Disclaimer: Follow at your own risk. No two girlfriends are the same.

1. When her gastric pains act up and she 'demands' a cup of hot beverage, go with her to get the hot beverage. Then, help her to test if the drink is too hot. Blow on it to cool it down for her. Serve warm. Sit with her until she is feeling better.

2. When she gets angry at something minor (on text), take a step back and objectively describe the situation. If she doesn't reply, she might be considering the validity of your statements or sulking to show her unhappiness. Let her take her time. Then, the next time you see her, put your arms around her and attend to her tenderly. She will soon drop her pouting act and talk to you again. *Applies only to matters where you were not doing something wrong*

3. Lean close to her face and nuzzle her nose when you guys are waiting for something.

4. Write a card for her on her birthday.

5. Always be open and frank in communication.

昨晩３時起きましたから、今少し疲れてる。誰と話しました笑。
先生にかたかなの宿題を貰えました。後で勉強するかな。

negative form of i-adjective is 　~い　→　~くない
negative form of na-adjective is　~ない→　~じゃない

いい　→　よくない
よかった　→　よくなかった
かっこいい　→　かっこよくない
かっこよかった　→　かっこよくなかった

あー　とても難しいですね。ゆっくりで習いましょうなあ。

I think today was a super hectic yet fulfilling day. Not to mention the pigging out on steak and ice cream... It was a preplanned outing for my parents to meet with K and him to meet them, and I'm really glad it went well! My parents still don't want me to be with him that much, for certain reasons. But me being me, I will stick to my own opinions and not regret any decision that I've made.

So the day started with meeting K at 10am and we then took a bus to the Mandai area where the Zoo and River Safari are located. Apparently the Jurong Bird Park is going to be moved to the same place as well, so there's gonna be FOUR major places of interest in one site. Awesome. Mind-blowing.

We went to the River Safari first because the giant pandas are more active during feeding time (read: 11am plus). Along the way, there were many interesting exhibits of fish, alligators/crocodiles/the other kind I forgot/the fake of 'the other kind I forgot', stingray, and birds. EDIT: The 'other kind I forgot' are gharials. And of course, there are fake gharials. The way to distinguish them: Crocodiles have V-shaped noses while alligators have U-shaped ones.

I was reading this article on how bees are dying at an alarming rate because of the use of fungicides. We humans already know that pesticides can be harmful to bees, which is why there are labels on the cans warning us not to use them when there are pollinating bees around. However, the latest findings published in the Guardian revealed that fungicides, though they are not targeted at killing bees, do affect bee behaviour, immune systems and even long-term health and reproduction. Even more shocking is the fact that fungicides may actually cause crops to kill more bees than they sustain. So out goes the argument that bees need those crops grown in chemical cocktail farms.

I really hope something is done about it because if you didn't already know, bees are very important to our the balancing of our ecosystem. As quoted from this article, here is an apocalyptic quote attributed to Albert Einstein (although there is no proof he actually said it): “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years left to live.”

This very interesting article which I found online elaborates a whole lot more on the personal narratives of people affected by the voluminous deaths of the honey bees. It also provides more evidence to show that this is really happening. Apparently, WiFi can also cause bees to get lost and not find their way home to the hives. If this is backed by strong evidence, I am NEVER using WiFi or any form of internet roaming besides LAN cables near a nature reserve again.

From that first bee article, I stumbled upon an article on BANANAS. You can read it here. In summary, it says how the Cavendish breed of bananas are at risk because of a pathogen called Tropical Race 4, a strain of the infamous Panama disease which decimated the Big Mikes (another breed of bananas which taste sweeter and are more fragrant than Cavendish). Apparently Big Mikes are only available in some parts of Southeast Asia now. I want to try it before it goes extinct.

You see, the problem is that we humans like to engineer everything, from bananas to other kinds of crops and even metals (the list goes on forever). Okay, that might be sort of crucial to our survival as a species but we have to consider the impact on other living & non-living things in our environment. Can you imagine this: one day we would have successfully created tiny drones that mimic the behaviour of bees so we can pollinate flowers instead of having real bees? NO! That is a terrible thing to do, not to mention those mechanical bees will not be able to evolve naturally along with the flowers and humans are prone to many errors. We would very likely be not be diligent enough to keep updating those bees because there are so many other better things to do. We should just leave the bees alone. Better yet, we should try to protect them by not using extensive amounts of fungicides/pesticides/insecticides and whatever else there is.

Wouldn't it be funny to edit other people's pictures on Twitter and then tweet-reply them with it?

Especially if they became something cute. Hehe.
The one that is going to start it all: cute Ben & Jerry's.

Friday
This weekend was pretty exciting. Let's see starting from Friday, when I went out with my fellow MMMinterns to TGIF at Peperoni Pizza for food, then NUSS for drinks. Quite proud of the determination I had to avoid alcoholic drinks because I had to wake up early the next day, and I didn't want to go home feeling extremely drowsy and worn out. So, I had a banana shake instead! It was fun   being the game commentator for the drinking game (was it Circle of Death or something else... I don't recall) because being in control is awesome haha.


Saturday
On Saturday, I went out early in the morning to Kallang Leisure Park for NBC's movie screening / networking session. Thanks MuiSock for the opportunity to attend this event! Reached earlier so I got to talk to this nice lady called Wati who described what she does in the company and what we can expect if we embark on an internship with them. NBC is really very diverse in that it not only engages in entertainment avenues, but also informational news channels and sports programmes. However as their suggested internship period is six months, I'm afraid that I won't be able to experience it (since exchange will take up a good 4-5 months next year). ***Hoping with all my heart that I'll get into at least one of the exchange programmes that I applied for. Okay, gotta stop digressing.***




After the screening of Jurassic World, which left me trembling after all the action and excitement, Sock and I decided to grab some bites at Nihon Mura Express. The food there was not as good as the one served in The Cathay outlet. Shortly after, we headed to Suntec Convention Centre to catch the Public Garden trade fair, which was in Hall 403. There were SO MANY amazing booths there, displaying/selling stuff ranging from clothes (even for babies and dogs), tote bags, accessories and shoes to greeting cards, beauty scrubs, and terrariums.



Sorry that there won't be any pictures because it was really packed to the brim with crowds + it felt much more enjoyable being in the moment instead of trying to capture everything for later (and I was afraid that some of the booth owners would find it offensive(?)). We did collect many name cards though. They will definitely come in handy for when the need to source vendors who can do customisable designs, or if we simply want to browse the goods of indie brands in Singapore. The best takeaway for me was this pair of babies.

So cute right. I was roaming at the Popular Northpoint store hunting for the new Colours of the World post-it collections when I decided to stick around a bit longer... and I ended up with this :'D  I almost bought a Rilakkuma file but thankfully I stuck to my most beloved Sumikko Gurashi collection. It is a really detailed design -- from the pastel blue stripes to the many depictions of the Sumikko Gurashi gang going about their day to day life... how much more adorable can you squeeze out of them?!

And I have a sudden urge to do a small write-up for each and every of my Sumikko Gurashi merchandise. This is the first time I bought so many (in terms of quantity) besides my manga collection. I'll see if I can be diligent enough to document them all hehe.

Hey, I'm back with a new game called Shelter 2 (by Might and Delight). Played as a Mother Lynx who guides and feeds her baby lynxes.

• Rabbits (everywhere)
• Moles/lemmings (home-ground, forest)
• Regular deer/mules (tundra)
• Frogs (swamp)
• Nest of eggs (swamp)
• Nest of bird eggs (dropped from a tree)