news and knows nuts about the relationship between Samuel & Kevin and Baleno. This entry is posted purely for entertainment purposes.

What will you do after you graduate?

There's a common trait among majority of the local NUS undergrads that they are obsessed with going to Europe for their graduation tour. Just grab any that you see in the campus, pop the question above and voila.....Europe is the answer.

I must admit myself that I've been dreaming of going so Switzerland to see their beautiful landscape since I was ermmm.....10 years old? Europe is rich in cultural heritage, filled with temperate flora and fauna, there's simply so much to see and visit for a Singaporean. Tempted as I am to go, the cost is the main deciding factor. Some folks just scrimp and save while studying, some opt to apply for FML (father mother loan), and some work part time to make up that few thousand dollars needed to tour the continent of their dreams.

What do I do? I'm lucky enough to have some unused money in my bank given to me generously by my grandpa (who favours his grandsons very much), which was actually meant for my studies. Not that I'm complaining though. I'll be graduating in 1 year's time and I doubt I'll touch those assets in the near future. Europe, here I come!

It's a nice and bright Wednesday morning, and I'm stuck inside my FYP lab blogging away about where to go for holiday, while everyone else here is doing their work. Something is wrong with all these people. I should make them read my blog.

First Law of Thermodynamics

The first law of thermodynamics states that ΔU = ΔQ - ΔW

where, according to yours truly,
ΔU stands for the change in mood
ΔQ stands for change in temper
ΔW stands for the amount of work you did

In simpler terms, it means that if you're angry and you have a lot of work to do, you'll be in a bad mood. Alternatively, if you're pissed off and you keep yourself occupied with your favourite activites, your mood will be quite even.

Anyway, the reason why I'm writing all those crap above is because a friend of mine just feedbacked to me that I should include happy things into my blog. But I find it rather hard to think of something happy, when I'm feeling down. It's just like trying to smile when you're sad. Moods don't change so easily.

I wish I'm able to smile right now.

Acknowledgements

Firstly, I would like to thank Harry for his encouragement to set up my own blog, and for sharing with me his blogging experiences.

Most of all, this post is dedicated to thanking someone who has shown that no matter how busy and no matter where, I can always count on her to be there to lend a listening ear, to find out how I have been getting on. Thank you for teaching me that blogging is not something just to express myself with and let things out, but also a way in which you can find out how I have been.

THANK YOU Huimin

The adverse effects of long term exposure to rotten spine

Melvin Yeo

BIOMAT laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore


Abstract

Introduction. For the past decade, many researchers in the field of engineering are devoting their efforts to bioengineering, one of which is the mechanical properties of bone. Due to cost of acquiring bone specimens and limited funding of most researches, many researchers maximise the use of each specimen, possibly up to a year. This paper in particular studies the harmful effects of prolonged exposure to rotten spine.

Methods. The subject chosen for this study is the author himself. The author's Final Year Project is to design a radio-translucent spine testing rig. Observations for abnormalities to his daily routine on 4th October 2004 were made.

Observations. Woke up at 0730h in the morning, decided to switch off his alarm clock and return to sleep a little longer. Later, as he was packing his bag to leave for school, he realised he had misplaced his eye lubricator and had to make do without them.

Upon reaching his lab, he took out a specimen from the freezer to prepare for future testing and left it in the lab subsequently. While in the lab, a friend asked if he would like to join her group for doing lab and he agreed, completely forgetting that he had promised to join another friend for lab previously.

Went down to Science Park 1 with another already thawed specimen for testing. As he was setting up the equpiment, he realised he has forgotten how to calibrate the equipment again (for the upteenth time). While waiting for the experiment to run, he went to Medical Library to photocopy journals for his literature research review, but left his matriculation card in the photopying machine.

At the end of the experiment, he returned to his lab to collect his things and return home, only to realise after a while that he had left a specimen in the lab. Throughout the whole day, he had been in a near state of depression.

Conclusion. Prolonged exposure to rotten spine can lead to fatigue, carelessness, loss of memory and depression.