20/8/14

Had a holiday today, because the principal declared one since we won a lot of trophies :D Anyway we had E-learning yesterday so that's 2 days without school.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge isn't a bad thing, since it's raised a substantial amount of money for ALS research and all that, but I couldn't help but feel the Ice Bucket part is a bit silly. For starters, how does pouring a bucket of ice water over your head in any way make you or the people watching more aware of ALS? Seriously, I went and looked up ALS and none of the symptoms vaguely resemble having a bucket of cold water being poured over you. If you want to experience the symptoms of ALS try strapping yourself to a wheelchair, or not moving your limbs or being unable to speak properly. Then try to survive a day and have people video it. Then have pillows tied around all your limbs with tight rubber bands so you can hardly move around properly. Then have someone try to strangle you so you have difficulty breathing. That's ALS. The ice bucket thing is just a way of getting people to watch and to participate because it would appear people really like pouring cold water over themselves.

And anyway, you've already donated the required $100, why drench yourself? What happens if the wind starts blowing? Do you have any idea what real cold is?
I don't either, but still.
Also, why hasn't Stephen Hawking said anything about this? I'm actually a bit worried he might have done the ice bucket challenge himself, which is terrifying.

Peer pressure is a terrifying thing. Don't go nominating people to do the ice bucket challenge as well, sometimes they really don't want to. But they can donate the $100, which is nice, I guess. Do it if you want to, but don't drag other people into this unless they agree.

A Guide to Identifying Owls

As the title says, this essentially tells you how to tell apart your owls. Even though there really aren't any in Singapore. At least I haven't seen any.

1. Is it looking at you angrily? Probably a short eared owl. Those things always look angry.

YOU LOOKING AT ME? WANT A FIGHT?

2. Does it look a bit like Totoro? Probably a long eared owl. Another way of telling it apart is if it looks like it has ears, although that's not as effective due to the large amount of owls that look like they have ears.

Why are you asking me if I have an umbrella? Just go inside when it rains, dummy.

3. Does it look like a grey mop head? It's a great grey owl then. It's great, it's grey, there's nothing much else to add. Other than it makes the traditional owl noise, which is "Hoo hoo."

How long do I have to stay here? Damn photographer's taking his time, isn't he?

4. Does it have disproportionately long legs? It's a burrowing owl. You can tell, since they often hang out on the ground instead of up in trees. And live in burrows.

Why does this picture remind me so much of Napoleon? I don't know.

5. Does it look like a burrowing owl, but is hanging out in a tree? It's a little owl. Also distinguishable from other owls by being little. Or maybe it's a burrowing owl that likes hanging out in trees, go figure.

I can't come up with a caption for this. Sorry.

6. Does it look like a miniaturized short eared owl? It's a saw whet owl. Also easily distinguished by looking extremely adorable. And having really huge pupils.

TAKE A PHOTO? OF ME? AW MAN I NEARLY FELL OFF THIS BRANCH!

7. Is it white? Or is it white with a couple of black feathers in between? It's a snowy owl. It looks snowy.

Check out my feet mittens. Cool, eh? Darn fluffy as well.

8. Does it look like a barn owl? I can't quite describe how a barn owl looks like, so if it fits your idea of a barn owl it probably is a barn owl.

I couldn't think of a caption for this either.

There are obviously way more owl species than mentioned in this post, however I do not have the required words for describing their looks, and you're probably far better off consulting a trained ornithologist than using this post. Seriously.

On a side note, owl babies are the ugliest things ever. But they're ugly to the point where it's funny. It's a bit hard to believe they'll grow up into the magnificent creatures up above, but hey, there's hope for everybody!

STOP SQUEEZING ME DAMMIT.

Oh, hey. I just woke up. And I'm hungry.

Links to pictures below:

http://theanimals.pics/short-eared-owl/6/wednesday-wings-short-eared-owls/

http://dansphotos.servehttp.com/birds/v/Owls/Long-eared+Owl/Long-eared+Owl+eyes.jpg.html

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/great-grey-owl-strix-nebulosa/young-adult-probably-second-year-bird

http://www.markhancoxbirdphotography.co.uk/pages/galleries/owls.php?gall_id=29

http://www.stephenoachs.com/gallery-saw-whet-owl.php

http://duhallow.blogspot.sg/2012/05/long-eared-owl-chicks.html

All other images from wikipedia or arkive.

Hope you enjoyed!

10/8/14

Had some friends over at my house today to do homework. It was alright I guess. Didn't really talk much until a few hours in, but we talked quite a bit about our schools and how they're all weird. I find that our school seems to be quite lenient when it comes to late homework, compared to the other schools. Oh well. I actually did quite a bit of homework, so I guess I should do this more often? I don't know, I really want to though, it's pretty fun and enjoyable even if it was rather awkward at first.

28/7/14

Feeling a bit sleepy right now.
Bloody hell, tumblr can be a bit depressing at times. I have friends all over it complimenting each other, and I always feel so left out. Although I suppose it's mostly my fault, since I rarely ever talk to them. Or maybe because I'm a bit too weird for their liking. I have no idea. It seems they're a lot more expressive than I am. Or maybe it's because I keep everything inside? I have the most overactive imaginations at times. And I really don't like it because I've never put it to good use. Book writing attempts fizzle out after the first few chapters. And I'm not in a relationship, which does occasionally make me a bit jealous of other people.
Just did half of my chinese composition. I'll probably do the other half tomorrow, I really can't be bothered right now.
Do you have any idea how bloody infuriating it is to be shipped with the guy sitting next to you? I know you're all just teasing, but bloody fucking hell it gets so annoying at times I actually get angry. And then I keep it all in. Which in most cases is probably very unhealthy. I'll manage. My time with Nicholas taught me a few things about anger management. It's not nice. I'm not homophobic, but Chong Wen doesn't like it either. Neither do I. I could probably do something very nasty the next time that happens, but I usually just scream loudly. And look pissed. The fact that you're all girls doesn't make it any simpler either, because bloody fucking hell there are a lot of rules around when it comes to dealing with you people. Not that I hate you or anything, but I really wish you'd stop that.
I really hope I finished whatever's due tomorrow.
I don't really have a good friend to talk to. I know most other people in my class do, they're the ones with better social circles and all that. I actually do have someone I communicate with a lot, and I rather like it. Gives me something to look forward to. Even if the messages are a bit sporadic and we talk about the oddest things at times.

28/7/14

Relatives are visiting. They're staying in my house at the moment, so I'm sleeping in the master bedroom with my parents. It's a bit cramped. Anyway today was Glen's birthday party. We had chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream and some coffee. It was quite nice. Quite a few people came.If you're reading this Glen I'll give you your present later this week.

Ugh my eyes are hurting again. Good night.

26/7/14

It was yesterday a few seconds ago. Welp.

Anyway, the astronomy dinner was awesome! Met quite a lot of nice people, we talked a lot about the astronomy stuff in Singapore, and how we could improve it and things like that. And the food there was rather nice as well. They had fried rice, mango juice and some other tasty things. And we played some games as well and we started laughing a whole lot, and I realised I haven't laughed like that for quite a while. I laughed a lot. There was this game where you had to whisper in someone's ear a message and everyone kept laughing at the funny bits and we couldn't remember anything XD

Also took a group photo which I don't look really retarded in :P

Anyway that's about it. I need to go to sleep now. Good night.

23/7/14

We have PE tomorrow. Our PE teacher is quite nice. We're playing floorball tomorrow probably. It's like Canadian soccer.

There are Japanese people visiting our school. Some of them came over for chemistry lesson. I don't know what they thought about it.

There really aren't any blogs around, are there? Seriously noone from this school has a blog that regularly updates. Except mine. And probably some others, but I'm not in the mood to search for them, because I feel like a stalker occasionally.
Not to mention they almost always make their blogs private soon after I've found them. It's not my fault.