My car is making funny noises...

...after my first time driving it around -- at my school's carpark -- this morning. Oh dear. :-/

Mom got a hug for teaching me. Hee. xD

Why we should never miss a lecture

If we miss a lecture, we might miss an announcement that informs us that there are no lectures next week. If that happens, we will find ourselves sitting in a relatively-empty lecture hall, and the only other people around will be those who also missed the last lecture like we did.

Oh wow... we've finished all chemistry lectures this semester... @_@ Exams in 2 weeks, eek!

40 minutes till biology lecture starts.

Are children safe anymore?

Y'know, there are times when the lamentations of the older generation, describing safe neighbourhoods where kids do not vanish due to sinister hooded figures, are really appealing. All who think that encouraging kids to "Go outside and play!" is a stupid and irresponsible thing to do, say 'aye'!

Well, Longford Place is still alright... my neighbours are out on the road all the time, playing cricket, footy, and other things that boys do, without their parents worrying about abduction. But then, kids like Madeleine McCann aren't as fortunate. What are we to do...?

What are you supposed to think when come home, expecting your brother to be glued to the TV, but are instead greeted by an empty, eerily quiet house? Trying to convince my friend that her brother was safe didn't work when I wasn't convinced myself. :-/ The fact that both of us were familiar with the way horror movies worked was of no help either. Mental images of bloodied bodies stuffed under beds or limp corpses plopping out of cupboards suddenly became scarily realistic.

Anyone ever felt helpless panic? Or hysterical relief? I think both of us did today. The latter came when a father's reprimanding voice was heard in the background, demanding to know where his son had been hiding. It soon became harder to continue our phone conversation as the air was filled with the sounds of a blissfully-ignorant boy banging away on the drum set.

Little brothers.

Gah.

Update - 28/5/07, 10.37am
For those who don't like cryptic writings, head to Zaneta's blog for a more direct narrative.

Onions Galore

I got tagged. By the Rhizobium. A long time ago, hehe.

I am now an onion, being peeled apart layer by layer...

LAYER 1: ON THE OUTSIDE.
(Thanks goes to Ek Guan for the calligraphy)
Name: [Original] Koh Sze Howe, Xu Shi Hao
[Others, in chronological order - List updated 27/5/2007]
Number Four. Why must Chinese have so many words with the same pronounciation...?
Jeremy. It was a birthday present, I suppose.
Tan Sze Howe. I was adopted!
Henry Baltimore. I gave written instructions to my American friend to pronounce my name: Hiss and Buzz at the same time. It obviously didn't work.
Ijem. I had a sex change for a while.
Potassium Hydroxide. Kalium hidroksida -- KOH
Pea. Thanks to the Rhizobium.
Sze Howe Koh. I have to go by "first" and "last" names now...
Sze Koh. With so many immigrants in Australia, you'd think that they'd at LEAST recognize that we can have 2 words as a "first" name. But noooooo...
Sze-Dawg. Woof? But I'm a cat person!
Zee Howe/Sue Howe. I did not bother giving Aussies a pronounciation guide like I did with my American friend.
HB. Unrelated to Henry. I am NOT telling anyone what this stands for. =P

Birth Date: 9 Feb 1988. Present...? *looks hopeful*
Current Status: Single. For how long?
Eye Colour: Brown iris. Black pupil. White sclera. Red capillaries.
Hair Colour: Black now. Light gray in the distant future.
Righty or Lefty: Righty. I'm part of the majority, it seems.

LAYER 2: ON THE INSIDE.
My Heritage: Gua si Hokkien lang! But I have been accused of being a GEY chio before.
My Fears: Fear itself. I'm not talking about Boggarts here. I fear being held hostage by fear, yet I let it happen. Ironic, no?
My Perfect Pizza: I could say Marco's, but it's not. =) Well... One that's professionally made. Cuz mine taste horrible.

Home-made pizza. Tastes a bit bland. Looks awesome though. *hidung kembang*

LAYER 3: YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW.
My Thoughts First Waking Up: Good morning, Lord!
My Bedtime: What does this mean?
My Most Missed Memory: The memories which I have forgotten...

LAYER 4: MY PICK.
Pepsi or Coke: Pepsi. *glares in defiance*
McDonald's or Burger King: I got lots of Pokémon toys from Burger King... =)
Single or Group Dates: Single dates sounds more managable, haha
Adidas or Nike: Fila. Only THEY produce shoes of un-strange shapes
Tea or Nestea: Tea. Has real fragrance.
Chocolate or Vanilla: *bursts out laughing* What kind of a question is that?! ...oh, you're being seious... Fine. Chocolate. Duh.
Cappuccino or Coffee: Teh C Peng!

Liquid chocolate. Yumm...

LAYER 5: DO YOU...
Smoke: 70% of my body is water and I stay away from intense heat, so hopefully I'll never combust
Curse: Avada Kedavra! ...nah.
Take a Shower: To avoid stinking, yes.
Have a Crush: DID I have a crush? Yes. DO I have a crush? I would like to know too, please.
Think You've Been In Love: Lol, I did. Now I feel silly.
Go To School: Does uni count?
Want To Get Married: Yes, no, maybe. Can't decide yet.
Believe In Yourself: If I don't, would I cease to exist?
Think You're A Health Freak: I eat chocolate. I eat fruits and veg. What do you reckon? ^_^

LAYER 6: IN THE PAST...
Drank Alcohol: Shandy when little. Cup of unknown alcoholic beverage at age 14. The end. Some people have a problem with that.
Gone To The Mall: Dragged into them kicking and screaming. But yes.
Been On Stage: "Abang!" :-D
Eaten Sushi: Did you know that the rice-in-seaweed-rolls is actually called MAKIzushi? Sushi is the rice. The answer's yes, by the way.
Dyed Your Hair: Nope. It's currently dyed with melanin. Thus the black colour.

I've looked prettier at times...

LAYER 7: HAVE YOU EVER...
Played A Stripping Game: Yep. I won, too! We stripped oranges in a circular fashion and I obtained the longest length of peel, yeah!
Changed Who You Were To Fit In: I changed myself, thus ended up not fitting in. How senseless.

LAYER 8: AGE YOU'RE HOPING...
To Be Married: *scratches head* I really have no idea. Late 20's, perhaps.

LAYER 9: IN A GIRL...
Eye Colour: Anything not white. Never did like those horror flicks.
Hair Colour: Not bright green, blue, pink, etc. please.
Short Hair or Long Hair: Short hair's no fun... you can't annoy her by messing it up!

LAYER 10: WHAT WERE YOU DOING...
A Minute Ago: 9.04pm - Walking about the house after getting sick of typing.
An Hour Ago: 8.05pm - Watching a dude crack flaming whips on TV.
4.5 Hours Ago: 4.36pm - Talking about last year's graduation speech.
1 Month Ago: 8 March 2007 - Experiencing my first day where 6 out of 24 hours were spent in laboratories. The lab coat was cool.
1 Year Ago: 8 April 2006 - NOT realizing that I should have jotted down my activities in order for me to recall them today.

LAYER 11: FINISH THE SENTENCES...
I love: ...loving and being loved.
I hate: ...the presence of hatred. Paradox again.
I hide: ...my thoughts too often.
I miss: ...my ignorance. Sometimes only.
I need: ...to finish my letters.

The onion has been peeled. Should it be deep fried? Pan friend? How does it taste? =)

I'll let the tagging die here. Note that I won't be so kind next time. *smile*

The World of Science

Who said science is boring?

Well, 51% of English teenagers -- aged 13 to 16 -- did, according to this 2005 survey. I wonder if some of them believing that Madonna and Christopher Columbus were scientists had anything to do with those statistics.

It doesn't have to be that way, of course. As this laptop experiment shows, experimenting can be quite a novel experience.

Hey, it guided me to the discovery that a grape is an effective stylus -- on touchpads.

Kudos to Kenny Voon -- the KL one, not the Kuching one -- for the awesome idea.

The mouse cursor moves!

Uni Orientation - Part IV

My uni path is sealed. After talking to Prof. Sandford yesterday, the remnants of reservations I had about doing biomedical engineering are gone. Onward with the program! ^_^ (probably should've researched more thoroughly before enrolling, hehehe -- but everything's fine and dandy)

Now, if only the online handbooks were more user-friendly. Pages like this one and everything it's linked to make it a tad tedious to figure out required units across 5.5 years.

A New Year in February

Around Chinese New Year is the time of the largest human migration,^[1] but a certain little family (as well as many other smaller and bigger ones) stayed put here in Perth.

This family had a large dinner at their home on the Chúxì (Chinese New Year's eve), and all family members in Perth were invited: The father, the mother, and the two sons. Unfortunately, the eldest son (a.k.a. Sze Howe) could not partake in the entire meal because he is allergic to prawns.

Following the meal, the family performed a small ritualistic replacement of certain old items in the home with new ones. The eldest son is now rid of his Power Rangers bedsheets. In their place are newer sheets of a lower smoothness rating, a higher itchiness rating, and which bears the slogan "Chic Au Masculin". The eldest son would appreciate any help in translating this foreign phrase which he now sleeps on, although he has a gut feeling that he will burst out laughing when he is enlightened.

On Chinese New Year Day itself, the two sons received their ang paus (red packets which were traditionally given as a blessing, but are nowadays regarded by many youngsters as merely a good source of income) before heading off to church. This was followed by a big group lunch with other Asians and appreciators of Asian culture. It was noticed that the Japanese food stall was run by a Chinese lady, and that a family from Penang operated a store with the name "Singapore Tucker". This was possibly a cross-culture effort.

That evening, the family went on their first Chinese New Year visit in Perth. The destination was the home of family friends, where the eldest son got his gluteus maximus (more commonly referred to as the "butt") kicked in two rounds of Warcraft III. He also learnt of the tradition of orange-giving via SMS.

On the second day of the Chinese New Year, the eldest son put his newfound tradition into practice as he gave away his first orange. He hopes that he does not get into trouble with animal rights activists for chasing seagulls and recruiting minions to follow in his footsteps. The Boys' Brigade parade went on as usual that night, and the eldest son learnt that one needs to notice every tiny detail of the surroundings when leading a blind man in a jog, lest he trips and falls. The day closed in the (very cold) swimming pool after the parade, where the eldest son learnt that swimming blindly without goggles and without experience can lead to 90-degree deviations from the intended path.

Actually, the day ended with the typing of the above blog entry.

No, the day ended with the typing of the above statement about the above blog entry.

Well actually, the day ended...

Forget it.

Footnotes
_{1. "Chinese New Year". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved on 19 February 2007}