Look. Listen. Feel. Act.

[shifting]

2006-05-16T12:13:00.000+08:00

I've got a new blog site up at jeremy.blogsentral.com! It's still kinda rough around the edges, but give me some time and I'll port the various stuff I have here over there.

Check it out now! :)

[random]

2006-05-11T13:21:00.000+08:00

I've noticed that at times when I do not blog for a period of time, it's usually because there are things happening in my life which may be a little too personal to write on. Pretty ironic huh, considering a blog is supposed to be an outlet for expressing your feelings and thoughts. And it's funny, how the idea of people you might know reading your blog excites you and scares you at the same time. I wonder what kind of impression people get when they read this blog of mine? Hmm...

Anyways, some random bits of news is in order. The past few days spent with Michelle have been wonderful. She's been pretty busy catching up with all the good food she's missed while she's away, and I've been gorging on the good stuff she's brought back from the States (Chex Mix Honey Nut FTW! =D ). Oh, and the other day while hanging out at the shopping mall, I came across this super cute SD Force Impulse Gundam and suggested that maybe we could built one together. She agreed, and we had loads of fun asssembling the kit - me cutting out the pieces and cleaning the stubs while she draws the panel lines. I'll try to put up the pictures of the already completed kit soon. XD

On the side, it's time for a little bit of geek-talk. If you're a Metal Gear Solid fan, you absolutely HAVE to check out the awesome new 15-minute trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4. I tell you, I had multiple mind orgasms watching it. No really, it's THAT good. D: Try getting it here if the server has not imploded from the crazy traffic yet (it's about 100MB in size), or easier still get your hands on the torrent.

Finally, the more keen eyed would've already noticed that there's a new addition to the side bar of the blog: sketches! I admit I'm no artist, but I thought it would be cool to inject a little more personality into the blog in the form of lousy art drawn by me lol. If you have a blog of your own, get your own Sketchplanet panel here! =)

[reunited]

2006-05-06T20:22:00.000+08:00

[finally!]

2006-05-04T13:48:00.000+08:00

Michelle's en route back to malaysia even as I'm typing this. I cant express enough how excited I am, and how much I wish tomorrow will come now, and that from then on time would stop forever. There are so many things to do, so many places to go, so much to catch up on...argh the anticipation is killing me! :)

Michelle'll be back for more than 3 months, but sadly I only have till middle of June to spend with her. :( The company that I'm going to be joining has asked that I commence working in the middle of June, even that after much negotiations (they had initially asked for me to start at the beginning of June itself, while I asked to start in July). In the end we both compromised, but I'll still miss Michelle's GRE test date, since I had promised to go with her at first to support her. Sigh.

Job wise, I'm fairly certain that I'll be posted as a chemist although I've been to told to expect "the possibility of inter-departmental transfer". Frankly I dont really care, as long as I'm not doing sales. Who knows, maybe a managerial position is waiting for me someday. XD Oh, and the company in question is Mewah Oleo, a Singapore-based palm oil refinery that has not one, not two, but FOUR refineries in Malaysia alone: one in Johor, two in Selangor and one in East Malaysia. Not to mention overseas branches in Australia as well. If I give it my best, who knows...maybe I'll be top man in any one of these places in the future. >:D

But meh, work can come later. Right now the wait for tomorrow is killing me!! :(

[jobGET!]

2006-05-01T09:26:00.000+08:00

I landed the job.

Now I dont know whether to be sad or happy. I should be happy because finally I've found a job that relates to what I've studied, but sad at the fact that I may start working in June and miss spending time with Michelle (who's due back this Friday yay!). I know the drill, work should come first right? But really now, I haven't seen Michelle in 2 years, and 3 months together with her isn't a lot to ask for right? :(

So how did the interview go? It went rather well actually, in spite of me not really giving it my best (for the obvious reason stated above). Dont get me wrong, it's not that I didn't take it seriously, but I was in it more for the experience of going through a proper interview. The interview was scheduled at 2.30pm last Friday, but me being the Johor n00b that I am, I decided that it was best to go by cab rather than with my dad's car. And if I wasn't convinced yet that Johor was an expensive place to live in, I was after finding out that the ride there cost me RM30. >_>

Oh, and while we're on the subject of Johor being an expensive place to live in, the food is mad costly too. It's definitely something to consider when thinking about whether to accept the job or not. I'll have to give my answer tomorrow.

Hey, it wasn't me!

[johor bound]

2006-04-27T09:32:00.000+08:00

I'll be away in Johor Bahru from today till Saturday at least, so there will be no major updates on the blog till then. I have an interview to attend for the post of a chemist at Mewah Oleo Industries, so wish me luck!

See you all when I get back. :)

[eating out: wkcct]

2006-04-26T18:24:00.000+08:00

One of the better perks of working in my present company is that every three months, we get the opportunity to be treated to a makan session in a place of our own choosing. This time around me and my colleagues decided to head to a hongkie cuisine restaurant called Wong Kok Char Chan Teng in IOI Mall in Puchong (I've been going to Puchong alot these days =_='' ), and after meeting up at the office, we got on our way and arrived there at about 2pm.

Personally I've never been to this restaurant, but I hear from my colleagues that it's a splendid place with nice food, and that's always a good thing to hear. Apparently they also have branches in 1Utama and SS2. Menu-wise, if you've ever been to a Hong Kong type eatery, you'd know what to expect, but it was cool to note that they have some fusion dishes as well.

The interior of the restaurant was cosy enough, and it gave off the impression of a high class kopitiam. I've been told that the place does get pretty hectic during peak hours, but when we were there there wasn't many people around, most probably due to the time. It took awhile for me to order the food because everything sounded really good, but after awhile I decided on cheese baked rice with beef. Everyone else practically ordered something different from the others, and we called for quite a number of side dishes as well.

How was the food you ask? I'll let the pictures do the talking. XD

Some of the funky looking drinks we ordered.

Delicious Cheese Baked Rice you must eat! XD

Mmmm...fishballs...

Are you hungry yet? Heh.

XO Silvergold Rolls - minced pork and pork floss wrapped in chee cheong fun and scrabled eggs fried in XO sauce (yes, it tastes as good as it sounds!).

Not forgetting desert. Heh.

Good food, great environment, I'd rate this place a 7/10 overall. For more pictures, check out my Flickr sidebar. :)

7 happy campers after a good meal.

Too bad we had to go to work soon after that. T_T

[cut short]

2006-04-24T19:38:00.000+08:00

Right, so towards the end of my previous post I talked about how I bumped into a gig over at Starbucks in Taipan USJ after dinner at a fancy steamboat restaurant. Apparently, it was some sort of fundraiser for the SPCA, organised by a bunch of students from Taylors College. The featured band for the night was Altered Frequency, and I realised I knew at least one of them from a few years back.

When I first arrived at the scene, Altered Frequency hadn't taken the floor yet. Instead some other band (I assume they students from Taylors College) was playing, and they pretty much set the tone for the night with their rocking tunes. It looks like I was there just at the right time, because soon after that Altered Frequency came on, muct to the delight of the crowd that had gathered.

Daniel, the frontman of the band made the crowd comfortable with a few jokes while other band members were preparing themselves, and soon after that the show got underway. Everyone (including me) had a blast listening to them belt out song after song (including a rocking version of Phil Collins' "Another Day in Paradise"). However, after the 5th song, this happened (you might wanna turn down the volume knob for this video):

Yup, that's a local council enforcement officer appearing towards the end of the video. He came walking in, stood in front of the band and started waving his Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya (MPSJ) identification card. It took awhile to register, but the band stopped playing almost immediately and people started wondering what the heck's going on. Apparently, the organisers had no permit to hold live entertainment as part of their event, and as a result the enforcement guys started carting away the equipment of the band. O_O

Most of the crowd dispersed, but I stayed behind to check out the fuss. It was quite a scene, with the organisers trying to plead with the MPSJ folks not to take away the equipment and all that. I think they even resorted to trying to "negotiate" a deal (if you catch my drift), but I didn't stick around long enough to see what happened in the end. When I left the scene, an MPSJ lorry had just arrived, ready to be loaded with the confiscated amps, speakers, drum sets, mic, etc. I felt a little sorry for the sound people who were hired to supply the equipment, cause I overheard that they had another event to cater for the next day.

Another video of the scene.

[of steamboats and a gig...almost]

2006-04-23T01:38:00.000+08:00

When I was told by my former colleagues yesterday that there was to be a dinner meetup at a Taiwanese steamboat restaurant in Puchong, I signed up thinking that it would be great fun to catch up on the latest gossip and news. Instead, I found more than just that - I found an excellent new place to eat! The venue was to be a certain Mizi Shabu-shabu Steamboat Restaurant in Puchong, and boy was I impressed! A three-storey building filled to the brim with patrons, I was shocked to see people lining up outside waiting for empty seats, and thought that the food must be something special for them to be that desperate for a place inside.

Good thing for our group though, we booked our tables in advance, and while we still had to wait for a few minutes, we still managed to get our seats without having to wait for too long. After being led to our table on the second floor, it was interesting to find that our table had six "holes". I soon found out that these was where your steamboat goes into, and that instead of the usual one big steamboat shared by everyone, this restaurant offers one steamboat per person. Cool!

There was one thing bugging me though - I couldn't find any gas tanks, or even built-in stoves in (or under) the table. How were we supposed to heat up the steamboat? I then noticed this electronic panel under the table, and soon figured out that this was the controls for the electronic heater - electricity is used instead of gas! With a press of the appropriate button, the heater turns on, and you can preset it to cook at low, medium or high temperature, or simply just preset it to "keep warm". One of the things I didn't like about eating steamboats was when you were trying to turn the fire down, and you accidentally switch the gas off. With this nifty electronic panel, that won't happen! XD

The menu consists of individual "set meals" that you can order to suit your palette. I personally ordered the Fish Slice set, and it came with about six generous helpings of fish slices and a plate of the usual steamboat goodies: tauhu, mushrooms, fishballs, "sui kao"s, prawns, "fu pei", loads of vegetables, etc. Other sets available are the Pork Slice set, Vegetarian set, Seafood set, to name a few. The price isn't too bad either. My set cost me RM16.90, other sets ranged from RM15 to about RM20 at most. You could also order side helpings of stuff like extra fishballs, other varieties of vegetables, fishcake, etc., for a price.

Also served together with your set dish is a special sauce which tasted to me like the sweet sauce used in Chee Chung Fun, but with added condiments like fried onions, sesame oil, sesame seeds, peanuts, spring onions, soya sauce and cili padi. I thought the sauce tasted a little too sweet for my liking, but nevertheless it's not something to really complain about. The food itself was rather good though. The soup tasted well, with just the right touch of pepper, and the seafood and fishballs were fresh enough. I would definitely come back here again, most likely when Michelle comes home in about two weeks' time. Anyone care to join me? Heh.

Gochizosamadeshita! *burp* XD

After dinner, we decided to head out to Taipan USJ for some coffee. When we arrived, I noticed that there was an unusually large crowd of people outside Starbucks, and a whole lot of noise. Upon closer inspection, I found out that an event was taking place - some sorta fundraiser for the SPCA in the form of a live gig by Altered Frequency. You'll have to tune in tomorrow to find out how this:

...turned into this:

It's quite the drama! Stay tuned! XD

[minor facelift]

2006-04-21T04:52:00.000+08:00

Ok well not exactly a facelift, but I've decided to add a spiffy looking image header to replace the old text-only name of my blog. Hopefully in the coming days I'll finally get around to changing more of the way the site currently looks like.

For starters, comments on the new header would be nice. :)

[on probation]

2006-04-20T02:45:00.001+08:00

So earlier today I went online to get my daily fix from the lowyat.net forums, and I found that there was something not quite right with my interface. There I was, in my newly found favourite Gundam thread, when I noticed this:
My first reaction was that of horror - somehow my account has been HAXXOR'd!! Or worse, something's gone terribly wrong with the forums.

But then I decided to look around and find out what's really happening, and headed over to the Announcements section of the forum. There, I found this:
ZOMG a probationary moderator! O_O

It was indeed a pleasant suprise, to be deemed worthy of such a responsibility. I'll have to do my best from now on. :)

Oh, and while I was in the office today, I found this awesome piece of papercraft, so I had to make one for myself. LOL it's teh funnay:
In case you wanna make one for yourself, here's the template: click me!

XD

[what's below the surface]

2006-04-18T22:35:00.000+08:00

Desiring to please other people is fine, but not at the expense of being robbed of the ability to think for yourself. There is no such thing as pleasing everyone. At least, not all the time. And while it may be noble to "obey in order to please", sometimes it's best to take one step back and think for a moment what is it that you are obeying. If someone orders you to jump from a high rise building, would you do so blindly? Granted, that is an exaggerated scenario, but the essence is the same: if the wishes of another is ridiculous, why give in? Just because they are older? Just because you are blood related? It would be wise to remember that even adults make mistakes, and their judgements sometimes flawed.

It annoys me because while on the surface it might seem like just "another order", it really is much more than that when you look deeper. It's about pride, and the silly habit of being concerned about what other people may think. Why is that people who practise these things always assume that others are like them? Does it not occur to them that most people would not care? Why is it that when narrow minded people behave in such manner, it is alright, but they decry anyone else who would do the same? That is, if other people would do the same. Not only that, it hurts to think that after many years of showing how faithful you can be, people would still doubt you, or think that you are capable of hurting a person you have loved for so long. For them to feel that way, while all the time they're smiling when they're in front of you, do they take me for a fool?

Don't get me wrong. People who are older than you, or people who are your family should be respected. But respecting does not mean always obeying blindly. I always believe that people who be allowed to think for themselves, to decide what's right and what's wrong. Granted, you would need advise from time to time by more experienced and mature individuals, but at the end of the day you should be the one to make the decision, not others. Otherwise when would it end? When you're 25? 35? 50? If, when given time to be independent and away from home for a period of time, and you have proven yourself to be obedient, knowing what's good and bad, why is it that when you return you are suddenly treated as if you've sinned greatly and therefore need to be controlled? And you are no longer even a child, but an adult.

And while it may sound like I'm for the notion for rebelling against your elders, dont get me wrong, I'm not. But if you let yourself be controlled forever, you will never be free of whoever it is that's controlling you. It would be wise to look at things in perspective, and think about what's to come in the future. Without long term vision, you will find that in due time, things will become irreparably changed, be it for good or for worse, because as much as people may have patience and try their best to understand, it will run out. My mother made that mistake, of thinking that things will become better in due time. It took her close to 20 years of patience and silent suffering, only in the end, it never did.

And I will not repeat her mistake.

[run]

2006-04-17T18:14:00.000+08:00

Why is it that when good things happen, they do occasionally. But when shit happens, they come one after another?

I'm tired. I want to run away from it all.

[He is risen!]

2006-04-16T17:30:00.000+08:00

It's easter again, a special day held to celebrate a special and momentous occasion in the history of the human race. And while the guys in church are taking part in a mini choir, I had to give it a miss due to work. The picture was taken yesterday evening during the Easter service, with another one to be held this evening.

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " Then they remembered his words. - Luke 24:1-8.

Blessed Easter to all. :)

[blog plug: infested_ysy]

2006-04-15T18:48:00.000+08:00

Back when I had a little fun with my Gundam, it was actually in response to one of infested_ysy's (a member of the lowyat forums that I frequent) post. I didn't want to post his pictures up at first since it wasn't mine to begin with, but after he gave me the go-ahead, here they are - the pictures that inspired mine lol:

...

......

O_O'''

I have zah ~~power~~ loli!

You can head over to his blog to check out more pictures. He's got quite a nice collection of assorted figures, gundam kits, etc. And if he's not being a pain in the butt on the forums, he even does stuff like origami cats. =_= Either way, check it out for yourself. :)

Oh, by the way, lookie what I recently got myself:
HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE.

[red frame - the making 3]

2006-04-13T18:15:00.000+08:00

After getting the top half of the Astray Red Frame done up, last Tuesday saw me putting in another 4 or so hours into the lower half of the kit. I had originally wanted to spread out the assembly over another 2 days, but since I couldn't get people to go catch a movie with I had to settle for the afternoon at home. Poor Andrew and me went all the way to church (they were having some Sunday School sports event) only to come back rejected by most people we asked join us for a show. Instead, the replies we got were "Oh, I cant. I've got homework to finish up".

What's with kids these days? Doing homework at home... on a holiday? Absurb! The very thought of it should be made punishable by law. >_> But try as we may, we simply could not get the youth to see things our way. Pooh.

So anyway, back to the Gundam kit. Now let me say first of all that the legs of the Red Frame are more detailed than most models in the Gundam's CE timeline. And while it may not be obvious if you look at the picture on your right, take a look at these shots of the side and back of the leg and you'll see what I mean. Or simply take a look at the legs on the Destiny kit at the background and you'll find that they look much more plain.

I mentioned before that the larger 1/100 scale kits are generally more detailed and poseable, and boy was I suprised at how much the legs of the Red Frame can bend and turn! I mean, just look at that! It's no wonder they say that once you've built a 1/100 scale, you'd never want to go back to the 1/144 scales again. So anyway, at the end of about 4 hours (yes, each leg took me about 2 hours because of the insane panel lining involved) I got the bottom half done. Each leg is attached to the central pelvic piece, which in turn will be attached to the main torso.

And there you have it! After roughly 8-9 hours to work put into the kit, my Astray Red Frame is finally complete! :) I'll have better pictures up later. Somehow the Sony Cybershot T3 that I used didn't really cut it for me in terms of picture quality, no matter how much I tried to tweak the settings. In the meantime though, just enjoy these few pictures I managed to snap of the kit in "action". XD

The standard prerequisite "I've got you in my sight now" pose. XD

If there's one complain I have about this kit, it's the fact that the Gerbera Straight (the mean looking katana) pieces doesnt come pre-set in their original colors. Instead it's mostly white, and with me being the noob that I am in anything remotely artsy (i.e. I suck at painting), I pretty much cant do anything about it. :( Oh, and while we're on the subject of me sucking at painting, I have no idea what to do with the figure of Lowe Guele (Astray's pilot) that was included with the kit. O_o

Check out the poseability! This kit can scratch itself in the back if it ever develops a back itch (or in this case, reach out for its beam saber). XD A more detailed close-up picture can be seen here.

The actual size comparison between the 1/144 and 1/100 kits. Look how Destiny's being dwarfed. O_O

[graduate application: update]

2006-04-13T00:55:00.000+08:00

An email sent to me earlier today, from the Chemistry department of UNL where I've applied for entry into their graduate program:

Hello Jeremy,

We currently have you on a wait list. We have made the bulk of our offers, but still may have one or two additional Fall semester openings before the end of the term.

I will contact you again in approximately two weeks to update you on the status of your application.

In the meantime, thank you for your continued interest in graduate studies at UNL.

DeAnna Larson
Secretary Chemistry Graduate Recruiting and Admissions
516 Hamilton Hall
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588-0304
(402) 472-2977
Email: dlarson2@unl.edu

The way I see it, I dont think I got in, seeing as how the only forseeable way in would be if someone else pulls out. I doubt that'll happen, but hey, another 2 weeks of waiting is in order. I dont think I'll just sit still though. I'll just go ahead with my job hunt, regardless of how this whole application thing'll turn out. Enough time has been wasted waiting already.

[red frame - the making 2]

2006-04-11T14:09:00.000+08:00

Last night saw another 2 hours (you have no idea how time flies while you're having fun lol) of work going into the assembly of the arms of the Red Frame. Ok well technically an hour and a half, cause I was pretty much pooped to carry on after that so I finished it up in the morning after I woke up. Now some of you might be asking, how do you know where to color/ink? Well, the instruction booklet almost always comes with a handy color guide for the mecha, so just by referring to it, you'll know where panel lines are supposed to be drawn, what color to use, etc.

Now I promised yesterday to explain what panel lines are, but before that let's take a look at the tools of the trade. The picture you see here on the right is the GM01 black Gundam Marker pen used to ink the panel lines on most if not all Gundam model kits. If you look real close, you'll actually see that the tip of the pen (it's more of a pen than a marker really) is really quite fine.

Getting the panel lines drawn is simple enough. You just ink over the grooves and voila, you've got panel lines. A word of caution though, sometimes you'd get really thick panel lines cause the grooves may be too small, so what I do is after I ink the lines, I'll either use my fingers or a wet cloth to wipe off any excess ink before it dries up. If you dont wanna dirty your fingers too much or dont have any loose cloth lying around, then using a plain eraser will just just as well.

It really is amazing what difference panel lining can do to the appearance of your model kit. Just look at this picture of the left arm without any panel lines, and this one of the right arm with panel lines. A whole lot of difference huh! I think panel lines add greater depth to the kit, and makes it look more authentic and mecha-like. The picture you see on the right shows how your kit will look like with and without panel lined limbs (the red frame's left arm isn't panel lined).

All in all, it was a good 2 hours plus spent, and after roughly 4-5 hours, the top half of my Red Frame is complete. Work on the bottom half starts tonight! :)

[red frame - the making 1]

2006-04-10T19:11:00.000+08:00

Yesterday after church service in the morning, I headed up to Subang to collect my 1/100 Astray Red Frame. I had purchased it from a fellow lowyat.net forummer who goes to Japan on a regular basis, and I'm pretty sure I'll be getting more kits from him in the near future. :)

After collecting the kit, I headed back down to Port Klang to join up with the rest of the guys in church, who were out tracting for next week's Easter meeting. Some of us decided to head out for lunch, so by the time I got back home there was just enough time to open up the kit to see what's inside before I had to get ready for work.

I was sooo itching to start assembling this gorgeous kit, so you'll probably be right if you guessed that I couldn't concentrate on my work in the office lol. And yes, it is sad that I have to work on Sundays while everyone else is having fun elsewhere, but being the weekends the office isn't as packed, and so I basically have more time to catch up on my anime on YouTube. XD

Yes yes, I'm half otaku. I know that already. =_=

The fun began as soon as I got home from work and after I was out of the showers. While the booklet was printed in Japanese, the assembly pictures are straight-forward enough to be understood even by non-Japanese speaking folks. All individual parts are numbered accordingly, so it's only a matter of finder the correct runner (the frame to which the parts are attached to is called the runner) and then cutting out the parts needed.

The picture above shows the torso after assembly was complete, and that alone took me about 2 hours to finish. O_o This being a 1/100 scale, it has significantly more parts if compared to the smaller HG 1/144 kits. Hmm, I think I'll probably take a picture comparing the size of this kit with the 1/144 Destiny that I already have. That should give a better sense of how bigger this kit is. :)

The slightly more demanding assembly requirements aside, the up side to a larger scale model is that you get much more detail and accurate colors (although some minor paint job is still required if you want the kit to look 100% like it's anime/manga counterpart). The head here on the left took me another hour to complete, and after that I was pretty much sleep-deprived. And even if I wanted to continue, my forefinger was already kinda sore from constantly holding the pieces together firmly while trimming the excesses from the runners, panel lining, etc.

I'll take pictures of before and after shots when I work on the limbs tonight, to illustrate what panel lines are and why they make a whole lot of difference to how a Gundam model looks like in the end. Of course, I wish I had the crazy painting skills of some of the better modellers out there, cause some of the kits I've seen on the Internet literally blew me away. D:

And there you have it! After starting at roughly 2.20am and finishing at about 5.45am, this is what I have for show. Stay tuned tomorrow for the next update! XD

[it's here!]

2006-04-09T14:36:00.000+08:00

It's hereeeeeeeeee!

I'll start work on it tonight, hopefully with updates on my progress on the blog on a regular basis. :)

Meanwhile, have some laughs looking at these funny poses I came up with using the Destiny Gundam and some anime figures I was having around.

LOLI, get! XD

Skirt fetish?! O_o'''

Gaah, incoming! >.<

[eagerly awaiting]

2006-04-06T00:35:00.000+08:00

Another week or so, and it'll arrive. My very own 1/100 scale model of the immensely popular Astray Red Frame mobile suit.

I cant wait! XD

[error 440: funny not found]

2006-04-01T01:26:00.000+08:00

April Fool's Day or not, whoever thought up this stinking idea deserves to be shot. Over, and over, and over, again. I mean, pulling off a prank is fine. Having all your clicks returned to this damned page...ISN'T.

And here I am in the middle of conducting trades with possible meet-ups with potential buyers tomorrow.

To think that the mods of a community forum of over 400,000 members would know better. *%(*&!@#^!($%!($

Edit: Okay, as of 2:48am local time, the site is back up again. Thank goodness it didn't last for long.

Edit edit: Only for it to go down again at 2:54am. >_>

Edit edit edit: There we go, business as usual at approximately 3am.

[fish out of water]

2006-03-30T21:09:00.000+08:00

With the latest postponement of the status of my graduate admission, I'm left wondering about what's ahead of me in the months to come. I've done all I can up to this point: contacting lecturers, reading about their research work, even stopping short of begging them to admit me, etc., but as much as I like to remain hopeful of securing a place at the last minute, I have to face the scenario of having no choice but to dive headfirst into the rat race.

But therein lies the dilemma, and the disappointment. As much as the Malaysian government goes on and on rambling about wanting to turn the country into a hub of biotechnology and biodiversity, nothing concrete has been done to steer us in that direction. In contrast, countries who started later than us have leapfrogged ahead of us by miles (our closest neighbour Singapore, being a prime example). If you're not convinced, try going to websites like jobstreet.com and try running a search with the word "biotechnology" for jobs in Malaysia and Singapore. If ever there are jobs available, chances are they're for positions in marketing and sales.

Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against people who work in marketing and sales. But someone like me will feel like a fish out of water if I head in that direction. I feel most at home in a laboratory, with test tubes in my hands, or when I'm setting agarose gels for electrophoresis. And it's depressing because unlike someone who's into IT and has access to a computer, I dont have access to those unless I obtain work in a laboratory. I dont know, maybe I miss donning my labcoat, being in a lab, and doing stuff like asking questions about how agarose concentrations will affect the rates of migration of DNA fragments, etc. Above all, I suppose it depresses me to think that I may not be able to do what I love.

Life is hardly fair, that much is for certain. And if the theory of evolution has any hint of truth to it, then pretty soon this fish'll just have to grow legs and start learning to walk on land or risk facing extinction.

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Lord, if it is in Your will to grant me the desire of my heart, then send me there God. If not, then grant me the wisdom to accept that You know what's best for me.

Amen.

[destiny gundam, part deux]

2006-03-29T22:49:00.000+08:00

For lack of better stuff to post, here are more pictures of my 1/144 HG Destiny Gundam kit. These pictures were taken with an Olympus C-740 with macro mode on. I'm no professional when it comes to photography, but I must say I'm happy with the way the pictures turned out. :)

Ok, I'm gonna get a little geeky now, so if you're not a fan of Gundam or mecha in general, it would be best to just enjoy the pictures (click on them for a larger image) and skip what I'm about to say. XD

The ZGMF-X42S Destiny is one of the more popular mechas in the Gundam Seed Destiny series. Its armaments include the standard beam rifle, arm mounted shield, and head mounted CIWS, although it also carries with it a humongous anti-ship sword and beam rifle on its back. Other unique weaponry include shoulder mounted boomerang sabers, palm mounted beam cannons, and wrist mounted beam shields. The second picture above shows the back of the mobile suit, with its beam rifle, anti-ship sword (the one in blue, back right) and beam cannon (the one in green, back left) tucked away.

But perhaps the most prominent feature of Destiny is its "Wings of Light" propulsion system, which to the casual observer, looks like well, uh...wings. XD The picture to the left here, shows the boomerang sabers after they have been deployed from the shoulder.

The one to the right here shows the beam cannon being deployed, and if you look closely you can also make out the beam cannon on the palm of the mobile suit. Mounted on the left arm is the shield, which is also prominent. One thing I have to admit though, the poseability of the newer kits are amazing, and I really had a good time coming up with all the poses. In the days of old (read: when I was younger lah), the 1/144 scale model kits were pretty stiff, and you couldn't really pose them alot. Also, they didnt give you the display stands too back then. >_>

Last picture of the day, and this one shows the beam shield being deployed on the left wrist. This is one of my favourite poses for its sheer dramaticism lol. If it's one thing I regret though, it's the fact that I'm not able to get the red streak below the eyes done cause I dont have a good red colored marker. I'll have that fixed one of these days when I finally get around to buying it though. :D

For more pictures of the Destiny, including pictures of its "wings" deployed and the anti-ship sword being wielded, check out my previous post here.

[so you want to learn jap pt. 4]

2006-03-28T18:09:00.000+08:00

Yes yes, I know, it's long overdue. But heck better late than never right? XD

O-shigoto wa nan desu ka = What is your occupation?
Introduction
In this lesson, a common sentence pattern is introduced – a 'person/item' is 'something'. For example:
- An-san wa Igirisujin desu = Anne is English.
- Kore wa tokei desu = This is a watch.

The pattern in Japanese is: noun wa noun desu.

Vocabulary list
Occupations
shigoto = work
sensei = teacher
kaisha-in = company worker/employee
gakusei = student
seito = pupil
shufu = housewife
isha = doctor
haisha = dentist
ten'in = shop assistant
hisho = secretary

Kazoku Own family
haha = mother
chichi = father
ani = older brother
ototo = younger brother

Interests
shumi = hobby
supotsu = sports
sakka = football (soccer)
suki = ski
gorufu = golf
dokusho = reading
suiei = swimming
dansu = dancing

Counting people
nan-nin = how many people?
hitori = one person, alone
futari = two people
san-nin = three people
yo-nin = four people
nan (sometimes nani) = what?

Useful phrases
moichido itte kudasai = please say it again
yukkuri itte kudasai = please say it more slowly

Sample conversation
Anne and her fellow classmates have brought in photos of their homestay families and real families to show to the class. Anne is talking about the Yamaguchi family.
Anne: Kore wa Yamaguchi Masaki-san desu. Yamaguchi san wa kaisha-in desu. Shumi wa suki to gorufu desu.
Tani: (pointing photo) Kore wa donata desu ka.
Anne: Ano, Takeshi-kun desu. Takeshi wa seito desu. Shumi wa suiei desu.
Heidi: Go-kazoku wa zembu de nan-nin desu ka.
Anne: Zembu de yo-nin desu.
Scott: Sumimasen, moichido itte kudasai. Nan-nin desu ka.
Anne: Yo-nin desu.

Next Tani passes round photos of her own family and holds up one to discuss.
Tani: Kono hito wa haha desu. Haha wa isha desu. Shumi wa dokusho desu. Kono hito wa Henri desu. Henri wa ani desu. Shumi wa sakka desu.
Han: (points to another photo) Kore mo Henri-san desu ka.
Tani: (blushing) Iie, Henri ja arimasen. Watashi no boifurendo desu.
Scott: Nani...? Yukkuri itte kudasai.

Extras
to = and
donata = who
go-kazoku = someone else's family
zembu de = altogether
kono hito = this person
mo = also, too
ja arimasen = is not
boifurendo = boyfriend

Explanations
1. Takeshi wa seito desu Takesi is a (school) pupil.
This is an example of the pattern that was introduced in the beginning of this lesson. In the conversation, more ways of using this pattern is encountered i.e. talking about jobs and hobbies. For example:
- Kono hito wa haha desu = This (person) is my mother
- Haha wa isha desu = My mother is a doctor
- Shumi wa dokusho desu = (Her) hobby is reading

From part 3, we learnt that wa is used to highlight the word that is the subject. It can sometimes be translated as "as for". For example:
- Shumi wa dokusho desu = As for her hobby, it is reading
- Shigoto wa isha desu = As for her job, she is a doctor

2. Kore wa donata desu ka Who is this?
Donata means who and is a more polite version of the question word dare which also means who. Donata would be used on more formal occasions. In English this phrase might be translated as: Might I ask who this is? Tani is asking about a photo but if the person is present you use kochira instead of kore for this.

3. Kore mo Henri-san desu ka Is this also Henri? (Is this Henri as well?)
Mo means also and is used as follows:
- Tani: Watasi wa gakusei desu (I am a student)
Anne: Watashi mo gakusei desu (I am also a student)

- Sato-sensei wa Nihonjin desu (Mrs Satō is Japanese)
Takeshi-kun mo Nihonjin desu (Takeshi is Japanese as well)

- Ani wa kaisha-in desu (My older brother is a company worker)
Ototo mo kaisha-in desu (My younger brother is a company worker as well)

You can also use mo this way:
- An-san mo Tani-san mo gakusei desu = Both Anne and Tani are students
- Takeshi-kun mo Sato-sensei mo Nihonjin desu = Both Takeshi and Mrs Sato are Japanese.

4. Kono hito wa haha desu This person is my mother.
Japanese people show respect for other people outside their family by using polite words and phrases. For example, in previous lessons you learnt how san was attached to a name when you are addressing someone else, or how o is attached to certain words when talking to other people (o-namae - your name).

In contrast, Japanese people use words which are more 'humble' (or modest) when talking about themselves or members of their own family. Therefore Tani doesnt say kochira wa ... (this person) when talking about her own mother. Instead she says kono hito which is a more everyday word for this person. She could also use kore wa (this).

5. Iie, Henri ja arimasen No, he's not Henri.
To say is not, am not, are not, etc., in Japanese, you use ja arimasen or the more polite version, dewa arimasen. For example:
- Tokei ja arimasen = It is not a watch
- Ichigatsu ja arimasen. Nigatsu desu = It is not January. It's February.

To say was or were (in other words, past tense) in Japanese, you change desu to deshita. For example:
- Chichi wa haisha deshita = My father was a dentist
- Sensei wa Furansujin deshita = My teacher was French

And to say wasn't or weren't you use ja arimasen deshita (or dewa arimasen deshita).

6. Haha mo chichi mo isha desu Both my mother and father are doctors.
There is an important difference between Japanese and English. In English we say one doctor and two doctors, in other words we have a singular and a plural. But generally in Japanese there is no difference between one or more than one of something, and as you saw in Explanation 5 above, desu covers all the different words we use in English (is, are, am).

7. Nan-nin desu ka. Yo-nin desu How many people are there? There are four people.
When counting people, you add the numbers ichi, ni, san, etc. to the word nin. Nin means person/people, therefore san-nin would mean three people.

However, when saying one person you use hitori, and for two people you use futari. Also, the word four (yon) is shortened to yo.

To ask how many people? you say nan-nin desu ka. Nan means what but better translates to how many in this case.

8. Moichido itte kudasai Please say it again.
If you didnt catch what was said to you, this phrase is a polite way of asking the person to repeat what was said. You could also use yukkuri itte kudasai to get the speaker to speak a little slower. Also, you could add sumimasen to the beginning of the sentence to be even more polite. For example:
- Sumimasen, moichido itte kudasai = Excuse me but would you mind saying that again please?