It’s December! I’m in Christmas mood already. Writing this blog entry with some Christmas songs (from Yahoo LaunchCast’s Kidz Holiday radio channel) as background music.
How are you celebrating Jesus’ Birthday??
Here’s a turtle dove I doodle for your amusement…Ok, go ahead and laugh at my kiddyness. Wish me Merry Christmas by dropping a comment … 
I have bad eyesight: myopia(short sighted) and astigmatism. Without my glasses, I need to be very near a person to see his/her facial expression. Sigh… well… I’ve read that we can train our eyes to see better… I bought a book on this but didn’t have the discipline to exercise my eyes enough to see any improvement… and now I read that there’s even a video game called Flash Focus by Nintendo that may help us improve our eyesight…
Has anyone tried this game? Do share..
Ref:
http://www.bettervision.com/newsletters/EYEnews2007-11.html
http://www.games-educate.com/2007/10/17/video-games-may-help-improve-eyesight/
I think the most blessed creature on earth is the house sparrow (burung pipit). Too small to be food, too common to adorn cages, no appetite for meat, not a threat to anyone. Fly away when a cat is near.
What do you think is the most blessed creature on earth??
Recently a few of my colleagues and I had the pleasure of joining our boss, Dr. Tang, to France for a research collaboration visit. This was the furthest from home I have ever been (1+13hours flight) and for so long (3 weeks). It is a trip I would like to remember for as long as I can. So I’m blogging about it. This blog entry is also for those who are interested to know more about the trip.
Chronologically, we were at Paris-> Grenoble -> Vissile -> Grenoble -> Annecy -> Grenoble -> Montpellier -> Avignon -> Marseille -> Paris. Then Dr. Tang went back to Malaysia while the rest of us continued our journey from Paris -> Venice -> Milan -> Paris.
For work, we visited GETALP, INALCO, ENST and LLACAN where Dr. Tang presented his research. Here are some photos from our visit:
GETALP, Grenoble:
LIRMM, Montpellier:
The visit to LIRMM was cancelled due to the unavailability of train caused by a strike. However, we did stop by Montpellier (on a Saturday) and met up with Matthieu.
INALCO, Paris:
ENST, Paris:
LLACAN, Paris:
Besides work, there was play and here are some photos:
Grenoble, France:
Vissile, France:
Annecy, France (My favourite place):
Montpellier, France:
Avignon, France:
Marseille, France:
Paris, France:
Venice, Italy:
Milan, Italy:
From this trip I got to try some new foods which I’ve not seen in Malaysia, like:
Fondue: Dip small pieces of bread in a pot of melted cheese with wine.
Raclette: Melt a slice of cheese on a special little triangular pan and eat with boiled potatoes and smoked meat. Very nice too.
Escargot (Snail): We bought these frozen and microwave it. Not too bad.
Kakis: This fruit is practically 90% sweet gooey juice wrapped in bitter thin skin! Very easily broken. Carrying these babies are more challenging than carrying eggs. The flavour is a bit like persimmon. To eat it, make a small hole on the skin, then suck the juice out.
If you know where to get these in Malaysia, do let me know where
Things I like:
1) Tap water can be drunk without having to boil it first. However, boiled water contains some white residue.
2) Sunny but cool weather.
Things I didn’t like:
1) Most metro stations in Paris are stinky of pee.
2) Ugly graffiti everywhere.
3) Having to constantly apply lip gloss and body cream.
All in all, France and Italy are both very nice countries to visit. It is full of amazing art and culture. Some French people are actually quite friendly and helpful. A lot of Italians speak English. Yet, nothing beats the comfort and people back home. So I am glad to be back in Malaysia
One of the things I look forward to when I watch a movie or read a book is a revelation: new things that light up a bulb on top of my frequently "blur" head.
Today, I was watching "Evan Almighty" and I got my revelation. It is a silly movie but it sure has some meaningful values. One of the things that dawned on me was the unexpected consequences of prayer… the main character in the movie, Evan, prayed that God would help him change the world and as a result "God" asked him to build an ark. He had no idea building an ark would change the world… also Evan’s wife, prayed that God would bring her family to be closer. Instead God made her husband seemed "crazy" and she decided to leave the husband. It is during this short separation when "God" explained to her that when she prayed for her family to be closer, it didn’t mean that "He" would make them feel all fuzzy and warm… instead "He" gave them the "opportunity" to get closer… in the form of getting separated.
How many times have we prayed for something and missed the opportunity (which could seem absurd or like an opposite of what we prayed for) that God sent to make it happen? We form our own limited perception of how our prayer would be answered forgetting about His all-knowing perception.
Spotted this cute little fellow at Taman Kuari, Botanical Gardens, Penang.
The tentacles are like saying "I come in peace. I come in peace…"
The rose plant I religiously water finally bloomed yet again. This is the third flower it produced. It smells really sweet. I hope it will produce more and more flowers in the future. 
I have a paper hole puncher that punches out holes in the shape of frogs. Today I punched my money plant and got myself a green leafy frog as you can see from the photo taken. 
Left it to float around some water plant. Hope to get more stupid ideas to capture and share here. If you have similar original composition, do share with me too.
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Update: Here’s how the paper hole puncher look like:
Care and growth.
Neglected but survived!
And of course there’s a price for peace: shit.
