I had a nice heart-to-heart lunch with Jean today. <3 Missed her. We've always been this way; we don't meet for ages but then when we meet up, it's like we never parted. I realise that there isn't just one person in the world you can connect with, although you may favour someone. There are many. And that's what's great. It makes all my friends special.

And then when I was walking home, a fire engine zoomed by, and I remembered that I hadn't switched off the rice cooker when I left home that morning. It was on 'Heat'. And immediately, my kancheong-ness took over. @_@ I rushed forward to see which direction the fire engine took, and it turned right into Tampines Avenue 5 and panic bells went off in my head. I was like, "It can't be, right!" I mean, it's one thing to leave the stove on. It's different when you keep your rice heated in the cooker. The rice can't possibly catch fire from over-heating, right!!! But I was still kancheong. And as I approached home, I kept sniffing the air for any smell of smoke. And my heart was like thudding and doing crazy leaps as I turned corners on the way home, and I kept praying that what I was imagining wasn't really happening. I thought of all the crazy consequences of my flat catching fire and one of my biggest concerns was my dearest laptop :P which contains precious work and trivia. And of course my parents doing everything short of outright killing me. And my brother dismayed at his damaged PS3. Haha.

But when my flat was finally in sight, there was nothing of course. (^-^") And when I got home, the first thing I did was switch off the rice cooker. Phew. I am a nut.

I was doing my bioinformatics research on epigenetics and I found a scientific paper on the study of the 'magic' gene (as in the context of JK Rowling's Harry Potter universe) by some Oxford University people. Seriously. I just wanted to laugh and laugh and laugh, because WHAT. HAHA. What is the point of it!!! XD Is it a frigging joke???????? It must be! It's like this group of biologists were damn bored and then decided to spice up their dreary report-writing days and play a prank or something.

Don't believe me? Here are snapshots. And you can go look them up yourself on google scholar. Apparently, they theorise on the existence of an epigenetic magical enhancer that acts on the chromatin of pureblood wizards, thereby activating their magic gene. @.@ I swear. HP fans are pervasive, and just plain mad at times. To think they'd write a paper on the magic gene.


On second thought. I wish I'd done this myself. :P It must have been super fun to have written this paper. I'd thought much about the magic gene too. I mean, if you like biology, you just tend to think like that. Wondering how the genetics worked. Awesome lah.

"Magic is not a dichotomous trait; we prefer the idea of magical ability, a quantitative attribute, ranging from the talents of Albus Dumbledore, Harry’s headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to the relative ineptitude of Crabbe and Goyle, the sidekicks of Harry’s nemesis Draco Malfoy. Magical ability also seems to be genetically determined, with familial aggregation highlighted by the Weasley twins who seem equally matched in aptitude, and the magical abilities of Harry Potter."

Losing is fine. As long as you know you lost to someone who is undeniably better than you. And as long as you know you fought hard. It is no good otherwise. No good. It's funny eh, the moments when truths like this finally hit home. They always happen at very otherwise unremarkable places and times. So that events you would normally forget remain ingrained in your brain forever instead. Like I was watching the first episode of Mei-chan no Shitsuji (hottest Jap drama on mysoju, apparently) and there was that one line that just made me stop: It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, well-born or not; you'll never find happiness unless you fight. And I think it's true, it's true, it's true. Like they say, you know, this life isn't worth living, until you find something worth dying for.

Anyway, something else: Kuroki Meisa's Bad Girl PV. :( She is very very pretty. I always liked her, because she gave off this smart girl vibe although she acts rather woodenly, and I felt she was above the 'exploiting-my-body' marketing stance. But then, this happened. And I am disappointed. I am kind of afraid she'll do a Britney-like tumble into bad-girl-hell or according to my sister, become Leah Dizon No. 2. But I credit Meisa with more brains than either of these girls, so... maybe it's a little early to make assumptions. And it is only one music video anyway.

This is the rather amusing conversation my sis and I had.

A: what the F is she doing?! @_@ gila. it's like... @_@
S: That's why, I'm not sure. Just kind of gyrating at the camera.
A: but still. DAMN HOT PLS.
S: I know. She is very, very lawa. seriously.
A: YAR. uwah. but SO. SAD! so wasted liddat.
S: I dont know a guy who wouldnt be salivating at such a thing on their tv screen lah.
S: Please dont do things like this Meisa! HAIYAH
A: ): bodoh ah. maki! why you let her!
S: You know, if Maki did something like that (GOD FORBID), I might cry.
A: she wouldn't lor.
S: I know, thank goodness. Because it's all part of Maki's image.
A: omg. seriously. DAMN WASTED. what if she becomes leah dizon no. 2?!
S: I think the agency is still trying to find the best way to sell Meisa. And they're trying this.
A: it doesn't mean they should make her do THIS!
S: SIGH
A: karut ah. just bcos the title is BAD GIRL?! so many other ways to be BAD, in case si jepun2 ni tak tahu. i feel like crying every time she does tt lying on the red bed thing and looking at the camera upside down thing. like grr.
S: yar lah! she could STEAL or stg. or be a back-biting bitch. she doesnt have to show the camera almost her entire butt.
A: HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHA STEAL?!
S: pls dont say Abiru
A: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHA
S: Stealing is bad what. :P

I unconsciously hold a grudge against this Abiru girl. XD Really. Now, when I think bad girl, on top of the scant clothing, I think: "stealing glamour monkey". HAHA.

Haha, this is awesome. People are inspiring. Learning should be like this - a community effort. That's why I stick with APEX too.

Once Upon A School

During class today, Prof Ken asked, "Do you guys want a midterm or a programming assignment?" I wanted to say, "Neither!" He said, "The aim of this module is to make you learn to design algorithms." Which made me @.@ -- But we decided on midterm. So for now, phew. I have this psychological barrier against programming. It still terrifies me. But my god, if a nine-year-old can program (even if he is a prodigy), so can I. One of my goals in life is to be able to program.

It's true isn't it. Happiness is in the simple things. :) The week turned out better than I envisioned. I had a stressful time most of the week (although I met up with Sowmya and Jean on Thursday!), and finally bought panadols for my long 8-to-8 days, but then on Friday, after another lengthy bioinformatics meeting, things started looking up. I met up with Khairiah, who gave me her signature Valentine muffins. :) YUMMY. And then we met up with Hudy and we had an impromptu dinner together. I was about to introduce them to Hei Sushi, but because we were slowpokes and got there near closing time, we had to resort to KFC instead. But it was still a nice dinner.

Then today, had dinner to celebrate Mumu's birthday. At breeks @ T2. The airport was so crowded lah. Poor Singaporeans, have nowehere else to go is it. Highlight of whole outing = Eunice drove us! YAYYY. So exciting. Then we went to the beach. And had a random photo shoot with the wonderful DSLR. Being with friends rejuvenates the spirit. If not, I'd just become a total zombie.

I'm alternately listening to Shimizu Shota and old Bollywood songs. Watching Shah Rukh/Kajol is seriously nostalgic for me. You know what, I have an increasingly long list of favourite OTPs and onscreen couples. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge will always be a classic for me. Siiigh :) so awesome.

I don't want tomorrow to come. Can time stand still, please.

This past week has exhausted me. And the coming week is a predicted storm I am fretting about at the back of my mind. My brain keeps running a loop of the list of things I have yet to do, and this repetition is more exhausting than carrying out the tasks themselves. I feel zonked. Like for instance, I've been saying I'm going to do my combinatorial bioinfo homework for the last 5 hours but I keep getting sidetracked by other things, trivial and otherwise. This includes sending out emails, replying to emails, downloading Arashi vids, clearing my hard drive, reformatting my stupid external hard disk which refuses to let me store any file greater than 10GB, printing notes, blogging and whilst doing all this, updating myself with fandom tidbits like jweb entries and gossip at uwasako. Between all these, my lecture notes and tutorial remain neglected and I get seriously depressed at my inability to manage time. a.r.g.h.

Also, my back is getting more prone to aches. Eeeeps. I'm only 21 and my body seems to creak like an old woman's. Also, as much as I love my 5-year-old laptop, it is heavy. Just so so heavy. And lugging it to school is undoubtedly damaging my health in some way. What to do! What to do! I need it for class too. Should I bring a trolley to school or stg.

Oh, I shouldn't bore you with school. I shall bore you with spazzing instead. :P

---
SPAZ Section

NEWS members draw foxes for WinkUp mag.

The first is Koyama's, then Ryo's and then Tego's. Massu's isn't here but he drew a ramen cup. I miss NEWS. Lately, Arashi, Nodame and Shimizu Shota have dominated my attention.

Iqah: OMG. KOYAMA'S FOX!
sham: YAR CUTE RIGHT
Iqah: AND WHAT'S UP WITH RYO'S????
sham: Macam terperanjat gitu
sham: He is gila.
Iqah: i don't get massu's either.
sham: I love NEWS. They are all sesat in their own ways.
Iqah: HAHAHAHAH
Iqah: i can laugh all night at koyama's.
sham: I KNOW RIGHT!

Ja.

Movie Rave

I just finished watching Crows Zero -- it's a manga movie adaptation about school gangs. And uh. It's mostly about fighting. There's a little about honour and comradeship and friendship. It's kind of like Lord of the Flies; in the sense that the school and underground yakuza world, like the little deserted island, becomes a whole new dimension that plays out its own politics. I like that. It's about humans returning to their most primitive behaviours. The girl played by Meisa Kuroki was rather unnecessary though; she was merely decorative. And her acting has not impressed me thus far. I should stop thinking that association with Maki makes her an equally talented actress. On the other hand -- Oguri Shun. Goodness. His acting skills aside (which he has a considerable amount), Shun is like the embodiment of coolness. Seriously. He makes the coolest gangster. When he strutted down the street, me and sis looked at each other and XD and simultaneously went, "Ohmygod, Shun." How does he do it. Be so cool. Does it immediately come with the lankiness? The long legs?

I can't think cool without thinking Shun in Crows Zero (or Shun in general -- think Hanazawa Rui). I'm trying to get another equivalent; but the boys from Outsiders don't even come close and I can't think of anybody else. Thunderbirds from Grease? :P GOD.

Okay, I should sleep. Tutorial tomorrow! And so far, I've only been pretending I know what dynamic programming is. I don't really know how to do it.

I think the bioinformatics practical is extremely irritating. EXTREMELY. No matter how many different ways you phrase the question "how different is informatics from computation", my answer would still be the same, hello. >:| So stop asking the same thing!

Another wonderful thing about Shimizu Shota - his songs make wonderful background for a bout of sobbing. Very nice. I feel soothed as I cry. I've been working too hard on being strong, that I forget how crying is good. It is cleansing. I feel better already. And then after a nice cry, you turn on some Arashi to get your spirits up! :D Ahak. See, Jpop meets my needs. Yoshi! Now I can face ttw's ridiculous bio questions again. Not that I'm crying about bio; I'm not that much of a nerd. :P