Cheng Ming and the pollution.

Every Cheng Ming, I always go into thinking.... I watch the thousands of pieces of paper go up in smoke up into the air. Yet, I know there really isn't much you can do about it. Take my family for instance.... Try telling my Grandfather or Aunt that we aren't going to burn paper as offerings to our ancestors this season. I probably won't survive to finish suggesting the idea... And my grandfather is no villageman. He is an educated man who reads 4 newspapers every morning and can debate any topic as widely as a person who specializes in it. Yet, you'll be hard pressed to convince him to stop burning the offerings.

Is burning bad? Of course it is, yet culture and tradition and whatever it is has a bigger hold than any other environmental issue... You can try to educate everyone on open burning and yet when it comes to Cheng Ming, they'll still burn it.

Let's take a look at what we are doing here ok? Paper is mostly cellulite that comes in the form of (C6H12O4)n. Now for the sake of argument, let's pretend that all paper is most basic hence, n=1 and that burning here is scientifically perfect.

Hence, burning 1 mole of C6H12O4 consumes 7 moles of oxygen and gives out 6 moles of CO2 and 6 moles of Water...

Now 500 sheets of 80gsm paper weighs 2.5 kg. Hence 1 sheet is 0.2g. Now, paper used in offerings can't be that high of quality so let's divide it by 2 then by 2 again as the paper is way smaller than standard size. So let's assume that one piece of offering paper is 0.05g.

So burning one piece of offering paper will give out an equivalent of 0.088g of CO2 into the air. One family will fold at least 30 pieces of paper so one family burns 1.5g of paper per grave. LEt's assume each family visits 4 graves bringing the total paper burned up to 6g per family. And there are at least 200 families at one graveyard = 1200g of paper burned. And say 10 graveyards in Penang = 12000g of paper.

So Penang itself burns 12000g of paper a day during Cheng Ming. We have released 11.056g of carbon dioxide into the air per day. Say this goes on for 3 days, we have successfully released 33.170g of CO2. That sounds little but remember that CO2 is a gas. At STP, this is equivalent to 10897 LITRES OF CARBON DIOXIDE.

I'm not saying stop tradition. I'm just saying control it. Burn what you have to and cut back on the useless things like paper cars and DVD players and air conditioners and clothes...

I wonder if anyone will let me do a study on how Cheng Ming contributes to global warming every year....

P.S. I painstakingly counted all that by myself. Ok, I will admit I'm not too good at doing equal counting seeing as how Chemical Engineering has brainwashed me into that nothing-converts-perfectly state of mind so I do apologize if the figures aren't right but it's something like that as far as I can remember....

New Moon

Because Weng Lum so very nicely gave me the link to this, I have decided to post it up...

Er, no. Does nothing to me... I really have a feeling I only like Robert Pattinson for his screwed up brain. That image does nothing for me what-so-ever... It would've been better if it was Dan Radcliffe posing like that... Or Moses Chan... Now, they have great bodies. It's so well defined and very sturdy... R.Patz... You're just too scrawny for pictures like this... Stick to keeping your clothes on please. :) Either that or start putting on some weight....

I'm trying to remember if there was any part in the books that had Edward Cullen shirtless.... I can't remember.... Good thing too or I will avoid it.

Coming out of the closet....

Well, well, BRAWN GP....

First off... It's Ross Brawn Ferrari ex-boss wonderboy.... Strike ONE.

Next, it's Jenson Button. The original Lewis Hamilton, built from scratch by one named James Allen in his efforts to poison the minds of F1 viewers into hating all British F1 drivers because he couldn't be a British F1 driver... Strike TWO

And then, it's Rubens Barichello. The man who spent 9 odd years whining and whining about The Michael The Schumacher The Great. Strike THREE.

Sorry. I have no affections for Brawn GP other than the irony of their story and the amusement I get from thinking what the Board of Directors in Honda are doing to themselves right now and how the Japanese people are going to burn the factory at denying them an all Japanese podium....

To be honest I was a closet JB and Lewis fan. I loved JB all along. He had this We-Are-Sp-British thing going on with DC who as you all know I absolutely adore despite his sudut tegak chin.... I did. Honestly. I even posted a few comments on his JB.com threads.... *malu* And as for Lewis, I had loved him and wanted him to be alongside Raikki taking over JPM. But he betrayed me and bullied my Alonzy. No forgiveness there!

Anyway, whatever it is, I just can't enjoy a race if it has no Nicky or Raikki or Alonzy.......

SIGH. Where are all my boys? :{

Moving beyond borders....

Sometimes, culture can be a very funny thing. I remember my sister telling a story of how a culture clash happened in the US with her. As you know, over here in cinemas, the seats are numbered so hence, if you go in a group of friends to the movies, I'm sure whoever arrives first buys all the tickets at one go so you can all sit together. However, in the US, seats are NOT numbered and so one time my sister arrived and bought two tickets only to realize that her friend also went up to buy his own ticket. Over here you buy tickets in a roll. Over there you buy your own ticket.

Culture clash can happen in a place as near as KL and Penang too. I remember bringing Chai Ann to Penang and she had never heard of Tau Kuah. I'm not sure if that's culture clash or if that's Chai Ann being typical Chai Ann though. Wont put too much stock into it. :P

I feel compelled to point out that I wrote my Robert Pattinson letter BEFORE he announced that he reads blogs and thousands of other letters started popping out. Not that it matters cause mine still rocks.

I'm such a loser...

Brothers & Sisters & Elves

I am addicted to Brothers & Sisters! Which is ridiculous if you think about it. First of all, this show is really 'exciting' because NOTHING EVER HAPPENS! It is lacking a bit of originality in the sense that Kitty Walker is every bit as psychotic as Ally McBeal was and I don't see any diversity in Calista Flockhart's acting. And for that matter, Rob Lowe too. There's too much West wing-ness in him still...

Still, a show where nothing eve happens is the best kind of show to watch. There's no anticipation, no drama, no nothing and yet, I'm still hooked on it. The show is almost so boring that it threatens to burn a hole through my plasma TV... Yet, I love it.

And OMG! Scotty!!! He's amazing. He deserves a *SQUEEEEEEEEE* for his amazingness. When he tells Kevin that he doesn't want him to see Jason anymore, I nearly died!!!

Look at them. Aren't they just so 'awwwwwwww' :)

And if you need any further confirmation of their total SQUEE-factor, just watch their proposal scene! Scotty is like SO gay. And he's so hilarious when he says 'Because I changed the lightbulbs??' He was in total ??? mode. So adorable!!! OH ya... I should probably put a disclaimer that says : highly gay scene not recommended for straight homophobes.



I have a sudden urge to watch Queer As Folk!

I found my copy of Brisingr!! In case anyone is wondering what is this Brisingr I keep going on about, it's a book by Christopher Paolini. It's his third book in the 'Inheritance Cycle' or maybe I will make more sense if I mention Eragon. Eragon (yes, that crap movie) was the first book in the Inheritance Cycle. I'll recommend this book to you but I do have to warn you that I side with most of it's critics. .. It does lack originality... But still, it was written when Paolini was 15... I couldn't write like that when I was 15! And unlike some other authors J.K.Rowling Paolini's works actually improve with time!

And I love Arya! She's amazing. She's like a non-annoying what's-her-name??? Aragorn's girl.... errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......... ARWEN! That's it. She's like a cool Arwen.

So go out and get your copy of Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr today!

Random musings of deathly hallows

Rob Pattinson is driving me crazy! Not in the fangirl sort of way.... I know honestly I sound (and occasionally) feel like a 12 year old fangirl but in truth, I want to pick his brain! He drives me insane when I read all his words, intriguing and filled with literary clues. I feel like I'm studying Shakespeare all over again with my sisters in Aunty Mary's house when I read the things he says... It's wonderful the way a cryptic human being can get to be. Rob Pattinson is like a real life Severus Snape! And yes, I cannot believe I just compared Severus Snape to Cedric Diggory. Ew. And unfortunately I am starting to sound like a fangirl. Ew again. I wonder if my true calling is really psychology seeing as how I get so worked up over weird people like R.Patz.

I looked and I didn't manage to find my copy of Brisingr (or Eragon or Eldest even for that matter)... *sadness* I do wish to read it again. I can barely remember much of it. When I read it I was in Santa Cruz which no excess to Eragon and eldest which I read years ago in Malaysia... I can barely remember what happened before Brisingr and parts of what I remember was just bits from the Eragon movie which by the way totally sucked....

I did however find my copy of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. It is the only American publication of the HP series that I owned because I bought this at Santa Cruz too. Ruined my entire collection of British Children's cover HP books that I have... *grumble* I have read all HP books over and over again until they all look worse than rubbish... Except for the last book. The only part of DH I read again is Severus' story. Even then, it is filled with sadness because I thought Severus Snape deserves much more than a pensieve memory to sum up his role. Idiot JK Rowling ruining my favourite character sob

Oh by the way, my Harry-is-a-Horcrux article written 4 years ago in 2005, even though is more commentary than story-like, was a way better explanation than JK Rowling's own Harry-is-a-Horcrux explanation... [Link to my HP-is-a-horcrux article]

I want to find my copy of Brisingr!!! And I'm running out of good Severitus Fan Fics to read!!

I HATE that my spell check on Firefox is in US English. I hate US English. It's ridiculous! It is definitely not good for semi-dyslexic people like me! And I'm wayyyy too lazy to switch (or find out how to switch) to UK English.... The annoying thing is that almost all programs default settings are US English. Just because Microsoft is in Seattle! Americans, you guys need to just accept UK English as THE English. I hate US English. HATE HATE HATE.

Anne Rice and the Vampire collection

Alright, alright. So I'm starting to sound really very much like the 12 Year Old that I am mentally instead of the 23 year old Chemical Engineer that I am. Very soon I will be sending fan mail to R.Patz and joining the R.Patz fan club before starting an R.Patz cult.

Freaky.

Anyway, I was just thinking of Carlisle Cullen and I noticed he is very much like a combination of Louis and Lestat. Which made me think of Louis and Lestat. They are the ultimate couple. I mean, nowhere else in literature can you find a couple of lovelorn vampires. Lestat had secretly loved Louis for years and never revealed it to him. They were companions for a century and Louis spent every second of it hating him. It wasn't until much later that they got along. By then, they were no longer companions - Lestat being much too powerful for Louis and Louis denying power and clinging to humanity. Ooh! I love Lestat and Louis!!

I haven't watched the trailer for 'Half Blood Prince'... I think that's a first... I norally stalk mugglenet for clips and sorts... I guess it's just me trying to live in my Severus snape is wonderful world... Just delusional still hoping that JKRowling didn't kill my favourite character. Have him such a shitty ending.... But then agai. she gave everyone a shitty ending... Such a waste...

I can't find my copy of Brisingr!!! I want to read it again!!! See unlike JKRowling whose books just keep getting worse and worse, Christopher Paolini is actually getting better and better! I like Brisingr was way better than Eldest was. And that Eragon had developed a lot in Brisingr and his relationship with Arya was getting much better! (By better I mean in a Lestat-Louis-Lovelorn way...)

fuhifsfkfhhvadhvhksjdv

Just because.

Unproductivity

It's surprising what people do when they are bored. More so me. I feel like I haven't done anything productive in forever. I really should get my ass up and do something more productive like buy a flight ticket to Vancouver to stalk Robert Pattinson. Or go to Disneyland and audition to be a Goofy.

Speaking of Robert Pattinson, if you google 'fake Robert Pattinson's blog' this blog comes out on top. I am totally amused by this by the way.

Speaking of Robert Pattinson (again), one of the more unproductive things I have been doing is downloading 'Goblet of Fire' so I can watch Dan and Rob together. Although honestly, Cedric Diggory must be half gay.

Oh, by the way did you know I donated Cedric to a charity some time after I came back from America last year??? Intel had a donation drive of some sort and I decided to give poor Cedric away seeing as how I hardly take care of him and he was collecting dust and I was too busy to wash him...


Cedric and his friends... In case you were wondering Cedric is the little blob that looks like an egg at the end. He's not an egg - he's a turtle thank you very much.

Oh I'm off to do more unproductive stuff like read more fanfiction, google more useless things and watch more amazing youtube videos like this:-



EDIT: Because I felt the need to not advertise my lack of a life by creating a separate entry for this.. Things you can find from the internet are amusing... Did you know that.... there is a metabolic disorder called 'Maple Syrup Urine Disease'?? And that there is an actual disorder called 'Renfield's Syndrome' which is more commonly known as 'Clinical Vampirism'!!!! !!!! !!!! !!!!!

... Ok, ok... I'm easily amused...

4 years

You can still make me feel sad....
You can still make me want to talk to you...
And never talk to you again.

BUT you can't make me think less of myself.
And I still think a lot lesser of you.

There is no outlet of anger all these years and I still can't swing opinions.
Republicans never vote Democrats.

But I am still better than you.
Presumptuous...
But true.

An entry everyone but Saw Sue-Mae should ignore.

No this entry is not about her.

Fan Fiction and the Robert Pattinson collection

He tries not to go out if he can avoid it. Stays home, watches movies, microwaves. Mostly, though, he reads about himself on the Internet. According to the Internet, there is another Robert Pattinson out there, living a very different life. A creature of the night, eager to sink his fangs into anything with boobs and a pulse. All bullshit, Pattinson says, but he reads the stories anyway, out of a kind of masochistic narcissism.

And he admits to reading it, which is the really weird part. He reads the gossip blogs and the Twilight fan fiction (“It’s surprisingly hard-core. And very well written”).
[ From GQ Magazine about Robert Pattinson ]

What is GQ Magazine?? I'm never heard of it, I swear. Is it a men's magazine? That might kind of explain the not hearing part. The only men's magazine I've heard of is probably FHM and Men's Health....

THAT ASIDE, I FIND THIS TOTALLY ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. Hey Rob, guess what? I read fan fiction too. ;-) In fact, I'm utterly hooked on it. But you know Rob, my addiction to fan fiction aside, all these things just summarizes you very well. so let me put on my fake psychiatrist hat ... *adjusts hat*

*ahem*

On the contrary, I believe you the the most excellent of liars. You aren't lying with words and material things. You are like a jedi knight twisting the very psychology of human brainwaves creating a false lead of windy roads to distract people from the straight one.

Very very brilliant if I may say so. And also utterly hilarious.

You know, if all it takes for you to notice me is to be a fake Robert Pattinson, perhaps I should be a fake Robert Pattinson. Perhaps I should change my blog to Robert Pattinson's Blog for a day and see how it goes...

.
.
.

Yeah, you're right. I'm too lazy and I honestly have better things to do like search for more fan fiction. Got any recommendations Rob?

By the way GQ Magazine, whatever magazine you are, that article on Rob Pattinson is absolutely hilarious. I have to stop using the word hilarious.

EDIT: Just because this article is so hilarious (there goes that word again!) I'm going to give you the link and recommand that every person Pattinson fan or not go read it. [Link]

My Letter To Kara DioGuardi

Dear Kara DioGuardi,

I can't tell you how thankful I am that you have decided to come on board onto Idol! Really. You are like a much needed breath of fresh air in a season that has everything wrong. You are smart, totally gorgeous and you kinda of know what you are talking about... Well at least I think you do. Or you manage to speak in full sentences at least. But my main reason for loving you is this: Paula Abdul.

Before your arrival to the show, Paula Abdul cannot complete a coherent sentence. Now, it's as though she is threatened by your very presence - that she can no longer pull the 'I'm the only girl' card and get emotional and stumble through everything. Ok, so it really doesn't take much to pull one over Paula Abdul - even a monkey can do that. But still, I can't even thank you enough for making Idol judging coherent now! Seriously. At the very least, even if all else in Idol fails, you have put Paula in her place and that itself is an achievement...

So let me quote Paula here in something that she says 20 times every week to every contestant before you got here: "You're gorgeous!"

No. I have no idea what that has got to do with singing either. =)

Regards,
A Thankful Fan

My letter to Robert Pattinson

Dear Robert Pattinson,

Since there are so many people worldwide who want to date you (or by your defination, scream at you) I just thought I should put up a good fight and make a proposal to you and give you reasons on why you should date me.

1. Unlike most of your fans who think you are dashingly hot and handsome, I happen to think you are uglyly handsome. Ugly is good because ugly is unique. Yet, the fact that you are ugly and still capture my attention means that you are special.

2. Love at first sight. I fell in love with you the first moment I saw your half-gay portrait on mugglenet the moment you were confirmed as Cedric Diggory. Then I stared at the picture longer and started to find all the flaws in it. I then spent 3 days after watching The Goblet of Fire cursing you for destroying the beautiful gorgeous image of Cedric I had built in my mind. But I still fell in love with you at first sight. Not for the seconds that followed but the very first sight all the same.

3. I read somewhere that people who like you are (or as you claim only scream at you) either older women or young teenage girls. I am proud to announce that I’m not a young teenage fangirl but unfortunately I am older…. By just 4 months. Still, we are both born in 1986! And will both be 23 in 2009. Isn’t that just perfect?

4. If you end up dating Natalie Portman I might curse you because it’s not very fair. I like her very much and to hate her just because of you is reason for me to hate you. But still, I can’t hate you because I love you! Ta-da!

5. Unlike many fangirls and/or Hollywood acquaintances who are going to want to be with you for your money yet hide that fact from you, I will graciously reveal it now that I am with you for your money, that I love money and that you have it. Yet, despite all that, I don’t need your money. I am a qualified engineer with the resources to get my own money. But why do that when I can have yours? :)

6. I quote this article:

“She stood outside my apartment every day for weeks – all day, every day.
“I was so bored and lonely that I went out and had dinner with [her].”
“I just complained about everything in my life and she never came back.”

Though I really can’t be bothered to stalk you so often (I have better things to do with life like google pictures of you being stalked), I dare you to do that to me. Because everything that you can complain about, I assure you I can complain about it 10 times more. Oh and if you take me to dinner I promise to stalk you. (Provided you pay for my ticket to London or LA or wherever you are seeing as how I am in Malaysia.)

7. If you were with me, you will be forced to stop that glowering look you give cameras that make teenagers fall for you and only the cute amused smile you give paparazzi. Thus, you lose all your teenage fans and no one will scream at you anymore Ta-da!

8. I love your personality that I know nothing about. Despite claims that you are not as charming as Edward Cullen and all that rubbish, you ‘dazzle’ me as much as Edward does Bella. Looking at all of the reasons to hate you that I have listed above, I still somehow managed to love you. Therefore, you have officially ‘dazzled’ me and thus, it is only your responsibility to right it by dating me.

9. While being in Hollywood can get frustrating, I assure you you will find no better partner than me simply because I am a bit of a loner too. I can’t be bothered about many things in life which I deem as trivial. So you are free to do whatever you want at whatever costs. Meanwhile, I will be sleeping after spending your money buying myself a gorgeous big bed.

10. I have OCD. Therefore, any house of yours will be neat and clean. Cleaned by the maid I have hired from your money of course. :D Then I will double clean it. For the first 2 days to impress you. Then I will just hire a second maid.

So because you say people don’t ask you out on dates, I’m going to do one better. I have thus, listed reasons on why you should date me before asking you out on a date. Isn’t this the best date proposal you have ever received? So don’t date Paris Hilton, Rob, date ME!

And here it is – the big question:
Robert Pattinson, would you like to date me? :)

P.S. Rob, I’m not making fun of you. This is not a parody like letter. It’s what I truly feel. See? We can both be cynical and moody and cryptic together. It's a beautiful love/hate relationship we have here. How can we not be M.F.E.O.*? :D We're just weird like that.

Regards,
Your admirer.

*Made for each other