Dancing our way to a charged phone battery?

Good news for all dance freaks out there. Thanks to a new kinetic technology application, a new gadget that only requires you to dance your way to top up the charge in your phone battery is set to be on its way.

These portable energy chargers which will be attached to the user’s arm employ a system of weights and magnets, providing an electric current that tops up charge in a storage battery. The battery will then be utilized to recharge the cell phone.

So, what are you waiting for? Start dancing now.

Interesting Regulation

I was flipping through today’s The Star newspaper when I saw an appealing article about a wheelchair bound man charged with drink-driving in Sydney, Australia.

The disabled man intended to visit a friend staying 14km away with his automated wheelchair when he doze off and drove down a highway. A passing police patrol woke him up and conducted a breathalyzer test on him. His alcohol content was found to be more than six times over the legal limit for driving. This prompted the police officers to charge him with drink-driving.

Apparently, the classes of vehicles subjected to the drink-driving law in Australia encompass the automated wheelchair as well. In fact, this interesting rule might be valid in most countries around the globe.

Thus, to all the folks out there, do not drink and drive anything that has wheels, including strollers and trolleys.

In memory of my M&M Easter Chocolate

Recently, my aunt from Australia came back to spend a 3 weeks holiday with the family members. As always, she bought us loads of chocolates as souvenirs. This time around, as I was one of the last to choose the chocolates, I was left with an adorable M&M Easter chocolate which I named Choczy. My Choczy was so cute I had to take its pictures as remembrance before eating it. I now present the pictures I captured of my dear Choczy which is now safely in the arms of Jesus, or so I hope for your enjoyment.

Choczy with wrappings on

Choczy without its wrapper

Choczy after dissection

Choczy posing with its wrapper

Happy Rice Dumpling Festival (Duan Wu Jie)

It is the time of the year for yet another festive celebration in one of the world’s most culturally diverse country, Malaysia. Yesterday, we celebrated the Rice Dumpling Festival or more fondly known by the Chinese community as ‘Duan Wu Jie’.

Due to my curious nature, I googled up the story behind this memorable event which up to date, is still being strongly upheld by the Chinese community around the globe. I summarized my discovery together with some pictures of the delectable rice dumplings which is now being treated by the digestive enzymes from my stomach for your leisure reading.

Duan Wu Jie is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese Lunar calendar annually. In addition to the vast selection of mouth watering rice-dumplings available for savoring, the dragon boat race is also held concurrently on the same date. Many versions have been told with respect to the legend behind this honorable celebration. The most widespread adaptation tells about the patriotic poet Qu Yuan who is also a high-post minister of the Chu Dynasty in ancient China. Qu Yuan is highly respected both for his loyalty towards the emperor as well as his devotion to his country. However, due to an unfolding political conspiracy among the palace officials, the weak-minded emperor Huai was tricked into banishing Qu Yuan.

This left him helpless as he witness the progressive occupation of his motherland by the Qin dynasty. Devastated by the events that unfolded, Qu Yuan decided to take his own life by plunging himself into the Mi-Luo river in Hunan province of China on the fifth day of the fifth month in 278 B.C. The news reached the ears of the citizens. Overwhelmed, they made rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves and threw them into the river in hope that the fishes will favor the dumplings over Qu Yuan’s body. A group of fishermen then conducted a search for their beloved minister’s corpse in boats, beating gongs and drums along the way in a desperate attempt to scare the fishes away. This eventually marked the commencement of the dragon boat races. Since then, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month has been dedicated in remembrance of the deeply cherished minister and poet, Qu Yuan.

Hope the chronicle above managed to shed some light about the origin of dumpling festivals. Having said enough about the origin of Duan Wu Jie, we will now divert our attention to the lip smacking rice dumpling, or Zongzi as it is famously called. Zongzi is made from glutinous rice stuffed with an assortment of fillings wrapped in bamboo (or lotus) leaves. The most common type of filling-based Zongzi is the ‘rou Zongzi’ (pork/chicken meat Zongzi). The few main ingredients in rou Zongzi are pork/chicken, chestnut, egg, salted egg and dried mushroom. Rou Zongzi can appear white (the glutinous rice is not pre-fried) or brown (glutinous rice pre-fried with soya-sauce).

The infamous pork Zongzi

There is one exceptional type of Zongzi that contains no fillings, called the ‘Jian Shui Zong’. Jian Shui Zong possesses characteristic yellow appearance which resulted from treatment of the glutinous rice with lye water (aqueous calcium hydroxide). Jian Shui Zongs are usually eaten with sugar or syrup to perk up the palatability. Nowadays, modified Jian Shui Zhongs filled with red beans are widely available as an alternative option for picky consumers.

The yellow Jian Shui Zhong


Enclosed below are pictures of me and my first Zongzi of the year which serves as my supper yesterday

My supper ~ pork Zongzi


Me with my supper ~ Yum Yum

Two Choices

A while ago, I read an interesting e-mail from a friend entitled ‘Two Choices’. That pithy e-mail tells about how we can always choose our own reaction towards a certain predicament that befalls upon us. Even though it seems mundane, I totally agree with what it says. Thus, I set out on a mission to put the advice into practice. Let’s view how I fared in this quest of mine.

Scenario 1
A week ago, I joined my cousins for an evening in the swimming club. While lazing on one of the benches around the pool, I saw a few sexy babes wearing bikinis, exposing their slender body. As much as it was a feast for my eyes, it created a deep sense of intimidation upon me. Thoughts began to swarm my brain, making me feel vulnerable. Words like ‘I wish I have those bodies’ keep rehearsing themselves inside my mind. In the midst of those lingering thoughts, I am suddenly reminded of the two choices philosophy. At that instance, I gave myself two choices. Either I develop that jealousy into a burning desire to strive hard and gain a similar sexy figure by adhering to strict diet regimes and heavy exercise routines, or I happily reassured myself that I am so much luckier than those ladies for I have one less problem to worry about, maintaining that ‘perfect’ figure (which is terribly taxing). I chose the latter.

End result ~ I learnt something new that day. How to appreciate myself as another one of God’s wonderful creations.

Scenario 2
I have had a bout of emotional swirls for the last few days. It started off with my dreadful results coming into my hands. With all due respect to the emotional preparation I made myself go through, I still couldn’t help it but feel sad. During these periods of despair, I repeatedly gave myself two choices. Continually implant a sense of absolute worthlessness into myself, or the smarter option, allow myself a brief moment of depression before summoning all my brain cells together and work out a better alternative to supplement my unpleasant results. While the preferred choice works occasionally, the feeling of angst continues to haunt me periodically. This in turn takes a negative toll on my temper, steering me to vent out my anger over trivial matters. At one point, I even lost myself completely, bursting out in tears over what seems to be insignificant issues. Guess I failed to entirely incorporate the two choices methodology in this particular scenario.

End result ~ I console myself with the infamous ‘perfection belongs to God alone’ quote which works out just fine.

Judging based on my performance from both scenarios, I shall be honest and admit that I have not mastered the teachings completely but at the same time, deserved a pat on the shoulder for my effort and partial success.
Well done Grace!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Each year, the date 6th of June is marked on my calendar as an exclusive day as it indicates the day of birth of one of the world’s greatest mums, my mother.

I would like to make it more meaningful for her this year by extending my wishes to her on the internet for all to see.

Happy Birthday Mummy! I Love You!!!

Hello World!

Hi everyone, nice to meet you.

You are now casting your eyes on the first ever official post written by a thrilled newbie trying her hands on creating a blog. For an IT illiterate like me, this was no easy task. It took me the entire night just to fill in my profiles. Sad wasn’t it? Guess this is a hint for me to start connecting myself with the established IT world.

Let’s see, there a few reasons as to why I want to start a blog, but the most prominent one that I can think of for now is to boost up my command of English. As such, I welcome any critics about my grammar, vocabulary or my thoughts. Just feel free to give me your comments.

Oh ya, I am also recruiting English language tutors so anyone out there who itches to be a tutor are more than welcomed to contact me.

Lastly, thank you for reading!