To my dearest JQXL,

I just want to tell you that I really really understand how you feel. I know why you`re feeling this way. I know how much he means to you. I know. However, I`m seriously telling you now that you need to snap out of that severe inferiority complex that has brought you nothing but endless misery.

You are a great person. Be reminded that there is NO perfect soul in the world. You cannot keep comparing yourself with the so-called "elites". Why bring yourself down like this?! You`re good and amazing in your own ways. You`re blessed with that angelic face of yours, which has undeniably brought fame to our clan (although some may claim that it`s an oriental face BUT STILL). Ok stop smiling. I know you are.

I told you that I`ve gotten over that rough patch. It`s your turn now. We should not be envious of other people. I believe each of us has our destined paths. Why has it turned out this way for us? Well, there is a reason behind everything, be it destiny, fate or by the hands of God. No matter what, there truly EXISTS a reason for it. Who knows for real whether we`re heading for doom or will there be a rainbow after a shower? I remember someone told me before that if you remain in the path of self destruction and misery for too long, quite frankly speaking, it`s hard to break out of it. I find it very true. Seriously. Instead of mulling over things and facts that cannot be altered anymore, why not just enjoy the moment?

And I don`t deny the fact that life is unfair. Yes, life is SO unfair. Sometimes, no matter how much you tried, how much you worked hard for it, you do not get the expected results in the end. HOWEVER, that is nothing to be demoralized about. Life is never smooth-sailing, if you realise. And yes, some people just get all the luck in the world- snogging hot hunks, getting all the A`s and enter a prestigious course, come from a well to do family and what-have-yous. BUT, who cares about them? Are they what you are living for? NO! You have your own wonderful life to lead. Why care about them? You just need to make sure you live each day to the fullest and get out of that depression crap.

You have so many wonderful friends around you. We will always be there to lend a listening ear. We can listen intently to your woes and offer good advice but ultimately, it`s up to your willpower to conquer whatever psychological barriers that remain in your heart. I myself have already forgotten how many times I`ve said this and I`ll say it again- JQXL, you are fabulous. You deserve him, not the other way round. Stop trying to live up to his expectations. He sees what he sees in you. You are who you are. Maybe he really takes interest in your oriental looks. Ok, you`re supposed to laugh. After laughing, read on. Stop trying to morph into another personality- a beautiful dancer blessed with looks and brains. That`s not you. You`re even better. Always tell that to yourself- He is now with me for all the good reasons in the world. I must have faith in myself.

Although there are endless regrets in life and some can be extremely painful, life still goes on you see. Yes, life still goes on.

Boyfriends are useless when it comes to this kind of things. Guys simply do not understand why we feel this way at times. They do not have delicate hearts like us. That`s when girlfriends come in useful. JQXL, you just need to know that we will be here for you, always. We have the super-saver and kiasu queen, forceful and logical queen and one queen who`s all the way in Melbourne rushing out assignment deadlines. And lastly, you have the naggy and dramatic queen full of motherly love for you to bug for the next three years. We girlfriends simply hope that you`ll lead a happier life. That`s all we ask for. Take care and LOVE.

Lunchtime. Oh yes. Hong Lim did not collapse like China Square la. It merely shut down for a day for cleaning works on Monday. Anyways, I lunched there this afternoon. Missed the cuisine so much. Well, I had a missed call from Grandma. Called her and the first thing I heard was, "MINNNN.... I`m very bored...." and she rattled off in Mandarin. My heart ached like crap after hearing her whines. Grandma had a fall on the hard concrete floor yesterday afternoon and she told no one!!! After I comforted her, I immediately rang my house and woke Papa from his sleep. I told him everything that needed to be said. I called Mummy as well.

When I went to Grandma`s place in the evening after work, OHGOD, the area below her cheek was bruised and she had a huge bump on her right knee. I was sort of traumatised by the cruel process called ageing. Grandma then sort of reprimanded me jokingly for alarming everyone, causing my parents and my aunt to rush over in the afternoon to look at her "superficial" wounds as she had claimed them to be.

HAIS. I don`t know what to say except that well... I don`t know. I don`t want to think too much. I want Grandma to witness my wedding. That`s most important. Her greatest hope of me is to be able to bear witness NOT only to my wedding, something more than that, which is the birth of my FIRST baby! HAHAHAHA. She can, and I`m very certain she will. Perhaps I`ll need another twelve years down the road to accomplish that. Be patient, Grans!

YES YES I`m fanatic about astronomy so I CANNOT possibly miss the phenomenon of the year!

NO MATTER WHAT, I MUST BE ONLINE ON FRIDAY AT 6.30pm, GMT+0800
to catch the live webcast in time!



Some information behind the TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE.

The moon is up there in the sky too; you just can't see it during the day of the eclipse because the lit side is facing away from us (a phase called "New Moon") and the blue sky washes everything out. As the moon just "touches" the sun (actually coming between, us and the sun, not touching!) you see the first bite taken out of the edge of the sun's disk. This is called "first contact." This is where the partial phases of the eclipse start.

For about the next hour and a half the moon covers more and more of the sun's disk. As the total phase of the eclipse approaches, the lighting around you becomes very strange. It gets much darker, but unlike at sunset, the color of the remaining light does not become orangish and reddish. It just gets grayer. If there are animals around to observe, the daytime animals become quiet and prepare for sleep, while at the same time the nocturnal animals get ready to come out. This must be a very confusing time for them because their internal biological clocks must be telling them it's still daytime!

When only a sliver of the sun is left, with only a few minutes to go until totality, you might notice long, straight bands of shadows moving across the ground. These "shadow bands" form from refraction, or bending of light in the earth's atmosphere similar to what you might see on the bottom of a pool of water. This is the same thing that causes stars to twinkle. With the sun only a long slit of light, the distortions in the atmosphere become visible as moving bands, parallel to the remaining slit of sunlight. They are usually very low in contrast and it helps to spread a white sheet on the ground to help viewing. They are VERY difficult to photograph. We've never seen any pictures of shadow bands. Of course, this could be because everyone has their cameras trained on the main event about to happen which is, admittedly, much more spectacular.

Second contact occurs when the moon completely covers the sun. Now the action really heats up! The edge of the moon is not perfectly round. There are mountains and valleys that make the edge less than smooth.



As the moon covers the last slice of the sun, the photosphere shining through the lunar valleys creates an effect called "Baily's beads." The last sliver of sun breaks up into a chain of bright pearls around the edge of the moon. The corona is visible on the other side of the moon at this point.

Baily's beads with a nice prominence on the left. Photo by Fred Espenak

As the last bit of photosphere disappears, you see something called the "diamond ring effect"—the beautiful inner corona forming a ring around the moon with a brilliant white jewel of light.

After the diamond ring disappears, you only have a couple seconds to notice the crimson-colored chromosphere before it too is eclipsed.

One surprising thing about this part of the eclipse is how quickly it gets dark. Even though we all know exactly what is happening on an intellectual level, it's still somewhat frightening on some inner, instinctive level. Fortunately, there's so much to do at this point, and the spectacle is so exciting, that this wave of horror passes quickly.

Once the sun is completely hidden, you can see the full glory of the solar corona. The corona is about the same brightness as the full moon. You don't normally see it because of the blue sky. If you were in orbit above the atmosphere, you would only have to block the bright portion of the sun to see the corona. This is what orbiting solar observatories do. They can create artificial eclipses with occulting disks and observe the corona whenever needed, and for as long as is necessary.

The second striking thing you may see during totality are the beautiful prominences. These gigantic jets and loops of gas around the edge of the sun follow local magnetic fields usually emanating from sunspots. They are the beautiful crimson color of glowing hydrogen gas.

[All photos by Ron Hipschman unless otherwise noted]

If you can draw your eyes away from the sun for a few moments, you will notice that it has become quite dark, comparable to twilight, and that the brighter stars and planets have come out. The horizon (if you have a good long-distance view) has a beautiful orange cast to it—like it's sunset all around, which it is! These are portions of the earth still in the brighter "penumbra." The area of the earth out there in the penumbral regions are experiencing a partial eclipse, but still are brightly illuminated by at least a portion of the sun's blazing photosphere. These areas are far enough away that the light's trip through the earth's atmosphere colors the distant scene yellow and orange, just like at sunset.

-The above information are quoted from

http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/what.html

and http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/what2.html

More information can be found on NASA too.

Oh yes, there`s this interesting article on the solar eclipse found on MSN news. Over here.

Ok, in summary, what is interesting about the total solar eclipse is that the sun will be completely blocked out when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, casting darkness across the skies. And like what the piece of information provided above, "Once the sun is completely hidden, you can see the full glory of the solar corona" which is known as TOTALITY.

WATCH THIS WATCH THIS!

The following pictures are digitally enhanced but are undoubtedly gorgeous.

The Lunar Eclipse against Taipei 101.


Simply amazing.


Beautiful.

It was a day out for lunch. I had to bring my sister along cos no one`s available to look after her. So I picked her up at noon and off we go to meet Jane and Huiqi. I told Tingting that I`ll be bringing her out to meet my friends and she exclaimed, "Again?! Wednesday again?" LOL. Which reminded me that she backed out at the last minute last wednesday when I was supposed to bring her along with me to Boat Quay. This time round, my mummy wasn`t available so she had no choice but to tag along. Anyways, we had an unexpected guest- Zhi Kai. It was E-Learning Day for him today so he needn`t attend school. Supposed to lunch at Simei with Jasmine and Cheryl as well but they could not make it at the last minute cos it`s month end now and they need to clear their workload fast. Therefore, we had a change of venue- Tampines, our commonplace.

As usual. Spent LOADS of time deciding on where to go. Women love to be spoilt for choice. Eventually went to Kopitiam at the last level. Couldn`t find seats. Decided to try out KFC. Fortunately there were seats and we began munching on our lunch. Tingting was SOOO SHY during lunch but it turned out that she bonded with Zhi Kai pretty well later on. You`ll see in the photos later. HAHA.

Our stomachs were well-fed and that explains our happy faces.


Thereafter, we went to shop around T-Mall since Thorry needs new sandals. I went into Mphosis and saw this pair of striking blue flip flops. I thought to myself, "This is super HUIQI la!" Asked her to take a look and she set her mind on that. Heh heh. Trust my taste huh.

Camming in Mphosis.




Godma taking the pic. My biological sister. And my god brother. LOL. What a combination.


Told her to give me a satisfied face after her shopping victory and this was what she gave.
You can do better, Thorry!




We`re the blue BFFs. She has already requested for my midnight blue nail polish to match her flip flops. HAHAHA.


Ok let`s sidetrack a little. The pair of sandals I was wearing has a story behind it ok. I was searching for styles like this- T-slingbacks plus abit of bling for ages but can`t find it. I was so obsessed with it that I almost wanted to order straight from GoJane.com. LOOK! They are SOOO PRETTAYE!







So one fine day, I was walking along the streets of Bugis Village. And as usual, I tried to look for my desired sandals at one of the shops. VOILA! Found this pair and I was so darn exhilarated. Furthermore, it was the LAST surviving pair! LUCKY me! LOVELOVELOVE leh. Lol. Ok back to main topic.

After HQ has achieved her goal of getting a new pair of slippers, Godma cajoled me into accompanying her to Tampines Library. Since Tingting needs to complete her homework for the day and the library may be a conducive environment so might as well.

I`m very strict when it comes to schoolwork. Must complete them before playing. HAHA.


GOTCHA! Why are you browsing my blog...? LOL.


They forced me to take a photo while I read to my sister. Wanted it to look as if I were the mother.
SO MEAN. But I complied to it anyways. HAHA.




A proper one. She`s my sister, really. Not my daughter.
I didn`t give birth at the age of 13 ok. That`s ridiculous. LOL.


And it was Huiqi`s turn. C`mon, don`t be shy!


LOOK AT WHAT KIND OF BOOK SHE READS TO MY SISTER!


That`s right. Titled "The Gas We Pass- The Story of Farts".


My sister loves how Thorry describes the book in a lively way. She was so tickled!


I read the book and got an extract from it.

HAHAHAHA. Isn`t it funny?!

Zhi Kai wanted to read to Tingting as well.


Family 1.


Family 2.


Why are you looking at me, Zhi Kai? Look at the camera! LOL.


Godma loves Tingting. LOL. She has ALWAYS craved for a daughter. HAH.


See? I told you. She was so gelled to Zhi Kai. She played with him till her cheeks are flushed. Tsk tsk tsk... Kids...


Aww... Such affection.


Zhi Kai, you look SO HANDSOME without specs ok. Huimin Jie-jie buy you contact lens ok?


Random. Candid.


Sisterly love, as quoted from the cheeky Zhi Kai. He toyed with my phone and used this frame to shoot us. LOL.


This photo was taken after the Vaio Workshop. Look at Jane! She looked so juvenile carrying a backpack and hugging her Vaio in front of her! She wore SLIPPERS some more! LOOKS SO MUCH YOUNGER than me cos I was in corporate attire. Piang. LOL.


Ok. That sums up a day spent in Tampines. I was delighted when HQ says she will only start school officially on the 11th instead of the 4th. GREAT! I don`t want her to start too early lest I die of boredom you see. Haha. We`ll go out with Godma again next week to use our various laptops. HAHAHA. Tingting is already booked along for our outing. Who`ll not love this cutie? XD

At The Beginning
Richard Marx Ft. Donna Lewis

We were strangers, starting out on a journey
Never dreaming, what we'd have to go through
Now here we are, I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you

No one told me, I was going to find you
Unexpected, what you did to my heart
When I lost hope
You were there to remind me
This is the start

And life is a road and I wanna keep goin'
Love is a river I wanna keep flowin'
Life is a road now and forever wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I want to be standing
At the beginning with you

We were strangers, on a crazy adventure
Never dreaming, how our dreams would come true
Now here we stand, unafraid of the future
At the beginning with you

And life is a road and I wanna keep goin'
Love is a river I wanna keep flowin'
Life is a road now and forever wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I want to be standing
At the beginning with you

Knew there was somebody somewhere
I need love in the dark
Now I know my dream will live on
I've been waiting so long
Nothing is going to tear us apart

And life is a road and I wanna keep goin'
Love is a river I wanna keep flowin'
Life is a road now and forever wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I want to be standing
At the beginning with you

Life is a road and I wanna keep goin'
Love is a river I wanna keep goin' on
Starting out on a journey
life is a road and I wanna keep goin'
Love is a river I wanna keep flowin'
In the end I want to be standing
At the beginning
With you

Yes, life STILL goes on, come what may.

Lunching at the Mac at Chinatown Point now. Ringed Fion up at half past twelve to find out that she was already munching away at Clarke Quay. Better luck tomorrow. Walked to Hong Lim and realised that it closed down too, second to China Square! There goes my yummy-licious hawker food. Walked further and decided on Mac among expensive choices like Swens and DeliFrance. Furthermore, I can tap into the wireless network in Mac so ya.

Work was fine. The company is Australian Wine Index. I am supposed to do wine tasting. NAH. Just joking. Mundane data entry stuff, that`s the truth. Time passes by so fast.

Oh yes, if you`re wondering how come I bring my vaio to work, it is simply for the reason below.


Yes, there`s a complimentary Vaio Handling Fundamental Course at 630pm at Wisma later. I signed up together with Godma. I know it sounds kind of absurd but hey, since it`s free, why not give it a try right. So I`m gonna rush down to Orchard from Raffles Place once I knock off at 6pm. I hope I can get there on time. Also, I HOPE, I WISH there is reception, preferably a buffet. If they are going to teach me how to switch on and off the vaio, I`m so gonna walk out and go have my dinner. LOL. Don`t waste time ma. I heard it will be held until 10pm leh! 10pm you know! I`ll be so famished by then.

I hope these testimonials are real. HAHA.


CIAO~