Tuesday, September 30, 2008

random paragraphing.

sebas
SINGLISH!!!
shannon
it's okay luh. vacuum cleaner huh. from best denki somemore.
weien
you try typing at my speed then you tell me why so many errors. when i'm high i type very fast. haha.
yangping
thank you bodyguard!(:

megan and shannon says i studied too much for bio. well maybe i should have done the blog revision for math too huh, then my math grade will be better. i'm glad i passed math though.

the next hurdle: german oral. this friday. early leave forms are becoming a good friend of mine.

muslims got half the day off today cuz it's hari raya puasa tomorrow. at times like this i wish i could give up pork. but like somebody kindly pointed out, i get hungry too easily so i cannot fast.

which reminds me. i'm hungry now.

thank you girls for sharing the pencil case and ear phones. yeah if you read shannon's tag reply, that girl told me this morning, "your birthday present will be sent to your house by best denki. it's a vacuum cleaner."

and i totally believed her luh. cuz it's on my wishlist what. so i was imagining my mom opening the door to a best denki delivery man and all. then during pw they decided to hand me my real present.

but i thought a home delivery would be cool. -pictures my mom's stunned face-

oh yeah. need to do op powerpoint.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

i'm tall. you're taller.

SEE I'M SO SO SOOO MUCH TALLER THAN WEIEN.

we're like do re mi with pam.

i shall let you in on a secret. i tiptoed.

else i'll be blocked by agnes' camera, you see. HAHA.

|:

thank you everybody who made my 17th birthday so nice(:

thank you georgina and carol for organising the party at grace's house and almost the whole of s25 for being present (thoughit was meant to be a post-promo party, not my birthday party)

oh, and ms law too, who came after most of the girls left.

thank you for the zoo trip and the furry slippers,

thank you liwen for the sms,

and thank you my fmaily for the dinner and cake last night.

i was wondering, after bring told by a few friends, why doesn't my mom cook mee sua with egg for me on my birthday?

Monday, September 22, 2008

rahh econs.

determinants of demand:

  1. prices of related goods
  2. level of income
  3. distribution of income
  4. taste of consumers
  5. size of population
  6. structure of population
  7. climate/weather/season/festival
  8. government policy
  9. interest rate/ availability of credit
  10. expectation of future prices and income
  11. new products
  12. exchange rates.

NOTE TO SELF: PRICE OF THE GOOD ITSELF AFFECTS QUANTITY DEMANDED

-downward sloping demand curve ensures a price increase does not equate to lost of all customers.

-remember ceteris paribus.

-market: a system that cordinates the independent decisions of buyers and sellers.

determinants of supply:

  1. technology
  2. price of factor inputs (capital--interest, entre--profits, land--rent, labour--wages)
  3. governmeny policy
  4. expectation of future prices
  5. prices of related goods (joint supply)
  6. number of sellers
  7. firm's objectives


-market forces regulate market demand and supply, don't need goverment intervention

-price elastic demand, lower price (sale). price inelastic demand, increase price.

determinants of PED:

  1. close substitutes
  2. proportion of income spent on good
  3. time period (changes tastes)
  4. habiutally consumed
  5. necessity/luxury
  6. number of uses


-CED: high positive=close subs. high negative=close complements

-YED: positive=normal negative=inferior

factors influencing PES:

  1. time period (SR all factors fixed, unable to change qty supplied)
  2. factor mobility
  3. nature of products (manufacture elastic, agri inelastic)


-normal profits: AR=AC
-supernomal: AR more than AR
-subnormal: AR less than AC

allswell, that doesn't end well.

you know that allswell advertisement? the one with bloody bad enounciation?



yeah, this one. it was on sunday times yesterday, with critics talking about the singlish "tay peng" (iced milk tea) and the quite cliched plot.

but what they failed to observe was how the girl went, "driinnnng kiit!" and that's exactly what makes the ad, in my opinion, quite bad. and, "ungke dohneed dohneed!" and and! "because i luff you."

the article criticised the guy saying "ey, what is thiis?", but i don't hear the double i.

well i appreciate the company getting inspiration for the plot from a worker, as mentioned by the sunday times report, and i appreciate them trying to embrace the singapore culture, but there are other ways to capture local audience. and one way, is to make sure words are properly pronnounced. like, rochor road shouldn't be pronnounced as "rocker road". read the gps article from the paper too.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

auditions.

weien
i think i'll post 5 colours next. haha.
aaron
if i take cll it's going to be a bigger mistake. will you be my bff? haha.
megan
well then let's hope it's not the same one marking your promo essay.

i think i'm going crazy. econs is one data response and one essay, which totally de-motivates me to study. i mean like, it'll be more worth it to mug for a full paper, no?

math. there's nothing wrong with my concepts. i just need to step out of my failure shadow. and learn how to complete the square.

i need a study mate. for chem. any volunteers? no minimum qualification required. okay, perhaps an o level. and please don't be a stranger.

Friday, September 19, 2008

hello blog. i'm back from my bio paper, which i hope i didn't screw up. my blog revision proved to be somewhat useful, because i found myself having a mental image of the notes i posted up this afternoon. haha.

signed up to be a volunteer for yog. technically i'm not allowed to register myself like that, because students are supposed to register through schools, but i figured out it'll be faster this way. yog's on 14-26 aug 2010, i hope it won't affect my uni too much. if i go to a uni, that is. trainings begin somewhere 2009, i hope that won't affect my a's too. if i can promoted, that is.

times have changed, now everything comes with terms and conditions.

bio.

why do i love thee? let me count the ways:
  1. prokaryotic cells have no distinct nucleus and no nuclear membrane and have circular strands of dna. eukaryotic cells, on the other hand, have distinct, membrane-bound nuclei and their dna-s are packed into chromosomes.
  2. chromatin are dispersed and entangled in non-dividing cells, but chromosomes as chromatin starts condensing and becoming thick to appear as separated structures when dividing.
  3. the rER (network of sheets) is the site of protein synthesis and helps in the intracellular transport system. the sER(network of tubules) synthesises lipids and steriods, detoxifies drugs and other poisons and is involved in carbohydrate metabolism.
  4. protein synthesised on ribosomes on rER enters lumen of rER, where carbohydrate component may be added. transport vesicles move protein to cis face of GA, in which it is further modifies. vesicles transports proteins from trans face of GA to the plasma membrane, where the contents are released from the cell.
  5. lysosomes contain hydrolytic enzymes so that material that cell consumes from the environment can be digested.
  6. the endosymbiotic hypothesis talks about how the mitochondria and chloroplast may have been prokaryotes and have been engulfed by eukaryotic cells, becuse they possess prokaryotic properties.
  7. centrioles produce spindle fibres radiating towards equator of cell during cell division.
  8. homogenization allows study of cell organelles, freeze-fracturing allows study of cell surface membrane.
  9. cell membrane is a fluid mosaic model. phospholipids are ehld together by weak hydrophobis interactions, allowing them to move by diffusion in their own layers. peripheral proteins flaot about the bilayer in an irregular pattern.
  10. cholesterol acts as a plug, reducing the escape or entry of polar molecules across the membrane. it increases flexibility and stability of membranes. at relatively warm temperature, cholesterol make membrane less fluid by restraining phospholipid movement and at low temperatures hinders close packing of phospholipids, therefore lowering freezing point.
  11. five functions of membranes: compartmentalisation (separates), selective barrier (regulates movement of materials across), enzyme activity (by proteins embedded on membrane), intracellular joining (membrance proteins hook together), cell-cell recognition (glycoproteins serve as identification tags)
  12. triglycerides have large amount of energy-storing C-H bonds, hydrogen atoms yield metabolic water on oxidation, are poor conductors of heat, posses low mass so much can be stored in small volumes, are large and uncharged therefore insoluble and are less dense than water.
  13. triglycerides contain molecules on glycerol attached to three fatty acid tails each via ester linkages, which are saponised in respiration.
  14. starch is unbranched and straight, consists of many a-glucose residues joined by 1,4-glycosidic bonds, whose angles causes chain to coiul helically to be compact. -OH groups projected into interior of helix, therefore starch is insoluble.
  15. glycogen has backbone of a-glucose residues joined by 1,4-gb, branches formed by 1,6-gb. highly branched, hence hydrolysis by enzymes is efficient.
  16. cellulose made up of long chains of b-glucose joined by b-1,4 gb, which makes the chain straight. parallel chains form hydrogen bonds between -OH groups of neighbouring chains, cross linking results in micro and macrofibrils, conferring high tensile strength for stability and support.
  17. reduction of Cu(II) to Cu(I) is by oxidation of carbonyl group in reducing sugars. in sucrose, aldehyde group at C1 in glucose and ketone group at C2 of fructose involved in formation of gb, hence sucrose cannot be oxidised and therefore is not a reducing sugar.
  18. collagen consists of three polypeptide chains wound around each other to from a triple helix. each polypeptide chain is a loosely wound helix because high proportion of proline prevents intramolecular hydrogen bonding. three chains bound together by intermolecular hydrogen bonds. cross-linking give collagen greater strength. many helices=fibrils, many fibrils=fibres, therefore structure is stable, high tensile strength and able to withstand large pulling forces.
  19. denaturation does not affect primary structures.
  20. stroma contains enzymes for Calvin Cycle reactions, where CO2 accepted by RuBP to form 6C unstable compound which gives rise to 2 glycerate phosphate. GP phosphorylated to triose phosphate, converted to hexose sugar.
  21. thylakoid is site of conversion of light energy to chemical energy, chlorophyll present in grana absorb light energy from sunlight and emit electron after light absorbtion by chlorophyll. ATP produced, electron and H+ reduce NADP+ to NADPH.
  22. ATP serves as energy source for light independent reaction, is needed to phosphorylate GP to form 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate and is needed for regeneration of RuBP
  23. NADPH provides reducing power for light independent reaction and is needed to reduce 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate to form TP, which is required for synthesis of sugars.
  24. in photolysis, H2O is split into 2H+ and 2e-. e- used to replcace lost e- from special chl a in P680 and protons combine with e- from PS1 to form H atoms which reduce carrier NADP+ to NADPH for use in light independent reaction.
  25. photosynthetic pigments such as chl a and b and carotenoid embedded on thylakoid membranes and arranged in photosystems. PS1 (P700) and PSII (P680) absorbs wavelengths of 700nm and 680nm respectively. photon of light absorbed by both PS will excite electrons in special chl a in reaction centres to higher energy levels. excited e- accepted by primary electron acceptors which pass them on to electron carriers on the electron transport chain. electron carriers on the ETC are of progressively lower energy levels so energy is released as electrons move down the ETC. energy released used to pump H+ from stroma into thylakoid lumen and the accumulation of H+ generates potential energy. when H+ return to the stroma by diffusing down concentration gradient through H+ channels, energy released to couple phosporylation of ADP + Pi o produce ATP, catalysed by ATPase.
  26. non-cyclic phosphorylation, lost electron in PSII replaces that lost in PS1. electron lost in PS1 reduces NADP+ to NADPH. electrons from phoyolysis of water replaces lost electon in PSII.
  27. cyclic phosorylation, lost electron in PS1 passed down ETC betwwen PS1 and PSII and returns to PS1.

respiration is a complicated topic and structure of dna requires less attention. my bio promos begin in 110 minutes' time, all the best to me.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

operation promos.

weien
dowan luh. all the mass dance songs here then you all dance in front of the computer meh. lol.
megan
got special teacher mark your essay? idk, i'm losing touch with gp. and all the other subjects. wonderful thing to say when promos start at 8.15am tomorrow huh.
niaoci
yeahhh tmrrrrr. die. aq. i refuse to study anything from the content book alr.

so yes as you can see from the above tag replies, perhaps except the first, i'm quite disturbed by the upcoming promotional examinations. and them starting in less than ten hours' time isn't very comforting. neither is having a phone that receives the wrong sms-es.

gp tomorrow morning, bio friday afternoon, math monday morning, econs tuesday morning, chem thursday morning, my birthday when the clock strikes twelve at midnight for friday.

i heard someone say we were going to the zoo next friday.

Monday, September 15, 2008

last night he finally got it right.

there. your mass dance song.

even losers can get lucky sometimes huh. but i guess a little hard work still helps. i'm going to study. it's the study break after all.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

countdown to promos: 5 days.

shannon
i asked ms heng, like you heard, but she hasn't given me a reply. i forgot to ask her again.
weien
whoah you actually bothered to read those italics stuff arh.
niaoci
if you're referring to math, yes i'm fine, but maybe your favourite teacher isn't.

i hereby apologise (sincerely) for my absence online the past few days. i actually had online fans being super concerned.

nah, i'm kidding.

my phone is dying. gahhh. which is why i really need a c and above for my math.

which was why, i think, i broke down during math yesterday and cried and screamed at L. i'm sorry everybody, that my tolerance reached its limit before everyone else's.

suddenly i'm quite worried about my gp.

would i have done better in an arts class? but meh, jjc doesn't offer a chem econs bio geog class. that subject combi has been mentioned because it doesn't have math and doesn't include literature nor history, two subjects i'm vaccinated against.

i need etiquette lessons. so i will know how to talk to people, like certain people and my parents.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

creating stress.

i need to escape from this bombardment of stuff. i need some time off to organise what's in my brain. i need people to reply my messages and answer my calls.

yeah so i'm in sort of immense stress now i may explode any moment. and i haven't even really began on revision for promos, even though it begins next thursday. this feeling sucks.

yesterday, sparked off by i-forgot-what during gp, i started penning down questions about our lives. mostly in the singapore context.

do people still remember what Mas Selamat looks like? or even better, who he is?

do people care that a second large group of Chinese has been victimised after the second bout of earthquakes? do they even still care about the first victims?

old men seeking prostitutes: they blame it on their wives who have become "unattractive" over time. have they, then, because of their age, become "more attractive", which deems them worthy of pretty young things?

demanding millions of dollars in exchange for broadcasting the Olympics, does it even go with the rationale(s) of the competition itself?

has wearing spectacles allowed people to see a wider, deeper or clearer view of the world?

Singapore is a multi-cultural society. But has having four cultures made us so saturated that we become impermeable to foreign cultures, such that people refuse to even share living spaces with foreigners?

has the morals of people been so depleted that priority seats have to be set aside to remins them to be gracious enough to give up their seats for the more needy?

are our students too independent, such that Project Work becomes such an arduous task and a much hated subject (both by teachers and students)?

so, we need a medal to spur people into taking up sports?

have we been so blinded by fashion that we fail to identify what truely suits us?

are we really that money-driven to need incentives for nearly everything, including giving birth?

have we been so ignorant to each other's voices that we require noisy accessories to say "excuse me"?

are we taking education for granted because it is so easily accessible?

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

90.22

72% for german prelim! heh. now i can be assured of at least one a on my year-end result slip. my last a for german was in sec one.

who else but herr neiser would give students 80 upon 90 for oral. all the candidates who got him as their examiner for quite high. like, seventy-plus on average. frau quim's students mostly scored in the fifty-plus range.

and the highest scorer for cloze passage was three. M got that. most got one or two, i got two. damn funny luh.

D scored 23 out of 25 for listening. damn pro. i got 19.

i think this is one of the most fun german lessons ever man. never has the class laughed so much over receiving results. it's like one joke after another.

but i must say herr spindler did make a great difference to all of us this year.

for more info about german prelim, please refer to my post-prelim post somewhere below. haha.

Monday, September 08, 2008

mission wr, accomplished.

JJ137 HAS FINALLY COMPLETED OUR WR!!!

mmhmm. eeling just called. you could just hear her excitement as she announced the news over the phone that our two hard copies have been binded.

after pw tutorial today, C called me to the front of the classroom and passed me the official seab letter announcing my german oral date. 3rd october, 2.15pm at moelc. only after i took in the black and white (and highlighted yellow) information did i feel the stress running through my every vein (and artery and all other blood vessels).

while being locked inside the pw classroom by W and S, M and me had a talk. i'm glad we did. though we ended up being late for the follwing pw lecture. because we decided to just suddenly push open the door while W and S are still holding on to it, but when we did we realised they were already gone. and they reached the lt before us. jokers.

M stole my highlighter during pw lecture. at least twice. everytime she did that we'd just laugh. i don't even know the rationale behind the laughter.

so german oral's same date as leaders' camp. i'll have to talk to L about that.

and on the way home from school, i thought, i'd laugh if i saw K and the soul-mate on the streets.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

2008 september holidays.

hotmail, you'd better work when i send in my wr later.

yeah, spent my whole afternoon refining the wr for the printing and hotmail had to lag like crazy. ms word's a bitch. the picture kept bouncing to the top of the page when it was supposed to be somewhere in the middle.

i sort of completed my bio tutorial. because i have never done the essay questions. not from even the first cell membrane tutorial.

i'm not worried about promos. i think this is what you get when you slack too much, you'd never get that sense of urgency. i sort of admire E and X for being able to endure such long hours.

rain, rain, go away.

Friday, September 05, 2008

rantings.

so my september holidays are nearly gone. and the revision plan for promos hasn't really started. my room's in a mess too.

math mock promos was quite okay. at least i know how to do some questions.

homework list for what's left of my holidays: ionic eqm tutorial, chem revision paper, bio dna tutorial, revision for bio mcq test. thankfully i've got my gp essay plans done.

finally i'm talking homework. when i only have my weekends left.

shit.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

godparents of just me.

my childhood, at least a large portion of it, was spent battling illnesses. so according to a belief of some people, i don't know if it's exactly chinese, my parents got me a godmother. it was said that having a godparent, or something along that line, will help the child become stronger.

my godmum's my mom's mom's elder brother's daughter. ultimately, an aunt of some kind.

so i grew up as if having two sets of parents, one, my biological parents and second the godparents. double the love, double the birthday presents, more ang bao money as compared to my brother.

because he didn't get any godparents. but he still addressed my godmum and god-dad (one d's too weird, two d-s together even weirder hence the dash) as what i do. and every year i'll still receive more angbao money from them than my brother, and they don't give him special angbaos on his birthday. i do, and usually to make him feel better i'll give him a hundred out of what i get. beginning of years i'll also receive substantially big angbaos for "school stuff". but not my brother.

and when my godparents go overseas (at least my godmum, cuz my god-dad's sort of permanently in indonesia), which is pretty often, i get lots of gifts, i.e. souvenirs, but it's not uncommon that my brother will be left empty-handed.

like this evening. my godmum popped by for a visit after her return from korea/indonesia/vietnam a week ago. she was armed with lots of presents, but none of them were specially for my brother. sure, we'll share the food she brought back, but holding the pile of clothes that she bought me, together with some hand-made canister and two handphone straps from korea, i have to admit i felt pretty bad.

because while i was happily receiving the stuff, my brother was slouching at a corner of the sofa. admiring the tokens he got back from his robotics competition this afternoon. and i thought those were gifts my godmum brought back for him.

i don't exactly know what's my point in writing this post, it'll probably make me feel better. because i can't possibly tell my godmum to buy stuff for my brother the next time she goes away, or remember his birthday and give him more angbao money.

and my mom whispered to me while my brother was away somewhere else in the house, that i should not ask what my godmum got my brother. because most of the time he receives nothing.