The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs
nami

Finished reading this during my holiday. An interesting read!! I never been interested to read a book about science but unexpectedly this one is.

It tells a story about a doctor named Victor Hoppe who had passion in researching about creating lives. He researched about embryo and finally succeeded in cloning human - himself. He used his own cell, fused it in a human egg (i think) and installed it in a woman's womb. She produced 3 twin boys, the exact copies of the doctor.

He raised the 3 children as specimens, running tests on them, never treating them as his children at all. They were born with telomere chain half shorter than normal. Telomeres are used during cell division and soon, after all are used up, the rapid aging will begin. When the doctor concluded that the twins were a failure, he just accepted the fact that they're dying and abandoned them to die in their room. How monstrous!!

It didn't occurred to me that the doctor was mad in the beginning of the story. The author did a brilliant job to tell the story from the doctor's point of view, so i get to understand his way of thinking. The more he's involved, the more obsessed he got, and the more mad he became.

He grew up reading bible while he was still a toddler, yes, he can read when he was only 3. He grew up without his parents in a psychiatric institution run by nuns, and from what he get from the reading, jesus is good, and god is evil. Because jesus do good, and god punish. He suffered a mild autism - asperger's syndrome since birth, so his world only consist of black and white.

So the doctor worked hard to create life, to challenge god. For him, nothing is impossible. Impossible is merely very difficult.

The doctor got the idea that he was "like" jesus. That he do good, but people misunderstood him, accuse him of lies, mock him, and god punish him.

When his madness was discovered, the doctor hanged himself on a cross in a church, just like jesus was hanged, in front of all the villagers who were at a mass. And unknown to anyone, he had planted a new, upgraded clone of himself in one of the villagers' womb. Because he believed, that is a way to resurrect the dead.

Truly, this book is such a fascinating read!

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Blues
nami
Haihh tiba-tiba rasa blues lak. Adakah kesan dari menonton drama Korea "Scent of a woman" tadi? Huhu sedeh la pulak bila teringat.

Huhu someone from my past came knocking my door once again. But i don't feel like opening up. Why?? I know He got plans for me up His sleeve. I ask Him day and night to let me meet my other half. And now here he comes after all these years. But i dun feel like entertaining this. For i still remember why i turned around. Should i try to face it? Haihh i really dun want to waste my time over this. But how do i know this is not something He arrange for me?



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2011, are u leaving already??
nami

yeah.. so it seems..


2012 is fast approaching. Haihhh I soon will be in the 3 series. Unfortunately, unlike BMW 3-series, it means bad news :P


Hihi even though I’m on this depressing topic, I’m not feeling all that depressed. Maybe the magic of being in the “3-series league”. It means “yeah, so what?” hehe I guess you can say being wiser. Or maybe just a simple i-don’t-give-a-damn attitude.


When I was approaching 20, and in early 20s, I was anxious. Of what would be lying ahead. Of what kind of future awaiting me. Then while living it, it totally passed me by. Before I knew it, I’m approaching the end of it. I am about to begin a new phase of life. Even though the current phase hasn’t changed much.


To sum up my life up till now, I haven’t accomplished much. I’m still a normal office worker, a salary-woman. I can provide quite well for myself and a bit for my family. I can go places for vacation (though for this purpose I am still not in the comfortable zone to go wherever and whenever I want). But because of my twisted priority and my ever-lacking discipline, I am still unable to buy myself a house. And I don’t have a good saving. And I don’t have a husband who I can claim back the money I spent on make-ups, shoes, dresses and such.. :P ahahahaha


Huh? All I’ve been writing about is MONEY?? ♬♬ It’s all about the money, money, MONEY~~ ♫♫


Haha yeah, so it seems.. my main target this coming new year is to save as much money as I can. Err.. how about finding a husband and going for vacations you ask? Tsk.. tsk... Hahaha of course these two are also listed in the target list, silly! Duhh.. LOL


As ever, my wants are never-ending, you see.. As a human being, this is NORMAL right? I want to live a comfortable life, I want to buy nice things, I want to go places, I want a nice husband and build a nice family. There are so many things that I want. But do I get to have all these? Of course not.. I am just being ambitious, that’s all. It’s not like I’m being greedy. I am truly blessed that I had been given so much. Alhamdulillah, ya Allah.. Syukur atas segala Rahmat dan nikmat yang Kau limpahkan padaku, ya Allah..


My years had been great.


But if I work harder, I can do better!!


So what do I want to achieve this incoming new year?

1. Save up money as stated in the newly re-constructed “Kira-kira 2012”

2. Get married (err like I said in previous years’ entries.. don’t u need to find the candidate first?? :P)

3. Lose weight (just for the sake of tradition LOL)

4. Vacations: bought air tickets to Tawau – will be going to Mabul island next year, insya Allah.. And also a plan to Beijing (will be depending on my friend’s availability. Not many people interested to travel to Beijing)

5. If (current_month > 9 && get_married == false) action = buy a house;

6. Hm….


Can’t think of other resolutions.. I still have about 3 weeks before the year end, so I’ll update this entry if I can think of anything else. Haha not that many things to be accomplished right? But, if you weight each resolution, hmm all points are really heavy and required great deals of effort and discipline. Yoshhh… gambaruze!!!!


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Nak gi Beijing~~~
nami

Selamat hari Rabu!!

Hari ni aku tak banyak keje. Maka, pelagi, pastilah aku menggunakan masa emas ini dengan surfing internet~ hohoho

Aku da berangan-angan nak menjejakkan kaki ke Beijing sejak aku da habis baca novel “Empress Orchid” dan sequelnya “The Last Empress” yang ditulis oleh Anchee Min. Aku sangat teruja rasa nak tengok The Forbidden City dengan mata kepala sendiri. Pastu lagi, baru-baru ni aku ada repeat tengok movie Jackie Chan, the Karate Kid, ada scene kat Forbidden City dan the Great Wall. Ahhh nak tengok, nak tengok!!!

Aku amat teringin nak tengok dua-dua tempat tu!!

Maka sejak 3 4 minggu lepas aku da start search around pasal trip ke Beijing. Dan da dapat dua orang member yang juga teruja nak g China. Yang sorang ni da confirm nak join, dia amat berminat nak tengok Terracota Army. Sorang lagi hanya boleh confirm kalau date bersesuaian.

Note: do you know, Wikipedia is co-founded by Jimmy Wales.

Err why suddenly I note something like that you asked? Hahah well, remember when Steve Jobs passed away on October 2011? Even though I’m an Apple user, I don’t even recognize the name. haihh I was (jokingly) bashed by my officemates :P

Haha sebenarnya, aku tengah baca-baca pasal Beijing ni, found out Great Wall bukan lah 1 tembok besar yang panjang. Dia ada banyak2 section.. then aku tengok maklumat pasal Jiayuguan Great Wall, aku come across Silk Road. So pastilah aku wiki untuk tau pasal Silk Road ni.

Quoted dari Wikipedia: “The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa. The land routes were supplemented by sea routes which extended from the Red Sea to East Africa, India, China, and Southeast Asia. China traded silk, spices, teas, and porcelain; while India traded ivory, textiles, precious stones, and pepper; and the Roman Empire exported gold, silver, fine glassware, wine, carpets, and jewels.”

Dan bla.. bla.. bla.. Malas lak nak baca fakta-fakta sejarah ni. Google lagi, aku hanya focus baca info within Beijing trip jek. Wahh memang menarik la Silk Road ni. Destinasi yang boleh pergi kalau ikut laluan ni selain Jiayuguan Great Wall ialah Terracota Warriors Muzeum, yang memang da set nak pergi. Yahoo~~ nanti ada masa lapang lagi nak search dengan lebih lanjut pasal ni. Nak kena g solat Asar then boleh cabut balik. Bestnya kalau hari-hari lapang macam ni :P

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Tegami Batchi (Letter Bee)
nami


Uwahh... can you believe it? Two entries in one day!! (though it's already a new day :P)

I finished watching this anime last night. Saw it's trailer on Animax, and seeing the beautifully drawn anime, I googled it straight away. And downloaded it without further due. ngeee

Letter Bee has 24 episodes. It's basically is a government's portal service. To become a Bee, one must have the ability to use Shindan (heart bullet). A Bee's task is usually challenging as the journey is usually difficult and always invited Gaichuu's attack. Gaichuu feeds on human heart, and letters contain human's fragment of hearts. The only way to defeat a Gaichuu is by firing Shindan to its weak point.

I really like this anime. The plot is original, tho many things remind me of other anime. Like how Lag Seeing (the main character) was saved by Gauche Suede (an elite Bee) and he was inspired by him and strove to become just like him. Lag grew up and became a Bee. Just like how Gon was saved by Kaito who was a Hunter, Gon grew up and strove to be a Hunter (like his dad) and looked up to Kaito as his hero.

And it reminded me a bit of Final Fantasy Unlimited. The Gaichuus are so obviously CG-ed. Bees uses their own guns to shoot their Shindan and every time they shoot, they will shout something like, "Shindan loaded, Akabari!!" Well, luckily in this anime the line is short compared to FF Unlimited. I can't remember his name, but the main character kept shouting the same few lines every time he fired his gun. Hehe I am not really into that genre of anime.

I like Lag's character, but I would have love him if he's not a crybaby. Huhu I dun understand why Hiroyuki Asada sensei would make him such a big crybaby. It sometimes cute when he got all emotional over something worth getting emotional at. But if it's not, then it became rather annoying... -_-

And Niche is simply adorable and funny. hehehe I like her the best. And Gauche is super kakkoii~~

Huhu the series ended right after Lag met Gauche. All this time Lag had been searching for him, but Gauche had lost all his memories of Lag. What happened to him? It couldn't be because of the rumor that he had his heart eaten by a Gaichuu, for if it was the case, Gauche would be dead right?? Of because he used up all his heart to fight Gaichuu and suffered from the side effect? Or he encountered another Flicker? And why was Roda transformed into a human form??

Aah... I can't wait for a sequel~~~~~
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Ookiku Furikabutte- Natsu no Taikai-hen
nami

Wyeee~~ just finished watching anime oofuri season 2 (Summer tournament). It was actually aired on 2010!! But I only found out this morning.. wuuu~~

Ahem.

And so I started downloading the series and watched it the whole day~~ hihi talk about himono onna @@. It happens to be my lazy day. Initially I planned to do some Raya shopping, but my sisters woke up late and I din feel like shopping anymore for it surely will be overcrowded.. sighh

Back to oofuri, in all there are 13 episodes for this season. Ahh.. I really love the boys and their games, even though I know nothing about baseball, thanks to oofuri I learnt a few things about it. Err but really, really few things ;) Of course I did some reading in the wiki to learn something about baseball, but I only read the most basic part :P Like there are 9 players in each team, there are four bases on the field, the team will score a run once they run around the bases and return to home, there are 9 innings to complete a game (this one of course I picked up from the anime), and the team with the most runs wins the game.

Ah.. suddenly I'm missing Slamdunk~~ When was the last time I read Slamdunk series? I can't even remember!! Yosh.. I'll bring the entire series the next time I go back to my hometown.

Again, back to Oofuri. This series started after the game with Tosei ended. Since they defeated the previous year's champion, Nishiura gained some attention and their opponent studied their data seriously, in order to advance in tournament.

Here comes spoiler..

The first few episodes showed their games with Sakitama High. Tajima was left with an injury after the match with Tosei. This led Momo-kan to re-arrange their positions. In this game Momo-kan was intentionally harsh to Hanai, since he always had his personal issues with Tajima, feeling inferior to the genius Tajima, he lost his own confidence and wavered.

Haha it was bitterly funny when he found his answer from Mihashi who everyday kept competing against other team members. How Mihashi practiced really hard to be the best pitcher, so as to secure him the spot of a pitcher, his spot on the mound. For Mihashi, being on the mound proved his very existence in the team. He truly believed, should Tajima try hard, he will be a better pitcher and will be positioned as regular pitcher. How dreadful the thought was for Mihashi. (Although he was the only one who thought that) Listening to Mihashi's struggle, it was clear to Hanai that whatever he felt towards Tajima, it's not a bad thing. Rivalry is a good thing, even if among the same team members. Gambare, Hanai-kun!!

Oh and it was really funny when Tajima saw Mihashi's expression after talking to Hanai. Tajima straight away confronted Hanai and accused him for bullying Mihashi. Kekeke how Mihashi stood up and denied it, and Tajima straight away like, "Eh what, so it's just a missunderstanding!" and it was settled just like that. ahahaha.. Tajima-kun really is a reliable friend (who acted more like Mihashi's older brother) .

Next, they played Sayama High.

Nishiura ended up losing to Sayama. In the first few innings, Sayama kept getting runs thanks to data gathered by their coach. They were able to predict Mihashi's pitches and kept getting runs. Mihashi however didn't lose his trust towards Abe. The team worked hard to catch up but when trying to catch the ball, Abe received a knee injury in 8th inning (I think). Tajima was then made the replacement catcher.

I was really moved when Abe so reluctant to draw from the game, for he had promised Mihashi that he will not get sick or injured for the next three years so as to catch Mihashi's pitches. For Mihashi truly believed that no one but Abe will be able to catch his pitches and to draw the best out of him. There was no word being exchanged between them, Abe only could grab Mihashi's wrist, really hard, his hand was trembling. Understanding that, Mihashi promised him he will get two more outs.

During pairing with Tajima, Mihashi learnt that all this while he'd been too depending on Abe, leaving all responsibility to Abe. For him, he trusted that Abe will lead him to every pitches and just throw without once shaking his head. During Abe's absence, he came to understand that there would be times that Abe would be wavering between two throws and would need to consult Mihashi on which one to throw.

All in all, though they lost, every one of them had grow and they were all fired up to grow even more stronger. Huu it's sad season 2 had ended, really enjoyed the series. I hope to see them soon in national!! <3
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Laugh up your life
nami
Huh at the age of 2*, (of course the exact number is a secret) i actually realized how true the quote "laughter is the best medicine" is.

I'm fasting today, and began my morning in foul mood, as i had some bickering with my sister at home.

The bickering continued in the office ( through email). And i went to shop for a bit, alone. So i din get engaged in friendly conversation all day - all my teammates are busy(except for me), no time for chat-time. Well at lunchtime i always chat with my lunch-mate(s). Or if i wasn't lunching out with anyone, i'll have my lunch at my workstation while reading manga. Of course, i will laugh quite a bit (sometimes too much)

But today, my head was feeling heavy and started to ache. I tot it's because i'm fasting. But then, when i read a funny fb status from a friend, and laughed aloud, my headache magically lifted off!! Isn't it a wonder??

So there u go, laugh, and your day will be brighter ( ´ ▽ ` )οΎ‰
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