have you ever experienced a lock-eye moment with a complete stranger? i'm sure everyone has their own story to tell. but i find it interesting how when your eyes are locked in that moment, you can't glance away... although the event only lasts for less than a second in real-time.
what is this force that makes the two people hold their gaze? but this doesn't happen to everyone that you happen to meet eye-to-eye with. some encounters where the two happen to glance at each other at the same time, immediate glancing away is not a problem... in fact it's an automatic response. and sometimes this response is too quick for your brain that upon turning your gaze away, you then realise that you'd like to have a more thorough look... and so you turn back and have another look to fulfill a curiosity piqued by your brain. this happens to me alot. maybe my brain's abit slow!?! hahaha
but back to the inevitable lock-eye moments in time. it happens so randomly without any warning. it has happened to me twice with the same person (whom i've never spoken to before) and it feels unsettling as i can't put my finger on what makes me look up at the very same moment this other person looks up... and then... the 'lock-eye' moment occurs. the moment ends when i feel the urge to blink my eyes and then it's gone! off to continue my own life...
what passes within that fraction of a second? i don't know... for me, it's just the feeling that i can't look anywhere else. for the other person, i can only imagine... hope he doesn't think i'm flirting or anything. but seriously, i wasn't flirting as i'm well aware that my facial expression wasn't twisted into a smile, pout or whatever other expression which might connote some other message (besides, anyone who knows me will know that i can't flirt to save my life! hahaha). in fact i think if i were to see myself, i'd look either mildly surprised or just plain expressionless (as i always look)... so this is just one of the things that i find quite strange. it may be just overdeliberation of a simple coincidental moment or could possibly be more than one can fathom. but i think it's most probably the former.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Real-life Face Off
today's news for medical breakthrough is the US first face transplant. the woman who had sustained major damages to her face had a whole face transplant together with bone, teeth and muscle tissues from a cadaver. previously, such surgeries had been conducted in china and france. the patient had died in the former whereas little is known of the latter.
the issue of bioethics is in hot pursuit of such experimental procedures. which led me to wonder a couple of thoughts. can you imagine if this surgery was to become a common procedure, rich people could be paying poor people for their beautiful faces or even hiring assassins to hunt down beautiful people for their faces. face recognition would no longer be valid.
undeniably, some people may actually really need such transplantation. those whose lives would be drastically changed in terms of feeding oneself (those who need a jaw etc.) or preserving the integrity of their skull (head injury which could cause the skull to collapse and crush the brain - *not too sure about this though*) etc. those people really do deserve whatever medical help that could save their lives. but medical procedures can't be kept exclusively to just a select group of doctors, as such discoveries would be documented in journals and unethical doctors might exploit the information and carry out illegal black market surgeries for anyone that can pay them the right price. and in doing so, a new sort of crime would emerge - face theft!
it is bad enough that we hear stories of people getting their kidneys stolen from their bodies while staying in hotels or getting abducted by going to toilets. it would be horrendous to read in the newspaper of innocent people getting their faces cut off and left for dead at the side of the road.
i think that my imagination may be running a little out of hand now. but this could actually happen, if you sit down and think about it. nowadays, crime is so common that nothing really shocks us to the core anymore... it would be a rare occurrence indeed.
but as with most of the 'ethics' issues, there isn't any clear cut border between what's right and what's wrong. it would be chauvinistic to impose a person's or organisation's opinion on the whole population of the world. with no right or wrong, we are left stuck in limbo fighting each other and casting our countless opinions into a never-ending bin of anger and hate. ah, this is the world!
(omg, i think i'm totally crapping here...)
the issue of bioethics is in hot pursuit of such experimental procedures. which led me to wonder a couple of thoughts. can you imagine if this surgery was to become a common procedure, rich people could be paying poor people for their beautiful faces or even hiring assassins to hunt down beautiful people for their faces. face recognition would no longer be valid.
undeniably, some people may actually really need such transplantation. those whose lives would be drastically changed in terms of feeding oneself (those who need a jaw etc.) or preserving the integrity of their skull (head injury which could cause the skull to collapse and crush the brain - *not too sure about this though*) etc. those people really do deserve whatever medical help that could save their lives. but medical procedures can't be kept exclusively to just a select group of doctors, as such discoveries would be documented in journals and unethical doctors might exploit the information and carry out illegal black market surgeries for anyone that can pay them the right price. and in doing so, a new sort of crime would emerge - face theft!
it is bad enough that we hear stories of people getting their kidneys stolen from their bodies while staying in hotels or getting abducted by going to toilets. it would be horrendous to read in the newspaper of innocent people getting their faces cut off and left for dead at the side of the road.
i think that my imagination may be running a little out of hand now. but this could actually happen, if you sit down and think about it. nowadays, crime is so common that nothing really shocks us to the core anymore... it would be a rare occurrence indeed.
but as with most of the 'ethics' issues, there isn't any clear cut border between what's right and what's wrong. it would be chauvinistic to impose a person's or organisation's opinion on the whole population of the world. with no right or wrong, we are left stuck in limbo fighting each other and casting our countless opinions into a never-ending bin of anger and hate. ah, this is the world!
(omg, i think i'm totally crapping here...)
Thursday, December 11, 2008
My red candybar is here!
referring to one of my previous posts, this is a follow up to the saga.
my (product) red ipod nano 4th generation is finally here in malaysia and in my possession (since saturday, 6th december 2008). mum's friend ordered it on 8th november 2008 and since the hong kong price is HK$1150, when converted to RM using the current exchange rate, the ipod worked out to be cheaper by RM60. so i paid RM540 for it. here's a couple of shots, just to whet your appetite and tempt you to get one too!
see how thin it is! i can stop peeking at it and sniggering... i can't believe i've finally got an ipod nano! so happy...
whenever i hold my new ipod in my palm, i'm so afraid i'd accidentally drop it! it's so thin and slick... but the edges are rather sharp... i wouldn't be surprised if i ended up getting a cut from those edges...
but i love the accelerometer in it! unfortunately i can't buy ipod games from the malaysia iTunes store... looks like we're always on the losing end! if possible, i want to purchase spore (to see what's the hype about it)
now i need to figure out how to use iTunes...
my (product) red ipod nano 4th generation is finally here in malaysia and in my possession (since saturday, 6th december 2008). mum's friend ordered it on 8th november 2008 and since the hong kong price is HK$1150, when converted to RM using the current exchange rate, the ipod worked out to be cheaper by RM60. so i paid RM540 for it. here's a couple of shots, just to whet your appetite and tempt you to get one too!
see how thin it is! i can stop peeking at it and sniggering... i can't believe i've finally got an ipod nano! so happy...
whenever i hold my new ipod in my palm, i'm so afraid i'd accidentally drop it! it's so thin and slick... but the edges are rather sharp... i wouldn't be surprised if i ended up getting a cut from those edges...
but i love the accelerometer in it! unfortunately i can't buy ipod games from the malaysia iTunes store... looks like we're always on the losing end! if possible, i want to purchase spore (to see what's the hype about it)
now i need to figure out how to use iTunes...
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Funny News
Number 1: before i forget... i keep seeing reruns of our Malaysia football team losing to Vietnam on CNN! the clip shows the costly blunder of our Malaysian goalie running back to his post, then stopping and raising both palms to his head when the ball hit the net. the clip then switches to a violent display of anger/disappointment of the Malaysian team manager or coach (not too sure who that is). why i find this funny? it's because i never expected anything about Malaysian football to be aired on CNN!
Number 2: read the pink-highlighted texts. i know this is a serious matter, but the abbreviations just make me snigger uncontrollably... i know, i know... such childish behaviour! hahaha
cha-cha, con-ass, con-con! hahahaha
Number 3: this news was taken from the asiaone news site. i'll just reproduce the article here, in case it's taken down in the future. maybe we should just stop kissing, due to the potential health hazard! hahahaha
The kiss of deaf
Mon, Dec 08, 2008
Reuters
BEIJING - A YOUNG woman in southern China has partially lost her hearing after her boyfriend ruptured her eardrum during an excessively passionate kiss, local media reported on Monday.
The 20-something girl from Zhuhai, in southern Guangdong province, went to hospital completely deaf in her left ear, the China Daily said, citing a report in a local newspaper.
'The kiss reduced pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out and caused the breakdown of the ear,' the paper quoted a doctor surnamed Li from the hospital as saying.
The woman's hearing would likely return to normal after about two months, Li said.
'While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution,' the paper said.
Number 2: read the pink-highlighted texts. i know this is a serious matter, but the abbreviations just make me snigger uncontrollably... i know, i know... such childish behaviour! hahahacha-cha, con-ass, con-con! hahahaha
Number 3: this news was taken from the asiaone news site. i'll just reproduce the article here, in case it's taken down in the future. maybe we should just stop kissing, due to the potential health hazard! hahahaha
The kiss of deaf
Mon, Dec 08, 2008
Reuters
BEIJING - A YOUNG woman in southern China has partially lost her hearing after her boyfriend ruptured her eardrum during an excessively passionate kiss, local media reported on Monday.
The 20-something girl from Zhuhai, in southern Guangdong province, went to hospital completely deaf in her left ear, the China Daily said, citing a report in a local newspaper.
'The kiss reduced pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out and caused the breakdown of the ear,' the paper quoted a doctor surnamed Li from the hospital as saying.
The woman's hearing would likely return to normal after about two months, Li said.
'While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution,' the paper said.
Friday, December 05, 2008
'Stupid Girl' - That's the best description I can think of
a certain o&g group called me on wednesday, asking me to sit for an online aptitude test which comprise verbal and numerical reasoning. i had practiced the tests from this site before, during the days when i was going for an interview at standard chartered. so i figured i needed to brush up on the practice test before attempting the real test.
so yesterday, i booked the internet right after dinner and hung on to it, weathering all the instability at peak hours (10p.m. - 2 a.m.). i managed to do the practice tests in between the online-offline of my streamyx connection. and so when the line stabilised at around 2.30 a.m., i started on the real test.
the first was verbal reasoning. i managed to complete the 8 sample questions but when it came to the 30 test questions, it couldn't load beyond 60% and an error page popped up. after navigating away from that page, i found that the site had registered me as "successfully completed" the test! i was so shocked...
unable to call anyone or do anything further, i went to sleep. the next day, i bombarded the guy who contacted me and he gave me another number of the person in charge. i couldn't get through to her all day and tried again on monday but to no avail.
and so, is my sparkling moment of throwing a chance away... into the drain... sploish! i can hear it sinking to the bottom! stupid stupid girl!
so yesterday, i booked the internet right after dinner and hung on to it, weathering all the instability at peak hours (10p.m. - 2 a.m.). i managed to do the practice tests in between the online-offline of my streamyx connection. and so when the line stabilised at around 2.30 a.m., i started on the real test.
the first was verbal reasoning. i managed to complete the 8 sample questions but when it came to the 30 test questions, it couldn't load beyond 60% and an error page popped up. after navigating away from that page, i found that the site had registered me as "successfully completed" the test! i was so shocked...
unable to call anyone or do anything further, i went to sleep. the next day, i bombarded the guy who contacted me and he gave me another number of the person in charge. i couldn't get through to her all day and tried again on monday but to no avail.
and so, is my sparkling moment of throwing a chance away... into the drain... sploish! i can hear it sinking to the bottom! stupid stupid girl!
Thursday, December 04, 2008
The Real Sound Of Music
i've always secretly loved The Sound Of Music, never really proclaimed my interest in the musical though. maybe it's because everyone is so 'crazy-fan-bordering-cult-ish' over the musical. however, back to my main point in this post.
reading of the authorities order to stop the von Trapps' home in austria from being made into a hotel, i started to wonder "how can this be? i thought movies were made on sets (well, a large part of them are, i assume)". after googling "von Trapp", i found out the von Trapps were actually real people (i naively didn't know this till that moment... always thought the musical was a little too dramatic to be real).
reading up more from this site, i found that although some parts of the movie were similar to the true story, there were major differences in the timing and characters of the maria and georg von trapp. i hope i can find the book one day and read it. i think it would be an interesting read.
reading of the authorities order to stop the von Trapps' home in austria from being made into a hotel, i started to wonder "how can this be? i thought movies were made on sets (well, a large part of them are, i assume)". after googling "von Trapp", i found out the von Trapps were actually real people (i naively didn't know this till that moment... always thought the musical was a little too dramatic to be real).
reading up more from this site, i found that although some parts of the movie were similar to the true story, there were major differences in the timing and characters of the maria and georg von trapp. i hope i can find the book one day and read it. i think it would be an interesting read.
Sometimes 'Enough is Enough'
there's a limit to how much crap one can tolerate from a family member or friend. perhaps some people may consider their friends much closer than family, but even then each individual needs a boundary of space (or virtual space, in some cases) where he (or she) can take a breather from all human contact. personal privacy and "me" time is important to me. unfortunately, some do not see eye-to-eye with me on this matter.
perhaps this is the reason i've never committed to a serious relationship. but i detest people assuming they have a right to know of my every whereabouts and what i'm doing. i mean, if i tell everyone where i am, what i'm doing and everything else about me, then what is left for my own knowledge? it is the element of mystery that makes a person interesting. i understand it is thrilling to keep tabs on others, knowing their every move and groove but every person has a right to privacy. one should have the right to decide what he or she wants to be made public and not be pushed into a corner to be interrogated. although such information may be triffle (not worth a thousand ringgit) but it is what some of us, poorer folks, only have to claim as fully ours. sometimes sharing isn't the best thing for a person. everyone needs a little secret (be it insignificant as it may) to distinguish their identity from the other people in the world.
that's why the undenialbly wrong button to push when initiating a conversation with me is prying into what i'm doing or where i am or going or who i'm with. i don't like people asking me these questions before even saying "hello", and therefore i try to refrain from asking people these questions. if i want to know those details, i will weave the question into the conversation after a number of sentences, when the conversation has warmed up. i believe that i should not do unto others what i don't like done to me. but the sad truth is that others don't practice this.
for me, these sort of conversation starters really put me off and can even ruin my day. why it ticks me, i don't know... maybe the way the questions are put to me, giving me no choice to back out of providing the information. some may say that you can actually avoid such questions by giving a vague answer or lying your ass off. but i find that a vague answer never satisfies the party asking which result in more prying, so why bother wasting time and just get to the point.
i don't think every person will share my views of this issue, but this is my stand on such matters of communication.
perhaps this is the reason i've never committed to a serious relationship. but i detest people assuming they have a right to know of my every whereabouts and what i'm doing. i mean, if i tell everyone where i am, what i'm doing and everything else about me, then what is left for my own knowledge? it is the element of mystery that makes a person interesting. i understand it is thrilling to keep tabs on others, knowing their every move and groove but every person has a right to privacy. one should have the right to decide what he or she wants to be made public and not be pushed into a corner to be interrogated. although such information may be triffle (not worth a thousand ringgit) but it is what some of us, poorer folks, only have to claim as fully ours. sometimes sharing isn't the best thing for a person. everyone needs a little secret (be it insignificant as it may) to distinguish their identity from the other people in the world.
that's why the undenialbly wrong button to push when initiating a conversation with me is prying into what i'm doing or where i am or going or who i'm with. i don't like people asking me these questions before even saying "hello", and therefore i try to refrain from asking people these questions. if i want to know those details, i will weave the question into the conversation after a number of sentences, when the conversation has warmed up. i believe that i should not do unto others what i don't like done to me. but the sad truth is that others don't practice this.
for me, these sort of conversation starters really put me off and can even ruin my day. why it ticks me, i don't know... maybe the way the questions are put to me, giving me no choice to back out of providing the information. some may say that you can actually avoid such questions by giving a vague answer or lying your ass off. but i find that a vague answer never satisfies the party asking which result in more prying, so why bother wasting time and just get to the point.
i don't think every person will share my views of this issue, but this is my stand on such matters of communication.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Fuel cuts becoming too much of a norm... (but I'm not complaining, OK!)
the fluctuation of fuel prices in malaysia has made me all numb towards the changes. it used to be something very exciting where everyone would spread sms messages warning to either pump today or tomorrow, depending on whether fuel prices were going up or down. all this sms-ing will cause the petrol stations to have a field day, with cars all lining up to pump their tanks full (when the prices were going up)...
a couple of months back, the world oil prices skyrocketed and as a result, our government cut down the fuel subsidies and our fuel prices shot up to RM2.70 in june. this change caused quite a flurry here, with those in the public transportation services feeling the pinch. so the government came up with a fuel rebate scheme and a petrol subsidy cards for taxi drivers (where they paid RM1.92 per litre).
then came the gradual decending of petrol prices, a step at a time... to the latest reduction, the fifth price adjustment, of RM1.90 per litre. it's good news for me, as now a full tank of petrol does not exceed RM60 like it used to be. but turns out, it was bad news for the cabbies as they ended up paying 2 sen more per litre than the rest of us... so what is to be done to right this matter? i haven't been following up on this news, so for now i don't know what's the latest development (sorry!).
anyway, i used to post up the drop on fuel prices on the airport screens as soon as i had heard of the news (as breaking news)... but so many price changes has rendered me unmoved by any further reduction and the news ends up on tomorrow's list. so much for enthusiasm!?!
a couple of months back, the world oil prices skyrocketed and as a result, our government cut down the fuel subsidies and our fuel prices shot up to RM2.70 in june. this change caused quite a flurry here, with those in the public transportation services feeling the pinch. so the government came up with a fuel rebate scheme and a petrol subsidy cards for taxi drivers (where they paid RM1.92 per litre).
then came the gradual decending of petrol prices, a step at a time... to the latest reduction, the fifth price adjustment, of RM1.90 per litre. it's good news for me, as now a full tank of petrol does not exceed RM60 like it used to be. but turns out, it was bad news for the cabbies as they ended up paying 2 sen more per litre than the rest of us... so what is to be done to right this matter? i haven't been following up on this news, so for now i don't know what's the latest development (sorry!).
anyway, i used to post up the drop on fuel prices on the airport screens as soon as i had heard of the news (as breaking news)... but so many price changes has rendered me unmoved by any further reduction and the news ends up on tomorrow's list. so much for enthusiasm!?!
The funny things I see on CNN
CNN has these segments in certain news programmes where they show some amusing video or story (ok, honestly i've only just started watching CNN on a regular basis... so forgive me if i sound so enthusiastic about something that's been there since forever!). there were two things which i found funny today (it's only 10a.m. now)
1. there's this santa race (santa world championship) in some very snowy country where people dress up in santa's red garb and do all sorts of things - climb chimney, harness donkeys (or reindeers... i'm not sure), catching sweets with bungee cords attached to the santas, pushing sleighs and trying to shoot down tin cans with something from their red gift sack... and there was this shot of a beardless hatless reasonably young santa trying to shoot tha cans but was unable to come close to any even after more than 5 tries! i know i'm sadistic because i found it so funny and couldn't stop laughing! haha
2. a video of the flooding in venice showed a dude water-skiing in the flood water! rather enjoying the flood than feeling mundane! which reminds me of the photo which was on the news straits times homepage yesterday - a family squatting in the flood water in their home, having lunch (i think this was somewhere in terengganu). makes you wonder why they didn't stand up and hold their plates instead! hahahaha (SADIST!!!)
1. there's this santa race (santa world championship) in some very snowy country where people dress up in santa's red garb and do all sorts of things - climb chimney, harness donkeys (or reindeers... i'm not sure), catching sweets with bungee cords attached to the santas, pushing sleighs and trying to shoot down tin cans with something from their red gift sack... and there was this shot of a beardless hatless reasonably young santa trying to shoot tha cans but was unable to come close to any even after more than 5 tries! i know i'm sadistic because i found it so funny and couldn't stop laughing! haha
2. a video of the flooding in venice showed a dude water-skiing in the flood water! rather enjoying the flood than feeling mundane! which reminds me of the photo which was on the news straits times homepage yesterday - a family squatting in the flood water in their home, having lunch (i think this was somewhere in terengganu). makes you wonder why they didn't stand up and hold their plates instead! hahahaha (SADIST!!!)
Messsages from the Future
this sounds like a case from the twilight zone. i logged in to my facebook account today and checked out some comments made of a photo i was tagged in. everything was as usual until i noticed the time the comments were posted. they were dated for tomorrow! could it be messages from the future? messages that these friends are only starting to think of or even unbeknownst to them yet?
I think it's just probably the time zone difference between here and US... what an anticlimax to something that could be so amusing yet subtle.
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