I'm about to fall sick.

I wanted to post these up on the 25th but there was something wrong with my connection that night.

The teapot at Coca which I "decorated".


The retards.

Peter and Jane

While I was waiting for my turn at the orthodontist today, I spotted some books which I used to read when I was young. Ladybird Books's Peter and Jane books. I miss reading them (this made me pick up one of the books to read just now). Haha. Yeah, call me weird. I remember drawing in the books (I liked drawing on stuff, even my Barbie doll's face and dresses ). Old old childhood memories.

I used to have those on the right.

J Card Members' Day

Went to 1 Utama for the J Card Members' Day. Total madness. It's like the things there are going for free. Crazy people, especially all the 아줌마 (aunties) who elbow you so that they can get to the bins of clothes, bags, etc. I didn't buy anything though. Was supposed to look for a birthday gift but came out of the store empty handed. The only thing I ended up buying from 1 Utama was the screen protector for my phone. But it wasn't a waste going there 'cos I stopped by Popular Bookstore and found a recipe for something which looked really yummy.....

Hot Chocolate Sauce Pudding (looked like a cupcake but with flowing chocolate in it...*drool*)

Ingredients:
(A)
100g dark chocolate, chopped;
100g butter;
1 tbsp orange juice;
Half orange zest (hmm...doesn't sound right, oh well, just don't add too much lah), finely grated.

(B)
2 eggs;
2 egg yolks;
50g sugar.

(C)
50g flour.

Method:
1. Grease & line the bottom of 6 pudding moulds, 3 inches in diameter & 2 1/2 inches in height.
2. Place (A) over a pot of boiling water. Stir until melted.
3. Whip (B) until light and fluffy. Fold in sieved (C) and mix until well blended.
4. Add in (A). Mix until well combined. Pour onto prepared moulds. Wrap them with cling film. Freeze for 24 hours.
5. Remove from freezer. Place them at lower rack of oven. Bake at 210°C for 8-10 minutes. Remove from moulds. Serve immediately.

Note: Don't bake for too long or else they'll turn out to be more like cakes.

Waking up at 4.30 p.m. brings a good and bad feeling. The good one is being able to wake up so late (heh heh heh) and the bad one is the feeling of having overslept. But hey, I got something done even though I woke up so late. I cleared up the "rubbish" (a.k.a the every-new-semester mess) on my bed. It feels good to be on a 3-month break though I know I'm supposed to continue studying for my external papers. What the heck, I'll just take a week (or two) off from studies.

The state of my bed before & after exams (big difference, eh?)

It's finally over

What's over? My end-of-semester exams and the hopes of passing my exams, especially Performance Management. 27 marks (and still counting) gone down the drain. Now, I've got 3 months to mope around the house and study for my external papers.

I'm LOST.

INFO OVERLOAD!!!!! Argh! I can't take it anymore! 죽었어!

It's the end

Finally! The last week of the semester before exams. I've been so looking forward to this week. No more having to wake up at 5.45 a.m. everyday! Still doomed though. It'll be the end of me if I don't finish studying by next Friday.

I've got a nasty looking bruise on my leg and I have no idea how it got there.

I'm doomed!

Great! I have 3 back to back papers this coming exam. I am sooooooo doomed this time!

How is it possible.....

.....to pass exams
-when there is too much to read & so little time to do so?
-when I'm sitting in front of the computer managing my virtual village (Virtual Villagers, another addictive game), instead of studying?
-when I'm dead beat by the time I walk from the LRT station to the far far away lecture hall (and not to mention waking up before 6 every weekday)?
-when your coursemates try to thwart your plans to study by borrowing your notes because they couldn't try to be attentive in class or because they know that you'll be early and therefore depend on you to take down notes while they waltz in late?
-when it's impossible to concentrate while reading something due to lack of sleep?

PS: Boy, am I glad I dropped Tax. I would've dropped dead long before if I didn't switch to BIM.

Maths....

Not safe!

Terrifying....that's the word that describes the recent robbery-attacks involving TARC students. Makes me think whether walking to college from the LRT station is safe anymore. But on the bright side, the attackers seem to only strike at night. However, that doesn't mean that it's super safe to walk in the morning. Apparently there were more cases from the 2 that were reported. I'm not sure of the details, though.
With this recent happenings, I'm wondering whether the neighbourhood I'm living in right now will eventually have similar robbery-attacks since there are more and more students living here now (UTAR & UM), and therefore more "aliens". It'll definitely be a scary place to live in.

Palatal bar & cool mobile games

Went to the orthodontist again yesterday. Finally, that blasted expander is OUT! But, but....it got replaced with some palatal bar. Well, at least it's a little more comfortable than the expander, but I still have a little difficulty pronouncing words which start with the letter 'Y', like the second part of my name. *Sigh*. My orthodontist said that on my next visit, she'll start with my upper teeth. That means, extraction of more teeth. I'm not looking forward to that. But I can't back out now. Argh! Teeth are aching now.

The expanderThe palatal bar

Found a really cool forum for mobile phones. Well, that is if you want cool games. I got to download some really interesting games. Like Monopoly Tycoon, The Game of Life, Operation, Chips Challenge, The Sims 2, Text Twist, Zuma, Anothe Sphere (a game which resembles Dynomite, which I'm addicted to right now) & more. They even have Need for Speed Underground. But these are all Java games.
http://www.gsmhacks.com/forums/ (you'll have to register as a member first before being able to download, but it's free, so why not?)

*edit* I just found out they even have Street Fighter!!!!

If only this was so true!

I'm lost!

Since I'm not allowed to be inquisitive at home, I'll try asking some questions here.

Why is the world a sphere, not some funny shape?
Why do some parents tend to be dictators?
Why is it not possible to not have wars?
Where does gravity come from?
Why are humans like magnets, i.e. opposites attract?
Where do magnetic fields come from?
Why are all words spelt the way they are?
Why are there 26 letters in the (English) alphabet?
Who created alphabets?
Who started using words to communicate?
How do animals communicate with each other, how does an "animal word" sound to an animal?
How is it possible for a child to communicate with their parent(s) who finds everything their child says offensive?
How was the universe created / How did it exist?
Are our initial ancestors bacteria?
Why am I still on the computer while I should be doing my tutorials?
Why are you even reading this? (Too much time on your hands?)

Went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest today. Super funny, but the ending was sorta left hanging. It kinda implies that there'll be a thrid movie. Johnny Depp's portrayal as Captain Jack Sparrow was extremely well done! Nobody can replace him as Captain Jack Sparrow. Well, if there's gonna be a thrid movie, I'm looking forward to it. More of Johnny Depp!!!!!

*Edit* There will be a 3rd movie. Source: IMDb

Gah!

Congrats chi, on your graduation!

I was made to pretend reading a book in the library with a few other people yesterday so that the library staff could take photos for their Reading Month. Hmm...felt fake.

More engrish pics! From a friend's e-mail.


Check out this site. Cuteness all around!

Awww~~~~

New phone

I got the phone I have been eyeing since before it even came out. The Sony Ericsson W800i. It's B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L! Got it for RM1,499.00 plus speakers (MPS-60) at VS COM Sdn Bhd, Amcorp Mall (the place where I bought my T100).

Adolescent sleep problems: Why is your teen so tired?

Adolescents are notorious for staying up late at night and being hard to rouse in the morning. Your teens are probably no exception. But it's not necessarily because they're lazy or contrary. This behavior pattern actually has a real physical cause. And there are ways to help mesh your adolescent's sleep schedule with that of the rest of the world.

An adolescent's internal clock

Everyone has an internal clock that influences body temperature, sleep cycles and hormonal changes. The biological and psychological processes that follow the cycle of this 24-hour internal clock are called circadian rhythms.

In most people, the various circadian rhythms work together. For example, body temperature starts to rise during the last few hours of sleep — making it easier to wake up in the morning. Most people experience a small drop in temperature between 2 and 4 p.m., which may explain why early afternoon is a popular time for a nap. We then get a second wind around 5 or 6 p.m., which makes it hard to fall asleep around that time.

Before adolescence, these circadian rhythms direct most children to naturally fall asleep around 8 or 9 p.m. Puberty changes an adolescent's internal clock — delaying the time he or she starts feeling sleepy by about two hours. Staying up late to study or socialize with friends can disrupt an adolescent's internal clock even more.

Too little sleep

Adolescents need about nine hours of sleep a night in order to maintain optimal daytime alertness. But only 15 percent actually get that amount of sleep regularly. In a recent survey, more than a quarter of the teens who were interviewed said they usually sleep six hours, or even less, on school nights.

Part-time jobs, homework, school activities and friends often are prioritized higher than is sleep. But sleep deprivation can have serious consequences.

In addition to causing irritability and moodiness, daytime sleepiness makes it more difficult to concentrate and learn. Some exhausted teens sleep through classes, and their grades take a nose dive. Even worse, sleepy drivers — many of them young — can cause deadly auto accidents.

Playing catch-up

Trying to catch up on sleep during weekends doesn't help much. In fact, it can confuse a teenager's internal clock even more. In these situations, going to bed early won't help matters. Your son or daughter will just lie in bed awake, finally dozing off in the wee hours of the morning.

Many adolescents turn to stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine in an attempt to overcome their daytime sleepiness. Leaving the other dangers of nicotine aside, dependence on its stimulant effects, as well as those of caffeine, can backfire and make it even more difficult to go to sleep at a reasonable hour.

Resetting the clock

Your teen's internal circadian clock can be reset in most cases, but it takes a little effort. Exposure to light seems to play the greatest role in regulating everyone's 24-hour cycles. In fact, many blind people have trouble with their circadian rhythms because they can't see the difference between day and night.

Exposing your child to bright light in the mornings will help his or her body realize that it is time to wake up. A device called a light box can provide enough light to enhance early morning alertness. At the opposite extreme, being in subdued light or darkness at bedtime signals the body that it's time to sleep.

Another method of readjusting a malfunctioning biological clock is called chronotherapy. In a teenager, this most often involves delaying bedtime by two or three hours every night for a progression of nights. For example, if your teen regularly goes to bed at 3 a.m., the first night he or she would stay up until 6 a.m. The next night, he or she would stay up until 9 a.m. This continues until a socially acceptable bedtime is reached.

Products containing melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone, help some people reset their circadian clocks. Taking the product about five hours before bedtime usually produces the best results. While these supplements can be purchased without a prescription, they should be taken under the supervision of a doctor.

Is it something else?

In some cases, excessive daytime sleepiness can be a sign of something more than a problem with your teen's internal clock. Other problems can include:

• Sleep apnea. When throat muscles fall slack during sleep, they stop air from moving freely through the nose and windpipe, causing labored breathing. In adults, sleep apnea most commonly occurs in obese individuals. Added factors for children are the presence of enlarged tonsils and adenoids, craniofacial abnormalities and neuromuscular disorders. Children with sleep apnea may also exhibit mood swings, inattentiveness and hyperactivity.
• Restless legs syndrome. This condition causes a "creepy" or "crawling" sensation in the legs immediately before bedtime. There is an urge to move the legs, which momentarily lessens the discomfort. Up to 45 percent of the adults with this disorder began experiencing it before age 20. This problem has been associated with iron deficiencies in children.
• Narcolepsy. Sudden daytime sleep, usually for only 15 minutes at a time, can be a sign of narcolepsy. Narcoleptic episodes occur most often after meals, but can occur at any time — even in the middle of conversations.
• Depression. Sleeping too much or too little is a common sign of depression.

Steps to take

Fortunately, most teens just need a little help adjusting their schedules and managing their time to get the right amount of sleep. You might need to prioritize extracurricular activities and consider establishing an official quiet time before bedtime, when loud music, video games and Internet use are restricted or not allowed.

If daytime sleepiness, fatigue or nighttime insomnia persists despite changes that should promote better sleep, contact your child's physician and ask about a sleep evaluation. Your adolescent may have a sleep disorder.

Taken from: Yahoo! Health

Superman Returns

Got to watch Superman Returns today. One word for it, EXCELLENT! Now I know why some people were so excited before and after watching it. Great movie, superb soundtrack, good-looking actor (Lei Ye, Superman does NOT look gay!)...ahhhh. I won't mind watching it again, but not in the cinema again lah. Will either wait for it to be premiered on TV or will probably buy the DVD.
Get the trailers here.

Since I'm on the topic of good looking actors, I'll just blog about some who I think ARE good looking. I seem to have an attraction towards good looking dark-haired mat salleh guys. And June Ann agrees with me! Dark-haired guys look much better.

Colin Firth - sexy, ain't he?

Johnny Depp

Brandon Routh - gorgeous eyes, as June Ann puts it