This Tree-Shrew Could Outdrink All of You

From BBC:

This little mammal is apparently the most alchie one amongst us all primates. Enjoying its beer every evening, it consumes enough alcohol to put 36% of the human population to shame under the table.

So, this lucky little critter sleeps the whole day and then spends his waking hours in perpetual stupor as he goes drinking from fruit to fruit like how we go on pub crawls and suffers no ill effects for it! How lucky.

"Humans may even preserve a relic of the shrews' love of alcohol that has lasted through millions of years of evolution."

So that's why I like beer too eh?

Childhood Memories

Can you pick out which one used to your favourite or favouriteS?

Last Day In Manchester

Fittingly, my last dinner in Manchester was in the cosy setting of Room Manchester Restaurant. I've come to really like the friendly service and good, but affordable food served here. Maybe friends have even come to associate the place with me!

My last day in Manchester was surprisingly beautiful. The sun was out the whole day and the temperature pleasantly cool. To top it all off, we saw this rainbow from our table side window during dinner. You can barely see it... but it is there.

I don't mean to be melodramatic, but it is as if Manchester was saying goodbye to me and reminding me that there is always something good and beautiful in life. Just pay a little more attention and put in a bit more effort, it will all be worth while when you do see that rainbow that was there all along, waiting for you to discover it.

Goodbye Manchester. Fare you well. Thank you for the memories.


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Now playing: 似曾相识 - David Tao
via FoxyTunes

Sashimi!

Sashimi!, originally uploaded by Png83.

Teochew Porridge

Teochew Porridge, originally uploaded by Png83.

Over The Seas

book-in-hand: searching
mood: boxed up

3 years all packed into 4 boxes. That is 3 years of me drifting over the seas now. Life kind of takes on a weird perspective when it can all be packed neatly into small boxes. If I wanted to, I could throw all those 4 boxes away and start anew again in Singapore.

24 hours to lift off.

Sunny came home to her favourite room
Sunny sat down in the kitchen
She opened a book and a box of tools
Sunny came home with a mission



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Now playing: Shawn Colvin - Sunny Came Home
via FoxyTunes

Graduation

With the end of this phase of my life, of course pictures have to be taken to commemorate graduating. Really glad to be done and am looking forward to starting on my career. More photos are on facebook and flickr and it was a beautiful day with smiles all around.

Wall.E

Alright, no more geeky posts on my blog sent from the iPhone for now. Actually, the mouse actually feels unnatural in my hand now after not having touched it for a week. So packing starts in real earnest today as the flight on Tuesday looms ever closer. Having a Wall.E around would prove handy right now, but I don't think I would enjoy him crushing everything in the process though.

Agemennon Castle

Agemennon Castle, originally uploaded by Png83.

or "Agemennon's Mask" as it is called because excavators wrongly assumed the great king to be buried here when a royal graveyard was found within the castle's ground. The headstone of one of the 12 tombstones was mistaken to be the King's and the name stuck.

Without a doubt though, this was where the Mycenae king held his war counsels, surveyed his lands at night and observed the formation of his fleet as he gathered the forces of Greece, mostly in his control now, to bear on Troy.

Imagine him, the last real great king of the Mycenae dynasty, walking up those ramps after laying siege to Troy for a decade. Returning home empty handed without the treasures of Troy to show for the 10 years and sacrifice of his daughter to the Gods. Returning to a Queen who has plotted his death while in bed with her lover. Oh... The stories that these walls could tell. Of course, Homer did a mighty fine job in their stead with his two great poems.

Agemennon was the herald for the end of the Hero's Age where men strived for greatness and immortality in legends. Gone are the Hercules, Achilles and Hectors. Yet some how each one of us still hopes. I still hope to be a hero for someone in the future. Just her :)

Corinth Canal

Corinth Canal, originally uploaded by Png83.

iFlickr

iFlickr, originally uploaded by Png83.

Once an Islander always an Islander

Hydra Island, originally uploaded by Png83.

Taken from the top of a fortress wall, this used to be a pirate cove on Hydra Island. Chosen as a haven from the Athenian navy and the elements of nature, some of the pirates decided to stay thus forming the first local communities. Seafarers who converted to being islanders.

I wonder if the salty winds ever called out to those first settlers? To fly over the blue Aegean sea again. Maybe the grass is greener on the other side?

Like how much I miss the island life now in Singapore. The beach is never more than 30mins away and the sun more than happy to scorch your skin. To enjoy thunderstorms at home with a book and smell the wet grass later. Playing basketball in the evening sun and perspiring so much it is almost like you are swimming.

I suppose men are wretched creatures like that. Missing something or someone only after it is out of their life. Haha, I might even miss Manchester's shit weather in a month! That is all in the future though and for now just send me the sun, sand and sea. Solar Sam is fully charged!

"Have you seen my spear?..

iFlickr, originally uploaded by Png83.

... How can I be a spear carrier without my spear?"

Behold the Temple of Zeus. Or what remains of it. Hard to imagine the confluence of religion, culture and trade it represents. Pilgrams from all over came with offerings to seek blessings. Sects were founded to service the temples. Wars were wrought only if the Oracle approved. To say Athens was the centre of the world wouldn't be an exaggeration.

To finally see what I have imagined so many times from reading history and fiction as well as playing (old frens should know this *smile*) Zeus feels very fufilling.

Athens

This city is just packed with so much cultural history it boggles the mind to wonder what if democracy and philosophy wasn't born and spread here back in 2~6 B.C. This olive tree in the national park kindly provided shade for my family and I as we napped and hid from the heat underneath it. Sent from my iPhone

ML was right all along

"Never make someone a priority when you are only an option to them"

Some People Watch TV Shows, I Watch Webclips.

I want to....


Travel the world:



Get high on adrenaline:





And be able to meet you with as much joy years down the road.

"Love knows no limits and true friendship lasts a lifetime.
Get back in touch with someone today.
You'll be glad you did."

Le Petit Prince

There was an exhibition in Whitworth Art Gallery Recently on art by children and the power of a child's imagination. It was called "Neverland" I think and was highly intriguing for the different views and perspectives it presented. Somehow it reminded me of the book "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry translated from French. It is supposed to be a children's book, but I felt that it still had a lot to teach adults. In fact, children might find the lessons in the book easier to understand than grown-ups would.

"That is the hardest thing of all. It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it's because you're truly a wise man."

--

"One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes."

--

Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: "What does his voice sound like?" "What games does he like best?" "Does he collect butterflies?". They ask: "How old is he?" "How many brothers does he have?" "How much does he weigh?" "How much money does his father make?" Only then do they think they know him.

What's Left?

It's the final countdown. Last few days in Manchester before I fly to Greece and then home to Singapore. I find myself wandering alone on the streets of this city more and more everyday. How many days can go by before you utter a single word? The last time I went mute, it lasted.. a week. I just didn't have anything to say. Silence, however, is deafening.

So... what to do? Nothing. I shall wait for the sun to come out and go for another city excursion. :)