For the first time, I posted a one-liner yesterday. Not a really good one but it served its purpose well - a mental hook. It is something that will remind me of another thing. The name "mental hook", I made it up. I often use such hooks.

For example, if I'm about to sleep and I suddenly remember that I have forgotten to do something, I'd immediately place my glasses elsewhere, anywhere other than their usual beside position. When I wake up the next morning, I'd reach for my glasses at the usual place, only to find them missing. I'd then try to recall where I had left them and in the process, remember the thing associated with my misplaced glasses.

The one-liner reminded of yesterday's events. I went Christmas shopping after work and bought 2 gifts. They are just too irresistible and I had to buy both. There were more options and I had to constantly restrain myself from splurging more. I spent a lot of time walking around. My legs ached for the first time in like 2 months? Or maybe more. I have not walked so much for quite some time. The weather was cooling as it was drizzling slightly. On the downside, the wrapper I bought got wet. I guess I'll just tear the affected area away and use them as firewood. Oops! I have no fireplace. Rats!

I went over to attend a birthday party thrown by one of dear's close friends. As usual, I arrived early and helped out in the decorations. My task was to stick heart-shaped chocolates onto the wall using BlueTack. Sounds familiar? It certainly does! The last time, I was working with Mentos. Speaking of heart-shape, the conventional heart that we see in drawings bears absolute no resmblance to the human heart. In fact the human heart is asymmetrical, while the drawn heart is sysmmetrical. So what does the conventional heart take on? From what I read in The Vaginal Monologues, it takes onto the shape of the vagina. I forgotten why but I definitely remember reading about that part. Try reading the book if you have the time. It's an interesting book. I heard that the play is even better but alas! I have yet seen the play.

Sticking the chocolates on was a breeze. However, for the second time, I positioned the alphabet S wrongly again. I was so lost in sticking the chocolates that I did not realise my folly. If not Pamela who spotted the erroneous character, I'd have given myself a pat on the back for the 'great' piece of work. I know it's wierd (maybe bizzare) that I can position S wrongly on 2 seperate occasions. I really have no idea why.

The hall was big and spacious. It's large enough to accommodate the guests but the seats just weren't enough. To use a literal translation of a Chinese proverb that just popped into my head, it's a case of "too many monks with too little porridge". I know it doesn't really fit the scenario but as I said, literally, folks.

The food wasn't that bad, at least not as bad as I thought it to be. After a few mouthfulls, it began to taste all the same. I think it's just me. Vegetarian food just isn't for me. As I often argued, "Humans are not meant nor built for a vegetarian diet." I believe it to be true. If we are meant to be herbivores, we would have evolved with a set of teeth that has flat and large surfaces. Such teeth would be very effective for grinding tough plants. However, we do have a set of sharp incisors designed to tear flesh and cut meat, don't we? It makes us more of an omnivore than carnivore or herbivore.

As the party went on, I sat alone with their friends and classmates. Dear is busy helping out. That's just so her. With each passing minute, boredom creeps in and saps my attention. I was about to leave when the cake cutting ceremony was about to commence. So I stayed on and waited till the entire thing was over. After that I beat a hasty retreat and walked out in a huff. Somehow, the boredom is slowly morphing in frustration. The next thing, I know for sure, is uncontrollable rage. It was good I left before I said or done anything nasty. Boredom is definitely as surefire way of irritating me.

I walked a bus stop up and took a bus home from there. It was nearer than I expected. I thought I had to walk for some 4 to 5 bus stops. The trip back home was relatively fast. Gosh! Look at the time. I better get some sleep and continue tomorrow.

What a waste of time.

I was shocked when I couldn't connect to IRC a couple of days back. The error was something like "connection from your host is refused". The only plausible reason was IP banning. I thought my IP was banned. Guess what? I can connect back now. I wonder what actually went wrong.

I had a good sleep on the train during the trip back. If not for Bobby, I'd have overslept again. What am I going to do if he goes on vacation for a week? No one to accompany me on the train and wake me up. *gasp* I never fail to sleep soundly on the train and I just can't seem to figure out why.

I managed to code the part which I deemed as the most tedious in my upcoming project. It was the combat resolution table. Fourteen columns and twenty rows in all. I hard-coded all the values manually into the form. I wanted it to be a dynamic one to cater for further changes, though I know there won't be any further changes at all. Anyway, I ateempted using a control array but my knowledge of arrays is painfuly little. I should have paid more attention during those arrays tutorials.

I could have used a MS Access database but I wanted the program to be a standalone. That is to say, I don't want it to be dependent on any external program. Using a database can greatly reduce the amount to time and work. An Excel spreadsheet works even better. However, the same problem of being software dependent and the ease of being infected by virus made me think twice.

Let me go search through my CD-Rs and see if I can find my old code and reuse or improve on it. Let's hope I left comments back there. *crosses fingers*

The below is supposed to be yesterday's post. I had them typed out but I was too tired and went to bed before posting it.

I was sitting on the metal railing waiting to take the feeder bus back home today. This is something which I have not done in ages, ever since I decided to cut costs and walk back home. The heavy rain was the deterrence that was needed to convince me to take the bus instead of braving the elements.

Sitting there, I looked at the surroundings, especially the perking lots for the buses. There is a row of trees planted in front of the lots. I presume their purpose is to provided shade and shield off the sun in better days, thus keeping the driver seat cool. Even though most of the buses are air-conditioned now, there is just so much cooling effect the aircon can bring about.

The bus interchange will soon be demolished and in its place, a huge carpark will be built. At least, this is what I gathered from the papers and my mom. In fact, my mom IS the papers. She scrutinise each article with such great detail that never fail to amaze me. Any piece of news that come sfrom her is 98% accurate. The other 2%? Well, she is only human and tends to misinterpret certain news. Anyway, if the interchange is to go, I thought, wouldn't the trees be chopped down too? *gasp*

Yes, they will be dealt with certain death, a quick one though, with a chain saw chewing into their bodies in a few well-aim strokes. Does the trees know the impending doom? They're living things too and I suppose they must have their ways of communication. I feel sad for them. After so many years of service of providing shade, they are now going to be murdered for the sole purpose of building a carpark? Some may argue that this is actually benefical and aids greater advancement in standard of living. But have we not caused the environment enough harm in the name of "greater advancement in standard of living"? Tearing a hole in the once-perfect ozone layer, depleting the oil wells, wilfully destroying habitats of many through massive logging operations and many more reckless actions.

I suppose even if the trees can talk and defend their stand, they would be still slaughtered. We live in a world where majority wins. Sure, the minority has rights too. Rights to suffer in silence and to be ignored when their opinions are raised, that is. Human population outnumber that of trees and as a majority, it's our word against theirs. Can we lose?

Speaking of majority and minority brings me to another thought. Suppose someones proposes a marvellous solution to the ageing population problem and the ever increasing toil on resources problem (due to population growth). I think many will listen to him with great interest. The solution? Round up all the elderly and remove them. You see, the elderly are almost useless and they do take up space and resources. If they are gone, then we will have no ageing population, simply because there is no elderly to make up the "elderly population". If that person can garner enough support, he will gradually form a "majority", one that far exceeds the minority in terms of numbers and vocal. The "minority" can argue and debate but eventually they be herded towards massive incinerators. Humans and trees, what difference is there?

If we can sacrifice the trees that had has servicing us for years in silence, what makes you think that the old won't be the next in line in future, especially when some find them a nuisance? In fact, anyone of us can be next. Some may argue that ties do bind and children will not sit idly while their elderly parents are being threatened by death. Bear in mind that human are selfish. After all, humans are nothing but animals and are ultimately programmed to procreate, so as to ensure the species' survival. With the in mind, why wouldn't they kill something (or someone) to ensure their own survival?

Managed to avoid a tuition session today The family had came back from China. I'm too tired to sit through 1½ hours. I can't promise that I won't be tired tomorrow but at least I can pysche myself up.

Now that Holland V has ended its run, I no longer spend the hour watching TV. Instead, I use it to update my blog, check mail and surf net. The current series that is showing does not interest me at all. Oh, well. Let's just wait for another good serial to come along.

2WO Vivian left her terrapins in the Ops Room. I wonder when she is going to bring them back? In the meantime, I'm the caretaker. I change the water and feed them. Tommorow, I'm going to bring a used toothbrush and scrub off the gooey stuff that has built up on their shells. I'm not obliged to do this much to take care of her terrapins but the unknown slime that is coating their backs irks me everytime I go look at them.

The feed she bought them is far to big and tough for them to chew off. This is especially true for the smaller of the two. Perhaps, they might like some raw meat? My father used to keep two terrapins and fed them raw pork every weekend. On other days, they will have to satisfy their hunger with leafy greens. The experience gained from looking after terrapins last time really helped now. I not so afraid of them scrathcing me with their clawed flippers.

I've embarked on a personal project, that is to write a inventory interface for my Lone Wolf Series game books. I managed to scrape together some 400MB odd of diskspace in my workstation and installed MS VB 5.0. I'd have preferred VB 6.0 or VB.Net but as MSG Tey often quotes, " A begger cannot afford to be choosy", I settled for it. I remember distinctively that I had written such a program before but it is located in my now defunct ex-primary HDD. I think I backed it up somewhere but I too lazy to go through all my CD-Rs.