ramblings~
Yijin + girls! '05
Xiz, Ms Wang + guys! '04
* 03S78
* hwachong junior college
* candice
* lifang
* yang
* xiaoxuan
* hilda
* quanyao
* xizhen
* sharon
* huiqi
* meiyin
* yijin
* yifan
* pear
* nwxiang
* weixin
* samuel
* ningqi
* pua
* yilin
* eliza
* wijaya
* ronnie
* weilei
* bong
* ryan shea
* wuwei
* r~linz
* hwachong!
* IVLE :)
* 30th Anniversary!
* HJC Council! :)
* our funky yahoogroups! :)
* winning thinkquest entry - i-Matrix
* blogger
* blogskins
* junior class!
* grandjuniors!
* 06s78
* 07s78
* 08s78
* dearly beloved ms wang!
* 03S77
* 03S75
* 03S71
* 03S7A
* 03A11
* 03A12
* 03S62
* 03S69
* 04S68
* 04S62
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just need one
today was a very shag day..havent been sleeping a lot and i was running around like a mad dog trying to print out the notes for my tuition kid and biomed quiz training tomorrow, get back my change..looking for the clerk in the dean's office to book the LT and foyer for biomed quiz (in the end i couldnt find her for the #*$&)*#@&$(*#@&$ time and that woman never reply my email too...) then i was mugging alone in the LT and was simply overcome by fatigue..i could no longer bear trying to memorise where and what the left and right gastroomental arteries run and originate from...
i tried to mug abdomen but took too much time and didnt have enough time to go through the stuff for prac today. what made things worse was i forgot to print out the notes for the prelab lecture..so basically i attended the lecture and the subsequent practical blind...
and i have swim trials today...to qualify for the sg navy biathlon..ifg road relay tmr morning..and biomed quiz cvs teaching...and i have to meet my tuition kid tmr..and i am quite behind time for my revision for CAs and final year...
basically...STRESS!! n tiredness...
(sorry for ranting..this is going to be a rather long post...=P)
on the bus to my swim test..there was no seat..and i got off too early and had to walk to the place...i tot...damm tmd..fail for sure le..cos the best time for 30 laps was like 43 mins and i needed to do under 40 mins....
finally the time came...i was like heck just try my best and i took off my wrist watch...and just swam and swam...
but the 8th lap i was having some cramps in my calf...i was like...oh dammit..shit...gone liao...
think the ndu guy saw that i was struggling and suddenly 2 or 3 ndu guys were cheering for me..cheerios to NDU
then finally i heard...6 more laps..10 mins left...
i am like...oh shit...there is still a chance!!!
i just piaed finish everything...i took off my googles and looked at my timer..
=================================================
qy: *silence..looking at timer anxiously*
timer: ...........*ahem*...mr ho right?...silence..
qy: yea..
timer: ok mr ho...*ahem* *ahem*...
qy: *silently wanting to scold bad word but dun dare cos the ndu guy got biceps as big as my calfs (ie. gastronemius and soleus muscles supplied by branches of the peroneal nerve i think :))*
timer: ok....*ahem*...you passed
qy: YES!!!! phew..
another ndu dude: ok la..u still have time to go swim a few more laps...
qy: HAHAHAHA! :P
=============================================================================
so you see...it just takes a single thing..one thing...to make a supposedly a disastrous day a good day (punches fist in the air and shouts GUTEN TAG!!)
it's just like a very tired husband returns home from work completely shagged out..perhaps..if the first thing he see is a smiling face of his wife, a table of nice simple dishes for dinner..things will turn out better..no matter what...
of course..people have the tendency to become complacent and ingrateful...after 5 years of a beautiful smile and a table of simple dishes..will the husband still be grateful??
note: saw fann wong today acting..i think she became slightly more chio and she aint that bad looking in person as people say she is..and i dun hav to worry about how she look without make up...only christopher lee ming shun (candice boyfriend look-alike) need to...
qy lived on 9:09 PM
- 03S78 forever -
APMEC 2006
Hellos, thought I'd like to share some stories from the Asia Pacific medication education conference with all of you. Yea, as some of you may know I was one of their SKWs (a term not unfamiliar to those who have served some period of NS). But it turned out to be really really fun, especially crapping around with the other SKWs and hearing all the comments they had to pass about the other year 1s :P
But perhaps the most interesting events took place during the opening ceremony where the Keynote speaker Professor Ronald Harden was giving his lecture. It was around the middle of his lecture when he recounted a story of how the Vice-chancellors of the German universities convened and decided to recognise the efforts of the teaching profession and reward 50,000 euros to the "Best teacher" in the land.
This inevitably led to the question as to what criteria they were going to use to judge the "Best teacher". But then how does one decide which teacher is better given that different people prefer to learn in different ways? The task, ipso facto, was impossible one would presume.
But well, the award had to be given out and Ronald Harden decided the Germans would best understand the logic behind his criteria if it were in the form of a mathematical formula:
Teacher effectiveness = (A + B + C + D + E + F) x (G x H x I x J) x P
A - F: Technical competencies, G - J : Approaches used in teaching, P : personal development
He would go on to spend the rest of his lecture explaining this was the formula he believed measured teaching excellence to some credible extent. I guess that also means that the "approaches used in teaching" and "personal development" components cant be zero or the teacher wouldnt be effective at all =P
His formula led to the next keynote speaker, a german pathologist from Harvard medical international to catch on to the formula frenzy and after his lecture he had to flash another formula:
Happiness = (R - E) / P
R: reality E: expectation P: perception
I think some of you may have come across this before, but do you realise that this is mathematical proof that ignorance is indeed bliss? Since if perception= O, happiness is infinite.
Things get even more interesting when one decides to equate enlightenment to happiness. Now, if one is enlightmented, I guess we can assume perception = ∞, expectation = O and reality is ∞ or O depending on how you look at it.
If reality is zero, then enlightenment gives zero happiness derived via limits. If reality is infinite.... then we have to solve the equation infinity/infinity. Now does that looks like a 1 but infinity is unfortunately not a real number. And since its not a real number, we cant use maths operators on it or else:
infinity = infinity x infinity.... infinity/infinity= infinity
If we use limits however, then infinity/infinity would be indeterminate, depending on how we write the limit. Therefore, I guess happiness can be just about any number depending on how you figure infinity out. Now, how about that for a mathematical formula for enlightenment? =)
My maths could just be very bad of course =P
ryaniq lived on 11:14 PM
- 03S78 forever -
Today
Today was the Annual Inter-Anatomy Group Genetics Quiz! After a preliminary round of MCQs, the top 4 anatomy groups were chosen to compete in an exciting speed-round! And the result was as follows
1st: Group with most 78 ppl (Ryan + Ronnie)
2nd: Group with 2nd most 78 ppl (Ningqi)
Groups with no 78 ppl...well...
The competition started off on level ground. All groups were quite evenly matched until the mid-stage of the competition. This was when the 78 ppl started to shine. With their heart-stopping speed and unsurpassed accuracy, the competition was left behind in the dust.
Eventually it came down to a showdown between the group with most 78 ppl (Ryan + Ronnie) and the group with 2nd most 78 ppl (Ningqi). Although Ningqi fought valiantly, he had to submit to the combined prowess of Ryan and Ronnie. Their calculations of allelic frequencies, probabilities of affected offspring, chromosome numbers etc were reflexive and flawless.
In conclusion, the quiz was pwned by 78 ppl. Heh.
nwxiang lived on 11:32 PM
- 03S78 forever -
accolades 5000
today i am happy...very happy..and we all should be happy
because of the three men...3 men that made me proud..made 03S78 proud...made all the generations of 78s and all of hwa chong proud...
it is imperative that we acknowledge their accomplishments...
and those men are...by no order of merit...
TYCRS
TVSR
PNQ
may there be many more of these days in the future to come! :)
Cheers!
Yang=)
yang lived on 1:15 PM
- 03S78 forever -
dirac
dirac stories
our current chemistry lecturer picked up the habit of the first lecturer we had - he had a "half-time break" roughly in the middle of the lecture so that we could take a break from the obscure thermodynamic equations he's trying to drum into our heads..
so for today, he said that "we should know more about our university", and proceeded to tell us stories about cambridge's past luminaries =D he told us stories abt 2 pple, but i can only remember the dirac stories cos it was so interesting =)
dirac has a rather eccentric nature - he is exceedingly reticent, and he is rather literal when it comes to interpreting meanings =)
story #1:
once, when he was having dinner with other fellows, the lady beside him was desperately trying to have a conversation with the chap sitting beside her. so, she asked casually, "is it windy today?" after hearing that, dirac stopped eating, left the hall, went outside, and came back remarking "no."
story #2:
once when he was in america, he was interviewed by a journalist.
journalist: professor dirac, is the field you're dealing with now difficult to understand?
dirac: yes.
j: could you explain it in such a way that even the general public could understand it?
d: (long pause) no.
sensing that this interview was going nowhere, the journalist decided to ask about dirac's personal life.
j: professor dirac, do you go to the movies?
d: yes.
j: when was the last time you went for a movie?
d: (long pause) in the '20s.
story #3:
once, he gave a lecture to students about physics. at the end of the lecture, one student raised up his hand.
student: professor, i couldn't understand the last equation you've just mentioned.
(long pause in lecture theatre)
chairman of the session: professor, aren't you going to answer the question?
dirac: it wasn't a question; it's a statement.
dirac reminds me of someone in our class who shares a passion similar to dirac's =) his one-word replies are often conversation killers, i swear =P
by sheer coincidence, dirac received his phd from the college that bun is in now..
Yi Jin lived on 8:51 PM
qy lived on 2:22 PM
- 03S78 forever -
a warm fuzzy feeling
haha..my screwed up internet connection has taught me to write my posts in notepads first..so haha..
i just came home after having my hair cut. :)
not too long ago..i went to look for my old barber....but i saw that the place was closed for some construction..that time i thought the place had closed down and i had lost my old barber forever..
today for some reason i decided to try to see if my barber was still there..and to my amazement..that salon is still there!
they had closed for some renovations and the doors had changed. but the interior and everything inside was the same! the same old pale yellow tiles. the same heavy smell of shaving cream. the same lao fu zi comics. the same little girls and boys running around all over the place. the barber working nearest from the door is still the boss of the place..an old guy who cant really cut hair for nuts.. the 2nd chair is as usual empty because the barber of that station never comes for work and likes to go smoke and drink at the market nearby. the 3rd seat is still that barber with the curly "
"bomb bomb" hair. and there..right there..stood my barber...can see tat he has aged considerably..but still the same..
he has been cutting my hair since i was 10..and this time as he was cutting my hair..i was smiling all the way..10 years...
and he is AMAZING..he says he rmbs the day when my mom brought my brother and I into the salon. he rmbs the countless times he has helped me shave my head for competitions. he even rmbs i shaved my head for some running competition..:) he remembers that my parents are both chinese physicians..
his social experience is also amazing..he has cut hair for the physiotherapist of the singapore SEA games team..some doctor who knows physio, tcm and mbbs...and a whole lot of people..he even knows more abt the details of a life of a doctor than me..
it's nice to know that in this age of progress, science and technology, improvement, change or whatever word you use to describe the process of things becoming different..
some things can actually remain the same for 10 years...
not that i dun like change la..some change is good..like for example..when i was primary 4 i was just a little boy and was very shy and i never spoke to my dear barber..but now..i am all grown up (sort of)..we can hold good conversations in the 45 mins he takes to cut my hair..
simply amazing..:)
qy lived on 2:18 PM
- 03S78 forever -
dashing manes
well, due to popular request..
 bun - shuai as ever.. (bun, sorry hor din get ur permission first before posting this.. but u dun mind one right, since it's gonna get u an avalanche of v day invites)
in keeping up with my tradition of mimicking everything bun does..
 our manes have been left untouched for the past 5 months - let's see what will happen in another 5 months' time =D
Yi Jin lived on 1:54 AM
- 03S78 forever -
Doctors
A guy goes to a prostitute and has sex. After it is done, she turns to him and says, "If I can guess your profession, you give me $100?", to which he agreed.The prostitute said, "You are a doctor". Doctor: "How did you guess?" Prostitute: "You washed your hands before and you washed your hands after. Want to go double or nothing? I can guess your specialty." Doctor: "Sure. No way!" Prostitute: "You're an anesthesiologist." Doctor: "That's incredible! How did you guess?" Prostitute: "Because I didn't feel a thing."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Luckily doctors have their fair share of fun too....
A man comes into the ER and yells, "My wife is going to have her baby in the cab!" I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the lady's dress, and began to take off her underwear. Suddenly, I noticed that there are several cabs and I was in the wrong one. Dr. Mark MacDonald, San Antonio, TX ************************************
At the beginning of my shift, I placed a stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf female patient's anterior chest wall. "Big breaths," I instructed. "Yes, they used to be," the patient said sadly.
Dr. Richard Byrnes, Seattle, WA ************************************
One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a wife that her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct. Not more than five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a "massive internal fart." Dr. Susan Steinberg, Manitoba, Canada
************************************
A lady walked into a pharmacy and spoke to the pharmacist. She asked, "Do you have Viagra?" "Yes," he answered. She asked, "Does it work?" "Yes," he answered. "Can you get it over the counter?" she asked. "I can if I take two," he answered.
ningky lived on 6:42 PM
- 03S78 forever -
Moved
My blog has moved. Now you can waste your time at http://nwxiang.50webs.com w/o having to worry abt ads and pop-ups.
nwxiang lived on 10:41 PM
- 03S78 forever -
The healthcare system
The difference between subsidized and unsubsidized:
Subsidized: wait 4 months to get a CT scan
Unsubsidized: wait 1 week to get a CT scan
Isn't this discrepancy a little too much? I can understand that getting a government subsized service will mean waiting, but 4 months for a simple procedure? Isn't that a bit too much? Such a long wait time is more more than a test of patience. It means being kept in suspense waiting for a diagnosis, a closure, in addition to enduring wadever symptoms one may be suffering from. It is aggravating, both physically and mentally. Moreover 4 months is a long enough time for many conditions to worsen...
nwxiang lived on 8:03 PM
- 03S78 forever -
responding in an appropriate way
hello! just got back from aachen fr a CNY celebration with steamboat & movie-watching til 5:30am! haha :) was a gd gathering as usual yay :)
anyway, regarding this topic that ryan blogged abt, i've read abt it in the papers too. singaporeans are pretty used to sensitivity displayed by the media wrt race, religion esp, and it was for me quite shocking to read abt this. i also have an opinion abt this, but before that, let me maybe raise some food for thought..
1. anyone wondered what was the point of this caricature? according to my tchr (sorry didnt read this myself, so i really hope this is accurate), the danish caricaturist was commissioned to draw sth to the theme of - terrorists are using (or mis-using, or abusing) religion to further their aims. apparently this guy found no better way of expressing this.
2. the caricature came with an article abt the theme mentioned above. caricaturists probably don't sit ard at home and wait for some inspiration to fall fr the sky, and neither do they appear alone without an accompanying write up (which is the main point anyway)
3. freedom of expression & the press is a big deal to the west. they see it acceptable to voice their views - thru biased articles, suggestive cartoons - apparent from the fact that many papers are known for their slants (political especially) and nth is wrong with that.
the main problem i find is, that some parts of the media here are not aware of
1. differences in culture, society and a whole load of stuff btwn the west and other cultures. as a result, they do not know that what they find acceptable may be an insult to others. also, that every society places different values on things like freedom of the press, religious freedom, and respect for religious figures.
2. the self-regulating mechanism that's sposed to be present in media. alot of things are not against the law, but pple still don't do them because it causes hurt to others or it provokes an unwanted reaction.
what i thought would have been a suitable reaction by the western press is to explain to the islamic world that hey - look at the original point, it was not meant to be an insult, instead we're trying to illustrate a point, and please don't get all worked up and think that all europeans have this warped opinion that muslims = terrorists. and perhaps they could have also clarified that they just basically hold different values dear.. and of cos, perhaps the islamic world cud react in a less outraged manner, and try to use a more peaceful way to put across their points instead? and this way, the west can actually learn fr their mistake instead. yeah, i still think it was a mistake by the west, and i even felt hurt when i first read stuff abt this incident. but really, reacting in a violent manner doesnt serve the purpose, i think.
any other opinions?
xiz lived on 12:38 AM
- 03S78 forever -
Saying the right thing
 Last September, a Danish newspaper (Jyllands-Posten) published 12 editorial cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Mohammed. One particularly blasphemous cartoon in the eyes of Muslims drew the Prophet wearing a turban covering a bomb. It took a while but I wonder if the cartoonist had envisaged that the entire Muslim world would rage over these publications.
The response from the rest of the world has been thought-provoking. So much so I felt compelled to add my thoughts to the already huge agglomeration of opinions…
Many of the European governments have called for a heightened sense of religious sensitivity along with the vote of confidence defending the freedom of expression in free, democratic countries. Like most political rhetoric, it pretty much sits on the fence and avoids dealing with what is really zero sum equation.
How does one prevent “irresponsible” entities from propagating offensive/inflammatory rhetoric on religion since freedom of expression is all encompassing and conferred on everyone? This couldn’t be more apparent when newspapers across Europe reprinted caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to show support for the Danish paper.
France Soir said it had reprinted the full set to show that "religious dogma" had no place in a secular society. Under the headline "Yes, we have the right to caricature God", the daily carried a front-page cartoon of Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Christian gods floating on a cloud. It shows the Christian deity saying: "Don't complain, Muhammad, we've all been caricatured here."
Perhaps the most fitting summary of the events that have unfolded were in the words of French theologian Sohaib Bencheikh who spoke out against the pictures:
"One must find the borders between freedom of expression and freedom to protect the sacred," he wrote in a column accompanying the cartoons in France Soir. "Unfortunately, the West has lost its sense of the sacred."
This border that satisfies everyone probably doesn’t exist and to implement a freedom of expression with OB markers on religion internationally probably isn’t possible, probably wouldn’t solve the pressing problems and probably would be impossible to regulate in any case.
Certainly, there are other more significant elements around in the world today that contribute to the problems behind “Islamaphobia”. Such a furor would seemingly make a scapegoat out of the media and conveniently provides further fodder for militants to fan their case no doubt.
As Jihad Momani, editor of the Jordanian tabloid al-Shiran, pointed:
"What brings more prejudice against Islam, those caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?"
Jihad Momani was fired just hours after the editorial appeared. So was the editor of the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten who commissioned the cartoons and the editor of the French paper Soir.
Heads will roll as this story unfolds no doubt (and I certainly mean that metaphorically), but the problem still remains. Our societal systems across the world are different and the rules that govern how different societies function don’t necessarily corroborate. Ideally, we shouldn’t impose the ideologies on another society. Ideally, we would leave each country to sort out its own problems and this really should have been the case within Denmark.
But with the vested interests and relations every country has in the affairs of other countries, everyone has become embroiled in dealing with “Islamaphobia”. While we may choose not to change our societal ideologies which may include freedom of expression because of this, certainly, people in power today should certainly choose their words carefully.
Words are powerful mediators in solving the political and social problems of our world today and the words we choose are the first hurdle to overcome before concrete moves to solve any problem can be taken.
By stressing “of course the principal of freedom of expression is the most important principle for us… This is our priority number one.” the Danish PM obviously isn’t going to win many friends from the Islamic world seething over the “offence to Islam”. Certainly his tone and words would have been better used to draw attention to his advocacy of religious sensitivity instead even if he were not going to apologise on behalf of the newspaper. Muslim leaders also need to put out the flames quickly instead of continually pressuring for an apology from the government on behalf of the newspaper, which already has issued an apology.
As we grapple with finding the balance between freedom of expression and religious sensitivities, our political leaders need to say the right things first if we’re going to solve anything. And if anyone still has a part of play in this story, I hope the new Pope can rise to the occasion and… say the right thing.
“I would say that I do not regret having commissioned those cartoons and I think asking me that question is like asking a rape victim if she regrets wearing a short skirt Friday night at the discotheque” --- Flemming Rose, culture editor of the Jyllands-Posten
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/698
http://www.muslimwakeup.com/main/archives/2006/01/a_mountain_out.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Drawings
ryaniq lived on 11:27 PM
- 03S78 forever -
Yang's bday
 The bait & the target
 The trap & the victim
Happy birthday! Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! Ask me if you want the videos of yang expounding his theories/ our fantastisch singing =)
ryaniq lived on 12:11 AM
- 03S78 forever -
reportin from cologne :)
hello sorry for being quiet all these while :) haha finally making some noise now. those pics above are from Naples :) the last one's pompei! anyone rmbs the reading compre we did in hwachong abt pompei? haha somehow it stuck in my mind til now. anyway happy new year everyone :) hope everyone's enjoyed e yummy goodies & e company of ur family, relatives and friends! i havent celebrated for real but did get goodies fr home :) yup k short update, will post again soon! P.S. pear you look great :P
xiz lived on 1:06 AM
- 03S78 forever -
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