大侠！

倩女幽魂——燕赤霞舞剑

以下是歌词：

人间道
道道道道道道
道道道道道道道道道

道可道非常道
天道地道 人道剑道
黑道白道黄道赤道
乜道物道道道都道
自己嗰道系非常道
我呸呸呸呸胡说八道
呢度嗰度 边度系路 哈哈。。。。
花道茶道哈 阴道阳道哈
零度密度咸度淡度光度热度雷射角度
鬼哭神号旁门左道狗上瓦坑必然有路
你度佢度豺狼当道唏
我自求我道
我自求我道


想一想，世界何其大，到处都有人在说自己的教，自己说自己对，自己好。

连妖与魔都说自己好。

所以，我决定了：不理会他人说什么，自己觉得对就好；也不会到处说自己对，硬把自己这一套，套在别人身上。

总之，就像燕大侠所唱的

我，自求我道！

The Thing I Cooked In Basel

OK, this bowl of unappetizing pasta (yes, it's pasta, in case you guys can't figure out what it is) was a re-creation of what I used to cooked for myself in when I was in Basel - beside all of my everything-in-oven dishes, of course.

And yes, this is a faithful re-creation. It is not made any better, nor any worse.

A friend of mine once remarked that single guys left alone will only eat thrash. That's kinda true considering that I am cooking up food like this. Well, at least it is edible, and doesn't really taste that bad either. So, coming from someone who doesn't have much cooking skill like me, I think I did ok slapping together something like this.

I bought the ingredient last weekend. Dun really like to complain, but still I wanna say that it's hard to find those big, ripe, attractively red tomatoes I find easily in Basel or across the German border. The mushrooms here are also very small. I really miss those big mushroom. The pesto sauce here are lacking in variety and are expensive. I rather make them myself. Maybe I will do that.....

Luckily, I brought a bottle of mix herbs back from Basel. So sprinkle a bit on the pasta, and the familiar taste was back. There is this saying/theory about taste and smell evoking memory of the past, so it was kinda the case when I was eating this bowl of pasta just now. Oh, my Basel adventure... nice, unique.... bittersweet maybe. Part of my life experience, where I learned thing in and outside the lab. Made me a better person maybe? I hope....

Anyway, it's not very difficult to see that I cooked too much pasta this time. It's one of the few things that always happen. The portion will be just nice for two persons. Best buddy TH almost came close to sampling this creation of mine when he came visit last week, but decided we should eat out instead cos it'll be too much work. Oh well, next time then...

Something Interesting...

As a self-diagnosed megalomaniac, occasionally I will visit the website of various overseas universities to satisfy my fantasy of studying abroad.

Yes, I know to some of you out there, I did mention about studying abroad. However, there are two reason that I am staying put in Sg: the EDB bond and, more importantly, family responsibility. (So, yes, Andrew, I know you were not blaming me that time. I dun feel that way at all. Instead, I was feeling pity. For myself, of cos)

So anyway, I was going through a couple of universities in Canada, the first of which being the University of Victoria. What I really like about their graduate admission section is that they have this webpage which list the minimum requirements from other countries. So under Singapore, it reads: upper 2nd class on Bachelor.

So ok, I thought, I don't qualify. Then I noticed, just above the requirements for Singapore, it reads: Sierra Leone - upper 2nd class on Bachelor; just below the requirements for Singapore, it reads: South Africa - upper 2nd class on Bachelor.

Then when I scanned further, I found that other countries that have minimum requirement of 'upper 2nd class on Bachelor' includes: UK, Australia, Uganda and Zimbabwe, just to name a few.

When I popped over to the website for the University of British Columbia, the minimum academic requirements (scroll all the way down) there for overseas degrees are similar to University of Victoria.

So all these led me to 2 possibilities, either 1) an UK degree, a Singapore degree, a Zimbabwe degree, etc are all of the same standard, or 2) they are not the same, which means the University applies different minimum requirement standard to degrees from different countries.

So, to end this post, I could just say I might as well try my luck and apply anyway. However, since this is my blog, I'm gonna end by sprouting the nonsense that if I know about this minimum requirements thing long ago, I would had been better off taking my degree in Sierra Leone or Zimbabwe instead of NUS.

Another Muppet Clip

The Muppet Show (with Elton John) - Crocodile Rock

Initially, I wanted to write about the messy state of my bench, desk and work. But then I read a few blogs and realized there are quite a few unhappy souls around. So I decided to post this video clip instead.

When I was in Basel, I watched quite a few episodes of The Muppet Show (from season 1 till half of season 3. I d/l all 5 seasons...) and this is one of my favorite scene. I will always play this clip in youtube, usually more then once - I mean, don't you all find this scene funny? There's Elton John in big colorful costumes,with wacky muppets. And where else can you get crocodiles to do a sing-along - and even the crocodiles are cute!

And where else do you find a variety show full of animals, vegetables and various other creatures? I couldn't explain further but I really like the show; it's good, clean, wholesome, fun entertainment that didn't depend on sex or crude and meaningless jokes to sell, which is so unlike most of what is on offer on TV nowadays.

Hence, I guess most important of all, I like this show because it has innocence. In fact, I think I like shows and movies (and maybe songs) from the 60s, 70s, 80s because of the innocence. I love innocence. Cos I lost mine a long time ago and since then, life had been a bit complicated. Things are simpler now though and I'm keeping it that way, trying to simplify it further. But still, I lost my innocence and the world is now so complicated...

Anyway, this post is suppose to cheer ppl up, and dwelling too much about lost innocence will only make this a depressing topic. So that will be for next time. Meanwhile. Enjoy the clip.

What If......

Here's the scenario: what if I really studied hard when I was in school?

Let's roll the years all the way back till pri sch (since my parents were the one who chose the sch and I couldn't have much say in it anyway). Let's say I paid attention in class and studied hard from the pre-pri onwards. Most likely I will get very good grades and so when streaming comes, I would end up in EM1.

Then, let's say I did very well in PSLE and received a very good result, say, 260 onwards. Then I get to choose to go to some of the top sec sch. Since my pri sch is a Chinese sch where most top students would end up in one of the top Chinese sec schs, maybe that's where I would end up.

Assuming that raging hormones didn't get the better of me and I continued to work hard, I would most likely end up with a very good 'O' level grades. Not the best, but still a single-digit score for L1R5 (reasonable standard of the sch). With affiliation, ECA, etc, I would be able to enter into on of the top 5 JCs (yes, anywhere else will be unthinkable).

While in JC, let's say hormones continue to not be a problem. So maybe I would do jus enough to get the customary distinctions in all subjects for 'A' level. Not so sure about 'S' papers (or whether I am taking them at all), but scholarship was definitely out of reach (yes, I know this is just a scenario, but still there are limits...).

So with my 'A' level result, entrance to University is not a problem. Let's say I stayed and studied locally. That will means most likely I would go to NUS. Maybe I would take up Chemistry anyway. Or maybe I would end up in Chem Engg. Or maybe Meidicine. Whatever I end up studying, I would get good results and perhaps I would up doing a direct PhD.

Then what next?

I would graduate. With my good academic result I would had ensure I got a nice and stable job. I would work for the next 20, 30, 40 years, having achievements here and there. But end of the day, I would still be working, still be another face in the crowd and still be an ordinary guy.

Not much difference from what I am now.

So in this case, I guess I had more fun doing what I did when I was in sch.