What is in your mind when you are sneezing?

I came across this article from belfast telegraph and I found out it is quite interesting. Apparently, some researchers suggest that sneezing can be caused by sexual fantasy. Well, this idea is very new even for me and how true it is I am not sure. You can read the article here:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/sneezing-can-be-triggered-by-sexual-fantasy-14116638.html

Well, I guess I have to try to hold on to my sneeze until there is no girls around..haha.

Scientific properties of women

I saw from my friend's friendster and I think it is very funny.


No offense to any girl who read this. This does not apply to all the girls. Just some funny jokes. As for guys...how true do you think?..haha.

New friendships through facebook and friendster.

Do you ever make new friends through friendster and facebook? I guess most of you did it before and so did I. I still remember that a friend of my always use friendster to make new friends that he even don't know in the first place. Don't you think this is very odd? I mean it will be difficult to maintain the friendship. Maybe the friendship will last for several weeks and later on you don't bother to chat with them anymore or vice versa.

I have tried to follow my friend once and add several friends (basically all are girls...haha) and try to start a conversation with them. Five out of five people are willing to add me into their friend list but only two in msn messenger. Both of them is very friendly and chat with me several times through msn. Well, this is a very good opportunity to get new friends and basically I think people tends to talk more to their new friend. One of them are actually my sister's friend younger sister (hm...mebbe wrong grammer here..haha). By the way, I chat with the other girl for about month and later on I didn't really chat with her anymore. Well, I guess people need to communicate face to face in order to maintain the friendship. I also found out that it is very difficult to talk to someone through the internet.

How about you? What do you think? Does facebook/friendster friendships will last long?

New direction for my blog.

Well, I did admit that the things I blog lately is very bored indeed. After being comment by my frens I think I should have change the style I'm blogging. I think most ppl prefer picture than words anyway. So I decided to upload more pics for my blog in the future. Maybe I should have blog on this?

My new samsung Omnia 8gb from vodafone.

or this?

My new yamaha PSR-E313 keyboard

or this?

Trip to York and Sheffield (York minster, Sep 2008)

or this?

Bangor fishing trip (Oct 08)

or this?

Sunday outings around NI (Oct 08)

or this?

Dinner with frens at Tao Noodle Bar

or this?

Baby seal at Bangor

Well, I actually have more things here but it seems that I am too lazy to talk about it. I think it will be worth while to add more stuffs in the future. Just hope that I'm not lazy to do so. Okay I think that's all for this time. Cya!

Boys' Brigade part 3.

Its been a while since I posted anything. Life here was quite dull. It was like a black and white painting..haha but I still manage to get some colour in some occasions. Okay, I guess I should finish my final part on my life in Boys Brigade. Sorry for blogging so much on BB and I guess most of you are bored with my story. Anyway, I guess I should finish up what is left.

Right, my advancement in BB. Well, I start off as a private from form 1 to form 2. Being a private most of the time is enjoying the programme and activities. Always follow the instructions from the squad leader like sheeps following shepherd...haha...just jokking. Anyway, I was being promoted to Lance Corporal when I was in form 3. I automatically gain a post in the NCOs council. NCOs council includes all the non-commissioned officers from the rank of Lance Corporal to Sergeant. Slowly from there I was given more and more roles and start to built up my skills in planning, organising, leading and controlling. Then a year later, I was promoted to Corporal and to Sergeant the following year. My best time in BB is when I was a Sergeant. I was involved in a lot of tasks. I was the chairman for the NCOs council and in the same time I was the President for the BB club in my secondary school. Apart from this, I was involved in other clubs as well. I was also the President for the Maths and Science club, table-tennis club's treasurer and also a Class Monitor. I have try to drop my class monitor post but my teacher won't allow because I was the assistant class monitor when I was in form 4 (coz is the same class teacher..haiz). Even the Head Prefect ask me whether I am interested to become a prefect...haha. I'm not bragging around here but that's me when I was in form 5, enjoying my time fully.

Well, being a Chairman for NCOs council is not an easy job. I have to do a lot of things like planning for meeting, think agenda for meeting, solve problems, organising events and look after the younger committe members. The best thing about Sergeant is they have the smartest uniform...haha. I served as Sergeant and the NCOs council chairman for 2 years and later I was being promoted to Staff-Sergeant. Once become a Staff-Sergeant, I have been moved to Officer's council which includes all the officers in my company. Well, Staff-Sergeant is the lowest rank in the Officer's council...haha..but I dun really mind. I remember at that time I was studying for my Diploma in TAR college, my first year. Since my study is getting more and more busy, I didn't involve much. However, I still try to make my time to go there every Saturday. A year later, I was promoted to become a Warrant Officer. This was the highest rank for a non-Christian member and of course for me. Any higher ranks like Lieutenant and Captain will require a Chirstian member. Well, this is the rules. Anyway, I didn't continue BB since I came to the UK in 2004 to continue my degree at Queens Uni.

Well, that's all I can say about my BB life. It is really like a dream when I think again what is happening all this while when I was in BB. It is a place of great fun and I learn a lot of skills that you cannot easily learned from anywhere even when you are working. I have includes some of the enrolment pictures that I got from my friends.

Enrolment 2000 (under the centre e letter)

Enrolment 2001 (Third from left with red sash)

Boys' Brigade - part 2

Well, I think I should proceed to the second parts on the my BB life.Today I will talk about the programme in 4th KKL BB. Hm...let me relate with previous blog. I have joined the senior section after I entered secondary school. I have to wear a new set of uniform which comprised of a buckle belt, a sash, a pair of boots and a field service cap. All these things have to be maintain properly throughout the day. One thing I can tell you is wearing a full uniform under the sun will make you sweat like standing in a sauna. Especially after the foot drill training, our uniform will be like drench in water...full of sweat. I remember the room where we change the uniform is stink due to our odour from our uniform...haha.

I remember I have been assigned in to Squad B2 if I'm not mistaken.I remember my first squad leader is Ronald Liew. Well, Ronald is a good leader and also a funny guy. Luckily, no one try to bully me maybe because my brother is a Sergeant that time...haha..good for me. We usually have two meeting everyweek. The first meeting is a short two hours meeting in our school (SMK St. Gabriel) from 12.30pm - 2.00pm and a Saturday meeting at St. Gabriel church from 10.30am to 5.00 pm. Friday meeting usually will be focusing on regular squad discussions, annoucements, foot drill and some music theory classes. On Saturday, we will be having a band training session from 10.30am to 12pm. I really enjoyed the band practice. I have learned to play marching flute, fife flute, xylophone and euphonium. Even up to today, I bought a modern flute and learn to play myself..hehe. We have been taught by the Kuen Cheng instructor for couple of years. The instructor is really strict and he demand a high standard performance. Of course lo, Kuen Cheng is top 1 or 2 school marching band in the whole Malaysia. I really learned a lot of things from him especially in marching and ochestra instruments. I have successfully obtained two badges each from brass and woodwind (flute and euphonium). They name for the badges are Bugle badge and Bandsman badge.

After the band practise, we will be having a break from 12-1pm. At 1pm, we will be having our parade for 30 minutes. At this time, our uniform will be inspected by officers and any person have unpolished belts or boots, and or untidy uniform will be punished. Well, I remember I have to do twenty push-up and run around the church ground for 3 rounds...but still my punishing rate is low...hehe. Well, after the parade went for worshipping time. As I mentioned before, BB is a Christian movement so worshipping and bible study is part of the programme. Even though I am not a Christian but my knowledge on bible is not weak. I have passed bible study stage 1 and obtained a badge in bible study...haha. However, I didn't proceed to stage two. Ah...I remember I can memorised the who sentence of John 3:16 when I was in standard 5. Well, it is a requirement for a badge exam as well but I don't really know the meaning back then..hehe. It maybe easy for those who come Christian family but for me a total new exposure, memorising it is quite difficult.


After the worshipping, we will be having a badgework session for us to learn new knowlegde. At the end of eash session, we will be having theory and practical exams. If we passed, we will obtained a badge. I'm quite proud of myself because I obtained about 18 badges and couple of stage 2 badges in five years. Also, I am the one who has the most badges in my batch..haha...defeating all other friends..hehe. The most proud badge I got is when I was a Lance Corporal. The badge is about Citizenship. I am the only person who passed the exam with quite a high mark. There are about 35-40 people in the class. As a Lance Corporal I sucessfully defeating all my superiors. I was really happy back then..it is a great moment.


All the badgework badges is worn on the right hand side. At the left hand side, there are badges can be obtained for full attendance, training and also for good UPSR, PMR and SPM results. On the left hand side, I have about 11 badges...haha. I am still the one who have the most badges on my left hand side and also right hand side for my batch...hehe. I am so "hau lian"...hahaha..but i really quite proud back then.


After the badgework session, we comes to the worst time of the day...the foot drill. I remember my mum always said I am like a charcoal back then because I'm always drill under the sun for an hour...haha. Apart from the attack from the hot sun, we also attacked from our drill commander. I think we do at least 50 push-up every foot drill session. The objectives of foot drill is to train how to become discipline, team work and listen to command. So, if one person did wrong, all people will be punished. Well, fair enough for foot drill. However, I passed the drill exam and obtained a badge. All my seniors said this is the hardest badge to pass but I manage to get it...haha.


After the drill session, it some to the best part of the day...the physical training. All of us like this session because most of the time we can play football, volleyball, table tennis and etc. Well, it is really a enjoyable session. After that about 5pm, we will gather again for fall-in to end our weekly meeting. Of course, our day didn't ends here. After that we usually went to mamak stall to eat, drinks and of course chatting. It is really fun.


Apart from normal training session, we have camp as well. I've went to a lot of camps like Gunung Nuang in Ulu Langat, Chang Mang waterfall in Pahang, Sungai Congkak in Ulu langat as well, Taman Negara at Pahang and of course at our school ground. My first camp is back in year 1998 when I was in form 2. I was Private back then and my squad leader is Keang How. He is also a nice guys and he is very taking care of his squad members. From this camp, I feel really relax and comfortable. I like the feeling of surrounded by nature..it is really nice. At some point, I really like to stay there longer...haha..want to become a native...lol. Well, I have some of the pics from my friends. He sent it to me few days ago because I didn't have it. Here is two pictures taken at Taman Negara:

Well sorry for the small picture. This is the best quality my friend can get. He scanned the photo so not really clear. If you see carefully, I am the second one from the left hand side without glasses.

This one also not really clear. I am the second again but from the left. I am wearing a white shirt with blue colar but this time with glasses.

Well, it is really a nice old days memories. H,..I think that's all I want to say for today. My next part will be my advancements in BB. From private to warrant officer..stay tuned..haha.

Boys' Brigade - part 1.

I was suppose to post my short review on my Samsung Omnia that I got last week but I haven't really try all the functions yet. Therefore, I decided to post it next time. Well, today I saw one of my friends posted some pictures on facebook. It was quite nostalgic for me because most of the pictures are the pictures he took when I was still in Boys Brigade.

Let me recall my memory. I joined Boys Brigade in 1995 when I was still standard 5 in primary school. The reason I joined is because my brother is in as well..haha...can't remember whether my brother is the one who drag me into it..lol. Well, I never regretted to join this uniform group because it really give me a lot of opportunities to learn a lot of things. I was initially enrolled into junior section which is mainly for primary school boys. By the way, Boys' Brigade is a Christian movements and at that time they only accept boys. However, nowadays they have girls...good for the boys..haha. I remember there are several other primary school boys joined as well but not from my primary school (SRK Jalan Peel). From there, I get to know couple of new friends. There is a company section which is mainly for secondary school boys (13-18 years), and my brother is in the company section that time. I remember he is already a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) and his rank is Corporal or Sergeant...em not really remember but he is definitely a sergeant in 1996.

Let me explain the hierarchy system in Boys' Brigade. It is actually same with British military system since BB was found by Sir William Alexander Smith at Glasgow in 1883. The path are from Private -> Lans-Corporal -> Corporal -> Sergeant -> Staff-Sergeant -> Warrant Officer ->
Lieutenant ->Captain. This is the system for company section while there are no ranking system for junior section. Basically, NCO are from Lance Corporal to Sergeant and Staff-Sergeant above are officers.

After i joined for a while I really enjoyed it because I can play games, singing, bible study and etc. Later on I joined woodwind section and learn to play marching flute. This was the first time I get interested in music. Frankly speaking, I really have no interest in music and I always got C or D in the music test in primary school. Apart from that, I also learned foot drill and my group joined a foot drill competition and won first-runner up. It was a very good experiences back then. Imagine when you are 12 years old and have to be very discipline in the competition with few hundred of eyes looking at you. I can tell you I am very nervous. Ohya, I think some of you might know that I have joined the University officer traning corr before. It is part of British army. From the foot drill experiences I gained from BB, I actually got praised by a Sergeant (a real army) because I did well in foot drill..haha.

After spending 2 years and couple of months in the junior section, I moved to the company section when I entered secondary school. Well, of course I start as a Private.I met more new members (I think is about 60 people). It was a very big company and there are so many names to remember..haha. My squad leader was very helpful and nice. That time I think my brother is sergeant and he is in-charge of another platoon. There are platoon A and B. Each platoon has 3 squads. In company section, we have to wear full uniform everyweek. The badges, buckle belt and boots has to be polished and maintained for the whole day. I remember I wake up at 6.30am every Saturday to polish these stuffs. It is very troublesome but fun. We always compete who has the best polished belt or boots. If we didn't polish good enough we will get punishments from the officers. Forgot how many time I have been punished, bet it is a lot...haha.

Well, I think that's all for this time. I think I will post more tomorrow. I guess it has about 5 parts..haha..all talks about my life in Boys Brigade. Until next time...cya.

Chocolate swirl cake

Another home-made cake. Well, as usual I'm using the mix that can be bought from supermarket..hehe..kinda lazy to make all by myself. This time is a bit different because I'm adding chocolate power in the mix to make chocolate swirl cake. Well, I didn't do it really good this time because I'm stirring and baking it at 11.30pm..haha..preparing for my breakfast. Here are some of the pics.

Hm..seems a bit over baked

The texture..not too bad right?

Well, it is quite difficult to draw energy to stir it. Do you know so far what is the thing I used to stir the mixture? Stirring machine? Nope...so far I am using nothing but a pair of chopstick to stir the mixture...surprise leh. Hm..I think this method can be used to train my hand muscle..haha. Okay,that's for this time..yummy!

New companion

Hm...another week is passed since my last update. Some of my friends are complaining that I didn't update my blog frequently. Well, I guess I need to do more homeworks then..haha.

Okay, today I will be introducing my new companion...that's Cactus-chan..haha. By thinking cactus as companion, I think I'm becoming a psycho already..lol. I bought this cactus from Sainsbury for only £3. Well, I always thinking of getting one and set it in my office because I am an environmentalist..pai seh..not 100%, 50% got la..haha. Here is the picture of my new Cactus-chan.

Okay folks..until next time..ciao.

New suit from Marks and Spencer!

Yesterday, two of my friends and I went to Victoria Square to try the food from Chilis. There are a lot of people in the restaurant and luckily we just waited for 5mins to get our seats. This restaurant is just opened this week so we are not surprise to see a so many people. I have only tried Chilis once in MidValley a week before coming to UK in 2004. I remember so well because that is my farewell dinner with my friends.The food is quite okay. I've ordered the Classics Fajita Chicken. It is a typical fajita chicken that I can get from some restaurant. The different is the sauce and the wrapper. It is much more better than what I got elsewhere. Well, I think I spent about £18 for that which is quite expensive because the Fajita Chicken is about £14. Anyway, the rating I gave is about 7/10. Quite low? because I'm picky..haha.

Okay need to go into my topic. On the way to Chilis, My friend and I went into Marks and Spencer to have a look around for any nice bargain. I found a suit for only £39 +£15 for trousers. The original price for the suits is £89 and £29.50 for the trousers. This is very tempting right?haha. After trying the suit and the trousers together, I found out it is quite nice and eventually bought is all together for £54. Cannot resist the temptation...haha. Ohya, the colour for the suit and the trousers is beige colour. Here are some pics.

Suit + trousers

1st pic

2nd pic

Hm...how do I look like. Okla right? Don't criticised too much okay...haha. The reason I didn't wear tie is because I would like to stay casual. that's the purpose I bought this suit.

Trying to get stronger!

Two weeks ago I have bought a 15kg dumbell from amazon at an astonishing price for only £25. The special things about this dumbell is the steel made from chrome and the retail price is about £50, so it is a good bargain. Well, the reason I bought it is quite obvious, to get stronger..haha. I know it is very easy to get injuries from these kind of training so I bought a guide book together with the dumbell to learn the correct way of using this equipment. Here are some of the pics of the dumbell.

Dumbell container

The crome dumbell

Hopefully I can become stronger and muscular as well..haha.

Chocolato cake!

It has been quite a while again that I left my blog unattended. Well, it has been kinda busy working on my project so a bit lazy to update even I have few things to talk about. Well, I actually kind of reluctant to post today's topic because the results is not satisfactory. Anyway, hopefully won't get too much criticised from you guys..haha.
Okay enough for intro..haha. I have made a chocolate cake last week using a chocolate mix and also the icing which I bought from Tesco. It is quite easy to make the chocolate cake since it only required 3 eggs, 250ml of water and 70ml of vegetable oil. All I have to do is to put all the ingredients + mix into a mixing bowl and stirred (using my hand, a very tiring process..lol) it for about 15mins. Then put it into a baking tray (in this case self-made container from tin foil) and load into the oven. The baking process took about 30mins and the baked cake is shown below:

Chocolate cake.

This cake actually reminds me of the chocolate/pandan cake I bought from pasar malam..lol. The upper layer is very crunchy and is not that sweet. To shape into a cake, I have to remove the upper layer to make it flat. Then, I seperated the cake into 2 layers and applying icing in between. The ready made icing I bought from Tesco can be stirred at room temperature and can be easily applied on the cake. However, it is very difficult to spread the icing evenly on the cake especially at the side. Since, my hand is full of chocolate stains I didn't took and picture (I'm kinds lazy to wash my hands..haha). I have only took the picture of my final product..haha.

A slice of chocolate cake served with strawberry and fresh creams.

Classics again.

Recently, I have been quite lazy to update my blog. My frens and my sis started to ask me why I didn't update my blog. Honestly, it is because I'm lazy..lol. Today's topic is related Lili's blog. Since she introduced some classical songs (i'm just a newbie anyway), I would like to introduce this classical songs boxset that I bought last week.

The title for this boxset is The Essential Classics Collection. I bought this for just £7 from Zavvi. It consist of 6 CDs with more than 60 classical songs. Well, this is really a good deal. I actually want to buy this album from Amazon for about £10 plus delivery. It has good reviews from the buyers so I think it is worth to buy, and indeed it is. Each Cd has it own theme. The themes are Meditation, Ochestral Fireworks, Invitation to the Dance, Nocturne, Pomp and Circumstance and Grand Opera. This is a big compilation of classical songs from famous composers such as Mozart, Vivaldi, Beethoven and etc. I've the picture attached as shown below:

The Essential Classics Collection Album

This album is really for beginner like me. I would really recommend this album to beginner like me or even to other people who are interested in classic musics. Okay, I guess that's all for this time. I try my best to update as frequently as possible. Stay tuned!

It's Jello time!

Okay, here is my third home made dessert apart from my muffins and brownies. This time I will be making jelly or "agar-agar", which is more familiar for some people. The process of making jelly is easy but this time I will be making two layers jelly, and of course it will be more difficult. The ingredients I need are "agar-agar", water, sugar, fruit cocktail and evaporated milk. I believe the most difficult task is to determine the amount of water. I need to make sure the jelly is fully "crystallised". If too much water it will dilute the mixture and it will not get "crystallised".

First, I need to cook the agar-agar and the water. After the agar-agar is melted, sugar is added and the mixture is stirred for another 5 minutes. Next, the mixture is poured into a container which contains the fruit cocktail at the container base. The mixture is left for a while until the upper part start to crystallise. Then, I will start to cook the remaining agar-agar with evaporated milk. As usual, sugar is added after the agar-agar is melted and the mixture is stirred for another 5mins. Finally, the mixture is poured on top of the 1st layer and the mixture is left for a while until it get fully crystallised becoming a jelly. The jelly is stored in the fridge for a while until it gets chilled. At last, it is ready to be served. Here are some of the pics of the jelly.

Two layers cake like jelly.

Manage to make two of them.

A close shot to see two distinct layers.

As usual, I brought some to my housemate and my colleagues and they said is quite good..hehe. Another sucessful product..haha.

Fishy dinner

Since my food allergy is getting better, I plan to treat myself with seafood...haha. Obviously I think it is not the seafood that caused my allergy. It is probably caused by the pizza tomato sauce or the pizza dough, I mean the spices they add. The seafood I bought is actually the Cod fillet from Tesco. Well, all of you know that fish are high in protein so it is good for me...hehe.

After thinking for a while, I think simmer fish will be the best for my dinner tonight. So I simmered the fish with ginger, dried mushroom and some salt for about 10++ minutes. Finally, adding some spring onions for better taste and also to decorate the dish. Here is the finishing product produced by me.

Simmered Cod fillet with ginger, mushrooms and spring onions.

It is always difficult to determine the time to simmer a fish. If you steamed it for too long it will ruined the meat texture and if the time too short some parts are not cooked well enough. Luckily since I've help my mum to simmer fish before, this is no problem for me...haha. Hm...what kind of seafood should I cook next time? hehe...

Arrrrr! food allergy

Today is a bad day for me as I am having an allergy. This is the first time I experienced food allergy except from the skin dryness problems 3 years ago. I suspect is the seafood pizza I consumed this morning. Strange thing is I actually have half of the pizza yesterday night when I am having dinner with my friend in Speranza and nothing happen. Also, I ate seafood pizza before and quite a lot in the past and it doesn't give me any problem. Why now? haiz.....

My friend (Huai) who is currently doing his pre-registration year in Pharmacy told me that the rashes will took up to 24 hours before it shows up. This means that these rashes are from yesterday dinner and I maybe have another rashes attack later today because I ate the remaining half pizza this morning....arrrrrrrrr!

These rashes made me scratched my body because it is very itchy. Hopefully it will gone later. I think should avoid seafood pizza in the future.

Classics Fever.

Lately, I have addicted to classical musics. Since I've downloaded The Most Relaxing Classical Album In The World Ever, I have been listening this album over and over again. I have listened to classical musics before but it never caught my attention but this time is different. Maybe it is because it makes me feel relaxed while listening to these musics. Also, it will bring out some of my memories from the past (bad and good as well).
I have been listening to J. S. Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Edvard Grieg and etc. Well, I guess most people will recognise all these well-known composers. I respected these composers for able to create such excellent masterpieces. I have been posting some of these musics at my Favourite Songs section in my blog. Feel free to listen.

Relieved!

Finally, I passed my differentiation examination on 30th July 2008. Now I am officially a PhD candidate. For your information, every student that enrolled for PhD have to go through this differentiation examination to make sure they are capable of continuing their PhD for another 2 years. If you failed the exam, you can appeal for another exam. If you still failed then you will have to stop and they will may possibly offer a MPhil (Master of Philisophy).
Luckily, I have passed this exam (what a relieve). This means that I will continue my works for another 2 more years before graduating, and hopefully is within 2 years. I didn't plan much how to celebrate. The only celebration I had is only going to watch Dark Night with couple of my friends..haha. I guess I have to put more effort in my works in the future.

It's brownies time!

This is my second home made bakery. Two days ago I posted muffins and today is brownies. I mentioned before that I used to make brownies in the past but I never posted or show in my blog or friendster. Today's brownies is made from Cadbury's brownies mix. I bought this several days ago from Sainsbury together with the muffins mix. As easy as always, this brownies mix only required eggs and water. The mixture is stirred into a smooth batter and poured into a paper container. The container is then loaded into the oven and baked for 25 minutes at 180 degree celcius. Here are the pictures before and after the baking:

The brownies mix before the baking.

The brownies mix after the baking.

You will notice there are several holes in the brownies. I used a chopstick to poke it to check whether the inside is properly baked. Well, as usual I like to decorate the brownies like the muffins I showed before. I served it with some berries again (my favourite) and whipped cream. Here is the finishing product..haha:

Brownies served with berries, creams and a dash of chocolate powder.

Now I start to think what should I make next time..hehe. Until then...cya.

Could water really contains memory?

This is an interesting article I read from bbc today and I found out it is quite interesting. Proposed by French scientist Jacques Benveniste in 1988, pure water could somehow contains some memories of its previous state. This is a controversial topic and no definite answer is found. You can read the article from here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7505286.stm

Yummy! Blueberry Muffins.

As usual, I stay at home on Sunday take some rest and prepare myself for Monday. Since I'm quite bored I planned to make some blueberry muffins from the mix packet I bought from Sainsbury two days ago. It is very easy, just add some milk, vegetable oil and eggs. Then, bake at 200 degree celcius for about 20 minutes. I used to made brownies quite often in the past but this is the first time I make muffins. Although the process is easy but you will have to make sure the inside is perfectly baked. Also, if the temperature is too high it will leave your outer part burned while the inside still sticky. I guess you still need some skills to diagnose the muffins...haha.

I was able to make six big muffins from the packet. Here are the muffins after baked.

Straight out from the oven

You will notice there is one defect at the left hand corner. Probably the mix just went to one side after I load into the oven. The others were perfect...hehe. Since it is tea-time, I serve these muffins with a cup of green tea and some berries (strawberry and blueberry).

It's berries time.

Does the decoration nice? I think this can be served in high class restaurant...hahaha. Well, the muffins really mixed well with the berries with the sweet and sour taste...yummy. Hm..I guess I should try to learn to make more desserts and cakes. I gave two muffins to my housemates to try and they said it is very nice and is perfectly baked..hehe. Who knows, maybe I will open a coffee shop next time...haha.

Such a coincidence

If you guys remember I have posted the Perfect Disaster series couple days ago. In the blog, I have mentioned about some informations about solar storm. Surprisingly when I received my August issue of Scientific American magazine, they also have a main topic on solar storm. I guess this phenomena has drawn quite a lot of attention from the science magazine publishers...haha. The magazine has precise details on how solar storm damaging the power grids across the world and also on our electronics equipment.

For your information, the next solar cycle maximum will be at year 2011. These solar cycle maximum occurs every 11 years. During these solar cycle maximum, there will be a high possiblity that a corona mass ejection that may produced a super solarstorm. So I guess we have to brace ourself to face the worst possibility of super solarstorm that might occur.

Lonely?

Today I was going to city centre by myself again. I guess I am starting to make a routine trip of going to city centre every Thursday evening. Well, every time when I am going there I just feel a little bit lonely by walking alone in the city centre without any friend to talk to but I already get used to this. I guess this will only happen to those who have been away from their family for quite sometime. Sometimes I even went to watch movie by myself. Does this really weird? Most of my friend told me that watching movie in the cinema without friends is an odd behaviour. Really? but I have been doing this for couple of years and I think it is okay. Well, just maybe I am really weird to start with...haha.

Life is indeed a bit tough at here especially if you are single. Even you have a lot of friends but you still need someone to talk, to care and to discuss to. Everyday when I went back to my house I feel that I was missing something. My surrounding is very quiet except the music from my computer. After most of my friends leaving Belfast for good and some of them found their's half, I found out that I received less and less phone call. There is sometime I will look at the contacts for a while keep looking for someone to talk to. Even this blog is started because I would like to share my thoughts with my friends.

Family is a good place for you to talk about your happenings at here but still it has a certain limit. Everyone has their own things to do. For instance, last time my sister always call me when she is free and she always asked me what I am doing. I feel this very annoying and I always told her that don't you have other things to do? Well, after she found herself a bf she hardly call me now and even less chatting in the messenger. Even you will think this is very good at first because no one is bugging you but you will think the opposite way when time goes by. You will hope someone to nag you. Well, I guess this is human nature that do not appreciate something that come to you easily. Now, I am the one who will make the call back to my family instead of them calling me. Everytime I will complain that I am very boring at here and my mum will always ask me to go home...haha.

Well, there are pros and cons of being single but I prefer to have someone for me to care and to talk to. I was very jealous with my friends who have a good relationship with their bf/gf. I guess when the time is right I will find one as well. Although I seems to be desperate but this is a reality that many people will face or faced before. I have missed one before so I will not repeat this mistake in the future. One of my friends told me relationship is just like an investment. You do not know what will happen in the future. If you didn't invest you will never know but if you invest you will have some results. I think this is quite true..haha.

Origins of Kamikaze

Two days ago when my friend and I was having our lunch, we mentioned the word Kamikaze. I can't really remember the topic we are talking about but something about history. Well, I guess this word is well recognised by a lot of people. This word has been referred to suicidal pilots that use their plane to sink loads of Alliance ships during world war 2. As we talk, I realised this Kamikaze word actually have nothing related to suicide. If this word is seperated into two you will read as "kami" and "kaze". Since I watched loads of anime I straight away recognised the word "kami" is referred as "god" or "divinity" and "kaze" is referred as "wind". For those who watch Naruto will know the recognised "Kazekage" which referred to the leader from the land of wind.

After I did some research I found out that Kamikaze originally means divine wind and have nothing to do with suicide at all. According to wikipedia, the origins from this word is come from the major typhoons that hit Japan in 1274 and 1281. As I read along, I only found out that the meaning for Kamikaze was erroneously translated by US. Instead of Kamikaze, the Japanese themselves used "tokubetsu kōgeki tai" means Special Attack Units. Here is a quote I took from wikipedia website.

"The Japanese themselves did not use the word Kamikaze to refer to these World War II attacks. The official Japanese term was tokubetsu kōgeki tai (特別攻撃隊 "Special Attack Units"). The word Shinpū (also meaning "divine wind"; just another reading of the same kanji for kamikaze) was also used informally for suicide units. U.S. translators erroneously used the Japanese word Kamikaze, which has a similar original meaning of "divine wind""

Well, I guess what we learned was not that correct...haha. Anyway, this is a general information. For those who interested you can visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze

for more details.

Pefect Disaster Series

Lately, I have been quite interested in natural disaster such as tornado, ice strom, volcano and etc. Don't get me wrong to have some odd interest on destructions but I am interested on how this things happen. The thing I'm interested is how does this calamity happens? what have drive the ignition and caused this to happen and etc. For instance, how does a tornado form and can we predict it? These are interesting questions is it? Well, at least for me.

The DVD cover page

Okay, my interest has lead me to buy this DVD series of perfect disasters. This series contains six natural disasters that might be happen in the future. They are super tornado, solar storm, mega flood, fire storm, super typoon and ice storm. guess not many people are interested in this series but I found out it is very knowledgable. Too bad I'm not doing meteorology study..haha.

The famous quote from this series is "the question is not if it's gonna happen but when it will happen". I guess this is quite a good quote that I might be using it in the future..haha. One very nice thing about this series is they used graphical simulations to show the audience how these disasters will form and what is driving them. Frankly speaking, I did learn a lot of things from this series.

I found out that the two most interesting series are the solar storm and ice storm. I know not many people know about solar storm because I have asked my friends before and they don't have any idea. Even for me I only know that it is from the Sun and could caused distruptions to electronic equipments when it hit the earth..that's all. However, after watching the Solar Storm series I have a big picture of what will happen when this storm hit earth. Solar storm or sometimes call geomagnetic storm will caused temporary disturbance to earth magnetic field or megnetosphere. It is caused by the sun that constantly ejecting high energy particles to the space during activity such as solar flare or the worst, corona mass ejection (CME). Big CME can caused major disturbance such as mass destruction of power transformers which will caused major blackout in the city. For those who are interested about aurora or northern lights, these are caused by solar wind (solar storm is stronger) when the high enery particles from the sun collided with the earth oxygen and nitrogen atoms, creating a series a light shows across the sky.

You can refer to wikipedia for more informations about solar storm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm

For other series, feel free to look in the wikipedia for more info if you are interested. Still I will recommend for those who are interested in meteorology. This DVD is worth to buy. I'm not sure whether can be found in Malaysia but I bought about £13 from Zavvi which is quite cheap for all region DVD.

Did the Aliens build the pyramids?

Well, I found this out in youtube and it have very interesting facts showing Aliens are the one who taught the ancient Egyptians how to build the pyramid. You can watch the video clip from here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrYiiqGBWe0

Enjoy! You might start to think again who really build these magnificent ancient monuments.

New NIKE shoes!

Yay...finally I have bought myself a NIKE shoes after spending days in city centre. I saw this one in JD sports in Victoria Square. Well it is quite expensive since there is no discount but I think it is quite nice and stylish so I decided to buy it for £55. Here is the picture of my new shoes.

Although is quite expensive but I totally think it's worth it. Well, I guess I have to go out now to show off my new shoes to my friends...haha.

Puzzled by Puzzles?

I came across with a interesting book during my trip to Dublin. I saw this book in Eason and it cost about 10 euro but I get it for £8 in Belfast. The title for this book is Giant Book of Mensa Puzzles. I have took a picture of it in case someone might get interested in this book.

I'm actually don't have much interest in puzzles but after i'm studying phd, I always filled myself with the question WHY? Why this and why that? I also keep asking myself HOW? I guess i got this influence from my supervisors...haha. However, good thing is I always looking for answer and this book can make my mind twisted in searching for answer. Well, i quite enjoyed this book as long as I don't become a Physco..haha. This is a book I would recommend for those who like to think twisted questions. I did four or five questions a day and i think it wil took me couple of months to complete because it has about 500++ questions.

Okay that's all for this time..i'll better get my mind ready for these mind twisting questions.

A trip to Dublin.

Yesterday (14/7/08), I went for a day trip to Dublin with two of my friends (Swee Boon and Cindy). I was too bored and also want to clear my head from keep thinking how to write my first year report..haha. Since it is a day trip, we start off at 9.30am at Jury's Inn where we took an express bus (air coach). We paid £20 for a return ticket to Dublin city centre. Well, the ticket is not that expensive, considering the sit was spacious with a lot of rooms to stretch my legs. I dun think I could find any bus in Malaysia with this kind of design...haha.

For the route, this bus took off from Belfast to Dublin airport then to city centre. We have to change to another bus at Dublin airport in order to go to the city centre and it was okay. It is quite a while since I went to Dublin. The previous trip should be two years ago on summer as well with a bunch of TAR students. It is a bit different from last time because we drove and go there by car. This is the first time I took a bus to Dublin.

Bell tower in Trinity college quarter

Well, when we reached there we first went to Burger King to fill our stomach with some fries before going around the city centre. We went to Trinity college to took some pics and then wandering around the. We visited some of Cindy's favourite place such as Hermes, LV and etc. Well, that the places where you could spend few thousand pound for a bag (i really mean it) .

Swee Boon and me beside Liffey River

After spending 2 hours walking around the city we finally dropped off a korean restaurant called Bonga for lunch. This restaurant served lunch buffet for only 10 euro. It is a very cheap and the interior design looks okay as well. They even have rooms for karaoke for 25euro per hour. We aren't going for that because it is expensive. The food is okay only. I can give about 6/10 ratings. The staffs said they have less variety because they are having sort of small renovation inside the kitchen but they are good enough to give us a free drink...fair enough.

Swee Boon, Cindy and me.

After packed our stomach with few thousand kilo of calories. We decide to walk around the city again. From the O'Connell to a park and then to custom house beside River Liffey. We were walking without any real purpose because there are really nothing much to see in Dublin city centre. After walking for 3 hours, we finally plan to take the bus to go back to Belfast. we spent another 3 hours to get back to Belfast. Well, this trip is very tiring but it is really good for me cause I can clear my head from my first year report. I feel refresh the next day to comtinue with my writing. It does make a different!

Dublin Custom House

Best friend's graduation.

I know this is a bit late to post this topic. On 2nd July 2008, one of my best friend Huai finally graduated with his master degree in Pharmacy after four years of study at Queens. Huai is one of my friends who came to Belfast in the same year as me four years ago. Well, he is a good guy and I really glad that he finally graduated after all the hardwork he put in his study.

Of course this mean that he will be leaving Belfast soon and he did left already. Haiz..one more friend left Belfast. I still have to stay here for at least another two years.

Anyway, I have took a picture with him on his graduation which is shown below. Well, i will wish him all the best in his future!

That's Huai and me in front of Lanyon building

Beware! Scumbag doctor on the loose.

It is a litle bit awkward for me to use the word scumbag in my blog but I am really outrages about the action of one person and this title suited her the best.
Okay here is the story. Today I chat with my brother on the msn and found out that a lady just hit his newly purchased honda city at 1 utama. The incident happen when the car at the front was reversing and hit my bro's car. My bro's car front bumper was shifted a little bit from the original position. My sis who is driving at that time confronted the driver who is a lady aka scumbag. Well, this is clearly her fault because she is reversing her car. She also admit that this incident is her fault and she promise to pay for the damage on my bro's car. So, no police report was filed because she said she will pay and settle it personally. However, this turns around when my sis call her the later to seek for compensation.
Surprisingly, when she talk to my sis she said my sis is the one who is caused this accident. She also said she already filed a police report accusing my sis for damaging her car (what the hell!). My sis was outrages (so do I) and the scumbag said she will not paying for any damage on my bro's car. I was also stunned by the attitude of this, well scumbag.
Later my bro told me that she is actually a veterinay doctor who is bearing a title doctor. I really cannot believe that a highly educated people will do such thing. Really, what is happening in Malaysia? I start to believe some highly educated people are start to behave like one of a kind. Well, my sis has all her details and I would like to share it with all of you. Her car number is WPG1980 (Honda City - Gold Colour) with stupid extended spoiler. Her name is Dr. Sophia Tang, well I think should rename her as Dr. Scumbag Tang. Well, I pity the company that hired her for having such "dedicated" employee. Well, good luck for her colleagues.
My sis called her 8 times today but she didn't bother to pick up her phone. The reason I post this is to ask you to beware of this kind of incident especially this scumbag. Try to avoid her if you see her car. If any accident happen to you and the he/she agreed to pay for your damage, remember to take some pictures or ask her to sign an agreement (prepare it beforehand).
So, that's all I would like to say. Really cannot believe this worst kind of attitudes have affected high status people such as this "doctor".

Whackiest Sign

This morning I was reading news at Sky news and I came across some very interesting pictures. The pictures shows the World Whackiest Sign. Here is the website: http://news.sky.com/skynews/picture_gallery/0,,91251-1318059,00.html.

Enjoy!

New Watch!

Since I left my G-Shock in Malaysia last February, I was looking for a new watch for myself. I was wandering in the city centre and finally I have decided to buy Seiko watch during a sale. I got 25% discount from the retail price. Here's the watch:




Well, it is a choronograph watch so it has stopwatch, alarm and other functions which is a typical Seiko watch. This is my second watch and the G-Shock is the first one I bought back in year 2002. Hm...nothing much to say..going to use my watch now...hehe.

Do Re Mi?

As I was cleaning my room today I've found out that I bought few musical instruments in the past four year in Belfast. The reason I bought it to kill some of my time. Instead of just playing computer games and watching dramas, this was the third entertainment option I have. Well, let me show you my collection:

from top: fife flute, flute and violin.

I remembered I bought the flute back in year 2005 and the fife flute in 2006. The last instrument (violin) is bought in January 2008. Well, that is like one instrument per year..haha. I was more familiar with flutes but not violin. I've played flute since secondary school when I was in the Boys' Brigade marching band, so I have no difficulty in playing them. However, I have no idea how to play violin yet I bought it, why? Well, I was attracted into playing violin when I was on a trip to Prague on December 2007. My friends and I went to watch an opera in the Prague's state opera house. The show's name is Rigelleto. It was a very, very nice show presented with a combination of ochestra instruments and singing by the actors on the stage. I was impressed by the coordination and also the music from the show especially from the violin section. That's why I was thinking of buying a violin and learn myself. Well, it was kind of difficult to learn yourself and until today I still cannot play a proper sound...haiz. I guess I need to look for someone to teach me...haha.

Moon Jar!

I have been wandering around this tiny city twice this week to look for any interesting news to post. Unfortunately, nothing special to talk about. Instead, I have something to show you guys and easily found in my room. I have bought a special kind of jar called the Moon Jar (a new version of Sun Jar). This jar is not for storing cookies or sweets, instead it is used to store sunlight and turn it into moonlight....haha...confused? Well, this is what stated on the box.

Ok, let me explain in a simpler way. This jar is actually consists of a normal jar stuffed with photocell, rechargable battery, photodiode and a blue led. Very simple structure right? The main purpose of this jar is to store the sunlight energy and keep it in the rechargable battery for night use. Here is the picture of the moon jar.

Sorry about the badly made name at the right hand corner. My computer still haven't install with any photoshop software yet. So in the mean while please bear with it...haha. The next picture is the photocell and photodiode.

If you carefully observe, you can see the photodiode (6 0'clock direction) and the switch at 12 o'clock direction. The stripes are the photocells. The last picture shows the reason for buying this jar.

It is quite cool if you turn it on at night. Since a photodiode is used, this item is very sensitive to light. If you turn on the switch, it will automatically turn on the light is your room is dim enough. It is actually quite an interesting item and that's why it attracted me to buy it. The manufacturer's name is even more interesting. It is called SuckUK, which is a very odd name. Anyway, that's all that I would like to say. I'm not sure whether you can buy this in Malaysia but I think it will be quite expensive. I bought this for around £16. I guess this will be a nice present for friends...haha.

Back in action!

Its been a very long time since I stopped posting in this blog...hm...about 9 months. Life is getting tough with my current daily works. Everyday I have to go to school to do my experiments, recording results, interpret results, solving problems and optimisation. So, I have no idea I have blogging..haha. Every monday morning I have to go for 2 hours meeting from 9am-11am. Most of the time I have to listen to other people presentations and sometimes I have to present my own works. The worst day should be on every wednesday, why?..because I have to finish my weekly report or sometimes together with presentation slides to show my both supervisors on Thursday. I think my weekly life is full with meeting and report writing...haiz. Well, what I can said about my supervisors? I can said they are questions type supervisors with plenty of "tricky" questions ready for you to answer but well that's what PhD is all about. I have uploaded a silicon wafer coated with a layer of tungsten for those who is interested to know how does a silicon wafer looks like. I think enough for my bored student life here, I need to change the course a bit.

100mm silicon wafer coated with tungsten film.

Life here are indeed quite boring and I have been here for nearly four years, so you can imagine how dull I am. Luckily apart from my daily school life I still have some leisures time. Every week I will have at least once or twice badminton games with my friends or sometimes I will go for swimming. I am still working as a part-time waiter every Saturday in the same Italian restaurant which I have been working there for the past four years (3 years and 9 months to be exactly). Although I have no problem supporting my daily expenses through my grant and from lab demonstrating, I still feel that working there can release some stress from my study. Haiz...I think I am like an old guy, so long winded...haha.

Hm..I don't have anything to blog further in this topic. I guess I have to work harder to look for more interesting topics in the next posting. I guess Nkwai will be very surprise to find out I have blog again...haha.