big-eyed visitor

a curious visitor to our place. looked warily at my olympus mju mini that was shoved into his face.

shampoo hunt

(pls read post on Animal Testing for context)

the range of animal-cruelty-free haircare products found in singapore is very very limited. my bottle of hair conditioner, Organic Source, bought from Giant supermart ran out last week and i hunted high and low all across town for a reasonably priced animal-friendly replacement.

anyways, the label on Organic Source conditioner indicated that it was not tested on animals, but the company name is not found in PETA's (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) approved list. hmmmm.... suspicious. in any case, there was no more stock in Giant.

checked the big brand names of natural products - Body Shop and Natural Source. prices were astronomical. normal sized bottle of conditioner costs S$18.90 at Body Shop and S$21.90 at Natural Source. seow... so expensive. more than double the price of other common brands available at pharmacies. people should not be penalised for choosing animal-cruelty-free products.

after 1 week search, finally found a suitable conditioner - St Ives - only around S$8.45! found it at watsons.

uncommon common rose

thought we spotted the Common Rose Pachliopta aristolochiae asteris (which is very uncommon in singapore) at bkt timah last saturday when we were walking down from the summit along the main road.

there were a bunch of bird-watching students and one of them pointed out a woodpecker to us. the guy had scarlet feathers (i mean the bird not the student who pointed it out). mark took a very very very long time to spot it despite it being right there in front of his eyes. becos of that long wait (with a lot of pointing - there, there it is JUST THERE) for him to finally spot the bird, saw a beautiful butterfly with red spots on its hind wings flit by.

after doing some research on the internet, think it is probably a Common Mormon Papilio polytes romulus instead. chey..... the Common Mormon is a dead ringer for the Common Rose. this confuses the prey as the Common Rose is poisonous but the Common Mormon is not.

Common Rose








Common Mormon









check out this website for great pictures of butterflies in singapore.

laughing is contagious

the white-crested laughing thrush Garrulax leucolophus was spotted at the start of cave path at bkt timah today. on a branch quite near to the path . this guy hails from the himalayas or northeast india and was introduced to singapore. apparently quite common here though this is the first time i see it. very striking appearance - look like zorro. we saw a pair of them. apparently, they like to hang out in a group and when they start laughing, the noise is deafening.

i didnt bring my camera with me that day.. : ((

the great apple crash

as related to lin, who said it reminded her of the movie "Duplex" where the male protagonist wrote a book, saved it in his laptop which somehow caught fire and was later run down by a truck.

"i was on leave on friday. to complete my project. but at the eleventh hour, my computer crashed. yup that's right, my apple. before the design was sent to the printer. so needless to say, missed the project deadline, even today the computer is still in comatose. dunno whether the files all gone or not. so i spent cny re-doing the entire project by hand...... no more fancy computer graphics.

i cldnt control myself and started crying in class (before the tutor came in of course) on friday evening before the project presentation session. becos i brought computer along in the hope that it wld somehow revive on the spot so at least can still present something. but it just refused to start and i consulted everyone to ask if they knew what to do when apple hangs but all shake their head and seeing that, of course i was devastated. just then, my friend had to call at that moment to ask if i m free to meet up at another friend's place on tues and i just lost my cool and blabbered that my computer has crashed and i missed my project deadline and i m swamped with work and can't make it for whatever house visiting. at the other end of the line, the guy was like very nervous on hearing my outburst and quickly said goodbye. that was the trigger point and i felt very upset and went to hide out in the toilet and started tearing. and then one of my classmates had to come in at that time to use the loo. drats. so i had to evacuate before she sees me in such a
wreck. tried to keep cool but then went into class and someone asked how's my project and that just opened the floodgates.

thinking back, it's quite funny. all the hard work and sleepless nights all flushed down the drain.... coincidentally, this project is abt designing a park next to a canal..."

next time when you watch some slapstick movie about a guy's laptop getting run over by a truck and think it's ridiculous and unbelievable, think again. it really isn't very far from reality. such things do happen... i will from now on, always always back up my data!