Rub a left, rub a right!

The WP concert is next week, and am getting a tad apprehensive. Sometimes ah, I wonder if girls have an advantage over guys - in terms of multi tasking I mean. For me, I know my music reasonably well, but am still prone to mental block just before I go on stage. But that's not the real question. It's more like, when I move (i.e. do some choreograph movements), my focus tend to shift, and I lose concentration on my music and can totally lose what I am supposed to be singing. In the end, choreo is disrupted, singing also disrupted. One of the girls in the group mentioned that girls are better at it because of what "left brain/right brain" usage thingy (huh?). I think I came across a joke like email on this once, but only like a vague recollection.

I would have thought that in my line of work, I should be able to multi task a bit, especially when I am on the phone to someone, but can still pick up conversations around me. Sometimes it's tough, but sometimes do-able. I wonder if it needs some kind of "conditioning". I know in my line of work, I am supposed to be able to shift focus from one task to another quickly, as something urgent may creep up which require my full concentration. But to multi task? Why is it so difficult? Should I hide behind the excuse that I am a guy? (sigh... - and NO! before you even think it, I am not sighing because I am a guy! LOL!!!, but more because I have trouble multi tasking)... (sigh, sigh, and double sigh)...

I recall playing a game once, when I have to rub my tummy with my left hand in a clockwise motion (hmm, no wonder my tummy is so round!), and place my right hand above my head and do a circular anti clockwise motion. I guess I can still do, but have to focus hard to be able to do it. Eh? Easy meh? You can ah? :P Try the same thing but your right hand above your head with palms facing outwards in a circular anti clockwise motion.. (with your left hand still rubbing your tummy clockwise of course!) :)

Think I will need more divine inspiration to not be so kayu next week and to remember my steps and music well. Must also remember to have more fun and not be too stressed! Pray, pray, pray...

Of "fishy" things to believe or not to believe

As one gets older, I guess the grey matter sorts of slowly deteriorates and one sort of "forget" stuffs. But even at my age, although some may consider me "in another category", as I am usually referred to as "uncle" as opposed to "koko" when I meet parents with little kids nowadays, I feel that as long as one is young at heart, one is still young! So, whether to believe or not to believe age or perception of age is purely a matter of opinion. :)

Was at a pet shop earlier today in Pandan Indah after lunch, and looking at certain animals and fishes made me think for a bit:








People say that persons of larger proportions should go swimming, as they float easier. Somehow, looking at these fishes made me question whether that statement is indeed true or not. Have always disregarded this particular statement, as I would usually perceive my friends as trying to be funny. It's like saying that you should eat more fish so you can swim better. But looking at these beautiful, but larger than normal around the girth type fishes, it made me think how graceful and peaceful they look. Should I take up swimming? Sigh, not yet I guess, I would probably sink like a rock.

Have you ever wondered if fishes drown? or heard of fishes performing their own version of hara kiri? :)

I guess there are so many other "fishy" stories (both in the literal and not literal sense), but sometimes I do wonder whether there is some grain of truth in them.

Of things that can curl and what nots

One of the very few things that I remember since secondary school days during science class was being asked by the teacher during a classroom session as to whether we could curl our very own personal mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane … (oohh..sounds kinky!), hahaa, but located in the oral cavity (i.e. the tongue).

This is still vivid in my mind, but I don’t know why I can still remember what the thin, bespectacled, shoulder-length hair science teacher looked like. For the life of me, I can’t remember her name though. No, no.. definitely no fixation with my science teacher at that tender age, but I guess I recall due to her flustered appearance when she had to go through the human reproductive system with the entire class in rapt attention! Hahaha! Like that ah! But seriously, the topic never got that far, more like, “See the diagram in the textbook (and I saw a space alien like head, with a narrow snout, of what was supposed to be the female internal anatomy), and go back and read” and thus ended the class. Come to think of it, she shouldn’t have been nervous about explaining the birds and the bees, after all, she was already married… and you know what married people do… :) Hmmm, oh shucks! I really shouldn’t be making these gross over generalized statements…. after all, I am sure some (most?) single ones do it too…. :)

But I digress…

I think I remember her and the question about curling the tongue bit, because I am one of the 15% of the population who cannot curl their tongue, as some kind researching souls have concluded, based on not sure what samples of testing. Upon being asked in class whether we could curl our tongue, it struck me that “No s&^%! I cannot curl my protruding appendage!” Being so full of myself when young (not anymore now!), there was this perception that there was nothing I can’t do! Hence, the inability to simply curl my tongue had a profound effect on me.

Later I found out that tongue curling ability is in the genes, and is determined by a special gene form called an allele. Every person has two tongue-curling alleles - one inherited from the mother and one from the father. Of the two kinds of tongue-curling alleles, one is called dominant and the other recessive. Using T for dominant and t for recessive, a person will be able to curl his or her tongue if and only if he/she inherits at least one T allele.

Anyway, some tongue facts:
a. some people like to eat BBQ ox tongue (like my younger sister) – especially for Korean BBQ sessions. I wonder why they don’t say cow tongue. Why must be ox tongue? Got difference meh?
b. close to fifty percent of the bacteria in the mouth lives on the surface of our tongue.
c. there are approximately 9,000 taste buds on the tongue.
d. 85% of the population can curl their tongue into a tube.
e. like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different. So, be prepared to be tongue printed.




So, what brought about this post on the tongue thingy? Well, was having lunch the other day with some colleagues from another department (yes, it all comes back to food!) and one of the guys demonstrated his tongue dexterity by taking the stem from a cherry and tying a knot with his tongue! Wah! So “Keng” one. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, he did it twice more. The occasion when I “timed” him, it took him like all of 20 seconds to do so! Hmm, his girlfriend must be a very lucky girl! Hahahaaa… (censored).

Can you curl your tongue? Can you tie a knot in a cherry stem with your tongue?