maximalminimality

I made meringues today, and it is the easiest and most flexible dessert ever! They're technically roasted marshmallows; crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. This can be eaten alone, with fruits and whipped cream, or with ice-cream and hot fudge. The options are endless!

Meringues
Makes 12 pieces

Ingredients:
Egg whites from 2 eggs
Half cup sugar
This is the basic ratio. Increase amount of ingredients to make more.

Procedure:
1. Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric beater till super-stiff. The stiffer the mixture, the more chewy the meringues. The more runny the mixture, the softer the meringues.
2. Fill each paper cupcake cups with a dollop of the mixture. If you want to bake on a piece of greased paper, make sure they are at least 1 inch away from each other.
3. Bake at 100 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes.

Good luck with your batch! I'm gonna share this with E12!

This is the inspiring catalyst that made me take classes again:



Yeng or not?

Thank God my Gu Zheng is finally fixed!

NOTD Aftermath is a custom map for the Warcraft 3 engine. It is a survival game with a steep learning curve and a save system to record your progress. Objectives are relayed throughout the game and Marines must do their best to complete them while surviving the constant onslaught of horrors. This map was originally produced to provide players with a thorough understanding of the United States Marine Corps (USMC). Aftermath has received credit from Blizzard Entertainment for being the best survival modification and the map has also been featured in Star - RAGE. This map has many realistic features, including explosive knockback, fractures, open wounds, poisons and the tinnitus effect.



The two co-makers of this map, Azazel and OneEyeSleepy (Forum Identities) are proudly Malaysian's who believe in making a difference in this world. They are also the co-founders of Starlite, a non-profit organization which supports the USMC's Wounded Warrior project by donating the revenue collected through Google AdSense. Starlite has given birth to a forum where people are encouraged to speak freely and think critically about various issues, and the DataBank which is an online information portal.

Game Background
27th September 2037 - A mysterious viral outbreak in Boston 4 days ago led the city to shut down and the entire state of Massachusetts to be placed under quarantine. Many early Marine Corps elements sent to facilitate the evacuation of the city have been wiped out, detailed by the events of Night of the Dead 2. In the past 36 hours, the US Military finally gained an upperhand and the outbreak was steadily brought under control. With state borders secured, Marine Expeditionary Units have begun patrolling the outlying towns for signs of contamination. Echo Company was one of these fateful units which found itself in the middle of the heaviest concentrations of unknown entities.

NOTD Aftermath FAQ
What Classes are there?
There are a total of 11 player selectable classes : Rifleman, Firebat, Combat Engineer, Navy Corpsman (Private first class), Machine Gunner (Private first class), Designated Marksman (Private first class), Predator-MQ3 (Corporal), Force Recon (Sergeant), Infantry Unit Leader (Staff Sergeant), Forward Observer (Gunnery Sergeant), Delta Operator (Captain). Throughout the course of the game, players may also be granted the use of friendly NPC Marines.

What do we do in NOTD Aftermath?
The primary objective in the game is survival. Some waves will have optional quests that benefit your squad upon completion. Survival depends greatly on teamwork and personal skills alike. The difficulty of the game scales with various factors such as player rank, total players alive, total starting players, hits taken thus far, kill efficiency, combat responsiveness, ailments taken. As such, there can never be too many or too little players for a game.

Why does my Marine have a grey nickname?
These players are recognized for being the first squad to successfully complete Night of the Dead Pies 1.0b (Syrus, Killer-Legend, Shiznit, conta85, Firebird). Telperion is recognized for his contribution in error and bug discovery.

Starlite plans to create a NOTD Aftermath modification for the StarCraft 2 engine in the future. Here is where the competition comes in.

Competition Categories
A. Best Story - What will NOTD Aftermath be all about?
B. Best Gameplay Mechanic - How will NOTD Aftermath be played in StarCraft 2?

Objective
Come up with the best and most practical ideas in one of the above two categories.

Winner Selection
Winner will be selected by Starlite by 30 June 2008. You may adopt ideas from other contestants/sources. Judging of your entry is based on the total amount of unique contribution made by yourself and how well you piece everything together. During the competition, Starlite will provide recommendations to steer the direction and general theme of ideas. Winner's idea's will play a major influence in the development of NOTD Aftermath, but may not necessarily be incorporated fully in the final game. Decisions are final.

Submission
Submission should come in a Word/PDF format to tinkerbell_bluebells@hotmail.com. You are strongly encouraged to discuss the idea openly on the forums to build a stronger entry. Each individual may make at most 3 submissions. Hence, you're encouraged to submit your entry only towards the end of the contest when your idea has been fully crafted.

Prize
Starlite will mail a copy of StarCraft 2 to your mailing address, regardless of location. One prize for each Category.

The Low Yat performance was amazing.

I mean, there were errors here and there, but the whole feeling of accomplishment is just great. We were supposedly the main act, the highlight of the night and despite the 1 hour delay, everything went along quite smoothly and the the cast kept their energy going at max level.

Today I celebrated Christmas by going to a Organic Vegetarian Buffet (which is super-super-super delicious) (sorry, no pictures) and by personalizing my Christmas presents. It took about 30 minutes to do each person's one, and I gave up after doing 2.

LOL.

Never mind. I will be continuing tomorrow. Still about 100 more to personalize.

LOL^2

If I find anyone throwing my present away, that person is going to get a beating whacked kau 'more presents' from me.

Merry Christmas!

This weekend has been a amazing one.

This year I was honored to be given the opportunity to be part of City Harvest's Christmas production entitled 'The Kefira Show', which showcased the true values of Christmas. The Kefira Show has been a great success, and all the late night practices and training paid off for the cast and the support crew. Despite several setbacks, I am impressed by everyone's ability to improvise and spontaneously recover from mistakes. I am happy that I was able to learn more about life behind the scenes as well as make many new friends along the way. Most importantly, I was able to learn about the joy of Christmas, the joy that surpasses all understanding.

To those who was not able to come, you may get the recording for only RM 12!

Or you may come and watch us at Low Yatt Plaza tomorrow, where we will be presenting a revised version at 8.45 pm. There has been rumors that the prime minister might be coming to watch us! So come and give us your dearest support.

All in all, we do this out of love, for God and for people, and we hope we are able to share true peace with everyone we know.

Merry Christmas!

P.S.: Anyone has pictures?

I had a great time yesterday at the Backsiders (BPsychers) Christmas party. There was so much food, and apparently the fruit trifle I made wasn't such a big disaster after all. I want to thank everyone who made this party a great success and a big load of fun.

The original recipe was Sherry trifle, but I couldn't find any good ones, and they were pretty expensive. So I modified it a tiny bit a little a lot everywhere. Here's my version of a fruit trifle!

Fruit Trifle

1 kg of butter cake (sliced into large thin layers)
1 bottle blackcurrant jam
Half a lemon
1 can apricots
3 large bananas
2 tablespoon custard powder
2 tablespoon sugar
600 ml milk
1 egg white
Half cup of sugar

1. First layer the bottom of the tray with the first layer of cake.
2. Spread jam evenly on top.
3. Mix quarter a cup of the liquid in the can of apricots with the juice of half a lemon. Pour on jam. Press down so that the cake absorbs the liquid.
4. Put on the second layer of cake.
5. Spread chopped bananas and apricots on evenly.
6. Mix 2 tablespoon of custard powder with 2 tablespoon of sugar and 2 tablespoon of the milk. Put the rest of the milk on the stove to boil. When the milk is almost boiling, add the custard mix and stir constantly. Keep stirring until a thick, creamy and slick mixture is formed.
7. Spread custard onto the fruit layer while it is still hot.
8. Put tray into fridge.
9. Using an electric beater, beat the egg white of one egg with half cup of sugar. Beat till a slick mixture is formed and the mixture can stick to the beater.
10. Put the last layer of cake on the custard layer.
11. Spread the glaze thinly on the last cake layer.
12. Refrigerate, and serve!

You may replace the fruits with anything else, especially when you have people not liking bananas.

P.S.: I actually wanted to take pictures of the entire process, but after the first picture, I forgot about it...

YOU CANNOT SUBSTITUTE MILK FOR CREAM!

Here's why: Substituting Milk For Cream

Curses.

Suddenly I wished that the ratio of human to cow is 1 person to 2 cows, like how it is the case with sheep in New Zealand. Why is whipping cream so darn expensive? And why is double cream almost nonexistent in this country?

Sigh.

Let's just hope no one is gonna get food poisoning tonight.

Now, I will unveil the most shocking, mind-boggling, mindset-challenging equation that will blow your brains away, and make you think in a way that you have never thought you could possibly do:

Seriously.

Your first reaction would be, "You don't know how to count, is it?" The ordinary individual would know that 1 + 1 is indeed equivalent to 2, not 4. But, let's break this problem down beyond just the surface.

"What is 1?"

"It's mathematical value signifying a single unit."

"I see."

"So what happens if everyone associated 1 with another value? Would 1 + 1 = 2 still hold true?"

It wouldn't.

That is the problem. Even mathematical terms require its value to be relative to something else. 1 would be relative to half of 2. Or a quarter of 4. Get the picture?

"So, is there anything that is constantly absolute?"

No. Everything is related to something else through relativism. This is the basis for Einstein's theory of relativity. A round object is round because other objects aren't. A huge building is huge because other objects are tiny. Good acts are good because other acts are evil.

"HOLD ON!"

"I quite don't agree with the last point. I believe that there is absolute good existing somewhere."

When morality jumps into this subject of relativism, things gets a little complicated. Because now we have to introduce another value: subjectivism.

"Isn't evil just simply the absence of good?"

"If you put it that way, can't good be the absence of evil instead?"

Ah.

There are two question we need to ask here:
1. Why do we have to put everything relative to a positive value?
2. In a environment with a control (absence of something) factor, is absence still relative or absolute?
(Go find the answers yourself, I'm tired of doing all the explaining.)

To answer first question, I have to say that we tend to make ourselves look good and orderly. We tend to be optimistic when it comes to scientifically assigning moralities.

To answer the second question, let's look at it this way. If the presence of a factor is 1, is the absence of it 0 (zero)? Does 0 have a value?

Yes.

0 is 1 value less than 1, but 1 value more than -1.

Okay...

"Now how about God? Isn't God 100% good?"

"He is, but that's not where it ends."

"If God was only 100% good, why has He created Satan?"

If God was ONLY [edited] 100% good, he cannot possibly create any form of evil in the world. God is 100% everything.

If God was not both good and evil, we wouldn't have choices. Choices emerge because they is a distinct and relative difference between values. If God was 100% good, he would have created a world which was 100% good, and every action we would have taken would be based on the relative value of 100% good. There will not be choice.

"So, if God is 100% good and 100% evil, why do people see Him more as good?"

(OMG, I can't believe you are even asking this question!!!)

Because He chose to!

Choice is the reason why everyone accepts 1 + 1 = 2 as true. Choice is the same reason why 1 + 1 = 4 could also hold true in situations.

Choosing to believe that 1 + 1 = 4 does make the person wrong relative to the general public, but it doesn't make the person abnormal.

Because choice is all there is.

Have you ever wondered how some people never seem to exercise but they remain buffed? How about those people who seem to eat 24 hours a day but still stay skinny? Their not affected by any physiological disorders, yet they differ so widely. Why is this?

This is where Somatotyping comes in. The Somatotype Theory states that there is a certain genetic factor which affects the appearance and functions of our body, based on the bulking of several basic tissues: digestive, muscular and nervous. There are three basic Somatotypes, but people generally are a combination of more than one body type.

1. Mesomorphs
- Big-boned
- Naturally muscular
- High muscle retention
- Low fat storage
- High metabolism
- More muscle tissues
- Stereotyped as popular and hardworking
Mesomorphs are your general musclemen. They build muscle easily and do not require any specific diets. Mesomorphs usually top the other body types in terms of brute strength.

2. Endomorphs
- Medium-boned
- Naturally muscular
- Very high muscle retention
- High fat storage
- Slow metabolism
- More digestive tissues
- Stereotyped as lazy and sloppy
Endomorphs are naturally muscular like mesomorphs, but their body stores more fat. This accompanied with the slow metabolism would require endomorphs to do more cardiovascular exercises and take larger but less frequent meals.

3. Ectomorphs
- Small-boned
- Naturally slim
- Low muscle retention
- Low fat storage
- Very high metabolism
- More nervous tissues
- Stereotyped as intelligent and fearful
Ectomorphs have a big problem with gaining weight and muscle mass, because of their very high metabolism and low muscle retention. The key is to have smaller but frequent meals, and have an exercise system which focuses on strength training with longer rest periods. Ectomorphs top the other body types in terms of stamina and endurance.

It is possible to change between somatotypes, but you usually keep certain physical characteristics that cannot be changed, such as shoulder width, waist circumference and bone structure.

Go here to find out which somatotype are you: What is Your Body Type? Be reminded that this test is not 100% accurate, but it should give you a brief overview.

I'm an ecto-mesomorph. HMMMMM... Am I supposed to be happy?

Hope this helps!

P.S.: I'm not aching anymore. :)

My blog is pink to honor Evie's B'day.

YAY PINK.

My favourite pink object is:

When I woke up I found that I was aching all over. I can't even come down the stairs properly.

When you stretch a rubber band within its elasticity range, it will go back to its original size.

When you stretch a rubber band beyond its elasticity range, it will never be the same again.

When you stretch a rubber band beyond its strength range, it will break forever.

Beware of how far you stretch yourself, you might regret it.

Chuan took me to test out Fitness First's Bodypump class today. I had to wake up at 5.45 am just for it. After the long and torturous workout, my legs turned to jelly. This shows how much I have been exercising in my life. Overall, the class was exciting and pushed me to my limits (which isn't very far) but I don't know whether I will be joining the club yet due to financial subjectivity. These days, businesses really think students are made of money.

When I arrived home, I found out that I was locked outside!

LOL.

Don't ask. Just laugh.

Yea, so I had to camp at Yi Ting's place for a while and this post is a product of being locked out.

BTW, I finally decided on what to do for my future (refer to previous post):

1. Start on a personal research project. I will be continuing for previous research on projective drawings, extending the scope to various projective therapies, psychometrics and focusing on the cognitive aspects of personality, mood, and repressed thoughts. Anyone interested to become a partner for this research, please leave a comment here and I will get back to you. This research is purely based off self-initiative and there are no compensations other than the feeling of personal achievement, learning and a good remark on your resume. This is good exercise for Psychology students to get used to journal understanding and the APA format. Limited spaces available and restricted participation.

2. Study for developmental psychology next year. KAKAKAKA. Like I said before, I'm not very good with children. Anyone with previous semester's notes?

3. Browse for U.S. Psychology programs. Still trying to find a good institution in the States. University of Pennsylvania offers a 4 year postgraduate PHD program which is very tempting, but 4 years is freaky.

4. Anyone for a Cognition Club? I wanted to start this early this year, but there were so few people planning to major in this subject. BLAH. Note: TOO MANY CHILD AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS!

WEEEEE. Hopefully everything goes as planned.

Oh yea, I'm officially addicted to Celine Dion's new single, 'Taking Chances'!

106 is over, and that marks the end of my academic year of 2007...

Yea, and I don't sound very happy much...

I've been thinking of my future a lot these days. Of colloquium presentations next year, of getting high enough grades for a good HGPA, of my future career life, of furthering my studies in the United States, of where I will be ending up a few years down the road. It never ends, doesn't it? I just don't want to regret missing out on things in life because of my being blind or blur or something.

Take the first step, and God will take the next thousand steps for you.

But looking at the good side of things, I did quite well for my 106 research proposal, despite the fact that the mean score for every student was 9/20. Kudos to Darryl and Wen for being such great research assistants for our 'Sex, Sex Role Identification and Asian University Students' Projective Drawings' research.

Some of Stephanie's comments and my comments to her comments:

1. How would you know for e.g., if female figure is drawn first that they're not feminine?
Then there won't be a close-to-equal division of male and female drawings for the androgynous group.
2. How many males/females?
NOT CONTROLLING FOR GENDER LA.
3. Is this the best way to analyze your results?
No, but since when must it be the best way?
4. Most of your references are too old - please find more recent articles in the future!
Not my fault! No many people replicated this experiment, and if there were any, they weren't in the EBSCO database.

ZZZZZ. Sorry for being so anal.

Oh, and I tried Google-ing for the legendary bread jelly but I couldn't get any relevant results! My mum's recipe is so well hidden, hehe. I'll try to go and dig it out from her.

And happy holidays to you too!

Okay, blogdiction is officially in me (Yeo, 2007 cited from Ng, 2007).

I ate Onion and Seaweed Sandwiches for lunch.

I KNOW! I'M THAT DESPERATE!

And since so many people asked me for my dessert recipes, here's one:





Min Huei's Crumble

Ingredients:
1 kg pack of flour
1 kg pack of brown sugar
250 g bar of butter
10 apples
Cinnamon powder
Salt
Vanilla Ice-cream

Procedure:
1. Give all the ingredients to me.
2. Wait while I cook.
3. Eat.

AHAHAHAHAHA.

Darn, my sense of humor is killing me these days.

103 was a breeze.

1. Please answer in point form. Any essay-like question will not be entertained.
2. Answer in one page. Anything more than one page will not be entertained.
3. Write in pen. Answers in pencil will be erased and its existence will be questioned.

I'm gonna miss Miss Winnee's exams. They're so trademarked. I'm gonna miss Miss Winnee more though.

Sigh.

I was more worried about two of next semester's core subjects: Child Development, and Adult and Adolescence Development. Totally not my cup of tea. And since the HGPA calculations starts from year two, this means I've gotta get my butt on the hot seat. Maybe I should hang out more with Eitan or something. Does anyone have a baby I can borrow?

BTW, yesterday I went for the Christmas production practices again, and I was supposed to be the super-buffed-up-and-tall-palace-guard. And since spectacles are always associated with nerdy, geeky, and most importantly, unmachoness, I had to go on stage with two eyes only. I was fortunate enough NOT to pull the king back instead of the reporter.

Wait, that's an idea!



The answers for my previous post is uncopyrightable and dermatoglyphics, which are the two longest English words which does not have any repeated alphabets.

My idea of a cookout: Coming together and learning to make dishes from each other.
People's idea of a cookout: Me cooking a feast for them while they sit down and wait.

My idea of lepak-ing: Talking and interacting in an energy-filled atmosphere.
People's idea of lepaking: Sitting around a table and blankly staring at each other.

My idea of illogical: Something that doesn't fit my logical perspective.
People's idea of illogical: Anything that fits my logical perspective.

My idea of Crocs: They're ugly.
People's idea of Crocs: They're uglier than ugly.

My idea of tall: A car which I am able to sit in without crouching or bending over.
People's idea of tall: Me.

My idea of the voice of an angel: Classical music.
People's idea of the voice of an angel: Anime and korean drama soundtracks, and heavy metal rock.

My idea of the lack of sleep: Being able to cut onions without tearing.
People's idea of the lack of sleep: There is no such thing.

My idea of the perfect dance: The touch-touch dance I promised to show everyone.
People's idea of the perfect dance: The touch-touch what? Touch what where? (You horny individuals.)

Two different views.
But, I still love all of you.

Today we covered 42 hours of our boring PSY 106 lecture in 3 hours of lepak-ing style group study. I feel great already.

But what I really, really, really need is a proper haircut. What say you?

There are three things you can never have enough of when you cook:

1. Butter
2. Butter
3. Butter

Seriously! The only thing that can happen when you add too much butter is get fat. That beats the countless other problems that can happen if you don't add enough, such as burning your meal, burning yourself, or burning your kitchen to ashes. Another thing I've learned today: do not add too much garlic to your garlic butter croutons. Simply grotesque!



Garlic Butter Croutons
Croutons are literally small pieces of fried bread, usually seen in Caesar salads. They make very good snacks, and are quite simple to make.

Ingredients
Bread - French Baguettes would be best, but if you have to use sliced bread, make sure you toast them till they become completely crisp. Cut into ≈ 30 1 cm squares.
Butter - A hell lot of it.
Garlic - 5 cloves, finely chopped or blended.
Salt and Pepper - For taste. 1 sprinkle.
Herbs - Basil or Mixed Herbs will do finely. 1 sprinkle.

Procedure
1. Add everything but the bread into the pan. Let the ingredients sauté for 30 seconds.
2. Add bread squares. Fry till golden brown. If pan starts to blacken, add more butter.
3. Serve!

AI LI YOU OWE ME ICE KOSONG. And lots of it.

1. Today I had the final examination for the subject Introduction to Anthropology. I had no idea why, but I was quite worried about it. Perhaps it was because we had to finish 10 essays in 2 hours. That's an essay to complete every 12 minutes! We were 'very fortunate' that our lecturer gave us a guideline of how our essays should look like:

Main point 1. Supporting Point 1.
Main Point 2. Supporting Point 2.
Main Point 3. Supporting Point 3.
Main Point 4. Supporting Point 4.
Main Point 5. Supporting Point 5.

However, plans do not seem to work the way you want them to:

Main point 1. Supporting Point 1.
Main Point 2. Facts, Figures and Sources 2.
Hopefully Logical Main Point 3. Equally Hopeful Logical Supporting Point 3.
Paraphrased Version of Main Point 1. Supporting Point 1 (Passive Form).
Crappy Point 5. Something I Dug Out From My PHD of Crappy-ology.

It wasn't a tough as I thought, but it was definitely still a challenge. I belief that even though I might not have known answers to several question, I tried my best to write a logical and sensible substitute. I want to thank those who have been praying for my exams because that had made a difference.

2. This week, I have been seeing an average of 1.3 automobile accidents per day. Although this might seem to be very minimal, it is funny how those accident happen around the time I was driving, and on the roads I was driving on. Friends, please be reminded to drive safely. Do not be pressured to rush anywhere, but be focused on the road and watch out for crazy drivers.

You have been warned.