Anti-cockroaches!!!!

I hate cockroaches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There're just so many of them, everywhere....And wherever they pass by, there'll be an incredibly disgusting smell. According to some researches, this odour is a message for other cockroaches, informing them where to look for food.

Finally, my block mates and I cleaned up the kitchen today....Apparently kitchen is the graveyard, as well as the place of birth of cockroaches.



In fact, it's rather rare to find cockroaches in Moscow because of the cold weather i guess...But after thousands of Malaysian students coming here to study, it seems there're more and more cockroaches flooding in Moscow :S Probably because we can cook very well.

*********************************
A friend of mine has cockroach-phobia, especially Moscow cockroaches, because they're so small, about 1-1.5cm; while those in malaysia, their size ranges from 2-4cm, or more, and they can fly!!!!! The worst thing that could happen is they want to land, but someone is yawning, and oops...aaaaaaarrrrrrmmmmmm........oops, did I just swallow something? That's what my friend afraid of, the small size cockroaches might crawl into our noses or ears and stuck there...

While those big ones, the worst thing is we swallow them accidentally; gastric acid will kill them, and we'll just have diarrhea for a day or two. Not really a big deal.

*********************************

I used to live in Dunedin, in the south island of NZ for a year, and i was totally impressed with the cleanliness and no-stupid-digusting-creepy-insects environment, except they do have some creepy spiders in the forest, or some insects in north island. Guess what, i used to leave my food on the table, exposed to the environment without wrapping them or whatsoever....Few hours later, the food was left untouched.

Meanwhile, if you ever do so in Malaysia, i can guarantee you that within seconds, you can see teams of cockroaches or ants or flies are paying you a visit; within minutes, they're enjoying the food, and within dozen minutes, the food might be gone as these creatures will steal it and store it.

*********************************

Just out of curiosity, i checked up online dictionary to find out how to say cockroach in different languages, because they will sound nicer in other languages...

So called most romantic language, French--Blattaria ; Russian -- Tarakan ; Malay -- Lipas ; or maybe the widely claimed most beautiful language, Italian -- Blattodea (don't forget the intonation, i love Italian because of the stress and intonation) ; Mandarin -- Zhang Lang ; or Hokkien -- Gahh Zuak (oh no, this sounds very eerie)....and German -- Schaben, which i think it sounds rather cute *vomit*

*********************************

'Love thy neighbour' , so probably i should stop disliking cockroaches, but rather keep myself and my house clean to avoid cockroaches.

What to do if you are forced by someone to withdraw $$ from ATM...

there was an email that circulated among my friends lately.

So, if you are forced by robbers or some bad guys (maybe some policemen if you are in Moscow) to go to ATM to withdraw money, this is what you need to do:

1. stay calm, and obey.
2. Go to ATM with them, key in your pin number in reverse. For example: if you pin number/code is 13579, then you should key in 97531.

According to the email, the money will still come out; and the ATM/bank will automatically inform the policemen and they will be with you soon. (not sure if the policemen are corrupted.)

Well, just pray hard that we won't have such a bad luck, and do lots of good things, as the saying goes, "One good turn deserves another".

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken" (1915)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

********************************
The first time i read this poem was when i was in form 4 (16 years old), in my English class. This poem really appeal to me, for it keeps reminding me: we live only once, no turning back; The road we have taken, will be the road we're going to continue, till the end of our lives.

*******************************

A junior of mine just got his STPM results, he scored 4.0. He has been thinking of coming to Russia to study medicine, so he asked for my ideas and advice....I told him to think thrice, because i think that it's not about where to study medicine, but how much is he willing to devote himself in medical field.

I have a few friends who went back to Malaysia after studying in Russia for months or years. Maybe they're not used to the culture here, maybe they miss their family too much, maybe they found out that medicine is not their cup of tea....

Yes, i also have friends who wanted to give up medicine because they think they're not interested in it anymore, or more precisely, they think they couldn't handle it.

Obviously there're times that we want to give up. Obviously medicine is not an easy stuff, and obviously, nothing is easy; we need to make an effort and try our very best to achieve what we want....

Anyway, what i want to relate my thoughts with this poem is not about we should choose the road less taken like the Robert Frost, but rather, we shouldn't regret with our decisions.

The road not taken, might be the road fulled of weeds, rubbish, poisonous mushrooms, etc...If we have taken this road, instead of wasting time wondering why we chose this path, we could have used the time to clean up the road, make it a better one for the future passers-by; and if we have chosen a road with beautiful sceneries along it, sit back and relax, and enjoy it.

On the way to hospital...(a random post)

Some of my subjects are held in hospital. One day,on the way to hospital....



This is police van. Well, policemen--probably the 2nd creature you want to avoid when you come to Moscow, the 1st thing i would say gangsters/skin heads, especially you are not white.

See those black windows? yes, they're meant to be black. And no one knows what's going on inside, except those who are inside. Some of them police cars are equipped with curtains too.

Sorry, don't mean to project bad images; but it's true that some policemen have no differences from gangsters, in the sense that they don't hurt you physically, but they hurt your wallet physically.

I have two friends visited me 2 weeks ago....It's quite 'funny' to see one of them, he kept dodging policemen/security guard when we went to Red Square. (it was the last day of Maslenitsa, a russian traditional festival; there was a big celebration in Red Square that day.)

and 2nd thing that caught my eyes:


In fact, i have seen dirtier cars....

Well, way too much snow in Moscow; and roads become muddy after snowing....I love snowing of course, but not after.

Formula 1 as a subject at school

Hmmm.....Apparently the new cabin line is up now.....And the new minister of education, is the same one as the previous election.


wikipedia image: Hisham Keris.jpeg

There's an interesting article about the keris (Malay dagger) waving incident in Lim Kit Siang's blog (click here)

Anyway, Hisham vowed that he will not repeat this act anymore...but i read this on wikipedia, where he will bring a cangkul (hoe) to the general assembly instead....

I also heard started this year, formula 1 became a subject at school ?!?! And my sister was selected to take part in Formula 1 designation competition.

Maybe next time martial art (using keris) will be a subject at school too?

Bristol Stool Chart/Scale

This month, i am learning internal diseases regarding digestive system.

This is a scale for evaluating the stool. Which one suits you?


source: www.thewvsr.com/bristolstoolchart.htm

Preferably stool is type 3 and 4.

COLOUR
Besides this, the colour plays an important role in evaluating stool too.

1. if the faeces is as black as tar, it's called melena. It means there're at least 2 glasses of bleeding in the stomach.

2. If faeces is rather pale (not brownish....), sometimes, it may be due to liver problems/ gall bladder disorders.

3. Faeces with fresh blood, might be just because of constipation that cause frictional injury near perianal (around the butt hole) , or probably due to hemorrhoid.

FREQUENCY (of defecating)
Normal value: not more than 3 times per day; not less than 3 times per week.

And one more interesting fact: 10% of the weight of the stool is microorganism/ normal flora from your guts!!!!!! in other words, 1 kg of stool means it contains 100g of microorganism :S

So, stay healthy, drink more water, eat more fruits!

Have a pleasant toilet experience!
(yes, it's something we should appreciate...I'm sure most of us have experienced diarrhoea, or constipation, etc...These problems really cause pain in the butt, esp. when someone is working/travelling/at school....)

let go

I read stories all the time, but these two, were embedded in my mind.

Monkeys and the oranges
Though monkeys are very agile, but this is this ultimate method to catch them:

put a jar of oranges in a jungle. The diameter of the jar neck must be just nice for a normal hand size. Later, monkeys will come, and they will put their hands into the jar to get the their favourite oranges, and hunters may show up soon after.

Guess what? the monkeys will try to run away, but they can't.....WHY???

Because they will hold orange(s) so tightly and they will never let go. the bulging fist with oranges can't pass through the narrow jar neck. Obviously, they will be caught by hunters.

**********************
Little monk vs hot chick
One day, little monk follows his master to somewhere else. On the way, they reach a river bank, and there is no bridge. Coincidently,there is a very beautiful chick there as well, and she cannot and doesn't dare to cross the river though it's not very deep.

The master decides to carry the beautiful chick, and she agrees. So, 3 of them cross the river. The pretty girl bids farewell to them after that, and the master and the little monk continue their journey.

Little monk keeps thinking and thinking..."master taught us not to touch girls, but why does he carry the beautiful girl? will he do that if she is an old nanny?" ...little monk has thousands of ???? in his mind and finally , he asks his master, "master master, why did you carry the hot chick?"

Master," I didn't carry her, but you are the one who 'carry' her until now."

*************************

Well, it's easy to say than done of course, people always say, "let it be", "let it go"....But how many of them could actually do that?

We're just too afraid of changes perhaps. We used to carry a piles of rocks on our backs, and one day, if we put down the rocks, though we've no burdens, but we're just so so not used to it, and we carry the rocks with us again.

I like this saying a lot, "Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly."

May we all learn to be burden-less.

Wow, hard questions!

Sorry, this sounds rather "increative", i got this stuff from a chained mail....It's cool, so wanna share it with u guys.




Can you figure out the answers?

refer below:



i failed......4 of them :S ; eg: the first one, i was going to write MTWTMTWT......lol.

尋找逝去的昔日中文創作記憶--中學篇

中學篇
上了中一,因為換了學習環境(我在馬來國中求學,就是姓馬的多過姓華的),我猛攻馬來文.差不多十年後的今天,我對馬來文坛的作家已經很陌生了,我依稀記得我只讀文學作品,如KERIS MAS 或USMAN AWANG的作品,其他的都不是我的品味.

無論如何,上中學後,生活不再像小學那樣"蜜蜂螞蟻勤做工"似的忙;多余的時間我都可以花在讀小說上. 現在回想起來,那段日子,還真寫意, 輕松, 自在, 無忧也無虑呢! 初中那三年,我最愛讀的,非金庸作品莫属了, 其中以 [笑傲江湖]為我最愛. (真希望我現在也有那份閑情去看武俠小說!) 我超佩服金帥父的文笔,雖然有時我略嫌 "囉唆", 覺得帥父花太多筆墨在某些描述上, 但是,他那精心為情節的雕塑,讓我有很多又哭又笑又喜又悲的時光. 可是無論如何,我中學時已不再熱忱於寫小說; 但金大師對我寫散文影響頗深.

我平時也讀散文,當然,我那小如針孔的記忋已無法回想起我喜愛的作家與作品, 但我至今,仍深愛著朱自清寫的 [背影]. 雖然是篇短短的文章,但在我腦海裡,它可是久久地萦繞著. 我當然也下定決心要寫得像他一樣好.

外國月亮看似圓,馬華作家也不賴,其中我的最愛,乃旅台作家夫妻陳大為和鍾怡雯.

另外,中學時期,每個星期的[學海]周刊是我引頸長盼的.當然除了是看我的稿被刊登否,其它的版頁,我都不容錯過,包括了[傅老]專栏. 不可否認,我那時喜歡模仿他的寫法,就是就得很"廢"很特別很"超現實"和"有幽默感".

到了中四,課業還不算忙,但我的課外活動,有時還真有點讓我喘不過起來.我在學校的學會,制服團体都有'執政者',校外嘛,我也參加了森州學海學生記者队. 我中四這一年真的讓我回味無穷,特別是學記的點點滴滴. 除了辦活動之類,投稿也是學記的責任之一.

那一年,我文章在[星洲]森美兰版被刊登了有数十次吧. 最讓我引以自豪的,就是訪問馬華作家朶拉. 那時,馬大學生下乡服務組邀請她到我乡村去給個講座.一响來很支持馬華作家的我也不會與這個與作家近距離接触的機會失之交臂. 我的訪問稿和相關報導,還是刊登全版的. 我的稿費嘛,也忘了多少,不過肯定超過一百令吉,哈哈.

除此之外,我中學時,李觀發與紀展雄在FM988主持的唐詩,宋詞節目讓我獲益不淺.真的,古典作品就是經得起考驗才叫古典,我常常都愛仿拟一些詩詞, 因為那短短幾個字,就能表逹我的意思啊! 另外,因為中學時的我如處於人生十字路口般,想要尋找人生的意義,所以聽取了朋友的建議,常常往經典裡鉆,包括了[大學], [論語], [道德經]等.我也聽說常背誦就得增加記忋力,所以也就試著背了一丁點.

值得一提的,就是我在中學時學會了[倉頡]打字法,大大增加了我打搞1的速度,也方便我在電腦上更改. 真開心能和那一段花了数小時拼了本少爷的命的拼音法,瀟洒地揮一揮手,不帶走一片雲彩.

之後,上了中五,為了拼SPM, 我很少寫文章了....一直到今天....

後記
我中五畢業後,到了世外桃源的紐西兰當了一年的交換學生.那一整年,我一天24小時,一星期七日都在講英文,連大馬朋友致電要和我聊天時,我覺得曾經很讓自己引以為傲的中文,竟然派不上用場了,真的愧對祖先. 在那片人間天堂的國度度過的那一年,是2004年.

2005年一月六日,我離開了我深深愛上的紐國.在大馬呆了三個月後,我就來莫期科念書了.上了醫學校,有時要眨一眨眼睛的瞬間都可能是個奢偖,更不用提看小說寫文章了. 隔了這麼多年,今日重拍電腦鍵盘,又讓我尋找到了逝去的昔日中文創作的記忋,與心情.

尋找逝去的昔日中文創作記憶--小學篇

前言
布落格的普遍性是近幾年來的事,而最近,在我大學朋友圈子裡也開始掀起了這一陣風.其中有幾位朋友都是用中文來創作的,不禁激起我那份昔日用中文來筆耕的那份熱情.

自從我中五毕業後,我很少寫中文文章了.這,也是四年前多的事吧....故,若我文句不通順,請各位讀者多多海涵.其實我覺得我這題目也起得不太好,可是我又不想用太多'的'字,不然就變成了"尋找逝去的昔日的中文創作的記憶"....我曾經很討厭俄文,因為文法難如做個不貪污的好政府.可是現在我開始愛上俄文了,也佩服她文法.(因為俄文可以不用"的"字來組成句子,只需把字的拼法換一換就行了,可是我們偉大的中文方块字就不能這樣做了.)

小學篇
犹記得小時候的我,可是大馬一些中文刊物的投稿常客呢!雖然說我作品被投籃的次數與我投稿量不分上下,呵呵.很不幸的,我的處男作,有不少句子都是從幾篇同題目的作文又裁又剪又貼又粘而成的,故作品被登出來後,並沒有很自豪. 若我沒記錯,處男作是刊登在{大紅花}周刊.

之後,我發奋图強,很努力地讀報章,參考別人的作文,也常光顧書店書展以購買中文書藉,特別是來自中國的小學生作文集.我覺得他們都很有創意,觀察力都很好,同樣的題目,每個人寫的都很不一樣.反觀大馬的學生們,十篇文章,有超過一半的都大同小異,我想一部份原因也因為每個人都是讀同一本參考書吧,哈哈.

隨著時間的流逝,我也沒有辜負自己和大家對我的期望,文章陆陆續續刊登在[星星周刊]. 對,我都把我的稿投去這份我最喜愛的刊物,因為星洲報社給我的稿費是最高的!當然,我的文章也在其他刊物登過,不然我也不會比較何者比較會珍惜人才.

當我還在小學時,電視上常播放琼瑤作品改篇的電視劇.仍記得我天天傍晚七時一定守候在電視机旁,迫不及待地等待故事發展的揭曉. 當然,我這個琼瑤迷也少不了買她的書來看....看著看著,看上隱了,也就越看越多;越看越多,我的文筆也就越來越像琼瑤了.什麼'哭得肝腸寸斷', '眼淚足以淹没了房間', '愛得如一日不見則三秋夕'什麼的, 常常都會在我小學文章裡頭出現.我還把這些'优美文句'抄起來當聖經般唸呢.

老師常常提醒我寫文章不要那麼亂亂賣弄感情,一點點小事就要把文章的主角寫得像林黛玉似的一直哭;文章結尾一定都是以悲劇劃上句點.可是固執的我覺得自己文筆很好了,把老師的話當成是耳边風.一直到有次作文比賽時,我榜上無名.我生氣,傷心至极點,幾乎是怒發沖冠,熱血沸騰,鳮蛋丟下去一分钟內變熟 (我當時就愛濫用夸張法)....老師後來告訴我,我因為把故事寫得像小說,也有點離題了.頓時,我'茅塞頓開',更下定決心要把文筆磨尖.

敬請期待下篇: 中學篇.

Boarding

Basically, all 'boardings' are types of sports.

SKATEBOARDING

www.telegraph.co.uk/.../07/14/hskate114300.jpg


SNOWBOARDING

www.canada-photos.com/.../1/snowboarding_534.jpg


BODYBOARDING

www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/.../bodyboard



SANDBOARDING

http://www.egos.co.za/ProdImages/adrian-sandboarding.jpg


CARVEBOARDING

http://www.vistagallery.com/assets/images/matt_dodge__carveboarding_eastern_sierria.gif


MOUNTAINBOARDING

http://www.kidzworld.com/img/upload/article/22261/a962i0_zbbs.jpg


WAKEBOARDING

http://www.isaiahtubbs.com/images/wake_boarding_pic1.jpg



KITEBOARDING

http://www.loscocco.net/images/kiteboarding.jpg


I wouldn't call this as a sport--->WATERBOARDING --> ??????


http://www.costa-rica-life.com/images/Costa_Rica_Surfing_650.jpg
Sorry, this is SURFING.


But this, is WATERBOARDING!


http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/Waterboard3-small.jpg

political jokes

Just got a forwarded email from a friend, some political jokes.

I
PM, Vice PM, and Minister of Foreign affairs were sitting in a helicopter and were having a good look around the country.

Minister: if i throw a 100o bucks down from the helicopter, the person who picked it up must be really happy.

vice PM: if i throw 2 500bucks, two people will be glad to have them.

PM: if i throw 10 100bucks, 10 people will be excited.

Well, the helicopter driver was mumbling: ....." why don't you guys just throw yourselves down there, and 25 million people will be so happy."

II
A PM wanted to increase his reputation, thus, he thought of printing a stamp with his own potrait.

After a month, he wants to know how is the sale of his stamp. So he asks, " how is the sale?"

The CEO of post office , " not bad, but lots of people were grumbling that the stamps were not sticky enough."

PM, " oh really? I don't believe it." He takes a stamp, and licks the back of the stamp, and pastes it on an envelope....

PM smiles, and says to the CEO, "see, it sticks tightly!"

CEO, " but.......but....erm........people spit on the front...."

III
There was an urgent meeting being held in the parliament. All ministers were rushing there. However, somehow, there were some road accidents that involved the ministers and they were sent to hospital immediately....

A few hours of operations....Doctors came out , and reporters were very anxious about the ministers' conditions.

Reporters, " Was the PM saved?"
Doctors, "unfortunatley, no..."

Reporters, " how bout the vice PM?"
Doctors, "sorry, no...."

Reporters, "who was saved?"
doctors, "err........our country is saved!"

Swastika

The first time i saw swastika sign [(from Sanskrit svástika स्वस्तिक ) : either 卐 or 卍
] , was in a buddhist temple, when i was really really young.

later, after i studied history and learned about Nazi, I encountered this sign again. I felt rather 'sad' that such a religious sign was very controversial due to its historical background.

Anyway, a friend sent me a photo sometime ago:



It's drawn by a kid (not sure how old is he/she.) ; but i do hope that he drew this because of religious influences (such as hinduism, buddhism, etc.) but not of Nazi :S

"Austenology"

Jane Austen
image from http://thesamplergirl.homestead.com/jane_austen.jpg

Lately, i have been watching movies and series adapted from Jane Austen's novels, including
1. Pride and prejudice
2. Sense and sensibility
3. Emma
4. Mansfield park
5. Northanger abbey
6. Persuasion

I heard of Jane Austen since I was in primary school, because of titles of two novels, i.e. "Sense and sensibility" and "Pride and prejudice". Well, personally i think that a good title projects the first good image to readers. However, even until today, i have never really read her novels, except some of the excerpts. Thus, i don't dare to write much comments about her works.

One thing i love about Austen's novels, is that they all ended with a happy ending, at least for most of the characters in the novels.

"Pride and prejudice"

This is my favourite novel.

Initially i didn't quite like Mr. Darcy cool, 'aloof' , stern character, and he seemed to think whatever he did was good for others. Later on, i started to like him, well, probably some of his personalities reflected me, as in I don't quite like people question me too much, and whatever i do, i always try to decide what is the most suitable for others and for myself.

A lot of the characters in the novel didn't like Mr. Darcy. Indeed, first impression he projected to others might not be very pleasant; and people tend to have 'prejudice' on him, especially Elizabeth Bennet and her mum.

Well, i guess we should try to keep our mind open, not to have a mindset. When we have prejudice on certain things, we will tend to think everything that related to it, is awful.

Or in other words, if we think that's a vase, it's going to be a vase, unless we change our mind, it's two faces :)

plane nearly crashed because of strong wind

2 March 2008,presidential election in Russia.

2 March 2008, raining mice and cockroaches in Moscow. Wind blasting.

Sometime ago, wind blasting in Hamburg. Wanna know how strong it is? see this clip below:



And want to know more about wind?

yes, wind created by the turbine/engine of an aeroplane can blows a car off: