Switched the Selle Italia saddle from my currently-in-cold-storage Giant trail bike over to my commute bike, what a big difference it made! It's so much cushier, so much less road surface noise and shocks transmitted to my ass, and I could still feel my ass after 2 hours of cycling! Because my Giant has rear suspension, I never felt that the seat makes such a big difference to ass comfort, but it sure does on my hardtail commute bike! Could be the gel padding, could be the titanium rails, or the well-seasoned top shape, I'm totally enjoying it! Just needs regular baby lotion rub to protect the now rapidly scuffing leather cover... and my bike just looks so much sexier with the Selle Italia on it~~!!

My new aloe vera shoots, after a pair of my neighbour's kittens came over and dug the plants out! They are scaring my mum and sis out too, especially when me or my dad aren't around to carry them out of the house, now my home front door is almost always closed!


The rim of my pitcher plant, Nephenthes Hookeriana... so pretty! Not quite as pretty to the insects in my home though... so many ants and flies died inside! My other pitcher plant, N. Amplullaria, isn't doing quite as well though... it didn't really recover from a period of drying out (forgot to water it during exam period!)... but some new shoots are sprouting out from the base, it's not giving up just yet!

New animal species discovered recently in Papua New Guinea... Amazing to know that new animal species are constantly being discovered even in today where almost all of the Earth's lands have been supposedly explored by Man. National Geographic


Like a Martian alien... Little green thing with big black eyes! A green tree frog still undescribed to Science...


White Sifakas lemurs from Madagascar... how do they keep their furs so white while living in the jungle? Do they use two bottlecaps full of Dynamo daily to wash?


Tree kangaroo, so cute machiam like stuffed toy!

Come to think of it, both Madagascar and Papua New Guinea export brilliant cocoa beans! In a severe chocoholic mood recently, finally gave in and bought that bar of Cadbury's Marble, with white chocolate/milk chocolate mix and filled with hazelnut praline inside, but I find the white chocolate a little too sweet for me, and the hazelnut praline while smooth not fragrant enough. But if I pop enough of them into my mouth, then it's still bliss all the same, can't ask too much of a $4 Cadbury's right? Nice~~

Singletrack link
This article in Singletrack, an online bicycling magazine, is the first one that I've read that says that not wearing a helmet would make cycling safer! Apparently, wearing a helmet makes drivers give less space while overtaking, and that making cyclists wear helmets by law would make less people want to cycle, and with less bikes on the roads, the risks per biker would increase, which personally I feel is true. Most drivers in S'pore take the roads for granted, and forget that according to Traffic Police rules, bicycles are entitled to half a lane's space on the roads, and that bicycles are entitled to use the roads as much as any other road vehicle. Drivers are also required to leave 2 feet spacing while overtaking bicycles, although this may be difficult given the constant congestion and width of local roads. But local cyclists are not perfect either. 99% of them don't signal when changing lanes or turning (I do!). 50% cannot cycle straight with swerving left/right. 95% don't wave back to drivers who do give way (I do! I smile back even!) But local drivers seem to be always in a rush, even slowing down for a cyclist seems too hard for them, which would at most cost them maybe 5 seconds more to their total journey time? Too many times I get drivers speeding past me not giving way, only to be stopped at the traffic lights 50m ahead, with me stopping right beside him, me grinning away at him, with the driver black-faced! But I have nice drivers who give way, and even if we stop at the traffic lights together, we'll chit-chat about the weather, about the traffic, about bike-commuting, and we part feeling happy. Isn't this a much better outcome? Either way, I still choose to cycle-commute, especially in the mornings and evenings, traffic congestion or not. Except on days which require me to be dressed nicely (too much clothes to carry on my bike!), or on especially hot or wet days... but my personal gripe is that it is darn difficult to get secure bike parking in S'pore! Parking anywhere else apart from inside your own home would be tempting bike thieves!

My horoscope says I will be cranky for the next few days... Not a good period to be cranky! Got a quiz on Thursday that might be difficult given it's on solar cells and set by Lydia... Got a sense that we might get a Mobilisation this weekend since this is my NS Manning week... And next Tuesday is my FYP report submission day and my prof still hasn't given me back nor commented on my draft report! Ok I'm getting cranky typing all this out...~!!

Finally got to sun myself today, except I did it while forgetting to remove my bike gloves... now again I look like some funny animal with white hands and dark skin! Didn't get to do it on the last two days due to some stuffs... and the weather... Had been catching up on sleep too, found that I do really get quite grumpy and blur when I don't get my fair bit of sleep! Feeling good and recharged now, although my plans to do some school stuff late into tonight may lead to lack of sleep tomorrow morning again... vicious cycle of life...~

Was back in school on last Saturday morning to do my last XRD test, although found that I might not be including that result into my report, if most only in my Appendix... NTU open-house on that day... balloon on my bike! Took it off before I rode it, because it didn't seem safe to have a balloon fluttering around behind me while cycling with traffic...!


Link This is now my favourite online game! Such cute characters! Racing on wooden boxes with wheels, shooting each other with acorns and special powers like my favourite "skunk stink"!

Have been looking forward to going to Pulau Ubin today. Emptied my backpack of all the school stuffs, and in went my trusty sunglasses, towel, spare clothes, waterproof windbreaker in case of rain. Spent half-hour deciding whether to wear shoes or slippers, I put my shoes beside the main door, and packed in my slippers into the bag as well. Charged up my camera battery and got my sis to empty her pictures from my memory card. Set my alarm clock and mobile phone to ring at 5.45am, and went to bed. Until I woke up at 11am, alarm clock firmly silent and my mobile phone grasped loosely with my left hand, under my pillow where my head was resting, left arm painfully numb due to lack of blood circulation after being weighed down by my head in a strange posture for dunno how long. What hell, Mas and guys were already on the boat back to mainland island at the same time! Then again, I haven't had such good deep sleep in a week or two...

I love M & M's Peanut Butter!! Especially when they slowly melt in my mouth and all the taste of the PB flows out all over my mouth... OMG!!

One night's work = 3 pages of my report... what nonsense!!

Link to video.
I love this video! It's a great summary of the 2008 downhill mountain bike world championships. Many shots of riders drifting, sliding, and crashing... the track was crazy rough and bumpy! Add slippery mud and dislodged rocks and roots, woah! I miss mountain biking, haiz so so much...~


My laptop's now has 2 screens! Like my school's electron microscope system (which I was using yesterday early morning and got the inspiration...)! Decided to dust off and plug up my spare old LCD to my laptop, to make it possible to open a PDF document on one screen while typing my FYP report on the laptop screen... working well so far... whenever I wasn't caught up watching some video on the 2nd screen~ =p

I suspect I've been cheated of my allocation of Time. While everybody's supposed to get 24 hours per day, I believe I'm getting less! It only seemed like 2 days ago when I flipped the calender from January to February, and now I have to flip it from Feb to March! This is too much! Must call police man, must catch this "time-conman"!

Hahaha! Not to blame any scammer... Must be my bad time-management these days... Kel needs to focus~!

Kel's a 70% introvert...

Reading up the meaning of introversion on Wikipedia:
Introversion is "the state of or tendency toward being wholly or predominantly concerned with and interested in one's own mental life". Introverts tend to be more reserved and less assertive in social situations. They often take pleasure in solitary activities such as reading, writing, drawing, and using computers. The archetypal artist, writer, sculptor, composer, and inventor are all highly introverted. An introvert is likely to enjoy time spent alone and find less reward in time spent with large groups of people, though they tend to enjoy interactions with close friends. They prefer to concentrate on a single activity at a time and like to observe situations before they participate. Introverts are easily overwhelmed by too much stimulation from social gatherings and engagement. They are more analytical before speaking. Introversion is not the same as shyness. Introverts choose solitary over social activities by preference, whereas shy people avoid social encounters out of fear.

Seems like I fit the bill entirely. Did this self-measurement thingy too; Kel's a 70% introvert~!

Have been spending several (non-consecutive) nights sleeping with my contact lenses on... I would lie on my bed waiting for my bath, or just reading or listening to Mp3s on my bed, and then the next thing I'll see is the next morning's sunrise! Much thankfully, the current lenses I'm using (Air Optix) are a million light years better than the 2 previous brands I've used (Acuvue and Softlens), but still cannot keep doing this, or else it won't be soon before Kelvin will become a physically-challenged member of society...~