Oh my lovely sunshine.

Just today my female colleague was complaining about the scorching sun around 1pm. Well, I didn't quite like the afternoon sun as well, but I told her, enjoy it as the sun gives us vitamin D. She told me that the afternoon sun was bad. And so came the qns when is the sun good then? She replied, "Morning! and Evening!". Then there was.... this post..... I mean, I thought to myself, isn't the sun the same sun, morning, day or evening?

Checking out Google, it proved to be a fairly difficult task to debunk this so-called "myth". Well, from wikianswers, it would seem that the sun is safe until 10am, after which it becomes bad for health and causes burns as well as the feared skin cancer. The sun is safer after 4pm. Well, at least this was what was quoted. One source, statistically, that's an insignificant result. Afterall, there's no scientific proof to prove that, or is there?

Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_there_any_difference_between_morning_and_evening_sun_rays_on_health_grounds.A_scintific_explanation_please.

Hmm... it would seem that the sun does play an important factor in gardening. Perhaps by examining the reasons and rationale behind them, we can derive with a more "definite" answer. As quoted from a forum, and since I'm lazy to type everything down again, here's what's being said about the morning, mid and evening sun.

"Morning sun side - sunflower / 'fake' dill / 'real' dill / local lavender / moneyplant / mother

-in-law tongue / 1 hanging petunia / mint / air plant

Under the shade of morning sun - all the ferns / small asparagus (either hang high high or behind a shadow or very short exposure of the light)

Mid way (bright area no direct sunlight, - money plant / mint / all 'in the process of propagation plant' eg HL de mullberry temporary stays here sometimes a bit of west sun near the wall for - wondering jew / spider plant / asparagus / aloe / petunia + 1 unknown plant

Evening sun - periwrinkle / roselle (i think so) / pandan plant / mosquitoe plant + i unknown plant / petunia"

Not sure how accurate this info is, but I guess there's no smoke without fire.

Source: http://www.greenculturesg.com/forum/index.php?/topic/13966-am-sun-vs-pm-sun/

When I searched for "morning sun vs evening sun scientific proof" all I got from Google was the existence of God. Side tracking a little, this "sun" thing made me reminiscence about a conversation I had with a couple of my close friends when I visited my best pal's new house. We were talking about new houses, and about whether the house gets any morning or evening sun, and started discussing a bit about Fengshui. I'm not too sure about it, but from what they told me, the general consensus is that there's 2 schools of thought for Fengshui.

Vaguely put, one is more on the overall direction, the other is about the direction in which the sun comes in from. Where the sun comes in strongest, that's the "front" door (even though it may be the balcony). Confused? Don't be, cos that's the best way I can structure my explanation since I'm fairly uncertain myself. Shan't "research" about Fengshui for now... cos I know it's open a door I can't close shut behind me once I do.

Well, from my astronomy classes back in University, I knew that Auroras or Northern lights are actually caused by the harmful solar flares or solar wind from the sun which hits the thermosphere (high altitude atmosphere). Ie. Beauty it is true indeed, as northern lights are evidence of our Earth protecting its inhabitants from the harm. It's almost like the Earth is a round spartan holding an invisible shield and blocking off any fire spears hurled at it.

It's sad that the sun will die in 5.2 billion years from now, since it's life span is only 10 billion years and 4.8 billion years have already passed. Though we would be dead by then, the thought is indeed shuddering. One can imagine what will become of our godzillionth generation.

Ok, I think I might have side tracked a little too much here. Any more of this and one would think my religion is Sun-ism. While there might not have scientific or clinical evidence out there which compares and measures the effects of the morning, midday and evening sun, one can only use general knowledge to solve this "mystery".

We all know for a fact that the afternoon sun is more hotter than the morning or evening sun. This is because the sun is higher up in the sky and there's nothing to block off it's crazy UV radiation. We know that the sunrise and sunset is caused by the atmospheric refraction of the sunrays as it rises above or below the horizon. You can find out more about the differences between dust, dawn and what twilight even means from the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn or you can just figure it out from the picture I ripped off from wikipedia.

Bottomline is, I assume, that it's similar to taking a flash light and shining it directly into the eyes of someone as opposed to using your body to shield off some light and let the remaining light sip through at an angle of your body. Of course the latter would be less glaring for the other party. Works in the same concept I believe, and while the amount of sunlight might not totally equal the magnitude of UV radiation, I believe there's still some slight correlation between them. Less light will result in less UV radiation. No light from sun will mean that there is no UV radiation (I think), since it's hard to imagine UV radiation bouncing off our skins at night. Cos many have said that even though it's a cloudy day, one is exposed to UV radiation... well, that makes sense since there's light from the sun.

So, in summary, while the Sun is mostly good for health, I can only assume that it's true... that the sun is more hazardous to our body midday as opposed to the morning or evening sun due to its intensity and position in the sky. Though there's no scientific evidence to show this, I believe common sense wouldn't fail us, or me here. However, this is only true to humans. Skin cancer and all that sh**. Can't give the same conclusion for animals since there's always an exception... plants are proof of that.

Either way, I love you Sun. It is in your presence that keeps me awake, that makes me feel alive. There's a scientific explanation for this of course. About rhodopsin, of how it's responsible for both the formation of the photoreceptor cells (found in our eyes) in the presence of light. It is this that makes us feel more awake in the day. Well, I'm sure you're aware that if one is exposed to to prolonged periods of darkness, one will gradually become blind. (Actually, I don't even know if that's a myth or not... too many things to find given this short amount of time!!) Hmm, then come another question... if that is true, then is being exposed to too much daylight one of the causes of night blindness? Night blindness is known to either exist from birth, or caused by injury or malnutrition. Perhaps, too much rhodopsin causes a chemical adaption which results in night blindness as well? Would a sporty person be more likely to suffer from mild night blindness as opposed to a "normal" person?

I could keep rattling on, but I shall end off with this stay-home message. We cannot blame the sun for the bad it does to us, we cannot thank the sun for all the good it has given to us. Because the sun is merely just being itself. The sun is simply a ball of ferocious ball suspended in space, and waiting for time to claim it's life. It is like us humans, we cannot be blamed or be gratified for merely existing. Yet as we humans can be appreciated for our presence, we too can appreciate the sun for it's presence. Oh my lovely, sunshine...

I don't wann-a Beeeeeeeee.....

This afternoon while lunching with my colleagues at a nearby chicken rice stall, we encountered something very unusual. There were 2 bees constantly hovering around us and freaked most of my female colleagues out. I too gritted my teeth because the bees were less than 5 cm away from us most of the time. Then after hovering for a good 10 life-threatening seconds, one of them settled on my coke can!

None of my colleagues were having coke, or any drink in that matter... and I felt threatened by the bee. Took my coke can and tried to shake the bee away, but it just kept flying close to the can. The bee was so close to my hand I could almost feel its breath!

I put the can down, and it settled on the top of my can. Chased it away again, thankfully successfully on the second try and quickly drained out my coke. True enough, the bee came and settled on the top of the can, sipping the drops of coke around the groove on top of the can. It was an upclose encounter with a bee "in action". It was quite an amazing sight to see it so close, and to watch the size of the drops shrink one by one. The bee "drank" a few drops before flying away... and coming back again... repeating the same routine for a good 3 times.

I could imagine why the coke can attracted the bee... the striking red probably reminded them of flowers and the sweet coke reminded them of nectar. But what was amazing was that I since coke was carbonated, wouldn't the bees burp after sipping them? Imagine a fly sipping up different carbonated drinks and burping as it flies from one place to another.

That was also when I thought to myself... I shall give myself an assignment when I get home today. How to ward off bees!! And so, the outcome? This post!!

The main gist is that smoke relaxes bees and make them less likely to sting, and that essential oils and plant herbs ward off bees. Apart from the usual insect repellent sprays of course. On the other hand, perfumes attract bees. However, in the situation I was in today, I don't believe any of the "shoo-ing" methods would have been useful to me.

Came across a relevant video though. I'm sure you've seen a couple of chicken rice stalls hanging transparent bags filled with water at their stall fronts, where they chop their meat up. According to the chicken rice aunty in NIE, she said that its just a belief to chase houseflies away and have worked for her. Well, it would seem there are some truths behind it. Just that probably the older generations continued to do so because its just a technique passed down from generations to generations. It would seem that scientific studies have shown that the "invisible" prisms reflected off the bags irritates bugs, not just houseflies alone.

You can check it out at:

http://www.ehow.com/video_4951462_repel-bugs-pennies-water-plastic.html

Just a short clip about a lady teaching you how to repel bugs by putting pennies in plastic bags filled with water. Similar concept, just that in this case there's additional pennies. Additional pennies, additional effects.. additional cost.

Then this idea (which just struck me) reminded me of another hearsay/belief. Ever wondered why people stick coins to cash registers and calculators? I have. I've heard that it has something to do with fengshui and will bring in more money. Did some google searching and ... well, not much info out there. It's plain simple. For luck.

Well, veered off a little there. Back to bees! Did you know that elephants can produce alarm calls to ward off bees? This discovery was made by a team of scientists from Oxford University and more information can be found at the link:

http://www.phenomenica.com/2010/04/elephants-produce-alarm-call.html

But it's actually more of alerting the tribe to stay away from the bees than to actually chasing the bees away. So, once again, interesting fact, but not relevant to my search for the answer.

It seems that all the "solutions" presented revolve around making your own bee repellents out of essential oils or planting strong smelling herbs such as thyme, spearmint and eucalyptus.

Based on these facts, if I ever see a bee a future, my best bet would be to get a bowl of hot soup, put it in front of me, and keep fanning the smoke around. (I absolutely do not condone smoking so even though the more obvious ans is there, I shan't even include it as one of my options.) Haven't tried it, but if anyone suay enough to encounter such a situation, and heng enough to try it, please do drop me a message to see if it really works.

Take home message of the day? And every other day? Knowledge is power. Wa la moments come from prior knowledge.

PS.: Photos are not mine and I claim no credit for them.

When the mundane gets going, the beauty starts to fade away.

Ever since I started work close to 3 months ago, my passion towards it has started to decline progressively. My satisfaction especially, it feels like "somthings/'s" just not worth it, it feels meaningless, it feels empty, I feel empty. Started coming home on time to get "things done" (not that I didn't get things done at work, but things done at work feels different somewhat), playing the guitar, watching movies, doing my magic... blah blah blah.

Well, though things might not have improved much, I've started to reach an equilibrium, an equilibrium of living to survive, vs actually living life. Today, I shall present yet another 3 wonders, "beauties" which came into my life, ever since I started to "search" for it once again... that satisfaction, that meaning which reminds me to keep living my life and not merely to survive it.

It was just like any other day, walking back from lunch with my colleagues passing through many people, many trees, many roads, many offices, many buildings. And whilst we were at Kallang Pudding Road, my colleague asked me out of the blue if I knew that a particular building was, as she pointed it out. I said, "Yup, I know. It's a Church." "Look at the unit number, isn't it interesting?"

I looked at it, and nonchalantly said, "Yeah, 60D. So?" ..... "It reads GOD!!"....

And I thought to myself, "OH MY 60D!!! How did I miss that?" I have been walking that stretch of road every day since I started work, I knew it was a Church as along, the unit number was so prominent, and yet, I failed to realize such an interesting fact!! This just shows that sometimes being observant isn't enough. The ability to connect seemingly "separate" things plays an important part in how we perceive beauty.

Everytime I got home from work, mentally exhausted, I would watch a movie or two. But it seemed that it was equally as draining, if not "meaningless". That's why my appetite for movies have dropped drastically and haven't been blogging much of them. However, I started to gravitate towards one of the my favourite past times which I was so crazily committed to a couple of years back... and behold... it is back indeed. My beloved classical guitar. The instrument which my girlfriend bought for me when we first got together. I loved playing the guitar because it relaxes me, even though I'm not good at it, and can't sing for walnuts.

Was checking out some updated songs to play since I too have been MIH (missing in hearing) from the modern music industry and came across several hidden talents online. I was flabbergasted at how nice their cover of songs were and spend an entire night (burnt some oil to stay up) browsing through them. Megan Nicole, Jason Chen, Tiffany Alvord, Cathy Nguyen.... OM60D!! Where have I been? What have Singaporeans' been missing? With all the blind publicity about the search of half-assed singers, there's actually a group of very talented singers and musicians online who would almost definitely hit straight to stardom should the media feature them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwvMjiOCyqY

(Cover of Perfect by Pink: Jason Chen and Cathy Nguyen)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zg9xS87wgU&feature=related (Cover of Who Says by Selena Gomez: Megan Nichole and Tiffany Alvord)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzYen-3VU2Q&feature=fvwrel (Cover of The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars: Megan Nichole)

I've only attached the best songs sang by those talents, and apologise for any copyrights infringements if I accidentally breach them. But thought I share the vids with you. You can find all of them at youtube. Links after links of sheer music enjoyment. I take no credits for posting them, or making them, only for finding them in this "blind Singapore" that we live in.

And finally, today, when I was checking out my magic stuff online, I came across Hat Juggling. I knew of its existence, but never really did bother to check it out since Contact Juggling seemed more "relevant" to magic and looked soooo ccoooollll. But not until I came across Hat Juggling... This just opened my eyes to all the hidden talents in the world. Relating back to the singers online, I can't believe I was missing out on so much in the world. And therefore gave myself a "mission" or assignment... from now on, I shall start sharing the best of talent vids through my blog, not just to give publicity and recognition to talents like them, but to show everyone who's came across my blog, that there's just so many "beauties" in the world waiting to be

uncovered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spofqnCGVOI

(Hat Juggling: Uncredited Russian?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_rzRfBbVOo&feature=related (Contact Juggling: London Street Artist)

Look no more for diamonds, gems and the possibility of time travel. Look closer, look out for, and look deeper into our everyday lives. Start today, and if you choose rather to chillax at home, fret not. Because I hope to use as my blog as a window for such beauty. Oh wait, haven't I been doing that already? .....

All's not lost in a world of hidden beauty

For the past few months, I have captured several hidden beauties of life. Some may think of me as hyperimaginative, but I truly believe life brings forth its essence in the strangest of places, in the weirdest of times. And the only way to capture those moments are to immortalise them in pictures because a pictures dipicts a thousand emotions, and a picture glorifies the work of the unknown.

Captured at a wall in a carpark near Lorong Ah Soo (opposite of PLMGS)
What do you see?

Kinda looks like a little terrier dog to me.

Captured at Udders Ice Cream cafe at Bukit Batok Westmall
What do you see?

Reminds me of a fortune pig!! Or a fortune boar!!

Captured en route to Robertson Quay, shot taken along the pathway just outside of Clarke Quay Central.

Nothing much to see, but one of the most beautiful places to view the soft beating rays of our sunset.

Captured at TCC Cafe near CentrePoint at Orchard.

Supposed one of the best coffees in the world, first introduced to me by my friend bear bear, and it's my second try with my gf. Blue Mountain Coffee, from Jamaica it seems, the only coffee I've ever tried that doesnt leave a strong aftertaste. Mild and smooth, bitter but light on the tongue. Fragrant, taste like coffee (duh) with every sip, but doesnt remind you of coffee after that.

Captured at the mini dog park on the top level of Serangoon Nex Shopping Mall.

Possibly the most beautiful Chow Chow (fur-wise cos essentially they all look the same) I've ever seen. I've only ever seen black and brown ones, possibly a light brownish one, similar to this one but can vaguely remember cos I think the color of the fur wasn't that uniform. Not sure if it's a male or female dog but it likes to smell other dog's ahem... a****. Nonetheless, was such a rare treat for me.

Wokie then, that's about it. Will upload more "chance" pictures in the future. Capturing beauty isn't that difficult, but finding them is!! And sorting them out on blogspot is quite the tedious task as well!!

Where do we go from here?

Life's been so messed up lately, it's really hard remembering the "finer things in life". Some of which I have thankfully immortalised in my iphone, but many of which, will only remain as a locked up memory. I'll leave the photos for a later post (or earlier since it will appear above this), as blogspot isn't that friendly when it comes to uploading pics amidst a thousand word essay.

Feeling extremely down in my work recently, I received some advice, actually it's more of a reminder, a common quote from a senior which really made me realise how saying the right things at the right time is so important. As I sat down waiting for my turn for enquiries, he said to me... tough times dont last, tough guys do. It was so liberating and extremely enlightening. It was so hard hitting it was almost like throwing me an oxygen line when I'm suffocating at the bottom of the ocean. That incident really made me realise how important words are, and no matter how common words are, they have the potential to make exceptional.

The recent tsunami tragedy in Japan made me reminiscence about the September 11 crisis. When I first knew of it, the news didn't quite sink in... only when days later did I come to terms with the harshness and once again, the fragility of life. That's when it was a reminder to me to live each day as its fullest. We must never live a day of regrets, the important question to ask yourself is that if tomorrow never came, would you regret how you have lived? Regardless of how miserable or "forced" we feel, ultimately we have the final choice to walk the path of our own lives.

No one's really out there to look out for you, you're just stuck with yourself. Buildings may collapse, winds may churn radioactive rain, life may throw piles of manure at you, hope may seem but an apparition to you, but even in these times, you will always be you. As long as we don't lose ourselves, buildings may rise, winds can be deflected, manure can be fertilised and hope may even bring an angel to you.

What is there to really love about life? The answer lies closest to your heart. Only with the ability to love oneself, can one be able to love others, can one be able to love another, can one be able to understand what this elusive and illusory feeling is. It may, or may not be simply a chemical reaction in the body, but just like how we cannot predict our tomorrows to turn out, we cannot predict how love will control us in future... scary... yet exciting. It almost feels as if it's another entity in your body, you don't just try to live peacefully with it, or fight against it, you just have to co-inhabit with it.

Goals and dreams in life can be confused with another from time to time, and they might even intertwine or be engulfed by each other. Think of them as the yin and yang, they must c0-exist but cannot exist in place or another. There could be more yang than yin, or vice versa. Goals might turn into dreams from time to time, whilst dreams turning into goals might not neccesarily be that easy.

There isn't really any "finer things" to talk about in this post, just a couple of idealogies which I have been exposed to owing to the recent events that have happened to me. But the next post, will be my breakthrough post because I've noticed how wordy my blog is, and have decided to finally add some "color" to it. Because beauty put into words is poetry, but beauty put into pictures, is art.