A week to be proud of!

It was a week of good deeds and achievements... 

On Wednesday evening, I helped MH and her 2 roommates move their stuff to their new rented apartment... There were quite a few heavy and bulky baggages, and I perspired alot, but it was worth the effort... It's not easy for a girl to leave her home at a young age and cope with the expenses of living while coping with studies, and have to rent a room with 2 other girls... You can't help but admire them for doing that for almost 3 years!

And it was pretty heart warming to see how the new landlord treating them like her own grandchildren... Even though MH could not understand Hokkien, the landlord still held her hand and tried to talk to her in a mix of Chinese and Hokkien (",) The previous landlord was a nice lady too, because she had helped them wash their clothes and cook for them occasionally!

Standard Chartered Half Marathon...

It was rather hard to believe that I managed to complete the whole journey when I was struggling to complete even 8 km last Sunday! Jason's (my Department's Unit Manager) advice was indeed useful! I bought a power bar and GU2O powder from GNC (and registered as a member) and ate the bar before my run... Amazingly, I can complete 10km at a comfortable pace in under 63 minutes even though I walked from the 9th-10th km in order to avoid stitch after indulging at the water point (",)

It became progressively harder towards the end though... Before reaching the 16km mark my left calf was cramping and I have no choice but to continue walking... Just when I was clearing my 18th km my right thigh and calf went cramping together! I told myself that even if I'm incapable of running back, I have to walk back! Before the last 300m, I stopped now and then to do some stretching before jogging myself back to the finish point (no choice, must look nice for photo shot mah! =P) 

There was a slight surge of emotions after the run, because I have completed 21.1km for the 2nd time in my life! Although my timing wasn't as good as my previous attempt, I know that nothing else matters so long as I did not give up =)

I am going to sign up for the marathon again next year... I may not be capable of completing 42km but I should be at least joining the 21km run again!

Nice gathering with JX and MC today too! My 2 BMT buddies had completed 42 km and they were still suffering from slight cramps even when we meet up after the run! Really have to salute them!

May the next week be even better!

My Week...

Actually, I should have done a few entries but everyday after I come from work, it was either too late or I'm just too plain tired to remind myself to blog... This was what happened to my week so far:

Tuesday - KTV cum YL's birthday celebration with my intern friends! It was a very fun evening indeed, we sang/shouted/screamed during singing and on top of that, XZ bought a Belgian Chocolate cake and KW made a photo album with the photos we took and our birthday greetings for YL... So at the end of the day we all had sore throat and tired...

Wednesday - Had a meeting for our group presentation before the end of our internship.... And as if there's not enough chocolates, we went for a chocolate shopping spree after lunch because there are vendors from outside selling chocolates... I bought a can of macadamia nuts and a Remy Martin Milk Chocolate bar, and of course some of my friends and colleagues bought even more chocolates than me! Have to thank Mabel for the Rum and Raisin chocolate, KW for her seashell chocolates and last but not least, to MH for the mint sweets though it was not bought from the stall =)

Thursday and Friday - Nothing much going on, but I have been chatting on the company's MSN while doing work =P

Today - Going to watch Dim Sum Dollies tonight, and I won't forget the timing and location!!

Sunday - Going for Uncle Elsen baby's full month celebration, eh but I really forgot the timing and location!! Just smsed Uncle Joseph for help!

Time really flies...

It seem only recently that we interns were recruited into MSD... But 20 weeks of internship had already went past! It's seems kind of ironic that everyday passes, and yet each week passes by so quickly.... Officially, our internship will end in another 4 weeks time, but I have already made up my mind to extend my internship, hopefully to just before my next semester.... Wonder how I'll feel during the very last day of my extension though...

Hit the target!

I clocked 59 min 47 seconds in my 10km run (continuous, except for a small distance in which I have to keep my mp3 player after the battery went flat) yesterday.... To me it wasn't a bad run (considering I have struggled to complete even 5 km without walking for the past few runs)... But the chicken murtabak I had after the run was ultra sinful!!

Ok, shall stay focused on my training in the hope that I can

1. Finish 21km without giving up;
2. Lose some weight and narrow down my waistline!

Oh Yes!!!!

I just realised that I get to the car on the big day (Standard Chartered Marathon) because my sis will be in Laos from 27th Nov - 12th Dec!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I'm Back!!!

Yes, I am back by popular demand (actually it was just Chris, one person only!)... But ok, maybe there are other friends who have also persuaded me to continue haha!! Anywayz... Here was what happened during the past 3 months (nothing much happened though):

1. I have made alot of friends in MSD;
2. I went for 2 KTV sessions with my IA friends (3rd one coming soon!);
3. I have dyed my hair;
4. I went for my company's D&D... It was a super fun event!

And we took alot of photos! I am not going to blog about it because "a picture spells a thousand words"... You can see how much we enjoyed the event from the smiles we had during the night! If you are interested to look at the photos, feel free to drop a comment and your email so I can send you an invitation!

I hope I can finish 10km without stopping tonight... It's just 3 more weeks to Standard Chartered Half Marathon!!

New Balance Real Run Completed!! Wooooo!!!

After weeks of intensive training, I am proud to say that I have completed the 10km challenge!! And I'm even prouder to say that at the time I signed up for the run about a month ago(thanks to the psycho-ings from Ryan and XZ), I struggled to even complete 3 km! It's by no means easy to increase your running distance by 1-2km everytime you train, but everything's worth it because I feel sportier, healthier, fitter and more tanned... Totally different from the time when I was deprived of sports activities during my FYP(sportier lazier, UNhealthier, fitter fatter and more less tanned)... I am now eagerly waiting for my cert to be printed out so that I will know how long I took to complete the run ('',)

And yesterday was a super siong day! After the 10km run, I went for lunch/chill out with XZ while waiting for her friends (SL and Jane) to join us for a roller blading session... Yes we were crazy, cos we bladed for about 12km (2 x the distance from Fort Road to Bedok Jetty)!! We started out at Marine Cove, went all the way to Bedok Jetty and rested for a while, and went all the way to Fort Road before heading back to Marine Cove... SL was slower so she made her way to the hawker centre first while Jane was too fast and was well heading back to the hawker centre before XZ and I can reach Fort Road! The pain was really setting in after we U-turned at Fort Road and I'm beginning to blade like a beginner, wasting more energy to glide struggle my way back to Marine Cove. Lucky XZ saved me us from walking to the hawker centre and we ate at Marine Cove instead, before my sister came and drove us home... Phew! Siong but shiok day hooooooo!!!

The Next Ultimate Challenge: Standard Chartered Run?

Just when leg exercise is the very last thing I need now, Ryan dropped the bombshell today... He suggested we go join the 21km run! Another series of siong trainings coming up? I'll think about it! 

Siong and siow? Is it worth waking up super early again to go for another long distance run?  Is it worth the effort to regain my tanned looks, fitness and slim down? LET ME THINK ABOUT IT!!

At last, 2nd ICT down!

Ironically, it was my slackest week in June! It was damn stressful on the night before I have to report to camp because I have to submit my updated my updated thesis to my project supervisors as well as going for haircut, while thinking about having to wake up early in the morning to pack my stuff...

Thankfully this time, the low key training wasn't as siong as I thought it would be... Unlike the first low key ICT, when we have to "wait to rush, rush to wait" and getting tormented by our trainers (who happened to be cmi Lieutenant regulars who are destinied to hengtak taki), this ICT was essentially body maintenance, having naps and canteen breaks etc. There was even a combat shoot in which a detail can get marksmanship (and $200 each) if they can hit 144 targets out of 180 rounds in total. 

Coupled with my NS pay of $118 and my winnings from Singapore Pools, I pocketed almost $400 in the slackest week of June yay!

Talking about the World Cup, I think past results between 2 teams really play a significant part apart from their current form and the players they have. I'm not joking, just bet on England and Sweden draw, France and Switzerland draw and Holland failing to beat Portugal will win you some extra allowance. But it would be totally foolish to throw your bets on your teams without doing some homework, that is to look at their current form, injuries, world cup history and, for Togo's case, team unity. Looking at the wage dispute in Togo's national team, it's not surprising to earn some allowance by betting on them to lose all their matches. If you look at form, betting on Ivory Coast, Ghana and Ukraine to win their final group matches are clever moves especially when the odds offered for them to win are pretty high (1.92, 2.00 and 1.57 respectively). As for world Cup history, never bet on teams like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia to win... Other than Iran's 1998 win over USA, I couldn't really recall when was the last time they won a world cup match.

I'm happy to say that after losing money over Germany, Italy and Czech Republic on half goals against Poland, USA and Czech Republic respectively, I have won all my 9 bets on win/lose/draw, including last night's England to win and Ecuador +1.5, reaping in a profit of $60 (all my bets are $10 or $5) over the last week, and overturning my defecit of $10.30 to a net gain of $49.90 in process... Perhaps it's a reward for me for having to go back for reservist when I was so busy haha!!

Finally, here's my prediction for the upcoming matches:

Italy to win Australia 2-0. (Can bet on Italy win, but half goals on Italy will be a bit risky)

Spain and France to draw.

England and Portugal to draw, and Portugal to advance to the semi-finals (for 2 reasons: England is really unconvincing, and history favours Portugal, just like how history favours Portugal so much more than Holland!!!).

Germany and Argentina to draw, but Germany will go through (sorry Argentina, you may be one of the best teams so far but Germany has home ground advantage).

Brazil to go through, Ghana to go home... No comments.

Switzerland vs Ukraine... A close call but I think the Swiss can get into the quarter-finals.

Best bet:

England and Portugal to draw in the quarter finals.

A real big surprise...

I couldn't sleep well last night. Perhaps it is right to say that the results of the final 2 semesters won't help much in improving my CAP score, and hence a better grade of Honours degree, but I still yearn for a good result. Waking up every 10 minutes from 8am onwards isn't really an enjoyable experience.

For the 4 modules that were graded, 3 of them were within expectation, but the paper I thought I'll fare worst turn out to be my best module.

It was a good surprise after all =)

So near yet so far...


Thierry Henry and Arsene Wenger: Their expression tells everything.

That was the sad story of Arsenal in Paris last night. They biggest prize in Europe eludes them again but I’m really proud of the team for putting up a heroic fight. Down to 10 men with 72 minutes to go, they showed their fighting spirit instead of giving up and even stole a lead for almost 40 minutes. Obviously, such a feat against a team with the likes of Samuel Eto’o, Deco and Ronaldinho is not easy. Many teams would have been slaughtered long before the match ends. Arsenal was defeated by, credit to Barcelona, a class team and fatigue. Things might have turned out so differently if they could play with 11 men for 90 minutes.

I am lying if I say I’m not disappointed. Like most Arsenal fans, I would love to see Thierry Henry lift the Champions League Trophy and show the world that they, as one of the best teams in Europe, deserve to win the biggest prize in Europe. It’s just a great pity that such a great team never have the chance to win the tournament before. On the overall picture, I guess Arsenal have overachieved in what has been speculated as a “transition season”.

 

While finishing 4^th is not a very proud achievement in the Premiership, given that they have not finished lower than 2^nd place in every full season when Arsene Wenger is in charge, it was commendable given that Patrick Vieira was sold and Francesc Fabregas, at only 18, had groomed to become a world class midfielder. At least, they qualified for Champions League next season.

 

In their best ever Champions League campaign, they are the best English team. Who would have expected them to brush aside Real Madrid and Juventus and progress to their first ever semi-finals? And they did one better by beating Villareal for a place in Paris. It is just too bad that they couldn’t win in the end when they were just 14 minutes away from glory. 995 minutes of clean sheet is no joke.

 
Next season, they will definitely do better in the Premier League. As for the Champions League, they are capable of winning it if they continue to play like this season and, have a bit of luck. Now that Thierry Henry has pledged his future to Arsenal, it looks like Arsenal may not be the loser after all.

A Proud Moment for Arsenal Fans....



UEFA Champions League Semi-Final 2nd Leg: Villareal 0 Arsenal 0.

Arsenal win 1-0 on aggregate.



Magnificient Lehmann saved a 90th minute penalty from Riquelme.

10 consecutive clean sheets, 15 hours without conceding a goal. New Champions League Record. 



A good 10th anniversary for Arsene Wenger and the perfect farewell gift for Bergkamp.

The last tribute to Highbury and the first tribute to Emirates Stadium.

The final push for their first ever Champions League Trophy. 



Make it a magnificient 11 Arsenal! See you in Paris!

Football Talk...

Who is going to be the next manager of England?

Now this is the big talk in English football... Who shall be the successor of Eriksson after the World Cup? Currently, Steve McClaren, Alan Curbishley, Big Sam and Stuart Pearce are the four favourites because they are all Englishmen and there is a strong sentiment that the next England manager should be an Englishman. Among the four of them, I would prefer Pearce or Big Sam to be the next manager. Pearce just retired from football not long ago and he should be quite familiar with team tactics and which player is suitable for what role, and it would be very exciting because he'll be following the footsteps of Marco van Basten in Holland and Jurgen Klinsmann in Germany! How exciting it is if there are 3 managers in 3 football powerhouses that were great footballers just a decade ago! Big Sam would be a good choice, for what is a pretty incredible transformation of Bolton. McClaren and Curbs? Hmmm Boro and Charlton's forms have been quite inconsistent, though both are veteran managers...

The next question is: What about Alan Pardew? How come Pardew's talents went unnoticed by the FA? When West Ham were promoted via the playoffs last season, who would have expected West Ham to finish at mid-table and qualify for FA Cup Final? Or Paul Jewell for making Wigan the next Wimbledon of England? 

The problem is, there isn't a single English manager who made a big breakthrough in the past few years! If Eriksson were to retire in 2008, the situation could have been so much different!

Now, let's look at other Premier League managers... Too bad they are not Englishmen!

Jose Mourinho: No matter how much you hate him, you gotta admit that he's a very effective manager, and he's got a wicked sense of humour. But he's such a sore loser that I think he can go coach Portugal if he wants to.

Alex Ferguson: Oh what is going to happen if he's going to kick a boot at the English captain again?

Rafael Benitez: He's good, but I think there is a greater possibility that he'll be a future manager of Spain instead... Too bad!

Arsene Wenger: If only he's English! No doubt the most successful manager in Arsenal's history, this man is not one who will buy stars to win matches. No no, he build stars to win matches! Just look at Fabregas... Who would have thought that selling Vieira is a big big mistake? Perhaps, sacrificing a season for the better of Arsenal's future will be a more accurate description of the Professor's move? And who can forget Mr Thierry Henry? What would be this superstar's outcome if he were to remain at Juventus? Notice that he isn't even interested in Ronaldinho, the other best player in the world (other than Henry) in my opinion. And there is Hleb, Reyes, Pires, Ljungberg, Senderos, Flamini, Bergkamp (he's old but he's still good), Toure, Eboue, Lehmann... None of them are big names when the Professor first bought them.

Just imagine England playing like Arsenal... But I have to admit that no matter how much I think Arsene is the best man for England, letting him go is going to be the biggest mistake for Arsenal. It would also be ironic if Wenger is to coach a team of pure English players when Arsenal has only a handful of English players!

Funny Video...

Don't try to be funny when you go dive next time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss1TUNEYj8c

Getting Sick and Tired of FYP, Labs and Research?

Read this! LOL~

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/hall.html
 

Electron Band Structure In Germanium, My Ass

Abstract: The exponential dependence of resistivity on temperature in germanium is found to be a great big lie. My careful theoretical modeling and painstaking experimentation reveal 1) that my equipment is crap, as are all the available texts on the subject and 2) that this whole exercise was a complete waste of my time. 

Introduction

          Electrons in germanium are confined to well-defined energy bands that are separated by "forbidden regions" of zero charge-carrier density. You can read about it yourself if you want to, although I don't recommend it. You'll have to wade through an obtuse, convoluted discussion about considering an arbitrary number of non-coupled harmonic-oscillator potentials and taking limits and so on. The upshot is that if you heat up a sample of germanium, electrons will jump from a non-conductive energy band to a conductive one, thereby creating a measurable change in resistivity. This relation between temperature and resistivity can be shown to be exponential in certain temperature regimes by waving your hands and chanting "to first order".

 Experiment procedure

      I sifted through the box of germanium crystals and chose the one that appeared to be the least cracked. Then I soldered wires onto the crystal in the spots shown in figure 2b of Lab Handout 32. Do you have any idea how hard it is to solder wires to germanium? I'll tell you: real goddamn hard. The solder simply won't stick, and you can forget about getting any of the grad students in the solid state labs to help you out.
      Once the wires were in place, I attached them as appropriate to the second-rate equipment I scavenged from the back of the lab, none of which worked properly. I soon wised up and swiped replacements from the well-stocked research labs. This is how they treat undergrads around here: they give you broken tools and then don't understand why you don't get any results.

	Fig. 1: Check this shit out.

      In order to control the temperature of the germanium, I attached the crystal to a copper rod, the upper end of which was attached to a heating coil and the lower end of which was dipped in a thermos of liquid nitrogen. Midway through the project, the thermos began leaking. That's right: I pay a cool ten grand a quarter to come here, and yet they can't spare the five bucks to ensure that I have a working thermos.

 Results

      Check this shit out (Fig. 1). That's bonafide, 100%-real data, my friends. I took it myself over the course of two weeks. And this was not a leisurely two weeks, either; I busted my ass day and night in order to provide you with nothing but the best data possible. Now, let's look a bit more closely at this data, remembering that it is absolutely first-rate. Do you see the exponential dependence? I sure don't. I see a bunch of crap.
      Christ, this was such a waste of my time.
      Banking on my hopes that whoever grades this will just look at the pictures, I drew an exponential through my noise. I believe the apparent legitimacy is enhanced by the fact that I used a complicated computer program to make the fit. I understand this is the same process by which the top quark was discovered.

 Conclusion

      Going into physics was the biggest mistake of my life. I should've declared CS. I still wouldn't have any women, but at least I'd be rolling in cash.

Why Eye Doctors Don't Wear Contact Lens...

Have to conduct some form of blatant plagiarism hurhur!! Think this article is very useful for contact lens users like me =)

To make sure they are safe, contact lenses need perfect cleanliness, say some docs

 

TOP Lasik surgeon Jerry Tan does not wear them, neither does Singapore National Eye Centre senior consultant Dr Lim Li, or Dr Au Eong Kah Guan, head of ophthalmology at Alexandra Hospital.

 

They are among Singapore's top eye doctors and all choose to wear spectacles instead of contact lenses. Why? Contact lenses, they say, require an almost obsessive cleanliness to ensure they are safe, which takes up far too much time.

'Even if you are very careful, I don't think there will be zero risk,' said Dr Au Eong Kah Guan.

Why eye docs don't wear contacts PM: Moment is right for polls Hottest job in town: Private bankers SCDF ups emergency drill days by 50% US arms deal rap: Accused is ex-SAF officer Other case in Hawaii: Indonesian military 'not involved' PM: This election is about the future PAP's promise to three key groups 'Good news' announcement on Medisave to come tomorrow Where are your candidates, PM Lee asks opposition Young PAP does not shut up its members, says Vivian Soo Khoon 'drew blood' but always constructive Staying together, moving ahead Many had a hand in crafting manifesto Slogan inspired by SMU student 3 new candidates speak of fish heads, rats and dreams Battle-hardened 'tutor' PM's thumbnail sketches of candidates TV forum with youth exposes gulf: Vivian New faces: Hopes, fears, best tips The art of being all things to all people SDA calls for more competition in 'election agenda' WP strategy: Focus on house-to-house visits away from media spotlight Candidate's absence in Bukit Panjang: Cracks in SDP leadership? Grand old dame sparkles again Batam stabbing: Suspected killer may be from Palembang Buyers seek help from top Malaysian developer S'pore boy charms Saudi prince in 10-min chat Bush backs beleaguered Rumsfeld SM Goh struck by Suzhou Industrial Park's success Police on alert for reprisals after Delhi mosque blasts World Front No bridge, but talks on other issues to continue Ties won't be hurt: George Yeo Mahathir calls for referendum on issue in Johor 'Start a war, but it won't be you who finishes it' Hu's first dinner at Gates house, not White House Train crash kills 13 in Indonesia Just like a Chinese drama serial China carries out its first face transplant China woos Taiwanese with economic goodies Taiwan unveils two US-made early-warning aircraft

Given the recent link between a popular contact lens solution and surging cases of a dangerous fungal eye infection, they might well be doing the sensible thing.

Since November 2004, 75 contact lens users here have been infected by the fusarium fungus, which can cause blindness. A large proportion of them were using the same lens solution: Bausch & Lomb's ReNu, which was the top-seller here.

 

Ordinarily, fungal infections are rare, with only about one case a month, but 14 cases were reported in both January and February, and four cases last month. It is the first time the infection has been linked to contact lens use. ReNu solution has been taken off the shelves.

Contact lenses need alot of care to maintain properly, so eye doctors Tony Ho (above) and Ronald Yeoh (below) stick with glasses. -- ASHLEIGH SIM

In the United States, there have been 109 cases since March 8. Some contact lens users here have been so spooked by the episode that they have abandoned their lenses.

But many top eye doctors here have been wearing glasses all along.

Dr Au Eong, head and senior consultant of ophthalmology and visual sciences at Alexandra Hospital, has been wearing them for nearly 30 years.

'I don't like the idea of putting a foreign body in my eye,' said the 40-year-old. 'I know how obsessed you have to be about hygiene with your lenses. Even if you are very careful, I don't think there will be zero risk.'

Dr Lim Li, senior consultant with Singapore National Eye Centre's corneal and external eye disease service, said her line of work was also partly to blame for putting her off lenses. 'Very often I treat patients with corneal infections due to contact lens wear.' p>Like Dr Au Eong, Dr Tony Ho, consultant ophthalmologist at Eye Care Clinic finds glasses easier and safer. Lenses are trouble to maintain.

Dr Jerry Tan, who performed the first Lasik operation here in 1996, has an altogether more pragmatic reason. 'I'm getting older now and when I need to see something close or read something I can just take off my glasses and I can see it,' said the 48-year-old.

Ultimately, all doctors say the main reason for sticking with glasses is that it takes a lot of care to maintain contact lenses properly.

Said Dr Ronald Yeoh, consultant eye surgeon at Eye Clinic Singapura who also wears glasses because of the hassle of contact lenses: 'Contact lenses are safe. But if you want to wear them, make sure you take care of them.'

Which is precisely what the experts say many Singaporeans have neglected. Said Dr Tan: 'A lot of people start out quite enthusiastic about keeping them clean, but they forget after a while.'

jeremyau@sph.com.sg

simlinoi@sph.com.sg

 

 

---

 

EYE specialists here say many contact lens wearers have become too lax about hygiene.

Here are their tips on minimising the risk of infection:

DO

•  Wash your hands before taking off or putting on contact lenses

 

•  Clean your lenses after removing them from your eye

•  Change the soaking solution every day, even if you are not wearing the lens

•  Change your contact lens container every three months

•  Consider switching to daily disposable lenses

•  Check with your practitioner before changing lens solution 

• Go for regular check-ups; new users should get checked after two weeks of wearing lenses, while regular users should get checked at least once every six months

DON'T

• Wear contact lenses for more than eight to 12 hours a day

 

• Wear contact lenses overnight, even if they are supposed to be for overnight use

 

•  Use daily, weekly or monthly disposable lenses for more than the stipulated time

•  Go swimming while wearing your lenses

•  Wash your lenses in tap water because it is not sterile

---

First to detect infection-lens solution link, S'pore shares findings with US

 

SINGAPORE'S role as the first country to uncover possible links between fusarium fungal eye infections and the ReNu contact lens solution has seen laboratories here sharing information with the United States, which is experiencing its own spike in infections. 

Senior Minister of State for Health Balaji Sadasivan said yesterday that data on cases here and samples of the fungus have been sent to laboratories in the US.

Speaking at the launch of a photography exhibition at the National Library, Dr Balaji also said: 'I'm very proud of our epidemiologists. They went back to the cases and looked at all the factors and found an association between ReNu and this infection,' he said. 

Since the ReNu contact lens solution was taken off the shelves here, the number of fungal infections have come back down to the baseline. 

But it still does not mean that we can know the cause and effect. Despite all our investigations, we might not be able to detect it,' he said.

Trust me... Editing this article's copied and pasted format is not easy! 

What has the world come into??

Read this article: "PFA offer to help Wayne Rooney with his "700k pound debt".
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=364310&cc=4716

Wise up man, there are at least 2 billion people in this world who lives on with less than $2 a day! While I admire Rooney for his talents (and curse his penchant of scoring against Arsenal), I hope he can grow up mentally. If he can accumulate such a huge gambling debt, I hope he can face it like a real man and don't let anyone help him with it. Wayne Rooney, just stop all your bad habits and learn to behave like what a star should!

Just think of all the less fortunate people in the world, what makes you think that you deserve the help more than anyone of them?

Trust the PFA to come up with this offer...

Get tough on racism!

FIFA is finally taking action against racism! For the past 2 years it has been rather disturbing to see club fans from top leagues like Serie A and Prima Liga making racist chants in attempts to provoke opposition players, especially African and Black players. I find it really astounding that so many people are so insensitive to do something so stupid! And what were the penalties? Fines and stopping of matches?

Get real! Do you think those racists will be afraid of getting their clubs fined for just a few hundred or a thousand euros? If they will, the problem should have stopped a long time ago! Seriously, football federations have been talking about taking tough actions against racism, but no firm action has been taken until today.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=361881&cc=4716

FIFA is going to approve points deduction and even relegation for clubs who repeatedly make racist chants. Hopefully, if these "fans" really love their football club, they will learn to shut up. Otherwise, they are not true fans of football, they are just using football as a propaganda to promote racism.

I applaud all the people who stood up against racism, and referees who chose to stop matches when those silly and pointless racist chants were affecting players' performance.

Spoilt Brat...

Took my mom to NUH today for a medical appointment and I saw another classic case of parents who failed to discipline their child. There was this lady who came for a checkup with her son (about 2-3). The little boy, who I will call him B (B for Brat) from now on, not only made a lot of noise by talking loudly, he was probably disruptive as well. Here's what were some of the things he did at the waiting area:

1. As B saw his mother measure her height and weight, he became fascinated with the adjustable plastic lever attached to the height indicator which people used it to measure their height accurately. What B did was to climb up the chair beside the machine and attempted to twist the lever until a point that I thought he was bent on pulling the lever out! Mind you, not only he's dirtying the seat that other patients would be sitting, he's also threatening to spoil the machine as well. All his mom did was to tell him to sit down and behave (in a soft voice), but relented in the end when B insisted on playing with the lever.

2. At the very next second, B climbed off the seat and ran about, sometimes entering consultation rooms where there were doctors and outpatients around. 

3. As if that isn't disruptive enough, B went to play with the water dispenser. Not only it is disruptive, it is also very dangerous! When I peeked at B, he was playing around with the hot water dispenser! It was only then his mom decided to take action and walked towards him.... not to spank him ok, but just ensuring he wasn't scalded by the hot water.

Honestly, I was actually hoping that B will get scalded by the hot water, and from then on he'll learn to behave and his mom will do some reflective thinking to be stricter in future. 

Ok so in the end he actually learnt how to use the child-lock mechanism, and he started grabbing the paper cups and filled them with water. Because he filled the cups to the brim, he spilt some water on the floor, and because he thought it was a toy, he wasted about 10-20 cups. A senior nurse who walked past B just shook her head and walked away.

As a spectator, I'm simply appalled at the tolerance level of B's mother. How can she allow her child to run around like that? In case you do not know, we are inside Clinic G, G for GYNAECOLOCY. Ok, my mom went there because she had an operation recently to remove her reproductive organs. She also witnessed this case of horrendous parenting and she made a few very good comments that set me into thinking:

1. There are many pregnant women in that clinic as well. What if they slip and suffer a miscarriage? Who is going to be responsible for it? 

Personally, I felt that if I am the senior nurse, I will tell B to stop fooling around. I will justify the lecture because I have a duty to uphold the safety of the patients. I do not want anyone to slip and get injured, or worse, pregnant women to slip and suffer from miscarriage. It is also for B's own safety as well, because I do not want him to get scalded, or run around and fall down or knock over some equipment. Hopefully, B's mom will intervene and make sure that she'll be stricter in disciplining B to prevent such lectures from happening again.

2. When B wasted so many paper cups, how are people going to drink water when they are thirsty?

Obviously, B's mom did not think about this point. She just told B to throw the wasted paper cups into the litter bin. She's probably not civic minded enough to stop her boy from being so disruptive.

3. How would B's mom feel when she saw another child who behaves exactly the same way as her child?

I think this is a very interesting question. There are 2 possible outcomes on how she will think: Disgusted or ashamed. She will probably feel disgusted by the lack of discipline of the child, but I hope that she will feel ashamed for not being firm on her boy. Such situation will serve a good mirror for reflective thinking.

I guess Mom and I are believers of disciplinarians, as we believe in strict discipline in upbringing a child. We believe in being strict to children when they are young, for this is part of a socialization process to ensure that they behave well in public. We do not want them to be penalized for inappropriate behavior. I guess all parents do not want this to happen. The question is, do they understand the importance of discipline? We are not people who believe that violence brings conformity. Rather, we believe that we have to be firm in telling them what is right and what is wrong. We cannot yield to their demands just because they made noise and cry about it. Kids are basically very intelligent because who will yield to their demands and who has the "NO means NO" tag.

That brings me to the last question my mom asked: What if my future wife disagrees with the way I am going to discipline our child?

Well, before I get married, we will come up with an agreement on how we are going to discipline our children first!

7 months only?

I felt rather disturbed after reading the news article on the maid who got her finger dipped into hot oil by her employer. Yes, the housewife was punished with a 7 months jail, but seriously, is the sentence heavy enough?

In my humble opinion, the answer is no.

When the housewife dipped the maid's finger into the hot oil, one thing that is very clear is her intention to cause hurt to the maid. Otherwise, why did she forcefully grabbed her finger and dip it into the oil? Why did she hit the maid again when she served bread for breakfast for 2 consecutive days? Doesn't it make more sense to give her proper instructions in the first place? From what I read from the papers, there isn't a single statement that says she had provided proper instructions to the maid.

Even if she had instructed the maid to change breakfast, we have to ask: Did she give the maid enough time and money to prepare a better breakfast? Even if she had given the maid more than enough cash and time to prepare a better breakfast, that doesn't mean she has the right to physically abuse the maid, or worse, dip her finger into the oil! 

Sadly, there are too many cases of maid abuse and it just show that some Singaporeans doesn't learn. We have read about too many cases of employers serving jail terms for abusing their maids. What irks me more is that she has the cheek to plead for leniency. On the grounds of frustration? On poor performance of the maid? That they have children to take care of? Does that justify the reason of hitting a maid?

Employers who have any slight desire to lay a finger on your maid, please spare a thought for your maid. They are human as well, they have emotions, they make mistakes and most importantly, they feel pain as well. What gives you, maid abuser, a right to abuse them physically? Is it true that if you pay someone money to do work, you have all the rights to mistreat the person? If you are not happy with the performance of your maid, remove her from the job. Resorting to violence will only create more problems.

To prevent maids from future abuse, heavier punishments has to be imposed. Jail terms and bans on hiring maids are simply too lenient penalties. Maid abusers should make public apology to their victims and compensate them. People who employ maids should also attend compulsory workshops that teaches them the proper treatment of maids and how to handle domestic situations appropriately without the use of physical violence. Monthly checks on maids for injuries seem to be a good move to deter abuse as well.

Victims subjected to physical abuse, please stand up. You have a right to protect yourselves from further abuses and your tormentor has a right to be punished.

Guilty...

I ran over a dog yesterday... It may be a dog, but it's also a life...

I can still remember the look of the dog as it suddenly ran out of the road, it was playing with a herd of dogs, but it just ran out of the road... I couldn't brake fast enough...

All I can hope for is that if next life really exist, I hope it will be a good one for the dog. 

Watched One More Chance today...

I think it is a good show... Jack Neo had done another good job by coming up with a very good movie that is both funny and touching, and yet focused on more important social issues, that is to give ex-convicts a second chance. The part of the movie in Changi Prison, is in fact, a very light hearted way of showing us a prisoner's life... It really make me think that for a criminal to go to jail to pay for his mistake is not really the most painful part.... Coming out of prison is not the end of the pain, but the beginning of an even more painful journey.... Imagine after getting out of touch from the society for such a long time, and trying to compensate lost time by trying to get a job and making more commitments for family, only to find out that people look at you in a very different way and not ready to give you another chance... I guess Singapore is really a pretty unforgiving society, and not everyone will understand the plight of an ex-convict when he can't find a job, or how hurt he was when people are talking behind his back... It's really a very educational movie to come up with, not only because it reminds us of the heavy price of making a mistake, but also remind us that everyone makes a mistake.... So if we can be forgiven for a mistake, why can't be ex-convicts be forgiven?

When it comes to National Education, this is the very first movie I will recommend. 4.5 stars out of 5 for this movie....-0.5 marks because the last part is too propaganda even though the ending is nice.... And yes, I want a yellow ribbon!