Superband (9th round)

Woot, finally a post after so many days. I did almost nothing last week and was very ashamed of myself too. Dang, just couldn't find anything to do and wasted a whole week doing nothing other than giving tuitions. At last, i got a reason to post in my blog, thats the Superband show. This week, its down to 7 bands and a further group will be eliminated tonight. The remaining teams are :

J3
使诺鼻
BRODS
馒头
SOUL
迷路兵
Lucify

Most of them are very talented and have a great chance of progressing with a good score, while some are mediorce, relying on their fans to create a miracle tonight. I shall not name them here tonight as it was made known in my past few threads. Anyway, lets get on to the show!

B1 J3 (34)
天天看到你
原唱者： 阿杜
作曲：许环良
作词：林秋离

A simple performance with mesmerizing vocals. Although there are some parts where their combined singing weren't ideal, overall, its still great. I love the way they sang this song by using different vocal ranges. One with high pitch, the other with low pitch while the lead singer is the moderator. Lead singer handled the song well, adding climax to the song which made it better. Would hope to hear them sing something explosive the next time round.

9.4/10

B2 使诺鼻 (28.5)
臭男人
原唱者：黄义达
作曲：黄义达
作曲：黄义达

Many of my friends should know that i am a big fan of some of the songs by 黄义达, which includes this song. Its a song featured in 恶魔在身边, a very funny yet touching taiwan drama. 使诺鼻 did... how do i put it? Horribly horrible? Terribly terrible? Or disastrous disaster? Music was horrible. Atmosphere was terrible. Singing was disastrous. Both the music and singings were constantly off-beat. I am very sure it isn't part of their intentions to make it that way, because it sounded awkward. Lau Tak Hwa, Lau Tak Hwa, Lau Tak Hwa. His singing was off-beat, off-tune and the forgetting of lyrics did not seem to help his cause. Luck wasn't with him this time as the atmosphere was embarrassing. I wondered how did some of their fans managed to scream like they did great. Thats what i call 'blind fans'. Fans that blindly follow their idols even to the point of committing a crime. Thankfully, no misdeed was executed. Not to forget the malay, he did as badly as Lau Tak Hwa. His pronounciation was pure ruination. This standard at this stage of competition?

3/10

B3 BRODS (34.5)
还没疯
原唱者：石康军
作曲：林毅心
作词：石康军

Powerful voices and total domination of stage can never go wrong at this stage of competition. I could not find any blemish in their singing and was deeply impressed by their movements on stage. They have abandoned their previous set of positioning and movements. In the past, they tend to split themselves to 2 sides, come back facing each other, beforing returning to the left and the right. This time, they did something different, and they definitely charmed everyone below the stage. Loud hailer was used and made the already wonderful performance larger than life. Who could have thought of that? Simply outstanding!

9.8/10

B4 馒头 (21)
我等到花儿也谢了
原唱者：张学友
作曲：李伟菘、陈少琪
作词：吴庆康

I did not have high hopes for them despite their rather good performance last week. Reasons were simple. From experience, good performances from them were always once in a blue moon and were always followed by an incredibly lousy one. They did not prove me wrong and it turned out as i expected. Lead singer chose to sing this song his own way by 'omitting' the last word of every verses ending with '候', singing to his own rhythem and inserting pauses. The attempt to sing 候 very softly was pure stupidity, rhythem was atrocious and the pauses were unnecessary. A calamitous editting imo.

5/10

B5 SOUL (30)
天天好心情
原唱者：梦飞船
作曲：林毅心
作词：Alan Poh

Dance was on par, singing was horrible. There wasn't a slight improvement in their singing. Instead, i sensed deprovement. They overdid their 'acting cute' instead of making the performance entertaining. It was as if a humour gone wrong, a joke turned cold.

6/10

B6 迷路兵 (32.5)
胆小鬼
原唱者： 梁咏琪
作曲：李偲菘
作词:郑淑妃

This week, there was a great lack of creativity in 迷路兵. Voices were still the better ones tonight. A plain and simple performance was still nice, but it was too plain to be considered a 迷路兵's performance. Great to hear Weiqi's voice though.

8/10

B7 Lucify (38)
爱情搏击
原唱者： 沈祥龙
作曲:沈祥龙、蔡征兴
作词：陈镇川

Greatest music of the night! Great coordination too. Lead singer, brimming with confidence, was on par and might very well be one of the better voice tonight. Undeniably the best performance in their genre tonight. Although i disliked Lucify for their poor singing, but tonight, i am totally impressed with them. Great work nonetheless.

9.8/10

Is the conspiracy emerging once again or is it just me? 馒头 was given the harsh treatment which was given to 夏日风 2 weeks ago. Both of them are similar in the way that their support from fans overrated them in terms of talents. I won't be surprised to see 馒头 be the last band on the stage, just like how they forced 夏日风 out of the competition. If there is a miracle, somewhere out there, 使诺鼻 is gonna be my backup choice. Its time to take out 2 teams no matter what before the revival round, i guess there is a very minimal chance for another talented team to join Juz-B.

Final Prediction : 馒头

scam alert!

As usual, scammers are on the loose, but one of them almost got a friend of mine. I wasn't very confident at first, but was 99% sure that she was on the verge of giving away her item for free after some analysis. How is this carried out? Ok. There are different kinds of scammers, but the one that i will be talking about are those lurking in the auction pages, preying on unsuspecting victims. Why is this viable? This is because, for all, if not most, of the auction-based companies do not get themselves involved in the transaction between buyers and sellers. They provide only a place for the auctions to take place and are not willing to be responsible for any scams or fraud. This should be stated somewhere on any auction websites. Anyone who has access to someone else's credit cards could easily place a bid and have the items sent over to the place he wanted. Its natural that auction-based companies shrug off any responsibility regarding the transactions. Rating does help to an extent, but for some, the offers were too good to resist and often they will place their trust in unrated buyers, thus losing their items instead. There have been several cases floating around, but its no biggie nowsaday. Its so common that no one talks about it anymore. But, those who know about this are the minority. For greenhorn, this knowledge isn't shared publicly. I will be trying to provide a few guidelines regarding auctions and maybe a few tips to prevent you from getting scammed.

Firstly, i have noticed something in common in most of the scams. Most of them originated from Nigeria. Take the inheritance email for instance. Most of them talked about an influencial guy from somewhere died without mentioning an inheritor and he is tasked to find an inheritor. You are the lucky one who can inherit the VAST amount, on a condition that he takes 20% of it. The amounts goes up to millions, but before that, you must give the Nigerian a few grands to pay for admistrations. How to see if that guy is a Nigerian? Nigerian scammers have very very bad english. Maybe got something to do with their deformed brains or whatever. Bad grammers, horrible spellings and erratic abbreviated words are the tell-tale signs that the guy is from Nigeria. In my knowledge, everything that sounds good and comes from Nigeria is nothing but scam. Scammers in Nigeria is to AVs in Japan.

When you are handling auction bids, try to refrain from accepting offers from unrated users unless they offered to pay up first. Even then, make sure he pay up first before you send any items over. Do not put your trust in unrated users easily. Most scammers are lazy and will only go to the extent of creating a new account without going into details to make his scam more convincing.

TEMPTING and IRRESISTABLE offer. This is the main culprit of the crime. Often, people would be gloating over the stupidity of the buyers and fantasizing about the money they will be making if they were to sell the items to the 'thick' buyers. Most of the time, the scammers will be giving an out-of-the-world offer. Cases like, promising the offer in US$ whereas the seller is trying to sell it off in SG$. Eg, the scammer will insist on offering US$200 despite the seller putting the buyout at SG$200. They will promise to provide all the shipping fees once the items reached. They will be telling you that they are willing to offer a price that is so ridiculous, that if he were to buy that thing in his own country, he could probably buy 5-10 of that particular item. This is the biggest lure used by scammers. Who will not succumb to the huge amount of money promised? Most of the sellers are either desperate or very eager to offload their items and when such a propitious scenario appears, it would take a fool to turn it down. It isn't very hard for most to see through the consipiracy, but desperate sellers are as good as chess players. Only the audiences can see the situation clearly, the players are not entitled to such privilege.

Anyway, i am very tired now, 8am in the morning and i did not even catch a wink as i was watching world cup earlier on. Hopefully this helps a bit, i will try to update more on it if i managed to recall it after waking up. Sorry for my poor english too. My brain isn't working well without enough rest.

Below are some links you can refer to.

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/jsp/item/Item.jsp?Trade_TradeId=1675443
http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/jsp/item/Item.jsp?Trade_TradeId=1678117
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/auct/abid/abid-21.html
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/auct/agen/agen-08.html

Superband (8th round result)

hm... Juz-B was eliminated. Duh. Anyway, here's an article.

*虽然如此，使诺鼻认为迷路兵和夏日风是他们最大的劲敌。“迷路兵进步了很多！评审也很喜欢他们的pattern，他们是我们的劲敌。夏日风人气很旺，也是我们的劲敌。”

（注：【非常SuperBand】将有第二轮翻身赛。夏日风会否继续吹？大家拭目以待吧！*

So the rumour of the 2nd revival round has been confirmed.

Superband (8th round)

There are 8 teams left in the Superband competition. Most of them have proven their worth, but there's still some who have scarped through due to blind votings from their fans. Talent isn't something that important anymore in this competition. From the looks of it, a good team will be eliminated in place of the lousy ones. Lucify, the most controversial team to be revived imo, is struggling badly as their lead singer is really of poor quality. Nevertheless, their fans will be voting more vigorously than any others to ensure that they will be performing in the following week. 馒头 has shown everyone, despite having a low score from the judges, their 'fans' managed to save them for several elimination situations. According to some sources, it was Kelly's fans who were voting for them. Yup, the one from the Superstar. One of the member in 馒头 is supposedly Kelly's friend. Oh well. Then there was the 使诺鼻. Sure-enough, they got high scores from the judges almost every week, but do they really have the talents? To me, they are just playing the same o' piece of music again and again every week and because it's noisy, not many could detect it. It doesn't take much skill for a young lad to rap. Instead, rapping requires only practice, practice and more practice. Rapping involves only fast chanting of words in a loud and clear manner. If you have never tried it before, most probably you will stammer very badly like a forgetful old man. Try it a couple more times and you will start to get the hang of it. Despite these teams being the weakest of all the 8 teams now, they will survive. Why? Their incorrigible fans will be voting furiously for them and that's the reason why we are exposed to more and more lousy music. Its bona fide that everyone has different preference, thus the support for different bands. But, voting blindly is just simply wrong. Most of the time, they supported that particular team for only 1 or 2, overlooking any flaws they might have.

B1 馒头 (30.7)
我要你的爱
原唱者： 葛兰

Finally, they did well. I enjoyed the involvement of all the members in 馒头. I though the lead singer was a bit shaky at the start, but it turned out well beyond that. Still, i am not all that hyped up about his singing, just that his voice is one of the better ones among the solo singers left. Music was great, which is why i liked it overall.

8/10

B2 Juz-B (32.5)
夜来香
原唱者：邓丽君

LOL! absolutely marvellous! a very enetertaining performance by Juz-B. humour was simple yet catching. from the imitation of radio broadcast to the shocked expression when the lights are on them, everything was so enchanting that i was probably laughing my way till their performance ended. But still, singing is not to be neglected though. In this case, their pronounciation and pitching were quite horrible. Might very well be their worst attempt at Manderin of all time. There are pros and cons, but pros definitely outweigh the cons in this case. Creativity is within them. They got tons of it and i thought they could continue showing their imagination and of course, start bucking up on their Manderin too.

9/10

B3 迷路兵 (37)
甜蜜蜜
原唱者：邓丽君

To me, it was an OK performance compared to their previous ones. Still, it was one of the better ones of the night. They are so very talented and you just can't imagine what musical instruments will appear next in their future performances. Sam was very shy when singing the earlier part, which makes his singing so-so. His expressions indicated his lack of confidence. Nic was sick and no one could really put the blame on him for presenting an above-average singing. Still, despite being only up to par, its still one of the best singing in the competition tonight. Their effort in bringing us an entertaining yet non-distasteful performance is highly plaudible. Gotta love Nic for his sliding. lOl

9.2/10

B4 使诺鼻 (34.5)
等着你回来
原唱者：蔡琴

Is that song supposed to consist of only that few sentences? That aside, i thought they did badly. Music was noisy as usual and perhaps repetitive. Lau Tak Hwa did ok at 'singing', but there was absolutely no singing technique required for that particular line he sang. I don't really understand what the judges were talking about when they mentioned his singing was good. Rap was awful, its like a CD in an old CD player that is on the verge of death - it just kept repeating the distorted voice over and over again due to some technical problem. Thats what Lau Tak Hwa was going through. During his rap, every word of each sentence cannot be projected, timing and beat was ridiculously weird. Its either his fault for rapping so badly, or his fault for editting the song so badly. Anyway, the judges have been criticising other bands for having irrelevant outfits which were not fitted for their songs, but were 使诺鼻's relevant? The Maid was ok, the make up within was stupidly out of point and whats with the other's makeup?

5/10

B5 BRODS (34)
一样的月光
原唱者：苏芮

They did great! Great confidence, great coordination. Their moves were similar and very neat. Some of their moves were very catching, like the grasping of microphone stand, tilting it while singing, alot of their moves were made in an old-fashioned way, a retro style. Too bad the judges did not notice it, or just simply did not bother to comment on it. I thought the attempt was great. Especially at the end of the performance, they had some great poses.

8.9/10

B6 Lucify (29.5)
我只在乎你
原唱者： 邓丽君

Like i have said, dump the lead singer and everything will turn out fine. I enjoyed their talents with their individual musical instruments, but was at the same time greatly disgusted with the lead singer. Watching him made me miss Sylvester Sim. Fyi, i thought Sylvester Sim sang bad enough.

7/10

B7 SOUL (37)
大眼睛
原唱者： 庾澄庆

hahaha! We finally got the chance to see the humour coming from Soul! a well-rehearsed dance with teasing humour will light up anyone's day any time. Though their singings weren't ideal, their funny yet professional dance has completely overshadowed any flaw they might have. Great effort nonetheless and i bet everyone will be looking forward to their next performance after this!

9/10

B8 J3 (34.5)
热情的沙漠
原唱者： 欧阳菲菲

HOLY! Has to be the best performance of the night! Great set-up, great singings, great dance and great coordination! All time greatest if you ask me. Their singings were the best today (not surprising), set-up is only 2nd to Juz-B (迷路兵 was 3rd imo), solo dance was wonderful, coordination was FLAWLESS!!! You could see everyone in J3 moving to the beat, enjoying each and every part of the performance as much as we do! Keep up the good work!

10/10

As usual, some of my scores were quite different from the judges. 使诺鼻 did not deserved to score so high while J3 was highly underrated. Other than that, most were quite close. Other than the 3 teams i mentioned earlier, the other 5 teams have great talents and it would be a shame to see them not in top 6. Competition is cruel, one of them will disappear from the stage tonight. 馒头 and Lucify will definitely not be out despite being the weaker contestants in the competition now. They got a solid voting base which will see them further into the competition, which also means they are the present '夏日风'. I was hoping for 使诺鼻 to be eliminated this week, but i don't think they have a small fan base either. Judging from this, Juz-B got the lowest score tonight. Since there is no way of judging from the fan base anymore, i will be choosing the one with the lowest score tonight as my alternate choice. The Malays will be fighting it out tonight. I have a hunch 使诺鼻 will survive... because Juz-B got a underrated score despite giving one of the best performance tonight... Another conspiracy? I hope not.

Final prediction : 使诺鼻

WORLD CUP! (betting guide)

HALOHA! Once again, its WORLD CUP time again! 4 years have past and it seemed like it was only last week i placed my last bet for the previous world cup. Ok, thats exaggarating, but its true that i could still vaguely remember the last world cup and what happened. What will you be expecting here? Some rules on betting, some 'tips', analysis and some other craps. Who should be looking at this? ALMOST EVERYONE! But still, there is a certain group of people i want to reach out to in particular. Thats the hardcore gamblers.

It should be a known fact that 99% of the gamblers lose money in betting when calculating overall 'profit'. Why? First, there is the betting system to consider. Asian handicap is the kind of betting where the result is always a win or a lose. Its either you lose or you win your money, but in some situation, you will face a 'draw' and your money will be refunded. Its not the 0-0, 1-1, 2-2 that you are thinking of, its another term named 'lvl ball'. That can only happened when betting with bookies, which is highly inadvisable. The law and the bad practice of bookies are enough to dissuade you to place a bet with them. For me, Singapore Pools is the best choice at the moment. Yes, Sgpools take a huge cut off your earnings compared to bookies, but... if you are winning most of the time, why bother? It will save you the hassle of going to police stations or seeing your money get eaten by dishonest bookies.

Second, most gamblers seemed to lose their cool easily after losing a few bets. That will lead to a bigger bet, which means a higher stake. Often, these bets are made out of desperation and are decided recklessly without much thoughts given to it. A make or break in this context. 75% of these people ended up losing. For the rest of the 25%, the vicious cycle continues and more of them will join the 75% when they faced the same situation again.

So, how to WIN $$$ in betting? To me, discipline is very important. When i start betting during a young age, i was without discipline. i could roughly sum up my loss till now to $3k-4k. Thats how bad it was. Now, i am with more discipline. But i have not put it to test yet. I have stopped betting for almost a year. A few minor bets within the year itself, made me a bit of money in the range of 2 - 3 digits. Bet within your means. If you can't fork out the money, DON'T BET! Bet using only your spare moeny. An example is to save up the money of a meal and place a small bet. Or save the money for that extra drink and head to Singaporepools instead with the money saved. If you are hardcore gamblers, you should have stashed an amount of money in an invisible bank. The amount will be the money you can afford to lose. If you lose that much already, that means your gambling trip is ended. No top-up no nothing. For me, i have limited myself to $100 per match which i am uber confident of, and $50 per match which i am confident of. I will be picking matches to bet and will not get myself involved in all the matches as what i used to do. In the mean time, i will try to provide my analysis for most of the matches. Good Luck to all!

For germany vs costa rica, the following are my bets.

Costa Rica +1 1/2 $35
2-1 $10
3-1 $5
3-2 $5
1 goal $5

Total $60


Sorry for the late update. For those who are wanting to go for a straight Germany win, why not try Germany-Germany in HT-FT? Thats my recommendation. Costa Rica +1 1/2 shouldn't be too hard too. Good Luck!

****************************
Duh. 4-2. Guess i'll have to skip all group matches. lOl

PHI *say fi*

Today, i went to the popular book store and decided that its time i bought myself a copy of possibly the 2nd best selling book on Earth, The Da Vinci Code. ok, stop laughing. Duh, its bad enough to be left out of all the hype around the book itself. =( anyway, if you are wondering which was the first best selling book, its the Bible supposedly. anyway, back to The Da Vinci Code. I have to say Dan Brown is one hell of a genius. I bet his IQ could match those of Bill Clinton and might very well be similar to those of Shakespeares. Mind you, Shakespeares had a higher Intelligence Quotient than anyone of you could expect. I was always a fan of Dan Brown, particularly mesmerised by the way he led us on a breathless chase. His books were the few that i have ever read voluntarily in my whole life. After reading the first few chapters in the book, i came over the term PHI. It was mentioned in Chapter 20 in the book 'The Da Vinci Code', i couldn't stress more. Before i read this book, i was totally unaware of the term, PHI.

PHI, is a golden number which is often defined numerically as 1.618 corrected to 3 significant figures. PHI is especially prevalent in the Fibonacci Series. What is the Fibonacci Series?

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, ...

It is a series starting with 0 and 1, where each new number in the series is simply the sum of the two before it. Eg. 0+1=1, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5, 3+5=8 and so on. When the number gets bigger and bigger, try dividing the 2 successive numbers. It comes out to be 1.618. Taking 2 and 3 for example, the division will produce a result of 1.667. Now lets move on to 233 and 377. The answer of the division would be 1.61802575. 610 and 987? 1.61803279. As the numbers in the Fibonacci Series get bigger, the more accurate the calculation of PHI is. So, whats so great about PHI?

PHI, is also heavily related to the term 'Divine Proportion'. PHI appears in the proportions of many life forms. Quoting some examples from 'The Da Vinci Code' are the division of:

1. the distance from the tip of your head to the floor and the distance from your belly button to the floor

2. the distance from the shoulder to the fingertips and the distance from your elbow to the fingertips

3. the distance from the hip to the floor and the distance from the knee to the floor

4. finger joints

5. toes

6. spine

Not only that, it even appeared in the proportions of plants and animals, from a rose to a dolphin! DNA wasn't spared the absence of PHI and neither was the Solar system! And of course, PHI was heavily used in Arts, Musics and Bible, population growth is also PHI-related! It isn't exaggerating to conclude that PHI is ubiquitous in our daily life. After reading this, you are at least able to walk up to your friend and yelled 'PHI' with the fact that you are 99% sure that your apprehension for PHI is definitely greater than his or hers. So follow me and say 'PHI'!

*ok, the last couple of sentences was uncalled for and was meant to be some dumb humor. anyway, for those who are interested to know more about this magical number, here's the link for you. http://goldennumber.net/ . have fun! =D *

phobia... have one?

It shouldn't be a surprise for anyone to have a phobia for at least a particular thing. Be it animals, sports, activities, items, situations, there is bound to be something that is haunting a person. What is a phobia? Its a persistent, abnormal and irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that compels one to avoid it, despite the awareness and reassurance that it is not dangerous. As you might suspect, i took the definition from www.dictionary.com. I thought it would be clearer in this case.

Some might be afraid of animals due to bad encounters with them when they were young. Of course, there were cases where phobias were developed even after puberty depending on the severity of the incident. An ugly toad left into the soup which you are sipping from or a dog that bit you in the leg while you're walking on the street are the few reasons for your phobias.

Sports like swimming, aren't taken up easily by some. Drowning was an experience that was gained by my very self. It was very scary at that time, as you were helpless in the water. I wasn't able to swim very well at that time when i was still a small kid, and i thought my life would be ended in the swimming pool. Luckily for me, lifeguards then were very responsible, unlike the working population now, which is made up of 95% of irresponsible people. I was saved by him, and spared the registration to heaven or hell - it doesn't matters. For me, i weren't afraid of water after having the near-death encounter, instead, i was more determined to swim well. it might not be the case for others. They might be traumatised for life. Glad i wasn't.

Activities such as flying on a plane or taking a ride on the roller coaster are one of the most common cause for phobias. Phobias of height, phobias of flying. It do not necessarily require the victims to be involved in any incidents to develop the phobias mentioned above. Some were afraid of flying and heights the moment they came to Earth, while some might have endured through some gruelling experience.

In some situations where one was trapped in an elevator alone for hours, or was strangled and abused since young, victims are highly susceptible to contracting a phobia. A fear for containment and a fear for wearing necklaces or anything that are bound to their necks could be created by the above situations. A fire broke out in the factory and a man was trapped in the very place where he was given a new lease of life which might be his deathbed in the next second. All exits were guarded by huge flames and the ubiquity of explosions did not help his cause either. Just as he was about to abandon all hopes, 3 men could be vaguely seen amidst the poisonous clouds. He wasn't able to stay conscious long enough to figure out who the 3 men were. He woke up in the hospital, to much of his delight, coming to the realisation he wasn't dead. But since that fateful event, he was bound to Claustrophobia - a fear of being trapped in small confined spaces.

==============================================

Below is the ten most common phobia quoted from http://www.phobia-fear-release.com/ten-most-common-phobia.html

Ten most common phobia:
1. Arachnophobia
Fear of Spiders. Half of women and 10 per cent of men have a fear of spiders.

2. Social Phobia
Fear of being evaluated negatively in social situations.

Approximately 5.3 million American adults, or about 3.7 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have social phobia.

3. Aerophobia
Fear of flying.

4. Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia involves intense fear and avoidance of any place or situation where escape might be difficult or help unavailable in the event of developing sudden panic-like symptoms.

5.Claustrophobia
Fear of being trapped in small confined spaces.

6. Acrophobia
Fear of heights.

7. Emetophobia
Fear of vomit.

8. Carcinophobia
Fear of cancer.

9. Brontophobia
Fear of thunderstorms.

10. Necrophobia
Fear of death or or dead things.

==============================================

Here's the catch. From some sources on the internet, 1 in 23 people is suffering from phobia. Thats 4.35% of the population. Quite a huge number eh? To conclude this, an advice to all who are currently suffering from phobia - be brave and overcome it, join the 95.65% of us!

Below are some interesting links that you can go to :

http://www.phobialist.com/
http://www.phobialist.com/fears.html

For those who have Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - a fear for long words, here is something to assist you in overcoming your phobia. floccinaucinihilipilification ! This is probably the longest REAL word in English. =D

*Other than the quotes mentioned above, all the other materials were typed by me and my keyboard. Most of the contents are fiction and opinion-based. LP. Love and Peace.*

tada!

soooo bussssssssy

have been veri busy day in day out. got a couple of tuition assignments lately. till now, i am handling three tuition assignments. quite hectic if you ask me, especially when preparing for the recent tuition assignment for a sec 4 girl. i was supposed to teach her english and emaths. as most people should know... 2 years in army = loss of 90% of school stuff. thats what happened to me. i dug out all the papers i could find and was only managed to recover some test papers. to be specific, the test papers for prelim from a few schools. only a few of them came with answer and i have to make do with it. i tried doing them myself. most of the questions are manageable, but questions involving angles in a circle and others that require formulae have been haunting me. went to give my first lesson for the sec 4 girl today. how to put it... its was okay. not the greatest i guess. i did fumble on quite a few questions, but was able to solve them for her eventually. i even taught her something that wasn't taught to us. a few ways to make the problems simpler. somehow, i felt a great sense of satisfaction in solving those questions and be able to share my 'techniques' with her. it isn't the first time i have had this satisfaction. it always appear when i got my students to understand something that they did not understand previously. in the end, i left her house half an hour beyond the intended time. although i taught her for an extra half an hour without getting paid, i did not mind at all. overall, it has been very busy for me preparing for every lessons for my students, but i felt better than before. much much better than me sitting in front of my computer thinking of what to do next. =D

university and my financial status

*UPDATED*

everything is based on 1 year.

expenses
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NTU tuition fee = $5,650
Hostel (single) = $195 X 12 = $2340
Personal Allowance = $300 X 12 = $3600
Laptop (MAX) = $2500

Total = $14090


aids and income
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Bursary = $4000
income from tuitions = $(240+220+250) X 12 = $8520

Total = $12520


Grand Total = $14090 - $12520
= -$1570/yr
= -$130.83/mth

this is the rough estimation of my expenses and income when i enter university. i have limited my personal allowance to $300 per month. seems ridiculously low with the current inflated price. if i could find a meal @ $4... $4 X 3 X 30 = $360. thats $60 more than expected... and that does not includes transportation... and its also based on the assumption that i got the bursary and giving tuitions while studying. the number is just pure scary. i have calculated quite an optimistic number for the expenses, as i have not found a room mate as of yet. if i were in NUS, i would have a few choices, but in NTU, no luck. hopefully things will be better...

anyone got any idea how i could get financial aids or more income? or you think there should be something else added to the expenses? would be thankful if you can post some suggestions here. thanks in advance!

Superband (7th round result)

omg omg omg... what has the world come to? 夏日风 was booted by DEFAULT!!! come on! how can they be booted out due to too little votes? NO WAY! everything doesn't make sense right from the start. Brods was really that bad? duh. 夏日风's performance deserved an 18? how was the score generated? based on their improvements? based on their performance on that night? DUH! they IMPROVED. no matter how bad they were, they IMPROVED. and out of all their performances starting from round 1, they did the best that night! so the best = 18, the worst deserves higher points? by giving 18 can only proves 2 things. either the judges are anyhow giving scores in the first few round, or the judges are TRYING VERY HARD in an OBVIOUS way to boot them out. its rigged. like the WORLD CUP. GG. i was hoping to see what kind of improvements they could bring next round. duh. thanks to the 'IMPARTIAL' judges and organisers. anyway, GO BRODS! YOU SURVIVED!!! boo to Lucify though. there seems to be another revival round to pick the 6th team for the semi-final. if there really is, at least i get to see 夏日风 for 1 more time. and to see if they improved over the long rest.

Superband (7th round)

yet another monday. i will be talking about the first tv programme i watched every week. yup. just trying to say that i hardly watch tv. and the programme is... SUPERBAND. i am not very excited over SUPERBAND, but hey, thats one of the few tv programmes worth watching, other than the news and the drama on sat and sun 4.30pm on channel 8. its soooo interesting to see who is going to be kicked out!!! come on! i am sure you all are watching mostly because of the elimination and maybe the few bands you support. if there isn't elimination, i wouldn't even be bothered to watch it. no competition, no headline. lOl! i wouldn't waste 90% of my time, listening to some jokers singing, just to see my fav band performs. it really made me happy seeing the number of bands getting less and less. most of the jokers are out of the competition. still, there is a couple of them left.


B1 使诺鼻 (35.5)
Boom
原唱者： Energy

nothing much to say. just the same o' screaming from the malay guy and the chanting of Lau Tak Hwa. but... Law Tak Hwa's rap is better. noticed that i did not mentioned IMPROVED. seriously, it will take more than a stroke of genius for him to improve. HIGH? i don't think so. i can't even feel the so called 'HIGH'ness. i bet only their fans are getting so high and they are being nuisances to the other fans at the stage there too. its getting boring with each of their performances. judges? come on, forget about them already. they are a bunch of 'money-minded' freaks with no professionalism.

8.5/10

B2 BRODS (27.5)
你把我灌醉
原唱者：动力火车

OMG! i sensed a very special feeling when listening to their performance today. i couldn't tell what it was, but i swear it was something refreshing. taken from an old saying, 'they moved me'. i agreed that their singing weren't the best, but still, i find it better than their previous performance. they seem to either find their talents they showed in the earlier rounds or have discovered a new source of creativity. i sensed a conspiracy from the judges... maybe its just me.

8.5/10

B3 夏日风 (18)
香草吧噗
原唱者：南拳妈妈

WTF! godly performance by 夏日风! of course, i am not comparing them to other bands, but am comparing their performance today with their previous performances! i thought the inclusion of the special musical instruments were something new and refreshing! to a certain extent, i find that this is the first time they blended in so well. yup, lidan's dance was carried over from last week with minor tweaks, but i find it gel with the song rather well today. they chose a song to fit the dance, whats wrong with that? its true that they still need alot of work to gel their performance together as a great one, but their efforts in doing so were undeniable. to me, they improved alot, in term of their thoughts and performance. still, they are far from being a superband yet.

7/10

B4 J3 (34)
除了爱你还能爱谁
原唱者：动力火车

wasn't really impressed at the start, but was totally impressed in the end. some new ideas were added to their original plain singngs. was very glad that everyone took part in the singing. still, i believe that they need to do more than simple singings to make it to the finals.

9/10

B5 迷路兵 (37)
身边
原唱者：无印良品

LOL! who is the obvious champion? 迷路兵! they dropped their usual pre-song entertainment, but added a very refreshing experience in the start of the song. it sounds like angelic chorus when their vocals combined! despite leaving all the vocals to Sam, they still managed to pull off a great performance. Sam is great at singing parts that do not require high pitch while Nic is great at handling the high pitch. to me, they showed everyone that, any one member in their band is GREAT! and when all add together... BEST!

9.9/10

B6 馒头 (30.7)
直觉
原唱者： Soler

average music, average singing. singing was better at the end. will have no problem going through with their voting power, but... average wouldn't get them too far.

7/10

B7 SOUL (35.5)
孙子爱情兵法
原唱者： K ONE

Great dance! you are gauranteed a great dance every monday as long as they are still in the competition. there is still alot of room for improvement in the singing department, but i guess dancing is their key to the finals. dancing is a very important factor in a concert yea?

9.5/10

B8 Lucify (35)
顶尖高手
原唱者： K ONE

someone turn on the subtitle please? thank. what the *BEEP* was he yelling about? duh. really had enough of him man. can't sing can't talk fast audibly, go and feed dog lar!!! must be the worst revived contestants in all 'SUPER' competitions. kick the lead singer and get a better one will GREATLY IMPROVE the band.

7.5/10

B9 Juz-B (38)
Cowboy
原唱者： Energy

an interesting performance. one of the best performances of the night, but still, there isn't much to comment on. its the same thing every week, with a minor tweak here and there. they couldn't sing in proper manderin this time round too. food for thought.

8.5/10


as hard as the judges are trying, 夏日风 won't be out imo. so what they did was to pull Brods down just in case 夏日风 managed to survive again. thats what i am seeing now. i don't think Brods deserved such low scores. Lucify's lead singer was horrible and they chose not to penalise them. Juz-B's singing was of sub-standard and yet nothing was done to justify that. all these have been made too obvious. they are not using brains to come up with a better conspiracy and i guess the fans won't be using any in supporting their favs either. i would love to see 使诺鼻, 馒头 and Lucify to go out, but it won't be happening tonight. my guess, Brods. i liked them alot, but still... it has been made so obvious that its either 夏日风 or Brods that were tagged. i wouldn't bet on 夏日风 to be packing up so soon. J3 might be in danger if their fans thought they were safe 6.5 points lead over Brods. 馒头? impossible. they got tons of voting power that can possibly match 夏日风's.

Final Prediction : Brods

my ah pek tutor is the best! is he?

The below article is copied from the new paper today. a lesson that shouldn't be taken lightly.

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Inspiring teacher. Religious man. Sexual predator.

To strangers, Singaporean private tutor Leow Thiam Heng, 62, looked like an "Ah Pek" (heartland uncle). He was often in slippers, spoke broken English and cracked Hokkien jokes.

Hardly your image of a teacher.

but to many of his students, he was a caring, commited and inspiring teacher.

The private tutor did have a talent for maths, physics and chemistry, which he made easy for his students.

But, good as he was with numbers and formulae, Leow miscalculated when he thought he could get away with molesting his students.

He betrayed his students' trust and took advantage of teenage girls.

Leow had been found guilty of molesting two of his students in February this year after a three-week trial.

He had his appeal in the High Court dismissed last Friday. He will have to spend two years in jail.

POPULAR TEACHER

For over 20 years, his tuition centre - now at Peace Centre - had been popular among students.

A tutor since 1964, he was the man behind the centre's success, though some of his family members helped out.

He said he must have taught over 7,000 students over two decades.

Students fondly called him "Ah Leow" and during the weekends, his classes were often filled to capacity, with over 40 students in each class.

He was popular, funny and friendly, said his students.

But his sordid side was kept well hidden from most of them.

Leow molested two secondary school girls, aged 14 and 15, in two separate incidents in mid-2004. They cannot be named as they are victims of a sexual offence.

The first victim, a Secondary 4 student, had attended classes two days a week, for four hours each time. She went to the centre for maths, physics and chemistry tuition.

On 4 Jul that year, after her class ended around 6pm, Leow asked her to stay behind.

CHICKEN POX RUSE

She guessed he was going to give her cream for her face as he had done before. It was to help heal her chicken pox scars, he had told her.

She said Leow waited for everyone to leave before taking out the cream from the refrigerator.

He asked her to lie down on a sofa and applied the cream on her face.

Then he went to the fridge and returned with a bottle with a nozzle.

He asked her to lie down, and he lifted up her shirt and applied the cream on her stomach.

She said he continued rubbing his palms on her body, and moved upwards. He even pushed her bra up and started rubbing her breastes, and back down to her stomach.

She was too shocked to resist him.

Her parents noticed that she was quiet after picking her up and when she got home, the girl cried and told her mother everything.

The second victim was only 14 when Leow used the same ruse on her.

On 25 Jun 2004, Leow molested her while her two friends waited outside.

He even told her to shave her pubic hair in order to study better, she said.

He warned her not to tell anyone about the incident. But the girl told her friends and, after consulting a former tutor and her father, she made a police report.

Leow, who is married, with grown up children, accused the two girls of conspiring to frame him.

He claimed they had tried to extort money from him as they knew he owned private properties and shares.

But his statements to the police were inconsistent. This, he claimed, was because he had been shouted at and he couldn't understand English well.

District Judge Toh Yung Cheong did not believe him and gfound the two victims' testimonies to be credible and consistent.

Leow appealed against his decision.

In the High Court, Leow's lawyer, Ms Melanie Ho, from Harry Elias Partnership, argued that even if Leow did touch the girls, he did not touch their breasts and private parts, but massged only the waist area.

She presented testimonies about his character, from both his present and former students.

She said the accused was also a religious person who had been to Thailand and Myanmar for monastic training.

He also gave generously to charities, like the NKF, and Buddhist temples, she added.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Hay Hung Chun argued that both victims did not know each other before the case and had no reason to frame him.

He said it was Leow who offered $20,000 to compound the offences. The victims did not ask him for money.

CUNNING

He added that Leow had abused his students' trust and "there was pre-meditation and cunning on (his) part".

"These acts were not fleeting or momentary intrusions but lasted for a few minutes," he said.

High Court judge V K Rajah dismissed Leow's appeal saying: "Once tuition teachers do silly things to their charges, it's no point nuancing the charges and what part he touched or did not touch."
==============================================

a SHAME to the tutor world. me, as a tutor, is so ashamed of him. a 'caring and pious' wolf in disguise. for female students who are having male tutors, try not to accept requests that allow the male tutor to be with you alone. if there is really a need to, eg. your parents aren't at home, and things really happened, SHOUT! SHOUT OUT LOUD! HIT HIM!!! from my point of view, the male tutor will be frozen in his path and will not dare to do anything further. in most cases, he will ask you to stop screaming and hitting him. he will beg you to not tell this to anyone even. promise him that you will not tell anyone and stop screaming and hitting him. he will most probably have to believe in you and run away as fast as he can. BUT! when your parents come home, TELL THEM WHAT HAPPENED!!! the reason for promising him not to tell anyone is to lower his guard against you. you never know... some crazy dudes might even try to kill you in desperation. its always wise to not drive him crazy and do the necessary things when he is not around.

How To Get A Good Night Sleep?

==============================================
Five Basic Strategies
==============================================
1. Never oversleep

Never oversleep because of a poor night's sleep. This is the most crucial rule. Get up at about the same time every day, especially on the morning after you've lost sleep. Sleeping late for just a couple of days can reset your body clock to a different cycle -- you'll be getting sleepy later and waking up later.

2. Set your body clock

Light helps restart your body clock to its active daytime phase. So when you get up, go outside and get some sunlight. Or if that's difficult, turn on all the lights in your room.

Then walk around for a few minutes. The calves of your legs act as pumps and get blood circulating, carrying more oxygen to your brain to help get you going.

3. Exercise

Keep physically active during the day. This is especially important the day after a bad night's sleep. When you sleep less, you should be more active during the day. Being less active is one of the worst things an insomniac can do.

Strenuous exercise (brisk walking, swimming, jogging, squash, etc.) in late afternoon seems to promote more restful sleep. Also, insomniacs tend to be too inactive a couple of hours before bed. Do some gentle exercise. A stretching routine has helped many people.

4. Don't nap

Do not take any naps the day after you've lost sleep. When you feel sleepy, get up and do something. Walk, make the bed, or do your errands.

While studying, get up regularly (every 30 minutes, or more often if necessary) to walk around your room. Do a gentle stretch. That will increase the flow of oxygen to your brain and help you to be more alert.

5. Set a bedtime schedule using these two steps:

First, try to go to bed at about the same time every night. Be regular. Most people get hungry at 7 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. because they've eaten at those times for years. Going to bed at about the same time every night can make sleep as regular as hunger.

Second, go to bed later when you are having trouble sleeping. If you're only getting five hours of sleep a night during your insomnia period, don't go to bed until just five hours before your wake-up time. For instance, if you've been waking up at 7 a.m., don't go to bed until 2 a.m. No naps! Make the time you spend in bed sleep time. Still some insomnia? Go to bed proportionately later. Then, as your time in bed becomes good sleep time, move your going-to-bed time back 15 to 30 minutes a night and do that for a week or so.

This is the opposite of what we want to do: we want to go to bed earlier to make up the lost sleep. Learn to do what many sleep laboratories teach -- go to bed later the night after losing sleep.


==============================================
Additional Strategies
==============================================
Develop a bedtime routine

Stop studying and don't get into any stimulating discussions or activities a half hour or hour before bed. Do something that's relaxing -- read "light" material, play your guitar, listen to music that is quiet, catch a mindless TV show. Some people sleep better in a clean and neat environment, so they like to straighten and clean their room just before going to bed. Find your own sleep-promoting routine.


Warm bath, yes; shower, no

Take a long, hot bath before going to bed. This helps relax and soothe your muscles. Showers, on the other hand, tend to wake you up. Insomniacs should avoid showers in the evening.


List "gotta do's"

Keep a pad and pencil handy. If you think of something you want to remember, jot it down. Then let the thought go. There will be no need to lie awake worrying about remembering it.


Stretch and relaxation

Some people find that a gentle stretching routine for several minutes just before getting into bed helps induce sleep. Others practice relaxation techniques. Libraries or bookstores have books on developing stretching or relaxation routines.


To eat or not to eat

Some sleep centers recommend a light breakfast and lunch to help you stay alert during the day. They advise you to make the evening meal the major meal of the day. Schedule it at least four hours before bedtime so your digestive system will be reasonably quiet by the time you're ready to sleep.


Warm milk?

It helps some people to have a glass at bedtime. Milk has an essential amino acid, tryptophan, which stimulates the brain chemical serotonin, believed to play a key role in inducing sleep. A piece of whole wheat bread, or another carbohydrate, enhances the effect. Or try taking tryptophan, beginning with about two grams about an hour before bedtime. A piece of wheat bread will help the tryptophan to be absorbed.


Avoid caffeine and tyrosine-rich foods from late afternoon on

Caffeine, a chemical in coffee, colas, tea, chocolate, etc., causes hyperactivity and wakefulness. Some sleep laboratories encourage people to avoid such tyrosine-laden foods as fermented cheeses (cheddar is about the worst; cottage cheese and yogurt are OK), ripe avocados, some imported beers, and fermented meats (bologna, pepperoni, salami). Also avoid red wines, especially chianti.


Cut down on alcohol

Alcohol might help you get to sleep, but it results in shallow and disturbed sleep, abnormal dream periods, and frequent early morning awakening.


Sleeping pills

Reasons to avoid sleeping pills include disturbed sleep patterns, short-term amnesia, and impaired motor skills. Research shows that benzodiazepine hypnotics, the most commonly prescribed sleeping pills, impair short-term memory, reaction time, thinking, and visual-motor coordination (such as driving).


Worrying about insomnia?

Focusing on insomnia might make it worse. After all, you won't die from it! It is frequently a symptom of something else excessive worry or anxiety about grades, money, relationships, etc. If you think a particular worry might be keeping you awake, get up, find paper and a pencil, and jot down something you can do about that worry tomorrow. Put the note where you'll see it when you wake up. You can set aside your worry and use the remainder of the night for restful sleep. If necessary, use the strategies already described to get back into a regular sleep pattern.



In bed and unable to sleep?

If you are in bed and unable to sleep, many experts suggest getting completely out of bed, sitting in a chair, and reading, writing letters, or doing some quiet activity. As you get sleepy, go back to bed and use a relaxation technique to fall asleep. Make your bed a place to sleep, not a place to get other things done.
Don't get mad at yourself! Try not to worry about not sleeping. Your body's wisdom will take over and you'll begin sleeping regularly as long as you use the five basic strategies described earlier.



Exercising?

The role of exercise cannot be stressed enough! Adding regular exercise -- brisk walking, riding an exercycle (perhaps while watching TV), swimming -- has helped many people sleep better. The more active your body is during the day, the more likely it is that you'll be able to go to sleep when it's time for your body to be quiet. Quiet time for sleep needs to be a contrast to a more active day.



Waking up at night?

What should you do when you're awake after just two, three, or four hours of sleep? Do not drink, eat, or smoke when you wake up. If you do, you'll find yourself waking up for them after just three or four nights of such treats.

Do get out of bed, read, write letters, or do some quiet activity. Reactions to the stresses of everyday life can result in a level of sleep that is easily interrupted. A good stress-management program can help. Contact your counseling service for such a program.



Awake 4 or 5 a.m? Now what?

Get up and begin the day. If you're rested, you've probably had enough sleep and have a head start on most people. If you're still tired, get up anyway and go through the day, avoiding naps. Start the routines suggested in the basic strategies.
Build an exercise program and stress-management training into your life. By learning to be less stressed during the day, you also learn to sleep better at night.


Credits to http://www.k-state.edu/counseling/topics/life/sleep.html for the informations above.

i have highlighted the main points in bold and italic for those who are too lazy to read through everything. hope this helps! *for you and for me! =D*