Student: Oh gosh! I must be a goldfish.
Me (staring at my student with eyes wide open): Come again?
Student: Don't you know? Goldfish can only remember things for 2 seconds.
Me (incredulous): Really?! Where did you learn that? *thinking that perhaps, my student watches National Geographic or Discovery*
Student: On a funny variety tv show. The goldfish's poor memory explains its fat body. Since it cannot remember if it has eaten, it always opens its mouth to eat.
Me (laughs): So the goldfish's poor memory explains why its mouth is always open!
Student (nodding enthusiastically): The goldfish's poor memory also explains why it won't get bored swimming in circles in a small tank. *gestures a small rectangular tank* It doesn't remember it has swam past the place after 2 seconds!
Me (laughing): Hmmm... ok. That's very interesting to know.
Student: The host of the variety show also told a joke about goldfish. He said that all goldfish in the world have the same name.
Me (puzzled): Really? Why?
Student: Because if you look at them in the tank and ask what's their name, they will tell you, "Bob!" *imitating the goldfish burping air bubbles*
Me (laughing really hard now): Haha!
Student: So when two goldfish meet in the tank, they will have the following conversation...
Goldfish A: Hi! What's your name?
Goldfish B: Hi! My name is Bob.
Goldfish A: Oh! My name is Bob too! Nice to meet you. *swims away*
Student: They will constantly repeat this conversation because after swimming one round in their tank, they will meet again and forget that they met!
Me (trying hard to control laughing): That was an interesting fact. Time to get back to tuition. Try to concentrate and remember the correct spelling ok?
PART 1
Angles: This task tested your ability to identify the angle of a line by matching it with its twin. This is a spatial task, which looks at how you picture space.
Your score: 14 out of 20
Average score for men: 16.4
Average score for women: 14.7
What does your result suggest?
If you scored 13 - 17: You found this test neither hard nor easy. This suggests your brain has male and female traits when it comes to spatial ability.
Interestingly, men's testosterone levels fluctuate through the seasons and studies have shown that men's scores are lower in the spring, when their testosterone levels are at their lowest.
Spot the difference: This task tested your ability to identify which objects changed position.
Your score: 79%
Average score for men: 42%
Average score for women: 57%
What does your score suggest?
If you scored between 67 - 100%: Those with a female-type brain generally score in this range. Your ability to remember where objects are may serve as an advantage to you when you're trying to find your way around places. You're more capable of recalling landmarks to get from one place to another.
PART 2
Hands: You said your LEFT thumb was on top when you clasped your hands together.
Left thumb on top: This suggests the right half of your brain is dominant. Some studies theorise that as a right brain dominant person, you may excel in visual, spatial and intuitive processes.
However, these theories are debatable and leave much to be said about the small percentage of people who are ambidextrous.
Find out why right-brained people may be better fighters and artists.
PART 3
Emotions and Systems: This task looked at whether you prefer to empathise or systemise.
Empathy
Your empathy score is: 14 out of 20
Average score for men: 4 - 12
Average score for women: 8 - 15
What does your result suggest?
Empathisers are better at accurately judging other people's emotions and responding appropriately. If you scored 15 and above, you are very empathic and would be an ideal person to comfort people in a time of crisis. Women in general are better at empathising.
Systemising
Your systemising score is: 9 out of 20
Average score for men: 8 - 16
Average score for women: 3 - 12
What does your result suggest?
Systemisers prefer to investigate how systems work. A system can be a road map, flat pack furniture, or a mathematical equation, anything that follows a set of rules. A score of 15 and above suggests you're good at analysing or building systems. Men in general are better at systemising.
Scientists are keen to learn more about people who score high or low on both tests. They want to find out whether or not empathising and systemising are linked. Is a possible to make yourself more empathic?
Some scientists claim that our empathy and systemising abilities can be traced all the way back to prehistoric times.
Eyes: This task tested your ability to judge people's emotions.
Your score: 7 out of 10
Average score: 6 - 9
What does your result suggest?
If you scored 7 - 10: Your result suggests you are a good empathiser, sensitive to other people's emotions. Women generally fall into this category.
Professor Baron-Cohen at the University of Cambridge says that people usually perform better than they expect to on this test.
Men often think a person's eyes are sending signals of desire when that's not the case at all.
PART 4
Fingers: We asked for the measurements of your ring and index finger.
Your ratio came to:
Right Hand: 1.03
Left Hand: 1.01
Average ratio for men: .96
Average ratio for women: 1.00
It's thought that your ratio is governed by the amount of testosterone you were exposed to in your mother's womb. The ratio of the length of your index finger to the length of your ring finger is set for life by as early as three months after conception. Even during puberty, when we experience intensive hormonal changes, the ratio stays the same.
Men generally have a ring finger that is longer than their index finger, which gives them a lower ratio than women, whose ring and index fingers are usually of equal length.
Studies have found that men and women with lots of brothers generally have more masculine finger ratios.
PART 5
Faces: This task looked at how you rate the attractiveness of a series of faces. The images you looked at were digitally altered to create slight differences in masculinity.
Your choices suggest you prefer more masculine faces.
Highly masculinised male faces possess more extreme testosterone markers such as a long, broad and lower jaw, as well as more pronounced brow ridges and cheekbones.
Interestingly, women's preferences are said to vary across the menstrual phase. A more masculine face is preferred during the 9 days prior to ovulation, when conception is most likely.
A typical 'attractive' female face possesses features such as a shorter, narrower, lower jaw, fuller lips and larger eyes than an average face.
PART 6
3D shapes: This task tested your ability to mentally rotate 3D shapes.
Your score: 7 out of 12
Average score for men: 8.4
Average score for women: 6.4
What does your result suggest?
If you scored 7 - 9: In past studies, 50 per cent of the people who scored in this range were women and 50 per cent were men.
Nearly a third of men who took this test got full marks, whereas less than 10 per cent of women managed the same.
Words: This task looked at your verbal fluency.
You associated 10 word(s) with GREY and you named 8 word(s) that mean happy. We are assuming that all the words you entered are correct. Scientists will be analysing your results in more detail.
Average score: 6 - 10 words
What do your results suggest?
If you produced 6 - 10 words: Most people in this range have a female-type brain.
Women are said to use both sides of the brain when doing verbal tasks while men mainly use their left side. Studies have shown that girls develop vocabulary faster than boys. This difference in brain power is caused by levels of pre-natal testosterone.
Ultimatum: This task asked you how you would divide money.
If someone offered you $50, you said you would demand $20.
On average, people offer 35 to 40% of the pot.
Sex differences are small in this task. An offer of more than 40 per cent of the pot (ie $20) is more typically female and an offer of less than 35 per cent of the pot (ie $17.50) is more typically male.
Scientists believe that people with lower testosterone levels tend to take fewer risks so they are probably more willing to keep less for themselves. Those with higher testosterone levels tend to drive a harder bargain and are less compromising.
Men's testosterone levels fluctuate over the seasons and are at their lowest levels during the springtime.
Take the test at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/add_user.shtml?users=1
If I were to mark this:
A+++ for entertainment and creativity
F for grammar and spelling
Mary: Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.
[they click glasses]
Mary: Nietzsche. Beyond Good and Evil. Found it in my Bartlett's.
Mary reads to Dr. Mierzwiak out of "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations"; the lines are from Alexander Pope's poem "Eloisa to Abelard"
Mary: How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot! / The world forgetting, by the world forgot / Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! / Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd.
Clementine: Joel, I'm not a concept. Too many guys think I'm a concept or I complete them or I'm going to make them alive, but I'm just a fucked up girl who is looking for my own peace of mind. Don't assign me yours.
Joel: I remember that speech really well.
Clementine: I had you pegged, didn't I?
Joel: You had the whole human race pegged.
Clementine: Probably.
Joel: I still thought you were going to save me. Even after that.
Clementine: Let me show you something... come on...
Joel: I think I heard a crack.
Clementine: It's not gonna crack, or break, or... it's so thick!... Show me which constellations you know.
Joel: Um... oh... I don't... know any.
Clementine: Show me which ones you know!
Joel: Okay... okay... oh! There's Osidius.
Clementine: Where?
Joel: Right there... see? Sort of a swoop and a cross, Osidius the Emphatic.
Clementine: You're full of shit, right?
Joel: Nope. Osidius, right there, swoop and cross.
Clementine: Shut the fuck up!
Joel: I could die right now, Clem. I'm just... happy. I've never felt that before. I'm just exactly where I want to be.
[as Joel and Clementine eat out, he thinks about the other glum-looking couples in the restaurant:]
Joel: Are we like couples you see in restaurants? Are we the dining dead?
Clementine: Sometimes I don't think people realize how lonely it is to be a kid.
Joel: I can't remember anything without you.
Clementine: That's sweet, but try.
Joel: I think your name is magical.
Clementine: I wish you'd stayed.
Joel: I wish I'd stayed, too. NOW I wish I'd stayed. I wish I'd done a lot of things. I wish I'd... I wish I'd stayed... I do.
Clementine: I'm gonna marry you... I know it!
Joel: Ummm... okay...
Clementine: Wish me a happy Valentine's Day when you call. That'd be... nice!
Clementine: I would like you to call me. Would you do that? I'd like it.
[Joel calls Clem on the telephone]
Clementine: What took you so long?
Joel: I just walked in.
Clementine: Do you miss me?
Joel: Oddly enough, I do!
Clementine: You said "I do" - I guess that means we're married!
Joel: I guess so!
Clementine: You don't tell me things, Joel. I'm an open book. I tell you everything, every damn, embarrassing thing.
Clementine: Joely?
Joel: Yeah Tangerine?
Clementine: Am I ugly?
Joel: Uh-uh.
Clementine: When I was a kid, I thought I was. I can't believe I'm crying already. Sometimes I think people don't understand how lonely it is to be a kid, like you don't matter. So, I'm eight, and I have these toys, these dolls. My favorite is this ugly girl doll who I call Clementine, and I keep yelling at her, "You can't be ugly! Be pretty!" It's weird, like if I can transform her, I would magically change, too.
Joel: [kisses Clementine] You're pretty.
Clementine: Joely, don't ever leave me.
Joel: You're pretty... you're pretty... pretty...
Mary: Adults are like a combination of sadness and phobias.
Clementine: Joely? What if you stay this time?
Joel: I walked out the door. There's no memory left.
Clementine: Come back and make up a goodbye at least, let's pretend we had one... Goodbye, Joel.
Joel: ...I love you...
Clementine: ...Meet me in Montauk...
Joel: I don't see anything I don't like about you.
Clementine: But you will! But you will, and I'll get bored with you and feel trapped, because that's what happens with me.
Joel: Okay.
[last lines]
Clementine: Okay.
Joel: Okay.
I burst out laughing when I read this e-mail. I could not believe my eyes. How can this be? I barely spoke to Seng during our stay. In fact, I felt he talked more to Karen than myself. Perhaps it was a case of mistaken identity? Maybe he got Karen and my name and face mixed up?
Regardless, the love poem (in pink, no less) is hilarious. He writes as if he has met a lady whom he has known for a long time and has fallen so deeply in love with her. Ignoring the many spelling and grammatical errors, the poem does sound really sincere. After reading it a few times (and still laughing after a few times), I realised that despite his failure to spell "hart" and "hangry"; he managed to spell "disguised" correctly! He spelt my name wrongly too in the subject header. It is also quite fishy to me that there is a re: in the heading. Makes me wonder who he sent this to (perhaps a friend to check for errors?) before pressing the "reply" button and sending it to me.
Obviously, he is a love at first sight man.
I am a love at first sight lady too. But not for him.
I was still trying to convince myself that there has been a huge mix-up when I realised (with a sharp pain) that it's really me.
"Do you have my precent to receive. I sent Miss Karen to keep it for you."
The night before we left Phnom Penh (Sunday night - we gave him and Socheat the t-shirts on the same evening), he rang us at our room around midnight and requested that we meet him downstairs. I was already half-asleep and dressed in my pyjamas so I refused to go down. Karen went down alone because she was still wide awake doing her ISM.
The next morning, she told me that Seng had given us each a photo frame as presents in return. Since he clearly met only Karen that night, it was clear to me that there can be no mistake. The love poem was meant for me.
I have no intention of replying him because I have no idea how to tell him gently that I do not like him at all. So I think the best way is to ignore and perhaps he will get the message.
You must be really curious how Seng looks like. There you go. He's the one standing on the far left.
Stop laughing.
I am really traumatised.
Unfortunately, I'm condemned to be a loser because it is simply impossible to make a day trip to Angkor Wat and back without taking a flight. The earliest bus ride leaves for Siem Reap at 7:30 a.m. and the journey takes about 6h. From Siem Reap back to Phnom Penh, the latest bus leaves at 12:30p.m. :(
The only way to visit Angkor Wat would be to spend the night but we cannot afford that because our return flight is tomorrow morning. Guess I will have to return to Cambodia again.
Spent my afternoon shopping alone in Central Market because Karen went back to the hotel to continue working on her ISM. While walking around, I saw these Cambodian fare being sold.
Did all my present shopping in the afternoon. Karen and I decided to share and get gifts for the hotel staff to thank them for their hospitality.
Since the day we arrived, Karen and I have been permanent night residents of the hotel lobby. This was because the free internet access was only available on the hotel's computers (in the lobby) and the room was too dark for Karen to work in. So we would stay in the lobby after dinner at about 8p.m. and work till 2a.m. before returning to our room to sleep. The two guys on night shift, Socheat and Seng befriended us and were very kind. Seng offered Karen free iced coke because the lobby had no air-con and the heat was overwhelming even with fans turned on. On another night, Socheat gave us free mango and watermelon.
There is also another hotel staff who speaks to us in Chinese. He works the day shift and always wishes us good morning in Chinese and asks us how our day was when we return.
I chose to buy Tiger Beer t-shirts in the end because it was the only thing that had something to do with Singapore.
It was an accident waiting to happen. The elevator was undergoing renovations and had just completed phase 1 of the upgrading. My friends will know that technology hates me. In the past, it was just computers, modems and the internet. Now I can add one more to the list - the lift. I was happily taking the lift up after a tiring day walking around and suddenly the lift stopped.
I looked up and saw the number on the panel (right picture). Then I realised that the lift had stopped moving. Waited for a few seconds for the doors to open. When that did not happen, I pressed the emergency call button. It was not very scary to be trapped in the lift because the lights and ventilator were all working. The only uncomfortable thing was that I was in desperate need to use the bathroom after drinking a whole bottle of water (950ml). (",)
In the end, it took them about 10 minutes to get me out from the lift. They managed to get the lift moving again and sent me all the way back to the ground floor.
It was terrible to see how the prisoners were tortured and killed. I still cannot understand how a human can inflict such pain and suffering on another.
Visited The Royal Palace this afternoon alone because Karen needed to head back to the hotel. She has to plough through about 600 pages of readings and start writing her ISM.
It was a great mistake to tour in the afternoon. The weather was terrible. It was so hot, I think it must have been at least 45 degrees celsius. The soles on my shoes were hot! Felt like I was walking on burning charcoal.
Looking back, it has been such an ironic day. Spent the morning visiting a dark and gloomy place while my afternoon was in a palace of luxury.
The local Cambodian noodles are really yummy. Selling at only 2500 riels per bowl (which is about US$0.625 because US$1 = 4000 riels). The glass of tea you see in front of me is local iced tea. Very very good too. (",)
Although the search computer in the library is an antique, this is afterall Cambodia. Overall, I think the library is very well-organised and catalogued.
As you can see, Karen and I spent a very productive 2h in the resource centre before it closed for lunch. If you are wondering what I was doing in the library; I was helping Karen flip through the NGO directory looking for suitable NGOs she can meet up with. In the end, the meetings with NGOs never happened but I found a very interesting pattern in my research. Local Cambodian NGOs are more focused on micro-credit schemes, water irrigation programmes and poverty reducing projects. In contrast, international NGOs are more keen to spread Christianity to the local Cambodians (except big NGOs like Oxfam or World Vision).
While Karen was doing her research in the library, she came across this Microeconomics textbook translated into Khmer!
Karen has found her true calling.
Realised that the featured 24h security was probably because of a police post on the hotel's left. If you observe the picture carefully, you will realise that a coffin shop is the hotel's right neighbour. Personally, I think it's ok to be sleeping next to an undertaker. Considering that where we are staying is a tourist area, I feel it reflects a lack of urban planning. Or that they do not really differentiate between the dead and the living.
Karen: So what do you think of our hotel room?
Minyi: I feel like I'm a prostitute in Geylang waiting for a customer.
Disclaimer: Despite the fact that the room felt very sleazy, it was very clean and comfortable. The bathroom was big and there was hot water too. Think it was the yellow light bulbs which made the room look like a cheap-skate motel in Geylang. Most importantly, the hotel staff are very friendly and polite. Karen and I will definitely stay there the next time we visit Phnom Penh.