Tioman 17-19 May 2008

Our story takes place on a pretty island

With beautiful turquoise waters

In the waters off this island there lives a mermaid

She starts out contented and happy with the things that be

She gets jealous when she sees her friends and their lovely legs

A weird fairy godmother appears and tells her it is possible for her too, to have legs, while the mermaid scoffs in disbelief

She makes a wish anyway

Her tail starts to fall to pieces and she screams in agony

She has sprouted a pair of legs! She is happy even if they appear pasty and pig-trotter-like

All's well that ends well.

-END-

Sentosa, Not for the Faint-Hearted

Sentosa sunglasses... never leave home without it!

Into the Wild

I don't know how many of you would have heard of this movie. Probably close to none... Well, it would really strike a chord with people who have gone to Alaska and experienced its wild beauty. I read the book last summer and had mixed feelings about it. But after watching the film, I'm really reminded of all I left behind there... It is an amazing place that is gentle yet raw at the same time. Haha I'm getting way philosophical here. The movie soundtrack is so good I'm gonna buy it! And I've been meaning to get KT Tunstall's album too.

Free to blog again in between jobs. Its a pretty good feeling :)

CGH

Never thought I'd leave my first real job so soon. Met some really nice people whom I'll never forget. Come to think of it, I really should have taken some pictures at Aviva too.

My nice name tag and security pass. Didn't even get to keep the name tag :(

The desk that sees no human traffic apart from the cleaner (cos her cleaning supplies are kept near me)

I am very proud of my private toilet, it is so well-lit and clean!

The private sink

Sometimes when I'm really bored I walk a few rounds in this ward that's just beside my desk. I never noticed the tvs until my last day, when some technician left one on and I watched The Breakup for about 5 minutes.

The very nice pantry where we prepared all the meat and vegetables for the department lunch

I spend the mornings here reading the newspapers

My lau pok computer with the flickering screen

Lay Hwa, the very nice and good manager of the CTRU

With Pui Min and Lay Hwa

Turning my back on science and going into international relations. I hope NUS will be good.
And I must say having cellphone cameras are very useful for unobtrusive photo taking :p

Febrile

Unglam pictures from TTSH days. Haha public hospitals really aren't the best. They won't let you die... that's about it. Also expect to be treated like you're really dumb.

Diagnosis: Tonsilitis/Pharyngitis

Dying...

Food is so bad.

Being on a drip is quite a pain.

Lastly, I hereby introduce the smelliest piece of pork in the world.

If none of this looks very appealing, remember to take care of your health, everyone!

Happy new year!

Why is glacier ice blue?

An interesting question that has been posed to me umpteen times and I have also read the answer umpteen times and yet still can't remember it.

Here's the long answer:

Glacier ice is often a deep blue color. This is because of how the sunlight passes through the ice and what happens to the sunlight. Sunlight looks white. The light is really made up of all the colors of the rainbow. Each of the sun's colors have different amounts of energy in them. When the sunlight tries to go through the solid glacier ice crystals the sun gets broken up into lots of colors. Red and yellow have very little energy and the thick ice soaks up the red light more than it soaks up the blue light. The blue light has enough extra energy to get away from the solid ice crystals without getting absorbed or soaked up. This is why the only color people see is the blue color that escaped. The blue light has enough energy to escape the ice so that you can see it. That is why glacial ice is often a deep blue color.

Some glaciers do not look blue to people. If the glacier has a lot of air bubbles inside the ice crystals, the white sunlight gets reflected not soaked up. If the sunlight can get through the ice without all the rainbow colors getting scattered and soaked up, the ice will look white.

Glaciers get soil, rocks, snow and dirt mixed up with the ice. Then the ice can look a dirty gray color.

And the short answer is: Its structure is such that the light is refracted in a certain way and you only see the blue colour. Haha. Gray parts are just dirty!