Mamma Mia!

I hereby vow:
Never to go to KL or somewhere so far away that I need to take PUBLIC TRANSPORT home. Because the public transport here sucks so bad. Especially the buses. Yesterday my sis, her friend Vincent and I had to wait ONE AND A HALF HOURS for a CITYLINER bus that NEVER CAME. So we had to take a KTM train from Midvalley to Nilai, then a bus from Nilai KTM station to Nilai Inti College, then my parents picked us from there. So banyak-banyak susah.
And what was I doing at Midvalley, you might ask? Watching.... Mamma Mia! Why Midvalley to watch, you might ask? Because my sister was bored of Bukit Tinggi's AEON...



I loved Mamma Mia! The Movie!! I sang along [much to the annoyance of some] to the songs I knew, and I just couldn't stop tapping my toes to them. Donna (Meryl Streep) and her friends were so expressive and funny. Must. Go. Watch.!!!

Chemistry

There's something about Chemistry that intrigues and fascinates me. Something that Larry Nyanti wrote some time ago was just what I've been thinking, but in a more love-related way.

Chemistry speaks a lot about life more than I imagine. It is like an analogy of life:

We as humans are incomplete, unstable and basically weak. Our melting and boiling points are low so we melt easily and get angry easily. There's something missing or there are some things we need to rid ourselves of like bad habits and negative thinking. Sometimes we need to let go of these things (donate electron) to become more complete, or combine with other people (form ionic/covalent bonds) to receive love and friendship and all that.
Covalent bonds = friendship; ionic bonds = love.
When you form a covalent bond, you are sharing your life with someone (sharing electrons); when you form an ionic bond, you donate a piece of yourself or receive a piece of someone's life, and both are made complete!!
*Ionic bond = strongest bond!!

Another analogy that I like is about displacement reactions. A more reactive (electropositive) metal will displace a less reactive metal in an ionic compound, or a more electronegative element displacing a less electronegative. So the stronger one will take over the weaker one. It's like other bigger bullies trying to steal from the weaker ones. The more reactive someone is, the more popular, smart or good-looking they are. But when they get too dependent on it, they become too reactive that they can't live on their own, whereas weaker elements can form diatomic molecules on its own. And beware - the higher up you are, the easier to combine with CO2 to form oxide and C. You get mixed with the wrong crowd?

Magnesium + Zinc Chloride --> Magnesium Chloride + Zinc
Chlorine + Potassium Iodide --> Potassium chloride + Iodine
Magnesium + Carbon dioxide --> Magnesium oxide + Carbon
[Hmmm could this be a way to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? ...]


Put Magnesium (Mg) and Iron (Fe) together in water and magnesium will corrode. It's not good being more reactive in the end. But when Zinc (Zn) encloses Iron (Fe) then both are protected from corrosion or rusting. It's like how friends protect and complement each other because they can't stand on their own. We all need friends to support us.

Did you know that if you were to give something to somebody, you lose that something? Love is all about sacrifice, isn't it? Give your time, you lose it. "Oxidize" someone, and you are "reduced". So, why not be an "oxidizing agent" to someone? Lift up others' spirits (oxidation number)! Life is a redox reaction - it's a give and take thing.

Do you know how carboxylic acids e.g. ethanoic acid and alcohol e.g. ethanol combine to form esters e.g. ethyl ethanoate? Do you realize how both which are somewhat destructive can form something so amazingly sweet-smelling? It can only happen by adding concentrated sulphuric acid and reflux - that is, the Holy Spirit.


Last but not least - sometimes soap cannot clean everything. Sometimes you need detergent - Jesus' blood - and other things like enzymes and brighteners - Holy Spirit - to really clean you up and make you new!!

XD

[If you are younger than 16, I'm sorry if you have not a clue what I'm talking about! You'll learn in Form 4 and 5...]

Tagged

*sigh*

Tagged by Andre Tan Hong Shu
[I editted and corrected the language of the questions a bit.]

1.What is the relationship between you and him?
- He's one of the best friends of one of my best friends.
- We're both kind of melancholic quiet and emo-ish but we don't talk much. To each other, that is. Hmmm.

2. Your 5 impressions about him:
- Amazingly talented in music and art
- Amazingly smart.
- He seems to have a low self-esteem. Hmmm, I'm not very sure.
- Quiet, often pessimistic?
- Japanese anime freak

3. The most memorable things he has done for you.
- .......... it's only been 8 or 9 months I knew him.....
- Since I have to answer, I guess it would be his inviting me to his house together with Lik Pin and Erica to let me play on the piano while mine was still in Kuching.

4. The most memorable thing he has said to you.
- Well, I guess he doesn't really SAY [in speech] much to me, but he DID "say" [in blog] about me: "ROXXX to the core"...

5. If he becomes your lover, you will...
- Faint. Commit suicide.

6. -question lost- [?????]

7. If he becomes your lover, he has to improve on...
- This is sounding disgusting, but anyway he would need to be a little more talkative. But that's his character, it's HIM, but as for me I would need a TALKATIVE person to complement my less talkative nature. =D

8. If he becomes your enemy, the reason would be...
- I become jealous of his super-talentedness, or vice versa. XD

9. The most desirable thing to do with him is...
- Play music?? Jamming...

10. The overall impression of him is...
- He reminds me of myself... only he's a lot richer and more talented. XD XD XD

11. How do you think the people around you feel about you?
- I think most people find me passive and not very intrusive or bossy. But some think I'm annoying, some think I'm less macho than most, some think my ass is big, but I don't care. Almost.

12. The character you like about yourself is...
- I tend to think a lot. Maybe a bit too much?? As a result I tend to have difficulty sleeping. But thinking is good, I think.

13. On the contrary, the character you hate about yourself is...
- I think too much?? And I find it so hard to talk to people sometimes. Most of the time. Almost all the time. But I don't hate it. I know I am wonderfully made. It's just that I sometimes/all-the-time resent that I am inept in communicating with people that I don't know.

14. The most ideal person that you want to be is...
- [like] Jesus Christ. I was made to be like Christ, in His image and all. XD

15. For the people who like and care about you, say something to them.
- I like and care about you too. XD Even if I don't know who you are...

16. 10 friends to tag:
1. Lik Pin
2. Erica
3. Sin Yee
4. Leti
5. Ryner
6. Jer
7. Wilson
8. Hannah
9. Jason Lau
10. Susan

[Sorry but I'm kind of out of people to tag...]
[All the people tagged were placed in random order without reference to questions below. But it all seems to fit. XD]

17. Who is no2 having a relationship with?
- I wouldn't know. She'd never tell me. But I know for sure there's SOMEONE...

18. Is no.3 a male or a female?
- Sometimes it's hard to tell. Lol, just kidding. Male. I meant, female...

19. If no.7 and no.10 were together, would it be a good thing?
- Hmmmm.. let's just say they'll make a noisy couple. No way. One is a holy mole [really?] and another has an all-too colourful language that she does not hesitate to use at any given moment. Xo

20. How about no.5 and no.8?
- No comment. That would be so so so weird. But hey, both of them have multiple pimples [as far as I know] so it would be a match made in Acne-Heaven... LOL

21. What is no.1 studying about?
- I would think he should be concentrating on Chemistry for now.

22. Is no.4 single?
- Aiks!
- You know, I have no idea. Sometimes she is, sometimes she's not.
- She's "single but not single". She and a certain someone [I wonder who?] are "together but not officially together". She's... it's.... complicated??

23. Say something about no.6?
- The best friend I've ever had and will have, I think.
- Unfortunately he wouldn't tell me about a certain girl he likes. Always keeping to himself der...

Pity, Pity

I have a friend in Kuching, Vance Hesler, whose birthday falls... on the 11th November - a.k.a the day that Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia 2008 commences.
Life must suck so bad for him. Other would-be-miserables include Priscilla Tan and Ryner Lai whose birthdays fall sometime during SPM.

SPM trials has ended for me. I am slightly relieved, but yet all of us Form 5 students know all too well that this is just the beginning of an intense 40 days or so before the dreaded final exam starts. After a few days of rest and relaxation, it will be back to the grinding stone to polish up all my subjects.

Meanwhile, to all my Malaysian friends: If you celebrate Hari Raya, then Selamat Hari Raya in advance!! If you don't, then enjoy the one-week holidays because if you are in Form 5 it's all you're gonna get before more study, more books...

Physics

I have recently realized why I do not have a penchant for Physics or anything much related to it. Ever since last year, I have always resented Physics and felt so stressed whenever I am forced to study it. However this year I faced it with a little more bravado and a little more love, probably because you have to love something to be good at it.

But why? Why is it that I have this odd antipathy for Physics like the way my friend at s.h.i.t abhors Chemistry [which I have grown to like, unfortunately]?

1. Last year, I had not much intention to study at all. I was always playing during Biology and Physics class and not listening to the teachers most of the time, probably because I chose to sit in a table full of girls [our seating was fixed from the first day onwards], which was probably a pretty bad idea, which came out of a challenge to myself to be able to communicate with a certain girl with whom I had had a mutual Perang Dingin since Form 1 because of certain unmentionable reasons.

I think the dislike and the not studying came hand-in-hand. If I disliked it, I would not want to read about it, no? Dislike for Physics is directly proportional to attention paid in Physics.

2. My Physics teacher(s) was a flop. No, not really. I just did not like the way they taught. Actually, I may have had some prejudice against them as a result of not liking Physics, therefore I did not listen, consequently I was a cop-out in Physics.
My school teacher in BL had an air of I-don't-care-if-you-cry that rejoiced in others' suffering. Whenever she dished out punishments, she always did it with an evil smile that would make any Mother Theresa at least hate her for a second or two. Then again, a bit of biased preconception on my side.

As I was trailing considerably in the said subject, I had to go for tuition. Oh, tuition. Again, I was always feeling stressed in tuition because I did not like the teacher's [who is incidentally my mom's cousin] attitude of arrogance, money-mindedness and whatnots. Then again, it was on a Saturday afternoon, which was a no-no for me because of church music practices and tiredness threatening to deprive me of a restful existence on Saturday night youth meetings. As a result, I was hardly paying attention in tuition, and when I missed out on important topics like Archimedes' principle and mirrors and lenses in Form 4, I was always panicking and could not keep up.

3. I would rate the two points above as lame and pathetic excuses for my disinclination towards Physics. The real reasons, I think, why I do not like it is because I feel that Physics is so dead. Where's the life in Physics? All the motion, the forces, the rays and waves that I could not care less about, where is the inspiring power of science in Physics?
Even as my teacher here said, "You don't need Physics to answer SPM questions. All you need is technique and Maths," it feels so dead and nonvolatile.
A few measurements here and there, and the Tower of Pisa may one day fall flat to the ground. A bit of resonance here and there, a bit of extra thrust force here and there, and entire bridges and buildings may collapse.

4. I sense a dark godlessness in Physics, especially in fields like particle and quantum physics. When I read about Large Hadron Collider (a la "Angels and Demons") in the news, and things like quarks, antimatter, neutrinos and whatchamacallit - it feels so devoid of God. I believe that God created the earth and the universe and all, but physicists seem to think that it all started with the Big Bang - a cosmic, random production of mass and matter with protons, photons and whatever-tons colliding, decaying, E=mc^2 and blah blah blah.
Right, so what? How does that tell you the meaning of life? How does the knowledge of the origin of your existence and the fact that matter is not matter at all, give you a reason to live? If your life is based on theories of quarks arranging themselves to form each individual being with individual souls and that the universe and the amazing nature around us is nothing but coincidence - I do not know how you could find the meaning and the drive to live.

In conclusion, that is more or less why I resent the study of Physics. But anyhow, I have to sit for it in SPM, so I have to like it. This year, I have grown to dislike it less thanks to Mr. Nyoi's annyoing yet subtly imagination-stimulating and instigating ways as well as Mr. Tay's comical movements that have made Physics bearable for my existence in Form 5.

Meanwhile, I was thinking to myself a while ago, that soon SPM will be all over before I know it, and I will be regretting not living it the fullest. So, I want to enjoy this pressure [is it even possible?] and treasure my time with my classmates before SPM is over.

Thus, I bid my best wishes as well as my sad adieu for the time being.
*sigh*

My SPM Blues

I wrote, sang, played on keyboard and recorded this song of SPM in a few hours because it was exactly how I felt and I couldn't stand it... here goes
[sorry but it's not the best quality. very fuzzy sound]

Lyrics:

V1:
Our country’s biggest thing is SPM
Many people thinking it’s a stupid exam
But what we’re gotta do is to cram cram cram
Last minute or not it’s a sickening scam

No time to be playing or singing this song
Cos if you’re doing it it’s so damn wrong
The time to be studying is so damn long
No time to be jamming which is where we belong

Chorus:
SPM
No one cares
If you faint or cry or die in pain
SPM
And (but) they say
If you don’t do well you’ll die of shame
SPM
Do they know
How we feel inside the stress of
SPM
Can we go
To some other place where there’s no SPM

V2:
Whether you love it or you hate it you’ve got to take the thing
Everyone’s pushing you to win win win
You can’t look at books cos that’s called cheating
And the man with most A1’s is called the king

So it’s called success if you get the pretty A’s
How about love and friends do they have no place?
After secondary school we’re gonna go our separate ways
Can’t we spend more time together maybe just a few days?

Bridge:
Ministry of Education
Why put us through all this pain
This overload of information
At the end what do we gain?

by Samuel Kana Lis 2008

The Great -Croak- Massacre

WARNING

This post is not for the faint-hearted. I stress this very clearly, if you are not an aspiring surgeon, or you have haemophobia or ranidaphobia, or you scream at the sight of a puny little ant crossing your path... this is NOT for you.

Anyway, to get on with proceedings, today my class 5 Newton joined forces with 5 Pasteur to finish what the Egyptians failed to complete during one of the plagues caused by Moses - the plague of the frogs! Therefore, we killed frogs. Many frogs. Many, many frogs. Mercilessly. Sliced them up. Alive. Muahahaha....

WARNING

Pictures that may cause you to lose your meal are coming right up.
Meanwhile, did you know frogs breathe through their lungs AND their skin?
Did you know frogs have an incomplete circulatory system, because oxygenated and deoxygenated blood mix in their heart.

With all that in mind, I shall start my tale of the great frog massacre...

First of all, we need frogs, yes? They come in many sizes - big, small, tiny, medium, and... humongous. Like the ones below.

And the tiniest but cutest of them all...
[No one had the heart to dissect them]


Next comes the anaesthetizing process which puts the frogs into deep, deep sleep for 10 minutes... actually, they never wake up. Hah.




Using chloroform as anaesthesia. Smells really bad.
[by the way that is Mr. Chia, one of my favourite teachers in this school]


And then, the operation begins. The massacre breaks loose. Frogs go to frog heaven. None of the girls thought of kissing the frogs, just in case one of them was a prince. Only one thought in our minds - exterminate the green little things!! [Hmm.. our group's was black. We're racists]

Oh yeah, may I remind you again? The following pictures are rather... upsetting. Don't blame me if you cannot eat meat for the rest of your life or you have nightmares of monster froggensteins chasing you - I wash my hands off their blood, so to speak.




Sonia: Yeah, pin them down. Stick those pins into its hands, yeah, like the Roman soldiers did to mah Jesus!!


Yeah, she just looooooves stretching those limbs.
Helps to warm up, ya know.
[Oh, and it's still ALIVE]

And it even wears a brassiere.

Again, forgive me for the tooo graphic images.


Oh yeah, this guy, Pin had the great idea to see if there's a prince behind the little froggy. Then he realizes...
He's a guy.

More graphics? Yeah, you saw that right.
It's an eye.

Yup,That's the said eye.


And the heart(s)... were still beating. So it's true, what the seniors have said. I have proof!! Videos on Youtube:

Operation Frogger
Heart pumping


I think that should be more than enough to make you lose your appetite. I've lost mine. You know what I think? We should call the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This is definitely cruelty. Exploitation, I tell you!

I'll never think of frogs the same way again. *croak*

Show Me The Meaning

Does anyone remember the song "Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely"? Now I shall sing... "Show Me The Meaning of Being Unfair"... because there is just this absurd unfairness in my school.

One of the most disliked, most hated, most detested and most disgustingly full-of-himself person has gotten the most distinguished, most honourable and most notable award presented to students. Our beloved head prefect has gotten the Tokoh Pelajar award, and somehow I won't hesitate writing about him here because I feel that this is truly unfair.

First of all, we all hate him. I try to be civil with him and treat him as a fellow human being, but many people in this school, especially the lower-ranked prefects under him feel he is not worthy of being called a human, but a [man's best friend]!! I think this came about because of his unfair attitude, his servanthood and undying loyalty towards our beloved discipline teacher... I don't really know why, but he's made my friend(s) cry before, I'm sure that counts for something.

Secondly, his exam results were pathetic. Maybe an A or so for BM or Tamil, but practically half the class beat him hands down. I wonder how the heck was he even considered for the award, if being a Tokoh Pelajar meant the most all-rounded student in the school?!

Then, I found the truth on Saturday, which was our prize-giving day. (I got award for being a class monitor as well as a bronze award for co-curriculum because of Chinese calligraphy thingie). I spoke to a renowned student is our school.

Me: How the heck did he get the award??!!
Sonia: Aiyah, memang like that wan lah. He is head prefect mah.
Me: What, so head prefect must get Tokoh Pelajar award?
Sonia: Yes lah, it's always like that. Head prefects always got the award wan.
Me: !@#$%^&*&^%$#@!! [censored][censored]

My point is, this is just unfair. So many other students were better than the said boy by academic as well as co-curriculum achievements. There were so many other students who got both co-curriculum awards and academic awards. But yet, when his biodata was read out, we only heard things like "menyertai...", "terlibat dalam...", "ahli aktif dalam..." - instead of more deserving attributes like winning any of those silly events he took part in. If the head prefect and only THE head prefect can get the penultimate award, does that mean every other student has no chance to obtain it, and all their efforts are wasted? Even if you get perfect scores for all your subjects, and you represented the Solar System in a galaxy-level competition but you are not a freaking Head Prefect, you still don't get the freaking award?!!

To conclude, I'm not saying I think I should have gotten the stupid award. Other people's credentials, like Sonia herself, Shiau Shuang, Ang Wei Fu and many others had much more acclaim than even two of Mr-Head-Prefects. Maybe he got it because he was Indian? Crap. Anyhow, the award was biased, it was given in total insincerity and has no value at all. Thank God I'm leaving in a few months time.