Coffee & TV

On Blood (Loss)

Monday, April 25, 2005 / 2:01 AM

On Blood (Loss)

This is a scientific essay I decided to write for some reasons. Nostalgia (missing school, especially Biology)? Maybe. Information for a certain injured friend believing himself to be at the losing end of the deal and also an expert on blood types. Highly probable.

Blood is a specialized tissue required by us humans to fulfill functions, namely, transport of substances within the body, distribution of heat, defence against foreign agents (not soviet spies but viruses and bacteria) and for maintenance of osmoticity and pH, which sums up to integrating physiological processes. This will enable the body to achieve a constant internal environment. Blood contains several types of cell suspended in a fluid medium called plasma. The cellular constituents are: Red Blood Cells (RBC), White Blood Cells (WBC), Blood platelets and many other plasma proteins in blood plasma but I'm not going to name them all her to clog up your mind. Tag me if you really want to know.

Let us envision this scenario. An object hits you hard and bleeding occurs. This might mean that blood vessels are ruptured (though more likely if you are cut) and the red fluid that flows out is blood (you do not need to be a genius to know that). The amount that flows out depends on the amount of vessels ruptured and the extent of each rupture, which of course depends on the impact of the hit. You say blood gushed out like a fountain. I say either you are exaggerating or it's time to call 995/1777.

After your body lost a certain amount of blood, your body will try its best to replenish. That is why people still survive after blood donations. It is only after MASSIVE blood loss then do you need to be sent to hospital to receive a transfusion.

Another point to make, haemoglobin is broken down in the spleen and certain important elements are stored. Transferrin and iron will then reach the bone marrow and your new red blood cells will be synthesized there. Enough said on that. I'll be termed evil and unfeeling if I continue. To the sick one, rest well and nurse yourself back to health and I hope that there will be no psychological trauma that'll leave a scar.

I think if I start on Blood types now, tomatoes will start flying in my direction. I promise, I will write it next article. Or next next. Or next next next. Eventually I will. Really.

Adios!

News Flash

Sunday, April 17, 2005 / 10:32 PM

Well yesterday was a wonderful day till I chanced upon the channel U news at 11pm, more specifically, the feature on how people are getting increasingly prone to abnormal behaviour when under stress. The above, seems like a no-brainer, and you say, "Anybody under stress will display an anomaly in their behaviour! Do we still need you to tell us, LHC? Go back and sleep! Shoo!" However, as their (the channel U news<-- which actually belongs to the whole big monopoly of news network body known as channel news asia) case study features, more people, adults and teenagers alike are unable to handle relationship problems and are resorting to violent acts towards others and themselves. To put it simply, people experiencing relationship problems (henceforth referred as PERPs<-- People Experiencing Relationship Problems) are either trying to kill others or trying to kill themselves.

I am most definitely not saying that ALL PERPs are psychotic killers and have the violent seed in them, only those under stress and unable to handle them properly and channel their anger/angst/unhappiness/unfairness/vengefulness/self-pity and other negative feelings into correct channels. PERPs are common. People get into relationship problems all the time. However, those that are not able deal with such strong feelings should seek immediate PROFESSIONAL HELP before they turn into menaces of society as shown on the news feature.

For the benefit of those who did not catch the 11pm news as I did, here is a brief breakdown.

Case Study of Hong Kong citizens (I feel that this actually applies to all industrialized cities, rather than HK only): Recent reports show that HK citizens are unable to deal with increasing stress, most of which comes from relationship problems, specifically break-ups, and are turning towards violent social behaviour, i.e. throwing of belongings off high-rise buildings thus posing danger to those innocent passers-by [in chinese, gao1 lou2 pao1 wu4] and suicide. For the case of dangerous litter, the camera zoomed in on debris on the ground, which happens to include a CHOPPER. Nope, not chopper as in helicopter chopper, but as in those cleaver chopper. That is absolutely insane! If you want to die, by all means go ahead and kill yourself. Do not throw stuff like a cleaver down which may actually hit a bright student with an illustrious future; that is murder, even though it may be unintentional. Such debris took 7 huge dustbins to clear. The camera then showed this guy in action, whose face was pixellated, throwing his mattress (at least a double) down and jumping down two or three floors himself despite the fire fighting force shooting great jets of water at him to prevent him from jumping. He landed on an inflated air mattress (the irony) and was wheeled into an ambulance on a stretcher.

We have to come to terms with the fact that no relationship is smooth sailing and hitches and quarrels are most common between couples. The more you care about each other, the more you tend to disagree with your counterpart's opinions and behaviour. It is done with the loving notion that you hope your partner will change for the better. Hence let the games begin.

Let us all examine how much of your life your love relationship takes up. After deducting the area taken by your survival instincts, your religion (if it applies), your family, your studies (if it applies), your work (if it applies), your friends, your leisure, what is left is not really significant. Ok. Wait, you say. I have not experienced it so I do not understand. Fair enough. I'll try again. No matter how great/consuming your love life is, it will never be equal to your entire life. Never. Large part of, yes, maybe, (none for some even), but NEVER your whole life. NEVER. nevernevernevernervernever. It is only part of your social life, especially true for those engaged in courtship rituals.

Fine. I'm boring you. Yes I got it. Next time there will be more interesting topics. And Yes. Try not to rant. Yeah, Ok. I love you all too. Till next time then.

A Pat on the Shoulder in Time Saves Nine

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 / 7:43 AM

My humble abode is turning into a gambling den. Since I do not own a licence to run one, I think that my mini gambling den runs against the law. (Why is it that everything I write risk lawsuits?) Since Saturday, when the pioneer batch of mahjong addicts turned up, business has been brisk to say the least. Today the humble gambling arena welcomes its second batch of mahjong fanatics. To think I get irritated by my neighbours from the opposite block playing mahjong. Haha.

Today, my issue will be on superstition. There is this rumour going around fellow mahjong enthusiasts, saying that if anyone pats someone who is at present engaged in a round of adrenaline-pumping mahjong game, the luck of the person pat will go away, causing losing streaks. We, at the mini gambling den decided to try it out among 'brothers', and since jermaine aka daniel did not believe in such baseless superstition, amid cries of 'pantang!' coming from weiling aka kelvin, both me and yuqian aka cheeky decided to try a two-pronged approach and pat our dear brother on the shoulder. One each. Note: Children, do not try this at home, or anywhere near mahjong-ing adults or teenagers. You might get bashed.

Having tried that, jermaine aka daniel after winning three (or two, i cannot really remember such details) games, started his losing streak. Superstition or not? Hmmm.

Since this is on issues and tissues, it shall be discussed properly. I have no psychological and laboratory tests scheduled to run this aforementioned 'pat on the shoulder' hypothesis and get results, so all those that follows are just opinions. I think that all these superstitions are based one such one-time occurrence, like the above case study. Everyone at the table gets shocked at such an occurrence, and starts spreading the interesting one time phenomenon to everyone. Or better still, the 'pat on the shoulder' hypothesis might just be a made up thing of some director of some mahjong movie and it starts to spread like wildfire. Everybody knows that media spreads such information like spreading jam on bread. I remember the first time I came across any superstitious acts were from cartoons! Those Disney cartoons featuring Mickey mouse running all over the place opening black umbrellas under ladders while jumping over a black cat on Friday the thirteenth. Yeah, those were the days.

Still, no one can deny that superstitious acts do add spices to our lives. They make everything all the more interesting. I remember when the 3 of us, (June and Jermaine) walked down the dark and eerie corridor, the superstition that when walking in 3s, either someone will join your little gang or someone will be taken away set us all jittery before anything, and you all knew what happened next.

This concludes the installment on superstition at issues and tissues.
Post-article notes: Want to know the scores of those who mahjong-ed at the illegal mini gambling den? NOTE: No $$$ was involved. No calling of the police, or else I'll Jump! haha.Oh wow. since no money is involved, the activity is totally wholesome and legal. Re-typing...

Want to know the scores of those who mahjong-ed at the mini mahjong den?

Hall Of Fame/Shame:

on Saturday 9th April:
1. Yanying, Yiling, Weiteen and HC all won 2 games each. Played a total of 8 games.
Special mention, since my mini brain forgot most details of the saturday game; Weiteen likes to hold the tiles she drew from the wall with two hands ahaha. An interesting sight!

on Monday 11th April:
1.ME! HC is the ultimate winner winning 4/10 games! (YAY YAY!)
2. Jermaine aka daniel is the first runner-up winning 3/10 games. (hereby crowned as 'The One Whom Does Not Feed'/Hogger of all Flowers)
3. Yuqian aka cheeky is the second runner-up winning 2/10 games. (hereby crowned as 'The One Whom waits for Flowers/The One Whom Gets to Feed')
4. Weiling aka kelvin did not do that badly, we must bear in mind that it was her second game and mahjong is a game of chance afterall. She won 1/10 game(s). Which is a notable feat, since she managed to win at least. (hereby crowned as 'The One Whom Always get the Licence to hu2/ Flower Girl <-- always get her flowers)

My maiden ARTICLE

Thursday, April 07, 2005 / 11:17 PM

As the title suggests, this is the very 1st article of the much-awaited launch of my blog, issues and tissues. The driving force for me to create this blog, as much as it saddens me to say, is a suicidal friend of mine. Since she refuses for me to tell ANYONE her present state of distress, I shall do my utmost to adhere to her wishes, and i do hope it will not be her last. Therefore anything mentioned here would be my views and opinions on how her outburst is affecting the 'thoughtful citizens' [quote jermaine] of the society.

If the mentioned suicidal friend is reading this blog, may all that is holy bless her soul.

I am not about to wash dirty laundry in public, and those who are here looking for some scoop, shoo. Bear in mind i am no gossip column journalist, though i may act like one.

Now, back to my blog. Disclaimer first, before anybody decides to take me to court for the stuff i write for my own personal leisure. No names would be mentioned in this article unecessarily, and i would most definitely not name the suicidal person. So understand that I am actually protecting her privacy, though it sets me wondering why, since over at her blog, she is definitely shouting to the world what she is trying to do and all that buzz. Do not message me to ask me for names, for i will definitely not provide any.

I have been, as many of my other friends too, under the plague of a suicidal friend, henceforth known as SF. SF is affecting all our lifes in many ways, and this article will dissect the various issues that are sprouting from it. As how stories should start, i shall provide certain details, none that SF would disagree with me publishing.

Things/Words that I uttered in a vain (and i say VAIN) attempt to encourage/dissuade SF.
(all arranged in order of frequencies mentioned)
1. Don't <-- mentioned it as many times as she said Bye, and her second personal fav, take care
2. It's not worth it
3. This is foolish
4. Don't hurt yourself over someone who doesn't care and hurt others who actually care. <-- quote of the year if i may say so myself

and many others that i cannot begin/bother to remember.

On how SF affects everyone else, inclusive of SF.
SF's many intended suicidal attempts are all less than creative and are absolutely traumatic.
All her friends and her secondary and tertiary friends [quote friendster] are worried about her. She tells us not to worry, but we still do. All that we say/encourage/dissuade/persuade/advise are not getting into her system, since she says she is stubborn. Her circle of friends are dwindling by the minute, you do not need a M.A. (Sociology) to see that. The reason is that SF is wearing all of them thin, and her hopeful fews are really worth mentioning for still hanging on.

If SF is still unwilling to see that her cause is hopeless, if she has a cause at all, then as i've mentioned at the beginning, may all that is holy bless her soul.
If SF is willing to 'hui2 tou2 shi4 an4' [a chinese idiom which means turn your head and head towards the shore] all of us will still accept her for who she is, i hope.

This is the end of my rant for today, on issues and tissues. Stay tuned.

Post-article disclaimer: Do not flame me for writing this article. I have to get it out of MY OWN SYSTEM. Any pro-SF readers out there, i am absolutely apologetic for hurting your cause. anti-SFers, i'm sure you know how i feel. SF, be warned.


Journals weiling yuqian jermaine elisa erienne ruiyi yingxi priscilla sarah sivam jonathan ee jun kristie tracy 03S1A dalveer a.k.a. davi weiteen shawn marcus purplelashes h.carrot kayatoast caramellin nicole-ink Board Archives Archives April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 December 2005 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 October 2008 December 2008 January 2009 April 2009 May 2009 July 2009	On Blood (Loss) Monday, April 25, 2005 / 2:01 AM On Blood (Loss) This is a scientific essay I decided to write for some reasons. Nostalgia (missing school, especially Biology)? Maybe. Information for a certain injured friend believing himself to be at the losing end of the deal and also an expert on blood types. Highly probable. Blood is a specialized tissue required by us humans to fulfill functions, namely, transport of substances within the body, distribution of heat, defence against foreign agents (not soviet spies but viruses and bacteria) and for maintenance of osmoticity and pH, which sums up to integrating physiological processes. This will enable the body to achieve a constant internal environment. Blood contains several types of cell suspended in a fluid medium called plasma. The cellular constituents are: Red Blood Cells (RBC), White Blood Cells (WBC), Blood platelets and many other plasma proteins in blood plasma but I'm not going to name them all her to clog up your mind. Tag me if you really want to know. Let us envision this scenario. An object hits you hard and bleeding occurs. This might mean that blood vessels are ruptured (though more likely if you are cut) and the red fluid that flows out is blood (you do not need to be a genius to know that). The amount that flows out depends on the amount of vessels ruptured and the extent of each rupture, which of course depends on the impact of the hit. You say blood gushed out like a fountain. I say either you are exaggerating or it's time to call 995/1777. After your body lost a certain amount of blood, your body will try its best to replenish. That is why people still survive after blood donations. It is only after MASSIVE blood loss then do you need to be sent to hospital to receive a transfusion. Another point to make, haemoglobin is broken down in the spleen and certain important elements are stored. Transferrin and iron will then reach the bone marrow and your new red blood cells will be synthesized there. Enough said on that. I'll be termed evil and unfeeling if I continue. To the sick one, rest well and nurse yourself back to health and I hope that there will be no psychological trauma that'll leave a scar. I think if I start on Blood types now, tomatoes will start flying in my direction. I promise, I will write it next article. Or next next. Or next next next. Eventually I will. Really. Adios! News Flash Sunday, April 17, 2005 / 10:32 PM Well yesterday was a wonderful day till I chanced upon the channel U news at 11pm, more specifically, the feature on how people are getting increasingly prone to abnormal behaviour when under stress. The above, seems like a no-brainer, and you say, "Anybody under stress will display an anomaly in their behaviour! Do we still need you to tell us, LHC? Go back and sleep! Shoo!" However, as their (the channel U news<-- which actually belongs to the whole big monopoly of news network body known as channel news asia) case study features, more people, adults and teenagers alike are unable to handle relationship problems and are resorting to violent acts towards others and themselves. To put it simply, people experiencing relationship problems (henceforth referred as PERPs<-- People Experiencing Relationship Problems) are either trying to kill others or trying to kill themselves. I am most definitely not saying that ALL PERPs are psychotic killers and have the violent seed in them, only those under stress and unable to handle them properly and channel their anger/angst/unhappiness/unfairness/vengefulness/self-pity and other negative feelings into correct channels. PERPs are common. People get into relationship problems all the time. However, those that are not able deal with such strong feelings should seek immediate PROFESSIONAL HELP before they turn into menaces of society as shown on the news feature. For the benefit of those who did not catch the 11pm news as I did, here is a brief breakdown. Case Study of Hong Kong citizens (I feel that this actually applies to all industrialized cities, rather than HK only): Recent reports show that HK citizens are unable to deal with increasing stress, most of which comes from relationship problems, specifically break-ups, and are turning towards violent social behaviour, i.e. throwing of belongings off high-rise buildings thus posing danger to those innocent passers-by [in chinese, gao1 lou2 pao1 wu4] and suicide. For the case of dangerous litter, the camera zoomed in on debris on the ground, which happens to include a CHOPPER. Nope, not chopper as in helicopter chopper, but as in those cleaver chopper. That is absolutely insane! If you want to die, by all means go ahead and kill yourself. Do not throw stuff like a cleaver down which may actually hit a bright student with an illustrious future; that is murder, even though it may be unintentional. Such debris took 7 huge dustbins to clear. The camera then showed this guy in action, whose face was pixellated, throwing his mattress (at least a double) down and jumping down two or three floors himself despite the fire fighting force shooting great jets of water at him to prevent him from jumping. He landed on an inflated air mattress (the irony) and was wheeled into an ambulance on a stretcher. We have to come to terms with the fact that no relationship is smooth sailing and hitches and quarrels are most common between couples. The more you care about each other, the more you tend to disagree with your counterpart's opinions and behaviour. It is done with the loving notion that you hope your partner will change for the better. Hence let the games begin. Let us all examine how much of your life your love relationship takes up. After deducting the area taken by your survival instincts, your religion (if it applies), your family, your studies (if it applies), your work (if it applies), your friends, your leisure, what is left is not really significant. Ok. Wait, you say. I have not experienced it so I do not understand. Fair enough. I'll try again. No matter how great/consuming your love life is, it will never be equal to your entire life. Never. Large part of, yes, maybe, (none for some even), but NEVER your whole life. NEVER. nevernevernevernervernever. It is only part of your social life, especially true for those engaged in courtship rituals. Fine. I'm boring you. Yes I got it. Next time there will be more interesting topics. And Yes. Try not to rant. Yeah, Ok. I love you all too. Till next time then. A Pat on the Shoulder in Time Saves Nine Wednesday, April 13, 2005 / 7:43 AM My humble abode is turning into a gambling den. Since I do not own a licence to run one, I think that my mini gambling den runs against the law. (Why is it that everything I write risk lawsuits?) Since Saturday, when the pioneer batch of mahjong addicts turned up, business has been brisk to say the least. Today the humble gambling arena welcomes its second batch of mahjong fanatics. To think I get irritated by my neighbours from the opposite block playing mahjong. Haha. Today, my issue will be on superstition. There is this rumour going around fellow mahjong enthusiasts, saying that if anyone pats someone who is at present engaged in a round of adrenaline-pumping mahjong game, the luck of the person pat will go away, causing losing streaks. We, at the mini gambling den decided to try it out among 'brothers', and since jermaine aka daniel did not believe in such baseless superstition, amid cries of 'pantang!' coming from weiling aka kelvin, both me and yuqian aka cheeky decided to try a two-pronged approach and pat our dear brother on the shoulder. One each. Note: Children, do not try this at home, or anywhere near mahjong-ing adults or teenagers. You might get bashed. Having tried that, jermaine aka daniel after winning three (or two, i cannot really remember such details) games, started his losing streak. Superstition or not? Hmmm. Since this is on issues and tissues, it shall be discussed properly. I have no psychological and laboratory tests scheduled to run this aforementioned 'pat on the shoulder' hypothesis and get results, so all those that follows are just opinions. I think that all these superstitions are based one such one-time occurrence, like the above case study. Everyone at the table gets shocked at such an occurrence, and starts spreading the interesting one time phenomenon to everyone. Or better still, the 'pat on the shoulder' hypothesis might just be a made up thing of some director of some mahjong movie and it starts to spread like wildfire. Everybody knows that media spreads such information like spreading jam on bread. I remember the first time I came across any superstitious acts were from cartoons! Those Disney cartoons featuring Mickey mouse running all over the place opening black umbrellas under ladders while jumping over a black cat on Friday the thirteenth. Yeah, those were the days. Still, no one can deny that superstitious acts do add spices to our lives. They make everything all the more interesting. I remember when the 3 of us, (June and Jermaine) walked down the dark and eerie corridor, the superstition that when walking in 3s, either someone will join your little gang or someone will be taken away set us all jittery before anything, and you all knew what happened next. This concludes the installment on superstition at issues and tissues. Post-article notes: Want to know the scores of those who mahjong-ed at the illegal mini gambling den? NOTE: No $$$ was involved. No calling of the police, or else I'll Jump! haha.Oh wow. since no money is involved, the activity is totally wholesome and legal. Re-typing... Want to know the scores of those who mahjong-ed at the mini mahjong den? Hall Of Fame/Shame: on Saturday 9th April: 1. Yanying, Yiling, Weiteen and HC all won 2 games each. Played a total of 8 games. Special mention, since my mini brain forgot most details of the saturday game; Weiteen likes to hold the tiles she drew from the wall with two hands ahaha. An interesting sight! on Monday 11th April: 1.ME! HC is the ultimate winner winning 4/10 games! (YAY YAY!) 2. Jermaine aka daniel is the first runner-up winning 3/10 games. (hereby crowned as 'The One Whom Does Not Feed'/Hogger of all Flowers) 3. Yuqian aka cheeky is the second runner-up winning 2/10 games. (hereby crowned as 'The One Whom waits for Flowers/The One Whom Gets to Feed') 4. Weiling aka kelvin did not do that badly, we must bear in mind that it was her second game and mahjong is a game of chance afterall. She won 1/10 game(s). Which is a notable feat, since she managed to win at least. (hereby crowned as 'The One Whom Always get the Licence to hu2/ Flower Girl <-- always get her flowers) My maiden ARTICLE Thursday, April 07, 2005 / 11:17 PM As the title suggests, this is the very 1st article of the much-awaited launch of my blog, issues and tissues. The driving force for me to create this blog, as much as it saddens me to say, is a suicidal friend of mine. Since she refuses for me to tell ANYONE her present state of distress, I shall do my utmost to adhere to her wishes, and i do hope it will not be her last. Therefore anything mentioned here would be my views and opinions on how her outburst is affecting the 'thoughtful citizens' [quote jermaine] of the society. If the mentioned suicidal friend is reading this blog, may all that is holy bless her soul. I am not about to wash dirty laundry in public, and those who are here looking for some scoop, shoo. Bear in mind i am no gossip column journalist, though i may act like one. Now, back to my blog. Disclaimer first, before anybody decides to take me to court for the stuff i write for my own personal leisure. No names would be mentioned in this article unecessarily, and i would most definitely not name the suicidal person. So understand that I am actually protecting her privacy, though it sets me wondering why, since over at her blog, she is definitely shouting to the world what she is trying to do and all that buzz. Do not message me to ask me for names, for i will definitely not provide any. I have been, as many of my other friends too, under the plague of a suicidal friend, henceforth known as SF. SF is affecting all our lifes in many ways, and this article will dissect the various issues that are sprouting from it. As how stories should start, i shall provide certain details, none that SF would disagree with me publishing. Things/Words that I uttered in a vain (and i say VAIN) attempt to encourage/dissuade SF. (all arranged in order of frequencies mentioned) 1. Don't <-- mentioned it as many times as she said Bye, and her second personal fav, take care 2. It's not worth it 3. This is foolish 4. Don't hurt yourself over someone who doesn't care and hurt others who actually care. <-- quote of the year if i may say so myself and many others that i cannot begin/bother to remember. On how SF affects everyone else, inclusive of SF. SF's many intended suicidal attempts are all less than creative and are absolutely traumatic. All her friends and her secondary and tertiary friends [quote friendster] are worried about her. She tells us not to worry, but we still do. All that we say/encourage/dissuade/persuade/advise are not getting into her system, since she says she is stubborn. Her circle of friends are dwindling by the minute, you do not need a M.A. (Sociology) to see that. The reason is that SF is wearing all of them thin, and her hopeful fews are really worth mentioning for still hanging on. If SF is still unwilling to see that her cause is hopeless, if she has a cause at all, then as i've mentioned at the beginning, may all that is holy bless her soul. If SF is willing to 'hui2 tou2 shi4 an4' [a chinese idiom which means turn your head and head towards the shore] all of us will still accept her for who she is, i hope. This is the end of my rant for today, on issues and tissues. Stay tuned. Post-article disclaimer: Do not flame me for writing this article. I have to get it out of MY OWN SYSTEM. Any pro-SF readers out there, i am absolutely apologetic for hurting your cause. anti-SFers, i'm sure you know how i feel. SF, be warned.