Mother's Cherry Apples

Mother's garden back home is in bloom. My brother in law sent the pictures to me... Pretty one of the cherry apple...

'What' Interfering with 'How'

I went for a cognitive reading group on Thursday. We discussed an interesting article about how declarative learning/ memory (of fact or events) can interfere with the consolidation of procedural memory (of skills, know-how).

The authors (Brown and Robertson, 2007) ask participants to do an experiment in which a solid visual cue could appear in any of 4 positions. Particpants were to press a corresponding button for the position the cue appears, as quickly as possible. A sequence was embedded in a great number of trials and if participants could 'detect' the sequence, their reaction times would improve. Procedural learning was assessed by increase or decrease in reaction times, while declarative learning in the task would involve the person recalling what the sequence was. Interestingly, when participants were presented with a word list immediately after the experiment and asked to learn it, reaction times improved (procedural learning) 12 hours later. This was as opposed to when participants were asked to count the number of vowels in a nonsense word list. The learnign the word list was supposed to interfere with declarative memory of the task; the vowel counting task was a similarly demanding activity that is not suppose to interfere with declarative memory of the task.

The authors suggested that this indicates competition between our declarative memory system and procedural memory system during consolidation. In the experiment, disruption of declarative learning improved procedural learning. Perhaps this released any inhibition effect declarative memory had on procedural learning... and that could explain why skill learning often improves after a period of sleep than wake... where in sleep the declarative memory system is suppressed (i.e. you being unconscious). To top it off, participants who did the word list were poorer on sequence recall (declarative learning) than participants who did the vowel counting.

Pretty exciting results, but with possible confounding factors like arousal and people being more motivated to learn when asked to remember word lists, compared with a 'no-brainer' task like counting vowels.

Still, it makes us think about how we can optimize our learning of new skills? :p haha maybe after my driving lesson, I should be trying to memorize the conversion values of pounds to kg, or cups to millilitres (haha for baking) or stuff like that... maybe that will improve my driving next week... especially if I'm suffering from lack of sleep. :p

Scam!!! BEWARE!

I was involved in a possible scam last weekend :p haha I thought it was really cool other than the fact that I could have been cheated of a few hundred pounds... but if you start imagining what the story behind it and who the people involved in it could be... it was pretty exciting.

I have been posting ads on the internet for a new housemate to replace my housemate who is moving out in April. In some sense we were pretty desperate to find some one for the room. I had a flood of emails after I did the most recent posting and quite a lot of them were talking about how they were from another country and needed a place to stay... Some were models from W.A., evangelists doing missionary work... students... all sorts... and quite a number of them said that once agreed they would get their agent to send a cheque to me for 3000 odd pounds and I am to transfer the first month's rent to the my landlord and the rest back to them... they would say its for a favour and they needed me to do that so they can pay for their air tickets and stuff...


I have never heard of such situations before... and did find it a bit odd (yes... I was naive and gullible, this sentence is to save my ego). haha so in my desperate attempt to find a replacement, I picked the most 'normal' sounding person (she did say I was her only friend after a few emails). She said the cheque would arrive in a few days time. I felt a bit edgey about the entire matter, so asked her to get her agent to ring me...



I waited for a few days... no cheque, no phone calls... and got paranoid that she was a computer generated message or people playing a joke on me. After consultation from a few friends, I decided to find someone else for the house. I did tell her via email to ring me before Sunday or I will rent the room out. She did not ring me by sunday. I gave the room to my current new housemate :p




On Tuesday... I received a cheque!!! and a phone call from her to check my email (I was feeling guilty about letting the room out so did not ask her anything over the phone... she did not seem too keen to talk to me either) I checked my email and she left a message saying she still needs me to cash the cheque... and she will tell me where to transfer the account to later. And she made it sound like she really needed me to help her to free up this money.


At first I was thinking... that sounds a little dodgey... and as an international student I thought it might have something to do with coming from another country and having dificulties with bank accounts being activated and what not... so was quite tempted to help... I did go and read up on fake cheques but was not sure whether to do it or not.


haha so I did another first in my 4 years in Sheffield :p I went to the Students' Advice Centre at the Union (this year has been an exciting one for me I must day). I had a chat with the lady and we came to the conclusion that it might not be in my best interest to help her. She looked at the cheque and commented that that bank might have been robbed last month or something... haha and I was like 'ooh... this is getting exciting'. She checked with the money advisor and apparently they had a few cases of fake cheques being sent to people and stuff... And she told me something I did not know... that when you've cashed the cheque, it might clear and you might supposedly be able to use the money within 5 days, but the entire transaction might take 4-5 weeks. By the time the bank realizes that the cheque has bounced, you would have transferred your money else where... haha I thought that was a pretty good way of cheating people actually...


I went home, took a picture of the cheque (haha for keepsake... first time nearly getting conned), then tore it up.


anyway... I'm glad the whole business is over. I was polite and sent her an email saying I'm definitely not going to cash the cheque ;>. But if it was really a scam... its quite sad too... she sounded quite desperate on the phone... ;(

Sharrow Lantern Parade!!

The Sharrow Latern Carnival is coming soon... On the 1st of April, Sunday evening (usually after dark). It starts on Mount Pleasant Park and it will pass by London Road... Not a bad day to go to NoodleInn or the nice Turkish restaurant on there? just to catch a glimpse of the pretty lanterns (handmade, with willow sticks and rice paper)... especially if you are not into walking in the cold with the contingent :p

see

http://www.creativeaction.net/

The Cherry Orchard...

I went to see THE Cherry Orchard at the Crucible theatre with a friend. It was a comedy set in the early 1900s about the downfall of a Russian aristocratic family. It was really enjoyable... perhaps because of the stress I've been having this week... I really laughed out loud at the jokes today. :> I quite enjoyed the plot... but I guess it's meaning did not struck me as much because I had zero knowledge of the Russian revolution and how it changed the lives of serfs (servants) and their masters...The Cherry Orchard was the last play written by a Russian playwright, Chekhov.

I did something I never did before though... when I went to the theatre. My friend is is an expert in theatre and the arts. She's a big fan of the lady who played the Russian aristocrat in the play... Joanna Lumley... and we stayed on in the bar afterwards to catch a glimpse of the actors in their 'real skins'. haha I was trying not to stare... as the actors and actresses who played some of the characters I quite liked were there...

The story...

Madam Ranevskaya was the rich owner of a Cherry Orchard. She was ruined when her parisian lover stole her money... and she had to sell the Cherry Orchard to pay off her debts. Lopahkin, a merchant came up with a business proposal to save her family land by transforming the land into a summer holiday stay. She refused change and certainly was not agreeble to cutting down the cherry trees... Moreover, she carried on with her frivolous spending and expensive parties. In the end... the merchant bought over the land at the auction and she and her family had to move out and find their own means of survival.

Serious story line aside... there was a bit of the story about the mechant and Madame Ranevskaya's daughter, who supposedly loved each other. The businessman never revealed his feelings... and even when he was given the greenligh by Madame Ranevskaya to ask for her daughter's hand in marriage, he did not... When the two were left alone... they just talked about mundane things and he was called away by a servant... The story ended with the lady leaving the Cherry Orchard for a new life...

Peace Declaration... Lesson learnt...

I went to the department late today (well wanted to be there earlier). But it was well worth it...

I spoke to M. and told her I meant the 3 drawers... she understood.

P. spoke to me and told me why she wrote what she wrote... I understood. She has a reasons for her view and I have my reasons for my views... we might not agree... but I could see where she was coming from.

This is why world leaders spend thousands of tax-payers' money to travel to different places for conferences and meetings... Important things should be discussed face to face... where verbal, non-verbal cues are present... when unambiguities can be verified immediately...

This is why life is not all about work and not leaving time to communicate with people around you...

Going to the department later than usual, made a difference today.

The 'War' of 3 countries

A little Paper war has erupted in my little dwelling...

It unfortunately started with me... (I thought it was the quickest way of communicating as all of us are seldom in at the same time)

My intentions were just to re-organize the storing space for the new housemate coming today... The new housemate was to replace M who was moving out. She is moving in 10 days earlier... so we would have 4 people in the 3-bedroom flat until M. moves out on the 31st. In the note, I asked M. if she could move her foodstuff to the 3 drawers under the sink, while P, the new girl and me take 3 shelves worth of cupboard space (all four spaces are the same size to me).

M. thought I meant the washing cupboard (am I not communicating properly?). And replied on the note "No way my thing going under sink with washing stuff". sigh....

Once I started the ball rolling... P. decided to make her stand... She asked us (last week) to keep the electricity usage as low as possible, as she will not have enough money to pay the bills if current usage goes on.

She wrote on the note "I will strictly brief her (the new girl) as well... The new girl will pay her due bills from the day she arrives i.e. 20th of March. I am in no position to do hospitalities to anyone and neither am found of them being P--------- or otherwise... (P and the new girl are from the same country).

I wrote a note in reply ;> the war might go on...

Seahorses, Space monkeys and Memory

That was the title for the department seminar yesterday.

Seahorse - for the hippocampus (the part of the brain often associated with our memory for events); a structure that is in the shape of a sea horse...

Space monkeys - for his experiment with monkeys on tasks relating to memory of where things are in any space around them

Slightly random... haha but its something that made his talk more memorable... and I thoroughly enjoyed it (not all deparmental seminars have that effect on moi)

yupz... my hippocampus should be coding the 'where' and 'when' components of my memory for the talk ;>

Disclaimer: There is still debate on the brain structures associated with recognition memory and different aspects of episodic memories (when, where, etc)

The 'Journey' to Pan's Labyrinth

Yes... I've only watched Pan's Labyrinth today... at the Students' Union Film Unit... and for a bargain (well sort of). The Film Unit people printed 7.30pm for tickets for both the 7.30pm and 11.00pm showing.. and we had a flood of people for the earlier showing.

We were the one's sitting on the aisle... so we got 'chucked' out... Fire safety laws... the auditorium is NOT legally allowing to have more people in it than its capacity (do we have that in Singapore?). But we got free tickets for the late show... and a complimentary ticket for another show... I felt a little bad as I was waiting for others to volunteer to leave and take that offer up. :P

We went to my place and had a chat for a bit... while I sorted out my housing problem (a blessing in disguise actually... then I could watch the show with a peace of mind). haha then went back for the 11pm showing. :p

Pan's Labyrinth

The film? it was amazing... Beautiful cinematography... simple yet gripping story and a nicely en-meshed parallel 'fairy tale' adventure to complement it.

The story was set in Spain, during the civil war in 1944. A little girl Ofelia starts her new life in an army camp with her stepfather, a sadistic and no-nonsense military captain, and pregnant mother. She dreams about being in another world, a world of magic, where she is a princess who needs to return to her kingdom where her father and her people are longing for her return. I thought it was a nice illustration about how fantasies and beliefs are so important in our lives... Something to hold on to when life around one falls apart. I felt that the part where Carmen (pregnant mother) threw away the Mandrake root to show Ofelia (the little girl) that 'magic' will not make her well, and that once she threw it in the fire, she started having labour pains... made that point quite clear.

But I guess Del Toro (director) made a point to show us that fairy tales may only be a temporary analgesic, but they do not solve our problems in the real world. Ofelia gets shot dead by her stepfather... and 'supposedly' her soul returns to her fairy tale kingdom.

I thought the saddest person in the show was Ofelia's step father... Captain Viddal. Captain Viddal's father was a general who died gloriously on the battle-field. His father smashed his pocket-watch just before he died so his son will know the time of his death. It seemed like that had stuck with him all his life. His harsh and cruel methods to quell the resistance seemed to betray his desire to become like his father. He wanted to be like his father, a person he probably did not know very well, but yearned to be close to. He wanted to be a good military officer who accomplished the work his government asked him to do. And as the good doctor in the show said... he went about his life without thinking about what he was doing.

(Pan... english translation of the Faun... the creature who guides Ofelia on her adventures to return to her kingdom)

Specs-Saver Yeah!

Dr McGuire gave me a new insight today... Dr McGuire suggested to me that my headaches might have been due to ill-fitting glasses (yes... we are still on the topic of my mysterious eye-pain and headaches). So I put the theory to the test and got down to the opticians 30 minutes after she suggested so. :>

Vision Express was the one that gave me the 4pm appointment. They endeavour to get people's glasses ready in 1 hour. I thought it could be on the expensive side. I was in favour of testing the glasses theory out and getting this horrid headache out of the way. so I said 'yes' to the appointment.

On my way down, I passed by Spec-Savers with large posters saying 30% discount for students... my heart was itching to go into the shop and enquire, but I went ahead to Vision Express.

Then a 'good' bad thing happened :p I got to Vision express at 4.05pm and this lady (not in too good a tone of voice) said to me,' you are late, we've given the appointment to some one else.' I politely took a card intended for me to ring in for a new appointment tomorrow, and hurried back to Spec-savers.

Specs-saver was amazing... I went in at 4.10pm and they gave me an appointment for 4.20pm. This was despite it being busy and near closing time. :> The staff were really friendly and had my eye examination, glasses, and anti-reflectant coated lens done, under 100 pounds. I thought that was pretty good. I'm getting them new glasses tomorrow afternoon. :>

I'm still not too sure if ill-fitted glasses were the source of my pain... but at least I got my bum moving round to getting new glasses (long over-dued, especially needed for my driving lessons starting Thursday :p). My current glasses not only have accompanied me for 4 odd years, bu also faithfully endured a washing machine test and numerous times getting crushed in my bags... Even though I have the utmost respect for its stamina, I unfortunately have lost trust in its abilities.

Looking forward to my new glasses tomorrow :>

Am I bov-vered?

Just came back from work. It was not too bad a shift I think. :> I did all that I was supposed to do, and my client was well... so... That's enough for me.

It was one of those shifts which I start wondering how my colleagues view my as a support worker. My colleagues are really nice, but there is a difference between being nice and respecting one's competency.

Today... my colleague was talking to me about what being a support worker means. My colleague was telling me that after I asked the her and 2 clients if they wanted tea or coffee, as I was making one for myself. She seemed to be implying that I should not be doing things for the 2 clients who were quite able. Yes... I know... a good support worker works herself out of a job. You support your client to be independent... and your objective is to make yourself redundent. But... I ask my clients to do lots of things by themselves. I was making tea for her today, because I was doing it for everyone else.

To think I had a colleague undermine me by opening my client's crisps (packet of potato chips) while I was encouraging her to ask me to help her with it. And also telling me I don't need to ask her what food she wants, that I was confusing her with too much information, and I should just give her what I think she wants. Sigh... I sometimes wished people would get off my back.

Anyway... back to the colleague today... perhaps she was just trying to generate some theoretical discussion about support work... haha I do admit I could be a tad defensive sometimes... :p I do have my insecurities.

I shall not analyze what happens at work anymore. Am I bov-vered? Do I care what other people think of how I do my work? I like my style and I think it works for me and the client. I take into account other people's comments, but I have my reasons for doing things the ways that I do... so there! :)

At the end of the day, I can account for why I do things the way I do. That is the most important.

Optimism and Pessimism...

I went to the departmenal seminar yesterday... it was about Optimism and Physical Health. This lady was looking at how uplifts and hassles in our lives, affect our moods and our outlook on life (optimism and pessimism), and how these things interact.

What I thought was interesting was when they were talking about how optimism and pessimism could be 2 different constructs versus being related to each other, or 2 ends of a spectrum. They were talking about people who can be both highly optimistic and highly pessismistic, and people who are low on both measures. This lecturer at our dept came up with a briliant idea... that people who are highly optimistic and highly pessimistic may be just future-oriented people... that they think about the future more... so perhaps instead of thinking of outlook on life as positve and negative... we could look at it in the dimension of how much people think ahead of things that might happen or not.

They were talking about health behaviour as well... about moods and drinking, smoking and exercise behaviour. If I rememberd it right... her findings were... People drink more when they are very happy or when they are very sad. People smoke more when they are unhappy. People jog more when they are happy. I can vouch for the last bit. :>

Did I spell pessimism right?

Where is that pain?

Talking about pain... I was reminded of one of my neuroscience lectures on pain. Just thought its really amazing that at times when the 'problem ' is in one area of the body, we feel pain on another part of the body. This is especially so with visceral pain (of your internal organs) as there are no neurons specialized solely for the transmission of such pain. Pain information is usually transmitted via neurons concerned with cutaneous pain (of your skin/ surface of body).

For example,
Angina pain (from the heart muscle) is not only referred to the upper chest wall, but also to the left arm and hand.
Right prostrate pain referred to right abdominal wall, and right back of leg, calf and foot.

so you never know do you...

My first visit to the Doctor in UK :p

Gosh... lotsa firsts on the blog eh...

In the 4 years I've been in Sheffield, today was the first time I made good use of the free health service for students. I thought I took a picture of the new University health centre for remembrance :p (Been having headaches these few days... specifically around the eye. Just went to check that it was not conjunctivities or inflammation of the optic nerves or something... )

This one is of the screen that tells you its your turn :p The whole waiting room will know your name, but I guess it saves the hassle with number cards...

The story of Curry Puff and Pandan Chiffon?

I got myself into 'trouble' not reading my emails properly the other day... The University of Sheffield's International Students' committee were requesting international students to contribute recipes from home. They were going to get the University food court to do an International menu for International week (for people in Sheffield: 12-17th March). I thought it was a simple thing of sending the recipes in... so I suggested

http://www.makantime.com/indexrecipes.html

for chicken rice, curry puff and Pandan Chiffon cake.

They sent an email to me... 2 days ago saying that they picked curry puff and pandan chiffon to be served. And wanted my photograph + profile... and for me to write something about my hometown and background about the food!!! Gosh... I did not realize that sending in a recipe means that... I was thinking how embarassing it would be to have my poster next to the stall selling the food!!! sigh...

Anyway... this was what I sent in

-------------------------------------

Singapore…
Not just the little red dot on the map…

Singapore is a modern and vibrant city, state and island, ‘all rolled into one’. She is located right on the equator, south of the Malaysian peninsula and surrounded by Indonesian islands.

In the early 1800s, British Colonial administrator Sir Stamford Raffles saw its sheltered waters and location as strategic for a trading port and set up a free port there. This move attracted merchants from all over the world, e.g. the Arabs, Chinese and Indians, bringing trade and people to the once simple fishing village. Since then, Singapore has not looked back. It is now an independent country and a republic. Its International airport has won the Best world wide airport award in 2005 and 2007.

Singapore’s roots as a migrant country contributed to its exciting range of delicacies. While some dishes may be culturally specific, many are a fusion of elements from the different cultures, making them Uniquely Singaporean. For example you may find foods in Singapore similar to what they have in China, but some will have a local twist to them. The 2 snacks featured today are clear examples of such.

Curry Puff
A savoury pastry debated by some, to be inspired by Indian Samosas, and others by English Cornish Pasties. It is a pastry pouch filled with curried potatoes and deep fried until golden. There are Malay versions of it called ‘epok-epok’ and Chinese versions of it which are much larger and filled with curried chicken, potato and sometimes egg.

Pandan Chiffon Cake
Pandan cake is a sweet fluffy cake made with Pandan leaf juice or extract. The Pandan plant is a aromatic herb that grow mostly in tropical countries, often used to flavour desserts. I have no idea how the first Pandan Chiffon came about. I suppose it is a Singaporean take on a western recipe. It is a popular cake in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and many South East Asian countries.

Singapore prides itself as a food paradise. Singaporeans love food and some take it as a social activity to find the best places for that special dish. If you ever visit Singapore, it will truly be a gastronomical experience for you.

By Koh Hwan Cui

Hwan Cui is a postgraduate research student with the Department of Psychology.

This is a photo of her taking part in a Food and Heritage Challenge, in Singapore, 2004. Teams competed to travel all over Singapore to try 5 dishes from different ethnic groups.

For further information:

www.visitsingapore.com

Norfolk Park... My favourite park in Sheffield

These are pictures taken from Norfolk park... a nice park on one of the many hills of Sheffield... Beyond the rail way station away from University. Definitely a place to go for a picnic in the summer :>





You can see the Arts Tower from up here!!! :> For friends not in Sheffield... Its the grey block on the right side of the photo... hehe its supposedly the tallest building in Sheffield... a 20 storey academic building.


A slight digression... The Arts Tower was inspired by the Sea Gram Building in New York (told by my architectural friend... hehe here it is... I shall not comment what I think of it :p



The Arts Tower... Compare...

and contrast... The Seagram Building in New York...

Learn more about the Arts tower.... at...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_Tower

The first of my baking parties... hopefully it will not be the last...

Had a few friends round on sunday... we had a really nice chat about anything under the sun, life in Sheffield and travels... I managed to make my ugly lounge slightly more presentable.. we even had the tv on, mounted on the ironing board :p haha it was alright. Did all this after my 7.5 hour shift at the care home some more... gave me more confidence that I could work on a sunday and have some form of a social life :p

:) Baked a cake... an amazingly sinful Victoria sponge which was 6 whole eggs, lotsa sugar and butter. Looks ok from afar eh? I thought it was bake a little too long... but my friends thought they were ok... haha that's why they are my friends :)

Forgot to take a group photo... sigh... I think I was talking too much... people must remind me next time k!!!

Men, women and children... fighting for better lives...

This was on the saturday afternoon (3rd 3rd '07). The demonstrators were holding pla-cards saying 'No War in Iraq'... asking for better NHS services and stuff... There were police men escorting the contingent and keeping the roads open for them... Perhaps a sight we will never see in Singapore...

Why 'the Wolf and the Moon'?

I was racking my brains all saturday about what to name my blog... Luckily... inspiration came not too long after... the lunar eclipse...

very random... but that's how my blog is going to be too.... :p random...


This blogging idea was born on the same day that the lunar eclipse occurred... It's not too rare a phenomena... considering it happens twice every year... haha but it was a rare occassion that I was actually watching it... and with friends... Thus... here I pay tribute to this...

In Norse mythology... Vikings spoke of a wolf called Hati, who when chases mani the moon... a shadow would be cast over it. People would make lotsa noise especially when the moon turn red... to frighten Hati away... to save the moon.

There was another gruesome tale about how the 'blood moon' came about... A man with 12 wives was said to be the moon. He had many vicious animals (lions, bears and snakes) as pets. One day... when he did not have enough to feed his pets, they turned against him and basically mauled him. He was bleeding all over... thus the reddish colour of the moon. One of his wives, frog, came to his rescue and beat the pets away. They wives then tended to his wounds and 'cleaned' him up... thus the end of the eclipse and the disappearance of the reddish tinge.

http://starryskies.com/The_sky/events/lunar-2003/eclipse7.html

I thought it was against my feminist principles to call my blog the man with 12 wives...

So... The Wolf and the moon... I like my blog title... haha a little like names of English pubs (think... frog and parrot, fox and duck... :p but hey...

Reigning the horse before the cliff-drop...

This must be a surprise to many... Huancui... who is terrible at keeping in contact via email... whose Friendster account status has gone from 'dormant' to 'extinct'... whose NEW facebook account is also showing signs of the same fate... is starting a blog!!!

This blog is actually for myself and the people I care about... especially friends and family in Singapore.
(1) For myself as a way to help me put my thoughts into words and to keep them together when I feel that things are falling apart (in other words... to keep meself sane!!)...
(2) For friends and family... so they know I still am 'alive and kicking'...
(3) and finally... a way for me to share pictures... coz facebook at the moment is confusing moi!!

I hope this journey will be as fulfilling as it can be... and if you drop in to view one or 2 of my posts... that you enjoy reading them as I will have, sharing them with you.

So... let's start...