Bye bye Flap...

I found out today that Flap died on Saturday. Am heartbroken.

And the award goes to...

The very industrious Mr M of course, for completing and submitting his MT on the last day of classes. All our coursemates looked suitably impressed. HY and I, being the two other MT students this semester, were understandably more grudging in our acknowledgement of Mr M's achievement. CR, who is Mr M's supervisor, announced to the class that Mr M might be the first student in the history of the department to submit his MT on time. What a feat! Congratulations, Mr M.

Spell check for Channel News Asia

I am very alarmed by two articles I read today on Channel News Asia (CNA). Haven't they heard of something called Spell check?!

The first article is on the Korean star, Jang Dong Gun.

"...one can clearly see the reasons why Jang reaches national stardom with this show and subsequently becomes an international idle."

Erhem, I hope for the writer's sake that Jang's angry fans will be able to restrain themselves and remain "idle" after reading that.

The second article is on a Singapore adventurer who has climbed Mount Everest for the second time.

"...he had to complete the remaining eight hundred over metres with oxygen because of bad weather and diahorrea."

Can someone please enlighten me on this? Is that some obscure medical condition that I've never heard of, or is it really a misspelling (a fairly common one judging from the 34,900 hits on Google)?

Ryo-Ohki the cabbit

Picture taken from Noos-Anime

An animal from Tenchi Muyo! which looks like a cross between a cat and a rabbit. Perfect for cat- and rabbit-lovers like me.

Rainbow Islands - Conquered

Yeessss!!! Victory is mine!!! After months of "hard work", I have finally completed Rainbow Islands (yes, all 40 levels)!

The final boss (form 1)

The final boss (form 2)

What happens if you die during the battle with the final boss? Well, you get transformed into a helpless litte dragon and get thrown into prison. See that little dragon crying away in the lower cell on the extreme right? That's you!

But if you manage to defeat the final boss, that little cell will remain empty (obviously reserved for the hero if he fails to defeat the final boss) and you will be able to free the prisoners and turn them back into humans (very grateful humans).

Voila!

The great depression

I'm starting to get the feeling that there is a curse of some sort on this semester's minor thesis (MT) students. I haven't really talked to Mr M, so I have no idea how his MT is going (presumably much better than mine), but HY and I have been experiencing one setback after another. HY's first problem arose (quite unexpectedly) when she tried to negotiate access to the samples she needs for her MT. As HY described it, what should have been a straightforward process dragged on forever, all because of a "laidback" female staff.

HY's second problem was even more unexpected. It seems like the hard disk in her laptop has crashed for no apparent reason. If you're not a student and you can't imagine what life is like without a laptop, then try imagining life without your handphone. And if you are one of those people who do not have a handphone or if you own one for the sole purpose of making calls and it's off most of the time, then, well, I guess there is really nothing I can say to make you understand, so let's just move on. I really hope HY's laptop gets fixed as soon as possible. One, she really needs it for work (and for surfing). Two, I'm bored and I miss my online MSN partner.

On a side note, HY and I met YX on the tram a few days ago and were stunned to hear about a (very powerful) spider which unwittingly and singlehandedly broke her laptop. Mind you, I'm talking about a real spider (the eight-legged kind) and not some newfangled virus. Apparently, the spider had crawled into her laptop and proceeded to get fried on a microchip which is impossible to replace without replacing the entire motherboard.

As for me, I had a really hard time designing the discourse completion task (DCT) and now that I'm done, I can't seem to find any participants! The data collection is really giving me a monster of a headache. I need 24 native speakers and 24 non-native speakers (intermediate level). My questionnaire comes in three versions, which further complicates matters. I've been "jijoing" (jetting-in-jetting-out; courtesy of CR) of classes for the last week, pleading with students to help me fill up the questionnaire. And I have absolutely nothing to show for all that begging so far. I'm so depressed.

Happy Anniversary!

Rainbow Islands - World 10

I finally got to the last secret world in Rainbow Islands. It's very cutesy and colourful.