Too much coffee?

Have you been drinking too much coffee? I don't know about me. I have been taking a cup of coffee a day (almost everyday) and I've surfed the internet to find out if it's good for me. Turns out a cup of coffee is considered moderate, and the myths that says teenagers who drink coffee will have retarded growth has been proven false by researchers. Teenagers and children filter caffein the way adults do. So I guess I'm healthy.

Do you know how many cups of coffee one has to consume to get caffein overdose? 100 cups! So trying to die from caffein overdose by downing coffee will be exceptionally challenging since nobody can drink 100 cups of coffee a day. Kidneys will be bloated with water and I think one will die of too much water before he/she dies of caffein overdose! Haha!

Trip to Penang

As I had mentioned earlier, and I'm going to mention it again, I feel bored and listless to be stuck at home, so I'll grab any opportunities to go out of my house, and I don't care where the destination is. Let it be Penang, Kedah or Singapore...I don't really care where.

Last Friday, my mother benevolently suggested to bring me for a tour in Penang island, and I was literally swoon! I perked up when my mother threw this news to me, and I was literally exuberant after receiving it.

So this was our plan: we went to Penang with our sister who was going to Gleneagles Medical Centre to complete her industrial training (7.30am) and then we would go to Kek Lok Si temple and where I wanted to go. I was astir upon 6.45am to get myself dressed and ready and we started our journey on 7.30am. The traffic in Penang was horrifying! Most people know 7.00-8.00am is the time where industrial places will be choked with cars with cacophony of honks lingering in the air, refusing to leave until all cars successfully arrive their destination. And should I say the drivers now are extremely impatient? They will do whatever they can do squeeze (another literal meaning) their cars in any tiny spaces available. Horrible! But still better than Bangkok and especially China. Stuck in traffic for 9 days? Worse than nightmare!

After we dropped my sister at the hospital, my mother and I decided to have breakfast. While going to eat we passed by my aunty's place (my mum's sister) and realised she was already awake. My aunt recently went under the knife to have her thyroid glands removed due to severe infection, and after that she had become neurotic about her life and my mum, who is both neurotic and solicitous, stopped by and showed her concern to my aunt.

My aunt's husband is a doctor. He was a doctor working in a hospital but he left and opened his own clinic. While he tried to explain what happened to my aunt, he was engaged and kept on dragging until he finally grew tired. I knew my mum was getting annoyed because she was ignorant to the world of science, but I was totally spellbound by the medical jargons he mentioned. After my aunt had her thyroid glands removed, she had to take hormones orally. Then they all talked about their lives and hence, the delay of my breakfast.

Around 9.30am my mother finally brought me to eat, after she told my aunt she was probably going to drop by later. After we withdrew from her place, my mother began to lecture about lives and all that gobbledygook. She always assumes I know nothing about lives, and that really annoys me.

After breakfast, we went to Kek Lok Si temple. At first the place looked deserted to me, then after that I saw beggars loitering around. I didn't give them any money, and I don't show them any sympathy. They are all physically healthy, and none of them is maimed. If they wanted money they should get a job. There are thousands of jobs out there for them, and they choose to do the easiest but the worst one - begging at the public! Shame on them!

Initially I saw many foreigners, but then people of other races began to trickle in later. I'm not really interested in the teaching of religion. I do believe in God, I believe in spirits and I believe in afterlife (in my heart of hearts), but I do not believe our lives are depended on God! I believe we choose the ways we live, and we choose the decision we made. And I certainly do not believe that when God wants us dead, we'll leave. And I don't believe God is just, because there are good people our there suffering and agonising in pain, and evil masterminds are still out there manipulating the world with their evil doings. If God is just, please explain this phenomena to me.

But I respect God. I just don't think He (or She) is always right. Kek Lok Si temple wasn't particularly interesting, but not horribly boring. The only thing that kept me occupied was me feeding the tortoise. I wondered how long the tortoise were there. 100 years? I don't know how long, but I do know they looked more bored than I did. And before we left Kek Lok Si I bought a very nice shirt. I love it very much! After a few bargain the price was lower from RM25 to RM15. Haha.

After that we went back to my aunt's place and conversation there weren't irrelevant. If I write the conversations down this post will be too long.

My lunch was sushi. We went to Sakae Sushi at Queensbay Mall and had our lunch, and of course, the meal was expensive, but had not exceeded RM100. Then we just went window shopping. We couldn't pay a sen for anything there because everything there was beyond our standard. We just couldn't pay RM10++ for a scoop of ice-cream or RM100++ for a school bag.

I bought Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. I had wanted to buy this book a long time ago but due to the unbelievable price (RM99), I forewent that decision when the book first hit the market. But since the price had plummeted to RM32.90, I decided to buy it and finish the novel during the holiday. Hopefully I can finish it in time because next year will be very hectic.

After that, we went to fetch my sister and we went home. The traffic in Penang was - as I stated earlier - frightening.

Hopefully I'll have this trip again soon.

Ennui

Holiday really sucks for me because I'm stuck at home. In my world, ennui is synonymous with holiday. Ok, well, depends on what holiday. Long holiday like year-end holiday usually makes me bored and therefore prompts me to do something I've never intended or ever crossed my mind. For instance, I actually searched for computer games to play! It's is thrilled to hook on computer games, having adrenalin pumped and heart racing are really something exciting to experience, but if I'm addicted then my study will drop (not that I care much) and all my efforts will be swept down the drain.

I've been watching House MD recently. I really like medicine a lot, but the notion of becoming a doctor often terrifies me. First, I've a shaky hand. I've no idea why my hand is shaky, but it sometimes bothers me, and I'm pretty sure no patients will confide in or consult a doctor who has a shaky hand. Doctors need firm hands, or else risk plunging into the wrong blood vessel and the result will be very nasty. Either get fired or sued. Either one sounds frighteningly bad. But if I have a choice I'd rather chose the latter. Second, medicine encompasses too much knowledge and it really needs endurance and perseverance to study all. Imagine these: you have 100+ microorganisms to study, medicines and its side effects, operations and bla bla bla. God!

Let's change a topic.

I wanna learn to drive a car! My birthday falls on January 20, so it shouldn't be impossible for me to learn it now, go and listen the tedious and useless undang-undang and then go for a test. Seriously, what's the point of having undang-undang? Do they really expect us to follow the rules pedantically (which is one preposterous expectation) and do every thing in black and white? What? Studying makes perfect now? Since when a new idiom has been invented? Stupid.

So now my friend has invited me to go to Gua Tempurung on December 11. I haven't decided yet because this is one tough decision to make. He has invited a lot of people, so I guess it'll be chaotic and the situation will definitely go out of control. My first instinct is a 'no', but then ennui prompts me to think otherwise. Whatever. The decision has yet to be made, and I might surprisingly say yes.

And for those who does have facebook, go play Word Search! I challenge you all. And Jeff, stop gloating and wipe that smirk off your face, because you know I can't beat you, and I do not intend to overthrow your thrown. But beware! I'm trying to do it now! Hahaha xD

Health effects of....

Like to eat instant noodles? Well, I'm going to tell you effects of the chemicals in instant noodles to our body. The idea of researching just came to me suddenly. Anyway, I'm sharing my research here. Sources are reliable.

These chemicals are found in Ibumie Mi Goreng: Perisa Thai Tom Yam

Noodle:

Guar Gam: Water-soluble fibre that acts as a laxative, effective in promoting bowel movement. Help in weight loss. Increased absorption of calcium. Improve dietary glucose intolerance. But it reduces the absorbability of dietary minerals (other than calcium).

Sodium Polyphosphate: Extremely harmful if swallowed or inhaled, and in contact with the skin. But I've no idea if the amount of this chemical in the noodles is strong enough to cause this severity in humans.

Potassium Carbonate: Cause irratation in gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. May have moderate toxic effects if consumed in large quantities.

Sodium Carbonate: Not very toxic in small amount. If small amounts are swallowed, drink a cup of water and milk. If taken in large amounts it causes nausea, vomiting and difficulty swallowing.


Seasoning Powder:
Do I have to say anything about the health effects of salt and chilli powder?


Monosodium Glutamate: Labelled as 'safe' by FDA, but it may cause headache, flushing, sweating, facial pressure or tightness, chest pain, nausea and weakness. Avoid if possible.

Flavour Enhancer (E631) - Disodium Inosinate: Side effects including sensation of burning to the skin. Numbness around the mouth area. Profuse sweating. And it is a chemical that may trigger allergic reaction.



Seasoning Sauce:
What to say about soybean, sugar, salt, flour and brown sugar? I'm pretty sure most people know the effects already.

Caramel: Cannot find anything. I'll post it if I find anything about caramel.

Benzoic Acid: Large oral doses can cause abdominal pain, sore throat, nausea and vomiting.



Seasoning Oil:
I can find nothing related to palm Olein.

Shallot: It's a type of onion, so I guess it's safe to consume. I cannot find anything about its health effect, but I'll post it here once I find one.

Chilli Sauce:
The sound of the sauce sounds simple, but it contains chilli, water, sugar, salt, garlic and acetic acid.

Acetic acid: Also known as ethanoic acid. Acetic acid in foods never reaches dangerous or unhealthy level. But in high concentration, it cause corrosion to the skin.

After I finished this research, I'm pretty sure I'll try to avoid instant noodles, or at least try tobecause the damn MSG is a pretty strong additive. Anyway, bear in mind, eating too much instant noodles harms the body.

Primary School Reunion

21 November 2010

6.00pm

I was the first one to arrive the destination. I guess I'll always be. The second one was Sim Le. Yiet Hean, Chee Yee, Phui Ling and Hong Chyng came together and they marked the third. It really frustrated me that people now didn't know the word 'punctual'. So did my sister. She nearly went berserk when her friends weren't punctual. She didn't yell at them, but she said they might have known that she wasn't happy because her face was black, very very black.

We all walked to Seoul Garden then. KPL had seven tables booked, and we all sat on one. It was only 6.10pm, and some of us were famished. Decided not to wait for the others, we took our respective plates and went to get our foods. It was my first time there, so being a newbie made me ignorant to anything there. I had my hands off everything and let the pros do the job. Only then I realised the meal was more or less like BBQ, only no charcoal was needed.

Jun Jie was the fourth to reach, and Bing Xin the fifth, and the others began to trickle in later. We were already half way through our meal, and I was indulging myself in the meat. They tasted great. Really. Although some were severely charred. And for the first time in my life, I tasted mutton.

7.00pm

I was sure we were hated by all customers in the shop because we were making noises there. The restaurant was in complete chaos - thanks to us - and we were chortling and yelling and frolicking around. And after Chee Yee's hat was taken away he became the source of merriment. (But seriously, your hair wasn't ugly. It looked different, but not abysmal.)

Everybody was looking dapper. I was wearing simple. I had a purple shirt (a new one, and the shirt was shockingly small) and a pants. I looked a little unkempt actually. The others were wearing sparkling t-shirts, jeans, and fabulous attires. Some people were taking photos. They snapped here and there. An unexpected guest arrived. And bla bla bla we continued eating. I enjoyed the prawns and the meat, but then I realised my diet was unbalanced so I took some vegetables too.

8.00-10.00pm

Most of the guest had arrived. Even our primary school's teacher had arrived. It's good to see her still fit. She ate only a little, but she did look happy. I needed to pay RM38 for the meal, so I decided to eat until I was certain no more foods could be shoved down. So I ate (and no, I do not have binge eating disorder) more and more until I finally gave up. I took a walk with Yun Hong and while strolling along the street, we had a chat.

The conversation wasn't pertinent to what I'm going to write. So I omit it here. After we went back to Seoul Garden I took another scoop of ice-cream. The ice-cream tasted awesome. Not as good as Baskin Robbins, but it definitely beat RM6 ice-cream in Kimfar. Not many choices of drinks were given there, so I randomly chose some. Thanks to my arbitrariness I realised the drinks there sucked. No wonder not many people drank.

After taking a photograph, my mother came and picked me up. Yen Jeek actually said hi to my mother (she was his teacher) but Wooi Ying avoided my mother. After the hearty meal, I went home with satisfaction and a bloated stomach. And I was wondering how my mother would react when I told her the price of my dinner because our money was a little tight at the moment.

Most of my friends had changed. Both in appearance and character. Some of their voices had changed owing to puberty. Most of them looked mature, although frighteningly emaciated (for instance, Chin Kaie). But still, I enjoyed this gathering a lot.

Outing

I went out with Wee Chin, Jyh Ruey, Song Wei, Phui Ling and another girl whose name escapes me (sorry...) yesterday. My ultimate motive was to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a movie which I had reviewed on my previous post. At first we had 6 confirmed friends, but then Zheng Jia said he couldn't attend, reasons unknown. Derrick said he might attend. Of what I'd heard, he wanted to join us, but he didn't have transport. Pity.

Before we had our lunch we went to play some games in the...umm...叮叮店 (is it written correctly?). I like the shooting game!

Lunch was a total waste. They ate a lot! One big pizza, two seafood lasagne, mushroom soup, salads.........We had an extremely expensive and unbalanced meal.

Lunch cost us RM18 each!

Then after we watched Harry Potter, Wee Chin and I shared a cake (Secret Recipe's cake). The others went to buy Ice Cream.

After that we went to Petrosains. It was about dinasour, and I hate to say that exhibition was extremely boring. But I guess it's fine because it was built for naive small kids.

After that we left JUSCO. Sorry this post is short, I'm kinda rush right now. If I've time I'll elaborate this post.

Oh, and I bought McDonald's french fries to do some experiment. I wanna see how long it takes to rot. Today marks the second day.

Pictures will be uploaded later.

My Review on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

I was a fan of Harry Potter when I was around the age of 12. But then after I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, my interest begins to ebb away. Not because the movie is less interesting, but because the story is too long and it has lost its charm that makes the film a commercial success. Nevertheless the films still manage to gain popularity. You know why? Most people, especially after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, do not watch the movies because the movies are interesting, but to satisfy their curiosity and watch the ending of the movie.

I'm not going to say much about the film, because frankly there aren't many to say. The synopsis of the film is the same as the synopsis of the book. There are some difference. For instance, the scenes where Harry talks to Dursleys are removed, and I don't recall seeing Dudley either. But I didn't expect much. If this movie follows the book pedantically then the movie will be boring in a way that it lacks creativity.

Most people want to know where this part of movie ends, right? Well, the movie ends with a cliffhanger - as suggested by the title - where Voldermort steals the Elder Wand that is attached to the late Dumbledore's body.

This movie is by far the best trilogy in the series. 60% of the movies are action scenes. First, the Ministers of Magic try to bring the eponymous character away from his house to a safe house where he will be well protected by scores of sophisticated wizards and witches. While they are fleeing the place they are suddenly ambushed by Death Eaters. As most people know, Mad Eye Moody dies (sadly) and George's ear is severed by a stray curse. This marks the beginning of the movie.There are many more action scenes after that, and it ends with the scene where Bellatrix tortures Hermione and Dobby saves them.

This movie is also hilarious, probably contains the most jokes in the series so far. I like how George watches Harry and Ginny kissing silently and then pretends to be ignorant to what they do. I like how Harry freaks out when he sees his curse goes haywire. I like how Dobby tries to deny his doing with pathetic sincerity. I also like the scene where they disguise themselves and infiltrate the Ministry of Magic.

But there's a scene in the movie that bugs me. After they escape from the Ministry of Magic, they land on somewhere (I didn't know where) and Hermione puts on the protective charm. And during the night when Hermione sees someone lurking around, she panics, but her protective charm protects them from being discovered, but the 'someone' smells her perfume. So here's the problem: why would Hermione bother to spray perfume on her body in the time of emergency?

And the scene where the fake Harry wears a bra is choking me on laughter.

The storyline is great from the start to the end, it manages to keep us spellbound. I give it an A. The director definitely did a great job in directing because I never felt impressed before. I give it another solid A. The action scenes are superb, I like it, another A. But the cliffhanger isn't strong and if I only watch the last 5 minutes of the movie, I don't think I'll watch the second part, so I give it a measly C.

The ticket price for the movie is RM11, but if you are a student, remember to bring your student card. Flash it to them and your ticket price will drop to RM6. Save your money!