My One Cent Worth of Thoughts

Came across this quirky little programme. Remember how we used to play 20 Questions when we were little (hmm.. or not-so-little)?? That’s how it works! And consistently when it is unable to guess the answer, the user will put the new item into its database and thus enabling it to grow. In a way, it serves as a learning cycle.

Anyway, I managed to beat it in the 1st time! I was thinking of the “trigger fish”. Hehe. Hey…! I wonder if I have told you my trigger fish adventure. Let me scroll through the past entries. If not, I will do so in my next entry.

Keep your eyes on this space!

My Mom has just bought the new chinese zodiac signs prediction book for the coming New Year… It has been written by some famous fengshui master (His face appears on the cover of the book. Decent-looking, bespectacled guy) from Hong Kong.

Therefore, everything has been written in CHINESE! It takes me about 3 times the length of time I need for reading English. Anyway, I painstakingly read through the first paragraph (the most important one because it sums up the general outlook). YIPPEEE!!! Rabbit (Yep yep! I was born in the Year of the Rabbit, the cute little white furry animal.) will enjoy luck and prosperity in the coming year, especially in career and studies. It’s one of the top 5 lucky animals!

Being the nosy parker that I am, I read through the rest of the zodiac signs (only the 1st paragraph of course!).

The top 5 lucky animals are :

Rabbit

Horse

Snake

Ox

Forgot the last one. Sorry. Hehe.

Anyway, I was pondering over this issue while I was driving to work this morning. I know that the English horoscopes (the stars) originated from the formation of stars. But.. but… what about the Chinese zodiac signs?? Where did they come from??!!

Darn!!! I was eating a piece of papaya while reading a blog and halfway through the huge piece of papaya toppled from the plastic bag, onto my WHITE T-shirt, before sliding down, SPLAT on the table!!!!

Even as I whipped out the tissue paper a mere split second later to salvage the damage, my WHITE T-shirt has been stained by orange spots!!! How am I going to face the public later!!!

And the worst thing was, I had to dispose that piece of sweet, juicy, orange papaya. SIgh…! Nothing pains me more than wasting food, even though it has stained my favourite white T-shirt. Sob sob…

Maybe I should wear my cardigan back to front to cover the stains?! Sigh….

Yes yes… I know that Chinese New Year (22-23 Jan 2004) is approaching and I am still posting Christmas links.

Again, from YY’s website (Hmm… I wonder where she got all these links from.. Truly amazing!!)

A brief description of the game :

You get to be Santa (Yeah!) and your task is to give the presents to the children and throw chunks of coal on the evil elves. (Again! I used to think that elves were the kindly serfs of dear O’le Santa. I’m totally disillusioned, but, nevertheless…) You have to avoid evil reindeers (huh?!) from running you down and avoid falling off the roof.

Simple right?! Wait til you start playing it and try figuring out the mambo jumbo of keys. My highest record on my third try was 4635. My brother beat me with 5700 points using my very own strategy! Hmpf! *fold arms*

Found the link of this game from YY’s website.

The aim of it is to blow the pesky Christmas elves to pieces!

Well, I am not exactly the world’s best shooter, so it actually took me 4 times to win the game. *sheepish look* So, you should be able to imagine the feeling of triumph and satisfaction when I FINALLY completed it!! I raised my fists up in the air in victory!!!! YES YES YES! Guess what?! I managed to slug my brother (who was actually standing behind my seat, watching me play.. ) in his mouth! He doubled up in pain, because my fist ploughed into his 2 front teeth and his nose. I suffered a cut on my knuckles (compliments from his bugs bunny teeth) with a bonus of his teeth imprint on them.

If you value your life, DON’T PLAY THIS GAME!!

The article on book release in the LIfe today got me all flushed and excited! That’s a totally brilliant idea! I have quite a few books at home just for this very sole purpose! I have read them once and yet I doubt they would interest me to read a second time. I have a strange fetish of keeping books which I have read at least twice. Since these do not qualify for this criterion, there’s no reason why they should stay on my shelves. Yet, it’s a pity to discard them.

Therefore, after reading about book release, I thought,”YEP! THIS IS IT!!”

Step 1 :

I eagerly registered myself at both the Bookcrossing website (I have decided to let my book gain some international exposure. I mean, wouldn’t it be totally cool if my book actually has the chance to travel across oceans and continents?!) and at the Passiton website (Being a Singaporean, I should show some support for the local website and the interest group. Patriotic eh?!)

Step 2 :

I made a stringent check of my bookshelves and selected 2 lucky books to experiment on. “Roses are Red” and “Violets are Blue”.

Step 3 :

I bugged my brother to print the Bookcrossing release book labels, snipped them into tidy little rectangular pieces (well almost as I’m not the world’s “straightest” cutter. So, they turned out to resemble little trapeziums instead. Hmm….). I stuck them smack on page one (with a stick of purple UHU glue. My brother claimed that the purple glue’s not superior to the white one, he got it because he’s *heow). Following the instructions in Bookcrossing, I filled in the BID number.

Step 4 : (The MOST IMPORTANT Step!!)

Ponder ponder… Hmm… hm… I have registered myself. I have the books and have even labelled them. Where’s the best place to release them??

A few places came to my mind:

– on a bench beside the reservoir? (It might rain and the poor book will get all wet and soggy!! Nah… I should choose a sheltered area!)

– in an SBS Bus?? (What if nobody picks it up at the end of the day and they end up at the SBS lost & Found?!)

– in the MRT? (Hmm.. If I left it there and someone picks it up and runs after me, telling me that I have forgotten them… Should I tell him that I’m.. eh hem… releasing them in the “wild”. He will probably think I’m nuts, if he hasn’t read the article!!)

– in the post box?! (Where only the postman will find it?!)

Argh argh!! I have got everything but nowhere to release them….

Being the ever cheapskate I am, something just popped into my mind… How about STARBUCKS?! Since Pass it on is advocating it. I might as well do it, then I get to register this action in both websites! Whee! I can simply kill 2 twittering birds with one book, oops, I mean stone. Ah wei! How smart can you get! *A pat on my own back* There there….

Step 5 :

What’s left now, will be to release the 2 books in Starbucks cafe on Monday.

Mission Completed…

*heow = Vain (in Singaporean context)