Double Happiness - for a single, at any rate

In a string of events that can only be described as stunning, I first found out that I got the Director’s roll for last semester, and then on the day of the presentation ceremony I found out that my team is advancing to the Imagine Cup finals!

What a blast! The Imagine Cup is an international competition run by Microsoft to get students around the world to think about how technology can solve the problems plaguing the world. My team mate and I hadn’t really thought that we’ll get into the finals.

“Eh, want to partner me for the photography invitational?” my friend had asked suddenly. We were in class, browsing the Imagine Cup website. Our lecturers had just talked about us joining the software design invitational, but I was chafing at the theme this year (http://imaginecup.com/Competition/Overview.aspx).

“Let me think about it,” I sucked on my pencil cap. I do that whenever I’m thinking about something. “I can’t think of any s*** that we can propose where ‘technology can help enable a sustainable environment’; how about a garbage bin that sorts all the garbage automatically into recyclable and non-recyclable parts?”

Well, that was as far as that conversation went, because we were all sucked into a whirlwind of activities and projects which left me brain dead at 9pm in the evening each day. With early morning lessons the next day, there certainly wasn’t much time to work on another project unless I wanted to sacrifice my perfect GPA score.

During the semester break that followed, I found myself working on a video for the school’s enrolment drive. My friend flew off to Bali for a photography retreat. Between a few phone calls and email on a 56k modem line in a Bali hotel, we didn’t mentioned anything about the Imagine Cup. He would be exhausted by the jungle trekking during the day, while I would be tearing my hair in morbid frustration. At that point, the school’s enrolment drive video wasn’t going really well.

So it was only one month before the entry deadline that my friend reminded me about the competition. Among the many stuff I was juggling, it had slipped underneath my radar. He had a story for the photographs taken in Bali. Only a few more photographs remained before the entry was completed. I decided that it would be worth a shot — after all, how long would you need to produce 10 good photographs for a competition?

The answer turned out to be: very long. We searched for solar-panel powered car park signs, and checked the usual areas where we both thought we had seen them, but couldn’t find any. I remembered seeing one at Mt Sophia, so we made a trip down, trekking up the road. It turned out that none of the signs were solar-powered. We also travelled to Little India, Bugis, Lavender, and even Jalan Besar, taking lots of photographs along the way, but there was absolutely no sign of a solar-powered car park sign. Zilch. It was as if they had all disappeared into thin air.

My friend decided to give up and we took a cab back. Yet mysteriously, when we decided to stop looking for it, my friend spotted our elusive quarry as we sped down Lavender Street.

“HEY! There’s one here!” he shouted, and jumped in excitement. We had just found a solar-powered car park sign, and guess what? It was planted right at where I used to live.

That’s not the end; we were about to be treated to one of the most clichéd displays of ironies: there was not just one — but TWO frigging solar-powered car park sign planted within 100m of each other! Talk about a repressed luck springing into place!

That rebounding luck held and eventually led to 28 May, which was the date the finalists were announced. Lo and behold: the near destruction of our club officer-in-charge’s office when we found out the results on the Imagine Cup website.

All in all, I’ve learned a very, very good lesson. When the going seems to get really, really tough; it just means that your luck is being compressed really tight, waiting for the right opportunity to release itself. It would have been a shame if we had given up immediately after we couldn’t find any solar-powered car park signs at Mt Sophia. Now that we’re going to Paris for the Photography finals, I sure hope our luck holds!

Love Politics - Are You In Power?

Have you been reading the news lately? Besides the two major disasters that struck China and Myanmar, I read about the constant changes and more changes to the political climates of many countries.

One upheaval that I like to mention here happened very close to home. That’s right, if you placed your bet on Malaysia, you just struck bingo!

Looking at the way they are playing politics in, well none other than the political field, is indeed interesting and refreshing. Dr Mahathir, the veteran in this game is competing against other old hands in a very different and modern era now as compared to his good old days when he was in power.

Still, whether his antics work or not, and whether they work to his advantage or not, is yet to be seen. What’s for sure is he is still in the game.

It’s the same for love and relationships. There are people who like to play politics even at home to gain favour of whoever holds the ultimate powers. Power play begins, sometimes subtlely, other times blatantly. We can see this very often in dramas, don’t we?

And it’s true in reality too. Even within a couple there could exist a struggle to have power over the other person. Without being part of them, we can never tell who holds the reins and who rubs the back. What we can do is basically analyse using whatever tell tale signs as clues to gauge how the power is being divided among the pair.

Angelina Jolie looks every bit an Alpha female, in my opinion. She is beautiful, confident and smart. I was under the impression then that Brad Pitt is probably the one rubbing her back while she holds the reins. But of course, it wouldn’t be a complete fall towards one side, in this case, the female, but the power scale would probably skew more in her favour.

I guess some other people in this world do share my view and this was probably what prompted a reporter to ask if she is the “controlling type” in a relationship during a recent interview in the press conference for the movie Kung Fu Panda (I’m going to watch this!) in which she played the role Master Tigress. We all know this reporter is referring to which relationship don’t we?

This was her answer: “I think I have a very even partner right now. We’re balanced with our power sharing.”

Nice. Short, sweet and precise. I think we may just have an equally powerful partner that adds up to a more powerful couple in Hollywood!

Love politics can be a fatal game to play, if not handled well. It could have such a demeaning effect on one party that when the relationship ended, this person might bring with him or her negative feelings about him or herself and internalise them. Put it simply, they may eventually turn into this victim and lost their self-confidence and self-esteem.

How sad when that happens, isn’t it? But it’s true that such things happen, and more often than not, people don’t know it is taking place in their relationship! What’s worse is the victims don’t know it’s happening to them!

Maybe it’s wrong for me to use the word victim. I should say the less-empowered party. I talked about the specifics of power sharing in a relationship in my book under Secret #40: Power Play – Are You In A Tug-Of-War as I find this aspect too important, and yet too often neglected till things turned awry, in a relationship.

Love is a wonderful thing. And in order for a relationship to last successfully, it really is not about who has the final say, but rather on knowing how to love and respect each other. Taking time and effort to sit down and discuss before deciding on an issue doesn’t mean you don’t have the power to decide things. It only means this person has a significant weight in your heart and in your life, and that is why his or her opinion counts.

In successful relationships and marriages, that action counts a lot.

Are you involved in a love politics situation?

A Poem on the Golden Ratio

I went to see Harold and Kumar 2 yesterday with my army buddies (after some difficulty, since the ticket seller wasn’t exactly convinced I was over 18), and during the movie was this poem about Root 3.

I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight

Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply

To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed

After hearing that poem, I wondered if I could write a similar one with 10 such verses, so I set down, and wrote this out.

I sometimes wish that I could be
A simple ratio, for all to see

Where (a+b) is to a as a is to b
A ratio most popular in geometry

With its digits going to infinity
Starting with 1.61803

But why this ratio appeals to me
Is that it pleases aesthetically

Not crude, nor lonely, like root three
Nor middle class, like the bourgeoisie

Rather when everyone comes to see
A figure pleasing, geometrically

Yet spawns works of art and music free
These digits of irrationality

For if true love doth one day comes to me
Tis better to be seen aesthetically

A pleasing figure, one can agree
Could easily create a jubilee

And that is why I’d rather be
That simple ratio, than a boring me

Assignments pile up

Meh! It’s time for the assignment pile-up, the time of the semester where eye bags spring forth in abundance. I’m typing this out real quick, because I have 3 huge things happening due on Tuesday - a Data Structures and Algorithms assignment, a report for the Design for User Interaction module, as well as presentation of a report my classmate and I did for our Know Your Rights general elective module.

The good news is that the report is nearly finished - we only need a bit of finishing touches on it, and we’re good to go. I’m worried about the first project. You see, we’re supposed to be building a music store application in Java, and I thought that it would be a good idea to chu stunt as we’ll call it [do something unexpected]; so we decided to add in some graphic user features on our own. That’s something relatively unheard of, because your typical student studying the Diploma in Information Technology won’t even be thinking about coming up with one whole user interface to replace that extremely f*ugly typical Java components. I might write about that if you geeks are interested, but the short of the long is that we’re nowhere finished with that pretty interface which we’ve envisioned. (Actually it is complete… In our dreams though!)

With an additional day afforded by Monday as a public holiday, I have that bit more time to rush through what we can; unfortunately, the end result is that we could end up with something that resembles Windows Vista - a.k.a. a freak of nature, with half of its’ intended features cut away in order to meet deadlines. What’s worse is that with ever-decreasing time for future deadlines, the stunts I pulled with previous assignments become less possible. I don’t really blame the lecturers though; they aren’t exactly expecting polytechnic students to pull of multi-threaded applications that come with custom interfaces. However, since my class always places the bar sky-high, it becomes a race to pump in new features to spice up our assignments.

A Tale Of Two Cities

I have to make a comparison; otherwise this trip would have missed some of its meaning.

You probably knew I was in Jakarta over the last weekend. (Please read my previous post if you haven’t)

I arrived a day earlier before the program starts with Stuart, as he wanted to make sure that everything would be well prepared and ready when the clock strikes 1400 hours on the actual day.

My first impression of this big city was everything and everyone was slow. Slow in relation to the speed at which we get things done in our lion city.

The time taken for checking in was almost double that in Singapore. The fact that not all of them spoke good English meant that it took an even longer time to complete the process.

But this shortfall was compensated with smiles, and good manners.

After taking a short rest in our room, Stuart and I headed down to the café for some food to appease our growling stomachs. There was only one other table that was occupied with two patrons, with about 3-4 waiters roaming around.

After placing our orders, we had to wait for about 15 minutes before our first food was served. Then we decided to order one more snack – calamari. Hence another 10 minutes passed before the waiter brought us our dish, only to be rejected by us because he had taken the wrong order. We had to wait a further 10 minutes more for the right snack to appear again.

I wondered at the efficiency of the staff there as we ended up spending slightly more than an hour, and most of the time spent waiting.

Again, this inefficiency was made up with smiles, and good manners.

Now, can we fault this city? We can’t, can we? Because these people are so nice, warm and friendly. Even when they don’t understand you, they are there with their beams. The reason they were not as efficient is probably due to the culture, or maybe even the systems and the governance.

Speaking about governance, I have to mention the traffic. I was told how lucky I was to have to brave the jam for an hour, when I was feeling the agitation of having stuck in a vehicle and watching the world go by, in snail pace. The usual jam would be about 2 or even 3 hours.

The other coaches who were to arrive on the actual day of the program weren’t so fortunate. Due to a dam burst, the roads were flooded, and they had to take an alternate route from the airport to the hotel, which were equally if not experiencing a worse jam. In short, they took 5 hours to reach the hotel. Can you imagine? If you were in the vehicle for 5 hours, how would you feel?

I guess a high level of patience and excellent emotional handling is a requisite before anyone can head off onto the roads in Jakarta, the capital and largest city in Indonesia and home to an estimated 13 million population.

In retrospect, I must admit we have been pampered. We live in extremely clean conditions, drive with good traffic manners relatively speaking, and having so many choices on our hands that we tend to not make the right ones, given such favourable circumstances we are in.

The Indonesians, on the other hand, have to take matters into their own hands. I’ve seen some unparalleled creativity in beating the traffic. I’ve also witnessed the ingenuity in “job creations”. I was amazed and certainly impressed. We wouldn’t have thought of such measures, because we didn’t have to.

How are we appreciating our lives then?

Are you complaining about the toughness you have to endure in the army life? Are you whining or feeling unfair that you have to spend 3 years serving the nation, and doing some seemingly unimportant tasks that you had done?

How will you appreciate your life if you weren’t living in Singapore now?

I know I have been fortunate to meet all the nice people there. I am thankful. For I also know there are millions of Indonesians who might not be able to smile so widely due to the poverty cycle they were caught in. And frankly, I’m only speculating. Maybe they are still as warm, and still smiling. I don’t know, because I haven’t met or interact with them.

But I know, we are lucky to have a superior and responsible government taking care of us. Therefore, if we don’t make the best of our lives, it would be such a waste, wouldn’t you agree?

An Empowering Weekend

I just came back from a refreshing weekend. No, I should say that weekend left me refreshed, recharged and rejuvenated.

It was a 4-day fanfare of empowering messages, personal breakthroughs and mastery for a group of close to 80 people. They were the participants of the first Patterns of Excellence (POE) in Jakarta, the coaches which I was one of them and the trainers, which my hubby was one of them, together with his partner Adam Khoo.

In case you aren’t aware of what POE is, it is a personal development program created and done by Adam Khoo Learning Technologise Group, founded by my hubby Stuart Tan, Adam Khoo and one more partner. POE allows people to identify the patterns in their lives that aren’t working well for them, getting rid of bad habits and installing new ones, challenging them in their beliefs and many more so that they can achieve many breakthroughs and ultimately, successes in their lives in whatever they do, including relationships.

I took a break from coaching POE for the whole of last year, and I was getting very excited to be part of the first batch in Jakarta, because I knew it was going to be an experience that I would appreciate very much. I was right.

As much as the lessons were for the participants to learn, they were also for me. Those messages seemed to hit me once more, and I found myself looking back at the days after I graduated from this program till now. I thought about my achievements, and lack of, and more importantly, my attitude towards life and challenges.

Have I improved, or have I stagnated after that initial burst of fire? Even more crucial to ask myself is – have I deteriorated?

It was a very easy question to ask, yet a hard one to answer with the utmost truth and honesty. I need a lot of courage to face my shortcomings as much as I need the humility to embrace my accomplishments.

See how much self-reflection I made and have to make from this trip.

Now, do you do self-reflection regularly? Or are you still totally oblivious to this need?

I realised the many advantages of reflecting upon ourselves such as identifying my weaknesses and soft spots and finding out how to strengthen them. But this exercise isn’t about having to do something about myself. At times, I allow a particular weakness to remain as it is, as I don’t see any special reasons or benefits to gain from changing it.

Any change, if there is to be one, has to be an ecological one. That is to say, it has to have a positive effect not only on myself, but also to people whom I interact with and situations that would involve me. When such parameters are met, then I can find out my why. When I have the “why”, I’ll be driven to discover the “how”, and the “when” will be now. 

Some of you as you are reading this may be slightly sceptical of motivational programs, because as the name implies, they are there to merely serve the purpose of motivating ourselves, only for a short while. Many people fall back to their old ways very soon, while a percentage learnt their lessons very well and took to their new paths diligently, and almost always successfully.

So, what makes one person become a totally changed man, and continue to progress while another only got to enjoy that short burst of enthusiasm?

Can you think of an answer? Maybe it’s time to do a self-reflection on how you have been living your life. 

Make old games available for a token

Abandonware, in gaming terms, refers to old software that is unsold or unsupported any longer these days. However, due to copyright issues, distributing these games to people who do not own them is illegal. So, is abandonware clearly a black and white issue? Clearly it is a clear cut issue for game publishers and people who enforce the copyright regulations, but to the majority of consumers, it is a grey area.

For me, I would like game publishers, if they believe a game isn’t raking in any profits any more, let’s say, 10 years after their release, to allow the game to be downloaded from their website for a nominal sum, or maybe even for free. If the publishing company goes bankrupt, the new owners of that game’s copyright should allow it to be sold, downloaded, or at least preserved until the copyright is gone and the game can be released into public domain.

Most people, in the last decade, actually buy original version of games, instead of pirated versions. The game market however, is ever expanding, and many games companies are either forced out of business, produce other software than games, or changed their strategies, producing different genres of games to cater to today’s players.

Therefore, it is highly likely, that if the consumer requires technical support, or needs a replacement of his game disks, he is unable to do so, due to these reasons. For companies that are defunct or produce other software than games, it is nigh impossible for the consumer to have his problems attended to, and for game companies that are still surviving, chances are that their technical support people only will have knowledge of their newest games, and not be able to help you. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that patches or such will be released to debug such old games.

So, in such cases, what can the consumer, abandoned by the company, do?

The consumer can choose to go online, search for any abandonware websites, and download a working copy of the game, usually patched and debugged. He, or she, can do this, because most abandonware webmasters are truly passionate about these old games, such that they will actually ‘modify’, or ‘crack’ it, enabling them to run on newer machines, and fixing most, if not all, of bugs existant within such games. Their purpose would, I believe, is to preserve these old games, and to allow others to revert back to their childhood times, playing these old games with a sense of nostalgia. Of course, this also happens to be illegal.

Due to copyright issues, the consumer is helpless.

Let’s take the case of companies that are now defunct. When they have gone defunct, the copyright of the games they produced have not vanished, but instead are transferred to someone else. Unfortunately, not many may be able to trace actual ownership, and even those who do have ownership would not be willing to help, or release copies of these games, something which would be covered more below. For ownership which cannot be traced, these games are effectively stuck in limbo, and run a real risk of being lost forever.

Then, there is the second case, in which the companies are still around, or that the copyright holders are able to be traced. They too, give several reasons why they will not release such games. One reason is that they are afraid they will receive calls numerous calls for technical support, which they regard as costly and troublesome. That might be true, but they seem to forget that there is an abandonware community which actually does fix game problems for free. From a consumer point of view, I don’t see why these companies shouldn’t tie up with those actively involved in fixing these games then. Furthermore, consumers who prefer vintage games are the sort that would actively resolve their own troubleshooting, unlike the present generation of those who prefer modern, flashy games with instant troubleshooting.

Another reason they give is that such games wouldn’t sell (for a nominal sum), and any profit made would be negligible. They have a point, most people nowadays are interested in FPS, strategy type games with tons of graphics. And yet there is an abandonware community, where people congregate and exchange games, provide forums for technical help and solutions. Profit made would be negligible perhaps, but these games could further renew people’s interests in the company, and help generate publicity for newer games.

But perhaps the most pressing reason why game publishers do not release older games is probably because of intellectual property. They are afraid they will lose control of their creations. And yet, if game publishers kept games hidden away because of that, surely they will have a greater chance of losing control of their creations? I don’t really understand that reasoning. If for example, I want to say “Super Mario” belongs to me, I obviously can’t do it, because far too many people know which publisher owns that. But I can definitely say “Mr Feezle Farzle Neezle” belongs to me, and not many people can contest that, even if some obscure designer did produce “Mr Feezle Farzle Neezle”, because no one would actually remember. (And besides, I could even say I came up with it independently, if it wasn’t even available/sold for the last few years.)

However, I believe that no matter what everyone thinks, games (or at least the good ones) should at least be preserved. They are works of art, and I think it is sad if after a few years, they fade into obscurity, and then vanish forever. Unlike other forms of entertainment, like books or music CDs, their market value decreases each year, and will end up flucuating at a low value, which is a small fraction of its initial cost. For example, take “Time Zone”, a game which took up 6 double sided floppy disks released in 1982, with a retail price of USD$99. Now, I would think the market value of the game would be around maybe, $5-$10, and even then, probably released in an anthology pack with many other games on it.

Yet if the game is still popular after it is unsold or unsupported after a few years, then why not make it available to the public legally, and for a token sum if profit is still required?

That is something which I would like to happen, but looking at the current situation, it seems that it can never happen.

Blood Donation Special

As nobody reading this blog knows, I am a registered blood donor. I started giving blood around 6 years ago, while I was still studying in Junior College. It was a coup for me at that time, since I get the fight-flight urge every time I have an injection, but I was planning ahead for National Service (I was due to enlist in another year-and-a-half’s time), where visions of being forced to donate blood were implanted in my head, no thanks to other older NSmen’s stories.

Anyway, those stories didn’t come true (perhaps the practice had been stopped, which really tickles my mind just thinking how old those NSmen were), but I didn’t stop donating my blood whenever the mobile donation centre turns up in school. In fact, just last Friday, I gave my 800ml when Singapore Polytechnic organised the semi-annual affair. I thought that it might be a good experience to share with you, so I took a few pictures of the blood donation process; below will be some painstakingly detailed narration on how blood donation works in Singapore.

1. Registration

Everything starts from the entrance: the volunteers hand out health assessment checklists, along with free black ballpoint pens to fill out the form. You would then return the clipboard (no, those aren’t free, but you get to keep the pen!) and get herded to the first set of rows of chairs, where you queue up to have your NRIC or passport (if you’re not a local) scanned. You have to shift your butt to the chairs further up the queue every few minutes so that the people coming in later can sit on your seat. Once a nurse beckons for you to come forward, you lug your heavy bag to the table, where you present the health assessment checklist, along with your identity card. Your card will then be scanned to make sure that you aren’t already a blacklisted donor.

It helps a lot if you do not have sex with people of dubious health, nor travel to exotic countries. Curiously, parts of Europe appears to be taboo for blood donors, since the questionnaire explicitly asks you to declare if you’ve been to Britain or France. The HSA FAQ states that you’re banned from donating blood if you’re lived in the UK for a total period of more than 3 months from 1980 to 1996, or in France for a total period of more than 5 years from 1980 until today (http://www.hsa.gov.sg/publish/hsaportal/en/health_services/blood_donation/faq.html#not).

The FAQ also lists a few other conditions which would disqualify you from donating blood temporarily or permanently, so it might be a good idea to read through the full page before going down to the donation centres. If you’re in doubt, you can consult either your personal doctor, or the doctor at the donation centres.

Since I’m in the clear, and obviously have been donating blood frequently enough, the nurse waves me off to the next station, where I join a new queue of butt-shifting. If there’s anyone with a backside-transmitted disease, I’m sure that everybody who donated on that day would surely be scratching their butts now (mine feels thankfully normal).

2. Medical Screening
This round of musical chairs ends at the head, where a table is obscured by a partition to form a make-shift cubicle. Behind that wall is a doctor, who’s supposed to check all the potential donors to ensure that only the truly fit is allowed to donate blood. The blood pressure is measured here, and for those who’re at the risk of being underweight — a weight measurement to make sure you’re at least 45kg.

The doctor also checks that the health assessment questionnaires have been filled up properly, and will quiz you on the blanks you left in your form. Sometimes, a nurse comes over and he’ll drop everything, grab his sethescope, and check on somebody who’s feeling faint at the donation chair. Otherwise, if you’re healthy enough to donate blood, you get sent to the 3rd queue, where the butt-shifting continues.

3. Checking the haemogoblin levels

At this station, a nurse dressed in protective garb cleans one of your finger tips, squeezes it a little, and makes a pin-prick in your skin. Then, using a small transparent straw, she sucks up blood from the finger tip, and dumps it into a beaker of blue solution. This is to make sure that your haemogoblin levels are ok. For on-lookers it may look painful, but the entire process really feels more like an ant-bite.

Afterwards, the puncture in the finger tip is then plastered, and you go into the last butt-shifting for this blood donation.

4. The Blood Donation

Now spread out through the four corners of the room are reclining chairs, with multiple blue plastic straps stretched across them to form the body support. They look a little like beach sun-tanning recliners, and feel just as laid-back, but the contraption added to either the left or right side makes it a blood donation chair. For beginners, it might as well have been a dentist chair; you can see the colour desaturating from their faces as latex-covered fingers touched their arm.

First, the nurse has to look for the veins, and this is done by applying a tourniquet to the arm, and feeling around for one of the numerous lumpy tubes snaking around the forearm. If you have not been exercising, or if you have lots of fats, this would be troublesome. Finding how the veins run is an important step before blood donation, because it determines how the catheter will go in — it’s painful if the nurse misses the veins later on, and has to navigate the needle back into the vein, so if you’re the “unseen danger” to yourself, do a few push-ups before climbing onto the chair. Alcohol swabs help a lot to expose the veins too, if the nurse needs more visibility. Worst comes to worse, you’ll get turned away. This coming after a 1-2 hour of butt-shifting, isn’t really fun, so exercise more on your daily routine!

After finding your veins (mine get really fat whenever they puff up), the nurse applies a liberal amount of alcohol, swabbing furiously to disinfect the surface of the skin. This is make sure that bacteria on your skin don’t find their way into the entry site later.

Next comes an injection of anesthetic to numb the area where the yakult straw is going to be inserted into. Surprisingly, this is the only part of the blood donation that hurts a bit more. You’ll feel a wash of warmth, and suddenly you feel nothing around that area.

The yakult straw is then inserted carefully into your veins, and blood should start flowing into the collection bag (that is, if you’re alive). If your veins have small diameters, or your forearm is too thick, the nurse might miss the veins and hit the surrounding area. However, you won’t feel anything since your arm is numbed. Just wait till the anesthetic wears off, and find yourself with a sore area. Occasionally, the needle might puncture through the other side of the vein, and you’re forearm will bleed internally. This shows up as very ugly black marks that look as if you got involved in a fight. Those things are called “haematoma” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematoma), and are blatant displays that you’re a blood donor who’s had his donation gone a little wrong.

But even with all these problems withstanding, the blood donation itself will still go through smoothly. The haematomas will disappear after a few days as your body heals itself naturally. In the meantime, you can watch with curiosity, surreality, and even nausea as your blood flows through the tube into the collection bag. To hasten the speed, you could squeeze the ball in your hand more often, though you probably should have drunk more water in the morning instead!

When you’ve filled up your bag, the nurse comes back, and removes the yakult straw from your vein. Since your heart is pumping less blood around your body, it’s pumping harder than usual, so you’d need to press down hard on the site of entry (which still won’t hurt yet) in order to get the blood to clot around that area. While this is done, you have the pleasure of watching the packet of blood taken away to be sealed up. I find this part quite bizzare, since it feels as if something is being taken away from me; but don’t mind me, I’m just queer that way.

Once you’re done, the injury site gets plastered and bandaged, and you’re off to the refreshments area. (No butt-shifting queues though!)

5. Refreshments

After a blood donation, you are forced to sit down and rest for a few minutes to recover. Probably your heart needs some time to realise that you’re really just donating blood, instead of losing blood (in that situation, it would pump harder and harder in an attempt to circulate less blood around your body), so grab that packet drink and biscuits, and think about the good deed you’ve just done. Milo is my favourite, but since I always go there late to escape the queues, it’s almost always gone by the time I sit down for the drink.

6. Conclusion
I hope I have not frightened you off blood donation with my descriptive narration of the whole process. Donating blood is a very noble thing a human can do for another, and I frankly believe that enduring a little pain isn’t past all of us normal people. I mean, come on! There are far more painful things that can happen to a normal person — surely donating blood isn’t like slicing half your stomach off to give to someone else; your blood replenishes itself painlessly in a short while. Also, part of the blood donation process is an opportunity for growth, for us to get out of the comfort zone. I mean, how dastardly boring our lives would feel if we’re just going about our daily routines, doing the same thing over and over again?

I’m Having An Affair With Sudoku

I have a collection. This hobbit started very strangely and totally unexpected. I knew how the puzzle swept the world by its feet several years ago and created such an enormous craze that a certain airline had to ban their crew from playing it on flight.

I never knew why they could be so then, till I fell in love with the 9 squares now. Madly in love.

Let me share how I caught onto this frenzy after so many years had past. A friend bought the Easy Sudoku Puzzle book and started playing, much to my indifference. Till she taught my mom how to tackle the puzzle, I still remained nonchalant about it.

Only when I had nothing to do on a particular day, and I picked it up, and I began to play with some errors, and my mom corrected me, and I realised then what the rule was and how the game was to be played, then that was it.

I soon breezed through the easy ones and began to search for more challenging ones. Hence, my keen anticipation for the Weekend TODAY and The Sunday Times where they will post a puzzle weekly with the most difficult rating of 5 began.

The satisfaction of completing the hard ones is a good one, and certainly addictive. My sister caught onto this little fever too, albeit briefly. But it was enough for her to buy two puzzle books back, one of which is for the grandmasters. In fact, both books have a much higher difficulty rating than the ones found in the daily TODAY even when both puzzles have a rating of say, 2.

Amidst the head-wrenching and agony of being stuck for very long at a really knotty puzzle, I learnt some precious lessons too.

Strategy and tips aside, I found that one needs a certain level of perseverance to complete one puzzle. Giving up half way is a very tempting thing to do, considering that you could be staring at it for more than 30 minutes with no advancement at all. It is then when I find feelings of frustration secretly creeping in, which I have to handle it well in order to continue playing. So you see, the ability to manage emotions well play a critical role here too.

Another lesson learnt is the fact that I can be so blinded at times. A clue can be staring at me glaringly, only for me to skip by and never notice it until another day when I re-pick it up to continue the unfinished business. Why so? I have questioned myself each time such incidents happen, and I found one plausible explanation.

I have been in it for so long that my frame of mind began to be fixed. Therefore, even though I have analysed that particular clue, I still am blind it. Hence I need to get out of it and come back after a short break. It’s like being caught in a heated exchange with someone. Give each other a break from the pressured environment, get some fresh air, cool down and return to the conversation. This not only helps to resolve conflicts faster, it also eases the pressure on the relationship.

I find that many times when I get so stuck, I will begin to doubt my ability to complete it. This will be the time when self-doubt kicks in, and I have to use many other examples of me finishing an equally tough puzzle to overturn the doubt. “If I can complete that one, I can do this too!” is the positive self-talk I will engage in. Confidence is restored and I continue playing with a renewed zest.

When was the last time when you feel very defeated by a task on hand? Do you let this sour feeling pull you down or do you deal with it instantly and perk up as soon as you can?

As with all the challenges in life, I guess the “Never say die” attitude is imperative in Sudoku. Now that I’ve finished one grandmaster puzzle, I’d love to liken myself as truly a Sudoku Grandmaster. The only barrier that is in the way to me claiming the prestigious title is that last puzzle – which, seemed to be even more challenging than the one I’ve completed as it has taken me much more time and it is still a work-in-progress.

Then again, every new puzzle poses a fresh challenge. I wonder when will I get tired of Sudoku? I guess as long as there presents a chance to test myself I will be up for it. 

Even Harry Potter Flops!

You might have heard of this news already. And yes, it is considered news indeed when it takes a newspaper like The Daily Telegraph to launch a man hunt, or rather, woman hunt for an 18-year old boy who boasts a US$50 million fortune to his name. 

The star of Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe had a brush with love at first sight. Only a brush, because he let her slip away without getting her number. Fortunately, he found her, thanks to such a “massive woman hunt” operation by the papers.

Now he can attach a name to the face that has lingered in his mind. But there is an obstacle – she is attached. Will he go after her full force in spite of this, or will he just let nature takes its course and be happy with having her in his friends list for as long as it takes?

I’m sure there will be a sequel to that news. We shall wait and see. But Radcliffe is very brave I must commend, to acknowledge his “slip up” in the national newspaper and to broadcast his intention to search for this girl.

Have you experienced such an episode in your life before? That you caught the eye of this girl across a room, be it a party or right smack in a busy café, or maybe in the silence of a library, and didn’t have enough time or courage to walk over and befriend her.

Guess what? You may not have Radcliffe’s fortune, pun intended, to engage a national paper to help you locate the girl of your dreams. Therefore, you need to act on the spot, or else you will miss the boat, probably forever.

I know a friend who returned to the same place to wait for the girl’s reappearance. His patience paid off, luckily. And he made good of the second chance.

In another instance, there is this story about the guy who fell in love with a girl whom he would meet everyday in the bus. Each time withstanding the urge to walk forward and introduce himself, he was to feel extremely regretful when one fine day, the lady stopped taking that bus, and it then hit him that nothing is to last forever. Such plots can be found very often in dramas, and in real life too.

While it may be someone’s second nature to simply approach a girl, it could be another’s bane. But regardless if this is in you or not, what will never go wrong is that with mistakes come experience, and with experiences, success will follow.

He may be Harry, with the wand that commands him anything he wants. But in real life, Radcliffe may need more than just a wand. Some helping hands, maybe.

What Movie Shall We Watch, Honey?

Fists. Fights. Blood. Gore. Ewww… I am cringing with my face crumbling into all sorts of funny shapes as I’m typing the first four words of this post. But I’m sure if my hubby were to be doing what I’m doing now, he’d probably be experiencing some adrenaline high which I’ll never be able to fathom for as long as I live.

To set the records straight, my hubby isn’t something who will resort to violence when things turn nasty or when he is under the steam. He just likes to watch movies that contain lots of action, and this inevitably comes with some fists, fights, blood and yes, gore. (I’m cringing again…)

Of course, not all action movies and thrillers or psycho films have all those four elements in. For example, he managed to successful lure me to the cinema to watch movies like The Fantastic Four, Spiderman 3, Batman Forever etc. Now, he is eyeing the Iron Man which, honestly speaking, I’m not that gaga over.

I can already imagine a seemingly formidable man who got to be so formidable because of his super formidable outfit which, as the name implies, should be made of top-rate iron or steel. There has to be some evils in the show for him to fight and win over, and until we have the winner (which usually means the justice will triumph or we will have sequels to ensure this principle is not violated), lots of action (aka fighting and injuries) will be dominating the screen. Oh, unless the big bad man is the iron man himself. Still, scores of action to be expected till justice triumphs!

By then, the tone of my movie description should be blatant enough for anyone to make a clever deduction on my enthusiasm to go watch the Iron Man. I know, I am prejudiced. And very much so! Though I’m not proud of it, but there’s really nothing I can do about it. It’s in me, and I believe, in many women too.

But hope is always there! I will still go to watch this movie with my hubby because of other motivating factors. Like the pop corn, the hot dog, and most of all, the company of my beloved man. You see, watching a movie with that special someone holds more meaning than the actual activity itself, though any man who hears this will begin to say women love to complicate things which are simple, and over-simplify things that can be complicated.

In this instance, I am more than willing to catch the show that Stuart would love watching because I want to. I want to be there with him when he is relaxing. I want to be there with him when he is enjoying himself. Similarly, I want to be there with and for him when he is under stress or when he is feeling sad. In a nutshell, I want to be there with him and for him in any occasion, even if it means going for a movie that I will not particularly enjoy if I were to watch, say, Over Her Dead Body. Ouch, doesn’t it sound, erh, violent too?

Oh, talk about romance comedy! Now I’m getting more excited because I dare say this is one of the most favourite, if not the favourite, movie genres for most women, if not all. Not only do they bring out the good sides in people, we also swear by the positive effects such movie brings onto our relationships quite immediately.

The kind of connection we feel with our partners just by sitting there holding hands and sharing a cheese nacho or popcorn and immersing ourselves in the laughs and kisses onscreen is hard to describe. Although nothing really too physical has taken place between us, but looking at the intimacy of the male and female lead is enough to make us feel as if something has indeed, taken place between us. We leave the cinema walking with some air below our soles and tight clasps around our partners’ waists or hands. We feel that we know our partners better, and the emotional bond is there.

So guys, don’t you find this effect amazing? And all without you having to do anything except the companionship! Of course, the occasional and timely pats on your girlfriend or wife’s head will create more wonders too.

Hence, when it comes to the question “Which movie shall we watch, honey?”, I hope you will find the loving answer.

Happy movie watching my friends! 

Mayday Mayday!

It’s not often that one gets to attend a concert (unless it’s of the free kind and, even then, the last one that I attended involved me on stage with over a hundred other people belting songs in languages we haven’t the slightest inkling of, not as an audience member), much less one by a hugely popular Asian Mandopop band, for which tickets start from a hefty S$100.

So, when a friend approached me with free tickets to the recently-passed Mayday “Down To Earth 2008” concert, I uttered a brief “are you kidding?” and grabbed at the chance. While I wasn’t a huge, manic Mayday fan (although I do listen to a fair bit of their songs), I’ve heard heaps of praise for their live performances and concerts and, having had a boring last few months, this seemed the perfect chance to pep up my doldrum-ed life.

Heading into the concert hall, though, I wasn’t sure what to expect. While, like I mentioned, I do quite a few of their classic hits, I haven’t had much chance to listen to their recent few albums (in preparation for the concert, I actually purchased their latest album, “Born To Love”, and attempted to ingest all the songs in a single day, an endeavour which, needless to say, failed miserably) and I didn’t know what to expect and whether I would be able to enjoy myself.

I needn’t have worried.

Starting with an impressive war-time video featuring the band members (complete with actual stunt artists lowering themselves from the very high ceiling with ropes) that segued into the band’s appearance, the concert got off to a banging and energetic start, with an energy that only increased as time passed.

For the first half of the concert, the band performed several of their newest songs, starting off the energetic and rock-ish numbers before moving into the ballads that they’re known for, the most notable being the title track off their latest album, a rousing declaration of passion and love which got the audience singing along raptly.

About halfway through the concert, the band (minus lead singer Ashin, who had disappeared backstage to change) suddenly started to perform Sun Wu Kong, one of their most well-known (and of my favourites) hits, which signaled the start of the second part of the concert. Having covered most of their newer songs, the focus would now shift to their golden hits.

If the energy during the first part of the concert had been high and infectious, it now became positively explosive. Tossing out hit after hit like “Lian Ai ING” and “Jue Jiang”, the band got the audience on their feet, dancing and singing along with aplomb, digging into every word of every song (something which, for most of the fans weaned on a diet of Mayday songs for most of their formative years, is an easy feat) and getting so high the hall actually become pretty warm. 

Ending with a rousing encore that lasted several songs, the concert finally came to a close after almost four hours non-stop reveling and music, the fans lingering off with satisfied smiles on their faces.

Much kudos for the fantastic experience has to be given to the amazing band members, who seem to possess an infinitesimal amount of energy, powering their way through the entire three hour plus concert with nary even a hint of tiredness or lethargy.

True to hearsay, too, their live performance skills are top par. While lead singer Ashin sometimes throws the pitch with reckless abandon, he nonetheless has a much more powerful and emotive voice than the studio recordings reveal and, together with the rest of the band members (all of whom have their own solo moments of glory during the show), produced the sound that is unreplicated in their albums. It’s really true what they say, the band HAS to be heard live to be fully appreciated. Plus, they’re all seasoned entertainers too, effortlessly rousing the crowd and infecting everyone with bounds of energy and drawing screams and cheers with almost every word they speak and note they sing.

While I don’t claim to be an expert at gauging how great a concert is (having attended none myself in recent years), I have no doubt that what I had attended was something I would have gladly have paid money for if needed. Mayday HAVE to be watched live.

5 year old genius pianist

I believe that talent is a natural inclination towards a subject. It isn’t a substitute to good old hard work, but if you play to your natural abilities, you won’t need to work as hard as other people have to in order to excel. Here’s a 5 year old girl who is visually handicapped, but blessed with the talent of music; she can play classical music pieces at an age where other toddlers are still struggling to learn their ABCs. For sure, I have no doubt as to the direction where this girl’s interests and abilities will take her.

What do you think?

Love Astons as compared to Botak. U can try the fries from Astons next time, it has a special seasoning that makes it superduperdelicious!

Especially at Ang Mo Kio... The food there is incredible. :)

Yep... the fries and special seasoning that makes it superduperdelicious...

the fries and the pasta is nice

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