weekend

My weekend just passed by like that. Saturday was spent giving 1 tuition, and then mugging in the woodlands library. I realised I dun understand the materials. Textbook is so difficult, with so many tons of studies which we're expected to understand. Oh well. Sunday was supposed to be spent with 1 tuition in the morning, but student couldn't wake up in time. There goes my $$. After that, met up with my TR3001 group mates at Funan the IT mall to shop for laptop coolers, see our competitors, and talk to retailers. Oh well.. I am so super sick and my head is so painful. I really wish I wasn't sick now, and that I don't have to go to school tmr. class at 9am!! that can kill.

sometimes things are hard to forget. Forgive but not forget, some say. I say, forget, and forgive, only to remember later on.. lols Glad I went out to get some fresh air today, it made me forget the angst again. Too many bad memories in the past sometimes is quite bad for the relationship. It makes me want to give up, because i feel that things will only get worse.. But when I forget my bad emotions, I don't think that anymore. How ironical can life get?

woah my headache is getting worse, and I really cant sleep. Don't know wad to do anymore.. so tired and miserable!! AHH >.<"

oh ya, bought a new puzzle from Daiso few days back. I like playing it, until the last 3 times, when I couldn't get the pieces to form back. Grr Actually I watched a movie on Friday night, and it was enjoyable. Good movie. There will be Blood. Arul and I decided to catch something we duno anything about, just for a change. I went in thinking that it might be a bad show, or something too cliche, cos of the title. Turned out to be really good. I guess it's a good strategy to cheer yourself up, or when you're too bored. It's like a gamble.

chawanmushi @ sakae teppanyaki

disclaimer: this post is too whiny so don't read it if you cant take it.

Well, things have been not so smooth for me lately.. Studied quite hard for the Gender mcq quiz but i did really badly. Have never done so badly since year 1. I mean, usually i do badly cos i dint study, not because i studied and was indecisive. Indecisiveness is the biggest flaw for mcqs! I cant believe I took it so seriously and didn't follow my gut feeling. Oh well, learning from mistakes is the key to success, but i feel that success is not in my favor.

Anws, the next quiz is also mcq. 90 mcqs in 1.5hours! It seems so difficult! I cant understand half the materials i'm reading. Plus, the textbooks and research articles are so thick a pile, I think i wont be able to finish cramming the things into my head, if I've any.

I feel so much like going to shop, spend $$, buy chocolates, eat some feast or something. I also want to get rich.. I also want to do well for exams. I also want to go ktv, sing songs, get high. BUT I'm sick (again). Sore throat, heavy head, flu, runny nose etc.. Symptoms of a bad sickness coming. Those irritating kinds that make your head dizzy if you shake it.

I had wanted to go to some adventure on Mt Rinjani in June, but they couldn't book the tickets in time, and wanted to extend the trip 2 more days. There's nothing to do on the beach for 4 days, so i just cancelled it. Now it feels rather empty. The graduation trip with our psychology gang isn't materialising either. No one planned to go together, everything is so last minute, and in e end, i guess we'll have a mini get-together at someone's house. Maybe bake cookies, cook tomyam, watch dvd is the best we can get to a 'trip'. I guess that's better than nothing, since we all have different places we want to go, and different budget constraints, preferences etc. Oh well, my bike license is also not materialising. It's taking ages to just go for a theory evaluation, let alone the riding theory test. I think the day I go on the roads is at least 1 month away. Waiting .. Ever waiting.. Buying the bike seems out of the question also, since its impossible not to let my parents know about it, plus it's too exciting, I'll probably burst it out to them. I mean, how can I keep the news from them? well, when the boat reaches the bridge, things will straighten out.

The Little Red Riding Hood

“Grandma, what big teeth you have!”….The wolf grabbed Red Riding Hood in his claws, intent on devouring her. Red Riding Hood screamed, not out of alarm at the wolf’s apparent tendency towards cross-dressing, but because of his wilful invasion of her personal space. Her screams were heard by a passing woodchopper-person. When he burst into the cottage, he saw the melee and tried to intervene. But as he raised his ax, Red Riding Hood and the wolf both stopped.“And just what do you think you’re doing?” asked Red Riding Hood.

The woodchopper-person blinked and tried to answer, but no words came to him.“Bursting in here like a Neanderthal, trusting your weapon to do your thinking for you!” she exclaimed.“Sexist! Speciesist! How dare you assume that women and wolves can’t solve their own problems without a man’s help!”When she heard Red Riding Hood’s impassioned speech, Grandma jumped out of the wolf’s mouth, seized the woodchopper-person’s ax, and cut his head off. After this ordeal, Red Riding Hood,Grandma and the wolf felt a certain commonality of purpose. They decided to set up an alternative household based on mutual respect and cooperation, and they lived together in the woods happily ever after.

Flying kite!!

On the last day of my mid-sem break, Arul wanted to come over to play badminton with me! Alas! It was a rainy day and we didn't get to play.. He came over all the same, and we agreed to make a kite to fly! HEHE.. Our kite wasn't super professional, it was made of simple materials.
We used a plastic bag, and tie it to the string we bought at the market.

It wasn't easy to fly it, cos the weather wasn't too windy. We were running and running until we were so tired. HAHA.

Then, we decided to go to a grassy place, where we saw people flying kites. It's at Senja thereabouts. However, it was super far, and we didn't want to walk all the way there. So we tried flying it at the carpark opposite my block, which was slightly elevated, but it didn't work. I suggested going to the top of the multi-storey carpark, and we climbed all the way there, groaning and moaning (I was!). Finally, when we reached there, it was already dark, but there was no drizzle already. So it was good. The wind wasn't too strong though. we must have made a ruckus there, shouting at each other to 'thug' or 'run'!

Well, after perhaps half an hour, we were both tired out, as he was running the length of the carpark a few times, without much success. The plastic bag only hovered in the air for a while, and it did not seem to want to fly. I guess we need more wind!! lols

A fun and good day nevertheless !!

leap year! 29th Feb

Did you guys do anything special to commemorate this special day?

I heard from xiaoxuan that she made a pact with her friends 4 years ago that they'd meet every 4 years on this day. So I decided I'd make a pact with Arul also. Last night, 10 mins before 12 midnight, we made a pact that on this same day, 4 years later, We'll be in Paris. hehe

belated birthday pictures!!

The present!! Its carved from a thick book! And there's treasures inside =D So sweet!!

Here you can see the book clearly!! HEHE It was a shock at first.

Playing with Sparklers at Little Guilin. IT was so sparkling! And there're little stars flying off !

Steamboat dinner at the Deck

Ate Steamboat dinner myself! it was a good experience!! This is my 3rd time this semester eating Steamboat at the SzeChuan Stall! I am really gonna miss this fantastic and value-for-money meal when I graduate this May!! Dinners will never be the same again =D

Masculine gender role stress

Eisler, R. M., & Blalock, J. A. (1991). Masculine Gender Role Stress: Implications for the assessment of Men. Clinical Psychology Review, 11, 45-60.

Some quoted text of interest

"There has been increased interest in the idea that gender plays a major role in predisposing each sex to certain kinds of mental and physical health problems. Explanations for sex differences in the health of men and women have focused broadly on 2 types of factors: the biogenic and the psychosocial."

"Waldron (1976) has estimated that 75% of the sex difference in life expectancy can be accounted for by the gender role behaviors of men who are involved in more high health risk behaviors than women, including smoking, alcohol abuse, and propensity toward violent or hazardous activities."

"The notion that the differential gender role socialisation of men and women might predispose each sex to different kinds of mental health problems may be viewed as an application of sociocultural and psychosocial models to the etiology of behavior disorders. Central to this construction are the concepts of gender, gender identity, and the acquisition of gender role. Gender refers to social conceptions of what it is to be masculine and what it is to be feminine. For eg., most people in our culture believe that it is not masculine for women to be involved in displays of physical aggression, although it is certainly not ruled out by their biology."

"Masculinity then, like femininity, is entirely an achieved status regulated by normative beliefs and expectations. To become masculine in terms of one's thoughts, expression of one's feelings, and behavioral repertoires requires many years of enculturation.... Because results of masculine indoctrination are so pervasive among men despite individual variations in education, race, ethinicity, and political beliefs, many men therefore find it difficult to believe that their masculine beliefs have primarily cultural as opposed to biological origins."

"The idea that masculine traits such as dominance and competitiveness are imposed on the individual by the culture rather than developed from within by innate biological forces or by developmental needs to develop a masculine identity was first advanced by Joseph Pleck (1981) in his book, The Myth of Masculinity."

these are the 5 factors that are the behavior under masculine gender role stress
1. physical inadequacy -- stress appriasial related to fears of not being competitive physically, in sports or sexual rivalries
2. emotional inexpressiveness -- male difficulties in expressing feelings of affection, fear or pain. Reflects a stress a man may feel when he has to confront emotional responses in others
3. subordination to women -- reflect male apprisal of stress due to a perceived competitive threat from women
4. intellectual inferiority -- male appraisal of stress in situations that question his rational coping abilities, to be decisive, smart enough
5. performance failure -- stress of potential failure to perform up to masculine standards in work and sexual adequacy.

this stuff is so interesting!!

my new handpone!!

Photos taken on the 1st excited day of using my New Shiny Z750i Handphone! SUGOI!!
Its cool and shiny. hehe. Comes with a pouch too!! I love it!

pillion riding lesson

I was deprived of riding for quite long after my 2 straight passes.. and last night i went for another class. It was on pillion riding. Well pillion riding was exciting and challenging.

Arul pillioned me first cos he said he knew the test route. I wasn't too sure of it. Weird that our previous instructors did not explicitly tell us which is the test route. TAI HEN - desu!! How could they not teach us the test route properly? I think they dont take their jobs seriously lor. Anws, we went to the wrong route and the instructor told us the correct one. hilarious. haha.

Btw, arul's start/stop skills are so terrible, i was constantly jerked back and forth, it was so scary and he kept 'yelling' at me to grab him properly. I mean, dun have to grab until so tight one right. but anws, he was wearing this slipperly type of material as his jacket, so it was bad. I was holding tight already but he did not feel it, and he kept thinking I was gonna fall off. I mean, I wouldn't, would I? haiz

Well at least we went through it safely.

When it was my turn, I was slightly apprehensive cos I was afraid I couldn't support both our weights. I was right. Sector 1 was right turn, into slope area, and when I was going down the slope, I couldn't go straight, and my handlebar was wobbling. Left turn out and go straight to S and crank course. I was surprised I could control the bike properly during the S and crank course, I must have gotten quite good at that already. Next up was to pass the traffic lights and go straight for a right turn. After right turn, change lane to left lane and exit to Plank and Pylon. That was hard, i fell down the plank, and I headed to pylon. But on the 2nd cone, I did not swerve enough, and I slightly hit the cone, and before I knew it, my bike went for the curb and I my knees hit hard on the ground.

I was shocked. I thought that if I hit the cone, its safe, since the cone is supposed to fall. But I fell instead. haha. Well, anws we picked ourselves up from the fall, and oh btw, Arul was leaning on me when we fell (so kinda double weight). When I stabalised myself, I saw that my left knee was bleeding abit, and there was a hole in my jeans where I hit. Well well, limping and feeling slightly 'defeated', I told Arul that I was fine and can go.

After that, it was uneventful as I headed confidently (with strength and pride burning and wanting to be restored) towards the Emergency brake area. My instructor (btw, he was my ex-favorite instructor, the super nice guy) asked why I fell. well, it was so embarrassing. My skills in the pylon needs to be polished up man. The rest of the circuit, I am totally alright.

My right knee (Day 3)

My left knee (Day 3)

After the pillion riding, we headed to the riding simulator. It was so exciting and me and Arul couldn't wait to 'play' the simulator. So when the instructor asked for volunteer, we both shouted, but Arul shouted first, haha. Well so I was jealous. Anws, it seemed fun and he gave a demonstration of the thing. really duno wad its about cos instructor just asked us to get on it, and go to a certain speed. Up to us to see what happens. It was exciting though hehe.

After Arul's turn (he did a demo of E-brake at 80km/h, and also about braking distance when we're unprepared v.s. when we're prepared has a difference of 1 second. At 80km/h, 1 second equals 20metres!!), instructor asked for another volunteer. The 3 other guys didn't, and my enthusiasm got me on the simulator! hehe. So anws, I bumped into the lorry haha. It was about the 2 second rule.

Well, then instructor told us this story about a lady who did not follow the 2 second rule, and she died an instant death. This happened 10 years ago. Her fiance was heartbroken... Well, it was because another lady driver in front of her suddenly jam brake in the middle of the expressway, and she was keeping too close. Her bike stopped, but she was flung 30 metres away and died instantly. Thinking why the lady driver jammed brake? Or have you heard the story? Well, she jammed the brakes because she did not put in the cashcard for the ERP.

The quotes from my instructor and BBDC.
Ride Safe.
Ride Responsibly.
Be patient.
Do not demand Right of Way.