Monthly Archive
Browsing entries posted on September 2007
Old-skool moon cake
I went to Sheng Siong to pick up groceries, and right before the cashier counter, I encountered a holdback from my childhood - the rice-flour mooncake! This isn’t your usual brown baked mooncake, nor is it a fancy new snowskin. It’s just… a cake.
No really, it says “Kuih Bulan” right there on the label - that’s Malay for “moon cake”. The ingredients are listed as rice flour, sugar, malt extract and glucose. I know it’s too large in diameter, and flat, and doesn’t seem to have any filling, but it’s supposed to represent the moon, and it’s a cake of flour. And it has a rabbit on it, and everyone knows that old Chinese folktale about the bunny up there on the moon. I rest my case.
I remember eating it as a kid, and there’s something about its texture that I haven’t found replicated elsewhere. It can be easily broken, but it’s not really brittle - you sort of have to pull it apart if you want a piece. And it’s also slightly compressible, like foam. It’s slightly chewy at first, but becomes a gooey paste. Also it’s not too sweet. I could just slowly nibble away at it all day. For reference, the whole piece is slightly more than 6 inches in diameter, so that’s quite a lot of nibbling I’d be doing.
Oh, and does anyone remember the biscuits? I used to call them “gong zai beang” (lit: “picture biscuits”) because they came in all sorts of funny shapes, like fish and pigs and a pistol. A sample can be seen here. They have the same red bean or lotus paste filling, and sometimes a round black seed for an eye.
Ah, childhood. At the most unexpected times, it comes back with its sugar rush and gaudy colours to put a contented, gormless smile on my face.
Learning Is More Than Studying
*Paid Post*
Many parents fork out hundreds of dollars a month for their children’s tutoring fees, often with varying results. Tuition classes can reinforce what’s being taught in school, but often it’s almost an exact replica of the classroom, with the same distractions from classmates and lack of individualized attention.
Club Z! Tutoring only offers one-on-one tutoring, which is backed up by research as being a very effective teaching method. With a Private Tutor, the student has more flexibility in deciding the time and place of tutoring. For parents, this means no more ferrying the child to tuition centers or rushing to be on schedule.
Club Z! tutors are teachers or degree holders with teaching experience. Besides the usual academic subjects such as language, arithmetic and science, there are also tutors for music and speech therapy, as well as those who specialize in home schooling or learning disabilities. Tutors also impart practical study skills and organizational skills, such as pre-exam coping tips.
In tandem with their philosophy of learning for life, Club Z! also has adult learning services for foreign languages as well as standardized test preparation, for candidates preparing to take assessments such as the SAT and GRE. With a wide range of subjects taught by dedicated tutors, students can be assured not only of improved academic performance, but more importantly, of actual learning, and not just fact-cramming.
Where’s the ‘fun’ in Honours?
As far as the libraries are concerned, Honours students have it good. We have loan allowances of 28 days, compared to 14 days for other students, and we’re allowed 15 books at a time, when a year previously we would only be allowed 10. Although I never used up the quota of 10, so 15 is just overkill to me. I don’t have space for 15 books!
Yes, life takes a turn for the worse when you become an Honours student. Just look at what passes for leisure reading:
They’re all psychology books. I got some of them as background research for a term paper, but the rest are for fun. “Psychologists in Word and Image”: that’s basically an illustrated primer to psychologists of the past and present. Whee! Honours students - we’re basically geeks of our chosen field. Thanks!
Change of topic after the jump.
Self-Publishing Your Book
*Paid Post*
A lot of people who write feel that they have at least one good book inside them. Unfortunately, getting this good book out into print is a path fraught with difficulties. There’s the process of shopping out your manuscript, getting rejected, and if you’re lucky enough to get a contract, there are royalty issues to grapple with.
By choosing to Self Publish instead of going to the big players, you can cut out the literary agent (whose services may be expensive while results are not guaranteed), set your own royalty rates, and customize every aspect of your book to your liking, down to the cover design.
AuthorHouse is the world’s largest self-publishing company, and their emphasis is on simplifying the publishing process while empowering authors to get their voices heard. Authors who sign up with AuthorHouse are assigned a personal advocate to be their liaison and guide them through the publishing process. And when the book is finally ready for the market, AuthorHouse will distribute it through retail stores as well as online through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, in order to reach a wider market. Marketing and advertising services are also offered at a discounted rate.
AuthorHouse will also send you a free publishing guide upon completion of a request form on their website, so you can embark on what they call “the great adventure of publishing”.
It’s a huge draw
I was alerted to an upcoming DS game, Drawn To Life, by my Nintendo DS Facebook group. Yes, I let Facebook run my life, is that so wrong? Anyway, the game was just released, and I managed to get a copy.
The main attraction of Drawn To Life is the drawing input. You are the Creator of a little world, and it has fallen into darkness after a blasphemous creature tore up your “Book Of Life”. You now have to draw and control a hero to bring back the torn pages and rebuild your world bit by bit. It’s a simple premise, so the trick is all in the execution. There’s a storyline to be followed, and you will discover more of this charming little creation of yours.
The game itself is a classic platformer. I didn’t play that many platform games growing up, so their logic sometimes eludes me, but it’s a very easy way to play because there are practically no rules, as opposed to strategy games or RPGs.
The artwork is really cute in a childish way, but this is something I’d unashamedly play on the bus, without caring who’s looking over my shoulder. Plus the pastel colour scheme of the game gives me an excuse to use lots of pink when I’m colouring things to place in the world. Have you ever seen pink and purple icecubes? Well, when I’m the Creator, they exist!
My character profile.
In addition to text dialogue, the little creatures also speak in icons.
My character interacting with a creature.
My fingers and wrist are sore now, which is a sure sign of a good game - I’m enjoying it too much to put it down.
Cash For College
*Paid Post*
Paying for college tuition is probably the single biggest expenditure a parent will have to face when it comes to raising children. Even with a reasonably comfortable income, a family with two working parents will have to be much more frugal in order to put their kids through college. No wonder, then, that every year there’s a huge scramble for scholarships after exam results are announced.
To ease the search for college funding, Scholarships.com has provided a student guide to financial scholarships for those who qualify. The student guide is free, and it’s the top resource for those searching for financial aid. The website also includes a college search feature that lists U.S. colleges by the criteria you set, and then helps you find available scholarships.
Just so you can get an accurate picture of how much money you need for college, the annual fees for in-state and out-of-state students are also included in the college listings. The search engine is also able to filter results based on your personal profile, so that only relevant scholarships will be shown. When you’re 18 and making a major life decision, the last thing you need is to be overwhelmed by unnecessary information. The site is also constantly updated to provide the most accurate information, so it should be the go-to site if you’re planning ahead for college.
The Rush Is On
I’ve installed yet another widget on my sidebar. This one doesn’t make me any money, but it’s supposed to drive traffic to my blog. The widget is from BlogRush, and it provides links to related blogposts that you might want to read after you’re done with mine. I like to think of it as a Web2.0 incarnation of trade-a-link.
If you’re a blogger and you’re interested in checking out the service, the link is here. Alternatively, you can click on the bottom of the widget where it says “Add Your Blog Posts”. The service is free, too.
The blogposts that will be featured on the widget are chosen because they’re related to my blog category, so they won’t be random ads or totally irrelevant entries on, say, advancements in materials engineering. Since I entered my blog category as “personal diary”, the widget will probably be delivering similar, ‘this-is-my-life’-themed blogposts. That should suit the readers with voyeuristic tendencies (myself included).
Just don’t forget to come back here and finish reading me after you visit the other blogs, okay?
A Bite of the Big Apple
*Paid Post*
My mum spent a few months in New York City way before I was born, and she told me I absolutely should go there if I have a chance. If I do go, it won’t be on a package tour. I’d want to see the New York my mum saw - the everyday, rush-hour-traffic city with joggers in Central Park and hot dogs on the street, that kind of genuine experience.
If that kind of sightseeing appeals to you, then you should check out this service that offers a custom New York tour. For groups of up to 8 people, they have a tour that’s personalized to your preferences. To start with, they’ll pick you up at your hotel at whatever time you want. None of that “waking up at 7am” business that you get on regular tour packages. Their description of a typical tour day continues with breakfast at a diner, and then you’ll see the city from the ground up - their preferred mode of travel is the subway. Which makes it a fast, fuss-free and authentic New York experience, I’d think.
The tour company takes a very personal view towards their customers. Once you book a tour with them, you can email or call them about anything you’d like to know, such as where to eat, what to see and what to do. Their tour guides are licensed by the city authorities as required by law, so their experience and knowledge of the city are certified. They’ve covered all bases to save you, the customer, any hassle. You go to New York to have fun, and Family In New York will let you do just that.
*This sponsored post is brought to you by Family In New York, Inc.*
One-person CCAs
For the academic year of 2007/08, I will be starting the following clubs:
- LOLCats Appreciation Society
- Online Shoppers’ Club
- Internet Studies Committee
- Dual-Screen Games
All these have a current membership of one: me.
After being turned down by Dance Production and Dinner & Dance, and not auditioning for Band and Choir since it would be a wasted effort considering my pathetic standard, I am now left with no hall CCAs at all. I can’t say I really care, since I don’t need the points to stay next year. Plus I have a Cartmanesque approach to this:
“Screw you guys, I’m going home!”
I’m seriously checking out the room rental pages in anticipation of my emancipation from forced participation.
More Than Just Eyeballs
*Paid Post*
In the early days of the Internet, “eyeballs” was a popular term. It referred to the number of site viewers, or site traffic in general. That was back when the Internet existed mostly as a giant repository of information.
The nature of the Internet has changed to become a lifestyle tool, and so has the function of websites. They are no longer just for entertainment, but a possible revenue stream. As such, companies such as Apogee Search specialize in helping businesses make the most of their online marketing, particularly in the field of SEO or Search Engine Optimization. With so many potential customers looking for products or services via search engines, SEO is a powerful marketing tool. However, it’s also a sector laden with a fair share of jargon that may prove daunting to the beginner.
Apogee Search, which was established in 2001, has helpfully compiled a glossary of terms relating to SEO. Their Search Engine Marketing Glossary is written in a clear, concise and sometimes entertaining manner, as in the case of the entry for Google Death Penalty. Jokes aside, the company is dedicated to improving their clients’ revenues through proven marketing methods that target qualified site visitors to deliver the most value for money. As one of the 25 largest Search Engine Marketing firms worldwide, Apogee Search don’t just bring eyeballs - they bring interested, profit-making eyeballs.
Recent Comments