Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Kamisama mou sukoshi dake

My review after watching the show twice, one incomplete (watched 1 episode only) during sec school then and a complete one yesterday and today.

The first time I watched the show through television, that one episode, the one in which Masaki (Fukada Kyoko) is making the speech in the hall, inspired me to research on AIDS and wrote a composition on that to submit as holiday homework.

At that time, I tried to put myself in the shoes of a HIV patient and tried to construct the mindset of one. Now looking back, I guess the mentality is still far off from actually being the sufferer. Now that I got the chance to re-watch the whole show on the computer, I realized that although what I wrote then may be too happy (or simple in a sense), the whole show was too dramatically sad. Well, at least that is what I feel.

While watching it this time, I opened up another window for AIDS information to refresh my memory. I guessed I was being sadistic, trying to picture how Masaki will die from AIDS since there are many ways one can die from AIDS. The story in my opinion, gave more details regarding the emotional aspect and neglected about the disease aspect.

This is about AIDS, which is unique, like how spinocerebellar degeneration is unique in "One litre of tears". I just thought that the show could have paid more attention to the details surrounding that disease as well. The impression was that the producers were trying hard to create a beautiful picture, hence only headache and dizziness were captured. There wasn't diarrhea, vomit or spasm captured or even mentioned. How to convince the audience about the physical suffering of the patient? Using words like meningitis is simply not enough, and they never even explain much about what is that.

The show started out well even though the plot was unbelievable at times, but it gave way to exaggerations and the characters got increasingly irritating with lots of conflicts and contradicting moves. At times I really feel like strangling Masaki, showing selfishness and consideration at inappropriate times. Kaoru (in this show) as well as the parents of Masaki were irritating most of the time. Their reactions seemed just to lengthen the show. Incredibly, Keigo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) seems healthier than Masaki even though he smoked dozens of cigarettes in almost every episode and Masaki did not get infected with opportunistic virus and bacteria by kissing him and being a 2nd-hand smoker.

The female doctor's acting was superbly lousy. She came across as robotic, without emotions in her words and expressionless without empathy.

Come to think of it, "I love you with my body and soul." seemed super fake when Masaki slept with 2 other guys before Keigo and still can say such a thing to him.

To add on, Keigo seemed shocked to hear that he may get HIV and still sleep with, the now confirmed HIV positive, Masaki again. Yet, he never get HIV... wow, maybe he is immune to that strain, but the baby as well? So miraculous.

The last scene where Masaki was dead was super funny. I was like wondering if she lied down on the floor, spread her wedding gown nicely then prepare to die. Isn't it weird that a moment she was hugging the baby and the next moment baby was so far from her? I thought babies tend to cling to the mother even when they are curious to explore.

A disappointment indeed, though few emotional parts were carried well, the story wasn't convincing and I never tear at all. Maybe if one never watch 1 litre of tears, this can appear appealing and good work but after watching that drama then this, this cannot make it and even if the theme was good, the plot wasn't strong.

Haha, if my dear dear is Keigo, after labor and the baby cried non-stop that scene...

Masaki: "Why is the baby still crying non-stop? The situation never improve, what if the baby was infected with HIV? What if I passed the HIV to her?"
Keigo:"See la, ask you not to give birth liao, you still want... now complained to me for what?! It is not as though I never warn you like that."
Masaki:"Will the child grow up to have heartache and I have passed away and not by her side?"
Keigo:"Why didn't you consider that then lei? Now then think a bit too late..."

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Japanese and Chinese gardens



These were some of the pictures taken in the Japanese garden.
Below were pictures of the scenery.



Moving on to the Chinese garden... ...



Below were pictures of the scenery and a huge monitor lizard.




Funny stuff:

The candid photos were not uploaded at the request of dear dear, but can roughly describe a bit. :p

1: Dear riding on tiger, pulling his shirt to cover his crotch area, blur blur expression.
2: Dear riding on tiger, hand caressing his hair in '70s style
3: Dear riding on tiger, both hands protecting his crotch area.

We went after a heavy downpour, hence the ground was wet and muddy. I was wearing slipper and dear was wearing sandals. When I walked on the grass to avoid the puddle on the stone path, I went "Eewk, stepped into mud...". Dear dear laughed.
After which when he walked trying to go further to avoid the same patch as me, he went "Ahhh... ahhh... ahhh...", same fate as me.

Funny things dear said:

"My nipple is getting burned from friction."
This was due to my handphone was put into his pocket on the shirt, then I taking it out quite frequently to take photos.

"It's like music coming from my chest."
My handphone rang while it was inside his pocket, just imagine if it was in silent mode... will it be worse?

Toy museum and Suntec City trip



This post i guessed I have to make it less wordy and more pictures, since the whole day, the whole trip was so packed with activities.
The above pictures were taken at the toy museum, I found the place to be enriching and interesting. Thanks to dear for his recommendation. The peacock toy, in my opinion, would be the ideal kind of toy. It seems appealing and cute to have such a big bird walking in the house.

After that, we went to Suntec city to eat Subway and proceed to purchase movie tickets ( show was at 5.15 pm ). Meantime ( about 3 hrs to start of movie ), we went to the book fair.

The movie we watched was "Alvin and the chipmunks".

The show was not bad in my opinion, being so vibrant and cute. However, my dear gave it a 6/10 rating, saying the storyline was too expected.










These were the 3 out of 6 Christmas trees which we found to be nice. By the way, they were made of recycled materials. The rest looked skeletal.

Following a recipe fully can be tough at times



Although my dear dear never get to taste this dish, he shopped for the ingredients with me. I needed canned pacific clams and while browsing for the item, we get stock ( needed as well ). The canned pacific clams that we came across, the only brand, was quite expensive ( was more than ten dollars for a can ), making me so confused whether to proceed buying to cook the dish or not to buy and not to cook this dish. Dear dom dom then continue searching and came across cans of pacific clam stock ( something like that ) which was $3.30 per can if I remember correctly. Great! I saved on the stock and pacific clams and get that instead, so much more cheaper.

While cooking this dish then, the stock was more than enough, but not enough to consume the excess on its own as another dish, so I poured everything. In the end, it turned out quite soupy, instead of just gravy. Nevertheless, the dish was delicious, so the recipe book was worth the money.

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve



The above pictures were taken at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. It was raining heavily that day, hence my dear and I waited for quite some time in the shelter at the main entrance before venturing onto the tracks.

Well, we had limited time taking photographs because of a date with my friends later in the evening. Although this was our second time in the nature reserve, I only spotted few animals. Quite disappointed because I thought that it will be exciting to capture photographs of animals in the wild, with the amount of luck needed to spot them and take their picture.

Dear dear consoled me and told me not to expect for animals, but to take it as a good form of exercise.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Snake! Wee~ get to see it in the wild.



This happened while I was on my way home from my Japanese lesson, I think. I passed by a drain which was quite flooded with water and I saw many fishes swimming around. As I walked on and continued looking at the same time, I spotted this snake near a dark corner and I thought it was dead.

The snake wasn't moving and was floating in the same position all the while. I was even thinking of fishing it out with a branch to measure its length... anyway I couldn't find any. I then tried to take photos of it. The K770i wasn't really made to do night shots, even with the torch on and it was unable to zoom at 3.2 mp, making me place my handphone quite close to the water. I was scared that if I got butter fingers, my phone will confirmed be lost in the dark waters and spoiled. Made me miss the presence of my dear who have k800i which can take better night shots. Oh, after I finished photographing the snake all I liked, the snake started to move... still alive wor.

The snake was identified as a dog-faced water snake.

Another belated post

This I thought I have added in the November posts, but I have forgotten. Anyway, here it comes. The desire to make them came after eating Ramly burger in NUS and a pasir malam near my house.



The burgers that I have made did not taste as flavorful as the original, although they were less salty and oily. Yet I liked my edition with the addition of crispy lettuce and juicy tomato slices, making them more refreshing and healthy.

More dishes to come



These were made as an experiment by looking at a recipe, I wasn't sure if I can make the dish tasty hence the quantity was small in order not to waste ingredients lest they turn out to be horrible.
Overall, they were quite easy to make and not bad in taste when accompanied with rice (very crispy because of the deep-frying process), although a bit too salty if tasted on its own. This dish was bacon-wrapped celery topped with carrot.



These were made this afternoon after following instructions from my mom. The vegetables were quite nice, but the salmon and the stir fried egg with tomatoes and salmon were both plain in taste (due to adding too little soya light sauce).
The stir fried egg dish initially did not include the salmon inside which was caused by my blunder.
I took the salmon packet outside the box within the freezer then thought "why so many bones" and I sliced thinly to get the meat. Later, that made my mom laughed out loud because that was really bony parts meant for making soup. She took out the fillet from inside the box and thawed it. In order not to waste the thin slices of meat, they were added to the egg and out came the dish.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Posting again after depressing exams were over



These western dishes were whipped up after my mother was hospitalized due to post-operation complications. After getting sick of eating outsourced food, I decided to buy some ingredients to cook. The simplest was to start off with frozen food... :D Anyway, there is no need to worry about my mother anymore. She is out of hospital now after almost dying there, and on the road to recovery at home.



Using whatever is available and knowing how to cook, out came my breakfast and lunch respectively. The rice was so nice... after so long of not being able to eat rice since my mother still in hospital then. Well, not so many people eating at home and hence the rice cooker, with a minimum capacity of 2 cups of rice, cannot be put into use.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Cute photos taken and edited with my k770i :D


For the photo of myself, the butterfly on the shirt is an add-on clip art.

My new batch of tadpoles - very belated entry


These were pictures of my third batch of tadpoles, taken the day after I posted on the tag board that I would be going to get my new batch. The first 2 pictures were taken a few days later, while the other 2 were taken a few weeks later, so one can imagine how long they take to grow their legs in captivity.

As for those curious where I managed to find so many tadpoles, there was a drain that was somewhere behind Manjusri Secondary School. After rainy days, the frogs would lay eggs which became tadpoles eventually if rainy season persisted. The second batch (i.e. the experimental batch was taken when the tadpoles hatched not long and dry season arrived), were unlike this batch which grew quite big already when I took them. This current batch looked like black giant sperms (just joking) which keep swimming in my mind after a long observation.

Anyway, 2 died, I don't know why, after which I released 3 after they grew 4 legs and shortened their tails. After a few more days, 3 died, probably due to them being too picky on the food. Their tails have not yet shortened. I released 2 more out into the wild with their tails still hanging behind their butt. Finally, that last one still with me now have not yet grown its front legs... super 'wols'... but at least still surviving.

The mysteries behind a computer that keeps me pondering

Everyday, every time I switch on the computer, I am wondering how on earth did software come about? What is the link between software and hardware of a computer? How does the computer language, the codes or instructions transform themselves into signals or energy that make something lifeless as hardwares understand and perform as instructed? It is like writing words (commands) on a petal of a rose like "drop your petals one by one, dropping right side means he love me and dropping left side means he love me not" and expect the stalk of rose to perform as instructed.

I know that unlike rose's petals, the hardware of a computer consists of circuits which conducts electricity, but how do the codes transform themselves from instructions (maybe signals? No idea) to an action (like getting a graphic, making the cathodes shoot out in certain design to get a picture on the screen)?

To add on, when you write a program, you used a programming software to write that program, so how does the people write the most basic programming software, the original one used to create other programs?

If programming software language C is written with programming software language B, does it mean that one can use B and decompile C?

How does the computer differentiates between the storage of executional files and documents?

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Some stuff which I heard long ago

There will be three people you will meet in your life:
The 1st is someone whom you like but he/she doesn't reciprocate the feelings.
The 2nd is someone who like you but you never reciprocate the feelings.
The 3rd is someone whom you like but not as much as 1st one, he/she who likes you but not as much as the 2nd one, but yet will be together due to the right timing.

Come to think of it, when one ponders back, the 1st and 2nd persons may become blurry and you may even wonder are they (the persons that come to your mind) the 1st or 2nd?

Shyness is a double-edged sword which I came to realize it more or less only when I looked back in time. A guy whom I liked and yet dare not express myself only until the chance slipped by then come to regret, but at the same time, due to shyness, maybe I kinda protected myself from getting hurt from being rejected.

When I wrote that someone into my diary, he seemed to stuck in my mind from then, plus the photo taken when young, the image stuck was an image of his childhood looks. Can't be easily erased lei, dunno how? Even when I don't get to see him anymore since Sec 1 I think.

As for my 2nd plus 3rd, I think is together ba, eh... er... not to say I liked him less but since is ongoing relationship, not much room to compare. Is like only when you knew you don't seem to have any more chance of seeing the person again, then the feelings accumulates and flood you at one shot... so dear, don't upset yeh if you happened to be reading this post. Well, at least you appeared in the right time.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Before I can even buy T650...

The horribly high price doesn't drop and there are so many not so good reviews regarding the phone going on, like the paint easily come off, the phone heats up suddenly etc.

Now then I regret why didn't I buy the K810i when it was selling at $148 sigh...

And now the combination of K810i and T650 arrives... known as K770, aiyo so confused now.
Furthermore as a new phone the price is quite good being on par with an old good phone known as k800i ( Singtel pricing ).

However, the cam is not as good as K810i, hmmm so should I go for good design but not-so-good cam or should I go for not-so-good design but better cam? Consider both prices about the same and my dear have k800i which the cam module is similar to k810... sigh...

ROM sometime back... ;D

Not mine though... my elder sis's.

Nevertheless, still very happy and envious, me and my dear being receptionists.